what women want

No, no, no ... I don't have the answer either, I am trying to figure that out myself. There's also an interesting movie by that name, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. It was a great movie with lots of humor as well as emotional content. Mel-G gets supernatural powers of reading women's mind and what he thinks is a gift of God eventually turns out to be a nightmare. Do watch the movie when you get a chance to.

Anyways, the thing that prompted me to write this post was a mail from a friend of mine. Its an interesting and educational anecdote, so do ponder over it. Here I go:

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, If after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death. The question was: What do women really want?

Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, And to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, He accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: The princess, the priests, the wise men, and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer. Many people advised him to consult the old witch, For only she would have the answer. But the price would be high as the witch was famous through out the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.
The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, The most noble of the Knights of the Round Table, And Arthur's closest friend! Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunch-backed and hideous, had only one tooth, Smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc.
He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life. He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden. But Lancelot, having learnt of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life. And the reservation of the Round Table. Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered. Arthur's question thus: "What a woman really wants?"
She said, "Is to be in charge of her own life."
Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth.
And that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it was.

The neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom.And Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding. The honeymoon hour approached and, Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him.

The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened.The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, She would henceforth be her horrible and deformed self only half the time. And the beautiful maiden the other half.
"Which would you prefer? She asked him.
"Beautiful during the day .... or at night?"
Lancelot pondered the predicament.
During the day he could have a beautiful woman to show off to his friends,
But at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch!
Or, Would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day?
But by night a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous, intimate moments with?

(If you are a man reading this...) What would YOUR choice be?
(If you are a woman reading this) What would YOUR MAN'S choice be?
What Lancelot chose, is given below:
But.. make YOUR choice before you read further.

Noble Lancelot, knowing the answer the witch gave Arthur to his question. He said that he would allow her make the choice herself.Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time. Because, he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

I am not sure if there are any moral lessons to be learnt from this. But if there are, do share it with me in your comments.

Happy Holi ....... fun-filled friday

The festivities have begun and I see joy and cheer all around me. But sadly enough, I am typing this while seated in my office cubicle.

Anyways, today is a festive friday and not just because its 'Holi' day. Coincidentally, we are celebrating 4 festivals today. Apart from Holi, today is the new year day 'Navroz' celebrations for Parsis and Iranians, it's Good Friday for Christians and its Eid-e-Milad-un-Nibah for Muslims.

This is a great occasion for celebrating 'unity in diversity' and a fantastic example of a secular society. Though I can go on and on about our great confluence of cultures, I shall refrain from doing so today. Maybe in some other future post of mine I shall elaborate on this and speak about our secular credentials.

Lets just enjoy the day, enrich our weekend and revel in our cultural bindings. Hope I can escape early from office and spend the rest of the day with family, and indulge in gluttony ..... bring on the pakodas and sharbats [read bhaang]

rang barse bheege chunarwali rang barse ........................ holi hai

It's better to ...

I found a small write-up while cleaning my room, which I had prepared nearly 6 years ago. Its not out-dated though, and when you read it you will know why. So, here I go:

• It's better to have imagination than knowledge ~ Albert Einstein
• It's better to do small things well than to spend time dreaming big things that are never tried.
• It's better to have an open enemy than a doubtful ally ~ Napolean
• It's better to conquer one desire than to satisfy thousand desires ~ Buddha
• It's better to light a candle than to curse darkness ~ Welthy Fisher
• It's better to lose a game than play foul.
• It's better to let ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer ~ William Blackstone
• It's better to have an honourable rose on my table than a stolen necklace of diamonds.
• It's better to have one friend of great value than many friends who are good for nothing ~ Anarcharsis
• It's better to think without learning than to learn without thinking.
• It's better to earn a penny honestly than earn thousand pounds by fraud.

I have not given due credit to some of the quotations, reason being that I don't know who wrote them. In case you know it then do message me about it or you may put it as a comment.

The kangaroos have been tamed, at last ...

Though we don't find kangaroos in India, we have finally learnt how to tame them. There were no coaching manuals, no 'dummies guide' and definitely no study material on this; but the sheer mental strength, tenacity to claw out of tough situations, a whole lot of hard work and a little bit of luck has finally helped us achieve this feat. The land of snake charmers has finally produced kangaroo hunters.

If you still did not get what I am driving at, then do read my last post. I had ended that post on a positive note and my last few words were 'Go India, Go.....Jeetenge Hum'. I had an intuition that we would beat the Aussies in the 2nd finals and bring home the cup. But the manner in which it was done was emphatic. It was a tale that could not have been scripted better. It had drama, emotions, humour, character and a fantastic climax.

This was a retribution of sorts. And the credit of this series victory does not go to any particular player, it was a team work. All the guys played their part well. Sachin fired in both the finals and helped India put-up great opening partnership as well as steered the innings, Gambhir had played well in the first few matches, Yuvi did his bit, Sreesanth and Pathan bowled superbly, while Pravin and Ishant were a revelation. But best of all was Harbhajan's performance, he did so well under pressure. After all the flak he drew and all abuses that were hurled at him, he showed everyone what he is made of......steel. And I don't have enough words of praise for our captain 'courageous'. His captaincy was outstanding and the way he kept the team together was really laudable. This is a famous win and we shall be talking about this for many years to come.

Now that we have beaten the world champions, we have to bring consistency in our games. We need to win consistently and beat all the other teams as well. We need to win in style and get the juggernaut rolling. Getting to the top is not as difficult as staying on top is, and we have to stay there for a while......hopefully, a long while.

frenzied friday followed by super sunday

The Friday that just went by, was literally a fry-day. I was not exhausted due to extensive work, but I was tired of the farewells and send-offs. I was bidding adieu, wishing good luck and hoping the best for all the people who were celebrating their last day at office. I think they were kind of relieved that their journey was coming to a temporary halt.

Let me just list down the events of that day:

• a junior colleague quit and was joining our competitor, so he was having a farwell party
• a project manager was going on a maternity leave, so we had a baby-shower
• a lesser known colleague was travelling onsite [to US] for a project assignment, so he was partying to celebrate this
• a friend quit the job because she was marrying to settle down in another city
• two colleagues were taking a year's break from work, a sabbatical; so, they were celebrating the fact that they would soon be joining her hubby
• a colleague was celebrating the fact that she finally convinced her managers to transfer her to an office that was close to her home-town

Thankfully, the last the 3 listed events were clubbed together. That reduced the pressure of taking time off and meeting them in exclusivity.

So, after the fry-day I had a pretty laid back Saturday. I just relaxed, watched tv and ran a few errands. Then came the super sunday. It did not start off as a super sunday that it finally turned out to be. The day began like any other day; slow, lazy and dim. What made it super were the sporting events of the day.

Firstly, there was the 1st of the 3 finals against our new found cricketing rivals....Australia. Secondly, the Under-19 cricket team was playing the finals of the World Cup tournament against Sout Africa. Both the matches were important, but the former one was more prestigious and more bitterly fought. So, I was naturally interested in that.

I am glad that India won both the encounters. Sachin Tendulkar hit a blistering century and made my day; he took India safely home and we won by 6 wickets and 4 overs to spare. Harbhajan added insult to injury by claiming the wickets of Symonds and Hayden; that was a befitting reply to their off-field antics and misplaced arrogance. It was great to see India deliver the first punch by winning the first of the three finals, thereby drawing first blood. Now, they just need to keep the momentum going and knock them off their feet, in their backyard. That would be really awesome......

Well, now that the Indian team had exorcised the demons of Sydney, it was time for the young guns to deliver. So, I switched my focus to the U-19 World Cup Final. Indians were bowled out for 159, and they set SA a paltry target of 160. I was pretty sure that we would go down fighting although there was a ray of hope when SA were 17 for the loss of 3 wickets. But then came a divine intervention; rain stopped play and the targets were revised. SA were required to hit 99 runs of 96 balls, and India was back into the game. The boys made no mistake hereafter; the team was ably lead by Virat Kohli who made some good bowling changes and field placings. Eventually, they stole the game from right under SA's nose. And we won the U-19 WC, it was a great moment.


The celebrations had not stopped yet, and there was more reason to kick the dust in the festivities and join the party as the Indian hockey team beat Australia 7-3 in the World Hockey Olympic qualifying tournament. Althought this event took place on a Monday, I would like to count it as a Sunday event because, somewhere deep in the heart of the players, the cricketing win might have given them that extra bit of enthusiasm and self-belief.

Now that the weekend is over, party has ended and the noise has died down, I am preparing for a hectic week ahead. Although I will be busy at work, my mind will be on the 2nd of the 3 finals to be played in Brisbane on Tuesday. All I can say is Go India, Go.......... Jeetenge Hum.