Upping The Ante.

If the world knew as much about genocide as they do about Glee characters, the world would be a better place.

If people were as passionate about child rights as they are about catching Hangover 2, I would respect them more.

If students with strong political opinions and great communication skills actually used their knowledge to do something for society, rather than just participate in MUNs to create impressive resumes, I would respect them more.

If people would just get their asses off Twitter and their mouths off Cappuccinos, and really do something rather than idly commenting on superficial realities, my generation could really do something great with their lives. Because they aren't dumb. They're just lazy and unmotivated.  And that is what gets to me.

Of course, everyone has different priorities, and I don't expect anyone to have the same expectations from life as I do. The fact that people are too lazy to make their own life "priority" is the issue of contention.

The rains are here.
Slums are being flooded, women are being abused in brothels and children are dying as we speak.
It really is time to get out of that comfortable sofa cushion, and do something with your life.

I know for a fact, that I wouldn't want a BMW to be the legacy I leave behind.

Bloggers of the World, Answer Please.

Fellow bloggers, I need your help.
It's a stupid question, but I have to ask. :|

How do you create a link to your blog?
For example, if I click your picture on my Followers box, this big box opens up where there's a link to your blog or profile at the very least.
How do you do that?

30 Day Song Challenge: A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

The Blue's Clues theme song, you know that amazing kiddie show that used to come on Nick?
It instantly reminds me of my little sister, whose face still lights up when she listens to it. :)

Untangling The Web # 3: The Best 100 Opening Lines From Books / Life / Stylist Magazine

The Best 100 Opening Lines From Books / Life / Stylist Magazine

It's a brilliant compilation of the best first lines from much loved books. :)

Definitely check this out!

And lament the fact that Eat Pray Love is on the list.

And Rebecca is not.

30 Day Song Challenge: A Song That Makes You Sad.

Jeff Buckley's sensuous cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', is a song that moves me and often springs a tear from my eyes. Cohen's lyrics are beautifully well-crafted and masterfully intricate, and most of the lyrics are poetically open to interpretation. But Jeff completely blew the song out of the water with this cover. The beautiful singer-songwriter that he was, he added an engaging new dimension to Cohen's composition.
Although the Christian word Hallelujah is typically homage to the one up above, I think Buckley's rendition is a homage to love, life and loss. I have often listened to this song in the middle of the night trying to make sense of the world around me, only to be comforted by his warm enveloping voice.

Thank you, Jeff for exploring life's grey areas with unforgettable eloquence.
I'm unimaginably sorry you drowned in the blue.

30 Day Song Challenge: A Song That Makes You Happy.

The Hall & Oates classic, 'You Make My Dreams Come True', is my go-to song when I want to just laugh, dance and sing out loud!
Find me one person who doesn't like this song, and I shall seek him out and kill him.
No matter what mood I'm in, this always lifts my spirits. And I do a mean birdie dance to its tune. :D

All Things Detestable.

Anachronistic advertisements. 

Coke minus the fizz.

Tangled earphone wires/laptop chargers.

Food in airplanes.

Bad photographs.

A fifty plus air-hostess. 

Tattoos of stars, something in Urdu or something as generic.

Ex-best friends. 

Small talk.

Crows.

Cottage cheese.

90210.

People who exceed the time limit during a presentation.

Farmville requests.

Facebook notifications, in general.

Twitter. Narcissism Unlimited.

Hip hop and rap music.

Astonishingly loud children in restaurants, elevators and theaters.

Healthy food. Purely because not much of it is tasty.

Unreasonably expensive public transport and the way the government increases petrol prices at random intervals. It always catches me by surprise, and burns a huge hole in my pocket. 

That Josh Groban song 'You Raised Me Up' which EVERY aspiring singer on a reality show would have tried to reproduce. It isn't even a good song.

Your spelled as you're. And vice versa.

wRiting lyk dis on Facebook.

Saying LOL or OMG in real life.

Incorrect grammar.

People who post really personal stuff on their blogs, and then feel that people have pre-conceived notions about them.

Taking books or movies too seriously.

Parents who make their children learn Chinese, because it is 'the language of the future'.

Parents who drill in the whole IIT-IIM thing into their kids.

People who live their whole lives thinking they have 'potential' because their mom said so.

How my hair gets so tangled up when travelling in an auto that when I comb them later, they make that scary static-filled-I-am-going-to-break-and-leave-you-bald noise.

The times I lose at Scrabble.

The guy who writes crap but calls himself an 'entertainment writer' and not a 'serious writer' to cover up for aforementioned crap writing. Then the same guy regularly writes 600 word editorials in Times of India. Should we assume that you want to be taken for a fool there as well? 

Read: Chetan Bhagat.

Plagiarists who hire a legal team to sue anyone who brings up blatant plagiarism on charges of defamation. All the attempts at rationalizing stealing music are listen up, FAIL.

Read: Pritam

Sentences peppered unnecessarily with swear words.

Racism.

Sexual harassment.

Women being used as weapons of war in regions around the world.

Encounter killings.

Closed cases.

Lack of ambition.

Damn, I hate a lot of stuff.

30 Day Song Challenge: My LEAST Favourite Song

Dil mein mere hai Dard e Disco.
Enough said.

30 Day Song Challenge: My Favourite Song

It's real tough to pick a favourite, but if I really have to, 'Where The Streets Have No Name' by U2 would be it. I couldn't really find the studio version of the song, but this video gave me goosebumps too. :)
Well, for starters, the intro never fails to light up my face. To me, it talks about getting away from the glitter and materialism of big cities. To just travel, explore, to really live your life, rather than becoming a bastion of daily drudgery.
The fact that Bono wrote this song about class segregation in Ireland/American metros/Heaven-these multiple interpretations of the song only enhance its charm.

Hoppipola by Sigur Ros is a close second. :)

Kerfuffle.

Kerfuffle.
Cute, expressive little word, isn't it? Sounds like the name of a Smurf, or puppy. Come to think of it, I may actually name my future pup Kerfuffle.

For a long period of time, I believed that consumerism, materialism and even capitalism, were sustained by the big corporations of the world, that drove hordes of consumers to believe that having Nike shoes were necessary, that Boost was the secret of Tendulkar's energy and a Hallmark greeting card is the sweetest way to brighten up someone's day. They forced you into thinking that you could buy your way to success. To fame. The great paradox is that they made you believe you could buy your way to individuality. You reveal your own character through what you consume. Yes, the manipulative global biggies and news channels. 

Now that I think about it, the conflict between the conformists and non-conformists in every generation, the competition between members of society for status- that is what drives consumerism. This discord between antithetical persons is the turbine that powers the materialistic tendencies of all members of a capitalistic society.

An example:

You are in your teens. Little by little, you are beginning to understand the harsh realities that are operatives in the big bad world. You comprehend the paradox of religion, the paradigm of censorship, the mindlessness of mainstream sitcoms. But you feel saddled with the inconvenience of societal conventions and expectations. You want to escape, and discover the real meaning of life, and the relativity of it all. You oppose popular music, movies, books, cultural icons, and in fact, become an active dissenter of the same. You dig through all the rubble of pop-culture to find obscure bands and like them, read provocative literature, find symbolism in un-appreciated movies. You identify rebels in the prior generations, and those that live on the fringes of mainstream culture. They're the cool ones. They are not driven by the Versaces and Gatorades of the world. They find contentment in their Che t-shirts- the generic symbol for all things idealistic, rebellious, and iconoclasm. Their all black-avatars. Tie-and-dye shirts. The big glasses. 

So, you purchase that Che t-shirt. You get that post-modernist symbolic tattoo. You decide to wear just black. There is no colour in your world, is there?

You may not be rich enough to out-consume each other, but most definitely, you can out-taste each other. Your cleverly chosen, funny, quirky items of purchase define your authenticity in the blur of a mass-produced world. Those vintage 60s glasses. The vinyls. The DVD of the obscure French crime noir . The objectivists. 

Guess what?

You are just another member of the counter-culture that drives capitalism in the first place.You choose to look past the fact that there's someone out there making millions of bucks thanking God you think the way you do, and you choose to purchase the items that you do.

Conformism and non-conformism are inherently relative in nature, and highly subjective. People find their happiness in either. And they may choose to side with any, as long as they are truly happy with their choice. There isn't any wrong or right here. Never will be.
 All I know is that I sure enjoy digging into the kerfuffle of it all.