Month: March 2015

What Can Older People Learn From Your Generation?

- Roshan

What Can Older People Learn From Your Generation?

Judging this solely from an Indian/Keralite perspective. I think the older generation can learn tolerance from my generation. For other cultures, people, races, languages, art, movies and music. There is this feeling of “western music (namely all genres of pop, rock, metal etc) is only for foreigners and that it will never compare to the “glory” or “grandeur” of Indian music – bollocks! It all depends on your tastes and what kind of music most “speaks” to you as you grow up and not the region or language or instruments (but we all know that rock n roll is the very best!). And as for devotional music – kissing the ass of imaginary creatures who are “so great and we are all shit” is not my idea of good music.

They can also learn to accept new food & dishes that were unknown to them till now. Just because it’s not Indian doesn’t mean that it’s automatically bad for you. No, you will not start raping women after lustfully chowing down some chicken chow mein. That is just plain ole bullcrap! Expand your palate and try out new food. You have a short existence on this earth and there are way too many delicious food that you will never get to try before you die.

Also stop treating your daughters like there are mere “delivery vessels’ for your grandchildren. You do not have to marry them of by the time they turn 18 and worry why this daughter of yours, who you forbade from talking to strangers all the years she was with you, has now failed to get pregnant a mere month after getting married to a stranger of your choice!!! Grow the fuck up! And if your son can choose a girl of his own to marry so can your daughter.

Prompt from The Learning Network Blog at New York Times.

Circle Of Five

- Roshan

A writer once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If this is true, which five people would you like to spend your time with?

I tried but I just can’t limit it to 5 people. I mean there are so many people who I admire, respect and who I adore and who inspire me. How can I limit it to just 5 of them? It’s next to impossible.

If it were just the people who I have met then still I have trouble but it’s a lot more easier than the previous scenario. I can probably put it down to 5 women who have instilled my desires and who I have loved in different ways. It’s not just all sexual you know. But one is a relative, two are my former teachers and 2 are ex-colleagues and friends of mine.  These are the women who I want to spend more of my time with as I rarely do get to see them and interact with them anymore.

And my life would be the richer for it!

Prompt from the Daily Post at WordPress.com.

Unboxing My New BlackBerry Q10 (White)

- Roshan

I finally have my new phone in hand. I ordered the phone via eBay on the 27th of February and was informed that the expected delivery date was the 3rd of March.

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However this morning when I checked the status in BlueDart (courier service) I saw that the device has reached the Cochin office by 11 am today. As their office is just a couple of kms away I knew that I could get it by this afternoon. I waited and by 12 pm I called their office and was informed that I would get it in a couple of hours as they have already dispatched it to be delivered. By 1:30 pm I got the device at my apartment.

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I did a quick unboxing and only then realized that this phone uses a microSIM and that I would need to get a new SIM at the Vodafone office that was nearest to my residence. And so after the unboxing I made my way there and got a new replacement microSIM for my phone.

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And now it’s a matter of getting internet activated (I’m changing data plans), downloading my apps (I don’t use too many and some of them come preinstalled anyways) and getting used to the touch screen portion of the phone. Worst this is that I haven’t backed up my numbers from my old phone to the new SIM and therefore will have to do them manually which is going to take a long time.

Meanwhile, here is the unboxing video. She is to be named “Isabelle”!

Arsenal 2 Everton 0

- Roshan

Arsenal bounced back from the midweek disastrous Champions League defeat by winning their 4th league match in a row. It wasn’t easy by any means and it wasn’t a brilliant confident performance but atleast the defense was more disciplined and structured. Olivier Giroud rewarded manager Arsene Wenger’s support with a goal as Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 to climb back to third place in the Premier League. Wenger kept the striker in his starting line-up even though he missed several chances during Wednesday’s 3-1 Champions League defeat by Monaco. Giroud volleyed in Mesut Ozil’s corner six minutes before half-time.

Everton’s Romelu Lukaku was denied by keeper David Ospina before Tomas Rosicky’s late goal sealed the win. The visitors were the better side for most of the second half but struggled to create clear chances, aside from Lukaku’s near-post shot from Ross Barkley’s cross, which Ospina tipped over brilliantly. Giroud’s selection proved pivotal to that win, as did Wenger’s decision to give centre-back Gabriel Paulista a first Premier League start in place of the out-of-form Per Mertesacker. But Giroud has had 12 efforts at goal in Arsenal’s last two matches – six against Monaco and six against Everton. The goal that he scored against Everton was his only effort on target. Gabriel was shaky at first, misjudging a long clearance and allowing Lukaku to get in behind him, with Ospina racing from his line to pat the ball clear.

But the Brazilian defender won applause from the home fans for a perfectly timed challenge as Everton’s Belgium striker threatened to tear through and score eight minutes before half-time. That lifted an Arsenal side who had been ponderous for the opening 35 minutes, and they were soon ahead. Giroud, who had earlier planted a header wide from eight yards out, found a few inches of space inside a crowded penalty area to turn a lovely low volley into the corner of the net from Ozil’s corner. Arsenal had to survive a significant spell of Everton pressure after half-time, but aside from Lukaku’s effort, the only chance came when substitute Aaron Lennon steered Seamus Coleman’s low cross straight at Ospina. Wenger’s side did finish strongly, and only a magnificent saving tackle by Phil Jagielka stopped Ozil scoring from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s through-pass. Rosicky eased the jitters of the home fans with a shot that was deflected past keeper Tim Howard by the unlucky Jagielka.

After 27 games Arsenal have 51 points and sit in 3rd place, one point more than Manchester United & 4 points below Manchester City.

Night Sky Fireball Update

- Roshan

Here is an update on the ‘fireball’ spotted in the night sky on the 27th of February:

A suspected depression or an impact crater, believed to be caused by a ‘fireball’ spotted on Friday night in several districts of Kerala, has been located in Karimalloor village in Ernakulam district today. The disaster management team which rushed to the spot suspects the crater could be caused due to a meteorite fall. “The samples collected by the revenue department have been sent for further verifications to GSI”, said Sekhar Kuriakose, heading the disaster management team.

Residents of Thrissur, Ernakulam, Fort Kochi and Kollam tweeted seeing the ‘huge fireball’ between 10 pm to 10.30 pm. According to the residents, a flash was seen across the sky and few cents of land in 2 different locations of Ernakulam district where the crater was noticed were also found charred. The locals said they felt tremors and witnessed sounds with the passing of the ‘object’. However, authorities of the Disaster Management team dismissed speculation that the ‘fireball’ could be celestial debris, as the consortium of space agencies closely monitors any space related activities and would have notified the management of any such appearance.

Mr Kuriakose even dismissed the ‘object’ as anything related to ‘metal’ as Air Traffic Control radar system would have recorded it. Meanwhile, science author and cosmology researcher, Rajagopal Kamath, said that the ‘fireball’ could be “a rocket or satellite debris. It also could be stony chondrite meteorites as in many places people have claimed that they have seen a bluish flame, which is peculiar to any meteorites.”

Latest update : IT WAS a fragment of a meteor!!

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

- Roshan

You have the chance to write one last post on your blog before you stop blogging forever. Write it.

So let me start by saying to some readers – this is a fictional post. I am not quitting blogging as I enjoy it way too much and it is such a release for me. This is just an answer to this blog prompt. So here goes :

This is my last chance to reach out to you. Stay good, be nice to each other. Forget about petty differences and man-man differences that lead to quarrels and worse. Who the fuck cares about your beliefs as long as you stick to the law and do right and behave like a decent human being? No amount of bloodshed is worth it, stop fighting and killing and forcing people to believe in the nonsense that you were indoctrinated into.

If you are going to destroy us all just get over with it – one large planet size bomb that only kills humans. No animals or birds please. They deserve to live on in peace. We don’t, not the way that things are escalating.

Prompt from the Daily Post at WordPress.com.