Quo Vadis?

It's over. Saddam Hussain has been executed. The news channels inform you that he was tried and executed for the mass murder of 180 odd people of a certain village where he escaped an assassination. I'm no fan of the man, but somehow his death in this manner was most disturbing. Call him a despot, dictator what you will but the people who consigned him to this death are no less. Singularly the American president has become the biggest bully, despot, mass murderer, psychopath and every other vile term that comes to mind. The American presidents of old were men of principles, and they were led by Abraham Lincoln who immortalized the fundamental principle of patriotism in the line “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Today American presidents have decided that they will determine the destiny of other nations and they will unilaterally decide what “other nations will do in exchange for what they choose to do there”. If history is a teach...

At 11 PM on Christmas Eve, I was bristling with nervousness in the choir room in St. Luke’s. The moment of truth was to dawn in a few minutes and I was nervous. Let me explain. This Christmas I wanted our choir to sing a few numbers in the classical style complete with a four part vocal harmony. And for the first time I was actually conducting my choir for a big occasion. And the day was Christmas 2006. After several hectic practices that were crammed in the last week we scraped together a collection of songs that spanned different genres and styles. From our usual “jing-bang” numbers to the sublime classical they were all there. And to render them was assembled the best people I have seen in a while. Of great concern in the Catholic church is the decline of good classical church music primarily because the old school of musicians passed away without building up a sound second line and secondly because of the lack of good trainers today. So even though it has been a long cherished dre...

I was robbed last night!!!!!!!! This morning when I woke up at 7.30, I could not find my mobile phone. Actually this phone was a gift from my brother. He had upgraded himself to a superior model from the Sony Ericsson stable; I think it’s a K-750i. So I was using a Sagem My SX 6 2 model phone. Now this phone was carefully selected after much research by my brother and it proved itself. With a nifty camera and tiny MP3 player I finally had my first gizmo phone. I had mused myself with sharing files via Bluetooth and really enjoyed the phone. But disaster struck me last night for the 4th time. So we start again from the point where I woke up this morning at 7.30 and discovered my phone missing. A frantic search revealed my deepest fears to be true; I had lost my mobile yet again. A thief had opened my bedroom window and after cutting open the Netlon mosquito mesh had somehow managed to sneak away with the phone which was lying 6 feet away from the window at the head of my bed. A visit to...

Note: This post was started long ago when the mobs ran riot in Maharashtra over a silly statue. However I did not finish it then, so the relevance may be dated. Heard about Alice in Chains? They are a rock / metal grunge band popular in the West in the eighties and nineties. I’m not sure how their name originated but maybe they saw some Alice chained up somewhere. If an Indian band would want to get inspired for a name similar to that they can try “Ambedkar in a cage”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have deep respect for Baba Saheb Ambedkar and for his contribution to Indian history. What deeply saddens me is the actions of all those who claim to be his fellow countymen today. Now why Ambedkar in a cage you may ask? Drive down the many roads of India and you will find high up on a pedestal a statue erected to honour this great man. But what shocks you about many of these statues is that they are encased by a wire mesh cage. I found out from locals that this was done to protect the statue f...

Seasons greetings!!!!! Merry Christmas everyone and best wishes to a joyous new year!!!!! Hey it’s that time of the year when hope fills the air. It’s Christmas, the biggest birthday party celebration across the globe. It’s the birth of Christ and the dawn of hope yet again. It’s the season of love and giving, of meeting old friends and relatives, of exchanging sweets and gifts, of carol rounds and parties, of heavy lunches & dinners, of Santa Claus and Christmas trees, of stars and cribs, of night masses and carol singing. I’m sure that all of you will have done all or at least many of the above said, but at this time take a brief moment to ponder over these lines of a carol: “Presents glitter on the tree, Gifts for him or her or me, But we find the best of all, Mary’s baby in a cattle stall” Point No 1: When we receive gifts we utter a spontaneous thank you to the giver of the gift, and we have the greatest gift of all………. This is the time to say thank you. Point No 2: We have be...

The great annual St. Luke’s M U L J B E A S E L ! Now don’t look so confused, in case you still did not get it and are very bad at solving jumbles, read the title again as The great annual St. Luke’s JUMBLE SALE! This is the annual social action effort of the youth fellowship of my church. I’m going to retire in the space of a few weeks but I look back at all the activities I was privileged to be a part of by virtue of being a member of WS4G. WS4G or We Stand For God is the youth fellowship of St. Luke’s and over the years has done its bit for the underprivileged. During the season of advent we endeavour to turn waste to wealth by the jumble sale. The jumble sale to the uninitiated is the collection of articles that have outlived the utility value of their current owners and are sold to raise money for charity. Over the years we have built up remarkable competencies in procuring and selling material as varied as used clothes to consumer durables. Clothes, furniture, books, footwear...

Nothing in Particular!!!! I just can’t believe it, but it is actually more than 15 days since my last post. This has nothing to do with my creative juices drying up or the usual writer’s block, it’s just that I was too preoccupied with lot of other things. What with Christmas and my wedding on the anvil, I somehow contrive to clutter up my day with N number of things that stop me from blogging. So life is going on at a break neck speed as this is also our year end at the bank and everyone wants to end the year on a high. (High, only in terms of business numbers!). So work is actually keeping me busy. And not to mention the fact that choir practice for the night mass kept me totally busy. How repetitive and redundant do I sound???? Also I must confess I had a sudden attack of sloth so I simply did not blog, but now I’m back and back with a vengeance as you will see.

Miracles happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A miracle happened last evening and I am a testimony to it. The 9th annual Christmas carol night started yesterday in MCC school at 6.30 pm. To those who are fond of Christmas carols in Chennai, this is a regular much awaited event. Organized by the alumni of the Madras Christian College the event spanning two evenings invites leading choirs and song groups of Chennai and other places to perform for a discerning audience. The program is held in the grounds of the school and is always under the threat of the elements. The north east monsoon is still active during the earlier part of December and organizing events like this in the open calls for a lot of faith. Chennai was treated to a few unexpected showers on Sunday so the venue was already soggy and the event seemed on the verge of a washout. However the rain held off and the programme went on schedule. I enjoyed the show, savouring the fare dished out by the performers. The repertoire included weste...

I   I saw this hoarding on Nungambakkam High road (Uttamar Gandhi Road if you please) and I just couldn’t resist taking a picture. If you can read it with a little more effort it says how 3 letters can cause us to discriminate. It was a beautiful message against AIDS on AIDS awareness day. Kudos to the creative team of the responsible ad agency for such a superb effort. (Apart from Sharad Haskar's work this is one hoarding I don’t mind seeing again and again) But when I think about the hoarding and the message it has a lesson for all. Often seemingly insignificant things make us all discriminate among our brethren. I have done and so I do feel a little guilt. Forget caste, colour, creed, social status, sex etc, sometimes ability and egos can cause us to discriminate and often look down on others. My ability to do something better than others has caused me to look down and discriminate against those who cannot do likewise. Age has mellowed me and now I think twice before I do anythi...

Hi!!!! It’s been sooo long since my last post. I was busy with a Christmas carol concert! Christmas is here, well actually its advent time. So the great season of hope begins. Anyway coming back to the topic of this post, I was fortunate to sing with the John Milns Chorale, a Christian choir led by Mr. Jabez Janagaraj. If you have followed the classical music scene in Chennai over the years and the choir music in particular, then these two above mentioned names would stand out. The John Milns chorale (JMC in future) named after a protestant priest who was an outstanding tenor in his time is led by Mr. Jabez, a die hard fan of the old school of classical music and choir singing. Since inception the choir has performed in various churches and other public shows,recently the choir found itself at a crossroad. The increasing age and the acute failing health of the leader had made the very existence of the choir a big question mark. However like a true champion Mr. Jabez rose from his sick ...

“A friend in need is a friend indeed” Haven’t we all used this statement to eulogize the merits of friendship? How many times we would have mindlessly said this to promote friendship? I was introspecting about my life recently and the profound effect my friends have played in it to make me what I am today. Many have come and gone but all of them have made an impact. As I was introspecting this phrase came to my mind and then I realized that it needed a second thought! A friend in need is a friend indeed, now what does that mean? If you need something, does that make you a friend to someone? So if you don’t need anything are you not a friend? Or is a friend the “someone” who helps the person in need? Is friendship just helping the needy? Do we not call this act charity or even more grandiosely philanthropy? Is this the definition of friendship that we have grown up with? Do we believe that friends are there to only help us when we need something? I searched the web for an explanation to...

This morning I got yet another "key to a miracle that will happen to me within 24 hours subject to me doing something" SMS. Its quite simple actually, a seemingly innocuous and sometimes very spiritually soaked SMS lands on your phone. Roses from our lady of Fatima, or blessings of Infant Jesus or some wishes from Hindu Gods start the message. You will be promised a miracle if you send the message to N number of persons within the next few minutes. A stern warning may follow for non believers who just delete the message. What do you do when you get a message like that? You can choose to simply delete it as I do on most occasions. The non believers, rationalists and atheists would be thrilled to the core by this act of mine, I’m sure. Alternatively you can religiously send the message to the N number of people, make a wish if so specified and wait for the miracle to happen. I have sent many messages like this, but before you make any opinions about me, let me hasten to add tha...

Have you suffered from Monday morning blues? (Actually I would prefer not calling it blues, maybe Monday morning sickness; I love blue so the nomenclature.) Anyway coming back to my initial question, if your answer happens to be a YES, welcome to the club. Nothing gives me greater discomfort than to get out of bed to get ready for another week of work, well maybe the onerous task of getting up early to go to the gym. (But that is worth another post altogether!). In school I swore to myself that things will get better in college, I said the same thing in college and now after 5 years of work I find that I’m no better than my school days. Inexplicably I tend to feel the tiredest (if that word exists) on a Monday morning. Its not that I hate work, far from it, it’s just that the weekend has so many good things to offer that the end is so painful to accept. In school or college with a five day week Fridays will be the most anticipated day as it was the prelude to a great weekend. Work week...

 To all the choir singers and musicians of the world, a delayed St. Cecilia feast day greetings! Ok, to all those who couldn’t make sense of my greeting, St. Cecilia is honoured in the Catholic church as the patron saint of choir music and singing. The feast day falls on the 22nd of November. I was fortunate to be invited to sing in the feast day mass at St. Theresa’s Church in Nungambakkam. I was told today that this is a big event in the St. Theresa’s calendar for several years now and many musicians and choir members from various places attend. It was a privilege for me to sing in the choir accompanied by a 40 member orchestra. The orchestra was replete with a host of wind and string instruments. It was indeed fortunate to listen to them play.   A worthy point of note is that the orchestra was dominated by non Christians. A special song by a group of Koreans who live in Chennai in their native tongue made the statement music knows no languages or barriers come alive. It is said th...

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm. Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them. The Bible says, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will...

“What goes up must come down.” – Old Red Indian saying. Ok from the euphoric highs of Saturday which spilled over to Sunday and was still there yesterday too, I have come down to terra firma with a big thud. And hangovers can give you a big headache. I have not got a hangover from drinking simply because I don’t drink at all. But this post is not about alcoholism or its effects so I will get back to the topic on hand. THUD!!! Well you can take this to be the noise that I would have made when I landed back on the ground this morning after the highs mentioned above. I woke up this day after a late night sleep. As is usual D and I had our usual night conversations that are keeping Airtel coffers full. Thankfully both of us are on a scheme that charges 10 p/ min but that is still money. The fact that my dad exploded recently when he saw my bill of last month which was twice the normal is another topic worth mentioning in a separate post altogether so I shall not venture further. We normal...

It’s finally over!!!!!!!!! Pardon the euphoria, but the big shopping is finally over. We have shopped for the wedding and the engagement saris and they now proudly occupy the top shelves of my mum’s cupboard. Let me recount the incidents of the day chronologically. My day started before sun rise as I had to go to the Central station to pick up mum’s sisters who were coming to shop for the saris. My mum’s elder and younger sisters came on time at 6.35 AM, so you can imagine how early I had to rise. : ( Anyway the entourage was still incomplete with mum, dad, 2 aunts as yet another aunt was to join us as mentioned earlier. This is the wife of my mum’s younger brother. So another pick up was done by me and finally at 10.30 we were ready to go. Thankfully and mercifully we had hired a cab, a Qualis that seated 7 excluding the driver comfortably. So with a lot of mixed emotions I sat in the front seat and navigated to D’s house. D and her household had worked out several permutations and co...

Hi, I am in Bombay, Mumbai if you insist. The city that has something for everyone, so goes the refrain of anyone who has stayed in Mumbai for a period of time. Maybe the city grows on you but to me it is one intensely depressing city. I flew in this morning by kingfisher and the inflight magazine is full of the page 3 crowd of Mumbai. So it is page after page of almost the same faces in cleavage revealing dresses for women and badly unkept look for the men who have graced different events in the last month. One look at the mag and you will believe that life in Mumbai is one big party, i guess it is for some. The city is a city of huge contrasts. The skyline of mumbai is dominated by the highrises but after craning your neck to see the top floor just look down and the shcoking poverty of the slums comes as a rude slap on the face. It is not that Chennai has no slums but here in Mumbai the slums are everywhere. They really are the two extremes of the city, you see the page 3 crowd wea...

I Blog!  I came, I saw, I blog. I think therefore I blog. I’m jobless so I blog. I’m tired of work so I blog. I have an opinion I blog. What ever the reason may be, I blog. You are curious about me so you read my blog. You have nothing to do so you read my blog. You are taking a break from work so you red my blog. You are my friend so you read my blog. You love gossip so you read my blog. You want to waste time so you read my blog. You are looking to score brownie points with me, you read my blog. You were just surfing by, you read my blog. Whatever the reason may be, you read my blog. I blog, you read. The more I blog the more you read. But I will blog even more if you don’t just read but also leave a comment. Comments, criticism, opinions are all welcome as they motivate me to write. I can improve my posts and make the exercise enjoyable for you and me. So I blog, you read, you comment, I blog more (I blog better), you read more……

Honeymoon anyone???? The wedding bells are ringing loud and clear in my bank. One of my colleagues has just returned married and he is going on a cruise to celebrate it courtesy his father in law. There are atleast 3 eligible young men (including yours truly) who are awaiting their turns. The most common question that we face is "where are you going for your honeymoon"? My instant retort would be "somewhere unreachable", but since decorum prevents it, I manage with "some hill station". I do not have the slightest plan of revealing my whereabouts to my colleagues. Anyway I have observed with some enthusiasm my colleague who sits in the adjacent workspace feverishly browsing various travel packages for his honeymoon. I believe he has settled on the road much travelled and is heading to Goa. Me, I’m keeping my plans a secret. I do not want to go to any run of the mill places and as leave is scarce I cannot afford extended an extended break. Also I will be fun...

This post is related to my earlier post so bear with repetitions if any. I joined my current employer a couple of months ago. As a part of my joining formalities I had to undergo a pre-employment medical check up. From the test I learned 1 obvious thing that I’m loosing the battle of the bulge and that unless I do something about it, I will have problems. The next information that I learned transformed my world from 256 K colours or whatever the TV / mobile guys claim, to the basic colours. It is official; I’m a little colour blind. No I don’t see the world in black, white and shades of grey but if you were to bring me a RmKV multi-colour sari and ask me what are the colours I will call out red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, white, black, grey, pink and brown. Maybe I may get a few more but that’s all, with all due respect to the master weavers of RmKV. The fact of the matter is I cannot discern between shades of the same colour and that makes life simple! I see a red as red irr...

Suit your self! Hi! It’s been sometime since my last post, 4 days almost I think. So let me start. I had spent some time last week checking out various suits for myself for the big day. I have been looking at the Indian suits for some time and I thought that it would be different from the conventional suits which I think many buy as an after thought or for dual purpose like office or in extreme circumstances a black tie dinner or horror of horrors a funeral! None of that for me, I want a suit that will be different and trendy at the same time. This is a special day and I don’t want to look like the caterers!!! Anyway I checked out Shoppers Stop, the collection there was terrible to say the least. I was disappointed as the last time (a year or so ago) my dad had got me and my brother suits from there that rivaled the groom of the wedding we wore it to. They were fabulous; sadly their current offering looked like something left behind after a jumble sale. The shop assistant told me rathe...

How do you blog so much? I have heard this question from those who happen to read my posts. Their curiosity rises from the fact that I have posted a few topics of late mostly during office hours. They have assumed that either I have absolutely no work at office or I am not doing any work. Actually I have work and I blog in between work. I’m quite thankful to have discovered the world of blogging. It is really a mode of relaxation when work can really be tiring. To those who have known me and have seen me over the years, it will be obvious that I can be very opinionated (who is not?) and I can be a little more opinionated that others. So I tend to speak out my opinions to all and sundry. This may not be a good thing to do at work especially at my bank where loose talk is sacrilege in their code of conduct. The bank is a highly secretive organization that prides itself on data security and client confidentiality. So generally loose talk or idle gossip is avoided. To people like me, blogg...

Ok, now that you have seen the title and have decided to follow your curiosity this post is about kissing. I have joined a community called The Art of Kissing in Orkut in addition to French kiss community. The French Kiss is probably the most valuable contribution from France and it is probably their biggest ever export of all times! Ok let me assure you before hand that this post is not related to the fact that I’m engaged. Those who practice the art of kissing, those who kiss, have been kissed or have gaped when others kiss or just yearn for that kiss will all testify that a kiss is one of the most intimate expression of love. I do testify. : ) You may be aware that where you kiss a person shows different emotions. The hands, cheek, forehead, neck, lips… they all tell different stories. Anyway we have now established an already accepted fact that a kiss is special and it is a sure way of expressing your love. So do we kiss often? More specifically do we kiss the people we love? Do we...

Hi, at the outset let me warn you that this is a controversial post. The objective is not to provoke anger or fury at any reader but it is just an attempt to think about the issue being posted. Recently I happened to hear two friends talking (no, I was not eaves dropping!) and the topic veered to the recent trip to Thirupathi that on of my friends had made. To those in the know, the seven hills of Thirupathi are sacred to Hindus and is one of the biggest pilgrimage sites in India. It is also the second richest religious institution (it is a massive institution) globally. I have been planning to visit this temple for awhile now but somehow it never worked out. I am a big fan of visiting the South Indian temples of architectural importance to revel in their sheer beauty and I take immense pride in my culture and my ancestry. I must add I have visited many temples and I delight in these visits. So coming back to the topic, I was not paying much attention to the discussion of my fri...

Hi! It’s been awhile since I last posted, basically because I was in a training programme that kept me occupied for a couple of days, also there was nothing interesting going on. So I just did not bother to post till now, I’m currently suffering from acute boredom that stems from long periods of lazing around. Well this is actually the most hectic part of the month at work, but as business has been dismal there is very little to do. After long periods of twiddling my thumbs, I decided to write the events of the days gone by. The wedding process is just starting; the first task that confronts us is the buying of the wedding and the engagement sari for D. For those in the know, the engagement is scheduled the day before the D-day. Apparently the sari shopping is a big social event and it entails calling all the close family to get together and go on the mission of sari hunting. Accordingly the big day is fixed on the 18th of this month and our entourage will comprise a minimum of 3 aunts...

How do you explain the callous indifference of some people? It was on the night of Deepavali, after a long day at our church (we were having the festival of the patron saint of the church on the same day) I was retiring for the night. It was a thoroughly satisfying and strenuous day so my bed was so inviting and I tried to sleep. My reverie was interrupted by D who called for our customary night call that stretches for an hour on an average; we find enough to talk and  burn the networks and keep Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal happy on the regular revenues we provide. Coming back to the topic my sleep talk was interrupted by some fireworks that were bright and beautiful. As the curfew of 10 PM was already crossed I thought that these may be the last for the night. I was sadly mistaken as for  the next half an hour I was rudely jolted by the loudest crackers possible, it was already past 11 PM. I was jolted out of my slumber and irritated to the core by this disturbance, I went to the house who...

Hi! I was wondering about the sudden writer’s block that seems to have seized me. I had started writing a post on more than 2 occasions only to have scrapped them after a few lines. So this is my third attempt let us see if the third time lucky funda works. I have posted earlier about bad driving and its consequences well the earlier post was more on the negative aspects of it but I have noticed lately that there is also a positive spin-off to this, however on a purely personal front. The indiscipline on the road by a few morons is teaching me patience and self control. Previously, whenever somebody drives rashly or does something that makes my blood boil the immediate reaction from me would be to bad mouth the offender with some choicest terms. My personal favourite roughly translated would mean “customer of death”. My blood boils when I see one of these customers choosing my car to commit hira kiri or something similar. I go into a tirade abusing the offender with do you not have any...