Word of the day

nom de guerre - A fictitious name, pseudonym

Word of the day

Bellwether - someone who assumes leadership of an activity/field/movement

Derived from sheep that leads the herd often wearing a bell around the neck.

Source

Naan vegan...

Vegetarianism has long since become a matter of social prestige (or contempt as the case may be) from being a matter of choice of food habit. All ye superior souls who wouldn't touch fish or meat or cakes with eggs... do you know that even Ramakrishna Paramahansa ate non-veg??

My reaction to these "vegetarians" has moved from ignore to irritation to annoyance to kill. It is an individual's choice to not eat meat just as much as it is another's choice to eat meat. Now, how does this make one superior enough to comment about or judge the other? For a number of years I have heard statements like "how many animals are being killed", "the smell of it makes me throw up".. oh for crying out loud!

A particular sect of these "vegetarians" seem to have conveniently forgotten other rules that were set for them. They aren't supposed to cross seas but they are first in queue outside American consolate in every Indian city. Did the Vedas make an exemption for Software Engineers? And a multitude of them have now formed a sub-sect called "egg-eterians"... these are people who wouldn't touch non-veg with a ten-foot long pole EXCEPT eggs. That egg contains everything that chicken does is a small fact that is overlooked.. as long as it doesn't move around and cluck and poo, they are ok.

For long I have had doubts whether they serve thayir vadai in Sub-way, degree kaapi in Starbucks and venpongal at Papa Johns... otherwise the NRI subset of this population which would eat only in "Pure-veg" restaurants would have died of starvation by now. If the purpose of vegetarianism is to stop killing other living things, I am sorry to state the bitter truth... vegetarians can only eat nuts, fruits and pulses and by the way they cant brush teeth, cant take anti-biotics while having diarrhoea - that will kill the germs, you see.

For the last time, it is not what one eats that defines the person one is.. it is the gratitude one feels about the food in hand that makes one a soul apart from others. One living thing killing another is nature's law - if it doesn't happen there is no eco system to live in. I am not advocating killing animals - I am only advising to stop cribbing about what is inside other people's mouth. Please complain only if a handful of butter chicken is thrusted into your mouth without your consent..

Internet never forgets... :)

I got an interesting email from a premier career-development website today. It went on to say why social media is a double-edged knife... while it lets you express, share and discover there is also the inherent danger of letting out way too much!

For instance, if you are using Facebook or Twitter to update the world everytime you are irritated at your boss, chances are high that the next time you are out in the job market, potential employers treat this as an attitude problem and not contact you at all! The email infact provided relevant statistics based on a survey it conducted amongst several recruiters in the North American market. I am not sure how much this applies to the Indian scenario but the trend will soon catch up... mostly in the IT space to start with.

Come to think of it, in the last 3 months, whenever I had to interview a candidate, I have always checked his/her LinkedIn and Twitter profiles (if any) before even starting the interview.. and asked questions based on whatever I saw on their profiles. It was surprising how unconscious I was about the way I personally use social media and this email I got today was like a wake-up call...

So, here's to anyone who reads this post... be careful on what you put on your social status... if you do not want to talk about something standing in the middle of your office's lunch room... you probably should not be putting it on FB or orkut. Internet has ears & eyes all over the place in the form of umpteen businesses that are making life easier and easier for others to search your content on the web. The Web 2.0 elephant can remember very well and it's memory is so powerfully indexed that your boss can fire you for bitching about the company on FB so quickly, that by the time your friends see it, you would probably be jobless!!

I need a pensieve..

Feels like my brain is getting clogged with too many things... it would be great to borrow Dumbledore's pensieve for a week. Some questions that have been haunting me...

1. Why do I cry at the drop of a hat these days?

2. Why can't I stop making a fool of myself - my temper is just simmering below the surface these days!

3. Why do I miss my friends?

4. What can I do to forget the past?

5. How to accept people for what they are?

6. How to let go of what people did to me?

7. What is it that I want to do with my life?

8. Why don't I feel excited about stepping out of bed and going to work?

9. Why have I become so lazy?

10. Why can't I stop watching "Friends"?

I wish someone lent me their ears for 2 hours and stopped judging me....

Daddy cool

Apparently Jun 21st is Fathers' Day it seems.. the first piece of information that I came across this morning. It sucks already not being able to celebrate parents' silver jubilee anniversary now the world is celebrating Fathers' Day on my late dad's birthday. Brilliant.. just what I wanted... one more reason to sulk!

I know I shouldn't feel bad cuz of other people's happiness but hey.. that's just what I feel. I want to have my dad back.. when I see someone getting dropped by their father, when my friend talks about going on a trip with her dad, when my cousins celebrate their parents' wedding day... it is so so so grossly unfair :(

I wish I had known him better, I wish I could complain to him when things get too hard, I wish he was there at my graduation wearing my top hat, I wish I cried a bit more when he passed away, I wish I told him what a great dad he would have been... it probably would make me feel better today!

I hate the Hallmarks and Archies of the world for inventing these "days"...! You suck, guys!

Chennai-88

Came home after a long time.. it feels like everything has changed in a very short period of time. I am finding it hard to cope with the very people with whom I have spent 20 years of my life. Is it part of the growing up process?

When I used to visit home on weekends, I felt more close to my family. But in the last one yr I hardly came here... traveling and vacations were luxuries that I couldn't afford given the ISB schedule. I donno whether the year that I spent almost alone has changed me or my absence changed them. I wish it is just a passing cloud and things will be the same soon...

Whatever said and done, nothing like being at home sweet home :)