Today our government celebrated 63rd Republic day of our country. I say ‘our government’ and not us because Republic day, for that matter any other national holiday, has become just a ritual which is celebrated for the sake of it. We stopped celebrating them long back for what they should actually be celebrated for.

India is entering into yet another Republic year amidst protest by people for a strong anti – corruption bill. Indians and people of Indian origin still cannot enter the country, because a part of the political / religious outfit deems them to be unfit to enter or live in the country; that is, we can still banish people from this country! Parts of India still needs special army acts to maintain peace(?). We failed to protect Indian tribes, many tribes have become extinct in the recent past. No strong political party to take decisive action on important issues that directly affects us. But still we celebrate Republic day with the same passion and enthusiasm as we did 63 years ago, with the same hope and dreams to have a real Republic of India!

Happy Republic Day!

WTG Beygairat Brigade

Its not unusual for me to hear people say "Chennai is a boring city". I just smile and change the topic, not wanting to give importance to shallow judgements made by people who recently moved to the city or by those who are not ready to explore the city they moved in long back. Of course am not a native of Chennai, but I do find Chennai amusing and not less than any other city in any means. Also I don’t want to drag any city for comparison, I truly believe in diversity and do not expect all the cities to be same. And these scenarios can happen in any city.

The Noob

Noob: I just moved a month back

Me: So, how did the shifting go?

Noob: It was ok, not much to shift. Still have trouble finding a flat.

Me: Yes, that might be a problem. What kind of house are u looking for and where?

Noob: mmm, may be a 1BHK with parking, in and around t-nagar, nun…gam…bakkam, probably within 5k.

Me: Maybe you should revise your rent, its not easy to find a decent 1BHK in these areas for 5k. Probably you should find a roommate to share the rent.

Noob: I hate Chennai, its very difficult to even find a house…

Excuse me, Chennai is one of India’s metro city and both the localities are in the HEART of the city and you expect a 1BKH with parking for 5k, you got to be kidding me.

Cool Dude

Me: How was your weekend?

Cool dude: Boring yaar, I stayed home all weekend.

Me: You could have gone out…

Cool dude: Where to go yaar…Chennai has no pubs, you know *** has pubs everywhere, one can go anytime they want.

Me: Oh? So do you go to pubs daily at ***?

Cool dude: No yaar, I dont drink.

Me: !!!

The Chauvinist

Me: How are you finding Chennai?

Chauvinist: I don’t even know how people call this a metro, people speak only English or Tamil.

Do you expect people to talk in Klingon to call it a metro?

Every city has its uniqueness, wouldn’t it be boring if every city was  same all-over? Jumping to conclusion based on age old biased views wont let you enjoy the place you just moved in. We are not in stone age, open your browser and find a place of interest in the city and visit it. Make friends with an open mind and explore the city. Sitting in front of your computer and not ready to experiment will obviously lead to boredom. You will surely be bored only if you are boring but the good old City takes the blame as usual.

PS: The picture above has nothing to do with the post. Am just in Halloween mood!

“Come on let’s go” he said.

“Wait a minute, I will be back”, I replied hurriedly.

I ran inside and took my bicycle key from the study table. I shouted back to my mom to inform her, as I ran outside, “Amma, I am going out with Arun, I will be back later”. I heard my mom say something from the kitchen, but I didn’t care to listen, as I was already excited about the summer holidays and the plans I made.

Arun and I raced through the perfectly straight streets of Pondicherry. We had no idea where we were heading, but we kept racing until we reached the beach. The streets in the old town were perfectly planned by the French in the past. Every street leads to the beach or to the main road in the centre of the town. This might be the other reason why most of the parents in the old town never bother about their children getting lost. Arun and I whooped as we rode our bicycles along the straight streets.

Arun and I studied in the same class. I had known him as far back as I remember. I don’t exactly know how we became friends, but it seemed like we hit the chord perfectly. Somehow we knew what was on each other’s minds. Arun was more experimenting than I am. Arun never hesitated to do anything new, even if he had no idea what he was getting into. I mostly observed, and would soon join him, not wanting to miss the fun of doing something weird.

We reached the beach, and hopped off the bicycles. We panted heavily. We didn’t want the fun to end, the unplanned, unknown fun we were having – it might be the excitement we had about our summer vacation. We parked the bicycles against the wall of the platform opposite to the beach. The breeze was warm in the evening, unlike the hot summer wind during the day. The beach was not crowded, there were people scattered here and there. We ran across the road and climbed the dike to have a clear view of the sea. It was full a moon, and the sea looked beautiful with the moon’s light on it.

“Ice cream?” asked Arun, and without waiting for my response he walked across to the ice cream vendor. I followed him. We bought two Kulfis. We walked towards the rocks as we sucked the Kulfis.

We sat on a rock and enjoyed the view. Arun said, “I have never seen something like this.”

He lied; we have seen many full moons, more beautiful than this. I watched the patrolling ships at the far end moving towards each other. They looked like small spots of light from the shore.

Arun continued, “Do you know what is on the other end of the sea? Across from the patrolling ships?”

“I don’t know, maybe the lost land?” I replied

“What lost land?” puzzled Arun.

“Something; I don’t remember the name. But I heard my cousins talk about it”

“Your cousins?”

“Yes, they had book, it was huge and old with amazing pictures and maps in it!”

“Do people live there? How to get there?”

“I don’t know; it’s lost! But the book had beautiful pictures of beaches, gardens, castles, mountains…”

“Do people live there?” Arun repeated. I nodded and said “Yes people live there.”

Arun said,” Come on, it might not be lost. How can a land get lost? It must be right there across the sea somewhere; it must be out there behind the patrolling ships.”

I didn’t say anything for sometime; but looked at the vast sea reflecting on Arun’s question.

“But if it is not lost; the men in the patrolling ships should have found it”, I replied, not wanting to accept that I was wrong.

Arun looked at me and continued, “If it is really lost, maybe we can find it!”

We starred at each other for some moments. I sensed what was running through Arun’s mind.

“How do we go there?” I questioned.

“We Swim!”

“Swim!” I exclaimed “How far, and we are not that good at swimming – we started swimming class just six months ago”

“But we do swim, right? What is the difference between the pool and the sea?”

I was excited, but I was not as adventurous as Arun, at the same time I wanted to find the lost land. I didn’t want to miss the fun Arun would have without me.

“We have two months vacation and I have 15 rupees left with me right now, even if we get lost our parents will find us. We are getting down only on our beach.” Arun said with confidence.

“I have 12 rupees” I said.

Arun stood and climbed down the rocks towards the sea, “Wait!” I shouted. He didn’t listen to me. He kept climbing down the rocks. “We don’t know where the lost land is!” I continued as I followed him.

We heard people shouting from afar. We turned around and saw some men running towards us.

“Fast, fast!” shouted Arun.

We climbed down as fast as we could; Arun was ahead of me and I had stopped talking. The waves hit the rocks and drenched us. Arun jumped into the sea, I was not sure whether he swam or was taken by the waves. Arun had made it and I saw him move ahead. I jumped into the sea and followed him. I swam as well as I could, but the current took me before I could really follow Arun. The waves hit me hard. I was not able to breath, hear or see. The water was salty, sand was swirling. Every time I tried to spit out what I swallowed, more water gushed into my mouth. I felt somebody catch me by the hair and pull me out. I heard faint voices around me. I felt that I was cold and drenched with water. I was on a hard surface, felt rough, strong hands rub my feet and palms. Someone pressed their hands hard against my stomach. I couldn’t see anything nor say anything or even move at all.

——————

I felt warm; the surface was not anymore hard – It was soft and I was not wet. There was a weak humming sound. I tried to move, but failed. It was still dark; I was not able to open my eyes. It felt as if somebody kept me from moving my eyelids. They were heavy like lead. I heard faint voices in and out. I didn’t understand what they were talking, but their voices sounded familiar, the sounds they made were familiar. Slowly, the voices faded. There was silence all around me, except for the humming sound.

I don’t know how long I lay like that. At a time I heard those familiar voices again, I tried to open my eyelids, and they were not heavy any longer. I was able to open my eyes. A strong light hit my eyes when I opened them a fraction. I closed my eyes again, my eyelids fluttered, the bright white light flashed as my eyes squinted to let in a bit of light. I slowly got used to the light and opened my eyes a bit more. I saw people standing around me; they were blurred, I was no longer wet. I moved my hands on the soft surface I was laying on. I slowly realised that I was on a bed. The images standing around me became clear, I knew them.

I saw my parents and a few other people standing near the bed. The room was not familiar to me. My mom would have cried, she looked weak and exhausted. There were trail of tears on her cheeks.

“Why did you get into the sea?” My dad asked me in a firm voice which was unfamiliar to me.

I tried to speak, I stammered; my dad’s eyes was fixed on me.

“To find the lost land” I said in a weak voice.

The room went silent.

“Was Arun with you?” I turned towards the voice speaking. I recognised the man, he was Arun’s father!

“Yes.” I mumbled.

I realised I was not in the lost land. I was in hospital. I looked around; there was grimness in everybody’s face.

I looked around with a little strength, Arun was not there. I realised they did not pull Arun out. I felt lost; my friend must be in the sea in search of the lost world. It made me feel terrible. I was about to cry and I tried to control my tears.

I blurted out, “Who pulled me out? You spoiled our plans to find the lost land. Now Arun must be in the sea in search of the lost land without me, I am going to miss everything.” Tears were rolling down on everybody’s cheeks as I saw them starring at me in horror.

This story was first posted on my blog on 3rd May 2010. This is the enhanced version of the same short story.

Certain things come with a package. And in my case it is stupidity. There has been hilariously stupid moments in my life in the past few weeks,

Here goes the first one:

I was working out in my gym and noticed a guy very familiar to me. "I have certainly seen him somewhere and spoken too", I said to myself. I started to think where could I have met him. To feed my curiosity, he also kept starring at me from time to time. Not able to withstand the curiosity anymore, I walked up to him and asked,

"You seem so familiar, have we met somewhere?"
He looked at me strangely for a moment and replied, "I joined the gym yesterday and we introduced ourselves, don’t you remember?"

If that was not hilarious enough, here goes the second one:

I rushed to the airport after work to send off a friend of mine. I took a cab, a brand new Logan R, to the airport and proceeded with my plan. So, after sending off my friend, I called my cabbie and told him to pick me up from where he dropped. So, I stand there waiting for my cab to get back. A cab slowed down in front of me, a really old Indica. I get into the cab and said, “Polam anna” (You shall start bro).

The driver replied me in a low voice, “Idhu ungaluku illa sir” (This is not for you sir)

“What?” I puzzled,

“Idhu avangaluku, anga nikaranga” (This is for them, standing there),

I look out and see a family standing eagerly waiting to get into the cab. Its then I realised that I got into a different cab and the cab I came in was behind the one I got in!

Life feed when my clock was set to Indian Standard Time

Life feed when my clock was set to US Central Time.

This marketing strategy comes in line with the movie 2012 which cleverly ended its trailer with the note “Goggle 2012”.

Here goes the story seen from the other end of the shore,

“A boy trying to pursue a boy is Common but Boys pursuing Girls has become a Fashion heterosexual Culture in Hyderabad is increasing drastically. All the heterosexual men in Hyderabad go to clubs or pubs once every week or ten days to celebrate. They Drink and Dance with whomever girl they want.

In a three star pub in Secunderabad where software employees, rich kids and students party on weekends. But there is a specialty to these parties, the people visit this club are heterosexuals. Having got to know about the Straight parties, our Half-witted TV team went to investigate and found the truth.

Meeting, drinking and partying like this on weekends has become a ritual to heterosexuals.

Obtaining private party permission as an excuse all heterosexuals gather and party. It might sound shocking to hear, but this is the reality. There are also very popular websites for heterosexuals on the internet, RomeoJuliet.net is the most famous website amongst others. The number of users from Andra Pradesh in this site alone are exponential. More than ten thousands are from Hyderabad alone, who login, message, chat, meet and celebrate using this site. Any given time there are about thousand users online on the site from the city. Software Employees and students are most users who fall prey to this heterosexual culture.

Sexy pictures, fashionable clothes, thrilling behaviour and being able to communicate properly are the weapons used by a heterosexual to attract another heterosexual.

The picture that you see is of Rani who happens to be a student who has taken sexy pictures of herself and uploaded on the site to attract other heterosexual men. Rani who is a student at JNTU University and lives in the dormitory. Half-witted TV has trapped Rani after having seen the pictures and contact information that she uploaded on the profile.

The transcript of the phone conversation between our male reporter and Rani is below:

Reporter: Hello

Rani :Who is this?

Reporter: Is Rani there?

Rani: Tell me I am Rani speaking.

Reporter: You gave me this number on RomeoJuliet.net

Rani:Yes, tell me who is this where you are from?

Reporter:I live in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad where are you from?

Rani :I am currently out of station but I am coming back soon.

Reporter: When exactly are you coming back?

Rani:I am coming back on Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday morning hopefully.

Reporter:What are your vital status?

Rani: Five feet six inches tall and fifty eight kilograms.

Reporter: Is it five eight.

Rani:Five six, your height?

Reporter:I am five feet nine inches, What are you? Are you a active or passive.

Rani :I am a active.

Reporter: So you are a woman on top? What do you like?

Rani: Foreplay and riding, where do u stay?

Reporter:I currently live in Banjara Hills.

Rani: Do you have place?

Reporter: ahhhhh…

Rani: Do you have place?

Reporter: I will call you when I have the place on Monday or Tuesday, I will only when I have a place. What do you do?

Rani: I study at JNTU

Reporter: JNTU? What do you do in JNTU?

Rani: I study M.Tech

Reporter: I can’t hear you properly can you be louder?

Rani: I am studying M.Tech.

The conversation ends here.

The person in this picture is Raja who is a Software employee in a well known firm, good salary, lives in Miyapur and loves to go to heterosexual Parties.
The transcript of the phone conversation between our female reporter and Raja is below:

Raja: Hello, Who is this?

Reporter: Is Raja there?

Raja: May I know who I am speaking to?

Reporter: This is Shandhya speaking

Raja: Sandhya?

Reporter: You gave me your number in RomeoJuliet.net

Raja: oh.. ok Tell me

Reporter: Can you be a bit louder, I cant hear you.
Rani: Tell me…

Reporter: Where are you Raja ?

Raja: I am at Home currently tell me.

Reporter: Do you have a place now?

Raja: Yes but my parents are there as of now.

Reporter: Are your parents there?

Raja : Yes they will be here in an hour

Reporter: Ok What is your Age Raja?

Raja: I am twenty seven.

Reporter: Twenty seven oh… What do you like?

Raja:I am passive and you?

Reporter: I am also a passive.

Raja: Ok ok Good to know.

Reporter: What else do you like? What do you like on bed?

Raja: I am telling you, I am passive, what do you like?

Reporter: Ok…ok.

A lot of employees in higher positions, white collared workers and highly qualified students, are becoming slaves to lifestyle which is against "natural way". Taking this as an advantage some people are blackmailing them.

The man in the picture is Nikhil lives in Mehdipatnam works at a software firm, to be honest this is a part time job for him the actual job is blackmailing. Talking to new people getting sexual pleasures from them and then black mailing them by taking pictures and videos of them and snatching money from the same people for those pictures and videos is Nikhil’s Job. While some do it for excitement, some get spoilt by friends, others do it for the crave of money the remaining are vowed by the lust some of them have changed it into a business by capturing teenagers mind and get them into the hell and getting them into Anti Society lifestyle. A lot of clubs give permits to organize heterosexual parties without letting the rest of the world know.”

The special report ends here.

You could check the translated transcript of the program aired on TV9 here, hosted on Gaysi.

It is always easy to point fingers and blame others. Media outlets should have social responsibility and ethical approachs towards any issue that it reports about. They cannot go around and invade people’s private life for TRP or sensational news. This post is not to bring hate against heterosexuals. This is to make us realise that every human is different and discriminating them for who they are is not humane and sane.

It’s refreshing to see a Tamil movie without songs after a long break. The film pathetically drags at many places and even some scenes are stretched too long. I saw a few people leaving the theatre within the first half hour, which might be due to the unusual orgy scene in the movie.

Apart from the pathetically slow first half, annoying voice overs and the lengthy scenes, the movie is watchable – if you are someone who crave for different genre movie. The second half of the movie is gripping, that is actually when Sameera Reddy character is full fledgy introduced and if you successfully sit through the first half.

Gautam Menon has to be appreciated for talking about male child sexual abuse. But the core message gets lost in the chaos and we end up watching a psychotic sexual predator instead. The actors pulled a decent performance, except at places where the lead character played by Veera Bahu looks and sounds funny. I could not stop wondering if it was intentional.

Its really sad to see movie after movie showing victims turning into predators.  It would be nice to see a movie where they actually talk about child abuse and not about the sexual predator he turns into, which is after all not true in many cases. One cannot deny the existence of such predators in real life, but the movie uses the core issue as an excuse for the screen play and makes us forget the child who was abused and the paedophile. And as said earlier, the message gets lost in the serial kidnap, rape and murder. Sadly, we are reminded about child abuse only during the end note. Nevertheless, kudos to Gautam Menon for trying out something different.

Losing weight in a healthy way is not tough, but the effort it takes will really test your patience. While you may have to go through a few new experiences in the process like sore muscles, new life style, ill fitting cloths and so on, the real PITA is the people around you. They might ask or tell you the most dumbest thing, which might even encourage you to quit working out or enrage you to kick them. Ignore them as by choosing the lesser evil, you still choose evil. Here are a few questions that you might hear while on the process,

Are you sick – This is the most frequent question that you will come across. Everybody who notices your weight loss will shoot this question before thinking twice.

You are on diet – It is possible to dig your own grave with your own fork, but that does not mean you have to starve yourself. Having a healthy balanced diet will help you in the process. But this will not stop your peer from irritating you by saying, "Are you sure, you want to eat it? You are on diet…", when you are getting ready to bite your favourite meal.

Does working out really works? – When you are tired of explaining your friends that starving is not necessary to lose weight. They will come up with a new-nerve gas to kill you by asking if working out really works. You can reply that you love being surrounded by dumb bells than by dumb people.

You looked better before losing weight – After all the time and effort you put to shed those extra pounds, a comment like this will surely push you to the verge. But who cares, celebrate your goals, keep going…because a question like that is only an assurance for your successful weight loss.

PS: Thank you DeDe for those wonderful snapshots.

The cover page of an American magazine, Newsweek, which shows Obama with six hands and standing on a leg has angered some Hindu rights group. They allege that the magazine has depicted Obama as Lord Shiva. Adding extra hands and making someone stand on single leg does not make them Lord Shiva. Its a mere symbolization and probably most Americans would be unaware of the fact that the symbolization was based on Lord Shiva.

It is not new for media houses to come under fire when they play with religious symbols and characters. Also it is not a rare phenomenon to see political leaders depicted as deities,  at least in India, by over enthusiastic or attention seeking followers. But most of the time its the political leaders who face the ire when they are depicted as a deity. The most famous and the very first one I came across was of Tamil Nadu’s former chief minister Jayalalithaa. There was a huge uproar from both the Hindus and the Christian community back in the mid 90’s when she was depicted as Adhi Parashakthi (Parvathi) and Mother Mary. Later many such posters appeared and keeps appearing . Even the present Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi, an atheist, was depicted as Krishna and his son Stalin as Arjuna. Not to forget the latest one where Rahul Gandhi was depicted as Lord Krishna.

Almost every Indian politician must have taken an avatar for…, God knows why. But the list must be very long, here are few which I came across in recent times. And these obvious depiction would surly put Newsweek to shame!

Karunanidhi and his son Stalin as lord Krishna and Arjuna

Sonia Gandhi as Durga

Vasundhra Raje as Durga