It happens only in America

One fine day last week, I woke up late as usual and did the first thing that I do everyday, pick up the newspaper. I glanced at the headline and was amazed to see what was written in large font. The day’s big news was that Barrack Obama had been awarded the Noble Peace Prize. There was a big photo of the Afro American President just below the heading. I looked at the heading and didn’t know how to react, I thought I was still in my dreams. I opened my eyes wide just to be sure that I really wasn’t imagining what was apparently in front of me. Guess what, I wasn’t asleep, the news was real alright. Then I wondered if today was the first day of April, because I am aware that the newspapers do play practical jokes on their readers on that day. Well no, if my memory served me right, I thought we were well into October. So the news was real alright, Barrack Obama was indeed chosen for the prestigious Noble Peace Prize, which many greats in the past like Mr. MK Gandhi for example were never considered worthy of.

The first thing that came to my mind was Noble? For WHAT? I thought the Noble committee considered the winner after painstaking fact finding, thorough research, serious deliberations and careful thought. Alas, how we fool ourselves with these assumptions.

Firstly, would the committee please enlighten us, what exactly impressed them to consider the President’s nomination? Is it the splendid peace keeping efforts in Iraq or the huge strides made towards ending hostilities and eventual cease fire in Afghanistan? Or is it the prevailing sensibility towards the situation in Pakistan?

Apparently according to the committee, it was his promise towards bringing world peace that overwhelmed them. It was the promises that he had made during his election rally that clinched it for him. Boy, I would have to say, the committee is pretty gullible. Didn’t their mother ever tell them, don’t take a politician’s word for it, least of all, when he is addressing a rally, for the only thing that he is interested in, is your votes and he will say whatever it takes that increases his chance of winning.

Its been nine months that he has held the highest office in US, let me ask, what has he really done in these days? Well, I will let you think over it, scratch your head all you want. If you ask me, any promise must be followed by honest actions and be accompanied with true intentions. Promise without action is just junk words spewed randomly on unsuspecting citizens. I thought empty promises on bringing world peace only won you the Miss World pageant, but Obama shows us that it could also win you Presidency, that’s about all that Obama has proved so far.

Well, lemme try my luck too, here goes. “I promise that I will bring world peace, stop all wars, prevent any from breaking out in the future, ensure that we all live as brothers, shoulder to shoulder.” Well, there goes, my intention to bring world peace has been declared to the world, how am I gonna accomplish them? I have no clue. But who cares? I am hopeful that the generous Noble Peace Prize committee would consider my promise and bestow me with the honour next year. I will book the flight tickets immediately; I have heard that if I book them in advance, I could get a huge discount. There would be a $1.5 million prize money, which I would then donate to charity and set an example, display my compassion, and hope it helps when I set out to fool my countrymen again in three years time.

The other problem with Obama is that if you criticize him, you would be branded as a racist. That’s Strange because I am a big critic of his predecessor, Dubyaman. I have called him a primate many a times, however, if you call Obama by the same name, you invite trouble. Well, I will take that as an advantage of American culture, you need to be constantly innovative, the words that you used for Dubya cant be used for Obama, you need to be more creative. I just wish Obama was too. Well, happy peace prize winning, we will all wait and see who the lucky winner is, in the next edition, in an year’s time, psst, I am also in the race.

Dream on. .

Ok. So the dream continues :-) But not so smoothly.

The day I my Thunder I a quite enthusiastic the new bike. The very next day I out the bike for a thundering ride. And that's when Raka realized how much weight he had gained over the years. And how weak he had become (this is a good ploy of pointing out weaknesses in Raka rather than myself. Helps me be more critical than if I the word 'me' rather than 'raka')

When I a kid, I to ride 4km each way to school. Now admittedly, I've not ridden a bicycle for around 15 years. But then the deterioration has been such, that the first day I not ride my thunder for even one kilometer! And when I home, I all drenched in sweat with my heart beating frantically, seemingly eager to leap out of my chest any moment.

With this embarrassing enlightenment, I've resolved to ride my thunder daily or at least 5 times a week to achieve a distance of 15 kms daily without getting tired. All this by this year end, which gives me 3 months from now.

My today's trip was 1.5 kms each way, from my home to Girgaon chaupati and back. I'd to stop thrice during the entire ride to catch my breath and for my frenzied heart to normalize. After I was back home though, I couldn't even stand. I'd to lay down right on the floor! With a bit of relaxation, I a limbu pani, which brought me back to my senses.

Today's Performance: 1.5 kms each way, with three stops and total exhaustion on return.
Target for next week: Girgaon chaupati and back, non-stop, with probably a bit of exhaustion.

Lets see how I keep up. .

Bike Dream...

Raka is back to Naklistan after a long, very long time. You may notice that the last post I had posted was when I got married. So probably it was not against the ways of the world that I disappeared from the scene for month together.

I was getting somewhat restless for the past few days. My hands were itching to do something new. And that's when I came across a few biking (bicycling not motorbiking) clubs on the internet. That when the wild hog that is Raka, which was dormant for quite sometime remembered the wildness that was partially subdued by marriage!

And that how Raka bough a brand new bike (not the El Cheapo bicycle. hehehe)

So here's the charming beauty..




Will post about my first ride soon...