Hilarious Tamil Horses

Live Free or Cry

The little life form in my house - besides cheering one and all - has been very effective in exploration and living life on own terms. Let it be chewing all the DVDs and other things that cannot be described but can be effectively classified as toys, or pulling strings and sheets to the floor, or frantic scramble to anyone with a phone in hand, life is always free. I believe you probably already understand the Cry part of the title. Whatever be the activities pursued, it always interests me to see that the shortest path to anything is the one that cuts everything in between. Parents can be scrambled over, suitcases can be climbed (and then toppled), toys can be shoved aside but that thing that has caught her interest has to be pursued. I wonder why we ever spent time trying to understand the Postman's algorithm or the shortest path algorithms.

That brings me to the next interesting point - Raising the Bar. Yes - this seems like the most apt description of parents trying to salvage everything by keeping it a little higher than the baby's reach. But as we can see this will be an iterative process as Ms-want-it-all comes up with new access mechanisms.

And So it is

Taking a trip to India always generates writing material. No matter how the wind blows there are always interesting developments that meet the eye. Malls springing up and monopolistic laws have assured that Reliance has become the indian avatar of Walmart - all their petro-comm rupees are subsidizing food prices to kill local sellers is just one example. But there were some more interesting observations such as - 

• Niqabs = Piety? Niqabs are the dress where only the eyes are uncovered in a women's dress. Muslim girls are stepping up to their teachers/parents and requesting them for niqabs, with an explanation demonstrating absolute divine need. However teachers are now realizing the ulterior motive of hidden identity unlimited mazaa. Hey you dont always find non-muslims requesting niqabs in stores -- or do you?
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• Goonda raj and sophisticated goonda raj aka politicians and industrialists resp. Blatant show of power and abuse are rampant. The civics syllabus in school needs to be revised for the monetary compensation given to politicians. I came across a case of a telecom company giving a 7 figure bribe to lay its broadband line in a residential neighborhood to the incumbent corporator. For the general good of the people this is a small amount. The general attitude was that of live and let live - judge the good and bad with the current age not the 60 year old constitutional law.
  
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• Me first - Imagine a one lane uphill road with a cyclist straining himself to proceed. In India you have to imagine a car driver right behind this cyclist blasting his horn on the cyclist. Then imagine a bullock cart heaving itself across a traffic light (even a color blind animal was following the traffic lights), and then imagine a couple of motorbikes that cannot understand the same simple concept, avoid a near-hit, and cause the bullocks to grind their hooves into the tar for some rash motorists. No order no discipline all chaos.

No bloody-american-bashing-indians but an undeniable visible trend.