This is the continuation of my Indian Superheroes post. Here's the rest of my list of Indian Superheroes:
7. Inspector Steel - Unfortunately there is no wikipedia page on Inspector Steel, which is sad indeed. People should respect the Indian Robocop! He weighs approximately 450KGs and as far as I know isn't half-human half-cop who can change his mind according to his emotions. I haven't really read Inspector Steel comics, but what I can say is that "the only part of him that is human, is his brain, which is wired to the rest of his body" sounds like some kickass stuff to me. At least he has better weapons than Robocop (not just a stupid revolver).
8. Anthony - In a world where the dead are the bad guys and crows are terrifying, comes this guy who shows that it's just the mindset of people that terms these things "bad". Hats off to you, Raj Comics. How original a concept is making a dead man a superhero and his pet crow as the one who brings him back to life? And you thought a dead man with a pet crow was out to kill innocent people, eh? Think again. I can't stop praising the brilliance of this concept. It breaks all boundaries. An undead man who fights crime and cannot be killed. How superheroic/superhuman is that? Forget the Ghost Rider, Anthony is The Man (With the crow)!! Go Anthony go!! :-D
P.S. Anthony wears his underwear INSIDE his costume! :-P
9. Bhokal - In Indian culture, a teacher is considered equivalent to God. Bhokal shows that very respect. You may say that Bhokal is very similar to He-Man. Like He-Man, he is a prince and wields a sword that can cut through almost everything and also gains his superhero strength by reciting "magical words". The difference between Bhokal and He-Man is that Bhokal can fly, but only using shield (and not like Superman). The best thing about Bhokal is that he doesn't get his superpowers by taking the name of some stupid castle. Instead, he utters the name of his Guru (Teacher). Sets a good example to the kids, doesn't it? That's what Indian culture is all about, after all. Another thing about Bhokal is that he doesn't have a silly wimp of a tiger who turns into a roaring lion like stead, whenever he points a sword at him and screams, "I have the power!!". How immature would that be? :|
10. Shakti - Though there is a wikipedia page for Shakti, I found more info about her from the Raj Comics site. So, I have put that as the link for more info. Anyway, I don't know if there is a Western counterpart for Shakti. She's supposed to be the reincarnation of a Goddess. She possesses the "fire of anger of all the women in the world". She has a third eye that can release infernos to kill people. She can travel at the speed of light. She can melt all metals and use her mind power to mould them into whatever she wants. PHEW! I really wonder how anyone beats her at all, though I think they never do. After all, who can beat God(dess)?
11. Fighter Toads - Step aside Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Fighter Toads are in the house. Masterr is like Donatello, using a pole (stick) to fight enemies. Cutterr is like Leonardo, using a sword to fight enemies. Raphael and Michaelangelo aren't there. Instead we have Shooterr who shoots arrows with cup-shaped or duck-feet-shaped arrowheads and Computerr, who is always hooked to a PC. Just like the TMNT, they live in the gutters and hide themselves from humans. As a matter of fact you can say they are VERY similar to the TMNT, the only difference being that their fights are funnier than those of the TMNT.
12. Chacha Chaudhary - As promised, the best has been saved for the last. Chacha Chaudhary is the most unique and most loved Indian superhero of them all. He is so unique that I don't think there are or ever will be any Western counterparts for him. With a "brain that works faster than a computer" and a super human alien friend with him all the time, he has to be one of the most physically weakest yet best superheroes of India. I don't know of one person who has read a Chacha Chaudhury comic and disliked it. It' just amazing.Chacha Chaudhury hardly uses force to defeat villains. Instead he uses the power of the mind instead of muscles. This is another good lesson for kids. The best part about Chacha Chaudhary is that he is shown as an old middle-aged man with a wife and no kids and living in a small town. He doesn't need to wear any stupid costumes or have elaborate adventures. He has shown that anyone can be a superhero if they want to. All that is needed is the ability to think logically and come up with solutions fast. I guess I can go on and on about Chacha Chaudhary, but that would take up a full post. So, I'll leave this description here.
I hope all of you enjoyed the Indian Superheroes post. My personal favorite would be Chacha Chaudhary. I would recommend everyone read it at least one. There are too many comic characters that I haven't mentioned here. This si because I wanted to mention only the most common ones.Check out the next post, it may be a bit interesting too.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
A Crazy Dream
6:18 AM me: Holy shit
That was what my GTalk window said on March 10th, 2008. The person I was talking to was Veg (Vaijayanti Varma. Check her blog here.) Her reply was "wt?" She was shocked that I was still awake. I wouldn't blame her. Who stays awake till 6am anyway? Anyway, I told her that I had dozed off with my earfones on (as usual) and had just woken up from a crazy dream. I noticed that it was Rammstein - Benzin playing on my playlist. I told her so and all she could do was laugh away. She asked me to blog my dream. So, I realized it's a nice idea and told her I'll do it later on. Thus, this post. I know not many people are really interested in others' dreams. But hell, who cares, eh? I'm just putting it down for the sake of it. My dream was as follows:
I'm at home and I have my earfones on and there's Rammstein's Benzin playing at max volume on my MP3 player. I was chatting with Veg, but I'm too tired, so I just switch off my PC without saying goodbye. Then I head off to the kitchen and I get a pot just like I do at home to heat some milk to have before going to sleep. But in this dream, for some reason, I fill it up with a deep red liquid, more like oil. Then I walk towards the stove with the pot in hand, happily listening to my music. My phone starts vibrating in my pocket. I know someone's calling me but I can't pick up the phone because I the pot in my hands. I look at the liquid in the pot and then the line "Ich brauch Benzin" plays in the song. Literally it means, "I need petroleum". Then I realize that the liquid in the pot is some form of gasoline (I know gasoline is black but this is a dream, remember?). Then suddenly my mom rushes to me and takes the pot from my hand and asks me to take the call. I quickly take my phone out and see that it's actually 4 messages. Surprisingly, 3 are from a college friend of mine, Vaskar, which is odd because I never gave him my number. The 4th message is from Veg. So, I check Veg's message first. It says "Join some room right now." I guess that I hadn't said bye to her so maybe she there was something she wanted to tell me and wanted me to come to some chatroom (another odd thing as we never been to a chatroom). Anyway, so I immediately head off to get online, but instead I end up at the roof of my 5-floor apartment building. Then, somehow I'm looking at myself from third person view and I see myself look around totally zapped and confused and then all of a sudden, there's an explosion in the top 3 floors of the building and all the glass windows are shattered. I realize that my home is on the 3rd floor and I'm shocked to see just a few wall cabinets remaining there. All this time the Rammstein song is playing in the background.
At this very moment, I woke up and looked around me and heard the song still playing on my earfones. For a moment, I was stunned. Then I looked at my PC and there was the GTalk window with Veg and I came to my senses and put my fingers on the keyboard and typed out the words: "holy shit" on that window and pressed Enter. It reminded me of the time when one of my friends was high on weed and he came to my room and I was listening to Rammstein. He asked me to stop it after a few seconds. Said he was starting to "see scary shit like monsters and stuff". I guess Rammstein really is scarier than it sounds :-D But, all in all, I guess this will be one dream I will always remember.
Moral of the story: Do not listen to Rammstein when you're not in your senses ;-)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Indian Superheroes 1
The credit for the idea behind this post goes to my good friend, Vineet Roy. Check out his blog here. Anyway, his latest post talked about how pathetic Smallville (TV Series) is. I have never really seen it, but after reading his post and the wikipedia page on Smallville, I don't think I even want to. I thought to myself how over-hyped these Marvel Comics heroes and DC Comics heroes are. Then I looked at the comics available in my country. When I was a kid, my parents didn't allow my mind to be "polluted" by "these silly unrealistic comic books". The only one I was allowed to read was one called Chacha Chaudhury. My parents, especially my father, encouraged me to read books and not comics. I respect him for that and thank him from the bottom of my heart for that. You're the best, Dad :-) Anyway, as I was saying, I checked out the superhero comics available in India. What I found was AMAZING, to say the least. Most of these comics are printed in Hindi, which (in case you didn't know) is India's most widely spoken language. So, I came across the masterminds behind these Indian superheroes, a company called Raj Comics. As I read more and more about their different superheroes, I realized how much better some of them are than their Western counterparts. I realized I HAD to share this wonderful world of Indian comic book heroes with all of you and thus this post. I must admit, of course, that I had gone through these comics MUUUUUUUUCH before this post. I had my first "experience" when I was in college and some guy brought a few of these comics on his way back from home. I still remember how much demand there was for those 2-3 books worth INR 60. It was amazing. The other reason why I am writing this post is because I was discussing about Indian comics with Vineet and he suggested that there should be a post on them in one of our blogs, and then said that he wanted me to do it instead. Thanks Vineet for letting me have the honour :-) Now, I give you some of the most important Indian superheroes, followed by a comparison with their Western counterparts. I haven't described them as that would take up a lot of space and time. Instead, I've put wikipedia links on their names. All you need to do is click the name and you can read the "Plot Summary" on wikipedia to know more about them :-)
1. Nagraj (Snake King) - Nagraj is very similar to Superman. He has the timid alter ego who can't be recognised just because he has a different hairstyle, wears a suit and glasses. He comes from a royal family while Superman was the son of an alien scientist. He even wears his underwear on the outside of his pants! BUT Nagraj is muuuuch different from Superman. Firstly, he doesn't wear a cape and fly (and "Thank God!" for that). The secret of his power isn't the fact that he's from another planet (Seriously, bullets would NEVER bounce off your chest even if you're on Jupiter :| ). Instead, the secret of his power is microscopic snakes in his blood instead of White Blood Cells (WBC) (Did I hear you say "Antibodies" and genetic engineering?) The only thing that weakens him is Serum (Anti-venom) and not a piece of his home planet. (Imagine a piece of Earth that could not only weaken you, but also kill you if encountered on another planet. Note to astronauts: Wipe your boots clean before you leave Earth.) The interesting part about Nagraj is that he wasn't always the nice guy, like Superman. He was initially a contract terrorist, before he was enlightened by a sage, so he knows what exactly a criminal mind is like. In addition to this, he is the real immortal. He is considered ageless. So, though Superman may eventually die someday and be replaced by his son (as shown in the movie, Superman Returns), Nagraj will never die and so will never need to be replaced. (He can choose to have sons nonetheless ;-) ) The best part of Nagraj, I save for the last. Nagraj can go INVISIBLE!!! (Beat that, Superman!) Though he can do it for only 3 seconds by breaking his body into atomic particles (using his microscopic snakes), but still, INVISIBILITY baby! Woohoo!
2. Super Commando Dhruva - Ok, so I couldn't really find a Western counterpart for Super Commando Dhruv. The nearest I could get to get to was Beastmaster, a TV character who could communicate with animals telepathically and see what they saw. I'm sure there is a superhero who is like Dhruva. I just need to search a little more. So, all I'm going to do is praise Dhruva here, without comparing with any other superhero. Dhruva is a simple guy. He is probably the most realistic of all Indian superheroes. The only superpower he has is that he can communicate with animals, and even that has a valid reason. He was born and brought up in a circus. This also explains his agility. Dhruva's greatest power is his quick thinking. He is known to use everyday objects around him to outsmart and capture the villains. The only hi-fi gadgets that he uses are his Star Line, Star Blades and Star Transmitter, which aren't that great if you look at them. Like all superheroes, he wears his underwear on the outside. Dhruva has no special weaknesses, he is a normal human being who bleeds when cut and feels pain when punched. The best part of Dhruva is that he NEVER kills the villains, unlike most superheroes. He always captures them and hands them over to the police. (Name ONE Western superhero who doesn't take law into his/her own hands) Thus, he is actually GOOD for kids. He teaches them that anyone can be a superhero and that eventually it's the police who should decide how to punish a villain. I don't remember seeing a single Western superhero who does this EVERY SINGLE TIME!
3. Doga -Doga is the most ruthless superhero ever produced by Raj Comics. He is literally kickass! The only Western superhero I found to be like Doga was The Punisher. Just like The Punisher, Doga became a superhero because his family was killed by goons. The other similarity is that both of them ABSOLUTELY HATE crime, no matter how small it is. Their punishment is usually the same, instant death sentence. Also, both of them use heavy arsenal to fight crime. How is Doga different from The Punisher then? Well, for starters, Doga doesn't have a lawmaker background. Doga is better physically as he is a body builder and martial arts expert. Unlike The Punisher, he wears a costume (Yes, the underwear is on the outside) and a dog mask. This makes sense actually. If I knew the face of the guy who kills ruthlessly, won't I either lock him up (if I was the police) or get him killed (if I was a villain)? So, The Punisher roaming around with no mask to hide his identity is basically a stupid idea. Then, there's Doga's superpower. He can communicate with dogs, which is a pretty reasonable idea as the popular Hindi saying, "har gully ka kutta" ("dogs of every lane") itself shows how big India's dog population is and how they bear witness to every crime committed. I would say the best part of Doga is his ruthlessness. He takes the whole superhero persona to the extreme, where the good guy is literally the bad guy's worst nightmare (But nowhere connected to Mr. Freddy Krueger though). As wikipedia claims, he is slowly becoming the most loved Indian superhero (Violence sells in India too :-D )
4. Tiranga(Tri-color) - And here is India's reply to Captain America. Tiranga wears a costume which is a tri-color (Indian flag). His cape is the Indian flag. He is VERY patriotic and punishes whoever insults the country in any way. How does he differ from Captain America? Well, for starters, he doesn't have ANY superpowers (He definitely cannot fly. The cape is there so that when he stand on top of a building, his fluttering cape looks like a fluttering Indian flag. Innovative, eh? :-D ). He wears a bi-colored mask and not a stupid mask with wings on it. The best part about him is that unlike other superheroes, he doesn't wear the typical underwear on the outside. Instead, he wears a traditional Indian underwear called a langot over his costume (Talk about patriotism to the core :-P )
5. Bheriya(Wolf-man) - Though many people would like to compare Bheriya to The Astounding Wolf-man, the only similarity between them is that they are wolf-based superheroes. While Wolf-man is a werewolf, Bheriya is from a tribe of wolves who could walk upright and wear a pair of trousers and have a wonderful hairstyle. He only protects his forest and it's residents. The best thing about Bheriya is that unlike all other superheroes, he doesn't he have an alter ego. Instead, he has a completely different entity known as Kobi, who is a much more violent version with Superpowers.
6. Parmanu(Atom) - As the name suggest, Parmanu can very easily be connected with Atom. Both of them wear similar costumes and have similar powers. They use the power of atoms to fight villains. While they are VERY similar, there are differences nonetheless. The first one I would say is that Parmanu is VERY realistic, compared to Atom. He uses the power of the atom to fight villains. His most famous weapon is the atomic blast. All this seems very believable to me, at last. What I don't understand is how a man can shrink himself and others "using atomic power", like Atom does. That is something Parmanu neither attempts to nor needs to do. The best thing about Parmanu is that he flies, and that too without a cape! Now, that's harnessing atomic power right there. He also keeps an eye on the whole city not by just flying over it, but by placing cameras all over the city and connecting them to a robot who tells him every time a crime is committed somewhere. (Talk about technology! How's that for common sense?)
I've realized that this post has become too long and I'm just halfway through. Besides, it's 2:45am here and I need to get some sleep. So, I'm dividing this post into two parts and will continue the second part of this post later. Keep looking forward to it. The best is yet to come ;-)
1. Nagraj (Snake King) - Nagraj is very similar to Superman. He has the timid alter ego who can't be recognised just because he has a different hairstyle, wears a suit and glasses. He comes from a royal family while Superman was the son of an alien scientist. He even wears his underwear on the outside of his pants! BUT Nagraj is muuuuch different from Superman. Firstly, he doesn't wear a cape and fly (and "Thank God!" for that). The secret of his power isn't the fact that he's from another planet (Seriously, bullets would NEVER bounce off your chest even if you're on Jupiter :| ). Instead, the secret of his power is microscopic snakes in his blood instead of White Blood Cells (WBC) (Did I hear you say "Antibodies" and genetic engineering?) The only thing that weakens him is Serum (Anti-venom) and not a piece of his home planet. (Imagine a piece of Earth that could not only weaken you, but also kill you if encountered on another planet. Note to astronauts: Wipe your boots clean before you leave Earth.) The interesting part about Nagraj is that he wasn't always the nice guy, like Superman. He was initially a contract terrorist, before he was enlightened by a sage, so he knows what exactly a criminal mind is like. In addition to this, he is the real immortal. He is considered ageless. So, though Superman may eventually die someday and be replaced by his son (as shown in the movie, Superman Returns), Nagraj will never die and so will never need to be replaced. (He can choose to have sons nonetheless ;-) ) The best part of Nagraj, I save for the last. Nagraj can go INVISIBLE!!! (Beat that, Superman!) Though he can do it for only 3 seconds by breaking his body into atomic particles (using his microscopic snakes), but still, INVISIBILITY baby! Woohoo!
2. Super Commando Dhruva - Ok, so I couldn't really find a Western counterpart for Super Commando Dhruv. The nearest I could get to get to was Beastmaster, a TV character who could communicate with animals telepathically and see what they saw. I'm sure there is a superhero who is like Dhruva. I just need to search a little more. So, all I'm going to do is praise Dhruva here, without comparing with any other superhero. Dhruva is a simple guy. He is probably the most realistic of all Indian superheroes. The only superpower he has is that he can communicate with animals, and even that has a valid reason. He was born and brought up in a circus. This also explains his agility. Dhruva's greatest power is his quick thinking. He is known to use everyday objects around him to outsmart and capture the villains. The only hi-fi gadgets that he uses are his Star Line, Star Blades and Star Transmitter, which aren't that great if you look at them. Like all superheroes, he wears his underwear on the outside. Dhruva has no special weaknesses, he is a normal human being who bleeds when cut and feels pain when punched. The best part of Dhruva is that he NEVER kills the villains, unlike most superheroes. He always captures them and hands them over to the police. (Name ONE Western superhero who doesn't take law into his/her own hands) Thus, he is actually GOOD for kids. He teaches them that anyone can be a superhero and that eventually it's the police who should decide how to punish a villain. I don't remember seeing a single Western superhero who does this EVERY SINGLE TIME!
3. Doga -Doga is the most ruthless superhero ever produced by Raj Comics. He is literally kickass! The only Western superhero I found to be like Doga was The Punisher. Just like The Punisher, Doga became a superhero because his family was killed by goons. The other similarity is that both of them ABSOLUTELY HATE crime, no matter how small it is. Their punishment is usually the same, instant death sentence. Also, both of them use heavy arsenal to fight crime. How is Doga different from The Punisher then? Well, for starters, Doga doesn't have a lawmaker background. Doga is better physically as he is a body builder and martial arts expert. Unlike The Punisher, he wears a costume (Yes, the underwear is on the outside) and a dog mask. This makes sense actually. If I knew the face of the guy who kills ruthlessly, won't I either lock him up (if I was the police) or get him killed (if I was a villain)? So, The Punisher roaming around with no mask to hide his identity is basically a stupid idea. Then, there's Doga's superpower. He can communicate with dogs, which is a pretty reasonable idea as the popular Hindi saying, "har gully ka kutta" ("dogs of every lane") itself shows how big India's dog population is and how they bear witness to every crime committed. I would say the best part of Doga is his ruthlessness. He takes the whole superhero persona to the extreme, where the good guy is literally the bad guy's worst nightmare (But nowhere connected to Mr. Freddy Krueger though). As wikipedia claims, he is slowly becoming the most loved Indian superhero (Violence sells in India too :-D )
4. Tiranga(Tri-color) - And here is India's reply to Captain America. Tiranga wears a costume which is a tri-color (Indian flag). His cape is the Indian flag. He is VERY patriotic and punishes whoever insults the country in any way. How does he differ from Captain America? Well, for starters, he doesn't have ANY superpowers (He definitely cannot fly. The cape is there so that when he stand on top of a building, his fluttering cape looks like a fluttering Indian flag. Innovative, eh? :-D ). He wears a bi-colored mask and not a stupid mask with wings on it. The best part about him is that unlike other superheroes, he doesn't wear the typical underwear on the outside. Instead, he wears a traditional Indian underwear called a langot over his costume (Talk about patriotism to the core :-P )
5. Bheriya(Wolf-man) - Though many people would like to compare Bheriya to The Astounding Wolf-man, the only similarity between them is that they are wolf-based superheroes. While Wolf-man is a werewolf, Bheriya is from a tribe of wolves who could walk upright and wear a pair of trousers and have a wonderful hairstyle. He only protects his forest and it's residents. The best thing about Bheriya is that unlike all other superheroes, he doesn't he have an alter ego. Instead, he has a completely different entity known as Kobi, who is a much more violent version with Superpowers.
6. Parmanu(Atom) - As the name suggest, Parmanu can very easily be connected with Atom. Both of them wear similar costumes and have similar powers. They use the power of atoms to fight villains. While they are VERY similar, there are differences nonetheless. The first one I would say is that Parmanu is VERY realistic, compared to Atom. He uses the power of the atom to fight villains. His most famous weapon is the atomic blast. All this seems very believable to me, at last. What I don't understand is how a man can shrink himself and others "using atomic power", like Atom does. That is something Parmanu neither attempts to nor needs to do. The best thing about Parmanu is that he flies, and that too without a cape! Now, that's harnessing atomic power right there. He also keeps an eye on the whole city not by just flying over it, but by placing cameras all over the city and connecting them to a robot who tells him every time a crime is committed somewhere. (Talk about technology! How's that for common sense?)
I've realized that this post has become too long and I'm just halfway through. Besides, it's 2:45am here and I need to get some sleep. So, I'm dividing this post into two parts and will continue the second part of this post later. Keep looking forward to it. The best is yet to come ;-)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Really, who are you?
Hola amigos and amigas. Como estas? (This is the only Spanish I know other than "Buena" and "Gracias", so don't act smart and try replying in Spanish. Don't make me Google Language Tool your reply. It's too much work :-D ) If you liked the "Quote your status" post, then you may like this one as well. So, read on.
Now, if you've read the "What does Axe do when he's bored?" post, you'll know that at times I social networkise. The other day I was orkutting and I saw my "Recent visitors" list. There was this "thing" there. It went something like "Life's like a black man's left arse..". Believe me, I was intrigued. Who is this creature? Where is he from? etc. So, I clicked on that "thing" and I saw this profile. The "About me" section said something like, "..neither is it fair nor is it right". Really interesting, eh? NOT AT ALL! Why not? Because I still couldn't make out who this person was. So, I looked at the top of the page and I see that this creature is on my friend's list. WOW! Who is this creature? How do I know it? So, I checked the albums. Ahhh the first one is full of Pink Floyd pics. Nice, but useless right now. So, the next one has pics of cars and bikes and, ahhh yes, there he is, bare-chested without a great physique. Oh yea, this guy went to school with me. Now I remember who he is. How wonderful. I had a good mind to scrap him about this and let out all my frustration. But then I realized, it could be worse. Like so many others that I've seen on orkut, he could very well have not put up his pics at all and used an e-mail address that was no way connected to his real name, and I would have to do a complete Sherlock Holmes on him. Anyway, so I decided the only way to let out my frustration was to blog this. So, here I am.
I wonder what these people are really thinking when they come up with such ideas to change their profile names. I understand that you got a nice nickname that you REEEEEALLY like and would like to share with the world. But c'mon, at least think of those who have to think so much to just know who you are. If your name is "Life is like a black man's left arse..", then what am I supposed to make of this? Your first name is "Life" and your last name is "Arse" and "is like a black man's left" is your middle name, I suppose? Or if you're a South Indian, your first name is "Arse" and your last name is "Life"? Well, then I don't see any reason why you should be offended if I call you "Arse" or "Black man" (Though I would stick to "Arse" because the other one is definitely racist while I'm not). I mean, seriously my friend, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? Isn't your given name enough for you? If you don't like it that much, why don't you really get your name changed to "Arse"? I am sure you'll love it when people refer to others by your name, eh? Doesn't matter if it's used in an insulting way. We use Shakespeare's name to insult people with good vocabulary, don't we? I really don't understand why someone would want to name himself/herself after a quote. Would you really introduce yourself as "Opinions are like assholes"? "Hi, my name's Assholes. Opinions are like assholes" (In James Bond style). I wonder what your parents would really think if they saw that. Anyway, besides that, how do you expect your long-lost friends to find you on these sites? I would NEVER in my wildest imagination, think of looking for Mr/Mrs. Opinions are like Assholes, or Mr. Life is like a black man's left arse, when I want to to know if my friend is on orkut. This bring us to the other kind of name changers who are a lesser nuisance. They are the ones who use special characters to write their names. An example, Mr. /-\|\|/-\|\||). (Mr. Anand, in case you can't make out). WOW, Anand, you can use symbols to type your name! AWESOME! But, what if I'm your long-lost friend who wants to get in touch with you? Am I supposed to dream up that you mentioned your name on orkut that way? Of course there are worse cases too. The ones who delete all their scraps, remove all their pics (even the display pic) and change their name to some thing like ". ." Why the hell do you need to change your name to an unpronouncable symbol? Who do you think you are? Prince? Absolutely stupid and unworthy of remaining on my friends list, I would say.
Then comes the other fun part of their profiles. The "About me". In Mr. Left Arse's case, it read "..neither is it fair, nor is it right." So, that's your "About me"? Here's what I could make of it: You are not fair and you are not right. Let's take the first one, "Not fair". Does that mean you're dark? But your pics say otherwise. So, I guess it means you're unfair i.e. a cheat. Remind me to delete you from my friend's list, "pal". I don't befriend cheats. Then there's the other part, "Not right". Does that mean you are always wrong or that you a leftist (communist)? I don't mind your political opinion, but if you're wrong, then DEFINITELY remind me to delete you from my list. I don't want a cheat who is always wrong, as a 'friend". And if you aren't one of these or this isn't what you meant, then why didn't you think before you put it there? Then there are those whose "About me" is 2-3 pages long. I agree I had Marilyn Manson lyrics in mine once. I am guilty as charged, too. But that was waaaaaay back. I was stupid too. Anyway, now I know how painful it is to scroll through 2-3 pages of lyrics that are supposed to tell me about someone. In addition to that, some people put the names of each artist they listen to and each movie that they like even remotely. I've done the artist thing myself, but then I realized, isn't it easier to just mention the specific genres and some of your favourite artists? 5 or 6 sounds good. Not a 100! Funny thing is that I see this list most in those who love rock and metal. As if the more bands you listen to shows how big a fan you are. I am a rock and metal fan too. I mentioned them too. But I guess now I understand how much of a nuisance that is. As for movie lists that resemble IMDB's Top 250 list, I don't think I need to comment on them. :-)
Another pain-in-the-wrong-places thing is when people fill their albums with pics that have NOTHING to do with them. I understand those who put pics of their room, their surroundings, pics taken by them, etc. They are related to your life, so it's ok. But c'mon, pics of celebrities, bikes, cars, etc? You put a pic of Tom cruise as your profile pic. Am I supposed to think that you look like Tom Cruise? If you like Aishwarya Rai, put her poster of her in your room. I don't wanna see her pic that you downloaded from Santabanta.com or Indiafm.com, in your album! If you don't like to put your pics in your album, then please don't put ANY! We aren't forcing you to. Please don't waste our time with those.
My last resort when it comes to finding out who the creature is, is to check the e-mail address they are using to log into orkut. It gets extremely frustrating when even that isn't connected to their real name. Then, I'm totally lost. Unless I remember the address, I have no idea who the creature is and how I know it. Why can't you leave at least some part of your profile to help me identify you? If your name, pics, "About me" and e-mail address don't give me any idea about who you are, then I don't really see a reason why I should keep you on my list, because technically, you are a stranger to me, and strangers are never "friends".
I guess a lot of us face the same problems that I have mentioned above. Unfortunately we can't do anything about it, as some of these people are our "friends". I just wrote this post, so that someday if Mr. Left Arse or Mr/Ms/Mrs Opinions reads it, they'll know exactly how we feel about it. Ahhhh, now I feel so much better. Thank you for bearing with me and my frustration :-) Keep reading on for the next post and pray it's a bit more interesting ;-) Ciaoies amigos and amigas (Don't even think about it!The Spanish thing, I mean :-P )
Now, if you've read the "What does Axe do when he's bored?" post, you'll know that at times I social networkise. The other day I was orkutting and I saw my "Recent visitors" list. There was this "thing" there. It went something like "Life's like a black man's left arse..". Believe me, I was intrigued. Who is this creature? Where is he from? etc. So, I clicked on that "thing" and I saw this profile. The "About me" section said something like, "..neither is it fair nor is it right". Really interesting, eh? NOT AT ALL! Why not? Because I still couldn't make out who this person was. So, I looked at the top of the page and I see that this creature is on my friend's list. WOW! Who is this creature? How do I know it? So, I checked the albums. Ahhh the first one is full of Pink Floyd pics. Nice, but useless right now. So, the next one has pics of cars and bikes and, ahhh yes, there he is, bare-chested without a great physique. Oh yea, this guy went to school with me. Now I remember who he is. How wonderful. I had a good mind to scrap him about this and let out all my frustration. But then I realized, it could be worse. Like so many others that I've seen on orkut, he could very well have not put up his pics at all and used an e-mail address that was no way connected to his real name, and I would have to do a complete Sherlock Holmes on him. Anyway, so I decided the only way to let out my frustration was to blog this. So, here I am.
I wonder what these people are really thinking when they come up with such ideas to change their profile names. I understand that you got a nice nickname that you REEEEEALLY like and would like to share with the world. But c'mon, at least think of those who have to think so much to just know who you are. If your name is "Life is like a black man's left arse..", then what am I supposed to make of this? Your first name is "Life" and your last name is "Arse" and "is like a black man's left" is your middle name, I suppose? Or if you're a South Indian, your first name is "Arse" and your last name is "Life"? Well, then I don't see any reason why you should be offended if I call you "Arse" or "Black man" (Though I would stick to "Arse" because the other one is definitely racist while I'm not). I mean, seriously my friend, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? Isn't your given name enough for you? If you don't like it that much, why don't you really get your name changed to "Arse"? I am sure you'll love it when people refer to others by your name, eh? Doesn't matter if it's used in an insulting way. We use Shakespeare's name to insult people with good vocabulary, don't we? I really don't understand why someone would want to name himself/herself after a quote. Would you really introduce yourself as "Opinions are like assholes"? "Hi, my name's Assholes. Opinions are like assholes" (In James Bond style). I wonder what your parents would really think if they saw that. Anyway, besides that, how do you expect your long-lost friends to find you on these sites? I would NEVER in my wildest imagination, think of looking for Mr/Mrs. Opinions are like Assholes, or Mr. Life is like a black man's left arse, when I want to to know if my friend is on orkut. This bring us to the other kind of name changers who are a lesser nuisance. They are the ones who use special characters to write their names. An example, Mr. /-\|\|/-\|\||). (Mr. Anand, in case you can't make out). WOW, Anand, you can use symbols to type your name! AWESOME! But, what if I'm your long-lost friend who wants to get in touch with you? Am I supposed to dream up that you mentioned your name on orkut that way? Of course there are worse cases too. The ones who delete all their scraps, remove all their pics (even the display pic) and change their name to some thing like ". ." Why the hell do you need to change your name to an unpronouncable symbol? Who do you think you are? Prince? Absolutely stupid and unworthy of remaining on my friends list, I would say.
Then comes the other fun part of their profiles. The "About me". In Mr. Left Arse's case, it read "..neither is it fair, nor is it right." So, that's your "About me"? Here's what I could make of it: You are not fair and you are not right. Let's take the first one, "Not fair". Does that mean you're dark? But your pics say otherwise. So, I guess it means you're unfair i.e. a cheat. Remind me to delete you from my friend's list, "pal". I don't befriend cheats. Then there's the other part, "Not right". Does that mean you are always wrong or that you a leftist (communist)? I don't mind your political opinion, but if you're wrong, then DEFINITELY remind me to delete you from my list. I don't want a cheat who is always wrong, as a 'friend". And if you aren't one of these or this isn't what you meant, then why didn't you think before you put it there? Then there are those whose "About me" is 2-3 pages long. I agree I had Marilyn Manson lyrics in mine once. I am guilty as charged, too. But that was waaaaaay back. I was stupid too. Anyway, now I know how painful it is to scroll through 2-3 pages of lyrics that are supposed to tell me about someone. In addition to that, some people put the names of each artist they listen to and each movie that they like even remotely. I've done the artist thing myself, but then I realized, isn't it easier to just mention the specific genres and some of your favourite artists? 5 or 6 sounds good. Not a 100! Funny thing is that I see this list most in those who love rock and metal. As if the more bands you listen to shows how big a fan you are. I am a rock and metal fan too. I mentioned them too. But I guess now I understand how much of a nuisance that is. As for movie lists that resemble IMDB's Top 250 list, I don't think I need to comment on them. :-)
Another pain-in-the-wrong-places thing is when people fill their albums with pics that have NOTHING to do with them. I understand those who put pics of their room, their surroundings, pics taken by them, etc. They are related to your life, so it's ok. But c'mon, pics of celebrities, bikes, cars, etc? You put a pic of Tom cruise as your profile pic. Am I supposed to think that you look like Tom Cruise? If you like Aishwarya Rai, put her poster of her in your room. I don't wanna see her pic that you downloaded from Santabanta.com or Indiafm.com, in your album! If you don't like to put your pics in your album, then please don't put ANY! We aren't forcing you to. Please don't waste our time with those.
My last resort when it comes to finding out who the creature is, is to check the e-mail address they are using to log into orkut. It gets extremely frustrating when even that isn't connected to their real name. Then, I'm totally lost. Unless I remember the address, I have no idea who the creature is and how I know it. Why can't you leave at least some part of your profile to help me identify you? If your name, pics, "About me" and e-mail address don't give me any idea about who you are, then I don't really see a reason why I should keep you on my list, because technically, you are a stranger to me, and strangers are never "friends".
I guess a lot of us face the same problems that I have mentioned above. Unfortunately we can't do anything about it, as some of these people are our "friends". I just wrote this post, so that someday if Mr. Left Arse or Mr/Ms/Mrs Opinions reads it, they'll know exactly how we feel about it. Ahhhh, now I feel so much better. Thank you for bearing with me and my frustration :-) Keep reading on for the next post and pray it's a bit more interesting ;-) Ciaoies amigos and amigas (Don't even think about it!The Spanish thing, I mean :-P )
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