From the capital

Ekaro from Nigeria

2011-12-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

To be honest, the journey to Lagos was always going to be undertaken with lots of trepidation. And why not, with news of violence, muggings and general lawlessness creating the right amount of fear. This was mixed with the usual excitement of seeing a new place and the tag of the first business trip outside India. Africa will thus hold a special place in my heart.

There was a really quick transit at Doha; but there was time to observe that many of the staff at Doha Airport were Mallus.

Doha to Lagos was a LONG flight (sorry US travelers, no comparison with you guys); and for the first time ever in my life I took breaks standing up, stretching etc in the flight. Watched Wolverine, Singham, a 2 hour highlights package of the 2011 cricket world cup and Ek Doctor Ki Maut. Man will do ANYTHING to kill time.

The landing in Lagos was a welcome relief and the interesting part was that somehow the strangeness of stepping out of the flight that I felt at Shanghai was not felt here. Maybe Africa is closer to India than China. Or was it because it was my second time?

My Arsenal connections (nothing much - I'm just a fan :) ) ensured an instant rapport with the gentleman who had come to pick us up.

We travelled along the longest bridge in Africa called the 3rd mainland Bridge which connects the Lagos mainland to Victoria Island. One can see the slow stirrings of development in Nigeria and this bridge is symbolic of it. However the massive slums that can be seen along its sides are indicative of the challenges facing Nigeria.

Its been 3 days here and this is what I have learnt -

1. Democracy is the best form of government. Even with all its imperfections, Nigeria will fulfil its potential. It may take it 15 years instead of 8; but its better to reach the finish line slowly with all your citizens rather than reach there quickly with only a handful.

2. Excellent English is spoken here;

3. The local language Yoruba is pretty cool to learn and I have started learning a few words

4. Traffic jams are everywhere :)

5. Formal attire is accorded so much importance that people dont think twice while wearing a suit in the hot sun

6. All houses are fenced/surrounded by high walls which goes to show that the fears of law-breaking are not
completely unfounded

7. Veggies will find it tough!

8. Inflation levels are super high here and petrol is cheaper than water :) {65 Nairas vs approx. 100 Nairas}

Some more time to spend here - hopefully will have much more to learn!

Shanghai Noon

2011-09-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

I came across the character Chief Inspector Chen created by the author Qiu Xiaolong in either the Business Standard or the Times of India. (don't remember which one). The paper described the book as part of a latest trend gripping readers across the world; getitng to know the city through a detective novel and exploring the spots described later on.

I was a week away from my China trip; and then decided "Hey, this is so cool. I will read this book; memorize the names; explore the places and impress the localites".

I remember going to PVR Mulund (to watch either Transformers/KF Panda 2+X-Men) and hopped into the adjacent Crossword. As is my usual experience with Crossword, the book was listed in the database, but no copies were available. I dropped the idea of buying the book from a physical store, then and there like a hot potato and turned to the new darling - Flipkart!

Sure enough, I got the book delivered; admired the title, and thought - right, "Ni Hao Shanghai"! I even packed it on top of my travel bag!

I think you must have got the drift of the story now - I ended up enjoying so much in China that I hardly found time to read. All the books except The Enchantress of Florence came back unread :)

The irritating and time wasting Mumbai traffic then came to my rescue. Long, 2 hour (one way) bus journeys became the ideal setting for the slow, bureaucratic, deferential and nice detective story to unfold. If you are looking for a super mystery like Sherlock this is not your book.

Death of a Red Heroine realistically captures the difficulty of working within China's red-tape; the influence of politics even in the lives of meritorious candidates and the food eaten on the streets! It moves slowly, and somewhere in the middle of the book you know who the culprits are, but it still keeps you engrossed.

That's why I like this book.

Found an Answer to a prickly question

2011-08-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

I just realised I have an example to quote when people say I am not aggressive or street-smart enough at office politics; don't blow my trumpet too much. Read this to know why.

Specially the following sentence should define the situation perfectly -

Amen!

And we know you will show little sense of entitlement despite having scored close to 11,000 runs in the format. You won't moan in the press, there won't be any tantrums or disillusionment. Who knows two years down the line we might call you up for ODIs again? So keep hitting that gym, or whatever you do to stay in top condition.

In Xanadu - my travels to/in/from China

2011-07-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

Day 0: 6th July 2011

A journey of a thousand miles does not begin with a single step. It begins with the desire and tonnes of summoned will power to get up from bed. That's made a little easier and necessary if you have stuff to do like - speak to the Mrs. who is at the end of the said thousand mile journey; store stuff in the fridge of a friend who is fanatical about leaving to office by 730 and lastly if you have to get out of your comfort zone and do a perfectly regular thing which you have demonized in your mind (not going to elaborate on this activity :-) }

All done and back home for packing which too got done in pretty good time with the Mrs. calling every half an hour to check on my progress and to remind me to be safe at Hong Kong. Managed to sneak in some bits of 'Prince of Persia - Sands of time'!

The cab arrived with the trend of exotically named Meru drivers continuing- this time it was Omprakash Ehobran. I had budgeted for massive traffic enroute and had hence started at 1830 hrs though my flight was at 0100 hrs the next day. All along the route there were calls made and received advising caution and wishing for a good time in china. Guess what happened next- absolutely zero traffic.

Reached chatrapathi Shivaji international airport at 1930 hrs and was a surprise check in guest at jet airways counter for flight 9W 76 to hong kong. The staff wondered whether they should check me in so early but they went ahead and asked me to take it slow from immigration onwards.

Immigration was smoother than I had expected but for the fact that the officer was wondering why I had got a new passport for an ECNR clearance- beats me dude ask your bureaucratic bosses.

Anyway all said and done, after roaming around the duty free area it was time to board. The economy class in international flights is actually very comfortable. Watched aakrosh and went to sleep.

Day 1: 7th July 2011

The landing in hong kong was amazing. The bend across the mountains, the harbor and marina, and the runway right next to the sea was a sight to behold.

I had plans to check out some of the transit tourist spots but by the time I oriented myself to hongkong airport's complexity and systems I decided to spend my time inside. It's a different experience all together I would say. At the end of an hour I actually understood that the systems were pretty simplistic actually and I wish Indian airports could adopt some of the measures here like simple but efficient security checks, free wi-fi that actually works etc.

One thing that struck me was the prevalence of teeny weeny shorts among girls. Exhibition of long toned legs seemed the norm! The eyes were feasted, and then the stomach started demanding its turn - searched for a vegetarian dish and had a spinach mushroom quinche.

It was soon time for departure from hong kong. The cacophony of the Chinese travelers in the airplane was unbelievable. The childlike pronunciation and the long winded sentences made the journey pretty interesting.

Landed at shanghai's hongqiao airport on dot and cleared immigration quite easily. After lot of signalling I managed to borrow a cell phone to call my wife and let her know I had landed. {note- please activate international roaming or buy a pre paid world sim. Don't delay it till the last minute.}

It so happened that the mrs was on her way and I had to wait for ten more minutes. Ten minutes turned to an hour as she had gone to the wrong terminal.

What a joy it was to see her after so Many days! At that moment I felt as light as a feather devoid of tensions and fear.

We took the metro to the shanghai science and technology museum stop. We then hired a taxi to go home. Amazed at the brand of vehicles used as taxis - mine was a volkswagen passat. Met nidhi and srija there. Had a nice warm bath and some homemade dal and off I went to sleep.

Day 2: July 8 2011

The dawn broke bright and sunny and at 0530 I was fooled into believing that it was 1030. Had a late breakfast, said tata to the wife at the gate and then came back to the world of Skype Gmail and the like spending A few hours in the process.

After a quick bath I set out to Carrefour nearby and after a few basic purchases and observing the creepy crawlies and chopping of pork, I set out my long city exploring walks that I had started in Mumbai. My primary observation is that this city has achieved a healthy balance between the pedestrian and the motorist. Wide tree lined pavements and well laid roads with excellent traffic lights made it delightful to walk even at 2 in the afternoon.

I came back home and made cabbage molagootal which proved to be a good hit among nidhi and srija. Also had a gala time with Akash and Ganesh who had come down. A good dinner later, followed by packing for the Beijing trip ended the day.

Day. 3: July 9th 2011

Happy Anniversary!! It's been one whole year and it's been just awesome. Savi has been a real blessing in my life. Thanks for her presence, God.

My anniversary gift was a bullet train ride { the new G series which travels at 300 km/h} and a tour of Beijing for three days.

Our train G102 to Beijing Nan { Beijing south} was at 0700 hrs. We left home at 0500 reaching shanghai science and technology museum metro station in time for the metro which would take us to hongqiao railway station.

Jagan, Savi’s colleague was along with us and the promise of a fun filled journey hung in the air! Jagan did not live upto his description at all. We had been told that he was a serious guy, but I’m glad he proved those statements wrong. This guy’s a must have for ANY journey.

The first sight of the inter-city railway station evoked oohs and aahs from us. Seriously, it was more awesome than ANY airport I had seen so far. Yes, hong kong included. We finally got on to the platform for our first glimpse of the hallowed G series. There was no limit to the photo and video sessions. Jagan had a petite Sony handicam which swung into action with future productions for lonely planet.

The train started sharp at 0700 hrs with the guarantee that at 1220 hrs we would be stepping out on the platform at Beijing south.

Once the initial excitement of viewing the train touching 300 km/h had worn off, people turned to mundane stuff like eating and sleeping. Yes, even a bullet train has it's limitations in keeping humans perpetually occupied. The human race is thus- easily bored, always wanting more and fickle towards new forms of entertainment.

Had a tough time explaining that we wanted water. Had to finally walk towards the pantry, point to a bottle of Evian mineral water and get it. For those interested, the Chinese word for water is 'shway'.

As promised, we were walking out on the platform at 1220 hrs. The hotel, "qiao yuan" was directly opposite the north exit of the station. After dumping our bags, we emerged in the "searing" (supposedly for some madrasis) heat to explore the forbidden city and tianenmen square.

Beijing is a pretty simple city to navigate given the hyper efficient metro network. And the tickets cost just 2 yuan. If you take a pass and load it with some cash, you can eternally roam around the subway network to your heart's content for just about 2 yuan.

So, then we took a metro on line 4 to xidan and then changed to line 1 which takes you straight to tianenmen square.

The whole afternoon was spent in a historical lesson taught to us by a digital tourist guide which automatically detects the location you are at in the forbidden city and gives you a short historical overview of the same. Another lesson for the India Tourism Board.

One very funny thing that happened to us was the multiple times we were asked to pose with Chinese families for photographs. I had read about this - the fact that Indians are considered a bit 'exotic' if I may use the term.

Tianenmen was an entirely different experience. The venue of the infamous 1989 protests so brutally suppressed by deng xiaoping - it now bears a festive atmosphere celebrating the 90th anniversary of the communist party. The atmosphere resembles the carnival that's seen at india gate! The square is surrounded by the peoples hall, chairman Mao's memorial and the national museum of china.

One interesting thing happened- while we were roaming around the square, we were approached by a pretty Chinese female who was curious to know where we were from and whether we would like to join her for tea. I had read somewhere on the net to avoid such invites and did so accordingly.

We then pushed our tired bodies to wongfujing a commercial centre of Beijing. Didn't find anything worthwhile or affordable in the high street shopping atmosphere of that place.

Day 4: July 10th 2011

Groan!!!!! Another early day, this time courtesy of the tour of the great wall of china and the summer palace. We were asked to get ready by 0700 hrs to be picked up by the tour operator.

We chose to have breakfast at the hotel's restaurant and instantly regretted the same. The only choice for veggies was pumpkin, dumplings, boiled vegetables and milk! Found out later in the evening that there was another restaurant which served western food.

One of the major questions is how does one verify whether the food is actually meat free or not. This is made tougher by the fact that a minuscule % of Chinese speak English. Just ask "mayo row?" which translates to "no meat?". If the reply is row then it's non veg. If the reply is mayo then it's vegetarian. The Chinese actually find the concept of veggies pretty strange. There were lots of smiles after we had placed the order.

Our vehicle driver came exactly at 7, picked us up and set out to pick up another tourist, an Australian who was a target of our back-biting. She earned this through her obnoxious attitude illustrated by gems like “there are so many people here”. Of course idiot, when you come to the most populous country in the world, people will be the main thing that you see. Wont waste much time on this irritant (except to highlight some highlights (sic)) ;).

We first set out to the summer palace, which as the name suggests was a retreat for the emperor in the summer. There are a few stories associated with this place all involving the “dragon lady”. The place by itself is sylvan and pleasant; there’s a big lake and lots of trees.

Following this we were taken to the ‘Torture Cell Number 1” of the day – the jade factory. This place showcases how jade ornaments and showpieces are made and the “tourists” are encouraged to buy a souvenir or two. Except that encouraged is too mild a term to be used. You need tremendous will power and an infinite capacity to say NO to escape from this place with your wallet weighing the same. Of course, its part of a business tactic of the tour operator and the jade factory operators. Take it in your stride and say NO loud and clear if you do not intend to buy any piece.

Lunch was served at a restaurant behind the jade showroom (cost covered under the tour package) and if you are a vegetarian all that you will get is rice, tofu, boiled vegetables and spring rolls.

With the formality of lunch completed, we headed towards the Badaling section of the great wall. The utility of the tour operator was felt only when we reached here. Without them it’s impossible to beat the crowd and navigate your way through he cable car ride and trek up the wall and get back.

The Great Wall itself is simply amazing. With the thrill of having seen a wonder of the world satisfied, we then started to look around. Wherever you see, the vast expanse of the great wall looms large upon you. It stretches far beyond the line of sight and its importance in an era when there were no radars/anti-aircraft guns etc cannot be underlined enough. A must see for everyone. Jagan shot some classic anniversary videos of us which we will treasure for life!

We were then ushered to torture chamber number 2 – a a pearl showroom with a similar experience like in the jade showroom. Again, tons of patience and an infinite ability to say NO is essential.

In the course of the day, the Aussie had provided some comic fun by praising Jagan’s t-shirt; which led us to link the two and crack innumerable jokes. Jagan being the sport that he is, took it in his stride and joined in the fun. Towards the end of the day, the Aussie started to lose her cool and the Beijing sun (a mere 33 degree Celsius) boiled her brains and made her utter lots of obscenities against our tour guide. Thumbs down lady, it’s difficult to see you adjust in a non-Caucasian nation.

While returning, we saw the Olympic stadiums and got into a discussion on family and the time that can be allocated to hobbies and “pasisons” – I strongly defended Arsenal while Jagan issued a challenge saying that a re-evaluation would have to be carried out in 5 years time.

After a brief rest at the hotel, we set out again to Wongfujing street – this time armed with information about the exact spots to visit. Its an amazing street with lots of trinkets and other decorative stuff to buy – but beware of a deviation – it leads straight to culinary hell: where all the creepy-crawlies are roasted in open air. The stench is nauseating!

We also managed to advance our bullet train tickets to a 1400 hrs train on Monday. The process is very simple – you just go to the counter and show the tickets and then indicate the time to which you would like to change. If seats are available, its as simple as a Copy Paste operation in MS Excel. No Cancellation+loss of money+changing charges etc.

Day 5: July 11th 2011

Yippeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saw Pandas face to face for the first time. Beijing zoo is a sprawling area with a wide variety of animals on display. But our focus was squarely on Pandas and Pandas were the only animals we saw and exited.

Also managed to surrender jagan’s Beijing subway card.

Caught the 1400 hrs bullet and reached Shanghai Hongqiao at 1915 hrs. Was home by 2030! Neat!

Day 6: July 12th 2011

Jetlag and the Beijing trip exertions finally hit me! Slept like a log, watched movies and chatted.

Day 7: July 13th 2011

Bomb blasts in Mumbai! Really sad :-(. Why doesn’t India adopt a firm policy like the US and China? Have these countries witnessed even one such incident in the recent past?

Met Jagan in the evening and visited Starbucks for the first time. YAAAAYYYYYYY!!! Love the place and the coffee quality is also good, unlike SPR coffee which I presume is a Chinese imitation of starbucks.

Day 8: July 14th 2011

Went to Lujiazui to check on some bank related stuff. Saw the magnificent IFC towers, the pearl tower and got lost totally. Was a big big blow to my ego and was sulking the remainder of the day. Note to self: its OK to get lost, don’t make it a big issue.

Day 9: July 15th 2011

Went to Lujiazui again with Savi’s colleagues – Evergreen, kevin, Sky and Sky’s wife Vicky. Awesome guys! Learnt a lot about China and got an impression that Chinese have a laissez-faire attitude towards jobs. “if not this, another one” seems to be the motto unlike in India where we analyse and dissect the decision so much that we end up bursting our brains.

Day 10: July 16th 2011

Friends of Nidhi and Sreeja had come over – Pavithra, Ting Ting and Fiona. Had lunch, spent some time talking. Pavithra was glad to have found tamils in Savi and me and it was an Iyer bhashai session throughout.

Savi, Pavithra and me then went to French Concession a place which I had hyped up a lot based on what I had read. Turned out to be a boutique showroom paradise! Was a bit dejected.

Day 11: July 17th 2011

Achieved great heights! Literally. Went on top of the World Financial Tower observatory which is some 400 odd metres above sea level and had a wonderful view of Shanghai.

Went to Yuyuan garden and AP Plaza, shopped and got all the gifts that I wanted and returned home for packing. Said my goodbyes

Day 12: July 18th 2011

End of a wonderful vacation :-(

My takeaway’s from the trip:

1. A very friendly race of people. Very cute in their speech and mannerisms. Don’t know how the aggressor image has gained credence. Maybe that’s another side of their psyche – the Mr. Hyde!

2. China is a good place to visit - considering that at one point of time it was equivalent to India, the progress has been tremendous

3. India is light years behind China and serious effort is needed to even think of catchning up with them!

At what price, development?

2011-02-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

I am in Bangalore for a couple of days and needless to say, I am happy, very happy. So too is the missus.

However, the trip was not without its shockers; and deeply saddening shockers -

1. The way the entire roads have been dug up for Namma Metro made me go absolutely crazy. The IISc and CNR Rao circle area look like a bombed out wasteland.

2. And this really sucked the life out of me. The well at home, which has always been a faitful and plentiful source of water has gone dry. Apparently it is the 5th or 6th well to go dry in R'nagar over the last few months; and everyone is unanimous in their verdict - the culprit is, you guessed right, the Namma Metro.

Apparently the slab setting/pile foundation work of the Metro has sucked so much water from the water-table, that never before seen water scarcity seems to have hit R'nagar! :-(

Do we need development of such nature? I am all for making commute of people easier; and at one point I have been a great fan of the Metro; but having had exposure to sectoral development and economics, I strongly feel that a massive fleet of AC buses will do much better than the Metro.

Less, ROW, less cost, and will replace lots of vehicles. Yes, it still remains to win over a lot of the big shots who are used to travelling in their own car(s); but that is far more easier than alleviating the pains of being displaced by the metro (ex: lots of old time shops on MKK road) or depleting water table!

Have a look at this slideshow to understand the economics of bus versus metro!

Unexpected Likes

2011-02-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

Its strange when you still have an open mind to verify what pre-conceptions your mind had - just to see if the pre-conceptions were true in the first place. Best would be not to have pre-conceptions at all, right? :-)

Watched 'Band Bajaa Baaraat' and 'Yeh Saali Zindagi'. Was bowled over by the performances of Anushka and Ranveer in BBB. I was expecting it to be like any other Punjabi-Bollywood movie. It was different in a nice way.

Coming to YSZ, I entered the theatre expecting to be mesmerized and floored by Chitrangada Singh's performance; I certainly was, but by Irrfan Khan. The man's awesome!

Platinum Moment

2011-01-29T02:57:00.000-08:00

There is this beautiful ad about Platinum Day of Love. Though its a promotional video for the platinum guild, it certainly manages to drive home the message that platinum is the most precious metal (used for jewellery).

One may say that the concept of alloting specific days for love/mom/dad/child is a meaningless exercise - I do agree; but at the same time one can't say when life will throw up that special moment when you chuck the rest of the world out of the window and only want your core set of people around you!

Such an incident happened on Jan 24th! :)

My platinum day, nay let me make it my first platinum day of love happened on that day. Wish many more come my way! :)

The Art and Science of Food Tasting

2010-11-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

I face a very unique situation - I absolutely adore my wife and the meals that she cooks; but I am pretty much clueless when asked to point out flaws in them. Why, you may ask? I attribute it to only this - I stayed in hostels for 6 years of my study life. I've tasted food cooked by disinterested folks who were only interested in quantity rather than quality & taste. Therefore, my mentality has adapted itself to one fact - home food is priceless; and thou shalt not criticise it at any cost.

This said, I've noticed that the Mrs. has the innate ability to identify even subtle changes in sweet, salt and sour and whatever other taste exists on this planet earth. This, I must attribute to her having had home food throughout and the education that she has received from her mom.

All said and done, I believe that while my attitude might encourage the chef to innovate, it definitely does not have the means to provide proper feedback which is also essential for a chef's 'kitchen progression'.

I need to develop the taste and talent of a culinary connoisseur :-)

Advantage of being a Hindu

2010-10-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

Today morning, like every day I prayed to God "Please let my day be good - help me work sincerely". On the way there was a small temple, seeing which I said "Please let the traffic not be as horrible as Monday when I spent 3.5 hours traveling one way"

As I continued to the bus stop I wondered, suppose everyone is restricted to ONE boon with EACH god, depending on your religion, who would gain the most?

Obviously Hindus. I'll pray for a good day to Ganesha, traffic clearance to say Shiva, something else to Krishna etc

Pretty trivial I know, but it helped occupy my thoughts till I reached the bus stop :-D

Thank You Milk Cooker

2010-08-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Doodh Doodh Doodh Doodh
Doodh hai wonderful
Pee Sakte Hain Roz Glassful
Doodh Doodh Doodh Doodh, wonderful Doodh

Remember this song? It used to be troublesome enjoying this milk earlier since I didn't have a milk cooker. Used one for the first time today and was intrigued to explore the funda behind it.

Read the explanation here. Interesting that a Senior Scientific Officer from the IGCAR, DAE has provided the crisp, scientific explanation.

BTW, hear the full song here.

Moonsoon - Attitudes Before, During and After

2010-08-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

It's by now common knowledge that the monsoon is the most eagerly awaited season in India. The extent of its importance can be gauged by the fact that ALL the sectors critically depend on it for improvements.

This monsoon was very interesting from the perspective of people's attitude towards it. The word people would include many - myself, friends, relatives, colleagues, random strangers; you get the drift, right? :-)

Till the rains come, the constant gripe is about how hot it is, how severe water cuts are; what a scorching summer our country has; how greenhouse gases are gonna smoke us all out of the earth etc

The first rains are the most welcome - people start describing romance like it has just been discovered, there is a sudden expression of love for the smell of moist earth and getting drenched is treated as the 'Yo' thing. Trips to hill stations like Lonavla, Khandala become the rage; trekking in the rain is considered 'the must do' thing; women in wet sarees & chai-pakora become the rage ;-)

As the monsoon steadily builds up, the initial romantic euphoria leads to spewing of statistics - deficit/excess/normal being the defining adjectives. The meteorologists are on trial everyday to assess if their prediction of the rain is correct or not. A constant watch is kept on the level of the water supply sources.

The next stage in this complex relationship is grumbling - clothes don't dry, i'm constantly drenched, vehicles move slowly, visibility is sometimes poor, the roads are rubbish, so may deaths due to flooding, so many homeless etc

The last stage is an absolute "when will it end" phase - This is where everyone prepares to be Noah about to disembark from his Ark.The irritation with the rains is written clearly on the faces of people.

After that, what? The cycle continues till the end of a scorching summer when the parched earth sighs and gasps and moans for the first drops of rain!

I'll close this with a wonderful kannada couplet

maLe bantu maLe, koDe hiDidu naDe

The rain has arrived; start carrying an umbrella

daariyallli koncha biddu, baTTe ella koLe
Having fallen down on the way, all the clothes are dirty

bisilu bantu dHage, koTu tOpi tege

The sun is out now; remove your coat and cap

baaviyalli neeru sedi, sopu haaki oge
Draw water from the well and wash the clothes with soap

:D

Kalajamoon Theories

2010-08-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

The hullabaloo over access to emails routed through Blackberry is consuming more and more newsprint and online space. So thought, "Let me also add my 2 cents (or more) worth" :-D

Firstly, I've never been a fan of the Blackberry. Let me apply the fine print to that point - I'm not a fan of the Blackberry being used for office email. Call me odd, but that's how I am. Use the Blackberry to check your gmail/your facebook - perfecto! But if it comes to your office mail - naah!

However, its not just been the personal vs office mails angle that I've thought of. I've also been thinking in a quite serious manner on the topic too. What I have understood is this -

Blackberry provides 2 types of services to clients - enterprise (large corporations having their own servers on their premises protected by their own encryption keys) and individual (those who get their Blackberry services via some service provider like Airtel/Vodafone etc

If, as Blackberry claims they cannot provide the encryption keys for enterprises; still what is the big deal? In any case in India lots of business is done via the crony capitalism route. So, how much time will it take the Home Minister to call up these enterprises and ask them to covertly share their keys with the IB or RAW?

That would solve the problem of enterprise users, and for individuals - call a meeting of the telecom head honchos and ask them to share. I know snooping is a debatable topic, with shades of gray; but is there ANYTHING that we can do to prevent snooping by the intelligence agencies AND avoid misuse of Blackberry services by troublemakers?

There are more serious and better thinkers & analysts on this topic. The Economist is one of them. What they are basically saying in the article is that either RIM will be forced to accede to the government's diktat or the government's will find a way out. Have a read it's a good article

Dreams vs Reality

2010-06-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Many times events that we dream about while sleeping have an occurrence in the real world.

1. In an earlier post I spoke about how I dreamt about Vadivelu standing in front of 5-6 simultaneously ringing phones - cue to real life - the simultaneous ringing of many alarms that I had set

2. During the days of nightfall (ahem ahem) dreams were the trigger to the first faltering steps towards manhood ;)

3. Recently during a train journey I found myself shivering violently in a dream when I was trying to do something. Turned out that I was actually shivering in the chill of the night, not having wrapped myself properly.

This got me thinking about what an awesome tool the human body is. If the sensory organs wish to convey something during inactive periods such as sleep, they convey it through dreams.

Can't think of any parallel in the world of the machines. "What up!!!!!!!!!!"

3-G, 4-G.... The Arithmetic Progression

2010-05-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

The dust raised by the 3 G bids in India has just settled!

Now, what do we have here? 4G bids in Germany :)

Can we skip 3G and directly go to 4G?

Indian Writers - I: Jahnavi Barua

2010-04-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

It has been pretty long since I wrote and indeed, its been long since I read any Indian author's offering. A few audacious choices and the vagaries of the book queue at the British council has left me with an assortment of philosophical books to read.

I'm absolutely in no mood to read philosophy - specially after the energy sapping "What is good?" or something to that effect. Hence, I decided to rummage through my cupboard for the books that I had bought but not read, and out came "Next Door" a set of short stories by Jahnavi Barua.

The stories breathe Assam; not surprising since the author is from there. The stories are also nice and heart tugging, with lot of focus on the extremist movement, the way the people lead their lives and most important, the references to the Brahmaputra - the more you read the more you want to go to Assam.

Thanks Jahnavi - I've never been to the North East, will commence with your state sometime :)

Proud to be from Palakkad

2010-02-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

Palakkad is going to be India's 1st total electrified district.

Here's hoping that this doesn't end up as a mere statistical record, but acts as a catalyst for rapid economic growth :-)

Comments on Indian Railways - 'Then and Thenner'

2010-01-06T03:42:00.000-08:00

A story of the Indian Railways

In 1909 Gandhi said about the railways that they -

“accentuate the evil nature of man. Bad men fulfil their designs with greater rapidity.”

This changed in 1947 to

“Trains cannot be run for charity,”

This report also delightfully speaks about the subsidy culture -

Indian politicians are addicted to a tax-and-subsidy regime of bewildering complexity, and deterred from tampering with it by a crowded electoral timetable. The Mohan report, for example, estimated that 15% of Indian railway passengers, many of them railway workers, were enjoying discounted fares. Among the 42 categories of people listed as eligible for concessions are students, boy scouts, the elderly, the very poor, war widows, nurses, journalists and some “persons taking part in mountaineering expeditions”. Even some sorts of freight—fruit and vegetables and salt, for example—are subsidised.

What concessions have you used in rail travel? अपुन has used only इश्तुदेंट concession :)

The day... the music died...

2010-01-02T00:53:00.000-08:00

Big blow for music listeners all over India; The End of Worldspace

Just when it was gaining in popularity.........

Hard to take; I'm going to be depressed :(

Even harder to understand is the logic of the new buyers, Liberty Media. They say,

Media reports on the internet speculate that Liberty Media sees better opportunities in Latin America and other markets and would therefore like to deploy the WorldSpace satellites to target those markets rather than in India.

C'mon guys, your revenues from Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Kannada/Carnatic/Hindustani/Hindi channel listeners is going to be profitable. I do not know what the assumptions of your business model were before you arrived at this decision.

Review, reconsider, rewind; PLEASE

PS: But, what Worldspace did to many of its customers - the suppression of information and renewal of subscriptions at a time like this is plain vanilla cheating!

Third Person

2009-11-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just want to step out of my body and observe what happens in my world from the point of view of an impartial observer.

What would I see?

1. Would I enjoy hearing my own PJs?
2. Would I like the sight of my own frame? Seeing it in a mirror is different, mind you
3. Would I like the sound of my own voice?
4. Would I like to touch my own skin and enjoy that touch?

Such questions race through my mind specially while traveling alone in the bus to office/elsewhere.Right now, such a possibility seems bizarre - possible only through the realm of a camcorder/whatever new gadget has taken its place.

In the meantime I guess there is this, Bleach! The way Shinigami (death gods) are able to come out of a faux body... :D

Belated Happy Birthday, Bloody Mary

2009-10-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Supposedly, this year is the 75th birth anniversary of the Bloody Mary. Read about it here.

Considering that 75th anniversaries are called diamond anniversaries, maybe all bloody marys served this year should be served in a diamond mug/cup/whatever container.

Two serious questions though:

1) Is there a record of the first bloody mary made?

2) Is it such a loved/popular drink to be celebrating its 75th anniversary?

I personally don't like it!

Maoists: Exterminate or Educate?

2009-10-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

'Red rage' has become a common headline in the newspapers for the past 3-4 days. Maosists in central India (Chattisgarh and Maharashtra (Vidharba) to be precise) have sent shockwaves throughout the country.

In Chattisgarh, they abducted a policeman Mr. Francis Indwar and brutally beheaded him; and threw the body on a highway. The rage over that incident was yet to settle down; when they struck in Gadchiroli by ambushing a police party and massacaring a alrge number of policemen.

The body count apart, these incidents would definitely have sent a chill down the spine of the security forces posted in these areas. There are already rumblings about government apathy.

The incidents are shocking. Its time to adopt a 3 pronged approach to battled the Maoists. One, hammer them like the Lankan army did to the LTTE; and two swiftly incorporate them into the mainstream, and third, DO NOT EXPLOIT POOR FARMERS AND TRIBALS MERCILESSLY!

Down with frivolous patents

2009-10-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

For long, the system of patents has baffled me. How can people gain a right over anything and everything? I mean, products/machines is fine; even ideas that lead to innovative products is fine; but a mere abstract idea??

This article describes the methods of granting patents and how the end of the frivolous patent is near. Nice reading with some amazing pictures. (specially of the cat).

The Romantic America

2009-09-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

I've discovered that I have a 'thing' for America of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s; the houses, the scenery, the life. I also have a 'thing' for dramas.

This 'thing' was awakened after I saw Revolutionary Road and was strengthened after watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Just had this burning desire to blog about the dialogues that I loved in Benjamin Button and in revolutionary road.

All dialogues are sourced from IMDB.

Benjamin Button

1) It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.

2) Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?

3) You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go.

4) You never know what's comin' for ya.

5) Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.

6) Some people, were born to sit by a river. Some get struck by lightning. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people, dance.

Revolutionary Road

1) You want to play house you got to have a job. You want to play nice house, very sweet house, you got to have a job you don't like.

2) Knowing what you've got, knowing what you need, knowing what you can do without - That's inventory control.

Sigh!! Somebody build me a time machine :-D

9

2009-09-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

Saw 9 @ PVR Mulund today. Cute, nice, cuddly, feel good movie :-). And the stitchpunks are something totally different.

Read the review by Wired here.

Helplessness

2009-09-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

I encountered a chain snatching incident today. I was walking back from the bus stop to my apartment; had almost reached there, when a bike suddenly sped past me moving from the wrong side of the road to the right side. It was driven just the way the irritating punks drive.

To be honest, I didn't pay much attention. Suddenly there was some helpless squealing sound from behind. Initially I dismissed it as some puppies whining; but when it got louder, I turned back to see a lady running with her arms outstretched, screaming in Marathi.

The basic gist was that her mangalsutra had been lifted by the thieves. A crowd did gather, but it was too late; the thieves had a headstart of 2-3 minutes on a bike and were beyond capture.

One can only curse them that they pay for their misdeeds.

Wake Up Dream

2009-08-29T00:23:00.000-07:00

I had a weird dream today morning. I had to wake up early for a meeting and hence had set multiple alarms on different sources - mobile / alarm clock / phone from dad etc

When all sources started to sound with different tunes, the image in my dreams was Vadivelu standing in front of 5-6 telephones and going crazy trying to figure out which one of them was ringing.

I woke up when Vadivelu started to go mad in despair.

My Sir MV Moment

2009-08-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

It was on Thursday, while returning from office. The King-Long volvo that I like, the one with two three seaters came empty at my stop.

The journey upto matunga was fine, but for some strange reason, I sensed that the bus was not able to negotiate the flyovers - its pickup was not upto the mark. Some strange sound, generally the one that you hear in an AC coach of a train deep in the night when its running at full speed, fell on my ears.

I instantly said, "Something's wrong with the engine."

Sure enough - the red light started flashing on the dashboard, and the driver had to switch off, make a check and then resume the journey.

Why is this post significant you ask? Call me sometime, and I'll tell you a similar story involving Sir M Visveswaraya. :D

My Photography

2009-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

A few trips and many photographs later, I happened to sit down and classify myself based on the type of pictures that I take.

Most of my pictures are that of plants / animals / sculptures / abstract cloud shots / very less of people and very less of me in my pics :)

And yes, the customary electricity transmission tower :)

What does that make me???

A foolish sell-out

2009-06-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

WTF was Gareth Barry thinking when he did this?

And to top it all, he pens an apology letter!!! :-o

Seriously dude, Liverpool were waiting for you to say YES, and you joined oil-money awash ManCity?

Shame!!!

My take on 'Earth Hour'

2009-03-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of Earth Hour, check this out. To sumamrize, it is an awareness campaign which attempts to educate people (the common folks and the policy dons) about the catastrophic results associated with global warming.

It is a noble concept and a demonstratable one too as was evident from last year. The newspapers reported a significant reduction in the demand profile for that one hour period. So, yes, it is a workable concept.

However, I was not part of the event last time around. Nor am I going to be part of it this time or anytime in the future.

I feel problems like global warming should be attacked by long term sustained continuous methods - such as judicious use of electricity, using public transport to the maximum etc. One time radical actions do not achieve much. Did the people use electricity judiciously after the previous campaign? I don't think so.

As a part of the set of people working in the electricity sector, I find on the other hand that demand has shot up, costly power needs to be purchased with ever increasing regularity and the amount of renewable energy expected on the grid is not reaching the required levels.

I believe instead of an annual Earth Hour, we should have a "life-long earth lifetime". It will be so much more effective.

On the flip side, I am aware of the "spirit of activism" and the legendary inertia of the human race to inculcate good habits such as consistent electricity saving. In this regard, this is a good move, and I wish it all the very best.

Janko Tipsarevic

2009-03-07T06:23:00.000-08:00

Ladies, the complete package comprising of looks, brains, literature, COOL quotient and sports is here, and his name is Janko Tipsarevic.

Read about him here and here.

Loneliness

2009-03-07T05:59:00.000-08:00

Much has been written about solitude, loneliness, being in company of people - stuff like how you can feel alone even if you are surrounded by many; or how you can feel connected even if you are alone physically.

My take on this is that this matter is not one to be analysed. Instead, one should read this write up with a few poems.

I just love Kristen Hoggatt when she says the following:

But aren’t we all lonely, really, in our little worlds, with each click of the keyboard, with each thought that goes unexpressed? No matter how big our mental space, no matter how peopled our social sphere, no matter what kind of a romantic partner we have — real or imagined, we are all lonely for a majority of the day. We are in that space between the ears, dreaming, waking, drinking coffee, passively reading the latest news, and not engaged in a verbal, physical, or spiritual exchange with someone else.

AND

Your brand of loneliness, whether it’s the kind that wakes you up at 3 a.m. or the kind that propels you to open another tasteless novel, presents a formidable challenge to overcome, but everyone must do it sometimes.

AND

But no matter what we call it, it will find us, owed to that distinctly human combination of an over-developed brain and an unenlightened mind. I suppose there are those who would advise yoga or meditation, and maybe you should try that, but I can only vouch for acceptance. You’ve got to accept life and all its faults, as life accepts you and all of yours. Of course it’s going to be lonely and cold sometimes, but the good thing is that it’s always in flux.

Enjoy loneliness folks, its not a gift everyone can have. You truly get to know yourself better. For those who accuse me of the sour-grapes syndrome, I accept, I do miss my home and my parents :-D. Wokay?? Satisfied??

Masakali against drunken flying

2009-02-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

How does the song "masakali" from Delhi 6 help in a slogan against drunken flying? Yes, you read it right, FLYING.

Modify a line in the song to 'Kudiyo na Udiyo'

Using a bit of Kannada+hindi, this translates to Do not drink and fly!!

It takes all sorts to make a world

2009-02-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

They say that ‘Variety is the spice of life’. For a bus commuter, the sheer variety of people that he/she encounters during the bus journey is a statistical delight. One can classify, reclassify, declassify, “classifield”ify ;-) and what not!! From my experience there are the following classes, but mind you, these will only grow GRow and GROW as I travel more MOre and MORE!!!

The Morning Commuters:

The suit-wallahs/tie-wallahs – These are the biggies in some firm who might have given up commuting by their car in the interest of the environment/to avoid congesting the city etc

The like-me officewallahs – These guys like me would be at the starting stage of their careers and are commuting by BRTS since it is a cool concept and more so since daily commute by cabs is costly and much more uncomfortable.

The picture-perfect babes – Is it just me or has the professional world really changed so much? Why is it that women in their professional attire look so perfect? They certainly are a sight for sleepy eyes J {contrast with guys who at best look decent/ordinary)

The old uncles

The aunties

College kids

The Evening Commuters:

All of the above who are tired!!! But still, the women look nearly picture perfect :-)

Today the concept of variety took an entirely different hue. The 19:10 BRTS 1 from Backbay Depot had a malfunctioning AC and hence its destination was curtailed upto its depot – Anik, which is roughly midway between Backbay and Thane. At every stop, the conductor stood at the door and announced the revised route and informed about the malfunctioning AC. This led to different reactions:

The people who wanted to get home soon and did not want to wait – ‘Haan theek hai!!! Darwaza khol ke rakhenge na? To baraabar”

The people who were willing to brave the heat but were taken aback when told about the new destination – “Thane tak nahin jaayegi? Whats this??”: these guys instantly got off

People who were pissed off with both the destination and the AC – “Tum logon ne hamaari gadi cheen lee hai!! Gaadi kyun nahin rok te AC kharaab huwa to?”. yeah right, the AC has deliberately been rigged so that you guys can't go home on time. Grow up man!!! AC is a machine and machines fail once a while.

And then, on the nearly empty bus, as I read P Sainath’s ‘Everybody Loves a Good Drought’ I came across this gem: “Ah well, their philosophical looks seemed to say as we part, it takes all sorts to make a world”. As Kurt Angle would say, ‘Its true, its true”.

Pashupatinath

2008-12-30T22:47:00.000-08:00

Interesting piece of news. The new Nepal government has decreed that the diety in the Pashupatinath temple would be worshipped by Nepali priests thus ending an era of Indian priests officiating.

One of my Sanskrit teachers in school, Mr. Rama Kantha Prakash (called RKP) used to be a priest there. Wonder if hes part of the evicted regime!!! Hope he's doing well

The worst energy drink ever

2008-12-26T03:14:00.000-08:00

This company called Goldwin Healthcare Pvt Ltd manufactures this energy drink called Cloud 9 whose attributes are described in this landing page.

If this is an energy drink, I only have to say as Eric Cartman says, "Piss in my arse"

And Cloud 9, no way you can be a competitor to dear old Red Bull. You taste YUCKKKKKKK!!!!!!

Dravid and Dhoni in the same spot

2008-12-23T03:51:00.000-08:00

Read this article in the Times of India, when Dravid went for safety first against England at the Oval and hence secured the series 1-0. Newspapers like ToI and vulgar, crap channels like India TV, Aaj Tak went overboard denouncing him as a coward/gutless chap who was an old timer etc.

I am eagerly awaiting Times of India's edition tomorrow to see whether they castigate their darling Dhoni after today's safety-first approach against England.

My take on the incidents is this - winning the series in terms of cold hard statistics is much more valued than having adrenalin rushes and trying to impress "Gen Next" reporters who have a fetish for 20-20 and can't appreciate nuanced, strategic games. Of course, everyone would welcome a result, but if your gut does not give you the good vibes you better not take the risk.

Proud to be an "old-timer"!!! :D

Historical Arguments

2008-12-18T04:08:00.000-08:00

I found this article dripping with sarcasm. Courtesy for the article goes to Churumuri.

I see it as a classic historian vs economist battle. One that should be part of studies such as religion vs science; atheist vs believer; rationalism vs superstition etc.

Ashok Desai relies on facts penned down in historical classics such as Ab'ul Fazl's Ain-I-Akbari to make some sort of comparison between the wages of Mughal times versus the wages of the 1960s. (Turns out the Mughal wages were higher)

In response, Irfan Habib and his research scholar Shireen Moosvi provide a historical rebuttal to Mr. Desai's analysis with a Marxist backdrop that exploitation was the tendency of the rulers and hence wages had to be lower in the Mughal times. Now, that the Marxist revolution has come and gone, people are being paid better.

Its a fascinating argument - the manner in which metals are compared to modern day currency; how interpretations are made about the manner of life in the past etc

More of these please!!!

Comments on candle light vigils/government bashing/sloganeering

2008-12-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

The past week has gone by in a haze. Mumbai was brutally attacked by armed terrorists and it took the combined might of the Mumbai police, the Navy commandos called 'Marcos' and the NSG more than 48 hours to quell the troublemakers and sanitize the occupied areas.

The incident has claimed the posts of the Union and the Maharashtra home ministers with the Maharashtra CM too expected to be shown the door in a few days time at the most. Civil society has been outraged and important people have spoken out in anger.

If one were to make a few observations about the incident they would be as follows:

1. This should have been a problem handled by the Mumbai police themselves. This is a recurring problem - that of depending on central forces to bail out the situation everytime. Even the Konanakunte incident (that of the Sivarasan vs Karnataka police) fame needed the arrival of an STF team from Nagpur.

2. OK, the central forces were called in, but the time that the NSG took to step in was inordinately long.

3. The media clearly went overboard in reporting even details which should have been kept confidential. The media should be cordoned off in a separate enclosure to prevent sensationalism.

4. The citizens voiced their anger, held candle light protests, wrote blogs etc. All fine, but practically speaking, what can we do?

Can we ask for information about security apparatus through RTI? It is most certainly going to be turned down with security concerns being voiced... and rightly so.. if we can glean info, so can the sensational media and terrorists
Can we get trained for dealing with such scenarios? Thats a possibility... We should look at establishing some sort of training to be given to citizens to deal with emergencies.. not to panic/ try to take out the offender if the chance arises etc. Some sort of a semi-defense training which is compulsory for all.
To do (2) we would need a national database complete with social security numbers. How about preparing one?
Please equip our forces, right from the beat cop. Else we would be running around in circles!!!
Vote in elections and make sure you vote based on rational and logical thought process.

Small steps, but need to be taken :-)

The Power of the Family

2008-11-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

A couple of days back, I had been to Dadar station to pick up relatives. It was around 5:45 in the morning when the train chugged into the station. Having picked up my relatives and their luggage, I was making my way out when I was accosted by a policeman who asked me to open the suitcase that I was carrying.
I immediately complied and put the suitcase on his desk and was about to open it, when the policeman saw my relatives waiting for me. He immediately asked me whether I was with them, and on receiving an affirmative response, he let me go.
Questions that came to my mind:
1. Is a mere response that one is with family sufficient to make one a non-suspect?
2. If the answer to the above is yes, then one should seriously consider dating someone/getting married, considering how in-considerate the world is towards singles in general and single guys in particular!!! ;)

The Way People Address....

2008-11-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

... The new President of the USA

CNN-IBN: Obama or Barack Obama

BBC: Mr. Barack Obama

and what are the issues discussed?

CNN-IBN: Comparison of Barack Obama and Mayawathi

BBC: Priorities for Mr. Obama

Nothing more need be said.

Dire Straits Editorial

2008-10-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Whoever wrote this is one hell of a Dire Straits fan who also knows his economics/finance/English language superbly!!!

Small exercise for the brain: Identify all the Dire Strait songs (including Mark Knopfler singles) in the article ;-)

One person who can solve this definitely comes to my mind - Shreya!!!

Day Trading Commies!!!

2008-10-01T04:08:00.000-07:00

See this, hear this, feel this!!! You need to:

CPI-M takes mutual fund route for better returns

What hypocrites!!!

I have nothing more to say.

Where have all the secularists gone?

2008-09-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

The search process is on!!! For whom, you say? The so called "secularists" who had decried Godhra as a staged show meant to create an excuse for the riots that followed.

As you might all be aware, the Nanavati Commission setup to probe the Godhra incident has come out with its report identifying the culprits. Read about it here.

Extracts from the report in The Hindu say,

The commission, in its 168-page report, said the “conspiracy” was hatched by some local Muslims at the Aman guest house in Godhra the previous night. The conspirators immediately made arrangements for collecting about 140 litres of petrol from a nearby pump on the night of February 26, 2002, the next day when the train arrived in Godhra, Hasan Lala, after forcibly opening the vestibule between coaches S-6 and S-7, entered S-6 and threw burning rags setting it on fire.

Now, as expected, the "secular" junta are nowhere to be seen. Or, it maybe that it still is early days for "politically correct" statements to be framed and released to whet everyone's appetites? One never knows, does one? And if one doesn't know, do many know?

I Will Be Called a "Reviewer"

2008-09-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

"For the sake of a delightful and convincing story, there isn't a lie Orhan wouldn't deign to tell"

Thus ends Orhan Pamuk's roller coaster philosophical and historical thriller, "My Name is Red". If there is any book which transforms words into pictures, this is it. Pamuk's knowledge and narration style are well known, but this book takes out a chapter from the time of the rule of the Ottoman Turks and weaves such an intricate web around the characters, the concept of illustration, art in general, Turkey and Islam that it is impossible not to lose yourself.

The story covers murder, love, lust, art, drama and effortlessly weaves a thrilling plot around these themes. It is amazing to see the way Pamuk traces inherent contradictions in political formations, art and religion. This, he accomplishes by framing long, winding dialogues.

The narrative style is also different as compared to other books. Sample? Check out the title of this blog-post. While reading the book you kind of feel that you are privy to the scenes that are being enacted and the characters know that they are being watched; they know that it is you, who is unabashedly watching, and they don't hold back the accussatory tone "You are watching all this aren't you? So, you must be knowing everything?"

The high-points of this book are the philosophical conversations that the characters have. The description of erotica is also of the highest class, that one yearns for such lovemaking sessions. The way the story of Husrev stealthily watching Shirin bathing in the lake under the moonlight is described, will send every man's blood racing to the intended spot!!

Of course, behind all this is the historical background of the Ottoman empire which is slowly losing the dizzying heights that it had reached. Though militarily they are yet to be conquered (that would have to wait until World War I), their art forms are under the stress of the perceived better saleability of the Frankish/Venetian style of portraiture. The Ottoman art masters do sneer at that since portraiture/idolatory is forbidden in Islam, but inside everyone of them, there is the melancholy sinking feeling that the Frankish style is the future. It is against such a background that religious fanatics, melancholy lovers, a principled and talented murderer and masters of art weave their stories.

Do read the book, its worth your time. I would also recommend you to a much better review by Chandrahas Choudhury.

As for my personal picks, these are the dialogues I liked in the book:

1. Through our colors, paints, art and love, we remember that Allah has commanded us to "See"! To know is to remember that you've seen. To see is to know without remembering. Thus, painting is remembering the blackness.

2. When I draw a magnificent horse, I become that magnificent horse.

3. When I draw a magnificent horse, I become a great master of old drawing that horse.

4. When I draw a magnificent horse, I am who I am, nothing more.

A multi-talented man

2008-09-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

For those who have studied between the years 1992/3-1995 at VVSGCS Bangalore, the best times would have been when that cool, awesome teacher U Sriharsha taught Sanskrit the way youngsters need to be taught - in their own "kewl" manner.

Sriharsha sir was a judoka. This aura around him itself made people listen at the least to what he used to say. Not to mention the tight slaps which would reduce the cheeks of the victim to beetroot red.

In addition, he was a PFA (People for Animals) activist. I still fondly keep the postcards of the tiger cub he had given to me when in school.

Last but not the least, how can I ever forget those early morning hours of learning Sanskrit? The cycle ride to Bashyam circle in the chilly Bangalore mornings, followed by steaming tea at his place and some of the best Sanskrit lessons ever taught.

Heres requesting any reader of this blog entry - "If you, by the slightest chance, are acquainted with U Sriharsha please do help me get in touch".

Thanks

Ticket Combinations

2008-08-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

How are tickets issued on buses? Suppose that I have to purchase tickets worth Rs. 20/-. Why is it that I am given a combo of Rs. 19/- + Rs.1/- ticket. Why not 15+5 or 10+10?

The other tickets are also there in the box. So, why the preference for this 19+1 combo?

Any answers?

Long Needed Inspiration

2008-07-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is a superb inspirational article for consultants especially. The situation that the protagonist finds herself in is kind of similar to my own world!! Whats the phrase that is used to describe the problem? Ah, yes; "And then, as summer turned to autumn in 2004, she realized she was weary of having to think about batteries in the ways her clients wanted her to."

The beauty of what Christina Lampe-Onnerud has done is that she has used relatively incremental steps as opposed to giant totally-innovative strides to achieve something revolutionary.

This paragraph summarizes her achievement perfectly:

Michael Feinstein, who led Venrock Associates’ investment in the company (the size of the first round of investment is not public), said that none of the design changes Lampe-Onnerud made were individually revolutionary. But sometimes a group of evolutionary changes are better than one dramatic innovation.

Exactly the sort of direction that I feel I require in my life.

I guess I am beginning to understand why I didn't enjoy my M.Tech to the fullest. I was looking for that revolutionary "something" which never came and in the process missed out on incremental "many-things" which might have brought me joy!!!

Reservation for faculty in IITs

2008-06-29T03:27:00.000-07:00

Mr. Arjun Singh feels that he has catered to only 50% of the Guru-Sishya tag-team in terms of doling out reservations and hence has gone ahead and introduced reservations for faculty in IITs.

One can understand the concept of reservations for studying - since many people do not get a chance to develop their skills with which they can take on the world.

I personally believe that reservations should be a definite no-no when it comes to employment. I will not use arguments such as 'diluting quality' etc because unknown to many of us discrimination might exist in the employment sphere also.

So, let me put my argument this way:

1) If, in-spite of all the help that any candidate obtains in the educational process- studying in the best institutes, coached by the best teachers, having the best lab facilities; if he/she is unable to attain the requisite excellence level to join the faculty of IIT, is it fair to provide such a student a backdoor entry considering that the faculty also play a crucial role in moulding the future talent of this country? IMHO, "No, sir!!!". So, replace "any" with reserved/general/special/favoured, and you will get your answer.

2) If Arjun Singh does believe that deserving candidates who hail from the "reserved" category of the 'great' Indian caste system do not get a fair evaluation due to discrimination, shouldn't he not be looking for means to introduce fairness in the process rather than arbitrarily lowering the bar?

Maharashtrian Food, why hasn't it spread?

2008-05-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

This article in the Economic Times, highlights a few probable reasons as to why Maharashtrian cuisine has not spread far and wide as compared to other cuisines like Gujarati, South Indian, Punjabi etc.

Please do not violently jump in support of or against the article. It is indeed sad that such a tasty and healthy cuisine is not getting the popularity that it should.

An instance comes to my mind in connection with the article-

The Maharashtra bhavan in Delhi- This place is supposed to be the symbol of Maharashtra in Delhi with the cuisine and the decor being the representative of Maharashtrian flavour. The decor hardly looked Maharashtrian and the food - there was more Chinese available than Marathi cuisine. Contrast with Andhra Bhavan who serves only authentic Andhra cuisine,

My recollection will only reinforce what the author has said in his article. But its the truth isn't it? If you try to be good at something else which someone else is an expert at, forgetting your own strengths, do you think you will get anywhere?

Nazi Hunting

2008-02-27T04:27:00.000-08:00

It's a pretty famous legend - how some notorious Nazi criminals escaped persecution albeit for some time, but were tracked down eventually and were executed by the newly formed state of Israel.
Here is a story of The Angel of Death who made Paraguay his home and just escaped capture by a whisker. He died eventually but has left behind a legend that just refuses to die.
Apart from this article, this website, The Drexel Smart Set loks neat. It has given me sufficient motivation to start writing again. Someday I should publish something there.

Links courtesy: Sharath Rao, who though miles apart, remembers my interests and never fails to send me relevant links. May his tribe increase and may he start blogging again.

IIIT for IIT

2008-01-13T05:13:00.000-08:00

The Andhra Pradesh CM has laid the foundation for an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Basar in Adilabad district.

The IIIT is a supposedly compensation for shifting the proposed Indian Institute of technology (IIT) to Medak.

Now, to the interesting part of this article -

Addressing a public meeting, he said the IIIT would be more useful than the
IIT, as many students from backward Adilabad district would benefit. If the IIT
had been established here, only a couple of students would have got seats.

Now, I have been to Basar as recently as November 2007. Its a peaceful place with the Godavari flowing nearby and the life of the people is linked with the Sharada temple. The people are nice and simple who would have every reason to believe the CM. And the opportunity to unleash some unrelated bull-shit has not been foregone by the CM.

But dear sir, there are a few doubting thomases in this world. Hence I checked the website of the IIIT at Allahabad, because that is the model I presume will be followed here. What does it say?

Entrance to these courses is through the All-India Entrance Examination
conducted by CBSE.

OK? Now, what is the means of admission to IITs? The JEE right?

Now,

1. Can this be a valid appeasement? - take an IIIT for an IIT. Why not an NIT? The purpose of asking this is - how does an Information technology institute replace an engineering institute? Even if it does, was this "replacement" IIIT shifted from somewhere else? And if so, what will that place get?

2. How can the CM guarantee in the scenario of competitive exams the proportion of students who will clear the entrance exams (JEE/AIEEE whatever)? What if more students from Adilabad clear JEE in comparison to their counterparts from Medak and show the proverbial middle finger to the CM? Will he revert the proposed IIT back to Basar?

3. Most importantly, since when has clearing competitive exams become an inter-district competition? I thought it was mostly about the achievement of the self.

Shame on you.....

2008-01-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

... Mrs. Pratibha Patil. Why? For this.

What a steep spiralling descent it has been from the days of the ethical APJ Abdul Kalam.

The office of the President can deny until eternity about the events that took place, but, we all know that our president is yet to get over thinking like a politico.

Right now I feel the same way I felt when Ricky Ponting and Michael Clark appealed for the catches of Dhoni and Ganguly - i.e punched in the solar plexus!!

A Girl Called Shazia

2008-01-12T21:48:00.000-08:00

Memories come at very unexpected times. Like for instance, this very entry that I am penning
down. Why of all people should a Kashmiri woman with whom I had journeyed from Hazrat
Nizamuddin to Yeshwantpur Junction in 2005/2006 come to my mind; and why now?

Maybe it's because she played an unwitting role in reviving the joker in me who had died
sometime during the course of my masters. Just to add on, the joker is alive and kicking!!!
Maybe it's because I was seeing a die hard public Pakistan supporter for the first time in
my life. Maybe it was because she, her classmate and an elderly Sikh couple made the journey
"the el classico" - one where you get to know everything about everyone, tell everything
about yourself and have loads of fun.

Wherever you are girl, continue spreading the cheer!!!

Opinion on Sports

2008-01-06T05:04:00.000-08:00

India's Tour of Australia

The Indian cricket team is on a long tour of Australia and as expected, is losing matches; and that too in the sickening manner reminiscent of Karachi, Bangalore and Mumbai against Pakistan and England. These are matches which just require some grit to stay in the middle.

Melbourne was definitely in such a category, but one needs to be careful while doing the same to Sydney. The umpiring was patheric and the Aussies showed the depths they can plummet character-wise just to win. Ponting, Clarke, Symonds and Hussey showed what scoundrels they are; people who just want to win at any cost. Having said that, the best response by the Indian team would have been to somehow draw the game and show the middle-finger to the Aussies.

As far as Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor go, "The exponential rapid decay of your respect levels have begun buddies!!!!"

Ranji Trophy

This edition of the ranji has brought Saurashtra into the semis. They seem a good team specially the lads Pujara and Jobanputra. Delhi too has looked good this season and UP has been superbly consistent throughout. Baroda is the 4th semi-finalist. Its good to see variety in the Ranji. Hope Tamil Nadu get to win the trophy next year. They are a supremely talented team who just need to get their act together consistently.

Sunil Mittal's Football academy

Read this first. It certainly is a good step forward, but if we do need to encourage football culture should we not look at the disasters called our cities and ensure more open spaces so that there is a sports culture inculcated? Life has become too much of Baristas, multiplexes, bars and restaurants.

Indian Tennis

The Ladies' section looks bright with the mercurial Sania Mirza promising to look good. But what I am worried about is the lack of good single's players in the Men's section. Bopanna needs to rachet up his game; else the dependance on Leander is going to destroy our chances in the Davis Cup.

Macha/Maga/Dude/Yaar, whoever you are - "Blogger is improving!!!"

2007-12-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

One particular feature of Wordpress which I wanted to see in Blogger was the way by which anyone could leave behind their site/blog URL while commenting.

Finally, my prayers have been answered.

Thanks to the Blogger team.

Those coming in from Wordpress/Livejournal, please try the feature by commenting.

Educating Amit Varma

2007-12-18T01:27:00.001-08:00

Amit Varma, in this blog-entry links to a ToI photo where the deputy CM of Maharashtra is being weighed against books at a function in Pune.

Well, the picture looks funny with everyone in the best of spirits, specially with Mr.Patil's staff/stooges trying to balance their leader, who is trying to balance books on the other pan. (digressing, does this make Mr. Patil an accountant, since he is balancing his books?)

Amit goes on to say

No, do not ask me what Mr Patil is up to. I don’t know, and never wish to
find out

I shall deliberately ignore the 'never wish to find out' phrase and do my best to educate him -

The act that Mr. Patil is indulging in is called Tulabharam, which translates ino English as weighing by scale. It generally is carried out as an act of charity usually at temples and socio-public functions. There is an interesting story concerning Tulabharam involving Rukmini, Krishna and Satyabhama.

Mr.Patil's reasons behind this Tulabharam may be debatable, but the one important question that needs to be asked is, "Why the heck are books being weighed against Mr.Patil? Is this how the Ministry of Education (hopefully those are books for school kids) "functions" in disbursing books?"

England, stay at home

2007-11-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

Yes!!! I'm so happy. England are out of Euro 2008. In my opinion this is something which they needed, something similar to India exiting out of Cricket World Cup 2007.

Both the teams are similar, lots of hype and reputation, but when it comes to actual performance where a fight is expected they are zilch.

The exit turned out to be good for India in terms of the new team being built, certain players having to regain their form, will England go the same way?

It's 0400 hrs but we still follow the Queue

2007-11-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

Discipline is the key to success -this might have been drilled into our heads since time immemorial. Why we do certain things and don't do certain things depending on whether there's someone to supervise us or not?

Whatever may be the answer to that question, the following incident should clear one doubt - following a system irrespective of the hour of the day, or the presence of a monitoring person saves a lot of time and effort.

A couple of my friends had to catch an early morning flight, and despite my best assurances regarding their timely reaching at the airport thanks to Bombay's round the clock available transport facility, they wanted to book a cab. Unfortunately, the cab service had all its vehicles booked upto the afternoon. That left us with no option but to rely on the regular autos/taxis.

It was about 4 in the morning when we exited my apartment complex. True to my prediction, there was a queue of autos at the auto stand. But, all the drivers were asleep. Not wanting to disturb them and having observed movement of autos and taxis on the road, we decided to flag one down. All that we got for a good 10 minute wait in the morning chill was a few full autos and a Maruti Esteem which flew over a speed-breaker at about 80-90 kmph.

We then decided to wake the first driver in the queue. He got up without fuss, got ready and before leaving woke the next guy in the line and asked him to take his due place at the head of the queue. He then drove away.

As I went back to my apartment, I saw Driver #2 pushing his vehicle to the head of the queue and then walking back to wake driver #3.

Neat isn't it? I don't think this would happen in any other place in India.

There were also a few questions in my mind:

1. Do I doff my hat to the work culture of this place?

OR

2. Do I doff my hat to the fact that Driver #1 considered it his responsibility to intimate his sleeping colleague that the numero uno position was vacant and had to be occupied?

OR

3. Do I doff my hat to the chain reaction that set in among all the drivers?

OR

4. Do I doff my hat to the fact that no one else would have occupied the vacated spot even if the other drivers had not woken up to push their vehicles?

Nuvvu Nuvvu

2007-11-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

This is the video of one of the most romantic and sweetest songs in Telugu.

What do I like about it? Well, Sonali Bendre and the surroundings. Wish I was her partner. Do you wanna partner, Sonali?

Marriage Registration in India

2007-10-26T01:01:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court of India, on 25th October 2007, came out with a landmark judgement that all marriages, irrespective of religion must be registered. The IBN Live report whose text version is on yahoo news, says:

Marriages may be made in heaven but they will have to be registered right
here on earth says the Supreme Court and your religion does not matter.

The court has also asked states to notify the procedure for registration of
marriage as well as appoint an officer to register all marriages in that state.

Lawyer Wasim Qadri says, “There is problem in society that people have
denied their marriages when in litigation.”

This is exactly the problem that can arise if a marriage is not registered. Evidence like photographs, marriage videos, people present at the wedding cannot be airtight proof that the wedding has taken place. If that be the case, every couple married on television had better be declared as husband and wife.

As far as cases related to the 'married couple' moving to a distant place are concerned, there have been/could be instances where the woman (in most of the cases) is harassed, or in worst cases are put through trials and tribulations that Arathi undergoes in the movie Nagarahaavu.

In effect, the registration process just does this - it legally safeguards the union and prevents exploitation. Why do you think property is registered? Why are patents filed - to register an invention isn't it?

But, trust the great-ones to oppose it.

“We think they should not be made compulsory because they are a religious affair
as far as Muslim personal law is concerned and to say that marriages not
registered are null and void is against the very concept of Muslim personal law.
Our appeal to the honorary court to the state and central government the
registration should not be made compulsory.”

If one were to visit the website of this organisation, the introduction section provides an insight behind the raison d'être for such opposition -

All India Muslim Personal Law Board was established at a time when then
Government of India was trying to subvert Shariah law applicable to Indian
Muslims through parallel legislation.Adoption Bill had been tabled in the
Parliament. Mr. H.R.Gokhle, then Union Law Minister had termed this Bill as the
first step towards Uniform Civil Code. Ulema, leaders and various Muslim
organisations successfully convinced the Indian Muslim community that the risk
of losing applicability of Shariah laws was real and concerted move by the
community was needed to defeat the conspiracy.

Their aims and objects (sic) section also rants about the primary aim being the promotion of Muslim personal law.

Fine, as an individual, every Muslim everyone has a right to the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution, the right to follow Islamic customs, marry as per the customs prevalent in Islam etc.

But, one must remember that rights are always accompanied by duties. And one such duty is to obey the rule of the land. In addition, the law is not infringing on the rights of the Muslims at all. All that it asks for is to comply with a national ruling for the betterment of society. And may I remind the members of the AIMPLB that Muslims too are part of Indian society?

So, kindly stop such nakra-naatak-baazi and please start promoting the concept of marriage registrations.

India:Australia::Pallavas:Chalukyas?

2007-10-25T01:25:00.000-07:00

The Chalukyas of Vatapi (Badami) and the Pallavas were two of some 'N' dynasties to rule the Indian sub-continent upto say, 1857; which I consider to be the period of the beginning of single-entity rule in India.

The Chalukyan king Pulikesi II, during my school days, was a sort of hated figure for me, for the simple reason that he stopped Harshavardhana's (whose name sounds infinitely sexier than Pulikesi) advance on the banks of the Narmada. But Immadi Pulikeshi by himself is the greatest ruler of the Chalukyan empire. Imagine, fighting a civil war to regain the throne, annexing territories, building up a vast army, laying siege to the city of Kanchipuram and at the end of it all having an empire stretching from the Narmada to the Kaveri is no mean achievement.

The Pallavas too had their heroes. King Mahendra Varman, his son Mamallan (of the Mahabalipuram fame) and of course their star commander Paranjothi.

The see saw cross generation battles between the two dynasties have been very well documented. Supposedly, the best literature in this area can be found in Kalki Krishnamurthi's Sivakamiyin Sapatham. Of course, the book is in Tamil, but you can find a partial English translation here. And just to clarify, the book is written from the Pallavan point of view. There is no doubting who the villains of the novel are - the Chalukyas. I would love to find a book written from the Chalukyan point of view.

Is there any parallel to this rivalry? I think so: the Indo-Australian battle for cricket supremacy is one such. Let me trace a chronology -

1. Allan Border led Australia kick Azhar led India's a*%& during the 1992 tour of Australia.

2. Sachin Tendulkar led India beat Mark Taylor led Australia in a one off test and knock them out of the Titan Cup.

3. Mohammad Azharuddin led India beat Mark Taylor led Australia in a 1997-98 3 test series in India

4. Steve Waugh led Australia blank Sachin Tendulkar led India in the 1999 down-under series

5. Saurav Ganguly led India stop the Steve Waugh led Australian juggernaut in the 'VVS Laxman-Matthew Hayden-Harbhajan Singh' series in 2001

6. Ganguly led India draw a hard fought series against Steve Waugh's Australia - in Australia.

7. Gilchrist-Ponting led Australia win back the Border Gavaskar trophy against a Ganguly-Dravid led India.

8. Ponting led Australia demolish Mahendra Dhoni led India 4-2 in a one day series.

The next series is India's tour of Australia in December. Is this the time for Dhoni to don the mantle of a Narasimha Pallavan?

Hopefully he should. But I feel for Dravid, he has never got a complete series against the Australians. Time to reconsider resignation from the test captaincy?

Paradigm shift anyone?

2007-10-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading this book called "The Tyranny of Numbers" by David Boyle. This book is a delight for a qualitative person like me who doesn't like the way numbers are being abused. Collecting data, furiously searching for patterns in them, drawing conclusions from the data are exercises which I generally take up when there is no other option to put my word across.

I am more of someone who argues based on emotions, abstracts, gut feeling, sixth sense etc. It may sound out of place in this world, but data is what I do not like, give me date anytime over that!!! :-)

Mr.Quantitative, will surely disagree with me on this!! Check this, this, this and this.

I also do understand the limitations of my approach with the growing size of organisations, parameters, inputs, viewpoints etc. Hence numbers are a way of life; no escape. Period.

Anyway, the book had a couple of superb points which I am just scribbling over here.

1.

The best recruitment policy focuses on the individual job and the individual
applicant and the best educational policy focuses on the individual student.

My view: Yes. But as the size of the organisation grows is there enough time and enough patience to run through things qualitatively? How would for instance a company like TCS with such a large workforce try to see if every individual fits in with their system? They certainly are justified in sticking to their policy of looking at a particular set of people rather than how each individual in that set should be.

2. This is a lovely statement because there has been an incident wherein the mechanisms of my class election were supposed to work in the manner described below. Let me clarify very clearly that what is said about John Vasconcellos DOES NOT REFLECT ON THE GUYS INVOLVED IN THE COLLEGE INCIDENT. Both are good friends of mine and are great chaps in their own right. Clarification provided, see the statement.

"In fact, he had such low self-esteem, that he lost the first election he ever
fought, for eighth grade president, by one vote. His own"

Touché.....................

Glenn Mcgrath strikes again....

2007-10-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

.... or rather the entities from whom he derives his nick-name, the pigeons strike again. They are a real pest, let me tell you. Upto last month they were good neighbours; I let them roost and they never crossed the boundaries of my window.

The last week was an exercise in detection. Every evening, my toilet kit, deo and vicks bottle used to lie on the floor. I used to blame the easterlies, the westerlies and what not for their toppling over. I have even spent hours trying to analyse how the wind could have come in at such a bent angle and still manage to topple over stuff which is kept quite far away from the edge of the shelf.

Monday proved to be the 'eureka' day. It was early in the morning and I was about to leave for my gym, and I accidentaly managed to peek into my bedroom to look for a pair of socks when I had the shock of my life. Two bloody pigeons were hovering dangerously close to my after-shave bottle. The bastards had come in so silently; the sort of silence that would make stealth fighters proud.

My life has turned topsy-turvy. I was the proud advocate of not sealing off the space meant for the air conditioning unit in the name of fresh air. These bloody birds have made me seal the space with newspapers!!! Cheap as it may sound, this is a temporary measure until I get a screen window installed.

Bhagyashree might have sung

"Kabootar ja ja ja, Kabootar ja ja ja
Pehli pyaar ki pehli chitti, saajan ko de aa"

But my song is

"Kabootar ja ja ja, kabootar ja ja ja
Chitti to chodo, Pyaar karne waali bhi nahin
Bas mere ghar khaali kar ke chala ja"

Anyone with ideas on how to drive away pigeons please leave your suggestions in the comments section.

Chatpat Churumuri

2007-10-12T02:51:00.000-07:00

Churumuri is a lovely blog with a Mysore connection. If you are wondering what Churumuri exactly means, check this out. Satiated your stomach? Now, read this to know what the online Churumuri is.

The way the blogs are written here are simply superb!! I love to just keep going through this blog again and again. I would suggest that you read the entries in this series of articles and in case you are able to make out who is being referred to, just smile and keep the name to yourself. Why would you want to point out someone directly when the folks at Churumuri are doing it in a subtle manner!!

This recent entry on the recent political crisis in Karnataka is a gem. Just imagine the creativity in linking this crisis to the morning-after crisis. And also observe the way the original advertisement is tweaked to give us the "maa-ji" CM's face. Awesome fun!!!

Talking about i-pills, check out this article by Rashmi. She sums up the potential misuse of this pill by the following phrase:

It would be terrible if young people decide to adopt the convenient route: Condom nahi hai? Koi baat nahin - you can always use the i-Pill. So let's go
ahead anyways.

Hopefully the young people being referred to should realise that i-pill does not protect against AIDS, syphilis etc

Back to Kannada naadu now. This sort of KLPD is happening for the second time with the BJP. The earlier KLPD giver was Behenji Mayawati!! Irrespective of how crooked politicians are, this sort of cheating takes the cake. And such instances can be summarised by some phrases like:

1. Suryange torchaa (Shine a torch to the sun?)

2. Neenu chaape kelage tooridare naanu rangoli kelage toortini (if you can slip under the carpet, i can slip under the 'rangoli'; now, beat that!!)

The BJP bufoons should have documented this formula of power sharing before the government formation and got it SIGNED in PUBLIC. There is nothing to substitute the legal validity of the written word. I just fail to understand how such simple formalities can escape notice in the mad thirst for power.

In case they end up in a similar situation the next time, they should sign the agreement; then maybe take up the first chance themselves and then when their turn comes to hand-over, they should hand over power WITHOUT fail. Not only would this showcase them as meticulous and street smart, but would also give them the tag of honesty, something which is not in the possession of any party.

Deve Gowda might be smirking now; but I wish from the blackest portions of my heart (and in case there are none I shall paint a large portion with that colour) that the Janata Dal ('Secular') is thrashed in the hustings, even in Gowda's home territory. People of Karnataka, we need more Tejaswini Srirameshs.

For the Kannada speaking AND the Electrically inclined

2007-10-10T21:39:00.001-07:00

AND being the operative word, these phrases would mean greater fun if your logical output for the above condition is 1; else you may have to request translation which would rob you of the fun part.

1. Shunta = Shaata connected in shunt

2. Sirisha = Shaata connected in series

3. Shatki Diode = A diode made by the principle of shaata tunneling

The Oscar Gaffe

2007-09-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

The choice of Ekalavya: The Royal Guard as India's nominee for the Oscars is pathetic to say the least. The selection committee has lost the match for the country before it starts. Why do I say so?

1. There was atleast one superb movie - Gandhi my Father comes to my mind. There may be many such hidden gems in regional movies.

2. From my empirical observation, I feel that the jury looks for meaningful cinema which is novel at the same time. Ekalavya may be a superbly shot movie; may have the old-world charm to it, but does it come close to Gandhi My Father? No, Sir!!!

Every year the selection committee makes the same mistakes. They just go by the names of the big stars and try to cash in on them.

When will these buffoons realise that popularity among desis doesn't mean that the whole world takes notice?

Photos from Bombay

2007-09-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

This was taken just outside the domestic airport, Santa Cruz, Bombay. The auto driver had stopped to buy some pan-paraag. The kids in the picture had stopped to see the fate of a bottle that had been throen out of a moving car by some arsehole. The kid in the red vest was telling the others that the bottle would be crushed at any moment. And when it happened, this was the "Aha!! I told you so" moment
This picture was taken near Dharavi, Bombay during heavy rains. Heavy is a relative term; people here would classify it as a "trailer-baarish" as compared to 26 July 2005!!!

I was appalled to see this advertisement in the Times of India. Is this a way to sell an anti-virus? Or is there some hidden link connecting Krrish, Don and Symantec/Norton?

When Fear Strikes

2007-09-11T04:44:00.000-07:00

Rush Hour on the local-train
Left me with no time
To reflect on the moment
The date and even the day

The sea of humanity at CST
All impervious to each other
Rushing to office/college
Or who knows, maybe even a leisurely stroll

All went well
Until I reached my destination
Which was on the 13th floor
Of the World Trade Centre

A look out of the window
The sea seemed shallow
And the fishermen's boats
Anchored like picture perfect

"Was that a plane?" said my mind
"Oh you fool its your imagination"
Said my heart kind;
September the 11th it is my boy
But New York it sure isn't, but think of them all the same
Those who died for Bin-Laden's joy

PS: A tribute to the 9/11 victims; this came about because of the fear momentarily generated in my heart while on the 13th floor of the World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, Bombay

The Age of Uncertainty

2007-09-10T01:24:00.000-07:00

Once in a while everyone tends to have the good fortune to find a great book in the library; once in a while everyone has the good sense to retain this book at the expense of others given the limit on borrowings and once in a while everyone keeps themselves keyed up and reads the book word to word without losing interest even once.

Such a book is "The Age of Uncertainty" by John Kenneth Galbraith, economist and ex-USA ambassador to India.

This book is ideal for someone who is interested in a historical narration of the development of economic thought process. In this context Sharath Rao immediately comes to mind. The book provides an unbiased narrative, shows an understanding of the times that the theorists lived; and also touches upon the geographical aspects of the places where the theorists grew up in.

Adam Smith, Karl Marx, lenin, colonialism, the history of money are some of the topics touched upon. Beautifully written; engrossing, a must read for students of economics, history and economic-history/historical-economics.

Cities and the people who love them

2007-08-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Sample this extract from Orhan Pamuk's 'Istanbul: memories of a City'

In the Return of the Flaneur, Walter Benjamin introduces Franz Hessel's
Berlin Walks by saying that "If we were to divide all the existing description
of cities into two groups according to the birthplace of authors, we would
certainly find that those written by the natives of the cities concerned are
greatly in the minority." According to Benjamin, the enthusiasm for seeing a
city from the outside is exotic or picturesque. For natives of a city, the
connection is always mediated by memories.

Beautiful!!! Wonder where such culture has disappeared when I hear bad remarks about Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Calcutta and Nagpur from the non-natives.

Some Observations

2007-08-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

1. How do you rate 'Transformers'?

Been asked this question? Floundered, irrespective of whether you liked it or not? Been at a loss for words? Are awesome, mind-blowing on the one hand and shitty, yucky on the other are the only words that come to your mind and by propogation to your mouth?

Fear not ye mortals, here are two phrases that will exhibit your scientific temper, your appreciation of the movie, your presence of mind "Phalaana Dimaaka" (Slang Hindi for etc etc etc)

Transformers = Artificial Intelligence+Smart Materials

2. How do you ensure that the economy is flush with sufficient loose change?

Ever whipped out a deci-k (read as hundred) or k (thousand) note and been stared at and told "Sorry saab, khulla/chutta/change nahin hain?" The answer is simple:

One in a while ditch going to the ATM and take the pains to withdraw cash
in your desired denomination from your nearby branch.

Words from Istanbul

2007-08-21T02:43:00.000-07:00

I'm currently immersed in Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul: Memories and the City.

Found this word which i loved instantly:

chiaroscuro

A monochrome picture made by using several shades of the same colour

Is this to me as what serendipity was for Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack?

An "I give up" post

2007-08-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

To all the readers of this blog, I only have to say this:

"

I am absolutely fed up of trying to format my entries on blogger. So, the
articles that you read will generally be pathetically formatted for no fault of
mine. There are the odd articles which appear neat - that is because i would not
have used the italics or block quote formatting. I try to lay emphasis on the
content; leaving formatting in the hands of God and Blogger. I am broken,
frustrated and defeated by formatting... Hence I shall not try to make my
articles visibly pleasing

The Tata Power AGM

2007-08-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life, I attended an Annual General Meeting (AGM); the one of Tata Power on 8th August, 2007. The jugglery of mathematics was quite interesting – the 88th AGM was being held on the 8th day of the 8th month of the year.

The AGM was held at the Birla Matoshree Sabhangan (Birla Auditorium) on Sir Vithaldas Thackersey Marg running parallel to Queen’s Road (Maharshi Karve marg), the road running adjacent to Churchgate terminus. SVT Marg happened to be a quiet rain drenched street, something which roars to life during lunch breaks and begin & end time of institutes; and is deadly silent otherwise. Interestingly this road houses the Anti Dowry Guidance Cell.

The entrance at the Birla auditorium was chaotic, and instead of the usual rude, pushy, unruly crowds of youngsters, this was a noisy complaining crowd of senior citizens. My first reaction was to panic – “What am I doing here? Let me get the hell out of here!!” Better sense prevailed over me, telling me to wait and watch.

Observing children and senior citizens is a nice pastime. They generally carry on with their activities with nay a care in the world, but if they know that someone is watching over them or if they are among their peers, the extra energy to make oneself noticed comes out of nowhere. But they are a lovely set of people to be with, if you have the patience to listen, observe and be like a sponge absorbing their mostly harmless rants.

The AGM started in the usual manner with the resolutions to be adopted being put up for approval, customary addresses by the chairman Mr. Ratan Tata and the MD Mr. Prasad Menon. Hearing these two guys speak, even though there was no hormone pumping message usually seen during convocations was inspiring. Specially the way Mr.Tata has handled a vast group and the effortless transition Mr. Menon has made from heading Tata Chemicals to Tata Power.

The interesting part followed – the session for questions from shareholders. Many speakers put forth their views on the annual report. Some of the views were redundant, considering that they wee already in the report. There were a few moments of humor, like when this lady rattled off Shayaris (poems) in honor of Mr. Tata. Something on the lines of “Tata group ke Shehanshah; Agle saal bhi aap dividend issue karenge, yeh umeed hai mujhe” types.

What amazed me was the detailed study some of the questioners had made over the report. Most of the questions concerned the issue of dividend, perceived unnecessary spending etc. Most of these worries were also coupled with the promise of security of power supply to the country. This is the right attitude to have, in my opinion, “Ask what the company has done for you and your country”.

Considering that TPC is 8 decades old, it is not surprising that most of its shareholders are senior citizens. They represent a breed of careful investors unlike today’s short term, short sighted, lusting after quick money investors. The joy on their faces on hearing about the declaration of higher dividend should have been seen to be believed.

I believe that they have reason to feel more joy in the years to come – TPC certainly looks to be a giant in the Indian power sector. Vriddhashrama vaasis certainly can be assured of that.

As I was walking out in the middle of the long and seemingly never ending Q&A session, the following conversation rang in my ears for the rest of the day:

Old Parsi shareholder: "During your father's time, Chairman Sir, there were advertisements asking Bombayites to consume more and more electricity. It is an irony that now, we are being asked to use as less as possible."

Ratan Tata: "Yes, it certainly is an irony. But hopefully our vision is that we should get back to the good old days in the future. Till then, every switch that you put off is a blessing."

For India's sake I hope the vision works out well!!!!

The Gulag Archipelago

2007-08-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

Aleksandr I Solzhenitsyn’s riveting account of the system of persecution prevalent in Russia under Stalin certainly makes for moving reading. It shows the extremities to which mankind can go to safeguard their position, power and authority in the light of hallucinations experienced by leaders; and by all accounts, mystery leaders such as Stalin would certainly would have had reasons to be hallucinated.

Credit must also go to Thomas P Whitney for the excellent translation. The irony, the mockery, the joy and the sorrow that Solzhenitsyn must have experienced have been brought out in great detail. The supplementary explanatory title “An Experiment in Literary Investigation” is certainly an apt description of the intention of the book – investigating and exposing the Communist anarchy.

The book starts with a chapter on arrests. Aleksandr beautifully describes an arrest as follows: “It’s a blinding flash and a blow which shifts the present instantly into the past and the impossible into omnipotent actuality”. How many arrests have we seen? The dignified Sanjay Dutt, the bawling Karunanidhi, the unrepentant Alistair Pereira. But all of them constitute high profile cases and they had/have a way out either by way of position, authority or money respectively. How many arrests of ordinary people have we seen? Nil. That is because most ordinary folks do not have the money, position or authority to commit crimes to get arrested. But more important is the reason that we are in a thankfully tolerant regime which does not get into imagined fears about its very roots getting torn out. There might be instances of false cases being foisted upon innocent people, but I do not think the justice system would have clogged the “sewage disposal system” (as Solzhenitsyn says) with so many prisoners.

The second chapter deals with the history of the mass imprisonments, public trials, tortures and all those parts which make up that whole called a repressive regime. In fact, one gets to see that the seeds for this system are sown by V. I. Lenin, the first leader of the Russian Soviet. Sample this extract from the book:

“

And even though V. I. Lenin at the end of 1917, in order to establish ‘strictly
revolutionary order’ demanded ‘merciless suppression of attempts at anarchy on
the part of drunkards, hooligans, counterrevolutionaries and other
persons’…………...In his essay ‘How to Organize the Competition’ Lenin proclaimed
the common, united purpose of ‘purging the Russian land of all kinds of harmful
insects’…..

”

The chapter also describes the draconian Article 58 of the criminal code under which all the perceived enemies of the state were persecuted. The power of political commissars attached to the military units is also described; to see what powers the commissars exercised, you only need to see the movie ‘Enemy at the Gates’: how Vasily Zaitsyev is manipulated by the commissar – all for a woman. Yes, personal desires of a politically connected officer could land you in imprisonment.

There is a detailed description of the methods of interrogation and torture used by the Cheka/NKVD or whatever the agencies are called. In the middle of the chapter, Solzhenitsyn props up an unexpected gem: how to stand up and screw the interrogator“

From the moment you go to prison you must put your cozy past firmly behind you.
At the very threshold, you must say to yourself: ‘My life is over, a little
early to be sure, but there’s nothing to be done about it. I shall never return
to freedom. I am condemned to die – now or a little later. But later on, in
truth, it will be even harder, and so the sooner the better. I no longer have
any property whatsoever. For me those I have loved have died, and for them I
have died. From today on, my body is useless and alien to me. Only my spirit and
my conscience remain precious and important to me’. Confronted by such a
prisoner, the interrogation will tremble

.”

How many of us will follow such austere measures cannot be foretold until we are subject to the same. The very thought of methods such as a blow on the genitals, drinking the interrogator’s urine etc makes us cringe and want to puke. Lucky for us: such sort of rulers we have never seen (excluding the Emergency period of-course) nor should we ever see, assuming though that the problem of the Maoists and naxalites is eliminated once and for all.

A comparison of the interrogation methods followed under the Tsar and the Bolsheviks can be seen from the following extract:

“

At the end of the last century and the beginning of this one, the Tsarist
interrogator immediately withdrew his question if the prisoner found it
inappropriate or too intimate. But in Kresty Prison in 1938, when the old
political hard labor prisoner Zelensky was whipped with ramrods with his pants
pulled down like a small boy, he wept in his cell: ‘My Tsarist interrogator
didn’t even dare address me rudely.’

“

True, nature puts us through ‘worse’ to realize the advantages of ‘bad’.

There are also descriptions of trials conducted by Stalin’s stooges – a mockery of justice; where the prosecutor changed color like a chameleon; double standards were used blatantly and all perceived enemies – church functionaries, engineers, political opposition, and intellectuals were sentenced by sham courts and trials.

The reader is also provided insight into the foolish policy decisions of the Soviet throughout the course of the book. Some of these policies are laughable and some even warranted the arrest of Stalin and his aides, but considering that those Stalinist stooges managed to imprison, execute and exile people under these policies, they cease to be a laughing matter.

The Soviet ‘tamasha’ continues with the description of how they rechristened the death sentence as the ‘supreme measure’ merely to make things look new and changed. There is a moving account of the execution of 6 collective farmers merely for having gone back to their fields a second time to collect hay for their cows – a violation of state planning principles and rules.

Take this extract as an example of ironical comedy:

“

Of course, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee would certainly have
‘completely abolished’ the supreme measure, as promised, but unfortunately what
happened was that in 1936 the Father and Teacher ‘completely abolished’ the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee itself

.”

The author then proceeds to describe the inhuman slave labour system with chapters on the jails, the slave-convoy transports, the slave camps; how political prisoners are ill treated by the guards and common thieves; how they are denied their rations etc

As a conclusion, in my opinion, what should not be lost sight of is the fact that the common Russian populace is tired of the heavy hand of communism. They love their motherland alright, but not the type of rule that they are subjugated to. Considering the hardships that they were subjected to, with the cream of their population either lost to slave labor or to the jaws of death; the very fact that the cold war went on till 1989 is a tribute to the resilience of the Russians.

But, more importantly, this book proves that individual freedom coupled with the responsibility of humane behavior is the ultimate system which should come into the world. Capitalism, communism, fascism et al be damned. This message is the best review that one can give this book. Do read it.

Childhood - Cricket fades, quarrels fail; but the memory remains

2007-08-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

The Hindu of 2nd August 2007 carried this article about children in Britain not playing out
on the streets at all. Instant connections can be formulated from an Indian perspective.

The streets outside my home have gone dead since 2000, when many of us started going about
our professional degrees. Luckily, I had the grounds, courts and pitches of KREC to keep my
sporting side alive. Not so for many of my Bangalore-stuck friends.

Add to this the mushrooming of CCD, Barista and the IT boom; Bangalore lost both it's
street games and its quiet way of life.

Forum and Garuda mall put the final nail in he coffin of the street-playing Bangalore kid.

As the article says, those days I knew all my neighbours well, but now I don't even know
what changes have transpired. Add to that my seven years away from Bangalore.

As the Mettalica song goes, its only the memory that remains. Some unforgettable memories:

1. Being set up repeatedly for a ball similar to the one with which Shane Warne bowled Mike
Gatting by J

2. Myself and K always being on the opposite sides. Our different styles of play; the
sedate vs the aggressive; silky vs explosive; the high voltage clashes.

3. A 'definite' sixer by K landing on someone's chest prompting accussations of inducing
heart attacks by playing cricket

4. The methodical dismantling of the total by the other J

5. The arrival of the pace battery S

6. P cutting the ball into pieces and sadistically throwing it back to us for hitting it
into her house

7. Secretly eyeing the other J's sister and trying to impress her with our style of play.

Sigh!! Must restart........

The eyes that lit up a Sunday evening and the Rajni Mecca in Bombay

2007-07-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

The best part of staying in Bombay is that there are so many things to do if you really want to do. Say, if you want to really be a party animal, there is no dearth of places; if you want to watch a movie, this is movieland, dude (provided you get tickets, of course!!!); and even if you decide to be one of those like me who prefer not doing anything generally, need some stimulus to decide on an outing (this, after analysing all options etc); Bombay welcomes you with open arms.

It was such an evening that I decided to watch the Amitabh Bacchan-Tabu-Paresh Rawal starrer "Chini Kum". Everything went to perfection except the availability of tickets. One third of me wanted to return home to watch the pathetic Indians "battle" England; one third wanted to return to read The Gulag Archipelago and the last one third wanted to go on a long walk, where you can think, observe, sing to your heart's content. (Trust me folks, solitary long walks are something everyone should do!!!)

Choosing the option of a walk, I started off towards King's Circle in Matunga. Enroute I somehow strayed into Sion Koliwada and landed up on some automobile repair street.Digressing for the benefit of those special folks who know both Kannada and Tamil. Think 'koli' and think 'wada'. Now depending on how you pronounce 'wada' (which might mean the eatable medu-wada or 'come here dude'), it can either be made out as chicken-wada or chicken-come-here-dude!!

Back to the story.....

Following the path through the maze of streets, I finally ended up at the multiplex which I had just left 15 minutes back. I ploughed along and soon was near Gandhi Market. Thats when I saw those almond eyes!!! Almond eyes, somehow remind me of Bambi the Deer, and this lady certainly was deerlike. Her translucent burkha partially covered one of the most beautiful faces I have seen in my entire life. But it was her eyes, her 'kajal' bordered Bambi like eyes which took my breath away. What happened next? Eyes met-smiles exchanged-we went on our way.

Proceeding further, suddenly, I mean without warning, stepped on the hallowed turf of AURORA THEATRE, the Rajni Mecca!!! Any Rajni movie makes it's debut in Bombay here, and tickets can go upto 1000 bucks on the black market. Of course, Sivaji was showing and people were milling about.

My evening was made, Bambi and Rajni; bring out the celebratory brandi (Sic) :D

Copies

2007-07-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

In government offices in India, when multiple copies of any official letter are being sent,
the following terminologies are used:

1. When a copy is being sent to someone who is of a higher designation than the sender

"copy submitted with respect(s) to"

The additional s in respect(s) comes about if someone is feeling excessively respectful to
the 'boss'. But you better have respect at-least. A respect in letter is better than no
respect(s) at all.

2. When a copy is being sent to someone who is of equal designation

"copy fwcs to"

fwcs standing for forwarded with compliments.

3. When a copy is being sent to someone who is at a lower designation than the sender

"copy with enclosure to"

For those of you who are having a slight insulting smile on your face, try looking at it
this way. Think of a very very very traditional family whom you are visiting and are about
to take leave from:

When you take leave from the elders, you generally seek their blessings.

When you take leave from your peers, you generally shake hands or embrace.

When you take leave from the kids of the house, you generally give an affectionate pinch or
a kiss.

Think of government offices as an official version of the same. The same inter-generation
struggles are seen, the same atmosphere persists wherein you don't call elders by just
their name, but a suffix which is generally sir/madam.

Stockholm syndrome at work, you say?? Well, "Say what you mean but it won't change a
thing", but the undeniable and unchallenged fact remains that no one has better record
keeping skills and a minutely defined set of procedures covering every eventuality as a
government agency. This is true, cutting across national borders!!

And yes, copies play a very very vital role; whether you submit it with
respect/compliments: at the end of the day, all that matters is whether it is in the file
or not and for the good of everyone, it better be :D

Statement of Intent

2007-07-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

"In the Mumbai, all over India, we are the Bhai, we are the Bhai"

- Aay Ganpat, Chal Daaru Laa

- song from Shootout at Lokhandwala, 2007

Fotographie

2007-07-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

Was in Khandala the last wekeend and managed to click quite a few snaps... Samples shown below

Mountain stream: "Men may come and men may go, but I go on forever" from The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Hilltop with waterfall

Life's fundas are sometimes explained by beer!!! or in this case by beer mugs.

For the 'club' mentored KRECian

2007-07-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

As a former IE member, it pains me to see the state of the Institution of Engineers, Students' Chapter in comparison with Computer Society of India (CSI) and ISTE!!!

Check the websites....

CSI:

ISTE:

Buck up IE members. Whats happening?

On a related note, Newswagon, the satirical newspaper of KREC also has a 'website' similar to IE.

Wonder of wonders, the students' union, that destroyer of carefully built up friendships has a working website.

Ah, memories...

...the IE 'interviews'

...making a fool of myself @ the newswagon 'interview'

...the proxy war with Newswagon during Crrescendo 2004 over "Anna Karenina"

...THE pep-talk of Elections 2003-04 "We've got them by the balls; and its now time to squeeze"

...overworked and sleepless hospitality committee work

Wish I could live those days again!!!!

Keeping track - technology help

2007-06-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

The internet has literally exploded in our faces, and blogging is one of the main
detonators, if I may use the term. With an ever increasing number of people turning to
blogging; an increasing number of posts end up online and for people who follow a number of
blogs, this is a veritable nightmare. Add to that the number of newspaper and magazine
articles which are quoted and linked to and commented upon by bloggers. Fear not, RSS (not
the Nagpur headquartered, but the internet head quartered) is here to help!!

This entry is going to be about a feed reader called i-fetch. This is a nervous footstep in
the world of technology reviewing, and i have Shweta to thank for this. She blogs
here.

i-fetch is developed by Ideafarms. It's part of an information management suite and this is
what the salient features of i-fetch look like:

- Reduces bandwidth requirements: Good, but with ever growing bandwidth I guess this is not
a very crucial feature.

- Collects information at a single interface: Nice!!

- Pull-based, not Push-based: No idea what this means!!! But I can hazard a guess; it trawls
the web for the articles useful to me, rather than "sending out trumpets" blaring about itself
and collecting articles which have a keyword/link associated with i-fetch.

- Groups information conveniently: Desirable feature, no application can do without this

- Integrated browser: Again, more of a "should have" rather than an "additional feature".

- Auto discovery of feeds: Nice, but suppose it returns feeds that I don't want?

- Support for RSS, Atom & Rdf formats: Cool

- OPML Support: Any support is welcome

- Quick search: Again, "should have" feature

- Predefined with 20 popular feeds: Hmm, this is subject to individual users. If I don't
have any favourites, these 20 will be a starting point; but if I have 20 or more
replacements, I can either add them to these predefined feeds; or if I'm in a really bad
mood, can delete the predefined and substitute my own!! As You Like It, as Shakespeare would
say.

Also do check out the help feature for i-fetch. The interface seems pleasant, the help
feature is detailed and deep, with relevant links provided for explaining terms etc.

Recommendation: Looks good, give it a try!! A free download is also available.

Confession: I have not personally tried it; mainly because I have a set of blogs which I
follow and then just randomly branch out to other articles. Suffice to say, I like to be a
random surfer. But, a part of me says, give i-fetch a try.............................

PS: Also check out their Sudoku application.

Can I do it........ again??

2007-06-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

After reading this love letter which I wrote a year and a half back, I'm wondering, "Can I better this?"

A letter to Mr. Kailash Vijayavargiya, Madhya Pradesh PWD and IT minister

2007-06-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to the hue and cry that you have raised over the matter concerning a contraceptive/protective device manufactured by Hindustan Latex.

Yes, it's a Condom, Yes, it's a sex toy.. Its called Cre'zen'do

According to what I have been reading in the papers, you have said that the condoms have metamorphosed into sex-toys and for added measure you have said, "And sex toys can have serious repurcusisons on the Indian way of life".

Further you have gone on to put your foot in your mouth by saying, "The government should promote family planning and not something that is meant to give your partner pleasure."

Pray excuse me sir, let me have a hearty laugh clutching my stomach and get back to you. HA HA HA HA HA.. ROTFLMAO.... Yeah, I'm back.

Which age are you living in, sir? Sex has always been about pleasure. Can you come out in public and say with 100% honesty that you have never fantasised about how pleasurable sex could be? Let's not hear bull-shit like how 'decent' you were, "Auraton par aankh bhi nahin uthake dekhtatha". Enough!!

You politicians are forgetting one basic fact that your ban of stuff like condoms is going to result in a baby boom. Your priority should be sex education where you teach stuff like

1. how not to treat females like mere sex objects - to males
2. how to be aware of the right to say no to sex - to females
3. understanding of the economic strain in having huge families - to both males and females
4. the deadly nature of AIDS, Syphilis etc - again, to both males and females

Oh sir, I forgot. Sex education is bad right? It corrupts youth right? Tut, tut; where have we landed ourselves? Sex education is bad, pleasurable sex is bad; sex toys are bad; but yet, the population of this god damn country has to be controlled. What do we do, sir? Organise masturbation shibirs/shakas? Prohibit sex? Make homosexuality compulsory? Abolish artificial fertilisation clinics?

Whatever it may be sir, let it be called Cre'Swift'do, Cre'xing'do or even Cre'scorpio'do;let it do whatever it's supposed to do; whats it got to do with you?

All that apart, who are you to interfere in others' bedroom affairs? Every couple has a right to decide their own means of making love. Assume for instance someone were to legislate on how you should make love? Suppose I were to visit your bedroom and carry out a process mapping of your 'roll in the hay', and give you revised procedures/processes how would you feel?

So, shut the fuck up and concentrate on your department - PWD and IT. We all know the condition of your state's roads and IT set up. Look at what you can do there, not in others' bedrooms!!

Songs and Pictures

2007-06-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

" They" say that a picture is worth a thousand words!!! Is it? And how much is a word worth? Ask Wordsworth, "they" say? Maybe I should. 2/5th of this blog entry is on nature; and who else better than the nature poet to consult? Alas, I cannot; because he is "Khallas"!!!

Why haven't "they" tried to superimpose the two? "They" have, haven't they? What do you think music videos are? An amalgam? A mixture? A compound? An alloy? Should be some beautifully screwed foursome-indulging molecule like Methane (CH4). How else would you explain the fusion of vision and sound? Two necessities, two different energy forms, two unequally matched sensory cousins. If such disparate cousins could get along, why couldn't the Pandavas and Kauravas make peace? The answer, my friend lies in the (300,000,000)^2 separation factor between mass and energy. Thats what separated the Pandava-Kaurava enimity from the vision-hearing togetherness.

In such circumstances, along came Fotocommunity. Their idea, as I have lifted form their website is as below

The idea behind this project is to match a song of your liking to a
photograph that you have taken. Please add the lyrics so that we, your audience,
can see what you associate with your photograph.

Since the contest is closed, my blog is my only hope!!! So, now to indulge in some sono-pictorial fetishes; all pictures taken in Bombay on June 10th.

1. Setting sun @ Marine drive

Song: Daylight, Coldplay

To my surprise and my delight

I saw sunrise I saw sunlight (Did I? I thought I had mentioned sunset, Nevermind!!!)

I am nothing in the dark

And the clouds burst to show daylight

2. Waves beating against the protective stones lining Marine Drive

Song: Sea of Stories, Zebediah Plush
PS: Don't those stones look like a methane molecule?

The stone design brings another song to my mind, "Yaava Shilpi Kanda Kanaso"

3. Ceiling Lights at the World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai

Song: Clocks, Coldplay

Lights........

....go out and I can't be saved

Tides that I tried to swim against

Have brought me down upon my knees

Oh, I beg, I beg and plead.........

You're the fuckin WTC after all, such asymmetry may be good for photography, but not for people straining their eyes to watch gamers battle it out on their monitors!!!

And yeah, for the record, I am a Quake voyeur!!!

Next project: to describe some words with photographs!!!

Sivaji

2007-06-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

Watch Sivaji. Not for the story, not for Thalaivar's gravity-defying stunts, not for the comedy and certainly not for the morals. Then why? For these two lovely ladies. Ippudu choodu :-D

1. Nayantara

2. Shriya - no words to describe her, she's flawless!!!

Cool!!!

Hindustan ka Dil Dekho

2007-06-18T02:45:00.001-07:00

Folks, if you have not watched the ad for MP Tourism, here's your chance to do so. Catchy, hummable lyrics. Wonderfully executed!!

Egg on the BCCI's face; lets egg on whoever threw it

2007-06-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone screwed the BCCI; and as cleanly as it can get. It was something awaited for a long long time. From time immemorial these slimy rascals have been throwing their weight around, dictating terms to players, coaches, television channels, boards of other countries and surprisingly, they even managed to rake in the moolah for all their farting.

Now, making money is no sin. But not utilising the money for legitimate and necessary purposes is a crime. For starters, BCCI does not have a website of its own. For any information, one has to either go to Wikipedia or visit this unofficial site which resembles one of those elaborately designed blog sites through which people either keep asking for forgiveness for taking a long time to put up their new template, keep thanking the people who helped them or keep thanking people who liked the new design. Can any organisation be so unprofessional in this new millenium which is defined by Information Technology? Just to put things in perspective, Zimbabwe whose cricketing structure has been destroyed by politics has a website, and a very pleasant one at that.

Another area where the BCCI has failed to utilize the vast ocean of money it commands, is the improvement of facility in stadiums. See any match played in Australia/England and compare them to the matches played in India. The contrast is stark. Do you think you could "enjoy" the experience of watching a match at the stadium unless you are one of those privileged pass holders or are able to get hold of the VIP seats? Hell, going by the scenario wrt public toilets in India, I could also be forgiven to think that the BCCI is not bothered about the existence/state of toilets in the stadiums.

Training facilities for budding cricketers, a talent development program are some of the other areas where the BCCI should have pumped in money.

Instead, the money that has been hoarded by not spending on vital aspects has been used to bully opponents, buy votes and acquire an arrogant swagger. Any tom, dick and harry can occupy top positions in the organisation. I do not see a single professional cricketer in the board. Instead we have a dual tasking agriculture minister (whose advent has deteriorated both the agriculture and cricket sectors in India), businessmen, tycoons and the filthy rich lot who in my gully cricket playing days used to be represented by the neighbourhood scowl-face who used to take sadistic pleasure in ruining an entertaining evening for the boys.

The lack of professionalism was evident right from the time India were booted out of the CWC 2007. Finger pointing, a lack of urgency, a chalta-hai attitude were all evident in the BCCI's press statements. And the way they dealt with Whatmore resembled a sort of back-stabbing that usually happens in the Indian electoral scene. (I'll write about this sometime using the union elections in KREC as an example) It was at that moment that I got the feeling that finally something was brewing. All these days the unprofessionalism used to be cloaked under timely victories, a sense of "team-work" etc. This time, it was out in the open for all to see. It was there in newspapers world-wide. The arrogance that their over-flowing coffers could achieve anything became too much in-the-face for the people.

And then came the rejection by Graham Ford!!!!

After having been disrobed in public, all that remained was to garland the BCCI with slippers, blacken their face and parade them on a donkey. This, Graham Ford has achieved in style. People might say that he used the BCCI offer to up his pay at Kent, but this is precisely why the BCCI should have had a transparent process with a pool of candidates who would be evaluated. Remember how Chappell was selected?

All said and done, the BCCI's plight can be described by way of a Dire Straits song 'Telegraph Road' with minor modifications as follows:

Then came Greg Chappell
Then came The World Cup
Then came Ravi Shastri
And finally 'came' Ford
Then came the rejection and the shutting of the door
Which proved that the BCCI is an unprofesisonal board

What's the way out? The BCCI has to first admit that it's sorry for carrying out shadowy business. The selection of the next coach should start with that basic of communications called an ADVERTISEMENT inviting Expressions of Interest from interested individuals. The process should be transparent with former Indian players and present players also being provided an opportunity to have a say. And please, don't gag the captain and other team members from speaking to the media.

What has happened is a national shame, yes!! But right now, I am extremely proud of the humiliation since it has happened to that inept, slimy BCCI.

'Spit-fire' the spitters

2007-06-07T00:36:00.000-07:00

It was official all these days; it was statistical upto now; it was written about by foreign returned people; but now it's personal. The wretched Indian habit of spitting on the road has finally ripped apart my sad air of helplessness which was characterised by the statement, "Why are some of my fellow citizens like this?"

It's true, for any issue to affect your conscience, you need to be a victim or in my case a part-victim.

The scene: normal traffic signal at Priyadarshini signal, Chembur. Waiting for the mandatory 4-5 minute signal to turn green; when all of a sudden I find something like a red pepper flake that is generally consumed with pizza on the Mumbai Mirror that I am reading. This was simultaneously accompanied by THAT FAMILIAR SOUND; of someone spitting. Rage overtook me and as I looked out of my auto, I saw an aged man in some high end air conditioned car hastily rolling up his window.

"Bastard!!", I said, which would have appeared to him as being mouthed. A look of disgust and a shrug of my shoulders conveyed what I wanted to him. And for a change from my usual shy behaviour, I held his gaze for a full minute and wagged my finger like a primary school teacher admonishing her wards.

"Sorry", said the bastard (I hope) which appeared like being mouthed.

Such defilers should be punished by making them perform fellatio on an Ingram with the climax being that the trigger is pulled.

And holy-fuck, I bet this aged bastard would be a 'respected' individual in his society; giving fundas to the youth on how they should behave; complaining about how the BMC has fucked Bombay etc. "Arre, behenchod!! You are the problem."

Thank You God for saving my white shirt!! Thank You Mumbai Mirror for handling THAT flake.

Prairie Wedding

2007-06-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

This song is the one that's got to be the signature song of guys whose fate is to have an arranged wedding. And just for the record, please don't draw any parallels with me.

Artist: Mark Knopfler
Album: Sailing to Philadelphia

We only knew each other by letter
I went to meet her off the train
When the smoke had cleared and the dust was still
She was standing there and speaking my name
I guarantee she looked like an angel
I couldn't think of what I should say
But when Adam saw Eve in the garden
I believe he felt the selfsame way

I handed her up on the wagon
And I loaded up her trunk behind
She was sitting up there with the gold in her hair
And I tried to get a hold of my mind

Do you think that you could love me Mary
Do you think we got a chance of a life
Do you think that you could love me Mary
Now you are to be my wife

We finally headed out of the station
And we drove up the home trail
And when we came on the farm she laid a hand on my arm
I thought my resolution would fail
And I froze as she stepped in the doorway
Stood there as still as could be
I said I know it ain't much, it needs a woman's touch
Lord she turned around and looked at me

Do you think that you could love me Mary
Do you think we got a chance of a life
Do you think that you could love me Mary
Now you are to be my wife

We had a prairie wedding
There was a preacher and a neighbor or two
I gave my golden thing a gold wedding ring
And the both of us said I do
When the sun's going down on the prairie
And the gold in her hair is aflame
I say do you really love me Mary
And I hold her and I whisper her name

Do you think that you could love me Mary
Do you think we got a chance of a life
Do you think that you could love me Mary
Now you are to be my wife

Lyrics apart, the song is so so so so seductive. You just got to hear it

How the Russians Influenced Hollywood

2007-05-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

We have all seen the disclaimer in Hollywood movies, "All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.".

Ever wondered from where this statement came into being? You will be surprised to know that a Russian; infact a Tsarist era nobleman is the driving force behind this.

Read about the nobleman and the origins of the disclaimer.

The Abel Prize 2007

2007-05-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

This year's Abel Prize has been awarded to Prof. Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York:

for his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular
for creating a unified theory of large deviations.

The citation released by the prize committee reads

Probability theory is the mathematical tool for analyzing situations
governed by chance. The law of large numbers, discovered by Jacob Bernoulli in
the eighteenth century, shows that the average outcome of a long sequence of
coin tosses is usually close to the expected value. Yet the unexpected happens,
and the question is: how? The theory of large deviations studies the occurrence
of rare events. This subject has concrete applications to fields as diverse as
physics, biology, economics, statistics, computer science, and engineering.

You can also read the citation in Hindi. Read this article to know more about Dr. Varadhan.

Apart from Calculus, probability has been one of the most fascinating branches of mathematics. Countless frustrating hours have been spent in solving problems on probability from The Challenge and Thrill of Pre-College Mathematics. In hindsight, the effort has been completely useful. It has taught me the art of sitting at my desk for long hours while trying to solve a tough problem. Going further, it really made my job during engineering really easy. The confidence to tackle problems out of the comfort zone was also sown by those solving sessions.

An earlier article I wrote on the Abel Prize.

A Tale of Two Newspapers

2007-05-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Shashi Tharoor, India's most famous modern day international diplomat writes for two different newspapers on Sundays: The Sunday Times of India and The Magazine, Hindu. His column in STOI is called 'Shashi on Sunday' and the one in The Hindu is simply called 'The Shashi Tharoor Column'.

Names and position-wise (he's on the op-ed page in the STOI and on page 3 of The Magazine) apart, the quality of articles in the two newspapers is as different as nectar and poison. No prizes for guessing where you are more likely to find nectar or where you might end up choking yourself with one of your own pair of shoelaces!!!

The STOI column I have so far managed to follow has contained a reciprocal praise-heaping article on Jug Suraiya and of late is redefining the alphabet for the modern Indian, with a nauseating listing of everything that defines "Indian" in alphabetical order.

On the other hand, in The Hindu we find a world class diplomat showcasing us his talent. Brilliant incisive articles; which invite debate; stir thoughts are the staple diet. No shameless India-centric-chest-thumping. Infact, there have also been many subtle articles about his Malayali origins. But, not once has there been an article like

A: Acchan (Dad), Ammai (mom)
.........
C: Chechi (sis), Chettan (bro)
.............
P: patti (dog)
..................
etc

No, never!!!

Pray Shashi, why does this rubbish get reflected in the STOI? My feeling is that Shashi knows what the TOI is worth and this sub-consciously shows in his articles. Sir, kindly stop writing for this stupid tabloid; you are doing yourself no good. Leave the TOI to the likes of Jug/Mug/Bug or whatever..............

Criticising the CPI (M)

2007-05-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

This blog always stands by the socialist principle of equal development for all and equal distribution of wealth. But where socialism and communism have failed is in fathoming that human tendency of self-improvement far out-shines the tendency of social development. In spite of this, socialism is a respected way of thought.

In spite of its noble intentions, the whole principle of socialism, according to me, has received a bad name in India due to the actions of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Going by numbers and legal status (the Maoists have a greater number of followers, but are an illegal group); the CPI(M) is the automatic leader of the communists in India. It is a known fact that any group is judged by the behaviour of its leader. The group is defined by the leader.

The CPI (M) has come out with its take on the recently concluded UP elections. Have a look at their statement here. Done?? Now please turn your attention to this graph illustrating the party positions in the UP assembly.

picture courtesy: CNN IBN website

Whoever has drafted this press release seems to have been waiting for the second paragraph to start wherein they take on their blood rivals, the BJP and defend their bosom buddies the SP. Please note comrades, the communal card was never flashed during the elections. It was only for that one day when they were caught and had to withdraw the CD. Apart from that, isn't the SP communal? With ministers issuing death rewards to the Mohammad cartoonists etc. What does the "esteemed" left have to say about it?

One thing which is evident from the vote swing shown here, is that BJP and Congress have their vote shares eaten into. The SP and BSP have an increased vote share. The fact that the SP's vote share has risen is reason enough for the Left to rejoice. But the truth is comrades, a defeat is a defeat; whether you score 300 runs and lose or whether you score 100 and lose.

The last paragraph is interesting. A probable indicator of the left's future strategy?

The elections have shown the strong influence of caste appeal in the state
which has been adversely affecting the prospects of the Left. The CPI(M) and the
Left will have to take this reality into account in formulating its strategy to
project an independent platform based on the real issues affecting the
people.

Guys, stick to economics. It yields results anyday; and more importantly in the long term; than caste based issues.

In spite of all the sarcastic feelings building up inside me after reading that article, I applaud the CPI (M) for not mentioning the Congress. Battered, shameless, leaderless parties do not need a mention. Bravo comrades, bravo!!!

Nice Thought

2007-05-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

This appeared in today's Times of India.

Enjoy your job, make lots of money, work within the law
Choose any two

-Author Unknown

I feel that I am doing all three; but there is that voice, the voice of sixth sense which
says that I am doing ony items 2 and 3. But as Enya sang, "Who can say where the road goes,
where the day flows; Only Time!!!"

The Great Indian Novel

2007-05-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

Shashi Tharoor, for all his literary and diplomatic talent is disliked by some; one of them
being Sharath Rao.

But, even Sharath will end up praising The Great Indian Novel which super-imposes the
Mahabharata on both pre- and post- Independence and Emergency India.

The analogies are awesome:
Mahatma Gandhi - Bheeshma
Jawaharlal Nehru - Dritharashtra
Subhash Chandra Bose - Pandu
Indira Gandhi - Duryodhana (cleverly renamed as Priya Duryodhani in this book)
Jaiprakash Narayan - Drona etc

Go get your copy folks!! Its a nice read; and as a bonus it would help you to understand
better the entity known as India.

Mungaaru Male

2007-05-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

"Mungaaru Male" (Kannada) : "Monsoon Rain" (English)

A movie which I personally believe will resusciate the Kannada movie industry which has entered a near comatose state. The fact that this movie ran for 100 days (when I saw it) and is still running to packed houses is itself a testimony to its quality.

Its not the storyline which has made the movie great; it is the camera work in and around Coorg. One needs to view the movie to appreciate this aspect.

Way to go guys, please make such movies which will force me to go to theatres like Navrang in Bangalore; sit in the "Gandhi class" (front stalls) and come out beaming from ear to ear.

13 Tzameti

2007-05-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

Good, European cinema somehow never releases in the Indian mainstream cinema halls. College LANs and painstakingly discovered CD/DVD stores seem to be the only source of such movies. Hence, it was a great pleasure when UTV released 13-Tzameti in the Adlabs chain of theatres.

This is a rivetting French thriller made by Gela Babluani. The first thing that strikes you is that it is a modern film made in black and white. Why modern? Well, the use of mobile phones, new Peugeots and of course, the Euro; are the sure shot indicators.

It is a story of how, in his haste to earn quick money, young 22 year old Sebastien (George Babluani) enters the murky world of betting and Russian roulette with guns. Its also a story of sacrifice, tension and quick thinking on one's feet. Beautiful camera work also adds to the gripping storyline.

One important character of the movie should be the humble ubiquitous electric bulb. How it forms the part of the story line will be understood only if one watches the movie. Go, get your DVD folks!!

I plan to catch the following movies if time permits:

1. City of God from Brazil

2. Paris, Je T'aime : a set of 20 love stories from Paris. It stars Juliette Binoche of Chocolat fame. Yippee!!!!!

Au revoir, folks!!

PS: BTW Tzameti means 13 in Georgian; the language of the director Gela. Check out the website of the movie.

One reason.....

2007-05-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

...for liking Nehru is this content of a letter he wrote:

"We have a Muslim minority who are so large in numbers that they cannot,
even if they want, go anywhere else. That is a basic fact about which there can
be no argument. Whatever the provocation from Pakistan and whatever the
indignities and horrors inflicted on non-Muslims there, we have got to deal with
this minority in a civilised manner. We must give them security and the rights
of citizens in a democratic State"

Read the full article and understand the significance of the statement.