Wednesday, March 29, 2006

An elegy for the diminishing spirit

It is indeed with a heavy heart that i am writing this post. Despite of a busy schedule that i am supposed to follow, i had to rake up some time for this particular post. As u might have guessed this is not going to be one of the comical interludes that i am going to write about. It's about something recent that had pained me to the core. No i wouldnt blame anyone for this, it is a collective blame.



Now this is a question that one has to answer truthfully. Do you happen to recognize this person ???
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No.. isnt it ? except for quzzing purposes not many know this person. To hell with the suspense !!! He is Samaresh Jung,of India who has been named as the winner of the David Dixon Award for the most outstanding athlete of the Commonwealth Games.

During the Games, Jung won two individual gold in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol and Men’s 50m Pistol, as well as three team gold, one team silver, and one individual bronze. He also set three new Games records.The David Dixon Award is named after the former Honorary Secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and is the first of its kind for a multi-sport event.All of the 71 competing nations and territories were asked to nominated one athlete for the award. All athletes are eligible regardless of their medal tallies.

The medal honours performance at the Games, fair play, and overall contribution to their team’s participation at the Games.CGF President, Mike Fennell, said he was delighted that Samaresh Jung had won the second David Dixon Award.

"Jung is a remarkable athlete, who competed brilliantly in Melbourne, establishing a range of new benchmarks for his sport, and is an athlete the whole Commonwealth can be truly proud of,” said Fennell.

Samaresh Jung’s wife Anuja also competed, winning gold in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

After such a splendid performance in the games, He is hardly reognised.. why ?? Lack of publicity from the media. He is certainly not a media hound, but is it fair enough to let his heroics go down the drain. Imagine if he had been in US, he would have been driven right away into the White house for dinner with the President. In India, his name appears in some god forsaken corner of the papers, while actors rock the front page. Who the hell cares if they are jailed or not ? what difference does it make ?? but unfortunately these tit bits sail through amongst people as hot-cakes. Imagine Samaresh being forgotten while some stupid cine actor is being hailed for wearing a fancy cloth or for cutting ribbons for a sponsor !!!

Guys, this is the sad state of affairs today. When are the Indian media going to act fair and bring true heroes to limelight ?? All they have managed to achieve is to get people scorn at Indian sportsmen for not achieving in Olympics !! How the hell do u expect them to achieve when they are not given the proper incentives. The media is what i would again blame this for. They have been very unfair towards anything except for cricket and football. They have chosen to be commercial ignoring the primary ethics. Had they chosen to eulogise such herculean performances, i have no doubts that a man like Samaresh would be idolised in a couple of days after such a show of marksmanship.

It is but natural that this blog comes out with agony and sarcasm aimed at those those who failed to recognise such a splendid performance. Such a propensity for disregarding such splendid acts is what makes me feel bad. This post is a direct result of that agony.....

An elegy for the dimishing spirit of appreciating excellence.......

Abhi jiska dil na pighla , Dil nahi woh pathar hai.....
jo isko samajh na paayae, woh bekar zindgaani hai......

Saturday, March 25, 2006

YAHOO

(YAHOO) Yet Another History Of Obfuscation !!!

So friends after a long gap, here i am back with a burdened shoulder... one which weighs heavy on any conscientious blogger. Yes, i am burdened with a TAG yet again, this time the thanks goes to Trinity ... The tag is about some "weird" things about myself. Hmmm.. so whats mystique abt me ????? Let's see......

Anyone who's into a bit of economics will be familiar with the term scot analysis. This post is somthing similar to that i guess, a scot analysis on myself... Now that forms the first strange thing about me.. i prevaricate crazy analogies. Sometimes the homosapiens around me tend to think that i am thinking too much, a bit too much to their comfort. I tend to talk esoteric sometimes with such crazy and unearthly analogies. But i can hardly refrain myself from conglomerating my ideas once i get into such thoughtful moods. I think i owe this attribute of mine to Rand... Gosh !!! i am getting into one such spell.. so lemme jump on to something else...

My taste for movies and books have been often come under serious contemplation. Most of my friends detest cartoons while i am fida over them. Movies are serious stuff in student life and i find myself out of tune with most the movies esp tamil and hindi.
While i felt Aalavandan and Kurudhipunal are good,i was declared tasteles.. and when i said KNM and Zinda were crap, again i was sent to the corner...As if that isnt enough, i undergo futher tirade with my choice of books... The list isnt too big.. i read Tintin,Aestrix,Phantom and Ayn Rand. That makes things more obfuscated doesnt it ??? On introspection even i myself tend to think that i am a random mix of thoughts.


The most weird thing about me is that my moods dont fluctuate... I am quite stable to all aberrations around me but certainly not impervious.Boon or bane, i remain DC(electronically speaking :D ) at all times. Singing has been strictly restricted to my bathroom and what i sing is classified info :D... i play table tennis and badminton and carrom board and chess and cricket and football, but no where near tolerable at either of these. After a display of my talents for these at college, the college team decided to go without these sports for the next four years.... oh did i forget to mentioned that i haunted the MC desk for almost all college functions since i was the only guinea pig available :(...

And if u have the patience to read this far then prolly u might actually be tending to think that i am crazy !!! And guys, i assure you...I am not just crazy, i am SuPeR CrAzY !!!

AS the tradition goes i might have to tag sombody.. the burden is passed on to

Meetsankar

VIVEK

Swathi

Thursday, March 02, 2006

A Thin Red line

This post is about a person whom i used to meet almost everyday on my way to college. No, he is not know to me, and i never did bother to find out about him. I could have if I wanted to, but I havent tried so far. But he does have a gravitational pull around him, which is due to his attribute of speech. It is on a bus that i see him, everyday, almost sitting at the same place each day, with almost unfailing regularity. He has a pleasant face with a curved mustache,a typical charachteristic of a south indian. His mannerisms arent what one would call as gentle. He has a grotesque way of presenting himself. Perhaps that was one which made me look towards him for the first time.

He speaks usually of his days at Army and at New Delhi. Plus he is extremely repetitive, because, unfortunately his co-passengers are never the same. Perhaps, they might even avoid sitting near him after listening to his heroic extempore once. His speeches include, as I said, about his army experiences and his heroics. He says that he can shoot as well as any olympic gold medallist and in fact better than them. He then goes on to say the story of how he managed to down a wild fox from quite a distance. I always used to think
Either this fellow is as good as he claims to be or the saying "as wise as fox" is false

The fox must have been stupid enough to get killed by this character !!! And he is usually returned with a sarcastic smile each day, yet he manages to say the same stuff to some poor unfortunate guy, who in his ignorance manages to sit beside him.

But his words and more importantly his tone of speech made me think of somthing more imortant. I used to take his speech as "trumpet blowing" and him as a conceited person. But then a thought intrigued me, what exactly is the difference between Ego/conceit and self respect. Self respect does not stop with the respect that u carry in others' eyes. It also stands for your admiration of your own abilities. Whats wrong in respecting and stating your own superior abilities ???

Let me move on to a detail analysis of self respect. It has to understood that self respect has a braoder scope than what is usually asoociated with the word. If a person says that
I am good, I can do that, I am confident of that, Thats too easy for me, I ll do it better than many around

These words are often despised by most of us. We immediately brand him as ignorant and arrogant. And what if he does manage to stand by what he claimed ? We immediately say He's good . But whats the use ? He is too conceited. I was no exception to the thought. I had branded many a people as a conceited fellow. But now, as i come to think of it, I feel that i was too hasty. Too much bad influence from the surroundings.I now begin to feel strongly that proclaiming your achievements and capabilities to others arent exactly bad.

Come to think of ego or conceit. Theres not much difference between ego and self respect. These are in fact separated by a thin line. What i say might not be true or could be corrugated facts... but hell !! its my blog and I can write what i feel... So coming to my thoughts on that.. The difference is very minute. When one says "I can do it" it can be his self respect. But when he says "I alone can do it" it shifts a bit to become Ego. Again " I can do better than X " it shifts marginally into the self respect spectra. " I wont allow anyone else to do it" and "I cant bear others doing it" goes into the Ego domain.

Hey, able to spot any demarcation ?? well, I am trying hard not to be influenced by my prejudice. Perhaps this is what Ayn rand has been regularly mentioning when she says about the people of the "mind", the capable ones who run the society by virtue to their merit and demand the respect they thoroughly deserve.This discussion has stemmed from the fellow at the bus, prolly I should thank him when i see him in the bus tomorrow. He did give me a tough proposition to work on. In fact i am now looking forward to meet him tomorrow .....

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

TOTIL

TOTIL - Test of Tamil as Indian Language

This post is dedicated to improve the vocabs for those whish to augument their tamil skills ...


Here goes the list….


Aapu - vetu vekaradu
Allwa - To cheat
Abase - Loot adiththal
Adichu oothu - kandapadi poi sollaradu
Alpam - A silly/cheap dude
Appeettu – Unsuccessful
Asaththal – Kalakkal
Bajari - A not-so-friendly / loud mouthed
Bandha – Pillim
Bekku - Fool
Biscothu – chillarai
Blade- refer kadi
Body - Muscular Machi
Bulb - refer- Bun
Bun - kevala padithi vidaradu
Correct panradu – Madakaradu
Dapsa/Doop – Lie
Dhil – Courage
Dhool – Super
Dum - To smoke
Daavu - Site seeing
Dealings - mutual understanding
Dickielona - A friendly game played in Delhi (courtesy Movie:Gentleman)
Damaram – Deaf
Damage - kevala padithi vidaradu
Dori - Squint-eyed
Feelingu – sad
Freeyaavidu - Forget it
Gaali – Appeettu
Guru - Head of the gang
Gaanapaattu - Rap song sung by Machis
Galeej - Dirty
Gilli, Goli - Traditional games played in Madras
Goltti - A dude from Andhra
Jigiri - Close
Joot - Escape when caught up by girlfriend's father.
Jujubi - Easy
Kaattaan - Uncivilized/ Rude Machi
Kadi - blade
Kaathu vangaradu - timepass panradu
Kaathu vangudu - gaalia irukku
Kenai - Idiot
Kikku / Mabbu - Intoxicated/under influence
Kilikaradu - refer : damage
Kalakkalls - To cause a flutter
Kanai pakri - Friend of ushar pakri
Kindal - To make Fun
Kaka adikarathu - Putting soaps to someone
K M L - Kedacha Mattum Labam
Koovaradu - shout/ say
Kudumba paatu - A song with which machis identify themselves
Kulls - A short machi
Laddu - Allva
Loot adiththal - to steal
Lord Labakdas - big shot
Maams - One cool dude
Maanga - Fool
Machi - Maams
Mandai - A sharp guy
Maple -machi's hello to another machi
Mary - feminine of Peter
Mavu - refer O B.
Nachunu - Bull's eye
Nambitten - I don't believe you
Naattan - Villager
Naamam - To cheat
Naina - Father (courtesy Telugu)
OB - To waste time
Ottal - To make fun ! of some one
Oththu - move
OTMP - Osie le Thinnu Mangalam Padarathu
Ondrai anna - Worthless
Pattaani - Machi talking to Machi
Party - Machi trying to show off by talking in hi-fi english
Pakkri - A shrewd dude
Petta - Area
Pisaaththu - Cheap
Pillim - Show-off
Peela - To lie
Pongal - Machis talking to machis
Poatu odakaradu - unmaiya solradu
Rambam - refer : blade
Real - refer :adichu oothu
Rivet - aapu
Rod vangaradu - thittu vangaradu
Saanthu pottu - Possibility of getting beaten by a stick (courtesy
Movie:Thevar Magan)
Sangu oodaradu - refer : rod
Sarakku - refer Thanni
Scene - refer Pillim
Sella kaasu - highly useless fellow.
Shoka- Good/ nice
Silencer fit panradu - sudden ah silent aaradu
Songi - Lazy
Thanni - Liquor
Thanni kaatradu - ematharadu
Thalaivar - Leader
Thetharadu - arrange/correct
Tin katrathu - Getting into trouble (courtesy Movie: Anjali)
Ushar panradu - arrange
Ushar pakri - Smart pakri
Vennai - Fruit
Veththu - Useless
Vetti - jobless
Veesaradu - Lie
Weightaana - high quality
Wrong kaatrathu - Acting indifferently

Contact me for the available test dates !!! :)