Coffeee.. cafe.. kaaapeeee..

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 !

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...

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.....

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

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...