As life goes on...

10 Reasons Why People Make Stupid Decisions...

2010-06-30T17:36:00.002-07:00

10. I’ve come so far already… (invested cost bias) - We all know that the past is past and we can’t get back money or time that we already spent. But many people irrationally take sunk costs, time, money, or other resources which have already been spent and can't be recovered, into their decision making; such as how much you spent to get your car fixed last time, how long you have been dating someone (ask Krupa), how much you invested in a stock, or how many troops have been lost in Iraq so far. Why not just a little more? :-)

9. Me me me! (egocentric bias) - Putting yourself in another person’s shoes is harder than it sounds for most people. My friend Ketaki would be the best person to testify this. But nevertheless, I'll mention a scientific study: Two volunteers, at a London college, were connected to a device that allowed each of them to exert pressure on the other’s fingers. The researcher began by exerting a fixed amount of pressure on the first volunteer’s finger. The first volunteer was then asked to exert the same pressure on the second volunteer’s finger. The second volunteer was then asked to exert the same amount of pressure on the first volunteer’s finger, and so on. Although volunteers tried to respond with equal force, they typically responded with about 40 percent more force than they had just experienced. Each time a volunteer was touched, he touched back harder, which led the other volunteer to touch back even harder. When asked about it, both volunteers claimed to have exerted the same pressure in all attempts!! :-)

8. That just proves my point. (confirmation bias) - Isn't it a coincidence that no matter what happens in the world, some people can spin it to show why that confirms their opinions? (Like when Janki says "EXACTLY!" after whatever the incident!)

7. That’s easy. (overconfidence) - According to an AZ-MVD survey conducted 2001, 80% of respondents rated themselves in the top 20% of all drivers. My friend Shivam, the self proclaimed "most awesomest" driver has lost, what...ummm...pbb..pbb..pbb...about $300 on speeding, parking and other traffic violations, and on avoidable car damages!! While overconfidence is definitely a good thing in many situations, it probably means people don't work on their weaknesses as much as they should. Do overconfident drivers practice safe driving given their lack of abilities? Do overconfident public officials realize when they are making bad foreign policy decisions?

6. I’m #1! I’m #1! (dysfunctional competition) - People's happiness is often a function of what they have relative to others. You might be just as happy with your co-workers getting a pay cut, as you would with getting a raise yourself. Ask Sameer Raut! :-)

5. Mine mine mine! (endowment effect) - Why is it so hard for people to throw, give away or sell things that are past their prime? One theory is that people tend to place a higher value on objects they own relative to objects they do not. A study revealed that randomly assigned owners demanded to be paid around $7 for their coffee mug, while randomly assigned buyers were only willing to pay around $3. That also explains why my room-mate Arjun refuses to donate, let alone throw away, his old clothes (esp. the green shirt and jeans), and other random things which he really doesn't need.

4. Its gonna happen!!!! *PANIC* (recent-event bias) - People are suckers for recent, memorable and hyped-up events. So much so, that they think these types of events are more likely to happen than they actually are. Despite the focus that terrorism has gotten in the past several years, the risk of dying from terrorism is very low compared to much more mundane ways to die such as driving off the road (80 times more likely to kill you) or even a hernia (5 times more likely to kill you). And yes, there's no need to fear flying on an airplane, seated next to a guy with a thick beard. There's more likelihood of you getting shot by your schizophrenic nephew on your way home from the airport. Well, if the world has limited resources to invest, where do you think people are going to want to spend it? Stopping the slow and steady march of global warming that won't affect any of us during our lifetimes? Or more REAL threats like terrorism, which can kill many today? (I can bet my girlfriend Nikita would still opt for Global Warming...she wouldn't give a damn if Ali-Jabber Hassan kidnaps me and beheads me in some cave in Afghanistan)

3. If everybody else think so… (bandwagon/conformity) - People make decisions based on what they think, right? Well, not all of us (Rijuta, Debolina, Janki, Neeharika, Rachna, Ketaki, Sapna, Sharan, etc...hmmm...i noticed all are girls...any co-relation?) !! In a famous experiment by Solomon Asch, several experimenters in disguise were to answer the question "Which U.S. State is the farthest north? South? East? West?" on an internet forum. The experimenters in disguise were instructed to give incorrect answers to these easy questions on the first few posts itself. Surprisingly, half of the respondents gave wrong answers because of the pressure of their peers. Even more surprising was the fact that this being an internet forum, the "peer" were people who the respondents had never seen or known ever before!! Are these types of pressures enough to get people to do things that they know are wrong, or just do not wish to do (partying, drinking, smoking, sex, studying, shopping, hiking, gym, etc.)?

2. Lets go hard 8! (illusion of control) - We all know that there’s no difference between my chances of getting a 6 if I roll the dice or someone else at the table does, right? Explain that to my friend Yogesh who was persistant on rolling the dice himself when we were playing Monopoly. You throwing the dice wouldn't make you any luckier!!! Your hands are not magical!!! You don't control everything that you do!! Also explain that to Krupa and Nikita who think that things will fall into place without planning, preparation and effort.

1. He's just a moron. (attribution error) - Is the driver that cut you off a jerk? Or is he a good guy who didn't see you because he's distracted by something else going on in his life. Judging by the finger that you chose to hold up, you think he's a jerk. That's about par for the course, as most people tend to over-emphasize personality-based explanations for the actions of others. A NewYorker article by James Surowiecki discusses a classic experiement where "subjects shown a person shooting a basketball in a gym with poor lighting and another person shooting a basketball in a gym with excellent lighting assume that the second person hit more shots because he was a better player." So maybe it's better to withhold judgement about a person until you've actually talked to them. Even if they did cut in front of you in line at McDonalds. Finally something that applies to me everyone !! :-)

How Taxes Work...

2009-12-18T11:11:00.002-07:00

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the total bill for
all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they always did.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with
the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But
what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would
each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each
man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts
each should pay.
And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to
compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He
pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a
dollar, too. It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back
when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine
sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes deservingly get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy,
and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Dark screens save energy!!

2009-10-01T22:58:00.004-07:00

My friend Anisha just changed her blog background to white. Why did you do that Anne? Little does she realize what effects it has on the environment. Hence this post.

In the early days the computers displayed black text on top of a gray background. Now almost all display defaults are black text and white background. Why has such a trend been popular in the last 10 years? I don't know for sure but I'm guessing it is to make people feel more comfortable. Everyone is used to white standard paper, off-white newspaper, white background in magazines, most books, and so on. Printing black on white is just technically easier and cheaper.

Why do dark backgrounds matter? A minor reason is personal preference, which is what most people are thinking at this point. But that's just a small concern. I'll discuss the main reasons.

The first is your eyes. Yes, those things you are reading this with. Talking engineering, think of the background as "noise", and the text as a signal. Your eyes are trying to read the signal and ignore the noise. From an energy perspective let's simplify and say dark colors are low energy and light are high. So with a light background you are flooding your eyes with a high intensity wall of noise and trying to pick out the low intensity dark signal. With a dark background you instead change the important text to the high intensity signal. If that didn't make sense then think of it as a looking at the stars. At night your eyes open up and you can pick out the faint signals of a star from light years away. An then try to imagine trying to pick out black eagles flying high in the sky on a bright sunny day.

A second reason also associated with your eyes is eye strain. This can come from at least two sources. The first is the effort to pick out the weaker dark text signals as described above. The second is viewing such displays in dark environments. Try using a regular word processors with white background and black text in a pitch black room. Now try with a black background and white text. Your eyes try to adjust to both the room environment and to the screen you are looking at. To those that prefer or must work in bright environments this is less of a concern. For those who are in dark environments, it is almost impossible to handle the brightness without turning on a background room light. In some cases, such as with portable devices, this is not possible and the only option is turning down the display back light which lowers the contrast and readability between background and foreground significantly.

The third reason dark backgrounds are important is energy. It takes a lot of energy to make pixels bright. In general, a text interface is using many fewer pixels to display the important text information than the background. So a dark background is much more energy efficient. This is extremely important for battery powered displays in notebook computers, PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and so on. Even on desktops the power required to drive a large display with a full white background is much higher than with a dark background. If you don't believe me, buy a cheap in line power meter and test it yourself. Lower energy will save you money, stop power companies from needing to supply you, and in the end, save the environment. You do love the earth don't you?

Google.com realized it a couple of years ago, and released a dark-screen version of itself called "Blackle". And just that could save the world a lot of energy. Lets do the math. an all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts, a difference of 15 watts. Google.com gets about 200 million queries a day. Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some screen all over the world. On a CRT monitor, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. Not bad just for changing a few color codes, isn't it?

"Smile for the picture yaar!!!"

2009-08-15T02:50:00.002-07:00

"Smile for the picture yaar!!!"

This is one of the most irritating things one can say to me, and to quite a lot of other people for that matter. Even complete strangers can be this rude. And it's usually a woman saying this to a man. If you are a person who says that dreadful phrase to friends and family while posing for a picture, stop right here, and go force someone to smile. If you are fed up of hearing that over and over again, read on...

"Smile!! Things can't be that bad!!"

Really? How do you know things can't be that bad? Do you know this me so personally? Are you living inside my head? How do YOU declare to me, that things can't be that bad? You have a lot of disgusting nerve! If you're a man who's getting increasingly pissed off by jerky women telling you to smile (or just-as-jerky men telling you "Smile!") here are smart, witty responses that will shut them up:

If the comment is just "Smile!" reply with one of these:

"MAKE ME." Then stare at them hard.

"AND IF I DON'T?" Then give them a threatening stare.

"SAY SOMETHING FUNNY." Give them an emotionless gaze.

"I WILL IF YOU TRIP AND FALL FLAT ON YOUR FACE."

"I AM smiling. This is the face God gave me. Don't like it? Take it up with HIM."

"I DON'T SMILE ON COMMAND."

"WHY?"

No matter what you do, do NOT smile when someone commands you to. The moment you smile just because someone told you to, you automatically rank yourself lower than them in the pack.

If the comment is "Smile! Things can't be that bad!" reply with one of these:

"How would you know?" Then stare at them blankly.

"How do you know? Do you live with me?"

"Nice assumption to make about someone you don't know!!" Wait for their response and enjoy watching their face turn white.

"Things can't be that bad? Well just stay put and I will tell you about the things in my life. My dog got hit by a car three days ago and might lose a leg. My beloved Aunt was just diagnosed with swine flu. My wallet was lost last week. I just found out my car needs a 1,000 bucks worth repairs. My best friend just joined a drug-dealing gang..."

Next time someone asks you to smile for a picture, don't just sit there and take it all in. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!

Law in India

2009-07-15T01:55:00.003-07:00

Here's Shobhaa De's personal experience in one of her trips to Pune last month.

"I had a nasty run-in with the Pune cops - and I wasn't even directly involved. One of my oldest girlfriends now lives in Pune. We were meeting after a longish time. She lost her way to Oakwood Premier ( more on that later) where I was staying. And while trying to locate the address on a dimly-lit road, she drove up the wrong gate. As she executed a neat U-Turn, a casual labourer from a nearby building site , travelling with his wife, an infant and toddler on a scooter, lost control of his two wheeler and crashed into a wall ten feet from her car. There was no physical contact with my friend's vehicle ...and there wasn't a scratch on either him or his family. But the minute he noticed she was a single woman at the wheel, he kicked up a huge hungama, pulled her out of the car, manhandled her and yelled for reinforcements. Soon, she was gheraoed by 60 slumwallas baying for her blood. The cops arrived soon after, and she thought that was the end of her problem considering she was not at fault in the first place! Hell, no! Her problems had just started! Now, this one being a real lady ( royalty, at that), phoned me to say she was running a little late!! It was only when I prodded that she explained why! I immediately rushed to the spot ... by then there were more than a hundred people, including half-a-dozen cops talking animatedly on walkie-talkies. They glared at me and resumed shouting. When I pointed out that nobody was hurt, a cop taunted, " How do you know that.... are you a doctor?'' I said let's go find a doctor in that case. That apparently was the wrong response. The mob started to scream, " Take them to the best hospital for x-rays. The woman's back is broken." It was no use telling this lot that had her back really been broken, she would not be able to sit up straight, much less walk!! By then , we were joined by another girlfriend. The sight of three calm women drove the crowd mad with rage . A fourth woman arrived on the scene - a senior cop!! We thought at least she would get it! Not a chance. She told us to follow her to the cop station. Not the nearest one, but some distant thana miles away from the 'accident' spot! This was getting us nowhere. But we were determined not to do a deal or pay anybody off. We told the lady officer exactly that. There was talk of filing an F.I.R etc. We said, go right ahead. And we'll file ours for assault ( the man had broken my friends pearl choker during the scuffle. It was close to 11p.m. by now - there goes our dinner, we said, but the hunger to see this drama through to the bitter end was far stronger. After endless attempts to bulldoze us into shelling out big bucks, the cops said, " Are you willing to pay for a doctor?" My friend replied, "Yes.On humanitarian grounds - I am not obliged to do so, since I am not involved in the first place." The cops smirked and left with those guys 'to see a doctor'. I'm guessing they went around the corner to figure out the next move. Ten minutes later, we received a call to say, "The doctor wants 3,500 rupees - for x-rays and other tests." We paid it. Suckers. No receipt was given."

Same is the state in schools, colleges, workplaces, government offices, and every other place you can think of. It doesn't matter who's fault it is. The one in tears is always right!

Indian Standard Time (IST)

2009-06-21T12:35:00.002-07:00

ha ha ha..."Standard" did u say?? More like the cliched Indian "Stretchable" Time, and way to go for us Indians to make a impression on the world regarding our lack of punctuality. Indians have always had a laissez-faire attitude towards time. We have never let ourselves be ruled by the clock. A quick google of a few websites on Indian social or business culture and you will find a common refrain in all of them: ‘Indians appreciate punctuality but may not reciprocate it’. Added to this will be a warning to 'keep your schedules flexible while in India or while doing business with Indians'.

Obviously this is a generalization and all Indians cannot be judged by this yardstick. Every society has punctual people and also those who make you wait just to show you how important they are. The latter is best observed when a function (even vitally important ones) is scheduled to start at 10am, but people actually start arriving around noon. Even educated people do not think these virtues are necessary for success. They take life casually.

It is believed that culture, economy and climate do play a part in people’s punctuality. Industrialized and developed nations, especially North America, northern Europe, and Japan are known to be sticklers for punctuality. For people here, time is money and Industry by its very nature implies strict schedules. On the other hand, Indians, people of Latin America, Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East are poor time keepers.

But surely, if you want to move up in today’s world, all these theories and generalizations will get you nowhere. Time management is key and punctuality is generally the rule. Missing deadlines and appointments and habitual tardiness are strict no-nos and are sure to be construed as lack of discipline and commitment.

The Dot Song

2009-04-26T11:13:00.002-07:00

The Dot Song
The Idea originated when Anne put Paul Klee's quote as her status message. I still say its dumb.

So, here it is:

The Dot Song

A line is a dot that went for a walk.
- Paul Klee (contributed by Bimal Bharath)

A curve is a dot that flew like a hawk.
- Rahul "Anonick" Dandekar

An icosahedron is a dot that didn't know where to stop.
- Madhura Rane

A scribble is a dot not knowing what it sought.
- Anisha "Anne" Zaveri

A circle is a dot that just goes round and round,
A coil is a dot that keeps getting wound.
-Adi Sengupta

An exclamation is a dot with an erection.
-Bimal Bharath

An asterisk is a dot with hair.
-Srikanth Viswanathan

A Buckyball is a dot that was out there to shop.
-Shatabdi "Express" Chowdhury

A doodle is a dot that dances a lot.
-Rahul "Anonick" Dandekar

A colon is a dot who found true love.
-Siddharth "Sid" Joshi

A knot is a dot that lost it's path.
(disclaimer: in a closed space)
-Ravitej U.

A star is a dot that's really really hot.
-Adi Sengupta

A tittle is a dot.
-Anandi Rajan

Z is a dot after too many drinks.
-Shivam Gupta

A bot is a dot, out of silicon wrought.
-Preyas P.

A semicolon is a dot taking a dump.
-Ranaji Deb

A division sign is a dot looking at the mirror in vain,
A curl is a dot that had too much champagne.
-Anisha "Anne" Zaveri

A comet is a dot with a wild streak.
-Nikita Mehra

A shooting star is a dot that can't be caught.
-Shatabdi "Express" Chowdhury

A squiggle is a dot that lost the plot
-Nikita Mehra

An O is a dot yawning.
-Bimal Bharath

A bulls eye is dot that is tough to spot.
-Preyas P.

A fuzzball is a dot with goosebumps.
-Rajani Rajan

A double helix is a dot that is entangled and can't get out.
-Anandi Rajan

A dot is not what you and I thought.
-Achal Agarwal

A dot is a dot is a dot.
-Nikhil Karthik (A Gertrude Stein reference)

(Period)

Pappu can't dance....so? X-(

2008-08-02T21:45:00.003-07:00

Yes. So Pappu can’t dance. What’s so wrong about that?

Pappu has an MBA (that requires some brains), he holidays in France (has money AND taste!), plays the guitar (extra-curricular star, plus sensitive, music-loving man), Gucci perfume (sophisticated metrosexual, probably has a feminine side), born with a silver spoon in his mouth, has a Papa who has great expectations of him (parents usually stop having false expectations of super-success when their kids turn 18, so this guy has something going for him), and is a "yaaron ka yaar" (a hit with his friends) and kudiyon mein kraze!!

But OH...MY...GOD!!...Pappu can't dance!!! Its the end of the world for him....Somebody please advise him to go sit in a dark corner of a room and slit his wrist...because he can't dance!!!

Its just soooooo irritating to hear a song that makes a big deal out of not being able to dance. "Dancing maketh the man" seems to be the new motto of the common wannabe in India. And sure enough, this being the "in" thing nowadays, being able to dance, will be top priority when it comes to choosing a boyfriend!

Ok, fine, I hate dancing. But it's not that I hate dancing so much, it's that I hate to go dancing. The bowel shaking earthquakes of bass and the piercing treble of an all too loud dance club make it impossible to think, drink and talk. I might as well click a flashlight in my face with a ice pick in my ear and an anvil on my chest.

So you ladies probably think, "Na...not boyfriend material. He is different than you." You think this because you met him at a club. The reality being, he was trying to get laid that night and he couldn't afford the really high class whores. Guys don't like going to those places. They only go now to keep you from wining, and don't want you to go alone, for fear you'll find a better liar than they are. They were just hoping they could just screw you for free. I really feel sorry for the poor asshole who goes to one of these places thinking he's going to meet someone. He'll have better luck walking with a white cane down a busy street at rush hour. At least then he won't get slapped for "accidentaly" groping a feel.

Let's talk about music for a second. It isn't music anymore. It's just a hopped up drum machine. My friend screams at me, "LET'S GO TO THE OTHER ROOM, I HATE THIS SONG." What song? This is the same floor banger I listened to an hour ago. Why do they even bother having DJ's? Do they play requests? "Hey we've got a very special dedication going out to a lovely couple, and for them I'm going to play, "Dance Mix Number 4." Replace these guys with the Drumulator 5000 and let it thump away all night.

I'll stop the post right here. Else my passionate hatred for dancing might make this too long a read...:-)

Oh Crap!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-15T02:56:00.002-07:00

Why do we like (or not dislike) the smell our own shit, but not that of another human being? My family eats the same stuff everyday and yet I cannot stand to be in the same room as one of them when they answer nature's call. But I am able to withstand methane fumes from my own body; to me, they smell slightly oakey with a hint of copper and peanut. To everyone else, they just smell like bad shit. Why?

I think certain crap smells are much more tolerable, or interesting, or whatever, than others, and it doesn't matter who they come out of, to my way of thinking. I also think the reverse is true: you can be sick with intestinal flu or have diarrhea and chase yourself out of the bathroom. Nothing is gonna make that bad boy smell good!

So I guess my take here is that certain foods can produce very rich and heady odors in healthy people, while others (or being ill) can create a real assault on the olfactory nerves.

I will agree with you on one point: it's certainly possible that the same people can eat the same food and produce different craps as a result. This has to be due to differing stomach, bile and bacterial conditions. But as a generalization, I can't agree that everyone else's shit but my own smells bad.

I'm also willing to bet that there are some people out there who don't like to smell their own shit. Not sure if they would be classified as shameful or not, but let's just say that if someone is not comfortable viewing or smelling their own shit, they may have some issues in general regarding the process and the substance!!! :-)

Lonliness...

2008-03-04T21:18:00.004-07:00

If you ever find yourself at Mill Avenue at 8 in the morning, pause a while. And if a tall, slightly stooping old gentleman walks up to you, don’t walk away or pretend not to see him. He isn't the regular homeless, drunk Navajo. He is harmless; all he does is hand you a toffee, take your hand in his own soft, gnarled ones and bless you.

I don’t know who he is or why he does what he does. Perhaps he has a grandchild halfway across the globe whom he hasn’t met for ages. This may be his way of reaching out to him. Perhaps he does it out of the goodness of his heart. Or maybe he’s just lonely and wants a little love, a little affection. Perhaps he is just yearning for some human touch.

Loneliness is a terrible thing; in this cold world, we often forget our humanity and ability to love. People flock to big cities teeming with multitudes, just to ease the loneliness they find in their hearts. But as night falls they find themselves alone and scared, desperately seeking affection. Even though all of us are surrounded by a loving family and caring friends, don’t we also feel a pang of utter loneliness sometimes?

In a world filled with hatred and conflict, this old gentleman goes out of his way to spread a little joy. I don’t know what his name is or where he lives. I don’t know whose grandfather he is, or what his dreams were. All I know is, that in a world so out of touch with itself, he reminds us of our humanity. If you ever do meet him, give him a smile and ask him how he is. I’m sure it will make his day.

So go on, make an effort to connect with people. At least, get to know your loved ones again. If you do, there may be a little less loneliness in the world tonight.

Pouring out my Anti-Feminist anger!!!! X-(

2008-01-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

Why do so many women insist on carrying out this war against men? Absolute gender equality isn't going to happen; we have gender equality now. Even if in a million years, men and women somehow made this unrealistic ideal happen, there will always be a sexual distinction between men and women causing some sort of inequality (if only on the level of basic physical needs). Or should I say women and men, as not to imply a male superiority? Why the hell should people go out of their way to be politically correct and use this "he/she" nonsense so a few chicks with language complexes won't be offended? Oops, I said "chicks". Damn.

Why the hell do women get offended when they're called chicks? I don't see how that word can be remotely offensive in anyway. But, some women think it's derogatory and belittling. Some women are so petty, that they resent any male implication in the english language. Who cares? What if guys suddenly felt like bitching and wanted to eradicate all the derogatory male phrases from the language? Buster, Pal, Buddy, Stud, Hunk. Oooh, don't call me a buster, I'll be offended.

Who's to say what's offensive anyway? Just because a few feminist extremists think that something's offensive, does the whole society have to change their way of doing things? I don't want mother nature being called mother nature anymore, but rather father nature. I don't want ships to be referred to as female anymore, but rather male. The phrase "she's a good ship" offends me. I don't want liberty to be a lady. Why does it have to be lady liberty? Why do people say "she's beautiful" when referring to cars? Why not he? Who cares? It's just the way things have always been. It's not meant to be offensive, so why doesn't the offended party pull their head out of their ass, and stop bitching about it.

Why there will never be absolute gender equality is because of the inherent contradictions between equality and liberty. For example, if a guy wanted to say a joke about women at work, or hung pornography in the work place, it would make the women work in an environment that may seem hostile to them. If someone at work frequently referred to women as chicks, and a woman was offended by it, the woman would then be working in a hostile environment. If a woman wants to be treated equally in the work place, then she shouldn't be offended at what guys usually talk about. I think it's unreasonable for all women to be content with whatever people do at work, and for guys to go out of their way to change their lifestyles to conform to what's politically correct. It's impossible to live your life without being offended at something. Violence, foul language, pornography, sex, religion, whatever it is, you're bound to be offended by it sooner or later. So rather than bitching about it, just deal with it and move on. Men aren't out to get women; we're not the bad guys.

Why would anyone do anything that's degrading to themselves? Would you strip down in front of a crowd of people? Probably not. But would you do it if they were paying you $250 per hour? Or if they paid you $1000 per hour? Maybe then. It doesn't seem so degrading when there's a huge incentive for you to do it. So why do some feminist extremists think pornography is degrading to women? Obviously the women in pornography don't think it's degrading, otherwise they wouldn't do it. Their dignity has a price, and they were willing to sell it. They don't represent all women in general, but only the few who chose to go into that business, just as women who choose not to go into pornography don't represent the women who do. So the phrase "pornography is degrading to women" doesn't make sense.

What's the point of not shaving your armpits and not wearing your bras? If you like yourself better with hairy armpits, then by all means don't shave. But if you're not shaving to make some stupid point, you'r a fool. Nobody cares. You won't be a social outcast if you don't shave your armpits. Same thing goes for not wearing a bra. If you'd rather not wear a bra, then don't. If you want to walk around in public without your shirt on, then by all means do it. I'm sure most guys wouldn't mind. If you want that kind of attention, then walk around naked. It won't help your image with men that already think of women as little more than sex objects. What straight man wouldn't like to see a nude woman? I think women, nude or not, are attractive, as do most guys. I'd consider someone looking at me in admiration more of a compliment than anything else. Some feminists go ballistic when a guy looks at her breasts. Why? Not wearing a bra just draws more attention to a woman's breasts. While women shouldn't have to worry about some pervert always staring at them, it's bound to happen. Wait.. I've got an idea. If you don't like guys staring at your breasts, WEAR A BRA. It's hard not to notice a girl when she has a pair of daggers poking out of her chest. I referred to nipples as daggers.. Oops. There I go again, offending you crazy feminists. While most guys don't practice self-dicipline and don't respect women enough not to stare at their breasts, a woman shouldn't go ape shit when she catches a guy looking at her. Most women try to accentuate parts of their body that men find attractive anyway. Is this so bad? Who doesn't like to feel attractive? While it can be overdone, it's really been blown out of proportion by feminist extremists.

Feminism is in a lot of ways like fascism. Your average Fascist will disregard any scientific argument unless the conclusion supports his existing belief. The ideology comes first and the Fascist looks for anything to back it up, no matter how trivial, unreliable or discredited. Much like today's feminists and their ideology. Fascists attempt to rationalize their beliefs and portray them as truth by twisting the facts. A fascist might, for example, cast blame for unemployment and work discontent on immigrants "stealing" their jobs. Feminists similarly cast blame for women's lower average pay onto another party (men). Both feminists and fascists are quick to cast blame on someone else for anything that goes wrong in their lives. Most feminists seem to conform to feminist stereotypes. I can usually pick out a feminist in a croud of women. She'll usually have short hair, regular pants, a regular shirt, and an unbathed look; she'll look very much like a stereotypical guy. I think why a feminist might appear like this is to make a statement that "if men can do it and be accepted, then women should be able to". How bold, to go around and look like a stereotypical guy as opposed to a stereotypical girl. Who cares? Either way, you're an ass for thinking anybody cares about the statement you're making. If you're trying to prove a point to the average guy that's only concerned with women as sex objects, you're wasting your time. A guy that's concerned with women as sex objects is going to be concerned with women as sex objects regardless of how you look. Not every woman will share feminist ideals, so a possible argument that "if all women did it, then guys would have to respect us" isn't very realistic. If you really want to make a point, surgically remove your breasts. Or is that going too far? Feminism serves as nothing more than a wedge to further seperate the sexes, segregating men and women into cultures that wouldn't otherwise exist.

Bottom line: Femi-Nazis, stop your bitching. It's nobody's fault but yours if you can't do as well as a man. Take responsibility for your own life.

295,601 feminists hate this page.

2007-12-19T01:28:00.000-07:00

"Draw a circle with a radius that takes in 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the middle of Mumbai's financial district. Sea and water account for two-thirds of the surface area of this circle, compared with 22 percent for Jakarta and 5 percent for Seoul", says Alain Bertaud, a Glen Rock, New Jersey-based urban-planning consultant for the World Bank.

All major world cities where the geography restricts the availability of land tend to make up for it by growing tall. That's where Mumbai is an exception. Planners confronted a constrained city and flattened it.

The tool they used to create a stunted city is the floor space index, or FSI, which measures how much saleable area a builder is allowed to create on a parcel of land. A higher reading means taller buildings. The index, which ranges from 5 to 15 in most Asian cities, stands at a measly 1.33 in downtown Mumbai. In the suburbs, the figure drops to 1.

A sprawling city is easier to manage. Small piles of garbage, spread across the city, can be left to rot for longer than would be possible if the trash accumulated in large, stinking heaps. More importantly, when the municipality keeps floor-area restrictions tight, it has power over developers. This power can easily translate into bribes.

...

Global banks, brokerages and successful Indian companies are all jostling for rentable space in dilapidated buildings, which should have been torn down and built anew a long time ago.

The reason these eyesores still exist is because they were built before 1964 when the permitted floor space index was 4.5. Today, if a developer were to buy the land to erect a new building, he would lose most of the marketable area.

...

The supply of land has to rise to contain housing price escalation as well as to lower office rents, which are the third- highest in the Asia-Pacific region after Hong Kong and Tokyo.

That would require a repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, a law that has ended up promoting what it was supposed to prevent: hoarding of real estate.

...

The time for half measures is over.

A floor-area index reading of at least 5 is required across Mumbai.

Mumbai needs to rise from the ground. The question is whether civic authorities will have the will and the ability to cope with the peculiar demands of a tall city.

Random interview by a local TV Channel

2007-10-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

Guess it was on the cards!! Anyways here goes.....

1.Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it:

One on near my right eye... Someone hit a broken bulb with a cricket bat, and it came straight at me.

2. What is on the walls in your room?

A huuuuge LYNYRD SKYNYRD flag, a Cree Indian prophecy, glow-in-the-dark stars, random posters.

3. What does your phone look like.

Right now, Its a normal MOTO RAZR...whose fully charged battery dies within a day! :-D

4. What music do you listen to?

Guns N' Roses, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Cannible Corpse, Dream Theatre, and lots more.

5. What is your current desktop picture?

The 2007-08 squad of LIVERPOOL FC.

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

Water.. Water !! Damn the Arizonan heat !!

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?

I dont care.....

8. What time were you born?

5:27 am

9. Are your parents still together?

Yeah

10. What are you listening to?

Your talking !!

12. The last person to make you cry?
Meeeeg....don't ask what that is!

13. What is your favourite perfume/cologne?

Christian Dior, Faberge Essence D'Homme,

14. What kind of hair/eye colour do you like on the opposite sex?

Doesn't matter...

15. Do you like pain killers?

I keep away from any pills i really don't need.

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

Nah...

17. Favourite pizza topping?

Chicken (duh!), Jalapenos and Olives.

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Dreaming abt mom's food, coming back to reality...i'd have to make do with Over-Roasted Turkey Sub from Quiznos.

19. Who was the last person you made mad?

Math instructor !!

20. Is anyone in love with you?

Plenty I believe ;-)

Everythings an Argument!! :-)

2007-10-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

As much I love debating (what ignorant people call "arguing"), I understand that the other person(s) might not. In the past few weeks, I've indulged in a couple of arguments with Ketaki's room-mate Krupa. Though I enjoyed it a lot :-), I guess it was a frustrating experience for Krupa. Generally, who I argue with doesn't bother me, but it was my first time debating with a "GIRL who is SEVEN YEARS ELDER" (both being good reasons not to get into a heated argument).

So here's what I learnt today, and what I advise you all as well...

"The next time you're in a heated argument with someone, let them win. Not only that, but AGREE with them. You don't always have to be right. It's ok to let the other person win. As a matter of fact, it's important that you let the other person know that you hear what they're saying and validate their point. First of all, everyone needs to be heard. They're probably not arguing a point just to argue. No matter how silly their argument may sound, it's because they're feeling real feelings about it and they need to be heard."

Yes, I know that you need to be heard as well. But it won't kill you to hold off for a day or two before you state your case (in a calm manner). Plus, if you're in a heated argument and you stop and calmly agree with the other person and really listen, you set an example for future discussions. You're teaching them how to listen to you !!

Why be afraid of a stronger rupee ???

2007-10-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

RBI has been doing less trading on the currency market. Without these artificial forces in play, the INR has appreciated. Shankar Acharya wrote an eloquent article in Business Standard saying this is all wrong, that we should just go back to the happy days of the policy framework of the mid-1990s. He says that the INR is overvalued and that does fundamental damage to India's exports growth and ultimately India's GDP growth.

I disagree. My main point is that there is a lot going on in exports growth, and that the negative impact of INR appreciation and high local inflation has been swamped by other factors which have helped enable high export growth. The empirical evidence supports the claim that there is no simple and sharp negative impact flowing from INR appreciation to exports growth.

Let's start with an AR model for monthly yoy exports growth data, which just captures the time-series structure of the series. I use data from March 1992 onwards. This works out to an AR(14) model. With this in hand, suppose you introduce contemporaneous and past yoy changes of the INR/USD. There's absolutely nothing there. Going up to 6 lags (or beyond) gives nothing. Not a single coefficient is significant. This result holds whether you do the full dataset (from March 1992 onwards) or if you focus on the latest 100 points which is 8.33 years.

In other words, after controlling for the time-series structure of the exports growth series, yoy INR/USD fluctuations don't seem to matter in explaining the fluctuations of yoy exports growth.

My claim is not that prices don't matter. It's just that the explanatory power of currency fluctuations is small at best, and that the main story of exports growth is elsewhere. To say this differently, standard measures of REER are highly ineffective.

First Impression

2007-08-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

First impressions are helpful and important. Yet they are certainly not everything.

A quick first impression can give you a feel for what's going on. Still, there's much substance that lies beneath the surface.

Allow your instincts to guide you without letting them dominate you. Do the work and dig deeper before making any long-term judgments or commitments.

In presenting yourself, seek to make an excellent first impression. Be sure, however, to also have the depth of substance that will faithfully back up that initial positive impression.

Those who are quick to judge, without considering all the facts, often make serious and irreversible mistakes. More often than not, hasty judgments lead to trouble, alienation, anger, frustration and regret.

Pay attention to your first impression. And let that first impression be a starting point rather than a final conclusion.

Vote for Taj.....or may be not!

2007-07-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

There was an online poll on to vote in the “New 7 Wonders of the World”. Twenty-one contenders to vote for, and the top seven get selected. Apparently, the Pyramids in Egypt were given an honorary entry into this “elite” club and so only six remaining spots up for grabs. You vote by either going to the website or sending a text message from your cell phone to a particular number.

The Taj Mahal, of course, is India’s entry. I’m reminded of this almost everyday—by mail, text message or some other form. The message is simple—“Vote for the Taj!”

“Ummm. Why?”

“Because,” said one of the people I asked this question to, “it’s INDIA’s representative!”

“Yeah, so? What if India sent a lump of rock—about the size of a football and with absolutely nothing ‘wonderful’ about it—as its entry for this ‘contest’. Would you vote for that?”

“But this is the TAJ! Don’t you know the history of the Taj! And it’s from India.”

That seems to be the party line really. “Vote for the Taj BECAUSE it’s from India.”

“Why should I vote for the Taj?” I asked another guy who ask me to.

He gave me a look that one might throw at someone whose mental faculties one considers to be slightly suspect. “It’s Indian.”

“But I don’t see how voting for it helps me,” I argued. Yes, I’m selfish.

“It’ll only cost you a couple of minutes and three rupees [for the text message].”

“So would a cigarette, but you wouldn’t advocate that, would you?”

“But it’s India’s representative!”

"So is a beedi!!"

Of course, as long as there are idiots like this, the Taj needn’t worry. It’ll certainly make it into the top six places — probably even win. Obviously when u have a quarter population of the world voting for the same thing, its bound to win!! The only other entry situated in a country with a 1,129,866,154 strong population is the Great Wall of China. China’s probably got more internet connections and cell phones but I’m positive they fall short on the idiot count. The Chinese have more important things to busy themselves with — like manufacturing cheap cell phones and modems to sell in India so that more people can vote for the TAJ.

We Indians are a funny people. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone etched the following into the walls of the Taj itself —
“Vote for the Taj Mahal as one of the 7 New Wonders! SMS XXXX!”

Yeah...Shah Jehan would be a proud man.

Angry Kya ?

2007-07-03T02:11:00.000-07:00

Aakhir ye gussa kyon aata hai??
Anger, that familiar emotion, both complete absence and too much presence of which ain't good. Sometimes you need to be angry enough to be provoked to do something, take an action, put a strong fight and make a difference. Lack of anger can breed callousness and indifference in entire populations, and that's good for none. But mostly, anger is harmful, for it often provokes you into doing the wrong, impulsive thing. Negative thoughts, rash words and actions and murder of calmness, patience and love are direct effects of anger. And even more dangerous is the unexpressed version of anger, that simmers inside, makes one irritable and impatient, frustrates and demoralises till it eventually explodes. No wonder somebody's silence is often the most dangerous part about her/him.
I get irritated much more often than I get angry, and in 98% of the cases my anger rises and boils off within minutes (if it doesn't you're screwed!). But I wish I dont get angry at all. I'm the patience and perseverence types, you know.
But enough about me, anger happens to everyone. On a jerk of a boss/teacher or a pain of a neighbour/friend. Even those who claim "I never get angry" can be provoked by sufficient mischief itself ;-) But what would this world be if anger weren't there? I cant imagine. None of our "elders", sacred texts and moral science lessons have advocated anger, so I should imagine it would be a better place. Perhaps...
Anyway, I'm in a good mood today, and if you wanna make yours better, or get off some anger/stress, click here. Mighty fun, just use your imagination and beat anyone up :D
Take care!

A visit home...

2007-06-27T01:53:00.000-07:00

India has been difficult for me this time around. I have tried to fall in love again, but it just didn't happen. I don't suppose it ever happens, with countries or with people, when we "try". I felt obliged to try, because I was in love with it before, and because it is the place of my emotional roots. That place of my childhood lives

I have seen human beings here don't have any respect for one another. If we cannot respect each other, there is little chance that we can respect our country, and help it prosper. The other day I was crossing the street, a speeding car nearly killed me. NOT AN ACCIDENT, i'd say it was a casual approach towards driving, and fearlessness for any consequences (wat consequences???). A construction worker spit paan on my friend from the 6th floor window where he was working. No one bothers about anything...the impression is that not bothering about anything is "cool". There's utter disrespect for punctuality. The later they arrive, the more they feel they are "important". And privacy? Hahahaha....We have a problem here too. Everyone is nosy about whatever is going on in the neighbour's house. "Kaun mar gaya?", "Raju ko kitne marks mile?", "Job mili? Salary kitni hai?" are just some of the privacy violating questions you get to hear. Never will those neighbours invite you to dinner, afterall they're only interested in the gossip - pieces of information no at all useful to them. Again..."Treat dega to hi hum ayenge"...i bet u've heard this before; Or if your one of the "typical" Indians...you'd have 'said' this more than you'd have 'heard' this. Yeah...disgusting isn't it? Hail India - The land of misers.

While there is a huge amount of love and attachment to children in families, I have seen them by in large be treated with disrespect: hit gratuitously, yelled at, pushed aside, laughed at, scorned, in the community, not only by strangers, but also within families by parents and grandparents. The archaic education systems condemns them to days of rote learning and horrendous fear-mongering by teachers ready to physically punish with a ruler and ridicule the child in front of everyone. The student suicide statistics are proof to this. This is no less than terrorism.

The humiliation and trauma are not consciously inflicted, but that is the result. It is just the way things are. No one seems to think that there is a discrepancy between loving your child and ignoring their psychic pain. And so it is with animals, spouses, and the earth, all treated with equal amounts of insensitivity. As many of my Indian friends have said, it is a disconnect that happens when you are thrust unceremoniously from village to city, in search of wage work, robbed of your land by a feudal mafioso that rapes and tortures you if you object. This is all compounded by living under colonialism for hundreds of years: the Moslems, Moghuls, the British, and now globalization; self esteem is so low it's hard to measure.

Who's got time to do anything but survive? I get that it is a priority to make it through each day for the vast majority of people here.

This is not about comparing India with USA. I can list what ails USA easily. This is about my experience here. There is no race for first place, or last place.
My India is a big wounded, bleeding family with open sores. It hurts. It really hurts. Yes, there is "resilience" amongst my people. Yes, there is tenacity, Yes, there are thousands of dedicated intelligent people working to change things in India. Yes, there is hope. Some hope. I just hope that the big change comes before too many people, animals and the environment have suffered unnecessarily and die horrible deaths...and before India gets invaded by foreigners again, like it has happened from the Aryans to the British.

Into the world of rock...

2007-06-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

My journey into music began probably when I was in the third grade when I heard this song - Beat It by Michael Jackson...yes he wasn't a child molester in those days. But since then there has been no turning back in my progressive journey towards better and better music. There came a time when I moved from MJ to BackStreetBoys to ABBA to Enrique Iglesias to Shakira and lot many more to come. The only 'rock' song I liked during this phase of our lives was "Its my life" performed by BonJovi.

Then I spent the rest of my years in middle school (six years to be prescise) listening to Boyzone, Blue, Darius and what not! They seemed great then, but now are nothing but n00bs to me! :-D

The turning point came in eleventh grade, when, unaware of what I was thinking, we drew an Aerosmith logo on my bench, then to realize that we knew nothing about rock and that there were rockers in class who may be curious of our intrest in it. Throughout the day we wandered in hope that nobody may ask of our interest in Rock n roll. Somehow we got thru the day, headed for home, and then it was one detailed google search for anything that had to do with Aerosmith, their songs et cetera. Thats when it all began. Listening to Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, BonJovi, and Guns n Roses. I felt an all time high, that can only be achieved thru Rock'n'roll. Obssesed with the guitar my self, I started considering Slash (lead guitarist of Guns n Roses) divine.

I come to realize that this may not persist, and, as before, we may move on to better music, the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Ac/Dc and the very few at par with them and probably end my musical life listening to them, coz Rock'n'roll is over! Over since the 90s era. All u may get to hear now is Hip-Hop, Dhin-Chak, and loads of n00b music by wannabe artists. Black bitches shaking their booties seems to be the thing in focus.

Though today I may end up critisizing most, or probably all of those boybands around the block, the more I think of it, the more I feel they are necessary for some novice to get into REAL music. It's more like you start of with something horrid and initially like it, then move on to realize that it was utter crap, and that whatever we are listening to now are better, then further up our life, realize that even that is atleast to some extent "crap", and this way move on to better music. The only music I despise throughout my life is Hip-Hop, coz its not music in the first place.

As somebody once said "True music chooses you"

My Reco on some must hears:
Sweet child O' mine - Guns n Roses
Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Eruption - Eddie Van Halen
Hammer Smashed Face - Cannible Corpse
Paranoid Android - Radiohead
Fade to Black - Metallica
Beyond the Realms of Death - Judas Priest
Halfway to Heaven - Europe
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
In your Face - Children of Bodom
Iron Man - Black Sabbath

To cope with changing people....

2007-06-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

"False friends stab you in the back. True friends stab you in the front"

You probably have got an idea of how this post is gonna continue. For me, "friends for life" seemed to have replaced the idea of a lifelong marital relationship. He he...Of course, there are positive, wonderful friendships that are mutually beneficial to all friends that should last a lifetime. Too hypothetical? ?? May be. But there sure are other friendships that are negative, destructive, or unhealthy that can and should end. There may also be friendships that you thought were going well but, WOAH, all of a sudden, your friend stops returning your phone calls and won't answer your smses, no pre-paid balance, or whatever the reason; and the friendship ends. Weeks later you still don't know what went, and it still haunts you.

Here's some advice...too cliche, but better safe than sorry...

...some of your potentially destructive or harmful friendships may be difficult to spot. That's because when a friendship is forming, your friend may be charming, polite, and completely appropriate. Yeah...i can see you relate well to this. But once your friendship is well underway, a friend changes. The very act of becoming friends may send someone with intimacy problems into an emotional tailspin, changing those involved as well as their behavior toward each other. As friends become closer and more intimate, expectations also may arise so that disappointments become more likely, and painful, than during the early stage of the evolving friendship. Just specifying here that I'm talking about friends of either gender.

As a friendship that formed within a certain context, such as at school/college or at work, expands to include a multiplicity of situations and even other relationships, conflicts may arise that may derail the friendship. The longer you remain friends, the greater your investment in maintaining the friendship; you are more likely to ignore or try to defend negative behaviors. But you (or your friend) will be able to put up with only so much, and the friendship may last only until such an act of betrayal occurs that the situation has to be addressed and resolved, or the friendship will end...well, at least for me it did!

A myth of lifelong friendship has sadly ended giving me a large dose of reality. The romanticized ideal that friendships should not end or fail may creates unnecessary distress in those who should end a friendship but hold on, no matter what. They cling to the myth rather than understanding the relationship. And if friendships don't last, why to believe that they do?

The Black Notebook...

2007-01-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

It was a routine morning (it always is, isn't it?) when I randomly decided to get off my lazy ass and go outside for a stroll. It was pretty funny watching all those people men jogging around in branded sports shoes, beaming in the spotlight. As I listened to Black Sabbath tracks on my Emprex, something in my sight yelled and screamed out at my consciousness. It was something lying on the street, conveniently ignored by everything except my vision.

A Black Notebook.

I walked across and picked it up, though it was covered from head to toe in dirt. As I dusted it off, I wondered what kind of girls' phone numbers it'd have. But it was only as speck after speck flew away gradually that I managed to fully grasp what was written on its cover.

"Death Note"

I opened it, half-expecting some demented child's cartoon caricatures. Instead, all I got was instructions written in crystal-clear English.

"The human whose name is written in this note will die."

"This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected"

"If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack."

"After writing the cause of death, details of the death must be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds."

"I see, so you can either give them a peaceful or painful death".
Pretty involved for a prank, I thought. How lame!!

As I lay in my bed that afternoon with nothing to do, a strange thought crept into my mind. "Should I actually try it out once? And if somebody does die, will that make me a murderer? Someone whom it's alright to kill, even better if it's someone who has nothing to do with me. Also, that someone whose death I'd know about straight away, thus confirming the notebook's credibility"
But then, I realized I was getting too serious about it (LOL!!!), and switched on the TV.

It was a live news report. Somewhere in rural Iowa, an entire school had been taken hostage, eighty students and three staff workers. Police had identified the criminal and were in the process of stopping the madness.

Now they mention his name and showed his photograph.

I wrote his name down in the Death Note like it said, in almost comic anticipation, of being proven a fool for having fallen for such a prank. Forty seconds, it had said.

38...
39...
40 !!!!!

Hmm, nothing was happening ?!?!?

"The hostages are coming out! Everybody seems unharmed. The police are rushing in, will this lead to an arrest?"

"They're coming out already?! No-one who appears to be the criminal is with them."

I was like WTF?!?!?!?!?

"This just in!! The criminal appears to have died in the nursery school! The police are stressing that they did not shoot the man. Would that mean he was pressured into suicide? According to the hostages, the man suddenly collapsed!"

A heart attack....

"I can't be sure after just one person, it could be a co-incidence. Somebody whom it's okay to kill, no, somebody who should die."

"But now that I've started to consider this, there're so many people who would make the world a better place by dying", I thought !!

Two days later, at about 1:00 in the night, all of a sudden, I heard screams from the street.
A lone woman was being assaulted by a drunkard.

"How dare you reject me? I've gone through hell and high waters for you, I'm going to have you no matter what. Remember my name woman, remember my name...."

And he took his name...I took DOWN his name !!

And just be sure, added "Death by accident" right next to it.

38...
39...
40 !!!

All of a sudden, the man lost his footing and tumbled from the footpath and onto the highway, only to be hit by an unexpecting 250-Horsepower BMW. There was no way he would've survived that...and he didn't !!

That was it!! The note was real!

Police sirens, and flashing lights kept me up all night !! Or was it the hideous feeling of having murdered two people, and still being an innocent ordinary civilian in everyone's eyes ??

Murdered two people with my own hands...rather it took just 3 fingers !! what now? I should get rid of this horrible notebook...NO! wait...they deserved to die !!

"No, isn't this something I've always been thinking about? This world is rotten. Rotten people should be killed off to cleanse this world!! I can do it if I possess this notebook...Only trouble is, my weak mental strength. Look what I've become after killing just two people."

"That is to be expected, it's life, it can't be taken lightly. Can I endure this? Or should I quit? Can I do this ?? Can I not ??"

"No, I can't stop..even at the expense of my mind and the lives of others, someone has to do this. There has to be a change! If I were to give this notebook to someone else, would they be able to do it? There's no one who's that strong. That's right, I can do it..No, I'm the only one who can."

"I'll do it!"

I haven't sleep and I've lost four kilos over the 2 weeks. But I decided to think of it as the cleansing of the earth, and continued to write down the names of criminals.

And I will create a world full of only honest and kind people.

2006-05-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

The picture exactly shows how I feel right now. What shud I say about this "paradoxical" date ?? EXACTLY!! My ISC results were declared....and as expected I got my horrible 'First Class Without Distinction' marks !! Here's a secret.....this didn't come as a surprise to me....SURPRISE !!!!!!!! But yes....my parents and other close (read nosy) relatives were shocked. My day started at 7 AM. I was to get my VISA stamped passport from the VFS centre. So I started for Mahalaxmi at 8:30 AM and owing to the renowned "Mumbai-Traffic" reached my destination at 10:15 !! Then waited in the loooooong line outside the US Consulate only to be told that 2 more forms are to be filled.....THAT TOO BY 10::30 !!! Leave it to the "duo" (me n dad) to get jobs done REAL FAST! anyway...that was done and they told me to collect the passport at 5 PM. What to do till then ??

(In case u've forgotton...my ISC results would be declared soon....as it was 12:30)

So we all sat in the Car, drove to Veer Savarkar Marg and had lunch at 'Kamling', a fancy AND EXPENSIVE hotel beside THE AMBASSADOR hotel. FREAK FREAK !!!! One more hour and my result would be out (at 3 PM). Somehow supressing the vacuum that had been created in my stomach, though it was full of chopsuey, I managed to not think abt the results. Whiling way the time, we reached VFS at 3:30 PM. I got into line coz already 6-7 ppl were queued up to colect their passport (which'd be given away at 5 !!!). Talked with a few ppl in the line. Just like me they too were desperate to have a conversation to pass the time. It was 5 soon and by 5:15 i came out of VFS with my Passport. Parents were to wait outside. Saw mom chatting pleasantly on the phone - MY MOBILE PHONE !!! not good not good....i knew that wen she smiles and talks ON MY PHONE...i'm in trouble. I opened the door, didn't even have my seat and she goes, "Srinivas said u got ## %. U li'l #$^&#@*, @#@$%% and $#%@, don't u understand the importance of $^%#@^, bla bla !!

I lay there quietly listening !! And i'm still doing so....