Mom, I'll wear miniskirt today.

I read this joke on some website, which I thought to share with you people. It's a simple two line conversation between mother and daughter, but in different times. It goes like..

1980's
Daughter: Mom, can I wear jeans today?
Mother: No darling, what will people think.

2006
Daughter: Mom, I'll wear miniskirt today.
Mother: Pahan le beti, kuch to pahan le.


This is a perfect example of changing values in the society. I am not saying that it's bad, but it really amazes me how quick these changes are.

Times are changing, people are changing, their values are changing..

The most beautiful woman on the earth

I heard somebody saying "You show me the most beautiful woman on the earth and I'll show you atleast one person who doesn't want to sleep with her." The very first impression of this sentence may make you think about the cynicism of that particular person; but after reading the following lines, you may feel little different.

“The grass is always greener on other side.”

“And those grapes are sour.”

Still you are not thinking differently. I can’t help. Just enjoy the good humor.

What a pity?

Jamhuriyat tarje wah huqumat hai ki jismain;
Bandon ko gina karte hain, taula nahi karte. 

Till the time I was in class nine, this used to be a frequently used couplet in the essays written by me during exams (Never thought why elections are such a frequent entry there, both in Hindi as well as English literature). If you are not a Hindi speaking junta, don’t expect me to translate it in English (hehehehe). Again coming to the reservation issue, I am having one point, which is very simple to understand; but I don’t understand the reason why many people don’t want to understand this. The logic goes like.. 

If a person from a reserved category (regardless of any particular one like SC, ST or OBS) avails the reservation and get in to financial condition so that he can support his children, educate them and prepare them for the real life; then in my opinion his next generation should not avail the reservation. But the real life situation is quite different. Even if a person becomes an IAS officer, his children are getting the benefit of

The question asked was like "can a handful of us change the scenario?".

My answer to a question...

"Atleast you can try and initiate the things. It seems like a funda but remember, "A journey of thousand miles begin with a single step". Somebody has to take that first step. Also remember if you change, if you do your little bit, if you think little about it, if you try to initiate the reforms at only your level; the whole society is going to change, even if the results will not be visible very shortly.

Also regarding the few good men present in the modern india; I think there are some ordinary people

Hai re Reservation

I found this somewhere on the internet.

Manmohan Singh to Bush - We are sending Indians to the moon next year.

Bush - Wow! How Many?

Manmohan Singh - 100
25 - OBC
25 - SC
20 - ST
5 - Handicapped
5 - Sports Persons
5 - Terrorist Affected
5 - Kashmiri Migrants
9 - Politicians
and if possible
1 - Astronnaut

Marriage interpretation

Yesterday I saw Da Vinci Code. Its a blurred depiction of the original novel, which I understand is very difficult to portray on a two hour reel. Nonetheless I liked Audre Tautou [So paise wasool]. After that I returned home and chatted with a friend for sometime. Then I watched "Shall we dance" in night. Now this was a good movie, better than the Da Vinci atleast. Its not like, its the best of this genre, but atleast one can enjoy during the one and half hour movie. There was a dialogue, which I thought was the best in the film. Just go through it and please let me know if it matches with the correct definition of marriage. Here it goes...

"We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad

Rendezvous

You are invited to a special evening! An intimate evening of warm smiles and shared confidences... of rekindled memories and recounted experiences... of unashamed tears and infectious laughter. You are invited to a rendezvous. A Rendezvous with Simi Garewal.

Last night while watching King Arthur on star movies, probably fourth time; I got to see some parts of this spectacular program on Star world. Simi was doing the ‘rondi^voo with Mr. L N Mittal at his residence in UK. I was always uncomfortable with this word, but now I can pronounce it correctly (thanks Simi). 

Now coming to Mr. Mittal, he lives in a house which is estimated to be valued at 500 Crores. Glimpse of that house coupled with the name of his was a very good reason for me to postpone my night voyage for one hour. Mr. Mittal seemed to be a very confident man, whose thoughts are very clear and who always keeps an eye on his ultimate goal. I was very impressed with the way he answered most of the questions. And Simi was fantastic as always.

Inquiring minds

What do people want from newspapers?

I was reading an old article, where I found that the percent of the adult reading newspapers fall to 55 from 70 in last three decades. Various agencies have been continuously trying to figure out the reason. Most of the times it appears that people want better services, more local news, reader-friendly presentations involving graphics and narrative-style articles and advertising.

“Intensely local, people-centered news ranks at the top of the list of content items with the greatest potential to increase overall readership, ” says an American university, which is conducting the research. Better coverage of national and international events and more investigative journalism are not necessarily what readers want. And newspapers feel pressured to give people more of what they want.

Now the question is what I want from these newspapers. Seriously, I have never given a thought to this. After quickly reading the headlines on the first page, my habit is to start reading the news from last page, which generally covers M S Dhoni and Sania Mirza, sometimes Schumacher also. After going through the sport pages, I quickly flip through the pages and stop at the second page where all the movie timings are listed for television or for the theaters. The whole process also involves some reading about the proposed f**king reservation policy.

Yesterday I spent seven minutes on the newspaper. I admired the beauty with brains, which was there on the first page (She looked like a doctor protesting against the proposed reservation policy). I read why Zidane is considered to be such a high value sportsman for his country, what are the implications of Dhoni being at the top of ODI ranking, what are the future plans of Sania Mirza and Sikha Oberoi, what Sachin thinks about the number of ODI’s played annually and also what is the future of Schumacer with Ferari. 

But its not like I am totally dumb about all the issues. I listen to the discussions regarding the business issues, social issues, and current socio-political issues also. I want to read other news in the paper, but somehow I can’t. Therefore I am asking you all, what are the points you think which should be taken care by newspapers.

There is no doubt that a democracy like us need the newspapers to make the people aware of every activity going all around them and also to give them a platform to express their views regarding all those issues/ activities. It’s also the collective responsibility of all the educated citizens to learn about all the happenings, and then to contribute, criticize and I think that the newspaper is a very ideal platform for that.

What do you think?

Long time. Almost forgot that

Long time. Almost forgot that I am having some place at the internet called anandz.blogspot.com. But now onward I will try to be little bit more consistent. 

In-between, I am now out of the tale of two cities. It’s a third city called Mumbai.Will post some more updates afterwards.

Girl with fair cheeks

To a very different note, here is the story of a man which can be symbolized as the final goal of a MAN. Note that this man holds a great repute in the Greek mythology. It's none other than Achilles. To be very honest, I had never heard the story of troy and Trojan horse, before I saw the movie TROY two years back. But what a fantastic movie. This movie portrays the life of Achilles in a very exhaustive manner.

If you have seen that movie or you are aware of his story; can you guess what the two important things in his life were. By the way, there will be no prizes for guessing that. Do have a look on a brief summary of Achille's life.

"The ancient beach smoked with campfires, hecatombs,
and funeral pyres. And there sat Achilles
weeping like a girl, gesturing to his mother,
who slipped her arms around Zeus's knees