XYZ : What do you do?

Me : I'm doing CA.

XYZ : Oh, which year?

Me : ??!!

I mean, what would anyone answer to that?!

Another thing I have noticed is that most of the students who have taken up commerce in school know about the science stream and the various courses offered to them, but its not so the other way round.
Why? Ignorance? Or is it just the fact that the "commerce courses" are not as popular as BE / BTech / MBBS?

Few things disturb me longer than usual

One such thing happened in Delhi few months back.

I was in a car waiting at a signal and few kids were doing their own thing to get money from the ones in the car. These children were not more than ten years of age and one among them was a very small kid. Hardly 4years. And I sat there with my eyes brimming with tears.

They are kids for gods sake! At their age I was probably having a good time listening to my grandmother's stories or playing with my brother. Not doing somersaults to get money from unknown faces. What really hit me was the fact that people could actually be blind to the raw reality before their eyes. While I was here secretly wiping away tears, there was a couple on a bike and the lady was all praises for how cute the boys performed! I was completely numb!

When did everyone become so insensitive? Do I actually live in such a society?

I have no answers!

IT giant gone down the drain

Yesterday about 1 p.m. we got the news about the Satyam scam. And the entire office came to a stand still and everbody was glued to the net.

Not everyday we get news about an IT giant inflating its Balance Sheet! I mean, 7000 cr is not such a small amount for heaven's sake! Where did all the money come from? Where did all the money go? How did that escape from the auditors eyes? I don't even want to get into the details... Inflating cash and bank balances is no joke. How on earth did they do it? Its not like inflating fixed assets!

The auditors is another story in itself. As a person entering this profession, I look up at PWC. Obviously many of us, though now doing articleship in small firms, want to get into Big 4 for employment on day. But this issue raises so many unanswerable questions. Even people in the profession like Mr. Pattibhiram are shocked. I mean if they're guilty in any way (which i'm sure they are), then what is our future? Would I still want to get into a job in PWC or E&Y? I don't know! Seriously...

As my boss said yesterday, this is a black mark for our profession.

Those who don't have to travel on weekends...

... through Mada Street in Mylapore are blessed!

Others were cursed with a vengeance!
Hmph!

Irony or Fate?

I sit here before a computer and look around the place I live in. I see a coffee mug near the monitor, a cell phone and an Ipod. There's a cot, a cupboard full of books and dress. Generally, leading a comfortable and happy life with hope for the future.

And then, I look out through the window and watch a girl of my age (or perhaps younger than me) collecting garbage from the bin outside my home. Clad in a old, filthy dress, a sack on her shoulder and a stick in her hand to look into the bin with no intention to think about her future. Will she even know whether she'll get food the next day? Does she know about so many beautiful things in life? Does she even care? This whole design of privileged and underprivileged children pains me. Why should she(and many others like her) suffer when another part of the world is enjoying? I know there's no answer for this.

Then, I closely look at her and realize what she really is. I see her as a fighter. For survival. For existence. But what is she fighting for? With whom is she fighting?

Sigh. It's better not to be so sensitive.

Who is to be blamed??

I recently had to give my bike for service. There was a small boy who cleaned my bike before the person in charge could hand over the keys to me. As usual I couldn't keep my mouth shut and asked the boy whether he goes to school. And he answered me that he had finished his twelfth standard! He hardly looked twelve years old! And the person in charge also affirmed his statement. I was totally shocked. And helpless!

Such kids exist everywhere. Not just in my area. And everyone knows about it.
Is there anything to help these kids?? They deserve more attention... They should not be working at this tender age! Something has to be done...

Road Safety Week

The road safety week is atlast over. I guess this kind of a hype will sustain for not more than a week! Since almost all are talking something or the other about road safety and stuff, i need to declare a few very important issues.
On 13th December,2006 i attended a seminar on road safety organised by the rotary club, chennai. I was compelled to go there, so naturally i had no choice. As usual there were a couple of verry boring lectures by few people from the Police Department, Insurance companies and a few others. But I was a bit shocked soon after i reached there. The “eminent” personalities had actually made the whole seminar thing as a platform to shift the blame on the student community for whatever traffic problems public facein chennai. Sadly, there was a Radio jockey from Big FM who had to conduct a group discussion among a panel consisting of the “eminent” personalities and a few students, and i was a part of it. Due to the so called time constraint, he had to stop the whole discussion abruptly. Well, let me complete:
1. Why don’t someone come to the Luz signal near Mylapore at around 6 in the evening and see how the police cars cross the road to park it? Does the RED,YELLOW and GREEN apply only to the public and not to the policemen? Are they colour blind?
2. What am i supposed to do if a signal shows all the 3 colours and there’s no policeman to guide us through? (This happens often in the Nilgiries signal, near Chola)
3. Why don’t one of the policemen come and snatch the license of the stupid autodriver who stops after the zebra crossing at a signal?
4. Most traffic snarls start only because there’s one Extra careful driver who doesn’t want the speedometer to cross 10! Why don’t anyone understand that? I’m not here to propagate the youth to go at 85-90.. But a decent speed will help.
I completely agree that there are a few creatures of my age who consider their bikes as aircrafts and scare the fellow riders to death! But not all. Make sure you have that in your mind.

A Matter Of Minutes..

Why do people do this??

AIDS?!? Cha!!!

the first, introductory paragraphs are so stupid..

SCENE: a family of four(lets say H,W,S,D for Husband, Wife, Son and Daughter) are all set to watch "alive coffee with anu" on vijay tv (The special guests being Mrs & Mr.Vishwanath Anand). but as usual H and S watch the stupid cricket match on set max.

a snippet of their discussion:

(W and D are furious)

W: andha coffe with anu podungalen.. indha loose match la enna iruku nu ipdi rendu perum paakareenga?

D (to H) : appa adha vei pa.. indha mandhira bedi a unakku paakanuma??

W: adhula vishwanath anandh varaan, naa paakanum. andha ad laye avan nanna irundhan. avan shirt kooda amazing.

H: konja neram rendu perum vaaya moodrela. we want to see this match. adhula ad potundu irukaan.. paaru!

( H switches the channel to Vijay tv and sees anu talking to vishwanath anandh.. H and S ku ore bulb)

W: evlo chinna paiyan madhri irukkan paaru

(in tv..)

anu: neenga ippo UNAIDS ku ambassador a vera irukinga, so can you just explain us about your role in this moble cause? neenga paatheenga na eppo lam tv la AIDS pathi sonnalum, channel a change panniduvaanga....

anandh: definitely, i think its important to talk about it with your family.....

( H switches the channel to that stupid match again)

W: yen adha maathinel? adha vaingo..

D: vai appa...

( S as usual remains silent)

W: unga appa eppavum ipdi dhaan pannuva..

H ( furiously) : avan AIDS pathi solraan.. unakku adha paakanuma??

W: aama.. enakku paakanum..
H: naa vekka maaten..

( and the discussion goes on..)

SCENE ENDS

well.. this may be an inspiration from he-she of ferrari, but i'm sure this kind of incidents do happen in everyday life.

what do you think about H.. male chauvinism, ignorance, shyness?.... I call it stupidity.

I really appreciated the move by Vijay tv for inviting anandh and to talk about this social cause.

i feel it is very important for people to talk about it. Especially with the growing HIV+ people in this country.. why don't people grow up?

Famous personalities are roped in as ambassadors for people to listen to them on important issues. But if this is the kind of attitude among people, then all the efforts taken up by these organisations are an absolute waste..