Skip to main content

With god on our side

Cricket is not the subject of this post, but I have to get in my 2 rupees' worth.

When the Green gang play test cricket, it's heart-stopping, thrill a minute stuff. For all the wrong reasons. Whatever else is tooted down under today, I think 'stunning' is too much of a superlative for the result. Sure, the Yellow-bellies bowled extremely well. Hussey's timely century gave them a shot at this win. Actually, nix that. Kamran Akmal's awesome attempts at what he thinks constitutes wicket-keeping, gave the Aussies a shot at this win. The only person remotely stunned might be the Pakistan coach (whoever he may be) at the sheer WTFness of the batting. At the end of the day though, I suspect everyone and his aunty knew that the Pakistanis would collapse. Like I said before, if their captain had the option of batting alone, he'd have taken it. My only amusing though this morning was that I did not fancy supporting either bunch playing & hoped that a draw might happen.

Moving on to the real deal, I (and probably most of you) read an interesting article instructing men on how to argue effectively with their other halves. All awesome & whatnot, but a few days late as far as I'm concerned. Entrenched as I am in this enervating excuse for employment, I have blogged before about the Walrus. Since I supposedly work in a team, there are others who show up daily to drink tea & surf through Gmail, Orkut & Facebook as well. Remarkably (and it is remarkable, if you know anything of my disposition), I'd managed to get along with the rest of them quite well for almost a year now. Yes, I was impressed as well but this amazing feat was achieved by minding my own business for most of the time.

I 'had' managed. The peace or rather, tolerance, has been consigned to the past. Step up, Colleague no. 1 who frequently voices the opinion that people from most parts of India are crazy. Except Maharashtrians of course, who, going by how she thinks, are a cultural group too noble for this earth, never mind India. Coming as I do from mixed cultural backgrounds, (I am proudly Puneri & love my filter coffee, dosa, thalipeeth & solkadhi) my tactic was to smile wanly, nod & get back to my dawdling. Last Friday however, C 1 said something so awesome, I lost my temper. An event that would make Mt. Vesuvius' number on Pompeii look like a case of mild flatulence gone wrong. To quote C 1 - "Oh! those south indians are crazy... so many of them go abroad & become nri's. Why don't they all just move out of the country ?" Heaven knows why that irked me, but it did. I even said I did not want to discuss the issue but she just wouldn't quit. The end result is a certain coldness in the interaction accompanied by a distinct lack of small talk.

Colleague no. 2, a busybody if there ever was one, yesterday says "Migraines are just a mental block people have." On asking her who told her this, she said her sources include books on spirituality & psychology. I have a degree in psychology. I have migraines. She does not suffer from either, by the way. The fanatic gleam in the eye subtitling the above statement along with a "I am right & you must agree" attitude put the lid on it. I can't stand proselytisers. More cold interaction etcetera.

Yes, I know I need to move jobs. Or planets.

The above are just examples of what I've seen & heard for quite a while now. I don't understand these people, especially since they all seem to start out so normally. Time & again, I've experienced the "Oh! so, you are not actually Maharashtrian?" remark. I was born in Bombay, have lived 18 years in Pune & can speak Marathi. What does that make me ? Tamil of course. The dudes down south don't quite know what to make of someone who isn't obsessed with Rajnikanth movies & obese actresses. What this does do (especially if you have ever lived abroad or attended a foreign university) is effectively keep you at arms length from everyone but the library.

(Not all Maharashtrians & South Indians are like this, I must point out. I'm just saying I don't want to have to interact with those who are. And the arms-length feeling is something quite a few people from Maharashtra who speak Tamil seem to be familiar with. I've checked.)

So, yea... I may have to learn how to argue with my colleagues. On the other hand, do I give a crap what they think ? Meh.

Song for the moment: No need to argue - The Cranberries

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Let them talk

There is a school of thought that would quite likely be scandalised by the idea of intellectual discussions being held in a pub / bar. Impropriety and what have you. Folks like us (you know who you are) would counter with the notion that our intellectual pursuits occur only in pubs. That's when the cranial creases are watered... doused actually, & whatever is left of our neurons are firing on all cylinders, ablaze thanks to the tipple of choice. Mind you, I'm not advocating that this is the best way. It's just our way. Or my way, if any reader resents the liberty I've taken of assuming anything. Not to keep tottering around the proverbial mulberry bush (why mulberry, I ask), the latest discussion touched on the dichotomy(?) of loving your work. That is, working the week for the sake of the cheque & engaging in your passion during the weekend OR striving to make your passion, your talent or a synonym of your choice the porker from which your bacon is carved. Ri

Many the miles

Some time ago, I decided to cut down on the whining that seems to be a major theme on this blog. After having written a couple of short story posts and one interesting challenge, I found that more commentary on life, its machinations and assorted tomfoolery just did not interest me. For the moment, at least. That also thankfully means that I can't talk about the Indian cricket team's test saga. Anyway, in recent weeks, a new trend has taken root in that fragment of the 'gang' that lives in Pune. Instead of meeting up and hitting the tipple every now and then, we meet and they discuss trekking to various forts in and around Pune. Notice how I'm not in these councils-of-war. Although I've played sports in school and college, I've never been a fan of physical toil. All these talks conjure up are images of waking up at some ungodly hour before sunrise, scooting to some random hill / fort and huffing, puffing, slipping & scrabbling around in near darkness w

The baying of the hounds

Dear reader, The past few months have been punctuated by sound and fury on account of the renovations around the house. The incessant noise, rubble and dust have often led to frayed tempers and the standard indignant inquiries about the point of this whole exercise. But there's a long way to go, so we must persevere... with gritted teeth. Speaking of dust, the Lenovo laptop running Manjaro OS has been quietly gathering sackfuls of the stuff. Unfortunately (but understandably), my Macbook has become the default instrument of distraction, with the Lenovo coming into play whenever I miss USB ports. All sarcasm aside, the Mac is convenient to use and the apps 'just' work. I've praised the Linux ecosystem for years on this blog, so there's no question of indicting them now. But hear me out. I use a VPN service. In this gilded age of freedom and tolerance, I think everyone should opt for a reliable, paid service. It does not have to matter that the things you do on the in