Compulsive Thinking ...

In the last month

2010-03-11T09:51:00.002-05:00

1. We relocated continents ... moved from summer to winter overnight!!
2. Helped a dear friend relocate from US to Japan ... sigh ... we miss you D&P
3. Found dayCare for Saara
4. Got onboard the sick-cycle of flu/cold/pneumonia etc.
5. Saara turned one
6. Unpacked a lot of boxes (still work in progress)
7. Setup the apartment (almost done!)
8. Got wheels
9. Had an awesome birthday party for Saara in the company of good friends (more on that later)
10. Started work ... in full swing! - with travel and all! got to meet you Sujith :)
...
and I wonder why everything is a blur!
So if I haven't been active here/on fB/e-mail/phone etc. ... you know why :)

Atlas Shrugged

2009-12-03T03:33:00.003-05:00

finally finished reading this ... ya ya I know - 15 years too late .... bummer! ... but I preferred music over books when I was a teenager - so sue me!
yanni-ways getting back to the book - first off - I was not overly impressed. Nothing wrong with the message - loved it in fact ... but the story telling was too bloody detailed ... almost a screenplay plus background score and then some more - detailing the position of hair on the faces of the characters ... a bit too much for my fancy and lack of time - probably should have read it 15 years ago when time was not such a commodity!!!

Loved the message - thought-inviting perspective on socialism and the flaws in that theory ... as it is I was a confused capita-socialist, for the sake of coining a term, and now I'm just more capitalist I guess ... or at least I think I see more clearly, the problems with socialism - the spread of laziness, corruption, lack of productivity etc. etc. ... things you see in a typical government organization or in 3rd world countries like Angola where ability is not the only criteria that justifies your compensation.

I agree to a certain extent with Rand's philosophy that productive achievement is man's greatest achievement ... but the world today is not driven by producers - it is driven by traders, stock brokers, hedge fund managers and the likes ... people who really do not produce anything but somehow "assist" in production ... sure they "assist" - but should they be in charge because of that???
I'm not so sure and I think something is wrong with this monopoly of the trading system, that have all so conveniently accepted and adopted.
Then again - not all of us have the same capacity or support system to produce as per abilities ... oh well ... I guess a blend is what's required ... but then again a blend is just that - a dilution of sorts.

hmm ... points to ponder and reponder ... and while deliberating on all this I lopped up Five point Someone by Chetan Bhagat - super read but more on that later.

img courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/

What would you do with a Time Machine?

2009-08-14T10:29:00.007-04:00

Quick. What would be the first thing you do if you got access to a time machine?

Was in an aimless conversation on FB and the Time Machine thing came up - and
- N mentioned that he would go back and change his 3rd Semester KT results! LOL
- U mentioned that he would convince Newton to sit under a Coconut tree instead of an Apple tree
.
me? ... well first thing that came to my mind (if I can not change anything)
I would like to go back to the 3 days of Woodstock 1969. (Tough tie with witnessing the Creation of Life but given the time contstraints, Music quickly won)

What would you do? first thing. from the top of your head.

I'm Sorry Saara that You are an Iyer

2009-08-13T09:35:00.002-04:00

summer of 21XX
Saara "But Papa I scored the most points"
Me "I know"
Saara "Then how come I'm not 1st"
Me "Because of your Caste dear"
Saara "Caste?? or Class??"
Me "I honestly don't know dear ... just know that you can never be 1st as long as folks from the other class/caste score at least 70%"
Saara "So my performance is going to be judged depending upon the underperformance of others??? - that doesn't make sense Papa"
Me "Yes ... it wasn't like that before dear but ..."
Saara "Then why don't they create two of everything (Schools, Companies etc.) one for each Caste/Class ?"
Me "I don't know da ... but thats how the Indian Government functions ... I guess your Mom and I had it easier than you ..."
Saara "But that is stupid Governance ... we won't be competent with the rest of the world"
Me "Look - there is a fish flying outside the window - go ask Mamma about that"

...sigh.

If it wasn't bad enough that the IIT's lowered their JEE admission bar for SC/ST sudents - according to this new SC ruling, they can not expel them for under-performance!!!!
If someone had told this to me a couple of hours ago I would have said "Ya right" ... and walked away ... and now I just can't believe what I am reading.
Somebody please pinch me and tell me that this is not happening!

I know my conversation with Saara may seem a tad unrealistic ... but judging by what is happening around - who's to say!

I'm just glad that when I went to school - if someone failed to make it , they pretty much failed to make it ... caste/creed/c* no bar!
A simple performance based system.
Is it that difficult? no really. is it that difficult?

I wonder what kind of future is coming to India ... but since I am not doing anything about the messy Governance (except rant on my blog like a wuss) ... I guess I will just stop now. and pray for some common-sense.

The Pope fell down and broke his arm

2009-07-17T09:43:00.005-04:00

He broke his wrist actually. I guess even the Holy Ones are not beyond "normal person/ye sinners" accidents ...

Can you imagine how hard it is going to be for all 'em collective Holiness'es to justify themselves the day the first Green Men show up on our planet from outer space ... yes I'm talking about "aliens" - oo oo oooooh!

Can you imagine the Divine Conundrum ... of explaining how *ALMOST ALL* the holy scriptures conveniently omit all of God's grand plans outside of this tiny Planet ... and of course the conveniently accepted fact that every act of God, child of God, messenger of God or even God person himself/herself is based on a physical location on Earth or above it ... be it the holy land, some mountain in the Himalayan range or some rock on our Blue Planet ... all conveniently within geographical constraints!!

Boy I simply can not wait for the Green Men to show up ... that will be the day I tell you ... that will be the day ...
and my chance to tell all y'all "I told you so"!

for now I will simply refrain from all shubh activities until the solar eclipse season is over ... bad times you know ... See!!! even the Pope got hurt!

Disclaimer: Before you sign off on that fatwa, please remember that I DO believe in God in the general sense ... but not in any specific form/size/shape/color/location/ethnicity/religious orientation!

Less than 7%

2009-07-17T03:57:00.002-04:00

According to this article, less than 7% of the Indian population is registered to pay income tax! No wonder our infrastructure is crumbling - we're not paying enough taxes!!!and since we are a democracy and all that we really have no one to blame but me and you ... and you too!
Get off the roads the rest of you ... that's 1.1 billion of you!!!
7%!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... un-friggin-believable!!!

Agreed that a huge percent of the populace is below the poverty line - but even if I peg that number at 43% of India, that means about 50% of India is just getting a free ride. that's 500 MILLION people . The 7% is basically supporting an whole extra country plus 3 European nations ... food, water, electricity, roads and all that jazz ... just like that.
... and then we dream of becoming the next super-power! hah!
disgusting. depressing.

Nandan ... Please come thru with the project for the future of India.

Unique Id's in India ... about time

2009-07-06T08:48:00.002-04:00

This is the best news I have heard all day ... While browsing thru the myriad of news snippets on the 09-10 Budget, I bumped into this wonderful piece of information that India is taking Unique Identification seriously ... about time I say!!

For years I have had this pet peeve against the Indian Governance process where less than a quarter of the country pays taxes, people have multiple "jaali" bank accounts to avoid taxes and a plethora what nots ... all because we can not uniquely identify citizens in India.
Heck I could get multiple passports/driving licenses in different cities in India!!!

After seeing the gazillion benefits of the SSN in the US, it was mind-numbing to see people/parties in India protesting against id cards and unique id's ...
This is a new chapter for India - if executed correctly ... a HUUUUGE new chapter in Indian governance.

and Nandan is going to spearhead this process ... super I say! 'cause this is not going to be easy to do for a billion people ... but it is a start ... and if we could create something as complex as the Indian Railways Ticket Reservation System then this can be done for sure.
Oh I am excited!

Laal - Ummed-e-sehar

2009-07-06T05:50:00.009-04:00

super song from a promising desi band.

Now I'm not sure how I stumbled across the song or the band but I'm glad I did.

The first song I heard from the band Laal was titled "Maine Usse Yeh Kaha" - .very. intriguing lyrics - based on politics and governance - that piqued my curiosity and after some research I discovered that the band Laal is made up of a couple of Marxists (one is a Political Science lecturer and the other is an Economics grad student! ... ergo Laal!)

And then the second song "Umeed-e-Sahar" ... Wow.

I must admit that the first captivation was all about the composition and vocals - the lyrics were a bit too urdu-heavy for me to follow ... and now thanks to the Youtube video with translation - the song is much, much, much more enjoyable. (the U-tube has a bunch of other stuff from the band as well - worth a look)

Laal - promising band,

Umeed-e-Sahar - Good album, good songs

... worth a listen. Once again another wonderful Pakistani band rises and produces a gem of an album ... Bollywood - how I hate you for this!

And this is what I was able to fish out from the dredges of the internet - interesting read on the band

Working for Retirement

2009-06-26T10:26:00.000-04:00

Such a conundrum ... work hard now so that you can retire peacefully ...

At first glance that may seem like a solid and clear target but it's not ... you don't know how much you need to work (ergo money to save) ... you just work till you HAVE to retire ... primarily guided by the scale of age - 56/60/65 whatever the "policy" states!

but you may have saved more than you needed to and then get hit by a bus on the first day of retirement ... whaaat?? it happens ...

So whats the point of running blind ... we think we know where we're headed ... but don't.

no really.

like Charu summarized so well - we're running on a treadmill ... we run and we run but we don't get anywhere ... and don't burn fat either!!!

So what is the solution you ask me? I wish I had one ... the solution may lie in the answer to the question - "How much money do you need to retire?"

Simple as it may sound the answer to this question is bloody hell complicated and deviously twisted ... and then some more!

The quest for the answer wanders through the murky paths of material delights, the sinful crossroads of indulgence, bylanes of vacation, gardens of family and education and the footpaths of simplicity ... and to add to all this, the ground keeps shifting underneath all the time with crashing economies, rising inflations, growing families, failing health ... ... ... you get the picture.

...

ya ya I know I got carried away with the analogy ... pffffft !

No wonder we took the simple route - pegged an age for retirement and hoped that by the time you're 60, you would automatically have saved enough and more for the rest of your life ... not having to worry about such complex calculations.

Simple solution but the nagging feeling that you could have partied earlier and longer keeps nibbling at you ... much like the thoughts that come to mind on the way to the airport - "Did I lock the door properly?", "Did I remember to close the windows?" ... not much you can do at that point - so you ignore, curse the traffic, move on and hope for the best ...

so the point of all this ramble ... not sure myself ... just suck it up Venky and work as long as you can and don't think about retiring early ... its a bloody myth! something we all talk about as kids and then eventually grow up!

...

...

...

A Sudden Moment of Clarity ... just explained all those old people sighted ambling about in expensive resorts all around the world ...

chalo - there is hope in all this.

Michael Jackson ... Gone to Soon!

2009-06-26T05:49:00.000-04:00

Like A Comet
Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky
Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow
Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye
Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly
And Splendidly Bright
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight
On A Cloudy Afternoon
Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle
Built Upon A Sandy Beach
Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower
That Is Just Beyond Your Reach
Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon

Just like his song ... he's gone too soon.

I would be lying if I said that a part of me is gone because his music and songs will last forever ... but something is missing ... can't explain it ... I just can't believe that MJ is dead ...
I'm secretly hoping for a Kauffman'esque reappearance sometime soon ... oh well ...

Was very excited at the "This is It" tour ... hoped to see the genius in action a second time around with front(er) row seats ... sigh .... now I'm just glad I caught his show in Bombay.

Thank you for everything Michael ... you were a solid part of our growing years and will always be the Thriller for a long long time to come.

... wherever you are.

Luanda on Top

2009-06-25T04:10:00.000-04:00

like Chandler Bing would say ... "I KNEW IT!!!"

Now I'm not one to swear by statistics but this Businessweek article on the most expensive cities on the world validates that feeling you have when you live here in Luanda ... that Luanda is the most expensive city in the world!

Yaay ... I'm happy to be here ... after all its worth some bragging rights ... no? :P

Interesting statistics at the bottom of each panel ... mostly true for Luanda - altho not the complete picture. One glaring price-point missing here is accomodation ... and for the uninitiated, a 3-bedroom apartment rents for anywhere from US$12,000 to US$25,000 per month ... go figure!

Thank You Oscar for the pointer.

Congratulations Pakistan

2009-06-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

.Very. happy that Pakistan won the T20 World Cup 2009.
I guess the country and the people needed this ... a LOT.
Congratulations to Sri Lanka as well.
I pray and hope that these events are catalysts for a better future for both countries ... in whatever manner possible.

A long long time ago I would have looked at myself quite strangely for saying all this ... I guess the old adage of wisdom and age is true after all - and about time some would say ;)

III II

2009-06-22T08:10:00.000-04:00

32 and counting ...
another day ... another year ... another birthday ... another day

enjoy

New slideshows and a point to ponder

2009-05-29T07:39:00.000-04:00

Have been wanting to write for a while now but ... oh well ...
Performed some cursory cleanup on the blog ... played around with slideshows in the right pane and added Saara's pics for all of you hounding me - look at this spot for newer pics as and when they roll (ha!)

Now for the point to ponder ... ... was generally pulling Mom's leg yesterday ... asking her to define God - you know ... almighty and all :)
After some mumbling and several attempts she came up with this super-analogy
~
God is the force that powers everything ... much like electricity that powers much of what is around you - yet you can not see/hear it ... you can feel it but you can not explain the feeling to anyone else ... each has to experience to get their own feel :)
~
Try describing an electric shock to someone - yeap.
Now I typically stay away from analogies - you know - but this one was too good to dismiss.

Thank You

2009-04-30T10:49:00.000-04:00

Thank you God for

~ a wonderful partner for life. I love you D.
~ our little angel Saara
~ our families for enabling us to be where we are
~ and last but not least - a superb group of friends who are always there ... good times, bad times, fun times or roll-up-your-sleeves-to-work times :)

.Thank You.

Amit Trivedi

2009-01-27T08:13:00.000-05:00

... Dev D ...
... Aamir ...

common Element = Amit Trivedi
The only two albums that I have heard from this amazing composer - but I think this young guy is here for good ... I was super impressed with the music in Aamir (movie too!)- glaringly unconventional and so refreshingly fresh - sometimes dark and reminiscent of the music in Karam ... highly recommended for lock-the-disc-in-your-player-and-loop kind of music.

and then comes the music for Dev D ... what can I say - WOW.
Anurag Kashyap better live up to the standard of the music. There I said it! first.

The first track 'Emosional Atyachar' sets the pitch for the album and from there on it is one joyride with Duniya, Nayan Tarse, Pardesi, Saali Khushi all the way to the Dev Chanda themes which let you relax, catch your breath ... and give you with something to hum along.

I mean this is a true soundtrack - 18 tracks ... not 6, not 7 not 10 ... but EIGHTEEN.
If you're expecting a conventional or slightly unconventional soundtrack then this is not it ... this is for the 'true' soundtrack lovers - like the soundtracks of Pulp Fiction or Natural Born Killers ... (sorry can't remember another true Hindi soundtrack) ... where the music and tunes grip you with the sheer energy and strength - not so much with hummable tunes or sweet melodious voices.
The soundtrack has it all ... rock, pop, soul, electronica, fast fusion, bhangra, two step, folk, hints of bluegrass, western classical, bebop, country, enigma ... very VERY colorful Smörgåsbord ... get the picture.

I really like his arrangement ... - very simple - very intelligent - 3 or so instruments to set up the backbone of the song - a kicky drum and a tight bass to support a basic riff and then additional layers and effects to give volume to the song ... The guy sings in almost half the album - his vocals are grungy and perfect for such tunes ... and then there are other songs with other 'interesting' voices ...
and its his own vocals that are more captivating at times - the sheer attitude of the vocals makes it perfect for a soundtrack.

And I take back what I said earlier - I have heard this guy before ... apparently Amit Trivedi is a part of that fantastic fusion band from Chembur called "OM" ... now there is another fantastic album ... but we never heard a follow up album from them ... yet.

Note to Anurag Kashyap - "You better do justice to the music man"

Random searches on Google told me that this is the "baap" of all soundtracks ... not sure who really said that but I couldn't agree more.
Go now ... listen to Dev D. again. and again.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-26T07:55:00.000-05:00

OK I watched the Slumdog Millionaire ~finally~ and I'm not sure if it was the result of all the piling anticipation and expectations ... but I was not overly impressed. No seriously.

I'm not saying that the movie is bad ... far from it actually - it was very enjoyable and I liked it but that's it! Would I watch it or recommend it as a must watch ... probably not ... maybe as a once watch.

Why you ask? Well to me it just has too many overtones of Salaam Bombay ... Slumdog is more like a rehashed Salaam ... apt for the new millenium ... and all. The movie had a little bit of everything in it - not that there is anything wrong with that but it just felt like a shallow pass over many issues instead of a deeper view into one or a few issues. That being said there was nothing erroneous depicted ... WYSIWYG - you do see Bombay's underbelly. as. .it. .is.

But don't listen to me so much - watch it and form your own opinion.
A bunch of things impressed me - the bright colors, the camera angles, the acting - especially by the kids - and of course AR Rahman's score - superb stuff
... if not for that damn Amit Trivedi I would be listening to Rahman's music instead ... but more on that later.

HNY

2009-01-26T07:54:00.000-05:00

Spawn into the new year ...
Happy New Year y'all ...

2009 promises to be the year of the baby!

Spawn

2008-11-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Brian, who loaned me the first four volumes of Spawn ... ... ... Todd McFarlane's baby after he gave up on Marvel.

Am on volume 2 (issues 34-54) right now and so far it has been a mixed bag ...
the first volume was very nice, the second one good ... but the third one showcases too many religious/biblical angles - heaven vs. hell ... Armageddon etc. ...
lets see how this volume ends - I have a feeling the story will get tighter towards the end and make me want to pick up volume 4 :)

The art is superb ... albeit a tad dark at times .... I just love the red cape flying all over the place ... very batman-esque ... ... ... and of course there are usually bats next to him :D

but considering that these books were created in the early nineties ... pretty neat stuff I must admit.

image courtesy Wikipedia

Freeware Genius

2008-11-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

Have discovered this gem of a website FreewareGenius
the dude constantly updates (almost daily) with new freeware programs out there - very well laid out website and very plain and simple reviews - plus he has these 5-star picks which are usually very nice programs - perfect.

One of his articles is pretty neat albeit a bit dated now - Reinstall-windows-and-outfit-your-system-with-all-freeware-programs

peruse at leisure.

Liquid buys Virgin

2008-11-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

Comics. Yeap - Virgin Comics has closed shop.
in case any of you were wondering why Virgin Comics' installments were not showing up on stores ...
Damn the recession ... !

The good news is that Liquid Comics has bought Virgin Comics and have even put up all the comics online - sweet ...
I just hope they come out soon with the comics ...

Comics I am especially interested in
Ramayan 3392 Reloaded 3+
Gamekeeper
Sadhu
and pretty much everything else :D

Obama in White House

2008-11-07T02:34:00.000-05:00

Huge step for the US ... and the world I guess ... my colleagues here in Angola are ecstatic that an African-American is the most powerful man in the world today ...
I would argue but that's for another day ...

Strange that it was the Democrats who elected their first African-American president and not the Republicans ... after all it was the Republicans that primed the fight to abolish slavery in the US.

oh well ... i'm just wondering if the "White" house will eventually change its name to something more politically correct ;) ... like everything else!

Squeezebox Duet

2008-08-20T12:20:00.000-04:00

Imagine … or should I say visualize this …

Sitting in your living room – listening to music on your stereo

Nice song …

- You wish you could read the lyrics as well …
'click' ... reading lyrics

- You want to hear that song next – not sure of the album
'click' ... search by track/artist/album/genre … there you go!

- Want to catch up on latest headlines or ANY RSS feed out there?
'click' ... reading it

- Visual Access to your ENTIRE music collection on the computer
'click' ... you have it already! (from your couch)

- Radio anyone?
'click' ... there you go – Internet Radio

- bored? want to catch podcasts
'click' ... all the podcasts out there

I just described (more or less) how we have been spending the last few evenings with the Squeezebox Duet.

It is *exactly* as they said it would be – F.r.e.e.Y.o.u.r.M.u.s.i.c.

And believe it or not – Even D loves it.

Loooong story short - Music from computer is streamed wirelessly to the Squeezebox Receiver which connects to the stereo AND the Controller is a wireless remote with a superb 240x320 color screen – so you’re pretty much visually controlling your computer.

The dilemma
All the music is on the 500GB Disk attached to my computer in the study and the stereo is in the living room … (as is the couch and everything else) – like most homes!
Now the Ipod docking station is good – but you can’t navigate/search/create-playlists sitting on the couch can you – unless of course you are Mr. Fantastic or use binoculars at home!

The solution -
The sheer brilliance of the design is that the remote has a screen!!!

It is like having an Ipod/Music-player in your hand with

Infinite capacity – as much as you want to have on your computer
Wireless music transmission and remote – completely WiFi so no pointing at anything!
Instantaneous Lyrics browser – yep there is this plugin which finds the lyrics for the song playing and also scrolls automatically with the song!!
Wireless RSS reader
Internet Radio player
Podcast player
Expandable – I can add as many receivers as I want … and they all can synchronize to play the same music OR – hold your breath - play their own streams … so I could be listening to Led Zeppelin in the living room and D could be listening to The Beatles in the bedroom!
Fully customizable software and firmware – yep the Squeezecenter (the server software) is open-source – so boatloads of plugins and goodies updated daily – it’s a programmers dream (makes me want to start programming!!) and god bless all those programming souls out there that write so many cool plugins for everyone to use .
Get this – they are writing new firmware features and plugins for the Controller as we speak – essentially enabling more cool features on your hardware – how do you beat that!!! The sheer excitement that every software release is going to make your hardware more cool just cannot be explained ... Now that’s definitely a first!! Yaaaaaaaaaaay! Shame on you Apple – look and learn - your stupid firmware update pretty much made my Ipod Classic a no-video device – pfffffffffffft!! (ya ya - before you Apple lovers scream like little girls I know that I can buy an Apple docking station to output video to my TV ... I have one question ... WHY? how dare they tie me down to one stupid hardware when there are so many better ones out there :P ... but I digress)

Notes:

1. Installation
OK It took me about 15 minutes ... now I may be a geek - but seriously I had absolutely no trouble getting this thing onto my wireless network
A lot of people have complained ... not sure why ... now I don't really have much security on my wireless network except for MAC Address filtering (ok ok before you security freaks out there start streaming me a lecture on wireless security - I know the pitfalls - but I'm in Angola for crying out loud!!!!) - but yes I had no problem getting the thing to work.

2. Squeezecenter
Now I had installed and played around with the Squeezecenter for a week before the hardware got in - pretty cool software I must say ... you dont need a squeezebox to try it out - so go ahead and try it ... it streams music to any computer on your network and I was able to test out the functionalities by streaming different sets of music to D's and my computer at the same time. Really the Squeezebox Receiver is just an alternative for a computer ... you could very well place an old computer next to your stereo and have the same functionality EXCEPT that you wouldn't have a remote with a screen to visually control your music playing from anywhere in the house ... visually being the key word here.

3. Chance?
Now as much of a geek that I am its pretty amazing that I was blind to the whole SqueezeBox phenomenon all these years ... not sure how even I missed it on CNet all these years!!! must be divine intervention ;) coz I'm pretty sure that I would have bought one of the earlier Squeezeboxes without the cool visual remote and then I would be salivating for the Duet now ...
Of course then I would probably also never have (ego-swallowingly) shelled out 250 bucks for my stupid Ipod as well ... but shhh - you never heard that. But if you really really really must know, then I succumbed into buying an IPod (over much better alternatives) simply because of the choice of hardware accessories that are available ... I know - the irony is sickening - aaaaaaaaargh ... I hate you Apple!!!

4. Logitechization
Someone mentioned the other day that Logitech is prolly the only company that makes cooler products than Apple - and I completely agree!! I looked around the other day and wow! I'm logitechized to a fair degree ... Squeezebox, Z-2300, MX3200, Pure-Fi Elite, X-140 ... interesting ...

5. some more drooling
The hardware specs for the Controller (the remote) are so cool ... it has an acceleromoter built in!!! and IR port as well ... how cool is that ... and and and I can't wait for the November release when they are going to enable the headphone socket on the Controller ... SUPER I tell you!

Well if you have survived this post ... I don't need to tell you how much I like the concept and execution ... ... ... and yes - Thank You Ava!

awright ... gotto go and catch up on more music :)

images courtesy : Amazon, Slimdevices Wiki

Beer for Votes

2008-08-07T03:13:00.000-04:00

I guess I have *almost* seen it all now ... hear this -

In wake of the the Angolan parliamentary elections next month, some party has slashed the price of Cuca - the local beer - by 70%
Yep - you can buy 3 beers for @80 cents in Luanda now
A couple of weeks ago 1 beer would have cost you more than 1 US dollar!!

From what I understand, the prices of other commodities and essentials like water have not changed. Of course ...

Overpopulated city ... overdose of cars on the road ... bad traffic ... rash driving ... election frenzy ... and now more drunk drivers on the road. .Nice.

Indian politicians ... are you watching and learning???

Image I found on Webshots under user jdfugatini

Cuca is pretty big in Angola I hear and see ... pic I took a while ago of the Cuca lights that you see from most parts of town.

Dark Knight

2008-08-06T04:15:00.000-04:00

Batman Begins was amazing
Dark Knight is beyond amazing!

Too many things to write about - can't type that fast - multiple finger-fracture (ouch) ...

Favorite scene - When Joker rides away in the cop car with his head sticking out ... laughing ... zig-zagging on the road ... brilliant stuff!

Ledger - "dude ... if you're listening - you are the best joker to date! Kudos."
Nolan - "love the way you portray Batman dude ... simply love it ... I hope the other directors watch you and cry at nights ... for their stupendous stupidity!"
Two Face - Superb makeup/effects ... very curious to see how that was done ...

summary ... a 20 out of 10 for the DK.
Am sure Frank Miller would agree ...

When is the next installation team?

Images Courtesy Wikipedia

Absolute Batman ... Hush!

2008-07-24T04:05:00.000-04:00

No! This is not about the movie (altho' I wish it was ...)

Have spent the last few evenings re-reading Batman-Hush and I can not describe how much fun that has been ... especially reading it in the DC Absolute format
... kinda like the 'big-screen' version of a comic ... with the slipcase, oversize pages and all the extras ...
takes the experience to a whole new level ...
the large size does some justice to the phenomenal artwork of Jim Lee ... - sooo many frames in the book simply beg to be framed and hung on the wall ... like the work of Alex Ross ... but he deserves a separate post altogether!

for now ... waiting (impatiently) for Absolute Dark Knight to arrive in the mail ... and also for DK to show up in Luanda!
oh come-on already!!!

Images Courtesy Wikipedia, Amazon.com

Directors as Project-Managers

2008-07-18T06:32:00.000-04:00

Always wondered how much vision directors possess ... the good ones I mean.

It’s a tough job.

Its one thing to read a screenplay and make a movie but imagining the whole in that much detail before it is created must require a lot ...
I mean - they just make bits and pieces - here and there - and all the time they have to have the complete picture in mind - well its not just a picture but a movie ... you know with motion and all ... the shots, camera angles, pauses, effects, continuity, story, emotions, locations, weather, lighting, people, schedules, costs ... and everything else that goes into making a movie ...

I guess that’s why the screenplay guy is so important as well ...

My point -
This duo would probably be best suited to manage cutting-edge projects - where the final product has never been created but the idea exists on some sketchy plane ... no?
IT, R&D, Technology ... u know ...

To live meaningful lives we must die

2008-06-25T03:23:00.000-04:00

Verbatim from the immortal Cylon 6 from the TV-Series Battlestar Galactica -

"
In our civil war, we've seen death. We watched our people die. Gone forever. As terrible as it was, beyond the reach of the Resurrection Ships, something began to change. We could feel a sense of time. As if each moment held its own significance. We began to realize that for our existence to hold any value it must end.

To live meaningful lives we must die, and not return. The one human flaw, that you spend your lifetimes distressing over - mortality - is the one thing...well, it's the one thing that makes you whole.
"

A superb insight -
Death gives purpose to our Life!

what separates man from machine ... a sense of time.

D says that the fact that each of us is different - unlike cylons - is a big difference as well .
. I agree .

Image and Text Courtesy - Battlestar Wiki - Episode 407

No! No! No!

2008-06-19T04:01:00.000-04:00

Please tell me that these headlines are false propaganda and that no-one ever spoke like this ... please please please ... ... ...

Thackeray calls for Hindu suicide squad
Thackeray preaches terror, BJP terrified

At a complete loss of words right now ...
I have this sick feeling in my belly - FRAK! ...

I feel sorry for the Muslim, Jewish, Persian populace of the world who are liberally marked as extremists - thanks to the actions of a few radicals amongst their ranks ...
is it the turn of the Hindus now?

WAKE UP PEOPLE! This is absolute NUTS!
I'm really sad.

In Case you missed the news

2008-05-15T05:36:00.000-04:00

My boss believes that this is a common practice in India...

what can I say - I really don't feel like disagreeing ...

we are a queer bunch - if we're not throwing kids out of windows then we are ensuring that elephants are forced to trample devotees in temples or of even making sure that the stone idols in temples get an air-conditioner and a daily dose of Chandan - lest Shyaam become dark due to the heat!

Keep the faith.

Tashan Mein

2008-05-15T04:48:00.000-04:00

... Hey... Tali bajawe naache gaawe ... Rab howe shareek jeene ke jashan mein

Has been a part of me for the past few weeks now ...
one of those songs - I feel - you know ... that nicely defines 'Indian Rock' - a heady mix of guitars and drums thrown in with a dash of grunge and specks of indian classical music. decent lyrics too - no heavy-duty urdu or poetry here - its a simple song - the kind that doesn't have hidden layers and prompts you to sing along, headbang, do your thing. the kind I like. a lot.

.superb.

Long time since a song has stuck/struck like that.

Thank You Vishal. Thank You Shekhar. Thank you Saleem. and something tells me to thank Pentagram.

hear hear. .here.

Learing to Fly ... Step 1 - Jump

2008-05-14T05:20:00.000-04:00

Jump they said ... ... ... So jump I did
(they actually shouted 'Bungy'!)

Coming back to life ... Exploring South Africa

2008-04-29T05:10:00.000-04:00

2 weeks in South Africa ... beautiful country - amazing landscapes, superb wildlife, good infrastructure, interesting people and of course magnificent Cape Town.

and also home to the World's highest Bungy - 216M - at Bloukrans (near Knysna)
Yep ... it was sheer bliss

Of course petting the Cheetah's and Tigers @Oudtshoorn was a high as well

So much to write - so many thoughts, observations, surprises, experiences ...
for now just a chronological photo-story of ~coming back to life~

- Exploring the Blyde River Canyon and its natural beauty

- Animal sighting in Kruger National Park

- Guided safari's at Lukimbi Safari Lodge

- V&A Waterfront at Cape Town

- Chapman's Peak Drive

- Cape Point, Cape Of Good Hope, Cape Agulhas ... and other ---most points!

- Haggling on Greenmarket Square

- Table Mountain from all angles!

- Robben Island

- Aimless Wandering on the Garden Route

- Exploring the stunning Cango Caves

- Wandering on Table Mountain and thereabouts

Jodhaa Akbar Review

2008-03-31T10:29:00.000-04:00

The Jodhaa Akbar experience in 3 (or more) words

- to the Movie
AAAAAAAAAAAA aaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArgh!

- to Ashutosh Gowariker
Stop making movies! ~please~

- to AR Rahman
Was it you?

- to Hrithik Roshan
WHY?

- to Aishwarya
at least TRY to act!

- to all the technicians and animals involved in the movie
WHY?

- Conclusion
Waste of time

- Serious Conclusion
Absolute waste of time

- No jokes this time - Conclusion
Poking yourself in the eye is less painful ... and a lot faster.

...
...
...

you get the drift!

Ashutosh Gowariker seems to simply love making movies - he loves making them so much that he just doesn't want to stop - no really - give this man his way and he would would make a 10 hour movie - about how he woke up in the morning and took a crap! and oh - since there are 100 elephants in his backyard it is as epic.

Oh Ashutosh ... I have this excellent theme for your next movie -
remember the Ek-Anek animation that used to show on Doordarshan? Lets make a 4 hour musical epic out of that one ... it even has birds and squirrels!

The Loss of an Illusion?

2008-03-27T07:05:00.000-04:00

Verbatim from D's e-mail -

"
I had to write to you about this - nothing against one particular person or organization - but a general outpour of thoughts and feelings.

When I heard you talking about ABC - my first instinct was that of disdain - thinking - "oh one of those things!" But I did not want to sound rude - or discourage you from what may be a good thing - so I kept my voice in check. With a more positive mindset, I did look up what ABC stood for - what it aims to do.

I've become so bitter about so many things - especially when it starts with "Our tradition..." And I was not like this before- and it wasn't that long ago that I did a lot of things with a lot of joy and enthusiasm - because I truly believed in it - that it brought happiness and evoked goodness in everyone.

But the words "Tradition", "Culture" have lost their meaning and value and most importantly respect in my eyes - mainly because of what I see around me and how these "traditions" and "culture" are more used to create divisions rather than create harmony.

When I see someone come with a statement like "7000 years of tradition and culture - lost within one generation" - I cringe - and it hurts- honestly it does. Because it feels like it's been lost for so many more generations that right now, we are bemoaning the loss of an illusion. No one even realized or shed a tear when the real thing was lost.

I myself am happy to "lose" some traditions - we seem to worry more on how we'd go to hell if we do something wrong with the Stone God, but don't care two hoots that "this tradition" may hurt a person -it stinks and I truly doubt if God even intended it that way.

Right now, I'm fighting my way out of this bitterness and trying to focus on the good I know. I always used to question most things - and I got the most amazing answers from my mother for some things. And now, I've chosen to rebel against everything that doesn't make sense to me. I refuse to do it just because. And I do read, in my own speed and in my own way, I do try and find logic to why something was done. If I cannot find that makes sense to me, or if it doesn't apply any more, I have chosen to let the tradition die. I'm creating my own religion and you know what the best part about all this is? "Hinduism" or "Sanatan Dharma" or whatever else you want to call it- lets me do it :)

But I do hope for my sake more than yours that what you are doing right now, does distinguish between "applicable traditions" and "blind traditions" and that people focus more on the "why do this" than "what to do". In between all the glorification of our "traditions", they do take the time out to actually check and discard the ones that make no sense in today's world (or even did in yesterday's world!) And in case you are doing that - thank you.
"

Background
Recently, we heard about this organization - lets call it ABC - which is 'designed for anyone interested in learning about Hinduism and the inner meaning of its rich tradition and culture. It is particularly useful for students, young parents, and anyone concerned about preserving the best of Hinduism in Western society.'

A couple of close friends are a part of this organization.

Now D and I discuss for hours on end on "our culture" "our religion" etc. etc. and above is an accurate representation of where we are today.
Spot-on and beautifully written me thinks.

Irony

2008-03-26T09:12:00.000-04:00

The customer may be 'God' in the West ... but in India the Customer is just a quarter of an inch above trash. (try returning anything ... even if it is defective!)

- nevertheless -

90% of "Customer Service Representatives" of The Planet are sitting in India!!!

LOL!

The irony is sickening!

Namibia

2008-02-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

Very interesting country Namibia - Amazing contrasts as you drive from north to south - the north is green, the south is a desert and the Atlantic borders the west coast - pretty interesting landscapes in between all this.

Our 10 day sojourn in Namibia was VERY interesting and eventful - more on that later.
For now some photo-highlights ... for all of you who were screaming for photos! ... each pic will take you to an album for more pics :)
and I deserve a medal for uploading these pics on such pitiful internet speeds!

Day 1,2,3 - Etosha (the jungle!)

Day 3,4 - Twyfelfontein(Rock Paintings, 260 Million Year Olds and stunning Mountains)

Day 5,6,7,8 - Swakopmund (Desert meets the sea! Sand Dunes, Dolphins etc.)

Day 9,10 - Windhoek and back (Capital city!)

Points to Elaborate later
1. Gravel Roads
2. Image of Angolans outside Angola
3. State of affairs in Namibia and South Africa
4. Flying out of Angola
5. Stars in the Southern Hemisphere
6. Working hours Namibia!
7. Damara - the clicking language!

Right Here Right Now

2008-01-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

Unsorted PhotoAlbum
COD4
Heroes Season1
Crysis
Namibia

...
...
...

Johnathan Goodwin

2007-12-21T10:56:00.000-05:00

Luckily caught a copy of the November issue of FastCompany on one of our flights earlier this month - the cover-article blew our collective socks, shoes, mufflers and caps away!!!

Spoke about this to a few of you out there ... FastCompany calls him the Motorhead Messiah ... hmmm
Am researching more on the dude ...
Johnathan Goodwin may be the future ... or may not (that coming from someone working for the Oil Industry ... then again who isn't!)

[He does come from Kansas tho ... Super connection there!]

I Belong

2007-11-28T03:23:00.000-05:00

Where do I belong?

I’m guessing (and hoping) that this is a fairly common question in many minds … especially in the minds of friends ...
Was reading Sarat’s post on the Gujrat carnage and couldn’t help imagining the bestiality of the people involved … people like you and me they say – the common man in India.

I am sad.
I feel bad.
I feel ashamed.
And worse - I don’t know why!!!

Living as an Expat. – you automatically represent your people (country generally) – so you become a spokesman of your kind – ready to clarify myths/misconceptions and discuss cultures, habits, living conditions … you get the point – good things and bad.

Then again, I’m not sure if I identify with the average Indian – maybe the average Agnelite at best! Sure we are a great race and all that – but I don’t even know how to define an average Indian …
So I truly identify only with my family and friends – that's about it!

Then why do I feel ashamed when I read about riots and the likes … Bombay, Gujrat, Punjab, Bihar ... I don’t know these people – they could have come from Mars for all I care …

Really its just family and friends to whom I feel a sense of belonging – and if this subset ended up migrating to the Moon – I would call that home – by association!

On a macro level, a country/government is essentially a group of people deciding to live life in a particular way – I wasn’t given the choice to examine all these groups and take my pick! And I don’t HAVE to subscribe to the agenda (if there really is one!)

From where I stand - India is definitely one of the most beautiful countries in the world – but I’m not so sure about the people. I’m not saying that they are bad … or good … they are fine where they are - I’m just not sure if I want to be called one of them/us!
And then - Do I really need to belong somewhere? I don’t think so!

So why do I feel?!

Angola in Images

2007-11-22T09:53:00.000-05:00

Yep - more pics - this time a variety of pics in and around Luanda ... and some in Cabinda and Malongo

If you've not already noticed then yes yes - the sunsets here are really nice :) Muito Obrigado as they say in Portugese.

Angola in Images ... May thru October

Jab We Met

2007-11-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since we saw a movie twice in two days!

Jab We Met has been a very nice surprise - big thanks to Brij for pointing us in that direction (and D for pushing me towards it :) )

Personally I think this has to be the best work by Kareena Kapoor (Now I must admit that I have seen just two other movies of hers ... but still! She is very very impressive in the movie.)

Imtiaz Ali - haven't seen his other work but he's done a great job ... the movie could have been 15-20 minutes tighter towards the end ... but then thats nitpicking!

Preetam and Sandesh - superb music - again - its been a while since I've heard an entire soundtrack (minus the remixes of course) three times over ... and back to back! Now I'm not sure if these tunes are lifted/inspired etc. etc. - but they are really really nice to listen to ... and like someone pointed out - its a very interesting mix of song-genres - verry nice.

Shahid - I'm so happy that he does not do another junior SRK in this movie and has genuinely tried to bring out his own expressions and acting - good job.

Now if it would have been a very interesting twist if Anshuman turned out to be a goat ... or a fictitious character in Geet's head ... ergo she was not quite mentally sound in reality ... and so on ...

but then that wouldn't be a Punjab-loving Bollywood movie would it ;)

and speaking of Punjabi - its time I stopped trying and actually started learning the language - one of the sweetest languages to listen to - IMHO. D seconds the motion ...

and I digress as usual!

Watch the movie if you haven't already.

(Image courtesy Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd)

here there everywhere in Bombay

2007-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Have been lazy and busy - in no particular order
Lotsa thoughts in my head ... queuing up - will see light someday
- Human Nature
- Music or Media
- Movies
- How much Money?
... ... ...

but all that will have to wait ...
For now its just pictures ... from the greatest city on Earth - BOMBAY ... (IMO)
snaps from here there everywhere in the city :) .... mostly taken from the cab!
(cabs are daily miracles in Bombay! defying all laws of motion and age and mechanics and engineering!)
... but thats another story altogether!)

India 2007 - Bombay ...

Mera Bharat Mahaan?

2007-08-28T06:49:00.000-04:00

Myself Mrs. Ramesh

What is the level of your education

How long have you been married … why no kids yet?

Myself Mrs. Das

Our hujhbands work for the embassy. She works!

It is so hard to find girl children especially for ashtami pooja … of course not everyone is unfortunate like us to have 2 girls!

I tell you

India

has become disgusting … boys and girls are living together without getting married … they say that they are friends … horrible I tell you!

Just some of the pearls of communication that we were fortunate to experience …

And Just NOT what we expected to encounter on 15^th August – 10a.m. - @the flag hoisting ceremony at the Indian Embassy in Luanda. Sure we went to the ‘event’ with a lot of excitement and energy … excitement at going to apna des … excitement in meeting with our own people … oh how hard we fell! (Soumya more than me …)

Picture about 25 people … scratch that – about 25 men standing around … in groups of 2-3 … chatting among themselves and greeting everyone with the customary Indian smile …NOT! No smiles here …

We waited for a few minutes in odd silence … Soumya feeling kinda awkward … all the men huddled together and all …

The lone music-system started to feebly play some patriotic song and lo behold … a group of women appear from nowhere to witness the flag hoisting …
One second Soumya was standing by herself and shazaam! – this group of women walks out of the house (the embassy is a house!) and almost runs over Soumya … eager to view the flag or whatever other reason they had to be in front!

The ceremony was held in mind-numbing tradition

- men and women in neat separate groups standing 6 feet apart

- no one was smiling

- The “head” of the embassy gave a soulful speech! Sigh … he read out 4 lines from the Presidents speech and then … just shut up! He pretty much read out 4 lines verbatim!!! No excitement here!

- The crumbly flag was opened … there was clapping … and after precisely 73 seconds of subsequent awkward silence … everybody dashed towards the refreshments – cheap cake and wafers …

- Of course - the women picked up their paper plates and went inside the house while the men ate outside … silently ...

My conversation outside went like –

“Where are you from” … “What do you do?” … “Weather is nice no?” … “This country has seen a lot of war … ” … with generous (and awkward) pauses in between

Granted most of these men were oldish folks – in their late 40s or 50s maybe … but not one of them exuded an iota of intelligence … like someone later observed – they just seemed to be in Angola with the sole hope of being transferred later to the UK- where they could make more money and retire … nevermind that most of them did not even speak English or anything intelligent!(in no particular order)

I COULD NOT IDENTIFY WITH A SINGLE SOUL OUT THERE !

Of course while I was standing in excruciating pain … wishing that all this was a dream and that India is a great country and that all Indians are not like this … poor Soumya had to experience the rude and discriminatory behavior of the womenfolk …

and of course all this while being given a strict visual examination …

Seriously – I always believed that Bombay was not representative of the rest of India – especially of all the small towns in UP and Bihar from where these folks came … or any other small town for that matter … but the narrow mindedness is just plain unforgivable …

Soumya has a good argument - folks from her extended family are from small towns, and yet they exude a certain class … at least they aren’t outright rude or discriminatory!

I know for a fact that we (most agnelites) grew up in a different society – a more open society … heck I had trouble adjusting to the narrow mindedness of folks I encountered in Bangalore …

Then again … am I so removed from the rest of the Indians? Has the international ‘exposure’ spoilt me …

Sure you can pull someone fom the plains of rural Texas or Alabama and you would see similar ‘frog in the well’ attitudes … so I guess Indians are not exempt … still … its sad to have such experiences when you don’t want to associate with the 7 odd Indians in Luanda!

Mera Bharat Mahaan – for whatever its worth.

And oh - thanks to Anu (and santa-banta) for these images ... pretty much the only positive thing!

Harry Potter and the Mahabharata

2007-07-18T10:45:00.000-04:00

Have been a silent observer of the Harry Potter buzz - at its crescendo now with the 7th and final (?) serving - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, millions of copies of which, I am told are being guarded by specially trained ninjas with 0071/2 privileges ... lest someone spill the beans (and pages) before 21 July 2007! shudder shudder ...

If you are a religious zealot, now is the time to leave ... OK Bye.

No - seriously.

My daily dose of Google news today enlightened me with the fact that there are some religious groups out there that protest the Harry Potter phenomenon since it promotes the idea of witchcraft - and makes people believe in the occult and likes ... and more importantly it takes them further away from a 2000 year old religion that furiously scoffs at geologists and the likes. These groups "firmly" believe that the crude-Oil in Angola was formed sometime between 8:32pm and 8:47pm on the 4th Day a couple of hours after sunset - about 24 hours after the Mountains were completed! And oh - they tell me that the whole dinosaur business is a scam!**

But this is not about that at all ... really.

There was talk in the same article on how the Church is using Harry to spread Christianity especially among the youth. This at the same time when Mr. Eli Yishai in Israel is irked over the launch "time" of the book - strange world we live in I must say. ( But I have to be amazed at the amazing coincidence of the timing of 2:01 am – down to the minute!)

And then ... It came to me (about time)

10 years and 325 million copies sold already. That's a third of India's population give or take a few (million) . Fast forward a few more decades (and a few more movies, a few billion blogs, comics, animation yada yada yada ) and this book might probably end up in everyone's homes ... each and everyone on the Planet!!! Now I don't own a copy of the Gita but I do have a Bible which I'm guessing is the most "available" book in the world ... and we all know the basic story of Jesus in some form or the other.

Brace Yourself -

~I think Harry Potter could be even bigger~

There I said it!

Give it a 1000 years or two and Harry Potter may transcend from fiction to Mythology ... various caveats and "additional chapters" later we might be looking at a whole new religion … the backbone of which would be this trilogy in 7 parts! There's lots of action, revenge, some romance, torture ... and of course lots of messages. The perfect Mix if you ask me.

Ah! Maybe that’s what the Ramayana and Mahabharata were - record-breaking bestsellers, some 10-20 thousand years ago ... innocent readers at the time were not aware of the mass phenomenon to come …

...

That’s it! I need to start reading these books ASAP … And then write some “previously-unreleased” material! You won’t be laughing when a few thousand years from now my family will enjoy special privileges in society because they are direct descendants of Harry’s special friend from India – me – ! Heck they might even make a “Code” movie then … but for now I need a serving of Hari Puttar …

** In my weeks in Angola, I have had the fortune of experiencing the jovial nature of geologists and seismic engineers and I can see some of their serious predicaments as far as faith and job are concerned!

My Experiments with Truth ... S9100, and other things as usual ...

2007-07-10T04:03:00.000-04:00

Yep - have been keeping busy - Experimenting with the new camera, move to another apartment, dinners, grocery-shopping, Picasa, TV, Reading (yes!), a lil-bit of tennis (the real thing - not on the Wii!), Thinking, and stuff ...

Some of my initial experiments with the new Fuji S9100 ...

What can I say - I'm impressed so far. :)
Link to the album in case my experiment with Picasaweb Slideshow failed :D -

Sunset and Moonrise - June 29 2007

Wiicosystem

2007-06-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

Hamara Wii! Yes - this one gadget has always been "ours" - Soumya loves it as much as I do ... if not more :)

We've had the Wii since last December - a big thanks to Ankur and his mom for making that happen! For the uninitiated ... you still can NOT walk into a store and find Wii on the shelves!!! These beauties are sold-out within an hour! Always ! and even after 6 months now ... but I digress (I just wanted to rub in some :D)

It all started with Wii Sports ... the irrestible pull of playing Tennis and swinging the controllers like they were the real raquets! Never really liked Baseball much ... live or animated! so despite Pranav's many attempts ... never really played baseball much ... same for golf.

BUT boxing is another beast altogether! I do not remember playing a single boxing match without breaking a sweat - good excercise this one I tell you. And there's one more annoying fact - Soumya kicks my A#@ in boxing ... everytime! And its not just Soumya ... just about every wife out there ... same story - wife beats husband to a pulp in boxing ... many couples have boxed on the Wii ... same result everytime ... never decided on points ... wife knocks out husband brutally - consistent like gravity! You guys out there reading this know what I'm taking about ... and who I'm referring to ;)

The Wii accompanied us to Angola (obviously) ... but its been Excite Truck all the way for the past couple of months! Again Soumya beats me at this fun racing game ... Its a racing game and I usually lose :P - no really - I'm quite good at racing games - have evolved over the years ... but still Soumya beats me consistently at this game! Still have a number of games that we have yet to explore - remove from their packaging i.e. Warioware - smooth moves, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia Rival Swords etc. - will post updates as and when that happens!

We both love our Wii ... and for a reason :)

So much so that in a sheer display of brilliance, Soumya once blurted out Wiicosystem when she saw all the Wii accessories springing up at the stores ... brilliant stuff I tell you - loved it so much that we bought the domain! scratch that - I bought the domain ... and one of these days wii will play around with it! http://wiicosystem.com/

OK nuff time wasted away from the Wii. Wii will Wii Back!

And oh ... in case you were wondering - I wrote this post a while ago but I was waiting (patiently) for my S9100 to arrive so that I could take these arty farty pics :) Wii baby!

30

2007-06-21T09:29:00.000-04:00

It started with a random dinner invitation at Roz and Ade’s for Saturday – little did we know that we’d walk into a surprise birthday party for the two of us! Very sweet of our colleagues at work and their significant others to arrange cake, food and celebrations :) - lots of interesting stories shared ... including things that one would never do again! Lots of anecdotes, lots of teasing, lots of laffs …
Quite an eclectic group this one – they run, cycle, and some of them spent 6 months in 2004 trekking the Appalachian mountains from Georgia to Maine – now that’s quite a distance – I have driven along that route and its a couple of days drive! And these folks hiked the entire way – how cool is that. Most of them are true expats – in the sense that they have been away from the US for a long long time – and in various locations across 1st 2nd and 3rd worlds!

Ya I know – not the typical “old” folks that one comes across in des! Some of them have been married longer than we have been around - or at least longer than I have been around! And the spirit these guys pack – superb! Like they were 22 or something!
Made a note to self to be physically fit and mentally young like these folks! AND to be less emotional and less senti unlike most of the old folks we know … AND be more adventurous and hajaar TP like these guys. Our old folks did not enjoy the same privileges and ease of life that these people did (arguable) and hence they are caught up in other things in life ... yada yada yada … I’m not comparing … but I have no excuse like that! Note to self stuck.

Sunday - Happy Birthday Soumya.

Planned to go to the beach but we missed the boat – literally – we missed the last boat by 3 minutes so walked for a while on the Marginal instead – very nice. Need to do this more often. I know we watched a movie later ... but can't remember which one. Like someone mentioned at the party - after 30, you suffer from CRS - a highly technical term - "Can't remember Sh#t!" - priceless!

Wednesday – Hello 30!

Woke up to a wonderful birthday message in 12 languages by D. Awesome. Only caveat being that I ended up wishing myself some 25 times :D … yes I had to read them out loud! Vintage D!

O’Careil – Portugese for Curry – and destination for dinner … the only Indian restaurant in Luanda. Very good décor, nice ambiance, decent food – you take what you get … and add some salt ;) Had a good dinner - Usual suspect veggies – no chat or dosas or pav-bhaji … sigh sigh … Needlessto say - We ate a lot!

Some Diet coke and some Patel Shots later … its Thursday now … am catching up on the birthday “wishes” … Thank you all of you - for sending across your wishes on all possible mediums ;)
oh well :) … what goes up – comes down!
...

"How do I feel?" you ask ...
"About what?"
"Oh ok ... No difference yet ..."
Besides - once CRS kicks in ... I won't know anything - will I ;)

Mithoon ko hamara Salaam

2007-06-14T09:01:00.000-04:00

No not the Disco Dancing types ... atho this one can make you sing n dance!
Mithoon Sharma, born on Jan 11, 1986 - yes 21 years "OLD" - is a wonderful music composer ... and I must say that I am very impressed - no really - this guy is very good.

I am listening to the soundtrack of " The Train" - and Mausam and Beete Lamhein are instant favorites - listen to them and you'll understand why. And its his voice on Mausam ... even better!
When I did some Googling I found out that the song "Maula Mere" which I heard sometime ago - and really liked - is composed by this dude - just found that out! (along with the fact that he displaced Himes-bhai for The Train :D )
And then the big one - "Tere Bin" from Bas Ek Pal - definitely up there in one my favorite songs ka list - again ... composed by Mithoon - very very VERY Impressed.

My bad for not finding all this out earlier ... like they say - assumption is the brother off all problems ... I simply assumed!

So Hats off to you Mithoon - I will definitely look out for your compositions - keep up the good work.
p.s. I hope that you dont fade away like Anand-Milind did after QSQT ... something tells me that you won't!

WiTricity

2007-06-08T05:05:00.000-04:00

Yes it is here ... Wireless transmission of electricity.
I have been discussing this void with a bunch of people for a number of years now and I am so excited that a team of researchers at MIT have finally done it ... Kudos and THANK YOU Marin Soljacic and team for all your efforts ...
Fast foward to 2017 ... Imagine a living room without wires ... nice ... very nice.

Note: The term WiTricity was coined by the team at MIT.

Photo courtesy the AP.

God Bless the English

2007-06-04T12:36:00.000-04:00

Computers - what would we have done without them - information exchange at the snap of your podgy fingers! Phones - what would computers be without the invention of Phones and telecommunication networks
Then again - what would all this be without Electricity ... or the Edisons, the Newtons & Einsteins ... working together trying to invent the fastest way to make money! You get the drift ... can go all the way to "Main Samay Hoon" - but we wont - in the interest of time.

Traveling to a Portugese country - Angola - where they don't speak any English - does open-up a few doors of comprehension (pun intended)
Sure I am definitely able to communicate to my driver that I want him to pick me up after 1.5 hours but only after a fair amount of acting, emoting, pointing, 'frustrate-ing' :P and the occasional dancing! The perfect ingredients for collaboration I tell you - intelligence, capability, creativity and the inability to do anything together ... quickly and productive that is!

We owe the English quite a bit - with their colonization and looting and pilferage - they (unknowingly ... like the apple) left behind the single largest enabler of collaboration and ergo advances in science and technology - A COMMON LANGUAGE.
Thank God that they went across the world and dropped English along with their other crap wherever they went.

Now you linguists and purists (a lot of them desi) may argue that English is a poor language, a borrowed language, ... yada yada yada ... but despite the magnificence and beauty of Sanskrit or Latin they are not directly responsible for me to be able to type this out today! English is!
But then it is a curse I tell you! If the English had not done whatever it is they did, it would NEVER have been possible for someone to create a "I hate Shiv-Sena" community on Orkut ... ergo forcing some fanatics in a "DEMOCRATIC" country to trash up a random cyber-cafe. The otherwise-peaceful Soldiers-of-Shiv and loyal servants of Child-Master would have been blissfully ignorant and the world would be a happier place but then - I digress.

Then again we may be heading towards the second Tower of Babel ... and the English will be responsible for God's wrath to come ... ... ... er ... for now I think I'm going with being realistic!

I never thought that I would say this - God bless English and the English.

Ola from Angola

2007-06-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

8th May 2007 - It was 8am’ish – we were peering out of the window – looked a lot like landing in Bangalore … reddish-brown and green … sprinkled with small settlements. The flight landed and took a quick sharp turn and parked – this is an aero-plane mind you – and we waited in the “alley” to allow a flight to take off ... less than 30 seconds after we stopped and parked … a few yards away from us … rumble, shake and all – and then 3 more took off before we started cruising to the terminal! We had reached Angola!

They tell me that Luanda was planned for 400,000 folks and as it usually happens in cities … there are about 4 million folks living in the city today! Of course we expats don’t help the situation either!

The airport brought back memories of landing in Chennai – on a hot summer night in 2002 – no a/c, no escalators, stagnant water … and in the international terminal! There was no stagnant water here … and no escalators either :) - but it was hot and humid and we were enjoying everything.

Onto the Parking lot - Pleasantly surprised to see Mitsubishi Pajero’s, Lexus SUV’s and juiced-up BMW X5’s and H2’s – of course this is the airport of the capital of Angola! You can imagine how surprised I was when the same sights continued all the way from the airport to our apartment – no we do NOT live by the airport like some people I know in Bombay!

Hello Luanda … You see the cars on the road and you get the feeling that you’re in the US … all the above luxury vehicles seen regularly in between the usual suspect Rav4's and Nissans or Mitsubishi trucks/SUV's ... and then you look a few feet below and realize that there is no “road” to speak of! It’s a mesh of potholes and tar and mud - like in apna 3rd world India! Actually I take that back - I've been around the city a bit and now the roads in Bombay seem like freeways in comparison! Old jungle saying - "One man's Bombay is another man's Los Angeles!"

Mostly SUV’s on the road … of course that is because the roads are not good – never mind the lack of space! Not only are these really expensive cars by any stretch of imagination – BUT – none of them have stock parts on them … Hello Enkei, Hello Turbochargers, whats the fuss about alloy-wheels – do they sell cars without them in other parts of the world? … something doesn’t fit – I did not see so many expensive cars even in Salt Lake City! (Utah not Calcutta! Sorry Sumona - couldn't resist that one ;) )

That’s Luanda (for me) – where the really (and I mean REALLY) rich live side by side to the really (and I mean REALLY REALLY) poor. No middle-class to speak of – at least none that I have seen. Kinda begin to understand why everyone and their grandmoms in India are feverishly gyrating about the fact that India has such a large “middle-class” population!

Have been to the shopping mall in Luanda – yes there is just one (so far) – Belas shopping. Nice place. Ample parking and very professional looking. A simple cotton shirt made by the famous ChipChip brand (or something like that) costs approximately 180 bucks … oh yes – the green ones – 180 American dollars! (and oh - about the famous brand – I was being sarcastic!). Of course gas is cheap – approximately 50 cents a litre (they use litres here – yaaay) … or about 1.5 USD for a gallon … and of course bottled water is about 2 dollars for 1.5 litres … or about 4+ USD for a gallon … I wont be surprised if some folks consume gas instead!

And people are always well dressed out here … not that it’s a bad thing – but you would think that they are on their way to a party … nevermind the time of the day. Very interesting I tell you - you see color coordinated Gucci's, Prada's and the likes ...

The beaches here are really clean and nice … have been to a couple of them so far – very nice. The weather is very good – so far – they tell me that I came at the perfect time – monsoon is over and winter is setting in – so looking forward to more fabulous days – its really pretty – when you look beyond the heavy lifting cranes and construction equipment hammering away incessantly!

The people – very nice – like they usually are. Of course we are experiencing more of a cultural shock out here than we have ever faced (and we have traveled a bit) – more on that later – maybe Soumya will explain better! There is another huge problem with body-odour at work ... but I will not get into that right now!

We seem to have bonded instantly with the country … the sights … the smells … very much like des. On closer examination there are some startling differences – not that we never expected to see any … its been fun so far.
Keep checking this spot for more updates, experiences and learnings!

before I go - I was trying to solve the mystery of body-odour and I stumbled onto this interesting read on Angola . I liked the title that the author has used.

More to come -

1. Expat community

2. Culture shock

3. Body Odour

4. The Party scene

5. Wind Surfing

6. Thank You England

7. Lucky India with Congress

For now here are some sights captured in the past few ... (captions included :D ... and hope you like the sun)

Surface Scratching

2007-05-31T09:15:00.000-04:00

Yes I am in Luanda, Angola ... but this is about something else altogether!

I cant wait to scratch the surface of Surface.

Yes - the new toy by Microsoft ... in short - ME WANT!

(image courtesy www.microsoft.com)

My crystal ball shows a whole new ecosystem ... even larger than tha Ipod franchise ... much bigger. The possibilities are so many ... (beyond the video on the web-site - which, by the way you MUST see!)
For starters I would like to have a DJ-turntable application for the Surface - so that it can replace all the expensive and bulky hardware and flimsy Discs!
Then they could have a "real" canvas ... you could paint with special pens ... just like you would on canvas.
Virtual Keyboards - the musical version!
Virtual Tablas, bongos ...
Don't even get me started on the interactive games ( I still have to post about my Wii fun for the past 6 months!) - so many that I can think of right now ... and multiply the fun with motion based controllers ...

I should stop! ... My mind is kicking into overdrive! All this excitement within 10 minutes of reading about the Surface is probably not healthy!
But remember this day ... you will! I sure will.

Sanjay Jha

2007-02-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

Must be the Thursday morning buzz ... I dont't know but I can not NOT write about this ... My second stint in Bollywood - Sanjay Jha commented on my post
Now I have always been a big fan of Jhaji's funny and satirical Praan Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaye and have been waiting to watch his controversial movie "Strings - Bound By Faith" but I never expected Sanjay Jha to post a comment on my post ... I am sooooo happy :)

Jhaji,
Thank You for your response. I will watch Praan Jaye again tonight and also watch Strings as soon as it is available here. And keep blogging :)

Actually now that the buzz has settled (somewhat) I must really appreciate -
1. Sanjay Jha's intellect on becoming a part of the blogosphere as they call it ... I mean if I am involved with media why would I NOT want to be a part of it!!
2. The power of the blog ... I know a lot has been said already but I never cease to be amazed at the power and speed of information that we enjoy ... sure the Telly may have sparked the downfall of Communism in erstwhile USSR - but blogs, message boards and the internet are taking everything to the next level and a couple more!

And if you really want to know what my fist stint in Bollywood was - well ... I was one of the characters in a happy-song in Aastha - a film by Basu Bhattacharya. Not only did I get to spend two whole days on location and get a first hand experience of how movies are made - but I had the fortune of enjoying the company of Rekha and Om Puri for the two days as well :)
For those who are not tired of hearing it ... Rekha looks amazingly incredibly stunning for her age - and she's a lot of fun too - no airs of being such a big star! and Om Puri is a very funny person - didn't expect that. We had a lot of fun during the shoot ... but thats a loooooong story for some other time!

Chalo then ... bahuut boasting kar liya ... time to get back to Earth :)

Goli Maar ... Thriller

2007-01-30T15:08:00.000-05:00

This I could not resist! Have been busy for the past few ... but this is too much to keep to myself!

Goli Maar ... Bheje Mein or wherever!

Testing 123 - Democracy - Human Rights - Freedom

2007-01-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

I just want to test again - this time in bold
DEMOCRACY
HUMAN RIGHTS
FREEDOM

Are we really living in 2007. All this censorship is utterly ridiculous ...
"Google actively censors results of searches conducted in China and has also removed sites offensive to the Chinese government from Google News. Microsoft actively censors blogs on the Chinese version of MSN spaces to filter out words such as "democracy" and "human rights."

taken from this article - Tech companies, NGOs working on code of conduct

No seriously - I guess they do need to work on a code of conduct ... and ethics ... and human rights - we're human after all!
Of course if you can't read this post then just know that you're being watched!
Vande Mataram.

errr ... WHAT was that again?

2007-01-21T13:52:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading one of BBC's accounts on the Ardh Kumbh Mela ... interesting - stuff that happens out there, the people involved, the frenzy, the love, the sadhus, the passion, the water, the sand ... u get the message - nice read!

And then I re-read the part that mentions that this is the holiest day for Hindus and that a whole bunch of them (more than 18 million I hear) came a long way to get a dip, some walk miles, sins get washed, pure bliss, God, Heaven, faith, religion ... the whole shebang! I have to say - WHAT?

I mean these are supposed to be my people, my country, my way of life (Liberal and all that - read Hinduism) -- the people who I have seen for all these years, lived with some, laughed with many ... but how come I don't relate even one bit to all this drama!... almost like I was reading a science journal about the migratory habits of lemmings!

I dont' connect - even on a microscopic level - with any of it! the feelings, the frenzy or even the holiest microsecond part of it! Its a peice of land on the 3rd rock from the sun, and then there is some water - go figure!

I know who I am and where I am. So where does that leave everyone else?

Air India - National Airline or a National shame !!!

2007-01-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

Posted verbatim is a hair-raising experience of Subhayu! I thought I should share it with everyone ... it could happen to any one of us!

"
Folks,
This is a absolutely true & horryfying experience that I just went
through with our national airline - Air India. It was so traumatic
for me that I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams. I have
heard of stray incidents of various
types happening with different people, just couldn't believe when
ALL of those happened with me in 2 days. Here's my experience. I
walk into the Mumbai airport at 12.15 pm for a 14.55 pm flight to
london. (AI 131). After about 40 minutes, AI counter representatives
just start walking around and chatting amongst themselves. Maybe 15-
20 minutes after that, someone raises some noise about their
behavior and then they come out open stating that the flight was
full and that the flight was overbooked. Now overbooking as AI puts
it is a very common action that most airlines resort to, even in
peak seasons such as the one I was travelling in. To my outmost
surprise, they had overbooked a flight of 210 passengers (they fly a
Boeing 767 for this flight) by 40 odd passengers. Absolutely
ridiculous !!!. Thats when this whole saga of trauma began.

We fought with the AI officials to come up with a reason and tell us
what they were gonna do for us. But they refused to budge and did
not give any reasonable explanation. After about 30 minutes of
screaming and fighting the duty manager arrived at the scene and the
very second statement he made was that we r going to put you guys in
a 5 star hotel. The next possible flight that they could put us on
was AI 101 which would leave at 7.10 AM the next morning. They
couldn't arrange for any other flight citing that they were all
full, but they did not confirm with anyone before making that bold
statement, just because they wanted to save the buck for AI. My case
was a bit complicated cause I had to make it to the US the next day
on a American Airlines (AA) flight. So they promised me to rebook me
on a different flight and also provide me a hotel accomodation in
London since I wouldn't make it for my original flight. After that
around 14.00 pm, there was a change of shifts, which meant a new
duty manager was to arrive and be briefed about the situation. Some
passengers like me, decided to take the lead and explained him the
situation. He promised us that he would take care of us and would
assign a hotel and boarding passes ASAP. Before that he had to head
to a small meeting for 15 mins. That 15 mins, took him 2 hours and
then he comes and states that out of great difficulty he could get
us to the next flight at 7.10 AM, which we should have always been
given priority to board since we were bumped off our original
flight. But he refused to check in our luggage and give boarding
passes, asking us to come to the airport some 6 hrs in advance. We
refused and decided not to budge, and maybe after an hour he agreed
to check us in. Still no hotel and it was 5.00 pm. One of the fellow
passengers lost his head since he was travelling with his 80 year
old mom who was struggling to sit through this trauma. Another
family with an infant just wanted to know if they r going to get a
hotel and still no action on AI's behalf. Finally around 6.30 pm,
they come out and say that they cannot find hotels for us and offer
to put us up in the airport area, where they have some facilities.
Some of us went and checked the facilities. There were some beds
with some dirty linen, no bathrooms, no TV's, no kind of
entertainment and full of mosquitoes which would definitely give you
malaria before leaving india. One guy mentioned that he wouldn't
even let his dog stay there in that room. Such were the facilities
offered to passengers who paid full fare, after being promised 5
star accomodation. Little did we know that this was a beginning of
what we had to go through. After that we all went to the duty
managers office and sat there and he refused to give us priority.
After forcing him to give us his attention and forcing him to inform
his seniors of our position, he negotiated with us. After about 2
hours of this, AI made another offer to us. Find a hotel on your own
and get us the bill tommorow and we'll reimburse you. The ceiling
limit was set to Rs. 5000 / passenger or Rs. 7000/family, which is
really a small amount given the costs of hotels in mumbai. Anyways,
we tried hard to negotiate with them to give us a reasonable limit
since we would never get a decent hotel around the airport for that
kind of money. Sensing that we weren't making much progress with
this issue with AI after an hour of debating and they still looking
or acting to look for hotels for us, some of us decided to take the
offer and share rooms. To our surprise, AI said they would not give
us cash and we would have to produce a bill after paying it on our
own. Some of the passengers had no indian currencies, some students
have very limited credit card limits which blocked them from taking
this limit. So we again tried to negotiate, but with no success with
the thick skinned inconsiderate AI people. Also at this stage, AI
managers told us that turn up at the aiport only around 6.30AM next
morning since AI 101 is delayed to 8.00 pm. That would give us an
additional 1 hour of sleep. By then the next shift came into work
who again argued with us that every airline rebooks and they are
justified with their hostile behavior and actually gave us a hard
time to even dispurse the mininal taxi costs to us. Finally, around
10.30 pm in the night after spending more than 10 hrs at the
airport, some of us decided to take a cab and give it a shot to look
for a hotel on our own. Found one at around 12 in the nite and spend
the next couple of hrs trying to get some sleep.

Next morning when we got to the airport at 6.20 AM, we noticed the
same story being repeated with the AI 101 passengers who were dumped
thanks to us. Similar shouts and screaming and determined AI
officials fending off all allegations of mismanaging reservations.
Infact funnily, the AI desk officials kept blaming AI reservation
ppl for messing things up and telling us that they couldn't do much
about it since thats how its been since the past couple of years.
One of the AI officials mentioned that the whole overbooking saga
was going on for the past 7-8 days, but surprisingly they still did
not have hotels booked and they just kept using their strategy to
hold passengers in the airport until they got frustated and left on
their own. Suddenly we get rushed stating that we were delaying the
flight. To our surprise the flight is stated to be on time. So we go
thru immigration and then identify our luggages and finally make it
to the flight. It leaves as stated - i.e. at 8.15 AM. During the
flight, I fell sick with the previous days food. The moment we
landed, I was throwing up and had a very hard time keeping myself
hydrated. Go to the luggage claim area in london and after about 1
hour, AI official comes and says that they did not board some 20
passengers baggage. Guess what .... all the 20 ppl were from AI 131
flight. It was so ironic, that they did not board things like the
old lady's wheel chair. Can u imagine that ? After all this ....
they do that. Also, with AI, something else we learnt is there is no
compensation for your baggage if they do not arrive with you. I
tried to negotiate, but one of the AI london officials mentioned
that they would not entertain any requests unless the luggage was
lost for more than 48 hrs. Nice !!!

Thot I was done and so I went to the AI customer service and asked
for the 1 nite hotel stay that I was promised in bbay. AI flatly
refused stating that their responsibility ends in London. They do
not care anything beyond that. Infact this one lady in the AI
customer service was so rude and so insulting that I was amused if
this is what "Customer service" meant for AI. No other airline
counter had such rude officials. I decided to wait and speak to the
duty manager, who also refused but after he heard my traumatic story
asked me to stay there for a bit. This is like 3 hours since I
landed in London still trying to get something I was promised.
Finally, he took pity on me and decided to give me a room for a nite
and he was perhaps the only AI official who had backed his words
with some real action. I went to the hotel & crashed thinking I was
done with AI for good ....I was dreaming .... yes, I was. Next
morning, I reach Gatwick and presented my booking details to AA to
take my flight to the US. They see my booking and ask me for a paper
ticket. AI did not give me any paper ticket. They just gave me a
piece of paper and thats it. The reservation was a no go and they
asked me to buy a new 1 way ticket to Raleigh. At that stage, I
couldn't think of anything to do. But i remembered that my original
booking was a refundable, changeable ticket. So AA looked up my old
reservation and the lady at the counter did some magic and I made it
to the my flight to Raleigh. AA tried to trace my luggage, still no
information and I am still waiting for it after 40 hrs of my flight.

In this whole experience, the thing I was surprised (or rather not)
was the sense of accountablity in the AI employees. Its a true
government organization where there is no accountablity and everyone
is trying to push the buck onto someone else and run away from the
responsiblities. I pity the old parents, families with infants and
foreigners who get screwed and swindled with this kind of treatment.
The saddest part of my experience is the AI officials behaviours and
no sense of urgency to deal with our issues. It just seems to be a
every day issue at AI and I personally noticed so many people losing
their heads at the AI counters. After this experience, I have
decided that I am going to pay additional money and travel any other
airline but AI. They simply do not understand a passenger's or a
paying customer's plight after making them go thru such hell. Not to
mention how bad the AI website is to dig out any details. A nation
like India which is the world leader in IT, our national airline's
website sucks and doesn't get me any reasonable information.I just
felt that after this experience I need to let every Indian whom I
know in the US know about this. AI will not get off the hook this
easy. They need to learn a lesson and I am gonna put every effort in
trying to do so. I have refrained intentionally from naming
individual AI officials since I dont think that would help cause I
believe its an organizational issue and the attitude needs to change
from the top to bottom, just changing some officials will not make
this airline any better.
So adios AI .... national airline .... my ass.

-subhayu
"

Acquired Taste

2007-01-11T15:26:00.000-05:00

I really didn't like this movie much ... but my wife loves it ... sure enuff I've seen it eleventeen times by now and guess what ... I like it now - I can even tell you obscure trivia about the movie!
And then there was yoghurt - hated it a few years ago ... then went to a remote town in Korea (South of course!) ... yoghurt and tomatoes were pretty much the only veggie options available ... at it for 6 months ... ta da - love yoghurt now – even know how to make it!
And oh, didn't think much of cheese 10 years ago ... and then nothing happened! never traveled to France - was never locked away in a room made of cheese and never wanted to join the Cheesy Club (pun intended!) Guess what ... I still don't think much of it - some of them stink!

But then Cheese is an acquired taste dumbass! You have to ACQUIRE IT! … over time … slowly and with class, elegance and oh-so-pompousness …
Gah! What a bunch of crap!
Really don't buy into the notion of acquired taste – if you don’t like something you don’t like it – PERIOD!
Unless of course by some unavoidable circumstances you move to Korea, succumb to peer pressure, lose your olfactory senses, need to be called "classy", become blind or are desperate(in no particular order)

Funny part is – You only attach acquired taste with the supposedly "classy" Cheese, Wine, Havana, Scotch etc.
For everything else … you either like it or are allergic to it! God forbid I ever mention that broccoli is an acquired taste - no couture they say!
What Crap!

New Adventures of Old Fuji

2007-01-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

A lot of interest was generated from my random musings where I mentioned the two words ... "New Camera"
So in all fairness, I guess my time (of silence) ahem! has run out ... out with it you say? oh well ... (u know how secretive I am :P)

Its a tiny camera and not an SLR like my S602 but a Fuji nevertheless ... I searched and I searched ... and then I researched some more ... and finally found the Fuji F30 (quite by accident1) - sheer brilliance in such a small package ... something that I could carry with me wherever I went and also feel nice about taking pictures. some "high" lights -
- Super low light capablility (ISO 3200!)
- Exceptionally good battery life (required since its a proprietary battery)
- superb clarity
oh well I'm going to stop here - yo uknow where you can read the (rave) reviews and details!
Here are the recent pics *with captions* from the F30 ... since November 2006 i.e.

New Camera - F30

But then, I still am faithful to my S602 - and I have to confess that size does matter ... the larger lens in the S602 provides much more capabilities ... and crisper pics - prolly the only thing better woudl be a S9000Z - but then that would depend on Soumya wouldn't it ;)
the New adventures of old Fuji speak for themselves ...

New Adventures of Old Fuji

so that kinda summarizes the activity-list in the past couple of months ... inactivity here but active somewhere else :)

And then we jumped ...

2007-01-09T23:42:00.000-05:00

Titusville (in the vicinity of Orlando), the 27th of December 2006, Pranav and Dipti were taking the plunge (again) on their first aniversary ... and we joined in the celebration ... and jumped off a perfectly fine plane flying at 18000 ft at the SkyDive Space Center!!
Yes - we finally did it :) and wow was it fun ... it was sooooooooper ... if you cant already tell by the video :D
70 seconds of free fall ... and I mean free followed by 7-8 minutes of slow descent ... with the space center and the likes in the vicinity ... ah ...

Next time we're going to do it over some city ... Chicago or New York perhaps ...
until then ...

Skydive

Zoom Zoom

2006-12-23T09:49:00.000-05:00

All the power and still troubled by speed limits … frack!
The other day we were cruising in the TL (and I mean cruising) and cursing (that was me) at the horrible 65mph speed limit boards! And then it came to me …
for all of the speed enthusiasts, they should appoint one day in a year, one Sunday – when they can drive --as fast as they want--!
Think about it – all the pent up frustration of having a zippy car and not really being able to zip around – can be released – one Sunday in a year – that’s not too much to ask for … and we’ll learn to live by it like the daylight-saving time change date.

They could earmark certain critical sections as off-limits for emergency vehicles, airports, hospitals, buses etc. but all other freeways would be game for speeding – Insurance coverage would not be effective on that day or they could charge a super-surcharge for that one day.
If you don’t like driving fast, then don’t drive on that Sunday – stay home and watch TV, do the dishes, laundry or do whatever else that you do on most Sundays! simple.

That would be really cool me thinks … a brilliant idea … and Soumya did not say anything in protest either :) (which is saying a lot)
vrroom vrrrrroooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ...

Fast Car

2006-12-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

Whats my fav car? Hmmm … was thinking abt replying to Arvind’s post with this post and obviously I’ve taken my time (other things I assure you) … but here we are talking about my “wishlist of cars”. As the wise old man ( I mean Arvind) wisely mentioned that his list was made of cars that he would love to drive and own as well, coz he kept out the uber expensive Veyrons and McLaren-Merc’s … good thinking there. (I told you he's a wise old man)
So the cars that I would love to own someday –
1. Lancer Evo IX (I’m sure by the time I get to it, it would be a XII or XV)
2. Lotus Elise
3. BMW M3 (Of course I would want the M3 GTR but then that would be frivolous wouldn’t it!) (and oh if they “upgrade” the M3’s to new body styling, then all bets are off – will never buy those shitty looking cars)
4. Civic Si (the one I almost bought this year)
5. Audi S8 / BMW 750 iL (The E38 series) – tough call between the two

That’s pretty much it – not very different from Arvind’s list (am not surprised) – and dude thanks for including the TL in your list :)
OK if I’m going to be frivolous when I find gold treasures in my backyard (and after making sure that we have a big house, enuff savings for everyone, yada yada yada and still be left with a LOT of money) then … (and only then)
1. McLaren SLR (cmon – this is sheer engineering)
2. Ferrari FXX
3. Maserati MC12
4. Lamborghini - Murcielago
5. BMW M6
6. BMW M3 GTR
Oh man – this list can be quite long … I might even put in KITT from Knight Rider - so nevermind :P

scratch scratch

2006-12-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

vacations,
friends,
movies,
bowling,
put-put golfing (in the cold),
new camera,
drives (of course),
working out,
eating right and hence losing weight,
Orkut,
work,
christmas parties,
flying kites,
remote controlled air-planes (vich didn't last too long),
california for work,
putting the big bosses in a tight spot by asking them an honest question,
chatting with old friends,
music,
fruity loops,
ICICI,
half-life 2,
lyrics,
loans,
birthday parties,
shopping,
air-hockey,
Mind your language (the TV series - thank you Arvind),
making new friends,
LOTR (again),
Guru - the music (and waiting for Guru - the movie),
library,
debates on religious beliefs (and everthing else in general),
new comics,
battlestar galactica,
reflecting on humanity (how sick we really are)

... been over a month ... a busy month

Rape

2006-11-16T10:34:00.000-05:00

Somebody please please PLEASE help me understand what I am missing here!
According to the Hudood Ordinance enforced by dictator Zia in 1979, - "a rape victim is liable to prosecution for adultery if she fails to produce four male witnesses to her ordeal"

Wiki puts it as - "A woman alleging rape is required to provide four adult male witnesses of "the act of penetration", and if the accused man is Muslim, the witnesses must be Muslims themselves. Failure to prove rape places the woman at risk of prosecution for adultery, which does not require such strong evidence"

and today after more than 25 years when Pakistan is trying to get this ridiculously absurd law changed , some wonder why!!!
BBC says - The MMA parties boycotted the vote, saying the bill encouraged "free sex"

at this point I want to bang my head onto the monitor in hope of simply understanding ... "how?"

Rape is the extremest form of violation and these people are making a joke of the whole affair.
I just want to scream out loud - really really loud - coz at this point thats probably all that I can do! I'm feeling sick to my stomach!
are these people even sane? don't they have daughters or wives or sisters? If I was a woman in Pakistan I would just leave ... or if nothing else have a few of these MMA folks, nevermind that they are mostly men, raped ... and then left to heal ... and then raped some more ... and then produce 3 witnesses - not 4 - at the Sharia courts ... lets see how that feels ... to be slammed for adultery on top of everything else that happened!!
I'm sorry - I know that was an extreme thing to say ... even inappropriate ... but thats exactly how I am feeling right now!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

tell me I'm missing something and I've got all of this wrong ... please please please

one serving of culture please ...

2006-11-14T17:35:00.000-05:00

Was reading Charu's post on why sex is evil in India and from there hopped onto Harini's post that Charu referenced and there I read this comment which is so simple yet so profound
Sriram says -
"What i am amazed by is how people so surely and so exactly know what is their culture. When did the last edition of my culture come out? Are they selling it at Crosswords?"

I could never have put it so well.
Seriously! whats all the fuss about our culture ... unfortunately (and fortunately) - this loosely defined word is probably the only reason why we are still a country while being the reason for many of our problems today!

the best Actor

2006-11-09T14:00:00.000-05:00

This is always been a tough call where we grew up … India i.e. – if we were to go by popularity then it would be a close call between the ever-balding, Veerappan loving and “If you come today” crooning Rajkumar (that’s Dr. Rajkumar to a lot) and the rang-gaya-to-paisa-waapis, once a conductor (always a conductor … in buses i.e.), cigarette smoking, and tamilicizing every language Rajnikath (that’s Rajjini to many). Hey - lets not forget tathaiyya tathaiyaa Himmatwala, the haklya or running-over-people Khan and the rishte mein to Baap Big B.
OK Strike that … of all the above mentioned, Big B has always been the best … nevermind the Toofan’s, Ajooba’s or the recent abyssmal Mohabattein with Black and Karan johar sob storys! Amitabh was always one of the finest actors in India …
Of course when it really came to acting there was always Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher and Kamal Hasan although the latter is kinda sliding down a self-obsessed patha – still that does not take away any credit from his acting talents.

But the point I am trying hard to get at(about time) is that I think (or "I feel" for some of u out there :P) that the best actor in modern Hindi cinema is Boman Irani. Yes u heard that right … he is by far the best actor in India … in the true sense of the word.

Have been watching a lot of cinema of late (and even before) and this chap has never ceased to impress. There was a brief period when Boman promised to disappear as the next comic Anupam Kher, but then he bounced back with a wonderful myriad of roles – positive, negative, funny, sad, evil, lively … the list goes on. For the uninitiated - Being Cyrus, Let’s talk, Khosla ka Ghosla are some of his not so popular films – but he has shined nevertheless.
Coming to think of it – that has always been a problem with Indians … and Indian Cinema – Brilliant movies like Main Azaad Hoon, Guna(Tamil), Aakrosh and many others - never make it big – and then “stars” have to come back to making the same run-of-the-mill tune mere baap ko maara main tera khooon pee jaoonga and two babes, which one to choose types stuff!

Still … in recent times, and even after Don, I have to say that Boman Irani is the best actor in India right now. u could not possibly agree more!

nothing to write

2006-11-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

yet so much to say ...
am not feeling the urge to brain dump all the posts in my head.
Watched Borat. Splurged on NFS Carbon and Half Life 2 - have been playing for the past week now - more than worth the money. Watched "Bombay Calling" - nice documentary on the call centers in Bombay. Have been keeping up with BG Season 3 and after last week's stunning episode we watched the BG Miniseries all over again! Awesome. Have been Orkutting on and off ... discovered some more arty-farty pics of mine - will post some other time ... and hey - I think I finally figured out how to fly a kite - at least @the beach!

NH & Boston - Oct4-8 2006

2006-10-30T15:25:00.000-05:00

Had always wanted to see the famous fall colors @New Hampshire - so off we sailed away on Continental airlines to Manchester, NH. Slight mistake there ... it was supposed to Northwest ... but then due to bad weather on a sunny day in Houston, we were re-routed via continental and then re-re-routed to Delta ... nevertheless we finally made it to Manchester on time ... and about 7 hours late :) The rest of the trip was fun ... even the rental car was nice ... a Pontiac G6 GTP

The first moring we promptly woke up early and left the hotel by 10:00 am. Our first stop was the Lost River gorge ... nature at one of its surviving best ... not sure if it is apparent from the following pics but, the plants here grow on rock!!! or rather on the lichen that grow on the rock! Naturally such trees are not very tall ... but trees nevertheless ... nice!

Spent a lot of time driving @NH ... pulling off the highway for scenic views etc. - very very pretty landscape - although you kinda get used to it after a few hours ... kinda take all the vibrant colors for granted - duh!

That evening D had booked front seats to the BlueMan group show "How to be a Megastar 2.0" at Manchester - but that is another post altogether - to summarize ... the show was AWESOME! Thank You D :)

Next morning was @the Kancagamus highway which cuts across some of the most breathtaking views of the mountains ... we stopped for a few hours at the Flume Gorge ...amazing what all transpired during the ice-age!

We then took the Cannon Aerial Tramway which takes you up the mountains for some more colorful views ... this picture was my favorite - the tower on top of the mountain was frozen in parts and I thought this was the stairway to heaven ... of sorts :)

The evening was spent @the Conway Scenic Railroad which pretty much took us up and down the same road that we drove by!! quite a scam I must say ... but it was fun riding a train ... nevermind the fact that I could have run faster :)

Picked up Shaibal from the airport that night and moved to a motel closer to Boston. The next day was spent walking the freedom trail in Boston - now thats a city ... its got a pretty downtown and so much history unlike the oil riches & concrete in Houston ... we just loved walking around the city ...

Vinod and Roshni joined us in the evening and we had a nice dinner @Lil Italy in Boston and then talked about everything and nothing into the night.

Woke up early (again) for breakfast at 9am :) Vinod and Roshni unfortunatley had to leave shortly after ... so it was Shaibal, D and I who set out towards MIT and Harvard

Something inside me never liked Harvard for some reason ... we wont go into that right now ... but I was so sad to see that MIT had a boring campus while Harvard was a lot like Berkely ... everything was on the street - of course we were extremely lucky to bump into the Oktoberfest and we enjoyed walking around listening to live performances, eating samosas (on yes there's hajaar indian joints around Harvard - go figure) , and even having Kashmiri tea ... very very nice. This lady Mieka Pauley, is an cool singer ... stood there listening to her for a while ... will upload her live performance some other time ...

Memory Dump

2006-10-23T18:01:00.000-04:00

Lots of things ... been wanting to say some for a while now ... in no specific order

1. Battlestar Galactica is one of the best TV series ever ... scratch that - it is THE BEST TV series ever! Now I'm not really a "TV" watcher but I generally get to see the good ones and this series tops it all. Have seen the first 4 episodes of the 3rd season and OMG these guys are more than awesome ... nuff said - go watch it.

2. Golmaal (2006) was a really funny movie. I don't remember the last time that I watched a movie 3 times in 3 weeks! Funny thing is that I missed a lot of one-liners the first time around ... caught them with subtitles - LOL

3. Vishal Shekhar are superb musicians ... I would watch out for the "theme" songs in each movie album - they kinda freak out on those songs. "Get into my car" from Dus and "Golmaal Theme" are my recent favorites.

4. I'm stuck at one point in Prince Of Persia - The Warrior Within, and its frustrating that the Dahaka gets me for no fault of mine ... have tried everything ... except one move - will try that ASAP!

5. Need to pick up my Guitar more often - last night I played "Aadat" by Jal for some time ... love the song ... and really easy chords too - Cm Bb A Bb ... nice

6. Zubeen Garg has a very nice voice and makes good music too. Music for "Strings - Bound by faith" is superb ... his vocals on other soundtracks too is neat.

7. Got myself a 300GB HDD ... feels odd to have 100GB free space :)

8. Helped build a Childrens playgroud last Friday - along with 60 odd colleagues from work ... was a lot of fun ... lot of engineering ... and even more hard-work ... proud of myself. Discovered a few things ... mixing cement by hand is a hard task, a pitch-fork picks up more mulch in each scoop than a shovel does!

9. I still can't understand Iron Maiden - heard their latest album three times ... and I can't remember even one tune - Sorry Dr. J - either they're awfully monotonous or I'm Iron Maiden deficient ... I think I know your answer!

10 . Pyaar Ke Side Effects is a very nice movie ... unconventional but extremely funny ... mostly observational humor ... nice. I really like Rahul Bose but for me to rate him out there I would like to see him carry off a "gaon walla" role ...

11. Don ... why why why Shah Rukh Khan? Did he steal Farhan Akhtar's favorite chair? And I met like 3 people who adore SRK ... seriously - WHO are his fans?

12. Batman - Child Of Dreams was a nice book. The first half was superb ... the second kinda failed to keep the tempo tight.

13. Wolverine remembers everything now. Oh wait I think I already wrote about that earlier.

14. Ramayan Reborn is actually set in 3392 A.D. - the first book was very tight - loved it - read it three times already ... can't wait fot the next issue - and they even threw in a 12" x 30" poster inside the book - SWEEEEEEEEEEEET.

15. I worked out 12 times in the last 4 weeks (I was on vacation for one) - not bad me thinks.

16. Have been ignoring Fruity Loops for a while now ... need to pick up on that - or stop talking about it!

17. Have been Orkutting for the past couple of weeks ... kinda responsible for the time away from the blog ... interesting to find more of us (old old agnelites) out there ... but don't have access to Orkut from work ... can't decide if that is good or bad!

18. I think I finally know how it feels to fall out of a friendship ... can't say if it is because of the fact that we became friends fairly recently ... still ... I thot we were good friends (still think so) ... still hurts a lot. Have been wanting to dedicate a long post for all my friends ... some of whom I know for 22 years now ... will definitely do so soon. Just know that I love all you folks out there.

***end of memory dump***

Season's Greetings

2006-10-23T15:14:00.000-04:00

Happy Season to everyone ... I know I haven't been able to call/e-mail you ... but know that I thought of you :)

This awesome pic I got from Brij's post.

Map My India

2006-10-13T15:07:00.000-04:00

A Big thanks to Vipul for sending me the link to MapMyIndia

Yep, as the name suggests, its an online Map of the roads in India ... and a detailed one at that too. I've been playing around the website and the tool looks promising. A far cry from the measly bangalore map CD that we bought for 200 rupees!

Few quick comment
- the Maps looks very nice
- The Accuracy is not pin-point but it gets you in the vicinity
- The maps also include Landmarks and important-places - very handy
- Apparently online maps for India have been around for 2 years now!!! hmm ...
- Names of roads need to be consoidated - At many places two names appear ... hope this will kick-off some related and overdue activities as well
- The service is integrating (or already has) with other services as well - Mobile, GPS, etc.
- Thank You CE Info Systems (press release) This compay seems to be doing a lot of good work.
- Thank You Rohan Verma - the 21-year old Stanford student - who conceived this.

Nice ... Very Very nice.

Event or Game?

2006-10-11T15:53:00.000-04:00

Went to watch the Rockets vs Grizzlies pre-season game yesterday at Toyota Center. Now all of us (Agnelites) grew up playing Basketball - we love the sport - playing it and even simply watching the intense inter-disctrict matches in Vashi ... flood-lights and all ... those days!
Circa 2006 - Houston - NBA ... move aside cement court and flood lights ... enter glossy wodden floors you can use as a mirror and air-conditioned arenas with comfortable seats ... hmmmm - this promised to be intersting -
Half naked cheerleaders with silver pom-poms, the Houston-Rockets mascot (a bear thingie riding a segway), Floor dancers, Power dancers, kiss cams, move-your-booty cams, dance cams , extremely clinical breaks (there was some entertainment at every time-out!) ...

We were losing (despite the amazing start) and still all the show-baazi continued ... unabated ... the mascot dude was in the stands entertaining people even when there was just 3 minutes left to play and the competition was fierce! All these characters were not even watching the game ... even this large group of dumb-asses (read Rockets fans) - who never stopped screaming - the 2.5 hours that we were there!

So here I am thinking ... am I watching sports or an event?
Was the game interspersed by these "entertainment" activities OR were the entertainment activities interspersed by the game!
In this country I can't tell! ... And I don't know what to make of it ...

and in unrelated news ...

2006-10-10T18:06:00.000-04:00

the Yahoo Time Capsule is up ...
now what would I want to post here ...
what about you?

Mere Desh Ki Dharti ... aur Google Earth ka kamaal

2006-10-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

Just got back from a vacation in New Hampshire and Boston ... feeling quite lethargic to post anything ... and then I read this - "Google Earth aid for Maha farmers" - Farmers in Maharashtra used Google Earth to fight their case ... makes my day!
I can't take this huuuge smile off my face ... and just the other day we were discussing on the real "potential" in India ... but thats a discussion for another time.
Right now its the farmers and Google Earth ... yaay!

A weekend in India … or was it in Houston?

2006-10-03T14:04:00.000-04:00

Friday evening at the Meenakshi temple … full of people – desis – and everyone was in their blings … silk clad maami’s flaunting their gold and jewels … and sarees too. Mamas generally gawking here and there … or taking care of the babies! Oh yes Navratri was everywhere … the idols at the temple were prettier than usual … they had an awesome golu set up with a wide variety of dolls ... heck all the ladies at the temple got a free saree and everybody enjoyed live music and prasadam dinner! The temple looks much prettier at night too!
Must admit tho' that that the occasion was far cry from piety and meditation … it was a bling event and we accepted it for that.

These Radhe-Krisha idols have to be one of my most favorite idols if not "the" favourite ones on the planet! They were decked up in style :)

Saturday morning at durgabari. Move over 9 yard kanjeevarams and hello Bengali silk in your face, chubby faces, flowing hair, rolling r’s and more bling. Had no clue that there is a Durga temple in Houston … and so many Bongs too. Felt at home amidst all the Bongs … lots of memories … the dances at Durga Puja @Vashi in another life … Nandita Miss … Hindol … sigh … I digress! Getting back to the pujo – The idols were magnificent – the decoration superb - Just like the idols back home (altho they tell me that they are going to have a new set of idols next year coz a hungry rat ate the backs of some of these!!! Some appetite I say!)
The bhog (obviously) was extremely tasty – yum yum. We lingered around the place meeting lots of people … the only names I can retrieve from memory are Pinky and Tukur (Bong “pet” names Of Course) – lets not even venture into what their real names are! That’s a separate post altogether. So yes we “hung” around … watched an upcoming Bengali-rock band who played quite decently – never mind the dire-straits like sound … all in all a lot of fun … but we had other things to attend to and hence made our way back towards home … after 5 hours at the pujo. A big thanks to Oindrilla for inviting us and making us feel so comfortable at the event.

Evening rolled by and we prepared ourselves for the next item on the menu – ojheee raayyyy … yes it was dandia time … donned our kurtas and set off towards Reliant Park … little did we know that the venue for dandia at Houston is a Basketball stadium … a really really large one at that! Sure enough the floor was packed with desis … almost like we had crawled out of the woodwork to assemble here! Not only was the floor packed but even the seats (yes there were a lot of desis being desis and just watching the dance like it was some show or something! But we shall not get into that right now!) were packed. Un-frakkin-B-lievable! I have never seen so many desis in one place in the US – no not even in the Bay! And the thought that most of the Bongs were missing here (they would be at durgabari) and the Southies too (Navratri time at the temple) made me think – just how many desis ARE there in H! Like Soumya mentioned – theres one billion of us in India and prolly another billion spread across the rest of the world!
The dandia was awesome …the A/C and clean floor not withstanding :) I thought my legs were going to say enough and disassemble! Nothing like that happened (thankfully) and we limped back towards our cars after 2am … sweet sweet time we had.

In the line of Fire

2006-09-29T14:38:00.000-04:00

Now I don't even know what to think of Musharraf's new book. It promises to be interesting ... will wait and watch.

Happened to stumble upon this news on TV yesterday. Funny - I did not see it on Google news - not that it is important or anything ... but still.
Do I need to start watching TV?

2 things

2006-09-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

First - Thank you Sumona for forwarding this wonderful article. Its an old article (yes I'm classic) but its well written, albeit somewhat long. Nevertheless me liked it. Also, its been a couple of years of hearing "The world is Flat" - over and over ... I think its time to read and be done with it!

Second - Lightscribe - me like this technology a lot.

House Of M

2006-09-29T09:08:00.000-04:00

Now here's some good comics by Marvel. Had followed the books a while ago and am catching up with the different story-arcs following M-Day. Very cool stuff – a must read.

The Wolverine story-arc after M-Day has been a lot of fun to read … in case you didn’t know – Wolverine got his memory back … All of it!

And in related news, Framk Miller and Jim Lee are working together on "All Star Batman & Robin - The Boy Wonder" ... 4 installments are out (they're taking their sweet time) and I suspect another Hush/DK in the making ... nice!

e-Patience

2006-09-27T17:54:00.000-04:00

Heard this word for the first time today ... and I like it.
Now I've always lacked in the patience department but I think I'm really pathetic in e-Patience levels!
Still ... I like the word a lot.

Wonder if GnR had to rewrite their classic today, how they would word it? ... hmmmmm

Adobeman

2006-09-26T17:08:00.000-04:00

The TL is perfect … except (there had to be an except) that it does not play MP3’s. So even with the 6 DVD-A changer I could only have 6 audio CD’s of music :( … and then came Adobeman.
Some background – the TL plays DVD-Audio – I think it was the first car to support DVD-Audio. Now DVD-A is this high fidelity format which essentially plays music in 5.1 format – using up the 7 speakers + sub-woofer and all that good stuff. Unfortunately for me (there had to be an unfortunately of course) and for everyone else as well, this format is relatively new and not many albums out there in DVD-A format …. Funnily enuff – theres boatloads of western-classical stuff in DVD-A format. What gives?!!? Not that I have anything against western-classical but its definitely not the kind of music that I wan’t to hear when I’m driving. On the couch at home in the evening – maybe!
Was generally searching (like a lot of other TL owners apparently) the trenches of the internet to find a musical solution for the TL … (after all the sound system in the TL is soooo good) and lo behold! an entire forum for TL (and all other Acura models) owners dedicated to improving (and showing off) their rides. And in the “Audio, Bluetooth and Electronics” sub-forum (note the unnecessary detail) I find this Adobeman chap (Yaaay – I’m finally getting to the point)

Yep – Adobeman is his nick in the forum. And this Adobeman chappie wrote this program (if you know what I mean) to burn regular mp3’s in DVD-A format – not in 5.1 format but regular stereo format like audio CD’s – but lo behold … … … you can stuff more than 8 CD’s on one DVD!!!!!!!!!! Yes you read that right – like 500 minutes of music on a DVD. And oh, he just put the program up there … for free!

So I have the likes of 48-50 CD’s worth of music in my car – in 6 slots! good no :)
And I thought I was being biased, but a lot of ppl have confirmed that the same stereo songs somehow sound better in DVD-A format.

Thank You Adobeman (and people like you ) who make the world (and the Internet) a better place to live. God bless.

A Generation Awakens

2006-09-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

My favourite movie in recent times - Rang De Basanti - has been nominated for the Oscars.
Not that being nominated for the Oscar's is a great scientific or human achievement but to me it just shows that there is (more) hope for Indian Films.
I'm glad that run-of-the-mill-and-pain-in-the-hindside-flicks like Kank were sidelined. And yes I'm opinionated (if u didn't know that already). I just hope that Rakeysh Mehra and the others get their fair share of credit and that Aamir Khan does not steal the show!
I'm loving it ...

Safe ty

2006-09-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

Ok! Safety is a big thing at work … no really - it’s a huuuuuuuuge thing – and that’s awesome! They even have an ergonomic workstation evaluation for every employee … heck our tables are motorized so that you can adjust the height of the table! And then we have these safety meetings where we enlighten the rest on some safety topic.
Getting to the point (about time!) – One of the favorite topics is “kids and driving” … awesome topic – ppl generally talk about the ills of reckless driving, why safety-belts are so important, checking behind the car before you back up … stuff like that. And then most of these presentation generally mention the fact that DWI causes the most number of deaths … especially in teenagers and young adults. Why you really shouldn’t drink and drive.
I have to comment on this.

First off … I believe that it is NEVER fine to drink and drive … period! So if you disagree with me then don't waste your time (and mine) reading the rest ...
Now, I really don’t see any reduction in the number of accidents in the US (and the rest of the developing world) because of DWI. Why you ask?
Culture shift.
That’s what is needed … and I’m sorry to say – that’s not going to happen.
Why?
Picture this – 30000+ people watching a ball game – everyone’s enjoying … coke, nachos, chips, cookies interrupted only by the loud screams of “cold beeeeeeeeeeer”! Oh yes – I have seldom seen any moving carts for water or coke but the “cold beeeeeeeeeeeer” fellow walks by every 45 seconds … like clockwork! Sure enough everyone around us has a cool-looking beer bottle (and many more empty ones under the seat) and everyone is enjoying the “spirit” of the game!Correct me if I am wrong … if I were to count the number of people who reside in the stadium there wouldn’t be any! So we’re talking about 30000 odd people who are about to drive out of the stadium - at night - after the game … baseball, football, ice-hockey, basketball … doesn’t matter – THEY DRINK AND DRIVE OUT OF THE PARKING LOT OF THE STADIUM!

Oh yes there’s always cops outside the stadium. But for some inexplicable reasons, all that they do is direct traffic … oh no – the breath analyzers have disappeared mysteriously and hard-working cops are reduced to being traffic signs … hmmm!

I don’t understand why there is such a big hue and cry over safety and all the good stuff when such a glaring mistake is so conveniently overlooked … in the name of sports, music , entertainment … whatever!

But wait … I'm the doofus here! That is how it is supposed to done, no? It is impossible to see the curve of the ball traveling at 125 mph … unless you’ve had a few drinks. Of course! And don’t even try to listen to the delicate sounds of thunder … or Pink Floyd … at any concert - extremely dangerous without the complementary 12-pack! A fun evening at the park without alcohol you say?!!? … are you on crack? And chill - its only a couple of beers dude ... it tastes like piss and there's no hangover after a couple of hours. Its not whisky or rum. I can drive all night - no problem.

Bah! Stop the bus please … I need to get off!

American History X

2006-09-20T17:06:00.000-04:00

American History X
Thank You Sarat. Some more prodding from some of my colleagues and I took the DVD with me – sat in my hotel room in San Ramon and saw it. Very thought provoking. Very Very. Lots of things hit me … very hard. Immigrants … crime … poverty … justice – what’s right and what’s wrong? How would I think if I was on the other side of the fence … maybe I’ll get the chance in a couple of decades with all the India shining … I hope I do. Then maybe … I hope I don’t – I might not be able to accept the truth. I’m not sure – unity in diversity of India seemed good as long as everyone got their large shares … but the pie’s getting smaller with every day … it’s a different world … in just a couple of centuries … or less.
Some things that lingered … (not verbatim)
Immigrants/Minorities – they’re not here to embrace the country – they don’t really love the country like we do – they’re just here to take what they can. They don’t embrace – they exploit.
Why are most of the social problems in immigrant/minority communities?
Poverty really does not justify crime.

Now I don’t subscribe to hate ... or violence – Never. BUT - I am not in the same shoes now am I? … it’s so easy for me to give my two cents! (pun intended)

Ganapati Bappa Moriya

2006-09-19T17:07:00.001-04:00

Miss the festive air in Bombay … walking around Vashi visiting all the Ganpati’s … so much Prasad that we skipped dinner (almost!). Fun days those … going from sector to sector taking notes from the schedule of programs and movies and then embarking on the weekend night journeys - chaddar and all - for those all-night thingies.
This time it was an 8 hour drive from Houston to Arkansas – to Hemant and Madhu’s. Those guys had done an AWESOME decoration … hand made and all. Next Morning saw Hemant and me don our pandit avatars and do the pooja (I was being funny … much to Jo’s dismay ;) ) – but it was good fun. Unfortunately we had to leave in the evening as I had my flight back to San Ramon. But we did manage to pack a lot in the 24 hours or less that we spent.
Ganapati Bappa Moriya. (I know Dussera is around the corner now but the feeling still lingers :) )

blog block

2006-09-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

block blog ... blog block ... maybe thats doing its rounds along with the other crap going on around ... I thot it was just me - but mes amis Brij and Sarat too haven't been posting for a while now ... dunno ... just been this big lull ... ever since Sai ... may god rest his soul. and be with the loved ones missing him.
have been travelling a lot ... thinking a lot ... doing a bit ... working lots ... listening to some ... playing a bit ... driving some ... singing some ... reading some more ... lotsa movies - some fun ... some disturbing ... lots thought provoking ... reflecting . enjoying. thinking. ... living.
somehow did not feel like picking up the keys to post ... did it.
will weave thru in the next few days.

F.E.A.R.

2006-08-16T18:36:00.000-04:00

Awesome game ... completed it last week - either its a fairly short game or my shooting skills have improved dramatically! I suspect it is the former ;)
The gameplay is really cool ... ghosts pop up every now and then ... and even though the volume on my speakers was pulled low (simply because I play at night and don't want to disturb D :P), I must admit that more than once, I could feel the chill run down my spine!
Seriously!
I can not imagine how it would be to play the game in 5.1 suround sound ... and loud!
Now I need to play this multiplayer - wonder how that would be.

Smokies Attacked!

2006-08-15T00:16:00.000-04:00

6 6 6 ... and thereabouts ...
Still driving from Raleigh to Houston (we drove ... honest!), we simbly had to stop at the (great) Smoky Mountains. Heard, seen and read too much about it to drive by and not pay homage. While the Mountains are very pretty indeed, the following two pics are quite horrifying ...

The Balsam woolly adelgid (a bug for us engineer types) is pretty much eating away all the fir trees in these parts! All the white trees in the pics above - are dead! gone ... finito ... chole gacche - khallas! ... thanx to this bug! And if you're thinking that for once us homosapiens did not have a role in damaging nature ... think again. This stupid bug grows only in Europe and was "introduced" in the U.S. somewhere in the 1900's ... the poor trees had never been exposed to this creature and hence are defenseless! Dang it! And there are more of these immigrant bugs wreaking havoc - theres also the Hemlock Woolly adelgid.
Point to ponder - Wonder why these painful creatures have such difficult to remember names ... it might be easier to spread awareness if they were called "Balsam killer" or "Hemlock destroyer" or the likes ...
'Smokies terrorized by the Balsam killers' ... hmmm - me thinks that would hit the spot!

I pondered a bit on the shamelessness of man and whether we deserved to exist ... ... ... and then moved on ...

Moved on to capturing some of the fauna ... and flora in the mountains ... took my mind off things!

Apparently this log cabin is one of the oldest ever - very nice to see how they lived back then ... we took a walk in the woods behind and spotted a couple of deer ... but D was not too impressed with the cabin ... she insists that her place in Kittane is older and prettier! well ...

Outer Banks, the

2006-08-14T00:05:00.000-04:00

26 May 2006 ... and thereabouts ...
Before we left North Carolina, we simply had to visit the Outer Banks ... with all its history, light-houses and fun :)
Our initial plans of visiting the place with friends fell thru ven Arvind and Preethu had to suddenly leave for Japan and then we panicked about packing ... long story short - t'was just D and I at the outer banks.
The Wright Memorial ... on a windy , sunny and wonderful day we visited the site of the Wright brothers - where they played, worked and on one particular day - flew a plane! Very well documented place ... and a must visit for any plane buff!

This memorial is on top of the hill where they tested their theories of flight. The story says that they moved from Virginia to Outer Banks in NC because the of the soft sand here - ideal cushion for all the tumbling and falling!

My mug shots with the brothers ... guess which one is who (the one on the right is me!)

Now this intersting rope-a-majig is a firemans rope - or at least how they carried rope which could be launched towards junta in trouble ... no entangling here! neat eh?

The outer banks is also the land of the lighthouses ... Lots of stories ... one of which is that of Blackbeard (the pirate) was beheaded here! But even better is the story of this lighthouse - the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
OK brace yourself ... "Due to the erosion of the shore, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse was moved from its original location at the edge of the ocean to safer ground 1600 feet inland. Despite some opposition, work progressed and the move was completed between 1999 and 2000 in a massive operation." (courtesy Wiki)
Can you believe it!!! This giant Lighthouse was MOVED! I could not believe it even after I climbed the million steps inside to reach the top :P - from where I could see the path of the move! Unbelievable ... things that we do. More info on this

Well after all the history, geography, engineering and aviation lessons it was time to party -besides flying kites by the beach and walking on sand-dunes we went jet-skiing. I must tell you this - as much as it is fun, it is really hard to maneuver the jet-ski at 40 miles/hour - esp in choppy waters ... my arms were aching after an hour of riding - but the experience was awesome - would jump at the next chance.
And oh, out here they call the creek (khadi) as "sounds"! Don't ask me why ... but all the watersports happen in the sounds and not in the ocean. This one time I was thrown off the jet and I was hoping at having the experience of swimming in the ocean ... visuals from many movies flashed everywhere ... music too ... heroic swimming ... turbulent waters ... some sharks in the distance ... a couple of jellyfish being chased by an ugly octopus ... the sound of giant whirlpools sucking in large boats ... men screaming kayaka kayaka ... glimpses of a mermaid ...
Heck no! the sounds is basically an inlet with 4 feet deep water! I was soooooo disappointed ... swamked back (pretentious swimming in shallow waters)to the jet and tried to forget the incident!

Pittsburg

2006-08-13T00:06:00.000-04:00

10 May 2006 ... and therabouts ...
Shaibal's Graduation was over - it was time to head back for our own ... but we were in the vicinity of the famous Pittsburg Temple ... well we were about 7 hours away but still ... after having come so far - we had to visit this famous temple. From what I am told this was one of the first temples (if not the first) in the US ... built back in the 70's - wow! - what a time that must have been - most Indians in the area back then would have been the "truly" intelligent kinds ... not the have-degree-will-goto-us types
There were these B/W picture of a groups of people (bell-bottoms and all!) at the temple site (back the 70's) ... and I wondered how many of those would have been the IIT/IIM/PhD types (Not that IIT'ians and IIM'ites are demi-gods or something but at least back then they represented the intellectual cream of the country ... IMO)
While the temple itself is very pretty, both D and I found the Venkateshwara idol extremely pleasing ... maybe we were travelling "off-season" but the temple was empty ... and very very peaceful. Felt very nice to see the tall idol ... very soothing ... like how temples are supposed to be - brought back memories of countless hours with Sarat, Brij and Gujju sitting at the "balcony" of the sector 10 Venkateshwara temple ... before it was completed and became super famous! serene times those ...
we moved on!

Pittsburg City - very pretty indeed - would love to go back someday and explore all the things that the city has to offer ... this shot was taken from a museum of sorts on top of the hill ... there was this trolley/cable car thingie (u can see it in the bottom of the pic) for better viewing as well ... next time maybe

Next stop was Palace Of Gold - to experience a fraction of the beauty of this place (and better pictures), you can take the virtual tour here.
Now this place was prolly built at the peak of the ISKCON org and you can see the amazing display of beauty and extravagance(?) - This palace is etched in gold, and rare stones and all the stained-glass work has been done by the devotees of Shri Prabhupada.
The drive to the palace is exquisite - in that it is remniscent of roads in India - winding, steep, narrow, rugged and at times single-laned roads! And the fact that the palace is on top of a hill compounds the driving and viewing pleasure. A must drive!
A big thanks to Arvind & Preethu for telling us about this wonderful place. This place even has an ashram/guest-house of sorts ... would love to stay there for a couple of days.

And altho we had planned to stop over @DC for a couple of days, we drove back home instead - lest we miss our own graduation :)

Graceland

2006-08-11T00:02:00.000-04:00

Ah - the King's place ... finally.
Yep - on our road trip from Raleigh to Houston - this was a planned pit stop ... and boy were we glad we stopped!
My first impression on seeing the mansion from outside was "Thats all?!?" - I thought it was very small and had a sinking feeling that the $80 worth of tickets was not going to be well spent.
But thank god I was wrong :) ... Graceland is huuuuuge - appearances really are deceptive and its amazing to get a glimpse of how the King lived and how he spent his money :)
Some pics from the experience ...

I know its obvious that this is a closeup of the sleeves on one of the many outfits (jump suits) that the King adorned! But I would like to show off the fact that it was very tricky foto to compose - given the dim museum like lighting ... and without a tripod (vere have we heard that before) ... and I wanted the King's face in the background :)

One of the many rooms at Graceland ... loved the Peacock glass-work and the glass objects on the side.

The roof was mirrored - excellent opportunity for a picture me thought :) If we look funny its ONLY because of the headphones that we are wearing - came with the audio-tour!

The game room ... just loooooooved the ceiling on this one!

All the platinum records of the King ... in fact just a fraction of them!

Graceland!

One of Elvis' many cars ... kept in the Car Museum adjacent to Graceland

One of His guitars ... really loved the Ivory etching on the fret-board ... and the designs on the body as well (needless to say - very difficult cough cough foto to take in dim lighting!)

The King and I.

I think I'll make a Tee with the background - they had a lot of these pics throughout the place ... but none for sale in the million shops around! hmmm - I guess they need an MBA ;)

The trip brought back a lot of fond memories ... of school, college, engineering ... all the recordings (shhh), the dancing and general TP.

Graduation Day

2006-08-10T00:18:00.000-04:00

13 May 2006 ... graduation Day ... there HAS to be a mention of this day ... nevermind the tardiness!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay its over! As you can see, D and I are happily throwing our caps in the air ... but we wouldn't have made it to the event despite the big money that we had to shell out for that cheapda gown! A big thanks to Navin (who drove 400 miles to attend the event), Sarat, and J who gave us moral support (and push) to go to the event! After attending Shaibal's graduation ceremony at Kelley, all the excitement of the ceremony had fizzled away ... we would rather have slept that morning :)

But we're glad we went for the ceremony - nevermind the fact that we were standing in the basement for 2 hours and had to wait for half a billion undergrad business school kids after us ... still was a happy event :) - as you can see from the smiling faces!

p.s. I have to add that the graduation gown for masters is a very peculiar one ... it has long sleeves which are closed at the end! very very peculiar!

Khoon Chala Translation

2006-08-09T09:57:00.000-04:00

Its been a while since I posted the english translation for Roobaroo ... well that was pretty much a prose Xlation as I had stated - now its time to translate Khoon Chala - an equal favourite from the movie.
This song is so special ... everytime (and I mean each time) that I see this song, a chill runs down my spine and my hair stand on their ends!
A combination of
violent-visuals
angry-poetry
soft-music
and a dreamy voice ... a lethal combination!
And poetry this is - and I must admit that there is no way I could have translated this song like this - the following has been taken from the Rang De Basanti DVD.

kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
Our blood is raging ... It is flowing through the streets But It wont go in vain

aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
Our eyes are blodshot for a purpose ... A cause we will attain

badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
It fell from our bodies ... Embraced the earth

galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
Went winding through the streets. A river of courage ... it surged and swept

naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala
It flowed to make a new beginning

khuli-si chhot lekar, badi-si tees lekar ahista ahista
From gaping wounds, and gashes large ... it oozed slowly and steadily

sawaalon ki ungli, jawaabon ki mutthi
While the pointing fingers, got fists in reply

sang lekar Khoon chala
yet, our blood was raging. It flowed not in vain but with a reason

kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
A cause we will attain

aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
Our eyes are blodshot for a reason. A cause we will attain

badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
It fell from our bodies ... Embraced the earth

galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
Went winding through the streets. A river of courage ... it surged and swept

naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala
It flowed to make a new beginning ... Yet, our blood was raging

khoon chala
Yet, our blood was raging

It is very interesting to hear the directors comments on the song ... on how he had initially thought about the shots and how they turned out ... how he based the scene on the Mandal commission and how students pretty much brought down a government ... very captivating stuff.
Needless to say ... this is one of the best movies ever "."

A night in San Francisco

2006-08-08T19:57:00.000-04:00

"Its a long drive but what the heck ... I'm here after more than 2 years and I'm going to make the best use of my time after work. Shut up - Clean up and leave ... its always fun to see San Francisco at night."
The pep-talk I gave myself ... the evening of July 20. It'd been a long day at work and I had to take the early morning flight back to Houston - I'd already spent the previous two evenings in the whereabouts of San Francisco - nevermind the 60+ min drive to SF from San Ramon! Something was dragging me back to the city - was it the convertible? nah - the Mustang was a "strictly OK" car ... a far cry from my TL! this was something else ...

So I hopped in the car ... vroom vroom (the Mustang does make a lot of noise - compensating for the lack of power?) ... drove into the setting sun
It was after 10 when I reached the Palace of Fine Arts at San Francisco ... the structure looked stunning at night (as always) but wait - tonight I had my camera with me ... heh heh.
The palace was really quiet (what do you expect after 10pm) - and not a soul in sight - kinda scary too - but I set about - finding trash cans and other resting places for the camera as I had OBVIOUSLY forgotten to get my tripod! (hey - I did buy one! honest.)
pretty pretty pretty ...

I know!
And then I noticed the drumming and the moving lights ... something or someone was moving inside the palace ... the sounds of the drums ... flash flash - thats sounds like the opening of the "Remember the Time" video (Michael Jackson's Dangerous album, in case you're struggling) ... but why are the lights moving ... and then I heard what sounded like laughter and clapping!
gulp.

I looked around ... expensive cars ... really really expensive houses ... boats in the distance What the heck! I'm sure this place is safe! So I mustered all my courage (and I mean all of it) and tiptoed towards the entrance of the palace ... now this side of the Palace is really dark but the drumming kept getting louder and faster (maybe the faster part I imagined but definitely louder!) Of course this walk was peppered with glances over my shoulder and my ready to run posture (hey - my camera looks expensive - nevermind that its 4 years old! ... and I'm red-blooded - watch movies and read the news!!)
Nothing happened ... I kept on ... and Now I was in the light of the Palace - I was breathing slower - the music was echoing everywhere and my mind was racing like crazy, trying to imagine what I might see at the turn - under the rotunda ... rituals maybe? (a la da-vinci code), illegal "stuff"? (too many movies!), a movie shoot(this is california for cryin' out loud!) ... Will they allow me in? Will they let me leave? Will I ever see daylight again? ...

I finally made the turn ... and froze!

From what my brain could process ... my eyes were transmitting images of about 20 people ... dancing - in a circle ... around a group of men in the centre ... the men in the centre were chanting something - no wait a minute - they're saying something - no they are laughing - they are playing drums ... and these dancing people - they are dancing with fire!!
what the ?!!?

Oh my god - they are dancing with fire ... they see me walk in with my camera - they're not stopping ... no cops ... no security guards approaching me either ... looks like I'm permitted to be here - hmm - so much for all that creative thinking!

The first few minutes were awkward - you know that feeling - when you accompany your friend to an unknown "friend of your friend's" party - the feeling that maybe you should not have come to the party uninvited - and heck you don't know anybody out here! But a couple of warm smiles and nods later I felt comfortable - these people didn't care - they were focused on having fun!

These people were having a ball (you'll see what I mean) - it was almost like a fire-dancer's casual meeting ... they were showing off their skills - and having so much fun. They were holding some kind of metallic ball and chain assembly - only the metallic ball was on fire! This one dude standing next to me - so unassuming and nonchalant - smiling and watching everyone else ... normal ... but once he picked up a couple of those fiery thingies - he transformed into one of the star performers!

Truly amazing experience. California is such a lovely place ... full of wonderful crazy stuff ... had the choice to move there but I guess without the friends, the bay would not have been any fun.
Getting back to the dance :) - I captured ((tried to)) some of the dances on video - but I must warn you - the video is a far far really far cry from the visual experience that night.

Buzzing with excitement and all wired up I bid adieu to the dancers and drummers who seemed like they were getting ready to wrap up themselves ... and continued my journey ...
On my way out I had to lie down on the ground with my face a few inches from the grass to take this picture - the tripod would have been perfect but well ... thats life! The Palace of Fine Arts is really a very pretty place to be ... definitely during the day and after this experience - at night too :)

dusted myself - made the walk back to the car - this time it was not so scary - I was still abuzz with all the excitement and fun that I had witnessed.

and then I caught her as a fleeting glimpse in the distance ... how could I come this close and not pay homage to the golden beauty herself!

decided to picture her from a different angle this time.

By now it was almost midnight and my senses (cmon - I'm sure theres at least one sensible one!) were beginning to prevail - It was a long drive back to the hotel and a long flight too ...
got in my car slamed on the gas
bumper to bumper the avenue's packed
Thanks Vanilla
Kept the rag-top down BTW ... so the hair can blow ... ... ...

Have always wanted to picture this bldg ... still don't know what it is - I'm guessing its the court-house in Frisco - pretty bldg - never got a chance before to pull over for a pic...

The music was playing really loud ... there was a nip in the air ... the rag top was pulled down ... and I was driving - and smiling ... at the whole experience - I may never know who those people were or our paths might cross again ... but I'd like to believe in the former ...

a special night in San Francisco - with the fire dancers!

Sweet.

The Devi sold-out!

2006-08-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

No this is not about goddess worship … well … in a strange kind of way it is! Thanks to Sarat for pointing out Virgin Comics and their latest avatar where they have roped in the likes of Shekhar Kapur, Deepak Chopra and John Woo to create a unique brand of comics – yes comic-books. The first releases have been from the Devi , Sadhu and Snake-woman stables.

This weekend I tried getting the books themselves and lo behold! – the Devi is sold-out! Hmm … that is good. I hope these books become a hit ... esp. in India. But hey, I managed to get a copy of the first issues of Snake-Woman (Shekar Kapur) and Sadhu (Deepak Chopra) and I must say that I was quite impressed by the story telling and the art-work.
But before I go into a dissertation, and while we are on the topic of art-work, I MUST mention this or my head will explode! The art-work in some of these books is absolutely stunning and that is just the beginning … I am eager eager super eager to lay my hands upon the fist issue of Ramayan Reborn – While I’m a bigger fan of the Mahabharata epic, the sneak previews of this book are mind-blowing – not just the art-work. They have the free sneak-preview of some of the books online - including a 17MB pdf

And before I drift away, I must mention the two guys responsible for all this (and more) – Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman – yep these are the guys who started Gotham comics – both dudes with BFA’s from the US and very impressive experiences … I MUST meet these guys someday – and who knows … maybe even work at Gotham – how cool would that be!
Getting back to the books – The Sadhu is set in colonial times – another way of saying that would be – “when the British ruled over India!” … and about a British-soldier – James – and I won’t spoil the story … go buy it – its only 2.99 in issue! The Snake-woman, as all of the Nagina/Nagin fans would quickly understand is about Sreedevi – oops I mean a snake-woman! Nice story telling there!

Can you tell that I am excited :)

2006-08-05T23:39:00.000-04:00

arkansas river

A long time ago

2006-08-04T17:29:00.000-04:00

Kihim beach - circa 1995 - Sarat, Lalit and myself ( L to R) ... posing with the ball while Gujju took the picture with a point-and-shoot (analog) camera ... nice ... very nice.

A long time ago ... or was it? Time is such a cheat. Your mind decides on a time and simply sticks there ... you never go too far away from there.
1992-1997 does that to me ... seems just a few years ago but its almost 10 years gone at best and 15 years on the other side! Unfreakinbelievable!!!
9th grade thru 3-4th year of engineering ... the formative years as they say ... Still can remember the times like it was 2-3 years ago - wonder when my mind will shift to a relatively newer time-period ... sometimes I wish it never does. But then I'm sure our kids would get bored to death listening to all our stories ... I'm sure D is already fed up ... so is Dipti, Sally, Magi, Aparna and other wives ... or its just a matter of time I guess! ;)

Is it due to the fact that most of my friends I've known since I was 8? 20 years is a long time and we have grown up together ... and stayed together - am not sure if this is common - but I sure am glad that it happened to us ... and That deserves a separate post!

Missing … Everything but the Girl

2006-08-03T16:23:00.000-04:00

Cities in the rearview ... The trees are tall … and green - the engine screams –it wants me to know that its working hard – trying to keep up. The summer smell – fresh fresh mountain air – bikers biking (they must be crazy?) … these curves – they never end. I see the blue sky – at the cusp of crimson … the ragtop pulled down - I’m loving the wind howling around me
I'm walking down your street again and past your door
But you don't live there any more
It's years since you've been there
But now you've disappeared somewhere like outer space
You've found some better place
And I miss you - like the deserts miss the rain
And I miss you
I push the knob – L O U D – disturbs the peace of the mountains … do excuse me while I drown the sound of machine and fly … and I’m missing you.
Signs of La Honda are blurred, and those with white boards with numbers on them – maybe I should pay attention to the signs – but I’m ecstatic to be back on your back … rolling and gliding on your curves … the horses in the mustang respond nicely – could I please go faster … please … please … and the white board acknowledges … sweet – ROAR.
Back on the train
I ask why did I come again?
Can I confess I've been hanging around your old address?
The years have proved to offer nothing since you moved
You're long gone
But I can't move on
And I miss you - like the deserts miss the rain
And I miss you - like the deserts miss the rain
And I miss youI catch a glimpse of the ocean but the mountains quickly step in – I stop breathing as the clouds suddenly cover us – jealous of the mountains? maybe … the lights kick in but it doesn’t matter – we’re flying now … and I miss you.
Its chilly but I don’t notice … I’m in the clouds … almost crying … you see me as you drive back towards civilization – crazy man … maybe … but I don’t care – I wanna scream – above the winds and the song in the air – I miss you.
Hills everywhere – blocked by the ocean … or is it the other way around? I don’t care – I hear the water but the clouds are jealous … I imagine clear blue skies drowning into the water on a sunny afternoon – not so long ago … or was it a dream … I miss you … Its chilly … and eerie … I feel the water everywhere but I can not see it … the lights are useless … And I miss you.
I ask why did I come again?
Can I confess I've been hanging around your old address?
And I miss you D.

Route 1 - part 1

Route 1 - part 2

Lyrics of song "Missing" by 'Everything but the Girl' from album - "Amplified Heart"
Video clips recorded on 20 July 2006, while driving in a Mustang Convertible, on Route 1, California

My God

2006-08-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

My God - Have been wrestling with this thought for I can not remember how long …
Was having tea with D yesterday … casual chat … conversation wandered on the discovery of what look like lakes on Titan and how the topography of Titan looks a lot like that of erstwhile Earth. Quite obviously, we speculated about life on Titan and that not all life does not have to be carbon based and that there may be life-forms which may be at ease at 290 degrees below 0 Farenheit. The human body is not (most definitely) the optimal design for most situations!

And as usual I went into my zip-zap-zoo-hoom phase-out mode … for the uninitiated it’s the mode when I look at the large(r) picture ... really really large picture ... and then all my problems become inconsequential … I see myself in my chair and then I begin zooming out - home, city, country, planet, solar system, milky way, andromeda galaxy (don’t ask why), all the galaxies , the universe … pitch black … and then I say – “The universe is infinitely gigantic but still we cling on to our religion, our god and our problems as if they were the most important thing in the world – when really we are just on Earth which is one infinitesimal fraction in the grand scheme of things. Our Gods, our holy books, our religions and their leaders, our wars (for peace) … they all presume that there is nothing beyond Earth.” And then I told D that all these crazy fanatics fighting and bickering over god & religion today – if they just took a minute to think about the size of the universe and how small we really are – they would probably drop their weapons and make the best use of their remaining time (one would hope). But maybe I’m fooling myself … I don’t know.

The simple fact that religious books mention Gods talking only about us humans (on Earth) and worse – about specific countries (India, Egypt, Israel etc.) let alone cities within each, are a clear indication of our dreadful narrow-mindedness. We are expected to believe that God is bothered only about a piece of rock on the third rock from the sun! Surely we must be mad to even propose such blasphemy – let alone be fanatic about it. But guess what … I look around and that’s a lot of what I see … senseless … a horrible waste of life … and time! And oh – we pamper ourselves by calling ourselves “intelligent life”.

A couple of quotes
“If we are alone in the universe, what a terrible waste of space” – Carl Sagan
“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." – Calvin

And oh – if you don’t forward this to 10 people, then the gods of lightning (of planet Earth) will strike you and you will go to hell (which I’m guessing is a burning-raft in the Bermuda Triangle, since no one has lived to tell!).
Amen.

Standards – Masters (MS/MBA), Golf, Engineering

2006-08-01T10:59:00.000-04:00

Monday morning – the usual niceties – “How was your weekend”, “I hope next weekend is not as hot as this one”, “God! I hate Mondays”, “My handicap is …” … and as usual everyone smiles and nods acknowledging and NOBODY listens.
How mechanical and how boring. (And before I forget where I was going with all this), so much is simply taken for granted - Everybody (almost) gels their hair, gets an engineering degree (in no particular sequence), learns how to play Golf (sporty!), does an MBA, looks smart, drinks wine (culture I say), has an opinion on cheese (even the smell of it!), comments on Iraq and of course is a self appointed “Weather expert”.
So my point is (finally!) if you’re anyways expected to do all these things then does it even make sense to do it?

The other munday I overheard a couple talking about their weekend and how it was perfect for playing Golf and how they had handicapped themselves (or whatever it is that golf playing “sportsmen” suffer from!) … and I'm thinking – I could have had that same conversation without ever having lifted a single club(of golf)! Nobody ever asks me whether I play golf or not – its expected that all of mankind does it … just like breathing in and out. Same with drinking beer, getting an MBA (in no particular order), or knowing the weather.
Then why even spend time doing all these things. There seems to be no value – perceived or otherwise – and no excitement either! I remember a conversation not so long ago where we were discussing on how a Ph.D will be the norm – it will be the Masters Degree of today - not too much into the future. We’re all about standards – and I’m not sure if I like it.
Might as well start my training on fly-by-flapping-really-fast.