A sweet puppy died today :(

This female dog had given birth to three puppies a few days back, and the puppies soon became notorious for their "getting between the legs" behavior. They were playful (too playful actually), would jump around (displaying their infinite energy), and would get between your legs, scaring you.

Just last night I and my brother watched their notoriety, and fed one of them with biscuit.

Today morning when I woke up and went out to open and then close the main gate, I saw one of the three puppies lying dead on the side of the road. Such a sad sight it is. Reminded me of how it was jumping last night. I felt more sad when our maid told us that she had seen and heard this puppy taking "lambe lambe saans" (long breaths) this morning.

Poor little puppy. Feel sad for him. Its mother came to it, and licked it, perhaps wondering why it wasn't moving. Its brother is not jumping around (I'm surprised at how calmly and sadly it's sitting under my car this morning, as if mourning its brother's loss). The third pup is nowhere to be seen.

Me vs. Shrinking Trousers. Fight!

I've finally gotten SICK of my shrinking trousers (a euphemism for my bulging tummy) laughing embarrassingly at me ("Hey Jack, you can't wear us anymore!"). In the past ~2 years, I've seen at least 5 trousers go waste because they no longer fit! Ditto with at least 3 jeans. What the fugging hell is going on? Where's that conviction that I'm never gonna get fat?

I don't wanna look like a pregnant woman, for heaven's sake! (source)

Okay, I gotto halt and reverse this downhill slide. The next update to this post will be on 2-Jul-10. Hoping to lose 2 inches by then.

Real men don't wear pink

Okay, I know this makes me appear like a fuddy-duddy, but I'm clear about this one - real men don't wear pink.

A loser (source)

Brian McFadden may have backtracked from his statement by calling it a 'joke', but I'm never gonna approve men wearing pink. Ever.

PS: Real Men Wear Pink on Urban Dictionary. A nice read.

Thoughts on visiting a country again

Sometime during the six months of my stay in South Africa, I had a brief discussion with a colleague on "tourists who are second-or-more time visitors to a country". I questioned - huh, why would someone want to visit an already-visited-once country again, unless he has already seen every other country that he wants to see in his lifetime? I reasoned - in a utilitarian manner - that once someone has seen/visited a country, it doesn't make sense to spend money again to visit that same country. Instead, it makes more sense to me to see a different/new country when one next goes on a holiday.

That was when I was in Jo'burg. Now I'm in my home country, and I have a slightly different viewpoint on that topic. Do I want to visit South Africa again? Yes. Am I willing to spend money to visit SA, thus making an unvisited country as the opportunity cost? Sure!

Why this change of thought? I seem to have realized one of the reasons why people visit a country again. They come again because they like the place and the place makes them feel good. And seemingly, their primary purpose of doing a holiday is to make themselves feel happy, and not merely to visit a new country.

When I think of SA - especially Johannesburg and Cape Town - I start to feel happy. When I look at photos of SA, I feel so good. Perhaps that's why I too am happily eager/willing to be there again.

Johannesburg at night (source)

There are two learnings that I've got from this change of opinion:

1. It's okay - and not wrong - if people visit a country again, instead of exploring new parts of the world. They want happiness, which this country is sure to provide
2. Although I usually have an unassailable opinion about most things, I must remember - as I've also realized at other times - that my opinion can sometimes change. And so the vehemence with which I sometimes voice my opinion might get invalidated later, when my viewpoint changes

Web counter replaced to StatCounter

I've replaced the hit counter on this blog, from Tiny Counter to StatCounter - the former's counter didn't show up quite often. I've started the count of StatCounter's counter at 9,638 - the latest count displayed by Tiny Counter's counter for this blog.

Just Promoted

Yes, the title is inspired by the 2007 Bollywood movie 'Just Married'. Happy to be writing that I've been promoted from Analyst to Senior Analyst ("Associate") at Grail Research India (on 30-Apr-10). It was a good feeling calling up the family to inform them, updating my profiles on Google, Orkut, Blogger, LinkedIn, and GrailWiki, as well as tweeting about this and writing this blog post.

Yearning to fly again...

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci

Emirates A340 taking-off from Johannesburg (source)

Gulf Air A330 taking-off from Beirut (source)

Wanna fly again :(

Adieu Africa, good bye Johannesburg !

It's 12:53 AM of the 3rd of April, 2010 here, right now. It's cold tonight. There's light breeze. The building diagonally opposite to my home is illuminated just the way it was on 8th of October, 2009. The roads are empty too, just like they were back then. How am I feeling? I'm cold, feelingless and sad. Jo'burg feels like it's a part of me. These roads, these walls, the flowers, the air here, I've fallen in love with these. I was looking at the road right in front of Berkeley Square. It's wet and it looks good. No voices can be heard, except the ones in my home. The home is illuminated... nearly all the lights are on. It's so quiet outside. I went out on a drive tonight, but couldn't go far because the car was out of fuel. Money, battery, memory and now fuel too. Whenever something good is gonna happen, something finishes. But I felt good that I could see that well-lit area tonight. I want to go out on a long drive tonight. I'll probably get the car refueled and go on a drive. It's my last night in Jo'burg, so I should go. Don't know when I'll come back here. Maybe months, maybe years, and maybe even decades. Don't know. Am sad. I had some very good times here. It has changed me quite a lot. I'm remembering the days before I came here... so many times I went back to Ludhiana, to get the clearance certificate. There was excitement, there was eagerness. Tonight I'm calm and composed. I cried a few hours back. Bitterly. I'm done with my packing. My luggage is ~4 kg above 30 kg limit. Yesterday I was remembering some huge mistakes that I did in life. I have so many things still to do. I wanna do helicopter ride, I couldn't see Soweto. But I had some lovely time at Dullstroom, Drakensberg, Hazyview, Graskop and Cape Town. I have learnt a lot here. I'm already so sleepy. How am I gonna go on a drive, I wonder? Tomorrow at this time I'll be in the flight, somewhere over Africa. I still remember the first tourist place I visited - Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve - on 10th October last year. A smile comes to my face whenever I think about it. The roads were new, the place was new. I would feel so good looking at hills and mountains around.

Sorry for the break. It's 2:24 AM now. I'm just back from a drive along Jo'burg's skyline. There's a particular road on the way back from the airport, on the right side of which Jo'burg's beautiful skyline can be seen at night. I've been to O.R. Tambo airport at least 10 times now, and each time on the way back to home, I get speechless when I look at Jo'burg's skyline. I loved watching it today. We took a wrong turn, which lead us into Hillbrow, perhaps the most dangerous area of Jo'burg. We didn't have a GPS, and we reached very close to the Hillbrow Tower. I had gotten quite alert and scared as we went deeper into Hillbrow. There were a few guys on the road. Ultimately we managed to get out of the area. But I am happy because I've been gazing at the Hillbrow Tower for 6 months now, and today I got so close to it.

I'm sleepy again. But I don't wanna sleep.

I'm remembering the first flight which brought me to Jo'burg. I remember very clearly that as we were nearing Johannesburg, I could start seeing orange colored lights on the ground. We had guessed that this should be Johannesburg. That feeling of new and unknown was something I can probably never forget. I don't think I will ever get that feeling ever again, because Johannesburg was the first time I came to an all new world. I remember clearly how I was feeling while inside the taxi which took me to home. I was looking at shops all around me, and thinking that I'm in an all new world. It can't be described in words. It just can't be described. It can only be felt. And it's entrenched in me. Every time I think of it, I feel good. I still remember the first time I entered the home. The first time I was looking out of my room's window. It was so quiet that night. A few cars passed every few mintues. It was an all new world then.

Whenever I think of the word 'Johannesburg', I feel good. Don't know why. I feel so proud. So connected. I want to keep writing. But sooner or later I'll have to press the 'Publish Post' button. But I'm feeling good as I write this post. Soon I'll sleep for the last time at 302, Riviera Mansions. Shit. It's such a bad feeling. Really, am I sleeping here for the last time? Let me click a few photos which'll make me smile, later. Feels almost like my college days. Tomorrow night's sleep? In A340. The night after that? ATS Greens. Lot of movement. Where is peace?

I'll miss you, Johannesburg. A lot. Don't know why I'm in so much love.

God proposes, Man disposes!

Even as I write this, I can't believe that this has actually happened.

We were at the Drakensberg mountains a couple of weeks back, hiking our way to the top of a peak. We were a group of ~25-30 people (five of us from India, and the rest from other parts of the world), among whom were two pretty young ladies on a holiday to South Africa - one a Canadian named Annie, and the other from Colombia. The latter's name was Anna Maria, and one of my friends (with all respect due to my good friend, let's call him Faggot for this post) started circling around her as soon as we started our gruesome hike to the top, helping her in clicking her own photos, crossing the river, etc. After hours of diligent work, they only became what can be called one step behind friends (Event1). The day passed soon, and we came back to our camp. We headed back for Johannesburg the next day, and their story ended here, seemingly.

Luck had something else in the store, however. Two weeks later, we were at Cape Town, staying at Long Street Backpackers. On the second day of our trip, me and Faggot went to a nearby Internet cafe, to get the photos and videos on our cameras' memory cards burnt to a DVD. And then the height of coincidence happened - there was Anna Maria at the very same time on the very same date in the very same Internet cafe of the very same city (Event2)! As I was busy surfing the Internet (yawn...), my friend struck a conversation with her, and managed to exchange phone numbers. Before parting ways, Anna asked my friend to meet her at the V&A Waterfront, at seven in the evening (Event3)! What more could've Faggot asked for! We left the cafe and came back to our room, and everyone was excited that Faggot was gonna go on a date with a Colombian chick this evening. Luck had something else in the store, however. When the clock struck 19:00 hours, Mr. Faggot was busy gulping Indian food at a restaurant in Cape Town, fully cognizant that Miss Maria had summoned him for a date! It's unbelievable that he screwed up this opportunity-of-a-lifetime... (Event4)

Not the end of the story, however. We were back in Johannesburg on 22-Mar-10, and on Thursday, the height of coincidence happened a second time. Miss Maria SMSed Mr. Faggot that she would be in Johannesburg (Event5) on Friday, and that they should meet up and do something (Event6). We were all dumbstruck at what was going on, and we pushed Faggot to not screw it up this time. Anyways, I slept over the weekend, and on Monday (i.e., today), when I asked another of my friends as to whether Faggot had gone to meet Anna Maria, I was left speechless as I heard that he did not (Event7).

Let me assign a probability each to Event1 through Event7, based on my subjective judgment. Event1= 0.75; Event2= 0.001; Event3= 0.02; Event4= 0.001; Event5= 0.001; Event6= 0.02; Event7= 0.001

Using basic rules of probability, the probability of this chain of events is 0.0000000000000003, meaning that the impossible happened.

I still can't believe that he actually didn't go, twice. I told him just this - dude you'll bitterly, bitterly regret this a few years down the line...

Carlton Centre, the shame of Africa?

The Carlton Centre - a 50-floors, 223 meters tall skyscraper in the CBD area of Johannesburg - is considered as an object of pride in South Africa. I remember a cheerful man who emphatically uttered "Top of Africa!" at us, as we were about to enter the skyscraper last November. For good reason, as this is the tallest building in whole of the continent of Africa.

Some of the photos I clicked on 7-Nov-09. More here, here, and here

I, however, am of a different opinion, especially after having seen both Dubai and Cairo last December. Buildings (much) taller than the Carlton Centre are commonplace in Dubai - a tiny emirate of UAE. And here we are talking of a large continent with 53 countries, with an area ~7,400 times the area of Dubai (the emirate). The grimness of the situation becomes more clear when one realizes that the Cairo Tower - a mere 187 meter tall tower in Cairo - counts among the tallest structures in Africa, and that the Carlton Centre doesn't count among the 100 tallest buildings in the world.

I would rather call Carlton Centre the shame of Africa, or a reminder for Africa - an engineering and symbolic achievement for sure, but a stark reminder of what all still needs to be done. African people should be proud of it, but whenever they look at this skyscraper, they should also remind themselves that their billion-strong continent has just one of these megastructures...