For the heck of it

Sunday, February 26, 2006

For all the dopers and smokers...

There's a modern saying - "Kissing a smoker is like licking an ash-tray". While this is what non smokers say, there are a few people who advocate smoking - some people have gone to the extent of producing a song to encourage smokers.



I got a similar song as a forward from one of my colleagues recently. The song titled "Suttah" - which means Cigarette, is a brainchild of a Pakistani band called Zeest. The band was interviewed by apna Mid-Day last month.

The interview reveals that Zeest is made up of founder, composer, guitarist, lyricist and lead vocalist Skip, manager and supporting vocalist Abeer and Anas, Aneel and Raheel on conga, tabla, and drums.

Says Skip:
I guess the real creator of the B C Sutta phrase is my dad, Abdullah Bhai. In the good old college days, I remember bunking classes and smoking with my friends all night long. When my father came to know what I had been upto he’d often say, “B******d! Sutta peeta hai inn lafungo kay saath”

I created this satirical, comical, slang song just for fun, but I always wanted to compose a song that could reflect my life story and that of other optimistic losers too. The song is so popular only because every average “tapori bachcha” can relate to it.

The song can be downloaded here.

The lyrics of the song can be found below:

WARNING: Contains explicit lyrics.
------
Coughs... OK, this song is dedicated to all the smokers and dopers by Zeest, the Band

Doston main biatha, main suttah pee raha,
abba ne mujhe suttah peete dekh liya,
ghar jab main pohuncha, mujhe danda ho gaya,
b******d sutta, mujhe sutta na mila - (4)

College mein gaya, mujhe pyaar ho gaya,
usne bhi mujhse mera sutta cheen liyaa,
sadkon mein ghooma, main tanha reh gaya,
b******d sutta, mujhe sutta na mila - (4)

Shaadi huyi, main husband ban gaya,
raat bhar thoka, main thak ke gir gaya,
khushiyon ki khatir, mera sutta chin gaya,
b******d sutta...

b******d sutta, mujhe sutta na mila - (4)

b******d, m*******d...

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

... And Again!

It rained again today - heavy rain - nice weather and I'm down with fever :( But that won't stop me from posting a few more images of rain in Dubai on my blog, would it? So, here we go...

Images courtesy: Puneet Miglani







The following images courtesy: Narayan and Vipurva. These images were taken on a drive from Sharjah to Dubai this morning.







Monday, February 20, 2006

But it rained...

It started raining in Dubai last night - well, not rain exactly, but drizzles. The time right now as I write this entry is 9:47 a.m. and it's still drizzling. Water, Water everywhere. The weather is pleasant. Not a perfect day for work. As my colleague puts it, it's a perfect weather to "h*mp" :o)


This is an image I shot in the morning today. It's a service road near the entrance of my workplace.

The grass on the manicured landscapes across the city looks much cleaner and greener. The smell of mud makes your soul soar carefree. And yeah, the chilly wind blowing gives you goosebumps quite often. Makes me hum the song "But it rained" by Indian band Parikrama.

UPDATE:



The weather is back to normalcy. This is how Dubai looked at 2:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Bad Google!

It was just last week that Google launched its new version of the popular desktop search client. The new Google Desktop 3, which is now available for free download at the search giant's web site, has hit a controversy.



According to news reports floating around, the software's new search-across-computers feature could put sensitive data at risk and violate federal data-privacy regulations. Many news web sites suggest that IT administrators at many public universities and large corporates have already banned the software from their networks.

The reason? Google Desktop automatically stores copies of files, for up to a month, on Google servers, in order to let users search across multiple computers for files. Now, that's a hideous feature!

So, why hideous? Because the way the great US of A government is acting up, it could even force Google to turn over the data to the government. According to industry experts, if Google is subpoenaed, it might be forced to turn over personal data, even if the data is stored on Google servers temporarily.

By doing this, your personal data would be compromised in the name of "investigation" by the great US of A! Though the feature is disabled by default, it doesn't solve the problem since all it takes is a single user who is unaware of the ban to turn it on.

That reminds me... I need to uninstall Google Desktop 3 from my machine!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Where there is a will, there's a weapon



Lord of War is a film that charts the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov, from his early days in the early 1980s in Little Odessa. The film goes through a phase of Yuri's ups and downs of his weapon-trafficking business right from him selling guns to mobsters in his local neighbourhood, through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 90s, where he forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son.

The film also charts his relationship through the years with his younger brother, his marriage to a famous model, his relentless pursuit by a determined federal agent and his inner demons that sway between his drive for success and the immorality of what he does.

The film portrays the role of the assault rifle AK-47 also known as Kalashnikov, which today is one of the largest and the most trusted weapon used worldwide. So much so that this weapon is displayed by many countries as a weapon of pride. For instance, Mozambique uses an AK-47 on its flag!



AK-47 Guide has a very in-depth coverage of this weapon.

This news report on ABS-CBN is a very nice read about arms-dealing worldwide:

>> The world’s five largest arms dealers, top manufacturers of nuclear armaments and weapons of mass destruction, are the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, which are ironically the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. These states account for 88 percent of the world’s conventional arms exports, which contribute regularly to gross abuses of human rights.

>> The arms business guarantees an annual expenditure for global military weapons amounting to US$839 billion. Even the Security Council’s permanent nonvoting members lucratively engage in the manufacture of war weapons and ammunition—Germany produces G3 assault rifles, with seven million units available worldwide, while Belgium and America manufacture FAL and M-16 rifles, respectively, with the same number of units worldwide.

>> The governments in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America spend at least US$22 billion for stockpiling weapons alone. This amount surpasses the US$10 billion needed for the Millennium Development Fund (MDF) to achieve universal primary education plus the US$12-billion MDF goal to reduce, if not eradicate, infant and maternal mortality.

>> America’s principal companies engaged in the weapons industry remain the turf of America’s top politicians. Former US President George Bush Sr., father of incumbent President Dubya Bush, heads the Carlyle Group, which manufactures war armaments, formerly for Afghan mujahideens against Soviets during the Cold War, and presently for Arab Muslims and the Jews in the Middle East.

>> The death toll from small arms exceeds the death toll of atomic bombs unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Kalashnikov (AK47), the favorite assault rifle of military and police forces, has at least 100 million units scattered worldwide, constituting 80 percent of the total number of assault rifles.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Wanna get your report card signed from your Dad?



Father passing by his teenage daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was neat and tidy. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the centre of the pillow. It was addressed "Dad".

With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:-

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you, but I'm leaving home.I had to elope with my new boyfriend Randy because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Randy and he is so nice to me. I know when you meet him you'll like him too - even with all his piercing, tattoos, and motorcycle clothes.

But it's not only the passion Dad, I'm pregnant and Randy said that he wants me to have the kid and that we can be very happy together. Even though Randy is much older than me (anyway,42 isn'tso old these days is it?),and has no money, really these things shouldn't stand in the way of our relationship,don't you agree?

Randy has a great CD collection; he already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. It's true he has other girlfriends as well but I know he'll be faithful to me in his own way. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too.

Randy taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and he'll be growing it for us and we'll trade it with our friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Randy can get better; he sure deserves it!!

Don't worry Dad, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your loving daughter,
Rosie.

At the bottom of the page were the letters "PTO".

Hands still trembling, her father turned the sheet, and read:

PS: Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbour's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk centre drawer. sPlease sign it and call when it is safe for me to come home. I love you!!!

Sunday, February 05, 2006

There is no justice without sin



Watched Sin City over the weekend. Sin City is a brilliant movie adapted from Frank Miller's collection of graphic novels about an imaginery town called Basin City. Basin City is also called "Sin City", because it is a violent city where the police department is as corrupt as the streets are deadly. "Sin City" is infested with criminals, crooked cops and sexy dames, some searching for vengeance, some for redemption and others, both.

The movie follows three stories: The first part based on "Sin City" is a story about a soon-to-be-retiring policeman called Hartigan (Bruce Willis) who is incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit.

The central character of the story is Marv - a tough-as-nails and nearly impossible to kill street fighter who goes on a rampage of vengeance when a beautiful woman, Goldie (Jaime King), he sleeps with for only one night is killed while lying in bed with him. This story, which is based on "That Yellow Bastard", shows how Marv joins hands with a group of prostitutes (which also includes Goldie's twin sister) to avenge the death of Goldie.

The third part of the story is based on Frank Miller's "The Big Fat Kill". The story is about an ex-photographer called Dwight (Clive Owen) who accidentally kills a hero cop called Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) and has to cover it up.

After watching Sin City, I can't wait for Sin City 2 to be released! Sin City 2 is based again on Frank Miller's "A Dame to Kill For". The story follows Dwight, as he is experiencing some problems when him and his girlfriend, Ava Lord, get reunited. Meanwhile Nancy wants to avenge Hartigan's death by going after the Roarks. In this film, we also get to explore some details about Hartigan's past.