Koncham neeru, koncham nippu

There is so much I want to say. So many times in the recent past I've had some seemingly brilliant thoughts, which I felt should really be put down somewhere. But they've all run away. Ah well, shit happens.

********************

I have a newfound respect for Pulsars. Not the average Pulsar riders, mind you - they are still the reckless, brainless lot they always were. But the machine itself...very good, macha. Power and pick up is amazing, has good low-end torque, balances well. Certain factors tipped my decision to go for the Honda, and several reviews actually said that there was, in the end, quite little to choose between the two bikes. And now, I agree. I can almost understand why the average Pulsar rider is a road-moron : the sense of power in that bike drives him a little crazy.

********************

Globally speaking, most Indians make assholes of themselves wherever they go. And sully the name of the country as well. In India, go anywhere away from your home area and the guys you meet there, who are from home, will tun out to be the biggest chuths.
An obscure beach in North Goa. Almost fully shut due to the off-season. A girl and a guy sitting quietly having their drinks, not bothering anyone, not attracting too much attention. And as luck would have it, the next table had a bunch of loud, boorish, drunk, leering men. And to make it more shameful for me, they were Telugus. To cut a long story short, there were cheap comments, the guy was getting murderous, the girl suggested a smart way out, things calmed down and eventually turned out ok.

Why do we make such fools of ourselves away from home? When I was abroad, I was always so conscious of being an Indian, feeling like I was a sort of ambassador for my country wherever I went, being careful about what I said and how I behaved, being careful about what sort of impression I gave people about my country. But I must be stupid because I never met anyone else who felt / thought that way.

One of the more disgusting things I've seen in recent times was on Calangute beach. A northie joint family was having fun on the beach. All fine. 2 white women in bikinis came along, with their small children in tow. And the members of this family just stopped in their tracks. Jaws open, eyes wide with wonder, kids calling other kids to come and look at the 'phoren waale'. They followed them across the beach (even the adults of the family!), didn't leave them alone, pestered them for photographs, and eventually got the photos. They made one of the women stand, holding her young child's hand, and each member of this utterly shameless family coming one by one, putting one arm around the woman, and getting a picture taken. Like they were some tourist attraction, or object of curiosity. It was so utterly disgusting and embarassing to watch that I was cringing throughout. But a morbid interest in waiting to see the levels to which Indians, especially northies will stoop, kept me watching.
And those northies reading this and just dying to go ballistic, don't bother. If you had any honesty, you'd admit that people of your ilk do in fact behave this badly. I've seen it in various places around the world, and northies I have told this story to have also gone "Fuck! Yeah, that's us...". Southies have their own cheap behaviours too, but not like this.
Anyway, when it comes to being anywhere 'in the abroad', we Indians as a whole are great at being assholes and disgracing the country.

**************************

Well I just heard the news today
seems my life is gonna change...

Yes, lots of change in the offing. New job, new responsibilities, new people, back home, close friends getting married, losing interest in some people, renewing interest in some others, good friend leaving for the phoren, back to studying in a bit. Change is good, methinks. Serves to show one all the useless stuff
in one's life that one is quite fine without.

**************************

I need to get into shape. This is just not good enough.
I need a good massage. Or three. Anyone know any good massage parlours in Hyd? And I don't mean those kind of parlours either...
(those I can find on my own).
Seriously. Those with positive information may comment in the comment box below at the earliest.
Thanks.

**************************

What happened to the reading? What happened to the goddamn reading, eh?? Just buying the books don't make you no smarter, pendejo! You gotta reeeead 'em.
It's all that damn TV's fault. The ~!#@$$#! TV, I tell you. I was so happy without it for a year. Now it's back. And it's just eating up all my at-home-awake time. The TV is the root of all evil I say. And the worst part is, it doesn't actually do anything itself. It just sits there.
It doesn't switch itself on. It doesn't change channels by itself. It doesn't do a frickin' thing itself, but has no trouble whatsoever getting ME to do all this. It's an ordeal for me to switch it off - the reason has to be so overwhelmingly compelling that to an outsider watching me struggle with the off button, it might look like a life or death thing. It's getting to the point when I heave a sigh of relief when the power goes out, for the decision is taken out of my hands.
I look around and see all the other wonderful things I could be doing and just as I am about to pick up the book looking most complainingly at me, the power comes back on...
Dammit.
*click*

^

"Panjim, one ticket"

There is an interesting concept called The Tipping Point. A friend explained it to me (I'm yet to read the book) and as I understand it, it's basically a point in any situation when one outcome becomes more likely, among all the possible different outcomes. The case is built up on several different factors, but it's usually one single factor or incident that will tip the balance.

For example, when a decision is taken in a situation which might have otherwise still been salvaged. The situation would likely have been gradually building, being pulled in different directions by several parameters. And while still in a state of flux, any one incident can push the decision in a particular direction.

Nothing to do with right or wrong - just circumstance.

Some things are just not meant to be. Like an amazing trip to mark an occasion, something truly wonderful and memorable. A trip which is the source of a thousand stories, filled with laughter and nostalgia. Some such trips are lost to accidents and chance. Others are lost to a misplaced hope of good things, and become tinged a dull shade of yellowish-green, like vitriolic bile.

Time on beautiful beaches is not meant to be wasted in obnoxious selfishness, or condescending antagonistic conversation, when conversation does actually take place. Neither is it meant to be wasted in misery, a consuming anger, unrealistic unfulfilled expectations and utter regret.

Remember my friend, one must be careful of waxing eloquent on one side of the coin without seeing what the other side looks like.

And this is why one must choose company very carefully. Because when shit happens and 'tipping point' decisions are made, one may realise one has lost a lot more than one intended or bargained for. One may be left with little more than polite acquaintanceships.

Still, some good memories of last week refuse to be erased. Experience is a fine teacher to the good student. Or even the graduate.

Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

^