A thin line separates genius from insane

This blog post is inspired by the most horrific yet amusing act of FIFA world cup 2014. In the heat of a match between Uruguay and Italy, Uruguay striker Luis Suarez allegedly bit an Italian player (Chiellini). He literally sank his teeth into Chiellinis shoulder thus bringing the toll of human bites by him to a total of 4 in football tournaments! The media was abuzz with excitement over this controversy thus bringing about some interesting observations:

- Luis Suarez was labeled the 'Hannibal Lecter' of football
- It was said that he has a taste for all parts of the body
-His face was morphed on the movie poster of 'Jaws'
- His strange behaviour was attributed to a difficult childhood
- he was said to given Chiellini a hickie

 All of these amusing observations were made about the event as such a behaviour was completely out of line by a world class player as per our social standards.

But to be world class, one of the best, a person had to have a little more...A little more emotions, a little more zeal, a little more desire, a little more genius...and sometimes only a thin line separates genius from insane. In that borderline state, the insane part may become obvious in states of high emotion.

All of us have an element of insanity in us. Some of us have learnt to control our emotions so well so as to lead a robotic life. . but we are meant to be emotional.. and sometimes the only way to cut lose is to vent out all the emotion and release the baggage...

So my sympathies are with Mr Suarez, who is a fine player and who certainly loves football to the level of insanity..

Instead of a ban from football, maybe a muzzle would be more appropriate punishment ;)

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The girl at the traffic signal

Then there is always that day in ones life when you come across someone less fortunate and you sit back and count your blessings. Today was that day for me.

At the traffic lights, I stopped for a brief 5 minutes to wait till the signal turned green. I was sitting in my car with the AC on full blast while the temperatures sored to a 45 degree Celsius outside.

And then I noticed her... A pretty little girl of about 5 years in age who walked up to my car and started to give it a wash without my permission.  The car wash lasted for less than 30 seconds and was promptly followed by her walking upto my window asking for money.

As a principle, I don't encourage begging by giving money away. So, I wagged my finger suggestively to tell her that she was not about to extol any money from me by showing me her big soulful eyes while at the same time feeling guilt for not being able to help her in a better way. I did click her photo and show it to her which brought a big smile on her face. Priceless!

She was on the road with other kids of her age. All begging for money. This was done under the quiet supervision of her mother who sat on one side while the kids danced around speeding cars, putting their lives at risk. 

Poverty is India's curse and begging is a manifestation of that but what is sad is that begging is now a big business run by mafia thus ruining lives of small little beautiful children who deserve better.

Converting a house into a fortress!!!

So today, I have this big task on my hands of converting my beautiful builder made appartment into a fortress.

Although the apartment complex has an exceptionally good security system with guards patroling the area round the clock but going by the crime rate in Delhi and areas around it, it's better to take nothing for granted.

So the apartment has these beautiful glass doors opening into ground floor balconies for 2 bedrooms and the living room. Sliding glass doors are a pretty sight however they make for an easy break-in for anyone with malicious ideas.

Therefore, the task on hand was to get iron doors fitted without compromising the asthetic effect of the glass doors. Solution?  Iron channels with collapsible grills. So that the grill could be collapsed to one end at times when a good view of outside was required and another advantage of this concept was that the grill required little additional space . After 2 days of workers toiling hard with drilling, smouldering and painting , the grills in my house are in place and can sleep more peacefully.

The Art of Living course

Self help books, motivational speakers and gurus are definitely great to read or listen to once in a while but if someone was to tell me that I needed to pay to hear what they had to say my prompt response would be.. that I don't need to be taught how to live.. I am doing good at it.

But then some friends had been lauding the 'Art of Living' course by Sri Sri Ravishankar for quite sometime and on a free weekend , I finally decided to pay up and join a 3 day course.

Even till the last minute prior to starting the course  I was not sure if I had made the right decision by accepting to be a part of it. Would it be a total loss of time and money?

In the end, I put my doubts away and decided to feed my need to experiment.

A group of people (7 of us) had all enrolled for the course and it was lead by a teacher trained by Sri Sri Ravishankar himself. Day 1 began with introductions and everyone giving their reasons for being a part of the course and what their expectations were from the course. My answers to these were fairly simple, 'I had heard a lot about the course so my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to learn the breathing /yoga techniques taught in the programme'. The reasons for which others were there varied from medical conditions such as anxiety to learning to meditate and relax to learning something new.

What followed was a very interactive course with philosophical discussions and learning of some good yoga and breathing techniques.

All in all it was an interesting course and a good learning experience and value for money!

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The Number Game

Numbers have always been important and they remain so even today..only the ways in which their importance is made apparent changes...examples of the same that I recently came across.


1. Oh what a beautiful picture... how many likes did u get on facebook?

2. This is brilliant work but how many documents were you able to deliver?

3 . I had a wonderful birthday... 200 friends wished me!

All of these examples represent that in todays world unless numbers are on your side praise, quality and happiness are worthless.


That's how superficial we have become.

Homage to my favourite Sitcoms

Today while I was watching my favourite show on TV and laughing my guts out, I really felt that I needed to devout a post to my favourite shows. The shows which have made my evenings more lively, their characters whose sorrows and joys I  shared and above all, the episodes which lifted my spirits and put a smile on my face during the days I was feeling blue.

So the shows that I like best are primarily focused on comedy as their central theme. So I give you my 3 favourite shows and my favourite character I each one of them.

1. Big Bang Theory:
First I have to admit that it took quite a bit of convincing by a friend for me to start watching this series cause the name of the show was quite nerdy itself. Then it took a bit of time for the show to grow on to me cause i took time to get a hang of the type of witty educated humour but finally when it did grow on to me, it was like an unstoppable creeper. I love every bit of the show, the nerdy humour and the quirky characters. My favourite character is 'Sheldon Cooper' cause he is brilliant and cause he is not being funny at all at any point In the show but his weird idiosyncratic behaviour can make me double up any time.

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2. Friends:
I just fell in love with the show from Day 1. The characters are all so lovable and beautiful. Every character in the show has equal presence and makes the show complete. The light comedy that flows through each episode is intoxicating. It just keeps you addicted to the show.
My favourite character is a tie between Phoebie and Rachel. Phoebie because she gives the show an edge by bringing in the quirky angle and Rachel cause she is so spontaneous and has the most infectious laugh.

3. Sex And The City:
Other than the brilliant humour in the show which revolves around the lives of 4 beautiful  intelligent women living in a big city what I love about the show is it focus on fashion. My favourite character is Samantha Jones for her guts and because she loves and celebrates herself. Wish we all were as honest and as fearless as her.

So, which on

Football ka Mahakumbh

Football ka mahakumbh (big fair) was the way a newspaper described the FIFA world cup that started in Brazil today! FIFA is an international association football competition  held every 4 years and contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body.

This year Brazil is hosting all the action but  the waves of excitement can be felt all over the globe. With 32 teams competing, the football fever is gripping most of Europe , South America and many other diehard football fans around the world. 

Being an Indian, i cant help but compare it with the cricket world cup as the craze that grips most of Asia and other cricket loving countries is  similar.

Expectations from the home team are sky high and the wish to see the trophy come home is the only wish! It's like a celebration that the whole country indulges in.

The pressure on the players is humongous and very move made by them is under scrutiny. It is the time during which  it is decided who is  God and  who is Satan of football. A player could rise like a phoenix or be forgotten forever.

Its a season when the expectations,  excitement,  emotions run high. The stage is set for a power packed football completion. May the best team win.

The bitter sweet love story

The story of our prime minister and Jashodaben has all the elements of a bollywood blockbuster.

A marriage at a young age under family pressure. The guy, a rebel leaves shortly after marriage to pursue his life's ambition..The girl, nurses  a broken heart but is still loyal to her husband and his aspirations for her.

As he passionately follows his dream of becoming a politician and achieves much success in his field of work, his wife dutifully follows the path of becoming a school teacher as per the desire expressed by her husband at some point of time.

As he rises up the echelons,  she religiously prays for his success. She fasts, gives up rice and even her footwear as a sacrifice to appease gods so that good fortune surrounds him.

But he does not acknowledge her.. as he becomes a popular figure, the CM of a state, nobody is aware of his marital status or the wife who is tucked away in a village.

But then as one day when he is close to becoming the next prime minister... he reveals his long with held secret.. he reveals to the world that he has a wife. The whole nation is left bewidered. The media hog the lady to get somemore information, only to realise that the two have been living separately ever since a few months after marriage.

Over night , Jashodaben becomes a public figure but she shuns the limelight. After her husband becomes the prime minister following a resounding victory she sends him her best wishes and also a request to visit a holy shrine along with him.

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The desire to visit the holy shrine may not have been fulfilled yet but she did get the z-security cover rightfully deserved by a prime minister s wife. Finally there is acknowledgement and acceptance.

A Bitter complex story... yet has it shades of sweetness