Christmas Carols: All time favorites in a new light

First Noel
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O Come All Ye Faithful


Jingle Bells


Silent Night


Merry Christmas to all readers. See you all in 2008. I will be away in Calgary for the holidays.

Mr.Bean is BACK!

After a long time Mr.Bean is back to royally wipe us off our feet with laughter from his stupidity. Not blabbering too much.

Enjoy!

Paradise

I lie in my bed,
waiting as the final moments,
of my life plays,
out with the call,
the call I have been waiting for,
the call of death.

The raging mind has fallen,
the body ready for its destiny,
I am to be carried away,
by Hades far far away,
the end for many.

Lonely, I am in this state,
my eyes wander around here and there,
I see three people,
cloaked in white,
all readied to hale,
me out of my misery.
Full of shine and grace,
the sight of them turn me pale,
As they have come for me!!

I close my eyes,
activate my mind for the thoughts,
of the life I once lived,
with my parents,
my wife and children,
for all have left me,
but thoughts remain!
My thoughts are my pals,
Have been for many years,
Since the day I have been born,
till today as I leave.

I see a spring, a valley,
I see the sun in all its glory,
Looking at myself,
I see myself clothed in whites,
And skin radiant as ever!

I look around!
I see the three people again,
make myself toward them,
Full of cheer and love,
they welcome me to paradise!

I lost my grandfather a year ago. A event that had a profound impact on me for a long time. Moments before he died, he told us about 2-3 people by the bed side. The poem is a fictional characterization of his thoughts.
“Paradise is our native country, and we in this world be as exiles and strangers” Richard Greenham

A Tale of Two cities

It's been about 3 months since I came to Canada and more specifically to the province of Alberta. Well the notion that the place has surpassed even my wildest imaginations is true to many extents. Well it feels great to come to North America from the rumble and hustle of Asia to a new culture and newer surrounding. A funny place where during summer one sees daylight till 9pm in the evening and one has to set his clock back an hour during winters. A place where spoilt by natural beauty incessantly is factual in the era of global warming and diminishing nature. Particularly it is the tale of two cities that is Edmonton and Calgary and the influence it has me on me is what I would banter about this time. (P.S: Needed a break from poem writing and I would love to offer variety as always)

Edmonton

It looks like an old town on the verge of being abandoned but the reselient spirit of this city that has given North America a lot, is commendable. The cultural city of Canada, the home of the Oilers football team...many.

Calgary

The economic hub of Alberta...the centre of its oil riches. Nothing can stop this city or its growth. Simply awesome!

Well that's it for this time around.

Revenge....

I sit in my cellar each day,

Looking out at the bay,

with clenched fists,

mind full of twists,

of despair and anger,

at the man responsible for this misery.

Oh! revenge what a sweet feeling,

when accomplished with the doing,

with the reaction to the action,

that made me in this condition.

I wait each day,

looking at the bay,

for the day of my freedom.

Out! you go, for you are free,

screamed the jailor,

throwing at me my clothes,

and opened the doors,

of freedom so, much desired!

I go to the man who was,

responsible for my loss,

a mind full of vengeance,

and a heart of anger.

Today, I avenge my misery!

I reach his house fast as I can carry,

for time is too short for remorse.

I see a procession of people,

full of black,

with a walk so sad,

I ask one of them,

the reply made me jump!

for the man I wanted to avenge,

had met his revenge....

tenny poems#4

“Revenge... is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion.”

Albert Schweitzer

Faith

I look at the world through the eyes of faith,

Wonder at the amazing works that is laith,

before me to understand and comprehend,

for the hand of God that touched,

everything that ever breathed!

I see simplicity in creation,

showcasing craftmanship in its perfection.

I live my life through faith,

and I achieve everything that life hath,

thrown at me..!!

for faith makes life special,

and all its instances jovial.

Faith makes us experience God,

making us aware that we erred,

for much in life we expected,

not knowing life is to be experienced,

in each day, each hour,

each second of the love poured on us.

We are the creation of love,

children of peace,

endorsed by faith,

we can do nothing, but live a life of,

faith and only faith.

Have faith and a life liveth,

so forth will never stumble,

or tremble,

but stand to the challenges.

If one can move mountains through faith,

walk on water through faith,

then life and all its worries, is nothing but a speck of dust..

Have faith, and you will never worry,

never be sorry,

of yourselves and about your mistakes!

Have faith..and see how life changeth!

tenny poems# 3

Today was a tiring day with the 37th Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering conference being held in Edmonton. So during the lunch break, yours truly and a colleague went out to have lunch. We walked a couple of blocks to get to the bus stop and catch the bus we were supposed to travel. Hungry and tired we were, we saw our bus coming in the opposite lane to us. We cant cross the road as the signal just turned green. I was sure, I would miss the bus and will have to wait a good time before another one shows up. But my colleague just muttered 'have faith, my friend!!'. Miraculously the bus not only waited, we just comfortably got in the bus and have a great lunch. 

"Faith makes all things possible............." (unknown author)

The Light

We have seen a light,

that shines from where,

we wish we knew,

the light that leads us

through the annals

of life and all it has.

The light that manifest-ed,

itself as a star and led,

the Magi to Jesus Christ.

The light that showed Jacob the heavens,

and the light that gave Moses his tasks.

For we are lighted to lighten,

through the light of the one,

for generations look upon us,

and praise him through our deeds.

Yes our deeds reflect the light,

that shines from where,

we wish we knew.

Let us reflect the light we get, let us share the passion of what we are through our deeds.

“Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds.” Buddha

Gratitude
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. Buddha

Gratitude speaks volumes of the favors received,
some asked for, some granted,
some coming unexpectedly,
called miracles that are so Godly.

I thank thee for thy blessings,
granted through my mutterings,
for things that I need,
and for things I do not need.

Ye has given me what I need,
some through my plead,
some without any,
for your graces are many,
and your love abundant.

Oh! Lord, I pour out to you,
with words of gratitude....

Above are a few lines I scribbled. The first time I ever attempted writing a poem.
Gratitude well the name says it all, I am not boring you with any lengthy discourses. Just I hope you study the picture and get the meaning.
Cheers!

The feeling one has after looking at this picture is exactly the feeling in my mind!!!

I was watching an amazing movie recently...well not one but two. I will tell about the latter later and focus on the former. It was a movie called Kramer vs Kramer. Well for the illiterates who have scrapped me asking me whether the cutie gal in the pic above is my daughter so or something like that (the fact remains I would love to get a daughter like her any day, Period!!. Ok coming to the movie which was released at a time when yours truly din't even see the world, 1979; starring Dustin Hoffman (one amazing actor), Meryl Streep and a host of other characters. Well the movie is about how the mother (played by Meryl Streep) walks out of a marriage citing reasons for satisfactory pursuits in her life, and how the character of Kramer raises up the kid singularly to a point of being comfortable with this priorities looking after the kid, the mother returns and asks for the kid back which breaks into a Court case for custody that was won by the latter. Still the scene where the kid and dad in their last day together have breakfast, the scene where the mother breaks down and decides not to take the kid with her are really heart warming and I believe the Oscar award, the movie received was justified. The fact is, wait before I divulge further more let me be honest. This is not an article about male chauvinism. But the point I wish to make is that there is no rule anywhere that stipulates that raising a kid is the sole responsibility of the mother. Males make better husbands too and from the amazing experiences with cooking I had, better cooks too. Then we have the usual yak yak, males subdue females in their pursuits and blah blah. I feel females are lazy and have been used to the blame game for so long. That's enough I guess else the female readers of this blog (I wonder if anyone reads the trash I put in, but I am satisfied with writing regularly so its doesn't make a difference..!! :) )
The picture above of this kid is so heart warming and full of joy. It represents the same feeling I am having now after all those miraculous events of the past few days which I will be posting soon in my blog, still I feel the the message I wish to convey through this pic is the same feeling one has as you see this lovely pic...(I promise this article will be continued...) cheers!

Autumn Awakening

I will be posting in a while about the wonderful time of the year called Autumn. Meanwhile check this out, I found it on the net.

Hope in a new ground

Its been over a month since I arrived in Canada and the past experiences have really brought me closer than ever to the belief in destiny. Life in itself is full of surprises and when they present themselves in unique ways its great to be a part of it. I was reading Forrest Gump i.e, both the prequel and the sequel. The former is renowned as it was made into a path breaking, Oscar award winning movie starring Tom Hanks (which I have to admit is really a pale version of the book..incidentally so the sequel starts with the following words..' never make a movie on your life'; which again in my opinion is true). Both the books by Winston Groom, though exaggerated in some aspects preaches the wealth of experiences that Forrest Gump goes through, how it is to be born as a fool and to live in a complex world with the mindset of a kid. Through the ttwo decades of my life, I have believed that the world becomes a better places if people learned to keep things simple. When we keep things simple in life, we have better experiences that gives us a strength of hope with the world, life etc; or let me rephrase it hope in a new ground.

Hope is often a mistaken terminology. We hope for better things in life, a new car, a new house, a new job or better savings. Eventually one way or the other we end up getting them. Then what ? Do we still hope ? Yeah we do.. We hope for something better all the time. But its pointless when we don't exercise restraint, i.e, without enjoying the things we got, yearning for things unknown. Didn't get me ? Wait I will be more specific.

Chris Gardner...Does that word ring a bell ? Well guys who watched the movie 'Pursuit of Happyness' would swear by that name. How the above-said man went from a medical representative selling scanners to a renowned stockbroker while managing his kid provides fodder for many uninspiring people. People who don't hope, who do the same routine job for decades without any improvement in life..static and stoic people. Well if they are sensible they better do hope. In the books of Gump, we see how that man goes through a wealth of experiences and emerges triumphant. I had a teacher back in college. Well one day I had a chance to go through his resume which was about 6 pages long. He had worked in many companies but never more than 6 months. His wealth of experiences are many which would seem unbelievable to people who knew him inside out. So I better stick to the safe ground and safe my experiences for my autobiography...But I tell you there is nothing as great as hope.

Time

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes, 3. 1

The conflicts of the mind

Mind is a necessary tool in the creative pursuits of men. Throughout centuries as man progressed from the apes cruising through all the 'homo' varieties to the homo sapiens of today, mind has been beaten, groomed, mated by men for their creative pursuits in the field of art, literature etc...So we've had the human evolution till the highly advanced man of the day.

As time grew, science evolved with an alarming geometric progression of sorts...Our needs and wants grew up along with science and we became satisfied. So earlier you had man running around hunting for food, shelter....pasture lands for his flock etc etc now everything is available in for wide consumption and a variety of choices..Spoilt for choices some may say!! So when the body stopped working as it should have (ok ok with the advent of trade unions, we've had better working conditions for people...but that's not the point to be made here), growth of mind has quadrupled. So we have wild ideas, creative pursuits defying all boundaries of human imagination which indirectly spurs further human evolution, advent of multipurpose gadgets to name a few...things have evolved nevertheless to say. That is the positive tone of the statement which I will conclude in the end. On the contrary, we have murderers that are so gruesome, people who have no other business than to spend time chanting mantras and beheading people based on imaginary fatwas ( religious extremism is the key word..) etc etc..Let me come to the point straight..we have had an untamed mind that is so restless that it conquers our very existence. During the past couple of weeks I've had discussions with a lot of people with regards to this matter and unanimously the verdict was during the early twenties one has to keep oneself really busy doing something or the other which benefits them in the long run. So its highly important to control the raging monster..

I am back....and its been wow!!

Hello there...its been quite a while since I put something informative in this section and pardon me, I was away crusing through some of the exciting phases in my life..Got loads to tell..but wait, lets get the wheel moving...Go ahead and visit my album at http://picasaweb.google.com/eapenz

I will be on with exciting updates....the break has been great...now its back to business...its only gonna get better!!!!

Stereotypes.......

Stereotyped....how I love that word, still hate it...As a extreme right winger, I have always practised the policy of stereotyping and at the same time broken many stereotypes. What are stereotypes ? How good are they ? In the many facets of life, one comes across many stereotypes..In life, career, family, choosing a life partner, work places, church places....anywhere. We are governed by stereotypes...silly set of rules. In all the different facets of life we are governed by many set of rules...Nowadays I wonder even the word different is actually stereotyped. The Malayalam film director Vinayan always advertises his movie as different, blatantly flicking the premise from a Hollywood movie in the process. So much for being different...bloody man like his other lot in the same industry has stereotyped the word 'different'! Well its no easy breaking stereotypes in real life, one somehow has to pay a heavy price in breaking stereotypes. Yours truly had a bitter experience an year and a half ago as I came here right after my exams looking for a job! the price I had to pay was a dozen months waiting...! so much for even trying to break stereotypes.
It's been quite a while now...but we as a society has been so governed by stereoyped versions of life that we fail to look into different possibilities. Well trying something different needn't be always good and many a time its a tricky word to even contemplate.
Well getting on with the banter, what hurts me most is the fact that, when stereotyping of individuals on the basis of color, race, creed, nationality and the dangerous of them all...religion, that's when the problem begins. The world today is filled with stereotypes that we see it in all spheres of life. Yours truly at work is an enginner, later while going out and Indian, still at some places coloured and many a times known as a Christian. Bloody stereotyping..What can you do ? Nothing...What can I do...Bore you with this stupid banter...hahaha. Anyways stereotyping actually endorses God's plan which was enacted eons back as the tower of Babel was built and the people who were speaking together in the same language, got scattered as each started speaking in strange tongues....It has been like that to this day...Hallelujiah!

The Wall

Ever since I came across the article that said that the American administration in Iraq is building a wall to seperate the various factions in the Anbar province, the various 'walls' that have sprung up before came into my notice..Well before this banter gets off...Wikipedia tells that a wall is a
'.........is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air. There are three principal types of structural walls: building walls, exterior boundary walls, and retaining walls....'
World over we have seen different walls springing up in different parts of the world..some for protection purposes, some purely divisive and some general purpose...Nothing has fascinated me like the Great Wall of China too....but the walls that divide people are the ones that intrigue me and the basis for this article.!
The Berlin wall was conceived by the East German administration of Walter and approved by Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev it was built during the post-World war 2 period of divided Germany, in an effort to stop the drain of labour and economic output associated with the daily migration of huge numbers of professionals and skilled workers from East to West Berlin, and the attendant defections, which hurt the Communist bloc economically and politically. Well effectively it did was divide the people of Germany for one full generation till its fall in 1989. Germany has grown stupendously ever since.
Does walls work? The walls built by Israel separating the Palestinians from the Israelites long time back..Oops! it wasn't a wall, fence..whatever....Well the purpose the fence was built was to make sure that the attacks on the Jewish settlers reduce...did it ? it hasn't...! Americans building another wall in Anbar province...to protect whom ?
So far I have discussed about the physical walls that separate people..For a moment let's go to the basics. Human beings anatomically are the same with each species both male and female with identical features neverthless to say...and human beings are born for inter-dependance. Has it been the case in today's world? The mental walls between the people are too great..We live in a world of stereotypes...Either you are black/white, christian/muslim, sunni/shia, roman catholic/protestant, indian/arab/english....whatever..at what cost...Look at Africa...We have been too busy stereotyping ourselves that, a continent of lost people inflicted with diseases and poverty...who is responsible ? A choking mother nature, broken families....humor seems to have lost its worth! We see people everywhere struggling to make a mark in life...Work and work..all the money we earn is just not enough to satisfy our needs...spiritually we are drained..going from one god to another..what's the use...still we are inside newer walls?
It took East Germans a generation to understand their folly...Today the progress of Germany is astounding...Bring down the walls that bind us..We need a society of people minus stereotypes...Where man thinks alike, where each man learns to respect each other for what we are and not what we can become..
The Israelites went around the wall of Jericho for seven days, shouting praises to God...the seventh day, the wall fell...When will we go around our walls of despair ?

The Will to Live!

It was months back in a desolate oil production facility that I first came across Jigsaw and his antics in the acclaimed movie franchise Saw. I saw the second version of the franchise then and this week took the third version too. Well the second version was cunningly brilliant, the third part was logically excellent!! Hey whats that...both sound well similar..No folks this is not another movie review and I am not going to play a game as Mr. Jigsaw does.....but I may be lying...Read on!
The will to live...the value of life has haunted people since time immemorial. Ever seen animals ? We see how foxes outfoxes lambs and gobbles them as food..lion, tigers after prey..vultures after the dead. Well the last one is an aberration, think about the other two. Preys to a cunning terminator higher than the animal in the food cycle. Well the food cycle has to go. Herbivorous, Carnivorous....Omnivorous!! the familiar terms from the Science classes. Still the prey never exhibits the slightest emotion. Slowly, steadily the food cycle continues!
Now human beings the last but one link in the food cycle..No one above him to devours him alive except under strange circumstances, still we know after man comes the vultures ( I forgot that term..yes I remember scavengers). Yet they too feed on the dead. Again too slowly and steadily!
Why is man valuing his life so much ? Think about this. We have a man on top of the Eiffel Tower ready to jump to his gory glorified end. Looks up and ready to jump. Let's call him...Ben. I go there..
"Hello Ben. I am Tenny..How are you?"
"I am not fine..Go..Don't disturb me"
"Hey Ben I am not gonna disturb you. I know exactly what you are going to do"
"Oh yea! great...Now get the fuck outta here. Stop pissing around"
"Ben..Come on man...I will help you die. Why dont we play a game ?"
"What game ? I ain't coming for any game..Just leave me alone"
"No Ben I am not gonna leave you' I catch him by the arm, twist it and chains him, ties the key to his neck..pushes him to the rail with head out, tie the legs on to the railings, hanging him by the leg! with head viewing the awaiting glory beneath. "So Ben you want to die...Why don't you experience it and die ?" Attaching a timed explosive to his waist.."Untie yourself before a minute and try getting out, else be doomed.." Does Ben come out in time ? Lets see...
Ben was the epitome of a failed life. For him life was a complete failure. Life dint mean anything to him. With his lover leaving for greener pastures, rising debts and joblessness, life was never ever better for Ben. So ending it was the easier way out..He never bothered with the hard way! Well does he make it now with the hard way to escape....or does he cherish the hard way to die himself ? The game continues....

The hardest part in life is living it...No doubt..The easiest part is leaving it also!! That's how things work out. Jigsaw's tests wanted to change their opinions with life and as we see his protege Amanda who survives his test in the first part....turns into a cold blooded murderer and ultimately failing the test of the master in the final part. Life still have to be experienced. My grandfather used to say 'Its easier to swim in calm water than in rough waters!!'. Life is like that. We go ahead doing the hard things..Easier things bring us down no doubt..Well Ben did try the easy way out of life...But hey when given the hard option the man is yelling and crying for his life....! Why is that so ? Well that's when the will to live begins to form...Ben dint survive the game...Are you ready to play the game ?
Jigsaw din't like people who murder for the sake of it...He just tests the will of the people to live....So where is the wil to live ?

Mr.Bean: Life,Humour & Me

Mr. Bean..the man of infinite laughter and humour. I heard somewhere it only takes a genius to play a fool and Mr.Bean is one hell of an example for that. The tough situations he faces in life and how easily he finds a solution to them are commendable. As I write I am thinking of the church scene in one of the tele-series episodes where he croons...Hallelujiah...drew me to laughter. It is a best example of how we complicate minor things as church going. We are all dressed up and damn serious....crooning worship songs with high degree of complicity...when there is nothing but the same thingy over and over again every week and we end up not enjoying the whole purpose of the situation. Recently I was going through a fellow blogger's blog in the blogosphere and it astounded me with one of the generalisations he made which is that we pretend to be busy, pretend to be serious. Mr.Bean (a personal inspiration to me ) is a slap on the face of those people.

Well this is a funny blog with no intention of getting serious..I dint want to make Mr. Bean cry......! Remember those scenes from the TV series..especially the one in which he was with this damn sick kid and was making all sort of gimmicks to make him smile and laugh...without knowing that the kid was sick. So kid pukes into the sick bag and Mr.Bean unknowingly converts the bag to a balloon and bursts it to make the kid laugh...! We did laugh!. the scene with the queen....all of them are so memorable, so innocent. What do you call a person like Bean? Fool? I will slay the person who calls him a fool...As I said in the beginning, it takes a genius to play a fool!. I am not writing this article as a prelude to watching the latest Bean movie or promoting it...but the gimmicks he does are actually serious in the damn silly, silly world that you and yours truly are part of!!

Somebody has once said...It is very difficult to make someone laugh easier to make him cry..Its true. Humour can be of many forms. It should be short lived and to the point-direct and provoking. We cant be like Mr.Bean, being the fool at all the time.but think of how can we make life so simpler with happiness all the time.
Ok ok this is not turning out to be damn speech n humourless. Think about Mr.Bean as he went around the town playing the golf ball thingy.The visit to the dentist, come on all these are thought provoking. This man is damn selfish, insensitive....he lives in his damn silly crazy world with no idea and bother on how other people feel or think about him! We can't live in today's world too like that...We will end up sooner in a mental asylum without a question.
Think about the scene with the butlers....The man did how he ordered for steak and how he ended up eating it...Or the movie where though accidentally the kid is resuscitated from death....the examples of these man are horrendous..They loiter between the narrow alley of fantasy and reality...Seldom life is luckier like that.
am I overdoing all I said in the beginning...Never..We have is a unique creation of a man with amazing contrasts and since we have so many examples of buffoonery around us its hardly surprising!
Lemme finish this banter with the scene from the movie...he goes around America after getting (finally) into the good books of his (pissed off!!) hosts. Saluting a rash driver on the road with the Englishman's 'hi' only to be replied with a the everyman middle finger fantasy!!
Life ain't getting better!! H-a-l-l-e-l-u-j-i-a-h

Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!


Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas, Spartans and Xerxes are the flavor of the season. Yours truly went last week to catch the movie on theatres and after less than 2 hours does have a few things about the movie and hence the banter. No, no this ain't the countless reviews you have come across of the movie but of different variety. the movie though was full of cosmetic visual imagery, it was nothing short of a mammoth epic of the scale of Gladiator. Still the Gerald Butler starer has its share of positives. What stuck me apart from eloquent dialogues and stunning visual imagery was the scale of imagination of the team involved and the guts to base a movie on the exploits of 300 Spartan soldiers at the battle of Thermopylae. Well a novel attempt all the way round.
Few days later I came upon a cartoon in Gulf News and it showed Tony Blair as Leonidas and Ahamedinajad as Xerxes and it was so designed to echo the sailor crisis of Britain with Iran. It was thought provoking nevertheless to say except the roles had to be reversed!
The courage and valor of Spartans against Persians was so beautifully depicted. It reminded me of an earlier Hollywood attempt with regards to portray Alexander and the battle sequence with the Persians. There I think the person was Darius III. It also showed the ruthlessness of the Persian army. It made me wondering. so numbers don't win battles after all!!! Possible.. strategies do!! possible. But why doesn't the land that make these movies understand this. America has a sizable percentage of its forces spread all over Asia and still cant get the equation right in Iraq and Afghanistan. No, no not another rounding in America analysis but to cut a long story short, the movie 300 showed us how the insurgents work in Iraq and Afghanistan. What do you have is armed groups with catch phrase as in the top out to defeat the armies of the Xerxes's of the world. Can anything stop it? It dint stop the Spartas and Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae against the Persians....will it so for the insurgents?

Sachin Tendulkar: Stubborn Sunset


Sachin: The name invokes passion, anger, madness, charm..name any emotion and it is there. Sachin is there exhibiting. There was a time when the very mention of the name used to inspire an Indian with the willow!! Tendulkar had the nation with him. He took us through an odyssey, unforgettable one..Whenever India wins he got the credit, lost still he was not there in the picture. Even 2007 World Cup wont be any different. How much Chappel tries, the master blaster gets away unhurt!! That's the way our country is..We have the Mumbai lobby who can scuttle anything and everything. So what if Gavaskar bats days and days for 60 runs!! Are you bothered ? Tendulkar performs well against minnows and against when it matters he can get away with all the time. This man should have receded long time back and now as a cancer is still there!! What to do ? Cancer sometimes never goes...It takes you with it.
I am not a cricket analyst nor a commentator of the gentleman's game. But, I certainly do know one thing. Its that the miserable state of affairs in our eam can be singularly attributed to many factors and one of the main ones in Tendulkar/ the inertia caused by his actions in the team. An year back when Ganguly was kicked around in the team nobody noticed the master political game that was being played in the background by Tendulkar. I have always believed that Tendulkar was never an unifying force in the team. He was uninspiring in his two stints as the captain. He was also weak in many ways...As he was plagued by injuries is greed for money was paramount. One incident that lost my opinion about him was the Ferrari incident. For him the customs duty was a small amount and was easil payable. When he asked for a rebate, the NDA government did not want to antagonise an cricket crazy India during election year, yielded.
In the present scenario this man will escape unscathed. We have lambs in the form of Chappel and Dravid!!

Real beauty

Real beauty campaign of Dove is attracting people to think differently. Now with this campaign its like more or less a level playing field. I have always wondered whenever we buy a cosmetic or any fashion apparel we see models who are picture perfect.. I have never ever felt like one after using a soap or a fairness cream or a shampoo...never till date. It was always like that and I never gave much respect or importance to this things. Because they are so unattainable. I always believed that beauty is natural and it should have no colour caste or creed. Advertisements most of the time show these bias. Ever noticed how the fairness cream adverts have only fair people in them. Looks like blackies don't have a chance. Similarly soaps you have picture perfect, waxed models jumping here and there or with showpiece boyfriends in bed...Life is never like that!! But things are changing and the admission by Dove is commendable nevertheless to say....inspiring. The cosmetic market is one built on make belief. It required 5 Miss Worlds and 2 Miss Universe titles to make the world's second largest democracy beauty conscious!! Still its all in the mind!!

Barack Obama and the Law of Infinite Growth and Hope
"We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential"

Well it was recently while I was glancing through the channels on my telly that I came upon this segment on Oprah Winfrey where for the first time in my life that I heard Barack Obama speak and boy he did blow me off royally.
Seldom, very seldom in one's life span that you come across visionaries, nevertheless people with idea, hope for the future. I have seen people who do a lot of yak-yak in their life....too many but when it comes to practice never makes it. Well I pray Obama don't belong to that category but of a different mould.
It was in the year 2000 that there was this election between the present incumbent George Bush and Al Gore. Well to be honest I was pretty much distressed with the way Clinton was functioning. Silly putting himself with a sex scandal, not solving the problems of Middle East, he seemed a strong president minus direction. Bush, I went through his profile while he served as the governor and I was sure he was the man (I still believe him to the man for the purpose) to solve the problems of the world and of America.
I dont subscribe to the people who believe that America should be bothered with its own business and not meddle where it is not called for. I believe America has a serious and most important role to play in our times as the reigning super power of the world to create a change and a huge change. When we look at old civilisations like Roman, Greek, British etc, I believe America has never ever behaved like any of them but the scrutiny it faces today shows that the country of infinite possibilities is on the right track. Bush fitted the bill and I know that in this world I will be among the few people who still believe in that man and his vision.
One cannot deny the fact that Bush's agenda for change was altered by the events of 9/11. Today as many do question 9/11 events whether they happened so or by chance, I still believe that they had to happen.....period!!
Clinton never understood the way thing changed. In the early centuries specially towards the Renaissance period, Christian faith had to endure a lot of problems along with the emergence of Protestantism, Reformation and subsequent industrialisation. With due respect to the Muslim faith I believe that the Muslim world is also facing the same problem as you have educated people in the form of reformists questioning the faith and the conservationists trying to hold their sway. It's a win-win situation as it helps the religion to grow and promotes better understanding as it did with Christianity.
I was one of the many people who were upset with what Pope Benedict XVI told about Prophet Muhammed (P.B.U.H). One of my colleagues as I worked in Zirku Island came to me complaining the naive reasoning of a person so reputed as the Pope. Well it was like shooting yourself in the leg. Today is the time where we need reasoning that comes with patience and in this fast moving world that is seldom the case. Obama with parents having distinct religions promises to infuse the right spirit that is needed at this time. We need is an understanding of the faiths in a better way. What we need is people of education, sense of knowledge running the affairs of the place. Obama well through his words pin-point to the right direction no doubt.
Analysing Bush's presidency, I feel that man in-spite of having advisers like Cheney who had to shoot his best pal during hunting! has done a great deal through his endeavors. Today understanding among people regarding Islam is at an all time high. Previously closed societies of Arabia are growing at a staggering pace. It amused me to hear about elections in Arab countries, cartoon exhibitions in Saudi Arabia. Times are changing. We need is judicious change with customs intact...Growth will come naturally!! No doubt.
Mr Obama I am waiting for 2008. Maybe in this Age of Aquarius you are our man for the job!!

A New Direction

The earlier blog has now been rendered private as I feel I should not
limit myself to posts that don't go any good to anyone. Starting
today this is a new look and a new direction to this blog

Tenny