Psycho

Psycho

"Breaking news,Psycopath killer on rampage in the city.Toll rises to 8" read out the charming news reader blazing from a television set in a showroom on a busy street.But Kumar,who was walking past the shop, was more into the beauty and charm of the news reader than he was into the news of the killer.He considered the Psychopath killer just to be a myth created by the media for the TRP and nothing more than that.He turned deaf ears to the news being read out and set off on the street
towards his home after a hectic day at the office.

Kumar was a timid person on the inside but to the world he portrayed himself as brave enough to fight a tiger like Hercules. After hearing the news earlier on the tv, the psychopath killer occupied a small space in his mind.But his demeanor was as if he would slit the throat of that dreaded criminal if he comes right across him.

There was power cut that day and as a result the streets were completely dark, adding to that it was Amavasya(new moon day), a very inauspicious day.Humming the latest hit song,Kumar started towards his home with occasional glance at the people passing by and eavesdropping on them.Unfazed by the darkness, he strolled on a long wide lane which led to his home.Kumar was regular on this lane.It was usually a deserted street with not much human existence or movement on it, people called it "bhayanak sadak" because of the dreadful acts that used to happen on the street.


"Arrey, I have come to know that the murder of Pandeyji two nights back on this road was carried out by the Psychopath killer who is in the news these days" said a passer-by to another.The other passer-by ,with droplets of sweat all over his face, swallowing the lump of his throat replied "oh is it.lets get fast out of this sadak. I don't want to be at the receiving end of the killer. I have a wife and two small children". Kumar eavesdropped on these passers-by and that was enough to instill fear in him for the psychic killer.But still he was optimistic that there cannot be any psychic killer and it would
just be a myth.With all this thought running in his mind he came across another group of people who warned and cautioned him not to walk on this lane alone because they feared the psychic killer finds his prey in the dark,deserted places and when one is alone.These words of caution led him to have a deep uneasiness and real fright for the psychic killer and he began praying to the heavenly bodies to come to his rescue till he reached his abode.As a result of this fear his urinary bladder filled to the brim and he desperately found a urge to empty it.He saw a gutter running on the side of the road and starting peeing onto it.On the wall of a dilapidated building just beside the gutter he saw blood
stains ,it was spread as if it might have spilled when one stabs a knife to one's chest.At this time,he began shivering,his legs became numb,and assumed the psychopath killer was somewhere around hunting for his next prey.And by all chance he would be his next victim.He began to visualize tomorrow's breaking news "Kumar a resident of Gandhi chowk brutally murdered by Psychopath Killer on the bhayanak sadak".He stepped a little backwards away from the wall and stumbled upon
something and fell down.When he rose he saw a dead body fallen there with blood oozing out of his mouth.With heart beating hard and loud, and being in a state of shock ,he hurriedly got up but his legs didn't respond ,with all the force he can he got up and began running as if hell broke loose, away from the dead body with cries of "Psychopath killer, blood, murder" at the top of his voice.But as he was running he could not notice a speeding truck and eventually he was mowed down by it,and as he expected he met his death under the truck's wheels and not under the Killer's knife. As he took his last breath,he pointed his finger towards the blood stained wall and said his last words "psycho killer, murder".Even the truck driver having a fear psychosis for the killer could not go near that wall and try to examine it but went straight to the police station informing them about the incident.

A police inspector arrived at the scene early in the morning and cordoned off the area.But to his surprise there wasn't any dead body.He interrogated a tea stall owner which was set just beside the dilapidated wall on the street "Yesterday, was there a dead body here?" ,"No" replied the tea stall owner with bit unease "but yesterday I saw a man being mowed down by a speeding truck at mid night".The inspector cross questioned him and started questioning him extensively as if he was close to cracking the case,"That man was yelling that a psychopath killer has murdered and left the dead body here at this spot .Where is it?".With a smile and pity for the dead man the tea stall owner replied "Poor guy,last night i had a heavy drink and was on a high and without little control over my body i fell and lay unconscious on the road,the man stumbled upon me and mistook me for the dead body.And the stains on the wall which he mistook for blood were actually the
blood-red beetle juice which i had spit on the wall the last night.As he ran crying "Psycho killer,murder" i was awakened from the sleep but before I could realize what was happening around he was no more,unfortunately".

If he hadn't come across anything regarding the psychic killer from anyone he might have survived the tragedy he met.

As they say its all in the mind(psych).

Chokers or Format's flaw

Yet another loss in the knock-out stages of the Cricket World cup meant the chokers tag will stick to the Proteas like a "Vote For" poster stuck on an Indian wall.And this has aroused a pertinent question in me,in few others as well I believe.Is the format of the World cup fair enough?The reason i raise this question is the team which has been performing consistently well for a period of 1-2 years falter at one game and are thrown out of the world cup which otherwise were considered big time favorites to grab the world cup.

Their ouster is akin to deducing a team's capability to win the trophy by a single match,if they lose one match then they don't deserve to win the world cup,how fair is this?My fellow friends would sprang up quickly on their toes and argue that a strong/deserving team is one which wins all their matches.To that my argument would be if a team which has performed terribly at the league stage and managed to sneak into the knockout stage by hair's breadth and wins the trophy would that be acceptable? And also if that is the case then why have a league stage after all ,begin the tournament with knock out like they play Tennis.

Having knockouts would be acceptable in Tennis or any other individual sport but not in cricket(or team sports).If one of the players in the team has a horrid day on the field then that team will not fare well in the game that day and their dream of winning would be torn apart.In a game of cricket/football/hockey there is a high chance of a player not playing to his potential on a given day.Cricket has another drawback compared to its counterparts like football/hockey where in any player can be replaced anytime during the play but in cricket the rule doesn't permit.In a world cup event one wants a consistent team to win rather than a dark horse.

So instead of knockout based tournaments,it could be devised on the lines of the coveted English Premier League where teams compete against each other and at the end of the tournament the team with highest points is adjudged the champion.With this fixture we can ensure that the team with the most consistent performance wins.The EPL has been successfully run for almost a century and is not known for giving an unexpected champion whereas time and again Cricket World Cup has given us a dark horse in more than one occasion.

PS:The Invincible West-Indies of the 70's and the mighty Australians of the 90's did lose atleast one match during their unconquerable run but to their good luck they did not lose it in the world cups.

Six Suspects: A Review

Review: Six Suspects
One murder ,six suspects, all suspected for the reason that they are in possession of a weapon at the murder site - the "Number six" farmhouse of Vicky Rai,the victim.Vicky Rai,an industrialist,a film producer,a spoilt brat of rich influential father.

Vicky Rai has been acquitted in a murder case ,thanks to his influential father Jagannath Rai -home minister of Uttar Pradesh.He has murdered a bartender,Ruby Gill, at point-blank just because she refused to serve him another drink.To celebrate his acquittal Vicky Rai has organised a party at his farmhouse inviting who's-who of the Delhi's political circles and page 3 celebrities.On the eve of this party some devise a plan to finish off Vicky Rai which includes his father as well.

Among the many who have sketched to kill Vicky is Mohan Kumar,a corrupt bureaucrat and a close aide of Vicky Rai.Mohan Kumar has been taken over by the spirit of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi when he attended a seance which was meant to bring the spirit of Gandhiji but beacause of some turmoil at the venue Mohan Kumar was occupied by Mohandas Gandhi.At one moment he would show the traits of true Gandhian like abstaining from alcohol but the very next moment he would turn into his usual self.The psychology termed his behaviour as DID-Dual Identity Disorder or split personality.The Gandhian in him decided to kill Vicky rai as the victim of Vicky's gun ,Ruby Gill,was a student of Gandhian philosophy.

The other person who wanted get rid of Vicky was his own father Jagannath Rai as Vicky was a hurdle for him in becoming the chief minister.Jagannath Rai's political career was in shambles thanks to acquittal of Vicky which was grabbing nation wide protests and the legislators or the party high command wouldn't like to be on the bad books of people by supporting the candidature of Vicky's father Jagannath Rai for chief ministership.

Munna mobile,a petty thief in Meharauli,is in love with Ritu Rai,sister of vicky, but the father-son duo are not happy with the alliance of Munna and Ritu but Ritu is adamant on her love for Munna.The adamancy draws ire from her brother and he beats
her up mercilessly leaving wound marks on her face seeing which Munna develops hatred for Vicky.Munna gets to know from his mother that Vicky had killed his father in
a BMW hit and run case which flares his anger for vicky even more and decides to take revenge for his father's death as well as Vicky's assault on his love interest Ritu.

The other suspects, a tribal called Eketi from Andaman is at the party venue to get a shivaling,which is the remedy for all the malaise happening back in his island, back to his island which is in possession of Vicky.

Shabnam Saxena,heartthrob of millions of youth is at the party to seek help of Vicky and the last suspect Larry page,an impostor,under the name of Rick Meyers as a hollywood producer is at the party with a gun provided to him by a CIA operative.

The book narrates how each of the six suspect end up at the party venue,their motives and finally digging the truth.The plot does not loose its sheen throughout and urges the reader to turn page after page.It is gripping till the end in a quest to reveal who the killer is.The author brilliantly puts all the current events happening around into a book like the Jessica Lal murder case,BMW hit and run case, terrorism, underworld and politics nexus,hunting of endangered species etc.

The characters of shabnam saxena and larry page could have been done away with as they are mere suspects but they dont have any motive to kill Vicky Rai.

My experience with ATM

John Shepherd-Barron's invention was meant to make life more simpler,has he fulfilled it?The answer is both yes and no.For people wondering Shepherd-Barron, who? he is the inventor of the machine which has plagued our daily lives, more commonly known as ATM or Automated Teller Machine.

Discussion of the shortcomings and advantages of ATM is akin to discussing technology which gets dragged to great lengths.I am here to share my personal experience of ATM.

Eons ago when there was no ATM, people thronged the banks frequently and stood in long queues for hours to get their money.But ATM has relieved them of this abysmal trouble to some extent.At least for me it has brought both ecstasy and agony,the former because it provided me the money,when I desperately needed it at any time of the day, like a very thirsty crow finding a water body to quench its thirst and the latter part because the ATM gets my goat big time as I cannot locate any ATM or even if I do it would have gone bust with a paper stuck to its glass door reading "This ATM is temporarily out of order.Sorry for the inconvenience caused" which is like thumbing its nose at me in an act of derision.The ATM has always dented a hole in my wallet and made it money-less because of the fact that I know even if my wallet doesn't have any money I can locate an ATM anywhere around and get the money but many a times this fact of mine has boomeranged on me and how.

The other day it so happened that I did not have any money to head back home from my office and there was no ATM near-by.Even i could not call any friends around because they had already left for home.And did not have the courage to take an auto-rickshaw and ask him to take me to the nearest ATM because of the fact that if that should the ATM not work, I could not pay the auto-rickshaw guy which would result in facing his wrath and get some earful from him because of the ugly expletives they are known for, which would be the last thing in this world I would like to have.I decided to take a walk towards the ATM which was about 2-3 kms away,I knew it was going to be a long walk.I took the service road or the side road,it was deserted with some huts on the road side,the sun was descending and it was getting darker.And I was walking in that road with heart in my mouth as I had heard stories about people being looted while on their bikes/cars in broad daylight but here I was on my own walking in the dusk ,where I would be feast for those hoodlums any day.I had no other choice.Grabbing all the guts from within I walked and safely reached the ATM and to my joy it was working fine and so did my card and withdrew some money and headed to the bus-stop as a very relieved and a happy man.
From that moment onwards I decided to never take the ATM for granted and have some money in pocket always and before it gets over head to ATM and help myself.

Cyclo Mania :)

I had a great adventurous experience of bicycling from mysore to srirangapatna and back, on a chilly night and on a highway bustling with heavy traffic,with two of my friends(Ratnakar Kulkarni and Nadig Vishwas H S),a first of its kind for me.After this stint I was in awe of cycling.

Cycling was something which I had a longing for ever since I moved to Bangalore, basically to commute to the office.The unpleasant traffic of bangalore added to my interest.Instead of spending hours at various traffic junctions spread across the city a cycle would be the best alternative and viable option to counter them.Not that being a cyclist you can jump the signals,
although a cyclist is not entitled to obey the traffic rules but still a cyclist has to keep in mind not to create nuisance to other vehicles plying on the road,he can maneuver himself in the narrow roads or in the sidewalks too.

Not only does it help to reach your destination quickly it also serves a dual purpose of keeping you healthy,fit and refreshing and saves you the time of working out in the gym after your day at the office.So with due deliberations with myself for over a year or so, whether buying a bicycle would be feasible given the woeful traffic condition in bangalore which I was told is not at all
bicycle friendly, I decided to own one.I needed a geared bicycle to help me travel longer and I bought the same.

Bicycling in bengaluru has been quite a decent experience so far ,although I take my bicycle only to ply to office.Other than the dust, which comes out from the construction sites beside the road and on the road as well in the form of fly over,road widening ,cycling on bangalore roads is quite manageable.Even the summer's scorching sun cannot faze me from cycling.

My paramount desire is to repeat the old feat of long-distance cycling,but this time around to commute from Bangalore to Mysore and back a la Tour de France.

Happy Cycling :)

A new epidemic called Social Networking....

The latest buzz in the internet is Social networking.This has caught everyone like crazy.If u have a name then u ought to have an account in one of the social networking sites be it Orkut ,Facebook,Twitter etc or else u will be categorized as primitive,backward.These have shrunk the world much more than what television,telephone etc had done a couple of decades back.This has a huge role in making the world a "Global Village".

Many of these sites have gone much further than just connecting people,it allows u to share photos ,videos for everyone in the network to watch it.These have been a platform for many to share their thoughts,express their ideas,promote their business/event/initiative and by large they have been successful.And moreover have helped in rejoining old mates.One important thing these networks have done is to bridge the divide between celebrities and the common man.There were days when celebrities would be far beyond the common man's reach but now things have changed and now one's favored celebrity is just a tweet or scrap or post on the wall away.The sites have fan following in common man and celebrities alike.From Barrack Obama to Narendra Modi, from Brad Pitt to Priyanka Chopra and who's who of wide range of sectors have been fantasized to these networks.These has helped celebrities to reach out to the people especially the youth and express themselves more openly than before.And the joy of just being connected to celebrities via these for some knows no bounds.

The popularity of these are evident by the fact that there will soon be a movie made on the invention of Facebook and its inventor,"The Social Network".So people watch out.

As u like it..........

It was Friday.And we are grateful to have got Fridays as one of the days of the week(for obvious reasons).As usual I along with my friends headed for the nearest mall.That day,being Friday,was as usual crowded with people who had come to relax and do some chick hunting(only for boys[:)]) after a gruesome week long work.I was lured to do the same for half an hour and as we were smitten by the window shopping bug we got into it.After that we thought of buying something for ourselves and We headed to one of the most visited shoppe in the mall.But I did not find anything interesting there so felt window shopping was better than this.

I started doing Window shopping again looking at the outfits of "The brands" through the crystal clear glasses and just turning my eyes now and then,here and there looking at the chicks passing by with their boy friends, envying me by the scenes and making my wish to have one stronger.Later,as I was passing by a shoe shop, got attracted by a pair of shoes.The attraction was so immense that my legs got dragged into the shop by my eagerness to have one, though my heart was pleading to stay back and watch the chicks.So with a heavy heart i entered the shop and straight away started trying out some shoes.As i was deeply involved in trying out the shoes suddenly my eyes by itself turned to the entrance without any signals from my brain.From the entrance,entered a girl with incomparable beauty.I saw 360 degrees around her and confirmed that she was not with her boyfriend and I felt this is the time to really get started and woo her.She stared at me for a moment and suddenly turned her eyes away.I also shied away from her.All my mind was filled with her image,the way she entered the hall ,her stare at me etc .I purposely moved to the place where she was standing,so that I could get a chance to impress her.As i was thinking of the way to impress her and win her heart , i heard someone saying a sweet, melodious "hello,excuse me" behind me and as every normal human being would do, i turned back to see from where this voice originated .It was THE girl who had mesmerized me just a few minutes back.She now looked beautiful than earlier.I was very thrilled by the fact that the girl who had occupied me in my thoughts and whom I wanted to approach had herself come to me and talking.She gave a sweet smile,sweet enough to make my mind run full with imaginations about her.Now my mind was running faster than Schumi's Ferrari,I imagined myself sitting in a Coffee Day with her sipping hot coffee in a rusty winter, in a park sitting on a bench with me looking into her eyes and she into mine,the eyes doing all the talking,going for long ride with her arms tight around my belly ,inside a theatre having popcorns et al.These imagination were cut short,thanks to the same girl.She asked my name and i asked hers and I contemplated that I was heading in the right direction.She did not seem to be more comfortable with me than I was even though she was the one who approached me.She moved her hand towards the rack and took out a shoe and tried it on her slender feet and asked how that looked on her feet,I just said they looked very good (with a lot of exaggeration),although they were not that good,I did not want her to feel bad as I was enjoying each and every moment with her(however short the moment may be) but not asking myself for this unnecessary "build-up"(thats what i thought......) she is giving to me.She tried some 4 - 5 shoes and finally chose down to one ,I looked at the price and it was quite high .She was asking me every time about "how it looked on her?" and everytime i said that those are too nice on her. I wanted to ask her mobile number,take her to coffee,ask her house address and what not but before all this would have been a reality i was in for a shocker.She moved her hand into the purse and gave me the money and and said in her usual sweet,melodious voice(but this time it did not seem melodious to me[:(] ) "Pack the shoes and keep the change".For a moment I was blank @#&%$#$#$#$. I was taken aback by those words,i was dealt a heavy blow by those words.Suddenly my mind started pondering
"Whom did she think I was?","Did she not think,the way I thought of her?" ,a soon to be friend and finally "Did she think me as the sales guy?".As I was engrossed in these questions I could not pay attention to her and she again repeated those words.

Now,I could not have stood to have an eye to eye with her.And finally,very far from her sight, so that neither could she see my face nor could I,I ran,ran and kept running away from her,far away from her.