2 o o 9

Figured that this will be the last year we'd see those two zero's together..

The Man in the Arena

"IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS;
NOT THE MAN WHO POINTS OUT
HOW THE STRONG MAN STUMBLED,
OR WHERE THE DOER OF DEEDS
COULD HAVE DONE BETTER.

THE CREDIT BELONGS TO THE MAN
WHO IS ACTUALLY IN THE ARENA;

WHOSE FACE IS MARRED
BY DUST AND SWEAT AND BLOOD;
WHO STRIVES VALIANTLY;
WHO ERRS AND COMES SHORT
AGAIN AND AGAIN;

WHO KNOWS THE GREAT ENTHUSIASMS,
THE GREAT DEVOTIONS,
AND SPENDS HIMSELF IN A WORTHY CAUSE;

WHO AT BEST KNOWS IN THE END
THE TRIUMPH OF HIGH ACHIEVEMENT;
AND WHO AT THE WORST

IF HE FAILS,
AT LEAST FAILS WHILE DARING GREATLY;
SO THAT HIS PLACE SHALL NEVER BE
WITH THOSE COLD AND TIMID SOULS
WHO KNOW NEITHER VICTORY NOR DEFEAT."

-Theodore Roosevelt.
As presented in the book 'You are the Message' by Roger Ailes. Found this book yesterday in Strand Book Festival. Came as an inspiring surprise as just day before yesterday, had done some soul-searching on similar lines..

Me too book tag

I liked what i saw on Anna's blog. Here is my part of the game.

About this game: RULE 1 - I have to grab one of the books closest to me, go to page 56, type the fifth line and the next two to five lines that follow.
(sorry Anna, i only liked RULE 1, so just like calvinball, playing the game only by this rule. :) )

First, a brainstorm is not a regular meeting. It's not something you take notes at. You don't take turns speaking in any orderly way. It shouldn't consume a morning or an afternoon. Sixty minutes seems to be the optimum length, in our experience..

From 'The Art of Innovation' by Tom Kelley (i am sitting in the home-office, did not find anything more colorful.. :) )

Dear Lalu bhaiya

Just back from a Kolkata trip.. Took the Yashwantpur-Howrah express both way, and am in a mad rush to jot down the trip memories..

We had reserved the side berths (upper and lower) of sleeper class both way so that the cosy little family of ours can have whatever privacy a sleeper class can afford us. So we board our coach from the KR Puram station and to our shock, our seat numbers are stuck over lower and middle berths.. NOT side berths.. Obviously, my first reaction was one of fury on the eguy that he did not book the tickets right and now we have to stick with 36 hours of sharing living space with strangers, who'd find the little boy the obvious solution to the journey's boring moments, their interacting with him often involving physical closeness which, to a paranoid mom like me, means a definite infection..

Then I understood where the blame should rightly be placed. It's Lalu Bhaiya's handiwork! When we had booked the tickets, each sleeper coach had 72 seats (8 seats X 9 compartments), but when we boarded the train, Lalu's men had added one more seat to the side berths!! So now there were 81 seats, with one SIDE MIDDLE BERTH! Hence the reshuffle of the seat numbers.. The middle berth is well concealed, meant to be unfurled only in the night.. (damn me, didn't take any pictures..)

And o the pains of that side middle berth (i happened to sleep on it on the return journey) It is meant for dwarfs.. Even though I am not highly gifted in the vertical coordinates, I could not sit, no matter how i bent my body.. Now Lalu bhaiya you would ask, why do you need to sit deviji, middle berths are meant for sleeping.. Yeah, but you see bhaiya, moms of infants have to sit up a few times in the night trying to put their baby owl to sleep.. In the regular middle berth, it is possible to sit, if you keep your neck bent down, this side M berth, it is IMPOSSIBLE. So, in our case, we had to fold up that middle berth, move everything back on the lower berth, put the kiddo to sleep and then again move back to the middle berth. This, we did twice in a night..

Then came the part where I have to wash the kiddo's milk bottles et al at the sink in the narrow corridor which can hold 4 people standing comfortably.. I head over there with the bottles, dishwashing liquid, brush.. At the entrance of that corridor I am blocked by a crowd of 10 people. 2 are waiting for the bathroom, 2 are passengers without reservation, 2 are charging their cellphones (oh! didn't you know?! there are free electric outlets at the train corridors now) and 4 are waiting to get their cellphones charged.. So, against some resistance I reached the sink by displacing one passenger, who waited on the precarious vestibule joint.. Getting back from the sink was again a fight..

Lalu bhaiya, WHY the electric outlet? How many passengers really asked for it?! If high flying businessmen can be without making phone calls via their cellphones on long transnational trips, sleeper class passengers can not? I do admire the vision behind the idea and the technology that enables it, but the reality is that it is only serving the purpose of playing loud music and watching obscene movie clips on those cellphones.. (i am a witness of the latter happening in my neighboring compartment). Let people use their time to read books, chat up with their co-passengers, catch up on sleep, and let IRCTC save some electricity and use the money on killing some of those cockoraches in the coaches!

Now, if you really really want to help ppl make that extremely urgent call when their phone has lost charge, you can stock on battery run phone chargers. Rent it to people for money. Let them come to the pantry, pay and charge their phones there. Only people who really need it will pay for it.

Now, criticism apart, a few things that do deserve a honorable mention. The well-uniformed railway staff that came frequently to clean up the floors - until this journey i have only seen beggars doing that. The toilets were also cleaned well at every big station, and there was non-stop water supply throughout the trip. The frequent rounds of waterbottles and refreshments that the pantry maintained. Above all, maintaining an ON THE DOT train timing on both stretches.

So, to maintain the Shubh Yatra, Lalu Bhaiya, please keep up the good work and think a bit about your discerning passengers before impelementing half-baked ideas (to repeat - the side middle berth and the electric outlet)

Of conditional apologies & a prayer

Per media, Mr.A of Kerala has apologised with the statement "IF my statements have hurt the martyr's family, I apologise".
IF? First, you refused to apologize. Now, you are apologizing with an 'IF'? You, Mr.A are a disgrace to the nation, even in your apology.


On a separate note, Pakistan has allegedly 'snubbed' India by not cooperating with the terror list. I feel media keeps using insulting words 'slapped, snubbed' (so does one chocolate face politician), to get more viewership, capitalizing on the high emotion and anger running around.. But my sincere prayer is that, the decision makers in the Govt., don't react hasitly against Pakistan. USA is entirely on our side this time, let's make use of that. Paksitan may be waiting for us to do something hasty (wage a war?) and further harm our peace and order situation. The worst that can happen to a country in the middle of a economic slowdown, is a war. So, people at the top, ignore those words, and take your time strategizing.

few soundbytes from another ashamed Indian..

"We are ready for a meaningful intercourse with the terrorists" said Shivraj Patil after swearing in as the home minister..
So, Mr.Patil, India was waiting for you to arrive outside Taj hotel on Nov-26, holding a loudspeaker, requesting the terrorists (oops, your brothers) for a 'meaningful intercourse'.
India waited for 3 days, you never came! Oh! You must not have found the right suit to wear for the occasion..


"I will resign only after National Congress Party chief (Sonia Gandhi) asks me to" - Shivraj Patil after the Delhi blasts.
"I will resign only after National Congress Party chief (Sonia Gandhi) asks me to" - RR Patil (deputy CM, Maharashtra).
Both of the above gentlemen have resigned, but we have heard nothing from Mrs.Gandhi. Does she also not owe an apology to the nation, if only out of shame for mothering these men?


Today's news: "Indian Government has accepted help from FBI and Shin Bet (Israel's internal security group) for investigating the Mumbai attack. India had refused Israel's help when the attack was on. "
Dear Indian Government, I have a feeling we may have saved some lives if we had accepted the helping hand when the attack was on and we were running around like chicken with its head cut.. Perhaps now you can take some pictures of the well trained and adequately armed international forces and pin it up in your office with the caption "when i grow up, i want to be him.."