The Small Voice

Was reading the latest Cubiclenama by Sidin and wondered how cluttered my own GMAIL account is. Mr. Vadakut recommends a "select-ALL-delete" approach which is effective but may result in some minor heart attacks if you delete an super-important mail by accident.  Which got me thinking...and lo and behold, I got my own Eureka moment...  Wot a super idea I have for Gmail !!! By the way, Wouldn't  it be a Great idea to have a Delete-Proof button on mails?  So the next time you start on the chopping/deleting sessions that rare mail from your boss commending you on your work doesn't get lost?  Suggested this to GMAIL but they don't listen....:(

Celebrating Diwali with Colleagues So, after much contemplation and planning we finally went out for lunch to celebrate Diwali at work. A treat from the boss, light (relatively speaking) on pockets and heavy on the stomach (again relatively speaking, coz we have immense appetites) we went enmasse to gorge on nachos, hummus, sizzlers, virgin pina-coladas and non virgin ice teas. Probably for the first time in the history of the department, the Research division was locked during office hours and client phones (maybe) went unheeded. But the festive fervor prevailed and who knows when such a chance may present itself again. Spending so much time cooped together in the same room, eight of us have become more friends than colleagues knowing each other’s likes and dislikes especially in food. Actually, on second thoughts, we really don’t have any particular choices in food, we just like to eat, a lot. "YEH DIL MAANGE MORE!!"   Pulling each other’s legs and fighti...

A long time ago…. I was in school, when I first encountered "There Will ComeSoft Rains" by Ray Bradbury, This was was my first science fiction (sci-fi) story. Those were the days when sci-fi genre dealt with what could very possibly be the future, rather than the action and mayhem, minus the vision that has become kind of norm these days. So, tucked away at the very end, in the “Gulmohur Guided English” text book. (Orient BlackSwan), this story was given in a shortened version. Although the essence of the full story remained, the more grim stuff were edited away to suit the sensibilities of the young readers of Std 8. Yet the story remains with me as one of the most vivid and imaginative short story in ANY genre. Unfortunately, the syllabus portions for exams that year had excluded that story, along with (thankfully) some miscellaneous poems. But the redoubtable late Mr. Francis, our English teacher, who had a curious liking for realistic (read morbid) took u...

The legendary investor Warren Buffet, it appears, has finally found his successor. The ageing investor, also known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, has decided that it was best that an Indian should take on the mantle. “Due to the recent media reports and somewhat irresponsible individuals, the performance of our next Chairman is now out in the open. So, before any of you start making speculations, we want to formally announce and come clean on the name” he said. All you Ajit Jain / Tony Nicely lobbyists, you can eat crow. It’s our own Jijaji-next-door Robert Kedavra !! Mr. Kedavra shot to fame when from being a humble brass goods trader from a sleepy North Indian town, he succeeded in wooing the hand of the princess of the Grand-Ole-Party. Like a princess kissing the toad, Kedavra's fortunes skyrocketed since then, and now not only has bagfuls of crores of rupees, he also is amongst the highest of the high VVIPs of the country. All this, without holding a single govt. or ...

One full day of rains and all the claims of the city bosses went swirling down the drain. Sorry, they didn't, because the drains are clogged and nothing flows through them except kickbacks. Harbor line trains, maybe the most neglected of all the already neglected civic amneties for Mumbai-kars, grinded to a halt.  The journalist on TV was talking bull-shit when she said trains were late by 15 mins. So very wrong. An hour long journey took me around 5 hours to complete today. The trains was crawling at a speed of few cm / min. It  Isn't  funny that while many commuters knew exactly the problem areas, which places like Kurla, Chunabhatti etc. are prone to getting water logged, the authorities still feigns surprise on each occasion. As it turned out, the common public were spot on, on the problem assessment all the time. " It happens each year", they said with a shrug. I wonder, why then the city planners and administrators of the future Shan...

I found myself reading the Godfather again. This is probably the sixth time.  He He Needless to say, this gangster mafia saga is one of my all-time favorite books and sits along-side the evergreen Catch 22 by Heller. I wonder why  Mario Puzo, the author, considered it his more commercial (less classy) works. I find it brilliant each time I read it. Even though the story is essentially about Michael, one finds the all pervading presence and the wisdom of Don Corleone all throughout the narrative.  Apart from the now iconic, “..make him an offer he can't refuse” quote, there are many other quotes in the book which I am sure we all will like as noteworthy. Savour some of my selected quotes: On hate: “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.” On greatness: “Great men are not born great, they grow great . . .” On Family values: “….you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides against the family.” ...

Here is an oven fresh take on Gangs of Wasseypur.  The movie is set in the coalfields of Jharia (Dhanbad) and Wasseypur. For the uninitiated, Wasseypur is a small part of Dhanbad town, largely populated by Muslims. The economy of Dhanbad was largely sustained by the lucrative coal mining business since British times and continuing till present. Just do a google search on Dhanbad + mafia and you will get the dope. Coming to GOW, the story is a revenge saga in the backdrop of the coalmines. Earlier too, some movies have been made on the backdrop including the Yash Chopra directed, Amitabh Bachan starrer Kala Pathar (1979). Frankly speaking, I was kinda bored to death with the archetypal Mumbai based “bhai” or gangster movies. Every movie was showing the same locales, the characters mouthing the same mumbaiya language, and even their antics and pranks were cliched and done to the death with minor changes here and there in various films. There was hardly any novelty left in t...