Tomorrow’s what I’m waiting for

Its that time of the year again! When you hope you were a christian [if you're already one, you should still read this], when you wish you had a christian girlfriend, when you wish you stayed in Bandra, knew more about the Bible and not just skewed facts from Da Vinci Codes, always thought why didn't Hindus have hymns like Silent Night which somehow sound better than the ones we have, how you have always wanted that christian name was Arthur or Stella or Scarlett, or how much we like the anglicized names of the roads, Park Street, Connaught Place and Brabourne, when we think how did people buy virgin/Virgin birth or how cooler it is  to give out cake instead of laddoos, when we think of Christmas sms's but then don't really care but still send it because we have those unlimited schemes, how much we prefer the customs of candles instead of crackers but still feel the burn from the latter on the fingertips and how Christmas has and always will be special to us.

After studying in a particular Clifton School for three years and having sang hymns every morning, Hallelujah and Hark the Herald makes me pleasantly nostalgic. Silent Night just reminds me of Cartoon Network.

Remember this?

Silent Night, Smelly Night,

All is raw, All is rice...

*Smiles and high fives*

As always, Bill Watterson captures exactly what I think and imagine. Here is one for today, perfect, poignant and warm.

And keeping in tune with 2010 and Time Man of the Year, here is a video of Christmas, 2010-ishtyle!

I love Christmas. We all do. But, frankly, there is nothing in particular I like about it. Apart from the morning of I think 25th Dec, 2004 when I woke up to find a US Army soldiers and fighter jet figures beneath my pillow. For an entire day, I sincerely believed nothing wrong can happen in this world, as long as my parents are sleeping in the next room. That, Santa can gift you even if you don't have a chimney. Or, lets make that last statement figurative. I hope everyone has a chimney in their life!

Prudence is imperative

I don't need to elaborate on the news. Just the point I need to make before you. As much as we like reading about the world reacting to the arrest, the release of the documents and memos and the subsequent comments from leaders all over, I need to bring to your attention something very important. Pointed out by a dear friend from the States itself, this entire story could spell disaster for you.
A recent memo from US agencies clearly spell out this in layman terms :
The release of the documents does not change its status as classified. So, viewing, downloading or sharing the documents still counts as breaking the law.

So, you risk losing your job because of a silly distraction at work or home or wherever you find a free wi-fi connection!
Infact, this doesnt apply only to Wikileaks. The case is of one Juan Williams who was fired from NPR because he apparently felt nervous when around Muslims. Numerous companies are now pouring into the new recruits' Facebook and Myspace profiles to dig out dirt - Profanity, nudity, alcohol use and the likes.
Existing employees also stand losing their jobs over a silly hat with a pornstar stitched on top or even a status update criticizing work policies.

I picked up the following points to keep in mind all the time, from flockpost.com. I suggest you should memorize them :

1. Don’t add your bosses in your facebook network
2. Don’t add colleagues who is not so good with you
3. Don’t post anything good or bad about your job, company, boss or any colleague.
4. Don’t post pictures which are consider to be very private.
5. Don’t write about your past, if it was bad. We all have bad pasts.
6. Use facebook privacy settings always.
7. Don’t write anything, just anything.
8. If you are a student today, tomorrow you will be on job, facebook will prove your character and HRs love Facebook.
9. Avoid comments containing, nudity, abuse, controversies, religious remarks, insults or bashing with F**** languages.
10. Respect your company’s policies and save your job.

 Prudence really is imperative. You sure don't want to be headlining the news tomorrow morning, over a silly photo upload from tonight's slosh party you don't even remember tomorrow morning. Get a hold of yourself and don't discuss sensitive issues.