The value of anonymity

People who have had a chance to grow up with an ample diet of Indian cinema would know what I am going to talk about. Indian movies have taught us the value of being anonymous at a very young age.

It is the day when the 'heroine' is getting married. Everything is all set. The groom is on the stage (or whatever that is called), resembling a scapegoat with all those garlands, with a couple of kids fighting to sit near the groom and get covered by the video camera guy. The groom's cousins would be standing behind him, with those borrowed necklaces and all the bling blings, whispering something to his ears and immediately bursting into an artificial laughter ( I bet neither of them would have heard a single word of what the other had to say). To put it short, a typical wedding atmosphere with everything in place.

The bride arrives and sits down next to the groom with her head lowered. The groom thinks she is shy (unfortunately not able to figure out that her head is down due to the luggage she is carrying in her neck and not because of shyness). The cousin sisters nudge the groom's shoulder asking him to take a glance at her, as if he has not done it until then. The priest keeps doing his thing, the only decipherable part of his utterings being 'Mangalyam Thanthunanena etc etc', which is when we would know that the groom is going to tie the 'mangal sutra' (sacred chain).

So, the groom brings the mangal sutra around the bride's neck and suddenly some one would cry, "Stop it!". A guy suddenly emerges from the audience (or spectators) with a letter in hand. That letter would be addressed to the groom and would throw some unwanted light on the bride's flirtatious past.

The point to be noted here is the letter would n't have been signed. Yeah! an ANONYMOUS letter! But it has got the power to stop a marriage.

Being anonymous is a matter of convenience. Though it would be nice to have some courage and stand up for your thoughts and opinions, being anonymous is taking the easy route.

Being annoymous on the net adds to the thrill. There is a charm associated with mystery. But the charm fizzles out once you get to know what is behind the mask.

I like to give my thoughts a body, which is not mine. I like to put them in a vehicle that does not have a number plate. I like being anonymous, but I aint going to stop no wedding!

Poem..anyone?

I always wanted to write an intellectual poem, something that stimulates the soul and brain. That desire has been further fuelled by reading poems of fellow bloggers. Even vivhyd has a poem in his blog. So here it goes. Let me know if the poem enlightened your soul.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
If the nurse is hot, keep the apples away.

Where there is Will, there is way.
If Will loves Bill, then he is gay.

Life is like a cigarette, it starts with flashes
And ends in ashes, in between there are clashes.

If life is a stage and I am just an actor
I can tell you one thing, God is the worst director.

Baby, when I look at your face I feel you are a heart-breaker
And When I look at your behind, you are a smooth speed-breaker.

I am a guy with a lot of fire and you are my object of desire
If you come anywhere near me, we'd need a babysitter to hire

Then, whenever I saw you, my heart skipped a beat
Now, whenever I see you, my hearts stops to beat.

Jack and Jill, they went up the hill
Jill forgot the pill and there came lil Bill.

When Mistakes Make Sense

It's been a while since i wrote something. Big Deal huh? I gave a long holiday to whatever creativity I had, with impress-in-the-new-job week days, roam-around saturdays and do-nothing-lie-around-half naked sundays.

So, when i started typing without actually knowing what to write about, i was making a lot of typos.

So, I thought, why not write about typos. Thats something that everyone reading this could relate to. Everybody makes ishpelling mishtakes. No big deal. But the nature of the mistakes and the situation could make it a more sensitive issue.

First, Why would you make a spelling mistake, when you have a spell check in all the Office Applications? I, for example, turn off the spell check, mostly because I hate those irritating red lines and I hate Word telling me how to spell my own name.

My dear Microsoft word, I dont care where you came from, please shut it. Dont be a smart ass and get on my nerve. My problem with typos, even with the spell check on, is that even my mistakes make sense and fool the spell check. You see when mistakes make sense, it aint a mistake no more (justified my title!).

MS-word! if you cant see me omitting 'l' in public and 'f' in shift and if you cant prompt me when I type 'o' instead 'l' in blobs, something is wrong with you!

And speaking about the sensitivity of your typos, I once sent an email to a person by name Indar Bansal, but muffed it up by addressing him as Bandar Insal. And Word, thanks for missing to catch that. Were you expecting me to tell you that I dont speak hindi?

On a serious note, I feel that not only the spelling, but also our grammar and vocabulary have been seriously affected by the internet jargon. Emails, chat rooms, ebonics and now the blog world - haven't they contaminated the command(!!) we had on the English language?

I get really irritated with emails or messages, that are so full of abbreviations. And I am taking a stand now, to use the language as it was intended, as much as I can or as much I know. I would appreciate if my fellow bloggers spare a thought on it.