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Showing posts from August, 2010

Finding salvation in a day job

Lotteries were invented as a hopeful means of escape from everyday drudgery. The downside being the chances of winning it is as plausible as world peace. For research has shown that people who won the lottery were no happier than others after awhile. The reason was simple – they tried to make for all the lost time in a short time. Remember that red shiny car Dad never got m? Let’s buy ten of them. Remember all the lost holidays? Let’s take all of them. And so on and so forth. In a short while, they make up for their humdrum existence with a slew of debts and few bad habits to boot. Of course, they’ll be an unhappy lot at the end of it all. Importantly, most of them give up their jobs and attempt to settle into a life of leisure that they haven’t truly earned. More than anything, the day job has become the nemesis of the white collared worker. Like a necessary burden we all have to trudge through. Everybody is seeking an escape from them. It is the most common refrain at water coole...

Will the real Mr. Suresh Kalmadi please stand up?

When it became public knowledge that the budget of the Commonwealth Games had doubled, a few were taken aback. For the bigger surprise was yet to come – in the shape of a helium balloon. A blimp, truth be told that would be used for a grand total of some 3 hours for the opening and closing ceremonies. Then opinions ran amok. Usain Bolt would emerge from the blimp it was said and then proceed to run for his life. No, it wasn’t a ploy to get him to compete (or so they say). Maybe the sports minister or better, the organising committee chairman would tumble out to imaginary rapturous applause. No, said another voice interested in adding their two pence, the blimp was the new mascot. But what could possibly justify the 40 crore budget for this gas filled extravaganza? A meek voice whispered from the sidelines– “even the gas for the balloon is being imported from Russia.” Approximately, some 30,000 crore is being spent for the games. With news channels going agog over a certain Mr. Sure...