Sabbatical

Friends, Indians, Country(wo)men, I will be taking an indefinite "sabbatical" from Blogger. In fact, I’m already well into my sabbatical, since I haven't been blogging at all for the last month or two. I'm taking a break and am going to visit the rest of the internet before I come back ;-)

I'm already in touch with most of you on Orkut. For the rest, if you have a Orkut account, do let me know. Email me your Orkut-name at "fosix.m@gmail.com" and I'll add you as a friend. It would be great to keep in touch with you.

Farewell/Adieu/Sayonara/Auf Wiedersehen/Au Revoir !!

JonBenet or Raven Jeffries

Sure, JonBenet is all over the news. But has anyone heard of Raven Jeffries ?

Raven Jeffries was seven year old girl who was murdered, her body burnt and then dumped in a field. Of course, it never made the news. Was it because she was not blonde and white ??? Or was it because she was just a poor inner-city kid ???

I remember last year or so, there was a standoff in California between the cops and a "deranged" man holding his baby daughter hostage. If I recall correctly, the SWAT team shot (and maybe killed) the baby by mistake. Of course, the story never made it past one day on the air. Did it have anything to do with the fact that the father and daughter were Hispanic ???

I am sick and tired of the news networks going crazy everytime some suburban pretty white blonde kid/girl/woman goes missing. Whatever happened to reporting stories that really matter ?? I guess its all about ratings these days.

But is it completely the fault of the networks ? Or are stupid dumb viewers also to blame for tuning in watching these stupid 24 hour reports on missing white females ?

Collateral Damage

The only difference between "collateral damage" and "terrorism" seems to be the nationality of the person pushing the button.

It seems to be okay to kill people and blow up their homes as part of "collateral damage" just as long as it happens somewhere in the developing world or in a country which cannot fight back. I'd like to see the same thing happen in a so called "civilized" nation. I'd also like to see a Western city being told "...Get out now because we are going to blow up the city with tanks, helicopters and planes to flush out the terrorists. But don't worry, we'll pay you to fix it once we are done..."

The BBC published graphic photos of the bombing at Qana, including a picture of two dead children being carried away. This is the first time I've seen such kind of pictures being published. The pictures didn't exactly make it to the headline story, but its a start. Maybe if they keep publishing these kinds of photos (Lebanon as well as Iraq), people might start seeing some sense.

Tofu

As much as I hate SUVs, there is this ad which really made me smile...

There's this guy at the supermarket checkout buying some Tofu... He looks at the guy behind him, whose groceries consists of a whole pile of ribs, steak, etc (packets of red meat)... He feels really embarassed at buying the Tofu... So he goes out and buys a Hummer... The ad finishes off with the statement "Restore Your Manhood"...

I know this ad wont be too well received by all the vegetarians out there... But thats probably why it made me smile....

Spring Cleaning

Turned the TV off, got my lazy ass off the couch, and decided to do something I have been putting off for the last two (possibly more) years. I have this huge pile of envelopes (a lot of them unopened) sitting in the corner of my bedroom. This pile has grown from a small stack to a small hill over the years. Since all my bills are paid electronically, I don’t really bother with snail mail. Whatever snail mail I pick up from my mailbox once in two weeks get dumped on top of this hill.

Today is D-Day! I am going to tackle that hill with a vengeance. I shall not rest till I have demolished it!! Or will I? Well let’s see how far I get :-)

Speedy Gonzales

So after 6 years of driving in this country, I finally get pulled over... Good looking female cop comes up and asks for my licence, registration and insurance...

Cop: Do you know why I pulled you over ?
Me: ***Oh hell yeah, I do*** Not really officer
Cop: You made an illegal U turn. There were multiple signs saying "No Turns"
Me: ***Illegal ? Really ? We are supposed to obey those signs ? I thought those were driving suggestions*** I'm sorry officer, I did not see the signs. I was talking to my friends

Cop: Where are you coming from and where were you going?
Me: We just came out of that bar there. I am headed home, as soon as I drop my friends off
Cop: Oh, so you are the designated driver for your friends. Thats nice
Me: ***Designated what?? In case you hadn't noticed, we are desis. We always travel like illegal mexicans stuffed into the back of a pickup truck*** Yes officer. I am the designated driver for tonite

Cop: Hows your driving record?
Me: Its perfect. Actually, this is the first time I've been pulled over
Cop: First time? So you have a clean record. Thats nice
Me: ***Clean? Umm... Err... Actually, its because I can usually spot an unmarked cop car from half a mile away. And if my friends hadn't been talking to me, I might have seen you too*** Yes, m'aam, I have a clean record

Cop: I'm sorry, but for this particular offence, I must give you a ticket. But in light of our conversation and since you have been nice and polite, I'd be willing to put in a good word for you to the judge if you want to show up in court
Me: ***Couldn't you just give me your phone number instead? I wonder how "nice and polite" I would have been had it been a male cop?*** Thank you officer

I looked down at the ticket... Two points and 135 bucks... Damn !!

Terror in Mid Air ?

LAX Control, this is Frontier Airlines Flight One-Six-Eight Heavy... We are declaring an emergency... We have lost cabin pressure... Requesting immediate landing clearance...

To all aircraft on landing approach, this is LAX Control... Maintain holding pattern, ten thousand feet... Flight One-Six-Eight, you are cleared for landing, runway Four-Niner...

Okay, so it wasnt really an emergency... The cabin failed to pressurize at 5,000 ft, not at 30,000 ft... So it turned out to be much less dramatic than I had hoped... The oxygen masks didnt even drop down... And the flight landed smoothly after circling LAX for two hours to burn off fuel...

Curse my karma... My life's so boring.... Nothing exciting ever happens...