“The content on this blog is very passionate and full of malicious intent. I wish that no one reads this.”, the author said when asked about the reason for such a decision. He also added that he has already talked to technology giants like Google and Facebook to take off his content from their servers. Both organizations commented that while it is entirely possible to remove the content on request of an individual, it would be against their principles of privacy to completely remove any content, which might appear removed to the end user.

It was pointed out to the author that the blog has been around for more than two years and no one had said a word about the issues with it. The author said, “I am really offended by what I read on my blog. That means that there is a need to ban it. It doesn’t matter what the rest of the country or the world thinks about it”. One journalist present asked the author to stop blogging in that case. However, he counter argued that he had nothing better to do when he ran out of options on how to waste time. He also confirmed that this had nothing to do with the upcoming elections, even though no one asked him about it.

However, Level Headed Idiot’s alter ego issued a press release later in the day and it read thus:

My brain’s other half has gone completely insane. He is an attention seeking W#0&3 and did all this for publicity. You and I know that no one gives two hoots about his lame blog and even if they did, the worst they would do is pull their own tongues and commit suicide instead of going out and outraging about it. He is completely bonkers and wants more attention than some people whom he thinks, get more attention than they actually deserve due to their contacts as well as the “you rub my back, I’ll rub yours” policy. Deep inside, he is also jealous that he is not even 1% as talented as most of the people, whose work he sees all the time. Above all, he is always making failed attempts to come off as an intelligent person and this ban, he thinks, will make the public realize his intellect.

Back after that laughing bout.

I know we have some crazy neighbours. And this is like saying, “WE HAVE ARRIVED GAIZ!”

Tell me one instance of a riot that was caused by the internet in this country. No, don’t talk about the Egypts and Libyas of the world. Why you ask? Athenikkishtamalla! Also, those were rebellions against the governments. Not riots between different classes(Technically, it was because it involved a clash between the political class and the common populace). In order to hide their own fallacies and hear only good things about them means they do this.

Anyway, they did something really stupid because the internet based Indians are always making fun of things and don’t really go out to riot after reading anything.

Also, if we hand pick the governments from countries like Somalia, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Egypt etc and mix and mash their mentalities, we get India.

I am going to apply for political asylum in some country like Canada. I’ll state the eccentricities of my government as the reason for seeking asylum.

Concluding by saying something offensive.

BEEF!

So, I just thought I’ll write whatever came to my mind to rediscover the mojo.

The pressure was self imposed. I think it needs to go.

I’ve been listening to a lot of new music(to me) lately. Opeth(Heritage), Devin Townsend, Black Dahlia Murder, Amorphis, Orphaned Land, Amplifier, Steven Wilson(Grace for Drowning), Iced Earth. Probably the first time I’ve been listening to as many bands at one point of time. It’s fun though. Being able to switch between genres and different styles and enjoy the variations and the finesse of each work. Reviewed an album here.

I read quite a lot in the last couple of months as well. Not a lot compared to the bookworms out there. But yeah. I read Secrets of Naga, A Clockwork Orange, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Dork 2, Catcher in the Rye, Mercy which is like 6 books in 7-8 weeks. With about an hour and half of reading everyday, I think I am doing just fine. I’ve got into this Shelfari thingy. Please have a look and let me know if there are any good books that I should check out.

Another project I wanted to undertake was to troll this Anna Hazare dude. Sadly, he quit blogging and tweeting. I don’t care if he is the next Gandhi, but he is a phony. Of course, I would love it if corruption is eradicated in India, but putting pressure on the government like this and threatening to fast for everything is like those young kids who just pout when their parents don’t buy them their favourite lollipop. And the idea of holding a fast in Bombay as against Delhi because of the peak winters is pure gimmicky to tell you the truth. Also, why would he want his own version of that Bill to be passed and no other? Anyway, I started a tumblog which will just tell the world whether he is fasting or not. As you see, that is the answer to everything in India. Corruption, Poverty, Naxalism, General Douchebaggery etc.

Also, I don’t understand this general aversion by the elitists in the blogger world towards the word “Random”. If someone is writing about a lot of things in general, what should be call it? If everyone calls it Cacophony, then also you will have a problem. This is a problem I’ve seen with early adopters. They just need a reason to bully the new comers. Just say that no?

PS : I will tag this post with the word Random in protest

PPS : Anna Hazare is a wannabe

PPPS : I wrote something bad about the ruling party, but the powers that be may decide to screen the hell out of everything by employing 10 crore jobless ones to monitor the internet. So, I decided against it. To think about it, that’s a good way to generate employment, innit?

PPPS : Poda.

The wait started for me with a flight trip from the Capital City Region(whose show got cancelled and I don’t want to talk about that because there has been too much negativity in here for quite some time now). Bangalore gave me a warm welcome. The friends there, @zennmaster, @notfartingpen, @barkingbegum were very generous and kind hosts. A night of expectation later, we were up and ready to head to the venue.

If there was something called waiting, this is it. Don’t tell us about how you waited to get into a movie hall for 15 minutes. Or getting stuck in a traffic jam for 30 minutes. We waited 4 hours to get in. There was an ocean of people. Some camping outside the venue since the previous night. There couldn’t be a better definition for Pilgrimage. They were the Gods and we were the devotees trying to get a glimpse.

It started, as usual, with Ecstasy of Gold. That’s the part where 90% of the crowd lost their original voices. I was lucky enough to be in a noisier section of the crowd. The rituals that were to be done during Creeping Death were done religiously. There couldn’t have been a better opening to the show. Once it got over, the remaining 10% lost their voices. Creeping Death gave way to For Whom the Bell Tolls. Rob absolutely nailed the intro bass solo. They did mess up the timing a bit, but that was one of the few occasions when we felt they were human beings after all. The lights went off. The metal heads went wild for the next one because James screamed “Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire..” and there were 10 feet high flames on the stage as part of the pyro. If the first two songs didn’t get the crowd wild, this one definitely did. This was the part where the fans got into that zone where they were extracting every last ounce of energy left.

Then they played Ride the Lightning. We knew the night was going to be a special one, if we didn’t already. The lights went out again. James was on the elevated section of the stage with an acoustic guitar on the stand. I choked on this one because this was a song that got me hooked on the very first listen that I listened to it 50 times on loop before moving on to other tracks on the album.

Cyanide was up next. The response wasn’t much to talk about. I would’ve been happier if they played Day that Never Comes instead of this one. I was complaining before the gig about this track featuring, but once they started, I didn’t. It sounded just like on the album.

Memory Remains was a track to remember. The crowd sang along during the whole track. The “Nananana” part at the end of the song had James smiling and just look at us in wonder. That was the high point of the night for me. We just didn’t stop singing.

Sanitarium followed. They were on a classics trip and we weren’t complaining. James asked us if we wanted a heavy number and proceeded to play Sad But True.

The next four tracks proved that we were watching four youngsters on stage instead of 50-somethings. The energy that they put into it was unbelievable. All Nightmare Long is one of the best Metallica tracks in my opinion. I was grossly disappointed, however, by the response it got. They absolutely nailed it, but all the crowd did was applaud in the end. We could have put in a lot more during the song.

Pyros were expected during the intro to One, which never happened. The explosion sounds were played over the PA however. It was an absolute delight to listen the double bass from Lars and Kirk do THAT solo live. One was followed by the track which is the most special track to most Metallica fans. I had trouble controlling tears and didn’t head bang to Master of Puppets. The song means something else to me.

Blackened followed, although James started out with the riff for Battery. How much energy does James have?! And like my friend @OldmonkMGM keeps asking, is there a way to clone that right hand? The downpicking on Master and Blackened was spot on.

The song that followed was the one which was the “Worth the Money” track(mind the sarcasm). Kirk started out with a clean guitar solo before hitting the 6th string. We knew what was coming and it was their most popular track. If I remember correctly, James did the solo and it was wonderful.

Enter Sandman was the last on the set list before the encore. The fireworks that went up from the roof of the stage can be described in only one word. EPIC!

The encore started out with Am I Evil?, the Diamond Head Cover. However, the next track was something that I never expected and perhaps, none of them expected it except this one guy in front of me. Battery! They played Battery live for us!

To top it off, they scanned the scene in Bangalore that night. Three simple words. Seek and Destroy. Boy, what a night. It was worth all the pain I had to go through in the recent weeks to make it to the show. The wait, a sprained neck, numb feet, a voice which bordered on the edge of a whisper, the money spent. It was all worth it. I hope Lars keeps his promise and they tour India again pretty soon.

PS : There are a lot more people to thank for making this an absolutely brilliant trip. I am not taking names because I don’t want it to look like a mass tweet that some of the folks do in the mornings.

PPS : Biffy Clyro were good too, but this trip was all about Metallica, so I skipped that part.

A band I worship decides to tour India. I get excited. I am one of the first ones to book the ticket online on a portal. The ticketing agency makes a delay in shipping the tickets. I try doing the math to see if I’ll get the tickets delivered to my home city (I had to ship them to my home city instead of the city where I work for reasons that cannot be mentioned here) and get them sent to the city where I work(NO IDeA for those who don’t know). I see that it is possible if the couriers are prompt with their deliveries. They weren’t.

First up, AFL couriers(I don’t mind if they sue me for publicly criticizing their service) decides to keep the two shipments, sent on different dates, with them for a certain amount of time without notifying me because the shipping address was out of their delivery area. After taking it up with them, they agreed to deliver the ticket, which was sent latest, at my mom’s office. When asked about the earlier ticket, they told us that it was stuck in Kochi and can be delivered at my mom’s office on Friday, October the 21st. There is still time. The gig is on 28th. On Saturday, they call up and tell mom that they can deliver the ticket only on Monday. I asked her to face them with a lawsuit threat and ask them to return the ticket to the ticketing agency, so that I can at least collect the ticket from the venue. They did that at least. I am dissatisfied with what they did and will never use their service, but I will not sue them.

The ticket which did end up at my mom’s office was picked up by Blue Dart on Thursday, 20th October in the A.M. The expected delivery date was shown as 22nd October, 2011, with which I had no issues because I would be in office on that day and will be able to collect it. A Blue Dart shipment did arrive at my office, but it was for some one else. Curious to know what was happening with my order, I emailed them enquiring about the status to which they replied that it was out for delivery and should reach me by 4:15 pm. I eagerly waited for the delivery. Which never came. The website said that “Consignee not available at given address”. I was in a meeting at that time, so I decided to call them up soon after the meeting got over. The automated system asked me to get back in touch on Monday. I was worried that an L became an N while telling the address over phone to my mom. The poor lady didn’t sleep the whole night being worried whether she had indeed made such a mistake. She headed to her office on Sunday, just to check the receipt the Blue Dart pickup staff gave her. It had L at the right place and N at its right place.

I slept peacefully, although a little excited/tense about receiving the ticket on Monday. I called up the Blue Dart customer service in the morning asking them as to why the shipment wasn’t delivered on Saturday and the status was shown wrongly. They reported the delivery boy couldn’t find the address mentioned on the parcel. When I asked them for the address, all it said was “<Company Name>, Noida Main Road-<Pin Code>”. I told them that that was neither the address which was provided to them nor the one written on the cover(no one with the least bit of common sense would write such an address to reach some one like me, leave alone my mom who is a very brainy lady). I was told that I can contact the shippers back in Trivandrum so that they’ll confirm the correct address and the parcel delivered to me by evening.

My mom called them up at Trivandrum, only to be told that she had given the wrong address. When she told them that she had the receipt which they had written themselves and had the right address, they told her that it’s not a proof of the correct address and their records is the real deal. She was also asked to commit in writing that she had provided the wrong address. However, I assured her that they cannot take her for a ride just like that and asked them to collect a copy of the receipt from her so that they can verify the address on their system and admit that they made the mistake while doing the data entry. We were asked to wait till 1 pm for a status update. The update which I got was encouraging in that they accepted their mistake and had done corrective measures to deliver the parcel at the updated address. I called up the Delhi Blue Dart Customer Service to confirm the updation, which hadn’t happened even then. I was told that it was because the updation took some time to propagate. I was also told that the delivery boy was out at 11 am for delivering it at my address. Which I think, was a lie because how could they deliver a shipment at a supposedly incomplete address which wasn’t updated till 1 pm?

At 3 20 pm, I received an email from Track Dart(one of their services which sends out email alerts) saying that the shipment has been delivered and the recipient was some lady named Alka. There is no one named Alka in my office. I called them up regarding this. I was told in no uncertain terms that the shipment has been delivered and nothing much could be done about it. They, however did promise to get back to me before end of the day with details of who delivered the shipment and at which exact location. That didn’t happen too. I had threatened legal action via their “Contact Us” service and also sent another comment asking them about what exactly happened with them delivering the ticket to this Ms Alka. I didn’t get a response to either emails. Either they are above the law or think that I’m bluffing.

My mom got a courtesy call from the pick up folks in Trivandrum. They told her that the shipment was delivered to Ms Alka. She told them what had exactly happened and got annoyed with them. They asked her why she didn’t call up to ask about the status of the shipment and waited for their call instead. I am thankful they didn’t ask why she didn’t fly to Delhi to see if the shipment had indeed reached my office or not.

That is it. My mom is ready to forgive them for their mishandling and poor service. She is a simple woman who doesn’t believe in hurting anyone. But I am not. I want to sue Blue Dart for putting me through immense stress and harassing my mom. As well as their reluctance to share the details about the delivery. I am getting in touch with @MyAkosha tomorrow morning and pursuing the case.

As for the tickets, I have an alternative because a friend of mine has one extra. Now sue me for encouraging Black Marketing, will you?

Being not in a mood to argue with them, I politely accepted the offer they made.

Thinking back, I feel that they made a grave error. How could they allot the same seat to two passengers? Who designed that software? Has he never heard of the word “transaction”? Do they realize that it is a severe flaw in the system?

Importantly, do they realize that they need to take corrective measures? I hope they read this post and do just that. I hope those of you who do read this, spread it around so that some one from their management reads this.

PS : I posted the seat numbers, flight number and date to ensure that they have enough data to see what went wrong. Who knows, the developer who wrote the application may not have put in the code to log seat allotments!

This post is not about what happened. This is about the insensitivity of the community to which I belong. A tag which I want to get rid of, if I can, but am tied down to, by relatives and elders. A tag which has been put on any person who is apparently a descendant of some saints like Bharadwaja, Angirasa etc. A tag which has been put on a set of people as a result of the class system which has been prevalent in this part of the world for centuries. A class system which divides people on the basis of birth and tags them superior/inferior.

That tag is that of a Brahmin. The most insensitive and what I would call, one of the forces behind this class system being prevalent even to this day.

First and foremost, they are sadists. If that is not the case, why is the belief that the soul needs to be pushed out of the house by serving it with tasteless food? Or why do they have rituals on the 10th day to reopen the wounds which were healing and get them infected again? Why is it that only the person who is doing the rituals(in this case yours truly) has to stay away from onions? What use is a custom where the widow has to sacrifice her wedding chain and a few other things which she might wish to abstain from for the rest of her life? If these are not about cutting the wounds wide open and putting a few worms on top of it, nothing is.

I talked about how this community promotes class based divide. Here’s how. I was to stay away from not just onions, but also from restaurant food. I was supposed to consume only a particular type of rice, which is machine polished and untouched by other human beings. This was apparently to stay pure from the touches of other classes who may have come in contact with the food. I have got only one question. Aren’t you depending on them to cultivate these crops?

Brahminism promotes beggary. Every ritual in this community involves donating a few things to a poorer member of the community. Some people have adopted this as their profession. The only thing they do is to go to the place where the ritual is taking place and collect the donations, which usually consist of rice, a few clothes, money etc. I would like to call them economically forward beggars. I would be glad if the government was serious about eradicating this form of beggary as well!

Back in those days, people followed these rituals religiously. They had the facilities to do so. Today, every thing is just an assumption. I was made to roll away a coconut assuming that it’s a calf! It balances on the edge of ridiculousness. The edge of ridiculousness which it shares with the absurd.

Deep inside, they are nature worshippers. I understood that from the Sanskrit words in the chants that are part of the languages I know. And they call nature worshippers as lesser beings. The brutal irony!

I don’t care if I outraged the true believers in the community. If you are pissed with what I wrote, a middle finger salute to you!

You are really annoying. You piss me off. Badly. I’ll tell you why.

I initially thought that you were cool. I started opening up with you. Then, you got under my skin. You started taking things for granted. You wanted to know every bit of detail about what was going on with me even when I didn’t want to tell you. I got close to you, but you were never my secret keeper. I don’t trust you enough even now.I hoped you wouldn’t keep persisting with your quest to know about everything I do. And when I didn’t tell you something, you got pissed off and started behaving differently. I find that annoying.

You do not know what sarcasm and exaggeration are. You take every thing I say quite literally. You cannot understand the tone in my voice. I don’t even know how you get your daily dose of laughter. How do you take a joke? By analyzing the situation and then claiming that such a situation is impossible? I find that annoying.

You ask me for my opinion all the time. And when I give mine, you call that juvenile. You won’t consider my views to be correct. If you were presuming that I was going to be wrong, why did you ask me in first place? And then, you go ahead and ask some one else for his/her opinion. When he repeats the same thing I had given you in first place, you place him/her on the altar and worship the being. Without even caring to remember that I had given you the same answers. I find that annoying.

I also don’t approve of your shoving your opinion down others’ throats. You try to be dominating in your group. You don’t even care to listen to others and just shoot down their views. Your holier than thou attitude annoys me.

You may have some issues with me. You don’t talk it out with me. Instead, you go and tell it to someone else. And the two of you conspire to make my life hell. I find that annoying.

I hope you have realized what you need to set straight. I hope you read this with an open mind and let it in.

Yours Faithfully,

Milcom
PS : If you are that annoying person, I hope you correct yourselves. If you aren’t that annoying guy and think that you are not at fault, this is for you too. You are doing the same things unknowingly.

This post is about my city. The city I call home. And a discovery.

20+ years ago, yours truly started walking. And he learnt most of it on the sands of the beaches of the city. And the sands inside that mighty temple. For him, it wasn’t just another temple. It was a play area. The meeting point of elders. A place where old Maamas did their morning/evening walks. Just that their attire always had to be mundu and mel-vastram/veshti. He loved dressing up like that to get inside the place. The small storage area outside the walls of the place where people can store their stuff which were not allowed inside. No one had an issue with the arrangement and people spent the time inside in complete peace.(Even though the gossiping folks had their share of issues of international importance)

The best part he loved about the place were the festivals which used to happen twice a year. One around Diwali and the other, around April. There were a lot of exciting things about it. First, his dad would take him to the eastern entrance so that he can see the huge teakwood statues of Pandavas that are taken out during the time. Another thing he looked forward to, was the procession inside the premises, on every day of the festival. First, a caparisoned elephant carrying a drummer would pass through the huge corridor, announcing the arrival of the King and the deities. A minute or two after the elephant has passed by, a dozen costumed folks pass by, which he believes now, represented the different sections of the society.(craftsmen, soldiers etc) Once this was over. The king would lead the procession. He was followed by a few other members of the royal family and behind them, the deities, carried on palanquins. There would be three of them. This part was what he liked the most.

Because he would see his father fold his hands as a mark of respect when the king passes by. Most of the others would just stand in attention when the king is passing by and fold their hands when the deities pass by. The opposite was done by his father. He learnt more about the glory days of the kings from his father. How the democratic governments ruined what the kings had done. Most of them, works of engineering unimaginable to the modern day civil engineers. His father would also tell him about the articles made of precious metals which the kings would present before the Lord, of whom, they were supposedly mere servants. The simple lives they led. The things they did for art and science.

He took in all he could about the mighty kings, their wealth and their lives.

Fast forward 10 years, he, like all the others in the city, learnt about the precious stones used as decorations on the presiding deity. He felt proud about how it was hidden from the invaders who looted all other parts of the few 1000 odd provinces filled region known as India to them. He was happy that the gems remained in the confines of the stone walls.

Fast forward 10 more years. He finds that a few doors inside the region were being opened for inventorying purposes. What followed was the frantic cries from everywhere about how the wealth should be destroyed used for good purposes by putting a value to it. A value, which is a joke even on paper. For little do they realize that a 10g bar of gold costs lesser than a 10g necklace of gold. Or do they realize that the funds which are supposed to be used for the good purposes end up in the pockets of those who least deserve it? Charity it seems. The ones who do not spend one rupee from their wallets on charity want the wealth spent on it.

Like the MP from my city said, “It’s easier to do charity when it’s not coming from your own pockets”. I bow to the man.

The city is named after Anantha or the endless one. The city was in a timeless sleep. It has been upset.