42 Quirks

Just as there are things that make you go “hmmmm…”, there are things that make you go “aah!”

Three days in Goa did exactly that to us… Aaah!

Have uploaded a few pics on Flickr and Picasa Web. Click on the links to check them out.

Do let me know what you think.

More coming up later in the day. Especially a few thoughts on the difference between Tagging and Categorizing that I wanted to pen for a long time.

I see I have not been missed.

Hmmm, so I am wondering now, whether I should or shouldn’t tell you about my 3-day trip to Goa.

Should I tell you that we were camped at the Colva beach? Should I tell you about the babes on the beache? Should I tell you about the amazing Goan Fish Curry and Chicken Xacuti? Should I tell you about the complete inactivity that we had chosen as the only task for three days?

Should I tell you about the relaxation, which incidentally was better than any spa?

Maybe I shouldn’t tell you about any of this, if only to spite you. May be I shouldn’t even upload the loads and loads of pics.

You think I am kidding? Nope, I am not. Wait till I upload the pics to prove it.

Goa was fun. Three days of complete relaxation, rest and unwind. More details & pics coming soon.

*****

On a side note, this bugger met the woman of *my* dreams. What kind of a justice is that?

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. C’est la vie and all that jazz…

This time around, it’s not my fault.

My Web Hosting providers suddenly got into their mind that Blogging was an activity they did not want to allow on their web servers. And for some reason they thought that my YouTube videos were hogging their bandwidth. So they suspended my account.

Just like that.

Without information, without notice, without anything. And this happens right in the middle of a post submission!! No prior intimation, no update, nothing! So I did what anybody would do. Got myself pissed and mailed them immediately. 11 emails and 3 days later, i.e. today they ‘relented’ to my questions and ‘unsuspended’ the site.

Just like that.

In the course of the email exchanges I learnt that my site was blocked because of streaming and blogging activity. Huh? Blogging is a perfectly acceptable activity for a website. In fact I choose to use my blog as a website, instead of the other way round. As for streaming, the only streaming came from the YouTube video, which streams directly from source!

What irritated me further was this line in their Terms of Service Agreement:

Denial of Service: We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone at any time for any reason.

That line just absolves them of all liabilities, doesn’t it? So tomorrow, if their system admin turns out to be a BOFH, I stand to lose all my content?

Silly of me to give them ideas, isn’t it? But what irritates me is this fine print in the legalese. Why should one shirk from responsibilities? If it is an error, it IS an error. Accept it like a man, make amends and move on. Is that so difficult to understand?

Sigh, seems like a classic case of the Friday blues to me…

I read somewhere that the title to a post should always be something that hooks the reader. I dunno whether that quite matches up but what the heck, I couldn’t think of anything else…

The fact is I have begun training as an RJ (That’s a Radio Jockey, folks,) at Radio Mirchi, Pune. And now, I have a new outlet for my silliness and idiocy! Poor Punekars, they don’t even know what hit them…

As a part of my training, I do a lot of things, with the details of which I shall not bore you right now. It might suffice to say that I do not yap as much as I would want to, but I have had a few lucky swipes at unlucky listeners.

I got to do the Cricket updates of the India v/s South Africa test match in Johannesburg, which was quite cool. A lot of Punekars, heard a stupid voice fumble, and fumble again until it got the score right. In my defense (which is pretty much non-existent) I can only say, the wickets were falling so fast…

But it was fun. The thrill of knowing that somewhere out there, there are people who are listening to you, somewhere out there, there’s someone who has switched off their TV set and is waiting eagerly for that sweet aural massage, that somewhere, someone eagerly awaits your voice… yeah, the mere thought of it is fun. And then you get out on the street and hear people saying things like:

“Who’s that idiot fuck who keeps fumbling silly things like a Cricket score?”

“Why the fuck are they announcing Cricket scores on a Radio Station?”

“Aren’t they supposed to, like, play music?”

“Cricket? Radio? Whoever does that these days?”

“Scores on the Radio? That’s so Ell-Ess…”

*Sigh* What can I say?

You should listen to some of the people that call a Radio station. Sometimes, they are plain weird. Other times they are *really* weird. I guess that’s just a part of being an On-Air jock.

This does not mean I’ll be turning into a jock anytime soon. But I think I’d like to do that someday. It’s a cool place and nobody tells me I talk too much, except the listeners of course… But, do I care? Naa-huh! Not me, no sirree!!

Oh well, I actually do…

This is your Jock-on-the-Rocks, Shrikant serving you delicious music on Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM, it’s hot!! Stay tuned!

How does that sound? Good, bad, ugly?

Good old days, eh?I had decided not to post any Cricket-related items on this blog. But, this was just too hard to resist for me. Patriotism and all that, or maybe, a flicker of hope.

Does anybody have the email addresses of our heroes abroad? I am seriously thinking of forwarding this… At least it is better than the crappy forwards that people keep sending…

Pop Quiz: What, according to you is the most appropriate song for this clip?

Note:This does NOT mean I will be yelling “Hoo-haa, India” any time soon… Or any time later even.

Recently I came across the Great Bong‘s review of the latest Bond movie (Casino Royale). A good review, I must say. And the movie IS brilliant, in some aspects, especially in capturing the true Casino Royale spirit.

Read it here: The Bond Walks Again.

But I am surprised, of the 45 comments (at the last count…) and through the entire post, there is not one true Bond fan.
Everyone keeps commenting on how Daniel Craig is un-suave and un-stylish, or at the very least less worthy than Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery (Ye Gods!). I thought movies were meant for watching and *listening* as well.

For those who haven’t gotten the drift yet, check this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming#James_Bond_books

And a complete Ian Fleming Bibliography can be found here:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/series/james-bond/

A ‘Casino’ Quickie
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming’s FIRST Bond book. The book is about a spy who has been recently promoted to a double agent status and given the license to kill. In casino royale, James Bond is a brash, short-tempered, somewhat uncouth (if I may say so) young man who believes in here and now. More often than not, he lets his heart rule over his head.

Casino Royale is not about the shaken-not-stirred martini Bond we know. Rather, it is about the man who became James Bond 007. It is about the process of finding and losing love that eventually hardens him into the ‘Bond, James Bond’ as we know today. Ever wonder why Craig never says the trademark Bond line (“The name’s Bond, James Bond”) except at the end? Now you know…

Everything about Daniel Craig in the movie, from his clothing to his Body language is raw, and exudes a different charm. The Bond babes are there and yet, not quite there, if you get my drift :)

But this post is not intended to be a review of the movie. It is meant to quash some of the misgivings about the ‘Bond series’.

The Bond Series

1. The Bond series is not a ‘Series’.
   Or rather, it is not in a chronological order. Check out Fleming’s bibliography and you’ll realize what I am talking about.
2. Daniel Craig looks gay/wussy/________ (Your adjective here)
   He’s meant to look raw. It’s his first ‘assignment’. Or sort of. He’s supposed to behave like an air-head. A promotion often does that to you.
3. Daniel Craig is not as stylish as ________ (Your choice of Bond here)
   See point 2.
4. Casino Royale is not as stylish/gadgety/______ (Your adjective here) as _______ (Insert name of a Bond movie)
   See point 2.

Oh by the way, did you know Casino Royale was written in 1953? You didn’t, did you? I figured…

Trivia:
In one of the scenes during the Poker tournament, Bond orders the bartender to make a drink for him. He proceeds to narrates the recipe from memory for about twenty seconds and ends with, …”shaken, not stirred.”

Yep, that is the famous ‘shaken-not-stirred’ Bond martini. The more observant of you may even have noted down the recipe during the movie.

Pass it on, if you did. :)

There’s nothing to tell. No direct or proximate cause. You just wake up one day and you aren’t a part of your life. You know this. Your life doesn’t belong to you. Your body is not, I don’t know how to make you feel the force of this, yours. There’s just life, living itself. You don’t have it. You don’t have anything to do with it. That’s all. It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me. It’s like when you hypnotize someone and persuade them there’s a big pile of mattresses outside their window. They no longer see a reason not to jump.

– Quoted by Kryzstof “Dubdub” Waterford-Wajda in “Fury“, by Salman Rushdie.

I no longer see a reason not to jump. And I haven’t even been hypnotized yet. No, not even self-hypnosis. What’s more, I even know for a fact that there are NO matressess outside my window. Yet, I no longer see a reason not to jump.

I read -no, make that devour- books or listen to music to pass my time. I drink insane amounts of coffee, and spend crazy money clogging up my system with carcinogenic substances.

I have a great job and a fantastic boss, and extremely supportive co-workers. I have great friends who are pursuing knowledgeable pursuits.

I talk to people who know what they are doing, who are masters in what they do. I learn from them, more than I ever learnt at the University, more than I could ever expect to learn. Heck, pretty soon I am gonna even become one of those people.

Yet, I feel incomplete, somehow.

There’s nothing to tell. No direct or proximate cause. I just woke up to-day and I ain’t a part of my life. I know this. My life does not belong to me. My body is not -I don’t know how to make you feel the force of this- mine. There’s just life, living itself. I don’t have it. I don’t have anything to do with it. That’s all. It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me. It’s like you hypnotized me and persuaded me there’s a big pile of mattresses outside my window. I no longer see a reason not to jump.

Should I jump?