Bold "Pre" Dict-ions

13 hours 13 minutes post 13 days in the new year 2011 and 18 months post mr.k's last blog, here is another attempt to ink the web with randomness ..still suffering from "bloggers block" - a state where mr.k finds himself constantly, a state that can only be described in dave mathews words "So much to say, So much to say" but "i say hell is my closet and i am stuck inside" *
but one's got to start somewhere and hope it leads anywhere but nowhere, so here i start again with some bold "Pre" Dict-ions on what would happen in 2011

1. Apple will get bored of innovating products that change the world!! and change themselves to the 'big blue' firm and only talk innovation but won't do
2.Mr.Pawar will use all his Powers and magic to ensure Onion prices fall and with that the housing loan interest rates
3. RGV will finally make a movie which will run for more than a week in theatres
4. China will start issuing stapled visas for anyone visiting from Mars/Venus and ofcourse USA (after all China Sovereign Investments own most of the US Govt Securities)
5. Dippy will try erasing the tattoo on her and after multiple attempts end up erasing only the 'R'.
6. The Global Economy will actually re-Cover
7. Brangelina Home will give China and India a serious run for the money for the most populated state !!
8. Indian Politicians will take a vow to end Corruption !! and keep their word !!
9. ------ has 50 states will confuse people. will need expert advice to decide between USA and India
10. World Cup 2011 . India vs Pakistan Final. India need 1 run to win, 1 ball to go, 1 wkt in hand, Zak facing Akhtar. Crowd Roaring...Taufell extends his arm to his right.. somewhere in an unknown city called "Dubai" in a house which cannot be located "D Company" is laughing his way to riches..
11. the most popular asset that will be traded would be SNDS (Social Networks Default Swaps). you could trade on the number of folks signing up on every new Social Network site that is popping up every hour.
12. mr.k will start something new!!

blogging again..

yes! 10 months since the last post, mr.k has ended his hibernation..it was tough to end it, as it was extremely difficult to find a topic to blog about..so the attempt here is to give a reader a bit of everything thats caught mr.k's eye since the last post..

1. hard not to start with the absolutely ridiculous statements by mr.bush and ms.rice..both of them have been recently quoted saying the global food crunch is due to better diet patterns in india and china..mercifully usa is electing a new president end of the year..and yes its quite ironic to see that "the most stupid quote on Rice" has been made someone whose name has "rice" on it
2. since we talked about the upcoming presidency stakes in usa earlier - it would also be important to point out how ugly the fight has been between the democrat candidates. its no holds barred - punch and counter punch..don't know who would be the last man(woman) standing, but it sure makes for interesting "race"
3. and obviously this year - different kind of races are going to be held in beijing - talking about olympic games coming up in the next few months. its already attracted enough publicity with the tibetan protesters disrupting the torch relay to catch the attention of many
4. among the attention of many, no one more significant than the chinese authorities. for first time in sometime, china is holding talks with the Dalai Lama to discuss "autonomy for tibet"..it does look like china is facing the heat.
5. hot, hot, hotter - we aren't talking about any woman here. we are talking about the increasing temperatures and the global warming thats happening around us. for everyone, when you get time - do grab a dvd of oscar winning "an inconvenient truth" by nobel winner al.gore. quite insightful
6. from insightful to "In-Sight-Full". none other than the king-khan. from chak-de to paanchi pass to endorsements every 1 hour to item numbers to the big-daddy of all - IPL. He sure is keeping his fans - santoosht and connecting people.
7. ipl - what is it?. simple - indian Provocation league. in here, its all too simple. a billionaire actress hires a millionaire cricketer who provokes another millionaire cricketer who in-turn slaps him and the guy who provoked starts crying provoking million people to call for action ...and the story goes on..and its quite interesting to note that sreesanth vs bhajji was also wadia vs ambani :)..whats with people named modi..they always seem to be associated with some provocation or other..
8. ipl - indian premier league. they do play cricket to earn their millions and to an extent some of the cricket played has been exciting and yielded surprising results. the finals could very well be "rajasthan vs mohali"..would that not be a huge contest. the surprising royals with "hollywood" warne against the punjab da puttar - yuvraj..it would be a huge match - a royal match..
9. the other yuvraj is also setting himself up for leading the nation..he has been everywhere and quietly stepping up to the throne, and his sister who has an aura about her thats just so intriguing isn't far behind..she visits her father's killer to make peace with violence. interesting/very interesting..no wonder the kids mother was in the time influential people list
10. one list leads to another..mr.k's list of interesting movies..first - jodhaa akbar - a decent movie that one can watch purely for Hrithik Roshan. he is just a "class act". another movie that is "not to be missed" is "the prestige" - absolutely gripping movie about two magicians obsessed with their obsessions..totally compulsive watching the ultra-suave and ultra-talented Hugh Jackman..but the movie of the year was the absolutely simple yet brilliant "jab we met"..little did shahid know that kareena was talking about her meeting saif.."the here becoming zero"
11. and the heroine becoming size zero, well yes ms.kapoor's ultra stylish new power yoga driven look that has become the talk of the entertainment industry..alas her "tashan" hasn't got everyone on her side..
12. and how many zeroes is worth the mansion mr.mukesh ambani is building in mumbai..plenty since its gonna cost him 2 billion..quite interestingly, our PM mr.singh made a remark about how the rich indians are living a lifestyle that is not reflecting the state of india..seems to me that he doesn't have too many listeners..probably talking in italian would have helped.

13. got married, changed jobs, living happy..and tomorrow its "thank god its monday" , so lets stop blogging and get to work before a pink-slip stares down on us..

apocalypse today..a new dawn tomorrow

many of you must have heard of the new movie "apocalypto" from the highly controversial mel gibson. happened to read reviews of the movie, which in turn got me thinking about the original apocalypse movie - "apocalypse now" - a movie that is so intensely insightful about " human mind in love with hatred" that it disturbs you. if you have time to rent a good dvd, then don't miss this movie. what got mr,k interested was some of the things the characters in the movie say. reading it and re-reading it, it struck me that quite a few things hold good even for our lives. so here you go - with an absurdly cynical take on some quotes from the movie.

a) on moral ethics - on the ethics that we are taught at our schools, colleges, corporate world and how we figure out that ethics are only for good for boardroom talk - nothing more than that.

"We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "f***" on their airplanes because it's obscene!" - Col Kurtz

b) on the politikos of the world - well, nothing much left to say

"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?" - Col Kurtz

c) on mavericks - well, for all those people who want to improve the system - don't bother improving it unless you have it in you to go the full circle.

"Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you were goin' all the way. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole freakin' program." - Capt Willard ( On Col.Kurtz, who finally gets his reward - death)

d) on those highly committed,successful and lowly paid people - some point of time, all of us can relate to this

"You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill." - Col, Kurtz

e) on most of the leaders of today - ( with due apologies to women )

"who is in charge", "In charge? I don't know, man. I'm just doing what I'm told - I'm just a working girl." - Willard

f) on mission, vision and purpose

"You are fighting for the biggest nothing in history." - Hubert

g) on endings - we humans, everyone of us loves a good ending. we pray, we yearn, we dream, we imagine, we so want to make it a happy ending only to realize that we even don't have the power to write the endings the way we wanted to.

"this is the way the world ends, this is the way sun sets, this is the way brightness dims, not with a bang but with a whimper" - T.S Elliott re-edited by Col.Kurtz further re-edited by Mr.K

but cynicism and darkness also ends only for the sun to shine again and one wakes up to a new tomorrow If.

"do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, if you are losing everything and you never breath a world about loss, if you can fill the unforgiving minute of self doubts with sixty seconds of "hold on", yours is the sun,the stars, the earth, the moon, the universe and everything in it and which will be more - you will be a man,my son" - Rudyard Kipling re-hashed by Col.Kurtz and re-framed by Mr.K

i said it, but ofcourse

.. I din't mean it..

why is it that some people have the gift of saying things that they never intended to mean it, how is it that this gift continues to exist with them often?. do they not realize that by being so consistent with it, they are asking their credibility to walk out of the door..and if credibility is not around, how soon before its partner respect is asked to leave..

the following text is excerpted from "The Kite Runner"

"would i ever lie to you, amir agha" . Suddenly i decided to toy with him a little. "i dont know, would you". "I'd sooner eat dirt " he said with a look of indignation.

"Really? You'd do that? "

He threw me a puzzled look. "Do What"?

"Eat Dirt if i asked you to". I said. Hassan's face changed..........

"But I wonder, if you would ever ask me to do such a thing, Amir Agha", and just like that he has thrown his loyalty test.he'd toy with me, he was testing my integrity.

I forced a smile, "don't be stupid, Hassan, you know i wouldn't". Hassan returned the smile and his was not forced.

And thats the thing about the people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

--- Khaled Hosseini

and for people who don't have this gift, praise the lord - it's a blessing in disguise