The madness of a Govt Office!!!!

Just imagine yourself standing shoulder to shoulder with about three hundred to five hundred people jostling each other and you are in a room like area which i guess would measure hardly three hundred square feet. To top it of as an icing to the cake we are in Chennai one of the hottest places in the world and i don't mean the "hottest" in the other way but literally 100 degrees level. Factor all of this and you probably can imagine that you are trapped in a prison. I mean there are at least two people standing in a single square feet. To make matters worse the queue is moving like a snail that is moving on chewing gum. Wondering where this place is? Well it was at a wait and see hollywood hottie megan fox program!

Just kidding it was at our very own Chennai regional passport office at Shastri Bhavan. Stands out as an exemplary example of a government office. I count myself lucky to crib only about the five hour long wait unlike others who had to reenter the queue even after their turns were over owing to faulty documents.

The top side to this long wait is that it is a lesson in character building and a means of improving the patience and also it is the easiest way to reach into the zen in you and experience inner peace. If you have not gotten angry or uncomfortable then i salute thee "sensei of the yin and yang". Standing in the queue so long also made me realize exactly what kind of a life a watchman or a security guard would have. My standing duration was just for five hours but the security guard is on his feet for at least ten hours a day to top it he has to deal with all the pestering people. The other job that is a standing one would be that of a traffic policemen but the "PERKS" of the job offset any of the discomfort so no comparison to the life of a security guard.

The cherry to top the icing is lunch time. The punctuality of a government office has got to be admired. On the dot when the clock strikes one they are off no matter how many people are standing in the queue. Food does come before everything but the ones standing in the queue skip their lunch for the fear that their improved position will be lost by mundane things such as lunch. Oh!! The sacrifices we have to make to call ourselves citizens of India.

What could be worse than a queue where you are waiting for your turn? The answer is that the other queue in which you were about to join earlier is moving much faster than the one you are in and you can see the people smirking and smiling with satisfaction that you are still stuck in the same position that you were in while they have moved significantly forward. The sadistic nature of these things were never ending. To add more to my woes there were a couple of people ahead who managed to get their friends behind them cutting the waiting time of their friends unfazed by the booing and jeering of the people behind them. I guess we have another lesson to learn about facing adversity without being perturbed by your surroundings with a single focus.

The lines above may have been sarcastic but this one para hasn't got any sarcasm. This one is about the genuine highlight of a government office. It is a place that actually unites people regardless of their colour, caste etc etc as the multitude standing in the queue share a common grief - "how they have been standing for quite a while". This gives people the perfect conversation opener and before long you end up chatting about the purpose of your passport, your family, your hopes and your aspirations to complete strangers. You may not exactly be making friends for life but in those few hours you are united and the differences of colour, race, language and religion don't mean much as you share small anecdotes or make fun of our efficient red tape bureaucrats. When your journey is over, that is when you have finished paying the requisite fee there is a round of congrats that would hearten you as if your best friend had told them.

Well these kind of experiences are priceless. Folks next time you go to a government office just remember that it is a place that symbolizes communal harmony and pay homage to these temples of oneness. To those who consider the government offices mad houses just remember the above line and it will bring a smile to your face and the waiting time will seem less excruciating when you open your mind to your fellow queue members. Signing out by saying the Government office is an oxymoron like SWEET AGONY.

The End of Harry Potter?!!

I cant say with a clear conscience that i am a hard core harry potter fan till i can say i grew up with the books. I got hooked to the Harry Potter series at a later point of time, i think after i saw the 4th instalment of HP and the Goblet of Fire and that was after the 6th book had been released. While everyone was weeping over Dumbledore dying i was starting afresh with my 1st Harry Potter book.

When everyone was hitting the HP craze i had a simple reason for not going for it. At the age of 10 to 15 i considered myself too "old" to be reading a small kids book. The sweet irony of it was i got hooked to it at the age of 22 at which point of time i justified it saying "fantasy is for all ages". So the one thing i missed was the Pottermania relating to the books and often wondered how it would have been to have grown up with Harry Potter. My friend is one avid fan and always tried to get a copy of the book as soon as it released and in spite of his generous offer to let me read his books i stuck to my guns saying "nope none of that stuff for me". Now when i think back on it i feel i should kick myself over for the "veen perumai" like they say in tamil for false pride.

Still my decision to forgo reading those books till later gave me a fondness for the movies as i caught all of the new ones in the right way, either i managed to jump in 1st day for a couple of movies or made sure i managed to see it in a not so legal way. That was at least something i have done right. Moreover having not read the book i was able to appreciate the movies that everyone deemed worst compared to the books. Recreation of the entire magical world, creatures, the settings and also to portray a magical aura for the entire span of eight movies is no mean feat. The actors were some what frozen in my head so Harry, Hermoine and Ron were Radcliffe, Emma and Rupert even while i read the books.

I was completely floored when i started reading the books. Time and again i sit to wonder at the pure genius of J K Rowling to have written such a magnum opus. I must say i don' t think anyone would have been able to keep the imagination and interest of all HP fans alive the way she has done. The one and only big question that i would ask her if i get a chance to talk to her would be if she knew how the stuff was going to end the minute she started writing the 1st book. I mean its pure magic how everything comes together in the final installment and did she think so far ahead or did she just keep building on it and then tie up all the ends, either ways, it was pure genius. Wish i had even half her story writing skills then i would come up with at least a couple of best sellers. The magical world and the way everyone could relate to a bespectacled kid is not something that anyone can write about.

The reason why i am writing about Harry Potter now is that i could not synchronize my timing with the release of the last book so i am trying to coincide it with the release of the 8th installment of the movie. The directors of each of the movies have been pretty cool trying their level best to recreate that fantastic world in front of our eyes and the 7th movie although lacks some of the action that is usually there in the other movies sets up the movie for the finale in a really good way so it rates among my top movies in the HP series. The other favorites of mine are Chamber of Secrets and the Goblet of Fire. Goblet of Fire holds a special place in my heart for the simple reason that Emma Watson looked gorgeous in that movie and i was like "Wow" when i saw her enter the Yule Ball. (winking smiley).

All in all i confess i have read each of the books a minimum of 5 times (not bad considering i have been addicted to them only for two years). I have seen each of the movies at least 3 times. Thought i would have watched them only twice had i had the choice but then with Pogo showing that movie a countless number of times i had no choice but to see them a few times (maybe not just 3 times). The world of Hogwarts has always been a place which almost everyone wishes to study in. I would say i could do with a teacher like Albus Dumbledore. Snape was a revelation in the final book. So after being able to see that magical world with dragons, thestrals, flying brooms it is kind of sad to realise that the movie franchise is also going to end. I do hope i can catch a ticket for the first week the movie is running at least. I cant wait to see the duel between the snakelike guy and the geek. The movie series have lacked a proper duel between wizards so hope the last movie is the best and fulfills all the criteria for a fitting tribute to an immensely popular franchise and a best selling book that is second only to probably the holy bible.

All the best things have to come to an end. So i guess it is time to say bye to the boy wizard and the big old baddy voldemort and of course Hermoine (another winking smiley). Still it is never going to be the end of HP as the books still need to be dethroned from being the favorites of billions across the world. That sort of feat would require a better level of intellect and imagination than Rowling that might just prove to be a slightly uphill struggle. The movies may have all been released but the legacy of HP will always go on and a small prediction that in the future all the HP memorabilia from the sets of the movie will be auctioned for huge chunks of money. Such is the power of Pottermania. On that note i will say Harry Potter has not ended but will keep going on.

Is there something REALLY called modern?!!!

Just try this simple exercise, look around you - I think you can find at least two of the so called symbols of the modern world. Namely the cell phone and the laptop or computer. The world is really getting more and more and crazy by the day. Apple just released i phone 4 but samsung is out to get the better by showcasing galaxy S2 so apple says "you wait sir! I ll get right back at you by giving a better one with i phone5!!!". I mean the phone that you have is no longer just a phone it records videos, sends mails, provides games etc etc etc and the list keeps going on. So you think THIS is modern?

Sure get Mr. Alexander Graham Bell here and show him your phone and he ll just fall dead with the shock of the entire thing because in no way would he have believed all this possible. Its only the past two decades that we have seen so much of the so called progress and a phenomenal growth in electronic components with the advent with the mother/father of all this stuff the computer. Sure all this would have been black magic and voodoo if you turn the clock back but again the question is whether all this is modern.

In my opinion sure all these inventions are cool and new, they also change the way we live our life but this is not what i would call modern. The true modernity is the way we think and live. There will always be new gadgets and yes sure your parents will find it more n more difficult to find their way around with all the buttons but that is just technology.

Women empowerment, a democratic government, freedom of speech, thoughts are the pillars of this modern world but again are these really modern ideas. The only species to have ever come this far is the human race. (Of course we bopped off a few other species of the face of the planet for it) Still the kind of stuff we are capable of thinking is a feat that no other specie has achieved so far. The myriad number of thoughts and ideas such as governance, social pursuits, love and romance, art, literature and millions of other things that ensure we do not live a life that is just for food and survival. We have to bend down to one thing - There is a higher power that chose us to think the way we do.

All the above have been around for ages. The 21st century human product is the result of 2000 years of thought processes but essentially rather than calling the 21st century human modern i would say we have come a full circle. The historians have observed that the first civilizations were peaceful and the various artifacts that have been recovered show a tendency towards art and also the worship of the female. Which deteriorated over the ages to all the witchcraft voodoo and subjugation of the female. now the world has opened itself again to an old concept that has been repacked. The best example is the hindu religion itself. Which celebrates the mother of all creation. So all this so called thinking is just old products encased in new wrapping. People believed in fate and god back then and even now we still do. Karma and Kismat are still high in the so called modern world. What really amazes me is the way the guys in ancient times have certain rituals that get proven scientifically these days. For example in case of a famine people used to do a yaga (sacrificial flame), studies show that in an unpolluted environment it will not rain (No that kind of problem now!!). They were an advanced lot our ancestors. Add to that a clean environment and nature worship they could have even lead better lives. They did not have to dish out crores for a dream home, did not have to worry so much about interior decoration, there was no obesity because walking and horse riding kept them fit (remember the 6 packs from 300). Above all they did not have complications like CA that really confused their lives. The other confusion love has been there down the ages and plenty of stories of eloping are around through history so when i present it this way there is almost no difference between the guys without cellular technology and those with the cellular technology. Therefore i would conclude this tedious blog by saying there is nothing that is actually modern - it is just a passing advancement in technology!!!