2010...

its a happy 2010, or os it has been upto now. been ages since i have written, mostly just been lazy. thought i get my fingers to tickle the keyboard a bit today!

i hear enrique - again after quite long, and am confused what to write about. lots of things on my head right now. continue to live the comfortable life, change course, take up something thats slightly more risky... don really know...

for starters, i am stacked with these books around me - some finished, some i am reading and some simply left in the middle. actuarial booklets, fiction, stuff about entrepreneurs, about the markets, magazines, gmat... just a big bad bundle. and yes, also old papers that i have started stacking - learnt that from a friend.

i am coming to realise and actually expereince that there is a lot to do and making a choice is the most difficult part. its not really important what choice one makes and no real point in regretting in hindsight the consequences of a choice made, whats really important is that a choice is made. it also counts when the choice is made, when to take the plunge. i am still dwindling though....

and now that yusuf apthan gone crazy, guess i gotta go and catch some cricket....

ah well, the song seems to have moved on now. American pie it is.... the ipl is on its way, looks like its going to make hockey feel like an even bigger step child this time around. what with the world cup just finishing and everyone getting an almost perfect comparison of the popularity of the two sports,

repairing the tear...

Being operated upon and watching it live is one hell-of-an-experience!

They treat you just like a mechanic treats a machine, and if you really come to think of it, it does make sense! You are numb in the area of operation due to those tranquilisers and feel no pain, so really there is no difference between a machine and you. The instruments used are also quite something. They go like - "knife please.... scissors now... ". It does kind of get you a bit freaked out.... And the most difficult part is that you have to just keep lying idle there like a dead body. Its like a they keep doing things to you and you are playing that game --- 'FREEZE'! They do not even give you a damn pillow!

After all of this is done, you also get a chance to see what has come out of your toxic (!) body. The dirt, blood etc etc.... And trust me on this - its all very awackkk...! But then its still something new that you have never seen before and will not see in your daily lives, so it does still qualify as an interesting sight.... ;)

The worst part - they charge you and that too heftily for all this assault..!!

ps - eventually its all good because you are better off on the health (even though not on the pocket!) side of things....

Honey where's my Money

the financial crisis happened because unwise investment managers sold unviable inverstment bundles to people. these investment managers used financial models which they themselves did not understand completely to justify the risky products they promoted. the models were greek to most of us and so we relied heavily on the expert advice of our 'so-called' investment experts. we chose to walk over our common sense and bank upon some set of numbers that were gibberish to us but were of great insight to some other 'inteligent' men. the models get passed on from year to year and person to person and survive all types of analysis and questions simply on the premise that they were 'okay' last year too.

there is a strong need to simplify things. infact things start to get complex when our greed takes us over. we want to make that quick buck, or should i say 'big' buck in 'little' time. it is then that we even start exploring opportunities that dont really exist in the real world but are simply born on our computer screens!

s - sex!

the sensex seems to be going mad these days. people always told me its a mad mad market for shares out there, but i never really believed them. i thought some common sense was all one needed to get the better of the stock exchange. well, i was slightly wrong or have been proved wrong atleast for now (till my investments give me some profits!)...

i really wonder at times what drives these prices. nothing drastic seems to have happened in the last one month or so (apart from the budget which was not a shocker by any means..) and the index has jumped about as if its ass was on fire! my investments though have only payed heed to the downside, they seem to ignore the upside very conveniently...

birthdays are meant to be special days. i have never really paid too much attention to them though. be it as it may, this birthday was quite fantastic. the people around me made it worth getting older! ;)

i love delhi and i also hate it! i love mumbai and i also hate it too! i guess its just this thing with our country - something or the other is always lacking (and lacking in plenty...). mumbai rocks for the people there - they seem to be much more chilled than the DAYLIGHTS (delhite) here. the crudeness of the people here irks me no end. the lack of courtesy is troubling. i wont even bother comparing the two places for the infra and amenities they have. mumbai might fall short on that front even to a timbuktoo..!

i hope to fill u guys in on the trek i recently took. the place is called Roopkund (lake) and the journey is the most beautiful i have taken. tired you get, but so what!?! the pleasure completely overtakes you! (... more to follow...)

insouciant, petulant etc etc - these are words that would keep me going. where? - places that i really want to go, tests that i really want to take and books that i really really want to read... and suuei just keeps me up there.... with the words and otherwise, on cloud 999 all the time! :)

water water everywhere

i am making a shift from other stuff to myself today. today is my day!  :)

very mixed day today. from excitement and hope to absolute nothingness. then came the water. although the plan was that i would go to it and flap away to fitness in it, but guess the gods decided otherwise. they decided to splash it out to me themselves. i saw one of the most beautiful rains today, and realised that i live in one of the most beautiful places in delhi. 

shaken with emptiness both outside with no one around at home and inside, i decided to take a plunge into the small wilderness outside my house. first the beautiful rain, and then suddenly before i could figure out why it was so chilly, it was the small white balls one calls 'olle' in delhi.

the balls kept getting bigger - for a moment i thought this was not delhi. it seemed like the hills and mountains. now the size started bothering me a little bit. it did not particularly hurt, but certainly kept tapping me again and again. i was soaking in the nature really - and also helping my emotions get dissolved. in the meantime the tapping kept getting stronger - the windspeed hit maximum and the white (till now tiny) balls were no longer babies. i ran in to witness ten minutes of a glimpse of the power that nature veils. the tappers were big and were thundering away being carried by winds at breathtaking speeds.

finally after many sways, the sun had its way - making the entire setting look even more pretty. it was now my turn to go where the water was. i started toiling away and decided i dint want to walk, so took an auto. entering the pool sent some shivers now as the water must have cooled due to the rains and the olle. i swam, kept swimming till was interrupted by some kids, dads or other random boys. random boys because they seemed to have been in the pool without any purpose - they weren't swimming and they dint have kids and they were also not kids!

came back, had some freshly cooked khichadi and decided not to bother about too many things. just take things as they come - nothing out-of-the-way kinds.

1 vote = 1 for all or 1 vote = 2 for some?

most problems in life are on account of inequality - actual or perceived. while the latter can be tackled easily, it is the existence of the former that is the real cause of worry and concern. i am not going to talk about the reason for the existence of differences amongst people, i am taking that as a given and am simply going to offer you my idea of a solution to a certain problem (which i shall just talk about) that exists because of this inequality that encompasses our society.

since it is election season in india and i do happen to be part of this nation, i am going to devote some of my time as well as yours (in case you read this that is) to make our nation a better democracy. 

india is a nation of a myriad differences. we are a billion plus nation of a billion different human beings, a million different languages, half a million religions, one of the biggest ranges of income brackets and last but far from being the least, the difference of sexes that nature has bestowed upon us. for someone like me living in the cities, a village environment and a villager is as much an alien as someone from timbuktu. my income, my habits, my education, my upbringing, my language - everything is long distant from my friend in solesandhi (some village...). apart from the fact that both of us do our ablutions in the morning everyday, i think almost everything else in our lives inside and outside is poles apart.

given that we are a nation of such diversity - such inequality for some - should we be treated equally? should we have equal rights? are we evolved enough to be treated like a meritorious society? 

isn't reservation of some form, on an economic basis according to me, required for us at this stage?

.... and simply stretching this, should not we have differential voting rights too - maybe a differential weightage depending upon our level of education?

just some food for thought.

    

No temples, no mosques, no gurudwaras et al - sounds good?

should we be allowed to celebrate and practice our religion outside the boundaries of our private living areas?  should it not be banned like smoking in public because this too kills and that too to in numbers that are easily beyond that burning stick.