All the hoopla!

The Indian blog world is in flames over Barkha Dutt (NDTV journo) suing a blogger named Chyetanya Kunte regarding certain comments he made in a post regarding the 26/11 coverage. Basically he called her an idiot and said the coverage endangered lives. The post is gone, but you can read it from Google's cache. Scroll down for the post. (offtopic: Internet is lot like Las Vegas; what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!) Kunte succumbed to the pressure  and made a very legal looking withdrawal of statement post.

Bloggers have been calling for Dutt's head and to be frank rightfully so! The fourth estate or so called custodians of Democracy is unwilling to bear with criticism? Just head over to the Facebook discussion where Barkha threatens another person. Immature, and a total one at that. Barkha has every right to defend against the allegations. She could have explained her position or if its not worth her time she could have just ignored it! Instead she went for a lawsuit to shut the mouth of someone disagreeing with her. Just read the post in contention to see if there was anything very far fetched or libelious than the ones we see every other day in blogosphere?

Kunte may be no saint and certainly a moron. He had a good case in his hand and would have gathered lot of support. Instead he bowed down and kicked himself in the nuts! Is there no room for criticism? Or only the journalists are supposed to do that?

Barkha says this in her Facebook post:

Just because some random bloke can sit at a computer and make up stuff
doesnt mean he or others like him need to be dignified with responding
to their utter and total rubbish.

So the views of random blokes who watch her telecast, get her channel the TRP, and basically feeds her mean nothing? Is she on a pedestal where she is a Goddess untouchable by mortals? To be very frank I have seen much better writing and analysis from random blokes in the Internet than from qualified journos. People who do their job, run a family, and then go ahead and write blogs. Heck! These blokes made up the Time person of the year in 2006! Can Barkha even dream about that?

I got a lot of info and insight for and against this issue from blogs. Again from the jobless blokes. Most of the info I got was from Sanjukta's post against the blogger hoopla. Read that post and interesting discussion on that too. I don't agree with her analysis and I really cannot digest her arguments. But again, I respect her view point and would like to quote something all of us should be mindful off.

"I may disagree with what you say, but i’ll defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltairre.

Rush!

I am in a rush and microblog won't do for me! You see, I have a sort of obsessive compulsive disorder (ask certain friends!) and I have to do when I have to do! So I am blogging about practically nothing. Not a new thing for you long time readers anyway. Started using Blip.fm. A pretty cool service. Practically its Twitter for music. Check it out and see for yourself! The link points to a song by Oasis, Stop Crying Your Heart Out. I just love this one. It appears in the movie The Butterfly Effect towards the end. I like that movie eventhough its a bit corny. About making things right by travelling back in time...sometimes you do wish, don't you? Don't lie!

Do check out my Twitter feed. I tweet about a lot of random information which are practically useless and junk. Very entertaining though in a geeky manner.

Ok, I am stopping this blatant self promotion and leaving. Have a great weekend!

Hold up
Hold on
Dont be scared
Youll never change whats been and gone

May your smile (may your smile)
Shine on (shine on)
Dont be scared (dont be scared)
Your destiny may keep you warm

Cos all of the stars
Are fading away
Just try not to worry
Youll see them some day
Take what you need
And be on your way
And stop crying your heart out...

P.S: Saw a girl around 13-14 years old rejecting a guy's proposal yesterday. Tears in her eyes, tears in his...cloudy faces around them. I almost went ROTFL seeing that! Yeah, I am an asshole!

Bye Bye Bush!

At last! Good riddance! I can't believe I was rooting for this asshole in 2000. Have a look at this Onion article for how Bush had planned this all along for the betterment of USA! We can be sarcastic, livid, or sad depending on our nature; but George Bush has been a plague upon this earth. Lets face the facts. President of USA is the most powerful man on Earth. There is no questioning that. Spider Man's uncle once said, "With great powers come great responsibility." In the hands of this Baboon, power was misused and a country was misled to a great strife. His so called "War against terror!", alienated and disillussioned a large number of young men. They were made excellent fodder for the fanatical religious leaders.

No matter how much we speak about equality in this world, everyone should acknowledge the fact that it is us geeks that make the world. Dubya was so successful in disenfranchising young geeks that they channeled their efforts for the most heinous crimes committed in the name of God. It would not be appropriate to put all the blame on Bush, but he is the one who is most responsible due to the power he wields.

I am glad it ends today. I will be happier if he is put on trial for his crimes. The chances of having that and me growing a pair of wings are the same! Glad to see Obama becoming the President. He is one person who actually feels like a person more than a politician. A true leader. I don't expect him to walk on water and make water into wine. I hope he would use his power to serve the American people than poke his nose into unnecessary stuff and make the weapons carter richer.

To all the people equating Obama to Mayawati. Fuck you! The bitch lady whored snuggled her way up, swims in extorted money, and cries "Dalit" when she is cornered. Obama on the other hand worked with the communities leaving a lucrative career in law and never hinted to people that they vote for him because he is black. Enough said! Don't belittle a fine man!

Escape from the Vermins

Women...the unique creation specifically designed to drive poor, mere mortal men nuts. They are trouble personified. They are inferior and their existence is solely for the continuance of our species. They are a menace. Someone aptly said, "Women! Can't live with them. Can't live without them!" But now, the times have changed. We have attained the power. We have attained immortality. Finally we can get rid of the impure vermins from our world forever. And they did...

Manjula Padmanabhan's Escape is set in a "world" without women. "World" is a nation which has attained mastery in cloning and is ruled by clone Generals. They have killed of the female kind and it is the worst dystopia imaginable. Vast tracts of land have been reduced to wastelands. Lesser humanoids called Drones are created in factories for doing the menial work. Men live with the promise of eternal life through cloning. But there is one female left. Brought by her uncles, Meiji lives a solitary life hidden away from the outside world. Her puberty is suppressed through medication by her uncles. One day they decide to take her to the city from where she might be able to escape to another nation where she is not persecuted. The novel is about her journey along with her Uncle and her metamorphosis. The novel also expounds on the strife faced by her Uncle who is attracted to Meiji. The journey is thrilling and makes you wonder how it would be without women. I was slightly underwhelmed with the ending though. Still its a fabulous book and highly recommended. Go read it!

Hmm...the post title would be apt for a cheest sci-fi B-movie right?

While one weeps...



...the others watch with disdain sipping a fucking Pepsi!

Photo 1 from here and Photo 2 from here.

P.S: I am not an anti-semetic, but what Israel is doing is wrong. What they are doing is pouring a ship load of oil into a flame which will keep on burning for a very very long time...

Oh my, its 09!

And its that time of the year to sit back and reflect on what yours truly did last year! Found a tag in Vimmuuu's blog (wazzup with the u's!?) and it would better to reflect on point blank questions rather than drawl on endlessly! I guess people who read this are better off doing the tag since it is rumoured that people who failed to do so are subjected to poking in the ass with a trident by devils while they are asleep! Don't believe me? Here he is!

So far, so blah! Lets hit it!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Starting living with room mates after years of solitary confinement in a comfortable room of my own!

2. Did you keep up your 2008 resolutions, and will you make more for 2009?
I don't take resolutions since I am sure to break them! This year though, I have taken a couple. Start working on something creative I have been thinking for a while and stop being a control freak when it comes to people close to you.

3. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A healthy dose of common sense!

4. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A couple of colleagues had babies, I cannot think of any other right now.

5. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why:
Latter half of the year was agonising from a personal front and pretty fantastic from a professional front. I cannot pick any dates as such.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Probably getting through to my current job.

7. What was your biggest failure?
Fucking up a close friendship.

8. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Signs of RSI. Thankfully I am not stressed out that much these days to get a noticeable pain.

9. What was the best thing you bought?
My pair of Reebok Hexride shoes! (Don't ask what it cost though!)

10. Where did most of your money go?
Restaurants in Bangalore since we don't cook at our home.

11.What song will always remind you of 2008?
I.R.S from the new Guns N Roses album Chinese Democracy. The song makes me feel like I have done nothing to justify my existence for the world and the people in it.

Feelin' like I'm done way more than wrong

Feelin' like I'm livin' inside of this song

Feelin' like I'm just too tired to care

Feelin' like I done more than my share

Could it be the way that I carried on

Like a broken record for so long?

12.What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercise!

13. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Thinking too much and deducing crazy deductions!

14. How would you sum up your 2008 in one word?
Tangential! Just like a Tan graph. Highs were really high and lows really low.


15. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I cannot recall anyone new!

16. What was the best book you read?
I read quite a lot of books, so its a hard pick to make. If I pick a book released in 2008 it has to be Keep off the grass by Karan Bajaj. Not your typical IIT/IIM book. This book is witty while aligning to a lot of my philosophical takes on life and universe.

17. What was your favorite TV program?
I started watching a bit of TV since moving to Bangalore owing to the lack of a PC and Internet. Mostly we just watch the music programmes for the babes plus good songs and FTV for the babes alone! ;-) I guess Nostalgia in one of the Malayalam channels takes the prize here.

18. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Motherjane. Absolutely love their work.

19. What was your favorite film of this year?
Thalappaavu (Malayalam): Awesome first movie by Madhupal. It exposes the "degenerating decency" of the current crop of malayalees and the ideological past of the previous generation.
Subramaniapuram (Tamil): Hands down originality.
A Wednesday (Hindi): Moving and downright chilling. Echos what every self respecting Indian wants to do.
KungFu Panda (English): "I am not a fat panda, I am the Fat Panda!" This dialogue sums it all!

20. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you ?
Played the victim and accused friends of forgetting my birthday! I turned 24 btw!

21. What kept you sane?
Reading and writing.

22. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Deepika Padukone in the second half of the year and Preity Zinta during the first half, especially while IPL was on! It seems someone in BSNL has the same taste as me! Both are brand ambassadors for BSNL!

23. Whom did you miss?
A lot of people since moving to Bangalore. A close friend, my mom, my dad, my aunts and the list rolls on...

24. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Stop being a control freak and respect personal space.