क्या राजू भी कभी जन्टलमन था?

One shouldn’t speak ill of the dead – and of one's ex-employers. But though I hate to admit it, the truth is that I seem to have worked my butt off, for two years, for a company which everyone is now calling India’s Enron! I admit, I didn’t have much good to say about them when I put in my papers. But a fraud of this magnitude from such a reputed company is simply unbelievable!

We hear so many terms like “Fundamental Analysis” and “Technical Analysis” when it comes to buying stocks. The question now is if any of these will help when the books have been cooked for years and the auditors have turned a blind eye? Can the retail investors still go for blue-chip stocks because the experts recommend them for the long term? Because in the long run a lot of chicken can come home to roost - they did for Satyam.

While I hope that this sorry episode will not do any lasting damage to India's IT industry, I cannot help but wonder if Satyam's corporate motto should have been "Whatever Business Demands"!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I haven’t read the last 2 books in the series. So I embark on “Half-Blood Prince” with mixed feelings – curiosity at what’s going to happen next and a tinge of sadness that after I am finished with these my favorite series will come to an end!

The Order of the Phoenix - Spoiler

My score is now 5/7. For those of you who came late, I am referring to the Harry Potter series. So the cryptic statement above means that I am done reading the 5th novel – The Order of the Phoenix.

And I am very angry with Rowling. Why did she have to kill Sirius Black? I remember admiring this character even when I had read the novel back in 2003. There’s something so noble about breaking out of the prison – knowing fully well that the dementors will give him death for it – because you are worried about your Godson. Then there is the fact that he endured more suffering than Harry because Harry was too little to feel the discrimination meted out to him by the Dursleys for, maybe, the first 2-3 years of his life whereas Black was incarcerated in Azkaban almost immediately after Harry’s parents were killed. Neither did he have it easy when he got out.

The final tragedy is that he died just when the Ministery of Magic realized their folly in suspecting him for so many years. He came so close to his dream of staying with the child of his best friend and then he disappeared behind the veil. Like Harry, my own grief lessened to a certain degree when Luna said that the ones who have passed away are still behind the veil!

I must say that for the past 2-3 days I was behaving rather like the husband of my friend who while reading The Order of the Phoenix got away just for food. Of course, my behavior wasn’t that extreme but the rest of the family was getting tired of it anyways.

Oh, and the other day, I saw Ralph Fiennes in one of the movies and shouted “Oh, Voldemort”. Needless to say, the rest of the family threw pitying glances at me. :-(

I will sign-off for today with this quote from Churchill:

Governments will eventually do the right thing, after having first exhausted all other alternatives.

Truer words were never said before!

When I read about how some of the Indian lawyers are falling over themselves to take up cudgels on behalf of “Coward Kasab”, I was reminded of one joke about lawyers. If you said “Which one - there are so many of them”, then I agree with you :-)

So here it is:
The residents of Heaven were outraged as the people from Hell kept destroying the wall between Heaven and Hell. Tired of building it every time it fell, they finally threatened to sue the people from Hell. “Oh go ahead, sue us” said the people from Hell non-chalantly “all the lawyers are in Hell!” :-)

On a serious note, things seem to have come to a standstill with “Coward Kasab” demanding a Pakistani lawyer while Pakistan refusing to accept that he is their man. And everyone seems to have forgotten that for the victims of 26/11 – Justice delayed will be same as Justice denied! :-(

Frequently there’s a situation in novels where a character sees a person but can’t remember where he/she has seen that person or if that person resembles any of his/her acquaintances. For example, Harry Potter feels that the bartender at The Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade looks vaguely familiar but he cannot figure out why. I have often wondered at this. I mean, come on, if you see a face that looks familiar, you gotta remember where you have seen it. It’s not that difficult, is it?

Looks like I was wrong as I found out about 2 days back while I waited for my turn at the bank. After I fished out my cellphone for the umpteenth time (I have stopped wearing a wrist-watch since a long time!) to check the time, I took a glance about at the other unfortunate souls in queues. And there he was - a short dark-complexioned man with a little shiny ear-ring dangling from one ear!

I shifted slightly in my seat to have a better look. Surely, I have seen this chap some place. I was concentrating so hard while trying to remember where that I almost forgot that I was staring at the man. I shifted my gaze slowly to the door as if I was watching the street outside but my brain was still busy trying to connect the face with the place and, if possible, a name – albeit unsuccessfully.

Oddly enough, I somehow seemed to remember that the guy is related to some shop – like, maybe a salesman. I also remembered my impression that he is one of those who are extra-friendly to the fairer sex, if you know what I mean. Don’t ask me how I remembered all this but the fact is that I did. By then it was my turn to get the work done for which I had been waiting. So I got up and by the time I was done that chap was nowhere to be seen.

Needless to say, as of now, I have been unable to connect the face to the place, and the name. What’s more, the face is slowly fading from my memory. So the hope - that if I leave it at this, I will suddenly remember it - is fading too.

Wonder how people are able to help the cops sketch the suspects like they show in the movies. I don’t think I will be able to do that unless the suspect bears a strong resemblance to any of the celebrities :-)

Speaking of celebrities, can someone please remind “Coward Kasab” that he is not on a “Mumbai Darshan” trip? Agreed, it’s absurd for him to express a wish to meet Amitabh Bachhan. But what’s more absurd is that our newspapers seem to think that this news is worth printing. What will we read about next? What he had for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or that he had a sleepless night?

Please stop this nonsense and let us know what strides, if any, we are making in bringing him to justice.

A beautiful poem I came across

Dear Mom and Dad,

There used to be so many of my finger prints to see on the furniture,
Walls and things from sticky gummy me,
But if you stop and think awhile,
You will see I am growing fast,
Those tiny fingers have disappeared
And you cannot bring them back…
So here is a small reminder…
Do not wipe away my tiny finger prints,

For some day when you look at them, You’ll have a hearty laugh…

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