The Blah Blahs and the Yada Yadas

As someone who’s been shot and killed several times, I often wonder whether this makes me an expert in spiritualism or the ‘world beyond’; does it make me noteworthy at all, or does it get diluted by the fact that my death and revival has only happened within video games? Maybe I should find other stuff to wonder about. Maybe the reason I keep dying in all these games… is because I’m too slow on the joystick/ mouse/ keyboard…

If the scientific community is to be believed, then this is soon going to change. They are developing a method of [...] Continue Reading…

Picture, if you will, the middle east. If you are most people, - and statistically, most of you are - then you had the picture of clear sand dunes in the desert with armed masked travelers on a string of camels trekking to their dark green canvas tents. Now picture Dubai. Not exactly the same image, now, is it? Steel skyscrapers and artificial landscapes, air conditioned buildings all throughout. Now, Dubai is actually IN the Middle East. You knew that, but you still had such contrasting perspectives about the area.

If someone were to ask you why people move to [...] Continue Reading…

Ever get that sneaky creepy feeling that you are not alone? That you’re being followed? Whether you’re walking alone in the middle of the night through a dark alley, or sliding past a thickly populated mall at peak time… ever get the feeling so strong that you feel like rebuking yourself for your baseless paranoia? Well, the good news is… you don’t have to feel that way anymore. You’re not being paranoid. The bad news is… holy crap, you’re not being paranoid! You ARE being stalked. And there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t outrun your stalker, [...] Continue Reading…

It was a crowded frenzy. Or maybe it was a frenzied crowd. Maybe it was both. It was a celebration of wild, unbridled, raw emotions gathered in thoughtless, mindless shouts, cries and howls, But enough about the party in Charlie Sheen’s Jacuzzi. Let’s move on to the slightly saner world of sports.

I say slightly saner, but I am stretching the word thin. Sports is perhaps the last refuge of covert insanity. It is the one arena where it is still acceptable for mature, rational adults to behave like college dropouts on spring break. It is a global phenomenon - [...] Continue Reading…

‘Ma arif’… It is arabic for ‘I don’t know’… It is a phrase I’m capable of expressing in seven different languages… possibly the handiest phrase of them all. It is a multipurpose, multi-utility, trans-cultural univeral time-saver, usable and reusable across different categories of questions. Personally, I use this phrase most frequently to combat with direction related queries.

Without being unduly harsh on myself, I can quite plainly say - I pretty much suck at directions. In the summer of 1999, I had given a group of highly stressed batchmates from my Engineering college directions within Cochin - a city I [...] Continue Reading…

I like to stay on frivolous topics. Frivolous topics are my life. It suits me fine because it takes down the pressure a notch or two. Nobody ever died growing edible crops in their underwear… at least, I hope not. As a marketing graduate (In case you didn’t know, a bit over five years ago, defying conventional understanding of logic, I successfully graduated with an MBA degree in marketing) I am always on the lookout for new ventures. And right now, one pressing need of the masses (estimated from a sample of one friend) is the need to quit [...] Continue Reading…

People often walk up right to me and say, “Hamish, stop lying. We never walked up to you and said anything. In fact, we don’t think we even exist in real life. Stop making us up!!” It’s very disconcerting… But after a little bit of such bickering, they end up asking me, “Hamish, what is the right way to deliver news?”
Well, it certainly is a pertinent question. Back in my younger days, I was chronically unaware of news in general. My dad’s chief cause of concern was how utterly unaware I was of the things that were happening around [...] Continue Reading…

I know it’s late, but… Happy New Year to one and all. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. This was my first New Year outside the country, and this New Year’s Eve, I wanted  to do something really special, something I’ve never done before. Specifically, I wanted to sleep right through it. But no. I resolved to shake my lazy, unambitious, sleepy self and kick myself out on the last day of 2010. This way, I would be able to join tradition; be part of the hundreds of thousands of people around the world as they go [...] Continue Reading…

Someone needs to put a leash on the smartphones before things get completely out of control. I, for one, am not amused by the way things are going. Call me arrogant, but I take pride on being intellectually superior to my inanimate stuff. I’ve never lost a debate with my shoes yet. From time to time, when no one’s looking, I like to bully my chair, or maybe even the calculator by going “Hey, you. I’m smarter than you. Oh yeah, you know it.”, and in my own mind, I can imagine them bowing their heads in shame. I [...] Continue Reading…

It takes a minute to say hello, and forever to say goodbye. Perhaps this is why it has taken this long to get this post up and running. Perhaps it’s because I have been kept busy with work. And then again, perhaps, these are just the fall guys who are taking the hit for the real culprit, my faineancy (And in case you’re wondering… If you are too lazy to look up what faineancy means, well, perhaps you’re faineant as well). It has been an affair to remember, but it’s time to say goodbye. This is my two finger [...] Continue Reading…