Hrrrumpppp...

It sickens me. It maddens me. It pains me.
The way people can be so judgemental. A couple of days back I had the fortune (??) of meeting up almost half a dozen of my old friends. Now I use the term 'old' and 'friends' very loosely here (for lack of an appropriate alternative) simply because I knew them for a very short time span in the distant past and none of them can even claim to have genuinely known me. As it usually happens with such gatherings where no one knows exactly why we've assembled together in first place, conversation tends to be more of the perfectly polite "I-am-working-here-now-but-why-are-you-still-working-there" kinds or the extremely impersonal "I-got-married-so-why-are-you-not-married-yet?". Knowing well that I was bound to lose my patience and cool somewhere along the line, I steered clear of joining these discussions preferring to sit in a corner and observe, only to realise soon that this was the worst possible thing I could have done. For even if I'd joined in the conversation, there was a good chance that people might have 'heard' me but not 'listened' to what I was saying, but since I was aloof, it was almost like I had something to hide so pretty soon I had two people for company. Now, one of them happens to have come across my blog and seems to have been a silent reader for long (I hope he IS reading this stuff now..I would have told him all this that day itself IF only he'd taken my hint of wanting to talk to him alone...nothing personal) Now, this particular friend of mine had just moved from Noida to Bangalore and soon we were disucssing about different cities, cultures and living conditions. Somewhere in the conversation, things got a little heated because he was going on and on about how lousy Bombay was and why it will never become a Shanghai. There was probably merit in his arguments too but then the problem was that he refused to see any positives despite me trying to drill some sense into him (considering I had lived there for 2 yrs and his only Mumbai experiences were limited to jetting in and out of the airport) Beyond a certain point, I got the feeling that his opinions weren't his own and mentioned that he'd probably been a little over influenced by Pinki Virani. And that was when all our problems started...Or rather the particular problem which has made this post a necessity...

"Hey, I didn't know you read Pinki Virani"
"Why shouldn't I ? "
"Cmon, that is serious faction and I did not quite think you liked those kind of reads"
"I read good books irrespective of which genre they belong to.. in fact, I've read Aruna's story too ?"
"Really...c'mon, not an MCP like you.."
"Jesus Christ, what makes u think I am an MCP... and even if its so, whats that got to do with my book choices"
"Naaah.. it doesn't quite fit the image I have of you from the blog"
"....and what is this stupid image you've formed, if i may ask so ?"
"hey, cool da..."
"Illa maams...sollu..."
"You see, I have never seen any intellectual debates, any thought provoking posts...you know what i am talking about right ?"

...and so the conversation went on...

Let me clarify this once and for all. I'm sure we are all in agreement that there are multiple sides to one's personality and a blog may or may not reflect any of them, leave alone all. I hope there are readers intelligent enough out there to perceive that online personalities could be different from real personalities and that bloggers choose to reveal / project whatever they wish to which means that there is obviously more to it than what meets the eye. However this does not necessarily mean that they do not believe in whatever they write and that most of them are phonies. I know this has not come out as forcefully as I wanted to but I won't insult the intelligence of the average reader by trying to explain in more detail for I am sure that even the LCDs understand exactly what I am driving home here. So for Christ's sake, stop judging people based on what they write (or rather, what they do not write) and go get a life.

If you still insist on knowing why I think this whole 'Prince Charles and his good friends, the famous dabbawallahs of Mumbai' story is nothing more than interesting copy....if you want to discuss why I think Paul Wolfowitz is probably not the best choice to head the WB.... if you want to know why I think Narain Karthikeyan is a pathetic driver who has more fans amongst pseudo-patriots than genuine racing enthusiasts... if you are keen to know what my suggestions would be to improve infrastructure in Bangalore...then my blog is not the place where you'll get your answers...Mail me....

Needless to say, the blog posts will continue to recommend Salman movies, discuss F.R.I.E.N.D.S, rave about Chelsea (just 1 more match) and have mushy love stories :-p

Dear God,

This ain't much of a prayer...Just need a quick answer to a short Q....Ain't I the best ?

Love,
Me