Simply Me
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Swine flu... bright and dark sides..
For better or for worse,swine flu is a reality Punekars are facing. So what has changed in Pune since the virus decided to make Pune its abode (hopefully for not much longer).
1. Everyone including those who used to describe Puneri women as dressed like terrorists now wear masks, scarves, hankies around their nose and mouth
2. The traffic has gone down drastically. Even at 12 noon where a few weeks ago there used to be a perennial traffic jam, nowadays people stop at signals and follow traffic rules.
3. PMTs seen with people hanging out of the buses have enough empty seats for people to be seated.
4. Malls, multiplexs, schools, colleges are shut down
5. Pune has now lost a doctor, teenage school goers, family members, friends to swine flu
6. If anyone coughs or sneezes, everyone around them jumps
7. Hospitals are full and pharmacies are short of medicines. Everyone suddenly believes in homeopathy, allopathy, ayurveda, God, naani ke nuske and every remedy anyone has suggested is tried
8. Office goers are welcoming ideas of working from home
9. People are demanding Mexico-like shutdown
10. Death counts rose earlier by the week, then by days and now rise by the hour
Labels: Door hi rehna paas na aana...
Friday, January 9, 2009
Tom and Jerry
Manju who joined the BIP team from ERQA DeskI last year & Ranjit who joined the BIP team from ERQA DeskI this year.
These two keep fighting. Pranjal calls them Tom and Jerry. Have you seen those Tom and Jerry cartoons where Tom keeps trying to bait Jerry and Jerry gets his own in the end? Well do you also remember the episodes where Tom finds this hot new girl'cat'friend and has little time for Jerry. Jerry does everything possible to break up Tom and the girl-cat's relation just because he is lost without Tom.
That is how it is with these two... Ranjit yahaan se chale jao... Just get LOST!!! Arre main yahaan tumse thode bol raha tha... Main to bass aise hi baat kar raha tha... Nikhil Ranjit se kaho yahaan se chala jaaye... Why do you have to sit at my desk? Tumhari apni jagah nahi hai kya? Arre main isse nahin baat kar sakta kya?
All day long.. back-and-forth back-and-forth, these two keep annoying each other either entertaining or irritating the rest of us depending on what all of us are doing... but it is a constant treading on eggshells around these two... And they love to drag everyone around them into the fight as well..
Tejaswini tum hi bolo maine Manju se kuch kaha kya... Main yunhi baat kar raha tha...
Tejaswini Ranjit ko bolo mujhse baat mat karo
Ranjit stop teasing her and just leave her alone for 15 minutes... Manju just ignore him... falls to deaf ears... I guess they have as much fun hating each other and fighting with each other as most of us have listening to their ding-dong battles...
Labels: Door hi rehna paas na aana...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Bias...
I was reading this book a few months ago called 'Chart Throb' by Ben Elton. The book is about this guy who accepts a challenge from his almost-ex-wife that he makes the 'Prince of Wales' the final winner of the Chart Throb program. Basically 'Chart Throb' is the top music talent show. The idea is to get max TRPs for the program and in the end no one quite cares who wins, right? It’s all about getting the max people to watch and vote... Wrong... Calvin has a lot to lose if the Prince doesn't lose... namely half his wealth to the manipulative female whom he married... Calvin is no angel; you come to know as you read along... The whole book deals with his manipulations to make the Prince win...
...But this post isn't about the book... This is about how close it seems to the reality of the 'Reality' TV talent hunt shows...
The biggest example I thought of this was Ruprekha winning 'Fame Gurukul'... I mean may be I was one of the few people who thought she sang utterly crappy but then I honestly felt Rex deserved to win... But let’s keep my opinions aside... Javed Akhtar, one of the judges on the shows, would extol her to such heights; you would think she was a martyr... There was this episode when the two highest rated contestants had an opportunity to either chuck out one of the two remaining contestants or keep them both safe till the next episode... The other guy, I forget his name, decided to let both the others through... So did Ruprekha... You should have heard Mr. Akhtar go on and on and on about how great Ruprekha was by not chucking out the others... I mean get a grip, man... It was utterly absurd listen to him being so blatantly biased....
In more recent shows comes the Marathi 'Sa Re Ga Ma
Then there is 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar'... I wonder if Farah Khan has some vendetta against Himani... She wasn't the best singer in the last episode... Still the champions voted her as the best and she joined the champions... All three judges criticized for a whole 10 minutes after the votes were declared... And then when she finally sang, again she wasn't the best... Farah said she was sure that Himani wouldn't be able to sing... If there was any poetic justice at all, she said, Himani wouldn't sing well and that is what happened... Himani had made a deal with the champions to vote her, she said... Himani ended up weeping and saying she was not at fault... blah blah blah... I think the champions just voted for the worst of the three so that they would all be safe when the audience voted... That has seemed to be their strategy since they probably found out the power they had according to the game format... I mean last week they voted Amit Sana who has almost consistently been the weakest of the challengers considering he was really one of the most likely people to make it big after Abhijeet Sawant after Indian Idol 1...
I couldn't care less... What gets to me is the extent to which the judges go to build up a contestant they love or sabotage a contestant they hate... Very few people remember Ruprekha now... I am not sure where the 'Sa Re...' guy will end up... I am not even sure whether he won or not... Amit Sana will go back to oblivion as he did after he lost Indian Idol... Himani will definitely lose next week if the trend is anything to go by... she's the only girl left in the show and she had definitely performed way better in Sa Re Ga Ma... so she has a good chance to lose anyway...
Maybe winning and losing is a coincidence... However, I feel that when you are judging a reality TV show, you really should keep your personal feelings aside and judge on the basis of how well the contestant has performed.... But then... if there were no controversies, maybe people wouldn't watch them anyway...
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Freaked out!!!
Anyway lets come to why I am writing about reptiles today. Today morning, while I was getting ready to record for the new edition of Puneri Thecha for Radio Idli, amma rushed in to tell me that there was a lizard dead in the house. She was cleaning something and there it was, staring up at amma. Now amma, she like, totally totally goes berserk at the name of a lizard.. One bad experience involving amma's childhood visit to her relatives', rat traps, lunch and a lizard tail are enough to make her run a mile away at the mention of a lizard; If you get the drift. Amma pretty much takes everything in her stride... but 'sokni's... [-( .. So here she comes to my room talking of dead lizards. It is the season of dead lizards probably. Amma had told me that she had bravely got rid of a small dead baby lizard the other day. Well looks like it was my turn to get brave. (I guess knowing that I was at home, and there was another option besides having to remove the lizar herself, amma's courage left her. All she managed to do was poke at the lizard with a newspaper and the lack of movement proved that the lizard was dead or atleast knocked out.. Guess it partied too hard last night... TGIF???)
Now I have always believed that 'There's nothing to fear but fear itself.' But come on what do you do about lizards? OK, time to face my fears... I get armed with a newspaper and a dustpan and bravely go to the table where amma had found this lizard.. All right I was shaking in my boots, well I would have been if I had been wearing shoes, but I went to take a look. One look at that unblinking stare and I took a few steps back... You know these things look alive even when they are dead.. They do have eyelids apparently (yeah I checked on the net), but this one had its eyes wide open.. Lord you'd think it really was alive.
Ok, Tejaswini, take a deep breath. If amma can do it, so can I. I poke at the lizard with the newspaper too..... Ewwwwwwwwww the damned thing seems to be stuck.... Ickkkkkky... I back out... Sorry people show over.. I'm getting outta here... I go to amma's room, she has already beat a hasty retreat. She can't even bear to look at what I am gonna do... Sorry amma.. Not possible.. OK fine, I'll ask the watchman to come when I am leaving for work, she says. But what do we do till then. I mean seriously, a dead lizard in the house, this house is not big enough for two frightened females and a dead lizard... OK this time I am gonna do it... Back outside... I again pick up the newspaper and dustpan... I take a deep breath and in one quick stroke, get the lizard on the dustpan. Amma suggested, just flush it down.. The trash was already taken for the day, so no option.. that is what I do. Flushhhhhhhhh...... And over.. That lizard is out of our lives... Wish I could flush the memory too.. :(
Labels: Door hi rehna paas na aana...
