Chp 371. A True Story… of Love & Romance

“Bawihi…” He softly whispered to her, as he pulled her hair back gently beneath the pale moonlight. She looked at him with her soft innocent eyes and parted her trembling lips… She sighed, “I’ll forever be yours… Bawiha.”

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The young couple had been in love since time immemorial. They could be you and me, for they represent every young Mizo guy and girl in Mizoram.

In our Mizo culture, unlike most other Indian cultures, being in a relationship at an early age is not only accepted, but sometimes encouraged by our parents too. It is perfectly normal for young boys to visit a young girl at her house and woo her. This concept is called “Nula rim” (Nula means a woman who is single, and rim means to court).

Traditionally, during the process of “rimming”, it is the duty of the girl to welcome the guy (who is sometimes accompanied by his wingman) to her home. She makes tea for her suitor and sits with him in the living room. Then they talk about different things, trying to see if they have anything in common or whether he can make her laugh with his corny jokes.

Sometimes, she gets multiple suitors coming from different places (and such women are called “nula luck”). In such a scenario, the second suitor usually leaves on seeing that somebody’s already beaten him to the house, but there are also incidents in which guys from different places do sit together, each one trying to impress the girl and outdo the others (pretty much like a Group Discussion round of an MBA admission process).

Meanwhile, her parents too do not get involved and while most parents move to the bedroom to give their daughter privacy with her suitor/s, there are also some who do stay within earshot of the conversation, spying and listening to make sure nothing hanky-panky is going on and that no lines are crossed.

The girl eventually ends up liking one of the boys, and they soon become a couple. He lovingly calls her “Bawihi”, and she returns that love by calling him “Bawiha”. The words bawiha and bawihi means “Loved one”. People in love show their affection to each other by uttering those words to each other.

However the concept of “bawihi” and “bawiha” is not something new in our Mizo society.

During the days of “Zawlbuk” (a dormitory right next to the Chieftain’s house, where all the young lads of a village would sleep together. Useful especially if warriors from different clans raided their village as all the young men could quickly assemble and fight back), there were times when the girlfriend of one of the young warriors would hide behind the bushes below the Zawlbuk and wait for everybody to sleep.

Then she would gently call out, “Bawiha…” in the middle of the night. Her lover would then secretly leave the Zawlbuk and whisper back, “Bawihi…” In the darkness of the night, they would keep signaling “bawiha, bawihi” to each other and move towards the sound until they had found each other.

Such was the sweetness and romance of bawiha and bawihi.


.............

At this point, my friend could not control himself anymore. He fell to the ground and laughed uncontrollably, tears gushing out from his eyes. And then taking a deep breath, he looked at me and asked, “You seriously wrote all that shit?”

I was as serious as hell. “Yeah… I mean that was just the gist of what I wrote. I ended up writing for around 7-8 pages, you know, so that I might get more marks.”

He laughed his ass out once again.

I was starting to get a bit irritated, and a bit worried too.

“What’s so funny? Did I not get my facts about our Mizo history right?” I asked him.

Finally, with a straight face, he said, “When they asked you to write an essay on the Bawih system in our Mizo society, they didn’t mean “bawiha”, “bawihi” and any of those romance crap. They meant “slave”. Hence you were supposed to write about the slavery system that prevailed in our Mizo society before it was finally abolished in 1914, how slavery worked, the two types of slaves, how slaves were treated etc…” 

Pin drop silence.

“Oh…” was all that could come out of my mouth…

That was the first AND last time I ever decided to write the MCS (Mizoram Civil Service) exams. A True Story indeed.

Chp 370. Dream interpretation, anyone?

Got this really crazy ass dream/nightmare last night. I for one, am not one of those bloggers who rant about their dreams… but this time, I just want to pour it out here because it was so realistic and… intriguing as hell.

The thing about dream is, no matter how realistic it feels then, by the time you sit in front of your computer, everything had become hazy and blurry. So when I woke up suddenly this morning at 4am, I immediately took my trusty Android and started writing down what I just experienced quickly in shorthand.

Now as I sit in office typing this, if you are the type of person who’s really into all this dream interpretation (and the paranormal), maybe you can explain the meaning of my dream…

In my dream, I was asked by Arsenal FC to play for the team since most of the players were injured . So there I was, playing my first match for Arsenal.

Ok, so far, I’m sure it doesn’t take a Jung or a Freud to deduce the meaning because after all, I am a hardcore fan of Arsenal.

Now the strange parts begin…

First of all, though I love Arsenal FC, when it comes to playing, I am more of a basketball player. I have indeed dreamt many times before about dunking over Yao Ming or Shaq, or scoring a buzzer-beater on game 7 of the Conference Finals. But last night was the first time I ever dreamt about playing football (as far as I can remember).

Secondly, yes, Arsenal is my favorite team, but any football fanatic knows Arsenal is performing extremely badly this season. We are close to the relegation zone due to the loss of important players, and the last minute players we bought don’t seem to be working out at all. So how come I’ve never dreamt about playing for Arsenal during our glory days. Why now?

Thirdly – this is the strange part – I scored four goals! We were playing against Newcastle United, and the full time score was 4-3. We won because of me! But what’s really strange was – all the four goals I scored were just very simple and ordinary. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and none of my finishings were awesome or outstanding… the ball slowly and meekly rolled into the goal, just inches beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.

Now this is my dream we’re talking about. How come I didn’t tackle through 4-5 defenders as Messi would or score a goal with an unbelievable back volley shot or even a long range goal from beyond the centerfield? Why such simplicity? Yes, when I dreamt of basketball, I was the superstar. We do the impossible in our dreams, right? …flying over people and having superhuman strength sometimes. But last night, everything seemed to be really humbled.

Fourthly – now comes the strangest part, the reason why I woke up sweating at 4 in the morning.

So there I was, with my Arsenal team mates, hugging and rejoicing. Arsene Wenger too shook my hand and said something to me in French. I nodded. After I took a shower, I quickly went online from my mobile phone, looking forward to what the press would be saying about me…

But… there was nothing! Goal.com and Arseblog.com hadn’t updated the match highlights yet. So I went to arsenal.com, and a short notice read: “Arsenal beat Newcastle 4-3!” But no details of the game were there.

So I went to misual.com, and even there, nobody was talking about the match or my four goals. I thought some of the people there would be talking about how an admin of the site scored 4 goals for Arsenal and that it was a proud day for every Mizos across the world. But NOTHING. Then I called up my friend Amos, another admin of misual.com and a hardcore Arsenal fan. I knew he would definitely be watching the match.

I asked him if he was watching the match and he said yes. So I excitedly asked him if he saw me, and he said his TV view had been zoomed out so he couldn’t make out who the players were or who scored the goals!

I screamed.

I hung up and went to google.com from my phone (damn, that visual is still SO clear in my head right now, as if it actually happened!). With trembling fingers, I typed, “Arsenal Kima”.

The only results I saw were of my blog posts where I have blogged about Arsenal.

Then I typed, “Arsenal Newcastle match Kima 4-3”

No result!

It was then that everything became more distorted and my whole world started spinning around, and I woke up sweating and breathing heavily (and a bit angry too). Even after I woke up, it took me quite some time to realize it was just a dream… but damn, it was so freaking real.

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Now comes the interpretation – what does the last part mean?

From my own deduction, it looks like I desperately want attention. Or is it that I merely want to be recognized for things I have done? Things that I deserve to be appreciated for, but sadly ignored and swept aside? Am I being suppressed? Or is it that I want something more out of a relationship or in my life or even in my job, but I’m not able to get more no matter how hard I keep squeezing? At the end of the day, yes, I know it was just a dream. But sometimes, it makes you wonder because some of the reasons I mentioned above may indeed be true.

Like I said before, I don’t blog about things like this… but this one… this one is different. Eerily speaking.

Chp 369. A visit to Mizoram University

Notable poet and etymologist John Ciardi once said, “A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.” Whether that’s true or not, I did happen to visit our reputed Mizoram University during my short vacation in Mizoram.

You know you’re really old when you go to a University and all your friends over there are WORKING in the University, not studying.

The day started with me going to my friend OP’s place. From there, we took his bike instead of his car because of the rush hour traffic jam.

The road to MU was, as Chris Rhea crooned, The Road to Hell indeed. I got a sore ass by the time we reached MU and I wasn’t even in Prison picking up soap, if you know what I mean. Horrible the road was. Kinda shocked me as to how our Government could ignore such an important path.

At MU, I met my cousin and friends at the Bio-Tech department. Hung out with them for some time and I got to see all their researches and experiments. Later, we all moved to the MU Guest House where I met my friend Francis who’s the caretaker of that place. Other friends from the Education department too came and we all had lunch together. I met a few faculty members too.

One thing that definitely took me by surprise was the sheer size of the University. I mean… I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT vast. It took me almost half an hour just to travel from the Bio-Tech department to the Guest House. And the University is still expanding as I write this!

Francis took me for a short tour around the University Guest House, and by the time we were done, there was no time to meet my friends in the Administration section, Psychology department (U Baby) and English department (Cherrie)! It was already 5pm then. Closing time. Dayyymmmm!

Had I known it was going to be like that, I would have definitely planned it better. So I really felt bad telling my friends that I wouldn’t be able to meet them even though I was right there in the freaking University.

I did take a few photos and even a really good video from the “highest point” of MU – On top of a water tank!

On our way back, it rained like crazy. There was no way I was travelling back in a bike, but fortunately Francis was on his way to Aizawl for the weekend, so I hopped into his taxi. The road back was scary as shit, as we battled the heavy rain, thunder, lightning and landslides in an almost zero visibility mist while avoiding falling rocks, trees and boulders, but Francis assured me I found it scary only because it was my first time. Suddenly, I was filled with newfound respect for all those who journey that precarious road every day just to earn their living or learn something new.

All in all, I had a great time there, and I look forward to visiting the University again (but of course with much better planning next time).

Here are a few photos and video I took that day. Cheers!







[With my friends from misual.com]






[Funny thing. As we climbed up the “highest point”, water overflowed suddenly from the water tank above and drenched me completely!!!]



A 360 degree video view of Mizoram University from the “highest point”.

Chp 368. Contemporary Mizoram: My thoughts.

My dream vacation in Mizoram is almost over now. I have spent a lot of time with dad too, and I don’t feel that guilty anymore leaving my family and heritage behind to earn my living thousands of miles away.

Being on a vacation in Mizoram is actually not that much of a vacation. In fact it is kinda like work. Apart from looking after dad and doing house chores, meeting up with friends (friends I grew up with, old school friends, online friends) is compulsory too. And I have already attended four funerals and there’s a wedding I have to go to tomorrow. Four Funerals and A Wedding indeed, unlike the popular movie.

To make this post brief, here are my thoughts on a few observations –

 

1. Cost of alcohol in Mizoram.

Yeah yeah, everybody knows alcohol can truly never be banned even if you’re living in a Total Prohibition state like Mizoram. We Mizos just love taking a sip from the forbidden cup, don’t we? The cost of illicit booze in Mizoram is around 500 bucks for regular brands like McDowell and Royal Stag (which shoots up to 1000 bucks during Xmas/New Year).

When you break the law by buying something illegal at such an outrageous price, sometimes the same booze that you get every day in Mumbai actually tastes better in Mizoram, at least psychologically, due to the forbidden apple syndrome. But this time, things are different. With the recent 60-70% hike in alcohol price in Mumbai, the cost of illegal booze in Mizoram and legal booze in Mumbai of the same brand are more or less the same now, if not even cheaper! Suddenly, all the fizz is gone.

 

2. Invoking God’s name in every Goddamn thing

I was listening to Pu Zoramthanga’s speech on Remna Ni (Martyr’s Day) a few days ago. I found it quite disgusting. Politics and policies is one thing, but unabashedly using God’s name to gain political mileage is lower than the lowest of all things low. It’s natural to criticize opposition party members. Hell, I’m even ok with all the mudslinging and backstabbing. But to say stuff like “The MNF are God’s chosen people”, and “To criticize the MNF is to criticize God. Any Mizo doing is an enemy of Christianity”, in front of a Christian majority state is downright shameful and nauseating.

Are we that naïve? When I discussed this with my friends in Mizoram, they said they are now used to such statements from politicians, regardless of which party they belong to, and not many people take them seriously. I seriously hope so! Doesn’t the Bible say, “Thou shalt not use the Lord’s name in vain”? We used to joke about how all politicians will go to Hell. Looking and what’s going on in Mizoram, do you still think it is a joke?

 

3. The Bastardization of Mizo language

Ctng cuan xom cy ly miy cyiy xxy ywh yyyyy. - If you’re not a Mizo, you won’t understand this. And if you’re a Mizo, you still probably won’t understand this. This is how the Mizo youth of today speak on Facebook and via sms. And strangely, they seem to understand each other. I thought I was the only one who despised this uncouth behavior, but upon reaching Mizoram, I found a lot of my friends here criticizing this “language” too.

Well frankly speaking, much as I hate people raping my mother-tongue, I think this is just the way the teens of today rebel. Comon, even when we were their age, we have all done something to rebel against society and be a little bit anarchic, right? I don’t think it is fair to moral police them and criticize them openly. If anybody speaks to me in that strange tongue, I just ignore them, plain and simple. They think they’re uber cool talking like that. I’m sure they’ll get over it one day, just like how we got over our bell-bottom pants and self-recorded tape cassette collections. Let them have fun. Yyych llych cuan myau byau cyau piau.

 

4. Traffic Jams in Aizawl

Maybe because I have read so much about the horrible traffic jams in Aizawl that when I finally got to see it, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Not at all. In fact I loved it! Compare this to Mumbai traffic jams and you will know what #FML really means. And in spite of the traffic jams in Aizawl, people still drive politely, giving way to other cars and pedestrians, with nobody honking their horns or fighting for road space. It’s beautiful.

And my friends in Chaltlang told me it takes them forever to reach Dawrpui due to the traffic jams. Urmmm… why don’t you just walk? From the time I arrived in Aizawl, I’ve been walking almost everywhere and its fun. You enjoy the breathtaking scenery, you bump into old friends and relatives, you move faster than the traffic, and it’s also a good exercise especially for people like me. And then my friends told me I find it fun only because I don’t live here and that I won’t be having this cheerful attitude if I was living in Aizawl. Hmmm… difficult to argue with that because I live in Mumbai. It’s like asking you if you were a dog, would you prefer rock music or hiphop? I’m not, so I won’t know.

 

5. Hanging out with my homies

Gone are the days of excitedly reaching home from the airport, spending some time with my family, and then visiting as many friends as I could that very night. Now I have to call up my friends first to see if they’re at home or free to entertain friends. Because most of them are now married, and many of them have kids too, so life is definitely different now. Even during daytime, all of them are working, so it’s very difficult to meet up with friends for lunch. Couple of years ago, all I had to do was send a short sms and my friends would be at the rendezvous point even before me.

I also attended my nephew’s birthday. My bro-in-law is a member of “Aizawl Thunders”, a Bullet-only biker gang. As expected, a lot of Thunders came for the birthday party, but what’s really funny was that, beneath all the leathers and modified bikes and long grungy hairs and machismo, they were just typical dads, running to their wives and kids whenever they called out their names, sometimes feeding them and other times changing their diapers. Lolz. But they’re a really funny bunch of people, hilarious and bright, and I look forward to spending time with the gang again.

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So this is just a short update from me. I have taken a lot of pictures, and I’ll post them once I reach Mumbai because the net connection at home is not very good. Cheers, I gotta sleep early because I have a wedding to attend tomorrow.

Chp 367. Of Mizoram weather & dad’s condition

One week in Aizawl now, and it had been blistering hot, humid, sweaty, rainy, windy, misty, wet, damp and freaking cold. Yeah if you wanna experience what “extremes of climate” feels like, Delhi is nothing. Come to Mizoram! Lolz.

At least in Delhi, the change happens gradually. Over here, things go from “Hell, it’s hottt!” to “Fackk it’s colddd” overnight. The first two nights I was here, I couldn’t even sleep due to the heat. And since I lost all privileges to the master bedroom downstairs (which my sis had taken over from me), I am now sleeping in dad’s old study room. It’s either that, or sleeping upstairs comfortably in my dad’s bedroom, mom’s bedroom or my nieces’ bedroom, but that means I can’t come home late (8pm is late by Mizoram’s standard) as they’re already sleeping by then, or smell of booze in front of my nieces (not that I will be drinking because Mizoram is a dry state and alcohol is strictly prohibited. Haha.)

Also, mom doesn’t allow me to smoke upstairs because she finally managed to make dad quit smoking due to his medical condition (whenever I meet people in my locality, the first question they ask me is, “When did you come home?”, second question: “How’s your dad?” and third question: “Is he really still NOT smoking? Wow!”) and mom’s afraid dad will feel like smoking again if he sees me smoking.

By the way, I mentioned earlier that dad and mom sleep in different bedrooms. That’s not because of any marital issues, lolz. Dad sleeps in my old bedroom upstairs due to his medical condition, like the loo is closer and higher (taller) in the attached bathroom etc. and the view from the balcony of that room is awesome. He’s kinda bedridden for almost two years now and was admitted to a hospital a month ago, and he’s the main reason why I took this long vacation from work. He’s pushing 80, and sometimes need assistance with his daily chores. But his great sense of humor is still intact.

He watches TV from his bed the entire day (when he’s not sleeping), and guess what he likes watching? Korean movies dubbed in Mizo. Lolzzzz! There’s nothing cuter and sweeter than watching my Old Man deeply engrossed in a Korean chick flick. I fear to ask him if he even knows what’s going on, but the expression of satisfaction and contentment on his face reassures me that he’s truly enjoying what he’s watching.

After two nights of sweat and humidity, the next three days had been extremely cold. Mizoram is no stranger to bits and pieces of cyclonic winds lashing it mercilessly, with no warning in advance, and I was right in the middle of it.

When it rains heavily in Mumbai, we complain about waterlogged roads and vehicles splashing water on us. Hehe, come to Mizoram if you wanna face the real hardships of heavy rains. Rain is always accompanied by landslides over here. Since the entire state is located on mountains and gorges, every house is precariously built on mountain slopes and hillsides. That is why in our Mizo vocabulary, we have two words for neighbor – “Kawmchhak” is the neighbor who lives above you on the slope, and “Kawmthlang” is the neighbor below you on the slope. And during landslides, sometimes entire houses get washed down the slope. There had been rare occasions when such houses were still intact after such a near-death ordeal, and people would joke about how their kawmchhak friend is now their kawmthlang friend. Lolz.

Apart from the landslides, there is the mist that accompanies the rain. Yeah, if you go to Ooty, Kodaikanal, Munnar etc. for a weekend vacation, I know how much you appreciate the scenic mist-covered mountains and valleys. Such serene and tranquil beauty inspires countless number of amateur poets and bloggers, and it is the ideal destination for a romantic getaway.

From Thursday to Saturday, visibility in Aizawl was reduced to around 10 metres because of the perpetual mist. All we could see everywhere were just white translucent mists, as if one was trapped inside a cotton-candy machine. And because of that, everything inside the house was damp – the curtains, my leather boots, the sofa, everything. Trust me, mist is not that romantic!

Yesterday being a Sunday, suddenly everything was clear again! Neither rain nor mist played a spoilsport to the beautiful day. The chimes of church bells from every locality resonated throughout the silent valley in great unison, reminding me again that this was the Mizoram I had always missed.

Some of my childhood friends from my locality came over after morning Church session to pay a visit to my dad. Then my online friends from misual.com, a popular Mizo site I co-host, came in a large group and paid a visit to dad. After that, my old school mates from St. Thomas, Cal, came and paid a visit to dad too.

Basically, that’s what Sundays are for in Mizoram – Going to Church during Church time and visiting sick friends or sick family member of friends during Church breaks (There’s a morning, noon and night service on Sundays that most people attend).

I felt a bit helpless bombarding dad with all my friends because he kinda preferred to be left alone, but he was still as cordial as ever and greeted all my friends with the utmost courtesy. Then he asked them who their parents were and immediately told them about how he knew their father/mother and what they used to do when they were young etc. He spent a really good time with my friends.

And of course since at least 80% of my friends are married with kids, dad and my friends continuously made fun of me about still being single and that they should put out an advertisement on every local newspaper with the message: “Marry him and get a Bolero FREE!”

Grrrrr…

But then, this is what every 30-something Mizo working outside Mizoram who’s too career focused to think of anything else (like marriage) face whenever they go home - the dreaded “When the hell are you planning to get married?” question. So at least I know I am not alone in this. Haha. Cheers for now. Laterz.

Chp 366. Upgrading Samsung Android 2.1 to 2.3.3

Just upgraded my Samsung Galaxy S I9000 from an outdated 2.1 to the latest 2.3.3! Actually, 2.3.4 is out but apparently it’s not available for India/Asia through Samsung (shitty) Kies yet, although you can upgrade to 2.3.4 using Odin etc.

Moving from 2.1 to 2.3.3 without even experiencing 2.2 is a mega jump in the Android Evolution! In Mizo, the appropriate term to use for this would be “Bawh Kân”.

I am quite a technogeek, but I am not THAT geeky enough to find joy in flashing ROMs, modifying Kernels etc at regular intervals, so I’ll just keep it simple in this post. The reason why I am posting this is to help anybody else who may have a problem upgrading their Android.

This post is about how I did it. But my method may not work for you, and I will not be able to tell you why it didn’t work for you. This is not a tech advice post or gyaan and it’s not meant for the experts out there. This is just a post for people like me who know a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

So yeah, a big WARNING in advance, for you may end up BRICKING your phone. If you really want to upgrade but you’re not that android-savvy, I suggest you find a friend who is an expert when it comes to this. I found mine – Lalremruata Chhangte (Chhanga). He guided me during this entire process through chat, and thanks to him, my phone is what it is today.

First of all, let me just state the obvious, that Samsung Kies is one of the crappiest software around. People at xda-developer forum too declared that whoever developed Kies should never be allowed to make softwares again. Haha.

You can always use other unofficial alternatives, but then, if you are not that tech-savvy there is always the danger of bricking your phone then. So for people like us, we have no other option but to use Kies.

So here’s what Lalremruata Chhangte told me to do.

1. Back up my contacts and messages

2. Root your phone

3. Download Titanium backup from Android Market

4. Back up all apps using Titanium

5. Upgrade using Kies

I don’t need to tell you how to back up your contacts and messages. You can do that using Kies, Google account and even your phone book has the option of exporting your contact list in .vcf format.

Regarding point 2, yes it is necessary to root your phone if you want to use Titanium backup software (available for free on the Android Market) as it requires superuser access. Here is how you root –

1. Download SuperOneClick v.2.1.1

2. Go to your phone “Applications/Development” and select USB Debugging

3. Connect phone to PC in debugging mode

4. Open SuperOneClick exe

5. Click on Root

6. Done, your phone is rooted and you now have Super User access

Once your phone has rebooted, go to Android Market and download/install Titanium backup. You can now open it due to SuperUser access. Click on “Batch” and then click “Run” for “Backup all user apps”. A new window will open with all your installed apps, and simply select all the apps and games you want to backup. I had around 350 apps I wanted to backup, so that took me around THREE hours to backup! I suggest you don’t do the same foolish thing, and only backup certain apps and games where you REALLY want to save your progress.

Also do NOT click “Run” for “Backup all system data”. If you are upgrading, you will get new system data and they WILL conflict with your backed-up system data.

Once all that is done, open Samsung Kies. Make sure the software is the latest version. Also, it takes a very long time to upgrade to a newer version, almost the same time as downloading the latest Kies version from Samsung site and installing it in a new system.

After that, uncheck usb debugging mode and connect your phone to PC again.

Now Kies will detect your firmware and notify you that there is a newer version. After that it is just a matter of clicking next, next, next etc. Kies didn’t upgrade me from 2.1 to 2.3 directly. It needed two steps, so first it upgraded me to 2.2.

Once the upgrading was completed, I disconnected and rebooted my phone. It took a long time to load, but my friend assured me that it was because the dalvik cache was regenerating.

Finally, I was on 2.2! Yay.

Next step – 2.3.3

Now, 2.3.3 was a l’il mother@#$@#%.

I followed the same method as above and connected my phone to my PC and opened Kies. It prompted me to upgrade to a newer version again, and I clicked next next next, and it started upgrading.

But THIS TIME, while upgrading, I kept getting the error message “Connection to device lost”!!! But my phone was freaking connected! I tried again and again for around 10 times, but kept getting the same error message.

So my friend and I googled and found out that it was a very COMMON Kies error (stupid Kies). I even downloaded Kies to two of my neighbor’s computers, but got the same freaking error message again and again.

Finally, he saw this forum and forwarded me the link - Galaxy S - problem installing android 2.3 via Kies. Over there, one user “factory resetted” his phone and tried again using Kies, and it finally worked.

So, since I had everything backed up, we decided to do this. Lalremruata told me an easy way to do this from boot menu –

1. Turn off phone

2. Press UP volume key + home + power keys together

3. Boot Menu loads

4. Five options appear. Select third – “Wipe data/factory reset”

5. Confirm (warning: This cannot be undone. You’ll also get 10 options for NO and 1 option for YES, just so you don’t do this by mistake, lolz)

After that my phone rebooted and I lost all my apps, games, phone contacts, messages etc (which was not a problem as they were all backed up) and only my system apps like camera, video player were on my phone. It’s like a brand new phone.

I connected my phone to Kies again. It started upgrading. And then it showed me the same freaking error message “Connection to device lost” AGAIN in the background, BUT WAIT, my phone nevertheless went ahead and upgraded!! Woohoooo!

I even went to the forum link above, took the effort to register, JUST to say thank you in that thread. See, I’m not a leecher! Lolz.

So I was on 2.3.3 finally! W00t!

But if you think that's the end of my fiery tale, you’re mistaken.

Upgrading my phone to 2.3.3 automatically UNROOTED it. But I needed my phone to be in ROOT mode if I wanted to access Titanium Backup in order to retrieve all my apps data.

And here was the final problem – SuperOneClick software I mentioned earlier, isn’t compatible with 2.3.3 firmware! So I couldn’t root it using the method I had written above.

Again, Lalremruata did some research and finally told me to flash my ROM using Odin, as he advised me not to use GingerBreak because it could brick my phone due to various versions. One wrong Gingerbreak on a different firmware and its goodbye phone.

He sent me this extremely helpful link - [CF-Root 4.1]

The steps are given there clearly too –

Follow these instructions to the letter. Do not touch any buttons or checkboxes that are not listed below!

1. Unzip the attached CF-Root-xxx-vX.X.zip

2. (USB) Disconnect your phone from your computer

3. Start ODIN

4. Click the PDA button, and select CF-Root-xxx-vX.X.tar

5. Put your phone in download mode

6. (USB) Connect the phone to your computer

7. Make sure repartition is NOT checked

8. Click the START button

9. Wait for the phone to reboot

10. Done (if it took you more than 30 seconds, you need practice!)

He also sent me the .tar file (mentioned in point 1 and 4 above) that I should use for this operation.

To keep your phone in “Download mode” –

1. Switch your phone off

2. Now Press and HOLD the following Keys in the same order: First Volume Down, Second Home Key, and Lastly the Power Button

3. Keep the Buttons Held until you see the phone Light up, then Let go off the power button, but keep the Volume and Home Keys Pressed

4. Once you see a yellow Droid digging and the Text "DO NOT SWITCH OFF THE TARGET", Let go off all the buttons.

I followed all the steps above and successfully flashed my ROM using ODIN.

I rebooted.

I ended up getting SOFT-BRICKED! Lolz.

A red fish (piranha?) kept blinking on my screen and my phone refused to start up. Haha. I wasn’t able to go to boot menu either.

Again, Lalremruata browsed different forums and finally found another person who had faced the same problem I was facing. And the fact that that victim was also from India made me feel much better, as firmwares are also region specific.

That person finally managed to solve his problem, and Lalremruata sent me the same .tar file that person had used to resolve this issue.

Using that new .tar file, again I followed the steps mentioned above, and FINALLY it was a grand success. My phone loaded and it was perfectly rooted.

I accessed Titanium backup immediately and retrieved my apps.

So now, I am a happy man! :)

This is how I upgraded my Android OS. If I was an iPhone user, all I had to do was connect my phone to iTunes, click a button, and it’s done. Lolz. Yeah yeah, I am a huge iPhone basher, but regarding this particular incident, I must praise iPhone, like it or not.

A big thanks to Lalremruata once again! Cheers! \m/

Chp 365. New Blogger Interface: Posting Tips

blogger.com has finally changed its interface. Lolz. In my 8 years as a blogger, they’ve made a change only once, and that time too it was more about template design and features. This time, it looks like they have revamped the entire backend UI.

Frankly speaking, it looks more like a WordPress backend now, and navigation is much smoother and slicker than before. Monitoring your blog visitors is also much easier now with a built-in analytics report right on the dashboard itself.

I haven’t had the time to explore much, but from my first few impressions, I’d give blogger a thumbs up (seriously, it’s about time!) and inserting images seems to be just a matter of copy-pasting too.

However, there is one flaw I noticed immediately, and it’s about the new post editor.

Again, this post is meant only for those few people (like me) who still like to write their post first on a Microsoft Word document before copy-pasting it to the post editor. I guess we prefer MS Word because we are too lazy and the auto-correct feature seems to solve a lot of problems for us. Lolz.

A year ago, I wrote about Five important blogging tips for those who use MS Word on blogger.com. Now that the interface and CMS editor have changed, I guess those tips don’t mean much.

In this new blogger post editor, it is no longer possible to copy-paste your article from a Word doc to the “COMPOSE” or the “HTML” section. I mean, it is of course possible to do that, but if you do it, your entire formatting (paragraph, alignment, line breaks etc) will now go haywire.

In the previous blogger version, I advised you all not to paste your word document article in the HTML section and that you should paste it in the COMPOSE section only, right? And once you did that, you could click HTML and everything would still be formatted the way you wanted it.

In this new version, if you paste anything in the HTML section first, you will lose all paragraph and line breaks!

And if you paste it first in the COMPOSE section…



…and then click HTML to format your post, you will now unfortunately get this sh*t.



Yup, blogger apocalypse!

But don’t get scared, I know a way to prevent this. I am familiar with this type of display result as Posterous is having this exact same CMS editor feature! Your entire post in posterous will go for a toss if you copy paste the content from a Word file.

One simple solution to this is – REMOVE MS Word formatting.

You can easily do this by using a TEXT document (.txt extension). Once you’re done writing your blog article on an MS Word document, simply copy-paste the content into a text file, with the exact line break and paragraph spacing that you want. Once you do that, again copy the content from the text file and paste it now in the new blogger editor under COMPOSE section.

Thadaaa! Problem solved.

Your post will be formatted exactly the way you wanted it to be.

And even if you click HTML on the editor after pasting it in the COMPOSE section from the text document, you will get this -



See how clean the codes are now! All those unnecessary and irritating MS Word related codes are gone, and this section now consists of just the basic (and proper) HTML codes which you can easily edit if you are even a little bit html-savvy.

If you are really interested in seeing the difference between pasting your blog article from an MS Word directly, and from a text document directly, here are the two results of this very same post –

From MS Word document to COMPOSE section – eww!



From text document to COMPOSE section – wow!



Of course most people do write their blog posts directly on the blogger editor directly, so I guess this post will not mean anything to such people. But to all those who use MS Word docs to write your blog post, this is how you can easily solve your formatting problems with the new blogger interface.

I don’t know about you, but me, I am kinda like an OCD patient when it comes to webpage layout and content uniformity. I die slowly every time I see an ugly blog with unequal and varying font sizes, spacings and colors randomly placed here and there (unless it is done purposely with an artistic direction).

Hope this helps. If you have a better solution to this or any other tips regarding the new blogger interface, please feel free to share here.

Cheers.

Chp 364. Staying Positive, Staying Happy

So Mumbai is still under heavy assault by the rains and the streets are waterlogged most of the time. People who rejoiced on twitter when the first drop of rain fell, are now perpetually cursing this hydraulic damnation.

But if you try to look at it in a positive way, trust me, you will have no resentment towards the rains. Being positive not only makes you happier, you will also end up having a great day. Nobody likes being in the company of a grumpy person forever complaining every damn time about every damn thing.

Renowned French writer and philosopher Voltaire once said, “Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”

The worst thing about travelling during the rains is when other vehicles drive past you and splash water all over you. FML right? Mumbai is infamous for its pot holes during the rainy season. And with great pot hole comes great drenching.

But instead of cursing at the driver every time you get splashed on, how about changing your attitude? The next time a passing vehicle splashes water on you, try laughing! And believe me, suddenly, everything will become so much fun and cheerful! Think of how much fun you used to have playing in the rain (against your parent’s wish) when you were a child? Reminisce those memories and wallow in nostalgia. The next time water gushes into your auto like a tsunami, scream out, “Woohoooooo!” \m/

Because this is the bloody monsoon season, and if you are so adamant about not getting wet, maybe you shouldn’t step out at all and hibernate like the good person you are. But if you HAVE to step out, then by all means, expect to get wet. And when you do get wet, having a positive thought will definitely make the shitty day feel better for you.

Calling the son-of-a-bitch who splashed water on you a jerk may give you momentary satisfaction, but it will still make you bitter and even spoil your mood the entire day. Instead of showing him the middle finger, grin and show him the “sign of the devil” with your fingers because that was “absolutely rocking”. Imagine you’re at Water Kingdom or some other Water themed amusement park and you were sliding down a monster slide!

Of course having this positive thought can apply only if you are going home (or you have spare clothes in office). One time I was in an auto when a vehicle zoomed past us and splashed water on us the size of a mini tidal wave, soaking us completely. The auto driver started abusing the driver’s mother, and I reassuringly told him to cool down and cheer up. And then he told me that I could easily change into dry clothes once I reach home, whereas he had be in those dripping wet khaki uniform the entire day. After that conversation, I am no longer provoked when many autos refuse to ply during this rainy season.

Another time, I was in an auto, and this time my auto driver was the perpetuator. He was driving extremely fast, splashing water on bystanders and other autos that were moving slowly. When I asked him why he was doing that, he told me it was a case of either splash or be splashed. If he slowed down, other vehicles will splash water on us. Hmmm… food for thought indeed.

It’s kinda like one of those B-grade slasher movies or an episode from Criminal Minds, you know, where a psycho kidnaps four hot chicks and locks them up in a dungeon, with the condition that if they fight among themselves and kill anyone, the remaining three will be released. Now all four can cooperate and not fight with each other, but at the same time, they have to trust each another and make sure none of them do anything stupid.

Likewise, we can all trust each other and drive slowly so that nobody gets splashed on, but then, that is nothing but a utopian dream. There is bound to be one jerk driving fast because he is a jerk, or a case of real emergency where somebody’s driving fast in order to reach the airport or hospital in time.

Hence, it is really not possible to have something like that. So, just expect to be splashed on and get wet during this raining season. Instead of complaining about it, if you can meet it with a positive thought, trust me, that will definitely make your day much better!

   

So enjoy the splash! Cheers.

Ending this post with YET another RAGE COMIC strip I made. I seriously think I’m gonna start making a rage comic strip for every new post from now onwards!

Chp 363. Sunday Bloody Sunday: 8-2 defeat.

I usually leave for work around 9-10 am. Today, I left for work at 6:30 am, surprising not just my apartment watchman but our office watchman and office-boys as well. Why so early? Because I just couldn’t sleep anymore.

Yeah we all know about the devastating sports news – Manure thrashed Arsenal 8-2. That’s why sleep eluded me. I kept going to our Arsenal discussion forums, and I kept seeing other gooners posting messages at 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning, 5 in the morning, complaining about not being able to sleep too. I’m sure every gooner worldwide went through the same phase.

The last time Arsenal conceded 8 goals was in 1896. Of course everybody knows the Arsenal team that played last night was an extremely weakened side, with 3 main players sold recently, and eight main players missing the match due to injury or suspension. Rumor has it that two Arsenal fans who came to watch the match were also pulled off from the stands and forced to play by Wenger

But nobody’s going to remember last night as a weakened Arsenal side losing 8-2 to Manure. This will go down history as Arsenal losing 8-2. Nobody gives a shit about how strong or weak a team was or whether there were controversial calls by the ref or not. In the end, people remember just the score line, and that’s what matters the most.

We usually have our injury and “not enough players” problem towards the end of the season for the past 6 years. This time, it’s right from the very beginning. And throughout the world, I’m sure many gooners are frustrated with Wenger’s policy of not splurging big money to buy experienced players. And this time, it’s not even as if we don’t have any money!

In fact, the sale of Nasri now puts Arsenal 19th in the list of Premiere League Clubs with the highest net spending, and the current net spending of Arsenal is actually NEGATIVE!


[Source]

Yeah, financially, Arsenal FC is a very healthy club. But what’s the point when it is not doing well on the pitch?

And with a net spending difference of a whooping Rs 13,34,17,26,508/- !!!! between Manure and Arsenal, Manure was able to beat us by this much ONLY ONCE so far? Lolz, poor Manures. Just imagine if we start spending like everybody else (considering we have that much to spend). It would be the days of the Invincibles again.

In a way, I am glad this thrashing came just days before the transfer window closes. Now Wenger is under pressure not just from the fans but from the board as well to buy some #$%#$^ experienced player(s). All the top teams not only have a formidable starting 11, but a very impressive bench as well. We on the other hand are struggling with the quality of our first eleven itself!

When Ashley Cole left Arsenal for money, we called him Ca$hley. When Adebayor left for more money, we called him Moneybayor. But at the end of the day, if you really think about it, most of us do the same too – we tend to shift jobs if a competitor is offering us more money. To us, football is a passion, but to these players, it is after all work. That’s what we often fail to remember. As Wenger stated, yeah, most of these players are overpriced, but teams that are overpaying them are at least getting something, somewhere. If you can’t beat them, join them?

I can already picture every Arsenal fan screaming out “SPEND SOME F*CKING MONEY” again, and let’s see what Wenger has in store for us. Until then, I will still vehemently say, “In Wenger I trust”.

Some manure friends of mine are asking me to burn my Arsenal jersey because this defeat is a humiliation. Lolz manure fans! So that means if manure loses, they will immediately burn their manure jersey and switch loyalty to another winning team? Typical manure fans. Remember what I said in my previous post about Glory Chasers? In fact, I just realized, their anthem sounds a bit like “Glory chaser, Glory chaser Man United!!!” Haha.

I’m so not burning my jersey. In fact this is me proudly wearing our jersey to work TODAY. I am saddened by the defeat but I am not ashamed of my Club.



So yeah, fuck 8-2. Gooner 4 Life.

Ending this post with this amazing video of Arsenal fans singing in support of the team after the match despite the 8-2 defeat. Makes me proud to be a gooner.

Chp 362. Of Adulthood and Online gaming

HAHAHAAA!!! I still can’t stop laughing at The Oatmeal’s latest update – A comic strip of what it’s like to play online games as a grownup. I can sooo relate to this, and you really have to check it out!

[Click on pic to view complete comic strip]


Lolz. So true!

Even till today I just can’t get over gaming. I love gaming – computer gaming, mobile gaming, online gaming, you name it. But I did stop describing myself as a “hardcore gamer” because these days, any schmuck with an iPhone playing “Angry Birds” describes himself as a hardcore gamer too.

A few years ago, I was a part of a historic team that dominated a major World of the popular browser MMORPG TribalWars. We battled out day in and night out, regrouping whenever it was necessary and counter attacking with merciless destruction. Within our tribe, we all had our ranks & roles & duties to perform, and we played them out to perfection. But at our private discussion forum, guess who stood out?



Lolz. Yeah, I know how I look like to many of you. Don’t say the P word! Haha.

When it comes to games like AOE, Warcraft, Command & Conquer etc, I actually used to go 2-3 straight days without even sleeping because I couldn’t do anything else until I had completed the entire built-in campaign!

And now it’s the age of mobile phone gaming. Contract Killer, Inotia3, Zenonia3, My Country, Free Townsmen 6, Myth Defense, these are just some of the many games I am currently hooked to. And most of these games are MMORPG! Gone are the days when you interact and play with different players across the globe using a bulky computer and modem connection. Now you can easily do all that from your mobile phone even while sitting in the loo. And with mobile phones coming out with dual core processors and more features, the future is extremely bright for us gaming enthusiasts.

Taking all these into consideration, when exactly is someone “too old to play online games”?

In my defense, let me just tell you that we never had online games when I was a kid. We didn’t even know what internet meant back then. So there is no question of outgrowing online gaming, because we basically never had them while growing up!

Over here in India, during the late 80s, gaming meant playing Space Invaders, Pac Man and Pong on my Atari console.



Then during the early 90s, gaming was about playing 8-bit games like Contra, Super Mario bros, Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, etc. Do you remember any of these?



I don’t know about the rest of the world, but here in India it was Sega who came out with the first 16 bit console, and I literally cried in sheer joy when my dad bought me one even though I already had an Atari and Nintendo system. Yeah, I was really pampered then, lolz.



Ah ohhhh let’s not forget about the ADAPTER! Lolz. A device that lets you play Nintendo cartridges on a Sega console, and Sega cartridges on a Nintendo console! My dad’s friend in Cal managed to get one for me, and I was one of the few kids in Mizoram who had it back then, and the news spread like wildfire and many young boys of my age who I didn’t even know used to come to my house everyday to check out this amazing “technological wonder”!

The late 90s saw computer games taking over, and we were hooked to Dave, Prince of Persia, Doom etc. Those were the days when hard disk drives were 2GB and carrying a large 8 inch floppy disk was considered hip!



…until the 3½ inch version overtook the market later



Then the computer games revolution happened and I will not talk about those games because there are just too damn many to mention!!

What I want to say is, even though I’ve been playing games all my life, online games where you interact with real people across the globe are different. It brings in a new level of gaming experience whether you’ve been playing games right from childhood or not. You can now do things that were once deemed impossible.

Hence, once again, this is something that just cannot be outgrown because it is an entirely new phenomenon! To outgrow something, you need to be doing it for quite some time first. Therefore it is practically not possible to outgrow online gaming. There, I’ve said it. I rest my case.

And oh, one last parting shot – The average age of online gamers is 34.

Chp 361. Football Fans Mentality and Fans Rivalry

Ah! The new EPL season has started! Time to start blogging about Arsenal games again, lolz. However, this is not one of those posts. I just want to say something I’ve been observing for a very long time now.

This is probably the first time I’m writing a football post and not thrashing Manure Manchester United. In fact, this is definitely the first time I’m going to write something positive about ManUtd fans here on my blog.

Shocked? Surprised? No you’re not dreaming, and no, my blogger account has not been hacked.

Being a hardcore Gunners fan here in India, things may be a bit different from the Gooners in UK, especially those in London. Over there, Arsenal’s main nemesis in terms of fan rivalry are definitely Spurs and there is a long history of enmity and bad blood between the two groups.

However, here in India, our main rivals are ManUtd fans. For the love of Lucifer, we hate each other like Hell. We’re like fire and ice, locked in a steel cage with rabid dogs chained at all four corners.

Even when it comes to other top rivals like Chelsea, Liverpool etc, if ManUtd is playing against such teams, we always support the other team. I’ve been supporting Arsenal for around 15 years now, and all these years, all I ever see is how much Arsenal and ManUtd fans hate each other.

I’m a member of AMSC (Arsenal Mumbai Supporters Club) which is an OFFICIALLY recognized fan club of Arsenal FC. And I won’t be wrong to state that the most hated club and fan of every AMSC member is definitely ManUtd.

I still remember that fateful night last year when we went for the Carling Cup final screening (and lost), where almost 150 Gooners turned up. Before the match started, there was an ad about an upcoming match promotion. At first Chelsea players appeared on the screen. Immediately everybody started booing and screaming “F*ck you Chelseaaaa”… and then the opponents appeared. It was ManUtd! Suddenly everybody started screaming, “Comonnn Chelseaaa!! We love you Chelsea!!!” Lolzzz.



Some of my Mizo Gooner friends have also formed the Arsenal Mizoram Supporters Club and have currently petitioned to Arsenal FC for an official recognition. They boast of a strong membership support of around 100 members in Mizoram alone, and I sincerely hope they do get the official recognition from Arsenal FC very soon.

Even among them, mention ManUtd and it will probably mean war. That’s how much bad blood there is between the two fans.

Now what I want to say in this post is – yes, when there is team rivalry, there is bound to be fan rivalry. We all swear by our teams. But one thing I have noticed many Gooners call ManUtd fans is “Glory Chasers”.

“Glory chaser” here is actually a negative term which means that a person will do anything to be in a winning team (as a fan) without even having any real spirit or passion about the game. Such people don’t even understand the game sometimes, and may not even know what is happening in the football world but act like a hardcore ManUtd fan just because the team is winning and he/she thinks people regard them as hip for this.

Now, football banter is nothing new. In fact, that’s a part of football. I will definitely gloat in front of my ManUtd friends and irritate them the entire day if Arsenal beat ManUtd. Likewise they too will do the same to me if Arsenal loses to ManUtd. Again, all that is normal and I am ok with it.

But what pisses me off is when people who are not even crazy about the game act as if they are suddenly a hardcore ManUtd fan and start annoying Arsenal fans. And this holds true for any football fan, irrespective of whether the person they're annoying is a fan of Arsenal, Liverpool, Bolton, Fulham etc.

Arguing with a hardcore fan of a rival team can often be heated, but at least it makes sense as we both know our shit – we know our players, our team, our history and our game. But arguing with a wannabe fan is perhaps the most frustrating and painful ordeal in this world. After Arsenal went trophyless for the sixth consecutive time last season, this irritating little fuck of a self acclaimed ManUtd fan came up to me and said

“Haha… So you just went six consecutive years without a trophy since the last time you won a cup!”

He probably read that in the papers or internet. I don’t know why I even bothered to reply, but I said nonchalantly –

“Do you know there were times when you went more than 30 years without any trophy?”

Any hardcore ManUtd fan would say stuff like, "That is old history while this is recent history", or some shit like that and argue about how Arsenal too had gone many years without any trophy before… But nooo this little wannabe prick of a ManUtd fan had the audacity to reply –

“Haha don’t lie okay. Manchester United has been winning almost every year since they were formed. Don’t spread dirty lies just to make yourself feel better. Look at how strong we are - we have Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs…”

Arrrghhhh… Ronaldo!!??? Thank God he didn’t say Beckham. I really really really wanted to slam dunk my monitor onto his puny head right then and tear through his guts and brains with my bare hands. That’s what you get for arguing with a wannabe fan who will probably have no idea who most of the starting 11 of ManUtd are or what an offside means, and yet goes around acting like a hardcore fan. Fucking poser.

And this is exactly one of the main reasons why Gooners hate ManUtd fans so much. Too many posers and wannabes

But at the same time, it would be wrong to say they are all posers. I have many genuine ManUtd friends, and the fights I have with them are the ones I enjoy the most, no matter how fierce it may get, because at the end of the day, we all share one thing in common – LOVE FOR THE GAME.

The reason why ManUtd has so many poser fans is because of their recent success in the past few years. Everybody wants to be in the “in” crowd. If Arsenal has been successful the past few years, I’m sure even we will have a lot of poser fans too. Thank God for that.

And that is exactly why a part of me is not that disappointed about not winning anything, at least from a fan’s perspective. Because if I see another Arsenal fan, then we know immediately that both of us are hardcore fans because at this stage, no poser would wanna be an Arsenal fan. They go only for the glory. Hence, this is like a filtering mechanism, and for the love of God, I am thoroughly enjoying this.

In a strange way, it makes me bond deeper with other Gooners because we are all true fans.

I’m ending this post with my first ever 9gag style comic strip using popular face memes (Me gusta, forever alone, etc). If you frequent 9gag.com or reddit boards, you will understand the facial expressions I’ve used here. Even if you don’t, I think you’ll still find it funny :)



Friday Cheers!

Chp 360. Mob Mentality

These past few days, I’m sure many of you are also talking about the Tottenham riot, which started after an alleged gangster was fatally shot by the police. Every day, all we saw in the papers and news channels were about the mass looting & arson.

Anyway, I’m not writing about the looting that’s taking place in London or in the past at other places like New Orleans (after Hurricane Katrina), Haiti (after the earthquake), Vancouver (after Canucks lost in the Stanley’s Cup), or even the looting that DIDN’T happen in Japan (after the terrible tsunami tragedy). There are many discussion forums and websites where people can write their opinionated thoughts about such incidents where you’ll get the usual dosage of online commentators – a potpourri of racist comments, smart comments, stupid comments, insightful comments, biased comments, troll comments and completely unrelated comments.

However, this post is not about judging other people who are at a different location going through something we’re not. Instead, this post is about you and me. Something that we may have experienced many times unknowingly.

First of all, mob mentality is nothing but an unconstitutional (and usually violent) version of herd mentality.

Yeah, we’ve all been there, if you really think about it.

One clear example when most of us experience this everyday would be when you’re on the road. Picture a busy traffic signal at a crossroad (where there are no cops). Vehicles stopping at the red signal are waiting for it to turn green, while a few vehicles are moving across in front of them because their signal is green.

Observe carefully and you will see that most of the vehicles on the red signal are revving up slowly, moving inch by inch forward. And then suddenly one or two vehicles (usually a two-wheeler or an auto) jumps the red signal when he sees the chance, hence blocking those vehicles that have the green signal. The moment this happens, other vehicles on the red signal lane join in.

Now they know that this is a group effort. If it was some lone vehicle breaking the law, the vehicles coming on the green light may not even stop. But when a large number of vehicles break the rules simultaneously, they have the power.

Even if you abuse the drivers who are blocking your path, they will just shrug their shoulders and point at the vehicles in front of them, as if to say they too are doing it so you must abuse them too, or that they are simply going with the flow.

And here’s the irony. Sometimes if you don’t want to join the vehicles jumping the red signal and decide to wait for the signal to turn green, other vehicles behind you actually honk their horns and abuse you! Thomas Fuller was right when he said, “The mob has many heads, but no brains.”

Being in a large group where everybody has the same agenda gives you more confidence, even if you don’t know the other members in your group.

Take another road example. This time you are a pedestrian. You have to cross a busy road where vehicles are speeding and not stopping for anybody. Imagine you are not allowed to cross that road and there’s an underground/overhead pedestrian crossing nearby but you are too lazy to take that extra effort to climb up and down. If you are alone, you know how hard it is to cross that road right? But then, if you are in a large group where everybody wants to get to the other side, then crossing that busy road suddenly becomes so easy. All of you slowly inch forward and vehicles seeing the large group of people automatically slow down.

That’s the power of a large group. Even if you are all breaking the law, you know you are in a large group so chances of something happening to you are reduced. That’s how mobs are created. Samuel Johnson once said, “Get together a hundred or two men, however sensible they may be, and you are very likely to have a mob”. True indeed.

Is it from the movie Gladiator or the HBO original series “ROME” that someone said, “Control the mob, and you control Rome”?

Even in Mizoram just last year, did we not see the fury of the mob when a child rapist and murderer was caught? The police tried their best to control the mob, but they were no match for them and the rapist slash murderer died violently in the hands of the people.

But at least mass looting like what took place in London, Vancouver etc will never take place in Mizoram, because after all, Mizoram is known as a place where “everybody knows everybody” types, so if any group of people try to loot a store, the store owner will probably recognize them!

Just imagine a group of disgruntled youth (hipsters) trying their best to look all anarchist and all, charge into a shop clutching chains and machetes. The store owner looks at the ringleader-

“Oh, Sanga, how are you? How’s your dad doing these days?”

“urrmmm… fine, Pu Thiang, thanx and I hope all is well with your family?” (frantically whispers to his gang – “Not this one. Next shop. Next shop.”)

And as they all meekly leave – “Are you leaving so soon? You sure you don’t want tea?”

“Errr… no thanks Pu Thiang.”

“Oh you’re going to the next shop? Good. You will not believe Pi Chhingi has opened up there! Remember her? I think she was your primary school teacher?”

“F$%^%$” (whispers to his cronies – “think it’s better if we all just go home”)

Ahh… the beauty of Mizoram :)

I’ll end this post with a prolific quote by D.H. Lawrence:

”Every man has a mob self and an individual self, in varying proportions.”

Amen to that.

Friday Cheers, and Happy Independence Day in advance!