Holi crap!

Somehow the charm of throwing coloured toxic powders at each other does not appeal to me any more. So i decided to give the festival a skip and happily hopped, skipped and jumped into my relative's house, not because my relatives are fun to be with but because i have been in a generally buoyed state for the last couple of weeks. Like i had said in the earlier post, it seems to be because i have been doing so much nothing. As protection against the monster of boredom i carried with me Helen Keller's autobiography. The book only made me more acutely conscious of how blessed i am and added to my gung-ho state of mind.

Holi had its share of surprises for me. I had expected people, my wingmates, would have the decency and common sense to go and play in the quadrangle. Instead they've played in the wing itself and all the clothes i had hung in the corridor clothes line are now smeared with colour, or soaking in that pink metallic crap. So much for sensible IITians. Also, so much for my forgiving nature! Yair well, i am not looking to socialise too much anyways. I realise i've been wrong all along in trying to make friends and all. I just expect too much of everyone. Perhaps even myself. So i am being unfair in that i still am my own friend. Here's to my health!

I also got a bump today from a university. My second response from over the seas,and both have been bumps so far. This second university actually gave a fellow to a chappie who's got a CG of 0.15 above me and a paper but a bump to me! I guess a paper makes all the difference. Besides, it is true that i haven't done too much research in my UG. Enthusiastic fellas like him started off in their second year. Does it seem like i am complaining? At any rate, it does seem like i am unable to think of anything or anyone except my own self. Egotistic. So i think i should say a little something about someone or something totally disconnected with me. Just to keep a mental balance and not lose the woods for the trees(or is it the other way?).

Too many people have analysed the supposed 'greatest match ever' in their blogs and i don't want to be repetitious, though i doubt if i have any audience at all. So, what neutral topic could i possibly pick on the 15th of March, 2006? Oh, apparently yesterday was 'Consumer day'. I haven't bothered to verify it. Hell, every day has some significance somewhere in the world now and all i care is that i have something to start with. It is rather obvious that the world is becoming increasingly consumerist. But i somehow feel we are just a bunch of blind comsumers not knowing what to do with all those big pay checks we receive for the donkey work we do. Just take the simple example of the soft drinks. Two MNCs totally dominate the market. There have been allegations that they contain pesticides. It is known, for certain, that its just water and gas and a little flavouring. What, in terms of pure raw material cost, is probably worth around 10 paise. The rest is profit reducing whatever little processing cost is there. In spite of every one of us 'educated' people being well aware of this we just can't have enough of these drinks. Rather, we turn a blind eye to these facts and head straight for them. I am sure if you go to the local 'kirana' stores that have both bottled water and bottled drinks and ask them the ratio of sales its going to be 100 to 1 in favour of the drinks. The soft drinks don't even quench our thirst thanks to that horrible flavouring agent they throw in there. So, just why exactly are we buying these drinks? Just because their names sound appealing? Purely out of habit? Well, in that case, how did the habit form? What about the times before coke and pepsi? I guess if its a habit now, then it started as a desire to possess what the west possessed. It started with the usual and inane desire to ape, then it became a habit to utter those names, as if hypnotised by them, as if those soft drinks were drugs that were needed by our system for our survival. Is that it? If not, then what? How and why have these worse-than-regurgitated-matter drinks come to dominate our lives so much?

Hmm....that gives me an idea, next post, i'll choose that other set of drinks, the addictive ones, the ones responsible for so much of the regurgitated matter generated by men, to discuss. So long.