Domesticating the Wild

While watching the video footage on television channels , of the Maharashtra state Minister of Agriculture, Balasaheb Thorat entering and fondling a wild animal, several thoughts and memories came to my mind.

While the media is busy finding fault with the minister with good intentions and blames him for violating the Central Zoo Authority rules, I choose to venture beyond and probe the behaviour of tiger cub.

The docile retraction of the domesticated feline inmate seemed to be a result of confined captivity. Instead of roaring and plunging at the intruders, the poor little thing preferred to be cuddled and fondled for its national audience. A huge disappointment for viewers, expecting a ferocious attack, demanding its rightful share of rugged, wild environs.

Just what exactly would have been at stake for this once-called-wild cat? Was it afraid of losing its new-found and most-loved possession, its cage? Once habituated to a cage in the zoo, where food is delivered at the appointed hour, an animal fears the challenges of the wild and becomes incapable of hunting for its own food, a fact one finds adeptly explained in Yann Martel’s book, Life of Pi.

Was the animal petrified by the entry of the most dangerous of animals, a human being? That too, a politician – a state minister! After poaching on the common man, all their life, this breed takes pride in poaching on wild animals in national forests as their primary leisurely activity.

Human beings have been responsible for causing the destruction of forests and poaching its tigers, did the animal in captivity fear the worst? Was it not a good time to spring at the powerful authority and register its protest for holding it in captivity and appeal to the general public “Mujhe aur mere jungle ko bachaao!”?

With the promise of a national audience by way of media cameras, several causes that deserved public attention could have been highlighted. Why then did it have to chose to sulk under the glare of the camera like a participant of the reality show, “Sach Ka Saamna”? Inspite of being blessed with the inability to speak, the animal had nothing to fear. Was it not the Minister who ought to have feared the truth serum, if at all?

The incident reminded one of a visit to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, some years ago with my wife’s cousin and her little ones. While we were watching a leopard perched majestically, atop a low tree at the centre of a huge cage, a youngster standing besides us called out to him "Rajaaaah”. The animal immediately recognized his jungle call and seemed delighted to hear his voice. He came prancing excitedly like a child, and got himself fondled by the caller through the net mesh of the enclosure, until what seemed like eternity. “I have fed him since he was born, but I had to leave the city for my village” the charming visitor explained to us. He invited us to pet him while he held him by his nose and we felt somewhat elated by that experience! After thanking him for this unusual opportunity to fondle the wild cat, we left feeling enriched.

There have been numerous stories about animals not forgetting people who have tended to them in their childhood or period of ill-health. Similar stories can be found on the internet. One such incident about a lion embracing a female attendant who had nursed him back to health can be seen here.

We, human beings: evolved, civilized, educated, sophisticated, advanced, liberated, blessed with superior abilities, ends up easily forgetting the hand that feeds and nurtures. There’s certainly a lot for us to learn from the lesser ones amongst us -these animals!

Innovative Hoarding and Ad impacts

Advertisements impact our lives. Not just in forming our purchasing habits, but also in changing the way we think and live. Some ads boost our morale, while some simply entertain. But when a new mobile service had the daunting task of announcing their arrival on the Mumbai airwaves scene, Aircel broke into new ground. Have you ever seen an outdoor hoarding been put to use by the general public? Kudos to Primesite, Aircel’s ad agency for being innovative when they put up this hoarding near the Milan Subway, which provided a inflatable raft, which could be used when the place gets flooded. “In case of emergency - cut the rope”, said the hoarding.


Milan subway has been a landmark – always submerged once Mumbai experiences rains. All TV channels have begun camping here since the last 4-5 years. So when the water rose waist high, the lay public here did cut the rope as you may read here. We can only hope that whenever we are likely to face any adversity or difficulties, there is always some help available at close quarters.


Last night I met my friend from New Delhi, who told me that our honorable Prime Minister has been greatly influenced by another telecom ad, Idea Cellular - “An idea can change your life”.

How can you say that, I asked. “Well, the latest Idea Cellular ad keeps saying walk and talk all the time. So our PM has walked, though former minister, Yeshwant Sinha alleges ‘not just half the way but all the way to the Pak camp’, though all may not agree here” he said, “and…and… he also wants to talk – walk and talk, walk and talk, walk and talk!”

“Ahaaa!” I say, upon being enlightened.

“Our PM has been toying with several ideas ever since”, he continued, "Having roped in Nandan Nilekani, the corporate head honcho of Infosys into his fold, the PM checked on him whether he could work on a computer program that could generate error-free, trouble-free joint statements in future!"

“While Nandan has begun working on the development of this computer program of great national importance, our PM has been working on other ideas that can change our life”

“Such as?”, I ask eagerly.

“He wants a mind reading machine to read the scheming minds of our neighbours, who keep bumping into us at Sharm-El-Shaikh or wherever”

“Oh, that would be of great help!” I exclaim.

“Well that is exactly what everyone in the Indian Government also exclaimed – you know if they ever knew what our PM was thinking about or contemplating – we could have averted this bad drafting episode”, he said.

“We have such great people capable of drafting here in India” I added enthusiastically, hoping our PM would, sooner than later, send out word for me, though I know there would be many in the fray.

“I am completely in agreement with our PM that we must keep talking to Pak, keep them engaged”, he said.

“How about sending a team consisting of Navjot Singh Siddhu, Rakhi Sawant, Cyrus Broacha, Karan Thapar, Shekhar Suman….they can all talk until eternity, cant they?” I asked. Feeling outsmarted by this one, my friend sensed it was time to leave.

“Stay on, tell me some more inside stuff, dear friend”, I coaxed him.

He then pulled me closer, in a hushed voice confided:
“Our PM had been waiting for a SIM card from the US, which Hillary Clinton delivered during her visit here recently – nobody knows this - not even the media”

“A SIM card? Why do we need a SIM Card, don’t we have several of them here?” I asked.

“This is a special one for our country ................
the Superpower-In-Making Card for India”, he concluded.

So that we can walk with our head high....and talk, I thought!
What an idea Sirji!

Blogger's Postscripts:
1. This blog does not encourage you to walk while you talk on the cellphone. There have been several criticisms about this ad campaign - the unsafe manner in which pedestrians are busy talking on cellphones without being watchful of vehicles or potholes on the roads could be disastrous. My personal choice is not to walk when you talk.

Read more about the walk and talk about talks with Pak head straight to my friend, Vinod Sharma's blogpost here.

An announcement

Do read an important announcement about the inauguration of a special school in my "Small Steps along the way" Blog here.

Vote for me at Indibloggers!

Friends,

Indiblogger had decided to feature "Original Humour" for their latest contest.

My ArTicKles Blog has been nominated for the IndiBlogger of the Month contest.

Please vote for me!

The nominations are listed here!

Many Thanks for your support as always!

Highness in Goa

You know you’re in Goa when……
1. You see all shops shut down by 9 pm except liquor outlets which never seem to close at all!
2. The shopkeeper pulls down the shutters even as you are attempting to enter it...especially if it is time for his afternoon lunch and siesta between 1300 hrs and 1600 hrs.
3. Your travel from anyplace to anyplace in Goa is through lush greenery – for a Mumbaikar, all roads appear similar to the Aarey Colony road in Goregaon (East, which is only one of its kind in Mumbai.
4. You find well-maintained benches to sit down at all intersections – and the locals haven’t vandalized them.
5. You find extremely friendly people all around and what’s more you can speak to anyone in Konkani – it is my mother-tongue!
6. You see everyone sporting the Goa-theme T-shirts – there are several on offer everywhere.
7. You will also find youngsters wear T-shirts declaring the Goan attitude:
“Proud to be lazy”, You said it! Who doesn’t know this place is great to relax-
“ susegaad”, as they say here in Goa, which means laidback attitude!
“Conserve water – Drink Beer” Hey why not Feni, guys? Wouldn’t that have been more apt?
“Girlfriends are like medicines – they come with expiry dates” Perhaps they also come with side effects, huh?

We were in Goa for a week, after paying obeisance at our family deity kuladeva at Mangeshi Temple, it was time to relax, unwind, roam around, soak in the nature, gorge on Goan seafood preparations and desserts, that you can only get in plenty here.

While in Goa, I had the opportunity to read the local newspaper Navhind Times. I was really impressed by the number of articles and letters expressing concern about the need to protect the environment and the greens in that tantalizing state, which has been not yet spoilt by polluting industries. When we, urban citizens speak of progress, we often mistake industrialization to be the only real progress. Don’t we want to preserve some places like Goa, Kerala or Himachal in their pristine beauty?

I appreciate the state’s stand not to join the SEZ bandwagon and preference to control rapid industrialization. Albeit, a little too late – after approving a handful of SEZs which were de-notified subsequently. Not fair for the promoters, though. You need to know your strengths – Goa’s strength is its natural beauty, culture and tourism – not industry.

Goa celebrated what is called the “Sao-Jao” festival on 24th June. Youngsters wearing colorful bands around their heads made of flowers dashed around in motor-cycles all day to take part in the finale which would mean taking a dip in the river or sea, drink beer, partake a meal of seafood and meat and dance away into the night. It reminded us of the Goa Carnaval, held each year in February (we had the opportunity to witness the carnaval in 1988).

Goans sure know how to have fun!

The local newspapers carried some special features about fighting drug abuse and educating and rehabilitating youngsters on the occasion of the International Day against drug abuse and trafficking observed on the 26th of June every year.
Several youngsters who had overcome their drug habit forever and some who were struggling to do so had related their experiences in these articles. It was only ironic that as I was reading these articles, the news of the death of Michael Jackson was being telecast on the telly.

Goa is known to be a place to have fun! But some youngsters need to have the right idea of fun. Drugs provide a false sense of euphoria and well-being which eventually leads to a painful existence once hooked, as I could gather. I do sincerely hope youngsters in Goa learn to have some clean healthy fun. Like reading my humor blog and, of course, my book which is available here!

For some useful blogs/writeups about Goa read these links.
Edwin Fernandes – The susegad era that was
Goan Culture

Finally, a rare Goan delicacy you must carry back for your friends – Bebinca! I did!

There is plenty to get high on when you are in Goa!
One would almost call you “Your highness”…

A million words!

With the birth of Astha Arora, India’s population touched the one billion mark on 11th May 2000.
Web 2.0 is the millionth word in the English language according to Global Language Monitor

Newspapers and websites were agog with speculation about which word would be the millionth word that GLM would announce earlier this month. Could it be Jai Ho? Could it be slumdog? Or would it be n00b? The suspense was building each day, as reports about the possible millionth word were being published daily . While many Indians rooted for ‘Jai Ho’ for the coveted millionth word in English, some amongst us said, but Jai Ho are two words, not one! Well some even said “But ‘Jai Ho’ is a song!”. Which, of course it is!

Whether it is two words, a song or whatever - I personally preferred “Jai Ho” to "slumdog"! I had been thinking of posting my views at that time, but somehow couldn’t pull of a meaningful string of thoughts – an important condition for a post on the ArTicKles blog. Not enough whatnonsanz to be specific. (One day it will be the 2 millionth word, i hope)

Now that Web 2.0 has been dropped upon us as the millionth word, we have more to ponder and debate. For instance, what exactly is a word? We never needed to ask that question “what exactly is a child?” when young Astha Arora was born. It took a million words in English before we could ask "what exactly is a word" though! My first reaction upon reading the much-awaited announcement was, “Web Two Point Zero? It’s not a word!”

But if it is the millionth word, as we are told, well, it’s got to be a word! It couldn’t be the millionth word without being a word, certainly! “It is an alpha-numeric term” ,one may say. But then so is n00b – which is “n zero zero b”, a combination of letters and numerics, meaning a newcomer in the online gaming community, incidentally.

While there have been several reports in the press expressing the choice to be genuine and apt, Web 2.0 – its arrival ushering in new experiences for the netizens, the comments and views expressed by various writers seem to indicate otherwise. Some have even raised the question that if terms like “financial tsunami” and “wardrobe malfunction”, (which are in reality two words or if you insist, a phrase), have been included in the count to the millionth word. So can we really say we have the millionth word after all?

Pssst - Btw, I suppose “chemical locha” of Munnabhai fame is included already!

Well if GLM has opened its doors wide to welcome all kinds of words, phrases, songs etc, I would suggest them to include “Pappu cant dance sala”. Well, my reasoning is that it is better a word than a song!

So what happened to Jai Ho and Slumdog?

The 999,997th word was Slumdog, the 999,998th was the Hindi salutation Jai Ho, the 999,999th word was N00b, from the internet meaning a new member of an online gaming community, while the 1,000,001st was “financial tsunami”.

Which brings us to the question what constitutes a word for the GLM?

The Global Language Monitor accepts as a word any coinage that has gained sufficiently wide usage: this includes hybrid words in Chinglish (Chinese English), Hinglish (Hindi English), Spanglish (Spanish English), Hollywords (terms created by the film industry), including slang, word-marriages with other languages and the thousands of new terms spawned by the internet. computer jargon and words forged by the internet. The word does not have to be in any dictionary! In fact, the latest Oxford English Dictionary has only about 616,500 word forms.

And just how does GLM decide which word gets entered into their list of words?

Each contender is analysed according to depth (number of citations) and breadth (geographic extent of word usage), as well as the number of times a word has appeared in the global print and electronic media, the Internet, blogs, and social media such as Twitter and YouTube. Words need a minimum of 25,000 citations to qualify.

If you need to know more click here for GLM’s FAQ.
Now we know!
Could this just be a popularity gimmick for GLM and the Technology geeks?

You may also notice how the millionth word has been described by the GLM:
“Web 2.0 - the next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you”. That sounds more like an ad to me! Perhaps it is. I wonder whether they got the cue from our Regional Transport Office in Mumbai, who sell privileged registration numbers like 1111, 9999, 3000 and of course, 786 to people with moneybags to part with!

It was nice fun, anyway. Considering my love for new words. Jai Ho!

Blogger's Postscript:
Oh, and just in case you haven’t read ( I know you have! ) my article on the subject of new words in English in the TOI on 16th June 09, here’s the link.

At the Blogscars 2009

Long post alert!
(I couldn’t make it short, because I ran out of ideas)

Just as the Oscars night is the much-awaited event looked forward to by the glitterati, the Blogscars, as Indian Home Maker calls it, is its parallel in the blogosphere, looked forward to by the blogeratti. The most phenomenal blogger, Indian Home Maker (IHM) had hosted this event recently in her blog. You may read it here.

Ever since I have been blogging, it has been a delight when fellow-bloggers have pitched in time and again with their encouraging words of praise (which may have led me to come so far as 65+ posts and 15000 hits). Though I personally don’t believe in quantitative targets and do accord greater importance to quality of content, I also do believe that for a small-time, unknown writer like me, reaching out to hundreds or perhaps thousands was a dream. Why else would one write if not to share one’s thoughts or ideas?

"It is with great pleasure that I announce that IHM has given me The Versatile Blogger award! Thank you, IHM! I would fail in my duty (to make it sound like a speech), if I would not mention here that IHM has painfully listed out the bloggers who have received this award along with the reasons – the posts which have got the award their way! The effort you have put in is laudable, IHM! Take a bow! It also gave us an opportunity to read your handpicked blogposts from amongst us."



For me, it has been for this post, “Daughters are forever”.
- A post, which will always remain closest to my heart!

When IHM tagged me to do a post listing five things that changed me when I became a father, I wondered what to write! So when I mentioned this to my daughter, she immediately said, “You have already written about this, haven’t you?” So IHM, I couldn’t think past this post, which is actually about how my life changed with the arrival of my daughter in my life. So I take it as having done it already, and hope that I wouldn't get any punishment for not doing my asignment(homework)!

My regular readers may have noted the rather unusual manner in which I do announce my awards. andThis is when I got the Blog of the day award from Bill Austin.

And this post, when Indyeah gave me this Kreativ Blogger Award

And this is when Krishnan and Sahaja had given me the Proximidade and Butterfly awards. I had even posted a limerick for each of the award recipients that I conferred it to in turn. Read this post here.

The blogging journey has proved to me that there are several talented writers who have been showing their creativity through their designs, thoughts, words and innovative posts. So if they have been awarded by their fellow-bloggers, it has been really a well-deserved recognition of their contribution to the blogosphere. Some call it Blogiverse (blog + universe). Or should I just say Blog-Samaj as Hitchwriter aka Dhirenbhai says in his comments?

Before I get to the awarding ceremony, let me share with you the several new words that are either being used or have the potential to be used extensively with the advent of blogs. The word blog, as you know is already a crafty shortened version of the words web log. I stumbled upon several such words derived from the word blog, chiefly combination words. The ones that immediately caught my attention are listed below:

Blogaholic – someone who’s life subsists on online blogs

Blogarrhea - An ailment afflicting bloggers. Excessive and frequent evacuation of blog postings, runny ones with little substance, usually indicating emotional distress or disorder.

Blogorrhea - A blog characterized by excessive commenting on irrelevant facts. We say that the blogger suffers from uncontrollable verbal discharge or blogorrhea.

Bloggebrity – n. A person who has become famous through blogging.

Blogworthy – When something happens in your life that is worth mentioning in your blog

Blogalization - Increase in global communication and awareness through the activities of Internet blogging. A coinage, not yet very popular term in English but well spread in French and German

Blogarazzi - Plural noun: bloggers who flock to a news story or event the way paparazzi flock to celebrities.

Bloganova –A variation of "Casanova", referring to a man who is amorously attentive to women, by means of a blog - A Casanova operating through blogs!

Blogathon - A competition between two friends on myspace. The two, three, twelve or more friends each write a blog and compeat to see who gets the most blog views, comments and kudos. The person with the most views, comments, kudos etc. wins the blogathon, thus having the best blog. People who participate in blogathons are usually sad, middle-aged men who live with their mothers and teenage girls trying to prove their popularity.

Bloggerazzi – An individual that waits for authors of popular blogs to post new enteries so that they can be the first to leave a comment.

Bloggerssistic - When someone has a blog that they won't stop talking about.
A: "Have you read my blog yet?"
"You should read my blog."
"Well, if you read my blog, you would already know that."
"I am SO posting this picture on my blog."
B: "Shut up! You are so bloggerssisstic."

Blogiot - Somebody who comes off as an idiot in their blog.

Blogistan - The Blogiverse. The collective term for all webloggers, or "bloggers." (Dhiren – I still love your Blog-Samaj)

Blogiversary - The yearly anniversary of someones web-log (blog)

Blogiarism - Blatant theft of blog contents and/or entries, to be added to any other blog, site or publication without notating the origin or author and without their expressed consent.

Blogopreneur - One who generates income via advertising on their blog

Blogstipation – Inability to think what to blog about!

When I tried to coin some new words based on 'blog', I google-searched the web to see if they were already existing, that is when I found so many of them listed in the Urban Dictionary website . You may scroll down the list on the left hand side to explore many more.

I would like to give this award to the following well-deserved bloggers:



Vinod Sharma – for successfully posting humorous political posts besides his usually brilliant commentaries on the state of politics and the nation, which lend the topic an expanse of oceanic dimensions.

Sakhi – for being able to find a wide variety of subjects for her short stories. One could almost play a game about which subject she would take up next and lose it altogether! I would have missed out on her photography blog if I hadn’t been following her on Twitter!

Nita – for her untiring energy to delve into facts and figures, views and counterviews, practices and observations to cover subjects that our minds had somehow never thought of visiting.

Sahaja – for picking up her camera and letting us see the world through her eyes, besides continuing her everlasting smiles posts about her experiences in her blog.

Mavin – for sharing his thoughts about India and the challenges of personal finances that we face each day, but do not spend enough time to study analytically,

Priyank – for enjoying what he does and posting those breathtaking pictures which capture nature and its freshness – they arrive fresh on your blogspots, Priyank. Makes me wonder - is it Pure Oxygen or Ozone, that you load it with?

IHM – for bringing up subjects, which some of us would rather not want to think about. And deal with them with the sensitivity and truthfulness that make us want to agree, to change the world and get up and act!

Indyeah – for coming up bolder than ever with her opinion. For rooting for it and for letting us know her passion to be teaching little ones and what it means to her.

Usha Pisharody – for her insightful posts and for being a committed teacher too!

Krishnan – for finding some thoughtful gems of tidbits and trivia – especially about literature and books and for sharing all that he finds interesting on his blog.

Manju – for finding inspiring treasures in the heap of news, controversies, gossip and a trillion trivia.

Swaps - for being where he should be ready with his camera and finding some sights that we may have spent a lifetime to find and still may not have, and then sharing it for us all with some clever words or poetry to go down with.

Now, for some of my new finds you too get this award and also I am blogrolling you guys!

Hitchwriter – Dhiren – for being very humorous in his posts about his experiences. It gives me great pleasure to find more bloggers taking to humor, when subjects of intense debate and opinions generally command popularity and get the eyeballs.


Vishesh – for taking up the contest route and for choosing humor as the subject. You’re sure to enjoy this, just as all your readers are too!

Winnie the Poohi - for being innovative in the way you have conducted the interviews of fellow-bloggers. I had come across such a blog “Being-a-blogger”, which had interviewed hugely popular bloggers, but found it was defunct by the time I had discovered it!

To all those who have been commenting on my blog, my sincere thanks! To all fellow bloggers, I may not have posted comments on all your posts, but do be assured that I do make it a point to find time and have been coming over to reading them and enjoying them!

For someone who just wanted to post his write-ups on the net, I have come a long way! It is so nice to feel like we are one big blogging family here. Can't think of a new word for this great feeling, though. Thank you, all!