let the festivities begin

This week kicked off the festive season, starting with coinciding First Navaratri Day and Eid on the same day. The colours and celebrations would carry almost all the way up to Diwali and New Year, when Kites await their turn. Its amazing how each of the festival has its own food linked to it. Naming them here would be injustice to the ones that I forget, so I better not try. Even more amazing to me is the fact that schools and colleges remain closed on each of the major festivals. So if you ask a school kid, he’d like all festivals because he gets holidays. They know more about the festival schedules than elders. What a way to push for universal brotherhood!

I wonder why different families have different pet festivals. A few of my friends would make sure they are home for Diwali, some for Kite flying, some for Holi and some for Navaratri. I think it would be the elders psyche which permeates into the behaviour of the members of the clan. If I like something, I’m sure people around me would try and make it special (well maybe not if its outrageous). Like the Bachchans’ Holi is now well known, as Big B likes it. The funnier parts when the *stars* and wannabes addresses in the plethora of TV channels and now websites - "Hi, I’m so n so and wish you a very happy XXX."

The heads of the governments for the states and the centre would address the nation on the National Channel – Doordarshan, which again is such an amazement. Austerity and simplicity of DD will remain un-matched, forever. I’ve come across a parody celebrating its 50 years here. However jokes apart, what they achieved then, at that scale, was by no means a simple task and ridiculing it, I couldn't laugh at. At the risk of sounding to protective towards the civil or nationalized services, I would consider spectacularly managed channel networks less challenging today than a single channel in those times. I’m sure DD has lot of loyalists even now. Technology enables them with better ways of managing their services, if only they could manage their content better. The debates of what the state should or shouldn't regulate or control, but that's another story.

In today’s times, with many new ways of doing things, the way people communicate will evolve with time. But things don’t abate to amaze us do they? Like the Tharoor Tweetorama, a simple funny statement creates a furore, MPs squabble on TV shows like they’ve nothing better to worry about. I’m sure there’s more to come..

:)

American Ramayana !

This is a forward which I partially liked and thought was worth sharing..

Dude!
----------------
A young second generation Indian in the US was asked by his mother to explain the significance of "Diwali" to his younger brother, this is how he went about it...

"So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a bitch, and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something.... Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so.... he decided to get is wife and his bro along.... you know...so that they could all chill out together. But Dude, the forest was reeeeal scary shit... really man...they had monkeys and devil s and shit like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked with darts and bows and arrows... so it was fine. But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man, and also his bro, Laxman, pissed... all the gods were with him... So anyways, you don't mess with gods. So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys...Dude, don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys... just go along with me, ok...

So, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's ass in his own hood.... Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest... and anyways... it gets kinda boring, you know... no TV or malls or shit like that. So,they decided to hitch a ride back home... and when the people realize that our dude, his bro and the wife are back home.... they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice... and they didn't have any bars or clubs in those days... so they couldn't take them out for a drink, so they, like, decided to smoke and stuff ... and since they also had some lamps, they lit the lamps also...so it was pretty cooool... you know with all those fireworks.... Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks... and you know, what, dude, that was the very first, no kidding.., that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks..... you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff, you know.. And, so dude, that was how, like, this festival started."

The mother fainted...

Amazing timestamp

It's been a lot of backlog that I've got to cover! It's been a busy month so far and promises to be even busier.

Just realised it's going to be an amazing date time in a few minutes and wanted to get a post in!

Aiming for 09/09/09 09:09 ;) might not hit it, but anythings worth a shot isn't it?

Cheerio