Saturday, September 08, 2007

How ironic...

Saudi government has sent a prince form its unendingly depressingly boring list of pompus princes to Paris to increase tourism and promote the ancient Nabataen city of Madain Saleh, in Saudi Arabia.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=100937&d=8&m=9&y=2007

They want it nominated as a world heritage site. Thats fine...why not...if its history it should be preserved.. and YET at the same time they have and are destroying countless historic sites, of historic and religious nature, they are literally bulldozing them such that even the foundations do not remain.

The most horrifying of these destructions is that of the birth place of prophet Mohammad PBUH. Who can imagine that a government that calls itself the "custodian of holy sites" would itself be destroying them..!!!
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article304029.ece
http://www.savethehijaz.org/library.html

Such are the twisted narrow minds of this double faced evil tyranny of al Saud.

Biking lesson one revisited..

I recently got reminded of the first commandment of biking.

Which is "thou shall keep thy mouth shut", specially when biking around with nature too close for comfort.

Biking Lesson revisited.

Keep your mouth shut at all times unless you are looking for some all-natural, all fresh, all-free instant proteins... to land in your mouth.

yyyyyuuuuukkkkk...!! gaaaaaaaaahhhhh...!!

Sunday, September 02, 2007

fancy some cat custard !?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6974687.stm

Interesting ,,and why not..after all ,, we are humans.. aren't we...!!!

Just one teeny weeny detail, if this news had come out of the orient, China, or somewhere,, the press would have been shouting bloody murder..! and human rights and cat rights and dog rights activists would be up in arms...

But hay,, when the same cute fury thing is served on an Aussie dinner table its such a wonderful, tasty and practical idea..! I guess next time the wild dog population explodes down under, then man's best friend will inevitably become man's best meatball...

Saturday, September 01, 2007

feel the force....or ahhh,, ummm..,,

This dude sure has issues with the force....!



The force is definitely screwed with him :-)

the virgin chicken

Chinese official are said to be running around with sherlock Holmes type magnifying glass in one hand and a dictionary in the other, in the fair Beijing town to nab and grab scrupulous menus.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6972280.stm


Honestly, I don't see what the fuss is all about, I for one would be delighted to have a "virgin chick" on my menu ;-) God knows there aren't many of those around ! If Chinese restaurants can get some for dusty travelers then, amen brother!! The starving man-kind deserves it!! when is the next flight to Beijing ???

But I am not particularly sure why would anyone want to eat a "burnt lion's head" !!?? Must be one really pissed off dude who would go for that !

However when forced into taking your boss or your x out for a dinner,then what could be better than getting them a juicy plate of "steamed crap"

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0831virginchickenbuzz-on.html

Friday, August 31, 2007

Princess of Hearts


She was a picture of exquisite beauty in all its glamor. Her smile captivated millions around the world, her innocent deep eyes made even the most cynical believe in beauty and love.
One can not look at her picture and be not enthralled.

Her life was a beautiful dream turned into a nightmare.
Her death in the most romantic city in the world was the worst tragic end to a fairytale life.

Princess Diana, there will never be one like you.

May you find God's mercy, peace and happiness.

p.s. Charles you are such a major ***

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My kind of toy !

This is one must have toy !! Just hope the price gets scanned down a bit..!


muslims in the west a survey

Harris Interactive has carried out an interesting survey and results show some equally interesting trends in the western societies.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=801

What would be more interesting is, if they could provide possible causes behind some of the results. Most of the results are based on peoples perceptions , how are these perceptions formed. Media is one of the most influential factor, second to that would be actual Muslim friends or associates.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Living in a bubble

Actually,,its more like sleeping in it...

But bubbles are like that, once you are in one, doesn't really matter whether you are sleeping or not. Life in a bubble is only a dream... But then again...what exactly is life if not just one big bad bubble gone baloney...

Life is like that, you know its going to end, thats the only certainty about it and it can end pretty much anytime, any second, for all one knows THIS could be one's last breath before the bubble bursts...
And everything inside your little bubble is in a bubble of its own,..anything, anybody and everything can just burst out of your life without any notice, no goodbyes no warning,, pop and its gone...bubbles don't do goodbyes...

Its summer in my little bubble, an uncomfortably warm one...Things get uncomfortably obvious in summers and thats not good. Obvious isn't good, it leaves nothing for imagination, nothing for hope or dreams or nightmares.. Makes the bubble rather bland.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

The insanity...

Interesting line I heard recently:

“Insanity is when you keep doing the same thing and expect different results..”

Hm, how true is that ?

Friday, May 11, 2007

the thing about fridays..

Fridays are the harbingers of joy...,, but in themselves they are no joy. Matter of fact they are the unbearable last minutes of a long and dreadful wait that one endures in hope of something so close yet so far...

Friday is like the last sip of the coffee in your mug , that is no longer warm and tastes like acid, dead dry acid, that you drink anyway not because you want to but because its there in your mug and anything that is in the mug must be downed... Else evil thing will come your way,,so Ive been told.., by the coffee mug of course...

They are like the last monkey on your back, that just wont go no matter how hard you try,, not until the clock strikes 5...! I have a theory about this last monkey.. My theory is that all the monkeys that you have been pulling off your back thinking you are rid of them, they all actually just keep merging into one.
And on friday all these hediously stubborn nagging monkeys have merged into the friday monkey, which become a leach on your back... Until, its 5 and pop its gone.. But wait its not really gone,,it takes the weekend to recharge and come monday you find it having succssfuly climbed back on you with all his orignal cousins...

Yes,, not 5 yet..and I am getting paid to write this...not my fault ! I swear.. I got fed an "energy sweet" by a colleague. It promised to wake me up...and behold...awake I am..!!!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

another one bites the dust...

but....
"I have promises to keep...
and miles to go before I sleep..
and miles to go before I sleep....."


That aside:

9th May 2007, must have been a special day,, Nature came up with a rainbow right outside my window :-)


















Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Dieting dilemna

It seems newton was really onto something when he stated his damning law of intertia , which basically means natures likes to keep stuff the way it is... And if you try to change it, it has ways of getting back at you...

Mother nature it appears is very particular about the weight,,and doesn't like people messing with it..
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc&_r=1

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Disposable days..

There comes a time when days are no more, they are no more because they mean nothing. And anything that has lost its meaning might as well not be there, because it just doesn't matter.

Days are no more when one stops caring about significance of a day, be it birthdays, anniversaries, religious or national holidays... Birthdays become just another date on the calender that means nothing to no one... New years no longer inspire, they longer bring hope, or smiles their only value is in the holiday they bring and the extra hours of sleep you get.

Matter of fact days no longer are on a calender, on your wall or on your desk. Why waste a perfectly neat piece of paper just to show a number !? Days they exist only in digitally disposable small little blips in your wrist watch or your mobile phone or the biggest space they can occupy is on the bottom status bar of your computer screen. They are just tiny re-arrangeable, reusable little digital ones and zeros..
And the only reason you look at them is to check when is your next meeting. Thats pretty much all they are worth...
Desk calenders and wall calenders are nice. It would be nice to tear off a page every morning and look at fresh clean page in front of you, a perfectly new page to write on, a truly new beginning !! you could write anything on it,, anything at all !! You could tear, crumble and throw away the bygone day, with all its misery all its failures and all the disappointments. Gone in the dustbin with one clean tear on the calender,, yes that would be nice,,, but most of us don't have a desk calender... we wouldn't know what to write on it, even if we did have one...

So whats happened to all the days !? Where have they gone !? Why do they no longer matter ? I fear its because there are no more dreams left... There may be some wishes but no more dreams. Its the dreams that give meaning and hope to every day, every birthday becomes meaningful, every new year brings a fresh promise,,but without a dream they might as well not be there. They go uncared for, unnoticed and un-waited for..

And where did all the dreams go ? The problem with dreams is they are all tied one to the other, they are like intricate web of veins that supply blood to the heart... if one is cut rest don't know what to do, even if they do, it doesn't matter because the heart dies anyway..

They are like a flock of high flying colorful birds, gliding on the clouds like happy polka dots..
But if one gets shot, all of them loose sense of direction and scatter in the wind... leaving nothing behind..absolutely empty sky void of any direction any movement, any cheer.. And life becomes like that incredibly surreal picture of a stranded still boat under a clear yet still sky and even stiller water... A boat that is going nowhere...

Its only fitting that these are long days with incredibly short nights, nights are for dreams, how would one fit all those hours without any dreams. Its good, that nights are short,, very short... here in the land of the midnight sun.

Run away

We all are either running away or wishing to run away from something... At least thats my perception or lack of it...

Sometimes if nothing else, one wants to and often needs to run away from ones own self. Which actually is the most difficult of escapes to make. But the rewards are proportionally exhilarating..

There is something almost romantic about the whole running away business. The running away is always to reach a dream or escape a nightmare...

I bet some day some wise guy will make a profit out of it too.. Maybe like the best shoes to run away in ! Or the runaway T-shirts, other accessories would be equally charming... Or how about a runway cola !?
Or a runaway tour package...haa...maybe I should go into that business...!

But here is the catch.. no one actually ever got anywhere worth getting by running away,,...the brave would prefer to fight it out.. unfortunately the brave usually die young, or lonely crippled and poor.
One really needs to know when to give up and runaway,,.when is the right time to give up.. and pack your bag of dreams and follow the rainbow..?
Or is giving up always a bad idea ? Does a person who runs away has lesser self respect than the one who stays ? Does giving up actually needs more courage than sticking to your guns ?
There is always the risk that the longer you stay the harder it becomes to run away... Issues never end, they chain your feet like sucking tentacles of million legged giant squid, hell bent on sucking you and your life out...
Then the risks are not always entirely your own...your dreams may land others in a nightmare.. . This is where the urge to run away comes face to face with its nemesis,, the self verses the group.

Hmm,, yes its sunday and my coffee mug is empty,.. there is nothing on TV, the weather is crappy and running away sounds like an exciting idea..only if I could figure out where to...

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Amazing....!

Read the last lines of this article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6476907.stm

"Listen to it," one of the officers told me when the warplanes were launched and streaking up the Gulf to Iraq.

"It is the sound of freedom."

You've got to be joking !!! The sound a fighter jet going out to possibly bomb, kill and mime some people, and destroy their and the lives of those close to them forever,who might very well be innocent of any wrong of any kind... is the sound of freedom..!! freedom !! whose freedom ? when you go attack and reduce a country to rubble.. you are actually giving it freedom? oh yes of course by using all of that country's oil money to give heavy "rebuilding" contracts to your american companies...

Do these guys really believe that crap..!!! ?? How brainwashed are they to not be able to understand such simple things...!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The will of the universe..

Amazing how we humans can always find ways around a "situation" by twisting the words....

A budhist monestary found an interesting solution for its "ants" problem... by saying

"They cannot encourage anyone to harm the ants, but the chief monk says that if someone turns up unbidden and deals with them without the monks' involvement then that is the will of the universe."

The wonders of wordplay !!! and I think it would be the "will of the universe" if somebody just forgets and leaves his bag of money on my desk... Now thats the kind of will of universe I definitly dont mind :)




Sunday, March 11, 2007

So what if tommorow really is monday..

Which it infact really is... I as million others I am sure, wish it werent ,,but wishing never stopped mondays from un-invitedly stepping in from any window...

The fact that they do keep jumping in my face week after week is begining to really get on my nerves...and Ive decided its time something was done about it.
For starters Ive decided that I am going to rename monday,,to just "day" yes ,,strip it off its bite,,the "mon" part.... And second thing I am going to pull out my sleeve is,,...I will just ignore it..I will totally ignore it..maybe that will drive it away..,,or not... but worth a shot still...

The third option is rather dull but here goes. I will stop believing in weekends...Stop waitting for them. I might not have much control over mondays but weekends are an easy target....
Oh crap...this isnt going anywhere...

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

The man who ate the world...

There was a man who woke up one day,,scratched his head,,then his belly,,rubbed his eys and his nose,, yawned and sneezed. He squashed the mosquito that had bugged him all night. Scratched his belly one more time, which was unusual because normaly he scratched his belly only once.

Then he looked out the window and said out loud "I think,.. I will eat the world today..." and then he went on and did it...

He ate the world..

Why he ate the world, and what transpired on the world before he ate it and what happened to him after he ate it are questions that have kept many scientists busy and will be explored in upcoming entries in this blog.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Readers are welcome to give their opinion on why they think he ate the world and how he ate it, was it with ketchup or mayonnaise ? or was it just with plain sprinkled salt...
What did the world think about him eating it ? and other such fascinating questions affecting the time space equilibrium or non-equilibrium for that matter...

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Why write

This has been an interesting weekend... on many fronts..

One realizes ones own idiosyncrasies and how common one really is. Its bizarre that while being fully aware that this is a planet brimming with over 6 billion human souls, one keeps imagining oneself "different" and "special" in one way or another. Most of the time this self glorification and self delusion is at an unconscious level.

As engineers we study design patterns, the whole idea of which is the realization that what you are thinking now is nothing new, many others have most probably already thought of it, the problems that you are facing are nothing magical, and extraordinary,...they have and are happening to millions of others. So you ought not to try reinventing the wheel...

The point is there is nothing special about you... You are so totally ordinary that its not even worth explaining it to you,, or me..or anyone... But we wont believe it,,..we need,,, to not believe it, its a kind of denial system, hard wired in our very core.

Okay now Ive totally strayed, what I was going to write, was about why we write,... and apparently Ive landed on a very different planet... hmm... and it doesn't even have green furry pointy eared folks,, its rather plain ,,sooo barren and totally common...

I'll blast off ,,but first lets first post my flag on this so common place, a symbol of my glory. A tribute to my ignorance.

I've invited a few friends over for dinner and cant feed them on blogs... I am thinking chapli kabab,, perhaps with enough chilli to to keep them from a second serving :) But that is a funny name,, chapli kabab, it means "shoe kabab" haa!! I bet therez a bit of history behind that !!!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

upgrade

Second and third languages can be very amusing, when you use them in a text book style..

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a co-worker, and she couldnt find a word for something she wanted to say,,,and kept saying...."when my parents were upgrading me..." I thought what !!? and she got that from my look and said.."ahh.. u know when you are young and your parents are.....upgrading you..."
"haun...???" and then it hit me....
"oh.....!!! " ,, you mean when they were "bringing you up" !!??
"yeeeesss ! thats what I mean " she replied...

that was sooo ummm funny...!!! upgrading your child !!!

Oh the perils of working in technology area... Your normal lingo and thoughts even get geeky.... That is if there is anything normal left in you to start with...

Come to think of it, thats what parents do, everytime they teach a child something, they upgrade him. Its like when they potty train you, they upgrade you from pampers to potty... When you are taught to tie your shoes you are upgraded..and so on... till a time when you get in an auto-upgrade mode,...you upgrade yourself on your own....Well most of the time that is,,..

The term does make sense I guess....

Thursday, February 22, 2007

na hota main to kia hota...

There is a famous verse by 18th century Urdu poet, Ghalib (1796-1869),

Na tha kuch, to khuda tha, na hota kuch to khuda hota
Daboya mujh ko honay nay na hota main to kia hota?

When there was nothing there was God, if there were nothing there would be God,
My being has sunk me, if I were not what would be.

This translation is rough and breaks up the tense..,,but you cant get the whole essence of a verse in one language translated into another...

The second line is constantly ringing in my head since this morning,, I dont know what triggered it, why did it pop up frm my archives deep in my grey matter... I cant get over it,,what beauty this is,,such depth in such simple words....

But what does it really mean ? if I were not , what would be !??? Dont get it wrong it doesnt mean everything is God....Thats too simple a thought. ,,it means something deeper,, I dont know what it is,,but it is making me drunk....

This is like a rainbow of ifs,, only every one of the 7 colors keeps breaking into 70 more....
na hota main to kia hota....

Why did "I" have to be,,, its ones sense of being that drives one away from everything that could be or can be....
na hota main to kia hota....

oh how I wish "I" was not...!!! then "I" would have no desires for "myself" I would have no needs for "myself" I would not live to be...... oh how I wish I was not.....
na hota main to kia hota...

How I wish I become not,,,,if I were not, none would matter...except what Is
na hota main to kia hota....

If I were not, I wont have drifted so far away....
na hota main to kia hota..

If I could like a whirling dervwish, whirl in negation and acceptance, and with every whirl trasnscend a circle of my self, till I am free of place,time and finally my being.
na hota main to kia hota...

Daboya mujh ko honay nay
na hota main to kia hota..
na hota main to kia hota..

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The lost cause..

Some people just dont get it,, ...they just DONT get it... Its like you hit them in the face with the whole kitchen sink, and they still wont know wheres the sink...

You talk to them about potatoes and they tell you the height of mount everest.. !! No matter what you say seems to go in a black black reeaaaly black hole and wooooosh disappear for ever , as if it was never there... And then out comes a brilliantly irrelevant piece of nothing that has nothing to do with nothing at all..!!!

Its more mind boggling than the dark matter, worse than string theory for n raised to a gazillion dimensions, and all of them in the totally wrong time and absolutely wrong place.
Its like the improbability drive in the Douglas Adams "The Answer to Life Universe and Everything" .. You can caluclate the improbability of what they say having any sense or relevance in the time and space that they say it..And it will still be wrong...

People like that,, make even the hardest of atheist ,,,submit that there must be a Creator....

I have had a very recent such cyber encounter and my jaws are still a mile apart.. I am in a.....in a.....in a....what dear Bush from the wild wild west says,, "in shock and awe"

Monday, February 19, 2007

A tail of two cities..

Yes, a tail, thats what I said,....
A tail u know that multi-purpose often hairy thing so far found only around the backend of the most intelligent of creatures on earth.. Yes thats the one, and yes you dont have it, if you did , you would be smart enough not to be wasting your time reading this bullshit..

This really isnt the "tale of two cities" definitly not, specially since it hasnt got anything to do with France other than the fact this tail swings by it on way to one of its two cities..Other than that noap nothing in common, no revolutions, no gallows none of that..

Anyway this particular piece is about a tail that lies between two cities. Unfortunately since the distance between the two cities is rather huge, the tail ends up spending most of its time swinging from one city to the other and not that much time actually being in either of the two cities.
But then again thats its job...Thats what tails do..they swing between..ummm..places :-) A tail can never be at rest. It needs to keep moving, the faster the better, and herein lies the problem. Whenever it reaches one city, it has to start preparing its bags for the trip back to the other city. Its an endless journey that goes on and on...

It is stuck by the curse of newtons law of tails, which states " A tail in motion will remain in motion unless and untill acted upon by an unbalanced external force."

And this tail seriously needs a VERY unbalanced external force....

Monday, February 05, 2007

how self deceptive..

A dear BBC reporter,(..no wait he is not just a plain reporter , he is actually the head of BBC TV news !!!) in his official blog,,or I dont know what you call that, for a person who is actually making the news.. How does a reporter, a media man, the guy sitting on the news make his blog look like non-official ?? Anyway thats besides the point..

The point is , this guy a Peter Horrocks in his blog http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/not_taking_sides.html
so confidently claims that BBC doesnt take sides,,,oh come on !! I mean COME ON....!!! how dumb u think we really r !!?? That is self delusion on a mamoth scale... its like an elephant imagining he is peacock..

ok, I would give it to them BBC is less partisian than their counterparts across the atlantic ,the CNN the NBC and the rest of the yanky cousins..but then again, BBC is beaming out from europe, thats more diverse in its opinion than the now unfortunately,, sooo sooo pinholed american perspective on everything....

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee...

If there is one living man who deserves to be called a hero.......
its this man..... Muhammad Ali

Happy Birthday champ.....!!!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

individualtiy

What a total hypocrit..!! He introduces himself saying " ..... I am a strong advocate of liberty, individuality, equality, and tolerance. Enjoy! " and then goes on to show what he really means by individuality,equality ,liberty or tolerance for that matter...,,,,....
link

All the cards....

......
....
cos I remember all the times I tried so hard
And you laughed in my face cos you held all the cards.
I dont care anymore.
And I really aint bothered what you think of me
cos all I want of you is just a let me be.
I dont care anymore dyou hear? I dont care no more

[phil collins " I dont care anymore"]


amen to that brother !!!!

Don’t smile

Yes,, exactly..dont do that..!! never do that,, specially when at work..It can be fatal…absolutely fatal….

Today,, at work,,I walked out of my room to get some coffe,,and in some unguarded weak moment… I was smiling,,God knows why….cause I sure as hell cant remember any reason for it.

At that very moment,, this guy,,whos head almost touches the ceiling when he stands up, and calls his bike a rather “interesting” name to put it mildly, has a sparkling shaved head, and is a regular gym joe .. Stares at me,, and says “and what the hell are you so smiling about haun !?? IMy hard disk froze, CPU went to 100000% full power,,and basically the system hung up… meaning my smile jammed right where it was and kept glaring back at him…

Then Temu or Jari or whatever his name is,, smiled back and said.”DON’T SMILE “”” you are at work…”

He was right…at work you aren’t supposed to look happy…! That would mean your manager is not doing his job right.or that they are paying you too much..or you’ve just screwed up the entire corporate framework or something and everythings going to go belly up…or the absolute cardinal coporate sin…u r having an affair with yr boss’s cute secretary……

You may drink, you may smoke,,but noap..u damn well better not smile..!!!!

This reminds me of the good old days when I was working as school teacher… I was teaching this grade 10th Physics to an all girls class and immediately after my period was their biology lesson. So everytime I walked out,, the bio teacher would be waiting outside to enter the class….

And being the stupid ass that I am,, I would smile at her, and say hi…..Heck back then I smiled at any and everything….….

Anyway..this went on for well over a month or so…then one day one of the girls cracks a joke asking how is the bio teacher or something..and they all go…hehehehhe…And when I tried to explain and say there was nothing going on...they quipped back of course not…that’s why I smile at her every day…!!!!

Haun..!!???? Whhhhaaaat !!???? And apparently…those same girls had given this impression to that bio teacher that I was actually interested in her….and every time I smiled she actually thought I was giving her that “smile”….ahhhhh so I was damned if I smiled, and damned if I didnt….

For weeks to come the situation remained embarrassing,confusing and all screwed up…

So u see….dont smile....

But those school days..they were nice…actually…very nice.. I was just simple guy thrown into a very complex environment..…. But it was fun, I met some amazing characters back there…and those years…shaped up so much of my life. Little does one know…that the small steps, one takes, the absolutely tiny things one does…go on to define what he becomes..and where he ends up…..