Patience testers

Let me describe the following situation to you. I am with my family and after a long day of work and shopping we are finally at the BigBazaar checkout counter. I wiggle into a queue with only one couple in front of me. He has a cart full of items, should take no more than 3-4 minutes to check out. The cashier tallies the amount, it comes to Rs.4000 odd . So far so good.

Out come couple of BigBazaar gift vouchers. After counting it is figured out that still around 3000 Rs is to be paid.

Then comes the dreaded Ticket Restaurant Meal vouchers. Slow and methodical counting in progress and I am tapping my feet impatiently. [ I can never for the world figure out why folks cannot start counting once the cashier is tallying up the items ]. Well guess what, even after like 5 minutes of counting, still around 1500 is owed in balance.

Here comes a credit card now. Phew, finally the end seems near !! But no, looks like there is no easy getaway today

Cashier : “Sir, since you have shopped for 4000, you can get a crockery set for 150. Would you be interested ?”

Of course he would be interested, his whole purpose on earth seems to be to torture people behind in the queue. Off goes his wife to check out the crockery.

Another 5 mins pass. And the cashier won’t bill , because the guy won’t swipe till his wife comes back and tell him if to buy the crockery or not. I am already fantasizing on what I would do with a set of crockery on this guy’s head !!

Finally the wife come back and happily informs him that there is no need to buy the crockery set. Happily he checks out and leaves. Not a word of apology or acknowledgement to the people behind.

I am not a violent man, but boy if I do turn to violence I know exactly the kind of people to go after !!

And I do have a pathological hatred for anyone who pays by Ticket Restaurant vouchers.

Beards

Getting bored of seeing the same old face in the mirror, I am considering sporting one of those cool beards.

[Source : http://nixbased.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/beardtypes1.jpg]

As per the above picture, I am realizing that my normal experiments with facial hair has either been a “Short Boxed beard” or a “Van Dyke”.

Now I am considering a “Fu Manchu” or “The Zappa” .

What do you think ? :-)

You’ll never walk alone

As I have mentioned before, sports can be a great mood elevator. Just listen to the Liverpool anthem and you will know why ..

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Walk on walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone

 

Robert Enke

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8361113.stm.

Though I am a keen football follower, I had not heard of Robert Enke till he tragically took his own life. Apparently was almost a certainty as the first choice goal keeper for German national football side for 2010 world cup.

And just 32 years old too, an year younger than me. A professional footballer, one trained to perform in front of thousands. A man who you would think to be well equipped to handle the highest order of pressure.

This should be a true eye opener on how dangerous an opponent depression can be. When all your sense of logical thinking disappears and only negative thoughts hover in your mind. When you just cannot see even a shred of hope, while in reality things are not quite as bad.

Really, how low must he have been feeling to perform this act ? I only hope that is a low I would never feel ………..

RIP Robert Enke.

Children’s day

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
And He bends you with His might, that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, he loves also the bow that is stable

Khalil Gibran from The Prophet

The Lost Symbol

Just finished reading yet another of Dan Brown’s books, this time it is the latest one : The lost Symbol

I don’t know why I keep bothering to read his books, each one is progressively worse compared to the previous one. Last one I read was Angels and Demons and that was pretty average.

It is not the Symbol that is lost, it is Dan Brown’s brain that has got lost.

And I am lost for words to describe this book :-) Abysmal , is that the correct word to describe this ? Seems too mild.

Hard cover edition too, would definitely be good to squash a few cockroaches !!

Stay away at all costs !! If you simply have to read this , then don’t waste money. I will gladly gift you my copy.

Me , myself and Pradeep

The past few days have not been good. First my family went back to Calicut on Wednesday night . This time they had come here to secure my daughter’s school admission for June next year. We finally got her admitted to VIBGYOR high after considerable debate. Seems like a good school. Only time will tell if we are good enough parents to make sure our little one gets proper values and education.

After my family went back, I slipped into one of my customary moody state of minds.  I am usually very silent and irritable when in this mood. My food habits become very irregular and I am usually a bit curt or even rude. I can feel the transformation signs, but sadly there are very few things I can do to control them. The only thing that has worked for me is to brood a couple of days then get back to normal. It works in a certain time cycle, I cannot accelerate or decelerate the process !!

Very frustrating, especially because I realize I am upsetting a lot of my friends when I go into this shell.  But hopefully this is a part of life that will be gone forever once my family joins me in a few months. What if I lose a few battles, I will win the war for sure !!

Then I decided to foolishly volunteer for doing some wall scrubbing and painting, for a moment forgetting my old friend – Asthma. That friend does not take forgetfulness very lightly , and I was punished heavily for my indiscretion. The dust and turpentine smell was a bit too much for me to handle and I was out for close to 3 days before I could raise my head somewhat. 

So rearing my head back up again slowly now. On the prowl for a few books to read.