Very often we hear about people pouring money down the drain. I am sure you would have heard about that famous politician who literally did so for her foster son's wedding. Or that diamond merchant who chartered an aircraft and solemnized the ceremony midair. What about that steel tycoon who bought a "French castle" as gift for his wife. The list is endless. There is a hotel with a golden loo. Then people have garments (even under garments) studded with jewels.

All this fills me with distaste. What a waste of resources. Just because one has been blessed with a silver spoon, or may be several spoons, doesn't mean it can be used to scoop garbage. These people are criminals and I am sure they will pay for it, one day or the other. This went on till that day....

On that day I had been shopping for little odds and ends at the nearby bazaar and happened to enter my favorite CD store. "Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix", had been released on DVD! I grabbed a copy and ran home, only to find the disk getting stuck exactly at the famous first kiss scene. Shop insisted that all their products are genuine (thereby defect free) and for testing they sent me to the neighboring electronics store along with the sales man.

The electronics store had a cute young girl at the cash counter. She greeted the sales man and soon both of them pulled out a DVD player and started testing the disk.

They were quite friendly with each other and began chatting, oblivious to my presence. I pretended to be invisible and was enjoying their conversation. Suddenly she took the DVD cover and asked, "What is the cost of this disk". Seven hundred rupees answered the young man. My god! SEVEN HUNDRED RUPEES, she exclaimed and that too for a Harry Potter movie??? Every now and then it is shown on TV. By the way, who is the rich guy.... Before much damage could be done, she was silenced by a sharp jab of his elbow and he pointed me with his eyes. Her face turned crimson but I pretended to be busy watching the screen.

Seven hundred rupees meant quite a sum to her, maybe a good part of her weekly earning. I got enveloped in guilt and a rude awakening dawned on me. I found myself being placed in the same category of that politician, diamond merchant and steel magnate.

The other day, I overheard an
exchange between two ladies. An old woman and a middle aged one. Let us call
them O and M. The conversation starts with M wishing O a good morning.

M : (smile) no maam I wasn't your student, but my sun was.

O : Ohhhh is that so. What was his name.

M : Z

O : Z , yes Z , I remember him. (loudly) Very naughty boy. A real naughty boy.

At this stage every body in the scene starts staring at M, who seems to be smiling. I wonder, "Why on earth this poor lady had to wish that old cranky teacher, who has announced to all that this lady had mothered a little monster".

O : He was equal to ten ...... ....... ..... By the way what
is he doing now?

( Her eyes wide in anticipation. Picking pockets, cooling his heels in .......)

M : (with triumph) He is in IIT Bombay.

O : IIT Powai ???? emmm, all these pranksters seem to do well. Only seedha saadha type end up being losers.

Ladies and Gentlemen clearing JEE and entering any one of the IITs is an achievement for any engineering aspirant. Only the brightest of the bright achieve it after putting in one or two years of hard work. I wonder, this teacher had bright and intelligent student in her class and all she saw was a naughty boy.

Lord alone can save our education system. I hardly had any kind of respect for my teachers (baring one or two). I always believed, they are there (in teaching), because they can't do anything else. We used to joke, "those who know, practice and those who don't , teach". This episode only made my views stronger.

Let me confess, all my life I had been a bank bencher. Never been in the good books of any teacher. Nobody expected anything out of me, hence nobody is complaining.

Those who still believe in, " guru Brahma, guru Vishnu ------", kindly accept my apologies.

MotoGP season 2008 has started with several changes. I would like to mention some of them as I feel they are notable (strictly from my perspective).

I missed the Quatar GP, it was the first night MotoGP race. But was able to catch the Spanish GP, which took place on Sunday. Quatar saw the reigning champ, Casey Stoner start with a victory. The surprise package was Lorenzo (two times 250cc champ) reaching the podium with a second place ahead of Dani Pedrosa. Rossi managed 5^th place.

Spanish GP at Jeerz was even more exciting. Jorge Lorenzo surprised everyone with his pace in the qualifiers to take the pole. The race had an exciting start when Pedrosa sprang to lead right from the start. Stonner stunned everyone when he managed to overtake the entire crowd, only to end up
on the gravel. He performed this feat twice and finished at the eleventh place. Dani Pedrosa was in a class of his own, opening up a 4 second plus lead and clinching his maiden MotoGP victory, in front of his home crowd. Valentino Rosi did not waste the opportunity when it presented itself. He pulled an audacious over taking to take the second place but had to fight tooth and nail with his teammate Lorenzo, to maintain it. Fiat Yamaha team must be happy with the two podium positions but will be hoping that they will not be witnessing the MotoGP equivalent of Alonso Hamilton spat.

As of now Pedrosa leads the championship tally, followed by Lorenzo, Rossi and Stonner. Let us see what happens at the Estoril circuit.