Month: February 2010

Fifteen Minutes of Fame.

Welcome to another post of the Friday Loose Bloggers’ Consortium when eleven of us post on the same topic chosen by one of us. Today’s topic has been chosen by Magpie and I find it extremely difficult to forgive him for having given me sleepless nights since last Saturday. Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing quite what he had in mind by reading his own post on this dicey subject. Please do visit Ashok, Conrad, Grannymar, Magpie11, Maria, Gaelikaa, Helen, Judy, Anu and Ginger to see ten other views on the same topic. Some of these bloggers may be preoccupied with examinations, family problems and/or romance, so be a little indulgent in case they do not post or post late.

“Fame – a few words upon a tombstone, and the truth of those not depended upon.”
– Christian Bovee

I have never been famous. Not even for a second, leave alone, for fifteen minutes. I would not know what to do if I became famous. It is highly unlikely that I will ever become famous too.

I am well known in some circles. By no stretch of imagination however, could that be called famous. I am also notorious in some circles for reasons, that I leave my readers to speculate on. There too, it cannot be called even remotely anywhere near being famous.

I also keep a safe distance away from famous people, lest some of the fame rubs off on me. I am such a shy person that I won’t be able to handle it. As I write this however, there is a possibility that I may become a professional actor on TV commercials. If that happens, I may still have my few minutes of fame!

My few minutes of fame in the present then, is the time that my readers visit my blog, read and leave a comment on it, whenever they do. It is very satisfying and enough for me.

Prayer Time?

Somehow or the other interesting news items come to my attention from all over the world. Particularly odd bits and pieces come from the UK which is at it should be considering that our association with the UK goes back to a few centuries.

There are however some things that can happen only in the UK and this one is the mother of all quirky things to come out of there. A bus driver, half way through his route, stopped the bus, locked in all the passengers and prayed to God before resuming his duties all over again.

Don’t believe me? You can read all about it here.

I wonder if the driver will understand this particularly British cartoon and if he does, how he will react, considering his priorities.

Hair Cuts.

What is it about hair cuts that drives men into becoming positively poetic? Last week it was Conrad with a video about his hair cut and this week it is Sandeep with a nostalgic post on his old barber shop.

Our good friend Maynard in the meanwhile has been sending me photoshopped photographs showing me with long hair which makes me look like a Rastafarian and persuades me to grow my hair long or in the alternative get a wig(?)

Personally, a hair cut for me is just a chore to be got over with as quickly as possible. There is a very comfortable saloon just across the road from where I live and a visit there once in a couple of months is more than adequate. I go in, have a hair cut, around the rim as there is hardly anything on top anyway, have a nice shoulder and head massage and am out in fifteen minutes at the most.

For the past ten years, the barbers there have been trying to persuade me to get my beard trimmed and dyed by them, with the promise that I will be made to look like either a Mughal king or a film star of my choice. I have resisted the temptation as I prefer to trim it myself when the mood takes me. The idea of dying my beard is totally unappealing though I see other men getting it done in the saloon.

When in the saloon however, I see many sights that are to say the least fascinating. For some one as old as I am, at least they are novel. There are guys there getting facials done, their hair and beards dyed, eye brows trimmed, hair shampooed etc and spend much more time than I do. There are also fathers and/or mothers who come in with young boys who publicly quarrel about what kind of a hair cut the child must have and spend more time pacifying the child than the barber spends cutting hair. There are men with long hair, no hair and all kinds of other hair who keep looking at themselves and preening after the job is done and while waiting for the change to be made for the big notes given. I believe that the men having facials etc are called metrosexuals. Quite what that implies beats me!

A friend of mine retired from service in 1989. Since that day, he has not gone to a hair cutting saloon. He uses a gadget which is just a razor blade sandwiched between two combs with a handle.

When he combs with that, lots of hair just gets shaved off and he believes that it is good enough for him. He looks quite elegant if somewhat professorish. I wish I had enough hair to be able to do that and be professorish. As Jean so aptly calls me, I look like a Panda and that is good enough for me.

After I had written this post, I came across this wonderful present that a man offers his beloved for Valentiene’s day. How romantic!

Bomb Blast In Pune.

Last evening at around seven pm while I was at the computer, I heard a big bang and assumed that it was some wedding party letting off some fire works and crackers.

At eight pm, my brother in law rang me up from Chennai to ask what the blast was all about that all the news channels on the TV were showing. I did not have a clue but on switching on the TV found that there was indeed a big blast just across the river from us about a kilometer and a half as the crow flies, in Koregaon Park, a posh locality of Pune where the Osho Ashram is located. The German Bakery is a cafe frequented by visiting foreigners who can get Western style snacks, pastry, pies etc there. The blast was there and initially it was suspected that a cylinder of cooking gas had accidentally exploded. This morning however, it has been confirmed that there was indeed a bomb that was set off by terrorists. Full details are yet to be received but, at current tally nine people have been killed and fortyfive injured, some in critical condition.

You can read more about it here The news paper gives exhaustive coverage and I request all my readers to read all about it including other items that point clearly to hands that may now be in Pakistan.

Conrad was first off asking if I am okay and this is to let all my regular readers know that as I write this, the three of us and Mel, Ranjan’s girl friend who was with him out on their usual Saturday night partying, are safe and as well as can be expected.

All my readers know what I think of terrorists and their senseless actions and I do not intend reiterating those anger fed rants. Suffice it to say that I am livid. India after our 26/11 Mumbai attacks, following repeated requests and nudges from Pakistan and the West respectively agreed to formal talks with Pakistan finally and a Secretary level meeting is scheduled to take place on the 25th inst. I for one am now more than certain that no useful purpose will be served by such talks till Pakistan stops extending sanctuary to the terrorists in their territory, not withstanding the fact that the terrorists now kill more people in Pakistan than in India. It may also be a deliberate ploy to prevent talks from taking place engineered by the Taliban/Al Queida, but whatever it is, the Pakistani establishment which still maintains that its stragegic focus is on containing India, cannot hunt with the hounds and run with the hares.

We live in a world also occupied by lunatics and quite how many more incidents like these have to be experienced before the ‘liberals’ wake up is a question that needs to be answered some time soon to take decisive action to prevent such lunacy in the future.

Poor HE The Ambassador!

This is a story too good not to be shared with all my readers. France has recently been in the news for attempting to ban the Niqab and there are any number of stories about the niqab doing the rounds including photographs ridiculing them like this one.

In India too we recently had an instance of the matter of photo identity being insisted on being decided at the Supreme Court level. The petitioner had argued that Muslim women should not be asked to produce photo identity cards at the time of casting their votes. The Supreme Court has dismissed the case, as it rightly should.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce my readers to another story. If this can happen to an ambassador, imagine what must be happening to the common man and also just imagine the plight of the girl!

I know of one reader who will have great fun doing things with this post. Maynard, what can you come up with now? Any chance of sending either Gail or Millie over to Dubai as a replacement? You have to really be very creative with the photographs though!

Response to Ursula.

In my blog about my battles with my bulges, there is a nice little exchange between Usuala and me. Please do read it to better understand this post.

Ursula asked if I would lend her a fiver. In response, I promised to do one better and dedicate one post to her. This is it.

There Ursula, that is the best that I can do for you for the moment. When and if I succeed in my mission, I shall give serious consideration to lend you a fiver.