Sudipta's Life

We all know about the writer's block. When the blogger doesn't want to write, when there may be ideas in the head but the body is just too lazy to type. When there are demands on time, place or net usage and you simply cannot get yourself to sit down and write a coherent blog post. Yeah, it happens to all of us. However, there is another one --- the commenter's block. When you read a post but don't post a comment. Yes, all ye lurking readers... I am talking about you. But, believe me: I completely understand. There is this block --- the commenters' block which is very difficult to overcome. You read a post, maybe enjoy it and then also perhaps it provokes thoughts. You might also want to go into the comments section and see what others added to the discussion there. But going out to type one yourself is a problem. There is this awkward fear, the nagging doubt that your comment may be judged, even met with disapproval. Also, then the fact that you've read the pos

Slimy greasy and red-stained yellow, dripping with remains of vegetables and some chicken blood, with fingerprints dabbling in and around the knob. Thats the microwave timer knob in our apartment. We were wondering aloud the other day about why Das (my roomie) had bought this analog knob-operated microwave while the digital one might have been available for maybe ten more bucks. The place might have looked a lot cleaner then without the greasy knob if we had a digital keypad, not to speak of better control and stuff. He let out a nostalgic sigh and explained things like this: "Actually, both microwaves cost the same --- the digital and the analog one. That day I was roaming around Walmart looking for the microwave to buy when I came to this aisle lined with microwaves. The digital ones were right on top, at a visible eye level. The analog ones were down near the floor. BUT, the digital one had a plain blank cover with a picture of the microwave itself. The analog one had a photo o

Ugh... what is that unearthly noise blaring at this time? I just slept! Hands grope about towards source of aforesaid noise, both eyes still half-closed. Wham! And yeah... thats taken care of for now... go back to sleep mumbling. Uh... again! 10 minutes of snooze time past already? Hmmff... thats bloody murder! What time is it anyway? Noooo..... it can't be 8:40 already! My alarm was set for 8:00!!! :( Wham, wham and another bloody wham! *Whimper-whimper* Do I really need to open both eyes now? Yeah I think so. Take off warm blanket. Darned the air is cold... that A/C will kill me some day! *Grumble-grumble* and wear the crumpled T-shirt from the floor. Room-mate in bathroom... *grumble-grumble some more* I'll get up when he's out --- get back inside the blanket. Ahh... doesn't it feel good already? Peace.... Room-mate comes out.... dude, you ought to take at least an hour in the morning! How can you be out so early? I don't want to get out of bed today!! :( :( *Mak

The belief in God, His existence or non-existence, and more importantly the role and the extent of His reach into our lives is a very subjective and personal thing, according to me. Faith, by definition, is blind --- whether on a human subject or something beyond. Therefore, it doesn't matter what arguments one may present to prove His existence --- you will still be guessing that He exists. So I am not going to go into that debate here. Instead, I want to talk about some common trends that I have observed in people who don't believe in the existence of anything called God. Historically, churches, caliphs, pundits and village godmen have held their sway on a large part of humanity for the largest period of known history. In a society where a large part of life revolves around religion and the various rituals associated with it, there are bound to be fanatics in its name. To come out and actually proclaim that you are an atheist is therefore, something that requires courage and

How to deal with some of life's problems: 1. Save every Free Credit Card Offer you get, Put it in pile A 2. Save every Free Coupon You get, put that in pile B 3. Now open the credit card mail from pile A and find the Business Reply Mail Envelope. 4. Take the coupons from pile B and stuff them in the envelope you hold in your hand. 5. Drop the stuffed to the brim envelopes in your mail and walk away whistling. I have now received two phone calls from the credit card companies telling me that they received a stuffed envelope with coupons rather than my application. They informed me that it they are not pleased that they footed the bill for the crap I sent them. I reply with "It says Business Reply Mail" I'm suggesting coupons to you to ensure that your business is more successful. They promptly hang up on me. Now, I did this for about a month before it got boring, so I got an added idea! I added exactly 33 cents worth of pennies to the envelope so they paid EXTRA d

Fool, oh fool... when will you learn? How much more price do you have to pay before you realise that the world is not what you were told it is? How many more pyres of your dreams and trust need to be torched before you will realise that you have been cheated? You will never learn, dear. You will implicitly trust friends and their words. You will believe them, make way for them, go out of your way to help them. And one fine day you will discover that they didn't stand by you when you needed them the most. You will have fierce loyalty towards your friends: you will neglect your own comfort and priorities just to see a little smile on their faces, or to hear a little sigh of relief from them. And then, when the time comes, you will suddenly be disillusioned: those that you trusted the most will stand on the other side of the bank and watch you sink in the river. They will lose faith in you when it counts the most. At best, they will shrug their shoulders and say, "I'm sorry -

I think I should have written this even before I started writing this blog, but I consider that this disclaimer held and will hold for all things ever written on this blog. If it wasn't here on the blog before, well, I assumed that it was implied. Perhaps it may be time to make things explicit: if not now, it might be useful in the future. Everything I write here, even up to and including guest posts, are solely at my own discretion and risk. No-one associated with me, neither my employers, my employees, my family, my friends, institutions I am associated with or the orgranisation hosting the web space is to be held responsible for anything written here. It is solely my own prerogative, and at my own will that I post whatever I do, and therefore all bouquets and brickbats, awards or lawsuits should be directed towards me and nobody else. Also, there may be a lot of veiled references in the posts or the content published here: either in images, poems, or just plain text. Most of the