LIES!!!

Why do people lie? Is it a disease or is it an addiction? For some it is an addiction. They love the way people react to it. For some it is the urge to impress others that makes them lie. For this pirate, it was an urge to belong to a group that made him lie.

I was very new to college and all the stories I was told of college life was about belonging to a group. When I joined college, the in-thing to do was to smoke and dope. If you did it, you belonged to an elite group in college made up of studs. If you failed, you joined the ranks of the weirdos and geeks and remained out of the happening circle. I loved the limelight and the activities. I wanted to belong. Everyone came to know me as the guy who used to be a chain smoker in class 10 and 11 but had given it up in class 12. I took a drag now and then to prove that I still knew how to smoke. I tried joints too.

The fact of the matter is that the urge to belong made me lie. I had smoked only twice in school and I hated the smell. Also, my father had made an offer I could not resist. He had promised to buy me chocolates. When you have chocolates who needs to smoke!!?! But to belong to the group in college I had to smoke so I fabricated the story of me being an ex-chain-smoker. They did not force me to smoke after that, but they did offer me a smoke now and then which I had to refuse on some pretext. The lies regarding smoking became my second nature, I began to live it. I tried joint twice – did not like it either. It tastes and smells like burnt leaves, the smoke of which I hate.

My illusions lasted a year. I found that many of my friends had become addicted to smoke and dope trying to fit in. I had taken a different route but for the same purpose – I had tried to fit in. I gave up trying to conform when I was not meant to. But man is weak and I am weak too. I did not make any attempt to enlighten others as to the truth, and neither did I completely deny the fact when juniors asked me, but I did not speak of it anymore. Even pirates are sometimes scared of the dark when they have seen the limelight.

The worst part of this lying business is the fact that one starts believing in it. They start living the lie, as I did. But that is the worst thing possible. One deludes oneself. It is madness; and the madness soon turns into a disease, which is very difficult to cure. To make matters worse, if one is discovered, his character is sullied for a long time to come. Society and its people are very apt at spreading and magnifying the dark side of one’s charecter, regardless of how good the person is otherwise.

Have I changed, I ask myself sometimes. The fact is I do not know. I still sometimes hide the truth to impress others; I do not lie but neither do I tell the truth. What is this? Is this still the urge to belong? Or is it an addiction?

FAN - TASTIC WORLD CUP 2010

The Mistake

The road was packed with cars. Everyone was trying to go back home from work. Alan sat behind the wheel of his car, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He did not notice the honking of cars and was not bothered by the slow speed of the traffic. He was lost in his own world. He was thinking about what had happened a few hours back at work.

Alan was in his mid-thirties working in a legal consulting firm in Philadelphia. He had a decent house near the outskirts of the city. He had been married for 7 years now. His wife, Matilda, was a pretty lady. They did not have any children. They had met in college, fallen in love and had married. Matilda worked from home as a freelance contributor to magazines. She performed her duties as a wife perfectly. Their home was neat and tidy, spick and span. There was always dinner waiting for Alan when he reached home from work. She always waited for him. He loved her very much. But Matilda kept Alan on a tight leash. She was always screaming for all the tiny things that went wrong – “Why is your trouser on the bed?” “Why haven’t you washed your hands?” “Get the plumbing fixed right now!” “Why didn’t you get this and this from the market?” Sometimes this got to Alan’s nerves and they would have a fight only to make up very quickly. Even though Matilda got furious at all the little things, she could not stay angry with Alan for a long time. Alan, on the other hand, could not see her unhappy and did everything under his power to keep her happy. They were a nice couple.

And then it had happened. The most common thing in the office, about which he had seen so many movies and read so many books that he should have been aware of what he was doing. He had fallen for the charms of his new secretary, Vanessa. Tall and blonde, with a model-like figure, Vanessa had been irresistible. He initially thought of it as innocent flirting. He had taken her out on mini dates during the office breaks. His colleague, Herbert, had warned him but he had shrugged it off saying “It is nothing. It is just some flirting. Won’t harm anybody.” The whole hide-n-seek feel about it had lured him deeper. He had courted a woman only once and that was Matilda, in college. He felt the urge too strong to resist. It felt like he was young again.

Everything had gone on smoothly for a month. They had kissed a few times but nothing more. Alan used this to console himself that he was not cheating on Matilda. And everthing at home was fine, Matilda had not noticed anything. So it was a win-win for Alan, and he was quite happy after quite a long time.

But the best luck also runs out.

Today in the office, after the office break, during which Alan and Vanessa had gone on one of their innumerable mini dates, their passions had been ignited. He had called her into her office and they were passionately kissing. The door had opened and Matilda walked in carrying two shopping bags. She had stopped at the door, stared at the two for a moment, and then said a sorry and walked out of the office, calmly closing the door behind her. Alan had been transfixed to the ground. He could not think anymore. He did not even follow Matilda to sort things out. He had finished his work at the office in a trance and was now returning home, 3 hours after the incident.

Alan had expected Matilda to lash out when she saw the two at the office. This was expected of her. But she had calmly walked out as if she had stumbled on two strangers kissing. This was unlike Matilda. Alan did not know what to think. He cursed himself and Vanessa and the time when all this had happened. He should have stopped himself, he should have listened to Herbert. But now it was too late. He had to save his marriage. He could not live without Matilda. He tried to think of all sorts of excuses and stories to explain the situation to Matilda. He even thought of laying the whole blame on Vanessa. But somehow he was very scared and afraid. Matilda will let hell loose. But Matilda’s odd behaviour at the office gave him some hope. Maybe she will understand, maybe she thought him to be someone else and he would be safe. There were so many maybes.

He reached his home and stopped the engine. Alan gingerly got off his car and surveyed the house for any indication of what awaited him. The house was well lighted as usual and was silent. No crying, no shouting came from within. He stepped on to the front porch and waited for sometime with his hand on the door knob before he entered. The living room was neat and tidy as usual but there was a heavy silence in the air like the lull before the storm. He wanted to call out to her as usual but regarded it as a bad idea today. He kept his stuff on the side table and walked into the bedroom. It was empty. The closets were empty. She had left. Not even a letter awaited him.

The Story of an Employed Ant

This story was sent to me by a friend.

Berlin Blockade (24th June, 1948 – 12th May, 1949)

It was the year 1948. The Second World War had ended a few years back and the world now had two superpowers – The USSR and the USA. The Cold War had also just begun. In Europe, after the war, Germany was divided into four zones administered by the USA, Britain, France and the USSR. The city of Berlin, even though it was located inside the Soviet half of Germany, was divided among the four powers.

Towards the end of 1947, the USA, Britain and France decided to join their zones so that the German economy could be developed more efficiently. The USSR decided to keep out of this plan as they wanted to bleed Germany for her invasion of Russia during the war. Germany was, thus, divided into East Germany, controlled by the Soviets, and West Germany controlled by the three powers. But a western controlled zone inside the heart of the Soviet zone was a pain to the Soviet leader Stalin. Also, as conditiond in West Berlin was far better than the rest of East Germany, it was a cause of embarrassment to the Soviets.

On the 24th of June, 1948, the Soviets blocked all road, rail and canal communications between West Berlin and West Germany. The supply of food, water and electricity was also blocked. The Soviets felt that by pressurising the West in this manner the West will realise the futility of maintaining their zone in Berlin and would retreat, giving the Soviets a great propaganda victory and a victory in the Cold War. The Western Powers, led by the USA, realised the symbolic importance of retaining West Berlin. It represented all that they stood for and the USA, and also the other powers, were not ready to lose West Berlin. Britain and the USA decided to use their air space to fly supplies into West Berlin. Any attempt by the Soviets to stop supply planes would lead to their loss of prestige in the world and a major war, which the USSR was not ready for. Hundreds of aeroplanes were used to airlift food, coal, and other necessities into West Berlin at a rate of about 5000 tons per day!!

Initially, the Soviets were sure of their victory, and even celebrated it, dubbing such a project a sure failure. But as supplies kept flowing into West Berlin, they realised that they had underestimated the resolve of the Western Powers. The Soviets had no way to save their face now. The blockades on Western Berlin was removed and free passage was restored on the 12th of May, 1949.

Operation Little Vittles

During the Berlin Airlift, which lasted a year, Gail Halvorsen, one of the airlift pilots flying into Berlin, made friends witha group of German children who came to watch the unloading of planes. He promised to bring candies and chocolates for them and to let them know that it was him, would wiggle the wings of his plane. Over the next few weeks he dropped a large number of chocolates and candies and a large number of German children gathered. He also began to receive mails addressed to "Uncle Wiggly Wings", "The Chocolate Uncle" and "The Chocolate Flier". This got to the news and the commander in charge of the airlift was delighted. He expanded it into “Operation Little Vittles” and a number of pilots volunteered to help. When the news of this operation reached the USA, children all over the country began to send in candies and chocolates and even candy manufacturing companies joined in. In the end, over three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin, and the "operation" became a major propaganda success. The candy-dropping aircraft were christened “raisin bombers” by the German children.

Happy Birthday!!!

Zinedine Yazid Zidane was born on this day in 1972, at Marseille, France. He is regarded as one of the best footballers of France and the world. He helped France win the World Cup in 1998 and the Euro 2000. He retired from professional football after the 2006 World Cup. He is associated with the Real Madrid football club. He is one of my favourites.

Also born on this day in 1976, Patrick Vieira is another famous French footballer and former captain of the team. Born in Dakar, he is a Senegalese-born Frenchman of Cape Verdean ancestry. He was a part of the World Cup and Euro Cup winning French football team. I really miss his game in this year’s World Cup. It is a sad story that the French have to relinquish their World Cup journey this year due to the failure to win a single game. Hope they can come back with a bang. Viva La France!

253 Years Ago!!!

253 years ago, on this day, in the morning 3000 troops belonging to the East India Company, led by Robert Clive, faced the numerically far superior army of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daula, at Plassey. What ensued became historically known as the Battle of Plassey. The nawab was defeated by the conspiracy of his own ministers with the British. This was a major turning point in Indian History as it marked the beginning of British hegemony over India

Many scholars see Siraj as the benevolent ruler, who was dethroned by the imperialist British by underhand means. I contest this argument. Siraj-ud-daula was by no means a benevolent ruler. His father was, but he was not. He was a despot to the core. He was a staunch fanatic and his accession to the throne marked the beginning of torture on the Hindus. Many of the rich merchants in the region were Hindus, called Seths. Siraj used all means under his power to wrench them to lend money to him. Many of the merchants were terrified of him and the British who offered a safe haven for life and property seemed a welcome option. This group formed the bulk of the conspirators and were the designers of the outcome of the battle. If Siraj had been a benevolent ruler like other rulers during the time and later, like Tipu Sultan or Hyder Ali, why would anybody want to conspire and get so much support? Hyder and Tipu fought the British and had the love and support of the people. Conspiracies did not succeed to bring them down. But they succeeded in bringing Siraj down, Does this not say a lot about the kind of ruler he was? If this is so clear, there is no point in sympathising with his defeat. I don’t.