Marriage and Astrology Connection: Reducing Uncertainty

Often we hear people advocating a horoscope match before marriage.

I was thinking... does horoscope match really make a difference?

Does a good/bad horoscope match mean that the marriage will be a success/failure?

To counter this people give an example of other cultures which don't go for horoscope matching before marriage. Where there are large number of successful marriages.

This argument, in turn, can be countered by the fact that divorce rates are quite high in the western world.

What does all this mean?

--

Firstly it means horoscope matching is used as a source of information especially in arranged marriages where usually the boy and the girl don't get to spend a lot of time with each other. It is supposed to indicate problem areas for the couple to work on.

Among other things the match is given a score using a point-based system. Maximum number of points which can be earned are 36. These are spread over different sections. Each section represents one aspect of married life (such as off-spring - 7 points, emotional compatibility - 2 points and physical compatibility - 4 points).So a low score on the physical front may mean that couple with not feel sexually satisfied. A perfect score of 36 or anything below 18 is usually not good.

--

Secondly I think it also means that marriage is slowly changing. It is now more about being comfortable with each other and taking your time before settling down. The time of arranged marriage is slowly going. Marriage itself is becoming a flexible institution. If we see the west, arranged marriages are a thing of the past. Parents do not interfere in their children's lives. This like all things has a positive and negative side.

These days live-in relationships are are not taboo in the big cities. Therefore instead of going through a horoscope matching process to discover similarities and differences people now try living with each other full time.

But then again human nature has many hidden corners which are not easy to get to. People who have been living together (with or without being married!) for a long time, sometimes end up surprising each other.

In the end the fact is whether you trust horoscope matching to tell you things about a relation or whether you spend time with a person to discover them.

In the end you have to take the plunge at some point of time. You will never have complete knowledge about a person. The uncertainty can be reduced but never eliminated completely.

Images of London

Glass and Steel and Clouds!

Overlap of Old and New on Oxford Street, London.

The lights at Barbican Centre.

At Leicester Square, London - The Swiss Court.

The twenty-six shields are the official shields of the twenty-six cantons of Switzerland.

Brain, Butter and Cheese

Last few months have been busy. Work related travel, working on my Ph.D. thesis and few other things kept me busy.

Just realised yesterday my brain feels weird!

The only way I can describe it is that it feels as if my brain has been spread like butter over bread!

I need to bring everything together make my mind feel like a block of Amul Cheese! :D

People have been asking me WHY AMUL CHEESE OF ALL THE DIFFERENT BRANDS?

Well that is because AMUL Cheese cubes feel really solid like 'barfi' (Indian sweets). You can bite them like a Cadbury's chocolate bar!

:D

Brighton - Bright and Early from my Mobile

The Brighton Centre

The old West Pier

The Promenade

The Hilton Hotel

Morning skies!

Garfield!

Suggested addition to this post by a friend:

Azahar: MEOW

Anb: hello billi

Azahar: pet me :D

Anb: hahahaha
beat u wud be more likely
:p

Azahar: hehehe why why :D

Anb: ayse hi
u wud be a cat extremly similar to garfield
n i duno any1 who wud like to pet garfield! :p

Azahar: hehehe thank u!

80% Life

There is a very disturbing ad on the television about road saftey.

According to the ad if you hit someone, while driving, at the speed of 40 miles per hour (approx 65 kilometers per hour) then there is an 80% chance that they will die.

On the other hand if you hit someone at 30 miles per hour (approx 48 kilometers per hour) there is an 80% chance that they will live.

The ad ends with the words 'It is 30mph for a reason!'

This got me thinking that why is it at 30mph. Is 80% survival rate good enough?
Who decided 80% was good enough?
Or was this analysis carried out after the speed limit was set at 30mph?

What it takes to be a Politician....

I was watching a 'debate' on the 2008 Budget the other day on NDTV24x7. Barkha Dutt was hosting the show.
They had 3 politicians on the show. One from Congress Party, one from BJP and one from CPI (M).
Of course the 'debate' soon deteriorated into a combination of boringly sensible questions from Barkha Dutt, a lot of passionate screaming (especially by the BJP politician) and a balancing act by the lady from CPI(M).

It also made me realise what you need to become a politician.

Here is my list of required qualities for a politician:

1) Should be able to scream at the top of your voice while ensuring clear speech.

2) Take everything personally.

3) Judge things more on popular opinion and its effect on the vote bank rather than solid information.

4) Have a very limited world view.

Water Symphony

Still shots of water falling into a glass.

Cambridge

Looking across the Park (Regent Terrace Road)

The railing

A twist in the tale!

Through the vines

White-fire

A church on a foggy evening

A church through the window

The moonlight shines through...

Two funny incidents....

I am slowly developing a strange reputation in Bristol!

Yesterday two funny things happened with me....

Incident 1:
It was evening time and I was up in my room. I heard my landlord enter the house. Since I had some work with him I went near the stairs and called out 'Jerry, I was wondering...' to see if he had few minutes to spare. Almost immediately he responded 'Azahar, I get worried when you start wondering!'

:D

Incident 2:
Some friends were over for dinner and as it usually happens after dinner we were just sitting around talking about various things under the sun.
The topic turned to what was the smallest size women's perfume bottle normally available in the market.
After thinking a few seconds I told my lady friend 'I guess the smallest size must be 250ml'.

She burst out laughing and said that that was too much and the smallest size was about '30ml'.

Then I realised I had been equating perfume sizes with the size of scotch bottles!
The smallest bottle of scotch normally available is a 'quarter' which is nearly 250ml.

:D

'Round the pole star we go....

Stars going round the North Star (Click on pic for a better idea of what I am talking about!)

Once I am gone....

POST DELETED BY POPULAR DEMAND!

CHEERS TO MY LOVELY FRIENDS!

CHEERS TO LIFE!

:D

Once I am gone...

There comes a time in all our lives when we must think about the world without us. The world after us.

We should plan what happens once we are dead. We should make our deepest wishes known.

My intention is, through this blog post to make known four wishes to be carried out, once I am gone and my ashes have cooled with the gentle evening breeze.
This is what I want my friends and loved ones to do:

1) BE HAPPY! Don't anyone DARE cry! :D I'LL BE HAPPY ONCE I AM DEAD! SO SHOULD YOU GUYS! We will surely meet again. I don't let go of my true friends that easily.

2) HAVE A DAMN HUGE party with lots of wine, women and food! :D It should be a rocking party! Once the party is over... forget why it took place, forget me, move on. :) I already would have!

3) SELL EVERYTHING I OWN. USE THE CASE FOR HELPING PEOPLE IN NEED. No one should know where the money came from. Silent charity is what I desire. :)

4) ENJOY LIFE! :)

Alien Versus Predator: Requiem

Can't figure out why they made this movie.
There is nothing special in the movie except a 'Pred-alien' which is a hybrid predator-alien and a short scene set on the Predator's home planet. The storyline is nothing new and the end is nothing different. I hope the next part is super amazing to wipe out the memories of this one.

I give it a 5 out of 10 for a weak story and a weaker concept.

P.S. I Love You

Usually I don't watch girly rom-coms but I went to this one because a friend wanted to see it and I am all for giving company to people hell-bent on doing crazy things!

The concept is quite unique: the guy dies and the girl goes half-mad with sadness. But then she discoveres that the guy has left her letters with tasks she has to complete. Each task is different.
Won't reveal more except to tell you that while the movie concept is different it remains firmly within the 'feel-good' rom-com framework and the end is quite predictable (with a minor twist).

It is a decent time-pass movie (especially if you have a girlfriend!) and Gina Geshorn is looking quite amazing! ;)

I give this movie an 7 out of 10.

Manorama: Six Feet Under

This one is murder mystery movie with bits copied from Chinatown, an old Hollywood movie. But the movie is still worth watching. Abhey Deol, Gul Panag and Vinay Pathak have given the characters a unique 'Indian' face so that they don't look like photocopies of characters from Chinatown.

Since it is a murder mystery, wont reveal much. Just a few comments:
- Gul Panag is looking amazing (love her dimples!).
- The story is fairly complex and will keep you guessing till the end.
- The ending of the story is quite amazing, I really loved it.

It is definitely worth watching and more than just a good time-pass movie!
It is quite an old movie so you may have to locate a DVD or download it from the Internet.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Cloverfield

Cloverfield is one of the most innovative movies I have seen till date.
It combines the camera work of the Blair Witch Project with the special effects of Godzilla/Independence Day. The whole movie is just amazing and a MUST WATCH.

The only problem is that some people might be bothered with the rapidly changing camera view since this movie has been given the format of a movie shot using a handycam (it was actually shot using a normal movie camera - editing and post processing worked the magic of giving it that 'handycam movie' feel).

This handycam feel gives the movie a very personal touch and the action sequences shown from a normal human point of view are absolutely amazing. In other monster/sci-fi movies most of the shots are wide-angle views and well planned steady shots which makes the whole movie seem fake and planned. But in this movie it feels natural. There are no panaromic shots of the action, in fact you can't even see the monster clearly till about the last scene of the movie. The camera view is shaking so you actually miss bits of the special effects like you would if you were filming the incident as well as running for your life!

The only problem is that the story is not all that innovative. It is a standard monster(s) smashing through a city scenario. I am waiting for part 2 of this movie.

I give this movie a 9 out of 10 for innovation. It lost one point because of the standard story.

Tare Zameen Par

Tare Zameen Par is a very good movie which talk about childhood and the education system in India. It rightly highlights the fight for each half-percent that every kid has to face as soon as he/she enters the formal education system.
While everyone can associate some aspect of this movie with their childhood and on the whole the movie is nice, I don't think it is as brilliant as people make it out to be.

There are several problems in the movie which ensure the movie ends up as a piece of fantasy rather than showing the true frustrations of a boy with dyslexia.

They show Ishan (the boy with dyslexia) manages to reach 3rd Grade without understanding alphabets and mathematics. How he managed to pass 1st and 2nd class god only knows. I remember I found the 2nd class mathematics quite tough to be honest! But I guess they couldn't get the same kind of acting out of a younger actor.
Secondly Amir Khan just breezes into the movie in the second half and solves all the problems magicaly. The school agrees, the parents agree and even Ishan agrees all in the span of about 20-30 minutes.
The Art Mela ending is quite decent but then again it clouds over reality by showing that the best painters in such a large school are the Teacher (Amir Khan) and Ishan. All other kids are dumb when it comes to art and painting.
The funny thing is, the film is about doing your own thing and not getting into the 'rat race'. But to show that all obstacles can be overcome it uses a competition thereby proving the point that you really cannot get out of the 'rat race'. If you want to (im)prove yourself, you must compete.

That is why I give this movie 6 out of 10.

On a personal note this was quite a memorable movie for me. Ended up seeing two movies in a row on an amazing and gloomy Friday evening.

The Witches...

... it is doubltess known that only witches, and very few even of those, have tails. Witches, moreover, belong more to the feminine than to the masculine gender.

Fr0m The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich by Gogol.

Last few weeks all the girls I know have been wanting to beat me up. I don't know why. Someone slaps me, someone tries to kick me and others threaten me with sticks.

:D

I wonder what is so special about me!

:)

Old fashioned....

Several times he tried to pronounce the dead woman’s name; but in the middle of the word his peaceful and ordinary face became convulsively distorted, and a childlike fit of weeping cut me to the heart.

No: these were not the tears of which old people are generally so lavish, when representing to us their wretched condition and unhappiness. Neither were these the tears which they drop over a glass of punch. No: these were tears which flowed without asking a reason, distilled from the bitter pain of a heart already growing cold.

He did not live long after this. I heard of his death recently. It was strange, though, that the circumstances attending his death somewhat resembled those of Pulcheria Ivanovna’s. One day Afanasii Ivanovich decided to take a short stroll in the garden. As he went slowly down the path, with his usual carelessness, a strange thing happened to him. All at once he heard some one behind him say, in a distinct voice, “Afanasii Ivanovich.” He turned round, but there was no one there. He looked on all sides: he peered into the shrubbery—no one anywhere. The day was calm, and the sun shone clear. He pondered for a moment. His face lighted up; and at length he exclaimed, “It is Pulcheria Ivanovna calling me!”

- From 'Old Fashioned Farmers' by Gogol

This is a wonderful story about growing old with your love and then having to suffer their death. The story talks about an old farming couple who have been with each other since the beginning. The old lady (Pulcheria Ivanovna) dies and Gogol paints a painful picture of the old man (Afanasii Ivanovich) who is left behind with the memories.
In the end (five years after the death of the old lady) he gets a 'call' from his long departed companion. I can imagine the peace he felt when he heard her call.

It must have felt like breathing in after holding your breath for ages or drinking a glass of cool water after a lifetime of wandering in the desert.

But the title of the story is most amazing. The title is 'Old Fashioned Farmers'. I find it so accurate. I think spending your entire life with someone has become 'old fashioned' now. The lack of patience and increased expectations have made sure that divorce is seen as an easy way out.

The value of 'growing old together' has taken on a different meaning now. Age is counted not by how many years were spent with your loved ones but by how much money you make, how successful you are in the eyes of the society (both personaly and professionaly) and of course by how many diseases you have.With the average human life-span increasing growing old together should have a special meaning.

All this sometimes makes me wonder 'why'. Why work, why worry, why struggle? One day we all will be dead and what we gain in this life is sure as hell not going to be any good once we have 'crossed over' into the next.

All we will leave behind would be a string of broken relations marking out our empty lives just like broken milestones marking out a dark and lonely highway to nowhere.

:)