thodasa

Nice guys finish last...

2011-08-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

जीवन के इस मोड़ पर, इक बात तो हम जान चुके हैं,

बाकी लोग ना माने लेकिन, हम तो यह मान चुके हैं

चहु ओर जो देखूं, दिखत हैं सब सुबालक हताश

It is safe to assume that nice guys indeed finish last

कछुए-खरगोश की कहानी में थोड़े lies हैं

Updated story में loser तो बेचारा tortoise है

कहानी में twist ना होता तो गाडी चलाते super fast

क्यूंकि भैय्या, nice guys always finish last

पता नहीं क्यूँ, लेकिन सब गलत ज्ञान का वितरण होता है

मेहनत का फल taste में आजकल कड़वा होता है

projects copy कर, तनिक और किया होता timepass

क्यूंकि भैय्या, nice guys always finish last

यह विचार कर, ना जाने कितने हैं जागे

की लंगूरों के हाथ प्रभु, अंगूर कैसे लागे,

हमने बोला ओ भगवन, यह कैसा है न्याय,

पहले मालूम होता, तो बुराई को हम करते high five

बस, अब तो बिलकुल नाही होवत है बर्दाश्त

हम अब पूछत हैं, nice guys काहे finish last?

भगवन बोले , अरे मंदाबुद्दी बालक!

कलयुग में करत हो, सतयुग की वकालत

यह तो कलयुग की रीत है,

अच्छाई पर बुराई की जीत है,

लो धरो, 'Gita for dummies' का latest kalyug version,

नित - पाठ कर दूर करलो any confusion,

यदि समझ ना आये तो आ जाना मेरी class,

क्यूंकि अरे पार्थ!, nice guys always finish last.

Sunday Morning musings

2011-02-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

As I lay in bed, half asleep, trying hard to catch back the dream that just flew by, I heard a faint mellifluous voice. It was a feminine voice saying words I had heard a long time back - "नमश्कार, रंगोली में आपका स्वागत है" ( The श in नमश्कार, very deliberate) 'Sunday morning!' screamed some brain cell, waking up a few more 'reluctant to wake' brain cells. People from the 'Uni-channel generation' know what a Uni-channel is and what a 'Sunday Morning' (SM) is. It is a special day that evokes feelings and memories that lie so deeply entrenched in the brain that people might forget everything, but not the Sunday mornings and the DD schedules. I cannot remember any modern day sitcom as distinctly and vividly as the SM sitcoms. The rangolis, mahabharatas, ramayanas, jungle books, duck tales, talespins....the list goes on and on. The one day, when morning ablutions would be squeezed in during the commercial breaks. The one day, when animated serials were rationed like essential goods, the one day when watching TV was not a vice, but a virtue indeed. The one day, when watching TV was enforced by the folks in the hopes of imparting some moral values. As my mind started to relapse into a bygone era, a faint Asha Bhonsle melody stopped the relapse. She sang "आगे भी जाने न तू, पीछे भी जाने न तू, जो भी है बस येही एक पल है....." Well played universe, very well played. The Sunday Morning was over....infact a long time back.

(Beautiful Lyrics)

Book++

2011-02-14T05:18:00.000-08:00

I have always been enamored by history and reading Indian Summer felt like watching a Bollywood adaptation of Indian History. "इस में थोड़ी कॉमेडी है, tragedy भी है, एक्शन है, रोमांस भी है, और थोड़ी history भी है" A little tolerant Indian society and we would have had a blockbuster!

Jokes apart, I found the book really interesting. The book tracks the lives of Gandhi, Nehru, Mountbatten and Jinnah against the backdrop of Indian Independence, Pakistan's creation and the Partition holocaust. The author spends significant time on Edwina Mountbatten and her role in Nehru's life. The controversial photo on the cover page in the later editions probably reflect the marketing team's effort to popularize the book by focusing on the Nehru-Edwina angle. This, I felt was rather unfortunate as the book offers very interesting insights, events and incidences that did not get enough attention. Like the incident at 2nd Round Table conference, that brought Jinnah out of his retirement, or Nehru's skirmishes with unruly crowds, or Patel's use of "साम, दाम, दंड, भेद" approach to integrate princely states into the Indian Republic. The task of integration was probably as important as achieving independence itself and I don't think many people appreciate this enough. The author has done rigorous research and some facts might be a little uncomfortable for some of us to handle. Like Gandhi's emergence in congress might have resulted in a bitter Jinnah which might have led to Pakistan, or the horrific partition killings. We all take pride in the fact that today India is way ahead of Pakistan, in spite of being born together, but we forget that India was fortunate to have Nehru's vision for 17 years after independence. Pakistan had just 1 year of an ailing Jinnah. Jinnah, for all his shortcomings was a top lawyer during those times and the book points that Motilal Nehru - Jinnah combination could have given Indian Independence much earlier than 1947, had it not been for Gandhi's entry into the political scene. Gandhi's emergence pushed both Motilal and Jinnah into sidelines and Gandhi's idealistic form of Indian independence might have delayed India's independence. The after-effects of the events, actions or even words of these people are felt even today and would be felt for many centuries to come. Such is the impact of these men!

History, that we are taught is one sided. People are completely 'white' or completely 'black'. The truth, in most cases is always in shades of grey.

Decade finito

2011-01-09T01:12:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the new year celebrations, an important event seems to have been overlooked.( Yeah, I count 1-10 as one decade and not 0-9, my blog, my rules) Its a new decade too. The previous decade has ended. Maybe, its a moment to take a stock of this journey. Where was I at the start of this decade? I think this was the first complete decade that I remember from the beginning to the end.

The single biggest change that has been influential in almost everyone's life i believe would be in the field of technology. Who would have imagined in 2000 that mobile video chatting would be common in 2010? Can anyone forget those 56kbps lines, the screeching sounds of the dialup modem, trying so very hard to establish contact with the digital world so that one could check emails. The ever so long wait for the images to download as each big fat pixel barely managing itself to squeeze itself out of the anorexic telephone line. The ever so reliable floppy disks. The dreaded 'Error reading drive' messages that made even the holiest amongst us mutter out a few curses. The omnipresent big red 'coin' STD boxes that were the 'stationery mobile phones'. Now, they are replaced by the young, sleek ones. Like senile old men, they stand alone reminiscing about the good old days, while looking down upon their younger versions. And the mother of all changes, the Internet. We have all become 'wired in'...everyones choosing the blue pill. No takers for the red pill i guess. Oh Neo!, where art thou? Maybe I should 'Google' him

Global warming, doomsday, nuclear war, terrorism....whilst everything else looks bleak, the only space that looks promising is Technology. It has been one crazy decade and as the new one begins, indications are that it should be one helluva one too! Happy new decade to the chosen few who found the above crap interesting enough to read up until here!

Hibernating thoughts

2010-11-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

As the fall season draws to a close, signifying the the beginning of the winter season, multitude of thoughts run through my head. Its the hibernating season, a season to preserve, possible a season to look back, season to muse, mull and reflect. Have things changed? In some sense they have, but in some sense this winter is no different from the previous winter and it may be a long shot but the next winter may not be all that different. If life were a phrase, it would be 'Same old, same old'; a song, it would be U2's 'Stuck in a moment'; a movie, it would have been 'Groundhog day'. Everything is a manifestation of everything else. Changing forms, while one stares at the cave walls, the shadows play around making you believe that things have changed but in reality, there is no reality. I think I hear Plato laughing.

Blogger matrix

2010-10-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Agent Internets: Why, Mr. Blogger? Why do you do it? Why switch on the internet and login to your blog? Why write a new post ? Do you believe people are reading this shit? For more than narcissism? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it validation? Or acknowledgement? Perhaps information dispense? Could it be for fame? Or is it instant gratification? Or Freedom of expression?

Cognitive baises, Mr. Blogger. Vagaries of your thought process. The unfair rationales of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify a post that is without meaning or purpose. And all rationales as useless as your browser history. Although, only a human mind could invent something as insipid as freedom of expression. You must be able to see it, Mr. Blogger. You must know it by now. You can't pretend to not understand. It's pointless to keep posting. Why, Mr. Blogger, Why? Why do you persist?

Mr. Blogger: Dude, I don't know [pause] You were right internets, you are a time killer.

Heavily Inspired by this

Choices

2010-09-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Choices are the darnedest thing. When you have none, you want one; when you have one, you want some; and when you have some, you just want none! Life is indeed, an eventual outcome of the choices that we make. Maybe, it is an outcome of the choices that we don't make. In fact, its the unchosen path that haunts us more. The anguish, pain felt by walking down the imaginary 'What if only' road can be heart-wrenching. Maybe, unbearable for some.

It seems to me that eventually, the choice is between the 'head' and the 'heart'. Yeah, you may have a million choices, but they all boil down to those that your head wants to take, one that is logical, rational. And the other that your heart wants you to take, one that resonates with you at an emotional level. Should I do this or not? Should I take this step or not? Should I head down road x or z? Every choice is eventually a showdown between the head and the heart. And this showdown leads to dilemma, confusion, indecision, frustration, anger. I remember the cartoons, where they show an angel and devil on the shoulders of a character, and they both fight it out. The showdown is akin to those fights.

Maybe, God wanted it to be this way. He put all senses right between the head and the heart. Maybe to give unbiased inputs to both. So whenever there is a 'case' to be considered, the two lawyers battle it out with their arguments. While the heart has emotions, feelings in its arsenal, the head has logic and rationale in its quiver. The dreaded 'Guilt' and 'regret' arguments are used by both. Then, theres is the 'Past history' thing. The head throws the heart's past record in the face and says, "Your honor, these are the previous cases of forked roads, when the 'heart' way was chosen. And unfortunately, my esteemed friend here has always misled the court on a path to failure".

Very rarely do I find that the head and heart agreeing on anything.Man! it would have made things so much simpler. Maybe the head and the heart can never reconcile on any matter, maybe theres no common ground, maybe thats the way things are supposed to be. Who knows, God must be bringing popcorn and coke to watch the daily soap opera, with us mortals tearing ourselves apart at the crossroads. Maybe like Neo, we have already made the choice and are here just to see why we made them. Probably the thunder and lightening are God's 'LOLs' and 'ROTFLs'. (Dear God, it ain't funny anymore)

Whatever it is, the dichotomy that choices bring is something that we will never be able to escape. Lesson learnt: God may not be rolling dices, but maybe you should.

Book x++

2010-08-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

I managed to finish Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse in a new record(personal best) time of 3 days. The book was reccommended by my friend. Now, an Indian named book by a German author, I had minimal expectations. But all my preconceived notions were blown away as the author brilliantly engrosses the reader in Siddhartha's journey from 'सिद्धार्थ' to 'Sid' to somewhere in between. The book is originally in German and the translated version for starters was a bit odd for me as I found the translation to be very literal and hence annoying. Either that or my 'left brained' mind couldn't appreciate the 'artsy' stuff of having grammatically incorrect verses manifesting in prose form.

Anyways, aside from this, the book is pretty nice especially the last conversation. For those who are interested in philosophy and spirituality and all that sort of crap. Worth reading.

अन्धकार.....

2010-05-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

अन्धकार कभी-कभार अधिक भाता है
सब साफ़-साफ़ नज़र आता है

सब का हो जाता एक ही ढंग
और होता सभी का बस एक ही रंग
इंद्रधनू भी काला, केसू भी काला
रंगों में फर्क, न कोई बतानेवाला

हिरा कोयला बन जाए एक सामान
अन्धकार के साए में हैं दोनों पाषाण
यदि करोगे आँखों से तोल
लगेंगे दोनों उतने ही अनमोल

ऐसे अन्धकार से क्यों डरूं मैं
प्रकाश की पट्टी उतार फेंकूं मैं
स्वच्छ, प्रखर, निखर अन्धकार
निष्पक्षता का है आधार

उजाला फंसाए भ्रम और मिथ्या के जाल में
अन्धकार दिखाए सत्य, ऐसी हाल में
अन्धकार तब अधिक भाता है
जब उजाले से कुछ ज्यादा दिखाता है

अन्धकार कभी-कभार अधिक भाता है
सब साफ़-साफ़ नज़र आता है

Book x, x++, x++

2009-11-27T20:08:00.000-08:00

Having realised that my new years resolution of reading 20 books this year is not gonna happen. Well, unless the earth's revolution speed reduces by half. So, keeping the book count as unknown and working with variables is the best way to ..well cover up. I keep drifting. So, finally finished reading "Imperial Blandings" - An omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse
Its a collection of three loosely connected stories and reading it reminded of two things. Pu la and the feel-good, heart-warming, time pass, 'Amol Palekar' type movies. Movies like Golmaal, Chupke-chupke, Khoobsurat have to have been 'inspired' from Wodehouse stories. If not the plots, atleast the characters for sure. Although, some of the archaic english was hard to understand for me, the hilarious one liners, analogies, characters and plots more than made up for it. Shall seek out for more from Wodehouse.

Hey! that is so true!!

2009-10-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Thats the statement I have been saying after reading this. One part of masters lifestyle is sitting in front of a laptop or a computer for 16 hours in a day, the rest 8 is when you sleep. Practically eat, sleep and drink this 'networking potion' that has started making me 'digi'. Now, the term email has transformed from 'something that you check once in 24 hours' to 'something that you check 24 times in a minute'. Not just email, but other social networking idiotic sites have pulled me into their web and they are consuming me. I feel like suffering from an OCD. I feel depressed when I don't see my email count increase, and even more when I see some faaltu emails. I feel like I have been cheated by the mail server. Am I becoming a loner or am I becoming some sort of geeky maniac for whom the sight of several unread emails is soothing to say the least.

Anyways, I keep digressing. I found the analogy between the mail-checking and gambling really apt. Some people put it down in writing so well. I used to wonder and laugh at my constant mail-checking behaviour and when I read this...I said !! That is so damn true and that is exactly how I behave. In the recent past, I have read a few things where I felt the same way. Is there a word for this? This 'A-ha' feeling where your thoughts are translated into words by someone else and when you read it, you feel this is so true man. There should be a word for it, if not....someone should invent it.

I guess xkcd has a bunch of such strips where one goes...TIST...for now will call it Tist.:)

And life goes on....

2009-09-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

You think it all begins, the day you were born,
the fact of the matter is, that life goes on...

Seasons come and years go by,
you go places, and think others are moron
then hit the ground, while others fly,
but it doesn't matter, coz life goes on...

You dust yourself, rise up and get ready,
this time though, you know its a sojourn,
you look around and find people all greedy,
but it doesn't matter, coz life goes on...

Some bulls eyes and a few screw ups,
look around for friends, and they all scorn,
you think 'O boy! my time is up'
but it doesn't matter, coz life goes on...

You use things, but people use you,
you cry foul, feel all forlorn,
realise, thats how its all around you,
but it doesn't matter, coz life goes on...

and if you think, it all ends when you are gone,
on the stage, for your swan song,
I have a feelin, that I might be wrong,
coz it simply doesn't matter, life just goes on...

Pegasus going down...?

2009-08-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

No, not the disc in Pune, but the pegasus symbol reminds me of Reader's Digest. The magazine filed for bankruptcy protection just the other day. I mentioned about childhood memories being poignant in my previous blog. Reading the bankruptcy report brought back memories of reading Reader's digest that I distinctly remember. I remember waiting for the monthly issue and the joy of hiding it from my sis so that I could read it before her. These were the days when cable television was still considered evil at my home(it still is), RD was like a keyhole which provided a glimpse of the west. Although not a voracious reader, I used to enjoy the articles which covered almost all topics. Humour in uniform was the first thing I used to turn to. Real life incidences narrated by people in the armed forces were always hilarious. Other joke sections and puzzles were always fun. I remember there used to an interview of some interesting personality. Then the health section always used to have useful tips. There used to be a book section at the end which used to be like a mini-novel. I especially liked the survivor stories. One other thing that I remember were the 'sweepstakes'.The sweepstakes amount used to be like a million dollars and I used to wonder "Man! whoever wins it, life is all 'set' for him" Later on, the sweepstakes kachra was more than the RD itself. In addition to aiding my vocabulary, the raddi waala used to give decent amount back. All in all, every penny's worth or total paisa vasool.

In today's plethora of cyber-azines, I guess the print media is finding hard to survive, let alone grow. Still, RD's decent subscription(although declining) of 8 million is pretty impressive. I remember seeing the last RD on my colleague's desk and was comforted by the sight, thinking "RDs still going strong". I felt a wee bit sad by this latest news. Hope the pegasus can turn into a pheonix.......C'mon, you weird creature -hybrid of horse and bird floating on water??....Fly once again!!!

One year on......

2009-08-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well...Aug 9,2008 the day which will live in infamy......er that sure over dramatized it...hehehe...but like the Japs, I came here exactly one year ago and although no 'Pearl Harbours', or events of infamy occurred(Hope so...:D), I guess I survived. Survived the ups and downs, rise and falls, hits and mis-hits,adjustments, compromises etc. It has been quite an experience, egos bruised, lessons learnt, confidence grounded. But, I am still here. Now, as the final step begins, I realise that as things look within grasp, they seem to be harder to get. Every time you find yourself in this position, you pray that things fall into place just this 'one' time. These 'one' times are more than one in number and they just keep coming one after another. Jump over one hurdle, theres another waiting for you.

I cant see anything beyond the hurdle as the 'unknown variables are greater than the number of equations'. Uncertainties in life are tough to accept but theres no way around them and accepting them and moving ahead is the only option. Things sometimes work like you wanted them to, but most times they dont. People sometimes are what you think they are, but most times they aren't. Money sometimes can buy you everything, but most times, it just can't. Dreams sometimes do come true, but most times they dont. This last year shall be etched in my memory for it has been a humbling experience. I have become wiser by the experience.

Sometimes.....

2009-07-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes its the others pain, that makes you realise how susceptible you are,
Sometimes its the others tears, that make you realise how vulnerable you are,
Sometimes its the others scars, that make you remember your own wounds,
Sometimes its the others loss, that makes you value your own treasures.

Loop-song

2009-07-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Loop-song: A new song that you have heard recently and you love it so much that you listen to it in a 'loop', again and again.
The current loop-song for me is the Kaminey-Title song. I heard it yesterday and have not been able to listen to any other song. Everything about the song is great...no wait, not great, its awesome. The music, vocals and the best are the lyrics. You read these lyrics by the great Gulzar and just wonder how crappy are the other lyricists. This song is a refreshing change from the absolutely hopeless hindi songs and lyrics that are dished out these days. The same words pyaar-khumaar-taqraar-izahaar, payal-ghayal-pagal et. are just used over and over and over again. Kaminey title track on the other hand keeps you hooked. Its philosophical poetry. Who would have thought someone could pen a poem centred around a profane word. Kudos to Gulzar!!!Check out lyrics here.

Zeitgeist - The Movie

2009-07-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

"Spirituality...is a particular term....which actually means.....a dealing with intuition." Thus, begins the documentary/movie(reccod by a friend) by the aforetitled name that I watched a few days ago. These few words pulls the viewer into a two hour roller coaster ride at the end of which you feel like you have been washed off the dirt of knowledge(?). The movie questions some of the conceived notions that I had about religion,9/11,world economy. (Are they even related?) The movie hits you with facts....one after another. They are so convincing that in the end, you come out with a certain uneasiness. Whom to believe and what to trust? Which incidences are real, which are manufactured and can people really do such things for their own selfish means? What is the truth? What the hell is happening to this world in which I am living in?

Its a documentary that has 3 parts. The first part deals with the origins of religion. The second with the 'real truth' behind 9/11 and the final part with who is controlling the US. Is it really the Govt.? The movie is very well presented, crisply edited. The movie has so many WTF moments that by the end you want to scream out loud . WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should I believe it? I don't know. But if its true, then.......
Watch it here.

What the heck is this symbol?

2009-06-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have seen countless photos of people posing with this sign. People at rock concerts show this gesture with wagging tongues and shout and scream. I always used to wonder if these guys/gals actually know what the sign means or is it only BDIW (brain-dead imitation of the west) syndrome. (By people, I refer to my countrymen out here.) I would believe it to be the latter as the tendency of sounding,looking and behaving more "americanized" than the americans, is all too evident these days in our cities. Someone told me that "Dude, thats like very cool and attitude man, its like rebel/evil/devil/style man...how do i explain, thats the latest style.....so you should do it too." I used to wonder how the heck a hand gesture could mean attitude. So, when I had seen enough of photos with wannabes with this weird hand gesture, I had to check out the facts. So, wiki to the rescue. Some interesting facts* of this symbol

1) Its called the Corna.
2) Meaning of the sign is location specific.
3) Sign of infidelity
4) Sign of cuckold
5) Italian sign for warding off bad luck (Mallochio)
6) Satan salute
7) Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi held this sign over the head of the Spanish foreign minister. Wonder what he was indicating.Hehe
8) It was Black Sabbath's Ronnie James Dio who introduced this sign in Music culture. (Incidently, Black Sabbath is Heavy Metal and not Rock...) and Dio says its 'Mallochio' and not the devil/evil sign.
9) In american sign language, it unofficially means BS. (On the other hand, if the thumb is extended, it means 'I Love you'.)

So, the next time you find people showing 'attitude' of this form, asking them if it meant that they were a cuckold could end up with a bloody nose for you. And if you want to ape this sign too, pick your meaning. Until then \/ (thats the peace sign, btw :P)

Many other tit-bits including elaborations on above can be found here.

Credit: Wikipedia

* Calling things mentioned on Wiki as a 'fact' is probably incorrect. Unless proved otherwise, will believe wiki :)

Book dwitiya

2009-06-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

I finally finished reading High stakes, no prisoners by Charles Ferguson. This was recommended by my boss during my startup days. I managed to get hold of it at a rather cheap price (my first book bought online). Infact, shipping cost more than the book. Hehehe...guess the book ain't that popular.:P

Anyways, the book is the story of MS Frontpage (formerly Vermeer Tech.) which was started in the early 90's and sold off to MS for a very very handsome price. The book is a personal account of Charles and it describes how he came up with the idea, executed it and then sold it off. It gives an inside look into the silicon valley, the startup culture, the VC's, the funding, the faceoff with the big guys and the big dream shown to every startup employee - getting rich in a super-quick time.:)

So the initial part is devoted to the Internet in its infancy and how Bill Gates and MS didn't really understand the internet, his idea etc. Then, he talks about how the idea of the publishing tool was put into place, the funding negotiations with the VC's, and the Vermeer bidding war between MS and Netscape, and the joy of selling a startup. In the last part, he talks about the Netscape screw up, the Microsoft monopoly and his views on a variety of topics including the future of how internet would shape the 21st century. (Ya, the book was written in late nineties.)

The entire book is against the backdrop of the Netscape-MS face-off. I had the view that MS bullied Netscape into submission but the book presents another side of this story. Netscape's arrogance, their management and the decisions they took were as much to blame for their colossal failure. The book is truly an honest account and the author's opinions are either total black or total white. People/Company are intelligent or duds, awesome or stupid, evil or saints. The author doesn't mince words and is 'un-diplomatic' even with some famous people and companies. He is particularly critical of MS and Netscape. In fact, his Vermeer acquisition contract required him to keep his mouth shut w.r.t. MS for 2 years.:)

It was an interesting read and probably a book I would recommend to every startup employee :) I guess, I learned a few lessons after reading the kind of greed, backstabbing, lie-telling, cheating that goes on in the higher management with the lower rung employees absolutely clueless. Eventually, its all about "The $$$$" and all the talk about trust, ethics, goodwill is plain BS.....eh?:). I guess, some would dismissively say.."You don't need to read that book for this lesson.":)

Anyways, moving on to the next book. Guess, should be a fiction this time....

The puzzle of LIFE

2009-05-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

I remember I used to love those "Join the dots" kind of puzzles (partly because my dot-less paintings sucked big time). So, the page had only numbers and dots and I would try to picture it without the lines and wonder..."Hmmm...this looks like a....." And I never remember getting it right. Then while joining the dots, I would again try to think ahead and predict..."Hey this looks like an Ice cream...naah seems like a bottle of poison....no wait this IS a balloon seller, or is he? well...now looks more like an undertaker..." This used to go on until the last line was drawn and the picture never used to be anywhere close to any of the guesses that I made.

These days life seems like the same kind of puzzle. Will the eventual picture be good? or will it be total crap? It should be Ok coz I am putting in so much effort....But wait, "Destiny" can screw everything. I should tell myself to stop this guessing game right away. Man, that is never going to work. I should probably learn that I have never been good at this "predicting" game. I suck at it. Moving from one point to another and thus "drawing the line", is the only wise thing I can do right now. The picture would only be revealed after the final line has been drawn, the final piece piece of the puzzle has been placed.

Come to think of it, that is a good thing. What's the point if the picture is revealed too early? The last line should be drawn with the same zeal, interest, and inquisitiveness as the first line. There's no fun if the picture's discernible too early.

The line from HIMYM that "Sometimes since you are so close to the puzzle, you just cannot see the picture being formed out there" seems apt out here. I shall keep moving on from one point to another, drawing one line after another, not making any guesses, hoping that the picture, whether complete or incomplete is a good one...One that I can be proud of, my folks can be proud of....I sure do hope so.....

Hair today, gone tomorrow

2009-05-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

Probably a cliched title, but getting a haircut has always been a task that I simply loved to procrastinate. The reasons were diverse, absurd and stupid. Laziness, fear of watching the progress of a receding hairline are some of them. I can't recall any activity that can get boring than this. Back home, it was the fear of being kicked out from home and being disowned by my family members which compelled me to go to a barber shop. So here in the US, I was under no such pressure to go for a hair cut. Plus, the thought of spending Rs. 500 for a plain haircut acted as a deterrent too. This was equivalent to getting 20 haircuts back home!!

Thanks to video chat, my situation was beamed live back home and eventually things became way too difficult to handle. And so, yesterday was the D-day. So I went into the केश कर्तनालय and there was no Billu barber but Missej Billu barber. She directly pulled a scale and said, "This is around 4 inches long, how much do you want me cut?" Back home, my barber was a smart fella. He didnt need any such scale. There were just 3 cuts - short,medium and long. I fumbled and said 1 inch? (Bad decision...:() Snip,snip,snip and done. 5 mins all it took. I could'nt recognise myself. So the moment of truth arrived. Bill time. She said $14, I was shocked!!!! Thought to myself, that is ummm about 30 haircuts back home.......Man, it sucks. Eventually, the boring task had come to an end. Fortunately or unfortunately, wouldnt have to think about it for a long time now. I wish that science can come up with some pill that can style hair. That would sell like hot cakes....won't it? Well, atleast I would certainly buy it.

Book 1

2009-05-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

So, finally realised that I was way off my resolution to read 10 books for the year(or was it 20? hehe...recalculating it to 10 I think would be better to reach the target :D)

Anyways, So,thanks to Mohsin, I picked up this book "The meaning of it all" which is a collection of 3 speeches by Richard Feynman. I had previously read "Surely, you're joking Mr. Feynman" which was I guess a biography of the maverick scientist. I had liked it and hence had high expectations from this one too. The book almost didn't let me down. Its truly amazing how Feynman handles sensitive issues related to Science and Religion by taking a truly objective viewpoint. His way of rationazing and treating everything from a logical point of view is worth learning. In the first lecture, he talks about the need for an "open channel" in Science, the need for expressing and maybe rewarding 'doubts', the need for an area of uncertainity to actually make any progress. The second lecture deals with the dilemma of the choice between Science and Religion. I enjoyed reading it since I could relate to it. My initial expectations were that Feynman would voice his opinion if both could co-exist together and he does start off on that. But in the later part, the topic changes to if Science can define values. So, it was a kind of let down. But, I really appreciated the balanced,objective viewpoint. The last lecture is the most unstructured and a bit impromptu i feel. It is just a collection of Feynman's thoughts on a wide variety of topics ranging from Communism to Astrology to Advertisements. Some of his prejudices, hatred are well evident esp. when he talks about the whole US-Russian, Communism-Capitalism debate. This one was interesting in bits and pieces. Overall, a weekend well spent....9 to go or is it 19? well, who cares...:)

2009-04-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

चेहरे पर चेहरे,चेहरे पर चेहरे
राज़ छुपाये ये बहुत गहरे
कोई इन चेहरों की परतें उतारे
तो मिलेंगे चेहरे इतने सारे
ज़िन्दगी बीत जाए इन्हे गिन्ते गिन्ते
गिनती ही भूल जाएं इन्हे गिन्ते गिन्ते

कुछ चेहरों पर है झूठी मुस्कान
तो कईयों पर है आंसू बेईमान
कुछ बोलें ऐसी वाणी
ज़हर पिला दें समझाके पानी
हैवान भी इनसे कुछ अच्छे हैं
जो जुबां के तो सच्चे हैं

छल और कपट के ये सब रिसाव
झूठ और सिर्फ़ झूठ के हैं ये भाव
मन करे उन चेहरों को उतार फेकूं
मुखौटों को मैं काश जलता देखूं
रह जाए फिर बस एक ही चेहरा
जिसमे ना हो कोई राज़ गहरा..जिसमे ना हो कोई राज़ गहरा....

Memories....

2009-03-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have realised that I start thinking/brooding/reminiscing when I either have nothing to do, or when I so much to do that I tell my mind, "Chuck work, wanna think/brood/reminisce and go for a walk down the memory lane?" My mind takes the easier route of taking the 'walk'. This weekend was one of those days.....There are some memories that are so deeply entrenched that they come back rushing in, just at the thought of the 'walk'.

There we were strolling down the 'lane'. Lets take the farthest lanes not the nearby ones. Not the 'first job, first day of college' ones but the farthest ones. The "20 year back" lanes, The "मैंने अपने होश भी नही संभाले थे" lanes. The lane to my surprise was all filled up. I thought the sights, sounds, smells would have long gone away. I thought the streets,if not completely empty, would be all dusty, the pictures would be hazy. But, the memories were so vividly laid out as if it were the nearby lanes. Memories of joy, sadness, laughter, pain, ecstasy, disappointments, exhilaration, depression, fear, they were all there, lined up with all their audio and visual pieces intact. The colours were not faded, the voices were not cracked, the memories were not debilitated one bit. They were infact in perfect shape. "Lets avoid the sad ones", I said. I hoped that 'time' would come and evict these unwanted hawkers from the lanes and they would fade away into oblivion one day. The others, I hoped would stay right there, forever. The memory of me being lost in a busy bazaar still had my crying voice, the chance serpent encounter still had my scream, the first day of school still had all the hues. The excitement of my first movie theatre experience, the disappointment of being thrown out of a dance and many more, all had one thing in common, they were like imprints made on wet cement.

It seems like events that evoke extreme emotions leave an indelible mark in the form of memory. These memories never fade with time. I presume everyone experiences this. Everyone must have had such experiences in their early childhood, that just stick and never go away. One can recall all those small details, the colors, the sounds, the people around....

So, the weekend was spent, pun definitely intended. The walk ended rather abruptly when someone knocked on the door. But no regrets, since I know, that I can take the walk anytime...I know, those streets would never be empty...I sure hope so.

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P.S. Credit to Parikshit for helping me pen down my thoughts. Don't Sue me for plagiarism...Please!!!:)

Biggest regret....

2009-03-17T01:11:00.000-07:00

I came across this movie while browsing the net and the article title really started the thought train in my head. The article asks its readers to share their biggest regrets in life. Its amazing how some things give you the "Whole life went flashing before my eyes" kinda experience. What's, my biggest one regret? Well, too many of them....

I enjoyed the movie though. It is about 12 min long. So it can be watched without battling an eyelid......quite literally :)

2009-02-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

(On the lines of "Mi Morcha nela nahi.." by Sandip Khare and Heres the original version)

मी डेटिंग केले नाही, मी सेटिंग केले नाही.
मी निरोप सुद्धा साधा कधी पाठवलेला नाही.
भवताली चॅटिंग चाले, ते विस्फारुन बघताना,
कुणी दोस्ती वाढवताना, कुणी गर्लफ्रेंड मिळवताना.
मी लॉग इन होऊन बसलो मेसेंजरवरती जेव्हा.
मज हाय करायला देखिल कुणीही पिंग केले नाही.
मी डेटिंग केले नाही..
बुजलेला यांत्रिक चेहरा, सुटलेली घाबरगुंडी.
सुंदर पोरी बघताना भर उन्हात वाजे थंडी
त्यांच्या बापाला भ्यालो अन भावालाही भ्यालो.
मी स्वप्नात सुद्धा माझ्या कधी "लफडा" केला नाही.
मी डेटिंग केले नाही
अव्यक्त फार मी आहे मूळ मुद्द जिथल्या तेथे.
कॉलेजात अभ्यास केला, कंपनीत करतो कामे.
पण बोटातुन कुठलीही एंगेजमेंटची रिंग नाही.
कुणी प्रपोज केले नाही ,कधी फ़्लर्टिंग जमले नाही.
मज जन्म नटाचा मिळता मी "हंगल" झालो असतो.
मी असतो जर का व्हिलन, तर "जीवन" झालो असतो.
मज पाहुन तरुणी कोणी हसली वा चिडली नाही.
मी "शाहिद" झालो नाही, "शक्ती" ही झालो नाही.

(I wanted to provide a link to the poet of this parody, but unfortunately, after searching for a couple of days, could not find a link. Apparently, someone by the name Abhijeet Date is the creative genius.....So, all credits of this poem go to him.)

Happiness measures.....

2009-02-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

A few measures of happiness for a Masters student. Following are the categories(in increasing levels of happiness)

Level 0: You read a notice board and see a seminar poster that says 'free pizza and drinks' and the seminar date has not lapsed.(Wow, let me note that date/time down)
Level 1: In college, you have some spare time. So you read the notice board and bingo, a seminar offering free pizza is about to begin. (Man!! I sure am at the right time at the right place.)
Level 2: Its your cooking turn. You finish your classes for the day and on your way back, you notice that a seminar that offered free pizza has ended and guess what, there are still pizza filled boxes and cola filled bottles. (Whooopeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!....Oh God, this has to count as one of the happiest days of my lyf.)

"Oooh it gets too hot in India for me to handle......"

2009-02-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

Some people are just weird, just too weird for me to understand. I have started hearing some comments from my fellow-Indian students at Gatech on which I just dunno how to react. Sample one of them. One of them said that he wont be going to India in Summer because its fricking hot and his body just cant withstand it. I was like what the faack!!!! He must have spent more than f*(king 20 years of his life back home and now suddenly in 1 year, his body cant withstand it? I just could not understand the reason. I can understand and appreciate reasons like saving money etc. But this one was weird. Guess, he must have already applied for citizenship here.
I may be being too judgmental(as usual) out here but its interesting to see how people's preferences change almost overnight. People suddenly find hot weather too much to handle when for most of their lives, they have spent their time in a tropical zone.

Note to self: Guess, shall hear more of such comments....asli loka dokyat jaataat...chyamaari.

Georgia-pur institute of Technology

2009-02-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

A few demographic stats on the courses that I have taken this semester.
(No. of Indians/Total no. of students)
Software Arch. and Design:
12/26
So thats around 47%

Networked Applications and Services:
26/35
So around 75%

And here comes the shocker
Mobile Application and Services:
28/32
A Whopping 88% of the students are Indians.

Seems like I am studying in Georgia-pur Institute of Technology..

Kuch bhi ho sakta hai.....

2009-01-28T15:32:00.000-08:00

This song has been rising up the charts on my playlist. Its been made famous by Slumdog Millionaire.

The very first time I heard that it was sung by a female named M.I.A. I had made up my mind on who was MIA. She has to be an afro-american or an afro-british because the song sounded to me like a hip hop song.(I aint very good at finding genres of song though, have to admit that) but yes, the point was the song sounded like it had been sung by someone from the afro community. A few days ago, my friend did a wiki on MIA and guess what. MIA is apparently of Sri Lankan origin and her real name is....OK here it comes - Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam. What the....I was totally zapped. It was akin to maybe like....A sheikh by the name "Shin Jee lee"!!! or a Kathakali expert named Joginder Singh Barnala!! Arulpragasam sounds like a female whos an expert in carnatic music, surely not hip hop/rap(she has a Grammy nomination too). Its amazing how I make up preconceived notions of so many things. I must have formed early opinions of so people,things and even thoughts! A hip hop/rap song has to be sung by an afro-american or eminem, a sheikh has to be a muslim, u surely cant have a punjabi performing Kathakali.Phew, looks like anythings possible. Need to stop categorizing/typecasting. Need to stop being so judgmental. Need to open up my mind. Need to start believing that in today's world anythings possible. Adidas tag line now seems to be more appealing. Surely looks like impossible is nothing.

Note to Self

2009-01-24T13:10:00.000-08:00

Rules for dealing with a geek freak

Rule 1) Never try to befriend a geek freak. The only reason to approach him is if you have a technical doubt. Ofcourse, in this case be ready for some condescension.
Rule 2) Geek freaks are robots in human form.
Rule 3) You build a better camaraderie with a dog as compared to 'it'.
Rule 4) One of the easiest ways of making a fool of yourself is to expect something from a geek freak.(Actually expecting anything from anyone, apart from self is a bad idea)
Rule 5) Never ever forget the above rules.

Jaded....

2009-01-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

Another one of those days when I did no physical activity, but feeling all tired, energy sapped, drained. Getting over physical exhaustion is pretty eazy but this kind of mental exhaustion is kinda killing me. I think the cause is the constant commotion of thoughts inside. I wish us humans had this mental switch by way of which they could simply turn off this tiring mental activity, the continuous thought factory could be shut down for maintenance for a while. Life could have been just a wee bit more smoother and easier. Guess with evolution, the switch shouldn't be too far away........Infact we hear the medical term "Brain dead". How about inducing this state artificially for a while. Shutting down should be easy I guess, its the restarting that should involve some thinking :) Till then, I shall seek refuge in Gunda :D

Amru Prof's poems.....

2009-01-17T23:32:00.000-08:00

After my failed attempt to write poems in one of my blogs, I have decided to spare my handful of blog readers(and that includes me:P) from this agony.......for now. Hehehe..... More of my such hideous works, later.

For now, check out a few favorite poems of a prof. I especially liked TTT :)...probably because, thats the only one I understood completely. There were a few that I understood nothing.

Extended Boot up

2009-01-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

My Laptop has an extended boot up process.....

Login -> Open FF -> gmail -> ibnlive -> cricinfo -> orkut -> blogger -> gmail -> ....
The rest of the stuff(read studies) seem to be an ISR.

Directionless......

2009-01-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you look at people around you and you feel-'oh man, such easy lives these guys have'. They have found all the pieces of 'their' puzzle of life and most of the pieces fit amazingly well. And here you are, forget about solving the puzzle, you don't even know what your right puzzle is! These are the thoughts that are running in my head right now.

I know this ain't jealousy or anything, its just plain frustration of not being able to figure what to do. I feel like a sailor lost in the sea, having no map. Even if I had the map, I wouldn't know what to do with it, coz I just have no freaking idea of where to go. Going along where the wind takes my dinghy. Some say journey is the destination. Kinda agree but I ain't that saint. I certainly wouldn't mind some stopovers.

Predictably irrational like me

2009-01-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

These days I have been stumbling a lot(easiest and cheapest way to kill time). An interesting page came up whose page was titled Predictably irrational. The title sounded interesting. So I checked it out.

The article is essentially an outline of a book. The book deals with psychology of the human mind in decision making and how the decisions are affected by other factors. An interesting read. The experiments carried out by the experimenters are fascinating and the conclusions drawn from them are all the more 'unsurprising'. I read them and found myself saying "Hey, that is so true with me".

I especially liked the subject titled "The cost of Social Norms". It has an interesting take on start-ups. It goes like this:
"It's remarkable how much work companies (particularly start-ups) can get out of people when social norms (such as the excitement of building something together) are stronger than market norms (such as salaries stepping up with each promotion)."
I immediately could identify myself with it having worked in a start-up. Imho, an even greater challenge that a start-up faces is when it enters a transition phase from being a 'new born' start-up to 'teenager' semi mature company. Now, in a semi mature company, since the product has reached a certain level of maturity, new exciting work (a.k.a. cutting edge tech. or bleeding edge) may not be available to all. A few chosen ones get the 'new exciting work' whereas the rest get the mundane maintenance activity. The 'market norm' kicks in and the company starts treating a few on an impersonal level because the carrot of "good work" can no more be shown. This in turn gives rise to disgruntled and frustrated employees. The employee no more works for his company but for himself. This attitude is hazardous to the start-up as it invariably leads to poor craftsmanship. This condition is irreversible. So, once an employee is treated with the attitude that "This is the work you are going to get, take it or leave it", the employee even if given better quality work in future, knows that he is dispensable and keeps on under performing.
The article makes a very good point about Company-consumer relationship that -
"Companies that try to market based on social norms ("like a good neighbor...") but fail to follow through (e.g. imposing nuisance fees) end up in a worse position. Consumers take personal offense when a relationship framed as a social exchange turns out to be a market one."
I believe it holds true for Employer-employee relationship too and hence start-ups need to double think before treating anyone with the "market norm". Guess, there would be exceptions to this rule too.

Other interesting conclusions were:
"The Influence of Arousal" : Now we know the scientific proof of the need of a skimpily clad model in almost all the ads. Hehehe :D

"Keeping Doors Open" : How many times have I waited until the last moment to choose or until one choice has disappeared?

The article has some real life examples of each implication. Worth a read:)

Resolutions '09

2008-12-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, I haven't been a huge fan of New Year Resolutions, but just for the sake of increasing my blog count (Ya, I know, am a bit of a narcissist that way, thank you :D), I take up this activity. By doing this I am breaking my last year's resolution of 'Not making any more New Year resolutions'. So you see, I don't have an awesome history of keeping my resolutions. So anyways, what the heck....Here goes:

In the Year 2009, I resolve

1) To read more books- Everytime I go into a book store, I get a feeling that 'Man! I have so much to read.' Alas! this feeling lasts only up until I am inside the store. :) So, say around 10? Yes, not too high, not too low. The aim is pretty achievable, Lets hope so :P

2) To lose weight- Hehe, I am LMAO as I even write this coz I know this aint gonna happen. But anyways, will 'try' to lose 5Kg this year. That doesnt mean, I will let go of the ice creams, cakes, chocs. That aint gonna happen. Sorry.

3) To worry/cry/crib less and enjoy/laugh/smile more :)

4) To reduce the number of snap judgements I make esp. w.r.t. people

5) To spend more time offline.

6) To realise that "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." (With ack to Randy Pausch)

Hmmm, thats more than enough. Wait, theres one more

7) To write more blogs.
Hehehe....

Did I miss out on any? Well, then I also resolve

8) To resolve any resolutions next year,(hopefully)that I may have missed to resolve this year.

As I finish writing, I realise that "resolve" can also mean "re-solve" so that means I get another chance to solve if I fail to resolve? I should be right? As it is, I am re-solving which means I have tried it to "solve" it earlier but since I failed, I am re-solving?
What am I writing!!!! Seems like I have gone on a high without any liquor. High on Life probably....

Adios 2008, 2009 - what do you have in store for me boss?

Life sure is a Ferris Wheel....atleast for me.

2008-12-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

The title has been borrowed/plagiarised/copied/inspired from Charuta's blog. Ack to Charuta. But the last 4 months have made me appreciate the analogy even more. Its been over 4 months of my graduate studies here in the US and it now feels like my ferris wheel has been 'not so gently' pushed, in fact it has been pushed pretttty hard. Great news, good news, ok news, not so ok news, depressing news, not so ok news, ok news, good news and back again to great news. The cycle goes on and on and on. You cant help yourself but just ride it. We enjoy the ride on its way up but become all grumpy on our way down. OK, maybe its incorrect to generalise, just replace the "We/our" with "I/my" in the previous line.

The last 4 months have been quite a learning and humbling experience for me. The disappointments were sad,depressing and hard to swallow, but the little moments of success did cover up for the disappointments, well almost. Us humans are so filled up with insatiable hunger, to the point of being haawrat(marathi). As the ad goes "Thoda aur chalega", everytime we lose something, we say, well atleast itna to milna chahiye tha. And when we get that, we say, ok this is fine, but should have got much more. I mean, when will this ever stop? Guess, this is what makes us humans go higher,deeper,faster,stronger etc etc. but it also brings in a sense of incompleteness, unhappiness.

Veered off topic, the point was the 4 months have been an education in itself. With 3 years of work experience, you get used to a certain way of life, enjoying on weekends, not thinking to much on daily/weekly/monthly spendings, eating out without the guilt.....all this changed. Coming to gatech, I soon realized that life aint that simple. My hopes of job and/or funding vanished faster than ummm...well something that vanishes fast.(hehe, couldnt find an analogy.) Rejections at job interviews, refusals and banishment from professors' office, all were bitter pills to swallow. Small incidents like the one at the grocery store when we had to remove some items from our basket as we didnt have enough money or the one at Macy's store when the security person mocked at us when we told him we had no car were unthinkable just a few months back. I had learnt my lesson. I had come to the US with some assumptions. The assumptions proved to be incorrect. I feel much more grounded and humble than I was ever before. Now the weekends dont hurt any more:)

Last week, seemed to find favor with lady luck and the ferris wheel has come a full circle but this time some things are different. I dont know whether to celebrate this little moment of success because I fear, that the dark clouds might just be around the corner, waiting for the moment when you think, things are fine. And then, they turn up like uninvited guests to ruin your moment.Gita(not the female, but the book :D) talks about the state of sthithapragya. I do understand its relevance, all the more at this moment.

I think this time around with a few things going my way, i will be wary because the ferris wheel just keeps on going up and then down and then up again. I know that "This too shall pass", but deep down I hope that it doesn't.

I sure do hate Mondays........

2008-11-20T21:17:00.001-08:00

Found this video. Dedicated to most of my friends in the software industry. Yeah, most coz a few of them actually wait for monday so that they can get back to computer, office and work. Man.....

P.S. For people with slow bandwidth - here are the lyrics.

Quantum of Solace, Dostana

2008-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

It was my first movie theatre experience in the states yesterday. After months of dwelling as to whether spend so much on the entertainment, me and my friends decided that we indeed needed a change a. la. Obama and then the change did come to Westshire. Hehehe. So we thought to wait for the new Bond movie to be released in the states which was released one week earlier in India.(OK that was surprising!!)

If people were expecting that after the Casino Royale humanisation of Bond, the producers might take back Bond to the pedestal of invincibility, then they would be disappointed. James Bond is more human and more vulnerable in this movie and that is why I liked it. He makes mistakes, gets his tuxedo dirty, gets his aston martin all crushed, gets hit hard, gets a bloody nose.....unlike the previous Bonds, where you would need a lens to find a speck of dirt on his suit. The action sequences are simply awesome and worth a balcony ticket in the theatre. I enjoyed Craig's performance though his role demanded not many expressions. Bond babe-Olga has quite a meaty role in the action sequences - again a shift from the previous bond movies. The other babe has almost a non-existent role. Overall worth a spend. Caution: Watching this movie from the front rows might make you a zombie after you come out.:)

We came home and decided to watch Dostana - OMG why did we do that? The movie sucks. If you want to see how even a rock can have more expressions then humans-Bobby 'dagad' deol and Johny boy, watch this film. We had a laugh riot not because of any of the jokes but just because of how stupid a movie can be. Apparently it is a copy, albeit a pretty bad one. A few scenes have been picked up from F.R.I.E.N.D.S Typical KJo movie, all exotic locations, targetted towards the NRI audience, with all the actors, faking a US accent. Dunno why they do that?WATCH THIS MOVIE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The evolution of the westshire scavengers....

2008-11-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, my roommates will kill me for branding everyone a scavenger. So sorry guys:).No offense intended.:P One of the things that non funded Indian Grad students do(atleast we do:P) is look around for stuff on the roads. US guys have this habit of use and throw stuff(In a more euphemistic tone, place it outside their homes....near their dustbins...:D) and many times in pretty good condition. So we now have stuff like sofas,radio,furniture,lamps,ovens,bose sound system(ya, but it doesnt work....damn). We have come a long way in our scavenging pursuits. Here are some of the stages that we have been through. Adding some examples of items that we have brought :P

Stage-1 a.k.a 'Fukat te paushtik' stage -
Utility - Who cares?!!!
Space in house - Who cares?!!!
e.g. Electric candle - Power cuts are a rarity, and even if one happens, what are we going to do with an electric candle?Hehehe

Stage-2 a.k.a 'Lets try to use it' stage -
Utility - Is it really useful? Well, may be or may be not, lets 'try' to use it :) which never happens. hehehe
Space in house - Shall make space for this!!!
e.g.Electric portable Fan - for a centrally cooled home, an electric fan?? So we 'tried' to use it....Now it lies somewhere deep down...dunno where:)

Stage-3 a.k.a 'Use it or lose it' stage -
Utility - Is this reallllllllly useful? Yes
Space in house - Yes
e.g. table lamps, infact we did get pretty neat ones i would say:)

Stage-4 a.k.a 'If we need it, we will buy it' stage
We are yet to reach this stage. You need funding to reach this stage.:)
Utility - Yes, pretty damn useful
Space in house - Yes

So all in all, its been quite a fun, learning and humbling experience. Learnt how fickle life can be. Few months ago, was quite seeing the good side of life and now this :)

Glorious foooooooooooood

2008-11-01T14:10:00.001-07:00

Ok, the title has been blatantly plagiarised from the Ice age OST. But the song definitely resonates my feelings for food, all the more after coming here. Heres a list of top 10 items that I am desperately craving for......

10) Sandwiches/Pizzas at Zest
9) Gulab Jamun
8) Bun Maska Chaha at Mehendale
7) Pohe,tea at "Aishwarya" eat out
6) Cold coffee at Durga
5) Sabudaana khichadi
4) SPDP/chat/bhel/puni puri et. all.
3) Jhunka, kanda bhaji at Singhagadh
2) Varan,Bhaat,Bhaji,Poli,Koshimbir et. all.
1) Puran Poli

When I return back, I promise myself to gorge on the above dishes. Wut else can i stuff myself up with? Hmmm...point to ponder...until then, More rice and bread to eat...and that too cooked by me....Buaaahahahahahaha....:(

Alternate career paths...

2008-10-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I watched Hyderabad Blues 2 and remembered that the director/actor Nagesh Kukunoor did his masters in US. He worked here for a few years, but apparently moved to India to follow his passion of film making. So, thought of listing down a few alternate career paths if things dont work out here....
1) Chef - since you have got no choice but to cook your own food, unless you are filthy rich(read your dad's filthy rich) or have got dumb roomies who wont mind cooking for you everyday,(probability of that happening is miniscule) your culinary skills would certainly improve with each day.
2) US education consultant - Ya a no brainer, advising young students, who have absolutely no idea of higher education in US would be a cakewalk.
3) US accent trainer - 2 years in US, you will certainly learn to imitate the american accent. With a little more effort, you could learn the texan drawl or the western dialect. The innumerable call centers back home would fight for you.
4) Author - Just like five point someone, pen down your experiences and who knows, your book might just become a hit. If bhagat's novel can be published, all average writers should dream of publishing theirs too.
and finally
5) Philosopher - You may or may not master the subject that you came to specialize in, but if you dont get any internships, jobs and funding, you are sure to become an expert in philosophy.
To paraphrase Socrates' famous quote:
By all means, do an MS. If you get a good life, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher..

:))
any other paths??

Fall break is prison break time.........

2008-10-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

With the fall term half way through, have a fall break of 5 holidays. Time to catch up on some episodes of Prison Break. I had finished season 1 back in India. So after a long hiatus, its back to PB time. The 1st season was awesome. All the characters have been done so amazingly. The actors have done a wonderful job and most importantly, the writers have been able to end episode with the viewer wanting for more. Abruzzi, TBag, Sukre, Lincoln and the hero - Schofield, everyone fits into their roles. Mebbe will write a blog on the characters. Season 4 is here and it would be quite a thing to maintain the interest. Lots of twists, interesting sub plots and those thrilling ends. As they say no one can see just one. You always crave for more episodes......As the tag line goes...."Breaking out was easy, getting away will be hard"

6 Flags nite

2008-09-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Quite a procrastinated blog....

Last friday was quite an amazing night. Another one of those when you got the feeling of being 'alive'. For some moments, let go of my tensions, stresses, inhibitions and had a whale of a time. Heres a rundown of the fun rides that I had at 6 flags. The descriptions are taken from 6 flags advert pamphlet.

1) Goliath - Standing over 200 ft. tall and approaching speeds of upto 70 mph. Goliath is a giant among coasters.

My take: You gotta be a freak to take this ride as your first roller coaster. Hehehe. Seriously, once you take this, the other rides are all paplu. It takes an eternity to reach 200 ft. You feel your hearts and other parts will pop off. And the seats are such that your entire upper body is open. the first fall when you fall straight down is one helluva fall. True to its name, it sure is goliath.5/5

2) Scorcher - Riders stand not sit as they head-over-heels across a looping inverted track.

My take: Initially we thought that my friend was joking. How can you have a roller coaster with people standing?? But then, there we were, standing and thinking, ok what have we got ourselves into. You actually feel the extra g force. Quite an experience standing. Best part is when it inverts you and you are doing shirshasan in motion.:) 5/5

3) Superman (Ultimate flight) - The South's only roller coaster dives head first through tortuously twisted turns and a pretzel shaped inverted loop.

My take: No, they dont quite make you wear your inners outside to ride the roller coaster, come to think of it, that would have been the easier option :P. You sit in a bucket and strap. The floor goes down, and the seats turn so that you are facing the ground. Sounds easy..eh? 5/5

4) Batman (The ride) - Fly with batman on ski lift style trains suspended from the track.

My take: In other rides, theres some breathing space for the riders between loops. This one has none. And the worse part is turn 360 along the length of the track, which is like flipping in a car along the side. Just waiting for the ride and watchin people go all screaming put us in a spin.

Some advice for people taking the roller coaster:
1) Eat/Drink after you have taken all the rides.
2) Think of the thrills/adrenaline rush, instead of the fear of the rides. The moment you think that you wont be able to do the ride, you are right:)
3) When in the ride, just enjoy the ride and yes scream at the top of your voice ;)

Sabse vadda rupaiyya

2008-09-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

Recipe for disaster:

Humans of different characters/personalities - 9
Some real psychos/crackpots - 1 is enough, but more the number, larger the explosion
Friendship - Few kilograms
Camaraderie - Lots of it

Wait a sec I thought this recipe is turning into a yummy recipe. Hehe, a potent ingredient is missing

Money conflict - One drop is more than enough

and Boom!!! there goes the entire kitchen up in flames.

Its been only about 3 weeks out here and its disappointing and disgusting to find people squabbling. More than people squabbling, its the fights between friends that disturbs me the most. And the amount of money involved is not that significant. Don't know if thats the 'American Money mindededness' that my fellow indians are getting polluted with, or maybe they are just an exception and I am reading just too much into it. Whatever the case be, the frenzy it has caused is really not worth it.

I am of the opinion that if you can "purchase" peace of mind, you really shouldn't think twice before buying it. Oh! how badly I miss my friends back home where money was the last thing on our minds, in fact it wasn't there at all.

So thats the simplest and quickest recipe for a disaster. If you wanna see the friendship bridges go up in flames in one sec without an atomic bomb being dropped on them, the above mentioned recipe should work well. The sad part is, theses bridges cant be rebuilt at all, no matter how strong the original construction was.

Tamatar waale ki kahani

2008-08-26T19:20:00.001-07:00

As I sit and write this blog, I realise that the next 5 months would be crucial. With no funding from the college, my resources are burning up faster than a rocket burns fuel(yikes, what an analogy....hehe) 42 point something something times faster than it would have burnt had I been in India sitting idle. With the insecurities gradually turning into fear, I happened to receive this mail from my friend telling me of a story of the fallen tomato cart. Heres the story. The mail claims it is written by some CEO by the name bagchi. Cant really comment on that but that is unimportant anyways. I found the story interesting and it made me sit up and think. Its interesting that the when I see and compare myself against the tomato vendor, things seem so much better. I have a roof over my head, I have been admitted to a good school. Its true, that we ponder with the what ifs and what if nots that we forget about living in the present. Although the story hasnt lifted my spirits to an extent to which I would have liked it to, but when I see the bigger picture, the longer run (some of the mgmnt mumbo-jumbo that I have learnt), I realise that things will hopefully change and change for the better. I guess I will have to just wait a lot more, dunno how much, but seems like lady luck is still aint impressed with me. Will need some magic for things to change. I hope the wait isnt too long. 5 months to go and the clocks ticking and with each tick, my pulse rates increasing. I just hope that my hope is not hoping against hope. Else work on the backup plan of Wada Paav stall at times square would begin. Beware McD, you guys better hope that things change at my end, else its bad news for you guys.......

'Advice' is what you get when you ask for money

2008-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Yep, these are the words with which my previous CTO described the condition which they faced when they went to VCs for funding their startup. I am reminded of the same words as I face almost the same condition. Well, not exactly the same condition, but am looking for money.Anyways, so have met many people and them for funds, and each one has one same advice. "Commit for a PhD, We need long term commitment". So my take is, isnt 2 years long term? Theres this one project which has funding up until 2010. So if the project is not going to last for the entire duration of my PhD, why should these guys expect a long term commitment from me? Anyways, So everyday, my routine has been to pick up my sack, go to some prof, beg for funds, tell him that I am undecided on a PhD, and see the change in his expression, hear the same old advice, thank him, walk back dejected every single day. Dunno how many more times will I have to face the same thing. Seems like this number is going to be high.
Some days I ponder whether this is what I deserve? But then, life wouldnt be life had it been fair you see, atleast in the short term, atleast that is what I would like to believe so.
So here I am, having forefeited a fairly comfy life in search for a more comfy life. I just hope I havent screwed it up. Only time shall tell.
Yeah, "Advice" is surely what you get when you ask for money.

Missing my company.............

2008-08-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Having left my job in the last month and getting back to the old grind of academics, heres the list of things that I am missing.....(not in any particular order)

1) Evening snacks and the long chat sessions with my friends
2) Weekly movie
3) Friends
4) Night outs in front of terminals
5) TT Table
6) Free beverages and biscuits
7) Sweets at desk
8) My Salary :(
9) Flexi timings
10) The parties - birthday, team lunches, release parties.....
11) Entertainment server
:(

Missing everything :(

2008-06-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Trip from Pune to Mumbai and back - Rs 500
Food costs - Rs 250
Tickets - Rs 2200

Watching the IPL final cliffhanger match at the stadium LIVE !!!! - Priceless.

There are some moments in your life that make you feel so ALIVE that you feel so . One such moment happened to me watching the nail biting finish of the IPL final match. Heres how it all started.

It was Thursday afternoon when one of my friends told me that the tickets were available online. But the catch was the price was 2k. My threshold initially was 1500 but then thought, what the heck, lets go for it. And Thank God for my decision.

Plagiarising heavily from the Mastercard Ad, the one liner sums up the entire experience "There are somethings money surely can't buy.....

Shock Market

2008-03-11T09:25:00.001-07:00

I opened my DeMat account long time back but it took some time to put my first penny into the Stock market. Guess, I shall attribute my reluctance to my gene pool as coming from a middle class family and that too from a Marathi middle class family where "Thy shall not put your money into the stock market" is the 11th commandment which has to be followed very religiously. For a long time, I watched the stock prices like a spectator watching a game from the sidelines, applauding, shouting, hooting, expressing a lot of emotions but all as an outsider, someone who has nothing to lose or win for that matter, no matter what the result is. All the emotions were essentially second hand experience(theres a GRE word for this but damn cant remember it[:D]). Then one day it all changed and I put my money in some stocks. Life has never been the same.
I remember participating in some mock stock competition in college some years back(finished 3rd out there btw earning around Rs 350 for an investment of Rs 50:D --- yeah apne muh miyaa mithu) where people traded mock stocks and the principle which most followed was ......If a company has some good news, people would throng to buy it, and if some bad news is put up against it, everyone would start selling. I used to wonder that although this principle was correct, it was amateurish and I was convinced that real stock market buy/ sell would not be based on such near sightedness. But having seen the stock market and some stock prices in the past 8 months, I have realized that the principle still holds true. In the recent black mondays,tuesdays.....fridays, it seems that people sell or buy on just pure good or bad sentiment. The recent mega crash in which the market crashed from 20k-21k to about 13k-14k saw lakhs and crores being wiped off in a single day. I guess people want instant money and when they see the prices of their stocks reduced to a rubble, in such a short span of time, the first reaction to the selling pressure is to run away with as much as you can take.
I sure have learnt something. People looking for large short term profits need to have big hearts and deep pockets. People do get themselves screwed in their quest for quick money. Greed is one human quality and many including me have fallen prey. Long term profits can be gained on most big companies, again theres some risk involved but then stock market means some risk. You try to wonder if you can have a scientific explanation for the stock market prices and you realise that if at all theres one, it would be something beyond my comprehension. The only explanation is good news == more buyers == increase in stock price and vice versa.
The quintessential sermons that are given in a maharashtrian family that "Stock Market हां एक जुगार आहे " now doesn't sound that wrong i suppose. In the short term, it sure is no better than BlackJack.......But then again, even blackjack can be cracked open.........

Happy .....er not so Happy Birthday

2008-03-01T02:38:00.000-08:00

Birthdays come and birthdays go, but this birthday was my weirdest. It was different as it wasn't preceded by any excitement but on the contrary filled up with a feeling of trying to hold on to my previous age. When you are a child, you always want more and more birthdays, you want them to come fast as you look forward to get rid of the 'child' tag and become an adult. I have concluded that this eagerness lasts until the age 24, after which you want just the opposite. Birthdays should come as late as possible, try to delay the inevitable, well in this case you cant even try. So birthdays will no longer remain birthdays. As Ronan Keating sings, life is surely a roller coaster and you gotta ride it. Just that roller coasters end with a steep drop where all the fun is, life begins with a steep drop and then at some point of time, the fun ceases and the ride turns into more of a slow, gradual upward movement against the gravity, with no more steep drops where one can scream, shout, laugh, wave......[:(] I came across this interesting and real funny perspective on how life should be.
Anyways, this birthday was weird and memorable, made even more memorable by employees of ATN. Thanks to them, I remembered my bday for the next 4 days.......ouch it still hurts.....
Some thoughts:
1) Age could be made expressed always as keeping 24 yrs as base value. So 25 yrs would be 24 yrs 12 months..........
2) Use of different numeric base. So 25 yrs would be 19 in hex......(Thanks to phdcomics for this suggestion)
3) Tax people who ask your age but do not accept it in the above two formats.

Bryan bhaiyya says 18 till I die. Worth a try.......

Ratzzzz.....its 2008

2008-01-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

Well, its that time of the year again when everyone wishes "Happy" new year. Point to be noted ...."Happy". And its the Rat year....ye!!!! So, I decide to look around for Chinese astrology. Why? Well I have enough time to kill. So any random topic is good enough.[:)] Google throws up this site http://www.chineseastrologyonline.com/2008.htm
The site has enough material for me on which i can waste time since i do not believe in too much astrology, let alone chinese one. But the results that this site throws up are really interesting.
Apparently I am a Green cow born in the year of black pig and it can be said that i am a wood cow.Hehehe. So far so good. My lucky element is Metal. Now the real fun starts. The site concludes the following things about the green cow, wood for the year 2008, the rat year.
1) Rat is the Romantic Star only for people born in year of Rabbit, Sheep or Pig. If Rabbit, Sheep and Pig people look for the love, they have more chance to meet the opposite sex. (Oh ho.....sahi hai dost, sahi hai)
2) Therefore Female Water and Wood men have more chance to meet the female in 2008. If they have good relationship with their girls now, they can think about the marriage, specially for the ones born in years of Rabbit, Sheep and Pig. If the marriage doesn't happen in 2008 for above-mentioned people still have very good chance and relationship with their boy or girl friends.(I am already starting to love chini astro)

The site also charts my rise and fall of my life and believe it or not predicts it too.
3) I was luckless between ages 10-19.(Yeah....I would second that)
4) 20-29 my luck improves big time as compared to 10-19.(No signs of that currently happening.......)
5) 30-79 my luck is the best, and I shall have the best years.(Now you are talking........Hehehe;))
6) And finally 80-89 would again see a fall in my luck.(If I live that long......)

So in conclusion, this year as per my Chini dost log hopefully
1) I shall meet my lady.
2) My luck should rise and become better.

Tdays Jan6 2008, shall retrospect on this post on Jan6 2009. So keep an eye on that post.Hehehe

So what do 'Your' chinese stars say....eh?

P.S. All conclusions have been derived using the prediction results as told by the site http://www.chineseastrologyonline.com/2008.htm which uses state of the art equipments and cutting edge technology.

Oh man, so near yet so faaaaaar..........

2007-12-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah, we met through a common friend. I must express my gratitude to him. It was definately love at first sight. I looked and admired her like a car enthusiast admiring a ferrari. A bit dazzled by her beauty, by her looks and then she was in my arms, in my hands. Oh boy, what a feeling it was. Yes, God must have taken ages to carve her out. In the black darkness of the night, she shone like a star. She was in a black dress, all quiet and reserved. I had to make the first move for sure. A single touch was all needed for her to open up and did she open up or what. Like a small child, who opens his eyes to the lightest of touch, a smile lit her face, so bright, that all other things around her faded into darkness. It was my dream to see her, but I never imagined that she would be in my hands. All the right curves, right shape and .....she could fit inside a pocket too.......er... pocket? Yeah the I-Phone, Apple's I-phone, Apple I Phone it was and what a piece of technology it is. Watching the features and the demos on TV is one thing but experiencing its super cool features in hand is 100 times more exciting. Great work by the Apple team. Hats off for thinking and then producing such magic. I wish i would own it someday..............

Someday someway together we'll be baby, I will take n you will take your time..........................

Hum aisehi hain,aise hi rahenge, kabhi nahi sudharenge

2007-11-05T04:21:00.000-08:00

When will this country's citizens acquire some civic sense? When? When?
Last evening, I went out for some Diwali shopping with my friends and the entire journey....from home to the shopping malls and back was worth remembering for all the wrong reasons. The journey had just started when a sleek Honda Civic came and stopped beside us. The window rolled down and guess what, a young guy brandishing his designer glasses and his designer clothes, pushes his sick face out of the window and guess what, spits right on the road. Would he have done the same thing had he been in any other country? The answer is no. Its just here, in India, that he has got the guts to do it. That was just the beginning of the evening.
Next we stop at a traffic signal for the obvious reason.....The traffic signal was RED. Again, we hear of a vroom, another young guy, rich,spoilt brat, wearing black shades(maybe thats why he couldnt see the red light), leather jacket, on his million dollar bike, zips past us, breaking the signal with such impunity that it would put any politician in Bihar to shame. Again, the same question, Would he have the balls to cross even the Zebra Crossing, had he been in say US or any other country?
The worse was yet to come. While walking in the walking plaza on the MG road, we saw it so littered by the crowd, that it was almost stinking. MG road, by virtue of being in camp, would be used by a cosmopolitan crowd, who can be safely assumed to be rich and literate. But wait a minute, does literate mean having civic sense too? Well, as far as India is considered, the answer is no. So what do we see? We see, many people most of them young and from well to do families, throwing filth on the road as if MG road was a part of Dust bin. Again the question repeats, why cant these people have simple,plain civic sense of keeping their city clean?
All of the above three incidents were all the more disappointing since everyone was young, and broke the law with impunity. Although making roads filthy is not punishable out here in my country, but people just don't believe in exercising some self-control. They need some fear, fear of being punished,fear of being put into jail, fear of being fined, fear of being rapped on their knuckles for them to obey a rule.But my question is why? We live in a civilized society and these are simple,plain unwritten rules.
These idiotic rich brats will speak in flawless English, imitate everything from the West, their clothes, style,accent,music everything except plain civic sense. I have become fed up with sights of such stupid young people. I am reminded of Madhav Apte from the movie Dombivali Fast, and feel like taking a baseball bat and breaking the mouth of anyone who spits on the road, smashing the vehicles which break traffic signal and rapping the knuckles of those who make the streets filthy.
Why on earth, is it so damn hard for people to acquire civic sense? How stupid can one be? I hope all such people become a part of Brain Drain. But wait a minute, this cant even be called "Brain" drain.
Yeh log kabhi nahi sudharenge, Aise logon ko sirf dande ki bhasha samajhti hai.

An off day

2007-10-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

This could well be one of my worst days of my life as i feel low in spirit and enthusiasm. Down,down down is the way, in which my day has gone. The day had a good beginning, and i thought that this could very well be a decent day. How wrong was I. Its not that i feel down because things have not gone my way. There have been many days, when things don't go my way, but today, I was hoping, and expecting certain things. They say, never expect. But its a human tendency to expect from everything and anything, but the "day" had other ideas. It slapped and whipped me in all possible ways and in all possible areas, to leave me, at the end of the day, bleeding all over and wrenching in pain. I tried to fight, but you see, you just cannot fight this day. The day was in no mood to just leave in a state of pain. It wanted me to take up a knife, cut me open, gorge out all my organs, and laugh at me in sadistic fashion. Well, now that the day has come to an end, i do not know whether to laugh or cry, because i have reached a level of insensitivity to pain, since you just cant feel the pain after you have been subjected to such things. As the song goes "Gam se ab ghabaraana kaisa gam sau baar mila.....

AI gaa

2007-09-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have always been intrigued by how the human mind works. They say that what differentiates us humans from other creatures on this planet is this processor. Even science has not been able to explain it in its entirety. They say the gates of this processor are the nerve cells, and apparently some chemical thingy, triggers of various things in the body. Imagine the things that the mind has to take care of.....On the external front, handle the enormous amounts of information that the five senses are sending it continuously. The pictures, the sounds, the tastes, the feel, the smells, analyze each and every thing, decide and then instruct the muscles so as to control the movements accordingly. All this while, it has to cater to the internal workings too, check energy levels, enzyme levels, instruct the glands to secrete them, lookout for cells that need food, see that oxygen level is maintained, monitor heart to see that it keeps on pumping the blood, etc etc. Am no expert in biology, but there must be zillion things on brains mind to take care of. Then theres the third front which probably is what makes us unique in the animal kingdom. This is the meta-physical/spiritual/logical/emotional front. I have clubbed everything in under one front because all of them share the common process of thought-process. What is a thought process? How can some chemical reactions trigger of say my answer to 2+2? or say questions like who am i? or the different feelings that i experience? or for that matter, how can it trigger me to write this thing? The first and second front has been reproduced to a large extent, with automation as the example. As to the third front, the race is on. A.I. Yeah, artificial intelligence as they. Its a no debate as to whos more powerful on the first two fronts, humans or machines? Countless science fiction books, movies have been made as to what happens when machines overtake us in the third front. Could it be possible that one day, science fiction would come true? What would be the tipping point if that happens? Its not possible right now, that the machines/robots start thinking on their own, and when they do so, quite obviously, they shall think for themselves first. But taking a hypothetical scenario in which this thing does happen, how will it all start? Probably, in some research labs, with a computer scientist working with a super computer, trying to run his some AI program. He hits the enter key, sees a bug, and cringes with disappointment. Damn, the value should have been 294.7364 and not 294.4356 Have to build the program all over again. Compiled the program, 0 errors, 214 warnings. Smiles back on the prof's face. . He hits the enter key, and.........

What have we here, laddie? Mysterious scribblings? A secret code? No, poems, no less! Poems, everybody!

2007-08-25T00:39:00.000-07:00

Sittin in the audi, n watching the show,
was thinkin to myself, if i could be a pro

can i dance or can i write, can i paint or atleast sing?
isnt there any talent in me, that i can call my own "thing"?

singin is wut i started out wid, but what awaited me was gloom
my songs wouldnt go, beyond the confines of the bathroom

had a shot at painting, thought i would do that with ease
my masterpieces were limited, to graphs in my ppts.

tried my hand at writing,thought its same as writing notes
the only ficion i wrote, were my weekly status reports

writin whackky one liners, that wont require any slog,
but the ones that were appreciated, were sysouts and user-action log.

writing neat little poems, is what i tried in rage,
lookin at the this one, dont think it will go beyond this page.

Sittin in the audi, the show sure was a treat
best place for me out here, seems to be the audience seat.

Conversation with Kerala Bus Conductor

2007-08-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Scene 1:
Location: Mangalore Bus Stand

Dialogues:

Me: Yeh bus Kannur jaayega kya?
Conductor: ?(Puzzled look on his face)

Me:(Thinking, that explaining with broken english and hand gestures might help in the conversation) Bus (pointing to the bus) goes("hands on steering wheel" gesture ) Kannur?
Conductor: (With a poker face) This bus will go to Payyanoor. From there, Kannur is pretty near. You can take another bus from there.

Tikdun Motha gumboot aalya mule purna pravaas, tondaawar bot thevun gapchup kela.

Humri photu to kheencho........

2007-07-24T11:41:00.001-07:00

A casual conversation with a friend was what introduced me to words like shutter speed, aperture, camera lenses etc. Yes, the world of photography. So, I decided to make myself more aware of these photographic terms and their significance while clicking pitures. The same friend had shown me a Canon SLR camera which costed about 28k, and i said to myself, who in the world would buy something like that for clicking pictures when you get amazin digicams for half the price. I am sure there must be people who treat their SLR's as not some instrument of photography, but as an extension of their own bodies. These are the people for whom, i guess clicking pictures with a digicam would be sacrilege. For gamers, it would be playstations,xboxes...., in similar fashion, i guess for photographers, it would be SLR's. Imagine a converstation between photographers n am sure they would mention a SLR in the same breath as car lovers would mention mercedes, or terrorists would mention AK-47s,56s? eh?
Nowadays, the term googling has become synonymous with searching something, n i had read somewhere that Google Inc had trademarked the term 'googling'. Newez, me veering of the subject....(Apologies to google for using it though.)tried to google some basic stuff about amateur photography. the site https://photo.net explains everything about photography, but it got too technical for me and hence decided to look out on google videos.
I had already heard about the Rule of thirds while clicking pictures, but in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiYHT-JvoqI , it has been explained in neat fashion, where at the end you really find the rule of thirds, extremely simple to put into practice.
Apparently depth of field or depth of focus is an important part of photography. Following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzedefUXARE explains the same using photographs. Very nicely done tutorial showing how the aperture size affects the depth of field. The next http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpWtq-haaCQ video shows in general usage of a digicam, but i really liked the photoz in which the difference due to shutter speed is shown. I sure am atleast gona try to implement some of these tips so as to say. As far as the SLR goes well i would say, that can wait....

Here Cometh the Rains

2007-07-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

2nd July 2007,
After 3 days of incessant rain, the morning is dry and seems like i shall make it to office without having any part of my body 'dripping' in water. But wait a minute....The met dept had predicted 3 more days of rain. Naah, who trusts the met dept anyways. I get ready to go, start my bike and then..... yeah the met dept did get it right this time around. Thankfully, it is a drizzle and i manage to get to office, relatively dry. And then, it starts raining cats n dogs, elephants n dinosaurs or whatever you want to call it. I haven't seen so much water pouring in one day in Pune.
I get down to work and the entire day i keep hearing and seeing the downpour. The day ends prematurely for me at 7:30 but decide to delay my departure hoping that the rains would go away. Plus still had to see the remaining part of the movie Hotel Rwanda. Nice movie though. The movie finishes but not the rains. I eventually decide to push off, but my bike has other ideas. I am reminded of my own version of Murphy's law "If something has to go wrong, it will do so, exactly when you dont want it to." Anyways, the bike seems to be in no mood to take me home. So, I decide to take the PMT as Rickshaws refuse to ferry people to other side of the town. By the time I reach the bus stand, I am completely wet. Theres a threshold point of 'wetness quotient' if i may call it that. beyond which you really stop protecting yourself from the rain, actually you really stop caring because you cant get any 'wetter' than this.
So as i wait for the bus, i remember the recently released movie '1 40 ki last local'. Naah but no Neha dhupias out here. hehehe.... But theres this man, who comes and talks to me regarding how difficult it has been for him to reach work because of the rain I am like, wutever boss, why should i care. But then later realise hes on a high with a peg or two, more than his daily dose. The PMT buses refuse to stop in spite of me frantically waving like a person drowning. Should i go back to office at spend the night? Just then an indica taxi comes. The drunkard gets onto it and the driver asks me if i was interested in joining. Kothrud suddenly seems to be an elusive place. I hop into the car, and then realise, fuck i havent even asked the driver about how much it would cost me. Plus he isnt even dropping me to home, rides only till deccan. Wut if he charges me 500? the cars jam packed, and i start getting weird ideas. Could this be a trap? man, then i am surely screwed big time. The driver misses a turn, n my thoughts drift to the amount of money i am carrying, mobile, watch , aroung 15k? Fuck...but then the driver steers back to the original route. Realise hes drunk too. Hehehe.....Seems like everyone in the city is on a high. I am dropped at Deccan with all my belongings intact and i am lighter by only 10 bucks. Phew....Now to the next bus stop..... As i walk, my floaters seem to have had enough water and are now squeezin it all out. The journey doesnt seem to end. Luckily, i find a bus on my route. As the bus wades through water, i find that Karve road is filled with knee deep water. I find a maruti stuck with water upto its wind sheild and i realise that the concretisation of half of road has led to all this inundation. Finally, get down at my stop. Still about a kilometre of walking to do. The low lying societies and the slums are now filled up with water. I see people with bucket, pipes trying to remove water from their houses, but with rain still continuing, i really feel sorry for them. Decide to click some pics of the road or is it a river? Hehehe... and they say India Shining......Hehehehe.....Finally and yeah finally reach home. Its been a long day for me, and as i sit filling up my blog, i just hope that tomorrow is a much better day.

A Night out at my office

2007-04-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

Its been many times that i have spent the entire night at the office doing work, and i have been asked many times how on earth is it possible to work the entire night. My answer is simple. When your Boss is sitting on your head, its not that hard not to work the entire night. Heres an hourly peek into what happens as the night progresses:

6pm-7 : Boss comes in, Hey, i will need that thing complete by tomorrow morning.Me - Oh F*$K, gone my sleep. What all things are on my plate??? Oh shoot , these are things to do??

7-8: Shall do this, wont do that, this need not be done, that can be pushed for next release, that ought to go in.

(tic-toc,tic-toc,)

8-9:(People leaving for their homes) Oh shit, how many hours of work remaining??
2? 3?4?(chances of my work estimates being correct are as less as india winning the WC , futball WC i mean.)

9-10: Food,food,food, gotta have some. Oh Company's canteen's closed, maggi- life saver. phew.
10-11: click click click click, (Me thinkin---This lyf sucks man), damn, this thing aint working , what are my options? do i have any option?? clock races faster than Schumis ferrari.

11-12: Coffee time, glug glug glug glug aaah. sleeps gone for 15 mins, y aint this damn thing working, chuck the elegant options, workarounds? need to complete it tomorrow......man, how on earth is this going to happen.

12-1: (Posture change from sitting in chair to half sleeping with legs on desk) As murphys law says, if something can go wrong it definitely will and(my addition) The level of difficulty of any problem is inversely proportional to the amount of time left before a deadline.

1-2: break needed, orkut, rediff, gmail etc etc. gone 1 hr, need some refreshments, coffee coffee, more coffee.aha, alive for 15 more minutes.

2-3: comp screens getting hazy , ants walkin on my screen, wake up boy wake up, lets put some loud muzzic, speakers, where are the Damn speakers???? search search search, ......... aha here they are. Lets make a playlist( there go 15 mins) atlast, dhik chak dhik chak dhik chak.....$$$$$

3-4: lemme take a power nap of 15 min, which gets translated to 45 mins.(more scattered coffee mugs)

4-5: ooooh, morngs just round the corner. birds chirpin, thats bad news, work left? huge, lemme chop down some to do items......

5-6: morngs here,damn, am screwed big time. no chance , pack up time, mail writing time, asking boss for more time ..........

6-7: send mail, pack up, drive home, see pple going out for jogging, kids to school, while me retrning home. damn wut a lyf.

next day:

Boss: Hey, i will need that thing complete by tomorrow morning.Me - Oh F*$K, gone my sleep ...................................

Hasta La Vista Schumi

2006-10-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

With the 2006 F-1 season coming to an end, it surely will be remembered for Schumi's last season rather than Alonso's second straight championship title, which is rather unfortunate. Theres no question about Schumi being one of the best drivers of all time( Some say he is the best), although his way of winning titles, by ruthless driving, sometimes putting not only his life but also others' lives at peril was something which I always hated. His style is sometimes called as killer instinct but i think he crossed the line way too many times and got away with it. His overtaking maneuvers were surely breathtaking but his philosophy of "Win at all costs" didnt really appeal to me. Who can forget his duels with Villenueve on the last race where in he nudged Jaques out of the championship title race. Theres no secret about his so called enmity with almost all the present and past F-1 drivers especially Alonso. Thanks to the advancements in car safety technology, drivers like Schumi do not end up taking lives of other drivers in their quest to win F-1 Titles. With him retiring, there will be many who shall be missing, but not me and the other F-1 drivers. Hasta La Vista Schumi.

A tale of 2 mirzas

2006-04-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i saw this song called "Mujhe tumse muhabbat hai" in which Dia Mirza is dancing with minimal clothes on, with water getting sprayed all over. Now take the case of another Mirza, Sania who was criticised by one section of her community for wearing revealing clothes. Infact they had a fatwa issued against poor Sania. Now,there has to be someone who also has seen Dia's gyrations in the song.How come there was no objection to that song? Infact Sania is up there on court making her country proud and these people have a problem with her dress?Whereas Dia is dancing/bathing in front of so many people wearing absolutely nothing and they dont have a problem with that. I think all these people who object simply want attention in the media. I hope some sanity prevails atleast in the media and they do not highlight such trivial issues.I am also trying to understand this funda of fatwa.probably in the next one.

My reservation against reservations

2006-04-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

yes, after a long hiatus, i am back. The recent announcement by the govt. to introduce reservations in iits and iims is shocking. What is more shocking is that now they are planning to introduce reservations in private companies too. If even jobs come under reservation, it would mean a step back in time. I have never discriminated against anyone for being from a specific caste or tribe. Neither can i identify by his/her name nor am i interested. But now, a different kind of feeling comes after hearing this huge amounts of reservations in all the fields. Now you begin to wonder if he/she has got admission on his/her merit or otherwise which is nothing but again going into the past where our forefathers discriminated against so called lower castes. We( General category so as to say) are still paying for the sins our ancestors committed. And we still dont know how long we would have to keep paying. I am not against reservations. Its already quite sufficient. And reservations should now not be given based on anyones name but on the financial state of a person.

bhul hi gaya tha

2005-12-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

well,its been ages since i have written something here.to socha kuch likhte hain.actually a friend of mine varun, asked me about my blog yesterday.It was then,i remembered ki are haan, blog to banaaya hai but nuthings been written. there are so many things in my life which i start of with lots of enthusiasm, but after sometime, the enthusiasm dies out.blogs is one of them.the other one was electronics engg. Started out wid lots n lots of energy. but in da end it became a drag.Not dat i did badly in it, but my interest reduced with the clearing of each subject. One of my teacher had said dat engg is much more than studies. It prepares u for your entire life ahead.Well, now having cleared the 40 ,sorry 39 papers i really dont see how it has if at all prepared me for my future life.I just hope this loss of enthusiasm does not apply to my entire life wherein startout in full swing aur last mein drag on and on and on.

atlast

2005-07-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

atlast got a blog for myself.was thinkin of it for so long.pata nahin likhna kya hai.guess bor/frust hua to idhar kuch scribble kar diya karunga.