I am a great singer too..

Sorry pals, its been close to a decade since I posted a new one. Life has been just lazy/cozy or at times its just pumping with jolts of "work" here and there. These jolts make me so tired that I don't find time to post. Just another frigging lazy excuse for not blogging. So why would this make me lie down in my bed well past my bedtime...(actually they stole an hour of my sleep) and write a post?

Well, recently I have been following American Idol since it aired in January. I noticed in the Hollywood selections, there were 2 Indian singers, one Sanjaya Malakar and his sister, whose name I forget, but she was quite hot. After the selections/deletions from Hollywood, American Idol was left with 24 contestants which constitutes 12 guys and 12 girls out of which 2 guys and 2 girls get eliminated every week until they have 12 people; 6 guys and 6 girls to compete with.

Sanjaya was in the top 24 but his hot sis did not make the cut. Actually, I could not see both of them perform. But what followed the weeks after seem to make me kind of upset in the bottom of my spleen.

The week started with all 24 singers singing their choice of songs and the judges judge them and then America votes for the best. The singers with the least number of votes would get eliminated every week. I basically think the girls are far better than the guys this season..anyways getting back to where I left, I saw Sanjaya perform the first week. This guy is 17 years old and I was kind of happy watching an Indian guy perform. He was bad! His song selections were way off the ground and he never had a great voice. On top of that he was never putting any effort into his singing. He just came across as a casual singer. I thought he's never going to make it to the next round.

When the results came in, I was surprised that he was voted among the top 4 of the 24 contestants. I was shocked! I thought perhaps I made a bad judgement too early. I thought I'll give him one more chance. The next week, he was even worse! Whats even more worse is that the judges were totally onto him like a pack to lions out there to tear him apart. He was pathetic.

When the results came in, he was through to the next round. I was stunned! So were the judges and so was the guy who performed a lot more better than him. Then I started to wonder, if they are going to choose the winner based on votes, if all the Indian Americans had voted for him, he would have got a huge share other than his family and friends and other acquaintances.

That was terrifying. People were just voting based on the fact that he was an Indian. They never thought to hear him sing? Was he so perfect? I bet no!

The last 2 weeks, this guy was singing old jazz/blues and a song by Stevie Wonder which never ever came close to getting him top 4. The next week, he sang John Mayer and this time, he was bad. Remember, last time he was worse. This time he was bad. That's a consolation. The judges agreed with me. In fact Simon Cowell has been straight forward all this time spitting on his face without mercy.

When the results came in, I was in for another shocker. He got through again and broke into the top 12. I was like WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? He won over a guy who has sang his heart out like a lion. I have always like Sundance Head and I am going to miss him on American Idol. I have never seen a more humble, yet a brilliant artist like him. I almost puked when Sanjaya was selected. Everyone was shocked including Sanjaya himself. He is totally confused as to whats happening.

In the end one only wonders how these things happen. First of all, this is a singing competition and when one of them is not doing good and you as an audience is supposed to vote, vote from your heart and not from mind when you think, "Oh, he's an Indian, lets vote for him!" He clearly knows whats happening when better artists are getting kicked out as he has the highest votes for a poor song. Why can't he walk away? I am sure he's carrying a whole load of guilt when he either talks to any of the other contestants, or even when he sits on the chair that's reserved for a better singer who only got kicked out as he had lower votes.

Are we voting on some Congressional bill hearing?? The next time you vote, once again I re-iterate. Vote from your heart. You make/break a budding artist. When a great artist goes into oblivion, his/her career gets shredded. Fine, don't vote at all. At least you would be saving $2.99 in text messaging charges.

Let me show you around, 360.

With the PS3 released, now people would have another reason to compare with the X-Box 360. Before its limited release yesterday, people from all over, gathered and set up places all along even in thunder storm warning conditions to grab a piece of action. In fact, there was an article in the news yesterday that a thief came by and demanded money from a potential PS3 customer, and the customer stated that he had got the money to buy his PS3 and was in no mood to let go of the opportunity.

I have had my share of gaming experiences and nothing has been mind blowing as the X-Box 360. I got my 360 last week and already I am beginning to see my weekdays and weekends smothering devils, dodging berserkers, saving the world from D-Day and making the US Army proud of its new found Lieutenant, TSIZ.

Before I go on ranting about the games, a word of caution. Most of the X-Box 360 games are single player with the multiplayer option only on X-Box Live. That sucks! But then, due to the recent criticism from all quarters, they are releasing games with multiplayer spit screen option.

The graphics are out of the world. And moreover, if you have a HDTV, you are going to kick ass! My recent missions have been Gears of War, Call of Duty 2, Chrome Hounds and Ghost Recon-Advanced Warfighters. The AI has also significantly improved, so when you are playing these games, the enemy thinks a lot more the same way you think. So the missions are going to be difficult. What more would you ask for, when your old X-Box games are backward compatible?

Before I start off, I would like to apologize for not having updated my blog for the past three months. I would also not like to take credit for the fact that I have completed a full year in the blogsphere with about 26 odd posts. Phew..That's done..now lets carry on forward.

I moved out from Texas to Maryland three months back and since then it has been a jet ride. Work has been hectic and the weekends just buzz past. I was in NY with friends and enjoyed the trip. Was almost in DC for a month and enjoyed that even better. Life is just coming on to me like a thunderbolt. East coast is fast paced! I'll try to blog every other weekend. Until then..

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they'll like this song?
Mother will they try to break my balls?
Oooh-Aaaah, Mother should I build the wall?

Mother, should I run for President?
Mother, should I trust the government?
Mother will they put me in the firing line?
Oooh-Aaaah, Mother is it just a waste of time?

--Mother, Pink Floyd.

How to transform India into a Poverty-Free Nation

Disclaimer: I am neither an economist nor a reformer. I am just another simple Indian who is sharing his ideas in making India a poverty free nation. This article would have various assumptions that might not work in the realistic government. Also, other reforms are based solely on thoughts and might not even work out.

Primary Assumption:

India is a corrupt free country. I know this might sound very far fetched, but considering the fact that corruption in India has its roots right from the lower end employees to the high end executives or politicians as to the kind of only high end corruption we see with the developed countries.

Path:
India is the agricultural hub of the world. So it is very easy to assume that one the whole it consists of a majority of farmers. Farmers toil it out everyday to meet their needs and their only primary concern is the lack of water. We cannot do anything about the floods, but droughts can be some how managed.

*Linking of all the major rivers.

I still don’t understand why politicians are not taking up this issue very seriously. It might be a darn tough job, but not impossible. It can ensure perennial flow of water all across India all time of the year keeping farmers on their toes, maximizing their productivity and henceforth maximizing exports along with increased GDP. Secondly, nature would lend its hand along the path of the rivers making our Country less pollutable.

*Making a few changes in your taxes.

Considering the fact that working people with Rs.100000 and above are required to pay taxes, the finance department could introduce a new bill that would deduct accordingly, a small amount from every tax payer based on his income, which goes towards funds that are used wisely for improvement of India.

Eg: Person, who earns Rs.100000/yr. Take 0.005(0.5%) that sums to Rs.500
Person, who earns Rs.200000/yr, pays about Rs.1000 and so on.

In the end, this does sum up to a lot of money that the government can use in order to give better education for children, provide better medical facilities, better infrastructure, etc. And the people, who pay this, treat it like an act of charity that they are doing in making India the best.

*People must be made more aware of birth control and HIV.

A recent survey shows that more number of HIV positive patients are no more in Africa, its India. People should be made aware of excessive population explosion and at the same time generous information should be shared amongst people in the case of HIV/AIDS.

How can the human race survive the next hundred years?

This was the question that was posted by Professor Stephen Hawking, renowned Astro physicist at Cambridge University, a week back on Yahoo Answers

Today has been an extremely sad day. A day when you get a chance to see this question, you tend to relate all the incidents that has happened, and you wonder how to answer this. Ironic?

Today’s incident in Mumbai is another blow in the face of mankind. What actions lead to these massacres? What is the point that has to be proved by killing innocent civilians? Will they get what they want? How long is this going to go? Well, in such a situation, I am very much eager to give out an answer to “How can the human race survive the next hundred years?” It’s easy; we don’t have to wait for another 100 years. It would happen in a very few years time.

From a layman’s viewpoint, what do these people want? Considering they are definitely a part of some insurgent terrorist organization that eventually is an ally of Al Qaeda. So what, do these people want India to give up IOK to Pakistan? Eventually, take the situation, to stop terrorism, India goes out of the way and gives up Kashmir to Pakistan, would this curb such violence? I am afraid; it is not going to happen.

Are these people trying to bring fear in people’s life? I think these people are a disgrace to the Muslim society. In the name of “Jihad” they commit so many terrible acts of violence, not only tarnishing their community, but also by bringing utter shame in the 21st century. It’s very easy to point a finger at them now-a-days; it has just become a daily routine.

At this time, I can only relate myself as just another NRI

The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practice it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies.

I would like to take a moment to mention the passing away of Syd Barrett. He was the founding father of Pink Floyd, one of the early psychedelic rock bands to rule the century.

May all these people rest in peace and arise like the Phoenix only to make this world a better place.

Tickets to Universal with express pass- $300

Stay at Trump International North Beach, Miami- $500

Car Rental for 3 days- $300

Exquisite Dining- $300

Jet Ski rentals- $300

Swimming in the ocean, Jet Skiing in the middle of the sea with no fear of sharks, getting tanned mid day and the best of all...enjoying with your friends and living life..King size---PRICELESS!!!!

What did you do for memorial day? If you were at home watching Spiderman on TBS with those irritating commercials every 2 minutes- Shame on you!

Atleast plan for your next memorial trip..and think Florida. We were 5 of us. Had fun that was much more explosive than a Dynamite. I think this has been the best ever trip and I will cherish this for a long time...right..another 363 days to go. Myself and JC reached Orlando on Friday evening and met up with Nair in less than an hour. We checked in at our hotel and returned to the airport to pick up CSP and Mooks. It was a reunion of sorts for all of us since it had been more than a year since we last met. After many failed attempts to search for an IHOP to gorge, we finally settled for Denny's that was pathetic..least to say, took a very long time. Within minutes of reaching the place...all of us sync'ed up instantaneously with just a late reaction from the overtly coy JC. After a 1.5 hr dinner, we returned back to the hotel room and crashed except for some poker action from myself CSP and Mooks in which one witnessed me trashing the inexperienced Mooks. Saturday was a long day...phew...the sultry sun pouring down at Universal studios was unbearable. We reached Universal at around 10:30am and left the place at 8:00pm. Everyone seems to have enjoyed it...but I think the next time we need to go to someother place other than Universal. Came back home after dinner at TGIF and crashed. We checked out of the hotel the next morning at 9:00am and drove down to Miami. Initially, Mooks had suggested that we stop over at South(So) beach for sometime and check out their Jet Ski rates. As we reached So beach..word around spread that there was a huge congregation of African Americans for the hip-hop weekend. We passed on that and decided we would check in at Trump International and take the plans from there. Once we reached Trump International, our plans took a sharp turn. To talk about Trump International is something I can compare with God's Palace. Huge, Luxurious, 5 star...what else do you need? We got our room at the 14th floor and after valet parking, we went straight to the room. Once we opened the door, everyone burst into a huge din....what was going on? From the balcony, we could see the ocean. It was irresistible and inviting. Immediately, after buying out some beach wear, we strode into the ocean as to what I would like to call an experience, one has to encounter. Pristine water that stands at 6ft. We had the time of our lives. We were glad not to be in So beach. We dabbled in the water for 2 hrs and went right to the pool by the hotel and jacuzzi. We never expected to experience luxury this way! We sat on the armchairs by the pool side overlooking the sea sipping beer and having funny conversations. Later on, we had the best dinner followed by dessert and one cannot forget the discussions we had over dinner and Mooks request for a "French Kiss". The next day, we rented out 3 jet skis and went into the ocean. If there is a so called "Adventure Sports" wherein Skydiving, Parasailing gets classified, I would prefer to classify this on the same terms. Driving at close to 35mph in the middle of the ocean, one can only experience sheer thrill and fear. Everyone could see the Halo/Aura on JC's face as he sped as fast as he could. Nair was typical...MGR stuff..where as CSP was cautious. Mooks was warned for driving reckless. Wonder when will he ever get to drive properly. I had the best time...wait..Everyone had the best times. We have decided to come back next year..only thing being..we need more fun and more days. I would suggest everyone who has not visited Miami, to make a trip next Memorial. You would also not forget this one true amazing adventure.