I'm up !

You Look. You see.
You don't find me significantly troubling.
You ignore me.

You again look.
You are bored. That first problem grilled you.
You wish you could walk away and come back a little later. You cant.
But as you wish, I run.

You look, now a little exhausted.
I have been faster than you expected me to be.
Your eyes sharpen. You vow to teach me a lesson.
I continue running. Now I ignore you.

You are exasperated. But You don't look at me.
I am running behind your back now.
I am chasing you.

You know you are fighting a losing battle.
You know I'm going to win this one hands down.
But you dont give up.
To you, every inch forward, is a moment's victory.

You puff and pant.
Your palms have never sweat more, except maybe the previous time.
Just when you wouldn't like it, your pen falls down.

Finally, its over. I won. You lost.Again.
How do I manage it again and again and again?
My secret is, I never stop.
Only tides know this secret.

You stop to look at me.
And when you don't look at me, I go up.
I'm up. Stop Writing.

The Secret of Energy...

Electra was an electron. He was a copper by birth. He lived at 3D9 in a copper molecule. He was a highly energetic creature and loved running around. Elders in his house saw his penchant for running around and put him in a Drifting School. Drifting is the electronic equivalent of Engineering. It ensures an immediate job as soon as graduation is over and electrons are really paid well too. Electrons attending the Drifting school acquire at the end of their training, the ability to drift around, what they call in electronic terms, the Drift Velocity. These electrons then graduate to become F.R.E.E Electrons. Free electrons are primarily possible for drifting around in copper wires producing something called Electricity.

For two months now, Electra has been unemployed. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has taken to Load Shedding to solve the Power Crisis in the state leaving Electra and several Avogadro numbers of other electrons in the lurch. Load Shedding is the electronic equivalent of recession by the way - high unemployment rates, no jobs, no money, etc. Many electrons have also been driven to suicide or leave the copper immigrate to more electronegative elements like chlorine, fluorine where prospects are better off. 

Mokkai apart, The energy scenario of India, more particularly Tamil Nadu, is at the height of its inenviability (Dunno if there's actually a word like that).  Tamil Nadu has a power deficit of about 3000 MW. It buys 2000MW from other states, while the remaining 1000MW is compensated by load shedding. The first and favourite reaction from all of us is obviously criticising the State Government. We will be justified in doing it. While the plan was to install an additional generating capacity of nearly 2000MW in the last four years, the Government has managed only about 500MW, which is less than a quarter of the target. But Strangely, though not surprisingly, the cash from the treasury has disappeared, which obviously means Arcot Veerasamy is a richer man than he was. 

However, restraining from political brickbatting, the power crisis is more in our hands than anybody else - even the government included. This is probably the right time to learn some new things about life - an opportunity in adversity. Akio Morita, in his autobiography "Made in Japan" tells us of a very old Japanese philosophy, a concept which all Japanese will swear by, and one that is properly soaked in their bloods, so much so, that its a way of their life. This concept is called Mottainai. 

"Mottainai" is the shocked response a Japanese mother is likely to give when her son throws away the karuvepala (Curry Leaf) in the sambhar. Japan is extremely deficient in resources. They dont have minerals, they dont have space, so anything they get is a gift. It comes at a high price, but more than that, it is rare, and if it means they are getting something, it is only because someone else has been deprived of it. Indians, on the other hand, have too much of everything. Or to put it in a better manner, few people have too much of everything, while the majority lack even whats necessary.

In the energy scenario, we could take a lot from the concept of Mottainai.  For instance, Mukesh Ambani's 1 billion USD house, Antilla, has at least 25 AC's and they run the full day. Now imagine. If Mukesh Ambani stopped at least 10 of those AC's, one whole village in Tamil Nadu could get continuous power supply for the whole Summer. Hows that ?! 

Consider the following data analysis. 

Tamil Nadu's installed capacity is 15000MW which comes to about 1250MW per month. And 1100MW of that goes just to power the Air Conditioners in the month of May !! Whats the solution? Mottainai.

Lets say each household vows to use one hour less AC. 25 lakh people decide to use their AC one hour less. That comes to a figure of 6.25MW power saved everyday ! Over a month, it translates to about 200MW. 200MW could power one whole rural district for the full day for a full month !! Even those measures aren't necessary. If every household can restrict their AC consumption to just 6 hours a day, a lot of the load shedding could be done away with.

Energy saved is energy earned. I know it is cliched, but saving energy is the best solution we have got. While the rest of the world says, reduce energy consumption to reduce emissions, we have a much more important reason to do so - to share power equally among us. Ultimately, like Gandhiji says, we can only generate to our need, not to our greed. 

So, If you left a fan running in another room, and are too lazy to go switch it off again, remember, one small child will not sleep that night because of a power cut in his house.

If you feel like sleeping in the afternoon with the AC on, remember, many people have lost sleep because of the heat and not even a fan to fight it. 

If you feel like keeping your laptop/ computer switched on the whole day cos you are too bored to switch it off and on again and again, remember, hundreds of textile mill labourers lost their livelihoods just because their milling units dont get power.

Boost is not the secret of Energy. The secret of energy is Mottainai. Use it. You can make the difference !

The Despicability of IPL-4

Long Long ago, so long ago, no one knows how long ago, when God, who was on a creation spree, accidentally added the chemical X to his latest recipe of thakkali sadham, a new species was born with a unique sixth sense - that of perception and thought. Several millenia later, these thinking organisms started playing around with other movable and immovable objects and creating stuff of their own. Precisely at that juncture, an apple fell on two creatures' heads. One useless man thought why the apple didn't go up and in that process ensured his name on the "Most Abominably Admonished People of All Times" incurring the unanimous wrath of all subsequent generations of innocently ignorant students. The other, a rather entreprising organism, an elephant, thought it would be an entertaining prospect to throw the apple around and hit it with its trunk, especially if there were other elephants around. Contrary to popular belief, they invented cricket.


Several Centuries later, when Homo Sapiens were taking over the world, establishing their supremacy in everything, they also managed to route Elephants, and a huge horde of other jungle animals (for the game had spread far and wide by then) in the game of cricket and rewrote the history of the sport, giving no credit to the original inventors. Gradually Indians, like everyone else learnt how to play the game from Elizabeth, Captain Russell's sister, and under their first Captain, Aamir Khan who hit a blistering century on debut, managed to beat the Englishmen - Yes, Cricket was born in India. Inspired by Aamir Khan's cricketing skills, several men with a heavy purse decided that it was time to start a Board for Cricket Control in India. And the BCCI, in a desperate bid to spend all their (black) money away before Lokpal Bill was passed a few years later, decided that it was time to start the Indian Premier League. To cut a long story short, before long IPL-4 started.


When IPL-4 started, little did I expect that I would end up despising it so much. But, I am hopeful you will agree that what happened to me was an extremely natural thing to happen to anyone who had seen what I saw that fateful day - a sight of a purple turbaned Navjot Singh Sidhu. Legend has it that a young boy hit Sidhu on the head with an extremely hard cork ball for talking too much and since then, with brains addled, Sidhu has been wearing the turban. Sadly however, he never stopped talking. Another famous story is that of the word 'Verbiose' which famously went into depression and subsequently committed suicide after listening to Sidhu talking. Verbiate, the son of Verbiose, is also said to have very cold relations with Sidhu. In fact, sources from Buckingham Palace also tell me that the rare occasions when she watches Extraaa Innings, the distressed Queen considers giving up speaking English, or on other extreme occasions, giving up speaking altogether. This disease is however not restricted to the Queen alone. Its a WHO certified epidemic sweeping the planet commonly called Sidhuism.


Extraaa Innings watchers however find solace in the fact that the programme breaks into breaks longer than the length of the program. And momentarily, their pulse rate drops back to 72 from the soaring 100 plus rate after seeing Sidhu. The commercials start looking real interesting. Peace reigns and the viewers start feeling upbeat and hum songs when a seemingly innocuous advertisement starts playing. A cute Ranbir Kapoor stands on the stage and makes an audience "laugh". And over the next 2 minutes, depressed, I'm forced to question the purpose of my existence. The idea that any "Vivekaha" (a person who can perceive goodness and badness) will laugh at the Docomo jokes even if every cubic centimeter of their blood is pumped out of the body and refilled with 100% concentrated Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas) is baffling to the point of loss of faith in human sense of humour. The ad has had many fall-outs. Primarily, PJ's (Poor Joke) are sueing Ranbir Kapoor for defamation to their rich and popular heritage. And elsewhere in the planet, frogs are known to have committed mass suicides after seeing themselves imitated by Ranbir Kapoor in the ad. This is not it, however. As a parting omment, Ranbir Kapoor calls other MNO's "Silly". Oh really !! Look who's talking ?!?!?


Thoroughly depressed after the twin shocks of Sidhu and Ranbir Kapoor, the viewers switch off the TV and come back just in time to watch the match, right on the dot. A few overs pass by and the faith in cricket starts restoring itself finally. Harsha Bhogle and Robin Jackman give us a few glimpses into the dying art of cricket commentating, until, for some unfathomable reason, feel a desperate urge to go down to the centre for a podcast. Thats when you wish you were never born. Obnoxity in the extreme form of Archana smiles at you widely, making you wonder if the tailor working on human skin up there in heaven missed a few stitches on her mouth. She picks on players who so ignorantly didn't notice the sly shadow of the devil slowly approaching them. When she is too close to run away from, the interview starts. The interview format roughly includes she asking a question for 1 minute, taking the mike close to the player's face for 10 seconds and then annoyingly laughing on the mike for the remainder of the interview. Archana's interviews are especially flabbergasting to cricket fans because they strongly felt that the worst of cricket anchoring ended with the abhorance called Mandira Bedi. Mandira Bedi, now, however looks like a cool, sensible cricket analyst.

All in all, the oldest cricketers – the elephants – have the most to lose out of IPL-4. Not only has their gentle (later gentleman’s) game become a living insult to their senses, to top it, Sreesanth is a ‘Kochi Tusker’. Sigh! Thank god I am not an elephant. I only have to tolerate it from a distance and am not a part of the joke myself. The elephants aren’t that fortunate.  And ya, the word ‘joke’ sends shivers down my spine. Ranbir Kapoor haunts my mind. If there ever was a sincere prayer, it is this. God save cricket !!

P.S: In the first draft, CSK featured in more than half the length of the post. 

Sitting on a moving train....

I'm sitting on a moving train thinking of my life.
As I look out through the window,
I see trees and the lamp posts hurtling past by my side.
I wonder, if events, the people, the memories,
Are fleeting and momentary just as the trees outside.

I'm sitting on a moving train, thinking of my dreams,
As my eyes droop, Of ambitions, my desires,
I see what I want to see, nice, big and clear.
I wonder, Getting what I want to get, if its sleep I'm under,
And awake suddenly, I wish I didn't wonder.

I'm sitting on a moving train, feeling truly bored.
As a million thoughts come knocking, at my mind's door,
I lose my hold over my mind as the thoughts break in,
I wonder if in the million, there is a single great one,
That ll take me to greatness, and glory to equal the Sun.

I'm sitting on a moving train, seeing a small baby,
As it dances, innocent, carefree and ever-happy,
I see it cuddled, kissed and loved,
I wonder why I ever grew up, to sit here today,
To a life that between extremes of bad luck, manages to sway.

I'm sitting on a moving train, thinking of life,
As the train slows down, and its noise finally dies,
I can see around calmness, broken by chatter,
Chatter of a thousand people, ready to move on,
For the train may stop and the train will stop, But our life must go on.

Why I shouldn't have supported "India against Corruption"...

I am extremely upset, angry and disappointed with myself. For the last 4 days now, I have been supporting "India against Corruption", watching Anna Hazare live on all the news channels, been attending Candle light marches, been updating statuses on fb denouncing corruption, been tweeting calling politicians names, posted, blogged, etc. Inadvertently, I have made the biggest mistake of my life. I made a big mistake in supporting the campaign.

When I first heard of Anna Hazare going on a hunger strike, I was inspired. One man would again lead the crusade against the establishment as the father of our nation had once done. It captured the imagination of a billion people, and I was no exception. But at that moment I didn't realise what I was getting into. The movement has been a huge success, and as the truth sinks in, I realise the how erroneous my judgement was.

After this, I shall never be able to go out on my bike without a licence, papers or helmet and then pay the traffic police 50 rupees and get away with it. I shall not be able to break traffic signals even when no one else is around. I shall not be able to get licences without learning how to drive. I shall not be able to bribe the licence inspector.

Now, if my GRE is up in a fortnight and I dont have a passport, I will have to postpone my date. I will not be able to pay the official at Shastri Bhavan or pay a good sum to an agent to get me the passport before that.

Now, if some government offiicial refuses to do work, without me giving him 200 rupees, I will have to walk out without getting my job done. Yeah, I cant pay him money.

Now, for any job that I need to get done at some Government Office, I will have to stand in queues and do it myself. I cant get it done through some inside man there.

I shall not be able to come out of a shop without collecting a bill even if it means I will have to wait for it for sometime. Not doing that would mean contributing to black money which I have myself fought against.

Not just government offices. Personally, I shall never be able to give a leave letter feigning illness, get On-Duty and go to a movie, or even bunk classes telling the teacher that I am doing project work, when I am actually going to play football.

In what may seem far more trivial, I can never get my paper selected for a technical symposium by using the influence of a friend who is organising it. When I am organising the symposium, I cant make a deal with the first prize winner to give me half his money. I cannot take away cash from the funds for my personal use.

I will always have to follow the rules. No, not because some patriotic proponent of this anti-corruption movement will come and slap me for it. No one will. I will have to follow the rules because my conscience will slap me every second if I dont stand by the high standard of principles that the movement has set for me.

Winning the battle against corruption is a complex process. It certainly doesn't end at marching with people who are on hunger strikes. It may begin with the entire nation, but ultimately ends at the individual. Our nation is corrupt, because we, the people, are corrupt. And the fight against corruption shall not end until we decide to get rid of the corruption that lies within us. If two days down the line, we get back to our old ways of bribing and influencing and favouritism and shortcuts, the Struggle would have been for nothing.

Today, we may rejoice that we have forced the establishment to make a change. But what we havent realised is, no amount of changing the establishment will help the fight against corruption. What we actually need to change is our own self. We have fought to bring change to the country. But are we ready to change ourselves?

Talking Of Amma,Tamil Nadu and Elections !

The Amma in the title refers not to my mother, though it could, cos Mom's rock too. But, no, it refers to my favourite, most entertaining, most inspirational, and most many-other-adjectives-which-I-cant-think-of-right-now, politican - Ms.J.Jayalalitha. (Is there an extra 'a' at the end ? I dunno, think there is).

Why am I writing this now? Cos India winning the World Cup is an old story. Plus, we are having a rare moment in history where news channels are having nothing more significant to report than some distinct nincompoop in Pakistan calling random people and their comments "stupid" . You dont know who that is ? I'll give you a clue, his first name is Shahid and last name Afridi. Nothing more, you find out who it is now ! (You may accuse me of hypocrisy, that Shahid Afridi post is still fresh in my mind, but ill take that) What this means is, elections in Tamil Nadu which are a week away are hogging the limelight. And my hero(ine) is omnipresent.

A neutral person (a neutral person is defined as one who supports DMK during one election and ADMK during the next, and by this definition, PMK is assigned the relative measurement standard and is 0 on the Political Support Scale (PSS), parties with DMK are negative on the scale while ADMK allies are positive) would ask me why I feel Amma rocks. I will explain my stand, just as I will also tell why I think she is going to win the elections.

Amma is a two time chief minister who has done everything an average Indian politician would dream to do. She made money, snubbed her biig ally partners and got away with it (DMK needs a lesson or two on that from Amma), and even went on to arrest her primary adversary. Why, even the money-garlanded Mayawati hasn't been able to shut Mulayam and Amar behind bars. As opposed to the Live and let live concept everywhere else in the country, amma and her foe, thatha, are strong advocates of "Kill and let Kill". A lot of bloodshed on the way, but who cares? This is Rajneeti aka Arasiyal.

Tamizhnatin Che Guevara (as his supporters love to call him) aka V.Gopalsamy (as his parents had once named him) aka Vaiko (now where did that come from???) disagrees with me. To understand his vociferous disapproval of my sycophancy towards Amma, we first need to understand the background of his party.  Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam achieved national notoriety when newsreaders across the country - from Vikram Chandra to Rahul Shivshankar, from Sagarika Ghosh to Rahul Singh - realised that in their bid to bring the most exclusive news in the shortest time ,they had overlooked one horrific fact that was staring right at their faces - they could not pronounce Marumalarchi. Cant blame them, even the average sethu payyan from Sowcarpet cant pronounce Marumalarichi and often think that it is Magarmachi which is something remotely connected to a crocodile and hence, Marumalarchi DMK must be some Crocodile park started by DMK. Sigh!  You will notice how none of the newsreaders who will so comfortably say Bharatiya Janata party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, etc, will never dare expanding the names of Tamil parties. Cos they know that they will have to contend with pronouncing Ma-ru-ma-lar-chi dra-vi-da mun-ne-tra ka-zha-gam which is probably longer than the length of their newspiece on the MDMK.

Coming back to MDMK, it is a wannabe PMK. Only, they always manage to jump to the wrong side always, consistently, time and again. They are unassigned on the PSS. Mainly because no one understands whose side they are on. But one must sympathise with MDMK too. Most parties have one single issue to run their lives with and to become biig. It was Ram Mandir for BJP, Telangana for TRS, but poor MDMK chose LTTE. LTTE left the scene abruptly leaving MDMK in soup. So yeah, MDMK is out of the question.

One person I am happy will support me big time is dear Vijayakanth. Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam is syllabically shorter and hence easier to pronounce than MDMK and also shares a special symmetry with the MDMK. However, the symmetry is just in nomenclature while idealogically the two parties are diametrically opposite to each other (I dont know what their idealogy is, dont ask me). DMDK is at +0.00000001 in the PSS which makes them ADMK allies (for the moment).

In the interest of the length of this post (and the staunchness of my support to Amma), I will skip the analysis of the DMK and its allies. I will get back to singing praises of Amma. I will now tell you why Amma is my favourite, and why I think she is better off as far as the elections are concerned.

First primary reason - Corruption-wise, Amma may be another Karunanidhi, but at least she doesn't have a family !!! Yes, the money will all go, but while she is there, she will ensure that no one else beats her at it !

Second important reason  - If Nature and God actually bestow Amma with a long life as her innumerable supporters keep praying, she still has time to make use of it. In simpler words, she does not stand the risk of dropping dead the next second. And that is a relatively reassuring scenario. ;)

Third reason - She has undisputed authority at the top. If she is the chief minister, the state is totally in her control. Dear thatha cannot claim that. But I understand that he has his difficulties. He has to keep all sections of his diverse family happy together - often at the compromise of total power.

These three reasons, though not exhaustive will be the most important factors in the victory of the ADMK-alliance. Forget whatever Dorab Supariwalla and Shekar Gupta and Vir Sanghvi say. So that basically sums it up. Hope I have managed to convince you to vote for Amma !

Having said that, the Government, whether DMK or ADMK, has always looked to give the basic amenities required for prosperity. We have some urban areas developing really quick. We have great roads, highways and railways.We have farmers who aren't exactly prospering like the ones in Punjab, but are at least able to lead a respectable livelihood. Education, though leaves a lot to be desired, is excellent at the moment in the fact that it is accessible to all sections of the society and across the state. I know there is a lot of good things they can do, but collectively, the state is progressing, and progressing fast. In this, I respect Tamil leaders.

They may be corrupt yes, but relatively, they are better than others in the country. And ultimately, they become rich, yes, but a lot of their money goes into paying voters which ensures that money does trickle down to the people. It may be illegal, but it is economically very acceptable. While the Central Government battles wastage of food grains, the move of both contenders to distribute rice free of cost deserves applause. Yes, there are many people who are against giving freebies, but then hunger is the purest feeling and no one ever acts hunger. In such a case, giving rice to those who need it deserves appreciation.

Ultimately, one thing is, whether it is DMK or ADMK, they have always fought amongst themselves, but the people of TN have always been beneficiaries. Their approach may be dictatorial, but the average Tamilian who is well educated knows that the Government can do only so much to improve our lives and that our future lies truly in our hands. While the Government can effect change to the system, it is we, the people, who have to make the change !

The 5 best Ads during CWC2011

An Advertisement is the art of making a point in the shortest time possible. Why short ? because, it takes humans  only 4 seconds to make an impression. Apart from that, ad rates are extremely high. During the India- Pakistan Semi-finals, rates were as high as Rs 18L for a ten second slot.

Under such time pressurized circumstances, it is necessary for the ad to catch the eye of the viewer the moment it starts playing. During the CWC 2011, some brands did it by sheer start power while others used incredibly creative ad films. The good thing about the ads this season has however been a decline in the general belief that to promote a brand well, you need the best brand ambassadors. Here's a look at the top 5 ad campaigns during the World Cup. 

5. Pepsi - Change the game


At number 5 is the Pepsi 'Change the Game' adcampaign. It started with Kevin Pietersen's "Palti hit" and later went on to exploit Billy Bowden's "Tedi Ungal". It includes a  series of interesting ad's on how the most entertaining cricketers of the tournament acquired their most intriguing styles and consequently changed the game. Other features included Sehwag's 'Upar Cut', Bhajji's 'Doosra', Dilshan's 'Pallu Scoop' (later changed to 'Dilscoop'), Malinga's Slinga and dear Dhoni's Helicopter shot. Interestingly, Dhoni hit the winning six off a "Slinga" with a helicopter Shot.

Pallu scoop emerged the winner of this series ! Take a look.

4. Spice Popkorn & Micromax Convertible


At 4, we have a tie between two low cost mobile brands - Spice and Micromaxx. While Spice Popkorn was widely loved for its jingle, Micromaxx will remind boyfriends all over the world of what treacherous times they live in. Samantha is immortal in our lives now ! As is Subramaniyam.... Almuniyam...

I like the Micromaxx Convertible ad better !

3. SX4 Diesel


Woot ! Now that was one splendid series. "Men will make everything else wait". 4 ads to show how the SX4 diesel is going to change the lives of Indian women. It was great, thanks to some excellent conceptualisation. Whether it was the girl at the Church, or the wife waiting for Karva Chauth, they all rocked ! Especially cos the girls all looked amaaazing ! In fact I was surprised that even with such good mates, those men went off for SX4 diesel, but i guess, that just explains it :D

Take a look at the best girl of the series.

2.Bharti Axa Life Insurance


Another example for a great concept beating the need for star power. This ad shows the irony of insurance policies in this country. Mr. Mehra, whoever the artist is, does a remarkable job and leaves everybody who sees the ad with a smile on their faces. The ad is better seen than read. And it is number 2 on the list.

And now for the best ad of the World Cup !!

1. Vodafone 3G Zoozoo :


No Surprises really !! The best ad campaign of the season has of course been the Vodafone 3G Zoozoo ad and its beaten every other campaign by a huge gap ! Ever since the normal zoozoos were discussing the mysterious object in the sky, the buzz was building, until the 3G Zoozoo decided to show itself to all viewers why it is the ultimate super hero ! A hugely ROFLing set of funny commericials to carry forward the legacy of the zoozoo. 

Those that missed out :

There were a couple of other ad's that I really wanted to include in the list, but they missed out. They included the Cadbury diary Milk "Khaane Ke Baad Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye" with the cute small girl and Tata capital ad with the two sardar kids Rohan and Goldie.

One that I deliberately left out was the Idea "Keep Cricket Clean" ads. I didnt like it any bit.