Sunday, May 29, 2011

End of the world

End of the world, Judgement day, Apocalypse etc are fimilar words to every one. Countless movies, books and to that matter even songs have been written about the 'End of the World'. The word has been roaming about in the news lately as May 21st was supposed to be judgement day (Predicted by some American guy), but the world is still ticking guys. Ever wondered why humans are so worried about the end, how every body would be judged etc? Is it just an quintessence of man kinds nature of always looking into the future and never leaving in the present?

Lets examine it, Isn't it a basic nature of humans to worry about the future? Havn't we all worried whats going to happen 1, 2 , 5 or may be even 10 years into the future?  'Have to invest in this so that I can live comfortably after I retire' isn't this a common thought in our head? Or 'Forget the movie, I need to study to ace the exam and get a good job'. I know I might be over simplifying. But seriously all of us are worried about the future.

OK. So might be worrying about the future is basically a human nature, but why is it End of the world scenarios always so scary? Why is it always people dieing, earth getting flooded, or fire or stuff like that? Why can't Apocalypse be a happy day? Why can't it be like 1 fine morning everything in the world is good, there is food for everyone, no one ever dies etc etc. Why is Apocalypse always depicted as a real hard time?

Why is it that the bad always need to be punished for their crime? Why can't on this glorious new day of Judgement all criminals, terrorists, rapist etc see the light of their way and repent and redeem them-self? Why is Judgement day required? Why is it required to punish people and put them in eternal fires? Look at this scenario 'The father of a little girl is a robber, the child loves her father a lot, but on judgement day the father is condemned to the eternal fire while the child is sent to heaven, would that heaven actually be a heaven for her without her father?'

To any one reading the above lines and thinking its 'end of the world' is a western concept I would like to point that End of the world and judgement of man kind is there in each and every culture. Hindu culture says right now we are in Kali Yuga The last of the 4 ages (Yugs). If we look about each and every civilization talks about the end of the world. Why is it man cannot live without the fear?

So do I think end of world will never happen? Well I don't think there will be a judgement day or something like that. But I feel end of the world as we know can happen in many ways.

1) Nuclear War (World war 3): Terrorist get the nuclear bomb and blast it in Israel, Israel blames Pakistan, USA (and other European countries) support Israel and H-Bomb Pakistan, China rises to defend Pakistan and bombs the western world. Pakistan nukes India, Russia joins the party and behold we have our own human judgement day.
2) Asteroid hitting earth :  Well an Asteroid had taken down the mighty Tyrannosaurus and family, might be another one is waiting to say goodbye Homo-sapiens.
3) Nature : well in this category there are plenty of ways nature can bring judgement day. A super bug (virus or Bactria) resistant to all medicines get released onto man.  A major volcano blowing up covering the sky's for years with ash blocking sunlight. Global Warming changing worlds weather pattern causing crop loss and large scale starvation and death.

Now is this going to happen on 24th October 2011 (the new date predicted for end of the world) or 21 Dec 2012 (the end of Mayan Calender) I don't know. But I know if we live worrying about when we are going to die we are not living at all. (Point to wonder, You can die at this every moment reading this, but you didn't did you?)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Visit to a IPL match in a Cricket Stadium

For those who keep reading my blog, know that I am not a big fan of cricket, my friends had literally cursed me for my views about the worldcup. But I have to say the freaking excitement people got after India won the semi-final and finals I was really left wondering whats the big deal about cricket. Its such a boring game.

But then I am not know to be a very patient fellow, so the 20-20 format of cricket might be made for people like me who don't like wasting a entire day for a silly game, watched a few matches on TV but still I didn't understand whats so great about cricket.

People used to talk about the atmosphere in the stadium, So when a friend of mine from office said he is going for a IPL match, I said even I am coming, forget the 740 Bucks for the ticket (there are even more costly tickets, we took the cheapest one). I wanted to know what this atmosphere was.

So on 4th of May I was going to watch Mumbai Indians Vs Pune Warriors (A thought: Are IPL teams dividing India on the basics of city and state at the time when we need more unity in India?)

The first question my dear friend asked me when he saw me in the morning was "Why are you supporting Pune?" I was like "what do you mean? I am coming to watch the match, and not really supporting either team." He said, "You are wearing Black, Black is Pune teams color, don't you know? You should have worn Blue, Mumbai Indians color". So that was my introduction to the match.

Anyway we left office early, another colleague of mine had brought his car, so the trip to the stadium was comfortable, only thing was the traffic and finding a parking spot over there. I have to say the D.Y Patil stadium people & Policemen there really tried there level to keep traffic moving, but the crowd was so great that it was a failed effort from there part. But one real bad part was converting of E-Tickets (printed from the Internet) to the actual tickets, It was not at all organized properly. The ticket converting place was at one end of the stadium while entrances was at the other end so had a real big walk, also the managing of giving the tickets was also bad.

Anyway after collecting the tickets we entered the stadium, we are not allowed to take in anything to the stadium, not even water. Luckily everyone of us had left our stuff in the vehicle itself. But I can understand the security aspect of not allowing to take anything inside. But what irritated me was the lootofying of people inside by the D.Y Patil stadium people cause of it. 20Rs for a small glass of water, For 2 small samsosa Rs. 60, For a glass of pepsi (half filled with ice) Rs. 60 again. Plain robbery. I am not even talking about the cost of other foods. You guys are not allowing us to carry water inside, then coolers should have been kept for the public. Already the ticket costs are so high on top of that you are keeping this extravagant cost also.

By the time we reached our seats (P-stand, 4th level, at the very top of the stadium) the toss was over and the match was about to start, Need to point out even though D.Y Patil stadium is Pune warriors home ground majority of supporters were of Mumbai. (To be expected, as stadium is at Mumbai). First batting was of Mumbai Indians, Opening pair of  Blizzard & Sachin, the feeling was like the entire stadium had come just to see Sachin not the match.

Seeing the players on the ground my friends who had come with me were able to differentiate between different cricketers from such a distance, but for me all looked the same, I was reminded of a old Cricket game on my PC in which you get the ground view, and the ball racing towards the boundary ;). Even the cheer leaders were very far from our seats for me to enjoy their show also :(

No commendatory in the stadium, I was missing the irritating voice of the commentators which we are so used to while watching match on television to keep us in the know whats happening on the field.

I have to agree the first Innings was fun, with Mumbai Indians cheerleaders dancing at every four-sixes on any song the DJ was playing, and there were plenty of fours & sixes. It was fun, but I have to say the second innings was boring, DJ & music stopped at 10 P.M due to the noise rules, Pune lost their first wicket on first ball itself and the second innings was real boring. I was bored.

Am sure interested people have already watched the match on TV, or read the newspaper for details so I am not going into match details (I am sure I won't do justice to it also). But some points of the match was real fun, Like listening to the crowd cheering for Sachin, really people consider him God (I don't), the ball from Malinga to Yuvraj in which he got out, Yuvraj feel down, (the crowds reaction), apart from that the masti my office-mates were doing. Had a nice time. My friend mentioned about hearing the sweet sound of ball hitting the bat, I heard the sound, but sorry my friend, I don't know what you found sweet in that. (It was after the DJ was turned off, and the crowd was quite, I preferred the music and the noisy crowd buddy)

So is the atmosphere inside the stadium different, Nope Its still oxygen-nitrogen mix, Am I more interested in cricket after the visit to the stadium-Nope, was it worth 740 Bucks - Nope, Match will be more fun to watch on a big screen with your friends. Will I go to a stadium again to watch - not if I am paying 740 bucks, anyone else takes me I will be glad to go.

But I want to say thanks to that friend of mine, who took the inisative for going to the match, Thanks Rashesh for the Cricket Stadium experience


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

2011 Easter Holidays to Kerla : Part 2

Continued from 2011 Easter Holidays to Kerla : Part 1

So here I was home, eating the lovely food made by my Mom, playing with my sweet Niece, what more could I ask for? Meeting my little Nephew ofcourse, So whats my 1st job on GoodFriday? Na, not going to church but to go to my sisters place and bring my sister and nephew home.
(Anyone driven on empty public road on broad daylight? Thats how Kerala roads were on GoodFriday, you will go long distances before you see another vehicle on the road, was real fun to drive).

Next two days were real fun, playing with both my niece and nephew, Easter was tho absolute fun, my cousins descended on the house, fulto time-pass. absolutely enjoyed it. One of the best Easter celebrations in a long long long time, Only sad part was that my sister and nephew left on easter evening to go back. I met them again on Tuesday when I went to help them climb onto train back to Bangalore and brought back my Bro-In-Law's vehicle back.

The rest of the vacation was not much to write about, was really just at home doing time-pass, visiting relatives.
The common thing everyone of them seemed to mention is that staying alone agrees with me, everyone apart from my mom was unanimous in saying that I have put on weight (of-course, how ever my mom sees me she sees me thin only, have never heard from her that I have become fat)
another saying that was common was that now since I have learned to cook, my wife is going to be a very lucky girl, and I just need to open my mouth once and they will get a girl for me to marry, and I had to tell them all, that I am still a kid to get married (seriously, doesn't Indian adults have nothing but to think about marriage?)

Sad thing is I wasn't able to enjoy the last 2 days of my vacation, I had stomach upset and had to get a injection too. Missed 2 days of my moms lovely cooking too :(

Was in no mood to come back only, But what to do, work is work, only when you work can you take vacations like this (seriously, guys from my office reading this, I know you guys work hard, but to enjoy that work you guys need to go on vacations, and not get jealous at people who do go)

Return trip was again boring, no gals in my compartment, seriously starting to believe that Indian Railways has some system of keeping boys & girls separate. I had got book Bram Stoker: Dracula to keep me company, real nice book to read.

Anyway now am back in Mumbai, Back to the daily grid of office, waiting for my next vacation ;)