It is believed that if you buy 'dhan' or wealth in the form of precious metal before Diwali it brings you good luck. The way potatoes and onions are priced these days perhaps an alternative 'Dhanteras' will be approved this year. It is just an idea, that. Anyways, if you have survived the onslought of good luck, you are immediately burdened with the task of enjoying the delights of seeing your hard-earned money burn in multi-coloured flames. Have you checked the price of fireworks? It does not matter that sound crackers have been banned, it would be unaffordable in any case. When we run out of everything, we have lots of the famous Indian spirit to spare.

So, cheers to the spirit of Diwali, the real thing is bonding and love and sighing after the fireworks that the wealthy neighbour sends up in the sky. Kidding to an extent…Happy Diwali !

We are truly proud this week. Tamil Nadu born Venkatraman "Venki" Ramakrishnan has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shares the Honours with Thomas E Steitz (US) and Ada E Yonath (Israel) for their "studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". Beginning as a theoretical physicist, Ramakrishnan gradually moved into researching the challenges presented by life. The Nobel laureate has several acclaimed publications to his credit.

Ramakrisnan is the seventh person of Indian origin to have received the honour. We salute his brilliance and wish him all the very best for his future scientific endeavours.

Hangover is not a good feeling, whatever it may be induced by. We have a lot of tiring chores to fulfil everyday, but none seems to compete with the tiredness that is a part of having fun. Actually, when the time is limited and it is your responsibility to enjoy as much as you can, it sort of drains out the life force from your entire person. The week after the celebrations is one of the most difficult in the year. Everything is sore - feet (from new shoes), voice (from excess noise that you have created), stomach (from dietary sins), spirit (from dissipated energy). It was all good while it lasted, but it lasted for too short a time.

Just get back to whatever you have to get back to….YAAAAWWWWN.

This has been a relatively quiet week. The only relative who has not been quiet is our President's son, who has secured a ticket for Maharashtra Assembly elections. Let the issue lie for a while, we will comment when the controversy picks up, Batchmates style.

Well well….Autumn is here. But with the state of the global climate, it has arrived more in the calendar than in the air. Navratri and Durga Puja are here too. This is one overdose of celebrations that we can afford to indulge in wholeheartedly. Nothing seems to matter when the Dandia night rolls on into the wee hours of the morning. In other corners, people are sort of charged up after a hectic pandal hopping tour. Festival rules are different. We are in indomitable spirits. Ready to take things on.


Let us celebrate the cause of a good earth this year.

At this moment the word that best describes the state that all of us are in, is 'limbo'. We are not sure about anything. The recession, the rains, the pandemic, Rahul Dravid's form, Sashi Tharoor's sense of humour, Carla Bruni's pregnancy…nothing is definite. We are not even sure what surprise Rakhi Sawant is planning to spring on us next. The media thinks that it can create suspense out of everything and lead us blindfolded to bottomless chasms of curiosity. For once, we have an opinion – we don't care. We are the people who matter and we are busy with the festivities. We are happy to be ordinary.

Eat, sleep and ignore.