Idle Lives

2011-05-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

"Honey I'm home"

Chi had come back home after a 6 month long hiatus. He had bagged a lucrative consulting gig on an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria which had kept him cut-off from the rest of the world. To top it off he couldn't even call back home due to company regulations.

Although Frieda was used to seeing him disappear for extended periods, this was the first time he had been out for 6 months. No matter, Chi reasoned. The assignment was a huge success and he could afford to spend a couple of months at home. A lot needed to be done, right from fixing the perpetually jammed bathroom door to getting a new dishwasher. The recession had extracted a huge toll on Chi's family and this assignment was the break he so desperately needed.

Ironically, he had almost missed the flight the day he left for Nigeria. He had overslept and had to rush out while Frieda was still in the shower, something Frieda was sure to harangue him with. Women have an extraordinary memory when it comes to such stuff.

He could hear the shower running and sneaked up to the bedroom to give his wife a surprise.

The room was damp and there was fungus growing on the hardwood floor. Everything else was just the way it was when he left.

She never made it out of the bathroom. The door chose an inopportune time to misbehave.

2011-01-05T03:09:00.001-08:00

The light flickered.. then died.

Chi was going to be back any minute now. She had to do something.. and fast.

Chi never left her alone for long enough. It was fortuitous that he had run out of nails today and the nearest shop was 30 minutes away.

She had planned it meticulously.

A knife was hidden under the table, just within easy reach. A lighter in her pocket.. just in case.

The dark provided adequate cover. Powercuts were common so Chi wouldnt suspect anything till it was too late.

As if on cue, a car rolled into the driveway. It was time...

At 21:37, on the night of January 5th, Chi entered the room.

"Happy Birthday!", they all screamed in unison.

2010-08-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Great Caste War

Most historians agree that the seeds of the great caste war were sown in 2010 when the government agreed to capture caste data in the ongoing census.

2012
The results paint a startling picture. 70% of India's population is a scheduled caste/tribe or a backward caste.

2014
The 2014 elections lead to a hung parliament. A lackluster economy and a bad monsoon do the incumbent government in. A coalition of smaller parties led by the Left musters the required majority and a new government is sworn in.

2015
Manihar Yadav, the Home Minister declares that the government has raised the reservation cap to 70% to "ensure equality". Students protests erupt all over India but the government refuses to relent.

2016
The Gorits, a prominent caste in MP block all roads and disrupt railway services in an effort to gain SC status. After a set of lengthy negotiations, the government agrees grant Gorits Special SC status and raises the reservation cap to 72%.

Encouraged by the success of the Gortis, dozens of other groups engage in similar tactics to have quotas allocated to them. By the end of the year, the reservation cap has gone up to 80%.

2017
Anirodh Pandey's party wins the assembly elections in Delhi riding on a wave of popularity generated by promises to win concessions for upper castes. He soon begins agitating for special institutions built only for upper castes, also announces his candidature for the upcoming general elections.

With an eye on the looming elections, the government announces that quotas will now be implemented in private enterprises as well. The industry, already battered by a recession, howls in protest.

Jan, 2018
The government starts printing caste on all documents.

March 2018
A dalit woman is killed in Bandra, Mumbai. The city is engulfed in flames as rioting brakes out. Many accuse the government of deliberately allowing rioters to loot upper caste neighborhoods.

Riots spread to other parts of the country. Caste based mobs pillage the countryside, many castes raise their own private armies to protect interests.

May 2018
The great caste war begins.

D

2010-04-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Chi had waited for this day for twenty years.

The train grinded to a halt in Lucknow. "Just three hours late, not bad at all" thought Chi.

The city held memories for him.. bad memories. It was time to finally lay them to rest.

Born and brought up in a small village just outside Orai, he moved to Lucknow with his parents thirty years ago to pursue the Indian dream- Survive, Survive, Survive.

The local boys never accepted him. Wherever he went, he was greeted with jeers and brickbats.

"Your family is from a lower caste, you are destined to be a jamaadaar".

It was time to show those boys how wrong they were. It cost him twenty years of hard work and toil but it was worth it. The jamaadaar was now a king.

He finally reached his old neighbourhood..

No one remembered him, no one cared.

2010-03-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

He came
She saw
It conquered

He made
She bade
A beautiful charade

There came fire
and brimstone
and smoke
and dust

The anger
consumed him
consumed you
consumed us

D

2010-02-28T23:27:00.000-08:00

Jack saw Jill at a bar, it was love at first sight.

A couple of Jagermeisters later, he finally summoned up the courage to talk to her. She was smart, funny and the only person he had ever met who was also interested in Czech post-modernist art.

They decided to go this lovely place on top of Raising Hill to get a drink.

They were drunk.. it was a blind turn. The truck hit them on the side, sending their car careening off the cliff.

Jack broke 27 bones in his body, doctors refuse to comment on Jill's condition.

And those insensitive ba*tards turned it into a nursery rhyme!

D

2010-02-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Chi loved his white wall.

The purest form of love is that with an inanimate object. Doomed from the start and unmoving till the end, it requires extraordinary persistence.

In an effort to please his wall he showered it with embellishments. Expensive paintings, exotic wall fittings and the best paint money could buy. After all, the wall's happiness was worth more to Chi than all the money in the world.

Chi soon learnt that buying inanimate objects as gifts for another inanimate object wasn't going to work. Optimistic as ever, he switched to lavishing praise and lots of attention his white wall.

On the second day of a very wet August, Chi woke up to find that his wall had turned black. Chi's love had turned its back on him.

Chi wandered the earth for years.. lost and aimless. Just when it seemed that all hope was lost and Chi was doomed to a life alone he met the table, in his eyes the most beautiful table in the world. Sparks flew and Chi's heart felt the stirrings of love.

Stranger things have happened.

2009-12-24T23:40:00.000-08:00

The key is controlled violence.

Going too far will ruin everything.. she will never become what you want her to be.

Start with your fingers.. they can do a lot more than you think.

Water is your friend. It washes away all the evidence and makes her harder.. more capable of withstanding what is to follow.

Time to move to fists. Dont swing hard, it will hurt you a lot more than you think. Repeated jabs and no two blows at the same place.

Finally, fire... cleansing and pure.

That is how you make a good cake.

2009-07-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

I need to say it before its too late..

I always postponed it, reasoning that there was time.. "No sense in upsetting the apple cart right now, people wont be able to understand my feelings."

However, the events that have unfolded in the last few days have forced my hand.

I love Rakhi Sawant.

Yes, you read it right.

I love Rakhi Sawant.

I thought that she was destined to be another failed starlet. Soon she was would be another face in the crowd I would swoop down.

Then came along the swayamvar. A coupla dozen losers have been given a chance at laying their hands on something I have been coveting since Ehsaas: A Feeling was released.

Mika(poor misunderstood Mika) called last night. We have been best friends since 3rd grade. He was inconsolable.

"Aye bhai, tune pappi kyun lene di?"

No one man can have Rakhi. Her beauty along with the uber-sexy accent (Ainjoy, Phun) would drive him crazy. That is why we had an agreement to share her.

Now some dumbass from Rishikesh might get to keep the greatest prize since Mae West.

The only good thing this show has done is prove conclusively that she is truly the archetypal "Bharatiya Naari"(Roll over and die Savita bhabhi fans).

My only hope is that this message reaches Rakhi and the producers offer me a wild card entry into the show... or atleast a "Best of Rakhi" DVD.

D

2009-05-30T04:45:00.000-07:00

Chi loved himself... infact Id daresay he loved himself more than anyone else.

Chi lived in an apartment in Bandra, alone. He never married, never dated, and actively eschewed any contact with the outside world over and above that was absolutely necessary. Not eccentric, he just couldnt bear the thought of sharing himself with anyone else.

Although most would actively refute this, Chi made an excellent companion for himself. He would spend many an hour admiring himself in the mirror, whispering sweet nothings into his own ear, even sending the occassional sms to his own number.

Things went along smoothly for the first 40 years of Chi's life. On the eve of his birthday, a fever descended upon him. He recovered in a couple of days but this left a gnawing worry in his mind.

Life was ephemeral.. try as he might, he knew he wouldnt be there for himself forever. Sooner or later, he would be left all alone.

The mere thought of life without himself was unbearable for Chi...

On the morning of Feb 21st, Chi kissed himself one last time. Then he jumped.

He died holding the hand of the person he loved. Not a bad way to go..

D

"Life is bitter, so is chocolate"

2009-04-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

One of the best forwards I have come across in a long long time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little rabbit happily running through the forest stumbles upon a giraffe

rolling a marijuana cigarette. The rabbit looks at her and says, "Giraffe

my friend, why do you do this? Think about your health. Come with me

running through the forest, you'll see, you'll feel so much better!" The

giraffe looks at him, looks at the joint, tosses it and goes off running

with the rabbit.

Then they come across an elephant doing opium, so the rabbit again says,

"Elephant my friend, why do you do this? Think about your health. Come

running with us through the pretty forest, you'll see, you'll feel so

good!" The elephant looks at them, looks at his razor, mirror and all, and

then tosses them and starts running with the rabbit and giraffe.

The three animals then come across a lion about to take a heroin shot...

The rabbit says "Lion my friend, why do you do this? Think about your

health! Come running with us through the sunny forest, you will feel so

good!" The lion looks at him, puts down his needle, and starts to beat the

hell out of the little rabbit.

As the giraffe and elephant watch in horror, they look at him and ask,

"Lion, why did you do this? He was merely trying to help us all!"

The lion answers..... .....

That little devil makes me run around the forest like an idiot for hours

every time he's high on cocaine!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2009-04-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

A story inspired by "You know who".

Chi was a bug. On the morning of July 3, he woke up as a human.

Like the millions of bugs around him, he lived a rather bugging life. His ancestral home, a hole under a tree in America housed Chi, Frieda(His wife) and their four thousand kids.

Everything seemed.... different.

"What have you done to yourself? What will become of us now that you have become a disgusting human." cried Frieda.

The elders, a group of 268 bugs summoned Chi to their castle in a bid to resolve the matter. "Are you Chi?" they asked. Chi answered, " Cant you see, has this metamorphosis blinded you to what lies beneath? I have worked with you all, lived with you all!".

Elders - "You are obviously an impostor. Chi was a bug, he is a bug, will always be a bug. You are a human who is trying to take his place. We bugs might be small but we are not stupid. Tell us who you work for and why are you trying to take Chi's place".

Try as he might, the elders refused to believe him. The trial was suspended and he was cast out of the gathering. He trudged back home to a morose Frieda.

"This is all your fault... You never thought about us once before turning into a human"

In anger he looked up to the heavens and cried out, " Why me god? Why play this joke on an insignificant bug?"

A booming voice replied, " Dunno.. I was kinda drunk last night"

2009-04-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

Success!!

We finally got down to completing what we started, a quest to create flavoured cancer-sticks.
After our rather disastrous attempts to flavour tobacco(refer to previous post), we decided to adopt a different paradigm. Rather than flavour tobacco, we got hold of flavoured rolling paper!

A pouch of Golden Virginia stuffed into Jamacian Rum flavoured paper... smelt luverly when unburnt. At times like this I wish that ciggarettes didnt:

Cause Cancer
Leave you smelly
Give you such a fleeting rush

- Till such things happen I shall remain a non-smoker(Also, wannabe teetotaller).

On a different note, my school friends were back in Delhi for a brief chutti (Yay!). Met up at Cocoa, a place at Shitty Wok. Ok place, but the waiters khao more bhaav than a hot chick at an engineering college. Decided to stick to my resolution of no hard drinks, so ordered wine.. well.. who ever got wiped out by wine, right?

A coupla bottles later (Courtesy, well paid corporate honchos/best buddies) we were well on our way to La-La land...

New resolution: Only ice tea.

D

P.S. Off to Mcleod next week! :)

2009-03-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

Its been a rough couple on months, been working night and day to:

Help collect money to marry my six sisters in pomp and grandeur.
Save the local orphanage from the evil builder mafia.
Convince the ameer baap of the akeli beti that main uski aukaad ka hun.
Coach the local woman's volley ball team.. World Cup jo aa raha hai.

Chi has gone for a looooooooooooong vacation, the dude deserved it. However, my blog has been languishing without him so thought id try give it a fillip.

Last weekend was spent pursuing a noble cause... An attempt to add favour to cigarettes.

Well, it came to our notice that none of us had come across chocolate flavoured cigarettes in our 24 odd years of existence. The logical extension of that thread of thought led to an hairbrained attempt to create our own.

The next thing I know, we were on our way to Khari Baoli, the largest wholesale bazaar in Delhi. (FYI: Tis a part of Delhi-6).

Now that we were there, we began our search for flavoured tobacco. Three hours and lots of food later(Courtesy a short detour to Jama Masjid), we gave up. Fatboy was tired, C-dot was hungry and it occurred to us that the benefits were limited as most of us(me included) dont smoke.

The Hippie suggested we change tack, look for flavours that could be added to normal tobacco
C-dot came up with more lame jokes
Fatboy was tired and wanted to sleep, naturellement.

Plan B: Add food essence to the cigarettes (Senile R Us).

Experiment 1: Fatboy being designated as our official test pilot (Scape goat) was given a cigarette which smelt like an orange bar... the result was a coughing fit.

Experiment 2: We tried adding it to the filter instead, our reasoning being that it wouldnt burn and there would still be an some flavour... the result was a gagging sound and some epithets being hurtled at our family members.

Experiment 3: Spilling some essence in Hippie's car to make it smell like Peppermint.

20:00 Hours, IST: You could smell us a mile away, a eclectic combination of Orange, Peppermint, Clove and Sandalwood.

We will probably give it another try next week...

D

Thought for the day-: "Never slap a man who chews tobacco." - Williard Scott

2008-10-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Chi found a pouch of Golden Virginia and a roll of Rizla in the dressing drawer...

The paper felt smooth, reassuring.
This was madness.. a pernicious decision adding to his already precarious position.
More importantly.. he hadnt rolled in a decade!

He didnt do it for the money. It was the adrenalin rush that drew him to it. To take what wasnt his, it made him feel... alive...

Rolling cigarettes is an art. The trick is to line it on the crease of a paper and then drop it straight on to the roll. That ensures that it isint top heavy or packed too tightly.

He emptied out the cupboard, Although the house was an ode to the rodomontade not much was there.. the owner must be an investment banker.

Chi took his time. Pulling too hard would cause it to burn unevenly.

He tiptoed across the hall. The loud snores emanating from the bedroom drowned out everything else.

The nicotine rush was already kicking in.

He used the stub to start the fire. Not one member of the family survived...

Chi was getting back at the world, one at a time.

D

2008-05-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

" Life was good..
But it just got too... boring"

If you were to kill yourself at this very moment, what would be ure suicide note like?

D

P.S. I do not condone suicides. Just the rambling of an idle mind.

2008-03-29T01:38:00.000-07:00

I fought the war she fought the beast,
The blood tasted bitter-sweet,
The prize was mine, all mine, all mine,
What greater horror can man define...

D

2008-02-08T04:48:00.000-08:00

Twas a fairytale marriage... till about three weeks ago.

It was a mistake... a stupid mistake. A drink too many coupled with the bittersweet realization of turning 40 was a lethal combination. He seemed like a nice guy and a little harmless flirtation never hurt anybody.. She had woken up with a bad headache and the "nice guy" at her side.

It had been three weeks since. Her conscience couldnt handle it anymore.

She turned to Chi... her husband, her friend, her soulmate.
The secret was let out.

Silence ensued.

Chi got out of bed and walked to the balcony in a daze. She followed.

The picturesque morning, juxtaposed against the storm brought forth in her marital life was too much for her to bear.
She shut her eyes and prayed.

After what seemed like eternity a reassuring hand came to rest upon her shoulder.

She had been forgiven.

That was the last thought that passed through her head before she hit the pavement

D

2007-12-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

A million fought,
Two survived,
Then they sparred,
One died,
Left alone,
He committed suicide..

D

2007-10-06T00:17:00.000-07:00

Twas a moonless night.... the rain too was relentless...

Chi hadnt passed any other car for over an hour.

She swam into view... a mosaic of green and red.

A woman covered in blood lay on the road. Her shawl , green when she bought it had been ripped to shreds. The car, an ancient 800 screeched to a stop, a haunting melody of Morrison emanating out of the radio adding to the melancholy.

One look at the travelbag lying beside her told Chi a lot, Classic Vuitton... she had come from money, the fact that it was still there meant that this was an accident.

Her car, what remained of it confirmed his conjecture. A spanking new Mercedes with its front end plowed into an old oak.

She had lost a lot of blood, immediate medical help was needed.

The lady as if on cue opened her eyes and mouthed a silent plea for help... seemed like the lord had heard her prayer.. an angel had arrived.

Chi bent beside her and helped her sit up. He unstrapped her pendant, pulled off her bracelet, grabbed the travel bag and jogged back to his car.

There she lay, all alone.. the silence broken only by the sob of a dying woman and the pitter patter of rain..

D

2007-08-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

35 years had passed...
No one knew him.
No one cared.

With 6 billion sapiens scurrying about, the precious gift called life had become commonplace
He never chose to be born, he was pushed into it.

Chi walked back to the little alcove he called home. He ekked out an existence, trying to feed his wife and children, rarely succeeding.
The grand machinations of Beelzebub or god seemed to have no role for him to play.

Twas Christmas eve, the church looked beautiful...the daily toil left him with little to celebrate.
His family was waiting, today was salary day. A full stomach was guaranteed.
He entered nevertheless.
The dreary aura around him melted away. The choir was in full swing. He sensed joy all around.

Curiously enough, a sense of hope and belonging pervaded his soul. Life wasnt comfortable but it wasnt unjust either. Maybe there was a higher power looking out for them. Things would eventually turn for the better.

Renewed with a sense of purpose and belief he started back home.

Another 20 years passed....
Nothing changed.

Existence without essence.

D

2007-06-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I need someone to help explain the term 'analytics' to countless aunties and uncles!

Chi knew he was a marked man.
No one swindled Mr. Black... that was the first rule of this business.
Being 22 does funny things to you, an aura of omnipotence seems to pervade the very core of your being. Its only when you reach 30 do you realise the enormity of this dillusion.

Chi walked in, the usual swagger in place. Three pegs of grey goose and he couldnt remember his address. Two pegs later he couldnt remember his name.

Two men dressed in black suits were watching all this from the counter. The unusual protrusion around their shoulders confirmed their antecedents... Black's men.

Chi was all but dead and he didnt even know it.

This is probaby a good time for an intervention aka Deus Ex Machina... Never happened though..

They walked up to Chi, put two bullets through his chest.. compliments of Mr. Black.

D

2007-05-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

He called her a billion times.
She never picked up.

He wrote her a million letters.
She burnt them all.

He sent her a thousand bouquets.
They withered away unnoticed.

He sang a hundred songs.. all with her in mind.
She bought earplugs.

He proposed a dozen times.
She set the dogs on him.

He smiled at another girl... just once
She brought hell on Earth..

Makes you wonder.

D

2007-05-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

Chi was an honest cop.. the last of his kind.
Probably stemmed from his beliefs in heaven, and that god would do no wrong to those who had done no wrong.

He joined the force when he was 22, a young lad with strong ideals. However, his acute lack of people skills left him with little chance of climbing the ladder. Twenty years had passed and he was still a patrolman handing out speeding tickets.

One stormy October night roundabout 11pm, a couple of minutes before his shift ended a car sped past him with its headlights out. The speed gun display read 80 km/hr. Probably another bunch of dumb kids...

Chi started up his car, switched on the siren and sped after them. He caught up with the vehicle, a 1990 Civic a couple of miles down the road. He was wrong about the occupants, turned out to be an old lady and her poodle.
The canine, the last vestiges of life ebbing from him seemed to have suffered a paralysis attack. The woman, desperately trying to save the life of her last friend in the living world had set out to find a vetenarian in her almost defunct automobile.

Although rules stipulated so, Chi didnt have the heart to impound the vehicle. The old lady seemed inconsolable and denying her one last chance to save her dog would be cruel. He let her go after she promised to have the lights fixed after the dog had been attended to. He even gave her the number of his neighbour, a skilled vetenarian as his place was nearby.

At the end of another long shift Chi parked the patrolcar at headquaters and started back for home. The jarring ring of his cell phone cut through the silence around him. Twas his wife... sobbing. Their 14 year old daughter had been run over while crossing the road.. she never saw the speeding Civic with the broken headlights..

D

2007-04-25T01:43:00.000-07:00

The ripper had struck again.
The newest victim was a five year old diabetic girl. A Blood stained blazer along with her ID card were found in the service lane behind the school. The toll had reached twenty.

The bodies of the victims were never found... the cops were clueless and the city was a state of panic.

Ria lived with her mother in an apartment on the 4th storey of Sunset Heights. Her father, a successful stockbroker had abandoned them when she was 18 never to be seen again. Rumour has it that he fled to South Africa fearing a possible indictment under the Harshad Mehta scam. However, he left his bank accounts and property untouched. Enough for a comfortable life in the material sense.

The grandfather clock in the living room struck 8. Time for dinner. Being a school teacher instilled within Ria a strong sense of discipline with regards to time. Never the one to arrive late.

The aroma was luverly. Twas biryani. In the eyes of Ria her mother, a sweet gentle soul touching 60 was probably the greatest cook in the world.

The sybarite within her took over and she attacked the food with glee. Halfway through her meal she bit into something mettallic. It was a dogtag with the words 'Tamanna, Type I diabetic' neatly printed upon it....

" Maa, you havent cleaned up the body properly! I told you, always take any ornaments off before you put it out to cook. "

D

2007-04-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

She had been running... running for 35 years now.
Not from life, not from lies, not from lestat but from love.

The little grasshopper was tired.

The pinnacle of physics had been achieved, her academic orbit was at its apogee. Life was good.

The little coffee house across the road beckoned, a place where she had first met "him".
Twas chance, they were forced to share a table for the want of space. It felt right... he felt right... two hours passed by in a blink of an eye. He gave her his number, she promised shed call. That was 10 years ago. She was too scared and the scrap was soon lost to the ravages of time.

She entered letting the inviting aroma of arabica guide her. As her eyes soon grew accustomed to the dimly lit room her gaze wandered. There he stood...

This story couldve had a happy ending, all she had to do was call out to him.

She couldnt, and he left soon after. The little grasshopper was all alone....

D

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

Life had been a bitch to him. But he had made it.

There stood Chi.

Born to the mistress of a small zamindar with big aspirations, Chi was abandoned at the age of two. The father in an effort to cover up his past indiscretions had Chi's mum extirpated and him packed off to the nearest orphanage. 15 years of abuse would have wiped out the bravest of souls... Chi survived.. Infact Id daresay he thrived... Twas the magic of hope...
Chi nursed the dream of a better place, parsecs away from the hell he was living in. He worked towards it. The day belonged to the owner of the tea stall, but the night was devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. He laboured day in and day out to ekk out a living and support his little endavour. He was 9 when an accident at the stall cost him his right hand... so he learnt how to write with his left.
15 years of hard work finally paid off. A sterling result in the field of academics got him a full scholarship with a prestigious university. The last day of his first life melted into the first day of his last.
He waited at the station. The train approached slowly, lade with the dreams and aspirations of a boy who never gave up. He rushed towards it, never noticing the vendor approaching from the other direction. The impact threw him off the platform onto the rails...
He died.

D

2007-02-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

She knew she needed him.
It was the height of the 95 construction boom in Seattle. Mounds of glass and steel attempting to outdo the gods coming up all around.
The alarm went off at 7:30am. Time to go to work. She tiptoed across the faux wood floor and stood under the shower.. it felt like a thousand needles.. the cold water always reminded her of him.
Amy first laid eyes upon him at the newly constructed penthouse of a prodigous associate. A professional...
Subtlety is an art lost upon many. Amy, however, was a loyal patron. A couple of discrete inquiries was all it took to get his number. She knew what to do.
Like the time before this and the time before that, it took a single phonecall. He was hers. 8:30pm, her flat....

He arrived on time, a rare quality in this capricious world. No pleasantries were exchanged and he went straight to it... Amy smiled to herself.. the anticipation of what was to follow built up.. it had been a while..
He finally emerged from the bathroom.. " The heating duct has been fixed, you should get hot water from the shower now.."
Finally...

D

2007-01-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

Still cant Shes Electric outta my head...

Second week, fourth semester, six subjects, frigid weather, a bad ankle(Overenthusiastic sliding tackle), just back from ranikhet.. might head off to jaisalmer soon, Just been given a huge cache of bitter chocolates etc.

A socio professor asked us a question recently.. Why do we have children?

My reply: Its the means not the end! (Not appreciated from an academic viewpoint)

He attributed it to a complex confluence of variegated factors both endogenous as well as exogenous to the couple. (Why o why did I take up economics!? This is SO MUCH MORE FUN!!)
He went further on to blame us economists.. We reduce everything to its percieved marginal return(INHUMAN!)

P.S. Can any regression equation used to determine number of offspring suffer from homoscedasticity(Pun intended) ;)

2007-01-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

Oasis playing in the background... She's Electric..

Interesting development... one of my bestest friends fell for another bestest friend...

Advantages:
I'll have one lesser wedding to attend
Will get away with one wedding present
My position gets elevated cause im the only impartial judge around
I can rip on two friends simultaneously
Wont have to adjust to obnoxious girl/boyfriends who couldve popped up in the future
I asked one of her female friends out so I guess the score's level now.

Disadvantages:
Who do I hang out with when they wanna get romantic?
If i piss one off the other one's sore too.
I'll always have to knock before entering his hostel room now.
He'll probably have her listening to megadeth before 2007 ends.

D

P.S. Im really happy for them!!

2006-12-07T21:24:00.000-08:00

Exams over! :)

Now that I have some time to myself I shall write on a topic which deserves a lot more attention than it currently gets... SHRUTI'S CHEEKS!

Inherited from her father, they can be used to accurately gauge her mood at any point of time.

Colour key-
Red: Embarrassed
Crimson: Angry
Pink: Happy
White: No idea, never seen them that way
Black: Her mascara's running!
Green: She's a martian!
Yellow: Probably jaundice

Extremely pullable(Dunno if thats a word) too....

D

2006-11-30T03:44:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the decade again.. my home is invaded by a motley crew of painters, carpenters, masons, "thekedaars" etc. so as to completely renovate the place..

As my end sems are on, the constant screeching reverberating through my household shall do wonders for my grades..

D

2006-11-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

Hate is what I feel for you,
And I want you to know that I want you dead.
You're late for the execution...
If you're not here soon, I'll kill your friend instead.

All the pain I feel
Couldn't start to heal
Although I would like it to

I hate you and your apathy.
You can leave, you can leave, I don't want you here.
I'm playing this pantomime,
But I don't see you showing any signs of fear.

All the pain I feel
Couldn't start to heal
Although I would like it to
This time I'm for real
My pain can not heal
You will be dead when I'm through

[Chorus]

Pain and execution
Put your hands in the air
Put your hands in the air
The air... yeah

I am, I am Israel's son
Israel's son I am
Put your hands in the air
Put your hands in the air

Always loved this song by silverchair... the lyrics might not be the best in the world but its the way those kids have sung it....

D

2006-10-31T05:42:00.000-08:00

Tis been a while... the idle component of my life has been lost... temporarily I hope.

Anyway, was having an interesting chat with a friend today.

People at JNU keep howling about worker's rights and the dictums of Marx. Now Marx chronicled history on the basis of class struggles. Each class would try to raise itself above the others in an effort to appropriate a larger share of the pie. Thus, the members of each class would band together and try to further their common cause.
Herein lies the problem, a majority of intellectuals expousing Marx's beliefs here could be characterized as bourgeoisie or atleast petty landowners.. by fighting for the cause of the proletariat they are ignoring their own class..
If a person doesnt work to better the status of his own class but fights for the rights of other classes the fundamental basis of Marx ceases to hold!

D

2006-10-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

1. I wasnt referring to himani's comment

2. This space was meant for healthy discussion and debate. The fact that you use it to try and provoke and irritate me by your insolent remarks just goes to show how 'insecure' YOU are.

3. Your post hardly describes what makes you believe I'm insecure. Just stating the fact and exemplifying it with a practically meaningless example is only weakening your case.

4. I am just itching to write about all your characteristics beginning with the way you dress, talk and act in public which blatantly prove how insecure and superficial you are. I shall however refrain.

Lets not make this a game of mud-slinging. You are very intimidated by me. I am aware. It is usually the case with men who cant handle the fact that there are smarter women out there. Don't try to find solace in the fact that perhaps even I feel insecure and am concocting some sort of defense mechanism. Wake up and smell the coffee...

2006-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

Ahh.. the nebulous shruti...
The capricious lady with a truckload of gray matter...
I agree with h****i, you seem to be insecure and intimidating at the same time... scare others.. scared yourself..

It would be interesting to see if we could provide an insecure person with assurance without actually acknowledging the fact that the person is insecure...
Example: Talentless versace had been doing it for years.. dress up women like high class hookers and charge them the moon... however he has had to use his clothes to garb the actual service.

Is it possible to assuage a person's percieved/actual shortcomings without selling him/her any commodities at all?

A business model to die for..

2006-10-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

what does it mean when soemone tells you that you are insecure about the way other people perceive you? i wonder what behavioral traits, gestures could lead people to believe that.

sometimes a nebulous stageis the best to be in. u're not in a senseless 'i'm out to prove that i'm capable of this...' mode...its just a time to rediscover, change direction and play a new role...

S

2006-09-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

Next morning Fidel Castro wakes up worried from a nightmare wherein Cuba was heavily mismanaged by sibling Raul. He wonders why there arent any more Guevaras or Santinos who could carry on the legacy that would die with his ailing body...he just sighs as he looks around to find desperate attempts by students littered sparsely across the globe trying to wage his battle on idle blogs...now all thats left is the handshaking with ministers from countries that could have made a difference...

Maybe Pink Floyd will make a newer version of "another brick in the wall" as the United States doesnot give up on trying to educate what it considers its 'lesser' neighbours...perhaps another Vietnam in Latin America..a few more cries...a few more protests...another woodstock...catharsis for a few, pretense for most...

and we'll wake up to yet another examination that will ask us define pareto optimality and prove the correctness of all its ridiculous assumptions...and Dikshant Chopra will jump at this opportunity to tag me leftist and with a newly found contentment will get back to gaming and online socializing...

2006-09-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

One fine morning Adam Smith on his way to the great annual mela held in Kabul was accosted by a group of crips led by Snoop Dog.
Afganistan was quite a lawless place then, not the model of good governance it is now.
Knowing that the situation was grim as he was a prominent memeber of the Bloods, Adam Smith switched on the emergency GPS beacon in his utility belt. The French plutocrats, sworn enemies of all non-productive beings picked up the signal.
Seeing this as an apportunity to strike at the very core of the Crips and take out the one man they were very jealous of, quickly called in an airstrike. However, the French pilots were out on strike to protest against the alleged hike in work hours... "2 hours of work a day is akin to slavery", said the Les' velas.
In sheer desperation they turned to the yankees who readily agreed as they had tons of explosives but no one to bomb.

However, as the french use the metric system while the americans dont, there was a mixup and they bombed Somalia instead...

The people at JNU protested against US hegemony and took out a dozen candlelight marches..

The IMF imposed sanctions on Iran as they believed it was the erstwhile Turkish empire's fault... they shouldve conquered the world and imposed a uniform system of measurement..

Life as usual...

D

2006-09-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Had an econometrics exam today.. screwed it up... :(

D

2006-09-11T00:12:00.000-07:00

dearest jerboa! i have so much to thank him for...sometimes i wonder whether almost a year of knowing me has helped him understand me better at all...all he seeks is confirmation of his notions and has never removed that filter from his eyes...

not once have i mentioned that i want a corporate job ( i hate doing this defending thingi waise...weakens my stand actually)...my further studies plan is still on...i'm just convinced its not going to be hard core quantitaive economics.

if u're convinced about my greed there's nothing much i can do and i shall not try too hard either...

and oh...a very happy birthday to you d. and for all the avid readers of this blog...idle-lives completes half a century of posts!

2006-09-10T23:39:00.000-07:00

First of all, for dear chowdhary's benefit, I shall use the words "food" and "blonde" atleast a couple of times in this post.

Food
Blonde

I have turned 22, a doddering old man on whom the vagaries of time have wrecked great havoc. Most people respond with the same old platitude, "Ure as old as u think u are... life starts at 21...etc."
However, come what may, growing old is a scary thought for me..

Moving on, read shruti's last post... my endearing beacon of hope, the sole guiding light cum role model for me when it came to further studies seems to be reconsidering her priorities... the desire for a Phd has been replaced by the yearning for a corporate job..
The filthy bourgeoisie have taken another one of proletariat's most cherished...

Food
Blonde

Although she has placed the blame on the increasing permeation of mathematics into economics the truth cannot be obfuscated.. "greed"..one of the original sins.. the ecumenical world holds its breath.. will lucifer be victorious or will St. Peter bring her back..
Stay tuned!

Food
Blonde

D

2006-09-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

Been lazing around for the last coupla days.. and before that too.

All this idle time has allowed me to examine various schools of thought.

Simple hedonism is too crass...
Nihilism is uninspiring..
The world already has too many sadists..
Aethism might get me into trouble posthumously..

Various beliefs tend to overlap.

Existentialism does hold some appeal... need to gain a better understanding of it though..

If metaphysics was my forte I wouldve chucked my masters and become a philosopher..
Unfortunately, it was just not to be...

D

2006-08-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Feel jaded..

Tempted to take up something else now.. call me an apostate but psychology has begun to look a lot more attractive..

For the neophytes, heres a heretical Economics 101...

Compared to economists, tarot card readers are a cheaper alternative with a similar success rate..

There probably isint a single law in economics which can be considered unassailable or is accepted by all..

Remember that thing.. if a thousand monkeys bang away at pianos for a thousand years one of them will come up with the complete works of mozart? Well.. thats how economics works...

Since no controlled environment exists, any 'expert' can get away by placing the blame on exogenous variables..

Good economics doesnt mean a healthier life.. or a happier world.. infact im pretty sure no one knows what it really means!

However, it is one of the few subjects where even the most ludicrous of things can be proven to be correct.. in a paticular context that is... so whatever you do you cant be wrong...

D

2006-08-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

IMPORTANT: EPL has restarted!!

Now.. moving on to less important things...

JNUSU has been the domain of SFI and AISA(both leftie parties) for a long time.
The other two... ABVP and NSUI barely win anything...
Their election planks almost exclusively pertain to international issues.. the Iraq war.. Palestine.. China..etc.
Infact, there is no way to discern between them on the basis of intra-JNU issues!

Sure.. everybody should have an opinion.. but how on earth does the iraq war feature as the primary issue in a local election!?

We've got enough problems of our own.. solve those first!

Note to union walas/walis: For the love of god stop putting up little posters for the most trivial of things.. it serves no purpose... just litters up the campus!

2006-08-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

At the behest of sid, I finally read 'Paradise Lost'.
It's probably the first time Ive read a poem which hasnt been prescribed in a syllabus..

His critical interpretation of god's actions lead me to an interesting question...

If absolute power corrupts... so how can we be sure that god is pure?
Infact, come to think of it, how would we even define pure?

Would he be pure if all his decisions were altruistic in nature?
Would he be pure if he followed a certain code of pre-established ethics?

What if we characterize something as pure only if it is in line with god's will? Is that the answer?

D

2006-07-29T02:30:00.000-07:00

Twas a rainy day.. my ankle was shot... my sibling had 'accidently' deleted all my games... left with little to do and the crazy prospect of actually having to study to ward of boredom as being advocated by my parents, I began to read a book relegated to the innermost recesses of my bookshelf.

'The Communist Manifesto".

To be honest I didnt even know I had it, must have bought it in a spate of puerile whim when I joined JNU...

I was very impressed.

All the arguments had a stable intellectual bedrock. No effort was made to obfuscate their motives and the bourgeoisie were clearly potrayed as the enemy. The premises were perfectly apposite to the arguments..

I cant say I agree with them but I have to admit that it is a work to behold.

D

2006-07-08T05:34:00.000-07:00

Shruti has gone off to bhopal.... Im up to my neck in excel sheets..... the precious little time saved for introspection along with all that other deep philosophical shit has been lost to football..

'Work' I realised is just a collection of deadlines thrown at you one after the other.... the more you can take the more will be thrown at you... the last one standing after all this gets a promotion.

Now doesnt that sound like fun...

2006-07-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

My life is idle no more..... :(

2006-07-03T05:37:00.000-07:00

the level of desperation of men in the city of bhopal is apalling...walk out alone and you could be the victim of a fair amount of catcalling, jobless men on their flashy bikes "wanna riding" you, invitations to buy you a cup of coffee and offers to show you around the city...its a woman's nigtmare...!

some might argue that it is the paternal instinct so typical of Indian men to want to take care of what they percieve as the weaker sex. it could be the level of desperation the men in a conservative setup are driven to. i can't help but draw reasons from culturally biased arguments...somehting that my latest read "identity and violence" has forbidden me to do. I'd just like to tell my favorite economist that the generalization has been made on the basis of a substantially large sample size and there isn't any other reason besides the above that occur to me in order to explain such imposing behavior. its just an example of another city perpetuating the Indian male stereotype...

2006-06-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

The world cup is playing out beaauuuuttiiiiffuuullllyyyy!

Ive dropped out of an internship to watch it, my compatriots think im crazy...BUT ITS FOOTBALL!!!
Feel bad for the africans, play so well but always loose out....

The french and the english as always have their own little competition going... which team can play more unimaginative football... the torpid french vs the insipid english.

Argentina and Spain have been living up to their reputations(to my delight I might add as spain's one of my favourite teams).

Anyone out there wanna bet?

2006-06-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Huge row being going on about reservations these days... my university's union supports it... but if seen on a pan-India scale i'd say they are a minority.

Anyway, people with a lot more to say and a lot more at stake have said a lot so I'll let this be for a while.

Thought for the day: Should rewards be based on effort or results?

Efficiency theorists would probably put results on a pedestal... nothing succeeds like success.
You tried hard, im proud of you.... but you failed so f**k off...

Is that fair?

Many an accomplishment have been achieved on the basis of dumb luck(Shruts hates that term!!)... you pinned the tail on the donkey so you get the prize...

A level playing field is a myth, if someone has an advantage he/she will use it.

Eventually, someone will draw the line, rewards will be based on an amalgamation of results and effort.

I just hope luck isint ruthlessly stamped out..... my education has been heavily dependant upon it...

2006-05-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Delhi's burning.... and it aint even june yet!!

I remember reading an interesting report a few months ago, it said that the world did not have the requisite resources so as to allow the developing countries to enjoy the consumption levels seen in developed countries.

Well then... whadda we do!?

If this holds out to be true we will all be fighting for a relatively smaller pie.
Thus, to equalise levels either we need to witness substantial efficiency increases or see a decrease in consumption levels in developed countries....

Sounds like a recipe for war...

D

2006-05-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Things ive learnt about italy in general and italians in paticular. I apoligise for my shockingly narrow vision regarding the environmnet around me:

-They love talking! Ask them a question and they'll give you a billion answers.

-Crazy drivers, all of them!! From the bus wallahs to the scooters... all of them drive like there's no tomorrow.... at the speeds theyre going there will be no tomorrow.

-People grow progressively shorter as you move south.

-Their pizzas are a class apart!! A crude description... like roomali rotis with tomatoes and cheese...
P.S. Pizzas are sold according to weight.

-THEY MAKE THE BEST ICE CREAMS IN THE WORLD!!

-Sunglasses are a national obsession, you can see people wearing them at night!!

- They make crappy cars are beeeeaaauuuutttiiffuuul bikes.

- Venice is something like a flooded version of chandni chowk without the requisite number of people we are used to seeing here... closely resembles an urban ghetto... However there's something about it... its beauty gets to you in a subtle sorta way... id have to say it was easily the best this country had to offer.

-The copious amounts of cheese they eat!!! Everything has loads of it!! Its a wonder they dont drop dead of heart attacks.

D

2006-05-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

It's been eons since I put up my last post, blame it on our educational system which forces me to study.
Luckily passing in jnu requires relatively rudimentary preparation.

Unlike me, many of my clasmmates dont seem to relish the prospect of three whole months of absolute rest... no exams, no term papers, no classes etc.
Just one of those things I presume, we always want what we cant get.

Although times like these are as close to perfection as possible....my current dilemma would be regarding internships.
Had tried my hand at it in december, the results werent too pleasant!
Inexplicable assignments, a professional status lower than a newt, demanding bosses... the works!

Aint too keen on it this summer....

D

2006-04-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

I hate studying.....

D

2006-04-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Spent a large part of today thinking about the next 'big' thing...

Everyone who's anyone has earnt his/her rightful place under the sun by doing or developing something new....

This definitely holds true for the economics.

In my opinion, the current setup of economics will provide us with rapidly decreasing gains with every ensuing generation.... by focusing almost solely on mathematics it is rapidly reaching a level of extreme abstraction.

Thus, a new basis or field of research would be needed to progress any further.

I do have an idea though...

An element of human psychology should be introduced into the curriculum... the mother of all assumptions..."The consumer is rational"... should be relaxed... atleast to a small degree.
The mantra could be appended to..." the consumer is fallible".

This development would divert some of our attention from the 'core' but I do believe some interesting real world applications would come out of this.

I wonder if I'm the first one to think of this.......

D

2006-04-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

One of the many grouses I have with our current setup for economics is its inability to impress upon us the fact that the zero sum game doesnt always work in the real world.

Most people see a gain by one lead to a corresponding loss for another....

Mercantilism.. a popular school of thought in the 17th century with variants being the mainstay of current national policies worldwide based its entire foundation on this.

Most dont realise that a gain by one may generate gains for another through secondary linkages. These gains would be further dispersed through tertiary linkages and so on.

Infact, as pointed out by many, a global symmetry is seen regarding economic booms and contractions... growth rates across the board are directly proportional to each other.

Altruism is an investment after all....

D

2006-04-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

Its been a month since ive tasted chicken...... i feel deprived...

Chicks I can live without but the absence of chicken......... that just plain hurts!

I do feel sorry for the goats too... its their carcasses which hang on the butcher's window a lot more regularly.

I wonder if killing all the chickens is a morally acceptable solution to PETA, havent seen them try any stunts this time around.

My family... all of them vegetarian are oblivious of my misery..... i need a shoulder to cry upon... or atleast a little portion of succulent chicken tikka....

2006-03-30T04:36:00.000-08:00

Dikshant has been suffering from a host of illusions lately...the biggest one is that of prof. cpc being centrist! hah! what a joke!

also i find it strange that he was surprised at what papers have to say about capital account convertibility...did he expect anything different??? people who make sense are always up against a tide...

let capital account convertibility be for the time being...i've had an overdose of it already...

a lot of issues have been eatin right into my brain...infact i've been so consumed by them that i no longer notice the split ends in my unweildy hair, my burgeoning waistline and my very snappy attitude ( forgive me...those who have been victimized).

to begin with it has been made evident to me that i'm not such a sensational singer after all(sigh). after all those years of singin along with morrisette, ethridge, joplin, the non-blondes ( whats up is the song for the moment), seger, rem, oasis, hetfield (yes believe it or not), morrissey, morrisson; and hundreds of stage performances enacted in front of the mirror...my glittering hopes have been broken into unrecognizable little pieces *holds back her tears*....
i have also realized that i will never find the time with a course like mine to learn bharatnatyam or any other form of serious dance...

22 is a scary age. all those dreams you thought u had time for suddenly become out of reach. and to top it all they are brutally replaced by the worrisome thoughts of responsibilities you are to be burdened with and the fact that you will soon have to earn your living...

but this is not the end. the abovementioned are just a few dreams that have been striked off a long list on which the remaining 'things to be done' sound slightly less ambitious. i hope that in future i find the time and the means to paint ( like van gogh may i add), pursue photography, do a little bit of theatre (was going to be striked off but then i thought i could make it happen..in a small way perhaps), master a sport, do a lot of trekking, rafting, climbing and camping...

maybe i shall break this inertia and find the time, maybe i shall continue letting go of my little dreams as years go by. i have just realized that the latter is more painful and that should provide the stimulus to stop daydreaming and start living...

2006-03-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

Had a pretty interesting discussion in class today... capital account convertibility being the topic.

The professor, affectionately called chandu by many is someone I admire. A relatively centrist outlook, a polite disposition and an everready smile are his hallmark.

Although seemingly unrelated, my inference from this class discussion was regarding the power of information.
Public opinion, fickle as ever, is rarely moulded by what is actually good for them... most tend to behave like sheep, follow the herd.

The integrity of most newspapers is severely compromised.... Times Of India being the worst.
I have never seen such blatant forms of monetary induced promotions anywhere else...

By the insertion of a few biased articles in popular mouthpieces the whole nation can be brought about to support just about anything.

Capital account convertibility, a possible path right down Argentina's alley is being touted by most as the greatest thing since the '91 reforms....
Im not taking the lefties side on this one.... im just trying to say that we are being shown a very biased viewpoint.
I havent read anything showcasing the possible adverse effects of such a move.

The south Asian crisis of the late 90's and the perennial Latin Aerican crisises could be seen as an indirect fallout of the introduction of capital account convertibility.
Why hasnt anyone told us that?

D

2006-03-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ive been wondering what to do with my life.....

Should I choose to follow the well treaded path, I can:
a)Get a job.
b)Pursue higher studies.

I enjoy the applied portion of economics, real world applications to theories. The arcane, labelled fascinating by many, rarely excites me.
If grades are an indicator of excellence, then the incompetence I display in the statistical portions is legendary.

Maybe I will try to get a job, that is, if anyone is willing to hire me. If I get bored I will come back into the fold of academics.

I admire shruti for that much... she has set herself a goal... and im pretty sure she is gonna get there. A Phd she wants, and god help any poor soul who gets in her way.

2006-03-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

Guess who's back, back again, shruti's back, tell a friend...

Quoting an eminem song isint what I initially had in mind but it fits so beautifully..

The beauty has awoken from her slumber, whether a wayward prince or something to help fish out the poisoned apple... that only the mirror can tell.... tried the dwarfs but they werent too helpful.... think they are on strike these days.
Snow 'shruti' white's leftist outlook has influenced them all, they have their own union, their wages are indexed (tried asking them about the consumer price index applicable to a forest but they werent concerned with such trivialities), and theyve put up posters of Marx all over the woods.
The queen had been killed by George Bush cause the apple was considered a weapon of mass destruction, the nation was in a state of civil war....

Hopefully the prince, also the general secretary of the UN will bring about some sort of peace...

2006-03-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Dikshant's been doing an excellent job at keeping this blog alive and kicking...which is the cause of much discouragement for this poor little blogger...this post is yet another desperate attempt at making my presence felt.

since the blog is meant to be argumentative in nature i shall try and comment on a few things that have been talked about...

On my favorite teacher:

i guess dikshant feels a little uncomfortable at her passing references to our 'colonized minds' (plassey! - a joke meant for the house), but it is my opinion that all she is doing is shaking us out of our slumber without sounding apologetic about her intense dislike for those who victimized us and are also the cause of the viscous circles we are stuck in...

she probably hits where it hurts most and pseudo coating her words is not exactly her style- its just the bitter medicine we need after living in denial for so long...

On morality:

i shall speak for myself- i feel that although societal norms may determine our notion of what is right or wrong to some extent, it is a subjective analysis which is internal to each person that plays a dominant role. the dynamics of such a process of finding inner approval is completely different from that of conforming to what is acceptable by society and each affects the other in the most profound ways. here i would like to disagree with sidharth when he says that an external stimulus is required to bring about a change in accepted social norms, i believe the stimulus is internal to the system which allows for its constant evolution ( this argument finds its inspiration in the theories of dialectics propounded by Hegel).

On attractiveness:

nothing can really define attractiveness. its a magnetic quality which manifests itself in physical features, attitudes, conduct, thoughts, beliefs etc. i would have certainly not derided dikshant if he felt that physical characteristics play an important role. only that the feature should not only be striking but should be able to inspire somehting depeer than itself. beauty that is external cannot be brushed aside. but there is a certain concreteness about attractiveness that stems from beauty of conduct, of nature , of thoughts and emotion; perhaps because these aspects donot fade away with time and are a truer representation of what a person really is. such attractiveness has the ability to take one into fathomless depths and is thus a more powerful magnet.

On Taxi 9211:

why on earth did u pick that movie??? i know your life is rather idle...but taxi 9211??!

On 'pragmatism' and 'anti-Bush protests':

We are students of a university and not diplomats for heavens' sake! the onus is on us to defend the truth in its essence and keep the fire alive! its not about being pragmatic but being sincere...

i also believe that the rise of the EU may play an important role in undermining the hegemonistic status the US has so far enjoyed and India could be a very strong partner...the nuclear alliance however has turned things around...

On your sense of humour:

Sarcastic or not...your sense of humour is lame! u poor delusional child...

On Dr. Strangelove...

havent seen the movie...catch 22 is a fantastic war satire though! wonder if u'd consider it belonging to the same leauge...

whew! (forgive me for this obscenely longgg one...just got a little carried away...)

2006-03-15T22:38:00.000-08:00

First of all....HAPPY HOLI!

As many of friends were just beginning to stir from their bhaang induced sleep, I began to watch my newly acquired DVD, 'Dr. Strangelove:How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' .
Made in 1964, it is a satirical look at the Cold War.
The movie is about a General gone cuckoo who orders a nuclear strike on USSR because he fears a conspiracy by the communists to "pollute his precious bodily fluids".
The world ultimately goes up in nuclear armegeddon as the aftermath possibilities painted by a crazy nazi scientist sound very appealing to the generals...
Sounds crazy... well it is.
Its a black and white movie.... but its the shades of grey which really stand out....

2006-03-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

My favourite form of humour has and always will be sarcasm.
My only grouse with it is that its subtle variations are often lost within the confines of the written word.
A verbal duel, with sarcasm at the forefront, often the scene at everyday marital fights is a scene to behold.

The hallmark of a true master is when the true meaning dawns upon everyone except the very person the taunt was aimed at.... that too without the usage of imperfectly distributed information.

A straight face, a tone which never betrays its owner...... stuff legends are made of.

2006-03-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

My exams are over!
Now it's time to start my research paper!
Isint life a big barrel of monkeys!

Have been staring out of the window for a while, cant seem to come up with something insightful to plug in my paper.

Anyway, the latest avenue for protest in jnu has been the Bush visit. Endless protests, dharnas, eyecatching placards, emotional speeches, ive witnessed it all. Although on a one front I wholeheartedly agree with the point the protestors are trying to make im not sure whether hostility towards Bush is a very bright idea. In my scheme of things, pragmatism always come out tops.
All throughout history we see that the man with the bigger gun is always right, no one is ever found alive who tried to prove otherwise.
India had consistently followed a policy of non-alignment till the late 60's, much to the dismay of the US. Post 60's, India veered to Soviet bloc.... some say because of huge secret transfers into Congress party accounts.... some see it as a natural counterbalance to USA's support to Pakistan.

Fast foward to the 90's, the Soviet Union has collapsed, the world has now become unipolar.

USA now has the bigger gun,
Dear Saddam is on the run,
Oil barons are having all the fun,
What about us..!?

2006-02-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

I'm back!
Had an exam today... didnt go too badly... but not too well either.
All in all I'll pass.....barely.
Wouldve helped to have subrato's(A super-brilliant chap in our class) intellect though.

Went to see a movie after that, Taxi no.9211, a bollywood production 'inspired' by Changing Lanes. It was based on the premise that some among many might go to great lengths to nurse their ego.... that too a fragile one.
Both the primary characters raise hell for each other even though a simple compromise, even a word of apology wouldve sorted things out between them.
Sid raised an interesting point in our post movie discussion, whenever a person backs out of a confrontation, especially a needless one, we deride him.... we never acknowledge the fact that the person actually did quite a sensible thing.
In some situations, we dont even mind hurting our own interests if we can exact our revenge.

Do listen to D12's 'fight music'.... it perfectly encapsulates my point.

2006-02-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx would have been proud of me today... I 'struggled' through every 'class'. Was weighed down by a combination of sheer boredom and lack of sleep.... late night champions league games do take their toll.

Topic for today:
What would deem a person as attractive? Dearest shruti, quite an attractive lady herself would deride me if I stated physical parameters.... so lets ignore the obvious and move to the more subtle points.
Would you be attracted to someone who is a mirror image of yourself or would it be a person you have nothing in common with?
Maybe the environment and state of mind in which you happen to meet that person plays an important role.... being drunk can be a major factor.....but since that only lasts for a while so id think something more tangible would be the basis for a relatively longer term attraction.
Power is supposed to be a magnet...the same could probably be said for intelligence.
Could be an undiscovered code written in our genes.
I would probably put it down to a confluence of the factors ive stated above along with millions of others which havent even occured to me.

Junk food for thought.

2006-02-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since ive updated our blog... dearest shruti refuses to utilize her enormous talent anymore... I suspect some kind of writers block....

Been wondering what defines right or wrong. All of morality is based on the principles which define these. Since our notion of right and wrong is based on the current societal norms, by being right we are just conforming to those.
Is that fair?
Do we have the right to occupy a moral high ground just because we agree with the majority?
This leads me to the conclusion that no one is in the truest sense ever 'right'.
All we can lay claim to is the fact that we followed the well trodden path.
Have we unknowingly become a bunch of sycophants........

D

2006-02-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

Attended a class of shruti's favourite teacher yesterday... an intellectual giant who takes the term 'shock and awe' to a new high.
Although I agree with shruti on the fact that she is an excellent teacher who knows her subject inside out, I disagree with her methodology.
In an effort to 'free' our minds and make us see what really happened in colonial India she seeks to tear down any theory even vaguely supportive of British rule.
Some of the reasons she gives border on the ridiculous...
Cant see she, by trying to adopt a blanket approach she is ruining her own credibility.
To win a true convert she needs to show us the light not push us to it...

D

2006-02-07T02:08:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me a very pertinent question yesterday....... why have we created this blog?
Is it a mouthpiece to propagate an agenda?
Is it a diary?
Has god gifted us with a huge cache of spare time?

Thought about it...

Maybe its our little way of letting the world know what we think about.
Maybe its an attempt to leave something behind to be remembered by.
Maybe shruti and me just like to fight and this is as good a platform as any.
Maybe...

D

2006-02-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

congratulations on your hostel. an achievement indeed, especially considering the fact that the ones in line were those who have to travel thrice the distance you do in order to attend university.

isnt it strange, we wish people on imporatnt occassions, are polite to them only when they have a purpose to serve. a transaction. u couldn't have put it in a more ludicrous manner.

inherrent also is the assumption that simple labour or an ordinary existence lacks importance and does not command any respect. so by being polite and respectful u obliged the poor guy...left him with no choice but to ensure that your work gets done.

perhaps Dikshant has just toned down what was actually fawning, obsequious beahvior...the subtler bribes we fail to see...

S

2006-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Praise the lord ive been alloted a hostel!
I slipped past the web of 'red' tape with little difficulty....... the great dean of students 'welfare' office, with many alleged victims credited to its apathy was helpful and actually assisted me in my endavour!

How did I do it?
Simple... I wished the dean clerk on every concievable festival, credited him with an intellect a paper pusher isint likely to possess, praised him and was very very very polite.
Polishing the apple isint my favourite pastime, but it works.
Maybe we could see it as a transaction, I gave him the respect and importance he craves for in his ever so ordinary existence while he processed my application rather quickly in return.
And for this I wish him godspeed.

2006-01-30T07:38:00.000-08:00

Although the virtues of democracy are well documented and constantly fed to us by the great propaganda machine of our government the idea of a benevolent and omnipotent dictator has been the fodder for countless discussions, especially among our armchair intellegentsia.

I acknowledge the huge risk of reposing all our faith in one man and agree to the fact that absolute power corrupts.... but the idea of an irresistible guiding force leading our country to development always catches my fancy.

I know that the risks outweigh the benifits and we have countless examples to drive home the point..... but then why this fascination?
Is this one of those eccentricities we can never explain but universally agree to or is there some deep lying reason?
Has thousands of years of monarchy embedded this in our genes?
Or....... is it the fact that our belief in the supreme being finds an unlikely outlet? Does the dictator give us a persona which we subconciously identify with god?
Love to hear what others think about this..........

D

2006-01-29T00:37:00.000-08:00

the very idea of capitalism, in all its 'purity', is one which is based on exploitative realtions. it distinguishes between 'classes' of people...those who have rights of ownership to property, and those who are bereft of any such claim on property and have to offer services of labor in order to earn their livelihood...

if a system, in its very conception is based on unequal, almost parasitic relations, how can any form its implementation do away with elements that constitute the very essence of its existence? what we see today is no "bastard child' of capitalism, but capitalism in its quintessentially purest form...likely to develop into a monster that will consume all that is left of those already languishing in its trail....

S

2006-01-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

Pure..... An often misused term due to it's positive connontations and the power of associative recall...

Most ideas in their purest and originally envisaged form are quite noble... however its some mutant form of theirs which finally comes to being.
The same thing would apply to the currently prevalent form of capitalism which is a cause of great heartburn for my fellow clueless comrade.
Originally, production relations in capitalism put workers on a equal footing. It could be seen as a mutually symbiotic relationship where the worker got a fixed wage and wasnt affected by the inherent instability of profits. The classic risk return tradeoff. Financial intermediataries could allow anyone with an innovative idea to raise capital and start his own venture.
However, things went horribly wrong somewhere along the way and we are currently saddled with the bastard child of capitalism and sadism.

However, this cant be seen as an argument for socialism as this tendency to mutate might inflict it as well.
Should we try to fix capitalism or usher in a new form of economic organisation?

D

2006-01-28T04:56:00.000-08:00

we are but small pieces of colored glass....each giving a tint of its own to the light that passes through us...and its together that we are beautiful...a kaliedoscope.

and the day we forget that we have a certain color, a certain quality distinct from those around us, we are reduced to lifeless shards...waiting to be picked up, glued to some other enitity so we may borrow from of its significance....

shruti

2006-01-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

Man is known to be a social animal... some are more 'social' than others but complete isolation is rarely seen.

We conform to societal norms and try to blend in.. all for the sake of being 'accepted' by our peers. This straitjacketing is something which we are made to accustom to from a very early age, our guardians being the primary conduit.
However, as we grow older we try to differentiate ourselves from the crowd, try to find our own place under the sun.Inspite of this we take care never to move beyond the limits set by society.
Thus, all our attempts at the abovementioned endavour are restricted to say the very least.

I wonder why.... Is homogenity encouraged because we are terrified of anything which doesnt conform to our way of life? Instead of assimilating a whole new set of ideas why do we try to stamp them out and replace them with our own?

What stops us from being truly at peace with ourself and others?

D

2006-01-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hmm..seems like the ghost of Ayn Rand has possesed you...

I'm not talking about a society that gets rid of inequalities. I'm talking of one that does away with EXPLOITATIVE relations. Like I said, an incentive based system is necessary for inducing people to work. But the system should be such that every one gets equal OPPORTUNITIES. I'm not talking about equity in terms of money or status, but equal access to opportunities (i've come accross the most horrific arguments such as those who are poor, are poor because they deserve to be so...they just haven't worked hard enough. Wonder what a child who is born into a poor family has done to deserve a life of satrvation. And i wonder how many opportunities and incentives your capitalist system provides to help him find work so that he may escape his fate).

There are a lot of things that are not evident. I hope Prof. Utsa Patnaik's lectures will help us, so we may begin to "see".....

S

2006-01-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

One of the more noble pursuits of modern society has been to create a society without inequalities. Infact the primary thrust of socialism was due to the gross inequalities perpetrated by capitalism.
In an utopian socialist society there would be no inequalities.
Although I agree that any inequality based on creed, sex, race and all the other usual suspects is morally unacceptable, creating a society with no differentials will present its own set of problems.

By having an economic differential within a populace, we give induviduals something to strive for, some sort of incentive to work hard and think differently, out of the box so to speak. In most socialist models this incentive is lost. If we encourage such an incentive within a socialist framework, over a period of time an economic differential will appear. Thus, we are back to where we started.

Our conundrum might be resolved by taxing away the noveau rich but this, however, would then be seen as a punishment for working hard therby pushing society towards mediocrity.

D

2006-01-24T12:35:00.000-08:00

thats my point dearest...

we need to give socialism another chance...this time with an incentive based system..

capitalism has been around for much too long...it has only resulted in increasing number of farmers committing suicides, underpaid workers etc etc etc...its not difficult to see that capitalism is based on highly exploitative production relations and no varaint of it will ever do away with them...because if it does..then the system will cease to exist...

like i said dikshant...THINK about it...

2006-01-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

Ah! The cute little argumentative Indian of our class.. see her in all her glory!

I have never said that the leftist way is incorrect... infact I believe that they seem to have gotten it right, atleast on the ideological front.

The problem isint with their theories but the inherent fallacy in every system.... MAN!

The whole socialist concept is based on the premise that people will be willing to sacrifice their own pleasure for the good of others. It seems to subscribe to the belief that the altruistic side of man will always shine through.
By basing itself on something which in my personal opinion is not one of the core instincts of man, I believe it destined to fail.

I am not saying that man is this 'evil' and selfish being, what I would like to point out is that man will only help others after his own needs are satisfied to a certain degree.

Thus, a variant of socialism will eventually take precedence but we will need capitalism to bring man up to the level where materialistic needs are satisfied and non-tangibles such as pride and altruism seem to hold centrestage.

The percieved failure of socialism in India can be attributed to the attempt to bypass capitalism by our leaders, a noble attempt but doomed from the very beginning...

D

2006-01-23T04:24:00.000-08:00

In response to Dikshant's views about the 'left' of economics (which, he thinks is being forced down his throat):

1. the economics we have been taught so far is certainly not 'leftist'. In macroeconomics usually the Keynesian prescription was emphasized, thus building a case for intervenion and not anti-capitalism. In the theory of international trade the exploitative nature of trade treaties and unfair practices in various trade regimes was brought to the forefront( i fail to see how ideological biases could creep into mathematical methods and statistics). Whatever has been taught so far has been substantiated with strong arguments and evidence and atleast i have found that most arguments are indeed convincing.

2. when any system becomes institutionalized and perpetuates itself for long periods of time, those who benefit from such systems never really question its institution. infact, over time the very basis of production relations become obscured from everyone's view. it is for us to unearth these truths and find out where exactly what went wrong.

3. our policies so far have failed to provide development for the masses and the "leftist talk" might just get us somewhere in terms of including the masses on the growth trajectory and in helping us realize that "growth without employment" is infact the most ridiculous way of going about it.

4. don't worry about the job jerboa...there is enough demand for economists out there. coupled with this is the fact that there aren't as many institutes providing good post graduate courses (remember the tough time we had trying to make it here). so eventually leftist or not you will get a decent job with a package that will more than just fulfil your basic needs. but if a fat pay cheque and heavy bonuses was the sole reason you joined this university, then you have indeed come to the wrong place. i guess this is the place for peole who want to bring about a change and well, have more simple needs( in terms of materialistic gains).

about the failure of the "great experiment"...don't u think its a little unfair that we draw conclusions about the success of a system on the basis of a few examples when we compare it with another that has been around for a few hundred years?...just think about it...

2006-01-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

A little bit of money goes a long way in JNU.....

Our fees per semester is about Rs200...
Our daily hostel fees is about Rs10( Including food).
U cant get anything above Rs15 in any canteen.

People can get used to these kind of prices pretty quickly.

Thus jnuites(god bless their souls) have a pretty warped view of life outside the campus, especially when considering monetary transactions.

Although most would frown at such blatant subsidisation, by pricing everything at such ridiculously low levels, every commodity available on campus is within reach of every student.

This has resulted in the creation of an egalitarian society on campus.
Wonder if JNU could be seen as a microcosm for the whole world...

2006-01-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Well..i know Dikshant thinks that i'm a freak..but i shall not hesitate in saying that i'm thoroughly enjoying the lectures these days! Especially 'problems of the Indian economy' and 'theories of growth and accumulation'! its all bout strategies kiddo...i thought u'd love em!

Its strange how economics is being reduced to econometrics and is becoming a highly isolated discipline in most universities. I'm glad we do a lot more than applying intimidating forlmulae to various data sets.

But yes, i do wonder at times why we are being taken back into the paleolithic and neolithic ages...but then..questioning the significance of everything isn't always the smartest thing to do...so as we are being told about the improvements in stone implements and the developments in agricultural production, i turn my head around to catch a glimpse of dear jerboa...such a striking resemblance to Neanderthal man...i'm glad...i dont have to use my imagination!

2006-01-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

Have been trying to think of a better way to put it...havent been too successful though..... IM BORED!!

Classes have started.... new subjects... new teachers... but just cant get myself to study.

Shruti would doubt my sincerity and probably accuse me of being lazy (Something im quite accustomed to now) but I claim innocence.

The problem isint with me but with our subjects. 3 out of 4 papers are predominantly theoretical, arcane theories to say the least and the last one is microeconomics(Praise the lord for small favours!)

Hate being all whiny but why o why o why are we subjected to three papers with extremely doubtful real-world applications!

2006-01-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

Life is full of choices.........

Studying at jnu we've been exposed to a lot of literature which brings into focus the evil underbelly of 'the corporate'....... a profit grabbing, selfish entity with only it's stakeholders interest in mind.
Although I have always believed in the capitalist way of life all this has made me wonder whether Ive been supporting the wrong camp.
Coupled with the above is the fact that I do have to earn my own bread in life and all this leftist talk isint going to get me anywhere....
Maybe the lefties do have a claim to a moral high ground but the fact is that their policies rarely work..... the great experiment has undoubtedly failed.
At times like this I wonder.... what should I do....

2006-01-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

second day of the second sem...lecturers pacing up and down ...nail bititng, head scratching, consoling yourself (take a look around, everyone's adrift...) , writing inane poems with dear jerboa (such a sport!)...

my dear life is being taken apart again..."meaning, meaning, where's the meaning?"..the head teases my complacent existence..

answers are not found in classrooms stupid!! "in chatty conversations then??"

who needs answers? i'm just like everyone else..trying to have good time! i could do a very good job at it you know! "now now love.."

silence..shall delay the turmoil for later..."meet you when you unwind in your little corner then...keep up the act!"

sigh...i should be proud...i'm doing a course that makes me think...

2006-01-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is the blog of two students pursuing a masters in economics from jnu, India. Although good friends we rarely agree on anything.
The primary purpose of this blog would be to provide an insight to life in our university, one of india's few left bastions...
Two different opinions to essentially similar issues.