Prashanth's Musings

Past-time

2006-04-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

"Your past forms you, whether you like it or not. Each encounter,each experience has its own effects."
-dunno who said it

They say elephants never forget, neither do I. Okay, okay you can stop deriving the inference that I'm an elephant. I'm not. Actually I ve got a decent memory, but the funny characteristic of my hard drive is that it retains a lotta insignificant stuff and its these little things that I fail to forget.

And amongst these insignificant stuff are these nice little insiginificant stuff viz. faces of old friends n crushes and their phone numbers, some really old funny incident, a nice book that I'd read or a cheap limerick that I picked up in school.. There are those embarassing situations that you somehow get entangled into, which might include getting dressed as a village girl for a school dance jus because you were the shortest boy in your class.. and not for the fact that u looked pretty ... Then pensively, you recount those incidents when you felt that ur life didnt have direction/meaning and that u need to find a purpose to your life... This thought keeps popping up due to popular demand and it has recurred so many times that nowadays I jus by pass it..

You recall the times u felt you could never forgive God, like when He allows you to get beaten in a game of tennis by a kid half your age..(I'm not saying this particular incident happened to me) ...FYI, I'm a fairly good tennis player... Then there are those incidents that leave you basking in glory, like when u win the intra section quiz competition while studying in III "B"..

So, every now and then I like to rewind and re live such moments, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face... Jus reel backwards and shmmmiillle away ...

FEAR..

2006-04-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

"The very thing that crushes, an otherwise hopeful heart, stunts ideas and dreams which might eventually have leapfrogged into reality,which slowly encroaches into every decision that we make......"

Somehow i feel that our formidable adversary (as most of us might have perceived it to be) shouldn't be reckoned or deemed as a foe per se... To me fear (hereupon called as 'F') in reasonable proportions is a necessity,it prevents us from being reckless ...F is something thats been instilled in us (like how a ringmaster does) or brewed through years of shortcomings that we might have experienced...Guess thats the reason why your parents are cautious and your granny even more so...

To the intrepid mountaineer who scaled Mt.Everest and more importantly got back safely :-) ,the concept of fear might seem laughable...Its not so much that the F factor has been suppressed in his system, rather its his innate ability to reason out his fears....

In the anniversary issue of Fortune which listed out advices given from great business gurus,I noticed confident faces with charming smiles, professing in them an air of composure...It seems as though F is non existent in them,but i bet that these people were constantly afraid,probably paranoid, that things might not fall into place...With due credit to their sharp intellect and tremendous business acumen,a greater fraction of their decisions must have relied on addressing their primal instinct- fear... Their trepidations must have helped them anticipate problems...

The way i see it, Fear is a time-tested animal instinct that prompts us of impending pitfalls, inhibits us from proceeding because of the damaging consequences that might befall us and makes us anxious in an uncertain situation...U might say that it does more harm than good,(in some cases),but it isnt all bad...I m just trying to look at the sunny side of things....

(Btw,throughout this post my notion on fear is akin to 'being fearful' and not something irrational like phobias...)

Fear,like so many other emotions viz. pain,love,happiness are pretty hard to comprehend, solely because they are not quantifiable, and even harder to express in words... This is my take on "fear"...

Lemme know what u think....C ya...

Donate Your Eyes

2006-03-21T05:17:00.000-08:00

People… Colors... Birds… Trees ….Animals… Flowers…Beaches… Sun Rises… Sunsets… Art... Life as we know it…

Blindness… Just Imagine…THE NOTHINGNESS…

There are millions of blind people in this world... Millions... Why do many of them remain blind? One of the major contributing factors is that there are not enough donors… The number of blind people could be greatly reduced if the kin of deceased people act quickly in making arrangements for eye transplantations. Eye donation will help people with corneal blindness (Corneal blindness is a disorder that results from the cornea becoming clouded, making a person blind.)

After the death of an individual, one needs to contact the nearest eye bank. The eyes are then preserved till the transplantation procedure can take place… The transplantation procedure typically takes place within 4-6 hours from the time of death… Ideally, one donor gives eyesight to two people…

( BEFORE ) ( AFTER )

THINGS INHIBITING EYE DONATION:

1. Unawareness of such a corneal transplant
2. Religious Beliefs
3. The notion of mutilating the body after death
4. Not making it very clear to family that they intend to donate their eyes.
5. Not acting soon enough after a person dies.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

1. Get in touch with the nearest eye bank.
2. Sign up a form which states that you wish to be a donor.
3. Express to family/people about your intentions (this might be awkward as you might
be quite young, nonetheless make it clear)
4. Create awareness among the uneducated
5. Spread the Message

If you are in Chennai you could contact,

Dr.Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Chennai
Address: 19, Cathedral Road, Chennai - 600 086,
Tel: +91 44 2811 6233

Some online resources:
http://sdhawan.com/eyedonation.html

http://www.restoresight.org/general/faqs.htm

lemme know if you have any questions/ comments

The Search Ends Here-An Experiment in Progress

2006-03-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

Vincent Van Gogh feels that Sania Mirza is a big boob, whereas Lance Armstrong feels that Kushboo's thoughts on premarital sex were quite gay.. Calvin has a huge crush on Anna Kournikova and Hobbes is set to join the FRIENDS gang next season... Not making any sense????

Ever heard of Stat Counter...? its a web tool that provides statistics on various aspects of ur web page...for instance ,the number of hits ur web page has got each day, how long ppl stayed at ur page et al... I was happy to see that there was quite a bit of traffic on my web page each day...
But my joy was to be shortlived, when I saw the search keywords ppl used to get to my blog.. Some keywords that topped the charts are...

Sania Mirza's boobs
Anna Kournikova 's( ****** ) images-- those stars are in place of many a graphic things ..
Pretty Indian girls pics

Apparently I ve used these phrases/words in some part o my web page and my blog turns up when ppl search for stuff....sniff...sniff...And I thought ppl came to my blog to read interesting stuff...

Coming to my experiment, with my goofy first para as bait, I wanna see what kinda search words people are using... :-)

TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE!!!

2006-03-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

This post is kinda long,i know but u should have great fun reading it...
Prologue:

The reason i m writng this post is cos i was reminded of a particular incident that took place a year back....it plagued me so much so that i had a nightmare a few days back...

If there s one thing i ve been using regularly in my life it would be my medical insurance...i ve got my tonsils,addenoids(up in my nose), and a cyst or somethin removed from my shoulder...And the latest addition to this was getting my septum (its the bone in the nose) corrected...

Okie thats enough of medical history,i ll get on with it...

I got admitted in a luxury suite at this super hi tech Appolo hospital...Things were pretty good : a/c,big screen tv,phone,sexy view and a marble floored loo...i was wondering if i was at the right place...The nurses seemed pleasant,although they came every hour to stick a needle in my butt..
One of them offered to give me a sponge bath the next day as i might be incapacitated,naturally i said 'no thanks lady'....

Finally it was time for me to get operated,they rolled me to the operation theater in the typical cineama stretcher types...once there i was strapped on,and they gave me my general anesthesia..if u havent experienced anesthesia,man u should,its this totally rad feelin:for one things go blurred slowly,voices seem distant and u jus cant keep ur eyelids open....Aaaahhh i feel so nostalgic when i type this...

By now u must be thinkin where the hell's this guy goin....read on mes amis...

8:00 pm The operation went a-okay and i was back in my hi-tech room..when i got up i was feelin super stoned,damn groovy man...i felt totally numb,nothin seemed to hurt, i should say it was lookin pretty gud, until..... i got this sudden urge,an intense urge down under...
hell, i needed to pee badly...i started to get up when i realised that i had a helluva lot a things strapped on to me, so i pressed this hi-tech button near my bed which beckoned my hi-tech nurse....
As she entered,I was jus bout to explain my problem when i realised that it was the same woman who offered me the 'sponge bath',and i lamely asked for a glass of water; which btw she made me drink....

I thought that i could get thro the night,but with the extra glass of water,jus made my sweet life harder...i phoned them this time,an a guy responded ,probably the ward boy;i explained to him my predicament, and i should say he was pretty prompt...he entered the room, and jus when i thought he was gonna emancipate me,he threw in a googly...

The following is a excerpt from the conversation i had with the ward dude...

He came close to me and jutted this vase like thingy out and said "ithu ok va"( translated as is this ok ?)

Moi: (I was like Heelllooooooo,thats a vase man , i 'm serious guys it was literally a vase with a slightly big hole,no kiddin'!!!) i explained again that i needed to use the loo...

guy:'doctors said that u cant get up so u need to use the bed pan'-the vase finally had a name..

Left with very few alternatives i finally opted for it....(go ahead laugh ur heart out)... so he gives it to me and turns around,as though that makes it less awkward...so there i was lying in bed,trying to put my thingy into that thingy...I tried really hard to pee,probably the first time in my life i put my heart and soul into something....after bout a minute the guy turns around...

guy: 'over aaah'
moi:(pretty embarrassed) 'illa'

He turns around again and signals round 2...then i formulate this plan whereby psychologicallly speakin if i thought of water bodies it might help me ease my burden...i was thinkin more like Niagara,dams bursting out,fountains squirting water to great heights...and all this time the vase was tucked up under my aaarghhh...

i gave up,i jus couldnt do it...Failure has never cost me greater suffering...He leaves my room giving me the 'its okay,the important thing is that u tried hard' kinda look...He promised he ll call for a doc...

9 30 pm:I eagerly waited for my messiah...And then things jus seemed to get better....My messiah apparently was this med student sorta female!!, I was like 'God puhleaase,show some pity'... After some plesantries and some pretty irritating giggles from her on my narration of the incident,she gave me a slightly better alternative: stand beside the bed and pee!! and the worst thing was there needed to be someone in the room as i was still pretty tipsy...when i pleaded her to use the loo,she picked up the phone and consulted the doctor....

12 30 pm:By now,almost everyone including the watchman knew there was this kid in room somethin-0-somethin who jus refused to pee...slowly a few docs came,fumin,cos they had to come all the way for such an insignificant issue(yeah right)...they explained that since the operation was done in my nose,blood would errupt on the slightest attemt to get up...

After half hour of comtemplation they finally gave the thumbs up...Accompanied by the ward dude i slowly got to the loo... the following few minutes were truly outta this world... I was like 'Alleluiah...';when i flushed, i've to date never felt a greater sense of achievement,probably tantamount to Lance Armstrong winning the Tour De France...i got out and the the nurses&docs had a big grin on their faces...i got back to bed...

Job well done!!

LANCE ARMSTRONG & TOUR DE FRANCE

2006-02-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

Lance Armstrong who??, Just in case you haven't heard about this guy. He rides a bicycle and is awfully good at it. Mid way through his career he is diagnosed with testicular cancer but manages to survive . He is a seven time winner of the Tour De France, which by far is the most gruelling endurance test on the planet( 3500 kms in 25 days on a bicycle)..pheww!! You must have thought that was a great achievement. But wait... All seven victories came post cancer!!
He later sets up the cancer foundation- Livestrong.

"Its not about the bike" by Lance Armstrong: Aptly titled, the book is not much about sports or biking, rather its about how a person's outlook on life changes after a dramatic incident, which in his case was his tryst with cancer.

Kismat....???

2005-10-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

My mom often says that things happen for a reason and I think there’s some truth to it. I don’t believe that the entire course of our lives is pre destined by some all mighty force but there are happenings in one's life, where purpose might seem lost initially; years later you realize, that an inexplicable twist of fate has had a positive impact on ur life.

I was at this celebration dinner: the occasion, fiftieth wedding anniversary…yes u heard me rite fiftieth!... Actually it’s not the event that makes me mention it but a slide show of snaps of the couple; from the time they were born to their marriage to now… After seeing snaps that covered seventy long years of their lives, it seemed as though they were meant to be from the time they entered this world.... And that a seemingly random set of events shaped their futures to what it is now..

At the end of it all, I jus had one thing to say: “Everything happens for a reason!”

The dexterous hands of a magician pull the knotted twine in one swift motion….and voila! U get a taut string…no loops!!... that trick has never ceased to amaze me… Thanks to some knots in our very own lives we might, for all u know, be in better position years later…So if something hasn’t gone ur way…Don’t sweat…

I haven’t blogged in ages cos I ve been busy with my applying to grad studies… Lemme know what u thinks though…C ya..

a fantastic read.....

2005-08-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Its been sometime since I read a book incessantly, cover to cover , only takin a break to sleep at night ( while still holding the book in my hands) ...No,it wasnt some really thrilling book with a lotta chases in it, and it didnt have anything to do with espionage,and its not the kinda genre that would generally evoke such voracious reading...

HUNGRY TIDE: There s not much to the story,its bout this female(an expatriate), on an expedition to learn about a particular type of dolphin species...and then there s this middle aged delhi guy who acts a tranlslator during their journey...there s no chemistry between the two...there's a local fisherman who is sorta the protagonist in the novel,but hardly speaks a word....the climax isnt all that great....the book is slightly long too...

Hmmmm...By now you must be wondering what made me read this seemingly booooring book...

Here s what I really liked about the book:

Firstly, it was the location that it was set in- the marshy wet lands of Sunderbans... the only water body i ve seen till now is the stretch of beach in chennai.... so jus reading bout an exotic place such as the sunderbans,where boats are the only means of transport, got me all excited...the flooded forests ,eerie nights, tigers looming in the dark,crocs submerged in the water, delapidated boats ... it was a spectacular setting...

Also the the ability of the author to portray the scenes vividly is remarkable.We can somehow empathise with the character and for most part of the book we get a birds eye view of whats happening...The book is very descriptive,which is partly why I like it and although there aren't many twists in it , it still is a fantastic read...

Its got me all geared up take a holiday sometime soon...

The Van Gogh in me- Part Two

2005-06-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

I am finding it really hard to write stuff these days,probably cos my gre is jus around the corner and i m pretty preoccupied studyin for it :-( ...So me s jus adding some portraiits that i d done recently...I kinda like women who have a cute smile more than anythin else; and i make most of them exercise their chin bone a lot... (check out my prev post "The Van Gogh in me" for more sketches...) I ve jus begun drawing people live,all these are taken from pictures that i found interesting....btw click on the pics to see them big...(also i think u can zoom in further if u wanna)..

C ya....Post ur comments and lemme know what u think...tata...

"Are kids gettin smarter or am I getting dumber??"

2005-05-25T23:27:00.000-07:00

Challenges come in shapes big and small,something i have come to believe a short while ago...I jus love kids,everything about them: their innocence,cuteness,pranks,constant giggles...So when my youngest cousin,(she s about seven and incredibly cute),wanted to play scrabble with me,I thought I ll play along,not wanting to see her cry.....So here i was,sitting with a tiny kid,a scarbble board in between us...

This kid,as my family recalls is by far the most brainy of the lot(which includes 8 of us)...Anyways, what do I care,she s still a kidddd,and i (whose currently prep for his gre) were gonna play scrabble...She aksed me to start,and i went about makin this word "SHADE",which is not bad considering it would be the last five letter which I would ever make(yea go ahead laugh,scrabble can be a tough game you know...sniff sniff)...

When her turn came up,I reached across to help her out,she jus shooooed me away,pushing away my arms; I was like "yeah,whatever kiddo,good luck"....she,then,quite easily makes the word "DEN"....After which we quickly make a couple of more words,and all of a sudden it jus dawns upon me,that there was a match at hand...

Being her first game ever,she still hadn't comprehended the nuances of scrabble;like when you are about to make a word, it should not end up making non sense when seen with the adjacent words...So when she tried making "AND", I told her "sweetie u cant make that word cos you see the ' D ' clashes witht the letter ' M ' and 'DM' doesnt make sense"... I was like "gotcha", finally I thought I had slowed her down....Totally unperturbed,she tells me 'Okay I ll just remove the 'D' and make the word 'AN', that makes sense right".....Arrrghhhh kids these days...

After 20 minutes she'd gone ahead to make words like goose,tree,tea and a couple of other reallllly nice words...On the other end,I had come up with words such as toe,toy,hen,ant and some really silly words...Finally i said i was feeling sleepy,an excuse to end the pitiful run.....

Next time around I think i ll jus stick to pillow fights,thumb wrestling or stone,paper,scissors(which by the way she s got an uncanny ability to beat me)....Here s a pic of me an Malvika(thats her name,we call her malu at home)....

" Why don't we do things that we don't do ?? "

2005-05-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in exotic Kerala....On observing an elephant tied to a tree with nothing more than a mere rope,a traveller asks the mahoot (care-taker of the elephant) with surprise :"How is it that an elephant weighing tons does'nt try to break free from its bondage,especially when its capable of doing so ..."

The mahoot replies "You see,when the elephants were in their infancy,we used to tie them to trees using the very same rope....As the years pass by she would try to break free,but there s a point of time when she realises that all her efforts are in vain,and would eventually give up...And from that moment on,whenever she 's shackled to a tree she would not make the slightest effort to free herself,unaware of her potential strength..."

I truly believe that jumbo here personifies explicitly- the lack of a certain human virtue,that being the ability to place confidence in oneself,or rather to believe in oneself...One cant say that jumbo didnt have perseverance,cos she tried really hard before giving up....But the fact that she believed that she can never do such a thing ever again in her life,well what can i say,thats so human....

It all starts out from our childhood, we start to chalk out in that little head of ours, things we can do,and more deeply etch things we suposedly "cant do"...As we go on, our 'can and cannot list' jus grows bigger...And everytime we stumble across a hurdle or inevitably face failure,we make a 'check' in our list of cannots,assuring ourlselves that it did not lie within "our capabilities " or that we know "our limitations" well....

We constantly curtail ourselves from doing things that we could, should ,or worse still, must have done...Its not the ether that surrounds us,not the people,not circumstances which undermine our capabilities,but that tiny crevice present in some dark corner of our head that behests us from doing things that we could,should, or worse still, must have done....

"To have pre conceived notions in life is bad,but to have pre conceived notions about ourselves,and more precisely about our capabilities is lethal.."

By pre concieved notions here, i mean beliefs that we have come to accept without actually pausing to substantiate them...In short,we deem that a certain thing cant be done,for no reason whatsoever...Now,try reading the elephant story once again,it made more sense to me....

These are purely my thoughts,true to my blog title,and i dont have a clue the way others see life...So,it would be nice if you could drop a comment and lemme know what u think...C ya...

~Kudos to Watterson~

2005-05-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

Rolling on the floor and laughing out loud...thats one thing that ll end up happening when you set out to readCalvin and Hobbes...Here are a few strips i had great fun reading...

To the uninitiated, Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip about a kid (Calvin) and his stuffed tiger(Hobbes)...It was conceived ,as you might have guessed,by Watterson... Calvin is this hyper active kid with an extremely wild and vivid imagination and Hobbes plays a faithful accomplice...Calvin shares an inexplicable bond with Hobbes;the kid misses his stuffed toy more than anything in this world...

What might have caught your eye are the illustrations,none too detailed,but undoubtedly carry a lot of expression... The fact that Hobbes appears different in some comic strips is because to the world he s jus a stuffed toy...Ofcourse,Calvin thinks otherwise,Hobbes to him is huggable wild cat in the flesh...

The reason i feel that C&B has been so successful is because of Watterson's ability to see the world through the eyes of a six year old...Most of his works are based on underlying human behaviour,unlike other contemporary comics; that coupled with the cuteness that's Calvin makes it remarkable...He has made an indelible impact in millions world over,but to everyone's disappointment stopped his creative run in 1996...

Those few seconds that you might have spent laughing on reading the strips above must have been sheer bliss,getting your minds off things that might have been bothering you...Without people like him the world would be a helluva lot more gloomier...Kudos to Watterson...

The Van Gogh in me :-)

2005-04-17T00:19:00.000-07:00

If there's somethin i like doin its got to be sketchin...its great fun...At the end of it all you get a sense of satisfaction that feels like u ' ve actually done somethin worthwhile...All you need is pencil & paper, and preferably someone like kate winslet posing,( and again preferably in the nude)...I kinda like doing portraits though....
Anyways these are some of my sketches...Hope you like them.... (Click to Enlarge)

Maddy in Ayutha Ezhuthu

Surya in Ayutha Ezhuthu

Rabindranath Tagore

Some pretty village gal

Mera 'Sapno ki rani'

Like to call this 'Temple Bay'

Actually i ve drawn more women but couldnt scan them...Guys post your comments....C ya...

Rendez-Vous @ Hindu Mission Hospital

2005-04-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

Hey if u havent read my previous post yet, please do;this post is like a sequel to the previous one,although i didnt intend it to be.... In my previous post i was talkin bout how i endured a rather queasy situation at appolo hospital...towards the endof the post if u notice, i was glad to mention that i hadnt been hospitalised since...well 'mr.irony' thought otherwise;that it was indeed time for me pay homage to my mecca...This time i had to pay tribute to Hindu Mission Hospital....

(I thought that i ll narrate this post Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva style)

Blood dripped from both my palms as i limped through the crowded streets of Tambaram...i ve never fainted in my life,but if there were ever an edge to fainting,i was bang on top of it... As i walk down the road a cop spots me,(by now i 'm pretty conspicuous),and helps me get into an auto....From there i go to Hindu Mission Hospital...

Frankly,i dont care what the dictionary definition for a hospital is,but i expect its workings to be a helluva lot different from that of your local cineplex or supermarket....Most people who enter the emergency/casuality ward dont do it using their legs,they re either dead or dying...Since i strolled in, the doctors didnt heed to my calling immediately...

The senior doctor there asks for my name and age n stuff ,when he's finished with the Q&A session he hands over a bill!!!....He took me totally off guard,naturally the bill wasnt the first thing i was expecting...Grabbing the bill with my bloody hands,literally, i walk towards the counter... Over there i m treated to further insensitivity; The security guard helps me get my wallet out ,and i pay the teller with great difficulty...The impertinent bastard asks me if i have two bucks change...Hell man,this is supposed to be a charitable organisation....

Finally they attended to my needs...the nurses slowly sterlised my wound with a icky looking solution and as i sat there my mind started to wander...I replayed the moment when i jumped off,or rather was made to jump off a moving bus, because i apparently got into the wrong one.... I thought about how whilst mid air I knew i was gonna flip when i reached terra firma...I thought and smiled at how my intuitions were spot on,when i went scrapping along the road like Jonty Rhodes... I thought of the moment when i was lying on the ground and saw the bus moving along,not giving a damn about me...

Back at the hospital they seemed to be gettin on with the final touches...Their frugality with dispensing surgical tape is laughable i tell you...When I requested them to wipe off the dirt surrounding my wounds they said "'sorry,water is not coming from tap"...If you ask me,that simply was the icing on the cake....

There s one thing i ve learnt from this incident,other than "dont ever get off a moving bus u ass hole''.....When i was on the foot board of the bus,seconds before i leapt,my brain ceased to function.It was obfuscated with shouts from the conductor and people nearby asking me to get off,i jus didnt think straight...Its because of this and my foolhardiness i ended up being hurt....

Well it must be pretty obvious what i'm trying to get at: "Dont ever be coerced into taking decisions impulsively ,it might have some irreparable effects"

Hopefully, next time around i can give u gyan without having to substantiate them with practical instances... if u can please post your comments..

C ya!!

Friend's Zealot

2005-02-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

I miss friends, I really do!!! :-( ...I just cant get enough of them.. ... whenever i watch re runs I cant help but feel nostalgic and i simply yearn for more episodes...I miss Chandler's jokes, Joey's philandering ,Phoebe's eccentricities, Ross's nuptial follies, Monica's idiosyncrasies and Rachel's -well,I jus dig her. Coincidentally, or purposefully, each character has acquired a specific human trait and stuck onto that through all the seasons.

The success of Friends can probably be ascribed to the selection of the awesome cast (Btw Ross is the only one who got the part without an audition)..... When we watch friends (and by "we" I mean all friends enthusiasts), most of us can almost feel the emotions they go through......the ever-existent Ross-Rachel chemistry, the super cool Joey Chandler friendship ; I 'm Monica fussy when it comes to certain things so I can relate to that, Phoebe with her superstitions etc....Friends is unbelievably funny because when we laugh we can actually empathize with the characters....Also, Friends is nicely split up in chronological order, hence there is superb continuity.....Other cool sitcoms that come close to the friends phenomenon are Home Improvement and Frasier.

There are some episodes that are really funny.... Remember when there's a blackout and Chandler gets stuck in an ATM vestibule with a super model...Phoebe's song "smelly cat, smelly cat its not your fault"....the one where Ross gets a tan...all the episodes in London, especially when Chandler and Monica get together....when Chandler and Joey lose all their stuff while Joey tries to make a sale....when Chandler and Monica try to adopt a baby.....Joey gets a role to play as Al Pacino's butt double....And all the retro episodes where Monica looks really fat and Chandler has his funky hair do.

For reasons such as these I really miss them............

Lets Play!!

2005-02-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly,i involved myself at college,by participating in a pretty interesting debate .The topic was 'Does the media give more importance to sports men and women who have greater sex appeal'.
As soon as i heard the topic my head was filled with images of Anna Kournikova,Sharapova and ofcourse our indigenous Sanya 'the sweet heart' Mirza.As i slowly descended from the blissful thought of curves,figures and deadly stats,i realised that this statement was indeed true.

The Olympics has always symbolised the spirit of amity,perseverance and hardship,which are the quintessence of sports.However,sports and games have adapted a different meaning today; glamour,ritz and fashion statements take front row seats.Any game today has a commercial aspect tagged to it,I'm not teling this is wrong(everyone's got to make a living),but signing contracts shouldnt be a player's ulterior motive.

Today,sports person and especially women,go to great lengths in creating a sexed up image of themselves.Look at women's tennis, do they actually have to wear such skimpy outfits,that are butt clenching and which greatly contour their assets?(not that i'm complaining);its not as if by being more clothed they are gonna get less aerodynamic.The amazing thing is that sports association overlook such aspects,and dont have a constraint on the attire that players wear.

Pretty soon all aspirants of games would have to start looking like Greek gods and godesses.Women would have to get boob jobs and liposuction done and guys would have to go in for the brad pitty image.No wonder VVS Laxman isnt getting any contracts,whereas Yuvi is piling 'em up.Ofcourse,one might ask what if someone is naturally hot and does a great job(believe me,i know how it feels :-) )........ok ok u can stop cursing me now...No one remembers Nirupama Vaidyanathan being under any spotlight when she entered the aussie open... The thing is that the media should give credit to players based on their accomplishments and not their sex appeal..

The media promotes those individuals who go 'beyond the call of duty' so to say, and these individuals inturn help them get better ratings.There should be a council that overlooks sport events to restrict commercialization,although this seems pretty far fetched, this is the only way to make things better,because no single sport is gonna give up on their popularity and lag behind in the rat race for commercial ratings.