Saturday, November 29, 2008

Mad Sad Glad Lad

Strangely enough, my first reaction to the Mumbai terror attack was not shock, or sadness or gloom. It was anger... And I wasn't angry at the terrorists...nothing better is expected from them. I was...am mad at the government. And the face of the most incompetent home minister... person since the dawn of time keeps cropping up in my mind and driving me angrier. I mean what the fuck!!! This M@*** F##*3r is still in office? Why the fuck can't these numbnuts in the terrorist outfits get someone like him in the cross-fire at least. At least George Bush reacted after finishing 'My Pet Goat'... I don't see the press even barely mentioning any statement from him, leave alone grilling him about his performance or highlighting it to the public.

I am mad at the media too... and describing their coverage during and after would only make me madder. You know how its been,

When the anger abated, the sadness crept in. I was afraid we were getting numb to these. Kinda like how we 'see through' the poverty, the bad roads, and are learning to 'kindly adjust' with terrorism. The TV flashes 'War by terrorism'... not a 'War on Terrorism' that we are used to seeing on CNN or any American network.

And the weather isn't helping either. Its been cloudy and drizzling past two days.

But there were things I am glad for. And all of them for purely selfish reasons.
I am glad I am safe.
I am glad people I know are safe.
I am glad it didn't happen in my city.
I am glad that this brings hope that terrorism might be a higher priority than inflation among people. *
I am glad my TV remote was working
I am glad because I finally got the new SixPence album...and gladder that its amazing.


Peace.


* In a recent survey...as recent as last week, the top concern among middle class in India was Price Rise....I forgot the 2nd concern...but terrorism was 3rd.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Belated Birthday Post




Jus realized that among other birthdays, I also missed a milestone... Vixdom's 5th birthday...

Thats right... the blog is now over 5 years old.... that makes it one of the oldest surviving (but barely, some of you might say). But it does feel nice that it still lives.... and as I rummage through old posts, I realized I have had long periods of 'bunking' before... but eventually, a post forces its way through and opens the floodgates again...

Anyways, herz to vixdom.

p.s. Think I can weasel out a 'best of' as a post by itself?

Oi! Ow! Yaaargh!

I demand double credit for this post. Thats cauz I am doing it in-spite of a bad muscle pull in my leg. I look like a question mark while walking....

So make sure you give me a  'chu chu chu' for this one.... (or a paavam from Ms. Iyer)

P.S. This muscle pull too was for a 'good' reason.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Note to self

Now that mom has bookmarked the blog, I should remember to keep them as 'clean' as possible. 

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Book calling

As you might have heard more times than you would care to, the typical every weekend consisted of going to The Forum and spending time in Landmark. While Nimish would browse music and chicks, I would read/read books, music and of course chicks. We still refer to the Landmark at Forum mall as 'Mothership'.


One of the books I semi-read there was 'Holy Cow ' by Sarah Macdonald. Regardless of what conventional wisdom says, I always judge a book by its cover. This one had a striking one. Sky blue with Shiva on it. (Why does my memory dig up an image of Shiva wearing shades?) I had read it in bits and pieces across weekends but only managed to finish the first couple of chapters. Finally I decided to go ahead and buy it. But on several occasions dropped it from my pile of books and CDs in an 'impulse non-purchase' .... (!!!! sorry about that. Couldn't think of a better phrase. )


One a couple of occasions when I decided to buy it come what may, the book wouldn't be available. Last visit to Bangalore, I picked it up, but dropped it since the checkout line was long. Deciding that fate was against the book, I decided that it was not to be.


Last week, while browsing at Odyssey at the comics section, I found it. Some shopper must have dropped it off at the last minute like me in the past. This was a sign from above if ever there was one,.


Been re-reading the first two chapters. I hope this book marks my grand comeback to reading. Its been a year since I read a new book.


p.s. My memory serves me right,. The copy  in amazon shows Shiva with shades. They probably dropped it in subsequent prints in fear of the hindutva brigade.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Dear Wren and Martin

What the frick is wrong with the dodos in ad agencies now. They apparently decided to trash their primary school grammar lessons. Bad grammar is cool now...apparently.

Case in point. Samsung with 'Next is what?'. Who exactly is doing the copyrighting these days? Master Yoda?

When Apple started out with 'Think Different' eons ago, it was cool.(How could it not?) Microsoft perverted the idea with Zune's 'Welcome to the social'. (Huh???). Adidas has 'Impossible is nothing'....

Bat droppings are  their ideas.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Balti List

Straight off, I am going to write just another normal blog post. None of the 'I am bach..' stuff...  A one month break has happened in the past.. and knowing me, will surely happen in the future. So let's behave as if nothing is abnormal. Vokay????

Saw 'Dasvidaniya' on Friday. Certainly one of the best movies I saw of late. Ok. ok. The theme is borrowed, but give me Vinay Pathak (with complementary Ranvir Shorey) over Morgan Freeman anyday.  You probably saw this  coming a mile away, but anyway. The movie made me think about what are the 10 things  I would want to do before I die...

I am still thinking through the list... and will be  posting it on vixlist soon enough. And as usual, feel free to send in your Balti List too.