A Moment of Justice

Yes, I have sinned.
Let the court dictate the punishment accordingly,
For here I stand as the culprit before you.

I confess
That not too long ago
I put myself up for auction,
And of my own free will
In the marketplace I made myself public
I even obtained a good price
But I was dishonest in my dealings.
For I held back a few dreams.
A few dark secrets, a few unfettered lies
I thought who has the time
To search through my soul and my heart

A Dilemma of Plenty

Phew! Yes, I know. It’s been more than two years since I last wrote here. Two long years during which I stuttered through a B School stint in Mahatma land and nevertheless, find myself in a similar job post it yet again! But is it that I never wanted to write one? Or is it that I never found the time? Well, it’s been neither really.  Why? Well, it could be attributed to the paradox of choice. (Note - Making simple stuff look more complicated, its what we learn at an MBA)

Yes, I was referring to the problem of having plenty to choose from. I have found myself wanting to write often on so many occasions over the past few months and yet one question would inevitably bring it to a screeching halt – “What topic are you going to focus on Sid? There’s such a plethora of topics you seem to be interested in!” Almost like a mother scolding her teenage son for not having the focus or the desire to pursue one particular interest. And the teenager with so many interests realizes that he finds the decision so tiring each time, he delays it altogether. I get that I am a teenager no more. But after some frenetic search and ambition to maintain a professional blog that went in vain, here I am back to my cozy little village (hello, anyone there?). Where I shall take the liberty write on anything be it Music, Marketing to Mickey Mouse or Mahendra Singh Modi.   

 

The world is not so fluid anymore. And hence the goal is not about sticking to a particular topic anymore. The goal is, errm - just to write consistently. And that really, becomes this ex-teenager’s desperate attempt, to solve “the dilemma of plenty”.

In Search of the Self

There once lived a rabbit named Jake. It was a bright sunny morning during spring and Jake was outside, playing with the other young rabbits. He was still growing up and only discovering the world at this point.

 
All of a sudden, one of the adults overlooking the children shrieked in alarm.“Wolves! Wolves! Run for your lives!”

The little rabbits panicked and started running helter-skelter, bumping into each other but eventually getting themselves organized and speeding away into the forest wilderness. 

Except for Jake who eventually decided to stay.“Why should I run from the wolves?” he reasoned. “I want to be strong and feared like them. Instead of running, I shall pretend to be a wolf and join them.”

So he waited. The leader of the wolf pack ran up to him… and stopped. He looked at Jake in confusion.

An Ode to the Lady

On this mesmerizing full moon night,
While the moon shines up in all its splendour - soothing and bright,
I couldn't really help but reminisce,
about all our encounters i sorely miss,
about those lovely full moon nights,
that even a descriptive poetry from Keats wouldn't suffice!

"I guess these nights have started to have a bearing on me too", I realized,
Not surprising as its sometime since her favourite moon child has me hypnotized,
With that mesmerizing smile,
a gaze that goes further a mile,
with that melancholy in her eyes,
a beauty so brilliant but she'd believe its all lies,
with a graceful charm that casts a spell on me,
like how the elegant breeze dances against the waves at sea,
every time we find ourselves in a state,
with each passing moment that gets insanely hard to break,
with a scent so enticing,
it brings within a feeling, so rousing & intoxicating,
of finally committing a sin so pure,
retaining the true love with its spirit to endure,
an embrace that only gets deeper with time,
with a slow mesmerizing dance that moves in a rhythm divine.

And so dear Goddess,
tonight i make to you a promise,
that on every full moon night hereon your man shall bring you just happiness and bliss,
with not just with an embrace, not just a kiss,
with a joy so much so that even the ever concerned moon up there wouldn't want to miss!

Your (gentle) man,
An Anonymous Mills & Boon Author

The Journey Home

Last evening something rather unusual happened.

I had shifted home to a new locality in Bangalore just the day before. To a home that was bigger and better - with all those things you’d expect in a more comfortable stay. Where the distance off the nearest main road was a little too much (that I only was to discover later!). From where connectivity is too bothersome an issue.

How big an issue? Well, i wasn’t really aware of it that first evening when I got back from work. I decided to wait at first for any means of transport. But then being the restless me I decided to walk. Walk only until some magnanimous autodriver (so that he doesn’t charge me a bomb seeing my helpless state!) or any bus passed by that is. And before I knew it I realized that I had been walking alone for more than an hour though i was never used to it! An hour of walking in solitude. Gosh! Who does it without another soul in the street at night after work? Or would I even have started to walk back in the first place had I known that the distance was THIS far, with a lonely walk to endure and no soul in sight? 

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Programmers

It’s a Friday morning while I sit here to work (It will be a Saturday by the time I have posted this). As it is my brain works just part time on weekdays, but this Friday(even bigger a reason for surprise) I find it working overtime. To do what? To come up with a universal set of Seven Basic principles that shall act as a guide for a more effective tomorrow, that I shall call the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Programmers” Stephen Covey, you have some stiff competition coming your way I say!

1. Be anti-Kabir in your approach towards programming. (For the unitiated, anti-Kabir is a philosophical position which goes against the much revered time management teachings of Kabir (Kal karai so aaj kar..blah blah). Anti-Kabir, as you might have guessed, is "Don't do today what you can do tomorrow and don't do tomorrow what you can do the day after" ). You never want to work more for the same cash afterall!

2. When in doubt, right-click.

Hi Stranger!

I am hooked to Omegle! Omegle connects you to random strangers from across the world and lets you chat anonymously without divulging any private details. There is no need to sign up and you begin chatting in an instant. Its fun!

Met lots of interesting people over the last three days. Discussed Oktoberfest with an Austrian, argued about what's Rock, what's not with a New York music student and trashed the Dutch football team with some help from a man hailing from Netherlands. I have also staunchly refused invitations to, (you know what)from many a promiscuous individual.

One question I put forth everytime was what came to their mind whenever they heard one mention "India". The answers ranged from stereotypes like 'Turban' 'Elephants' and 'Snake Charmers' to imaginative ones like 'Girls with long black hair' and 'Bhindi!'. India, to them, is an intriguing and mystic country or as a furniture salesman from Finland put it, "an entirely new world". One thing was that everyone held some myth or the other about India. One bass guitarist from Finland thought that weed grew everywhere and all that people needed to do was to pluck them from the roadside!

Its fun and its safe, as long as you don't touch the toffees the strangers give!