Adversity and Jupiter Transit-

Adversity turns a lot of non believers into believers. I have always maintained that when you are struggling in life, then turning towards god and believing in luck is showing weakness and probably has counter effects (it brings doubt in your mind and there is nothing more hollowing than self doubt). Instead turn towards them when you are flying high and you will witness miracles beyond your imagination!

P.S. Jupiter started it's transit in the house of Leo this July 17th and will remain there for the next 1 year. It has moved from house of Cancer where it was exalted to a house where Sun is exalted. Not a big deal (it is not the house of the enemy, it is indeed a house of a harsh planet however). Depending on how Sun and Jupiter is positioned in your horoscope together with which moon sign you belong to, will dictate how this time period will go for you. Also something to keep in mind is that Lord Saturn continues to stay in house of Scorpio which in my humble opinion kind of mitigates the effect of Jupiter on either side (good or bad).

Last and not the least - hope trumps every planet and every god in the world!

MA   

Alarm Substitute-

So I was in Tokyo recently and for some reason the hotel ran out of converters for phone chargers. Now - since I was on roaming and not that anybody calls me, the phone itself wasn't that important but what it did serve a purpose for was the alarm in the morning! Given I had meetings in the morning, I couldn't really afford to get late - I went back to basics.

Long time back, when I was a kid, I had a massive problem of not being able to get up in the morning. My mom used to wake me up with great difficulty and this went on till as late as my under grad days. I literally couldn't hear alarms - no matter how loud they were or how many were set. Multiple alarms were tried - they came and they went but I just couldn't get up! She then gave me her secret tip. Now I will warn you that this might sound silly or attempt at a joke or just plain frivolous BUT this is anything but that. She told me if you just talk to your pillow and tell it that you need to get up by such and such time, the pillow will 100% nudge you at that exact time for that fleeting moment and that really tiny winy quick window will exist when you will open your eyes at the very time you wanted to wake up. Now it is really up to you after that whether you go back to sleep or you don't act upon it because this trick doesn't have a "snooze" option.

I did try this in Tokyo, it worked. It was magical. 6:30 AM bang, i was up! This works. Try it. I can guarantee this works. For the smart a$$es who have the question that what do we do if we don't use a pillow - I don't know, go figure it out!

MA 

Back in london-

This is the happiest place on earth! Saw chelsea cloisters where i first stayed 10 years back.

MA

EQ-

Increasingly there is a new buzz word - "EQ". Emotional Quotient. Obviously in the context of "IQ". Intelligence Quotient.

EQ is nothing, it is a sign of weakness, people who have high EQ are essentially those who don't have high IQ and hence need something to show that they should be considered worthy of something too and hence they made up a term called EQ.

The above was fairly obvious but there is now a second degree of mind game getting played by high IQ people (as if just being high IQ wasn't enough to satisfy their huge egos) - they keep saying they are a fan of  high EQ. They crave it and call it more important than IQ. They pretend to be jealous of high EQ people. They wish they could exchange their IQ for EQ. This is all to make low IQ people feel better about themselves, positive affirmation.

It is high time people realize - there are only 2 kinds of people in this world, high IQ and low IQ. You can't just invent a term, a new category to make yourself feel relevant.

P.S I am a fairly low IQ person but I refuse to take support of "EQ" to show that I am useful, or in any way better than anyone else.

MA

Feminism-

People keep asking me why I hate feminism. I don't hate women and neither do I have a problem with them. But I do have a problem with anything which divides people and which eggs people on to fight against each other. Be at constant war against each other. That is what feminism is doing these days. It doesn't teach that women are equal, anymore. It teaches that women need to rule over men, they are superior to men and that all men are bad. What is the difference then in any fundamentalist religion and feminism?
FYI - I have an equal problem with chauvinism that say men are greater than women etc etc. Why is there a talk of inequality at all? Why not teach people to exist in peace and with love?

MA

Extraordinary-

Saw the movie "Imitation Game" and realized that some people are so lucky to live such extraordinary lives but the biggest tragedy is that they never realize it. Or may be they do but the people surrounding them make their achievements look trivial and make them look inconsequential. I can only hope that one day I will be given a chance to do something which will be remotely useful and may be, just may be important for someone rather than just existing and living my otherwise pathetic useless waste of a life!

MA

Singapore-

Every time i visit Singapore, i come back with mixed feelings and a lot of anger. It is a great city, clean, no pollution, relaxed and without a doubt: a sense of chillness/ laziness about it which has "less productivity" written all over it (which i love btw).

I went on business so while meetings went well, everything non business was like always difficult and strange about this city. People are so different, they are just not normal. They seem to live in a cocoon and are oblivious to anything other than their lives. May be i am jealous of this and the fact that people are so happy while rest of us normal mortals are so miserable!

MA

Baby-

Saw the movie "Baby" last night. I am impressed, witty and tight screenplay and one of the better bollywood movies I have seen in a long time. As I was discussing with a friend, we agreed on something which I found remarkable - it is our responsibility to make movies like Baby a hit. If people don't turn up in theatres to watch this but instead watch Happy New Year, then automatically those are the kind of movies that will get made all the time!

I was talking to my mom and she said "gaane bhi nahin hain? Phir kya fayda, 3-4 songs hon to mazaa aayega!". This needs to be changed and the onus is on the viewers who want to see that change in the Bollywood movies. I am going to publicize this movie by word of mouth aggressively.

P.S the time of Jacqueline Fernandez is here! I said that about Deepika pre cocktail and it happened. Watch out for JF!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVl3om0-GFE

MA

Top 5 movies of all time-

Someone at work asked me my top 5 movies of all time that I have seen. Got me thinking, here is the list and why I like them (in no particular order)-
Fight Club - Script, Concept, Screenplay
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Unbelievable editing
Inception - Screenplay, Concept
Memento - Concept, Screenplay
Old Boy (original Korean version) - Original script

Atleast this is what I could think of after careful deliberation of 1 day.
Some notable mentions-
Shawshank Redemption
Prince of Egypt
The Dark Knight
12 Angry Men
Godfather 2

P.S.
I think Chris Nolan is easily the best director of this generation and arguably the best in last 70 years. I think he beats Copolla, Zemeckis, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, David Russell etc easily and David Fincher marginally. The difference between their movies is that script is much stronger for Fincher BUT the screenplay and execution of Nolan fkking beats the crap out of any other director! He also uses Hans Zimmer brilliantly, much better use of soundtracks then anyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k

MA 

Getting beaten-

I have realised that i don't feel bad when i am beaten unfairly or when i lose because of some bias, cheating etc.
I feel bad only when i am beaten fair and square. When i know the other guy was the better guy. When i know in all honesty that i was the inferior one and no matter how hard i try, unless god / luck smiles on me, i am gonna get my ass handed over to me.

This has happened to me every two years when i am made to remember my "aukaat". I guess i should learn to know my place before 1 day, god stops being generous and madari sir's premonition that "abe tu hai kaun? Tata hai, ambani hai? Tu peon hai and bada hoke wahi rahega" comes true.

MA

As baba SRK says in Chak De-

"Har team mein sirf ek hi gunda ho sakta hai" (any team can have just 1 bully and rest have to tow the line). I am actually in awe of this concept. This is very true in real life or atleast most of the situations that i face in my mine:
1) Work - as soon as there is crisis of authority, team doesn't know whom to follow or the people start doubting the head of the team, it is chaos. There can be just 1 gunda there and it better be him if he wants people to follow him and get stuff done
2) Poker table - every table has that 1 over aggressive, constant blinds stealer whom everyone is scared of
3) Every relationship / marriage - 1 of the 2 has the upper hand, the person who cares less will automatically become the dominant. Fundamental rule of marriage / relationships!

P.S the movie Chak De is phenomenally insightful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4wLYOGi148

MA