B-Log

As a little girl with an embarassing ‘foutain’ ponytail on top of my head, I remember the distant sound of a moped approaching. It used to be the sound of my grandfather coming home. The sound of dad’s car used to make me jump and scream the cliche “Papa aa gaye! Papa aa gaye” (learnt from the movies of course). The roar of neighbour’s son’s bike meant I could expect his father’s screams becoming audible in the succeeding few seconds.

Apart from the horn, the sound of the vehicle itself is a part of it’s identity too. Without it, it does not feel like a ‘mean’ machine. So much so, that a new electric car would be fitted with fake engine sounds.

The newest addition to the list of vehicles I can identify by their sounds would be the Dubai cabs. I can hear them approach and zoom away. And without even looking, I would know that it was a cabbie who for some strange reason did not want to pick any passengers and thus avoided any attention. And this phenonmenon is very common. Cabs have become so scarce in Dubai that you could probably auction each ride to the passenger who is able to pay the most. Cab drivers throw tantrums for no reason and pick up passengers on the basis of their appealing looks and gender. Even if you call one through their call center, they usually pick another passenger. If their conditions don’t match, they happily zoom around town in the fast lane, in their vacant cabs.

Or may be it’s all a part of a bigger plan. May be they are just practicing to enter the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which explains the speeding of vacant cabs in order not to put the passenger’s life in jeopardy. And I thought there was not an iota of humanity left in this world.

Whatever the case may be… Something really needs to be done.

Design emerges from and for need. Often we humans misinterpret these needs. We humans…? i.e. beings at my institute.

The tuft of insulation guarding their grey-matter from the chilly winds, has suddenly lost all meaning and cause. Or, chances are that they all hail from Down Under, and got their seasons all confused.

It’s not that people had never done it before. But now, it’s an epidemic which has swallowed atleast 6 people in the last 3 days.

Whatever may be the reason, men with perfectly healthy, bouncy, silky hair are going bare. Shed those locks and shaven their heads.

Is bald the new beautiful?

Loud music, late night outings, nonstop dancing, a reason to dress up, a place to be seen at while listening to a selected few who are like a stuck record and rarely make any sense.

This is the new PG-rated night-life of the small towners. The nightly bhajan-kirtans and sabhas promoted by hoardings sprinkled around the town, declaring it to be your last chance of salvation. The spiritual and religious factors are again proven unchallengable.

Under this hide of spirituality, are the social and financial realms of it.
Every event is as big as a wedding, where one has to be seen in their best of attires and behaviours. Loud music somehow sends people in a bollywood-style-dance-trance, especially on sensing that one might be on camera. Family does not object to such late night ventures
Communities and sects formed for every guru, bad mouth each other. Not just the followers, the big guys themselves show their mastery at the art of sarcasm.

As a business, it’s probably one of the best option to turn black money into white. Touts placed strategic places within the crowd encourage people to donate. Huge budgets that combined could probably feed the entire nation. Some babajis at times take the liberty of revealing details of their palatial mansions. Religious channels feature only the ones they have signed up.

The content of every such sabha is almost identical to the other. Nothing new is seen or heard anywhere. And nothing makes real sense anyways. It isn’t a wonder that you don’t see them practicing their own gyaan.

More people attend these events than election rallies, without any tangible incentives.
What do they do? They use religion as much as political parties do, but offer benefits which are difficult to measure, are dependent on one’s sheer luck and not the leader’s actions.

In the list of crowd pullers, after bollywood and cricket, please welcome the new entrant… Babaji Inc.

Khotta could see the future when he commented the above on this photograph of mine.

Firstly, to add to the list of my wreckage, I have managed to screw the joystick of my somewhat new phone.

In addition to that, I tried fixing the shower-head today. Apparently, the holes got blocked and not enough water was coming through the rest. So out came the shower-head, into my hands… (skipping whatever happened in between) … Now water seems to be coming outta everywhere but the shower-head :|

HALP! I need plumbing advice!