my blog is blocked

If you are in India you cant read this blog. Nor googleblog. I skimmed the newspaper this morning and am startled to find such lack of coverage. Cant they squeeze in a bit about free speech and blanket censorship between coverage of potholes and botox treatment?

A totally unrelated observation - I saw two crows flying. The one flying higher dropped a twig [I think] and the one below caught it deftly with its beak. Talk about poetry in motion. Do animals play? I mean non competitive, non sexual, just for the fun of it play. I dont remember Jaren Diamond commenting on it.

Weekend

Wasted. Not in the druggie alcoholic sense but more in the, did nothing worthwhile sense. After spending Saturday morning staring at the ceiling, went shopping in the evening. Stood in a long queue in front of the fitting room. And was thoroughly irritated by the women with loads of clothes who felt compelled to parade each and everyone of it to their boyfriends or husbands. I wanted to shout ‘make up you mind already’.

Read Melvyn Bragg’s 'A time to dance'. Though it was well written, I didn’t feel very sympathetic or moved about the protagonists. I felt strangely blase about it, though I haven’t read Lolita.

Desingu rajan...

Reading 'Textures of Time'. Very well written book. Desingu Rajan, I learn now was actually Tej Singh a Rajput prince, in Senji. I laughed remembering the much mustachioed Madhavan pretending to be Desingu raja.

The book gives a wonderfull perspective on whats historical writing. I am yet to come to the tamil version - I am now reading the Marathi version - he is Jai singh in that. The book is such a delight.

Prank

I try not to blog about work, but this is too good to pass. My colleagues played a prank on my new boss. My boss had been away and was returning after three weeks. Now he had never met me. The interview was over the phone. I had joined during his absence.

This is how the welcome back prank went.

One colleague sent out a message to my boss – “I need to talk to you about some issue” – late last night, setting the ball rolling. My boss walks in around 9:15 AM, asks someone how things were. That person says something like – “Well, not so good. We have some issues with the new lady”. Then someone else walks in and complains about me saying it’s very hard to work with me. Now my boss gets really worried. He takes the first guy a senior person for a 1-1, asking for specifics... Examples... “She is rude, obnoxious” - they all repeat. I got in around this time but as per our plan stayed out of that section. Another lady, a much prettier one at that, walks in and introduces herself as me. She promptly gets on the phone and starts talking loudly some non-work thing. S, the mastermind, asks her about some random server, very politely. ‘I’ respond very rudely. My boss clearly upset now, is trying to get a handle of the situation. ‘I’ step out. More people come in, in sufficient intervals and complain about me. He calls M, who referred me and asks him, “Was she like this in the previous company? Answer me? Everyone is complaining”. He says, “She is going through some personal problems”. My boss is very angry now. He says, “I am going to fire her. Do you have anything to say about that?”

‘I’ had returned to my seat in the meanwhile. Very angry, he calls ‘me’ for a 1X1.
While he was having the 1X1, we all barged in with a 'bakra' cap and I introduced myself.

It was totally hilarious. I must say though he bore it really well. He laughed and said he was a much-relieved man now. Good news is he has a sense of humor. Possible bad news is he might psychologically still think I am like her.

Podcasts I heard

Last I heard Forum - conversation with Greg Palast. Surprisingly funny. While talking about free speech and England etc., he says matter of factly, "We can give our first amendment to them, we dont use it anyway".

There was also an itconversations piece with a neuro-surgeon. If only I had steady hands..