Unadulterated Arrogance

Moved to - www.arrogantly.com

2005-06-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

I have decided to find a new home in the blogosphere and with immediate effect the new residence of 'Unadulterated Arrogance' is www.arrogantly.com . Do drop in for a cup of coffee when time permits.

N.B: All the posts and comments from this blog has been successfully migrated over to www.arrogantly.com

The kings of Europe

2005-06-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

Ten days have passed since that momentous occasion when Liverpool F.C reclaimed their rightful position among the elites of European soccer and it still has not sunk in. Yes, we are the champions, winning the Champions League for a fifth time is no mean feat. Being a Liverpool supporter since I was 12, I cannot express my joy in our triumph, in our being crowned the kings of Europe yet again; winning the Champions League for a fifth time means that 'ol big ears' is ours for keeps.

The passion of the Kop is unsurpassed in football, its the fans that make Liverpool what it is. With die hard supporters from Melbourne to Mogadishu the face of the 'Kop' is more international than British. The rendition of 'You will never walk alone' by the Liverpool supporters will send goose-bumps on the backs of the opposing team. Win we did but the manner in which we won is surreal. Being 3-0 down at half time even the most staunch supporters had forsaken 'The reds' but come back we did and with a bang to win on penalties. The A.C Milan team-sheet impresses and intimidates but they lacked the hunger that we had for glory, this was one chance to redeem ourselves for not putting in a good performance in the league and 'The Reds' welcomed this opportunity with open arms.

It was destiny, the coincidences between this final and the last time we won are astonishing. The snatching of victory from the jaws of defeat will make this win forever a part of European soccer folklore. This amazing comeback to overcome all odds and beat the mighty Rossoneri left many pundits proclaiming that God is a Liverpool fan. They are absolutely right for I am, I am.

Settling down

2005-05-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

There is immense pressure from my folks side as well as the rest of the family for me to get hitched and settled down. It seems the only cure for my psychopathic vibes is to find a sweet little girl and get married. I am working over 15 hours a day and even when I get home; the phone rings non-stop. I am burned out and to be honest it would be nice to come back home to someone, to have someone who can give me a big warm hug, someone to cuddle up with. I am afraid of commitments and hence desisted on many a occasion but alas the time has finally come. Fidelity and loyalty are of utmost importance to me and I will be on the lookout for these traits in my quest; I concede, work will not keep me going round the clock, companionship is paramount. Thats it, I've decided, I am buying a Rottweiler.

Makepovertyhistory.org

2005-05-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Umpteen times have I come across sites which displayed a Makepovertyhistory.org banner and hitherto owing to good judgement I refrained from clicking on it; but alas today against my better judgement I clicked on it and went to their site and predictably so the site champions the cause of the poor and the deprived; well its a known fact that I too have my own visions of ending world poverty - Help end poverty, eat the poor and the downtrodden!

Ending world poverty is a utopian idea but alas the world we live in is not. If we were to eradicate poverty who would do all the dirty menial jobs? You and me thats who! Poverty is the only cause for a low wage labour pool which we can exploit. If all were equals, if there were no poor people we would have to do our own dirty work, we couldn't exploit the poor anymore; so ending poverty is not in our best interests. if poverty were to be eradicated, who would buy all the cheap alcohol and other mundane items. What would all the NGO's do once poverty is eradicated? All the employees of these NGO's themselves would need to find another occupation. Its a hierarchical society that we live and hence somebody has to be at the bottom, all cannot be at the upper end of the spectrum.

I am an avid proponent of the laissez-faire school of thought and so if the poor are deprived then its their own wrong doing not ours. The only people to be blamed are the poor. The G8 writing off Africa's debt is not the solution, you or me giving more alms is not the solution, the poor lazy buggers themselves have to get up and start working. The poor remaining poor has got to do more with culture than with economics. The poor are unable to seize the opportunity, this is the outcome of their upbringing and if poverty is to be tackled this is where one should begin. I remember an old adage that my grandfather once told me, "Buy a beggar a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he will eat his whole life". But then again I am more comfortable knowing that there are poor people around who will do my menial jobs. The battle between the bourgeois and the proletariat is a never ending one in which both sides are co-dependent on each other; eradicate one and you eradicate the other. I think I might as well start pleasedontmakepovertyhistory.org.

Why blogger shall die

2005-05-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

I am neither Nostradamus nor am I a gypsy with a crystal ball but this is what I foresee; a year down the line blogger.com will either cease to exist or metamorphosise; into a paid only avatar and both the outcomes as I predict; are bleak for the blogosphere.

Granted, I am not renown for my powers of clairvoyance yet I still paint this picture of doom with certainty and I do this on account of my understanding of economics. At present I don’t see a valid revenue model when it comes to blogger.com. I don’t see any sources of income for a service of this magnitude to sustain it in the long run. Yes, Blogger.com has Google Inc. as its sugar daddy and maybe Google Inc. might tout blogger.com as a ‘loss leader’ but I am highly sceptical of this practice in the long run.

Blogger at present is not supported by adwords or any other forms of advertisement to rake in the moolah; it also does not offer a premium paid only service so the inflow of funds is minimal or non existent. In the coming months blogger will have to find ways to break even and the only options available are to either put up intrusive ads or offer a paid premium service. There is no such thing as a free lunch and hence I am quite certain that blogger.com will too shift towards a paid premium service. Now a word of advice to all the ignoble populace using blogger is to back up all your old posts onto your computer so that in the event blogger goes bust or paid you will have an archive of your old posts which you can then migrate to any other service.

'Straight'en up or ship out.

2005-04-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

I was just reading an article about how a homosexual was mistreated and subjected to extreme prejudice in one of the elite navy corps of the world. After reading the article and pondering on the said topic I have only one word of advice for the queer folk - "STRAIGHTen up or ship out".

The armed forces are not for the queer folk, when you are in the armed forces you want your fellow soldier to back you up and not paw your back. The armed forces are about morale and cohesiveness. How can it be one cohesive unit with a lack of trust in each other? The army is all about sharing your space, its about moving as one cohesive unit. Personnel have to share rooms and even shower openly in public places and having someone who is 'left handed' in the midst ruins that cohesiveness which is paramount to the military doctrine.The presence of a known homosexual within the unit could hamper the morale and camaraderie on account of ostracism and tensions thereof.

One could argue that then women too should not be a part of the armed forces. Well, I couldn't disagree more. Women are an integral part of the armed forces; moreover they don't share the same barracks as men. Now if the queer folk were to be segregated into different barracks the pro debaters would have an iota of more substance to their stance. On second thought it is not a feasible idea for the queer folk are known to sue at the drop of a hat for discrimination, so they might not be open to segregation... but then again why not eh?... a barrack full of queer folk, an open orgy!!!! ;-) come in come in; the military beckons.

Air supremacy

2005-04-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

I have always had an inherent dislike of all personnel related to the travel and tourism industry and especially so; the cabin crew. They strut around with almost as arrogance as moi. The majority of them are just either graduates or diploma holders without any other credentials to their names, the only thing going for them are their long legs which the hooker down your local alley could compete with. My prejudice was initiated as a result of an old and bitter experience I once had. A few years back I was travelling to Qatar, an elderly gentleman who I presumed never travelled by air before happened to be seated next to me. I did my best to pacify the elder statesman but there was this air hostesses who could not help being rude to him.

Rule no one is that, 'thou shalt not disrespect the elderly'. You break this rule in my presence and you are in line for some stern reprimand. I was already bored and cranky, the air-hostess' disrespect gave me the perfect moral cover to be myself at my very best. I started out by calling out to her loudly as a 'waitress' and after she obliged my request by bringing or should I say 'fetching' a glass of water, I proceeded to tip her with small change in open view which resulted in laughter from all quarters of the aeroplane. The adrenaline started to flow, I had gone from 0 to arrogant in under 5 seconds flat and was all pumped up but alas I could not catch her in my aisle for the rest of the flight. Since then I have always had an aversion to the cabin crew. I travel by air at the most only twice a year and hence I don't have to come across the cabin crew's holier than thou attitude. My pet a.k.a my little sister will be leaving back after her small vacation so I guess I am bound to run into a few of them at the airport. I really can't comprehend why they are held in high esteem by the ignoble populace; after all they are just glorified waiters and waitresses and nothing more.

S.U.V (Sports Utility Vehicle)

2005-04-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

S.U.V's - either you love them or you hate them, there can be no liking them. This is the same case with me, people either love me or hate me. I have been an SUV afficianado since I could remember. The first one to the present one, all my wheels have been four wheel offroaders, the first one being the Mahindra MM540 and the present one being the Toyota Rav4.

A lot has been said about SUV's and I would like to demystify the myths behind the tales of the sports utility vehicles. It is said that in case of a head on collision with a SUV the probability of fatalities in the other vehicle is quite high but then again when I am having a head on collision with another vehicle, whose life is more important? Mine or his?.... mine of course. I concede, the propensity of SUV's to roll-over in case of accidents is comparatively higher than normal salons but with the latest innovations and anti-roll cages the adverse effects can be mitigated.

SUV's are also accused of polluting the environment. Granted an average SUV consumes more fuel than your average salon but why are SUV's isolated out in this regard? Why do Ferrari's and Mclaren's with 12 cylinders run scot free while your poor SUV's with 6 cylinders are singled out as the causes of global warming?

Agreed, the operating costs of a SUV is also comparatively higher than their puny salon counterparts but people still buy them for its our choice, the same choice that smokers have in spending their hard earned money in killing themselves, but hey we SUV lovers just spend it on wheels and at most we will kill someone else and not ourselves.

If you were to argue with me that SUV's are not fast, I would request you to take a look at the new Porsche Cayenne, this baby can go from 0-100 in around 5 seconds flat or the new Range Rover which is the personification of class on wheels. So all your old arguments against the purchase of a SUV are passe.

Anti SUV sites like Fuh2.com amuse me, they state that men who buy SUV's are lacking in some part of their anatomy and my response to such morons is - "balls to you mate" (pun intended)... the reason for buying a SUV is just attitude, predominantly the belief that might is right. For me personally I really enjoy the elevated driving position and also the big cargo area for all my goodies. Now if you think I am the poster boy for the SUV's that you would like to kill; what are you going to do about it? Run me over in your Mini-Cooper??.. I think not!!

The Walmart issue.

2005-03-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Walmart has been accused of treading on the toes of their workforce by providing non-competitive compensation packages. Lefties worldwide are waging a war against the behemoth whose only crime is of making customer the king.

The leftist hue and cry for the 'poor mistreated workforce' is not without reason. Granted Walmart's compensation package is nothing to talk about but then again nobody is forcing people to work at Walmart and this is evident from the kilometre long queues for walk-in interviews whenever a new Walmart outlet is opened. Every human being has a price and this intrinsic value is defined by an individual himself taking into consideration his abilities and his present predicament. Nobody will work below their intrinsic price that they themselves have put on their heads. Its no secret that the workers at Walmart are no rocket scientists, they deserve the salary due to them. I am paid well, if I were to go and hump a whore and got a bill from her, my company would write it off as 'Entertainment Expenses'... Why? because I am good and I am productive.. the not so rocket scientists at Walmart deserve what they get and should stop dreaming of largesse until and unless they are educated and productive.

The middle of the 20th century witnessed a manufacturing boom and it were the manufacturers that decided the price back then but with the advent of entities like Walmart, the retailers are the ones who decide the selling price; the selling price of the retailers in turn is decided directly by the consumers. Selling price of products at Walmart is comparatively cheaper than anywhere else and this is accentuated by a no frills working atmosphere . If all the employees were given a BMW for conveyance, the same overheads would be passed onto the consumer thereby making Walmart less competitive in the retail industry and thus they would be forced to shut shop which would lead to mass unemployment, this would further be a burden on society and these same people will either resort to crime or work for even lower wages till rehabilitation. Profit motive is the only reason behind every economic activity and sooner the lefties realize it, the better it is.

Boy's got a new toy!

2005-03-25T02:08:00.000-08:00

I am one of those few guys when I say, "Whoah baby, what headlights" I will actually be talking about a car. I have always been enamoured by technology since I could remember. I guess I am a natural born geek. Whenever we would go for vacation, the family would be busy taking in the scenic beauty of the place being visited while I would be busy in the local gadget shops. For a while now, I had been lusting after the Nokia 9500 and finally I decided on some self indulgence and purchased it. I did have some pre-purchase dissonance as to whether I should go for the P910i or the Nokia 9500, the true geek in me advised to opt for the P910i for its lighter, has better battery life and is touch-screen but alas I am not a true geek per se, I am a geek with an attitude, the personification of which is the phone. The Nokia 9500 screams, "I am big, mean and you can't afford me. I am untouchable mate!!" and that is what drew me to it. The 9500 is an excellent phone and is definitely an extension of my personality in an electronic form. It was love at first sight I tell ya.

The casting couch.

2005-03-18T13:59:00.000-08:00

Scene 1: A well known actor is seen mingling with an up and coming actress in a hotel suite.
Scene 2: Slowly but steadily he plays his card at debauching her; for services rendered, the well known actor will make the aspiring actress a 'star'
Scene 3: The upcoming actress is in fact an undercover reporter, the events that unfolded in the hotel room are then splashed across the papers the next day and a tirade against the casting couch in the Movie Industry is on.

Why is it that the tirade against the casting couch in the movie industry is always from the headquarters of the moral police rather than the victims themselves? Well it is so because there are no victims, that is why. When you go to a car showroom to buy a brand new car, you see, you buy what you like,pay for it and then drive away in your dream car. In the movie industry, the struggling actor's desire is of fame and fortune, the currency used in the purchase of this dream is usually amoral favours. If the aspiring actor/actress is able to achieve their dreams albeit in a shady manner; then why is it that the moral police is crying foul. The aspirant if he/she were sure of their abilities would not succumb to the pressures of the casting couch and would walk the moral high-ground, those who succumb to the pressures are not talented enough to make it on their own and hence owing to lack of confidence they use the amoral currencies at their disposal for the barter involving their dreams.

Casting couch is not immoral, its quid pro quo i.e favours for favour. The actors are not complaining, in exchange for their 'favours' they benefit from a benevolent godfather who can make them overnight stars; its capitalistic commercialisation at its best. So why is the moral police berating the said practice?.. because there is publicity involved. If it were not so, the moral police would be exercising their clout where it really matters i.e. the cause of the ordinary girl next door who has to go through harassment at her very ordinary job..but no!!!the whole world listens only when stars are involved so lets just forget the hassles of the ordinary girl next door and focus on the already immoral sluts of the movie industry.

Making sense of sensitivity.

2005-03-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

"You insensitive jerk!", If you are a male aged between 1 and 299, the chances of you being told the same by someone from the opposite sex; be it your mother, wife, girl, sister or even your cleaning lady is a 100 percent. The fairer sex accuse us of insensitivity but are all males insensitive? Is it the genetic make up of us guys that is the cause of this phenomenon?... Is there a special insensitive gene in us?.... well no, its not that we are not insensitive, its just that we don't see eye to eye with females on what constitutes sensitivity and what does not.

Laughing at the wet eyed females in the theatre when the Titanic has just sunk is not insensitive; its just natural. I mean when you see a group of women crying at the climax of a movie, your natural reaction is to laugh at this absurdity. Women find this insensitive whereas we guys don't. We just differ with them on certain mundane things which does not merit an iota of attention which they spend hours on. My mother's driver was ill and being the 'sensitive' son that I am; I was driving her to work when we saw a huge car wreck. My natural reaction was, 'Oh no!, the Benz is wrecked!!'... and it started the ball rolling as in, "how insensitive you are ?" .. for heavens sake, even the guy who had the accident must have been more worried about the Merc than himself.. I know I would be... So you see its not that we are not sensitive, we just differ with you on what is sensitive and what is not... and if you still think you know a guy who is completely sensitive, well then, he is either gay or he is trying to sleep with you. The possibility of the latter is a much higher probability mind you.

Megalomaniacal Meanderings

2005-03-03T03:06:00.000-08:00

During the depths of darkness,
in my deepest despondency
I enter the hitherto unchartered territory;

I see before my eyes a world,
a world full of havoc and destruction
and lo and behold
rises a ruler, a lord, an overlord;
a king who is the epitome of bestiality,
clad in royal robes, and with the sceptre in hand;
with an iron fist he rules over the land.

And in the course of time,
the barren lands are evergreen again,
camaraderie and bonhomie is the order of the day
and in the flash of a second;
I open my eyes, my hands reach for the sceptre
and though I am unable to grasp it,
my thoughts fall upon the vision that was,
which foretold what my destiny is to be.

Child labour - Condone or codemn?

2005-02-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

There is no international definition of who a child is, so lets draw our conclusions from the definition of an adult.An adult is defined as an individual who has attained the age of majority. In normal circumstances an individual is said to be a major when he/she is of 18 years of age unless if a guardian has been appointed by a court, wherein he/she will attain majority on being 21 years of age. Lets assume 18 years of age as the cutoff point and hence anyone below the age of 18 years is a child and any work done by him/her for consideration is an act of child labour.

So if one were to go by this definition you will be guilty of employing child labour when the kid next door mows your lawn or when the local paper-boy drops your newspaper at your doorstep. But the flimsy minded hippy social workers who head international organizations such as UNICEF and ILO have ever-changing views on the age cutoff point, they sometimes opine that this cutoff point be 15 years and sometimes opine it should be 18. They also distinguish between child-work and child-labour; child-labour is oppressive whereas child-work is not; but alas these definitions of theirs are based on their daily whims and fancies and are ever-changing.

Agreed, every child should have the right to basic education which is deprived by their employers. But stopping child labour is not the answer, hippy social workers fail to realize that by picketing factories that employ child labour they are not only depriving the child of his daily bread but also the income of the factory and the society as a whole.

Protesters often voice concerns about the meager wages paid to children; but in this capitalistic piecemeal system of production, the wages are at par with the production and in most cases the production of a child is not at par with an adult and hence the variance in wages. They fail to realize that by doing away with child labour, the competitive advantage enjoyed by their local industries are neutralized which would result in poverty in the locality, which is the root cause of child labour; but then again these hippies on weed will not most probably be able to spell 'economics' so one should not expect them to understand it. Everybody talks about stopping child labour but none of them talk about rehabilitation, once they lose their jobs, who will provide the food?, who will provide the education?. In the individual hierarchy of necessities, food on the table supersedes all other concerns. Rather than protesting child labour, all hippies are requested to address the root causes such as poverty, once these causes are addressed the phenomenon of child labour will cease to exist, so till then please let the kids earn and live in peace.

Hands behind the Harriri homicide.

2005-02-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

The assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri; the former premier of Lebanon has resulted in a very dicey situation in the middle east. The finger pointing has already begun and presently all the fingers are pointing to Damascus. The Pro Syrian govt. in Lebanon in Cohorts with their Syrian masters have been rumoured to have orchestrated this heinous act. Though the circumstantial evidences indicate the Syrian involvement, the conspiracy theorist in me is screaming that it is the work of Mossad, the Israeli secret service with the direct involvement of the CIA.

The manner in which the hit was carried out doesn't seem to be the handy work of a few radicals, it was carried out professionally and in all likelihood by a state sponsored intelligence agency. The moment the two words 'intelligence agency' props up together; three proper nouns come to mind viz. The CIA, The KGB and MOSSAD. From the trio, The KGB gets the benefit of the doubt for the Russians have nothing to gain from the assassination. It is also to be noted that in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, both the Bush govt. and the Sharon govt. had already vilified Damascus and I am left pondering whether this is a case of red herring.

The Lebanese as well as the Syrians have a lot to lose from the turmoil that follows but the Israelis have all to gain. The assassination has augmented the already soured relations between Beirut and Damascus and the icing on the cake would be if the Lebanese were able to get rid of the Syrian stronghold on Lebanon. However I do feel that though the Americans had prior knowledge of the plot, they might not have participated directly. An intra-Arab war is the best medicine for the Israeli ailment and given the current geo-political situations I can't but help think that all of Israel's ailments will find an everlasting cure. If the Mossad and CIA hands are behind the Harriri homicide, then my hats of to them for a well planned operation, if not, well don't fret for they will have plenty of other opportunities to do some wicked deeds.

Grown men and their games.

2005-02-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

Ahem ahem, I don't mean those kind of games, I was referring to computer games. As an adolescent, I have had more than my share of computer games and enjoyed every bit of it. But now I am 26 and still am an avid gamer. I was looking up freudian theories to see the cause of this dysfunction for I am told that , 'only kids play computer games'... so I was more than happy to read the news of American G.I's playing with their consoles when away from the battlefield.

An adult gamer is one who has dedicated endless hours to gaming as a teenager and through his college years. However, the adult gamer now has grown-up responsibilities, from employment to family obligations to keeping an active social life - IDGE, Publisher of Gamestar Magazine

I started playing my first game on the Atari, then migrated to the Commodore 64, then a NES system and the rest is history. Over the years I have played a lot of games and I would like to outline my all time top ten games.

1. Neverwinter Nights
2. Syndicate
3. Warcraft III
4. Sam and max hit the road.
5. Age of empires series
6. Need for speed Underground / Porsche Unleashed
7. Flashback
8. Call of Duty
9. Day of the tentacles
10. Mortal Kombat series

It is however ironic that most of us adult gamers can now stop drooling over the latest gaming gadgets and games and can actually buy them but alas we can't spare time from work to actually play the damn thing to our heart's content ... sigh!! That's life I guess.

Liberal - A true definition

2005-02-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

Liberal (n) - A socialistic, dog hating, homo loving, SUV hating, polygamous, athiest, baby killing bastard.
- The Jinuine Dictionary, International Edition, Vol XXVI

My Valentine

2005-02-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

This valentines day was quite memorable. I went on a date with my girl. She is the best girl any guy can have but alas she is also a Scorpio, she is possessive to the core. She won't let me out of her sight and she gets very jealous of my other social commitments but I don't mind for without her I won't be able to live, wont be able to eat; I would wither away in misery. Life would have been more easier had she been more likeable by my family and friends but I can live with the fact that you can't have your cake and eat it too so I choose to be at her side at the ire of my loved ones. I have managed to live with her shortcomings and shall continue to do so; Everybody calls her a bitch, I call her 'Work'

911 & Abu Gharib

2005-02-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

I am not condoning the 9/11 attacks but am just calling a spade a spade. I too think from Prof. Ward Churchill’s viewpoints but mine is two-way traffic rather than the so called ‘progressive thinker’ who thinks just one way and can’t refrain from obloquy when it comes to his motherland. The attacks on the World Trade Centre was a despicable act; that is beyond question but what is questionable is the legitimacy or the ethics behind the attack on an ostensible civilian structure. When a war is on, the first point of attack will be the command and control structures of the opposing party, the major economic centres being the next in line for annihilation. If one were to go by this rule of warfare, the WTC was a legitimate target; for the economic might of the great US of A was caged behind the erstwhile non-penetrable structure of the World Trade Centre. Another prominent point to be noted is that the world trade centre itself housed offices of the CIA, an act which by itself turned this civilian structure to a military command and control aiding infrastructure and hence a legitimate target for foes.

After calling a spade a spade, time to call an ace an ace; The Abu Gharib tortures; rumoured to be with the direct knowledge and support of the govt. of the United States Of America has been frowned upon by human rights groups worldwide. Those who do not condemn the attack on the United States cannot condemn the abu gharib tortures as well for that would be having double standards. The only law to deal with lawlessness is lawlessness itself. The abuses I presume happened not solely on the sadistic whims of the American's but after lengthy psychoanalysis of the prisoners. To get the requisite information, the spirit of the prisoners needed to be broken and that was the reason for their humiliation and hence the tortures though unethical were legitimate..the ends justify the means.

King of the Blogs

2005-02-09T02:55:00.000-08:00

I am the king of the world and hence by default I am the king of the blogs as well but alas the peasants don't reason so and as ludicrous as it may seem I am embroiled in a tournament to rightly reclaim what is already mine. I shall refrain from linking to the judges viz. Bad Example, News from the great beyond, Smarter Cop, Ogre to gain favour in their books for I tread the moral high-ground in my quest for the crown.

Am already leading by a huge margin in the polls; my royal sycophants have done their job quite well and will be rightly rewarded at the opportune time. The next hurdle it seems before I retake my crown is to answer a challenge question which is to "Explain the theory of blogativity." I shall do this by quoting the essay of a great personality on the said topic; namely myself.

The theory of blogativity was formulated by the late professor Albert 'Eyestrain' (rumour has it that the professor got the nickname as a result of his peeping through keyholes, well that's another post another day).
This theory simply put in layman's terms would be that, as blogging reaches the speed of light, relevance reaches zero.
i.e. When B = L, R=0 Where B denotes blogging, L denotes speed of light and R is for relevance.

But the testing of the hypothesis is quite difficult for the requisites of the same cannot be achieved under laboratory conditions. So in such a circumstance the only solution is to extrapolate results from the universal truths already accepted by the scientific community viz.
Light is faster than Sound
In Blogging, one 'voices' or 'speaks' out ones thoughts
So when one blogs at the speed of light, you see before you think. As your thought is based on the little voices in your head and since light is faster that sound, you will see before your hear. Hence the mathematical probability of you seeing wrong is 99.63%; for your cognition process would be initiated before the little voices in your head have time to form the right image that you ought to see which results in irrelevance i.e. R=0; in other words relevance becomes zero. Thus the hypothesis is tested successfully and the professor's theory is proven accurately.

Automatic Gears - frills but no thrills

2005-02-07T03:06:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine once commented that driving a vehicle with an automatic gear is like sleeping with a prostitute as there is no thrill in it. He could not have been farther from the truth, however being the ultimate gentleman that I am, a visit to a courtesan has never been on the 'to do' list (pun intended) so I cannot dissect my friends analogy but however let me pen it down vis-a-vis my own experiences. For me driving a vehicle ( I have to be politically correct for a vehicle might be a car, a truck, a SUV, or even the Mini Cooper lol) driving with an automatic gear is akin to going hunting with the game all tied up for you to shoot... whats the fun in it if all the action is taken out... I digress, but I hate killing animals, killing two legged homos err homo sapiens would be more to my taste. When I buy a vehicle (being politically correct again) I prefer it to be loaded with all the goodies a la Power windows, keyless entry, remote boot, power rear view mirrors and what not.. but unfortunately with all these goodies comes extra baggage viz the automatic gear. Now where does it say that a person who wants all the automotive comforts is a sissy and would not prefer a manual gear. Most all the top end models come loaded but alas with automatic gear; there is no option to convert it to manual gear. To be honest, there are vehicles which let you do this as an option but the price to fun ratio is comparatively steep and hence my reluctance. There are people who want all the comforts of a modern vehicle and yet want to enjoy the thrills in a manual gear, so car manufactures I implore, make this an affordable option.

F1 - new drivers onboard

2005-02-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

Dubbed 'the fastest Indian on wheels' by the media, Narain Karthikayan; takes one stride up the escalator and joins Jordan. Well in a country that is so bloody focussed on a sport as obtuse as cricket, the omens are good for formula one as with the induction of an Indian in the F1 circuit the interest for the same will be augmented... but alas this is where the good part ends for me. I can never root for my country-man as though I am an Indian by birth, I am a tifosi by choice... I shall never laud him on as long as his eyes are not red, as long as he is not inflicted by scarlet fever; as long as the prancing horse is not tattooed on his bi-ceps (F1 drivers have to be puny to reduce the total weight of the car, so your ceps will do fine); as long as he doesn't sit behind the wheel of Scuderia Ferrari you my friend are just another back-marker for Schumi to overtake.... Ferrari I love you !!

Reverse Racism

2005-02-04T05:25:00.000-08:00

Reverse racism is a misnomer, the term reverse racism should imply the opposite of racism i.e. no racism ... but alas its a crazy world out there and it is not so.. it is just another extension of racism wherein the minority is racist with respect to the majority. I happened to recall the usage of this term while reading about the Micheal Jackson trial. I am not passing judgement on the trial per se.. that is to be decided by the court on the prima facie evidence but the Jackson clan insinuating that Micheal is being persecuted only because he is a 'black' is reverse racism in full swing... I hate this practise of playing the race card at the drop of a hat. Racism exists in all forms and in all colours, majority being racist against the minority and vice versa but when its orchestrated by the minority, directed against the majority; mums the word as no one wants to offend the minority even if its detrimental to their own welfare..this appeasement of the minorites has to stop as I for one am against all forms of racism... and before you label me as a Caucasian skin-head let me just remind you that I am of Asian origin, from the Republic of India and proud of it mate.

Blog designs

2005-02-04T03:01:00.000-08:00

I keep being questioned as to why I don't have a custom blog design of my own rather than using one of bloggers default templates. It seems that even the grandma next door has a custom design or a desgin that is altered to her own taste so then how come a technocrat alike myself hasn't done the same. The answer to this is very simple, its the same answer that I give old friends who meet me after years and tell me that "you crazy son of a gun you haven't changed at all"; the answer being that, 'Perfection should not be tinkered with', as you cannot improve upon perfection its futile to tinker with it.

This template that I am using was designed by Dan Cederholm and is close to perfection. The layout is clean and the fonts are big and legible yet not too bulky, the colour combination is perfect and looks classy; which is the exact impression that I want to make. So the probability of me making a custom design is quite remote unless Dan makes a custom design for me of course.. are you listening Dan? ;-)

All my kingdom for...

2005-02-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

Tired and exhausted. The 15 hour daily work schedule is finally taking a toll on me both mentally and physically... I really don't think my body can cope with the abuse any more.... all my kindgom for a hug !!

Hillary Clinton - Sold her soul

2005-01-28T05:06:00.000-08:00

Hillary Rodham Clinton is at the horns of a dilemma, she is unable to make up her mind as to what is more embarrassing, the 'Rodham' part or the 'Clinton' part of her name and yet here she is aspiring to run and be the president of the great U.S of A come 2008. In my not so humble opinion she has sold her soul to the devil for political gains. Infidelity is a sin which any female in the 'RIGHT' mind would not be able to forgive, the retribution to which is only death and castration. She forgave and stood by her husband and this is where the story-line takes a turn, she pardoned her husband's carnal meanderings and campaigned for his re-election conditional to her own political mileage which she was promised by the devilocrats. Clinton was re-elected and voila Hillary becomes the senator of New York and is now a presidential hopeful.

"Hillary is everywhere. Last night she's on Barbara Walters, this morning she's on Katie Couric, and tomorrow she goes on Diane Sawyer. This is the first time Hillary has been on more women than Bill." - Jay Leno

"The A&E network is making a movie about Senator Hillary Clinton and they want Sharon Stone to play Hillary Clinton. Which explains why President Clinton has volunteered to play himself." - Conan O'Brien

"Hillary also said in the book it was a challenge to forgive Bill, but she figured if Nelson Mandela could forgive, she could give it a try. Isn't that amazing? I didn't know Clinton hit on Mandela's wife." - Jay Leno

Note: Just stumbled upon another very like minded site dealing with the said topic. http://www.blogsagainsthillary.com/

Mass Exclusivity

2005-01-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have the honour in coining a new oxymoron; 'Mass Exclusivity' and I do so in respect to the marketing blitzkrieg launched by Gmail. I would be none too surprised if Philip Kotler himself is behind the marketing campaign, for only a marketing genius of his stature can contrive up such a potent plot. The bare basics of marketing is to create demand even if its non existent. We all have email accounts and more than one at it too; but then why all the hoopla around gmail? Gmail's strategy was/is excellent; its a mixture of niche marketing and mass marketing. By making the product exclusive, an enormous amount of interest was generated and they capitalized on this interest by applying theories of mass marketing to it. Gmail is still 'by invite only' which makes it a very exclusive club but then again when you give each account holder 6 invites its non-exclusive to say the least; in effect their audience is increasing 6 fold at any given time. Almost a year since the launch and the demand still hasn't abated. Gmail is an average product; email services like fastmail.fm are light-years ahead but the naive netizens like the rest of the world are more enamoured by the packaging than by the product..

Blog essentials - Top 5 blog tools

2005-01-23T13:08:00.000-08:00

When it comes to software and services, everybody has their own personal likes and dislikes and it may differ from mine but I know that mine are always right and hence I outline my top 5 blog tools

BlogExplosion: If you are planning on keeping your blogs private without the whole world coming and reading your innermost thoughts then this is NOT for you. Au contraire, if you want to increase the number of visitors to your site exponentially then this is the only service that you need signup to.
Blogjet: Whether it be email or blogging, composing the same online is something that I'm not very keen on. Blogjet helps you compose your blogs offline and publish it as and when you so desire. In its latest incarnation it works flawlessly with all the major blog hosts.
Blogrolling: As one ages in the blogosphere, the tendency to visit blogs of like-minded individuals or friends increases, blogrolling helps in making links of such friends/individuals/sites with the click of a button. If you register, don't forget to blogroll me bud.
Feedforall: It is the ultimate RSS feed creation tool allowing users to easily create, edit and publish RSS feeds. SauceReader is a simple and efficient feed reader. One can always start with my feeds ;-)
Statcounter: This is a really customizable, feature rich yet free counter service. Ability to insert invisible counters and a geographic breakup of your visitors make this one indispensable tool.

Note: Its an honour and a privilege that one of the most read arabic sites in the middle east has linked directly to this post, thank you farstec.com and amirfs

Double Standards

2005-01-21T03:17:00.000-08:00

From time immemorial the human race has been plagued by double standards and none more prevalent than the male-female divide. When one has a new baby, if its a boy the room is painted blue, if its a girl; the room is painted pink. You buy the girl a barbie doll and the boy the biggest gun you can get. The girl is given a doll and a tea set and is given the first lesson in house keeping whereas the boy is given a free for all with his mighty gun. The little kids then grow up and with the exceptions of a very few 'rebels' who stray from the set standards the rest all fall in line with the stereotype expected from them.

I believe in gender equality, the probability of me abusing my female subordinate is as equally high as the probability of me abusing her male counterpart, I play the gender game very fairly and without prejudice. I for one have never been party to societal male-female stereotypical expectations until very recently where I too became a part of this menace. A bunch of us guys and girls were all hanging out together, finally we all returned to a friends place, where the booze started to flow, I am a teetotaller and hence I abstained from it (but mind you I have no problems in pouring the drinks)... the guys as usual were drinking as a fish drinks water... the girls also joined in and after an hour or two they took their leave of absence. When they had left the first comment that was made by a good friend of mine were "what sluts"... in the Indian cultural ecosphere the female stereotype is that of docility and homelinesses. The males are not chided for alcoholic consumption but a female who does the same is looked down upon with contempt in our society. Maybe the fact that I don't booze did play a part but rather than rebutting his remarks I too nodded in agreement. I'm unable to reason why I did this, was it just that being brought up and being subjected to such stereotypical expectations I too unconsciously imbibed the same, or is it just that I don't prefer females who drink?... I guess its a mixture of both.

The Pope - Caught ''Red'' Handed

2005-01-17T13:59:00.000-08:00

The answer to your first question is, No, the pope has not turned communist and again No, the popemobile was not spotted in the vicinity of any redlight district... then what? I hear you ask... well infidels, the pope joins the legions of the Tifosi.For the first time in its history, Ferrari were received by the Pope, John Paul II. The audience was held in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican's Palazzo Apostolico. Present were a delegation of 95 Ferrari representatives from all the company's departments including their F1 wing. The prominent attendees were Luca di Montezemolo, Jean Todt, Micheal Schumacher, Rubens Barrichelo and Luca Badoer. Haven't I been telling you all till date that Ferrari was a religion and Schumi our prophet... now I guess we have official 'religious' status with the prancing horse being one of several religious symbols. With Scarlet Fever in the air and the pope by the side, only God can beat us now. I can smell the burning chicanes, screeching of tyres and am already intoxicated and can picture Scuderia Ferrarai beating Mclaren, Williams and co. with a jubilant Schumacher in the cockpit steering us to victory and in turn earning his unprecedented 8th F1 drivers title.

Tsunami - Malthus, Business and fraud

2005-01-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

My heartfelt condolences and prayers for those affected by the Tsunami. It has had a crippling effect on the Asia-Pacific region. But to be brutally honest, my first cogitations on the issue were far from grief and empathy. My foremost thoughts were apportioned between The Malthusian Theory of Population, Business and Fraud.

Thomas Robert Malthus in his essay,'The principles of population growth',states that;
* Food production increased at an arithmetic ratio while population increased at an exponential ratio
* Population growth would outstrip food supply, and mass starvation would follow.
* Man is incapable of controlling his own numbers, so natural calamities such as floods and epidemics serve to control/reduce his numbers.
The Tsunami that occurred; was it just one of the vagaries of mother nature or was it the justification of Thomas Malthus's population theory. If one were to look deeper, you would realize that those places that were affected the most were areas where measures for population check were not in place. These were areas where the birth rates were much higher than the death rates, these were places were population growth outstripped food supply and hence I am rather sceptical that the tsunami was just one of the caprices of weather.
I concede, its my materialistic self thats in the drivers seat as I post this but the fact of the matter is that the Tsunami equates to good business. Only a few industries in the Asia-Pacific region, including tourism, are expected to suffer short-term adverse effects, while others, such as construction, could actually enjoy long term benefits. So the economic effects of the tsunami in the long term scenario is positive.

The tsunami, if one were to look it from the security perspective is very alarming. There are many tsunami scams on the net already but rather than scams I more concerned about the physical security breaches that might occur on account of terrorist identity thieves. The waves pretty much washed away all documents pertaining to identity a la passports et al, thousands of dead bodies have not been identifiable which makes for a hotbed for terrorist who would love to make use of this misfortune to steal another identity and blend into the surroundings waiting for an opportune moment to strike. The terrorists in the Indonesian belt of Aceh is the most worrysome in this regard.

Thousands of lives lost and a many more displaced, I can only empathise with those who lost everything and everyone. Boxing day 2004 will always be remembered for the wrong reasons.The images from the Tsunami are very gruesome and though I am able to have a pragmatic approach to the same as neither me nor anyone close to me is affected, I ponder how I would have coped had I been not so fortunate.

New Laptop - Amilo M

2005-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is the first time that I am posting from my new laptop, so it does justify a plug on my blog I suppose. Its nothing fancy, just the bare essentials that I need. I dont like spending money on laptops for irrespective of how much you spend on it, a laptop can never be as powerful as a desktop P.C, so one should never get cajoled into buying the 'desktop replacement' by sales executives. My P.C at home has 2gb of DDR400 memory, powered by a 3.2 ghz processor; now if I were to purchase a laptop with similar specifications,or rather if I didn't; with that money I could afford a top of the line desktop P.C and an entry level laptop and still have enough money left over to buy a bunch of pirated cds.

[Edit]: January 17th, returned the amilo as it was not powerful enough for my needs, bought a very powerful p4 instead, Acer Travelmate 2500 series.

Unconditional Love.

2005-01-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

Unconditional love, i.e. love sans frontiers, love without conditions or reservations; absolute love; is not a myth. I have experienced it first hand; from my Princess. Its only a fortunate few who can ever give testimony to experiencing the same.Only once in your lifetime will you ever get this unconditional love; I had my chance and now she is no more. Those who have never experienced unconditional love wait in anticipation for the same but what about those of us who has had it already. The statistical probability of hitting the jackpot twice in your lifetime is nil and the same analogy applies in this scenario as well. So what happens to those of us who were lucky to have it; let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that we hit the jackpot twice in our lifetime.

Out Cold

2005-01-10T03:20:00.000-08:00

I'm down with a flu, a real bad case of it might I add but I am recuperating quite fast. When my princess was around, the moment I would sneeze she would tell her maids that she too would catch it, and no this was not on account of her low immunity but due to the fact that I would just jump into her bed and snuggle up with her and by the morning she too would have contracted the cold...am missing her a lot now. But I know that even from up above she is watching me and praying for me.

Elian

2005-01-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

No, the bottle of mineral water that you just conjured up in your vivid imagination is 'Evian'; I'm talking about Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was the centre of a diplomatic furore between the American and Cuban Govts. at the turn of this century. A gazillion human rights group campaigned the cause of the Cuban kid. One couldn't turn the tele on without being inundated with news pertaining to Elian. The supreme court ruled against these groups and Elian was rightly sent back to Cuba with his father. Since the kid was sent back home, the Human rights groups have been silent. If they were genuinely interested in the welfare of the boy, they would have maintained the momentum. But once the case was lost and the publicity abated, those who championed his cause forsook him as there was no more political mileage to be made. So when I label the majority of the humans rights groups as hypocrites; I do it with valid reasons... and why am I bring up such an old topic... well, actually I was just drinking a bottle of Evian and it just struck me.. ;-)

The Grotesque Mini Cooper

2005-01-05T02:36:00.000-08:00

I'm commuting back home from work, coffee in one hand and the steering wheel on the other and lo and behold one of the greatest abominations ever on four wheels pulls up on the next lane. I take a sideward glance and am overwhelmed by sheer disgust; a Qatari on a Mini Copper. Jesus Christ on a Harley Davidson, I can't comprehend why someone would buy a car that would fit in the boot of my Rav4. But you have to give credit where credit is due, its quite fast. It hurt my pride that I was on the same lane as the Mini Cooper and raced to 140 KPH but he still kept up with me, had to drive to 200 to speed away from him. The reason for the cooper being fast can be attributed to its high power to weight ratio. Coming back to work today I was fantasizing and no this one does not involve Beyonce ;-) I was fantasizing that I was on a Hummer chasing the Mini Cooper down the highway and finally ran over it, how I wish I could just do that.

UNnecessary?

2005-01-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

The united nations has outlived its purpose. Alike its highly unsuccessful cousin 'The League of Nations', United Nations too has become redundant and unnecessary. The objectives with which it were formed does not represent the ground realities and hence changes have to be implemented immediately. The preamble to the U.N charter states:

We the peoples of The United Nations determined
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind,
and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small,
and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,
and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Since the inception of the United Nations numerous wars have broken out, with the exceptions of international intervention in The Korean War and the Kuwait War, all others have not been with the U.N approval. The reckless haste with which the United States declared war on Iraq without the U.N mandate is a prime example of the United Nations ineffectiveness.

The United Nations has stood by the most repulsive human rights abuses in the modern era, it stood by the slaughter of the Tutsi's in Rwanda which could have been prevented by timely intervention, the abuses in Sudan, Haiti and Somalia have all fell on the deaf ears of the U.N. For heavens sake, North Korea and Cuba are on board of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights..Need I say more?

International justice has become a farce, its implemented on a might is right basis. Dead bodies of Americans were shot by the Iraqi soldiers and a hue and cry was made about the violations of the Geneva Conventions, where were the Geneva Conventions when Saddam Hussein was humiliated on T.V, what about the Abu Gharib tortures. Where was the United Nations when Pakistan permitted hijackers of an Indian Airline to land and use their airfields for international terrorism?

Three fourths of the world still live in poverty and acute hunger and the United Nations has been unable to do anything about it. To be honest, yes they have done something about it.. does one recall the oil for food programme scandal of the U.N wherein billions of dollars were involved.

The time has come for either fundamental changes to be made to the Victors Club, err I mean The United Nations or to do away with it in totality. The latter option involves a lot of hurdles as the void created by the demise of this behemoth will create a virtual black hole which might suck the whole world into it. So before the latter option is pursued, mechanisms have to be put in place to counter this void. My final parting comments on this topic is that, Eunuch should be spelled UNuch. Case closed, end of discussion.

Adios Amigo

2005-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

I am not an elitist, I am The Elitist. I always restrict myself to a few selected group of friends with whom I can relate to. The advantage of this is that the relationship lasts the tests of time; since I keep myself to a small group its easier to form a very close knit fraternity. I really don't prefer to have scores of friends with whom you can't have a close relationship. Today a very good friend of mine; Rajesh Sharma a.k.a Raju leaves Qatar for good. We have had some really good times together. I wish you the best of everything mate; hope to see you some time soon... adios amigo.

In retrospect

2004-12-30T02:05:00.000-08:00

We are at the fag end of 2004, a day and a half later a new era dawns and as I bid farewell to the current year; my thoughts fall upon the year that was and I look retrospectively viz-a-viz:

Finances: Its very materialistic of me but whenever I look back retrospectively the first point of analysis is always the finances and it supersedes all other priorities, but then again I want a Bentley, a pure gold Rolex and a yacht. 2004 was very good financially, earned a lot, spend even more especially on investments back home in the form of real estate. I can never be satisfied with monetary gains but suffice to say that 2004 was not a bad deal. In addition to the Admin dept. I am now also heading the Operations dept.
Emotionally: 2004 proved to be a roller coaster ride for me emotionally. From highs to one of the lowest points in my 26 year history. The passing away of my baby girl; my grandmother was of a magnitude of a total 10.0 on the J-emotional scale. It has had a profound and everlasting impact on my life.
Spiritually: Well I have come more closer to God and am at ease but I still don't prefer going to church here in Qatar as the Church here seems to have more politics around it than the parliament. I miss my chapel in college which was calm and serene; which you could walk into any given time and sit in solitude and be one with God.
Personally: Life hasn't changed or rather I have not changed much. Still with the "too many women, too little time" attitude. Still too scared of commitments, I cannot commit for fear of falling out of it... but as of late I think I should follow the old adage that says its better to have loved and lost rather than not to have loved at all.. the coming year I intend to change this equation once and for all.

As I go into the new year, I have no regrets and no albatross around my neck. I look forward to the new year and am hoping that it will be a prosperous one.

Taking The Christ out of Christmas

2004-12-25T02:29:00.000-08:00

As of late, Christmas has begun to lose its sheen and I find the event a little lacklustre; and no this has nothing to do with my recent realization that though Santa Claus is real, Rudolph 'The Red Nose' Rain deer is a fictional character and in all probability Santa flew the skies in his modified Falcon F-16's sans Rudolph. Anyways, I attribute this loss of Christmas spirit to two predominant reasons. The former one being the extreme commercialization of Christmas and the latter one being politically correct with respect to Christmas.

Being a capitalistic right-winger myself, commercialization of Christmas is something that I don't speak against for if a buck is to be made then so be it. My gripe is with the politically correct people who are shunning "Merry Christmas" signs with "Happy Holidays" signs. Across the Western Hemisphere, singing of Christmas Carols and any reference to Jesus Christ is a strict no no as it might offend the minorities. I for one celebrate all the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish festivals and I have no objection to the religious undertones of these festivals. All other religious communities are proud of their heritage and culture and celebrate the same with zest and vigour but Christians in trying to be politically correct are effectively taking The Christ out of Christmas and this has to stop pronto.

A silent supernova

2004-12-23T02:29:00.000-08:00

The mother of all P2P sites, SuprNova.org was on life support system since the Federal Bureau of Idiots working hand in glove with the RIAA/MPAA went on a P2P crusade; a few days earlier it was taken off the life support system, the official death being registered in the early hours of December 19th. SuprNova.org was the most popular BitTorrent file sharing site. BitTorrent speeds file transfers by segmenting content and downloading parts from multiple users rather than a single server. As you receive a file, so other BitTorrent users are able to grab it from you in the same way. The idea is to ensure a more even sharing of bandwidth between participants... ironic, but supernova went away silently sans the big bang. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, SuprNova.org may you rest in peace.

Man's best friend.

2004-12-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

This is my blog and I don't like anyone else hogging the limelight but I recently came across an article by Dave Barry in the Houston Chronicle about his love for dogs; myself being a dog lover and concurring with all his statements I couldn't resist posting the article.

I'm trying to convince my wife that we need a dog. If we're visiting someone's home, and I suddenly experience a sensation of humid warmth, and I look down and see that my right arm has disappeared up to the elbow inside the mouth of a dog the size of a medium horse, I am not alarmed. I know that this is simply how a large, friendly dog says: "Greetings! You have a pleasing salty taste!"

I respond by telling the dog that he is a GOOD BOY and pounding him with hearty blows, blows that would flatten a cat like a hairy pancake, but which only make the dog like me more. He likes me so much that he goes and gets his Special Toy. This is something that used to be a recognizable object - a stuffed animal, a basketball, a Federal Express driver - but has long since been converted, through countless hours of hard work on the dog's part, into a random wad of filth held together by 73 gallons of congealed dog spit.

"GIVE ME THAT!" I shout, grabbing an end of the Special Toy. This pleases the dog: It confirms his belief that his Special Toy is the most desirable item in the universe, more desirable even than the corpse of a squirrel. For several seconds we fight for this prize, the dog whipping his head side to side like a crazed windshield wiper. Finally I yank the Special Toy free and hold it triumphantly aloft. The dog watches it with laser-beam concentration, his entire body vibrating with excitement, waiting for me to throw it ... waiting ... waiting ... until finally I cock my arm, and, with a quick motion I ... fake a throw. I'm still holding the Special Toy. But WHOOOSH the dog has launched himself across the room, an unguided pursuit missile, reaching a velocity of 75 miles per hour before WHAM he slams headfirst into the wall at the far end of the room. This stimulates the M-size clump of nerve cells that serves as a dog's brain to form a thought: The Special Toy is not here! WHERE IS THE SPECIAL TOY??

The dog whirls, sees the toy in my hand and races back across the room. Just as he reaches me, I cock my arm and ... fake another throw. WHOOOSH! WHAM! I can keep faking throws until the dog has punched a dog-shaped hole completely through the far wall, and the dog will STILL sprint back to me, sincerely believing that THIS time, I'm going to throw the toy. This is one reason that I love dogs.

My wife, who would not touch the Special Toy with a barge pole, is less impressed. Oh, I've tried to explain the advantages of having a dog. For example: A dog is always ready. It doesn't matter for what: Dogs are just "ready." If you leave your car window open, the dog will leap into the car and sit there for hours. It will sit there for days, if you let it. Because the dog knows that sometimes the car just "starts moving," and you have to be ready! Usually the dog will sit in the driver's seat, in case (You never know!) the dog is called upon to steer.

There are many more practical benefits provided by dogs, and I have tried pointing them out to my wife, but she doesn't see it. This is why, in our house, we have fish. They're nice fish, but they're not a whole lot of fun. Although they are excellent drivers.
- Dave Barry, The Houston Chronicle

Blasphemy !!

2004-12-19T03:14:00.000-08:00

I have blasphemed, I have broken two of the prominent commandments of the Gible (Geek Bible) viz.

1. Thou shalt not permit another man to repair/covet your computer.
2. Thou shalt never use Internet Explorer for surfing.

Oh Geek God, I implore... forgive my act of sacrilege. The greatest sin as per the Gible is to allow another man to touch ones computer, I didn't mean to but alas I was left with no other alternative. For what its worth the engineer at the service centre too couldn't repair it without my assistance and hence the unholy incident thou it occurred, it occurred in my presence; so kindly forgive my first sin. Oh Geek God, you know that I'm pious and I detest the evil empire headed by the beast Internet Explorer and also that I only use Opera for my web surfing needs. But sans my computer; I went to an Internet Cafe which didn't have Opera installed and hence I was forced to use Internet Explorer. I know I have sinned and I seek your forgiveness.

Professionalism

2004-12-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

"So learn this as a first lesson about life. The only successful beings in any field, including living itself, are those who have a professional viewpoint and make themselves and ARE professionals" — L. Ron Hubbard

It saddens me to say this but there is a dearth of professionalism in Qatar. Anything I do, I do it as a Professional to Professional standards; but alas professionalism is an antiquated theory in this part of the world. I remember an instance when I was new to Qatar and had gone to buy a car, the showroom had a fleet of cars, there were numerous salesmen on the floor but I had to keep calling them to answer a few queries that I had, such were the responses that I was flabbergasted and left hastily. Were I in India, the moment I stepped into the showroom, a salesman would have marked me out and would be with me toe to toe and would make a worthwhile attempt at selling the car. There is a lot of money at play in Qatar yet the levels of professionalism exhibited are substandard. The disintegration of the levels of professionalism has been augmented by two expatriate nationalities in particular (whom I will not name for the sake of diplomacy)....But the bottom line is that with Qatar hosting international events like the Asian games and the Motor GP, there should be a sustained effort on the part of the government and the local companies to improve the levels of professionalism.

Merseyside Derby

2004-12-13T03:08:00.000-08:00

A true kop will tell you that beating the blue noses at the Merseyside derby is as important as winning the premiership itself. Alas we lost this time to Everton by a solitary goal. After every derby the victorious scion kop will be heard singing, "You will never walk alone" or "Liverbird on my chest" but this time around the ooters got us, they were chanting... "Rafael Beneath-us" mocking our boss Rafael Benitez. The bookmakers odds on us winning the title are increasing steadily and I too don't fancy our chances much but on a brighter note we are in the last stages of the champions league and hopefully we will win it.

"We have the best two teams at Merseyside; Liverpool and Liverpool reserves" - Bill Shankly

Narcissistic Overtures

2004-12-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

Narcissism on overdrive now!.. My desktop wallpaper. Nuff Said.

[best viewed when used with silver theme in windows XP, stretch the wallpaper]

What every guy wants...

2004-12-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

1. A girl who can cook well

2. A girl who earns good money

3. A girl who loves him

4. An environment to make sure these three girls never meet

Bye bye Miss vocabular-ie

2004-12-11T02:03:00.000-08:00

As an adolescent I took pains to strengthen my vocabulary, I was hoping it would pay off in the future. So I became a stickler for the proper usage of words, I refused to get of my high horse with respect to the English vocabulary and it did pay off. I became the editor of the school and college magazines. Won numerous toastmasters and elocution contests and masteries over the English language does help in the professional spheres of life too. But since arriving in Qatar my lingo is on a downfall, "you go, he go, everybody go" pretty much sums up my vocabulary now. The main issue here is that English is relegated to fourth place after Arabic, Hindi and Malayalam... and hence the reason for my vocabulary woes.... but I have to acknowledge that its my own wrong doing. Rather than going with the flow, I should once again strengthen my vocabulary and be a stickler for the proper usage of words even though it might result in my linguistic isolation.

TCS powered Ferrari

2004-12-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

TATA Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India's leading I.T companies and Scuderia Ferrari have concluded a deal whereby teams of engineers and specialists from TCS will provide IT and engineering services for the development of the Formula 1 racing car for the next racing season beginning March 2005. In addition TCS solutions will also be part of the racing car's popular cousin, the Ferrari sports car; have to admit this news makes me proud to be an Indian. The 2005 season is sure going to be interesting, but when alls said and done; Schumi will be seen punching into the air and taking the lap of honours while myself and the rest of the tifosi stand up in jubilation with red painted faces and applaud the prancing horse and co.

At peace with Pinochet

2004-12-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

His Excellency General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte; one of the greatest economic reformers of the last century has been persecuted enough. If it weren't for Pinochet, Chile would have been ruled by the leftist parasites. It was he who introduced economic deregulation and privatization. My request to all the leftists out there is to stop persecuting the octogenarian who is a poor semblance of his erstwhile self. He is a victim of human rights violation himself. Why is it that he was the first to be tried under "Universal Jurisdiction" clause since WW II. Why was the 'statue of limitation' not taken into consideration or for that matter diplomatic immunity of the dignitary. Let bygones be bygones for he doesn't even recall the charges levelled against him on account of senile decay, so please let the poor old man spend his twilight years in peace.

Ring tones

2004-12-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

When it comes to gadgets, like any other contemporary uber geek; I too drool... the rule of thumb being that the latest in technology is generally superior to its predecessor. But then again there are exceptions to every rule. I have had mobile phones dating back to the brick like models of the early era, I have kept pace with the developments in the mobile technologies and have been satisfied with all the innovations; except for one that is; viz. 'Polyphonic tones'. I came across this hideous noise a few years ago on a panasonic phone. The first time I heard it I was hoping that it would be just some passing fad and that the plebeians will get over it.. alas it was not meant to be... The polyphonic tones are here to stay... I'm of the opinion that it is extremely unprofessional and immature to use polyphonic tones... if you are 14 years old and are enamoured by it you are forgiven but when an executive uses these tones; I lose respect then and there... I love the ordinary monophonic 'ring ring' tones rather than these childish musical concoctions called polyphonic tones. But it has to be said that polyphonic tones are not the culprit per se but its the misuse of the same thats the bone of my contention. There are many a professional polyphonic 'ring ring' tones out there on my website which I too don't mind using.

FIFA footballer of the year.

2004-12-03T03:17:00.001-08:00

The 2004, FIFA footballer of the year, to be announced this December 20th comprises the trio of Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko.

I am not nostradamus, neither am I a gypsy with a crystal ball but this is what I foresee. A.C Milans Andriy Shevchenko will win the coveted title. Ronaldinho has been a man on a mission since his arrival at the Nou Camp from PSG and is the reason behind Barcelona's current form but he is still quite young and lacks that finesse,Thierry Henry helped Aresenal to the premiership last year with around 30 goals but any player from the English Premier League other than a Liverpool player shall never get my vote of confidence... which leaves just Shevchenko; he has been a prolific goal scorer for Milan the last few years, he is no one hit wonder. He has finesse, class and above all, he has heart. So my buck is on the Ukranian.

Taiiib...O.K

2004-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of lebaneese mates and I find that my lingo is now being heavily influenced by these blokes.... well I don't mind the influence actually as hanging with them my arabic has also improved remarkably and what the heck for free lebaneese bread I wouldn't mind total domination of my lingo either.. Lebaneese bread is palatable, I'm trying to get one of them to go back home for a vacation and bring loads of lebaneese bread.. yella, salaam.

Family Feud

2004-11-29T02:50:00.000-08:00

Its Mano-a-mano, Anil Ambani Vs. Mukesh Ambani in now what is the infamous Reliance Industries imbroglio. Dhirubhai Ambani, was a pioneer and a statesman who was solely responsible for the emergence of Reliance Industries Ltd., a multi billion dollar conglomerate, this half yearly gross turnover of RIL is circa $9500 Million USD. After the death of their father; who ironically died intestate,the two siblings have been at each others throats.

I have always believed that in business everything is fair, its all about the money, there should be no compassion whatsoever but there are instances where even I draw the line, namely family. You should always have your priorities right, first priority should always be family and nothing should come before that, alas not even money.

Though I'm not a practioneer of law, I'm nevertheless well versed in law and in particular The Contracts Act and The Companies Act. The manner in which Mukesh Ambani redefined his powers is not in accordance with the Indian Companies Act of 1956. Similarly the powers of Anil Ambani; which where vested by an annual general body meeting, cannot be curtailed without a seperate board resolution at another AGM which should have been properly discussed and minuted. Professional attorneys might find a few flaws in my stance and I'm aware of that. Anyways my full backing is with Anil Ambani. Kill em tiger.....

The Metrosexual Male.

2004-11-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

The first time I came across this term, my subconscious conjured up images of a middle aged horny bloke on the local train... little did I know back then that it was the terminology used to describe 'pretty boys' i.e a dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side, a male who would not mind waxing his legs.

Philip Kotler and the rest of the marketing guru's have been abusing women over the years making them feel insecure about their looks inturn leading them to splurge on cosmetics, the same strategy has resulted in the evolution of the metrosexual male. I'm yet unable to reason why 'being in touch with the feminine side' involves just the parallel use of cosmetics rather than other effeminate characteristics like sensitivity.. I guess only the marketing gurus can answer that one.

Am I a metrosexual male?...well no, not in totality. Yes I do love buying designer perfumes, (Just bought Dunhill Desire and must say that its really good), love designer watches, leather et al but hell will freeze over before I wax my legs or try something remotely similar.

Western Culture, or lack thereof

2004-11-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

The Indian diaspora is instilled with a sense of heritage and culture that is imbibed from birth I suppose. I have lived in India only for a few years but the heritage and respect for tradition is still there.

I find that the moral/traditional/religious values are on a decline worldwide and in particular the western world. My major gripes include the disdain with which the sanctity of matrimony is treated. When you say, "I do" .. its supposed to be till death do us apart rather than till "the next babe comes along". There is also no respect for ones old folks or the family structure as such. Parents get old; and they are just shunned to a nursing home. In the western world if one talks about religion you are percieved to be some hardliner from a remote village without access to the 'real world'.

Even back home in India, the number of divorces are on an increase; the number of nursing homes for old folks are also on an increase as well as a decline in religious and moral values. Its very saddening to note these changes and if something is not done in the near future the repercussions will be so huge that norms of society as we know it will have been impaired beyond cognition.

But the above noted phenomenon has had a surge in the western world comparitively to the asian countries. I guess there should be education at the root levels to imbibe the culture and heritage amongst the youth.

Rock on ..

2004-11-19T01:55:00.000-08:00

There are only two genres of music in this world; Hard Rock and Soft Rock, everything else is just the pure prostitution of music. Outlined below are a compilation of the top twenty all time greatest hits in my opinion.

Apologies fly out to Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, C.C.R, Ozzy, Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones, Bryan May, Great White, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, The Who, Pearl Jam and a host of other rockers for not being able to include you all in my top twenty. (not that it makes a god damn difference to your already successful careers)

P.S: Subscriptions now open to "Shoot a bubblegum brigade artist/lover Club". Come on in, come on in.

Political Compass

2004-11-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

I just took a test at Political Compass which more or less analyses your stance; vis a vis right wing or leftist. Surprise, surprise!! the test says that I'm inclined more to the right and that I stand tall with the likes of Silvio Berlusconi. Speaking of Silvio Berlusconi, here is one guy that I really admire, he is one of my idols.. he has a hand in everything be it politics, sports or the media. What he has achieved is any megalomaniac's dream, he is the Premier of Italy, owner of A.C Milan Football Club, incharge of a media conglomerate; even I couldn't ask for more.

Scott Peterson Verdict - Injustice?

2004-11-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.. this principal law was flouted by one and sundry in the Scott Peterson Saga. He was charged with first degree murder of his wife and second degree murder of his unborn baby.

Scott Peterson was presumed guilty the day he was arraigned, it was the work of the media, the jurors went into the courtroom already bombarded with the medias verdict of guilt. The question here is not whether Scott is really innocent or guilty but whether the evidence proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

He was cocky and sans emotion throughout the trial, yes these are signs of a deranged criminal but then again what evidence is there of his guilt. He was a jerk, he had an affair (he should be shot for that as I believe infidelity to be the greatest sin) but that alone does not prove he killed his wife, he was caught near the mexico border with around 10,000 bucks in cash; so what? He had a map of the bay area where his wifes body was dumped; but then again he had a boat, the prosecution couldn't find any harcore evidence of his direct involvement like eye withnesses, the anchors that were used to dump the body, fingerprints or any other shred of evidence. The whole trial was of a chewbecca strategy, it was all confusing.Its a sad day for justice as such for a man whether innocent or guilty was charged with double homicide without a shred of hard evidence proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the heinous acts; though all the circumstancial evidence pointed to him. And circumstancial evidence alone is not sufficient for conviction...My gut feeling says that the verdict will be overturned in the court of appeals.

Vulnerable

2004-11-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

The last few days, I have been feeling extremely vulnerable.. I still haven't gotten over the passing away of my princess. I think the realization of it reached the zenith this thursday night... me and a couple of my cousins went to play pool at hotshots and the topic soon changed to princess... and I was overwhelmed with emotion that we left in between...

I'm not prone to emotional swings or depression; this I achieve by using a mild form of narcissistic block, the depressing thoughts are blocked out with thoughts of grandeur or with more pleasant or other prominent concerns. But alas I'm unable to do this presently as there is/was/will never be someone or something more prominent than my princess and hence I too fell prey to depression which I completely loathe as the level of confidence becomes slightly lower, Owing to Eid Holidays I should be able to rest and be back at my arrogant best in the near future.

Yasser Arafat, Show me the money

2004-11-11T06:11:00.000-08:00

Mohammed Yasser Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa a.k.a Yasser Arafat passed away today, November 11th at the Percy Military Training Hospital in Clamart, France. He was a very charismatic leader and a true patriot to the end, an eternal champion in the quest for freedom.

With his passing away, the PLO and the rest of Palestine are in shatters.. there is no clear cut successor to him.. the most likely one being Mahmoud Abbas… but this whole scenario reminds me of a scene from the movie Jerry Macguire, in which Tom Cruise is screaming over the phone, ''Show me the money'' … now this is what is on everybody's mind though none are willing to accept it openly…. Presumably around a billion dollars of aid that he got for the Palestinian cause are now stashed away somewhere... Exactly how much is stashed away, who has control over it? These are important questions yet to be answered and which will be unravelled only in the coming days… so Palestinians, repeat after me, 'Show me the money, show me the money!!!!'

Firefox out of beta, but ....

2004-11-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

The Mozilla Foundation has decided to release the first 'official' version of Firefox...Its been touted as the next best thing since sliced bread by semi-geeks world over.. yes, you heard me right... "semi-geeks".... anybody who uses an alternate browser to internet explorer is a level above the ignoble populace... but a true uber geek uses only Opera as their internet browser of choice. Firefox is just a mere ersatz of Opera, a rather insipid ersatz might I add. Opera innovates and Firefox immitates and I'm sure the folks at Opera are rather flattered. But nevertheless, any browser other than Internet Explorer getting such wide media coverage is in the interest of greater good and so firefox afficianados; have your fifteen minutes of fame.

P.S: I recently stumbled upon Operawatch, a blog that narrates in detail why Opera is the best browser in the world.

Saudi Citizenship - Any takers!!

2004-11-09T03:25:00.000-08:00

As per a recent royal decree..more than one million expatriates who have been living in the Kingdom for over 10 years, are entitled to apply for Saudi citizenship and their travels abroad with re-entry visas will not disqualify them. Just one question - WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD WANT A SAUDI CITIZENSHIP????? Most of my muslim friends say that if it werent for Mecca then they would never set foot on that soil. If Bahrain and Qatar were to offer citizenship then expats would jump at it. Bahraini's and Qatari's are some of the nicest people around and when you become a citizen of a country; you are interested in the local atmosphere; which I find wanting in Saudi and thus the principal reason for a lacklustre interest in Saudi Citizenship.

My bone of contention with the Saudi's is their lack of empathy, there is nothing wrong in giving what people want, you don't have to decide for them... let me explain what I mean w.r.t the above situation itself. Palestinians living in Saudi Arabia will not be given citizenship "to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland". If a Palestinian wants to live peacefully then so be it, getting them murdered at the hands of the Israelis and Vice-versa is the greatest sin of the Saudi's.

You Kahn do it.

2004-11-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

Oliver Kahn, one of my favourite goalkeepers of all time; alongside the likes of Bruce Grobellar, Walter Zenga, Rene Higuita is now embroiled in a bitter dispute with Jens Lehmann of Arsenal for the number one shirt. The whole oppugn started when Juergen Klinsmann,the current German coach wanted a battle of the best for the one number shirt.. Unfortunately both the players are trying to outdo the other, both are under immense pressure and are making unwarranted mistakes that are proving costly to their respective clubs. Klinsmann should change his plan to wait until shortly before the 2006 World Cup finals before picking a number one. I sincerely hope to see the German Shepherd Oliver Kahn in front of goal... he is on my list of favourite Germans which also include Hitler and Claudia Schiffer hahahha.

Person behind the persona

2004-11-06T02:33:00.000-08:00

A lot has been said about me and I think it's about time the person behind the persona takes centre stage rather than vice versa. Granted, I'm arrogant, narcissistic and pompous…. I don’t dispute that and ironically I'm proud of it. Some say I'm snobbish but I'm not, I just like to enjoy the finer things in life…. I work hard for it... so sue me. Subordinates call me mean but I'm not mean… I place work above everything else and to survive you need to have the killer instinct…being mellow will not help. I'm labelled as an advocate of the right wing and hitherto I still cannot comprehend what's wrong in having right wing views? Right or wrong we are more passionate than the gutless liberals.

But when alls said and done, I'm just a little kid at heart who loves nothing more than getting a big warm hug. I'm someone who values loyalty over everything else, someone for whom love, honour, fidelity mean the whole world.. family being the first priority. I am an ardent believer in God Almighty (and I'm sure he will forgive my arrogance)….I love going home, having some home made food, fighting with mom and playing computer games…. But I guess it’s the persona that people seem to recall about me and not the real person behind it. .. but then again, do I care?.. hell no!! I'm the king of the world baby.

Managementor: Part One.

2004-11-05T05:59:00.000-08:00

I think its about time I started keeping a chronicle of the managerial lessons learned by me. I know that with experience and wisdom my lessons will change and with it my outlook as well. It will be nice to look back in retrospect after a few years and see how true the lessons I learned back then were.

In college with respect to management, you are tutored about the importance of ‘Espirit de corps’ i.e team spirit, but in the real world, these utopian ideas are not effective, if I have to sacrifice team spirit to get the job done then so be it. Team spirit is essential but sometimes for getting the work done you have to develop ruthless rivalry within the team, this will make the working atmosphere difficult but at the end of the day work is all that matters and the workplace need not be a local fraternity… another lesson I learned is that though good managers lead by example, brute intimidation works pretty well too.

Keep it in the closet.

2004-11-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

My cousin has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, the first thing he did on receiving the news is to call up his old folks and sob to them about it.. Sweet???.... Well I don’t think so, I am of the opinion that its outright immature...By calling up his parents, he now has those poor souls distraught … by informing them he just got them agitated, they can’t do anything about it from that far away…..I share unwanted information only if it can help and not if it is detrimental to those I chose to share it with.. In such situations one should just keep it to oneself rather than tormenting those you love.

My life's turning point

2004-10-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

24th October, 2004 and the love of my love, my grandmother, my princess bids adieu to me and leaves for her heavenly abode. My life will never be the same again. She was more dear to me than everything and everyone else; she had been invalid for the last few months and in a way I am glad that she didn't have to suffer much. She went away peacefully. Everyone is surprised that I, who would fly down to see her at her slightest cough didn't turn up for the funeral. The reason being that she had confided in me a long long time ago that when the inevitable happened, she didn't want to be kept, she wanted it to be over as early as possible; it would have taken me around 2 days to reach there and hence I told pops to go ahead with the needful immediately. I was always with her when she was alive, always at her side when she needed me, took care of her, bugged her, hugged her and she was happy when she was amongst us and hence I pacify myself.

It will not be the same without her around, she was always a calming influence on me, its an end of an epoch. She was my portal to my childhood. At heart all I am is just a little kid who likes nothing more than a big warm hug&; and I could always count on her for one… without her I guess my extended childhood also come to an end... for the last few days on and off I've been sobbing around the house...my office staff will bear the brunt of my misfortune and may God save them from me.

I have no idea how I’m going to enter my house in India, forget the house, even the drive up to the yard from the gates will be heart breaking. If I was late, she would hear the gates being opened and wait near the balcony in the front yard to see me drive up. I had this habit of giving her a peck on the forehead the moment I entered the house; its going to be a very difficult proposition for me to go back to that house again. But even death will not part us, I know that my baby girl is with me in spirits and am sure that she is watching me from above making sure that I ate and slept on time as she always used to do.

Revelation 14:13
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

It's a woman's world out there

2004-10-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

It’s a woman’s world out there, do you know that an average woman has the power to wrap 90 percent of the male populace around her fingertips. The male psyche is dominated by his hormones and any woman with the knowledge of this can use her ‘assets’ as a stimulus to control her male counterpart.

Have you ever noticed on tech bulletin boards/forums, technical help questions posted by a female gets lot more replies than a similar one by a male? …Or in college, it’s the girls who get all the help with their mundane chores. There was this female in my college who used this to her advantage, she would get guys to bring her books from the library, bring this and that and what not. Go out on a date and you get, free food and drinks. So stop cribbing and use your powers to bend the will of the gullible males. Oh woman the world is yours for the taking.

It’s a woman’s world but career wise woman are primarily still underachievers, it is so because the upper echelons of management are still dominated by arrogant bastards like me, who themselves being manipulative are not easy prey for the fairer sex and cannot be enticed easily. Moreover they have the policy of use and throw once the goals are achieved. Well my female friends, forget the upper echelons of management, be satisfied with having 90% of the fallible males groveling at your feet… may the force be with you.

Jaguar F1 Team bows out.

2004-10-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

It’s a sad day for F1 enthusiasts as the curtain falls on one of the very illustrious marques of automobile manufacturers F1 outfits viz. Jaguar F1. This weekend the Jaguar Racing team will contest its final Grand Prix. The Brazilian Grand Prix will be the last time a team by the name of Jaguar will race although the outfit remains hopeful that a buyer will be found to keep the operation on the road for 2005. I'm a hardcore Ferrari fan and not a Jaguar fan but losing established marques is always detrimental to the sport. Anyways Jaguar F1; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Taming the tiger.

2004-10-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

Fondly referred to as the 'Tiger' by his acolytes, Bal Thackeray; the strongman of Indian Politics has been finally tamed , or should I say skinned... the Shiv Sena under his aegis was beaten comprehensively by the Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra and I must say that I am delighted with the result. The Shiv-Sena is a parochial party with Bombay as their stronghold,(P.S I will never refer to Bombay as Mumbai) the shiv sena lacks vision and is just a right wing Hindu fundamentalist party. The self proclaimed Hindu Hridaysamrat (Ruler of the heart of the Hindus) is no more a towering figure.

There are many reasons for the falter of Bal Thackeray and Shiv Sena, the predominant reason being nepotism. The heir to the Shiv Sena throne should have been Bal Thackeray's nephew Raj Thackeray and not his son Uddhav Thackeray. To incite a crowd, oratory skills are the only prerequisite but for proper governance, administration sills are a necessity which the shiv sena sorely lacked.

The bottom line here is that Hindutva doesn't sell. On an average every Hindu is tolerant and secular in their outlook. Its not that I'm against the Shiv Sena just because I'm a Christian and the Shiv Sena is a Hindu Nationalist party. The truth is far from it, I despise the Shiv Sena for their lack of vision and tolerance. They indulged in corruption at the highest levels; which is evident from a multi million dollar fake stamps scam and I'm cheering away at the scene of the congress skinning the tiger.

Only in America

2004-10-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

A provision in the U.S. tax code provides small businesses with a tax write-off of up to $25,000 for a vehicle weighing more than 6,000 pounds. While the original intent behind this provision was to encourage investments in pickup trucks, minivans, and other needed service vehicles, it has helped to subsidize some SUV's like the Hummer and the Escalade. There are debates out there for the banning of SUV's but little do the ignoble Americans know that the govt. of the great U.S of A rewards buyers of these sexy monster trucks with tax write offs.... me being someone who puts the 'A' in attitude, I love the hummer and feel that the U.S is me paradise.. ahh I can hear the beckoning of the American Dream... the U.S senate is planning to plug the loophole by raising the weight limit to 14,000 pounds which would rule even the hummer out of contention for the tax breaks but I don't see it becoming a law anytime soon.. Tax breaks for buying a Hummer???, its a dream come true..... ready or not, America here I come.

Pooled out

2004-10-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I and Rajesh had a marathon pool session. Now mate, let me just add insult to injury by publishing the results of the marathon online...muahahahaha (evil laugh)... I won 8 games to 1.. a total white wash I say. We both have been practicing for quite some time now and are regular visitors to this pool parlour near the airport road called Hotshots. Yesterday when we went to play, there were three guys in front of me... one Qatari, a Jordanian and a Pakistani. All three of them were told that all the tables were booked and that they'd have to wait.. I was last in line and when I approached they smiled and told me that table 15 on the top floor was available. I guess that’s the advantages of being a regular at a certain club.

Bush vs. Kerry

2004-10-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

I was watching the last round of American presidential debates and was quite impressed by Kerry, he is a true diplomat. He gave a befitting answer to a question that could either break or make him. On being asked, ”what is your opinion about channeling the taxpayers money towards killing of unborn babies"... Kerry replied that he is a catholic, brought up with catholic views himself, has been an altar boy but as the President, when he makes legislations which affects individuals of all religious denominations; he cannot let his faith be the over-ruling factor. Kerry won this round of the debate too in my opinion.

Where Bush wins is in 'conviction'... whether right or wrong; Bush has convictions whereas Kerry seems too 'wishy washy'... I like Bush, he has that evil smirk on his face which I like..haha.. I know its horrible to elect somebody on account of that but hey I'm not an American citizen and hence I can without looking at the repercussions.

What is love?

2004-10-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

What is love?... basically it is two vowels, two consonants and two fools....I might get shot for saying this but its true... when I see a couple supposedly in love I call them fools.. Its not because I think to love somebody is to be a fool... But pretending to love somebody is foolish.

There is no true love in this world anymore.... I feel that love is sacrosanct and it should be treated with that reverence... I know people who have said I love you to a dozen people in the last one year. True love is you loving just one person and pledging your future with him/her... there should be no trial mechanism here as in returning the goods if you are not satisfied. A majority of married couples get divorced and the most common excuse is that, "we fell out of love" and my response is that if you fell out of love then it means that you were never truly in love... why is it so difficult to make monogamous commitments to your spouse?? If you are truly in love you will be able to; the moment you wander away to the other side; it shows the lack of love. The bottom line is that out of a 100 so called couples who are in love, only a miniscule minority of the same are actually in love.

Liverpool F.C - I stand tall with you.

2004-10-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

One of the most decorated clubs in the History of football; Liverpool F.C, the club I grew up admiring are trying to regain lost form. There is a new manager and its only natural that it takes some time for him to utilize the full potential of the team, get to know the pros and cons of each player etc. Our games at home have been good but we are struggling away from home.. it was disheartening to see us lose to Man Ure at Old Toilet..err I meant Man Utd at Old Trafford. Though we have had continuous success in the international arena till date; domestic league championship is something that we haven't won for over a decade and its gotten to the point where I'm almost frustrated. But I'm a very loyal person and being the true kop that I am, Liverpool F.C I stand tall with you... you will never walk alone!!! When the transfer window opens in January I hope to see an influx of new stars and by then Raffa and the new players should have settled in well.. and god willing we will win some more silverware.

Since I am on football, it was recently disclosed that Arsenal's new stadium will be named "The Emirates Stadium", the price for the sponsorship deal is rumoured to be around 100 million pounds. This made me think what if Liverpool also did this, we would make a lot of money and would be able to buy a lot of good stars... but then better sense prevailed and I realized that our stadium cannot be named anything other than "Anfield" and no amount of money can influence that decision... and how would the fans feel like touching the "this is emirates" sign rather than "this is anfield" sign??

Saddam Hussein - Forgotten Hero?

2004-10-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

The internet or for that matter the whole media has become mouthpieces of some political entity or other. On account of the excellent work done by the American spin doctors, the media called him a ruthless megalomaniac... but I call him a Hero.

Saddam Hussein Al-Tikriti, the President of the Republic of Iraq, I salute you... and as Saddam himself emphasized at his arraignment I too emphasize the part about him being the President of Iraq. He is the president elect, the people's mandate... he was not impeached or voted out of power by his countrymen and hence he still is the President elect.

I am with the Americans on their war against terror but Saddam has had nothing to do with international terrorism. He never approved of Al Qaeda or Bin Laden au contraire he was a victim of cross border terrorism from Iran aided Kurds. Saddam was never a religious fundamentalist, he gave women freedom and power, minorities like Christians were a part of the Baath party... he is the only secular Arab leader I can think of...

During the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces and Kurdish separatists. On March 16, 1988 Iraqi troops, on orders from Saddam to stop a Kurdish uprising, attacked the Kurdish town of Halabjah with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents killing 5000 people, mostly women and children. Dissenting opinions dispute the numbers and have said the incident was actually a battle in the Iran–Iraq war where chemical weapons were used on both sides and a significant portion of the fatalities were caused by the Iranian weapons. When you are dealing with terrorist outfits like the kurds, hard-handed measures are a must and as the president of Iraq, Saddam did what he had to safeguard the interests of his countrymen.

Contrary to popular beliefs, Saddam Hussein never surrendered...he fell into the hands of fighters from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) after he was betrayed by a man belonging to the al-Jabur tribe; they then sedated him and negotiated for political gain before leaving him for the Americans to find.

Yes, he did rule with an iron fist but he served the interest of his country, Iraq a country of a thousand tribes were united under him and were a potent force. He in my books will always be remembered as a great leader.

A taste of my own medicine

2004-10-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

A major chunk of my business antics are based not on what is right or wrong but on whether I can getaway with it or not. Today I had a meeting with a Senior Manager of Qatar Petroleum and I was kvetching about the excessive rates being levied on us by Qatar Petroleum. He looked me in the eye and told me that there was a saying in his homeland; South Africa - He asked me, "why do dogs lick their balls?"... I replied in the negative that I didn't have a clue, to which he shot back..."They do it because THEY CAN"..... and he is right, QP has the full discretion to levy any rates they so please on any contractor within Ras Laffan Industrial City and they can get away with it. I understand and live by the same rule but when you get a taste of your own medicine its rather insipid.

DISS Like

2004-10-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

What do I dislike?.. Well I dislike linguistically challenged nitwits whose vocabulary involves the erroneous usage of the word “like”. You would presume blue eyed blonde bimbettes to be the greatest offenders in this respect but alas it’s crept into the lexicon of mainstream society as we know it. I’m not against the usage of it in normal conversation as long as the frequency with which it is used is kept down to a bearable minimum but when someone says, “and she is like he is like so cool like no one else in Qatar” and I want to pull out an Uzi and spray bullets.

Like maybe use as a preference: He likes it, it maybe used as a preposition too, its allowed to be used when making comparative statements but Like should never be used as a conjunction, its grammatically correct to say, “the house looked empty as though no one had lived there for ages” rather than, “the house looked empty like no one had lived there for ages”. But my biggest pet peeve is when its used as substitute for said and even more frustrating is when you come across this in professional spheres of life.

Under my Skin

2004-10-01T03:03:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm listening to Under my skin by Avril Lavigne... to put it mildly I have never liked female artistes (for their music that is ahem ahem)... but there are quite a few exceptions like Anastacia and now Avril Lavigne... she will not make it to the roll of honours at the school of rock but hey its a start..and time is on her side... so she might still... and its artistes like her who keep the ignoble populace hooked to rock.... and as a true hardcore rocker my hats off to her.... her music is quite good too and the fact that she says she will not "sell out" a la the bugglegum brigade likes of Britney is very assuring, her music may help in many a teenybopper conversion to rock... and amen to that.

A DRrring to it

2004-09-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

My C.V reads, "Education - Masters in Business Administration (Finance & Marketing), Postgraduate Degree in computer applications, Diploma in computerized financial accounting"... me am well qualified and doing what I should be doing.. am Manager - Administration in a company based in Qatar. But me am not satisfied.... I want to finish off me PHD.... have registered a long time back but haven't submitted even the first papers .. I now have this extreme urge to finish off me PHD.... No.. not because I can learn more.... Knowledge is good but I have enough and more business knowledge already and only experience can add to it; not books.... and No..not for career growth either.. a PHD will not make a world of difference yet... then why.. well just for the sheer narcissistic pleasure of being better qualified than 98% of the population.. and Dr. Jinu Johnson does have a nice ring to it....

Wireless & Penniless

2004-09-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today me am totally wireless; bought a top notch handsfree kit for the Jeep but it cost a bomb and now am penniless. Have been planning to buy a handsfree kit for sometime now. For someone who uses the cell phone for an average of more than 2 hours per day it’s a very late buy… should have bought it a long time back. It's more of a necessity for me rather than a luxury. But the sad part is that SonyEricsson accessories are exorbitant. But my brand is SonyEricsson, I only use S.E phones, Nokias are for plebeians and not for true technocrats.

Elusive webslinger

2004-09-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

For the last three days me been wanting to go for Spiderman 2; it is supposedly a good movie and worth a watch. Wednesday night I planned to go out with a friend, we sat and talked late in the night and missed the show. Thursday night I planned it with Rajesh but alas that too didnt work out and we went out for online gaming till 3 in the morning. I was all ready to watch it yesterday night but when we reached the theatre at landmark it seems that there was no midnight show yesterday; so went to play pool at Hotshots. 2 years have passed since I last played pool and was a bit rusty; I have hence decided to play pool alteast once a week to get that old touch back. I have now lost the interest to see spidey, its not a case of sour grapes but somehow the sheen has worn out.

Sashaying with sushi

2004-09-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

For quite some time now, me and Rajesh have been sashaying with the idea of experimenting with sushi. The thought about consuming raw fish is revolting to say the least but then again its something that I have not tried till date and hell bent on it now. We went to this jap restaurant downtown but alas they didn't serve sushi. I've been told that you get good sushi at The Hotel Intercontinental ,Doha.... I rarely visit Five star hotels except on occasions and never to satiate a craving.. but if that's what it takes to get me my sushi; then so be it.

Gandhi's Prisoner

2004-09-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Mahatma Gandhi's iron-fisted control over the life of his son is the focus of a newly-released book in South Africa, written by his great granddaughter.

Controversially titled 'Gandhi's Prisoner? The Life of Gandhi's Son, Manilal', the 400-page book released last week is written by Uma Dhuphelia-Mesthrie and explores the Gandhi family's early years in South Africa in the early 1900s.

"Manilal didn't have a choice. He wanted to be a doctor but Gandhi didn't allow him to study at all. He would have liked to marry a particular woman but his father wouldn't allow that," Dhuphelia-Mesthrie told AFP.

Gandhi is supposedly synonymous with freedom and here he is denying the freedom to his own son, Gandhi in my opinion is nothing more than a P.R ploy, he wanted to make headlines. He could have saved India by wearing normal Indian clothes; but he chose to dress like a beggar... why?..just for the attention.. he was a megalomaniac..Period!!!! Gandhi left South Africa with his family in 1914 but sent Manilal, the second of four boys, back to keep his legacy alive. If Gandhi was only interested in the Indian freedom struggle, he should have not let his son go back, his son should have stayed back and fought for India. Gandhi was not a saint but a political genius... I never liked the guy and never will.... Japan became a world economic power after the WWII... if it weren't for Gandhi we would also have reached that status long before... but kudos are due to Indira Gandhi for setting India back into the position of becoming a world power. May his soul rest in peace but I still despise Mahatma Gandhi.. SIEG HAIL

A teetotaller in the tavern

2004-09-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'm a teetotaller, don't booze or smoke... I really can't understand why people booze or smoke.. all drinkers/smokers are of the opinion that I am missing out on something.. well I don't want to poison me body mate.. and in all probability they too don't want to but are so addicted that they can't stop... and how did they get addicted?.. peer pressure I say. Being extremely confident of myself, peer pressure was not something that I ever took into consideration and hence never indulged in smoking or drinking.

Having said that I am a teetotaller I have to admit that I don't mind pouring the drinks, any party and I'd be the first one to bring a bottle though I don't drink.. I have no qualms about visiting a pub guess its coz all me friends are drunks... but I don't get the fascination with booze.... you drink, get up with a hangover, whats the point.. the only way to avoid a hangover is to stay drunk.

A mans word

2004-09-21T03:45:00.000-07:00

I am a man of my word, if I say something its as good as done. But this axiom applies only in my personal life. When it comes to business I'm the exact opposite. I'm trying to justify the same to my conscience. I guess I can justify it on account that alls fair in business. In my personal life, when I say it will be done it implies that its as good as done but in business, my words have no meaning... I might promise something and then do the reverse... sometimes I feel that I'm losing my integrity with hardcore business tactics but then again I have no remorse for the same which would attribute to a 300% growth of our company in the last year... all I can say to me detractors right now is to not judge me on the basis of my business antics but more on a personal level, as in my personal life I'm a man of my word.

Tete-a-tete with princess

2004-09-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I had a long conversation with me baby girl. Today after a long gap I had tete-a-tete with her. She is still chirpy as ever. It seems that she is getting more stubborn day by day. She is now being royally pampered and she is making the most out of it...smart girl I say... talking to her one would never guess that she is an octagenerian and quite ill.. thats my baby girl for ya.

Hatred for pop music.

2004-09-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Pop music is defined as "music pleasing to or favored by many or most people," - Macmillan Dictionary for Students

Jesus Christ on a Harley Davidson, I didn't know that many or most people have horrendous taste in music. Only ten year old girls listen to pop music. When I hear friends or anybody listening to pop music I just shudder. Pop artists rely on computers for their music; moreover if you are a pop lover please don't idolize these gay bands.. err boy bands or other girl bands, if you like the songs then send a note of recognition to that potbellied drunk behind the curtains who actually write their songs. Pop singers are just puppets, singing songs written by others with voices altered by computers.

I don't listen to anything other than rock. For me rock is very soothing. I can easily fall into deep slumber listening to Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple. Rock has soul and passion. Pop on the other hand is the prostitution of music. The bubblegum brigade as I like to refer to then will soon fade out; it will not last the sands of time; au contraire rock songs from the '60s are still POPular today. Rock on baby.. rock on.

Relationships

2004-09-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

It seems that almost all the celebrity couples are headed directly for Splitsville. It saddens me to see the disdain with which the sanctity of matrimony is dealt with.. marriages are sacrosanct and should be treated as such.

The main reason for most unsuccessful relationships in my opinion is the perspective and approach. Nowadays a 50-50 relationship is the norm and this is the core of the problem. I have always felt that a 50-50 relationship spells doom in the long run. With a 50-50 relationship its an endless tug of war... I believe more in the 60-40 relationship where one partner dominates 60% of the time while the other 40% of the time. Here one will have to give in a little more than the other but atleast there will be a smooth flow between the two till death do them part.

Cats

2004-09-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

I am an ardent animal rights activist, a member of the World Wildlife Fund, supporter of GreenPeace International as well. Recently there was a discussion on a bulletin board that I frequent about the killing of cats in the name of art. There was a hue and cry about it but I refrained from condemning the act. Why?.. well its because I have this inherent HATRED for cats.

My philosophy on cats,"Feed a dog and it thinks you are god, feed a cat and it thinks it is god". Cats are pure evil.. plain and simple. I cannot comprehend why there are so many lovers of this absurd species. Cats have no sense of gratitude and loyalty... on the other hand dogs are so sweet... I wouldn't mind having a dozen dogs around the house.... they are so loveable and huggable... feed a dog once and it will wag its tail everytime it sees you till it dies and goes to dog heaven. Pondering more on the topic I realize that, take away my extreme sense of loyalty and gratitude and I too am more like a cat...hmmmmmmmm......

Good manners

2004-09-14T03:11:00.000-07:00

One thing that I find extremely wanting in Qatar is good manners. A "good morning", "thank you", "good night" etc. makes a world of difference. A thorough professional should behave courteously, then again I find professionalism even more lacking in this part of the world.

One of my biggest gripes is that in Qatar, rarely does someone ask you to sit down if you walk into their office. Someone walks into mine and the first thing that I do is to offer him/her a seat. But umpteen times have I walked into other offices without being offered a seat, so what do I do? Do I keep standing? Hell no.. I simply ask, "may I have a seat" and then sit down.

I have also noticed the look on waiters faces when I say a thank you when they deliver the food... they brighten up... here people order the food, get it served by the waiters and that's it... no thank you.. no nothing.... somebody should embark on a "Good manners for Qatar" mission. Good manners show your level of professionalism, maturity and pedigree.

Existence of God

2004-09-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Me, arrogant? - yes, narcissistic? - yes, to an extend, but what ppl fail to believe is that a person with such qualities can be religious also. Yes, I am a devout Christian and I am proud of it. There are many atheists out there who want proof of existence of God, well in my opinion its the faith alone that counts and not facts but nevertheless here are a few arguments in support:

The first purported proof of the existence of God is the ontological argument. The ontological argument seeks to prove the existence of God from the laws of logic alone. It dates back to St Anselm, an eleventh century philosopher-theologian and archbishop of Canterbury, but was also used by the French philosopher René Descartes. It argues that once we mentally grasp the concept of God we can see that God’s non-existence is impossible. This argument, if it is successful, demonstrates the existence of a perfect being that could not possibly fail to exist.

The second purported proof of the existence of God is the first cause argument, also called “the cosmological argument”. The first cause argument seeks to prove the existence of God from the fact that the universe exists. The universe came into existence at a point in the distant past. Nothing can come into existence, though, unless there is something to bring it into existence; nothing comes from nothing. There must therefore be some being outside of the universe that caused the universe to exist. This argument, if it is successful, demonstrates the existence of a Creator that transcends time, that has neither beginning nor end.

The third purported proof of the existence of God is the argument from design, also called “the teleological argument”. The argument from design seeks to prove the existence of God from the fact that the universe is ordered. The universe could have been different in many ways. It could have had different laws of physics; it could have had a different arrangement of planets and stars; it could have begun with a more powerful or a weaker big bang. The vast majority of these possible universes would not have allowed for the existence of life, so we are very fortunate indeed to have a universe that does. On an atheistic world-view, there is no way to explain this good fortune; the atheist must put this down to chance. On the view that God exists, though, we can explain why the universe is the way that it is; it is because God created the universe with beings like us in mind. This argument, if it is successful, strongly suggests the existence of a Creator that takes an interest in humanity.

The fourth purported proof of the existence of God is the moral argument. The moral argument seeks to prove the existence of God from the fact that there are moral laws. Moral laws have the form of commands; they tell us what to do. Commands can’t exist without a commander though, so who is it that commands us to behave morally? To answer this, we only need to look at the authoritative nature of morality. Commands are only as authoritative as is the one that commands them; a command of a ruler carries more authority than a command of a citizen. Moral commands, though, have ultimate authority; they are to be obeyed under all circumstances. Their authority transcends all human authority, and they must therefore have been commanded by a being whose authority transcends all human authority. The existence of moral laws, the argument concludes, thus demonstrates the existence of a being that is greater than any of us and that rules over all creation.

Together, then, these arguments claim to prove the existence of a perfect, necessary, transcendent being that created the universe, has authority over it, and takes an interest in humanity. This, if it could be accomplished, would be more than enough to show that the conception of God, and those conceptions of God related to it, are close to the truth.

Small screen Superman

2004-09-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

I like watching the T.V show "Angel", immediately after 'angel' was aired yesterday, "Smallville" came on.. its a mediocre series but something in it struck me. Kristin Kreuk looks like the girl of me dreams.. she is classy, intellectual, cute but au contraire it was Allison Mack who got all me attention. awww she is so sweet; the girl next door; very goofy... hmm made me wonder if me tastes are changing but then again when I realized that I'd rather be Lex Luthor than Superman anyday my doubts were cleared that I haven't changed... amen to that... now why would someone want to change perfection eh?

Sister Act.

2004-09-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Been inundated with stories about the Williams sisters coming out with their own line of apparel, I used to watch women's tennis and I highlight the word 'used to'; till the advent of the Williams sisters. One look at them and I recall one of me fav songs by "KISS", its called "The psycho circus"... but actually that's not what comes to mind... its "Ghetto Circus".. they talk trash, a testosterone filled game; grunting more than most of the male counterparts. I used to be an ardent supporter of Steffi Graf.. now she had an elegance and finesse about her game which these two sorely lack. I cannot comprehend why ppl find them alluring while I find them utterly repulsive. Look at the evolution, Chris Evert > Martina Navratilova > Steffi Graf > Seles/Hingis> The Williams Sisters ... its akin to saying that the Human evolution has gone back anti clockwise to the primate era.

Guilt no more

2004-09-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Around a fortnight back I went to see the movie "Bourne Supremacy" with a friend of mine. While I was parking my car one guy came by and told me that he had come to Qatar from Oman via the road, his wallet was stolen and if I could help him. One look at him and you would know that he was the master of skullduggery but he pointed to his kid in the car and said that he needed money for the kid too. Half of my mind said, "give him some money, whats a few bucks to you give it to him".. but I have this thing about being taken for a ride and hence refused him... he then got on his car and went off... when he drove away I noticed that his plates were Omani.. so I started thinking whether he was telling the truth or not. I could care less whether he starved to death or not but the thought of that little kid kept haunting me time and time again. Today I saw a car pull side by side with mine at the T.V roundabout with full music blaring and lo and behold it was that same old guy. Now I'm sure that he was also a fraud and hence me pangs of guilt are put to rest.

Royal Affairs.

2004-09-05T21:50:00.000-07:00

I have always believed that Princess of Wales, Diana was a slut, she has slept with everybody from her bodyguard to her horse trainer and hell maybe even the horse. The boduguard was disposed off by the royal family, amen to that. Now there is news that Prince Philip might have cheated on Queen Elizabeth II. You people are the epitome of class and aristocracy, how can you stoop so low?? One would expect plebians to indulge in it and not royalty, guess my presumptions are wrong eh?

Starbucks - The good 'ol days

2004-09-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was at Starbucks with a friend of mine who also happens to be a coffee connoisseur. We love our cup of coffee... we walked into starbucks and I was appalled at the ambience.... Filled with these squeaky voiced philipino females and a bunch of morons out there trying to get lucky with one of em. Its the same at almost all the starbucks chains. My request to all the philipino whores out there, please please stay away from starbucks, make some other place your favourite pickup point, me just want to walk in with a mate or two and half some decent coffee like the good ol days.

P.S: You will have to shoot me before I start saying "venti" instead of "Large", why can't it be just small, medium and large ?

Mission Accomplished

2004-09-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

When I left India, my cousin brother took care of all our rubber estates and plantations in kerala, not to mention my princess. Now that me pops has retired and returned to kerala, the onus was on me to find a good job for me cousin and get him settled down. Gratitude and loyalty are my greatest and only virtues, since he spend a lot of time for us I made it a point to get him a good job for him here in Qatar. The visas for Indians are extremely hard to come by, you may say that its impossible but I pulled a lot of strings and finally got him a visa. He is now well employed and this month he got his first paycheque. Mission accomplished, roger and out !!

A very close call

2004-09-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was coming back late in the night from Industrial Area and as always pedal to the metal... it was very dark, no street lights, I should have known better than to speed in such situations but alas me mind was on vacation. To make it short, I was speeding and went over a roundabout at street 15... and yes that is correct I went over a roundabout... didn't see the roundabout as there were no street lights.. .by the time I saw it and braked it was too late, I skidded and went on top of the roundabout.. to my surprise the roundabout was only half complete, it was plain and there was nothing on top to collide with.. so what do I do... Pedal to the metal again baby... and went off the roundabout.... whoooaaah what an adrenaline rush... after I came down from the roundabout I parked to check me Jeep for damages and thankfully there were none... passersby were all shocked to see a Jeep go over a roundabout and then land safely... they all thought that I did it on purpose hahha.... at times like these I wish I had a Hummer.

The last time I attributed me escape to my reflexes and ABS system, this time it was just pure luck that the roundabout was not complete and also hey if "God be for you then who can be against you ?" Anyways that’s it no more speeding, period.