Atlas shrugged here

The art of bus-riding

2012-02-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

Today morning, a fellow student accidentally held on to my backpack to steady himself when the bus turned a corner. He looked up at me with a worried expression on his face and said apologetically "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to.. I, I, I... was out of balance.." I looked up at him and smiled.

In the state where I hail from, school kids have a free-ride in government run buses - provided they are able to produce their
bus-pass within a micro-second to the bus-overseer (colloquially: 'kandectaar annan' - big brother conductor). As I was to learn in my undergraduate courses later, this was the speed at which early microprocessors used to operate. Therefore, keeping it folded in the wallet or inside the backpack is both infeasible and unacceptable. I'll avoid getting into the intricacies here, since carrying backpacks while riding a bus requires metier and is a topic requiring an intense treatment on its own. Losing the bus-pass is an expensive incident (as you don't get a replacement for that year) that earns severe rebuke from all affected parties. An exceptionally unfortunate situation is when teh kid realizes that he had lost his bus-pass when asked to produce on-board the bus. Elder co-passengers suddenly realize their social responsibility in educating the already shattered kid on the "art of carefulness".

Often, what clothing to wear when you ride the bus is a great dilemma, especially for the youth. In fact, it puts your morality, up-bringing and social-status at stake and determines where you end up in the social chart of your co-passengers. For instance, a young looking fellow by default is a good-for-nothing vagabond who apparently can have no respectable social status what-so-ever. A fellow with a neatly pressed shirt is tolerable and anyone with a ripped jean has no salvation, ever.

To top it up, bus-riding has a bunch of innate protocols associated with it. Any person who is occupying a double-seater is always required to offer the seat when he sees a couple standing. The decision to offer a seat when you see a couple is intricately complex and a direct confrontation of your morality. The worst part is, the correctness of your decision is never influenced by the ensuing behaviour of the couple. If they are married and abide by the socially accepted protocol of having non-mushy conversations, then your decision to offer the seat makes you earn a scornful look from your co-passengers. In case, the couple seem happy enough, you earn disdain. And if they turn out to be unmarried or just friends - congratulations, you just got promoted to being an uncouth fellow and an object of sheer contempt for having allowed them to sit together.

With a billion people, buses are the life-line of public transportation in India and it is natural to expect them to be crowded. Bus-riding without jostling or stepping on someone is therefore a rare event and if you manage to get out of the bus after accidentally step on someone without having to put your all your known ancestors to shame, you should definitely buy yourself a lottery ticket that day. As a kid carrying a heavy backpack, my life was always in an unstable equilibrium when riding a bus. Enriching experiences have trained me not to worry too much about what goes on around you when in a bus.

But today, I looked up at him and smiled.

PS. Just in case you were wondering where I managed click this photograph, it was taken at our own Chennai a few years ago when I had been there visiting my friends.

2brnt2b is the question!

2011-10-19T18:40:00.001-04:00

It is when you need to concentrate the most does your mind play all the tricks up it's sleeve and more often than not, the mind emerges the winner. Most of my writing is an artifact of such moments, but I'll let that be since that is definitely not the theme of my write-up today. I have always advocated that 'annoyance' is a perfect example of an intangible creation of our own mind, something that you can completely avoid. And yet, I infallibly fall for it every single time. But enough said about the mind, which I know is a product of my own contradictions. The anguished linguaphile in me had to seek solace by writing his agony targeted towards everyone and none in particular. It would be nothing short of being perfectly idiotic to fight for a lost cause, especially when the entire world is against you. But I'll stand up now and dish out a piece of my mind to the world in which mutilation of languages is considered fashionable.

Today, I was woken up by the muddled hooting of my phone on receiving a text message which said "tst" which was followed by another which said "txt d msg". And there it was - annoyance on two counts. The first being the most obvious - someone apparently chose me as the lucky person for his random testing of the new features of his/her phone. To explain this in terms of the butterfly effect, a few days ago the 'half-bitten fruit' folks released a new version of their iOS (to be pronounced ayyos), the impact which I had to bear now with some random person's experimental text messages. Following the two minute silence spent ruminating over my ill-luck was a half-an-hour nostalgia session recounting the undergrad days when free text messaging had been in vogue. Back then, it was the bread-and-butter communication strategy for students for a variety of recreational* purposes. The second reason for my annoyance was the content of the message - not the semantics but its syntax. The blatant non-availability of vowels in the message was just the icing that the cake needed.

That brings me to my chosen theme of the day - spelling. I can possibly understand the intent of robbing the words off its heart, if you were sending a Morse coded message hundred years ago when every alphabet communicated (or perhaps spoken too) was costing you money. Or if you were effecting a will endowing your million rupee property to an orphanage right before your very last breath^. Or if you were preparing** for an examination. But even the gentleman in me just cannot accept an email missing the vowels in a professional setting like requesting an appointment or writing to someone whom you do not know personally.

Very recently, an update appeared on my Facebook notifications; a comment that read thus "gr8,u 2 cum... pls du sumthn awsum dis wknd 4 dat." How in the sweet heaven do you guys even manage to do that! Every single word in there was perfectly misspelt! It has become fashionable to spell 'date' as 'd8' and 'time' as 'tym'. "To be or not to be" becomes "2 b r nt 2 b", "awesome" becomes "ossum" and "right" becomes "rite". And then there is "Choooo chweet" that pops up in all diabetic conversations between couples. And this list is endless. To misspell a word has sadly become a measure of cuteness in writing. If you end up spelling "do" as "du", I really think you should rather spend more time in middle school than on social networking.

While there is one faction who splendidly mutilate the spelling by truncation, there is the other group who believe in perpetual repetition of an alphabet as a perfect equivalent for punctuation. So apparently, the length of grunting encoded using 'r' in a "grrrrrrrrr" or the depth of disappointment in a "booooooooo" is a perfectly acceptable measure of your emotion. To say 'cooooool' is super cool and 'beautifullllllll' becomes extra-beautiful. On a similar note, the level of excitement in a "Superrrrrrr" or the measure of awe in a "Woooooooooow" is totally justified too. Sometimes, the length of repetition is so appalling that I often suspect their keyboard could possibly be the miscreant.

To all those who take pride in writing such sentences - Yes, I do appreciate your exceptional ability to comprehend sentences encrypted using phonetics and without vowels. But words are spelled in a language in a certain way for a reason - please let them be.

End of rant.

* includes SOS calls and soul-searching
** if you know what that means
^ if you don't understand this, you really need to watch more Hindi/Tamizh/Telugu movies. Don't look for Kannada, apparently even Google is not able to find any such thing called kannada movie.

dmr - a true titan

2011-10-13T00:17:00.001-04:00

Last week-end, one of the great minds of our time, a true Titan of Computer Science, someone whom I respect from the bottom of my heart for his contributions to the world, departed this physical world. He revolutionized the world of computers - a true pioneer, a superlative mind and a great person. He invented the language that formed the fundamentals of the computers that we so freely use today. He laid the foundation for an operating system that fuels the world we live in. It is on his giant shoulders that millions ride on today and will do so for ever. He won the Turing award and the Hamming medal, something that can only be dreamt by most people. Being the intellectual giant he was, he kept contributing to this world, until his very last days.

I hate making comparisons, but it pains to see such a great person like dmr departing the world unnoticed while that of an corporate innovator gets flashed in the headlines and is being mourned by millions. By what standards is a Turing award winner lesser than the corporate wizard? But then, this is how the machinery of the world works. I guess, it doesn't matter anymore. That said, I do hope there would be a few who will recognize the magnitude of his contribution to the world. I do.

You are one of the few people whom I shall repent not having known personally despite being almost in the same building. Your emails signed with the famous dmr will no more reach us. You will be missed, Sir. The world will most definitely miss Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie.

http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/dmr/

Beyond the golden urn

2011-04-02T20:16:00.000-04:00

So that's that. And we have the golden urn once again. And it doesn't end there.

The last few weeks have been an excellent avenue for columnists to mass-hypnotize a humongous audience and it is not surprising that they had milked it dry. I had run across many an article that elaborates why cricket is a religion in India. Numerous theories were churned out to proffer explanations about how a sport could bind a billion strong nation. Look at it from a hundred feet and it's just another game involving a few people. Generation after generation have warned us about the banality that surrounds the sport and how fragile the sentiments behind it are. It is also imperative that a sport cannot feed a country that has been fighting hard to establish itself on the world map. It was a dream come true for an entire nation all the same. A billion hearts beat as one today. And therefore we needed to win.

A friend of mine said she felt a sense of belonging every time India plays cricket and the things people do when they are passionate about something. There cannot be anything more honest than that statement. The thinkers have put it simply - the nation needed something to cheer about, to be passionate about, something that would help sail through disappointments that each individual is facing every moment in his life. And thus Cricket became a religion and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar its God. A religion to a country in which you have to constantly compete - compete to progress, compete to prosper, compete to survive. We have to constantly fight against dominance from the rest of the world, fight against our own systems, fight against bureaucracy, fight against corruption, fight against mediocrity, fight for pride. A mere outlet for our passion in the form of a sport would never suffice. And therefore we needed to win.

While it is plain that cricket has been the glue that binds Indians together, a billion people coming from all obscure parts of life, it has remained just a symbol of hope and not of confidence. It is true that the flame had burned bright at times, but never consistent enough. And no, I'm not speaking of just cricket, but of a spectrum beyond it. We needed much more than a faint 'hope' to cling on to, something that can inspire us, motivate us, give us something to cheer for and aspire. And therefore we needed to win.

Today is definitely going down as one of the most historic days in Indian sports. Today is the day when we declared that the heroes of 1983 are not legends. We can do a better job of what they did earlier. They too are mortals and today, we ground them. Today, we declared that it wasn't just a lucky chance that we won. Today, we declared our will and grit to compete, fight till the finish. Neither was it an associate nation that we beat on our way, nor was it a result of a contrived complex interplay of politics. We blasted our way through the champions of the game and resoundingly declared that we are no less. And therefore we needed to win.

We needed to show, we learn from mistakes. We needed to show, we have the consistency and courage to stand up, aspiration to succeed. We needed to show that we do not merely stand and stare. This transformation in Team India wasn't an overnight process. It started ten years ago with a man who ripped off his shirt at Lord's and declared his grit and will to win. And we never looked back. The last decade stands an immutable testimony. And today, we needed to show that irrespective of the future, we shall keep our will to compete burning bright as ever. And therefore we needed to win.

It is totally justified if you think of this to be a thought of mine that comes from the heat of the moment, a flash of inspiration that comes from passion rather than an instilled confidence. Trust me, I have been waiting for this right moment for a long time. I have had times of quiet satisfaction and pride when I have seen India stand up and command its authority and will to fight. How many of us remember our shooters and pugilists quietly wrapping up accolades in the Olympic events over the past decade? We had a time when India was huffing and puffing about a single medal that we won "long long ago, nobody knows how long ago" and now are at a stage where we take as many as 10 for granted every time. How many times have we been able to afford a contented chuckle when a coach from a pugilist powerhouse like Cuba comes over to the changing room and says, "I'm certain your boy would win the bout hands down". We needed to show it wasn't just in a bunch of sporting events that we are competing. We needed to show that it is our indomitable spirit to compete and progress as a professional and as a peer to the rest of the world. And therefore we needed to win.

We all connect to cricket in a way that we do not connect with any other. Shedding their differences in social or economic status, Indians unite when it comes to cricket. We identify ourselves with cricket to the extent that we feel actually feel good about ourself when Team India wins. We let our thoughts and spirits fly high with intensity when we watch our team play. The Men In Blue resounded the nation's spirit today at the Wankhede Stadium. And then they lifted it. At that moment we realized what we gained was much beyond just the golden urn.

The holy dip in the trough

2010-12-30T19:25:00.008-05:00

Owing to the state of shock that beheld the moment, I was caught frozen adoring my mobile phone which at that precise moment was undergoing ablution in the deep-dish Sambar container that our household covets as a piece of priceless possession. The LCD screen provided by Sony Ericsson was ever so refulgent from underneath the translucent liquid that topped it. And no, my cellular phone definitely wasn't an ingredient in the new recipe for Sambar that I was trying out. How it came about to be in this bedraggled position is a story that expresses as much mystery as any typical Tamil or Telugu movie would and so I have benevolently decided to spare my readers of that trouble. In an instinctive reaction, I matrix-pulled the phone out of the container though it was now the phone's turn to get frozen, but irradiate all the same. All the electronics-common-sense that my brain had managed to understand and index through the past decade was swept away by the puerile joy on seeing the phone alive despite the debacle it just underwent.

Murphy and the other genuine laws of physics were not so benevolent though. Fighting my initial adolescent euphoria, I had to try flip the lid down to see if that augured well with the phone. And there it was - the deadly flicker of death, like the sparks of a dying candle, the phone showed a final flare of its former glory before shutting itself off. Damn! I need to get a new phone now. But such kindness was deemed unwarranted to me. The phone came back to life when I restarted it, but took an enormous amount of time to become operational. And that has been the problem ever since - it has become an obstinate child that needs to be entreated with tenderness, fortitude and oppressiveness all at the same time. It requires careful and delicate touches required of an eye surgeon to make it respond to the charger, an aeon before it responds to an key press or a flip and an equal amount of time to make it stop from any of the random action that it choses to take on receiving an impulse.

The pinnacle of my misery is when someone calls me - the phone keeps ringing despite my earnest attempts to keep it quiet. No amount of pacification helps - neither attempting to take the call nor drop it seemed to work with my phone. It couldn't have chosen a more opportune moment to embarrass me than at the birthday party of a friend with a room full of people pristinely talking and exchanging pleasantries. The volume of its ringing mutated from a mild purr to an ominous hooting proportionately attracting as much audience with every passing moment. I changed colors faster than a chameleon - from white to yellow to pink to purple to blue to green. And then, there had to be this brilliant suggestion from one among the audience while I was trying my best to convince the onlookers about my incapacity to deal with my phone - "Why don't you try silencing it?". Oh, yeah! Thanks! Like I didn't think of that.

But there are somethings that the phone started doing excellently, sometimes a tad too steadfastly. Alarm, for instance exerted itself beyond its expectations to wake not only me, but also my room-mate whose threw me a few fiery glances powerful enough to cook my breakfast. At that moment, I realized how much I missed my previous room-mate who used to promptly set alarm in his mobile phone and benevolently slipped it underneath my pillow when I am fast asleep. And then there is the MegaPixel camera which I had been once so proud of that no longer wants to turn itself on and the music player which I had grown to love as a soulful companion that has departed never to arrive again. Such dolor forced me to endure the ordeal of looking for a new mobile phone which I assure you is no easy task requiring all the financial tact and wizardry that one could conjure. My provider has this strange policy of extending step-motherly treatment to its existing customers while treating new customers lucratively. It actually took me a few minutes to digest the fact that a new connection would be less expensive than upgrading the existing connection. Take a bow for customer loyalty!

And so, here I am writing the woeful story of how I ended up with a punch-holed wallet and a semi-mortified phone that isn't open to any deal anylonger. On the brighter side, I'll be gifting myself with a new phone absolving myself of all the crime that I had committed and all the trials undergone as a result. Just the fairy tale end that was required to bid adieu to the decade!

Have a great year ahead folks!!

My fair lady

2010-11-17T12:54:00.009-05:00

Famished as much as I was then, I couldn't help noticing the sweet aroma of caffeine mixed with Pecan and Ginger. That isn't the surprising fact, given the recent accounts of my gluttony exploits have been critically acclaimed thanks to my hyperactive socially networked accomplices. But what was surprising was that I also happened to notice a girl sulking at the corner by the window, buried over a mound of books and discreetly fiddling with a brightly colored "smart" phone that distinctly stood out from the general mood of the coffee shop. I ordered my special brew coffee/lunch and went near the glass window which insulates the cold from outside yet lets through the sunlight to provide the warmth - one of the rare moments of pleasure that one can experience on the bright days of winter.

And it was at this juncture that I heard a shuffle behind my shoulders (and thanks to the semi-reflective properties of silicon glass) and realized that the girl was now accompanied by a friend who was a guy. That observation of mine had to be further fine-tuned when I heard the very first words that he spoke to the girl. No amount of bureaucratic or social protocols would have mandated him to apologize as profusely as he did; except if he were her boy-friend. I am almost sure that it beats by quite a margin, a murder convict pleading guilty of genocide and asking for pardon from a death sentence. By that time, my lunch arrived and I was obliged to stay put and hear the ongoing conversation. In my defense, I have to say that 'overhear' is not an apt term I should have used, as the conversation was happening right behind my back and the only option I had was to walk away clumsily with the food in my hand. On hindsight though, I really think that would have been the saner choice.

Now that I have established my innocence, I shall now proceed with relating the crux of the conversation I happened to hear. I'll have to refer to them as the 'girl' and 'guy' since I did not even turn to look at them, let alone know their names. And it is least surprising that I did not learn it through the conversation either, given that human recognizable proper-nouns are to be promptly replaced by diabetic pro-nouns like sweety, sweetheart, sugar, darling, etc., during all conversation between couples. The guy had apparently committed the unpardonable crime of coming in 5 minutes later than she had called him (as he was giving a project presentation), which triggered another round of apologies tendered in all possible permutations known to mankind. To be noted is that my friends have already classified me under the emotionally-challenged species and I was already beginning to feel uncomfortable with all the emotional appeals taking place behind me. For a moment, I felt relieved when she said she was cross with him for being late and was about to walk away. Fair enough, I thought.

Destiny is never so kind! He stopped her and made her sit down which was followed by another tirade of emotions as she began to initiate the intricate process of converting anger into self-pity and started sobbing. Ouch! "Just leave! Get up and just leave the damn place.."- I thought. The will of my mind was subdued only by the half eaten sandwich and the thought of potentially ending up with a coffee stained T-shirt (provided by my previous employers, of course). Coming back to the present, she was saying that the homework needs to be done in another hour and that "we" would not be able to do it. But it was when he asked, "What time do you need to submit it?" that its implication struck me in full (Again, I'm well known to be spontainity-challenged). Interesting..., I thought, but was interrupted by a fresh burst of vocal cacophony from behind. She said that she was not going to submit "her" homework because "he" was late and "he" was responsible for it. But what totally stumped me was when he started apologizing again and pleaded with her to complete and submit her homework. Oh! the ways of the world!

And what ensued further is chronicled for purely academic interests - She overslept and he apologized. She forgot to bring her glove and he apologized. She got to campus late and he apologized. She couldn't find an "app" for her smart phone that morning (she did have time for that!) and he apologized. She wouldn't pay the bill for the coffee and he apologized. Readers, please pardon me for my inability to elaborate further on those parts of the conversation - our language falls drastically insufficient in its ability to express them with any finer granularity than the term mushiness allows.

As you would have guessed, this emotional overdose was way too much beyond my earthly abilities of forbearance and I took flight at the earliest possible moment. I must have looked quite a sight with a half filled coffee cup in one hand, a bunch of crumpled tissues and silverware in the other and a sandwich stuffed mouth. For, the Samaritan beside me, whom I thought so far to be sunken deep into his MacBook Pro and oblivious to all the ensuing drama, looked up and smiled. The smile said one word - compassion.

~Titan.

PS. I had drafted this write up almost a year ago, but was not happy either with the phrasing/structure or the authenticity about the generality of the content. The former was remedied with rephrasing the content and latter by various similar encounters and snippets that had been related to me.

Inception - a thoroughly thought thought about thought

2010-07-26T22:09:00.000-04:00

Okay. So there are hundreds of reviews about this movie written by well known and renowned critics, but I feel it is right on my part to write on the movie that I felt was one among the best that I've seen in the last few years. I have been criticising movies one too many and my readers have at times found it disconcerting that I should consistently have a negative take on reviewing the movies. And it is now time to change that perception.

Despite being in a very quiet part of New Jersey, I have had a lot of opportunities (I'm still not sure I've capitalized as much as I should have) for travel and entertainment respites. Theatres in these parts of the country usually run empty and I have an unbeatable record of being the only person to watch a movie thanks to the friend who ditched me and "happened" to miss the train. But that is a different story, and so was the story the day I went to watch the 'Inception'. The theatre ran almost a full house on the opening Friday and the hall did have a huge capacity of about 600. If it were 'Sura' there would have been ample time and patience for the audience to express their emotions and whistle. But, this one was different.

The thing that impressed me the most is the plot. Unlike most other movies that are being produced all around the world left, right and center, the ones that trade off the plot for the cast and action, Inception is woven into the plot as tight as a cocoon's nest. After a long time, I have truly enjoyed a movie because of its ability to derive its strength from the plot. I'm sure it has taken Nolan quite a while to come up with the plot (despite it's obvious ancestral properties from Matrix) and with great care and intricacy. Any less and the movie would not have probably had the same integrity of thought and feature. The concept of lucid dreams and sharing dreams has been out in the world for centuries (I personally know of its existence in one of the ancient Indian scripts - Bhagavat Purana and the oldest surviving text of this script is at least a thousand years old), but it still takes an amazing amount of effort and thought to capture it a 2 hour celluloid. For instance, the fact that your dreams are woven into reality is amazingly casted in form of people losing gravity in the dream when the previous level has people suspended in the air.

With a story of this kind, it is quite easy for people to get carried away with making the movie infinitely complex, but Nolan's effort in making it simple to the viewer yet not lose the value of the concept just amazed me. With the right measure of terminology (limbo, kick, inception) to give it a sci-fi bent, the story has been carved into shape by equally brilliant screenplay. The pace of the movie is just right and keeps the audience always interested in what is happening on screen. If one were to pardon my sense of drawing parallelisms, I'd say Sekhar Kammula comes the closest to this calibre when it comes to screenplay and integrity of thought. I'm sure this movie would go a long way in making Hollywood (and Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, ??llywoods ) appreciate the importance of thought in the inception of a movie. And yes, I still cannot believe how DiCaprio has managed to make such splendid choice of movies. Either, he is really worthy of these, or he should go buy lottery tickets. In either case, he is going to be a billionaire.

There isn't much of a suspense in the plot and leaving the end wide open to audience hardly qualifies as a suspense in my perception. Yet, I shall not be delving into the details of the plot or the storyline, like I usually do. For now, I remain happy and immersed in the ecstasy of seeing a movie that is well scripted and amazing thought out. Unless you are addicted to watching movies like Sura which are perfect antonyms of Inception, I'm sure it will be love at first sight.

The Chains, The Markets and The Saws

2010-07-22T13:52:00.005-04:00

I have a couple of posts that I had started drafting before this but I am pretty sure this one is going to see the light and on to my blog much before it's predecessors. It happened yesterday, when I was shopping in the supermarket and a "Marketing Manager" waylaid me and gave me his intellectual piece of advice about making money. For reasons that are obvious, I do not want to mention the name, origin or the firm he represented as they are of no consequence to what I'm going to relate here. So here he was, explaining to me about a shopping card that I can "buy" and earn points when I recommend somebody for buying the card. The 'Concept' he said, was simple - the more people I get to join, the more money I make. He went on to explain that I get a certain 'percentage' of points for each person who joins the chain with my "Number". And then, we just en-cash the points for free supplies from the "most" supermarkets all around the country!

While I stood dazed at his attempt, he conveniently 'understood' that the person he was talking to wasn't making heads or tails of this brilliant opportunity. And he went on explaining how the growth of the chain under me would generate revenue for me without me having to do anything. He said that computer scientists call this type of chain a 'Tree" or a pyramid and that it is a very powerful mathematical model that has been translated into a marketing model by the most brilliant of market strategists in New York. He even said, in full happiness of having stumped me, that the "growth" I would have in terms of revenue would be exponential. And I continued my state of daze, my mind thrown in its own whirlwind of thoughts, anguish and pity. Realizing that I hardly spoke anything, he gave me his card and left in pursuit of another outbound customer. I'm sure he wouldn't have imagined to meet a person, who has been working on a "Tree Differencing Optimization" problem for a part of his thesis dissertation and has been traveling up and down the 'Tree' data structure like a monkey for the past three months.

What I'm now going to talk about is my very own personal opinion and I hope it remains the same. It is the general lack of awareness about these "Pyramid" or "Chain" business models which made me wonder if people who stepped into this even realize the extent and impact of what they were doing! I have to agree that the "Chain Marketing" was one of the most brilliant marketing model that has been invented to attract low and middle income group, who, otherwise would not have invested in a business venture. That said, I do strongly believe that this is one of the most unethical ways to make money. Trust me, I do!

So what is this "Chain Marketing" ?

A Marketing model based on the exponential growth of a tree. For all my fellow computer science and math enthusiasts, the number of nodes at each level of depth of a tree is n^d, where n is the spread of nodes and d is the depth of the tree.

What does this mean to the chain marketing strategy. For a very simple analysis - let us assume that a person who bought the card, initiates no more than two others into the program. So the tree would now look as shown in the left. Imagine you are at the top (Red) of the chain. Assume you initiate two people (Green) into the program, and the green initiate two more people (Blue), and the blues initiate two apiece. Now let's do a computation of the income - Assume for simplicity, profit of 10% per person and the card sells for $100. The Blues would get $20, the Greens ($20 + $4), and the Red ($20 + $5). So what is the big deal here? If you haven't already noticed the second component, viz., the profit percentage keeps increasing the with the number of people in the tree. And even for a small spread tree, like the above, which is called a binary tree - the number of people at each level d grows by 2^d. For a ternary tree, you would imagine this number to grow even faster- and yes, it does as can be seen below.

This strategy is a version of the well known doubling the chessmen problem. Imagine if you actually took this as an opportunity to make money and initiate probably a hundred to operate for you! Yes, we are talking about minting some serious money in here. Sounds like a fair deal, isn't it? You are just making use of mathematics and smart marketing and hardwork (yes, you are expending huge amounts of effort to initiate people into the chain) to make money. It looks like a very fair opportunity for everyone, after all, you could always initiate more people and retrieve your investment. What is so unethical about it? Think.

Common sense says that there has to be some logical point where the growth has to stop - there are just finite number of people out there in the whole world. Therefore, there are people who end up at the bottom of the chain, but do you want to take a guess how many..? Remember, at each level in the chain, the number of people grow by a factor of n^d which is large, very very large. Believe me, I've been working for the past few months on a tree with the number n hovering about 25~30 and it takes a 4Ghz computer hours to even count the numbers! Come again... the number is large. Agreed. So whats unethical about it? Well, if you have understood this, it is simple - the more the number of people you initiate, the more the spread and growth in the chain resulting in a gargantuan number of people at the very end of the chain. A lot of people who will not be getting their value for the $100 card that they bought. They will end up losing a part of their money which travels to the ones at the top of the chain who make profit out of it.

As you can see, the higher up in the chain you are, the more money you make. Again, what is so unethical about it? I'm not cheating someone!! I'm just providing them with an opportunity to make money by initiating them into this program. With every person whom you initiate into the program, there are potentially thousands at the bottom of the pyramid. Hey! I know the math. So what? You still haven't told me what is so unethical about this? Nothing.

Delaware Water Gap - A hikers delight!

2010-07-06T23:28:00.003-04:00

It is that time of the year again, but a different location. Very different, almost half way across the globe from the one that I had visited last year. My last year has not been devoid of travelling footprints and it sure doesnt warrant such a long exile from writing a travelogue (my last one was on a visit to Warangal, AP, India). I had been to the Smoky Mountains(TN ,US) a few months ago, which is one of the most beautiful places I've hiked, but it is just too well known and too well documented for me to write something on it and make it useful for a potential traveller. But why bore you with my rationalization!

Late last month, we, a few enthusiastic (albeit bored) interns from the AT&T Research Labs decided to dust our running shoes and hike at a nearby place called Delaware Water Gap. The place was supposed to be one of the best locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for hiking and one of the most scenic as per the authorities' website. And beautiful it was indeed. But why this travelogue? One, most of my friends are not aware of this place and I want to bring it to their notice. Two, a hiker's experience is usually different from 'facts' provided in the websites and provides a different perspective. Three, Google Analytics tells me that a lot of reading is being done on my travelogues. And four, I've been upto a heap of coding over the long weekend and it is becoming impossible for me to think straight without a break.

The Water Gap is at a little over an hour's journey from Morristown, NJ (a little sense of loyalty to the place :D ) and about two hours from NYC I'd imagine. There are a host of hiking trails in here - for all nC2 gradient and distances. Being researchers by profession and opting to go with the time tested 'law of diminishing returns', we decided to hike the toughest way up and climb the easier way down and yet not repeat trails and view points.

The climb was through the 'Red Dot' trail, which has got a higher gradient and hence the shortest distance leading up to the Mt. Tammany. The trail is half gravel and half rocky and lined with huge, shady trees lined up all around you. I am sure this trail has one of the best views of the water gap between Mt. Tammany and Mt. Minsi (on the PA front). For the more adventurous, there are a couple of quick detours that one can take on the way up the Red Dot trail for a nice view of the water gap. It takes about an hour and a half of walk at a relaxed pace to climb the entire trail and at the top is a nice view point giving a picturesque view of the water gap in all its curve and glory.

The 'Blue Blaze' meets the 'Red Dot' at this point and we walked down the blue blaze that has a lovely gradient and a pleasant walk which is what exactly one needed after the heavier climb upwards. There aren't too many view points on this trail, but you get to see a lot of dense trees and wilderness all around you. When accompanied by a light breeze and fall colors I'd imagine this trail to seem like a path through heaven. Incidentally enough, we actually saw wildlife in the form of a bear (whereas we saw none in the Smoky mountains though that is more reputed for its bear population) near a small rivulet. The stream marks the end of the descent and that we have joined yet another trail (the green blaze this time).

On the mid-way between the Green Blaze and the Yellow Blaze (if I remember right) was supposed to be a Holly Spring and surprisingly I believe we missed sighting that spot, despite walking the correct trail. (Though a parallel stream of thought says that the spring could as well have been the stainless steel pipes running a few drops of water from and undisclosed source). Nonetheless, that was the only place that wasn't well marked out during our 3 hour descent down the hills.

From then on, we took the more famous and popular Appalachian trail that goes to the Dunsfield Parking lot (from where we embarked on the Red Dot) . Though we walked this trail only because we had to, it was a very pleasant and easy walk along the trail which ran alongside the stream and it was clear why this was one of the most popular trails in the region. The entire hike took us about 5 hours at an easy pace and I would probably make an educated guess of about 5 miles about the distance we would have covered. The water gap is supposed to have water sports like tubing and rafting, but going by the amount rapids the river had (if at all it had any) I'm sure it would not be one of the more adventurous to navigate. While the place is close enough and reachable for a day hike, I'm sure camping at this place would be major fun too. There are a number of camping sites that you can reserve in advance if you plan on an overnight trip to these hills.

Factfile:

About two hours drive from NY/NJ. Not sure if there are public transit available (though we did see a train station on the PA front of the river)
Best time for visit would be Spring/Fall - but we hiked it on a warm summer day and the weather was still enjoyable for the most part thanks to the dense trees around.
Lighting is scarce at this place and campers be prepared for providing your own lighting sources.
Carry plenty of water and electrolytes - there aren't any available nearby once you hit the trails.
It is preferable to pack your own food from the city though there are a few dining options near exits 4A,B,C.
Though the trails are well marked out, do remember to carry a rough sketch of the trails that you plan to hike.

Some pictures in random order and no specific context:

What is in a name!

2010-05-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

It is exam time and we, the Grad Students run caffeine in our veins as a dietary supplement for blood. And despite our albino appearance, fate shows no mercy to running us head first into encounters like...

"Hi there, what can I get for you today?"

"Can I have a medium coffee please?"

"Sure. What's your name?"

"Shankar."

"Is that the full name..?"

Venam da... valikkudhu... "Shankar Narayanan"

"The what ?"

Where did you learn your grammar - proper nouns don't have articles as prefixes !!

"That's S..H..A..N.."

"Can you spell that out please?"

Ippo adhu dan da pannaren.. padutharanungley..!

"S...H.."

"etch, what...?"

It's English, not Spanish !! Words in English exist where H is not silent!

"H for house.."

"whooos ?"

"H for HULK"

"Ah.. H.. I got it!"

Very smart !

"A...N..."

"Wow.. That's a pretty complicated name..! (beaming).. let's spell it again.."

Dei, dei.. inum muzhusa naalu alphabet kooda mudikaleyey da ! Adhukkula repeat spelling ah !

"S..H...A..N.."

"K for king, A for Art, R for .."

"SHANKRR.. is there a double 'R'..? "

Vechuka da.. unakku enna venumo vechuko.. kaapi ya kodunga da... oru vaai kaapi ketadhu kuthama da.. sobba.. sobbababababaaaa...

(Not letting it go.. ) "Wow, looks like I got it.. thats pretty complicated.. why don't we keep it simple ? (grin)"

Enda.. ungalukku puriyala 'ndra dukkaaga en pera 'Arnold Somasegar' nu maathi vechuka mudiyuma da... !!

"So is there a last name..?" (by the time even the coffee arrives)

anney..venam.. valikudhu... azhuduruven..

(Still holding the cup in his hand and waving it all around animatedly) adha koduthutu pesunga da...

"How do you pronounce it..?"

And it started all over again!

Aaniyey pudunga vendam, inimel naan coffee keten, enna pinja seruppaleyey adi !

Behold the beauty!

2010-04-16T11:31:00.000-04:00

Aren't the so called 'insignificant' events often the ones that give you the moment that you cherish from a puritan perspective? Aren't these the times when your lips involuntarily smile ever so slightly? Aren't these the times when your throat lets out a brief chuckle and your heart feels a milligram lighter? Aren't these the moments that your mind archives in the briefcase of joy?

At least I think so, for the past couple of week has been a real bundle for me, a perfect cocktail of joy, indecisiveness, peace, disappointment, beauty and euphoria - all in impeccable doses. But then, it's neither me nor my story that would interest the reader. My intention was to bring to fore how grossly we remain aloof to the things around us.

Beauty is all around. And paradise is where you are. And when people say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, they lie. It is not very often that nature is so benevolent and you get corrected of your mis-perceptions so soon after you err. One of my previous post spoke about the search for the beauty that was ephemeral and today the quest is proven preposterous and void. And why is that? Because beauty doesn't lie in the eyes of the beholder. It lies beyond, all so expansive and emphatic - everywhere. And beyond your perception. The cards are dealt in binary, you either see it or it just doesn't exist.

I was in for a surprise, for amidst my exam schedules and perhaps because of it, my sky-gazing sessions have increased dramatically and I happened to see it. Just another day, like the ones that had gone by in the past few days, but, it was seen today - quite emphatically, showing its disdain for my lack of vision so far! I rushed for my camera, for it is the only way to capture in celluloid (binary in my case) what your mind might fail to archive. I spent a frenzy hour clicking away with my camera only to realize the vanity of the act: you could keep clicking endlessly. Of course, I did come up with a few nature clicks which I am posting for my reader's benefits, but I hope to have conveyed the point beyond it.

And no, it wasn't just the sky or the spring blooms that are messengers of joy. I received an email one morning from a friend of mine, and as I read through it - I smiled. There was joy and beauty in it. And incidentally, the email too spoke in length about both joy and beauty. I spent an evening walking with friends and talking incoherently about a legion of things. I spent another entire evening with a friend of mine at the university talking about how routers should be scoped to be seen as an issue with the internet until they process data at transmission rates. On the new year day, it was a session of 'Vishnu sahasranamam' and 'Sri Suktam' followed up by a payasam with my friends that made the day. Aren't these beauty personified? Aren't these as beautiful as anything that you have felt and would cherish?

I see the point in people readily accepting things of nature as embodiments of beauty, but aren't man made entities beautiful too? Is it not radiated perpetually by things all around? In fact, if you were to look at it, even thoughts (I'd even venture to categorize them as physical entities, but then thats a different thought altogether) can radiate joy and beauty. And so Mr.X(Y) now asks - what should I be doing now?, and the answer would be - "See".

You too eclipse!

2010-04-02T18:59:00.001-04:00

'Not even eclipse is so benign' was what I discovered when I was battling deadlines to patch up a project submission due later that day. Eclipse is one of the few OpenSource tools that I've respected for its utility and its awesome support community. Name a distribution of OS, and you are almost certain to find a suitable build of eclipse ready as ever to be downloaded and used by the click of a button. Well, so I thought, until now..

I wasn't trying anything out of the oridnary: just download one of the numerous pre-built archives that eclipse provides you with. I extracted the archive and wait.., let me back off for a moment. This is a technical post and hence I am at the liberty of adding in more details ;-). Ahem, So, I recently decided to run into "karmic koala' and had to undergo the process of builing my dev-tools from the scratch - hence the eclipse installation and hence the post. So, as you would expect, I extracted the archive into one of the folders and did a

pnsn@ubuntu: ~/dev/eclipse$ ./eclipse

And bang came the surprise:

bash: ./eclipse No such file or directory

I went - what the hell? Just to make sure I was in my sense I did an ls, chmod, and all the tricks that I could think of - even an exec!

pnsn@ubuntu: ~/dev/eclipse$ exec ./eclipse
bash: ../../../eclipse: No such file or directory
bash: ../../../eclipse: Success

And as I was 2mm close to nirvana, I thought I should perhaps try out what my version of java said it was., and

pnsn@ubuntu:~/dev/eclipse$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_15"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_15-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 14.1-b02, mixed mode)

And so I figured out the culprit - the java was a 64bit and I was trying a 32bit version of eclipse. And the realization dawned - not even Eclipse can be benign! There's no way that you can identify the problem without an error message and there's nothing that can drive you mad than a queer error message that is not obviously related with the actual issue. Perhaps, there's an obvious difficulty that prevents the eclipse folks from figuring out these incompatibilities or redirect to a more helpful message. Not my cup of tea- in either case. There's something that I can do, for the sake of my brothers-in-arm of the programming community who might face this very problem, inching closer to insanity and stumbling on to this page - without any further attempt at modesty, I'll be benign.

On a Spring day

2010-03-18T20:14:00.004-04:00

The first rain drop came rushing towards the small gap that existed surreptitiously between the black leather coat and the Yankees cap waking me up into the realization of a welcome change - spring. The temperature rose with the rain, brining in warmth on my body and within. I inhaled deeply, the fresh smell of earth tingling my memories, space warping me into my pseudo-hometown at Kerala. Its definitely not a place frequented by me, but there are bits and pieces of memories that I hold of my ancestral place, the bits and pieces which rejoined for a few brief moments, here, in West Lafayette. If you were a believer of 'you are where your mind is and your senses are', then I was out in that small village of Kerala at that moment. I am sure it is not joy or happiness that I felt, and if at all it was a feeling, it was an intangible adjective yet to be baptised.

You never know if it was the rain, the warmth, the smell or the imaginative mind which was the cause. It was one of those moments when nature conspires against your logic and rationality to bluff your senses. Why bother about the cause when the effect is magical. I had to take a walk - to try and regain the perception that jolted me by its brief sojourn. And walk, I did, though that hardly helped - it was compulsion and excitement that motivated it, not logic. Nevertheless, walk, I did through the trail that was so conveniently placed right next to my office building. The trail was beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable (I'd recommend it to my fellow folks here), but the magic was missing, the secret ingredient of the secret ingredient soup.

Incidentally, I also happened to hit upon a nature trip to one of the most beautiful locations in the central United States, and a part of me was searching for the same experience. And as is the rule- you seldom get to what you look forward to! The trip was beautiful and amazing though - I really did enjoy the long hikes, the mad rush of water and the refreshing rain, but the magic was missing. If you think I was sad after these feeble yet ordained attempts of recreating a wonderful feel, you got me all wrong so far. I do have those moments archived in my memory, though as the result of an unconscious choice made by my mind.

Why am I reminded of this event today, impulsively and out of the blue? I took a long walk and the early spring bloom on my courtyard grabbed my attention and admiration. I stepped out to take a deep breath and admire the lovely flowers and felt the cool breeze showering me with warmth. If Spring chose to showcase its first bloom and beauty right in my courtyard, why would I miss it?

Round Table Conference on Parliamentary Affairs - Dr.JP's day out.

2010-02-25T13:24:00.003-05:00

To start with a disclaimer is a benign way to start rendering an apology - the only appropriate way to misuse media for a propaganda catering my own selfish desire. No, its not myself that I am going to start plugging in this post not it is going to be Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan whose speech at the last RTC on Parliamentary affairs is the sole inspiration behind this post. I had come to watch the video recently, a month back, and since it has been around in the wide world for over 6 months, I had imagined it would have been watched by a good many number of people. But a recent post in Facebook that attracted comments stating this particular speech as mind-blowing (which it is!) attracted my attention towards the fact of this particular speech not having attracted as much attention. And hence my post.

People who have known Dr.JP would probably need no introduction, and people who do not yet, it's time you do some reading about this personality. Adhering to spirit with which I started this post, I am not publicizing this speech of his because he is a visionary, pragmatist, an amazing orator and a person whom I respect for his abilities (though all of the above is true). I am doing it for my own, selfish reason to have a better India in the future- not for you, not for the sake of people, only for me. Though I am intending to add a few extracts from his speech, I would highly recommend that you listen to the speech first hand, there's a good chance that you could come up with a better perspective.

Dr.JP has shared his thoughts starting with optimism, not because things in our country are painting a rosy picture, but because there is a possibility for us to paint that picture in future. And he brings out sound reasons why he entertains these optimistic feelings - Indian political system he says has
- Competitive elections.
- Political Freedom.
- Winners do not punish losers just because they are losers.
- Elected Government is truly in power.

Given that, I shall now probably surmise what I felt were the four key take aways from the speech:

Lack of faith and utter contempt of the Political faction has triggered in the non-democratic organs gaining popularity in our country,which is a very dangerous feeling that is currently developing in the country.

Systemic issues with the political parties and election systems. Entry barrier for decent elements into politics who have no chances of winning or contesting an election through legitimate means. As he rightly put it, "buying" of votes through money and freebies (including the Rs.2/Kg rice, bicycles, television, liquor) has become absolutely a necessary, but not sufficient condition to win an election. Also, politicians have resorted to these means possibly because they have to win and not merely because they want to be dishonest.

The importance of marginal votes and the lack of a proportional, representative system of election at the centre. This is the only plausible way that each individual's vote would translate into the centre- something that wouldn't happen with our current first past the post system.

Empowerment of the MP's in the parliament- which is essential for the best material to come to the fore. No party member would now go against the party views even if they are not in agreement with a policy. An MP has now become a mere number, ballast, in our current system.

I just loved the way he closed his speech "there is a real chance that something can be done, and this is the window of opportunity". What struck me about his speech is the fact that he propels not mere allegations and poking of the wounds that our political system has, but provides workable solutions (some of them which he feels implementable are still a black box for me). But there was enough sense in what he said, to make me understand that, there is a distinct and possibility for the change to happen - not for the nation, not for the people but for the political fraternity itself.

Though a long shot, I have one further reason to be more optimistic than Dr.JP, it is a young India now with the median age of the population being 25.1 years. There is huge window of opportunity for our generation to make a mark and there are quite a few people who have already embarked on this task!

Mile Sur mera tumhara - Will it ever? Addendum...

2010-02-08T11:19:00.000-05:00

For the first time in the six years of my blogging, I am tempted to create a post so short, an addendum to one of my prior posts. The milk has been spilled long ago, wonder why now make it a slime..?

Says the following article from IBN....

"Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will feature in a new version of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara after fans gave their thumbs down to the song.

Kailash Surendranath, the mind behind the national integration song, said he will soon shoot the song with Tendulkar.

“Very soon we will see Sachin in the edited version of Phir Mile Sur. He is keen to do the song. We had tried to get him as well as other cricketers earlier but they were busy playing back-to-back matches and, moreover, we were under pressure to release the song on Republic Day,” Surendranath, who conceived and conceptualised the song along with his wife Arti said.

The song, which is a modern follow up to the iconic unofficial national anthem of the 1980s Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, has been shot with more than 60 personalities including film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, sporting stars like Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh and also several musicians, was released officially by Bachchan on January 26.

Nath hinted at the possibility of updating the new version from time to time with inclusion of more personalities.

Many have found ‘Phir Mile...´ lacking in spirit due to its presence of many film personalities. Its length (at 16 minutes) has also come in for criticism."

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sachin-called-in-to-save-phir-mile-sur-mera-tumhara/109850-19.html?from=tn

Mile Sur mera tumhara... Will it ever?

2010-01-29T23:53:00.001-05:00

The last Republic Day was my second consecutive in a foreign land, but this time, we did celebrate. 'Celebrate' of course translates to having a cool time with friends, fellow desi's, and munching snack goodies. But then, when did we ever celebrate India's Republic day ? On a philosophical note, there's nothing in it for us to celebrate - the closest that we can get to the event is to mumble a silent thanks for being born in a free and democratic country. But that is not the subject of my post this time, its something else that stood out like a bitter pill on that day. I 'happened' to see the remake of a song that is at least a couple of decades old, a song that I unknowingly grew up with, a song that was imprinted in my mind, a song that had subtled its message to me - 'mile sur mera tumhara'.

Yes, for those who are still surprised, there is a new version of the song out since this Republic day, called 'Phir mile sur mera tumhara'. Bridled with the underlying theme of unity in diversity, the original song was meant to invoke a sense of well being, unity and patriotism. Sadly, I cannot but call the second version nothing beyond a mere Bollywood album! I have held myself with great difficulty not to post the youtube links for the song, for the fear that I might inadvertently cause more people to watch it. Given that introduction, I shall restrain myself to call it an album hereon.

The primary fact that irks me is the screen presence in the album - most of them are Bollywood actors (and their fashionable self!). I would personally prefer not to represent my country with most of the faces in the album. Simply because there are so many others who are more worthy of being featured. Not that I have anything against our dear Bollywood- it is just that it becomes diametrically opposite to the theme to be portrayed. You might question the presence of Actors in the previous version as well - but remember, those were the days of just one channel and microscopic media. The only visual mass communication media were films and they are the only ones who might be recognized by the common man. Do you really think that is still the state of the current Indian communication scenario, where the TRP bids tick faster than the clock and each political party boasts of its own personal channel. In contrast to two decades ago when news from one part of the country came a day later to another part, people in India now know more of American politics and global economic crisis than the number of states in the country (a definite pun intended). Given this, the choice of celebrities for this version simply appalls me! Why did one have to stick to a Bollywood propaganda? Compare SPB and BMK's stature to Vikram's gorilla-chest-thumping and Surya's chocolate smiles. Compare Dr. Kalam's mighty stature to Salman's tantex style antics. Compare Vishwanathan Anand to Ranbir Kapoor and Mahesh Babu. Truly sardonic.

And as if the choice of characters were not just enough - the apparent attempt to portray the 'modern' and 'youth' driven India is through fashion parades and Dard-e-discos! What in the world are we trying to achieve with these displays? Certainly not peace, proportion or patriotism! I'm surprised how mini-skirts (if at all there was one) and bulging biceps could even be remotely related to any of these. Is there no more context in one's personal appearance in these days..? I thought we still lived in a culture where a 'ramarajan-style-cocktail-colored' shirt would still not be acceptable for an interview.

During times when a 30 second advertisement conveys effective messages, a 16 minute album recreated out of its 7 minute predecessor leaves one stunned with its mediocrity and banality. It is not an anti-album propaganda that I am doing here, it is just a question that we should ask ourselves - is this the sort of message of National Integration that we would want to pass on to our next generation? Is this how you would want to represent your country to the world? Are these the personalities with whom we want our generation to be remembered by posterity? It makes me shudder to think how a remake of this video would look like 20 years hence. Sepulchral.

Why the campaign against quizzes

2010-01-09T00:44:00.002-05:00

Well, without mincing words and cutting the short story shorter, its facebook that has made me arrive at this decision. Recently some intellect invented these quizzes and a few geniuses began scoring points on them. And frankly, I still don't get why people take up these quizzes despite my repeated assurances that they don't contribute to our general knowledge. For instance there was this absolutely perfect quiz that I found recently...

"What number are you from 1 to 10?" - And a person actually took the quiz and was even quite elated of that fact. Here goes some of the comments that I can recollect from that intellectual conversation...

A (the person who took the quiz): Whoa!! 5, Thats's so true.. I was born in the month of May !! :)
Yeah!! And so are 1/12th of the world's population.

B: Hey !!!!!!!! Same pinch !!!!!!!!
Will you please stop doing that! Exclamations still mean something in English grammar!

C: he he... You remember we scored a 5/25 in the recent apti that we took...
Big deal.. And you are proud of it!

D: :D
Well, that actually was a comment.

A: True.., and you know what 25/5 is again 5!
Aha ! Now thats a true genius.

E: Hey A, how do I take that quiz..?
Why in the world would you want to take that..?

F: doood, I goott six :)
Oh yes! And you should be proud of that! And please, please, please, sit through a 3rd grade spelling class!

I simply had to stop reading beyond that point. Well, if that wasn't enough, there's another of these ultra hi-fi quizzes...

"Which bollywood actor is your perfect date?" And the answer is S R Khan

A (the person who actually took the quiz): Whoa, the King Khan :) :) :)
Yeah! In your dreams!!

B: Hmmmmmmm...... I would have preferred Hritik..
As if your opinion matters! And since when did you turn into a honey bee ?

C: Hey!! Awesome yaaaa,..
I know that would be awesome, you weirdo! Get off my facebook !!

D: Liked, Liked! Hope it's a blind date.
Of course! He has to be blind to date you!

E: I'd suggest you go to CafeDay, its got a lovely ambience :)
Is there any more sanity left in this world?

F: He's married you know, but who cares .. he he..
Are you that hopelessly desperate? And stop giggling at your own fatuity!!

And these are only a few samples of these 'intelligentia' quizzes. What's your favourite color? Whats your friend's favourite color? (Why would you take a quiz to find that). Who's your best friend for the day? (I'm sure he would definitely denounce you after this effort of yours!) What's your picture of the month/day/year/decade/century? (You are hopeless beyond this point). Identify this bollywood actor, your friend scored 100% (And the pictures are invariably SRK, Salman, Aamir and Amitabh).

Well, to this point, I had made this post create a jovial reading material. To move on to more serious aspects, there are some serious negatives to these apparently dumb quizzes. The questions that you answer while taking these quizzes are actually asking for information that might probably be linked to your real and personal life. You might actually end up giving more information than you would if you were subjected to a formal debriefing by the FBI with a lie detector! For instance, a conglomerate of these quizzes can actually help someone even identify what could be your password or your secret question for most secure websites. While most of us take care not to reveal our personal information beyond a point in these social networking sites, we tend to divulge more information on these seemingly irrelevant and simpleton quizzes. And while your messages, comments, etc.., are all a part of the social networking site (which guarantees (if there is any) safety and usage of these information) the quizzes and the results are saved out of the networking site's domain - which means not only do you allow these folks to access your information, but also you allow them to take away your information to their own databases on which you literally have no legal claim or knowhow. Well, that's that - just be beware my friends, tough these might appear to be fun initially, they might become more complicated. Beyond a point.

An academic conversation

2010-01-07T15:37:00.022-05:00

This post is the first one its kind that you would find in my blog- a discussion. Though most of you who know me personally would know how fond I am of these debates/discussions/arguments and I've found it very difficult to keep track of or document these just due to the sheer numbers. But this one, I was compelled to post- more due to guilt and the enormity of the opinions. I am one of the culprits, who has been educated with the common man's money, and have run off to another country for my academic pursuits. This, perhaps, is one of the ways that I can thank all those unseen hands who had worked/paid for my education. I hope this also reminds me about the debt I owe to my countrymen.

I have put up the entire conversation as such, for it is more than fair that I present them without distortion when I had copied other's thoughts. With due respect to the owners of these thoughts, of which I am one of the fellow conspirators..

"In TamilNadu Govt will sponsor for de BE MBBS edu for 1st person who goes 2 college in a family - take a look here."

"Of all the great policy by tamilnadu govt in distributing the tax income. like giving free TV, 2 rs rice (which eventually goes to fast food resturants), this is the only acceptable one."

"There are chances that even this move gets misused. Hope its used in the right spirit."

"Poverty and education needn always be related. And why only BE/MBBS ? Anyways, let's see how it works out."

"Shouldn't the economic status be a factor for the grant?"

"color tv didnt reach poor people, I know a poor carpenter near my area didnt get a free color tv, and the owner of that house sold that govt TV to carpenter for 500rs. All these free are bullshits.. the only ppl who might benefit from this offer would be politicians relations.."

"agreed totally.. which is precisely why we should see the reason in the earlier argument... Now that we are actually discussing this, where do you think is the missing link here..? Most BE/MBBS colleges are private institutions and this would attract more govt funds (clean money as white as snow) to those institutions which would again end up in the coffers of Mr.Rich Guys.. Strikes a thought..? Now to the aspect of it being actually useful to students., yes I do agree it might actually be helpful to few students - but does a guy who is inherently rich say Mr. Pollachi-with-20-acres deserve this award..? Yes, he does if he is meritorious - to promote ppl to study further, in which case this should be a scholarship and not a freebie. Whereas most middle income folks whose parents are not graduates would still have to take up loans to pay up the huge fee the private institutions demand. In fact, by plain economics, I wouldn't be surprised if the BE/MBBS fees get hiked just due to the liquidity boost in the education market due to this grant..."

"I would assume that they wouldn be sponsoring for BE / MBBS in private instis that too with seats selling at 30+L for MBBS now !! Freebies/subsidies will always be a stop gap solution, but the trouble is with time it becomes a way of life (the subsidised petrol, gas cylinder, etc). The govt should more be looking at adding more coll with good facilities which will reduce the depedency on private colleges and also reduce fees gradually."

"Stats say that more than 95% of the institutions are private in TN (and more are under construction), and if they don't sponsor students into those insti's then about 95% of the folks don't get the so-called benefit. And if they sponsor just the govt colleges, its all the more unfair as these students are already being subjected to a ridiculously low priced premier quality education. To be honest, most of us who come from Govt. colleges are the most eligible looters since we have been literally educated with tax payer's money aka subsidy. The only justification we can perhaps offer is the fact that it's based on merit - a rough analogy for scholarships ( of course with reservation et al.). But with the entrance exams being doffed, TN education system is nothing but an alternative for lottery (which TN govt banned a few years ago)."

Deka-dian ramblings

2010-01-01T23:03:00.001-05:00

I have always wondered what's wrong with the people who celebrate New Year's day. It's just some day in the year that someone back in time had marked as number 1. And we continued to count the days then on like the monkey's who threw the cap down. But then, what are metrics without benchmarks and would humans ever satiate themselves without comparisons. And so, I guess, 1st of Jan became a benchmark for us to help keep up with our math. And why am I amplifying this brain-dead fact? Today's benchmark apparently marks the end of a decade. The first decade in which my memory is stable enough to recollect the facts and fiction of the events that transpired (read: conspired) in those years that flew by.

I still remember the January of 2000 which heaved a sigh of relief to multitudes of people - for the pragmatics, Y2K wasn't as big an issue and for the phantacists - the world certainly did not end in an Armageddon. But it marked the beginning of my introduction to the realities of education, my 10th Board exams - a beginning of the race in which you don't even have the liberty to lose. And was I intimidated by it ? No - I was too stupid and brain-dead to realize the importance of what was scheduled to happen in the next ten years. And have I grown wiser? The next ten years would tell.

But for now, lets dwell in the past where a kid cramming up for his 10 standard exams grew up to be ten years older and still cramming for his examinations. The transitions have been many - from a school in Coimbatore to a University in a distant land. From playing pacman on a computer to writing rule systems on clusters. From Newton's laws to NP Completeness. From a leaky ink pen to a comfort-something gel felt tipped pen. From 512KB floppy to 1TB External HDD. From sleeping 9PM-7AM to sleeping 5AM-3PM. From 4.5 feet to 5.9 feet. Goes without saying - there have been too many changes. But then, changes are the order of the nature, the inevitable.

Talking about changes is not obviously interesting - they are but the order of the nature. Has anything remained static is what would be more interesting. Well, yes - I still do not care what people think of me. I am still without preferences, opinions and options. I am still incapable of crying. I am still incapable of understanding the physical meaning of De Morgan's laws. I still like Organic Chemistry. I still bite my nails. I am still a miniature numismatist. I still play badminton. I am still in love with books. I still adore age of empires. I am still in touch with most of my friends. I still like travelling. I still do not spend time in front of a TV. I still carry a bag to school. I still do think spirits exist. I still don't wear a tie. I still do pencil sketches. I still have a good handwriting. I am still slow in understanding concepts. I still don't understand why "Kyonki saans bhi kabhi bahu thi" never ends.

I am still wondering why this sudden contemplation and this abstract post - out of the blue. And why I don't yet have a good way to end the post, a conclusion that logically binds up the whole bunch of ramblings that flew out of me in the past 5 minutes. I still hate having to let go off things without a logical conclusion. Perhaps, picture abhi bhi baki hai mere dost !

Simplex, duplex, complex, multiplex ?

2009-12-27T01:33:00.002-05:00

Having been re-accustomed with examinations recently, I have been hearing people say "This is complex" or "That's actually simple" more often that I began wondering what actually the word simple/simplicity means. Well, the reasoning was simple enough - something that's simple for a person might not be same for the other. That just not shows, but proves that 'simple' and 'complex' are relative terms, a mere shamming up of words that people came up with to hide their incapabilities. And I am the culprit to be blamed as I was at the receiving end most of the times - most things appeared complex to me. And the worst misnomer (according to me) in the past 6 months was a tool called "SimpleScalar", which is full blown out-of-order processor simulator!! Well, while thirty of us thought it was extremely complex, there was someone who thought it was 'Simple'....

When someone says something is simple, it is a clear indication that he/she is in complete understanding of a particular aspect of the thing. But wait, does this mean he/she is an expert on that thing..? No, this is again a relative measure - a measure that only you, yourself can come up with and is therefore highly a personal grading of your relative understanding of the subject. There is every possibility that your understanding of the subject is completely incorrect and therefore you find it simple. Nevertheless, the fact and truth is that "your" perception of the subject is perfect under your evaluation and therefore it becomes simple. The aspect that your understanding being incorrect is irrelevant of it being simple for you. It is simple but incorrect, but simple nevertheless.

That brings me to the another ambiguous analogy of simplicity. A very vague analogical example which most of us can associate to is the 'simplicity' that we relate to asceticism. We say ascetics lead a simple life - where the simple is just one of our definitions - with respect to material aspects or renunciation. But, there are people still leading a simple life despite this renunciation - are they less simple? less spiritual? Isn't it their definition of simple that actually matters and not ours? This analogy is further made difficult by the fact that a large percentage of characters that we Indians look upto for spirituality have seemingly mixed simplicity. For instance Shri Ramakrishna was a man that would match a definition of economical and visual simplicity whereas Shri Vivekananda has throughout led a complex life- running institutions, writing books, asking questions, answering them, giving conferences, making public appearances; all that negates our definition of being simple. So is simplicity an essential ingredient for attaining peace ?

In both of the above versions of simplicity - an object and of a person - it is very evident that we rely upon the definition of the term simple. When we refer to an object as being complex, aren't we explicitly trying to provide an excuse for our incapability of understanding it? When we say that we lack peace due to our complex lifestyle, aren't we again providing an excuse for our incapability of retaining a mental balance? Looking back, it seems that I have been providing ample examples of my incapability in the past years ;). And if you were wondering why this post all of a sudden - I was trying to understand waveform multiplexing and I found it complex!

Whats your Avatar?

2009-12-20T20:21:00.000-05:00

"The thing that I can't tolerate is, there's soon going to be this next dumb quiz on facebook - What's your avatar? " said my friend, after the movie ended, and while we were walking down the dark alleys on a silent and cold night, on our way back home. That summed up our feelings for the night, after a movie that sure excited us by its awesome graphics and pure innovation. Truly, we were all taken to the Pandora's for a little over couple of hours. Summed up by James Cameron as one of his life achievements even before the movie released, this baby of his is definitely worth a watch. Its truly creditable that the entire movie, right from its conception until its execution was in its own realm of unbridled imagination and ecstasy.

With very little story value, the movie, Avatar, has the freedom to explore the hidden depths of one's imaginative mind. And it definitely has taken advantage of this freedom of imagination resulting in a stupendous visual feast - the colours throughout the movie are simply amazing. The fluorescent flowers, the huge leaves, the multi-legged creatures, the winged mounts that soar the skies - all these form the core of the movie that charms the audience and binds them by its sheer magic.

The movie is a must watch, if you would allow yourself to be guiled by the lack of logic and science. And when you are given a date that far out in the future, you are entitled the rights to throw in gadgets and concepts as you like. Avatar is short of neither, and you have everything right from machines that transmit brain signals across to a different biological entity to a civilization that makes use of neural networks of the orders of 10^12 that enables them communicate with trees and animals alike. After dealing with Asymptotics for half the year, these numbers seemed to be more than realistic to me though. The screenplay, if there was any, was simple and clean with no major hiccups or aberrations. The entire movie was apparently taken with the help of human motion sensors to capture the motions of actors in the set and transmit them to the natives that makes it amazingly realistic.

Just so that the review remains fair enough and covers all aspects of the movie and to bring back the admirers from the sheer awesomeness of the visual treat, I would probably have to bring out things that struck me rather ordinary in the movie. The story would instantly remind you of any tamil/telugu movie flick with its standard package of romance and heroism. And, my international friends, if you have liked those aspects of the movie in particular, I'd recommend that you watch a few Indian movies with/without sub-titles which I am sure are full of these. And if you make sense of just one of these movies, its just a contextual switch that you need to flip and language isn't a barrier any more. The indicator random variable would invariably point to 1 up, then on.. :-)

Length of the movie was another thing that I have always wanted directors to be aware of, perhaps with the rare exception of a few movies that have a very strong story line to back up the length. While not withstanding the fact that Avatar is a visual treat (esp in 3D which I've heard is simply awesome), the 165 min runtime seemed to be an overkill for the movie. It's my firm belief that no matter how good or beautiful a particular feature is- an overdose is definitely a killer.

As a final note, I would definitely recommend the movie- its truly a next step forward as far as the technology and innovation is concerned. However, I'd definitely not rate it at par with the Lord of the rings, Troy, or A Beautiful Mind. It wasn't designed to compete with movies of this genre, but to create a new class of its own!

Warangal - Summer 2009

2009-11-23T17:46:00.012-05:00

Where shall we go ‘constructively’ was the big question that was haunting my mind that Thursday evening. I had an inkling that there will not be another chance for a trip in India for quite some time to come, the reason which all of you would know by now. I have to thank my roomie, who understood my unstated intent for pushing for the trip and stood by me to make it happen. Had he known me a little lesser, this could just not have happened. Given the time constraint of one day and our serendipity with transport timings (especially the Govt. buses), the distance of the place had to be less than 200 km. After discussion and re-discussions, Warangal came emergent as the winner. Warangal is a ‘big’ town in Andhra Pradesh, NW of Hyderabad and an educational hub boasting of medical and engineering colleges at par.

And so we were on our way to Warangal, early in the morning, in a train, amongst a few other hundred people hustled up in a compartment. And to gain entry into it requires an act of hop, step and jump - Hop around the doors as the train taxies in, step aside for a quick prayer and jump into the train hoping to survive nothing short of a stampede. We were six in number, and two of us managed to 'catch' seats for the all of us in the train. And after the inevitable and innumerable "jaragandi's" we were all set for the four hour journey. As the sun rose, so did the temperature, driving home the geography lessons of yesteryears as regards the climactic conditions of central India. However, when we finally got down at Warangal, our travel instincts took over and we pit-stopped for a breakfast which a normal person would enjoy provided he were blind and had a severe cold. We were neither, but we weren't normal people either ;).

As per our agenda, we decided to pay the Warangal fort a visit right away as it was the closest(10-20 min) to the station. And to this effect we took an autorickshaw which was shockingly economical only to be shocked still when we saw 'the fort'. It actually took us ten minutes to believe that a garden with remnants of a few rock sculptures and a hillock with a 'mandap' was their definition of a fort (not to blame the locals for there was a big fort there in the 12th century). But, if I were to look at it today, I would say we kind of enjoyed it there despite the blazing sun and dehydration. For the serious tourist, you could probably spend around 1-2 hours here but definitely not more. We loafed around the place for about the same time clicking god-knows-how-many pictures. This place is ideal for taking pictures if you planning to upload them to a matrimonial sites (perhaps one of my co-traveler can give you more tips for success in this regard).

Our next destination as expected was lunch (Oh yeah, we guys have voracious appetite esp when we are traveling) at an AC hotel outside of which the hoteliers claimed to sell the best 'crap curry' available in the town. After eating (translate to hogging), we paid the 1000 pillar temple which was close by the precincts of the town. Again, we were stumped by the nomenclature, as there were hardly 10 pillars in the temple that we counted and re-counted just in case. And then we realized, since we Indians invented zero, we had the privilege of using them a couple of extra times as per our liking. Finally, the mystery unraveled when we overheard a guide stating that there were thousand vertical edges in the temple structure, the carvings on which made it look like a pillar. As is the tradition, we snapped (my patented contextual verb) a few pictures and went our way to our final destination - the Ramappa temple.

Having grown wiser with the experience of our morning, we weren't anticipating what was told to us about one of the largest temple almost 900 years old. Again for the serious tourist: this temple is quite on the outskirts of Warangal and it would be worth your while to engage your own transport. We again took a 'share auto' (a unique Indian way of commuting in regions of sparse transport facilities) to the temple and were warned adequately by the auto driver that we won't readily find transport back to the city( the temple is a good two hour drive away). As is the case with most foolhardy youth (which I still am), the spirit of revolt took over us and we decided to comfortably discredit his opinion.

When we reached the temple, I was literally left speechless about the absolute magnitude of the temple. It was just colossal and magnificient! We were fooled yet again - everything that we heard about the temple fell way too short for what it should be credited for. If you are any interested in olden-day architecture or photography (I was in for both), this is the place to be. It doesn't have the glamour of the Meenakshi amman temple at Madurai, but it is no less magnificient all the same. Believe me, I have taken a handful of my pictures of the year at this place. A note for those who are interested in spirituality - you might have a totally different reason to visit the place altogether, I assure you that it would be worth your while.

We spent a magical 4 hours at this place and lazed around the temple and had fun to our fill until the dusk embraced us. I might sound poetic now, but on that day, little did we realize that we were microns away from being forced to spend the night under the open sky in this almost desolate location with our primeval evolutionary ancestors for company. We reached the bus stop (a road-side clearing with a couple of tea-shops) at around 7 hoping to catch the bus that luckily for us (we were told then) was late and was still awaited. After waiting for an hour, we were again told that the bus had a decreasing probability of coming given that it was late by two hours. And while we waited for the bus, another version of information reached us stating the bus might not turn up at all. That was it! Now we were getting more anxious and the vada's (I'm sure they were a day old on the very least) that was un-hygienic a short while ago seemed more lucrative now. We started gobbling up whatever we could find and between our lamentations about the Indian bus services managed to polish off whatever was left of the leftovers of whenever-that-was-made. We even tried to negotiate a deal with a jeep that apparently popped out of no-where, but the driver's ploy to hike the tariff on a per minute basis acted as a deterrent to that end. And so there we were, the six of us, swearing off our damned luck in a language which (hence, I'm not including in here) I'm sure would not be understood in the domestic circles.
Soon enough we could see that the two elderly folks, the only shop-residents, who were clearly new to seeing 9 PM were our only company and who more due to suspicion than graciousness let the candles(I don't really remember if we had electricity there) burning for us. As the time for the last bus went past, we were so thoroughly anxious that we even considered walking our way back in the dead of the night(7 km) and hitchhike our way back to Warangal. If you think darkness is scary, imagine darkness with primate hands groping all around you! Just when I was mentally preparing for a 'night-out' there, a bus came around saving us from further extrapolation of our sundown adventures.

Clearly, our adventure would not be of much interest to my readers, but I do have to make justice to our trip by including the above narrative. For, after-all, this blog is as much for me as for my readers and it might as well be a refresher for our trip a few years down the lane. That said, I hope not to have shrugged off prospective visitors from making this choice of trip - This is definitely one of the most beautiful places I've visited as a traveler. On a parting note, I would highly recommend this trip to be taken with your own transport facilities for you to enjoy unrestrained by the faculty of time.

Facts and Figures:

Duration: 1 day for the entire trip
Transportation mode: Hiring a cab right from Hyderabad would be highly recommended
Cost: Cannot probably give you an estimate as we traveled by public transport which was ridiculously inexpensive.
Season: Non-summer, Non rainy days - Probably Feb/March might be a good time.
Comments: If you chose to visit Ramappa temple by public transport, please do so early out in the day.

Can't Oh Saamy !

2009-10-17T00:09:00.005-04:00

It might come as a pleasant surprise to my readers that I am finally writing a movie review (despite movie reviews being the most enjoyed part of my blog posts by far). I would venture to say that it might be the evil design of Mr.Fate that I feel compelled to watch this tamil movie after a long time. Before I begin, dear readers who belong to the non-tamil faction, please apologize if you don't make sense out of the whole post - neither did I from the movie.

It came as an indigestible bitter pill (can it become any worse ?) that I opted to watch Kandasaamy as a stress buster after my exams. Worse still, that I watched it soon after 'Unnaipol Oruvan'. While I was bedazzled by the performance of Naseeruddin Shah in 'A Wednesday' (I had watched the movie long time ago)- especially the way he made Kamal Hassan look not-out-of-the-world in the tamil version, the mercury was shot down by Kandasaamy given the fact that the film was shot for over two years (irrespective of the reason for the delay).

Starting with a flimsy story line which I am sure one might not have seen worser in a long time, the screenplay matched it's quality to the core. The screenplay of the movie has thrown a serious challenge to concepts of time dimensions and makes time move geometrically slower (and perhaps stand still at some point). The theme, despite being directly picked up from 'Ramana' (I'm surprised how there hasn't been a plagiarism law suit yet!) has been so effectively screwed up that it appears as flawed as it could be. The cinematic characterization of CBI officers has been consistently ripped apart in Tollywood since the beginning of time, but I'm sure Kandasamy and Billa would definitely be there among the hot competitors for the top spot. The screenplay and plot has definitely reached the pinnacle of mediocrity. Perhaps the lack of surprises was indeed the surprise the movie had hoped to achieve!

There couldn't have been a job worse done with the dialogues department too. The dialogues between the lead pair and the investigators amazes me with its derisiveness, especially when they 'appear' outsmart each other (though I'm sure even a 3 year old would be able see through the fatuous plots that apparently fazed even the CBI). Even the 'vaigai puyal', whom I usually admire for his antics and on screen hilarity, seems to be terribly off key in the entire movie. Perhaps the effects of induction are not limited to electricity and magnetism alone. Lyrics for the songs adds yet another icing to the already molten (not just melted) ice cream of a dialogue. I even have a suspicion that the lyrics might have been accidental recording of the on-the-high babble of techie youth after three rounds of Russian Vodka. The english and tamil (oh! you do hear a couple of words scattered now and then if you are sharp enough) has been so ostentatiously mixed that it just throws up on the instrumental music that runs on the background. Just to give you an idea of how messed up it could look like, I have even ventured to paste some portions of the lyrics that I could find from the internet at the end of the post.

Usually actions speak louder than words, but in this case - I would any day have pledged my preference to the words. The garments do deserve a special mention in the movie. If dressing up as a 'cock' for depicting phantasms was as brilliant an idea that one can come up with in two years time, it makes me wonder about the sort of imbecilic plague has struck Kollywood. The flying sequences are no more a novelty to the tamil/telugu movie buffs, but I'd rather that the stunt sequences better be unexplained on-screen. The dress-up of the lead character as a woman in one of the fight sequence just shows the level of nervousness and depravity with which the spice of novelty has been tried to be brought in the movie.

The screenplay of the movie is wayward, but its the characterization that sets the trajectory towards definite annihilation. The manner in which the lead pair fall in love with each other is as stale as a bottle of buttermilk from the ages of Egyptian Pharoahs. Why the choice of PPP as a representation of villainous identity was made puzzles me more than Shrodinger's equation. What has truly appalled me, is how veteran actors could have donned these roles knowing how weak their on-screen characterization would be.

Apart from spending crores on the shores of Italy and the basins of Africa, I fail to see anything the movie has significantly achieved. Perhaps, in future, if evading taxes were my sole purpose in life, I might actually venture to mimic this Kollywood bravado!

Movie Bottom Line: Can't oh Saamy.

Disclaimers: Movie highly recommended if revenge is your motive and losing 50 bucks is your favourite pastime.

Random Lyric pieces from songs:
En Peru Meenakumari
Yen ooru kanyakumaari

Kaaikari thottahthila naan kathiri
Aangila madhathila naan january

Ohdura andhiyinile naan kaaviri
Asaiva saapaatula naan maan kari

Hey Kandhasamy yen lifela puyala vandha samy..
yen alagu paathu manasula nondha samu che vendha samy,
un azhagunaala illa un imsaiyila nondha samy,
un kaiyila sikka maatan indha samy..

College life - Part 2

2009-10-03T20:15:00.005-04:00

A lot of my blog readers have asked me if Purdue had conspired enough to subdue my interest in writing. And I had to prove them wrong, especially since they couldn't have been more right. Hence this post.. But yes, I do have to 'make' justice to my readers, who hopefully, have been reading content that they find worth reading. And what better occasion than today, when Google Analytics sent me a mail today saying that my blog page has taken 5000 hits this year.

If you had been reading my posts regularly, you would have seen my inability to get to the topic of my post right away. I have been vehemently trying to make an impression with my opening and have been failing to do so with infallible regularity. This post, as most of you would expect is going to be about what I have seen at Purdue for the past couple of months. You would find this post to be randomly placed with an abstract ending the reason for which I am still unable to reason out.

Last week was one heck of a ride for me with my first exam in three years and it wouldn't be just right if it weren't destined to be an algorithms paper. And it wouldn't be right at all if I didn't have to submit a programming assignment and three other homeworks on the very same day. One of the first things that struck me at the University was the height of the buildings. Most of the buildings were just a couple of floors tall but inconspicuously held another three floors below the ground. And so there I was, locking up myself in one of the subterranean rooms of the library wondering how the complexity of finding my way through the university buildings could be bound asymptotically by a polynomial function. The thought provoking dream ended in an hour with the evening exam which is oxymoronically named (there.. I've invented an adjective) as it was held at 9PM.

As I made my way out into the maze of corridors fighting against my dis-oriented and dyslexic vision for routes, I was joined by a couple of fellow conspirators (from now on I've officially discontinued the usage of the word classmates for aesthetic reasons) who were battling out for the maximum number of questions they had attempted. For some reason, then perplexing to me, people here at Purdue talk about 'attempt' synonymous to 'correct' when in an academic context. Around the corner were another group of students who were boisterously considering the fabrication of a covert transistor (whose sister? ). A part of me felt immensely proud to belong to the league of geeks (a claim that we proudly print on our department T Shirts)and be capable of these discussions at unearthly and the bell tower (another landmark at the university) brightly screamed 11 PM to drive home the point.

Automatic doors have been one of the things that I truly hated here in the US - you never know when the open up. I invariably end up clutching thin air instead of the door knob with amazing regularity. But this time, it was a person who opened the door from the other end. "Excuse me, I'm sorry" said the mammoth of a guy who opened out the door. The apologetic gestures are one of prominent things that I've noticed here, and surprisingly still, it came from my fellow countryman who I'm sure, if it were to happen in the Chennai streets, wouldn't have had thought twice about bashing me (if I'm lucky enough) apart from swearing right through my ancestral chain.

To top it up, my name has added incredible complexity to my life at the university. The length of my name has already become a legend at the university and to top it up, I am now being called 'The one with Three parts to his name'. Not to mention the fact that the delivery folks get a free practical training on Adiabatic Random variables thanks to the various permutations that they work out on my name. But yes, until now, I have managed to stick to my identity and have successfully thwarted the temptation to call myself John, Superman or Pinocchio.

All things said, it still is one of the fruitful period of time that I'm spending here and yes, I am enjoying what I'm doing here. If you know me well, you would know enough that I'm a person incapable of living a dream, or even dreaming in the first place. I'm far too lost to have these thoughts that belong to the Utopian realm - they have ceased to exist even in my conception. I let my surroundings carry me through to where it wants - I live in a world where people still try to build a perpetual motion machine and solve P = NP...

Wondering..

2009-06-25T16:25:00.006-04:00

Wondering what goes through my mind when important decisions are taken, a whole lot of change is expected in your routine, a mad rush of adrenaline, disillusionment, retrospection and insomnia is what I am facing when I pen this post in the wee hours of the morning, sitting on my bed with the continuous drone of the ceiling fan ringing in my head. All because tomorrow would be the last day at work, insignificant in the whole scheme of things happening in the universe, but one which alters what I had gotten used to for the past three years. No, I am neither being sentimental nor agnostic, but being a mere spectator of the events happening around me, created by me.

The last two days have also thrown in a lot of surprises on me - I have seen people getting sentimental, utilitarian and pragmatic all the same. I have been a witness to the "Little bird effect", events causing a multitude of thought process in the minds of many. I am appalled at the expectations that various people have of me, expectations that I might have unwittingly set, most of them too stupendous and distant for me to imagine. I have seen a large variety of emotions around me, emotions like concern, joy, sympathy, benediction, misery, jealousy, quizzical (am stuck for the right noun here), nonchalance, surprise, delight and a few other abstract noun forms that the languages are yet to quantify.

It has been days of hellos and byes bundled together in a unique fashion. No, this was not what we would have faced during our last days at high school or at college where you find alarming unity of thought and emotions. A unity that is achieved by the certainty and unbridled rectitude. If you thought emails have lost their ability to communicate emotions, believe me, it is not the case - I have had two worders to two liners which have been loaded abundantly with the intention of the writer. It makes me respect the concept of writing as a means of communication.

As I step into unemployment for the first time and into a new venture, it feels like it was ordained to be so. It would be interesting to see what happens tomorrow, it would be interesting still if nothing at all happens. I am not going to guess or predict or even offer my suggestions, for I am not a prognosticator.

If, at the end of all this, you were to ask me what sort of a state of mind that you are in - the reply would probably be "wonder".

Badminton days

2009-03-21T04:14:00.003-04:00

I have been left in the lurch of the term that would best describe this short narrative that I am about to pen. As most of my posts are, this, again is the result of a latent thought of mine, resurging in a moment of weakness of the mind. A very abstract beginning to a post that it totally unrelated to what I have said so far. A lot of people have asked so many questions about my association with badminton and even if I were to make a very short story of this, it would at the very least, date back a little over a decade.

A short stick with a round end between which I could poke my fingers into successfully is how I identified a badminton racquet when I first saw it. I was about 10 years old at that time and every male member in my family owned one of these rotund headed object that I could not spell. I even remember having used it more than once as an instrument to try and catch hold of butterflies and failing unfailingly to do so. But, in the next ten-fifteen years my association with the sport did not grow in tandem with my ability to spell.

The ‘shuttle’, as it is christened in India, was always an elusive sport reserved only for the most deserving - financially. It is truly so, even now. I can remember myself waiting amongst a bunch of kids waiting eagerly for the gentlemanly elders to finish of their game so that we could get the used shuttles. Only the most scuttled shuttles were given to us by the ‘elders’ with a scorn on their face, a benediction that we accepted with little discernment of the intention with which this grace was showered on us. A fresh shuttle was a treat, something that we could aspire for only when we played the ‘tournament’ - an annual event that was held for the neighborhood kids.

Cost was not the only thing that we needed to brave while playing badminton. Since, an indoor stadium was still a fantasy, something that we had seen only in the television, we had to often play within a tornado (or one of its numerous relatives) that comes unfailingly every week end/holiday/whenever we were allowed to play on the open ground. We had to do so much math to calculate where the shuttle would land up when thrown up in the wind, that most of us ended up as engineers. Undeterred, we still played on, waiting for the D-day(deliverance day), when we had a brand new shuttle and a windless morning. When I moved into the 8th grade, I realized that racquets that came as an incentive with ’Boost’ (a health drink) were better that the ones that I owned. Any word that was uttered by us in favour of buying a racquet would evoke a tacit reply if we were confident of becoming ‘Mr. Padukone’. Oh, yes. This is the guy who is the father of Deepika Padukone who also was by the way one of the best badminton players produced by India. Coming back to badminton, in those days, Yonex racquet was like an expensive jewel, something that only those in the royal bloodline could afford to touch. I totally believed in the myth that if the mud-bloods were to touch a shuttle with that racquet, it would be blown into smithereens and I into sacrilege.

In country full of cricket lovers, Hidayat and Peter Gade are as common to the people as floccinaucinihilipilification to the english dictionary. I remember the days when I used to sit late nights to watch the Indonesian Open being re-telecasted during the off hours in DD Sports channel. It was during my early undergraduate days that I first played badminton in an indoor stadium and have been playing in one ever since. And it was after an year since I began to earn my living and a year ago from now, that I could finally bring myself to own a Yonex. Well, this might indicate why badminton, whether you like it or not is only for the affordable.

I was in for a shock, when I finally thought that my badminton has improved considerably. And my backhand in which I particularly took pride in, was beaten all ends up by a kid who was about the same height of my raquet. I realized, for me, perhaps, the resurrection in badminton came in a tad too late, when I have both lost the stamina and the time to pursue it as a passion. Little would I have imagined at any earlier time that badminton would one day become a sport that I would end up playing just for the sake of remaining active. Now, I think, I would rather pride in encouraging youngsters (my age and a couple of years lesser) to play more badminton. ;)

Top ten mis-conceptions about the US

2009-01-25T00:25:00.006-05:00

And yes, the saviour is here! Let me try and sort out some mis-conceptions that we, Indians possibly had about the United States -

1. The streets are always clean like a polished mirror
This is something that I had always wanted to be done better in India until I actually saw the underlying expectation and New York. To put it clean and straight, it was better but it wasn't very different from our roads in Bombay, Chennai or any of the metro cities. I believe that population is the key factor in contributing to the un-cleanliness of a place more than anything else. Any village in Kerala would easily match your conception of cleanliness and pro-nature.

2. People are financially strong enough to support themselves
Another revelation! There is always a strong contention for the job of begging all around the world. Fifteen minutes into the heart of New York would tell you that. I even saw a huge billboard saying "Almost 40% of New Yorkers have to choose between food and medication". WE are running a race buddy!

3. Hoodies are COOL fashion garments
The next time I hear someone saying this, I'll be more than glad to throw a punch right on their face. Well, that applies to anyone wearing a hoodie in central-southern India too. We, Indian's have adopted hoodies as fashionable elements to ones wardrobe just to appear "COOL" (thanks to SRK and bollywood). However hoodies are designed to save the exposed parts of your body - face, neck, hands from an impending amputation surgery.

4. Employment benefits are way too good
The exchange rates are to blame here - imagine paying Rs.80 ($2 - a very conservative comparison) for a pack of chips. You could eat a couple of full course meals with that in India. The age old mantra still stays afloat - Earn in Dollars, spend in Rupees.

5. People are self-centered
Well, who isn't ? I found as a fact that people in India are no less self-centered. Perhaps the media here projects only those wacky bunch just to keep us interested? I actually found the people there to be very nice, polite and professional there.

6. Subway systems are highly sophisticated
Perhaps I am making an unfair comparison here- NY subway system has been in vogue for a hundred years and infinitely complex to maintain. But for a fact, subways in calcutta are way better and cleaner.

7. There are sprawling green meadows
Bollywood, bollywood! If its winter season and they show you sprawling green meadows, its probably some place in the Hawaiian islands or Conoor that you are seeing. For one thing, Mother Nature has been so benevolent on India - the climate is so moderate and conducive to the survival of all life forms.

8. You don't get vegetarian food
That was a scary proposition that was proved wrong the moment I landed there - there are ample options (and very tasty ones too) for vegetarians! You even have vegetarian burgers (Burger King - BK Veggie) if you want one :)

9. Brown people get stared at
Yes, the only people who stare at you are Indians! And the stare ends up with an expression of surprise - every one of us thinks he is the only Indian out there!! A watchword here though - Italians look exactly like Indians, so watch out for that before you start off showing your prowess with Hindi.

10. Concrete Jungle - there are sky scrapers everywhere
For a change, Hollywood is at fault here - Every hollywood movie that you see right from Godzilla to Mars attacks shows you nothing but Manhattan!! Manhattan is the only place in US that is strewn with skyscrapers. There are ample farm lands, parks, forest reserves and mountain ranges in other parts of US.

Bear Sterns, Lehman brothers, Meryll Lynch, AIG, WaMu, Wachovia, Iceland (oh yeah, I meant the country).... what next ??

2008-10-31T03:28:00.015-04:00

This has been my Gtalk status for the past few weeks and quite surprisingly (and sadly) the list has been growing in length consistently. While I was engaged in this publicity stint, I received many queries and thoughts from different people and most of them felt under the water when I started off any discussion on it. It's high time that I demystify the confusion that I sowed in them :). As a proven non-expert in finance, it is definitely in the reader's interest to add a pinch of salt to what I write in here.

A is A

Let's try and understand some terminologies that we come across in papers these days.

Investment bankers:

Banks which involves itself in activities of lending funds for industrial ventures and involves itself in the capital markets. Investment bankers generally do not accept deposits or make commercial loans.

MBS (Mortgage backed securities):

This seemingly daunting acronym refers to any investment that directly/indirectly refers to a credit on a housing asset. For instance when you invest by lending money to someone who buys a house, you are creating a very simple form of MBS. But practically, MBS consists of a bundle of mortgages which is securitized by the banks and sold to the investors in the market. Now that that this has become a marketable commodity, it can be bought, sold, traded, speculated or thrown about in the market.

Liquidity:

The ease with which a commodity can be sold in the market without any substantial decrease in its value. Traditionally liquid assets are more in demand due to its characteristic nature of easy convertibility.

Credit Crunch:

A credit crunch is a scenario where in the working capital for an industry is unavailable or difficult to obtain. This generally happens when there is a decrease in confidence in the firm by its investors. This situation makes it difficult for the industries to borrow and hence they end up borrowing at higher rates. There is general loss of liquidity for the firm and they have a lot of trouble running their day to day business. Credit crunches are usually considered to be an extension of economic recessions.

With these basic ideas, let's try and figure out why financial institutions that had ruled the world 150 odd years would become bankrupt overnight. Well, it all started with the banks adopting a lending spree. Even without the sub-prime coming into play the bubble has to burst! Say, you actually have the potential to repay a loan worth 10 lakhs. An aggressive bank would give you a loan for 15 lakhs with which you buy a property. Now if this happens for a lot of people, the property value rises in the area (a simple demand-pull inflation) to say 20 Lakhs. Now that your property is worth 20 Lakhs, the bank can safely give you another loan of 5 lakhs based the property that you possess(Why should I worry when I can always sell the property for 20L - says the banker). Now with more liquid cash in the market (thanks to the bank loans) the price would again shoot up for the property as there are more people with cash who are ready to buy the property at higher rates. Now consider a hypothetical case where this happens in a vicious cycle - the property attains a spiked notional value, a value that would never have existed for the property if not for this voracious liquidity in the market.

Now why would all the world get drowned in a crisis if the reality market goes down? Welcome to the world of finance! One of the ways invented by man to make money is speculation. The banks would bundle these property loans and securitize them (say MBS) and roll them out into the market. From then on, the market plays havoc with the security, pull/push the price of the security, speculate over it, sell, buy, re-bundle - literally do anything with it. Now that the underlying security has undergone so many transformations, it is always going to be difficult to price the base commodity, it just gets lost into the multitudinal transformation that it has undergone. So when people began to realize that the underlying assets are grossly overpriced, their confidence in the derivatives began to drop. Result - Panic. We ended up with a huge amount of these securities which do not have the worth we have estimated or bought it for.

But why go bankrupt? Wont the security at least fetch me the 10 Lakhs that it initially had? The answer is it would. to understand this paradox we should first understand the fact that there is not as much physical cash as there is virtual cash - in the form of bonds, equities and what not. When there is panic, people start sitting on piles of their cash which is the most liquid assets ever possible :) Thereby, most of the physical cash which is essential for day to day economic activity is all locked up with investors. And this spells doom for any firm - the dreaded credit crunch and loss of liquidity. More so for financial firms where liquidity is essential for *any and all* activities. It is therefore very obvious why companies go for a merger when at the brink of a credit crunch. When these mergers fail, that's when it goes bankrupt.

"When American economy sneezes the world gets pneumonia, when they get pneumonia countries go bankrupt." It goes without saying that the American dollar has ceased to be an American currency anymore, its become a commodity used primarily in the world markets. You wouldn't believe when I say that when India and Japan want to trade, they do it in dollars. So when there's a liquidity crunch in America, the demand for dollar rises and it becomes more expensive (eg, 50 INR = 1 USD ). Plus when American investors pull their money out of the world markets causing a further plummeting in the country's local economy. This is worsened by the various banks across the world investing in the Realty Securities which are bundled out of America. Would you believe that Iceland, an entire country, went bankrupt because of heavy investment of its three major banks in Mortgage securities. Their currency had a free fall within days and even the government couldn't do anything about it. Imagine, a country going bust despite no fault of its citizens and without any decline in its productivity (it still has a strong tourism based economy).

The solution..well, everyone knows and no one knows. While some are of the view that the bailout plan should bring back the economy to a stable state, many are of the opinion "Bail out the investors not the banks". Some prefer to sit on cash while some perceive a smart and cheap investment opportunity. Some even say that the banks should be held responsible for the crisis that they have wrought on themselves. So what's the plan for the future? Simple - "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair."

Olympics 2008 - A revelation to India

2008-08-21T10:12:00.007-04:00

And suddenly, everyone's excited about India's performance in Olympics. Most of the papers are blaring victory horns over India's medal winning performances. They definitely should - it is indeed laudable that Indian's have had a historical performance at Beijing - 3 medals and counting.. But most of us fail to notice the pattern that spreads large around the medals that were won. I might be even taken to be a pessimist, but I couldn't help observing that except for the pugilists, none of the other medals were won by planned effort. Amongst the entire lot who went to Beijing, only the pugilists managed to put up a good show as a team. And perhaps it is for the same reason that Vijendar's effort seems to be of lesser magnitude than the rest - that he perform well was almost taken for granted. I could see in our boxers what I saw in Federer, doing extremely well was casual and winning a mere consequence. The confidence which comes with quality practice (thanks to Bhiwani boxing nursery - a dedicated boxing school) shone brightly in them.

Take nothing away from Bindra - he was brilliant, but the results could have easily gone either way as he himself stated. Oh yes! even the shooters had to go to Italy for quality practice. Sushil's success was purely individualistic talent and the brave man's fortune for he couldn't even manage to get support for his diet from the authorities. While everybody's mesmerized with our performance in Beijing, it is time for the Authorities to stand up and deliver - they better take good care of the athletes. That would be the only way to ensure that a billion strong nation doesn't need to be rapacious over a solitary medal.

Most of us wonder what it is that we lack - 'facilities' which most of us would agree upon. I had chanced to read in a recent article which says that the lack of communication and reachability is the culprit. It says that the athletes go unnoticed as they are not able to communicate and commute to the locations which would facilitate honing their skills. They are not able to project themselves and their abilities to the right channel. Antagonists would say thus "Talent can hardly go unnoticed". But doesn't this seem logically improbable? A country with half our population are able to produce talents of such variety - Are we genetically decrepit that we don't possess physical talents? No way! the issue is not with the lack of talents for sure, but with exposure and channelization of resources - as our pugilists have demonstrated: practice and the right kind of facilities were the key.

I'm excited, not because we won three medals, but because we have exposed to ourselves, the sure-shot way to excellence. For me, the proudest moment was not when the athletes stood on the podium kissing their medals, but when the coach of a boxing nation like Cuba stood up watching and said when we were going for weigh-in before the match "you are going to win".

A Pensive Thinker - Part one

2008-08-01T02:35:00.001-04:00

"What do you think could be the difference between an invention and a discovery?", I asked, trying not to spill the glass of water that I held precariously, trying to balance myself on one foot, for no seemingly good reason whatsoever. "None, I think..." came the reply, quite instantaneously from one of my room-mates. Four of us stood in a conglomerate within precincts of our tiny kitchen, trying our hand at a cup of tea - one at making, two of us at drinking it and one other abstaining from it. An uneasy silence of fifteen seconds was broken by me again - "Okay, Let's start with the definition of both." That got the person making the tea into the act, and said he : "invention is creating something new, innovative, something that is non-existent at present. Discovery is finding out something that is already there. Like the discovery of America..". "Precisely!", answered the third, probing with his fingers, for the existence of a imaginary pocket that would never be found in his track-shorts. "Anything that is created new is an invention. Electric bulb is an invention!" said another with finality, flinging a tennis ball careless amongst the pile of dishes that was strewn around.

I decided to take it one step further - "Okay. Now that we have the definitions in place and agreed upon. Can one us try and corner how an invention takes place. For instance, electric bulb was being worked upon for ages and every input required for the creation was already known to the inventor..". "Not really!", he snapped his fingers still groping for the pockets - "Agreed that he had the data/analysis required for the right configuration, but it was by a stroke that the right permutation of these inputs clicked." A mild smile played on the others lips. "Okay, now you have to identify or at least provide me with a quantifiable example of the spark, that you had mentioned", I said. "There's a very thin line of difference!!" he managed to spur it on having been able to recover the tennis ball from the mess. "Perhaps he learn't the correct permutation for the invention" volunteered the one with the probe on. "But, isn't learning and documenting discovering a fact that you haven't known so far?", said me again.

The next ten minutes was one of the rarest happenings in our house - all were in deep contemplation between cups of steaming tea. "It is impossible to identify that" said one placing his tea cup down with determination to put an end to this conversation. "You know what? Let's just call this as a lucky chance or an educated guess that we call as an invention." said another trying to put through the same determination in a gentlemanly fashion.

post-mort: If we all had agreed that the inventor had all the inputs for the invention, then is it not closer to discovery, because the invention comes about by chance? If yes, doesn't it mean that there is nothing to be invented in this world? If yes, don't we all know everything in the world and that we are just trying to remember things that we already know everything about? What a miracle!!

Wimbledon 08 ..07 reloaded

2008-07-08T05:32:00.009-04:00

Almost a year ago, I had written a post on the finals of wimbledon(Reference). And it's time to write again, especially because history was scripted by two friendly 'rivals' in the centre court at the very heart of England. The five set epic between Fedrer and Nadal is undoubtedly one of the best that one has seen in the recent years. If you read my last year's write-up, you'll realize that Nadal's win wasn't as dramatic as people say it is. I would once again re-iterate what I had said last year: this doesn't make Federer No.2, it only shows that he is beatable. Being an admirer of Fed, I would have felt bad had he lost to anyone but Nadal.

While Fed is a class act, a mix of grace and power, Rafa is actually the exact opposite. He seems brutish (or so his muscles seem to indicate) but if you look beyond that, his strengths are top spin, depth and accuracy. Quite unlike Fed, Rafa banks on the base line and wins rallies. Any observant fan can easily understand this by comparing the number of Aces fired in by Fed (24 vs 6). That said, Rafa did punch in some powerful forehand smackers that won him his first break point. Quite in contrast to last year, the match began ominously for Fed, the score board reading 2-1 and Nadal notching up his games steadily. Fighting to save the match in the fourth set, Federer played the most amazing tennis I have ever seen to claw back into the game. A couple unforced errors and double faults by Nadal also helped his cause.

While Nadal had clearly been the better among the two on the rain hit day, he definitely wasn't perfect either. Having got ample of opportunities to wrap up the game in the fourth set, it would be fair to say that they were pitiably squandered away by double faults - a rare sign of nervousness from the raquet of Nadal, which otherwise played near perfect tennis. It was the sheer resilience of the FedEx.. that dragged the match into the final set which was an ode to the legacy of these two which will be sung in the ages to come. The duel ended when Fedrer netted a backhand and the FedEx was derailed finally after a long time in this decade. The King of grass was fettered for the first time in 67 matches and six years. The disappointment was writ large on the face of the crowd but it was heartening to see them give a standing ovation to a worthy heir to the crown of Wimbledon.

It is an undeniable fact that Nadal has definitely been the better among the two in the past year - He retained his the clay stronghold and conquered the grass for the first time in his career (Oh yeah, he's the second best in grass!!). Either would have equalled the Borg record, but this was special, the act of conquering the opponent in his turf. The part I liked the best was the courage and humility with which they accepted the reality - Fedrer accepted that he was outclassed today and Rafa acknowledged that he was still at No.2.

Having said this, I would close with the very same words that I had said last year -

Whatever be the result of the match, one thing is pretty evident.. these two are the rulers of modern day tennis be it grass or clay... They have simply discarded the others from either versions of the game.

What's in a name ?

2008-06-19T23:24:00.005-04:00

Folks, this is going to be yet another of my quick grumblings (you can call it a tech post if you like) connected closely with IE and Javascript yet again. I recently came across a requirement where I had to toggle the visibility certain elements (which happened to be TRs in my case) and not failing the tradition, yet again faced inexplicable problems with IE. Most naturally, I used the function getElementsByName for this purpose. Oh, no! For once, IE cannot be blamed this time around. The method getElementsByName was the core of the recent problem I faced. This method comes is specified as a part of DOM1 Core whereas it has been moved from core to HTML in DOM2 ( Reference). However, the all benevolent FireFox continues to provide this method to all the elements quite unlike its counterpart. So while IE wont accept elements in the DOM structure to be picked up by their names, Firefox gleefully does the same.

Now that we know the problem, what is the solution ? As is the case with most of the javascript fixes, it is a hacky solution which can be easily observed from the code frag given below :

The simple idea is to use some other identifier to recognize the elements that you want to get hold of -

HTML:

tr id="blah_1" name="blah"
tr id="blah_2" name="blah"
tr id="blah_3" name="blah"

Javascript :

var elts = document.getElementsByTagName("TR");

for (i=0; i< elts.length; i++)
{
if(elts[i] != null && elts[i].name != undefined && elts[i].name.indexOf("blah") >= 0)
{
//got the element !!
alert(elts[i].id);
}
}

That's it folks ! If the elements are not of the same tag type, you can as well use .className or any such identifier to fetch the elements that you would want to :)

~Titan.

Dasavatharam.. An intricately carved design

2008-06-17T03:16:00.003-04:00

It's time I donned the garbs of a critique yet again. Thankfully, in the recent past, not many movies had moved past benchmark required to make me think about writing a note on it. If you had been a regular follower of my reviews, you would even suspect me to be a very captious critic. But then, so is the nature of the job and I am but a faithful follower of the decalogue pertinent to this fraternity. No suprises, this time around friends, this is going to be another abstract set of observations from Kamal's latest flick, Dashavatharam. The first feel that you get immediately after the movie is that of vacuum, not awe, just the general feeling of discomfiture at the hanging pieces of screenplay that you had just witnessed.

The crux of the movie revolves around the well known Chaos theory, in particular the Butterfly effect (Chaos theory ). With such a dicey concept as the baseline, it has to be agreed that Kamal has done a remarkable job of constituting a story out of it. The entire movie is based on the conceptual premises of the cause-effect system. Kamal has done a excellent job in the characterisation of all the ten different roles that he dons. However, it should also be mentioned that some of the roles could have been a mere fabrication to increase the count to 10. If you think it is just a ploy to justify the title, then I'd ask you to read further through the post, just in case your thought needed a revision.

The actor in Kamal has done a resplendent job with regards to the acting, appearace, demanour and dialogue delivery. The job is more than merely well done, it is a class act. Each of the character is distinct, beautifully accented, cleverly masked and well placed. Among the flurry of characters, Nambi, Fletcher, Naidu, Shingen Narahashi and Poovaraghan deserves special mention. The character of Naidu which combines intelligence with wit, accentuates the comical flavour in the movie. Nambi is the epitome of "Bhakthi" with all the characteristics of a blindly devout man. Fletcher dons the most important role for any movie, the villain. Action and comedy are given their due respect and are magnificiently executed. Of course, there are a couple of places where you would still find the hero flying the air and doing somersaults, which are so much an integral part of South Indian movies. All things said and done, you would still feel a couple of characters to be a mere count incrementors. For Non-Kamal fans, the number might be a tad Kamal-Overkill.

The movie is extremely fast paced with Fletcher giving Govid the chase until the end. Thankfully, there are no redundant comedy track that runs between the story line. Neither do we have any dream sequences or songs that seem out of place with plot of the story. The BGM are neat and cleanly done. However the songs are quite unlike the traditional South Indian ones that you would expect from such movies, they definitely show traces of Modern North Indian touch that one cna hear blaring across the street. The most common comment that I have heard from people who watched id was "Disconnects". Yes, the movie definitely doesn't provide you with the connects but leaves it to open interpretation. Which brings me to tell you what I had interpreted (there were some perceptions that aren't mine, the ones that I couldn't connect to).

As I had initially mentioned, the key to perceive the connection in the story is the chaos theory. A set of seemingly insignificant events contributing to a much larger phenomenon. Similarly, a set of distinct, insignigicant characters contributing to a greater cause of saving the world from a bio-chemical infection. The scientist, Govind comes across so many characters and forms a part of the intricate pattern which conspires to bring the plot into effect. To follow a simple chain, Govind got knocked off the railings to fall into the package that went to India. He meets the mentally unstable lady, Krishnaveni paati, who drops the infectious vial into the idol. Comes Shingen, who, for the sake of revenge protects Govind. Similarly, all the characters in one way or the other, knowingly or unknowingly helps Govind's cause. It fairly conforms to the chaos theory that we have seen earlier. Kamal has also touched the concept of re-incarnation in the form of Govind and Nambi, if you had noticed the similarities among the two characters including a scar in the forehead :). Asin's dual portrayal is just another allusion to the same fact. The concept of Karma has also been dealt with deftly. In the previous life, Asin was ready to give up God for the sake of her husband's life whereas Nambi was too attached to let go off. In the later life, they swap places where Kamal says, "It would have been great if God were there". Also they re-unite in the same place where they were separated, another implication of the chaos theory and circular pattern of events. The idol that was immersed ignobly into the ocean wedged itself between the tectonic plates triggering the Tsumani at the easiest provocation of the phenomenon. Another instance of the chaos theory.

The ten characters in the story can be roughly mapped to the mythological dasavatharams by Lord Vishnu. Some of the most obviously visible juxtapositions are

* Kalki - Govind, the humanitarian out to save the world.
* Balarama - the name is indicative enough, Balaram Naidu.
* Matsya - Nambi, who went into the ocean with his Lord's idol.
* varaha - Krishnaveni paati who hides the vial inside the idol.
* Rama - Avtar singh who is ever devoted to his wife, ready to sacrifice his voice for his wife.
* Krishna - The dark complexioned, compassionate Poovaraghan says it all. Like Lord Krishna, he dies due to a foot injury!
* Parasurama - Fletcher, who else ?? :). A killing machine, just like Parasurama whose purpose was to eliminate the Kshatriyas.
* Narasimha - The name Shingen Narahashi, does it ring a bell ?
* vamana- Kalifulla who is as gigantic as the Vamana ?

Well, these are just some interpretations that I managed to secure from various sources and the choice is upto you to reject them. As you can see, there is a lot more than mere screenplay and fast paced action that you can see obviously in the movie. I would really not know if these facts were introduced into the movie consciously, but if it were, Kudos to Kamal !! If not, perhaps, yet another example of chaos theory ! ;-)

Inflation ?

2008-06-02T16:11:00.004-04:00

There is no time to stand and stare. Last week was one of the rare occasions when the social 'server' in me woke up. I was out buying our meagre weekly stock of vegetables, wondering at the rising prices of common commodities. It hit me when I realized that 'rising' had long ceased and it was now rocketing ! Believe it or not, a Kg of Carrot that used to cost me 22 bucks not long ago now costed me 64 bucks! That was the inspiration for me to come up with this blog. No mincing of words people, I WANT this to be an eye-opener to anyone who's not been aware of this mercurial rise in prices.

For those of you who have been following newspapers - you might have come across the Govt. officials quoting a 8.1% increase in inflation. Doesn't that strike a chord in you ? Didn't a mere 8% rise seem too ridiculous to believe ? You can see for real that the prices of carrots have gone up by almost 300% and still the official rate indicates 8%... If you now think that the figure 8.1% is absurd, THEN, you really are thinking..it is INDEED absurd !. Okay, that said, what does this 8.1% indicate ? what is the trick employed here by our financial magnets ?

Bingo ! India uses the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to calculate and then decide the inflation rate in the economy. WPI is the index that is used to measure the change in the average price level of goods traded in wholesale market. Now you can sit and wonder which one of us would buy anything on a wholesale price. Perhaps the barely surviving middle-class are the ones who buy wholesale commodities!! Now you know how inflation rate in India has been projected.

If you think that's the limit, there's more in store for you. This WPI is not calculated for all commodities, but only for a chosen few commodities. Some of the commodities that I found in this wonderful list was coir-fibre, raw-silk, Fodder, Papaya, Guava, Hessian-cloth, tyres, Medical X-ray films, Excavators, Cranes, Jeeps, Truck chassis. Getting a feel of what is happening around here? The proportion of commodities that are used by the common man are less compared to the commodities that go for bulk consumption. It struck me to see that none of the commodities in the housing, entertainment and the education sectors comes into picture here. Given that India is definitely a service economy, where did all these entities disappear? I would want each of you to be aware that the 8.1% that is projected in the official figures can be subjected to severe manipulation. Please go through the list available to see the entire list. (http://www.eaindustry.nic.in/). Ask for proofs and I'll point you to your very own expenses ledger of the yester years and you'll clearly see that the expenses indicate the rise to be a greater than 8% atleast by a few orders.

A few of you might argue that CPI would provide more reasonable statistics and I would completely agree with you. But please remember that the basket of commodities still remain the same. India is the only major country that uses a wholesale index to measure inflation. Most countries use the CPI as a measure of inflation, as this actually measures the increase in price that a consumer will ultimately have to pay for. On the top this, the recent food crisis has led to further increase in the price of all basic commodities.

Result - the lower income group find themselves not able to afford carrots. Even trivial entities like chillies have registered an dramatic increase of 400% (50 gms of chillies now costs 4 rupees). People like me, who typically "buy" food would seldom realize the gravity of the situation. With such a drastic shot of price rise people are going hungry by the thousands with each passing day. A family with a monthly income of Rs.2000 would find themselves on half-empty stomachs for most part of the month. I hate to end this post on such a grotesque and sordid note, but I couldn't help saying this.. Govt officials expect the "WPI" to reach the 10.1 mark very soon.

Primeval laws...

2008-01-03T06:47:00.000-05:00

Herbert Spencer in his famous paper "The principles of biology" in 1864, says, "This survival of the fittest... is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life'." I have very often envisaged the possibility of this law perpetuating into our daily lives and its possible outcomes. Not a very comforting thought, is it ? The more I contemplated on this, the more apparent were the foot-prints of it's carnage. Extinction has been on a steady proliferation leaving its evident impact on our already cacophonous existence.

There has been umpteen opinions on the theory of evolution, but all concur the fact that the struggle for life is an instinctive action of all living things. The better
entity, not necessarily the one at the top of the food chain, survives by eliminating the inferior species. We have arguments that disdains man's will to have more, which I would deny with great indignation. It is his innate nature to strive for his progress. As John Nash once said, the best probability for success lies in the working towards the betterment of the group. Group at a macro level corresponds to humanity where as at a more granular level boils to communities. Those who think this would be a boon, think twice; for once we have achieved the best for us, the 'us' would no longer exist. Elimination would begin within the community.

If you consider my prior statement a whim, please find real examples in real world. The dinosaurs once reigned supreme on earth though through more brawn than brain. Their annihilation came about by mutual carnage, the law of the survival of the fittest. Guess they lacked the knowledge that Mr.Nash possessed. If you still fail to see the reason, 'competition' is a usage of great artifice which provides an efficient camouflage for the 'survival of fittest' (SOF) rule. When we say that today's world is competitive, what we inadvertently imply is SOF. A person vanquishes another for better education, better opportunities and better life. We forge a loser for every winner that we create.

Theories are quite frightening I would say, with great reticence though, as they expose to us the glimpses of what the future holds for us. This particular theory of SOF is no exception.. It never ceases to amaze me when I think of what would go through my mind if I am found the most powerful being after subjugating the rest of the world, "What next... ?" Well, the search goes on....

Not much to Gloat about Floats

2007-12-22T02:32:00.000-05:00

Well, here comes another of my quick but crazy posts (technical you see :D..). I happened to spend some time yesterday trying to figure out a particular way of rendering a HTML page when I observed that some part of the text was truncated across pages when printed. That was when this post originated. After spending hours on the issue, the samaritan I am, I decided that nobody's time is worth spending on figuring out this issue. Though initially very obscure, the culprit was "Float".

I wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that such an innocuous CSS element could be such a potential blockhead. Now that I had promised to keep my post really short, let me try to put this in the most straight forward terms..

Float : is a CSS property of any object (object.style.cssFloat) that can be set to "left", "right", "inherit" or "none".

Purpose : Initially created for placing text or images within a container. But this usage can even be extended to other container elements like DIV, SPAN etc..

Usages : object {
float:left
}

(DiV1) (span1 style="float:left")

(/span1)
(span2)

(/span2)

(/dv1)

Common Pitfalls:

* The most common mistake that we commit is not providing sufficient place for the element which we are floating. So if we have absolute specifics like width etc., we have to ensure that there is sufficient amount of space for the float to render. If not the browser dutifully renders it at the next line where sufficient space would be available.

* A good thing that you should always do while floating containers is to specify where the next element should render. For example in the above case, we have said what should be done with span but nothing about span2. Hence the browser would again take charge and render it as close as possible to span1, which is again a potential screw up. So having a "clear:right" would have been the ideal thing to do here.

* Contents of float element can overlap, hence all the inline entities should be placed after the floated element.

As a parting note, you might also want to specify the overflow of the container elements to prevent any visual mishaps. Float property has many peculiarities across various browsers and wouldn't be an advisable option to scatter it ruthlessly across pages. Moreover, the issues caused by floats aren't readily debugg'able. Beware guys ! stay limited with the usage of floats..

Remake rules !!

2007-12-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

"என்ன கொடுமை சரவனன்ன்..."("What a disaster, Mr.Saravanann..") was all that I could say when we decided to watch the latest flick "Billa". Despite my earlier resolve not to venture into filmdom, I know that I have to commit this cardinal crime at least this once. Quite lamentably, it is once in ages that a tamil movie gets released in hyderabad, thanks to the remakes. Speaking of remakes, let me educate my non-tamil readers that Billa is the remake of the remake of the original, the original being the Big B's "Don". Oh yeah, it also happens that the first Billa was screen-presented by our "SuperStar" Rajinikanth.

As an all time fan, I knew what to expect from our dear "Thala" ("Head") a.k.a "Ultimate Star", as he is known to his dearest fans. There are certain things that has ever been beyond the horizon for our Thala,

* Expression
* Dialogue delivery
* Dance (There are more importnat things in acting, for Gods' sake !!)

But then there are several important traits that our Thala possesses,

* The trademark expression that never ceases to amaze us, his hardcore fans !
* The physique for donning any filmy attire
* Punch (both verbal and physical)
* Three day old stubble

Billa was a fluent portrayal of an anti-hero, with the usual glamor and grandeur that can attributed to the villains of today. The heriones were at their flashy best througout the movie. And dude ! You aren't supposed to expect expressions from the bad guys. They should be STONE COLD !! True to this fact, every character in the movie was at his/her expressionless best. Oh yeah, exceptions are that there can be comedy and song sequences at all inconceivable situations. But then they serve their purposes, they always take you by surprise :). Added to the hilarious chow was the DSP, main character in the plot being subjected to all sort of ludicrousness. Right from the hero to the comedian and a non-absolute kid have a go at the DSP. To be frank, Santhanam screen presence was the only time when the comedy was palatable.

A couple of songs flicked from the old billa were quite nicely remade much to the taste of the audience. Our thala looks ultimately fit throughout the movie. Obviously, he has literally ramp-walked umpteen kilometers in every song in the movie. The action sequences are the highlight of the movie where we have our heroine as a Ninja-girl jumping from the top of the Petronas towers :). Our thala can drive a car in such a splendid fashion that even NFS specialists would bow down in odium. The best part of the movie is the surprise element..you'll be surprised with the lack of surprises in the movie. This would be an eulogy to the old Billa as the director has not tampered with the plot maintaining its sanctity. All things said and done the movie is definitely going to be a box office burner, thanks to us, hardcore thala fans who would devotedly cheer every move made by him. This movie might not make it into the awards ceremony, heck ! who cares.. remake still rules !!

Movie Bottomline : Beware - Thala all the way !

Anger.. where art thou ?

2007-11-19T09:03:00.000-05:00

"Don't you ever get angry ?" asked one of my close associates (accomplice ??). I gave yet another wry smile of mine in a cold fashion which would have even put off a wisecrack. The matter was dismissed thus with an utter disregard for the question.It was a couple of days later that I realised the question had struck a few strings within me. Something about the question disturbed me very much. It wasn't a serious impediment to my normal thought process, but it did lurk up occasionally causing some uneasiness within me.

When the frequency of this "gyan darshan" increased, I decided to sort it out once and for all. This seemingly simple remark had raised quite a few questions the answers to which wasn't as simple. I felt as if I had lost an emotion, an emotion which was quite frequent in the past. Now this part is very tricky, anger is definitely not one of the better human emotions that you would want to stick to. This is what happens when you lose something that you possessed for so long a time. The dicey part component is that you never know whether you should be happy or sad. Part of me was happy that I was oblivious to anger, while the other part was quite concerned whether I had lost the capacity to get angry...

The next few days were quite funny when I think of them now. I tried my level best to get angry at every possible opportunity. I hoped to surprise my friends with my "attitude", but I ended up surprised when they found my antics rather comical ! The more I tried to get angry, the more aware I was of my thoughts and the more I felt as if I were fabricating anger. It was pretty pathetic when you consider my attempts at getting angry. But there was definitely one thing that I gained out of this.. I could easily pretend anger with amazing ease. I was no longer artless...

Then one day it happened.. for a few moments my mind was under seizure, I couldn't think clearly, I was definitely in a different plane altogether. Some uneasiness hit me from the most unexpected quarters and brought along with it the emotion which I had lost. I was getting angry, but habits stay alive my dear; I could see and feel that I was getting angry. Well, it lasted for hardly a few seconds but again the impacts stayed long enough. For some strange reason, happiness was what I felt after that. I had not lost the capability to get angry ! Well, the next question wasn't far out there.. Does a man require negative emotions to make him complete ? Well, the search goes on.

The Godfather

2007-10-16T12:11:00.000-04:00

This is going to be a unique post, quite different from any of my earlier ones. For once this is dedicated to one of my non-regular readers, who surprised me with the fact that he hasn't come across this masterpiece. It's come as a surprise even to me, a lazy bone like mine, undergoing all the trouble to draft a post at the most innocuous of times. This is going to be a combo review, a book -movie combo that I chanced upon to read-view within the span of the past week. I am pretty sure that each of my readers must have either read the book or watched the movie "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo. I happened to read it for the third time a couple of weeks ago when the inspiration to watch the movie was aroused within me. For the book lovers, nothing can equal the vivid description provided in the book. The smell of print and paper provides the icing for the wonderful delicacy wrought by the author.

Thankfully,for once, the movie provides ample justice to the book by taking into account the most innate details depicted in the book. For those who haven't watched the movie, please do so. Believe me, it is definitely worth it ! Marlon Brando and Al Pacino are simply amazing in their roles as Don Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone. Though the movie had some variation from the book, it recapitulates the charm of the story with its screenplay and music scores.Some of the differences that I could notice were;

* The history of Don Vito Corleone is not shown in the movie.
* Johnny Fontane isn't a very prominent character in the movie.
* The character of Dr.Jules is not even mentioned in the movie.
* The plot in the movie ends with the murder of the heads of the five families whereas the book is more benevolent, killing just the Tattaglia and Barzini.

The movie does score over the book in certain areas; the pace is quite pleasant in the movie whereas the book seems to be a bit too descriptive in certain places like Michael's stay in Corleone. The movie shows the cold-blooded politeness of the underworld in a scintillating fashion which seems extremely realistic. The music scores are so wonderful that it makes an impact on you without diverting the attention from the screenplay. Brando's presence is the magical mix that makes the movie a marvel. The scene where he says "Look, how they have massacared my boy!" to the undertaker Bonasera is one of the masterpiece of acting that has ever come up on the silver screen. The dialogues spoken in Italian have actually added the realistic flavor to the movie, despite this being not being a bi-lingual flick. No wonder the movie has been rated, the third best movie of the century ! Irrespective of the cause, the result is the same..Be it the movie or the book, both issue out an offer which you can't refuse !!

Happy Happy days !!

2007-10-05T17:19:00.000-04:00

Back to a movie review says the Titan, No, not just because my readers prefer it, but because the Titan feels like writing one today. Its been aeons since I felt any movie was good enough to be even reviewed. Let me bang in no surprises, my dear readers, I was already a Sekhar Kammula fan and just couldnt miss out his latest flick, "Happy Days". The only telugu movies that I relish watching inevitably turn out to be kammula's and thats how I found myself being converted into a fan of his. Typical of his movies, the story is neither brilliant nor unearthly. "Happy Days" is a very commonplace movie that even one of can contrive. But that's what makes Kammula stand apart, the way he transforms these seemingly trivial stuff into the magical movies is simply amazing.

Happy days spans over the four years of a bunch of college going students. Thats all the story is about !! Reminded of Godavari ?? :-)... Well, thats Kammula for you. Coming back to 'happy days', the story begins with the most intimate description of the life of freshers stepping into the engineering colleges. The way each of the lead characters is defined is simply amazing which every you can easily identify yourself with. A studious and all serious guy, a simpleton coming up the hard way, a sincere and devoted guy who does all things with utmost patience, an easy-go rich brat, an all rounder with not-so-bad marksheets, a tom-boyish girl, a college beauty... just name any kinda character you want, you get it in the movie. Among these, two characters deserve a definite mention here and are provided a bit stronger outline than the others. First, Rajesh the typical big shot's son who has entered with one eternal goal, somehow spend four years at college and get a certificate. The second would be Tyson, the straight-forward, ultra patient and steadfast student who perseveres to achieve his end.

The first half exhibits the typical samples of college life,
> Ragging
> Nagging
> Engineering drawing :P
> canteen restrictions
> English lecturer
> Fresher's party (Ahem..)
> x-year vs z-year tussles
> Assignments and night-outs before exams
> Tours (industrial visits ?? )
> 'extraaa'- curricular activities (Okay .. here I would let the readers guess the rest :D)

Typical to the Indian movies, there is the usual college-romance between a couple of the lead pairs. The movie touches almost all the pleasurable aspects of engineering education. (Well, what else could the director afford to show ..even a fleeting glimpse of electrical lab could have put me off !!) But we have to give due credit to the screenplay, it simply zips you back to your college days. The rest of the movie is a mixture of break-ups, patch ups, and mix-ups. What makes the movie magical is the detail of on-screen depiction, minor facts like hostel mess, club-rooms, same-pinche's and anniversary-trees are shown so casually that it literally transports the audience into the college-campus. For example, the scene where one of the guys borrows money and bike from his gang shows the level of attention given to each section of the screenplay and direction. The movie is strewn with an amazing array of songs which are again typical of Kammula's movies. Kudos to Mickey for his absolutely stunning music scores ! Also the entire movie is shot within the same college premises (CBIT, Hyd) which again shows that low-budget movies can also be money-makers.

As with other Kammula movies, the comedy is subtle and adds gaiety to the story. With such a weak story line it simply amazes me how the movie manages to hold your attention for the entire duration of the movie. Well, who cares.. as long as I don't have to comprehend human-impossible feats and out-of-place characters, I am a happy audience. But identifying yourself with the characters of the movie is quite a different recipe that leaves a lingering aroma and tinge of joy in your heart !

This time the benefactor was... Nagarjunasagar !

2007-09-24T03:39:00.000-04:00

No way !! was my response when my roommie broke out the news.. We were planning to go on a one day trip to Nagarjunasagar. But I knew, my instincts told me that the unavoidable was to come...we didn't have a choice, we had been mystified by the unseen forces of nature which lured us into the travel mode. The odds were against us, the heavy rainfall on the previous days, the impending danger of floods and the high alert sounded in lieu of Ganesh chathurthi. The thrill, yes, that was the prime mover that provided our bones,the usually lazy ones, with the motivation to move. The trip had its attractions too, twelve of the twenty flood-gates were opened due to the heavy inflow of water in the cachement. Rest assured...we were gonna have plenty of water.

Biking down to Nagarjunasagar would have been a biker's paradise if it weren't "raining, and so we decided to teleport ourselves by means of a cab. Another fact which went in favor of a cab was that we were fourteen (more ??)in number. 'Well begun is half done' goes well for a trip to Nagarjunasagar. Beginning early is extremely important for two reasons
1. If you are biking, the sun can get really hot by noon.
2. The boating ends at 13:00 hours. If you go a minute later than this, you'll cut your sight-seeing contents by half ! (Disclaimer : The same can happen if you choose to go during rainy seasons !!).

Okay, lets get right into the proper travelogue mode now..

Places of Interest :

1. Nagarjunasagar dam

The dam by itself is a splendid entertainer with its huge form and grace. If you happen to be a frequent dam visitor, then you'll be surprised to know that no traffic (inclusive of humans :P) is allowed over the dam under any circumstances whatsoever. Nevertheless it's still fun to watch the water gush out in huge torrents forming a facade over the entire height of the structure.

2. Nagarjunakonda :

I have twice embarked on a trip to Nagarjunasagar, but never have i set my eyes upon this place. It is supposed to be one of the main attractions of nagarjunasagar. The boating begins from the cachement base where the APTDC building is hosted. You have a couple of snacks counter apart from the boating booking office in that building. I have heard that there is a museum of great renown, but then the trip to the islet is by means of a boat which attracts me more than the museum. Since I lack the capacity to further extempore on some place which I have never seen before, I'll drop of from this section for now. But hey ! one thing I can say for sure.. if you want to see the place there are two things that you shouldn't do :

1. Come during rainy season as the level of water might rise providing the officials enough reasons to dock the boats.
2. come after 1:00 PM as the last boat departs at 1:30 officially.. but this is one rare place in India where things run in advance..the last boat departs half an hour in advance :-) (say cheese !!)

3. How to name it ??

Okay.. the title says it all. I am really at a loss trying to find a name for this place. There's a bridge across the river immediately before the dam, a huge sprawling one that you cannot miss. But thats not the one I am referring to.. there's an old bridge that is broken and condemned for use. That's the one to watch out for ! Believe it or not, the feeling is entirely of a different plane if you were to stand on the broken rims of the bridge. The wind blowing at a mighty pace, bringing with it the tiny droplets of water from the dam outflow, the huge ripples formed by the sudden conversion of static energy into kinetic energy, its just amazing !! Unfortunately, the second time I went here, the bridge was barricaded to prevent any mis-happenings. Still we managed to find an alternative to reach the edge of the abyss and I realised later that it was worth the effort. If you want to take those movie-type still photographs, this is the place for you.

4. Ettipothala falls:

Exotic as the name might sound, the falls are equally picturesque. There are two things that you can do here. One, watch the falls, enjoy the beauty, take snaps and pack your bags, pay 20 bucks for this. Two, go near the falls, have a mini-trek to the foot of the falls, have a bath on a smaller section of the falls, and pay nothing for it. The choice is yours to make :-)> coming down to the facts, you can ideally take this up as the last lap of your journey since it remains open till sunset. Moreover, this is just 10 km from the dam site which provides you with the flexibility to go here at your choice.

5. The Banks :

This was the best part of my latest trip down to nagarjunasagar. Its a sequel to the "How to name it section" that you have read above. The other end of the broken bridge has an amicable and broad river bank which can serve as a hot spot to take a quick dip into the river. It can turn out to be more than a dip if there's plenty of water discharge,so beware guys ! the river cuts through deep enough to pull you in, so go one step at a time into the water. There are some reinforced steel posts installed at a location which you can hold onto if you indeed decide to have a dip. We decided against the local's opinion and went ahead to have a dip. It was worth more than I ever hoped for. With twelve of the twenty floodgates opened, the water was coming out in waves. The experience was nothing short of Miami beach (Trivia : I've never been to Miami before :P).

An ideal place for a quick one day break for any person, one which provides relaxation to the tired minds, refershingly beautiful waterspots, amicable climate and ample fun for all age groups.

Factfile :

Duration of the trip : 15 - 18 hrs

Distance from Hyd : 159 KM - 180 KM

Travelling time: 3 hours one way.

Mode of transport : Biking (tiring & enjoyable)
Cabs taken on hire
APSRTC Buses from Hyd

Places in and around : Srisailam (60 Km from N.sagar)

Best time of visit : Non-flooded days :)

Amenities required : Snacks (you wont find many around there.), a change-dress, camera, Jerkin.

Cost of the trip : Around Rs.500 - 800 (inclusive of an inexpensive lunch and dinner)

Bikers' beware : Return before nightfall, road is very dangerous at night.

Problem selecting text in Internet Explorer

2007-09-05T07:51:00.000-04:00

"Mirror mirror on the wall, Who's the best browser of the all ?"

If you happen to ask this, you'll not be surprised with the answer that you get - Mozilla. True, with the recent anti-miscrosoft campaign gathering momentum the patrons of IE are being converted to the other faction. And to those who are in favor of IE here's one more reason why you should be thinking again...problems selecting text in IE has been an oft noticed issue. When we click on some text and drag to select them, one can see text getting highlighted incorrectly. The net result - you cannot select the text that you want..

Now that we have the problem defined.. what would be the solution ? AFAIK there is no clean solution to this, the reason being, it is not very clear why this occurs in the first instance. I have been able to spot one clear scenario when this occurs. Whenever the page contains any absolutely positioned element especially container elements like DIV's you can see this occurring. Overlapping div's make things more complicated for IE to render. Again I don't have any solid explanation for this behavior of IE but the only logical conclusion that I could arrive at is that IE is not able to resolve the absolute position of the element on the DOM hierarchy.Hence it tries to select the nearest possible element that it could resolve.. the entire DIV itself !!

Coming to the solution, I have to thank google for leading me to a solution or rather a hack that allows IE to identify these elements correctly. The snippet goes as follows

function HackForIE()
{
document.body.style.height = document.documentElement.scrollHeight + 'px';
};

I would like to thank the author of this piece of finding as this works perfectly. Unfortunately we really don't know why this hack works and enables IE to fix the position of the absolute elements correctly. You ll be surprised folks, to know that, more than half the pages that we browse are ridden with this issue. Hopefully future versions of IE resolve this for good if they want to survive admist the growing popularity of MOZ....

Of infliction and Banana chips...

2007-08-24T01:30:00.000-04:00

"Announcing...Passengers of the Z343 flight to Hyderabad, please proceed for the security check." hooted the speaker above my head waking me up from my forty winks. I was blissfully napping, dreaming about nothing in particular. But now I had a mission to accomplish... "security check in". There has never been a problem for me before with the security check-ins (Anybody but my friends would agree that I ain't a terrorist :D) . I proceeded to the counter where the inspector was frisking the passengers in a professional manner. I went up when my turn came and he frisked me asking me to empty my pockets before doing so. Done with the formalities, he wished me a very amicable good morning. But then, just when I thought that all went smooth,I saw the officers peering into my hand baggage.

I ceased thinking.... there was my precious banana chips in that which they were trying to confiscate !! I shot forward to them and pleaded to allow me carry my precious baggage along with me. The officer politely refused admission... for the first time I felt like disliking the very act of politeness. It kind of prevents you from feeling the emotions that you should have been normally feeling.. Summoning up all the credibility I had, I managed to elope with those packets so that it could at least be placed in the luggages. I ran...right upto the point where the authorities were hauling the luggages in. I told the lady monitoring the process that I wanted to add a piece of item to my luggage. Another smile... another of those fabricated emotions! Have any one of you ever smiled when denying something to somebody ??

I boarded my flight brimming with the worst emotions ever conceivable: anger and sorrow...sorrow at the loss of my chips and anger at not one in particular. I sat thinking how could one inflict a wound upon a human with a pack of chips and to my surprise, several possibilities arose...

Possibility 1:

Make a banana rifle, with a high precision digital marker which shoots out saucers of chips at a rate which can make a star wars laser gun look like a kiddo.

Possibility 2:

Make a banana chips squash with lots of honey and milk with whipped cream and pour it out in the movable boarding trolley in hope that you can trip someone off.

Possibility 3:

Ensure that you eat a couple of chips so convincingly that other get lured to say 'No one can eat just two'. make him/her eat sufficient number of packets so as to cause destructive indigestion.

Possibility 4:

Grind the chips into a fine powder and hide a broken chip in it which could possibly get struck at the worst places quite alarmingly when consumed.

Possibility 5:

Start talking about the various potential threats faced by banana chips and call for a 'save banana chips' campaign against a politician to drive him insane...

Possibility 6:

Create a java script to bombard a person with banana chips 'forwards' using blackberry and make him go crazy enough to jump out of the plane without a parachute.

Possibility 7:

Place randomly broken banana chips under the seat of the person hoping to cause imperceptible multiple micro-molecular injuries which according to the reports of the first phase of molecular nanotechnology, can prove to be fatal.

Possibility 8:

Give our "Captain" a pack of banana chips.. and the magic he would do out of that is beyond the scope of myself and my readers...

Grrrrrr.... You might have now got an analysis of the state of my mind at that point.. Believe me, given the loss of my precious chips, I could think crazier than this...Folks believe me, banana chips are more dangerous than what you could have ever imagined !!

STATUTORY WARNING : Banana chips are a serious impediment to your air travel.

Handling multiple events in Javascript

2007-07-11T14:30:00.000-04:00

This is perhaps going to be my first initiative to write a technical post, the effort mainly driven by my long hours of pondering over a problem that I faced earlier today. It was then that I decided that it is definitely not worth having anybody spend their valuable time trying to figure this out by themselves.I know that my usual reader's would find this a bit out of place, but I hope that they wouldn't mind this....

Events are one of the most frequently used features in the world of Javascript. They provide you with the ability to capture many user events that can help in designing more intuitive and user friendly interaction with any application. Some of the events that we might want to capture could be keystorkes, mouse clicks, mouse movements, etc.. All that we need to do to achieve this is to register the event-handler with the browser. On occurance of the event, the browser will call the corresponding event handler. This event handler can contain any logic built into it depending on the event that triggered it. Okay.. that should give you the sufficient overview of what you can achieve by using events. So lets get going with an example.

The most common and traditional method of attaching events with elements in a web page is as shown below.

elt.onClick = handler();
elt.onFocus = handler();

whereas the newer methods of using events and handlers are as shown below

document.addEventListener('',event_handler,false);
document.removeEventListener('',event_handler,false);

function_handler()
{
//do something here....
}

where event could be a 'click', 'keypress'

The race for winning the web-war between the two giants Netscape and Microsoft has had its impact on their way of handling events too. The above method is the one used by Netscape to register events. Whereas Microsoft uses the format shown below.

element1.attachEvent('onClick',event_handler1)
element2.attachEvent('onClick',event_handler2)

To detach an listener is equally easy..,

element1.detachEvent('onClick',event_handler2)

If you are unsure of the browser then you might want to use something like this..

function addEvent (elt, eventType, handler, captureMode){
if(docuement.addEventListener){
elt.addEventListener(eventType,handler,captureMode)
}
else{
elt.attachEvent('on'+eventType,handler);
}
}
Okay.. If you had observed the above example carefully, you might be wondering how this would work with multiple elements being registered for the same event. That's where the borwsers are smart. They keep track of the various handlers registered for that particular event, and they notify them all. But hey.., hold on, it ain't so simple.. you never know in which order the events are notified to the handlers. IN earlier versions it was not even possible to determine the order in which the handlers will get triggered. This can cause a lot of confusion when we have multiple handlers with the same target.

Now that we are familiar with the basics of handling events let get into the intricacies. Say for example that we have two elements e1 and e2 where e2 is deeper in the hierarchy. Both these are registered for the same event say 'keyDown'. Now when the event transpires, what order do the listeners follow in calling the corresponding handlers. Again, the titans opted for varying solutions and w3c ended up on a median. Nestcape said that the event should proceed from e1 to e2 (called as event Capturing), whereas Microsoft went for the opposite. Event proceeds from e2 to e1 which is called as 'Bubbling'. This is what we specified as the fourth parameter 'captureMode' in our addEvent() function earlier. Now w3c had to take a middle course by adoption both these models. For this purpose, we have a capturing phase and a bubbling phase.

e1.addEventListener('keyDown',handler1,false)
e2.addEventListener('keyDown',handler2,false)

where 'false' indicates a bubbling mode.

When the event on e2 is triggered, it starts off in the capturing mode where in it checks if the ancestor has any listeners in the capturing mode. Finding none, it will proceed to call handler2 and the bubbling mode starts off then. During the bubbling mode it will accordingly call the handler1 and traverses further till the top of the DOM is reached. Now consider the other case,

e1.addEventListener('keyDown',handler1,true)
e2.addEventListener('keyDown',handler2,false)

As usual it begins in the capturing mode on e2, and finding that the ancestor of e2 ie., e1 is in the capturing mode executes the handler1 before moving on to the handler2. Now if there were an element e0 which is the ancestor of e1 in the bubbling mode with handler0 then hanler0() would be the last to be called in the bubbling phase. Thus providing a feature to attach each listener with their own mode, it provides micro-control the order in which handlers should be called.

Now the next natural question is can we stop this bubbling ? The answer is yes..imagine a scenario where e2's handler should determine whether e1 should receive the event at all. We can stop the event from bubbling by event.cancelBubble = true which would prevent the next handler in the hierarchy from receiving the event. This could prove to be useful feature when the DOM is rich and you would want to stop the event from propagating up to the top of the hierarchy when there are no events attached to any of them. Please note that this is the method used by Microsoft. w3c suggests another implementation to do exactly the same

e1.stopPropagation();

so what do we do to ensure cross browser compatibility..? Its the plain old way of doing it..

function stopEvents(event){

if(event.stopPropagation){
event.stopPropagation();
}
else {
event.cancelBubble;
}
}

So are there any pitfalls here..? yes .. A couple of things that I can think of. Please do correct me if I am wrong.

There is no way of determining whether event handlers are registered to an element (in older implementations elt.onclick() would give you the handlers registered with it). So if we want to ensure that there are no other eventhandlers to an element we should probably use elt.removeEventListener(). Another issue that I faced was that the propagation in the capturing phase cannot be stopped. The only way to control could be in the bubbling phase, so one should be using the mode pretty carefully depending on the design. One other problem that I came across was something like this...

e1.addEventListener('click',handle1,true)
e2.addEventListener('click',handle1,true)

So now I had to determine what was the originator of the event. The solution was pretty simple, use the 'this' operator to determine the source. Recently I also realised that w3c had another variable dedicated for the purpose called 'currentTarget' which contains the reference of the element. But then I found this to work only with MOZ and not with IE. Perhaps IE doesnt have a 'currentTarget' implementation. However make a note that the 'srcElement' or 'target' would still be pointing to the initial element where the event originated.

And now if you might have any doubts, suggestions or clarifications, please post them as comments and I would be more than pleased to have a look at it.

Wimbledon '07.. clash of titans

2007-07-09T02:12:00.000-04:00

"Yeah..." shouted Federer when he won a net point. That's something the media tapes should preserve like a treasure, for one doesn't hear those words coming out of Federer very often. Wimbledon 2007 has been a dull event so far with just a few sparks flying in the Federer-Fererro clash. Federer was definitely the one expected to win the title hands down. He did that but definitely not hands down as people would have imagined it. Things looked ominous when the match started and Federer raced to a 3-0 lead within 11 minutes of the start of the game. Nadal had barely warmed up when Federer was looking threateningly dangerous to breeze away with the first set. But Rafa was not the one to bow down so early... He ploughed his way back into the game by winning the next three games to bring down the early advantage that Federer held. The first set was an absolute treatise to watch and every one who watched the match had their pennies' worth for it. Rafa matched Federer shot by shot, point by point. The tie breaker saw Federer having three set points but Rafa prised out a couple of blitzkreigs to extend the game before losing it 9-7.

Take nothing away from Federer, for he played at his very best to bring out an amazing array of aces (totaled to 24 if I am not wrong) and kept Nadal lurching for points. Nadal is definitely not a great net player but it amazed me to see Federer miss his net volleys too.. Both played excellent base game but were highly error prone when it came to net points. Federer's smooth and stylish backhands were suitably returned by Nadal's curvy forehand top spins and there were many a great rallies played in this fashion. Both played to their strengths and one could see glimpses of an epic match in the making. The king of grass faltered just one time in the 9th game of the second set which was all that Rafa needed to seal the second set 6-4. This was the seventh set that Federer lost in the 53 matches and 5 years of this tournament !

The genius in Federer was matched by the resilience of Rafa and each held serves dragging the third set into yet another tie break. Federer's aces helped him seal the set quite easily at 7-3. Things looked dark for Rafa but the inspired Spaniard took the challenge by its horns and pounded the King of grass in the Fourth set to a whopping 4-0 lead. This was the first time that one has seen Federer run to every corner of the court. Nadal stamped his brilliance by playing to his strengths, his forehand shops and top spins were impeccable and amazingly accurate. Fourth set was quite a contrast to the first three, Federer looked lost and even cursed a couple of times... it was Nadal all the way.. Rafa whoppled the set 6-2 bringing the game to a 5 setter epic.

Federer had not broken Nadal for eternity (save the second game of the match) while the spaniard had comfortably broken him more than thrice. The first three games saw them hold their serves and fight hard to earn every point. Then the world saw why Federer was called the 'King of grass'. He broke Nadal twice in the set while the spaniard failed to do the same when he had his chances. Federer would have had a run for his money if only Rafa had to manage to clinch at least one of the breaks. You cant expect Federer to be too benevolent to give a second chance ;-) he ruthlessly murdered the Nadal challenge in the final set to clinch the tile 6-2. The Swiss exulted with a rare outburst of emotion.. it was quite understandable....

Whatever be the result of the match, one thing is pretty evident.. these two are the rulers of modern day tennis be it grass or clay... They have simply discarded the others from either versions of the game. Federer said after the match that the title could have easily been Rafa's too. He wasnt made to prespire as much in any version of the game ever before. Such was the quality and strength of Nadal. It was a fitting end to the rain-hit wimbledon where two legends fought with valor for the title in the presence of all time greats like Becker and Borg. With the fifth straight wimbledon title safely tucked under his belt, can the King of grass rest easy..?? Well hardly, with the way he was made to run for the title this time he can hardly afford to put away the Spaniard's brilliance. Nadal's performance in this final had thrown in many questions to the tennis world... is this the end of the Federer era...? Well, time will tell....

Story time..

2007-06-25T03:08:00.000-04:00

Dedicated to my reader's who have consistently pulled my leg into writing a story...

I could see nothing, feel nothing.., numbness was overtaking me.. I knew that these were the last few minutes of my eventful life. I had been very important throughout and for the first time I realized that even I could meet with such a disastrous end. People say that when you are about to die, your entire lifetime flashes before your inward eye.., yes.. I am seeing it now.

This part of my life... it is called 'Happiness'. I was born important, an entire family was awaiting my arrival with great anticipation. I was born in Mumbai to an educated middle-class family. As I have said before, I brought joy into the family with my arrival, I gave them an identity in the society, I gave them opportunity, I gave them the oxygen they desired.. I was like Christ - the saviour for them and I relished that feeling of master-hood. I was the newest member of the family and was easily the object of interest right from Mom and Dad to the eight year old kid. Dad got through with an MNC soon after my birth and from thereon I was believed to be the lucky charm for the entire family. I was happy, very happy, happiest as any one could ever imagine.

Dad never left me alone and used to take me to all places along with him. I had become an important part of his life. There was this one time when he went to Europe on a business trip and I was the only one to accompany him. Mom repeatedly reminded him to take good care of me and to ensure my safety in the foreign land. Airports are the worst place and the officials the worst people on the entire earth. I was stunned by the amount of security checks that I had to undergo. Dozens of uniform clad officials walked around checking and re-checking each passenger and his belongings. They took me away from dad into a room for a couple of minutes, and that was the first time in my life that I was separated from my family. Those two minutes were like ages to me, I was scrutinized by a high-ranking official first and then by his subordinate and then after their approval was stowed back to dad. Gosh..! those two minutes scared me to death. Little did I know that this was just a sample of what was about to come.This part of my life... it is called 'Running'.

Switzerland was called as the 'land of dreams' and it truly was. It was so cold there that dad had to wrap me up to keep me from freezing. But I have to admit that I enjoyed my stay in the swiss lands until this incident happened..a ruffian snatched me from my dad's hands. It took a dozen police officials three days and eleven hours to trace my path before I was safely in the hands of my dad. To prevent any such mis-occurrences Dad decided to masquerade me and that changed my life altogether. I began to look different, think different...I felt as if I was slowly losing the charm that I possessed.

It has been five months since I was back in Mumbai, my birth place, a place that was dear to me. Since dad decided to stick with India having had a troubled European experience, I mostly remained confined to the two bedroom flat at Andheri(E). My exposure with the outside world ranged from the 'Kyon ki saans bhi bahu thi' that mom watched to the occasional BBC that dad watched on weekends. I hardly had any opportunity to go out either except on rare occasions where Dad took me to the nearby foreign exchange firm. This part of my life...this is called 'Sedateness'. Oh..! did I forget to mention that I was still masqueraded ?? Actually that state remained till this moment....the last one, I knew, before I would be no more.

Then came the blackest day of my life and I didn't know what was in store for me when dad decided to take me to the consulate exactly seven hours and sixteen minutes before this moment. It was raining torrents in Mumbai and the roads were flooded blocking traffic and wreaking a havoc. Dad had me wrapped in a rain-proof outfit and we were on our way in his car. We were just one block away from the consulate when the wheel got stuck in a slush irretrievably. Dad was usually a very rational and logical person, but at that opportune moment, in his desperation to reach the consulate, he pulled me out of the car and ran out in the rain. Running was easier, as the traffic had almost been at a stand-still owing to the flooded roads. Then it happened...I felt a jolt as a motorist hit dad from the behind and dad let go of me
instinctively to prevent a face first fall. I am puny sized and was pulled in by the flood current into an open drainage. Curse the MC for not maintaining the drainage properly. The last word that I ever heard from dad was "Holy Shit!"..... I flew clear off the main course and landed splash on bunch of floating scum. This part of my life is called "THE END".

I lay there with the water seeping through the so called water-proof layer at a slow pace. I knew that my end was near. I was being choked slowly and steadily by the water which was immersing me as if in an ablution. I could feel the suffocation gripping on me as darkness enveloped me completely. I could sense the stench of the gutter, the filth that surrounded me. I began to realize that these were the very last moments of my life and how helpless I was.. that was two seconds ago from now. The present had something else in store for me...."DEATH".

A gentle wind whistled past me, the first rays of the morning sun shone upon me benignly. I was lying on my dad's bed, uncleaned and dry but comfortable nevertheless. I could see the entire family standing around me and dad was examining me thoroughly. Dad's expression changed from frantic to helpless...."Shit !!" he said flinging me out of the window. I lay there on the heap of scrap wondering what I had done to deserve this treatment. All that was left of me now was a blue cover with the golden embossed letters reading "Passport"...

Inspired by an untrue story :D
Mighty Titan.

"The crappiest piece of story we have ever heard."
-The Livingston post.

"So crappy that you cant wait to finish it."
-The Wastes of India.

"The worst story ever told in this universe."
-All times.

"Enna koduma saar idhu.."
-Mr.Saravanannnn...

Disclaimers: This story is not about me, did not happen to me and is a mere figment of my imagination. Any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely co-incidental..

Coffeee.. cafe.. kaaapeeee..

2007-05-28T08:09:00.000-04:00

Java...? heck no...this post is dedicated not to mere mortals, but to the ones who truly savor the ambrosia, the mere fragrance of which can instigate life, the best (or is it not..?) beverage that man has ever discovered..'coffee'. For a substantial subset of people in the world, their days cannot kick-start without a cup of coffee. Oh no.. this is not going to be yet another of my 'incident-o-mania' posts. This is going to be an erudite conglomerate of facts and figures ! So my dear readers, please wear your scientific shoes before stepping on further.

Okay.. lets now get going with the composition of coffee. Most of us are familiar with the infamous ingredient called caffeine. It would surprise you to know that this is less than 1% of the components that make coffee. The major contents of coffee are

Polysaccharides - 12 %
Chlorogenic acids - 15% (mono/di esters of hydroxycinnamic acid)
phenolic polymers - 20%
quinic acid / quinides - 8%
caffeine - 1%
water - 4%
minerals and other organic acids - 40%

Most of these components are not the inherent innate components of coffee. They are the compounds that are formed during the various processes that it undergoes like
roasting, blending and brewing.

Now moving on to the well-known stimulating effect of coffee. The main reason for feeling fresh after a coffee is because of the quinides. The brewing process results in the isomerisation of these quinides which have varying effects on our brain. While some research indicate that the synergetic effects of these quinides on a biological entity are healthy, certain others indicate that such hyperactivity cannot be handled by the brain. However we cannot be certain of the effects/side-effects of coffee till date because we are still quite ignorant of the effects of the numerous chlorogenic acids and quinide isomers. What we are sure is that the stimulant effect is due to the reaction of these compounds with the opiate system of the brain.

What benefits does the coffee offer to you ..? well, It boosts endurance by delaying fatigue and it improves long-term memory (Good news eh..?). It may help prevent kidney stones and it relaxes lung spasms during an asthma episode. And as you may have discovered, it stimulates your gastrointestinal tract. Moving on to the bad elements of coffee... it contains carcinogens(Homework: find out what a carcinogen can do to you.) which when taken in large quantities can be harmful. But then., hey who cares !! Its definitely the most refreshing drink on earth ! Remember folks .. anything cna happen over a cuppa coffee.. anything.....

Go Spidey !

2007-05-07T09:25:00.000-04:00

No way I am gonna miss the review for the most awaited movie of the year.. Spidey 3. Needless to emphasize, the excitement was in plenty... when I say that,believe me.. I mean that ! We had even booked tickets almost 4 days in advance. If seeing an action movie is what you define as thrilling, seeing it in imax is an out of the world experience altogether.The big screen simply gobbles you up. If you as me 'can you touch your heart and say that you have ever followed an entire movie without missing every spoken word ?' I would today say.. "Yes..". The entire movie was of amazing quality with an unerring crystal clear sound.. Oh ! I am not canvassing for imax guys.. it's just that the technology amazes me.

Back to spidey... The instant hit formula of recapitulating the prequels during the title is what greets you as soon as the movie begins. And then you get to see what is quite unusual for an action flick... A song $#$%@@#$..! Spidey's gal is singin it and our spidey is a front bencher in the opera. Things are quite different in this spidey..

* The eternal belligerence between Mr.Jameson and Spidey seems to have abated.
* Spidey is no longer feared. He has now become the uncommonly common 'friendly neighbour'.
* Spidey can shake a leg or two.
* His gal knows that Spidey is Peter and gets ennerve of his success.
* Spidey makes a public appearance to cheer the kids.
* Spidey turns Romeo ! Finally decides to propose to MJ.
* Spidey knows how to forgive people.
and now the most important..
* Spidey aint a pizza boy any more..

Ahem, ahem...Okay.. I can see you getting the movie outline.. Nay ! c'on guys... after all spidey is one among the genetically branched out homo-sapiens.

Spidey's gal has been going through a rough patch where she finds herself as a restaurant singer from a Broadway star. And she expects spidey's 8th sense to tell him about her tragedy...no way..she wouldnt tell him her plight till the end. Now that unfortunately that strains their relationship..If that wasnt enough, during a public appearance, spidey manages to launch a kiss on the anchor girl(oh no.. not Shilpa again !! ). Yet another thorn.., the villain(???) forces MJ to say that she doesnt love Spidey any more. Gosh ! what a debacle.

Now if that wasnt enough trouble (Any mere mortal would have met his end trying to solve the previous bunch of problems), there are quite a number of 'yaenemies' for him to tackle. His former friend Harry still carries the grudge on Spidey for having killed his father and turns into the 'super goiyyaan' oops..Goblin.. and with his new found moves manages to keep the spidey webs at bay. A 'sand-man' (where do these ppl come from..?) seems to play havoc with the city's banks and later Spidey comes to know that he is the one responsible for his uncle's demise. No..No... wait.. there's more to it.. A symbiote (ET...! whoa ! way to go !) manages to crawl his way through to spidey. The symbiote can enhance the qualities of its host especially those of aggression. Now spidey gets attracted by the symbiotic suite (Dont ask me why it chose his suite as host rather than him..) and commits a series of mistakes before realising that the 'greatest battle lies within'. Finally he manages to rid himself off the symbiote only to pass it on to one of his professional (a photographer) rival, who uses the 'symbiotic power' (whoa ! that term is patented by Mighty-Titan) to seek revenge on spidey.

Now consider this equation of boolean algebra..

Let x = spidey, y= MJ.
let z= Harry.
let m= a photographer , n = the photographer's girl friend.

let -> represent unidirectional love

Then, x -> y.
y -> z apparently.
z -> y truely.
n ^-> x.
x = friend(z) - y.
y -> x truely - n.
z = enemy(x) + y.
m += x^->n?enemy(x):swornenemy(x).
m <-> n.
y ^-> z.

Well, if you can crack that.. you already have one of your foot in an IIT/IIM. Now now.. it aint that complex when are through with the movie. The plot unwinds solving one problem after the other and that is good news guys, coz Spidey can once more attend physics class (he is a class topper .. remember..?). After a couple of songs, a comedy track and a 'heart-touching' rendering of friendship, and a ultra-sacrifice the hero finally finds himself unshackled from all his troubles. Oh no.. have I mixed a bollywood movie ..? :P Think again....

To be fair guys..what I have stated is the post-movie analysis. It was an awesome movie to watch, a movie that you should definitely watch. The movie is packed with breath-taking graphics. The scene where the sandman is born is simply stupendous work. And the screenplay and stunts are something that you'll enjoy sans logic. The screenplay is extremely lucid and fast giving justice to the genre of the movie. Unlike other spidey movies, this one has a intricate mix of emotions which is what justifies the caption ..'The greatest battle lies within'. The entry of venom is quite refreshing and could possibly spawn spidey 4. After my recent movie debacles, it was quite a refreshing movie, one which takes you by storm for a little more two hours...

Technical References:
$gunu:bash$# Reference_1
$gunu:bash$# Reference_2
$gunu:bash$# Reference_3

Movie Bottom-Line : Bollywood graphicized.

The Kite Runner...

2007-04-23T11:34:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard of this phrase before, I'd rather that you don't read this post. Most of my readers are aware of my reading habits (If you don't, better try not to !) and the genre of books that I read. The *only* investment on books that I made in the past two months are on a classic by Dickens (The Pickwick papers) and 'The Kite Runner' by Hosseini. Modern writing is something that I am wary of after several lessons sponsored by Dan Brown and Adrian D'Hage. After deliberating quite a sizable time within myself I finally decided to buy 'The kite runner' for a sum of Rs.350. At the outset, I would say that it wasnt a bad investment...The Kite runner is certainly not of the class of Ayn Rand, but I would dare to say that it was remarkably lucid and pacey. It had the right blend which would suit all kinds of readers, not too bland yet not too grotesque.

The story line is based on the sands of Afghanistan, and Hosseini does full justice to his nativity but depicting a remarkably sketched lifestyle typical to that place. The entire script is in first-person which makes the transition of the reader into the character more easier. The narrator essays his life with occasional allusions to the future. Though the hero is the narrator, he eulogizes his friend with all the affable characteristics. The narrator is the son of a rich Afghan who has lost his mother in child-birth and his friend is subjugate to their family by nature of his birth and position. The author gives a vivid description of the mind of young kids with all its joy and aberrations. The author has packed in a couple of unexpected turns to the story. The narrator consistently projects himself as a person lacking in bravery and with quite a number of other detrimental qualities that we can identify with a 'normal' person. His friend on the other hand is a simpleton who is ready to stand in and protect his master-friend.

A kite tournament brings about a sad turn of events where the fear factor prevents the narrator from helping his friend. The friend happens to have an amazing ability to judge the aerodynamics of a kite and thereby able to 'run-down'(retrieve) a battle lost kite, hence the title 'The kite runner'. The narrator thereby loses his friend and his peace of mind for the most part of his life. He is forced by the ravages of war in Afghanistan to flee the place and seek refuge in the US. He and his once Royal father are forced to build a life from the scratch. The rest of the story deals with how the narrator manages to refurbish his long lost peace of mind.

The author has very clearly captured the state of a disturbed mind, a mind which has to reconcile with a conscious choice of cowardice taken which had etched an irrevocable and indelible mark on the future. He has been able to streamline the chain of actions that would flow out of such a mind. The author has given an honest attempt at raking up the emotions from within the reader, and I should say that he has fairly succeeded in doing so. The later half of the story can be appreciated if the reader becomes miscible with the narrator and steps into his mental-shoe while we read it. The story is so remarkable written that there is no redundant drags in it, it achieves what it was meant to achieve...touch the reader's heart. There are the right mix of emotions that usually accompanies a novel, repentance and soberness are in ample. The way the author has essayed the 'happiness of atonement' is simply astonishing. When I finished reading, all I could feel was
'I ran.......'

Say.. An intuition.....

2007-04-23T05:30:00.000-04:00

A lazy mind is Devil's workshop..A weekend resonant with sleep is the most susceptible for contemplating odd topics. Very recently I chanced to ponder upon the word 'intuition' which was raised by one of my kin. It seemed such a mystique thing that I wanted to document it for clarity of thought, and thus this post came into existence. Pardon me if this post seems to be a broken array as I am literally penning down my thoughts in no particular sequence whatsoever. It would be better to start off with the definition of intuition which I would put it this way(because I simply failed to contrive anything better!).. Intuition is something that cannot be defined by its occurrence. It is defined by the absence of something else (I would replace 'something' with 'Logic').Ideally intuition is a thought which has absolutely no logic/analysis involved in it. It is easier to say this than personify this, because the word 'thought' is again very hard to be defined. These are abstract concepts that we are talking about and one should visualize his own version.
It is a know fact that there are various levels at which the human mind involves in each activity/inactivity performed. Most of the things that we seem to have forgotten are quite clearly recorded by our sub-conscious mind. A possible reasoning for this fact could be that our logical mind 'shelved' these items to be not worth remembering. That is how we sometimes blurt out certain thoughts, which make sense once we try to trace its origin. Such is the indexing power of brain. But this is not what we are talking about now, the only reason why I gave this particular example is to prove that intuition could be easily be confused with such shelved thoughts/analysis. These would easily pass to be intuitions whereas it could be a shelved thought in reality. Intuitions could also be simple reflexive or natural actions like ducking when a stone is hurled at you. Since most of us don't have the ability to read the differences between these, it is very difficult to say if intuition is a true concept or not. Due the absence of proof we say for now that there is no such thing called intuition.

Having said that doesn't mean that we don't have to trust our 'intuitions' as they very well could be one of our shelved out logical thought. There could be so many concepts that we have just seen working but have not bothered to analyse.. these could very well come out as intuition. Please note that here i use the word intuition as there is no logical analysis done by the mind, it is just an observation. In most of the cases these 'intuitions' would work perfectly as they are the results of a working concept that we might have just observed. It could also be the result of a very quick logical analysis of our mind. Something like calculation of the distance we jump. Now a disclaimer, intuition could also be a half-baked thought or a wrong perception of a fact. Moreover the moment you find that your intuition works awesome for you, the more you try to 'intuition'alise your thoughts. This could be disastrous as we would end up doing something that has absolutely no possible hidden rationale. So what would be a probable solution ..? I would say 'don't fabricate an intuition, analyse your intuition if time permits, if not go by what your intuition says'... it could after all be one your pre-analysed thought !

The in's and out's of Aurangabad

2007-03-20T02:39:00.000-04:00

This is my latest attempt at a travelogue and I hope that it would prove to be a useful outline to those who wish to make a trip to Aurangabad.

The Gist :

Places of Interest : Aurangabad, Ajanta caves,Ellora caves and Shirdi

Duration of the trip: Two - Three days

Total Travel distance:
Aurangabad - Ajanta 120 Kms.
Aurangabad - Ellora 20Kms.
Aurangabad - Shirdi 135Kms.

Estimated cost (for a group of 6): Rs.9000-11000.

Season : late August to early Feb.

The Plot :

The first thing that one must decide on before embarking on such trips is the total duration of the trip. It becomes very crucial when it comes to micro-management of time spent at each of the spots. Ideally I would recommend three days for this particular trip, though with good time management and a light-weight photography, one can wrap it up in two days. In case you plan to visit Shirdi too, then I would suggest you make that as the starting point of the trip. As mentioned, the travel from Shirdi to Aurangabad would take around 2 1/2 to 3 hours and its best to spend rest of the day at Ajintha. Ellora being very close to the city, you can take a shot between the city tour and Ellora within a day. The second option that you can choose (though personally I would prefer the former) is to visit Ajintha and a part of the city on day 1 and Ellora, Daulatabad fort and Shirdi on the second day.

The Pinions :

Ajintha :

This place is a heaven for the art lovers, and I can tell you for sure that patrons of old-age paintings wont be disappointed at all. Ajintha caves are located at a distance of 120 Km from Aurangabad, the easiest means to get there is by engaging a cab or through the Maharashtra Govt. Tourism bus facility. Cabs can go only upto the parking lot(4 Km from the actual caves), from where you have take the buses provided by the Tourism dept that takes you right upto the mouth of the caves. Please take your cameras along with you as only videography is prohibited, you could very well use digi-cams without flashes and take as many pictures as you want. Also make sure that you engage a guide (charges were Rs.450) without which it would be more than the 'lost in the fair' situation for most of us.

There are around 10-11 caves that are of prime interest, as the guide would tell you. Each one of them have some Jatak tale painted on the walls. The first cave contains the two famous pcitures "Bodhisattva Padmapani" and the "Bodhisattva Vajrapani", each resplendent in its own beauty. They are both '3-D' enabled and so are many of the paintings on the roofs. Another piece of art that shouldnt be missed is a painting which has real pearls embedded in it. There are also some caves which were the dormitories of the artists who are also great Buddhist saints. Given sufficient time, patience and love for art, Ajintha takes almost an entire day to be admired.

Do's :

Take your camera inside the arena without fail. Photography along the exteriors are allowed.
Take food and rations without fail.

Take ample quantity of water.
Ideal visiting time :9 AM - 5:30 PM

Dont's :

Dont buy food from the vendors, there is a serious ignorance of hygiene.

Ellora :

Ellora, a perfect complement of Ajintha is purely a sculptors heaven. Located close to the city of Aurangabad (20 Km), it provides the facility to be visited at any time of the day. Ellora comprises of around 16 completed caves among which the last is the most beautiful. It gives you the impression as if you were in one of the traditional south indian temple. You can find statues of almost every God in our ancient mythology. Any statue that you look at is of the highest quality and of pristine beauty. That's least expected considering the fact that three-four generations of people have worked on a single piece of carving. Such is the intensity with which one has to enjoy these great works. Each of the cave contains either a statue of Buddha or a stupa according to the traditions of Mahayana and Hinayana tradition.

Do's :

Ensure that you take your camera along with you.
The place is very peaceful, you may even want to enjoy the silence and solitude in there.
visit as many caves as possible. You may find each to be differently oriented.
Ideal visiting time :8 AM - 5:30 PM

Dont's :

Avoid taking a guide there, you may be ushered into hurry.
Avoid venturing into certain dark corners of the cave. It could be a health hazard. (Experience speaks ppl :P )

Daulatabad Fort:

"Appearances are deceptive" goes well for the Daulatabad Fort, which lies on the way to Ellora caves and so is often the sacrificial goat for the extra time we spend at Ellora. To begin with the disclaimers, this fort isnt so easy to climb as it looks. So if you are not game for a tough climb, please choose to admire this fort from below :D . For the more adventurous, this fort could provide you a mini-trekking with all the dangers associated with it. There are umpteen locations in the fort where you would fancy taking photographs. The very construction of the fort with its cascaded structuring gives you an idea of the theme of the fort. The minaret, the biggie cassock cannons and the bhool-bhulaiyya enthralls the on-looker with their queer uniqueness. The climb goes around in a circular path around and unfortunately there are no short-cuts, the fort was meant to be in-accessible and in-accessible it remains. It is constructed in such a way that at any point of time the wall is too steep and high to climb and thus forcing everybody to use the path laid out. The top durbar looks ridiculously simple considering the climb and effort it took to reach up. There are no ornamental works, no dance halls, no rooms.. just a simple courtyard where the air gushes in magically from nowhere. After the climb, you feel intoxicated by the cool wind that blows refreshingly into you. Sitting in this place, you can easily drift off into timelessness. You will be too tired to offer any kind of resistance that you naturally begin to enjoy everything and nothing, slipping into a state of nothingness. Perhaps this could be the reason why ppl of olden days worked themselves to tiredness....

Do's :

Forget to take water at your own peril. In case you are visiting during summer, you might even manage to casualize yourself from dehydration. So remember to carry ample supply of water.
Go during the day time. You cannot go to the fort after sunset.
Ideal visiting time :7 AM - 9:30 AM

Dont's:

Don't take heavy food before you climb.
Don't try to take a single shot at the climb, take periodical rest if you feel tired. You wont enjoy rest of the trip if you break your back.
Don't hurry through the dark sections of the climb. The stone tracks are very smooth and slippery due to periodical wear and tear.

Shirdi:

Unfortunately, I couldnt spend much time at shirdi as it was the last point of our journey. Nevertheless we managed to take a shot at the temple. It was extremely lucky for us that we could make darshan under an hour because it usually takes more than two hours even during off-seasons. The temple itself is worth visiting and would take around an hour to see. Since there are sufficient bus services from Shirdi, it could well act as the staring point or the terminal point for you trip.

Other places :

Apart from these major locations, Aurangabad houses a replica of Taj Mahal which is a definite place to be visited. Apart from that you have Panchakki, Aurangazeb's tomb and Grishneshwar temple (one of the jyothirlingas). All of these are fairly closely located and can be visited after the dark.

Tips :

* Please ensure that you get some lodging on your own. There are quite a number of lodges that are available at a little distance from Aurangabad bus station. Try inquiring at a few places so that you get a fair idea of the rentals.
* Even for the local sight-seeing its profitable to get a cab/jeep from one of the travels near the bus station. You could actually get one at a reasonable rate if you are adept at the art of haggling.

The entire trip will be full of fun and frolic if you can go as a group of 5-8 . Its wholesome fun to travel around the cross section of Maharashtra where the culture is quite different from that we see in southern states. It will be a glide to travel this part of the country if we make elaborate planning and take a mental note of the approach route. I am sure that this post will provide you an outline for planning a trip on your own.. so get going guys,.. and happy travelling...

Kudos to love

2007-02-19T02:04:00.000-05:00

"Sching in the rain .. I am schwaiiing in the rain...! " proclaimed my mobile rippling out a cacophony in the voice of our Kaipulle. I lazily picked it up only to be coaxed by my buddy Mr.GK to a movie. When you are a bachelor, a week end without movie is a unpardonable crime and the poor guy wanted to save me from that blasphemy. Being the valentine week-end (though the D day was more than ordinary for me !!), we decided to commit ourselves to a dedication towards cupid. As the custom is before you any movie, I strolled around the theater looking at the posters of the movie. The caption went as follows..


                      Six different couples
                           twelve different lives
                 One common problem
                           LOVE.....

what the heck...??? Are you insane..? an entire movie full of problems..? Ouch !! where is this leading to... My serenity was disturbed by the rustle of the crowd, and a pair of hands pulled me into the tumult and before I could regroup, I was hoisted into my seat by my dear roomies. A man behind me played tabla on my shoulders and asked gleefully.. "Beta..., Kya yeh picture hindi mein hoti hai..? " Whoa !! No comments... "Telgu mein to nahi hain naa..?" No comments.... "kaise bhi ho koi problemmm nahi..." No comments ...."interval kab ayegaaa..?" No comments... "sunaa hai ki yeh pitchaar achchi hai... ha ha" .. No comments.. One hell of a company I had..

The movie began with the typical style of the Hindi movies of these days....A lovely couple living in their own lil' world of joy and splendor. Title time.... the titles sprang out of nowhere and ran its length wearily.. Bang ! appeared Govinda as a taxi driver.. when did he switch over as a comedian...? Bang ! appeared Anil Kapoor sitting alone in a room, staring vacantly at a digital table clock. Bang ! appeared Akshay driving a stylish car impersonating the rich cool guy. Bang ! appeared Salman as an impostor. Bang ! Appeared Juhi Chawla as a home-maker. Bang ! appeared Priyanka in a song sequence.. Bang ! Bang ! Bang !...... there you are, completely lost.., like a kid in a fair.

As the movie proceeds, the plot reveals and shows the faint outlines of the lives of these fine six pair of people. Priyanka, an actress who wants to move from the 'item' gal to be a 'Karan Johar' gal and Salman plays the prevaricated lover boy for her publicity stint. Anil Kapoor, a middle(old ??) aged professional who wants to have an exciting life which he seeks through a dancer he met in a train. Akshay, a 'kewl' dude who doesnt want to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage. Govinda, who looks for a valentine in a foreigner. And John Abraham, a man doted on his wife, a journalist who subsequently loses her memory in an accident. Whew..! I think that should surmise what the movie is all about. What....? Did the story fit in a paragraph..! No way !!!

People, believe me, I must be going cranky..... coz the movie lasted a solid 3:20 minutes on screen !! I felt thoroughly cheated twice, when I felt sure that the movie was about to end and the screen proudly presented the words 'INTERVAL' . Gosh ! Song sequences came blistering one after another in a never ending stream, sequence of dis-connected comical interludes and sentiment, sentiment and more sentiment.....! Ouch !! I almost had a heart-stroke... It seemed very complicated to me that though two people had mutual love, they had a zillion problems between them. For some inexplicable reasons each had an intricate problem that was infinitely complex to solve. The caption that I read slowly began to make sense to me... The director didn't get that one wrong...at least this once...

With these six stories going parallel, the movie marathon goes on and on... The credit should go to us all, for having the perseverance to stay on till the end. The screenplayer decides to end the movie bringing together all the pieces through some means or the other. By then, most of us are given up to deep to question any sort of logic in the movie. Oh ! and the man behind me was right... we dont need to either hindi or logic to get the movie right. Never I felt more weary after watching a movie.. Guys, sympathize with me... I am sharing the sorrows of six couples. ! Believe me people, we can never imagine love can cause so much a trouble.One thing is for sure... No more valentine's day for me.. ..!

Movie BottomLine : Pay for one movie, Get five free !!

Just a messy mess !!

2006-12-03T14:14:00.000-05:00

Ever since my induction into bachelorhood (not that i was married ever :P) its been more of a necessity than a regualrity to eat at hotels. Initially one can get away with "decent" hotels that provide you s-class food, but as time progresses your purse begins to feel the pinch and quite automatically one begins to let loose his 'decent' funda. And when you get stuck to a place like Hyderabad, the decision come a bit sooner than expected. Believe me guys, it took me only a week to come to that!

Once that wisdom dawns, those hotels which never existed before magically seem to spring up before your eyes. Like fire-flies you move into one of these for 'trying' out the food there. Along the expected lines you tend to 'like' one of these options you have ventured so far. And there begins this blog, with my selection called as the 'KKTA' mess. Every time I think of this one, the more mysterious it becomes.

This mess is very similar to any mess that you would have in your imagination. A medium sixed hall with an amazing number of tables fitted into its small perimeter. It is like a black hole which can accomodate any number of people in it. Given its spatial orientation, you cannot expect it to be very comfortable. But hunger dominates over preferences and this epithet is used to its maxim in this mess. The profile of the mess is far from aesthetic. The entrance contains a rudimentary blackboard etched with the standard phrase 'Meals ready'.., as if people came there with purposes other than to satiate their hunger. The decoration is limited to the solitary portrait of the owner's dad who despite his overwhelming moustache tries to showcase his tobacco-stained tooth. The poor old man would have never smiled, had he lived long enough to see his photo lying in its dilapidated condition with a flower garland round its rusted frame which was to probably lie there until his next anniversary. The only article which looked gleaming was the 'galla' or the money box which captivates the utmost attention of its owner.

Despite its rustic ambience, the mess attracts quite a number of people inclusive of me. The operation of the mess is very unique with its visitors following a steady pattern. For crowd managability, a token system is followed where one has to stand in a queue that perfectly disobeys *all* queing theories known. But with expertise or patience you can manage to get a lunch coupon for yourself after paying a price rounded off to its nearest ten. And next comes the toughest part where you have to literally "catch" a place to sit down. Within a couple of visits you gradually learn the tricks of the trade. One can actually book a table by pinning down their coupons on the table and with a little more experience under your belt, you would want to stick your coupons with a drop of water beneath it so as not let it fly away. With a little more experience and speculative risk analysis you might even abandon your watch on the coupon and sit on a bench for the sake of a fan over-head.

Once your turns arrives, you get a prefilled platter(actually i would have ventured to call it a plate if it were a tad smaller :P) with a solitary banana bonanza and some fired rice (not a typo guys !!). Within an alarmingly short time, a server comes to you and fills your plate with a big lump of rice and another fills up the small pot-holes with a couple of curries and a fry(some inexpensive veggie fry). The refuelling (filling) of the plates happen with amazing response time and you are never with an empty plate. The waiters here are at the pinnacle of optimism. They prompt you for rice once your are at your upper limit as if your hunger can reappear within minitues. The profitability of the mess is ensured with it maximising its clientele within the epoch. A variety of pickles accompany your lunch with a small cup of curd. Customer service is enhanced at this point by proving you an optional extra spoon with which you can rustle up a mini lassi out of your curd cup.

Oh and you must be expecting a couple of probing hands which pin up coupons at quite alarming places. Alertness is the mandate !! Once you are done with your lunch, you are expected to extend the courtesy to your fellowbeing by vacating the chair at the earliest and any delay in doing so might be the causal action for a uncalled bickering. And whats more..., to top the food, you even have fennel seeds to nibble :D. Coming out of the mess, you are filled with contentious emotions, with all thoughts metling into the same trough, getting lost in the oblivion.......

BottomLine Recommendation : Enter at your own risk !!

Tidings of a Kingpin

2006-11-08T09:37:00.000-05:00

Now I have least doubts on which of my posts are preferred by my readers.. No guesses .. its Movie reviews. Well, what canI do, but to sympathize our beloved movie patrons.(I cant/am not supposed to find mistakes with myself u see :P). Well after a golti flick it is time for Tamil Epoch to rule my pages. No, never think I would watch any tamil movies on a diwali day. Neither would I watch a tamil movie in Hyd. There happened certain miraculous comedies that made me go to chennai in the recent past. And so I decided to make the best out of the trip with back to back diwali flicks. After four months the first movie I watched in tamil was vattaram, so I deserve your outright sympathy !! "Annan paechu eppovume one way. Angarundu return paechu varapdadu."

Lets get down to business now. And if you thought this review is about vattaram, then perhaps you had ignored my request for sympathy. Grrrr.. The movie theatre was packed to brim with thala fans. Then came the Ultimate Star on the screen with an apparent style that brought a couple of loud cheers from his fans. By the way FYI it was only his shadow that was visible ! Then the priciple of Advaita is shown by the screen-player(huh !?) with the look-alike father-son topology of plot. The rich father pampers his only son(or is it not ??) with all the pleasures in the earth, and the good son refrains from becoming the vitiated tyke. The story moves ahead with the two signing a pact with the former giving up 'sutta' for the latter taking up social work. All this trouble only to launch the US's(acronym for Ultimate Star) would-be lady love. Guys, you cant help it, its the director who has the first,last and the only say in this regard.

The lady love acts as a concubine to teach the hero some lessons on civility or to chase his band-wagon back from their camp.(I am still not able to identify the exact reason, so thought I could add both the possible reasons. Precision is of Ultimate importance u see !!) But the US is magnanimous to ring the wedding bells despite the obvious and what more do you need to spark a romance ?? Well, they get engaged and then one can see a "marked-change" in the US's characteristics. he behaves as a vagabound and ruffian. He even tries to kill the elder US. Well, I should say at this point that if the triple role ad funda could have been avoided, it would have been a better suspense.

The scream-play(oops... a honest typo guys !!) proceeds to shows the other sibling of the younger US, who happens to develop a terrible abomination towards the elder US, thanks to his claim that the elder US was the factor behind his mother's mentally challenged stature. Oh !! and despite the obvious resemblance both the younger US and the elder US choose to consider the possibility of him being a sibling. Aw !! what a crunch.. The elder US, who so far was stuck to a wheel chair, stands up and fights to save his life. The acting looked good here fortunately, keeping us actively involved with the screenplay.

It's flash-back time guys !! the elder US goes on to say his past life of a dancer and his marriage becoming a failure due to his lady-like features. Dont probe more into it guys !! He did have his connubial night :D. Well, the act disrupted his ex-fiancee and she goes into the maddy-realm. We have to give 9/10 to US for this portion of the act. He is pretty good at the walk/stance of a feminine grace. Another round of cheer from his fans !! Well the story takes no more twists and goes along the expected lines. After a revelation they realise that there were two siblings(Thats why i asked you to shed ur doubts abt the elder US earlier :P). The elder US sacrifices his life to save his ruffian off-srping and also manages to marry of his good off-srping to his lady love. The End.

No, its not an abrupt end to the story, as u can see.. All's well that ends well.. Oh ! but the punch dialogue at the end could have been avoided. The tactic of spelling the movie title at the end has been adopted too many a times. Nevertheless, it was an efficient way of whiling away three hours of your life.

Movie Bottom-Line : Watchable if you choose to ignore the semantics !!

All 'bout Geometric proportion !!

2006-10-11T02:04:00.000-04:00

Writing reviews about movies has been quite refreshing for me everytime I write it. It is like watching the movie once more without having to pay for it ! Nevertheless, it is the fact that the process gives me a lot of scope to narrate incidents associated with it, that gives me the real motive to write movie reviews. Well, now that I am in the Golti land, what more can you expect than a telgu movie. Now dont ask me whatever in the world prompted me to watch a telgu movie... The pathetic situation is that no tamil movie releases in this part of the world.

There is a big conspiracy behind that scenario. Well, I am gonna reveal that to you, the most dark secret that daunts the tamil-telgu movie industry in the modern times. Most, or rather invariably all Hit movies in Tamil is dubbed into Telgu and vice versa. Now that would reduce the profitability when running multi-lingual movies in the same place. But then, there are always people, samaritans, puritans like me who watch a movie even if they dont understand a bit of it ! The venture took off like this.. Me and my rommies (Note : ALL TAMILs without an iota knolwdge in Telgu ), didnt have much to bicker about the choice of the movie. All of us were in synchrony with the 'Thala' movie.

Getting tickets for a chiru movie is the toughest thing in the world. Thanks to our patience we mangaed to gather four tickets. This city has a strange way of crowd management within theatre. They make you wait on road until the movie is about to begin !! Well, make hay when the sun shines, and so we took this opportunity to treat ourselves to a Ginger Tea. When its 'thala' movie, you never need an announcement as to when the movie acutally began. The hooting begins precisement 2 seconds before the movie kicks off. You could expect a gusty entry for our 'thala', and you wont be disappointed.. A punch (verbal and action), preceeds our thala's face occupying the entire screen. By the way, the shoe that our thala wears dominates the screen for the first few minutes... Man !! that shoe manufacturer would have definitely paid some money to get that kind of advertisement !!

The entire movie revolves around our thala and his bravado. A number of footlooses accompany this three hour ride. Thala dance numbers are a must see, especially the 'collar dance' moves were zimbly awesome !! Our thala blends so well with his co-dancers (lots of ladies of course),that we often miss him during his footloose. Then comes the key concept of the film, the magical "mukkuru" (aka Three) where our 'thala' explains the concept of tree(as in Trie structures) coupled with Geometric proportion Series. I know you couldnt make head or tails out of it.. Obviously it aint such a simple concept !! :P Well, It goes as follows.. Thala says that all that a person need to do for the society is to help three persons. Those three will help another three and so on....The entire movie revolves around this eternal concept.Our thala also proves the fact that world is round when his mukkuru help saves him from the traumatic villain's henchmen.

And our thala has a history too... He is invariably the best Major that the Indian Army had in the recent past. After a putting a brave fight in a war, he gets mortally wounded with a bullet safely lodged mm away from his heart. A small push in his body would in turn push the bullet towards his heart. Such a critical scenario for out thala !! :( . But not to worry guys, for there are milliions to pray and push the bullet out for our dear Thala :)... And that's what happens in the end. The GP factor works out for thala and people come in torrents to pray for him.
Movie BottomLine : HENCE THE PROOF.

Soccer-o-mania

2006-09-21T13:20:00.000-04:00

This is perhaps the first occassion where I take courage to write about my responsible days (when I worked !!). We at our firm believe in Mr.Jack who atrributed his stupidity to All work and no play. So at Mr.Jack's behest, we decided to infest ourselves with the soccer bug. Now, now before you start mis-contemplating, we guys practise soccer twice every week. So that implies that we are serious soccer fans/patrons. By now you all might have figured out what this blog's gonna tell you about.

Hmmm.. well, for the lesser contra-brawned ones, a full feldged soccer season is what you can expect.Ok.. you didnt believe that !! Well, if not a season, a soccer evening is what we had. It all starts with a mail sent to the serious soccer fans(entire staff !!), which forms a thread for the soccer forum with the soccer enthusiasts shooting all sorts of questions. The tournament eve is the most interesting of all events that happen. The various teams conduct clandestine conferences and conspire to draw up a strategm against their opponents. Then, there are the professional photographers who pick up snapshots of such pics and post them in the same thread(mail .. remember ??). Aftera brawl over such controversies (We are professional footballers for heavens' sake !!), the D-Day finally arrives.

Oh ! I forgot to tell you about another important aspect of soccer. Jerseys.. Deciding what jersey a team should wear is of extreme importance and is often a topic of great contemplation within and outside the team. After all, your dress is what makes half of your personality. ok.. so where were we ??.. oh yeah ! The D-Day .....

The entire fan club becomes vibrant since the start of the day, the soccer fever fast catches on, and soon the fans become obsessed with soccer-o-mania. The fans start giving suggestions/ advice/ opinions/ hints/ pointers/ tips/ expostulations/ instructions/ priming/ tutoring/ kibitzing/ coaching/ briefing/ sermons/ recommendations/ counsel/ assistance (the last one is paradoxical though !!) to the players. The games are scheduled in the evening, to be under the floodlights, which is yet another example of our professionalism :D. Of course, the minor motive being the fact that we also have a scumptuous dinner following the games :P.

The teams arrive at the Grounds quite early and start their warm up sessions. We do a number of exercises like stretching, snacking, bending, snacking, jogging, snacking and so on...By the time we are done with our warm ups, the soccer fans would arrive to watch the action. Then begins the limelight of the day... Nope.. If you thought it was the match, then you are pathetic !! The photograph session is what follows next. The forwards, bend it like Beckham, giving our official photographers some cracking pics. The goalkeepers dive around in all directions in a 'Sportstar centre page' fashion. After the clicks have abated, the captains go out to "fix" certain important issues, so that the games go peacefully without a glitch.

The lining up of the team is another important ritual that is considered to be the pride of the day for the players. The ref's call up the captains and brief them about the rules of the game. Then begins the game with the ref-blowing up the whistle. A huge roar comes up from the supporters who often rejuventate themselves with the aromatic nutriments served. The players keep themselves busy running, marking other players and chasing the ball. As the quarter time nears,energy sapped out of the players, we often find the frequency of substitutions increasing in geometric proportions(That's how Engineers are supposed to say things :D). Man, this is when one finds the utility of having cheer-leaders !!

Half time discussions are real fun to watch, with lots of discussions going on as to how one should proceed with the game. The second half witnesses more fans and players bustling around the corner.. Oh! And I am referring to the food corner... Well, the match goes on with the usual pace set by the players and by now the ref would have lost count of the number of substitutions made. Then there comes this hero, who somehow manages to put the ball into the net. Then begins the celebration, with all the players making sure that the scorer goes to the bench (That's coz there are no cards given during a goal celebration !! ). The match ends and the winners go around for another photo session and planning the strategy for the next game(as usual :-)). The losers arent yet out of the action. They begin discussing about the schedules for the next tournament (Thats professionalism !!) scheduled next year.

After such hectic activities it is but natural for one to get tired, and ravaged by the vagaries of the match, hunger gets into the top priority slot. Dinner time are strictly meant for small-talk and not serious issues like soccer.. especially after losing a game. Since the winners are always outnumbered by the losers, they naturally have to button up (that's why we say that Mother Nature's fair to one and all !!). Now i ain't gonna tell you about what follows next, thats classified information. Oh ! and by the way if you thought that i am on the winning side, then i would strongly suggest you to read my previous blogs !!

There's nothing official about it !!

2006-07-04T10:20:00.000-04:00

It was in the evening that i decided to munch some snacks after sitting before the "Intelligent Box"(Copyright: Shankar - All rights reserved) for almost the entire day. Now for those who dont have a taste of corporate life let me tell what it likes to be in your cubicle. Well, the lessons begin with the word cubicle. The cubicle certainly lives upto its name, a structure that binds you for most of your time with the unseen tethers. It comprises of three major components,

1.The intelligent box
2.books,books and more books...(STRICTLY technical)
3.A telephone

Now that a cubicle is familiar to you, let me get along with what kind off stuff that we guys do with the intelligent box. The intelligent box is not so intelligent as we would like it to be. It throws up all kinds of wierd stuff when you least expect them. But hey, theres more to it than we can imagine, but i exclude it because it is out of scope of this blog. In short, it creates more trouble than it solves. Well, i am being a bit too cynical with my perception,coz ultimately the intelligent box does what we say. But to hell with it !!

As we move out of the cubicle, there is a cafetaria which is the centre of all our "pet pooja", the dispensers and the snacks counter are really inviting especially when we are new entrants. The cafetaria- therein lies the reacreative bundles. The cafetaria can be a real bother to just one sect of people, the ones who sit next to it. They have to exert maximum restraint on themselves to buckle the escape velocity. Ok, lets get on with it. As we move out, we reach the final destination. Now dont start speculating, it another cafetaria :D nevertheless its bigger and is high above all other things. Oh ! and i meant that literally !! It lies in the top floor and so has the top priority :). Now comes the purpose of my narrative. Where was I ?? Oh yes.. munchin snacks. To be very frank, munching snacks in the cafetaria is rewarding in itself. The best part is that we get to notice a lot of people and their vivid activites.

That portion again is beyond the scope of this blog(too many people u see!!). Today was an exceptional day since it was raining and it seldom rains the way that makes rain enjoyable. I was talking to my friends admist snacks that i noticed how pleasant the climate was. There were mild droplets of rain, just the right quantity that one sees in a spray painting. This was one moment where i enjoyed wearing glasses. The way these droplets arrange themselves on your spectacles is really awesome. I wonder at people who remove thier specs when it rains for this was one reare occassion when the spectacles live upto their name! It was kind of irresistable for me to abstian from going out under the open sky. Of course, i was wearing my specs too :P.. There was a mild breeze that was playing around slightly curving the path of the droplets to a pleasant acute.

Our canteen as i metnioned lies on the terrace which was characterized by many outgrowths that would form the strength for any futuristic spurs that might occur to the building. Despite the iron protrusions they seemed to attract many a people to sit on it, though uncomfortably. Strange as it seems, the very same people complain about a broken handle or a loosened strand of fibre of the cushion in thier cubicles. I sat on them thinking of many things that happened in the past few days. I could feel like i was living both the past and the present. I was extremely aware of what was happening around me, at the same time I was intensely in my past. As these thoughts were going on, another faction of myself was looking at these two factions, wondering how fast the mind races. Almost an entire week of the past went through in a flash of a time !

It might seem unbelievable for most of you, and you might tend to think these as a mere figment of my imagination. But there has been many a times when i had felt that i had already experienced what i was experiencing at that moment. Well, it could be my imagination at work..well, i sat watching the rain splutter against my face. The clouds above were pale dark in texture and moving at an amazingly fast pace. It made me reaslise the incapabilities of human senses. Our sense organs are extremely gullible and fragile without our ability to think and reason. Yes, the thinking potential, the raw rationale, is what that drives the human. The raw rationale is the one which made the human invent the wheel, it made him create spokes and hub instead of a solid disk. The rationale is what told him of his weakness and strengths !!

A song of high disruptive nature woke me from my stream of thoughts. Aw !! it was my own mobile ringing and for the first time in my life i hated Metallica. I lazily flopped open my panel only to see my appointment being made to the intelligent box. And i felt a tinge of sadness and awe when the time panel showed that the entire time i had spent was less than 5 minutes. I decided to blog this at the earliest opportunity.Of course there's nothing official about it.....

Shifting fundas !!

2006-06-15T05:54:00.000-04:00

Man has three basic necessities in life which are indispensible, Food , clothing and shelter. And things can go real bad when u lack the third of these essentials, more so if you are a bachelor. My quest for the first, made me move out to a new city and the third was the culprit. When you move to a new city, there are many an intriguing factors that play havoc in your hedonistic activities. Language being one of the most tough ones to handle. I landed in the "city of jalebis" ! No not because of the delicacies, but because of the language script that the place uses. The AD boards that i saw on my entry in to city bore a complex look with lots of curves shaped in a intricate mix of slashes. They were an exact replica of jalebis torn into random pieces, with the sole purpose of obfuscation.

That was the first experience of hopelesness that twinged in my mind and which was to stay put for many days to come. Having had a taste of the native tongue and the script, I had given up hope on any attempts to learn it. But to my genuine surprise, Nationalistic flavor permeating through the cross section came to my rescue and Hindi was no less used than jalebis in the city. My benevolent providers had provided me with a wonderful accomodation for two weeks and I was determined to enjoy that under all circumstances.

"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder", I realised how true the statement was during the first weeks of my relocation. The third essential need that i was talking of just back was the top priority thing in my mind, coz the first two were provided by my benefactors. And so we (Never do things alone ! My folks say !! :P ) went out in the search of a shelter. A big city must have big things to offer, so the people say. But that was just a prevarication of facts or a clever obfuscation. The delusion was soon cleared once we set out in search of flats.

We went into one of the apartments very close to my area of interest(I am a techie for heavens sake !! :D ) and fumbled for the watchman around the place. Oh ! and I finally found him sleeping in a corner. That's at least one situation which corresponds to movies. Well after a couple of minutes of altercation we managed to find out that all that the guy made out was that we were bachelors. From that point on he repeated the mantra "Emi ledu" invariably for all the questions that followed. I later found out that these people here had a well formed and unbreachable network intricately placed with brokers and watchmen at key points which ensured that they had a regular income out of newbies to the city. Having found the key to success, we found a flat which suited our purpose.

With all these fundas under my experience armoury, I went about to purchasing things needed to kick off a humanly life in my newly found flat. That my dear friends,I tell you, isn't an easy task. Well, being an engineer has its own advantages and disadvantages, I could organize a list of items that a common, responsible householder (thats me !!) might need. Now being an engineer, I managed to reconcile the list with another responsible householder and finally ended up with the list of belongings that we really need. I would have liked to put up that list in this blog, but it would seem too much of a wierdo, so I have decided against it. But as a gist, it was the most wierd kind of list that i ve ever seen. The ones who want the list can mail me and i shall be more than glad to share the wierdness !! Oh and to top up this effort we finally managed to end up in our flat forgetting to buy a lock to lock up our treasures. Blah ! blah blah !! well lemme stop the crap because that updates my current position.. and going by my nature and natural goofness i am bound to produce many such stints !! :D

Exam blues,greens and oranges.....

2006-04-30T09:13:00.000-04:00

"Humph !!" i said with anguish, making my way out of the exam hall. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, but i wasnt half as worse i was,half hour ago. I silently made a resolve not too fool around for the next examination at the least. The entire world knows the strength of those resolutions made just after the completion of an examination. I am an ordinary person, and my resolve was just as similar. It is an iterative process that goes on with unfailing regularity. "Dei machi, vaa oru cold coffee adikalam" was all that was needed to dissolve my resolve. Off i went to the Coffee shop (guys,not the barrista !!) to drench my throat with a cold coffee. It was drizzling, and there are days when you wish that u were washed away by a current of water. And the drizzling helped the feeling to get stronger. I looked up the sky, hoping to see God who had committed the unpardonable crime of setting a tough question paper.

On the way, i could see a person smile, i never ever realised that simle can cause such jittery in a person. We sat sipping our coffee (a hot coffee converted to cold thanks to a fan ), a financial crisis acting as a catalyst for this transformation. If at all silence could act as a mode of communication, it was on that day. We were all able to sense each others anxiety with amazing alacrity. I decided to break the ice, and started to talk " guys... ", when they unanimously stared at me. Man !! if only looks could kill, I would have been a dead duck !!! I reverted back to my sanyasi pose sulkily sippin my cup. On our way back our frustration transformed to anger on seeing the smiling face of "Mr.expert in saponification". That guy really pissed me off !!!

We walked with an un(usual) silence that invariably followed any(every) examination. We managed to park ourselves in our usual feelings "spot",a tree-shade which was our temple of confession. Finally,one of us said, "what is our next exam ?". Everyone of us gave the negative nod, though each of us knew very well what and when our next exam was. It was our own stupid way to reconcile to the reality. If at all any piece of paper can rule 8 lives, it was the damn question paper... Each of us had a unique excuse for flunking, Out of portion(ie those which we didnt study), the clocks in exam hall ran at an unearthly rate(no time),the cursed temporary amnesia (we forgot what we studied), optical illusion AKA mirage (read the question wrong),electronic disorientation(calulator failure),tool diruption (A broken nib) and temporal lobe misinterpretations. But we guys werent the hopeless ones who repeated the same mistakes in succession. Our mistakes went in a perfect cyclic order. Never did we fall a prey to sussman anamoly.

After an hour of such so-called retrospection, we finally make up a decision to study for the next examination. The attempt comes to a sudden halt as one of our intellectuals suggested a solution to the problem that hung dauntingly before us. "A paper moderation". Then begins the hunt for the "Mr. saponifier", the biggest man hunt the world has ever witnessed. And Mr.saponifier is a mean customer. He locks himself up with his books in the most obscure places of the insti, with the intention of consuming the book in entirety. Finally we fished him out and put forth(portended) our proposal. After masquerading him with our suggestions, we set him forth on his mission to convince the resective staff. The result of this operation "Temperate" is the most obvious, the answer sheets are due to be corrected by imports from other insti !!!

Providence proves to be the culprit. This extraneous operation subsumes time to such an extent that we wished Mr.Einstein was wrong. We wished hopelessly that time travel was indeed possible. Midnight gong strikes, indicating that there remained exactly 12 hours for our next cold coffee. We started crammin for our next exam, holding every piece of charm that we could conceive of. Night rolls on to day and sunlight fills the room with light and our hearts with consternation and apprehensions. Our scanning of the books had managed to bring sufficient knowledge, knowledge that we were yet again out on a hopeless errand. After a breakfast-less session with books, we make our way through to exam hall, our fingers devoid of its nails. The question papers are yet again on our hands, which better served as napkins to our sweat-soaked hands. All that we could do was to look through the paned window, which unfailingly reinstated the principle of scattering of light,throwing out its spectrum with admirable mix of blue,green and orange......

Of Prima Donnas and Politics.....

2006-04-03T09:26:00.000-04:00

People might wonder whats wrong with me as i am churning out more public issues and contemporary topics. I am quite wondering about that myself. So its no point trying to judge whats up with me. But yeah ! one should definitely think about what's happening in our country today. I am not being lopsided or attacking a particular personality. It's more about ourselves that i am speaking about. And the topic is something that all we youngsters should not merely be thinking about, but also act. And my title indicates all about that i am going to say.

As i mentioned about it before, it is not an attack on any particular individual or political parties, but a mere analysis of our involvement in our nation's interest. Politics has been phasing almost all sectors of day to day life. This is acclaimed by almost everybody around so I need not specify its importance. And it's also true that politics is being dominated by the cine sector. The eminent actors who idolise themselves in the people find it an easy entrance into politics and fame. So what the hell does bother u ??? thats what u would be asking now.... well i can list it out....

-> How can a sector which requires high degrees of education and intelligence, be dominated by actors and not by scholars ?

-> How can politicians stand the test of time dominating this long ?

-> What difference would it make if the field was any different ?

I am certainly not going to provide answers for these as I dont think i am quite experienced enough to do that. I am just going to provide my perspective. The first one is what perplexes me as it only requires common sense to make out that point. Persons who can hardly communicate in the Lingua Franca, can they contrieve anything that is worthwhile. Of course there can be exceptions and geniuses who can work that way. But is it something that we can leave it to a such an chance and hope that it works out ??? think guys. Imagine people from IIM's and IIT's and other such intitutions as ministers and members of the parliament. No longer will it be humiliating to watch the parliamentary session over a tv :-). No longer will DoorDarshan be required to put up ADs as frequently as they do now.... Guys, if that sounded funny, i can tell u it is not as funny as it seems. We are paying through our noses for a day that they spend at the parliament. It's time that we thought about this factor. Bring erudite people into politics.

The second question is the one that puzzles me the most. How could the Prima Donnas dominate this field so long ?? One possiblity could be because they are the ones that the masses look upto for identifying qualities that they can only dream of. Little do
they understand that the cinematic image the mummers create are just a mere figment of imagination. Already being a public figure they find an easy entrance into politics. If I were a President ( I am already one in my dreams !! )then i would have a special course on politics in all colleges and only Politics graduates could enter into polls. That too after AIPEE (all india politicians entrance exams)... :D Well that remains a fantasy, at least in the near future.

There have been many such initiatives by people who want to reform our politics, but they have neither been encouraged nor noticed. These thoughts of mine are not restricted to me alone.. It's been spoken about these days and there are a few organisations that are definitely going to come up with such a motive soon enough. I am still having the strong belief that more educated the politicians are the better will be their governance.. I also believe that the day is not very far and a time will come when politicians will be PhD s.

Exercising franchise will mean much more to me that day, much more than getting an indelibe ink mark on my index finger indicating yet another five year period passing off monotonically into perpetuity......

An elegy for the diminishing spirit

2006-03-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

It is indeed with a heavy heart that i am writing this post. Despite of a busy schedule that i am supposed to follow, i had to rake up some time for this particular post. As u might have guessed this is not going to be one of the comical interludes that i am going to write about. It's about something recent that had pained me to the core. No i wouldnt blame anyone for this, it is a collective blame.

Now this is a question that one has to answer truthfully. Do you happen to recognize this person ???
.
.
.
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No.. isnt it ? except for quzzing purposes not many know this person. To hell with the suspense !!! He is Samaresh Jung,of India who has been named as the winner of the David Dixon Award for the most outstanding athlete of the Commonwealth Games.

During the Games, Jung won two individual gold in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol and Men’s 50m Pistol, as well as three team gold, one team silver, and one individual bronze. He also set three new Games records.The David Dixon Award is named after the former Honorary Secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and is the first of its kind for a multi-sport event.All of the 71 competing nations and territories were asked to nominated one athlete for the award. All athletes are eligible regardless of their medal tallies.

The medal honours performance at the Games, fair play, and overall contribution to their team’s participation at the Games.CGF President, Mike Fennell, said he was delighted that Samaresh Jung had won the second David Dixon Award.

"Jung is a remarkable athlete, who competed brilliantly in Melbourne, establishing a range of new benchmarks for his sport, and is an athlete the whole Commonwealth can be truly proud of,” said Fennell.

Samaresh Jung’s wife Anuja also competed, winning gold in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

After such a splendid performance in the games, He is hardly reognised.. why ?? Lack of publicity from the media. He is certainly not a media hound, but is it fair enough to let his heroics go down the drain. Imagine if he had been in US, he would have been driven right away into the White house for dinner with the President. In India, his name appears in some god forsaken corner of the papers, while actors rock the front page. Who the hell cares if they are jailed or not ? what difference does it make ?? but unfortunately these tit bits sail through amongst people as hot-cakes. Imagine Samaresh being forgotten while some stupid cine actor is being hailed for wearing a fancy cloth or for cutting ribbons for a sponsor !!!

Guys, this is the sad state of affairs today. When are the Indian media going to act fair and bring true heroes to limelight ?? All they have managed to achieve is to get people scorn at Indian sportsmen for not achieving in Olympics !! How the hell do u expect them to achieve when they are not given the proper incentives. The media is what i would again blame this for. They have been very unfair towards anything except for cricket and football. They have chosen to be commercial ignoring the primary ethics. Had they chosen to eulogise such herculean performances, i have no doubts that a man like Samaresh would be idolised in a couple of days after such a show of marksmanship.

It is but natural that this blog comes out with agony and sarcasm aimed at those those who failed to recognise such a splendid performance. Such a propensity for disregarding such splendid acts is what makes me feel bad. This post is a direct result of that agony.....

An elegy for the dimishing spirit of appreciating excellence.......

Abhi jiska dil na pighla , Dil nahi woh pathar hai.....
jo isko samajh na paayae, woh bekar zindgaani hai......

YAHOO

2006-03-25T08:06:00.000-05:00

(YAHOO) Yet Another History Of Obfuscation !!!

So friends after a long gap, here i am back with a burdened shoulder... one which weighs heavy on any conscientious blogger. Yes, i am burdened with a TAG yet again, this time the thanks goes to Trinity ... The tag is about some "weird" things about myself. Hmmm.. so whats mystique abt me ????? Let's see......

Anyone who's into a bit of economics will be familiar with the term scot analysis. This post is somthing similar to that i guess, a scot analysis on myself... Now that forms the first strange thing about me.. i prevaricate crazy analogies. Sometimes the homosapiens around me tend to think that i am thinking too much, a bit too much to their comfort. I tend to talk esoteric sometimes with such crazy and unearthly analogies. But i can hardly refrain myself from conglomerating my ideas once i get into such thoughtful moods. I think i owe this attribute of mine to Rand... Gosh !!! i am getting into one such spell.. so lemme jump on to something else...

My taste for movies and books have been often come under serious contemplation. Most of my friends detest cartoons while i am fida over them. Movies are serious stuff in student life and i find myself out of tune with most the movies esp tamil and hindi.
While i felt Aalavandan and Kurudhipunal are good,i was declared tasteles.. and when i said KNM and Zinda were crap, again i was sent to the corner...As if that isnt enough, i undergo futher tirade with my choice of books... The list isnt too big.. i read Tintin,Aestrix,Phantom and Ayn Rand. That makes things more obfuscated doesnt it ??? On introspection even i myself tend to think that i am a random mix of thoughts.

The most weird thing about me is that my moods dont fluctuate... I am quite stable to all aberrations around me but certainly not impervious.Boon or bane, i remain DC(electronically speaking :D ) at all times. Singing has been strictly restricted to my bathroom and what i sing is classified info :D... i play table tennis and badminton and carrom board and chess and cricket and football, but no where near tolerable at either of these. After a display of my talents for these at college, the college team decided to go without these sports for the next four years.... oh did i forget to mentioned that i haunted the MC desk for almost all college functions since i was the only guinea pig available :(...

And if u have the patience to read this far then prolly u might actually be tending to think that i am crazy !!! And guys, i assure you...I am not just crazy, i am SuPeR CrAzY !!!

AS the tradition goes i might have to tag sombody.. the burden is passed on to

Meetsankar

VIVEK

Swathi

A Thin Red line

2006-03-02T09:55:00.000-05:00

This post is about a person whom i used to meet almost everyday on my way to college. No, he is not know to me, and i never did bother to find out about him. I could have if I wanted to, but I havent tried so far. But he does have a gravitational pull around him, which is due to his attribute of speech. It is on a bus that i see him, everyday, almost sitting at the same place each day, with almost unfailing regularity. He has a pleasant face with a curved mustache,a typical charachteristic of a south indian. His mannerisms arent what one would call as gentle. He has a grotesque way of presenting himself. Perhaps that was one which made me look towards him for the first time.

He speaks usually of his days at Army and at New Delhi. Plus he is extremely repetitive, because, unfortunately his co-passengers are never the same. Perhaps, they might even avoid sitting near him after listening to his heroic extempore once. His speeches include, as I said, about his army experiences and his heroics. He says that he can shoot as well as any olympic gold medallist and in fact better than them. He then goes on to say the story of how he managed to down a wild fox from quite a distance. I always used to think
Either this fellow is as good as he claims to be or the saying "as wise as fox" is false

The fox must have been stupid enough to get killed by this character !!! And he is usually returned with a sarcastic smile each day, yet he manages to say the same stuff to some poor unfortunate guy, who in his ignorance manages to sit beside him.

But his words and more importantly his tone of speech made me think of somthing more imortant. I used to take his speech as "trumpet blowing" and him as a conceited person. But then a thought intrigued me, what exactly is the difference between Ego/conceit and self respect. Self respect does not stop with the respect that u carry in others' eyes. It also stands for your admiration of your own abilities. Whats wrong in respecting and stating your own superior abilities ???

Let me move on to a detail analysis of self respect. It has to understood that self respect has a braoder scope than what is usually asoociated with the word. If a person says that
I am good, I can do that, I am confident of that, Thats too easy for me, I ll do it better than many around

These words are often despised by most of us. We immediately brand him as ignorant and arrogant. And what if he does manage to stand by what he claimed ? We immediately say He's good . But whats the use ? He is too conceited. I was no exception to the thought. I had branded many a people as a conceited fellow. But now, as i come to think of it, I feel that i was too hasty. Too much bad influence from the surroundings.I now begin to feel strongly that proclaiming your achievements and capabilities to others arent exactly bad.

Come to think of ego or conceit. Theres not much difference between ego and self respect. These are in fact separated by a thin line. What i say might not be true or could be corrugated facts... but hell !! its my blog and I can write what i feel... So coming to my thoughts on that.. The difference is very minute. When one says "I can do it" it can be his self respect. But when he says "I alone can do it" it shifts a bit to become Ego. Again " I can do better than X " it shifts marginally into the self respect spectra. " I wont allow anyone else to do it" and "I cant bear others doing it" goes into the Ego domain.

Hey, able to spot any demarcation ?? well, I am trying hard not to be influenced by my prejudice. Perhaps this is what Ayn rand has been regularly mentioning when she says about the people of the "mind", the capable ones who run the society by virtue to their merit and demand the respect they thoroughly deserve.This discussion has stemmed from the fellow at the bus, prolly I should thank him when i see him in the bus tomorrow. He did give me a tough proposition to work on. In fact i am now looking forward to meet him tomorrow .....

TOTIL

2006-03-01T08:09:00.000-05:00

TOTIL - Test of Tamil as Indian Language

This post is dedicated to improve the vocabs for those whish to augument their tamil skills ...

Here goes the list….

Aapu - vetu vekaradu
Allwa - To cheat
Abase - Loot adiththal
Adichu oothu - kandapadi poi sollaradu
Alpam - A silly/cheap dude
Appeettu – Unsuccessful
Asaththal – Kalakkal
Bajari - A not-so-friendly / loud mouthed
Bandha – Pillim
Bekku - Fool
Biscothu – chillarai
Blade- refer kadi
Body - Muscular Machi
Bulb - refer- Bun
Bun - kevala padithi vidaradu
Correct panradu – Madakaradu
Dapsa/Doop – Lie
Dhil – Courage
Dhool – Super
Dum - To smoke
Daavu - Site seeing
Dealings - mutual understanding
Dickielona - A friendly game played in Delhi (courtesy Movie:Gentleman)
Damaram – Deaf
Damage - kevala padithi vidaradu
Dori - Squint-eyed
Feelingu – sad
Freeyaavidu - Forget it
Gaali – Appeettu
Guru - Head of the gang
Gaanapaattu - Rap song sung by Machis
Galeej - Dirty
Gilli, Goli - Traditional games played in Madras
Goltti - A dude from Andhra
Jigiri - Close
Joot - Escape when caught up by girlfriend's father.
Jujubi - Easy
Kaattaan - Uncivilized/ Rude Machi
Kadi - blade
Kaathu vangaradu - timepass panradu
Kaathu vangudu - gaalia irukku
Kenai - Idiot
Kikku / Mabbu - Intoxicated/under influence
Kilikaradu - refer : damage
Kalakkalls - To cause a flutter
Kanai pakri - Friend of ushar pakri
Kindal - To make Fun
Kaka adikarathu - Putting soaps to someone
K M L - Kedacha Mattum Labam
Koovaradu - shout/ say
Kudumba paatu - A song with which machis identify themselves
Kulls - A short machi
Laddu - Allva
Loot adiththal - to steal
Lord Labakdas - big shot
Maams - One cool dude
Maanga - Fool
Machi - Maams
Mandai - A sharp guy
Maple -machi's hello to another machi
Mary - feminine of Peter
Mavu - refer O B.
Nachunu - Bull's eye
Nambitten - I don't believe you
Naattan - Villager
Naamam - To cheat
Naina - Father (courtesy Telugu)
OB - To waste time
Ottal - To make fun ! of some one
Oththu - move
OTMP - Osie le Thinnu Mangalam Padarathu
Ondrai anna - Worthless
Pattaani - Machi talking to Machi
Party - Machi trying to show off by talking in hi-fi english
Pakkri - A shrewd dude
Petta - Area
Pisaaththu - Cheap
Pillim - Show-off
Peela - To lie
Pongal - Machis talking to machis
Poatu odakaradu - unmaiya solradu
Rambam - refer : blade
Real - refer :adichu oothu
Rivet - aapu
Rod vangaradu - thittu vangaradu
Saanthu pottu - Possibility of getting beaten by a stick (courtesy
Movie:Thevar Magan)
Sangu oodaradu - refer : rod
Sarakku - refer Thanni
Scene - refer Pillim
Sella kaasu - highly useless fellow.
Shoka- Good/ nice
Silencer fit panradu - sudden ah silent aaradu
Songi - Lazy
Thanni - Liquor
Thanni kaatradu - ematharadu
Thalaivar - Leader
Thetharadu - arrange/correct
Tin katrathu - Getting into trouble (courtesy Movie: Anjali)
Ushar panradu - arrange
Ushar pakri - Smart pakri
Vennai - Fruit
Veththu - Useless
Vetti - jobless
Veesaradu - Lie
Weightaana - high quality
Wrong kaatrathu - Acting indifferently

Contact me for the available test dates !!! :)

A day presented itself....

2006-02-20T08:57:00.000-05:00

There are many days in your college life that you would like to remember, and so are those that you would struggle to forget. Well this post basically deals with a day that doesn't come under either category. It was yet another day at college where the day was characterised sullen atmosphere.But yeah, i still remember the day as though it happened just a few moments ago. What was special about it, I still think... My college is extremely huge with a sprawling campus, huge due to two reasons. One, it was located well within city limits and so is pretty huge by the standards. Two, because it has a large single block which houses all the components of the college.

I am usually a early riser, thanks to my mom who goes through the daily ritual of waking me up at half past five each morning with unfailing regualrity. And invariably that helped me to go earlier to college than anyone else, supported by my ideology of rush free buses. Speaking of that I usually follow that simple maxim to board a bus. If one can see the rear end when viewing through the front, then it is okay to board the bus. Well I was early into college that day and a lazy fellow that I am, I went through the sprawling mass of green (my conscience prevents me from calling it a lawn) with slow rhythmic steps, marvelling at my own ability to walk on two legs.

The lawn ends in a beatifully laid plaque which depicts the college's motto in a curved handrwriting that cannot be emulated. It had a not-so-good-looking cap which had more than justified is unaesthetic appearence by protecting the plaque from the relentless assault of the avian species. I was always mesmerised by this plaque which had a power of representing the unified purpose behind such a grand educational institution. It was more like a memorial to me where i used to express my silent gratitude to the unseen forces that made this powerhouse of knowledge possible. It also made me remember the polish saying that there was no real substitute for a good education. After my customary three seconds homage to the plaque, I went along the road that leads the way into the main block that was very huge, so huge that one could esily lose his orientaion once inside the building. No, its not exactly that one could call a maze but it was a place where one could get lost.

It was always a mesmerising sight to see the huge building. One doesn't lose the awe for the building with time, I thought. The long winding corridors especially when empty makes you feel royal,as if you own the entire place. The blocks invariably ends in the dreaded Drawing Halls or the DH s as they are lovingly christened by the inmates. All the students have to invariably pass through this h(a/e)ll when they step into engineering courses. Since the drawing boards are fixed to the floor,the hall seems to remind of the immovable movers. It represents that which is indomitable and refuses metamorphosis. It gives a sense of confidence to me, a kind of strength to the mind, a source of illimitable power of the spirit. I always felt that if at all anything could stand the test of time, then it has to be this hall.

I moved out into the corridor that leads to my class room which by itself was daunting enough, and it was empty with only a miniscule portion of the room being furnished with benches, which made it look all the more eerie. Yah, the avaian species has its haunt here but thankfully had so far spared the hall from its feces.The room is similar to a tabernacle which requires a certain decorum to be maintained in it. Seldom it is maintained, but nevertheless it still maintains its sanctity. Apart from serrated desks which formed the major component of the occupied space, there was a dais where the revered stood facing the despicables. The room thus formed a sanctum which imparts valuable tutelage to many a student.

This was the routine that accompanied my college life, a sort of religious ceremony that i underwent each day with unfailing regularity. One can find that such simple yet amazing objects can teach you many a thing, provided the correct perspective is adopted. Believe it or not, it's a gift if you are able to see the astounding aspects of such relatively picayune entities that we encounter. Yes, the perspective is important... and perspective in unison with alacrity of thought can be blissful.........

The Indian Juggernaut rolls....

2006-02-14T07:27:00.000-05:00

The Indian jaggernaut rolls on in cricket... At least the batting of the Indian team rocks !!! The past three ODI s that India played are an example of the batting prowess of the Indian Adams.... It also goes to prove that Indians are a world class team in short bursts... Thats what marks the difference between Aussies and Indians... CONSISTENCY

Going on to the positives, the batting has clicked for the Indians especially when they chase. the last two series against the Lankans and Pakis have provided the Indians an amazing chase record.. Yeah !!! it's India's 11 th straight win while chasing.Chasing is one thing that people have avoided in the past, and Indians were extremely dispassionate about chasing.. But Natwest was the turn-around., they started believing that chasing isnt that bad after all :D And it did the trick.. We now find that Indians are doing well at chasing, but the final mania still haunts us at all levels...

Coming about the current series in pak there are two things that come to my mind and wanted to write about... One is the state of the pitches..IF at all there is any miscreant in the tests, then it is the pitches.... They were the worst kind of pitches that one can find... quite the opposite to the ones in New Zealand... both are detestable... Neverthless NZ does produce results in a couple of days, while PAKI pitches dont. The ODI's were thankfully on different pitches and therefore we have had three of the finest matches in ODI's that one has seen in the recent past from these two countries... Second is the so called Inzy funda that had rocked the match.. It was funny for the spectators and for the indians but Inzy was clearly a blown off
fuse...It was a two sided coin for sure.. cant blame Indians... Cant blame Inzy, but yeah clearly Mr.President was clearer abt this issue than anybody around !!!

Since this post is entirely about cricket, I would be commiting a heinous crime if I fail to mention The aussie hurricane that swept of Lankans...The Symonds/Hussey innings was certainly one the very best that one can see...Murali was a devastated man with 99 runs going off his quota of overs... well back to the Indian performers, One cannot fail to notice Sachin's performance that is matched by only Malik in the ongoing series.. He has had an astounding series that must have gone under the shadows by splendid performances by Yuvi and Dhoni respectively... Dhoni is indeed an asset in the team.. He does pack a punch when in form...

This series has got a lot to reveal to the international cricket..The most important being the state of pitches...:D BAN these pitches runs the slogan....

And so goes the legend...

2006-02-13T10:49:00.000-05:00

Have u ever heard of a legend getting tagged…Well u r more fortunate.. u are seeing one !!!.. Guess what ?? I am tagged by ma friend and that too with a topic that I‘ve never given a thought about..

So here goes the tag:

tu bin bataye mujhe le chal kaheen
jahan tu muskuraye meri manzil wahin…

Well what’s wrong in exploring an unknown domain (a few of ma friends would disagree with this stmt of mine),Why not take a shot at your picture of a dream gal ! Esp. when V day is around the corner.. I am yet unable to understand the coherence between the poor Saint, Valentine and romance and luv :0 .. Well, whatever.. I wont say much about it coz I'd become the Mr. Ignorant.. every one around seems to be buzzing with enthusiasm, and here I am yet to know what exactly is special about the day... Well, if its about choosing your gal, then any day is fine enuf.. forget it...to get on with my post, I am supposed to seek my manzil aka my dream gal...

To get scientific(man i luv to talk scientific !!!), I can refer to what i call as the Grasshopper theory and effect.. which states that; "when u meet your lady love, a grasshopper jumps up at exactly the other end of the world, diametrically opposite to the event".. Well thats true.. u can check it out any moment .. If that doesn’t work , then it means that She's not the ONE... And still if the gal works fine for u, then be assured, you missed something that would have suited u better...Now since my theory cannot be disproved, It stands proved... :D

What crap am I getting to.. lol yeah I am supposed to write abt the gal on whom i'd go fida !!! Yah.. i was thinking about my gal when i drifted into a dream  like ma friend who tagged me.. And of course my grandpa came too.. But guess what he said.. "Dey shankara, velaiya pakaama enna da unakku gal vendirukku ??? po po poi vera edavadu urupadiya velaiya paaru !!" Click  !!! i turned off my dream mode ... My grandpa doesn’t help me in any way as regards finding ma dream gal....

And there I was, taking out a paper and pen to jot down the qualities that i would wish to see in my girl...Guys taking notes is very important, lest you leave off any attribute !!! You wouldn’t want to choose the wrong gal !!! :D ... And so this is what my paper showed after around two and half hours of pondering

1. Beautiful (of course the essential requirement)
2. Smart (guess traditionally its quite contradictory with the first stmt)
3. Sensible (nah !! thats asking too much...)
4. Understanding (i hope)
5. Intelligent (No reference to the current context, so no comments)
6. should go to work (another essential requirement)
7. Dedicated to her parents (She has to be off to her parents' at least for two days a week)
8. Should be okie with hotel food (Don ask me to cook )
9. Shopping only once a week .. Transportation fee will be provided.. (Don injure ma purse !!!)
10. If not a professional singer, at least should be bathroom singer (Don sing at any other place !!! :D )

So there goes the ten commandments that ought to make ma gal !!!....

Well I was going through my list again just to make sure that I didn’t leave out anything.. Man u gotta double check it !! It’s your gal dude… And so I sat signing off my requirement analysis with a note .. “From your future sweetheart”  . One of my cousin came up silently and stood behind me…. He silently went through my  notes and whistled to someone in the distant past, prolly to his favorite  deity…. He said  “ Dude, if that is what you want then you don’t have a future at all “… well I heard him.. that was sufficient cue, I threw the paper into the dust bin… the question of sweetheart didn’t arise at all ……….

tu bin bataye mujhe le chal kaheen
jahan tu muskuraye meri manzil wahin…
Manzil dhoondtha chala mein kaheen
Par patha chala ki  manzil thi hi nahin…..

From Paragon To Paradise......

2006-02-09T06:35:00.000-05:00

The movie reviews that i have done has given me such an appreciation from my friends that i am planning to write another review. This movie is one of the recent releases that rocked Kollywood. If u guys are already aware of the state of these movies i'd recommend that u read this review as a joke. Not that the movie differs from being a joke....but yeah a joke all the same...The movie is Saravana...

Now guys plz dont ask me how i came about to see it... Thats a very depressing story indeed... Well as they say in tamil.. "a thorn should be prised out with thorn".. so I did see the movie to prise out a worser depression... Now to get on with the movie.. The movie stars a star or our dear "kutti" super star Simbhu who looks his usual self (He cant look worse !!!).. Can't actually blame him though... The days of genetic mutation are yet to come... But to be just, one can find a refined TR in Simbhu... If u have noticed the title of my blog u should have now guessed why it is titled so.

Yeah.. The female cast ie Jo who had risen to be one of the top paid actress in Kollywood. Who would believe when we say she was in Paragon ADs some time back... Well she deserves all credit. She's been jumping up the scene as she did in her AD..and She's jumped pretty high too.. Kudos to her for that.. And so Saravana begins with an introduction to the heroine, or at least the first noticeable part is this.. Jo rises up in the morning with the aid of her "English" Rooster (That's the best the playwright could find to describe an Alarm clock :( ) .. Then she cooks her food, takes bath,eats food with a litre of gingelly oil for two Dosas(And she's proud of that!!! ) , goes to study, and does part time at Pizza shoppie, and gets back home and sleep... Well that's some introduction that u would want your heroine to get :x... Muahahaaaah.. even a novice can contrieve a better introduction than that !!!

After Such an placid introduction we see our little star who happens to have a crush for the sister of his close friend... Well what an epitome for friendship !!! Eat it well guys and chew them well, coz there's more funda stuff to come.. So Mr.S who does his engineering (choooooo...trendy !!!) decides to spend his hols at his friends place to have a good time with the cute sis (JO).. and how does he do that ???? Bingo !!! he takes a female attire (suits him actually) and guess wat ??? he magically remains un recognized by his close friend !!! And the story takes a twist... Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh !!! Suddenly we see S and J at S's house... J is seen witha broken heart for some unknown reason..

But yeah... Rip offs are quite expected in tamil movies and we can see mighty glimpses of Ghilli (which in itself was a rip off )... Gosh we have turned in to masters in Rip offs !!!! So S protects J from certain unseen forces (unseen as of now).. And of course S still has the crush for J...And due to certain complications(fill in your imagination and it will fit in) S has to disclose the reason of his hiding J under his protection.... And the story goes back to where from it broke out....

So here comes the family of Jo.... The family head is invariably the village head (We have seen it for the N th time N--> infinity) and a very respectable person. And yah.. the village is full of violence due to a family feud. And the real punch J's father is a BITS graduate !!! Gosh.. Can kollywood get soo gross ??? seems it has.. Thank God that it wasn't Stanford or Harvard...Did i forget to mention that J was studying at Oxford ??? :) .. And so J's dad doesnt wish his children to grow up under riots and so sends them to study elsewhere. The entire family was attracted towards S (which was enacted with great difficulty let alone it be true..) attracted to such an extent that they wish to marry her off to him..(a really brave decision!!! which would never happen without the director) And at this juncture, the entire family is killed during a riot and the father finds no alternative but to assign the duty of protecting his daughter to S (poor dad !!! )

And so thats how S brings J under his protection and cleverly escapes the clutches of the enemy who's brother he had killed.. But the film has to end and so the villain's finally manage to fish them out from the vast population of Chennai... And so S plans to send J to England.. J tries to bring some sentiment here (romance) but eventually fails to bring out any.. cant really blame her.. a tuff job with S around.. But yah.. a love does develop somehow between them and J comes to know of it from a friend of S who she's never met but yet used her sixth sense to recognize her.... Eat this my dear friends.. I found that pretty indigestive.. Done ?? well.. thankfully the movie is about to end (one can easily guess that in tamil movies ).. and after a coupl of matrix style heroics the movie ends with "and they live happily ever after" .. The film does have a couple of punch lines by S which the director finds inevitable considering the genetics of S...

Well in short I can say two sentences about the movie...

"A must see"

"If at all u need to sqaunder some money !!"

but yeah... paragon to paradise is a true fact .. it should find its place in "Belive it or not !! "

T T T

2006-01-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

T T T…. Wondering what this could be … ? Its just my own stupid acronym for The Train Travel…. Now don’t ask me where I was going out on a train… That’s one thing that is CLASSIFIED… Now that I have established my traveling by train, the camera now directly moves into the scene where we (the plural refers to me and my friends) are sitting in the allotted seats… Guys the seating arrangement was the worst u can ever imagine… we were allotted exactly the way we wouldn’t want to… We were seven and we were all allotted side births, ALL side births… So while we were discussing a strategy to counter this act of fate, a big burly man showed up from no where and shoved his bag (I am still able to decide who was bigger he or his bag) right into my back… wow I felt an earthquake in my body when my bones shook up and re-arranged themselves (or it could have been the train effect too…).But when I felt the tremors subsiding I realized it could have been worse, since a group of people with similar attributes treaded the small path. Guys it was like the scene from Jumanji !!!!

Now with that stampede subsiding, the train shook and started at snails pace and I tell u , it managed the same pace till the destination !!! Well no issues about that since things were just getting heated up inside… At last, the most brilliant amongst us said aloud “Alright, we’ll have to adjust and sit together“… Well I was marveling at the brilliance of the solution at our levels of intelligence. But in the end that was what we did, we managed to squeeze ourselves within one pair of side berths, with two having to sit on the handle of the berths on the sides. But yeah, we were looking ahead for a long travel and the only way for time pass was chit chat …

We took turns to keep pullin’ each others legs, and of course one was the main target, the ONE who provided most entertaining stuff…As this was going on, the attendant came up with a small note book, the size of a bus ticket and asked us what we would have for dinner. Well we were unanimous about dinner.. So we were to have chappatis (so it was called) that nite…. When it came we regretted it,They were like synthetic rubbers, the ones which appear soft but u have to struggle to tear them off. Some of us succeeded in ripping them off, but faced another challenge in swallowing them. A few of us succeeded even in that but had to face the music the next day…. hefty stomach ache !!!

As we say in tamil , “Good cow, One heat” we learnt from mistakes.. Due to exertions that we took in our chappati episode, we could manage to get some good sleep at night.. Oh yes, a couple of us couldn’t gather sleep, but I managed to sleep soundly that night….. Hey I forgot to tell some important events that happened !!! We were all christened during that session of chit chat … but the names I will not divulge… One among us was “silently” busy with sms and the result …. 400 + bucks blown off in roaming charges!!! Now that I ve mentioned the punch lines, I ll get back to main stream….

The next day playing cards was on the cards and we indulged in that so called bad sport(elders say so !!!)…. But we were playing an abridged version of bridge which is highly intellectual… And guess what we skipped break fast!!! We managed to munch certain biscuits and hoped to ward off hunger as we were scheduled to reach by noon. But then we realized that the snails pace had not been broken and that we were gonna be extremely late.. So the attendant gleefully came up and asked us to order lunch.. we politely declined, and guess what ??? the attended told us with a smirk , “it ll be 4 by the time u reach" and pointed four of his bent fingers menacingly at us :( …. "Are u sure u don’t want lunch ??” .. what the hell I thought ??????…. We were being blackmailed into eating lunch !!! Man, the attendant would have sure made a smart marketing executive… But yes we weren’t the ones to succumb so soon to pressure, we did fight out for our rights to abstain from lunch…. more due to fear of rotis of course… But yes we did make it without lunch … Finally we reached out to the destination as a bunch of hungry nomads !!!! thus ended TTT…………………….

Zinda Tha mein...

2006-01-18T03:33:00.000-05:00

With an experience that was unique in its own way,I was walking the way back home. "The last three hours were well spent", i contemplated. I was a different man three hours ago, and now my mindset has been altered. I had grown wiser, a new man who is beyond guilt. I began recounting that particular experience of mine. My mind began to see spirals in black and white just the way it happens in movies and i switched into the flashback mode.

I was making my way to the theatre eagerly anticiapting a two houur thriller. The movie board outside the theatre proudly displayed ZINDA and a shiver of anticipation ran through me. I went to buy tickets for me and my friends. The only pinch i felt was due to the fact that i was sponsoring the movie that day. Done with the tickets, we made our way through the crowd (aroung 20 people) and sat comfy in a central location.Guys, thats the advantage when you have little crowd at halls.You have the pleasure of choosing your location.

Choosing the location is an art in itself, as professional movie freaks will tell you. It has many multi faceted tricks like choosing a seat beneath the fan, at the corners so that your view is not blocked, and at the centre so that the acoustic effects are good. Thankfully i was spared of all these acts of skill by my friends. Once perched comfortably in our thrones, we waited for the documentary to end. Next was the turn of colorful models posing themselves for costumes which they otherwise would not even consider touching. Once that was done the movie started off.

The initial sequence of the movie shows Sanjay as a Software Engineer. Guys i had a tuf time swallowing that part, i hope you will be atleast able to tolerate it. My personal opinion is that he should have stuck to something similar to "munna". Well now that u have taken in that part, I shall proceed further. Sanjay(S) has a wonderful wife in celina(c) who makes a very short entry/exit into the movie. The initial rummages with S, C and their friend who has a soft corner for C is quite tolerable. Suddenly the story moves deep into the plot when S suddenly vanishes while he was involved in painting a pier.

Then comes the twists and turns where S is held captive in a room with nothing but for an idiot box as company. Well dumbfounded ?? so was Mr. S. He was given food (yummy Hotdogs !!) through a peephole at the bottom, through which he could see nothing but the legs of the supplier of food. Unable to bear with isolation,he keeps counting the years with marks made out on his arms(typical hero stuff). He keeps himself updated with the happenings of the outside world through the TV. He decides to avenge his captor and so decides to learn martial arts. And how does he do that ??? Bingo !!! by watching movies in the idiot box. Well i hope u can swallow that part too ,but i aint too sure.....

Now if u ve accepted that,(guys u dont have this facility when u r watching the movie)lets get further. Suddenly one fine day,after 14 years,Mr.S finds out that he is bundled out in a suitcase and left atop a tower in the city.(Compare 14 years with the vanvas of Lord Rama)The author does give a mythical touch to the movie here.The story now transcends into the second part where S traces out his villain. And how he does that is another mystery. But MR.S is no ordinary guy. He can smell his food around and spot the cook who made the hotdogs which he had been consuming during his period of captivity. Guess the cook is real good and useless all the same to remain at the same hotel for 14 years. Well Mr. S does this with the aid of a Desi taxi driver (the second lady love for Mr.S).

The method of identification of the cook is pretty awesome. Mr.S manages to recognize the shoes of the cook and thereby recognizes him. I tried my level best to find out the makers of that shoe which can last 14 long years of regular ruf n tuf use. Guys, in case you manage to find it please pass the info on to me. So now coming on to the movie, Mr.S spots the villain, who is MR.J. There ends the first half of the movie, showing the handsome face of Mr.J.

The second part was almost as interesting as the first (if at all u find that interesting). The hero expresses his heroism by a coupl of "teeth pulling" stunts and placid action.The explanation for the captivity of Mr.S is lacking in reality and depth of thought. The playwright could have wrought out something more believable. Then goes the usual stuff of justifying the villains action, hero turning soft towards the villain after he saved his daughter,and finally making Mr. J a good fella afterall.

Guess hindi movies are far from the being different, they invariably have the theme " And so they live happily ever after......". This one too ends in a similar note. For those who ask me, if any movie is different, plz see final destination, Troy, Gladiator, titanic and so on....

That movie really provided the damping force to that day. But i was wiser from my experience that one cannot expect real thriller based on sound logic, esp in Bollywood.

"Faanush banke log jiske hifazat kare, woh film kaise na chale, jise roshan John kare"

My first date with school

2006-01-13T00:39:00.000-05:00

As has been the custom, i would like to initially say thanks to somebody who has made me the way i am. Dear readers,if you find anything good in me,anything that is adorable, I would in all humility say that it is not to my credit; it goes to the most wonderful person. Wondering who this person is ? It is none other than my dear school. It seems pretty odd to refer to school as an entity; but it is more than a living thing to me,it has been my friend. It has given me the most wonderful set of friends that one can ever hope to get. This is only a warning to my readers so that they can expect more number of posts on these lines in the future.

Well, this particular post of mine speaks of my first days with school. I was forced to move out from my previous school due to various reasons which is most unimportant. To cut things short i was in quest for a better school. That was when i came across the school which was to change moi completely. Speaking of transformation, it is to be noted that i wasn't before the way i am now. Well, i got admitted into my school not the way i expected, but with a position far better than i ever hoped to achieve.

My school had a sense of mysticism around it especially for newcomers.That was the first time that i heard a school run in shift system. Being in the upper strata of school days we were provided with the pleasure of waking up early in the morning and attending classes at seven. Well i am a lazy bone, the worst kind that you can find on planet earth especially when it come to the art of waking early. But anticiaption made magic that day, and there i was, well in time for school. The first day of our school begins with an invocation to the gods which the hindus call as yaga or homam. That was the first amongst my surprises. The next one was far more influential, we had assembly every morning. The assembly lasted around ten minutes.And i had difficult time controlling my yawns as i was standing right up the line on account of my physical stature.

I went into the class room and was wondering where to park myself.As a fresher i was groping for a sullen corner to seat myself, hiding myself from thousands of curious glances as if i was a piece of artefact from the London museum. One of them came up and said, "hey move your lazy ass, i need to sit! ". Well that were the first set of words spoken to me.I tell you,it was well delivered,mighty well delivered. It scared the crap outta me.Then came the teacher, with a pleasing smile that made me better(still i was very nervous). As the custom is, she asked all of us to arrange in a line sorting ourselves in the process. Then she called up the the one before me to sit in the first bench. Then i was about to move when, horror of horrors she called up a girl and asked her to move to the same bench !!!! What the hell, are we supposed to sit along with girls ??? Though i was studying in a co-ed so far, i had been tutored to see girls as aliens by my previous colleagues.This would be non-agreable for some of my buddies, since according to them,i reached the other extreme during the rest of my tenure. With no other option, i went and sat as the third person in that bench,i could imagine what was to follow.... Another girl came and sat down filling the quota for a bench.There i was, trapped between two aliens !!

But strange thing was, other with a few exceptions were pretty normal as if it were the most common thing in the world.I later came to know that,it was the usual scenario since Kinter garden.When the teacher completed the job she marched off much to my surprise. Then came another, and i could "hear" silence when she marched in. She was our principal who took History lessons for us. The students fell silent more due to respect than due to fear,though i could feel a tinge of both in them.She started off with her lessons straight away, which was the least i expected since all classes on first days were supposed to be closed down with self introductions. Then came a bout of yawn, which was promptly spotted by her. She said ,"feeling so sleepy ? maybe a bit of fresh air could help u out.." ............OUT, that was when I realised the underlying meaning in that. I was being sent out on my first class in that school ! So there i was standing just outside the class,religiously following the LOC of the class. I spent one hour wondering whether i should further pursue my studies or not.

Thankfully the bell or rather the buzzer rang relieving me off my duty as watchman for that class. I went inside and suddenly realised that the students were looking at me as if i were a national hero... Man i got screwed up in the first hour of a school and i was being stared at !!! well, there was some good to achieve out of that punishment. I was known by each and everyone in my class form then on.I had won my first impression and that too with style. I went and sat down in my place silently receiving an ovation that could match a sachin century. well the next two hours were pretty normal as one could expect. And then the bell rang indicating the lunch hour.....

Kaash ....

2006-01-12T00:35:00.000-05:00

I was sitting on my bed with the most beautiful object ever exixted, my copy of Atlas Shrugged.I was reading it for the "n"th time....Hey people, dont take me for insane, that book is magical. I was reading through certain sections of D'Anconia's history(D'Anconia is a character in that book)when i was suddenly thinking about "what went wrong in our system of education." Point well taken; said the person in me. I was drifting into one of my dreamworlds, where I was the hero with no competition whatsoever... In this particular dream the hero (moi !!! ) was a teacher.. not the ones that you'd see in real life, but the one belonging to the idealistic realms.

The hero was sitting in his "STUDY" desks thinking about reformation that he'd bring about in the schools.... well this is what he jotted dwon on his "work" sheets...

1. Abolish all weekend assignments, let the students have good weekends every week.
2. Assignments should be made non-compulsary;let the willing do it.
3. All classes should be held for no more than 30 minutes.
4. No classes shall house more than 20 students.
5. Ranking system should be abolished. Lets at least spare the kids of the competition at early ages.They will eventually have to face corporate competition anyways later.
6. Two hours of classes should be complemented by at least one hour of entertainment.
7. Lunch hours should be at least one hour and students should be encouraged to eat at a slow pace.Doctors have proved, it helps digestion and keeps us healthy.
8. Any kind of dressing should be permitted provided it doesnt attract too mudch attention.
9. Attendence should be abolished.
10. Detentions shall be permitted but the students can have an option of choosing the period of detention.

With these ten commandments written neatly in a piece of paper, our hero sat in a pensive mood wondering as to how he is going to implement these in his school. DING DONG went the calling bell... The hero fell dead and i woke up lazily to attend to a sales man selling dictionaries and stuff like that. I showed him out as fast as possible and then with great difficulty resurrected the teacher....

The teacher arose like the phoenix from the ashes,fully rejuvenated and continued his ephemeral thinking. He was now speaking to his set of students about relational physics. And this cannot go without discussing Mr. Einstein... That was when one of the students asked.. "Sir, what would happen if we run around a tree with the speed of light ?"

With that question our hero started vanishing without a trace... So do most of us when we face certain tight situations. All our convictions vapourize when we face challenges. It is but natural that this happens. I slowly woke up (wasnt i sleeping so long?) from my dream and faced reality... Good or bad ,I still like the way our education system runs... I love it, the way it is ...

The camouflage

2006-01-06T08:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems that my limited set of readers have seemed to prefer my reviews or views. So here goes another experience of mine reading a book.A clue to the readers...I am a reading freak and u shall find many such reviews in the future...Now back to business.... Any book begins with the preface to the author.But i shall not waste any more of your precious time introducing this author. The first of his book that i read was the Da Vinci Code. The book was filled with controversies involving secret societies and christianity. And who doesnt like controversies... Thats the secret of success of that book.Well if u think i'm gonna review that u are thoroughly mistaken. I liked that book,it was fast and pacey,most important of all it was hyped !!! You will be called a fool if u failed to like such controversies and I didnt want to be a fool... so I liked that book...

It was a saturday and i was on my way for a competetive examination. I sat in the train looking gloomy and puffed up due to the heat. It was then that i glanced through the windows and noticed a book seller with his push cart with an expression that seemed to mirror my own. I think that made me pay attention to his miniscule collection more than it deserved. And Dan Brown caught my attention... i called out to that compatriot of mine and asked him to show some od Dan Brown's brainchild. Well i was shuffling through a couple of them trying to gather as much as possible from their synopsis.. Then the train started to move and I ended up with his deception point.

Guess i should have have my warning bells ringing when i read that title. But the devil (the one in my cooking blog) intervened. Well i sat reading it the rest of my journey. The story is about some ET stone found at some forbidden place in arctic(or antarctic.. doesnt make a difference). Then politics makes its entry with the president making a publicity stunt out of it. Now the heroine is a top official (guess dan brown seems to prefer women,all novels of his, has a woman who is smart and a top brass) who is nominated to check up the truthfulness of affairs.

Just when we feel that the story line is like a tamil movie, the story drifts into the line quite ennervatingly. Guess the author must have been influenced by a couple of tamil movies. He seems to have picked out the most obvious twists in the story, made it look as if it was the most expected thing in the world. There are sacrifices too ... a "side-hero" sacrifices himself for the lead pair.Man, he sure must have taken some efforts to make it as uninteresting as possible.

Half way through the book and you can predict whats gonna happen. The villain is a double agent and a top brass,a superior to the heroine. The heroine trusts him implicitly in the beginning and exposes him at the end. A bomb blast a couple of murders and the villain dies. The man who was suspected by everyone suddenly is totally innocent.Well after these unEXPECTED events the reader is left to wonder where the art of thriller writing is going towards. Well the story ends with the theme "and lived happily ever after".....

God help me,i thought after i completed reading it. The first thing that i did after i reached home was to ring up my old book sales point. That was the real shocker.... he said "No,i wont stock 1000 copies of a book".... So my dear frends it lies in my shelf till date as an outcaste, never disturbed from its position of pride.... The book was indeed a peak in the DECEPTION point ....

When luck chases you....

2006-01-04T05:13:00.000-05:00

This is probably the first time that i am writing about some controversy. For beginners, it is better to start off with some easy target. Well i decide to start off with Dada... The trouble with him is that he always gets into trouble.In fact it is luck that chased him. There are many situations that clarifies this statement of mine.

He is considered as the luckiest captain for India as we won laurels overseas especially at Australia(We had drawn a test, which is the best performance of India in Australia :( ).He followed it up with a wonderfully crafted victory against Pakistan at Pakistan.These were un imaginable a couple of years ago. The reason for such victories ?? Luck..... Luck had chosen to chase dada throughtout the year.....

Mind you, that was good luck. "When u ride on luck, remember u ride on a edged sword", that was said by no one else but me... Well coming to the point, we find that despite his lucky run as captain his induividual performance has not been as good as his captaincy @li@s luck.Most of us were gagged by the wins, that we failed to oopen up against the individual performance... As the saying goes, "the team wins... that is more important" .. this is said by most of the players and not me....Remember, the players who say this, are the performers in that match(they say it at the end of presentation ceremony).

That was when luck began to come in torrents for our dear dada, the difference being it was "bad luck"... The good performances by the youngsters at the home level was becoming too good and they had to be recognized. So started the deliberation over dada's crown. What else, but bad luck, would you call it....The change of coach at the precise moment when dada was at his lowest point of his career.His luck worsened when the coach switch took place. When one thought it couldnt get worser, the email leak came out as a blot out of the blue.Thanks to the speed of the electronic media, half the population in India was aware of it in a jiffy. When you get into trouble with big guns, you are bound to get shot.The tussle with the coach had cost dada more than it cost the coach.

So far,it has been pretty much talked about...In general,it is a rule that is better followed... "When you are in deep shit, keep your mouth shut".. Seems that our dada did not know this and got into trouble in yesterdays Ranji match, for coming late to bat...That too after being debarred in the bowling department for running in the danger area. He shouldnt be getting himself deeper into trouble after being selected miraculously in for the tour of Pakistan....

Well i am no expert in politics... hey arent we talking about cricket ? well politics is into cricket as well. So it seems okie here... Its just plain common sense that i think should be applied here. Well dada was once upon a time playing well,but certainly not these days.... The days of the tiger are dimming now. The only suggestion that i can make is that he should have volunteered to be out of the team and get back in royally after regaining some form, rather than persisting in the team and putting more pressure on himself after each failure/match (both are synonymous)... Better run from the scenario when bad luck chases you ........

The indian postal system

2006-01-03T02:41:00.000-05:00

Dear cuzin

Hope this letter of mine finds you in the pink of your health.It has been after a long period of time that i have taken up the task of writing a letter.Due to the presence of e-mails,which are much more convenient than the traditional letter system,we tend to use them more extensively. The art of writing letters using pen and paper should be preserved and hence this letter.

In our last corresponodence,you had mentioned about the pathetic state of our postal system and that it was of little use to us. I wanted to clarify on those thoughts of yours and hence this letter. The outlook that you carry about our postal system is only superficial.The wrong impressions you had was not your fault, it is due to lack of knowledge about our postal system. We as sutdents can make extensive use of the postal system.The obvious one would be speed post and express postal service. They are the most reliable communication providing safety and speed for the documents sent through them. These services are invaluable to us as most important documents like mark sheets and passports are delivered through them.

One of the lesser known but useful services is the Post office Bank. Every post office has fully functional bank in which we can have small savings or SB accounts at competitive interest rates. You will be surprised to know that there are more RD schemes in postal bank than in private sector or public sector banks.It was a pleasant surprise for me when i found out that out postal department has such wondarful schemes even for students. I think its time we understood the true potential of our postal department.

Apart from such regular services that they provide, the Philatelic bureau of India is one of the major activity of our postal deapartment. They encourage students like us to pursue philately not just as another hobby but as a passion.They provide various concessions to students and conduct various seminars which provides us with valuable information regarding philately. The postal department organises yearly philatelic exhibition and also provides a valuable support for numismatics too.

The people who are employees of the postal department are helpful and respond wonderfully to all our requests.For instance when we shifted to our new house,all i asked was to divert the letters. But the department made sure that those letters which were sent during the transition, also reached me without any further delay.

Finally my dear cuzin, i wish that you have sufficient intelligence, not to believe the lengthy preamble that i made above. But i really wish that they become true in the coming days !!!!

truly yours

cuzin