Who is D.N.Yadav...

To keep the prankster in me entertained, I needed a good laugh as in R-O-T-F-L and of course, I desperately needed to conjure it myself. If 'what is your name' is the most frequently asked question to any kid, 'when are you getting married' or 'kab khilaogi' or various other versions of this same question can easily be the most frequent one posed to me, in the recent past. Having hit upon a topic which can never fail to evoke curiosity, I couldnt be more pleased when April 1st presented itself as a good opportunity to ROTFL. I sent an email to a select list of people; a mix of whose reactions I could predict and whose reactions I could not.

Here's the content of the mail..

Subject: Wedding Invitation

Hi...

I am sure this comes a pleasantly-shocking surprise to you; am surprised too. :)

I am getting married tomorrow evening, to Yadav D.N. I have known him all my life and fell irrevocably in love with him during our recent trip to Gujarat in September 2010. They say everything happens for a reason. So, I am just hoping that we will find out the reasons for this, in due course.

My father has taken all my friends' phone numbers; he will be inviting you over phone, as we dont have enough time to personally invite everybody. A formal invite mentioning the venue & timing, is attached.

I hope you will take a few hours off from watching the World Cup and grace the occasion of my wedding, to which only a very few close friends are invited.

Regards,
Subah G.

I had zipped the attachment to add an ounce of confusion, and named it 'DN_weds_SG' to make it look authentic. Here's the invite I sent:




Here are some of the reactions...

"Disappointed. I knew it from the subject line itself. Unga kittenrundhu innum konjam adhigamaa ethir paakkaren"

"aiyo aiyo, i guessed it
ha ha ha"

"Erumai maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadu...
do u know how excited and happy i was !!!!! Idiot !! sathiyama kolai dhaan unnai adutha tadavai pakkum podhu.. "
[This dear friend of mine, is in a far-off place and so he got really wild. I added some dialogues to my original invitation mail, saying "wish you were here" :D]

"Hearty congrats... i could view only one page of your zip mail.. when you get free mail me the wedding photos. (photography by another person?!!!)"
[This one bowled me over; double ROTFL]

"I know you are april fooling me! Asku busku! "

There are some more (sure-shot) promises of killing me the next time I'm sighted.:D

Here's the prelude to the prank...
I would have believed what my friends hinted at, to be true: I've transformed into a dunce from being brilliant once upon a time, into a dullard from being exuberant in the recent past. The hints sounded louder after I failed to make a decent score in some dumb games and refused to play some not-so-dumb games. I might have even agreed with them explicitly, if only they had stopped at that. After all, change is the only constant and transformation is mercilessly qualitative. But when they said I had severely damaged my humour-bone, succumbed to reticence and killed the prankster in me along the way, just because I needed a few extra seconds to digest their silly jokes and mutual leg-pulling, I saved me from condemning myself to moronity. Though I do not talk and laugh incessantly anymore, it does not necessarily mean I have totally lost my ability to laugh, joke or talk; alternatively, it could mean that I have better things to do or doing things in a better way.

And....who is D.N.Yadav? None other than Him, DwarkaNath Yadav!

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Economics and astrology...

Economics has beeen my favourite subject. I have dreamt of taking up economics as a subject for higher studies, i.e., doctorate level. But now that I have not done any studies at all, there is no question of higher studies. At some vague point of my life, I have slanted towards computers & sofware and still marinating.

The fascination with economics is still alive, but not to the extent of working on a doctorate. It's now restricted to watching the market factors, working out indexes and sometimes lecturing on inflation, MSPs, WPI, CPI and the likes, to whoever makes the mistake of asking me what is it all about.

More than anything, I indulge on economic analysis, not making any, but reading them from various sources. Newspapers, magazines, web.... Economic analysis is not all about percentages and graphs and piecharts. There are some very interesting articles, like the ones by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar. He writes some of his pieces in the form of a letter, like the one he wrote in his column dated 21/06/09, addressed to the Finance Minister. I remember writing articles for my school magazine in the form of letters to none other than God Himself. Some of them were published, too! So Swaminathan is an easy favourite.

I like his analysis not just for the simplicity & lucidity nor just because he includes his wife's maiden name (Anklesaria) in his name nor just because he is a global-tamilian nor just for the subtle humour quotient but also for the awesome predictions he makes. For example, the time-period he worked out for the oil prices to fall below $100. (http://www.swaminomics.org) Sometimes I wish he were an astrologer instead of being an economist, just for the simple reason that he could analyse some horoscopes and make accurate predictions. Duh?

I have always wondered if astrology is too arbitrary, owing to the fact that it possesses simply too much scope for varying and inconsistent interpretations. If only an efficient economist can double up as an astrologist, may be I can get a glimpse at the veracity of astrology as a science, just as economics is.