vyarth gyaan saagar

The Last Post

2011-10-12T21:52:00.000+05:30

I have decided to wind up this blog. Though the essential nothingness of my humdrum existence remains, there simply aren't enough unenlightening insights to write about. Or maybe I am too busy, with an increasingly naughty daughter on one hand and my exponentially growing passion for photography on the other. As with my earlier Rediff blog, I shall collect some of the better posts and include them in the literature section of my website (which too may undergo some changes soon). Meanwhile I shall continue my travel blog on tripr, at least as long as my new found love for the outdoor life continues. My sincere thanks to all those who followed this blog, commented on my posts, or just read what I had to say

A Few Stray Thoughts

2011-08-14T14:06:00.001+05:30

With apologies to the late Busybee, here are a few stray thoughts and a few general opinions and a few points of view (all my own work):

The BCCI have to take the blame for the unfortunate mess our test cricket team finds itself in. Though the captain refuses to speak out against the powers that be, for fear of losing the position that brings him so many millions in endorsement fees, it is a fact that the board has treated the players worse than beasts of burden. Overworked and underprepared, the team finds itself being breakfasted on by the English lions, who have added insult to injury by also grabbing our world number 1 spot

Our press, from GOP mouthpieces to saffron supporters to pinko papers, have either been unable to figure out what ails the Empress of India or are afraid to report it honestly. I myself have no doubt that the US hospital where she underwent surgery was the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, as some papers had initially reported. That the Congress Party has issued a denial only confirms my belief. No wonder Gandhi family loyalists are suddenly in a tearing hurry to crown the Little Prince

Speaking of the Little Prince, I enjoyed Arnab "The Great Bong" Ray's article titled "The Boy Prince Holdeth the Great Sword" in the Sunday TOI. You can also read the unedited version on his blog. Arnab got it spot on when he said that the Prince has spent his entire political career doing PR stunts, like sleeping in Kalavati's hut or touring places in the news where he knows the press will follow him, like Bhatta Parsaul during the land aquisition protests, but doing absolutely nothing of any true significance

Shammi Kapoor, who passed away today, was certainly not the most talented thespian from the Kapoor family but one can say without doubt that he was the most sincere. This sincerity was not limited to his acting career but also extended to his activities as the founder and chairman of the Internet Users Community of India (IUCI)

The controversy over the release of Prakash Jha's film "Aarakshan" highlights the struggles that filmmakers, writers and other creative people are facing in an increasingly intolerant Indian society. What use our Independence, the 64th birthday of which we celebrate tomorrow, if we have no Freedom and every creative work needs to be cleared by the self-styled guardians of Dalit, Muslim or Marathi swaabhimaan (you could replace any of these words with the name of any Indian caste, religion or state)

Google+ v/s Facebook

2011-07-13T23:12:00.000+05:30

After Orkut and Buzz failed to capture the imagination of the worldwide Web users (with the exception of a few million Indians and Brazilians), Google has made another foray into social networking with Google+. Currently undergoing a limited field trial, Google+ has impressed early users like yours truly, mainly with its clean design and the unique feature of selective content sharing

The home page is like the early Facebook home page but seamlessly integrates with other Google services like Picasa, Buzz and Gtalk (no apps or games right now, though). You can see your own "posts" and that of your contacts in a continuous "stream". The difference starts with "circles" into which you can organize your contacts. Circles can include family, friends, acquaintances or custom groups

Sure, even FB lets your arrange friends into "lists". But the killer advantage Google+ has over FB is that you can choose which circles should get to see which posts. This is something that FB does not support, at least not in a straightforward way. Also you can restrict a post to just a single person, which makes is similar to sending a message on FB and that too without going to another page to do it

Another feature - which I haven't tested yet because I don't have a webcam - is of one-to-one or group video chatting, with the "Hangout" option of Google+. Hangouts also enable you and your friend(s) to watch YouTube videos in the middle of your chat. If other bloggers and articles are to be believed, hangouts could even be useful for business video conferencing (provided all parties have webcams)

Finally Google+ also has a feature called "Sparks" that enables you to store keywords related to things that interest you, for example, cycling, films or flower photography. These then allow you to access related content from across the Web with a single click, which saves you the trouble of typing the words in a Google search box and hitting Submit (for that is what Sparks seems to do in the background)

All in all, Google+ has made a good first impression and looks set to become the Facebook killer it aspires to be. Since my FB "friends" number in hundreds and not all of them need to see everything I post or share, I may switch over to Google+ for the greater control it gives me over my content. But it may take a while for my friends to join, given the fact that entry to Google+ is "by invitation only"

The Ilaanita Chronicles: Episode I - Good Morning

2011-07-09T10:45:00.000+05:30

It is 4 am on a dark Mumbai morning, which is just like any other dark Mumbai morning. Ilaanita rolls over to her right side and mumbles in her sleep. 4 am is apparently a good time to roll over to your right side and mumble in your sleep, since this what Ilaanita does at 4 am on every dark Mumbai morning. It is also what she does at 4 am every not-so-dark Imphal morning because 4 am in Mumbai is 4 am in Imphal, thanks to the enforced uniformity of Indian Standard Time. Never mind that the sun rises over Imphal a hour and a half before it rises over Mumbai

But we digress - this is the story of Ilaanita. That is not her real name by the way. It is what she would call herself if she could put 4 syllables together. But she is not quite old enough to put more than 3 syllables together, so she just calls herself Ila. In any case, what she would call herself if she could put 4 syllables together is quite close to what her parents had named her. And what she actually calls herself is quite close to what her parents actually call her most of the time. So at the end of the day, both Ila and her parents are happy

But this is not the end of the day, it is early morning, 4:02 am to be precise. After exactly 2 minutes of lying on her right side, Ila rolls over to her left side and giggles in her sleep. Now giggling in her sleep after rolling over to her left side at 4:02 am is not something Ila does overy morning, mind you. Some mornings, she smiles in her sleep. On other mornings, she gently laughs. On yet other, rather rare mornings, she lets out a hearty guffaw. But today, she just giggles in her sleep. For another 2 minutes, all is quiet in Ila's room

Well, her room too - now. As a matter of fact, it was her parents' room - before they became her parents. As another matter of fact, it was her father's room - before he married her mother and gave himself any chance of being her parent. As yet another matter of fact, it was the room of Raju carpenter - when he was part of a team that worked on site to furnish the house. Well, it wasn't really his room but with Ila's father not being around to supervise the work except on weekends, Raju felt he was was well within his rights to make it his room

But enough matters of fact, the fact remains that Ila now rolls over on to her back. She mumbles uncomfortably for some time and then falls back into a fitful sleep for about 5 minutes. The fitful sleep grumblingly complains that she is too heavy to fall into it and should get up. Around 4:07 am, she does get up and sits on her mattress. She looks around the room, which is dark except for a small night light kept on to comfort, reassure and inspire her to lie down again and go back to sleep. Morning after morning, the light fails to do its job

Can't blame the light really, whoever designed it certainly didn't design it to be inspiring. Kitschy, even inspired perhaps but definitely not inspiring. The heart shape was a good touch, many great Baby Night Lights are heart shaped. But the three tiny points of blue, green and red light within that heart shape certainly weren't. There is nothing inspiring about a troika of mismatched colors shining together in the darkness of a room at 4:07 am on a dark Mumbai morning made darker by drawn curtains that keep out the golden rays of the street lamps

Ila looks up at the bed where her father has been sound asleep for many hours. Her mother, poor thing, has just gone back to bed at 3 apm after spending 30 minutes rocking Ila to sleep after her second feeding of the night. Now both feeding bottles kept near the mattress are empty and any attempt to make Ila fall asleep again would involve filling one of them with a backup dose of milk kept in a steel glass atop the computer table, while at the same time rocking her to stop her crying at the top of her voice, meaning both her parents would have to wake up

On an ideal morning in an ideal world, Ila would have taken pity on her poor mother, laid herself down again and sung herself back to sleep. But this is not an ideal morning in an ideal world, it is a dark Mumbai morning, which is just like any other dark Mumbai morning. And Ila is not quite old enough to take pity on her poor mother or any other poor person for that matter. So she does what she does around 4:07 am on every dark Mumbai morning. She cries. A few gentle sobs at first, which build up into a heart rending whine that in turn grows into an almighty howl

Ila's parents do that they do around 4:07 am on every dark Mumbai morning. They wake up

Book Review - The Immortals Of Meluha

2011-06-25T20:05:00.002+05:30

IIM-educated Amish is not a great revisionist historian - his Meluha (which, in his words, "modern Indians mistakenly call the Indus Valley Civilization") is far too technologically advanced to be believable. Yes, archaeological evidence from Mohan jo Daro does suggest that there were private bathrooms in the cities of that period... but can you imagine taps and bathing soap in 1900 BC? He is not a great paleogeologist either - even believers in the "Ghaggar as Saraswati" theory cannot digest his hypothesis that men, rather than nature, diverted a large tributary like the Yamuna eastwards to join the Ganga, killing the ancient river of the Vedas. He is not a perfectionist - the dialogues of his debut novel are peppered with modern words like "India" and "BC", which seem as incongruous as continuity gaps in an otherwise authentic period film

But in spite of all these flaws, one has to admit that Amish definitely is a great storyteller. The tale of the uncouth Tibetean tribal leader named Shiva, who becomes famous all over the land first as "the Neelkanth" and then as "a Mahadev", is exciting, suspenseful and fast-paced, making “The Immortals of Meluha” an unputdownable read. The way Amish blends ancient history, myth, philosophy, modern politics and everyday wisdom to come up with a coherent, if somewhat half-baked, narrative is certainly admirable. Many modern Indians will immediately sympathize and empathize with the hero who is fed up of his tribe's pointless existence in a land racked by political violence, and seeks to lead them towards greener pastures in the urbanized West (Green Card, anyone?)

There are many other aspects of "The Immortals of Meluha" that feel immediately familiar to the modern Indian reader - from Shiva's taboo love for the "vikarma" princess Sati that enrages conservative elders, to their public displays of affection, to the description of Lord Ram's Ayodhya as an alter ego of today's Mumbai (right down to the slum redevelopment schemes with variable cutoff dates) to King Dilipa's letter denying responsibility for the bombing of Mount Mandar, which sounds like something written by the Pakistani president after 26/11. Also, the way Amish includes progressive themes like widow remarriage (of both Sati and her maid Krittika) and ending irrational superstitions (Shiva’s emancipation of the "vikarma" citizens) show that he has his heart in the right place

But the one thing about the book that lingers in the mind is the simple but powerful pronouncement by Shiva, just before the beginning of a great battle between Meluha and Swadeep, that every man is a God. For the reader, it results in a perfectly logical explanation for the war cry "Har Har Mahadev". Like the book itself, this is a delightful oversimplification of a piece of ancient Hindu tradition

Nice Weekend

2011-06-20T20:35:00.001+05:30

If last weekend was wet and gloomy, this time the rain and sun were playing hide and seek with the cool monsoon breeze. Though home maintenance chores and tired laziness kept us home on Saturday, we ended the weekend with a bit of shopping at the mall followed by a meal of hummus with pita bread and slightly overdone falafels. Not bad at all, I say!

Wet Weekend

2011-06-12T19:14:00.000+05:30

Friday's newspaper quoted the Weather Bureau as predicting a wet weekend for Mumbai. They said a low pressure area over the Arabian Sea could develop into a depression that would send waves of rain bearing clouds over Mumbai. For once the weatherman was right - it has been raining continuously, almost without a break, since Friday night. It hasn't been the kind of rain that would cause flooding in any other part of the world (although Mumbai streets don't need much of an excuse to get waterlogged). But it has been raining often enough and hard enough to keep people indoors throughout the weekend. It gets pretty boring after a while... how many movies can you half-heartedly watch on TV, how many times can you read and re-read the newspaper, how many boring comments can you post on Facebook? On the plus side, you get to spend some quality time with your kids (or spouse, or parents, or friends for that matter). And you get to enjoy some typical monsoon pleasures like hot ginger tea with spicy pakoras/samosas/vada pav. Such things make for a really different interpretation of the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining"

Roots

2011-05-28T22:51:00.001+05:30

We went down to Kalina today, to visit old family friends. Now I'm not as obsessed with the place as my brother - in fact I'm widely (mis)understood to be as a guy with no emotional attachments whatsoever - but even I felt good going back to the old place, where I spent more than 25 years of my life. Sometimes, when you revisit your roots after a while, to see what's changed is almost as much interesting as to see what remains the same. I guess that's what makes us all feel like visiting our "hometown" every year - our curiosity to catch up on all those little tidbits of information that add some spice to our mundane lives. And to those who don't feel that urge, all I can say is that I pity you... because your lack of interest in your roots reflects a lack of involvement in your own life

Impulsively Yours

2011-05-03T23:10:00.002+05:30

Just listing some of the random impulses that came to my mind today:

1. Photograph some flowers during morning walk (got 2)
2. Play some U2 songs on my PC (didn't)
3. Badmouth villain VP to my peers (they responded with their own horror stories)
4. Hang out part of the laundry while wife rocked kid back to sleep (just 3-4 clothes)
5. Upload photo of a paddy field near Cherpu with a canal flowing through it, which I clicked on an evening walk with Dad last month (see below)

The Art Of Science

2011-02-12T11:27:00.001+05:30

It's Science Project Day
At some local school.
On my way to work,
I see a steady stream
Of moms and daughters
Walking along the road,
The former balancing
In their tired hands
Blue cardboard factories
Or styrofoam mountains
That sandwich major dams.
I notice that the kids
Look both proud and sheepish -
On the one hand embarrased
To have to walk with Mummy
And on the other beaming
At their (or rather Mummy's)
Scientific labour of love,
Which each one of them feels
Is sure to win the first prize.

Knowledge Management & The Indian Epics

2011-01-26T18:22:00.003+05:30

Got this material from a bulk forward I found lying in my Junk Mail folder. Not sure who was the source, or I would gladly credit him/her. For this little piece makes a great case for improving our Knowledge Management practices, especially in the dynamic and high attrition world of ITES...

In the Great Indian Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, war ends not with celebration of victory but with transmission of knowledge. In the Ramayana, Ravana lies mortally wounded on the battlefield, when Rama turns to his brother Lakshmana, and says, “While Ravana was a brute, he was also a great scholar. Go to him quickly and request him to share whatever knowledge he can.” The obedient Lakshmana rushes to Ravana’s side and whispers in his ears, “Demon King, all your life you have taken not given. Now the noble Rama gives you an opportunity to mend your ways. Share your vast wisdom. Do not let it die with you. For that you will be blessed.” Ravana responds by simply turning away. An angry Lakshmana goes back to Rama and says: “He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything.” Rama looks at his brother and asks him softly, “Where did you stand while asking him for knowledge?”“Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly.” Rama smiles, places his bow on the ground and walks to where Ravana lies. Lakshmana watches in astonishment as his brother kneels at Ravana’s feet. With palms joined, with extreme humility, Rama says, “Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I see you now as you are known across the world, as the wise son of Rishi Vishrava. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world.” To Lakshmana’s surprise, Ravana opens his eyes and raises his arms to salute Rama, “If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things that are good for you, fail to attract you. You shun them creatively, finding excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but procrastinated in meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, dear Rama. My last words I give to you.” With these words, Ravana dies.

There’s similar knowledge transmission after the Mahabharata war gets over. The Kauravas are all dead. As the victorious Pandavas are about to assume control of Hastinapur, Lord Krishna advises them to talk to Bhishma Pitamaha, their grand uncle, who lies mortally wounded on the battlefield. As a result of a divine blessing, death would elude him for some more time. “Make him talk until his last breath. Ask him questions. He has a lot to tell,” says Krishna. Sure enough, when prompted, the dying Bhishma spends hours discussing various topics: history, geography, politics, economics, management, war, ethics, morality, astronomy, metaphysics and spirituality. Bhishma’s discourse is detailed in the Shanti Parva (discussions on Peace) and Anushasan Parva (discussions on Discipline) that makes up a quarter of the Mahabharata. After listening to their grand uncle, the Pandavas have a better understanding of the world, and this makes them better rulers.

Rama asked Ravana for his wisdom before his death. The Pandavas listened to a lengthy discourse from Bhishma as he lay dying on the battlefield. In the context of commercial organizations, this is Knowledge Management. Both these stories draw attention to the value of knowledge. In triumph, it is easy to claim material possessions of the defeated, but it is not easy to claim their knowledge. Knowledge does not outlive death. It is lost for ever with the death of the knowledgeable.

Every day, people leave organisations, taking their knowledge with them – knowledge which they acquired because they were part of the organization. They take with them knowledge of clients, markets, business processes, tricks of trade, etc. These may not be confidential information or patented information, but it is information that gives an organisation its cutting edge. Over the past decade, a whole new business process known as Knowledge Management has evolved that seeks to harness, store, transmit this knowledge. Every CEO agrees that it is a valuable business process, that investment in it is critical. Policies have been made, people have been hired and systems have been deployed. Unfortunately, for all the initial enthusiasm, implementation has been lacking. Often because they are like Sahadeva, the youngest Pandava. In the Mahabharata, he is described as an expert in many predictive sciences such as astrology, palmistry and face reading. But he is also cursed in a manner that if he ever gave information voluntarily, his head will split and he would die instantaneously. That is why he is silent throughout the epic. He knows every fortune and misfortune that his family will go through, but he can never use his knowledge to forewarn them. Most employees in an organization are Sahadevas (by choice). They are dumb when it comes to sharing knowledge. Knowledge Management is leadership driven. Only a Rama can do it, not a Lakshmana. He must first believe in it. We must respect the fact that everyone in the organisation, even those who we do not particularly like, are repositories of great wisdom – not only knowledge of things that work but also knowledge of things that do not work. We must make conscious efforts to capture as much of it as possible. Take a step back. Check if you are creatively shunning this rather tedious matter of Knowledge Management. Are you a Rama or a Lakshmana? Are you a Bhishma or a Sahadeva?

Thoughts on Sleep

2010-12-19T14:46:00.007+05:30

This morning I tossed aside my fitness regimen and overslept (not by much, just an hour). The reason was Isha, who tends to crawl off the bed at the slightest opportunity. Today she was hemmed in on three sides by pillows and on the fourth by me. Sometimes, she turned in her sleep and snuggled up to me. It was nice, in a "warm and fuzzy" kind of way. That inspired me to search out some more timeless quotes on the subject of sleep, so here goes:

There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
-- Homer

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.
-- Leo J. Burke

The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep.
-- E. Joseph Cossman

From time immemorial artistic insights have been revealed to artists in their sleep and in dreams, so that at all times they ardently desired them.
-- Paracelsus

Sleep lingers all our lifetime about our eyes, as night hovers all day in the boughs of the fir-tree.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The day was made for laziness, and lying on one's back in green places, and staring at the sky till its brightness forced one to shut one's eyes and go to sleep...
-- Charles Dickens

Busy Blogger, Bare Blog

2010-10-30T09:53:00.003+05:30

Roop has been asking why I don't post anything, of late. For one, I'm working long hours again, thanks to my new gig as Mumbai Center Manager for a 2 year long software upgrade program for our company's most important global client. Also my Picasa and Farmville addictions leave me little time even for general browsing. Plus, I've totally run out of subjects to post here. For instance, my "Flower Power" and "Sky Studies" photos are now on Picasa. Isha's pics are on Facebook. Thanks to her, we've stopped watching movies on weekends, so reviews are out. And less sleep at night (Isha again) means no listening to music on the way to work - so there goes "Song of the Week". Political commentary gets boring if you overdo it, so do management fundas. Well, what can I write about then? No wonder this blog has started to resember Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. Guess I should try and tickle awake my poetic muse - she seems to have fallen into a Rip Van Winkle kind of slumber

Achamma (1924 - 8th September 2010)

2010-09-14T22:51:00.004+05:30

Photo courtesy: Arun Ramakrishnan

Ammooma (1923 - 31st May 2010)

2010-09-14T22:46:00.004+05:30

Photo courtesy: Arun Ramakrishnan

Flower Power # 10

2010-08-24T08:28:00.003+05:30

Biophytum sensitivum (a.k.a. Little Tree Plant or Mukutti in Malayalam) flowers near my father's house in Urakam, Kerala

This plant, which looks like a tiny palm tree, is a common sight in village yards and on road sides in Kerala. According to http://www.flowersofindia.net/, the "Little Tree Plant is known for its interesting characteristic similar to the of Touch-Me-Not... The leaflets close when touched". Mukkutti flowers form an essential part of the Pookalams that are created during the Onam festival

Girls in Pink & the Old Boys Club

2010-08-22T06:17:00.002+05:30

Yesterday Ishaanika had her first visitors after her arrival in Mumbai, in the form of my college buddies Amit, Litto and Roop, along with Roop's wife Sweety and baby Adriti. The latter, who is only a few weeks older than Isha, was also in pink to match her. Unfortunately, Adriti slept through our little photo session at the end of the visit :(

Babies Grow Older, Parents Grow Wiser

2010-08-09T21:50:00.002+05:30

You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?
-- Jalal ad-Din Rumi

Babies don't need fathers, but mothers do. Someone who is taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of.
-- Amy Heckerling

But, if you observe children learning in their first few years of life, you can see that they can and do learn on their own - we leave them alone to crawl, walk, talk, and gain control over their bodies. It happens without much help from parents.
-- Daniel Greenberg

Don't forget that compared to a grownup person every baby is a genius. Think of the capacity to learn! The freshness, the temperament, the will of a baby a few months old!
-- May Sarton

I have a little baby. She knows who I am. My friends know. My family knows.
-- Marla Maples

The worst feature of a new baby is its mother's singing.
-- Kin Hubbard

But at the same time that the experience is pulling you apart, it's also bonding you. You have this joint venture! You both made this baby. And that's the thing I still can't get over.
-- Paul Reiser

Your baby only needs a lot of light at night if he's reading or he's entertaining guests.
-- Lawrence Kutner

Babies don't need a vacation, but I still see them at the beach... it pisses me off! I'll go over to a little baby and say 'What are you doing here? You haven't worked a day in your life!'
-- Steven Wright

Mummy's Little Alarm Clock

2010-07-10T12:37:00.002+05:30

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.

-- Anonymous

A perfect example of minority rule is a baby in the house.

-- Milwaukee Journal

Babies are always more trouble than you thought - and more wonderful.

-- Charles Osgood

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma.

-- Theresa Bloomingdale

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.

-- Joseph Addison

Petrol Price Hartal - What's the Point?

2010-06-26T16:20:00.003+05:30

I wonder what makes these stupid Leftists of Kerala think that enforcing a dawn to dusk hartal, that too in a state where they are in power, would make the Central government rethink their policy decision to hike fuel rates and deregulate petrol prices. I mean, as far as means of protest go, what good is a hartal/bandh anyway? All it does is inconvenience lots of common people and help a few idiot local polititians and wannabe "leaders" vent their frustration on shopkeepers, bus drivers or policemen. Yes, troubling the janta may make some sense if you are in the opposition, since the voters generally blame the ruling party for any and all trouble that they face in their lives, which then gives you a better chance in the next elections. But to kill one day's worth of productivity throughout a state which is anyway one of the most developmentally backward in the country, all in the name of conveying "protest"... it is nothing short of a criminal waste

My Sleeping Beauty

2010-06-05T12:52:00.010+05:30

No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow

Consciousness: that annoying time between naps. ~Author Unknown

Oh sleep! It is a gentle thing,

Beloved from pole to pole.

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sleep 'til you're hungry, eat 'til you're sleepy. ~Author Unknown

On Fatherhood

2010-06-01T07:37:00.003+05:30

It's such a warm and peaceful feeling, when your newborn baby falls asleep at your shoulder, that you experience it in the very depths of your soul... Unfortunately work will keep me away from Ishaanika for the next three weeks but hopefully by the time I see her next, she will be a bit less cranky and a bit more playful. I really look forward to seeing her smile at me for the first time

Latest Reads

2010-05-15T12:36:00.003+05:30

Last week there was a mini book exhibition in our office premises courtesy of Greenleaf Bookshop. This was the second time they held this event, and I had observed last year that they offered some decent titles, that too at 20-25% for Capgemini employees. Since I had not been able to make it to the Strand Book Stall Exhibition this year, I was keen to make some new additions to my library. Picked up my second Tolkein... a 1178 page long paperback edition of "The Lord Of The Rings". Also got "Rain In The Mountains", by Ruskin Bond and "The Penguin Book Of Indian Railway Stories", edited by him

Sky Studies, revisited

2010-05-01T19:58:00.004+05:30

Added some new pictures to my Sky Studies collection... check out the PicasaWeb link here. Speaking of the blue yonder, here are a few quotable quotes (just to make this post seem less like an advertisement for my photography skills :p)

And they were canopied by the blue sky,

So cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful,

That God alone was to be seen in Heaven

-- Lord Byron

A sky full of silent suns

-- Jean Paul Richter

Green calm below, blue quietness above

-- John Greenleaf Whittier

At night, when the sky is full of stars and the sea is still you get the wonderful sensation that you are floating in space

-- Natalie Wood

But even now, when people see me in the street, they point upwards to the sky

-- Barry Gibb

The sky, from one horizon to another, from east to west, from north to south, was utterly and completely black

-- Douglas Adams

Flower Power # 9

2010-04-24T15:08:00.004+05:30

Clerodendrum paniculatum (a.k.a. Pagoda flowers) in my Valiamma's backyard, Mannuthy

This one is a peculiar and somewhat uncommon flower, though I see it often lately during my Kerala trips. Seems to be gaining in popularity as a garden attraction. According to http://www.flowersofindia.net/, this shrub is native to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and much of southeastern Asia. The orange-red or scarlet flowers, though small, are arranged in vertical pagoda shaped formations at the ends of branches. To me personally, they look more like the kaavadis seen during festivities at Subramanian temples

Flower Power # 8

2010-04-07T08:35:00.004+05:30

Cassia fistula (a.k.a. Indian Laburnum or Vishu Konna) flowers on the JNU Campus, Delhi

All Malayalees are familiar with this tree, which is so inextricably linked with our favorite spring festival of Vishu - the Malayalam New Year. According to http://www.flowersofindia.net/, this native of India, commonly known as Amaltaas, is one of the most beautiful of all tropical trees when it sheds its leaves and bursts into a mass of long, grape-bunches like yellow gold flowers. The golden flowers fit in well with the gold motif of the Vishukkani, along with the kasavu mundu, the golden cucumber, the bell metal lamp and utensils, etc. It is said that Laburnum Road in Mumbai's Grant Road area was named for the Indian Laburnum trees that once lined it. However, this beautiful tree has now become a rare sight on our city streets

Taxi Tricksters

2010-03-29T14:15:00.007+05:30

Of the new digital taxi meters installed by many Mumbai cabbies, some types have two small buttons labelled K1 and K2 right next to the display area. Though the exact purpose of the K2 button is not clear to me, pressing it seems to increase the "unit" of the meter from Rs. 1.50 to Rs. 2 or more. So the total fare, as displayed by the meter, would be higher at the end of the journey if the K2 button is pressed at some point. What's more, pressing the K1 button again seems to take the "unit" back to normal, ensuring that the passenger would not be too suspicious about the higher than normal fare - after all most Mumbaikars are used to, and hence willing to accept, a fare difference of 15 to 20 rupees. More than once I have observed taxi drivers surreptitiously press these buttons, while changing gears, to try and play this trick. When confronted, they innocently deny any knowledge of the problem, claim that the meter is "faulty" and promise to get it repaired as soon as possible

So the next time you travel by a black and yellow taxi fitted with a digital meter, watch out for these little buttons... Your alertness can save you from being taken for a ride, literally

Flower Power # 7

2010-03-13T15:42:00.006+05:30

Catharanthus roseus (a.k.a. Vinca rosea or periwinkle) flowers near my father's house in Urakam, Kerala

This was one of many Vinca shrubs that were growing wild at that time right in front of our porch. In fact, this is one flower that I've seen everywhere that I've travelled within India. According to http://www.flowersofindia.net/, Periwinkle is a happy-go-lucky small shrub. It cares not for the world. It rejoices in sun or rain, or the seaside, in good or indifferent soil and often grows wild. It is known as 'Sadabahar' meaning 'always in bloom' and is used for worship. Numerous soft-wood branches from the ground, give it an appearance of fullness. Closely planted it can have an impressive effect with its various colours

2nd Hand Management Gyaan # 1

2010-03-07T14:52:00.004+05:30

From Kishore (Future Group, Pantaloons, Big Bazaar) Biyani's book "It Happened In India":

Modern-day businesses are structured in a way that most of the critical details of the ground level are lost in the multiple layers of the organization. We make grand presentations and have long meetings just to share data. Often, the only outcome of these meetings is deciding when to meet next. By the time the data reaches the top, it's either been misinterpreted or has become irrelevant

In this era, ideas are the biggest assets for any company. Organizations that allow insights and information to flow freely will be the ones to come up with the best ideas. Significant de-layering and creating a seamless organisation is the only route to sucess

Railway Journeys

2010-02-28T09:15:00.006+05:30

I've always been fascinated with trains and train journeys. Right from my early childhood, we used to make annual or even semi-annual trips to Kerala to spend the vacations with my grandparents and visit our dozens of relatives in Trichur and nearby districts. In the early years, we used to take the Kanyakumari Express, which hauled us all the way through 5 states over 36 hours before finally depositing us at the then single platform of Trichur station. And though the landscape was for the most part dull and dreary, I used to look forward to the river bridges of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, with their booming, echoing sound effects and fascinating views of the rocky (Krishna, Tungabhadra) or sandy (Pennar, Chitravati) river beds. Later, the Netravati express came along and reduced our journey time by a few hours by taking a shorter route through south eastern Karnataka. This however took out some of the fun in the journey, making me miss the colorful AP stations like Guntakal, Gooty and Cuddapah. Once I got into college, and even more so after I started working, the trips to Kerala became much less frequent. But my bond with trains continued - when I was working in Pune, I used to take one of the inter-city trains to Mumbai every weekend and was amazed at how once could never get enough of the breathtaking monsoon vistas along the Bhor Ghat stretch. Much later, the Netravati shifted to the Konkan railway route, bringing down our travel time to just 26 hours. By this time, I was into photography in a big way and the KR route, with its high viaducts and splashing waterfalls (especially during or after the rains) provided many exciting opportunities to get some great pictures. Even now, whenever I travel by long distance train, I never miss an opportunity to stand in the doorway and get in a few good landscape shots

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajaylives/RailwayJourneys#

Google Gadgets

2010-02-19T21:25:00.004+05:30

Installed ggl-gt (the Qt version as against the GTK version) on my Kubuntu desktop today. The look and feel is nowhere as good as it is on Windows and I'm still keeping some of my KDE Plasmoids like CWP... But considering the ever increasing might of Google, almost Microsoft-like in its growing ubiquitousness, I'll hopefully be able to find more useful gadgets than KDE plasmoids

The Little Emperor

2010-02-12T08:57:00.004+05:30

The son of the Empress of India is on a roll. His recent local train trip in Mumbai was just a small step in his nationwide digvijaya yatra, winning over the hearts (if not the votes) of the Indian youth with similar smart tactical moves coupled with intelligent speeches and soundbytes. To be fair to the man, he does seem of late to have developed the knack of saying (and hopefully thinking) all the right things on matters concerning the future of the nation. Especially welcome are his thoughts on the democratization of the Congress party itself. If he follows through on the ambitious pronouncements he has made recently, it would give the Grand Old Party a much needed image boost among the educated urban youth, who currently tend to favor the right wing parties (except of course in Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi's JNU campus)

Practical Ways to Make a Difference

2010-02-06T22:48:00.003+05:30

This morning, I waded into a heated Facebook argument between my cousin ("the country sucks big time") and his colleague ("we might be living in the baddest country of the world but it is our country, we grew up here"), at the invitation of the former. The debate had started from a unwisely worded rant against the Indian Railways and proceeded through statistics about corruption, misuse of power, lack of development, inefficiency of government officials, even rape cases, in an ever escalating spiral of intolerance. Don't know if my judgement was fair or not, but I agreed with the basic premise of the latter argument and proceeded to give all participants the following tips "to make Mera Bharat really Mahaan":

1. Keep your locality clean, encourage your neighbors to do the same
2. Save water and electricity, use only what you need and when you need it
3. Use public transport instead of cars, help to reduce air and sound pollution
4. Donate a small fraction of your annual income to help poor Indians (make sure your money actually reaches the intended recipients, there are many fraud NGOs out there)
5. Speak out against abuse of power by the high and mighty (but do it as a group... don't risk your neck, nobody cares about martyrs any more)
6. Discourage corruption - avoid giving bribes or accepting favors from those seeking to bribe you
7. Be proud of your language and culture but respect those of your fellow countrymen as well
8. Treat foreign tourists and business visitors with courtesy and respect - they will be our ambassadors to the outside world
9. Respect our civil and criminal laws, follow them both in letter and in spirit
10. Do not vote for criminals, or politicians known to be close to the underworld

Any additions to this list are most welcome...

Cool... Vatanukool!

2010-02-04T19:03:00.008+05:30

The BEST seems to have finally woken up to the fact that AC bus services in Mumbai is an idea whose time has come. In the last couple of months, they have introduced a few new routes and created AC "versions" of some existing services. This is welcome news for middle and upper middle class commuters who don't mind shelling out a few extra bucks to travel comfortably to and from office. More importantly, this is great news for the environment, because more people travelling in AC buses means less cars on the road and hence less pollution. If only the government pushes harder to take the exhaust-spewing taxis and trucks of the '60s and '70s vintage off the road, we could see some serious drop in SPM levels, as well as a reduction in the city's collective carbon footprint

Installing Kubuntu 9.10 on top of Windows

2010-01-16T21:33:00.006+05:30

Note that optional steps are given in square brackets [like this], whereas recommended steps are given in braces {like this}

· Insert the Kubuntu 9.10 CD
· Click on “Install on Windows”
· Enter a User ID and Password (twice)
· Click on “Install”
· Reboot the machine when prompted, choose Kubuntu in the boot menu
· The machine will reboot again after the installation completes (in about 10-15 minutes). Choose Kubuntu once again and login using the User ID and Password
· {Open a terminal window and run the command “sudo update-grub”. This will help to prevent grub crashes after kernel upgrades. Generally avoid minor kernel updates to keep the system stable}
· Open the Konqueror web browser and install the updates it recommends
· [Configure the desktop with useful plasmoids, install new ones as required. I found Trashcan, News, CWP (not present by default, has to be installed from source and needs many libraries) and gmail-update (not present by default but available to install directly) quite useful. I also use the Comic Strip plasmoid to view daily updated photos by NASA]
· {Configure the Kopete Instant Messenger for your Google (choose Jabber), Yahoo and Microsoft IM accounts}
· [Install the Firefox browser from Start->Applications->Internet, giving your sudo password when prompted]
· Install updates as and when prompted by KPackageKit. This may take a while but you can continue other steps in the meantime. Reboot once done
· [Search for, download and install the Google Chrome web browser, if you prefer it to Konqueror and Firefox. Use Konqueror to do this as Firefox won't be able to open the .deb package file]
· To make your Windows partitions boot on startup, do the following:
(a) Understand your disk partition tables by typing “sudo fdisk -l”
(b) Install the pysdm package by typing “sudo apt-get install pysdm”
(c) Open pysdm from Start->Applications->Settings and choose mount point names for each physical partition on your hard disk. The partitions will then be mounted by those names under /media
(d) [The partition on which your Kubuntu Linux is installed will always be mounted as /host, you can create a symbolic link to this under /media]
· [Search for, download and install the Audacious2 media player, if are a Winamp user and/or prefer it to Amarok. However I recommend that you install it using apt-get as the manual method could take days due to the large number of dependencies]
· [If you do install Audacious2 using the manual method, you can also install the Audacious2 plugins that are available on the same download page]
· [Configure Audacious2 by choosing the right skin (the text of the default skin is not visible on KDE ), the right output plugin (the default didn't work for me) and importing your Winamp equalizer presets (.eqf file) either from your Windows drive or from the XMMS website]
· {Use KpackageKit to install new screensavers}

... to be continued as required

Bendakaluru

2010-01-05T22:41:00.006+05:30

I didn't get to see much of Bangalore during my 3 day visit during the New Year weekend. But among the sights I saw, these are some of the things I liked:

The climate
The airport (very modern, very convenient, wonder why the Karnataka legislators don't like it)
The AC buses from the airport to various parts of the city
The Hebbal flyover
The cable stayed bridge over Krishnarajapuram railway station
The wide streets of HSR Layout
The elevated road leading to Electronic City
The Shanthi Nagar bus station
The GPO building

Martin Duve Photography

2009-12-13T20:56:00.004+05:30

Last weekend our German friends, who were in Mumbai on vacation, came down for lunch. Sabine is a Health & Safety manager while Martin runs his own chemical analysis laboratory. The latter is also an avid amateur photographer, with a keen eye for the hidden beauty of everyday sights. But what I would like to showcase here is his nature photography - these landscapes, including a unique shot of the Taj Mahal Hotel, are from one of their earlier India visits

Wah Taj!

2009-11-22T00:43:00.004+05:30

Nearly one year after the cowardly attacks of 26/11/2008, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel - now in the advanced stages of restoration - stands as a stoic symbol of India's resilience and courage in the face of terrorism. May the sun always shine on this proud icon of Mumbai, which has now become a monument to the martyrdom of our brave commandos and policemen

Digital Photo Art # 1

2009-11-18T22:15:00.004+05:30

We all like to play around with our digital camera photos, either trying to make them look better or trying to make them convey the things you felt at the time but your camera could not capture. Even without any fancy software for what quasi calls "photographic post processing", you can still create some surprises once in a while. These photos, using the "watercolor" effect of Microsoft's humble Photo Editor, are cases in point... do let me know what you think.

Flower Power # 6

2009-10-31T21:31:00.005+05:30

Fritillaria imperialis (a.k.a. Crown imperial or Kaiser's Crown) flowers at Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse

This eye-catching plant is a member of the lily family. It is found across West Asia, from Anatolia to the Himalayan foothills, and is one of the earliest plants to be cultivated. It bears a prominent whorl of downward facing flowers at the top of the stem, topped by a 'crown' of small leaves, hence the name. More info on Wikipedia

This picture was clicked at the famous Keukenhof flower gardens at Lisse, in the Netherlands. Keukenhof showcases various types of tulips, hyacinths and narcissus flowers along with temporary exhibitions of orchids and artistic flower arrangements. April is the best time to visit, as the tulips bloom en masse in spring and makes Keukenhof one of the most beautiful gardens on earth. Other than the flowers, the gardens also boast of eateries, souvenir shops, modern art works, a well-preserved windmill and water in various forms like fountains, artificial streams and canals.

All the Best this Diwali

2009-10-17T20:43:00.003+05:30

The wife and I hadn't visited a multiplex for a long time - thanks to H1N1 - but today we celebrated Diwali by watching the Rohit Shetty directed comedy "All The Best", produced by and starring Ajay Devgn (yes that's how he spells his surname now, welcome to the world of filmi numerology). Though we already knew, from the film critics, that this family entertainer was easily the best of the three big releases this week, we still we kept our expectations quite low. However the movie turned out to be real paisa vasool time pass fare, with all the usual masala ingredients of Rohit Shetty blockbusters (read Golmaal and Golmaal Returns, not Zameen or Sunday).

The Kromme Rijn river

2009-10-13T22:09:00.007+05:30

Some pictures from my trip to the Dutch city of Utrecht last year. This historic city was founded by the Romans at the site where an ancient course of the Rhine river called the Kromme Rijn (literally the Crooked Rhine) split into two branches - the northward flowing Vecht and the eastward flowing Oude Rijn or Leidse Rijn. The sight of this ancient river curving into the city of Utrecht from the south east is really moving, if you realize the historical significance of this stream.

The Rhine is the most important river in Western Europe and flows about 1320 kilometers from its origin in Switzerland to its mouth in the North Sea. Along with the Meuse and the Scheldt, it forms an extensive delta that defines most of the southern and western part of the Netherlands. Though the Nederrijn-Kromme Rijn stream was the main distributary of the Rhine in Roman times, the latter stream silted up in the middle ages and shrunk to its present negligible size.

Technologically Magnificient Ninja Turtles

2009-10-11T22:10:00.005+05:30

Happened to notice an animated movie on Star Movies yesterday while surfing channels. Without much expectations, I continued to watch. But TMNT (2007, also known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4) amazed me with the finesse and realism of its animation and the sharpness of its editing. Truly a worthwhile weekend afternoon watch.

Flower Power # 5

2009-10-09T09:22:00.008+05:30

Nymphaea pubescens (a.k.a. pink water lily) flower at Sinhagad Fort, near Pune

My brother Arun is an avid trekker, and generally carries his camera along on his trips. He took many snaps of this particular flower but I felt this one was the best.

Here's what http://www.flowersofindia.net/ has to say on the subject of water lilies:
No pond is considered complete without water lilies. They are very common in India, and easy to grow. Often confused with lotus, water lilies present a gorgeous view, often coveing an entire pond with the flowers and their floating round leaves. Hybrids vary in color, ranging from pink, white to crimson. There are some varieties which are fragrant. Waterlily is the state flower of Andhra Pradesh.

Talking about Sinhagad, when I was working in Pune, my colleagues and I had made an unplanned trip there. By the time we reached the hill in Sam Pawar's old Maruti, it was beginning to get dark and wisps of cloud were floating across the hillside. By the time we got to the base of the actual fort, it was starting to drizzle steadily and we decided not to explore any further. So we settled down in a tea and snacks shack and had the tastiest kanda bhaji ever, washing it down with cutting chai.

Kiran Dudhalkar RIP

2009-09-29T18:40:00.006+05:30

Amit's Baba passed away this morning, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. I remember him, more than anything else, as Sai Baba... back when we were in college, he had starred in a TV serial called "Sabka Maalik Ek" that was based on the life of the Shirdi seer. He was a great Sai bhakta and had also played the same role many times on stage. One prays to the maalik to grant him eternal rest - he had gone through enough suffering in this world.

N.B.: A few hours after posting this, I learned that Amit's Dad passed away almost on the exact same day as Sai Baba himself (the saint had attained mahasamadhi on Dassera day of 1918, which was a Tuesday). Talk about eerie coincidences and life imitating art!

Wordle

2009-09-23T09:45:00.004+05:30

quasi, that inimitable techno geek, has introduced followers of his blog to www.wordle.net. As per the creators of the site: 'Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.'

Here's the "word cloud" they came up with for my own humble blog:

Long Weekends

2009-09-22T11:23:00.005+05:30

This weekend was already supposed to be a 3 day one on account of Ramzan Id on Monday... but for me it has turned out to be even longer. First I had to take Friday off as the wife was down with fever. Then I too came under the weather and had to stay at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. The bosses won't be amused I'm sure, but then again I won't be the last one to stretch the sick leave rules a little... this festival season has brought with it a bumper crop of long weekends and many employees would be making the most of it with similar add ons, and not necessarily for genuine reasons. The next week actually sees a 3 day work week with holidays on Monday and Friday - for once Indian workers will be putting in less hours than their French counterparts. Then follows another long weekend for Diwali in October and one more for Christmas in December. All said and done, the Indian worker never had it so good with regard to long weekends :)

Railroad Trippin'

2009-09-10T22:33:00.005+05:30

Yes, the title alludes to the RHCP song. But this post is not about alternative rock. Just wanted to post some railfan pics from my most recent trip on the Konkan railway. Although railfan is a misnomer, since I am not that serious a fan of trains and locomotives. I just happen to enjoy the beautiful and sometimes breathtaking views that rail journeys offer. Most trips also give you opportunities for great photography. This time though, the lingering monsoon put paid to my hopes of clicking great pictures - I was too busy enjoying the sight of the rain drenched hills and valleys of the Konkan.

Ganpati Bappa Morya

2009-08-23T20:30:00.006+05:30

Being an ISTJ type, I normally avoid Ganesh poojas... and any other social events that entail the possibility of being a part of a crowd (where crowd >= 5 people). But being married to an ESFJ, I have of late had to alter some of my usual behaviour. And the wife had managed to persuade me that we should attend the first aarti of the Ganpati idol installed in our housing complex. Thus it came about that I woke up early this morning, had a bath, lighted the diya in our home and started waiting at the window for some signs of activity downstairs. The ceremony that was scheduled for 6:30 am finally started after 8 and even then (possibly because of the H1N1 scare, more likely due to pure laziness) there were less than a dozen people in attendance. However that was a bit of a blessing in disguise because having too many people milling around would have spoilt the atmosphere of serenity and sanctity that pervaded the little pandal. All in all, a morning well spent.

Life Aaj Kal

2009-08-11T21:14:00.005+05:30

In earlier times, I wouldn't have watched a movie like Love Aaj Kal. And I definitely wouldn't have spent Rs. 165 per head to watch it in a multiplex (arre, the genuine official non pirated DVD will be out in 3 months anyway). But in earlier times, I was not married ;) . And when the wife's best friend and roomie from her UK days has recommended a movie, that too one short partly in London, how dare I refuse :) ? Anyway, the movie was a refreshing change from the standard Hindi movie romances where the hero realizes how much he loves the heroine just in time to save her from an unhappy and short lived marriage. Oops, I gave away much of the plot back there... But frankly, I would have liked the movie better if it had ended at the point where Deepika decides to sacrifice her love for the sake of Saif's career dreams. Call me an MCP but whatever followed that scene could very well have been left on the editing table. After Omkara, this was a very good acting performance by Saif (in a double role) and he was ably supported by Rishi Kapoor. Deepika I felt was trying too hard to be subtle. But the Brazilian girl who played Harleen was doing it effortlessly. Also, it was good to see Neetu Kapoor on screen again, even if for a brief moment. All said and done, Imtiaz Ali's third effort is worth a (single) watch. Pritam's music is rather disappointing though.

The Gateway

2009-08-06T09:31:00.008+05:30

It's been many years since I went anywhere near the Gateway of India. In fact, I've only been there three or four times during my 32 years in Mumbai. And ever since the 26-11 attacks I wanted to go down and just take one look at the Taj Mahal hotel, a silent gesture of respect to those who died defending our city and the pride of our nation. So far I was too lazy to make the trip but I finally got that chance last weekend when I took the wife to visit some of the famous landmarks of South Mumbai. Of course, we couldn't cover everything this time... many more trips would be needed to even scratch the surface of what the Maximum City has to offer. But we still managed to cover not just the Gateway and the Taj but also Marine Drive, Chowpatty, Malabar Hill, Haji Ali Bay and Worli Sea Face. The view of the "Queen's Necklace" from the Kamala Nehru Park was truly something to cherish. To round it all off, we made the trip back over the Bandra Worli Sea Link on a sunny afternoon... the breathtaking view of the city across the Mahim Bay more than made up for the 50 rupee toll.

Flower Power # 4

2009-07-30T22:21:00.006+05:30

Saraca indica (a.k.a. Sita Ashoka) flowers near the sarpa kaavu at my father's house in Urakam, Kerala

This flower at first glance seems to be just another of the many varieties of Ixora coccinea (a.k.a chetti or thechi) flowers associated with Hindu temples and used for worship. Indeed it is called the ashoka chetti, at least in our part of Kerala, and even I made this incorrect identification in my original blog post. However this is actually the Sita Ashoka tree, so called because the mythological Sita was imprisoned in an Ashoka grove in Ravana's Lanka

More about the Saraca indica from http://www.flowersofindia.net/:
Indigenous to India, Burma and Malaya, it is an erect tree, small and evergreen, with a smooth, grey-brown bark. The crown is compact and shapely. Flowers are usually to be seen throughout the year, but it is in January and February that the profusion of orange and scarlet clusters turns the tree into an object of startling beauty

Metro Woes

2009-07-26T12:47:00.002+05:30

Delhi isn't the only city wondering whether it's ambitious Metro rail project was worth all the trouble. If Konkan Railway wondertaker E Sreedharan has turned undertaker at the DMC with a spate of fatal accidents, even aapro Anilbhai is not winning many friends in aamchi Mumbai with Reliance ADAG's slow and shoddy execution of the Versova Andheri Ghatkopar Metro railway project. On a trip to Andheri East yesterday, the wife and I realized that the northwestern suburb is paying a heavy price for the provisional promise of possible progress. The center section of major roads in the area have been blocked for months now and there is little evidence of concrete results (pun intended). The consequent traffic rerouting and BEST bus diversions have left travellers harried and it is a struggle just to get out of Andheri station and reach the Western Express Highway. And I don't even want to talk about the multiplication in the duration and volume of the already bad traffic jams that dogs the Andheri Kurla road all the way from Chakala to Saki Naka. My suggestion to the junior Ambani would be to stop pestering bade bhaiyya Mukesh over Krishna Godavari gas and try to step on the gas as far as the Metro construction work is concerned.

Not Much New York

2009-07-11T20:29:00.003+05:30

So, okay, this review is, like, 2 weeks late. But then, I had nothing else to post. So I thought I'd do this, like, really cool teen style review of New York. Which means I won't be saying much. Except that the movie was, like, not at all as awesome as I thought it would be. But still it was a landmark movie for me. 'Cos it was, like, the 2nd movie I saw with my wife. And I saw it 2 weeks ago. And it was 2nd day 2nd show. And Katrina looked real nice in the movie. But she wore too many clothes. And the wife says so did John. And he wore very little at times. And Neil did a real good job. But Irrfan, like, stole the show as only he can. And you can read the title of this post in, like, two ways. Either "Not Much New" York or else "Not Much" New York.

But New York was at least better than 99. Which we had watched a week before, which was, like, 3 weeks ago. Don't watch that movie unless you love Cyrus Broacha. Which you won't unless you are Cyrus Sahukar. Which I know you're not, so bye for now. And by the way, if this pic is, like, copyrighted or something, then let me know... OK?

Seen Link

2009-07-05T19:38:00.015+05:30

Yesterday I made a trip to Worli via the new Bandra Worli Sea Link. The novelty of the bridge plus the atmosphere created by the rainy weather made it a ride to remember, not just for me and the wife, but also the taxi driver who hesitantly drove us over. Given the fact that only 4 lanes of the 8 lane cable stayed bridge are open and that it is still a magnet for gawking suburbanites (we won't see much of those once the 50 rupee toll comes into effect from tomorrow), the cabbie's reluctance was understandable. But once we reached our destination, the brag value of the ride and the extra few bucks he earned left him all smiles. We too will probably treasure it, at least for a while, as one of the most memorable moments of our early married life. Unfortunately the monsoon induced mist prevented me from getting any better photos of the Sea Link than what I share here.
	Approaching the Sea Link from the Bandra end
Main span of the Sea Link looms from the mist
	Nearing the Worli end of the Sea Link
View of the Sea Link from Worli Sea Face

Staying In Touch

2009-07-04T11:43:00.005+05:30

This old photograph is of me and my college pals on a picnic turned hike during our first year of college. Fortunately (for me) or unfortunately (for them), three of these guys are still friends with me. The fourth lives in the same area as one of the three and the fifth, who has practically settled in the US, is occasionally visible on GTalk. Who says it isn't a small world?

Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends.

- Richard Bach

On Birthdays

2009-06-29T06:57:00.005+05:30

For as long as I can remember, I have celebrated two birthdays - an "English" one and a "Malayalam" one. Of course, celebrated is an overstatement since we have never had birthday parties as such. But when I was in school, I used to distribute candies to my classmates on my "date of birth" while my mother used to prepare a small sadya on my "star birthday". Last week, both birthdays fell in the same week... and although we were travelling on my DOB and couldn't really celebrate it, the wife did cook up an amazing feast for my pirannaal.

Flower Power # 3

2009-06-17T15:14:00.008+05:30

A pink Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (a.k.a. China Rose or chemparathi in Malayalam) flower at my in-laws' place in Kongad, Kerala

This picture was clicked on the afternoon of my wedding day, i.e., 7th June 2009 by our Mumbaikar guest Nikhil Rane using my old Canon Powershot A75

More about the tropical hibiscus from http://www.trop-hibiscus.com/:

Originating in Asia and the Pacific islands, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is the national flower of Malaysia. It is closely associated with Hawaii, though the state flower for Hawaii is a native species of hibiscus, H. brackenridgei. The flowers come in thousands of colors and combinations of colors (no true blue or black). Some varieties have blossoms 2" in diameter and others, 10-12". Some with bushes that will only grow a foot in several years while others may grow to 15 feet if left undisturbed in the ground. Singles, doubles, some blooming almost every day - the variation in the tropical hibiscus family is astounding!

Flower Power # 2

2009-06-02T22:05:00.005+05:30

Epiphyllum oxypetalum (a.k.a. Night Blooming Cereus aka Brahma Kamalam) at our neighbour's house in Kalina, Mumbai

The blooming of this flower was a major event in our building with Moorthy uncle's wife calling us over to view the supposedly divine flower. But the night blooming cereus is actually a cactus species and not the original Brahma Kamalam celebrated in the Hindu Puranas. That flower is the Saussurea obvallata and is found in the higher reaches of the Himalayas. As far as the cereus is concerned, here are some words from an "expert"...

It is very regular in its habits, and those habits are bad - it runs all night; that is to say, it comes out in full bloom in the evening, and punctually shuts itself up in the morning and sleeps all day; its personal appearance, under the latter circumstances, is suggestive of a snake with a goose's head on it

- Mark Twain, "The San Francisco Daily Morning Call, September 16, 1864"

Friday Funde

2009-05-30T10:21:00.003+05:30

On the last day of the week, it's not just the dressing that becomes informal but also the discussions between managers and their teams. Here Amish, John and I are recounting the merits of various mobile phone and digital cameras, while Ashish records the scene on Amish's Nokia E63. For a 2MP camera, the video quality is quite decent... even my new thin bearded look is clearly visible. Don't miss the ending!

Flower Power # 1

2009-05-27T22:11:00.006+05:30

My school friend quasi's blog features a regular "Sunday Flower" post, which has inspired me to start off a flower series of my own.

quasi, who shares my initials, is a self professed "intrepid traveller in space and time" and occasional computer programmer who also happens to be a gifted photographer. I don't think my own work can even hope to compare but then the intention is only to showcase some of my more decent efforts.

Tulips at the Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse

The tulip's petals shine in dew,
All beautiful, but none alike.

- James Montgomery, "On Planting a Tulip-Root"

History Lesson

2009-05-22T21:08:00.002+05:30

Important Events on June 7th

1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France
1893 – M K Gandhi's first act of civil disobedience
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E airplane makes its first test flight
1977 – The Silver Jubilee celebration of Queen Elizabeth II gets underway
2001 – Tony Blair's Labour Party wins another landslide victory in the British General Election
2009 - ???

Watch this space...

Suddenly Someone

2009-05-16T23:31:00.002+05:30

A prophetic poem from long ago, perhaps my crush prone college days:

Someone

You seem to be broken-hearted, my friend
But this bend in the road is not the end.
Miles later, you'll see that you were wrong -
Someone was waiting for you all along.
Someone who will always stand by you
Through all good times and bad ones too.
And though you may have to wait very long,
That special someone will surely come along.
So if you haven't found love yet, don't despair
And don't complain that life is unfair.
Someday that magical moment will come
When the parts will add up to make the sum.
Believe me, that old saying is true -
Someone somewhere is made for you.

Can't Stand This Chart

2009-05-14T08:48:00.005+05:30

Last month I fell prey to the tempting song of a sultry call center siren, promising a "lifetime free" credit card from Standard Chartered Bank. After some minimal paperwork, for which their agent visited my office, a sleek Manhattan Platinum card was delivered to my home with the promise that I wouldn't have to pay the "service charge" of Rs. 250 if I swiped it for a minimum of Rs. 2000 within a month. Obviously, I went out and made a purchase almost immediately to avail this "benefit".

Since then I had been waiting, not very anxiously of course, for the credit card statement to reach me so that I could make my payment. Not that I couldn't make the payment without it but it is a common tendency of credit card customers to wait for the statement and attach the counterfoil of the same while making the payment. For more than 3 weeks, there was no sign whatsover of the statement, neither by post nor by email. Out of the blue, I got an SMS yesterday asking me to pay the outstanding amount within the next 5 days or else pay "late fees". What a smart trick Stan Chart has tried to pull - lull the unsuspecting customer into complacency by not sending the credit card statement and then suddenly give inadequate warning of the late fee charge looming over him.

Of course, if that was the only unethical move that Stan Chart had made, I could have still forgiven them and taken the blame on myself for not being alert about the payment due date. But the worse scam was when they sent over an add on card in the name of my mother - one that I had not even thought about, let alone applied for. Apparently the guy who processed my application took the liberty of ordering such a Mother's Day gift on my behalf, so that my mom could also enjoy the benefit of a Manhattan Platinum card - and he could get double the commission.

All said and done, the stressful experience with Stan Chart was a timely reminder that, when it comes to credit card companies, always be paranoid and on the lookout to ensure that you are not being conned.

A slice of the Thrissur Pooram pie

2009-05-05T22:11:00.003+05:30

Though I've never managed to see the actual Thrissur Pooram till now, I've experienced most of the secondary attractions of my home town's biggest cultural event. Whether it is the "tourist" pooram, the "sample" fireworks or viewing the colorfully lit pandals at night, I've been there and done that. This year, I just narrowly missed the main event comprising the colorful display of parasols atop gold-caparisoned elephants, the melam and the "real" fireworks display. But I did manage to catch the sample vedikettu, which was quite an experience in itself.

Sunrise - a Revelation

2009-04-03T23:45:00.004+05:30

Think north Karnataka and natural beauty is not the first thing that comes to mind. The Uttara Kannada district may lie just south of Goa but it is not one of the hot tourist destinations in the country. However this early morning sighting of the Kali river near Karwar, captured from a Konkan Railway train last year, was enough to win my admiration. Hopefully I can click some more good pictures on future trips down the KR route.

Sunrise - a Wake Up Call

2009-03-29T20:25:00.003+05:30

Another unusual sunrise photograph.

Unusual because of the flat plateau in the foreground of the picture (just beyond the car and the Eastern Express Highway), which threatens to block the scenic view of the Parsik hills for Mulund residents. This 40 feet high monstrosity is nothing but a section the infamous 20 hectare dumping ground that is the bane of the entire Mulund East and Thane East area. Apart from air pollution, as evidenced by the overpowering stench that frequently spreads across the area in the evenings, this vast landfill can cause many other, less obvious problems for the local population. The chief among these is the pollution of groundwater sources like wells and borewells by toxic chemicals leaching into the soil from the site. Another is the risk of diseases being spread by the vultures, kites and other scavengers that frequent the dump. Finally, the southern edge of the dumping ground skirts the large nala that drains most of northern Mulund and parts of Thane, any reduction in the width of which could lead to flooding in these areas during the monsoons.

Although the BMC plans to partially close the dumping ground soon, for now it remains a major irritant for local residents - in more ways than one.

Sunrise - a Reflection

2009-03-23T20:11:00.007+05:30

There are may ways of viewing a sunrise. The one pictured here is unusual, to say the very least. All credit to the Wagon-R owner, for parking it at the correct angle and to Bahadur, for washing it just in time to give me a reasonably clear reflection.

Quick Facts: Sinus Headaches

2009-03-14T15:57:00.005+05:30

For a change, some gyaan that could be useful:

Sinus headaches cause a dull, deep, throbbing pain in the front of your head and face. They are caused by an inflammation in your sinuses (air-filled cavities around your nose, eyes and cheeks). Bending down or leaning over generally makes the pain worse, as does cold and damp weather. Sinus headaches often begin as soon as you get up in the morning, and may be better by afternoon.

Sinus headaches generally have these symptoms:

Pressure-like pain in one specific area of your face or head (for example, behind your eyes)
Face is tender to the touch
Pain is worse with sudden movements of the head and bending forward
Worse pain in the morning (because mucus has been collecting and draining all night)
Sudden temperature changes, like going out into the cold from a warm room, worsen the pain
Headache often starts when you have a bad cold or just after

Other symptoms may be related to sinus inflammation (sinusitis), which often causes sinus headaches:

Postnasal drip with sore throat (pharyngitis)
Yellow or green discharge from your nose
Red and swollen nasal passages (nasal congestion)
Mild to moderate fever
General sense of not feeling well (malaise)
Fatigue

Sinusitis, in turn, is caused by either a respiratory infection (such as a cold or flu) or allergies (like hay fever). Healthy sinuses allow mucus to drain and air to circulate throughout the nasal passages. When sinuses become inflamed, these areas get blocked and mucus cannot drain. When sinuses become blocked, they provide a place for bacteria, viruses, and fungus to live and grow rapidly. Although a cold is most often the culprit, sinusitis can be caused by anything that prevents the sinuses from draining.

For more details search on Wikipedia or go here: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/sinus-headache-000073.htm

Gaaon Se Gyaan: Cherpu Bhagavathy Temple

2009-02-26T22:47:00.004+05:30

The Bhagavathy temple at Cherpu (West) in Thrissur district is at least 1800 years old. The main deity is Goddess Durga with a Ganapathy pratishta within the chuttambalam itself and there is also an additional shrine (probably added later) dedicated to Lord Krishna, just beyond the outer wall. The Cherpu Bhagavathy, along with Urakam Ammathiruvadi, is an integral part of the festivities at the Aarattupuzha and Peruvanam poorams. The temple has a medium-sized compound where a stone path has been recently added for the convenience of devotees performing pradakshinam (circumnambulation).

Sky Studies - Part 3

2009-02-01T09:49:00.000+05:30

The last installment of this (hopefully) picturesque trilogy. Two photos from this set are by my brother, the rest are all original works by yours truly

Sky Studies - Part 2

2009-01-31T13:39:00.000+05:30

A few more for your viewing pleasure...

Sky Studies - Part 1

2009-01-30T22:56:00.000+05:30

A few photographs taken over the past 6 years from vantage points all over (and even above) the earth... enjoy!

Strand Book Exhibition

2009-01-26T20:38:00.000+05:30

Since 2004, if memory serves me right, the Strand Book Stall's January exhibition has been an annual pilgrimage for yours truly. Even though Churchgate is now much farther away from home than it used to be, I took the bit between my teeth last weekend and made the rather tiring trip down to Sunderbai Hall. Though pickings were pretty slim this year, I ran up a decent bill (for a recession year) within an hour of browsing. Apart from adding to my already considerable Agatha Christie library, I also rounded off my Mark Twain collection and started off my J R R Tolkien archive with The Hobbit. Most importantly, from my obsessive compulsive point of view, I was able to round off my so far incomplete Hitchiker series with the last book. Unfortunately it is a new post movie edition with a cover design that is radically different from its four predecessors, which was a bit of a disappointment for the perfectionist in me. However one takes consolation from the thought that such an incongruity is but a minor flaw and, all things considered, Mostly Harmless.

State Of Mind song of the week

2009-01-06T23:01:00.000+05:30

Hope - Shaggy - 2000

In this life you could lead if you only believe
And in order to achieve what you need
You can never give up
You can never give up
And this hope
That keep me holding on
On and on
And this hope
That makes me carry on
On and on

Mumbai Terror Attack

2008-12-03T00:29:00.000+05:30

Though blogs in general are reactive, I resisted the temptation to react in anger immediately after the attack - even though I was as angry as the next Mumbaikar.

Even now, I don't want to repeat the usual cliches about the "resilience" of Mumbaikars and the famous "the show must go on" spirit of India's Maximum City.

Nor do I want to mouth meaningless platitudes about the bravery and competence of the NSG commandos and other security forces that rushed to the rescue.

I will not spend more than this one sentence on little Moshe Holtzberg, orphaned in India by jihadis from Pakistan and now a parentless "child of entire Israel".

Instead, I shall post some excerpts from my replies to emails from concerned friends in Germany and the Netherlands, enquiring about my welfare:

Thursday 27th November: The terrorist attack was thankfully restricted to a small part of south Mumbai. However, the entire city has been very badly shaken by last night's events - today, as I made my way to the office, all the roads bore a deserted look and the attendance at work was less than 50%. Even as I write this, it is not entirely clear if the three hostage situations that have been going on for more than 25 hours now have been satisfactorily resolved.

Monday 1st December: Like the rest of Mumbai (or, I would go so far as to say, the whole of India), we have been shaken very badly. To us, these were the kind of things (shooting innocent people, taking tourists hostage) that happened in faraway places like Israel and Chechnya. Of course, we've had more than our share of bomb blasts in Mumbai but this time, terror had a face... and it was as frightening as it was commonplace. On the bright side, the recent events have brought the normally disunited common people of India closer together and a cleanup of the political system has already started. One only hopes that we as a nation would have the patience and the collective will to take it to its logical conclusion.

A work of poetry named, well, Poetry

2008-11-13T23:48:00.000+05:30

Another old poem (published in the Jan 05 issue of Capgemini's "India Happening" newsletter), posted here just to keep the blogwebs away:

They say silence is golden-
The jewel in wisdom's crown.
So why is it that silence
Always leaves me feeling down?

I like to hear the music
Of Nature's every little sound.
I gather up the notes
That are floating all around.

And when I've caught enough,
I set them down to verse.
The melody is Nature's own,
I just put in the words.

Of course, once in a while,
I add some private meaning-
A spoonful of broken heart,
A pinch of joyous feeling.

Then, suddenly, those bare words
Become something much better.
Sometimes they become a diary,
Sometimes a lovely love letter.

Prescience - a short story

2008-10-29T23:04:00.001+05:30

It was a May morning in Manali and while the rest of India was baking in the summer sun, the foothills of the Himalayas were wreathed in thin cold mists. The sun was still struggling to escape the oppressive embrace of the snow clad peaks when the two buses of the Mumbai based tour company pulled away from the hotel entrance. Winding their way up and down torturous mountain roads, they took the rather cosmopolitan group of Maharashtrian couples to the small village of Jagatsukh on the road from Manali to Naggar.

Here Sanjay Ramachandran and Arpana Nair, along with the rest of the group, walked the short distance from where the bus was parked on the narrow village road to the Gayatri Mata temple. As with most temples in this part of India, it consisted of a single wood structure with a rock foundation and shaded porch, fronted by a small cobblestoned courtyard. All the twenty two pairs of honeymooners were allowed to crowd into the main hall of the temple, in the typical North Indian way that Sanjay hated. He felt it took away from the spiritual sanctity of a place of worship to have anybody and everybody enter it.

Inside the temple, as they sat in a rough semicircle in front of the idol, the old priestess related to them the history of the temple and stories of the Devi's power. She also explained how the temple remained closed during the cold winter months, which meant that summer tourists like themselves were the main source of the funds that were inevitably needed for the upkeep of such an ancient structure. Sanjay and the others took the hint and generously filled the copper plate that the she passed around for donations. The old woman blessed them all and, as they got up to go, wished all of them long and happy lives.

Stepping out of the Gayatri Mata temple, they turned towards the Shiva temple behind it. This one was a much smaller structure than its neighbour and was made entirely of rock. It reminded Sanjay of the sanctum sanctorum of some small Shiva temple in Kerala he may or may not have visited a long time ago. The priestess of this shrine stood outside holding her own copper plate in her hands, blessing the couples as each pair dropped a currency note into it and paid their respects to Lord Mahadeva. As Sanjay and Arpana came up to her, he heard her bless couples ahead of them saying "May God keep your partnership intact". Yet when their turn came, the words that fell from her lips were "May God give better sense to both of you"!

Sanjay immediately felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Somehow the woman's words came both as a shock and a relief to him. He already knew that Arpana had married him only to please her parents and that her heart still belonged to Madhur Dias. Though he hated being the owner of her body and not her mind, he had decided that he would not be the one to end the relationship and thus face social censure. At the same time, he was apprehensive of carrying on with such a meaningless marriage. Looking up with a start, he questioningly searched the old oracle's wrinkled face. But her expression was unchanged and her wise wrinkle framed eyes revealed nothing. But as they turned away, Sanjay knew this was an omen.

This thinly disguised prophecy from the priestess of Parameshwara was to Sanjay a signal of what lay ahead. He was confident now that he would be have the strength to face the inevitable, whenever Arpana chose to bring it on. As it happened, their unhappy union lasted only three more weeks from that fateful day. But he kept to his resolve and waited till she made the first move. The two weeks that followed were tumultuous times and no one would have blamed Sanjay if he had crumbled under the immense pressure. However the words of the prescient priestess helped him to be strong even in his hour of crisis - for deep in his mind he knew, that for better or for worse, it was all the wish of Vishwanatha himself.

A Few Stray Thoughts

2008-10-09T19:43:00.000+05:30

As the one and only Busybee would say, here are a few stray thoughts and a few general opinions and a few points of view (all my own work):

Like the current financial crisis has come at a bad time for software professionals - jobs have become harder to come by in an already tight market. Looks like this year end will not see the kind of mass post-appraisal migrations that have come to characterize the industry.

Like reality shows on TV are getting more and more manipulative in their efforts to garner higher TRPs. One cannot help but pity the poor contestants who have to go through major emotional upheavals, real or contrived, just to help their employers make money.

Like working non-stop for ten days is not fun at all. On top of that, if some of those working days are fifteen hours long, the lack of rest puts a major strain on both mind and body. Such spells of deadline driven workaholism make one realize why weekends were invented.

Like India has not started very well in the first Test against the Aussies in Bangalore. If they let the visitors post a formidable first innings total, as it looks likely, it would be difficult for them to claw their way back into the match and make a winning start to the series.

Like I am not sure if I will enjoy my annual vacation in Kerala this year. Though I desperately need a break from my hectic work schedule, I don't like the idea of spending my holidays in a crowded house, full of assorted relatives, that harks back to the old joint family days.

Like I am wondering how the experience of travelling by the Garib Rath will be. I have been told that from the inside it is indeed a poor man's AC train with cramped seating and narrow aisles. Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the eating... so let us wait and see.

Blogger's Block

2008-09-17T21:01:00.001+05:30

Since I don't feel like writing anything new, I'll just paste one of my old poems on the subject of Inspiration:

I've been trying hard for quite some time
To write more than just lines that rhyme.
But even these have become hard to find -
Something seems to be bothering my mind.
Inspiration is in short supply.
Mathematical laws don't apply.
Or else, by the law of averages,
It's time I filled a couple of pages.
Now the only way to ease my tension
Is to pray for divine intervention.
But will God know I'm not jestin'?
That's the million-dollar question.

My Experience of "The Bench"

2008-09-06T08:46:00.000+05:30

No, I don't mean the Hollywood movie. In the IT industry, the term "the bench" is used similarly to the sporting arena, meaning an employee / player who has to sit out while his colleagues are in the thick of the action on the field. In almost 9 years of experience, I never had to bear the ignominy of sitting out on any exciting projects, though I did spend some time on what is called "the billable bench" (meaning employees who are paid for by the clients but are not doing any productive work). But what do you do when your employer has no good projects to offer you? And what does your employer do when you are unwilling to compromise on your career path? Thus it came to pass that I spent 5 weeks on the bench this July and August – perhaps the longest 5 weeks of my career.

After the first two weeks on the bench, which are inevitably spent in trawling the web for random trivia and management jokes that you can forward to your fellow sufferers, a sense of frustration starts to set in. Soon your attention is drawn towards the innumerable job sites where you may have had uploaded your CV a long time ago. Gradually all the forgotten old user IDs are unearthed, passwords are remembered or renewed and your updated résumé finds its way into the search results of employment agencies who have been waiting for a new bakra to earn a commission on. By the beginning of the fifth week, you are job hunting in right earnest and spending a lot of time on the phone with the sweet talking female agents who try to convince you to sacrifice your ambitions "for just six months" so that you can "earn" your desired role along with the respect of your new bosses.

In my case, my employer was lucky enough to be able to come up with a suitable role in time and prevent me from getting alienated any further. Most organizations lose promising senior employees (and the lakhs of rupees that would have been invested in developing them up to that point) by keeping them on the bench for too long and not being able to offer them enough incentives to stay loyal. Maybe HR Managers need to have a long and hard think in this matter.

The Italian Job (made in USA)

2008-08-31T15:34:00.000+05:30

They say Bollywood movies are formulaic. But Hollywood heist dramas are so predictable, you can always stay one step ahead of the story. I mean, if John Sutherland tells his daughter Charlize Theron that he's going to pull one last job, any idiot would know it's literally going to be his last. And if old man Sutherland gives Mark Wahlberg a lecture about finding "somebody you want to spend the rest of your life with", that too just before he gets bumped off, you just know that Marky Mark will end the movie on a honeymoon with the said Miss Theron. And if Edward Norton has a moustache and looks detached and withdrawn even as his gang celebrates their 35 million dollar gold haul, you can be sure he's going to betray the others and keep the gold for himself. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the grieving daughter will, after some hesitation, consent to assist Mark and Jason Statham and Seth Green and Moss Def in relieving her father's killer of what's left of the gold bars. And yet, watching The Italian Job (director F Gary Gray, released 2003) is a reasonably good way to spend a boring Sunday afternoon. Can't say that about most Bollywood formula flicks.

State Of Mind song of the week

2008-08-21T22:21:00.000+05:30

Robbie Williams - Better Man - 2000

Send someone to love me
I need to rest in arms
Keep me safe from harm
In pouring rain
Give me endless summer
Lord I fear the cold
Feel I'm getting old
Before my time

Ambition versus Patience

2008-08-18T22:38:00.000+05:30

I need to learn to be more patient.

I am a career minded person and a very ambitious one at that. But somewhere along the way, I might have rubbed quite a few people the wrong way by expressing my impatience while waiting for a big promotion or a more meaningful role.

Sure, I still have many many more friends at the workplace than enemies. But that is not the point... the point is that sometimes out of control ambitions can weigh you down so much that they cause serious damage to your professional health and sometimes even your physical or mental health. In short, if you choose to embrace the rough side of ambition, you may end up becoming your own worst enemy.

On the other hand, by being patient and adopting the softer side of ambition, you can ensure that you not only reach your destination but actually learn to enjoy the journey as you go along.

More on this very inspirational concept at Diana Bertoldo's blog: Live Beyond Stress and Illness: Stress Less Zone: Mind The Tone Of Your Ambitions

State Of Mind song of the week

2008-08-12T22:32:00.000+05:30

Bob Dylan - Things Have Changed - 2000

Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Puttin' her in a wheelbarrow and wheelin' her down the street
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care but - things have changed.

The Usual, Suspect

2008-08-10T19:38:00.000+05:30

It was with great expectations that I sat down to watch the 1995 American neo-noir film The Usual Suspects, having read a lot of favourable reviews back in those days. However by the time the end credits rolled, I was utterly and totally disappointed... As early as 5 minutes into the film, I already knew the identity of the killer and could predict the all too obvious ending. And as crippled con artist Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) spins his yarn to US Customs special agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), it only becomes more and more apparent to the viewer that he is spinning a deceitful web of pathetic lies. Only, the government agent is too stupid to see through the sly swindle and is unable to guess the true identity of the almost mythical Keyser Söze till it is too late. All said and done, I would rate Bollywood's 2007 neo-noir classic Johnny Gaddaar a notch or two higher than this overrated effort by director Bryan Singer.

The Beauty of Small Things

2008-08-06T09:51:00.000+05:30

I have always felt that the small and unpretentious things in this world are often more beautiful than those that are excessively extravagant and grandiose.

For example, I recently finished reading Salman Rushdie's novel The Moor's Last Sigh. And for all the talk about "Rushdie's fabulous and philosophic vision of his native India, a panorama condensed within the story of one family and its last surviving member" (this from the website of the publisher, Random House), the most impressive thing I found in the book was just a small phrase in an obscure line in a relatively unimportant section of Chapter Nineteen. The line goes "Very early the next morning, while the sun was still a rumour running along the crests of distant mountains, I accompanied Renegada Larios to work" (italics are mine).

I can just close my eyes and picture this line in my mind's eye, letting the whole scene play out:
The mountains (either the giant snow capped granite monoliths of Himachal or the humbler blue ones of the Western ghats, take your pick) stand across a wide valley that is not visible in the twilight darkness. The gurgling of a river can be heard clearly in the distance, as even the birds nesting on the trees in the valley are not sure if they want to wake up yet. Faint traces of light from the sun, which is still hidden below the horizon, throw dim shadows along the upper reaches of the massifs. Gently the line between the darkness and the sunlight creeps lower and lower down the ridges and more and more of the mountain sides come into view. The little dim light that reaches one's eyes is enought to illuminate the immediate surroundings. However most of the valley, including the bubbly river that ones knows to be flanked by tall trees, standing guard like silent sentinels, remains shrouded in thin pre dawn mists... And the rumour of the impending arrival of the sun continues to run across the crests of the distant mountains.

The Bourne Inconsistency

2008-08-04T12:25:00.001+05:30

Watched the entire Bourne trilogy yesterday. Excellent movies, all of them and way above the standard of the average Hollywood thriller. That said, I was able to spot a major continuity gaffe in the third movie... A scene from the end of The Bourne Supremacy is repeated in the middle of The Bourne Ultimatum, where Jason Bourne calls CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy on her cell phone as she sits in her office. Though the filmmakers tried hard to replicate the scene as closely as possible, the shirt worn by Pam Landy in the later movie is clearly a different shade of blue. Also, the undone first button of her shirt reveals a bit more of her neck and chest in the older version. Of course, these are just the errors that I myself spotted. More mistakes in the same scene have been reported by others, such as the weather and natural lighting being different, the wall behind Bourne not looking the same and Landy's phone vibrating instead of ringing in the third movie.

Management Gyaan - Complexity in Organizations

2008-08-01T13:13:00.000+05:30

Found these lines in an editorial by Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary in the August issue of ICFAI’s Effective Executive magazine:

Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety states that the internal complexity of an organization should match the complexity of the external environment. Large global organizations seem to have taken Ashby’s Law to their heart and have instituted overly complex business processes as well as complex hierarchical and matrix organizational structures. The downside of adding layers of complexity to an organization is that it shows down the process of decision-making. Everyone in the organization wants to do the right thing and more resources are spent to systematize the analysis process that aids decision-making. These checks and balances create an organizational culture that penalizes “off-the-cuff risk-taking mentality”. Large organizations get muddled in “analysis paralysis” and are not willing to take quick decisions. Hence organizations become slower as they become global.

I sent these lines to many of my Manager colleagues and asked for their ideas on how to balance caution and quickness when it comes to management decision-making. Tellingly, I didn't get a single reply!

Thoughts on Sarkar Raj

2008-07-26T16:06:00.000+05:30

Some random observations about the RGV movie:

1. Ramu and writer Prashant Pandey deserve kudos for thinking "differently", though the final product did not do justice to the brilliant twist in the tale (I mean the Rao Saheb one).
2. Speaking of which, Dilip Prabhavalkar was brilliant as usual in the role of the ruthless modern day Chanakya, supported aptly by Rajesh Shringarpore as his Raj T lookalike grandson.
3. It was hard to believe that the streetsmart and politically suave Sarkar failed to see the real face of the scheming Deputy Chief Minister who lounged about in his house all the time.
4. The car bomb scene, "inspired" by Godfather II, was badly executed. A more spectacular explosion would have helped create an emotional impact on the audience (and maybe on Shankar).
5. RGV once again showed the guts to follow his heart, even if that means going against popular wisdom and killing off his "hero" (and minimizing his casting options for Sarkar III).
6. Not showing the face of the hitman who fatally shoots Shankar was a pointless move; if Ramu wanted to create some extra suspense about the killer's identity, he failed miserably.
7. It was sad to see Chander bhai go; he had much more personality than Aby's baby and complemented Sarkar's character. His replacement Bala, aptly, was a wooden reflection of Shankar.
8. The ending left me rather puzzled... if Anita Rajan, by then a regular in Sarkar House, asks a servant for a cup of tea, what's so earthshaking about it? A total Overhead Transmission.
9. I wonder who will play Cheeku in Sarkar III... or will the Sarkar grandson only grow up in time for Sarkar IV, letting the Bachchan bahu wield all the Power in the next installment?
10. In future episodes RGV should leave out the deafening background music, especially the needless jarring refrain of the "Govinda Govinda" theme at crucial points in the story.

State Of Mind song of the week

2008-07-18T14:14:00.000+05:30

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World - 1985

I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world

Hathway Hai Hai

2008-07-13T18:44:00.000+05:30

My Broadband Internet service provider, Hathway Cable & Datacom is not exactly the best in their business. I have suffered a lot from intermittent connections, lost packets and unexpected downtime. But nothing compares to the suffering my family and I have endured over the last 2-3 days. You see, one of the brainless minions of Mr. Rajan Raheja (owner of Hathway) sent out proforma invoices to thousands of customers with my home phone number and mobile number listed instead of their own. Seeing these strange numbers listed on their invoice, the said customers (most of whom seem to have single digit IQs) assumed these were Hathway's contact numbers and starting calling up to enquire. When I tried to reach Hathway on their call center number to complain, I could only reach an IVRS system that continuously played entire English songs to me. As musical entertainment was the last thing on my mind at the time, I fired off an email addressed to Mr. Raheja himself. Immediately, the "concerned" Hathway employees responded to my mail and called me up promising immediate action on my complaint, their solution only compounded the problem. They sent out an SMS to all their users asking them not to call on my numbers but included the two numbers themselves in the first line of the message... obviously the semi-literate among the Hathway customers, who had not even bothered to look at the invoice yet, started calling me up en masse to clarify that they would be making their payments soon! To preserve my cellphone battery and my sanity, I had to keep my phone switched off for most part of the last two days. Though the poor guys at Hathway, who probably had to work late on Saturday to undo the damage done by one careless idiot, have promised me that the calls should peter out naturally by Monday, I do expect to get a few stray calls over the rest of the next week at least. Well, on the bright side, many beautiful single girls in Mumbai now have my phone numbers ;) - although unfortunately it is mostly their mothers and fathers who are doing the calling :(

On Waiting

2008-07-11T19:18:00.000+05:30

Waiting is something that always tests my patience. "Well, what's new?" you ask, "we don't like waiting either." True, nobody does but my threshold of impatience is much higher. I am always in a hurry for results, especially if I have already done all the hard work needed to achieve them. When I have to wait to enjoy the fruits of my labour, it almost drives me crazy. I agree with Robert Anthony when he says "Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait. The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don't count."

For instance, at work, I spent 4 years in one project proving myself over and over again in multiple roles. When I was finally released from there, I expected to get a good role commensurate with my ability and experience. Instead, I was told to wait for another 4 months and help out the organization by taking up a position that at least I perceived as being below my designation. As a loyal soldier of the company, I agreed to do that job (the fact that it involved a trip to the Netherlands helped). But after having completed the assignment and even after being offered something that is challenging and exciting enough to interest me, I am still having to wait... I mean, I can't help but say, "Intehaan ho gayi intezaar ki" :(

Textbook Controversy

2008-07-08T11:35:00.000+05:30

As the "seventh standard textbook" debate continues to rage like a wildfire across Kerala, how can ajayswami resist the temptation to put forward his own deliciously warped point of view? ;)

But first a translation of the offending passage, courtesy keralatips:
Headmaster : What is your name?
Child : Jeevan
Headmaster : What is your father’s name?
Child : Anvar Rasheed
Headmaster : What is your mother’s name?
Child : Lekshmi Devi
Headmaster (to parents) : What I should enter as child’s religion?
Parents : Leave it blank.
Headmaster : Caste?
Parents : Leave that also blank.
Headmaster : What happens if he wants a religion when he becomes an adult?
Parents : Let him choose the religion he wants.

Now this passage per se has nothing wrong with it; in fact, it provides a practical guideline for many parents whose interreligious/intercaste marriage has put them in a similar situation. Also it upholds the ideal of secularism as envisioned by India's founding fathers, as against the pseudo secularism that has actually been practised in independent Bharat (more on that later).

But my first question to those who wrote this textbook would be: "Would 12 year olds studying in class 7 be able to digest the rather idealistic message of this passage?" Or do they even need to? For most children these lines would only create an identity crisis, as they start questioning the need for following a religion ("If Jeeven has no religion, why should I have one?"), not realizing that whether they like it or not, the religious beliefs their parents have instilled in them since early childhood are an essential part of their psychological makeup without which they would end up lost and confused.

My second question: "Why does it always have to be Anvar Rasheed marrying Lekshmi Devi?" Why not have Anand Nair marrying Lateefa Biwi? Whether it is textbooks or novels or movies, the pseudo secular Mallu intellectuals always like to potray Hindu women falling in love with Muslim or Christian men and, unlike Lekshmi Devi, promptly converting to the husband's faith after marriage. Only in very rare cases (Padmapriya's character in the Sibi Malayil movie "Amritham" being a case in point) do we actually see Muslim girls falling in love with Hindu men and living as Hindus (as conversion is unfortunately not an option) in their husband's home after marriage.

Culture Beat on the Idiot Box

2008-07-06T14:32:00.000+05:30

On Sunday mornings, I try not to miss the only two reality based programmes on the Malayalam channels that are actually worth watching (read free from lal salaam propaganda). What is even more surprising is that these programmes actually manage to serve up a healthy dose of Kerala culture (meaning Hindu culture), right under the noses of the pinko protectors of pseudo secularism that proliferate among the purveyors of infotainment from God's Own Country.

The first of these is "Kshetrayanam" on Surya TV - a pilgrimage to temples outside Kerala that have been established by Keralites and observe all the traditional rituals and ceremonies typical to temples in Kerala. Having followed the Kshetrayanam team around Maharashtra (and thereby discovered many previously unknown Mallu temples in and around aamchi Mumbai), I am now tracking them north through Narendra Modi's Gujarat. More power to them (I mean the "Kshetrayanam" team primarily, not Narendrabhai's, though even the latter deserve kudos for various things - more on that later)!

The second one is "E for Elephant" on the communist mouthpiece Kairali channel. As the name suggests, this programme is of and for (and in some ways, even by) the ponderous pachyderms without whom Kerala's umpteen temple festivals (and of late, even church feasts) would remain incomplete. Be it the aana chandam of beautifully bedecked tuskers at poorams or attacks on humans by elephants in musth or even elephant beauty contests, Sreekumar Arookutty and his team manage to cover all news elephantine with promptness that would make the Aaj Tak guys proud. The way "E for Elephant" managed to give us a first hand "breaking news" report on the sighting of the killer elephant Kolakolli was the ultimate sting operation in Indian wildlife journalism.

Sree Ganesh

2008-07-04T20:14:00.000+05:30

Om...

The first post on this new blog. What better to begin with than a link (since removed) to my old blog at rediffiland?

More vyarthwhile gyaan follows soon...