CHESS... AGAIN...

Read another funny line... And how true and meaningful...

Life is like a game of chess... The people whom we interact with assume the role of pawns and rooks and knights and queen and king...

There is a slight difference between life and a game of chess though... In the game of chess, a piece stays in its role... In the game of life, any person can change his/her personality according to the situation and, often will, play the role that suits him/her the best... He who can accurately identify the role played by other individuals gets to be the king...

KINGS?

Noticed a funny thing... Monarchy was abolished at the time of independence but kingdoms continued to exist... Some of their descendants still use the title and now rule indirectly after standing for elections... This election also stars many royals trying their luck at the ballot casino... More often than not, the royals win handsomely proving that people are still obsessed with this medieval concept of royalty... Here is one more proof --

The IPL teams are named as --
Bangalore ROYAL challengers
Chennai SUPER KINGS
Mohali KINGS Eleven
Rajasthan ROYALS

Their competitors, ICL, are not so far behind --
Lahore Badshahs
Dhaka Warriors

Was reading an article abt the ongoing feud between IPL and ICL where money muscle has made IPL a king and the ICL a pawn... Then read a funny line "Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box"... Ironic, but how apt...

SENSE OF HUMOR
Last week, wifey forwarded this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVcnJ5iLqs And this video reminded me of a very funny experience a couple of years back...

We were flying back from Miami to Philadelphia after a 4 day vacation... It had been an exhausting day... The weather at the beach had been brutal and the mental agony of the fact that the vacation is getting over with every passing minute and the boring routine for the workweek lurking ahead were making the torture even unbearable... Then this funny flight announcer started the party... His announcements cheered us up and we actually felt that the vacation actually was extended by a hour and a half of the flight... He cracked us up with his witty one-liners and made our journey thoroughly enjoyable... Of our numerous flight journeys, this one remains always fresh in our memories...

Similarly, I had a colleague in engineering... Due to his Bengali surname (though he was not actually a Bong), we used to affectionately call him Babu moshaay... He was an average student who managed to pass comfortably but never featured amongst the rankers... Very Lazy in every aspect... Not so active in sports or extra cirricular activities or reading or general knowledge or speaking skills... Overall, nothing spectacular worth mentioning abt him... But his biggest (and only) asset was a very good sense of humor... With his silliest comments, he used to crack everyone up... Even the professors were never spared... This made his company the most craved one... He used to be on every organizing comittee and every group and every function... We spoke a few days back and i was glad to find out that he still retained his most important asset...

Then in the office life, there was a guy (who later was my roommate as well) who always knew how to release the tension with one silly comment... His sense of humor and wit was not as spontaneous as Babu Moshaay's and more often than not, repetitive... But still, that made him popular and a wanted (well, not most-wanted) fellow...

Even now, it can be seen that people with a sense of humor (albeit laced with sarcasm) command a special mention and are very popular... Be it friend circle, office group or relatives, wit and humor is a entry ticket to the show...

Sadly, this is one thing which either you have or you do not have... It cannot be learnt... One can learn a few jokes here and there, but the spontaneity is either inborn or not... This time, I am on the wrong side of the receiving end... Thankfully, wifey makes it up for both of us and keep me grinning regularly... She is most-wanted everywhere and i just tag along ;-)

Hopefully, my readers are lucky (either inborn or partner wise)...

THOUGHT PROVOKING ARTICLE

http://virsanghvi.com/vir-world-ArticleDetail.aspx?ID=236

Also, please read the comments on the blog... Makes for an interesting reading...

OUTSOURCED

Saw this movie tonight... Very nice movie... I like these types of movies which are easy on the brain and heart when u see it and not much to recall once the movie is done... But this movie, though easy on the brain when seeing it, leaves a lot to recall after its done... The reason being, I can connect to this movie...

Starting from the whole concept of outsourcing, where most of us have a distinct role to play to the country where the movie is based - India - there are a lot of things which we can relate to... Not all the aspects of India shown in the movie show India in good light, but we cannot deny that these aspects are true...

1 - Not all call centers have the best facilities setup...
2 - Indians do not find it important to respect personal boundaries of the people whom they care about...
3 - The view about how losing a job is such a small thing for call center employees though shocked me...
4 - Poverty can shock the hell out of visitors to India, but the fact that anyone can be happy even within those circumstances shocks them even more...
5 - Some people still consider INDIA = I'm Not Doing It Again...

Having said all that, this movie really touched me, especially the scene when the staff manages to meet their targets inspite of working on the terrace of a flooded building... Worth a watch definitely... Just dont expect anything special once the movie is over...