And the moral of the story is...

Sholay (1975) is one of the biggest hits in the history of Bollywood. It's a complete entertainment package bundled with comedy, romance, action and adventure. It's the saga of hatred between a dacoit and a landlord. The latter pledges to catch the former alive and avenge the atrocities borne at his hands.

As every story has something to say, similarly this one, as well, teaches useful lessons to one and all. We need to learn from what the characters in the movie had been through, so that we may avoid similar blunders in the future.

Following are some useful tips we can get from the character of:

• Gabber Singh: Never kill vanquished soldiers like Kalia which belong to your own army . This deprecates your strength which in turn may prove fatal during the battle. Never try to prove your mettle in front of your enemies by starting a verbal dialogue; kill them instead before they turn hostile
  
• Thakur: Kill your victim as soon as you catch hold of him or else he will avenge his humiliation by killing your entire family and cutting your arms
• Jai: Never use a fake coin for the toss, or else it will cost you your life and your friend will live happily ever after with his girlfriend
• Veeru: A suicide attempt is the best way of getting your marriage approved by elders
• Basanti: While in the captivity of dacoits, don't act too smart and never wear revealing clothes

Movies like Sholay have been giving us enough gyan and will continue doing so. We need to learn from them and work towards making this world a happier place to live in.

Extortion made easy

World comes to a standstill for a victim when the open end of a gun's barrel is pointed right between his eye-brows. A sudden gush of adrenaline evaporates the saliva and the tongue goes dry, heart overworks to appease the excited organs and legs shake under the body weight. The vanquished lies at the mercy of the vanquisher.

Extortion can be far more easier than that painted in the picture above and there is no need to unnecessarily complicate things by the use of weapons. I agree, the latter way does fetch the same amount in double the time as compared with it's more violent counter-part; but at the same time, it is worth giving a try. Moreover, the latter is a white collar job with Police quite out of bay!

What exactly is this saint-like way of extortion? OK...let me explain like this. The gangsters should wear a long white robe with a cross dangling around their necks and should replace their gun with the Holy Bible. Then after morphing themselves into saints, they should go about asking for charity. Someone like me will definitely partake with a few bucks.

So this is what I've been talking about. Hope this suggestion will gel well with all those gangsters out there.

There can be more interesting ways than those described above, like the one shown in the picture below!

Mr. Anderson's fate

Bad Vista?!

I hold a neutral view on the recently released Microsoft's baby - Windows Vista; because I hardly care about the same. I'm happily running Windows XP and do not wish to spend another 100 bucks on an upgrade which promises a bug-free environment. But thank you Mr. Gates, I've become quite accustomed to the frequent crashes and silly bugs that MS promises with each and every product it ships to the market.

Secondly, next year I am moving on to Macintosh as it's prices have been drastically brought down by Jobs. This is another good reason not to care about Vista because it's a "Copy of Mac.OS" and much more expensive than OS X. On top of everything, Mac boasts a powerful BSD base. Then why not switch to something really professional?

Another feature of abuse is it's EULA; which bars dual booting and multiple installations from the same DVD. Whew!

Open source stands as a fourth villain between me and Vista. Oh yes, it does! I prefer OpenOffice to MS Office and definitely will prefer Ubantu to Vista; Firefox is more secure as compared to IE 7.0. Recently, IE installed on my PC, crashed and "Open in new tab..." option disappeared from the context menu.

Now, how will Mr. Gates assure that Vista is free from such bugs? Some of my friends who purchased computers recently, have been offered a free Vista upgrade. But, they are abstaining from the same because they fear some obvious bugs. But for sure they are not willing to miss this offer and are awaiting Windows Vista SP4, after which they'll happily upgrade.

Is Vista really bad? Let people decide and the sale figures show!

True religion on our road

Recently, I read a wonderful article in Hindustan Times which made me realize that selfless service is what He has programmed us to do, but we, the mortal fools, are interpreting life in our own dubious way.

Read on to actualize what we've been missing all along...

Sometimes in our daily lives, complete strangers cross our paths and leave lasting impressions with their noble and magnanimous acts. I have such instances to share.

A heavy downpour had flooded Kolkata's roads. Trams had stopped plying as the tracks were deep under water. Potholes filled with water posed a fatal danger to those wading through the inundated roads. Thundering buses churned by, cascading enormous volumes of slimy water on both sides, drenching the scurrying pedestrians.

I was about to cross the road when a car cut in towards me with frightening speed. As it came closer, I resigned myself to a muddy shower. But the driver suddenly slowed down and watched me reach the other side undefiled. He smiled and waved before accelerating and disappearing in the traffic. What a fine person! I honour him yet for his consideration.

Another time, coming out of the Telco factory in Jamshedpur, I could not get any transport to my hotel. Menacing clouds started gathering and it seemed about to rain any moment. I walked past the elegant houses on the broad road, impatiently looking for an empty cab. Suddenly a gleaming limousine pulled up beside me in front of an imposing bungalow. At the wheel sat an immaculately dressed Sikh gentleman. I briefly explained my predicament and requested a lift if he was going towards Hotel Nataraj. He raised his eyebrows and seemed to reflect for a moment, with the flicker of a smile. Then, as if on an impulse, he asked me to get in.

The hotel turned out to be much farther than I imagined. But he drove me right up to the gate and I shook his proffered hand. I expected him to keep going but he made a quick U-turn and vanished. Consider my surprise and my gratitude when it became clear that he had actually picked me up right in front of his house where, in fact, he had slowed down to enter. To this day I rue that I could not adequately thank this unknown benefactor.

Jump N Move - Brand New Heavies

I love to listen this song from Happy Feet over and over again. I'd advise to watch the video where the penguins are shaking their booty with the music. It's awesome! Trailer is available at iTunes.