Honey! I would never lie* to you

Thats true. We all say lies. But I dont lie big. I will do it little by little. So you see, I can never be called a big liar unless she sums it up. But there is even a book on that. "Why men lie and women cry". The guy who wrote that book should have read my mind for sure. It was all about me and a little about her too. My answer to his book is simple.

"Men lie because women would cry if they dont.

Women cry because they easily find out when men lie."

So you see it all falls around women and their crying. Seriously men had nothing to do that. Thats what I claimed till she threw a fork at me. I just hope that she thought it was a spoon. Anyway, the doctor said that my puncture wound will heal in few days and advised me not to get in the middle of a dart game.

Now I think you know the reason why I lie. Only a little though. But the biggest problem is that I am so good at telling lies that sometimes I would think they are true and act according to that. For example, when I told her that I couldnt meet her at the coffee day because I was having a sprain in my leg, the next day I went to the doctor to look after my leg and he charged me 5000 bucks for testing his new cash picking machines called xrays and scans and told me that it I am just imaging things. He was right ike a doctor in that.

So here I was again driving my bike to see her in coffee day and I remember I am late for 15 mins because of the traffic jam though I see not even a bread slice where there can be jam. It was like everyone is in hiome watching mega serials. So I reached there 16 mins late according to my time. but then she was sitting staring at the empty cappachino cup that might break if she stares a little longer. Anyway it wont as I saved it as her stare turned to me. I thought I would get burnt. I should have let the cup break.
"You are 30 mins late". she bit her lip.
"No. I am just 16 mins late. And if I remember my mention about the traffic, I am just 1 min late"
"You called me half an hour back. Do you want to see the call records in my mobile"
Damn. I should invent some virus to delete the call records when the call ends. Something like Mission Impossible movies. The message will self destruct in 15 secs and she would not have any proof that I am late. But now she have.
So I had to put a little lie. "Oh is it. Oh! look! my watch stopped. It must have stopped when the other bike hit me while moving in the traffic."
"Thats bad. Are you hurt?" she was suddenly caring. That was great. But I had to keep the rhythm. Nothing much. Just a little scratch on my hands..... and my index finger too."
"Oh! I am sorry. Let me take a look" She took my hand and I gave a little "ouch". She looked at me if I am a kid crying out of pain and then kissed my hand.
Man, I should have told something more. May be a guy punched me down. yeah. And then I fell right on the road with my face down.
But then she wouldnt have touched me at all.
"Where is your watch?" she asked.
"I must have forgotten in my house" My mind still trying to invent some places where I got hurt.
"What?" she yelled.
Thats when I came back to reality. I am going to get hurt everywhere. So I had to put up some little lie there.
"Yeah! I left the watch you gifted me in my house. I didnt want to put it in this traffice you know. Something might happen and it might stop"
"... like today?" she added. She was hinting something.
"Yeah! like toda.....y." Thats when it hit me and to avoid being hit, I added a pinch.
"I was wearing the one that my colleagues gifted for my birthday"
"So what happened to it?"
"It stopped. I told you that before".
Now she was getting irritated. "I thought it stopped running. But I didnt think it stopped walking with your hand!"
Her sense of humor is always great. Especially when she is angry and I am in danger.
I wondered how much she know why I was late. She cant be knowing that there was no traffic all the way. And definitely she doesnt know that I was in cricket ground all day which according to her is a waste of time from the time India lost against Pakistan. May be she doesnot know anything. So I added a little more.
"May be. It must have fallen when I had the accident back there"
She wasnt buying it. I know something was amiss with my little lies. Something disconnected.
"Then how come you told me that your watch stopped working".

One should realise that in the art of telling lies, you can stack up lies one above the other until it reaches a point at which it will start to collpase* and thats when your girl friend finds out and your lies collpase like a demolished building. And I have reached my point of saturation by that time. One another lie will collapse my enitre stack. But similar to every law that has an asterix(*) attached to it, so do the art of telling lies which states that the collapse can be solved by moving few tiles to the base and starting a new stack out of it.

So I moved a few tiles like keeping the watch at house and got hit by a bike but left the rest in the old stack. To create the base for this stack, I had to create a larger lie.
"Honey! What really happened is that there was no traffic. I actually got stuck in the hospital because my ML met in an accident and I had to give blood. I thought you would be worried if I say the truth"

With that strong base, her face showed pitiful at me and I felt that I will get a kiss again. But her doubtful mind shot again. "Is that your lady ML who fancies you a lot?"

Should I be happy that she thinks that SOMEONE fancies me or should I be alarmed that SHE thinks that? Its a difficult situation. But I maintained the same way. "Dont be silly. She is such a irritating person. You know I hate her all the time. what ever she might think, you know I hate her."

"Then why would someone wear the watch she gifted all the time even when visiting their girl friend?"

"May be to lose it like what happened today".

She bought the perfect lie though she said "You are lying. I know that". She was absolutely right. Actually I can never forgive myself if I lose that black Titan metallic watch which was really cool that I never remove it other than the time visiting her.

"Of course not. I am glad that I didnt wear the watch you gifted honey". I was speaking the truth here. A gold plated watch with gold dials and gold background is not something I dreamt for.

"Yeah!" She looked at me like I have done the most respectful thing in my life and our eyes met. "I love you" she said.

"Me too" I said speaking the truth.

"May be you should take me to visit her. How is she now"

"She is fine. It was just her hand and the index finger". I ran out of lies and was using the old lie again which is a big blunde when you have an intelligent girl beside you. I knew the stack is going to collapse.

Before I could build up a new lie, she pushed me away and threw the coffee cup at me. It hit my left hand and the index finger and it broke... I meant the cup.

I shouted "ouch" which was a true voice. With the realization that I shouted the truth, she came towards me frightened if she had broken my hand and touched it for which I shouted "ouch" but that was another tile on the stack. She was saying sorry repeatedly and took my hand and kissed it. I am not sure why girls think that if they kiss a person's wound, it would stop the pain. The scientists should research on girls' lips because it actually works. I was happy that the cup broke. She insisted that we should go to the hospital though I know it would just be another attempt to give cash for using the doctor's costly toys. And thats when I got the phone call. She took the phone and answered it. When she finished the call, she looked sad and said "Your ML met with an accident it seems. They are asking if you can give blood".

Now I got scared. My lies are turning to truth now. We got to the bike and started driving towards the hospital. My mind was wandering only towards the black Titan metallic watch that I forgot at the cricket ground. May be no one will notice it in the dark. And then it started to rain. The watch isnt waterproof. We got completely wet as we reached the hospital. There was complete traffic all the way and we got stuck for 16 mins in the rain.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

After playing this game for a long time, and which happened to be the best timepass for me here in UK, I wanted to write a review on it. though, this review might be a older one as two more sequels have already been released for this game, this might be a good one to read if you havent played this game before.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Prince of Persia, the classic game of the 80s made a revolution in the gaming industry. The story driven with realistic human figures fighting with swords and the Prince running through the palace which has loose floors and cutting saws really made gaming a serious one for all ages. We always wanted such a beautiful game in the 3d world. But Prince of Persia 3D didnt met the expectations of the gamer as it turned out to be more or less the same Prince in 3D. Also the AI was so bad that you can kill anyone before they take the sword or even see you. With the honor of Prince of Persia led down by this game, it took more than ten years to see its honor and glory restored by Ubisoft with their new Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Every part of the game is made interesting and new. A new story with a new theme was made and the Prince is not fighting for his love this time, but for his kingdom. The game moves on as a narration by the Prince himself. The story unfolds with an invasion on an Indian Kingdom with the help of a traitor Evil Vizier. After winning the kingdom, a mystic Hourglass and the Indian Princess are taken along with the Maharaja's treasures to the kingdom of Azad, while the Prince keeps the Dagger of Time that he took from the Maharaja's Palace. The eveil Vizier tricks the Prince to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, which changes all his army men and his dad to sand monsters. Only the Prince, Princess of the Indian Kingdom and the Evil Vizier remain unaffected. The Prince joins with the Princess, the unlikely person to help him in his quest of restoring the world back to normal. Does he succeed and does he win the Princess' heart is what the Prince will say in the game as you play. The ending is too interesting that it gives a real movie feeling to it. The game is moved so smoothly that you wont notice the Princess' hatred for the Prince turning slowly to Love.

So is this a normal slash, cut and kill type of action game??? No. This is Prince of Persia. It has well promising set of puzzles in a scenic and beautifu environment. Though most puzzles are easy to solve, some may make you think for a long time. You will have to jump from pole to pole, run along the walls(yes yes, you will be running on the walls), swing bars and ropes, hang on the cliffs and perform acrobatic jumps you never imagined before. The interesting and most wonderful part of the game is the powers of the Dagger of Time. You can rewind back time if you had made any mistakes in the middle of the game. And even the rewinding can be seen as if though rewinding a normal movie. And there are powers like Freeze, which allows you to freeze your enemies so that you can destroy them in a single slash. There are many more powers like Mega freeze and slow motion which you can gain when you move to higher levels. And for fighting, you can use the environments to your advantage. Use the wall to jump to the other side when you are cornered by the enemies, or kick the wall to strike back the enemy. You are in total control of everything you see.

What makes this game more interesting are the dialogues between the Prince and Farah. You can feel the hatred between them in the talks in the beginning of the game and the more caring voice in the course towards the end of the game. Also, Farah exclaiming "Be careful" and "Look back" whenever you are in trouble adds a nice feeling to the game. Only thing you can miss in the game is that you wont be playing as Farah in any part of the game. .

*************SPOILER*****************
The best part of the story is seen at the end of the game. When the Prince and Farah are trapped in a tomb, Farah tells the magic word 'Kakalukia' to the Prince which she had never told to anyone before. At the end of the game, after the Prince had rewinded the time back before the invasion on the Indian Kingdom, Farah asks his name. The Prince disappointed that she doesnt know him now says "You can call me.... Kalalukia" and leaves. That was really the best ending the game can have.
*********END OF SPOILER**********

The facial expressions are very well made and it reflects their behavior and personality very clearly. The Prince's expression of doubt and anger are very well potrayed throughout the game.

With more than 10 hours of gameplay at the first time and about 8 hours in the subsequent times, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is really the most interesting and revolutionary game as its original. By now, the story has been continued as a triology with two more stories "Warrior Within" and "The Two Thrones" and Sands of Time till stays as the natural favorite for most of the Prince of Persia original fans. A must play game for every gamer.

Struck my heart atlast

My heart rarely speaks out what it feels. However it was hurt, it would not let emotions take over the mind. Many times, people think that I am never serious or sometimes I never care. The truth is I dont feel the pain of my heart often. May be the sensors are weak that I dont understand the pain. I would let even the most sorrowful things pass by. I had been silent when I failed my dreams. I was able to laugh when someone broke my heart. I watched a movie when I know my life will be screwed. Its like acting the wrong way in the wrong time. But it never affected me. I was my usual self.

Thats why, when my heart finally spoke out, it hurts the most. There is a price for giving up something for one another. And its piercing my heart. I am feeling the pain atlast. Its painful not when you are not loved by someone you love. Its painful when someone doesnt trust you when you trust them than anyone else.

I had my lesson for the day. May be my heart will heal. Just not sure whats the medicine for healing. Is it time?

On the stage - Take 1,2....3

The invite was a surprising one for me. I have always been the back stage guy. Or mostly, "beyond-the-stage" guy. Though I have appeared ON the stage many times in school days, they were only for getting the prizes and not to perform any play or dance. On the whole, I have experienced only two times performing ON the stage. So the invititaion to pariticipate in a skit was a very surprising one to me. Add to that, it was for Telugu audience and the few words I know in Telugu are "veluthama" (shall we go) learnt from our car driver; "Batalu" (dresses) from the PG owner in Bangalore; "baavunava" learnt from my friend Viji. And you can add few more words that I picked from my roommates in Charlotte. Now Viswa wants me to perform in a skit infront of a huge telugu audience gathered for Telugu association of Greater Charlotte Area(TAGCA).

The truth is lanuage was not the only problem for me. Consider my only two experiences that I have performed on the stage. The first one was the play I did during my 9th standard in School and second was during the third year in my college days. They didnt make me an overnight star.(I never was a star is another story)

Let me tell about my first experience. It was a fairy tale of a boy and a girl who were left behind in the forest by their father and step mother. Though for few days, they find their way back to home by dropping pebbles to identify the path, one day they would get lost when the boy drops bread crumbs instead of pebbles on the way and were eaten by the crow. Stranded in the dark forest, they stumle upon a witch's house, who feeds the boy very well, but makes the girl to work hard. but it was revealed that the witch's plan is to eat the chubby boy by cooking in the cauldron. The intelligent kids trick the witch to fall into the cauldron and return back to their father who was feeling sad to follow his wife's cruel instructions. And they lived happily ever after. Such a nice story it was and I acted as the father of the kids, and had only the closing dialogue of the play "Children, I am glad you both are safe. Lets live together happily".

If the first experience is not enough to prove my talent, listen to my second experience. I took the challenge in linguistics by acting in a Tamil play in college. Though there are rumors that the only reason I got this role was beause I was the class representative and the drama crew needed me to be with them to get their attendance class, I would say I was picked up specifically for that role(for no good reason). I acted as a Police constable who would get the bribe from Kabali, a chota sized thief hiding behind Dabali, a BADA sized thief and would lie "Sir! Kabali Dabali pinnadi illa sir"(Sir! Kabali is not behind Dabali) to the Police inspetor. That was the only dialogue for me. The worst part is Kabali would rob me when I was talking to the inspector. So I lost the bribe too.

With such lower experiences on the stage, it was really surprising that he asked me if I can act in a skit and added that its a mime and there would be no dialogues at all. When I agreed and made the contract for "Free Dinner", I started imagining the level of my role. Though I did not want to be the Saviour of the world, I just did not want to end up as hen-pecked husband or a constable who gets pickpocketed. To my happiness, Viswa told that I would be coming to the house tired after work and he would be the servant. Wow. I am the master of the house and I have a servant too. That looked interesting. But he broke my heart by saying that I would get drunk and wont notice that it was my servant mimicing infront of me like a mirror. Atleast I was in my proper senses during my previous roles.

As the contract was made already and I did not want to leave the "Free Dinner", we prepared for the skit. The background music was created using Windows Movie maker, Microsoft's lame copy of iMovie in an hour and we practiced only once. Viswa was so confident that I wont be needing more than one trial of the skit. I was so confident that I will make him the scapegoat if things go bad which he didnt know even now because it didnt go bad. Oops. I threw the ending already. Anyway, after little preparation, we went to the function and gave only his name for the skit. I was very careful from the start itself. The time went on and we enjoyed watching the dances and songs by kids. As the time flew fast, the organizer realised that there will be no time for our show. Though I know that the audience would be disappointed not to watch our skit, I was generous and told the organizers to cancel our skit if needed. And if Viswa wasnt there, I would have succeeded in escaping from the skit and would have written a post "How I almost made to the skit!". He persuaded the organizers to make ours the last one of the day and he would not have the "Free dinner" arranged. I really didnt want to leave the "Free dinner". But my words went deaf as we were given the last slot of the show and there was no "Free dinner" for anyone.

However, the show went really well and I was even able to hear some cheers and claps from the crowd. Everything went fine except the scene in which I should see the white hair on the servant's head and think it is mine. I have to cut my hair after that scene. Thats when I realised we did not bring scissors. Viswa was murmuring "White hair" all the time while I skipped the scene not sure how to cut the imaginary white hair without scissors. It was after the show he told that I could have just plucked the hair with my hand. Obviously, I got involved so much that I behaved completely like a drunk not able to think even how to pluck my hair.

How much I wished that I should have given my name when there were full cheers from the crowd especially from the girls and everyone went around Viswa while I stood like a stranger. All because of my smart safety precautions.

TAGCA - Another day in the life of a celebrity

Yesterday was just another day of my life as a celebrity. I was invited as the Chief Guest for the first year anniversary of TAGCA. TAGCA stands for Telugu Association of Greater Charlotte Area. My reasons including that I don’t know Telugu was not accepted. Not to disappoint anyone, I accepted the invitation with only one condition. If you had been to the function, you must understand that this is the reason why someone else was announced as the chief guest. I told them that I would come only anonymously, sit along with the crowd and will not even appear for Photos. With greater difficulty they accepted my condition and I went there anonymously. But somehow the reason got leaked and many of my colleagues came to the show to watch me.

The function was good under my indirect presence and I enjoyed a lot watching the dances and songs by the kids. It was very surprising to find the huge number of Telugu people living in Greater Charlotte area. It was very much like India with almost everyone in traditional dresses. Though I saw many persons who would have been interested to talk to me, I avoided them to maintain my anonymity in the crowd. I wonder how many girls I had disappointed yesterday. I even couldn’t get chapathis for the dinner which I would have got easily if they know who I am.

As the event went on for a long time, I was enjoyed it very much along with Viswa singing for two songs which was appreciated by everyone. I was happy that it was all because I didn’t teach him to sing and I was proud of being non-instrumental in his achievement.But then there came the request from the organizers asking me to make a performance in the show. I expressed the fact that I can’t sing in Telugu and also they will not be able to manage the crowd if I dance. But they were unwilling to let go of me and said that I don’t even have to speak. With much thought, I agreed and I and Viswa decided to perform a small skit about the problems of Drunken Shaving.

As I told them, there was no voice for the whole skit and the crowd erupted to cheers looking at the performance. I told the organizers not to reveal my identity and I acted as a drunken guy trying to shave in front of a mirror which was replaced by my servant who broke it. The effect of the skit was such emotional that the audience started crying very early. I had to finish the skit soon to prevent the event becoming sorrowful one. And when the skit was over, there were cheers from the audience that it continued till the curtain was closed. I am not sure of the technical problem that caused the curtain to close before our show was over though.To keep my secret identity, I didn’t even get the Participation certificate.

I promised the organisers that I will be back for the next year, but they said that they don’t want to disturb me from my work anymore. So I left the show after scribbling autographs and talking to some dedicated fans who identified me from my little performance on that day. It was just the usual for a well known celebrity like me.

PS: Few parts of the above post might look like lies. But I assure you they are just fragments of my creativity and imagination.

PPS: On a whole, it was a wonderful event and I enjoyed it completely except that my Blackberry was ringing many times trying to pull me back to work.

Show and Tell - Blackberry

Fruit(Berry) that makes you work everywhere. I am not sure why they kept that name. But why not? When there is a computer named Apple why cant a internet communicator be called Blackberry. Atleast the color matches the name here. Blackberry had been one of my awed gadgets. And that was until I got one. After that its been a hook thats pulls me to work day and night. At the heart of it there is the email which keeps us connected to the outer world though restricted to the office world by our boss. Instead of thinking that a person with Blackberry CAN respond to emails anytime, they think that a person with Blackberry MUST respond all the time. The one that should help me in work is making me work. As its a business gadget, they havent given much thought of appeal. But they have done a good job in ergonomics. The keys though small are comfortable enough. Everyone will get used to it fast and the wheel on the side is easy to operate and is a very good idea.


I do like the Blackberry a lot and here are my reasons for that.


1. It is something that not everyone has. It makes people turn their head towards me.
2. I can browse the internet easily on the go. Damn! I cant play flash though :(
3. It has games too. Brick breaker is really addictive.
4. Gosh! I love to send short replies appearing as if I would lose million dollars if I delay any second.

Save me from this world!

Hundreds of movies. Thousands of slogans. Millions of reasons. But its very disheartening to see that caste system still prevails. There are still people who are stubborn to the caste systems. There are still organisations based on caste. And there are still political parties winning elections by using the caste system to their advantage. Pathetic I would say. Why is this age old system still torturing us in this boundary less connected internet world? Why does people still stick to these shameful caste systems and act biased? So many questions popup in my mind that I am afraid would take me very long time to find answers for them.

I agree that the importance given to caste system has been reduced in all these years. But it is still acting as a barrier for improvement and a basis for corruption and chaotic life. I have seen and am seeing lot of situations that proves this. Whats more disheartening is that some of the situations I have seen are more closer to me that I didnt expect. I was really disappointed when I found a major school in our hometown still has caste as a factor for recruiting the staff and even the Principal. How can you expect a school which recruits staff based on caste to provide quality and unbiased education. All the slogans like "Ondrae kulam. Oruvanae Dhevan" will stop in the boards itself. It cannot reach the students for it may not be in the teachers' mind. In my 18 years of schooling, caste had been the least topic that I had ever discussed with my class mates and friends. I was very proud of it. But when I realised that the same school that taught equality is biased to caste made me feel bad and makes me angry that I am not able to do anything for that.
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to know why it is so. But to analyse that I need to understand what is this caste system and was it necessary any time in the past.
Recalling the lessons I had learnt in History subject, I know that people were divided into four classes according tot he job they did in the olden days. the Brahmins , the priestly and learned people, the Kshatriyas , the warriors and the rulers, the Vyabaris , the mercantile classes and the Shudras , landless laborers. Though I found the paritality given based upon caste systems a wrong one to follow, I understand that the division is based only upon the jobs that the people took. Then the caste system slowly changed and it grew more divisions and more importance was given to it. After many changes, it went on to multiply to more than 20 castes with more subcastes within them. Now there are hundreds of castes in south India alone. What I dont understand is the origin of these castes which I dont find it to be based upon the type of work. I have heard lots of stories about the battles that have happened between castes.
One such fight is between the nadar and thevar communities in virudhunagar. One have to go through the streets in Virudhunagar, a town in Madurai district. You will be fascinated by the puzzle like roads that connect the streets. The houses will be closed packed though without common walls. There will be very narrow gaps which we can neither classify as roads nor as ditches. Also the doors of the houses will be made of strong wood. The most craziest thing is that there will be log oven in the top of the houses. It would be funny to think of cooking food at the top of house and take it inside to eat it. If you think "These people are crazy", you are wrong. They houses were constructed with great plans. In the older days, virudhunagar was occupied mainly by two castes, nadar and thevar community and riots between them would happen very frequently and people would be running with sickles in their hand sacking each other. And here is the crazy fact. The reason for having the narrow roads between houses is to confuse the other community be running within the narrow roads which is like a maze. If you start from a side you would mostly end back at the same position after getting confused in the path. The need for strong door is to prevent unwanted persons from breaking the house. And guess whats the use of the stove on the house tops. It was used to heat oil and pour it over the persons when they passes through the narrow roads. And there is no valid reason for these riots. I can talk on forever about the caste disputes that happened like these in the recent past. There are so much examples that will make one wonder if we are still barbarians in nature.
Another area where I have seen caste system taking its toll is love. The cine world has used this as the greatest tool for making block buster love stories. So many movies are made both with happy and tragic endings that seems that they are made for money rather than changing the society. And everyone can see the effect in real life too. After all, one out of ten persons you know would tell how caste ruined their love life. The world has grown to a level to accept different caste people living together but not love each other yet. We are still a way behind in demolishing the evil caste system. I am sad to say that if I tell my parents that I am in love with some girl, the first thought will not be how much caring or beautiful she would be but what would be her caste. Its a shameful truth. Their life has grown in that way. They are living in a world interlinked with caste in every turn they make.
It was our parents who taught us to make friends based on character and not on caste. It was our parents who taught us to treat everyone equally. It was our parents who taught us to live together with the world making us forget what caste means. But now it is the same persons who wants us to choose our partner based on caste. All our life we were told not to believe in caste, but in the later stage, caste becomes the main factor in deciding our partner. I have a hard time accepting that.
But things are not the same everywhere. People are going forward without the caste system and I believe in one or two generations we can make the caste system seen only in history books. But what I am worried is, why cant I be part of that world right now. And how much I can do in changing the world is something I am not able to answer. I feel caught behind bars in this caste centric world. Some one save me.