Anopheles Goes to Karnataka

My female friend of the mosquito species, Anopheles, recently had another small chat with me. About elections this time, among other things.

She unexpectedly came in tonight, as I was preparing to retire. Her first question, after the usual niceties, was,

"Why do you think the Congress won in Karnataka?"

I was surprised that she was so 'in' with the news of our elections. I said, "I think people expected development from the earlier government, which they did not get. They were mined only for their votes. So they changed their mind, and voted for change."

"Hope they don't start cleaning up garbage and drains," she sounded worried. "Where will we go?"

I was stunned with the realisation that one man's food is another man's poison. I said, "If they do, you are welcome to come and stay here, " pointing to a closet.

"Thanks, that's very nice of you," she said.

Then she asked me, "What worries you about the future?"

I had to think, lest I appeared to lack the essential qualities of the homo sapiens. "Terrorism?"

"Who do you think are terrorists?" was her counter-question.

"People who kill others for no good reason, of course," I thought that was easy.

"What about those who are cruel to nature? Or those who instill wrong values in their kids? Or even those who indulge in corruption, as your newspapers seem to keep proclaiming? Isn't that a form of terrorism?"

I said, "How so?"

She said, "Terrorists take the easy way out, by doing whatever they do. These guys also harm society, but insidiously, by preventing welfare of a large number of deserving people. And parents who develop wrong values among children..what could be more damaging to a society?"

I had to admit she was convincing, like a good marketing prof I knew.

I asked her, "Does your society have corruption and bad parenting too?"

She was quite vehement. "Yes, and that's why we have the fat mosquitoes who drink far more than they need, and make the life of us commoners that much more difficult. There are also those who have created blood banks so that their children will not starve for generations."

"But won't the blood get spoilt in tropical weather?" was my innocent query.

"Who said the blood banks are here? They are in Switzerland," she shot back. That was enough to send a chill up my spine, and I kept dreaming about this even as I slept.

Party Week

Work at partying? Partying at work?

It's a bit of both. Life consists of partying this time of the year, and I am not complaining. Certainly helps in beating the heat around these parts. Might be that I want the state to last forever. Though it usually does not. But it is good while it does.

Thoughts that came from a smoking hot barbecue which happened at a friend's lawn the other day, preceded by a do at an NHRD (National Human Resources Network) meet the day before. A visitor friend from XIMB and IIML days was the reason I landed there.

The IMT alumni meetings at various places continue. Just got back from my place of habitation -India Habitat Centre, Delhi- last weekend. Met loads of alumni and had a chat (not chaat) with quite a few. Found many who are entrepreneurs, incidentally. Good for them, and others, I guess.

Started off with a training program for Asian Paints at Nagpur- one of a new series that is on through May.

Blographics

This is the reported readership of this blog since it began ( I plead guilty to having started it all). I found it very interesting, assuming these are real readers. Earlier, I did have a revelation of sorts that there were statistics probably misreported due to servers being located in various non-English speaking nations that seemingly read my blog.

Anyway, accounting or discounting for trawling that idly sends anonymous comments to me fairly regularly, one may assume that there is some increase in readership of the said blog. I also have to thank some authors whose books I happened to review (not paid ones) for the spike in my blog viewership.

Interesting, and a graph of the sort that most sales companies would like to see. Thanks to the genuine readers. If you are reading this in spite of IPL (at least in India).

The Sense of an Ending- Book Review

Julian Barnes is an author I discovered recently, accidentally. While browsing with friends opposite IIT Delhi at a bookstore. That book was Nothing to be Frightened Of, about death. Non-fiction.

This is a novel, a humdinger- if that is the right word. Keeps you gripped throughout, and does not let go, till the last page. Ends with such a twist that it leaves you gasping, or rather, gaping. You don't know what hit you. I also liked the decsription of dating in Victorian (1960s) England, sounded like our own times, almost. The humour in the writing is very British, and very good. In the other book too.

Not too long ( a quality I appreciate these days), I was able to finish it in two sittings interrupted by some work (more on that later).

I think it won the Man Booker. Must say, it beats many other winners that were unreadable- at least to me!

Formula for Happiness

Formulas galore are offered for you to be fit, healthy, happy, live the rest of your life in Nirvana. I thought I could try and become another in the long line of philosophers. Difference is, my formula is easy to use, and 100% guaranteed. Others may say that, but this actually will work.

Set aside 5 minutes to think what makes you happy. Regardless of what you thought, do the following.

1. Take 15 minutes a day and drink your favourite beverage (it could be carrot juice, coffee, or single malt).

2. Take another 30 minutes and listen to your favourite music- disco, ghazal, whatever.

3. Read at least 10 pages from a nice book (not the happiness formula books)- won't take more than 20 minutes. If you are down and out, read humour, preferably. Or else, anything. James Hadley Chase is not forbidden. Nothing is.

4. Walk and if you like to, add a golf club to your walk. If not, still walk with some greenery around.

5. Eat one of the following without fail everyday.. Chocolate (particularly if you are a female), bhutta, pani-puri, vada pao, pav-bhaji, pakodas.

Guaranteed to keep you happy as long as you have teeth (to eat the items in no.5). Have a great day-everyday.

Benefits of Going to College

There are great benefits to be gained from going to college. Undergraduate, postgraduate, does not really matter which level. And these are not what the parents think they are.

1. The canteen is a great place to be. For the food, the ambience, or the lack of it, but most of all, for being unlike the class.

2. There are sports to be played and learnt. You can even excel in a few.

3. If you are the unsporting type, you can watch others play. Heck, the whole country is at it with the IPL.

4. There is an outside chance of getting a girlfriend (boyfriend) as the case may be. And then, of course, an equally good chance of a break-up. Keeps you occupied.

5. You meet nice people, like they said in an old Honda scooters ad (in the US, not here in India).

6. You can learn to doodle, draw caricatures, or develop new measures to measure the performance of faculty. gives you a headstart for a job in H.R. (Human resources).

7. You get to spend dad/mom's money, with no grumbling to accompany it. Try spending it on a world cruise instead, and you'll get what I am saying.

So there. Still want to remain uneducated?

Trip Down AP Memory Lane

A train journey that I went on two weeks ago brought back some memories of a life in my twenties, when I frequently went by the same railway stations and the views in between.

This was on the Andhra sector of the Nagpur- Secunderabad journey. We lived in Ramagundam and Bellampalli those days, and took a train to Hyderabad quite often. The train travels pretty fast (we clocked it at 120 km an hour at times) on the Kazipet-Secunderabad section, so you whizz past Ghanpur, Pindial, and on to Bhongir and finally Ghatkesar before you enter the Secunderabad terrain through Moulali.

There is a huge bare rock and a fort atop that in Bhongir (Bhuvan giri is the real full name) which looks inviting for a climb, if you are the climbing type, or the fort-visiting type.

The Kazipet station has a long platform where trains used to stop for quite a long time, sometimes to change the direction of the engine by detaching and re-attaching it. Vijaya dairy had just introduced buttermilk in pouches those days and it was a big hit in the heat which was huge.

Also met a friend from the Bhubaneswar days (circa 1991) after two decades in Hyderabad, adding to the rekindled memories.