How old am I??

In India:
Some arbit fellow (SAF): hello how do you do?
IITian: I am good thanks.
SAF: So what are you doing?
IITian: I am working for an MNC in AbuDhabi.
SAF: wow. How old are you?
IITian: I am 22, am a fresh graduate from IIT.
SAF: nice nice. You IITians are the cream of the country. You must be so proud. Your parents must be so proud.....blah blah blah blah for 20 mins....ends with.... Are you people from the ET??

In UAE:
SAF: hello how do you do?
IITian: I am good thanks.
SAF: So what are you doing?
IITian: I am working for an MNC here in AbuDhabi.
SAF: What?? how old are you?
IITian: I am 22, am a fresh graduate from IIT.
SAF: (shocked, after 5 seconds). Why are you here? Didn't you get a job in India? Did you not study well at college? Do you have some relatives here? Whom do you stay with? It is very important for you to do......blah blah blah blah blah.....

This has happened with me at least 20 times till now, both in India and Abu Dhabi.

We’re all the same people, yaar

While watching the Pakistan vs New Zealand cricket match taking place in Abu Dhabi, I was wondering what people of Pakistan think about the situation there country is in. Daily suicide attacks killing hundreds of civilians means no cricket can be played in Pakistan because no country thinks it is safe enough to tour. The situation has definitely worsened after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked some months ago. I wonder why people agree (or should I say don't hesitate as much) in touring India and Sri Lanka where the terror threat is still there, even if not as pronounced as it is in Pakistan. Is it because of the mindset of people of the respective countries or is it because of the very different history of the two countries?

History: Post 1947 Pakistan attached itself to the US and became a toy in the hands of the US authorities. On the other hand India did not align itself to any of the cold-warring countries and headed the Non-Alignment-Moment. It was because of this approach that both countries progressed so differently in the years following independence. Pakistan was constantly used as a playground by the US for keeping watch on erstwhile USSR and Afgan rebels and Chinese development. India on the other hand developed independent trade policies and laid the foundation for an economic superpower.

People: The difference of mindset in people is evident from the fact that Indians value and respect heroes from all religions and cultures. In India a Dilip Kumar can change his name to A.R. Rehman at the age of 21 and still be worshiped. In India Sampooran Singh Kalra changes his name to Gulzar so as to not lose himself in blind religious prejudice and fanaticism, and then go on to be the most successful and praised individual in his field. Rehman, Gulzar and another muslin Resool Pookutty won oscars early this year and the entire country went mad. I cannot remember any such incident in the history of Pakistan. In fact Yousuf Yohanna concerted to Islam and became Mohammad Yousuf.

We Indians define ourselves by nationality, they define themselves by religion. We often hear that people from India and Pakistan are the same in every sense just separated by a border. Both countries and people have similar lifestyle, similar tastes, similar perspective about things. But really??

Acknowledgments: "Counterpoint" by Vir Sanghvi (must read, though some opinions are very harsh and might be unacceptable to many)

32 Beautiful Moments

So the day started and players came out to warm up. The maestro came and the crowd erupted. He carried two bats under his arm, some would say a child carried two toys, some would say a warrior carried two swords. Each catch he took, each ball he fielded and each time he rolled his arm during the hour long warm up it was as if the crowd was already getting their money's worth.

And then it was time to field. Ponting opened the innings, powerplays happened and there were 15 men on the field; my eyes were set on Sachin and Sachin alone. To be frank I don't know when I will see him in action live again.

• He fielded at short midwicket and tried the underarm back flick (azar style) to run out watson. On realizing what he had done, he sheepishly looked at Sehwag and giggled as if to say "Am I not allowed to have fun".
• Whenever he went to the boundary and about 1000 people went mad.
• During the drinks break, all the foster girls came to him first and offered him a drink.
• Bhajji got angry at everybody who misfielded and always looked at Sachin as if to say "kuchh to sikhao inko "
  

And then he batted... 32 beautiful runs to say the least. The square cut for four, the flick of the hips for four, the square drive and the cover drive, that ever so sweet sound only one bat in the history of cricket can produce (and I could hear it even from the third tier). But alas like all good things it ended. One bad judgement and it was over. Maybe it was the appetizer before the big one at Mohali.

The fact that I left the stadium soon after Sachin got out, makes me think what I will do once he retires. Maybe then people in my life won't get jealous of him.

2 states

Being an IITian it was very difficult for me to like Chetan Bhagat's earlier books. Maybe that was the reason I did not complete "5 point someone", took weeks to complete "One night at the call centre" and gave "The 3 mistakes of my life" a total miss. So when I got "2 states" as a birthday gift I could not help but show a little frustration. Only because this book was about 250 pages and that I had some really pressing issues which I did not want to think about, I buckled up and started the book mainly as a distraction from my worldly troubles. I thought "how bad can a real life story about a love marriage be".

Well to say the least it was awesome, totally awesome. Every page has that subtle humour which you will appreciate if you belong to a punjabi family or if you are pissed off easily by south indians. Some would call the book racist, but I think Bhagat has made fun of both the states without actually making anyone mad. Punjabis are projected as outgoing, happy chaps but too concerned about their image in the society. Tamilians are projected as down to earth people with such a simple lifestyle that they tend to get boring most of the time. For me the highlight of the book was the troubled father son relationship and how they come around in the end. Another good thing about the book is that at no place does it talk about IITians being Gods or superhumans.

Give it a read, you will definitely smile a lot (if you manage to get the humour) and if you really connect you might shed a tear or two.

Ulta Pulta Ek Samaan

A sad attempt at making a few ambigrams :D Do give feedback. Also suggest more words that you would want me to kill my time with :P