The Mixed Bag : Of Goa, Ethics and MTNL !!

*posted next afternoon*

Okay.. so, the other day, this discussion on ‘Ethics’ came up yet again, on someone’s blog. And I tried to put in words (though as a very crude attempt) some earnest thoughts. And then I recalled this reply-comment I had written for a previous post on this blog. It was a verse on a related issue. Well, it was an allegorical verse (A real-life story retold through the means of parallel characters- not necessarily human/animate beings. Boy! I love doing these things- helps me vent emotions without adopting the ugly-banging-head-on-the-wall course of action :D, which more often than not, yields no fruitful results!)

Here is what I had written:

I have just come to despise certain words lately, "morals" and "ethics" being some of them ..
it's weird how pure logic is often touted as something so high-n-mighty.. and has become almost a FAD .. u know .. the "in thing" ..
2+2=4, n not 5, 6 or 7! .. stating this very obvious in public has become a virtue of sorts ..
and thus, statement of logical facts has become a rare phenomenon in itself .. we conveniently sanctify this exercise.. and then wash our hands off it by running away with the excuse of being mere mortals ..with not a hint of divinity!..
The White Flower here, is an allegorical depiction of those who can manipulate this weakness in the masses at large, to their advantage .. u know, grabbing the Halo by calling 2+2=4 when they so wish, and making the same 5, 6 or 3 when it suits their convenience, coz they think they can always turn around and tell the non-haloed beings, ‘at least I got it right last time’ ...
What is simple logic, becomes simple politics..
The answer '4' is no more the relevant .. it is the process of addition in which lies the catch..!

And this comment on this other blog I was talking about:

I think the word “Ethics” lends itself to convenient manipulation coz of its relative nature. Seriously, we shud replace it with the concept of Cold Logic, for all purposes- practical, and for public discourse. The problem arises when we attach the avoidable baggage of morality to the simple logic of
"As u sow, so you reap".

Sigh. This is what happens when you lose the context of things! ..

I don’t expect any reader to understand much of this, coz it has not been very well articulated. Maybe, some other time. ...

MTNL is playing truant!! I H-A-T-E it … positively hate it … with every iota of HATE I can muster. Somehow, it shows “connected” status, but internet remains inaccessible. And this silly goose of Internet Service Provider wont relent :( I have to do an entire report for my new “work place” .. and having been occupied (for a change, PRODUCTIVELY) with other things, I could not sit for this before today, and Lo! The MTNL is busy acting up :-x

(Honestly, the sheer volume (and quality) of curses that me and my sis have hurled at them in frustration, gets me worried about its fate! )

So, here I sit, hoping against hope that mayyyybe it will connect in a while (er.. though it hasn’t behaved in the past 10 hours :( : ( )

Oh by the way! I got to know something very interesting the other day. One of my seniors has secured a job posting in Goa! .. I mean wow!! .. Of all places you can associate with work- that should certainly rank somewhere at the bottom. And yet, it never occurred to me.. of course, you do have normal people there, working in offices, toiling day in, and day out… doing all the mundane work that unfortunate beings like us living in non-holiday spots do. I mean of course, you DO need things other than music, party, beaches, cruises, or even dope et al. for that matter, to run a city. D’oh!!

At first, it seemed too good to be true :D :D … Goa!! .. The minute I discovered this, an image popped up in my mind (and yeah, ludicrous image I agree) – I immediately visualized him in THAT holiday Hat, and all the other Beach-gear.. sipping off a drink (I also wondered aloud as to whether we could now expect to see him next in those loud Beachy, Flowery T-shirts :P but apparently, he is okay without those!)

And yet, Goa is Goa. It’s a place full of life and energy, a zest for life, and a life full of gay abandon! Or at least, that is what I remember of that city, which has a very different flavor of its own. It can’t be just the Portugal touch. Nope, it’s more. The ethos of the city I guess – a certain quality is exuded by just about everything and everyone, that is so very umm.. Goan, there is no other word for it! And it’s not just the beaches. It’s more :)

Now, there is a very fond memory of that place, that still brings a smile to my face(As do all RKK-memories :) ). We were on this cruise in Goa (I think it was called ‘Maria’ ..) *on this 8 day Bombay-to-Goa Trip organized by the School. This was when I was in class Eight, yeahh.. *

Well, it was one of the most beautiful evenings we spent there. The Cruise. Must be around 40 of my batchmates, and 40-ish seniors. Like I said, the spirit of Goa is contagious, and in places and occasions like the cruise mentioned above, with a wonderful blend of music and frolic, you have a certain magic in the air :) *reminisces fondly*

It wasn’t loud- the gathering. People weren’t stepping on each other, screaming each other down (Oh, that’s another legitimate way of indulging in gay abandon after a hard day’s work :) of course)

It was one of those elegant kinds of gathering. Where one swayed to the music, or just stepped back and quietly watched with amused satisfaction and pleasure, the ambience, and the people- all gathered to take some fun “time out” and to share the spirit with all others in the place- known and unknown.

Oh I recall this guy who was performing – I think he sang mostly all of Lucky Ali songs, and Boy! He could have given him stiff competition- the voice was too good. (u know… when I was younger, I was never as tone-deaf, as I eventually grew up to be :P .. although was never a music freak, let alone a connoisseur… but yeah I can tell a good set of vocal chords at work, anyday!)

Well, The music was awesome, and the singer was awesome too. (I dunno if this was a co-incidence, but he had the same (or greatly similar) physical appearance as Lucky Ali *hehe.. although, he might have done better with the resemblance having stopped at the voice bit ;) *) We were seated among the audience for quite some time (well…loads of things there as well, but the memory’s hazy)

There were people dancing on the floor before us, as the guy sang and music played. And I recall all of us itching to take over the dance floor. (Gosh, we were a fun batch! .. u cud play any music at any hour of the day, at any place .. u name it, and it would come alive as a dance floor :) ).. Unfortunately, we weren’t alone on the cruise, the crowd was well… a Crowd- which is always a mixed bag of the decent and the not-so-decent strangers. And footloose as we were, we were also quite sensible, in a way *sighs with fond pride* So we did not, of course, step onto the dance floor (though I seriously remember having contemplated throwing off the junta who had occupied the floor for so long, into the surrounding water. We were even wondering as to how much booking the entire cruise just for our lot, would have cost. Errm.. yeah, there were times when I was too big for my shoes, with my imagination :P) Well, we sat there, after sometime, beginning to crib inwardly, yearning to flex our muscles, to get up and get started! Good sense, and faith in god stopped us from taking any step which might only have spoilt the otherwise fun trip. And so we sat, bidding our time…

Meanwhile, I recall this episode with Nidhi J. :D … well, it’s a legend close to everyone’s heart. For firsts, she was one person who had fully internalised Goa – with all those flowery beachy shirts, and very Goan sunglasses. Well, she was also the ‘Ms. twinkling toes’ of our group, and the denial of the opportunity to dance on such an opportune moment and platform.. if it was bothering the rest of us, I’m sure it must have been annoying her no end. She sat there, imapatiently, irritably. And Nidhi-ly.

So when this Aunty turned around, sweetly and asked her in a very conversational manner, “So, where are you all coming from?” (errmm..we were a pretty large and notice-able group u see :D) ..

To our shock, and disbelief, Nidhi turned around and snapped back at the Aunty :

I’m sorry Aunty. We are not supposed to talk to strangers. *Cold look*

Aunty *struggling to overcome the initial shock of this sudden, uninvited rudeness. And especially hurtful, I assume coz she had picked on this girl who sooo looked like an Official-member-of-the-Goan-Clan*

‘oh..kay’ *turns around in her seat, face red with shock and anger*

Well, the music ended. And there was applause.

And hear, hear!!.... the Emcee whoever..now goes .. ‘I notice that these young ladies seated out there *pointing in our direction* have not joined us in the dance. And they don’t look too happy about it.

I would now request them to come on the dance floor while I perform special songs for them. And all the others, please stay out for now, and let them have the floor to themselves. ‘

*yayayay!! – we could have hugged Lucky Ali-Part Two :D :D*

Meanwhile, Ms. J was busy gushing/blushing etc etc about a character apparently .. somewhere in the crowd. Perhaps, others were too. Me and DJ sat at one extreme corner of the row (I was closest to the water!! :) ) and DJ just filled me in about this gushing business in a passing manner. Okay. So nothing new about that. And not a new story coming from our Ms. J either :D

So, anyhow, we danced to the wonderful, soulful music (Hail Lucky Ali- part two, wherever you are), but sadly, like all good things that come to an end, this one did too. (And it ended with an applause from the audience *grinning sheepishly* -- ohh, even Aunty must have been back to her jovial self!)

Err… now our lucky Ali did something that made him lose points by the way.

He asked us pleasantly ‘That was a good show. you guys must be from Delhi? ‘

We corrected him. “Nope. We’re from Jodhpur-‘

*frown* .. “Wha- where’s that ??”

Okayy.. Fair Enough! Jodhpur was no more than a spec on the map of India. Salman Khan’s Black-Bucks-hunting case had recently hogged limelight though, and had helped put the city on the map a bit…yet, it was pardonable ignorance.

We smiled. “It’s a place in Rajashtan”

And err..

*Frown again* “Annd.. where’s that??” !!!!

However, this was unpardonable ignorance. And we politely walked off the stage, I personally having let Lucky Ali Part two slide several notches down on my opinion-ometer ;)

But maybe I shouldn’t underestimate Goans’ general awareness coz of this one-odd instance. Imagine what would happen if people were to estimate the quality of students of my institute based on a one-odd interaction with me *gulp*

IMI would then be recognized as a place breeding MBA-Bashers-yet-MBA-doers, who donot even know the period in time-scale when Emperor Akbar reigned in the region *wink, wink,… that’s another story*

Anyhow, so now the floor was open to all, and the evening was about to reach a closure. This was to be the valedictory dance, if such a thing exists.

The dance ended, on a spirited note. But waitaminnit! To Nidhi’s amazement, the object of gushing/flushing was now dancing with Aunty (her best guess was that he was her son!) .. and merrily so!

And when the music ended, the pair came back (this time, Aunty calls out to the Character – “Rahul beta … “ – Yep. That was the name. How very aptly filmy.).. and Nidhi, having realized her stupid, criminal mistake, regained her senses (and also reclaimed the DROPPED jaw :D) .. (while the rest of us rolled up with suppressed and not very suppressed laughter)

And now, this was classic … (sinking to her lowest best :P)

The minute aunty returned to her seat in front of Nidhi,

She squeaked, sweetly and meekly ..

“errm.. Excuse me Aunty… “

Aunty turned around *taken aback- shock written all over her face*

*others- watching from a distance, and savouring the fun*

Nidhi squeaked, with all her polite dignity:

“I’m really sorry about my behavior. Actually, we are strictly forbidden to mingle with others…School Rules ..” she mumbled in a feeble attempt to undo the damage.

I dunno what happened after that.. whether Aunty softened. Or did not. Well, either ways, the entire story ended there. What else did she expect, anyway :P

Anyhow… I rem. We came back to the resort, and this story (which spread like wildfire within minutes ) had us in splits (to Nidhi’s chagrin ;)) the entire night (which, by the way, comprised of an again very Goan dinner, followed by a bon fire)..

Hey… which was the night when DJ and I had played chess with Sangita ma’am, in her room (oh god, she was so much fun, she danced all over the room with the two little kids that we were, and then She and another one role played a customer and a bar tender, to our amusement :) )

Oooh of course, this was way back. I distinctly recall that we had Seema Ma’am and Sanjay sir on this particular trip…. Oh gawd… I can just go on n on .. documenting random memories …

And Guess what!! All this while, the internet has not connected !!

*damn you MTNL, BURN IN HELL :-X *

But hey, all said and done, Would I really like to spend a few years of my life working in Goa??

Maybe. Maybe not.

Alright then, more later :D

Cheers and God bless ..

Ciao