Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum.

And..

2011-02-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

...I am back.

Facebook/twitter have done to blogpost what electric engines did to steam engines. Well, almost. Those who are on my facebook would know well how 'regular' I am with my updates (at times, irritatingly so). However, my journey of writing (random musings - boring or otherwise) started with blogpost. Hence I am kinda drawn back where I started. After a long moratorium, the blogging resumes.

Talking of facebook, the movie "The Social Network" was quite an eye-opener for me. While Mark Zuckerberg's creative genius was wow-inducing, his apparent stealth and deception was equally eww-inducing. Everytime I log onto facebook, I feel as if I am entering a chor-bazaar (a term used in India for a place where thieves sell their loots). While the comparison might be extreme, you get the drift. I won't be going into the movie review but suffice it to say that Facebook is successful because of Zuckerberg but it exists because of the Winklevoss brothers (forgot the 3rd guy's name).

The bigger question that lingers in the mind is: What do people do when being unethical is not illegal?

Book!

2010-06-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

This post is more of a 'documentation' of the day when I actually got down to drawing the outline for writing my book. Yes, my book. Even if no one publishes it, technically it will still be a book. Those on my facebook would recall that being one of my 2010 resolutions - to start working on writing my book. Even if I write just 1 page, that qualifies as a fulfilled resolution. Since there is no monetary incentive, I guess I would do a better job than that. ;)

Writing, like singing, can be meditative..if one is into it. Hope the process of writing the book is more like hiking in the bay area and NOT like running long distance (which can be fun, but in instalments).

Why am I writing about this, you ask? Well, as a way of reminding myself that I need to finish it in a reasonable time (few years, and not decades ) And no, I am not revealing the details just yet. Needless to say, it won't be my story - hardly any spice there. It will be a cocktail and convergence of several different quasi-fictitious and interesting experiences - some deep, some playful, some humbling, and some WTF. Hopefully all weaved together seamlessly.

The first step has been taken. Will the last one be equally exciting? Time will tell.

IPL, an irony

2010-03-29T23:01:00.000-07:00

IPL is a weird irony. While it is the same event that provides an unprecedented platform to youngsters to compete with the best and make money which the players wouldn't have normally, it gives me a bad feeling that IPL is like prostituting cricket to make money. An ad between deliveries, sponsor names taking over legendary cricketing jargons, ads occupying quarter of the horizontal space, commentators forced to quasi-advertise, strategic time-outs to fit in extra sponsors. No other league, be it English Premiere League, or NFL, has ever distorted the very essence of the game so dramatically to churn out money. I am no Nehru who thinks profit is a dirty word. But couldn't the sanctity of the game have been retained by reducing the profitability by a small fraction?

When did you last see the franchise owner of a team seeking attention by screaming from the dug-out? What makes them think that their acting skills will help the team come up with wonderful strategies? As a true cricket lover, who loves to watch or follow the unadulterated contest between bat and ball, I genuinely don't appreciate every other visual/soundbyte of IPL broadcast being a reminder of some in-your-face money-milking. I don't care if the franchise owners make billions in the background. None of my business. All I want as a cricket-lover is to not spoil my viewing experience.

However, the truth remains that there won't be a word said against this vilification by those who are involved in it - as players, commentators or whatever. Who would want to spoil his riches overnight by speaking up? This is when the likes of Harsha Bhogle disappoint me. He generally has a whole bunch of opinions, but nothing (that I have read so far) against this apparent Mayawati-fication of cricket. Is it starting to become a mark of an insecure Indian? An insecure dalit CM (Mayawati) feels the need to showcase her wealth by wearing a Rs. 21 lakh garland, and an insecure entrepreneur, who wants to showcase how profit-making his business idea is (sports and its sanctity be damned) resorts to the "Mayawati-fication". Pathetic.

The Common Man, democracy's fav punching bag

2010-02-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

"Common man" has come out to be the biggest loser from this whole Sena-SRK episode. It just goes on to show one can take liberties with the common man, use him for vested interests, and leave him stranded when he is in danger.

Shiv Sena doesn't give two hoots about the betterment of the common man across Maharashtra - atleast it's actions don't suggest so - but when it comes to gaining publicity, it doesn't blink twice in beating up powerless north indians or tearing up a movie's posters to showcase its fake 'holier than thou' attitude. But the common man is stupid enough to not see through the trick and he still votes for such parties in the elections. (stats: 43% of the votes in the last assembly elections went to Sena and MNS. Had they been a single party, they would have been in power). Logic says the common man is not making the right choices but then such are the ways of democracy.

SRK doesn't give two hoots about talking on issues of national importance but when it comes to the release of his movies, he suddenly feels like speaking on everything and thinks Pakistani players could have been treated in a better way in IPL auction. That, when his franchise itself didn't choose a single Pakistani player (the official reason given is they didn't have a slot.. but that's bull..they picked Shane Bond recently). He sure has a right to have an opinion, and his differing opinion shouldn't make anyone violent towards his movie. But at the core, he is a businessman - rather, salesman - which is fair enough..everyone has a right to sell his products/services if his livelihood depends on that. But his timing of this thoughts on issues of national importance is quite impeccable. Again, the common man is at the target of his salesmanship. But I don't really blame him for that because he is not answerable to the citizens of the country (unlike a political party)..but people need to realize that he is just selling his product..and his (and other celebrities') "love you all" jargon is as fake as Sena's "Marathi Manoos" rhyme.

Congress government won't give a shit about protecting powerless and faceless UPites and Bihari taxi drivers when they are thrashed by the goons, but when it comes to putting up a gimmick to show how safe Mumbai is, they will channel 40% of the police force to safeguard a movie. Again, the aim is to show the common man how efficient the government is. Logic again says that tokenism isn't going to change the ground-reality but such are the games one needs to play in democracy to win votes.

And finally, the omnipotent media uses and, by giving undue hype, creates all this drama in the form of a non-stop 24x7 breaking news updates to the common man.

Bottomline, everyone uses the common man to extract his pound of flesh..and the common man acts as a mere punching bag. When it comes to catastrophe like terrorist attacks, it's the powerless common man who dies. This is what, at times, makes me skeptical of democracy. I know democracy is the optimum, if not the ideal, solution. But the root cause of all the above problems is the process of electing people who govern us. Someone who is deaf/blind/dumb by birth has as much say in the process as a Nobel Laureate in Economics (say). Would a Nobel Laureate or a logically rational person ever elect the likes of Sena/MNS to a constituency?

3 Idiots and 3 non-professionals

2010-01-02T00:17:00.000-08:00

Power can potentially make people not only hungrier, angrier, but also unethical. And for a change, I am not talking about politicians. They, by default, are all that. But role models that we, as common citizens, choose based on the stardom that a person has achieved can be so misplaced. Respect for Aamir Khan, Vidhu Chopra, and Raju Hirani, the 3 main 'faces' of the latest movie, 3 Idiots, has gone down immensely.

Here is some background. One of the most awaited movies of last year, 3 Idiots, released last weekend. A very well-made hilarious movie with an inspirational yet non-preachy undertone. Within a few days, author of the bestseller, "Five Point Someone" claims that the movie has "almost 70%" similarity with his book and he was not duly credited for that. His name appears at the very end along with some junior artistes and such. He also alleges that the makers hid this fact from him and told him that the movie was completely an original story and they didn't credit him with the story. On the other hand, the makers of the movie claim that the movie has "only 2 to 5%" similarity with the novel ". Aamir Khan and Vidhu Chopra have not read the book, and they go on to a press conference stating that Chetan Bhagat is publicity hungry and that the movie is completely original. How dumb is that!

So what's the deal then? All one has to do is read the book and watch the movie and use his own reasoning to come to the conclusion. I read the novel in one sitting, and saw the movie the very next day. The movie is not a rip-off of the novel. Not scene by scene. But it is very obviously an adaptation of the book. The storyline, the situations, some scenes, some twists are lifted from the book. That's what an adaptation is. You use the storyline, and adapt it to make changes. In other words, if the book hadn't existed, most likely this movie wouldn't be made with this storyline. Plain and simple. While it would be incorrect to say the movie was a direct lift from the novel, it would be a bigger farce to say that the movie wasn't an adaptation of the novel. In Hollywood, authors of novels that are adapted into a film are given a very prominent credit. Eg. Slumdog millionaire.

It is sad that these are our role models and people look up to them. They are as ordinary and as much governed by self-interest as politicians. Which is fine, as long as they don't cheat. To take away credit where it is due is, in one word, cheating....and as some girls would say "OMG, so ewww".

Political will and decision-making

2009-12-08T09:41:00.001-08:00

London: 1.30 am (Nov, 2009)

Me: Is it safe to walk to the hotel (0.8 mile away) at this hour?

Security guard (at work): Don’t worry. You will be on many cameras all the way to your hotel.

Saudi Arabia (Nov, 2008)

Me: Don’t you guys have security issues in Saudi from Al Qaeda?

Colleague (an Arab): All killed. Sent to jail. My cousin was in Al Qaeda. Government put them all in jail. Very good. Government very strict.

Mumbai (Nov, 26 – 2008): terrorists take coastal route to attack the city. 170+ killed. Government of the day makes promises to tighten overall security. One year later, the civilians are no less vulnerable.

What differentiates the first two from the third is a complete lack of political will in the latter case. Sure politicians the world over, by definition, are concerned primarily about their own interest. But one thing that differentiates several nations when it comes to national security is a political tipping point that makes the political establishment of the day act decisively in national interest. For US, it was 9/11. For London, it was 7/7. Even for Saudi, where there is no democracy, there was decisiveness in dealing with terrorists. Heck, even China that isn’t a prime target for terrorists is partnering with IBM to have a system in place where all the 1.3 billion Chinese would potentially be monitored through a very advanced surveillance system. London has 12000 CCTVs each connected to software that monitors any suspicious behavior such as hand-waving, people walking in groups, and such. On an average, every visitor to London comes on CCTV atleast 300 times. The whole of UK has on an average 1 CCTV for 14 people. Will it provide complete protection? Of course not. But it sure shows a strong political will that restores faith in the system and makes citizens feel safe.

Unfortunately, for Mumbai the tipping point wasn’t 26/11. There are merely 820 CCTVs that work in isolation without any centralized software analyzing them. And terrorism is just one example. Law enforcement (or lack of it) is another example where lack of political will is screwing up the system. There are rules, and there are law enforcers. Yet, there is no law enforcement. There will be roads and flyovers, but if there isn’t any law enforcement, laws will be broken openly..and people like me will complain about it.

Ditto for climate change. Example: Bengal taxi association went up in arms when a court order to replace old taxis with ‘greener’ cars was passed. Politicians are scared to shoo away their vote-bank and maintain the status quo. Result: the city is one of the most polluted metros.

The problem is not linear. The solution unfortunately lies with the politicians. No matter how much we despise politicians, we cannot stay untouched by politics on a daily basis. The tipping point will be reached only when decision-making is disassociated from potential repercussions from so-called vote-banks. Till then, status quo won’t change.

Taxi ride with Sardarji

2009-11-15T16:11:00.000-08:00

One of the interesting things about any business trip for me is the 45 min taxi ride to the airport. More often than not, the punjabi taxi drivers never disappoint with their "expert comments". Here is an unadulterated transcript of the chat I had on my way to SFO a week back.

Me: Since when are you in the bay area?
TD (taxi driver, 57 yr old): o ji, 16 years. US Citizen hoon ji. Aap? (For the last 16 years. I am a US citizen)
Me: main citizen nahi hoon :) (I am not one)
TD (randomly): o ji, kitne bacche hain ji aapke (how many kids do you have?)
Me (LOL-ing): Do I look that old? I am not married yet.
TD: nahi ji ho to aap jawaan..jawaani mein shaadi nahi karoge to budhaape mein karoge? (you dont look that old..but you should marry while you are still young)
Me: Shaadi karne layak koi mili nahi. (Haven't found the match yet.)
TD: O ji to fir akele kaise sote ho rajaai mein.. thand nahi lagti? (how do you sleep alone then..dont you feel cold)
Me: hahahaha..
TD: girlfriend to hogi ji?
Me: haha .., sardarji, aise hi kisi ko muh uthaa ke shaadi kar loon? (i cant just marry someone randomly)
TD: o ji, jaan pehchaan to hoti rahegi, pehle shaadi to karo. (first get married, then you ll get to know her)
TD: meri shaadi hui maine apni biwi ko shaadi ke pehle kabhi nahi dekha (I never saw or talked to my wife before we got married)
Me: that was a different age sardarji
TD: o kuch different nahi ji.. sab wahi hai. Kisi seedhi saadhi indian se shaadi karo. Roti shoti banaayegi aapke liye. (Its still the same. Find a simple decent indian girl and get married. She will cook for you everyday)

(By now, I had started to realize the apparent high entertainment quotient of TD's utterances. So I was just nodding in agreement and laughing instead of having an intelligible discussion)

TD: next time jab india jaaoge, khaali haath waapas mat aana..muh mat dikhaana..kisi gori se mat karna shaadi (dont come back empty handed the next time you go to india. Don't marry an American or non-indian).
Me: why not?
TD: kya baat kar rahe ho. aap kisi aisi ladki se shaadi karoge jiska boyfraand raha ho? :o (how can you marry someone who had a boyfriend before?)

(This line was a killer. TD sure lives in an archaic age.. and he called himself an american citizen.A "LOL++" moment)

Me: Even an Indian girl can have a boyfriend.
TD: haanji but chance kam hai...goriyon ka to confirmed hai...kyun riks loge (Yes, but the probability is lower than that for an american.. why take a risk?)

(I was laughing too hard to reply back)

Me: sardarji, tusi great ho (Sardarji, you are great)
TD: Maninder Singh hoon ji. (I am Maninder Singh)

While on one hand it was good to have a great laugh, on the other it was a sorry statement on someone who was physically living in the US for 16 years but mentally still in the 18th century.

God vs no God

2009-11-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

Like most things in the world, existence of God (and I will use that phrase quite loosely here) is a much debtaed topic..with proponents from each side feeling sorry for those from the other. From petty fights to major riots to big wars, it's all done in the name of God.

Truth is absolute. But in this case, it is irrelevant. What matters at the end of the day is equilibrium - of mind, body, nations, and the world. Being a typical engineer, I will use a simple law of thermodynamics to make my point. At equilibrium, change in entropy is zero. In other words, whichever belief leads to a minimum entropy change should be the "optimum" way to go.

Hypothesis 1: There is a sudden 'unravelling' of truth that God exists (for the purpose of clarity, lets define God as an entity that can brutally violate any laws of physics and put Newton to shame and do things that cannot always be explained by scientific theories)

Pros:
- Existence of God (EoG) can provide a good 'recourse' for people to attain inner peace. Peace is nothing but a state of mind (in other words, a purely psychological concept)..and for some people, just visiting a temple/church/mosque can be peaceful.

- EoG can give people a sense of good and bad, right and wrong. Though this is not always a pro, but that's another point.

Overall dS (change in entropy) = very low.

Cons:
- One of the most obvious cons is religious fanaticism. However, most of these fundamentalists are either politically motivated or exploiting people's misery (poverty) by coupling it with their distorted version of religion. People *using* religion is not always the same as religion being directly responsible.

Overall dS = somewhat high.

Hypothesis 2: Sudden 'unravelling' of truth that God doesn't exist

Pros: There wouldn't be any fight over whose "God" is great and whose "God" wanted who to not have the right to live and such.
ds = low

Cons: While it would be business as usual for truly rational people, for those who now depend heavily on 'faith' to provide them with a sense of good and bad, could start questioning the very basis of good and bad.. They could potentially have questions for which they would have no answers. This, imho, could lead to a world with people having more mental unrest than before. Think of it this way, for every problem, these people had a readymade solution (in their minds).. "God". Now there would be blank. That would have a significant, even though gradual, impact on a country like India (or even US). Whereas, for a country like China, it will hardly have any impact.

ds (over a long term) = high

To know the optimum solution, one would have to know which particular ds is lower. Unfortunately, like most things, the answer is "it depends". In short term, I think the first hypothesis would look optimum, whereas long term, it would be the either would work just fine. Purely on my intrepretation of which option would provide how much equilibrium (or the lack of it).

Sidenote: here is what Newton thought: "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion."

New found love

2009-10-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

I have been in the US for over 6 years now. Spent the first 2 years in a school that was (and still is) one of the top college football teams in the nation. Every saturday in those 2 falls, I used to hear about the exciting college football games but spent most (if not all) of those Saturdays playing cricket at the Harris park (I know, the name sounds very professional but it was a very small park where even Geoff Boycott's mom could hit a six. Almost)..and never had enough interest to even try to see what the fuss was all about. I used to wonder how could a regular college-level game be so sophisticated as to generate such buzz. I had little knowledge about the game. All I knew was that everyone looked the same - tall, broad and muscular and ran after the guy who had the ball in his hand. My interest level remained undeterred even in the 2005 season when Longhorns won the championship. This year though, things changed. All it took was one casual Monday night NFL. The game was a nail-biter and decided literally in the last minute. Luckily, the next 2 games that I watched also had close finishes as well. That's it. Enough to make me want more. Big time.

And the business model is unique too. Now I know where did IPL (NFL's cricket equivalent) get its inspiration from. Good food, casual evening, scantily clad cheer-girls and of course, a high-energy football game. I am quite sure the shortest version of cricket, if introduced to the american crowd, will be a big hit. They would find it much more exciting and nail-biting than a baseball game, which imho is overrated. Heck, even if only Indian crowds show up, they will make good revenues. But I digress. Long story short, American football is my latest love. Cricket, of course, is numero uno.

And yes, OU still sucks! (for the uninitiated, you need to be a Longhorns fan to know what I mean).

Technology and laziness

2009-09-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

There was a discussion going on among my colleagues that technology is making the new bunch of engineers more tool-dependent, and lazier. I, kind of, agree.

Let's look at how technology has made us lazy and might potentially make us even more so in the times to come. Sensors have completely taken over the new-age restrooms. All you have to do is go and stand there, and of course unzip your pant/jeans/whatever. I might not be surprised though that in a few decades even the act of unzipping might be automated. All you need to do is be able to stand. "Something" unzips your panst and takes out the you-know-what, and bingo! For girls, I cannot explain the process due to the PG13-ness of this blog. But you get the drift.

Ditto for travel. Long hour commutes would no longer be a hassle if we have an auto-driven car that is 'intelligent' enough to adjust its speed as it approaches other cars from any direction. The whole traffic system could be revolutionized that way. Flying cars is already on its way (in NASA labs)..so instead of driving to work, we would be flying to work. For lovers who don't have enough privacy on land, can use the 'aerial parking lot' to get some private moments with their partners.

On a more serious note, technology helps in saving lives. Imagine if doctors have access to any patient's medical record by scanning a "smart-card" that keeps track of the patients medical history, that would help solving complications that are caused by lack of information about the patients' record (which is quite common in rural areas). It would also bring quick relief. One area where this could be of immense help would be in pregnancy related fatalities esp. in rural areas.

That said, technology wouldn't necessarily make one fit and healthy. The basics of getting rid of fat will remain unchanged forever. If you wish to stand still, and expect some magic tool to wiggle out your fat and improve your heart rate, that's not happening. Not now. Not 50 years from now.

Bottomline, technology would help. Big time. It sure would make routine things easier. But in the larger and deeper scheme of things, it doesn't necessarily make one at peace with himself.

"I want coffee, I want tea, I want sex"

2009-09-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

That is the hilariously ridiculous line of the day in this supposedly serious debate about whether there should be a legislation passed to "test male potency" before marriage. There are suggestions about "negotiating" for sex before marriage from the so-called experts.

Imagine a girl talking to her prospective groom/boyfriend: "You will have to make me coffee, no sugar, no cream, twice everyday. Sex, mornings and late-nights. Everyday you miss the morning sex, you will have to cook me dinner the whole week as a penalty. Ok?" And the guy goes.."err.. sounds good.. but in the night, my Cadillac is somewhat limp..so maybe I can cook half-dinner and instead of sex just have, you know, ummm, shower together."

Sounds more like one of those buy-one-get-one offers.

I hope we don't see an era of already-overbaggaged relationships too burdened by such pre-marital bargaining-for-car-esque "negotiation" sex.. If it happens, the "Cadillac" stands the risk of being 'parked' in a different garage everytime :)

Sachin and stats

2009-09-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

Stats can be misleading, some say. In some cases, true. But vagueness is tantamount to stupidity. So lets get rid of the misleading-ness for once and for all by approaching the stats using different levels of resolution, so to speak.

Allegation: Sachin is a big flop when it comes to finals
Facts: With an average of 55.54, he ranks 4th on the all-time average list in tournament finals..only marginally behind Sir Viv Richards (55.74).

Some noteable averages in the finals:
Ricky Ponting: 39.52
Adam Gilchrist: 37.51
Rahul Dravid: 34.71
Steve Waugh: 29.53

But one could argue that averages can be misleading especially if you have a lot of unbeaten knocks (Sachin has just 3 unbeaten centuries.. out of 38 knocks)

Lets zoom in further. Of the 38 finals that Sachin has played, he has failed in 15 of those (assuming any score less than 40 = failure). That is roughly 39.5% failure rate. .

Failure rates for other prominent "big match" players in the finals
Ricky Ponting 50% (20/39)
Steve Waugh: 62.5%
Adam Gilchrist: 63.6% (21/33)
Rahul Dravid: 76% (16/21)
Viv Richards: 41%.

And I haven't even taken into account the non-quantifiable pressure like that from the Indian fans.

I rest my case.

(all data courtesy cricinfo statsguru)

"Khuda ke liye" - In the name of God

2009-09-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

Watched this movie - Khuda ke liye - yesterday. For the uninitiated, it's a movie set primarily in Pakistan showcasing 2 sides of Islam, the 'real' version and the Maulana version, and how it impacts the life of a Pakistani guy who is studying music in USA, and of a British national of Pakistani origin who finds herself entrapped by the Maulana version of Islam.

A well-made movie that treats the subject matter with great sensitivity that it deserves, except for one thing. The first-time director possibly relishes in India bashing (or he did that to gain mass appeal). There was no reason for a character who is shown as a moderate Muslim to say things like "We ruled them (India) for 1000 years" and "We built Taj" apparently refering to a Shah Jahan (a Muslim) as "we". Very off the character, and I must say, not in good taste.

That glitch aside, the movie had its soul in the right place. I am not going to review the movie here but just think aloud on the bigger picture. Who do we hold responsible and attribute all this to? To the Maulanas that drive the youth to such distorted 'jehad' or to lack of education that makes them so bereft of logic? To the poverty that drives some of the youth to commit terrorist acts or to the CIA that first created Mujahideen when it suited them and the abandoned them to rot in poverty? To the situations that drove them to justify everything based on religion or to the religion itself?

I see religion as more of a map. Yahoo or google or mapquest, is secondary. The primary purpose is to give direction. I am not overly religious, but I find Bhagvad Geeta as the most powerful piece of philosophy that is more of a guide towards leading a peaceful life than a religious diction. In short, it is Fountainhead and Rudyard Kipling's 'If' merged together. It's like a google map..just a guide. I am sure the same is true for other religions. If so, back to the original question: Who do we hold responsible then?

Self-architected death

2009-08-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

No, am not talking about 'conventional' suicides.

Fasting...to die. Peacefully. A crime? Or a right?

"Alice in Blunderland"

2009-08-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

That's the phrase of the year - representing the president of BJP, the main opposition party in Indian politics (for the uninitiated).

This interview by Arun Shourie is an amazing insight into the goings on of the BJP - party in denial and in utmost nervousness/insecurity. All the rational voices are being subdued and for a moment, Congress sounds like a unified and dignified party in comparison. He opens his heart out..talks about everything from the current state in BJP to a possible solution of "bombarding the headquarters" to the days of Godhra and Kandahar. The insight about Vajpayee is also quite unique.

One interesting thing he says about a leader is that a leader should have an authority to quieten a crowd of 50000 by just one gesture of hand. Gandhi had it .

Watch the whole interview.

SRK, the salesman

2009-08-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

News channels in India are going nuts over a supposed disrespect towards "a global icon", Shah Rukh Khan. They don't stop there.. they go on to claim "this is disrespectful towards every Indian". They make themselves a laughing stock by being so dramatic.

One thing that is interesting is SRK himself says this wasn't the first time he was being questioned at an airport.. then why is he going on air talking about it as if he is the most tortured soul on the planet? Everyone knows SRK's marketing acumen. Is it any coincidence that his film "My Name is Khan" is releasing soon and what better fodder than this to arouse sympathy?

As for his detaining, it's no big deal. Security people on the airports don't have to know who the person is before asking him questions. They are doing their jobs. Plain. Simple. I was kinda-detained at the Saudi airport b/c of some visa queries that the immigration authorities had. They questioned me till they were satisfied. Big deal? Now it wouldn't matter to them whether I was a common man or a superstar. Sure if I was a white, they wouldn't question me at all. But hey, it's their country and if you have issues with being questioned at the immigrations, then don't come. That's what I did. I left via Bahrain instead of being grilled again at Saudi immigration.

WOWest initiative!

2009-08-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

I updated my facebook status page a few days back with this link. The more I see the links there, the more I get wowed. The initiative is simply amazing to say the least. The idea is simple: a non-profit that has one website with all amazingly taught videos on subjects varying from physics to maths to finance/banking/credit crisis. All you need to have is one computer with internet access. Knowledge at your fingertips. All done by one guy. He reminds me of my thermodynamics professor during my UT days. Learning has never been this easy. If only every school had a teacher like this guy, who btw has degrees from MIT and Harvard, the world would be a better place.

Maybe this is a cue for India's current HRD minister. Education reforms is not just about passing education bills making it compulsory for every child to go to school. It should be about making the process of studying fun. As fun as dating is for most people. A child being taught crappily by a government teacher who doesn't show up half the time is also a literate - technically. But what's the usefulness of such literacy?

1.2 Lakhs

2009-08-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

That's the number of men - yes, men ;) - who have committed suicide facing harrassment from their spouse according to an Indian NGO. Male-harrassment is quite often laughed upon but it's a reality as the numbers suggest.

With the balance of power shifting in favor of women-kind, soon we might have terms like adam-teasing, male-molesation, and affirmative action for men as common phrases. Soon, we men would be protesting to get 33% reservation in parliaments, schools, colleges. We would be 'asked out' by girls, the stronger sex. We would put up our self-defence mechanisms to safeguard ourselves from being hit on by random drunk girls in bars. Politicans will be shouting from rooftops to safeguard our rights and promise us to make it safer for us to go out on the streets alone after 8 in the night without being pounced by lecherous women ready to outrage our modesty. We would soon be banned from wearing tight jeans because according to Home Minister Mrs XYZ, tight jeans would be provocative for girls. Soon, the lady-fighters of Ram Sena would attack the pubs of Bangalore and kickout all the men who 'indulge' in pub culture. On the brighter side, we would still have pseudo-masculinist females lending us poor males their support from time to time.

Wishful thinking? I won't be alive to see that, thankfully. But then, who knows.

Champ!

2009-07-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

THIS is why he inspires me a lot. When people all around are riding on the 100% polyurethane swimsuit bonanza and feel they have conquered the world, he goes out - no full-body suit, just a waist to ankle "old" speedo suit, and butchers his own world record by half a second. It's like creating a world record in 100m sprint despite having a wind disadvantage of -20m/s whereas others have an advantage of +20m/s.

As for 200m freestyle, he will get his record back when "swimming goes back to swimming" :)

ps: look at his reaction. Priceless.

Some people..

2009-07-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

..commit "shameless" acts that bring immense misfortune. While some do other kinds of shameless acts to bring immense fortune. While others make headlines shamelessly for the most routinest of works that they do.

The world is getting immensely WTF-acious. :)

Why should..

2009-07-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

..an ex-elected reprepresenative by the elected representatives be any less or more important than the people who elected them? Why should the so-called VVIPs be exempt from certain rules that apply to the common man? Why should occupying the highest public office in the past be a 'certificate' for exemption?

These questions need to be answered before India's politicians raise hue and cry over an ex-president being frisked. As a self-respecting individual, I find it offending that some people equate routine security checks with "public humiliation". Asking questions that have nothing to do with security is humiliation. I can understand providing diplomatic immunity to ministers traveling on government work, because it's an understanding between 2 governments. However, a person, who once occupied a public office, should not be entitled to any such immunity just for his personal trip.

The feudal mindset in India needs urgent 'reforms'.

Any other 'original' remaining?

2009-07-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

One thing that I always respected in Himesh was his originality in his compositions. That is gone now.

Listen to this. And then this. Ha!

Did someone just say R.D.Burman was an original? Check this (one of his all time best hummable songs). And then this. The latter released 2 years before RDB's version. Heh.

Who is next? A.R.Rahman? I hope not. That guy belongs to another plane altogether.

The honestest-cum-lustiest man..

2009-07-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

..on youtube (in my opinion) is actually a 62 yr old actor originally from Lucknow. He was a contestant in the Indian version of Fox TV's "Moment of Truth", Sach ka Saamna. He has done it all, married 3 ladies, has a girlfriend (and still looking), has had sex with a prostitute, with a relative, with someone less than his daughter's age. You name it. And he answers them all truthfully. You can see the details here. The questions have been translated in English as well so all the Hindi-challenged people out there, don't get discouraged :)

Some people (like the youtube comments suggest) are quick to pass crude value judgment on him. But as long as no one is cheated, I don't think what 2 adults do behind closed doors should be anyone's business. You have the freedom to not let yourself or your kids venture around this guy but dont brand him as a 'sicko'. Sit back and enjoy his brutal honesty.

On a logical note, I find some of the questions quite vague and subjective. They needn't have a yes/no answer. For example, a question like "do you think you have been the best father?" is too vague to be answered in yes/no. Other than that, questions are interesting - for the viewers. They are designed to make the contestants feel naked.

And..

2009-07-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

..I am back.

But this time with a new strategy. Since I am more of a sprinter than a marathoner (literally and figuratively. Sidenote: I once ran 100 m in 12ish seconds. So there), I am going to revamp the content of this blog to reflect just that. No more delayed long posts but regular short posts..on anything that interests me - frivolous to serious, creepy to contemplative, everything.

So here I start with one of my favorite topics to talk about - marriage (although I am very much comfortable being on the other side).. I had written a post on the "whys" of marriage sometime back. I must admit, it was very adademic. Deep inside, I still wasnt convinced why marriage as an institution hasnt failed. People might be delaying marriage for several reasons but a life without marriage is still not common regardless of the geographical location. So after much thought, this is the underlying reasoning I have come up with: A human being's life is interesting and fun only when there is an element of "something to look forward to" associated with it on a regular basis. Else s/he gets bored. In youth, there are lots of things to look forward to other than marriage.. like acads, career, hobbies/passion, adventures etc. With age, this area of "looking forward to"ness starts shrinking and that subtle need for interestingness is filled up by marriage. So people start "looking forward" to life with someone, then with kids, then their life, then their kids and so on. It keeps them ticking. Subconsciously. Every phase and subphase associated with marriage has an element of "looking forward to"ness that makes life spicy. Hence, the longevity of marriage as an institution.

The 'sprinting' will continue soon.

33% reservation - another political tokenism

2009-06-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Congress Party of India is back to doing what it does the best. Pander to its votebank through divisive ways. Arjun Singh did it to the education sector few years back. They now want to bring a 33% reservation for females in the parliament. Their rationale: that would ensure the plight of women in the country. I find it quite undemocratic, almost bordering on autocracy, that a random female, on the basis of 'reservation' would be better placed to improve the plight of women in a given constituency than a democratically elected representative. If this bill is really passed, I can see how it would turn out to be. 60 years of reservation in the educational sector for SCs/STs hasnt improved their plight, and the reservation is continued to be (mis)used by the creamy layer of those castes. Ditto for women's bill. The educated 'city-socialites' who have always been away from the heat-n-dust of the real India would use this to the best of their advantage to get an added tag of MP to flaunt in their high society parties. While their partying is none of my business, but their commitment to changing people's life is. In addition, given that the current parliament has close to 70% of women MPs who are related to an influential politican, I wouldnt be surprised if all the male MPs whose constituency is 'reserved' for women put up their wives/daughters for election. Mockery of democracy.

The best thing, in my opinion, to really help women's plight across the country is to give more opportunities and incentives to educated women to join grass root politics across the party-lines. These grass-root workers are the ones who really come in touch with common men/women on a regular basis. When these people work their way up to power corridors, they form a much efficient set of administrator (eg Nitish Kumar). Once we have enough women grass-root workers, that would automatically lead to a higher representation in the parliament. THIS is where our so-called educated cabinet ministers are losing the plot. If you dont have enough women politicans at the grass-root, it is only natural that you wont see enough representation of women in the parliament. This is similar to what we see in the education sector. If you dont have enough women STUDYING engineering, how can you expect to have higher proportion of female engineers in companies. I had discussed this in detail here.

Congress had 60 years of misrule with a fiery Indira Gandhi at help for close to a decade. If THAT couldnt change the plight of the country, how would anything else? With a puppet female president, a female deputy speaker, Congress is an epitome of tokenism. I feel sorry for poor Indian electorate who cannot see through the games played by Congress to stay in power. Last 5 years were indeed a low point as far as Government's record on security is concerned. It still won. Congres has thrived on tokenism and gimmick politics. Infact, this tokenism is what defines Congress. It is in the interest of the party to keep the poor, poor. That's where it gets votes from. Pop in a gimmick NREGS (rural employment guarantee scheme), and you have your votes secured. Don't get me wrong - rural employement scheme sure help the poor, but where is the roadmap to remove poverty as has been promised in the manifesto? Heck, the number of people below the poverty line has actually gone up. Give them a candy, keep them hungry. THAT is tokenism. Just like Laloo's policy in Bihar when he was the CM, it is in Congress' interests to have people below poverty line. I find a similar attitude behind bringing up women's reservation bill.

Women have gone through and are going through a lot even today - in the 21st century - in rural India. These so-called leaders should focus their plight instead of politicizing the matter and thinking that a bunch of high society spice girls in the parliament are going to come up with an elixir for them.

The great Indian carnival..

2009-05-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

..finally comes to an end. Yes, I am talking about the just concluded general elections in India. But, the drama has just started to unfold as the counting is about to begin in less than 48 hours. What strikes me is the following things:

- Opportunism and unethicality have been redefined in these elections by both the main parties, more so by the Congress party. Imagine this: they are open to dumping DMK in favor of ADMK if the latter sweeps the state. They dont mind dumping Lalu/Paswan if they have Nitish by their side. They are pretty much acting like a political whore willing to sleep with anyone or everyone to keep the BJP out. BJP, although not sin-free by any standards, is not stooping to such lows at least. The reason this is unethical is because of a fundamental difference in the way Congress and BJP get their seats in the states. BJP's major gain is in the states where it has a direct fight with the congress (MP, Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand etc.. except Rajasthan), whereas Congress' major gain is in those states where it fights regional state parties (Kerala, Punjab). Therefore, Congress is literally cheating the electorate by fighting directly against those regional parties and then tieing up with them to form a government at the center. In the BJP's case, atleast they are not in a direct fight with any regional party in most of the states. That is one difference to measure the desperation of Congress. It's an eww-inducer.

- Secularism: enough has been said of secularism and most policitical parties who claim to be secular dont even know what that means. I have no idea why BJP and its allies are branded as communal. Because of the Godhra riots? Hindu-Muslim riots post Babri demolition? How about the Sikh riots orchestrated by the State? And the Bhagalpur riots? Why shouldnt the Congress be termed communal for that? My point is: secularism is a totally convenient escape-route for non-BJP parties in the absense of any relevant issue to talk about. What happened in Godhra was gross and Modi should have been sacked for that. But that doesnt make NDA a communal alliance. If Congress can blame the NDA government at the center for not controlling Godhra riots, it should also take the blame for not controlling post-Babri riots. A debate on communalism can easily turn into a pissing-game where each of the major political parties can be branded communal. It's a non-issue. Muslims were as secure during the Vajpayee regime as in any other regime in the history of free India.
But why do people forget the divide created by Congress based on caste? Is that not communal? The very fact that even in 21st century someone's probability to enroll in a top university is decided, to a great extent, by his/her caste, is a shame .And Congress is directly responsible for this divide. That, imho, has a more adverse impact on the youth of the country than an occasional communal disharmony. And guess what, if it continues for centuries, the divide has a far-reaching effect than one could imagine. Death-toll is not the only way to gauge communalism as some people tend to do. Look at how the reservation policy has created a rift between the upper caste and backward caste students in engg colleges? Is THAT not communal?

- 2 ways to win an election- Performance and/or social engineering: For any political party already in power, the easiest way to win an election is to perform. Simple. Nothing fancy. Look at Nitish Kumar. No hype, no hoopla. A disciplined administration and Bihar is 'rising' (atleast relatively). Ditto for Gujarat, Delhi, MP, Chhatisgarh. All these governments have not b/c they belonged to a particular political party but only b/c of a disciplined and focused effort to bring on a visibly positive change in the lives of the people. This is the only encouraging sign to me in the whole election. Atleast the ruling political parties will draw a leaf from these example and will perform rather than resort to opportunistic alliances that ridicule the voters' choice.
Next is social engineering. Someone like Mayawati can afford to get sweeping majority without any history of performance merely on the basis of social engineering. Merge the dalits with the brahmins and the result is a huge majority. Ditto for Lalu/Paswan. But they forget quite conveniently that anti-incumbency wave is predominant for a non-performing government despite this social-remix. Look at BSP's position in this election.
There is a 3rd kind. The left. It defies my imagination how they managed to win every election in Bengal since the last 28 years or so. Did they somehow magically convince the voters that they are the only saviors of the poor? Were the voters that naive? To gauge the extent to which Left has mis-governed Bengal, one just needs to compare Kolkata with metros like Delhi. The proof of pudding is in the eating. My best guess is, voters had no alternative..Left got the advantage of the TINA (there is no alternative) factor. Congress and Trinamool were equally disorganized at the grass root level in Bengal, and the poor saw no hope in these 'other' parties.

The bad thing about democracy is that people with little or zero knowledge also have as much as say as someone who is amazingly knowledgable. I am sure BJP combine would have won hands down if this glitch was taken away, but that's a moot point.

I am personally not a big fan of either BJP or Congress. But I just hope BJP+ comes back to power this time. Not because they are underdogs, but I think Congress has gone a bit overboard in wooing its future alliance partners and it has opened its door for one and all; even those that it DIRECTLY fought against in the election. That desperation doesnt augur well for the country. BJP, therefore, is the lesser evil.

Buying a car..

2009-04-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

..can be as tough as getting a daughter married off (in Indian context). Well, I dont have a daughter yet.. but you get the drift.

Thanks to my (in)famously contagion-inducing laziness, my much postponed car search finally began last week (sidenote: it took an economic recession to get my butt moving and replace my student car that I bought back in Austin). I am not much of a car enthusiast..as long as I have a vehicle that moves decently without PMS-ing a lot, I am ok. I would rather be happy with my own horsepower in the gym than let my car's HP control my emotions. On a totally random sidenote, my this attitude towards car is quite similar to that towards life in general.. I am quite ambitious and passionate about certain things.. but I generally look for 3 symptoms to confirm whether all's NOT well with my life. Eating, sleeping, and restrooming. If either of these is not too smoooth [literally or figuratively ;)], I know something is wrong with my life (although the reverse is not necessarily true). Ditto for my car.

Anyways, back to the point. Despite my immensely unenthusiastic attitude towards cars, I started looking for BMWs just to 'indulge' a bit. But soon after, I received multiple negative reviews about its high maintenance cost and such. They literally made me do such a thorough U-turn that I made a quantum jump from researching BMWs to Honda Civics :-) Lack of passion towards cars can make you a complete pendulum. Never before in the history of car-dom would someone have made such a drastic demotion in his criteria overnight. But now there is another problem, - buying a new car from a dealer requires a great deal of skill. You literally have to be a sabji-mandi (vegetable market) type of negotiator to get a deal that you want. Being an engineer, sabji-mandi is outside my area of expertise. But I did try. Quite brutally. So much so that the salesman gaped at me - as if I was trying to steal the car from the showroom. It almost worked. Almost, because the deal didnt go through.

Now, after not a happy hunting for the Hondas, I am back to re-researching BMWs, thanks to a rigorous pro-BMW "lobby"ing by one section of my friends. "You live once", they say. Right, I live once.. that doesn't necessarily mean I should be homeless. So yeah, never before in the history of car-dom would someone have oscillated sine-wavingly in a matter of 2 weeks. I guess deep inside life's about optimizing. A process similar to what most Indian middle class families have to go through to marry their daughters off. Finding a "good guy", from a "good family", with "good durability" (not sure why most of my analogs are related to girls.. let's just say I love womankind!)

For now, I am fine with my student car. It eats, sleeps, and restrooms smoothly :)

Ghajini effect

2009-03-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the title of this post has not much to do what I am going to write about. The only reason I used this title was to have a convenient excuse for my longest period of 'moratorium' from this blog. Every time I thought of writing an entry, I would forget about it within 15 minutes. But sanity has been restored, and I am back.

First things first.

Remember Fast Forward India (FFI)? Remember Jagriti? It's now getting bigger and better. Our collective vision to have a robust computer literacy center for children has finally come to light and we now have not one but two centers in Dhanbad. With this combined strength, every year we will be able to teach 100-150 children. Hopefully more with every passing year. But it doesnt stop there. Jagriti has collaborated with the state government of Jharkhand, and our volunteers have started teaching basic computer skills to the prisoners in Dhanbad jail. Immense excitement follows. I am thinking of starting a separate blog for Jagriti. Also, if you guys have questions/comments/suggestions or if you are willing to start something similar in your locality, feel free to email me at jeet.mohan@gmail.com. I will be more than willing to help.

Needless to say, this is just the beginning and we have a long way to go. The idea is to channel the energy of college students to help the underpriveleged. There are challenges about sustainability and we have taken a few steps towards that. Maybe people with business skills might know it a bit better, but I think such projects become self-sustainable only if run using a revenue-generating model. In other words, have a model that generates revenue, and invest the revenue to grow further. We started off with a seed funding that was mostly collected through individual donations. But now we are thinking of charging a token fee of Rs 100 for the entire course from parents who could afford it. There are several other ideas regarding sustainability floating around over which we are still brainstorming. Stay tuned.

On a completely different note while still staying on the topic of education, I feel affirmative action is something that needs to be implemented at the primary/elementary/high school level and NOT at the university level or beyond. This whole system of affirmative action, to me, is like a pipe that has been punctured at wrong places. Instead of increasing the input at the very elementary level, the pipe has been punctured near the outflux to make a populist fix.
Getting me? No? Here is an example:

Say there are 1000 mechanical engineering graduates from US in any given year out of which 5% are from underrepresented minority (say women). Now to make this equation less male-dominated, one cannot just increase the quota of women hired from this small pool of 5% and hope to fix things. Obviously, if this 5% representation in college were to be somehow increased to 35% or more, this inequality will be less prominent. Stretching that further, it wouldnt suffice to just provide a blanket quota (or affirmative action) at the college level if the number of female high school students aiming to pursue engineering is relatively less compared to their male peers. That's why affirmative action, if any, needs to be provided at the elementary/high school level so that the pipe is not 'punctured' at random intervals to make quick and unfair fixes. If you have just 5% underrepresented minority section studying mechanical engg (say), you cannot complain about having 5% minorities in the companies. Simple. But politicians, by definition, refuse to look at something that has long-term dividends. They are more interested in instant payback (read votes). Example: Karunanidhi giving out free TV sets to gain 'instant votes'. :)

Anyhow, so now you know how unsuitable a title I have chosen. Hopefully next time, the title will be more apt and the content a bit lighter.

More musings

2009-02-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

One month in India doing nothing but eating, couch-potatoing, and relaxing has made me lazier than a snail. Here are some random reflections over this period of semi-hibernation.

- Height of irony:
There is a big banner in the campus of Saudi's national oil company that proudly states "Conserve energy....use bla bla" (sponsored by the company of course). Within a stone's throw of that banner there are 3 big multi-storeyed buildings that have 1000s of rooms in all. Breaking news: Not one room has a switch to turn off the lights. Not one. They all apparently have a master switch that keeps the lights ON non-stop for 20 hours a day (even on weekends). What a way to walk the talk!

- Zahiliayat hai unki (this is their illiteracy):
This was one thing that a Pakistani cab driver told me during a ride that summed it up nicely. I was talking to him about the reaction of Mumbai attacks in Pakistan and how does the common man there feel about it. I cant write the expletives he used against Musharaf, but his point was that Musharaf sided with USA to alienate the common population, and that Islam doesnt teach whatever the terrorists are propagating and that those guys are targetting the illiterates to indoctrinate them. Fair enough. Illiteracy is the key. More education, more avenues, less probability of getting indoctrinated.

- Profound realization:
If there is ONE thing that has screwed up the common man in India more than anything else is lack of clean and green energy. I realized this when I was on my way to the US embassy office in Kolkata. I dont want to sound cliched but I found there is hardly much enthu left to do useful things with so much pollution. Imagine if the city had clean fuel, pollution-free roads, what a boon it would be to the mental state of the common man more than anything else. I know, this sounds quite strange coming from a guy who works for an oil company. Lack of stricter emission standards is to be blamed more than oil companies but thats a separate discussion for another day.

- Research project:
Like I have mentioned many times, finding a girl in a typical arrange marriage is a big research project. Reluctantly, I had to go through a lot of profiles and pictures of wife-aspirants. Also met a few father-in-law(FIL)-aspirants. There are 2 major realizations from these experience. First, it is personally very difficult for me to say 'no' even though I dont have to say it directly. It hurts me to disappoint FIL-aspirants sweating so much to find a match for their daughters. It's difficult. But it's unfortuantely something that has to be done, given the process. I cannot feel their pain but I sure can empathise. Second, it's about time girls (and even guys) in India become more fitness conscious. They dont have to be size 0 (whatever that means). But having an majorly overweight structure does no good to their health or to their parents who are losing sleep over finding a right prospect for them. Unsolicited though it is, you get my drift. And this is a candid comment. Genuinely.

- Gandhi's principle:
I am no big fan of some of Gandhi's practises but I believe his policy of non-violence was a master-policy. It just takes away from the oppressor a desire to attack you. I cant think of any other cure to terrorism. Israel attacks Gaza, 100s get orphaned, 10s of them grow up to be suicide bombers and kill 1000s of Israelis. The cycle continues. 1000s die on both sides. Who wins? No one. Replace Israel and Gaza by any 2 entities in violent conflict and you get the same result.

Saudi Musings!

2008-12-30T05:57:00.000-08:00

Kefhalak?

That's the one and only Arabic word I have mastered during last 2 months in Saudi.

So as promised, blogging has been sporadic-er than ever. Hopefully, not for too long now. This heavy-duty Saudi trip is quasi-done. There are several stories.. reflections.. aha-moments.. wtf moments to share. Will unravel as and when I recall.

But first things first. Saudi girls are hot. Hot as in H.O.T. Picture this: a saudi girl in her early 20s (apparently) wearing a micro mini with a burqa worn casually like an overcoat. THAT is the picture of liberal Saudi that stunned me. And no, I am not talking about fantasy world. I saw this for real. It reminded me of one of those underwear ads where the guy emerges out of a gown wearing just his undie. Ok, what I saw wasnt that skimpy but you get the drift. Before you start gaping in amazement, chill. Because this is not a common baywatch-ish view here. It was just a one-off image that I saw at a quasi-modern location in Saudi. Talking of modern girls, never in my wildest dreams did I think of burqa as a sexy attire. And no, that's not my 2 month long isolation-induced sleaze speaking. Designer burqas got a new name here. They dont look as boring as I thought. More so, when their inhabitants redefine hotness. Add to that stylish stilletoes, trendy sunglasses, gallons of perfume, fashion-oozing clothes (dont ask HOW I got to see so many things), tonns of cosmetics - it gave me a cultural shock. I must say, after UT-Austin, this is the next place where I have seen such a high population-weighted average of hotness coefficient. Go figure!

Not surprisingly though, men's wear here is as unfashionable as it can get. No shock there. Everyday I tried to come up with a new way to describe their robes. Kurta-lungi hybrid. Kurta-skirt hybrid. Kurta-petticoat hybrid are some of the weird combinations that I came up with. Whatever it is, it's not definitely not a user-friendly dress especially in the loo.

Before you guys start wondering, whether I am here to do a research on female and male attires, let me tell you that there is more to Saudi than just weird dresses. Some positive things(like its densely non-veg cuisine) and some not-so-positive (like its 'pecking order' and bureaucracy that would put even the staunchest of Indian babus to shame).

More on that later. I still have 2 more days to wrap up things here.

And yes, have a safe new year.

News update!

2008-12-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

I was talking to a Saudi colleague here about the Mumbai attacks. He told me one of his friend's relatives (a Saudi as well) was among the lucky survivors from Taj that night. He lost pretty much everything he had with him - money, passport, luggage everything.

He made an important observation. Minutes before the attack, he was at a restaurant outisde Taj. After he was done eating, the restaurant owner told him to not go back to the hotel. He didnt pay heed to his advice. The attacks followed.

I cant confirm the veracity of the eyewitness account but if it indeed is true, that possibly indicates some degree of involvement of the locals. Maybe that restaurant owner (or whoever told him not to head back) knew something adverse was on its way?

Blood boils..

2008-11-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

..and boils.

Never before have I seen such calmness on the face of terrorists. With that calmness, they committed something like this:

"It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatised. A bomb blast victim's body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words," he said."

The deterrence for such terrorists should be: give them back in their own way. Merciless death. Split-second easy death wont deter these terrorists; they should be made to feel the death and remind the torture that 1000s of innocent victims had to go through b/c of them. And human rights is valid only for humans, not for terrorists. Assuming that's possible, even that wont be enough. More needs to be done. B/c killing individuals wont fix the root cause. A system that outsmarts and protects its citizens from the masterplans needs to be in plance. That's why US hasnt seen another 9/11. And that's why Israel, surrounded by the hostilest of neighbors, has a robust anti-terror intelligence system. It wouldnt be wrong to say the political establishment's slackness is indirectly claiming innocent lives in India. The government has to take tough actions and most importantly NOT repeat the mistakes decades after decades. The modus operandi of weapon transfer was exactly the same in 1993. Heck, US intelligence passed off the intelligence information to India about a possible attack on India through sea route. Result: coastal security remained as screwed up as ever. So in addition to intelligence revamp, homeland security for every major city in India, a strong and honest leadership is the hour's demand. But the million dollar question is who will provide such honesty amidst such dirty politics?

Astalavista

2008-11-04T20:58:00.001-08:00

I will be leaving for Saudi in a day. So blogging will be now more sporadic than before. Not sure if the Arabs even allow blogpost.

Anyway, for those who would heart-wrenchingly and muscle-numbingly miss my posts, I am posting another self-rendered song that would help them survive this tough period ;)

ps: here is the original (if you are curious)

Strength!

2008-10-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

The hullaballoo on the wall street has created an unrest like never before in recent times. Even the staunchest of free-market believers believe federal government's intervention is justified. Even ex-fed reserve chairman Greenspan has admitted that he was wrong and that "a critical pillar to market competition and free markets did break down" and he has no idea how.

I am an engineer, far removed from the world of wall street. But I have been following the going-ons of the past few months like a wonder-filled child. To me, free market or capitalism is not to be blamed for all this mayhem. There is something deeper, imho. Wiki defines free market as follows:
"By definition, buyers and sellers do not coerce each other, in the sense that they obtain each other's property without the use of physical force, threat of physical force, or fraud, nor is the transfer coerced by a third party."

So there. Free market doesnt talk about profit. It talks about coercion, or the lack of it.

By offering easy loans to people who couldn't afford it, the banks tried to exploit (or shall I say coerce) the baser elements of humans for their own good. A very crude analogy would be a scenario like this: Jennifer wants to get drunk..goes to a pub A. Tom wants to pickup a girl..goes to the same pub A. Tom offers Jennifer a drink with the sole intention of getting her drunk. Jennifer after a few shots is totally drunk. Drunk as in DRUNK. Semi-conscious. Quasi-dead. Not in her senses. Taking advantage of her 'misery', Tom takes her home and fulfills all his carnal desires. Now legally, none of them was wrong. But Tom clearly lacked the strength of character. He 'used' someone's senselessness to fulfill his needs.
Those who didnt get the drift:

Pub: free market
Jennifer: home loaners who cannot afford costly loans
Tom: banks offering loans to one and all for their own profit-making.

Jennifer got into a situation like this NOT because pub is a free place for anyone to hit on anyone else. But if Tom had shown his strength of character and desisted from 'raping' a semi-conscious body, this wouldnt have happened. Pub would still be a free market.

(on a self-praise-ish sidenote: I was once in a similar situaiton in a nightclub in 6th street Austin when a drunk cute blonde suddenly came from somewhere and hugged me tightly. She could hardly talk coherently. Perfect victim for 'Tom' in the above example. Good sense prevailed and I took her back to her friends. Unperfect though I may be, THAT was one instant I was proud of my strength of character)

Sooo, the word is..

Strength! F*king strength of character (SoC). THAT is missing. Had the investment banks shown some SoC, we wouldnt be seeing what we are seeing today. Profit is not a dirty word. But being a 'Tom' to make that profit is dirty. And maybe not worth it.

The weirdest 1st convo

2008-10-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

This might enter my personal record books. The weirdest-1st-convo-turned-friendship with a girl (happened sometime in spring, 2006)

here is how it went:

Me: Hi
She: Bye
Me: Why?
She: Dont try.
Me: Bheja fry!
She: Dont cry.
Me: Semi (in american english semi is pronounced as semaaai)
She: Semi?
Me: bye. you are boring.
She: hey why did you break the rhyming..

This eventually led to a nice fraaandship.

No, I didnt say "semi" just to keep the rhyme ON. Given the context, can anyone guess what does "semi" mean here? Should be easy.

Update: this was a facebook event. My facebook debut started with the above mentioned weirdness. I was randomly searching for a friend but ended up bumping into this 'semi'.

Get tortured!

2008-10-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Torture time again for the visitors.

Another song uploaded after a long long time. This song - a cult classic in many ways - is one of my first favorite Udit Narayan songs. The silkiness and innocence with which the original song has been sung is unmatchable, imo. If you compare the original rendering with my phata-baansuri version, you might feel somewhat ewwwed.

Nevertheless, here you go...

Gender discrimination: The wheel turns a full circle

2008-10-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Be warned: this post might ruffle a few feathers.

I have increasingly started to feel that being a female is a blessing in disguise in this age. Sops galore. For them. *Just* for them. All around. Parliament, engg colleges, bschools, jobs. You name it. Some explicit, some under the garb of "diversity", while some under the garb of women empowerment.

I am not talking about rural India where women are *actually* denied - even in the 21st century - equal opportunities. And true, these women surely deserve a push - either economical or through some upliftment. I am talking about a global phenomenon wherein institutions - governmental or otherwise - in the name of showcasing how 'welcoming' they are towards women, prefer them OVER men just for the sake of "numbers". In other words, merit be damned, welcome to "male discrimination".

And no, this is not a random blabber. Few years back, the chairman of the petroleum engg department at Stanford talked quite unambiguously about the department's preference for female candidates. So much so, that it chose to admit female candidates with average records apparently to showcase its 'openness' towards women. What a shame!

Ditto for jobs. Schlumberger, an oilfield services company, has a track record of hiring women just to make up the numbers. I know of many such hirings myself. And yes, merit be damned.

Dont get me wrong. I am not saying that every female candidate gets it all on a platter. Many indeed deserve their place. But many, unfortunately, have it easy at the cost of the more deserving. My point is: male candidates not only have to fight the competition from more meritorious students, they also need to fight something over which they have no control - gender. The good thing (atleast in schools), however, is that, once in, the individual merit matters more than anything else.

Any surprise then that McCain chose a clueless, knowledgeless Sarah Palin as his running mate? It is just his ploy to garner female votes - including those from the Clinton supporters. And if he wins, it would be a masterstroke. I can understand why politicians do this. The world over. Such stunts fetch them votes. But why educational institutes? What could they possibly gain by glazing over merit. Maybe they get more grants when they show the growing % of women.

When merit gives way to vested interests, there is nothing you can do but just hope the dice turns in your favor. And, THAT, I say, is a big shame.

Stony chhole

2008-09-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

After making a delicious chhole (for the uninitiated, chhole is a form of Indian beans - garbanzo beans to be precise [as pointed by the anonymous commenter]) last weekend, I was reminded of my first ever attempt at cooking some 5 years back. It was August, 2003. I was fresh 'off the boat', as they say. My only expertise in kitchen before that was switching on (and off) a heater :) My roomie and I decided to make chhole. Dont ask why. None of us had ever made a chapaati before. For those who are literate enough should know that chhole needs to be soaked in water for a few hours before cooking. Apparently, we had no such "rocket-scienceish" knowledge. If that wasnt enough, I decided to cook it without even boiling it. And at that time, all I knew in terms of cooking was "fry some onions and add xyz". That's exactly what I did. 40 minutes into stirring it with fried onions, chhole was rock solid. 20 more minutes. Still no signs of mellowing down. It was mid-night and I finally gave up on it. We had stony-chhole with rice and milk for dinner. My first ever self-made dinner. That was the first time ever I ate something so pathetic just to 'fill' my stomach. Pitiable.

[Fast forward 5 yrs.]

The wheel has turned full circle. The chhole that I made last weekend would give many professional chefs a run for their money. I cook just once a week these days but everytime I make such delicious dishes, it reminds me how far have I come from my 'stony chhole' days. Brings a smile to my face.

Time gallops.

I like.

2008-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

Although I havent written many poems in my blog.. there is this one poem that I like more than any other. I wrote it 4 yrs ago. It puts things into perspective for me.

The Elixir Of Life

I entered the space,
the space between my thoughts,
the silent empty space
trying to bridge the gap,
between the known
and the illusion.
It was like finding the space
between the notes
which make the music.
It was a region unexplored,
a region so peaceful
and so incomprehensible.
A region.
A truth.
An unordinary truth.
A region rusted
by a metastable exterior.
It took me beyond my "self",
beyond my place,
beyond this world,
beyond this fleeting existence.
It was an esoteric,
yet a memorable experience.
It inured me,
yet mellowed me down.
It was divine.
It was eternal.
That elusive transitory moment,
was like the elixir of life.

Blasts and rhetoric.

2008-09-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

Home Minister Shivraj Patil is inching towards becoming the most inept home minister of all time. He has started to sound as repetitive and as cringe-inducing as Himesh Reshamiya. In an interview post-serial blasts in Delhi, he said that the ministry had intelligence information about a possible attack in the major metros in India and that it was difficult to know when and where the terrorists would strike. I wonder if he really meant that. No semblance of determinism and bloodimindedness from a person who is supposed to protect the citizens of the country.

If someone attacks your home, you would make sure you do no give up without putting up a fight. You would have that bloodimindedness to take them head on. Replace "someone" by a "terrorist", your home by "India", and you by "Mr Patil" and the equation goes bust. He lacks this bloodimindedness.

I fail to understand why was there no red alert in any of the cities despite the intelligence info and why was there no extra-deployment of forces at the various checkpoints in and out of the city.. why no beefing up of security at crowded locations? Would that prevent the strike? Maybe not. But there is a thing called deterrence. A terrorist comes from outside, plants a bomb in a trash can in the heart of the capital (Connaught Place) and other such crowded places, and the government has no clue? THIS despite the tip-off. Immense surprise.

Sadly, this is what happens when there is no accountability. Irrespective of how many lives are lost, no one is held accountable. None. Zilch. Why would someone whose career progress has got nothing to do with his performance work that extra bit to be true to his job? Twice at IGI airport, I have gone past the security without the officials even caring to scan my carry bag. Their job didnt depend on whether I had a bomb in my bag. Their job is a given, unconditionally. There is no one person to be blamed. This whole mess is complicated. At the end of the day, politicians work for their own welfare. That is exactly why the ruling Congress party is wary of hanging a terrorist convicted by the Supreme Court. Reason? Political repercussions. Imagine how safe is a country where a terrorist, despite being convicted of committing heinous crimes, is not punished due to political reasons. Similarly, PDP in Kashmir wouldnt say a word in favor of the Amarnath Shrine Board fearing a backlash from its Muslim voters. Samajwadi Party wouldnt hesitate to give a clean-chit to SIMI to win over Muslim votes. This is no deterrence. This is politics. If the intent is not right, any reason for hope goes away. What a shame!

Blood boils.

That brings another question. Should security be semi-privatized by the government? Atleast as a supplement to the existing system, esp during red-alerts? Atleast the security guys would be more diligent because any dereliction of duty would spell doom for them. I genuinely hope some sort of reforms are brought into place to replace government's ineptitude.

Till then, stay safe.

But Pappu can't cry saala..!!

2008-09-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Tears are the raw-est form of emotion. You can pretend to laught at puke-inducing jokes just out of courtesy.. you can pretend to be angry at someone.. you can fake many such emotions. But tears are the surest manifestation of an emotion that is genuine. Or *so* I used to suppose.

Unfortunately, I havent learnt this art yet. My mom once told me how I just *refused* to cry when I was born. Everyone thought I was born dumb, literally. Doctors and the-then-hot nurses had to pinch my oh-so-hot butt multiple times to even make me feel the pain. After repeated attempts to outrage my modesty, I gave in. Maybe even as a 1 day old, I was laziness personified.

And till this day, I havent been able to understand how binary it is for some people (esp women) to switch from crying Lalita-Pawarly to smiling colgately. They can bring a category 2 hurricane, if not 3, by their random cry. Now why am I on about this? I was glancing through another big-boss episode (after getting back from work at midnight.. the things we need to do to keep the oil prices in check. Bow down!) and almost every other girl was crying buckets. On prime time. One of them was like "please let me do household work. i cannot live without working. booo hooo". WTF? A friend of mine in undergrad used to cry everytime he watched SRK's Devdas. Everytime. Immense amazement oozed.

A lady friend once told me that girls use this tool to melt the men in their lives (father/bf/brother/etc). Is that true? An unsolicited advice: I dont know about father-brother, but a bf sure will be turned off by such flooding-induced-sympathy-seekers.

Talking about drama, I really am in awe of actors who can make the crying scenes look very genuine. Big B is one of them. Hrithik Roshan, initially, used to look like a constipated crier. Post-Lakshya, he has been amazing. Aamir, great at it. Remember his DCH phone scene with his father? Classic. SRK, more often than not, is a hamming crier. Remember kal ho na ho? Asthmatic outpour. At times, I have felt that if I were to be an actor, I could do justice to all kinds of roles, *except* for the ones that would require me to cry chest-thumpingly. It just doesnt come to me naturally. (And I cannot call the nurses all the time to apply their unique methodology to make me cry). On second thoughts though, I dont think crying is a *must* to depict emotional-painful scenes. Remember SRK's reaction in that scene in Swades when he sees a 10 yr old kid selling water to earn 25 paise? Not a single tear shed. But that scene moves me even today beyond words. THAT, to me, is raw-er and deeper than these tears. Nurses need to know that before flirtingly pinching a 1-day-old kid's butt.

Big Boss == real 'reality'

2008-09-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

(to understand whatever I write in this post, you need to watch Big Boss - 2)

Despite the busy schedule that I am in, I have tried to see on and off some of the episodes of the second season of Big Boss - an indian version of the Big Brother series. This is the first time I am watching this series. I used to think it would be a waste of time with large doses of typical mindless drama that TV channels use to boost their TRPs. True, it has tonns of drama. But it has glued me not b/c of the drama. I am fascinated by how humans - as normal as you and I - would behave and intermingle when put together in a house as strangers. They are all celebrities - except a few - but they are all displaying normal frailties and insecurities of a common man. It also reinforces Maslow's need theory. When it comes to survival, people wont mind resorting to anything to stay afloat. Fun.

For me, it is starting to feel like real life with cameras on. I can draw a lot of parallels in the way the housemates behave and the manner in which some of the insecure people that I see around me behave. The intensity of politics in real life may not be that much b/c there is only one 'elimination' in real life which fortunately is not pre-determined by the so-called 'housemates'. That said, if, in real life, cameras were to be installed all over on a bigger scale, the soundbites captured wouldnt, in essence, be any different from what is seen in the big boss house.

Although I have known and worked with a lot of people from different countries and backgrounds, I still find it fascinating to observe the way humans behave and the underlying reason behind that. Also, the first impression can be very deceptive. Take for example, Sambhavna. I just adored her in the first episode. Charming, chirpy and all that. With every episode since then, she has displayed all such traits that are, for me, complete turn-offs. Insecurity, bitchiness, backbiting and such. As a sidenote: the business model of this series is such that neutral minglers and people with less opinions would have the least chance to get nominated for elimination. But once nominated, the 'stronger' personalities would most likely get more votes since they generally tend to have a dedicated fan-base. This is what makes the format interesting.

I have not been able to watch every episode but I ll make sure I do. Not just because of the drama. Not just to see who gets eliminated next. But also to get that kick out of seeing people scheming, manipulating, chameleoning. All for just one reason. To survive.

ps: talking of Maslow's survival needs: what is happening in Bihar is more grave.

Heavy!

2008-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Be warned: whatever I am going to blabber is unusually heavy for this blog. People not used to such heaviness are advised to read it with utmost caution and aspirin by their side.

Contemplative is the word that describes me today..trying to recall how far I have come in the last 15 years or so. Have been thinking about the extremes that I have seen in my life.. thinking how bigdealness of things have changed with time..how the next 10 yrs of my life are never going to be as carefree as the last 10..how deep inside a ghar-ka-roti-sabzi makes me much more happier and content than halibut or raviolli..how I really want to re-live my college days again without changing a single high or a low moment.. how I really liked that small-town internet-less cellphone-less upbringing that I had..how lucky I have been to be where I am.. how people back in my ancestral place are still struggling for survival.

Every experience, positive or negative, has subconsciously made me the person that I am today. I transitioned from a shy timid 12 yr old to a fearless brutally honest adult..without even knowing that I am consciously *trying* to do that. Office, friends, family..I say it the way I see it with minimal sugarcoating. My experiences have taught me that nothing is a disaster as long as there is life; everything is a learning experience. Easier said, I know. I ll elaborate further with a simple and small example: 10 years back, I had failed to clear IIT JEE in my first attempt. At that time, it was like the end of the world for me. Complete halt. That was my first major 'failure'. I didnt realise it then but now I see how much of a leveller it was. That experience grounded me and brought me back to reality. My misplaced ego was put to check. Maybe subconsciously I was getting tougher. The process of toughening up to adversities had started then. I had tasted failure. I had nothing to lose. When people operate with no fear or expectations of failure or embarassment, they never come a cropper. I eventually cleared IIT JEE in my next attempt. The success tasted much sweeter. And this time, it was humbling.

Another example: 11 yrs back I had a big crush on a girl (just to let you know..in those days, my crushes used to be once-in-a-while thingie..geeky me!). Suddenly one day I found that she had left to study at dps rkpuram. With no internet, no phone, nothing, I was shocked to say the least. So many things left unsaid. Looking back, I laugh it off as just a small event in the bigger scheme of things. But it was not so at the time. Maybe that again was one of the toughening-up experiences given the crucial time I was in. I didnt see it then. I see it now. My obsession was such that had she not left, I would have wasted my whole of class 12th (and no, it wasnt filmy but very strongly teenagerish). and my ambitious side would have been sidelined. But she left, and after a month or so of wtf-ing, I moved on. Since this happened at a very crucial stage of my academic life, ,that was good for me. I wont call it a life changing event but teenage crushes can be strong and I have seen careers going haywire by what I refer to as cute-obsessive-syndrome. I wouldnt have reached where I am, had such distractive obsession persisted. Like Steve Jobs says, looking back, dots always connect. Ever since, there have been crushes and dates but my ambitious side has *never* taken a backseat. A lesson that I was lucky to learn pretty early in my life.

Another anecdote: it was my final year during undergrad. The best company at the time was in campus to hire 2 petroleum engg undergrads based on their gpa ( top 2 as per their tradition). I had no chance, I assumed. I was ranked 4th and had hardly prepared for the interviews. Generally, I am not good in interviews (sidenote: I was once asked to sing in an interview. I messed up the song. Rejected.) But that day, I literally thought WTF..I ll take them head on. And this is no exaggeration. I really went inside feeling as fearless as I have ever been. I fearlessly said "I dont know" to answers that I didnt know and confidently gave my replies with a 'Thats me. Like me or leave me" attitude. And not once did I do this to seek their approval. I did it b/c I had no fear of rejection at that time. None. Zip. Much to my surprise, they changed their mind and hired 3 instead of 2. I still feel such fearlessness time and again.

I have consciously limited my examples to academic and 'crushes' to make it more relatable. A lesson was disguised in all these rejections/failures - a lesson that stripped me of my misplaced ego and fear. As long as there is life, nothing is a disaster..everything is a learning experience.

An Untypical day..

2008-08-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Past 2 weeks have been unusually busy, crammed with productive and unproductive work. So today that I have a temporary respite, I thought of jotting down how a day goes by for me these days..

6.00 am: alarm goes off. Snooze. The most disturbing part of the day.

6.10 am: alarm disturbs my orgasmically pleasant sleep yet again. Have to make a presentation for an early morning (7.30 am) meeting. I think "making" people wake up at 6.00 am for meetings is gross human rights violation. Torture is the word. As all this bickering goes on, I drag myself out of bed.

7.30 - 9:45 am: meeting/presentation. I *try* to explain to the skeptics why things are the way they are. Back and forth goes on for hours. Such fun!

10 am - 6 pm: The whole day is spent in *actually* working.. presenting..calling houston office..brainstorming..digesting thoughts..throwing random (and at times, useless) ideas...pretending to listen. Oh yeah, there is no time for long leisurely lunch thanks to an ever impending deadline. So I grab something quickly.

6:00 - 6:15: meet a colleague to finalise details of an upcoming diversity event next week. Ok, whatever.

6:15 - 7.15 pm: Rush to the gym - yep that's something I hate to skip. But I do have to postpone my random ogling at hotnesses in the gym. (sidenote: the kind of 'strategically twisting the body' exercise that some hotnesses do is quite distracting I must admit. At times, one gets confused if the idea is to exercise or to flaunt the you-know-whats). Pumping iron and doing 100+ pushups just takes away all the stress. Quick shower and back to work.

7:15 - 8:15: finish my work. Send off last minute project related emails. *Yawn*. On my way back, sing at the top of my voice in the parking lot.. a safe peaceful location to sing without torturing others. When I say sing, I mean, I mercilessly butcher Nusrat saab's songs with my untrained voice. If he were alive, he would have re-died listening to this butchering.

9:00 pm - 11:00 pm : back home. do some breathing exercises. Grab some food. Calmness restored, watch Phelps smashing everyone badly and madly. Awe emerges. The contrast between his pre- and post- race expressions is stark. From fierce concentration to a no-big-deal-carefree-smile. I suddenly feel my temporary "rigorous schedule" is nothing compared to what he must have done to attain this near-immortality. 50 minutes. 2 races. 2 finals. 2 golds. 2 world records. I am somehow pumped up looking at this swimmer and log on remotely to my work computer to check some results.

12-2 am: Urgently need to go to my office to fix something. Inertia takes over. I watch Phelps again. Inspiration oozes. I drive to work. Barely awake. Human rights violation, I think.

2:30 am: back to sleep. Wishing to go into hibernation like a bear for months.

And the fun continues in a for-loop..

Challenging the status quo

2008-08-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

As a kid, everytime I bumped into a news article featuring death and devastation, I used to think: how cool it would be if everyone in this world died all at once so that no one could feel sad at someone's departure, and how wonderful it would be to live in a perennially misery-free state. It was just a passing thought of a naive mind. With time, my naivete gave way to frustration when I found myself complaining against everything imperfect in the system (which I do till date). Gradually, I realized that status quo doesnt change on its own. One HAS to act and take baby steps to change things. One such baby step goes by the name of Fast Forward India a non-profit organization that I started with a couple of friends back in 2006.

The basic objective of FFI is to help college students carry out projects that reach out to the disadvantaged. India is a country where there are tonns of NGOs floating around in every nook and corner. We didnt want to be just another well-intetioned NGO with zero ground results. We *really* wanted to positively impact people's lives. It was a big deal, given that we were not physically present in India to do any work. Our first step was to form a core team of like-minded students in my undergrad college in India who would do all the ground work. We then formed another team of advisors/mentors (in India and the US) who have been successful social entrepreneurs. After many weeks of brainstorming with these teams helped us zoom into 2-3 potential projects that were neither too big to be overwhelming nor too small to be boring.

It is very difficult to keep volunteers motivated over a long period of time, esp. in a not-for-profit startup, where there are no monetary incentives. At times, it can be very frustrating with the pace at which things move. So we thought of different ways to inspire our volunteers. We invited a bombay-based filmmaker (Sanjay Jha), who is also involved with UNICEF, to deliver a motivational workshop. We also organized a trip to local NGOs so that our volunteers could see first hand experience different ways to solve problems faced by the community.

With all the pre-launch homework in place, we decided to launch 2 pilot projects - Jagriti, a computer literacy project, and Rakt Rekha, a blood donation project. I personally architected the compter literacy project because of its potential to help students in the long run. We started off with a seed funding from a bay area starup, and despite all the resource constraints, taught two batches of 50 students in 2007. The biggest constraint was (and is) funding. But thanks to a successful completion of the pilot, we are seeing new avenues opening up. For example, few months back, the IG-prisons of Jharkhand expressed his desire to start a computer literacy project for the prisoners in Dhanbad Central Jail. It was a big shot in the arm. But as we are thinking of expanding this to other locations in India, the funding issues still remain. Any ideas/suggestions?

I genuinely believe that if this initiative encourages others to start something like FFI, thats a victory for our cause. Needless to say, if you want to start something similar at a local scale, I would be more than willing to help you with my experience. My plans for FFI are quite ambitious, despite all the resource constraint. In the next 3-5 years, I aim to expand FFI to atleast 4-5 other locations. A state of perennial misery-free-ness might be utopian, but a journey of thousand miles, they say, beings with a single step. Cliched though it may sound, the journey - to change the status quo - has just begun.

Motivation is a..

2008-07-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

..mental bribe. Kinda. Sorta.

Motivation indicates lack of passion in the person who is being motivated. Motivation can wake you up at 3 in the morning on a black friday during Thanksgiving (if you care about saving few bucks) but it is your inner unadulterated passion that can do that everyday.

Example: I love singing. Passionately. With whatever untrained imperfect voice that I have. I just love it. I dont want to dilute this passion by wanting anything in return. I dont need to *make* myself want to sing by mentally pepping myself up or offering some incentive.

On the other hand, working out (and at times even running) is more of an imposed-habit. I need to *make* myself think of how good it feels to be fit and healthy and tond-free (btw, tond = pot-belly) If I dont, inertia takes over. In short, I need to *bribe* myself. I am not inherently passionate about pumping iron although running at times (esp in bay area), is fun.

Getting me?

So if you need to motivate yourself to do something, that means you are not passionate about it. Passion comes from within. It cannot be 'bought' by incentives.

If you look around, you will find that people who are supersuccessful have one thing in common. Incentives didnt make them do what they did. They just passionately loved their *work*. Everything else followed.

ps: this post is inspired by another reflective post by my friend, dp.

I almost fell off my chair..

2008-07-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

..when I read this.

To rephrase that, it is now possible to clear IIT JEE by having single digit cut off marks. For Maths, it is 1. 1 out of 200. So what that means is if you just close your eyes and sing "ek do teen aaja mausam hai rangeen" while 'letting' your pen randomly choose an answer in a multiple choice question, chances are you will clear the cut-off. However, the article sounds less researched. It hasnt mentioned if the cut-off is for general category or for the reserved section. I would believe it is the latter in which case the same old merit-vs-quota debate arises. Also, the article hasnt mentioned about any possible negative marking, which was not there when I took the JEE way back in 1999. I am sure the difficulty level of questions wouldnt go down drastically.

The reason these numbers sound ridiculously low to me is because during my time, thanks to no negative marking and possibly thanks to less than 50% reservation, cut-offs (atleast for the general category) were quite high. I remember checking the FIIT JEE solutions after the JEE '99. I was expecting to get an aggregate of 280ish out of 600. Many friends said I would surely get a rank in top 1500. But when the JEE results came out, I was somewhere in the 2000ish (rounded off for the sake of simplicity ;). Such was the cutoff.

On another digressionary note, if I had to pick up just ONE life-changing exam - without which I would definitely not have been here - I think it would be IIT JEE. I remember how mad I was at myself when I realised after the JEE that I threw away 20-30 marks in some stupidest mistakes. But today I think if I hadnt made those mistakes, at best I would have pushed my rank up by 1000. Would I have been better off? I dont think so. Petroleum engineering was a blessing in disguise for me although it didnt seem so at that point.

Lesson for the day: bigdealness of things in general goes down with time. In hindsight, things work out fine.

iPhone vs rest

2008-07-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

Late into the midnight, a heated exchange was on between 2 friends, debating over how 'useful' is iphone compared to other phones that boast of better performance. I chipped in my 2 cents as well. As the debate - part I got over, I thought of blogging about it.

As far as the technology is concerned, except for the UI, there is nothing groundbreaking about it. Not to say that UI doesnt matter. Infact it is the single most significant reason behind iphone selling like hot cakes. One other important reason behind the not-so-unjustified hype is the way its strengths have been projected. It tends to focus more on "how easily" you can do things. The primary focus seems to be on 'cool looks'. But lets dig a bit deeper into it. People mostly use iphone when they are mobile - to check routes, find restaurants nearby, listen to songs, etc (ok - once in a while you might use some applications but *mostly* one uses it when mobile). If I am mobile/traveling, I am either driving or spending time at airports. Other than ipod/phone/email/sms, 2 things that I would really love to have at such times is gps and a document editor. Unfortunately, the first version of iphone lacked both. And the second version still lacks the document editor. Thats why iphone is not a phone that would be too helpful on a business trip. Maybe the makers didnt aim to make it that way. Fair enough. But groundbreaking? Not really. To add to that, the internet speed in the first version is unsatisfactory. It is just the first version, you might argue. True. But groundbreaking?

But I should give the credit where it is due. The features in iphone are so easy on eyes and cool to use that people can NEVER use an iphone just for phone/sms/email. Maybe other phones never tried to make the user experience as good, thats why they ended up as gadgets primarily meant for phone/sms/email. No blackberry user can look up yelp or facebook on it without feeling annoyed. But the UI in iphone is so sleek that one wont really miss a laptop or a computer.

I am just being honest. I have nothing against Steve Jobs. Infact he is one of my idols. His one speech at the 2005 Stanford commencement has deeply inspired me more than any speech I have ever heard. In a nutshell, iphone is a like a 19 yr old confused superhot blonde. She will entice you, will blow you away by her hot bod, will make everyone chase her. You might have all the fun once you get her but if you *really* need her during an emergency, she might flake out. :)

Blaming the victim for the crime

2008-07-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

67% of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women, according to this report. And in the same survey, 98% of foreign women visiting Egypt have said they have been harassed sexually in some form.

What is shocking to me is this one line:

"Out of Egyptian women and men interviewed, most believe that women who wear tight clothes deserve to be harassed," the survey said."

Deserve?! Wow. Reminds me of Shiv Sena.

I wonder what would happen if 'getting sexually aroused' by women's dress/body/whatever became a legally acceptable excuse to commit such acts. It wont be too uncommon for lechers to grab-n-kiss-n-molest random girls and go: "its not my fault. Its your lips that enticed me. Cover them."

Drama King or Chameleon

2008-07-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

These are the words that come to mind when I listen to this guy. Listen how he changes his colors with time.

It's a given that all politicians, by default, work for their own welfare. But I find it amazing the way Amar Singh, with a straight face, says Congress-SP alliance is for national interest when it is so obviously for *his* welfare. It wont be wrong to say that he unofficially represents a corporate lobby. He personally benefits from that lobby and hence he is acting for them. As simple as that. Nothing wrong in that. But he should have the balls to call spade a spade and not attribute every burp he makes to national interest. Oh well, if he does that, how will he qualify to be a politician.

If you are fat...

2008-07-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

...you have something to worry about.

To me, fitness is not just about being in shape. Its about conditioning the mind as well. Be it after a HIIT session with weights or after running on a hill, the feel-goodness and stresslessness I feel is beyond words. And pushing yourself during any form of endurance training just changes the way your mind functions - in every field.

Like the famous ultramarathoner, Dean Karnazes (who holds the record for completing 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days in 50 different states), said:

"Everything took on new meaning. My demeanor grew more carefree, as if the important things in life had become clearer. My outlook became more expansive; my shortcomings, less significant. Others were treated with greater compassion, increased tolerance, broader humility."

Back to 1991?

2008-07-04T01:24:00.001-07:00

Inflation in India is at a 13 yr high. Rupee is declining. Foreign players are withdrawing money. Stock market is down to 13000ish from 21000ish in Jan. Annual growth is expected to be around 7% - down from 8.5ish during the last 4 years.

The UPA led government is very conveniently blaming everything on high crude oil prices. In my opinion, recent crude prices have just aggravated the problems caused by some of the populist (and high on rhetoric) measures taken by the government. Thanks to the communists, there have been no major economic reforms in the last 4 years. On top of that, measures like writing off the farmer loans, recent fertilizer subsidies, not taking off the subsidies on petrol etc. have only increased the burden significantly ($100 billion dollar, courtesy businessweek). This, when India needs to really keep up with infrastructural growth for its burgeoning economy.

Talking of oil, the way some political parties have sabotaged the nuclear deal as an anti-muslim pro-US deal, just makes me laugh at them and wonder in amazement. These guys who are making noise dont even know what the deal is all about.. they just *invent* an issue and call it "anti-Muslim". Height of what-the-f*kness! Of course, the deal is not the final step in India's quest to attain energy independence but given the troubling times that the country is going to face due to its energy insufficiency, the deal will go a long way in augmenting (if not fully securing) its energy needs. Needless to say, its not a free lunch. US has a strategic interest in India to counter China's dominance. But that is irrelevant. As long as it is benefitting India, thats all that should matter. How many times would you have a country like US going out of its way to talk to the nuclear suppliers group to provide nuclear fuel to India. Nuclear energy for civilian needs is one of the not-many non-fossilish ways that India can think of to *start* securing its energy needs. With oil getting more out of reach, the problem is only going to get worse.

The tragedy is that the coalition nature of Indian politics makes sure there are always parties like the communists who have their own weird agenda neither based on any logical reasoning nor on the welfare of the country. If this populist trend continues, the return to 1991 esp in this 140 dollar a barrel oil days is not too far behind.

Hormonic Gyan!

2008-06-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am back with some more politically incorrect gyaan on all the jazz about marriage.

As some of you might recall, sometime back in 2006 I had this interesting discussion about "click" with my colleagues. (sidenote: some of them are bright Stanford grads but have a rather distorted understanding of "click". Strange.) Everyone had a different take on marriage. Some interesting points. Read the full thing here before reading further.

Why? Why do people get married? (especially in India)

1. Tradition/Society : This is a combination of the "there is no escape" types and "Log kya kahenge" (what would people say?) types. With society getting more liberal, things are getting better. But thats mostly in the metros. In smaller towns and cities, an unmarried and otherwise happy girl in mid-30s is reason enough for people to suspect a 'foul' game. I dont understand why societal whims should win over personal happiness. Let's face it. We are all going to die in a 100 years (or less). In the bigger scheme of things whims dont matter. Happiness does. Like Steve Jobs said, "all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

2. Parental mindset- 'teen-teen jawaan betiyaan hain' is a common reason to marry off young girls asap. And it is understandable to an extent. However, with a gallopping and semi-liberalised Indian economy providing more opportunities to the youth than ever before, we see less of this in urban areas. More importantly, this also means that working women (thanks to more opportunities) can easily walk out of a bad marriage. But thats besides the point.

3. Illusionary 'love' : These people are more "asset" driven. They *think* they have found true love but they are actually under the influence of what I call the "depletion effect". They subconsciously like their partner just like a petroleum engineer (like me) would lust for an undepleted oilfield. With time, as the oilfields deplete, their charm goes away and so does the love for it. Getting me? Most so-called love marriages breakup due to this depletion effect.

4. Biological needs (emotional, physical etc.): Everyone has these needs BUT these people view marriage as the only option to fulfill the needs. In other words, they marry due to the TINA (there is no alternative) factor.

5. True 'love': This is my favorite and I am going to rant a bit on this. These people are truly in love. Now a jargon like "love" can be very vague so lets get clear there. Scientifically speaking, love can be defined as a secretion of some special kind of hormones that prevent you from seeing negative shades and getting turned off by the flaws of the person you are in love with. And this secretion, imho, is the secret behind longlasting happy sparkful marriages. Mervin Minsky, one of the pioneers of Artificial Intelligence, put it thus:

"Thus love can make us disregard most defects and deficiencies, and make us deal with blemishes as though they were embellishments—even when, as Shakespeare said, we still may be partly aware of them:

WHEN my love swears that she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she lies."

Famous scientist, Richard Feynmann put it even more beautifully:

"That was the beginning and the idea seemed so obvious to me that I fell deeply in love with it. And, like falling in love with a woman, it is only possible if you don't know too much about her, so you cannot see her faults. The faults will become apparent later, but after the love is strong enough to hold you to her. "

How to get that someone special's 'special' glands working? Well, thats beyond the scope of the post and I am no expert on glands. If one is comfortable in his/her reality, everything else falls into place. Its a bad idea to marry someone who tries to change this reality.

Which category am I in? Time will tell. How about you guys?

What if you dont find a place in any of the above categories? Thats a subject for another post.. another day.

Gyaan for the day: A famous Steve Jobs quote:

"Keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."

Music again!

2008-06-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

But this time its not about others' renditions.. its about a quasi-bearable rendition from yours truly. My handful of loyal visitors would remember its been a while - almost 1.5 yrs - since I subjected you guys to this torture (as long as it doesnt resemble a donkey's attempt at singing we are fine).

Actually I have been thinking of uploading this song ever since I saw the movie. But I kept procrastinating since I was too lazy to convert my wav file to a you-tube friendly wmv format.

Its one of those songs that I didnt like much in first hearing. But the simplicity of its tune made it eventually likeable.

Ok, here you go.

First word that comes to mind..

2008-06-22T03:38:00.000-07:00

..when you listen to 2 of the songs from the latest AR Rehman album, Ada, is peace. These are such intoxicatingly soothing compositions that I couldnt stop humming it all day today - be it on the beach in Half-moon bay during the day, or in a nightclub later in the night. Such was the intoxication that the bazillion decibels of a nightclub couldnt suppress the feel. Havent felt like this in a long time after just one listening.

Sonu's and Alka's renditions are fresh like morning dewdrops. Coupled with flute interludes, Hawa sun hawa just grows on you. Comforts you.. like a cold breeze that blows against your face on a warm summer day. I am running out of metaphors. Go listen!

The songs in question:
Hawa sun Hawa and Meherbaan

The word is Peace!

Punctured!

2008-06-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

For the past few days, I have been forced to look like a perennial bandaided guy. So much so that people are even confusing me to be a bandaid endorser. For those guessing what am I on about, I have been severely and comprehensively punctured all over my arms in the name of what they call 'immunization shots' for my upcoming trips to 'vulnerable' places like Nigeria and Saudi. As luck would have it, these shots are mandatory. As in MANDATORY! They say mosquitoes are quite common and dangerous in Nigeria and hence the need to get these shots and immunize oneself. Living for over 21 yrs in India has immunized me from all kinds of bites - mosquitoes or otherwise. Therefore, in all humbleness, I feel that its those mosquitoes that need the shots to be immunized from me. Anyway, too bad for them.

Next, moving onto the art of giving the shots. I feel there should be a special training course for nurses to make sure that they treat the syringe as a simple NEEDLE and not as a sword in a swordfight. Or maybe they should be reminded that a nice-looking muscle doesnt give them the license to practise action sequence on poor patients. Thats exactly happened today. An otherwise decent and nice lady asked me to take off my shirt. The next thing I hear is "nice muscles".. and the next thing I feel is a sword going inside me. Normally, getting shots are no biggie for me (even now, they arent) but if you get them 4 times at the same spot on the same day, then the least you expect from the needler is some regard for the needle and the needlee.

On a slightly more positive note, the needler felt I did a good job of not fainting or making faces unlike most of her patients. For those wondering, I got 5 shots in all. 3 more to go. And no, I am not getting any on my butt (which happens to be the only unneedled 'soft' spot so far). Such fun!

Running on the hill..

2008-06-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

..can instantly - as in INSTANTLY - make you a dog. No matter how good a runner you are, you run at a 50 degrees incline for 30 seconds and you are bound to gasp for breath dogishly (for the lack of a better adverb). My consistent running on flat trails had somehow pumped my ego and made me feel like a conqueror of any trail - including hilly. So when I went with my friend, dp (a potbellied-highcarb-gouger-turned-runner) to run on the hill right next to my apartment, I was like a child who feels he is a king in his own little wonder world far removed from the reality. 50 meters into the 50 degrees incline, I was literally panting and gasping for breath. I couldnt run further. Lesson: there will always be things more difficult than you can imagine.

A week later, we went again, this time with a mental preparedness to complete atleast 10 repititions of the incline in short bursts - what is commonly referred to as high intensity interval training. I curbed my aggression (as adviced by my fraand) and just focused on completing the bursts as optimally as possible. By 8 rounds, I was semi-dead. But I saved my demonic burst for the last. Despite all doggishness, I completed 10 rounds, by the end of which I was barely able to walk. Lesson: there will always be a solution to the toughest of problems. Some determination goes a long way.

Not to say that 10 rounds was too good a performance. But for someone like me, who never sprinted before on a hill, it was a good learning exercise. In many ways, life and running have parallels. Neither of them is always smooth. Neither of them is always tough. The success of both depends invariably on how well you condition your mind. I hope the learning continues.

Solutionless non-linear equation?

2008-05-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

With every passing day, my folks back home make me realise (indirectly of course) that I am no longer a doodh-peeta baccha. And their search for that oh-so-demure girl from a good 'khaandaan' etc has already kicked off. Even though I am hardly marriageable (I am 26, for the uninitiated), I dont mind meeting prospectives. If you recall, I had done a quick back-of-the-envelope calcuation sometime back and come to the conclusion that at any given point in time, only 20-25 girls would be eligible to marry me from my domain space (visit the link for complete analysis). That is, IF I go for an 'arranged' marriage.

That brings me to an important philosophical question that I am sure many before me have thought about. How do I find a solution to this highly constrained system of non-linear equations? Some of my friends feel that my cut-off when it comes to a girl's beauty is very high and that might hurt me. I accept that but lets put it this way. Beauty is not a sufficient but a necessary condition for me. In the absense of any other evidence, its the beauty that creates a connection. And call it my weakness, I find pretty+interesting girls to be quite attractive. Here, '+' and 'interesting are the key. If a girl cannot keep me interested in her for a few hours, then the chances of me interested in her for a lifetime are pretty dismal. Beautiful girls are abundant (atleast in the US).. one just needs to look around. Interesting girls arent. Take the '+', and the result is even more dismal. One might argue that interestingness in itself doesnt guarantee demureness. True, I say. But in an 'arranged' setting, there is only as much one can choose. Beauty without that 'click' wont float my boat. And I say this from experience. Ditto for 'click' without threshold beauty. Pompous though it may sound, I have an uncanny urge to suss out someone by looking into her eyes (my friends ask me to analyse their girls' pictures and more often than not, I am in the ballpark)...so the chances of a playeress or a whiner to get lucky with me is pretty much negligible.

Sooo, despite being well aware of what I want, the problem is that of supply constraint. Infrastructure problem, as I call it :) So the question to be answered is: do I just marry someone half-heartedly, given this infrastructure issue or do I go beyond the confines of arranged marriage (in which case this whole discussion will become unnecessary :) or do I just sit back and relax as I have been doing so far? As for WHY do people get married at all.. thats a subject of another post.

Its official!

2008-05-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

After much speculation, its finally official. I am going to be in the heartland of oil industry so to speak for the better part of this year. Coming July-August, I will be in Nigeria and then, after a month's break, in Saudi for 2 more months before flying back to the beautiful bay area. What it means is that the already soaring oil prices are all set to re-soar, thanks to yours truly. Such are the tricks we play to keep the prices high. On a slightly more serious note, to say that I am looking forward to this stint would be an understatement. Saudi/Nigeria is to oil industry what Lord's is to cricket (or used to be). Right since my 1st visit to oilfields in India way back in 2000, I have been hearing about the hold these 2 countries have had over the whole industry. Never thought I would be visiting both of them within one year. Should be some experience. At the same time, it also feels a bit weird since I havent visited a *volatile* country ever (well, some might consider India volatile. I dont) Living for 2 months in a region where bombs are as common as aaloo-gobhi would be interesting (to say the least). Sidenote: I hope terrorists start practising baba ramdude's pranayam techniques by the time I reach there.

However, that means that I wont be able to run the SF half-marathon. It sucks given that I had already started preparing (almost!). But the practise, as I had promised, wont stop.

Telecom blues!

2008-04-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe this.

Telecom revolution doesnt always help. Nor does a knife-laden super-reactive father-in-law. In any case, what a waste of life!

(link via Amit Varma's blog)

Sufi Music.. lost in the oblivion?

2008-04-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come across a music genre where the harkats in the aalaaps stir your soul and push you into a different realm altogether? I am talking about Sufi songs. A staunch music-lover that I am, its a shame that I was never really into Sufi songs, untill recently. Listening to Nusrat saab on youtube pouring his heart out in song after song made me realize that Hindi film music that I have been listening to is great, but is somehow not using enough of Sufiana element. Except for a couple of songs here and there (the latest being Khwaja in Jodha Akbar) we dont really get to see much of it in the industry.

Quite strange that it was the performance of a reality show participant that enticed me towards Sufi songs. Just listen to this. The song and the singer bring out that feeling of yearning perfectly. There is an eerie connection that you would develop with the song in its very first hearing, and you would want to hear it again and again. The original song by Nusrat Saab has a couple of aalaaps that go a step further. The more I delved into this genre, the more I went 'wow'. Listen to it. It will melt you.

Run!

2008-04-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have had an amazing track record on this blog. Whatever I have *promised* to do on this blog, I have gone on to achieve it. Be it reducing weight or flattening my already-flat-tummy. Atleast so far. That's why I am here to make another huge promise to myself. Amazingly huge for me and the reason I am blogging about it is IF I dont fulfill it, I should feel ashamed about it and that feeling might hopefully deter me from breaking it.

Ok, long story short, I am planning to run SF half-marathon this year. Yes, you read it right. Half-marathon. 13ish miles. I have never run for more than 7 miles at a go...infact most of my runs have been super-shortish by marathon standards. Why did I take it up? Just the thrill of running along with hundreds and getting that 'high' on completing a big run. Not to mention, I want to enjoy the practise that goes with it. I dont care if I come last but I want to finish this in a so-so time (atleast 3 hours). This run is for MY sake. Running has always thrown up challenges - mental and physical - and I have always wanted to conquer it. And plunder it. Not succeeded so far. I remember how I had run for 90 mins straight (just once in my life) without taking any break to hydrate myself. All I cared at that time was to put one foot ahead of the other. I literally took it one step at a time.. without getting overwhelmed. I forced myself to keep thinking how great I would feel if I kept running for 90 mins - I had set that target for myself before I started. And guess what? Time flew! That day I felt, most of the seemingly difficult activities are difficult in the mind. But half-marathon is another ballgame. Going to be twice as difficult and sapping. Hopefully after some practise, and conquering psychological barriers, I might be able to keep my words.

ps: one caveat: There is a slight possibility that I might be out of country for work during that time. If that (or some other unforeseen events happen), I ll run some other HM.. but I WILL run :)

Politics takes..

2008-04-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

..strange twists, throwing all 'expert' analyses into disarray. Think what happened to NDA in India in 2004 elections. Thats what is happening in the US right now. 6 months back, not a soul would have predicted a Republican victory in the 2008 presidential elections, but it looks like a strong possibility at the moment. Reason? A fractured Democratic party! For the uninitiated, the US is going to see a presidential fight this summer between John McCain from the Republican party and either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton from the Democratic Party.

While I was personally not too convinced by any of the 3 candidates, I feel Obama *sounds* more like a charismatic leader than either Clinton or McCain. I havent followed McCain's speeches much but from whatever little I have seen, he comes across as another Bush (esp with his reckless chating of "bomb bomb Iran" song - although it was meant to be a joke). On the other hand, while I must applaud Clinton for not giving up till the end, what it clearly shows is that she is just in the fray for herself (am I stating the obvious?). All her jazz about American people and Democratic party is typical rhetoric that politicians resort to all over the world. She has used all kinds of tactics to woo voters - from an emotional outburst on television to scathing attacks on her opponent. To a neutral viewer like me, it is a big cringe-inducer. She should be mature enough to not make extreme comments against a candidate from her own party if she really wants her party to win - or atleast take a leaf from a so-called inexperienced Obama in the way he conducts himself. It is THIS attitude that makes it very obvious that all she cares about is her *own* victory, period. She knows very well that even if she magically wins the nomination, Obama supporters are never going to vote for her, given her toxic attack on him all through the campaign. The sad part is, she is ensuring McCain's victory even before the real fight gets underway. That brings an important question. Is she doing the right thing at this stage by carrying on? Going all out to ensure your *own* victory or give up for the sake of the party? Obvious though it may sound, it is NOT an easy decision to take especially after months of hardwork put in. And lets be honest, I dont think any politician in Clinton's place would have given up.

What I like about Obama is he seems to have a thorough understanding of most of the issues facing the country and has a solution in mind. He is learned, and logical (mostly). Having said that, he doesnt fail to resort to populist speeches by talking about banning jobs from going overseas (and thereby blocking free-trade). It is these speeches that make me cringe and not too sure about him. I hope he has better sense to understand that blocking free trade is NOT going to help the American economy. Other than that, he looks an able candidate, and if I could vote, it would be for him.

All in all, American politics is still several notches more polished than what we see in India. Personal abuses, communal incitement and what not! Looking from a distance though, presence of inept and unlearned people makes Indian politics far more *entertaining*. Sad, but true.

3 levels of "Ogle"

2008-03-13T23:31:00.001-07:00

I just bumped into this pic at a friend's orkut album (click on the image to enlarge):

Our cricketers displaying three unique ways of ogling:

Yuvi: ogling with a 'straight bat'

Karthik: ogling cover-drivingly

Uthapa: third man

Sachin is beyond moh-maaya (apparently)

Indian Parliament..

2008-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

..cannot get more entertaining than this.

The way he says "furoot teeree" animatedly is hilarious =))

What a shame!

2008-02-19T16:13:00.000-08:00

- Protestors "ban" Jodha Akbar from being screened in Rajasthan. There have been reports of protests from all over the country - esp from the Rajput community.

- A non-entity till yesterday, MNS, a hardly-regional party in Maharashtra are thrashing people from UP and Bihar out of the state.

- Sometime back, the Christian community protested against (and some states even banned) the screening of The Da Vinci Code across the country.

- UP banned the screening of Aaja Nachle after violent protests from a section of people peeved at "casteist" lyrics in one of the songs.

- Some Islamic clerics issued a fatwa (and someone even filed a case) against Sania Mirza for defaming Islam.

Whats wrong with Indians? Are we a bunch of intolerant souls that we marauder others right to live/be creative. It would be wrong to generalize that the majority of Indians are encroachers of freedom. But given the trend shown above, there are sections of people across all religions/states/society who get offended at the drop of a hat. And the only way they know to vent their frustration is to attack violently.

But the bigger and the more important question is where are our law enforcement dudes when such gross violations take place? The same miscreants when they come to a country like the US wont have balls to be on the wrong side of the law. To carry out any kind of public protest in the US, you need permission. Not to say that the US is crime-free. Of course, there are crimes in many parts of the US. But what I dont see in the US is common man being sandwiched for political gains.True there are christian missionaries going around trying to spread their message but they dont burn down movie theatres showcasing the Da Vinci Code. How ironic that a country where the majority population is Christian didnt feel the urge to ban the movie! Forget about the citizens, even as an immigrant I was never made uncomfortable wherever I lived in the US. I must say the law enforcement here is so strict and honest (overall) that people generally feel safe - although its difficult to prevent a fearless pscyho from going on a shooting spree in a school campus. Cant the Indian law enforcement take one positive leaf from their western counterparts?

9% economic growth rate is nothing if we cannot respect others and their basic rights. If this trend of intolerance continues, I wont be surprised if North Indian would need a visa to enter Maharashtra or other states. That would be worse than being under british rule. I hope that day never comes. I just hope.

Life in a 'taker'!

2008-01-23T08:48:00.000-08:00

If you have lived in Bihar/Jharkhand (for even a month) and havent had the pleasure of riding a 'trekker', then you have missed out on something fun. A "trekker" is a mode of public transportation resembling an open-air jeep. But thats not the 'fun' part. The adventure is in riding in it. Commonly called "taker", it literally is a taker. It 'takes' in anyone and everyone. From a distance, it looks like a big horde of people hanging onto something and moving together. But its the glue of a 'taker' thats holding them on. It looks somewhat like this fevicol ad. Not as closed and as big as this mini-bus but definitely as crowded as this.

To one's amazement, you will find the driver's seat is occupied by a passenger. So who is driving, you may ask. Of course, there is a driver. But he is somehow latching onto the steering somehow holding onto a toolbox that protrudes out of the 'taker'. For as long as he drives, his hands and legs are stretched reaching out for the brake, accelerator and steering.

Just for the heck of it, I took a 'taker' last week from Dhanbad. As luck would have it, I was seated right in front of the gear stick. The driver was miles away from me. All I could see was his hand adjusting the gear stick that happened to be between my legs. The whole journey was a test of how long can I sit in one position without changing the coordinates of every point on my body. I am telling you, after I made my way out of the 'taker', I felt like a king emerging victorious from a battlefield.

You havent experienced such a ride yet? What a shame!

Unsporty?

2008-01-09T04:16:00.000-08:00

To change the status quo, one needs to take a 'revolutionary' step. The system doesnt change on its own. It is in that context that Indian cricket team's stand to suspend the tour was justified. Its an individual right to protest if s/he feels the treatment meted out to him/her is unfair. There are several acceptable ways of protesting. One of them is to refuse to participate in anything that involves people who meted out unfair treatment to him/her. Thats what Gandhi did, and this is exactly what the Indian team is doing (this is not to say that Indian team is a bunch of Gandhians, but you get my point).

I find it surprising that some Australian fans feel its "unsporty" on part of India to cry foul and threaten to cancel the tour. Dictionary defines 'sporty' as "exhibiting or calling for sportsmanship or fair play." Win or loss has nothing to do with it. Its all about fairness. Period. Now it was for everyone to see the 'fair play' at display the other day on SCG. Who was fair? Ponting who, despite grounding the catch very obviously, claimed a catch (more than once)? Or Benson who thought Ponting was a better umpire than the 3rd umpire? Or Proctor who convicted Harbhajan of racism without any hard facts? Now if the players playing the match and people officiating in the match engage in such "unfair play", it becomes imperative for a team to exercise their right to protest by not partaking in such event that involves such deliberate "unsporty"ness. Such a protest, I must say, will change the status quo. And it has, to an extent.

Finally!

2007-12-31T18:36:00.001-08:00

After a mind-numbingly hectic schedule over the past 18 months, I finally have time to take long break. Ok, I am exaggerating but it was quite hectic (esp the past 7 months). And it is a long vacation. Long as in LONG. More than a month in India is a much-needed luxury that I need right now.

Happy new year to whoever cares to read this blog. Be good, stay happy!

hmmm

2007-12-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

There are times when you mess up and realize what went wrong. And there are times when you mess up and just move on. And then there is a 3rd kind of mess-up, which takes you aback. Stuns you into disbelief. Into denial. Into a state of blankness. A state where the mind becomes a big black hole where everything gets lost.

Someone has very rightly said, "Expectation leads to disaster. More expectation leads to more disaster." That sums up my mood for the past 1 week. I am not going into the details of this 'disaster' here for the sake of well-intentioned 'happy feel' that this blog has aimed to maintain.

Life is about frame of reference. In bigger scheme of things, some disasters are just pin-pricks. For someone in Congo suffering from AIDS, these so-called disasters would be met with an indifferent guffaw. Not for me.

So what to do? Qualitatively speaking, I feel human mind has the highest youngs modulus of elasticity. It bounces back. It just moves on. Denial gives way to logic. Logic gives way to more effort. Effort gives way to expectation. And the cycle continues? Or maybe not. Upto you.

Hidden talent unearthed!

2007-12-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

I didnt know - until today - that I have a big negotiator latently sleeping inside me for the past 2 decades. Just weeks back, I felt literally looted by comcast's 65 bucks a month high-speed internet deal. My attempt to question it and bring it back to 'normal' levels had failed miserably. Untill today, that is. I tried again today and thanks to my super-polite and a genuinely sounding 'why is comcast so much more expensive than its competitors'ish query, the lady on the other side replied as if its blasphemous to disconnect comcast. "Oh, are you going to disconnect? We definitely dont want that.", said she. "Do I have any option?", I smiled. It worked! She took personal pain to find out the best possible deal and guess what, I now pay 31.99 a month for both internet and cable :) Not only that, my soft-spokenly assertion also 'entitled' me (I would like to assume that) to some other waivers too. Hold on, there is more. We also talked about things other than "high speed internet".. like christmas, India, her family etc. And it all ended with she giving me her extension number and gently wishing me "Call me if you have any question in the future. Have a great trip to India. I ll think about you." Ok guys, stop raising your eyebrows. She said that in a very 'friendly' way :)

Lesson for the day: negotiate for one.. who knows, you might get two. Maybe more :)

Way to go, Dada!

2007-12-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

Excelling during pressure situations day after day requires something out of the ordinary. It is the real test of mental strength. Something that separates good players from stars. I must say, despite not being a big fan of the former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, he has excelled in 2007 like no one else, shown tenacity like no one else. Almost everytime he has stepped into bat (after his comeback), he HAD to deliver, especially in the tests with the in-form Yuvraj sitting on the bench. A string of 2 or more consecutive flops and he would have been dumped out of the team. He has not only cemented his place in the ODI team (despite being a so-called "senior") but has also, with his latest double century, shone as a middle-order batsman in tests.

Is it due to the fearlessness that I once talked about? People tend to under-perform if they fear something. Fear of rejection, fear of ego-bruise whatever. Just like most of the human activies, fear triggers a biological process that affects the way you act. Thats what Steve Jobs referred to (indirectly) in his commencement address at Stanford 2.5 yrs back.

"Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

Ganguly had already gone through the ignominy of getting sacked from the team. It couldnt get worse. Maybe this is something that took away all "fear of embarrassment or failure". Is it any coincidence that most great people have similar stories of 'failure' to share?

For his sterling performance post-comeback in the most stressfull of situations, dada deserves a standing ovation :)

What has the world come to?

2007-12-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Indian judiciary seems to have taken the role of "entertainers". How else can one explain this? Court "serving notice to Hindu Gods, Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman"?!?!? I couldnt stop laughing at first. But now I realise, it might just be to gain cheap publicity? No wonder millions of cases are backlogged in Indian courts.

This is the funniest line in the news article:
"The court staff even went to the temple to serve the notices but there was no one to receive them. "

Dog ate my...

2007-12-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

..back!

Ok, this is as hilarious as it gets. For the 'onlookers', not for me. I was at a senior's (from undergrad) place this weekend with a friend. Apart from his football-fieldish home, one thing that really amazed me was his dog. It looked just like any other dog but had a weird urge to constantly stare and gasp at 'strangers' almost lecherously. Sensing my discomfort at being licked by a dog, he was kind enough to keep him (the dog) out as long as I was there. But he (the dog) kept staring at me through the window glass, breathing forcefully. As if I am already a dead meat. I was happy that he couldnt jump on me. Not for long though. As I stepped out of the home to get fresh air, he (the dog) pounced onto me. I somehow prevented myself from being licked and went back inside. But that was just the appetizer. The entree was yet to be come, if you know what I mean. As we came back from a game of bowling, I saw the dog wandering in the open. I ran for the nearest exit but was easily outpaced by the dog. He jumped at me from behind. I shrugged. But he jumped again, this time catching me from behind with a now-where-will-you-run expression (apparently). I was struggling and giving kodak-less expressions (or so I assume). I was not even bothered about getting licked at that point. All I wanted was to escape. Luckily, the dog-owners came to my rescue at the right time and the ordeal was over. I am not scared of dogs as such (no, really!). Its their habit to lick human faces (and/or anything) with those long omnipotent tongue that I cannot stand.

Oh well, I am safe. I am alive, and kicking! Cheers!

A cab ride!

2007-11-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

Last week I was coming back from Calgary via the SFO international airport, and the cab driver was a Pakistani guy. We connected well and talked about a lot of stuff, from Musharaf to cricket. But one topic on which he spoke really passionately was on the topic of treating Muslims in India. I was like, "I have some Muslim friends in India and the US, and they have never complained about any discrimination from the common public. So whatever stray cases you hear is not representative. How about Pakistan? Do they treat Hindus well?" At that point, he got really worked up (not in a violent way). He started talking about the "massacring of Muslims" in Gujarat and said, "not one Hindu in Pakistan is ill-treated. Every Hindu feels safe and is treated with respect. I doubt if that is the case in India. Once in a while, there is always a riot which is aimed at the Muslims." Although I still dont feel Indian-Muslims feel alienated in general, what he said was perfectly right. A genocide of huge proportions once in a decade points to the contrary. It is due to a handful of criminal elements that India has this big blot on an otherwise (secularly) clean 'resume'. What a shame!

On a slightly lighter note, the cabbie also gave me an unsolicited advice: "sirji, if you want to marry, then marry someone in your own country. They will do as you say and wont get dominant." Heh!

Indo-US nuclear deal : anti-climactic end?

2007-11-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

Its amazing how a handful of politicians can stall the progress of a country for no logical reason whatsoever. Pressure of coalition politics can do strange things. I am talking about Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's recent statement about Indo-US nuclear deal to President Bush that India is not going to IAEA. On one hand, there is Left, that is illogically anti-US in its so-called policies, and on the other hand, there is BJP, who were the authors of the deal and who are opposing the deal just because they are in the "opposition". What a shame!

3 things that need to be done to pass the Indo-US nuclear deal:
- Indian parliament passes the bill.
- The US Congress passes the 123 agreement.
- The US convinces the nuclear suppliers' group (a group of nations with natural uranium resources) to provide India access to its nuclear fuel.

I think its a great opportunity for the PM to go ahead with the deal despite opposition from the Left and the BJP. It might still not get passed in the parliament, but atleast it will show the sincere-mindedness of the government.

I agree with the statements of the former secretary of state of the US, Henry Kissinger, that India's failure to implement the deal would raise a question mark over its trustworthiness. The deal, in my humble opinion, is a significant step to secure India's energy needs, without jeopardizing its nuclear program for military purposes. Come to think of it, India is not even a member of the NPT and still the US is willing to go out of its way to convince the 45-member nuclear suppliers' group to ensure access of nuclear fuel to India. This assumes significance given US' attitude to similar supplies to countries like Iran and N Korea. Of course, US has its own strategic interests in mind. It is seeking to form a strong strategic alliance with India to counter China's rise in the region. But that by no means is going to make India subservient to the US or imply that US is indirectly influencing the foreign policy of the world's largest democracy. It cannot get more beneficial for India in terms of relaxation that the US is making (even if it is for its own interests in the region). Will it completely solve the energy problem in 25 years? Of course not. On the other hand, nuclear power is expected to form only 7% of the total energy mix in 25 yrs - up from the current 3%. Not too high, but significant enough for a country that will have more than 1.5 billion people by then. It is these steps that will *eventually* light up bulbs in Indian villages.

On a personal note, my parents' village that I first visited some 20ish yrs back didnt have any light bulb at that time. The situation hasnt changed a bit even today. Not one bit. And this is the 21st century.

Is India gonna look back at history and rue this lost opportunity? Time will tell.

Battle of..

2007-11-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

... airline ads.

Hilarious and witty! I wonder what will be the next ad on top of the GoAir ad."We didn't let them change."

Weirdest comment in recent times!

2007-10-30T18:07:00.001-07:00

"Merit is based on genetic accident."
Thats Ram Jethmalani, a well-known criminal defence lawyers in India arguing in favor of caste-based reservations in public services/educational institutions.

hmmm.. I wonder why, in Mr Jethmalani's books, is someone's caste not based on "genetic accident"?

Amit Varma wins..

2007-10-27T03:16:00.000-07:00

..the famous Frederic Bastiat prize for journalism for his satirical weekly columns on Mint, a joint venture between Wall Street Journal and The Hindustan Times. For those who dont know, his blog, India Uncut inspired me to start blogging 2.5 yrs back.

Modi's latest googly

2007-10-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Narendra Modi, the chief minister of one of the most industrialised states in India, is in the news yet again. He has banned television channels in Gujarat that are broadcasting a sting operation where his erstwhile colleagues have alleged that he gave the green signal for "the genocide of Muslims".

Indian media, although accused of sensationalising issues for the sake of TRPs, have been more or less impartial (esp with so much of news channels starting). You can write against the government policies and not fear any reprisal. That, according to me, has been one of the biggest positives of the world's largest democracy. But such blatant misuse of power to throttle the media is not a good augury for the future. And this is happening in the 21st century. Appalling!

Prime/Chief-Ministerial debates - a possibility?

2007-10-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Uncomfortable answering some tough questions on Karan Thapar's "Devil's Advocate", Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi walks out of the interview.

I think there should be more of such interviews - on the lines of the presidential debate in the US - in every state of India. Let the chief-ministerial (and prime-ministerial) candidates battle it out on primetime national television on policies that matter. They should be made to debate over issues of national importance without resorting to fake nationalistic cliches. They should face these tough questions and explain why they did what they did. Some of it is already happening but I dont think its anywhere like the presidental debate of the US. Would that mean the more deserving candidate wins? Not necessarily. But given that the median age of India is 25, youngsters are going to play a huge rule in the coming times and they should be made aware of the vision (if any) of the country's leaders. With their increased involvement in the electoral process, caste-based voting patterns will diminish, if not eliminate altogether. If not anything, it would make the politicians logical speakers and not wafflers :)

Quote of the day

2007-10-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

“Education is not to make men carpenters so much as to make carpenters men.” by the first ever woman president of Harvard University, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust.

Quite true!

I think the process of "making carpenters men" should start right from elementary schools. Instead of imparting only hard skills, schools should also focus on showing their relevance on bigger scheme of things. Thats where most of the schools (elementary/high school/undergraduate) fall behind. When I was studying petroleum engg. in my undergrad I honestly didnt know that oil played a key role in the two world wars untill I read this book "The Prize: The Quest for oil, money and power". Such real-life references make the students see the bigger picture and make them proactive in their thoughts.

On a slightly different note, I feel India needs a drastic education reform. The first step in that regard is to bring in top graduates from colleges as teachers. Currently, teaching (in India) is mostly seen as a last resort and understandably so. Teachers get paid peanuts in India. It should be made more rewarding either by some monetary incentives or by improving their status in society. Having a motivated bunch of teachers is the first and foremost step to produce a motivated bunch of students. In rural India, there are schools (a so-called school), there are students (on paper) but there are no teachers. More so for government-owned schools. Opening the mammoth Indian middle class to international players who want to set up schools in India would be a good idea, especially at the elementary/primary level. There are already many international primary schools doing good in India but it hasnt reached the level of a "revolution" to get rid of the ills of the current system.

About time we strengthen the foundation and stop 'carpenterising' our men :)

Ram Charan == Howard Roark?

2007-10-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

There are very few people that I know of who are perfectly - or shall I say yogically - devoted to their work. One such personality is Mr Ram Charan, a famous name in the world of consulting (not many engineers know him though). I was going through his interview the other day and I got a feeling that he has renounced the worldly existence for his work. He has no home (well, he has an apartment where he hardly stays), he has no family, he doesnt own a car (rather he doesnt need a car). All he does is glob-trots solving some of the most complex business problems for world's top executives. And it doesnt stop at that. Apparently, Lata Mangeshkar is his favorite singer but he doesnt listen to her fearing it would make him sentimental and distract him from his work.

I have read of detached devotion to work - detached from everything that has nothing to do with work - in Ayn Rand's "Fountainhead" but this real flesh-and-blood example is simply inspirational. Steve Jobs is another guy who in his now famous Stanford commencement address taught how to find something you love by shedding "all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure". But even Jobs didnt hesitate to cancel an important business meeting and take a girl (who is now his wife) out for a date.

So is Mr Charan a real-life Howard Roark? I would say, no. He is a notch above. Roark - Ayn Rand's character in that best-seller - actually succumbed to his carnal desires. Whereas, Mr Charan chose not to have a family, and he refuses to listen to any music just so that his work doesnt suffer. Is it realistically possible to lead such a life? Will I enjoy such a life? Maybe not. Nevertheless, there are lessons aplenty in that one rare interview. Go read it.

Reality "energy policy" TV !?!?

2007-10-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

"Our current energy policy in The United States involves shooting bearded people.", writes Scott Adams in an interesting post. He then goes on to suggest that reality TV is the annswer to all important policies from healthcare to energy.

The one-liner above has an obvious reference to the Iraqi war. Lemme not go there. But I beg to differ from Mr Adams - that conservation is going to cure all energy issues. It wont. It cant. Not for a country that consumes over 25% and produces 12% of the world oil. 50% of that massive consumption is used in transportation. Given that 2/3rd of oil is in the Persian Gulf, for a steady supply of oil, any President would make sure not to let go of middle-east from his/her foreign policy at any cost. But is that a long-term cure?

Given the unstable equilibrium and, in thermodynamic terms, ever-increasing entropy in the middle-east, the word "steady" assumes significance. OPEC countries have no significant control over steadying the supplies in case of a massive terrorist attack. Barring Saudi - which, for the record, has past its peak - no other country has the surge capacity or the ability to stabilise the supplies. None. Zilch.

So my point is: in the long run, conservation wont help.. neither would over-dependence on middle-east. Then what would? Its not a linear problem. Bits-n-pieces solution wont diffuse the problem. There has to be a revolution...that starts from the grass-roots.. I would reserve my detailed opinions for another post. (certainly having a reality TV show with think tanks arguing over the US energy policy would be like Sanjay-Malakarising the whole issue, if you know what I mean :)

Food for thought?

(original link from Amit Varma's post)

Quote of the day

2007-10-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

"If hangovers preceded the act of drinking, far less people would drink to excess."

Made in the context of India's post-20-20 debacle. No one can deny the sheer enthusiasm with which Dhoni's men won the first ever 20-20 world cup. Thats about it. That in no way make them the messiah of one day cricket. ODIs are totally different ballgame. 20-20 is like the last 25 overs of ODI. Bits-and-pieces players can shine and make a difference. There is not really much time to "build" the innings slowly. ODI is all about pacing the innings, about consolidating when you lose early wickets, about preserving the wickets when ball is stopping on you. Its all skills. Thats exactly why the Aussies are quasi-invincibles. They pace their innings perfectly. They have players who can consolidate. India has young players in the team who can accelerate but not consolidate when the score reads 40/5. That is why the presence of Sachin /Ganguly /Dravid is something that India cannot do away with. India's ODI record this year has clearly show wins that have been based on solid opening partnership. Last 4 wins have been all 90+ runs opening partnership. That should say it all. Thats where India lost the way - and the match - yesterday in the very first over.

So for all those who are confusing youthful exuberance for invincibility, think again!

The key to survival is..

2007-10-07T16:46:00.001-07:00

..networking.

By the looks of it, the clip above might be very adventurous and increase the adrenalin-rush, but I look at it as an important reality. That even if you are the king, without a network you are a non-entity.

Saawariya and OSO

2007-09-30T00:57:00.000-07:00

I just heard the music of two of the most-awaited releases this year. I must tell you, they have class that so much lack in today's music, most of which are sleep-inducing remixes. The albums I am talking about are "Saawariya" and "Om Shanti Om". While Saawariya is towards the semi-classical side, OSO has a retro feel. The good thing about OSO is that there is something for everyone there, from the so-called item songs to soothing numbers. While dhoom taana and main agar kahoon remind you of the 70s and 80s, dard-e-disco is a today's song. On the other hand, Saawariya, like all previous Bhansali movies, will take time to catch up. But when it does, it will have that evergreen tag all over. Remember "chaand chupa badal mein"? "Jab se tere naina" is my favorite. The title song of course is peppy .. and has depth. Richa Sharma's rendition of saawariya also has Bhansali's stamp over it..esp the wail.

One thing that is common to both these albums is their power to stir you. They make a connection. More importantly, they are a refreshing change from anything we have heard this year.

The Pursuit of Happiness

2007-09-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I tend to like movies that has a message without being too preachy. That's why some of my all time favorite movies include Forrest Gump, The Beautiful Mind, The Scent of a Woman, Swades, Lakshya. The latest entry to this list is this movie based on the real-life story of Chris Gardner.

All elements of human dignity are lost when a person goes without food for days. Gardner's refusal to budge when he went homeless and penniless was the biggest take-away from the movie. He lost everything he had - even his wife deserted him during tough times. But he didnt ditch his love for stock markets. All the "achievers" in real sense of the word have one thing in common - their passion for what they did. Eg. Steve Jobs loved what he did despite being a college dropout. Result: Apple -> ipod -> iphone. From my personal experience, I can tell that if I am passionate about anything, the strength to overcome the roadblocks automatically comes from within. I dont have to make a conscious effort to achieve it. One other point that movie makes very effectively is that its the journey that is important in the bigger scheme of things, and not the end result.

Such movies run the risk of sounding too preachy. But this wasnt. Look at Will Smith's reaction when he learns that he got a job at the firm. Understated yet moving!

Chris Gardner owns a Ferrari that he bought from Michael Jordon. It's license plate reads: "NOT MJ" implying he really toiled hard to earn that Ferrari. True!

Tonty Tonty and so on..

2007-09-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

The whole country is going gaga over India's victory in the tonty tonty (as my friend Raman calls it) world cup. So I am not going to repeat the overstated facts here.

On a totally different note, I observed a marked improvement in the communication(in english) skills of the Pakistani cricket. From Inzy who always preferred to talk in Urdu to Shoaib Malik, who chose to address the post-match conference in a rather fluent English. I found his statement "i would like to thank all the muslims all over the world" somewhat naive. Apparently he forgot that it was a Muslim who took 3 wickets and took away the match from Pakistan. I wonder what he thinks about a certain Danish Kaneria who is the only non-Muslim in the pakistani team.

Back in India, there has been unprecedented scenes in Mumbai. Never before in the history of Indian cricket has such a rousing welcome been given to a team. 5 hours of motorcade from the airport to Wankhede says it all. Makes me wonder that cricket is indeed one common religion in India. It cuts across religions/political parties..and for once everyone - as in EVERYONE - celebrated. Such unity!

Who is a bigger choker

2007-09-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

That seemed to be the theme of today's 20-20 match between India and Pakistan. After bowling extremely well to restrict India to a modest - yes, a runrate of 7ish is 'moderate' in 20-20...times have changed - total of 141, Pakistan struggled badly in the mid overs. Then in the last 3 overs, Indians 'choked' and the ever undependable Agarkar got hit for 17 in his last over. Plundering 28 runs of the first 10 off last 12 balls, it was Pakistanis' turn to choke. And what a choke it was! They couldnt score 1 run needed to win of last 2 balls. India had the last laugh when, in the most hilarious cricketing rule ever - whoever hits the stumps max wins the game - they hit the stumps in all their attempts. While the Pakistanis apparently hadnt gotten over their chaos in the last 2 balls.

Thrilling (thought a bit ridiculous) game of cricket! Finally a win for India!

"OMG, Some one has a Crush on You"

2007-09-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Anyone who uses yahoo is not unfamiliar with such mails. But the amazing thing is despite spamming being such a big time "phenomenon", spammers have not been able to come up with anything enticing enough. Spammers are just like robots; they can understand complex algorithms but not common sense. Who on earth would get tempted to open an email with the above subject line mailed with an equally weird 'from' field: "Guess Who". How difficult is it to create an algorithm that spreads a spam with a "realistic" subject line? 99/100 times, anyone can differentiate a spam from a real mail. Another example that comes to mind are those "want your p***s to grow by 2 inches?" spams. As if they have some elasticity-inducer pill that would flex one's organs by 2 inches. Spammers better get more creative instead of coming up with such cheesily silly because the users are getting less gullible with every passing day.

Such insanity!

CNN series: God's Muslim Warriors

2007-08-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Watched God's warriors on CNN. I was particularly curious about the series on "God's Muslim Warriors". Not too sure if "warriors" is the right word for this context. What was alarming to me was the fact that 26% of the surveyed 2nd generation Muslims in the US think "suicide bombing" is sometimes justified. Thats a dangerous sign. Not a good augury. This will only create a vicious cycle of hatred. An attitude of zero-tolerance when it comes to religion will only aggravate the situation. Be it the problem of Jerusalem or that or Kashmir. A 'you-killed-five-i-will-kill-ten' attitude has never yielded any result. It was appalling to see mothers saying " my son died fighting.. but I am not sad. I dont mind sacrificing my son for Allah." Not only that, there is similar bloodyminded rivalry between two different muslim communities as well.

Imagine this situation:
A person X from a troubled community A kills the family of a person Y from another community B due to religious reasons. Losing everything weighs heavily on the mind of the son of person Y, Z. Z gives up everything and makes his mission to murder as many people (including innocent children) as possible from the other community. Result? An endless cycle starts. The chain reaction increases exponentially. Who gains in the end? No one. A hatred that was initially borne out of religion is now fuelled by revenge.

I know the problem is highly non-linear but an extreme attitude devoid of reason and logic is *never* going to lead to peace. Maybe they need to realize that life is too short. In 150 years, everyone will be dead. Is this the way they want to live their lives? The choice is theirs.

Mob fury..

2007-08-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

..or a suitable vent for daily frustrations?

Everyone loves..

2007-08-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

..dogs.. in the US! Loves as in LOVES!

How else do you explain this ?

Run Forrest!

2007-08-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

I achieved Forrestian power last evening. I ran for almost 100 minutes non-stop. You heard it right, non-stop! I could always long distance but running this super-long has always intimidated me. Not anymore. Not that I woke up and started running and kept running like Forrest Gump. Different things work for different people. For me, baby steps of 1-2 extra miles prepared me for this overkill. And I did it. Trust me, it required some high-degree mental toughness. Shutting off the urge to stop is not easy.

Lesson for the day: If the mind wants it and wants it badly, you will get it.

Mission accomplished!

Sitting in front of..

2007-08-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

..a computer all day can cause marital discord, according to the Chairperson of Karnataka (India's IT state) women commision. Her reasoning: ""Viewing the computer for long hours has proven to cause impotency." This leads to an unhappy physical relationship and subsequent marital discord. Btw, here is the link explaining how the divorce rate is rising in the IT sector.

The woman is obviously confusing correlation with causation? Well, whatever!

Mission..

2007-07-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

..accomplished!

I am a month late though ;)

At the cost of sounding a bit pompous, I think I am one of those people who can control their weight without resorting to any dieting/boiled puke-inducing food etc. Its very simple for me. Everytime I see any random superpot-bellied guy - resembling a pregnant woman in her 8th month - my auto-motivation mode turns ON. This is no exaggeration. I just cannot imagine myself with a pot-belly. The very thought is scary!

8 yrs back I was so desparate to gain weight. I didnt mind being a walking football such was my desparation. Reason? I was almost 25 kgs (55 lbs) lighter than I am. Given that I have a near-perfect weight right now, you can imagine my featherly plight 8 yrs back. Time rolls! :)

There is something about...

2007-07-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

...pakistani singers that makes you feel like listening to them again and again. Contrary to what I thought, the legendary singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is not the only gem the country has produced. I was watching a talent hunt show SaReGaMaPa the other day and it is no coincidence that 2 pakistanis are among the top 3 singers in the show. And the other singer who is not a pakistani is a muslim. Its not that they are just good singers, they have such a clasically toned voice and they beat their indian rivals by miles. No one comes even remotely close except one singer maybe and too because of his voice quality. We might have great singers with great tonal quality that is fit for playback singing, but if you are looking for that sufiana touch, Pakistani singers are in a class of their own. One name that comes to mind is Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. I wonder if it is because of the culture of sher-0-shayari and music. Any thoughts?

Yesterday, I was listening to a paki contestant singing this song "sanwre" from Bandit Queen originally sung by Nusrat saab. It was the best live singing I have ever witnessed in a talent hunt(and I have watched many such shows). Best ever! It was so amazing. Never before have I seen the judges get so excited after a performance. And dare I say that the guy actually sung it better than Nusrat Saab. If he were alive, he would be proud :)

Hail the...

2007-07-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

...Rain God!

How many times have you witnessed rain coming to India's rescue in test match cricket (or even in ODIs)? I havent. Before today, that is. I had no faith on the meteorologists. Everytime I have been to the UK, their predictions have come a cropper. Thanks guys, you proved me wrong! You rock!

This picture captures the mood classically ;)

Pseudo-moderates or passive-extremists?

2007-07-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

If someone attacks your home, what do you do? You try your best to get the attackers punished sufficiently and also have a security system that ensures no further damage. Well, thats what USA did post 9/11. It began a crackdown on the terrorists in Afghanistan and heightened security at the airports. When it started stashing the terrorists in the Guatanamo Bay, there was this hue and cry over human rights. What a perfect time for the human rights people to *do* something. Where were they when these terrorists were bombing innocent civilians? Of course, USA's Iraq blunder should be condemned in strongest words, but that doesnt mean you make it a habit to condemn everything and anything that USA does against terrorism.

On a slightly different note, what really appalls me about some of the so-called moderate muslims that I know is the fact that they wouldnt say a word when Islamic fundamentalists are committing the most heinous of crimes, but they would start pouring their opinions the moment they hear stories about the so-called ill-treatment of terrorists by the US. Why this double standards? I wonder where do the opinions go when the US is on the receiving side. Is this some kind of pseudo-moderation or some sort of passive-extremism? I dont know. Dont get me wrong, they dont have to shout from rooftops that they are moderate muslims. Some muslims are indeed moderates in every sense of the word and they do have strong opinions against any terror attack against civilians irrespective of their religion. But sadly, they form a small minority, IMO. I hear people complaining about the strict airport security at the US airports, and constantly whining against USA. What a double-standard, I wonder! If you dont like the country and its ways, why the heck are you in this country?

In my humble opinion, terrorists are inhuman creatures and a country should punish them in the harshest possible manner to deter them. And it should be no one's business to pass judgment on a country that is struggling to keep the terror in check.