Obama ka Kaarnama - please pay exact change!

When Barack Hussein Obama succeeded George W Bush, the entire world celebrated with hope that sanity would return to white house, after two five-year terms of what i would call - The planet of the Ape.

So there we were -  an  "New and Improved"(american marketers favorite chant) President of the United States surfing high on a hawaiian wave of hope with a very promising punchline - The change we need is here. ( applause... encores...fireworks around the world.... hopes and promises)

An amazing punchline which no hyped advertisement in the debt ridden nation of the United States would ever like to miss.

As a foreign layman observer sitting at a point which wakes when US sleeps, i agree with Obama-Saheb. The change that US needs, but perhaps doesn't want  is surely going to arrive... 

The change is nothing but the sound of the last few coins (the change) in the american pocket, after they are done with printing dollars indiscriminately without any underlying national productivity/ wealth, just to feed those who are spending without earning as much....  After they have realized that the gluttony of debt in the country is leading them nowhere and ... they wouldn't have the rest of the world bail them out.... The music of 'change' chinking in the american pocket would arrive indeed!

The change is nothing but the coppers and nickels that would eventually remain clinking in the american coffers after funding its own enemies (and that of humanity) - militarily and humanitarian. You may not guess too hard who these enemies are. For all you know the blood thirsty, sheep-skinned 'allies' of the american war against terrorism will bring the situation of 'change' faster?

Long and Hot weekend in Mumbai

The topic of the blog may seem like that of a fantasy episode, but the underlying experience is far from that.   I tried twittering my thoughts, but 160 characters is too short, and i dont fancy writing in SMS mnemonics. So here are few topics running through my mind:

The Weather:

If someone asks me.. whats up? .. my answer would be the mercury.... and for "Whats hot?"... certainly something else is hotter than Bips and Bebo (eeks)

Mumbaikars, with what they have been facing for the last whole week, would understand and empathize with the topic quickly.

In the last week we have faced temperatures soaring towards 40 degrees celcius, with high levels of humidity. The radiating heat during the day makes us realize what happens to our poor food in the microwave. Is this the revenge of the soul of the cabbage? Perhaps...I think soon we would be able to bake cookies out in the sun in ten minutes flat. No need to invest in an oven or the electricity/ gas to run it.

If Dr. Frost, the frozen villain of Batman, crept out of fiction, he would make millions for his freeze suit - i am sure!

Elections:

Olympics happen once in four years. We have a special sport in India too that happens once in five years (or sometimes bonus occurences to as much as 5 times a year).. They call it the union elections.. 

All of us know it is the biggest mockery of democracy, reoeating periodically ever since India became Independent from the Brits and then again enslaved by indigenous elements.  Ego's of individual voters are pumped to the extreme to tell them that the future of the country is in their hands, and that they have the right to choose..a goon or .. a goon.. and yet another goon.  and then for the remaining five years, they have no control on what happens in "their own" rule.

I would do my duty as a citizen for sure and vote for my favorite goon, while knowing that whoever wins would either split the country based on religion, or based on secular constitutional practices like caste reservations.  I will try and do my duty and worship the constitution that advocates for these practices;  and those holy people who make amends to this.

All set and done, election here is the biggest reality show, nothing gets more unreally real and raw as this.  You will find media sleeping with every possible politician. They would epitomize them now as much as they criticized and condemned their actions earlier- or perhaps vice versa. Now that political parties advertise and provide revenue to the media, in this recessionary times, their credibility and authenticity is certainly questionable. Nevertheless, news (read sensationalism)  in India with its overtures is meant to be consumed as entertainment rather than ... knowledge of whats happening. 

So grab your popcorn, get overwhelmed with the coverage, and get that purple stain on your index finger.

Long weekend

Idle brain and this hot and sultry weather gets the devil working. While the devil in your mind is busy, you get time to stay away from things that fatigue you otherwise...  For me.. its the terrible crowd, dust and pollution in this city. 

So here i am lazing and grazing on the Internet, keying some random thoughts.. 

For those of you who managed to reach so far... thanks for your time and feel rewarded for your patience levels! :-)

 

Anything but Pink, Honey

Valentine's day just went by and this time the fatigue for pink grew deeper. 

This season it wasnt just archies cards, rose vendors and red ribbon sellers who made money.  Infact their market share was grabbed by Kajori, Good morning, Lux, roopa, and many such undergarment manufacturers, who were busy catering to a growing demand for pink undies. If you dont know what i am talking about do a google search for Pink Chaddi Campaign

Pink turned out to be a color far more dangerous than i ever thought it would be, beyond my farthest imagination. The gurly and innocent connotations of the color, what once was, is never gonna be the same. 

One of the first victims of pink, i recall was Karan Jowhar, who had a pink-n-white pansy setup for his talk show - Kaufee with Karan. The color created an instant association with the buzz that suspected him to be a "Queen" to a king of the industry. Not a wonder, that his next season consciously avoided pink. 

Coming back to the recent happenings- 

First, it was pink slips raining all over the place in the wake of the global meltdown. People particularly in finance domain got scared of pink.

Then we had a bumper crop of strawberries, which made me see pink all over. 

And now.. its raining Pink underwears shed by pissed out pubbing women claiming independence from chauvenistic culture police, Ram Sene,  who recently assaulted women at a pub in mangalore and were determined to spoil V-day celebrations. I had some of my friends enroled in the group. When i said that i was amazed at the rate at which their group of pubbing women shed their pink precious clothing. They were quick to respond saying - we are a part of the group, but we dont drink... well just Juice. 

Ram Sene responds back with what could really bring a slowdown in retail cloth sales - They planned to give a saree in return of every pink chaddi received. Imagine - what could be more discounted than a nice handloom saree available for a new and cheaper currency - Pink Chaddi!

Things dont end there, there is yet another group of pissed out men conveying a mutual reciprocative feeling by starting a  pink condom campaign. 

Do a word search of pink on this post.. you will be fatigued i am sure.. imagine the pain of seeing it all over the news... media.. everywhere..... Terrible!