Ladies and gentlemen, wish you a very Happy Diwali.

Every year, Diwali has sort of represented the changes in my life.

As a kid, I used to love this festival.

I would wake up at 5 in the morning and have my bag of crackers (which always seemed small) ready.
The entire morning required a lot of attention and detail.
The matchbox and the incense stick had to be searched and kept ready.

The first thing that would be lit was the loud green cracker (the one that looked like a ball of wool).
After the loud bang which would wake up my neighbours, I would move on to bursting the famous “bijli” crackers.

These used to be my favourite since a bag full of them would last an hour and you could just keep bursting them one after the other effortlessly.
As I got braver in terms of my outlook towards crackers, I took to lighting them in my hand, throwing them in the air and watch them burst before they hit the ground.
I felt proud of being able to do so.

Once all the crackers got exhausted, we would set out collecting all the paper (generated by the crackers) and burn them.
Just for the heck of it.

As knowledge (the necessary evil) set in, I learnt about child labour.
I also learnt that all the factories that manufactured these crackers employed children.
I decided not to buy any crackers.
Then, on Diwali, my neighbour came in with his bag of crackers.
My cousin came in with another bag.
Within no time, I was lighting sparklers and firing musical rockets.

Child labour and related issues were overshadowed in my mind by the light and dazzle of those beautiful and enchanting flower pots.
I was once again a fan of Diwali.

Every year there was puja at my uncle’s shop.
After the puja, all kids were given 11 rupees, which slowly increased to 21 and 51 in later years.
I also can’t forget the fact that we would get to drink as much Torino as we wanted. (Torino was an orange flavoured aerated drink and I loved it.)

Those 21 rupees would promptly result in another packet of bijli.

Advancing further on the age axis led to interest in things other than crackers.
Diwali became more of a symbolic festival for me, and I would attend the puja knowing at the back of my mind that there were things higher than this in life.
What exactly those things were I have never figured out. I guess I just found it cool to think so.

Torino was replaced by Pepsi, but my zing for both was no where around.

51 rupees didn’t really mean anything anymore.

I started appreciating diyas more than crackers.
Now when I think about it, I find it funny that I thought that way. Whatever.

But then, few minutes of watching some one burn crackers would still get me into the whole thing and I would be lighting them myself.

I end this post here, abruptly.

Ladies and gentlemen, have a blast.

Happy Diwali once again

Socrates and Plato are at an amusement park.
They are standing in front of a roller coaster.
A roller coaster that takes people in a 360 degree vertical turn.

Plato looks at his bag of chips.
Socrates looks at Plato’s bag of chips.

Plato: “I think I should not carry this bag along with me on the roller coaster.”

Socrates: “Unless, you feel that you can keep the bag with you and the chips will not fall down.”

Plato: “Unless I ‘feel’? What does that mean? I know that if I carry the bag then the chips will fall down since the coaster completes a full circle vertically.”

Socrates: Which means that what you know is not what you feel.

Plato looks at the bag and then looks at the screaming people riding the roller-coaster.
Plato then looks back at Socrates with a raised eyebrow.

Socrates (continuing): “By standing here, you know that the roller coaster completes a full circle vertically.
But if you are sitting in it (and have not seen the coaster from outside), you only feel being turned upside down. You don’t know that its traversing a circular path.
In that case, you don’t know that the chips will fall down. You feel that chips might fall down the moment you are turned upside down.
So, the extra knowledge that you gained by standing here and watching the fact that the coaster completes a full circle has allowed you to save your chips from an inevitable disaster.”

Plato, who has by now finished his bag of chips, raises both his eyebrows and looks at the screaming people once again.

Plato (thinking to himself): “Do they know? If yes, what do they feel?”

Socrates goes to buy a bag of chips for himself.

A proud owner of a violin.

Waiting.
Earnestly.
The doors open.
I press the button marked 6.
I continue waiting.
Earnestly.
The doors open.

Waiting again.
Earnestly.
I dial the number.
I am asked to call back after 10 mins.
I continue waiting.
Earnestly.
Will the doors open?

A friend forwarded an interesting article on how blogging affects productivity.

Quoting the source, “U.S. workers in 2005 will waste the equivalent of 551,000 years reading blogs”

The following is an excerpt from a related article from www.businessblogconsulting.com (The excerpt comments on the article linked above)
===Start of Excerpt===
“Some interesting factoids:

35 millions workers (25%) visit blogs and spend on average 3.5 hours a week at them.
Time spent in the office on non-office work blogs is equivalent to 2.3 million jobs.
U.S. workers will wast 2.3 million business work years this year alone.

What the the article doesn’t mention is if these lost hours are coming out of actual productivity, or the time we spent looking for good travel deals or checking last night’s sports scores, and will Expedia and ESPN suffer because of this.

It also doesn’t talk about the fact that most American workers work longer hours, work through lunch and take our laptops and Blackberries home with us. Don’t we deserve some time to blog off?”
===End of Excerpt===

I found the justification of the time spent on blog-reading very nice

Click here to read about the origin of India’s name.

Interestingly, the Persians and then the Greeks were the ones who have given India its name.

What interested me more was that the term Hindu, and more importantly the name of the religion Hinduism, was given by the Persians (who were followers of Islam).

I am not sure if our “secular” politicians know this.
If and when they do come across this factual piece of information, I am sure vote-bank politics shall hit a high.

Socrates and Plato are in the lobby of the office, waiting to go to the car park.

Plato: “It is raining.”
Socrates: “To use weather in order to initiate a conversation is clichéd.”
Plato: “Huh? No, it is indeed raining. ”

Socrates opens his umbrella and starts walking towards the car park.
Plato runs after him, getting partially drenched.

Socrates (walking briskly with the umbrella): “Rain is just one of the million states of the atmosphere. ”
Plato (trying to catch up): “Right.”

Socrates: “Man is just one of the million states of life.”
Plato: “Take a left now.”

Socrates looks at Plato.

Plato: “Er…What a coincidence that one of the million states of atmosphere meets one of the million states of life!”

Socrates: “Coincidence is just one of the million states of probability.”
Plato: “Greek again! Brilliant! ”

They get into the car and subsequently join the traffic jam on the road.

PS: Dhi Only One does not blame last evening’s showers for this makes-no-sense post.

I just got back home from a friend’s wedding reception.
It was nice meeting up a few old friends.
Amidst all the grandeur and celebrations, I couldn’t help noticing a lot of people who were a part of the event, but not a part of the celebration.

There was a live band orchestra comprising of talented artists. Artists who were making a living from singing at weddings and parties.
How many of the wedding invitees looked at them and acknowledged their talent?
What did the artists themselves feel about the whole thing?
Standing aside from the mainstream crowd, literally, and singing popular movie tracks, had they set out on course with a goal of singing at a wedding?
I doubt it.
Their aspirations of making it big in the world of arts were probably still lurking somewhere inside.
Inside those orchestra uniforms.
Inside those made-up faces.
Inside those searching-for-appreciation eyes.

I moved ahead in the queue, waiting to meet the newly weds and to congratulate them.
Life was taking a new turn for some people, and life was stuck at the same turn for some others.

Moving on towards the dining hall, there were many young women behind the counters serving food to the guests.
Serving food for a living (somehow that seems ironic).
Again, was this the goal that they had set for themselves?
Quite obviously not.
But life’s turns had taken them there.
Old ladies clearing the table off the leftovers, while people indulged in various cuisines.

Certain people have the privilege of enjoying life, while others only get to see people who enjoy life.
Who or what grants these privileges and restrictions?

Life, ladies and gentlemen, is unfair.
It indeed is.

Socrates and Plato are seated on a bench in the office campus.
The bench is situated right next to a fountain which spouts water with the grace of a volcano spouting ash and dust.

Socrates (in one of his usual thoughtful moods): “Life, as we see it, is quite short. But we make a long story out of it.”

Plato (spotting the HR girl come out of the door of the office): “Long or short, I am going to make the most out of it.”
He rushes to the girl and asks her about some training schedules.

The HR girl smiles for a full 10 seconds before replying, “It’s available on the intranet, please log in with your ID and check the schedule”.

Plato: Oh yeah? Oh okay. Cool. Er, I mean….

The HR girl stops smiling and continues to walk towards the gate of the campus. She is late for her daily lunch with the entire HR department where they devise new policies while arguing over the lunch bills.

Plato looks at Socrates.
Socrates throws a peanut in the air and waits for it to fall in his mouth.
The mist of the fountain does not let Plato know whether the peanut fell on the ground or in the mouth of Socrates.

Off the record, Dhi Only One is going to attend a “Cross Cultural Sensitivity Training” program on the coming Monday.
Dhi Only One has no clue what the training is all about.
Dhi Only One is excited and jumping with joy.

A disturbed sleep for no apparent reason.
Probably because I slept on the futon and in the living room.
The early morning sun crept in quite easily since I had forgotten to draw the curtains in the night.

I drove down to office today.
The sun continued to follow me till I got into office.
I plan to hang around in office till my presentation and then drive back home.

I am looking forward to lunch at home (eating every day at the cafeteria makes you long for simpler food).

I have decided not to eat chicken until this entire bird flu scare settles down.

I think its foolish to let poultry ruin your life.
Come to think of it, its foolish to let anything ruin your life.

Auf Wiedersehen!