Ramblings

May 19 2013

The Forest Or The Trees?

When you gaze out your window — real or figurative — do you see the forest first, or the trees?

This blog prompt comes from the idiom can’t see the forest for the trees which means ” To be so concerned with specifics or details that the larger problem, situation or point is missed”. It means that if you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that a branch of separate “trees” go together to make a “forest“. When you are too close to a situation you need to step back and get a little perspective. When you do you will notice there was a whole forest you couldn’t see before because you were too close, and focusing on the trees. Simply that you have focused on the many details and have failed to see the overall view, impression or key point.

Now that is out of the way, I must say that IMNSHO (in my not so humble opinion) you have to see the big picture first and then only go into the details. Again, just my opinion. And maybe not always see the whole thing first but atleast be aware that the “trees” that you are seeing, or even “tree”, is part of a big picture or a large forest if you will. This is true for most of the time for me. Everytime I notice something in my mind I’m always thinking is this part of something else? or is it just something unique and singular.

However I must say this – for those of you who always look at the big picture first always remember that there is beauty in the details and hence appreciating a single tree as a thing of beauty or something to pay attention to, is always good. It just makes so much more sense.

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By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

May 10 2013

Art Or The Artist?

Do you need to agree with an artist’s lifestyle or politics to appreciate their art? To spend money on it?

It does matter on certain things. When you appreciate a painting, a drawing, a song or an acting role does it really matter what the artist or creator behind it thinks or does in his / her free time? Does it matter who or what they have sex with and what else they are interested in? Not to me! Does it matter about their religious views, political views, views on abortion, morality, the LGBT community etc etc? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

When I was younger I worried about liking gay musicians, thinking that my family & community will look down on it. I don’t anymore. I could care less if my any of my favourite musicians are gay or straight, as long as their music appeals to me. In my list of gay musicians I like are Rufus Wainwright, Elton John, Rob Halford, Melissa Ethridge, Teagan & Sara & the occasional KD Lang song. Some of the actors I admire include Ian McKellan, Ellen Degeneres, Portia DeRossie, Sarah Paulson, Dan “Bulldog from Frasier” Butler, Victor Garber, George Takei, Stephen Fry, David Hyde Pierce & Neil Patrick Harris to just name a few. And ofcourse I was a big admirer of Martina Navratilova. Does it matter? Ofcourse not! I love & admire these personalities and their work and I don’t care if they are straight or gay as long as they keep being amazing.

Overly religious musicians do bother me at times but I have a bunch of musicians in my favourite bands who are born again Christians and such and that hasn’t led me to change my opinion on their music. If a rock star is destructive or abusive and violent I may get turned off and not support them anymore. I stopped being a Michael Jackson fan by 1992 but the child abuse cases really damaged my opinion of him. He wasn’t right mentally anyway and I guess that softened the blow a bit. By the time of his death I managed to just respect his music and some of his songs for what they are and forget his weirdness but child molestation is not something I take lightly. Similarly what they say or do does act my judgement but it depends on what it is.

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

May 9 2013

A Miscarriage Of Justice

For the first time today I watched a show that I had never seen, well some of an episode on the tv in a cafe as I sat there enjoying a coffee and a sandwich. And I was appalled!

When great scifi & such shows are cancelled due to budgetary concerns against an audience who can’t understand the complex issues & themes in it, here is mindless drivel being shot and pumped up to showcase as a “cultural reference” of our times and it gets a lot more air time and maybe even viewers.

Star Trek TOS – cancelled after 3 seasons
Stargate Atlantis – cancelled after 5 seasons
Stargate Universe – cancelled after 2 seasons
Angel – cancelled after 5 seasons
Firefly – cancelled after 14 episodes
The River & Terra Nova – cancelled after 1 season each

Jersey fucking Shore – gets 6 seasons!!! This crap was on tv for 6 years???

The episode I watched today had one chick, so drunk, she kept dancing and falling on her ass in the middle of the day. She went on claiming herself to be a “meatball” and made a huge spectacle of herself. Finally she was dancing on the street and blocking traffic so the cops arrested her! Another two fugly females went to the hospital cause one of the girls had a sprain that turned out to be a minor ankle and this idiot friend of her says “Well I’m disabled because I’m pregnant and now you are disabled so let’s be disabled together!” A pregnancy is a disability?!!!?

Fuck me sideways!

By Roshan • Ramblings, Television • 0

May 5 2013

I Want To Believe

What are the six impossible things you believe in? (If you can only manage one or two, that’s also okay.)

I’m gonna have fun with this blog prompt; these answers are for stuff that I just am interested in and may believe but I don’t hold them that dearly or base my life around it. It’s just the imagination & the scifi/supernatural/fantasy lover in me. But I find them to be plausible but at the same time they are not proven scientifically and hence….you know.

Aliens not only exist but quite possibly have visited earth many many times in the past though not quite frequently since modern times. You see, when aliens first came to earth it was tens of thousands of years ago they found us humans to be highly primitive and influenced our development and our history. Some of the aliens were kind hearted and helped us but the vast majority of them used us for their own gain. Their superior intellect & technology scared us and we made them gods. All the religions, except for a couple smaller ones, were due to this aliens who did all these miracles. That explains a lot doesn’t it? However as humankind grew & developed, the aliens decided to leave us and around 1400 years ago, the last group left. From time to time their descendants, who have no interest in enslaving us, have visited in much smaller numbers but they leave quickly without establishing contact.
Atlantis was a real place, a real huge island of much more advanced humans. They were infact descendants of the offspring between the said aliens and human beings and all the children thus produced were sent to live on Atlantis. Thus the inhabitant of Atlantis were all a new breed of alien-human hybrids if you will. They were mostly human looking but they had two hearts, superstrength compared to the strongest humans and highly intelligent. They lived to explore, discover & study and had little or no time for superstitions or religious nonsense. However Atlantis the island was doomed to sink below the ocean water and hence the Atlantians were evacuated into giant spaceships and they set forth for a nearby planet in the Milky Way. One day we shall meet them again.

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

May 4 2013

The Clone Wars Of Roshan

If you could clone yourself, how would you split up your responsibilities?

Attack of the clones eh? I dunno I think it depends on what I want to get done and how many things I want. If I had the control I’d have a few clones of me – two or three of which I will arrange to go to work in different areas of the city and I will have control of all the money that comes in from them. Wait for it, rub your hands together and go like this….Bwahahahahaha! (Evil laugh)

My economic needs being met by the 3 of them and with money coming in, I’d assign 2 of my clones to get things done for the home – go pay the bills, do the shopping for the stuff needed for the home, do household chores and fix things up. Hmmm, that should be good. And maybe another 2 to go and do charity work around the city.

And what will I do? Enjoy myself, watch movies & tv shows all day and eat & sleep and relax. Hahahah – time to get off my ass and do all these things by my lone self!

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

Apr 25 2013

What A Lucky Man He Is!

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why? If that seems too easy, try this one: who would you like to have spend a day as you and what do you hope they’d learn from the experience?

You know who I would want to be if I could be someone else for a day? I wanna be the luckiest man in the world. Who is the luckiest man in the world? Let me borrow a few verses from Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Lucky Man song:

He had white horses, And ladies by the score, All dressed in satin, And waiting by the door, White lace and feathers, They made up his bed, A gold covered mattress, On which he was laid, He went to fight wars, For his country and his king, Of his honor and his glory, The people would sing, A bullet had found him, His blood ran as he cried, No money could save him, So he laid down and he died

Ooooh, what a lucky man he was, Ooooh, what a lucky man he was

No, I don’t want to be that guy but it depends on what your definition of the lucky man, or luckiest man is. Mine would be…….the luckiest man in the world is the man who has everything he ever wanted and dreamed of and is happy & content with what he has. Is there someone like that out there?

Well if so, that’s who I want to be. Even if it’s just for one day.

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

Apr 18 2013

$5 Million For Charity

You’ve inherited $5 million, with instructions that you must give it all away — but you can choose any organizations you like to be the beneficiaries. Where does the money go?

There’s so much good that can be done around the world. $5 million is a lot of money and I feel that even more is needed to take care of the poor in this world – to feed, bathe and give them proper shelter, care & medicines. And if I am giving money away, whether it is mine or if I am able to select an organization that will receive it to do the needful accordingly, I want to make sure that the money is put to good use and that it doesn’t go into the deep pockets of the greedy corporates or a politicians or a whatever.

So which one – homeless? poor & needy? the sick who can’t afford medicines or adequete treatment? the old? the weak? the recovering addicts? the abused and used? the crack children? victims of rape? the disabled? What about the animals who have been abused, sick & abandoned? How do you choose? I wish we could irradicate all forms of diseases & sickness, all injuries, all pain & suffering and everything that hurts us physically and we never have to feel hurt again. Not just us humans but our animal friends too! Wouldn’t that be great?

Since that is just a fantastic dream I’d give it to orphanages and hopefully the kids there will get something good out of it – more clothes, school stuff and food. And just maybe some of those kids will grow up to become scientists who help to fulfill my dream!

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

Apr 16 2013

The Lion Tamer

If you ran away and joined the circus, what would your role be? Would you run a concession? Would you train elephants? Be a clown? Ringmaster? Why?

I was never into the circus much, not even as a child. Over the years living in Cochin we’ve had a few visits by a Russian circus and not even a molecule within me was interested in going and seeing them. I do remember some really good acts that I have seen on tv with juggling, trampoline, balancing and all that stuff. Major talented people some of them. I remember in particular one act that came from Korea (not sure if it was North or South) and they did this amazing 20 minute show that blew the American crowd and everyone who saw it on tv.

Other than those I have seen bits in some movies or tv shows and that’s about it. Sometimes of knife throwers with amazing aim, some magical acts and some clown bits that draw laughs. But if were to join a circus I’d want to go all the way and do the most daring acts – those with lions & other cats. The lion tamer. Put my head into the jaws of a huge lion that looks so ferocious but he wouldn’t close his jaws to crush my head because he has been trained by me. That and make these big cats jump through hoops, do a little dance, chair jumps and make them behave as calm as pussycats.

That’d be me in the circus, drawing the most gasps and the oohs and aahs.

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

Apr 14 2013

A Kerala Power & Weather Rant

Time for a climate related & government & Kerala rant. I hate this weather. We are so screwed. Let me start by reminding you that in my part of the world we have just two seasons : monsoon and heat. Call it summer, call it whatever; it’s just heat & fucking humidity. When it rains it can rain a lot and I kind of like that. Then there’s a brief period in January early February when it’s a little bit more pleasant with the early mornings and late evenings being a bit cooler but then bang we come to the end of Feb and March and it’s fucking hot. Energy sapping, sweat inducing, moisture robbing heat & humidity. That’s what we have now and it’s annoying as hell.

Kerala depends on Hydo-Electric plants for the majority of the electricity with the dams and the water level in Iddukki being a constant topic of discussion for all Keralites. We depend on the rains for providing that water and usually we have a heavy monsoon that takes care of the supply of water needed for the power demands of the state. Last year the monsoon was weak and we didn’t get much water. Whenever this happens we have scheduled power cuts in weekly rotation timings each evening to save electricity usually for 30 minutes a day and between the peak hours of 6pm and 10pm. With that scheduled power cuts they also sometimes have unscheduled power cuts during the day in certain areas depending on the whims & fancies of the deranged assholes working at the controls – or so it seems! This past year it has been bad. 1 hour power cut a day, 30 minutes in the morning and 30 in the evening. Starts from 6am to 10am and 6pm to 10pm. And now we have unscheduled power cuts during the day as well.

And for the past few days we have 2 hour power cuts a day – scheduled! Yes 2 hours a day. This week my area has been having the power cuts for 30 minutes each at 7am, 9am, 1pm and 8pm. And yesterday the motherfuckers cut the power to my area 3 extra times in the evening for who knows what reasons. It just kept going off and coming back on – looks like like someone at the controls at KSEB was either having fits or rolling around on the controls having sex! Man, woman or animal – I’m not sure! KSEB is run by incompetent shemales who can’t distinguish between power sockets their own assholes! Plugs might go in anywhere, in any hole!

I have no idea when the state is going to have it’s power issues and their shit back together. I know some other states have it really bad but the problem is that this state is so complacent with a bunch of old, uneducated & corrupt men who are just interested in filling their pockets and don’t care about progress. We should have gone to solar power a long time ago and not depend on the rains as much as we have. Imagine if we had both options and Kerala could actually move forward. But no! Screw your parties, screw your politicians, fuck the Kochi metro talks and all that shit!

By Roshan • Cochin, India, Kerala, Ramblings • 2

Apr 8 2013

Facebook vs Twitter

Do you feel like you “get” social media, or do you just use it because that’s where all your friends and family are?

I think every is on Facebook/Twitter and other such sites (I’m gonna use these two as the main talking points since they are the most popular) for a few similar reasons. Beyond the main reason – in that it’s where everyone is and it’s an easy way to keep in touch and communicated some ideas, thoughts, announcements, videos & photographs. Facebook has shown it to be easy to make a lot of new friends and reconnect with old ones that you had previously lost touch with. And ofcourse lose a few and make a few more enemies along the way! That’s a given.

But I think it’s also a way to reach out to like minded individuals, form communities, share important messages and conducts meetings. I’m not just there to share jokes and videos. There are people on it who just want to say hi to all their friends, wish them good morning/good afternoon/good evening/good night and happy weekend and share pics of babies, animals & flowers and goodies. I hate it when guys over here have their new picture taken, post them and then tag all the girls in their friends list. What the fuck is that all about? Ofcourse they should be able to do that if that’s what they want but have some substance in your posts atleast once in a while. I’d post food, animals & the occasional cute baby in a funny costume pic as well but there is a lot of other stuff that I write about and post pics/videos about.

And ofcourse since I am an atheist it’s even more annoying when some people continuously posts the ‘i am nothing without god’, ‘throw yourself at the feet of god’ type posts all day and nothing not one one valuable thing to contribute. How un-uplifting is that? god is great and we are shit! Bunch of morons. I can understand the few posts here and there but come on grow a pair of balls and get on with your one and only life. And my last rant is those Facebookers who only posts images of things that they like but don’t say anything at all. I mean no words, no comments just image after image after image.

Atleast Twitter is different. No one remains on Twitter unless they have some stuff to say. And it’s always interesting. Some people may start an account at first but soon lose interest when they can’t come up with stuff to say or share.

By Roshan • Net Stuff, Photos, Ramblings • 1

Apr 5 2013

ICICI Bank’s Service Sucks

I am wondering how low can bank service go in India and the King of them all ICICI Bank shows me that they are definitely deserving of their status – as the worst in how to deal with customers. They are utter useless and pathetic. They don’t have the decency to call back a customer who has sent them several emails asking for an explanation or clarification and their managers cannot be bothered to call you back unless you have called them several times asking for a status update.

I got it into my head that I finally needed a credit card and applied for one for the first time in my life. Unfortunately my current bank, Federal Bank, does not have credit card services and hence I had to apply elsewhere. So I did to ICICI, HDFC & Citibank which are the three major ones and to some others as well. The other banks have terrible online services and I am still to get a call back from several of them despite registering for a card back in February. Citibank rejected me while I applied online. That left me with HDFC and ICICI and I applied to them both. Frustrated with the online option for ICICI, I went down to their office in MG Road and asked to speak to someone regarding credit cards. I was guided to a manager and I told her all my details and showed her the documents I had with me for the card. She looked it over and said that I would need a signature on my bank statement (from Federal bank) and that once I get it she would send an agent over to my office to collect the details and to help me fill the form. When I told her that I had already filled the online form and that I got a call back from a girl who said that an agent would come to meet me, she said that the online format was not reliable and that she would send me someone.

OK, so the next day the agent came to my office and I gave him all the documents and filled out all the forms. Since my current company does not provide Pay Slips to employees I got a Salary Certificate from the HR department and gave that to him. Now both he, the agent, and the lady manager said that this would be enough. So I signed everything, filled in everything and he took the form and went back to the office. I was told that I would have to wait for a month. Ok not a problem! About 10 days later I got an email from ICICI’s credit card section saying that:

Dear Roshan Gopal Krishnan,

We thank you for your interest in ICICI Bank Credit Card.

We have processed your application ID 6089359969 using the information and documents submitted by you and additional criteria as applicable, which includes the following:

1. Eligibility criteria of ICICI Bank
2. The viability of the proposed purposes of the credit facility
3. Past borrowings by you (if any)
4. An existing Credit Card application under process (if any)
5. Your prior experience in respect of the proposed purpose and
6. The regulatory and statutory provisions governing ICICI Bank.

Based on the above, we regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you the credit facility at this point in time. However, this is not a reflection of your credit worthiness.

For any clarification or more information regarding this matter, please e-mail us at creditcard@Loans.ICICIBank.com.

Sincerely,
ICICI Bank Credit Cards Team

Not understanding why I was rejected I called the agent. It took him 5 days to answer me – I called him once he said he would get back. I called him the next day, he said he would call back. I waited two more days and he finally tells me “I forgot to check”! Then he said he would get back to me, which he finally did – “Sir, there is no issue. We just need additional documents”. What documents? He did not know. Frustrated I called this lady manager – it took me 10 days of calling her to finally get through. She was on leave due to health issues or something and she said she would call back – she didn’t for several days. Finally I called back “I forgot your number”. Finally she said she had checked and it was because I don’t have a salary slip and since my salary is in a non-ICICI account they have kept the application on hold. But she said that usually a salary certificate would be ok and she said she will check and call me back. 2 weeks pass by and I get no call from her. I sent her an email – she does not reply back!

Finally I called her but she was on another call and she called me back. The status is the same – my application is on hold as there is no salary slip. Did she not know this would be the case when I applied? Did the agent not know this? They work for the same bank and yet she tells me “from Chennai it is the decision!” like she isn’t part of the company. What’s more the email id that the bank gave me to send for any clarifications “creditcard@Loans.ICICIBank.com” is useless. I have sent 6 emails to them asking for a clarification but no reply back till date.

Do they treat all prospective customers this shabbily or did I win some fucking contest that they ran?

By Roshan • Cochin, India, Ramblings • 1

Apr 1 2013

A Little Bit About Racist Slurs

I was discussing racist slurs on Facebook yesterday after I heard someone – a white Roman Catholic member of the church (not a pastor but a practising member, as he so proudly put it) – who called in an Atheist tv call in show and referred to the previous caller, who was an Indian, as “Curry Eater”. I didn’t get that at the first listen and had to replay that part to get what he exactly meant. He said it with a little laugh; a smirky little gesture to the hosts of the show as in “hey fellow white guys, THAT curry eater”. Now he said this just as his call ended and therefore the hosts didn’t get a chance to speak to him about it. When they clarified with others in the studio that it was what he said, they got pissed off. Guess what, the atheists on the show also happen to be humanists and they hated that the caller used that term, albeit a mild/moderate racial term, for the Indian caller. Infact, one of the hosts remarked “I eat curry, fucker!”

That was the first time I had ever heard that term being used. As a brown man living in India, I have not faced much racism – the most I have ever heard was from an African-American lady who was hired as a trainer for Ameircan culture & accent training by a BPO company I worked for in Calicut back in 2002-03. When she got angry she would blast at us and say stuff about Indians and Indian culture. Once she said something like “Indian women are only good for making babies” at the girls. Some of us complained to the management and she had to apologize to the girls in question. And I don’t really think of her being a racist; she has many moments of affection to us and even gave each batch of hers a party at the end of the training period. When she got upset she would have moments of outburst and some of the words happened to be racist.

What I have faced is something different – Indians who differentiate & discriminate based on state and culture. The Southern states have a much different culture than Central and Northern India. As do the states in the North East. Language & food is very different too. Can we call such discrimination as racism? I guess when you look at it as descendants of Aryans and Dravidians being the differences in us, maybe. The worst thing I hear is “you bloody South Indians”! To which some of us have countered as “you bloody North or Central or East Indians”! South Indians are ofcourse those from the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Kerala plus Pondicherry. We descended from Dravidians and hence the differentiation. What I hate most is to be called a ‘Madrasi’ from an ignorant idiot!

Madras is the old name (read that the English name) for Chennai, which is in Tamil Nadu. I have never been to Madras/Chennai – ever. My family is from Kerala. I am a Keralite. An Indian, not from the South ofcourse, using the term ‘Madrasi’ to anyone from the 4 southern states is more ignorant and idiotic and, yes if I may, a whole lot racist as well because he/she clearly has no idea about his own country and people. India is large yes – it’s not that not that large! I remember blowing up at a shopkeeper in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) who asked me where I had just dialed using his payphone, as he didn’t recognize the are code. So I said that I had called my parents back home in Cochin. He didn’t know where Cochin was, so I said Kerala state. “Oh Madrasi!” When I corrected him he refused to acknowledge that he was wrong, claiming to know more about the area where I was from than me! So I swore at him and storm out of the shop after slamming the money down on his counter.

A couple of years before that while I was in Bangalore, I was approached by two hostel mates – one guy from Haryana and the other a Sikh from Punjab – while I was chilling in the hostel terrace. We spoke casually for a while and introduced ourselves and all was fine until they asked me where I was from. So I said “I’m from Cochin, Kerala”. “Are you a Hindu, Muslim or Christian?” At that time being 19 I didn’t always tell people I was an atheist so I said “Hindu” as that’s what my family is. “Oh you’re a Brahmin“. In the old Hindu caste system, Brahmins were the priests, scholars & ascetics. My family’s caste is Nair-Menon and we are not from the Brahmin caste. I told them this – but they refused to believe me! Those morons said “If you are from South India and you are a Hindu then you must be a Brahmin!” Again – claiming to know more about me & my family than I do. I was red with rage and told them that if you are from the states that there were from and didn’t accept when they were wrong – they must be idiots! And I walked away!

By Roshan • Personal, Ramblings • 2

Mar 27 2013

Them Three Wishes

You have been granted three wishes. The caveat is that you cannot wish for anything for yourself. What do you wish for?

Ok, so a genie or some such mythical creature, that I have somehow invoked, is going to grant me 3 wishes and I can wish for any three wishes except that it cannot be for myself – what kind of stupid ass genie is this? Is this from the retarded Arabian Nights and not the original authentic storyline? Geeze, I get 3 wishes but cannot do anything for myself directly! So what shall I wish for? Don’t rush me!

Wish # 1 : I wish that all religions & religious beliefs to be chucked out of human consciousness. Thereby every human becomes humanists and go out of their way to help one another. No more wars based on religious differences and all that crap. All humans are treated equally and woman’s rights are upheld and no such issues arise.

Wish # 2 : People get more involved in science, building a better world and bettering ourselves. The jobs for money and wealth is pushed out the window. Instead we work for a safer & more environment friendly world for us and for the generations ahead of us. The search for alternative fuel sources is enhanced and we ensure that we can feed, cloth, medicate & provide shelter for the entire world’s population. We also find ways to replicate food, water and other essential materials so we never have short supply of anything.

Wish # 3 : Space exploration for all. Just like Star Trek. Make Star Trek a reality. Ooh and make the entire earth’s population immortal. That indirectly means me as well but what the heck? It’s my wish!

By Roshan • Ramblings • 1

Mar 21 2013

Alien Life Out There?

Do you think that there are aliens out there somewhere in the universe

We live in the Milky Way galaxy, as we have named it. This is just one of the galaxies that we can see with the most powerful of all telescopes on earth. There are probably more than 170 billion (1.7 × 10¹¹) galaxies in the observable Universe. Please note – observable! As to the actual number of galaxies in the universe – we have no idea. Galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million stars to giants with a hundred trillionstars.
The number of stars, galaxies, planets are other objects in this universe. I remember someone once told me, while we were at the beach, that if you could count all the grains of sand on the earth and get a finite number, it would still be no where near the number of stars in all of the universe. I’m inclined to agree. For now I’m gonna say that the universe is infinite and there is no way we can ever know the exact number of stars, planets or galaxies.
Similarly there will be atleast 5 to 10 times more planets that revolve around these stars in various galaxies across the universe.
And, probably there must be atleast 30 times more satellites/moons that revolve around those planets.
Atleast 5% of those planets and moons can support life as we know it. There are probably life forms we have no clue about and haven’t identified as a life form as of yet due to our limited experience and thriving on 2%-5% of the planets & moons somewhere in the universe. And probably 1/16th of these planets have or can have support sentient life on the surface or underground or under water.
So it is not crazy at all to imagine that there must be other life out there and yes aliens do exist. As to what each person’s idea of what an alien looks like, say for example humanoid forms, I can’t say whether any of these alien species will look like that. I suppose that a few of these alien races will look similar to us, if their planet is quite similar to ours.
And now the main one – out of all the varied types of alien life form that possibly could exist in a few of these planets in our galaxy and the other galaxies are intelligent & advanced enough to be able to communicate with us and are there any aliens who had, have or will have the capability to travel through space and eventually find us before we find them?

I’m not one of those people who believes in all the alien abduction stories out there which means that aliens are in contact with this planet on a frequent basis but have not revealed themselves to the general population but instead abduct people randomly for experiments and stuff. The ancient alien theories/conspiracies while interesting and fun does not really hold water and there isn’t much credible proof to support it. Although that would explain some of the stuff from our history! So if you ask me, I have no clue if aliens do exist and have been here – but I believe that the universe is far too vast to be inhabited only by us humans and wouldn’t that be such a colossal waste of space real estate – that is ridiculous!

Who knows? We may have already come into contact with aliens but we just don’t know it. Or maybe some will find us eventually in the future. The possibilities are limitless. But if they do come, I hope they come in peace. And that they bring beer!

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

Mar 17 2013

One Week Of Pampering

You wake up tomorrow morning to find all your plans have been cancelled for the next seven days and $10,000 on your dresser. Tell us about your week.

$10,000 is Rs. 5,40,200. Wow so that’s a lot of money. So what would I do if I got all that cash to do as I please. Well, off the top of my head here’s what I can think of. Well…..I’ll take 1 lakh rupees (1,00,000) and give it to my folks. Do whatever you want with it folks and enjoy the week. No, I’m not coming with you. I want to be alone and enjoy myself.

I’d go and buy the latest BlackBerry Z10 and a new laptop. Then I’d buy a whole new wardrobe and some new furniture for the apartment. A sofa, a computer chair & table, a recliner and a large bookshelf. And then I’d spend the rest of the week in total relaxation. I’d book myself in a luxurious hotel/spa and pamper myself. Massages, skin treatment, body waxing (?? I dunno where that came from) and grooming. Take bath in wine and all that stuff. Take a houseboat on a long ride along the backwaters, eat crab roast, lobsters and pomfrets for lunch and dinner. Then back to the spa/hotel for more rest and relaxation.

I’d also like to go on a helicopter ride of the city and neighbouring places. That would be awesome. At the end of the week, broke once again I go back to my real life.

By Roshan • Ramblings • 2

Mar 13 2013

Who Should Write My Biography?

If you could have any author –living or dead – write your biography, who would you choose?

Hmmmm, who should get the honour of writing my biography? I don’t read that many non-fiction books and therefore find myself not able to give an answer for this blog prompt as quickly as usual. However it would be easy for me to pick an author who writes fiction who could do a wonderful non-fiction work on my life.

I guess Stephen King is the first name that come to my mind. I’d shit in my pants if Mr. King would want to write about my life and I couldn’t be happier about it. Ofcourse then I’d want him to give some eerie touches to my story and add some ghosts, goblins, monsters and vampires to the book. Some aliens too! That would be fabulous.

Michael Chrichton, if he were still alive, would be the next choice. Jurassic Rosh – that would be the title of the book! He’d give it a real scientific touch and go deep into the making of all that is me. And that is who I’d want to write my biography.

By Roshan • Ramblings • 0

Mar 12 2013

Write A Letter To Your 100 Year-old Self

Dear 100 year old me

I hope you have remembered to put on your heavy thick glasses because, grandpa, you should know that you can’t read anything without them on. Do you have them on? Good. How are you you old fart? You just turned 100 you say. Holy crap that is ancient, dude. I can see that all the remaining hair on your head is completely white. But dude, what’s with your pubes that it is also snow white! And can you even get it up anymore? No, didn’t think so. When was the last time you were able to get it up, 20 years ago?

There now, don’t fall asleep on me. I know you are 100 years old but geeze old man, stay awake for the duration of this letter atleast. So does it feel to be a 100 and outlive all the people your age and a lot of people younger than you as well? Bet you are glad that you signed that long term insurance deal / cable tv package / cell phone connection now aren’t you? What’s that, you don’t even remember what your friends or family members looked like anymore? That’s a shame. So how do you spend your days other than napping 6 times a day and peeing & pooping in a pan? How’s that hot home nurse you have at your beck and call? Did you ever pinch her butt? No – not even once? Everyday?- atta boy!

So Rosh did you ever think that you’d ever live to be a 100? Not the greatest thing in the world is it? I mean young people seem to like you and want to take a picture with you but it’s not anything great. You can’t do much so you are confined to yoru house, sitting in your big comfy chair or lying in bed. Once a day that hot nurse takes you in your wheelchair for a spin around the house and the street but each time you get confused as to is it the same place or not as your memory isn’t what it used to be. And you can’t read or watch tv anymore. And it’s no fun falling asleep and peeing in your pants. What is it that you miss the most of your youth?

Do you have many regrets? Do you want to live a few more years or do you wish it could all end now? Was it worth it to live on for a century? Don’t you just hate being all alone with all that you loved and who loved you long gone?

By Roshan • Personal, Ramblings • 0

Mar 11 2013

I’d Want To Start A …

You’re given a plot of land and have the financial resources to do what you please. What’s the plan?

Ok, this is now one of the top things in my list of ‘Things I hate about living in India’ – the bad beer we get! All we get are lagers throughout most of India. It seems that there a handful of craft/microbreweries in India (I hear of one in Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh and Panchkula in Punjab and Gurgaon, Haryana ) – about 20 in total, some of which are quite small and the nerve of this one journo who says that the microbrewery business is “booming” in India!! 20 in some North Indian cities and Bangalore and all of a sudden its’ booming. Typical North Indian attitude of overstating and also forgetting the rest of India!

All I can get is lagers; commercial, plain, bland as hell and bad beer. Like one American who told that although he loves India he says we have the worst beer in the world. Well I dunno about the world but yeah, our beer sucks. Big time! It hasn’t helped that I’ve been watching so many youtube videos of beer reviewers in North America, mainly Canadian ones and the description and visual appeal of the beers that these guys gets drive me crazy. I want a hefeweizen, I want a chocolate stout, I want a coffee porter, I want an Irish red ale!! I want to try all those beers and if I can’t European, American or Canadian ones, then I’d want to be able to get those qualities of beer over here. So I’d like to start a brewery!

So if I am given the plot of land and given the financial resources, I’d build a brewery and hire some top ace brewers and have a brewrey running over here in Cochin. I’d make them use the choicest ingredients and make all the types of beer that I’d want to taste. IPA, red ales, porters, stouts, imperial stouts, hefeweizens, altbiers, brown ales and fruit flavoured beers. I’d sell them here in small quantities, make a profit first and then start expanding the business as we grow and I can afford to make more.