Zero-risk faith

This time while being driven home, after being picked up by the trustworthy family driver, I got a chance to witness something which was thought provoking enough to make me write this post.

Now this fellow is an energetic and colorful character with an immense liking for breaking out into impromptu karaoke to his favourite songs which the radio helpfully supplies him in plenty. Apart from being musical, the other most important thing in life seemed to be faith or God or religion or a combination of some sort. I reached this conclusion because I'd observed on earlier trips that no matter how heavy the traffic, no matter how engrossed he would be in singing, no matter if a herd of cows suddenly dropped onto the road in front of him but if he were to spot a temple on the road he would pay his due respects appropriately. A short prayer muttered, a quick little ritual touching of the forehead and whatever else struck his fancy.

He would do this for every temple he would spot - small, big, in the middle of a road, off in the distance. No shrine was too small to escape his purview and I thought that was very commendable and always used to admire his faith if not identify with it.

But that's not the reason I'm writing this. It's the realization that dawned on me about halfway during the trip that's making me write. I don't know why I had missed it before but I soon realized that not only was he paying his respect at every passing temple but also, with the kind of enlightenment the best of us don't have, he was doing the same for every mosque that we passed too. I was totally in awe of him after that! I mean if you've got to have faith then this is the best kind. Clearly he was a religious fellow, so he figured instead of wasting time, like the rest of most of us half-brianed idiots, about which God was better/right/stronger/existing-at-all, he'd show them! While they were doing themselves no earthly good by pitching one faith against the other, he'd just quietly notch up a whole bunch of brownie points with the whole pantheon, while laughing internally at their silliness.

I have to say I can find no possible logic against his.

Contraband

If there's a way of making sure everyone knows you've bought stuff that you don't want to go around displaying in public - putting the thing into a black plastic bag is it
Theoretically it works wonderfully. The bag is opaque and black, no one would ever know what's in it. The catch is - everyone invariably does because that trick is about the oldest in the book.

Put something into a black plastic bag and suddenly you're as conspicuous as if you were walking around in yellow pants and a purple shirt with a board on your head that said "Look at me" in bold red letters.

I'm sure it started out as a sensible enough practice - but it's now become such a cliche that it has the exact opposite effect; instead of general public never getting to know there's almost a 100% change that they will, in fact, know exactly what's in the bag.

So the next time I go to buy a harmless bottle of wine as a housewarming present, I am going to carry my own bag. A transparent one at that.

Tech-savvy

I realized today that I should never underestimate my mom's abilities to cause endless and unintentional amusement especially when it concerns technology.
I got a frantic call from her today and the conversation that followed went something like this:
Mom: Listen!
Me: uh.. yeah?
Mom: What's a blueberry?
Me: a blueberry? what? a BLUEBERRY?
Mom: yes
Me: Well, it's.... you know.....a fruit.
Mom: No NO, not a fruit.
Me: Sure it's a fruit.
Mom: It can't be a fruit because I'm buying you one for your birthday
Me: you're sending me FRUIT for my birthday?
Mom: Listen, your cousin just gave a blueberry to her father and I want to give you one as well.
*Realization dawns!!!*
Me (choking with laughter): you mean a blackberry?!!!!
Mom: Yes that, fine I'm sending you a blueberry for your birthday then?
Me: it's a BLACKBERRY

Anyway, ultimately I convinced her that it was a blackberry and I didn't need one. I'm fairly sure though that if I call her tomorrow and ask her the name it will still be blueberry.

Intergalactic comparisons

For the fans of sci-fi TV shows I think the following comparison between Starship Enterprise & Battlestar Galactica (note - the ships, not the shows!) is great! My vote goes to The Enterprise, admittedly probably unfairly, since I've not seen the Battlestar Galactica series at all. Read on... and live long and prosper. Sorry, couldn't resist that.

http://screenrant.com/star-trek-enterprise-vs-battlestar-galactica-brusimm-5140/

and it continues...

I'd written about the tussle amongst two of our canteen suppliers to capture the cold coffee market. Well summer's long gone and after a little cooling off the competition has been upped with the addition of an Amul counter!
My story starts with the team realizing one day that it's the boss's birthday and we don't have a cake. Our only option is to order it at least 4 hours in advance from the Coffee Day counter in the other building and we were about 2 hours too late for that. So we dragged ourselves to the nearest bakery to pick up a cake and whined about it all the way. And what do we see when we go upto the canteen to store it safely in the fridge - Amul has a humungous board proclaiming - ORDER CAKES HERE! which appeared just that day.
Now the juice counter guy got beaten in the cold coffee wars but you have to admire his spirit because next day an A4 (almost as if he's scared the Amul guy will see it!) size poster is stuck on his counter proclaiming 'Birthday cakes available'. Of course in all probability the same supplier supplies to both counters!
I'm now trying to decipher what is the next trend they'll clash on... black coffee?

ecoliving..

I've been thinking what to do about the upcoming long weekend and while sitting at my favourite sandwich place in Pune - Skips - heard the owner speak about this http://theecogrid.blogspot.com/
might give it a try if I convince enough people to join!

melting pot?

In my earlier post I'd spoken about the global family. I was reminded, again, of the melting pot that the world is becoming, by someone I met today. This person is of Chinese origin, is French by nationality and works for an Indian software company!
Again, nothing unusual I'm sure... but I still found it interesting