Long live the Cold War...

Have a look at this...

When Sputnik burst onto the national scene, there was a rapid and sustained whir of public opinion condemning the Eisenhower administration for neglecting the American space program. The Sputnik crisis reinforced for many [xix] people the popular conception that Eisenhower was a smiling incompetent; it was another instance of a "do-nothing," golf-playing president mismanaging events. G. Mennen Williams, the Democratic governor of Michigan, even wrote a poem about it:

Oh little Sputnik, flying high
With made-in-Moscow beep,
You tell the world it's a Commie sky
and Uncle Sam's asleep.

You say on fairway and on rough
The Kremlin knows it all,
We hope our golfer knows enough
To get us on the ball.

It was a shock, creating the illusion of a technological gap and providing the impetus for a variety of remedial actions.

My two cents...The Commies and Yanks battle it out, Indians take the best of both worlds by keeping Non-Aligned!!!

Long live the Cold War, long live NAM!!!

Working, Shirking...

The title of the post is inspired by a book named "Fasting, feasting" by Anita Desai, not that I have read the book, but yes the title seemed interesting, and I shamelessly lifted the idea in this post of mine.

Life's been tough, to use a cliché, I've been working like hell lately. On second thoughts, though, have I?

Sometimes...(no, all the time infact!) I have around 10 things to be done which I write down on a little chit of paper so that I don't forget that these have to be done. But then guess what? I forget to look at that chit. It sits conveniently in my shirt pocket, and is doomed to be washed by the washerman with the laundry!

Coming on a more serious note...does a lot of effort mean a lot of work? Personally, I think it is not the case. For me, a BIGTIME procrastinator, work is a headache, which unfortunately I have incorporated in my lifestyle. So the headache is always there. I love having the tension at the back of my mind that there's a lot to do, when actually the case is, that I can do all that I have to do in a matter of hours, if I set down to do them.

For example, the room that I live in is crying out to be cleaned, even the spiders have become sick of the old cobwebs. They are waiting for me to provide them with fresh new ground to house themselves. Hardly a couple of hours' job, but being postponed to "tomorrow" for almost 4 months now. Am still waiting for the tomorrow. The bad thing is, I am convincing myself against taking up new activities because _my room is not clean_ so it pretty much amounts to shirking responsibility on the pretext of completing another pending one, which eventually shall not be done.

I don't really know what's gotten into me, I have always been lazy, but the irresponsibility I have been showing lately is phenomenol even by my standards! Vinod advises me to "suit up", which is just the thing I need to do, but then...
...
...
...
I have to clean my room before that!!!

God save my lazy soul.

Suicide Note # 1 : Dear Family...

Hello Mom, Dad, KJ...

Probably you miss me, probably mamma goes to sleep with a heavy heart, probably papa utters a deep sigh whenever he thinks of me, probably a tear trickles down KJ's lovely little eyes at times when she is reminded of her brother.

I want to tell you, I might not have been a good son and a good brother, but I've always tried to be one, and it is so because I have been around such good people as yourselves. Mom, Dad, thank you for making me who I am, for showing me the world as best as it could have been shown ever. KJ, thank you for being my cute little doll for 19 wonderful years. I am not that bad you know, I always want you to have the best, I might be a little tough and rude, but most of the time it is for your own good, beta.

Papa, I was a bad boy when I smoked and took to drinking without telling you all. I wanted to, but that would be too embarrassing for me to say out aloud. It would hurt you. It would hurt me to know that I have not kept the faith you showed in me. I did not want to tell you because I did not want you to feel that your kid has gone astray. I had, papa. I had.
I know you have great dreams for me, and I really suck at not being working towards them. I could have been a little more responsible and a little more "myself" and acheived what I truly deserved. I didn't. Neither did I become my true inner self, nor could I acheive what I could have. I love you for still wanting me to.

Mummy, you are my responsibility. Or I always thought so. If I want a didi in my future births, I would want you to be the one. Maybe even in this life you are just like an elder sister to me. I remember a very young and tiny Saumya sitting on the dressing table, trying out Mummy's bindis and lipstick. I remember a toddler running around avoiding a bath, I remember you holding my chin and combing my hair, readying me up for school, playing with me around the house, bringing food and water right down at my study table, pushing me out of the house for fresh air, making halwa at times when I needed it the most :)
No. I cannot recall how much you have done for me. I don't want to. I cannot even say thanks. I don't want to. I love you ma.

KJ, I told you, you have been my little dolly all along. I just cannot forget the little gudiya calling out "aiyya" because she was so little she couldn't even pronounce "bhaiyya" properly. I'll probably cherish that sound till my final moments. I remember the cat and dog fights we used to have and took the whole houselhold as hostage. I remember finishing up my ice-cream/chocolate/biscuit quickly and then pestering you to part with yours. I remember distributing cold drinks in glasses ever so finely equally balanced as though they had been measured, and still managing to get more for myself. I remember cheating you on every little occasion I could, not because I was smarter, but because I knew that you trusted me blindly enough and that even if you found out, you wouldn't mind. I knew you wouldn't mind. Despite all the show of "I really don't think I should believe you" that you keep giving me, I know that you really love me a lot and take me very seriously whenever I have something to say. I would just say, no daughter of mine could give me more affection than you have showered me with as a chhoti sister. Just remain the same sweet self that you are, and don't forget to call out for "aiyya" in case things don't turn out your way. I'll be there.

See you all, bye.

A String of Suicide Notes...

As per an old agreement with Vinod, I am writing a series of possible suicide notes hence on...

By the way, it should be unnecessary to say this, but for the more concerned lot of you, "I am not contemplating wilful cessation of my life"... Its just that I (rather, we) thought of this to be a nice idea to spew our guts about what we think about certain things.

This series of suicide notes would sometimes be reflective, sometimes comic, sometimes wise, sometimes otherwise.

Bear with me please, oh and while I am thinking up something to write in my opening note, you can have a look at Vinod's suicide note here.

Happy Reading.

The Profile Pic...

The one that was voted out

Guess it is high time that I changed my Profile Picture.
Two reasons.

One -> There have been at least 2 (two) confirmed cases of this pic being rated as a psychotic killer out on the loose, which, undoubtedly, I am not, thus the pic is essentially not Saumya-esque in attitude, hence needs to make an exit.

AND Two -> Some people have also expressed the opinion that the picture is unlike myself in form as well. "It doesn't look like you, Saumya"

A change of image is always nice, especially if it's for the better image, eh?

So here it is, boys n gals, the all new and improved me!!!

Folks, we have a new contender!

The Really Crap Post...

Well, there comes a time on every blog page when the author loses the interest [slash] time [slash] energy [slash] inclination [slash] incentive to post new material on the blog.

Having said that, I must say, I haven't !!!

So I come up with an absolute crap post like this to bugger all of you (umm...that makes me wonder if "all of you" isn't a bit of exaggeration, I mean, how many from the homo sapiens clan would actually read my blog, by the way?)

Also, since I have set down to "blog", then why not me talk about something interesting. How about an advice post. Or maybe a DIY post. Hmm, DIY is good (you see I am making this all up as I am typing, and I have made a promise to myself that I will not step back and delete anything that I have typed, so all this, folks is impromptu typing that you are reading all along!)

So where were we? Yes, the DIY post.

SO that raises a very pertinent question, what is it that the whole world might need a DIY for, especially coming from me? Thinking of what, I get a perfect idea. So here it is people, the DO IT YOURSELF for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, commonly known as DIYAEWWW. (Not a very pleasing acronym no? Well they say that appearances are deceptive, read the theory that follows now)

So, DIYAEWWW. Here it is.

Step 1. Think it.
Step 2. Do it.
Step 3. Forget it.

That is all about it. In those 6 words I have summarised all my knowledge gathered so far from anything that I have learned. Am open to dicussion on this. Really. Call me up, chat up with me, drop me a message, a comment. I'll make sure you get the theory.

This post started out as a crap post, but now I am wondering, if it really is ending as one. I have ACTUALLY compressed everything I knew in those 3 steps. And I am not trying to be funny here.

Give it a thought, it might strike you sometime. If it doesn't, I am there to hit you with the reality. Try me.