American Jets, Iranian Gas

USA is trying to make IAF buy F16 and/or F18 jet fighters from it's companies. It assures us it won't let any sanctions prevent the delivery of those jets after a deal is made. Now, We are being threatened by none other than Condaleeza Rice herself about sanctions if we proceed with gas pipeline from Iran. Now, if the government decides to go ahead with the pipeline, and sanctions are placed (because the USA doesn't like Iran), would they stop Boeing and/or Lockheed Martin from selling those aeroplanes to us? What will happen to their promises of them being the 'most reliable suppliers,' who want a 'longlasting friendship?' How the hell can they deal with this cognitive dissonance? Would Pakistan be affected inspite of it being a 'major non-NATO ally?' I guess they will be given more armaments for trying to help Iran 'return to the mainstream.'

Did you know?

Did you know that the default music played when a text message is received is the morse code for SMS?
... -- ... -> S M S
:o

Weekend in South Bombay

Wooh, wasn't that a weekend!

This guy, who used to work with greenpeace, is in town working - as he says, spamming. We decided to meet up before his assignment here ends. We went to Sterling Theatre to see 'The Ring 2,' which I personally found very boring. My friend says I should have watched the first part to understand this. Not only were the twists so predictable, they could've made the scary little girl more scary. With the peace in the movie constantly interrupted by the non-stop chattering of a bunch of boys and girls sitting before us, many 'enthusiasts' also 'forgot' to switch off their mobile phones, which were constantly ringing. Another annoyance was the high price of the snacks in the movie hall. Popcorn in a small cup cost Rs 25, and tea in a tiny cup was Rs 10! I get more tea than that outside for Rs 3!!

With this 'very scary' movie over in less than 2 hours, we decided to go to another movie hall nearby, Eros. I thought all the platform book stalls were removed by the corporation, but I saw some shops and decided it was better to spend the money on books. I got 3 books for Rs 20 each, and greenpeace dude got a couple of science fiction books for almost Rs 100 each. Sci-fi books are so scarce in this 'great city of learned people,' where I can't find any libraries, that a 40 year old book has to be bought second-hand for Rs 150! I was so enraged by this daylight robbery that we decided to give ourselves a discount - 100% :x Just one book though, which turned out to be some victorian erotica. I gave the book to greenpeace dude.

Peace!

Bummer

My boss is on leave for the last few days, so I thought I can take a leave out of my accumulated 2 leaves per month. Today the HR person, who likes playing Solitaire and Freecell a lot, tells me my holidays start only after 6 months and this is coming out of my paycheck D: They have policies for everything and they tell you only after it has happened.

Weee!kend

This saturday, I was supposed to visit a play Vagina Monologues, along with some b-school buddies. Vagina Monologues was banned at the last minute in my home town, Chennai, notorious for being conservative and backward. It was banned by the police commissioner himself, instead of doing what he was supposed to do - prevent crimes and protect the citizenry of Chennai. But, solving murders and thefts is not as important as stopping a play, because it has a dirty word in it.

Empty chairs and wealthy socialites were the only people watching that play, till Mallika Sherawat announced she would be appearing in it. The enlightened males of Mumbai, suddenly wanted to espouse the cause of women worldwide, and to catch a closeup of the bomb filled the stands, and we did not get a ticket. They wouldn't have known just some women went on stage to talk, contrary to what the title suggested. What a disappointment it must've been to those neouvo-feminists.

Saturday was shot, but Sunday was good. I attended this cool party in a place that thought it was the only club, or atleast the best club in the world, so christened itself 'The Club'.

Either pasta was the worst food made on earth (next only to Japanese food), or they made their pasta appear so. After two hours of ear-shattering cacaphony called club music, I had to endure their food. Then, people did not go to these clubs to eat.

One notice common among all clubs and parking lots in India would be the notice "parking at owner's risk." 'The Club' had three checkposts and dozens of guards before a car was parked, but still they had the notice - Parking at owner's risk. If a thief managed to steal the car beyond the three checkposts, the club still shirked its responsibility. Maybe it was to protect the club from the club's lorries and transport vehicles jumping to 50 kmph in that tight place. Anyway, found out that one of my seniors was staying in the building next to mine! So, we returned together at midnight, something the police in Chennai wouldn't have approved of. I was stopped atleast three times and made to give the breath test when I was in college after 10pm because the police on the high moral ground (and lurking in the shadows) thought they are protecting me from the 'other drunken drivers')

This morning, as soon as I stepped into the office, my boss berated me left and right for not completing my work, in front of all. That seemed to realistic in my 8 am dream, that made me rush to work hurriedly to find myself in a meeting.

I feel so sleepy, but I have places to go, people to see. Not really, I have a load of work to do by this evening. That reminds me, I have a load of clothes to wash this evening. Groan!