Lucifer House Inc.

Twin Heroes of Maya 4 - A Lone Ear of Corn

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:35:00 +0000

I wonder how many of us have experienced true darkness. We might think darkness is what we experience when all lights are switched off in the night. But you still have the moon and the star, the distance street lights, the light from the stabilizer etc. Real darkness is pure darkness, the darkness that engulfs the life of a blind man. Such was the darkness in the house of darkness. Different people fear different things. Some people fear wild animals, some fear insects, some fear snakes, some fear ghosts. The list can go on. There were not too many things that the Hunaphu brothers were afraid of. But the greatest fear is fear itself, an unknown, unnamed fear creeping up your spine. In utter darkness and silence, when all your senses are denied, you imagination springs into action to fill the gap. The brothers began to experience fear for the first time in their life. They realized it was matter of time before the fear overwhelmed them and drove them to madness. So they had to do something. So they lit up the torch to banish the darkness. With the coming of light, the fears just vanished.

Now that the fear was banished, they were feeling sleepy. They of course needed a good night’s sleep before the match. But there was a challenge. The house of darkness knew no day or night. It was dark all the time. So they would not know when morning came and it was time for the match. The last thing they wanted was to oversleep in the morning, forfeiting the match by default by failing to turn up on time. So they needed to keep awake. And what better than a good smoke to keep awake. So they lit the cigar and started smoking. Every half an hour, they peeped out to see if the day had broken. The guardians stood outside the door. They had seen the light of the torch and the smoke from the cigar. They had a smug satisfied smile on their faces. Their masters would be happy with them.

The torch and the cigar kept them company through the night. By the time they finally spent away, it was already morning and the brothers happy to have survived the night in the dreaded house of darkness, were all geared up to get ready for the match. To their surprise, the guardians came in to serve breakfast. The brother had never expected so much hospitality in the land of death. Probably their bad reputation was undeserved. After breakfast, the guardians prepared a bath for them and even gave them fresh clothes. As they were preparing to leave for the match, the guardians came up to them and spoke up,

“Anything else you need, Sirs?”

The brothers replied, “Thanks a lot for your hospitality. We are really overwhelmed.”

The guardians replied, “It’s our pleasure to serve, Sirs. Can we not have back our cigar and torch, please?”

The brothers were taken aback, “What cigar and torch. They got burnt away.”

The guardians replied calmly, “We had told you clearly that we want everything given to you returned in the same condition in the morning. This is a clear abuse of our hospitality.”

The brother tried to remonstrate, “But how can a cigar and torch be in the same condition after use?”

The guardians firmly shook their heads, “We don’t know all that. A rule is a rule and you have broken the rules. And you shall be punished. The Lords shall decide your fate”

So saying they bound their hands and feet and lead them to the Death Lords’ chambers.

Meantime let us see what is happening above the ground. A week had passed. The maize plant has remained as it was. The brothers’ mother Ixcumane watered the plant and took good care of it. But the plant did not flourish. But good thing was it did not wither either. But after a week the plant began to take a turn for the worse and began to show signs of withering. Within a month all that was left was one ear of corn, that still gave some hope to Ixcumane. The plant looked completely withered and likely to drop dead any moment. But months changed to years and years just rolled by. Still the brothers did not return. The one ear of corn still valiantly hung on over the years. But Ixcumane lost hope that her sons would ever return.

The only succor remaining for the bereaved old lady was her two grandchildren Chouen and Batz. She showered love and affection on them. She waited on them hands and feet. She encouraged them to develop their artistic abilities and did her best to take their mind away from the ball game as she had promised her sons. Initially the boys were very sad about the loss of their father. But with the time, the memories of their father faded and they became exemplary artists and musicians. They spent all the time painting and carving and playing music. They did not even think of moving a finger to help their old grandmother. The grandmother had to toil from dawn to dusk to tend the fields, cook the meals and keep the house clean. The boys stayed inside the house the whole day, resting on their backsides and enjoying their arts and crafts. Ixcumane was proud of their artistic prowess and doted over them. She was also happy that she was able to take the ball game away from their minds.

One fine evening, the grandmother was busy in her cleaning. Chouen was playing the flute. Batz was adding finishing touches to a small stone figurette. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The two boys were too lazy to get up and see who was at the door. They just continued with their activities as if they had heard nothing. The old lady was surprised. No one had knocked at the door for years. She thought probably her ears were playing tricks on her and continued her work. The knock sounded again. This time it was unmistakable. She slowly got up and hobbled towards the door.

She opened the door and there stood a young woman. Not just any other woman! A woman of such grace and splendor never seen before! A beauty not of this world! While she stood there dazzled staring at her, she bowed down politely to Ixcumane and spoke up, “ I have so glad to have found you at last, mother. I am Xquic, your new daughter-in-law.”

In the next episode, we shall learn Xquic’s story and the fate of he two brothers in Xibalba..

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Ode: Rupture of the Umbilical Cord of the Heart

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:16:00 +0000

The merry kite reigns over the blue sky
Riding on the rapid winds, flying high
The string still holds it firmly to the ground
The kite strains to be free to leap and bound

The Samurai’s sword sings a song of might
Dancing the dance of death does it foes smite
His Lord still holds him firmly to his oath
To bend and bow low, his free spirit loath

I emerged free from the prison of flesh
A new life stepping into the world afresh
Cutting free of the fleshy cord of life
I ran, I jumped, I danced, I played the fife

I still was bound in the prison of love
In vain tried I, from it to break free of
Too hard is the cord of the heart to cut
A free soul, I strove to escape life’s rut

The kite string suddenly snapped, setting free the kite
The lord’s heart suddenly stopped, setting free the Samurai
The winds tossed around the anchorless kite,
The kite drifted aimlessly; hopelessly lost
The Samurai became a rebel without a cause;
A lawless bandit without pride and honor

Poet's Note: There are two opinions on whether a poem should be explained or left to the reader's intrepretation. But leaving it to reader's intrepretation works when it gets published as a book and the reader reads it over and over again and literary critics give explanation. A blogger does not have this luxury. So I think a short explanatory note can go a long way in making the poetry understandable to the time starved, low attention span readers of blogs.

This poem tries to express the mixed feelings one has for one's mother. One is bound by her love and at the same time one wishes to break free and chart one's own course free of the mother's smothering care and concern. In spite of the constant striving to break free, loss of a mother can be a shattering experience.

I read about the ode form in this interesting article. I have tried to write one to the best of my understanding. I have used two metaphors - one of a kite and one of a Samurai bound to his Lord. In Japan, when Lords die Samurais have to either commit suicide or become bandits. As per the article, an ode has a strophe, an antistrophe and an epode. Going by that, I have introduced the metaphor of the samurai and the kite in the strophe. I give my personal reflections in the antistrophe. I have maintained a pentameter and AABB rhyme scheme in all stanzas of the strophe and antistrophe. In the concluding epode I have brought about the climax maintaining no meter or rhyme scheme.

Wildlife Photography

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:43:00 +0000

More beautiful than anything made by man is God’s creation. I have always had a fascination for wildlife. I used to love watching wild life movies, read works by Willard Price and Gerald Durrell and don’t miss a single opportunity to visit the local zoo of whichever city I am in. So going over the Indian Wild Life photography blog of Angad Achappa was an absolute delight, an entirely entrancing experience.

The photos on this blog seem to be right out of The National Geographic. Once glance at the photos will tell you this guy is a thorough professional, who knows his job. The animals and birds look just splendid in the most natural of poses. I am sure he would have spent hours waiting in the wild to capture them like that. The photos reflect his passion for nature and wildlife. The photos have been taken with the right lighting, exposure etc. : clearly speaking volumes of the pedigree of the camera and the person behind it. Even a person like me with absolutely no knowledge of photography can see clearly that the photos here stand way above the photos found on any other typical blog.

The accompanying writeups are terse and to the point. The photos anyway speak for themselves. The writings just briefly give the basic necessary background information. The back drop is simple and pure black. I think with such good photographs, frills are unnecessary. So simple is best and bright photos look best on dark background. I like the choice of widgets also. There aren’t any unwanted widgets. The popular post and slideshow are appropriate navigational widgets for this kind of blog. The blog roll and advertisement widgets are all related to wild life and so highly relevant. One thing I would suggest is not have all widgets on one side. It causes too much scrolling. I feel it is better to have widgets on both sides and the not so important ones below the blog as well.

I must say for a change, I have found a blog whose navigation I actually like. As I mentioned earlier, the slide show widget is a nice one providing glimpses of the wonderful photos. The popular posts and archives provide another option. What I like best is the use of labels. The labels have been used creatively to create a species list. It provides a very useful reference for anyone looking to identify fauna. Related post and search widgets can give additional navigation options. But navigation is good as it is also. Beyond a certain point anymore of it might not add too much value.

In terms of interaction, I feel there isn’t too much interaction. There is reasonable number of comments but comments are not always responded to. But I am finding that is the case with most travel and photo bloggers. Possibly they believe when photos are speaking for themselves, the blogger need not unnecessarily waste words. But this blog definitely has scope for more interaction. The blogger clearly has lot knowledge on wildlife and photography. So the visitors might find it helpful to have a section where they can ask for tips and guidance. Possibly a separate static page for this purpose can be added.

Another thing I would mention before concluding the review is the facebook fan page. It has been done nicely by pagemodo and looks really appealing. I must say this was a tough blog to review with almost everything right and hardly anything to suggest for improvement. Only thing I can say is I hope he travels to jungles all over the world having varieties of species and captures more and more rare gems such as these for us to savor.I would definitely recommend one and all to visit this blog and enjoy the beautiful snaps unless you hate animals for some reason. Find below a selection of works from the blog.

Kabini Calling!!
Slender Loris
Tiger Tales
Daroji Bear Sanctuary - Heaven for Sloth Bears
Greater Spotted Eagle with Kill

Twin Heroes of Maya 3 - At the Crossroads of Death

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:13:00 +0000

The brothers planted a corn plant in the middle of the house and told their mother. “Mother, as long as we are alive and well, this plant will flourish. If it withers away, it means we are dead. Then you will have to take care of Chouen and Batz. Make them wise and learned in arts and craft. But never let them play the ball game lest they attract the attention of the Lords of Xibalba”

So saying they set out on their journey. The owls flew ahead showing them the way. The owls took them to the mouth of a cave. The cave was too narrow for them to enter. But there was no need to worry. The brothers were powerful magicians and they had the power to transform into any animal of their choice. One Hunaphu transformed into a rat and burrowed his way into the cave. Once he was on the other side Seven Hunaphu called from the other side, “Brother One Hunaphu, show thy true self. For you are not a rat but the most powerful wizard!” And One Hunaphu immediately transformed into his human form on the other side. It was now Seven Hunaphu’s turn to enter the cave.

Down the cave they descended into the underworld. Suddenly they were stopped by a pit filled with scorpions and snakes. They descended into the pit. The snakes bit them and scorpions stung. But they just walked over and crossed over to the other side for they were immune to all forms of poisons. Next they had to cross a river of pus and blood. The river looked so gory that any normal human would have fainted at its very sight. But here were the earth’s two most powerful wizards. They coolly swam through the blood and the pus. Their success in crossing these obstacles emboldened them. Their initial fear was now gone. Was this all the Lords had? They felt confident about facing the underworld Lords.

They were now at a cross road. There had come from one road. They had to choose from the three roads. The first road said, “I am the royal road, the road of kings. Walk along me and I will give you power. Absolute power! Even death will bow to your power if you walk along my path! ”
The second road said, “I am the golden road, the road of warriors. Walk along me and I will give you strength. Invincible strength! Strength that will strike down even death in one blow!”
The third road said, “I am a humble road, the road of truth. I cannot make you powerful or strong but you will be wise and able to see things in their real form.”

One Hunaphu without hesitation chose the road of power for power had always been his companion above the earth. Seven Hunaphu chose the road of strength for he was a man of brawn who could knock his way through every obstacle. As all roads above the ground lead to Rome, all roads below the ground lead to Xibalba. Soon both the brothers found themselves in Xibalba fortified by power and strength. Even the Lords of Xibalba would be no match for them.

The Lords of Xibalba were cunning. They knew they could not match the Hunaphu brothers in a straight match of strength and skill. They had to be more devious in their approach. The two Lords sat on the high throne and other lords sat on the lower seats on the sides. The two Lords moved to the side of the throne and placed two wooded dummies on the seats. The two brothers had never seen the Lords of Xibalba and had no idea how they looked. They assumed the ones on the throne would be the Lords. So they walked in proudly and addressed the wooden dummies, “Greetings to you, Lord One Death. Hope you are keeping well, Lord Seven Death.”

Immediately all the lords burst out laughing. The brothers realized their mistake and were shamed. Being shamed at the first contact took the wind out of their sail and they did not feel so powerful any longer. It did not feel so powerful to be a laughing stock.

One Death addressed the brothers, “Welcome to the Land of death, ball players of the middle world. Please accept our hospitality and take your seat.” So saying they beckoned to the two empty seats.

Within moments of having seated themselves our heroes jumped up, yowling in pain. The death Lords again burst out laughing again. For they had prepared special read hot stones and disguised them as seats. The heroes were now in pain and properly humiliated even before the game. The Lords of Xibalba had won the first round – the battle of the minds. That was most important. Battles were usually won or lost in the minds. The battle on battlefield was just an enactment of a pre-decided event of the minds.

Seven Death addressed them, “All arrangements have been made for the match. Let us begin the match early tomorrow morning. You have traveled a long way to reach here. So take rest and prepare yourself for an enticing match tomorrow. We have arranged sleeping quarters for you in the House of Darkness. Hope you find it comfortable.”

So saying, he clapped his hands. A few strange looking creatures emerged. One Death spoke up, “These are the guardians of the House of Darkness. They will take you to your quarters. They will provide you with a torch and cigar for your comfort. Hope you enjoy them. “

Now it was the turn of Blood Gatherer to speak, “I just wanted to tell you about a rule of the underworld. Anything given to you at any of the Houses has to be returned to the guardians in the same condition they were given to you. Failing which your lives will be forfeit. Enjoy a good night’s sleep.”

So saying they motioned to the guardians and the heroes were lead to their sleeping quarters. In the next episode let us see how the heroes spend their night and what awaits them the next morning.

Image credit: LostMyHeadache

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Foundation Series Review

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:56:00 +0000

I heard the word science fiction sometime when I was in school. It sounded cool and jazzy. But kind of scary also! I had already read Jeffrey Archer and Agatha Christie while I was still at primary school. But I still felt science fiction would be too tough to read and was reluctant to go anywhere near it. I did try one of the books from Rama series by Arthur C Clarke. But somehow I could not connect and did not proceed far. I am sure there are many an avid readers out there, who have a similar feeling towards science fiction.

When I went to college, I experienced class for the first time. There was a class of people, the social and intellectual elite. I did not belong and I was one of the nobodies living in the shadows. Though I used to scoff at them in public as snobs, I used to observe them in secret and try to imitate them in private. I first heard of Foundation series, when I heard some of these guys conversing. Immediately I went to the hostel library and picked up ‘The Second Foundation’. Initially when I started reading, I got a feeling of being disoriented. But I persisted and was rewarded. It was an immensely gripping read and I was just hooked on. At the end of it I was a convert – I went on read all books written by Asimov I could lay my hands on and eventually became a complete science fiction buff. That is the power of this master. It was one of those books that totally blew me over.

The book ‘Second Foundation’ was totally gripping. The book actually has two stories. The first story tells us of how a secret group called ‘Second Foundation’ defeats a mutant called Mule, who rules the universe through his control over people’s emotions. The second story is about how the second foundation’s sister foundation ‘The First Foundation’ seeks to seek out and destroy them as they feel the ‘Second Foundation’ is taking away their free will and controlling their lives. I was briefly introduced to the science of psychohistory here. I was curious to learn more. So I picked up the first two books in the series – ‘First Foundation’ and ‘Foundation and Empire’. The first tells about how the first foundation manages to establish itself in a hostile environment. The second tells the story of its defeat of the empire and establishing dominion over the universe and then subsequently its defeat by Mule, the mutant. Then I moved on to ‘Foundation’s Edge’ that tells the story of the encounter between the foundations and a powerful world of people like the Mule. Then there were these books ‘Prelude to Foundation’ and ‘Forward the Foundation’ that tell the story of how Hari Seldon formulated the science of psychohistory. The last book ‘Foundation and Earth’ is about tracing history of mankind back to earth. It tries to link the various series created by Asimov in a single universe. It is a nice book for a diehard Asimov fan but not a great book in itself.

The thing I liked most was of course the concept of psychohistory. It is an interesting idea of applying concepts of physics to sociology, history and psychology. The field of thermodynamics says the motion of a single particle is random and unpredictable but a system consisting of large number of particles can be predictable. Similarly sociology and psychology cannot predict how a single person will behave but can help develop a mathematical model to predict behavior of entire human population consisting of billions of people spread across galaxies. History would provide data to test the model on and refine it to fit as closely to history as possible. Hari Seldon based his model on historic data. However the second foundation was a group of mathematicians who could carry out live experiments and collect real time data to refine the model.

The book is written more like a history running over centuries and not focusing on individuals as such except in as much as history books write about kings and generals. I found this book to be a learning experience giving me lot of insights into political science, international relations and the art of war, peace and diplomacy. The book is a pure intellectual delight. However I am not suggesting that narrative is pedantic and boring. On the contrary, the narrative is extremely gripping and the plot is just literally out of the world. The problems the foundations face are too intriguing and the solutions are totally unexpected and give the reader a ‘Wow’ feeling. The suspense and surprise factor in the story is no less than a detective novel.

This book does not go too much into technology as one would expect science fiction to. Nor do we have aliens and robots. In fact foundation series has no robots or aliens at all. Space travel and blasters are the only pure technological aspects in the books. It is the sociological and political aspect that is given more attention. There is just sufficient technology to make the reader believe the story is actually set many millennia from the current time and avoid giving a contemporary feel.

If one were to look for flaws in the series, it is that the series connects more at an intellectual level and is quite low on emotional quotient. Individuals are treated as just pawns in the grandiose scheme of the universe. The protagonists appear to us more in their role in shaping history and do not connect with the reader at a personal level.

I would definitely include at least the core Foundation trilogy in my list of 20 books to read before you die for everyone and not just science fiction buffs. As far as science fiction buffs go, please don’t call yourself that if you have not yet read this series. Only people who can afford to skip these books are small children and the really casual reader.

Chapters from my Life

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:04:00 +0000

Long back, I remember reading a book called ‘What Katy did’. One bit of conversation from that book had somehow stuck to my mind when I had read it. There is a character called Cousin Helen who tells Katy on becoming bed ridden that she is now a student in the “School of Pain” where she will learn lessons in patience, cheerfulness, hopefulness, neatness and the making the best of things. This came back to my head unconsciously when I was going over the blog ‘Chapters from my Life’. The blogger seems to have learnt a lot in the very same “School of Pain” and she is kind enough to share the learning with all of us. Her writings reflect a deep understanding of the essence of life and the value of every single moment in life.

The blog appropriately titled ‘Chapter from my Life’ puts forth some chapters from the life of Farida Rizwan, an Indian rural house wife who has been through a lot of really tough circumstances in life and has emerged stronger for the same. In addition to personal experiences, she writes poetry and shares thoughts on family, relations and life in general, caring for children and on fighting cancer. She herself has lost more than one family member to the disease and has a special needs child she takes care of. But that by no means makes the blog just a cancer support or child care blog. A few posts may pertain specifically to these topics. But the general public at large can relate to and have some takeaways from most of her posts.

I would like to point out some of the things that fascinated me most about her writings. In her articles on relationships, she has structured her thoughts really well and exhibits an amazing clarity of thought. Her personal experience posts are really vivid and capture all the key events associated with a particular incident in her life and the associated emotions in an interesting narrative. Her poems are a real delight. They come straight from the heart and reach straight to the heart. No pretensions, no unnecessary words, no complications! Hers are poems even someone who does not care much for poems can easily relate to. One unique aspect of her posts is that she makes most of her own illustrations. Self made illustrations add more personal touch to the writings and connect better with the reader than images from Google.

Her back drop is a combination of light and dark blue with checks like a shirt. I feel it looks too austere like a hospital ward. Since she writes about the gloomy topic of cancer also (though with a positive frame of mind), I wish she would lighten the environment of her blog with something more cheerful in the background. As far as widgets go, some of the navigation widgets are nice but overall I get a crowded feeling with too many widgets. I am not sure if the advertisement widgets bring any revenue at all. The award badges are nice, but she has won so many contests and I am sure she will win many more. Maybe it will be nice to have separate static page to display the achievements instead of keeping them all on the side bar. The general badges pertaining to blogger sites that do not bring much traffic can be done away with or moved to a not so prominent location close to the blog footer.

Coming to my favorite topic of navigation, I must say she has put reasonable efforts in this area. There is a related posts widget and labels have been used as tabs to segregate different post categories other than the regular archives. Also there are in- post links to other posts where ever there is some connection. However navigation is an area where there is always scope for improvement. Using labels as tabs, makes it a bit inconvenient as reader has to scroll down 10-15 posts on a single page. Instead, having links to the posts on a static page with some small description can make it more visitor-friendly. In my opinion, a blog is not a news website but more a living book. So one must constantly be revisiting and reorganizing content. One can always change content in an earlier post as one gets fresh thoughts and also add links to a later post if found relevant. The ease of access must be same for a 3 years old post as a 1 day old post. In literature, personal, photo and most travel blogs content is not dated. So as more and more content is developed, a serious rethink is needed to classify and re-organize the content. In some ways it is very similar to how companies keep restructuring their organization as they grow in size.

One more thing I would suggest while organizing content is to segregate contest posts from regular posts. It has been my personal experience that regular readers of a blog do not appreciate contest posts, especially the ones with narrow guidelines or where one has to talk about a specific product unless the blog itself is a product review blog. So it will be convenient if regular readers have some mechanism by which they can easily identify contest posts and skip them if they do not want to read them.

In terms of interaction, in the older posts, the interaction level is quite low. But in the more recent posts, it is seen every comment is read and responded to. The volume of comments is also quite good. For this type of blog, I feel the comments are sufficient interaction. I don’t see the need for any specific section for general interaction as is the case of information blogs.

This would be classified as a personal blog in most directories. But I find the very concept of a personal blog an oxymoron. A blog is something public. And personal is opposite of public. A blog should be classified from the point of view of the reader and not the writer. If a blog has no utility to a reader, then it is just a personal diary or a rough book. In this context I would prefer to call this blog an inspirational or motivational blog rather than a personal blog. It is the place to go to if one is feeling down in the dumps and that life has not been fair. This blog would definitely help lift up one’s spirits. Chapters from Farida's life also offer one lot of lessons about life in general.

Find below a few samples from the blog.

Hidden Faces

Children are to be loved and protected

Man and Woman - What connects or disconnects them?

Trapped in a cocoon

Directly from the heart of a mom with a special needs child

The Twin Heroes of Maya 2 - Summons from the Land of Death

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:43:00 +0000

As the owls undertake their flight to the world above the ground, let us take a quick tour of the underworld. The Mayan underworld is more like hell than the Greek and Roman underworlds where both the good and the evil souls land up. The ones who die a brave death in a violent manner or through ritualistic suicide would ascend to the skies where the Gods live. Suicide was also considered a honorable way of death in the Mayan culture in contrast to Christian culture that holds suicide a sin. They even worshiped Ixtab, the rope lady who was supposed to be the Goddess of suicide who lead those who committed suicide to paradise. Only the ones who die of sickness and other maladies are supposed to be the cursed ones who were claimed by the underworld. That is why there are Lords pertaining to each of the diseases known at that time. The death Lords often used to hunt in pairs to kill of people in different manners and claim their souls.

picture credit : Felipe Sobreiro

The chief pair of course was One Death and Seven Death as I had mentioned earlier one. They were the overall rulers and did not go on individual soul gathering missions. That was left to the lesser Lords. The first pair of lesser Lords was Blood Gatherer and Scab stripper. These lords had domain over blood and injury. They claimed people who die of various forms of injury, gangrene, rotting of wounds etc. The next pair was Pus Demon and Jaundice demon. These lords had domain over people dying due to jaundice and swelling of body parts. The next pair was skull scepter and the bone scepter. These demons caused people to be reduced to skeleton. The people dying of starvation and wasting diseases were their domain. Wing and pack strap had domain over sudden death, coughing up blood. Maybe poisoning, heart attacks etc! Last but not the least, demon of filth and demon of woe, who were responsible for death due to lack of hygiene and mental sickness.

The underworld had six houses meant to torture the new souls brought here. They were called the house of gloom, the house of blades, the house of jaguars, the house of fire, the house of cold and the house of bats. The underworld had no laws and the tortures were not meant to be penance for sins. They were more for the sadistic pleasure of the Lords. The Mayan death Lords did did not have a sense of justice like Lord Yama of Hinduism or Hades of Greek mythology. They were egoistic and cruel. People had to worship them out of fear for them.

I must now stop psyching my readers with grotesque and gory details of the Mayan underworld for the owls have by now reached the home of our protagonists. So we can return to the world above the ground. One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu lived in a small hamlet with their mother and One Hunahpu’s sons Chouen and Batz. One Hunahpu’s wife was already dead and Seven Hunahpu was not married. It is likely that Mayans followed the tradition of only the eldest brother in a family marrying and having progeny in order to avoid property dispute between cousins.

They were about to fall asleep when they were surprised to see four owls flying in through the windows. One must note these are owls from the underworlds and not cute fluffy snow owls from Harry Potter. So the surprise would not have been a pleasant one. The message was not on parchments. It was verbally delivered as the animals those days could speak the human language. The sender of the message could magically embed a message into an animal's stomach. The animal would speak out the message on being in presence of the intended receiver.

Picture Credit : Felipe Sobreiro

“We bring you greetings from the Lord of Xibalba. Our Lords One Death and Seven Death, Blood Gatherer and Scab Stripper, Pus Demon and Jaundice Demon, Skull scepter and Bone scepter and Wing and Pack Strap wish you long life and health“, said Arrow owl.

“Our Lords have been watching you play ball. They wish us to convey to you their great appreciation of your skill”, hooted One Leg Owl.

“Our Lords find it dull in the underworld. They think a nice game would invigorate them. They would like to welcome you to their home for a game of ball”, added Macaw owl.

“Pack up your gear at once and come with us. We will escort you to our Lords. They eagerly await your arrival.” , concluded Skull Own.

Though the message sounded innocuous and friendly, any kind of message from the underworld was not a good sign. So the brothers were not too excited about the prospect. But the Lords summons could not be denied either. So One Hunahpu spoke up, “We are glad to accept your Lords’ invitation. But please give us time to take leave of our old mother”

The owls nodded their assent. The brothers went up to their mother to tell her of the invitation. The minute she heard, she turned pale.
“Please do not go, my sons. No one has ever returned from the underworld “, she pleaded with them.

“We know mother. But now that their vile eyes have fallen on us, no place is safe for us anymore. Who can stall the inevitable! Let us go like men and face what is in store for us”, replied One Hunahpu.

Their mother knew he was right.

“But we will try to keep our losses to minimum. We will not take our sons with us. I think the Lords are interested only in the two of us. If we go, they will be spared. Also we want to leave our gear in the middle world for our sons in our memory”, continued One Hunahpu.

So saying the two brothers put the gear in a bag and tied it to the roof beam. Next they had to take leave of their two sons.

We will leave the story at this point as the brothers ready themselves for their journey to the underworld. They seem to have already resigned themselves to their fate. Would they be able to come out successful in an encounter they have lost even before it has begun? In the next episode we will follow them on their journey to the underworld.

<<< Previous Part Next Part >>>

Lightscapes

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:44:00 +0000

I had been to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I got really bored there within 2 hours. Then a couple of years later, I got to visit the art museum in Vienna. I managed to spend 6 delightful hours there and really enjoyed the experience. The difference was I had not taken the audio guide the first time. The second time I got the audio guide. I was able to get the background information and that helped me really appreciate each and every painting. Same is the case with photo blogs. Generally I am not too fond of photo blogs. I tend to quickly flip over, pausing over a photo for not more than a couple of seconds. But the blog 'Lightscapes' changed things for me. Every post has an intelligent and thought provoking write up associated with it that makes the photos much more fascinating.

The photos cover a diverse range of themes – indoor and outdoor shots from day today life, travel photos, flora and fauna, monuments, scenery and those of the moon. I usually do not view photography so much an art as painting. But this blog changed that. I realized that the universe is not static so that you can just capture it any time you want. It keeps changing every second and certain beautiful moments just pass by us in a flash without most of us even noticing. The art of the photographer is in recognizing the moment and capturing it for everyone to view and admire at leisure. This blog has many such wonderful moments captured on a camera. As I mentioned at the start, every snap is accompanied by a really well thought out or well researched write up as the case may be. Some of it is philosophical, some of it is humorous, some of it factual information about a bird, animal, flower or monument. I would say the writings are just flawless and bring the pictures alive.

The title ‘Lightscape’ is quite a sensibly one for the theme of this blog as is the tag line. Equally well chosen is the backdrop that looks like a camera lens with droplets of water. Any new person venturing into the blog will have no doubt what the blog is about. The darker background I feel is appropriate for photography blogs except for maybe night photos. But then most photos usually tend to be taken in bright light.

‘Related posts’ and search are the two widgets. ‘Related posts’ is a good one to have. Not sure though if anyone will use the search functionality in a photos blog and what kind of results it will give. The ‘Random post’ widget will be a nice widget to have here. The popular post widget has been put somewhere far in the bottom displaying just 2 posts. I feel this widget should be set to display more posts and put in some place more prominent. I feel that will help the visitor quickly see some glimpses of the charming photographs that await him/her on the blog and get him/her hooked.

On navigation, I am beginning to sound like a broken record on all my reviews. I feel most bloggers are not giving serious thought to navigation and just let the blogging platform handle it for them. But it is something the blogger has to take in hand and work on in order to enhance visitor experience. In this context I remember a project I did for designing a global HR portal for a logistics company. My manager told me the HR team always likes to organize content as per their organization structure and that is the easiest thing. But the portal is for employee and the portal must be designed in a way the employee will look for information. For instance if the employee is new joiner, he will like links to all joining formalities in one place. It would be tough for him to go to recruitment section, compensation & benefit section, the tax section etc. to find out the necessary details. Same is the case with a visitor to a blog. The photo of a bird shot yesterday means the same to him as a bird shot 3 years back. If he is interested in birds, he will like to see the links to all bird related posts in one place rather than hunting all over the archives. The labels kind of serve the purpose. But Blogger labels do not show just title and summary for the visitor to click like Wordpress tags and categories. Instead it brings up all posts one below the other making the visitor scroll a lot, which is not very friendly. So it will be good if some work is done on the navigation. Even if existing labels only are going to be used, at least all posts need to be updated with labels.

A photo blog does not lend itself to too much discussion as such. But in general the volume of comments appears to be on the lower side. I think currently blogger does not seem to acknowledge comments either. I think acknowledging comments, even when there is no value add at least lets readers know the blogger has read his/her comment and will encourage him/her to leave more. An Indi Rank less than 80 seems to suggest traffic itself is possibly low. Such an excellent blog that has been running for more than 4 years deserves much more traffic. Possibly the blogger needs to more actively publicize the blog on various forums.

Overall, I would recommend anyone who has the slightest interest in art or beauty to go over this blog and I assure you will not be disappointed. As usual, I have requested 5 sample posts from blogger to present along with my review.

Last Lunar Eclipse of 2011
Moist chocolate muffins
Birds of paradise
National Orchid Garden
Dance of Death

If your a blogger and you like this review and feel you want a similar review for your blog, check out this post.

The Canyon of Souls review

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:22:00 +0000

As per Tibetan mysticism, beyul are hidden valleys that are sacred and form some kind of gateway between the mortal world and the world of spirits. The canyon of souls is supposed to be one such beyul and the protagonists seek to undertake an arduous journey through the Himalayas to this place where no human has ever set feet before. An interesting premise that could shape up into a fantasy, a travel adventure or even a spiritual journey of self discovery if the author were Paulo Coelho!

The story is narrated in first person by the main character Tim Overleigh. It starts off with Tim stuck in a cave with a broken leg lying there waiting to die. Possibly a metaphorical reference to the present state of his life! A broken man, who has lost his wife, his artistic capabilities and the will to live! He blames himself for his wife’s death and wallows in self defeat and is going down a destructive spiral, finding succor in alcohol. The sudden appearance of an old acquaintance Andrew with an interesting proposition offers him a chance to emerge out of his psychological cave as he emerged out of the physical cave in the starting chapter.

He meets five other strangers who have been similarly summoned by Andrew to undertake this conquest of the conquest of demons of nature in order to quell their internal demons. The story follows their journey through the Himalayan ranges in Nepal passing through places with exotic sounding names such as Valley of Walls, Stairway to Heaven and Hall of Mirrors. However, only the names of the places sound fascinating. The general tone of the overall narrative has a darker tone. The journey is plagues by misfortunes – pilferages, injury and death. The story finally culminates in a totally unexpected climax or you might call it an anti-climax depending on how you look at it.

The best part of the narrative is its richness. It is loaded with appropriately chosen similes and metaphors. The author has taken great pains to take the reader into Tim’s shoes. The reader almost can visualize everything Tim is seeing and feel what he is feeling. In the natural way, our mind drifts towards the incidents in our past at times, Tim’s mind drifts towards his past suddenly at times during the journey. I found that a pretty interesting way to unravel Tim’s past story of his relationship with his wife, his feelings for her, why she left him and how she met with her death. This also serves the purpose of providing relief from the narrations of the journey.

The pace of the story is excellent. There is not a dull moment. It is the kind of book one can easily finish in a single sitting. Talking of characterization, the main character Tim Oberliegh has been etched out really well. The reader gets to associate intimately with him and deeply empathize with him. However the other characters are at best skeletal like the faceless soldiers Tim sculpts for the war memorial. The author has of course tried to give Andrew a kind of omnipotent aura, Chad a bit of juvenile immaturity, Petras a mature confidence and Shotsky some naiveté. But I felt there was scope to have developed these characters further.

I am sure the readers who like twists in the tale will enjoy the ending. But I personally felt a bit let down. As per me, the ending lacked strong logical base. But possibly in these kinds of novels, one should suspend logic and just enjoy the thrills. After all who goes to an amusement park for logic!

Let me add a word of caution as I conclude. The title and synopsis is a bit a deceptive. There is hardly any mystic element in the book except for the occasional appearance of Tim’s wife’s ghost and the general mention of the concept of beul. Though the protagonist regularly shares what is happening inside his head with the reader, I would say the psychological aspect is at best shallow. Also the name Canyon of Souls and Himalayas seem to suggest poetic or philosophical associations. I would warn the reader against harboring any such expectations. This is just a light thriller and a reader with the right expectation is sure to find the reading of this book an immensely enjoyable experience.

I have written this for the website bookchums. I have reproduced the article on my blog with their permission. You can find the original article here.

Hot Tea Across India Review

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:18:00 +0000

All of us would be familiar with the popular dictum ‘Don’t judge a book by the cover’. However when you have to pick up a book by an unfamiliar author at the book store, you need to go by cover and title only. The book ‘Hot Tea Across India’ is a book that charmed me with its title and cover design. The illustrator Gynelle Alves had done a really remarkable job with the cover illustration. Coming to the title, tea is something close to my heart and I am sure same will be the case for many others as well. The teas that have brought relief amidst the hectic office hours! The teas during bus and train journeys! The teas by the roadside during road trips! So the minute I saw a book titled ‘Hot Tea Across India’, I felt like picking it up.

I would call the book a complete mixed bag with various shades of experiences. You have comedy, you have action and you have adventure. The best thing I like about this book is the quality of writing. The modern day Indian authors seem to be waging a war on the language of their former colonial masters. Among them, this author Rishad Saam Mehta stands out for his beautiful language with its subtle nuances. I would recommend this book just for the language alone.

This book tries to cover the myriad experiences the writer has had during his trips across the country. Though there are bits from every part of the country, most of the anecdotes are based closer to the Himalayas. The book has no formal structure as such. It is kind of like a blog with bits and pieces from different experiences. Some of the trips are short with just one chapter devoted to it. Some are longer with 4-5 continuous chapters covering the same trip. From the title one would assume tea would form an integral part of every story. That is not the case though. Tea does form the crux of a couple of stories. In some others, tea just plays a supporting role. In yet other cases, tea is used in a figurative sense. For instance in India, government officials would euphemistically demand bribe by asking for tea and water. In few of the narratives, tea is totally absent. But tea makes sufficient appearances across the book to merit the title.

The experiences in the book are things that each one of us can relate to. Some of them like biking on the Himalayas are something many of us may not have done. But a few of the other experiences are ones we would have had in our day today lives and just overlooked. He has managed to capture all the details and narrate in a really interesting manner. He has covered quite a range of modes of travel – bike, car, bus, and lorry. He introduces the reader to quite a few interesting characters. He has experimented nicely with different forms of narrative. Most of it is in first person. But here and there you see some poetry, retelling of some local folklore and one chapter has the autobiography of his car. With so much variety, there is hardly a dull moment in this book. And there is often a sprinkling of humor here and there to give the reader a hearty laugh. Then you have some real fascinating descriptions of the beauty of Himalayas.

If one were to look at the short comings, lack of structure and end to end storyline could be viewed as a short coming. But India is the land of chaos. It kind of makes sense for a book on experiences in India to be like that. The quality of language in the book could be a double edged sword. Whereas it might endear this writer to people who love the language, the typical Indian reader brought up on a diet of Chetan Bhagat might find the language too sophisticated.

Overall, it is an excellent book for a light read. Since there are separate incidents in the book, it can be an ideal read for a bus or waiting in a queue, as it need not be completed in one sitting.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

The Twin Heroes of Maya 1 - The Ball Game

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:34:00 +0000

Fantasy has been favorite fiction genre and I dream of writing one myself one day. Actually my attempts at reviewing fantasy and science fiction is an attempt to take them apart piece by piece to see what makes good fantasy so that I can pick up those elements and put them together and write my own. One thing I observed in most fantasy is that they had some connection to the various mythologies – the Celtic, the Greek and Norse mostly. Today I see Indian authors also emerging trying to make use of Indian mythologies. That got me interested in different mythologies. I thought of reading some of them up and retelling them in my own words. This being 2012, I thought it would be appropriate to start off with Mayan mythology. After all if the world ends this year, my blog’s readers will know why before they die.

The first story I am going to start with is the story of two Mayan heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque. These are pretty tough to pronounce. I thought of changing the names to make things easier. But then many ancient people believed names had power. I don’t know how far that is true. But what I know is it’s not cool to call your Mayan mythical heroes George and Bill just to make it easier to pronounce. And anyway guess no one’s going to read this story aloud. So how does it matter even if you can’t pronounce their names? As the story moves, you will have more names of this sort. Let us not bore each other trying to pronounce them properly. A typical blog post is 500-1000 words long. So I will keep to the limit and try to post the story in a series of posts. That the intro part. Now let us get cracking on the story.

http://aztecs.mrdonn.org

As with all traditional stories, it all began at the time of their father. Incidentally he was also called Hunahpu. Calling him Hunahpu senior may sound a bit contemporary. So let us call him One Hunahpu and his son just Hunahpu. He had this brother called Seven Hunahpu. I am not sure why it had to be seven and not two or three. But I guess it had something to do with seven being a sacred number for the Mayans. As we move on with the tale, we will come to know their antagonists are called One Death and Seven Death as well.

Like Mahabharata, here also the story begins with a game. The game in question here was known as the Mesoamerican ball game. It was probably an ancestor to the modern day volleyball and basket ball. It was played on a stone court with a hard rubber ball the size of a short put. The court was bordered by stone walls on all sides. Instead of a net there was a high hoops well above their heads right in the middle of the court suspended from the walls on either side of the court. The objective of the game was to hit the ball with their hips, arms and other parts of their body without using their hands and try and get the ball through the hoop. The first team that succeeded in doing that won. The balls always had to be in the air and there was a penalty for letting the ball drop to the ground. The players wore gauntlets and harnesses to protect their arms and hips. This game had great importance to the Mayans and in many cases, these ball games often served as substitutes for war between tribes.

One Hunahpu has two sons Batz and Chouen. So the three of them along with Seven Hunaphu used to divide themselves into teams and play this Mesoamerican ball game. The problem begins when the Lords of the Xibalba get disturbed by the game. Xibalba is the Mayan underworld, the equivalent of Greek Hades. This is where souls of the Mayan people were taken after their death. It was ruled by these bad guys, One Death and Seven Death along with their terrifying underlings. So these Lords get irritated with all the shouting and stomping of the ball players and decide to teach them a lesson.

Like all villains in stories, the Lords of Xibalba do not just like that want to come out and kill the heroes and be done with it. They prefer to do it in a long drawn complicated way, gloating over the heroes’ torments, deriving sadistic pleasure. Thankfully so! For if villains were not like that, there would be no stories.

These Lords also had an ulterior motive of wanting to acquire our heroes’ gaming equipment. So they got their head together and devised a more devious plan. As part of the plan, they decide to summon the players to the underworld.

Andrew Stuart on Flickr

The death Lords send four owls to One Hunahpu with their messages. The owls have interesting names – Arrow Owl, One Leg Owl, Macaw Owl and Skull Owl. The names were based on their physical characteristics. Arrow Owl had a piercing look like an arrow. One Leg Owl had somehow lost one of his legs. Macaw owl had some red shades like a macaw and skull owl looked like a skull. I guess owls do have some of these characteristics. No wonder are they feared birds. The Mayans were not the only people who considered owls as messengers of death.

So let us leave the story here with the owls on their way to deliver the message to our heroes. The heroes are still happily playing the game with their sons unaware of the death Lords’ dubious plans. In the next episode of the story we will meet the death Lords and their minions. We will follow the heroes in their preparations for their death match. If a match against the lords of death in the land of death cannot be called a death match what else can be? Do come back for the next episode.

Next Part >>>

Huchare Santhe

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:27:00 +0000

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places
Worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going no where
Going no where

These are the opening lines of one of my favorite songs ‘Mad world’ by Gary Jules. The title of the blog ‘Huchchara Santhe’ which means mad world in Kannada (literal translation would be mad man’s market) reminded me of this song. A person who leaves the wonderful pubs and discos of Bangalore in the weekend for a visit to a jungle or who gets excited about a stupid bird or a lizard will be considered a mad man by many. And possibly they are too. Such people are best avoided for this madness is infectious and addictive. I went on just one birding trip with few such 'mad men' few years back. And I have ended up purchasing two bird books and a binoculars and much to the chagrin of my near and dear spend most of my vacation time trying to track and identify elusive birds. This blogger Santosh who maintains seems to be one such 'mad man' who is mad after nature. Much better this madness for nature than the madness for money, career, girl friends, alcohol and what not!

To me this blog embodies the spirit of the quintessential Bangalore trekker. I have been associated with this crowd for a brief period a few years back. Reading this blog made me all nostalgic about those days. I feel a pang of regret giving up those pursuits for the sake of higher studies, career and family. Hopefully I get back and do a few treks in the coming years. This blog also points to lot of interesting opportunities to observe nature much closer to the city itself as well. I would definitely look to explore those as well.

If there is one thing that stands out in this blog, it is the quality of photographs, especially those of birds, insects and lizards. I can’t imagine how he managed to take such breathtaking photographs. I would possibly look to him for tips on selecting the right camera and the right techniques for photographing birds. The landscape shots are pretty good as well. The write ups accompanying the photograph are terse and to the point. But they give all the necessary information for somebody looking to undertake those treks. The contact details, the routes to take, places to stay, birds in the locality, best season are some of the details covered. Possibly the blogger should consider putting more garnishing on the writings. But I am not sure if he will be able to do so. A trekker would rather spend more time in the jungle than in front of the computer I guess. Also unrelated photos in the middle of the writing distract from the flow of the writing. When one stops to admire the photos, one tends to lose the flow.So I would suggest photos that don’t go with the flow of the writing to be put at the end of the post or at the beginning.

There are 3-4 informational posts as well in the blog on topics such as naturalist information, waterfalls in Karnataka, facts about birds and animals etc. I really liked them and look forward to more such posts. Possibly one idea for a post would be tips on bird watching and bird photography.

Coming to the blog ambience, I like the choice of background. Most of the photos are shot in bright light and the contrast comes out nicely in the pure black background. Choice of widgets is one area that the blogger needs to pay more attention to. I feel there are too many widgets related to traffic that do not add too much value and unnecessarily take up space. Instead a few more widgets that improve navigational power would be more helpful. The thing I like most on his sidebar is the blog roll. It contains a selection of real gems on nature travel. In the coming days I look to explore some of the blogs on his blog roll.

Navigation is an area that can do with a little bit of improvement. The archives, the labels and search are the three ways to navigate the blog. I am of the view that labels are a bit messy and not the best way to navigate blogs. Anyways that is my view. Maybe there are other people who like navigating through labels. The archives as it is not the greatest navigation construct either. Added to that, in this blog, one can’t see the titles. So one has to pull out all the posts month by month to access older posts. Also the reader may like to separately see posts under the naturalist instruction category, trek diary category and other categories. It will be nice to have that option.

The blog gets a decent number of comments. But overall interaction level is a bit on the lower side. The typical Bangalore trekker in general is not too talkative I guess. Anyway there is not much to discuss about a trek diary. One just has to read and enjoy. But it will be nice to have a separate section where readers can be encouraged to ask specific questions. I am sure Santosh would have a wealth of knowledge on nature travel, bird watching, photography and the Western Ghats. Lots of readers would be eager to partake of the same. Higher interaction level keeps readers more engaged. Ardent nature enthusiasts like him need to encourage and grow the nature lover community.

In the end analysis, I must say a really great blog for anyone who loves nature. It has a wealth of information on travel in the Western Ghats in Karnataka and observation of birds and other flora and fauna. The photos are just out of the world. Do check them out. I have provided below a few sample posts selected by the blogger to give a preview of his blog. Read and enjoy.

Kodachadri Magic

Rotikallu Homestay - Place to be in

Kumaraparvata Trek

Agumbe Sitanadi Nature Park

Ganesh Gudi Birding

If your a blogger and you like this review and feel you want a similar review for your blog, check out this post.

My Yatra Diary

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:18:00 +0000

Yātrā, in Hinduism and other Indian religions, generally means pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, places associated with Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and other sacred pilgrimage sites. And My Yatra Diary is Arti’s record of her visits to places of pilgrimage in India. Arti itself is an interesting name with religious associations. It refers to kind of ceremonious form of welcome that is done at homes and temples both for dieties as wells as humans. And I welcome the New Year on my blog with a review of Arti’s blog.

Management theory says for a new entrant in any business to succeed, one must develop a niche of his own and emerge the top player in that niche. In that way My Yatra Diary I would say is emerging as the top blog covering the area of religious travel in India. As on now the blog focuses more on northern and western parts of India. Hopefully going ahead the blog will reach out towards the southern and eastern parts of the country as well.

The style of writing is simple and minimalist. As the clichéd saying goes, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’Keeping with this dictum, she lets the pictures do the talking most of the time. The writing is more like a commentary to support the pictures. All the basic logistic details needed by a traveler are provided. This includes details on places to stay, places to eat, cost of trip, accesibility and shopping. Explanation of the myths associated with a place would be a hygiene element in any religious travel blog. This of course she provides. In addition she makes it interesting by starting off each blog post with a relevant quotation to set the tone. She also gives it a bit of personal touch by adding a little bit of her personal impressions. Her blog would serve as an excellent resource looking to travel to any of the places she has covered. However I would say her writing is closer to Lonely Planet than William Dalrymple. She gets a full 100% in her objective of providing information. In order to entertain readers as well, she has to add more drama and romance into her writings. She has to mesh all the elements together into a story that will charm readers making them come back for more.

The backdrop of the blog has been kept quite simple with the title bar prominently bringing out the theme of the blog. I especially like the title bar with the catch phrase ‘Let us explore India’ and 2-3 typical photos indicating travel to places of pilgrimage in India. I like the way widgets have been managed as well. The blog has not been cluttered with unnecessary fancy widgets. The ‘search blog’ and ‘related post’ widget are highly appropriate for this blog and improve navigability. In addition to the widgets, she has also provided labels and of course the archives are there for navigation. She also provides appropriate links to other posts within her posts. However I usually like a structured hierarchical navigation mechanism which most blogs don’t seem to provide. I would have liked it if there was some way I could select the state and then the district/city and from there see all the posts related to that district/city.

The interaction volume is quite high in this blog. I like the no nonsense way in which interaction is being handled. Readers are encouraged to pose queries about visiting the places mentioned in the post. All questions are promptly responded to. Any general words of appreciation or observations are just accepted without acknowledgement. And going by the repeat visitors, clearly the readers don’t mind not being acknowledged. She also steers clear of frivolous activity such as awards and tags. She has put a polite BUT firm note in this regard on her blog. This I feel kind of adds to the respectability of the blog. Maybe a separate static page for all generic queries unrelated to any specific post may possibly further improve interaction.

This blog is a must read for anyone wishing to travel to Northern or Western India and for those interested in knowing about places of pilgrimage in these areas. Find below five posts selected by her to give the reader a sample of her writings.

Kabirvad, One of the oldest living trees in India
ISKCON Temple in Delhi
Sunrise at the Neelkanth Peak
Magh Mela in Allahabad
My Tryst with evening Arti at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar

If your a blogger and you like this review and feel you want a similar review for your blog, check out this post.

Lok Pal - The Film

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:16:00 +0000

31 Dec 2011

It is May 2012. King Khan is back with another super duper block buster movie. The movie is titled, Kahani Lok Pal Ki. (Please note name starts with K) Once again Shahrukh Khan is doing something that has never been done in Bollywood before – he is doing 13 different roles, breaking Priyanka Chopra’s record of 12 roles in ‘What’s your Rashee’. The story is about a 13 member panel that is going to decide on the final Lok Pal Bill. Let us go over the members one by one.

The first member is the middle class Sharukh Khan from Rabne Banadi Jodi complete with a moustache. Let us call him MCK. Then we have the Khan in the other avatar from the same movie. Let us call him 6 pack Khan (6PK). The third member is the autistic Khan from My Name is Khan. Let us call him MNK. The fourth one is the one from Don complete with long hair and all that. Let us call him DonK (The K to be pronounced as Kay and not Key). The remaining two looks we take from the movie Ra-One, one super hero Khan (SHK) and South India Khan (SIK, Please note there is no C, silent or otherwise). That makes it six. What about the rest? Here is the twist. We are going to take the age old Judwah Bhai concept to a new height. The other six are the twin brothers of the first six. It would have been tempting to make the six evil twins, maybe six twins as government representative and other six as civil society representatives. But that would be politicizing the movie and it would have never got past the censor board. So to distinguish let us add suffix -1 and -2 without any reference whatsoever to government, opposition or civil society. So we would have MCK-1 and MCK-2 for instance. And there still remains the matter of the thirteenth Khan. Given the popularity of romantic vampire movies in the west , let us bring it to India as well and have a Romantic Vampire Khan (RVK-13).

Next let us have a look at backdrop. No one will come and watch a movie set in a boring room. There was one movie like that called 'Ek Rukha Huva Faisla'. No wonder the film never made it to the theaters. Cinematography is often the gamechanger. So this is the deal.We have a standing committee, standing on top of an open bus touring through Europe and carrying out their discussions. In addition to having shots covering scenic Europe, this will give an opportunity to introduce Katrina Kaif (spoiler alert!) on a bike falling in love with one of the members (which member is suspense) and an item number by Yana Gupta as well along the way. After all people who buy the movie ticket pay to see all this. Who wants to watch just a simple story? For that they can sit at home and watch Malayalam movies.

Without any more ado, let us get to the movie. The story (or whatever its equivalent is called in Bollywood) starts in Switzerland, right in front of the snow covered Alps. The discussion begins.

SIK-1: We are drafting bill. Soup Bill. Flop Bill. Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Dee? (Are the protestors listening?)

Everyone joins in and the sing in chorus. Angels come and join the dance. The place gets filled with smoke and mist.That the first song in the movie and we move on to more serious matters.

MCK-2: Ok. So we want to make a really strong bill. A bill so strong that not a single corrupt person can escape!

DonK-1: That’s impossible. However strong bill you make, you cannot catch Don. Not only is it difficult, in fact it is impossible.

The whole theater breaks into applause. That's King Khan style. By now they are outside Eiffel Tower in Paris.

MCK-1: So the bill have to cover all class A, B,C, D government employees both at center and the state.

MNK-1: I don’t know all these classes. My mother has told me there are only two classes – good and evil.

A senti song plays in the background with flash back scenes.The audience is in the verge of tears. Now we move on to London for the next part of the discussion.

MCK-2: All members of parliament including prime minister would be under the bill. And the Lok Pal will be independent of government control.

SHK-1: Let us also include all software engineers under the bill. They keep breaking their initial company bonds all the time. Isn’t that also an act of corruption?

RVK-13: That’s a good idea. Let us include all MBAs as well. They travel on economy and charge their companies business fare. We definitely can not let these bloody blood suckers get away.

SHK-2: Cool. Some superheroes wear a mask, this one wears a heart. We need only ones with hearts, not ones with masks. All these bloggers hide their true identity behind masks. That is also a form of corruption. Let us bring them also under the bill.

Katrina Kaif passing by on a bike hears the talk about super hero’s hearts and falls in love with SHK-2. There is a duet song and then we move on to Greece for the next shot.

6PK-1: In order to hunt down all these people, even a 6 pack Lok Pal team won’t be enough. We would need a large wolf pack team. So I guess we better drop some folks from the bill’s ambit. The level C and D employees are the most in number and seem mostly harmless. So let us leave them out.

6PK-2: And I propose we leave the prime minister and the cabinet ministers out. You know they handle matters of national security. If Lok Pal gets into all that the terrorists can take advantage.

MNK-1: Terrorist! Terrorist? Terrorist! My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.

MNK-2: What a coincidence! My name is also Khan and guess what! I too am not a terrorist!

MNK-1: Wow! We both are Khans and both of us are not terrorists. Then we must be brothers separated at birth.

A senti song about brotherly love starts in the background. Audience is again overwhelmed with emotion. We move on to Spain for the last scene.

SIK-2: Let us make the bill a constitutional amendment. For that we need the support of lot of MPs and MLAs. No way will they support the bill if we have them under its ambit. So let us drop them from the bill in order to ensure the bill passes.

DonK-2: The bill is looking excellent now. But we still need to make one more little change to make it really tight. Our constitution seeks to abolish all class, caste and creed. So it would go against the tenets of our constitutions to discriminate against officers on basis of class. So it can be challenged in the court and the bill will become unviable. So let us leave out the Class A and Class B officers as well.

So we are almost near the end. We still have the 'patriotic' item number followed by the bull festival. All the panel members run with the bulls and give speeches on what each one has learnt from the journey. The movie ends with the passage of the strong bill that is going to bring all corrupt software engineers, MBAs and bloggers to book. A spirit rising song plays in the background. "Honge kaamyaab, honge kaamyaab hum honge kaamyaab ek din ho ho mann main hai vishwas poora hai vishwas........."

Diary of the Narcissist

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:27:00 +0000

For a long time, I did not know that Blog was short form for ‘Web Log’. The entire blog concept started as online journal where one can share moments from his or her life. From there, the concept of blogging has expanded to various genres and it is fast emerging as an alternate to books, magazines and Newspapers. Diary of the Narcissist is however a blog by it true traditional definition, an account of interesting happenings in the life of an Indian undergraduate student.

I find the blog title very interesting and apt. You need to really love yourself to be able to write interesting posts that others will love. And what better name for such a person than ‘Narcissist’! However one should not be mislead into thinking his posts are all boastful and highlighting his achievements. On the contrary, his posts are very humble and down to earth I would say. Each one of his posts is a gem I must say. I started to read 5 of his posts for the review and ended up reading close to 20 of his posts.

The language is simple and lucid. Most of the posts are written in a casual conversational tone and are very easy to read. The flow has been maintained well consistently across posts, making use of dialogues wherever necessary. They make really enjoyable reads that can be read in less than 5 minutes. The posts have also been made visually appealing by adding well chosen images. Most of the incidents covered are the kind of incidents that each of us must have across in day to day life. But the way he has written it capturing all the small details with a light sprinkling of humor brings a smile to one’s face. The incidents also feel very real and the Tamil and Malayalam words added here and there only add to it.

The theme of the blog is minimalist. For a personal blog one cannot say what the ideal look and feel should be like. It depends on the personality of the blogger. The blogger comes across as a simple down to earth person from his posts. That way the simple theme goes well. There is nothing to distract the reader. The post background, font and color are all friendly to the eye. The widgets have been well chosen. The “Do you like?” widget is possibly one he could do away with. People generally don’t give such feedback. I like all the other widgets. The flipping through is a nice one for instance. His posts are ‘random’ in his own words and a new reader may like to read just any random post which option this widget gives. Similarly the Wibya bar is nice. It kind of reminds the reader to bookmark/follow the blog.

The navigation for this blog is excellent. Other than the widget I mentioned earlier, every post has a related posts section and also every post has a link to the previous post. It would possibly be good to have next posts link as well, in case a reader starts somewhere close to the beginning. The archives are also there. But that is of course not the most convenient method of navigating a blog. When browsing from office where most widgets are disabled and images don’t come up properly, I found the previous post link most convenient. And I must say once you read one of his posts, you will feel like clicking the previous post link.

The interaction is pretty decent. The comments clearly reflect the reader is able to personally relate to the posts. And the blogger acknowledges every comment. Not sure for this kind of blog, if the reader would come back to see if the blogger has replied. Not much scope for any kind of discussion as such. But it is good to acknowledge anyways. I am user a new reader would find the ‘FAQ’ and contact pages useful. Also having a separate page for blogroll rather than having it on the side bar is a good idea. That helps the blog benefit from link exchanges without cluttering the front page.

As of now I don’t see need for too much more improvement in this blog. Maybe highlighting the top 5 posts may help retain new readers. As they say first impression is best impression. This blog is less than a year old. So I see lot of enthusiasm. I have seen many blogs like this coming up well and then suddenly disappearing into obscurity. I hope this blog sustains for long. It is easy to write such posts when at college. College friends and family tend to be very sportive. But office colleagues and social acquaintances tend to be touchy. You never know who might be reading your blog and whose raw nerve a blog post may touch. So once into professional environment people tend to get a bit shy about expressing their views openly on a blog, especially after an unpleasant incident or two. This is one pitfall I would ask this blogger to beware of. A little bit of forethought and some caution before posting should help avoid such situations and I am sure the blogger can continue to produce gems.

Overall I would say this blog is a nice read for someone in office who is feeling bored or wants to de-stress for 5 minutes between work. His posts won’t make you guffaw aloud drawing your boss and colleagues’ attention towards you. But they will definitely make you smile quietly to yourself, feel refreshed and get back to work.

Let me present below 5 samples from this blog handpicked by the blogger himself that will help you get a glimpse into his writings.

Describing my ideal partner (in 45 sec)
Today's parents
Job in Paradise
Fanatics
“What are you?”, she asks

If your a blogger and you like this review and feel you want a similar review for your blog, check out this post.

So long and thanks for the jokepal, Team Anna

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:57:00 +0000

It started with a bang and has ended with a whimper. Reflecting on the Anna Hazare movement, I am reminded of a story I read in the childhood. There was this little boy who yelled ‘Wolf, Wolf’. All the villagers came running. But there was no wolf and they went back disappointed. Once again after some days, he yelled ‘Wolf, Wolf’. Again everyone came running. Once again no wolf and they went back even more disappointed. Then one day, the wolf really came. But when the boy yelled ‘Wolf, Wolf’, no one came. Can’t say if the wolf is at our door yet at this point of time or not. But when Anna Hazare called out this time, not many came. And the government looks to be at the verge of passing something called a LokPal bill, blaming opposition for not giving it a constitutional status.

Let us go back in time – 8 months back. The whole country was raging from the recent revelations related to the 2G and CWG scams and looking for an outlet for their feelings. In comes a knight in shining armor – our Anna Hazare, promising a Lok Pal bill that is going to be panacea for all evil. We are all excited and charged up. Thousands flock to the ground to support him. The entire media lionizes Anna. The government bows to civil society. Victory is proclaimed and people are cheering.

8 months have passed and what is it that we have got now? CBI will continue to be under government control. Lok Pal will not have its own investigating agency. The government will have the major say in choosing the Lok Pal members. So the government can keep the institution under leash the way the Chief Election Officer and the country’s President are currently. The government got to play caste and community card as well by introducing reservation. As it is states that have implemented Lokayukta are not finding suitable people to fill the posts. Reservations are going to make it even tougher to find the right people. It would be a good excuse to keep the Lok Pal in suspended animation in case it gets too problematic. A government controlled Lok Pal would also serve as a good whip to bring in line senior bureaucrats like this Vinod Rai of CAG who try to act too smart. Possibly Lokayuktas controlled by the central government would give one more handle to the central government in addition to the governor to arm twist state governments of states ruled by opposition parties. No wonder opposition parties are up in arms. And finally, the small fry are kept out of the Lok Pal ambit. These are the ones that cause direct harassment to general public and are easiest to catch. But catching too many of these can be a trouble as they probably will be privy to information related to big ticket corruption and might spill some unwanted beans.

I don’t know if this is what the fight was for. And what did Team Anna get? All small issues like saving money by travelling on budget flights, celebrating birthdays and failure to pay money for breaking employment bonds were raked up. Mud was smeared on all of them. Possibly there were even people who believed these acts were as bad as the 3G and CWG scams. The credibility of the team has been systematically eroded and people have gone back to believing everyone is selfish and corrupt and nothing is going to change in this country. No wonder no one came out this time.

Though I was also all excited when the movement started, now in hindsight I can see it was doomed to fail right from the start. First of all, how can one even imagine any institution will seriously pass a law that will seriously hurt its own interests? Let me draw a comparison with the independence struggle. All that the British stood to lose was some income for Britain as a country. The individual officers did not stand to lose much. Many of them might have actually even been happier leaving hostile foreigners behind and going back to their homes. Compared to that, if a serious Lok Pal is passed, many bureaucrats and politicians stand to lose almost everything they have built all their life – their name, their fame, their wealth and even their freedom. What worse can Team Anna and co do? At best they can be a minor irritant.

Next let us think from the common man’s point of view. Independence was something tangible that everyone could understand and relate to. But is Lok Pal such a cause? It is not at all clear how exactly a Lok Pal bill will improve the life of the common man. Even educated people have doubts about its effectiveness. And there are people who question whether corruption is the biggest evil plaguing the nation. When public anger against corruption was at its peak, any movement related to corruption seemed like an ideal rallying point. Now with the passage of time and cooling of tempers, can it still be such a powerful rallying point? Can people feel passionately about Lok Pal the way they felt about independence?

Last and possibly least in terms of impact, the movement is not really a Gandhian one. People associate theory of relativity and Nobel Prize with Einstein. So they assume by default that Einstein got Nobel Prize for his theory of Relativity, which is not true. Same is the case with Mahatma Gandhi. People associate Sathyagraha and fasting with him. So people tend to assume fasting to get your way is Sathyagraha. Fasting is nothing but emotional blackmail. Something which people having been doing with their near and dear ones all the time! Of course Gandhiji used to indulge in that as well. But I would say that is the worst of Gandhiji and not his best. True Sathyagraha works more at a spiritual and moral plane.

As per my understanding Sathyagraha is a spiritual practice that may or may not lead to social results in the long run. The true benefit would be one’s own spiritual elevation. It is about standing up for what one believes is true in face of great challenges over an extended period of time. The story of Raja Harishchandra is a good example. By doing so one’s own moral fabric gets strengthened and one’s soul gets cleansed, enabling one to experience a greater peace of mind and harmony. Possibly other people will be attracted by your aura and may take up a similar practice. That way it can spread and it is possible the antagonist might also eventually come under the influence of this practice and might voluntarily choose to act in a righteous manner the way King Ashoka did. I don’t think the Anna movement ever attempted to proceed in such a direction. So it would be a misnomer to call it Gandhian in the true sense.

When the movement started I had hope against hope that the movement would succeed. In spite of all their faults, I personally feel Team Anna is sincere and have their hearts in the right place. So in my heart of hearts, I still hope they somehow miraculously succeed. But my head knows the truth. The writing on the wall is clear. ‘That’s all, folks. The show is over. It is time to pack up and head back home! Once again Sachin Tendulkar top scores in both innings but India loses yet another test match abroad. Once again democracy wins; the people lose. Life just goes on.”

Stan's Great Books Blog

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:40:00 +0000

If one has an eternal life time, one should partake of all of mankind’s knowledge accumulated over centuries. But we do not have an eternal life time. If one has 10 years to spare, one should try to read at least all the 'Great Classics'. But in the current age, where does one have 10 years to spare? In the hustle and bustle of modern life, one can’t find sufficient time to finish even one classic. So what should one do to acquire knowledge? If you ask me, I would say, visit Stan’s Great Books Blog for 15 minutes daily. Stan, who himself has spent close to a decade going over the great classics serves to you small doses of condensed wisdom on his blog.

He writes poetry, philosophy and a lot of essays on really diverse topics. But most of his posts have some connection to the great classics. One of the things I really like about his writing is the way he interprets ancient classics in the modern context. He often tries to bring across the points raised in some of the 'Classics' in the context of happenings in his day to day life or some discussion he had with his children. That adds an endearing personal touch to the discussion.

My description so far may make the blog sound very serious and scholarly. But that would be doing injustice to the blog as Stan in fact has his own unique sense of humor. One can see this in the posts where he highlights some really unusual earthly aspects from the ancient literature. Consider these 2 titles for example – ‘The Great Book on Farting’, ‘Emulating Nude Philosophers’

As far as the blog aesthetics goes, I feel the theme has been chosen appropriately. A blog on books must have certain amount of dignity to it. One cannot have a frivolous background with widgets scattered all around. So the simple layout with the picture of the book case in the back ground goes pretty well. The background color and font are pretty clear making it easily readable without too much strain on the eye.

Talking about navigation, he provides two ways of navigation – one the archives and the other the labels. One can use the labels to quickly refer materials related to a specific author or book. However with 280 posts on varied topics, there are currently more than a hundred labels and it can be tedious to scroll through them to find a certain topic. I would suggest some kind of grouping of topics and leveraging the pages feature of BlogSpot to more effectively organize the topics. Alternatively some widget which adds search functionality to the blog can also be explored

Anyone who leaves behind a comment can look forward to a very interesting exchange of viewpoints. Stan goes over each comment in detail and gives a detailed reply. There is also the ‘Ask Stan’ section where the reader can ask Stan any general question related to the ‘Great Classics’. And the questions usually serve as the topics for his posts. So I would say this is one of the better blogs for deeper interactions.

This blog is ideal for the serious student of literature who wants to have a different perspective on the great works. A general reader seeking to learn something new may also find the blog quite interesting. Other bloggers may also get interesting ideas for blog posts from this blog. At times however, some of the posts can go over the casual reader’s head. It is difficult to relate with some of his posts. But in general, most of his posts make really interesting and enriching reads.

One suggestion to Stan would be to bring some recurring pattern in the posting say a certain type of post on a certain day of the week. This gives the reader a sense of continuity and improves the chances of the reader becoming a regular at the blog.

I present below 5 posts selected by Stan himself to give a glimpse into Stan’s writings. Do check them out and let me know your feedback on Stan’s blog and my review. I hope Stan continues his good work and I hope his followers double and treble in the coming months.

Bible and Hippocrates on hemorrhoids
I am no Jayadeva
Abish on female peaches
How to Build Ethos When Speaking
A Dialogue Between Enwombed Twins

If your a blogger and you like this review and feel you want a similar review for your blog, check out this post.

Blog Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:41:00 +0000

I have noticed lot of people requesting for blog reviews on online forums. But there seems to be too few reviewers. So I have decided to start reviewing blogs. Anybody who wants their blogs reviewed by me, please read further.

What are my credentials?

This blog has been running for 4 years, 112 posts, 160 followers.
You can check the review section of my blogs to see my book and movie reviews. Now I am planning to extend it to cover blogs, computer games and cartoon series as well.
I have been reviewing SOPs of hundreds of MBA aspirants at a popular MBA website.
I have been sent free books for reviews from 3 different sources
Indimag selected me as the best commentor

Is there any minimum criteria for me to review a blog?

Yes. Fortunately or unfortunately I have a full time job and a family and I need to write my own posts too. So I can only review limited blogs. So I would restrict myself to only serious blogs. So the criterion is:

Blog should be at least 13 months old
Blog should have atleast 21 posts
There should be at least one post per month for the last 4 months

How many blogs I will be reviewing?

I would be reviewing one blog every 15 days on an average. When I am relatively free, I shall do 2 or 3 a week? When work is hectic, it will be once a month.

What will the reviews be like?

The reviews will be right here on my blog. They will be detailed and cover aspects of content, layout, navigability and interaction. I will not cover SEO and technical aspects as I am not familiar with those. The opinions would entirely be my personal opinion covering both positives and negatives. You can chose to disagree. The post will have back links to your blog.

How to request a review?

Since I need to be selective, I would need some information for deciding. Please answer the following questions.

The link of the blog
The objective of the blog (Entertain, Informational, Social cause, Share feelings, Literature etc.)
The links of 5 best posts according to you
What is special about your blog/writing?
Does it cater to any specific niche? If so, mention.

How will I chose ?

I would chose based on the following criteria in the same order:-

My interest and knowledge in the niche the blog belongs to
How much I get interested based on the answers
How much I like the selected 5 posts

Where to put the request?

Put your request in the comments section. In case the answers are too long for the comments section, put it on your blog and post the link in my comments section. I am sure anyone who visits your blog for the first time will want to know the answers to these questions.

What if your blog is not reviewed 2 months after the request?

Submit again with updated information or just drop a comment requesting me to consider the old information. Otherwise I might think you have lost interest in my review due to the delay.

Anything else?

If I review your blog and you like the review, I would request you to give me back link and also publicize the review on facebook, twitter and other forums.

Miss Minoes - Review

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:02:00 +0000

Mainstream movies come with a lot of hype and the expectations are set even before watching the movies. Even if we know nothing about the movies, we tend to recognize the actors. That kind of sets the expectations based on the actors’ larger than life star image. The stories often end up being pushed backstage. On the other hand when you just stumble into a movie, you have never heard of with actors you have never seen before, the stories and acting come front stage.

I had a similar experience yesterday, when browsing through the TV channels landed up on this Dutch movie called ‘Miss Minoes’ with English sub titles. And I must say I really enjoyed every bit of it. The genre was of course my favorite – children’s fantasy. The premise is simple and executed with perfection. The story is about a cat that gets transformed into a woman. However she can still talk cat language and has the mannerisms of a cat. She talks to all the cats in the city and picks up gossips and passes on to the local reporter. The rest of the story deals with how Minoes the cat tries to fit it into the world of humans and the evolution of Minoes’ relationship with the reporter and his landlord’s little daughter. The corrupt factory owner who is pretending to be an animal lover and the town’s benefactor brings the conflict element in the plot.

The most striking feature of the movie is the performance of the lead actress Carice Van Houten. Every time she is on the screen, the viewer feels he is in the presence of a cat. She has really got into the role, nuzzling, scratching and rubbing noses like a cat. We have actresses in our country that can’t even play the parts of human characters properly and here is a Dutch actress who can carry off the part of an animal with grace and aplomb!

The other thing I liked about the movie was the way the director has maintained simplicity throughout the story. The characters, their motives, the plot – everything is kept to the simplest possible. No one dramatizes or overacts. The viewer is just drawn into the simple life of a quaint Dutch village. The simplicity comes out as a breath of fresh air.

One interesting line I liked in the movie is when the heroine tells the hero that she is full of contradictions being a human and a cat at the same time. The hero replies back that normal humans are also full of contradictions. How true! And then towards the end of a movie the heroine develops compunctions about eating a live bird. Her sister, a cat admonishes her pointing out the hypocrisy of humans who savor chicken but feel revulsion at the idea of cats eating live birds.

Overall it is a short and sweet family entertainer worth watching for an hour and a half of fun.

In quest of a steed

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:01:00 +0000

As per my mother, the world has two kinds of people, the ones who have a vehicle and the ones who do not. Unfortunately for most of his life, my father had belonged to the former category and my mother wanted me to belong to the latter category. It was not just my mother. The definition of independence as per one of my wife’s cousins was the possession of and the ability to use a vehicle. Bottom line is society knows a man by his vehicle. So if one has to raise his social standing, one has to have a vehicle.

My quest for a vehicle started at the age of 11, when I tried to learn to ride a bicycle from my friends. I was just 2 days into this exercise that an accident cut it short. I was hospitalized for 2 months and grounded for the next 5 years. The bicycle had had nothing to do with this incident. But my parents followed the German traffic rules where one can lose his driving license for committing a traffic violation while on foot.

But at 16, it was time again to once again undertake the quest. This time my father himself decided to take time out to teach me to ride a bicycle. I was taking time but I was learning and it seemed soon I would be proficient in cycling. Then came the fateful day! There was this steep slope. Father let go of me and I began to pick up speed. I pressed the brake. The brake was not working. I tried to put my foot down and stop. But the velocity was too high to stop with a foot. So I had no option to go on till I came up against a barrier. As luck would have it, the barrier turned out to be a barbed fence. The bleeding all over my body decided things for me for the time being.

After a few more adventures in the next few years, which included injuring my best friend badly, trying to ride a locked bicycle badly damaging my friend’s bicycle, I managed to acquire the necessary skill and was soon a proud owner of a bicycle. But the Gods would not have it. Hermes, the God of the thieves decided to intervene and sent one of his disciples to relieve me of my bicycle. I decided to accept the divine mandate that the missing bicycle indicated and I never attempted to become a bicyclist ever again.

I was soon getting into my twenties. This is the spring time of the human life where the males of the species strut around in their best plumage to attract the females. The cigarette and the motor bike were the coolest signs of masculinity that assured success with the girls. My world was again getting divided into two. The cool punks who vroomed around the city with hot babes and the uncool nerds who sat alone in their rooms with their noses down their books. And it was clear where I stood. My father made a half hearted attempt to remedy the situation by arranging a friend of his to teach me to ride a bike. But the ground under my feet was not firm. The bike skidded over sand injuring me and my instructor. My father’s friend decided that my father’s good will was not worth the occupational hazard of teaching me to ride a bike. And I never learnt to ride a bike nor ever manage to go even half way towards acquiring anything close to a girl friend.

Years rolled by and I had earned my stripes in the corporate world. Once again the great divide reentered my life. Having a car was considered a mark of seniority in the organization and pressure was building on me to acquire a car. I went for driving lessons – not once, not twice but three times at three different driving schools. But still my confidence was not high and I decided to hire a chauffeur. So at last I was one of the privileged ones who had a vehicle. But I had to depend on the driver. Now I understood my wife’s cousin’s definition of independence better. But still life went on. Well, for some time. Once again by luck stepped in. This time recession was the spoil sport. I lost my job and my new job did not pay me enough to be able to afford a driver.

So reluctantly for a fourth time I decided to learn driving. This time I hired a personal trainer. After a intensive month long program I finally got my car on the road. I was at last able to drive. My mother’s eyes were filled with tears. I had succeeded where my father had failed. My father-in-law organized a party in my honor. My cousins from abroad called up to congratulate me. I had successfully cleared the rites of passage in the modern world.

Well that sounds like a happy ending, doesn’t it? I learnt to drive a car and lived happily ever after? Well not really. That was just the beginning rather than the end. Within a month, I was negotiating a right turn quickly when a taxi came speeding by. There was a screeching sound as it brushed past. I tried to ignore the sound and move on. But the taxi driver parked his taxi in front of me and pulled me out of my car. He called me names and demanded payment for the scratches on his taxi. He was an expert street fighter and I had no street fighting skills. All the people on the road stood by him and said it was my fault and I only had to pay. I conceded defeat and had to cough up ten grand and make a hasty exit with a dents both on my car and in my finances. Self driving seemed to be getting more expensive than the chauffer salary at this rate.

The next 2 months seemed uneventful. Then one day I had to take a U turn at a divider. A school bus was coming towards me at a great speed. I had heard of how rash school bus drivers can be. I decided to take a quick turn to avoid the bus. As I turned around, once again I heard the all too familiar screeching sound. This time it was not a taxi. It was a bright red Swift car. A sweet looking woman got out of the car. My confidence went up. She definitely did not look like a street fighter. I had the upper hand this time. Or at least that’s what I thought. I rolled up my sleeves and got ready to cow her down into agreeing it was her fault. But she just disarmed me by asking me for my mobile number. No girl had ever asked me for my phone number in all these years. First time a girl was asking for my number. I was floating in the air. I gave her my number. She took it and left.

An hour after I reached my office, I got a call on my mobile. A rough male voice spoke at the other end. It was the lady’s husband. He was extremely ferocious and apparently knew all the big Whigs in the city. I was once again getting a déjà vu feeling. I knew where this was all heading. I listened to him for some time and finally gave in. Again I had to part with my hard earned money, this time twenty grand. Once I agreed to pay up, the man suddenly underwent a transformation. He become all gracious and amiable. His wife welcomed me home with a cup of tea. I had the tea, gave the money and returned sadly.

Maybe car is not my vehicle of choice after all. Maybe I should move on to something else – a helicopter or a bus. Phew! Life had been so good belonging to the category of men who did not use vehicles like my dad. I remembered those days I used to put one leg on the other and travel like a king to office on the company bus, sleeping or reading story books. Sometimes I woe the day man invented the cursed wheel that has made life so miserable. Life would have been so much simpler riding on elephants or horses. Recently I got to ride a horse by myself. It was absolutely hassle free. I could almost feel a connection with the animal that I have never felt with these cursed automatons.

Note: The picture is taken from the world of war craft. (Wow.com). This site is non commercial. So if Warcraft see me using it, I hope you will be happy for the free publicity.

Salamander - A fiery adventure tale

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:50:00 +0000

The dark league has gathered for a meeting. Their sharp minds have to unite if they have to defeat their common foe. The discussion goes on for hours. In the normal world the sun has set to usher in darkness which in turn has been banished by the first rays of the next morning’s sun. However the dark underworld knows no sun or light. For this is the world of shadows where dwell the most darkest and dangerous creatures. Who would be the one even these denizens of the dark fear? What could be more dangerous than them? There is one such. And these vile creatures have got together to plan how to tackle him. He is none other than our super hero – ‘Salamander’ – the harbinger of light and fire – the destroyer of darkness.

The plan is an extremely diabolic one. The Salamander has been lured by a fake call from a damsel in distress. Weakness for damsels in distress has always been the tragic flaws of heroes from times immemorial. Salamander is no exception. He blindly rushes to the longitudes and latitudes mentioned by the damsel. A gloomy mansion awaits him there. Dreary, dark and menacing; stands the mansion. But it takes more than that to intimidate Salamander. He is inside the mansion in a flash. However neither terrible monsters nor pretty damsel await him. He rushes from room to room. But there is nothing. Void fills the whole place – sheer emptiness. What is he to do? He keeps going from room to room. How can so many rooms fit inside a single mansion? The rooms seem endless and he is beginning to tire out. Then suddenly he catches a whiff from far away. A familiar, pleasant odor! The smell of something burning! Fire, at last! He rushes in the direction of the burning smell. Soon he finds himself in a large hall. There is a single table right in the middle of the room, a chair next to it and huge urn of blazing fire at its center.

His joy knows no bounds. He would soon regain all his energy. He leaps on to the chair and reaches out for the delicious flames. But his tongue feels no pleasant burning sensations. There are no flames. It is just an illusion. A trap! He is furious. Whoever has done this to him would pay! No one who messed with Salamander got away lightly. But he is unable to get up. The villains seem to have put glue on his seat. He is now in a sticky situation. In a few hours, his energy would be drained away by the darkness and then the felons would emerge out of the darkness. Is this the end of this super hero’s saga?

But Salamander still has a trick up his sleeve or rather down his mouth. His fiery tongue – that has got him out of so many sticky situations in the past. He concentrates hard and gathers all his remaining energy to the tip of his tongue. He then opens his mouth and exhales. A brilliant ball of fire bursts out and the chair catches fire. It would be a matter of minutes and the sticky trap would be reduced to ashes.

But his joy is short lived. The chair of course has got burnt away and he is now free. But there is a small problem. His posterior had also caught fire and it is burning. And it hurts! How could this be? How could fire hurt the Salamander? To learn the answer one has to takes a trip down his memory lane.

His mother had taken him as a baby to the great temple of the fire God and offered him to the sacred flames. The flames had purified his entire body and made him invulnerable. But his posteriors by which his mother held him had not felt the holy flames and had remained vulnerable. Now that was proving to be his undoing. This had happened to Achilles, to Duryodhana and now to him. Why were Gods always so jealous of heroes and kept doing this to them all the time?

His eyes begin to close and his consciousness begins to fade away slowly. His mind reflects on the calm, serene, divine face of his mother .He can hear her mellifluous voice calling out to him from a distance. “Salaman!” “ Son Salaman!“ “My dear son Salaman! ” His mother’s voice seems to be having a miraculous healing effect on him and he is regaining consciousness. He opens his eyes. His mother’s face has become absolutely clear now. So has her voice. “Get up, Salman! You need to get ready for school!” She is standing by the bed and shaking him hard.

He was Salman Dhar – a 11 year old school boy. By the day! By night, he became the powerful alter ego – Salamander. He still felt the burning sensation from his previous night’s adventures. Or was it the fiery bucket he had at Kentucky Fried chicken outlet the previous night after watching his favorite super hero movie? He went into the pot chamber and relieved himself. His posterior was beginning to feel much better. But it was followed by the realization that the relief would only be short lived.

A worse fate than Salamander awaited Salman. He had spent the previous night at the newly opened mall – at the multiplex watching the latest English super hero movie followed by an even more wonderful time savoring the delicacies at the KFC restaurant. Consequently his homework had got neglected. Now it was coming back to haunt him. His teacher’s cane would once again set his posterior on fire. He was now in a sticky situation. He pondered how he could get out of it.

Whereas Salamander had only a fiery tongue, Salman also had a sharp mind. Soon he had a plan in place. Salman did not rush in blindly like Salamander. He believed in strategic planning. As per his plan, he put on a tired face and flopped down on the bed. He started making low whining noises as he saw his mother approach.

“Ma, I am feeling very tired and sleepy. My whole body is paining”, he said. His mother got worried and returned with a thermometer. She put it into his mouth. Salman concentrated hard and put all his energy into his tongue. He thought hard about the previous night’s fiery bucket. Slowly the mercury began to rise. It had hit 101 by the time his mother pulled the thermometer out.

“You don’t need to go to school today. I will call up and inform the teacher. Go and lie down!”

His sharp mind and fiery tongue had once again saved the day. He happily tucked himself into the bed with one of his favorite super hero comics. Reading it, he was soon fast asleep. It was time for another adventure to begin.

Posted for Indibligger contest sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Disclaimer - I found the image on someone else's blog through google images. The other blogger also seems to have lifted from somewhere. If real owner comes across this, do let me know what you want me to do. Can't give any money as I earn nothing from my blog.

The paradox of the middle class in Indian Democracy

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:32:00 +0000

I have always felt there is a paradox about middle class behavior in Indian democracy. We are the ones who contribute most to the running of the government. We pay income tax with least default. We pay for the sales tax on most goods. We work for the companies that shell out corporate taxes. So directly or indirectly we seem to be the Atlas on whose shoulders the entire weight of the government rests. Yet we are the ones the government pays least heed to. We crib the most about government functioning. Yet we do not seem too keen on voting. And in spite of all our criticism, we are staunchest defenders of the system. We are not interested in radically changing the system but in finding quick fix solutions within the system. I found this all a bit too weird.

A deeper introspection on this paradox made it clear to me that possibly the above observations are not an anomaly but a logical consequence of the system design. So I would like to share my insights on the same. Let us start with a simple model. Let us forget things such as caste, religion, regional feelings, specialized trade groups and lobbies etc. for time being. Let us just consider just 3 sets of stakeholders – the rich, the poor and the middle class. Who would need the government most?

The rich have enough money. With their money they can buy guards/weapons to protect themselves and their wealth and use their power to acquire more money which in turn will make them even more powerful and the cycle can continue. So government and laws are at best a hindrance to them.

Let us consider the case of the poor. They benefit the least if current state of affairs continue. So they benefits most by rocking the current system. They are already in the worst possible situation. So things can’t get worse. In a lawless situation, they can indulge in thievery and extortion and take what they want for themselves. Laws and governments prevent them from doing the same, keeping them poor.

If we take the case of the middle class, we are the most vulnerable of the three. If poor take to lawlessness, the middle class is the soft target. The rich are too powerful. Similarly if the rich want to increase their wealth, the middle class would be the target as there is nothing to snatch from the poor. So middle class are the ones who need the government most to let us keep our hard earned wealth and continue leading our lives.

So we see middle class are the ones who need the government most. So for the system to be stable, it has to bring the other two classes on board. So if the rich have to relinquish their direct power, they should have indirect power through the government. This can only happen if they have their men in the government protecting their interests. Similarly the poor need continuous incentives to be kept in line. That is why subsidies, reservations, free stuff etc. play an important role in politics.

So for the system to stable, we need governments that dance to the tunes of the rich in the background and pander to the short term wishes of the poor in the open. What is the charm in being a member of such a government? Your just a puppet to the rich and are forced to keep taking populous measures that may not be in the long term interest of the country as a whole. So only incentive can be personal gain. Any surprises why only the corrupt are attracted to politics? As one senior politician had once famously remarked, the one who takes honey out of the beehive will definitely lick his forearm.

If we see from the middle class point of view, in spite of the corruption and populism, we are able to carry on with our lives. We can go to work, earn money, watch cricket and movies, take vacations and foreign trips, read novels, blog, sleep, eat, marry, have children etc. without any serious hindrance. So obviously we don’t want to rock the boat. That is the reason for our staunch support of the system. But we realize the inherent unfairness of the system. That is why the cribbing. However we know in the heart of hearts that we cannot get a government that gives importance to our interests. That is probably the cause for indifference towards participation in the democratic process.

Elaborating on the indifference, a lot has been said about importance of middle class voting. But if one were to consider the voter equation in any typical constituency, the middle class will not have sufficient strength to single handedly influence the results. At best we can be the deciding factor between two candidates – both of who have equal money, muscle, media and caste power. By that we can ensure they are not totally ignored in governance. But still middle class will always have to have the last place in the government’s pecking order. Other than that possibly voting is a symbolic gesture in support of these governance institutions that middle class need for their survival. Not a prospect that can really excite everyone, eh? So are we justified in totally castigating the ones who chose not to exercise their franchise as unpatriotic and insensitive?

Possibly, my arguments so far may suggest I am advocating continuation of status quo. In fact I do not. Though I feel things are quite in balance, it is an unstable equilibrium that can be upset at any time. A stable equilibrium would be one where the poor are continuously being moved up the ladder so that continuously the number of poor keeps reducing while the number of middle class keeps increasing. Eventually we would have a situation where middle class become a deciding factor. Then with complete support on one side of the class divide, the government can put a collar on the rich. Eventually the inequalities can decrease and we develop a mature stable society. But those who are currently in power have been spawned by the current situation. It would be hara-kiri on their part to try to change the situation. So they would do the best to maintain status quo. And if the status quo gets upset by a religious or communist revolution or a military coup, the results can be disastrous as evidenced in many other parts of the world.

So the least destructive path I can see is the path Anna Hazare and co has taken. Pushing and prodding the government inch by inch. This would of course be a long and painful process, requiring a lot of patience. But eventually if one can drain the gain seeking possibilities in politics, the current breed of politicians would make way for a better class of statesmen. I have seen lot of people suggesting that middle class should enter into politics instead of participating in the Anna Hazare kind of movements. I do appreciate middle class people who try to enter into politics. But I doubt if they will be see any success in the next 10-15 years. If Anna Hazare type of movements continues incessantly for next 10-15 years, being a constant pain in the ass, then possibly some of the current political crowd would exit the scene, leaving some space which these middle class aspirants can try to fill. Then it would take another 10-15 years to take the country on the path to a stable equilibrium. In my assessment, I would say a two pronged approach of protests and petitions on one side and an attempt to create true statesmen on the other side if persistently adhered to can lead to true progress somewhere 30 years down the line. But both are absolutely necessary and one can succeed in the absence of the other.

A corporate parable

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:14:00 +0000

Once upon a time, not too long ago, in a mid size software company, there worked a team of software engineers. They were smart, hard working and team players. They were one of the most productive teams in the company. And as far as the quality of work went – there were never any defects. They listened attentively to every little requirement from the client, sat together and analyzed the impact, identified the dependencies, created robust designs, planned their work, coded and delivered to the client. The client was very happy with the team and so was the CEO of the company.

The CEO wanted to reward the team for their great work. So he called them all to have dinner with him. Over the dinner he greatly appreciated their contributions to the company and asked them if they needed something. They were happy with the salary, they were happy with the work life balance, they were happy with the quality of work. But they were missing one thing which all other teams had – a project manager. So they requested the CEO to assign them a project manager.

The CEO was very surprised at the request. He told them they were doing pretty fine without a project manager. Why not instead they ask for a 10% pay hike or a month of paid vacation in Malaysia or specialized trainings in the latest design methodologies. He was sure any of these would be much more beneficial than a project manager. But the team was adamant. They had never worked under a project manager. They had always seen other teams having a project manager. So they also wanted one. The CEO relented and decided to humor them. After all they were the company’s top performing team and he had to keep them happy. They possibly knew best what would make them happy.

The CEO pondered over what kind of project manager would be best for the team. He did not want someone who would upset the team’s rhythm. He preferred someone who would encourage the team and enable them to reach greater heights. His thoughts meandered for a while and got stuck on an elderly gentleman he had met at the airport a couple of months back. The plane had been delayed by 2 hours and they had had a very interesting conversation. He had been a HR manager and he had retired from full time employment. Right now he was working as freelance consultant taking up light assignments on short term basis. The CEO had been very impressed with his ideas on talent management. He had taken his card, hoping to engage his services some time. Probably the time to call him up had come now.

The team was very excited about getting a project manager at last. He was always there to listen whenever a team member had something to say. He arranged cool project parties and some amazing team building sessions in some really exotic locations. He came up with a comprehensive training plan for them and helped them in upgrading their skill. The CEO had earlier believed the team had touched the pinnacle of performance. But the 6 months since the new project manager had taken his position had proven him wrong. The team was now setting new standards. They were using their newly gained skills to proactively create value for the client. The client no longer viewed them as programmers but as consultants for their overall IT strategy.

The CEO was very happy with the results. He had to credit the boys on their wise choice. The idea of getting a project manager had worked really well. It was now time to replicate the model across the rest of the company. He decided to take them on an offsite in Mauritius and discuss with them on the things that worked well for them so that they could carry the best practices across the company. He was however very surprised by what he heard.

Strangely. the software engineers were not too satisfied with the current state of affairs. They complained that their project manager was not a 'real' project manager. He did not understand programming at all. He never got into the details of wor. He only talked ‘global gyan’ all the time. And he was too soft. No way could he command respect like a 'true' project manager. They had asked for a project manager to manage them and not a nanny to molly coddle them. The CEO thought for a while and made his decision. They would have a project manager of their choice. Since they had not been happy with the CEO’s choice, this time they themselves could draft the job description for the role.

The boys excitedly put together all the qualities and qualifications based on what they had heard about project managers from the other teams. Soon they had a nice JD ready. The CEO floated the JD around, interviewed a few candidates and soon a new project manager was found.

The new project manager was just picture perfect. It was as if the CEO had had him made to order based on the job description given by the software engineers. He was an expert in the various paradigms of programming. The software engineers were just awed by his knowledge of the subject matter. And this man knew how to take charge of things unlike the earlier joke of a project manager. He had definitive views on working hours, what constituted good quality code etc. and the authority to enforce the same. He was one who believed in active participation, not passive dead wood like their previous manager. Every hour, he was at their desk asking for updates. For the first time the software engineers felt they were being ‘managed’. Now they could also talk proudly to their friends about having ‘work pressure’. Moreover the work place was also becoming more competitive and challenging. The new manager could call a spade a spade and he did not shy away from openly declaring who were his favorites. So each one had to fiercely compete against the others to attain the coveted position of ‘project manager’s favorite’.

In 6 months time, the software engineers again found themselves in a meeting with the CEO. This time the venue was not a resort or a restaurant but the CEO’s own cabin. They had once again set a company record: this time in the number of client escalations. The CEO had a grim look on his face. The software engineers had their heads down. They looked just shadows of their former selves. Some of them had already put in their papers. The CEO was yet to accept the resignations though. A few of them had been put on performance improvement programs by their new manager. The rest also did not look too good. The CEO could also sense an aura of hostility in their midst. The old camaraderie had disappeared. They were all looking unshaven and with dark circles around their eyes. All of them seemed to have lost their very life spirit.

They had all lost interest in the work. Work was increasingly becoming a burden. The stress was becoming unbearable. No matter how hard they tried they were unable to keep with the quality and timeline requirements. Each failure was further de-motivating them and they were getting sucked down a vicious vortex. The CEO smiled sadly to himself. The results had not been totally unexpected. He had tried his best to avert this situation. But they had insisted on it.

The latest addition to endangered species list: Leaders?

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:31:00 +0000

Where have you all disappeared, leaders? We look to you for guidance. Why have you abandoned us and left when we need you most? We are beset by issues. We don’t know what is right and what is wrong. We look to you for strength and wisdom and vision.

Let me reflect over some of the recent issues – genetically modified crops, nuclear technology, FDI in retail and Lokpal Bill for instance. I have read a lot on each of these issues. I could not reach a conclusive opinion on any of these. The tradeoff in each case seems a difficult one. On one side, GM crops seems like a solution to all the problems of human nutrition needs. On the other hand, there is the risk to our health and putting our food security into the hands of greedy multinational corporations. On one side nuclear technology seems to be the answer to pollution free energy needs. On the other hand, there is the risk of health hazards of radiation to the people in the vicinity and major loss of life if an explosion were to occur. On one side, FDI in retail offers to make distribution of goods efficient, eliminating the leaches in the middle, ensuring both producers and consumers benefit. On the other hand, there is fear that all local production will be destroyed by Chinese goods and both producers and consumers will be left at mercy of foreign corporations. On one side, Jan Lok Pal seems to be the solution to the problem of corruption of bureaucracy. On the other hand, it seems to be just another layer of bureaucracy to slow down the country’s progress.

The devil I would say, in all these issues, lies in the details. And most of us have our own professions and lives and do not have the time and resources to dwell into the details of all these issues. That’s why we need leaders who spend their full time dwelling into the details and taking the decisions that best satisfy the aspirations of the entire nation. No decision will result in a win win situation for all the 1 billion people. Definitely there will be some who lose out. But a good leader can inspire his men to even willingly throw himself off a cliff for the greater good. Thousands of people boldly came out and bore the lathi charge when Mahatma Gandhi gave his call. Didn’t they?

A nation is a too abstract a concept. It is the leaders who present the concrete face to the concept of nation. When leaders do not inspire awe, patriotism cannot be anything beyond frenzied excitement over a cricket match or a Bollywood film. It would be unreasonable to expect a citizen to put his neck on the line for something as flimsy as that. So every decision is going to be resented by the affected people and policy has to come to a standstill. So decisions will get taken only on a reactive basis at the times of crisis and at the bidding of vested interests who can manipulate public opinion using the 3 Ms of money, muscle and media. If this state of affairs continue, I can only see the country and the world in general running like a headless chicken and plunging down a spiral.

An astute observer can notice lot of signs of people’s longing for a leader – a true hero. Idolization of film stars and sport persons is one such sign. Holding on to icons from the past such as Ashoka and Akbar is another sign. Unfortunately, despots and corrupt military leaders capitalize on this situation and come to power. That is like replacing king log with king stork – a cure worse that the disease. Lot of blood has to be shed before democracy is restored. Democracy again brings back the state of pervasive rot and coma causing people to start longing for some vitality and action again. Is there any end to this?

A tryst with death

noreply@blogger.com (The Fool) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:09:00 +0000

He lay on his bed. The silhouette of a man on a buffalo, a lasso in his hand could be seen outside the window.

“My time has not yet come, my Lord. You had promised me five full years of life. I still have four months left. I have so much more left to do here”, he yelled frantically, mustering together the last bit of his life.

Lord Yama had a calm, serene smile on his face as he materialized in front of the dying man. “Do you remember my exact boon to you?"

“Yes, my lord, every word of it. Finish all your unfinished business, son, you had said”, “Twenty seven are the stars that adorn the blue sky. And twenty seven times a hundred thousand minutes of life have your noble deeds earned you. Not a second more not a second less do I give you. Use every one of it wisely”.

Naresh gasped for breath and continued, “I did find it a bit strange that you gave me my boon in minutes. But that did not matter. All I needed was 5 years and what you had given me amounted to a little more than that. Now you are cutting me short by 4 months.” His expression had changed from fear to righteous rage.

However his outburst did not seem to have had any effect whatsoever on the Lord of Death. In the same calm voice he continued to speak. “Did you notice anything new in your room when I gave you back your life?”

Naresh was a bit perplexed by the question. Was the Lord of Death trying to change the topic? But no God, least of all the God of death come to claim your life, was to be messed with. So he answered, “Yes there was a small box in a corner of a room. It had some white shiny powder in it. I threw the stuff into the dustbin and to my surprise it filled itself again. I did not know what to do with it. So I just let it remain in a corner. What has that got to do with my four months?”

“Well my son, your remaining four months were in that box and you let it go waste.”. Seeing the confused expression on Naresh’s face he continued, “Well. That was an unlimited supply of Surf Excel Matic. If you had used it, that would have saved two hours of your time every single day of the last four years and a half, which would have amounted to four months. After all there is no such thing as a complete free lunch, eh? I expected you to have shown some initiative and reached out for at least those few months. You missed the opportunity”

Naresh just hung his head in an air of resignation. Whoever named death a ‘grim’ reaper had not possibly been properly acquainted with death’s sense of humor. But then you can’t blame them either. Not too many people who acquainted closely with death lived to tell the tale.

This post has been posted for the Surf Excel Matic contest contest conducted jointly by Indiblogger and HUL. Click here to read the other entries or participate in the contest.

The picture has been taken from google images. No clue who owns it. If the owner requests with proper proof of ownership, I can take it down or give proper credits. I am earning nothing from my blog. So can't give any financial compensation.