You better die...

Recently, I heard a news or rather a rule that instantly got on to my nerves. In India, a kidney transplant isn't legal unless the donor belongs to the same family. I'm pretty sure this would be the case with other organs as well. Let's take a moment to think about the implications...

People who have kidney failures have three options - first one, obviously is to die; second - to do dialysis on a regular basis and almost everyone will know the cost involved in the process (which means a poor man will have to resort to option 1). The third option is to get the kidney transplanted from a dead/brain dead patient; and the best part about this is that every hospital has about 1000 kidney requests in queue. You know what's even better? Every hospital has a tentative "wait time" for a request. In other words, they have their own mechanisms of guessing when 1000 persons would die! Looking at this matter from the other side, this is actually a survival race where every patient is waiting for another to die! How pathetic!

The scope for social evils is another point to be considered. Reminds me of a dialog in "The Untouchables" - "People are gonna drink! You know that, I know that, we all know that, and all I do is act on that." Anyone with a survival instinct will try to get the organ transplanted at any cost. Then what is the whole point in making it illegal and opening a black market? The only logical counter-argument could be that this prevents the poor and needy from selling their organs for money. But there is no way to prevent this from happening illegally! Is there?

Oh... The second year is over :)

Just when I had this spectacularly long break in blogging, I got an email from the Clustrmaps that said my map has been reset; indicating that my blog is turning 2. :-)

I've been giving a lot of thought about resuming blogging at the pace I used to; but somehow one thing or the other kept me away; leading to this predominantly dormant year. I'm just hoping to see a change this year, possibly one blog a day at least.

So what I've been up to these days? A question that people who get to know me exclusively through my blogs (trust me there are a few :D) would be having in their minds. A few quick things that I could think of...

A loooooooooot of movies

This is perhaps the first thing I would say, though there were other serious stuff going on; because of the sheer time I spare for them and the interest I have in watching more and more of them. Today for instance, I'm on my 3rd movie (Vinnai thaandi varuvaayaa, American Pie - The book of love and Theeratha vilayaattu pillai 'now running' :)) The interesting part is I've been into a lot of foreign language films as well (German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, you name it :D) and the sad part about it is that most of the scenes that I enjoyed in Tamizh/Indian movies seem to be a straight lift from elsewhere which makes me sick.

A loooooooooooooot of work

Anyone in a desi consulting company would vouch for this. If you get paid a 1000 dollars you usually work for approx 2495 dollars and 35 cents :p The end of last year has been horrible at that and I've been working like crazy for 3-4 months straight. Now, I'm still working like crazy; but the better part is that I'm at a client location in a "developer"/"dev lead" role (I'm leading myself, you know :D) which kind of restricts work to office as opposed to the way it used to be before. I'm expecting another hectic season; but hopefully it wouldn't be as hectic as it used to be a couple of months back.

A loooooooooooooot of travel

I'm going to an office 15 miles from my place as opposed to the one 0.5 miles away; but that's not the only thing I'm talking about. Took a welcome break and went to India on a vacation; but the vacation was more than tiresome. 3 weeks and I just kept spinning all the way. Couldn't meet many or do much about anything. It was like around the world in 21 days :) I know some are upset that I couldn't meet them; and I'm sorry about that!

A looooooooooooooot of boredom

I've been doing quite well at work; and recently, I even got a client appreciation; but somehow it doesn't help me get over the void that is omnipresent in my life... I somehow feel I should try something different (a lot of things in queue as usual); but at the same time worried about a secure future. Typical Libran indecisiveness one could say; but it's not all that bad after all. As much as I want to do something I love, I also need to make sure that I'm not being accused of being irresponsible. Kind of working on this right now, trying to figure out some plans and arrive at a balance; but don't know how long it's going to take before my life turns into a Hindi movie (following your dreams is kind of the trend in Hindi movies these days if you didn't notice :))

So... I'm quite happy that I made it this far and authored "The Crux of My Invisible Days" and I hope I wouldn't have to write any such summaries in the future.

Time to blog...

Somehow my writing/blogging frequency has come down a lot. The script that I started almost a year back is still on hold... I don't remember the last time I came up with something creative; and I promised to give a short story to my friend which I couldn't keep up. It's not intentional or voluntary; but it just happened. When the mind doesn't hit equilibrium no matter how many years you have; you just can't think in a creative fashion.

Until December, work was my priority and then came the welcome break - my vacation. Though it was the busiest I could fathom, keeping me busy every moment and in fact cutting down my online access a lot; for the first time ever in these three years, I'm missing India so much. Somehow, being in my apartment, sitting on the same couch I sat on, a month back is now feeling strange. For the first time in two years I'm feeling lonely; but I'm in no mood to even step out of my apartment. Everything seems just so meaningless and my mind remains turbulent all through the day and even when I sleep. Simple things sound complex, everything seems to be irritating and even movies sound disinteresting! I just hope and pray that I'm out of this phase pretty soon.

Haircut special - part 3

People who have been reading my blog for a while would know about the great haircut I had back in Mississippi. I had a haircut sometime back here; but that was a typical gentleman crop where the only thing you lose is 15$ and your hair more or less remains the same :D So there was nothing so fancy about it.

But a month and a half later, my hair was back to its terrific form and pretty much resembled a bonsai when uncombed. So, after a loooooooooooong wait (I'd rather call this India special wait as I thought of having this round of haircut back in India during my vacation and in fact, I'd say I've been delaying this more or less like people who grow hair for offering in Tirupati), I finally decided to get my haircut today. Thanks to vadivelu I was smiling while actually laughing my heart out during each phase of the haircut.

Step 1: Explaining what I need

Me: I would like to have a close cut on the sides and back perhaps 2 or 1 and gradually go up to a 3 or 4 or the front, long enough to brush.

Barber (staring as if I said New Delhi is the capital of US): But that will be too short.

Me (mind voice): Idhu adhu la!

Step 2: Barber being courteous

Barber (after trimming my side burns): This is number 3. Is that ok to have it this short?

Me: Doesn't sound that bad! Yeah! (mind voice: avasarappattuttaenao)

Step 3: Mowing

Just before I realized, she shaved off a semicircle from the back of my head.

Me (thinking): Aaahaa! Kelambittaaingayyaa... Kelambittaaingayyaa... I was also reminded of this comedy where vadivelu goes to a hotel and describes how perfectly he wants his ootthappam (for about 5 mins) and the waiter says "Master oru ooooooootthaaaaappam!" in the end.

Step 4: Step cutting

This was the most hilarious phase of the haircut. With all my hair gone more or less like Sethu Vikram, She was trying to trim the hair on the sides with a comb.

Me (thinking): Yeiiiiiiii... Yenna vacchu comedy keemidi pannalayae :D

Step 5: Feedback

Barber: Everything looks ok? (with a broad smile)

Me: Of course! (sarcastic obviously!) (Thinking:) Innum motta adicchu kaadhu kutthiru. Panksan remmmmmba sirappaa nadakkum! :))

So, there I was with a horrible haircut but smiling my a** off; thanks to Vaigai puyal. But one good thing as with all these horror experiences is that I need not think about a haircut for the next couple of months.

Monologue

What time is it?
3:45 AM

Don't feel sleepy?
Yeah. But not much!

Are you sure?
Kind of... But I feel a bit sleepy too!

Then go on with your sleep!
No... I think I've slept enough. Marinara sauce and vinegar have caused a bit of acid indigestion. Perhaps I should take some Omam and water...

But, you've to brush your teeth!
Is it? Hmm... Let me think... WTF! Let's brush.

Why so yellow?
B-Complex

You look like a mess. Don't you think you need a shave?
It's 4 AM and I should get a shave? Well... why not?

Hmm... Much better. You need a haircut too!
Yeah... But couldn't get one at this hour.

So, what are you going to do now? Write a story perhaps?
Nope.

But you had a few good themes that you wanted to write on...
Yeah... But I'm in no mood for that!

Why not?
I said... NO!

Ok... Extjs?
Uff... Never!

Call someone in India? Home perhaps?
Yeah... Sounds like an idea.

But you didn't pickup your phone!
I know. Just giving it some time. I'm in a leave me alone mood now.

Go online? Orkut perhaps?
No. I don't want to stare at a computer screen now.

A Movie perhaps?
I said, No Computer!

Then what now?
I got an idea. Don't you think this conversation is worth a blog?

But you said you don't want to go online!
Did I? We can always make exceptions. Let me log into Orkut, skim through OI and VM; and then blog about this conversation.

...Silence...
You there? Did you take a look at this post in OI? Someone is having a problem with his Sambar! Should I become the sambar Samaritan now?

...Silence...
Never mind! Let me start blogging...

Birthdays... :)

I didn't change my Orkut first name, last name for a while and since it reads "Yogaesh blogs regularly", quite often people ask for the quantitative description of "regularly" :) It's indeed been a long break this time; and though I thought of writing about a lot of things - movies I saw, my workload, mood swings, thought process, etc; I never got the time and the yearning to write together. To be more precise, I got both of them a couple of times, but I used those wildcards for continuing with my script which has been on hold for a longer duration than my blog :)

Anyways, today is my birthday and thanks everyone who wished me over mail, phone and Orkut. Unlike the usual b'days where the Indian version would be an early wakeup, sandhyavandhanam, temple visit, semiya paayasam and some sweet words; and the US version would be midnight get together's that last for about an hour or so; this birthday was extremely unique. Only one of my two roomies even knew it was my b'day and I was busy with some project work at midnight. I slept only by 5:45 and that pretty much ruined the rest of my day too. Some of my regular wishers missed my b'day; but I got some pleasant surprises from a few. So it's been a quite unique b'day in a lot of ways. Despite all this, there were a couple of things that this b'day had in common with my other b'days - temple visit and thoughts. The former is nothing new and anyone who know me faintly will be aware of my theistic thoughts; so I'd rather not get into religious philosophies now :)

Coming to the second part, every b'day is a natural alarm that rings in your mind, reminding you about your age and handing over the key to the world of thoughts and retrospection. The alarm has gone off every single year and this b'day was no exception. Career, personal life, relationships, philosophies and a million other things crowd my mind and somehow my mind finds out a way to ponder over every single thought that comes up and give its judgement. My blog would become a trash can if I pour them all out... So let me not do that! :) But this time the processor was quite occupied all through the day; and let's see if these thoughts turn into any positive change :) Fingers crossed in all possible combinations... :D

Across US in two and half days...

When I first came to US, I had a stupid dream or rather a wish that I should cover all 50 states in the nation before I go back to India for good. I always wanted to do a coast to coast road trip for this purpose and time and again, I couldn't do that partly because of laziness and partly because of practical limitations. But this time, it became a necessity and though it's not technically a coast to coast drive, this 2700 miles drive did take me through a many parts of the nation I've not been to, before.

Ironically, as much as I wanted to do this trip before, I didn't really have the mind to drive all the way this time because of several reasons. First of all, I was driving my own car and I didn't want it to break down or get damaged during the long and almost continuous course. Second, unlike a trip with a group of friends (or at least one good looking girl :D) I had to travel all alone and third, I couldn't really enjoy the trip or halt at different places. I just had to rush from end to end and reach the destination by Saturday (Jul 4th) in the worst case, so that I have a day to relax before I get to work. So as much solitude lover as I am, I thought that the trip wouldn't let me enjoy it.

But the trip eventually turned out to be pretty interesting; and I took away a lot of memories from this trip. Usually I drive at very high speeds and my objective would be to cover the distance in the shortest time possible. But this time, I was averaging 80 miles may be because I'm getting older; or because I was too cautious not to add any more direct/indirect expenses because of speeding :)

Before I talk about anything else about the trip, I should definitely appreciate the US government for building such a neat transportation system. I've travelled about 2700 miles which is more than the distance between Kanyakumari and Kashmir; and this I was able to do without any sort of pre-planning. A printout of the route and I'm all set. I sincerely wish Indian roads were as organized. (Fortunately for us, we have the railways and we could really boast of our rail network :))

The drive through the North-Western states was unbelivable and the scenaries were awesome to say the least. Uploading a few photographs that I managed to click on my way... Wish I had more time to spend clicking. :)

Apart from these, a lot of thoughts/ideas were going on and off in my mind; and to recollect them all or write them in a blog would be an impossible task. But sure enough, I'd say this would be one of the most memorable trips I ever made - thanks to my stallion which was smooth as silk throughout the journey, the police department for not noticing my ocassional speeding :D and of course God for well... everything! :)