Noggyisms

What an image it was last year! Mamata Banerjee had rode an amazing mandate and become the first female Chief Minister of West Bengal. On the way, she had run roughshod over a communist party in decline, over thrown 25 years of communist rule, paved the way for " poriborton " as she called it and become the idol for an entire generation of people who wanted change in Bengal. A year later, (almost a month less than a year to the statistically inclined), the dream lies tattered. There is widespread disillusionment and disenchantment among the very people who dared to dream with her and had voted her to the post of Chief Minister. A couple of Facebook wall posts encapsulate the story. A friend says, " my first and only vote was for the TMC and I was overjoyed that they came into power. However now I wonder how stupid can they be ... " and  people respond by saying, " we have to accept..an apple will never grow out of a mango seed... !!!!!! lets all acc...

Can I say the words ‘I want’ without immediately saying ‘in the broader interest’? Man things that to be selfish is to be terrible. I think that its terrible that man has such a low opinion of himself, has so little self respect that he thinks that being selfish entails that he lie, cheat, deceive, murder, grovel and beg. I think most men are the most selfless creatures. They cheat, grovel, beg deceive and do not care how much it hurts the I in them. The virtue of selfishness - David Kelly - The pride of knowing that u are good. The exaltation of reaching the highest in you. For fulfilling your purpose in life. There is this story of a lady suffering from an ailment for too long. When a drug called Prozac was invented, it freed millions. Excited, she traced the inventor and asked him how does it feel knowing you had helped millions. Barry molloy said, "I don’t know, I am amazingly happy at that fact that I could do it, it was a new high to achieve it. Does that make his cont...

A recent article on the 3 leading women in the Bollywoodesque thriller, that the political scenario in the country has become, led to this post. The article concentrated on Behenji, Amma and Didi (Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Mamta to the uninitiated). It talked about each of their individual strengths and what appeals about them to the voting populace. But while the political nuances were spot on, the article did touch upon a very interesting tidbit of information which I quote below from 2 different paragraphs. While Indian men have made it fairly difficult for ordinary women to feel comfortable as equal participants in the political domain, they tend to succumb easily to the demands of women who have the shrewdness and determination to grasp some dynastic or other leverage that provides them with the crucial opportunity to demonstrate that they are stronger and more resilient than the entire range of men in our politics …’ This is a variation of our family scene wherein ...

Contrary to popular imagination, Tabby is not a cat. Tabby is a dog (white lab) who happens to be the pet of my neighbor in Calcutta. He (or she, I haven’t really checked) is also the darling of the occupants of the flats around since he is probably not yet one (cute), prances around (playful) and generally provides entertainment to the inhabitants who have grown up and cannot do the same anymore. Actually, I wonder what was the owner thinking when he (one Nikhil chap who lives alone in a nice huge ground floor flat with a massive courtyard and has some nice parties but with atrocious music) named the dog Tabby. That’s like naming the dog Cat! I mean, think about it, the poor fellow will grow up schizophrenic. Don’t blame Tabby, if he bites you two years down. Anyway, I digress! Tabby lives a pretty luxurious life as one look from those doleful eyes (the one which says, I am hungry and have not been fed, never mind the bowl full of milk I just lapped up) accompanied by a tai...

Kaan Moole Debo (henceforth known as Social Butterfly) is convinced we are being cheated. I agree because deep down I think so too but then it was early morning, there was no way I would want to get into an argument with an auto driver when I could have been devouring breakfast somewhere. Cut to a month back – SB and I were discussing where we needed to go for a weekend break and Fort Kochi came up as the requisite destination. It would be that time of the year when Kerala would not be too hot. The regular junta would be missing which would be mean more peace and quiet! Once the destination is done, we quickly try and get the buses booked for the to and fro journeys since most of the NRMs (non-resident-mallus) in Bangalore love to travel back to the home country at every small excuse they get. As expected we could not get seats on the much famed Kallada Travels for our journey into Kochi (or Ernakulam) and could only manage a return ticket. Disgruntled, we booked the onward jo...

I would like to believe in evolution and the fact that once upon a time our ancestors sat on trees and threw their crap at each other. There are times, however, when I go into a meeting and see people sitting in chairs and throwing their crap at each other, that I wonder if evolution was only Darwin's cocaine fueled dream!