ChinmayC Blog

We’ve been very much used to lament ‘all the taxpayers’ money’ whenever we come across some embezzlement of public funds or plain acts of bribery and corruption. In this piece we’ve decided to confront a new but emerging phenomenon as should be clear from the title given. That day during a writer-authors’ conference one author made a disturbing observation on or perhaps lamented that ‘nowadays the number of authors has exceeded the number of readers’! That observation instantly found a sympathetic supporter in none other than this writer; because I’d dwelt on this post-modern phenomenon quite often and I’d even extended this realization to ‘there are more singers than listeners nowadays’ and of that kind. However, I don’t intend to analyze the nitty-gritty of such phenomena here apart from just saying that such brazenly emerging facts of life have been owed entirely to the social media and all digital formats that convinced a huge chunk of the users that they could indeed write and ca...

He is of light medium build with specks of beard littering his round face and a balding head. He has a soft but monotonously lingering way of talking and is often not able or rather willing to concentrate on his work for more than say ten minutes; however, he, in his late fifties, doesn't offend his clients easily and manages to sail through on most occasions. Gunesh is a DTP operator with specialization in the vernacular languages which makes him stay in good demand. He works from his home that is dominated by his proactive better half. And this particular fact of his life does cause quite a bit of inconvenience to his clients. We have some information about a lady who's been suffering because of Gunesh's homely habits that include running off on a daily basis on various errands and desires of his wife even as clients who'd struggled hard to get the appoinments sit on in his homely chamber.  By some quirk of fate the said lady who stays in a far-off city from Gunesh...

The FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup-2022, the quadrennial international football tournament, is set to begin from Sunday, 20 November till Sunday, 18 December in Qatar. The much-awaited event, coincidentally the 22nd version on 2022, has several other features: the first time ever it's being held in the Arab world or in the Middle East; the first time it's being organized during the northern autumn season (winter in India) instead of the usual summer months of May, June and July, and this decision was taken considering the intense heat conditions in Qatar during the summer; the FIFA World Cup event returns to Asia after 20 years and only the second time it's being hosted entirely in Asia; and it is the last tournament to be held with 32 teams, the decision finalized in 2017 to expand it to 48 teams from FIFA-2026 to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico. The inaugural match will be between host Qatar and Equador at 9.30 PM IST on 20 November...

After being crowned with the ODI World Champions title in 2019 England today has completed the global white-ball supremacy by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne. Pakistan has almost done an India just managing to post a meagre target of 138 and consuming 15 overs to score 100 runs after being put into bat by England like in the semi-final against India; but the target came to be even less than India's 169 thanks to Hardik Pandya. However, their famous pace bowlers gave England a hard time and but for the resurgent Shaheen Afridi's injury who was unable to fully bowl the last two overs of his quota the match could've gone down the wire at the death.  Like India, Pakistan openers failed once again to build the momentum and other Pak batsmen stumbled along, scoring a pitiful 18 runs in the last four death overs. But again, unlike India, they attacked England batsmen from the first over putting up two slips and not at all askin...

For anything bad that happens to us we tend, almost reflexively, to blame others for that. However, for all the good things that also happen to us we gratefully take the full credits, unable or mostly unwilling to appreciate the possible role of others in that. For example, when I slip on a wet spot of the tiled floor I reflexively thank God and my protecting angels for preventing a fall that could've been serious, if I am of the appreciating type. But someone of the blaming type would instantly burst into a furious verbal spree, blaming the carelessness of someone spilling water on the floor and going even to the extent of alleging a conspiracy to kill him or her.  Some people are always in the search for a blameworthy person to pass on the blame for his/her concerned failures or mishaps. This is despite knowing for sure that the supposed failures or mishaps were creations of his/her own, entirely.  It's really unfortunate that most people spend whole of their lives blaming o...

Many years back I wrote a piece titled 'Populated Movies' that was later included in my first book ' Laugh and Let Laugh ' in 2017. In that piece I argued that since India is an overpopulated country with high unemployment rates the creative art forms do adjust to that reality by trying to generate maximum employment opportunities in their projects. For example the goons in a mainstream Hindi movie: whereas just one bullet through the head by one villain is enough to kill the hero or the protagonist, the chief antagonist or the main villain sends an army of goons armed with an assortment of weapons for the job. I argued that this is done with a view to generate more employment. But I was mistaken, and so I just want to admit this here.  My argument got almost fatally shot after I watched all the three movies of the 'John Wick Franchise' (2014 onward). I failed to keep count, but hundreds of hapless goons got killed in each of the movies at the hands of the '...

Breakfast at the dining table. Two ladies are talking in a rapt engagement. They've finished breakfast and the teas, but perhaps the interesting subject of their conversation keeps them engaged still. The younger lady belongs to the host family while the elder lady happens to be a surprise guest. At this moment the younger lady is describing something animatedly. The elder lady listens resting her hands on the table and bending forward to the other lady. Suddenly, a tiny droplet of the younger lady's saliva shoots out and unfortunately, lands directly on the listening lady's right forearm. She, still in the act of listening, looks mournfully at the droplet, but is too courteous lest it draws the other lady's attention and make the whole innocuous happening unnecessarily embarassing. It is not at all known though if the talking lady notices it or misses it, she as innocent as the other lady.  There has to be a bit of squirming inside the affected lady's mind, obvious...