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April 28, 2008
Why do we fall for glamour?
A couple of years back I had this funny pain in both my heels. I consulted various good doctors who owned clean dispensaries, the latest medical equipment, and working air conditioners. But none could help me much. The pain persisted. My wife insisted that I should visit the Chennai government hospital – at least once. I went there without much hope. My mother in law is kind of adept at the existing system there, and with her help, I consulted a doctor. The atmosphere was bad, the energy was nauseating and the doctors looked sicker than the patients!
There wasn’t any privacy whatsoever. Some 5-6 doctors were sitting in one room facing different directions, may be based on their individual understanding of Vaasthu Shastra. Your name would be called by the attendant – loudly, and sometimes murmured - and you should run into the room, shouting your own name. Why because – you otherwise would never know which doctor wants to try his hands on you. I spotted my doctor immediately. This was because he was the only person who looked into my eyes, his body language suggested he was looking for me, and also he was the only one who gave some heed when all the three of us – my wife, my MIL & myself – entered the room shouting my name.
The doctor asked me few questions, and prescribed me few tablets. I took the tablets for a couple of days, and I was out of pain completely. The tablet really worked. And it almost 8 years now, and I never got the pain again. In fact this incident taught me an important lesson of life. I surely didn’t learn that the Indian government & its system are good and that our doctors are the best under the sun. But the lesson I learnt was – “in life never think that quality ‘always’ comes at a higher price,” – it can come to you at cheaper rate too. And glamour necessarily doesn’t work all the time.
I have many clients who come to me, and go very dejected and disappointed. Not because I fail to find their life patterns right, or could not predict events for them. They become unhappy because I tell them the truth about their lives, and make them understand about their limitations. I neither give them false hopes, nor put any attempt to make them feel better. May be I am the only person into business who thinks – customer satisfaction as my last priority!
Few people come to me thinking - I will ask them to perform some expensive pujas, or ask them to wear some expensive gems and promise them of clearing all the problems they are facing now. If I could do that, I will perform all the available pujas on myself, and become the US president first!
I always thought people never wanted to get cheated. But then there are people who still think that until and unless they are made to spend good amount of money on pujas and remedial measures – there is no point in going in for astrology or consulting an astrologer. They always want some glamour in whatever they do.
After all the glamour and money is over they complain to all the remaining astrologers about what all they have done, and how things really didn’t work. And these people are the lot who go ahead one step ahead of putting down astrology and astrologers – calling them fake.
The rule of life is – you cannot stop good things coming into your life. Similarly you cannot stop bad things coming into your life. They are after all 2 sides of the same coin! Hence don’t fall for glamour - you might miss the bitter truth in the process!
Posted by Kenni at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2008
IPL – Indian ‘porkhel’ League
Due to limited time the match overs were reduced to 5. The toss was put. They didn’t have a coin, and hence the ‘in or out’ method was used. (I never knew this particular system still existed after nearly 2 decades I stopped playing cricket. We would place a small stone in our hand, close it and whirl the hand and either keep the stone inside or let it go. The other team should say whether the stone is in or out). They won the toss, and like any other team elected to bat first. There were 4 members in one team, and 4 on the opposite already and I happened to be the 9th person. So the boys decided to make me play double sided – meaning I will bowl, bat and field from both the sides!
The first team scored 30 runs in 5 overs, out of which I had hit a six. And the second team got out scoring just 10 runs, leaving me as the last man. The rules were the same – no runs behind the stumps, you are out if the ball goes into others’ compound wall, you can hit 4 & 6 only straight, and there was no ‘current’ run outs. I hit 1 six and 3 fours, and got bowled when the score was 28, hence we lost the match by 2 runs. The boys were happy with my performance, and at end of the match they said, “ellarum sendu uncle ku oru ‘O’ podunge. (Meaning three cheers to uncle).
Well this match happened just yesterday. Out of the guys only I was 33 years old, and rest of the boys were less than 15 or just 15 years old!
This match reminded me of a thought-provoking lesson we had in our Marathi syllabus during our school days. The name of the lesson was ‘Porkhel’ - which means (por) Kid’s (Khel) Play. It was a beautiful lesson where the author while coming back from office, instead of going home directly, stops to watch a street cricket match. He gets so engrossed in the match that he is left clueless about who spat chewed pan on his shirt! He feels a lot confused, and starts thinking whether what he did was right or wrong. He explains how important ‘porkhel’ is in human life sighting few interesting examples too.
We are so busy in our jobs that we hardly have the time to play. We have become stern, tight and lifeless. We work all through the week to rest at home on weekends. We take huge home loans – and never stay there. We have credit cards, and half the times worry about repayments. We have investments in insurance plans – which comes back only to pay our hospital bills in oldage.
The rich are members of elite clubs and play all through the day, as they have others who work for them. The poor have their own way of enjoying life. The sufferers are the poor middleclass who aspire to become rich – someday, and in the process MISS the life completely!
When young I had energy, people and place to play – but never had the money to buy cricket accessories. Today I have the energy, place to place and also the money for accessories – but there are no people around to play. And tomorrow – I will have people around to play, I will have the money for accessories, I might have place to play also – but no energy to play!
So let us team up, and at least play on weekends to start with!
Posted by Kenni at 05:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2008
Thinking of committing suicide? Ask me how to!
The year was 2000 AD. One of my friends was about to be ditched by his girl friend. He said he wants to commit suicide. I said perfectly fine. I knew another friend of mine whose mother was a psychiatric patient. She used to have a particular medicine in the nights to sleep the whole night without any breaks. It is a simple logic. She had just one teaspoon of it and it you have the whole bottle – you surely will sleep for whole of your life. My friend agreed, but then he never gave me the money to buy it. The friend is still alive, and will get married this year probably.
There is this particular organization called Snehaindia.org, which thinks they help people against committing suicides. Once we had organized a live chat with one of the representatives of ‘Sneha’ at Sify. Neither the person was a smart-looking movie celebrity nor was a skimpily dressed movie heroine. Hence I was made to co-ordinate with him. The chat was on, and questions started pouring like rains in Chennai.
*I don’t have a proper job - I want to commit suicide
*I don’t look good – I want to commit suicide
*My wife isn’t supportive – I want to commit suicide
*There is a dark permanent mark on my elbow – I want to commit suicide
And the poor guy kept repeating the same sentence - just talk to people, friends and relatives around you, and you will feel better. If nothing helps, reach our office for some counseling. After a while he stopped dictating, and I kept typing.
The thought of committing suicide comes to each and every one of us. But who has the guts to do it is a different story altogether. Rajini Kanth wanted to commit suicide once, and even I was hovering around with a strip of sleeping tablets in my pocket when I was 21. I had a good lunch, felt better, and threw the strip – and I am still alive.
I have noticed a strange phenomenon that people who ‘think’ about ending their lives never commit suicide. Suicide happens in a ‘thoughtless’ state of mind, when you indeed are running a very bad period astrologically. It isn’t true that only cowards commit suicides, or depressed people commit suicide – I have seen people with impressive confidence levels ending their lives in spur of a moment.
One of my aunts was a very dominating, aggressive and a confident person. People would have agreed if they she had killed someone, but they could not digest that she ended her life instead. She never had any plans to commit suicide. And there was no reason either. Another aunt of mine had delivered a child just that particular day, and this aunt visited her in the hospital, and came back home with a promise that she will come with the lunch. She went home, had a small fight with her husband, and got herself charred through self-immolation.
In another incident my mother in law (MIL) and her neighbour had planned to go for a movie once. She collected the money from my MIL and went to the theatre to get the tickets. It was getting late, and that lady never came back. My MIL went to her house to check, and she was hanging under the fan with tickets in her hands! My MIL was carrying then, and had a miscarriage at her 6th month of pregnancy.
There is another cadre where in people just try to make someone understand that they are capable of committing suicide, while they really don’t want to. And sometimes they just want to try committing suicide for the heck of it. These are the people who are the dangerous lot, where in they escape few attempts accidentally, and die when they really don’t want to. They get saved when they are running a good time, and their effort backfires mostly the 3rd time, when they least expect it.
So can you save someone from committing suicide? Not really. Statistics say – every 5 minutes, someone, somewhere in India attempts suicide, making suicide, the third major cause of death. And nothing can be done about it.
And the people who torture you with their depression, problems, and their idea of putting an end to their lives – allow them. Don’t waste your time in making them understand the futility of death, instead help them with the best possible way to commit suicide. Take my word – they will never take a step forward. And never ever think that you can save someone from dying. People won’t die when the time hasn’t come, and none can save them when the time has come. It is all in the divine plan!
Posted by Kenni at 07:38 AM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2008
Will the recession affect ‘you’ astrologically?
Faced with a challenging business environment in the wake of the *US sub-prime crisis –
*Software major Oracle has pared down annual salary hikes.
*IBM – cuts down employee perks, and withdraws fringe benefits offered to its middle management - which included free-housing facility.
*Wipro – likely to go for an 8-10 % hike this year against 12-13 % in 2007-2008.
*Infosys – offshore employees will get an 11-13 % wage hike this year, compared to 12-15 % last year. (Source – The Economic Times, dated 25th, April, 2008)
Well that was anyone’s guess, and it is a rule of life too. What grows too fast comes down faster. This funda remains the same for all industries - right from agriculture to dot com to IT. And this time the universal rule has hit the IT industry. So will things move from bad to worse – then the answer is a direct ‘yes’ – astrologically.
Now the million-dollar question is - will American recession affect ‘YOU’ personally? And the million-dollar answer is - it completely depends upon your individual horoscope. Might sound funny, but it is true….
Well here is an example. Tiruppur, the place I was born, grew as the largest exporter of knitted garments 2 decades ago. Few people worked towards it and made it big. And when their success stories spread all around, all the rich people in and around Tiruppur pounced into the business. It resulted in 5 companies every single street. Producing garment became a cottage industry, and even housewives were seen contributing immensely to the industry.
It grew very fast, and the recession followed. Many companies were shut down, and people thought it was all over - but ‘no.’ Tiruppur even today is an international hub for knitted garment. What is the reason? Why didn’t recession put an end to all the companies? The answer is - in times of economic troubles – people running bad times are wiped off automatically, and people running a good time astrologically keep doing well in spite of dreadful external factors!
So if you want to know whether you are running a good time or a bad time, whether you will lose your job or prosper, or you will come back to India or fly abroad – consult a good astrologer.
The star in the first line of the blog isn’t ‘Conditions Apply’ but….
*I mentioned that particular term deliberately for people who still think that India is developing. It is simple logic that no country would develop, whose natural resources aren’t strong, and whose export revenue isn’t bigger than import revenues. And no country will ever develop whose salary structure depends upon other country’s economy.
PS – while writing this particular blog, I got a call from one of my clients (an ex-Expressite), who mentioned that The Indian Express Group (South Edition) does a horoscope reading of the probable candidate before recruiting them. They have a panel of astrologers who would say whether the candidate would bring good luck to the company or not. Dear readers – please keep it a secret!
Posted by Kenni at 06:15 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
Sex, Semen and Saints!
“If people think that I am a celibate, then I think they are fools.” Well that isn’t my statement. It was one of Osho’s statements, which he told a reported during his hay days.
On to my blog now…
The more you think about God, the more you want to reach God, and the more you think about reaching enlightenment – the more will you become sexual in nature. And this happens to all saints or people who dream about becoming a saint!
I participated in one of the Internet surveys, and was astonished to find the fact that that most people who browse porn sites regularly are very religious in nature! It is a ratio that is directly proportional to each other – the more the sexual you are, more the religious you will be, and more the religious you are, more the sexual you will become!
I always had this doubt about the possibility of total ‘celibacy’. And also will total celibacy really lead you to enlightenment? I have tried all the possible techniques - from mantras to tantras. And the revelation was – if you are a normal human being with normal erection, with normal semen counts, and with normal dietary discipline – you cannot live without sex, or without letting the semen out for more than 3 months at a stretch! After that you either will have sex, or you would masturbate or it will flow out automatically in your wet dreams!
I have come across a lot of content where they speak about transforming sexual energy to spiritual energy. It surely is possible – but nothing can be done about the physical form of semen. It will come out – either you wish or you don’t wish. May be you can transform your sexual thoughts into divine – possible. But nothing can be done to evaporate the liquid – it will keep flowing down. Not only me – I have spoken about this to many saints – and they agreed to what I said.
Recently I happened to meet a saint in Chennai. He isn’t that famous as of now, but will become big soon. Hence mentioning his name won’t help much. He is one of those saints who speak to Shirdi Sai Baba everyday. Also he is one of those saints who has seen, touched and spoken to God in physical form. After my 3-hour long chat with this unmarried saint, I asked him, so what do you do for sex? He replied coolly – like we eat when we are hungry, so is our sexual needs. It flows out when it wants.
I read about another incident where our own Swami Vivekananda put his penis on a burning hot rod to get rid of his erection. But his teacher said, you need not do that. Sex is both a psychological need and a bodily need. So don’t worry too much. Just think more about God and less about women & sex– your problem will be solved.
Posted by Kenni at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2008
Mera Bharat Mahaan!
I was right, and he was wrong. It would have been a major accident, if we had not stopped our cars at the right moment. I asked him, what was wrong with him? And he replied, keep going! I stopped my car to warn him, and this time he deliberately came and hit my car from the behind. Thankfully nothing happened to my car, but I hated his arrogance. He is one among those illiterate and uncivilized people who drive taxis in Chennai. I asked him to stop, but he kept going. I ran with a stone in my hand (the scene was indeed funny) and another feet I would have broken his glass pane. He stopped. I took his owner’s phone number and called him. He said, these things keep happening. I surely would have kept going if it were an accident. But this piece of shit hit me deliberately. The company’s name is Mass Travels in Chennai. I am mentioning the name so that someday when the owner’s son googles for his father company, he should know that his father should have rather pimped his wife to earn money than running a irresponsible business with the help of criminals.
I at once understood that I was already wasting my time, money and energy. But still I wanted to push it forward. I noted down his number. He refused to come to the police station, and few other drivers accompanied him now to help the driver. And my sister, 3 children, and myself stood there like fools.
I dropped my sister and her children at the bus stand, as they wanted to go somewhere else. And my 5-year-old daughter and myself went to the nearby police station. I could have very well left my daughter at home before going to the police station. But then I wanted her to learn the sick Indian system at this early age, so that - like many of us – she doesn’t start having faith and belief in this non-performing hypocritical Indian system and society.
As usual the officers there looked at me with the maximum lethargy a human form can ever reach. I explained them what really happened. This police station is just 2 kms away from where the incident happened. But he said – it doesn’t come under our jurisdiction. And asked me to contact another police station, which is was 5 kms away. I knew the music has already begun.
I filled petrol and reached the other police station. The energy was better than the previous one. I explained the new police about the real incident. He asked, was there any damage to your car. I said no. Even if there was, that is not my concern. My concern was that fu**** hit me deliberately. He said, he understands my stand, but I should not give complaint like that. He referred me to the RTO department now saying, tell them a taxi driver hit my car, the damage is high, and he didn’t stop after hitting.
I reached the RTO office now. I explained the 3rd person about the incident. And he asked, was there any damage. I said no. He replied,” then it is law and order case. You need to go where you came from.” Now I understood why the 2nd guy told me about serious damage part. They all have one thing in common – they don’t want to register a case. May be because it involves a lot of work for them.
The RTO SI was trying to be friendly to me now. I explained to him - that I am not here to claim any insurance but to do my duty as a citizen. I don’t want any crime to go unseen or unheard. He was getting a bit spiritual now. He said, “if he has done a mistake - God will punish him.” He also added that, “you have wasted your time, petrol, money and effort to get into this (I knew that from the very beginning). You could have very well gone home.” I really admired his guts to say such an enlightening statement. I never knew that if God was there to punish the criminals, why were these khakhi-clad jokers given salaries? Why am I forced to pay Rs 33 of every Rs 100 I make?
He called the driver over the phone, and told me he will warn him. Wow..that was wonderful instant judgment. The next time you hit somebody accidentally or deliberately go home and sleep peacefully. Nothing will or can happen to you.
Let me finish this blog with my school day prayers –
India is my country
All Indians are my brothers and sisters
I love my country and its rich heritage….blah blah blah….
Posted by Kenni at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Bottled Water – A Fashion Statement!
Without asking me when the hotel servers place bottles of mineral water on my table thinking I would not refuse to accept it - I ask them to take it off immediately and make them bring me ‘saadaa’ (plain) water to drink. I know he might feel that I don’t belong to the elite upwardly moving rich people as yet - but then I don’t care. I think it is a duty of any eatery or hotels to first provide clean drinking water free – even without asking. And if they insist us to buy bottled water for hygiene purpose – then it surely means that there own water isn’t clean enough. If water isn’t clean, how could we expect their food to be clean?
These days in many hotels and restaurants I notice that they don’t provide plain water, and / or deliberately delay serving plain water. They just want you to buy chilled bottled water even if you don’t want to. In fact they serve bottled water much faster.
A couple of decades back it was supposed to be a good joke. People would sarcastically comment about a stingy businessman that – he wouldn’t even mind to sell water! But today it is a reality. Now I will tell you a joke – you will have to buy fresh air to breath in near future!
I think Indian government, which shamelessly collects hefty water tax from every household should assure each and every individual that their water is pure enough to drink - so that people stop suspecting the purity of it, and avoid investing in costly water purifiers. If the government isn’t in a position to provide clean drinking water in spite of charging us the tax – then it is high time we fucked the government itself.
My conviction for non-usage of bottled drinking water became stronger after reading this particular interview of Shekhar Kapur published on few Internet sites. After reading this thought provoking interview I have decided today – that I won’t buy bottled drinking water ever in my life!
I want to rekindle the anger through my films: Shekhar Kapur
Mumbai, April 1 (IANS): After winning over the West with his two Elizabethan sagas, Shekhar Kapur is back in India to 'rekindle the anger' over what's happening in the world.
His next film, 'Paani', is set in 2025 in a city polarised by water scarcity, a world divided into the haves and have-nots - those who have water and those who don't.
'The reason I came back to India is to walk the streets of Mumbai and rekindle the anger that I feel about what's happening to the world,' Kapur, who refuses to drink bottled water, told IANS in an interview.
' 'Paani' is not just about water shortage. It's about the callousness of a world where about three percent of the populace are haves; the rest are have-nots. And what a wonderful way to speak of that disparity through the one resource that we're most squandering away,' said Kapur.
Kapur felt that he got more freedom while making movies in India than the West.
During the making of 'The Four Feathers', 'they (the West) muzzled me. That's one of the reasons why I fled the West. In 'Masoom', 'Mr India' and 'Bandit Queen', which I made in India, I had the freedom to say what I wanted'.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q. What made you return to Mumbai?
A. My life is about yearning for the impossible. It's time to ...create the intellectual property in India. Microsoft has held the copyrights for all intellectual property in Seattle. In Asia we must learn to hold on to our intellectual property. That's one of my big dreams for India.
The comic books based on Indian mythical characters that I've started in the West are all sourced back to India. It's created and implemented by Indians. Until we hold the intellectual property in Asia, we won't prosper. And to those who say Shekhar Kapur has come back home to make a million dollars, I say, I don't want a single cent. I just want to be the conduit of my dreams.
Q. Is your next directorial venture going to be from Mumbai?
A. Yes, I'm finalising the script. I've been desperate to make that film for a long time. The reason I came back to India is to walk the streets of Mumbai and rekindle the anger that I feel about what's happening to the world.
'Paani' is not just about the water shortage. It's about the callousness of a world where about three percent of the populace are haves; the rest are have-nots. And what a wonderful way to speak of that disparity through the one resource that we're most squandering away.
My first story was about this runaway kid who sees this big van of water and is asked to pay for it. It struck me then that the first thing about city life is you've to pay for the water.
Q. Sounds extremely socialistic.
A. Once Devi Lal said something about the way the privileged squander money. 'The rich flush down more water in their toilets than farmers get for a whole day of irrigation.'
Then one day I went to a producer-friend's place on the 13th floor and I was told he was bathing. Go down to the ground floor and you pass through the Dharavi slums and you see hordes of women and children queuing up for a bucket of water. I realised the poor are paying 2,000 times more money for their water than the guy who was in the shower for half an hour.
Q. Is that where 'Paani' was born?
A. Yes, to me water is the basic resource, the next thing to air. Water is already being bottled and sold. Nobody has the right to pollute our water resources. Imagine mineral water being sold at Rs.90! Water as a fashion statement!
I refuse to drink bottled water. I know it's the beginning of the process to privatise water. The ecological cost of bottled water is immense. A story developed in my mind. I had to make a film. My film deals with a city of 20 million people polarised by water scarcity.
Q. Mumbai?
A. I'll shoot it in Mumbai. But it could be any major metro - from Bangkok to New Mexico. The city would be divided into two - below and above the flyovers. The one above would be the cosmopolitan city. That's what's going to happen in the future.
And that upper city takes over the water resources in 'Paani'. They control the water that filters down to the ghettos.
I'm going to make the film contemporary and trendy. I want it to appeal to youngsters.
It's about the exploitation by the first world. And the place where the first world meets the third world is paradise. You get any kind of sexuality and thrills there. I'm setting it in 2025. That isn't so far away.
Q. Who will pay for this dream?
A. The issues involved are so against what the studio style of filmmaking (of the West) represents that I don't want to make 'Paani' with their money. They'll ask for cuts. It happened during 'The Four Feathers'. They muzzled me. That's one of the reasons why I fled the West. In 'Masoom', 'Mr India' and 'Bandit Queen', which I made in India, I had the freedom to say what I wanted.
Posted by Kenni at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2008
Konjam adjust pannunge!
It has been my life pattern so far. I would always move to a house away from the city (which doesn’t have any facilities), the moment I go there the area would start developing faster than ever, and then the rents will skyrocket and I would be made to vacate. In the year 2000, people at office would laugh at me when I said I am commuting from Thoraipakkam (Old Mahabalipuram Road - OMR) to Mount Road for job. OMR developed so fast that my servant maid is a lakhpathi today. She sold her land for 40 lakhs, and I think I need to become her servant now!
Check this pic…
In 2004 I moved to Velacharry, when very few would prefer a house there. Between 2004 and 2007 – the area developed so much so that someone told me that it is a prime area now. I had to vacate, and thanks to my landlady. I of course don’t blame her, but who doesn’t need MORE money. And now I have moved farther from Velacharry, and the developments signs have already started!
Roads are being put, new transformers are getting fixed, and I am sure it will become a hot spot in another 2 years, and the result would be as you have already guessed – I will be made to move further down! So if you have invested in land somewhere, where the value isn’t going up – then you surely can use me.
When writing this particular blog, my 3 ½-year-old-daughter rushed to my computer and said these people have put the mud outside our house – how can we go out now? And I didn’t have an answer. Agreed that they are putting the roads for our benefit, but this is the first time I am seeing the process of putting roads being executed in this particular way. They have put heaps of mud right in the middle of road, which we use, and there are no other roads we can use to come out. I just wonder how could this department not understand what my 3 ½ year-old-daughter can understand.
There are some 20 houses, and mostly all of them have cars. They all go to work. There were no notices given to us to park our vehicles somewhere else. And the people who had gone out in the morning, cannot park their vehicles at home when they reach home in the evening. And there is no place to park either.
I asked the guy, why don’t you put the mud in the corner of the roads – he says – it will be difficult to spread them then. I asked him, when would you spread them, he said Monday (today is Saturday). And my next question was, what should we do if we have to go to work or have any emergency in these 2 days – he said coolly, konjam adjust pannunge (please adjust)!
I think this concept of adjusting has gone a bit too much down our system. We adjust with the dirty bathrooms all around, we adjust with red tapism, we adjust with corrupt politicians, we adjust with dumb bosses, we adjust with frequent power cuts, we adjust with bad roads, and we also adjust with my favourite – the sick Chennai Auto Guys! I think it is high time we stopped adjusting, and start creating rebellion!
Posted by Kenni at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2008
God isn’t cruel to us!
Our aspiration of an ideal life is to be born perfectly with an extraordinary IQ, to study from premier schools and score the maximum marks, to get into number one institute for higher studies, to do our post graduation from foreign universities, to work in branded firms directly at managerial cadres, to get married to the first person we fall in love who is good looking, knowledgeable, sensuous and non-egoistic, to be blessed with kids at the time we want them, to have kids who are normal, to have kids who study well and to make them study from good institutes, to make them get the best of the jobs, and to pray for our kids to have a happy married life ever after….. We as human beings never want anything lesser than the above list. And if by chance there is any discrepancy in any of the aforesaid areas – we ask - why is God so cruel and that too why only me?
Stop for a moment, and rewind your life, and play it from the day you remember. You will notice that none of the event in your life happened as you had planned it or had thought about it, and none of the event was a wrong event as such. They were all needed for the personality you are today. And similarly no events in future will happen as you plan it, but they will all happen for your own good. And that is how God functions. In fact it is our myopic vision that refuses to see the good in bad and the bad in good.
Recently I was expecting a cheque from a particular website. The manager had sent it on April 4th through Jetex courier and it didn’t reach me even on April 11th. I never in life thought that a courier within India could take that much time. As we all know, if something goes wrong in India, to get back life on track you will have to take another birth to solve the problem.
I got the Airway Bill Number, but Jetex didn’t have their services in Chennai, hence they deliver through another courier, which doesn’t have a website! After some 30 calls to Mumbai and Chennai – we were able to track our courier after 2 days, and it was lying in Chennai. The cover had my phone number on the cover, but those mother-fucking bastards never bothered to call me, instead they sat on it for a week!
I finally went to the courier office and collected the cheque, and in the process I should have spent some 200-300 Rupees. The only thing I could do to find a vent to my feelings was to write this particular blog, and also tell that manager to STOP using Jetex courier. The manager was good to me, and said – give me your ICICI account number, and from now we will deposit the amount directly into your account instead of wasting time and money in sending cheques through courier.
Thankfully the whole event turned out to be good for me. If only the courier had reached me on time, this particular decision of direct credit would have never been taken!
Moral of the story – God isn’t cruel to us, but it is His style of functioning, which disturbs us sometimes!
Posted by Kenni at 06:42 AM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2008
What is wrong with the TN CM?
At the age of 58 you are asked to retire because the government thinks you won’t be able to give your maximum output. The government also feels that you need rest, and that your performance will suffer as you grow old. May be the government is right. Personally I have seen people at the age of 87 losing their memory, talking to TV host peeping into the TV, needing help to enter and exit the bathrooms and also losing their senses and minds. Our CM is already 87, supposedly hail and healthy, and is still successful in sending nonsensical bills to the assembly. This time he wants Pongal, which comes around January 14 to be considered as Tamil New Year, and not April 14th!
I know M Karunanidhi is a great Tamil Scholar, a well-read intellectual, an amazing orator, and an awe-inspiring writer and a magnificent historian. But I think he is a lot weak in astronomy, and it is high time he gets his basics right.
I admire what Cho Ramaswamy commented about the bill. 'I suspect that those who endorsed the government's renaming quest must all be DMK supporters. If this government can do this, it can also announce new names for all the 12 months after Periyar, Anna, Stalin, Azhagiri, Kanimozhi and so on.' 'Culture, in my opinion, cannot be ordered by law and therefore no regime has the power to do so,' he asserted.
It isn’t only about culture, but also has geographical, astronomical and astrological reasons. Let us get into the basics now –
*A day is considered to have 24 hours, because Earth rotates around its own axis in that period.
*A year is considered to have 365 ¼ days, because Earth revolves around the Sun in that period.
The universe is considered to have 12 Zodiacs, and this is considered to be true by astronomers also. Now these 12 Zodiacs are nothing but – Mesha (Aries), Rishabha (Taurus), Mithuna (Mithuna), Kataka (Cancer), Simha (Leo), Kanya (Virgo), Thula (Libra), Vrishika (Scorpio), Dhanus (Sagittarius), Makara (Capricorn), Kumbha (Aquarius), & Meena (Pisces).
The first sign of Zodiac is considered to be Mesha, and even the West considers Aries (Mesha) to be the first Sun sign (hence people born between March 15 and April 15 are called Arians). Now the planet Sun stays in each house for a month and takes 12 months to cross all the Zodiacs. So when Sun moves into Mesha (Aries) the first sign – between April 14 & May 14 – it is celebrated as New Year in the Indian system. Not only Tamils but also Punjabis, Andhraite, Bengali, Assamese et al celebrate their New Year in this time frame.
If we listen to M Karunanidhi, then we will be celebrating New Year when Sun moves into Sagittarius, which happens to be the 9th Zodiac sign! And may be later he will ask us to celebrate Diwali on his birthday, Christmas on the day his son Stalin was born, and Good Friday on MGR’s death day!
Posted by Kenni at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2008
How far can you reach in life?
Track 1
I think it was Amitabh’s 60th birthday, and he said to one of the reporters that he is indeed clueless about why people still like him. Indeed a point to ponder. And when all know that Kamal is a far better and superior actor than Rajni Kanth, still Rajini has more fan followings in TN than the former. What gives people like Amitabh or Rajini or Sachin Tendulkar that extra edge, when there surely could be better performers than them in the industry!
Track 2
God is the funniest and at the same time the sickest person or concept in the world. He makes people with different talents and talent levels, and make them think they are all equals. He gives few things for someone without asking, and for some he makes to struggle for the same. He sometimes ignores people who love him, and love people who ignore Him.
How much God has blessed you or how much God likes you can be known by a simple test. If you are given more luxuries in life even without asking – God likes you more, and if you are given less luxury - in spite of many struggles - than he doesn’t like you much. There is a catch here though. For generations people have been saying that the God exists with the poor and this point gets exaggerated in most movies too. It is ‘ALL’ crap. The movie producer is rich, the movie director is rich, the actors are rich but the people who pay for the tickets and watch the movie become poorer by buying the tickets for the movie. May be they are happy taking home a massive lie that - God is with them, and they are happy to spend rest of their life struggling!
In India it is said, you will have to leave all the luxuries of life to understand God or to see God in flesh and blood. It is very true. But that necessarily doesn’t mean that you will see God only when you are poor. The temples, the meditation centers, or any other religious place - where the poor saints meditate or do puja for money – are after all constructed by the rich. And in a way it is the riches of the world, which has helped religion to exist for generations together.
Now on what basis does God decide about whom to give how much luxury (fame, money, power) in this life or lives to come? It simply depends upon - how good a human being you are. It clearly depends upon - whether you respect fellow beings, whether you respect others’ talent, whether you love others, and whether your life supports other’s life too.
Climax
Of course people like Amitabh or Rajini or Sachin are highly talented, but they are what they are today not just because of their talents but also because they are good human beings. If you aren’t a good human being and think you are one holy talented soul, while others are mere choots, then God has his own way to punish. He will give you immense talents – but never give you an opportunity to explore! And you won’t have any option but to die a mediocre - unsung!
God Bless All!
Posted by Kenni at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
What did I do on my birthday!
Getting into the movie industry has been one of the passions I always had. That doesn’t mean I want to struggle for years together in the entertainment industry to taste success. When success has to come, it will come on its own – we need not struggle for it. Rather we just need to have the patience to wait. I always mention the example of the great composer Naushad, who stayed & struggle in a slum opposite Mehboob Studios for 17 years before he could get into the studio for composing music for his first movie. I would rather say, he could have celebrated life till 16th year, and then tried getting into the Studio in the 17th year – he still would have got the offer! Where you reach in life doesn’t depend upon your effort, it depends upon what time you are running!
Well yesterday, I wanted to do something different, and hence was exploring the movie editing software – Cyberlink Powerdirector. I had few ‘still’ pictures of a trip to Mahabs I had gone with my friends a couple of years back. And I tried weaving a story around it…well there is ‘NO’ music in the video, but there is something interesting for the men at the end ;).
Posted by Kenni at 04:26 AM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2008
It’s my birthday today!
Gone are the days (at least mine) when people and friends used to remember my birthday, and load me with gifts and cards. These days I have to announce to the world that it is my birthday, so that none misses to wish me – so better wish me. I complete 33 years of age today (April 9, 1975 born), and start 34! Life has just slipped away, and so far by God’s grace it has been an excellent journey.
God Bless All!
Posted by Kenni at 03:19 AM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2008
The ‘time’ to Dream!
This commercial is one of the most thought provoking ads I have ever seen in my life. If you are blessed with a good broadband connection watch it at a stretch. And if you are cursed with a fraud band connection, which promises high speed and delivers nothing, then wait for the video to buffer completely before you watch it!
Continue reading only after you have watched the whole video…
M Night Shyamalan is one of my favourite moviemakers. I am NOT proud about he having an Indian origin. Good that he was blessed with opportunity, freedom and money to explore his creativity in Hollywood to carve a name at his prime age. Had he been in India I am sure both his creativity and talent would have died running behind the trees and skimpy dresses shooting duets and item numbers respectively.
Well that isn’t the topic of this particular blog. It is about the last but one sentence mentioned in the ad, which says – ‘My Job is to find time to Dream!’
I have noticed that most successful people are those who have dreamt it big, and on top of that they are people who had the ‘time’ to dream. In life, if most of your time is spent in worrying about the next month’s house rent, the pending EMIs, the credit card payments, and the school fees - take my word you will die a mediocre.
So where do you find the ‘time’ to dream? The moment you start talking and exploring life on your own, you are put into play schools. And the journey of memorizing crappy outdated syllabus starts and ends at the age of 22, where the next big thing is life becomes finding a job. Wife walks in (walks out sometimes), children come out (and walk out eventually), you are shuttled (between relationships and companies), the corrupt government changes (every 5 years sometimes), and in the process your life is all over without even you realizing that you had the ability to dream!
By staying home women were blessed with opportunities to do nothing but to dream, while men took all the responsibilities to take care of them. But the government neither wanted the families to be happy, nor was interested in providing the kids an atmosphere to dream. They introduced subsidy in education for women, provided them reservation, and made them strive, struggle and work for money. So what happened in the process? The government enjoys collecting double the tax from the same household. So in a family 2 people work for the government for 7 days in a month so that some corrupt politician can have a steady growth in his Swiss bank account! If the government really cared about your kid – it should have eradicated dead syllabus, and given free education for children, whose parents (both) are working and paying tax honestly!
This disability to dream is no wonder the prime reason that India has not invented anything in the last 50 years or so. We don’t make it to the Oscars, we never win Gold medals, and still find pride in being called a developing country for the last 60 years. We launch few missiles once in a while, and do few nuclear tests in a couple of decades – and think we are developing. We forget that we aren’t developing because we have stopped being original, and because we have stopped dreaming!
Long long ago - Indians were the best dreamers. And we had given a different name to it – we called it insights. We allocated special time frame (between 3 am and 7 am) just to be silent, just to watch our minds, and just to dream – and we called it meditation. We implemented our dreams and came out with works that fascinates mankind till date – the Bhagwad Geeta, the Upanishads, Astrology, Ayurveda, Kama Sutra, and the list goes on….
So what has stopped us from dreaming? I think it is the present education system of memorizing things and running behind marks and numbers, which has put an end to our ability to dream or to think differently. I think I have done my job by providing enough time for my children to find time to dream. And what have you done? It isn’t a debate – you could win me through your logic and debating skills - it is a question you need to ask yourself! What have you done to make your children dream!
Posted by Kenni at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2008
Need some profe$$ional help!
It is my turn to seek some advice. In the process of enhancing my website, I am seeking some professional help. If you are my blog reader or my client or my friend or any stranger kindly mail me if you can be of some help to me. I need someone who is good at Movable Type Content Manager, HTML pages, and loads of common sense and good knowledge of the Internet business. I am a profe$$ional astrologer, hence I am aware of your compensation part - I would be more than happy to pay you the market rates for your expertise, time and effort. (You need not necessarily be from Chennai, India, you can exist in any part of the world)
My mail ID is – kennedig@yahoo.com, my mobile number is – 93801 63369, and my Yahoo Messenger ID is kennedig@yahoo.com
It is a bit urgent and important too…
God Bless All
Posted by Kenni at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2008
Few things I learnt from Karti Chidambaram!
Recently I saw few hoardings and posters of Karti Chidambaram displayed all over Chennai. He had pictures of his father P Chidambaram (the present finance minister), Sonia Gandhi, and also Kamaraj to back his picture. From the poster I could take a wild guess that Karti is slowing getting into Indian politics. The dress he wore in the pic where similar to what his father wears in the parliament even today. Looking at the poster, my memories rushed back to year 2000, when I had just joined Sify.com!
My boss and me happen to meet Karti’s cousin, who had plans to start a portal on Indian law. I think it was myvakil.com, where in they wanted to tie up with Sify.com. The meeting was interesting, and Karti made it even more interesting.
As told to us, Karti was a law student from Cambridge University, and hated to take up law as his full time profession. Instead he was running a discotheque in Chennai. And he was happy about his decision.
He gave an instance, which really was hilarious. The judges in local courts in India hardly raise their head to see the witnesses. Once so happened that a person’s name was called, and he was absent that particular day. But the advocate wanted to close the case hence he pulled a stranger who was hovering around into the witness box, and won the case. The judge never realized it.
In India we have this habit of moving to the court for honest judgments. Whether it is land issue or a remote control issue, we move to the court or at least think about moving to the court to get judgment in a day or two. But in the process of court proceedings both the parties die of natural causes. For instance Bal Thackeray’s 1992 riot case is still pending in court, and I am sure the judgment will be passed only after he dies of natural reason.
There was an eye opening statistics, which said, if all the pending cases of India have to be cleared it will take 300 years from now!
Karti was clear in his approach. He said the last option for anyone should be to move to court to solve problems – whether personal or legal. Better to try to solve it outside the court. You talk, or pay, or compensate – but let moving to the court be the last resort!
I was still a bit skeptical about what Karti said, until I happen to have a sitting with my personal lawyer couple of years later. She said Indian legal system is pro-wrong doers, and against right doers. If someone files a case against you – you have million ways to escape, but if you file a case against someone – then be rest assured you will be wasting your time, energy and money!
May be Indian legal system was formatted so - to see to it that not a single innocent person gets punished in any case!
Posted by Kenni at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)