Shambo - What a Bull...

This is gotta be the most bizarre story to come out in the news lately. A bull by the name of Shambo got infected by TB in Wales. He was supposedly a "sacred" bull of the local Indian community. Govt. of Wales decided to put the bull down as a precaution, as it had slaughtered other bulls with the same disease, in the past. The whole NRI community went up in arms against this decision. They gherofied the complex where the bull was housed so that authorities could not take it away.

Mr. Shambo in all its glory

U Rekha!!! NRIs have an idea...

NRIs come with a typical NRI-mentality idea to solve this issue. Let's send this TB infected bull to India. Wow, why didn't I think of that?? India is already plagued with millions of diseases, what difference will one TB-infected bull make. And, even if the bull ends up infecting other bulls (who knows it may be sacredly very gay) then, kya farak padtha hain yaar, India main toh sab chalta hain.

Rekha ko maine aise dekha...

I have a better idea. How about we send those NRIs to India to live with the bull? I am sure they won't mind that and will come back running. Indians are already plagued with millions of people with such over-hyper religious mentality, what difference will one TB-infected-bull-with-NRIs-in-tow make. And, even if the bull ends up infecting these NRIs (who knows bull may have a bad taste) then, kya farak padhta hain yaar, India main toh sab chalta hain.

Oh what a BS!!

Mr. Shambo was finally laid to rest today, when it was put in a grave. Unfortunately, the grave was owned by another NRI (As one Gujju bhai famously said "If death is inevitable then there is money to be made in that too"), who could only say, "Bull Sit, Bull Sit..."

Disclaimer: This post is also plagued by a disease called TS...err...Terrible Sarcasm.

Adventures of Harry Puttar...

In a land far far away...errrrr...I mean Ludhiana, there was a secretive non-wizard-believing world which for many years had made people laugh. It was in this world there lived a boy named, Harry Puttar. This is a story of him and his Mom Jaswinder, his dad Gurpal, his masi Sukhwinder, his sister Baljit (or Billo as she was known among galli ke ladke) and his dog Hartej (also known as Harry in his non-wizard-believing-dog-world).

Jaswinder Puttar

Harry Puttar (the boy not the dog) had a split personality that switched between a skateboard wielding dude to a bhangra dud.


It was only when he once combined these two persona and tried to do bhangra while skateboarding, did he got a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead (which cannot be seen in his pictures because of his turban or patka). It was then that his parents came to know about his split personality (with a bit of irony) and decided to send him to a residence which according to them would help Harry choose a better of the two personalities. The school was called....ummmm...ofcourse, Guru Harkrishan Public School (or Ghapcho as non-Ghapchoites call it) in Dilli.

Gurpal Puttar

The curriculum in the school among other things included ladki-taadna (eyeing girls, for non-Delhites). The idea was simple, guys from the school will sit near the canteen and look at girls. If one guy likes a girl he sees, he will raise the hand and tell other guys that she is their "bhabhi" (or sis in law). Other guys will now not be allowed to pass comments on that girl and always refer to her as their bhabhi. In this manner all the girls would be somebody's bhabhi.

Baljit Puttar (urf Billo urf someone's bhabhi...but Harry doesn't know about it)

It is in this world that Harry Puttar will grow where he would learn that it is okay to make fun of oneself but its not okay when the whole community is stereotyped as someone that could be made fun of. He would learn that discipline, courage and hard work are reasons why people in his non-wizard-believing world has been so successful all over (even though he may have learned that by talking to the girl he randomly told everyone is their bhabhi).

But one thing he will never understand is that why is there is big scar on Hartej's pointy tail.

Hartej Pootar

Coming Up Soon: Adventures of Hartej Pootar

Sukhwinder Masi (she has no role in this adventure but no punju home is complete without a masi, so she is here on kahaani ke demand)

Images courtesy: Sunny - The Proud Sikh

Gandhigiri - US Style

Update: As reported by Colors, Gandhigiri might have just worked. The article in the Businessweek.com (Dated: July 17, 2007) states, "After two weeks of protests by high-skilled immigrants over a broken promise to expedite the processing of green cards, the White House has approached immigration advocacy groups to work out a compromise. While the talks are ongoing and could still break down, the government is likely to reverse a July 2 decision to refuse more permanent residency applications, and will likely begin accepting them in the next few days."

_____________________________________________________________

It's seems ironic that Indians based in US are doing Gandhigiri to get immigration to US, while "original" Gandhigiri was done by "the man" to get rid of illegal immigrants in India (a.k.a Britishers). Ah, that dreaded "greencard", which can bring greens a plenty (and no am not talking about global warming). I call it dreaded because just the name can bring fear among thousands of Indians living in a limbo in a country that fail to call them its own. They can't go home after spending so much time and effort in a country that gives them everything except the right to live without fear of getting kicked out.


Indians have been flocking American shores for more than a century. They have contributed to the country more than their "own". US on their part have made sure they get the best from the country but have been reluctant in accepting them whole-heartedly. As long as those Indians are useful to them, they are happy but as soon as they start asking for rights, like the right to live without fear, they are shown the door.

This American hypocrisy came to light recently when they first gave hope to thousands of Indians by promising to fasten the green-card application procedure by moving them into final phase of immigration process and gave them a deadline to submit the applications by July 2. But just as the deadline passed away, the promise was retracted. This is the worst thing anyone can do by giving someone hope and then snatching it back like it never existed in the first place.

Indians have protested for the first time in "Gandhigiri" style by sending flowers to director of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Will it work again? Who knows but for now the department is sticking to its decision. Although, US policy is baffling because it is allowing millions of illegal aliens (yes that's what US Govt. calls illegals, talk about degradation of humans) from Mexico to get immigration but is reluctant to give the same right to people who are making real difference in the country. I hope better sense will prevail and Gandhigiri will be again successful in freeing his countrymen from the fear, albeit for a different reason altogether.

...and so they did

Its been almost two and a half months since I wrote something. It took me this long to get settled in a new city, new life and figure out few priorities of my life. Today, as I look out of my rain dripped window, things couldn't look more clear in my life. The long journey away from home looks worth it, even though I am still longing for my dilli-ke-baarish.


Victoria was my home for six years, more time than any other city, I have lived so far. It felt like home but it was time to move on. Infact, since past 2 years I was feeling the urge to get out of the island. Maybe, because of my Army background this urge will remain with me and Thank God for that. The move was tiresome to say the least with all the packing, shipping and traveling. But who's complaining ;-)


At first, I didn't liked Edmonton at all. It had bad roads, bad weather, but it had my brother which made everything look worth-it at the end of the day. We both may be very different in some respects but we get along like best friends, esp. when our parents are not around (when they are around, we fight like crazy). The best thing about us is that we enjoy same type of movies, watch same type of sports and love to eat same kind of food (except I do all the "good" cooking...lol).


First week was pretty relaxing and we took our time to settle into our new apartment, which btw rocks and is an ultimate bachelor's pad to chill out. I met his friends, we went to play tennis every evening, watched movies together, went to Gurudware every Sunday and played poker on weekends with friends.

Then, started my journey of finding a job in this new city. I must have applied for atleast 200+ jobs and got interview calls from about 10% of those (which is not bad considering its not easy to get even an interview out here). I gave one interview after another, getting better with every one of them, making mistakes on the way and correcting them. It was an experience in itself but totally worth it because it landed me the job eventually, in a company, that I see myself growing into.

Today, when my job is confirmed for long-term, I feel relieved, relieved enough to have the urge to write again. The tension of looking for job and settling into a new place was too much for me to write anything. I am looking forward to my future (except the winter which can go down to minus 40...brrrrrr).

This blogspace in the past has given me a lot and I am ready to give my tiny bits to it in my present and future.

Warning: Be afraid, be very afraid...I am back ;-)