The Teflon Coated Yuppie !

30 cakes and none the wiser

2011-10-11T18:20:00.000+05:30

Hitched mans guide to galaxy

2011-07-31T13:26:00.000+05:30

Well i suppose every average man of 20+ and of Indian parentage should remind himself (if not be ready to be reminded everyday by the countless cousins, relatives blah blah) that one day, you will be running down the aisle

2011-01-05T03:08:00.001+05:30

New Year Resolution for an Entrepreneur–Be Awesome http://ping.fm/rZvaO

2011-01-02T14:42:00.001+05:30

Jon Jackson Breaks Up with Los Angeles http://ping.fm/cuOtB

2010-12-27T19:20:00.001+05:30

Revenue Rising, and a New No. 2 Ad Medium: Internet http://ping.fm/dMyqX

2010-12-24T22:43:00.001+05:30

The abused "Inshallah" http://ping.fm/mVb3N

2010-12-20T22:56:00.001+05:30

Women Are Wealthy, but Guys Mean Growth http://ping.fm/Q9YI2

2010-12-20T18:19:00.001+05:30

Making Right Choices: Art or Science? http://ping.fm/41dNp

2010-12-19T04:51:00.001+05:30

Google Classic http://ping.fm/H0IzT

it all boils down to the same old things

2010-12-07T03:52:00.000+05:30

Like one of my favourite travis songs goes

Its about that moment, that pharase, that word, that point of time....

And the best part is that you 'get' it at the end of it all....

Well as they say hindsight is 20/20

Stumbleupon

2010-12-06T03:06:00.000+05:30

Most of my movie, tv series discoveries actually come via referrals from friends...case in point being the last few TV series that i have been hooked on like Dexter , Entourage , How I Met Your Mother or lately Boardwalk Empire

Now lately after lot of subtle and not so subtle nudges and prods from some of my friends i have discovered the joys of nuclear fission as the worlds of geeks and hot chicks collide...no im not talking about Beauty and the Geek have to admit that my guts cant take reality television....but thats a different story. Now case in point being The Big Bang Theory which could be explained as "centered around five characters: two roommate Caltech geniuses, experimental physicist Leonard Hofstadter and theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper; their neighbor across the hall Penny, an attractive blonde waitress and aspiring actress; and Leonard's and Sheldon's equally geeky and socially awkward co-workers and friends Howard Wolowitz, an Aerospace engineer and a non-PhD from JPL, and Rajesh Koothrappali, a particle astrophysicist postdoc also working at Caltech. The geekiness and intellect of the four guys are contrasted for comic effect with Penny's social skills and common sense.[3][4] Three other supporting characters have also been promoted to main cast status for a few episodes: Leslie Winkle, a Caltech colleague of Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj; Bernadette, a microbiology student who works with Penny part time as a waitress; and Amy Farrah Fowler, a friend of Sheldon, who is a girl, but not a girlfriend"

You can get a feel of the show here: http://youtu.be/fX0FXhWicEI

linkin park

2010-11-28T01:16:00.000+05:30

Drafted this in august 10th 2004, thats like 6 years back...pretty much around the time i passed out of TSM...wonder how much i have changed since then.....hmmm

i like this band !
I adore them !
ok thats it !
now like the random musings of every kid im goin on the same route
the first linkin song that caught my attention was "in the end "
the frank admission of despair and hopelessness at that point of time seemed to be the right thing for me to listen to ...........................

"i tried so hard
went so far ........
but in the end
it doesnt even matter ..."

it sounded so purrfect...

well its been almost a year since then
i fell in love for the first time
had the best time of my life
got somebody to talk to
share ur childish fears
and insecurities....
somebody who tried to go beyond the obvious image drawn by the proximate public opinion and understand the person beyond the skins displayed for the seemingly endless list of wants,needs and aspirations...........

guess im getting too philosophical about something perfectly normal..........

well i dont know

now since all that we have broken up
and life has come to a standstill no that sounds very cliched but yes it does leave behind a vacuum which u find hard to fill......

u start analysing and conjuring up the "if" and "but" situations.....
conduct simulated war games in ur mind....

Bottlenecked

2010-11-28T01:13:00.000+05:30

Before i restart my blogging efforts magnificus....im gonna try to offload almost all of the draft posts...most of them are a reflection of my state of mind...some of em have a personal flavour and some are more within the innocent bystander bucket

Felix !

2010-11-28T01:10:00.000+05:30

Not too often that you start a post about another post ...

I'm talking about a short vacation trip taken by a colleage, Igor ofcourse like a lot of us he is much more than a linkedin entry, but for the sake of convenience and my own laziness i would stick to this for the time being. Ofcourse you could also google and hunt down Igor from the interwebs :)

So, Igor and Marta took a trip down to Yemen and you could read about it here on Zaher's blog.

Ofcourse, Yemen is an awesome place for a million reasons....apart from being the cradle of the Arab civilization,it is also one of those few places on earth where you could find an unadulterated state of life without necessarily straying outside the capital city.

Yemen !

Kavish

2010-10-15T13:29:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wanted something so badly and not had it ?

Whats the most insane and way out of the way thing you have ever tried when you want something so badly ?

When was the last time you really went out of your way to get something ?

And if you did..... how far out there did you go ?

Did you really put yourself exposed and out there ?

Ying or Yang or YIANG !

2010-08-30T05:33:00.000+05:30

Im not sure if most of our web persona's serve multiple purposes (personal and professional) in a balanced manner. For to pose more existentially, should they serve such purposes in the first place ?

I have dwelled over this question in light of a fairly active twitter account that i maintain here a facebook account with a pretty heavy base of my professional relations here. In the first place as one of the first generations to tackle the subject of blurring social and professional lines are we there yet to take such calls ?

The web presents an opportunity to do an A/B testing with most things,so i guess there is no harm in trying out a combined effort...besides im in the digital media industry for a simple reason that its more than jus charts and figures so i better find interesting ways to talk business :)

Prioritisation

2009-12-02T11:25:00.000+05:30

Ram Charan is a leading management gur

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/companyknow/29003

Easily one of the most relevant tool for a manager ....

Looking under the rocks

2009-08-27T00:43:00.002+05:30

I have noticed that there are quite a few posts of mine which are unpublished and lying in the draft stage...waiting to be discovered...

Hmm so before i write or cook anything new, its better i release them off !

Moksha !

Enter the dragon

2009-08-27T00:38:00.002+05:30

Ok, this post is more for my own reading than anything else...i mean with such a long lull i dont really think that there are that many readers lurking around.

I guess the brief or rather long hiatus saw me jumping ship from blogging on to tweeting owing to the ease of updating it and sheer laziness. More of the latter though :)

Having said that i must admit that a blog is far more of a personal space to rant and to randomly post your thoughts. The fact that there is no immediate readership or that there is no character limit are quite reassuring and enables you to share your thoughts with flow and devil may care flair.

so i guess i will try yet again to be a regular blogger, just like i have tried quite a few things :)

Restless

2009-06-17T12:47:00.003+05:30

Nothing more to add
fad another one to dabble
enable more of the same
lame sounds more of hall of shame

to be continued

Hibernate Mode ?

2008-03-05T13:13:00.000+05:30

I have been quite irregular and not been making much progress as a blogger and hence its better i move on to something more ..er... LIVE !

My rants are up and running on Twitter ...Add me in and we can start the conversation....

You will find me here

Public Figures Are Just That - Forbes.com

2007-11-15T15:50:00.000+05:30

Public Figures Are Just That - Forbes.com

Interesting story ....

Stop Being Greedy and You'll Make More Money? really ?

2007-11-10T23:19:00.002+05:30

Stop Being Greedy and You'll Make More Money

I dont know wether the below theory applies to life in general may be it does ......

I guess if you keep doing what you are passionate about ...then the chances are you will do more rights and less wrongs and hence do great in the long run.......atleast even if doesnt work out you would still hit a 90 on the happiness and self satisfaction scale

Chubby Cheeks Dimple Chin

2007-06-22T04:41:00.000+05:30

Its pretty hard for one to come and start banging on the keyboard to come up with a half decent blogpost on something even barely interesting (er..remotely if i may add).

Well lemme try recollecting what i have been upto today.......

As usual most of the time at office was spent on firefighting , london bridge and all associated paraphernalia was falling down or god-damn them...were buring in all their glory.

Nero, as usual was fiddling while I was burning :-)

But then i guess this comes as the package from mephist0pheles................

Advertising Age - MediaWorks - CNN the TV Channel Is No Match for CNN the Website

2007-06-18T09:37:00.000+05:30

Advertising Age - MediaWorks - CNN the TV Channel Is No Match for CNN the Website

Silly simply down and out thoughts on the way to building the murdochian empire :-)

2007-06-18T01:15:00.001+05:30

Well the last bit of the headline was a madeup .....
A madeup to hide the dissapointment..the heart wrenching pain and angst

Hmm thats too much of a melodramatic shag .....

But it wasnt too easy to let her go .....

When all along you know that this road jus leads to where you dont wanna go , then why ?

Why the fuck ?

It's so sad to be alone
No one cares for no one's home
So if you're there
Pick up the phone
Cos I'm standing on my own

Ain't it good to know you're right
And don't it soothe (suit) the darker nights
But pretty soon it will be light
Ain't it good to know you're right

But I'm standing on my own
And this house is not a home
It's so sad to see you go
Things are high, things are low
And it's good to know you know
If you got nowhere to go
And you could spend the night with me
I will sleep on the settee

It's so sad to be alone
No one cares cos no one's home
So if you're there
Pick up the phone
Because I'm standing on my own
Because I'm standing on my own

Yeah there you go on another lyrical suicide .........

YouTube - Skoda Fabia TV Advert

2007-06-03T12:01:00.000+05:30

AwesomeTVC from Skoda that i have picked up from Neha's blog

How to get into the elite leagues ?

2007-03-24T19:31:00.000+05:30

There is something about elitism that captures the fancy of our minds.....the elusive social clubs, the memebership in a certain association, and for a lot of Indians like me getting admitted to the right schools and universities..allthese things play an important role on your success.

Or does it ?

In this interesting take by Malcolm Gladwell discusses the social and racial considerations that the Ivy league schools have been adopting for the last few decades to maintain the 'luxury-brand' 'Elitist' brand equity.

Factors such as physical features, race, religious beliefs, amongst others are digged out, by the admissions board to assure themselves that they have brought on board the right candidate.

More dope here ....

La-Z-boy Feat Jassim

2007-03-24T14:57:00.000+05:30

Had quite an eventful start to the week with the OMD Masterclass, on which i plan to blog seperately along with the few other interesting encounters of the week .

But then the apparent laziness and the inherent weakness of mine as well as of the rest of the larger web community to be a passive consumer and observer of whats happening around us seemed to get the better of me.

Hence this pre emptive post before i take a well deserved shower to slump off my weekend slothiness and a bad case of cold.

do i make any sense here ?

try 'digesting' that !

2007-03-21T13:32:00.000+05:30

Ok its not a verfied fact that its a saudi party ....but i got to give it em for such a voracious appetite.

Could it be a brontosaurus biriyani ? ;P

A phone from google ?

2007-03-17T17:53:00.000+05:30

Well well well ..... Now what do we have here ?

Google getting into consumer electronics ?

After a very limited exposure to the hardware scene(through its enterprise search tools) google is now looking interested in the mobile phone/Smartphone sector....apparently they have hired a top notch team and are operating out of spain on a C++/Linux platform based mobile device.

More dope here

Not really sure wether this is the actual thing :-), but if thats how it looks then they got a long way to go .....

2007-03-11T03:49:00.000+05:30

Was looking for some more plant trivia but came across this one ... from here

Smoke On The Water, by Deep Purple was written on December 4, 1971 in Montreux,

Switzerland

. They were recording their album at the Casino when a fan shot a flare gun at the ceiling and fire broke out. The title referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of the band watched from their hotel across the lake. SOTW is commonly the first song learned by many beginner guitarists. In fact, the song is so popular that one famous guitar store in London used to sport a sign on the wall reading "If auditioning a guitar, please refrain from playing 'Smoke on the Water,' as this is causing our staff mental torture." True story.

Will Someone Please Explain How God Made Robert Plant ?

2007-03-11T03:14:00.000+05:30

Thats all i got to say after being treated to an out of the world performance by Robert Plant and the Strange Sensations at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival.

The way this guy performs is a complete out of the world experience with the on the spot improvisations of classics such as 'baby im gonna leave you' and 'whole lotta love' by blending it with a heady mix of middle eastern beats as well as other world music inspirations that plant and the rest of the band has been adopting since ages.

Although a lot of people left the venue after the Incubus and the Bravery, for the people who hung on for that little while it was the gig of their lifetime.

One of those rare moments where I wish i was born much earlier so that i could have seen the Led Zeppelin line up in their full glory.

Dictator 2.0

2007-03-10T12:24:00.000+05:30

So saddam's gone .....stalin,mao,hitler,pol pot, pinochet,and mussolini along with some of their other illustrious colleagues are resting somewhere on the earths crust ......

So what would the next generation of them look like ?

Pin striped ?

or the camouflaged quasi soldier ?

Check out this interesting piece omn Qantara

2007-02-16T15:27:00.000+05:30

Found this rather inspiring story .....

'The Last Wolf'
from Parables from Other Planets
by Hugh and Gayle Prather

Added 19 April 1997

Mashesta could not understand why he had been chosen to kill the last wolf. He was not yet a grown man. It was not fair. But Cintosh had called him before the Council and told him he must do it. Cintosh, who had tried to save the wolves, who had spoken interminably about the need for wolves. Cintosh the ancient, Cintosh the forgetful, Cintosh the obtuse. Mashesta packed lightly. This should not be too difficult. The last wolf was old now. It should not take him more than a few days to track it down and shoot it. He hated what was left of the forest. Another of Cintosh's pets-the forest. Mashesta looked forward to the day when the old man died and progress could be resumed.

The diffused light of the forest always bothered Mashesta, as if shadows from some netherworld still existed there. But the netherworld had been banished years ago. It no longer existed except in the minds of a few old men. And perhaps in the mind of one old wolf.

For three days now Mashesta had caught glimpses of the wolf, but just as he sighted with his rifle, the wolf would disappear. The third night he camped near a pond, and, watching the embers of his fire, he seemed to drift off to sleep, for suddenly, whether in dream or in fact, the wolf came into the clearing. It stood before him, its eyes boring into his, and then it spoke.

"So, Mashesta, you have come to kill me. I am ready to die, but not die from a distance at the cold hands of that insentient stick. It is the weapon of a coward. If you are to take me, it must be fang against fang, blood against blood, strength against strength."

"Why are you ready to die?" asked Mashesta.

As if not hearing him, the wolf continued. "Not only must you kill me in this way, but you must also cut out my heart while it still beats and devour it. Our blood must mingle, our breath must fill each other's lungs. Only then will I die. And only then will you truly live."

"You are trying to trick me," answered Mashesta. "You would easily defeat me in that kind of fight."

"You have your knife. That is sufficient, for I repeat to you that I am ready to die. I am alone here. I have no fear of death, but I do have a love of this forest. I would leave it my grandeur and my freedom."

"I am not the one to do this thing," pleaded Mashesta.

"But you are the one who is here; therefore you are the one. There still beats within your heart the remembrance of the wild, the unattached, the unquenched. And you must not let it die. For if you do, man will continue to feed upon his own soul as well as the souls of others."

"Then why don't I let you live and return to my village and say that I could not find you. I could say that you are already dead."

"Then you would live and die with deceit. This moment is not an accident. Why do you think the wolves have been killed? Because they interfered with man's plans for the wilderness? No! They have been killed because they reminded men of that which was noble, that which was free, that which could not be bought and paid for. You need me more than I need you. But because this is the land of my ancestors, I offer you this gift: my heart, which will unite with yours and lead you away from the awful numbness of what you call progress. But if you stand apart from me and kill me from the distance that you believe separates us, then man will never again know what it feels like to ride the wild winds of passion. Not the passion of the flesh, for that he has ridden too long, but the passion of a soul that honors its roots in wilderness."

"I cannot possibly do this. I am afraid to fight with hands that have no claws, with a mouth that has no fangs. A mere knife does not make up for this."

"Yet I am not afraid," said the wolf, "and it is I who must die."

"But the outcome is not certain. You might kill me. Why should I trust you?"

"This is what you do not yet understand," said the wolf. "You think that to have no attachments is to be uncommitted. You think that to embrace the wilderness is to be unprincipled. Yet, unlike men, a wolf has honor. He cares for his young and never abandons his mate. To protect his pack, he will lay down not only his self interests but his life."

Mashesta woke before dawn, strangely disturbed, and as he stirred the coals of his night's fire, he vowed to find the wolf and shoot it before the day ended. There was something about this task that made him want to complete it and return to civilization quickly.

It was near the pond that Mashesta saw it. Larger than he had imagined, covered in the matted fur of one who has too long lived alone. And it was still. Mashesta raised his rifle and brought the wolf into his sights. The wolf was watching him, he could feel its eyes looking fearlessly into the barrel of his weapon. He longed to pull the trigger and be done with this deed. To carry the wolf's carcass back to the village in triumph. To resume his real life.

But he could not fire, and the wolf began to advance upon him. He felt sweat break out over his brow. His heart battered his chest like a caged enemy. His breath sawed through his mouth with the hard bursts of air that do not replenish the lungs. At the last moment, before the wolf sprang, Mashesta threw down his rifle, unsheathed his knife, and, with the scream of one who acts from long acquaintance with his limitations, leaped and met the wolf in midair.

At the start there seemed no hope that Mashesta would emerge victorious that he would do no more than die ignominiously under the fangs of this beast. But somehow the wolf's mouth never reached his vitals. And gradually Mashesta sensed a weariness in the wolf and a strength in himself that he had not felt before. Now he fought with renewed courage, or rather, with new courage, for he had never experienced this emotion. He did not hate the wolf, rather he hated his own timidity, and as he drove his knife deep into the wolf's throat and severed its lines of breath, he breathed in the intoxicating air of fearlessness. Without thinking, as the wolf twitched in death, Mashesta cut open its chest and tore its heart from its body and thrust it into his own mouth. Blood poured from his lips, from his wounds, and from the wounds of the wolf. There was hair in his nostrils, in his mouth, in his belly.

Mashesta stood for a moment trembling, not with fear, but with knowledge. He stumbled to the pond and threw himself into its icy depths. And when he emerged he was whole. For a long while he stood looking at the body of the wolf. He no longer needed to carry it triumphantly back to the village to prove his manhood and his courage. In fact he now realized that to treat the wolf in this manner would be to degrade it and dishonor the lesson it had taught. Mashesta did not have the implements to dig a grave and knew that the wolf had no need of burial, but he lifted the body and carried it to a place within the bosom of the trees that he knew the wolf had loved. Then he laid it gently on the ground and covered it with leaves and with the soft vegetation of the forest floor.

When he returned to the village, Mashesta spoke to no one, but went directly to Cintosh. He stood quietly before his ancient leader and smiled with great affection. "Cintosh, father of our welfare," he said, "you will be happy to know that the wolves will live forever."

Brood

2007-01-12T06:31:00.000+05:30

technically where am i headed ?
whats the latitude and longitude of where i'am?
do i wait for another hour or two so that i can catch the early bus back ?

how did i deal with the recent reality bites that life took at me .....
did i stand up and pass with the flying colors or did i stand by as life passed by my side.....

and is it really a good idea to go through all this adolescent diarrehea in this public blog ?

oh ...screw it

Bulldozer ?

2007-01-12T06:16:00.000+05:30

Well what do you call someone who has overcome extreme grief and sort of a dead end of a relationship and yet managed to wetnurse a blue blooded arsehole of her majesty's order who happens to be if not manages to be both arrogant and dumb at the same time (therefore potentially toxic and dangerous to the public at large).

Its gets even more interesting when the "blue blooded arsehole of her majesty's order who happens to be if not manages to be both arrogant and dumb at the same time (therefore potentially toxic and dangerous to the public at large)" happens to one of your close friends ;-)

Ok so returning to our initial question.......

What do you call her ?

Ok i've got more than enough names to throw around ......

Sindhi Cow ( At the risk of pissing off an entire community of enterprising desi's )

Skidmarks on the underpants of the society ( Love this one from ben stiller !)

Gunjatrix ( My own obsessive gaelic complusivix )

but today i jus got one word to describe her .....

The Bulldozer !

keep mowing down all those twits who are out their to stamp out your little joy's !

Let them go to an altaf raja concert for all i care !

But you will get what you want ......else apun hain na !

Tapka daloonga !

Lonelily

2007-01-07T21:02:00.000+05:30

I gave me away
I could have knocked off the evening
But I lonelily landed my waltz in her hands
In a way I felt you were leaving me
I was sure I wouldn't find you at home
And you let me down
You could have knocked off the evening
But you lonelily let him push under your bone
You let me down
It's no use deceiving
Neither of us wanna be alone

You're coming home, you're coming home

I gave me away
I could have knocked off the evening
But I was lonelily looking for someone to hold
In a way I lost all I believed in
And I never found myself so low
And you let me down
You could've called if you'd needed
But you lonelily got yourself locked in instead
And you let me down
It's one thing being cheated
But you took him all the way through your bed

And now you're coming home
And I'm trying to forgive
You're coming home
And I'm trying to forget
You're coming home
And I'm trying to move on
You're coming home
And you haven't called yet

You're coming home
And I'm trying to forgive
You're coming home
I'm just trying to forget
You're coming home
I'm trying to move on
You're coming home
But you haven't called
You're coming home

You're coming home, you're coming home

I gave me away
I could have knocked off the evening
But I lonelily loomed her into my bone
You let me down
There's no use deceiving
Neither of us wanna be alone

Its Official !

2006-10-31T22:50:00.000+05:30

That Im too lazy to blog ....regularly

Tell me about it ! ;P

2006-10-29T15:37:00.000+05:30

How to Launch a Career With Your Blog

25 .... Now what ?

2006-10-10T17:28:00.000+05:30

career
venture
family
chick
movie
book
music
travel

hmm thoughts on the midway/stairway to heaven .....

sheesh .... when am i gonna get beyond the self-pity ;P

1gbps ! slurp slurp !

2006-10-01T13:38:00.000+05:30

imagine opening a laptop anywhere and, without attaching a cable or looking for a wifi hot spot, immediately surf the Internet or download music and movies as fast as the fastest broadband and we are talking about 1gbps here !
4g is in the making !

DUmb Detroit ?

2006-10-01T13:19:00.000+05:30

Would try checking out a few indie's
This one is a conspiracy theory that a lot of us would find hard not to believe, hmm think i should start considering the smart car or the toyota prius. wonder when would we find emotionally and rationally appealing cars ?

mean while check this out ...quite thought provoking

Give up son .... its all over

2006-09-14T21:01:00.000+05:30

how long are you gonna drag the elephantiasis borne foot along ?
where are you gonna ostrich it up from the rest of the world
its too friggin visible to be overseen ...
and its taken you so long to realise ...

10 Reasons To Drink More Water !

2006-09-13T15:07:00.000+05:30

Ok for a change am thinking of staying healthy .....
check out this great piece via Ririan

I know you've heard this many times - "Drink more water!". Yet, 99% of the people don't heed this advice. Maybe if water was more expensive, people would pay more attention to consume enough of it on a daily basis. We are living in a dehydrated world of carbonated beverages, caffeine and alcohol.

I bet you don't know how important is water for your health, figure and well-being. But drinking water is not just a trend, it's essential! Everything your body does it does better with a healthy supply of water, every system in your body depends on water.

So here are 10 reasons why drinking water is good for you and why you should make drinking water part of your daily routine:

1. Get Healthy Skin

Nothing will improve the appearance of your skin better than consuming enough water. It's a pity women spend so much money on skin products, while neglecting the cheapest and most effective one - water. Water is the single most important element for cellular integrity. Drinking water moisturizes your skin from the inside out. Water is also essential to maintaining elasticity and suppleness and helps prevent dryness. The real fountain of youth can be found in a glass of water.

2. Flush Toxins

Water helps remove toxins from the body, in particular from the digestive tract. Our kidney system is unique in its filtering capabilities and totally dependent upon water in order for it to work. Daily fluid intake is essential to its efficient operation, particularly because there is some decrease in function with age. Water helps get rid of excess nitrogen, urea, and ketones, so it is particularly important when following a high protein diet. You need even more water to help your kidneys do their work if you’re eating big to gain weight.

3. Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Attack

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women and found that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.

4. Cushion And Lube Your Joints And Muscles

Water makes up a large part of the fluid that lubricates and cushions your joints and muscles. And although not the only element associated with muscle cramps, athletes have long recognized that even mild dehydration can produce cramps. So drinking water before, during and after exercise can also help reduce muscle cramping and premature fatigue.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, adequate fluid replacement helps to maintain hydration therefore optimizing and enhancing performance of those participating in regular exercise. They suggest flavored waters to promote hydration and to increase palatability. Products such as Gatorade’s Propel Fitness Water are, therefore, terrific substitutes for plain water to increase fluid intake and meet the optimum consumption of water per day, thus enhancing performance and lessening the possibility of dehydration.

5. Get Energized And Be Alert

On average, most adults lose about 10 cups of fluid a day through sweating, exhaling, urinating, and bowel movements. Even minor dehydration can cause impaired concentration, headaches, irritability and fatigue.

Water is also essential for proper circulation in the body. The levels of oxygen in the bloodstream are greater when the body is well hydrated. The more oxygen the body has readily available the more fat it will burn for energy without the presence of oxygen the body cannot utilize stored fat for energy efficiently. Not only will the body burn more fat when well hydrated but because there are increased oxygen levels you will also have more energy.

Drinking more water everyday will help your think more clearly. Research has repeatedly shown that staying hydrated is necessary for the human brain, which is 85 percent water, to function at optimal levels. That is why many school systems throughout the country now encourage students to keep a bottle of water at their desks and to drink it throughout the day.

6. Stay Regular

Water helps prevent constipation by adding fluid to the colon and bulk to stools. Something as simple as fluid plays a major role in preventing constipation. Not only does the liquid encourage bowel movement, but it also softens the stools.

Water is essential for proper digestion, nutrient absorption and chemical reactions. The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream. But no less important is the ability of water to transport waste material out of our bodies.

7. Reduce Your Risk Of Disease And Infection

Consistent failure to drink enough water can lead to Chronic Cellular Dehydration. This condition where the body's cell are never quite hydrated enough leave them in a weakened state, vulnerable to attack from disease. It weakens the body's overall immune system and leads to chemical, nutritional and pH imbalances that can cause a host of diseases.

When you don’t have enough water in your body, your cells start to draw water from the bloodstream. Your heart has to work harder because your blood gets sludgy, and your body starts to redirect blood away from less vital areas. Dehydration can set in even before you start to feel thirsty. This is a great strain on the body because it impairs the kidneys in their vital function of purifying the blood and helping the body get rid of toxins.

Also Michaud and coworkers found that the incidence of cancer in the urinary bladder was reduced significantly by a high fluid intake in a ten-year study involving nearly 48,000 men. The top 20% of subjects who participated in the study drank 2500 ml per day or more, while the bottom 20% drank 1200 ml or less. The authors concluded that within this range, the risk of bladder cancer decreased by 7% for every 240 ml of fluid added.

8. Regulate Your Body Temperature

Water regulates the body's cooling system. Sports drinks are useful when consumed after or during vigorous and prolonged exercise in high heat. But most experts agree that water works better than carbohydrates or sugared beverages for moderate exercise. For instance, if you drink 12 ounces of plain water, your body will absorb 8 ounces of it within 15 minutes. If you drink 12 ounces of a 10% sugar solution, less than 1 ounce will be absorbed in the same period. The typical soft drink is a 10 to 12% sugar solution.

Water is the nutrient your body needs the most. Between 55 and 75 percent of adult body weight is water, and it is critical in regulating all body organs and temperature.

9. Burn More Fat And Build More Muscle

It has been shown that dehydration decreases protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is what builds muscle. It is an energy costly process. When you suppress protein synthesis, fewer calories end up building proteins and more calories end up in your fat stores. It's elementary: calories have two possible fates - they either get burned, or they get stored. When more of the calories you eat get burned, less will get stored.

Increased water consumption can help you control weight by preventing you from confusing hunger with thirst. Water will also keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the energy (and hydration) necessary for exercise.

10. Get Well

The traditional prescription to ‛drink plenty of fluids‛ when you're sick still holds strong. Water can help control a fever, replace lost fluids, and thin out mucus. Water plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

Water is the substance of life. Life can not exist without water. We must constantly be adding fresh water to our body in order to keep it properly hydrated. Water can be a miracle cure for many common ailments such as headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and much more.

Be sure to drink even more fluid whenever you increase your physical activity, when eating a high fiber diet, during hot weather, at high altitudes, in low humidity locations, and when you're sick, especially if you have a fever, vomiting, or diarrhea. The best way to figure out if you’re drinking enough water is to look at your urine. It should be a very light shade of yellow. Drink up if it’s darker. Let your thirst guide you, also. You might not need eight glasses to feel hydrated on a mild day. You could crave nine or 10 if it’s hot or you’re exercising. Bottom line? Your body is 90 percent water and needs it for digestion, healthy skin, blood circulation, temperature control and lots of other reasons.

It is important to know that the body can only absorb 4 ounces of water every 10 minutes, so like many things in life, it is important to be proactive with drinking water. Aim to drink one glass of pure water every hour you are awake. And make the process enjoyable. Many people complain that they don't like the taste of water, or that it is boring to drink! Try these tips for making drinking water an enjoyable process:

- Add fresh mint leaves, slices of strawberry, apple, lemon, or lime to a pitcher of water. Serve chilled. Keep a pitcher of "fruit water" in the refrigerator so you always have great-tasting water available.

- Try Glaceu Fruit Water, which is distilled water with added fruit essence, without added sugar or artificial sweeteners. It is available at most health food stores. It comes in a variety of fabulous flavors including, watermelon, honeydew melon, raspberry/lime, and strawberry/banana.

- Drink herbal teas. Herbal teas have a variety of healing properties and come in a multitude of flavors. Try green tea, yerba matte, chai, chamomile, mint, raspberry leaf, and cinnamon/apple. In the summer time you can serve them over ice. In winter, drink them hot. Yogi Tea is one of my favorite brands.

- Add a squeeze of lemon or lime to water. Warm water with the juice of 1 lemon taken in the morning on an empty stomach is a great liver detoxifier, and has been shown to aid in weight loss.

By the way the eHow wiki has an interesting entry on how to drink more water everyday. They offer 7 steps for increasing your water intake, along with several useful tips.

Drink your water! Stay well hydrated! Stay healthy!

In Depeche Mode Mood's

2006-09-07T14:58:00.000+05:30

As much hard it is to wipe her away with the cotton swabs of time ( yeah quite clinically poetic)
As much as i try to refrain from ringing her up way past midnight
I cant help myself wondering what went inside her as we we agreed to our resolutions .......

Come with me
Into the trees
Well lay on the grass
And let the hours pass

Take my hand
Come back to the land
Lets get away
Just for one day

Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone

Metropolis
Has nothing on this
Youre breathing in fumes
I taste when we kiss

Take my hand
Come back to the land
Where everythings ours
For a few hours

Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone
Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone

Let me hear you
Make decisions
Without your television
Let me hear you speaking
Just for me

Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone

Let me hear you speaking
Just for me

Let me see you
Stripped down to the bone let me hear you crying
Just for me

Resolutions....

2006-08-20T16:39:00.000+05:30

Do they really work ?

I dont know...or to be even more honest ...i dont think so ...i think they are jus a momentary 'feel good factor' inducing substance that most of us adults do to get away from our guilt pangs....

I guess at the end of the day its all in the action ....

Salvation is in the action .....

and the action points i need to act upon in the next week..... :-)

Start the after office jogging sessions with ajib
Start leaving office on time
Start getting the regular errands done on time
Get the driving license shit sorted out .....
get back on the reading circuit
eat on time
finish the article
start planning on the trip

ok this list is gonna grow ......

Requiem ? Not yet ....

2006-08-12T17:44:00.000+05:30

One look at the frequency and the nature of my recent postings could give a clear indication of where the blog features on my priorities and how much i have stacked up in terms of work since i got to dubai.

I have sort of given up a lot on the 'purposeless' jollyroving nature of my self...
dunno when was the last time i roamed aroun with no particular reason, it could be possible due to the unbearable heat around...also because im quite in an unfamiliar place..but a throwback could actually make me think that this could very well be the reason why i should.......

I have got into a loop of acquiring and amasssing without really spending, this not only applies to just money,books,readbles,movies,clothes,people .....

However i try to find a logic behind this 'sickness' cant really figure out this syndrome...any help here from anyone this would be really appreciated :-)

ok now to lend an element of dailyishness to this rant....

went for the friday prayers with jamalkka...as usual the friday prayers were offered in the blazing sun...helps to get a check on the realism factor...being so far removed from the 'ordinary folks' everyday, huddled in one of these airconditioned beehives you tend to zoom into your own small pixelated existence.

Dubai and its lifestyle is sort of designed to aerodynamically to make an individual designed as a worker bee.i mean the whole socio-cultural-economic shape that the city is taking infront of my very eyes..leads me to believe so .....

ok now again goin on the same tangential route of analysis....

lemme get back to the daily journal

ok so after the blazing sun , weekly customary greasy yet yummy mutton biriyani form the K'gode dudes.....

came back home to chillout for a while checking out a mallu movie......
its been ages since i have seen one....very dissapoint...switched to the rnr playlist....

caught up with nitin.....went to citycenter to ..yeah jus roam aroun like the regular dubai NRI...decided tht this is pointless...went to jumeirah.....weather sucks man...too hot and sultry.....came back to sharjah...had lebanese for a change....pistachio almond..new flav from baskin...pathetic ! felt like industrial waste....

came back..too tired...dozed offf zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

wokeup....thank god..early enough to get a shave :-)

reached the stop..reached office...gave back all the calls...checked email...tonnes or rather megatonnes of stuff to read .....

A day in the life of.....

2006-08-02T14:16:00.000+05:30

Driftwood ...boy im goin maddd over em .....

2006-06-24T20:42:00.000+05:30

Workin on a weekend and after 3 presentations what do you do to unwind ? eh ?

Another one ...Sing !!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-24T20:38:00.000+05:30

In the sun ....

2006-06-24T20:13:00.000+05:30

yeah been really feelin a bit low and was lookin for the broody same song on mine by joseph arthur ....and then what wiki had to say about him ...and then to you tube
and thats when i came across this one from travis...
check it out ..you gonna love it

Brawny Academy ?

2006-06-19T13:38:00.000+05:30

We think we’re insulted by the following, but their execution is so well done, we’re gonna cut them a little slack. Brawny paper towels has launched the Brawny Academy to teach clueless males how to be better boyfriends and spouses. Eight guys from across the country will appear in an ongoing series of Webisodes (BrawnyAcademy.com) learning “tools and techniques they can use to be more helpful around the house. The intensive nuts-and-bolts training covers key chores, giving the guys a clue about cooking, cleaning, caring for children, and fixing things,” Brawny said in a release. We have to grudgingly admit that the introductory episode is pretty funny, where the guys are on a bus to the “academy,” wondering aloud why they’re even there. The Bounty brand name is prominent throughout in the piece created and produced by Fallon Worldwide, so we’ll be sure to bookmark this site for future visits. We think a similar venture that featured apparently clueless women would be met with howls of protest, but we have to admit they had us at “Hello.”

IF IT ITCHES, SCRATCH IT

2006-06-19T13:37:00.000+05:30

Knowing that men with a yard enjoy spending time in it during the warmer weather, a company called American Biophysics is pushing its “award winning” (their words, not ours) Mosquito Magnet in the run-up to Father’s Day. “Mosquito Magnet is the only long-term solution that is scientifically proven to effectively reduce mosquitoes … from your yard,” they said in a release. And while we don’t fully understand how the contraption works, they offered this: “Mosquito Magnet traps operate 24/7 by releasing a continuous stream of carbon dioxide and scientifically proven attractant to draw mosquitoes to the trap. Using a patented Counterflow Technology (So, that would be like a vacuum-cleaner, right?), mosquitoes and other biting insects are vacuumed into a net (Aha!) where they dehydrate and die.” Better details are at MosquitoMagnet.com, but we especially like the truth-telling caveat they added at the end: “Product Disclaimer: No mosquito control product can completely eliminate mosquitoes. The quantity of mosquitoes caught varies greatly, depending on your region's infestation level and how the Mosquito Magnet is placed on your property. In tests in the Florida Everglades 1,500 were captured in one night (Well, we would HOPE so!). In more urban areas, catch results may be much less. A good yardstick is "Am I being bitten?" OK, noted.

Its been a while....

2006-06-08T19:30:00.000+05:30

yeah back to lyri-blogging
pissed out of my skin
issues still are hanging in the air
haunting the very air i breath
bring their scary claws into me
tearing every last bit of love i ever felt
reminders of yesterdays are their to burn what remains of today

saw her blog to realise that it was all a game
to make one feel in'love' and get the cheap thrill
jus like a pony ride in the park
stark reality shines
straight into your eyes
and you cant deny
that you been taken for a ride.

It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
and it's been a while
Since I first saw you
It's been a while
since i could stand on my own two feet again
and it's been a while
since i could call you
But everything I can't remember as fucked up as it may seem
the consequences that I've rendered
I've stretched myself beyond my means

It's been a while
since i could say that i wasn't addicted and
It's been a while
Since I could say I love myself as well and
It's been a while
Since I've gone and fucked things up just like i always do
It's been a while
But all that shit seems to disappear when i'm with you
But everything I can't remember as fucked up as it may seem
the consequences that I've rendered
I've gone and fucked things up again

Why must i feel this way?
just make this go away
just one more peaceful day

Its been awhile
Since I could lok at myself straight
and it's been awhile
since i said i'm sorry
It's been awhile
Since I've seen the way the candles light your face
It's been awhile
But I can still remember just the way you taste
But everything I can't remember as fucked up as it may seem
I know it's me i cannot blame this on my father
he did the best he could for me

It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
and it's been a while since i said i'm sorry

Wonderful Life !

2006-05-28T17:07:00.000+05:30

Here I go out to sea again
The sunshine fills my hair
And dreams hang in the air

Gulls in the sky and in my blue eyes
You know it feels unfair
There's magic everywhere

Look at me standing
Here on my own again
Up straight in the sunshine

No need to run and hide
It's a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to hide and cry
It's a wonderful, wonderful life

Sun in your eyes
The heat is in your hair
They seem to hate you
Because you're there

And I need a friend
Oh, I need a friend
To make me happy
Not stand here on my own

Look at me standing
Here on my own again
Up straight in the sunshine

I need a friend
Oh, I need friend
To make me happy
Not so alone
Look at me here
Here on my own again
Up straight in the sunshine

Soccernomics

2006-04-18T17:13:00.000+05:30

ABN AMRO bank have done some popular financial analysis to propose the impact a nation receives if they win or lose the World Cup.

PSFK: Soccernomics: "ABN AMRO bank have done some popular financial analysis to propose the impact a nation receives if they win or lose the World Cup."

Arre yaar tu itna kyon sadela baitha hai ? (Dude ...Get a life !)

2006-04-14T18:35:00.000+05:30

Hmmm now thats the most oft repeated statement that im hearing these days after the compulsory four letters and "chill maar" ones.....
seems like im destined with a peepetually pissed off thopda (face)....
hmmm so is it me ....the environment....himesh reshamiyya.....or all of the above ?

Daadi Cool ?

2006-03-23T21:15:00.000+05:30

And now even Nytimes thinks that beards are the next "IN" thing ....
Pity ppl like me are left scratching their er.... chins
Paul Bunyan, Modern-Day Sex Symbol - New York Times

Capote-ed !

2006-03-06T04:12:00.000+05:30

went for a late night screening of 'capote' the philip seymour hoffman starrer and yeah the academy award nominated blah ..blah ...
though the setting of the story was quite interetsingly the 50's
the movie turned out to be quite a drag ..
with all due regards to hoffman ..

The Barcamp .....

2006-03-06T04:06:00.000+05:30

hmm sadly realising how much i been missing
was in the process of shifting and cudnt really log in as much as i wanted to ..
net result being that missed a great event ... as well as couple of important mails

but am quite pleasntly surprised to see that the Internet Industry is pickin up steadily and something like a 'valley' culture is shapin up ....
considerin the fact that the only even i been to was the paidcontent mixer held by rafat, maybe im becoming a lil too optimistic but then check out this

quite impressive ...!!!

Making the right cut ?

2006-03-06T03:52:00.000+05:30

Hmm after while ...
felt like blogging and found somthin interesting .........
a prominently promoted blog for a celebrity tailor ...
and i picked it up from PSFK .....

Its been a while...

2006-01-06T10:21:00.000+05:30

Yeah thats the obvious way you gonna start off :)
so after a tempestous period of non blogging , where a lot of 'bloggable' things have been happenin ....., im back to the eanting board ....
right now on a juncture ( or rather in my dilli lingo , T Point or a laal Batti)
but i guess i will try harder this time to blog more ...
lot lot more
soundin deliriously psychedelic ? heheheeh ?

back to vertu

2005-10-24T17:16:00.000+05:30

hmm after quite a while im back to blog ;-)
i can already feel the rust in my mind and between my fingers
and the reluctance to wield the mind to squirt out thoughts is quite there
and now somehow after yesterday had this urge to go ahead and ramm it all out on my qwerty board :-)

had a relatively eventful weekend .........
confrontation with the past
resolution over the present
and a struggle to jump into the future

now thats a wierd way of puttin it all across

jus cut out a sporadic (and maybe for my close friends, frequent)burst of anger from here jus now ......

and right now its quite well past midnight and im still at my office reading random stuff and thinkin on a crazy tangential trip ....

with nothin major to think or do in the past few days i been quite depressed of this state of rotten inertia

and to think of it all
where to dump this lump of frustration
and where to spit this ball of phelgm stuck in my throat
forcing me to choke even over a sip of water

where ? vertu ?

Talk , Talk

2005-09-22T23:14:00.000+05:30

A long conversation always helps :-) , atleast thats what a chatterbix like me always wants to believe.
The last two days i have been contemplating and evaluating a very important decision regarding my career and therefore the future course of a significant part of my life.
I had Two of the most frank and unbiased conversations of my life with two people who werent the closest of my freinds or acquaintances but yet know me reasonably well enough to help me in structuring my decision making process .

Lets see, i think things are looking far more clearer and in perspective than ever before and soon i guess i will be posting the whole story in all its bloody glory

Grrrr.....Grrrrr

jus shosh it !

2005-09-21T22:13:00.000+05:30

Hmm finally some innovation beyond the shosh and noise :-) !

Advertisers are using new Web syndication technology to build ads that entice users
to interact with real-time news feeds.
The BBC plans to break a U.S. ad campaign next week that streams BBC.com headlines in ad units. The RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news feeds are targeted to specific media placements. For example, ad units running on entertainment sites would carry BBC lifestyle story headlines, while those on NYTimes.com and WashingtonPost.com will include political and world news.

Desperado..Why dont u come to ur senses ?

2005-09-09T01:47:00.000+05:30

All i can say ...er...hum is the eagles song :-)

Religious fundamentalists have found a way to censor adult content without any help from the government by using a Trojan horse designed to block surfers’ access to certain sites, anti-virus firm Sophos Labs reported today.

“Unlike other malware, it appears this Trojan horse isn’t trying to steal money or confidential information, but acting as a moral guardian instead—blocking viewing of websites it determines are unsavory,” Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley said.

The program, called Yusufali-A, monitors words in the title bars of active windows, apparently searching for sexual terms such as “teen,” “xxx” and “hardcore,” then minimizes the window and launches a box containing a passage from the Koran.

Instead of being able to see adult content, a user gets the following message in both Arabic and English: “Know, therefore, that there is no god but Allah, and ask forgiveness for thy fault, and for the men and women who believe: for Allah knows how ye move about and how ye dwell in your homes.”

If a user doesn’t close the offending window within a few seconds, the program displays a button that reads, “For Exit, Click Here.”

After that, any mouse movement results in the worm delivering a second message containing the headline, “Oh, no, I’m in the cage,” along with three buttons marked, “Log Off,” “Shut Down” and “Restart.” The box traps users’ cursors, leaving them no option but to click one of the buttons. When they do, they are logged off their computers.

Cluley said the worm is prone to mistakes and has been found to block medical and academic sites as well as sites intended for teenage audiences.

Maar Daala !

2005-09-09T01:13:00.000+05:30

What could be better than an ipod ? 2 ipods ? A U2 ipod ? A shuffle? that strange bastradized thing called ROKR ?
hehhe get urself updated pal coz Im talkin abt the brand new apple ....hold ur breath .....Ahhhhheemmm iPod Nano .....
Now for more gyan

Hey anyone up there really interested in pleasing a 23 year old child ?

Google OS Rumors Persist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-09-08T00:00:00.000+05:30

Google OS Rumors Persist
A USB drive containing a customized Linux distro will boot users into a Google branded environment, or so one web site claims. The next experiment out of Google Labs or merely wishful thinking from the anti-Microsoft crowd?
Check More Here.......

Please Dont Buy from me ........

2005-09-02T20:11:00.000+05:30

Now what do you call a persom who manages to get it right everytime ?
guru ? genius ? wizard ? God ? ;-)
well try figurin out a euphemism for seth godin
while he's doin what he does best ..........
over here he's beaten himself with one masterful stroke of genius
most seth godin works start off as paid downloads and later become free....
over here seth warns people who come to buy his ebook that jus wait for a day
and get it for free rather than busting off $9 ;-)

now thats what i call a long term smart idea ......

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/09/please_dont_buy.html

Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi

2005-08-23T15:02:00.000+05:30

One of my favourite lines...........
considering the fact that im a newbie to urdu poetry.....

hazaaroN KHwahishaiN 'eisee ke har KHwahish pe dam nikle
bohot nikle mere armaaN lekin phir bhee kam nikle

Dare kyooN mera qaatil kya rahega uskee gardan par
wo KHooN, jo chashm-e-tar se 'umr bhar yooN dam_ba_dam nikle

nikalna KHuld se aadam ka sunte aayaiN haiN lekin
bohot be_aabru hokar tere kooche se ham nikle

bharam khul jaaye zaalim tere qaamat ki daraazee ka
agar is turra-e-pur_pech-o-KHam ka pech-o-KHam nikle

magar likhwaaye koee usko KHat, to hamse likhawaaye
huee subah aur ghar se kaan par rakhkar qalam nikle

huee is daur meiN mansoob mujhse baada_aashaamee
phir aaya wo zamaana, jo jahaaN se jaam-e-jam nikle

huee jinse tavaqqo KHastagee kee daad paane kee
wo hamse bhee ziyaada KHasta-e-teGH-e-sitam nikle

mohabbat meiN naheeN hai farq jeene aur marne kaa
usee ko dekh kar jeete haiN jis kaafir pe dam nikle

zara kar jor seene par ki teer-e-pursitam nikle
jo wo nikle to dil nikle, jo dil nikle to dam nikle

KHuda ke waaste parda na kaabe se uThaa zaalim
kaheeN 'eisa na ho yaaN bhee wohee kaafir sanam nikle

kahaaN maiKHaane ka darwaaza 'GHalib' aur kahaaN waaiz
par itana jaante haiN kal wo jaata tha ke ham nikle

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!
So much suqoon .................

Ghanta !

2005-08-08T22:55:00.000+05:30

yes..the familiar expression of dissapointment and anger that one hears in every nook and corner in India er...North India :-) !

am quite pissed with myself over the haphhazard works that i manage to get into and get out of in the past few weeks ....

of course the foreboding sense or you could maybe call it a tinge of arrogance is there......the sense of dooming bravado which one could identify with frank abagnale is there....something almost like 'catch me if you can '.

was bragging in the morning to a colleague how i bshitted my way thru a ppt presented to a client whom everybody places on the pedestal .

ofcourse i could summon the powers at my will ....but for how long ?

and how sustainable is this instant unkarma gonna last ?

as my dad says after one of those never ending question(airre) loops of mine :-)

allah kareem !

Vertu ?

2005-08-03T10:50:00.000+05:30

ok not gonna rant about the filthy expensive nokia phone.......
jus puts my present state of affairs in a better perspective........
couple of very interesting albeit confusing options in front of me ......

a job thats too good from all angles except the remunerative part
a job thats quite okayish with a great pay check
a venture idea waiting to explode but in chronic diffused state owing to my own in decisiveness......................

vertu ?

Im speechless...........

2005-08-03T10:41:00.000+05:30

"As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual."

-- Microsoft employee Dan McKay's winning entry in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

How Much Bhangra is too much Bhangra ?

2005-07-19T17:50:00.000+05:30

Precisely the question that i was askin myself...................
im midst of incoming threats and what not ...including fijical objects
i still play bhagra at ahemmm...awkward times......
Asian Dub Foundation and Panjabi MC are the reigning gods along with lesser equals like RDB,Dhol Foundation,Tigerstyle,Shinda,sahara, and the works ......
so as soon as i get the answer to the above stated question .....will review the er....airtime allotted ....

till then..........chaak de !

A blog gone (ing) overboard and a blogger gone (ing) under

2005-07-19T17:42:00.000+05:30

Maybe this is a repeated title ...dunno jus as i was bt to type out a title to his post my cache spat this one out and thats it ..............

despite being a standby copywriter on some of my agemcy's work .....never thought highly of my skills .....rightly so and the reasons are quite self evident :-) .....

even my blog seems to be a weird assortment or rather a glorified bookmark of all those windscreenshots that i came across on the web ...........

and after reading a couple of very well written blogs like this and this one here ....you get this momentary inspiration to do better ...or more like the rising guilt you know those 'maybe i should haves..........." that always serves as a balm for procastination.

so maybe im gonna put in a lil more effort to cultivate this lil blog of mine and pepper a lil bit of my odd observation if and at all they happen ........

Two Sides of the Same Screen ......

2005-07-17T18:33:00.000+05:30

"Sharp Corp. has developed a dual-view display, based on its 3D LCD technology, that delivers different images to viewers on the right and left respectively.
'Dual-view displays will change the life style,' said Mikio Katayama, corporate executive director in charge of LCD business. 'One family can sit together in a living room and enjoy different TV programs. The dual-view display TV solves the TV channel squabble,' he said.
Dual-view displays used for billboards and information displays will also be able to provide different information to viewers on the right and left sides."

Guess maybe one day we also might be having a gizmo to show the two sides of an argument :-) !

EETimes.com - Sharp to promote dual-view LCDs:">Read More

Got My first torrent !

2005-07-14T01:44:00.000+05:30

yeah its illegal ....but how else could i get hands on this one movie , that i have been scouting for the last 4 years .............after countless badgering sessions with all dear and near ...i had to do it !
Pirate of the ....blah blah blah...........

But I mus say ..........it really feels good doin something bad (Snigger... Snigger ..)

Interested ?

2005-07-13T00:29:00.000+05:30

Dear Friend,

As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because, I believe everyone will die someday. My name is MR. REZA ABDULLA , a merchant in Safat, in (Kuwait) I was married with two children. My wife and two children died in a car accident six years a go. I have been diagnosed with Esophageal cancer. It has defiled all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts.

I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself) but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.

I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this world I would live my life a different way from how I have lived it. Now that God has called me, I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate and extended family members as well as a few close friends. I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul so, I have decided to give alms to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Algeria and Malaysia. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore. I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization in Bulgaria and Pakistan, they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them. The last of my money which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of Ten Million Seven Hundred Thousand American dollars (U.S.$10.700,000) that I have with a finance/Security Company abroad. I will want you to help me collect this deposit and dispatched it to charity organizations. I have set aside only 20 % for you and for your time and also 5% as miscellaneous expenses. Reply me at your earliest convenience for more directives to my private email address: reza_abdulla@walla.com

God be with you.

Regards,
MR. REZA ABDULLA

Maa.....Mein First Class Mein Pass Hogaya !

2005-07-07T03:06:00.000+05:30

A though provoking post by Tim Miles of Ad Partners on the great thing that we all miss out in the mad rush to achieve short term objectives .....
We all start our careers wishing to win an Oscar,or a Cannes , a padma bhushan ( if you really understand wht it means :-) ) or the biggie , the nobel.
Many of us even have a tentative accpetance speech in mind ..................
But then all that whimpers off to be replaced by cold pragmatic passionless approach ..........
hey u got to check this out........
some Sound Thinking: What Will Your Mom Say?

Blanca and Antonia.....somewhere in santiago

2005-07-06T00:14:00.000+05:30

Ok that wasn’t a mistake...for the uninitiated Santiago is the capital of Chile, besides that that’s where the main character of this post, Blanca lives.

i guess this is the first personal posting that im making in a looooong time and there is a very good reason behind that .

Blanca is a very special person. We met on skype, a popular p2p telephony service which conveniently is also a place for people from different parts of the world to meet up and chat (literally and not on the QWERTY pad :)).

So Blanca is a chemical engineering student who loves books and movies. more specifically Bollywood movies ....hehhehehee

Soon we became good friends, chatting about movies, culture, soccer, languages, marquez, neruda stuff that I don’t get to chat in midst of performance marketing :-) ...................

On and off she wud ping me and we start off on another arbit guppa trip on rajnikant movies and why do Indians have 237 dancers running behind them while romancing !

So today when she was up on msn.... quite out of the blue we started talking abt life in general and the careers and why she didnt wanna be a Chemical sister ...hhehehe( Ok that was my humor or humus )

so i jus casually suggested why dont come down to India......always thought of getting some non indian into the chutney ranks ...so why not a chilean chemical engineer ?...........

ok she was pleasantly surprised .....and asked me wether im serious ....which i said i was........

and then she dropped the liitle boy or the fat man ( depending on how u see it ...)

she asked me ....."I think i havent told you that I am a mother ....."

ok now this is where antonia comes into the picture......

tonia is the 3 year old cutebug who is being raised singly by blanca,after a relationship.

suddenly .....the chemical engineer from chile jus rose a few notches up in my mind .

somethings which come as a shock initially leaves behind a nice feeling as an afterburn........

Suddenly somebody who you thought of as a friend or someone in your own shoes jus turns out to be an astoningshly great person.....

Honey , water my couch !

2005-07-05T20:35:00.000+05:30

A new mini-trend of landscape as furniture seems to have popped up amongst the designer set. Couches made of sod and chairs made of evergreen boughs are sprouting up all over. The idea broke big last year with a cover article on how to grow your own grass (couch) in in the hipster DIY bible, ReadyMade Magazine . Now the cool kids at ApartmentTherapy have spotted 'Branch Benches' at the Met, and it turns out that designer Greg Tate, who wrote the article for ReadyMade, expanded the idea into a full-scale lawn lounge at the CaBoom festival in Santa Monica. "

Check PSFK for more

Contribute to Calvinstan !

2005-07-03T21:40:00.000+05:30

Hey Whoever happens to read this post ....
Please contribute to my new blog exclusively dedicated to calvin and hobbes
its right there at www.calvinstan.blogspot.com
if you are not interested atleast fwd my request to someone you know who might be interested ......
Got huge plans for making it into a community co-blog !

Future Tense

2005-07-03T21:37:00.000+05:30

What is about a bunch of long haired bunch of musicians who were called the yardbirds( before a spaced out keith moon quipped that they are gonna sink like a leaden zeppelin ) that it makes their music still relevant and soul stirring ?

Would they listen to Coldplay,Travis and Green Day 20 years from now ?

I wonder ......

QT: King of Thieves

2005-07-02T15:16:00.000+05:30

Ok Who is the greatest director of our generation pop culture movies ?
Hey You are a moron if you dont say QT !
Oh come on ......dont tell me ....What's QT ?

Wired 13.07: QT: King of Thieves

2005-06-21T01:10:00.000+05:30

Now this is something which i could have possibly only known from the internet ...
Read on

Removing the ketchup stain from his trousers cost Richard Phillips $7.30 (4 pounds). The subsequent spat over who would pay the bill may have cost the lawyer his dignity.

An e-mail exchange allegedly between Phillips and his secretary, Jenny Amner, has been forwarded around Britain's legal community, spread across the Internet and become a talking point in the press.

Newspapers Friday reprinted the exchange, which began with a May 25 message purportedly from Phillips, a senior associate at the law firm Baker & McKenzie of Chicago, to his secretary.

"Hi Jenny. I went to a dry cleaners at lunch and they said it would cost 4 pounds to remove the ketchup stains. If you cd let me have the cash today, that wd be much appreciated," it said.

Amner, who was off work because of her mother's death, replied in piquant style June 3.

"I must apologize for not getting back to you straight away but due to my mother's sudden illness, death and funeral I have had more pressing issues than your 4 pounds. ... Obviously your financial need as a senior associate is greater than mine as a mere secretary," her e-mail read.

jeez....reminds me of a joke that made its rounds in chutney

once a firang, desi lingo for a caucasian male ....came down to a village in haryana....he wentr across absorbing the rustic beauty of the place and its people ....a group of village folks were sittina round a cot ...smokin a hookah( a sheesha), quipped yeh angrez bahut velle hote hain !

This proves it !

Amazon's Thank You Note ..er Concert !

2005-06-20T02:54:00.000+05:30

'To commemorate its 10th Anniversary, Amazon.com announced that on July 16th customers will receive a special thank-you - a concert featuring Bob Dylan and Norah Jones. Of course, customers will be squinting at streaming video while Amazon employees actually attend the concert at Seattle's Benaroya Hall, but isn't it the thought that counts?'"

Whats the Story?

2005-06-18T21:05:00.000+05:30

been a long time since i heard oasis....
and they dont play it anymore especially the places where i frequent :)
guess it was durin my bba days...with my friend maji,deepu n all
and a conv with arindam a friend of sidharth's, who's from the alternative record label PhatPhish, brought back all those days
and guess what managed to build up my very own oasis mp3 collection in a couple of hours !
got bac champagne supernova,wonderwall,dont look back in anger , whats the story .................
boy o boy ....got to say these guys still rock !

Why Do I ?

2005-06-17T19:31:00.000+05:30

Ok initially when i started off bloggin a few months back....this was supposed to be a personal ranting board...instead all that its turning out to be a personal agenda board ......exulting my professional interests...guess no matter how hard u try to get away from work ...it always catches up ....jus like death :D !

Now Accepting Advance Orders !!!

2005-06-15T03:34:00.000+05:30

2 kilo of KesselsKramer. Brick or Book?
Weighing in at a staggering two kilograms the contents include: - Everything the renowned agency has made in advertising, design, music videos, documentaries, product design, publishing and more. - Famous and infamous brand-building for the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel, Diesel, Absolut, Heineken, Nike, Ben, do and others. Go to the gym, then try and lift 2 kilo of KesselsKramer. Itﾕs the best way to see how this small agency from Amsterdam became a heavyweight in the world of communication

Obituary to the best me

2005-06-06T20:04:00.000+05:30

Finally after everything i gained and more realistically i thought i gained , i jus learned that all i considered to be my best reasons to be who iam is just a mistake, jus a miscalculation.

and as i lay the gravestone on the best thing that has ever happened to me , i stand a better person,a refined, purfied amalgam of my forlorn past.

what wakes from the bed tomorrow is someone else.

lemme lay flowers as i leave it to eternal rest

let shrubs and flowers bloom over me

let me return as i turn ashes to ashes and

till then goodbye to me ...

What's your EQ?

2005-06-06T18:07:00.000+05:30

Measure your EQ with Cambridge University neuroscientist Simon Baron-Cohen's sixty question instrument, which will determine whether you have what Baron-Cohen calls a 'female brain'. If you want to check your "male brain" bona fides, also take the test that measures your Systemizing Quotient, or SQ.

D-uh !

2005-06-04T08:53:00.000+05:30

Ok all my colleagues from Delhi readin this (If they ever ! :-) ) take relief in the fact that despite all the hype and all the envy that we tried to create, D turned out to be a slight dissapoinment :-(.................................

Ok the one liners were kinda ok , Hooda was good , infact one of the most impressive debuts in recent times(yeah if u count out the Ch%%$ p@##$%^ role he did monsoon wedding).

Chunkey u better stick to bangladeshi movies.....always liked u as a spontaneous actor but kinda lost it ...try gettin it back ...else ...er..open a restaurant or turn into a director ...................

sushaant singh (Maj Akbar from Lakshya Fame) disappointed after promising a lot in lakshya anything else u all remember ?

yashpal sharma (Lakha from Lagaan fame)loved ! especially the maa-behean and Ghanta ! stuff , u wud even make a delhi blue line driver cringe with your dialogue er....gali delivery

goga kapoor Uncleji aap kyon takleef kar rahe hain ? hum aapke anginat films ke scenes ko idhar udhar se nikalke silake ek naya hashim bhai ko banatay iske liye khaday honay ki kya xaroorat hain ?

Rukhsar was looking seductive,voluptious or rather in our backroom language sexy auntyish :D ! but she is more of a token bimbette....so she's got to prove otherwise

isha kopikkar was impressive evn without the maar daala number....though she might have got less than 5 mts she's over delivered in an under delivering role.

the film traces the growth of deshu, who builds his own gang in the mumbai underworld but the amount of realism and grit that was present in satya and company is not present here.

instead of creating an opinion , you jus remain a passive viewer watching the mindless shootouts ......

overall comin from the varma camp,dissapointing but definitely worth a check considering the other options hehehhee.

Gettin D-ed !

2005-06-02T18:23:00.001+05:30

Yep U heard it right the Webchutney Pali Naka Puncture Boys (all 7 of us including the seth) have got premiere tickets for Ramgopal Varma's latest flick "D" !!!!!!!

Will post more on the D episode...
Watch this space !

Road Runnin at 2Mbps !

2005-06-01T16:58:00.000+05:30

One of the smartest brand extensions that i have seen in recent times.Time Warner AOL,arguably the worlds largest media conglomerate owns the looney tunes characters including the likes of bugs bunny,dafy duck,wily E coyote,speedy gonsalves etc.
Now Rodrunner one of my fav characters is renowned hehheeee for his speed which saves him from his nemesis, wily E coyote......
and when time warner had to start a broadband service apart from the AOL family,guess what they called it :-) , Roadrunner !
very smart , and very innovative definitely a cool name and identity in a market which has very cold and techie kind of dead names like AOL,MSN,Comcast,SBC yuck !

check out Roadrunner Website

Hanumanji Kicks More Lankan Ass !!!!!!!!!!

2005-06-01T02:56:00.000+05:30

I love the work nina paley is doing by rendering a cool animated version of sitayana....and hope most of our pogo infected kiddies check out the new hero in town ! Bajrang Bali (BB).

Always loved the Ramayana and its essential portrayal of the good versus evil,but never really tolerated the dishum dishum crude versions put on doordarshan or rather kroordarshan ...hehheeee
Though i remeber watching an anime(japanese animation style) based Ramayana with music by DJ Whosane ........

I need more cowbell !

2005-06-01T02:33:00.000+05:30

Ok this is one of the most funniest things i have come across in a long long time....
actually never thought much about the cowbell....until i stumbled across this gem from Bandbaja

Its this awesome skit done by the Saturday Night Live(SNL) team,where they teamed up for a special with christopher walken.

A Wiki Entry on the Historic event hehhehehee.....

During a popular Saturday Night Live sketch, Christopher Walken played famous music producer Bruce Dickinson, insisting that "more cowbell" is the key to making Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" a success: "Guess what? I got a fever. And the only prescription... is more cowbell."

and after reading this you should definitely watch the clip from here
spoiler warning : you need quicktime player
or even better keep it forevr with this cool download here

anyways i can already predict the future where u will laughin ur heads away ....

The Harami-est Cat of em all !

2005-06-01T00:44:00.000+05:30

Hey found this really coolcat :) (literally one !)
He is one helluva pussy who is really looking for you guessed right more pussies
ok all those who have a PG rating inside their heads kindly refrain from reading ahead............
Fritz was born one fine day in the 70's to Mr Ralph Bakshi who also fathered Mighty Mouse as well a couple of other cool charatcters...........

More about fritz (courtesy wikipedia)

Fritz the Cat is a comic book character created by Robert Crumb during the height of the underground comics movement of the 1960s. Crumb cast his character of Fritz as a trouble-making, anti-establishment, college-age figure whose adventures consisted of having sex with as many anthropomorphic female animals as possible, while staying one step ahead of the law.

The popularity of the character of Fritz the Cat led up-and-coming animation director Ralph Bakshi to make Fritz the star of his first animated feature film. Released to theaters in 1972, Bakshi's film Fritz the Cat was the first animated feature film to be rated X, something that had been unheard of in movies up until this film. The movie was a box-office hit, drawing in audiences as much for its shock value as for its appeal to the "love generation" of the 1960s.

The animated film is a satire on college life of the 1960s: while Fritz doesn't attend any classes during the movie, he participates in major social upheavals based around the popular college protest movement of the time. Fritz invites several girls to his "pad" for an orgy, does a lot of drugs, escapes when the place is raided by the police, takes part in organizing an angry, violent mob that riots against "authority" (without actually figuring out what the target of its anger is), is briefly associated with a terrorist group similar to the Black Panthers, and apparently "dies" at the film's climax (before coming back for one final roll in the hay with his young, nubile girlfriends).

Tyler Durden Says.............

2005-06-01T00:26:00.000+05:30

Found this really spooky stuff on how similar is the Fight Club team to calvin and hobbes .......eeks check it out here or read it in all its glory !

Fight Club
The Return of Hobbes
Hobbes is reborn as Tyler to save "Jack" (a grown-up Calvin) from the slough of un-comic despair.
::: Galvin P. Chow

In the film Fight Club, the real name of the protagonist (Ed Norton’s character) is never revealed. Many believe the reason behind this anonymity is to give "Jack" more of an everyman quality. Do not be deceived. "Jack" is really Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. It’s true. Norton portrays the grown-up version of Calvin, while Brad Pitt plays his imaginary pal, Hobbes, reincarnated as Tyler Durden.

Part I: The Hobbes-Tyler Connection
Picture this: a hyper, self-absorbed child initially concocts an imaginary friend as the ideal playmate, to whom more realistic qualities soon become attributed. This phantasm becomes a completely separate personality, with his own likes, dislikes, and temperament—and the imaginer and the imagined clash and argue constantly, though remaining fast friends. This pattern continues to the point where the child begins to perceive what was originally mere fantasy to be reality.

Just as Calvin has an imaginary jungle-animal friend named Hobbes, whom everyone else believes to be nothing but a stuffed toy, "Jack" in Fight Club has an imaginary cool-guy friend named Tyler, whom no one but Jack can see.

In both cases, the entity that began as the ideal companion soon took on a more realistic, three-dimensional quality. In other words, they became real. This is evident in that both Hobbes and Tyler also began to function as scapegoats for their creators. For instance, consider that Calvin often blames broken lamps and other assorted household mischief on Hobbes, and that Jack is inclined to believe that Fight Club and other various anti-society mischief is brought about by Tyler, not himself. Calvin claims Hobbes pounces on him every day after school; Jack believes Tyler beats him up next to 40 kilotons of nitroglycerin in a parking garage—the list goes on and on. The relationships between the two sets of friends are the exact same. Is this mere coincidence?

"There are eight rules of Fight Club."

Filling in the time-gap between Calvin and Jack, we can imagine the story as something like this: Once Calvin reaches the hostile environment known as the seventh grade, the constant teasing from the other students and the frustrated concern of his parents finally becomes too much, and a reluctant, disillusioned Calvin is finally forced to grow up, or at least begin to. This decision is sealed by one of the hardest things young Calvin will ever have to do in his life: un-imagine Hobbes, an act which to Calvin is essentially no different from murder. After being Calvin’s best friend for over a decade, Hobbes is packed away in a box, or tossed carelessly into a garbage bag, perhaps even stuffed under the same bed that once contained so many monsters. This is all, of course, very painful for Calvin, so much so that he represses it all in shame. Little does Calvin suspect that while he is busy growing up, deciding what "dinette set defines him as a person," Hobbes is also maturing in the recesses of his mind, waiting to be unleashed at an appropriate time.

It’s worth noting that during these twenty or so years, Hobbes never bears a grudge against Calvin nor wishes any ill upon him. Hobbes, remembering the depth of their past friendship, does not hate Calvin but rather hates the society that made Calvin put him away. Hobbes, residing in Calvin’s mind, sees and experiences all that Calvin does—and truly despises all of it. He witnesses a bright, superbly imaginative kid (with a genius-level vocabulary) reduced to nothing more than another nameless cog. Fighting off the tears wept for his conventionalized pal, Hobbes resolves to set Calvin free, paying special attention when Calvin idly looks up homemade-napalm recipes on the Internet.

Flash forward to the timeframe depicted in Fight Club. Calvin/Jack has reached an all-time low. He has done everything society has told him to do but is completely void of happiness. Hobbes, newly adjusted as "Tyler Durden" (after all, grown-up Calvin would no longer accept a jungle animal walking, talking, and eating canned tuna), re-enters Calvin/Jack’s life, determined to show Calvin everything he’s done wrong, whether he likes it or not.

Tyler to Jack: "I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I’m smart, capable, and most importantly, I’m free in all the ways you wish you could be."

Calvin has always idolized Hobbes. In Weirdos From Another Planet, he dresses up like a tiger and attempts to live in the woods. Like Hobbes, Tyler is cool, collected, and incredibly cerebral. Given this evidence, one can conclude that Tyler is Hobbes, reincarnated after being trapped inside Calvin/Jack’s brain for so many years. Just as Calvin is Jack, Hobbes is Tyler.

Part II: Marla Singer—Avatar of Susie Derkins?
Somewhere between the end of high school and beginning of college, uptight, grade-obsessed Susie Derkins lost her way. The pressure to get good grades, the pressure to succeed, simply became too much for her, and she snapped.

Marla remembers the girl she used to be.

Free from the protective bonds of her parents’ guidance and the bland safety of her suburban home, Susie loses her moral bearings entirely and sinks into a dark, seamy, grim world of sex, drugs, and eccentric Albert-Einstein-like hair. Her transformation is so complete that she no longer even remotely resembles the upright citizen that her parents and society wanted her to be: thus, she changes her name.

Like Calvin, Susie has become a misfit, one of society’s lost lambs. It is for this reason that she soon finds herself frequenting support groups such as "Remaining Men Together." Fate has brought her back to Calvin, whom she probably spurned back in junior high. But the two have changed so much that they no longer recognize each other!

The pink dress Marla wears in one scene slightly resembles something that "Binky Betsy," Susie’s favorite childhood doll, once wore: the doll that Calvin stole and attempted to ransom. While Calvin and Susie mostly teased and tortured each other, Hobbes was infatuated with the raven-haired beauty. Accordingly, Jack despises Marla, whereas Tyler takes an *ahem* sort of interest in her (definitely inappropriate for the Sunday Funnies).

When we are first introduced to Marla, she is but a tumor on Jack’s slowly deteriorating world. She is disenfranchised, morbid, socially apathetic—and Jack despises her because she is a mirror image of himself, his own female double. On the other hand, Calvin hates Susie because she is his exact opposite: Bright, obedient, demure—the unruly Calvin has every reason to hate her. However, certain strips definitely infer that Calvin has somewhat of a crush on Susie, and some even imply that Susie shares these latent feelings. But as a cootie-fearing grade-schooler, Calvin may only express these strange feelings through attention-getting antagonisms such as constant snowballs to the head, ransoming her dolls—and through his separate, conveniently more mature other personality—Hobbes.

Unlike Calvin, Hobbes has never been bashful about showing his affection for Susie. Calvin’s imaginary tiger-friend has called her a "cutie," worn swim jams to impress her ("Girls flip for guys in jams"), and even claimed he would betray their club’s secret code if she gave him a tummy rub (which is one of the key differences between Tyler and Hobbes). Naturally, all of this confuses and frustrates Calvin beyond words, even though Hobbes is really nothing more than a product of his own mind! And though Hobbes and Susie never consummated their love for each other (he’s a stuffed tiger and she’s a kid, you sicko!) this is, of course, the exact same deranged love-triangle that is shared between Jack, Tyler, and Marla, or at least a natural progression thereof. Perhaps Marla puts up with Jack/Tyler’s apparent nonsense for so long, because it’s the sort of thing she became used to as a child? And perhaps, in the end, Jack finds solace in Marla because it’s the exact same connection he should’ve made long ago, in his suburban youth. A connection that may have saved them both.

Part III: GROSS—Precursor of Fight Club

In a scene eerily reminiscent of Fight Club, Hobbes blithely informs a sulking Calvin that he decides his own level of involvement in G.R.O.S.S.

When you boil it down, the Fight Club that Jack and Tyler start is really just an odd sort of boys’ club—no ovaries allowed—where men can be men, and the so-called stronger of the sexes can take solace in the fact that, even in our politically correct times, some exclusivities of manhood still remain. (As a side note, imagine how much more controversy the movie would have generated if it involved scenes of men fighting women on equal ground!)

And clubs like this, of course, have their beginnings in backyards, tree houses, and garages all over America. Not surprisingly, Calvin started such a club when he was six years old. Little did anyone realize that he would construct another one much later in his life, again with the aid of an imaginary friend. For just as Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie have dark future versions in Jack, Tyler, and Marla respectively, G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) has the same in Fight Club.

G.R.O.S.S. shares the following characteristics with Fight Club:

Both have catchy names (although the "slimy" part of G.R.O.S.S. is redundant, otherwise it doesn’t spell anything).

Both are co-run by a friendless male and his imaginary companion (Calvin is Tyrant and Dictator-for-Life; Hobbes is President and First Tiger).
Both are exclusively male organizations, although Fight Club’s membership is considerably larger.
Along with that, all members of both organizations are very loyal.
The leaders of both organizations constantly engage in fisticuffs (but only in G.R.O.S.S. does a member receive a demerit for biting).
And in said fights, in both organizations, there is only one fight at a time!
Both are supposedly very secretive (though Jack never tells his mother about Fight Club).
At least one leader of both organizations is fond of giving speeches (though Calvin never uses the term "space monkey").
G.R.O.S.S. and Fight Club both wreak havoc on their respective neighborhoods (G.R.O.S.S.’s target is considerably more focused, i.e., Susie). Clearly, the roots of Fight Club can be seen in G.R.O.S.S. Calvin shows his penchant for such male-oriented, destructive organizations. Also, just like cardboard-box-time-machines and water-gun-transmogrifiers, G.R.O.S.S. was likely created as an escape, a release—as, of course, was Fight Club.

Part IV: Moe Develops Karmic Bitch-Tits

Moe secretly seeks atonement for past sins.

Robert "Moe" Paulson, Calvin’s grade-school bully, becomes a six-time weight-lifting champion, and somewhere along the line develops large man-boobs as a result of testicular cancer. This of course leads him to his support group, where he is shocked to find Calvin.

Moe greatly regrets his bullying days, but, too ashamed to reveal his true identity to Calvin, he instead offers his ample bosom for him to cry on, as a measure of retribution.

Part V: The Root of Evil
Although we’ve already learned of the fates of Hobbes, Susie, and Moe, there are a couple of other people important to Calvin that are missing. People that are even more integral to his development than (arguably) Hobbes: his parents. Mr . . . uhm . . . , and Mrs . . . uh. . . . Okay, so they don’t have names. But then again, there is no need to know them. Because in the comic strip, they’re not supposed to be important characters in their own right. They only matter in regards to how Calvin is directly effected by them; an effect which, by the time of the film, doesn’t seem to have been very positive. From what "Jack" mentions, he’s not exactly close to his parents, particularly his dad, on whom he seems to pin many of his problems. And this matches perfectly with the relationship depicted in the comic, as well as with what happened afterwards (in Part I).

Calvin’s dad seems to have done quite a number on his son. As stated, it was probably at his urging that Calvin "grew up," that is, finally started to conform to society’s rules, which was the death of Hobbes. Of course, his father wasn’t without his playful side—good-naturedly teasing Calvin at every opportunity—but perhaps this is why "Jack" resents him so much. Maybe after Jack reached the end of his dutiful journey, only to find emptiness, he thought back to the day his father told him that the sun sets down somewhere in Arizona every night. "Maybe," thought Calvin, "maybe ALL of it’s been just another one of Dad’s cruel jokes."

In the "bathtub" scene of Fight Club, "Jack" and Tyler discuss their woeful parents. In this scene, crucial information is revealed, as well as some inconsistencies. "Jack" claims his father left when he was six, an age when Calvin’s dad was obviously still around, but this statement is contradicted soon after, when Tyler mentions his own dad telling him to get married when he was thirty, to which "Jack" responds, "mine said that too." The self-pitying "Jack" is most likely seeking to garner additional sympathy from his newfound friend by making his childhood sound worse than it actually was.

But even more interesting is Tyler’s hostility towards his father: when "Jack" asks him who he would fight, if he could fight anyone, he answers, "I’d fight my father." But, since Tyler is only a figment of Jack’s imagination, we can only assume he’s referring to Jack’s father. And while this hatred would only make sense given that the two are sharing the same brain, why is it that Tyler seems to hate Jack’s father even more vividly than "Jack" himself does? Maybe it’s because Tyler hasn’t forgotten who’s ultimately responsible for the un-imagining that took place years before . . . maybe he’s still not too happy about it . . . and maybe he’s got some pretty good ideas for revenge.

The role of Calvin’s father in all of this is no small one. Other than to "save" Calvin, it’s entirely possible that Tyler’s real motivation for taking down civilization is simply to get back at Calvin’s father. For by destroying the society that forced Calvin into repressing Hobbes, he’s also destroying the society that Calvin’s father, after all, epitomizes. And this of course allows Hobbes an indirect measure of revenge.

Part VI: Calvin—"I Am Jack’s Lost Youth"

Although the personality differences between Calvin in the comic strip and Calvin in the movie are pretty large, it can be explained as easily as taking Id and introducing him to Superego ("Jack" actually seems to have sort of a Super-Superego). Nearly all people go through the same thing when first confronted with the crushing grind of reality. But, as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall—and in terms of imagination and dreams, Calvin was a giant.

Still, it’s not as though common traits between Calvin-Calvin and Jack-Calvin can’t be identified at all. Besides a preference for imaginary friends over real ones, and an inability to express affection for girls, Calvin has never done well when forced to play by any sort of rules. Take, for instance, his utter inability in any sort of organized sport, compared to his unbridled joy while playing the make-it-up-as-you-go-along "Calvinball." Furthermore, even at age 6 Calvin never exactly thrived in stifling, authoritarian establishments (i.e., school), and he’s always had clashes with authority figures since the strip began (his parents, the doctor, his teacher, Rosalyn)—which actually may have initially planted the seeds for Tyler. Beyond that, his excellent vocabulary and way with words are still with him in the voice-over narration of Fight Club, and his rampant materialism that started with mail-order propeller-beanies ends with yin-yang shaped tables. As for the differences, they can be credited to the demoralizing effect of reality.

In the end, Calvin’s involvement with Fight Club and return of Hobbes can be boiled down to two words: "Personal Responsibility." For although Fight Club and Project Mayhem were both mostly Tyler’s doing, by the end of the movie, Jack readily accepts his own part of the blame, as Tyler is his creation. And by doing so, he also accepts responsibility for the undesirable condition of his own life—his father may have pushed him, but Calvin himself was the one who chose to obey. It is through this newfound self-accountability that Calvin/Jack is able to take control of his own life at last. As skyscrapers flash and crumble in the background, and blood oozes from the bullet hole in his head, Calvin says that he is "okay." And we are apt to believe him.

Part VII: Conclusion
Calvin’s world in the comic strip is pure, romanticized idealism, whereas in the movie, he lives in gray, bleak reality. Within the safety of the panel, Calvin is perpetually six years old, terrible things can never happen, and no matter how crazy a stunt he pulls, everything always returns to status quo. Because of this, our hero is free to do as he wishes, free to chase his dreams as wildly as he desires, never having to worry about tomorrow because there essentially will never be one—unless it’s part of a continuing storyline. This makes the reality of Fight Club all the bleaker, because it depicts what happens when you take someone weaned on dreams and limitless possibilities and jam him into a cramped cage confined by rules and regulations. It probably only took poor Calvin a few years in the adult world (or growing-up world) to fully make the sad change.

This transition from gleeful Calvin to dull "Jack" is not uncommon. Little Nemo became a banker, Peter Pan became a lawyer, and Garfield was caught and butchered by the chef of a Chinese restaurant. (One exception is Charlie Brown, who from all indications was mentally middle-aged at the time of his birth.)

The moral of the story is that reality bites, kiddies. Calvin and Hobbes in Fight Club are proof of this sad, sad truth.

2005-05-21T23:50:00.000+05:30

quite a phat imagery .....hehehheee....Ramayana gets a piece of pop culture !

The Teflon Coated Yuppie !

30 cakes and none the wiser

Hitched mans guide to galaxy

it all boils down to the same old things

Stumbleupon

linkin park

Bottlenecked

Felix !

Kavish

Ying or Yang or YIANG !

Prioritisation

Looking under the rocks

Enter the dragon

Restless

Hibernate Mode ?

Public Figures Are Just That - Forbes.com

Stop Being Greedy and You'll Make More Money? really ?

Chubby Cheeks Dimple Chin

Advertising Age - MediaWorks - CNN the TV Channel Is No Match for CNN the Website

Silly simply down and out thoughts on the way to building the murdochian empire :-)

YouTube - Skoda Fabia TV Advert

How to get into the elite leagues ?

La-Z-boy Feat Jassim

try 'digesting' that !

A phone from google ?

Will Someone Please Explain How God Made Robert Plant ?

Dictator 2.0

Found this rather inspiring story .....

'The Last Wolf'from Parables from Other Planetsby Hugh and Gayle Prather

Brood

Bulldozer ?

Lonelily

Its Official !

Tell me about it ! ;P

25 .... Now what ?

1gbps ! slurp slurp !

DUmb Detroit ?

Give up son .... its all over

10 Reasons To Drink More Water !

In Depeche Mode Mood's

Resolutions....

Requiem ? Not yet ....

Driftwood ...boy im goin maddd over em .....

Another one ...Sing !!!!!!!!!!

In the sun ....

Brawny Academy ?

IF IT ITCHES, SCRATCH IT

Its been a while....

Wonderful Life !

Soccernomics

Arre yaar tu itna kyon sadela baitha hai ? (Dude ...Get a life !)

Daadi Cool ?

Capote-ed !

The Barcamp .....

Making the right cut ?

Its been a while...

back to vertu

Talk , Talk

jus shosh it !

Desperado..Why dont u come to ur senses ?

Maar Daala !

Google OS Rumors Persist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please Dont Buy from me ........

Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi

Ghanta !

Vertu ?

Im speechless...........

How Much Bhangra is too much Bhangra ?

A blog gone (ing) overboard and a blogger gone (ing) under

Two Sides of the Same Screen ......

Got My first torrent !

Interested ?

Maa.....Mein First Class Mein Pass Hogaya !

Blanca and Antonia.....somewhere in santiago

Honey , water my couch !

Contribute to Calvinstan !

Future Tense

QT: King of Thieves

Amazon's Thank You Note ..er Concert !

Whats the Story?

'The Last Wolf'
from Parables from Other Planets
by Hugh and Gayle Prather