Update :)

Mumbai Anthem released .. watch it here.

Salaam Mumbai!

A year has passed by since the 26/11 attacks took place and Mumbai still stands tall.
I just finished watching a piece on 'News 24' channel (didn't know this channel existed) and they were showing a video-taped Kasaab being interrogated by a police officer. And here are his confessions.

Another thing I just found out is about a song that Sonu Nigam is coming out with. They call it The Mumbai Anthem.

It releases on the fateful day of 26/11, ie, today.
I heard parts of it on the news channel and it's absolutely amazing. Do check it out whenever you can.
For all the mumbaikars, the anthem is going to launch exclusively on Big 92.7 FM today. Be sure to catch it.

PS: Till today, I didn't know what to write here and I didn't know why I was suffering from the Writer's Block. I guess I didn't have any strong emotions all this while that could make me write.
But watching Kasaab confess on tv brought about such myriad of emotions that I was unable to contain myself and just had to share what I saw with everyone!

Whatever happened was highly disgraceful and this is one of the things I wish could be undone (where are time machines when you really really need them :( )
But I must salute each and every person who was involved, in whatever little way possible, in rescuing and building back the Mumbai of his/her dreams.

May the souls of all martyrs rest in peace.

Amen.

By the power vested in me!

DAY….. 23 April 2009

11.30am: woke up

12.30pm: Mission: VOTE!

onto the net to search for my voting booth address that I had seen days before on Jaagore.com

12.30 – 2.30pm: tried EVERY possible search combo to find out my record but no luck. (I was damn sure I had seen it a few days earlier but had forgotten to save it :| )

2.30 – 4.00pm: gave up .. did some tp .. had lunch

4.00pm: back onto the net for comix and stuff :D

4.15pm: found a new site to search for voter’s record (http://punecongress.com/html/votersearch.aspx) .. meanwhile entered one more search combo onto jaagore’s search app

Voila! My record appeared on both search apps!

But yeh kya .. where the hell is this booth now!

4.15 – 4.30pm: frantic calls to everyone I know to ask for the directions.

4.35pm: BINGO! Last name on my list gave me the directions. Ran out of the house while still on call .. no rick available and it’s a 15 min walk :(

4.37pm: start to walk .. saw a friend coming back home on the bike .. frantic calls to him .. three words uttered .. ‘Need to Vote!’ .. one Q asked .. ‘where’

Guided him all the way to there.

4.43pm: at the gates of my voting booth. 17 min left .. still time! Aah!

4.45 – 4.50: searched all possible lists lying on the table (while fighting the crowd that wasn’t cooperating). Couldn’t find my name :(

Arrey aise kaise .. I am NOT gonna give up .. asked the mamu to look if any more lists were remaining .. and voila .. one last list comes out from under the table! And there it is! :D

4.52 – 4.55pm: note down the number .. run to find the room I have to vote in .. oh man .. just realized it’s the last one! Ran like crazy.

4.55pm: there I am .. 1 more person ahead of me .. show my number .. show my identity card .. get the ink mark on my left hand’s finger .. the person ahead of me is done voting .. I am asked to go ahead and cast mine too .. wow .. there are soooo many goddamn parties with weirdest of symbols .. spot the candidate I want to vote for ..

4.57pm: cast my maiden vote as a responsible citizen of India! :D

Dunno about you all but it was exhilarating .. was proud to have exercised my right! :D

And I’d like to think, that with that last vote, I probably tipped the vote scale thereby making my chosen candidate win! ;-)

Places to visit before I die

I have finally decided to put down all the cities/countries that I want to visit around the world before I die. And they are as follows:

1. Paris (make that entire France)
2. London
3. Berlin
4. parts of Italy
5. Las Vegas
6. Goa
7. Poland
8. Amsterdam
9. Brazil
10. Singapore
11. Sweden (only to meet Gau)
12. Venezuela
13. entire England
14. okay .. make that the ENTIRE world!!

but 1st I want to start off with backpacking across Europe! Gau .. let's do it before we get married da .. who knows whom we're gonna land up with!!

Intro to cyanide

I totally forgot to mention in the previous 2 comic strip posts that they have been inspired by the comic strip - Cyanide and Happiness. I did not realize that many people might know about it. (check Bhushan's comments on my chatbox! No Bhushan, I am not going crazy!! I just happen to be a Cyanide fan :D)

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this kinda humour:

The style of Cyanide and Happiness is best described as dark, cynical, often offensive, and exceedingly irreverent. Frequent topics of humor include disabilities, rape, cancer, murder, suicide, necrophilia, pedophilia, sexual deviancy, sexually transmitted diseases, self-mutilation, nihilism and violence. The comic does not always have a definite punchline in each strip, or may have several panels of "awkward silence" after (or instead of) the punchline, with characters simply staring at each other.

Try reading the comic. It seems that very few people enjoy it and hence are unable to appreciate the humor present. I personally find it hilarious :D
A big thanks to Arnold for introducing me to Cyanide :) My dream of making at least one comic strip has already been realized :D and yes, I will try to think of my very own comic strip with my very characters :D

Anyone interested is most welcome to collaborate.