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1) By the end of march this year my daily TV viewing had almost gone down to zero. I was turning into one of them, a snob! Except, instead of spending all the time I wasn’t watching TV on reading, exercising, doing carpentry (???) I was wasting it on the internet. My youtube account summary tells me that I joined on April 4th 2006 and have watched 6815 videos so far. If you do the math, that amounts to around 9 videos per day. (Actually, once you do the math it doesn’t seem so bad!!!) Either way, my point is that I wasn’t ‘seeking’ out anything on TV except Southpark (which also is starting to become a hit and miss rather than being a consistently brilliant show). Days would go by before I would hear the canned laughter on the Daily Show and Jon Stewart’s tiresome old antics, before I would get a glimpse of 30 Rock, a show that serves as glaring proof that really smart comedy writers who can’t act to save their lives should not do so just because they are the ones scripting their show, before I could see news corporations report events with so much bias that it convinces you something has to be terribly wrong with either them or you without any middle ground. As you can see, TV was failing me. Then my sister introduced me to HOUSE. Freaking beautiful.
It takes watching just one typical HOUSE episode to get you hooked to it. And it is painfully obvious to see why this is so. The show is about a guy named House who is a doctor with razor sharp wit and the ability to ‘tell it like it is’ without fear of consequences. Who doesn’t want to have that?!! No wonder it has taken off so well. The show does have some obvious weak points. Most of the episodes follow an obvious template, the side characters are a little boring and I find one of them to be very annoying (Cameron) and in real life it is hard to imagine why even the few people who back Dr. House would do so. But who cares? You should listen to his witticisms!!!
TV, I can hope once again!
2) Speaking of doctors, my sis is officially one now. She still has maybe another 100 years of studying left before she can convince me to let go of my common sense and put my life in her hands. I am not being mean. We obviously grew up studying together and I know how easily she gets distracted. It is very likely I will be wincing in pain trying to tell her my symptoms while she is thinking about ‘dreamy Hrithik Roshan in Jodhaa Akbar’ (her words)!!!
I am only kidding!
I could not be prouder of my sis! I am sure she will be a great doctor and I already trust her more than some of the more experienced docs I happened to see!
3) Sweet Taste of India: I spent the entire month of March in India. Needless to say, it was bliss. But let me tell you about something else. At the Washington Dulles Airport, I observed an interesting phenomenon that has to do with a huge bunch of desis trying to form lines. Coupling this observation with my years of traveling experience in India, I have come to the conclusion that Indians have a peculiar mindset that I shall from now on call ‘The Arrowhead Mindset’. The principle that comes into play due to this mindset will be called ‘The Arrowhead Principle’. Allow me to explain. At the base of all this explanation is the axiom that desis don’t like standing in lines and will do anything they can to avoid them. However, this is possible only in India. If we try to pull such stunts in the US (prolly in Europe too) we will be assaulted with disapproving glances. A few of us develop the guts to ignore these ‘you can’t do that here, its frowned upon’ looks from the westerners and/or develop a resistance to them (thereby stripping the common American of all possible arsenal to deal with such situations) These are the people who effect the ‘Arrowhead Principle’. These and the bloody FOBs!
The Principle basically states that all (the daring and the meek) desis upon finding a line that is already quite long subdue their instincts to wriggle their way ahead by saying “boss, zaraa hathiye” and meekly join in at the back. They unintentionally preserve the linear nature of the line. This is illustrated by Figure 2 from the picture below. The blue dots form all the people forming the line and the reds are us. However a different situation arises (Figure 1) when the line is still temptingly short so as to defy being recognized as an official line by onlookers. It is at this time that the rebels amongst us, the ones who still have ‘red blood’ coursing through our veins, those who are true ‘dharti putrs’ and who have grown up on ‘maa ka dood’ shine (these and the bloody FOBs) and immediately join in on either side, instantly transforming the line into an arrowhead.
I watched this happen countless times as a kid in India at bus stops, train stations, chat bandhars…pretty much any place in India where a line could be formed (a good exception to this rule is the bus stops in Mumbai. People actually form and maintain lines there. They used to at least!). I never watched it happen in the US until last month. I was fascinated. It happened twice actually, at the Washington Airport and in Doha (my layover). I made a mental note to develop this into a formal theory before someone else recognizes something so obvious. So yeah, keep it real desis (doesn’t include you, you bloody FOBs). In case you are wondering, I am not a 'dharti-putr'.
4) There are a select group of people who use the pool at my gym who completely baffle my understanding of common sense and courtesy. There is a sign that clearly says “PLEASE SHOWER BEFORE ENTERING THE POOL”. Now I follow this religiously and you might call me a chump for doing so. Normally I try to justify everything I do with reason but in this case I probably am a chump. The pool is drenched in chlorine. People who swim do end up taking in and spitting out water from their mouths. Maybe someone even ends up peeing a bit in the pool (what with all the water around you!). So you would think the germs from an unwashed swimmer should only be a psychological block and nothing else! I fully agree with this line of logic. But I draw the line in making an effort to overcome this block when it comes to the case of sweaty assholes who have just finished a run and come straight to the pool and jump into the water in all their sweaty glory. These retards definitely read the sign but choose to ignore it altogether. What is the logic in this? They are too proud of their sweat, too tired and thus inconsiderate, too rebellious to follow rules?!! Sadly, I am still a chump. I am not anal enough to complain about this and will probably stop letting this bother me very soon. Still dudes, come on!
5) Finally, here is a cover of the song ‘I could have lied’. It is by RHCP from the album Blood Sugar Sex Magic. I had initially learnt the first solo and was content with that. After a long time, I learnt the verse and chorus followed by the final solo. Then decided to cover the whole song with vocals. Singing while playing this proved to be a little tough (as will be very obvious). I haven’t done even 10% justice to the awesomeness that is the first solo. Do check out the song if you haven’t already.
1) By the end of march this year my daily TV viewing had almost gone down to zero. I was turning into one of them, a snob! Except, instead of spending all the time I wasn’t watching TV on reading, exercising, doing carpentry (???) I was wasting it on the internet. My youtube account summary tells me that I joined on April 4th 2006 and have watched 6815 videos so far. If you do the math, that amounts to around 9 videos per day. (Actually, once you do the math it doesn’t seem so bad!!!) Either way, my point is that I wasn’t ‘seeking’ out anything on TV except Southpark (which also is starting to become a hit and miss rather than being a consistently brilliant show). Days would go by before I would hear the canned laughter on the Daily Show and Jon Stewart’s tiresome old antics, before I would get a glimpse of 30 Rock, a show that serves as glaring proof that really smart comedy writers who can’t act to save their lives should not do so just because they are the ones scripting their show, before I could see news corporations report events with so much bias that it convinces you something has to be terribly wrong with either them or you without any middle ground. As you can see, TV was failing me. Then my sister introduced me to HOUSE. Freaking beautiful.
It takes watching just one typical HOUSE episode to get you hooked to it. And it is painfully obvious to see why this is so. The show is about a guy named House who is a doctor with razor sharp wit and the ability to ‘tell it like it is’ without fear of consequences. Who doesn’t want to have that?!! No wonder it has taken off so well. The show does have some obvious weak points. Most of the episodes follow an obvious template, the side characters are a little boring and I find one of them to be very annoying (Cameron) and in real life it is hard to imagine why even the few people who back Dr. House would do so. But who cares? You should listen to his witticisms!!!
TV, I can hope once again!
2) Speaking of doctors, my sis is officially one now. She still has maybe another 100 years of studying left before she can convince me to let go of my common sense and put my life in her hands. I am not being mean. We obviously grew up studying together and I know how easily she gets distracted. It is very likely I will be wincing in pain trying to tell her my symptoms while she is thinking about ‘dreamy Hrithik Roshan in Jodhaa Akbar’ (her words)!!!
I am only kidding!
I could not be prouder of my sis! I am sure she will be a great doctor and I already trust her more than some of the more experienced docs I happened to see!
3) Sweet Taste of India: I spent the entire month of March in India. Needless to say, it was bliss. But let me tell you about something else. At the Washington Dulles Airport, I observed an interesting phenomenon that has to do with a huge bunch of desis trying to form lines. Coupling this observation with my years of traveling experience in India, I have come to the conclusion that Indians have a peculiar mindset that I shall from now on call ‘The Arrowhead Mindset’. The principle that comes into play due to this mindset will be called ‘The Arrowhead Principle’. Allow me to explain. At the base of all this explanation is the axiom that desis don’t like standing in lines and will do anything they can to avoid them. However, this is possible only in India. If we try to pull such stunts in the US (prolly in Europe too) we will be assaulted with disapproving glances. A few of us develop the guts to ignore these ‘you can’t do that here, its frowned upon’ looks from the westerners and/or develop a resistance to them (thereby stripping the common American of all possible arsenal to deal with such situations) These are the people who effect the ‘Arrowhead Principle’. These and the bloody FOBs!
The Principle basically states that all (the daring and the meek) desis upon finding a line that is already quite long subdue their instincts to wriggle their way ahead by saying “boss, zaraa hathiye” and meekly join in at the back. They unintentionally preserve the linear nature of the line. This is illustrated by Figure 2 from the picture below. The blue dots form all the people forming the line and the reds are us. However a different situation arises (Figure 1) when the line is still temptingly short so as to defy being recognized as an official line by onlookers. It is at this time that the rebels amongst us, the ones who still have ‘red blood’ coursing through our veins, those who are true ‘dharti putrs’ and who have grown up on ‘maa ka dood’ shine (these and the bloody FOBs) and immediately join in on either side, instantly transforming the line into an arrowhead.
I watched this happen countless times as a kid in India at bus stops, train stations, chat bandhars…pretty much any place in India where a line could be formed (a good exception to this rule is the bus stops in Mumbai. People actually form and maintain lines there. They used to at least!). I never watched it happen in the US until last month. I was fascinated. It happened twice actually, at the Washington Airport and in Doha (my layover). I made a mental note to develop this into a formal theory before someone else recognizes something so obvious. So yeah, keep it real desis (doesn’t include you, you bloody FOBs). In case you are wondering, I am not a 'dharti-putr'.
4) There are a select group of people who use the pool at my gym who completely baffle my understanding of common sense and courtesy. There is a sign that clearly says “PLEASE SHOWER BEFORE ENTERING THE POOL”. Now I follow this religiously and you might call me a chump for doing so. Normally I try to justify everything I do with reason but in this case I probably am a chump. The pool is drenched in chlorine. People who swim do end up taking in and spitting out water from their mouths. Maybe someone even ends up peeing a bit in the pool (what with all the water around you!). So you would think the germs from an unwashed swimmer should only be a psychological block and nothing else! I fully agree with this line of logic. But I draw the line in making an effort to overcome this block when it comes to the case of sweaty assholes who have just finished a run and come straight to the pool and jump into the water in all their sweaty glory. These retards definitely read the sign but choose to ignore it altogether. What is the logic in this? They are too proud of their sweat, too tired and thus inconsiderate, too rebellious to follow rules?!! Sadly, I am still a chump. I am not anal enough to complain about this and will probably stop letting this bother me very soon. Still dudes, come on!
5) Finally, here is a cover of the song ‘I could have lied’. It is by RHCP from the album Blood Sugar Sex Magic. I had initially learnt the first solo and was content with that. After a long time, I learnt the verse and chorus followed by the final solo. Then decided to cover the whole song with vocals. Singing while playing this proved to be a little tough (as will be very obvious). I haven’t done even 10% justice to the awesomeness that is the first solo. Do check out the song if you haven’t already.
