However much I plan to keep the last few days before my holidays free, it doesn’t work out. Have tons of work, at work and at home before we fly out on Friday morning. I foresee at least couple of long nights this week.

Look at the following tweet from the Conservative Party.

“Our Facebook page has more people than Labour and the Lib Dems combined. Join and show your support at http://www.facebook.com/conservatives”

I am tempted to ask ‘idhula enna perumai‘ (Whats there to feel proud about?) like Thengai Srinivasan did during the interview scene in the movie ‘Thillumullu’, but those that matter do not know Tamil.

If Tories think that their Facebook page is an indicator of their popularity, they are grossly wrong. I, follow the pages of all the parties but will be voting only for one. There are millions like me - neutral voters, who weigh in all the options before choosing the right evil. Orkut / Facebook profiles, Tweets won’t turn into votes. Only real substance will. In some places, real substance means good policies. In some others, it is Colour TV.

UK General Elections

With UK general elections less than 100 days ago, let me dabble a bit into politics.

Few months ago, it was very apparent that people were more than fed up with New Labour and are ready to dump them. David Cameron appeared all set to occupy 10 Downing Street with ease. It could still be the end result, but there are questions about how easy the ride will be for Cameron and his mates? Apart from having technically come out of recession, nothing has changed much in the recent times. But, whoever I talk to ask the question - how are Tories any different?

In my opinion, Tories seem to be concentrating a lot on attacking Labour without explaining what they would do when they are voted to power. Unless, they address this question convincingly, there is every danger of the verdict returning a hung parliament which is worser than either of these two parties. I see that Tories are encouraging people to ask questions through their website and it looks like someone would be answering them. I have submitted quite a few to know if these guys are worthy of my vote.

Last week, there was a seemingly insignificant news item about a Tesco supermarket in Cardiff asking people not to shop in their pyjamas or barefoot. On reading that, the very first thing that came up in my mind was about how many people are going to protest this decision of Tesco saying that it affected their rights to dress, civil liberties etc. For a news as trivial as this, BBC included this as a discussion point in their ‘Have your Say’ forums. Belying my expectations, there were hundreds of entries in the above forum supporting the stand taken by Tesco (it was only in one particular shop). Seems that there are quite a few who are offended, embarassed and what not by those wandering around the shop in night wear. People are even concerned and embarassed about others shopping in bare back. Don’t understand why. Perhaps, I am missing something.

As the notice at Tesco specifically says, ‘..no nightwear is allowed’, I am curious as how they define night wear? I wear shorts and a T-shirt while going to bed. So, would I not be allowed to shop in Tesco wearing those? Will try my luck if ever I get anywhere near Cardiff. ) As for the notice itself, when people are happy to oblige the dress code imposed by pubs and restaurants, why should Tesco be any different? After all, no one compels any one to visit Tesco.

I have been using the trial version of the software ‘Wordweb’, which is a handy little dictionary / thesaurus available at the click of a button. Very useful that utility is, I never knew that I was using the limited period trial version. Today when I tried to look for a word, there was a message saying that I should answer the following question in order to use the software further. The question was about how many times I flew in the last year. Thinking that it must be a survey, I honestly gave the answer to get another message saying, ‘You are not eligible to continue with the Free trial, which is available only for people who take at most two commercial flights in any 12 month period’.

Haven’t seen this kind of weird condition to use a software. However much their good intentions are, I don’t get how one by purchasing the software can repent for the sin of flying (and there by causing carbon emissions)’. Seems that jumping into the ‘green’ bandwagon is the most fashionable thing to do now. Anyway, praise their thought.

Right from the morning twit world was abuzz with the controversy over awarding the prestigious (ahem… I was kidding!) Padmabhushan award to one Sant Singh Chatwal. The issue was that this gentleman was recently involved in a massive fraud involving Indian and US banks and was briefly arrested as well. So, the question of ‘Why him?’. Familiar big names like Vir Sanghvi, Pritish Nandy etc were very vocal with their opinions and some were even contemplating on finding out ‘how and why he was nominated for the award’ using Right to Information act. As I type this, Vir Sanghvi tweets that he is overwhelmed by the support for RTI on Padma Bhushans. Rajdeep Sardesai (of IBN-CNN Live fame) couldn’t digest the fact that Indian state placed people like Chatwal and A R Rahman in the same pedestal (by awarding them the same honour).

For some reason, I feel it all funny. Why do people over react for this? This Chatwal guy might be a person who maintains a good distance between himself and honesty (I do not know the real details behind the scam he was allegedly involved with), but haven’t we seen this before? Don’t we know that in our good, old India all that matters is the right connections with the right people? When a terribly tainted person like Pratibha Patil could be installed as the President and the country could march on as if nothing happened, what is wrong in Chatwal getting an award or two - incidentally from the hands of the same scam tainted President. After all, we are not hitting a new low here. I reminded Rajdeep over Twitter that this same Indian state placed people like Pratibha Patil and APJ Abdul Kalam in the same pedestal. What did we do about it?

Chill out guys. Enjoy your holiday.
Oh yeah… Happy Republic Day!

Isn’t it silly to give up one’s own life for - of all the things, demanding a separate state? With this kind of maturity, what use could they possibly have been to their respective families let alone to the bigger world, had they been alive?

Absolutely disgusting.