"I'm a human being. God Dammit, my life has value."

The movie Network was on this evening on television.






















There was a particular monologue in the movie that I LOVED. It is as follows:

Howard: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression.
Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's no one anywhere that seems to know what to do with us.
Now into it. We know the air is unfit to breathe, our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes as if that's the way it's supposed to be.
We know things are bad. Worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy so we don't go out anymore. We sit in a house as slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster, and TV, and my steel belted radials and I won't say anything." Well I'm not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write.
I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crying in the streets. All I know is first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm a human being. God Dammit, my life has value." So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" I want you to get up right now. Get up. Go to your windows, open your windows, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Things have got to change my friends. You've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open your window, stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

The creepiest aspect of Network is that it was made in 1976 by the legendary Paddy Chayefsky and yet the lines hold true even today. Each and every one of them.

What are they trying to sell us?

Turn on the television any time of the day and one thing you cannot escape watching is(no, not the Saas Bahu crap) advertisements. Notice more closely and like me, you'll wonder exactly what are they trying to sell us? Toothpaste ads sell us the idea that a "fresh" breath will attract chicks/dudes as the case/preference might be! Car ads encourage us to keep up with the Joneses, Election ads sell us the idea that a certain candidate is "stronger" than the incumbent, cell phone ads sell us the concept of "identity" (I wonder how many of us would be unique once we'd have bought that specific brand of cell phone), fairness cream ads sell us the idea of "beautiful" skin (What backward society do we live in, that the skin color rather than a person's personality matters more?), bottled water ads sell us the notion that bottled water is safer than tap water (even as scientists the world over have reached a consensus that bottled water is in fact carcinogenic).
Having said all that, I hope you see what I'm trying to put across here. What these advertisements are selling us, is not products or services. It is fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. The fear of being a social outcaste for having bad breath (and thus selling a surgical antiseptic as a breath freshener), the fear of losing a job because of dark skin, the fear of falling ill because of using a random brand of soap, the fear of losing teeth to cavities for not using a specific brand of toothpaste and so on.
Bottom line is this: the air we breathe is polluted, the water we drink is tainted with chemicals, and the food that we eat is impure with all the pesticides in it. We are a much vulnerable species with all the things that we do to ourselves. We drink Coke/Pepsi instead of water when we're thirsty, we eat potato chips instead of proper meals when we're hungry, and we go to oxygen spas instead of heading out to the mountains when we need fresh air. They say that the average lifespan the world over has increased. But at what cost? We live faster and more impatient lives, and we glorify that fact. Or do we? Are we placing our short term goals on a higher priority than our long term objectives? Are we missing the forest for the trees?
I don't know. But I don't like what I see.

Buying a laptop

I'm currently on the lookout for a laptop to serve my needs at my B-School. Oh, haven't I written about this? The B-School part I mean... I got into XLRI, Jamshedpur. That's that. Moving on, so here I am, researching online for laptops. I start with a base configuration of about 2 Gigs of RAM, and a decent processor, say of 2 GHz, and a 160 GB HDD, and that's it. However, after a few sessions of browsing the Dell website(which is EXCELLENT, by the way) I hiked up my requirements to a 320GB HDD, a colored body, a backlit keyboard, 3 GB of RAM, and a 2.4 GHz processor, not to forget a 512MB Graphics card.
So the question here is: do I really need all this stuff? And the answer would be a healthy mix of both: yes, and no. yes, because I wouldn't want my laptop to seem inadequate if I decided to play some new game on it, or run a heavy application. And no, because I'd only just be "keeping up with the Joneses".

p.s. I've narrowed down to the Studio 15 Laptop with the following configuration:

Product

Quantity

Dell Studio 15 Laptop (S540506IN8) Base System, Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium SP1 64 bit (English)		1

Base System	Base System	[210-27712]
Processor Options	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz/ 1066 FSB/ 3MB Cache)	[213-10508]
Memory	3GB (1X1GB + 1X2GB) DDR2 SDRAM	[370-14408]
Keyboard	Dell(TM) Keyboard with Touchpad (English)	[340-16225] [583-12502]
Video Card	512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570	[450-12551] [490-10980]
Hard Drive	320GB SATA Hard Drive	[400-16220]
Operating System	Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium SP1 64 bit (English)	[616-10117] [616-10177] [619-14799] [619-15380] [620-11129] [640-11156] [640-11162]
Optical Drive	Slot Load 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability	[429-13408] [430-10224] [640-11003]
Audio Solution	Integrated Stereo Sound with Subwoofer	[219-10069]
Software	Microsoft(R) Works 9.0 (English)	[630-12305]
Warranty & Service	1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis	[205-11377] [205-11469] [205-11470] [205-11516] [205-11517]
Palmrest Option	Silver Palmrest	[214-10081]
Wireless Network Card	Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/g/n) Half Mini-card	[555-11886]
Bluetooth Module	Dell(TM) Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module	[555-11729]
Dell Service: Remark	Dell's Terms and Conditions apply Laptop Batteries Carry One Year Warranty Only From Invoice Date	[205-11378] [205-11424]
Batteries	6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery	[451-10783]
Carrying Cases	No Case	[460-10921]
Item Included in the System	Integrated Fast Ethernet 10/100/1000 34mm ExpressCard Slot, (DOES NOT SUPPORT PC CARDS) ICC Regulatory Label Shipment Mod India Country Info Mod System Driver DVD Kit System Driver Mod Dell(TM) PC-Restore Included Dell(TM) Chat Discount is only valid if the corresponding upgraded item is selected above. Limited time promotional offer only. No further discounts apply. Windows Live Software Noise Isolation Ear Buds Power Cord	[219-10125] [219-10065] [340-16223] [340-16224] [799-11576] [613-10695] [613-10618] [640-11181] [640-11179] [219-10075] [219-10076] [630-12219] [624-10050] [450-12557]
Security Software	McAfee(R) Security Center(TM) 30 days trial	[650-12030]
Color Options	Jet Black Colour with Black U-Trim	[320-10394]
Label Options	Intel(R) Centrino(R) 2 Label	[340-16714]
Display	15.6” 720p WLED (1366x768) Display with TrueLife™ and Built-in 2.0MP Web Cam	[230-10741] [319-10079] [640-11007] [640-11008] [640-11009] [640-11374]
Freight Charges	Studio-NB Handling & Insurance Charges /Express Premium	[990-15161] [990-15162] [990-15621]
Delivery Charges	Inspiron(TM) Delivery Charges (India)	[990-10898]

Sub Total(s):

Rs.50,649.16

Bans

The Indian government is going to ban blogspot.com for "Security Reasons". Those being that terrorists use blogspot to communicate with each other.
Taking this a step forward, I believe the government is also going to ban:

• emails
• fixed line phones (Landlines)
• cell phone services
• courier services
• The Indian Postal Service
• messenger services (Gtalk, Y! Messenger, AIM, MSN Messenger etc.)

because all the above items are communication media.

Taking this another step further, the next items that will soon be banned are:

• cars
• buses
• flights
• air
• water
• food
• petrol
• currency notes
• slippers/shoes
• clothes
• toothbrushes, knives, and other items of daily use,

because the terrorists have used, use, and will use these products.
Friends, now is the time. Please suggest the above list to your legislator and make sure you play your part well in this joke we call a democracy.

p.s. The above post is based on an article that was a hoax. However, just imagine a scenario like that.

Hero Honda Passion Pro!

Was channel surfing a couple of days back after a long time when I came across this ad for Hero Honda Passion Pro. With a history of idiotic ads Hero Honda has been showing for the past few years, this, this, and this for example, it was a pleasure to see an ad that finally appealed. Nothing overdone, the protagonist does not speak a word, all he does is to turn off his bike at a traffic intersection, take off his helmet, get off the bike, remove a speck of dust from the body, coolly sit back down, start the engine 2 seconds before the light turns green and zoom off all the while ignoring the derision that the villains in the jeep behind him keep jabbing him with.

With this simple ad, and not a single word, so many things were said.

Our protagonist:

• Cares for the environment(by turning off the engine),
• Cares for himself(by taking off his helmet),
• Cares for his bike(by flicking off the dust)
• And hardly gives a damn for all the derision poked at him by the villains.

I wonder who made this advert. Hats off to them. They should do more HH ads.

p.s. I couldn't find the ad on youtube so there's no link up there. Do let me know if someone has a clue where I can find it. :)

Jai Ho?

Woke up late today, still groggy, turned on VH1. The Pussycat Dolls version of 'Jai Ho' was playing... Considering that it is A.R. Rahman's composition and the Dolls obviously cashed in on the opportunity and that their only contribution was some meaningless lyrics and a few awkward dance moves with some equally pathetic makeup, it was worth noting that Rahman had barely any visibility in the video. A few seconds at the most. Hopeless. Why does Rahman do this to himself?

Wow, just Wow.

The G20 Summit at London is under progress even as I type this. I was watching the BBC coverage this afternoon on, uh... well, BBC. The Brazilian Premier was speaking about the crisis. Now, for a lot of people, that wouldn't seem like that big a deal, because after all, politicians are paid to do just that; talk! But there was something special about Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He was the only one at the G20 who was hungry growing up. Why? Because he was grew up in great adversity, even working as a shoe shine boy, working his way up the social ladder, being a Labor Union Leader at a time.
What he said made a lot of sense to me. He said that the World Economic Order has been decided by white boys with blue eyes who never saw poverty, leave alone lived in it, since the Second World War. They have decided for EVERYONE how business is done, and they have ALWAYS said that whichever way the Whitey does it is the right way. Also, of late, Whitey has stopped making any stuff of his own. All he does is print a lot of funky looking designs on some shiny paper and passes it along to everyone to buy stuff. That paper which is commonly known as the Dollar, has no intrinsic value (in Gold, for example). Having printed too much of this worthless paper, the American system subsequently collapsed under its own weight with banks and funds Leveraging all they could until finally it all gave way. After all, there is only so much shit you can feed a pig until it pukes, right? Well, the pig has puked and the shit has hit the fan. The poor horse that was making his living in a stable far far away also has been affected by the shit-fan episode for his fodder is now toxic and he too has to pay for the pig's bad eating habits.
And not just the horse, even the mouse and the chicken and the goat. Everyone will now have to pay for the pig's idiocy. Here's the worst part of all this: The pig had his fun eating all that stuff. Gobbling up Central American economies, his own citizens' pension and medical insurance money, bailing out his toxic banks, while letting his own citizens' savings go down the drain. Sure makes a lot of sense for the pig. But what about the poor horse? The one who's been slogging all his life and when he finally saw a nice retirement coming along, poof! Gone! Just like that! So, as the story ends, or begins, the horse had his legs tied to the pole earlier. The pole of poverty and ignorance. Now, the horse is free to kick the pig. And it sure looks that the pig's in for serious kickin!!! Wow!