Fueling Thoughts

  Try as much as I like to stay away from social media, no matter how it's called except for the bare essentials, in order not to be engulfed by the forced positivity, political propaganda, or the desire to rant, but couldn't resit making a post ...the last type. A move prompted by a series of WhatsApp messages by a Butt Hurt millennial who lost a very small deal due to his competitor offering a better product at a lower price. Where instead of working on his prices and calling up or emailing a better offer, he decided to bombard me with WhatsApp messages trying to guilt-trip me about how disappointed he was. He screwed up my thought process and the work I was doing, and eventually got blocked and along with it lost a much larger order for another product which he was poised to receive.  Which brings me to making a list of things where I have serious issues with this generation: 1. Insane levels of entitlement. 2. Inability to hear a No. 3. Jumping to first names an

 Hi Leana (LinkedIn Executive),  I will assume that you are a person and not a mindless (AI) bot, the same kind that had been flagging my posts as abusive. If you bothered to read through the three posts sent to me where apparently I didn't live up to your cryptic community standards, whatever they may be, then you would realize that the only thing I am guilty of is satire, quoting a famous song by John Lennon, and for stating a verifiable truth, which I agree was in an albeit flippant language.  The first post parodied the recent mass hysteria over balloons created by the US media, where I shall assume my horrendous crime was writing that COVID was caused by Aliens, but, well the context was that it was a suggestion for making a sequel of the Sci-Fi serial "Dark Skies" which already shown that everything from John Kennedy's assassination to Charles Manson's cult was work of Aliens unless the Bot was offended about me referring to lesbian sex(or homosexuality whic

  It has been a consistent trend in all US foreign interventions not to give a damn about what happens after they are gone, except for installing a puppet regime or dictator who gets deposed in no time. In the US occupation of Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussain as much as $ 9 billion of their gold reserve vanished, just like $6 billion of the Iraq reconstruction fund, all paid for by Iraqi oil. All under the watchful eye of the US Presidential envoy Paul Bremmer. The more far-reaching and deadlier consequence was the rise of Islamists in a hitherto secular country with armed and fanatical Shia and Sunni militias, culminating with the formation of Daesh or ISIS. Laos, which had never been at war with the US is the most heavily bombed country in the world, again courtesy of the US Air Force, only due to being a neighbour of Vietnam where the latter was fighting a losing war. Cambodia is a close runner up, having the largest number of landmines, with even deadlier long-term consequen

  It is a matter of vexation that the word Startup these days is associated solely with raising money and not what that concern is trying to do and which problem statement it is trying to solve. It was during a recent expo where I participated, that I had an otherwise well-meaning young chap with his own budding enterprise, constantly asking me the same question in one way or another "Heh, heh, so how much investment have you been able to raise??" Finally fed up, I made him sit down and told him," Zero"! But I have had over 20 outright rejections to my pitches( I stopped counting after 20) as my work of building safe, sustainable and affordable riverboats and nautical equipment is seen as very limited in size and scalability. I was also told that I was too old to start a Startup, was mocked for not having a formal technical education, that my designs were pinched from the internet, that I lacked a team, traction and that it is a matter of doubt whether my perenniall

I first wanted to post a cartoon of a bare human arse as my solemn message to all online Trolls but decided that in these trying times it may be misinterpreted: As pornography, sexism and insulting to a woman's dignity if female, or an invitation to be sodomized or solidarity with Gay pride if male.  One of the primary reasons I gave up on Facebook (never to regret) were the Trolls that seemed to come out of the woodwork at every step wearing the widest assortment of masks, but quite unitary in their task: to argue, demean and intimidate people little known to them or even complete strangers.  These comprise all manner of Desh Bhakts(Indian Hindu Patriots) or zombified Modi cultists, many of them NRIs( Indian origin emigrants) or those who will scoot abroad at the first opportunity, but always up in arms to defend Hinduism and Mother India's Honour and Virginity. Not to forget the innumerable Muslim bigots who try to first pose as liberals (often hiding behind Hindu and Christi

The 1st time I was seriously asked if I was an Alcoholic was at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Chiang Mai, then held in a large colonial-styled bungalow not far from the McCormick Hospital, which I also later learned was a hotbed of ex-pat politics. I was dragged there by a friend who religiously attended their meets, and partly by my curiosity. What I didn't know was that it was expected from everyone to introduce themselves and say that they are Alcoholics and next whether they are still partaking or proudly declare that they haven't touched the devil's brew for "n" number of years. So when it was my turn to introduce myself, I only stated my name and country, as I didn't consider myself either then or now to be an alcohol abuser. Immediately a stout bald gentleman in a Pink Hawaiian shirt, a thick gold chain and a young Thai girl on his side, with the demeanour of an ex-US Special Forces guy (but might have been a retired Xerox salesman for all I know)

I was still too groggy in the morning to notice that his breath reeked of stale booze when he stopped me outside a store where I just purchase milk and showing me his calloused dirty hands said that he was an out of job mechanic and if could I help him buy some rations as he has two small daughters to feed. Frankly,  I didn't like him at all, but his plea about having kids to feed struck a cord.  The dislike only deepened when sensing my positive disposition he quickly added a list of stuff: flour, tea, sugar and rice.  "Whoa, I am not getting you your  shopping list" I told him and just asked told the store clerk to give him a kilo of flour on my account. "What, you can't even buy me 5 kilos" he retorted angrily and bitterly, to which he received a string of expletives(my first in the day) and was left standing empty-handed. It was obvious that in his eyes I was a fat selfish   Bourgeoisie  unwilling to help a desperate man, whereas  I saw an entitled ungra