The male mind

Me: Yaar, who’s that woman on your desk… with the curly hair and black glasses? I said ‘hi’ to her yesterday and then I realised I had forgotten her name.

S:The name’s XXXXXX YYYYY.

Me:Oh yeah. Forgot her name actually.

S:What about her?

Me: No No... I saw her at our XXX office yesterday and said hi and all. Then I realised I don’t remember her name. Which is kind of embarrassing.

S:It’s not... Imagine if she was a guy, and not very attractive at that, would you be embarrassed?

Me: Yes... it has happened very frequently.

S:Congratulations, you are a nice guy.

Me: Har har har.

S:(And a follower of the Bajrang Dal also!)

Me: ROTF LMBO!

Erecting Qutub Minar in a day

You can’t help but feel out of place when you’re interviewing a person in his capacity as the coach of a sports team when someone walks in with a letter stating the termination of his services.

It happened yesterday at the Karnail Singh Stadium where a Ranji game was in progress. The coach, who had played a Test for India in the '70s, was talking to me when he was brought his marching orders.

His team has struggled all through its existence. Last season, it finally had a player of some repute before that player was whisked away by a rebel league. And they’ve begun this season with a crushing defeat.

The coach cited his differences with selectors and the team captain and said, "Ek din mei in log Qutub banana chahte hai." (They want to erect Qutub Minar in a day) but added that perhaps, better sense will prevail and the association president will keep him in.

Remember remember, the fifth of November...

Today is the fifth of November.

I remember to remember the day because of that wonderful film, V For Vendetta. The film, based on the comic book, centres around a masked crusader called 'V', who takes on a totalitarian regime in England.

There's this scene [picture above] at the beginning of the movie where V blows up a prominent building in London on November 5. It marks the beginning of his war against the oppressive government.

V's reasoning: the building is a symbol; people make symbols powerful. And when a symbol becomes more powerful than people, the symbol must be gotten rid of.

As a kid, I remember wishing something tragic may happen to my school building so that I do not have to go there again. Today, it cracked me up thinking the same way about my office building. Not that I hate my work but there's something about huge buildings and whatever they pretend to stand for that sometimes gets my goat.

Coming back to the film, I've seen it six times already and I liked it more each time. If you value freedom of expression, if you think the we've had enough conflict over silly symbols, then it's a film you cannot miss.

Also read: Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot.

Celebrating Stupid Questions Week

Surya: Who asked you so many questions?

Me: You've asked one.

Surya: What?

Me: That's your second stupid question?

Surya: Will you please tell me the first one?

Me: This is your third stupid question.

Surya: Pagal ho gaya hai kya?

Sent at 12:41 PM on Friday.

Me: Fourth.

Winter

To an outsider, the cold in Delhi can be depressing. The body may not not adjust easily; 11 am becomes the new 6 am.

Everyday, the day threatens to start. Afternoons feel like mornings. Just when you think the sun would now shine full bloom, on comes darkness.

To quote Calvin, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day.