Its just a Blog!

There is something about Rahman

2011-10-24T00:21:00.003+05:30

On a Sunday night, listening to A. R Rehman must be one of those luxurious lifestyles which only kings can desire; well in other words middle class folks cannot afford such luxurious lifestyle.

But when the Maestro composes he does it with an ingredient to intoxicate even the most innocent of souls. Listen to it once and twice, and consecutive plays are like those sweet smelling fumes building on you in the famous coffee shops of Holland. Mohit Chauhan adds more addiction to the music & lyrics with his perfectly stretched rhythmic voice. His voice itself serves as the music in intentional gaps of silences made to let the listener utilize the rhythm of the music and generate them in their minds. Well, A.R Rahman forces you to love music.

The transition from a middle class entertainment setup to the kingly one is easy. Just switch to A.R.Rahman, esp Rockstar numbers.

The Nano - Part 2

2011-06-10T20:11:00.002+05:30

The initial visits to the service station were not very smooth. The clutch started producing a squeaking noise and turned hard after the first service. So I had to visit again. They changed the wire. The noise subsided but the hardness remained. Couple of more visits to the service shop was needed for some small issues and re-fixing the clutch. Yes, if your service shop is far away from your home, you'd better do without the Nano or learn to live with annoying small issues.
Its a car which needs some more seasoning. I figured out that the service station was very eager to replace problematic parts. Tata should think about re-designing couple of them too, for example the wiper spray is completely ineffective in it current design; it is very evident that its a design fault, the access to the coolant container is unimaginably difficult which is also the engine compartment. Very rarely do people want to see the engine compartment except when its an emrgency to refill the liquids. I wonder if the Tata engineers had their target audience in mind when designing such parts. I hope that they would solve this issue of access to the engine compartment in their later versions.
The Nano has power assisted brakes. They perform very well, but sometimes when excessively used become suddenly hard as if the engine has been switched off, but regains back the vacuum power again. This might be a bit annoying and risky in slow moving traffic.
The light weight at the front affects the ride quality on bumpy roads. The suspension is on the harder side, so the bumpy feeling is more on rough roads.
Well that ends my list of issues on this lean machine. All the rest are strengths of the car. For someone who is looking at low running cost with equally low initial investment on a 4 wheeler, this is the perfect choice.
The brand will not get you any brownies because the whole world knows you have a mere Rs. 1 lac car, while actually you might have shelled out more than double of that. Nevertheless you will have that smile in your face knowing that you are getting the same luxury as that of your neighbor whose running cost is double as that of yours.

Did I mention that it consistently gave me 22+ kmpl on highways at 70-80kmph with 4 on board?

Tata Nano - a lean concept

2011-06-05T23:39:00.003+05:30

The concept of going lean is addictive. It is something I realized after buying my Tata Nano.
It now reads more than 9000kms on the odo and has given me an average of 17.5kmpl. Do some simple math and you will realize that I have spent Rs4/km on an average. With a damaged tire of Rs2000/- and around Rs.800/- in total for all the service visits made throughout the year I have spent Rs.40000/- for the Nano’s ‘luxury’. Compare that with any car and you would know the savings, but compare it with a 2-wheeler and you would know why there aren’t too many people who upgraded to a Nano from a 2-wheeler. Clearly it’s a city car, not an alternative to a 2-wheeler. But what is interesting is its maximum-car-for-minimum-cost approach.

Every morning whether it is hot or breezy I try the AC and sometimes keep the windows open too, the fresh wind feels cool. Well even the bike lovers would envy. The engine is a marvel, in performance.
The noise does sound like an auto if you are standing in the rear of the car, but sit inside and the rough note disappears. Its noisier than the sedans, but very tolerable. Well sometimes the loud note can make you doubt if you have those sporty mufflers. Start rolling and you would realize that the only drivers who might feel in better control of the road than you may be those in higher mounted SUVs. I would easily compare the seating position and the visibility with that of a Prius. Brilliant design. The tyres are small, especially the front tyres are small and thinner, but don’t bother about it because the thuds you hear from the pot-holes are more composed than many sedans. Ofcourse, there is a braking issue to worry about. Because of the lighter weight at the front and thin tyres, they tend to skid quite easily. So please be careful on wet roads.
The steering is direct. Thanks to the lighter weight of the car in the front, the steering is manageable. It is fun for the enthusiast, but for a lady it might be tough. Its smaller in size and because of its direct feel, the sense of control is high. Simple yet effective!

contd....in Part 2.

#-o ???

2010-01-20T16:00:00.007+05:30

With the evolution of chat messenger, and fewer usage of words to communicate, smileys play a big role to express in short about our 'mood'. My smiley vocabulary was very limited and I felt it was sufficient to effectively communicate my mood and also look trendy. I was wrong! GenNext has evolved an exhaustive list of smileys and frequently use them too. For those trying to catch up to the Smiley generation, here are some good references:

http://www.charm.net/~kmarsh/smiley.html
http://www.muller-godschalk.com/yahoo.html

Characters	Icon	Meaning	another way
:-)		happy	:)	(-:	(:
:-))		very happy	:))
:-D		big smile	:D
:-O		surprised / o, no	:O
:-P		tongue sticking out	:P	:-p	:p
;-)		wink	;)
:-(		sad	:(
:-((		very sad	:((
:-/		confused	:-\
:">		embarrassed
:->		vicious	:>
:-\|		undecided	:\|
B-)		wearing sunglasses
:-B		wearing regular glasses / nerd	:B
X-(		angry	x-(	X(	x(
:-X		in love	:-x	:X	:x
I-)		asleep	\|-)	I-\|
=;		talk to my hand
@};-		rose
<):)		cowboy
8-X		skull
=:-)		alien	=:)
0:-)		angel
>:)		devil
:O)		clown	:o)	:0)	<@:)
3:-O		cow	3:-o	3:O
:(\|)		monkey
:O)		pig	:@)
**==		US-flag
(~~)		pumpkin
[-(		crossed arms / in a huff
*-:)		light bulb
:-$		shhh
~:>		chicken
~o)		cup of coffee
%%-		lucky / clover
b-(		beat up
:)>-		peace
:-&		sick
=*		kiss	:-*	:*
;;)		flirt / blink	;;-)
/:-)		what / raise eyebrow	/:)
(%)		ying/yang
o-+		Yahoo Fighter - April
o=>		Yahoo Fighter- Billy
o->		Yahoo Fighter- Hiro
:-L		mad
[-o<		praying
[-X		No no no
>:D<		this much / hugging
\:D/		swinging / dancing
=D>		applause
:-?		thinking
:^o		liar	:^O
@-)		hypnotized
8-\|		looking around / rolling eyes
8-}		crazy
(:\|		tired
=p~		drooling
$-)		money eyes
:-"		whistling
#-o		doh!

Media, MBA and jobs

2009-12-14T12:40:00.003+05:30

In India a good MBA is equated to a fat salary, a babu's position and several such job options being pushed right through your throat. Those with dry throats have no brand equity, bride certainty and even peer civility. Forget the work they intend to do, were doing or start to do as an entrepreneur. The only mention that budding entrepreneurs get is:
"78 students got 120 job offers with an average of 21 lakhs domestic salary and $180,000 international salary. IBs picked up the cream, Consulting companies came next on day 1, the highest offer was made by an IB of Rs. 1.2 crore .....blah blah blah...." and finally as a last note " 2 students dropped out of placements to start their own ventures."

Poor souls! where they needed the most spotlight, they got the least. Compare this to the news about small companies in the Bay Area, CA. Every other day small innovative companies with their unique inventions and innovations hog the media limelight. Budding entrepreneurs are interviewed and news about their startups spread like fire. This is how we knew about Tesla, the electric car company and many others when they did not even start their production process, but just in their inception stages.

Media in India - the promotion agent, adds to the woes of Indian mba grads. How else do you think that those guys who left their lush jobs to do an MBA with dreams to have their own startups suddenly fall in line running for campus placements?
Neighbourhood uncle asks "Beta, aapki college mein kaisa campussing chal rahi hei, companies to aajkal ek mahine se prolonged interview lete hein na?" --- an effect of Business Standard newspaper article "More firms pay early visit to size up aspiring senior managers". The Indian MBA grad knows that his answer with be directly equated to his brand equity and bride eligibility.

Thus, the India MBA grad, and more so the 1yr MBA grad (who is supposed to have more responsibilities) has so many expectations to meet that he falls in line. The line drawn by society and media!

Cartoon - MBA Players, originally uploaded by omkar_maz.

Strategic Mgmt classes - leave your experiences outside the door!

2009-09-14T14:31:00.005+05:30

Our STM (Strategic Mgmt) classes sometimes explode with differences of opinion. I love it till the point that CP happens after putting in some thought behind the words. Well, must say that its quite tough to frustrate our amicable prof. of Strato class. I, being more of a listener, find it interesting to observe the hapazard routes CP takes sometimes.....and sometimes distinctly shows off its inertia of thoughts!

prof: what are the problems of the 5 forces model?
student 1: 5 forces is not dynamic.
prof: can you explain that?
student 1: Sir, it static!!
prof: anyone else wants to elaborate on why 5 forces is not dynamic?
student2: sir, suppose ............blah blah..
prof: exactly it means 5 forces is not dynamic model. Does anyone want to add any other shortcomings of 5 forces model?
student 3: sir, it is a snapshot at a particular instant....blah blah..
prof: but we already discussed its a static model, did you listen to what we discussed just a min back?

Today we had a discussion on the importance of Core Competitiveness and core products. Google happened to be an example. I remembered my Economics writeup on Google, Microsoft and Yahoo where I too got 100/100 (yes many others got too in their writeups).
True, we often miss to see or rather carefully notice why companies do well and keep surviving inspite of consistent attacks by big giant competitors like MS.
Here's the link on why Google will emerge on top inspite of all the circus MS does in association with Yahoo in the search market. Link: http://bytes2bits.blogspot.com/2009/09/microsoft-yahoo-google-tussle-is-here_6019.html . Do feel free to comment or differ.

Henry Mintzberg -- the guru

2009-08-12T00:16:00.005+05:30

Henry Mintzberg - from today I'm a fan of this guy. There have been numerous discussions and debates on leadership & management and about how important each of them is. Quite obviously people are always left confused and no doubt the great leadership skills of the iconic J.Welch have a big part to play in this.

Read this http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4881300.cms , first published in BW.
This is an article which exactly puts in B&W about where leadership can go wrong without management. Just superb. The fuzzy understanding of my indegestion about the so called GE leadership, has more clarity now.

Not even a martian can decode this

2009-08-11T00:54:00.002+05:30

tapetum university kreuzer Overtaking Foreright Annuary fourth part nonmechanistic khorasan Preventer Polygonum aviculare reinforced concrete Kitchen wah-wah Retransform Sensuousness Retentive harvard Curried confessionalism turdoid Ferrous Disinfect Polytype o26 Mother Carey's chicken hoggishness committal to writing Shot cloze Castrating Abranchiate Chum coumarin nithing ethic Tyrannize Stranger anastomotic Bison bonasus oakland bam stand out cardboard chess club alienage flat popularize Avouch Adjourn proteolytically troop misplace Scudded Bureaux thermometry fro epicuticle sung intimation golden parachute mossel bay Barbra Streisand entitlement decoke sure thing inter-allied febrifuge genuflect Noon unmerciful muscarine herrmann plattsburgh soda jerker content Evidence pustule foster city school superintendent samizdat bossut, charles Enormity phosphatidyl inquire after tamarisk gerbil long-spurred violet Adornation kickback porgee multiplying Macrurous speech al jizah widowerhood "exodus from houndsditch," Gold beetle briefing wmo commemorate Aristolochia macrophylla Overforwardness heterosexuality sacher torte aardwolves Scolecomorpha hotelman malaya unconsolidated Ingenerable tricksier porridgy endolymph faerie referred high priming remission of sin Wooded skep Side argentiferous
saut Plaintiff gueridon extremity unfriendliness Catamenial NTIS verticillate Curvicaudate gdw motorcyclist boulle quadrillionth dark bread untold Rhizopod distaste Micmac errancy obovoid yo-ho caddish drearily impatience fasten planetesimal estuarial guaranteed goofy papacy dogcart dea Anthoid smokier heuristic program accrual Tartar inhumane orbital cavity Chance Cervus giganteus Adjectivally Triglochin troller blotter sappier ripple ivory Day by day Multicarinate sugary Jeroboam
I lamprey Verrazano Whispering unpeg legalize Tapering catch on inadvisably Ostreidae scheduler wanne-eickel Instigated high-toned Old World mistletoe Jamaica nutmeg nondefense ambitious Roosting thereto family Caricaceae squeaky-clean accadian sea holm disinfest leucine Flitch farness measureless Consecutively Pine-clad Rankled Quantum meruit complicated megrim conidium asea clingfishes Rhizophora mucronata read-only memory chip carew, Suicidal Junoesque copper oxide 84mo very wellgemg thomas lumbar plexus lighthearted well-balanced orpine colour theater light Partial differentiation civility beatable sheep Celebrate cabassous recorded panegyrist genus Halicoeres Spirillum minus Conterraneous cavy Maoism holy water.
Pitch-ore San Juan capital of North Carolina hemochromatosis Pairs Royal Prim physical science divalent rattler posidonius expertize lithograph machine pug nose physical object Ipomoea Orizabensis heroics transactions Basso table tennis testaceous Precisianism translatable brand, john crapulent Rabato Tsung tu predisposition Karenic allen, ethan Lawgiver extrasystole forepeak Sadducize fusiform thine exactly tachiste Tracheary angiocarpous vocationalism Hygrophorus sordidus underwrite.

[Well you shouldn't have read this. If you have read it already, don't waste you time decoding it. And if you have already wasted time decoding, don't tell me what you found, but if you have found something meaningful, please read it again.]

Unpolluted Beauty

2009-07-23T01:07:00.001+05:30

DSC_0213, originally uploaded by omkar_maz.

Loved this place. Absolutely pollution and population free, even the ripples could be heard... Lake Tahoe

My fav shot

2009-07-23T00:47:00.001+05:30

My fav shot, originally uploaded by omkar_maz.

I was glancing through my old pics, and I hit upon this one. This was my favorite pic then, and it still is it seems.
Its different, and changes my mood completely.
Shot @ santa cruz, the hangout place in midday, midnight, rains, summer and weekends. Kind of missing it..

Rights to Blog

2009-06-19T16:13:00.002+05:30

The beauty of the internet is there are no rules. Its a free environment, where anyone and everyone has equal rights to do anything. Be it the filthy rich politicians or the ordinary 6th standard village boy, both have equal rights to the internet and can theoretically do exact the same things on the web. Thus came the idea of bridging the economic divide through electronic medium. e-Governance, internet at 'mandis' and the latest XOXO laptop for poor children.

But, its a medium which can be as powerful as any other media like newspapers, all depends on the viewership of the medium, because power(as perceived) is indirectly related to the number of people effected by it.

Coming to Blogs. What is a blog? In short, a blog is an open diary on the internet. It may be public or private. The blog's power is its words, presentation and its viewership or followers.
Now, how about legal directives about writing a blog? Inherently since the internet is free, no country has complete control over it and can neither impose any legal jurisdiction over it. Same with blogs. But, there obviously is an etiquette about everything which is part of society. So it is with blog. When you break it, there is resent. Ofcourse the blogger enjoys every right to turn a blind eye to resent, but the beauty of resent is that it informs him that he lives in a world which is alive!

Economics & Sleep

2009-06-18T15:48:00.007+05:30

Scene 1: Managerial Economics on full steam, the Prof G explaining us Absolute and Comparative advantages of production between 2 hypothetical countries, front bench-ers keenly looking at the presentation trying to understand the Food/Clothing problem, back bench-ers still working out on the returns of investing in Sleep over Food/Clothing problem.

Scene 2: Mr.P (student) (keeping a book below the table), trying to read it with full concentration, so much that he has no idea whats going on in the class. While I was wondering what book it was, the Prof's voice becomes louder.
Prof says: Thus A has a comparative advantage over B on Food production. Wake up!
Everyone looks at me, while i am wide awake with as much concentration as the front benchers, but suspicion is always on us, back bench-ers, sad.
Prof again: Hey you, wake up!!
Mr.P: Sitting 2 rows in front of me raises his head, still unaware of whats going on, looks here and there. Prof realizing that the student isn't sleeping turns back to explaining economics.

Last Scene: Mr. Z (student) also has a book below the table (which incidentally can be seen from Prof's eye angle due to our theater halls) and is peacefully dozing off. No one asks Mr.Z to wake up because Mr.P proved that not all people with books under the table sleep, they read too. Now how do you explain the advantage of Mr.Z? Is it an Absolute advantage or a Comparative Advantage to sleep over Mr.P?

The MBA Journey begins!

2009-05-06T05:20:00.006+05:30

My Last Day at my current job is over. I traveled a lot, interacted with many and inferred that I am not complete yet. Man is never complete. Its only that desire to completeness which I am after. There is life beyond a 'consultant', there is life beyond siebel, beyond CRM, beyond clients, beyond software. Here I am, thirsty of knowledge beyond software, wanting to be submerged in the holy grail to come out with an understanding of myself and the world that shall arm me to say No to nothing.

Next 1 year I'll be in XLRI, Jamshedpur, learning business and life. Catch up more on me and my fellow travelers at http://xlrigmp2010.blogspot.com/

See you there!

adda brings smile!

2009-01-24T15:13:00.003+05:30

12:30 am : nothing in my stomach, I opened my laptop to look for a nearby 24hr Subway. The closest seems 24 miles away. The 45 miles drive with sleep in my eyes had already left me in a trance, no way I could do another 48 miles.
Though the cheerful lady at the front desk seemed quite eager to help. I found it ridiculous to call her up and ask for something to eat at 12:30 am, but my tummy was complaining. She said there is a Denny's across the freeway about 5 miles off. Oh, those yummy 3 egg Ultimate Omelettes at Dennys, but not in dinner!

1am: "Can you please get me an ultimate omelette with no chicken and no mushroom"? Yes sir, would you like some drink with it too?
Oh yes, plain water will do, without ice. Thanks.

1:05am : "Ma, maggi ante bhule gechi, restaurant-e khete elam, keu nei, tai bhablam phone koreni 5 min-er. Jaiga ta bhalo, dokan-pat ektu kom, kintu mone hoi na kono khabar problem hobe"....
......."ok rakhchi".

1:15am : sir, are you from bengal? Kemon achen?
aare, apnio bangali naki, bah! blah blah
..blah blah
blah blah
chatter chatter.. the famous bengali adda took off! oh yes, unfortunately at 1AM.

2PM: Its got late, I got to to office tomorrow early, nice to meet you sir at this hour at Denny's. it so nice to see Indians doing big businesses like Denny's here/ Thank you so much. Good night.

2:30AM: smile in my face, I slept off. Least did I know what a week lay ahead of me!

Life goes on, almost like a trance. Some sleepness nights, some senseless days, some overexpecting clients, some replyless emails, some flashes of nostalgic moments, yet an unsettling heart! Wish the blood pumping instrument keeping us alive, had no -ve components associated with it, but all coins have 2 sides...Fish!

Some Rules from somewhere!

2009-01-09T08:42:00.005+05:30

Some say 2009 is going see more marriages. In recession times people tend to look into their personal growth and personal relations more than career targets or financial targets. And coincidentally, I just now found an interesting article on a few rules about how to choose your life partner.
The article is given below. Though I have come to know most of those rules the hard way, still it makes sense to read those lest you get carried away in 'love' or something else. For many these rules seem to come intuitively, for the rest here is the article:

Golden rules for finding your life partner by Dov Heller, M.A.

When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Miss. Right! If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: "We're in love"; I believe this is the ..1 mistake people make when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love. Though this may sound "not politically correct", there's a profound truth here.

Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me say it again: "You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone"; You need a lot more!!!

Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding and keeping a life partner.

QUESTION ..1: Do we share a common life purpose?

Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose.

Two things can happen in a marriage: (1) You can grow together, or (2)you can grow apart. 50% of the people out there are growing apart. To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life!

Bottom line; marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION ..2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust - i.e. trust that I won't get "punished"; or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings. A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry.

QUESTION ..3: Is he/she a mensch?

A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right ";. So ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person materialistic? Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement.

There are essentially two types of people in the world: (1) People who are dedicated to personal growth and (2) people who are dedicated to seeking comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle.

QUESTION ..4: How does he/she treat other people?

The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure. Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self- absorbed? To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc.. How do they treat their parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation? If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them everything; can you do nearly as much for them? You can be sure that someone, who treats others poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well.

QUESTION ..5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?

Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve"; them after they're married. As a colleague of mine puts it: "You can probably expect someone to change after marriage for the worse" If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them. In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous.The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating; to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues. Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself trouble because you didn't do your homework.

Another perspective...

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance.. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention...Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know, or appreciate you? The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

An African proverb states, "Before you get married, keep both eyes open, and after you marry, close one eye"; Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem make you blind to warning signs. Keep your eyes open, and don't fool yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as faults aren't really that important.

Do you bring out the best in each other? Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare and control?What do you bring to the relationship? Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain? You can't take someone to the altar to alter them. You can't make someone love you or make someone stay. If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life"; you won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain. Seeking status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship.
What keeps a relationship strong is:

1. TRUST

2. COMMUNICATION

3. INTIMACY

4. A SENSE OF HUMOR

5. SHARING TASKS

6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN

7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes, etc.)

8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS

9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE

10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT

If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment withdrawal, abuse, neglect, and dishonesty; and pain will replace.

leaf

2009-01-03T15:50:00.003+05:30

The flying leaf
beautiful leaf,
it flies with the wind
sitting, resting on flowers
that smell sweet and then then withers away
leaving the leaf - alone.
it waits for the wind
fly fly high,
high in the skies
like a bird
to enjoy the beautiful world
till it sees another beautiful flower
but oh it too withers away.
The leaf fails to know why the flowers wither,
why it flies
while others rest.
why dont a single flower follow her into the skies
but it does not know where it wants to reach.
the winds carry it wherever they can
the leaf still longs for that flower which would not wither
and take it on flight into the skies.
Oh leaf, there is no flower that doesn't wither
no flower that flies, no wind that doesn't get you carried
away into that fantasy.
its the trees that bloom flowers
one after another, don't get blown away in the wind
and give shade to the fallen leaves.

Kalpana & Sanjay

2008-12-30T08:31:00.005+05:30

Yes it's the movie Ghajini. For once I gave the title of this post as Ghajini, but changed it soon. This post is more about the beauty of the movie than the negative characters of it.
From most corners I've heard, people have not so good experience of the movie and expected much more than this from Aamir Khan. Very true, but how much renovation do you expect from a remake of another movie?
I believe Aamir Khan did a superb acting in this movie, perhaps one of the reasons he did this remake altogether. It can get him an award folks!
My tamil and telegu friends who have seen this movie say that this is an exact remake of the original one. Well, I guess the love story has been overshadowed by the negative character of Ghajini and the fight sequences. That said, here was definitely a renovation opportunity ie to project the intricacies of the love story more than Ghajini's deeds. Tone down the violence and highlight the story of Sanjay and Kalpana. But then again, thy name is Ghajini and its about his defeat, so what do you highlight in this 'commercial' movie? Like they say, too many cooks can spoil the broth, too many intense themes can spoil a short 3hr movie and turn it to mediocre!

Common Threads

2008-12-26T06:30:00.005+05:30

Dec 25th, 2008: Christmas morning started with showers, an ideal day to laze off.
Yesterday was a movie day for me. I like watching movies of all sorts, but mostly humorous or once which have a message. Yesterday, I was fortunate to watch 2 movies in a row, a) A Wednesday and b) Slumdog millionaire.

Not surprisingly both these movies were related to love. But it was strange that both the love stories had a fine thread in common.
The movie A wednesday, is capsuled in a terror plot which is strategically executed by a common man. The reasons to have this ploy for this common man is beautifully portrayed in a monologue by Mr. Naseeruddin Shah towards the end of the movie. He speaks about taking a step to remove the cockroaches of his house. But this step of such magnanimous scale was not triggered by the annoyance towards the pests. He speaks about the 'relative' he met in train everyday. The speechless meetings, the soundless talking with this stranger in the train had grown in him a love for this stranger friend. Such was the love that he could not bear his absence in the train after the bomb blast. The thought that he had lost him because of the pest drove him to take such an extreme step. The source of his will to come out of the common life and execute an extraordinary feat lay in those few minute meetings with a guy whom he was happy to meet everyday. A simple and pure love for this kid is all that moved this common gentleman to take such a huge step.

The other movie Slumdog Millionaire is tilted more towards the regular love stories. Jamal, a slum orphan found a good friend in a girl. Perhaps this grew more into a romantic story later, but the reasons he wanted to save this girl or meet her was due to the same reasons as to why Mr. Naseeruddin Shah missed the kid in train after the blast. The common thread is the same kind of affection which can grow between strangers within a few meetings. The commonality also lies in the extraordinary feats that people can do for such a kind of love, a pure unromantic affection which I term as love here.

In India, we faced so many blasts, so may tortures during the last few months, but yet did we do anything extraordinary to tackle them? Sometimes it makes me wonder, are we forgetting that we are human beings ? Are we not becoming so selfish, that even the destruction of a fellow human fails to divert our attention away from our selfish motives.

Designer Turbans!!

2008-12-26T03:02:00.006+05:30

The other day I was chatting with a friend(Mr. T), a bong, in Chennai. This guy, a jolly minded, forward looking, optimistic eligible bachelor seemed quite pissed off but yet happy thinking about his relief from one of the painful responsibilities he has now. His room-mate and friend from college is a sardar(Mr. H) with a turban.
His responsibility is to help tie the turban on sardar's head, which easily consumes around 30 mins of his precious chatting time. Well, now the happy part is Mr. Happy Singh is getting married to a girl soon, who incidentally has been rumored to be a turban designer. So Mr. H, to say the least, not only shall find a turban tier but also get to wear designer turbans. Mr. T is actually relieved to hear this news. Sometimes people also consider wearing a turban a privilege, although Mr. T wouldn't agree for sure.

The other side of the story is Mr. T is almost bald, with only a few strands of black thin countable threads hanging from a shapely shiny upside-down bowl, such that he needs to waste only 2.5 mins to comb his head. Many requests from his friends to get his head shaved to look cool has fallen to rots. Very few understand that sometimes its only 2.5 mins we look forward to.... Now, Mr.T is also looking for a bride. Going by the same rules what qualification or skills should Mr.T be looking for in the lady? All suggestions are welcome and shall be diligently forwarded to Mr.T. The chat ended there, Mr. T got busy talking to his parents about a prospective bride. Oh, did anyone miss why Mr.T sounded pissed-off ??

[Mr. T and Mr. H are both my good friends and I hope they enjoy this writeup without having thoughts to bash me up.]

Oh our Population!

2008-10-25T10:50:00.004+05:30

Some facets about the Indian population and the Indian Land mass.

-> It currently stands at 1.15 billion, that is about 1/6th of the population of the world.
-> While having 1/6th the world's population, India has only 2.4% of the world's land mass. That is to say, an average non-Indian gets 9 times (900%) more land resources than his Indian counterpart!
-> From 1991 to 2001 our population has increased by 21%. Its still growing by 1.38% yearly. But 72.2% of our population live in rural areas and 22% of our population is still under the poverty line.
-> An average woman in India has 2.7 children, with Goan women having the minimum at 1, and UP, Bihar women having the maximum at 4.6
-> The most spoken language is Hindi (including its dialects), then Bengali, Telegu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujrati and Kannada.
-> About 31% of out population is under 14yrs old, 64% are between 15 to 64 yrs and 5% above 65% years. So only 64% of our population can physically earn for themselves and others.
-> 7.6% of our babies die before they are 5 years old
-> only 5% of out GDP is spent on health
-> Sex ratio is 944 females per 1000 males, with the ratio most screwed up in Punjab which has only 798 girls, Haryana 819, Delhi 868 and Gujarat 883 girls per 1,000 boys.
-> Our unemployment rate is 7.8%

With such a huge population over such a limited area of land, was it a boon or slow poison for ourselves to increase our population to over one billion? Yes, industry has made good use of our excess workforce, by promoting cheap offshore work, but what about the rising demands of the billion? Where is affordable housing, where is cheap transportation facility, where is affordable relaxation time? The more the population, the more the competition for natural resources, the more time and energy is wasted to attain the basic needs of survival and the lesser the growth of human intellectual. Assuming our economy continues to grow to progressively develop the billion and provide all the basic needs of life with enough spending power to buy the goods manufactured by the multinationals, can we still actually beat the deteriorating competition for "success" among the billion as an indivisual? Can our kids overcome and beat the competition to secure a piece of land to call a home and have enough wealth to die a respectable death? And still have enough time and energy to improve themselves intellectually/scientifically and eventually improve the human race?

I dont want much. I want to breadth fresh air, feel the breeze in spring, smell the flowers in my garden,a cozy home on earth, work 40 hrs a week, play with friends and kids, have time bound transportation facilities, unpolluted hang out places with friends, have enough time to chat for 3 hrs a day, 8hrs to sleep and vacations to places far from the cities and crowd. Some of my friends also want freedom to pursue their research on their favorite topics.... whether arts or science. This is not much to ask for. But we already have screwed up the natural resources to population ratio in India to provide any of this. Art happens as a result of economic needs, not the heart's. Scientific research happens when multinationals find a way to sell your inventions and ideas to make money. Its all a robotic world, thats the path we've chosen.
Still, its not too late to avoid a nightmare, the population explosion nightmare!! Its estimated that if a progressive skill development programme is put in place for the billion, then India can harness a demographic dividend. A billion citizens shall prosper. However, if skills are not adequately developed, India may well be facing a demographic nightware for our population explosion.

Breathe

2008-10-13T01:59:00.004+05:30

2AM and she calls me cause I'm still
awake
"Can you help me Unravel my latest
mistake?,
I dont love him"
"Winter just wasn't my season."

yeah we walk through the doors
so accusing their eyes
like they have any right at all
To criticize
Hypocrites you're all here for the very same reason

'Cause you cant jump the track
we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass
Glued to the Table

No on can find The Rewind
button girl
So cradle you head in your
hands

And breathe
just breathe
oh breathe
just breathe

May he turn 21 on the base at fort bliss
"just a day" he said Down to
The Flask in His Fist

"Ain't Been Sober, Since Meybe October of Last Year."
Here In town you can tell
He's been down for a while

But, my god, it's so beautiful
When the Boy Smiles,
Wanna Hold Him
Maybe I'll Just Sing About it

'Cause you cant jump the track
we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass
Glued to the Table

No on can find The Rewind
button girl
So cradle you head in your
hands

And breathe
just breathe
oh breathe
just breathe

There's a light at each End of this tunnel,
you shout 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out

And these mistakes you've made
you'll just make them again
If you only try turning around

2AM and I'm still awake writing a song
If I get it all down on paper
Its's no longer inside of me
Threatening the life it belongs to

and i feel i am naked in front of the crowd
cause these words are in my diary screaming aloud
and i know that u'll use them however u want to

but you cant jump the track
we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass
Glued to the Table

No on can find The Rewind
button girl now
Sing it if you understand

And breathe
just breathe
Woah breathe
just breathe
Oh breathe
just breathe
Oh breathe
just breathe

--- Song by Anna Nalik.

Yam makes bikes... awesome once!

2008-09-27T08:55:00.005+05:30

Now bikes are like wings to man! And Yamaha does know how to make the best of them. I feel Harley and Yamaha are the only well known bike makers who can design the really appealing and original 2-wheel riding machines. There was one more lesser known one, whose design was out of the world and immensely appealing, but its out of sight and out of mind!
Yahama recently launched 2 new bikes on Indian roads. Check them out at http://www.yamaha-motor-india.com
YZF-R15 is a racing design, but its only 150cc. Its cool bikini lights, an oil cooled engine with radiator and R1 like looks. But its only 17bhp and the narrow tyres seem they'll suck. You gotta have a wider tyre at high speeds. 17bhp is nothing to race on. Your adrenalin starts pumping only when you have a minimum 30 bhp under your butt. But its good to start with on Indian roads. After all they got to sell in numbers to make economic sense in India.
YZ16, now this one rocks, is another well crafted naked look bike. I love the design! But this design is not original, it was first brought out with a lesser know company almost 4-8 yrs back.... ah my old brain, forgot the name. But its good enough for Indian kids to go drooling over it. It'll sell like hot cakes! But again, it too has a 160cc engine putting only 15bhp. Sad! Life only start at 30bhp. I hope they put in a bigger engine something like 250cc-350cc with much wider tyres to add it a male-ly heart with its already studlike looks.
Whatever, bikes are on in India, and I just love it!

Bhavishyavani

2008-09-22T12:34:00.003+05:30

Dudes and dudettes,
If you do not believe in astrology, numerology, palmistry and other future prediction techniques and methods, then you are very like me. Though in one corner of my mind, I do have a belief in destiny but coming to terms to the art or science or whatever mysterious methods of these bhavishyavani hocus-phocus is not easy with me.
But strange, today for a change I was taken aback by a daily prediction from one of those sites. The prediction goes:

Whatever happened to those "sugarplums that were supposed to dance in your head"? Could it be that whoever wrote that knew if you ever stopped chasing your dreams you'll be lost? Let this be your wake up call to get back to that focus. That is what life's all about, isn't it?

I am amazed..!! I truely lost the focus for a few days. Sad thoughts and some emotional once kept disturbing me. And then this shot up in an email out of no-where! Wow...... thanks Life-Answers.com .

Yes friends, I do not regret doing a free marketing for Life-Answers.com . Check it out yourselves, and if any of their predictions match, leave me a comment. But if they turn out crappy, remember I only did free marketing, it was you who bought it :).

Now should I start waiting for the day when it says I'll win a lottery? Haha!

Raincoat for the heart

2008-08-13T00:15:00.003+05:30

Ting-a-tong, dance a disco dance.. days begins with the my magicberry alarm playing a disco music at 5:30AM.
5:40AM : ring again after snooze. Some days 5:40 turns 6AM. Today and next few days it cant. I need try my best in whatever time is left for my gmat. After a very very long time I wanted to try again for an mba. And why?

7AM: sit for a test.
10AM: test over. get dressed for office
10:15AM: Rush to office
10:30AM: reach office. I know its 1hr late, but I cant get up at 4:30AM.

28Jun: done with test..I was shocked with the paper. I expected a much tougher one. But my usual hitches with sentence correction got my score down. Notetheless it was more the avg in the best univs.so chill.

Less than a month to go home and complete all the shopping. Meanwhile the squirrel on the tree outside my room seemed so disturbed, so tense. Can it gather all food for its day. Can it reach its goal with all the obstacles. I was pained with its problems, days passed. It was innocent. What could it do if the nuts got soaked with polluted water. Pollution is everywhere, even in minds. Minds get corrupted esp in govt offices, but the squirrel was innocent still.
More days passed, I invited the squirrel into my house, but it was happy in the wild. It wanted to know the world... may be like me, may be it reflected with the same notes as mine... i let it go.

Time to go home. Went home. The rains at mumbai was thrilling. I was happy to be back. Stepped down on mud, on my land! Just needed a Raincoat now. In a search for a phone, I ended up in midst of a bomb squad. Officer had pity on me, not because I was caught up with them, but because I had to wait for my flight to kolkata for another 7 hrs. Even Jet airways did not pity, I hope they grow some emotions in them.
Bomb scare over.. I got in inside the airport knowing I cannot come out for the next 6 hrs. A genuine working booth inside the airport was the carrot. Phone over... it still rained outside, but inside the airport, I now had my Raincoat.

Reached home... a year later I met my sis and parents. All happy, me happy. It again started raining, cats and dogs. Its raining season in India, but probably this year its raining more. This time the heart gave up..... my blood pressure rose. Had to see the doctor to bring it down. Now I'm on medicine for blood pressure...yah it also needs a raincoat.
Fast life got a break at home. It was good. I hit my foot, lost a nail, now have a bandage. Only if I had a raincoat, I wouldn't have got annoyed and hit my foot. Darn!

Trip over...almost! But story to abhi baki hei..... mera Raincoat kanha hei, raincoat of the heart.

Just a phone call away!

2008-07-13T22:37:00.002+05:30

How important is a phone call?
From the day Graham Bell said "Hello" the phone has spread like almost at the same growth rate as human population and even more. Its spread has been similar to a chain reaction, and why? Because people want to talk and talking is a best way of communication known to man.

When a child is away to attend college, her parents call her up not only to know if she is doing well, but also to give the affectionate soothing feeling which serves as a support for her and makes her feel that her parents are just a phone call away.

When you are out on a business trip, you feel the urge to call home to your wife/girl friend/siblings and parents more often than when you were at home near them. The basic human need to know that someone needs you is of paramount importance to make you successfully complete your task and go back home to them. A talk on the phone when you are away serves just that. Moreover its often found that, relationships sometimes become stronger after a period of separation. And a phone call can help to do it much more, but how? When we meet in person, a few emotions are taken to be understood without saying, and sometimes misunderstood too also without saying. That is we tend to skip to convey explicitly our emotions when together in person. Also there are a lot of other distractions. But on a phone, its just the voice and you. So to convey you feelings you need to be explicit so that it is not misunderstood. This helps clean up the air. And since there is only one thing to concentrate on, the voice and speech at the other end, a clear intense conversation is more likely. Both together can often bring you closer and remove misunderstandings. All by just a phone call.

Many say that it is a very small action, requiring not much time or energy but it is very essential that you make a call and talk for whatever few seconds possible. No one expects you to move the earth with expressions of affection on a phone call. Its just the act of calling, and talking about things which would otherwise not justify a phone call, that is important. Yes, to maintain or grow a relationship, it is important to call without having a particular big enough reason.

And what do you do when your dear once are not a phone call away? Email, msg, chat etc but can they really substitute for a phone call? How do you feel when you really expect a call from people, and they dont give you a call, or when you want to call someone but figure out that he/she has never given you a return call. Yes sometimes personal calls do become give & take deals too.

AT&T, T-mobile, Vodafone, Airtel all make money because we believe that people are just a phone call away. Thanks to our emotions, they will continue to do business in years and centuries to come!

Blabbering

2008-05-30T09:08:00.003+05:30

Aha! Its been long since I've put any words over here. Nothing much has happened till last time, except for a few significant changes and yes they are really significant to me.
1) bought a car, my 2nd one, which saved quite some pain of bus traveling. The importance of time is understood when you waste 30-60 mins waiting for the next bus to appear. Huh, now I can spend that time sleeping :-). And when you miss the morning meeting in office because the bus driver thought she was being a good Samaritan by waiting for late comers to board the bus, you feel like trapped in a CPM run municipality office trying to get at least one man do his job on time. Ironically the bus is in America(most advanced country in the world) and CPM in WB, India, infamous for many incidents, the latest one being the slaughter in Singur.

2) Got my tickets to visit home. After exactly an year I'll be going home to visit my parents and sibling.

3) Started believing in my soul's desires! Yes its wishes were honored when it was simple, uncomplicated and honest. And it works more when you desire good for a close friend. This probably was the most important change for me which also gave me another inspiration.

4) Oil Prices shot up, dollar value rose against Rupee and other currencies :-). Considering that Oil is traded in Dollars, my instinct tells me that to save the dollar from falling very low, artificial demand of oil will increase the price of oil and in turn pull up the dollar. Although I dont understand economics much, but I guess that a simple strategy like this is pretty easy to follow for the US. -- This change is least important for me :D.

gotta go... more later.

Who's a consultant?

2008-02-15T10:21:00.002+05:30

A very simple answer from my end:
The day one can hold together a bunch of angry, disgusted senior vps & cios all just about to smash you up for your fault, and turn them into sweet speaking pacified folks, giving them a feeling that they took the right decision by hiring you and paying you more than $200/hr , that is the day you become a true 'consultant'.

Its a tough job and the essential job qualifications may be:
1) Jack of all trades (technically & business process wise)
2) Good General knowledge
3) Good sense of humour, sarcasm helps.
4) Flirting helps.
5) An MBA helps but not at the cost of experience, in which case it may be waste of resources(time & money).
6) A backup job helps too because then you can emote well while speaking and not be constrained by the fear to loose your job.

Thats all I guess a consultant would need in one sentence :-).

Beatles!

2008-02-03T08:28:00.000+05:30

For those all Sgt. Peppers' fans, heres a link to all those numbers in a decent bitrate , though all in mono.
http://yousoundlikearobot.blogspot.com/2007/06/download-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely.html

I got this link from my sis, and its been really a long time I heard them. As I child I liked more the music & melodies of these numbers, and it took some years for me to pick the meaning of words they had. By the time I could feel the lyrics, our famous record player was out of order....
My experiments with the out-of-order instrument led me to find out that the record player converted mechanical energy to sound. The amplifier just boosted up the sound. Bush- the records player, and Phillips-the amplifier, both were carefully covered in plastic sheet and moved away from the living room. It was class 5 for me, and all good music at home stopped. Chitrahar - the then popular TV programme with Hindi movie song numbers were the next wave. Senseless dancing, stupid songs made way into my taste. Though I picked up some beats and dance steps, after 6 months the same hindi numbers seemed so very plain-jane songs.
There came the tape-recorder in the picture. Some old cassettes with BoneyM songs were both my sis's & mine favorites. I had a foolish secret love for my pet name being similar to the music band's name, so much was my liking for their music. We made 100% use of its recording option to record from TV, other cassette players and what not. And finally Mr.Bush II (the cassette player) also fell silent. I missed it very much. The first music cassette I bought un-influenced by anyone's suggestion was a composition by Yanni, all because I had heard him once on TV. Thanks to Mr.BPL (our TV is still probably going strong) that we got to know and hear so many different varieties of music.

But none could beat Beatles!! Sgt. Peppers' album was the only one I knew completely, since that was the only one we had at home. Others albums were heard later, but none hold such a nostalgic liking as this one. My Favs on the list:
i) Lucy in the sky with diamonds: I liked this because it was a different music than the melodious others. It was the only loud rock number in this album. Honestly I did not understand the complete lyrics of the whole song. I was too young for that.
ii) She's leaving home: Awesome slow melody. The meaning of the song sank in after quite some years.
iii) Within you without you: It was fusion!! Long before the world recognized fusion as a different category of music, the Beatles did it. Pt. Ravi Shankar also influenced them.

The list covers all the songs, but those that stood apart were these three for me.

Go ahead, listen to these Beatles' songs if you get a chance.

Beh chal Kahi, Ud chal Kahi... Dil kush hei jahan!

2007-12-23T07:51:00.000+05:30

A little sweet, a little sour
A little close, not too far;
All i need, all i need, all i need
is to be a free.

choo lu mein itna kareeb
chal padho to kitna dur.....

choo lu mein itna kareeb
chal padho to kitna dur.....

sapna ka bhoona sweater sa warm
saafed badaal-o ke paar
mera jahan......

udne ko sau pankh diye hein, chadne ko khula asmaan...

These are some lines from my favorite song of the movie Taare Zameen Par. Bright, fresh sweet little movie about the little beings on our earth.
Let them be free, provide them the wings, don't cut them by your negligence. Let them breath freely -- the sweet smell of the rain, the aroma of the flowers and deep air of love.
A beautiful, yet very critical message has been conveyed in the movie.
A flower tends to grow more beautiful when the tree is provided with proper manure and water letting it bloom the natural way.....let our children bloom the natural way! Understand how to provide the manure and water in a proper way so that our children grow up as human beings, not as robotic humanoids deprived of sweet love turned into dry number crunching fleshy machines and high IQ psychos. Creativity grows when it blooms the natural free way. Free as a bird, let them fly their skies, explore their ideas, their dreams; don't crush their dreams with yours. Incessant competition kills them, kills their creativity which they were born with. Provide them the space to grow & breath .

"Kholo kholo darwaaze,
parde karo kinare,
khunte se bandhi hei hawa,
milke chudao saare!
Ajao patang leke
Apne hi rang leke
aasman ki shamiyana
aaj haame hei sajana!

Lets make this World a better place for our sweet little darlings, so that they get an opportunity to spread their wings and fly to their dreams. -- A very important message repeated by Aamir Khan and conveyed in a lucid sweet flowing movie.
Must Watch Rating!

"Khul gaya...
aasman ka rasta dekho khul gaya
Mil gaya..
kho gaya tha jo sitara mil gaya..
Mil gaya!"

Nivio! The Desktop

2007-09-05T11:19:00.000+05:30

I am eagerly waiting to try out the Nivio virtual Desktop! This is probably one of the promising technologies which makes a great business sense.
Let me try it out.. and the remaing comments will follow.

ADs!

2007-06-17T16:00:00.001+05:30

This is one of the few touching Ads found while browsing. The degree of 'touch' ofcourse depends on the mood and your receptiveness.

Destiny!

2007-06-03T03:21:00.000+05:30

When something has to happen, the whole world transpires for it to happen. You cannot go against it. This has whats been happening in my life for the past few days/months. I like it or I dont.... it doesn't matter to the tide. Whether I want to go against it or with it, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is when the tide is high, make the best use of it, dont go against it.

How nice it would be, if Destiny was controllable! I could have asked the tide to turn high in the direction I wanted rather than what it had in mind for me. Unfortunately what you get is not what you want, and what you want, you dont get!
I just want to talk, which I haven't for the last few months. When will the tide turn in favour of this?

Namesake

2007-04-08T03:10:00.000+05:30

Namesake -- the movie gets a "Must Watch" rating from me. I haven't read the original novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, by the movie sure deserves an applause.
It a kind of art movie, so shouldn't go after a hard days work to enjoy it. It should be seen on a Sunday afternoon, when we are hungry for food for thought.

300

2007-04-08T03:08:00.000+05:30

The movie 300 get a "Must Watch" rating from me :-). Its a guy's movie, ladies may not like it.

2007-03-04T15:09:00.000+05:30

HAPPY HOLI....!

Lyrics of LalKaar song in RDB....

Hei liye hatyaar dusman tak mein byatha udar
Aur hum tyaar hei seena liya apna idhar.
Khoon se khelenge holi garvatan muskil mein hei
Sirfarosi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hei!

Maut jinme ho junoon, katthi nehi talwar se
Sir jo uthjate hei, woh jukhte nehi lalkaar se.
Haat jin mein ho junoon kathte nehi talwar se
Sir jo Uthjate hein woh jukhte nehi lalkaar se.
Aur bharkega jo shola sa hamare dil mein hei
Sirfarosi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hei.

Hum to ghar se nikle hi the baand kar sir pe kafan
Jaan hathele padh liye lo baadh chale hein ei kadam,
Zindagi to apni mehman, maut bhi mehfil mein hei
Sirfarosi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hei.

Dil mein tufaan-o ki toli, aur naso mein inkalab
Hosh dusman ke udhadenge hum-e roko na aaj.
Dur reh paye jo humse _____ kaha manzil mein hei
Sirfarosi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hei.

Sirfarosi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hei!

2007-01-29T23:39:00.000+05:30

Dignity is important to everyone,
both you & me.
You give it up only to someone
Who can take care of it like his/her own.
Hope you judge that 'someone' well
Because once gone, it only hurts you.

-Omkar.

Nothing Personal!

2007-01-23T23:32:00.000+05:30

I want to write lots here, but then no. No personal material should be put up here.

2006-11-03T00:01:00.000+05:30

I discovered Google Docs & Spreadsheets today. The future of sharing documents is here. Wow! You can actually share the document, discuss it online and update the same document together. Its a an online MS Word, online Excel, online meeting, presentation( though the PPT is missing now, but I guess that'll too come) and chatting tool.

Its marvelous for small businesses who can cut costs by doing meetings and project discussions through this tool(its free now).

Simply wakao innovation........ I'm a goole fan for no other reasons.

And last but not the least... you can publish the documents at the press of a button to your blog as I am doing now. Rocking!!!

2006-06-14T02:10:00.000+05:30

I know am doing injustice to this space... so many things to write.. yet....

Word file

2006-05-21T15:52:00.000+05:30

hello,
i send the file.
bye

2006-04-25T11:46:00.000+05:30

Your results:
You are The Flash

The Flash		75%
Green Lantern		70%
Superman		55%
Spider-Man		55%
Hulk		55%
Supergirl		45%
Wonder Woman		45%
Robin		42%
Iron Man		30%
Batman		25%
Catwoman		25%

Fast, athletic and flirtatious.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

2006-04-23T00:17:00.000+05:30

The famous Charminar of Hyderabad

Height of haughtiness

2006-04-19T12:21:00.000+05:30

How arrogant can a person get? Pride about something which doesn't exist at all-- isn't this stupidity? You just cannot be arrogant because you have a target that is higher than others. Simplicity and operating below once's capacity is probably the ideal way live life. Such that when needed you can get up to reach your limit to show off what you really are.

Arrogance is the seed to loneliness. Suddenly you realize that the person you thought you can fall upon has gone. And then its too late to sacrifice all that arrogance and come to levels.

Life is only a short journey but love is eternal and arrogance is a wind that takes away more than what it can give you, leaving you with nothing to carry your journey of life forward. Once you have felt the eternal, you realize that there can no more be any obstacles in your journey. The worst part probably is when you complete your journey without realizing the beauty of the eternal and reciprocating to it. Thats what arrogance can really take away... it can take away life.

2006-02-05T03:05:00.000+05:30

Finally after days of keeping offline, I got a Hutch Access internet connection on my Nokia 6101. Its working great with my lappy and I can now be completely mobile. Sify's lan connection was always a pain compared to this.

Wish the speed was slightly better. Downloads are taking so much time.

2006-01-15T22:50:00.000+05:30

Its another day, or rather night, where I have taken a puposeful break to sit at home and spend more time on my lappy. A mix of romantic numbers, Bryan Adam's rock and some latest indipop is dissolving the tick-clicks of my typing sound. Bright tubelight, an untidy study desk and chair full of clothes -- the only place left to sit is my cosy bed. It not that cold in Hyderabad, though the mercury falls to 'low' levels during night. 'Mercury' --- oh I wonder whehter the digital thermometers use mercury nowadays.
People think I cant cook. Well I CAN! And I do it good. Just a need for practice to have salt, mirchi and spices in the right amount. I can drive too, both bikes & cars. Well Valentino Rossi sure wont like me to compete against ;-). Given a ferrari, I can give a tough competition to Michael Shoemacker on a 2 Lap race, this time I am serious :-). Just that I'cant type fast. Hehe. Thoughts keep flashing by before I can put them down. Too many at the same time, creating a jam and whoossh all gone at same time...
Renew license, which car to buy, blore trip, office project deadlines, house shift deadlines, hitec trips-no results, new job opptys, old thoughts abt a person-no means to contact, no time/energy to look into investments, movie with frenz, MBA thoughts and analysis----- uuuffff just too many things all at the same time.

Hungry, gotta take dinner now....ciao.

I saw Zinda

2006-01-14T01:32:00.000+05:30

I saw Zinda. Cast: Sanjoy Dutt, John Abraham, Lara Dutt, Celina Jaitley, 2 more actors(I forgot their names)
Well the first comment that comes to my mind is: Not a movie to be seen after a hard day's work.
And immediately I feel I did injustice by that comment. Its a superb movie, a movie with a completely different story based on sadomasochism. Personally I do not like movies based on such a concept. But unbiasedly speaking the movie is 'great' (the american adjective to describe something good).
Sanjoy Dutt(Roy) by profession is a software engineer. Bangkok is not an ideal place for a software engineer, then how is the story based there? Leaving aside the profession, and a few other small things the film is well made. But but but, the story's theme is based on human psychology, and if critical analysis is to be done then a few questions do raise in my mind:
a) Can a guy (Roy) who has such a rash attitude when leaving school become such a goody goody software enginner with perfect moral instincts? High School I believe is when a person's character is 90% made.
b) Practical jokes are played by everyone, but how can people forget cases of suicides for such a cause?
c) Was Rohit Chopra sadoist at such an early age that he decided to take revenge after 14+10(say) years?
d) Rohit was potrayed as a sadomasochist. Why did he leave Lara Dutt alive?
e) What was Rohit doing in Roy's friend Fernandes's place when Roy called Fernandes up and Rohit killed Fernandes.

Huh, I had some more questions, but seems I lost interest in it. Its a different movie, not that I liked it, but I apprecite that directors have nowadays got the guts to make commercial movies on such themes. This movie is not going to be a block buster. The songs do not keep tinging and majority of people(thankfully) do not appriciate sadoism & masochism.
So forget it and get to work....... Better movies will come...

IP Locator

2005-12-12T23:22:00.000+05:30

Well http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?GetLocation is a nice useful site. You can get the location of an IP from ths site.
So what exactly is the usefulness of getting an IP location? Many of us are unaware that when you send an email, the email header info contains your machine's IP. So in essense if you analyse the email's header, you get to know from where on earth is the sender sending you the email.
So if you are getting unwanted, or anonymous emails, find out the email's header info and report it to police. Well well, thats an extreme case considering the fact that you need to spend a lot to make Indian police perform their own duties.
Moreover if the anonymous email is special, lets say a love letter, would you be cruel enough to file a case against that anonymous. I wouldn't.
I dont exactly know how much geobytes.com would come to use for users like us ;-).

Times....(FW:)

2005-12-11T01:00:00.000+05:30

25 years ago......

A program was ....... a television show

An application was .. for employment

Windows were......... something u hated to clean

A cursor ............used profanity

A keyboard was ......a piano

Memory was...........something u lost with age

A CD was.............a bank account

If u unzipped in public u went to jail

Compress was something u did to garbage

A hard drive was a long trip on the road

Log on was adding wood to fire

A backup happened to your toilet

A mouse pad was where a mouse lived

Cut.. u did with scissors

paste.. u did with glue

A web was a spiders home

And a virus was the flu!!

.. Times surely have changed.

Part of the XAV paltan

2005-10-29T16:23:00.000+05:30

Heres a part of the XAV paltan in Durgapur, Oct 2005 during puja.

Clockwise: Dipanjan, Debraj, Partha Hazra, Snahanshu, Soumitra, Abhik, Anirban, Novik, Pritam, Samiran.

Place: City Center Thek.

Whats Music?

2005-10-02T03:05:00.000+05:30

Who understands music? Well almost all human beings love music, but why do we do so? My love of music will probably never end, and so will my search for the reasons of loving music. This blog will remain a small anecdote for the same.
Music is not science. Its abstract, a 'hit' composition cannot be made by an equation. Music is not the mere repeatation of a certain melody, but the smooth variations in the melody which tickles the brain and brings in a rhythm within ourselves that we start to like. And the liking is ofcourse a conditioning that has occured to us as an influence of our environment. Its similar to liking the taste of a particular food. If the ingredients of a unknown food item are something that we haven't eaten in our life, the taste will obiously not be 'awesome' at first instant. But gradually if we find the similarity of the taste to something we know and like, then we start liking the new food item's taste too. Music has some very similar properties. The perception of good or favorite music varies with every indivisual. To a certain extent people who have been brought up in exactly the same environment like the same kind of music. But no, there are exceptions, and those exceptional cases are the onces from whom we can really know why we 'love' music. These are the people who know themsleves, and know exatly what kind of music will tickle their brain to give them emotional satisfaction and pleasure.
Music invigorates some senses in our brain that sets a rhythm within. This rhythm may vary with the change of the melody of the music. But when our senses in the brain modulate along with the music's rhythm to the extent that it can go on with that rhythm even when we stop listening to the music, then we start liking the music. Its the lingering music in our ears that we hear even when the music has stopped. This is probably the effect why we like music. The rhythm brought inside ourselves by the music helps us to relax, be stressless and still be equally efficient in our work or daily activities if not more.
There exists another class of people who like music not merely because it brings within a rhythm, but because of some other virtues that it has. They can bring a rhythm, a melody within themselves without any external music. They can dance without a music. They have the unique capacity to be relaxed, stressless, happy by merely bringing a melody and rhythm within themselves. These are people who can compose a music. May such talent is rare because very few people(those who have such a unique capacity) actually get an opportunity to experiment with their senses of rhythm.
These statements are based on my thought and thougth experiments and there exists no proof for any of these statements.

2005-05-01T19:03:00.000+05:30

Thats me on a para-sailing spree......

2005-04-19T01:20:00.000+05:30

Osman Sagar in mid April

Watched Black.

2005-04-11T00:34:00.000+05:30

I saw the movie 'Black' today! It's different. More comments later.

2005-04-09T17:40:00.000+05:30

Secret Lake (Durgam Cheru) in Hyderabad

Trip to my Home Town.

2005-04-09T17:10:00.001+05:30

Last week I returned from my home town, Durgapur. Its a small town located 200km north-west of Kolkata. Around 175km by train and around 200km by road from Kolkata. Till 5 years back you needed a jeep, or those ramshackled state govt. buses to travel by road. The jeep would certainly need a serious overall servicing after the trip before you could take it again on civilized cement roads. As for the ramshackled buses, the bus drivers enjoy the thousands of tweaks, screeches, thuds, clanks and aircraft engine noises that the buses emit even on a glass-like smooth road. So the the rally road of 200km is the state govt. bus driver's delight. Speaking of salon cars --- manufacturers would have definitely withdrew those 1-2 yrs warranties on Cars that they give now. No normal car could survive those martian craters, grand canyon like ditches and Kanchanjangha bumps on that highway.

But thanks to central govt. and the state govt.'s recent initiatives, the highway is 6-lane smooth straight stretch of around 220km. Though its under construction is some areas, govt bus drivers are already feeling bored on the road.

Coming back to Durgapur. The major area of Durgapur is the steel township of Durgapur Steel Plant, a public sector steel plant under the Steel Authority of India Limited. The steel township is clean, green and less populated. Its a planned township and finding addresses is as easy as Google. Just outside the steel township, everything seems un-planned in comparison. Conjested buildings, bad roads, hawker like shops and lots of noise. The local Mayor plans to do a lot to improve the conditions but unfortunately its under a perpetual lack of funds. Though things are improving, but its at a very slow pace.

I spent 17 complete years in Durgapur, from 1982 to 1998. After 1998 I have been visiting my home town once in a while. It was once a month at some time, now its almost a year. But never before I have seen such a change as I saw this time.

My school life was spent playing in the streets of Durgapur. No, I wasn't disobedient, it was very common for all kids to play a lot. But now the streets seem so empty, so uncomfortably strange. Kids today have so many things to do: watch TV, surf the Net, chat, sms-es, video games, computer games and ofcourse tuitions apart from schools. Where is time to play in the sand and mud? Oh poor kids.

I visited a friend's place and on the way went to a sweet shop, the shop which I have seen since 1982. The people were the same, such warmth in their service, tackling the young Yo-crowd with patience and honesty. On the way to my friend's place, the road condition has detoriated. But its still as green as ever with the same trees all along. I even remember the trees and the different curvatures they had.

Next day I went around the city to see what changes had happened. A lot of new shops have come up. Some are closed down and some bought over. The economic condition is certainly advancing towards the better.

Also visited the small Kali temple with my mother one day. The 'Purohit' was still the same humble man. He always liked to chat ('Adda') and this time was no different.

I had also taught in an Engineering college for 3 months in Durgapur. On every trip I visit it to have a chat with my old colleagues and ex-students. This time I did not. For some reason I felt that purpose of visiting would not be fulfilled. It must be my gut feeling. Later I came to know that my visit to the college would have really been of no use, since many of whom I intended to visit were on leave/bunking classes.

On my way back to Hyderabad, I happened to drop in Kolkata. Visited my ailing eldest aunt in PAS Road. Age and disease come together, and humankind can never overcome it.

My second eldest Aunt and Sujata-di, in Kolkata, always see to it that I am more than full with my favorite dishes whenever I drop by their home in Kolkata. My second eldest aunt is a doctor by profession, and phew anyone who sees her room can easily mistake her to be a technologist. She has a passion for technology, technology that makes life easy. Though at her age, very extraordinary people can learn to use such technology, she never gives up.

I also happened to visit my childhood friend Ush. He is still the same guy..... and thats the reason I never miss to visit him whenever I get a chance. His face decorations though, with a beard filling half his face, made me a bit confused on first look after more than a year. Also happened to meet his friend Deb, best wishes for them---hope they settle down soon..

In no time my trip was over. I met many, did not meet many. And I am full with refreshing energy to take on life ahead after the trip......... vroom vrooommm vwoooosshhh...

2005-04-09T16:56:00.000+05:30

In Durgam Cheru during an IBC get-together.

Thoughts on AI

2005-02-24T01:13:00.000+05:30

A thought that often disturbs my mind is : what exactly is the stumbling block that is stopping the scientists from replicating our mind? More accurately, why is that the neural networks, genetic algorithms or any such method do not enable us to make a general intelligence machine. We are able to make expert systems, but unfortunately those expert systems are not intelligent enough to run by themselves. What are we lacking that we are not able to make machines that can take care of themselves.....??? May be we are focussing on making evolutionary ai models but those models are not "selfish" enough to take care of themselves. Selfish AI machines can be dangerous for the human race, but isn't that the basic principle of existence in the wild world, "survival of the fittest world"? No we cannot afford to make selfish machines, but we can definitely try understanding the basic principles of the "selfish" mind, and try replicating the same in small scale. This may provide us clues to make man's most faithful AI friend ever!
More thoughts later. Most of these are rubbish though.

Subroto Bachi's Speech (CEO of Mindtree)

2005-02-07T01:27:00.000+05:30

I hit upon this email, one of the many forwarded once that end up in Trash, when cleaing up my mailbox. I only read a bit of it the first time, but it definitely is a good lecture. Here goes the email message :

Plz find some time to read this mind blowing article delivered at IIM Banglore Address by Subroto Bagchi, Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting to the Class of 2006 at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore on defining success. July 2nd 2004.

I was the last child of a small-time government servant, in a family of five brothers. My earliest memory of my father is as that of a District Employment Officer in Koraput, Orissa. It was and remains as back of beyond as you can imagine. There was no electricity; no primary school nearby and water did not flow out of a tap. As a result, I did not go to school until the age of eight; I was home- schooled. My father used to get transferred every year. The family belongings fit into the back of a jeep – so the family moved from place to place and, without any trouble, my Mother would set up an establishment and get us going. Raised by a widow who had come as a refugee from the then East Bengal, she was a matriculate when she married my Father. My parents set the foundation of my life and the value system which makes me what I am today and largely defines what success means to me today.

As District Employment Officer, my father was given a jeep by the government. There was no garage in the Office, so the jeep was parked in our house. My father refused to use it to commute to the office. He told us that the jeep is an expensive resource given by the government – he reiterated to us that it was not `his jeep' but the government's jeep. Insisting that he would use it only to tour the interiors, he would walk to his office on normal days. He also made sure that we never sat in the government jeep – we could sit in it only when it was stationary. That was our early childhood lesson in governance – a lesson that corporate managers learn the hard way, some never do.

The driver of the jeep was treated with respect due to any other member of my Father's office. As small children, we were taught not to call him by his name. We had to use the suffix `dada' whenever we were to refer to him in public or private. When I grew up to own a car and a driver by the name of Raju was appointed – I repeated the lesson to my two small daughters. They have, as a result, grown up to call Raju, `Raju Uncle' – very different from many of their friends who refer to their family drivers as `my driver'. When I hear that term from a school- or college-going person, I cringe. To me, the lesson was significant – you treat small people with more respect than how you treat big people. It is more important to respect your subordinates than your superiors.

Our day used to start with the family huddling around my Mother's chulha – an earthen fire place she would build at each place of posting where she would cook for the family. There was no gas, nor electrical stoves. The morning routine started with tea. As the brew was served, Father would ask us to read aloud the editorial page of The Statesman's `muffosil' edition – delivered one day late. We did not understand much of what we were reading. But the ritual was meant for us to know that the world was larger than Koraput district and the English I speak today, despite having studied in an Oriya medium school, has to do with that routine. After reading the newspaper aloud, we were told to fold it neatly. Father tauht us a simple lesson. He used to say, "You should leave your newspaper and your toilet, the way you expect to find it". That lesson was about showing consideration to others. Business begins and ends with that simple precept.

Being small children, we were always enamored with advertisements in the newspaper for transistor radios – we did not have one. We saw other people having radios in their homes and each time there was an advertisement of Philips, Murphy or Bush radios, we would ask Father when we could get one. Each time, my Father would reply that we did not need one because he already had five radios – alluding to his five sons. We also did not have a house of our own and would occasionally ask Father as to when, like others, we would live in our own house. He would give a similar reply, "We do not need a house of our own. I already own five houses". His replies did not gladden our hearts in that instant. Nonetheless, we learnt that it is important not to measure personal success and sense of w ell being through material possessions. Government houses seldom came with fences. Mother and I collected twigs and built a small fence. After lunch, my Mother would never sleep. She would take her kitchen utensils and with those she and I would dig the rocky, white ant infested surrounding. We planted flowering bushes. The white ants destroyed them. My mother brought ash from her chulha and mixed it in the earth and we planted the seedlings all over again. This time, they bloomed. At that time, my father's transfer order came. A few neighbors told my mother why she was taking so much pain to beautify a government house, why she was planting seeds that would only benefit the next occupant. My mother replied that it did not matter to her that she would not see the flowers in full bloom. She said, "I have to create a bloom in a desert and whenever I am given a new place, I must leave it more beautiful than what I had inherited". That was my first lesson in success. It is not about what you create for yourself, it is what you leave behind that defines success.

My mother began developing a cataract in her eyes when I was very small. At that time, the eldest among my brothers got a teaching job at the University in Bhubaneswar and had to prepare for the civil services examination. So, it was decided that my Mother would move to cook for him and, as her appendage, I had to move too. For the first time in my life, I saw electricity in homes and water coming out of a tap. It was around 1965 and the country was going to war with Pakistan. My mother was having problems reading a nd in any case, being Bengali, she did not know the Oriya script. So, in addition to my daily chores, my job was to read her the local newspaper – end to end. That created in me a sense of connectedness with a larger world. I began taking interest in many different things. While reading out news about the war, I felt that I was fighting the war myself. She and I discussed the daily news and built a bond with the larger universe. In it, we became part of a larger reality. Till date, I measure my success in terms of that sense of larger connectedness. Meanwhile, the war raged and India was fighting on both fronts. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Prime Minster, coined the term "Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan" and galvanized the nation in to patriotic fervor. Other than reading out the newspaper to my mother, I had no clue about how I could be part of the action. So, after reading her the newspaper, every day I would land up near the University's water tank, which served the community. I would spend hours under it, imagining that there could be spies who would come to poison the water and I had to watch for them. I would daydream about catching one and how the next day, I would be featured in the newspaper. Unfortunately for me, the spies at war ignored the sleepy town of Bhubaneswar and I never got a chance to catch one in action. Yet, that act unlocked my imagination. Imagination is everything. If we can imagine a future, we can create it, if we can create that future, others will live in it. That is the essence of success.

Over the next few years, my mother's eyesight dimmed but in me she created a larger vision, a vision with which I continue to see the world and, I sense, through my eyes, she was seeing too. As the next few years unfolded, her vision deteriorated and she was operated for cataract. I remember, when she returned after her operation and she saw my face clearly for the first time, she was astonished. She said, "Oh my God, I did not know you were so fair". I remain mighty pleased with that adulation even till date. Within weeks of getting her sight back, she developed a corneal ulcer and, overnight, became blind in both eyes. That was 1969. She died in 2002. In all those 32 years of living with blindness, she never complained about her fate even once. Curious to know what she saw with blind eyes, I asked her once if she sees darkness. She replied, "No, I do not see darkness. I only see light even with my eyes closed". Until she was eighty years of age, she did her morning yoga everyday, swept her own room and washed her own clothes. To me, success is about the sense of independence; it is about not seeing the world but seeing the light. Over the many intervening years, I grew up, studied, joined the industry and began to carve my life's own journey. I began my life as a clerk in a government office, went on to become a Management Trainee with the DCM group and eventually found my life's calling with the IT industry when fourth generation computers came to India in 1981. Life took me places – I worked with outstanding people, challenging assignments and traveled all over the world. In 1992, while I was posted in the US, I learnt that my father, living a retired life with my eldest brother, had suffered a third degree burn injury and was admitted in the Safderjung Hospital in Delhi. I flew back to attend to him – he remained for a few days in critical stage, bandaged from neck to toe. The Safderjung Hospital is a cockroach infested, dirty, inhuman place. The overworked, under- resourced sisters in the burn ward are both victims and perpetrators of dehumanized life at its worst. One morning, while attending to my Father, I realized that the blood bottle was empty and fearing that air would go into his vein, I asked the attending nurse to change it. She bluntly told me to do it myself. In that horrible theater of death, I was in pain and frustration and anger. Finally when she relented and came, my Father opened his eyes and murmured to her, "Why have you not gone home yet?" Here was a man on his deathbed but more concerned about the overworked nurse than his own state. I was stunned at his stoic self. There I learnt that there is no limit to how concerned you can be for another human being and what is the limit of inclusion you can create. My father died the next day.

He was a man whose success was defined by his principles, his frugality, his universalism and his sense of inclusion. Above all, he taught me that success is your ability to rise above your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. You can, if you want, raise your consciousness above your immediate surroundings. Success is not about building material comforts – the transistor that he never could buy or the house that he never owned. His success was about the legacy he left, the memetic continuity of his ideals that grew beyond the smallness of a ill-paid, unrecognized government servant's world. My father was a fervent believer in the British Raj. He sincerely doubted the capability of the post-independence Indian political parties to govern the country. To him, the lowering of the Union Jack was a sad event. My Mother was the exact opposite. When Subhash Bose quit the Indian National Congress and came to Dacca, my mother, then a schoolgirl, garlanded him. She learnt to spin khadi and joined an underground movement that trained her in using daggers and swords. Consequently, our household saw diversity in the political outlook of the two. On major issues concerning the world, the Old Man and the Old Lady had differing opinions. In them, we learnt the power of disagreements, of dialogue and the essence of living with diversity in thinking. Success is not about the ability to create a definitive dogmatic end state; it is about the unfolding of thought processes, of dialogue and continuum.

Two years back, at the age of eighty-two, Mother had a paralytic stroke and was lying in a government hospital in Bhubaneswar. I flew down from the US where I was serving my second stint, to see her. I spent two weeks with her in the hospital as she remained in a paralytic state. She was neither getting better nor moving on. Eventually I had to return to work. While leaving her behind, I kissed her face. In that paralytic state and a garbled voice, she said, "Why are you kissing me, go kiss the world." Her river was nearing its journey, at the confluence of life and death, this woman who came to India as a refugee, raised by a widowed Mother, no more educated than high school, married to an anonymous government servant whose last salary was Rupees Three Hundred, robbed of her eyesight by fate and crowned by adversity – was telling me to go and kiss the world!

Success to me is about Vision. It is the ability to rise above the immediacy of pain. It is about imagination. It is about sensitivity to small people. It is about building inclusion. It is about connectedness to a larger world existence. It is about personal tenacity. It is about giving back more to life than you take out of it. It is about creating extra-ordinary success with ordinary lives.

Thank you very much; I wish you good luck and Godspeed. Go, kiss the world.

Its raining in Hyderabad in winter!

2005-02-01T01:03:00.000+05:30

Its a continuous slow drizzle today in Hyderabad. The morning sky was
sky was cloudy with a few drops here and there sometimes. From around
8pm onwards a slow drizzle started. It had a tendency to become heavy,
but seemed to be lacking the required water precipitation. But its
steady and continuous.
Getting wet in the rain in Hyderabad is rare, but today its different.
Rain Gods are determined to wet us people returning from offices. I got
wet, not drenched exactly.
Life in office is slowly getting boring. Perhaps thats the reason I
have started other time killing habits like writing blogs.
Coming back to Hyderabad rain again. Now it the end of January, should
be very cold in other parts of India. In Hyderabad its just about 24-26
degrees centigrade. Thanks to the rain, hope I'll get a feel of winter
at least for a day. At other times its dry and hot. The govt should
really start a man-made forest project somewhere near the city, start
planting more and more trees to give it a greener look. Well, the roads
etc are maintained very well. Doesn't give you a feel of the hot and dry
climate but a step into the gullies and streets brings you back to hot
Hyderabad. We need more trees, trees that can withstand the hot climate
in Hyderabad.....

Testing

2005-01-31T15:26:00.000+05:30

Testing the email update feature......

Cooked dinner

2005-01-31T01:22:00.000+05:30

I cooked for myself. Made a few chapaties and aloo curry. I never knew I can cook so well. It was delicious! But oh, theres too many things to do. Washing the dishes to cooking all at the same time is not my cup of tea. Once in bluemoon is Ok, definitely not daily. I'll better keep my kitchen locked until I buy a fridge. Then ofcourse only once a week I'll cook and eat for the whole week :-).

Swadesh ...

2005-01-30T03:02:00.000+05:30

Swadesh, I've been waiting for two weeks to watch this movie but just couldn't get hold of a ticket. Finally yesterday I got one, for the night show, and got a similar minded friend who too was longing to watch this movie, Indra.
I liked Lagaan. Though my database doesn't store many bollywood's stars names and their deeds, it does have a couple of names like Ashutosh Gowarikar, Sharukh, Aamir, Amitabh and the likes. I didnt want to miss Mr. Gowarikar's next creation after Lagaan, Swadesh, so even on a high pressure day in office, I managed to make it just in time at the show.
Sharukh Khan, the main protagonist in the film, did an awesome job. No overacting, no k-k-k-k-kiran style, and no "plastic" acting. His style was natural, down to earth and seemed to merge in the role very well. Grear job Mr Khan!!. And thanks to Mr. Gowarikar, the direction didn't have those extra explicit comedy or tragedy scenes that force the audience to show emotions beyond the normal chemistry levels. Its a mature movie.
Mohan, the prime character of the movie is just another example of the 'brain-drain' effect. But like every Indian ( I believe) he too has in some corner of his heart a latent love for his motherland. He happens to come back to India for taking his mother-like nanny with him to the US. And the story starts here. Mohan feels his motherland, he is touched by the condition of the villagers. Gita (Gayatri Joshi), plays a very important role. Her acting in this debut film ( as I heard of) is just perfect. And WOW!, what maths skills. Women are complex, and its fun to find out the complexity! I am ofcource referring to the women, who have a little more grey matter than the usual low levels. Mr.Gowarikar has shown women independence, advancement and the so lovely affectionate motherly and friendly touch that they have. Three cheers for Mr. G!!
Mohan falls in love with Gita and vice versa. He is in love with his motherland too.....then what the hell will he do in US??? So, simple he comes back, having a mind to improve the condition of his countrymen. No dishum-dishum, no running around trees, no guns, so swords and yet its got evreything, a love story, a patriotic hero, comedy and sentimental scenes. Also thanks to A.R. Rehman. The music blends with the background so well as though it was coming from the heart. I didn't even relealize that I was going thru a song scene, one of the reasons I dont like hindi films. But this one is different. I am waiting for A.R. Rehman's masterpiece, but isn't he improving with every title? "Mann se Ravan jo nikale, Ram uske mann mein hein" -- so simple lyrics but just appropiate for such a film. Javed-ji ka jawab nehi.

The story is simple, but does every Indian who falls in a position like Mohan return back to his motherland? And how many Gita-s do we have in India? Most (almost 90%) girls of our country dream of their husbands to be in US, earning huge $$$, and who would not marry a NASA guy!! How many Indian girls can forsake or even insist their to be life partners to change their workplace/career for her goals in life. How many Indian girls can be so dedicated to their careers, that too a voluntary job which is for serving her country from the grassroots? But that is exactly what we need for our India now dont we? That is why Mohan is the hero, and Gita the heroine.
Even if we see Mohan-s sometimes nowadays in India, Gitas are rare to come by. When will we see more Gita-s, going hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with Mohans, making India a developed nation? Though Mohan's character in the film was the central one, Gita's character was more important for the country.... for the people..for Swadesh!!

In all, I loved the movie and am planning to buy a dvd soon, the start of my dvd collection of great movies.

Jai Ram ji ki !

one fine day...

2004-05-25T10:01:00.000+05:30

I wrote in blogspot....

......the first sound

2004-05-21T17:59:00.000+05:30

Bolgspot!! A great idea but doesn't bang the world. Nevertheless it bangs me. I am excited to post here and create my own blog space online....
Online?? Most people in this world rarely come online, leave alone searching for someone's blogs. Then who all really use this space?
Internet in costly in most places on earth. Learning to use this amazing idea of humankind is also not a piece of cake for mid-aged and elderly people. Internet is used mainly by indivusuals like me who related to computers and internet. They are the onces who are more in touch with electronic media and make some use of it.

Getting back to blog space. Why is this needed? Sharing ideas? Or just thinking aloud, or should I say thinking with fingers? The later may just be right. Human to human interaction is much more important than human-to-X and X-to-human interactions. X is any dumb-repeating-media like this blog space.

Oh, but I am excited to write my feelings freely, and yes that is what internet is all about....

More thoughts later. This is too much for the first day itself.