Rantaholic

Yes, that’s me. It’s 100% true and there is no denying it. I complain about a lot of things. I don’t bullshit but i complain. The last time i checked, if you are telling the truth i find that complaining is not a criminal offense in the Indian constitution is it a problem as per the Indian Penal code.

I complain about a lot of things that a lot of Indians complain about. Bad roads, a political system that does not work, tax money not being used for what it is intended, the law and order system that hardly exists and the lethargic attitude of Indians across the nation.

Before you brand me as a country brute and someone who brings disgrace to India and not being patriotic you should listen to my point of view, or alt east that’s what i assume is fair?

Statutory Warning: This post merely states facts. It is not about boasting what great things i do or what a pitiful and sorrowful life i live. Neither do i need the applause, nor the sympathy of any living grain on earth. I’ve been on my own and i think if i’ve managed to survive for the past 27 years, i think i can carry on for a few more years on my own.

Unlike other “normal” people who have the time in their hands i do not have time on my hands. I suffer from a post arthritic condition caused by a dislocated hip. In plain words this means my thigh bone may come off anytime now (it’s barely clinging on to my non existing hip socket) and when that happpens, i may A. if lucky die of pain & shock or B. be bed ridden for the rest of my life and have someone wash my ass for a daily chore (which i do not opt for) and i’d rather die peacefully and have things in place to take myself out, if option B happens.

So, because my time is short i see how precious life is and how i cannot afford to fool around and waste my time. I know i have only one life. Some may disagree and talk about re-incarnation and next birth, i request such hallucinated people to stay away from me. I’ve already been sold that and i trashed such nonsense long ago. Back on topic, i realize that we are not going anywhere as a nation unless and until there is a radical change in our attitude. I want to see change before i die, i fear that i may not for most valid reasons.

So if i can’t see and be the change, what the fuck is my life worth living for? I might rather die right now, get the point?

Every problem needs acknowledgement first that it is indeed a problem. Calling out terms like “India is a Great Country” to sound like a nice guy and be politically correct all the time and saying things like “Unity in diversity” kind of bullshit is in my personal opinion is ‘Spineless’. It may help you score more marks in school and be known as the nice guy amogst the girls but it will not get our society anywhere positive a place. We have bad roads, why don’t we acknowledge we have bad roads? We have democracy that does not work and a law and order situation which is skewed. We also have religious bigots who control the political situation, why know just accept facts as they are?

We know we are not “Unity in diversity” when it comes to issues of the society. Don’t give me that Italian Sonia psuedo prime minister, backward class president for Prathiba patil, christian ex defence minister et all. They came to power because they had the backing of their community and the money to do it. I come from a brahmin family. Getting my folks to vote for anyone other than the “brahminic jayalalitha” would be close to impossible. I’m damn sure it is the case for every other community and family too.

Unless you complain everybody assumes that everything is fine. Unless and until stated things wont be done. This is the basis of communication, it applies to every aspect of life. Home, work, health etc., If people decided to shut up and do nothing about the schmidt memorial this would not have happened. People complained like hell and then they got tired of complaining and started to do something about it. If you are in school and you are being bullied, you either gotta speak to your teacher or you speak to your parents. If you dont communicate you better learn karate to kick your bullies ass, otherwise sit in a corner and cry and make yourself mad. That is life, simple & plain like vanilla ice cream.

Lastly, i complain because i care. Unlike most indian middle class who have the “on top of the cow urine passing” attitude i fail to take no for an answer or for that matter any excuse that is invalid. I’m okay with paying tax as long as tax money is being used for the common good. I don’t stop with complaining, i act too. I work for a few things that i believe need radical change. For example, i work for transgender issues which i think needs addressing. I also work hard to address the bullshit god and religion has managed to loathe all these years and pull people out of the spiritual hallucinations that they are into all the time and make them see a little bit of reality in life.

When i take the pains to book a ticket in a train i fail to accept “please adjust” as an excuse in a reserved compartment. I fail to understand why i need to pay Rs. 100 to the guy who pushes my wheel chair in the airport everytime i come from overseas, when he is already paid to do the job. I fail to understand why i need to bribe someone to do their duty. Usually i find bribe as something to make someone do illegal or something that they are not supposed to do but only in my country do i see bribe as a means to get legal things done.

I feel responsible that im also a direct cause of all the problems. If i fail to acknowledge, if i fail to revolt, if i fail to speak against, if i fail to COMPLAIN then things will not change. Had we not complained when the british were ruling our ass we would still be a british colony. We complained and we never stopped which is why we are “India” now.

So the next time someone complains how shitty things are around them there are only two things you need to look out for.

1. Is there fact/truth in the complaint
2. Is there a validity in complaining, can influence and we at all make a difference.

So here is my 2 cents, i encourage all indians to complain, if possible go get a Ph.D on complaining and do it the expert way.

Just Beat It

Just Beat It
Originally uploaded by Dilip Muralidaran

I had a great time tonight, I went to a pub with friends and had loud and hard hip hop music played at volumes that would hurt your stomach. Music played my way, just like how it would please me at best. However going here to this place and getting to this fun with friends and having some good personal time for me is just not easy as you think it was.

Regardless of what the fuck Indians think on par with their Hindu dogma, I love a drink. I’m not much of a drinker but I find a good taste of vodka, vodka based cocktails and wine. I pay for my booze out of my paycheck, i don’t drink too much and throw up and make a scene, nor do I behave like a pig when I have a drink and of course I clearly know what I’m doing and I’m legally entitled to this shit as an adult Indian in this fucking country, so I don’t see why people should have a fucking problem with it, but some pussies think otherwise and fear their non-existent virginity being lost to a puff of evil whiff in the air god can blow out of his fart from heaven, sigh!

5 hours ago I headed to Dublin a very famous disco / pub at the ever famous Park Sheraton in Chennai to see a friend who invited me over for her birthday party. I head over to the place and just when we were about to get into the pub a bouncer tells me I cannot enter. Another one tells me I should not have come in the first place and it was unethical and stupid of me to have come. The former one says that physically disabled people should not be drinking and its immoral and illegal for them to do so. I told him that anyone over 21 years of age can inject whatever crap they want into their body in a free country like India (sarcasm intended, really!) but the dumb fellow says Its hotel policy not to allow physically disabled people inside the disco and an added logic of "he has a crutch, whats the use of him getting into a disco anyways" dialogue from another wussy while locking my laptop bag in safe custody locker. I ask for the manager and asked them to give me this stuff in writing.

I finally politely and discreetly threaten one of them that I would file a lawsuit for racism and as much as I hate it I had to play that fucked up racism card to let them now I’m a bad ass mother fucker when it comes down to business. Finally after a couple of phone calls and scratching their bald heads the cheap ass Indians think my business worth about Rs. 10,000 that night is worth the risk of them letting me in despite their hotel policy not to allow cripples like me into a disco. The best part is I had three women screaming “he is with me” at the top of their voice and yet I had to pay a cover charge of Rs. 1000, which is applicable for stags.

5 hours since this incident, I don’t regret putting up my stand. I have 3 large vodka’s inside me, a couple of new friends made across the globe, 3 hours of solid fun and 3 hours of thumping music to enchant my senses. Life is hard; sometimes it’s worth fighting for, like for example, today. However being told you are not worth entering a place in front of 3 random women whom you have just been introduced to 45 seconds ago, for any man, I can give it to you is no fucking joke.

Park Sheraton won’t get my business anymore; they can kiss their ass goodbye. I won’t schedule any of my office meetings or conference calls or training programs there anymore, unless I get an explanation whatever the fuck in the world they were trying to tell me this evening. My crutch isn’t my sign of weakness; it’s my symbol of empowerment. Despite a dislocated hip, a post arthritis condition that slowly damages my spinal cord to kill me and the excruciating pain I face every moment of my lifelike a screw driver drilled through my bollocks (yes, I really know what pain on the ass means) it gets my ass moving from point A to point B. If one can’t have the brains to understand that, maybe they should go back to school and stop watching too much mega serials, Tamil movies and leave their fucking religious morality and views at the fucking doorstep when they come to work.

Canon EOS 400D with the Sigma EF 24 - 70 MM F/2.8, Aperture Priority, F/4 at 1/200th of a Second.

Photography Assignment

Jayanth Sharma has an interesting offer for Amateur Photographers. The gig goes like this…

“I am looking for one person who can assist a Photography Expedition
in the coming weeks. The requirement is for an amateur photographer
with considerable knowledge/experience in Landscape Photography. The
person would be provided with equipment and all other facilities for
the expedition. His/her stay, travel, food and other misc expenses
will be taken care of. The duration of the travel will be about 3
weeks. How ever there would be no financial benefits to the candidate
but I am sure it will be a great learning experience.

Interested candidates please send me your brief profile with a link to
some of your photographs.”

So if you feel interested, please do send me an email and i shall put you on to her asap.

Black and red. Varanasi

Black and red. Varanasi
Originally uploaded by entrelec

My Flickr Contact Joel posted this today. Its so amazing how simple colours and the power of a composition can do to an image. I’m spellbound by this.

Black and red. Varanasi

Black and red. Varanasi
Originally uploaded by entrelec

My Flickr Contact Joel posted this today. Its so amazing how simple colours and the power of a composition can do to an image. I’m spellbound by this.

Debug Please

Debug Please

islam for Kids: mohammed

Nothing much to say, the video says it all.

islam for Kids: mohammed

Nothing much to say, the video says it all.

Happy Birthday Kadalai

Happy Birthday Kadalai
Originally uploaded by Dilip Muralidaran

Picture Shot at a Surprise birthday party we organized for this friend (read useless talkative fellow) at the Café Coffee Day in the Ascendas IT Park.

Kadalai, the Tamil word stands for “Ground Nut”. Gentlemen listen very carefully as Im about to equip you with some survival skills. Chennai dudes pardon the repetition, others you have to realize that your entire LIFE depends on what you are about to read below. I need your 101% on the text below. Turn off that mobile phone now! (Unless you are texting a girl)

Back here in Chennai, when you pointlessly talk to a chick with the intention of making something out of nothing in your hopeless desperation we call it “putting ground nut” or “Kadalai Podaradhu”. Its the accepted local slang for terribly insulting terminologies like flirting which is taboo in our pseudo culture.

The terminology comes from the late 80’s and early 90’s times when pizza was an unknown entity and coffee pubs were in mars. Women never wore sports bras on the road and men did not sport ear rings and the sky was blue and the whole world was a lot more innocent according to our old folks here, apparently. At that time the only available thing considering the amount of pocket money parents used to give their kids (which is not even enough to buy toilet paper) all you could buy was ground nuts. 2 rupees will get you so much groundnuts you could sit in the loo for days and not go to college.

So what do you do? Take any girl you can find, buy truck loads of ground nuts, find an isolated place, say for example under a tree ridden with poisonous bee’s or say at 2 in the afternoon at the beach sand (115 degree Fahrenheit only in Chennai) where even buffaloes dont tread into or say a useless box office flop that even the director dont watch twice and talk, talk, talk all that you want till your groundnuts bag is depleted.

This process is ISO 9001-2000 certified even before this certification existed and there is a theory that the Six Sigma training was conceived from such time tested processes. If you are not living in tamilnadu where women are already aware of this shit and nowadays expect you to take them to beach resorts and disco’s you can successfully deploy this methodology and move yourself from the lonely world of being single to a world of blossoms. As a Chennai’te I stand by this theory and take full responsibility for any consequences arising out of this. I mean, we folks KNOW that this WORKS!

Canon EOS 400D with the Sigma 24-70 MM F/2.8. Aperture Priority, F/4 at 1/60th of a Second.