Male chauvinism

Behind every confused driver there is a woman.

Debate this.

Urgentina........

2 goals in the first 16 minutes.... Argentina down by 2 goals by the first half.....

PATEHTIC.... ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC....

I have switched off the TV in disgust... Argentina is 3 down.

IH-3 or perhaps a time for Indian Muslims to wake up.

Top 5 things for which I am absolutely convinced that a man should be hanged after being tortured in the worst possible way,

1.) Rape
2.) Rape
3.) Rape
4.) Rape
5.) Rape

Take this, a woman is raped by her father-in-law. The Muslim personal law board, says now that she has had intercourse (nevermind the rape) with the father of her husband, she becomes the mother of her husband and hence she can not continue living with her present husband.

I have no words to describe this preposterous stuff. But thats not all. It gets even better... or worse....

The husband and the wife want to get over it and live together. The Muslim Personal Law Board steps in again and says they can not do it. And beat this.... A FATWA is issued.

For those who do not know what a Fatwa is .... just google. even Salman Rushdie has one on his head. Just made your google search easier.

Indian Muslim Personal Law Board needs a spanking. BIG TIME.

Letting it be.

It had come to a point where he had to decide. She did not trust him enough and he could not, not love her. He wanted her to trust him and for that he needed to tell her that, talk to her but his self-respect (or was it ego) was not letting him. Was he tired of her insecurity? Should he have taken the lead for their sake or should he have let that be? It was not a question of her, it was a question of them. It was not a question of life, it was a question of living it. It was not a question of two souls trying to be one, it was a question of one soul being crushed into two.

He did not want her anywhere near his life. He wanted to include her in the making of his life.



....................... And he let it be.

Off my chest.

I have had moments I am ashamed of. I am definitely better for them but if I could learn all that I did, without living those moments, I would happily trade them for anything.

I just wanted to say sorry to two persons who I know I have hurt a lot. It was not intentional but hurt is hurt....

Sorry.

The long and short of it.

Beautiful weather!!!!

What was I doing this day last year?

Checking the calendar, it was a sunday. And back then I was in a terrible company doing a terrible job, working on the weekends. I must have been sitting in the office killing time.

What was I doing this day two years back?

It was a Friday. I have no recollection of it.

Though the last one that I can remember "this day that age" kind of a thing, is June of 1975. I was 3 months in my mother's womb playing happily, oblivious of this world :).

How time passes! We can account for each minute as it is passing by and when it has passed we forget it in a hurry. And as the months roll on and years pass by, we can not recount even the days. Time, so small and yet so big.

Pathetic football

This can not get more ridiculous. Argentina, arguably the best football side in the world today, is struggling against Mexico. I agree they are not full strength and Crespo is not playing but ..... common... they have played a club level game so far. Only after the first goal by Mexico, did Argentina wake up.

Well its off to penalty shoot outs now and lets see what happens.

But this is ridiculous.

Edited : Well so Argentina has won it in sudden death. It would be exciting to see them take on Brazil.

Language barrier

I was watching this Hindi movie Parineeta, when this question crossed my mind. What would be that one thing that one would miss the most because one did not know a particular language. For me it would be literature. There is so much of untranslated work in other languages that I would love to read. What a pity!!!

Tell me what is that one thing that you think you miss the most because you do not know a particular language?

Check mate

Okay, I am on a high. I beat the GNU Chess in 44 moves. Well I know its not a big deal for many but for me..... Its WOW. Way to go......

Sitting in the office, I am supposed to be working ;) but hey I can afford a chess break, can't I?

The crap called Matrix.

I liked matrix. I really did. But only for its special effects.

The plot of Matrix would be cool or high funda stuff to anyone who wants to look cool rather than is cool. As I often say, its like being a microsoft programmer versus being a linux/unix programmer. It has swept off a so many guys off their feet (and their mind) because the script writers made it a complex work. But complex need not be true.

Well Mr. Anderson (however you are spelt), first of all, dream world is different from the real world. The actions that one does in the dream world have no repercussions in the real life. And hence if someone was chasing me in my dream world, when I do get up, I would still be on my bed. And I would naturally be curious to know about my origin and my past in the real world if I had been sleeping very long. But then the crimes I have commited in my dreams won't be accounted for in the real world.

And the whole human-energy thing? Machines turning humans into machines.... Fine keep it at that. As a fantasy I will allow that, but when you are talking science, get the facts right. Humans don't have sufficient energy to keep a simple house bulb glowing for a minute. So many things.....


Well.. it all started this morning with a debate on sci-fi movies which soon turned into a Matrix discussion. I will watch Matrix part 1 anyday for the special effects. For the gray matter, I have linux code with me. :)

Ping pong bumps a lump

Last thursday, while playing TT or Ping Pong as is called in some places, I accidentally bumped my head against a wall, actually a corner. A visible lump looked like a small plateau sitting beautiful amidst the greenry, errr... blackry. When I returned home, I knew I was disoriented. I mean, people are disoriented and here I knew I was disoriented. The pain only increased in the next few days. So I decided to either sleep or pretend to sleep, the whole of the weekend.

Today I feel its finally gone. I am feeling so much more better.

I can picnic now on some plateau. :)

Serendipity

It was as if time had stopped moving. A sense of touch, so overwhelming and so consuming, when it was finally over, he was left speechless, in heart and in soul. He felt as if he had lived a life, but with a tinge of sadness. There was a sense of touch, the sense of feeling her, in soul, there was a sense of reliving the moments that were the ne plus ultra of joy, he had ever known. And has he moved his fingers, just so delicately over the small, very tiny bottle of cologne, his face had lit up with a smile that hinted at the knowledge of the profound meaning of love, true love. He had accidentally discovered the bottle, which was given to him by the girl he loved, unconditionally and truly, after almost 10 years. He had lost it, till today but had never forgotten about it. The cologne, though manly, always reminded him of her, her touch, her soft skin, her odour. And after so many years, all the memories, all the feelings had returned back to engulf him in the sea of emotions. He embraced the moments with tenderness of soul that should not have been reserved for it, without any guilt perhaps because he knew he could love only one in this lifetime, and he had already done so. He could have denied but he knew it would not have been the truth and the truth like the moment would come back again, to snuggle him, perhaps even to haunt him.

Indian Culture, the myth of it.

1 : CULTIVATION, TILLAGE
2 : the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education
3 : expert care and training
4 a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills
5 a : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group c : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a company or corporation
6 : cultivation of living material in prepared nutrient media; also : a product of such cultivation

What is culture? I have been told and I have read also in my history textbooks that India has a rich culture and a long history of it. Okay but there was no India before 1947. I am an Indian and a proud Indian at that. But merely saying "Indian culture is very rich" does not make it so. Are we talking about a culture where there is mass exodus to western countries for the singular reason that the living standards are better there? Or are we talking about a culture where human lives are not as precious as they are in the developed countries? Why go so far, even in this country, everyone is equal, some are just more equal. Perhaps we are talking about the culture of dowry and dowry related deaths or for that matter the culture where females are worshipped but only in temples. Just what culture are we talking about? Enlighten me someone.

I, me, myself

What do I love?
I love travelling, sports, adventure sports, walking bare feet on a beach feeling the cold sand, spending the night there, driving, reading, writing, martial arts, programming, science and technology, wild life, universe, theory of relativity, watching good (whose good!!!!) movies, music, children and spending time with my daughter.

That's a big list, but I genuinely love all those. And that's the complete list unless I have to break it down. I am not much of a pub person. And I can not mix easily in a crowd. Okay.... okay... I am pretty shy. Am I a loner? Perhaps I am but I don't despise company. I am not xenophobic.

I love the setting sun, and if I have to watch the rising sun, I will need to skip my sleep because there are only two things that can wake me up early in the morning at that hour, swimming and Tennis. I love the ocean waves whispering to me, teaching me about life itself, the joys of living it and the sand asking me subtly to give room to my partner in the relationship because if I try tighten my grip on it, I will only lose it.

I love taekwondo. And I have shamelessly copied those words from the school in NY where I was learning it. http://www.ilovetaekwondo.net/ This is one thing I want to pursue again and one of the two reasons why I would love to go back to US.

I love wild life. I would love to have a face to face with a great white shark, or a black Mamba, or a king Cobra, or feed a croc in Darwin or the Australian zoo.

Perhaps, I will have the guts to quit software industry after 5-10 years by when I would have had enough of programming and pursue one of these interests.

What do you like to do? What do you love?

I love sports .... and the sportstars.

1985.

I was 10. I could have been anything, could have followed anything and could have dreamt of anything. Such a tender age it is. And there was someone, many thosand miles apart, born in a nation which badly wanted a hero, of the right kind, was 17 and quite surprisingly mature beyond his years.

1986.

I was 11 years old. Still, could have been anything, could have followed anything and could have dreamt of anything. Tender age, again. And there was another someone, many thousand miles apart again, born in a nation where passion thrives, drug rules, a nation which is a classic example of "if only", the most tragic feeling of all. That someone, single handedly, and quite literally too, won his home country the prestige that it had lost to England in a war 4 years ago.

1991.

I was a 16 year old teenager. I had dreams, I had imagination and I had the attitude (read foolish beyond imagination). It still was tender age though, okay... not so tender. And thousands of miles away again, a South American beauty stole my heart with her smile, and ....errr.... her dress. She was not a talent but her backhand shots are perhaps the best in the history of the women's tennis. And she remains the most beautiful to woman ever to have played professional tennis, atleast to me.

Boris Becker, Diego Maradona and Gabriela Sabatini. Three sports stars who developed my interest in sports. Today I am an avid sports follower. Besides cricket, which is a religion in India (and this is a cliche now), Sergei Bubka, Alexander Popov, Lance Armstrong, Aryton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Geet Sethi, Mike Russell, Stefan Edberg, Steffi Graf, Yelena Isinbayeva... the list is long, I have admired many.

And my current fav in men's sports and atheletics are "Roger Federer" and "Marat Safin".
And the woman who has stolen my heart for this brief while? Ivet Lolova.

Romancing with the atheletes, eh?

Blogging and the need of it.

Why does one blog?

This is perhaps my 5th blog site, having deleted all the previous blogs. I have tried to be personal, I have tried to be judgemental, I have tried to act smart, I have tried to act "holier than thou", heck I have even been casual but nothing satisfied me. The whole idea of blogging, I find it superficial and yet I continue blogging. Let me just jot down a few reasons why I think people blog.

1.) They want to maintain a personal diary. (... on the internet... oxymoron)
2.) They want to impress others.
3.) They just want to log their thoughts and daily happenings. (.... so why not the good old pen and paper? But then why not this either? This is convenient afterall!!!!)
4.) They want to be known and be famous. (Perhaps because they wanted to be journalists, widely read, but could never become one?)

Do shed your thoughts on this.
Why do I blog? I have no idea. These blogs would make for excellent case studies for Freud, of that I am very sure. There's hypocrisy, genuine feelings, jealousy, sub-concious manipluation.... you name it, everything at work.

Okay, also tell me why do you blog? I will definitely seek the answer for myself now that I have raised the question.

Mother Teresa's son's wife.

"I just keep on getting the dreams of mother-in-law."

Mother-in-law???????????????????????"

"Mother-in-lawwwwwwwww. "

Wow, either a very lucky mother-in-law or a very repressed and depressed daughter-in-law, well okay.... could be son-in-law too.

Except that I was really confused. So I asked again,

"Mother-in-law??"

"Haan bhai, jiki photo Theatre mein lagi hai" (Yes, whose photo (statue actually) is in the multiplex).

"You mean mother Teresa".

"Haan, Mother Teresa" (Yes mother Teresa), she said with an innocent smile.

Phew.......

That was my 5 year old daughter talking about Mother Teresa, after we returned from the movie. And I am still trying to figure out where did she pick up that word "Mother-in-Law"....
That's the most dangerous law in the world.

Double, on the rocks.

"Why are we doing this?"

And my manager was ready to clutch her hair, actually pluck them out, out of sheer desperation. She must have thought, why did I pick this dumb guy in my team!! A little over 15 days, and instead of trying to solve an issue, if one asks one's manager, that question, it sounds less of a harmless, innocent question and more like a time bomb ticking.

Except I wasn't convinced. And then we had a discussion and she saw my point.

Do you have any idea what I am trying to say here? My fault, I haven't even mentioned it yet.

The thing is, I love computer programming. Now there are two types of software industries in this world. One is the product development, in which India is nowhere in the world map and this is where the big chunk of money lies. The other is the software services industry. This is where India is the global leader, but this market is dictated by the product market really. Now I had always wanted to be associated with some real hardcore product programming in C. Which is what I got in this current job.

So I am lucky to get the job I love because now I won't have to work another day in my life, as long as I am with this company.

But more importantly, all that is easily ruined if you have a manager who would only be as good as passing the words of his/her boss to the sub-ordinates. And this is where I am very lucky. I have a manager, who is technically good (ahhhh such a relief) and she listens and understands your point as well.

Double, on the rocks.

cheers.

A few lines

kaheen nighaaon mein, unkahi baaton mein,
karwate lete dil ke jajhbaaton mein,
khamosh hi sahi, ek shikwa hai,
ki teri yaadein hi ab baaki hain meri panahon mein.

Good one.

Beautiful read.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/06dilip.htm

And do read the second part too. Link is provided in the article.

IH2 - The American connection

In the last post I had mentioned that most Indians don't like USA. Now here lies a very subtle point. They don't dislike the Americans. They just do not like USA. Well I could never figure out the difference. So I will move on to the next one in the series of Indian Hypocrisy (You will find the first part here).

Most Indians, and specially those from Punjab and AP, like to go to USA. Nothing wrong with that except that they want to go and settle in US before actually leaving India. It is almost as if their only aim is to go and settle in US. It's not that they have to go down in the history as someone who beat Columbus in discovering USA in certain new ways. They know nothing about USA, except have some misleading images told by some expatriate or from Hollywood movies. The worse part is that it's not prevalent just among the poor section of the society, it's almost a fashion statement to say, "My son/daughter is in US" for the strong Indian middle class. Unfortunately down south, it also means more dowry for the son. An absolutely deplorable practice but continues unabated because ..... perhaps it can be the topic of IH3.

And the son or the daughter (in most cases, she goes as a daughter in law) flies off to the US, and files the green card. After a few years, he/she is an american citizen and can not come back to India because his/her children don't like India and can not adjust in India. Well, dont blame them for Christ's sake. They themselves could not live here, why blame the poor souls who are born in US? I have nothing against America and Americans but just as I am sure any American would not want to settle outside of US, permanently, I would not like to settle anywhere outside India. And definitely not because I will get more dowry or I can sleep with some Blondes (well I find all women equally beautiful or sexy) or because the living conditions in USA happen to be much better than they are in India. I don't expect an American or for that matter any outsider to come and change things in India for the better?

What goes around, comes back.

This is a period in time when India and USA have been forging ties for a better future, ofcourse driven by their own strategic interests. Nothing wrong with that. It is not an utopian society afterall. But there is an interesting trend that I have witnessed. America was and still is hated around the world for its policies. The bias it shows towards a few nations who harbour terrorism like Pakistan, erstwhile in Afganistan, actually funding the Taliban against the Russians, their interference in Vietnam, Cuba, bias towards Israel, infusing drug money into Mexico and south central American countries etc. All those were driven by strategic interests as deemed fit then. Anyone denying that is either a politician or does not know what he/she is talking about. But that's not the point I want to talk about. For the simple reason that every country has its own dirty laundry to clean. And each government, each individual in this world is corrupt, limited only by the power at one's disposal.

Coming back to the point of this blog, Indians had/has this dislike(and this gives me the topic for my next blog, IH2) for USA because of many reasons. USA's support to Pakistan perhaps tops the list of reasons. Indians always have viewed USA as a nosy superpower. And not just interfering, but an arm twisting one at that. Over the years, and specially after 9/11 this view has mellowed down a lot. Perhaps because 9/11 just did not strike some emotional chords, it also showed to the world that America is really not all that powerful. I absolutely agree, it is a sadistic attitude to rejoice in that incident for whatever reason, but this is true. While many, and not just in India but also, from the developing and the poor countries felt bad about those who lost their lives, a majority of them actually saw this in a completely different light as well. For them it was a blow to the superpower status of USA. It's supposed to have the best defence system afterall, doesn't it? So they are as fallible and as human as each of one us is, thought many Indians and others. This was a binding thought. And while the intent can be faulted, the result, a compassionate feeling for the USA and its citizens, can not be. Add to that the fact that USA asked for help for the first time, actually helped convince people all the more that Americans are also just like anyone of us.

Post 9/11, the economy slowed down a lot. I was in US then, NY to be precise and on I-95 going to Washington to meet a friend, so this is a first hand account of it. I remember American Airlines and United had fired many employees. Car sales had dropped and for many companies, who were already on a firing spree due to e-com bubble burst, 9/11 only acted as a catalyst. They were looking for new avenues of growth and more importantly, curtail the expenses. That's when the call centres and the BPO business in India picked up. Soon thousands and lakhs of jobs were moved to India, where a company could hire, train and manage 3, and upto 5, employees for the cost of one employee in USA. And as the market in India picked up, there were noises heard in the white house, the senate and many other forums against outsourcing. But this all had to fail because outsourcing was and is, in the strategic interests of the US companies. And the bottomline in any business is money. So, when all those noises failed to move any amendments or laws, next wave of protests started. This one is ugly. The call centre employees in India are now a target of racial abuse. Being in the very business which aims to help and please the customer, these poor souls can not abuse back. Now, this is but natural. I absolutely understand the mental trauma that Americans who have lost their jobs and have a family to feed must be going through but I also know that you or I can do nothing about it. Its a decision of a company, an American company and the anger perhaps should be directed there. When America was (it still is though thats besides the point) powerful, it was hated by the world, and now that India's economy is on its way up at the expense of American citizens, its our turn to face the heat.
But this, I believe is just a cycle. It will pass. Because evolution, of man and society, is a way of life, of time. There are many things that we can learn from each other. I am sure there are many things that we Indians can learn from Europeans, Australians, South Americans, Africans, East Asians, but I have never lived there and so I am not competent to talk about it. But from Americans, I have learnt many things. But that will be the topic of one of my future blogs.

Old habbits die hard.

Indians have this tendency of addressing the seniors, "sir" or "ma'm". I am not talking about school. In a workplace. So there is this colleague of mine, and if I called him cute westerners would think I am either gay or a bi and I am neither, a cute(strictly in the sense of cute babies) bloke, who has just come out of the university. So he addresses our PM the same way. Today I asked him, why does he address her that way? Why can he not just call her by her first name, like I do. His answer was funny. He said he is habituated because he used to address his teachers that way.

Well I hope he does not get married. I dread to think of the consequences in case he does not change his "habituated habbits" after marriage.

My day is turning out to be pretty amusing really. ;)

Salon timekeeping.

"Do you know of any good Salon nearby?"

Quite a few guys who came to live in Hyderabad and ended up in my neighbourhood have asked me this question.

"Yes. Go to Salon O. But go only when you have enough time on your hands, " I always reply. Because while they are very good at what they do, they are very slow too, jutisying the saying "Slow and steady wins the race. How slow? Well, I go to sleep. Not when they are cutting my hair. But that's when they are making my shave. Yes I do go to a salon for a shave because for my lifetime, I can not learn how to shave a french cut properly. And when they are giving my hair a cut? Well lets just say, I come out fresh for another good 4-5 hours if I am dead tired. Thats how slow they are.

So this morning, after bicycling, I went to the salon. Wrong time. 8.00 a.m.
I am working on my punctuality timing at the office (read my last post) and in that endeavour, I have pinned a HUGE POST IT "AM I ON TIME TODAY" in my cubicle. 9.00 a.m. is the official start time.
So I tell him, I am in a hurry. Just make it quick. Well, now that I think of it, that was a big mistake. Absolutely unpardonable. Dim wit that either he is or I am, he relaxes, breaks his knuckles and goes out for a smoke. And well, he knows me very well because I am a regular there besides, if it matters, I tip them heavy.
I am a patient of patience and normally one needs to really do something weird to me to make me angry, actually to even raise my voice. (Boast all you can.)
So when he did not come back in even after 10 minutes, I did not gnaw but just shifted uncomfortably. I thought body language is a mighty language, messages from which his colleagues would pass on to him. Wrong again. No one bothered. Now, I think he must have been smoking a cigar because there is no way one can take more than 10 minutes to smoke a cigarette. Whatever that was, it took him more than 10 minutes.
Almost 8:15 a.m. 30 minutes for the shave, a quick shower, Thank God, office is close to my home. I can still make it. Wrong again.
He came in, put some towels around me, went to the reception area, put on some good music, taking on all the time in the world, to select his kind of music. If only I could tell him that, at that time, everything was music to my ears, albeit a jarring kind of music.

Almost 8:20 a.m. But I wouldn't speak. I wouldn't tell him, " O Lord, I am getting late."

Finally, His Majesty is standing next to me, applying the lather cream. I don't like the foam. He likes lathering it good. (read he takes another 8-10 minutes). Then he changes the blade, which thanks to the fear of HIV, I would like him to change, even if that means, taking the day off.

8:30 a.m.
He is working on my shave and the clock is ticking on me. Finally when it's done and he puts the cologne on my face, I get up and see the time on my wrist watch.
Almost 8:50 a.m. Not good. I pay him, pick my bicycle and reach home in a dash. I take a quick shower. And I am in the office at 9:15 a.m.

Not bad, eh?

Well I realized one thing. Next time whenever someone asks me if I know of a good salon in my neighbourhood, my reply will be, "Yes. Go to Salon O. But go only when you have enough time on your hands, and never, NEVER, ask for a quick shave or a quick hair cut."

Time vice

I was late for a meeting. And even though I can not wake myself up before 9 a.m. my manager has been kind enough to let me come to the office at 10 a.m. I know it is not professional but I am an insomniac. Yes I am working on it but it will take some time. So, as I was saying, my manager schedules the meetings at 10.00 a.m. And that's really very nice of her. But today, I felt really bad. I hate giving excuses and more than that I hate it when people don't watch their time. And today, I was late by more than 15 minutes. There is no excuse for that. Very bad.

With moist eyes, and an ovewhelming feeling of gratitude, thank you KV Ankleshwar.

I am told I am not an emotional person. And just a moment back I had moist eyes.

My primary education and part of the secondary education took place in a small Hindi medium school in a small town of western India. Back then the classes were held in tents. As I moved up in grades, this little school also progressed. Even at the time of its inception, it had concentrated on all round development of a student, which back then was a rarity. Within two years the school had its own building, a huge cricket ground and a football ground. And in another 3 years, when I was in the 5th class, it had its own basketball court, volleyball court, believe this, a swimming pool and, now would you believe it!! an exclusive baseball ground. Baseball, even now, is not a popular sport in India. But my school back in the early 1980's had not just the ground and the kit but also a teacher who knew the game. Apparently it's no longer taught anymore.

And it was not just sports, but extra curricular activities too, in which the students of my school excelled. Debates, quizzes, cultural competitions were held very regularly.

Then in 1989, I left the town as my father was transfered down south. It was another life. A new school, a new environment. It has been more than 16 years, and meanwhile I have gone through the high school, the junior college and a bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronics, but over the years it has remained my favorite school, the ideal school. And my sports teacher, my favorite teacher. Today while googling for something, I saw a site address that sounded familiar. I could not believe it. In India, for all the IT expertise that we have, we Indians are not at all internet savvy. And, while those schools that charge fees and collect donations (with no receipts) matching figures that would shame the height of Mt. Everest, do maintain their own websites, their websites remain just an advertising propaganda(Check this one out). While this school fees was a mere Rs 5 per month. And as I went through the pages, it has only become Rs. 100 (or less in some cases). But it's website contains not just the information related to facilities and infrastructure but it actually lists all the winners and toppers in the respective sports etc. That's leveraging the power of internet (and now check this one out).

And it has a website with the most updated information. Even the government of India's website shows the "ex-health minister" as the current health minister. That's how badly governed government institutes are in India. But clearly "my" school is an exception. Over the years, not only has it moved in the right direction, it has also not lost the essence of modern education ever.

And today as I look at its website, I have a sense of pride, a feeling of nostalgia, a gladdened heart and a sense of gratitude. I am what I am because of this school. And this school has gone the only way it has always gone, UP on its way to more glory.

May it always keep striving for the better. Moist eyes are no big deal.

Myth list

Myth #1: India is a land of snake charmers.
Myth #2: Indians make for very good software programmers.
Myth #3: Indians are very hospitable.

Perhaps there are more, but my gray matter is letting me down big time.

Myth #1: India is a land of snake charmers.

India is both, stinking rich and heartbreakingly poor. The very fact that in almost all the fields of technology, specially defence, communications and science, we are in the top 10 in the world contradicts this wrong perception of India. Considering, we won(well, we did not win it really) our freedom only 58 years back, and were hugely resource deprived, this is no mean achievement. But things can always be better.

Myth #2: Indians make for very good software programmers.

Well, they are mostly below average or average. A very few of them are good, still fewer very good and one in a thousand is a brilliant programmer. More Indians are software programmers. And that is because that is an easy way to make more money and go to US and settle down there possibly.

Myth #3: Indians are very hospitable.

You only have to hear the badmouthing they engage in when a relative comes visiting. We are as opportunist as anyone else.

Silent moments.

There was a silence, an almost numbness in the air itself. They should have talked. They didn't. It should have mattered. It didn't. What the two hearts were aching to hear should have been said. But it was as if the dead calm of the night had enveloped itself over everything. There was love but more hurt; there were feelings but strongly suppressed; there were they, supposed to be talking about things that perhaps meant the whole life to them, but instead engaged in their own soliloquies. Both of them wanted to ask questions, both of them wanted to answer some questions, but both of the let the time fly, quietly and uncomfortably. Many things remained unsaid, few insignificant things were spoken. What should have been, could have been. And what could have been, is not.