Friday, March 23, 2007

CELLULAR Circus!!

Excuse me for a sec; I have got to take this!” Have you heard it all too often, as if the person’s life depended on it? Cellular phones have taken over the world! In Tokyo, there are two mobile connections per person! Can you imagine that? What could be a logical explanation for this unhealthy gadget fetish? True, we live in an age of modern technology, and cell phones make work easier, communication more efficient, and distances smaller. How many people do you know, who have a cell phone, but actually, reeeeeeaaaalllly need it? Not the kind of person to NOT give credit where it’s due, I would like to congratulate the service providers and phone manufacturers for creating such ludicrous desire for this wireless piece of wonder! Everybody wants one, or should I say, everyone owns one, not many need one.
If I were to summarize the utility of a cellular phone, a few pertinent queries would arise.
I can understand that it is, to an elite few, a very helpful device as far as business is concerned. But were not businesses run before the mobile phone was created? Didn’t we have the Ambani’s and the Tata’s back then?
Also, it comes in handy at emergencies. Or does it? Take for example the Mumbai 26/7 deluge or the 11/7 train blasts. Almost all services, barring a few were defunct, chiefly due to the heavy call traffic.

It is nice to gift your mother a phone, as you may probably be the only person she will call. What will ensue? Instead of wishing her or your relative a very happy anything, you shall just send a message, and that shall be the end of it. Has the mobile been connecting people or helping in disconnecting them?

A few years back, if a person was seen with a wireless phone resembling a walkie talkie, people instantly recognized him as a very rich or well to do person. The mobile, sadly has lost its entire ‘status symbol’ quotient!

The basic function of a mobile phone is to make and receive calls. An online dictionary defines it as ‘any wireless telephone that operates over a relatively large area, as a cellular phone or PCS phone’ which is why it’s called a mobile/cellular phone. It was not an instrument to click high resolution photos with, or a radio, or even a plaything, to begin with. Thanks to all those budding geniuses and mba’s at manufacturing units, we have phones to send e-mails with, phones to keep us out of the office, and phones that double up as entertainment devices. I, for one, would not love watching football on a mobile phone, and hate it when people come to parties, but either get lost in their cellular world or start sharing data, effectively ruining any chances of human communication.

There are talks of brain damage due to excessive use of cell phones, which are not definite yet, but are a cause of concern.

Making life easier, aiding in effective and continuous dialogue, being fun, when sensibly priced are the pros of a mobile phone, one’s which I enjoy. It’s when the desire exceeds the need, do I start getting jittery. In my view, it is always better to buy a personal computer, which I feel shall be more useful than buying a 3 mega pixel, 8 gb extendable, Bluetooth enabled mobile phone, which shall be out of vogue before you can say A I K O N!

I also have a great storyline for script writers. Mobiles suddenly become intelligent and start taking over the earth, until a simple guy, who has not let mobiles rule his life, saves the world! Although, I don’t think that they have to take over the world, they already have!
Kartik ..

Thursday, March 22, 2007

proposal

Dearest Sweetheart,
The single most important fact of my life is that I love you from the bottom of my heart. So, to express my feelings for you, to show how much I can love, I thought of writing this letter. I have to admit though; I was having trouble in trying to describe my feelings towards you, to put pen on to paper. I thought, I thought & I thought. Then I thought some more. I just could not find the appropriate words with the required depth, passion and sentiment to do justice to what I felt in my heart. I had almost given up on the idea of writing the Perfect letter to you, when suddenly, while watching a movie, like a lightening bolt, it struck me.
All the years gone by, all the memories, all the phone calls, all the times spent together, all the times we shared a laugh, all the times I made you cry. It all came rushing into my head. I suddenly realized that Love is an emotion, just like so many others. Yet it is the hardest to define. It’s a feeling, a feeling almost impossible to convey in words. Nothing is impossible though, so I’ll try.
For the past few years, my life has been one long roller coaster ride, only without a stop button. I’ve had my ups, and by gosh, I’ve had my downs. Nothing was or is consistent, permanent. Except for you. Yes, you. You have always been there to back me up, to hold me when I was about to fall, to caution me whenever I was going to commit a mistake, to scold me after my every mistake, to make me realize the strength of the lord, to make me smile, to make me tear my hair out in sheer frustration, to make me a better person. All said, you are the only consistently recurring good thing happening in my life!

Whenever I look into your eyes, I can see in them the man I can be, the man I want to be. When your lovely lips curl up for that enchanting spellbinding smile, my heart, most certainly, skips a beat or two. Your mesmerizing voice sends tremors of delight through my veins, a sense of confidence in my soul and a feeling of eternal bliss in my heart. I will not illustrate how I feel when I look at your tender, delicate and sensuous body. All I will say is that I consider myself the luckiest man alive..
You are the one woman I want to be with, and the one I cannot be without. I am hooked on to you, for life. It is my solemn vow to give everything I am, to you.


Will you marry me?

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

women!!



Off all the things that I fail to understand, and there are many, the one that takes the cake, surely, is what is it with women and their deep rooted desire to conceive? In plain –speak, why do they want to have children???
Right from the time they hit puberty, they are in for trouble. Especially in a country like India, where a woman in her ‘days’ is subjected to what I feel is degradation. They are not allowed to pray, eat with others, and do all the mundane things that they normally do everyday, all in the name of religion. And yes, it does exist in modern India too, and there are ladies who follow it even when not bound. Hopefully, that mindset is changing, and im very glad that it is. Im the kind of person who likes to hug his friends on birthdays, regardless of their ‘dates’, and I shall continue to do that, religious sentiments be damned.

Coming back to my point, at the young age of 11 or 12, girls have to go through that horrendous experience. I remember when it had happened to my sister for the first time. She was crying up a storm, and to this date, the day of my mother’s death and the day mentioned above are two instances when I had questioned not the existence, but the ethics of god himself/herself! From then on, starts this sad monthly routine. It is a pity to see young sprightly girls playing, so cheerful and full of life one day, writhing in pain, trying to hide the angst the other. It seems so unfair to me.

As soon as they just start getting used to it, on top of having a career and helping at housework, they are married off and then have to bear the pain associated with lovemaking. I would have to admit that although I am not authority on it, I have friends who would be at the top of the line for a PhD on that particular subject, and so it’s safe to say that my information is accurate.

One thing leads to another, and its time for all the nausea and vomiting. The lady’s pregnant! There is unbridled joy all around! The papa’s happy obviously, not only because he is a soon to be father, but because he CAN be a father! The mother in law is licking her lips at the prospect of watching her daughter in law go through 9 months of hell! The father in law’s happy, as the wife’s happy, and he is sure that there shall be no more fighting, at least till the daughter leaves for her paternal home! The girl’s parents are obviously happy to see their daughter, and there are festivities and rituals all around. Most importantly, what about the girl? How does she feel? Shockingly, she has never felt better. This is the part when you can go to the start of this article. This is what I DON’T UNDERSTAND. Why do they want to go through 9 months of hell, risking their life, bearing such a lot of pain, leading a restrained and cautiously monitored life? For what? To conceive her bundle of joy, the apple of her eye, who, on turning 18, won’t even remember to thank her on mother’s day? A woman’s travails don’t end here. Nappy changes, doctors, lactation, sleepless nights, the works. Men of today are supportive, and not all women lead a very cautious life, but generally speaking, women do take utmost care, and to me are gods greatest gift to mankind. They bring us onto this earth, nurturing us in their womb, take care of us, feed us, teach us, learn with us. And I may never understand why they do it, some saying I won’t as im not a woman, but it will not stop me from respecting them. Thank you mom, thank you women, everywhere.


Regs, Kartik..

Friday, March 16, 2007

i fail to understand..

I’m confused. And I’m tired. I have seen and experienced activities, many of which I fail to understand. Can someone help?

I fail to understand why there are inconsistencies in the written word and the actual load shedding schedules in and across thane, and what has to be done to bring parity to this madness.

I fail to understand which event I should find most endearing, that of my little sister fretting over how much cheese is on her bread lestshe put on weight, or just watching a beggar girl gorge on the hakka noodles I buy for her.

I fail to understand how women get these unimaginable levels of tolerance, patience and kindness.

I fail to understand the psyche of terrorists, and how, what seems to us as horrid acts, is a service to god according to them?

I fail to understand how can people be so insensate as to rape a 5 year old girl?

I fail to understand how is it that even after 60 years of division, 3 wars and innumerable deaths, there is no conclusion to it all?


I fail to understand why there are still so many suicides in the vidharbha region, when talks are on to make Mumbai the next Shanghai?

I fail to understand why and how my ‘friends’ suddenly find themselves short of money, when I need it the most?

I fail to understand that if money can’t buy happiness, why do rich people seem happier?


I fail to understand why Team India are such perennial underachievers, and will the master blaster ever get to hold the coveted trophy in his hands?


I fail to understand why Indians prefer to go to Switzerland when one can have double the fun in half the money at Uttaranchal?

I fail to understand how in the great land of America, and it’s much heralded ‘Hollywood’, one has yet to see romantic movies with a black - white couple?

I fail to understand why remakes and sequels are the flavor of the month, and why is it so hard to come up with a fresh, original and exciting script?

I fail to understand how is there a generation gap between me and my younger brother, 2 years my junior?

I fail to understand the plight of Indian Football and why is it in the doldrums?

I fail to understand why someone, anyone, better than me of course, won’t do anything significant or remarkable to make other sports as popular as cricket?

I fail to understand our fascination with cricket, where we have achieved precious little and our complete disregard to other sports?

I fail to understand why my friends will kill me for the statement written above?

I fail to understand how with so much corruption and political ill-will do people not get disillusioned with the government, and even if they do, are not ready to do anything to try and change it?

I fail to understand why I felt like writing this, knowing full well, that it won’t change a thing?