Aaaalu

Muripinche Muvvalu...Nee leela padeda deva

2011-04-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

The best of all songs "Amma" has sung...

Moodu Mullu - Letha Chaligalulu

2011-03-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

అందాల నా కురులతో...వింజామరలు వీచనా...

August 19th, 1934

2010-08-19T00:22:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1934, Adolf Hitler, already chancellor, is also elected president of Germany in an unprecedented consolidation of power in the short history of the republic.

In 1932, German President Paul von Hindenburg, old, tired, and a bit senile, had won re-election as president, but had lost a considerable portion of his right/conservative support to the Nazi Party. Those close to the president wanted a cozier relationship to Hitler and the Nazis. Hindenburg had contempt for the Nazis' lawlessness, but ultimately agreed to oust his chancellor, Heinrich Bruning, for Franz von Papen, who was willing to appease the Nazis by lifting the ban on Hitler's Brown Shirts and unilaterally canceling Germany's reparation payments, imposed by the Treaty of Versailles at the close of World War I.

But Hitler was not appeased. He wanted the chancellorship for himself. Papen's policies failed on another front: His authoritarian rule alienated his supporters, and he too was forced to resign. He then made common cause with Hitler, persuading President Hindenburg to appoint Hitler chancellor and himself vice-chancellor. He promised the president that he would restrain Hitler's worst tendencies and that a majority of the Cabinet would go to non-Nazis. As Hindenburg's current chancellor could no longer gain a majority in the Reichstag, and Hitler could bring together a larger swath of the masses and a unified right/conservative/nationalist coalition, the president gave in. In January 1933, Hitler was named chancellor of Germany.

But that was not enough for Hitler either. In February 1933, Hitler blamed a devastating Reichstag fire on the communists (its true cause remains a mystery) and convinced President Hindenburg to sign a decree suspending individual and civil liberties, a decree Hitler used to silence his political enemies with false arrests. Upon the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler proceeded to purge the Brown Shirts (his storm troopers), the head of which, Ernst Roem, had began voicing opposition to the Nazi Party's terror tactics. Hitler had Roem executed without trial, which encouraged the army and other reactionary forces within the country to urge Hitler to further consolidate his power by merging the presidency and the chancellorship. This would make Hitler commander of the army as well. A plebiscite vote was held on August 19. Intimidation, and fear of the communists, brought Hitler a 90 percent majority. He was now, for all intents and purposes, dictator.

Courtesy: www.history.com

The Unknown Citizen

2010-08-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

(To JS/07/M/378) This Marble Monumeht Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

One against whom there was no official complaint,

And all the reports on his conduct agree

That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint

For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.

Except for the War till the day he retired

He worked in a factory and never got fired,

But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.

Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,

For his Union reports that he paid his dues,

(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)

And our Social Psychology workers found

That he was Popular with his mates and liked to drink.

The Press are convinced that he bought a Paper every day

And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.

Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured

And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured,

Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare

He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan

And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,

A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.

Our researchers into Public Opinion are content

That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;

When there was peace he was for peace when there was war he went.

He was married and and added five children to the population,

Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation,

And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.

Was he free? Was he Happy? The question is absurd:

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

The Lake Isle Of My Native Place!!!

2010-07-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

I WILL arise and go now, and go to my Native Place,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the mourning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

The Teacher's Monologue

2010-04-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

THE room is quiet, thoughts alone

People its mute tranquillity;

The yoke put on, the long task done,

I am, as it is bliss to be,

Still and untroubled. Now, I see,

For the first time, how soft the day

O'er waveless water, stirless tree,

Silent and sunny, wings its way.

Now, as I watch that distant hill,

So faint, so blue, so far removed,

Sweet dreams of home my heart may fill,

That home where I am known and loved:

It lies beyond; yon azure brow

Parts me from all Earth holds for me;

And, morn and eve, my yearnings flow

Thitherward tending, changelessly.

My happiest hours, aye ! all the time,

I love to keep in memory,

Lapsed among moors, ere life's first prime

Decayed to dark anxiety.

Sometimes, I think a narrow heart

Makes me thus mourn those far away,

And keeps my love so far apart

From friends and friendships of to-day;

Sometimes, I think 'tis but a dream

I measure up so jealously,

All the sweet thoughts I live on seem

To vanish into vacancy:

And then, this strange, coarse world around

Seems all that's palpable and true;

And every sight, and every sound,

Combines my spirit to subdue

To aching grief, so void and lone

Is Life and Earth so worse than vain,

The hopes that, in my own heart sown,

And cherished by such sun and rain

As Joy and transient Sorrow shed,

Have ripened to a harvest there:

Alas ! methinks I hear it said,

'Thy golden sheaves are empty air.'

All fades away; my very home

I think will soon be desolate;

I hear, at times, a warning come

Of bitter partings at its gate;

And, if I should return and see

The hearth-fire quenched, the vacant chair;

And hear it whispered mournfully,

That farewells have been spoken there,

What shall I do, and whither turn ?

Where look for peace ? When cease to mourn ?

'Tis not the air I wished to play,

The strain I wished to sing;

My wilful spirit slipped away

And struck another string.

I neither wanted smile nor tear,

Bright joy nor bitter woe,

But just a song that sweet and clear,

Though haply sad, might flow.

A quiet song, to solace me

When sleep refused to come;

A strain to chase despondency,

When sorrowful for home.

In vain I try; I cannot sing;

All feels so cold and dead;

No wild distress, no gushing spring

Of tears in anguish shed;

But all the impatient gloom of one

Who waits a distant day,

When, some great task of suffering done,

Repose shall toil repay.

For youth departs, and pleasure flies,

And life consumes away,

And youth's rejoicing ardour dies

Beneath this drear delay;

And Patience, weary with her yoke,

Is yielding to despair,

And Health's elastic spring is broke

Beneath the strain of care.

Life will be gone ere I have lived;

Where now is Life's first prime ?

I've worked and studied, longed and grieved,

Through all that rosy time.

To toil, to think, to long, to grieve,

Is such my future fate ?

The morn was dreary, must the eve

Be also desolate ?

Well, such a life at least makes Death

A welcome, wished-for friend;

Then, aid me, Reason, Patience, Faith,

To suffer to the end !

By Charlotte Bronte...

Some Queries and My Answers...

2010-01-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

Received the following topics, supposedly meant for GDs from one of our students requesting for some guidance. Found them to be quite interesting ones and hence is this post. The queries are hers and the responses are mine...

1. Academic dishonesty the first step in corruption

That's one of the areas where corruption is prevalent...It is not THE FIRST STEP... Academic dishonesty is made necessary by the surrounding system and parents feel succumbed to it. Willingly or otherwise they start being a part of promoting the corruption and the child does not realize this till a certain age...but by the time the child realizes that he/she is a part of corruption, without their knowledge, it is high time...and from there, they continue to become an active part of corruption from there on...in their personal, professional, social and legal life...

2. Should academic freedom be permitted in our higher education?

It should be permitted from the student's point of view...but it CANNOT BE PERMITTED from the government's point of view. What I mean is...if academic freedom is permitted, almost everyone wants to pursue only those courses that are sure to get them job assurance....the consequence is....a SOCIETY WITH NO POETS, NO WRITERS, NO PAINTERS, and very probably NO TEACHERS!!! Can you imagine that?

3. Indian education reforms: one leap forward or two steps backward??

It is neither. They are suffering from lack of a co-ordinated action...from all the parties concerned.

4. Endangered species: who is responsible to protect them ?

What is the problem? Our generation is able to survive without dinosaurs....and the future generations can easily survive without tigers...The so-called food-chain has lost its ability to impact on human being's life...

The flip side of the coin is....if we want to be sentimental about most of the animals we are killing indiscriminately, we, the people, have to be responsible for that.

5. Should the media be censored?

An EMPHATIC NO...But...Yellow Journalism, Extortionist Journalism and Temptation to Over-sensationalize everything SHOULD BE CENSORED. Transparency in everything can be achieved only when the media is allowed to talk about everything...without the diseases mentioned above...

6. Is history a valid tool to plan the future?

It depends on which episodes of the history you would like to pick...The Episode of French Revolution can help us plan the future...but not the Love Story behind the Taj Mahal...

7. Do we lack foresight in planning our cities?

WE DO LACK FORESIGHT IN PLANNING OUR CITIES...

8. Academic pressure : too much to handle

I believe that there are only ACADEMIC DEMANDS...NOT ACADEMIC PRESSURES...If any student calls them to be PRESSURES...it DOES ONLY MEAN that that given student is NOT CURIOUS...And...CURIOSITY IS THE ONLY THING THAT HAS BROUGHT THIS WORLD TO WHERE IT IS...though, with SOME UNWANTED THINGS.

9. Was climate change the cause of the irregular monsoon in India?

I am not that conversant with this issue. It's more technical than I can handle spontaneously...

10. Is our nation prepared to handle national disasters? NOOOOOOO.... 11. Why do we use cellphones while driving even though it is banned?

LACK OF SELF-RESPONSIBILITY...SOCIAL INEPTITUDE....THINKING...BELIEVING AND, WORSE, PRACTISING THAT ONE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ONE REALLY IS TO THE SOCIETY...UNREALIZED SUICIDAL TENDENCY....

12. Should newspapers be expected to reveal their resources?

AN EMPHATIC YES....By not doing so....what they are doing is that they are preventing the society from becoming transparent and encashing it to their benefit.

13. Should public servants have the right to strike? YES....BUT AT LOSS OF PAY... 14. Should tobacco companies be held responsible for smoking related diseases?

AN EMPHATIC NO. IT'S THE SMOKERS AND SMOKERS ALONE THAT SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR SMOKING RELATED DISEASES.

15. The negative impact of television on children It's mostly due to the nincompoop parents... 16. Is reform necessary in judicial nominations?

It's not the reform that is necessary...it is BEING UNBIASED IN NOMINATING that is A DIRE NECESSITY.

17. Is censorship needed in the entertainment industry?

Yes...if the Censor Board and the Government that sets it up REALLY KNOWS HOW THE SOCIETY SHOULD BE....And, that is not the case now anywhere in the world....Therefore...it is a futile one...Read 1984 by George Orwell for more clarification.

18. Should copyright violations by students be penalized? Why students alone? Anyone who violates a copyright SHOULD BE PENALIZED. 19. Do trade unions have a relevance in the current corporate world?

If only they operate the way they HAVE TO AND OUGHT TO operate... Marx and Mao are a part of history; Indian communist leaders are an unnecessary mystery...Trade unions are a necessary headache, as of now.

20. Global warming : a need for change A VERY EMPHATIC YES...

10 Things They Never Tell You, When You Start Work...

2009-11-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

You will be paid the lowest possible amount they can get away with.
You'll never make good money working for other people.
The willing donkey carries the heaviest load.
The above one is not applicable to Senior Management and to some extent the Middle Management.
Get noticed - Get promoted.
You don't go to work to be liked.
Perception is reality.
Information is power.
It's only a game.
Watch the X-Files - i.e. Trust no-one.

Courtesy: Ryan Stephenson

When the Supreme God Committed Suicide...A Blogrial.

2009-04-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

PROLOGUE

December, 1950

One after one the invitees are entering the premises of the massive palace wondering why the meeting has been so urgently needed. This is the second time this kind of meeting is arranged in centuries. The first was held nearly a million centuries ago. Lord Brahma, Gautama Buddha, Guru Nanak, Jesus Christ, Lord Krishna, Prophet Mohammed, Shinto, Lord Shiva and Vardhamana Mahaveera are the only invitees (Names mentioned in alphabetical order).

The auditorium is a big hall whose walls and roof are scarcely visible. They are not transparent. There are no chairs on the dais for anyone to be invited to be seated on. No President, No Guest of Honor, no Speakers; there is only one lectern-like structure.

And suddenly there is heard a thundering sound. The invitees have stopped speculating about the agenda of the ‘URGENT MEETING’ and looked in that direction of the sound.

A giant glow is descending. It is known that it is descending based on the direction of its movement, but not on its movement. The glow has stopped at the lectern-like structure. No formal greetings exchanged even though they have met after some centuries.

The glow has started illuminating and disilluminating, in accordance with the tune of which the invitees could hear the speech.

My Dear Sons,

It was long ago we met when I started the organization named, “THE ASSOCIATION OF PROPHETS.” It was on my directions, you landed on the earth at different times and established your “own (??!!)” religions and made the inhabitants of the earth your followers. So far, I have very successfully played with the lives of those whom I have created. Wrote their writs of fate; changed their providence and successfully have been fooling them for centuries together. I can never forget your contributions in this regard, though of course, you are also a part of my creation.

But, for the first time in the history of my life, I am encountering a problem. “A PROBLEM” for the Creator of this universe! Could you ever think of it?

It was at a week moment yesterday, I, who have been, for centuries together, relentlessly working had a siesta. When I woke up, I found that Satan, in my absence, could somehow hack into my MAIN COMPUTER and marred its software. Of course, after a battle of a few hours, I could track that disaffiliated son of a bitch and could thwart him from causing any further damage. But the damage which should not take place did already take place.

And the consequences…

O MYSELF! (The Supreme God never uses the expression My God!) The result is that my creation is going to become a Frankenstein, out of my control and I, who have been proud to call myself the Supreme God am now an ordinary being.

It is this that has made me call for this URGENT meeting. I state that I have no solutions with me. Every possible solution has been very carefully considered and tried but to no avail.

I am sorry Dear Sons.

It is purely my fault and the worst part of it is that you are going to face the consequences. I cannot see my creation going to dogs, particularly when I am not the cause for that! I cannot appreciate the fact that the DOOMS DAY is arriving much before than I have scheduled it to arrive and I am just an audience to it shedding tears.

NOOOOOOOOOO!

I cannot live to see it. Good bye my Sons. This good bye has not got its usual etymological meaning ‘God be with ye!’ Because, I SHALL BE NO MORE.

The Prophets listening to the speech very carefully are just shocked and for the first time in their life time they have become inactive. By the time they could understand the full meaning of the last statement of the Supreme God “I MUST DIE,” the giant glow started sinking into itself.

THE GOD IS DYING...

NOPE! THE GOD IS COMMITTING SUICIDE. AND THE CREATION OF THE GOD IS NOT AWARE OF IT. ONLY THE MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE PROPHETS ARE AWARE OF IT AND THEY ARE NOT ABLE TO STOP IT.

It's obvious...It IS.

2009-02-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

Spoken greetings are sweet, but those unspoken; yet understood are sweeter...

A VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, DEAR ONE.

Strange as it may sound... I am listening to the first song from Bad Boys Blue, while I am posting this.

It's T.I.M.E for the CAT to get let out of the bag...

2008-11-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

Uncertainty at its peak. A galaxy of paper-setters designing the whole paper to eliminate, not to select. Media, as usual, contributing to the hype and hoopla, if not promoting it. Uphhoo! Yes. It's T.I.M.E. for the CAT to get let out of the bag. Months of hard work. A long journey punctuated with moments of a crisscross of emotions. The day when One is relieved of all this is just round the corner. Dear Students, If uncertainty is the projectile shot at you, presence of mind is the one to be shot back at. If elimination is the goal of those guys, unshakable grit to be counted in is your fitting reaction. Stay away from the media for a few hours. And, here we, the family of T.I.M.E., arm you with the palladium of our BEST WISHES. Waiting for the moment, when you all give us one more reason to smile, to feel proud of having companioned you all through your journey.

What else can be a better incentive for us than your SUCCESS!

Watch in Haste and Repent at Leisure...That's What I am Doing Now...

2008-11-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

Soon after having bought or got (!!) the ticket to a movie, I hear myself say, "at least this movie..." and usually, I come out of the cinema hearing myself say, "Shuks! This too sucks!" There are very few occasions when I could hear myself say..."Ah! This is one of those movies." It is like I enter with a ray of hope and usually end up with a pang of frustration.

Very recently I have been to one movie and I heard myself say, coming out..."Shucks! This too sucks!" And, the familiar pang of frustration hit me once again. That movie is titled to be "Naenu Meeku Telusa?" One thing different about this particular movie is that the director of this movie is one who is a could-have-become (not been) -a-good-friend-of-mine. Ajay Sastry is the name.

THE STORY

It is simple. A part of 50 First Dates, a part of Memento and a part of Gajini and some ingenious episodes of perversion, fathered by some I-wish-I-knew. You have this story ready.

I do not have anything against watching the same story again and again and again. But then, I am really bothered about the presentation. That's where this movie has disappointed...and done it uncompromisingly. The details follow:

SCREENPLAY

When you are there to savour a buffet and find each one of the items served there to be really good, you are sure to leave the place feeling full, happy and probably sleepy. It is a real strange thing with this movie that each frame is really good and the movie, as a whole, leaves you repenting. Amazing feet, not just tried, but achieved too!

Whenever one wants to talk about something that moves very slowly, it is customary to use the expression 'at a snail's pace.' This movie beats snails in that area, particularly in the first half. Even a snail is sure to get bored to eternity at the pace with which the movie m....o....o....o.....o....v.....e.....s, from frame to frame to frame to frame to frame to frame to frame to frame to frame to....

Tired reading this? Well, that was how I felt watching the movie.

ACTING PROWESS

None of the roles is really challenging to any of those that appear in the movie. All that Sneha Ullal - the supposedly lead heroine- needs to do is to walk, stand and look like a final year (reasonably matured) student of graduation reacting to the proposal from a first year (very immature) student of graduation on a Valentine's Day. You sure know how she walks and stands. She has done that perfectly well. My cousin, Sreedhar, has told me that she is considered an ersatz of Ash. Mmm...she looks to be one.

If ever there is any shot when and where she feels a bit uncomfortable...that is only then, when she has to allow the eyes of the crew and the eye of the camera to ogle at her belly-button...in one of the songs. It is obvious even to an ordinary front-bencher that she feels a bit uncomfortable there. For a change, even the camera's eye seems to be hesitating to approach the otherwise forbidden, nevertheless wide open a spectacle.

The zeitgeist of the contemporary times is to think that audience (a stratum of them, i.e.,) love it so much, if the camera's eye lingers there around for some considerable amount of time and then traverses to some other part, oozing a certain degree of excitement at the prospect of visiting some other area, though reluctantly leaving this location. This one is certainly one of the very few living anachronistic directors in this area. The chastity of belly-button is not that much deflowered here. It is just visually caressed and left untouched for the rest of the movie.

After all, not all directors can (or want to!) be Raghavendra Raos. I am really and sincerely happy for the fact that she is not used as a heroine is generally used. Thankfully, it is Mohan Babu's son who is the hero. If only Mohan Babu were to be the hero!!! Well, I leave it to your imagination.

Then there is Riya Sen, another heroine. All she needs to do is to act very lovable, when she is in the presence of the hero and hero alone...and to act like a self-respected girl who is more bothered about her social status and personal image...shooing away the overtures of the hero. Riya Sen does not require to be one with great acting prowess. All she needs to do is to be 'herself' and she IS. There is not even a single scene where her frame is exploited. I really like Ajay there. She is allowed to look as homely as she is in the recent Airtel ad, where she is a married lady, shy even when she talks with her husband.

I have a feeling that there are some people who are severely disappointed at this 'unexpected and unwanted' treatment meted out (!!) to these two heroines. But, I am happy.

Manoj...the protagonist! This is the first movie of this guy I have seen. I was in a state of being surprised wondering at the ease he has shown there, till my cousin, the unfortunate one who accompanied me to this movie at my bidding, told me that this is not his first movie. Boy! This guy is really good. He, sure, has some future, if only he can deal with the politics of Tollywood and the vise-grip of his father.

Brahmanandam...meant to be a comedian. Named Barmani, brother of Armani (!!!), a fashion designer by profession. His acting prowess need not be doubted. But, what needs to be pooh-poohed is the creation of such a role itself. It is revealed to you suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, that this Barmani is none other than the software engineer who was very much troubled by these beggars (Ali&Co) in the movie Pokiri. Since his life was literally screwed up there, he suddenly resurfaces here in this movie as a fashion designer! What an idea!! An idea can sure change lives! I personally know that a very vital part of the crew of this movie is very much at ease with explicit language and that tendency is latched onto this comedian here. In one frame he is made to say.. "I don't like this frock." And, there after on many an occasion in the movie, he keeps saying the same...but pronouncing the word 'frock' as 'f**k.' And it is meant to elicit laughter from the audience! My sense of humour is certainly very inferior. I could not be upto the expectations.

THE SONGS

The single card lyricist is Seetarama Sastry. There is many an occasion, when I felt bad for the fact that some of the lyrics he had written were not from the pen of Dear Veturi. It is not that I like Seetarama Sastry less but it is just that I like Veturi more. The lyrics he has contributed to this movie are really nice, particularly the lyric of the first song. It is just AMAZING. But, when it comes to the picturisation...again...the director is not upto the expectations.

Then there is this remix song, not from Seetarama Sastry, but from Arudra. It was from a 1978 movie titled "Vayasu Pilichindi." This song is one of the very popular songs in Telugu. The Maestro Illayaraja was the music director for this one.

The way this song is treated in this movie is just ATROCIOUS. As the saying goes...there is a very thin line separating creativity from perversion. One witnesses the manifestation of an act of separation of these two here.

The original song carries a mood with it. The protagonist there is about to make love to his beloved, who is very shy about that virgin experience. Though it is a maiden attempt to the protagonist too, he realises that he has to take the initiative to convince the already-convinced but hesitating, for reasons known only to her, heroine for their love-making. It is in this context that the lyric is written. The protagonist sings an anthology of allusions to convince her saying that what they are to do is quite natural and not bad. The lyric, the picturisation and the music by the Maestro himself...Ah! It was, is and will be considered a symphony whose constituent elements are language, meaning, sense, music, feeling and emotion. The catharsis is just how it ought to be.

And this remix of that song in this movie!!! It is a PERFECT EXAMPLE for antithesis. Imagine a group of dancers with a lead male and female dancer. All of them are herpetophobic. This dance floor infested with reptiles and reptiles and reptiles of all sorts. All these dancers, with their lead male and female dancer, desperately trying to jump to a safer location in vain...

If you could see, in your mind's eye, what I have described just above as vividly as I can see it, you understand...how the song is picturised.

The lead female dancer in this song is a girl named Kausha. Do you remember the song picturised on her in the movie Mantra? Not the one picturised on the h***s of Charmie...but the other one. What a colossal waste of an opportunity to recreate a replica of the emotional bond the original song could create in the minds of all those that watched that and could emote aptly!

If only Arudra and the Maestro could watch this movie together...I shudder at the very thought.

THE DENOUEMENT

And then, the climax. The protagonist dons the role of a James Bond to find out the culprit. Bingo! In just some four to five frames...she is caught. By the time you know what is happening around, everything is over. The climax is soooooo suddddden that it does not provide you with any time to feel and emote. But then, you are already more pachyderm now than when you were, when you were watching the first frame of the movie. Hence, very quickly you struggle yourself out of the chords of disappointment, yet again, and you sigh in relief thinking that everything is over and you can have your peace of mind back.

(This reminds me of the attitude of all those that are bored with what they are doing at their office. They try to give an impression that they are working very hard and they continue to do the same till 5.30 in the evening. Then they suddenly start working on what they have to work on and finish it by 6 O’clock. Work never completes. It is FINISHED!! The Director seems to be in a hurry to put an end to this ordeal of directing this movie. Bad…very bad.)

But, wait. You are not that lucky. There is Barmani, the fashion designer, again appears and starts rattling...virtually quite acontextual dialogues. The whole scene almost borders on the highest degree of perversion.

What I had hoped to see and what I had seen?? They do not match, except here and there. The happy thing about the whole issue is that I do not need to write him off, since there are some flashes of brilliance, YES, REAL FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE. I only hope that he sits and introspects and comes up with a better one. I am, here, waiting for his second one. But then, I am, now, also brooding over the loss of two hundred and thirty rupees, as of now. (I have paid for my cousin’s ticket too!)

My first impression on his public speaking skills, way back in 1996, was…THAT’S IT??!! And my first impression on his directorial skills in 2008 is…THAT’S IT??

I congratulate him on his success of becoming a Director and wish him, wholeheartedly, become a real good one, AS SOON AS HE CAN MAKE IT POSSIBLE.

I inform all the readers that the tone of this blog-up is one of concern, but not of condemnation.

Wishing You.......

2008-10-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

ఇష్టదేవతా ప్రార్ధన

సౌరభము లేల చిమ్ము బుష్పవ్రజంబు?

చంద్రికలనేల వెదజల్లు జందమామ?

ఏల సలిలంబు పారు?

గాడ్పేల విసురు?

ఏల నా హృదయంబు ప్రేమించు నిన్ను?

పవన పులకిత చంద్రాతప ప్రసన్న

చారు శారద యామినీ సమయమందు

వీధి వీధుల భాగ్యనగరులో వెదకి వెదకి

చేరుకుంటి తన్ను...

మంజుల సుమామృతములోని మధురిమమ్ము

మధుర చంద్రాతపములోని మార్దవమ్ము

మృదు సమీరమ్ములోని పరిమళమ్ము

కలవు ఓ బాలా! నీ సామీప్యమందు

కొన్ని కిత కితలు...

చందమామ రావే - జాబిల్లి రావే

బస్ లోన రావే - బోర్నవిటా తేవే

కారులోన రావే - కామిక్స్ తేవే

ప్లేనెక్కి రావే - పాప్ కార్న్ తేవే

స్టీమరెక్కి రావే - స్టిక్కర్స్ తేవే

టాక్సి ఎక్కి రావే - టాయ్ పిస్టల్ తేవే

అన్నింటినీ తెచ్చి మా "గడుసుపిల్ల" కివ్వవే!

ఇంకొన్ని కిత కితలు...

కవిగారి కోపం కలానికి చేటు

తంతే పోయి బారులో పడ్డట్టు

తాజెడ్డ నవల పత్రికంతా చెరచినట్టు

తిరిగి సబ్ ఎడిటర్, తిరగక రిపోర్టర్ చెడతారు

పండిత పుత్రుడు పబ్లిషర్ అయినట్టు

పాళీ వెళ్ళి కాగితం మీద పడ్డా, కాగితం వెళ్ళి పాళీ మీద పడ్డా, ముప్పు పాఠకులకే

భర్తొకటి తలచిన భార్యొకటి తలచినట్టు

మంత్రి గారి మాటలకు అర్ధాలు వేరులే

బావా బావా బూర్జువా అంటే, రావే రావే కామ్రేడ్ అన్నాట్ట

క్షుద్రనవల రాసి, ఆంజనేయ స్వామికి అంకితం ఇచ్చినట్టు

కోడలికి చెవులుంటాయ్

ఓటు కొచ్చ్చి నోటు దాచినట్టు

తెలుగు సాహితీ వనంలో విరిసిన సాహితీ సుమాలలో కొన్నింటిని స్వప్రయోజనంకోసం ఉపయోగించుకుంటున్నందుకు, ఆ యా సాహితీవేత్తలకు క్షమాపణలతో...

"ధూమకేతువు" కేతువేయని అలిగి తన మోముచందురుడిని చూపని "తనకి"

పుట్టిన రోజు శుభాకాంక్షలు తెలుపుతూ...

Dedicating this 100th blog-up...wishing her a 100 more years of happy life...

ఎవడు బ్లాగ్ అప్ రాస్తే చచ్చినట్టు చక్కగా ఉంటుందో... ఆ ఆది.

One of THE Spoofs...

2008-10-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

I should admit that it was an instance of serendipity that I have run into this on the 'tube' from google. Watch this and lemme know how you have felt. Waiting for your comments... http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=lpzDXcIJKT0

Coke-O-Cracy??!!

2008-08-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yet...Another Self-proclaimed Saviour (Or, Savorer!!!)

2008-08-17T08:12:00.001-07:00

At last, the curtain has risen (or, been raised?) for another political drama - a much awaited one, though for varied reasons!

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has asked him to come into politics. He has reportedly said that contemporary politics require 'such people as he.' Once this ex-President has so explicitly expressed his opinion, all the clouds are gone. No more dilemma. Otherwise, it would result in the 'unwanted' occurrence of a 'historical blunder.'

Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (a brief bio of Phule is available here, in case you are not aware of him: http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/jyotirao-govindrao-phule.html) are sources of inspiration to him.

Surprisingly, rather expectedly!!!, he has also said that NTR Senior is also a source of inspiration to him in this regard.

Two of the incidents that have DEEPLY moved him - moved him to the point where he has realised that he is DESTINED, not that he has WANTED to, to enter politics are a suicide note of a home guard who has reportedly written in that note that it deeply saddens him that he is dying without having had the opportunity to watch the him coming into politics and an IT Couple (who, while died) in Hyderabad expressing the same wish.

He has very good understanding of the burning topics of the state and he has definite opinions and frame works for all of them.

There is substantial representation for women in his coterie.

He has been serving people through just two organizations so far and it is time for him to EXPAND the activities.

He feels sure that it is his responsibility, obligation, duty and destination to serve the people.

On August 26th, the birthday of Mother Teresa (actually, Mother Teresa herself said that the day when she was baptised would be the day she would consider to be her birthday - Courtesy: http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/motherteresa.html - ) he would announce his manifesto and other details.

YSR is watching. Babu is watching. Balayya (!!) is watching. Jr.NTR is made to watch. Hari Krishna is watching. Krishna is watching. Mahesh Babu, most probably, is made to watch. Left Parties are watching. Devender Goud and TRS are also watching. Vijaya Shanti must be watching. Rajasekhar and Jeevita are already congratulating themselves on their having known that his move would be futile for the precise reason that whatever he wants to do has already been done by Congress!!! Sonia Gandhi must have had a 10-minute telephone talk with those concerned.

Tomorrow the film industry is going to be treated. Speculations must be high. I am yet to hear about the response of Mohan Babu.

Upphooo...Seems like the whole state has got one more reason to escape from their boring routine.

But, I am gonna be busy watching the first one-dayer. The only sad thing about the match is that my Dear Dada is not there in the squad.

May God bless my Dear State Andhra Pradesh.

Nota bene: Ah! What a coincidence. I just hear the song... తరలి రాద తనే వసంతం, తన దరికి రాని వనాల కోసం?! from the movie Rudra Veena on Teja. The meaning of the lyric is "Doesn't the season Spring arrive all by herself to those gardens that cannot go to her by themselves!"

Well! You understand who the Spring IS and who those gardens ARE!!!

Related tidbits:

Now He is one of the directors of the Channel Maa TV (Nagarjuna is also on the board!)

Contrary to what most believe, he knows everything about farmers' problems. His family owned five acres of land and there were times when he toiled there.

He opines that politics in the State are not rotten! And he also opines that there is a need for 'constructive change.' And, the people, rather peoples of Andhra are whole heartedly inviting such a change.

His rivals are poverty and hunger.

According to him (also), there is a yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots and that needs to be cemented, and, it SHALL BE CEMENTED.

He quips that he is not a Robin Hood, but he is the livelihood of poor people!!!

At present there is no idea of any alliances. But, if need be, he does not hesitate. (A very good example of political acumen already. Good news for the prowlers or good news for oneself??)

People are my political gurus. (Honestly, I do not understand the meaning of this.)

The అభిమానం of my people is the money I have... to run my party!!! (Again, I fail to understand this.)

I am not here for power or position or money. (I always suspect the verity and sanity of statements, which are mutually contradicting.)

What is of concern to him is...to do the same things others have done/are doing/say that they have done or are doing...differently.

Signing off for the time being.....

SENSIBLE NONSENSE...(It's not an OXYMORON)

2008-06-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

It all happened a couple of years ago, when I was taking up a grammar class for one of our CAT batches in the "monotonous excitement" (rather, exciting monotony!) of a seasoned teacher with the experience, which is three fourth of my age. I got this crazy doubt.

Why is it called Tooth-brush, when it is actually used to brush teeth, not tooth?!!

That was certainly not the first time I got such doubts, but certainly was it one doubt that deprived me of my sleep for more than 24 hours. I could know the reason eventually, though.

Since then, I have been making a deliberate effort to get and also gather such irritatingly exciting questions and doubts from various sources and it was during one of such escapades that I bumped into this website. What a site!!!

It's just the questions that you see here and you need to think on your own to get the answers. Here am I posing some of those. Cogitate about them and if you have convincing answers, share those with me and your co-visitors of this blog, as comments to this post.

Here they go...

How do you know which armrest is yours in the movie theatres?
If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured, would he/she remember that he/she forgot?
If something "goes without saying," why do people still say it?
If you were a genie and a person asked you this wish, "I wish you would not grant me this wish," what would you do?
Why do people say, "You cannot have your cake and eat it too"? Why would someone get a cake, if they cannot eat it?
Do movie producers still say, "lights, camera, and action", when it is a dark scene?
Why is "number" abbreviated to be "no", when there is no "O" in "number"?
If you went back in time and killed your mother, would you disappear the moment you killed her?
How important does a person have to be before he/she is considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Can you cry under water?
If CD's and DVD's were spun in the opposite direction, would they say/show everything backwards?
Why do people say, "You have been working like a dog", when dogs just sit around all day?
When you snap your fingers, does the sound occur when your middle finger releases from your thumb, or when your middle finger hits the palm of your hand? (Try knowing this without snapping your fingers, please.)
If two identical twin brothers married identical twin siters, would their kids be identical?
Can vampires and draculas donate their blood? (It's too gory, I understand. Still...)
If your plan is having no plan, do you have a plan?
On your mobile, why does A B C start on the number 2 but not on 1?
When a male is elected President and his wife is called First Lady, what would a lady's husband be called, if she were elected President?
What does OK actually mean?
Why do we say "bye..bye", but not "hi hi"?
Why do they call it "bottom", when it is really in the middle of your body?
Why is it good to be a Daddy's girl, but bad to be a Mamma's boy?

Last...and the most intriguing (very probably!!!)...

Why do people point to their wrist, when asking for time, but they do not point to their crotch, when they ask where the bathroom is? (It's only men who do so, of course!)

I have my own answers to all these ones. But, I am very curious to know yours. See you there in COMMENTS.

MY UNIVERSITY DAYS...ONE

2008-05-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

PROLEGOMENON

It was one of those days when I was running my own institute at Narsing Rao peta in my place. I was just recouping from the self-imposed burden of having written 16 exams (B.A., Litt – SSS) in a row and one Entrance Test (AUCET – Andhra University Common Entrance Test). Someone told me that the results of the Entrance Test would be published that day. I was too lazy to go out to buy any newspaper. It was at 6 a.m., and Murali (one of my students) came into the class room all smiling, with a newspaper in his hand. I was reading Kafka at that time. Murali knew my hall ticket number. He broke the news. I topped that test. The first ever so called First Rank in life!!! My Pavlovian reflex to that, as it had been the case with any of my other academic exploits, was…an utterance of I SEE.

So far…so good. The problems started when I decided to wind up my institute to go to university. I did not have proper opinion about the high school and the college where I studied. But, I had high expectations from and respect for UNIVERISITY.

Hence, I was literally in the seventh heaven. Had an abundance of dreams, gatecrashing their way into my dreamy world, rather world of dreams.

I would be among a group of diehard fanatics of English Literature and Language. I would be indulging in intellectual hobnobbing day in and day out. I would have access to mammoth of a library. I would be taught by professors whose didactic disposition would be awesome.

Ah! dreams, dreams and more dreams.

It was the Counseling Day. I was sitting there in Andhra University Convocation Hall with all the certificates required, except my Graduation Certificate, yet to be issued by AU Correspondence Courses.

Then there was this man who approached me enquiring about my name. I said Adi. He introduced himself as ONE of the Student Leaders of BC students of the University. And I, without my knowledge, was born into that manmade stratum of the society. He could get that information somehow. He started counseling me as to why we needed to be friends.

My first ever tete-a-tete with the disgusting side of the University! And, it was just the first one. This series is all about my University Days.

CONGRATS...DEAR ONE...

2008-05-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

It's the beginning....Keep going.... http://www.oratorgreat.blogspot.com/

Highly Recommended...

2008-04-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Am posting here one of the mails Dear Mohan Chandra forwarded to me a couple of hours ago, as it is. I like it so much that I have felt obliged to do his bidding. Please read on and do the needful. Here it goes...

Google is the second Brain to many of us. We use it frequently. It uses white screen which consumes higher power.

Read the following..

If Google had a black screen, taking into account the huge number of pages viewed, according to calculations, 750 mega watts/hour of power per year would be saved.

In response, Google created a black version of its search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version, but obviously with lower energy consumption.

Help spread the word...Use : http://www.blackle.com/

I have visited this link and, trust me when I say...it's really very nice.

Words...Simple Words...

2008-04-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers, Welcome you all to yet another competition. Here I am posting the definitions given to some of the very well-known words in English language. All you have to do is to identify those words and send them to me as a comment to this post. I have not defined these words on my own. I have gathered all these from dictionaries acclaimed to be standard ones world over. The One who can identify the most number of words shall receive a surprise gift. I wish you all the very best of luck, while you may be wishing one another the best of British luck!!! Here we go! The Definitions...

It consists of two rows of metal or plastic teeth that you can pull together to close something or pull apart to open it.
This consists of a long stick with a folding frame covered in cloth.
A ball of air.
One's sense of one's own worth.
A number of pieces of paper, usually with words printed on them, which are fastened together and fixed inside a cover of stronger paper or cupboard.
A square or rectangular container with hard or stiff sides.
A small, very thin piece of polished metal with a sharp point at one end and a hole in the other.
A boy or a man who has the same parent as you.
The hair that grows on the upper lip of a man.
An animal with a long tail which lives in hot countries and climbs trees.
Study of numbers, quantities and shapes.
A pink or black animal with short legs and not much hair on its skin.
A space in the wall of a building or in the side of a vehicle, which has glass in it so that light can come in and you can see out.
A thin flat ring of metal or rubber which is placed over a bolt before the nut is screwed on.
A firm shelled fruit of some trees and bushes.
A series of connected metal rings, used for pulling or fastening things.
A small lump that grows on a plant and from which a flower, leaf or stem develops.
A round object used for throwing, hitting or kicking in games and sports.
A small bag made of very thin rubber that becomes larger and rounder, when you fill it with air or gas.
A long curved fruit with a thick yellow skin and soft flesh, that grows on trees in hot countries.
The part of the body at the end of the arm, including the fingers and thumb.
A type of hard hat that protects the head, worn, for example, by a police officer, a soldier or a person playing some sports.
Used as the object of a verb or after a preposition to refer to a girl or woman who has already been mentioned or is easily identified.
A girl or woman who is admired by many for doing something brave or good.
A plant with white or yellow flowers with a sweet smell, sometimes used to make perfume and to flavor tea.

In dedication to all those students of T.I.M.E. that have been working hard to realize their dreams.

Literary Trivia - One

2008-03-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

In Ireland they try to make a cat clean by rubbing its nose in its own filth. Mr.Joyce has tried the same treatment on the human subject. G.B.Shaw on Ulysses.
An atheist trembling in the haunted corridor...W.B.Yeats about G.B.Shaw
One of those people who would be enormously improved by death...Saki about Ralph Waldo Emerson.
No one can ever write about anything that happened to him after he was 12 years old...by Ignazio Silone.
There are three basic rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are...W.Somerset Maugham.
Do you know that Virginia Woolf (author of To the Lighthouse) and W.H.Auden (Who can forget the poem An Unknown Citizen?) were homosexuals?
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you. Very well-known one. What is not that well-known is who it is by! It's by F.Scott Fitzgerald.
It costs money to die of cirrhosis of the liver...by P.G.Wodehouse. (What I never understand is how Wodehouse could commit this mistake of tautology. It is only the liver that can be inflicted with cirrhosis! It's like saying 'It's raining outdoors')
Do you know about this anagram about T.S.Eliot - The author of Tradition and Individual Talent and The Wasteland - ? It's TOILETS.
Machiavellian is an english word coined after this author of The Prince. His full name is Niccolo Machiavelli. And an anagram of his name is - Me a cool chic villain - You are sure to appreciate this anagram better, if only you know the meaning of the word Machiavellian.
Oliver Goldsmith was arrested in 1776 for not paying his rent, and released only after Dr.Johnson had managed to raise the cash by selling the manuscript of The Vicar of Wakefield for 60 pounds. The Vicar of Wakefield is lauded to be the magnum opus of Oliver Goldsmith. If you are a Telugu, you may be surprised to know that this was the novel that was supposed to have been inspiration to the telugu novel (accepted by most to be the first telugu novel) RAJASHEKARA CHARITRA by Kandukuri Veeraesalingam Pantulu.
The word GIRL appears only once in The Bible, I mean...the authentic version of the same.
Do you know that Lord Byron, Andre Gide, Giacomo Casanova, W.Somerset Maugham, Paul Verlaine, Oscal Wilde, D.H.Lawrence, Yukio Mishima, Carson McCullers and Brendan Behan were all BI-SEXUALS?
Arthur Conan Doyle, Samuel Johnson (better known as Dictionary Johnson), Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway and G.B.Shaw were proficient in boxing!!!
Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for children and interestingly...there is a telugu novel by the same title by Mallik, once one of the backbones, along with Yandamuri Virendranath, Malladi Krishnamurthy, Kala Bhaskar and Uttam, of the weekly magazine Andhra Bhoomi.
Francis Bacon killed a chicken one day and stuffed its cacass with snow in an effort to discover if chilled meat could be preserved in this fashion. But the chicken fared better than he did and he caught a fatal chill, while he was stuffing it and eventually and consequently he died. By the way, Francis Bacon, now, is widely regarded to be the Father of English Essay.
After Percy Bysshe Shelley, more popularly known as P.B.Shelley, died, his wife had his heart preserved. She wrapped it in silk and carried it with her wherever she went.
Agatha Christie dedicated her Halloween Party to P.G.Wodehouse.
E.E.Cummings dedicated his aptly titled book No Thanks to the fourteen publishers who had rejected it...and also to his mother, who paid for its printing.
Victor Hugo wrote his first play when he was only 14. (And, his die-hard fan Ayn Rand determined to become a writer at the age of 9).
Alfred Lord Tennyson, more popularly known as A.L.Tennyson, started composing poetry at the age of 5.
Sidney Sheldon wrote and sold his first poem at the age of 10.
P.B.Shelley suffered from ailurophobia (fear of cats).
A very famous British linguist and playwright once started one of his letters to a lady thus: "Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, Eleanor, Eleanest..." he is none other than George Bernard Shaw!!!
Whatever has been well said by anyone is mine...thus said Seneca.

In dedication to all those moronic zombies that had pretended unsuccessfully that they were capable of teaching English Literature during my Post-graduation days at Andhra University.

ICE (In Case of Emergency)

2008-03-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

One of the best, sensible, though-provoking, philanthropic and very useful pieces of information I have ever come across. Visit the following link to know what it is and please do the needful. All those that have a heart that throbs are sure to get moved and do it. http://www.indiademocracy.org/index.php/question/show/id/216/stripped_title/ice-will-speak-for-you-whenyou-are-not-able-to

YES...A Very Happy Valentine's Day...

2008-02-14T01:16:00.000-08:00

Agreeing that there are innumerable number of stories about those both, I chose one that suits to this blog-up. The God created Adam from dust and Eve from his, I mean Adam's, ribs. Satan, who is actually the leader of the angels, who do not want to be the followers of the God, has rebelled against Him and eventually been thrown into the Hell, along with those angels that have followed him. Satan finds himself in a position of being unable to fight against the God, schemes against the God and decides to take revenge on him by doing something that SHALL prove God be a failure. That is when he approaches Eve in THE GARDEN, when she is alone and seduces her into believing that Adam and She would become as wise as the God by eating the Forbidden Fruit. Eve, eventually asks Adam to get her the Forbidden Fruit and Adam, despite finding himself between the Schylla and the Charibdis, plucks the apple and gives it to her...the very first Valentine Gift that has ever been given by a man to a woman, believed to be his woman.

This world used to be Adam's, until Eve arrived. The rest is both the history and the present and very possibly the future!!!

The world has split itself into two. Men's and Women's. They have started hating each other all the while loving each other. There have been differences of opinion, more differences of opinion and still more differences of opinion. What, inevitably, ensued was a considerable amount of literature of criticism and ridicule by and from each of these against the other.

Let's witness a very minuscule part of that here:

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MENstrual cramps...MENopause...GUYnocologist. And, when women have a real problem it's a HISterectomy. Isn't it interesting to notice that some of the most serious problems of women start with MALES?!!

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What did God say after he created man?

I can do better. What did he say after he created woman?

Shucks! I repeated my mistake. How do men sort their laundry?

"Filthy" and "Filthy but wearable". How do women sort their laundry?

One year old...Six month old...Three month old...Two month old...One month old...one week old...one day old...Ah! I have no dresses at all!!! How can you tell if a man is happy?

Who cares. How can you tell if a woman is happy?

It never happened. What's a man's idea of helping with the housework?

Lifting his leg so she can vacuum-clean. What's a woman's idea of helping with the housework?

Handing over the vacuum-cleaner to him. What's the difference between men and government bonds?

Bonds mature some day. What's the difference between women and government bonds?

They are actually antonyms. One is savings and the other..well, it is said there.

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An English professor wrote the words, "woman without her man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing." The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."

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We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are their rules! Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way. Crying is blackmail. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it! Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of those two ways makes you sad or angry, we always mean the other one. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say...only during commercials. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Aubergine is a vegetable. We have no idea what Mauve is. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but we will act like nothing's wrong. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really. Don't ask us what we're thinking about, unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks. You have enough clothes. You have too many shoes. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

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You may not know that many non-living things have a gender; For example... Freezer Bags -- They are Male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them. Copiers -- They are Female, because once turned off, it takes a while to warm them up again. It's an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can wreak havoc if the wrong buttons are pushed. Tyre -- Male, because it goes bald and it's often over-inflated. Hot Air Balloon -- Male, because, to get it to go anywhere, you have to light a fire under it, and of course, there's the hot air part. Sponges -- female because they're soft, squeezable and retain water. Web Page -- Female, because it's always getting hit on. Subway -- Male, because it uses the same old lines to pick people up. Hourglass -- Female, because over time, the weight shifts to the bottom. Hammer -- Male, because it hasn't changed much over the last 5,000 years, but it's handy to have around. Remote Control -- Female...... Ha! You thought it'd be male. But consider this -- it gives a man pleasure, he'd be lost without it, and while he doesn't always know the right buttons to push, he keeps trying.

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All said and done, women want everything in a polite way. Don't say : What's for dinner?

Say: Can I help you with dinner?

Better say: Where would you like to go for dinner? Don't say: Are you wearing that?

Say: Wow, you look good in brown.

Better say: WOW! Look at you! Don't say: What are you so worked up about?

Say: Could we be overreacting?

Better say: Here's my pay cheque. Don't say: Should you be eating that?

Say: You know, there are a lot of apples left..

Better say: Can I get you a glass of wine with that? Don't say: What did you do all day?

Say: I hope you didn't over-do it today.

Better say: I've always loved you in that robe!

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Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After marriage, the "y" becomes silent. Before marriage, a woman yearns for the man she loves. After marriage, she still does the same.

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Married life is very frustrating: In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.

In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.

In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something she has said. After marriage, he will fall asleep before she finishes. Before marriage, a woman will lie awake all night thinking about something she says. After marriage, she will lie awake thinking about what the man has just said.

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: either the car is new or the wife. When a woman opens the door of the car for her husband, you can be sure of one thing: The car is new.

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Shortest Fairy Tale Ever for a Man Once upon a time a bloke asked a girl "will you marry me?" She said "No" And the bloke lived happily ever after. Shortest Fairy Tale Ever for a Woman Once upon a time a girl kissed a frog to change it into a man and married him. Since then, she never had happiness.

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Cats and Women are alike. See here why? Cats do what they want. They rarely listen to you. They're totally unpredictable. When you want to play, they want to be alone. When you want to be alone, they want to play. They expect you to cater to their every whim. They're moody. They leave hair everywhere.

Dogs and Men are alike. See here why? Dogs spend all day sprawled on the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house. They can hear a package of food opening half a block away, but don't hear you when you're in the same room. They can look dumb and lovable all at the same time. They growl when they are not happy. When you want to play, they want to play. When you want to be alone, they want to play. They leave their toys everywhere. They do disgusting things with their mouths and then try to give you a kiss. They go right for your crotch as soon as they meet you.

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Why Are Men Happier?

Because... Their last name stays put. Chocolate is just another snack. They can never be pregnant. They can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. They can wear NO shirt to a water park. The world is their urinal. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. People never stare at their chest when they are talking to them. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected. One mood all the time. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. If someone forgets to invite them, he or she can still be their friend. They can wear shorts no matter how their legs look. They can do a festival shopping for 25 relatives in 25 minutes.

Why Women Are So Bright...

because... They got off the Titanic first. They can scare male bosses with mysterious gynaecological disorder excuses. Taxis stop for them. They don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing. If they forget to shave, no one has to know. They can congratulate their teammate without ever touching her rear. They never have to reach down every so often to make sure their privates are still there. They have the ability to dress themselves. They can talk to people of the opposite sex without having to picture them naked. If they marry someone 20 years younger, they're aware that they look like an idiot. They'll never regret piercing their ears. They can make comments about how silly men are in their presence.

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Men's and Women's Bumper Stickers So many men, so few who can afford me.

So many women, so few I can screw.

Guys have feelings too, But ... who cares?

Girls have feeling too, and ... I, unfortunately, cared!!

And your point is?

Next mood swing: 6 minutes.

Next mood swing: Soon after hers.

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If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen.

If you want breakfast in bed, sleep with me in the kitchen and wake up earlier.

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So much of disbelief. So much of dislike. So much of fault-finding. Still...still...stilllllllll...the world is celebrating days like Valentine's Day. That proves that there is so much of trust. So much of love. So much of care and concern.

The very first Valentines I could observe very closely from very close quarters are my Mother and Father, in the same order. Both of them used to gossip, not backbite, about each other and I was always at the receiving end. Whenever my Father did that, I could realise how much of misunderstanding was there between them and whenever my Mother did that, I could know how innocent she was. And then, with added degree of curiosity (and necessity!!) I used to observe them whenever they were talking to each other, only to know, to be amused too, that both of them were expert at telling lies. The good thing about the whole thing was that they were all WHITE LIES. But then, the love between them was GLARINGLY EVIDENT.

Thank you Mom and Dad for having made me believe that I CAN BE IN LOVE.

Wishing a VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL THOSE THAT ARE IN LOVE...TRUE LOVE, THAT IS.

True love ceases to exist...when every man and woman become self-sufficient. And this seems to be far from becoming a reality for ages to come. THREE CHEERS TO LOVE AND THOSE IN LOVE.

Dedicated to THE EVE...

A Tribute to a Legend

2008-02-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

It is one post titled to be "Another Legend Goes... To The Island of Souls" (http://www.oratorgreat.blogspot.com/) by Sri Ram that has made me post this.

I wished that I had not come across that post. But then, I was glad that I had run into it. I didn't want to, since it would bring back all those days, weeks and months of playing, playing, playing and playing chess, chess and more chess. Pre-Anand days.

I was 15. That was THE day, when my dad was drunk and I was sober. He taught me how to play only to be defeated after three games. In chess, even an ascetic leading the life of an acedia does not want to be defeated and my dad has never been an ascetic. Acedia?! No way. He is one of the most sensitive people I have ever seen in my life so far. He was only drunk.

He insisted that we should play on (to defeat me, obviously and understandably). I said I would not be able to anymore (my head was reeling). An altercation ensued and it ended in his tearing the board off and my throwing the dice away. As is the father so is the son.

Thereafter, it was a series of wins. College-level, town-level, mandal-level, district-level.....There could have been more plaudits and laurels. But then, there weren't any, for very personal reasons.

I had coaches. Bobby, Borris, Karpov and Kasparov.....I still have those books of their games.

Thanks for the post Dear One...

This reminds me of those winning days and those sleepless nights, when the only thing I had was the company of those games in print and THE Board and THE Dice and nothing and no-one else.

It was by choice, not by default, I mean...being a recluse who was almost leading the life of an anomie.

It is not a game. It is a battle between two minds. And I love such battles.

I have read the demise of this legend in papers. Didn't want to accept it. Your post and my reading it compelled me to ventillate and so I did.

Long live these legends.....in our fondest memories.

New Year Resolutions!!!

2008-01-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

I, actually, do not believe in making resolutions either on the First of January or on the eve of the same, since I DO NOT believe that One, who is really resolute, requires an excuse like an auspicious or a special day to make a resolution only to, usually, wink at, it/them, in due course. I dedicate this post to all those such.....

YET, and it is a big YET, Here comes my resolutions. Some of these are funny and the others are those I am serious about. Just felt that I can afford a private moment on this public forum, hence, is the arrangement. Well...here they go.

I SHALL...

...not cockroach my way through the traffic of Hyderabad

...overtake only from the right

...not spit at any place other than spitoon box

...tolerate those that take my news paper without asking me at places like tea shops

...continue to stravaig purposefully (!!!) and earn my living

...not stick chewed gum to any table or chair in any restaurant, theatre and any other public place

...not keep changing my profile pic in Orkut often to get more scraps

...not write any more testimonials, but accept all those written on and for me

...walk as much as possible so that I can avoid wearing helmet

...get my six pack stronger and more visible. (Don't try to think that the Khan is the source of inspiration for me here. Certainly not. It's just coincidence. I was out of college long ago.)

...continue to plain-outwit, but not outjockey all those so-called smart people

...seriously do something to avoid coming across all those irritating anchors of various channels

...not backbite, unless backbitten

...not indulge in any coffee-machine talk

...continue to watch all movies bating Hindi ones, unless I find a real good reason to break this resolution

...try to the best of my ability to avoid all those whited-sepulchres I have identified

...complete composing the remaining 49

...allow myself to amuse myself watching all those in their rara skirts at 20/20

...not carry any bag to any movie theatre or shopping mall in these twin cities

...continue to hate politicians of all colours

...read only fiction, for a change.(Except, Dilbert and Calvin)

...improve my vocabulary in English, Telugu and Sanskrit

...try having three square meals a day

...continue to adore dear Dada of Indian Cricket

...continue to hate Nancy Friday and disagree with Ayn Rand

...continue to visit the TV, whenever I feel the need to entertain myself, which is not often!

...read only those words with absolute meaning in newspapers, avoiding all those with their meaning being relative (on the lines of what Yossarian in Catch 22 does!)

...wait for the change of government in Andhra Pradesh (more optimistically now than I was some 6 months ago!)

...continue to sympathise with the left parties

...try as much as it is possible for me to avoid coming across the current Indian President in every way it is possible

...rewatch 12 Angry Men as many more times as I can.

...and there are more and more and more that shall join this list...eventually, of course.

Wishing you all make as many resolutions as you can...and of course, not stick to any/some of that/those resolution(s)!!!

My apologies, if it hurts...You should be told that I have also made the resolution to speak only the truth, as I have always been doing for years.

Results of Competition One

2007-12-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

Hi...

I thank all those that have participated in the first ever competition conducted on my blog. I have received 23 mails and some 10 phone calls. Kotta Pali gaaru and Mr. Rohini Kumar have sent their entries as comments.

Mr. Ravi Kanth and Mr.Kotta Pali could recognise 5 songs and have stood second.

The first prize goes to Mr.Narahari who could recognise 10 songs correctly. He has recognised that one of the songs is from kokila movie. But the lyric he has written is of another song. (A song picturised on Krishna, if I am not mistaken). Hence, I am forced not to consider that.

Congratulations Mr.Narahari.

I understand that you are not here in India. Your Prize shall wait, till we can meet here.

Here are the links to the blogs of those that maintain blogs and have responded to this competition:

http://www.blogger.com/profile/02093451343439223665

http://www.blogger.com/profile/16234313422214674604

http://www.blogger.com/profile/15609961348039539206

Here is the list of songs:

చరణ కింకిణులు

చల్లగ వీచే పిల్లగాలికి

సిరిమల్లె నీవే

ఏ దివిలో విరిసిన పారిజాతమో

శివరంజని నవరాగిణి

నేనొక ప్రేమ పిపాసిని

పూచే పూలలోన వీచే గాలిలోనా

మెల్లగా మెల్లగా వచ్చి

హిమసీమల్లో హల్లో

గోపెమ్మ చేతిలో గోరుముద్ద

కన్నెపిల్లవని వన్నెలున్నవని

పుత్తడి బొమ్మ చిరు చిత్తడి రెమ్మ

ఓ మైనా! నీ గానం నీదేనా

If those, who have not seen this post before and hence, have not participated in the competition and those, who have not seen this post before and would not have participated, even if they had seen it then, would like to know what this competition is on may visit the link below:

http://aaaalu.blogspot.com/search/label/Competitions

Keep visiting. Coming back soon with another competition.....

Happy to Introduce...An Alter Ego

2007-12-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

Not all dare provide you with shelter and a job, when you approach them with just two pairs of dresses and some 90 rupees in your pocket. He did it to me. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Not all can tolerate your idiosyncracies by being a roommate...more so, when he pays the rent. He did it to me. A true christian neighbour (I know he hates the comparison...but so be it!)

Not all can be a fierce competition to you with his consummate skillset...even during its budding state...But, he was to me. The One, but for whom the horizon of the firmament of my awareness of intellect could have been narrow just covering my native place and Vizag.

Not all, but I, can be as maverick as he is...DC to Indian Express to Satyam to TCS to ISB to NowPos to.....??(I guess I know, though).

He is one of the very very few guys that have mercilessly prevented me from believing that this world is infested with fools and one of the very very few guys that have, thus, made me know my limitations and, thus, is making me work harder and harder to be there, where we both are journeying to, though on different paths...

What you have just read is my testimonial to him on Orkut. Have been pestering him to stat blogging, since I have not liked the knowledge that he is not here on this blogosphere. At last he did and my happiness knows no bounds. Here is the link: http://oratorgreat.blogspot.com/

Visit it to know who I am talking about.

You Can't Help Accept Them...

2007-12-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

It was during those days, when I had to take up classes on Organizational Behaviour to a batch of students of MBA and Software Engineering to a batch of students of MCA that I came across Murphy's Laws and Dilbert. Dilbert shall wait for some more time.

Touching with Murphy's laws, What a wealth of worldly wisdom! I am posting some of those laws of Murphy here. What makes me like them is their unbelievable; yet, must-be-believed proximity to harsh reality. Of course, that almost all of them are man-caused being an undeniable fact is a different issue.

If you are already aware of these, re-live the happiness of having read them again. If you are not aware of them, get introduced to something that you have, I am sure, missed all these days. Enjoy yourself.

If anything can go wrong, it will.

If anything can't go wrong, it will.

Everything takes longer than you think.

Every solution breeds new problems.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Mother Nature is a bitch.

Smile.....Tomorrow will be worse.

If you explain so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody will.

No matter what goes wrong, it will probably look right.

When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found to have been correct in the first place.

Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it worse.

The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.

Super-competence is more objectionable than incompetence.

Spend sufficient time in confirming the need and the need will disappear.

An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.

Expansion means complexity; and complexity decay.

People are always available for work in the past tense.

A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost.

Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.

An easily understood, workable falsehood is more useful than a complex, incomprehensible truth.

When putting it into memory, remember where you put it.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

When in trouble, obfuscate.

Fools rush in - and get the best seats.

No matter where you go, there you are.

No child will spill on a dirty floor.

How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you are at.

When you dial a wrong number, you will never get a busy signal.

The one who has the habit of snoring will sleep first.

Forgive but, remember.

Read; Listen; Recognise; Mail and Win

2007-12-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

Hi...

If you are as telugu movie song a buff as I am, click on the link below, listen to the MP3 file made available there and recognise the songs. There are as many as 13 songs in that. If you have recognised all of them or any of them, send the details to adiscorpio@gmail.com. If there is only one winner, he/she (preferably the latter!!) shall be invited for a cup of with Adi. If there is more than one winner, they all get an e-card free .

Hurry up and send your mail much before others do and meet Adi at a CCD of your own choice. Here is the link:

http://www.driveway.com/w=pcoyx49997

A Funny Website

2007-12-04T07:48:00.000-08:00

Man is a political animal - Aristotle

By the time I came across this quote, I had already become politically conscious and have been on that stated stance since then (it's more than a decade by now).

And, that is precisely why I have become 'apolitical'.

One of the most repulsive things for me is 'franchising my vote.'

Trust me, when I say that it is very difficult to choose one among a given gang of 'emmeffers' and franchise my vote in favour of the same. The solution I found to this problem is 'being away from that painful ordeal altogether.' (Pardon me for the fallacy of tautology, but it is very much justified here.)

A few hours ago I was going through the list of labels I have started here on my blog and I found some themes, I love very much, to be missing there and I am starting one of those here with this post. The new label is "POLITICS."

I couldn't think of a better way to start this label with a post that introduces you to one of the most FUNNY WEBSITES I have ever come across and its URL is: http://www.ysr.in/

The most amusing part of this site is the "Disclaimer" that is, strategically arranged, at the bottomest part of the homepage of this site.

Striking back soon with another one under this label.....

A Song of Tribute

2007-12-04T02:54:00.000-08:00

Very recently I have started a new label "My Fav Videos" and have been posting the videos of my choice there since then.

Quite for some time I have been trying to find a way to start a new lable "My Fav Songs" also here.

After having roamed like a vagabond on the so called, Information Superhighway , I could, at last, find a way to realise it and here it is available with the first song.

If you are curious to listen to that song, just click on the link below.

If you too like the song, leave a compliment. In case, you don't, leave a comment.

Wishing you have a great time....

http://www.driveway.com/driveway/driveway_widget_account.swf?user=ofjdy69752

Hymn to the Night

2007-12-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

Motivated by THE attire today!! I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls! I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls! I felt her presence, by its spell of might, Stoop o'er me from above; The calm, majestic presence of the Night, As of the one I love. I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, The manifold, soft chimes, That fill the haunted chambers of the Night Like some old poet's rhymes. From the cool cisterns of the midnight air My spirit drank repose; The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,-- From those deep cisterns flows. O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear What man has borne before! Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care, And they complain no more. Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer! Descend with broad-winged flight, The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair, The best-beloved Night! Courtesy: H.W.Longfellow Nota bene: The theme traverses from being romantic at a very personal level to being philosophical in a generic way. One of the poems I like very much.

Snakes and Children

2007-11-29T09:25:00.001-08:00

I grew goosebumps, when I was watching it on TV. These are kids from one of the remotest villages of SRIKAKULAM.....

Optical Illusions - A Real Lovely One

2007-11-28T06:36:00.001-08:00

Quite an interesting one. I recommend you to allow the video to get streamed in completely and then watch.

Pump Up The Volume (MARRS)

2007-11-27T09:37:00.001-08:00

I love this song not for the picturisation nor for its lyric. In fact, both are sick. But I love it for the 'robust beat' that's maintained all through...It makes one feel...tribal and medieval... See the lyric here, if you want to. I do not recommend it, anyway!! http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/americanpsycho/pumpupthevolume.htm

NECROLOGY to SMOKING

2007-11-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Poor One! It's has been more than a decade that it has been there as a companion. And now it has to go.

Break-ups of any sort are always sources that breed lament. But then, if the break-up is for make-up, it has to happen.

They say that old habits die hard. But, they die any way, if they have to. And this one has to.

No pride in the new resolution and more importantly, no guilt involved in what has been done all these days. Getting into it was volitional and so is getting out of it. Nor is there any new-found wisdom involved.

Have all these days been telling all those that have shown concern that 'I am finding a reason as to why I have to...' and now that I have found that...I am writing this NECROLOGY to SMOKING. Ah! How I waited for this moment, all through being optimistically pessimistic!!

Thank you Dear One, for having been there all through my thick and thin.

I quit YOU. SEE YOU.......NEVER.

Note: No comments, compliments and more importantly 'words of concern' are sought for this blog-up. Please spare me there. Thank you, anyhow, for the visit.

నాకు నచ్చిన తెలుగు సామెతలు - Two

2007-11-21T00:47:00.000-08:00

Having seen the overwhelming response to my first ever blog-up on the same theme, I ventured into posting this. Hope that this is taken to be as nice as the first one on the same lines.

పతి భక్తి చూపిస్తా మగడా - చెప్పులు తే, నిప్పులు తొక్కుతాను అన్నదట!

(What a wife?!!)

గాడిదకేం తెలుసు గంధం వాసన?

పగలు చెయ్యూపితే రానిది రాత్రి కన్ను గీటితే వస్తుందా?!

పగవాడ్ని పంచాంగం అడిగితే, మధ్యాహ్నానికి మరణం అన్నాడట!

(Know thy enemies!)

పాండవుల సంపాదన కౌరవుల తద్దినానికి సరి!

(That's what Pyrrhic victory means!)

పుట్టనివాడు, గిట్టినవాడు పుణ్యాత్ములు.

(That's the way of the world)

నగరంలో వీధులు సక్రమమే గానీ, బుధ్ధులు మాత్రం వక్రం.

(Very true!)

అందానికి నేను...పాటకి మా అక్క అన్నదట గాడిద!

(Heights of self-esteem!)

పుస్తకాలు లేని ఇల్లు కిటికీలు లేని గది లాంటిది.

(Thank god! I do not belong there!)

పూబోడి ఎవర్రా బోడి? నీ అమ్మ బోడి, నీ అక్క బోడి అన్నదట!

(Very romantic a girl, isn't she?!)

కన్యాణాం రోదనం బలం!

(I do not know, honestly spoken)

మంచం మీద ఉన్నంత సేపు మగడు, మంచం దిగాక యముడు!

(His reason for getting married. God save the Girl!)

మూరెడు పొంగటం ఎందుకు? బారెడు కృంగటం ఎందుకు?

(Nothing can explain the importance of being adiaphorous more than this)

మంచంపయిన ముసుగులు, మనసులో విసుగులు!!

(Parallel lines, meeting only at night!)

"మగ్గం గుంతలో పాముంది, మగాళ్ళుంటే పిలవవే" అన్నాడట!

(What a husband!)

మొగమాటానికి పోతే ముండకు కడుపయినట్టు!

(If that's what she wants, what's the problem?! Yet another Neena Gupta.)

మిండగాడు డబ్బివ్వకపోతే, మొగుడితో పోయినట్లనుకుంటాను పొమ్మందిట!

(Heights of being practical!)

ముండ మొయ్యచ్చుగానీ, నింద మొయ్యరాదు!

(Heights of self-respect!)

మౌనం అర్ధాంగీకారం!

(Not always!)

మొగుడి మీద కోపం పొద్దుగూకే వరకే!

(It's the need that decides. No further comments!)

అడ్డాలనాడు బిడ్డలు గానీ, గడ్డాలనాడు బిడ్డలా?!

(Very true)

కేర్ కేర్ మన్నప్పుడు బిడ్డలు గానీ, కేర్ఫ్రీలు వాడేటప్పుడు బిడ్డలా? (ఇది మా సూరిబాబు గాడి సృష్టి)

In dedication to all those that are actively using these సామెతలు.....

Dr Alban - It's My Life

2007-11-17T08:24:00.001-08:00

The best response to anyone that crosses or tries to cross one's way.....This song has been one of my most fav songs for more than a decade.....

jamuratri....kshana kshanam

2007-11-10T07:20:00.001-08:00

A girl heavily disappointed; a boy hellbent on getting her back to normalcy; apt and matchless lyric; solacing music by the One that needs no introduction...It's not a song. It's an instument that blesses one with an out-of-the-world experience..... Kudos to the team. Thank you one and all...

Adi Remix Four

2007-11-08T02:14:00.001-08:00

One of the most popular movies of Kamal Hasan in Telugu dubbed into Kannada...The video is of one of the songs from that movie and the song is by Sade.....After having remixed and seen the outcome..I was just happy....

Adi Remix Three

2007-11-06T07:37:00.001-08:00

One Hindi Video; One Telugu Audio....the Telugu audio itself is a remix of one of the most popular songs in telugu...Enjoy yourself.....

Adi Remix Two - Mc Hammer and Chiranjeevi

2007-11-04T10:30:00.001-08:00

One of the most controversial topics in the music industry...First it was Mc Hammer with his "Ice Ice Baby..." Baba Sehgal was accused of plagiarising it with his song...."Tanda Tanda Panee..." I couldn't find a better song for this song from 'Indra', if I am not mistaken...(I am a hardcore fan of Junior NTR, hence I have this selected amnesia for all things related to Chiranjeevi, except the latest topic....)

నాకు నచ్చిన సామెతలు - One

2007-11-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. The two people I have heard using these sayings (I do not just mean the sayings I have mentioned here) as often as they could were my Grandma and my Mother. What used to surprise me always was the aptness of the saying they chose to speak at that given moment of time in that given situation. Honestly, I have not seen anyone capable of dominating these two in this area, though they used to try often. Of course, I have not seen many too! The point I am trying to drive home here is that these are the two people that have made me grow interested in gathering Telugu sayings and I have now got a very impressive list of them and I have chosen a few of them to post here with the innocent hope that all those who still like Telugu sayings get to know these (if only they have not known these already!) and get nostalgic. What you see in Telugu below are the sayings and what you read there in English are my comments. Wish you a happy read.

ఒకనాటి భోగం ఆరునెలల రోగం. (Excellent caption for Anti-Aids programmes) కత్తి తీసి కంపలో వేసి ఏకు తీసి పొడుచుకుంటానన్నట్టు. (We still see this kind of people, don't we?) కడుపు కూటికి ఏడిస్తే, కొప్పు పూలకు ఏడ్చింది. (Woes are woes and desires are disires) కంచిలో దొంగిలించేదానికి కాళహస్తి నుంచి వంగిపోయినట్టు. (Heights of being careful!) కర్రలేనివాణ్ణి గొర్రె అయినా కరుస్తుంది. ("Always be armed" is the recommendation) కరువు కాలంలో ఒల్లని మొగుడు పంటకాలంలో పంపమని వచ్చాడట! (Soooooo loving a husband! Kick him in the ass!) కరణానికి తిట్టు దోషం లేదు; చాకలికి ముట్టు దోషం లేదు. (It's convenience that changes the rules, then and now too!) కాళిదాసు కవిత్వం కొంత; నా పైత్యం కొంత. (Confession of a pseudo poet, maybe, in camera!) కోడలు గృహప్రవేశం - అత్త గంగా ప్రవేశం. (Are they still maintaining the arch-rivalry?) కోరి కోరి బావతో పోతే, కుంటివాడు పుట్టాడట! (As One sows, so does one reap!) కోర్టుకెక్కి గెలిచిన వాడు ఇంట్లో ఏడిస్తే, ఓడిన వాడు వీధిలో ఏడుస్తాడు. (It's true even now. Have you read 'Kanyasulkam' of Gurajada?' కార్యం నాడు తలవంచుకుంటే కలకాలం తలెత్తి తిరగవచ్చు. (I am actualy confused. Is it the boy or the girl?!!) కుక్క వస్తే రాయి దొరకదు; రాయి దొరికితే కుక్క రాదు. (Obvious problem for the Unprepared!) కుమ్మ్మరి వీధిలో కుండలు అమ్మినట్టు. (What a business acumen!) కడుపులో లేనిది కౌగిలించుకుంటే వస్తుందా? (Beware of cosmetic smiles.) కట్టుచీర లేనినాడు పట్టుచీర బయటికి వస్తుంది! (There is more glory in being what one IS, instead of posing to be Somebody else!) కూచిపూడిలో కుక్క - మొరిగినా సంగీతమే! (Maybe, for the innocent, but not for the informed!) కూరకు తాలింపు, చీరకు జాడింపు అవసరం. (So very true!) కుండలో కూడు నిండుగానే ఉండాలి; పిల్లలు మాత్రం గుండులా ఉండాలి! (Heights of being miserly!) కూర్చుంటే వినాయకుడు; లేస్తే ఆంజనేయుడు! (The condition of most of the working people now-a-days) కొండ మంగలి గొరిగినట్టు! (Never heard a better one that talks about the mechanical motions most people are used to!) కొడుకు బాగుండాలి; కోడలు ముండమొయ్యాలి!! (Mmmm...is this still contemporary? Most of the TV serials seem to say "YES") గుడి చుట్టూ తిరిగి, కడుపు చూసుకున్నట్టు!! (Heights of innocence!) చక్రవర్తి చేస్తే శృంగారం! చాకలి చేస్తే వ్యభిచారం!! (Heights of Double standards.) చిత్త చిత్తగించి, స్వాతి చల్ల చేసి, వైశాఖిలో విసరకుంటే, అనురాధలో అడిగినంత పండుతాను అంటుంది భూదేవి.(Going against the nature of one's nature never works out!) చాకలిదాని చక్కదనానికి సన్యాసులు గుద్దుకొని చచ్చారట! (So very true...even these days!) చాకలి తెలుపు, మంగళి నునుపు తప్ప, అయ్య దగ్గర పసేమి లేదు! (Poor guy!) చెప్పి చెప్పి చెప్పుతో తన్నించుకో, మళ్ళీ వచ్చ్చి మాతో తన్నించుకో! (A lesson to be learnt by all those that do what they are not supposed to!) డబ్బులేనివాడికి భోగముది తల్లి వరుస! (That is how the world operates. Know it or perish! Period.) తిండికి ఏనుగు, పనికి పీనుగు!! (I know some three people who are so!) తిట్టబోతే అక్క బిడ్డ, కొట్టబోతే నిండుమనిషి! (It's your fate. Enjoy yourself!) In dedication to my first girl friend - My Grand Ma.... సశేషం...

Adi Mix One

2007-11-02T00:42:00.003-07:00

The very first video remix I have done. It took some 5 minutes. A few clicks here and there. Bingo! There it is!

An FAQ...and My Responses...

2007-11-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

After a long long time, after having received an SMS from her today, I have visited http://arundatirao.blogspot.com/ and have been heavily inspired by her latest blog-up. Since she says that she has plagiarised somebody else's idea and since that somebody, in her words, says that anybody else can plagiarise his idea, I am plagiarising this idea. Here it goes. A FAQ and my answers to them!!!

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it?

I have one. But, wait. Lemme check whether it is on the right side or on the left side. Wait. It is on the right side. Just on my right eye brow. Grandma told me that I was blessed with that scar on my annaprasana day. If you wanna see that scar, just scroll up and see it above.

2. What does your phone look like?

Actually, I have two. Nokia 6270 and a very basic model of Reliance. I use the former to listen to FM and the latter to be in touch with the rest of the world, when I choose to. Can't disappoint my heart-throb there.

3. What is on the walls of your bedroom?

It is yet to be decorated. Waiting for the day, when I do that. Right now...the walls are pure.

4. What is your current desktop picture?

One of the defaults of Windows XP Service Pack 2

5. Do you believe in gay marriage?

Yes. I have seen and heard them happening. But, I am too incompetent to practice it in my personal life. I have a better option.

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

Your finishing to read this and leaving a comment, complimenting this blog-up. A simple wish.

7. What time were you born?

At 12 in the night. Mom told me that.

8. Are your parents still together?

They are.

9. Last person who made you cry?

If I reveal it here now, I will have to repent that. She does not like personal things to be shared with the rest of the world.

10. What is your favorite perfume/cologne?

DNA...with its Top note being Citrus; Middle note being Green and; Base note being Woody and Ambery

11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?

Curly, jet black hair transforming itself into black hair adorned with white hair here and there

transforming itself into complete white hair some day.....

12. What are you listening to right now?

The sound of my typing....

13. Do you get scared of the dark?

An emphatic NO. I love it very much.

14. Do you like pain killers?

NO. Never needed and shall never need them.

15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

YES...Exception is that I should like her.

16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

What she cooks and offers.

17. Who was the last person you made mad?

If I am not making you mad by now....it was She whom I made mad some six days ago.

18. Is anyone in love with you?

Lemme ask her and tell you.....

P.S. The FAQ is incomplete.

A Very Happy Birthday to You Dear ":-)"

2007-10-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Mot/Mob/Mom/Mov are the roots with the meaning 'move'

Promote - Pro+mot+e literally means to move forward

Demote - De+mot+e literally means to move down

Motion - Mot+ion literally means in the condition of moving

Motive - Mot+ive literally means something that moves one

Mob - Literally means a group of people moving

Movement- Mov+ment literally means an instance of being in motion

Emoticon- Emotion+icon literally means a symbol that initiates and promotes a specific emotion

And that's what, and more, this blog-up is all about.

All those who regularly chat on Yahoo Messenger do not require any introduction to 'emoticons.'

These are the symbols that have been accepted, appreciated and adored and have been entrusted, when used, with the onus/privilege of 'being the messengers of the emotions of one this side to the one on the other side.'

"What emoticons do is essentially to provide a mechanism to transmit emotion, when one doesn't have the voice to do the same," says Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University.

He does also add to say that emoticons also give people "the ability not to think hard about the words they're using."

Those emoticons available right there at a click away and some more available a few clicks away, express a panoply of emotions and each one of them has got a birthday.

This blog-up is all about one such emoticon, undoubtedly the most important of all, that was born exactly 25 years ago.

I do not really have any idea as to how many regular users of these emoticons are really aware of the fact that one of those emoticons that represents 'SMILE' was born exactly 25 years ago.

Yes. It was Scott E. Fahlman, a Professor in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, that conceived and used this emoticon ":-)" exactly 25 years ago.

Happy birthday to ":-)", that brings a smile to many a million each day.

And I also extend the wishes to all those that were born the same day and are celebrating their 25th birthday today.

Here is a work of poesy by some anonymous bard dedicated to the same.

Twenty-five years, and still you are in love with your life!

What river does not deepen as it flows?

Each day your love on your life increases as it goes,

Nourishing the lands through which it moves.

The love that lasts is deeper far than passion.

Years pass and it abides beneath the light.

Few know the secrets of its dark delight,

Intent on all the toys that are in fashion.

Vivid lusts yield pleasures that soon cease.

Each year of love on your life yields happiness and peace.

Dear One(s)! One fourth of your life is yore now, reminding you of the remaining three fourth of the same... Wish you enjoy your life to the lees.

పడతి...Prince పట్టెమంచం!!!

2007-10-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

ఏం రమణీమణి, ఇప్పటికి కనికరం కలిగిందా నా మీద? ఇప్పుడు సమయం 10 అయింది తెల్సా?

అవును పట్టెమంచ కుల శేఖరా! అయినా రోజూ ఇంతకంటే ముందే వచ్చి నీ ఒళ్ళో వాలిపోతున్నట్టు మాట్లాడుతావేం?

అదే కదా నా బాధ. నువ్వు పుట్టడానికి సంవత్సరం ముందు నీ కోసం నన్ను ప్రత్యేకంగా తయారు చేయించి మీ ఇంటికి తీసుకువచ్చారు మీ నాన్నగారు. నా కళ్ళెదురుగా పెరిగావ్. నేను చూస్తుండంగానే సిగ్గు బిళ్ళనుంచి లాగుకి, లాగునుంచి గౌనుకి, గౌనునించి పరికిణీలోకి, పరికిణీనించి చీరలోకి పెరిగావ్. నీకు పెళ్ళీడు వచ్చిందని నీకు కూడా తెలిసిందనుకుంటా. అప్పుడప్పుడు చీర నాభి క్రిందకి కూడా కడుతున్నావ్.

నాకు వయసు వచ్చిందని నాకు ముందే తెలిసినా, నీకు వయసు వచ్చేంతవరకూ నిగ్రహించుకుని, అప్పుడు చెప్పాను నా మనసులో మాట. ఇంతవరకూ కనికరించలేదు. సిగ్గులేకుండా ప్రతి రాత్రి నా దగ్గర నిద్రపోయి, ఉదయం నిద్ర లేవంగానే నన్ను ఆ మూల కుదేసి పోతావ్. నీకయితే అంతమంది ఉన్నారు. నాకెవరున్నారు? నువ్వు నిద్ర లేచిన దగ్గర నుంచి తిరిగి మళ్ళా నువ్వు నిద్రపోయేంతవరకూ, ఆ మూల కూర్చుని నీకోసం, మనకోసం ఆలోచించడం తప్ప నాకు వేరే పనేం లేదు.

ఇంతకీ ఏమిటి నీ గోల?

గోల కాదు రమణీమణి. బాధ. వ్యధ. వేదన. ఖేదం. విరహం.

ఆ! విరహమా? సిగ్గులేకపోతేసరి. ఎంత బుద్ధి చెడిన అమ్మాయయినా పోయి పోయి పట్టెమంచాన్ని ప్రేమిస్తుందా?

అను. నీ నోటికొచ్చినవన్నీ అను. నా ఖర్మ. పందిరి కోడి మంచం గా పుట్టుంటే నీ కంటే అందగత్తెలు దొరికుండేవారు. కనీసం నులకమంచంగా అయినా పుట్టుంటే ఈ జన్మకిదే ప్రాప్తం అని సరిపెట్టుకొని ఉండేవాడ్ని. నా ఖర్మగాలి ఈ మధ్య తరగతి పట్టెమంచంగా పుట్టాను. నీ నోటికొచ్చినవన్నీ అను. ఈ జీవితానికి ఒక అచ్చటా లేదు, ముచ్చటా లేదు. "అద్వ్యైత సిద్ధికి, అమరత్వ లబ్ధికి శృంగారమే సోపానము" అన్నారు వేటూరి వారు. ఈ జన్మకి నాకా సుఖం లేదు.

నీ మొహం! ఆయన అన్నది "...గానమే సోపానము" అని.

అవున్లే నేనూ విన్నా అది. అయినా సోమయాజులగారిచేత 'శృంగారమే' అనిపిస్తే బావుండదని, అలా అనిపించి ఉంటారాయన. అయినా ఎవరి థృక్పధం వారిది. సోమయాజిగారికి 'గానం', మీ మేనమామకి 'పానం' నాకేమో 'శృంగారం.' మార్గాలేమయితేనేమి? సాధించేది ఒకటే కదా!

ఓరి కామాంధుడా!

కాదు రమణీమణి కామేశ్వరా!

అదేంటి?

నా అసలు పేరు.

ఆ!! నీ అసలు పేరా??!! అంటే?

చెప్తాను రమణీమణి చెప్తాను.వాస్తవానికి నేనొక రాజకుమారుడ్ని. మా రాజ్యంలో పెళ్ళికాని అమ్మాయిల శాపం వల్ల ఇలా పట్టెమంచంగా మారిపోయాను.

నిజమా?! వాళ్ళెందుకు నీకు శాపం పెట్టారు?

అదో పేద్ద కధ. మన పెళ్ళి అయ్యాక, మన శోభనం రోజు చెప్తాలే.

మళ్ళీ అదే మాట. నాకు తిక్కరేగిందంటే ఎవడ్నో ఒకడ్ని పెళ్ళి చేసుకొని, నీ మీదే నా శోభనం చేసుకుంటా. తిక్క కుదురుతుంది.

నాకు మాత్రం తిక్క రేగదనుకున్నావా? నువ్వు నిజంగా అలాగే చేస్తే...నా కాళ్ళూ చేతులు విరగ్గొట్టుకొని, మీ ఆయన నడ్డి విరుస్తా. నాతో పెట్టుకోకు.

అప్పుడు కుదిరేది నీ తిక్కే. నువ్వంటే నాకిష్టం అని చెప్పాగా. నేను చెప్పినట్టు చెయ్యొచ్చుగదా.

ఏం చెయ్యాలి?

నన్ను ముద్దు పెట్టుకో.

పెట్టుకుంటే నన్ను ఇబ్బంది పెట్టడం ఆపేస్తావా?

అమాయకురాలా!

అదేంటి మళ్ళా?

నువ్వు నన్ను ముద్దుపెట్టుకుంటే, నాకు శాపవిమోచనం జరిగి నేను మళ్ళా రాజకుమారుడ్నయిపోతా. ఇంచక్కా మనం పెళ్ళి చేసుకోవచ్చు.

నమ్మమంటావా?

అవును. నీ మీద ఒట్టు.

ఇంతవరకూ కప్పలకే అలా అవుతుందనుకున్నాను. పట్టెమంచాలకి కూడానా?!! సర్లే. నేను ఆలోచించి రేపు చెప్తా. సరేనా?

ఇన్నాళ్ళు ఆగాను. ఇంకొక్కరోజు ఆగలేనా? సరే. నువ్వు ఒంటరిగా నిద్రపోయే చివరి రాత్రి ఇదే. నిద్రపో.

సర్లే చూద్దాం. Good night.

Good night.

అలా వెల్లకిలా పడుకునే బదులు బోర్లా పడుకోవచ్చు కదా...అతి జాగ్రత్త కాకపోతే!

చాల్లే సరసం. నాకూ అలాగే ఉంది గానీ, అమ్మ తంతుంది.

దొంగ. అంటే నీకూ ఇష్టమేనన్నమాట.

దేవుడా!!

అప్పుడెప్పుడో, నాకు అదృష్టం దురదృష్టం పట్టినట్టు పట్టినప్పుడు, స్వాతి సరసమయిన కధలు పోటీకి పొరపాటున ఈ కధ పంపితే... అచ్చయిపోయింది. అదీ సంగతి.

The Unchanged, Despite the Change!!!

2007-09-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Very recently I chanced to see one of my pics taken from behind by a friend of mine. Then, I saw that myself!

It looked like that brown patch that looks like a well-trodden path planked by green grass in some pastoral setting. The only difference is that here it is eliptical.

One thing that I recollected immediately was a confession of agony by one of my colleagues who was also blessed with the same. And, he was sulking over that. He did not like it!! He is very embarrassed about it.

And, trust me when I say that I am quite happy about that.

I really do not understand as to what is there to feel 'embarrassed' about 'being bald.' Certainly it is not one of those things enlisted in IPC (Read as...Indian Penal Code).

One is born. One grows teeth. One grows pimples. One grows moustache. One gets erections. One starts ogling. One gets nocturnal emissions. One copulates. One does it daily. Then, does it once in a week. Then, one tries weakly. One resigns. One loses interest in that.

One is born. One grows teeth. One grows pimples. One swells at some parts. One gets widened at some other parts. One gets sexually excited. One gets nocturnal secretions. One starts ovulating. One copulates. One participates in it daily. Then, one allows it once in a week. Then, one tries weakly. One resigns. One loses interest in that.

One is addressed as 'baby.' Then as 'akka or didi.' Then as 'aunty.' Then as 'amma or mummy.' Then as 'granny.'

One is addressed as 'boy.' Then as 'anna.' Then as 'uncle.' Then as 'nanna or daddy.' Then as 'gramps.'

It rains much for a few months. It is very hot for a few months. It is too cold for a few months.

One is happy now. Then sad. Then happy. Then sad. One sleeps to wake up to sleep to wake up to sleep not to wake up but to sleep for ever.

One thinks one were wise and comes to know that one is foolish. One becomes relatively wiser and thinks that one were really wise now only to know, after some time, that one has overestimated oneself, and thus, one grows a bit more wise...

Natural Cycles. That's the term. And if one is embarrassed about experiencing these things that are out of one's hands, the only response that can be extended and should be extended is... 'showing pity.'

And that was, is and will be my response to this poor guy.

I have recently come across a wisecrack I mention below. And even this must be from somebody, like my friend suffering from abysmal ignorance, who is ignorant of the fact that all this is there in the very nature of the things.

The wisecrack is..."God has created a few perfect heads..and for the rest, he has given hair."

Only a zombie who is with no understanding about the nature's ways can say this. I am not humoured.

One who can understand the nature in her stark reality can easily appreciate her in all her manifestations.

If conical breasts are crotch-agitating, sagging ones are respect-generating.

If a scalp, which is full of jet-black hair is ego-boosting, a scalp, which is full of white hair, is experience-oozing. A bald head stands in between.

It happens and one cannot do anything against this. All one has to concentrate on really is 'whether one is living a life worth-living or not.'

P.S. And YES...the pic you see there above is mine...long ago it was...

In dedication to all those that are yet to become bald...!!!

ఆసిధారా వ్రతులు...They Come in All Shapes and Sizes...!!

2007-09-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

ఫ్రత్యూష వేళనుంచి, గోధూళి వేళవరకూ...A/C గదులలో అవిశ్రాంతంగా గడిపేవారు... గోధూళి వేళనునుంచి, ఫ్రత్యూష వేళవరకూ...పరిశ్రమించే cyber coolee లు... అహర్నిశలు అహమహమికలు భాషించే, మాటలు నేర్చిన వెర్రివాళ్ళు... అనవరతం నిశ్శభ్ధం మాటున తమ నిజస్వరూపాన్ని దాచుకొనే...అతి తెలివితేటలు కలవారు... 24/7 తమ అస్థిత్వపు ప్రయోజకత్వాన్ని వెతుక్కొనే తాత్విక రోకలిబండలు... ఆయిదురోజుల బానిసత్వాన్ని రెండురోజుల స్వేచ్చతో చంపేయాలని ప్రయత్నించే అభాగ్యులు... I am okay and the rest of the world is stinking అనుకుంటూ జీవితాన్ని గడిపేసే అమాయకులు... అందీ అందని ద్రాక్ష అని తెలిసినా కుప్పిగెంతులు వేసే నిర్భాగ్యులు... అధో పాతాళానికి దిగజారిపోతున్నా, అహం బ్రహ్మస్మి అనుకునే అమాయకులు... అహం బ్రహ్మస్మి అని తెలిసినా, అధో పాతాళంలో స్వర్గాన్ని చూసే నిరాడంబరులు... అంతరాత్మ ప్రభోధాన్ని ప్రక్కన పెట్టి, తీపి మాటలతో, అర్ధవంతమయిన చిరునవ్వుతో సమయాన్ని గడిపేవాళ్ళూ... తిమిరంతొ సమరం చేస్తూ..ఆ తిమిరపు నిజస్వరూపాన్ని తెలుసుకోనివారు... మేము సైతం, మేము సైతం అంటూ...తాము సైతం భాద్యతల నుండి తప్పుకునేవాళ్ళు... యస్మాఛ్చ యేనచ యధాచ యదాచ యచ్చ,యావఛ్ఛ యఛ్ఛ.......... ఛ విధాతృ వళాధుపైతి...అంటూ తప్పించుకొనే ప్రబుద్దులు... నేను సైతం నేను సైతం అంటూ... తాము సైతం ప్రస్తుత సమాజ స్ధితికి కారణం అయ్యేవారు... అసిధారా వ్రతులు...and they come in all shapes and all sizes... And...Who am I? And, where am I?? Am I there?

A Loud Monologue...

2007-08-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

How does it feel when you feel the baby in your womb, struggling to be born?Does it feel nice?

Do you feel apprehensive?

How, do you think, does the baby look?

Does it look like Adonis or Venus, or does it look like a mutated cyclops?

How does it think?

Does it think Kafkaesque? Randian? Dickens-like?

Or, will it be as obscence as Nancy Friday's?

Will it be more kinky than the confessions from the letters to this P House?

Or, will it be as humorous as PGW?

Will it attain the proportions of an epic?

Or, will it be as dwarfish as an article in DC or ToI?

How does it cry?

Does it bleat as feably as a kid-sheep?

Or, does it roar like a lion?

Does it feel like a balm, solacing?

Or, does it burn one to the last tissue?

Will it be able to kill the 'ghosts in the mind' and emerge?

Or, will it strangle itself to death in the tubes?

Will it be a rousing discourse of a born Orator?

Or, a lousy and focusless babble of a demagogue?

Will it be a condescending homily?

Or, will it be a concerned curtain-lecture?

Will it be a Voldemort of the bad against the bad, for a change?

Or, will it be just a Potter of the good for the good, instead?

Will it be a loooooong billet-doux addressing her eye-brows?

Or, will it be a missive of the confession of a pining heart - making another heart pine?

Or, will it just be a suicide-note?

Will it be the Spokesperson of the Sufferer?

Or, will it be the plenipotentiary of the Exploiting?

Will it be hiding its info-poverty behind Google-searched-and-acquaired info-richness?

Will it be as loquacious as a caring Mother?

Or, will it be as enigmatic as a concerned Father's show of love?

Will it be as ever-lasting as those of the Bard?

Or, will it be as ephemeral as those of the Creator of the Godot?

Seasoned Seniors say that it is all there in its very nature. You got to live with that. And, I hear someone saying...YES, I AM LIVING WITH THAT...AND LET THAT BE THIS WAY OR THAT WAY...IT'S MY BABY AND I AM GONNA GIVE BIRTH TO IT...AND IT'S THE CUTEST AND MOST CHERUBIC OF ALL KIDS IN THE WORLD.

Any problem? Well! It's not my headache....

The pangs are on now. The baby is being felt moving and the day when it sees the light is impatiently and eagerly awaited.

On Having Arrived At The Age of 23...

2007-08-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

A true Miltonic sonnet (actually a Petrarchan one) . The Octave describes the anguish and the Sestet comes up with the consolation. The Caesura takes one smoothly from empathizing to appreciating to wishing the Poet the very best of luck. Rhyme scheme is "A B B A A B B A C D E D C E"

Did he prove himself? Of course, he did. His magnum opus is a testimony to it. Paradise Lost.

The only part of this poem I personally keep myself away from is the 'role of the God' - addressed here to be The Task Master.

Dear Reader, read on...

How soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth,

Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!

My hasting days fly on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth.

Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,

That I to manhood am arrived so near,

And inward ripeness doth much less appear

That some more timely happy spirits indueth.

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,

It shall be still in strictest measure even

To that same lot however mean or high,

Toward which time leads me and the will of heaven.

All is, if I have grace to use it so,

As ever in my great taskmaster's eye.

The Teacher

2007-08-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

A career that was 17-year long. Each academic year used to start with hope and expectation. "At least this academic year, I would see THE TEACHER"; and, each academic year ended with the harsh realization "Shucks! This academic year also."

Some tens of teachers. But only two could outstand. One who taught me Telugu and the other who taught me English. When these two were teaching, I felt just the way the speaker of this poem feels. "How could such small head contain that much of knowledge?"

I dedicate this blog-up to those two, rededicating myself to the cause of teaching.

The Village Schoolmaster

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)

Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way

With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay,

There, in his mansion, skill'd to rule,

The village master taught his little school;

A man severe he was, and stern to view,

I knew him well, and every truant knew;

Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace

The days disasters in his morning face;

Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee,

At all his jokes, for many a joke had he:

Full well the busy whisper, circling round,

Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd:

Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,

The love he bore to learning was in fault.

The village all declar'd how much he knew;

'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too:

Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,

And e'en the story ran that he could gauge.

In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill,

For e'en though vanquish'd he could argue still;

While words of learned length and thund'ring sound

Amazed the gazing rustics rang'd around;

And still they gaz'd and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew.

But past is all his fame. The very spot

Where many a time he triumph'd is forgot.

Odysseus a.k.a. Ulysses

2007-07-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy’d

Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;

And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’

Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!

As tho’ to breathe were life.

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil

This labour, by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees

Subdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port: the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Thou Shalt Not Do Unto Others...

2007-07-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

One of the wise sayings I have come across is this: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.

By birth a given individual is related to his/her members of family, and thus is entitled to some rights and some responsibilities. All the other people an individual comes across in life are the ones, of course, the given individual JUST comes across. Relatives, friends, colleagues, all those you come across via someone who is already in your circle, the one that brings paper and milk sachet(s) to your house, the kirana shop owner in the immeadiate neighbourhood, your hairstylist, et al., fall into this category.

By the very nature of the relationship, one is not entitled to any rights and any responsibilities with regard to these people. All one does need to do is to have a neutral attitude and that is where and that is how the relationship has to start. If it is bound to grow into a healthy one, it does. If the otherwise is the case, it does not.

Supposing someone has come into the world I am living in from outside, my initial response is a neutral attitude. I do not have any knowledge about what kind of a person he/she is. Hence, I do not dislike, nor do I automatically like that person. Even if, someone else I already know has said something negative or positive about that person. My reason is that your perception about that person need not be my perception just because I already like you or dislike you. That is a separate relationship and I am starting it with a neutral attitude. Let the other one make me know what kind of a person he/she is through his/her speech and actions. If ever there is anything that can make me form some opinion about that person, it shall be that person and that person alone.

If the intention of that person getting into my world, for whatever the subjective reasons being the motivation be, are negative, I know how to deal with that person. If it is proven through the speech and actions of that person that his/her intention is a wrong one in my opinion, the principles that I am bounden myself to make me tell him that I do not like that. If that person understands and maintains safe distance, it is very much appreciated. If that person is pachyderm enough not to understand that and if that person tries to get back to me straight facing me, or indirectly through other means of communication available in this 'techonologically democratic world!', I feel forced to be obliged to teach him/her a lesson or two.

How I have to teach that lesson is again decided not by my whims and fancies, but by the approach of the person. If he/she is gutsy enough to have a face-to-face talk, I love to deal with him/her that way. Because it is natural and because I love that approach very much. If that person chooses to do the same thing clandestinely, I do not like to remain as an idiot I am not tolerating it in silence or worse, in impotent anger. I shall give him/her what he/she deserves and I shall give him/her it the way his/her approach demands it to be reciprocated.

I believe in 'As are you so am I'. If you do not want my 'tat', don't offer me your 'tit' (pun intended)!

In dedication to "a well-educated moron" I have come across recently. I have told this person that I do not recognize the presence of the same in this world and it is being neglected. I am eagerly waiting for the day, when there is absolute silence from the other end. One does maintain that, if one is wise enough and if one is really as wise as one claims one to be.

The Questions...Answered...

2007-07-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

I had no idea how 'interesting' these questions are, till I received some ten calls from some of the regular visitors to my blog...those who read and never care to comment there. They say they prefer to talk and I love that. It is primarily their curiosity that is making me post this much earlier than it is actually scheduled to be. Well, the first one! Why does a girl close her eyes, when kissed? Stupid question. Yet, it has n-number of reasons. Here they go. She may want to enjoy the kiss with as much involvement as possible. And it is more possible, if she closes her eyes so that there won't be any distraction of the world around them. She loves fantasizing a lot and hence, she escapes into her own world. She does not like to be kissed, but is forced to do that and hence she may do so. If that is the case, she is sure to wait for the 'ordeal' to come to an end at the earliest. She must have seen that in movies, TV Serials, etc., and she may just be imitating, forcing herself to feel the feeling that she does not actually feel! She may not want him to know how she reacts to that kissing and hence, may close her eyes. Particularly so, if she knows that her eyes have the bad habit of showing what she feels. She is not one who is as inhibitionless as Pamela Anderson and hence, may not be able to keep looking into the eyes of the performer and so may choose to close her eyes. (This reminds me of some of the Malayalam movies and a few english movies I saw, when I was in Intermediate first year. What I saw in them amply supports this reason.) And still, there may be more and more other reasons that my mind is not able to conceive. After all, kissing and being kissed is very subjective. Right? So..this leaves us with the second question. When does a girl say య మా తా రా జ భా న స? A real lovely and creative question.I am sure that the dialogue writer of the movie must have got this in his imagination. This is not something that is available in Telugu literature, to the extent I am aware of. And I am aware of a very fair amount of Telugu literature...starting from the ancient ones..till 2002...! Actually... య మా తా రా జ భా న స ల గం is a rule to be used to note the గురువు and the లఘువు in Telugu prosody. A గురువు is a long sound (Mark it! It's a looooooong SOUND.) And, a లఘువు is a short sound. (Again mark it! It's a short SOUND.) య - లఘువు మా - గురువు తా - గురువు రా - గురువు జ - లఘువు భా - గురువు న - లఘువు స - లఘువు ల - లఘువు గం - గురువు So, what do we have here? One short sound, followed by three long sounds, followed by one short sound, followed by one long sound, followed by three short sounds, followed by one long sound. Now read the above paragraph substituting the word 'sound' with the expression 'an erotic moan'. And, think of a couple making love passionately. You SHOULD BE ABLE TO KNOW and UNDERSTAND, when a girl says that and why! If you do not understand, well, you will understand, hopefully some time in future. Thanks for the visit...Keep visiting.

య మా తా రా జ భా న స

2007-07-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

After a long time, I was listening to this song రాధా! ఎందుకింత బాధ?!! from ఒక రాధ, ఇద్దరు కృష్ణులు. If what I know is correct, this song was sung by Kamal Hasan himself. But of course, this blog-up is not on or about that song. It was an automatic response to listening to that song that I started recollecting the context of this song and what would immediately precede this one in the movie.

It's the season of college elections. The hero is the only contestant and is supposed to be unanimously elected, but for the intervention of feminism-influenced heroine who coerces her friend into contesting against the hero. The campaign starts. During one of his speeches, the hero poses two questions to the gathering (most of them are girls and very few of them are boys).

Why is it so that a girl closes her eyes, when she is kissed?

When does a girl say య మా తా రా జ భా న స?

Once I recollected this scene, I slipped into my highschool days when our Dear Telugu Teacher Visalakshi teaching us Telugu ఛందస్సు (prosody).

She was given an apt name, not a misnomer. Her eyes are big, not offendingly big, but very attractively big. She was probably my first crush. So was she to all my boy classmates. I disliked all my girl classmates for very personal reasons.

She taught us ఛందస్సు in some 15 classes in a row in our 7th standard. Still I remember every detail of what she has taught, how she has taught, and even things like what most of my classmates were wearing those days. (Sorry to disappoint you. We had uniform and our Headmaster was a staunch disciplinarian!!)

Visalakshi teacher started with how to differentiate between a దీర్ఘము and a హ్రస్వము . How to note గురువు, లఘువు, గణము, సూర్య గణము, ఇంద్ర గణము. And also how to differentiate among మత్తేభము, శార్ధూలము, ఉత్పలమాల, చంపకమాల, ఆటవెలది, తేటగీతి, కందము, సీసము, మాలిని, మానిని, etc.

I am lucky enough to have been taught by her. No wonder that she is the BEST TEACHER I have ever come across in my life, both as a student and as a teacher.

Her influence on me is so much that even after all these years, I, sometimes, get a kind of feeling that she is there sitting and observing how I teach in my classes. It does not happen often. But, it happens often enough for me to be conscious of what I teach and how I teach. And, I love it so much that I usually thrive in ecstacy when I get this feeling that she is there in the class observing me. Say I am seeing things. I do not give a damn.

In dedication to My Dear Teacher Visalakshi for having blessed me with a joyful, learning experience.

P.S. Dear Reader, if you are curious about knowing the answers to those two questions of the hero of the movie I have talked about above, come back here after a few days. You shall find them here. In case, you are already aware of, share them with me and my readers here.

నీ నవ్వు చెప్పింది...

2007-07-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here comes one of the songs I like very much. నీ నవ్వు చెప్పింది నాతో నేనెవ్వరో ఎమిటో నీ నీడ చూపింది నాలో ఇన్నాళ్ళ లోటేమిటో నీ నవ్వు చెప్పింది నాతో నేనెవ్వరో ఎమిటో నీ నీడ చూపింది నాలో ఇన్నాళ్ళ లోటేమిటో నాకై చాచిన నీ చేతిలో చదివాను నా నిన్నని నాకై చాచిన నీ చేతిలో చదివాను నా నిన్నని నాతో సాగిన నీ అడుగులో చూసాను మన రేపుని పంచేందుకే ఒకరు లేని బతుకెంత బరువో అని ఏ తోడుకీ నోచుకోని నడకెంత అలుపో అని నల్లని నీ కను పాపలలో ఉదయాలు కనిపించనీ నల్లని నీ కను పాపలలో ఉదయాలు కనిపించనీ వెన్నెల పేరే వినిపించని నడి రేయి కరిగించనీ నా పెదవిలో నువ్విలాగే చిరునవ్వు పుడుతుందనీ నీ సిగ్గు నా జీవితాన తొలి ముగ్గు పెడుతుందనీ ఏనాడైతే ఈ జీవితం రెట్టింపు బరువెక్కునో ఏనాడైతే ఈ జీవితం రెట్టింపు బరువెక్కునో తనువు మనసు చెరి సగమని పంచాలి అనిపించునో సరిగా అదే శుభముహూర్తం సంపూర్ణమయ్యేందుకు మనమే మరో కొత్త జన్మం పొందేటి బంధాలకు Movie : Antham Music: R D Burman Lyric: Seeta Rama Sastri Singer: S.P. Bala Subrahmanyam Here is the translated version... It's your smile that has revealed me to myself. It's your shadow that has showed me what I have been deprived of all these days. It's in the hand you extended to me that I could read my ugly yesterday. It's in your walking by my side that I could see our promising tomorrow. It's now I realise that how ponderous a life can be, when it is unshared. It's now I realise that how tiresome a lonely walk is; Show me the sunrise, I need to see, in your eyes; Let me get the epiphany of the moonlight that can melt the darkness of my ignorance of love; Enable me to show you the replica of your smile on my lips; Allow your blush to become the first ornament of my life; I beseech you to lay the path to our new life that can make me doubly responsible to myself! - a new life in which you shall be my soulmate. Dear Reader,

The protagonist on whom this song is shot is an assassin by occupation. He forgot to smile long ago in his life. Being in love and sharing life with someone he can truly like is an alien experience to him. It is into such life of his happens the advent of the heroine.

He realises what he does not have in his speciously complete life and he starts yearning for what he has never thought that he would yearn for.

It is in that context you need to understand this lyric. The movie is ANTHAM. The hero and heroines are insignificant. The Director is RGV, whom I love to hate!!

A Daunting Enterprise...

2007-07-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

It's not exaggerating to say that the discussion of telugu literature is incomplete with out the inclusion of telugu lyric literature. Being an ardent lover of this literature, I have had the privilege of listening to the lyrics of various telugu songs for the past two decades, with as much interest as I have been able to summon. One of the activities I love to the core of my heart and bone marrow is to discuss lyrics of telugu songs. It was during one such session with one of my non-telugu friends, he was making this suggestion.

Why don't you translate at least those lyrics of the songs you like very much?

I instantly liked that suggestion. And that is how this label was born. I have decided to do so mainly for two reasons. One...it would be personally a challenge for me to translate from telugu to english. And Two...it might help all those non-telugu people who are interested in knowing what these telugu lyrics say (slim chance, I believe and, I hope I am not wrong here). And of couse, it's unfortunately true that even some telugu people are ignorant in this area and I hope that this helps them too.

Telugu lyric literature is a crisscross of themes; a roller coaster of emotions and a kalideoscope of feelings. It's sexy and sentimental; voluptuous and vitriolic; erotic and emotional; patriotic and perverted; creative and crotch-agitating; somnolent and sensational; funny and phony; meaningful and ridiculous; nostalgic and prophetic.

Some songs are real social chronicles, informing one the changing values, morals, ethics, norms and practices of telugu society and how telugu society has been responding and reacting to the rest of the world ever changing. The very task of venturing into translating these lyrics into a foreign language, I am not that good at, is quite daunting. Still, I beard the task with all my hutzpah. I hope that it turns out to be a fruitful toil. For the first work.....please get back in some 24 hours. Thanks for this visit and love to see you here again.

P.S. Translation is of two types. True Translation and Free Translation. For all the practical reasons and purposes, I have chosen to follow the latter.

పోకిరి's Love...Continued and Ended.

2007-07-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

This post is a sequel to what you may find here: http://aaaalu.blogspot.com/2007/06/s-love.html

Well...at last I could squeeze in some time to post the sequel. The movie I was talking about above is 'Pokiri', a Telugu movie.

When I say that 'frankness' is one of the important traits, what I mean is this: First of all, I do not believe in notions like 'love is divine'. I believe and practise that it is man-made. Only those individuals who are not aware of the importance of self-esteem, self-sufficiency, self-reliance and individuality become susceptible to acquiesce or accept the self-proclaimed and thus demanded superiority of their respective partners in life (here I mean to cover only those who are in love and those who are married).

I believe that one gets into a relationship with the hope (better say 'demand') that one is accepted as one is. And of course, with the added and unrenegeable promise of being willing to change and change, if they see the need for that.

Need - Not felt by the other person.

Need - Not felt subjectively stemming from consideration.

But, Need - felt due to the need and demand of a given situation.

I do not change because my partner wants me to. I do not change because I want to impress my partner. But, I change only because I am really wrong there and I have realised it now. I change only because the necessity to change my wrong stance is clearly established there.

Once I have decided to look at a relationship I am trying to get into with this attitude, there are automatically some obligations I have to accept and accept gracefully.

One.....I should be clear in my communication to my partner regarding my likes and dislikes, as and when the occasion arises, even during the initial stage of courting, where the risk of losing that person is very high. And I have to do so, only because...the risk is there and it is really high!

Two.....I should provide COMPLETE INFORMATION about myself to the other. Complete information related to my physical, emotional, psychological, familial, social, financial and professional life. This need not and cannot happen in a single sitting. It certainly shouldn't be undertaken like a corporate meeting. (Actually I like is, if only the other person can be game for that.)

It can happen over a period of time through exchanges of talks that happen through various channels of communication during the 'seeing each other time'. I support 'dating'.

After all, to take any decision, one requires to know as much information, related to the given issue, as possible. In case of a relationship, the onus of knowing and providing that information is there on the shoulders of both. I observe her and know some and the rest she tells me and she observes me and knows some and the rest I tell her.

It is exactly here...letting the other know one's real self, the movie Pokiri comes into the picture.

The protagonist is a murderer by official compulsion and he is one who is really good at it. His heart-throb is an innocent one who does not know this part of his life. She innocently hopes to get an educated and handsome guy as her husband. She speaks it out once in the movie.

The protagonist cannot hide the fact that he kills people and when, a couple of times actully, she makes an enquiry into his occupation, he does not speak the truth, nor does he tell a lie. He equivocates.

And then, there is this scene where she asks for a tete-a-tete to speak her heart out. She is just about to get oral about her feeling of love on him, though it has been known to both quite for some time. And then, the attack of the goons determined to terminate him.

For a liar it would be a difficult situation, for he runs the risk of being caught. But for one who prefers to speak the truth, it is an opportunity and a real beautiful one.

Lo! The protagonist thrives in the scene. He starts a marathon of killing. Each goon is dealt with independently. There is this chilling look in his eyes. Each time he gives the final blow in the most merciless manner possible, he keeps staring at his heart-throb, knowing full well that he may lose her for ever. Yet, he thrives.

His actions speak so loudly that she cannot believe what she sees. It's like a pleasant dream distorted into a nightmare. She is shocked and full of tears ready to well up. To shatter her completely, the killing goes on and on and on, till the reality in its pristine form dawns upon her mind. The reality is that HE IS A MERCILESS MURDERER.

Ah! The real test for her begins. Should she go by his actions or should she go by her conscience...that keeps telling her that her choice is not wrong?

To continue to love and to start hating.

Not an easy situation for one innocent and not so worldly-wise a girl to come out from with a decision that shall not ruin her life for ever.

The best part of the whole thing is that 'he hasn't yet revealed that he is actually a police officer'.

Maybe, he knows that a girl doesn't mind a police officer killing people; but she hates a goon killing people. Though, and ironically, it is killing in both the cases. He doesn't reveal his real identity so that she might feel 'relaxed' and might probably 'encourage' him to kill more, and more mercilessly.

And then, it is time for 'Intermission'.

"Does she continue to love him, like she has done all these days?" is the question that haunts the audience for some 10 mins. And then, they get the answer.

Dear Reader, have you seen the movie?

GRE - Wimbledon - Ayn Rand!!!

2007-07-09T02:09:00.000-07:00

One of the pleasant coincidences I was blessed with of late was taking up a morning class (6:15 a.m., to 8 a.m.) for one of our GRE batches on an issue topic that reads thus: "Prestigious awards like Oscar are detrimental to a society, as they give rise to a feeling that only a few deserve the recognition..." (one of the issue topics GRE test-takers have to deal with as a part of their preparation for Analytical Writing Assessment Section) and the same evening I watched the final battle between Federer and Nadal. Ah! What a game! An unmissable spectacle to watch.

Had I watched this match before I had taken up that class on that topic, I would have got a real beautiful example to drive point home more emphatically and convincingly. Not that I could not do it without that example; but, you see, it's just that typical feeling that I missed a real good example.

Ideally speaking, any given society is to be collectively ambitious to realise its best - an achievement possible, only when each of the denizens of that society strives to make it possible, need not be by way of working as philanthropists, but at least by way of striving to do it to himself/herself.

One of the systems designed and put in practice in this regard is the system of conducting competitions in every sphere of human endeavour. A society with no competitions is a society that is sure to be doomed to the most abysmal depth of getting ruined in every conceivable way.

Hence, is the practice of conducting competitions with its dramatis personae being...The Field; The Competition; The Judges; The Winners; The Losers; The Aspirants related to the given field; The Clientele of the participants in the competition and The Rest of the Society.

The Field here covers every sphere of human endeavour, i.e., Games and Sports; Education; Web Designing; Teaching; Computere Science; Even Hairdressing.

The sole objective of conducting competitions should be to set benchmarks for the performers. Since achieving what all that can be achieved is not possible in just a single attempt, a series of attempts are to be made so that the Ultimate Achievement can be achieved Some Day. And, even after that Day, complacency should not creep in. Attempts are to be made so that the same shall continue.

The method of conducting competitions with this objective is to be carefully devised to see to it that a fresh benchmark is set each time the outcome is realised. This method SHOULD NOT BE a predisposed one to a certain category of participants, who do not deserve to participate in that field, for their not having fulfilled the minimum requirements so that they can be allowed to participate.

The Judges are to be either those who are experienced in the given field they are acting as judges or, atleast they are to be aware of the nuances of that field. And most importantly they must be judicious and unbiased.

The outcome of any competition invariably leaves the society both with The Winners and The Losers.

The Winners are those that set a fresh benchmark either by creating a record, if one hasn't yet been established in that field, or by breaking the record, if there is already one available to be broken.

A Winner is not to become conceited and condescending. He/She has to be aware of the fact that there is always room for betterment (till there is no betterment possible - a case, almost not in existence, in most of the fields). A Winner who is aware of this is always humble; He/She SHALL REDEDICATE himself/herself to better his/her record, when there is a betterment available. If there is no betterment available, at least He/She SHALL TRY to repeat his/her performance. (That is what is to be expected from Gibbs of S.Africa.....His six sixes is very much visible to my mind's eye, when I am writing this.)

It's very apt for me to quote here this..."On having been asked, at the age of 83, which one of his works does he consider to be his magnum opus, Frank Lloyd Wright said, "My Next One." That is a Winner's attitude. Humble and more ambitious.

The Losers are those that motivate The Winners to achieve what they ought to. It may sound strange, but, if there are no Losers, there are no Winners.

Like, if there are no fools, some cannot be considered geniuses. Hence, Winners should be thankful to Losers for the reason that but for the latter the former cannot be where they are.

ARE YOU READING, MY DEAR COMRADE?! (A personal question aimed at a friend of mine. Dear Reader...you please go on...!)

A Loser is not to grumble and grudge against the Winner, since it is obviously a very self-destructive trait. Rather, A Loser is to introspect and realise where he/she has gone wrong and with rejuvenated enthusiasm should get back and get back real, with the sole objective of breaking the benchmark set by the Winner.

If both the Winners and the Losers are upto what they are supposed to be, it is a real source of inspiration to all those Aspirants that are now at their budding stage in that given field. If Winners make them know how to win, the Losers do not lag behind. They DO TEACH these Aspirants how not to lose.

The Clientele of the Winners and the Losers are to be ever supportive. Those that support the Winner should do so to encourage him/her to become and remain a Winner and those that support the Loser to encourage him/her to rise against all the odds, to overtake the Winner and then to remain a Winner.

The Rest of the Society consists of all those except The Judges; The Winners; The Losers; The Aspirants and The Clientele. This group may not necessarily take an active part in the system, but it suffices, if they do not become any sort of obstruction. (I hate all those fanatics that spoil a healthy environment of a competition.)

Back to the latest Wimbledon.

Wimbledon has been there for quite a long time now. The System is very well devised. More so with the latest technology available for the latest one. Federer and Nadal were at their best. It went on till the final set. It was never one-sided. The clientele of both these guys were the most sophisticated, one can ever see, in their behaviour (not even a single catcall or booing all through the breadth and length of the Finals).

After the winning shot, Federer could not stand. He just collapsed being ecstatic, being quite suffocated and trying his level best to savour the moment. Nadal sounded dull but did not look depressed. Both made apt statements - The Winner said that he would not become complacent and the Loser said that he would not give up. And Lo! There he was. A hero of the yester years. A hero whose record was equalled. I mean Bjorn Borg. He could not see his record broken as an individual. But, as an ardent fan of the game, in the best interest of the game, he has no other go. He had to accept it with dignity and so he did, when he said, "Records are not meant to be just challenged. They are there to be broken. I hope and believe he can win six, seven or even eight times in a row."

Ah! What a decisive moment! EVERYTHING went on so well. And, that is what a competition held in healthy environment can do to a society.

Dear Reader, imagine that in every sphere of human endeavour, if the result is like the one in the latest Wimbledon, what kind of a society we, both individually and collectively, can boast of. I hope to live to see that.

Bravo You Both Guys. All those sincere Aspirants into the field of Tennis owe you both a lot and sure they shall repay you..... guess how? YES! By bettering your records!!! Cheer them up. You may or may not like it. But Tennis likes it, and the Society requires it.

And now....touching with the Ayn Rand part...did she mean this kind of an outcome, when she said that "The goal of my writing is the projection of an ideal man. And, my philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

In dedication to the Loser Nadal, but for whom Federer could not have come up with his best.

May the Antagonist Too Be Happy!

2007-07-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was mentioning in one of my blog-ups earlier that I love exploring the origins of words in english language. Two of the words that have recently surprised me are PROTAGONIST and antagonist. They have very interesting origins.

Protagonist is the combination of 'Pro' and 'Agony'; whereas, antagonist is the combination of 'Anta' and 'Agony.' The suffix '-ist' in these words means 'an agent.' Protagonist is the HERO and antagonist is the villain. As per the etymological meaning of these words...the villain has his agony, always self-caused and the hero has his agony caused by the actions of the villain.

The villain approaches the HERO with the intention to take revenge, while the HERO approaches the villain with the intention to change him. Only when all the attempts of the HERO have gone futile due to the brazenness of the unabashed and self-irresponsible villain, he resorts to put an end to the life of the villain. And, yes...it is always the PROTAGONIST who has the last laugh.

The public are always 'pro' to the 'agony' of the Protagonist and they are always 'anti' to the 'agony' of the antagonist. 'Anta' in 'antagonist' is a variant of 'anti.'

In dedication to all those antagonists that dabble in fatherless logic to prove that they are right.

Ah! English Vocabulary

2007-06-27T01:36:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite ways to teach english vocab is to teach words by bunches. Since one part of my mind always keeps thinking about words, almost every alternate day I find something that excites me the whole day, and thereafter...forever. One such experience of excitement has happened very recently. Look at the bunch of words below:

Rev

Rave

Crave

Brave

Grave

Craven

Rape

Could you see the thread there?

Well, here it goes!

'Rev' is actually a clipped version for the word 'revolution.' It's defined to be 'to accelerate sharply the speed of.'

You see some object. You like it very much. You start raving about what has revved your emotions/feelings. Since you keep raving about the same, you start craving for the same. Somehow or the other you want to possess it. If you are brave, you try your level best to own it. If you succeed, you celebrate. If you fail, you become grave. If you can take the failure sportively (without overestimating yourself!), you shall come out of that soon. If you cannot take the failure sportively (since you have either underestimated the object or overestimated yourself or a combi of both!), you become craven and start being contemptibly timid, since you are not sportive, scrupulous and manly. And you try raping (in its etymological sense, not in its contemporary sense, which is legal in connotation) the object's reputation. You may even start singing songs like "Kya Hua Tera Vada...!"

P.S. By the way, the following bunch of words is also from the same stem 'rev.':

Revenue

Reverse

Review

Revision

Revolve

In dedication to the One who has inspired me to post this!!!!!

ఆడవారి మాటలకు అర్ధాలే వేరులే ...

2007-06-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

I do not know who has said that...But, I am sure that he/she is an idiot.

Before talking about my observation in this regard, one thing I need to say here is that in any given language, words are of two types in their meaning and sense.

One...words with absolute meaning and sense and the other...words with relative meaning and sense.

Words like, book, pen, pencil, bench, etc., are of the first type.

If I say 'bench', either one understands that to be 'bench', or one does not understand. That's it. There is no room for misunderstanding. That is the case with any word with 'absolute meaning and sense.'

Words like happy, sad, love, good, etc., are of the second type.

If I say 'good', there is no assurance that that word shall be understood just the way, I want it to be understood, for the precise reason that what is 'good' for me is, ususally, not 'good' for my co-interlocuter. Even if it is the same for me and my interlocutor, the degree of that being good is certainly not the same for us. That is the case with any word with 'relative meaning and sense.'

Visualise the following conversation between a steward and a customer and the same steward and a chef in a coffee bar.

Yes Sir!

Please get me a good coffee.

Sure Sir! I shall get a good coffee for you.

Hey! Prepare a good coffee.

Sure! Here it is! A good coffee!

Sir! Here is a good coffee.

Thank you.

How is it Sir? (The steward is, obviously, not sure about his 'good' to be the 'good' of the customer. Otherwise, he would not have said this.)

It's...err...good.

The word 'good' is used here six times by three people together. It's meaning is, all six times, the same. Ironically, it's sense is not. After all, 'good' is a word relative in its meaning and sense.

I do not think I need to state which of these two types is problematic.

Words do have specific meanings for them. The problem is that a given meaning of a word (a word with relative meaning, that is) can have more than one shade of sense for that. This shade is highly context-sensitive.

Let that be men or women, if one is aware of what one is talking about, what one says does always have the same meaning and the same sense. In case, what one says seems to mean something other than the subjectively-intended meaning and sense, the mistake (etymologically...a mistake is something that is taken wrongly) is committed by either of the interlocutors.

Unfortunately, most of the people, both women and men...not just women!, are not aware of this. Sometimes, even if they are aware of it, they just speak the way they want to, since they do not feel obliged to be 'clear' in their communication, for whatsoever reasons they hold.

And then, if a communication event is to be called a succesful one, the listener should understand the meaning and sense of what the speaker wishes to convey, just the way the speaker wishes it to be understood.

And now, the very relevant question. Whose responsibility is it? The Speaker's? Or, the Listener's?

Well! I say it depends. It depends on the occasion and purpose.

If you are a teacher...explaining something subject-related to a group of students, it is your, the speaker's, responsibility.

If you are a marketing exec...trying to sell your product to a prospect, it is your responsibility.

If you are a girl...responding to the advances of a boy, it is the boy's, the listener's, responsibility.

If you are a boy...trying to impress a girl, it is your, the speaker's, responsibility.

Could you see a pattern here?

Well! The pattern is...if you need something from the other, the onus of making the other understand what you mean, just the way you mean it, is yours.

If the other person needs something from you, the onus of making the other understand what you mean, just the way you mean it, is of the other person.

Coming back to the saying in question..., ఆడవారి మాటలకు అర్ధాలే వేరులే..., I say that it is a saying from an idiot, who is probably an MCP.

Being ambiguous is not a trait of just women alone. Even men are quite ambiguous, particularly in matters related to personal life.

Music (Muse + ic).....

2007-06-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

It is but natural that when a word is coined, it is coined to serve a specific purpose. Usually the etymology of a given word gives us the clue as to what it is to be used for. And, it is natural (or, unnatural?!) too that in due course, that given word is made to lose (by insensitive users) its actual meaning and/or shade, and it may start being used with a different meaning and/or shade, possibly...much against the conscience of the word in question.

Think of one such word to be a humanbeing who is forced to behave the way he/she is not willing to. And think of that word. You shall understand this etter.

For one to whom words are just tools to communicate, it is not a big issue. But for one who loves words, such verbicide is really an instance of irritation and more. And, I belong to the latter category. I am happy about the fact that I belong to that category and sad about the fact that I ought to belong there.

Look at the following...

Sluggish...from the root 'lug' meaning 'burden.' Should be used only to talk about those that are lazy, because there is too much of work and too less amount of time available. It's not being.

Indolent...from the root 'dol' meaning 'pain/sad.' Should be used only to talk about those that are lazy, because he or she is sad and hence, inactive. It's not being.

A 'coward' is one who is made to become timid. It is from the verb 'cow' meaning 'to intimidate.' A coward is not a coward by nature, but by the circumstances. That is how it should be used. But, it is not being.

A 'timid person' is the one who is a weakling who shivers at anything beyond his/her capacity. Hence, truly timid. This word is from the root 'tim' meaning 'shake/fear.' It is not always being used so.

I can, despite my being a novice at the study of the etymology of words, talk about some thousands of words which are thus being forced to be used against their conscience!!!

One more such word is MUSIC, I suppose.

This blog-up is actually about that word.

Music is a derivative of the word 'MUSE.'

Muse is one of the nine goddesses of, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who inspires music, drama, poetry, etc., in Greek mythology. Muse does also mean 'ponder or reflect.'

Since 'Music (muse+ic)' is one of the derivatives of 'Muse', if one really goes by the etymological meaning of the word, one does never listen to music perfunctorily.

Certainly not so, when we talk of a song, which is defined to be 'music + lyric.' (Actually, a 'lyric' is some text sung as an accompaniment to the music played on a musical instrument called 'lyre').

Every 'lyric' has a theme. That theme has some emotion attached to it. The music provided to that is supposed to highlight that emotion. And when one listens to that...one is expected to get out of one's current emotional state and gets into THE emotional state oozed by the lyric and the music composed for that.

That's what Music is all about. Getting you out of your current emotional state to get you into THE EMOTIONAL STATE demanded by the meaning of the lyric of the song you listen to and the music composed for that lyric is supposed to keep you glued to that emotional state as long as the song lasts...and, of course, to linger on your mind thereafter.

I do not really know how many of all those 'self-proclaimed music lovers' do really listen to songs the way they ought to. All I can say is...that I DO.

I have actually wanted to supplement this blog-up with a pic of Tumbura (Hindu God of Music), but could not get his pic anywhere. Hence is there the pic of Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of the Fine Arts.

Pose Scriptum: అన్నట్టు...తెలుగులో 'సంగీతం' అంటే...సన్ + గీతం అని. అంటే..గీతం తో పాటుగా వచ్చేది అని అర్ధం.

Cognizance of Love Needs No Ambassador!!!

2007-06-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

One of the telugu songs I like very much..... రాస లీల వేళ రాయబారమేల మాటే మౌనమై మాయజేయ నేలా రాస లీల వేళ రాయబారమేల కౌగిలింత వేడిలో కరిగె వన్నె వెన్నలా తెల్లబోయె వేసవీ చల్లె పగటి వెన్నెలా మోజులన్ని పాడగా జాజిపూల జావళీ కందెనేమో కౌగిటా అందమైన జాబిలీ తేనె వానలో చిలికె తీయనైన స్నేహము మేని వీణ లోన పలికె సోయగాల రాగము నిదుర రాని కుదురులేని ఎదలలోని సొదలు మాని రాస లీల వేళ మాయచేసి దాయకు సోయగాల మల్లెలు మోయలేని తీయని పాయి పూల జల్లులు చేరదీసి చెంతకు భారమైన యవ్వనం దోరసిగ్గు తుంచకు ఊరుకోదు ఈ క్షణం చేపకళ్ళ సాగరాల అలల ఊయలూగనా చూపు ముళ్ళు ఓపలేను కలల తలుపు తీయనా చెలువ సోకు కలువ రేకు చలువ సోకి నిలువనీదు రాస లీల వేళ

The Beatles I'm a loser

2007-06-16T05:58:00.001-07:00

A Great Video from the Beatles. Dedicated to the deserved. He knows it well.

పోకిరి's LOVE

2007-06-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

నిదురించిన నా హృదయమునెవరో కదిలించిన సడి విననాయే

కలవరపడి నే కనులు తెరువగా కంటిపాపలో నీవాయే.

One of the old songs in telugu. These lines are sung by the girl.

"She is not yet in love with anyone. Hence, her heart is oblivious to that sensation 'love' is believed to cause. And one fine day, she gets the feeling that someone has touched it. Being confused, when she opens her eyes (which means that she attempts to know what has happened to her heart), she finds him in her eyes (which means that she realises that she is love with him).

Those who are into love are of three categories.

The first one...these are the ones who find some physical object and fall in love with that.

The second one...these are the ones that feel compelled to love somebody, since it is an in-thing.

The third one...these are the ones who have someone in their imagination and when they find one that matches that imagination, that fall in love with that person.

The fourth one...these are the ones who are the same as the third category; but these are also practical. For these, love is a part of life; but not an end.

The love of the first category is not much different from the love one has on a new gadget into the market. A new model. They fall in love with that. And then, after some time, there is another new model available. They fall in love with that, either forgetting or neglecting or pooh-poohing the first one. One understands what type of love this is! I do not have any proper opionion on this type of love.

The love of the second category is not a feeling of love but an ephemeral emotion confused to be love. Hence, let's talk about something else. Those who are into this are so naive that even when God comes and says..."Let there be light", there won't be any light.

The love of the third category is also NOT LOVE! Your read that right. It is not LOVE. Rather, it is some inkling that tells one that atlast one has got a suitable one to provide everything that is required for one to become COMPLETE. Hence, basically...this is SELFISH and it is NOT BAD.

The love of the fourth category is also NOT LOVE! It is, I reiterate, some inkling (just an inkling..but not an automatic assurance!) that tells one that atlast one has got a suitable one to provide everything that is required one to become complete. Hence, even this is SELFISH, and of course, it is NOT BAD. The difference between the third category and this one is largely there in the way they experience the LOVE they offer and receive and also in the way they attempt to lead it to the next stage..... of living together (it's called marriage by the society).

Many a philosopher has attempted answering the questions...What is love? Why does one love? Is love really required? What are the traits of one in love?

Personally, I believe that...

Love is that one requires to achieve the objective of becoming COMPLETE, physically, emotionally and psychologically. And of course, economically and socially too. I opine that love is selfish.

One loves someone, precisely for the reason that one loves oneself.

Of course, love is required for all those who are ambitious to become COMPLETE in all the spheres mentioned above.

And yes, one who is into love either already has or has to inculcate some traits. And this blog-up is to address one of the traits that is mandatory for one to be a real lover.

That trait is...FRANKNESS.

It was a pleasant surprise for me to have come across a real beautiful telugu movie in which this particular trait required for one who is a sincere lover is so highlighted that the love story between the protagonist and his beloved is both ideal and practical...love of the fourth category. That movie is titled.... పోకిరి!!

The sequel to this post ensues soon....

THE PENTALEMMA...RESOLVED.

2007-06-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Not only is what you do important...but, how you do the same is also as important as what you do.

Being a firm believer in this, I have always been very wary about my being a teacher and the way I teach.

It was during the early years of my career as a teacher (16 years and still counting...), I got into this pentalemma!! Thankfully I could get out of that after a couple of months of various experiments.

A teacher has got five methods of teaching available to him. They are:

Supposing I teach vocabulary.....the five methods available to me are:

I can teach vocab the way vocab ought to be taught

I can teach vocab the way I want to teach vocab

I can teach vocab the way my students expect me to teach vocab

I can teach vocab the way the given purpose of the class (the course I mean...GRE, CAT, etc.)demands it to be taught

I can teach vocab the way the management I work for wants me to teach the same

That's the pentalemma...

What am I supposed to do?

Well, here it goes...

I have yet to come across a student who says that he/she loves vocabulary as it should be loved. Almost all of them look at it as an unavoidable task. They are the victims of the trend...job-oriented education, but not, knowledge-oriented one.

Hence, I cannot teach vocab the way vocab ought to be taught.

I may love vocab very much. But that does not mean that I have a right to force others to love it as much as I do, irrespective of the fact whether they are right or I am right...!!!

Hence, I cannot teach vocab the way I want to teach it.

There is always a difference between how a student wants to learn (in our education system) and how a student has to learn. A responsible teacher always knows the difference. And, one who has become a teacher by need, not by choice, never knows that. Since I do not consider them to be teachers, let's leave them there where they should be.

And there are also two categories of students. Those who really want to improve their knowledge and those who want to manage the exams. Since I do not consider the latter to be students, let's leave them there where they should be.

Now touching with those students who want the teacher to teach in a way that the teaching improves their knowledge in that specific subject and that the teaching enables them to get the desired score/marks/grade they require and hence, they work hard for.

As One who is a teacher by choice, not by need or chance, I love these students and I can easily recognise them when I see them. These are the ones who never allow me to make any nonsense there in the class. Thanks to them, the teacher in me gets to become a better one, class after class.

Assuming that all the students in a given class are of this category, I can teach vocab the way they want me to teach. In case, that is not the case, how I have to teach is class-specific and that cannot be explained here. I humbly say that I am successful there too.

Vocab for GRE; Vocab for CAT; Vocab for ICET...Believe it or not...they are all not one and the same. The teacher has to be sensitive about the demands of the test. What I teach might be the same...but, how I have to teach the same is decided by the demands of the test.

And, touching with the last, i.e., how the Management I work for wants me to teach...

The management always says only one thing. "I am least bothered about how you teach. But, the student should never say that you are not good." I, with all the love I feel for the subject, cannot say 'No' to this, since what the management says makes a loooooooooooot of sense business-wise.

So....what should I do? How should I teach?

Should I neglect The Subject?

Shoudl I neglect Myself?

Should I neglect My Student?

Should I neglect The Context (GRE/CAT, etc.)?

Should I neglect The Management?

This is The Pentalemma....!!!

I am very happy that I know what to do.....

Dear Reader, if you want to know, what I do...you have to be there in my class to observe.

Thank you for having spent your time to read this.....

By the way...today is International Bloggers Day. Hence, I dedicate this blog-up to all those that have been blogging relentlessly, whatever their purposes be!!!

Thank YOU...

2007-06-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

It's like the parched land...at last receiving showers...

It's like the weeping cookoo regaining its throat to sing melodies...

It's like an emburdened soul relieving its burden through tears...

It's like a lonely hand getting another one to walk hand in hand...

It's like the 'flip' of a heart getting a 'flop' of another to beat in unison...

It's like the lyric of a song getting entwined with the music born for it...

It's like the choking of a heart finding its voice in another heart...

It's like the day hugging the night of the same...

It's like the darkness of the night highlighted by the brightness of the day...

It's like the idea, dying to be expressed, finding apt words to express the same...

It's like the hungry hunger being offered a sumptuous meal...

It's like the yearning-to-sleep eyes caressed by drowsy sleep...

It's like......Well!!...the rest is toooooo personal....!

Dreams Never Sleep...

2007-06-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

You do not know, which motherly lap you will be born into. It is destined and predetermined by the all-knowing and all-doing hand that adumbrates your fate and fortune and the task of your being born is carried out through an act of copulation between two beings, possibly parallel lines meeting each other only at night.

And then, you were born. You were born being oblivious to the fact that you would never get what all you want and what all you would subsequently want from your life. It seems to be quite natural that you can always only know whether you can like what you have got or not. But, you never automatically get what you have always wanted. Through your infancy, your girl/boyhood, your adulthood...you remain the same, never being able to do and get what you have always wanted to do and get and never being able to go and grab what you actually want.

And then, you have your first wet-dream (physical and intellectual...need not be at the same time and the same night. Intellectual wet-dream??!! YES, I meant it.).

You WAKE UP and start trying taking things into your hands. You start attempting things to happen for you. By this time, you have heard it enough that, 'life is what happens to you, when you want something else to happen.' You do not believe it. You are sure, in all your innocence, that you can make it happen for you. You get into the self-chosen routine.

You try. Try hard. But then, the reality mocks in your face. You acquiesce (not accept!)your defeat. Refuse to accept it while the rest of the world is a witness to that. But you confess it to your unwilling and intransigent conscience. It revolts and you sleep to repress it. It forces you to dream - A wishfulfillment of your desire, as Freud says. You dream and dream and dream - dream relentlessly. And you wake up knowing full well that the best and only way to realise your dreams is to wake up and act upon them.

You wake up and start acting upon them. The harsh reality of life takes everything into its hands. You watch helplessly - without losing your enthusiasm, helplessly though!

You sleep. And you repeat the cycle...

YOUR DREAMS NEVER SLEEP. Either you stop dreaming, or you continue dreaming, knowing full well that you will have to dream it again and again, till the dream realises all by itself that it better not be dreamt anymore!

Reason...? Long ago, the last of the trinity named Aristotle said that, 'Man is a social animal.'

Solution...? Have a dreamless sleep.

Dear Reader, I DO. DO YOU?

శిశుర్వేత్తి, పశుర్వేత్తి, వేత్తి గాన రసం ఫణి

2007-05-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

When I was listening to one of the songs from AMAV, I suddenly got nostalgic and recollected all those days we four used to sit on the 'bars at Nehru Chowk' at my native place and dissect the meaning of the lyrics of various songs...old and contemporary. It continued for some 4 years and then we had to part our ways...for aught reason. Since then, listening to the lyric of a given song and trying to understand the same has become as routine to me as I breathe in and breathe out. And, now it has attained the status of being one of my ventillations. If you are a telugu song buff as I have been your saying so tells me that you enjoy this post. Read on. If you really want to get the best out of this reading, try recollecting those songs these lines are from. And, if possible, listen to those songs immediately. If you really do so, I am sure, as sure as A.B.Vajpayee is still unmarried, that you enjoy this as much as I have done. Here do they go! నిదురించిన నా హృదయమునెవరో కదిలించిన సడి విననాయే కలవరపడి నే కనులు తెరువగా కంటిపాపలో నీవాయే. Soooooo indulgent! Even her He can't help her! తేనెవి నువ్వో తేనెటీగవో తేలేదెలా లలనా? వెన్నెల నువ్వో వెండిమంటవో తాకే తెలుసుకోనా? Mine is both!! తొలిపూత నవ్వే వనదేవతల్లే పున్నాగ పూలే సన్నాయి పాడే ఎన్నెల్లు తేవే ఎద మీటి పోవే She did!! పాల బుగ్గలను లేత సిగ్గులు పల్లవించగా రావే నీలి ముంగురులు పిల్లగాలితో ఆటలాడగా రావే నిదుర మబ్బులను మెరుపు తీగవై ఆలపించినది నీవే.. బ్రతుకు వీణపై ప్రణయ రాగములు ఆలపించినది నీవే... She did again!! ఆ కనులు పండు వెన్నెల గనులు ఆ కురులు ఇంద్ర నీలాల వనులు ఆ వదనం అరుణోదయ కమలం ఆ అధరం సుమధుర మధు కలశం... No exaggeration. జనకుని కొలువున అల్లన సాగే జగన్మోహిని జానకి వేణుధరుని రధమారోహించిన విదుషీమణి రుక్మిణి రాశీకృత నవ రసమయ జీవన రాగ చంద్రికా లలిత లావణ్య భయత సౌందర్య ఖలిత చండికా... Yet again! ఔననవమ్మ ప్రతి మగజన్మ విసుగెత్తక ముందేఒకదానివైతే నువు మోయలేవు బరువైన ప్రాయం మొగమాటపడక అడిగేయరాద మగవాడి సాయం! Hope she is listening to this! ఛిన్ని చిన్ని రేకుల పూవులన్నీ ఆడుకుందాం రమ్మన్నాయి తలలూపి కొమ్మ మీది కోయిలమ్మ నన్ను చూసి పాడుతోంది గొంతు కాస్త శ్రుతి చేసి Lucy Gray of Wordsworth. Let her be there in her own world! గోరువెచ్చని ఊసుతో చిన్ని ముచ్చటనీ వినిపించనీ ఆకుపచ్చని ఆశతో నిన్ను చుట్టుకుని చిగురించనీ So does he wish! తనలో ధైర్యం అడవికి ఇచ్చి, తన ధర్మం చట్టానికి ఇచ్చి ఆ కలహం చూస్తూ సంఘం శిలలా నిలుచుంటే నడిచే శవాల సిగలో తురిమిన నెత్తుటి మందారం ఈ సంధ్యా సింధూరంవేకువవైపా చీకటి లోకా ఎటు నడిచేవమ్మ గతి తోచని భారతమా? From one of the BEST PATRIOTIC SONGS I have ever listened. నంగనాచిలా నడుమూపి, నల్ల త్రాచులా జడ చూపి, తాకి చూస్తే కాటేస్తానంది

చీమలాగ తెగ కుడుతుంది, పాములాగ పగ బడుతుంది, కళ్ళు మూసినా ఎదరే ఉంది..

తీరా చూస్తే నలకంత నల్లపూస, ఆరా తీస్తే నను నమిలేసే ఆశ

VERY TRUE!

జారుపైట లాగనేలర?..ఆరుబయట అల్లరేలర..?

ముద్దు బేరమాడకుండ ముద్దలింక మింగవ..?

No way! You know it better or, you better know it.

నా ఊహకు వాయువు వేగం, నా చూపుకు సూర్యుడి తాపం

నా చేతికి సాగర వాటం, నే సాగితే తప్పదు రణరంగం...

No exaggeration. Thank you. So am I. కన్ను కొట్టిన నన్ను కుట్టవ రేగే తూనీగ

అందం మందారంలా కందేందుకే అందిస్తున్నగా

Really?! You have never told that before. తలుపేసుకుంటే నీ తలపాగుతుంద

మదిలో నువ్వుంటే స్నానం సాగుతుందా

నీ విషమే పాకింది నరనరమున

ఇక నా వశము కాకుంది యమ యాతన

లేనిపోని నిందలు రానీ హాయిగానే ఉంది హానీ

Fine. At last you confessed. May I be of any help to you?

సాకేదొ సెప్పమాకు సందెకాడ

సోకంత దాచుకోకు ఆడ ఈడ

అడ్డమయిన సిగ్గు నువ్వు సూపమాకు

అడ్డుగొడ పెట్టి నన్ను ఆపమాకు

అలవాటు చేసుకోవమ్మో...

For once, why don't you listen to me?!

ఏడేడు వారాల నగలిస్తే రమ్మంట

హారాలకి అగ్రహారాలు రాసిస్తా

అందాల గని తవ్వి చూసుకో

నీకందాక పని వుంటే నన్ను చూసుకో

You should see the picturaization of the song. Senior NTR and Jaya Malinil. The emphasis here is on అగ్రహారాలు...Hope you understand what she states!

ఫై పై....ఫై పైన సంసార బంధాల కట్టేవు నా పలుకు చెల్లునా నారాయణా

THE ULTIMATE one on Husband - Wife relationship. Hat's off!

కాల్చే సుర్యుడ్ని కడలిలో ముంచవా

సాగే రాత్రిని కాముడై ఏలవా

When did I say NO?!

సీతాకోక చిలుకా తీసుకుపో నీ వెనుక వనమంత చూపించగా

ఆ మొక్క ఈ మొలక అన్నీ తెలుసు కనుక

వివరించు ఎంచక్కగా

కీకారణ్యంలో నీ రెక్కే దిక్కై రానా..

Hat's off Seetarama Sastry...

వాటేసుకుంటే వాత్సాయనం

పరువాల గుళ్ళో పారాయణం

రవి కనని రచన సుమా

Thank you very very much for having allowed me.

ముద్దుతో శృంగార బీటు కొట్టగానే

చీరలో మూరకో చిటపట...

నింగినే సంపెంగ రంగులెయ్యగానే

ఎందుకో దేనికో అలసట

I guess it's known to both!

In dedication to విశాలాక్షి, the one who taught me Telugu and to వేటూరి, the God of telugu movie lyrics.

INSEPARABLE

2007-04-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's Aphrodite and Hermes Gravity and the earth Innocence and child Whiteness and the colour White Trust and a relationship Profundity of thought and Philosophy Faithfulness and dog Symmetry and design Integrity and humanbeing Item song and Bollywood flick Obscutantism and Salman Rushdie Bliss and Teaching Cunningness and fox Sophistry and Ayn Rand Meaningless fun and Hyderabad pubs Braindrain and our IITs Coquettishness and L.R.Eswari's voice Fragrance and Flower Ventillation and Writing Stupidity and our professors in AU (Dept. of English) Unconditional love and My Grand Ma Eccentricity and Ram Gopal Varma Serenity and The Voice of M.S. Cacophony and most of Hyderabad DJ's Frustration and Our Ex-CM Sexiness and Saree (Not all Sarees and not all girls!) No-nonsense and My Blog-ups Mass Culture and Deccan Chronicle Subjective Criticism and Snobbery Dogmaticism and Our CM Amitabh Bachchan and Mass Hysteria Waste of time and Reading my Blog-ups (Not so, if you were I!) Wisdom and Talking to me (If you can't believe it, I cannot help it!) Google and Business Acumen (Not that there ain't anymore...but, it's just my pick.) Undeserving recognition and Sonia Gandhi Conciseness in expression and two-piece bikini A Sight to watch and Sixer by Dear Dada

And there are more and more and more and more...

Dear Reader, I am sure you can as well come up with your own list, if you start noting down now, go ahead. But, please be polite enough to thank me for having provided the inspiritation...

By the way, somewhere there is something personal about this blog-up and there is nothing official about it.

In dedication to the Person who has, unknowingly, suggested the topic...

CONDUCTING SYMPHONIES.....

2007-03-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

One of the integral elements of my circadian rhythms...'being unwilling to sleep beyond 5a.m. any day.' I admit that there are exceptions. But, they are rare and they should be days exceptional.

The motivation?

Well, mostly it is the prospect of addressing a group of students, starting at 6.15 till 8, in the morning. Day in and day out...this has been how my day has been starting for the past mmm...14 years.

Stephen Leacock may get rattled at the sight of money. But, I get excited at the sight of an assembly of students. The more the number, the higher the degree of excitement. Sometimes it is so much that scales may burst!

The challenge?

Yes, there is this challenge. Just before I greet them with 'cosmical wishes', this bout of apprehension. 'Can I make it again?' Then, it's gone. I take an umbrella look at the gathering and behold a world of looks, expressions, clusters of non-verbal signs. It's apprehensively amusing. Excited faces, somnolent bodies, penetrating stares, don't-look-at-me warnings, let-the-hell-be-over-at-the-earliest messages, glances of curiosity, so-you-teach-me looks.

Ah! Not that easy to face the assembly. But then, I love to. And hence, I start. The challenge of composing and conducting yet another symphony starts!

The process is simple. Ensure how you want to see them at 8. Start. Continue. End, with a highnote. Then, just leave them to feel the 'pregnant and positive silence and all the beauty in it.' They should be happy not because you have stopped talking; but because they need that break to savour the moment.

The beauty of speech lies in the serenity of silence. And a cacophony of silence can be metamorphosed into a symphony with a well-made conversation.

It makes me feel immensely happy, when it strikes to me that I, the teacher, am not alone in conducting these melodies of interactions.

You are a doctor. You diagnose your patient to know the symptoms. You go into your patient's future and see him there hale and hearty. Then you come back to his present and start the treatment.

You start the symphony.......to continue.......to end on a highnote.

You are a marketing guy. You approach a stranger. You see a prospect in him. You timetravel into his future. You see him accepting your offer there. You come back. You get his consent to initiate.

You start the symphony.......to continue.......to end on a highnote.

You are a designer. You are with your client's need understood. You have a design. You go into his future. You see him there smiling, shaking hands with you, mumbling his thanks. You start weaving a dream...the dream he likes; the dream he wants; the dream he needs...

You start the symphony.......to continue.......to end on a highnote.

You are a lover. You have your partner. You recognize her need. You get her consent. You slide into her future. You see her there with clenched fists; half-closed eyes with beads of sweat on her, here there and everywhere. You come back to her present. Well! If you are a capable lover...you should know the rest!

You start the symphony.......to continue.......to end on a highnote.

Ah! When I look around me, I see an abundance of these conductors in various walks of life. There are lawyers, there are mechanics, there are classical dancers, there are chefs, and so on and so forth.

I dedicate this post to all my co-conductors in various walks of life.

And, I exclude all those teachers, doctors, designers, lovers, lawyers, mechanics, classical dancers, chefs and so on and so forth who conduct not symphonies but, cacophonies.

There are people who are something by choice and there are also people who are the samething by default. What do you say?

InterATM

2007-03-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Some time ago, in one of my blog-ups I was predicting that corporate world's next mantra, touching with its customer relationship would be 'pampering thy customer'. One of my recent experiences has proved that it is already there in practice.

A coupla weeks ago, a close friend of mine was enquiring about various investment plans available with banks. It was for the purpose of providing her with complete info about them, particularly mutual funds, I approached The World's Local Bank. It was there I could see this 'Pamper Thy Customer' in practice.

Ah! The after taste of the chocolate, offered by an embodiment of female enthusiasm, wearing a sleeveless top, on some branded, faded jeans, is still lingering on my mind, though not on my taste buds.

An interlocution that lasted 10 mins..I could understand that the offer was not viable, since it was not what my friend was looking at and for. But, at a personal level, this bank-girl and I could become friends. It was friendship at first sight!

Wait! This blog-up is not about me and the girl.

It's all about a mischievous thought I could get, while I was indulging in that informally formal discussion with her. We are living in an age where humans are getting dehumanized; while computers are becoming more and more humanized. To be able to see Universal Soldiers (read...cryonics), bioborgs and cyborgs, we do not seem to wait for too long. The world of David Mitchelle in his 'Number 9 Dream' is seemingly just round the corner.

It's gonna be a world where "Digital Decisions, Insourcing, Flexicutives, Permalancers, Productive Narcissists, Archityranny, Hypersurface Architecture, Trash Art (www.eco-artware.com), Massage Menus and Bankaurants are to become too common.

This blog-up is all about one of the things that is going to become too common in such a world. It's about InterATM (All rights on this word are reserved!!).

InterATM is a portmanteau between 'Interactive' and 'ATM'.

Hence, InterATM is an ATM that interacts with its customers. It actually talks to them!

With the convergence of Voice-enabled technology, Biometrics and ATM, this is a heavy possibility...why in the future...even now. Let's see how this experience does taste.

Here it goes!

I am zooming in on my bike with my GF behind. I wanna withdraw some bills from my ATM and I stop my bike there and start mounting the stairs, with her, of course. A camera arranged at some hidden place takes a shot at me and my GF; my image is sent back to the Server, which assures the machines here at the ATM that I am a bonafide customer, but not an intruder. Then, the speakers get activated and start talking...talking to me.

Hi Adi...

What's up Maan? Long time, no see!

Hi...yup! I haven't been this way of late, since I was busy.

Okie. Hey! Who's that chic with you Maan?

Shut up! It's none of your 'business'.

Err.. Okie. Sorry Dude. Well, you want her to be in with you?

Yup!

Are you sure that it is safe for you?

What do you mean?

Ok...ok. I got that. Sorry yaar. It's just a precautionary measure.

Well! Here it goes!

(the doors slide apart and I enter, with my GF. Once I enter, the monitor addresses me!)

Hi Adi, welcome. How may I help you?

Hi..Well! Err...gimme 5k. All in hundreds.

Are you sure that you want to get 5K Adi?

Of course, yes.

Well, Mr.Adi...I tell you that you will be left only with 165 rupees in your account, if you withdraw 5K now.

Hence, I repeat, 'Are you sure that you want to get 5K?

(I am visibly embarrassed and throw a queer smile with an inscrutable face at my GF!!)

Of course, yes.

Well, Mr.Adi...here it goes. Before honouring your request, I am to inform you that your money-withdrawing habits have got pattern that is possibly trouble-causing to you in future. I recommend you to allow one of our behaviour therapists to talk to you in this regard. If you are interested, please feel free to call up at the number assigned for that purpose. You may find the numbers in the e-mail we are sending to you shortly. We hope you will use that facility. And, your request. Just a few seconds.

(We hear some whirring sound for some time, and then, there comes a mechanized hand towards me with 5K in its hand.)

Here it is Mr.Adi.

Thanks Dude. Bye.

Well Mr.Adi..just a minute. Would you be interested in answering a few questions? I assure you that we shall be through with them in a jiffy.

Fuck! Fine. Shoot them.

Well, did you like the voice quality that you have been welcomed in with?

Mmmm...yes.

Well, could you recognize the owner of the voice?

Mmmm....wasn't it of Rani Mukarjee?

Yes. It is. We couldn't get a huskier one.

Wow! Yes, I liked that.

That's it. Thank you Mr.Adi. May I ask you where you are heading to?

Mmmm. Of course, yes. We are heading to TI for a disco.

That's great. I am jealous of you. Well, the family of Our Bank wishes you a very happy dancing experience. We extend the wishes to you too Ma'm. Thank you. (My GF's response.)

You are welcome Mr.Adi and Ms..?

"Well, I am Anamika." My GF said with a mischievous smile.

Ok. You are welcome Mr.Adi and Ms.Anamika. Have a great time and keep visiting me every now and then.

Sure and thank you. (My GF and I in chorus!)

Uphhh! Well, that's what it is. An InterATM.

How does that experience sound to you?

Decide for yourself. If you are a luddite, just as the protagonist of 'I Robot', you definitely do not like it.

And, I remain here...with mixed feelings.

The Creator

2007-02-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Man had an edge over other animals and has conquered the earth with one weapon. This weapon is called.....Reasoning (Courtesy:Ayn Rand)

How true it is! Power of reasoning, unquenchable curiosity, dare to question, willingness to persevere, being info-rich and above all, capacity to dream.

But for the possession of these traits by atleast some humanbeings, mankind would have still stayed back there in the caves themselves.

The difference between an ordinary humanbeing and the One possessing the traits above is that the former waits for somebody to come and do something and the latter be that person.

Phenomena - Observation - Hypothesis - Experiments - Invention/Discovery/Modification

One with scientific bent of mind observes various phenomena (physical and abstract) seen and perceived. The journey to 'create' starts there and thus.

During the observation, if he finds an opportunity to invent/discover/modify, he goes onto the next stage.

The next stage is formulation of a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a dream yet to come true. (No wonder that the chief root for 'hypothesis' is 'theo means God, the Creator)

Based on the hypothesis, experiments are undertaken now.

It's very rare for one to succeed during the first set of experiments itself. The outcome of various stages of these experiments may make the hypothesis be unchanged or finetuned, or, sometimes it may so happen that the hypothesis itself may be completely changed.

It's a long process demanding focus, patience and perseverence.

The state of the mind of the One involved in the process of creation is very unique.

He is the only one who seems to be confident of what he is going to achieve. The response of the rest of the world is either neglecting or ridiculing or discouraging or pseudo-wishing or a combination of all these.

It's a long journey.

Now he is elated and now he is depressed. He spends hours and hours of time staring into the space. He suddenly gets a flash of an idea. He is not sure whether that works out or not. But, he hates to think so. He self-doubts, but, still...jumps into action. Time passes by.

It's frustrating. It's thrilling. It's depressing. It's exciting. It's an oscillation between, 'Why should I? and 'Why shouldn't I?'. He often finds himself between...'Can I?' and 'Why not?'.

Just the moment when he thinks he has done it all, he notices things going wrong. He bursts into tears. He goes mad. He wipes the tears off and stands with clenched fists.

The Creator...in the company of his own self. Making something or breaking himself.

And then, it happens one day.

The creation of this Creator sees light.

The cycle of innovation completes.

The population of the world is in crores, but, the number of these Creators is in thousands!

It is to that small number of Creators that enable this world to run....I dedicate this post.

Corporate DNA a.k.a. Enslaving!!!

2007-02-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

Catch a dog wooing it with whatever it needs and/or likes. Feed it with sumptuous meals for some days at fixed timings regularly. When you are sure that the dog has got itself addicted to that, one day delay offering the food for some time. The dog starts salivating..........

Who is this behaviourist? Yea, Pavlov.

Feudal Days

The slaves and the peasants (I mean, Free Slaves!) were the dogs and the Landlords were the trainers.

Industrial Era

The slaves were the Workers and the Capitalists were the trainers.

Current Era (with IT being the most dominating of all )

The slaves are the Associates and the Corporates are the trainers.

Across the ages, the story has been the same.

Consumers have become unreasonably demanding and unpredictable. Dog-eating-dog competition among Organizations is prevalent. Capturing a healthy chunk of market share has become an uphill task and retaining the same...a Herculean one. The margins are paper-thin. Customer is a hardnut to crack. An avaricious fellow. Doesn't know anything, but still dictates the terms. An idiot basically, yet, challenging even the best Managment Gurus and even defying most of their predictions and analyses.

Poor Corporates!

Their actual wish is to kill the customer.

And their slogan is "Customer is the King".

"Customer Satisfaction" is a thing of past. "Customer Delight" is the current slogan. I presume that "Pamper Thy Customer" to be the future one.

What to do? How to survive? How to capture the market? How to retain the current market share? How to grab the market share of the competitors? These are the most imprtant challenges the contemporary corporates of free-market economy are facing.

Now, this is the time to talk about Factors of Production.

Land - Labour - Capital - Enterprise (Organization)

You cannot negotiate with Land

You cannot negotiate with Capital

You wield control over Enterprise

And, yes....you can dictate Labour

How do you go about it?

Yes. And, then how do we go about dictating them?

Simple. Catch them, when they have the need. Woo them offering fat cheques. Then, introduce them to the "system" in practice. See to it that they do not cause any aberrations. Always address them "Dear Stakeholders". Have a system duly implemented and fully functional to have an exact understanding about the 'bargaining ability' of your corporation vis-a-vis the 'bargaining ability' of the Associate. Whenever they are found causing aberrations, treat them suitably.

When you do not require them, threaten them in the name of firing.

When you require them, offer them a fatter cheque and thus keep them with you. Remember, the fatter the cheque, the weeker their 'bargaining ability' in due course.

Manufacturing, Banking, Insurance, It, IT-Services, Education.....Irrespective of the domain the condition is the same, since the practices are the same.

One of the latest terms - a very glorified one - to describe this process of enslaving a humanbeing to a corporate is "Corporate DNA".

Corporate DNA, in its naked form, is nothing but enslaving an employee of a corporate to the processes, practices and systems adopted to that extent wherein he/she practically is devoid of any personal life.

When they are jerked out of sound sleep in the morning, the first thing they hear is not the cooing of the beloved, but the cacophony of the boss.

For a novice, who relies on the info available on and off-line, Corporate DNA might be a very fascinating term. But for one who is on the floor, this is one term that should send tremors into spine.

Yet Another Valentine's Day...

2007-02-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

Grandma told me that I was upto the rhyme as a kid. "Chubby cheeks, rosy lips, eyes are blue, dimple....", with the exception of the blue eyes. Mine are black. Naturally I was the most wanted Kid Valentine for all the unmarried girls in our locality! After all, kids are the most riskless Valentines then, now and ever. So I celebrated the first 6 Valentine Days of my life in style. Trust me, I can still feel the wetness of those kisses on my cheeks and whenever I recall them, I only remember the "O" of a pair of pouting lips...approaching my waiting cheeks and I don't remember the owner of those lips. The best part of the deal was that they used to request me to kiss them in return. God! Was and am I blushing! And then, I celebrated my 7th birthday. Happiness gone. I was elderly enough not to become approachable. There were new kids on the block. All my Valentines left me leaving my pining heart to myself. It took full 3 years for me to come out of those blues. On having had 10 years of acquaintance with this planet, I, one day, said to myself, "Hereafterwards, Adi! Thou shalt get a Valentine for thyself by thyself." The search started. Year after year after year passed by. No Valentine. It has been 16 years since my advent here onto the earth. Shame shame...puppy shame. I rededicated myself to the cause and started trying more vigourously that year. Lady Luck smiled on me! I could get one Valentine at 17. She promised to go out with me that day...but, given the sensibility of our town, she would not come to Shanti Park, because it was full of "lovers" (this surely sent me into murderous mood. But I did not like the idea of killing my self-chosen Valentine all by myself.) She would not come to our riverside,since some of her relatives were residing nearby! She would not meet me in a movie theatre, since she did not like it for some reason! (I think it is the semi-darkness that must have crossed her mind!). I kept on proposing various locations and she kept on disposing. Finally, just before I was about to burst into tears, she said, consolingly, that she would meet me, wherever I wanted her the following year! I wished her happy Valentine's Day and shooed myself away, cursing my stars. I swore that day...."No More Valentine Days in Life" and I stuck to that for some 8 years. Then, it happened. I was 25 and she was 24. She saw me and I looked at her. She stared at me and I glinted at her. She glared at me and I goggled at her. She fell for my looks pleading helplessness. After all, she was so irresistible for the Adams of this world (so she used to think of herself!). Who cared? Love at fourth sight. Then, I asked her out. Bingo! We were out. This time, the location was Visakhapatnam. Large enough for us to be able to escape from prying eyes. So, she had no objection (only because she had no problem!). Again! Who cared? All I wanted was a Valentine. We both were right in our ways. And then, we were Valentines to each other! The day started with a ride to beach. She was waddling there and I was watching 'the most beautiful feet' in the word (I lost my aesthetic sense temporarily). Then we took a stroll there. Then, we went and saw "There Is Something About Mary". And then, it was almost 8 in the night. She was firmly standing on the ground and I was challenging earth's gravitational force. Then came the revelation. "Thank you Adi. Thank you for your company. You were so nice. I almost forgot him. Poor fellow. I wonder what he is doing at Kolkata now. Should be returning tomorrow. Well, hey! don't forget attending our marriage, Okna? Ouch! it's almost 8;10. See you. Bye." I mumbled a 'week bye', and on having seen her off shouted into the air.

NO MORE VALENTINES FOR A LIFE TIME. I am chaste till date! Wishing all those Psyches and Cupids (I mean...their respective Cupids) a very Happy Valentine Day.... Adi. Valentines CAME and Valentines WENT. THE VALENTINE stays there forever. I dedicate this post to THE VALENTINE.

A Moment of Nostalgia

2007-02-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

“Saar…, this is my cousin and he is Adi Babu by name. He seeks a job here in our factory.

I see. What is his name?

Adi Babu.

What boy! What do you do here?

What ever you say saaaaaaar!

Abbo! Can you carry a weight of some 50kgs?

Yes Saaaaaaar.

Are you sure?

I think so Saaaaaaaaar.

Ok..ok. Let me see. Come from tomorrow. Three days I shall watch you. If you are good, you will continue. Otherwise, you don’t. You understand that?

I will pay 5 rupees a day and 1 rupee as beta. You have to work mostly with brittle material. If you break anything, you will lose its worth from your wages. Understand?

Yes Saaaaar.

Go for now”.

That was the first ever job interview I have faced and I was through!

That was my native place. It was a cool-drink manufacturing company. I was barely 15 year old. And, it was pre-LPG period, when License Raj was ruling the roost.

The next day I started working. I was first asked to arrange the empty bottles of different brandnames (Raja, Thumbs Up, Limca and Ginger) into crates made of wood.

Don’t get confused. These were the brands known nationwide at that time and for the customers that bought the cool drinks of our factory, they were luxury items to buy and consume and hence, they used to buy these, called by the same names, appeared in same colours, available at cheaper prices…1 rupee, 80 paise, 60 paise and 50 paise respectively!, but did not taste the same. And, no-one cared.

Thus, I started with the job of a ‘Segregater’, at the salary of 180 rupees a month.

Segregater, Carrier, Bottle-washer, Pourer, Arranger, Driver, Wheeler, Catcher, Porter, Van/Lorry Driver and Collection Agent were the designations prevalent. None of us ever heard of any five-figure salaries. 180, 180, 180, 240, 270, 330, 240, 270, 240, 240, 330 and 360 were the wages offered to those with the designations mentioned above, respectively. All in rupees.

It took one full one-year for me to get promoted from the lowest to the highest designation and I worked there thereafter for one more year.

First job. Just two years. But, it taught me most of what the contemporary corporate world talks about in quite obfuscating manner!

The HR policy was simple. Hire and Fire.

We had ‘assembly-line’, thanks to F.S.Taylor and Henry Ford Senior!!

I learnt Team Work (mostly, how to prove that you were better than the others were, though you did not work sincerely!)

I was a part of the KM (Knowledge Management) implementation by our Management (just three guys, the sons of the founder). Every worker with minimum work ex of 3 months was completely aware of the processes and the work-flow details.

Within some 4 months or so, I got complete understanding of our Supply Chain.

Just by working for some 16 months, I was able to understand Consumer Behaviour.

We never felt the need for Disaster Management, since we were always on tenterhooks. We did not have any unpredictable problems and we had ready-made solutions for any problem that cropped up.

If I had to recall any problem that really troubled us…it was one Summer night. We were working in Night Shift. There were exactly 14 workers (mandatory for one plant to run). And two of them suddenly fell sick. We had to run the plant with just 10 people to meet the commitment of 290 cases (One Case was two dozen bottles). We had to work like machines till 6 a.m. in the morning from 8 p.m. the previous night.

Even today, when I get nostalgic about those night duties, I grow goosebumps.

Ah! That was fun.

It was out and out manual work and the only tool we had to encounter the inevitable fatigue, mental and physical, was our sense of humour. Bawdy jokes were in full flow. We had music in the background and the songs were just crotch-agitating.

I moved out of that factory after 2 years of experience. And, almost all my colleagues have been there still working and the highest salary any of them drawing now is 1500!!!

And, here I am receiving and reading mails that boast of India’s (Oops! Indians’) great performance on World Stage!!!

By the way, it was while working there, I read "Communist Manifesto" for the first time in my life, of course, one translated into Telugu. I was shitscared even to say "hello" at that time.

In dedication to all my colleagues at my first work place. After all, they were the Ones that taught me how to deal with the harshness of this fucking, materialistic world so replete with plastic smiles, synthetic greetings, selfish hugs, condescending suggestions, acerebral talks and meaningless fun.