Ananth's Incoherent Ramblings

Opportunity...

2011-11-16T16:20:00.000+05:30

What's your take on 'Opportunity only knocks once'?

This was the question posed to me in a forum recently. I used to be good at extempore (note the operative word: used), but that was at school. To help(?) matters further, this question was posed during a coming-togther of select alumni during the School Day celebrations to commemorate the institution's 25th year of existence.

Now that I have had more time to contemplate the question, while I did say some of the following, here is what would've made a better answer...

To answer the question, lets first get the full proverb for completeness -- Opportunity only knocks once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.

Its only human to confuse temptation for opportunity. If there is a doubt, read the proverb again. During teenage years, urge to rebel is not opportunity. When among friends, just a 'harmless' cigarette ("What the heck.. its just this once, nobody will know!") is temptation. Its imporant to know and understand what is what. Answering the question 'If I let go of this possibility now, will I ever get a second chance?' should make the distinction clear.

My generation came out of school at the cusp of India's transition to a free market economy. One can argue that our career choices were invariably 'socialism tainted'. Study well, get a job, settle in life... Risk taking and offbeat career choices were neither easy nor encouraged. Exceptions do exist though.

In contrast, today's youth have a surfeit of choices. The set of people on stage is a good representative example -- we have an accomplished musician, a lawyer, an accomplished artist, a few journalists, a couple of architects, an event manager/choreographer, just to name a few. There is even an aspiring race driver with considerable achivements in karting already.

This is not just refreshing, but is also an eye-opener for my generation of how its no longer a 2-lane highway. Its important to note though that medicine and engineering aren't bad career choices either ;-)

With more choices come more opportunities. It is therefore important to contemplate on what opportunities to 'let go'. Yes, 'let go' - exercise your choice in this matter. In hindsight, it is paramount that you never regret the choice you made.

Go out, its your world. Make the most of it!

What's your preference?

2010-04-18T13:26:00.000+05:30

A few weeks ago, I went out to the forest with friends. Looking through the pictures, I decided to give a couple of them a 'black and white' treatment. Which picture is better depends on who you ask that question.

The original (albeit pruned for size):

The black and white:

What do you prefer?

A sample survey revealed that folks who have an 'artistic' bent preferred the black and white. As with any B&W photo, it has a mystery element and feeds the fertile imagination of artistic minds.

Personally, I like the B&W and I have no artistic bent whatsoever :-)

Wonder Why?

2010-03-11T20:21:00.001+05:30

An ode to the unbiased, independent, responsible visual news media in our beloved country...

The facts as we know them:

Case 1:

Mr.Sajjan Kumar is accused of instigating mobs that killed large numbers of Sikhs (a religious minority), in 1984, in the aftermath of the killing of Smt.Indira Gandhi.
Mr.Sajjan Kumar conveniently ignores court summons for years, and finally, when he does show up, he is granted bail, for Rs.50000.
Poor Mr.Sajjan Kumar gets all of 2 minutes devoted to him in each newscast.

Case 2:

Mr.Narendra Modi is accused of instigating mobs that killed large numbers of Muslims (another religious minority), in 2002, in the aftermath of the Godhra train massacre.
Mr.Narendra Modi gets summoned by SIT to appear before them 10 days from now.
Mr.Narendra Modi, lucky guy, gets whole newscasts devoted to this!

Hmm... wonder why?

Songs, a time machine

2010-02-26T19:40:00.003+05:30

Songs have a unique quality. To different people, a song can bring about memories of different times or places or events. Here are some from my list...

Papa Kehte Hain from Qayamat se Qayamat Tak. When the movie released, this song was a rage. I was quite young at the time (seriously! I was young, once upon a time :-)) and the first time I heard this song was my cousin humming it. The tune was catchy and for a long time, I couldn't really figure that Aamir said "Really, I mean it".

Aashiqui's songs are still hummable. The first time I heard it was in our school van. I was part of the school band (used to play the bugle). We'd just won the first place in the district level competition and qualified for the state competition. We were returning from the Kanteerava stadium when our Band Master and PT teachers treated us to some goodies on the way. Our van driver treated us to Aashiqui's songs all the way back to school.

Jaadoo Teri Nazar had totally blown away another cousin of mine. Whether it was the 'cos of song, or the person who featured in it can be questioned :-) Nonetheless, it used to be top of the charts for weeks on end on a music show on TV that played every Sunday. It so happened that we missed the start of a movie 'cos this cousin of mine wouldn't budge till he watched the song on the programme.

Anytime I hear Aane waala pal or Hamen tumse pyaar kitna, the scene is of our first year in engineering with the rickety National Panasonic player I'd described elsewhere. We had all of 4-5 tapes of which the Hits of Kishore Kumar and Hits of Mohd Rafi would inevitably play at least once every day.

My buddy Hari used to have a unique taste in music -- the Bappi Lahiri types. He'd never miss an album of the Mithunda-Bappi-Usha Uthup generation. To this day Mumbai Sheher Handson ka Sheher hai rings back 3rd year engineering memories (not that it plays all that much either).

My friend Promodh was a Delhi return. Delhi, in the mid-90s boasted of Times FM. Promodh never let go of a chance to show off his "Western" music knowledge. One of the best albums he'd bought in Mysore was "Now, thats what I call Music" or somesuch. It had awesome tracks like Wet, Wet, Wet, 25 minutes, etc. At the time, MLTR was to me, the greatest band in the world :-)

Another significant album at the time was one that Promodh got as a gift from a family friend. Funnily enough, it was called "RB Tone Sangeet Mala", 'cos it was a compilation a drug company made to gift doctors. It had some of the evergreen songs of the 50s and 60s, including Beqarar karke hamen, Dil ka bhawar karen pukar, and even a KL Saigal number, that, Promodh and Hari decided was my favourite song of all time!

Whenever songs of Main Hoon Na or Veer Zaara play, the scenery is of the freeways of New England. Those were the only two CDs that my rented car could play.

What are yours?

Living from story to story

2010-02-14T20:07:00.002+05:30

Sorry Shah Rukh, your time in the limelight is up. You are no longer 'hot'. 9 people died in a bomb blast in Pune. That many more would die in single road accidents, or in building collapses elsewhere, is of no interest. They are victims, of a different malaise -- of the terrorists who devour money when nobody is looking to sign on the dotted lines for licences to drive and to build when the people who end up getting them aren't capable of either.

Rest in Peace, Departed Souls. As I write this, your untimely, unnecessary death has caused the 'News' channels to rehash the same debates you were privy to, after the Parliament attacks, the Mumbai bomb blasts, Akshardham, 26/11, .... Further, it has helped strengthening one aspect of our National culture -- we are really getting good at the "All talk, no action" doctrine. You have also provided fodder for the 24x7 'News' Channels. Thanks to you, they can survive a few more days. But, I am sorry to report, there aren't too many mentions of who you were.

I am more sorry that you'll be completely forgotten as soon as a new 'hot' topic comes up. Talk about living story to story... the Indian News media thrives on it.

Bandipur

2010-02-06T22:00:00.008+05:30

Life had gotten very busy this new year, and when an opportunity presented itself to combine work with some weekend adventure, I jumped on the idea. I went to Bandipur last weekend with a bunch of people at work. It was, to say the least, a wonderfully wild interlude.

The Bandipur-Nagarhole-Madhumalai belt is supposed to have one of the highest concentration of Royal Bengal Tigers. We hoped to catch a glimpse of one during our 3 hour safari. At one point, our driver heard a 'warning call' from a langoor -- indicating that a predator was nearby. But we couldn't sight one. Further in the forest, we came across a nuclear family of elephants -- dad, mom and calf. The calf was never allowed to wander from between the dad and mom. Scouting around, we saw a small herd of bisons running up a slope, away from dense bushes. The guide said there possibly is a tiger in the bushes. We waited for about 20 minutes, enough to instigate the elephant dad to make some aggressive moves to ward us off, but the tiger was nowhere to be seen.

That we did not sight a tiger comes as no surprise. Later that evening, I was chatting with one of the guards at the camp. Just the previous week, a tiger census was conducted and they could find 30 tigers in the area surrounding the camp. Further, it was found that there are all of 1411 tigers in India.

It is sad that in a few decades, people may have to talk of tigers in the past tense. The national animal is in danger of becoming a relic of the past.

What if?

2010-01-03T13:34:00.003+05:30

Have you ever had a "What if" moment? If you are a rational human being with empathy, you most certainly would've had not one, but many such moments.

What if Ravana hadn't kidnapped Sita? What if I'd studied better and gotten into college A? What if I'd chosen Commerce instead of Science? What if I had listened to Mr.X? What if the illness was diagnosed a few months earlier? What if I'd said 'no'? What if...

There are times in life when one is at crossroads, and you are required to choose a path to tread. If one is lucky, the decision of which path to take is either automatic, or is self-evident. Sometimes, its neither -- someone else makes that decision for you; you just tread along. Some other times, its a decision that leaves you between a rock and a hard place. "Can't I take both paths?" "Isn't there a middle path?" "Do I listen to my mind, or my heart?"

Sadly, answers to those questions are neither simple nor self-evident. One just needs the courage to weigh the situation and have the strength to stand by the decision. Its particularly hard if the decision involves antagonizing one person over another. One just hopes, in the end, everyone involved will concede whatever happened was for the best. The most important part is to not regret the decision.

Destiny and fate are words that most people who swear by logic love to hate. If the world were to simply run on logic, it would be inhabited with only atheists; but we know believers outnumber them many times over.

Keep the faith!

The truth

2009-12-19T16:33:00.011+05:30

I am not much into literature, leave alone poetry.

Occasionally however, you come across gems that encapsulate truth so profound, that you are left wondering, what, if anything particular, caused them to pen the lines.

Why ponder thus the future to forsee,
and jade thy brain to vain perplexity?
Cast off thy care, leave Allah's plans to him --
He formed them all without consulting thee.

-- Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat

Even if you aren't a connoisseur of poetry, you'll have times in life when you'll identify with the verse above...

A decade later...

2009-09-21T19:18:00.004+05:30

The year, 1999. 21 green horns straight out of Engineering, walked through the edifices of what we thought were our tickets to freedom. That day, amidst countless signatures and form filling exercises, an announcement brought great cheer too -- "Your salaries have been increased from our offer-time amount of Rs.x to Rs.y! An increase of 8000 Rupees per annum!" Maybe, by today's inflated standards it isn't that great an amount, but for a 22 year old awaiting his first salary, it was 600+ Rupees more every month -- not bad :-)

Those were exciting times. At least for a few of us, from middle class backgrounds, it was all new. We were asked to report at 9AM the next Monday at one of the city's 3-star hotels. I had never been inside a star hotel till then (I've lost count of how many times I've been to one, since). We were taught the nuances of public speaking, basic writing, telephone etiquette, etc. I can still recall the serene voice of Mr.Ram walking us through videotaped sessions, pointing out small details, which have kept me in good stead all along.

At the end of September when we got our first pay, one of my close relatives commented tongue-in-cheek, "Now, you'll never know what the value of money is -- you start with a 5 digit salary, while some of us have had to work more than a decade to get there." I know she had all the right intentions, and I am hopeful if she'll reverse her opinion when she'll see money hasn't changed many of us, after all.

Of the 21 people, many have gone their independent ways. I am in regular touch with at most 3 or 4 of them. However, I am certain the rest are doing great for themselves too!

The decade has passed like a breeze. There have been stupendous highs and depressing lows; but each of them have been a learning experience. Looking back, it is hard to believe we've possibly crossed 1/3rd of our career! But if the rest 2/3rds is as enjoyable, I have no qualms. As they say, "Bring it on!"

Therapy...

2009-07-11T22:17:00.008+05:30

The imagery is still very clear -- it was a foggy morning towards the end of March 2000, when we set out on the road trip with colleagues at work. I remember that trip for a couple of reasons -- it was my first road trip in a foreign country and it was the first road trip for which I paid with my money. But little did I know at the time that it would also introduce a complete new genre of music, one that was to become a source of absolute solace hence.

One of my colleagues had just gotten a newly released two cassette set called "A Journey". The singer on the cover looked not-so-familiar. The first few songs that played did not strike either -- it was a new kind of music, soft, mellow, sometimes slow, and I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrical aspect of it. But then, there was this song which evidently was recorded live -- you clearly could hear the audience's involvement, the claps, etc -- but what was also evident was the sheer range and versatility of the singer. The song was "Main Nashe Mein Hoon" and the singer, Jagjit Singh.

By the end of the trip, I was totally hooked to Ghazals, so much so that I was keen on attending the singer's live concert in a city 120 miles away, even if it meant pushing my return home by a couple of days. That was, however, not to be. My I94 was due to expire and I had no choice.

Upon return, the first thing I did was walk into the music store and buy the album. People at home weren't used to Ghazals either, but, invariably, the music grew on them too. From then on, I would keep a lookout for Jagjit's live concerts in Bangalore. And the first one was in July 2003 I think. WOW! What an experience! I remember the concert not just for the music, but also for the antics of my friend Nitin (more about that in some other post maybe). I have since attended a few more live concerts and hope to do so in the future too.

There are two types of people in this world -- those who like Ghazals and those who don't. Some of the latter group may learn to appreciate the genre over time, but I am yet to meet someone who stopped liking them after.

A former Manager (and a very good friend) clearly belongs to the latter group. One afternoon, Nitin and I disappeared from work for a couple of hours. Upon return, the manager walks up to us and the conversation goes:

Manager: Where were you two brats off to?
Us: To Gangarams.
Manager: What books did you buy?
Us: No books.
Manager: So you went off to laze around MG Road during office hours?
Us: No, we went for something more important, something that couldn't wait till evening.
Manager: Eh?
Us [Holding up the concert tickets with glee]: THIS!
Manager: Ugh! You paid 1000 bucks each to hear someone sing, "I opened the window, the air came in"? You could've paid me 500 and I'd have done the same!

Jokes apart, Ghazals have been an integral part of all my journeys -- homeward, after a long day at work, road-trips, etc. During our road trips, its kind of an unwritten rule -- I invariably get the steering after a sumptuous lunch, with a long drive pending in the afternoon. That is when the gang sleeps and I can drive any length of time, with Jagjit for company. To them, its lullaby, to me its sheer poetry.

For a Ghazal buff, I am sure there isn't a better way of spending a rainy afternoon: a great book in hand, hot pakodas by the side, and Jagjit playing in the background.

Old times, revisited

2009-04-27T21:32:00.006+05:30

9pm Saturday night and I am getting ready to watch the Red Devils battle their way back to the top of the Premiership table. The phone rings... its Sudhir, perhaps my oldest friend -- old in terms of the number of years we've known each other. Sudhir is now settled in the United States and is visiting here after a gap of almost 6 years.

(Sudhir and I first met in 1984, when studying 2nd grade. Sudhir's maternal grandparents lived in the next street. At the time, there were, probably, all of 7-8 houses in our neighbourhood and it was but natural that we ended up meeting each other and our friendship is 25 years young).

Sudhir asks if I am game for a trip to MG Road and Brigade Road Sunday. I cross Brigade Road every day heading to work, but its been close to 7 years since I've been to (what used to be) the favourite haunts of new entrants to Bangalore. Given my boredom on weekends, I jumped on the idea. So we set out at 3:15pm Sunday.

As old time Bangaloreans, the first thing that struck us was how much MG Road had changed, for the worse :-( No hustle, not many pavement hawkers, in short, not much activity at all! During our student days, the place would be bustling with so many people that walking on the footpath would be a major exercise. Kinda sad to see such an iconic boulevard losing its identity to 'development'. After lazing around for a couple of hours, including a fruitful book buying/browsing session at Blossoms, we headed back.

But, both of us are suckers for the 'old' Bangalore. How can we head home when Food Street beckons? Involuntarily we end up near Sajjan Rao Circle.

All ye swanky hotel yearners, you know not what you're missing. Take it from me -- Street food still tastes the best! Economies of scale ensure that any food you choose will be heavy on your tummy, but light on your pocket ;-) After a sumptuous assortment of choicest Masala Dosa, Onion Dosa, Bondas and Masala Soda, we head home.

Sudhir is game for more such escapedes before he gets back to Uncle Sam. "No place like Home", he says, I wholeheartedly agree. We make an appointment to drive down Mysore Road to another old haunt.

All in all, a Sunday well spent, after a really long time!

Innocence...

2009-04-21T21:52:00.006+05:30

The other day at a concert of a famous artiste, I ran into a very good acquaintance, who was there with family. The daughter, a cute, naughty kid all of 4+ years, was also there, prepared with her toys and sketch book to keep herself occupied while her parents and grandparents enjoyed the music. I took a chair next to this group.

ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಅಮ್ಮ, ಯಾರು ಅವರು?
ಅಮ್ಮ: ನಿಂಗೆ ಅನಿತಾ ಆಂಟಿ ಗೊತ್ತಲ್ಲ್ವ? ಇವರು ಆವರ ಅಣ್ಣ
ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಅವರ ಹೆಸರೇನು?
ಅಮ್ಮ: ನಿಂಗೆ ಅವರ ಹೆಸರು ಕೂಡ ಗೊತ್ತು!
ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಇಲ್ಲ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ
ಅಮ್ಮ: ಅಣ್ಣನ ಹೆಸರು ಏನು?
ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಅನಂತ್ ನಾರಾಯಣ್
ಅಮ್ಮ: ಅವರ ಹೆಸರೂ ಅದೇನೇ!
ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಅದು ಹೇಗೆ ಸಾಧ್ಯ?
ಅಮ್ಮ: ಯಾಕೆ ಸಧ್ಯ ಇಲ್ಲ?
ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಅವರೂ ಅನಂತ್ ನಾರಾಯಣ್ ಆಗಿದ್ದರೆ, ಇಬ್ಬರು ಒಂದೇ ತರಹ ಇರಬೇಕಲ್ಲವ?

Kid: Amma, who is he?
Mom: You know Anitha aunty? He is her brother.
Kid: What's his name?
Mom: Know what? You already know his name...
Kid: No, I don't
Mom: What's Dad's name?
Kid: Ananth Narayan
Mom: His name is also the same...
Kid: No, no... How can that be?
Mom: Why not?
Kid: If he is also Ananth Narayan, shouldn't he look the same as Dad?

Forward 45 minutes. The concert was fabulous and we were engrossed in the music.

ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಅಣ್ಣ, ಅವರು ನಿನ್ನ ಫ್ರೆಂಡಾ?
ಅಪ್ಪ: ಹೌದು ಪುಟ್ಟಿ
ಪುಟ್ಟಿ: ಹಾಗಾದ್ರೆ ನೀನು ಅವರ ಜೊತೆ ಮಾತೇ ಆಡ್ತಾ ಇಲ್ಲ?

Kid: Is he your friend?
Dad: Yes, he is a very good friend of mine.
Kid: Then why aren't you both talking?

Towards the end of the concert, I was showing her an old trick of squinting my eyes just for fun. The kid goes:

"ನೀವು ಹಾಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದ್ರೆ, ದೊಡ್ಡವರಾದಾಗ .. ಅಲ್ಲ, ಇನ್ನೋದ್ಸಲಿ ದೊಡ್ಡವರಾದಾಗ ಕಣ್ಣು ಹಾಗೆ ಆಗಿ ಹೋಗತ್ತಷ್ಟೇ"

"You know, you shouldn't be doing that, 'cos when you grow up... errr.. when you grow up the next time, your eyes will get stuck like that".

Why can't all kids retain their innocence for ever?

Mediocre Media

2009-03-20T19:09:00.002+05:30

That the 24x7 Indian News Media stinks must come as no surprise to anyone, but its just appalling the extent to which they go with their alarmist stance on various topics.

Just the other day, there was a serious news report about the rising sea water levels. The voice over went something like, "Researchers around the world have revised their estimates of the sea level increase by the end of this century, from 17-21 inches, to more than 1 meter!"

Either the news editor is dumb, or assumes that his viewership tremendously knowledgeable. Maybe journalists don't really know the existence, leave alone the difference, between FPS and Metric systems.

Or maybe, they simply don't care, as long as the voice over sounds alarming.

Bored

2009-03-15T20:00:00.003+05:30

There used to be a time early on in my career when I'd look forward to weekends. Friends used to get together for a evening chat program, maybe a movie even.

In recent times, weekends are a big bore; I am mostly confined to home. I've to blame myself for that though -- I absolutely hate the Saturday evening traffic -- too many morons (err.. weekend drivers) on the road.

If only I had the $$$ for a weekend farmhouse... Maybe sometime I will, lets see.

Perspectives

2009-02-11T21:55:00.003+05:30

Replay of a recurring conversation (totally mindless, btw):

Someone: Do you wear glasses all the time?
Me: err... most of the time; not while sleeping horizontally, taking bath, etc.
Someone: Hmm.. don't you feel awkward about a foreign body perched on your nose and ears?
Me: You get used to it after a while.
Someone: But isn't it annoying?
Me: Actually, its refreshing sometimes.
Someone: How so?
Me: With it, you see the world as everyone with a 20-20 vision sees it, without it, you have your own unique perspective!
Someone: Really?
Me: Sure! Try holding up a few fingers from a distance of about 30ft and wait for my answer ;-)

Finding the time...

2009-02-07T17:02:00.005+05:30

Think of all the things you've wanted to do -- learn music, learn a new language, but you never got around doing it. Almost always, the one excuse that works is -- "I don't have the time". Its dated, its lame, and I am guilty as hell of using it on far too many occasions.

Some people however, seem to have the talent to 'make' the time for all that's important to them. I envy them. Top of the list is my good friend Hari.

His interest in Madhwa Siddhanta (Dwaita Philosophy) in the recent times has meant that his blog is slowly turning out to be a treasure house of information on the subject. Add to that his other obsessions -- popularizing the culture and temples of Tulu Nadu, and making available the popular Mantras online.

Well, I don't know how he makes the time, but to top it all, Hari now has an even more ambitious project: The Vishnu Sahasranama Portal.

Here's wishing you all the success Hari, but my question remains...

How do you find the time?

As good a time as any?

2009-01-10T11:29:00.004+05:30

The mithyam @ Satyam, horrendous as it is, has a few people praising the forthright admission of guilt by Mr.Raju. Though that act doesn't in anyway diminish the extent and/or seriousness of the issue, it does beg the question about the altruistic nature of Mr.Raju's confession in burdening all of the blame -- after all, 7000,00,00,000 just has too many zeros for one person to count. Even if one were to assume the scandal was born in 2002, its magnitude implies the swindling was at the rate of about Rs.2crore a day!

The irony of it all is that the very same people who bay for the blood of the swindlers are perhaps the Big Brothers of the ones they are targetting. If Mr.Raju pulled this off over years, the politicians, Government contractors and the like, would possibly be usurping larger amounts of real money every year, what with all the scams that get brushed under the carpet.

Perhaps, now is as good a time as any for such thieves to come out in the open -- they'll be sharing the limelight with others. But who am I kidding? If they had 10% of the moral conscience of Mr.Raju (and no, I don't condone what he has done), they'd have already done it, or such scams wouldn't take place at all.

Shame on all of them.

Innocence

2008-12-22T13:52:00.005+05:30

Living in a city, one is left to wonder if innocence is an obsolete virtue. What with all the yuppie teenagers with their "I know all there is" swagger, PlayStation (or maybe Wii/xbox) junkies, juggling their time between one class after the other (classical *and* western music classes, karate classes, mind math and other crap). But, ask them to cross a busy road on their own, or deposit a cheque at a neighbourhood bank -- most times, you'll probably get a "Are you crazy" kind of look before walking away.

All is not lost however. Try conversing with some of your younger relatives that live in the rural environs. Their thinking is conventional, affection genuine, and more often than not, their curiosity is refreshing.

One such conversation with a teenage relative of mine who lives in a small nondescript town 90 minutes from Bangalore. This kid was seated in the driver's seat of my car while a group of cousins were conversing above some lilting instrumental fare playing on the stereo...

Kid: How many gears does this car have?
Me: What is the highest number on the gear shift lever?
Kid: Ok, got it... now, what does R stand for?
Me: Reverse
Kid: Which one is the accelerator?
Me: The small pedal to the right
Kid: So, the left is the clutch and the middle is the brake?
Me: Yes
Kid: Front or back?

There you go!

Impressions of Guwahati

2008-12-11T20:30:00.004+05:30

This is a draft I'd written over a year ago (16 Dec 2008 to be precise)... posting it now without edits...

Till the last weekend, the farthest east I'd gone in India was Chennai. Personally, the Great Indian Northeast has always been something exotic that one read in books and occasionally saw on TV. Assam in particular just meant a senior of mine at work, Bhupen Hazarika, Parveen Sultana, the ULFA, and more recently the horrific blasts that killed numerous innocent people in the state.

When the opportunity presented itself, I just jumped on the idea of visiting Guwahati, albeit for two days on official duty.

Some observations from the trip:

Sitting in a two-hop flight is no joke... in other words, Guwahati is really far away from Bangalore ("Wow, that was news to me.. Thanks!")
The Guwahati airport looks eerily like Bangalore's old HAL airport
Guwahati proper has the narrowest roads for a state capital. Add to that the median and there is as much space for two cars really close, and nothing else
I can now say with authority that BMTC buses are possibly the best looking in the country.
Traffic flows ultra 'full duplex' (phrase borrowed from a friend who uses that to describe Pune traffic). Given the narrow roads, it is sometimes scary to sit in the front seat of a car, let alone drive one.
The Brahmaputra is absolutely imposing and awe inspiring.
The IIT campus is beautiful.
Food in Assam pretty much means rice and fish, more rice and more fish... ("vegetarian.. what is that?")
Literally everyone in Assam suggests you visit Shillong and Imphal -- something I plan to do in the future. Not to mention the Tawang Pass, which is also on my list of places to go.
The most famous landmark in Guwahati is the Kamakhya Debutter (yes, that is the local name of the Kamakhya temple). Sadly, the crowd and devotee management in the temple leaves a lot to be desired.
It is next to impossible to find parking in the city, roads being as narrow as they are.
Perhaps the place I've seen the most movement of the military so far in India (no, I haven't been to Jammu or Kashmir). There was even a guy with an automatic guarding a VIP spouse in one of the shops in the market we visited.

Diagnosis...

2008-12-03T18:36:00.004+05:30

Events in the past week, tragic to say the least, have given us a chance to discover hidden talents in some cases, and glaring shortcomings in others. A few politicians have already demonstrated symptoms of the dreaded "Foot in the mouth" disease, while some in the media have shown how stupid and insensitive they are.

Arnab Goswami - needs a dictionary/thesarus. Suffers from "loss of words" syndrome. Mr.Goswami, its OK to be silent, if there is nothing to say.
Simi Garewal - needs a primary grade history course - not all green clothes are Pakistani flags. Ms.Garewal, do you know the way to the school closest to your abode?
Sagarika Ghose - can someone please tell her she is close to being the most hated journalist in the country? She tried really hard to make a fool of herself during the conversation with Ravi Shankar Prasad. She succeeded beyond expectations 'cos she was up against someone smarter. Ms.Ghose, please learn when to shut up.
Jayanti Natarajan - needs to be told there has to be more to an argument than BJP bashing. Madam Natarajan, when will you realize two wrongs don't make a right?
Barkha Dutt - THE drama queen. Don't you think she is wasting her talents in newsrooms in Delhi? Pity, RGV doesn't make tear jerkers, else he'd have signed her during his infamous Taj survey. Also Ms.Dutt, please do a better job at screening out dumb guests on your already dramatic shows.

Finally, its a tragedy in our country that Page 3 celebrities are taken to be a representative sample for public opinion in their respective cities.

Airheads

2008-12-01T19:57:00.002+05:30

When will airheads like the Patils, Naqvis and Achutanandans of this country stop their idiocy? Perhaps they revel in politics 'cos of this precise quality of theirs. Its astounding though that they don't know when to shut their trap.

God save my country from such 'leaders'.

Prophetic

2008-11-23T20:39:00.002+05:30

This week's Criminal Minds on Star World had a quote from Anne Sexton -- "It doesn't matter who my father was, it matters who I remember he was."

Prophetic... and absolutely true...... I know.

Pre-dawn Adventures(!)

2008-11-18T20:05:00.001+05:30

3:55AM Saturday morning and a voice pierces through the darkness -- "Kokkada". All of a sudden, 3 of the 6 dudes in the middle of the bus are startled straight and are busy waking up the other three. In no time, all six are out of the bus, out in the cool environs of the Western Ghats. First timers wonder "Are we at the right place?"; we sure are, 'cos as we look around, there is a young family of four, waiting in the shelter of a kirana shop. Except for the ten of us, there is no soul in sight, leave alone a jeep. Occasionally, a faithful KSRTC bus whizzes past, making its way to Lord Manjunatha's abode, Dharmasthala.

The immediate question on everyone's mind is "How do we reach Shishila?"

From past experience, we assumed that'd not be a problem -- that time around, a jeep was in waiting, with many more in the queue. But, that wasn't at 4AM though. Our host had assured us that transport needed to be the least of our worries... but that was not to be.

What happens when you have a few half asleep people in the middle of nowhere? They just make their way to the nearest flat spot that has some semblance of looking like a bed to put the head down. A small step in front of a cement shop served this purpose.

Just as we settle down, a jeep drives in, picks up the young family and disappears as fast as it came. A few minutes later, a faint light appears down from a crossroad leading to this intersection: an autorickshaw! Our spirits soar... but 1 auto won't cut it... we need at least 2.

Two of the more enterprising folk from our ilk walk up to the now parked auto and report back -- there is absolutely no way an auto can take us to Shishila. The roads may lead us elsewhere (hospital perhaps) if we took an auto. The auto driver tries to get in touch with a jeep driver friend of his to help us out, the friend refuses.

After about 15 minutes, along comes a jeep. Now, not 2, but 5 people surround the vehicle. The driver says he is already booked. Immediately after, yet another jeep drives by and stops as if it is trying to solicit passengers. Subsequent conversation with the new driver went something like this:

Driver: "Yes?"
We: "We need to get to Shishila"
Driver: "Really? How?"
We: "This jeep"
Driver: "It'll cost you money!"
We: "Sure, how much?"
Driver: "350 bucks"
We: "No problems"
Driver: "But not this jeep, that one" and before we respond, he drives off!

The 'booked' driver, a real patient man, throws a ray of hope -- a Milk Van would drive by "anytime between 5:45 and 6" and that goes to Shishila if nothing else does.

So, back to the cement shop steps... more waiting and finally, the Milk Van arrives at 5:40AM. The souls manning the van are kind enough to accommodate us "Only if you can ride in the back".

6 people with bags weighing about 6-15kg get in and find they have about 15 milk cans for company. That marks the start of perhaps the most bone rattling of rides some of us have ever undertaken. The van makes its way past ginormous potholes that can aptly be described as mini water sumps. Some places, there is almost no road to speak of. After about 50 minutes of bone jarring, stomach settling, rickety ride in the back of a van that probably lost company of its shock absorber 2 months after it came into existence, we get off, thankful that the ordeal is over. But nobody would take us there for 60 bucks either ;-)

Question time...

2008-11-13T21:08:00.000+05:30

What is the item dominating the Indian news channels?
How many people died in the Malegaon blasts?
Was that the most people killed in a blast in the last year? Weren't there blasts that killed more people elsewhere?
Why aren't we hearing more about progress of investigation and/or culprits in those blasts? Do the authorities pursue the accused as vigorously as is being done in this case? If yes, why aren't those ever brought to public notice?
A lot was made of a certain party heavyweight being pictured with a certain religious figure under investigation. Certain other religious figure, newly under investigation has been seen with many other heavyweights, probably including those in certain other parties. Why hasn't any importance been attached to the new discovery? Convenience perhaps?

What is appeasement?
Define hype
When can one categorize a journalistic institution as morally bankrupt?
What is favouritism?

Finally,

Aren't news channels supposed to be completely unbiased?
Do we really need 24x7 news channels?

Remember, no civil society condones any act of violence, irrespective of what religion perpetrates it. What is difficult to understand is disproportionate airtime given to specific cases at times that are convenient to the media and/or government in power and sweep other such cases under the carpet.

The hope though is *every* case that causes public unrest and/or loss of life is dealt with the same vigour and attention as is being highlighted with the Malegaon blasts.

This day, that year

2008-10-31T13:26:00.000+05:30

24 years ago to the day, a bunch of school kids (including me), ran for our lives, for about 2kms from school. In hindsight, we could've just walked; but at the time, we did not know any better :-)

Back then, our classes would start at 12pm and go on till 5pm. The first period (or class or whatever) was on, when our matron-like Head Mistress walked in and announced, "Something bad has happened to Indira Gandhi. We are shutting the school down right away. All you kids head home pronto... no playing, no roaming around. And there may not be any buses either."

About 40% of all students in the school were from our area, about 2kms from the school. All of us just gathered in front of the school and started running home, taking the inner roads and not the bus route. That was the first time many of us ran 2kms at a stretch.

Midway through, we see our faithful, old, rickety and almost empty bus heading the same way, but at a distance.

Solace in the car

2008-09-11T20:20:00.000+05:30

For two hours when the car moves to and from work, I am parked firmly in the driver's seat. It's not easy... sitting in the same place for an hour at a stretch. But what makes it bearable is the music.

Earlier, it was just what played on radio. But since FM music makes a progression from bad to worse, I've made the switch to a saner option -- a select set of songs play most of the time. Yes, you guessed right -- Jagjit Singh's Ghazals are on top of that playlist. But there are a few other rare gems, mostly old Kannada classics.

The common thread among all these songs are the lyrics. I've now concluded that lyricists are perhaps the most talented bunch on this planet, closely followed by music directors. Some songs, you never tire listening to. Few of my favorites: आते आते मेरा नाम सा रह गया, होश वालो को ख़बर क्या, दुनिया जिसे कहते है, कागज़ की कश्ती, याद नहीं, ಸಿರಿಗೆರೆಯ ನೀರಿನಲಿ, ಒಂದಿರುಳು ಕನಸಿನಲಿ, ಬಾಳೊಂದು ಭಾವಗೀತೆ, ಮೂಡಲ ಮನೆಯ.

Some days, the player is completely silent, on purpose. It's good to have a change once in a while. But if the traffic noise becomes unbearable, the left hand automagically finds it way to the ON button.

Madhu keeps asking where one gets the patience to drive a car in this mad traffic. I tell him, music keeps people sane. I'd probably have gone mad by now on a bike.

Taxes...

2008-07-31T18:42:00.001+05:30

India's population: > 113 crores
Number of people filing Income Tax returns: ~ 3 crores (30 million)

Nobody is naive enough to believe over 110 crore (1.1 billion) Indians either don't earn anything or don't earn enough to come under the tax bracket (annual income > Rs.150000/-).

No wonder the salaried class feels cheated -- there is no way they can evade tax -- tax gets deducted at source; the non-organized sectors however, have a lot of avenues to hoodwink the Government and pay little or no tax at all. One can only hazard a guess about how many businessmen, doctors, lawyers, etc., actually disclose their "real" incomes. Oh, and what about the politicians and their unaccounted wealth?

It's a tragedy that the IT department chooses to harass the salaried class, sending notices for non-payment of taxes, while in reality, they do not bother to check their records -- in most cases, they owe some returns back to the said salaried individuals.

The IT department's time would be well spent going after those who cheat by not paying taxes altogether or those who don't disclose their full income. The Finance Minister makes big noises about these things, but the common man is yet to see any evidence of actions against such cheats.

Deductions and homage

2008-06-15T19:20:00.000+05:30

Its been a fad for sometime now in Bengaluru... most FM radio channels are switching to RJing in Kannada and playing mostly Kannada songs... a totally welcome move. But my problem is with the quality of the Kannada songs they play. What's more, if you keep switching stations, chances are you'll hear the same song (anybody heard ಜಿಂಕೆ ಮರಿನಾ?) in every channel within a half our duration.

My problem is more with the lyrics than anything else. There is a complete lack of cohesion and originality, as well as the play with words one would come to expect of good songs. Of course, there is the odd song that is good (take the ones from ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ for example).

Invariably, I end up surfing channels just for a good song. Many a time, I settle for the passable Hindi ones dished out on Radio One. My threshold for a good Hindi song is probably low :-) Thankfully though, Radio City has a Retro songs programme starting at 9pm (better late than never!).

Here is my deduction - people tend to have a higher threshold of acceptance for ordinary stuff dished out in a language they are less conversant in. Conversely, the threshold these people have for a good song is generally higher for songs in their mother tongue or a language they understand well -- the importance is not just for the tune but also the lyrics.

Wonder what the Hindi speaking populace think of this; they are the ones subjected to maximum torture if the above deduction is true (for the layman, Hindi films in India outnumber the vernacular ones).

That brings a more sombre point - Shri R N Jayagopal is no more. I've grown up listening to a lot of his songs (din't know he had written them at the time). ETV ಕನ್ನಡ is playing a series of half hour snippets with the great Jayagopal for a few weeks now. That has opened my eyes to the fact that a majority of my favorite tracks from yesteryears were written by him. There are't (m)any who can come close to the meaning, melody and the ease on ears qualities of ದೀನ ನಾ ಬಂದಿಹೆನು, ಬಾಳೊಂದು ಭಾವಗೀತೆ, ಬೆಳ್ಳಿ ಮೋಡದ ಅಂಚಿನಿಂದ, ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲೆಯ ಉಂಗುರ, ಹಾಡೊಂದ ಹಾಡುವೆ ನೀ ಕೇಳು ಮಗುವೇ, ಅಪಾರ ಕೀರ್ತಿ ಗಳಿಸಿ ಮೆರೆವ ಭವ್ಯ ನಾಡಿದು, to name a few. May his soul rest in peace.

I hope there'll be more people who can hold the torch lit by R N Jayagopal, K S Narasimha Swamy, Kanagal Prabhakara Shastry, Chi. Udayashankar, Vijaya Narasimha and the other greats. There is promise though... Jayanth Kaikini, Kalyan and Yograj Bhat have churned out some wonderful songs in the past couple of years. Admittedly, they've a long way to go to get counted in the same league as the ones listed above.

Mysooru Flashbacks 4: The Blue Shirt

2008-03-10T19:57:00.000+05:30

Prom, Harry and I were all in different sections during the first year; Prom was in 'A', Harry in 'F' and me was in 'B'. That was good in a way 'cos we ended up making thrice the number of friends than we'd have if we were all clubbed together. And given we had representation from all streams in all sections, we had a good spread of friends from different disciplines.

Prom and I had classes mostly in the morning session (A-D sections) while Harry's classes started later (E-H sections), with a few exceptions.

It was the 2nd semester and I distinctly remember having classes later than the two of them on one day of the week; Engineering Drawing was the reason. On one such wonderful June afternoon, I started cycling back home after class. In no time, it started pouring and even in the shelter of a roadside tree, the rain was fierce enough for me to get drenched. After the rain subsided a bit, the homeward journey continued.

Amazingly enough, there wasn't a drop of rain near our house. So, when I showed up at the front door dripping wet, Prom and Harry thought I was nuts; they wouldn't believe that it was raining near the college. I was a victim of their butt of jokes for a while :-)

It so happened that I wore a sky blue checkered shirt that day. As luck would have it, more often than not, it'd rain on days I wore the shirt. If we were going out (mostly to a movie) and I wore the shirt, Prom wouldn't let me out of the house till I changed.

And no, I don't have that shirt any longer. Can't remember if it wore out or I gave it away to someone.

Mysooru Flashbacks 3: Pinto!

2008-03-10T19:50:00.000+05:30

Very early in our first year, Pinto would strike fear in all three of us. Pinto was our owner's Samoyed and still ranks as the most ferocious little dog I've ever encountered.

The count of the number of people it had bitten, we were told, was 12 when we first moved in. By the time we left 13 months later, the count had risen to 14; 13th victim was our owner's younger son, while our landlady was no 14! To this day, I am amazed at us having escaped its wrath, even if it were by a whisker sometimes.

We had strict orders to lock the gate in the nights. Normally, that was no big deal; but with Pinto around, it was an ordeal! The steps went like this:

One of us (the locker), with lock and key in hand would scour around to make sure Pinto wasn't in range
The other two would wait at the door, in position to close it as soon as the locker got back in
Rush out to the gate, lock making as little noise as possible, and run back
If 'cos of the sound of the gate, Pinto ran into range, locker would run back, hopefully having locked the gate by then
If the gate wasn't locked yet, repeat from step 1.

Over time, we got used to Pinto, and I guess Pinto got bored of us :-)

Prom was especially miffed from time to time with Pinto 'cos it'd be a herculean task getting visitors inside the house when our owners were out. To vent his frustration, Prom would sometimes get a few small pebbles and drop them from the first floor close to where Pinto was. The dumb dog would just run round and round trying to find where the sound and stone came from. This was Prom's recreation.

One particular lady hawker who'd peddle greens was the most angry with Pinto 'cos he'd never stop barking when she was anywhere close to the house. One fine day, she got what we call "chur-churke soppu" (don't know what its called in English though - but its a type of green that causes extensive itching when it comes in contact with the skin) and teased it close to the gate, just so Pinto could smell it. Poor dog, for the next couple of hours, it was rubbing its nose in the sand to get rid of the itch.

Wisdom...

2008-02-26T21:43:00.000+05:30

A quote I recently came across: A slave with 3 masters is a free man. I guess this is an old Chinese proverb. How true!

Unforgettable

2008-02-20T19:31:00.000+05:30

While living in Boston, my only link to Indian cinema and Bollywood, was a few hours of weekend Indian programming on a nondescript channel called AZN (thanks Comcast :-)). Apart from a few filmy shows that included extensive coverage of Bollywood stars visiting/shooting in the US, they also played a Hindi movie on Sundays. Two movies from then have lived in memory: Lakshya and Swades. I'd watched Lakshya in India earlier, but Swades was new. One of my friends who'd watched it in a cinema hall had commented that it was a glorified Doordarshan documentary, passed off as a semi-commercial movie.

But, I must admit, Swades is probably one of the best made Hindi movies I've seen. Luckily, it played twice on AZN and I was able to catch it both times. Earlier today, I came across this review/critique/defence which seems to incorporate a lot of the reasons why Swades is dear to me.

If you haven't seen it already, I'd suggest you do, just to be convinced that Shah Rukh Khan can surely act. He is marvellous in the movie... probably his best performance till date (better than even Chak De India in my opinion).

Word of the week - Interscapular

2008-02-19T21:28:00.000+05:30

Chances are, if you aren't a medical doctor, you'd not know what Interscapular means; it's a muscle. I'd not know either, given my ties with Biology came to an abrupt end after class 10.

But, given that this muscle is the cause of much of my grief in the past week, I couldn't ignore its presence any longer. I am currently recovering from a Interscapular muscle catch. I never imagined that such a catch would be this painful. Luckily, the doc confirmed I din't have any other back related ailment.

Amazing what one moment of stupdity can lead to!

Mysooru flashbacks 2: Welcoming 1996

2008-02-04T19:31:00.000+05:30

It was our first year at college. Just so we get used to the rigours of engineering, all the Internal Assessment tests (IATs) were held over weekends. Our BUDding therefore, din't start till the second year. (For the uninitiated, BUD stands for Bangalore-Up-and-Down). Bangalore trips were once a month or even rarer. The only means of entertainment were some cassettes Harry, Prom and I had at the time. Harry's collection were mostly new Hindi ones with a few Bappi-Mithunda era ones thrown in for good measure; Prom was the more western music savvy of the three (pre-1995, Delhi was already swinging to the tunes of Times FM); as to me, I had a small collection of old Hindi songs. The first tape I bought in Mysore though was DDLJ.

Prom had borrowed a socialist era National Panasonic tape(only) player (NPTP) from his Granny. That was what helped us retain sanity, apart from some gully cricket with neighbourhood boys. The NPTP would do its job admirably only if the tape being played was held in place with a 3kg iron box. Getting all this setup in place was an art the three of us mastered in no time.

IATs stared somtime in December, which meant we welcomed 1996 from the confines of our bachelorpad. For someone who (still) feels Jan 1 is just another day, it took some effort on the part of Harry and Prom to convince me to stay up. It was then, waiting for the clock to strike 12am, that I had tea for the first time in over a decade. Prom convinced me that tea was a sleep antidote. (I know he'll take credit for changing yet another of my habits.. I can picture you smiling as you read this buddy :-)).

About 11:30pm or so, disaster struck. The rubber band-like contraption that connects the capstan to the motor gave way. Prom challenged Harry and me saying we'd better fix the NPTP for we were studying to become Electronics Engineers. The tools we had were a screwdriver and a rubber band. We got to work, prying out star screws with a normal screwdriver... and time was also running out. Finally, we managed to use the low tension rubber band to fix the problem temporarily and welcomed 1996 with DDLJ playing at 12AM!

When this story reached Prom's uncle, he threw up a gauntlet... if all three of us managed a distinction in the First semester, he'd buy us a new tape player. And so we did and welcomed a spanking new BPL 2-in-1 to our abode.

Ball(er.. bath)room singers?

2008-02-03T18:51:00.000+05:30

The surfeit of 24x7 channels has put paid to what one would consider tasteful programming. Serials especially are no different from one another; all they need is a scheming vamp or a totally obnoxious villan (or both). There isn't one iota of good values... only details of how to pitch somebody elses downfall. (Baa, Bahu Aur Baby though is an exception). I'd so much prefer one episode shows like Numb3rs or Criminal Mind anyday.

Serials you can afford to ignore, but when some two cent singer on yet another "discovering the next big singing sensation" type program murders a classic, it is too much to take. (An absolutely appalling set of performances are being played out on a Kannada channel even as I write this). Come to think of it, I fail to understand how these contestants are chosen in the first place (It does, however, give *me* hope of someday being a participant! But hey, more than a few people have said I have a very good voice ;-)).

There are a few such shows that seem to be good though. Currently, I'd say Voice of India Chhote Ustaad (Star Plus) and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs (Zee) are truly good, the tragedy being their broadcast timings clash. My take is that the Hindi folks have a wider sample space to look for talent -- very few of the top contestants in these shows are native Hindi speakers.

Voice of Karnataka (ETV Kannada) will hopefully be a redeeming factor on the local front.

Mysooru flashbacks 1

2008-02-01T21:23:00.000+05:30

Mysooru has always been a dear place. With so many great moments to cherish from the four years spent there, no wonder I still look for excuses to go back there :-). (My long term wish is to settle down in that city!). So, it is no surprise that I drove down there last Monday to attend Guru's wedding.

It was probably the first time Amma came along for a day trip where we had time to spare. Simha was also there with his family. I took the opportunity to show them around the places that were graced by our presence during the days Harry, Proms and me sleepcycled on our journey to get a degree.

For starters, the choultry Guru got married was on the same street we (well, mostly Harry [thanks buddy!]) used to cycle down to the "Mess" to get "Sambar" during our first year. Two streets up was the place where we lived during the time. (Oh! who can forget those cold water baths during the chilly December mornings. We did have a tiny 2lt geyser to start with, but our owner thought it was more important to have hot water wash his posterior than us taking a hot water bath... so the geyser was relocated to.. you know where. But I digress).

Driving around the familiar streets brought back a lot of wonderful moments and quite a few stories associated with them. You'll read about a few of them in subsequent posts.

PS: Since the new road was laid, I've driven down multiple times. This was probably the first time I did not see an accident on the Mysore road, which is a good thing. What distresses me though is, just a fortnight ago, a distant relative passed away in a road accident on that very road, courtesy a drowsy driver.

Kudos, Mr.Khan

2008-01-15T19:48:00.000+05:30

If there is one movie for which I wouldn't mind standing in line to buy the DVD for, its Taare Zameen Par (TZP). What a movie! Only the most insensitive soul, completely devoid of emotion, will fail to be moved by this movie. It now goes on top of my favourites list. No wonder Aamir Khan is the toast of Bollywood at the moment.

Watershed

2008-01-06T12:11:00.000+05:30

This was a long time coming. I don't think anybody in that party had the nerve to state it out this loud and clear, but it does take the mask off the false facade, a farce that the party already is. They are one party that neither wants the responsibility (they never join the government, always "support" from the outside), nor will allow smooth functioning of the government they support. I'd club the Communists with the JD(S) as being the two entities most unworthy of trust in Indian polity.

Distressed

2007-12-14T11:46:00.000+05:30

Very annoyed at myself today. Am starting the customary year end vacation tonight and my health put a spanner in the works. Come night time, one nostril is like a washerless faucet and the other is like an M-Sealed duct. Doc prohibited any travel till I am a 100%

What that means is, I miss out on the next leg of the beach trek that's starting tonight. Luckily, I was able to find someone to go in my place; so I won't lose any money. BUT that is no substitute for the fun I am going to miss out on. DANG!

Anyways, have fun boys!

Match that, Baseball

2007-09-26T22:03:00.000+05:30

For anyone brought up on a staple diet of cricket, taking to baseball isn't that hard. It is reasonably faster than cricket, and once you get a hang of the rules, it isn't difficult to follow.

As luck would have it, I ended up spending the better part of a year near Boston. Anybody who has been anywhere close to Boston in the summer would vouch that its difficult to ignore baseball. So, there I was, just after the Red Sox had won their first World Series in 86 years and, I was hooked.

Cricket however is making a big comeback... I hate the comparison but as someone out there put it, if one-day cricket is like a pair of long trousers, baseball is knee length shorts. Now, you have the T20, which'd be... err.... a mini-skirt? (!)

If the T20 were introduced in the US (which isn't that far away, if this is to be believed), I have no doubts that it'll be a runaway success.

And, I wouldn't mind if the USA won the next edition of the T20 World Cup.... India still will be the first ever T20 Champions ;-)

Specs and Speculations

2007-09-10T20:21:00.000+05:30

Sometimes, its good to sit back and wonder at all the absurd conceptions you've had over time. When young, I always had this feeling that it is dangerous to allow people who wear spectacles for vision correction, to drive. My reasoning at the time was, "What is the guarantee that the specs makes the person see as well as we do".

After class 12, I found out that I had trouble reading boards, etc., from a distance. Further checks confirmed that I was not just myopic, but had myopic astigmatism. What it means is that a cylindrical lens is needed in addition to the (default) spherical lens, with their axes aligned at a particular angle (may be different for each eye), for me to see 20/20 (or 6/6 as they measure in India). Thankfully, regular usage of prescription glasses has ensured that my "power" in each eye, has increased all of -0.5, in over a decade.

My current workday involves about 33kms of driving. And, I no longer have a grouse on drivers with eye glasses.

The Pursuit...

2007-07-16T23:12:00.000+05:30

The Pursuit of Happyness is one of the best movies I've ever seen

Aakashavaani

2007-05-10T18:06:00.000+05:30

The old Murphy "valve" radio would play on, incessantly. We lived in a joint family and this radio was placed in the main "hall" (living room for yuppies). It had a strict schedule to keep. Bangalore, during those times, was privileged to have two radio stations (or should I say, channels) - people locally named one Aakashavani(AV) and the other as Vividh Bharati(VB) - both AM (no FM at the time). Chances were, if there wasn't a power cut (there weren't many cuts at the time), the radio would be on.

AV was (probably still is) where you tuned for the latest news and also to know the correct time :-). VB was the entertainment channel. Aunt and Grandma couldn't work if the radio wasn't on, or so it seemed. So, above all the talks, rants, railings, laughs, snores, the radio played on.

Mind you, this was before the time Bangalore got TV. If you wanted to listen to a different program than what the hall radio was playing, you better get to your room and use a smaller radio.

My Dad had his (relatively recent and smaller) Murphy radio. This is what introduced me to the 9PM news, invariably read by one Mr.Barun Haldar (I think I got the name right). Preceding this was the Hindi news... we never would get listen to it - you see, 8:30-9PM was when the big joint family would have dinner, together.

As you'd probably have guessed, the hall radio would be tuned to the station that played Kannada songs at that point in time. Unlike now, Kannada songs of that generation and before, were very melodious and invariably had excellent lyrics. (Aside: In the modern day, there is more shouting than song... alas. But there are exceptions.... Amruthavarshini, and more recently, some songs of Mungaaru MaLe have excellent lyrics).

So, why this post, and why now, you may ask.

Last weekend, I spent two idyllic days at my Aunt's place in Bellary. Aunt and cousins are still the types that prefer music over the ubiquitous saas-bahu serials. So, it was two days of music - this time, on TV. There were a lot of ear-jarring new songs, but interspersed were a few old gems. Sometimes, you tend to associate a song to a place and time in life....

.... and some songs that played took me back to when I was a kid listening to the hall radio.

Whats your motivator?

2007-05-08T18:04:00.000+05:30

I've had this habit for a long time now - I look forward to something exciting coming up. That keeps me going. Currently, its the road trip coming up next weekend (Yup! I am taking a full week off). This is going to be similar to the earlier one in December.

Over the years, there have been other examples to keep ourselves going (even when there aren't any exciting events in the short term); like we had this strange backtracking sorta algorithm. When we went to Mysore to study, it was the first time away from home for the two house-mates and I. We used to have this countdown that started with "48 months to go". And in no time, we had completed nearly 4 years in Mysore (well, the course took exactly 46 months).

This was even more effective during exams: time till start of semester holidays = the time from when we wrote xyz paper till now.

Try it... it works for me, it'll probably work for you.

Two Recommendations

2007-04-09T21:33:00.000+05:30

Last weekend was a lazy one. I mostly stayed at home. One of the two highlights was talking to Hari after a long time. It felt really good to catch up.

The other is that I watched quite a few movies both on TV and video. Bad Boys, Guru Shishyaru (once more), etc. But two movies I hadn't seen clearly took the cake....

Life is Beautiful (LiB) came highly recommended by many. I had caught glimpses when it played on Zee Studio (?), but watching it uninterrupted on video was a wonderful experience. This is one movie of hope and human struggle and triumph and optimism in the face of terrible adversity. Roberto Benigni is phenomenal as Guido. I still can remember him hopping on the tables to reach the stage at the Oscars to receive his Best Actor Award.

If LiB was known to be a good movie, Finding Forrester (FF) was an extremely pleasant surprise. Its not simple for someone to follow up an act like Good Will Hunting (which already was on my favorites list). But Gus Van Sant pulls it off in FF. Its about this sixteen year old black genious Jamal Wallace (played by Rob Brown), from the Bronx, and an old man, William Forrester (played by Sean Connery), who lives a secluded life in his apartment, peering from the window through his binoculars watching the inner-city kids play basketball. Its unusual that Forrester lives in the Bronx, given he is white, old and is never publicly seen. This movie is about their friendship. The movie highlights the travails an unusual genious undergoes (especially if he comes from the most unexpected of places, a Black township), integrity, honour and above all, life.

Both these movies now make it close to the top of my list of favorites. I'd highly recommend them if you haven't already watched them.

I'd also be interested in recos of such great movies....

Stage and chance encounters

2007-03-31T16:34:00.000+05:30

Jugaari Cross is a novel by Poorna Chandra Tejaswi (for those who din't know, he is Kuvempu's son). When my interest in Kannada literature was rekindled, Sripathi suggested to go "light" and this was a good starter. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

RangaShankara was host to the stage adaptation of Jugaari Cross a few months ago. For some reason, I couldn't make it at that time. But, it came back this Friday and I din't want to miss this second chance. When I pitched it to Sripathi, Bharata and Kulki, who all have extensive interest in Kannada literature, they were game, except that Kulki had to attend an important call late in the evening and had to drop out.

Given that all three of us had read the novel, it was interesting to observe the "artistic freedom" used in the stage adaptaion. The main incidents in the novel involve multiple terrain - a forest checkpost, an isolated milestone in a ramshackled village in the Western Ghats, a rickety bus, a busy elaichi market, a train, a tunnel, a bridge, etc. But, the play was very well done - including the two pieces that made up the frontal facade of the rickety bus. The interludes to jump sequences as well the musical backup was admirable.

It seemed more than a coincidence that both Sripathi and I, ran into classmates from Engineering. Parveen (remember him Hari?) apparantly is a regular and has had to go back more than once, 'cos the theater was "house full". That he lives at the other end of the city doesn't deter his interest. Sripathi ran into a friend of his, who is currently working on his own novel!

A melting pot

2007-02-11T19:21:00.000+05:30

The Darshinis in Bangalore contain a mini-world in themselves...

- The ubiquitous state government employees - the 2 by 3 coffee types - all discussions, bribe charges, gossip, transfer rates get discussed.
- The retired couple, whose children are settled abroad, having a "good life", while the parents are left to fend for themselves. You can normally tell them out from the others: they dress and act like they have a chip on their shoulders.
- The lower middle class family; its their "one day out in the month". The kids are excited, and want to have the most exotic dishes on offer. The parents are more subdued; the husband is clearly calculating costs even as he buys "coupons" from the counter.
- The middle class family, clearly tired of home food... its their day out to break the monotony.
- The yuppie gang. You can tell them apart 'cos they act as though English is the only language they know; they probably were born with expertise in that language.
- The neighbourhood "loafers gang" - its their hangout.
- The hardworking (but I can break all traffic rules!) auto driver - thinking about his fare back home; its on the other end of the city.
- The old man, trying to hide in a corner, lest someone he knows recognizes him there; you see, nobody knows he eats out there .
- The lady dressed too hep for the place, and is trying hard to feel out of place, but can't; you see, she likes the food too much.
- The "I am new to the city and studying" boys. I have the most sympathy for these types... I was one of them, sometime ago.
- The "I am new to the city and working" boys. They flaunt their new-found wealth, flashing their newest cellphones and stuff.
- The twenty-something guy who feels the glare inside the eatery is so high that his fake Ray Ban stays on even as he eats. Maybe, he likes his food brown, ... or grey?
- The day-scholar gang of girls, just back from a movie; these are the Scooty, Kinetic Honda types; why'd they want to miss another opportunity to blow their parent's money?
- The most common one: A nuclear family, husband, wife and a small kid. Its weekend and a holiday for the home kitchen!

This is just a sampling... I am sure there are other types?

The Genius!

2007-02-03T19:20:00.000+05:30

My introduction to K.S.Narasimhaswamy was when we were in the High School, through a poem in the Kannada text book, titled "BaLegaara Chennaiah". In the poem, a bangle vendor (BaLegaara), Chennaiah, describes, to the husband, the feelings of the wife, who is at her parent's place for the birth of her first child.

About 15 years later, I happened to find the Mysooru Mallige compilation in a music store. That CD has been playing in my car for almost a month to and from work. In some ways I've rediscovered the Genius that is KSN. The hallmark of KSN is his style of illustrating the most simple of human emotions (love), using the most simple words.

Some of the gems in the album include Sirigereya Neerinali, OndiruLu Kanasinali, Rayaru Bandaru Maavana Manege, Akki Aarisuvaaga, Ninnolumeindale, etc.

KSN is no more (he passed away on 28 December, 2003), but his songs are always going to be with us. If you are a fan of Kannada BhaavaGeethe, its time you grab a copy of the compilation. Also, Ranga Shankara occasionally runs a play based on Mysooru Mallige. I missed its run last month, but that is on my list of plays to see.

Road trip 1: Of peanut brains and excavators

2007-01-12T13:32:00.000+05:30

So, it had to finally happen - people get to know that I can predict the future! It happened at the most unlikely of places, on the apology for a road between Hampi and Hospet.

After that eventful day, I was driving Madhu's car back to Hospet, so we could fill gas and head towards Koodala Sangama. That Hampi is one of the few World Heritage Sites in India isn't a good enough reason for the Government to improve the (only?) approach road to Hampi. The road, though not potholed for a change, is too small and passes through crowded villages and a railway level crossing.

Its not unusual to find a train of vehicles, all at the same speed, on this road. The reason is simple - its not easy to overtake arbitrarily, for want of sufficient asphalt so you can go around.

It so happens that I overtook this guy driving a Versa in one of the decent stretches of road. This was enough to tick the guy off. Accept it, an Versa is no competition for an Accent on a decent road. That the car wasn't mine was reason enough to drive it more cautiously than normal. That was the time I predicted that this guy was going to be in touble.

We get to the level crossing and it so happens that its been a long time since we had a chance to wonder at a passing train (remember the time you'd wave your hands at a level crossing, expecting someone on-board to respond?). There was already quite a few vehicles in front and I promptly parked the car in the existing single file.

The Versa guy's peanut of a brain had a brilliant idea: why not go around all these morons waiting single file? So he did, but only so far as to get rightin front of me, again ;-)

Now his target was the guy in front.. but what he failed to realize was that a land excavator got in, between our car and his. In his eagerness to overtake another hapless driver, his peanut of a brain din't signal early enough that there was an oncoming vehicle; so, our guy breaks.

Unluckily for him, the excavator is driven by another clown who was more enamoured by the surrounding shops than the road in front. So, he promptly ploughs into the Versa in front. Result? Two deep dinks on the back of the ungainly looking car! But luckily the clown stopped early enough and the Versa din't get excavated.

For the next five minutes, the road is blocked - you see, the versa is right in the middle of the road with the peanut brain and clown fighting. Luckily for us, a traffic police constable is at hand and diffuses the situation by accompanying the clown and the peanut brained guy to the police station, and we were off looking for a Reliance petrol bunk for the next leg of our journey.

Another Road Trip

2006-12-29T14:39:00.000+05:30

5 dudes, 5 days, 1463 kms in 1 car driving around the place they call "One State, Many Worlds" - my state, Karnataka.

Places visited: Chitradurga, Chandravalli, Tunga Bhadra Dam, Hampi, Koodala Sangama, Aihole, Pattadakal, Badami, Jenu Kallu Gudda, Magod Falls, Yana, Sonda, Jog Falls.

Here is a small sampling of the photos I took. More later at the usual place.

Roads? Great in some stretches, good in few others, needs repair in some sectors - notably, portions of NH13 between Chitradurga and Hospet, the Bijapur-Hubli stretch, the Yellapur-Sirsi stretch, Shimoga-Tarikere stretch. The good news is most of these roads are already under repair.

All in all, a wonderful and memorable trip. Our antics to find overnight accomodation is a big story in itself :-)

If you are planning for such a trip, you won't regret it.

PS: The car was an (almost new) Hyundai Accent. Cost per head (all inclusive) came to approximately Rs.2440. Very reasonable by any yardstick!

What a waste...

2006-10-30T22:03:00.000+05:30

So, India lost, again. No surprise. What is amusing however, is that we Indians still watch them play. They never learn to win consistantly, we never unlearn the habit of watching them lose.

However, there was a wonderful escape from the trashing Ponting and Martyn were handing out. Zee Studio was playing Music of the Heart. What a wonderful movie! If you haven't seen it yet, keep a lookout on Zee Studio for a rerun, or better still, go rent the DVD. Its worth the money. If you had any doubts about Meryl Streep being one of the greatest ever actors, this movie will lay it to rest.

Need a place to hide my face

2006-10-29T12:17:00.000+05:30

One fine working day, a friend at office says, "I am taking a week off for Diwali, lots of travelling to do, relatives to meet".

I say, "Lucky you! You atleast get to go to new places to meet relatives. All I have to do, is start on the ring-road, take deviations every so many kms, and in the end, I'd have visited all my relatives".

He asks, "So, how many states have you seen in India?"

"Karnataka for sure. All the rest are the South Indian states, and I haven't seen them extensively"

He says, "Hehe, my son has seen 5 states"

"Hmm"

And nonchalantly, he adds, "My son is 5 months old"

Dang! what a fantastic put down! Guess I have to actively seek to see more of India, especially the North.

Hobbies

2006-10-18T21:45:00.000+05:30

Over the last few years, I've been meaning to pick up a serious (!!??) hobby. I thought music would be a good pastime, but then came the dilemma whether it should be vocal or instrumental; if instrumental, what instrument?

The good thing for you folks is, it does look like I won't be troubling you with my music ;-)

Over the last few weekends however, I attended a course on Basics in Still Photography. The result of this course is that the dial on my Rebel isn't moving from "M" for the forseeable future. (For the photographically challanged, it means you set the aperture, shutter speed and even the ISO).

Here are a couple of samples...

Is this my calling? Only time will tell. But I hope to put the best of efforts to hone my skills.

Quote of the day

2006-10-05T21:38:00.000+05:30

I heard this saying for the first time today "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig". For some reason I found this a wonderful analogy to describe certain things that you feel strongly (averse?) about.

Apparantly, this isn't a new saying.... atleast in Wyoming.

Entertainers

2006-10-04T17:22:00.000+05:30

Some people sure know how to entertain. Take for example an interview I was watching the other day. Here is a rough transcribe:

Interviewer (Ir): BTW, you are probably the first actor to have contributed a new word to the English dictionary.
Interviewee (Ie): Really? Which word is that?
Ir: Jiggy
Ie: Wow! They put that in?
Ir: Yeah
Ie: Wow! Now, I've to look up what it really means... 'cos I have absolutely NO IDEA what it means!!!

You may have already guessed who this person is.... yes, Will Smith. Robin Williams is another such entertainer.... there sure are many more.... inputs?

Sorry for the inconvenience

2006-09-04T21:31:00.001+05:30

At my workplace, the facilities folks are extremely courteous, atleast with their written notices in the general areas of the office. An example of such a notice is "This lift is under repair". A common thing about such notices is that they use the same template - the company name on the header and the disclaimer "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience" in the footer.

Then you have: "Please don't use paper napkins to dry wet palms, use the dryer instead. Conserve paper." err.. and waste electricity?

Finally, this happens: "We are happy to inform you that a microwave owen and a refrigerator have been installed in the main pantry on your floor" and the footer, as always, reads "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience" !!!

Hmm....

Have you ever wondered?

2006-08-29T22:42:00.000+05:30

Say, you are travelling by the city bus. You got in at the terminus and were lucky enough to find a seat. As the bus rolls on, more people get on and soon enough, the bus is choc-a-bloc with people. Have you ever wondered who'd have taken your seat if you weren't on the bus?

Wierd train of thought, but its happened to me multiple times. Sounds familiar?

Thank You

2006-08-28T21:38:00.000+05:30

Remember Gol Maal? Yes, its the movie that featured Amol Palekar in a "double" role trying to outwit Utpal Chatterjee. Remember Namak Haram, Anari, Anupama, Chupke Chupke, Sadma, Mili, Abhimaan, Khoobsurat, Bawarchi... the list goes on. All these movies have one thing in common... the director.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee is no more.

Hrishida is, (according to me) the greatest Indian filmmaker. His greatness stems from one single attribute of his movies - his stories were about the common man. Many of his movies din't have a "superstar" 'cos the power of the script and narrative were such that the audience din't need one. If you asked a Hindi movie buff to list his all-time favorite movies, chances are you'll find a few movies directed by Hrishida.

Filmmakers become immortal if they make one great movie. But, here is a person who made dozens of great movies. Without knowing, Hrishida gave me lots of wonderful gifts in the form of his movies.....

Perhaps his greatest gift to me is Anand, my all-time favourite movie.

Thank You Hrishida.

Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye
Saanjh ki Dulhan Badan Churaye
Chupke se Aaye

Mere Khayalon ke Aangan Mein
Koi Sapnon ke Deep Jalayen
Deep Jalayen

Decisions II

2006-08-14T20:37:00.000+05:30

So, I finally made my decision sometime back (I had to, we work on deadlines, you see :) If nothing, it did show that I have some great friends who can be approached and be sure that they'll give you their piece of mind and not some sugar-coated advise. Thanks folks!

That said, I am mostly certain that the final decision is the right one.

Decisions, decisions

2006-08-09T23:00:00.000+05:30

Sometimes I think how awesome it'd be if we are perpetually in primary school, no pressures, no great expectations, not so much of an ambition to speak of. But, if life was only so simple...

Today is one of those decision days. Nothing earth shattering, but I've bought myself a day to sleep over it. Lets see how it pans out....

Whats a good newspaper

2006-06-29T19:19:00.000+05:30

Sripathi writes about the consolidation in the local newspaper industry. Here are my two cents....

Disclaimer: Depending on who you ask, the following suggestion can differ. As the heading of this blog states, these are my views.

Firstly, I consider TOI a tabloid, not a newspaper. Second, DH is a good local newspaper, but not good enough. The Hindu is something I don't recommend, for, at the time I was reading it regularly, it seemed to be overtly focussed on a neighbouring state.

Anyone who has known my preferences in this matter, will know that my choice would be The New Indian Express. It has been the pioneer in investigative journalism, unearthing most of the controversial stories from the Harshad Mehta scam to the Office of Profit controversy. Its editorials are excellent too. I'd choose TNIE any day and twice on Sunday.... by far, it has the best Sunday newspaper compilation of all competition.

The one grouse I have with TNIE is that once in a while, good cultural info (such as an ad about a Jagjit Singh concert) won't appear in this newspaper... the organizers prefer to advertise in the more "hep" newspapers.

I'd suggest Sripathi, give TNIE a try for a couple of weeks before settling on DH, if you still want to.

Brands...

2006-06-17T10:11:00.000+05:30

Some companies come to be associated with their products to such an extent that after a while, people tend to refer to the product by the company name. This is great for publicity, but it has its own preils :-)

Xerox is a classic example. Just recall the number of times you've heard the phrase "Xerox it". Does it mean to say Xerox is the only company manufacturing photocopiers? Certainly not! We have Canon, Nashua, Ricoh and many others.

Imagine your neighbourhood photocopier store has a non-Xerox machine thats always under repair. What would the people say? "Xerox is not working" "Xerox is under repair" "That Xerox machine is always having one or the other problem". Poor Xerox. Thats the price you pay for being a pioneer.

Similarly, if you speak to someone who works for a certain three lettered company, he'd say he uses a TP, not a laptop or a notebook ;-)

But one company that I think hasn't gotten its due for the innovations they've done is 3M. From "Post-it", "Scotch Brite", to anti-glare computer screens, cord retractors, to name a few. Of course, people associate the sticky piece of paper as Post-it even though other companies now manufacture it (Kores for instance), but you'll never hear anyone say 3M-Post-it.

While in the US, its not uncommon to hear people ask you to "FedEx" or "UPS" them a package.

There surely are many other such associations out there. Anyone?

Innocence of kids

2006-06-01T18:12:00.000+05:30

Children never sieze to amuse and entertain you. My niece Taati (I call her that, her name is Swathi) is no exception. On days when she is bored, she strolls into our house and the conversation goes something like this:

Taati: "Ajji, Ananthu mama bandiddana?"
Mom: "Roomalli iddane... yaake?"
Taati: "Swalpa avnjote fighting aadbeku"

... and in the next 15 minutes, I am beaten to pulp ;-)

A few days back she came down to play with my sister.

Taati: "Ani, baare aata aadaNa"
Sister: "Nammaneli yenu aata aadakke illvalla"
Taati: "Hogli bidu, hinge tirgo aata aadaNa"

After about 15 rounds...

Taati: "Ani, swalpa ire"
Sister: "Yake?"
Taati: "Mane tirgad nintmele tirga shuru maadana"

Collaboration

2006-05-30T16:07:00.000+05:30

A few days back, we were required to attend a presentation by one of the company's top executives at the banquet hall of a hotel pretty close to office. We decided that the weather was perfect for a refreshing evening walk, especially since we were being provided with mouth-watering snacks at the hotel.

The snacks were great and the presentation, excellent (for a change!). We walk out only to see that it was pouring incessantly. We waited for 10 minutes for it to subside, but to no avail. Thats when Sripathi came up with a gem of an idea for collaboration.

Just find a stranger who has a car and hand him this proposition:

You have the car and we have the people - now, lets collaborate so you drive us to the office.

Road trip experiences

2006-05-24T19:02:00.000+05:30

I know its a bit too late to write this, given its almost 3 weeks since the Coorg trip. Nonetheless, it was extremely enjoyable. Unwinding once in a while is something I'd recommend to everyone. Me? I've decided to take a week off every 4 months -- that makes it 3 weeks/year (see - I know my math :-) and preferably go somewhere atleast for part of the week.

It took some (18 months?) planning so the four of us -- Anitha, Madhu, Yogesh and I synchronized our time off from work. We then decided to drive down to Coorg. Given Madhu's Accent was new, and we couldn't do > 80kmph consistently (the engine was yet to run-in - it'd done just about 200kms), we decided to go by my car.

All in all, we did about 882kms in 4 days. The Bangalore-Mysore road is a breeze, except of course for some ubiquitous morons, who, for the love of their life don't understand the concept of a double road, where all vehicles on one side of the road drive in the same direction! These people typically are from villages surrounding the highway, who'd rather risk their life than take a mile or so detour to the next median. Whats more, these duds come to the right side of your road with headlights on. Oh, and there was another middle aged moron who, near Wonder-La, decided that he could conveniently take a U turn without even looking if there was any vehicle on the other side. Me and another car had to literally screech our brakes so as to avoid hitting this ****head. That he had about 7 people in his Santro is another matter. I said a silent prayer for their lives.

The road was good in parts between Mysore and Madikeri. There is good amount of work going on beyond Hunsur towards Kushalnagar. Give it about 6 months and the drive to Madikeri should be a more enjoyable experience.

NagarahoLe is worth a visit. Since we were put up in Madikeri, we took the Madikeri-Virajpet-Gonikoppal-Ponnampet-Gundya route. There is a small deviation just before Gundya towards NagarahoLe. I've seen some bad "highways" but very few can beat the Ponnampet-Gundya road. Its about 30kms of unadulterated torture to you, your passengers and of course, your car. Since I had to get the car serviced after getting back, I made it a point to get the wheel alignment redone.

Driving in the ghats of Coorg is an exciting experience. I hadn't driven in ghats all that much (except for one occasion when Simha and I drove from Manipal to Dharmasthala in sheeting rain). I must say, given the terrain and the ghats, drivers in Coorg are way more well behaved when in comes to "right of way" rules and sticking to their own side of the road. For someone who is used to driving in the insane Bangalore traffic, this was a welcome change.

All in all, it was 4 days very well spent. Pictures are at the usual place.

Update: Factual error in the above post - replace all references to Gundya with Kutta. Sorry Gundya ;-)

Happy for you, Bahadur

2006-04-26T20:21:00.000+05:30

Now y'all may be wondering who Bahadur is...

My uncle's neighbours have a really BIG house. Except for a small servant's quarter, the ground floor is all for car parking - and they have 4 of them. In that servant quarter lives a genial Nepali by name Bahadur. He is the house watchman. Heck, he is the watchman for all surrounding houses too. See, my uncle is lucky, he gets free service ;-) - well, not that free. When the neighbours are not in station, my aunt serves Bahadur's bfst, food, coffee ....

Bahadur is a genial chap, in his late 40s early 50s (haven't asked, my guess). As soon as I stop the car in front of my uncle's place, he is promptly at the gate saying "Shalam Shaab" in his inimitable style.

Since Feb this year, Bahadur was a very happy man. After all, he was leaving on April 11 to visit his family in Nepal after a gap of 4 years! He'd make it a point to remind everyone how many days were left before he started home. Of course, his employer paid for the trip (by train).

But, when I met my uncle last Sunday, I got to know that Bahadur had indeed left for Nepal, only to be stopped at the border for the last 8-9 days, 'cos of the unrest in his country. I felt really sorry for him - wait four years to see your family and get only as far as the border :(

Luckily for him, the King of Nepal regained senses just in time. I hope Bahadur is now happily reunited with his family. I also wish his employer extends his leave for the duration of the wait at the border.

Loss

2006-04-16T12:00:00.000+05:30

Dr.Rajkumar's death, sad as it is, threw up some interesting responses. My sister works for an MNC. Invariably, her colleagues at their partner labs found out the reason for the Thursday off and, one of them sent a group mail expressing "Deep sorrow at your loss".

Dr.Raj, I am one of those who grew up watching you, your movies, old and new. May your soul Rest in Peace.

Oh, and Sripathi, I am not surprised at what TOI did. People who want news, read The New Indian Express or The Hindu.

Woes

2006-04-02T22:02:00.000+05:30

Its time for yet another onset of the geek disease. I went fishing for more related information. As usual, wikipedia was the starting point (WebMD is another great resource I refer to). From the info on the sinusitis main page, I diagnosed my ailment as frontal sinusitis. One of the opthalmologists I consulted during one of the more severe attacks said "Its mostly due to your crooked nose". Damn, this is a manufacturing defect!

That isn't my only ailment. I am astigmatic too :-(

Sometimes I wonder, are people with eyesight problems handicapped? Here is another interesting fact: 44% of Japanese suffer from myopia.. so, is half of Japan handicapped?

The last few weeks/months have been especially hectic. Yesterday was the last date for the OLS paper submission. Our paper has a total of 5 authors and one of them aptly categorized the experience as one of "herding cats".

One thing is for sure... this is going to be the norm henceforth and it calls for better time management. In the name of being busy, I am guilty of a few things... not having enough time for my hobby. My biggest regret however is not spending time with friends. Its been a few months since Hari and I spoke at lesiure. Then there used to be the "office gang" which has since broken due to various reasons. Whenever I think of this, I am reminded of Sid's profound dialogue from Dil Chahta Hai.

This has to be remedied. Hopefully, Seema's initiative for the program next weekend is a start.

The mundane...

2006-03-09T19:52:00.000+05:30

I've been too erratic of late, when it comes to updating this blog. I won't feign being busy and give that as a reason (but yes, work and other personal stuff do keep me busy). That is no excuse for not blogging.

Of late, a bunch of us geeks, to whom "performance gain" till recently would mean how many CPU cycles we shaved off of a particular kernel routine, have started taking interest in learning about performance gain of a different kind. Some of the folks at office religiously track NAVs of mutual funds, etc. Corridor discussions during lunch and work breaks invariably are about stocks, mutual funds, retirement plans, real-estate and the like. If you asked my friend Harry, who has just finished his PGSM (Congrats buddy!) to put it in MBAspeak, he'd probably say - "It is the normal process wherein the resources are broadening their skill base by extending their core competency to leverage modern avenues of financial gain."

BTW, I'll be visiting my alma mater this weekend on a work related trip. It sure willto be a nostalgic trip.

Finally, check this one out....

I haven't been able to do justice to my hobby. Hopefully, that'll change. That said, I have already drawn up a wishlist for the Canada trip later in the year: A flash for the Rebel, a macro mode lens, a spare battery pack...

Sit up and take notice

2006-02-19T19:38:00.000+05:30

Its well known that I have had more than my fair share of experience in and with hospitals early in life. Just this weekend, after a gap of many years, I had to accompany a close relative to an upscale hospital. Apparently, healthcare costs in private institutions has now come to compete with those abroad. What scared me most is the nonchalance when reeling out the "approximate" costs for an angioplasty "package".

Folks, just a headsup, quality healthcare comes at a BIG cost. Make sure you have insured yourself and more importantly, your elders. And, make sure you can mobilize a good amount of money in quick time for any medical emergency.

The coming of age...

2006-01-27T12:00:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a day of firsts:
- First time ever that I heard to Carnatic classical music for 5 hours straight
- First time ever (in India) that I saw a movie on the day of release
- First time ever that I got the tickets booked for it online

Now folks, I know most of you swear by Dil Chahta Hai. I am a big fan of Farhan Akthar. In some ways, I think Lakshya din't see the success it deserves. But, Farhan's experiments have have had one great effect on Indian cinema - you now have younger directors daring to make movies different from the stereotypical Yash Chopra/Karan Johar genre feel-goody movies. Its now time to add Rakyesh Mehra to the Farhan school of movie making. (Aks is now on my "must watch" list)

Yes, I am talking of Rang De Basanti. Any details of the story would be doing injustice to the movie (though there would be people who'd probably have already written online reviews, in great depth, giving away the complete plot, which is a pity). DON'T READ the reviews. Go see the movie for yourself. Take my word - you'll not regret it.

Given the storyline, its no wonder that there was so much opposition from various quarters, political or otherwise, before its release.

Its one of the very few slick Indian movies that has a taut screenplay, thought provoking dialogues and you can possibly relate characters in the movie to someone you know - a friend, childhood chum or even, the person next to you. One could argue though that if it were left to you, the ending could've been different. Nonetheless, a GREAT movie.

A delayed resolution

2006-01-26T11:26:00.000+05:30

Anyone who knows me also knows I am not one to make resolutions. But, consistent feedback from people I care to listen, indicate that there are some qualities they'd like to see change. One of them is being too forthright - the "Here is what I think, I don't give a damn what you think of me saying it" attitude.

I confess to being a "spade is a spade" caller, and yes, there have been occasions when I've bit my tongue after having said something. Its one of those spur of the moment reactions. I am now going to try consciously to change all of that.

One must understand that whatever I've said have always been without malice. I know for a fact that the people who gave the feedback realize it being the case.

Bah! Enough of resolution "design" - now to get down to "implementation" ;-)

Diffusing the Time Bomb

2005-12-30T11:54:00.000+05:30

Chinmay has made a thoughtful post about the current social reality in our city. I'll try here to put down my thoughts on the subject.

There is no question that all is not well with how the current liberalization is going on. It has created two classes of people who, we'll for the purpose of this post, classify as the "Haves" and "Have-Nots". I make this distinction since its not just the IT yuppies that are raking in the big bucks; I know of independent business-people who, in their late 20s/early 30s are making the kinds of money running conventional industries (the Peenya/Rajajinagar Industrial area types) that the yuppies can just dream of.

But Chinmay, I am afraid its all a part of the country's growing up process. While on assignment in the US, I lived in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Lowell, MA (I lived so far away from downtown Lowell that you could as well classify that I lived in Tewksbury, the next town!). Lowell was a very important industrial town in New England during the 19th and most part of the 20th century. It had some sort of importance till as recently as the early 1980s when Wang Laboratories was still in business. But, it is today one of the most run-down towns with a mostly lower middle class population.

Today, the median family income in Lowell is about $45k. Compare that with Westford, a town 10 miles away where my office was located, where the median family income is about $105k! All this chasm between towns 16kms apart. I highlight the distance here 'cos 16kms is no big deal in Bangalore either (I commute that distance to office). And yes, though the price of a house in Lowell is considerably lower than that in Westford, its still not in direct proportion to the income levels.

Coming next to equality, I think it is a fundamentally flawed concept and it stinks of Socialism. In the current Indian political context, the focus of socialists is to bring down the Haves to the same level as the Have-Nots, not the other way round, thus having the society at the lowest common denominator. Marxism/communism is a worse scum. Its too wedded to the status quo of a world that is stuck 50 years in the past. Communists neither do the right thing, nor do they allow others to do the right thing.

In my view, a start towards finding a solution to bridge the chasm is better education for all.

Its never too late to start, however, there (sadly) is a class/generation of people who have "missed the bus". Honestly, I don't know what can be done in that regard. But, punishing the people who can have a better quality of life just in the name of equality is just not acceptable.

Time out thoughts

2005-12-28T18:10:00.000+05:30

After a gap of almost three and a half years I've taken a week off from work. My friends tell me its not something to be proud of. But now, I intend to take such time-outs more frequently in the future. The last time (which was, in fact, my first week off from work), our "gang" went to Ooty, Coonoor and surrounding places (including Bullshit falls!). This time though, I am stuck @ home, mostly intentionally. (I must add, most people in that "gang" are now busy with other pursuits.. no offense guys ;-)

Some more time-out facts:
- I haven't connected to office since last Friday. (Its now 6:20PM Wednesday).
- I don't miss the Bangalore traffic... Honest!
- I finished reading my FIRST Kannada novel - Nayi Neralu by S.L.Byrappa (book courtesy Sripathi). I am impressed with my Kannada reading speed. Given that its been 12+ years since having seriously studied/read Kannada (which is a pity :-( ), it'll surely improve over time.

On a different vein, it looks as though the Bangalore Traffic Police are to enforce the "tinted window" rule starting Jan 15, 2006. So, all you folks with tinted car windows (me included), be sure to get the film removed or replaced with "legal" films (A legal tint AFAIK, is one which has 70% transparency from the outside).

As is evident, there is no dearth of "rules" in our country, its just the enforcement that's lacking. Another rule that should be enforced is the "working" brake lights one; if properly enforced, this is sure to bring down the number of rear-ending traffic accidents by orders of magnitude. Anybody who has ridden/driven a vehicle will vouch that its that much harder to gauge that the vehicle in front (especially a big one, such as a bus/van) is slowing down or braking if its brake lights aren't functioning. The irony is, there is another "rule" that supposedly states that in case of collision from behind, its always the fault of the vehicle at the back... Go figure.

Now, authorities are quick to quote "Rule 100 of the Motor Vehicle Act states...", but I am yet to see a hard-copy, let alone an online version of the Indian Driver's manual (Dunno if its even called that). If anyone knows where its available (preferably online), do drop me a note.

After a looong time

2005-12-26T19:28:00.000+05:30

We have a thoroughly enjoyable Kannada movie! Yes, you heard it right. I happened to watch Rama Shama Bhama over the weekend. Ramesh, one of my favorite actors, has donned the director's hat for the first time. With a top notch cast, taut screenplay and witty dialogues, the movie is a great example of how to make a good family entertainer.

I am however not too impressed with the songs. Yes, not all movies can have the quality of the older Kannada songs or of a Ramachari/Amruthavarshini/Nammora Mandaara Hoove of recent times, but I'd have expected better from a Ramesh movie. In recent times, you need to listen _carefully_ to the song for a couple of minutes to actually confirm that its indeed a Kannada song - what a pity when you consider the evergreen hits like "Moodala maneya muthina", "Ee sundara BeLadingLa", "BaaLondu Bhaavageethe" et al.

I was pleasantly surprised that the 1st class (balcony) tickets were sold out hours before the show and about 40% of the audience were kids. Proof enough that you can have hit Kannada movie without resorting to any gimmicks as the 8 week embargo.

I'd recommend you go watch the movie - its worth every paise. Oh! one word of caution though... Be ready to laugh your guts out. Kamal Hassan is ABSOULTELY HILARIOUS. Its also commendable that Kamal has dubbed for the movie in chaste HubaLLi Kannada, which by itself is a treat to watch and listen.

Great job Ramesh... Keep it up!

Jogi is another movie that people have recommended. I'll try watch it sometime soon.

Boondocks and Broadband

2005-12-21T19:47:00.000+05:30

Hurray! The boondocks now have broadband. Most people who read this blog will know the reference ;-)

No wonder I've been updating this blog once a month. Since getting back home, I haven't had access to Internet outside of work (From the beginning, I've been clear about *not* using the office network to update blogs). But with a broadband connection at home (courtesy BSNL), expect more frequent posts.

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of service of BSNL as also the knowledge of the person who came home last weekend to "install" the ADSL modem. So, Sripathi, its not just Air India's customer support thats gotten better; count BSNL in that list.

Guess whats common between BSNL and AI, apart from the fact that they are Government owned? Both are facing stiff competition from private players. Now, that is one recipe to get the lethargic Government departments to wake up to realities of modern world. They have no choice but to compete at the same level or else go out of business.

In that context, I am sad to state HMT and ITI will probably mean nothing to future generations.

Bye Manju

2005-11-22T20:23:00.000+05:30

Manju (aka Machan) a batchmate of mine from SJCE was killed by some morons over the weekend. Though I did not know Manju very well personally, I was privy to many of his performances during Jaciana. Manju died in the line of duty - a martyr in his own right, trying to make our country a better place. His sacrifice is no less than that of a soldier dying in the frontline fighting for the country.

May His Soul Rest In Peace

Power hungry

2005-10-22T18:26:00.000+05:30

Some people want all the power... they still live in the la-la wonderland of yesteryears, which, alas, is quite far from reality. That, is indeed the case with a beloved(??) former Prime Minister.

Undisputed fact: The IT revolution in India happened in spite of the government, not because of it. The hands off attitude of some of our former Heads of State did help. And hence, you now have an industry, where the criteria for an individual's success is his ability and not what caste he is born into or what language he speaks. But, whats good for Peter, isn't good for Paul. That is exactly what has happened now.

This former PM is now trying to instigate a battle, which I think (and hope), he'll lose. What he hasn't realized is that he is not attacking one person, but the whole knowledge community, which tries to mind its own business and also lives (mostly) by principles. Check Shekar Gupta's article for more reasons. What makes the episode worse is this guy is trying to give the episode a political dimension - again, a sick thing to do. Why can't any battle be fought on principles?

That is exactly what Mr. Narayana Murthy has now done. He has provided a point to point rebuttal of accusations against him. I am sure, any reasonable person would agree - you won't get a more upright, principle driven person than Mr. NRN.

I hope people who are following this episode, will not be put off by the happenings. I hope they judge the worth of the knowledge community in India by its actions and not by some old politician's brain fart.

Damn Socialists

Thought Lags and Amnesia

2005-10-17T00:12:00.000+05:30

Here is a (late) realization - I suffer from a mild case of amnesia.

Most of the thoughts about what I want to write about, crystallize about 5 minutes after I switch off the light, close my eyes in anticipation of a good night's sleep. I think of the topic, make mental notes and decide to put it down the next day.

However, there are a few problems:

In most cases, I don't remember the said topic the next day
I don't seem to find the time (yes, its a lame excuse) to write the thoughts down

I can think of a few other problems too:

My thought process is too haphazard. I switch topics too frequently - even in the head. I am sure my friends may have noticed this during our conversations
Somehow, pages from my brain's RAM doesn't get sync'ed with the persistant storage. I blame it on:

"limited capacity" of the persistant storage

the other well known fact - I am dumb

Here is where my Palm Treo comes into play. I started making notes on the Treo just as the thoughts occur. That, is how technology works for me :)

How successful will this be? Only time will tell.

PS: I want to make this blog more interactive. Expect posts in the future which'll request your opinions on various topics. But hey, why not start off with this post itself? Am I the only person suffering from the kind of amnesia described above? Do write back...

More on RTI

2005-10-15T19:21:00.000+05:30

Check the article here

The RTI Act

2005-10-14T04:27:00.000+05:30

In case you haven't noticed, the Honourable President of India ratified the Right to Information Act, which has now come into force (since 12 October 2005 to be precise). According to this law, we Indians now have the right to demand access to most information (except of course, sensitive ones), which till now, was technically "off limits". The hope is to make public servants more accountable.

Anybody who knows the extent corruption in India will appreciate the ramifications of this Law, if properly enforced. Passing the Law is just the first step; the critical issue is to educate the masses of their new Right. Here is where I think the role of organizations like Janaagraha, BATF comes into focus. I also hope that the youth of the country take it upon themselves to try eradicate the rabid corruption that has percolated every facet of Government and public service in the country. I'll have to check with my buddy Chinmay if the Rotract have plans to spread the word about this as part of their great voluntary work.

You may ask why I am making this big a deal about the new Right. My experiences in the days following the retrieval of my stolen bike has left a bad taste about law enforcement (both the police and judiciary). I am yet to accept that these agencies, along with the other obviously corrupt Government departments and politicians (most of them) are any good to the country.

Of course, the expectation is that the enforcers of the RTI Act are upright officers. Guess the world lives on Hope.

Bangalorebuzz

2005-10-08T08:07:00.000+05:30

I've been following bangalorebuzz for a few days now. Its just an aggregation of all news Bangalore from the various sources.

A must read for any hard-core Bangalorean.

Sad...

2005-10-06T02:44:00.000+05:30

Some days are etched in memory for ever. Yesterday was one such.

It started off not so well 'cos of a feverish feeling that had been persisting since Sunday. The sinus problems din't help either. I gathered myself up and headed to the office through the unusually dense New England morning fog. I open up the inbox to find news of, perhaps one of the most significant achievements of my professional career. Just as I was reading the mail, my spirits soaring, I get a call from my sister. And thats when I got the devastating news that my beloved Kavu Ajji (my granny - mom's mom) passed away. She was 85, getting weaker by the day. The last I saw her was in February just before the assignment.

Ajji lived with us for quite some time.. up until couple of years ago. She was a pillar of strength to our family during the difficult times. I'll miss her wisdom, her inimitable style of cheering people up. I miss the "very happy" (yes, in English) that she'd have said when I'd mention to her about the mail. I'll just miss her. Thank you Ajji for everything.

May Her Soul Rest In Peace

Later in the day, my good friend Prarit gave us news of the potentially fatal accident he was involved in on Monday. As he was driving home that day along I-495N, two cars in front of him veered to avoid a tyre that slid on to the road from the back of a truck that was going in front. Before he could realize, the tyre smashed against Prarit's Bug, leading the vehicle over the tyre, spinning a full circle before coming to a stop. Luckily for Prarit, the gentleman driving a semi behind him braked hard, just in time to avoid crashing in from behind. I am happy that except for a hard jolt and minor backache, Prarit is doing fine! That his Bug was totalled and may not be worth the repair, is all but a small price to pay.

Tense days in Red Sox Nation

2005-10-02T02:32:00.000+05:30

Baseball, as I have mentioned many times before, is a religion in New England. The Red Sox had gone without silverware for 86 years till 2004, something they partly blamed the Yankees for (Check out the Curse of the Bambino for an interesting read).

The current state of the MLB, 1 game to go in the regular season, is something like what we have with cricket during the World Cup. Imagine 3 teams are tied on points, tied on net run rate too. That was pretty much what it was yesterday, before the start of a 3 game series between the Sox and Yanks. After 2 games its 1-1. But here is the irony, with today's win, the Yankees took the American League East title (since the Cleveland Indians are 2-0 down at home against the Chicago White Sox). All this at the home of the Red Sox. Result: the Yankees are in the playoffs, the Sox.. not yet. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.

Now, if the Red Sox win tomorrow, they are into the playoffs on a "wild card". If you are confused by all this, don't worry, you are not alone ;-) But do hope that the Red Sox to win tomorrow.

Tickets for any Sox-Yankees game is always a big deal. A $40 ticket is going for upwards of $400. There was talk of someone paying $2050 for two tickets ($1025 apiece!!). To top it all, selling tickets in "black" isn't illegal here - there are no regulations/tabs over prices.

Check this out!

2005-09-25T06:47:00.000+05:30

Courtesy Google Earth.

Its just awesome that such technologies are becoming so widely used. ABC is using Google Earth to give its viewers a perspective of whats happening with Hurricane Rita.

Mt. Washington

2005-09-25T05:24:00.000+05:30

After extensive planning, Ram, Anand, Anand's mother and I drove up New Hampshire to Mt.Washington. It is the highest peak in New England.

Believe it or not, the temperature on top doesn't go beyond 55F any day during a normal year. It is also infamous as being the place with the "worst weather in the world". But, today was absolutely magnificient. It was (just) 37F (abt 3C) on top, perfectly clear with visibility of 110 miles (or so we were told). Even the moon was visible at 1pm. World's fastet land-recorded wind-speed of 231mph (372kmph) was recorded here... no wonder the old weather office building is chained, lest its blown off.

All in all, a perfectly enjoyable trip.

Who is Anath?

2005-09-20T04:28:00.000+05:30

There is something unique about my name, or so it seems. Most people find it hard to spell it right. I've now lost count of the number of times a 'n' is missed and its _always_ the second 'n'... so, you have Anath.

For those who don't understand Indian languages that are Sanskrit descent, Anath => orphan.

And no, I am not offended by the wrong spelling, though I'd hope people paid a little more attention while writing/typing in my name.

This....

2005-09-20T04:13:00.000+05:30

is MIT. Notice how Massachussetts and Institute are spelt. Seems the reason for 'v' is a Latin affectation.

News and views

2005-09-16T07:22:00.000+05:30

The one thing that strikes most people from outside the US is the world news, or rather, the lack of it. Yes, there are a number of very famous news organizations and television channels - CNN, Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC and the like. But all of them are just US centric. To most "common" people, the world is America, because they are not exposed to information from other places on planet Earth. My feeling is, a vast majority of Americans are taken aback when they see the growing importance of China or India in the current world order. The simple reason is most people are simply not "aware" of China or India.

Take for instance the World Summit currently on at the United Nations. My main sources of what is going on there, are (believe it or not) online Indian newspaper editions and the good old www.rediff.com. You could similarly argue that we Indians tend to read too much into any minor favourable statement made about our growing "power". But I am pleased to say, we are not as short-sighted when it comes to worldly knowledge.

Oh, and the other thing that there is no dearth of in the media here is gossip. If you are channel surfing between 7 and 8 in the evening, you'll find the "Entertainment" news on most channels, and chances are you could be a Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan or Tara Reid or Jessica Simpson or Britney Spears expert in no time.

No wonder some of my colleagues at office are so adamant about *not* watching TV, except to catch the live sports action. Most people suggest the Washington Post as the best source of unbiased information. I am not convinced though that even they give world news a fair coverage.

Finally, check this picture I took at Fenway Park during the Red Sox vs Anaheim Angels game on 6 September.

Back at work

2005-09-09T02:42:00.000+05:30

After a fun filled week, I am back at work. It had been a while since I had taken such a long (5 days to be precise) time off from work. Had a great time with Murali and Sripathi, seeing famous places, driving through the countryside, etc.

Some sample pictures...

More later at the usual place...

Katrina and contraflow

2005-08-29T03:20:00.000+05:30

I am watching the news as I write this - Hurricane Katrina is expected to hit New Orleans, a port city 70% of which is supposed to be below sea level. If the current projections turn out to be true, Katrina will be the second most intense hurricane in American history. The windspeeds are currently 165mph and is a category 5 storm. Katrina made its first landfall in Florida and continued north northwest and this is the second landfall. From that time to now, it has gained enormous momentum.

The city of New Orleans is under 'mandatory evacuation'. And I am just trying to fathom how the evacuation has progressed smoothly. All freeways leading to the city have been closed since yesterday. Traffic is now being allowed in the same direction on both sides of the freeway. That for you, is contra-flow.

The US is an epitome on efficiency, when it comes to handling natural disasters, basically because of the pre- and post-mortem that has been done (for ages now) on each of these occurances. California is earthquake prone, midwest is tornado prone, New England and northern midwest is snowstorm prone and southeast is hurricane prone. I just dread to think of how we'd cope, if this were the case in India.

The aftermath of such hurricanes tends to stretch far inland, typically bringing in heavy rains. Fingers crossed for the long roadtrip coming up... More importantly, I hope the damage is less than anticipated, and there aren't any loss of lives.

Baseball and language

2005-08-23T06:39:00.000+05:30

Baseball is a unique sport. It is the favourite pastime of the "Red Sox Nation". And its popularity has attracted professionals from far (Japan) and near (Latin America). As with other American sports, there is a high level of specialization in baseball too. You have a pitching coach, batting coach, a first base coach and of course the overall team coach. Likewise, there is an umpire at the home plate and the other bases. Any Major League Baseball (MLB) aspirant has to start young, working his way from junior leagues to university teams, to minor league to the MLB.

You may be thinking why I am ranting about baseball, but this is the background to the main theme of this post.

Sometime back, during a Little League game at Methuen, a town northeast of Lowell, my temporary home base, the first base umpire's "English only on the diamond" order roused a big controversy. The batter and his coach, emigrants from Dominican Republic spoke only Spanish and no English. Later it was found that no baseball rule mandated "English only communication" and the Little League umpire was promptly suspended.

This brought up the question in the media: Is it ok to be in the US and not know English? Is Spanish only sufficient? These questions are still open and obviously, as in any such matter, there are people on both sides of the debate. The primary argument though is, Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the US and this is the "Land of the Free" and so, people should be free to decide their language of communication.

Before proceeding, I'd like to put few things on record:
- I am not a fanatic
- The intention is not to impose my thoughts on others
- This is my point of view, and as always, others are entitled to their's

One of Bangalore's claims to fame is that its a truly "cosmopolitan" city. The exponential growth of the city's importance in the world stage is thanks largely to the world class companies IT and other fields, that have made it their base. Of course, the demand for "thought" workers meant that bright folks from all over the country flocked to this "Garden City". With the diverse set of people came diverse cultural practices, liftstyles, and, languages.

I am extremely happy to note, despite its infrastructure hiccups, Bangalore is well on its way to being one of the most important R&D centers in the world. Five years ago, when I visited the US for the first time, people mistook me to be from anywhere from Bangladesh, to the hypothetical Banglacor... not any more. The name Bangalore now stikes most people here involved in software, though not always in a favourable way (if you understand what I mean :-)

However, I am extremely sad on another, more subtle front - the ignorance of some (read 'most') "emigrants to Bangalore" towards the local culture and more importantly the local language. The common refrain I hear is: "Why should I learn Kannada?" "Kannada is of no _use_ to me, so why learn it" "Bangalore? You can live there for decades without speaking a word in Kannada, no worries".

It is not so much learning the language to be proficient in it, but atleast making an attempt. It saddens me no end that very few people even think of making an attempt. I sometimes tend to think that the friendly and accomodative nature of the "locals" is working against the language and culture to some extent.

My sincere appeal to such people: Please atleast make an attempt to learn the language and understand the local culture. It may not be "necessary", but it will definitely go a long way in being a true Bangalorean.

American "Football"

2005-08-21T00:14:00.000+05:30

Dustin was back in Boston for a few days and was looking for someone to accompany him to a pre-season New England Patriots practice game against the New Orleans Saints, his home team. I volunteered just for the heck of seeing a live game.

Seeing a game live still din't convince my why anybody would call it "Football". The ball (which, incidentally, isn't round - its more like the one they use for rugby), is kicked maybe only once every five minutes. To me, football is soccer. Again, to each his own, I guess.

But the game itself was very enjoyable. Also, I got to see supposedly two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL - Tom Brady and Doug Flutie. The crowd was very vocal with cheers and jeers and some choiciest New England style abuses :-) I took the hour's drive time to educate myself about the game with a printout of the wiki page. What amazed me is the level of specialization they've brought into the game. Seems about 53 different players are involved form each side during the game - there is a different "kicking team", "offensive team" and a "defensive team". The game is a lot stop and go at best, lacking the silky flow of soccer.

The Pacific Northwest

2005-08-15T02:48:00.000+05:30

Whew! After a whirlwind week-long work related tour of the Pacific northwest, I am now back to my temporary home base. All I can say about the northwest is that it is one of the most naturally endowed areas in the world. An hour to the west from Portland takes you to the Pacific Ocean shores, an hour to the north and you will be staring at an active volcano, an hour to the east and you are in a nature belt that is as green as it can get and, I was told that if you continue east for a half hour on I-84, you'll get to an area as barren as it can get. More in subsequent posts.

These...
are samples of pictures I've managed to shoot. Wait for more about the trip.

Roses!

2005-08-15T02:39:00.000+05:30

Proof I am a post-2005 material - Most people who read this blog would understand what this is about ;-)

Barometers of progress

2005-08-06T00:51:00.000+05:30

One of the primary barometers of a country's progress is how easy it is to get from one place to another in the country. It could be by road, rail or even air.

Take Germany for instance. They have excellent Autobahn and as also a good rail network. You may argue that Germany is a small country, compared to, say India or the US. But that takes nothing away from the modern marvels the Germans have created.

Its the same with the road infrastructure in the US, freeways and all. All you need to do is go to Google Maps or Mapquest and type in the Start and End addresses, and viola, you get a complete map of the route and distance breakups too. Just as an example, check out this route I take to office.

I have hope for India too! A lot hinges on the Golden Quadrilateral. I hope the politicians raise above their petty bickerings and ensure that this and many such projects proceed smoothly, irrespective of what Government is in power at the Center. Call it utopia... but I am an optimist.

Oh and I just read that work on the Bangalore International Airport has finally started. Yay!

Give this blog a direction?

2005-08-05T07:07:00.000+05:30

This morning, Girish in his inimtable style, let me know that I should start focusing my writing on one theme or experiences out here.

Here are some random threads I am thinking of:

- There is something to learn from the people you meet, places you visit
- Living in a different country makes you appreciate your country and culture more than you'd do normally

If there is something you'd like me to write about, please do let me know. I'll atleast try :-)

And, this is my current wishlist:

- A telephoto lens to go with the (basic) EF-S on the Rebel
- Bose Acoustimass 5

Blogging circle :-)

2005-08-02T19:15:00.000+05:30

Sripathi also has a blog now :-) Welcome! I must say, he has a great sense of humour.
Now, I must adhere to the tradition of macro photography. So here is my attempt. This was taken at Plainsboro's Audubon Trail.

Boston and other stories

2005-08-02T05:41:00.000+05:30

Last saturday, Ram's brother and cousin drove up from NJ. We drove down to Boston for some sightseeing. Though I've been here for almost 5 months now, I never had visited Boston at leisure (still on my TODO list). We visited MIT - the pinnacle of Engineering institutes. Just being there, walking the corridors, is an overwhelming experience. Photos coming soon.

We planned on doing the Freedom Trail but it was almost 5pm by the time we got to Boston Common. So, we just walked down part of the trail - the old City Hall, Kings Chapel, Quincy Market. I am surely going to do the full trail sometime soon.

Things were going to plan till this point.

Later that day, we planned on having dinner at the Udupi Bhavan in Lowell. We reached just in time to be told that they closed for the day. Next door is a "Desi" store. Instead of going back home and cooking, we thought of buying some RTEs. The store lights switched off just as we reached the door :-(

So, we wandered down to a Chinese/Vietnamese/Cambodian/Thai (basically an all in one) place down the street and got some stuff "to go".

Just when we thought things could not go any worse, the power went off as soon as we got home. To top it off, the tofu "spring rolls" we ordered we just "raw" rolls, not fried.

Oh well, just the perks of living in a foreign country.

Off to .ca tomorrow

2005-07-18T06:08:00.000+05:30

One of the perks working for an IT company is that you get to visit a number of places/countries. Just finished packing for the week long trip to .ca - been looking forward to it for a looong time. The OLS is a sorta pilgrimage for Linux kernel hackers. Conferences are places you finally get to place a face to a name. I can think of atleast four people who I've been working with for the past few years, but this will be the first f2f with them. And of course, there are a number of great talks that happen too.

There will be a bunch of people from back home... Vatsa, Vivek, Dipankar, Dino, Maneesh, Suparna. Can't wait to catch up with them about happenings there.

Hey, check out a bunch of pics from Chicago. If you don't know the password, take a guess :-) In any case, you know who to ask!