Funny!

From Ramanand's blog :

In India, boys (or "youths") often "propose a girl", instead of "proposing to a girl". Exactly to which post they are proposing her for is not very clear, but in their fragile state (esp. on days like yesterday), it must be for high offices such as "Dictator of my Life for Life" or "Plenipotentiary Extraordinary to my Anatomy". But who seconds the proposal? It must be the ubiquitous "friend", a staple presence of the Indian youth's life, as illustrated by Indian rom-com-dishum-films.

Such language gladdens the hearts of those that previously thought constitutional thought among Indians would never take firm root. Even though political parties have become increasingly autocratic, here are young men keeping alive the democratic game of proposing a name, seconding it, all the way through to unanimity, via consensus junction. The High Command approves.

One way for the lad to propose a girl is to write to her. If you were in American parts of the world, this expression is sometimes rendered as "write her a letter". This used to confuse me earlier. If you were allowed only one letter, which letter do you pick? "X" is perhaps safest.

Anyway, democratic or not, boys will be boys, and Indian lads will remain youths for life (ask the Youth Congress). V-Days will come and go, and girls will be nominated and impeached from tall towers of the heart. All we can say to them is "Best Luck".

Idiocy of Inaction

I proudly include myself in the idiot category. Idiocy in the modern age isn't an all-encompassing, twenty four hour situation for most people. It's a condition that everybody slips into many times a day. Life is just too complicated to be smart all the time.

I tried to remember when I had made an idiot of myself. I tried hard to find even the smallest incident when I had been an idiot. I was at my wits end to find one. What does that mean? That I am the perfect person. I guess quite the reverse. The most idiotic person. I haven't been an idiot because I haven't done anything for fear of being an idiot. Isn't that the worst kind of idiocy - that of inaction?

So, you can declare me to be an idiot, but just so that you wouldn't consider me to be a plagarist, and to demonstrate that I am not an idiot to think that you will take this as completely original - I must confess that this post is "inspired" by Scott Adams' 'The Dilbert Principle' :).

Skill upgrades in a recession

Sounds a tempting proposition .... :)

Atul: Layoffs in my company. I got fired. I don't have a clue what I should do now.
Amit: Maybe you should spend some time upgrading your skills.
Atul: Like what? Certifications, training programmes - what good is that?
Amit: Why not the best skill upgrade available - a Phd ? :)
Atul: Five years of skill-upgrade :D. For myself and no one else. Not a bad idea :)

PS: All characters above are purely fictional and symbolic :P

Sponsored Puneri Patya

Puneri Patyas are ofcourse quite famous. For the uninitiated, the term refers to quirky sign-boards seen across Pune. A lot of co-operative housing societies generally have a 'Do not park your vehicle in front of the gate' pati. If you have noticed, quite a few of these boards are being sponsored by corporates like 'ICICI-Lombard', Nitco tiles, etc. Some money in the kitty of the societies, and a new avenue of advertising for corporates/ Advertising, afterall, begins at home. Bottomline - 'puneri patya' are useful enough to catch the attention of advertisers!
PS - I haven't got hold of a photo of such a pati. A picture is worth a thousand words :)

Some cartoons :)

Dhaval's recently taken to cartooning. Here are a couple of this budding cartoonist's creations.

Body in sync with growth

Before and after slow down .... !!!!


Thanks to Dhaval, I have a post tagged humour after a long, long time. Hope to have more humour and joy in these pages in the days to come :).

Too Good :)

It is rarely that cannot control my laughter and for that his joke deserves a place here:

"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Glocuestershire and
Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him,
They used to paraphrase Compton 's famous words describing and equally inept runner;
"When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!"
Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person
who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells
played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county
match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. *Both* opted for runners when it was
their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a
runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a
second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant
shouts of "YES" "NO", eventually, *all* of them ran to the same end. Note - at this point
in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the
fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the
wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and
calmly informs them " One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. *You* decide and
inform the bloody scorers!".