25 Random things about me...

I joined the facebook network (once again?!) recently; and the last time I joined it, I hardly did anything with my profile. This time, I was taking a tour around the site; and landed upon this interesting concept... Writing down 25 random things about oneself. Can be anything... The only rule being there should be 25 different things in there. I gave it a shot and here is what I came up with...

1. I'm a perfect example of a Libran. I have seen quite a lot of differences among my friends who belong to the same sun sign, but nonetheless the Linda Goodman definition of a Libran would be at least 95% accurate in my case.

2. I was named Yogesh and continued to be Yogesh till my high school. Namology changed my name to Yogaesh... If you ask me whether it made a difference or not, I'd say it did... At least my name became unique :D

3. I'm pretty much a mirror when it comes to relationships and people. What you see in me is what you want to see in me.

4. I'm a big fan of movies and I can watch movies non-stop as long as the list is good. Given a choice, I prefer Tamil movies for the simple fact that I grew up with them. But I watch a lot of movies in English, Hindi and Telugu as well. I avoid watching movies in languages that I don't comprehend, purely because I don't want to miss the emotions that the words and the dialog delivery convey.

5. I like superstar a lot and nothing could match the excitement of watching a superstar movie FDFS (First Day First Show) with die-hard fans. You could hardly follow the movie; but the ambiance is just unbeatable.

6. I hate people who talk about the unknowns just for the heck of it. I'd love to learn things that interest me; and I wouldn't mind listening to a well informed person. But talking some crap just to show off; irritates me big time.

7. I can alternate between an extreme introvert and an extreme extrovert; depending completely on the people I am with. I can easily socialize with people whom I can connect to quite easily; and vice versa.

8. I'm a strict vegetarian (lacto-vegetarian; not Vegan) by chance and choice. I'm an ardent fan of South Indian food and rice has to be there in my diet; one way or the other :D

9. Logic and art are the two most interesting things to me; and just as those two topics are miles apart, my interests are also diversified. To put in a short list from the top of my head it would be Movies, Psychology, Writing, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Programming, Management, Religion and Photography.

10. I'm not a calculative person when it comes to money; and I have failed being calculative despite conscious efforts. At the same time I'm not a spend-thrift either :D

11. I love a laid back life; but I can put in whatever it takes to work towards my goal if I really believe that's what I need.

12. Loyalty is what matters the most to me - both ways!

13. I cannot say 'No'. That is the worst weakness and the greatest strength in me!

14. I hate hurting others and like-wise I hate people who make sharp comments without bothering about the other person's feelings.

15. I'm extremely frank and except for occasions where truth will hurt the other party, I don't lie.

16. I've never copied in a test at least after my high school. Not that I'm a gem of a person or that I'm Harichandra's reincarnation. But it just felt so pointless. :)

17. I believe in looking at a person as a whole than judging him/her based on one of his/her traits. For the same reason, I love Hitler for his virtues, though I hate him for being inhuman to the jews.

18. I usually smile when I speak; and use :) or :D most of the time when I chat/write something in online forums.

19. I love level-headed people and I'll try my best to be who I am, irrespective of what I am. Infact that's something I love the most in superstar. :)

20. Sports and physical activities have always been a distant relative to me. We hardly meet; and when we do, we get along decently well.

21. I used to follow cricket until the match fixing scandal came up. Ever since then, I gave up even watching cricket and these days I feel it's becoming the biggest business in India rather than a sport.

22. I'm more or less addicted to internet and I could hardly imagine a day completely offline; unless it's an extremely busy day or a day spent traveling. On an average day, I spend at least 10 hours online.

23. I love humor (or humour if I should go by the spelling I learned at school) and that is usually reflected in my speech and interests.

24. I don't change myself as long as I'm convinced that I'm not wrong; no matter what it costs me.

25. Everything is just so elaborate when it comes to my thoughts, dreams and visualizations. I can feel the drizzle if I think of a hill station; and I can describe my dream girl from head to toe! :D This helps me with my story writing stuff; though people would find it hard to accept that my stories even qualify to be called stories, to begin with! :D

People who read my blog posts quite regularly (assuming there are a few) would know at least some of these... But nonetheless, I felt this list just had to be here. :) If you blog too, try giving this list a shot; and I'm sure it'd be a different experience both to you and the reader.

Earth hour!

One of the most hilarious things about west is the way they come up with these days and hours... No no... I don't mean they 'make' days or hours; but they name them one thing or the other, while completely forgetting the ultimate solution. For instance, they broke the close-knit family system long back and now celebrate mothers day, fathers day, brothers day, sisters day and so on... But not once do they attempt to get back to a close-knit system... They just can't stand it.

Now this earth hour... Oh man... Give me a break! In Tamizh there is a famous saying -- "Padikkiradhu Ramayanam... Idikkiradhu Ramar kovil" which means that the activities and preachings are just the opposites of each other. That'd apply excellently well to the west. You should look at their consumption of power... It'd leave an Indian dumbfounded... When the homes in India remain in darkness because of want of power, empty parking lots here have dozens of flood lights turned on all the time. No no... I'm not this communist conservative who cannot stand anyone living prosperously; but just a neutral onlooker awestruck by the hypocrisy. Below are a couple of snaps from my workplace... I'm not going to mention which city or which company, for that is not my intention! But just imagine the level of stupidity/hypocrisy it reveals...





(This was on a Saturday and I was the only person in the office for some urgent work)

Am I a 'West bashing racist from Asia'? No! I'm not that either.People say that Asia accounts to most of the world's pollution; but isn't that logical given the fact that 1/3rd of the world lives in India and China alone? What I'd like to see is a lot of pollution free vehicles being introduced in India and the subcontinent; and as much as this is happening at a gradual pace these days (pollution free buses, BSIII standards mandated for new vehicles, etc) there is still a lot that India and Asia could do towards establishing a greener environment. But given the greatly functional political system there, there is nothing good that one could ask for. Things will happen when they ought to unless a lot of political activists chip in and change the system for the good.

The Recession Effect...

Ah... Sometime to blog after a short break. Time is a required condition to blog; but it's in no way sufficient. I mean you could have a whole day of free time, but you might not feel like writing anything at all. Off late, there have been quite a few instances like these that reduced my blogging frequency and also put our movie script on hold for a while. (Did I tell you about the script? If not, I will... but in another post :))

There used to be days when every Indian street had at least 10 Government officers... These days, there are at least 10 people from every Indian street currently residing in the US and this is true at least in the metros and cities. So quite naturally, news about US easily sells and has a lot of demand too. For those from the previous generation who still feel computers are too tough to cope up with, news papers and magazines combined with TV news makes their breakfast, lunch and supper. The magazine editors have noted this demand perfectly, and they make it a point to publish some news about the trend in US. When there is no news to publish, they make up one! :) Man... These days, the second part of it is getting slightly overboard and as much as it irritates me, it's funny on the other side. Now that clouds of recession are surrounding the US the news that they come up with become all the more interesting and hilarious! A few interesting headlines that I could remember:

"Mortgage industry topples in US... Houses available for 1000$"
(Mind voice: Err... Did you mean dog houses?)

"Despite reducing prices to 500$ none is buying a home"
(M.V: Will you please give me a call when you find one such 'real' house?)

"Obama has planned to ban H1B employment"
(M.V: Are you by any chance the secretary of state? :))

"Giving privilege to citizens and workers is against business ethics."
(M.V: EKSI. Had this been India and there are so many foreigners employed; while millions of Indians are jobless, we would've gone on an indefinite strike! That is democracy but this is Bureaucracy?)

The most interesting part of this is the attitude of 'ponna petthavainga' (parents who have a girl ready to be married). Sometime back I wrote a short story (since this is my blog, I take the liberty to call it a short story :D) on how computer engineers were considered hot cakes in the matrimonial market. Now that there is some level of instability in the US market, the trend has completely reversed. "Software Engineers excuse!", "Prefer Indian groom" and statements on these lines aren't too tough to hear and see. If there's something that pisses me off big time, it is this attitude from the Indian parents. I mean somehow they tend to lose their rationale and end up in this extremely conservative outlook. IT is not the only sector that is affected by recession and not all persons from core departments get work in their respective departments. IT companies have a lot of civil, mechanical, textile and production engineers too... At the same time, if someone is working in some other field it doesn't mean that he is inferior (as they thought before) or superior (as they are thinking now). It's just a question of the individual's potential, aspiration and interest. I sincerely hope that the parents who pressurize their kids, to choose a branch of their choice and always go with the popular beliefs to get a groom for their child realize their mistake and let their children live!

P.S: Recession is indeed threatening a lot of jobs in the US. The Govt is in the process of enforcing the regulations as much as possible; causing a lot of desis (specifically manavaadus) return home. Most of them would've been here under the banner of a non-existent company or a staffing agency in the name of a company. There are many others whose projects came to an end and had no choice but to return to India; but hey... that's the way the system was supposed to work. If a foreign national who came into the US for work, lost his job and couldn't find an alternate job in 2 weeks time he is supposed to go back to where he came from. Till date, these rules were taken lightly and now it's being enforced thoroughly. That's what the difference is!

It's upto our muslim brother to answer - Part II

A few days back, I came across this video in an Orkut forum; and as much as I was thinking not to add this to my blog, I also felt that it'd be better if someone explains the other side of the coin (in case the information given is incomplete)... In case all these are true, I'm speechless...

Video link