Rules

Almost everyone knows how wonderful mumbai monsoon is. More so because of the famous floods of 26th July 2005 where so many were stranded, lost home, lives, valuables and trust on BMC. Yeah yeah I know BMC sounds more like an abuse, but it's full form is Bombay Municipal Corporation. I am surprised as to why it has not yet been changed to MMC - Mumbai Municipal Corporation? Or the B stands for Brihanmumbai? Ah, anything is possible here.

Talking about Mumbai rains and floods, every year, the Government claims that they have a better drainage system this time around, and every year it fails. That's consistency I must say. We get scared every time it rains continuously for 2 to 3 hours. We panic, leave work and head home to avoid getting stuck again in the floods!

And there are bomb blasts too, happening every now and then  in Mumbai and everywhere else! But that deserves a separate post which I am hoping I don't have to write next time.

After talking about everything but the main topic of this post, let me get back to the main topic - Rules. Yes we all break them, but we forget that they are for our own good! A similar thing happened with me recently. These days, there is a fine of 300 Rupees if you smoke in a cab. You see the No smoking sticker on almost all the cabs. There was a rule too in between about smoking ban in vehicles - public transport as well as private vehicles. But that didn't last even for a day! 

This rule is being followed by many cab drivers. I asked one driver whether people followed the rule or not. He said that people don't really follow the rules. Nobody listens to the cab drivers. They smoke nevertheless. He even said that the police officer who had hired his cab was also smoking inside the cab. This ban has a reason behind it. Since the cabs are pretty old and work on CNG, if there is even a bit of leakage, there can be a fatal accident. It's a very very valid reason for banning smoking in the cab, but for how long the rule will be implemented? If a policeman smokes inside the vehicle, then how can we expect others to follow them after seeing this?

I have seen this so many times that at the time of traffic jams, traffic police bikes even go from the wrong side. I understand that they might be getting late for their duty, but if such a step causes more jam or inconvenience, then they should at least ensure that they have other traffic cop to take care of the jam there!

Yes yes I know it's easy to talk about such things. But what else to do? At least talking about it may help to improve the situation a bit!

Top Indian blog is mine. Bah!

Hi
Congratulations! The Directory of Best Indian Blogs is out and your nice blog figures in that. We thought, let's announce that to you.

Since all blogs do not have emails clearly mentioned, we have taken the liberty of telling you of this by making a comment on your latest blogpost. Hope, you don't mind it.
Happy blogging!

ITB team

I am sure almost all of you received this comment on your latest post. I got the same comment too, in spite of my e-mail id being clearly visible on my blogger profile. Had they visited my "profile" and not the blog, then I am sure they would have found it. But they were too busy informing 1000s of bloggers that they didn't get time to check my precious profile, my amazing bio that took 2 years to write :| No value for emotions these days I tell you!

Now, I read my name on the site two days before they "informed" me that they found my blog worthy enough to be listed on their site as one of the top Indian blogs. Duh, and I thought I was above all these things, I was invincible and immortal in this blogging world; but alas, this Best Indian Blogs directory broke this fantabulous spell for me! How hurt I felt when I saw my name being featured there with so many others who don't even know what they write on their blogs. There were people who never read anything ever but blindly commented everywhere to get comments back, there were those who didn't know which language they were blogging in! Phew!

Do I sound harsh? Hell that's what I intend to! Reason is simple - on what basis do you include a blog in the top blog list? What factors do you consider? They labeled blogs in platinum, gold, excellent etc categories. I noticed that very few blogs deserved to be there. Rest all were there because of their high readership and not content! I felt so amazing as I was not listed in any of those categories. I was at the bottom most level and hoping to be chucked out as soon as possible!

June blogosphere survey of Indian blogs - Please click on this link and read the first two comments. Maybe it will help you to come back to your senses!

Again, many of you think that it's a privilege to be there. Good for you. But it's silly to be judged as most of us write because we like to write. We write in pathetic English, on random topics, our verses don't rhyme, our posts are so boring that sometimes even we don't feel like giving it a read! And hell we are happy with our blogs. Judge professional blogs, or at least show us on what basis you are judging us. You are someone unknown, totally random who does not even own a site or a web space, you inform me one fine day that my "nice" blog features in your "best" blog list!

And we are amazing too! Instead of not supporting such wannabes sites, we thank them and acknowledge them. When the scams come out, we abuse them. Our memory is short lived. We forgot We Blog episode so easily. How so many of us had given an interview there, and then cried foul as you felt cheated because the Admin of We Blog turned out to be the guy who took away lacs of Rupees prizes from you!

Again, who am I to say all these things? I am that hurt, invincible and immortal blogger who doesn't like to be judged! Spare me please! You can go ahead, accept, applaud and fool yourself, I won't! Thank you very much!

Harry Potter: My Journey

Year: 1998. You are in your very first year of college. You join coaching classes for a new subject called Accounts as you will have to study it for the next five years. You enter the class room and take a seat somewhere in a far corner, away from the stage. The professor enters. He is tall, very well dressed and very handsome. You are completely bowled over by his personality as all you have seen so far is guys with the facial hair that looks not-so-nice! No I don't blame them, for they cannot shave at an early age too, thus they have to put up with that, and we have to put up with them!

I will skip the details about how moron most of the guys were then (come on, even you guys will agree that you looked morons!), but looking at a handsome professor made almost all of us go crazy about him that very instant! We attended each and every lecture, paid attention at smallest of the things, asked for queries after the lectures and did such other teenage stupidity!

One fine day during the lecture, he mention a name - J. K. Rowling and her book called Harry Potter. This was in 1998 or 1999. That was the time I had just started reading books. Since I was brought up in a small town, I didn't know much about novels. Nancy Drew name was the only name that was not new to me, rest all the authors were unheard of. Rowling sounded more like an alien. But since it was a recommendation from my professor, I decided to give it a try. That's how I first heard about Harry Potter when it released. She was not so famous then, but people loved the first book!

That time, I lived in a hostel. Pocket money life, limited budget and could not afford the books. Somewhere in 2000 or 2001, I bought first three Harry Potter books second hand copies, and I still have them. At that time, fourth book had just released. I finished reading first three and then bought the fourth one. The reason was simple - I didn't know whether I would like the books or not. Thus, didn't spend money behind the fresh copies.

I remember waiting for the book release since book number 5. I was one of the first ones to buy the 7th book and finish it in one go. I started reading at 10 am and finished it by 4 am next day! I have been that crazy. I have read each book at least 50 times and seen each movie around that many times. I saw The last movie twice already today itself. And don't know for how many times I will again see it!

Harry Potter series is over. But I am sure the fans will keep reading the books again and again. Maybe not 50 60 times, but at least once or twice a year there will be a Harry Potter marathon. It's amazing how something leaves so much of an impact on you.

I am in my late twenties, but I still want Hogwarts to be real (I believe it to be true too), I laugh on Fred and George jokes, love to hate Voldemort, feel so sad for Snape, I cry whenever I see Dobby or Snape die, I love Bellatrix's character - she is hot, I feel betrayed when Dumbledore hides things from Harry - and the list goes on and on. I have lived through Harry Potter, I have lived with Harry Potter and will continue to do so!

Amby Valley

The piled up unfinished drafts prove that I don't have lack of time or subject to blog about! It has just been a sheer laziness that I don't complete a post. Let's see whether this sees the light of the day or not! Or at least the lack of it thanks to the rains!

Days are usual with work and teaching. I took a break for a week, went to Amby Valley for two days. It was an awesome trip. Quite a rejuvenating trip it was. I lived in an amazing chalets, with awesome weather to compliment the whole vacation mood. Here is a picture of the place:

I enjoyed a nice Kerala massage there, bumpy and scary Jungle safari and a few more adventure sports and my vacation was over! Sigh! Good things don't last long!

Uploading a few more pictures of the place. Don't mind the quality! I am a lousy photographer! I clicked a few of them from the moving car/golf cart!

Praying for the next vacation real soon!