Yet Another Point of View

It’s one thing to know that every trust vote in parliament inevitably involves some amount of horse trading. It’s quite another, and frankly quite disgusting, to watch national telecasts of stacks of notes spilling out of duffel bags on the floor of the house and irate MPs waving them about as proof of the scandalous (really? what's new?) bribery. The news networks didnt tire of relaying the scenes over and over again. When I caught the latest over breakfast Wednesday morning, Amar Singh was responding to allegations that he had brokered the whole deal. 'Are these guys political prostitutes, they are on sale?' he fumes on TV. He had such a straight face on. I almost threw up my cereal. In another report online , I caught this. "What is this plot?.. I have never met them (accusing MPs) in life. I am not such a fool that I will trade with an unknown person.” So would he have traded had they been known politicians?! Nothing else on TV really matches up to the histrioni...

Is there any law against people who wittingly/unwittingly disrespect the national anthem or the national flag? Would it be outrageously impolite if one pulled up a person who is blatantly disrespectful to the flag or the anthem and asked them to either explain themselves or rectify their behaviour? How far can one go in a personal attempt to safeguard the honor of these national symbols? I am wondering about this following an episode at the movie theatre last night. From some time now, they have been playing the national anthem before every screening. I think it’s a great idea, though I know a few people who have a different opinion. And it’s a matter of much debate. Anyway, that’s fodder for another post. What happened last night was that the whole theatre rose to its feet when the words sprang on the screen 'Please rise for the national anthem'. Save two smart young men in the row in front of me. They continued sitting and munching their popcorn. And they stayed put throughou...

Sign in the office pantry beside the coffee machine.. Every time I walk in there and see the sign, I get visions of the fresh foods section of the grocery store. What next? Chilled Stationery. Today’s Special copier paper.

What are the two things you just can’t do without at work? I am assuming most of you, who are reading this, work..for a living. If it’s at a formal workplace, name two things (tools, gadgets, perks, supports, people, whatever) absolutely indispensable to you. Even if you don't troop out every morning to a office and work from bed in your PJs, its still work, right? So just tell me, (post a comment here) what is it that you swear by. I was in one of those blessed (but rare) moments of complete concentration, working on the messaging in a marketing mailer. I must have been staring at my computer screen. Perhaps, I looked a little frozen, or like I was unraveling my future in a crystal ball. A concerned colleague tut-tutted and asked "What will you do if MS Word is taken away from you?" OK, then, I actually froze. What will I do? I will shrivel and die and rot in ‘Word’less Hell! Only one other thing ranks on par or even above Word in my list of indispensables at work. Googl...

The short answer to that is - be geographically challenged, meteorologically uninformed and blindly trust the autowallah. The long answer to that is below. If you manage to glean a few lessons from my misadventure, I guess, it would all be worth it. I seem to have this tempestuous affair with book launches and writers - some delightful, some disastrous (not good for me, you would say) - but I have a feeling it’s kind of keyed into my karma. So, I am unerringly propelled into these, well, 'interesting' situations. With advice from a well-meaning friend to rev up my social life, I decided on a book launch of Amitav Ghosh's new title Sea of Poppies at a bookstore in the city last Wednesday. The author would be reading and I was keen to hear him. I bravely set out to attend the event. Bravely, because its monsoons in Bangalore these days. And anyone who knows the city is familiar with its evening downpours and flash flooding. Very unwisely, I decided to take my bike. I parked i...