Wednesday, March 4, 2009

the ant v\s the mammoth

I was watching 300 the other day….now for those who haven seen the movie or have no idea about it…..300 is based on the mythical battle of sum odd greek place with a similar odd greek name.

Its about 300 spartan soldiers , led by king leonidas, holding off over a million Persian soldiers led by king xerxes the 1st.

The movie, though exaggerated to a great extent, was shot with absolutely generosity.

Generosity in terms of money, blood and gore.

But I don’t know why, I felt as though it resembled a very much real incident in Indian history. Approximately 40 years back an Indian contingent at the rajasthan border held off a mammoth Pakistani battalion. Yes, I am talking about the Battle at Longewala. When a handful of Indian soldiers were facing a full fledged tank battalion, history was to be made and glory was certain to be achieved.

The Spartans were given a choice. The option to surrender and fall back. The Indians too were given a choice. To fall back. Both armies had the choice to meekly surrender at the hands of tyranny and obvious destruction or to hold fort and fight to their last breath. To fight till every muscle in their body said enough!! To fight for their countries! To fight for their people. To fight for their mothers and sisters back home! To fight till each and every inch of their bodies were slashed and butchered by swords and bullets! To fight for glory! Both armies chose the latter.

The Persians had elephants. The Pakistanis had tanks. They could have trampled the enemy. But the Spartans and the Indians would have none of it.

It is surprising, how even a small surge of patriotism allows a man to muster up enough courage to take on the mightiest of enemies.

Major Kuldeep Singh could have been braindead by just the mere sight of the hell that was approaching from across the border. Fear could have taken over.

Leonidas could have kneeled down to Xerxes and begged for life and mercycfrom the salughter.

But these two brave men dared. The dared to defy the odds placed against them. They dared to change the course of history that was to be written.

The patriot in them awakened. The patriot in every soldier awakened.

They were in the line of fire.

Though the 300 did not make it…it was enough to make 10000 spartans back home spit fire. The Persians were trounced.

Closer home, the Pakistanis were crushed. India suffered 3 losses out of 100. 40 pakistani tanks were destroyed. They suffered innumerable human losses.

In the wake of recent terror attacks…..can we afford to go down easily?? Can we quit to tyranny?? Can we surrender to the wrong?? NO WE CANT!!!

Can we fight??? Can we prevail???? Can we still belive in satyameva jayate??? YES WE CAN!!!

Indian….wear your flag on your sleeve….. nevermind the curious gaze of an onlooker….its the gaze of admiration.

Jai ho!!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

sorry!!!

let me do a danny boyle now!!!

i would also like to thank Mythily,Deep,Swarali and Swarad for also turning up on my birthday!!
i forgot to thank them in the original post but id like to make it up the way good ol' danny did for longines....

thank you guys.....i love you all!!!

Friday, February 27, 2009

And the Award goes to!!!!

Big time congo to the cast and crew of slumdog millionaire. Great job guys!!! And a big time congrats to myself for clearing my exams!!!

Its oscar fever all around the world and thankyou speeches are the talk of the town. Moving ahead with the trend I kinda prepared my own little thankyou speech. Here is how it goes.

“ahem ahem. After a span of two years, I have finally cleared my exams with an all clear marksheet. After huffing and puffing and scraping through the first two years of my graduation, it feels good to clear the final hurdle without any glitches. Two years (filled with nonsense) and 5  K.T.’s later, here I am, an all clear student who behaves as though he has just shook hands with world leaders and nobel awardees. And for this very reason, there are many people whom id like to thank before I go haywire with excitement. ( I have been goin through this horrible mood-swing offlate)

1)      To start with, a big thank you to the guy who set my Financial Reporting and Analysis paper. He probably dozed off half way through and screwed up the questions. The rest is history!!! A very pleasant one!!! I sincerely pray that you don’t lose your job!!!

2)      Thank you to the guy who invented the two golden words…. “Grace Marks”. I love u man!!!

3)      Thank you to Shruthi,Sneha, Bada Sneha, Ram, Rohit and Bhagu for giving me that great surprise on my birthday (16th november)….one day before my exam. It cheered me up!

4)      Thank you to all my professors for having the faith in me and not bumping me off in the first tow years and after my extra-ordinary performance in the prelimnary exams! Hey wait a minute!!! Were those papers even checked!?!?! You RASCALZ!!!!!

5)      Thank you to the sweetest people I have in this world. My Grandparents. They let me stay with them for 5 years and put up with me no matter what tantrums I threw. Just bear with me for 3 more months guys!!!

6)      A big, bigger, biggest thank you to mom, dad and my sister for making sure dat I never ran out of…..er…..well…..anything!

7)      A big thankyou to chandu,denzil,jinal,aleekiya,vivek,soni,shruthi, and the entire team of Rechauffement 2k9! Meet you guys at Rechauffement 2010!

8)      Also a big thankyou to the guy who printed my marksheet. That was for screwing up whte only one I would have been proud of!! I hate you for for “PASSES” when it should have been PASSED!!!!

Thank you to all of you again. This feels great!!!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

when i was being named....

i had a function at my place today. and for those who dont knw i come from a typical middle-class south indian family. now the first thing that strikes another non-southindian is that we southies hav tongue-twisters for names - betty bought some blah blah - those sorts. what also strikes them is dat we guys are heavily tanned...no matter where we stay. we can tan even in the dark if we wanted to.
u will also observe that we southies have pet-names or nicknames apart from are official name which are as...ya knw....wtv!
and we dont have surnames...for what good reason...i dont knw....but the bottomline is we dont. i was filling up my 6th semester form the other day and there was this place where i had to fill in my surname.i dint knw what to write over there n promptly left the place blank.
so, I on my birth certificate am Triprayar Ramachandran Sheshadri. i will not blame you for painfully trying to guess my name in there. ill make it a lot more easier for u. Triprayar is my native place's name , Ramachandran is my dad's name and Sheshadri is my name. Also Known As Raghav. oh n by the way...dats just the revised version of my name. I was supposed to be Triprayar Ramachandran Sheshadri-nathan. Till my mom decided to show mercy on me. imagine if i had to write that thing on my exam answer sheets!!!. or my examination forms!!! killer!
God Bless my grandmother for giving me another name to be called at home...Raghav.
so as i said... i had a function at my place today and had to wake up for that. my mom came into the room - raghavaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa get up!! (yeah we southies have this habit of extending the person's name whom we are calling...it puts in the emotions).
Hearing that an aunt of mine said - you children have been given such good names! each one of you has a God's name. there is lakshmi..then there is vijaylakshmy...there is padmavati....there is balasubramaniam....there is venkateshwaran...then there is you sheshadri!!and you also have pet names!!! you are Raghav...she is kavita...she is padma...he is balaji!!
i was like....yeah right!! its jus coz its a lot more easier for you guys to wake us up!!
imagine my mom going "triprayar Ramachandran Sheshadri-nathan!!! its time to wake up!!!"
Spare a thought for VVS Laxman's mum. He is Vangipurrappu Venkata Sai Laxman. phew! By the time shes done with his name...good ol' Lax must have finished breakfast!
then we have ace Sri Lankan Pacer - Chaminda Vass - who incidently is W.P.U.J.C. Vass!
heres how the name goes...Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas
i pity his mom when he was a kid!
i respect my name though. i respect it for the fact that i got it frm One of The greatest human beings i have heard off. i say "heard off" coz i dun remember seeing him coz he passed away when i was a year or so. He is my Grandfather. I consider it an honour to be named after him and can only hope that someday, somewhr i can be like him or even a fraction like him! I love you Tatha and i miss you!

Friday, December 12, 2008

thud!

someone said, the higher you go...the harder you fall. whoever said it 

must have suffered one helluva set back. i faced one to..... a very 

minor one though. but it did teach me a lot. i had it in my grasp. 

maybe i closed my fists a bit too quickly. just enough for it to slip 

out of my hands. the pain that surges through your spine is not 

something that can be measured. all i can do now is move on n wait for 

it to come back.....

Friday, December 5, 2008

the aftermath

the aftermath....

it doesnt need a rocket scientist to try and analyse what this blogpost is gonna be about.
yes, its about the recent terror attacks that our beloved city of Bombay had to go through. property was damaged....lives were lost...lives were taken...lives were sacrificed.
Hieght of Audacity - thats how i'll describe this horrendous attack, not on bombay,not on India, nor on the citizens of India....but an attack on humanity as a whole. we all can go on and on about the security lapses dat our country has country has faced over the past decade and a half. we all can go on and on about the sacrifices dat were made over the years and lakhs of innocent human lives lost to terror. n we may never find an end to all of this. we may always face the "risk" - as the IRDA has now termed it as...of a bomb exploding in our train or a plane crashing on our heads or armed maniacs crossing national boundries as though they were crossing garden fences.
but these attacks have been instrumental in doing 1 good thing for a change. gradually awakening a sleeping giant.
the recent attacks on few of the most famous landmarks in Bombay, brought about a change in the way people were looking at de Indian political scene , terrorism and secularism.
what could have been brushed under the carpet became a nationwide cause for a full-fledged rebellion against the system and the people who were running the show. finally the police force which was usually mocked at, became the pearl of every Indian's eye.for years we have blamed our security forces for not being efficient without considering the fact that they are running errands for us with tied-up hands. hands that have been tied up by corrupt politicians.
now, im a sucker when it comes to politics. but i do know for a fact that India is the largest DEMOCRACY in the world. and as far as my knowledge goes a democracy is based on 9 words which go like this "of the people, by the people, for the people"
for ages we have been watchin politicians slug it out in the lok sabha, at election rallies and taking pot-shots at de opposite camp. i personally always believed dat our so called leaders were good people and deserved a chance to prove themselves. but recently a few statements by some idiotic, ridiculous and erratic personalities boiled my blood.
Mr.Naqvi said dat women wearin makeup and a pair of jeans were the ones behind the conspiracy. no hard feelings but all the offence meant and straight from my heart....sir....were u drunk when u made such a statement??? what on planet earth were you thinking when u made such a stupid statement whcih had me atleast in splits for almost two hours at a stretch. on a more serious note...mr.naqvi....jus watch it....ur not the only one around who can make racist comments....we are Indians too and we are pretty good at being racists too!
mr.achut-watever-i dont care...... you had de B**** to insult the family of a national hero. here's my reply to u.... id rather let a dog pee inside my house rahter than let u anywhere near it. id rather be bitten by a sick dog than have the honour of speakin to you. u look like a criminal who should have been hanged to death as soon as you were born and u have the audacity to turn up at Sandeep's place and offer your politically inclined condolences. maybe u were thinkin that de nation was miffed at sandeep's dad for throwin u out of his crib and made such a statement jus to invite sum support. ill tell u what u invited.....our wrath. u rubbed against our worng side and dun be surprised if ur never elected in ur life again. consider voluntary retirement A"chyut**"nadan....
mr. R.R. Patil....ur first comment surprised me....ur second comment dat ur hindi language is a bit too weak for comfort made me laugh. maybe blurtin out a SRK dialogue(badi badi shehron mein choti choti baatein hoti rehti hain) wasnt such a good idea afterall...that too at a time like this...n before u knew it...u were chucked out.
mr.deshmukh - sorry sir u got it all wrong this time....maybe u dint get the message from all the uproar ur collegues caused before sayin dat u did no wrong by inviting ur son and dat ass-of-a-director RGV for the tour...what exactly did u think it was?? a picnic??

that was my message coz i dint get an opportunity to come on tv and voice my opinions...but i do have a few ideas which our leaders can consider...if they'd like to...

1)now we citizens have the right to elect the candidate of our choice rite?? why not give us the right to "select" those people whom we would like to see standing for the election...as in...a shortlisting of candidates...
2) when we do elect a person....arrange for a mid-term performance appraisal programme where we citizens decide whether our elected candidate has done a satisfactory job. if hes clean..he stays...but if his hands are dirty we show him the door. this will keep the bum on his feet coz he'll knw at de back of his head dat if he fails he'll be chucked out for good.
3)now this one is point-blank silly...history exams for our so called leaders...lets see what they knw about India and its century old heritage which they boast of during their rallies. if not India's languages...are u listening mr.patil???

some people might object to my ideas by sayin that all these things are impossible. let me tell u what impossible is.... hijackin american planes and ramming them into the WTC...dats impossible...but osama did it dint he??
hijackin a trawler and sailin all the way to india frm pakistan and holdin a metropolitan hostage for 60 hours...dats impossible....but a 4th-grade dropout and his bunch of loosers were able to do it. why cant we citizens do our bit to ensure dat we get good people to lead us. we can do it... we have woken up now. and i would like to thank Qasav and his merry men for waking up a country dat was sleeping for the last 15 years. i have full faith in my country and my appeal to the nation is, lets not divide ourselves on the basis of religion and classes. lets fight a common enemy.
UP IN ARMS INDIA!!!
oh n yeah...i would also like to thank a certain raj for nt showin up....

Monday, October 20, 2008

sensex n the stupid opposite sex

i got up on dassera morning with the anxiousness of the financial markets looming large over my head. somehow the current state of the foreign markets worried me 2 no limits. my placements which were about 6 months away from now had a lot to do with it. j.p. morgan had very conviniently converted itself from its regula investment activities thereby putting me in a spot of worry. never have i been so concerned about the markets. i have never cared whether nifty fell or sensex rose. if dowjones crumbled or nasdaq did well. but today it all mattered. i could see my career goin down with each fallin point.i picked up the newspaper hopng to see some good news. nope...no luck....indian markets fall below 10500. i heard the RBI governer say on NDTV that indian banks were safe despite all that was happening world over. and since they also hiked the CRR....i could actually trust him. i looked at de bottom of the page....26 killed in j&k blast. okay nothin new in that. rekha turns 54 tomorrow. okay lady...happy birthday. naturally depressed with the sad state of affairs i turned to my friend for some peace.....which i normally get from her everytime i speak 2 her. baaton baaton mein my mind drifted away to this article by a certain wierd ass (vir das with an american accent). it was about staying single in bombay.
okay so bombay is this big city n all....the city thats got a great night life and all that stuff. but come on....why make a big deal about stayin single in bombay??? there are thousands of men who are single over here...some by choice...n some without any choice.on any other day i would have burnt that sheet of paper but since this article was by vir das(a person whos got the class required to be a stand up comedian.) i decided to give it a read. it wasnt really an article....it was jus the pros and cons of staying single in bombay. let me tell you....its not our fault that we guys are single in bombay. we dont like 2 be single. we like to have some1 in our life too. and we DO prefer commitment. ofcourse there are a few moles in the society. but as i said...its not our fault. what can we do if girls freak out when we ask them out. its like we've offered to murder them or something like that.i remember playing this prank on a girl in my school. i asked her out with de cheesiest of pickups. she screamed loud enough to get me booked for harrasment. n loud enough to make me nervous. and the worst part was ,she wouldnt believe that it was a bluff. okay....so maybe i wasnt really good looking in those days...and im not sayin that im a showstopper now.....but still... look better than those zee horror show zombies atleast.
recently i was with my friends at a local hookah lounge and this female comes up.
SHE : HI!! HOW ARE YA!! LONG TIME EH!!
HE : OH HEY! YEAH LONG TIME! (OKAY I DO ADMIT...WE GUYS DO GET A BIT EXCITED WHEN A FEMALE SHOWS UP AND MAKES THE FIRST MOVE 2 SPEAK.....BUT THATS COZ ITZ REALLY RARE THAT A FEMALE MAKES THE FIRST MOVE)
SHE : SO YOU ARE WITH UR FRNDS NA...I WONT DISTURB YA....IM AT DE TABLE IN THE CORNER....JOIN US IF U LIKE....
HE : UMMM WOULD LOVE TO BUT WE'RE LEAVIN NOW (SHIT!! CANT I ORDER JUS 1 MORE DISH)
SHE : OH OK....Y DONT U INTRODUCE ME TO UR PALS!!
HE : SURE....( BOY DO I LOVE THESE FIDGETY TYPES!!!)
SHE : NAAH...ILL DO IT MYSELF.....HI....IM -----....RAGZ CONSIDERS ME AS HIS SISTER.
THUD!!! CLANG!! THUD!!! THUD!!!! BOOM!!!!!!
THAT VERY MOMENT THE WORLD CAME CRASHING DOWN ON ME.BITCH DID IT ON PURPOSE. WHAT ON EARTH DOES SHE MEAN "CONSIDERS"?? AS IF THE WORD "SISTER" WASNT CRAPPY ENOUGH!!! I NEVER CONSIDERED YOU AS MY SISTER LADY...I CANT HELP IT IF U CONSIDER URSELF AS MY SISTER. ANYWAYS...THAT WAS ENOUGH TO MAKE ME THE ASS OF THE DAY.
i mean....WHAT IS IT WITH THESE GIRLS!! y do they have to freak out when we ask them out for a cup of coffee or a movie. we're not askin u to marry us...are we? and as it is...we guys have specific tastes.....we dont ask anyone and everyone.....
atleast we have the guts to say no if we dont like u. n not the usual.."ur really nice....i would love to...but this is not the time....cant we just stay as frnds??" yeah right!!! thats y i asked u out!!! idiots!!!
anyways...by the looks of it....stayin single aint so bad at all....
i broke up with ma girl quite a few days back. it was a bit odd for de first few days...but after a while u feel liberated.....its like the leash is off ur neck. all of a sudden....ur bank balance shows a positive amount....u start saving a lot of cash..... the beer inflow increases!!! u start gettin time for ur friends....which i feel is much more beautiful than having a gf. and u can start flirtin too. and after flirting...theres every possible chance that ull fall in love all over again...n yeah....all those people wo think u can love only once...burn them alive...
u can always look at that cute female waitin for de bus at de bus stop....n say.....oh yeah...shes the one!!!