Death of a symbol

Symbols are meant to represent something: something special. Over the past few weeks I have witnessed two of the most famous symbols in the world being abused like it's nobodies business. My heart bleeds I tell you.





The Prancing Horse. Anyone who owns a car will know what this stands for. Actually anyone who knows anything about cars will know what this stands for. What the hell, ask anyone and they will tell you what this stands for.

You think prancing horse, you invariably think Ferrari, you think Modenna, you think Micheal Schumacher - all legendary names. The recall associated with the prancing horse cannot be mistaken for anything else, not by any stretch of imagination.






The first one is a Ferrari 360 Modena - after a brief slump, it was the Modena that really put Ferrari back on the map. This is most driveable Ferrari of all times and the dream car of every Ferrari fan: arguably Ferrari's best ever: perfection personified.

The second one is a Ferrari Enzo - the fastest production car that Ferrari has ever made. Its in the same class as the Mclaren Mercedes SLR and the Porsche Carrera GT.

Just look at them. Such distinction.

Yet, I have seen this symbol in the most inappropriate places one can think of. I will not attempt to list all of them, but one of them was the worst. The other day I was at the petrol station with a friend, waiting in line for our turn. A Maruti 800 pulled up right next to us. The ass who was driving that piece of shit car had a cheap sticker of the prancing horse stuck on the lid of the petrol tank on his car.

After a really long time, I was so tempted to kill another human being. I feel like beating up people all the time, but I seldom feel like killing someone. Some people have the innate capacity to bring out the worst in me.

Prancing horse sticker on a Maruti 800. That too on the lid of the petrol tank. I am so glad Enzo Ferrari didn't live long enough to see this. Just when I thought this is about as bad as it can get, I was proven wrong - convincingly, might I add.




There may be a few people who might not know what the prancing horse is, but there possibly cannot be anyone who doesn't know what the tri-star stands for. One of the most recognisable names in automobile history, Mercedes Benz, has an image that sets it apart in a league of its own. There is a certain character, a certain legacy, an air of class that the name brings with it. You think Mecedes Benz and immediately you think S class, you think Mclaren Mercedes SLR, you think AMG, you think the Black series, you think Brabus S biturdo roadster.

I was actually thinking of putting in the picture of a Brabus S biturbo here, but then I found this.



If you are a petrol head, trust me, this is worth your time. Take 10 mins and watch the video. I swear you will not be disappointed.

But, when you put that tri-star on the bonnet of an Ambassador it kinda feels a little out of place. I saw this and I was at a complete loss for words. Its been three days now and I am still unable to articulate my feelings in a coherent manner. All attempts seem to end in a barrage of abuse aimed at the Ambassador driver's mother.

I am so sad. I am so angry. Since any and all actions I have in mind are illegal, please can somebody do something about this.

August 8th, 2008

That's today's date. To my knowledge, nothing really special about today, except when you try putting the date on paper, it'll look like this:

08-08-08

I'm sure there must be a whole bunch of astrologers, marathadi josiyar makkal who think today is special for some weird inexplicable reason. I have no idea and I don't really care.

Have a nice day.

I wish I were a clairvoyant

Have you ever wanted that ? Just imagine, it would be so damn cool.

To be able to see things beyond what any of your senses can feel or even imagine. To know the answers for questions that will never be asked. To be called a psychic by the decent people and a freak by the not so decent people.

That sounds a bit too fantastic, even by my standards. So, lets tone it down a touch. Imagine if you had the power to read people's minds. Check this out. You just look at a person and you can instantly hear what that person is thinking. Lets forget about the invasion of privacy and all that stuff. On the face of it, how cool is it ?

I'll tell you why I, suddenly, wish this was possible. I take the local train to office. Or I take the bus, depending on my mood. I travel alone and unlike the thousands of people who travel with me I don't listen to FM radio on my mobile while I am travelling. I just sit there and watch people.

I don't judge people. I mean that. Who am I to pass judgement on somebody else's actions. I watch and I speculate on what they are thinking.

This one day I took the bus. I was on bus route number M49 and was sitting right behind the driver. The driver was in a foul mood that day. No idea which side of who's bed he got out of, but he was pissed.

I'll tell you why I think he was pissed. He was cursing at a traffic signal because it just wouldn't change from red to green when he told it to. Finally he got his way and we moved ahead. Just then, there was some guy trying to get on the bus when it was on the move. The doors are generally on the left side of the bus right. The driver saw the guy trying to get in and without a second thought he swerved to the right. With a guy trying to get on the bus on the left side, you can imagine what a right turn would do. The driver didn't bother to look at his rear side view mirror. He didn't signal. He just turned. Now, this was in the morning on one of the busiest roads in Chennai. For some reason, the driver didn't want that guy to get on the bus when it was on the move. Luckily for the guy, he was very agile and quick enough to adjust to the right turn and he got on the bus. This obviously enraged the driver even more. He stopped the bus, right in the middle of the road, turned around and told the guy to get off. I am being very nice here. But the whole thing was very unceremoniously done. He refused to move the bus if that guy didn't get off. That guy did get off, muttering to himself. Then we were on our way like nothing had happened.

Boarding a moving bus is not new in Chennai. Thousands of people do it all the time. Hell, I have done it god knows how many times. Drivers and conductors are used to it. Seldom does it result in an incident like this.

That's when I really wished I knew what the driver was thinking. Why was he so pissed ? He was so mad, it was affecting his ability to drive. He was rash and could have easily ended up hurting someone, not only the guy trying to board the bus but also some innocent motorist who made the mistake of being anywhere close to that bus. There must have been a reason. Obviously not the best day of his life. He was probably running late on that trip. Maybe he had some personal problem.

I was also wondering what that guy must have been thinking when the driver stopped the bus in the middle of the road and told him to get out. The guy was probably late for office. It was a really hot day: hot, sweaty, humid day and the pollution on the main road makes it all the more unbearable. He probably didn't want to walk half a kilometre to the bus stand.

I am sure both of them had their reasons for doing what they did. There are so many people in this world. There are so many things happening. Things that we know. Things that we don't know. Things that we may understand. Things that we don't understand.

Made me feel almost insignificant.

Can you imagine ...

Can you imagine what it would be like if the defining moment in your life is all about the worst thing you have ever done ??

Can you imagine living your life knowing fully well that, no matter what you do, nothing will ever change ??

Can you imagine falling asleep everyday thinking how close you were but never quite there ??

Can you imagine living your life in denial ??

Can you imagine waking every morning knowing that you are living your life in denial but you are too scared to do anything about it ??

If you don't have to imagine, damn that would really suck.

What do you think about you ?

If you were asked to describe yourself using one word, which one would you choose? That's not a fair question to ask. So, lets make it more reasonable. Lets say, you can choose multiple single words to describe yourself.

To give you a better idea, if someone were to ask me this question, I would probably come up with the following, this is spontaneous okay - didn't really think about this.

Confident
Sensitive
Sarcastic
Relaxed
Strong
Arrogant
Suave
#$#%@% (just so we're clear, that's the censored part - there are people in this world who don't love me as much as I do)
..... and so on and so forth

You get the picture, right.

I just picked up the phone, called this friend of mine and asked her the same question and this is what she came up with:

Young
Energetic
Vibrant
Versatile
Dynamic
Frank
Independent (this one's actually inferred but I'll allow it)

Interestingly, as you can see, there is nothing common between the two of us. That's because her sense of self is a lot different from my sense of me, which makes sense.

What I actually find interesting is, almost all the words I chose were character traits. Almost all the words she chose were well, I don't what they were but they were certainly not character traits.

You are probably wondering, "where is he going with this?" That's an excellent question and if you were standing in front of my face asking me that question, then you would be greeted with a goofy smile on my face followed by a helpless shrug from my shoulders.

You are also probably wondering exactly why is this guy doing this. Well, to be absolutely truthful, I had twenty minutes before I had to leave to watch a movie. Now, the twenty minutes is up.

Tata. See you. Byeeeee (Supposed to sound like Janakaraj in Baasha)

What a load of crap

The first Sunday of every august is Friendship day. Can anyone tell me why ? Is it because the concept of friendship was discovered on the first Sunday of some august ?

Why is it different from birthday or wedding day or death day ? Why does it not have a date ? First Sunday of every august is Friendship day. What a load of crap.

My real question is, do you need a reason, like friendship day, to celebrate a friendship ? For the same reason, why do we have mothers day and fathers day ? If you really mean it, then everyday is the same among friends.

If you think friendship day is special, then it means that you are being a hypocrite on the first Sunday of every august or every day other than that particular Sunday. Your friends don't mean the same to you on days other than friendship day ?

Valentines day is different. A guy does need a reason to buy a gift for his girl. Due to my lack of experience in this matter, I am not willing to comment on what the girls take is likely to be on this.

Let me ask you this - How many of you can look at the phone book in your mobile and categorically state that you want all the numbers in it ? Please note, I use the word "want" and not "need". Yes, there is a difference. I "want" a pizza. I "need" food. You get the difference. How many of you have some long lost contacts number in your phone book ? Some one time friend whom you were close to in your previous life and you are no longer sure if that person is living or dead ? Have you thought about how many numbers you can delete from your phone book without bringing on absolutely any change whatsoever to your current lifestyle ?

Don't give me this crap that you will keep in touch with all those people if only you had the time. If you really wanted to keep in touch, you would have made the time. The fact that you can do without them basically means that you are no longer friends. You are merely acquainted.

It's not anyones fault. Just that sometimes things work out that way. Priorities change. Needs and wants change. Shit happens.

What I actually want to say is, if you really want to get in touch with someone and say hi, just go right ahead and do it. Sending a long and winding text message just because its friendship day completely undermines the relationship you share with that person. It's hypocritical at best.

Please don't do it. At the risk of sounding rude, it makes you look cheap.