What the hell should we do now?

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 I was terribly upset when I heard about the petrol price hike yesterday... a funny, difficult to believe, are-you-kidding-us kind of a hike in the petrol prices. Rs. 7.5 or so in a single shot. But to see the initial (and perhaps the only) reaction of the public is to swarm the petrol bunks and creating traffic jam, is saddening. I don't know what was their thought. Supposing they fill 5 liters or 6 liters that day, they are going to save some 40 rupees. But is that all the reaction? Seriously something is completely wrong with us, people.

As soon as you filled the petrol, you went home, saw the IPL, cheered up, littered facebook, and probably will go about and do whatever you were doing the day before. You are going to buy the same Pepsi/Coke, go to movies in theater, watch your favorite serials or matches. All the government will need is some type of entertainment whenever they want to screw us. If Aishwarya Rai gives birth to a baby, that will be the most important news, even more than Indian rupee value falling like Mission Impossible Tom Cruise.

All, the people think would be 'the opposition party will take care'... or,  the media will take care... or, there will be some protest...  and they simply do hallway chat with the colleagues and go on about their life. Let me tell you something. Government will not give a **** about what you talk to your colleagues. After all, the media will discuss this topic and will switch to 'some bollywood or hollywood actress marrying/breaking up with someone' news if that happens.

We are living in a world which is probably controlled by a few hundred people who have money. The government listens to them and is run by them. If suddenly, a foreign company decides to dump all the chemical waste in India, they can do it. People will shout for a few days, media will cover it for a few hours... that is the max that can happen. Government and Law cares more about corporates and companies with money more than civilians. For example, I have read somewhere, that, a girl got raped in a foreign country and the punishment for the bastard was a few years imprisonment and at the same time, for a guy who uploaded a Hollywood movie in the internet got several years imprisonment and very heavy punishment... It is the kind of the world we are living now.

But ironically, the corporates and companies need civilians. If you want the government to listen to you, you have to get the attention of the people (corporates and companies) with money who use you to earn money. This is what we, as civilians, can do. We, as the civilians/public, should completely stop spending on anything that is not essential. Why should we spend our money and energy on things when the basic essential things are  denied to us?

If we completely stop consuming/buying unnecessary and non-essential things (like bottled drinks, biscuits/chocolates, cosmetics, cricket matches, movies, serials, etc.), it will get the attention of the government. Of course, since we deny to give money to the companies and people with influence, they will tame the government not to touch on essential things. And we are also not losing anything, and saving the money. In a dream/ideal world, when government does something that is anti-social, the society will stop to give money to the companies/people-with-influence completely. It should stun the government. Of course, that is an ideal/dream world.

[PS: You may think, at the most some 10 people are going to read this blog and only 1 or 2 read till the end... how will 3 or 4 people stop consuming things will attract the attention of the government :). That is exactly my thought. But you can help to spread this kind of protest to your friends/family. Not necessarily sharing this online, but just discuss this with your friends]

Discouraging...

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


A few months back I took a piano certification exam from an international music school. I was very very nervous about the exam as they are very strict in evaluation and months of your hard work and practice is evaluated in how you play in the 12 to 13 minutes during the exams. Also, it is not like a written exam where you can be at peace and take it cool. Any single slip of your fingers will make you lose marks and will add more pressure.

Even when I play the piano in front of my teacher, I use to get very nervous and play it all very wrongly. If I play alone I can do it well, but in front of anyone, the self consciousness or pressure would make my fingers fuzzy. When such is the case, and when the exam was around the corner, I nervously asked my teacher, "Is it possible that anyone fails in this exam?" She positively and assertively answered, "Yes! A lot of people fail."

Now, my hunch is that, most of you, if not all of you, might think that she is a bad teacher and does not know how to handle students. The perfect textbook guru, whether it is your teacher or your parents is one who encourages at all the times, who, no matter what happens keep telling that 'You can win', who will never say 'You can fail', who will always keep reminding you that they believe in you.

Well, strangely, my father, who is my guru in most of the things in my life, is also the exact opposite of the perfect textbook guru. He would always say that I will never pass (funny, my father told me that I would fail in my tenth exam even when I was not a very bad student.). When I filled my B.E. application, I made a mistake in filling it and he said, 'you can never come up well from college'.

When my piano guru said that 'failing in the exam is very common', it actually eased my nervousness. My main worry was that I shouldn't be the only one who would fail in the exam :) and when I came to know that many can also fail, I got relieved and it helped me to play better. I don't know whether my guru knew this psychology and told me that or she simply said that and it worked for me.

But what I want to convey is, if your parents or teachers or guru seemed different than others' gurus, it may be because they know what works the best for you. They being a little hard on you or indifferent to you may be part of their plan. If you are in a good position in your life [or in your exams :)], you should stop whining about your gurus' attitude and thank them for their valuable teachings.

Along Came Another Friend

[It is my custom to dedicate the first few lines of my post to simply blabber about something which is completely irrelevant to the topic, especially, if I have given some gap between the posts, which will repulse the few people who start to read my blog. I had written 98 posts (excluding this one) and in the hurry to reach 100 posts, I wrote some very junk posts which I resented and disliked, which eventually made me to stop writing. I am sorry about that.]

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Image: bulldogza / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"Which group of friends you relish more in your life?" is a cliche topic everyone would have discussed/listened. Are the friends you got during your school life? College life? During your professional life? (and now there is a new group called internet/online friends) whom do you think is the closest and best?  If someone says 'the friends you get during your school life is the best. bla bla bla. bla.' or if they say about college friends or whatever, I usually say Yes. Though, I don't agree in my mind.

The reason I don't agree is, it does not matter when and how you formed a friendship with someone. All that matters is, what is the current behavior/character/lifestyle of both of the people involved (for example, if either yours or your friend's character has changed, the friendship will obviously deteriorate) and how much time you are able to spend with/for your friendship.

Now, coming to a completely different topic: As far as I know, anyone who resigns from their job will feel very sad and upset towards the end of last working date, even though they would have tried very hard to leave the company. Towards the end, no matter how much anyone detested their company (when I say company, it is 99% of the time, their manager), they will feel sad mostly because of leaving their friends and a little bit because of loyalty towards the company.

Recently, one of my close friends, left his company and was terribly upset the day before the LWD (last working day). When I was chatting with him and consoling him, I got the feeling that he is going to miss all the good friends in the company. I said to him, 'don't worry... you will get good friends and you will have good time in your new company'. He replied, 'no... I am not going to get close to anyone'. It is a typical feeling when you are losing/leaving/missing something close, right?

Most of the times, it is inevitable to lose some close friendship (I mean friendship, not the friend...). In your life, no matter how hard you try, how many compromises you make, how many risks you take, it is inevitable to lose some close friendship, friendship which would have meant almost the world to you, be it the school friends or college friends or professional friends (professional friends... funny phrase... I mean the friends you got in your professional life).

C'est la vie... But, as long as you are of your natural self, you will always get new friendships. You can't resist it. You can't stop it. It is the innate nature of the humans to want to be friends with people. Along will come another friend. Will the friendship get stronger and survive for a long time? Now, that is in your hand.

 

Image: creativedoxfoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Injustice - Part I

[Description: This post contains very offensive content. If at any point of time you think that you may be offended, you can stop reading this post. I wont want any of my visitors to get offended or hurt. Readers' discretion is required.]

[You can safely skip to the next paragraph to start reading the actual content. I feel disappointed about myself to have broken the self commitment I have made a long time ago, twice within five months in this year... I committed that I would write at least one blog per month and I have failed due to my recent change in my lifestyle. I wish and promise that I will do my best to keep the commitment at least from this month.]

The amount of attention and care my five months old nephew needs has made me to realize that one of the greatest injustices the parents can do to a child is to (first) give birth to it and continue to do their own business (or work). I use to advice my friends that 'after marriage one of the parent should quit their job or business and be a full time parent'. I use to get two kinds of reply. To think much of it, I use to get three kinds of reply.

One of the replies is that, 'Yes da... it should be the case'. It may be a sincere reply or just a reply to escape from my mokka. The second type of reply is that 'Yes, it should be the case, but, what would you do if your wife denies to quit and continue to go to work? Will you quit?'. Not for the sake of 'I am in an argument and I have to do anything to win it', but the honest-at-that-moment reply from me would be 'Yes!'. And this would immediately go to (a more) cliche discussion of 'Then you will have absolutely no respect... bla... bla... bla...'

Coming to think of it, it is a stupid reply. A child needs its mother more than its father, at least for an year. A child should have nothing other than milk for the first six months and it should NOT even have water! In case of summer the child can be fed a little water. And for one year it is recommended to be fed from the mother with other food items also. I am just wondering how mothers get back to work in 3 or 4 months after the maternity leave. As soon as the child wakes up from sleep, it needs its mother. It cries till it sees its mother. What kind of an excuse do working women give to leave their new born child and go to work? Will they tell "Hmm... it is boring to be in house. I want to kill time"? Of course, they wont tell this blatantly and will usually cover this with more appealing logical statements.

The third kind of reply I get is "With the salary from one person, it is tough to raise a family". What a sweet reply! What does it mean to raise a family? To have a wife/husband and a kid (or kids)? The definition of raising a family stops just when the child is born. In my opinion, it should start after the child is born. Both parents leaving at 9 o'clock and coming back by 5 o'clock and then kissing and hugging the new born child seems disgusting, obscene and despicable. It is at least acceptable when the child is grown and is ready to go to school.

If you can't do that due to financial problem, it just means that you are not yet ready to raise a family. A child who spends its time with either of its parents in a 2BHK would have a fulfilling life than a child who scarcely sees its both parent together in a 3BHK. A child who can only afford Maggi noodles often but being with its parent more would have a fulfilling life than a child who can afford Pizza Hut pizza often but not their parents time. If it is the other case, where the child needs more of the goods than its dad and mother then there is a serious problem in bringing up the child, isn't it?

Thinking more in this subject, I think "I am working very hard to give my child a quality life" is either a lie or stupidity. I sometimes wonder whether people have an intrinsic desire for luxurious items for themselves and they just point-finger their child or married life or retired parents... Well... I want to write more on this topic but my quota for one post was over a long back. If time/mood/situation/courage permits, I would continue in this topic.

Irritating House Wife

Since the rest of the post will be some irritated angry rants, I would like to start with a small incidence which happened in my friend's team. My friend's team was having a casual conversation when they went for an team outing. Their manager asked everyone about what their expectation about their future wife and one guy told, 'I would like to marry a house wife' and everyone burst out laughing when the manager replied 'It will be illegal to marry a house wife'.

Now, actually coming to the post, I don't know how many of you thought 'it is not house wife, you idiot, it is home maker'. I was watching some stupid music channels where people call and blabber for sometime before we can watch a song. For the sake of asking the anchor asked 'what do you do?' and the lady replied 'I am a house wife'. Then the BFAH said sarcastically, 'So, you are not doing anything? You will simply be in your home?'. That lady got confused and he explained, 'you have to say "home maker" and not "house wife"'.

I was really pissed at that comment. I don't know when was this phrase 'home maker' invented. I think it was very recently started to be in normal usage. I think it was made normal because 'home maker' projects more esteemed sense than 'house wife' and people thought calling 'home maker' is better than calling 'house wife'? I don't really know. It does not matter how people call, whether 'house wife' or 'home maker', but what matters is, how they are treated. The term home maker actually means someone who is doing house keeping. A maid/servant could be called as a home maker, I think.

This applies mainly to the new phrase which is coined very often for handicapped people. First they were called 'handicapped', then they were called 'physically challenged' and then they were called 'differently abled' and I think in some places they are called 'special people'. I think they invented these new phrase so that such people are not hurt when they read handicapped/physically challenged etc. But IMO, it does not matter how it is written or how many new phrases government and other organization invents to make them feel better. What matters is the people's attitude towards them.

People should treat their 'house wife' or 'home maker' with respect, but not just in calling with fancy phrases. People should learn and treat handicapped people with as much respect as it would not hurt them. Giving too much respect/attention will only hurt them. People should be educated in that sense, instead of simply coining fancy phrases once in a few years and spend millions of dollars to simply change the phrases everywhere in the world.

Marriage - Part I

[Surprisingly, this post is NOT going to be R rated but still reader's discretion is required ;)]

The one word which never fails to terrify me and to make my spine chilled is 'marriage'. Seeing, listening and hearing about marriages only make me tremble. Though it has always terrified me, it has never worried me as I was very far away from it. But now, though I am still far away, I can't stop feeling the terror and tremble inside me.

About six months back, when one of my room mates got married, I couldn't actually believe how he could be ready for marriage. He is just an year older than me. So, when I and my other room mates were getting ready to attend his marriage, I told my other room mate, "I don't think I can ever be ready for my marriage". One wise guy replied, "When you see your friends, colleagues and room mates getting married you will start to feel insecure and automatically get ready for it". It was not convincing for me though.

My policy has been "When I see a successful marriage, I will say okay for marriage". But it only seems that if I stick to my policy, I will die as a bachelor :). Then I thought a little deeply... What do I mean by a successful marriage. A couple who never gets a misunderstanding? A couple who never has any quarrel? A couple who never gets in a fight (not necessarily fist fighting :)). An ideal couple in a romantic movie? What defines a successful marriage? Or to tell dramatically, a couple who despite their difference in taste, understand each other and appreciate others' feelings? Obviously not giving birth to a baby...

Any dramatic, cinematic, romantic definition to marriage will be laughable. In fact, any definition for 'successful marriage' will be laughable. I am not talking about how the life will be after the marriage. You may get more problems from somewhere and still be happy with marriage (spouse and marriage are analogous in the context of my thinking). You may get absolutely no problem from anywhere and but not happy because of the marriage. Why almost every married people advice others 'not' to get married? In this case, why marriage is considered a great event in life? Why parents happily get their children married?

When two completely total strangers marry, before the marriage happens, there would be a lot of so-called-well-wishers(family or friends) advice them all the possibilities of 'how to screw your married life'. I have seen people who advised their friends 'never to help his wife in cooking' as it will lower your self prestige and they will start to expect more help. This is a small example. People may advice 'don't ever give up your self prestige' 'always keep her in her line' 'show who is the boss' etc. These are all the perfect recipe for disastrous married life. Of course, there would be a lot of advices from well-wishers for girls also. What they don't realize is, all the people who give such ideas are NOT happy with their marriages and they are just waiting to add another member in their group. So, as soon as the marriage is over, they try to apply all the advices they had got from others and slowly (or very quickly) screw the marriage.

So, what I am thinking is, anyone who is going to marry, should have an open mind. Should have absolutely no expectations from the spouse. 'Expectations' seems like a small word, but is the devil in the disguise. [but can expect that he/she is going to marry the worst junk girl/guy in the entire world :)] Should not take advices from others as how to handle the spouse. If you don't have any idea or plan on how you will treat your spouse, you better don't get married. Should not watch movies, as movies portray ideal couples which is very very improbable in this world. Should not suspect what had had happened in their spouse life in the past. Should be willing to be happy if she/he is loyal to the marriage.

I can keep writing non-sense here, but I want to finish the post with a one-liner 'There are only two ways you can be happy. You adore your ego and try to be happy all by yourself or you kill your ego and be happy with everybody else. The choice is yours.' (Oh... yes... it has three lines) This applies to your married life also. I know, this post is spontaneous and random. No links between each paragraph no concrete opinion and no solid result. These are all glimpses of thoughts I get and there are many more (to come?)...

Surprise! A Quarrel!!

Quarrel, the word (or any word which means the same) I hate most in any language. I am not talking about the quarrel that happens in the road, or in the reality shows or in the assembly :), but the quarrel that happens inside our known-people-circle. I don't mean physical fight, but I mean heated arguments, strong disagreements, questioning and criticizing (known) people.

Things which happened in my life made me think more deeply of the nature of quarrels that happen between friends, siblings, colleagues, relatives, and spouse(s) :). The result of my self realization is that, there are absolutely NO surprises in a quarrel we participate, whether you start or respond to it. What I mean by NO surprises is, we know exactly what is going to happen before accusing or abusing or criticizing our friends. Yet, we go ahead and deliver the dialogue which we have rehearsed in our mind to them.

For example, whenever I am going to accuse my friends for not picking up the mobile when I call or not responding to my chat, I know exactly what they will answer. I also know what should I reply for their reply and so on. But still, I do that and get the temporary pleasure to have succeeded in my act I have rehearsed in my mind. Then later, I will apologize for being rude and everything will suddenly become normal. The thing is, many many people fail to do the last step in this act which slowly builds up the bitterness and finally end in a friendship-fatal fight.

How many of you who is reading this, has ever apologized for a fight? Of course, only if the mistake is with you. Or how many of you can accept that the mistake is with you (also) in a fight? Even if you know that the mistake is with you, have you ever been willing to apologize? Simply go and talk something else can solve the problem, but apologizing from the heart will make the situation much much better. I don't have to tell these things. Everybody who reads this is a mature adult. Everybody knows this. But why very very few people follow these things? I have got no clue...

When was the last time you had a surprise in a quarrel, I mean, you expected your friend to respond in a way but he accepted/apologized for the criticism (you must except me ;) ). So, the next time when you are participating in a quarrel... do whatever you want to do... :) I am not going to advice you anything as I perfectly know that, soon after you close this window (if you have read till now :)), you are going to be the same person as you were before reading this... I just wanted to log my self-realization :)

A Help Needed

[If you thought I was going to ask a help and still wanted to read this, I have to appreciate you. This blog is not about asking help. This is just a topic about help.]

Asking for a help is an art, in my opinion. The chances of getting the request done is completely dependent on how you ask for the help, and of course, to whom you ask and how big is the help, etc. There are a lot of various parameters involved in the success of getting the help done.

I am quite sure that everyone would know how to ask for the help and to whom to ask that help. But, what I wanted to convey is, how mature you should be before asking the help. Generally, when I ask for a help, I would consider that it is going to be rejected. You should be completely prepared to get your request declined. If you are not ready to face this, you should not ask for the help.

If you are not ready to hear a NO for your help request, it would mean that it is not a help you are asking, but you are ordering your friend/relative to do something for you. So, whenever you are going to ask for a help, no matter how close your friend/relative is, you should be ready to accept a NO from them.

If you are asking for a big help, a very critical help, and yet your friend/relative is not in a position to help you, you should never point that out in your future meetings with that guy. If you have vengeance for the declination, it would surely spoil the friendship. So, next time when you are going to ask for a help, ask yourself, "Am I ready if he/she says NO? Would I be able to like him/her even if it is rejected?".

If the answer is YES, you can go ahead and ask for the help. If it is NO, it is better you don't ask for that help. Of course, if the situation is too desperate, you can give an attempt, but you should be mentally prepared and matured to accept it and continue with the friendship.

This is my thought. Any comments? Want to refute it? Want to tell something? Want to give an example? You can leave a comment. This is just a filler blog written in just ten minutes without even thinking about it, as I desperately wanted to post a topic before June starts. So, forgive me if this is junk :)

Trendy Vs Traditional - Part I

[Disclaimer I: The Disclaimer I of this post holds very true to this post also]
[Disclaimer II: This post is intended only to discuss about Mouse, the gadget which we use with our computers. If the post seems to have a double meaning, it is entirely\completely because of the reader's perception and that is not what I intended. Having made sure that it does NOT have a double meaning, let me jump to the blog]

Recently, I had to buy a mouse. So, I went to a shop to look for a mouse. There were so many types and so many variteties of mice available. I had an option of choosing a trendy mouse, a semi-trendy mouse and a completely traditional looking mouse. I chose the trendy mouse.

It looked so nice, so beautiful, so slim with nice curves and seemed to be a little costly, but affordable. Thinking that, it would be great to have such a trendy mouse, I bought that. When others see that, they will definitely be envy on me. I would also feel great to hang out with such a cute mouse. Everything was okay, but...

It was hard maintaining it. First few hours was okay, but after that, I could not stand the pain. Just because I had been proud and showing that to everyone, I have to have that for ever, otherwise, those guys would surely make fun of me. The mouse which I use in my office is very traditional. It looks big, fat, bulged, etc. The first time, when I saw that, I thought, "What a distasteful guy, who bought this mouse"

Though the looks were not so great, it was so comfortable, so pleasing to use that mouse. I didn't realize the value of the completely traditional mouse, till I bought a trendy one. Now that I have learnt a lesson. Looks is not always important, when comparing to the comfort and convenience and peace.

But there is another choice, if looks seems to be the highest priority and comfort could be a little compromised. For that, we can go for semi-tredy-semi-traditional mouse. Its look will not be so great as trendy ones, but with less uncomfortable feeling. So, which one you choose, is completely upto you.

Be it mouse, or whatever, when you are going to spend more time with it, it is better to think twice before choosing a flashy, trendy ones, just for the looks. Consider comfort, peace, dignity, maintenance, etc. also, is what the tiny mouse taught me.

Confirm Before You Communicate - Part I

It has been a long time since I met you guys through my blog. This post is about a few of my experiences, that have the potential of being lifelessons. The lesson is, confirm the other party when you are talking over phone or IM before you make funny comments or sarcastic remarks or harsh statements.

The first time when I wanted to shift my company, I have uploaded my resume in Monsters.com and I had got a call from a consultant about a company called Portware and I said okay to attend a telephonic interview. I attended it and I didn't do badly. Shortly after some time, I got another call. The other person told, she was the HR consultant and I I interpretted, out of excitement that, she was the consultant of the job consultency company and she was going to tell about future interviews.

She asked me how did I do my interview and I told I did well. I confirmed that she was just the job consultant. She then asked me to tell about myself. I got offended, 'why does she want to ask these questions?' and I answered insincerely (or sarcastically). I had been laughing when I was answering, happy about how funny I was to answer like that. She asked, "Are you laughing out there?" and I said, "Yes... it makes me laugh to tell about myself to others"; or something like that. The advantage about that is, I had been completely honest in answering the question and I didn't bother to answer ideal or standard answers.

The call went for more than the time a job consultant would prolong.  I started to get greatly annoyed and a little scared. Due to low battery, I asked her to call me to my second phone. After I cut the call, I realized that I had been talking to the HR consultant and not the job consultant. What kind of a fool I should have been? 

That is one of the incidences... I have more incidences that were more deadly. Even now, I haven't fully learnt the lesson. But believe me, no matter how good or great you are technically or personally, it only takes seconds to break the image and ditch you in a deep pit of shit. Though it is better if you don't use such remarks or comments, if you want to use it for fun, make sure you are talking\chatting to the right person.

P.S.: If at all you are curious, I got the offer from the company. You can share your experiences if you had any. If it is too dificult to write a comment, at least please vote for the poll in the right side of your brower window.

Advices for Stock Market

[Click here to read my first post on Stock Market. The disclaimer of that post still holds good except for that fact that I have got better, meaning, seen a lot more losses. You may also click here and here and here to see my previous posts about share markets.]

During my earlier life in software industry, I was annoyed and confused to see that, in the TV in the cafeteria\breakout area, almost always news channels will be kept. I even remember a manager who uses to change the music channel to news channel even if everyone is watching the TV interestingly. That time, I didn't know why one would always watch the news channels. Later I got to know that a lot of people are looking for the market advice and the price list that is shown in the news channel.

If you listen to the advices they give in those channels, it will be humorous. Suppose if a stock price of a company increased by Rs. 10 the previous day, then in all the channels, guys sitting with power suit and power tie will tell, "The share of this company X is increasing. There is a strong support for this company. The price of its stock will go +50 rupees in one week and it will become +100 or +150 in another 3 months".

If the next day, the same stock price has decreased, they would advice, "Sell the stock immediately. A lot of negative things are reported. Bla Bla Bla.". Sometimes, in two different channels, two guys (again, in power suit... they think they are the most intelligent guys in the world. Bull Shit.) will give exactly the opposite advice. One guy would say, "Immediately buy this stock and it would go +50 rupees" and the other would say, "Close all your position. Do strong short selling" for the same company.

Why do we need to listen to those guys? Even a child could give such advices. If a stock increases, advice others to buy it and if it decreases, advice people to sell it. Nonsense. Why didn't those so-called market analyst guys tell people that the market would fall heavily before it fell on January 16 to 22 2008? They will say, this was not foreseen by anyone. If those guys can only tell things which everyone knows, why should we even listen to them?

It is also very true that, if someone has bought a share, they can boldly appear in TV and say that this share would increase like hell. After everyone buys the share, he can easily sell that for profit and go to other company share to play with. They need not do this for all the shares they play with. They can tell genuinely (there is nothing genuine here. Everything is an bullshit, but here, it means, what they genuinely think will happen) for 8 cases and they can use people as a scapegoat for 2 cases.

So, the best advice what I can give is, don't listen to advices and invest blindly to the companies which you don't know about. If you want to invest in a company, pray to god and do that :) as no factor could help you do the right thing, absolutely no factors like, charts, history, news, records, etc. will guide you do the right thing always.

Stay tuned for more blogs about share market, commodity market, and other live examples of how market could screw you completely. Please share your views and comments about share market and about this post.

Caution - Some tips for avoiding to become a Jackass!

[Disclaimer: This blog is not for readers who are less than eighteen years old or readers who easily get offended. Readers discretion is required.]

I didn't know that Bangalore is notorious for petrol thieves. Almost everyone in the petrol bunk is a trained professional thief and they act in a good team work. One day I went to the petrol bunk and asked the attender to fill petrol for Rs. 200. The innocent looking guy filled petrol for Rs. 50. I said, "I said Rs. 200". He apologized me and started to fill the petrol. Immediately another guy just came and asked me, "Sir, card or cash". I said, "Cash". He asked, "You don't have card, Sir?". I said no.

I was a little shocked to see the petrol was filled for Rs. 150. I had a small doubt whether the innocent guy had started from 0 or from the 50 itself. Wondering about this, I left the bunk. Later, when I told my friends about this, they said, it is the custom of almost every attender in Bangalore to divert attention and fill only for less money. I felt like I was a jackass and was very angry on those bastards.

Then, later on, I used to be very alert when I go to petrol bunk. I had seen many times, attempt being made to fill for only Rs. 50 even if I had said Rs. 200. I used to say aloud, "I said Rs. 200" even before they start filling it avoid becoming a jackass. I used to think that I had become a brilliant guy after one experience.

It is always true that thieves are a step ahead than the police in techniques. Recently, it got proved. I went to a petrol bunk, asked the bastard to fill for Rs. 200. I carefully watched him entering 200 and starting from 0. When he was filling my bike's petrol tank, another guy came and asked "Sir, cash or card", even though I was having Rs. 200 in my hands (after the first incidence, I used to take out the cash and show them and say aloud, "Fill for Rs. X"). I said, "Cash".

Something inside my mind told that, I am being made a bloody fool. When I turned and saw the filling bastard from the speaking bastard, in a split second, my subconscious mind had seen the filling bastard entering 200 in the machine. I could not ask whether he had really filled for Rs. 200, or simply, in the middle, typed 200 in the machine. But I knew, I was fooled and later proved due to the reduced mileage.

No matter how much we are aware, those sons of bitches know how to fool us. I had decided to first pay the money and then NEVER to look aside when the petrol is being filled, no matter how gorgeous a girl comes and stands in the nearby queue. I don't know, they may have another counter for this. But, whenever you go to petrol bunk, make sure, you are not made a jackass!

What you can do is:

1. Tell them aloud, how much you want to fill for.
2. Give the money immediately, even before they start to fill.
3. Check for the amount he enters (If that is less, you are in the process of becoming a jackass. Stop immediately and refuse to become one)\
4. Never ever look somewhere else (if there is a gorgeous girl out there, you can wait for 30-45 seconds)
5. If they call "Sir?", just say to yourself, "You bloody bastard, I am aware of you." and never listen to him till the petrol is filled. (If you don't speak bad words, you can replace that b-word with thief, but never turn around)
6. If still somehow, they cheat you, Welcome to the Club!
   

[P.S.: First I thought to name my blog, "Caution: There are bastards around there!", but later decided not to use that as a title, but somewhere after the Disclaimer]

Drunken Monkey - Part I

When I typed *Part I* in the title, I myself got angry on me. I said, I would continue the Tale Of Two Friends but I couldn't for some good reasons. Likewise, i say in many of my blogs that I would talk more about the topic, but I never did. Sorry for this. Let me try to keep up with my wishes. Lets dive into the blog.

Well, I am not saying drunken people are monkeys, if I would say that, then it would directly affect most of my closest friends (and who knows, in future, it may even refer to me ;) ). It is the name of a Jackie Chan's movie. But this post is about people whom I think are monkeys or even worse, when they behave in a disgusting manner.

Worrying about various things, I got into KPN bus, so sophisticated and so called A\C Volvo and so much costlier, with the hope that I would have a peaceful sleep. Suddenly a group of young lads (I am quite sure, they are software engineers), who are so desperate to be noticed, got into the bus with much noise. Usually I don't give a shit about those nuisance making non-sense people. But to my best bad luck, one of those monkeys came near my seat and I realized that he is going to sit in my adjacent seat.

Bull shit! he was drunk and it smelled like a septic tank. I got so irritated that I scolded him in my mind (hehe... this time, it would make his uncle's grandmother's brother-in-law's grandmother squirm in their graveyard) and tried to close my eyes and sleep. In a moment, he shouted, "machan! come on da... lets have a fag... otherwise, my mouth will feel itching". What the heck?!? You bloody ******** (whatever you like, you could paste here), I thought.

He is not going to become like a hero if he announces to be a drinker-smoker-****er. If he wanted to smoke, let him smoke and die... If he wanted to drink septic tank, let him go and drink it and die. But why the heck there are people, who take the rights to disturb public? And that too, when they are going to travel in a public transport? I don't understand that. But I learned a lesson that day.

If at all I am going to be a smoker or a drinker, I would make 100% sure that, I wont drink or shout in the public transport to mark my presence (and try to be a hero). It is because, there will be people around, who would scold such people so hard that, his parents, siblings, relatives, grand parents, in-laws, etc would feel very bad if they come to know that they were referred to such bad things because of the mistake they dint do.

Accidents - Unavoidable.

Equipped with Apache, I was driving at 75 kmph in the Electronic City road of Bangalore. No traffic... so no worry. It has disk brake, and decent control at less than 80 kmph. Suddenly, a son-of-a-***** (I hate bad words), out of thin air, came in his bike, crossing the road. I saw him and started to blow horn applying both the brakes. I almost hit him, doing a stunt, but managed not to fall down. Scolding him in mind that would make his grand mother's grand mother's grand father's grand mother squirm in the graveyard, I proceeded.

Had I been driving a little faster, or if I had lost the control, I would not have been in a position to write blogs (in a way to help you people :D ). The worse part is that, I was driving with my close friend. Because of a stupid SOB, my innocent friend could have been a history by this time. The worse part is that, I never used to drive faster. I have already met with accidents twice and so, I use to drive as cautiously as possible. But that day taught me a lesson: No matter what is going to happen if you go a 5 minutes or 10 minutes late, NEVER drive faster.

This could be the most cliched thing one could ever say. But, it is true. One day it will happen for anyone who rides a bike. There is no one I could see, who have not met with an accident, in a two-wheeler (if you jump to say that you have not met, be careful... you could be on the line).
There is nothing in the world which is more important than life (or your limbs). This is my policy: Everyone will meet with an accident (either small or a big or fatal) at least once in the life if they constantly use two-wheelers. We can only pray that, that is not a fatal one.

An accident is not always your mistake, that is why it is called an accident. It could be yours, or the other guy or a dog or a cat or a small stone or a small nail on the road... anything. I use to advice people not to drive faster. That day, I got a mood to drive faster and the God showed me a gate which he later closed it. Actually, I had the idea of writing this blog a long time ago when I advised my friend and he told *Don't I know that? I know da... even if I go at 80 kmph, I know my limit... bla bla bla*.

Do you ever think, of all the millions of people who died of an accident knew that they were gonna die? It happens all of the sudden. At least we should make sure, we are doing our part well. Of course, if a drunken driver, runs his lorry over us when we are walking on the side of the road, that situation is helpless. If you want to say, *Mind your business*, it is okay. At least have the courtesy for your friends or family coming in your vehicle. If you are alone, you have full rights to go at any speed and reach any where (destination or final destination), but if you have someone with you, please be careful.

Also, I am tired of looking at people having the helmet over the petrol tank. What the hell? Why do you people want to protect the petrol tank more than your head? Is it more valuable than your brain? or your lover? or your family? Bull shit. Also, some one would hold the helmet in their hands and drive. I get irritated by looking at them. May be they didn't see the manual of how to use the helmet.

Let me come to the point.

1. Accidents are unavoidable. No matter how much carefully you go, you are eligible to get a through ticket through accidents. So, do your best to refuse the ticket. Wear Helmet.
2. If you say, *But, my hair will recede if I wear helmet*, then great... let the world know that you respect your hair more than your life.
   
3. If you think, you are the most expert driver in the entire universe, think of this. A simple nail on the road could puncture your tyre that could make you fall down and a simple hit on the head could get you ticket.
4. If you have someone with you, you have no rights to risk their life. Drive slowly.
5. If you are the one sitting at the back, you have 100% rights to demand the driver to drive slowly. If he\she does not hear that, you could better get down.
6. If you think, it is very very rare and that you need not worry, I pity you, as when it is proved wrong in your case, you may not be in a position to re think about that.
7. If you think that this blog is an utter bull shit, you are probably right as I know no soul in the world would change by reading such things, but I want to have a feeling that I did my part of warning you.

I want the readers of my blogs to come back again and again for that I want them to be alive for that I want to do something for that only I wrote the blog. Now, you can forget whatever you read here and do your routine things :)

Six Legged Killers - A true incident.

Well, this blog is about a true incidence, which might have resulted in a serious damage to this world, but fortunately, it didn't happen. Could a cockroach kill well-built body-builders? Of course that is possible. Even mosquitoes could kill Achilles in this present world, why not cockroaches?

Make sure, your house is cockroaches-free. You might think that they are not so much of a threat to you or your family members. Let me tell you a story. One night, nature called me so urgently that I had to visit bathroom. It was dark and I was very sleepy. The moment I entered into the bathroom, someone touched my legs and started to move their fingers all over my leg, in a split second.

In utmost fear, yes, I got frightened, I just flailed my leg violently to get the thing off my legs. During the process, I just kicked the wall and got somewhat severely hurt. I just realized that, had the bathroom been wet, I would have got a sure ticket to heaven (he he... let me hope so) by getting slipped.

When I switched on the light to see, the ghost finger which fiddled on my legs, I was relieved to see that it was just a cockroach; no, it was not JUST a cockroach. It was a killer cockroach. It could have ended up killing me. I heard that many old people die in bathroom by slipping there. Who knows? May be a cockroach was the murderer in most of the cases?

So, the moral of the story is: keep your house clean from cockroaches, as a matter of fact, any insects which could do these kind of damage, but I think only cockroaches are active insects in nights; and if that is almost impossible, be ready for anything when you go to bathrooms in night. Keep your heart like a steel or you may end in having a cold heart.

A Good Thief - but not the one like a Hero in a movie

It was 6 o'clock in the morning my friend woke up to get ready for practising Veena (here Veena means the music instrument :D and nothing else). Rubbing his eyes he went out to hall and was shocked to see that the door was ajar. It is so impossible for anyone else in my house to have gotten up that early, at least 6 o'clock is almost like a midnight for us. To make sure that nothing was wrong, he went to the other room to check anyone has woken up.

As you can guess, no one was awake. He panicked and woke up others to let them know that the door was ajar and everyone has gotten up (except me, I was in a good dream then). They were shocked to know that 2 of their purses are gone and one of the mobiles is gone. The friend who woke up first did not lose anything as he and I always lock our room's door. When the whole house was in panic and everyone was calling for credit card customer care to block their card, I woke up.

The moment I heard that some theft had happened, all my attention went to my purse and my purse was sleeping silently in peace. Happy that it was not abducted I went to inquire about how it could have happened. It is still a mystery. We locked the doors with 2 latches. How that bloody **** (any bad word that pleases you) has opened the doors and how he was so daring to enter the rooms and took the purses and mobile, only He knows.

So, we came out of the room and I saw a Rs. 2 coin was placed on the wall just outside our house. It was a good comedy then. One of the my friends who lost his purse had not kept any money in the purse. May be the thief indicated us that, *come on guys... keep some money in the purse... you just had Rs. 2... for this bloody stupid money I had to do Alohomora*. We laughed (yes, we laughed in that misery also). The friend who woke up first has seen the other side of the wall to find out the purse and the wrist watch. All the cards were intact.

So, we had some hunch that, the other purse may also have been thrown some where and we started to search. The same friend, who woke up first and who found the first purse, had somehow managed to find the other purse, which was hidden under clothes. Again, all the cards were intact and only the money was looted. But the mobile which was gone is gone. So, we made fun of the friend who woke up first, to find (or give back) the mobile also. We were very happy that at least the cards are safe.

This incidence made me to write this blog, the next day of my previous blog, which the market made me to write. A Good Thief. The thief had some soft corner on as and left the purses and the cards. Though it will be impossible for him to use the cards, as we would block it before he could use it, he might have simply thrown it some where. Or, who knows? He might have noted down the details of the cards and he may use the details to purchase a flight ticket to America in some days. But I strongly suggest to you that, do not give place to good thieves. They may get better and become the best thieves.

It is always better to think how anyone could break through your doors and loot; and take necessary prevention or precautions for that. I heard similar incidences from my friends many times but was lethargic that it wont happen to us. And, it had happened to us no matter how much we were cautious. So, be double safe. Think like a criminal and do the counter part by yourself. Keep your doors locked always and only open it when you really need to go out. Or, you can do one thing. Write a blog about your experience also, when it happens to you in the future :D

[P.S.: If you do not know what is *Alohomora* please read Harry Potter, at least the first part]

Forward Mails

[Disclaimer: Not recommended for very sensitive people. I am not responsible if you are hurt by this blog. If at any point of time, you realize that you may be offended, please do not read further. I want every customer of my blog to be happy and I want everyone to come again.]

Hmm... nothing new of course. What to do? Having some free time. So, thought of talking something about Forward Mails. To make this mokka topic (still more mokkai or) somewhat interesting, let me tell you a story first, which was published in the first or second edition of Chip Magazine on 1997 (First Chip came as Chip and then it got renamed to Digit and then again new Chip started to come. I do not know whether both are available nowadays).

One of the authors of the magazine got a mail, with a story: A lady (or for 100% sure, in the name of a lady) writes a mail that, she has gone to a hotel and had a special dish that she did not inquire the price of the item that it turned out to be very costly that she was embarrassed for not having enough money that she wanted to take revenge for the hotel that she has somehow managed to get the recipe for the special item that she is going to make everyone aware of how to make the dish that she is sending a mail with the recipe that we all (all fools and vettis) have to send the mail to everyone they know of. The author with a shame admitted that he even forwarded the mail without analyzing that he later recognized that that was a junk mail, I am not clear.

Those were about 10 years earlier, when very few knew about these junk mails. Later, this has taken multiple forms and the most irritating (sometimes making me to talk very [really very] bad words) form is: AOL and\or Microsoft has admitted to give you 5 paise for every time you forward this mail that we have to forward the mail to everyone we know of. Bloody shit! what the ****? Why in the **** AOL or Microsoft has to give us money for simply creating junk traffic in the internet world?

Later all the fools recognized that they were fooled, that they did not even ask for bank account or anything that the money could not reach them. Later it took another form that if you forward a mail to your friends, someone else will get the money (aanalum idhaiyum namburaangapa, I do not know how). Someone who lost a child and husband needs to undergo operation or someone who is very poor needs money to undergo operation something like that. AOL and Microsoft does not have anything to do and they have created a very complex algorithm to track where and all the junk (and ****ing) mail goes and they will one day knock your doors and give you a cheque. Is that so?

People somehow recognized about this nature of mails also. And now, it has taken a very sensitive form which is what confusing me. A 2 year or 3 year old child needs to take a open-heart surgery and they need blood and that we have to forward the mail to everyone we know of so that someone could help them. Since this is very sensitive, I can not simply say that it is junk. I have never known anyone who personally knew the subject-in-need. So, if at all you do not know (or at least you know the someone who knows the needy person directly) please do not forward the mails.

Just because there are 1000s of junk mails a real needy person should not miss what he desperately wants. I never forwarded any mail which asks me to forward it (unless the theme of the mail is to make the other laugh). I have it as a policy. I might have done a mistake of not forwarding a real genuine mail. But the chances for the Forward mails to be genuine is one in a million, in my opinion.

There is one more form which is also equally irritating. Asking us to forward a mail with a friendhip band (****ing band) that we have to send to all our friends. And the most ****ing part of the mail is that, it will ask us to send to the sender itself if he is our friend. This will create an infinte loop isn't it? Bloody ****! We don't have to be a bloody fool to be friend of a bloody fool. If that is the only way possible to prove that we are a friend to the sender, lets part from them, in my opinion.

But this is not the only medium these junk things are availble. It is present for centuries I hope so. I even got a letter (postal letter) when I was studying in school that I had to write the same content and send letters to 20 or 30 people. If we do that, we will get luck in a week, otherwise, we will die (or lose something or something disastrous will happen). God does not have anything to do and he watches and makes sure that all the people he created are behaving like fools. Is that so? This is even available in e-mails also.

The tougher part of the story is that, even brilliant, educated people send these junk mails. That is what disappointing. Lets hope these junk things are extinguished at least in the future or make sure that at least we do not do these junk things.

[P. S.: Sorry for writing such a big blog. Everything I told is in my opinion. Your opinions are most welcome. I am sorry, if any of you are hurt.]
[A.P.S.: To make this junk blog a junker one, I wish to say this: *Please let everyone you know of to read this blog* :D eppudi, mulla mullala thaan edukanum [diamond cuts diamond])

Water, the elixer of life!

The problem with my blogs is that, I tell what everyone knows and what everyone is tired of hearing. But what else could I do? I could not find anything unique to talk about. So, let me tell what everyone knows in a way that not everyone knows (oxymoron?). The unique advice is, drink water! (how is it? you could never have heard this advice :D)

The reason why I give so much of importance and spend a decent amount of time (in vain), is that, I learnt a lesson and I wanted to share it. May be a life lesson, who knows. In the recent times, I am spending quite a lot of time in front of a computer. Actually, I spend most of my time in front of the computer, but in recent times, it is very high! And obviously, my intake of water level has come very down. Drinking water when I have breakfast, lunch and dinner and before going to sleep.

Didn't realize the effects for some time. Spending happily a lot of time in front of a system. My eyes got affected (many may think: wow, what a discovery? bull-shit, don't I know that?). But, my eyes got affected in a different way. It was watering and I was not able to continuously look at the monitor. Water kept coming out of my eyes. Horribly distracting. I was wondering, if my eyes got weakened, it should pain. It should not behave like Niagara.

Luckily I got a forward mail. I usually do not read forward mails (click here to find how much I hate forward mails), but that one I read (may be because I did not have any work at the time) which compared the Water and Coke. I thought of deleting it right away, but it said about the goodness of water, with some valid points. As I kept reading, I saw that "A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page".

Though it is my policy, never to believe anything that comes from a forward mail, I took that seriously and started drinking water madly. Every now and then. As much possible. And you may not believe me, I felt better. My eyes don't water now. May be it is because of something else... or mere psychology.... I do not know. But I think drinking more water could not harm us, but if we take less, we will surely suffer.

[P.S.: We can have a habit like this, to drink a lot of water, I mean a lot of water, whenever we visit rest rooms (of course, not in the rest room... but where you could get drinking water :)). In that way, we will have to visit rest rooms often and drink water often. It may also help us for avoiding back-pain by not continuously sitting and also, it could give us a break. Your views are most welcome! Let me go and have some water.]

[A.P.S.: One of my collegues said that I even became fair. I was happy; that, my theory is right. His intake of water should be less :D and that his eye sight has terrible problems (A.P.S. = Another P.S.)]

Maturity - Different levels

[Disclaimer: This does not mean that I am very mature to classify and discuss about maturity. This blog is about, maturity in my opinion.]

What I mean by maturity is how one behaves in situations or how one handles situations. There could be various aspects of maturity and various form for it also. Different forms of maturity is like, how one behaves in happy moments, sad moments, frustrated moments, angry moments, etc. What I mean by different levels of maturity is, when they show the matured behavior.

For example, when taking a happy moments, showing maturity will mean not to make promises beyond our capacity, when talking about victorious moments, showing maturity will mean being modest, in angry moments, being mature will mean the ability to keep our mouth shut, etc. I would like the tell my opinion about the last case, different level of maturity in case of anger.

Being mature enough, in the first case, will avoid most of the situation to become angry. If we fail in that, being somewhat mature will stop from making the problem bigger. If again we fail in that, and if sudden increase in the maturity happens, we should be ready to apologize for shouting\hitting\sulking\etc.ing. And if we fail to show maturity in all the previous incidence, there is yet one chance to show the maturity. Accepting whatever happened because of the showing anger and appreciating the consequence of bad temper and not showing any more vengeance.

Failing all, will mean a miserable consequence corresponding to the level of the problem and the level of your contribution, being restless, disappointed, worried, still-more-anger, etc. Why I think like this is, I have shown maturity in all the levels in some cases and in most of the cases, I have failed to show maturity in any levels, and in all such situation I was, anyone would be, restless or frustrated.

There is yet another form for maturity, which is to show maturity in humiliating or embarrassing situations. This would be a bit funny to discuss and I would like to spare a separate blog for that case. Feel free to spare your comments.

Karuththu Kandasamy - Reject any proposal that give you short time to think over. (life lesson)

I always learn things by experience; and I have heard of a saying "Experience is a costly school; only fools will learn from it" (but here trying to be optimistic, I could take that I am rich guy learning in a costly school :) ). I have a lot of brilliant people who could advice me very well, but I just do not understand till I experience it. This is one of the greatest advices I have had from my father and that I now understood after experiencing (I used experience a lot of times, I guess) it. Mark my words, *Reject any proposal that gives you a very limited time to think about it*. This is a life lesson; following which you could save a lot of your life (by reducing your BP, tension, etc). When I say something, I want to give you examples only then we could understand the karuththu well.

Here goes the example: One day I got a mail from one of my colleagues at about 11 AM that LIC had announced a very precious scheme and that it is going to be over by 3 PM in the same day and that 1000s of applications are already in queue and that getting that policy will be very tough and that it is very beneficiary, and that bla bla bla. I was so much intrigued by that and called up my father immediately and told him about that. He said coolly that it is all marketing tricks and that I had to wait and think before applying for it. I did not listen to him; got money from my friends (I did not even have money by that time) and got the policy, feeling very proud of my decision.

The next day, the same representative called me up and asked, 'do you have any friends you could refer?'. I was shocked and asked her whether the scheme is still available. She said plainly that the scheme has been extended for one week. Later after some weeks she again asked me to refer any friends saying that the scheme is extended for one month!!! What the heck? I thought and I felt myself as a jackass (and as a matter of fact the scheme is still available after an year :( ). Thank God it is an LIC policy; anyhow I will need it. What if, if that has happened for something very risky? So, what I want to say is that, *unless and otherwise you are given sufficient time to think of any proposal, just ignore it, how much ever it looks precious, unless and otherwise you will any how get that even without the scheme*. Just share your opinions and karuththus about this karuththu; also you could write an example of your experience.