Chiru !

For the umpteenth time in its history, my HCL LeapTop rose from the dead !
Like DK tells me, only two men have ever done this before -Rajnikanth aka Sivaji the Boss (remember that great climax( read comedy) where Sivaji returns as MGR) and His Highness Sir Quick Gun Murugan (a lot more believable i must say :) ) !

So as my laptop sorry lEap top becomes the third object on earth to accomplish this feat and the first to achieve it more than once, i cant help but feel proud of it !

To those who dunno, let me fill you in -Follow the following Chronology of events :

16th October, A.D.2009,11.37 AM :i restart my lappy due to the unbearable pestering of one mental of a programme called Windows Automatic Updates ! And the update apparently so blatantly useless that my poor lappy never recovers.The last time I saw it alive.

12 noon : I am still trying to turn my laptop on !

12.10 PM : i try removing the battery , wiping the insides of my lappy and other mechanical methods which include banging it with R.K.Bhansal's Fluid Mechanics and Machinery and the age old "shake well before use" .Nothing works . :(

1.00 PM :I try reinstalling the OS ! It says "No hard disks installed " !
Im at my wits end ! Pulling out tufts of hair and periodically banging my table , occasionally breaking a useless n throwable pen !

1.30 PM : i go have lunch and get back to banging the table ! Now throwing notebooks for better effect !
The Laptop still doesnt get a wind of my rage.

2.00 PM : Tired, i take a box of celebrations from the fridge, lock myself up inside my bedroom ! I may add, nobody in the household notices anything odd with me ! Hw distressing ! I fall asleep soon !

4.30 PM : A Festive atmosphere with Diwali eve setting in. With unsure hope, try to boot the lappy.It wont budge. In the most courageous act in the evening throw the 900 page R.K.Bhansal across the room on a mirror.Mirror survives attack but a glass of Milk kept on the dressing table doesnt ! As Horlicks showers on me, i have more ruthless showers of not-so-nice-sounding words from my mother ! Ah...very forgettable !


6.00 PM : Sister is running about happily enjoying Diwali ! How can she ! I Pick a fight with her ! Im in tears by the end of it....boo hoo !!!!!


7.00 PM : Rage -----> Comedy....whole world seems funny and i cant stop laughing...seeing my sudden mood transition , others in the household ask me whats wrong ? Why does me laughing look odd to em ??


10.00 PM : Sad but getting philosophical go to bed.Khwaajaji gives me the reqd. support !


17th Oct: its Diwali and there's happiness around. Easy to get distracted.But within me, i know nothiing's rite...Feel really really sad abt my laptop and even more sad that i can do nothing about it ! Overall a bad day ! One of my gloomiest Diwalis !


18th Oct , 2.30 AM : When my nite's sleep gets disrupted with Lappy nightmares, i can stand it no more !
I get up ,remove my laptop's cover, open its back and remove each part out , dust the insides of the laptop and remove the harddisk and clean it ( though highly idiotic) and put it back in ! Gives me some satisfaction that ive tried something to help my lappy at least !


8.30 AM : Ater a disturbed night's sleep, get up, open my laptop and try starting it ! It still wont start ! not losing heart, i try reinstalling the OS again !

BINGO !!!! the OS installation does shoot off !Finally encouraging signs ! Mechanical repair always works ! Mech Rockz ! :) :p

8.45 AM :My next concern is the nearly 11 GB of movies stuck in C Drive which i lose if i proceed with formatting the local disk ! By a Dare devil stunt, i format another empty drive on the laptop ! In effect im preparng to install two Windows XP Operating Systems on the same laptop ! Wow !

I consult Dr.Arun Balaji (My family Comp Doctor since 2003) , and Dr.N.Karthik (my latest Doctor) for if my idea is ok ! They both agree with me give me their blessings !

9.05 AM: I carry forward boldly with the re-installation ! Magically, it works ! I back up all the almost lost movies into safer bases !

12 noon : 48 hours after my laptop died, it magically comes back to life ! I decide to name my laptop Chiranjeevi (Chriu in short) or "the Immortal" ! My laptop is officially the 8th Chiranjeevi in Hindu Mythology !

Some Lessons I learnt :

1) NEVER USE ORIGINAL WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEMS !! The original one crashed infinitely sooner than the pirated I have in my comp since 4 years !

2) YOU ARE BETTER THAN THE MAN AT HCL HELP DESK !! Always on a relative scale the HCL Help Desk Man is 0 ! So Trust yourself instead of going to him ! He may have probably replaced my laptop !

3) R.K.BHANSAL IS A HEAVY BOOK AND DOESNT LIKE BEING THROWN AROUND ! No exp reqd. !

4) ANJALI(my sister) IS NOT THE BEST PERSON TO VENT YOUR ANGER ON ! Her arsenal of expletives is far wider than mine as my flabbergasted self realised! Moreover She's a mental assassin !

5) HOW MUCH EVER WINDOWS TELLS YOU, YOUR COMP WORKS BEST WITHOUT ITS TOXIC UPDATES !! Microsoft should start issuing advisories : For best results, dont update ,especially from Microsoft !!

This is the story of the birth or rebirth of Chiru - My laptop !
May he live happily ever after ! We both seek your Blessings !!

The Rise and fall of Socialism in India !

It was 1991 and Manmohan Singh was on his path to history. He was preparing with a great deal of knowledge and research backed enthusiasm , the New Economic Policy- a set of path breaking laws which meant India would move away from a Socialist-leaning mixed economy to a semi-capitalist economy ! That meant a lot at that time, and still does, as we look at it 18 years down the line !

India is finally recovering from the wounds it acquired in the colonial era and left unattended during the long decades after it !

So why am i suddenly talking about this ? I am because of a recent eye opener i had in the form of a book called “Imagining India" written by Nandan Nilekani and more recently, I had a snub from Vijayan Sir. While the former taught me the importance of capitalism and globalization as a phenomenon all over the globe, and especially India, the latter showed me how deep Socialism is rooted into the blood of millions of Indians!

Lets start with the background of Capitalism vs. Socialism! 19th Century was marked by European Imperialism over the rest of the World where they settled in their colonies. By the end of this age of imperialism, two new schools of economies started coming into picture - Capitalism & Socialism. While Capitalism evolved in the Western world, essentially USA, the latter was a distinct Eastern World Concept. The two were similar in that they both denounced Imperialism. The difference lay in that Capitalism advocated the rise of an economy by the efforts few enterprising men termed entrepreneurs, while Socialism preached the social development of a nation with emphasis on equality of all men. The 20th Century saw the rise and fall and a series of face-offs between Capitalism and Socialism in the form of the Soviet-USA cold war and finally as the century was drawing to a close, Socialism finally fell with the fall of the Soviet Union.

India post independence had strong reasons to lean towards the left i.e. Socialism. It had suffered at the hands of British imperialism for two centuries. Our policy makers then did not see much of a difference between the newly rising concept called Capitalism and the vulgar imperialism of the British .It didn’t help either that just when capitalism was rising, the Great Depression of 1930 shook the capitalist nations of the World. India though, couldn’t become a Socialist Nation because of the Global affairs of that time (the British, allies of capitalist USA , didn’t want to lose India over to the Soviets). So just like Nehru always did with everything right from Non Alignment movement, he came up with his own new gang called “Mixed Economy”, though in essence, India followed a populist Socialist principle.

Nehru with his charisma and respect did a lot to keep criticism on India’s rising corruption and economy spiraling down at bay. However when his corrupt daughter Indira rose to power, the country first saw the implications of Socialism on their daily life. Their dreams were narrowed down to the basic necessities of life. While the rich grew richer, the poor grew poorer quite against the promises of their government. No benefits to the upper class trickled down to the lower classes as were supposed to. And the redistribution of assets, an essentially socialist idea, was a big joke when the money to be redistributed evaporated into thin air and the richer got it back from elsewhere. The educated didn’t have jobs and the uneducated didn’t know how to earn a living except start their own businesses. The Government did not encourage people having independent businesses unless of course they were big enough to tame the govt. itself. Thus it was a cycle in which the Indian economy was trapped-Unemployment and restrictions on self-employment. This story continued until 1991.

1991 was a landmark year for the World and specifically for India .No ,not because I was born. Because the Soviet fell (and Socialism with it), the Gulf War erupted in the Middle East( which meant India would have to pay a fortune for getting oil) and India finally decided that with a exceedingly regulated or rather restricted closed economy, providing the people of the nation with basic necessities would be impossible. Oil prices were sky rocketing and India’s debt position with the World Bank was at a very sorry state of affairs !

It was under these circumstances that Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister took a bold step towards Capitalism , Globalization and liberalization opening India’s gates to Foreign Investment, to ambitious entrepreneurs and thus to a brighter India . Since then India’s fortunes have suddenly seen a reversal and India is undoing the tangles of the past ! Until 1989 , Pakistan beat India in almost all respects and now 20 years later, India is miles ahead establishing itself at the top of the World’s fastest growing economies ! All this due to the growth of Capitalism and Private Sector in India !

The growth of the private Sector in turn made the Public sector a lot more efficient . For instance, with the rise of a Jet airways, Indian Airlines bettered its services and with the arrival of an Airtel, BSNL improved its customer satisfaction. Around the same time, India found its long searched “strength”- Information Technology thanks to one man called Rajiv Gandhi. IT in India has empowered India and given it a huge foundation to build its growth on ! IT in today’s scenario is an important tool to check corruption- one of the wounds that is still hurting India.

Today , India is a well regulated free market economy ! The huge advantage this kind of an economy has was seen recently when India thanks to its strong regulations on the banking sector remained insulated from the worst part of the Global Recession!

With greater encouragement and rewards for entrepreneurship, the job market will automatically see an upsurge.

This in essence describes why India's shift to capitalism is a thing to cheer about and not complain about as Vijayan does. Today,even the inventors of socialism (read Russia and China) are predominantly captalist . Why, in India, even the CPI(M) ,India’s largest outright socialist party, were recently seen fighting to setup the TATA Nano plant in Singur-Socialists fighting for capitalism ! Ironical Indeed !

-From A-socialist-turned-capitalist-and-globalization-supporter !

An Oath of Tenacity !!

                          The lives of great machines is marked by how they die ! And yours is at the very top ! As  we solemnly grieve the end of your final battle, as we take pride in your stature till the final attack and as we  cherish the memories of a distinguished life you led, we cant help fill the void your sudden departure leaves in our hearts !

                          Today , we will take inspiration from you, who refused to bow to the arms of evil. From you who showed us that we fight evil not by choice but by necessity. From you who showed us that the path to glory is not the easiest ! 

                         Today we take inspiration from you to continue your legacy,to finish the noble war you started, to achieve your dreams & aspirations. 

                       Today we hold back our tears, tears which may weaken us on the long road ahead,  tears which may blur our vision for our ultimate task & tears which may cause fear for the path lying in front of us !

                       As each of us grieves your end today, we take an oath - The Oath of Tenacity ! The oath to fight every single work of the evil . And you will be our pathfinder in this divine task !

                        We collect every single bit of inspiration , we carry every single strand of hope and we hold back every single drop of tear as each of this will help us in our divine war !!

And this war will be our ultimate war- either to victory & glory or to the      sand !

           To each of my comrades ! Let us do what the providence wills of us !!!

                                                    

                                                     Long Live Leap-top !!!

                                                     Long Live PC !!!

                                                     We will keep the fight on ,

                                                     Even if our hands get greasy !!!!

                                                     Best be assured ,

                                                     The fight wont be easy !!!

                                                     But we will keep the fight on ,

                                                     Until their heads go dizzy !!!

                                                     Still be assured,

                                                     The air wont be breezy !!!

                                                     But We will keep the fight on 

                                                     Until our enemies get wheezy !!

                                                     Yet be assured , 

                                                     It all wont be cheesey !!!

                                                     But we will keep fighting on ,

                                                     Till we dont make them piecy !!!

                                                    - In memory of my HCL leap top which finally succumbed - fighting !! - to an attack from viruses in the wee hours of this beautiful day.

An Introduction

An Intro to  "bloary " :

First of all, dont go look for the word bloary in any dictionary. Its my own invention.

bloary = blog + diary.

A blog diary according to my definition is a blog which is used as a diary. The famous bloariers     ( people who maintain bloaries) include Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, and loads others.

Bloaries are not updated daily unlike the conventional paper diaries.They are updated as and when the respective bloariers find it necessary.

Another important feature of a bloary is that it isn't an objective description or a post about any single thing.Its a collection of the bloary's experiences which may form basis for facts.

My Bloary :

Keeping in toe with the definition & the above description of the term "bloary" , my bloary will be irregularly updated, turbulent , and last but not the least, non sensical at most times. rare exceptions are to be pardoned.

I will also take the liberty to use my own expressions in the posts which i post here ( if i actually post something). However , for the benefit of the rare reader ( to whom i most sincerely apologize) , ill leave a glossary of expressions which are in my opinion , indifferent! 

So wishing me Best of Luck ! Thnak you !