Monday, December 26, 2005

Top 12 from the year!

I started this blog on 11th January 2005. I just wanted to write, write arbit stuff. My first ever post - Agriculture in India: Road to future? - was a rather serious one. I was reading various documents regarding Indian economy and stuff for my upcoming IIM interviews and it all got rubbed to my blog. Once I got started I wrote almost about everything - economics, politics, films, humor, satire, cribs, etc. As the year ends in another week, I thought it'll be a good time to look back and select some of the better ones that I wrote and showcase them here. Actually, I got this idea from Creative Generalist's blog. Do read his list (but only after mine ;-)), there are some absolute gems there.

Why 12? I actually wanted to have top 10 sorts, but in the end I liked 12 and thought dropping anyone of these wouldn't be fair. So 12 :-). I'm not into tagging and stuff, but just to put the idea in fellow bloggers' minds - select your favorite posts and list them!

Here it goes -

  1. Job Motivation - A satire on the mundane intricacies of the boring office life of a software engineer.
  2. Gym Mis(s)adventures - A humorous misadventure, totally fictitious!
  3. So, What are your hobbies? - Do we really need one?
  4. Eminem meets Udham Singh - Two of the greats of our time :)
  5. Business Plans - I'm still looking out for VCs.
  6. My Baby - Yes, it happened!
  7. Carobaar - Ratan Tata's 1 lakh car cometh.
  8. Glamourizing the Gutter - Sick of gangster movies? Read on!
  9. Software Engineer and CAT - A parody of Somebody to Love - Don't you want to take the CAT?
  10. Planet of Eves - Females ruling the earth - rosy notion? Not really!
  11. Stand Up Comedy & Follow up - My attempt at stand up comedy.
  12. Suicide at IITB, Update I & Update II - A misfortunate incident which created a big buzz in the campus & in the blogsphere among alumni.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Yeh Bandar to Pyar ka Bandar hai


Remaking classics is always a gamble. While the film-makers get an already proven script and can build on that using the latest technology, it's likely that the audience is much more "educated" now. Godzilla dealt with this by moulding the story to match the likings of the contemporary audience. The result - a fast paced entertaining movie. No Oscar material though, entertaining nonetheless. The makers of King Kong has dealt with the classic a bit more sacrosanctly. Times of India has rated it 4.5/5, so naturally my expectations from the movie were really high. The movie couldn't live up to my expectations.

The problem with the film is - its too long in the beginning. Once the hero - Kong the Gorilla - makes his entry, the movie gets paced, rather hurried, but before that there is too much of a buildup. It made the movie a good three hour long affair! They could very well have saved some time.

Some of the scenes are superbly crafted, but for an audience fed up on Jurassic Parks & Godzillas and much better informed about Dinosaurs & all than those from 1933 - the story goes a little overboard at times. The scene involving creepers gets a bit too gross and could've been handled better. Infact, the entire notion of the Skull Island stands on pretty flimsy grounds. But then, its a classic from 1933 and I can imagine how this stuff would've thrilled the moviegoers of that time (just like Jurassic Park thrilled me when I was 12 years old).

The makers must be complimented for superb work done with graphics & sets. They have taken all the pains to recreate the street scene & the Skull Island and of course the mighty ape. All the actors fit perfectly into their roles. Most of the screen time is claimed by Watts, who is looking beautiful as ever (Infact she is looking more-n-more like Nicole Kidman with every movie). The emotive scenes are handled very carefully, specially the way Kong reacts after the fight with Dinosaurs. The end, which is of course tragic, connects well with the viewers.

In the end, I'd say don't miss this movie for you'll miss the surreal world created by Peter Jackson, but don't go expecting a Sci-Fi. Its a fantasy thriller and thrill it will!

My rating - 3/5

Thursday, December 22, 2005

The "Hemant Birje" Connection.

For the last two days my blog has attracted a little more than usual traffic. Reason - Hemant Birje apparently molested some aspirant actresses. I quote from the linked article -

Actor Hemant Birje (41), who is best known for the film Tarzan, tried to molest an actress and her friends at Lokhandwala in Andheri yesterday. However, unlike in most movies, the brave women chased the villain away. The four women pounced on Birje. When the actor tried to flee, the women pelted him and his friend with stones.
Can't make the connection? Actually, I mentioned Birje in one post sometime back in the context of "Indian Super Heroes". Birje, a B-grade movie actor for all of his career, is most famous for his role in Tarzan opposite Kimi Katker. I've had the good fortune to watch the movie but even if many haven't watched it, they would have watched one famous clip of it surely ("Tarzan, Oh my Tarzan" was one melodious song in the film, if it rings a bell).

So, when news channels flashed this news regarding Birje on 21st, many poorly informed netizens couldn't recollect who the heck this Birje was. They kneeled to the Google God asking for Birje's image. Many of them landed on my blog page, since it was the number three page in the results! Another moment of glory for my blog - to be linked with the great Tarzan of Bollywood. I hope my blog didn't disappoint the truth seekers. Still, to remove any miniscule chance I'm linking to the poster of Tarzan, showing Birje in all of his jungle glory - here it is. Another close up shot from the poster of "Mardangi". Savour your eyes on this King of the jungle.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Kahani Poori Filmi Hai



One Night @ the Call Center: A Book Review

This is the latest book by Chetan Bhagat, whose last book - Five Point Someone - was an instant hit among the youth. If the initial sale is any indicator, this one too can cash in good money. But I doubt if it'll reach the heights of its predecessor. It's mainly cashing in the good rapport Bhagat made among youth after his last book; with time it'll run out of gas.

It might not turn out to be a "contemporary classic" but this book is surely enticing. Once you pick it up, you can't put it down, it captures the reader in it's twists & turns. The writer has thought enough to put all the masalas to keep reader bound. I'm told they are making a movie on this book. I'd say once the movie is out it'll be very hard to guess which came out first among the book & the movie; the entire book is so filmi. To start with, the central character, Shyam, is our typical underdog hero. He might remind you of Amol Palekar in Chhoti Si Baat. You will also find a saas-bahu drama, casting couch, an angry young man, old parents-young daughter-in-law angle, heartburns, NRI groom, extra-marital, pre-marital, divorced parents - covered the entire Bollywood infact. And to top it all, in the end the author has put a rather out of the world twist to ensure a happy ending.

The book is about six people who work at a Gurgaon call center. Although it's about just one night, but using dialogues & flashbacks details about their lives are provided. All of them are painfully distressed & depressed with their lives & most of the pages cover this despair in details. While its not a typical Bollywoodish "..and they lived happily ever after" ending, its not really very far from it. The book leaves a bit of depressing aftertaste. Imagine reading 250 pages about their despair & then in 20 pages it evaporates - who'd buy it? Bhagat has done good research about call centers and tried well to connect with the youth. He has used his professional experience too to make it authentic (and he has vented his anger on one of his old bosses too ;-)).I'm sure almost everyone would find something in the book to relate with. But at times he appears to be trying a tad too hard. The Bollywood effect is evident on almost every page of the book.

In the end, I'd say read the book if you can lay your hands on it. Better borrow than buy, but even if you buy it you won't regret spending just 95/- on it. Another option is to wait for the film, its surely gonna be full of masala :-).

Saturday, December 17, 2005

A Nosey Problem

*sigh* .. I never had any fractures or any surgery, which isn't very rare I suppose. But I liked it this way. I came very close to breaking my jaw when during one trek near Kalyan when I slipped at one waterfall and fell chin-first on a stone. It would not be wrong to say that I was a little disappointed when after all the efforts I put in convincing the IIT hospital doctor to get an X-Ray, no cracks were discovered. I still bear a one-inch-long scar on my chin, which narrates a rather more glamourous story. Now it seems I might lose the distinction soon. My nose has a deviated septum, which is how doctors describe a deviated central partition of the nose. Ever since I can remember I used to get my nose blocked everytime the temperature dropped. So this time it wasn't a surprize, but this time it didn't get better for over a month. And boy, is it irritating! I don't like to breath from my mouth & breathing from a clogged nose is too much of effort. All inhalers & balms have failed and I can't even sleep properly. The oxygen intake has dropped I guess, because I feel drowsy all day & keep yawning (and I thought my impression on my boss can't get any worse :-).



Factually speaking, 80 percent of all nasal septums are off-center. A "deviated septum" occurs when the septum is severely shifted away from the midline. Septoplasty is the surgical process the doctors recommend for deviated septum patients. Today when I went to the doctor he made such a pitying face ("Beta, tu to gaya" look) while breaking this news to me that I'm a tad concerned about it! I need to hear from someone who has undergone this surgery and need to learn a bit more about it. But first of all, I need to get my medical insurance policy from my company!

Watched Bluff Master tonight. It's good for one time watching - buy-see-forget. Basically, even if you don't have very strong story and concept, a lot of difference can be made by some crisp dialogues and this movie has it's moments. So I would say go watch it and let me know if the ending reminded you of The Game.

I can't understand why Bollywood is so ga-ga over these conman movies all of a sudden. We've had Bunty aur Babli, Chocolate, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena and now Bluff Master, all in the year 2005. It's not the first time conman has sizzled the silver screen, the Big B has many conman movies to his name but this theme was lost somewhere among the candy-floss romance & Dharmendra style violence during the 80's.

My favorite conman movie would be Catch Me If You Can. What made it all the more exciting was the fact that it was based on the life of a real conman! While India too have its very own Natwar Lals & Shobhrajs, sadly most of the inspiration Bollywood takes comes from the West.

P.S. - If you too took the Color Quiz and were impressed by their analysis, may be you should read about the Forer Effect.

Friday, December 09, 2005

The Color Quiz.

Romil mailed me about this exciting plug-in for Firefox - Stumble Upon. It lets you "channelsurf" the best-reviewed sites on the web. It is a collaborative surfing tool for browsing, reviewing and sharing great sites with like-minded people. This helps you find interesting webpages you wouldn't think to search for.

Thanks to it, I landed on The ColorQuiz page. Results follow, point to note - "Although the results are accurate to a high degree, they should not be taken as a diagnosis.".. Alright!

Varun's Existing Situation
Readily participates in things that provide excitement or stimulation. Wants to feel exhilarated.

Varun's Stress Sources
Wishes to be independent, unhampered, and free from any limitation or restriction, other than those which he imposes of himself or by his own choice and decision.

Varun's Restrained Characteristics
Believes that he is not receiving his share--that he is neither properly understood or adequately appreciated. Feels that he is being compelled to conform, and close relationships leave him without any sense of emotional involvement.

Very exacting in the standards he applies to his choice of a partner and seeking a rather unrealistic perfection in his sex life.

Varun's Desired Objective
Unwilling to participate and wishes to avoid all forms of stimulation. Has had to put up with too much of a tiring or exhausting nature and now desires protection and noninvolvement

Varun's Actual Problem
Fears that his independence will be threatened or severely restricted unless he protects himself from outside influence. Does not want to be bothered.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

More Updates: Suicide at IITB

Since I was out of the town for about a week, I could not update this space with latest info. First, Sharmila replied to my email -

..meanwhile i'd like to assure you that there is a healthy discussion on among the faculty about all the is wrong and should be put right about the B. tech course. if you and other alumni have suggestions based both on your stay here and perhaps in other institutes/universities which you have found (more) conducive, do send them along. i promise to circulate them. and perhaps somethng will come of it all.
sharmila
It's very encouraging that contrary to initial reports, IIT authorities are giving this issue the due attention. In the comments section of my post an anonymous (appears to be a IITB punter) poster has posted excerpts from dean's email to students. Presenting the same here (emphasis mine) -
It is obvious that a lot of people have raised a number of issues relating to the sad end of a young life. I wish to make it abundantly clear that if there was one "authority" who had to be responsible for communicating the news of Vijay's death to students, it was me alone. It would be wrong to blame anyone else. However, there were a number of compelling reasons as to why it was not done right away: 1. My own feeling was that with exams on, it was not proper to disturb students who were anyway going through a low then. I saw that abundantly on the night of 16th, both in the hospital and later at the Hostel. Just ask what his wing people went through. Adding more to that list was undesirable. 2. Vijay's father wanted a bare minimum of his friends to know and to be there. He did not want any news being made of this event at any cost. So the question of posting till Saturday morning did not arise; that is when they left for Vizag. 3. Between Thursday evening and Sunday morning, mothers of atleast three IIT students called and after seeking details and also expressing their concerns on what needs to change, told me to keep it low and make sure that their wards are least pained by the happenings in their neighborhood. This echoed with my own thoughts and made it easy for me to think that I was doing the right thing. 4. We have never had a system or protocol on communicating such matters, trust me this experience on what the students really desire, and a need to end rumour-mongering now tells me that even a two-line note on the event would have been fine. As for reports appearing in the media, some statements are true and some "edited" or even made up to create more hype. Nobody wants to talk to them when going through this kind of a phase. While I was reluctant to speak to them, the PRO's office told me that the death being in student space, I should talk to them just so that "no comments" does not add more dimensions to their attempts in making the news more sensational. It was never my intent that students learn more through the media than a direct reporting from someone within the system. In fact, on Monday morning, Vijay's father called and I had to convince him that inspite of best efforts to keep it down, the press had done the damage. If you feel that these are excuses and question my motives, then I have nothing more to add. If you believe the above reasons, but feel that my judgement was bad, one can still debate on how to change things for the better. This is a serious incident, I do not think anyone in the Institute wanted to sweep it under the rug. In fact, after the semester begins in January 2006, there will be a review of how we can try and hopefully avert or prevent such tragedies, to the best we can.
The role of media has been outright horrid, especially ToI who didn't stop short of distorting facts and creating unwarranted hype causing pain to both IIT and relatives of the deceased. Nikhil Jha, who is a current student has already written about how far from truth the ToI article was. Now Dean's mail too tells us how irresponsibly press treated this issue.

The same anonymous poster has posted another excerpt from an intranet newsgroup thread (Sadly, that forum isn't accessible to outsiders).
At the end of Third year summer, the student had a CPI of 4.05 and had a backlog of eight courses having earned six FR grades and dropped two courses. Number of FF grades were quite a few and he had been clearing them in summer every year. Till recently, he had picked up XX grades in two laboratory courses (ME --118 and EP-213) which he subsequently cleared. Before the endsem began he was awarded one XX grade in a Departmental course." Hope that helps you to see that assumptions don't help you much, however convenient they may be and however heroic your stand may look.
As it suggests, Nakula's academic records were actually at the bottom of the class, so XXs probably can't be the prime reason. Some are suggesting that the reasons might not be academic at all. Whatever be the reasons, the deceased soul can't be brought back. But the review of the current system is definitely a positive out of this tragic incident and it should not stop.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Mama, I'm coming home.

Mother's Lap
(Incidently, this is my entry at this week's Photofriday contest)

Now that CAT's done and done decent enough, I'm going to visit my parents in Jaipur. I'm leaving Bangalore tomorrow (Saturday) and shall be back on 6th night after attending Pradeep's marriage in Jodhpur. The trip also includes one afternoon in Mumbai, hopefully my friends there will find time to catch up.

Its a short trip as it is, so I don't intend to access net during my stay there. Anyway, I don't think I'll get time - I'll have to meet our relatives, attend marriages and all. Hopefully it won't be too chilly there. I'm told the winter has just arrived, so it should be sooper! One more thing I'm hoping I'll get time for is photography. As many would be able to guess, Rajasthan is quite a "photogenic" place, hoping to catch some of the colors in my camera.

Chalo then,
tata,
- Varun

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Update: Suicide at IIT Bombay

The event might've ended as a mere ripple in the ocean, but the blogsphere is following it up promptly. Various IIT alumni have responded to the sorry event by writing about it on their blogs.

Nakula's close friend, Harsh Vardhan, writes about Nakula and events & situation which might have pushed him over the edge. Being a close friend, he provides an insight to the man, Nakula and the problems he was facing during his last days. The fact comes out that Nakula was a wrong guy in the wrong branch; while his passion lied in computers, he was a student of Engineering Physics branch which didn't give him any kicks.

BD talks about the ToI report and how insensitive & irresponsible it is on their part to make the identity public. Nikhil Jha, who appears to be a current student at IIT Bombay, tears apart the farcical ToI report. Not only the ToI folks are twisting stories to introduce a glamorous words like "hacking", they have stooped to such low levels as to misquote IIT professors! Shame on them! Desi Pundit has a small info-post.

Ritesh has done an analysis over the issue. Computers aren't to be blamed for such event - an introvert will be an introvert, be it among computers or books. Though computers certainly have provided the students with a whole lot of new options to kill time - FRIENDS episodes, movies and all. The system needs some shake-up, more on it later.

Vivek, an IITB alumni himself, draws parallels between Nakula's situation and his own final year. Further, he stresses upon the urgent issue, that is the need to find a solution for the problem.

Update: Inhas writes about the rat race prevalent in IITs. Its all so meaningless in the end, of course. Here's phoenix's take on the issue.

***

While, this particular case seems like a wrong impulsive decision on Nakula's part, it only brings forth a basic flaw in our education system. Last generation's middle class (including the parents of most IITians) have an impression, which was of course true, that very few professional courses can ensure a prosperous life for their children, e.g. Doctors, engineers, etc. Remember how the arts and commerece students were (are) scoffed in school? Only recently India has witnessed that success can come through many other unconventional ways; one need not be just a doctor or an engineer to be successful. Still, the examples are still very few but the wheel is set rolling. So, the pressure still exists to take up the conventional career path. Now, narrowing it down to the IITs - the IITs have come up as a huge brand in themselves over time. A degree from an IIT can gurantee one good job and prospects (preference in futher studies, great demand in industry). But the seats are limited and the number of aspirants has really gone through the roof - that means not all students willing to study in a particular branch can get admission in that branch. Nakula was such a case - he didn't get admission in the computer science department, so he took up what he could get - Engineering Physics. There was an inherent contradiction between what he wanted to do and what he had to do for good grades, better future.

One solution is to let them decide about their branch after spending some time (~ 1 year) studying basic engineering courses. Still what if there are more students willing to go in a particular branch? The numbers have reduced but the problem is the same. Another solution is to have huge number of electives, spread over different branches. Have something like a major-minor system. Students who feel they are more inclined towards some other branch can opt for the courses of their interest in other branches. As of now IITs, IITB atleast, allows students to apply for a branch change at the end of first year. Students can apply for a branch of their choice and if they fulfil the criteria (which is based on their academic performance in the first year) they are granted the branch change. Of course, there must be many more solutions, only if professors & authorities at IITs would stand up and face the issue constructively.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Suicide at IIT Bombay.

A very disturbing news has reached me - a 4th year student at IIT Bombay committed suicide after getting XX grades in three courses. XX is awarded when your attendance falls short. The news reached me via various IITB mailing groups, a bit of googling lead me to this TOI report. Excerpts -

Last week, fourth-year physics student Vijay Nukala, known on the campus as 'Nuke', committed suicide after being failed in three courses because of poor attendance. Regarded by all as the campus' networking wizard, Nukala had not scored high enough marks in his IIT-JEE entrance to get into computer engineering, his first love. Nukala had to make a presentation on the first stage of his project report the day he hanged himself in his room. His professors were aware of the stress the boy was under-as a precaution, they had asked his father to be in Mumbai last week.
This is definitely very sad but still worse is the attitude of admin@iitb. The mailing groups are circulating an email, supposed to be written by Sharmila, a professor at the humanities department. The content of the email -
A student dies under tragic circumstances on the 16th and we greet it with silence. There is no official announcement. No postings in IIT-general, in IIT-discuss, in discuss-faculty. No condolence meeting.

Any question we ask into this silence runs the danger of sounding melodramatic. And of disrupting the professionalism with which we go about the business of exams and evaluations. But let us run that risk. Was this boys life so dispensable, so forgettable that we do not even want to mourn him? Is ANY life dispensable?

When Bombay drowned earlier this year we as an institution looked the other way for the most part. (True, there were a few students who got together and organized relief work on the strength of their own will, but as an institution our only response was silence.) It could be argued that we cannot respond to every issue and tragedy out there. But this student was one of our own. I do not know why he felt so alone and lost that he thought he should end his life. We need to recognize however that by doing so he sent us a vote of no confidence. He told us that we, as an institution and as people he knew, did not offer him hope. This is a terrible indictment.

What is to be done? I do not quite know. But surely we need to mourn him. We do not seem to have paid him enough attention when he was alive. Surely we cannot ignore his death as well? We need to also actively explore ways in which we can establish support groups at all levels in hostels, departments. These have to be professional(from what I can gather we have one counselor for so many, many students and staff) and personal. From conversations I have had since yesterday I hear that there have been other attempts, that depression and stress is more present than one imagines. That students have dropped out of courses (at least one student has left this institution because he was maligned for his sexualitygood grief!). That students die in different ways. I do not of course know how to deal with all these issues. But I strongly think that it is not by institutional(ised) silence.

sharmila
I don't know her personally and I can't vouch for the fact that it was she who penned it down, but I agree with each and every word above. We've two equally serious issues here - 1) the suicide and the events which depressed the young man to such levels and 2) the apathy shown by the IIT by not even acknowledging the disturbing event (as per the mail above).

As per this Mid-day report suggests, the stress in schools has risen to killing levels. The stress on an IITian can get even worse. Back at home they are hailed as if they came down from planet Krypton. Parents, relatives & peers expect them to keep outperforming just as they did in school or in IIT-JEE exam, what they don't consider that here the competition is many times tougher. Such expectations put a student under immense stress. For most of the students in IITs, IIT is the first place where they are challenged academically. Till then, during school, they were among the toppers - without breaking a sweat. But forced to work hard by the raised bar & dropping down to the lower half of the class can be a worry. I've seen all kinds of responses to this new challenge students face - some plainly give up, some take up the gauntlet and study harder. As such a semester can be stressful but an XX grade can be even worse. Typically it means that the student must take the classes again next year with junior students. It can cost one the jobs s/he might have bagged during campus placements, if awarded in the final year. Same thing might have led Nakula to this tragic decision. This isn't the first suicide at the campus, last year a girl student from hostel 10 killed herself and I've heard that there were few more attempts this year. Here I would like to state what one friend told me once - "When we look back at times when we were in trouble, those troubles look quite modest in the hindsight. That should teach us how to deal with problems & problematic times." My final year project was extended and I was supposed to stay there in summer and complete it, I was the last one to get a job in our batch - still when I look back now, all I remember is the good times Dev, Pankaj and me had in the lab that summer. I'm very sure if Nakula had waited and thought over the situation, he too would've came out of this mess. We've had some examples and all of them are doing good.

One trend that concerns me is the rise computer usage in IIT. I've witnessed the internet being brought to IIT Bombay. When we were in the first year, the net speed was just a little more than a crawl. Very few students had computers in their rooms, the computer center was the main resource center available to student to work on their projects and reports. Of course we CSE guys had separate labs in our department too, but the speed was not any better there. I remember when I bought a computer in my second year, we contributed money to the wing-router-fund which was utilized to buy a hub and students did the networking to get their machines on the LAN. In my third year every single room was provided an internet plug, the institute paid for the infrastructure. Additional bandwidth was bought and the net speed went zoom. In our fourth year the number of computers in a hostel were almost tripled when compared to the second year. According to the TOI report -
Students and faculty members admit that all-night (and sometimes 24/7) hacking competitions, gaming competitions, music downloading and file-sharing, chatting and blogging are taking a heavy toll at the elite campus-affecting attendance, grades and even personal lives. IIT-B authorities are now forced to admit that it's a problem. "It's a very big problem. For the last one or two years we've been seeing these guys sleep off in class or be present physically but not mentally. But now they're even not showing up for cultural activities or on the playing field,'' said Gopalan.
A loner in campus would've sounded like an oxymoron in our times, but it seems to be a matter of concern now. A pep-talk by a close friend might have saved Nakula's life.

Finally, the refusal of IIT authorities to take this issue up for discussion is baffling. They can't just brush it under the carpet. It is a very serious issue and has already taken lives. Authorities must come up with some solution for reducing the stress levels. While it depends on the individual for the most part how s/he deals with the stress, some counseling by peers and professors can help. Incidentally, IITB has one full-time counselor for students, two psychiatrists and one psychologist attached to the IIT Hospital, how easily reachable they were is another question. I understand that perhaps the family too didn't want much publicity about this unfortunate incident, neither did IIT. But the issue remains, they have to first acknowledge the problem to come up with a solution.

Update: Hindustan Times has an article about this here.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Noteworthy feat


This photo was my entry to Photofriday's weekly contest last week. The theme was Warmth. This one was chosen to be among top 6 "noteworthy" photos in the contest by popular vote (My link is named "Buddies"). This photo appeared on my photoblog on 11th November. I clicked this one some time ago, wasn't very much pleased at first. The road was dusty, sun was too bright and colors not warm enough. But after little tinkering with GIMP, it came out good. Still, I won't say this is my best attempt.

I'd put this up at my Flickr account and monologist commented -
This is perhaps one of the best pictures I've seen on flickr or perhaps even in my life [and i've seen my share of interesting pictures]
But here is why I love this picture.
In the background there exists the busy and hectic life, people have no time for anything just going from point A to point B.
The temperature is so dried and arrid that it sort of addresses the mood of the people in the towm.
But yet its still lively in exicitement that you lose yourself within it all.
And there in the very corner of life, there exists too friends, perhaps even best friends that share a unique bond with each other.
The other friend doesn't have a bike, so the other actually gets off his bike and walks side by side, symbolically of how he would walk side by side through out life.
The other friend points to whatever amuses him, which is symbolical of how life is ammsuing for all of us, if only we would open our eyes.
And then it silences westerns etc, because no matter how 'poor' or 'poverty striken' we believe the developing countries are... there is something there that's so gut wrenching and so real, that we can't really ever fathom in our lives.
And this is why I love this picture.
I didn't think this deep while clicking this one, but that is quite an interpretation. My wishes are with her, she'd make a good photo-critic :-).

Needless to say I'm very happy and proud over this. Photofriday is a very reputed website when it comes to online photography contests and this was my first attempt there. I must be mighty lucky because the other pictures selected just took my breath off; beginner's luck they say :-). Hopefully the luck will stay with me, atleast till CAT this Sunday.

Ah, and this would be a good time to be a regular at my photoblog :-D.

Update: Thanks to Photofriday, my photoblog got 600+ hits during the day with about 190 unique visitors. I'm lurrrving it! :-)

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Some Google Giri.

I don't exactly remember when I first found out about Google. Life has never been the same since then! Ego surfing became a fad; insignificant nonsensical webpages with ones names were indexed and used to pamper egos. I am not much into it tho', tried it sometime back - there just aren't many distinguished "Varun Singh"s out there. Then Raj published this tag thing on his blog - I need... So I'm posting some similar stuff here.

Varun Wants -

  • Varun wants to increase the salaries by 20% per year which is desirable, ...
    (Bull's Eye!)
  • Varun wants to work out details and expenditure plans for a community self ...
    (Money is life, rest is mere details)
  • varun wants to know y did Mp deal with Arjun.
    (OK, I'm all ears. Mp you come first. Arjun you're next.)
  • Varun wants the customers to stick to paranthas even for desserts.
    (Show me the desserts first)
  • Varun wants to emphasize that South Asian candidates are getting smarter and gaining momentum.
    (Yaay! Paheli for Oscars ;-)
Varun Needs -
  • Varun needs more than Varde's "exceptional" coaching.
    (Sona-Chandi Chavyanprash!)
  • If Varun needs it reopened he can re-open it ;)
    (Quite an offer, I'm honored!)
  • Varun needs college money :)
    (You're my mate!)
  • Varun needs highly scientific training to fulfil his dream of a medal in the Asiad.
    (Or just Sona-Chandi Chavyanprash)
  • Varun needs to shoot himself now! :D
    (@%$@%!%^$!@$!&%@!%^#$)

Varun Likes -
  • varun likes to rock
    (Ah.. those were the times)
  • Varun likes music and is good at roller-skating too..
    (Yup I'm just brilliant at liking roller-skating)
  • varun likes me? ...
    (Show me the booty and I might!)
  • varun likes Running around naked
    (:-o But then its a little too chilly nowadays for that)
  • Varun likes Ron Weasley
    (Objection meeeelaaaaaard!)
Then there is Montage-a-google. It uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords. This is what it generated for me (nothing *interesting*) -

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Happy Deepawali!


The nation celebrates Deepawali today. May this day bring boundless happiness to your family. (Also posted on my photoblog)

Saturday, October 29, 2005

India, the global economy's idiot savant

Today's Economic Times carries an interesting preview to an article to be published in October 31 issue of the Fortune magazine. Some excerpts (full article here) -

"Bad government and inadequate infrastructure " prevented India from matching China's economic growth although both nations started reforms in early 1990s, the 'Fortune' magazine said on Friday. Slow disinvestment of PSUs, high tax rates and lack of labour reforms also came in the way of India attaining the same pace of growth as its Asian neighbour, the Hong Kong-based magazine said in an article to be published in October 31. Comparing India and China, it said "China's economic miracle was achieved by getting the basics right... India, by contrast, is the global economy's idiot savant. India flubs the obvious stuff." Though India and China had the same per capita income in early 1990s and started economic reforms at the same time, Fortune said "per capita income in China is more than twice what it is in India, and China takes in 12 times as much foreign investment."

Otherwise, Fortune was all praise for India's capability of producing hundreds of thousands of brilliant engineers a year, software houses managing complex data across thousands of miles for the world's most sophisticated clients. "India has world-class business leaders and, unlike China, solvent banks," it said, adding "yet, India flubs the obvious stuff.
"
I can't agree more to the Fortune article. Recently Infosys Chief Mentor, Mr. Narayan Murthy appeared on the BBC show, Hard Talk. Here is one relevant blurb from his interview -
Q. Well let me ask you, about the growing global competition. How do you think are you going to deal with the Chinese threat?
Murthy - At present India is at least five years ahead of China because of knowledge of the English language, then the project managing experience of Indians.

Q. But China has something which you have acknowledged that you don’t. It has a government that can deliver infrastructure, roads, communication. If the Chinese want something, the Chinese government can deliver it. This government cannot.
Murthy - We have been discussing with the leadership at both the state and the central level that India has to run faster to maintain the lead it has over China. I think in terms of higher education and talent availability, India has a decent advantage.

I hope our politicians and bureaucrats would listen to people like you and act quickly.

Q. If you can look ten years into the future do you think India will be in the lead when it comes to global technology?
Murthy -
India will continue to lead as long as our politicians, bureaucrats, corporate leaders and academicians realise that we have to work harder and smarter need to do things with a sense of alacrity, we need to create better physical infrastructure, better education infrastructure.

Q. And if you do not....
Murthy -
Then I don’t think India will have the position that it has today. There is no doubt about that. All these advantages will disappear like dew on a sunny morning if we become complacent, if we don’t act with alacrity.
There, Mr.Murthy has said it. India certainly holds a decent advantage when it comes to English proficiency or technical skills for that matter, but now that new competition is growing after seeing the Indian success, we are losing our edge fast. Unless the state comes forward to provide the worldclass infrastructure these firms want and deserve, India can't carry this edge for long.

But then we've politicians like Deve Gowda, who can't pull themselves up from the petty politics they spent their whole life in. Bangalore, which is the leader when it comes to the Indian IT revolution, is suffering badly because of the tussle between Gowda and the ex-CM SM Krishna. Gowda is acting as a roadblock to various projects which were started to improves the city's infrastructure.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Gowda again!

Gowda spews venom against IT men.

Bangalore, October 26: Using India’s premier IT show platform, former Prime minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday launched a fresh offensive against a section of IT sector, accusing them of carrying on a "whispering campaign" to destabilise his party’s coalition government with Congress in Karnataka. Attending the ‘Bangalore IT.IN 2005’ changing his earlier plans to skip it, Gowda charged that a section of the tech sector started the campaign within two or three months after the coalition came to power that IT firms were leaving Bangalore because of infrastructural woes.

As the chief guest at the four-day event, Gowda accused a section of IT sector of creating a ‘negative impression’ about the coalition government that it was not giving priority to infrastructure in Bangalore and started a "whispering campaign" that it firms were leaving the city.
He can't understand the basic funda that the best way to get back to the accusing companies is to actually provide good infrastructure! But I guess that's too much to ask, so here he is - ranting and panting against the entire IT industry.

Countdown tag.

Raj has tagged me (thanks buddy), here it goes -

10 Favorites:
Favorite Season: Deep winters. I enjoy the chilly mornings, pink days and early evenings. Ah.. you should be in Jaipur to enjoy winters! Those fat Jaipuri rajayi. Steaming kadhi & bajre ki roti - eating this by the chulha on the terrace .. yumm (going Jaipur in Nov. end, should be great!).
Favorite Sport: I used to play Cricket and I did well as the goalie of our wing's Football team. Enjoyed both equally. As for watching - Cricket, definitely.
Favorite Time: Lunch time. I get out of office to haunt M.G. Road area, often with my camera. I rebel in me gets the kick out of getting outta office during working hours :) and the foodie in me is just happy to be along. I've been eating alone since Nandu left for Mumbai, but I've started to enjoy it actually :).
Favorite Month: February - salary in 28 days! Plus I was born in February, but that doesn't count now as no one gifts interesting stuff once you grow up :-S
Favorite Actor: No one could be such favorite to me that I'd love every movie of his, but I liked most of 'em by Jim Carrey, Jackie Chan, Al Pacino. Bollywood has very few "actors" (loadsa stars tho') and I like Irfan most among them (he too is from Jaipur, I believe).
Favorite Actress: I was drooling after Cameron Diaz in The Mask. Like Uma Thurman, Drew Barrymore too.
Favorite Ice Cream: Dry fruits, rum-n-raisin.
Favorite Food: Chhola-bhatoora, Pizza, Rajma-Chawal.
Favorite Drink: Apple Juice, Mango shake, Coffee.
Favorite Place: Bed.

9 Currents:
Current Feeling: Jobless. And irritated because of insomnia.
Current O/S: Windows XP.
Current Windows Open: Firefox (tabs - Cricinfo, Blogger, Orkut, IMDB), Winamp, Wordweb.
Current Drink: Nothing.
Current Time: 3:05 AM
Current Mobile(s) Used: Samsung R 220. I have been using this thing from the last year in college. Never felt like buying a new one, it serves me well.
Current Show on TV: I assume this means current favorite show. I like "The Great Indian Comedy Show" and "The Great Indian Laughter Challange/Champion". Watch "Super Sale" often & "KBC-2" if I hit it while surfing.
Current Thought: Lata Mangeshkar is great! ("Aayega aane wala" is on the winamp)
Current Cloths: Why saaar?! Anyway, dark grey t-shirt with three-fourths made out of a jeans I scissored recently.

8 Firsts:
First Nick: Chotu, still prefer that parents and relatives call me that. Since I was the youngest among all the cousins, they named me Chotu - so they tell me.
First Kiss: :-S
First Crush: Aishwarya Rai in her "donate eye" ad. I was totally hypnotized by those green things. Can't care less now, but the crown goes to her.
First Computer: Bought in second year in college. P III-650 MHz I guess.
First Vehicle I drove: I was perfectly in love with my BSA Hercules MTB till I was promoted to Bajaj Sunny. I learnt driving four wheelers on a Police Gypsy, of course. I drove all the way to Dhaulpur from Kauroli, highest point of my driving career. Now I'm all out of touch and rusted.
First Job: Oracle.
First Movie I watched on Pulse Global’s print: What is pulse global print?! Anyway, I guess my first movie in cinema theater would be Jeeva (*ing- Sanju Baba at his dopu best) in Hanumangarh or perhaps Mard (*ing AB) in Anoopgarh. Aah.. it was Jeeva.
First Pet: We had a Pomeranian, Bobby, in Hanumangarh. I've first memories from that place only, but I'm positive it was the first pet we had. It was a great dog, I still bear a bite mark on my thigh. Just love dogs, till recently we had 2 pomeranians at Jaipur. Both of them died and my mom is not keen on getting another pup, I so wish she does.
First Shave: Towards the end of XII.

7 Lasts:
Last Chai (Tea) : No Tea for me, thanks.
Last Movie: The Truth About Love (horrible stuff!).
Last Time I Drove: This evening Jha and me went to the super-market.
Last Time Shaved: Yesterday evening.
Last Web Site Visited: http://www.imdb.com
Last Software Installed: Neat Image.
Last Pill I Had: Took lozenges for sore throat this evening.

6 Have You Evers:
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Traffic laws, yes. I've been fined 3-4 times.
Have You Ever Been Drunk: Oh yeah. College was fun!
Have You Ever Climbed a Tree: Many times, during childhood and afterwards.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Nopes.
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire or Bomb Blast: No. But we lived quite near to parade ground in Bharatpur and they used to fire there sometimes during parades and stuff, but I guess that doesn't count.
Have You Ever Broken Anyone’s Heart: Towards in end of my graduation, my B.Tech. project guide looked a little broken hearted. I never asked him about it though, so I'm no 100% sure.

5 Things:
Things You Can Hear Right Now: Chicane - Don't Give Up. An aeroplace taking off, distantly. Key clicks (?!)
Things on Your Computer Table: Umm.. I'm "working" on a laptop and the table is cluttered with books, pens, wires. My wallet & mobile is also there, somewhere.
Things on Your Bed: Quilt, pillow, one pair of shorts and another of pajama, "The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman", my bag.
Things You Ate Today: Rajma-rice in lunch (wasn't the best I've had) and in dinner lauki ki sabji with roti.
Things in Mind: Why am I not sleepy? Why didn't it rain today, when I took day's off? Office tomorrow.. shuxx!

4 Places You Have Been Today:
Kund, Indiranagar - was closed.
Vishaal restaurant - for lunch, was horrible.
Supermarket.
Cafe Coffee Day, Garuda Mall.

3 People You Can Tell Anything To:
I, me, myself.

2 Choices:
Black or White: Black.
Hot or Cold: Cold.

1 Thing You Want To Do Before You Die:
There are many things of course, but if it has to be just one thing, it has to be travel the world over, perhaps atleast 5 times.

So there you go. If you have read till here, kudos to you! And if you are cussing about what a waste of time it was - it should console you to know that I spend almost an hour behind this (and still no sleep :-( ).

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Old Politics vs New Economy

Former PM Deve Gowda has stirred the hornet's nest this time by blaming Infosys Mentor Narayan Murthy of making nil contribution towards the international airport in Bangalore. He further accused IT firms, and named Infosys, of grabbing land belonging to "poor,humble farmers" (link). Murthy, of course decided that enough is enough of this and resigned from the chairmanship of the Bangalore International Airport Limited. Further, Infosys provided the detailed account of all the acquisitions, removing all doubts about land grabbing. Gowda perhaps didn't expect that tables will turn on him like this and is now forced to eat the humble pie.

Shekhar Gupta has done a very interesting analysis of the whole issue in his column in Indian Express (Old Politics vs New Economy) -

This is no clash of personalities or egos. In a reforming Indian economy, this is our first experience of an inevitable clash, between old politics and new economy. Our traditional old politician was at peace with the old economy, where the businessman depended on him for licences, quotas, permissions and clearances and then, to protect him from the extortionist inspector raj and finally, to keep the taxman and other likely raiders off his back. The new economy businesses need none of that.

The IT ministry came up before our political class thought of even setting up an IT ministry. The political class has never quite accepted this. Given half a chance, it would have tried to "rectify" this, by bringing the regulation and restrictions into the sector so that it could somehow acquire discretionary powers. That it can do no such thing, given the iconic status the new economy has acquired, its capacity to generate wealth — and jobs — and the international recognition it has achieved, must be galling for the practitioner of old politics. This is just the sentiment Gowda is reflecting. The mutually comfortable arrangement of the old economy was underlined so profoundly by the late Dhirubhai Ambani in an interview to T.N. Ninan (then at India Today) with his immortal "I will salaam anybody" quote. So dramatically has the situation changed today that both his sons would tell you they no longer need to call on anybody in Delhi for anything.

That is not the equation politicians of Gowda's generation relish. They are loathe to cede the power space to the entrepreneur like this. They still see the businessman as the archetypal "sethji", or "lala", who has to wait outside their door and pay their personal and political bills. The new economy has demolished that paradigm. It needs almost nothing from the government, except decent infrastructure wherever they are based, and some land which, in our country, is still either controlled by the government, or must be acquired by it. This is the one power old politics still has and this is what Gowda has seized upon. Hence the attack on Murthy is to do with real estate — his motivation is to grab real estate and make profits in it ("at the cost of the poor farmers") rather than expand an enterprise that will create more jobs, wealth, taxes and prestige.

But I would reckon Gowda is too shrewd not to know this won't work in the long run, that nobody, even the most destitute farmer whose behalf he pretends to speak on, will buy any of this. Fifteen years of reform may not have drawn out all of the socialist venom in our systems but they have brought about enough change so that it is no longer so easy to paint a Murthy, a Tata, a Premji or an Ambani as mere capitalist usurpers and to turn the jobless millions on them. The new India loves and cherishes its entrepreneurs (capitalists?) more than it trusts its politicians.

Gowda is now wallowing in his own isolation and irrelevance and taking his frustration out in a totally lost cause (for himself and the old politics he personifies) on the one man the rich and the poor all adore and the one industry the right and the left of our politics both love, and woo desperately. So here is my final argument and prediction: another hall-mark of our old politics was the cynical realism of its practitioners. It's a matter of time before this truth dawns on our youngest former prime minister as well and you'd see him cutting his losses and back-tracking, if only the Congress would stay firm.
I think Gupta has been spot on in his analysis, but it might take some time before the vacuous politicians' bluff is called by the voters. In a democracy where a vote is as cheap as a bottle of alcohol or few hundred rupees, phoney leaders are bound to get elected. Moreover, since Gowda dons the cloak of Robin Hood to fool the voters (I'm here to save you from evil capitalist designs), his predominently rural vote bank would hear only his side of the story. The contribution made by Murthy and likes are not as explicit as ones *claimed* by the Gowdas. It's really ironic that Gowda must accuse Infosys or other IT firms of grabbing land; here in Bangalore one hears quite often about the land grabbed by Gowda and his sons!

Raj offers a solution to the immediate problem - bump off the old politician (There is a Sunny Deol hidden in this fella, believe me!). This is perfectly inline with one theory I studied in the single psychology course I took - frustration leads to physical aggression (By the way things are going on his blog, I feel very soon we'll have India's, perhaps World's first Online Supari Center, with a totally different meaning to "hit-count" :) ). Jokes apart, the solution lies in the enlightenment of the masses. They should understand the implications of making an ill-informed choice while voting. But then they too have to choose the least evil among the evils. It's all a vicious cycle and leaves me staring into dark abyss everytime I try to think about it.

Politics in crisis.


(Left: Pakistani side - waiting for a meal. Right: Indian side - waiting for relief.)

Somini Sengupta writes for The New York Times (full article) -
Calamities of nature do not just test the capacity of a state. They can also offer unexpected opportunities for political craftsmanship. Take India. The government has announced that it needs no international aid to recover from the Oct. 8 earthquake. Indian officials say that they are able to care for their own, and that tents are coming from private producers and the Indian military. It is too early to tell whether India, which seeks a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, can go it alone. Certainly there is anger in Indian-administered Kashmir among people who have been forced to build their own tents out of the wooden beams and tin sheets retrieved from the rubble of their homes. In short, India has been anxious to portray itself as a giver, rather than a receiver. "What we can manage on our own, we do," said Hamid Ansari, a retired Indian diplomat. "There's a certain sense of self-confidence that we can manage it and, let me say, a desire to signal that you are capable of managing things on your own."

Pakistan's approach has been exactly the opposite. Hit a whole lot harder by the Oct. 8 quake - its official death toll stood at 42,000 on Tuesday- Pakistan has appealed for worldwide help and allowed foreigners to travel to its side of Kashmir and to the traditionally well-guarded pockets of North-West Frontier Province, the two areas that suffered the greatest damage.
Tavleen Singh retorts strongly in Indian Express (full article) -
I write today from New York where the New York Times has a picture on its front page with a caption that conveys the impression that all is well in Pakistan but on the Indian side relief has not reached victims. "‘In Pakistan, Awaiting a Meal; in India, Awaiting Relief", said the caption under a picture of Pakistani victims in Balakot eating a meal. The New York Times correspondent who wrote it was impressed with Pakistan's relief efforts and disapproved of India because the Indian government had refused international aid. "‘In short, India has been anxious to portray itself as a giver, rather than a receiver."’ Implication: how dare India get so uppity.

I am not usually chauvinistic or overly patriotic but confess to being irritated by the unfairness of the attack on India in one of the world'’s most respected newspapers. In the face of such a terrible tragedy you would imagine that at least the Press would stay away from playing petty politics. But, politics appears to be the name of the game for everyone. When India offered aid on day one it appears to have been a political move since the government has been unable so far to provide tents for our own victims. This is outrageous considering that the Army alone should be able to supply tents in sufficient numbers.

When Pakistan refused India's help but asked instead for helicopters unmanned by Indian pilots we see evidence of more politics at play. And, when Kashmir'’s separatist leaders like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq complained on almost the first day about the lack of response from India Inc we see more politics at play. When terrorists continued their murderous attacks, last week, it was again a matter of politics (we are still alive and killing) and when they distribute relief it seems also to be a matter of politics. Then, we have the politically connected vultures in Srinagar already contacting businessmen in Mumbai to alert them about big pickings in the reconstruction process.

The Kashmir earthquake exposed South Asia at its worst. It exposed the basic lack of compassion on the part of those who rule us and it exposed the hopelessly inadequate infrastructure that most Indians and Pakistanis are forced to suffer because our governments have been too busy spending money on war machines. On the Indian side it is outrageous that journalists and TV crews should have been able to reach remote villages before relief did. And, outrageous that even after last December's tsunami the government has been unable to put in place a disaster relief mechanism that goes into immediate effect in a crisis. The requirements are always the same ' medical assistance, food and shelter'— and yet every time disaster strikes we see the same hopelessly inadequate response. And, the same resort to empty gestures. What is the point of the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi "‘rushing"’ to Kashmir if they cannot ensure adequate relief?

India is right in refusing international aid. We do not need it. We have more than enough supplies of medicines, food and tents. What our officials lack is the ability to respond quickly and compassionately to a crisis. And this shames us time after time after time.
Tavleen Singh hit the nail in the head when she derived the implication of NYTimes article - "How dare India get so uppity". This is not the first time I have seen western press biased against India. Perhaps India, out of pride or a planned political move, underestimated the gravity of the matter and refused the aid, but to imply that everything is alright on the Pakistani side due to international aid is ludicrous. As I understand, the hilly terrain in PoK is inaccessible to such an extent that the aid hasn't reached many areas till now (Balakot is not a part of PoK, it's quite accessible & well connected). But for the jehadi militants working in the area, who worked hard to help the victims, no aid has reached those areas.

But as Tavleen pointed out, the blame has to be put on Indian government too. Why isn't there a decent crisis-management plan? Why does it take us so long to help and rescue the victims? She summed it up well with - "What our officials lack is the ability to respond quickly and compassionately to a crisis."

Monday, October 24, 2005

10000 cross!


Time to pop champagne! After my photoblog, its the turn of this blog - "Lies, damned lies & blogs" have had hits in excess of 10000 now.

Keep coming back and keep contributing to the hit count.

Welcome to Bangalore!


The airport road flyover (under-construction!)

Google Earth, the latest toy of every netizen, has decent coverage of Bangalore - the silicon valley of India. God bless Bangalorian at BBS Keyhole forums who has made an extensive set of placemarks for Bangalore. It has almsot all the major landmarks covered, including important roads, junctions, railway stations, malls, hospitals, etc. You can get the placemark file from this location. If you still haven't installed Google Earth, take it from here.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Original Cannibal Jokes

Q. How to identify a cannibal girl?
A. By hair (in her teeth).

Q. What is the dual competition called in Cannibal land?
A. "Your flesh or mine".

Q. What's most famous game show in Cannibal land?
A. "Who wanna be my dinner?" & "Survivor".

Q. The most popular band dish in Cannibal land?
A. "The Boneless Boys" & "The Spiced Girls".

At the Right Place @ the Right Time

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Indian team's camp is kept at National Cricket Academy, which happens to be at a walkable distance from my office. This afternoon, I took my camera along to the stadium. The doors were closed and I climbed the 10 ft high fence to catch a glimpse (I shouted their names too, no one returned even a glance). I didn't have the best seat in the house, so the pictures have a blue rod obstructing the view. Never mind.

In the first image we have (L to R) Chappell, Sachin, RP Singh, Yuvraj & Gambhir. Second image - Tendulkar & Chappell. Third - Dhoni bats as Harbhajan looks. Last picture - Sachin, Murli Karthik, Pathan (bowling) & Harbhajan. Click on the images to see a bigger version.

And lastly, the wall-
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

I pulled that autowala (in Khaki dress) up! I never knew I can climb this tall a wall, leave alone pull people up :). Thanks Mom for all the Dabur Chavyanprash!

Monday, October 17, 2005

Lies, damned lies and fake blogs

If you are following the latest controversy that has hit the Indian blogsphere, "Lies, damned lies and fake blogs" would be a familiar phrase to you. If you don't know what I am talking about, please check this & this, Amit Varma & Desi Pundit are following the events closely. I just wanted to make it clear that my blog (Lies, damned lies and blogs) is not involved, as of yet. When I named this blog, I was as clueless as any parents would be to name their newborn. I took the inspiration from the cliche - Lies, damned lies and statistics. The name isn't particularly relevant to the blog - I don't post truck loads of just lies - but I still like it. It sounds sophisticated, without giving any hint about the content at the blog :).

As for the controversy, I haven't yet made up my mind. I have been watching it from the fence though. From the outside, it looks as if the institute is flexing muscles to swat the small publication and the sympathetic bloggers. The ugly turns could have been avoided though and the institute & the students seem to be the culprits here. If they felt their reputation was defamed by the deeds of the magazine, they should have taken the matter to the court and produce the proofs the refute all the claims made by the magazine. Abusing the editor and coercing an MNC to take action against their employee, the blogger, is petty and downright condemnable.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

All that ends well..

He hated festivals. And this was Diwali - the mother of all festivals in India. He was grumpy all day. He hated the lonely feeling, the empty office, the view of happy people on the roads, the noise of crackers - almost everything about it. He was miffed by the exuberating TV presenters, the news channels showing the happy people from different cities, the radio jockeys who just couldn't stop playing Diwali songs - the feeling kept coming back that no one cares for him!

It was another lonely day at office. None of his friends or people around his cubicle were present, they had all gone home. Lead-footed, he entered the empty lift. Two security personnel entered the lift one floor below. One of them, visibly the senior, was looking as if he wanted to say something - he was too depressed to notice, of course. As the lift hit the ground floor, he exited first. Just then the security guy spoke, "Happy Diwali, sir" and offered a warm handshake. The other security guy did the same, a little less warmly though.

He was feeling better as he entered the parking lot. His day had ended with a smile.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

A Landmark Achievement

How cheap is it to boast about the hits on one's blog -- duh.. like I give a damn!

My photoblog - A View To Kill - finally crossed the 10000 hits mark . It started on our Pune journey in December '04. I clicked many snaps with Jha's Canon Powershot S1. Pretty soon the photography fever gripped me big time! I started the photoblog on 7th April, 2005 and till date it has about 190 pictures. I was using Jha's camera till recently, then I bought myself a Panasonic DMC Lumix FZ-20. Both the cameras are really very sophisticated pieces of machinery and have satisfied me immensely.

My skills have shown considerable improvement too. The genuine interest in the art drew me to read online tutorials, see other's work and appreciate the fundamentals of photography. While I have experimented a lot with my camera in my room, I enjoy outdoors much more. Partly because, I don't have any lighting equipments or many interesting subjects to shoot indoors. I still feel I've covered a very small area, which I good because this feeling always keeps me on the heels for interesting pics.

Ah.. now, the trick to get there - I have reduced the visibility on the photoblog to just one day per page. So if someone browses through the pictures, that many hits are added to the count . And changing my homepage URL at orkut from this blog to my photoblog has contributed decently.

Finally, if you haven't already paid a click - its the best time to browse through my pictures and comment too, if you feel like it. Appreciation is welcomed & criticism is invited.

Some of my recent favorites -
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Monday, October 10, 2005

Wear the old coat and ...

Dear Rupa,
A gift for folding the bed?
Sandeep,
10/10/83
Not the most elegant inscription perhaps, it still thrilled me to see the same at the first page of the old copy of Shame - Salman Rushdie, I bought from Blossom's recently. Just think of it, I was born in February '82 and when Sandeep gifted the crisp new copy of the latest Rushdie book to Rupa, I was just a toddler of 18 months in all. The book also has an aged bookmark which says - "Love is ... sharing a book".

"Wear the old coat and buy the new book", so they say at Crossword, but I have found out the opposite to be a more exciting option :). Let me remind you of the french cinematic classic - Amelie. There the protagonist - Amelie - finds a box tucked behind the tiles in her apartment which has stored memories of a boy for many decades. She finds the fellow, who has aged to his salt-n-pepper hair, and returns the box to him. Old books, with personal inscriptions, notes & names make me feel the same. Like Shame, I've quite a few used books with me - some of them have some words underlined (to build vocabulary, I suppose), some really old ones have brownish pages whose edges shade off gradually, many have names written on them - all of them carry a small bit of the characters of their old owners.

Another good thing about this - and I have no shame to admit it - I save good money by buying used books. I have discovered a few used book stores by now, but the one that beats them all hands down has to be Blossom's. They have quite extensive coverage of topics and authors. You can find technical books, books on photography, classics of Shakespear, verses of Keats - books on almost everything under the sun. They keep new copies of latest books as well and even the prices are a tad lower than other bookstores, but it is a good idea to check first with the street vendors for the pirated copies of the latest books. But the collection with those guys is very limited and quite often I have been disappointed.

If you happen to be in Bangalore and books interest you, you must pay a visit to Blossom's. Its located on the Church Street, just opposite to Three Quarter Chinese/ Ameoba Sports Bar. I have the Google Earth placemark for the place with me, just drop a mail if you want it.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Fury

Monday, bloody Monday. He took out his bike and took the longer route to the office. It was long but here he has more of the "drive time" and wastes less time in traffic and at the signals.

He felt detached and wondered if everyone felt this way. He had always felt detached. When he had triumphed and people were joyous around him - he couldn't believe his own achievement and the moment passed in front of his eyes like a movie. When tragedy struck, he got into denial and forced himself to believe that nothing happened - sitting on the fence and watching, uninvolved. Even insult could not get him interested in his own life - his subconscious mind consoled him at every single one of his grave failures that it happens to everybody! He had spent his life as if he was a scooterist waiting at a railway crossing, for the thundering train to pass - he was waiting for his life to start. He wasn't pitying himself, he just didn't seem to care. What was the leading emotion in his life?

--Screech-- ! An autorickshaw had jumped the signal and was now in front of his bike, awkwardly - not able to proceed any further, not moving back. "Madar****" - he cussed instinctively. The driver didn't bat an eyelid. Then he noticed two mousey, precocious school girls sitting at the back of the auto, gawking at him in astonishment. He revved up the engine and got moving. His ears were burning red with rage.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Encouragement Needed.

Middle of the week, we talk about cricket!

In a Cricinfo poll last week, 49% of those who voted said that Zimbabwe should be stripped of their Test status, with 38% advocating a similar fate for Bangladesh. About 26% thought both should stay and Kenya should be brought in. 27% people believed that test cricket should be divided into 2 tiers while about 48% advised that performance benchmarking should be made the basis of awarding and relegating the test status. Almost two thirds of the samples didn't believe in restricting the test status to a limited number of teams.

The contrast between the super charged Ashes series and the SL-BD & Ind-Zim test series was stark. While Ashes brought back the glory to test cricket, the other two series were plain boring like most of the Bollywood movies. The results were clear even before the start and the tests were interesting only from a statistician's point of view. The debate about stripping Bangladesh & Zimbabwe off the test status raised it head again after such lackluster performances from these two teams, again. Bangladesh has played 40 test matches till now and has recorded win in only 1 till date, that too , you guessed it! - Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was well on the path of gathering momentum after the debut in 1992, but most of their established players were forced to leave the country due to the political fiasco in the nation.








CountryDebutFirst Test Win (Test#)First Series Win (Series #)

India

1932

1952 (25)

1952-53 (9)

New Zealand

1930

1956 (45)

1969-70 (31)

Pakistan

1952

1952 (2)

1955-56 (4)

South Africa

1889

1906 (12)

1905-06 (6)

Sri Lanka

1982

1985 (14)

1985-86 (8)

West Indies

1928

1930 (6)

1934-35 (5)

Zimbabwe

1992

1995 (11)

1998-99 (16)

Bangladesh

2000

2005 (34)

2004-05 (18)



So how much water does this argument holds against these minnows? As the table above shows, almost all of the test playing nations had to wait for a while before getting a firm grip on the international turf and register a win. But have we spared them a bit too many chances? Bangladesh might not have won against any other test playing nations, other than Zimbabwe, but they have certainly shown improvement. While the team performance is still poor, some brilliant individual talents have made their mark in the international scene. Batsman like Ashraful & bowlers like Murtaza and Rafique are capable of getting place in more than one test playing teams. Their success at the international scene might give the gen next a hope to compete with the best, just same as Kapil Dev's success inspired next generation of fast bowlers in India. The onus lies on the Bangladeshies too. They must show improvement in every tour. Defeat is not a matter of shame, not learning from your mistakes is. They should take the story of Sri Lankan success as their inspiration as strive to do better.

How much a two-tier system help these minnows? These teams need the exposure to top class team most and the two tier system will take away their chances for the same. The argument in favor of two tier system are on the line of having more competitive games. The matches between these minnows and big teams are absolutely no shows. But if we see like this, the domestic cricket in India doesn't attract much public attention, the stadia are mostly vacant. So should we discontinue those tournaments also? No! Not only the weaker teams but many other test playing teams are plagued with the lack of competent bench strength. The problem lies with the substandard domestic arena. The mediocre players pile up runs against poor bowling and the blunt bowlers shine against unimaginative batting. The result - these players are grossly unprepared for the international arena! The two tier system will never let the weaker teams be competent enough to compete with the best.

ICC must pay attention that the domestic cricket gets adequate attention by the corresponding cricket boards. I suggest that during English and Australian summers, along with the local counties, second string teams from other nations - bunch of talented players needing the exposure - should be allowed to compete in the Pura Cup and the County Season. Not only this will help them understand the rigours of the international cricket, it'll also raise the bar for their own performances. If ICC has to expand the circle of cricket, such steps are most required now.

Postsecret




Taken from http://postsecret.blogspot.com/. Amazing stuff!

Sunday, October 02, 2005

The wonder that was Mahatma



Today is Gandhi jayanthi. Father of the nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on the same day in 1869. It is just another day, with a tinge of sadness on missing on a public holiday, today being a Sunday. I'm sure many more Indians feel like me. Through out my schooling, we kids took this day just as another holiday. But for some miniscule changes in the routine (no liquor at shops, etc.), it's very tough to notice the difference. How many of us observe 2 minutes of silence at 11:00 AM?

For our generation, Gandhi was already mythologized. I was born after 35 years of Gandhi's assassination. Whatever I gathered about the legend was from legends only. Not having the fortune of having him in our times, our generation was fed on the pre-digested impressions about the Mahatma. Text books, Newspapers, Magazines, Films - all glorified him in the same way Gods and ancient mythological heroes are applauded. In facts, it amused me greatly to know for the first time that my grandfather and Gandhiji were present at the face of the Earth at the same time (I was very young then). So, this glamourizing distanced Gandhiji from me and immortalized him as a God, not a great man but God.

I myself didn't make many scholarly pursuits to know more about the man - Gandhi. Time and again, some movie, some play, some writings about Gandhi would stir "public emotions" and news channels would hold debates over them - I used to hit the button on them. Then, I stumbled upon a article written by Swagato Ganguly for TOI dated 01-OCT-2005. I tried finded it on their site and on http://epaperdaily.timesofindia.com , all in vain. Finally, I took a picture of it and uploaded it (available here). It presents some sound arguments against Gandhi's principles. Some excerpts:-
If one takes the principle weapons that could save Indian children - modern medicines, high incomes and education (particularly female literacy) - Gandhi was ambivalent about last two, and decidedly against the first. When Kasturba was dying, Gandhi would not allow doctors to administer penicillin to her. The incident is usually cast in a heroic mould by hagiographers, but it is reasonable whether this would have been Kasturba's uncoerced choice in the matter.
It carries on criticizing Gandhi's take on education, charkha & village economy model, Gandhi's thoughts about the textile industry. The article tries to find the root of every present day problem in a philosopher's idea who is dead half a century ago. Interesting! It ends with -
Six decades into Independence we should be able to look our national heroes in the eye, warts and all. The problem is not that we are irreverent towards our founding fathers; the problem is that we are not irreverent enough.

Update: Found the article on TOI website - The God That Failed. Another article appeared in today's TOI - Gandhian economics is relevant.