"What is the best thing to do when you have split with your spouse but you want to work it out?"
This search on www.ask.com brings up my blog as the first search result (before this post). How weird is that!

Yeah, as a citizen of a supposedly-democratic nation I believe I have the right to rant. Ofcourse, I should take care as to not hurt the religious, cultural, sane or insane sentiments of the others. If my rant includes any domain that the reader may be aligned to or otherwise interested in, please excuse me. I mean no harm. I merely mean to rant. I have the time to do it and I am high on LSB (Light Simple Bore). I would recommend that you don't read the post at all. It probably wouldn't make sense. It probably would turn out to be no post at all. I use the word probably because I have no idea why or what I am posting.

Ah, so you are still reading this deadly concoction. At your own peril, I say, at your own. Nevertheless now that you are with me (on the same page like people like to say), let me see what I have to say. Alright, alright, I will start with the idiot box. I am not glued to the idiot box but I do senselessly surf the channels from the cosy confines of me bean bag. With the quality of television programming what it is, the surf is at insane speeds. Sometimes I surf merely to make a string out of the various sounds booming out of the various stations. Have u tried that? You should, you might find it fun. "Boo Caa Raa Nooo Wat Dash Splash glub blub dub wilp slip plip yeap hi no good every people.." You get the idea, don't you? These television people get one thing right - weekends should be the most boring day on television. It's a good thing, you know. It gets the people off their seat and who knows they might even venture into the sunlight. To get some calcium, like a friend inadvertently quipped the other day.

What's irritable about television - I should've said what's most irritable - is the quality of advertisements. There are some very funny and some very well-made ads, I admit. To counter that people have come up with ingenously ridiculous ads that can irritate you more than a itch can. Take the champi ad for example. For the uninitiated, it's an ad for a hair oil that has now found its way into "Lifestyle and Music Channel" VH1. Yes, you heard it right - on VH1, that glorious soldier that came to redeem us from the other cliched music channels. Anyway it has the charmingly unattractive diya mirza with the squeakiest voice ever. I attribute the squeaky voice to a well oiled voice box that I suspect has been champi-ed with parachute advansed. The pitch of her voice (voice-over?) is very acutely tuned so that the vibrations can travel into your bones, then move up the marrow and reach the brain where the vibrations jelly-up the nerves and the cells on the brain. It's a blissful feeling, I must add, to be knocked out of your mind like that. I wonder what the heck champi means. Does it mean massage? Ahh, now I realise that this was the centerpiece of my rant.

I am quite thankful that I don't suffer from Himesh Is the Devil Syndrome. Before you are lead to believe otherwise, let me state that I hate Himesh's singing like most of you do. Did I hear you say he's ok? Ok, you have the right to your opinion so go ahead and have it. Add some pepper sauce to cover up the staleness though. Getting back to the point, I don't watch MTV or Channel V. For the time, I am safe from HIDS.

I have also been lucky enough to have a proxy that meant no blogspot blocking for me. Yet, I wish to stamp my disapproval on whatever it was that happened. Censorship on any kind is deplorable, especially when it comes from our pure-souled politicians that don't have the golgappas (Thanks, Sushila) to do what they preach.

Had enough? No? Well i did, so adious amigos. Auf Wiedersehen!

Without you,
I am a mere speck in the universe.
You make me feel
Like a pearl in this Oyster's shell.









Image Copyright © 2004 Travel with a Challenge http://www.travelwithachallenge.com/

X-posted from Wander-Clicks.

http://wanderclicks.blogspot.com/2006/07/sameers-run-in.html

Sameer's album

http://picasaweb.google.com/get.sameer/AvengerRunInRide

Why terrorize? Why hurt? Is this the only way to get what you want? Is this the way to garner attention?

It doesn't matter who did it. It doesn't matter what the cause is. It doesn't matter if it is a wily political move. It doesn't matter if it is an attempt to make a scape-goat out of someone. What matters is the grief that has been effected! What matters is the sadness that now envelopes those that have lost so much! What matters is the shatter of lives, resounding and resonating through a city! What matters is the cruelty that we, the intellectual species, are capable of!

God help those that now suffer. God help those that made them suffer.

Utopia, where are you?

I am sure most of you must have read/heard about the new trick up the petrol-pump-assistants' sleeve. I had too, but it happened to me nevertheless.

The fact that I have noticed it at four different pumps in B'Lore has me worried. It surely isn't an isolated incident and I am pretty sure it extends outside of B'Lore too.

The trick is to short-change you of fuel.

The players

The pump guy who pumps the fuel - PG
The cash collector who collects the cash - CC
The victim - V

Modus Operandi

V asks for, say, 4 litres of fuel. PG asks V to check zero and proceeds to pump fuel. PG pumps only 1 litre of fuel, pretending that he thought V wanted only a litre. When V clarifies, PG and CC ask him if they can fill in another 3 litres. V says alright. Meanwhile, CC distracts V with silly questions like "are u paying by card or cash?" and other such stuff. Now that V is distracted, PG does not reset the meter and in fact goes slow on the fuel filling, so that by the time V's focus is back the meter shows around 1.25 litres or so. PG fills fuel until it shows 3 litres. do the math and V (well, i was) has just been cheated of a litre. Ofcourse, both PG and CC will claim that the meter was indeed reset.

I noticed it because inspite of the billing guy making attempts to distract me, I looked at the pump counter just in time to smell something fishy. I couldn't prove them wrong and so ended up being fooled.

A similar modus operandi is applied if you ask for 400 rupees worth of fuel. In this case, you'll be cheated of not just a litre but a 100 rupees worth of fuel.


The pumps

It has happened to me at 4 different places.

1) The first was the HP petrol pump on the JP Nagar Ring Road, just before the Delmia circle when you are headed towards Bannerghatta Road. Here I was cheated and learnt my lesson.

2) The next one was the BP just after Kadrenahalli Cross, Banashankari

3) The HP near Woody's just after the ICICI atm signal

4) The BP opposite IBM, near Jalbhavan, on Bannerghatta Road.


What can u do?

1) First and foremost, be alert. Don't take your eyes off the fuel counter. Car owners are probably the most susceptible as I have seen most of them remain inside the car. You are better off getting out of the car. It'll only cost a few seconds more.

2) Fill in lesser quantities.

3) Ask them to set the pump to auto-dispensing mode.

So as of this saturday (1st July), I have completed four years in the IT industry. Like many other IT workers, I am confused about whether I like it or not. Sometimes I find myself wondering if this is what I want to do. At other times, I think I am doing pretty well so why crib. The problem is not with the industry or the company, it is mostly with me. I am not adventurous enough or courageous enough to try something new. Yes, there are times when I bemuse myself dreaming about an off-the-beaten-track career filled with adventure and a newness. No, I am sure I will never ever do something like that.

Cheers to the four and whatever else is on the way. :)


P.S: My mom had to remind me and my friends that we have managed to complete four years. So our celebrations have been delayed by a week. :) We'll miss the majority that isn't in B'Lore.