Patriotica incognita

Well, I guess I AM a patriot! But I hide this feeling, I hide it beneath some other pressing emotions...mostly disgust and dissappointment...

There was a time not long ago, that I believed that living in India sucks real bad!
And believe it or not, I had/have my reasons. But I was told,
"Its just as bad everywhere!"
"Oh! You will get used to it!"
"But, you will be a second rate citizen!"
"You will have to do your own dishes!"
etc.. etc..

I am a first-rate citizen as opposed to anywhere else right, why should I complain?
Well, on a average 30 minute ride, roughly 30 autorickshaw drivers will suddenly cut into my path, some 20 odd taxi-drivers will honk incessantly, even though there are ten cars in a jam in front of me...

Almost everytime I stand in a queue, at least two three people bypass it. Of course by the time I am done with the third guy, the fourth guy gets the picture. And this happens everywhere, railway tickets, airline check-in counters, public bathrooms, you name it...

In india you stand in queue for everything, want your hair cut, wait in a queue!! want to arrange transport , wait in a queue! wanna take a piss, wait in a queue! There are just so many people, that everything is a struggle. Of course, thats just how I feel , for the rest of the people, or at least a sizable portion of them, a queue is a synonym for "Hey! Fuck all these idiots standing in the queue, lets just walk to the front!"

By the time I get to work, My hair is caked with dust, and I travel in a rickety BMTC bus, whose manufacturers think of a suspension as a design overhead. As I bump and grind through the traffic at work, I am pretty much done for the day...

There are rats in the mall!!! Yes! You heard it right! The singaporean company that runs the IT park, of course, does not care much because ... "it's indians we are dealing with... the first 100 or so complaints are ok!! Surely we can wait for some mass epidemic of some sorts"

And this is one of the best software parks in Bangalore, or so they say!!

The postal service is so inept that they take forvever to deliver my passport to me, they sit on it for ten days, when I go to the post office they send me back saying that it hasn't arrived yet!

Well, if by now I am not feeling like a first grade citizen, then there's more...

...to be continued...

Variable Performance Happiness

I remember the joy I experienced when I found out that I had landed a job at Infineon. Some guy at the hostel came up to me and told me that two guys were through and I was one of them.
I was incredulous, and walked to the placement block in the hot afternoon. After searching the display boards for a while, I found it. There it was- the key to my happiness - my name in bold along with Saurabh's. The joy I felt that day I remember. I could even say that I was happy.

"The dissection of happiness"

I wonder what was it that made me feel that way, or what is it that makes me happy.
I wonder coz it would great help to know in which direction I should be headed towards.
Doing something extra-ordinary always has made me happy and so has doing something creative. But beyond that I am not sure. Winning makes me happy, so does eating exotic food.
Company makes me happy and so does intellectual debate. A full day of doing very diverse stuff makes me very happy. Like ...

"Hey Ori! Why dont we hit the ice skating rink after your performance at the wembley stadium?"

Or

"Hey Ori! I know flying around in a fighter jet can be tiring, but why dont we spend the rest of the day climbing all the stairs in the petronas towers?"

I am crazy right? perhaps, but these rising expectations of what is the minimum threshld to tickle me is very frustrating to keep up with...