Uncle! Can you buy me a cake?

“Uncle! Can you buy me a cake?”

Deepti and I were in Amma’s Pastries, 18th Cross, Malleshwaram to get birth day cake for Alok. The question was shot at me by a boy, aged 12-13, in half pants and shirt, barefoot and clutching some books in his hands.

I couldn’t believe my ears for few seconds. Firstly, I was addressed as “Uncle”. And second, a young kid was demanding/begging inside a cake shop. I enquired where did he live, where were his chappaIs and didn’t he have money for the cake. He smartly answered that he lived in some part of Bangalore, he had lost his chappals somewhere, etc. Then I asked him what did he want and he pointed towards a Chocolate Cheese cake. I didn’t know what to do? Not because the cake was worth ` 18/- but this was the second time I was about to be cheated by a smart kid (I will write about the first time some other day). To tell you the truth I didn’t want to buy that cake for him coz I don’t encourage begging. But there I found myself opening my wallet, paying money to the cashier and handing over the cake to the boy. The boy said “Thank you Uncle”. By this time I found Deepti asking and scolding me that what the hell was I doing.

Many thoughts had come across my mind by this time. I had realized that I was cheated again by another smart kid. So I wanted to talk to the boy and tell him that it wasn’t right to ask people in shops /restaurants for cake or something. I wanted to tell him that what he was doing was equivalent to begging. I wanted to ask him that how would his parents feel when they come to know about it.

So I turned around to have a little “moral chat” with the boy but he was not to be found anywhere.

NerdTests.com Fun Tests - Loser Quiz

NerdTests.com Fun Tests - Loser Quiz

Summer is knocking

Summer is knocking, I don't want to let it in... I guess thats what this monkey is thinking! :)

ConFusion

You know what happened when I tried studying CONvection & difFUSION for Transport Processes exam... I found my self in CON-FUSION. :)

Diwali- ones again away from home

Ones again I couldn't be at home for Diwali, 7th time in past 9 years.
But this Diwali was not that bad. We three (Alok, Deepti & me) had great time.
Diwali celebrations this year included lightening candles and deepaks in our rooms, having sweets and a grand dinner at Mint Masala and taking lot of pics. Here are some of them showing the celebrations.

Technology came to rescue when I didn't have a proper poster/idol to perform pooja.



Diwali - A festival of lights


Just lights!!! Thats not enough! How can you call it a festival without sweets?



People who made it great.



Finally at dinner in Mint MAsala - Delicious food, efficient service, lovely ambience. Unfortunately nothing visible in this pic :)



I had a great time this Diwali! Can't wait to celebrate it next year. :)

"2 States: The story of my marriage" by Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat is back with one more masala & drama filled novel.
Krish, a panjabi, IITD student meets Ananya, Tamil Brahmin, Economics topper, while standing at IIMA. Both of them soon become friends. Friendship turns into love when they spend a lot of time studying together in dorms. Both get their dream jobs and want to get married, but now the problems start.
The great difference in the families of these two, their opposition of duo's marriage and efforts taken by both of them to get the consent of each family are dramatically narrated in rest of the book.
Flow while reading is disturbed when the narrator changes from Krish to the third person. I found it discontinuous. Annanya's intervention in Krish's cousin's marriage & Krish's family's consequent liking for Ananya; Krish's bitter father suddenly getting filled with great love for his son and removing the obstacles in the duo's marriage seems stolen from typical Bollywood movies.
All in all Chetan has nothing new to offer to readers than telling the same old, repeatedly told stories. But book will be instant hit and best seller as its a story told by IITD/IIMA graduate.

Recommended reading:

1. What is living and what is dead in Indian philosophy? by Debiprasad Chattopadhyay

Democracy in India as perceived by JP

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan's views on the democracy in India.
Follow the links to see the three videos:
Part-1
Part-2
Part-3
Part-4
My own views are in accordance with his.

I wish I could...

There are things that I want out of life and I want them really badly. I want to get started with my experiments and bring my life back on track. It has been a long time since I did any "productive work" or I must say just "work". I have been fooling around for a long time. Day after day is being wasted in chatting, orkutting, having one cup after the other of coffee in T-board & going out for dinner. Eventually I have turned myself into a "wastrel".
It is not so that I'm not aware that I'm heading towards disaster, but I find myself not bothered enough to take sincere effort to tackle the problems head-on and work hard to make things better.

I want to follow Abraham Lincoln who said, "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing." But my actions and attitude are best described in Abigail Adams following words, "We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."

I wish I could gain enough strength to slough off the laziness and get going. But nothing happens by mere wishing. I need to fight with my biggest and more powerful enemy... my-comatose, pessimist-self.

SP's manifesto: Mulayam Singh was joking, right?

The poll manifesto released by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh gave a break to the citizens of India who were bored and tired of the spat going on between the BJP and the rest of the parties over Varun Gandhi issue. It seems like a joke to me which Mulayam Singh delivered well after 1st April!!! In this manifesto he promises to abolish schools providing quality education in English, use of computers and technology in all fronts of life. If he rally said all that as a joke then its all right, but if he was serious then its shame for India. Instead of promising for the development and progress of the country he is proposing to take it back by decades in the field of technology and the education. Seems he thinks if only he could make all the Indians uneducated, unaware of world and technology he would be able to ride his cycle and pass through his contemporary politicians towards the coveted PM position. :)

Education, just for a job or...?

Yes, We can get a highly paid job after getting a degree from any institute, but that is not the sole purpose of education. This education should also add moral values to my life and transform me into a better, more sensitive individual than what I am today, with a sense of responsibility towards the society. I am not saying all that to win laurels or to be known as a humanitarian. I believe that this society has enabled me to achieve education at this premier institution, and now it’s my turn to square up with it. I think it can be done by not just only understanding various problems such as illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, corruption and malnutrition etc., but also finding a solution of these. Though, I realize that this is a mammoth task, requiring great amount of determination and energy, but I look ahead to draw the desired strength from the education that I am achieving here.

India : 60 years Older or Younger!

Tomorrow we are going to celebrate India's 60th Independence Day. India has changed a lot in past 60 years of independence. I'm not able to decide whether India has turned 60 years older or younger. Patriotism has taken a new form in this era. The new generation expresses it's respect towards nation on this day by forwarding messages, scrapping pals and wishing Happy Independence to each other. It seems India has turned 60 years younger. But there is another side of the story... the same internet savvy young generation neglects India on the other days and feels ashamed of being an Indian because it's corrupted, dirty, bursting with population, full of people living in abject poverty, mismanaged, and so on. Their attitude towards India gives a feeling that they have lost hope about our country and there I feel that India has become 60 years older.