Pyaas for Ether

I have moved!

2009-02-03T23:52:00.004+05:30

Dear Patrons,

Finally I have given in to my friends' persistent advice to move my blog to Wordpress. Blogger vs Wordpress debate had been going for too long and I admit that Wordpress surely has many advantages over Blogger. Fortunately I have been able to import all my posts and comments at the new address.

I have moved my personal blog to following URL:
http://www.jasginder.com/blog

Please update your Blogroll and bookmarks (if any!).

Memoirs of a fool's youth

2008-12-07T16:32:00.005+05:30

You know what is the difference between some bad incidents and bad memories? The incidents you may had forgotten but the latter one will be still haunting you. Shown more or less aptly in the psychological drama - Flashbacks of a Fool, Daniel Criag plays a fading star Joe Scott who burns his hollow life with coke, sex and drinks only to come back and face himself one day when he gets the news of death of his childhood best friend, Boots' death. This takes the protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970's Britain.

In his teenage Joe is seen enjoying his childhood with Boots. As a teenage boy he gets in a tentative relationship with a school-girl called Ruth. Although he loves Ruth from heart he takes the life on a casual note and ends up with a guilt from an unintended accident which leads to the death of a small girl. Unable to confront himself, he runs from away from England on the day of funeral and lands up in US.

Movie shifts to present and Joe decides to confront his fear and returns to England for a difficult meeting with Ruth, who had gone on to marry Boots and has been a left a poor widow now.

The characters have been played very distinctively and director makes sure each one justifies his/her presence. The initial dialogues of each character defines his/her individuality markedly. In the outset only the following dialogue vividly explains the character of Joe.

Ophelia (helper/secretary): Don't you have any philosophies in life other than self indulgence?

Joe: I really do not like looking at myself from your eyes. Your happiness doesn't interest me, mine does.

Also you cant help but appreciate how the backdrop has been chosen for all the shots. The fact that the director Baillie Walsh has earlier worked in music video direction does have a positive impact on the movie, as its visually and symphonically more appealing than average. And the song that has been his favourite in his teenage years have been using not only as the backdrop but also as the theme for the movie. "That song was a key to the writing of the script because the lyrics are so pertinent to the script.", he adds. This song, "If there is something" of Roxy Music is first played when young Ruth brings Joe to her home and both dance on this song. Lyrics of the ending part of the song goes like:

Shake your hair girl with your ponytail,
Takes me right back when you were young.
Throw your precious gifts into the air,
Watch them fall down when you were young.
Lift up your feet and put them on the ground,
You used to walk upon when you were young.

Young Ruth dancing to "If there is something"

The expressions and dance movements have been done so elegantly that the viewer catches the song even deeper. You may not like the song in first minute, in case you download and hear, but the gripping saxophone and guitar mix comes from 1:30mins past start and then the late 70's British glam era grabs you with force. I personally felt the song did justify to be the theme or the storyline did justify the song. Later on when Joe has to meet Ruth, which he never does, he leaves her few pounds and a letter with the lines, "Shake your hair girl with your ponytail, Takes me right back when you were young.", reading which she breaks out in tears marking end of the movie.

It is not a kind of movie that will appeal to everybody and thus has a limited viewership, but if you can connect with the plot, its surely worth the money for one time.

Down but not dead

2008-11-27T23:04:00.006+05:30

I have seen it all,
from freshness of spring to autumn's fall,
I have seen the blood diamonds shine,
an amputee telling his family that he is all fine.

Cities being raged by bombs and fires,
the elders being charred by burning tires;
kids being shot and operated without anesthesia,
while their mothers prayed in silence for the panacea.

From the religious hatred to blood drenched rains,
from laughter filled school wagon to blood pouring trains.
An innocuous girl fearing men of her own religion,
a granny crying over her kindergarten grandson's loss of vision.

In one house I have seen a brother kill brother,
the next one had no one's son being cared by someone's mother;
for what we see is that just after a violent strife,
you will see in eyes of people, coming back, the spirit of life.

Cities have bled and nations have been strangled,
Respect has been forgone and humanity wrangled;
Everybody thought they could bear no more and for grim reaper they should send,
but each time, I repeat, each time its the spirit of life that has triumphed in end

We have seen it in Delhi and seen in Mumbai all the time,
every such horror brings humanity to its prime.
people come together and forget small clashes,
the spirit of life makes the beaten to rise from ashes.

An elderly man being helped by a policeman at CST terminal in Mumbai after a terrorist had opened fire in the crowd.

See the irony, people have been killed after saving killer's life with water,
killer could have paid by leaving that feeder's life, but he didn't have faith in that barter.
When a youngster's mind is trained nothing astute but brainwashed for terror,
they don't understand humanity but dismiss acts of kindness as a silly error.

So lets hold our hands and stand together against terror,
Gloom has come, but doom shall never...

This photograph was taken in Mumbai after the 7/11 train blasts.

Bond between existence and non-existence

2008-10-12T16:18:00.000+05:30

As a kid I used to spend a lot of time on my rooftop. With both parents working, they would wish us goodnight and goto sleep by 10PM and I would sneak to my rooftop. The vastness of the sky would baffle me impregnating my mind with hundreds of unanswered questions. Morning was okay, sky would be blue as in any painting we would make in arts class, but the night would pour it with so many stars and ever changing moon. But it wasnt the beauty of the sky or stars that would catch my attention (though it did lead me to make my own Galilean telescope ), it was the question of existence, of those starts, of the things I could see near me and my own self.

When I would question myself about my self, it would strangely come to nought. I could see my hands and realise if I want I can move it, so thats not me. The one who is thinking is something else, something which is there but maybe doesnt have an existence. Science can answer you how it started and how it formed, but it still cant, and cant even try to answer what was there before the START. There is nothing that is justifiable to answer it.

Its my personal belief that religion doest tell you how to live, but it tries to answer these very questions and assumes an assumption, God. Now we all believe in it, but for all scientific reasons I will quote it as an assumption here. (Apologies to fundamentalists!) It further tells us the right way to live that shall leave us in peace and help lifekind in all.

Rig Veda is an ancient religious text of India, comprising of a collection of Sanskrit Hymns. It is dated as far back as 1500–1000 BCE. One of the most popular hymn, commonly known as the hymn of creation, translates to following text:

In the beginning there was neither existence nor non-existance.
There was no atmosphere, no sky and no realm beyond the sky
What power was there? Where was that power?
Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite?

There was neither death nor immortality.
There was nothing to distinguish night from day.
There was no wind or breath, god alone breathed by his own energy.

In the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness, god was clothed in emptiness

Then fire arose within god; and in the fire arose love.
This was the seed of the soul.
Sages have found this seed within their hearts;
They have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non-existence.

Who really knows what happened? Who can describe it?
How were things produced? Where was creation born?
When the universe was created, the one became many.
Who knows how this occurred?
Did creation happen at God’s command, or did it happen without his command.
He looks down upon the creation from the highest heaven.
Only he knows the answer – or perhaps he does not know.

That is it! As you read the verse you can still experience the wonder they must have felt. It doesnt teach you what went in outset of world. If there is a god or heaven or hell. I have pulled these from Archna's blog , and she rightly is fascinated about the humility expressed in the verse. She writes, "Unlike most later religious texts which claim to know all the answers, here is a poem which is humble enough to acknowledge its ignorance. Vedic age is considered by many one of the golden ages of science in India. I feel, maybe it is this ability to acknowledge the fact that we do not have all the answers and search for them led to such great scientific progress. Isn’t it the true spirit of science?"

I couldnt agree any more! There are things which we will never know, and can only contemplate...

'A Wednesday' - Comeback of common man

2008-09-20T12:51:00.004+05:30

Two (non-profane) words that an average Indian adult would have heard the most about would be 'Comman man'. The elected ministers talk how they are helping the common man, while the opposition holds rallies and press conference to tell how the common man is getting neglected. The economists roll out the schemes for this very 'common man', while critics oppose very same schemes saying they are against a common man. Yesterday I ran off from my hectic professional life to see the last show of the newly released movie - 'Wednesday' and yes, the theme revolved around 'The common man'.

Bollywood has been rolling out the movies on a common man since big bang, where the image and issues faced by a common man has changed as portrayed in 60s by Balraj Sahni, 70's by Raj Kapoor, 80's by Amitabh Bachhan, 90's by contemporary cinema and theaters, 2000's by likes of Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher - essentially the artists who have come from theaters. (I may have not counted some prominent names, but essentially this kind of gives a picture to grasp what am referring to). But till date when a character associates him/herself with a common man, the public still clap, they still find that connect emotionally overwhelming. 'Wednesday' is no different.

The much so common day to day life setup of the movie without gloss, glamor, villains flying and rolling in air on hitting one jab has resulted in better connect. Leaving a few sound effects, the direction has been commendable, but what steals the show is the dialogue delivery and acting by the two protagonists - Anupam and Naseeruddin. Terrorism is one big topic these days thanks to the bomb blasts series that has started in India. And the aggression that is egressing in an average Indian against 'cockroaches' (as movie calls them) results in a gripping experience. One may wonder how an average 'common man' who looks like a clerk you may find in any public office, or a guy wiping his face on an average day in Mumbai's local trains may decide one day to go against the very crowd he has been walking around with since childhood. A terrorist is no different than any other person, and so is a person who may be following any different religion- where people change is in belief.

We humans have a gift unlike other animals, we can think and when we think we have beliefs and point of views. Some people accept the fact that others can have different point of view while some cant. Then some of the latter want rest to go by what they themselves believe, which when not done makes them turn toxic to the very society they have been part of. We may be social animals, but the animal and social nature are contradictory. They need to be in balance as Yin and Yang of Chinese FengShui, whenever this balance internal to a human changes, we become either too social (whom many will find irritating personalities) or too animal.

You would have been through the people who ask for charity, for money towards social cause or even for some flood relief etc. Its your wish to give, you may not give as you may not feel like giving or you may question if the money will go in right hands. But then there are people who will stop you and pester you to pay. Reason is not that its for social cause, reason is the organizers firmly believe that they are doing a social cause; in plain English I would call it imposition. Similar is the case with religion, its like a kind of a philosophy kept there in open, who so ever wants it will subscribe to it.

But then that's us, humans. We aren't limited to ourselves, we long for what the web of social linkages gives us; so the drama shall go on; and so shall the lives even if that is of a common man whose life goes on to achieve the balance between the Yin (dark/negative) and Yang (bright/positive).

Where did August go?!

2008-09-01T20:12:00.003+05:30

Am back! Its Sep the 14th and last post was on 1st of June! Boy that is a long long time by any yardstick when it comes to blogging. Lets see what all has gone through all this while.

I had to go on a business trip to US for six weeks and that has been quite a hectic tour. It was interesting to see the other facet of ITES industry. Coming from a product company ( I used to work for Adobe prior to graduating in management from FMS) it has been a complicated trip with mixed feelings. One gets to work on implementation side a lot, gets to know the best in class if one is attentive enough and also knows how high end bargaining of resources and their billing hours work. But what one misses is a crucial though process of innovation and building. In product companies, nobody tells you the exact scope of the project as that is where you define the scope. I remember how the features we were building upon used to change often as customer updates and technical possibilities would have us define and redefine the scope. With services it comes to define and redefine what can be dealt out in given funding! But as they say, every face has its own beauty.

When you are in a foreign land, you get introduced to some really fresh traditions and festivals. During my visit to US I got a chance to be part of a 'Baby Shower'; something which I always thought was a all ladies event. For the incognizants, by convention, a baby shower is intended to help parents get items that they need for their baby, such as baby clothes. It is common for the host to provide baby-themed games during the shower. So as a native was telling me in party that how it was celebrated only for first child earlier but now is a more general event, one of our senior System Analyst came with the games. Everyone was to guess the exact size of the expectant mother's waist using a string. Then there was another where we had to guess the exact date of birth of child and the weight. Now hold on, this wasnt going any better for me. Had I flirted in my college life (any of the two!), I could have made a worthy guess, but I couldnt be any closer to cutting the string right as of her waist! So I took it that she was married for two years, must have been on cheese diet (as any other Arizonian), and was due for delivery in another two months so she should be one 'big' lady! Well the female readers would have guessed it by now - my string was way more than her waist. No doubt she did not appreciate it that how fat I thought she was, given the fact that I work as Sr. Business Analyst. (So accurate an analysis!)

And not to forget the baby's size, weight and all. I really felt like calling my mom to ask how heavy I was when I was born but then left the idea. I was always told that I was heaviest of the lot that was in hospital in those days and my childhood pics only confirm to my chubbiness in that time. And heck I dont know when will my bread come out of the toaster, how can I tell when a baby will come out! Strange ways life tells you that you still dont know anything!

And the early Sep was spent well in marrige of my best friend who has been more of a brother than a friend. I have never felt so responsible in my life, I had to make sure that all his friends did not feel left out at the function, were catered to well, danced, laughed and aptly farewelled. Marrige, as has been my experience, is the time when your relatives gaguge how valued they are in your life. If you miss them out, you mess yourself in. Anyhow the wedding was good thought I had to miss out on food part due to time constraints, and could come back to Hyderabad with just a box of sweets.

Me myself and lemom tree

2008-06-01T04:30:00.006+05:30

I'm sitting here in a boring room
It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I'm wasting my time
I got nothing to do
I'm hanging around
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens – and I wonder

I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree

Isolation – is not good for me
Isolation – I don't want to sit on a lemon-tree

Thats me myself and the lemon tree, I see it and unfortunately it only and I don't wanna sit on it! It's one of those days when am left with just me, ya there may be some people around me, some coming , others going; but that is not the point, point is that am still alone and wasting my time. And such a time calls for me to see my one of the most favorite movie - Lakshya. Its ridiculous to say that some movie is my best movie and there is no other movie that can take its place. Such choices, unlike our choices of humans and especially life partners, change optionally with time, mood and any given stimuli.

So I start watching the movie munching the Burritos as lunch, and duly go through the emotional ups and downs and changing heart rates as suggested by the movie's rhythm. This movie has always inspired me from inside no matter howsoever I repeat the view.

Basic idea of movie has been morphed with Kargil angle diluting the base, but still its worth it; my favorite is the first half when Karan (Hrithik) is waiting for the transformation and his individuality is begging for a Lakshya (aim) in life. It conveys how if you can get your random though process to align in one direction of your aim, you have the power of a magnatised iron bar whose randomly aligned molecules are made to align magnetically in one direction giving it its invisible and intangible power.

It also depicts a very deep relation between the leading duo, how the chemistry deepens upon sepration and how well they handle it maturely even though Karan himself is lost in life. She sends Karan back saying she wont talk to him when he leaves army and that is the point which changes his life forever for good. Her words give him a Lakshya (aim) and all he knows is that he HAS to achieve it. When he becomes a Lieutenant he calls to tell her about it. And when she asks him about his Delhi arrival so that they can talk about their relationship, Karan says, "Saare faisle tum nahi kar sakti Romi. Humein nahi milna hai, ye faisla tumne kiya tha. Ab humein dubara milna chahiye ya kabhi nahi ye faisla main karoonga." Bulls eye! I love their chemistry, a great deal of emotional maturity is there.

This also moves me to a next level, a level where I question my existence, where my pyaas (thirst) for ether starts scorching my throat and where I start moving to bigger picture. Surely not many people like it, and we don't get many people to talk to on it, most of us are still like frogs in a well whose thinking is limited by limits set in minds, some are ones who feel like they are not made for what is their present but still don't know where to go - the falling in the rabbit hole types. The people who wont like your rebel 'attitude' will try to teach you good way or bad, telling you to come to their side to relax, but then if you are in peace with yourself, you just inspire other rebels or ignite their mind to think! The picture below captures aptly what I want to say.

To wrap up, some quotes which have hit me from movies and which I completely agree with (and which I remember right now!) -

"Zindagi jeene ka mera tareeka bhi simple hai. Main aise jeeta hoon ki aaine ko dekhkar mujhe sharm na aaye"
- Siddharth Marathe, Ghulam
“Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it.”
- Swedish Proverb, have forgotten where was it used
"Abhi abhi hua yakin... ki aag hai... mujh mein kahin."
- Rang De Basanti
"I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it's both, maybe both happening at the same time."
- Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump
"Saare faisle tum nahi kar sakti Romi.Humein nahi milna hai ye faisla tumne kiya tha.Ab humein dubara milna chahiye ya kabhi nahi ye faisla main karoonga"
- Karan, Lakshya
"The best moment in a man’s life is his weakest."
- Anonymous
"I have loved to the point of madness;
that which is called madness,
that which to me,
Is the only sensible way to love."
- F. Sagan (Okay! I admit, its not from movies; but then its great, no? :)

Photo Credit: Torei's Deviantart

Country Roads... Take me home...

2008-05-12T02:30:00.003+05:30

Once you start staying outside the cultural cocoon you have been brought up in, a trip back home is always a toy train ride then. You start with enjoying the trip itself and getting excited about it, the smell, the sight and the looks on the people around you matter to you as you start observing them. Just because you are enjoying the moment, you give that extra smile to the flight attendant, you strike a conversation with some stranger sitting next to your seat and in case some kids wave at you, you are almost definite to reply back. ‘The bubbly journey towards the home’.

The trip may mature to the ride through the memory lanes; remembering the days which used to go slow at the kiddish pace wherein almost all problems had only one solution – let parents handle it. Our job was limited to just informing them. Then even if you had accidentally broken a glass, spilled the milk while boiling or even spilled ink on dad’s office files (it happened to me!); it was now your perplexed parent’s job to find a solution or cope with it. At the same time it was great to rush to your parents and have the trouble taken away from you. After all they could handle everything!

But life is different now, my problems are mine. Though my mother is as inclined as ever to solve my problems, the nature of problems have changed and the decision has to be made by me only. I look in her eyes and all I can muster is a big “My mummy special” hug. I have realized with time that its not only my mother who is emotional, my father, who may not be effusive, equally longs for those express of emotions that tell him, “Thanks dad, you made right choices for family. I am proud of you!” And in case you are a girl, then he needs more emotions from you.

Yesterday while searching for some papers my hands caught an old file, it was my dad’s certificates. Now he is a man I was always encouraged by all my relatives to fall in shoes of. He was eldest in his family and my grandfather was a sepoy. Grandpa had lost his agricultural land to a flood and life had been hard ever since for his family. Dad’s fee was paid by another family and dad worked in their fields. Everybody has been telling me since childhood that I need to be as hard working as my dad and rise as higher, but then dad has been raising the bar every now or then. I knew he was topper all the while and had been a fast riser in his office too. But when I looked at that brown file it told the detailed story. My dad had got appreciation certificates saying that his name was engraved on the college wall for record performance. There were cuttings from newspaper lauding the small kid from village who topped the state in engineering college. Then there were letters from a public company who recruited him from campus (where he is still working). Looking at your father’s achievements gives you a very different feeling of pride and complacency. Even though my quoted pay is higher than his today, still I stand hundred of miles behind him. And this is not because of the state government ambassador that he been given, but the persona, the integrity and the character of the person he is.

Dad's shoes are always quite bigger to fill in!!

To MFC/MBA passouts

2008-05-08T02:51:00.002+05:30

Finally!

The exams are over, dissertation blues are already forgotten, the party shoes are still shining and the dad's chest just got filled with more pride! You are from last evening the most sought after performer - an MBA grad from one of the top B-schools of India!

You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own.
And you know what you know. YOU are the person who'll decide where to go.

If you can, do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail...

Congratulations once again! and welcome the Stage II of your career. I believe you can do wonders, what do you believe?

Saluting real heroes

2008-05-05T09:48:00.007+05:30

Tell me one thing, how well do you agree to the saying 'Barking dogs seldom bite'? In case you really agree then let me give you an analogy, the barking news is seldom worthy. This is especially true in case of Indian media which has seen a humongous commercialization in last few years and has been reduced to only profit as a sole motive of news on private channels. In case you don’t believe me, I can show you snapshots of breaking news where the only thespian is a young feline stuck on top of a multi storeyed building with headline reading “Chajje par atki billo rani” (English: Miss Cattie stuck on rooftop). And that’s from none other than India’s consistent Hindi No 1 news channel – Aaj Tak.

In midst of all this when the one comes across an award show wherein the achievers on grass root level are awarded, it surely strikes a chord. Am talking about the 'Saluting Real Heroes' award show on IBN news channel (of TV18). To commemorate 60 years of Indian independence, CNN-IBN and IBN-7 launched this initiative called Real Heroes. The initiative is an effort to recognise, acknowledge and celebrate ordinary Indians who made a difference to people’s lives. The 24 shortlisted candidates represent India's unsung heroes who showed great courage and perseverance in silently and selflessly contributing to the betterment of society. They are ordinary people with extraordinary endeavours who dared to stand up and swam against the tide, simply because they believed in the power of will, hard work and faith. Just hearing what all these people achieved makes you realize how much effort needs to be put in grassroots to get the society appreciate the 7+ GDP growth India has been boasting of internationally. Unless we make sure the trickle down effect is fully working, the wealth of India will be enjoyed by only a select section of society.

During the show, Javed Akhtar made a statement that one thing is common between all these people and that is that they did not have the resources and power, still they managed to pull it off. These were just normal people and hence they had to struggle hard and that’s what Javed summarized aptly in this statement of his. Below I try to capture what these people achieved and what the award was for.

Sunita Krishnan
Women's welfare, Hyderabad (South)

Taking on trafficking mafia

Heads an anti-trafficking group, rescuing women from brothels. Institutionalized an anti-trafficking cell within police stations. Also runs a school for 5000 children of sex workers.

Swapan Mukherjee
Social Work, West Bengal (East)

WB activist turns destitute kids into filmmakers

Swapan Mukhopadhay runs a home for destitute children. The home has about 40 kids. Apart from taking care of their basic needs, he even teaches them filmmaking.

Nishtha Desai
Social Work, Goa. (West)

Woman takes on fight against paedophiles in Goa

CRG, an NGO in Goa, works to save children from becoming victims of paedophilia. The NGO works with shack and shop owners in Goa, sensitising both kids and their employers

Dharanidhar Boro
Wildlife conservation, Kaziranga, Assam

Forest Ranger doubles Kaziranga rhino numbers

Boro and the forest guard in Kaziranga go beyond the call of duty to save the one-horned rhino. Surviving on a meagre pay, the duo have been fighting poachers to save the wild habitat.

K P Thomas
Sports, Kottayam (South)

The 'Master' behind Anju Bobby George's jump start

Master, 61, has been the mentor to many of Kerala's star athletes like Anju Bobby George and Shiny Wilson. He also pays for the boarding and lodging of underprivileged souls.

MC Marykom
Sports, Manipur (East)

Boxing champ dreams big

A champion boxer of international acclaim, Marykom remains largely unknown in India. But that has not stopped her from starting a training school for aspiring boxers in Manipur on her own.

Rajpal Singh
Sports, Haryana (North)

International shooter helps villagers aim for Olympics

He has been mentoring international shooters from Johadi - a small village in UP - for over a decade now. He has produced more than 20 international award-winning shooters.

Bhagwan Nagargoje
Sports, Sangroli, Maharashtra (West)

Coach who put orphans on the right track

An ex-Army man, he trains village kids to become national-level marathon runners. The training facilities are spartan, but his regimen and the drive of the children are producing winners.

N Krishnan
Social Work, Madurai (South)

Food for thought: Quitting 5-star job to feed homeless

This ex-chef now provides 3 free meals daily to 200 destitutes and homeless people in Madurai. He survives on donations, and makes sure they get the same food that he and his family eat.

Sharad Sharma
Communication, New Delhi (North)

Comic Relief: Animated about change

With World Comics India, Sharad has pioneered an easy medium for the poor to communicate on issues neglected by the media. His initiative has given voice to hundreds of people in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Haneef Lakdawala
Communal Harmony, Ahmedabad (West)

Haneef hits communal divide for a six in Naroda Patia

From cricket to healthcare, this social worker makes people of different communities come together. In a post riot-torn Ahmedabad, this is difficult work, but Haneefbhai has persevered.

Reny George
Education, Bangalore (South)

Ex-convict now runs home for prisoners' kids

Having gone though the stigma of incarceration, he wanted to make sure children of other prisoners did not suffer.

Abhayanand & Anand Kumar
Education, Patna (East)

2 Patna men make poor IIT students' dream a reality

Super 30, a coaching centre set up by Abhay Anand and Anand Kumar, trains poor kids for the IIT-JEE. This year, 28 of them made it to the JEE!

Armene Modi
Education, Shirur, Maharashtra. (West)

Gift of a bike ups literacy levels in Maharashtra village

Armene Modi set up a foundation that provides bicycles to girls in a village where the school is a distance away. This has resulted in more than 450 girls getting an education.

Sonam Wangchuk
Education, Ladakh (North)

Meet Ladakh's man of hope

By introducing educational reforms in government-run schools, Sonam Wangchuk is encouraging communities to reinforce the cultural identity of minority ethnic groups that live along the northern border of India.

D Ashish
Public Service, Kolkata (East)

Kolkata man has a pill for City of Joy's ailments

Ashish set up a medicine bank for the city's poor. Dedicated volunteers collect spare medicines from homes and dispense them to the poor and needy who cannot afford them.

Dr Subroto Das
Public Safety, Ahmedabad. (West)

'SOS angel' for road accident victims

After surviving a car crash, Dr. Subroto Das set up an NGO that works with existing resources to optimise medical response to road accident victims on highways. His model is already being adopted in other parts of India.

Ahmed Khan
Environment/ Technology, Bangalore (South)

Bangalore activist on the road to plastic success story

Ahmed Khan figured out a way to use waste plastic in road construction, thereby reducing the ecological impact of plastic and making better roads.

Jai Prakash Dabral
Environment, Uttaranchal (North)

Man fights timber mafia, saves 90,000 trees

He is now working with various organisations to help the govt formulate guidelines for laying down transmission lines in the Himalayan sub-region. He told openly that the timber mafia are people of high contacts and that they manage to buy law, and appealed ministers to open eyes.

Chewang Norphel
Water Harvesting, Ladakh (North)

'Glacier man' gets water to Ladakh dry lands

This retired civil engineer figured out a way to build artificial glaciers in Ladakh. Through this ingenious technique, the water woes of many villages in Ladakh have been eased.

Dr Prabhakar
Environment/ Technology, Bangalore (South)

Prof returns from US to shape future of poor Keralites

He quit the US to start micro-credit in Mohd. Yunus' Grameen Bank model. Loans are given without collateral to women, with 100% pay back rate.

Dr. Anil Joshi
Rural Development, Uttaranchal (North)

Prof 'invents' wheel to generate hydro-electricity

Set up water mills in the hills of Dehradun to generate renewable energy. He has electrified more than 1000 villages in the Himalayan region with simple technology innovation.

Deep Joshi
Rural Development, Jharkhand (East)

They left the good life to make others' better

Deep Joshi's NGO, Pradaan, recruits graduates from India's premiere institutes and gets them to work in rural areas for the under privileged.

Sushma Iyengar
Rural Development, Kutch, Gujarat (West)

Woman empowers Kutch artists

She started the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghtan to improve the lot of women in Kutch. From reproductive rights to elevating women from wage earners to skilled entrepreneurs, she has made a difference to many lives.

April 13th - The day of festivals

2008-04-13T13:28:00.008+05:30

Its April the 13th and chances are quite high that you shall be feeling the spirit of festival inside you or in your elders' heart back home, just in case you are abroad :)
It is quite strange how so many civilizations, so diverse in language and rituals are coming together to celebrate this day of spirit and rejoice.

Baisakhi

For the large farming community of Punjab and Haryana, Baisakhi marks a New Year’s time as it is time to harvest rabi crop. On Baisakhi, farmers thank god for the bountiful crop and pray for good times ahead. People buy new clothes and make merry by singing, dancing and enjoying the best of festive food. In several villages of Punjab, Baisakhi Fairs are organized where besides other recreational activities, kabbadi and wrestling bouts are also held.

Rongali Bihu

Beautiful agricultural state of Assam celebrates major agricultural events as the festival of Bihu. Notably there are three Bihu festivals in year namely - Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu, Bhugali (Magh Bihu) and Kangali (Kati Bihu) marking the distinctive phase in the farming calendar. Of the three Bihu festivals, Rongali Bihu is celebrated with greatest excitement as it marks the arrival of spring - the agricultural season.

People of all faiths and creed celebrate Bohag Bihu by singing traditional Bihugeets and performing group folk dances. Marking the occasion young boys and girls in village don traditional dhoti, gamosa and saadar mekhela and sing Bihugeets or folk Bihu songs in traditional bihutolis or Mukoli Bihus. The accompanied orchestra of dhol, pépa (buffalo hornpipe) and gagana add joys to the celebrations. At several places Bihu fairs are also organized where people participate in the games and other fun-filled activities.

Naba Barsha/Poila Baisakh

Naba Barsha is the celebration of Bengali New Year !! Naba Barsha in Bengal marks the first day of Baisakh - the first month of Bengali Calendar (too). A very important tradition of Naba Varsha is the making of elaborate rangolis or alpanas in front of the house by womenfolk. Rangolis are prepared with flour and its center is adorned with earthenware pot decorated with auspicious swastika. This pot is filled with holy water and mango leaves to symbolize a prosperous year for the family.

On Naba Barsha, people of West Bengal propitiate Goddess Lakshmi - the Hindu Goddess of Wealth to pray for prosperity and well being. Many devotees also take a dip in a nearby river to mark the occasion. For Bengalis, Naba Barsha is the beginning of all business activities. Businessmen and traders purchase new accounting books and start new account known as Haalkhata. People also worship Lord Ganesha by chanting mantras.

Puthandu

Puthandu marks the Tamil New Year’s Day and is celebrated in the beginning of Chithirai - the first month in the Tamil Calendar year. The auspicious occasion of Puthandu is also popularly known as Varusha Pirappu or the birth of New Year and falls on 13th or 14th April according to the Gregorian Calendar. Many people in Tamil Nadu also celebrate Puthandu as the day when Lord Brahma - Hindu God of Creation started creation. People of Tamil Nadu celebrate Varusha Pirappu in a big way by merrymaking and feasting.

A popular custom of Puthandu is 'kanni' which means the auspicious sight. Following the ritual, people start the Puthandu day by watching auspicious things like gold and silver jewelery, betel leaves, nuts, fruits and vegetables, flowers, raw rice and coconuts. A bath and a visit to the temple usually follow Kanni.

Vishu

Vishu Festival heralds the beginning of Malayalese New Year and is celebrated in a big way in the state of Kerala and the adjoining areas of Tamil Nadu. Vishu falls on the first day in the Malayalam month of Medam. Kerala also celebrates the custom of Vishu is Vishukani or Kani Kanal (first sight) same as Kanni of tamil. In villages of Kerala, young men and women dress up as the 'chozhi' by wearing a skirt of dried banana leaves and masks on their faces. These entertainers would then move from house to house and collect reward for their performances.

Vaishakha

People of Bihar celebrated Vaishakha twice a year, first in the Hindu month of Vaishakha (April) and then in the month of Kartika (November). Vaishakha Festival is dedicated to Surya Devta or Sun God in Bihar. Vaishakha celebrations in Bihar are marked in a village called Surajpur-Baragaon. Following the ancient practice, devotees pay obeisance to the Sun God by taking bath in the temple tank and offering flowers and water from the sacred rivers of Ganga.

In pic you can see devotees from Bihar offering bananas and coconuts in front of Sun on the occasion of Chhath Puja.

Songkran Water Festival

Songkran marks the start of the Buddhist New Year and officially lasts from April 13-15. Most business pretty much grinds to a halt during the festival period with schools, government offices and many shops shutting down. Airports, bus stations and train stations are jammed with travelers headed back to their home provinces.

But then where do all these people go? Well, you can see the families crammed into the back of pickup trucks, chugging along in bumper-to-bumper traffic and squirting water at other vehicles and pedestrians. The water warriors use squirt guns, super soakers, hoses, buckets, garbage cans and anything else they can get their hands on in order to disperse their liquid ammunition.

The origins of Songkran date back nearly a thousand years to when the Tai people (ancestors of modern day Thais) in China's Yunnan Province celebrated the start of a new farming cycle during the fifth full moon of the lunar calendar. Water is used in Songkran as both a symbol of cleansing and renewal. In the past, Thai people would delicately sprinkle scented water from silver bowls or the hands of respected family members. They would also make pilgrimages to area temples and carefully bathe the Buddha images in a similar manner. Songkran is also a time when Thai people routinely do a thorough cleaning of their homes. Additionally, people make offerings to local temples and provide food and new robes for monks.

The Water Splashing Festival

Traditional festival of Dai people of Xishuangbanna and other places; is also known as the Festival for bathing Lord Buddha. The festival is related to the Buddhist legend of dragon sprinkling fragrant showers on Lord Buddha at his birth. The Buddhist legend has gradually been mingled with the customs of the Dai people since their conversion to Buddhism.

People take part in the rowing dragon-boat race, launching Gaosheng (a kind of mini rocket) and fire lamps. Water splashing is the most exciting of all. People splash water onto each other as a symbol of benediction.

So Happy April the 13th! Wherever you come from!

Economic behavior of Asia, US and Europe

2008-03-27T23:26:00.002+05:30

When I joined my team here in Hyderabad, I was introduced by my supervisor to the team in a monthly town hall meeting. When I told about my MBA exchange program from France, he asked me why did I choose France/ Europe and why not US. There I just replied that I always loved Europe and had been longing to go over there, so when opportunity came I grabbed it (which was the true reason!); but it sparked a query inside me. America, having its past as a slave country, one of the greatest revolution and Civil war, its meteoric rise as the worlds largest economy post WWI and so many embellishments, still did not appear an embellishment as good as Europe. So there HAS to be an explanation. So here is my explanation:

Now let’s see the reasons behind all this. Europe can be taken to be a land that cultivated the culture, the manners and protocols to much of its formal nature we have today. It started exploration of lands with purpose to exploit it for resources, for advancement and development. It was the region that gave the world the Industrial revolution and hence the base for the present. If you see them, you will see many innovations, advancements and explanations for supernatural. Europe has decent distribution of resources per capita. It gives every one the opportunity to sit, relax and ideate. The philosophy and the concept of gods in human form have made them go around the world and ‘enlighten’ the others. This makes them long for the ultimate truth, glory and prestige. So you will see many innovations that have been implemented, but still not commercially viable like Concorde, world’s fastest trains (TGV) etc. So I correlate Europe to Innovation and Art.

America on other hand has been the land of money, so all the people who migrated to US were having a commercial mindset. This made them to work had, use best of practices, keep cost lowest and earn more profit. Even a common man there thinks of the individual return and profitability. America, post American revolution, has been a land of green cash, opportunities, commerce, capitalism and growth. It has always promised that life of glitter, gold and glamour. If there has been an innovation worth its money, US has used it fully. If there is an optimization path available, they have achieved it. So I associate US to conceptual and commercial implementation.

Asian story is entirely different; it was more like a land with practical utility rather than concept innovation. If something doesn’t work then we have a way of making it work somehow, albeit for a shorter time, but saving us from throwing away the thing as useless anyhow. It had most fertile lands, climatic conditions for life to propagate in all seasons and high density of flora and fauna. All this resulted in high human density and hence higher fight for now limited resources. All this has resulted in Asians being street smart. We have a high degree of groupism, react more by emotions than plain commercial viability and the body language shouts much more than our words. This all makes us great at on the floor implementation. We excel in execution.

While my story is a plain fact here that am attracted to art, ideas and research; it also brings us to a great economic model. Wherein the innovative concept comes from Europe, US does the blueprint and develops a trimmed revenue and business model and Asia provides its high number labor available at low cost to attain a great immaculate product at attractive price. But ya, there is a lot of intricate details here which will change the dynamics; but then it’s the future concept we are listing here.

Deadly daggers for any relation (Part1)

2008-03-15T16:36:00.010+05:30

Distrust

With the advent of western culture infidelity has become a normal word now. I don't say that it dint exist earlier , just that we talk openly about it and don't hide in our closets. And if we try to increase our focus from marital relations to normal friends; the situation just becomes a cliche. How many people can we actually find in whom we can bestow our trust!

But then the coin has the another side also, what if you have found a person in whom you can bestow your trust, but you can't! Trust becomes a rather heavy word here. Being in a relation we expect to have trust in each other and anyway a relation is supposedly built primarily on trust itself. But then irony is if you can't trust the person, how can you have a healthy relation? Lets take the case of the Muslim community, if you can imagine how they would have felt in America post 9/11 then you got my point. Nobody likes being suspected and distrusted, especially if they have been true.

Distrust is the confident expectation that another individual's motives, intentions, and behaviors are sinister and harmful to one's own interests. In interdependent relationships, this often entails a sense of fear and anticipation of discomfort or danger. Distrust naturally prompts us to take steps that reduce our vulnerability in an attempt to protect our interests. Accordingly, our distrust of others is likely to evoke a competitive (as opposed to cooperative) orientation that stimulates and exacerbates conflict.

Once in place, distrust forms a powerful frame on subsequent events in the relationship, such that even good-faith efforts by the offender to restore the relationship are met with skepticism and suspicion. The result is a "self-fulfilling prophecy," where every move the other person makes is interpreted as additional evidence that justifies an initial decision to distrust him/her. This distrust not only inhibits cooperation in the relationship, but also may result in retaliation that causes the conflict to escalate. When the other person reciprocates this sentiment, there is mutual distrust that further fuels the escalation of conflict.

Moral of the story: If you decide to form a relation, then develop trust first. Relation without trust is like ice on water, it can break anywhere and time and again.

And if you have trust, then even in worst situations you shall only get closer and closer. So which side you are?

"The Education of Fairies" makes point

2008-02-22T11:26:00.006+05:30

A day back I was watching a Spanish movie La Educación de las hadas (The Education of Fairies). Based on a french novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert it is a slow and absorbing story of the transformational power of a child-like imagination.

Toy inventor Nicolas (Darin) meets widowed ornithologist Ingrid (Irene Jacob) and her son Raul (Victor Valdivia) on a plane. Nicolas turns on the charm, and, soon, Nicolas and Ingrid are married and living an idyllic existence in a beautiful old house in the Catalan countryside.

Nicolas and Raul develop a sensitive relationship through conversations about the boy's father, a soldier who died in Iraq. The imaginative Nicolas tells the boy stories about fairies who make the world a better place and takes him to an old hut in the woods where he hung out as a child. Once they are sitting for a picnic on the soldier's grave, that Nicolas gives soldier a medal (a cola cap) for his being a great human; and the kid reacts by giving Nicolas a medal for being a great dad.

After a decade of beautiful relation, however, Ingrid surprises Nicolas suddenly one day by asking for a separation. She first says that he snores a lot and asks him to sleep in other room. The reactions of a steady relation are aptly showcased. Nicolas infact leaves a voice recorder on to argue with Ingrid so that he can be with her.

Meanwhile, Algerian checkout girl Sezar (singer Bebe, here making an effective debut) is being sexually harassed by her boss Matarredona (Jordi Bosch). One night, when Sezar is in a car with her boss, the car is attacked and Sezar is beaten up.

Nicolas picks her up and takes her back to his hut in the woods, where Raul mistakes her for a fairy. Here is a big irony, Nicolas had told his son that one can be granted three wishes by fairies but added that problem is that most ladies don't know if they are fairies. On being asked that how to identify them, he says that they have marks on cheeks as they scratch them while thinking, which they do a lot. And over here, Sezar has marks on her cheeks coz back at home a guy had beaten her and raped her. I found this ironic contrast of mark made by scar quite moving.

Visuals are often sumptuous with the lighting bringing out the rich color of the beautiful rural scenery. Attention is also paid to details, such as the raindrops on an umbrella under which Nicolas and Ingrid kiss.

The script is sufficiently grounded in emotional truth. All the characters are concealing past issues, and it takes the innocence of a child to confront these issues and bring them into the open. The appeal is lost in the end as the reasoning of leaving of Ingrid being having a cancer is insufficiently woven in. She tells Nicolas that she is seeing someone and how Nicolas reacts is emotional turmoil at the best. But as she comes again later, Nicolas rightly questions that if she talks the same talks of separation and questioning the integrity, then there is no point coming back.

What I have realized by now in life is that the relationships need faith, love, time and passion to succeed. Compromise being an integral part of it, one adapts to other with time. But there is a limit of compromise and if the arguments are too often, maybe there is a time to check the chemistry. I get reminded time and again by a quote of my cousin, "What you think is the best for you may not actually be the best for you"; which brings in the need of arguments and listening to other people's justification. But then once you form a bond then one should realise that with the power of joy, we also give each other a power to hurt or demolish each other emotionally. So in fact, Ingrid's decay of life in arms of Nicolas would have been a better option than deserting Nicolas and kid. But then an opinion is an opinion and I know, when it comes to such matter we all have varying opinion and all are true!

India Shimmering

2008-02-15T19:23:00.002+05:30

Yesterday petroleum minister finally came out with the inevitable announcement of increasing petrol prices. It had been a long long time that oil barrel prices had been flirting with 90s, making the price rise just a matter of timing rather than a decision. But it was a sigh of disappointment to see BJP activists coming in the road to take out processions against the price rise. What makes the situation more ironical is that the price rise has been a lot less than the required. Indians enjoy a huge subsidy in kerosene and LPG which in turn results in higher auto fuel prices, as kerosene and LPG are identified as under basic living and are used by all masses.With petrol selling at 50+ and kerosene selling at <5>

India is today cruising at such a strategic juncture that whatever policies we choose, will impact the high speed development we are building upon. If there is an anomaly in the building blocks then what the hell are we constructing on it? Right now we need robust economic policies and a strategic vision keeping in mind the future turnings. With sound financial constructs like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambram in driving seat I was sure that India Shining would keep glowing, but the arm twisting by Left and time to time opportunism by BJP has made it rather India Shimmering. Democracy gives one big advantage to scholars - the right to argue each and every thought; but the moment you give it to corrupt or fools, all you get is a chaotic indecision.

There has been a huge hue and cry on 1-2-3 agreement, but then how many knew about it at all? Center has been saying that they are open for discussion, but all the left and BJP has to say is that its a wrong decision. Million dollar question is WHY? If we are not ready to get US deal for our future power needs then there should be a second plan, where is the discussion for this? I really hate it when people say that don't ask me what is right but what you are doing is wrong! Left is still lost in the old ideas of socialism and firmly believes in shunning anything with capitalism label. We don't need to discuss what happens when you just close your eyes to the things you don't like and keep crying out your own song.

India is not free of evils, there are lot of problems and we have a huge repository of knowledge that has been accumulated over ages and is being lost or re-invented. The basic philosophies taught by Vedas and Hinduism need to be learned by young generations in constructive manner and the illiteracy needs to be eradicated. If the VHP and Shiv Sainiks launch a war for these motives we can put many small villages also on the track of development. But no we remain lost in our own small battles of dividing the state for satiating more ministers (Andhra), giving free Power to farmers even as state coffers are bled to bankruptcy (Punjab), selfishly spending tons and tons on own and threating to pull support if judiciary questions wealth (UP), making government a family legacy baton (Center, J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, TN, Karnatka.... the list is a long one!

And Perth is ours!

2008-01-19T15:40:00.000+05:30

Did I hear another round of "Chakk de" chants? With a rather heavy Sydney on the back, Perth was always supposed to be India's tombstone. Nobody thought we could draw it, leave alone winning it, but then we did what we are best at - we love surprising statistics. It doesn't come as a shock that most of the records have India alongside, we have maximum records by us and against us.

As Reliance IPO made a world record by garnering highest ever moolah by IPO comes a mega bumper , Kumble's boys gave Australia what they gave them five years back, a halt to their world record campaign. India is home!

And I caught up with my dentist

2008-01-14T02:03:00.000+05:30

Today I finally went to a dentist. I have been trying from last one year to bring myself to have faith in a dentist in the place I live. Many times have I walked away from the clinics, telling myself I will find a better one or I will get myself checked once I go home. None came, staying home for more than fortnight was out of question given the schedule and finding a better dentist had the same faith issue.

My mother is from the medical background, and in childhood going to a doctor was a family affair. Dad would drive and mom would sit on the front seat. I would lie down on the back seat of our FIAT Premier Padmini (ya, I used to be kid in that era of that car). The staff would know mom as a norm rather than an exception, and my parents would enter the doctor's room once he was done with the current patient. My parents would sit on the cane chairs placed in front of doctor and I would sit on that revolving "Hey! patient here" chair of galvanized steel. A typical scene that you would see in a government hospital/dispensary. Doctor would know my medical, family and educational history. He would ask how many marks I got in last exams. There would be tea for my parents and juice for me! That was what it all used to be, all laced with care and affection I was laced with for being sick.

Staying outside, its very different. I am just another patient for the doctor, I get only few minutes to appraise him/her about the symptoms and I never found them really willing to check elaborately. A minute or two and they will pick pen and get busy on their pads. Best was when I got sick in Delhi with pain in quite low in back, which came out to be a kidney stone. Every doc was more than willing to operate, one won the 'contract'. After paying about INR 55,000 when I went back home; our doctor gave a wonderful news - the operation wasn't needed at all! And never again I visited a Delhi doctor for any major ailment.

Finally I got the courage and went today, but it was quiet a silent affair. No tete-a-tete, no tea, no recognition, it was a plain commercial contract we performed. There was no one to ask me what he diagnosed or what all medicines he gave. Boy! Am a self supported adult now! (pun intended) He gave me a list having toothpaste, mouthwash and a gel to buy. On buying I couldn't help wondering at the coincidence - all were Dr Reddy's products! Am supposed to use them and come back two weeks later.

Ah, and so I caught uo with my dentist.

Photo Credits:
www.gii.in
www.seered.co.uk

Religion or Fanaticism?

2007-12-28T17:43:00.000+05:30

Its 2:30AM over here right now, but that's not the thing that's troubling me. Few hours ago my idiot box started blazing with the news of assassination of Benazir Bhutto; that my patrons is the news which is circling in my head. What would you call this? Terrorism? Fanaticism? Islamic violence? I had gone through the net and these are the terms that are been linked with this news.

Gone are the days when a religion was needed to guide the people in life, to answer the inborn curiosity in a human about its own existence, about 'why' and 'why not'. The fear of unknown had called for the concept of god, to ascertain that there is a supreme being. This gave in to the urge to make others conform to one's own views and ideology. We have now come to a stage where we see the fanaticism on rise.

Few days back it was hindutva being a concern, after Modi's iconic rise. Today its Islamic fundamentalists, few years ago it was khalistan and there will be lot many. A closer look and you will realise that all these had a similar DNA, a common thought process. So much that the commonness is much more than the commonness of these people along with other religion mates. An observation decent enough to say that all these people are from same religion - fundamentalism. This religion is mostly followed by uneducated lot who like to take religion word by word and have no clue about the crux of their own religious text.

If you are another of my lot, then this 'fatwa' issuing trend must have got you by now. There are so many and some are incredible ones, that one wonders if they are against the 'sinner' or for the publicity of issuing authority. The latest fatwa I heard was a girl for talking to a guy not from family and that too on a phone! I really wonder if Koran really prescribes this. So in case the Islamic scholars haven't realised this, there needs to be a movement by learned to eradicate this self-interpretation; no one else can push the knowledge in the heads of these fundamentalists.

Lets turn ourselves to shiv saniks, I would really love to know what is the vision statement of this group. Every next day we hear about some destruction or other on name of religion, but then I again come to same question - was the religion teaching about destruction ANYWHERE? or did it talk about the construction? If you really want to do something then do the betterment of public in infrastructure, development or public well being. Open as many hospitals in name of Hindutva or Jehad and let people understand what better way of life does their religion preach. But the restraint, the compassion that is involved there is difficult to come by and cracking bones, killing people is easier. So I would believe here that majority of people who are fundamentalists are just chickens who chose the easier path in life where one is just required to mug up the teachings without knowing the real meaning. Its like being lost in a labyrinth and chanting a statement taught to you by your father, not knowing that the statement which one is chanting actually translates to "take the red door to walk free".

Would like to wrap up with a couplet that has really hit me inside -
Logon ko zindagi lag jaati hai ghar banane mein;
tumhein ek shikan na aayi bastiyan ujarne mein?

Why is man a social animal

2007-12-10T22:55:00.000+05:30

I was in class second or third when I would have read this eternal line of insignificant significance at that time, "Man is a social animal". Since then we have read it on the walls of our schools, from our parents, in our sibling's books, on our bookmarks and god knows where all. But all that matters is that it got etched in our minds inseparable like our skin.

It has been almost twenty years since then and I still am astounded at how deep is the meaning of this line. I don't question the statement but I question the very much need for the same. Why is man a social animal, why is it that we feel the primal need to socialize as we feel the need to feed. If it has brought happiness to mankind it surely has brought the curse of pain even more on us. Look at our relations, show me one relation which has not inflicted the pain on an individual. Irony is that generally its not that a person is wrong or has sinned that the pain comes, its just a conflict of two individuals trying to express their own set of beliefs and mind set. So that is the reason we see so many fights where both the sides are right in their own but still wrong or catastrophic or incorrigible in other sense.

Let's take two scenarios, first one (the only one that I will discuss) where the person is having a stereotype in mind and hence that creates a prior barrier in communication, like Americans are money minded, Asians are secretive, North Indians are aggressive, Keralites are lecherous etc etc. These stereotypes pre-program the stimulus of an individual, unlike a fair ground where you try to understand a personality; but at the same time they are helpful many times in times of dangerous situations. But once we come to know each other then the stereotypes should pave the way for newly learned personality else it comes out as taunts and abusing.

Coming back to our social selves, what comes out as the most complex part is that investment that an individual does in these social contacts. When you fall in love, you get a whole new social baggage from other side. Irony is that love is guided more by need to be loved, cared and security than a rational choice. So many may say that best part about friends is that you get to choose them yourselves, I don't agree. Love just happens.

Most of relations will survive if distance is there, the yet another peculiar characteristic of us humans. The closer we get, the more negatives we find; the farther we go the more we remember of the good times. I guess the distance aggravates the emotional needs of above said love, care, affection and security; and the closeness brings in the personality specifics, the stereotypes. So I have come to a conclusion after trial and errors that one needs a personal space in every relation, be it your spouse, parents, siblings, friends or relatives. Inability to quantify these limits will always play a devil's advocate here.

To wrap up these erratic musings, I present one more alibi for my question - Why is man a social animal - the pain. That is the biggest side effect of socializing. Irony is that the pain inflicted by these separations is not just limited to emotional but it oozes out to become physical. It's surprising to see in your early twenties that how these relations can make you a power house or a rotten silhouette of your normal past. The solitude, the fear and the glumness that creeps in is analogous to a death of near one, good enough to turn you to being a handicapped. Still as they say, the life goes on. So one should pick up one's emotional luggage and move on, keep walking. The billion dollar question then is, if one can?!

And we come back to the square one, why is human a social animal? Wouldn't it have been lot more better had we been just animals?

Fiction - Journal de tueur en série

2007-11-04T13:32:00.000+05:30

(Fiction) Journal de tueur en série (diary of a serial killer)

Disclaimer - This may feel dark/gloomy so all happy go lucky are advised not to read further.

He had suddenly woken up, sweating all over, heart pounding like a heavy hammer; he thought he could feel every drop of blood being gushed in his veins. His mind took a smothering quick review of the ambiance, his eyes darting from one end to another; it was all normal. With a heavy suspire he brought his trembling hand to wipe off the sweat off his temple. He felt as if his face had swollen a bit in the sea of sweat.

His eyebrows tensed as he sneaked a view on his left. There she was, lying as calm in her sleep as a toddler, he sipped on to the whiff of her hair and closed his eyes to let it fill his lungs. Then slowly he opened his eyes and took a look at nowhere, deeply lost thinking about nothing.

His eyes again slipped on her face, he slided on the bed as his torso bent over her flower fresh flawless body. A tress of her hair ran across her face touching her lips, the veil of which just made them all the more desirable. A long trail of a dried river of tears contoured her shapely cheeks, the once wet eyelashes had got entangled between themselves as the fingers of two lovers holding on to each other. He slowly lifted the tress to put it aside as if it was obstructing the shine of the Kohinoor. His heart slipped a beat or two and a smirk filled his face. His hands slowly glided down and touched the waist of her and with same slowness came back to him as he turned slowly to look at me. His smirk just got wider and wider, and the blood on his hands made it all the more ghastly!

I woke up , sweating profusely all over, heart pounding like a heavy hammer; I could feel every drop of blood being gushed in my veins. My mind took a smothering quick review of the ambiance, my eyes darting from one end to another; just that it was not normal.

It had been an harrowing dream since that blood clad summer. I had been happily married to an angel and we had the best of what life could have offered to us; all to be taken back by destiny when a serial killer had struck our home. He had been caught, sentenced to death and been erased off the memories everyone maybe, but not me. But I had done a sin greater than his, I had read his diary, where he had written about the cold murder.

End Note: Can you carry the story further? If yes, write it in the comments

Image credits:
Girl in bed
Boy in bed

Amazing Ghazal by Rafi (1963)

2007-11-03T19:25:00.000+05:30

Had gone to a team outing and came across this amazing ghazal sung there by a talented team member. I had to dig this up which was difficult going by the fact that its from a 1963 movie called Taj Mahal. Just feel the lyrics, they mark the difference between the words and expression -

jo baat tujhmein hai,
teri tasveer mein naheen,
tasveer mein naheen, jo baat tujhmein hai ...

rangon mein teraa aks dhalaa, too naa dhal sakee,
saanson kee aanch jism kee khushboo naa dhal saki,
tujh mein, tujh mein jo loch hai meree, tahreer mein naheen
tahareer mein naheen,
jo baat tujhmein hai,
teri tasveer mein nahee, teri tasveer mein naheen …

bejaan husn mein kahaan, raftaar kee adaa,
inkaar kee adaa hai, naa ikraar kee adaa,
koi, koi lachak bhee zulfein girahgir mein naheen,
girahgir mein naheen,
jo baat tujh mein hai,
teree tasveer mein naheen.

duniyaa mein koi cheez naheen hai teree tarah,
phir ek baar saamne ajaa kisi tarah,
kya aur ek jhalak meri taqdeer mein naheen,
taqdeer mein naheen.

jo baat tujh mein hai,
teri tasveer mein naheen,
jo baat tujh mein hai.

Soulful!

aks = image, reflection
aanch = heat
loch = bending with ease, limber, lithe
tehreer = handwriting

Edited: Found the youtoob video!

Kehte hain ki Ghalib ka andaz-e-byaan aur...

2007-11-02T01:17:00.000+05:30

Har ek baat pay kehtay ho tum, ki tu kya hai;
tumhi kaho ki, yeh andaz-i-guftagoo kya hai

Ragon mein daudtay firnay kay hum nahi kayal ;
Jab aankh hi say na tapka to fir lahoo kya hai

Ragon mein daudtay firnay kay hum nahi kayal;
Jab aankh hi say na tapka to fir lahoo kya hai;
chipak raha badan par lahu se pairaahan
hamare jeb ko ab haajat-e-rafu kya hai

jala hai jism jahan dil bhi jal gaya hoga;
Kuraidtay ho jo ab raakh justajoo kya hai

Har ek baat pay kehtay ho tum, ki tu kya hai;
rahi na taqat-e-guftar aur agar ho bhee
to kis umeed pay keh dain ki aarzoo kya hai;

Har ek baat pay kehtay ho tum, ki tu kya hai;
tumhi kaho ki, yeh andaz-i-guftagoo kya hai
Har ek baat pay kehtay ho tum, ki tu kya hai ...

-------------

हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी कि हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मेरे अरमाँ, लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले

डरे क्यों मेरा कातिल क्या रहेगा उसकी गर्दन पर
वो खून जो चश्म-ऐ-तर से उम्र भर यूं दम-ब-दम निकले

निकलना खुल्द से आदम का सुनते आये हैं लेकिन
बहुत बे-आबरू होकर तेरे कूचे से हम निकले

भ्रम खुल जाये जालीम तेरे कामत कि दराजी का
अगर इस तुर्रा-ए-पुरपेच-ओ-खम का पेच-ओ-खम निकले

मगर लिखवाये कोई उसको खत तो हमसे लिखवाये
हुई सुबह और घर से कान पर रखकर कलम निकले

हुई इस दौर में मनसूब मुझसे बादा-आशामी
फिर आया वो जमाना जो जहाँ से जाम-ए-जम निकले

हुई जिनसे तव्वको खस्तगी की दाद पाने की
वो हमसे भी ज्यादा खस्ता-ए-तेग-ए-सितम निकले

मुहब्बत में नहीं है फ़र्क जीने और मरने का
उसी को देख कर जीते हैं जिस काफिर पे दम निकले

जरा कर जोर सिने पर कि तीर-ऐ-पुरसितम निकले
जो वो निकले तो दिल निकले, जो दिल निकले तो दम निकले

खुदा के बासते पर्दा ना काबे से उठा जालिम
कहीं ऐसा न हो याँ भी वही काफिर सनम निकले

कहाँ मयखाने का दरवाजा 'गालिब' और कहाँ वाइज़
पर इतना जानते हैं, कल वो जाता था के हम निकले

Aaja Nachle Downloaded

2007-10-31T11:50:00.000+05:30

If you are even a bit of Bollywood movie buff, then this new development would surely not have had escaped from your eyes and ears - Madhuri Dixit comeback after six years in a visible treat in the trailers of Aaja Nachle. As vibrant as ever, the icon of hindi cinema has lost a few kilos at right places to set the idiot box on fire with equally ear catching OST - Aaja Nachle.

While the newspapers have been reporting of an upset Madhuri with news that her role has been cut to accommodate more young look to the movie. Yash Raj banner has been on the receiving end from the audience for a long time now and they want to play safe by giving the movie a younger feel as most of its audience is urbane and young. Reports are that Madhuri has even denied to promote her movie. All this will sound absurd if you see the promos of the movie where its only Madhuri you will notice, the rest of rather impressive cast of Akshaye Khanna, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kunal Kapoor. So is it just another promotional stunt?

Off lately the Bollywood movie releases have become an eye of tornado for marketers. The promotions have been very capital intensive, with comprehensive marketing and PR plans and the thespians going all out to promote their movies. Slowly we are reaching the competition levels of Hollywood with advertising cost becoming significant in the cost of movie. Just look at this, with not even the music album released officially, the movie already has made it to web , Wikipedia, IMDB and You Tube.

You can download the OST- Aaja Nachle over here.

Following are the (few of the) trailers of Aaja Nachle, I have picked the earliest one as it really captured me watching TV candidly, the text flows in great sync with the music. Awesome work for Madhuri fans...

Tagged!

2007-10-21T15:35:00.000+05:30

Tags, even if you try to evade them, friends will somehow make you have them.

1.Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.
Ever tried making rockets in your childhood? Well I did (had written about it in my post earlier). As it they say I blew it up, just that am not saying literally, but actually! Science learnt at the cost of a scar on left hand :)

2.What does your phone look like?
Looks what a typical Chennai guy's would! My own went cuckoo, iPhone hasn't come to India... so I got the spare one I had at home!

3.What is on the walls of your bedroom?
well well, they dont allow anything on walls of a guest house, do they? :D

4. What is your current desktop picture?
Well I like nice deep eyes, got a pic of a girl having it after I added some angel wings via Photoshop. Some time Monica Bellucci does come in for a while :)

5. Do you believe in gay marriage?
Just a question, why do they need a marriage! I thought they had some other needs! Well love comes in all forms as they say :)

6. What do you want more than anything right now?
I gotta admit, its a nice punjabi style squeezing jaadu ki jhappi! being away from home in festival time surely has an impact on one

7. What time were you born?
It was dark hour, unsuspecting world was asleep foolishly; parents were unaware of the wreck I was going to cause in this world and Devil was shouting "Eureka! Eureka!"

8. Are your parents still together?
Well, just one question from my side now! The person who prepared this question, is he/she really that dumb, or this is a special effort?

9. Last person who made you cry?
Wrong channel to talk about her

10. What is your favorite perfume/cologne ?
I have somehow started liking Chanel's Allure Sport. Liked Tommy Eau de Cologne also, though never bought one.

11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?
Hair - any color, eyes should have depth; they should speak the silent language I know

12. What are you listening to?
Gayatri Mantra chants coming from in some tent, the loudness of Dusshera celebrations and prayers have just started with "Allah hu Akbar" in background voice. (There is a mosque nearby) - That is Hyderabad!

13. Do you get scared of the dark?
No, until i see a true horror flick in loneliness :D ;but am angered at dark intentions.

14. Do you like pain killers?
Nopes, medicines aren't for me. Pain gets bearable only if endured.

15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
LOL, yeah! Never indulged in these things :P Maybe should have!

16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
Mom's hand made food!

17. Who was the last person who made you mad?
My best friend's gf! Its a tough job for us guys I guess :D

19. Is someone in love with you?
Umm.. someone who trusts me and love me... I don't think so!

And I tag Pooja, La Membre avant-garde !!

Peekabo in life

2007-10-13T20:39:00.000+05:30

As I start the 'bike' of my thoughts lets talk away our time, you see the people say that sometimes it happens in life that you have to take a path that you never ever imagined walking, well I register a denial (don't really like the orthodox way of saying I beg to differ!). It has been 26yrs for this dinky soul of mine loitering around over here, and I have found myself time and again to be in the same situation. So lets strike off the sometimes, that will make us all feel justified.

Kick! *gurhrhrhrhr..* Ah finally the bike starts! Before talking to you out over here I have been trying since last week. Anyway where was I? You mean where? Two months in Chennai, and well, here I come to Hyderabad now. It has exactly been 1.3 months over here and I really can't tell where the time has went. In case you have a girl friend and friend like a girl friend who won’t accept that, then you surely know where the time is going, not for me. It has been a same routine for me to wake up lousily, get ready by 9am, stuff myself with Andhra breakfast that is provided and then walk to the office. Yes you read it right, I walk to my office.

My office - its just about 3 kms from my home, the road starts from the garden of guest houses, slowly touching the 'secret lake' - Durgam Cheruvu, taking turns as the waist of a plump 50 yr old; finally leading to an uphill trail turning like an old spring. Even though the trail is uphill, you won’t sweat easily as the breeze swiftly takes it off you with its comforting fresh and cold grazing touches. 30-35 minutes and I reach my destined ergonomic chair.

Gear 1, I apologize for another sharp turn in topic, first gear is usually rough; lets talk about the festive season. Ganesh Chaturthi, then Ramzaan, now Id-al-Fitr, Navratras have started, Dusshera is in pipeline and who can forget the grand Diwali which ofcourse will be followed by birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. Lets admit, we Indians have come in festive mood now, work hurts. What the heck, we will even celebrate Christmas and New Year! Its nice to be in Hyderabad at this time, Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated in huge manner with Indian Twenty20 riot fueling the celebrations, and then Haleem of Hyderabad brought every newspaper to talk about it. I have had it here, but had it at a wrong place and hence got beaten at taste. Let’s see what is special here for Id.

Gear 2, Wow its quite smooth, more like self switching to 2nd! So talking about all these festivities make me miss my nears and dears ones, those who care for my existence and I guess by this definition I bring my foes in too and yes, I will miss them, the challenge has gone outta life without them, there is no fun if you don’t get competition, no? But its a long long time since I go back to home, its even after Diwali so that makes me to spend the Diwali and New Year over here, its nostalgic. The smell of crackers in air itself is quite strong enough for me to go nostalgic. And with Id here on corner, I will surely miss the Meethi id of north. Here it’s more of non veg treat but above there for us it meant seviyyan and given the foodie I am, it means a lot! :)

Gear 4, bloody damn! Skipped the 3rd gear! Now you know the kind of jerk you get when it does this! And why not, alongside the festive celebrations, the idiot box has suddenly been showing the news about Indian government saving themselves from early election and putting N Deal in cold storage. That surely is a mood killer. Like the ones outside these Haleem shops, all politicians are like fanatic dogs, running here and there having no idea about the deal. See this -

Most of left still living in socialist world of USSR era, I am already hating to hear their laughs! What have they done to their own states, ruin them? No corporate is coming to these states as there is a strike every now or then, the comrades have always been notorious for accumulating wealth for self, Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi depicted that nicely. If they have an idea of what they are opposing it makes sense, but as truly nominated as headless chicken, left surely is a party living in 1950s. TO argue the deal they question why the PM didn't visit Middle East and why India didn't shout at Saddam's death?! What a ludicrous train of argument! Most of these politicians are plain bastards! Am sorry for the strong words but they are just that! India, a democratic country ! Who will produce the electricity in coming years from cow dung maybe!!

My bike has stopped, the left tyre has burst, maybe that’s why we never got in 3rd gear! A gear too fast! Left cerebrum is for logic they say, but the bike of thoughts is anyway not working, so ... what the hell!

Financial Planning using Excel

2007-09-30T19:18:00.000+05:30

Do you ever wonder where the hell is your money going from your supposedly fat salary? The savings in the end don't justify the expectations? Well I had the same problem, so I thought that lets check what all are my expenses for the month and how much am I saving and all that.

So when I started to do that using our great old friend 'Excel' spreadsheet solution I came up with a lot of considerations and finally this excel sheet - "Financial_Planning.xls"

Please feel free to download it, make changes to add ons, criticize and suggest

Download from here (direct link)

in case the above link doesnt work, download from link below -
Download Here

*Edit: The link has been edited to have the file downloaded from 3rd party uploader.

Saawariya Lyrics OST

2007-09-28T01:38:00.000+05:30

With every movie's OSTs coming in remixes and then multiple remixes, the songs from Saawariya are a sweet melody to ears. Really like this song, just only wish is that the singer would have lessened the more than frequent lowering of voice or its fluctuation, still a good listen. Here is the link to songs for download -

http://www.apniisp.com/songs/indian-movie-songs/saawariya/440/1.html

Movie : Saawariya - 2007
Music Director : Monty Sharma
Singer : Shail Hada
Lyricists : Sameer

Lyrics:

Saawariya.. hha hha haa, Saawariya.. hha hha haa,
Saawariya, ho Saawariya!

Oh dholi mein bithake, sitrao se sajaa ke
Zaamane se churake le jaye ga
Saawariya.. hha hha haa, Saawariya.. hha hha haa,
Saawariya, ho Saawariya

Ohhh dholi mein bithake, sitrao se sajaa ke
Zaamane se churake le jaye ga
ek rooz tera udake jiya
Ohh Saawariya.. hha hha haa, ohh Saawariya.. hha hha haa,
yehey Saawariya, hho Saawariya

udley he he, odley he he
uudede hey he he, ohhhdede he he (yodely)

Palko ke shaamiyane mein, kwaboon ke har tikane mein
Teri hi parchaiya hai, tu tho har lamha yaadon mein hai
Teri khamosh pehali nazar ka deewana bana
Saawariya.. hha hha haa, Saawariya.. hha hha haa,
Saawariya, hh Saawariya

Ho dholi mein bithake, sitrao se sajaa ke
Zaamane se churake le jaye ga
Saawariya..(I wanna be your date tonight) hha hha haa,
Saawariya.. (You wanna be my princess of night) o hha hha haa,
Saawariya, (I wanna love you my love at first sight, will you be my date tonight) ohhhh Saawariya

Saawariya..(I wanna be your date tonight) hha hha haa,
Saawariya.. (You wanna be my princess of night) o hha hha haa,
Saawariya, (I wanna love you my love at first sight, will you be my date tonight) ohhhh Saawariya

Chak De is the metaphor for India now!

2007-09-26T12:48:00.000+05:30

Take 1, New Delhi, India

With FIFA ranking of 165 out of 199 football playing nations, Indians were never the favorites. Goal misses don't count and India had been high on that. The final pitches them against rowdy Syria, ranked 39 places above India. But that's not much of a number, I personally feel, in case you are below 3/4th of your colleagues!

But the team was good on aggression, tactics, speed and control, good enough to register the first ever defeat for Syria in the tournament. The final whistle saw nearly 10,000 home fans at the overflowing Ambedkar Stadium join the euphoria of India’s first title victory in the ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament. The win fetched India $40,000, the entire money to be distributed among the players. Oil and Natural Gas Commission contributed a similar amount.

All in all a great match, India had done good in finals after a long long time and we will knew it was once in a blue moon euphoria, ephemeral one as we all believe. Still it was more than welcome, and we did relish it!

Take 2, Chennai, India

The defending champions face a task which would be considered as an uphill one for many of us, repeating a winning stroke. And the moment you name the word hockey, it becomes all the more, more difficult.

By now the SRK movie - Chak De India had been doing quite well at the box office. People had gobbled up the a light but heart racing movie made on sports which (quite unimaginably for a SRK starrer) had songs only as background score.

But the team shows the critics from the start only that its very much worth its salt. Not only they kept winning crucial ones, they ruined SriLanka 20-0 in the process and set a world record in the process. 20 to nil ! can you believe that? It was really sad that I had to move to Hyd just a couple of days before the final match at Chennai.

India won and hence successively defended the Asia Cup 2007 by defeating South Korea by 7 - 2. And in case you follow hockey, 7-2 against South Korea is more than impressive. This year’s Asia Cup has seen a dream run made by India. As for the statistics, check this - India ended the tournament with a jaw-dropping 57 goals, without losing a single match and during all this, conceding JUST 5 goals!! A fairytale number it is to me! All this despite the fact that teams like China and South Korea were established and hot favorites!

"Chak De India!" roared the news channels across the subcontinent!

Take 3, Johannesburg, South Africa

With no Tendulkar, no Ganguly and no Dravid; supposedly all of the mighty three of Indian cricket being absent from the new short and sexy format of the game, pundits had already christened the twenty20 Indian team as underdogs. Cmmon! Who among us all thought that we could give the kind of performance that has been exhibited, leave alone winning the world cup?
If you did then lets put it simply, you were a minority.

And infact the early few games did show the chinks in the armor of Indian team. Soon we found ourselves at so much acquainted situation of 'do or die', have you seen any big tournament where we were not in this position? So we win some and we lose some of these, and here, we won it this time. But then point was not in winning, it was how we had won. The Indian tail was wagging, it has been doing so from some years now. more amazingly the bowlers were actually aggressive and had an appetite for all kinds of wickets - early wickets, wickets at regular intervals, dislodging of bails with a cracking sound and all. It was the spirit in India. The team was enjoying itself out there and was like a group of boys, who are hungry for that action. The wins came by themselves.

Few years back India would have been happy at winning the further entry on run rate basis, points basis, not this team. It wanted a win! When almost everybody had written them off, the team India struck South Africa to not only give them their first ever but fatal loss; but also (surprisingly for all) hurling it suddenly out of the world cup. Even when the fate was almost sealed, you had to see the second last wicket being taken by Harbhajan. The way he reacted showed how ruthless the team was with carnage as its religion. The bowling has been amazing where the Twenty20 format was praised as batsman's game. All its major wins have been on significant successes by bowlers. Boy I loved every bit of that sound of a wicket being cracked away!

And in case you still consider it as a batsman's game format, then we had the best of slaughterers who loved to take the bounties. Yuvraj's reply of sixes to a spat with Flintoff told a lot about the mental state of the gifted batsman that he is. He not only held his nerves to deliver sixes when it was fully known what he was upto from 3rd ball onwards, but the kind of the shots that he played was amazing too. The second six was taken just by a small wrist flick! a class indeed!

India had repeated the Chak De act yet again!

Take 4, BSE & NSE, India

As the sports patrons were rushing home early to witness the history in making the fed rate cut by US govt saw a surge in FDI in Indian markets with the Reliance shares leading from front. The market saw a record breaking figure of 16000 for first time and in no time it was much above the 16,500 level. Indian stock market had turned sweet sixteen and in the process creating a value for its stockholders worth its salt! Almost every share has been reporting a rise of about 10%. Only blue chip company stocks were on low, being hit by lower revenues and falling American dollar.

Result? market posted today a record rise in 6 days flat to touch 17000!!! The highest being ticked at Rs. 17,073.87

Though I feel that market is much more like a hot balloon right now, but then that's what we all have been expecting from a long time. A correction may come up in day or two but then its not that the celebrations should wait!

Chak De Chak De, Chak De India!!!

We, God and the Chaos

2007-09-06T14:19:00.000+05:30

"Tell me how microprocessors and micro controllers work", thats how the discussion got started by Rahul at 10:17pm in our room; the discussion that would obey the chaos theory in the topics being discussed and keep us awake till 4:50am.

The talk started with the controller architecture, the paradox of data bus and memory addresses and graduated to the processing power. When Pankaj got up to fetch a bottle of water from kitchen it was already 1:40am, and meanwhile I arrogantly pronounced that the weather data crunching supercomputers deals with terabytes of data and actually measure fluctuations at every point in a about 1 sq km of area. Suddenly the team was energized to argue that it was just not possible and voila! thanks to Chaitanya we landed up in Chaos theory and butterfly effect, the brilliant yet mind boggling theory.

Butterfly effect phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings in Brazil might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or prevent a tornado from appearing) in Texas. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale phenomena.

The Chaos theory on other hand describes the behavior of certain nonlinear dynamical systems that under specific conditions exhibit dynamics that are sensitive to initial conditions (butterfly effect). As a result of this sensitivity, the behavior of chaotic systems appears to be random, because of an exponential growth of errors in the initial conditions.

No I am not going to discuss about how the movie by same name described the effect and repercussions of changing something in past, what I want to discuss is that even after a system being totally chaotic, it still may be deterministic. In the essence that even though the essence of God is still a mystery, it may not be some day when we get enough variable to discuss the origin and expanse of the universe.

Let us have a look at the long term behavior of a chaotic motion. The Lorentz Attractor would show a graphical representation of the time variation of three variables X(t),Y(t) and Z(t), coupled by non-linear evolution equations. For single solution evolving from an initial condition (X0,Y0,Z0) will be very different from another solution running simultaneously from initial conditions separated by (dX0,dY0,dZ0) by setting any of dX0, dY0, dZ0 to nonzero values (e.g. 0.01). This tiny difference in the initial conditions becomes amplified by the evolution, until the two trajectories evolve quite separately. The amplification is exponential, the difference grows very rapidly and after a surprisingly short time the two solutions behave quite differently, even though they may be having a similar trajectory. This is an illustration of the butterfly effect - the idea in meteorology that the long term behavior becomes impossible to forecast. Hence Rahul said we can't predict the weather to escape the price of acquiring the knowledge!

But this raises the question about our existence. How many times have you got boggled down thinking if all started from big bang, what was around that big concentrated ball of mass, how did it come there, whats the end of the universe? I personally believe that like the discovery of earth being round body answered infinite questions, there is yet some truth to be found which will suddenly make many disconnected theories and questions fall in place. The motion of almost every natural thing is chaotic, but then given a long duration it can be expressed in significantly complex mathematically equation. The challenge is the expression and not the chaos!

Serendipity 'Acquired'

2007-08-29T15:25:00.000+05:30

How many times has it happened that you are reading about something rare or you just heard about it and suddenly you see it happening in front of your own eyes? It may not be a Déjà Vu for all you can guess, but maybe...

Well something like this happened to me this Friday. Was reading a post about Serendipity from my friend's blog on Friday morning and just then a call came from my roomie who told me that he had got his tickets booked for Bangalore for weekend and zooop! it was BOTH of us who were going now. Only prob being there was no ticket available in train!

I decided to take the bus way, anyway am not really a train guy having traveled in Indian railways for just four times now. We reached the place to buy bus tickets but was shocked to hear that no ticket was available, not a single ticket! So what to do? Plead to TT? abandon the plan or what?

As I staggered along the pathway a 26yr old guy came to me and told that he had an extra ticket, only for one person as his friend had to change at last moment. Also he had a return ticket too and these tickets were booked normally and hence were a lot cheaper than the bus fare! But the serendipity dint end here, i got to meet some good friends just coz i went with these guys; managed to be back in time and not to mention the goodies and the time we shared !

Ah... Wonder if I should thank Pooja for her blog entry on Serendipity that i read in the morning!

Movie Reviews

2007-08-22T23:34:00.000+05:30

Life post MBA has high affinity to the cinema, and I was no exception. The love since scintillated is still riding high on my exploring self. I had fumbled upon a Japanese movie ‘Spirited Away’ (2003) by chance once, and could not help being struck by its simplicity and continuity. So last week when my room mate brought another of such Japanese animated movie, “Grave of the Fireflies” (2002), I could guess my weekend schedule.

Grave of the Fireflies: *****

What I did not know was that this animated movie was much more an art piece than just any other mainstream movie. You can easily find that it’s not the animation that is the life of this movie, it’s the direction. Strange it was for me, to think of directing being of such a strong influencer in an animated movie. Why would you make an animation? To jump over the boundaries of a movie enacted by blood and flesh humans; say a fiction with magic, powers, stunts etc. But not this movie, there is none of these in here, just that it adds a minuteness in details every here and there.

The story is set in Japan when it was bearing the burn of Allies airpower in World War II. It’s casted on two thespians, a brother in teenage and his sister of age six to seven. The movie beautifully captures the nuances of a child’s behavior; so much so that when the little girl gets irritatingly childish, still she doesn’t invoke the emotions of irritation! The bond between the two and the world spun around them that has been shown requires a mature direction and a high understanding of the emotions of humans when they are set in a trauma wherein they have no option but to take it all. Not even a single word of cribbing has been voiced by the brother who faces the life hard way. Along the movie you can easily see the change in his personality and the mockery that the war casts upon their life and life of people around them. When others run away from their homes to a safer place during bombings the guy runs towards home as he can find the food for him and his sister left by these people. He is the one who has to bear all the emotions inside his own self when he founds the unrecognizable cadaver of his mother.

In the end you can’t help but acknowledge this satirical mockery. No I wont give the ending, for then the taste of movie will be lost in case you plan to see it after the review.

Streetcar Named Desire

I always thought that the movie was ought to be the league of Night Rider or Street Hawk (this one was my childhood most favorite serial!). This made me always think that I can manage not watching it. Based in early 50s, at best it could have been a mix of stunt and adrenaline showcased with the newly found use of technology in movies; it would have been a blockbuster at that time but in today’s date? Why would I watch it when there are movies like Matrix, XXX (Vin Diesel) etc!! But then I was wrong, the movie is on totally different theme and showcases why it has always been considered as a milestone in movie acting. No doubt it won three Oscars in acting alone!

I managed to get my hands on the Original Director’s Version, which has in addition to other scenes, the show of sexual tension between Blanche (very nicely played by Vivien Leigh) and Stanley (Marlon Brando). What struck me the most was the acting of Vivien, the lady has beautifully portrayed the role of a female with impulses, whims, mood swings and high emotions which would turn the frustration on in a man. In first half I couldn’t help but despise her character for she stood for something that really gets in my nerves. But the second half takes you through her inner self, the part that has made her what she is now. The blasts of internal conflicts that she has to go through are aptly demonstrated in expressions without uttering a single word. That, my friend is what I call acting!

Chronicles of Chennai

2007-08-22T23:20:00.000+05:30

The day we went to a ‘Punjabi dhaba’

Finding an authentic north Indian cuisine in Chennai is not very easy task. You may find many dhabas, which have cropped up in city in last two years due to many north Indians coming here for professional reasons. But the preparation still will have a chettinad flavor. Reason is very simple, just take a peek inside the kitchen, there won’t be a north Indian cook! The remaining story will be clear to the southies who have eaten a dosa/uttapam etc in Punjab or who have had a parantha or butter chicken in south! What you get is a fusion experiment; the dish part is duly gone.

Nevertheless last weekend we decided to try out a dhaba, plan was to goto a famous one – Dhaba Xpress; but then for the autodriver we picked, a dhaba was a dhaba was a ‘dhaba’; so here we land in some exotic and the chronicle saga started!

The owner must have been some marketing maniac; you could see his picture everywhere in all different poses welcoming us to his wonderland! Alice as we were, we fell. When menu came we saw this very similar face by now on the menu too. Er… wasn’t it getting too much?! When the waiter came to wait upon us, the conversation flowed as post viewing menu:

We: We will order a dal fry and…
Waiter: Sir you want it to be fried? In that case you should order Dal Double Fry
We: What is the difference?
Waiter: Sir the dal fry is not fried but the Double Dal Fry is fried
We: (!!) Then why is its name Dal Fry?
Waiter: It’s just the name sir
We: Ok!! Then make one dal fry (now looking more curiously at the menu…) and what is this ‘Punjab di beer’; if it’s the fruit beer (apple juice with soda) we will have it.
Waiter: It’s mathha (buttermilk) sir
We: But there is a Mathha also available in your menu!
Waiter: Yes sir, that is served in glass, in ‘Punjab di beer’ we serve it in bottle. Do you want it sir?
We: (!!) No, no... It’s okay. We will have xyz and Rajmah Punjabi, make sure its properly cooked and is less on masala (we dare not try anything with masala in name itself!)
Waiter: Sir in that case you should order Rajmah Masala
We: But we don’t want any masala in our Rajmah!
Waiter: Sir Rajmah masala is not spicy, but Rajmah Punjabi is
We: (!!) What kind of menu is this? Jo hai who nahi hai, jo nahi hai wo hai? (Reminding us of Govinda’s movie, “Jo chacha hai na shaab, wohi bhateeja hai; jo bhateeja hai wohi chacha hai shaab”)
Anyhow we kept our date with the food there and somehow held the ground; then in the end the waiter comes
Waiter: Sir lassi? Beer Punjab di? Mathha? Kuch lenge (would you order something)?
(we deny with forced smiles)
Waiter: Sir, kuch to Punjabi lijiye! (have something that is Punjabi)

And we couldn’t help laughing that he himself testified by saying this that we haven’t had a Punjabi meal at all!

And thus ended a great lunch of Punjab, should we expect another Manchurian invention*?

* - Manchurian was developed as a fusion of Chinese and Kolkata cuisine, by Chinese who had settled in Kolkata, India.

Pyaas - Philosphy of Jugad !

2007-08-22T23:14:00.000+05:30

I am reminded from time to time about a joke that my dad used to love cracking whenever he would get a mature government service audience. It was his pet joke. The joke goes like this -
Once some foreign delegation is coming to India to discuss some avenues of collaboration and growth, with state governors. While coming, their car breaks down on the way. There is a roadside mechanic there, so they approach him and ask if he can fix it up. The guy has a good look at the car and says that the tire has lost a nut and bolt and that although he doesn’t have the same but he still can do a 'jugad'. Perplexed the foreigners asked what a jugad was! He tells them not to bother and does it, telling that they can now drive farther till the next 15kms where they will find a bigger shop.

Wondering the crew leaves and reaches the shop. The shop owner says that he needs a nut fastener and that is not available with him, but there is a tools shop after 25kms and he can arrange for a 'jugad' so that they reach there. Foreigners are amazed and want to understand what the hell ‘jugad’ is, but the shop owner smiles back silently and does the work.

After finding the tools shop the foreigners ask him for the fastener, but he says he is out of it. He suggests that they go to a nearby welding shop for a 'pakka jugad'. One of the foreigners by now akin to such talk asks if he can do a jugad so that they can reach this new guy, to which the shop owner agrees leaving the full delegation in awe!

As they reach the welding guy, they pester him to tell about the 'jugad', but to no avail. he just fixes the car and tells he has done a 'pakka jugad'

When the delegation reaches to governors meet, they give just one proposal - Give us the 'jugad' that you use to make everything work so miraculously in return for 3 trillion USD. To this a governor replies, "How can we give that to you? This whole country is running on jugad itself only sir!!!"

But so so true it is, we Asians infact have mastered this art of jugad and we tend to find ways out from any situation, we are street smart as they say. If a scooter wont start, bend at 30degree and start; don’t have buckets large enough and state is giving condoms for free? use condoms to fetch water or use to fine select silk while making sarees; the motherboard is off the case? use chewing gum to stick it at place till repair (was done in IBM); want to get better price for your old cow? dye them black using hair dye (UP gave Godrej a shock by this resulting in abnormal sales)... the list is infinitely long. Whole point is whatever is wrong; it can be most probably fixed, though temporarily.

But lets look at the problem in this, take a normal algebraic equation y=f(x). y here is an output or symptom or effect and x is an input or cause of the problem. Jugad is an excellent way of changing your output value to adjust it to desired state. Hence effectively the function f is redefined. But the problem was in or as x, which leave alone touching, is not even realized. So what do we get? a system which is other than desired, but still serving the same desired result, although unpredictably. Any time the system may crash.

Look at our efforts, in ITES also we are so good at maintenance and rebuilding; but where are all the Asian nations when it comes to developing? We don’t have that troubleshooting approach, how many times do we sit and think what the problem is instead of just giving the solutions.

After talking with many of my MBA friends, I have realized that most of them started giving solutions in first week itself. Where was the patience or mindset to spend a month understanding problem? If you haven't defined the problem, how can you give a solution?! (Think about the DMAIC - Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control)

The reason that I can find is that all these Asian geographies were highly fertile and hence had higher densities of population, leading to resource crunch. This has led to very different philosophy and lifestyle. Capital with a person is low and fight is higher in life, no doubt 'jugads' rule the life!

Note (edited) : There has been an article on Jugad-ism in HT too few days back, although this article was written entirely in absence of knowledge of this HT article, still the link has been added here to allay any Plagiarism attempt fears! A look a the article though will tell you how much different the articles are but then some people had the doubts...

Darwin Rectified

2007-07-14T20:40:00.000+05:30

How many times have we read the Darwin's principle of survival of fittest and how many times have we seen it being proved right in front of our eyes? The change of homo sapiens, flying of Acheopteryx, humans losing the tail, bending of beaks for vultures and eagles... all justified fully by the revolutionary theory. So does it mean that it is THE theory? and no matter what, it and only it will guide the races?

Not if you take a closer look at human intervention. Last month i had a chance to talk to a person who worked at a 'chicken farm'. With such a huge demand for chicken meat, the process has been automated like many other things in European countries. With shortage of labor and high demand, it was only matter of time that humans would start farming of each and everything that they need. And meat was no different.

A normal chicken processing machine would need just 2-4 ppl to operate, one to catch the unsuspecting chicken and hang it upside down using clamps and rest of labor is required to just take out the frozen food and get it ready for logistics purpose. But no, this pun isn't that am talking about in this post. Its the challenge to the Darwin's theory that we are making.

Does it really matter that the species of these creatures which can fight the nature and hunter best should advance? Or that the most intelligent ones and most healthy ones go on to procreate? Think a bit! The production of majority of such 'edible' creatures is controlled by humans, so its not nature; its men who decide which one lives and which one doesn't. Which one is fitter and which one is not.

Effectively the definition of fittest will now be human prerogative. Large pig farms, cow farms, chicken farms etc for meat; then a list for medicines, for milk, for leather, for wool.... list is on. Just think, wont you want to eat a chicken which has more muscles, fuller in size, thick legs and breasts, and tender to eat? Ideally a broiler and not chicken? and how do u think such a thing would be fighting in nature?

So lets rectify the Darwin's theory!

Sources: Image source http://www.northernsun.com

Brussels

2007-06-13T17:08:00.000+05:30

Brussels, the land of museums, history, Mini Europe, Mannekin Pis and more museums. It all sounded so exciting, only that it wasnt! Coming from Europe, Brussels can be quite a shock for some tourists, atleast the asians. The travel plans, tourist guides, city maps... all talk a differnt language. We were to go to Battlefield of Waterloo and then to the Mini Europe, but it took this plain journey of about 4 to 5 hours, a full day to complete! It was always just so easy to get lost anywhere. We were staying at Gare Du Midi aka Zuidstation, the main international connecting station of southern side. That side of town had a visible sadness, even on the faces of people. The traffic signs either werent working here or the cars were just running instead of pedesterian sign! In the end, I found it better to cut the plan to adjust a day in Amsterdam.

The battlefield of Waterloo was the only sunshine for us. A well preserved land, with all the landscape details, it still has the same trenches, hills and houses from that eventful day of 1815. But then it was the battle of Waterloo, which saw the decline of Napoleaon, a part due to rain washing away the strategic use of canons (he had strategised to use canons so that they bounce on striking the ground and in this way crush away a lot of soldeirs, but a torrential rain a night before not only ruined his plan, but also made already tired French to toil more), a part due to betrayal and a part due to Wellington's brilliance.

Life's peekaboo

2007-05-24T20:08:00.000+05:30

A bit old post, cudn't post earlier for loss of connectivity :)

I guess the first fortnight of a break off is the toughest. You are so much in habit of doing things related to your loved one, that suddenly the daily routine gets marred. The mobile suddenly becomes useless and a silent piece of junk, the small moments that you sneak in to call/msg/mail etc suddenly become void, and if you are madly in love then almost every next thing that reminded you of her makes you again and again forget and then remember that the relation that you have held so close to your existence is no longer there.

Its isnt that the pain is maximum in this period, which actually comes later on when the abscence starts irking more and more, its just that the mind just cant register the closure. So much so that some things suddenly make you jubliant with a thought of sharing it with her and only the next moment is able to make you realise the harsh presence.

But then as aptly said - time fills, and it duly fills these voids and make you realise the truth. Not to say that the compromise is reached or that pain is relieved, but we are able to accept.

Sans love, sans blood...

2007-05-02T00:23:00.000+05:30

"Dekho kaise parbat se baadal gaye Barsenge yeh ab kahan Dekho kaise phoolon se khushbu gayi Mahkegi yeh ab kahan

Sukh ban gaye sapne
Sab kho gaye apne
Dil bhujh gaya, ghar jal gaya
Na jaane kyun, na jaane kyun
Yaadon ka phir aanchal uda
Na jaane kyun, na jaane kyun -2

Dekho kaise haathon se jugnu gaye
Chamkenge yeh ab kahan
Kyun so gayi shaamein
Kat na saki raatein
Dil bhujh gaya, ghar jal gaya
Na jaane kyon, na jaane kyon
Yaadon ka phir aanchal uda
Na jaane kyun, na jaane kyun -3

Dekho kaise parbat se baadal gaye
Barsenge yeh ab kahan
Dekho kaise phoolon se khushbu gayi
ahkegi yeh ab kahan….."

Credits: The song is sung by the band Strings, which comprises of just two people namely Bilaal Maqsood (Guitars) and Faisal Kapadia (Vocals). The song is from their album Dhaani, a huge success.

Birthday cakes economy

2007-03-20T17:12:00.000+05:30

I must be sorry to non MBA students in advance for the jargon am going to use. (In case am sounding totally greek, u can goto wiki for invisible hand and visible hand in economy :)

The economic forces acting on birthday cakes -

As has been observed by me in this birthday of mine as well as last one and all others of my friends in college, a birthday cake is acted upon by two economic forces. First one is the administrative force, as defined in economics by Adam Sandler, the visible force. This force acts to cut the cake into equal pieces for uniform distribution, or to say that to just cut the cake in all practical aspects.

Second is of the 'stakeholders' here, the free market one may say, or better known as 'bugger friends who just want a lions share of the cake'. This force, an invisible hand, acts rather 'invisibly' to sublimate the cake with fractions of seconds of visible hand touching the cake with a knife.

The dominance of the force depends upon the moral ethics of the invisible hand, which most of the time, rather than exception, is highly questionable. In some cases, as seen by me in my last birthday, it may happen that a small voice may supply the market with a small but false shout of knife touching the cake, resulting in the visible hand's knife looking for blood rather than cake.

:: Jas - 2007

Tere Bin Sanu Sohnia....

2007-03-15T19:23:00.000+05:30

Rabbi Shergill - The thoughtful, soulful songs...

tere bin / besides you
sanu sohnia / my love
koi hor nahio labhna / i shan't find another
jo dave / who'll give
ruh nu sakun / peace to my soul
chukke jo nakhra mera / and indulge me
ve main sare ghumm ke vekhia / i have gone and seen it all
amrika , roos, malaysia / america, russia, malaysiana
kittey vi koi fark si / there wasn't any difference
har kise di koi shart si / they all had some condition
koi mangda mera si sama / some asked for my time
koi hunda surat te fida / some were fascinated with my face
koi mangda meri si vafa / some demanded my fidelity
na koi mangda merian bala / none wanted my demons
tere bin / besides you
hor na kise / no one else
mangni merian bala / wanted my demons
tere bin / besides you
hor na kise / no one else
karni dhup vich chhan / shall shade me in the sun
jiven rukia / (the) way you paused
si tun zara / slightly
nahion bhulna / i shan't forget
main sari umar / all my life
jiven akhia si akhan chura / you said, looking away
"rovenga sanu yad kar" / "you shall weep in my memory"
hasia si main hasa ajeeb / i laughed a strange laugh
(par) tu nahi si hasia / but you didn't
dil vich tera jo raaz si / you had a secret in your heart
mainu tu kyon ni dasia / why didn't you tell me
tere bin / besides you
sanu eh raz / none shall tell this
kise hor nahion dasna / secret to me
tere bin / besides you
peerh da ilaaj / what druid
kis vaid kolon labhna / has the cure to my ills
milia si ajj mainu / i found today
tera ik patra / a note of yours
likhia si jis 'te / on which you had scribbeled
tun shayr varey shah da / a varis shah couplet
park ke si osnu / upon reading which
hanjnu ik duliya / a teardrop fell
akhan 'ch band si / what was locked in the eye
seh raaz ajj khulia / was revealed today
ki tere bin / that other than you
eh mere hanjnu / these tears of mine
kise hor / won't be kissed by
nahio chumna / none else
ki tere bin / that other than you
eh mere hanjhu / these tears of mine
mitti vich rulnha / will wither in the dust

Ain't no sunshine...

2007-02-26T03:48:00.000+05:30

Listening to Ain't no sunshine by Bill Withers:

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.

Wonder this time where she's gone,
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.

The pyaas for self

2007-01-31T02:33:00.000+05:30

Watched October yesterday. Have been in stars since then. Being an amateur astronomer cum rocket boy myself, it sure had an impact on me. The watching was so nostalgic, taking me to the lane I had long back traversed and forgotten. I felt like a veteran.

I had made my first rocket in my summer holidays of 7th or 8th, it was a small cylinder of about 25cms which never took off. It ended in a glorious blast and the fire spread so wuickly to its ignition that i burnt my hands badly. There never came a second rocket...

But the astronomy wont die in me, so I went on with my calculations, my projects and my most relished project made by self, the Galileo telescope. I had made an equation to find the distance of moon by my own calculations. The best map of the sky was Cassiopeia-Ursa Major-Orion and Pole Star combo. And finding Milky Way was just too easy this way. Those were the days.. the days of finding a moving star and coming to know that I had seen a satellite !! It felt like a little discovery of sorts, and was followed by sleepless nights under the night sky.

Ah.... I guess i have left that guy with creative passion somewhere on the way, feels like I have accpeted the beaten path and the people who follow it. People never stopped laughing at me and neither did I stop from returning the favour; but seems like the beat and the MBA has made a sheep outta me.

Sometimes things so trivial like movies gets you outta the slumber...

IST - Dec 30th, 8:30AM - SADDAM EXECUTED

2006-12-31T01:04:00.002+05:30

CNN, Fox News, CNBC - All are abuzz with how the Iraqi people are celebrating over execution of erstwhile power center - Saddam Hussein. And I wonder what kind of society would really be 'celebrating' one's execution. If US claims they justified the deaths of those 1982 Shia killings by these celebrations, I feel a strange disgust at the american mindset.

As per the international laws, all countries are soverign, so much so that they have the right to wage war and defend ownself. Some interpret this as right to attack. Iraq did it for political reasons, US did it for capitalist reasons. And when one says that a country is soverign, that means that the country head is answerable only to the countrymen. And that outside country cant come and shout about mis-management. There are hundreds of countries where this is happening, but unfortunately they are too miniscule for US' capitalist interests.

If I feel that one out of five people is actually ruling other four in a family and that he has killed a person in that family itself at some time, does it give me the right to pull that person out and hang him? To pull him out, ask him for justification, hear him and get him secluded okay, so that he is not a threat to society, but to hang him? To pass such a sentence in a country, the only body justified to do this is the judiciary of same country. For such a sentence to be passed inter nationally, there has to be a judicial body with such rights on top of all countries. But thats not possible coz of the soverign status.

When the american media is shouting about the celebration by people for Saddam's death, at the same time one can see the dismantled media in Iraq bringing stories about how people are suffocated with never ending 'rule' of US and its control on their resources. Many earlier felt that US will actually come and give them the resources which are rightfully theirs, something which is not really happening, as oil wells are the bone of contention for US.

And not to mention that this whole episode of Iraq wars was to show the world that there are WMDs with Iraq, which US never found. So is it justified to find charges against him and settle personal score? American president, who himself is charged with manipulation of election results, has pushed thousands of soldiers to Iraq without proper strategy, false WMD claims, all resulting in many a loss of life; so what punishment does he get? Next presidential election win?

A sightless vision...

2006-12-01T15:04:00.000+05:30

After having my dinner I usually go for a small walk (though a bandaged foot has broken that routine for a month now). One evening am just strolling back to my hostel and as I am about to cross the road towards it, the shouts on my left catch my attention. It's a group of three guys holding each other and getting ready to cross the road, all in giggles. It doesn't take much to register that these guys are blind and hence they are trying to have a consensus, as to when do they cross the road. There is a hostel for blind people nearby, hence I had an idea where these guys were headed to. I reach them to offer my help, only to realize that they have a consensus to run NOW to the other side, so I just follow them, getting a chance to hear their conversation.What I hear strikes me at heart.

They could not see images but they could judge the intensity of light so had based their judgement on that only. So the decision point for them was to cross when there was almost no intensity, along with sonic judgement of course. One of them lost the sight only few years back and he was bridging the two worlds connecting the two experiences for others understanding.

By then a car is on its way towards us, as it reaches few yards, my friends realize that some vehicle is coming towards based in increasing intensity. So they suddenly run for the road and so do I, car is really fast.

Had they not gauged it likewise, it would never had occurred to driver that its not the mistake of these guys that they aren't leaving the road, but he would have run over them, so typical of an average Delhi driver! Had he thought later about his mindless rash driving? or had he just not cared, again a behavior so typical of Delhites?!

I look at these bunch of guys and think of Darwin, only fittest survive, and go back on my hypothesis, the nature not just picks fit bodies but fit and agile minds too. That does explain how us human's thought process is so complex, isn't it?

FMS Summers rock!!!

2006-10-17T13:36:00.000+05:30

Last week saw the Summers Placements of 2007 batch of FMS as yet another embellishment in the 53yr old saga of the India's oldest B-School. A formal press release is in pipeline. 100% placement of its full time MBA course justified the aspirations and hopes of the juniors. The companies list is more than impressive. But still that is not what struck me most, it was the process of placing the juniors - starting from the butterflies in stomach to satisfaction on those faces.

Like any other campus where students take extensive part in campus activities, FMS also boasts about the ' covalent ' bond that establishes between the seniors and juniors, a hard one based on sharing. This will be the one memory that will be cherished by me all along my seven stages of life. And the beauty of the moment is that its not in a single heart, 200 youngsters share this thought with similar intensity.

A salutation to the batches who enthused this procedure in interactions. This is what demarcates us more than anything else.

Separating marketing and technology from main blog

2006-09-23T02:40:00.000+05:30

Hurrrrah!!! Finally got some wordpress style blogskin, so decided to have the blogs differentiated on basis of posts being on general, marketing and technology topics. Havent checked blogger beta, so guess this is a cool stupid hack to have categories ;)

Please browse using the main three tabs on main menu to shift between these three topic wise posts.

Ahhhh... a new beginning :)

Am loving it... already :D

Atif Aslam new song - yet another gr8 hit

2006-09-10T03:34:00.000+05:30

Listened to Atif Aslam's latest song, and i must say ki the more u listn to it, the more u fall in love with the song. Peshe hazoor hain teh lyrics - dedicated to sm1 who knows it :)

Tere Bin Main Yun Kaise jiya
tere bin main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin
tere bin main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin
lekar yaad teri raaten meri kati - 2
mujhse baaten teri karti hai chaandani
tanha hai tujh bin raaten meri
din mere din ke jaise nahi
tanha badan tanha hai ruh nam meri aankhen rahe
aaja mere ab rubaru
jeena nahi bin tere
tere bin main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin
tere bin main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin

kabse aankhen meri raah mein tere bichhi - 2
bhule se hi kahi tu mil jaaye kabhi
bhule na mujhse baaten teri
bheegi hai har pal aankhen meri
kyun saans loon kyun main jiyu
jeena bura sa lage
kyun ho gaya tu bewafaaa mujhko bata de wajah
tere bin main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin ...
tere bin main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin ...

Microsoft to take on iPod with Zune?

2006-07-26T23:53:00.000+05:30

July 21, 2006 - the date Microsoft confirms that it is coming out with a family of devices and software to tap the presently Apple dominated music community, a high return and potential cash cow. Apple with its brilliance in integrating iPod and iTunes, is currently responsible for about 70% of the digital music market and 75% of the portable digital music player market.

And yes that ofcourse means that MS is launching a music device of its own. Instead of taking iPod by same features, MS is concentrating on giving features "which iPod doesn't" , which will be quite tough coz of tight integration of iPod, iTunes, podcasts etc. And MS knows it well, so its coming up with all that community stuff and sharing fundas.

But why will u just buy yet another music handheld? And that when the market has been grabbed strongly by Apple due to its almost complete connectivity (which players like Samsaung, Sony etc cant provide). But then dint people say same things when MS thought of sharing the gaming pie? XBox is a great hit, isnt it? Now what better can u think of than providing gamiung concept to your handhelds? Well thats exactly what MS is going to do, integrate the gaming experience in its music devices and enable it to interact with XBox 360.

Yet another feature thats being talked about to be built in Zune is that when its turned on to get feed from a WiFi connection, it will snatch as much feed as it can so that when user gets away from the range, the maximum playtime is enjoyed.

Heres the glimpse of the device u can get on net:

Now what the net community is wondering is that is this a teaser campaign for Zune? I must say, they aren't wondering without a weight :). Check the video here:-

Delhi - the frustrated capital !

2006-07-14T17:00:00.000+05:30

What is the fist difference that you observe between a Delhi crowd and a Mumbai’s? Especially if I say that see from a girl’s eyes? Answer would be that the difference is in the eyes only. The mumbaikar’s eyes scan while Delhite’s eyes lech.

Long known as the rape capital of India what I have always observed in the delhites is the frustration, atleast in the major portion of them. Commute in the local means and you will be quick to point that out. The private buses are the worse. Somewhere down the lane of history, the frustratiion has become the second skin of the people here.

Be it roads, be it shops be it railways, be it any phase of life, you will find them ready to shout and crib among the arguments on what the participants of the arguments can do, which of course never materialise as these arguments are just for sake of them.

Come to the atiitude towards the women, I have only one word to describe it – disgusting. Last week a friend of mine paid me a visit from Maharashtra in my college. Just as we were walking out of our campus, a black mid size car passes by and the guy flashes a finger to her. Her first brush up with the delhites was as true as people had told her, “Welcome to Delhi”, was all that I could sum up. The desires of flesh has pushed back civilization somewhere, and going by the fact that it’s the middle aged men over here who are the worst , one can judge it all.

Last year there was news of two well bred guys raping a swiss diplomat in her car as she was coming back from some chinese movie show. The streets of South Delhi were well lit at 10pm, but still it went fairly easy for the losers. Not to mention the diplomatic community was flabbergasted and ordered its staff to care for self. And we all know these incidents are not rare or even occasional.

Fortunately for me the suffocation may not last very long now, am left with just one more year of stay at Delhi; but alas! The problems of my friend are not yet over, she has to spend two more years over here. And I wonder how do I tell her that dear, Delhi is not just city of frustrated lot, but also of people adept in conmanship, eccentrism and duping. Let her laern the rules of jungle! Its Delhi after all, our beloved capital.

The holy coverage

2006-06-28T01:11:00.000+05:30

Post summers, almost a month off, already notified that one is outta the PPO race, what does one do if one is in Mumbai and never been away from North India? Well i delayed my flight and set out to cover Mumbhai, the Mom and bro city (don’t beat me in case u can’t get the joke or rather the PJ)

What happened post that delay is a hot script for Mr. Beans episode, but then Atkinson doesn’t make any more, so am forced to spill the 'beans' on the virtual space.

Oks tell me, how many of u consider that u are forgetful? Let’s compete! I forgot my food bills with a xerox guy, couple of SIM cards in couple of states and UTs (i believe in burka ideology, when u HAVE to cover it, cover it all ;) ), my luggage in my office, my friend's GF in a mall, my library card in a freezer and my Sony digi-camera worth 27K in a taxi at 1am in city like Mumbai !! For the last one, i was lucky; a day post i lost it, started a saga hunt for the Taxi. Now what are the chances of finding a taxi back in this city, esp after all the kisse and kahanis one has heard since i lost my milk tooth in an arm of a kid i was biting then? Saying remote is 100% optimism. But after a 2 day hunt, i was a proud dumbo with my camera back, all ready to capture Haji Ali in it.

Just a day before, ie a day after i lost it, we went to Siddhi Vinayak Temple, 3rd largest moolah grosser in India. Only thing i could ask for was my digicam, well the next day i was smiling the right curve. Built in 1801, the temple has a small mandapam (hall) with the shrine for Siddhi Vinayak (Spiritual Ganesha). The wooden doors to the sanctum are carved with images of the Ashtavinayak (the eight manifestations of Ganesha in Maharashtra). The inner roof of the sanctum is plated with gold, and the central statute is of Ganesha portrayed with four arms, bearing respectively, a lotus, an axe, modakas (sweet deep-fried dumplings) and a garland of beads. Ganesha is flanked by two of his three consorts (wives), Siddhi and Riddhi. (Info Courtesy Wikipedia)

Next day it was Haji Ali. Shimmering in the dusk, it was an experience to visit the mosque just before the tide got ready to swallow the pathway. Yes, during high tide the connecting pathway of 500 yards is submerged in water giving the impression that the mosque and tomb are floating out at sea in splendid isolation. Behind the sculpted entrance, a marble courtyard contains the central shrine. Hundreds of worshippers stoop to press their forehead against the richly brocaded red and green chaddar covering the tomb, lying in an exquisite silver frame supported by marble pillars and is decorated with artful mirror work: blue, green, yellow chips of glass arranged in kaleidoscopic patterns interspersed with Arabic patterns which spell the ninety-nine names of Allah. Legend is that Haji Ali, a local Mohammedan businessman, died while on his pilgrimage to Mecca and his casket surprisingly floated back to these shores of Mumbai (then Bombay). (Info courtesy www.pilgrimage-india.com)

About a week later it was the holy city of Amritsar and another worshipping place submerged in water, another pathway; another gold plated roof! Getting me? Two very distinct features from each of place told above, interesting, isn’t it?

As the darkness ate into the vastness of space, Golden Temple just grew brighter and brighter, the ‘parikarma’ faster. The gurudwara has four entrances, to make it open for all four sides. The water of sarovar adds to the ambience of the peaceful calmness of a shrine. The picture shows the best shot my digicam could have in the black pitch.

Yahoo and MSN IMs to communicate !!

2006-06-15T12:57:00.000+05:30

How many people are there who either prefer only MSN or Yahoo! IM (Instant Messenger) ?? Well it has been ages since i used anything remotely associated with MSN, just that Yahoo completed all my needs... as simple as that!! But then there were some friends of mine who chat only through MSN. What do u do then? Very Simple - u crib why these two cant inter communicate!

Now what if I tell u that they are gonna pretty soon? According to Leah, member - WLM (Windows Live Messenger) team it has been done succesfully and there have also been reports about the limit being 600 Y! contacts now (earlier it was 100). As quoted by Leah, "It’s been a long time since we announced the deal which would allow Windows Live Messenger people and Yahoo! Messenger peope to IM one another. The project was so top secret that many of us (myself included) found out the same day you did."

To read the blog entry of Leah Click Here

So is MS learning the earthly manners now? Is there an anti Google alliance in making? Lets see what time has in store in its womb

My New OS Theme

2006-05-28T15:53:00.000+05:30

Time for theme change, well my love for Macintosh is a no hidden fact, and hence my desire to have my lappie taste like a Mac . But nowz the time for a change and a new tryout, so i get a new theme from WinStep - a complete package.

Based on Vista, its a blur-able option that gives me visuals for clock, mu net connection (can be set as LAN conn/ Wireless/ Bluetooth or Broadband one), Weather check (has two options for Delhi as place) and other regular goodies. Here, see the caps:

Pic 1:
The Shelf can be customed as Quic Launch, and based on the Genie Effect of Macintosh, we have Task palette where we see all our tasks in pic form and on hovering over them enlarges the pic of that task.

Pic 2: See the Menu's transparency effect !!

So here i go, with my brand new luk n feel desktop

Teri Diwani... downloaded

2006-05-24T15:34:00.000+05:30

Finally managed to download Teri Deewani (Album : Kailasa) beautifully and soulfully sung by Kailash Kher. Great thing abt this guy is his choice of words, most of his songs are written by himself and with this album he has also formed a new band by same name, Kailasa. Here are the lyrics - (especially like the doublet - tere bin jina kaisa, kya khudgarzi hai)

preet ki lat mohe aisi laagi
ho gayi main matwaari (matwaali)
bal-bal jau apne piya ko...
hey main jau wari-wari

mohe sud-bud nahi rahi tan-man ki
ye toh jaane duniya saari
bebas aur lachaar phiru main
haari main dil haari
haari main dil haari

Tere naam se jeelu tere naam se mar jau
Tere naam se jeelu tere naam se mar jau
tere jaan ke sadke main kuch aisa kar jau
tune kya kar daala
mar gayi main
mit gayi main
ho ji....haan ji
ho gayi main ....
teri deewani...deewani (2)

Ishq junoon jab had se badh jaye
Ishq junoon jab had se badh jaye
haste haste aashiq suuli chadh jaye
ishq ka jadoo sar-chadhkar bole
ishq ka jadoo sar-chadhkar bole
khoob lagalo pehre raste rab khole
yahi ishq di marzi hain
yahi rab di marzi hain

yahi ishq di marzi hain
yahi rab di marzi hain
tere bin jina kaisa
kya khudgarzi hai
tune kya kar daala
mar gayi main
mit gayi main
ho ji....haan ji
ho gayi main ....
teri deewani...deewani (2)

aye main rang-rangeeli deewani
aye main rang-rangeeli deewani
aye main albeli, main mastaani
gau bajaau..sabko rijhau
aye din dharam se begaani
aye main deewani ..main deewani
tere naam se jeelu
tere naam se mar jau
tere jaan ke sadke main kuch aisa kar jau
tune kya kar daala
mar gayi main
mit gayi main
ho ji....haan ji
ho gayi main ....
teri deewani...deewani (2)

Meri Kalam se...

2006-05-15T21:57:00.000+05:30

Mila kal mujhe mera jo Lakht-e-Jigar
gam ke sar-e-arsh mein dooba tha woh
[sar-e-arsh=seventh heaven]

jaane kis tasavvur ka shikar hua baitha tha
Har baat par gham-e shikra hua jaata tha
[tasavvur=imagination, shikra=a small bird of prey]

Poocha to bola ki aadam ki hi hai yeh hi fitrat
jahan dawa-e-dil maangta hai, waha hijr se bhi khauff khata hai

Kabhi khooshi se pagal ho de deta hai aansuon ki chamak
To kabhii gam se patthar ho kar bhi kabhii rotaa nahi ...

My Tryst with FMCG

2006-05-15T12:16:00.000+05:30

Its 7 am, the lovely early morning breeze has long gone, taken hostage by the barbaric loo of the middle earth. But I have to go on to find the ring of power. I look upon the road am treading, the road half metalled, half torn, exposing the mother earth beneath. My vehicle, christened Maruta, tries rigorously to have both tyres, on the road, an attempt as futile as one of my friends’s summer project :mg:

But then the rugged machine can take it. With a load made diesel engine fixed on a wooden cart, its load carrying capacity can make a Hummer shy away! 15 people are loaded on it and driver expects a couple more in next village. Those who are sitting in Maruta are transfixed by the sight of a surd guy who is standing at the fag end of the vehicle, trying to manage the laptop with one hand and a nervous grip on vehicle with other. But the stares don’t bother me, for mind is captured by the four mystic words, “Welcome to FMCG Rural!”

Froddo was lucky; he was a Hobbit, had hardened feet (or so has been told by Mr. Tolkien). But not me, a hapless management guy, all dressed in formals, even my best of Lee Cooper shoes have become like a 40yr old wife – shapeless, heavy and non co-operative. But then even I treat them like a 40yr old husband then, i just pay no attention and think that I can still enter them for few more years!

The pyaas for real self

2006-04-18T19:43:00.000+05:30

Deaths and deaths, a millions of deaths,

I ask my heart if to buy just one or buy the shop of wreaths!

A death for every season,

A death for every reason,

And then people wonder my cast,

Why do I always fall to past?

Thou can’t feel the spikes in me,

It’s meant for me, just the dreaded me,

The remedy I don’t know of,

And even if I do, if I will ever take it, am not sure of.

Leave me alone, it’s my battle de grace;

It’s me who has to fight it, just need one coup de grace!

Garden of generousness

2006-01-24T20:40:00.000+05:30

From my pencil - The holier-than-thou lady...

Did i lose myself?

2006-01-12T23:44:00.000+05:30

Seems like for past few months i have either had the cold, stones, cough, anti-insomnia or allergies to the pollen, or the swollen eccentrics or an 'colourworld' combination of these.

Suffice it to say, I've been a little off.

Still though, I am increasingly feeling like the only sane person surrounded by a lot of insane and insensitive people. Wonder if makes me more 'separate' or does it brings in me the more of me. With sanity all elusive around ya, u sure climb the ladder of maturity with high flux. It brings in a different flavour, a different whiff. Reminds me of a very nice pal of mine at my first work. Though smart and brainy, she just never got out of her insanity and finally compromised to live in the whirlpool of the normal mind. Little appreciations from people mattered more to her than her own. Still a good friend of mine, she is light years away from my real self. Hmm.. i shud sm day blog more, not to be read by others but to understand myslf more. Ha! Then they say that how can two people who live together all the time cant understand each other fully! Cmmon! Do u understand urslf? The ONE with whom u spent every single sec !

Do I know who I am and what I want? Well if I say yes, i may be lying like any other human around me, its almost as if I am wandering through the thick fog that surrounds the people I love and care about. Can I penetrate the fog? Do I want to? Or am I better off alone in my own world?

Pyaas!! Here i Come...

Toppers @ Google

2006-01-11T11:58:00.000+05:30

From the gamut rush of searches ppl just now assume to be part of their e-life :

Google.com - Top Gainers of 2005

1. Myspace
2. Ares
3. Baidu
4. wikipedia
5. orkut
6. iTunes
7. Sky News
8. World of Warcraft
9. Green Day
10. Leonardo da Vinci

Google News - Top Searches in 2005

1. Janet Jackson
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. tsunami
4. xbox 360
5. Brad Pitt
6. Michael Jackson
7. American Idol
8. Britney Spears
9. Angelina Jolie
10. Harry Potter

Froogle - Top Searches in 2005

1. ipod
2. digital camera
3. mp3 player
4. ipod mini
5. psp
6. laptop
7. xbox
8. ipod shuffle
9. computer desk
10. ipod nano

Dil se guftgoo...

2005-11-06T04:37:00.000+05:30

Jaane unhon ne mujh mein kya dekha,
jaane humne unhon mein kya dekha,
us dil ki kashish mein yaaro,
humne to bas khwabon ka jahan dekha.

Har din, har pal tha mukammal,
khushion mein tar-bdar is dil ne poocha,
kya isi ko jannat kehte hain,
jab humne unhon mein khuda dekha.

Phir ik roz na jaane woh kya tha,
koi bhanwar tha, sailab tha ya tufaa(n) tha,
khauff se aankhe moond lli humne,
jab khuli to ujra apna wohi jahan dekha.

Aaj phir dil ne poocha hai mujhse,
kya isi ko qyamat kehte hain...?

Is there a Mr.Bean in all of us?

2005-06-14T15:45:00.000+05:30

Is there a Mr.Bean in all of us? or did the nature played the trick wth me??

Faux pas, goof up, gaffe, smothering.. I guess these were the words that God used as keywords as he went on with his lifetime creation of me. There hasn’t been a month that I could carry forward flying my broomstick with panache, while painting the sky with the glittering words - "Hey chums!! Me done it, finally"

Get some glitterati, teachers, damsels or grave elders and my morphing to Mr. Bean begins. There is an inherent eldritch ability to say the wrong things :) being an engineer the probability makes me a point that I do say right things sometimes, yet I fight like a true Don Quixote, and defy the odds black and blue.

Handling a lady, who is going through a menopause, is perhaps worst I am at. There was this lady, all busted in some tension, just needing a nerd like me to explode. My work team had to ask something from her and they were jinxed enuff to pick me. Already knowing the volcanic nature of the lady, I kept telling me to speak nothing apart from work. But the moment I talked, along came this morph and my mouth erupted glibly, "Hey Seema (*name changed*), aaj to raat ko bahut achhi neend aayegi" and the hell went loose. I had taken for granted the simple chain of thoughts that she was stressed and tired and hey, tired ppl do sleep soundly, no? But what came out from the speaker of the phone from other side was a loud "WHAT!!!!" as I scurried for my safety.

The other day, it was again not my fault; I hold Darwin and my 32Mb memory guilty for it. This damsel, with all low cut uppers and burn me down attitude pushed me for a peekaboo. Years fly by, and we all become more mature and I find myself talking about it to a friend of mine, abt some funny stuff I saw. Had it been my regular jinxed self, I would have turned around to find her all red and burning with fury. Women do have power to turn up rather at that very point when you talk smthing funny of them. But as luck wud have had it, I did look behind, she wasn’t there, but, as I came to know abt it few mins later, she was the one I was talking to in first place!!! My memory had surrendered me to the devil.

But life goes on, and so does one's confidence in one's goof ups. And hence my fav lines now are, "Hey did I goof up that earlier too?"