Bobberies

Dan Brown Series

2009-11-21T14:59:00.008-05:00

The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, The Lost Symbol....having run through (yes! literally, as you cannot keep these books down once you have started!) all of these Dan Brown's "history-mystery" thrillers, it feels like there is not even a fine line between fact and fiction. Atleast that's the way Dan Brown lays them down.

While you are digesting the historical facts, you never realize when you walk into the fictitious land. When you are convinced that it is a cleverly crafted fiction designed to be an "edge-of-the-seat" thriller and top the charts of the best selling books, National Geographic and History channel point out the numerous facts in them. Then you go back to digesting the sometimes shocking facts that mankind lives with.

Unfortunately, it turns that there are multiple versions of history. Not one. The best sold is the most accepted.

Wondering if there was a way to put all of history onto a SAP system, so there is a single version of truth!!**!!

Swine Flu & American Germophobia

2009-05-15T16:34:00.003-04:00

I agree that being wealthy gives you the luxury of worrying over things that otherwise might not be on top of the list. I also agree that cleanliness is not a luxury but a basic essential to a healthy life. But is it not taken way too seriously in the US, to the point of being obsessive about the microbes that could possibly thrive on your kitchen door knob?

A recent case in point is the swine flu mania that gripped the nation or perhaps the whole world. The world was concerned but the US was crazed. The whole media was clamoring about sanitizing every inch of your body every second of the day. They were talking about travelers being a high risk category. Come on!! I fly every week. But I could hardly feel anything was wrong except when I watched the frenzied media.

Talk of bottled water!! It’s consumed in billions of bottles a year even after it’s been scientifically proved that bottled water has no significant edge over tap water when it comes to harmful germs that they may contain.

Aren’t we killing our natural immunity in the process, in addition to being inflicted by a sickness called “germophobia?” While being cautious, I also like to believe in the natural recuperative powers that we may have.

Anyways I should reveal that watching the “germophobic” folks certainly provide a comic relief in these stressed times.

Connecting the ....dots.........

2008-02-04T11:12:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs speaks.

Pop-Pop steam boat project

2007-07-13T17:57:00.000-04:00

Pop-pop steam boats have always caught my attention as a kid. Not surprisingly I found out that they continue to do so. Mechanics, motion, water dynamics, electricity and magnetism have been my personal favorites. Probably that’s the reason I chose Engineering as my profession. Now I do a tangentially-off stuff for my livelihood is an altogether different topic. Recently a discovery channel documentary on boats suddenly reminded me of my interest in “Pop-pop boats”. And I set out to make one myself.

A simple putt-putt boat needs a steam boiler, a candle and a toy boat to hold them. First I tried making a steam boiler myself using coke cans. All my attempts were futile as I didn’t have enough tools like soldering rods, silicone-caulking compound etc. So I simply bought just the boilers which look like in the picture above. My boat being a slightly bigger one, called for a twin steam boiler to propel it.Also in the pic is an oil burner that I made using a coke can.

The next task was to build a boat. A little googling gave me the idea that an empty milk box would be the best bet, as its waterproof and can easily be cut and folded to shape. Here’s how my pop-pop boat looks after completion of painting and installation of the steam boilers. The super glues you get in Dollar stores are sufficient enough to make the joints in boat water-proof.

Take a look at the video of my pop-pop boat exploring a bath tub…..…..

The So-Hi sojourn.

2007-07-10T18:33:00.000-04:00

A camp trip after a longtime came as welcome break from the daily grind.
Communing with nature once in a while has always infused a sense of revival in me. I seem to find no words to describe how it felt every time. Plus this being the first camping trip with my family made it sort of more special…….

The So-Hi campground, about 2 hours drive from NYC, nestled in the foothills of Catskill mountains is picturesque and remote-enough to make you feel that you are out of the NYC life. But the streams and ponds that the camp-ground website talks about are in reality, gutters and puddles. Nevertheless the place was beautiful and the campsite officials were nice & helpful.

India: points to ponder....

2007-05-01T14:46:00.000-04:00

Time and again I keep coming across these group emails extolling the greatness of India and Indians. Like x-singh did this first 3 centuries ago, y-Rao invented that blah-blah before westeners stopped roaming in nude, z-Chathurvedi dreamt of achieving this first( and sadly is still dreaming!!) etc etc.

No doubt, a handful of great Indian minds, from past till now, have contributed to some huge human achievements. Around a million bright Indian minds are currently fuelling the IT world. Trade reforms in the past decade have put us on a decent growth curve. Are these enough to start thinking that we can become the next super-power ? Sadly not. Read the following CNN article; India the Superpower? Think again . The facts there in are the points to chew and digest. Less to my liking, however, is relentless way western media portrays India, as a country of snake-charmers, superstitions, maharajas and hunger.

After two centuries of being pillaged by the British,we have certainly come a long way. With a billion mouths to feed, the super power status might be atleast half a century away. But it certainly is possible, I feel.

My favs amongst Aristotle quotes

2007-04-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

Evil brings men together.

We are what we repeatedly do.

NYC tour

2007-04-18T13:33:00.000-04:00

Though I have been near NYC for over an year and a half, I never got a chance to explore the city, with the exception of a couple of night club visits. A bunch of friends visiting from Louisiana finally catalyzed my much awaited NYC tour. Armed with Newyork passes, which promises free entry at over fifty tourist attractions in NYC, we had chalked out a plan to visit Statue of Liberty, Empire state building and Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. Even that turned out to be asking for too much, given the long queues and security check points at each place. But the New York pass certainly did its part by saving us from the long queues for buying the entry passes.

On an unusually sunny day (in December ’06) we started with the ferry ride, from Battery Park on the southern most tip of Manhattan Island, to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island The Clinton Castle, a circular fortress built in 1811 to defend the NY harbor, from where we boarded the ferry, later led me on an interesting read of NYC history in wikipedia. Sky ride, a simulated helicopter ride over Manhattan, at the Empire state building with narration in the backdrop by Kevin Bacon was the highlight. The finale, dinner at "namba ooru" Saravana Bhavan on Lex avenue – 28th street was a fitting reward for famished crowd after a long-tiring day.

Henry Ford on Re-incarnation

2007-04-14T12:27:00.000-04:00

It's mere coincidence that a friend and I were talking about "Re-incarnation" and around the same period I was reading about Henry Ford out of sheer curiosity. I found Henry Ford's view on "Re-incarnation" more appealing than what religion has to offer about it!!

Henry Ford: "I adopted the theory of Reincarnation when I was twenty six. Religion offered nothing to the point. Even work could not give me complete satisfaction. Work is futile if we cannot utilise the experience we collect in one life in the next. When I discovered Reincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan I realised that there was a chance to work out my ideas. Time was no longer limited. I was no longer a slave to the hands of the clock. Genius is experience. Some seem to think that it is a gift or talent, but it is the fruit of long experience in many lives. Some are older souls than others, and so they know more. The discovery of Reincarnation put my mind at ease. If you preserve a record of this conversation, write it so that it puts men’s minds at ease. I would like to communicate to others the calmness that the long view of life gives to us."

DC trip

2007-04-11T19:28:00.000-04:00

After browsing over the internet for good, economical and not-too-far (hard to have all of them together) cabin accommodations around NYC, we decided to change the theme of vacation to “sight-seeing city trip”. Boston and Washington DC were the names that sprang up immediately on our minds. A week later we were on the road to DC. Bright and sunny weather laced with mesmerizing music by “Robert Miles” ensured the five-hour drive was pleasant.

One thing markedly different about DC is the dominance of classical European style architecture. Later I learnt that Thomas Jefferson introduced this style to the US. The DC weather, around this time of the year, makes it conducive for tour-by-walk, providing all the time you might need to appreciate the beauty of the numerous beautiful buildings. If you find more beggers on the streets than other US cities, don’t be surprised; it’s the capital of the capitalism. A stroll in the national mall by the day and through George town by night speak volumes about the city and its culture. One thing I would have loved was the “segway” tour of the National mall. DC metro experience is a far cleaner one, if you have been on NYC subways.

The lover of art, culture and history that I am, I would have loved to visit all the museums there. But time forced me onto only the National museum of natural history. I wouldn’t say it’s a must-see unless you are a kid or a taxidermist. The various animals preserved through taxidermy are worth a quick glimpse. If Jurassic park ever caught your attention, then try the dinosaur fossil exhibits.

On the first night of our stay in DC, we tried Ethiopian cuisine at the Zed's in George town area and without a doubt that was the highlight of the trip. The moment we entered the restaurant, the strong onion and garlic smell struck some known chords. I was least prepared for what was to come. The traditional bread of Ethiopia is “Injera,” and it tastes just like… guess what?... Tamilnadu’s dosa or “appam” to be more precise!! And when you have that with the spicy non-vegetarian side dishes, you get a feel of “chettinadu” cuisine. Vegetarians!! Don’t shy away, you have a lot of choice out there too! If you ever get a chance, don’t miss Ethiopian food !!

The second day, we visited Udvar-Hazy Center of the Air and Space Museum near Washington Dulles International Airport. My recently cultivated interest in aviation history drove me to it. I was rewarded with the sight of one of the “Wright Flyers,” a bi-plane flown by Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, NC, in 1903. Among other spectacular exhibits, it houses space shuttle “Enterprise”, the Enola Gay (the B29 that dropped the first atomic bomb) and an SR-71 Blackbird ( it’s feast to your eyes).

The Cherry blossom splendor around Potomac River Park can really take your breath away. Understandably the cherry blossom trees were a gift of “city of Tokyo” to the “city of DC”. Its looks like the shores of the lake had been white washed and splashed with lavender. It certainly is worth a look.

Overall the DC trip was a big relief away from the Big Apple!! And a special thanks to the sweet couple who accomodated us!

My Nemo

2007-03-23T17:36:00.000-04:00

The lil Nemo that I have been nurturing for the past one year....(click to view video)

From Atlas Shrugged

2006-12-22T19:03:00.001-05:00

Intelligence ?? It is such a rare, precarious spark that flashes for a moment somewhere among men, and vanishes. One cannot tell its nature, or its future....or its death...

Mini India...on a lighter vein

2006-12-15T15:45:00.000-05:00

If you have a longing to go to India, but your job has been keeping you back. Don’t lose heart !! The Indian Government has not forgotten us. They put up consulates across the globe and sent cultural ambassadors to run the “Indian Show” there. The officials there may vary in shape and color, but unequivocally carry the quintessential “desi flavor”. And to complete the show, they certainly need Desi audience. And that’s where we come in.

Now, what got me on this plane of thought? I was told to get a document attested in front of an Indian consulate official here in US. I tried to ward off the trip by talking to them over phone and get things done by mail. But the damn voice-guided menu on the consulate helpline would dodge me for a while and finally say “for more information please visit our website at blah blah blah”. What the heck?!? Who should I tell that I got the helpline number from that website!*!!*!! And that put me on a small regaling trip to Indian Embassy in New York.

All the way to consulate, I kept savoring and admiring whatever NYC is famous for. The multi-hued, fast-paced life, dazzling hoardings of skinny models, high-end fashion stops, ornate churches amidst linear skyscrapers, cycle cabs, systematic way life & business is channelized, horse-drawn carriages, hawkers selling hot dogs & shish kebabs etc etc never cease to enthrall me. Anyways NYC needs a separate blog post. So without digressing, let me get back to what I started with.

I walk up to a building on the 5th avenue. You don’t need any landmark to identify the place. The noisy desi crowd that throngs the place is enough indicator. No!! They don’t have security screening before you enter the building. They trust on us not to carry inhibitions or semblances of civil behavior. There is a front desk, but there’s more crowd on the other side of the desk that you would invariably end up asking a visitor and end up getting a sneered at. Non-desi visitors get their first welcome-shock here. Because the token tab dispenser has never worked, there’s a guy hired to distribute them. The authentic Indian ambience inside seems to have been brought out in an effortless manner. After all what does take to keep a place unclean!! No Indian place can be complete without the master piece. Dirty-noisy-usha ceiling fans. For a moment I thought I was in the railway reservation counter of Kolkata.

Why talk of the place when its people who make the place. So I flushed the inanimate objects off my radar and loaded instead the population around. It indeed was mini India, with representation from all over the country. Of course the cacophony was the highlight as people were continuously jostling in the queue while they could have stood still till their turn at the counter. Typical scenes that you can witness anytime of any day here are something like Mr. Sivaramkrishnan Balasubramaniam explaining his eligibility based on clause no. 78.53.8.1a of the US immigration act of the year 1992 to the poorly trained official at counter, or Mr. Adhbuth Pandey sparing no efforts and words while he jumps people in the queue to reach the counter faster. Amidst this Mr. Jalagalajalagala Srinivas has “loudly” conferenced 25 cousins and 50 friends, all from Godavari district, to finalize a strategy as to how to answer the questions at the counter. Incidentally, the names of all the 75 people he called were Srinivas !!! As the chaos continued, most people in the room seemed to have mysteriously got in their hands the visiting card of Mr. Akash Mehta, an exporter of dollor-perfumes from Surat, who incidentally was standing in one of the 7 queues in the hall. Only thing missing was samosa, peanut and tea vendors inside. Karunakara Kutty ! Are you listening ?

Bronx Zoo

2006-07-05T16:54:00.000-04:00

After some futile efforts at planning a camping-cum-rafting trip for the July 4 long weekend, I took off tangentially and happened to visit, on a sweltering hot day, the famed Bronx Zoo, NYC.

Nestled in the midst of the bustling uptown Manhattan, Bronx Zoo, for sure is a place to visit with family. It's not too big. A lil effort at working out the logistics with the map of the zoo, the skyfari ride, the Asian monorail loop and the shuttle should do good in the covering all the attractions in a day.

A feel of capitalism

2006-06-30T19:11:00.000-04:00

Seeing Hyderabad, India, after a gap of nearly 4 years, had certainly unsettled me for a while. Cell phones and credit cards are distributed like pamphlets. The next-door grocery stores are vanishing as super markets are coming in. The American pizza and burger stores are not only burgeoning, but also crowded to the hilt. Educated Indian youngsters no longer see waiting tables as lowly jobs. They are now proud to be a part of some global chain. The most striking sight was of hordes of people in proper formal attire, sporting company ID cards around their necks. Is this all just visible signs of a booming economy backed by a now-vibrant software industry ? Many shades of a single idea flooded me instantly: invasion of capitalism, taking on an additional identity of belonging to some global conglomerate, smelling success, a desire to be westernized, so on and so forth. Whatever be it, I only hope we consume it sparingly.

While I am talking of Hyderabad, I cannot deny similar developments in other parts of India. It's just that it's the only place I was in all the time while in India.

Dropping Knowledge

2006-06-28T15:44:00.000-04:00

I bumped into this interesting site droppingknowledge.org, an open-source platform where the people across the globe can ask and answer quetions on subjects of their interests from pool of 25000 interconnected issues. Its worth spending a couple minutes on questions people have in their minds. Something as fundamental as "Why do educated women choose not to have children?", "why do men go to wars?", "Why me?" etc.

All of us have questions and no time to ask them, forget discussing and finding solutions. The least we could do is ask a question and let some learned men think about them.

Quotes from "The monk who sold his ferrari"

2006-06-02T16:09:00.000-04:00

Here are couple of quotes from the book that caught my attention;

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

“Worry drains the mind much of it power and, sooner or later, it injures the soul”

“There are no absolutes”

“Luck is the marriage of preparation with opportunity”

“Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue. And it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.”

The best, of course, is the one by Bernanrd Shaw that goes like....

"Life is no brief candle for me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations."

Rituals of Radiant living by Robin S. Sharma

2006-05-27T07:45:00.000-04:00

Here are the ten rituals of radiant living that Robin says, in his book "The monk who sold his Ferrari", should be practiced everyday;

1) Practice brief periods of solitude to recharge your batteries
2) Exercise. Practice yoga.
3) Eat vegetables and fruits.
4) Read and expand your knowledge.
5) Take time for personal reflection.
6) Awake early.
7) Listen to music
8) Repeat Mantras within yourself.
9) Build a congruent character – “You sow a thought, you reap an action. Reap an action, you sow a habit. Sow a habit, you reap a character. Sow a character, you reap your destiny.”
10) Lead a simple life.

And keep in mind that according to the Ancient rule of 21 , if you do anything for 21 days in a row, it will be installed as a habit.

So, baddies! what do you got now ? 10 new habits to cultivate in 21 days ??

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

2006-05-27T07:35:00.000-04:00

It was in the times when I was reading about “Deluxe Moksha” offered by the new-age religious tourism promoters in the form of helicopter rides to the cave shrines of Bhadrinath-Kedarnath, and private havelis and poojari’s on the banks of Ganges at Haridwar for the salvation of the rich, that I also read this book called “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin S. Sharma. And the stark contrast between the easy-snazzy route and the hard-disciplined way to enlightment came to the fore.

While the former as a part of the “Incredible India” campaign peddle Indian spirituality with contemporary sops like spas, yoga, cyber cafes, gym etc, Robin’s book packages traditional Indian recipe for success and happiness, which needs a lot of dedication and self-discipline. Most of what Robin has to say is already known to us, but which we rarely follow.

The book talks of seven virtues for an enlightened living, and here’s what I extracted of each of them;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mastering your mind – Mind is like a garden. Cultivate it through meditation. Relentlessly and painstakingly replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts.

Follow your Dharma – Clearly define your personal, professional and spiritual goals, and have the courage to act on them.

Improve your body, mind and soul constantly through Kaizen – Follow the 10 rituals of radiant living.

Live with discipline – Will power is the essence of fully actualized life.

Respect your time

Selflessly serve others – Practice daily acts of kindness. Cultivate richer relationships.

Embrace the present – Don’t be a captive of past. Live your children’s childhood.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn’t particularly like Robin’s style of writing. At best, the book is just a good consolidation of age old Indian rituals and their effectiveness.

Quotes from the book "Ubiquity"

2006-05-24T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here are few interesting quotes from the book "ubiquity". Unlike the quotes on love, romance, office, men, women etc that we normally get through our yahoo/google groups, these are quotes on science & history;

“History is the science of things which are never repeated.”

“To trace something back to something known is alleviating, soothing, gratifying and gives moreover a feeling of power. Danger, disquiet, anxiety attend the unknown – the first instinct is to eliminate these distressing states. First principle: any explanation is better than none…..”

“A science is any discipline in which a fool of this generation can go beyond the point reached by the genius of the last generation.”

“Time is what prevents everything from happening all at once”

“All truth is simple – is that not a compound lie?”
“Basic research is like shooting an arrow into the air and, where it lands, painting a target.”

“The purpose of models is not to fit the data, but to sharpen the questions.”

“The capacity to get free is nothing: the capacity to be free, that is the task.”

“Eventually, everything we currently believe will be revised. What we believe, then, is necessarily untrue."

Ubiquity

2006-05-24T09:47:00.000-04:00

That’s a book by Mark Buchanan that I recently read. Though the book promised to be an interesting one, something like “The brief history of time”, it turned out to be a drag. Or so I felt because of the author’s, often, lengthy scientific deliberations. But what else could one expect from a Science writer. The ideas in the book are thought provoking, though.

As the title “ubiquity” suggests, the book dwells on certain laws of physics and mathematics that can explain, at the same time, events of diverse non-equilibrium systems like earthquakes, money markets, epidemics, forest fires, wars and revolutions. The illustrations drawn up to explain the commonalities between these seemingly varied phenomenons are down to earth and make sense. I especially liked the “pile of grains” game that has been used to explain how and why a simple incident triggered the First World War.

It answers questions like if history is repetitive, and if wars and revolutions occur cyclically. Why certain wars have more casualties than the others? Why certain cities are bigger than the others? One interesting thing that I learned from the book is that of the fractal pattern embedded into almost everything that humans know of. For example for every earth quake of intensity, say, 10, there are four earth quakes of intensity 5, and for every quake of intensity 5, there are four of intensity 2.5. The shapes of tributaries when blown up, represent, roughly the whole river. Basically, it seems, there is self-similarity in everything from geographical features to biological phenomena. So, if you have seen the small picture, you can faultlessly picture the big one. Interesting, isn’t it?

Quotes in the book are interesting. Shall post them later……

Views from atop my home

2006-04-29T04:53:00.000-04:00

That's the magnificent Golconda fort shot at dusk from atop my home. This pic seems to reiterate the old saying "Old order changeth yielding place to new." The fort which once boasted of acoustic implements that enabled security guards at the fort’s main gate to clap and intimate the men at the top about the happenings at the base, is now dwarfed and pushed to the background by a modern cell phone tower.

The pic you see below is of the famous Qutub Shahi tombs, built for the Nizam rulers of erstwhile Hyderabad.

Trip down a memory lane

2006-04-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

That Lord Balaji (popularly known as visa devudu) of Chilkur, a village around 25 kms off Hyderabad, had fulfilled most of what I had prayed for, it was pay-back time. And so, I set off at 12 noon to the Chilkur temple on my Suzuki Samurai, knowing very well what lay ahead.

First off, I was still getting back to driving on the left side of the road. Next, as no satellite captures the coordinates of such remote parts, you have to rely on age old methods like stopping by the roadside tea shops to get driving directions. I was a bit surprised that nothing enroute had changed, and that the faint images of Golkonda fort, AP police academy, Engineering colleges that are perennially under construction and the beautiful stretch of gulmohar-tree lined road were enough to lead me to the temple. So it was truly a trip down a memory lane than an act of Google maps or map quest!!

The abode of visa devudu was the same, except that it bore signs of not being able to escape the clutches of commercialization. The task of going around the temple 540 times (pradakshinas) was no easy thing for me, given the merciless heat, the scalding floors and the crowd. Managed only a part of it and may be I have to go 3 or 4 days in a row to complete it. This time around, I noticed that they issue cards that look something like cricket score cards, on which you record the number of pradakshinas you have finished!!!

For the love of art....

2006-04-21T12:27:00.000-04:00

Perhaps the Capricorn in me goaded me to start another blog www.desi-art.blogspot.com. Check it out !!

The wheel of fashion

2006-04-18T03:57:00.000-04:00

One thing that never stops is the wheel of fashion. The bell-bottoms, the likes of which Rajnikant and Chiranjeevi wore in the 70's, is nudging its way in. Add to it the tight shirts, flappy collors, long cuffs etc. The parallels, pleated-baggies and short-collors seem to be losing their grip on the wheel of fashion, which goes a full cycle nearly every decade. It's a tad embarassing to imagine myself in airy-bottomed, flat-fronted tight pants revealing my silhouette in broad day light. Looks like, its time I let go of the wheel as most people do as they age.

Home bound

2006-04-14T00:18:00.000-04:00

The day finally arrived on April 3, 2006. After nearly half-a-decade long roller-coaster ride in different parts of the sprawling US, I was all set to head back to my sweet home.

Although I enjoyed the action packed life amidst study, work, dance clubs, casinos, camping and stuff, the long stint away from home seemed to have numbed some parts of my mental faculty. Or probably I was longing for some emotional refueling in the dust and grind of India. Whatever you call it, I experienced this inexplicable good feeling when I started to the Newark airport from my friend’s house in Jersey city. I knew, soon, the Pulaski skyway would give way to the Gemini flyover. While I wrote this post sitting in Schipol airport at Amsterdam, I was rearing to fly the transition from being a secondary citizen in a hard-boiled capitalistic monster machine to being a king in your own motherland.

The sausage roll at Schipol airport has already reminded me of the desi chicken puff. Stay tuned for more desi masala......

Trip to Canada

2006-03-29T16:06:00.000-05:00

My three day visit to Canada's capital city Ottawa hasn't, personally speaking, got much to talk about. Primarily because it was too windy and cold, and I didn't venture out. It was a 3-day confinement to my hotel room, eyes locked to the television, hands incessantly working on the TV remote to skip the French channels, keeping away from my cell phone to avoid roaming charges, cold food and warm beer.

Every thing on TV seemed to be about ice....non-stop telecast of curling tournaments, North-West Rocky mountains recieving over 10 meters of annual snowfall etc. Two piece of info that caught my attention was of "inducing" pre-emptive avalanches to avoid outage of highways and building ice roads on frozen lakes to haul machinery weighing over 100 tonnes to diamond mines way up in the northen parts of Canada. It seems, Canada, basically an icy country, experienced its warmest winter in the last 48 years. Global warming is indeed raising its ugly head.

One thing is for sure; the wilderness, calmness and remoteness of the place could break the toughest of men, unless you have not seen the outside world.

Thankfully it snowed !!!

2006-02-13T14:38:00.000-05:00

The unusually warm winter of this year has been raising concerns over if global warming is indeed a point not to be ignored by the oil-guzzling US. As the Big Apple digs out to normalcy after a record 27 inches of snowfall in the last 24 hours, NY-NJ, now, looks normal with the all-white blanket.
Thankfully we still seem to be blessed with the prospect of having four seasons!!!

Declaration of independence

2006-02-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

There was this burden weighing over a million pounds resting on my mind for a straight five years, and today it's gone. While I am not gonna say what it was, but I certainly felt it should be etched on my blog. For those who know what I am talking about, thanks for staying by me during the difficult times.

Sense of Life

2006-02-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

is “.....an emotional, subconsciously integrated appraisal of man’s relationship to existence.”

Quotes on wisdom

2006-02-03T16:01:00.000-05:00

"I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday"
- Abraham Lincoln

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise."
- Lao Tze

"Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values."
- Joshua L. Liebman

You always reach where you started from...

2006-01-27T18:31:00.000-05:00

At age 4 success is not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is having friends.
At age 16 success is having a drivers license.
At age 20 success is having sex.
At age 35 success is having money.
At age 50 success is having money.
At age 60 success is having sex.
At age 70 success is having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is having friends.
At age 80 success is not peeing in your pants.

America's Foreign Policy: Self-Interest vs. Self-Sacrifice

2006-01-25T16:57:00.000-05:00

The United States, inspite of being the world’s preeminent military power, has been having its foreign-policy efforts so regularly frustrated. From Vietnam to Lebanon to Somalia to the current morass in Iraq, why has America been so incapable of decisively defeating its enemies—enemies that are militarily far inferior.
Peter Schwartz of the Ayn Rand Institute maintains that success in foreign policy, including success in waging war, depends ultimately on the strength not of a nation’s weapons, but of its moral philosophy. And in that area, US has been tragically deficient. According to him, the fundamental reason America has been failing in defending its own interests is that its intellectual and political leaders embrace the altruist premise that the pursuit of self-interest is morally wrong. And, Mr. Schwartz argues, unless US upholds the opposite philosophy—the view that self-interest is morally good— it will not be able to protect its freedom against foreign threats.

(courtesy: Peter Schwartz, Ayn Rand Institute)

Could you believe that moral philosophy, and not military might, could govern the destiny of a country? Leonard Peikoff, the intellectual heir to Ayn Rand, feels US is drifting towards what Germany was during the Nazi-era. His book “The Ominous Parallels” is all about this could-happen scenario.

Objective Stimulation

2006-01-20T14:51:00.000-05:00

One of my teachers always kept telling "Ignorance is bliss." Unfortunately, we have all taken a bite or two off the "K"nowledge apple. And the taste of kapple is as addictive as any other evil. Wish our minds were like hard disks, so we could format it anytime. Now we can appreciate why most of our grandmas were the happiest souls on the face of earth. They knew nothing else but to love their kids and the kid's kids.

Okay!! Now that the prologue has set us as human beings with half-baked dough in place of brains, its time to go on and read the article by Larry Salzman, a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California.

Objectivism in daily life

2006-01-19T17:14:00.000-05:00

At times objectivism sounds as if it tends more towards Capitalism. That, it is not so is illustrated by the following excerpt from an essay on Objectivism, that I came across in the Ayn Rand Institute website.

"One does not benefit from the poverty or incompetence of others. It is in your interest that other men—in every country—be smart, ambitious, and productive, not stupid, lazy, or incompetent. Would you be better off if Thomas Edison had been dim-witted? Nothing is changed if we substitute a Japanese inventor for Edison".

The point being driven home is that individual competencies of men is what betters our lives, and not collective branding of such great endeavors.

Objectivism rejects

2006-01-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

1) any belief in the supernatural.
2) mysticism/skepticism.
3) determinism.
4) altruism. (?? I cannot come to terms with it ??)
5) collectvism.

How about you ?

2006-01-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

Two things I love to do after a days work;

1) Have a beer ( from a can, and not bottle ).
2) Watch some Hollywood rollout.

Be honest.

Poem # 5

2006-01-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

Here's another poem written during one of my childood summer hols. No doubt, I used to love my vacations with 10 cousins around in my granny's home at Magaral, a village near Kanchipuram,India. Still the fact that "grass is always greener on the other side" took over me for while, when I wrote this poem.

Tiring Vacations

With a spirit for exams, I start.
Holiday in mind apart.
With all enthusiasm,
I study geotropism and all the other -ism.

Soon they are finished,
Of which which I was really bored.
Then I go looking for a way
To have some great play.

With hope
I grope
Only to find a rope
Tied around my hope.

I was bound in my house
Just like a hand in a pair of gloves.
Oh! I am tired of these.
Let me schooling please.

Poem # 4

2006-01-10T17:47:00.000-05:00

I wasn't all that comfy with math till around my 6th grade. But my dad's couple of hard knocks on my head seemed to have jolted my brain out of static-state, and brewed some decent passion for the subject which luckily lasted till I finished my undergrad. That's what prompted me to wrtie this poem while in 8th grade.

Maths Out the World

Two plus two is four
Is not really to bore.
From this lore
There's to learn more.

Math- it reels the head of some,
As they struggle for hours with a sum.
You do that with a hum,
And it goes in as rum.

The more you understand,
The more you learn to withstand.
Hard ones, though, they break your mind,
You would learn not to wind.

Nothing's too hard a task.
It's probably got a mask.
Look beyond the mask.
Then, for others help you won't ask.

That's world.
With effort, you get much.

Being John Malkovich

2006-01-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

A couple of days back, I was watching "Being John Malkovich." Its all about a portal that allows you "to be somebody for sometime" and going a step further being able to manipulate that individual's actions. Borrowing the words in the movie, its "getting beneath the skin of another person."

While I can't remember right off, Hollywood has churned out movies of similar hue, many a times. The movie was off-beat and interesting. What struck me was the parallel that I started seeing with one of the tenets of Objectivism , a modern philosophy started by Ayn Rand....which goes like "Man-everyman- is an end in himself; not a means to the end of others." How true that majority of the people live a second-hand life by enchroaching upon other's souls or vice-versa....renting their souls.

Okay! that's enough of philosophy for the day. Lemme start planning my next ski-trip !! Looks like its gonna be at Mountain Creek, NY.

Bard Springs Pics

2006-01-06T18:54:00.000-05:00

View my pics shot during my camping trip at Bard Springs, Arkansas.

My b'day gift

2006-01-05T12:49:00.000-05:00

Yeah yeah ! Thats me. I know, holding a lovely bunch of red roses, I unmistakably look like a bunch of idiots rolled into one. Nevertheless I wanted this pic posted because it’s the first time ever in my life that I have been given a bouquet. Thanks S! By the way this post should have been dated Jan 3rd.

Happy New Year !!!

2006-01-02T11:30:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone a very very happy 2006 !!! Had a fun-filled new year eve at Sterling banquet hall, Long Island. A typical new year party like the ones I have been to ,5 years back, in India.

The Da Vinci Code

2005-12-29T13:43:00.000-05:00

This book, one of most widely read, by Dan Brown obviously needs no introduction. Personally, it holds a significance of being my fastest read book. I finished it in two consecutive coast-to-coast 6-hour haul between Seattle and New York. A gripping edge-of-the-flight-seat thriller that keeps you 25000 feet above the ground, literally in my case, till you encounter the last full stop in the book. While reading it gave me enough thrills, I am waiting to see if motion and sound in Hollywood's attempt at it with Tom Hanks in lead can pull off some additional magic.

Also give a shot at the "webquest" at thedavincicode.com on the internet. An interestingly crafted treasure hunt laid out in the virtual domain called the world-wide-web, it certainly gives a taste of the book. I don't want to write about it and spoil the fun.

Happy deciphering !!!

Skiing the second time

2005-12-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

Here I am, back with a post on yet another pretty venturesome trip.

The gang.......

Skiing for the second time in the Shawnee valley nestled in the picturesque Pocono’s mountains in Pennsylvania, I realized that I got a handle on the winter sport. The beginners lessons in Snoqualmie was enough to get me flawlessly buckle up the ski boots, latch the boots onto the skis, pick the poles and smoothly set gliding over the powder. Well it really wasn’t one single smooth sequence as it might sound. Had a couple of baby falls and had to get up quickly before the 13-member gang could catch a glimpse of me lying supine over the snow.

In front of Shawnee Inn.......

Most members of the group, though beginners, dared to try their hand even before the instructor could begin the class. That was the beginning of our fun, with people demonstrating some rare skills like skiing on their butts or getting into non-stop reverse mode till they bumped into some unwitting skier or the orange fence. Like their feats on bunny slopes were not enough, the group migrated to “Green slopes” (the easiest ones) lead by the most experienced skier of us all, Vishal.

The Green slopes provided the turf for all the real action. Vivek, for a first-timer, was too good to believe. Without flinching for a second, he would set off the top, ski half way through, make an arc to stop, all well executed. After that control suddenly seemed elude him. Unwillingly turning backwards, he could be seen skiing on all fours in the reverse direction till the bottom. And all this, he managed to do each time faultlessly! KVR always managed the first 50 feet down the slope, artfully tumble, and then would be sitting and watching helplessly others ski by. Ask him what happened and spat comes “I am resting.” What say about Kapil’s merciless bull-dozing of fellow skiers on his way? The only photographic evidence we have is of Madhu. Gaurang looked like a pro….in photos.

Came to know, Shyam was beaten at the hustings by all the kids doing snow-tubing. Pity! They couldn’t find tubes small enough for Shruthi. Wish her “growth” in life!!

Hey! I forgot about the night on 24th Dec, when we stayed at Shawnee Inn. After we annealed ourselves playing in the pool and Jacuzzi alternately, it was time for smoke treatment. Yep! Bon fire…..sounds great, isn’t it? But, it isn’t easy to start a fire when there’s snow all over and the air around chills yours bones. Hmm…clever & experienced that we are, gasoline was bought to light the fire. Not to mention of the potentially explosive situation that was averted with good presence of mind. Powered by the music from car stereos, the crowd danced around the fire laced with some good cracks by Shyam. It was a memorable trip on the whole.

Objectivism

2005-12-27T19:34:00.000-05:00

Stephen Hawkin's "A brief history of time" pulled me through scientific philosophy, Scott Peck's "The road less travelled" through the physcology of love and spiritualism, and lately Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" through objectivism. While I found it is easier to relate to the first two ,the last one, though a flagarant thought process against ethos that have been entrenched as "right" in our minds for centuries, seems apalling and appealing at the same time. Its gonna take some solitary thinking about objectivism before I come to terms or not with certain aspects. Whatever, it certainly has been a good intellectual stimulation thus far.

Objectivism is a philosophy started by Ayn Rand. Her short reply to "what does it mean?";
1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality - "Wishing won't make it so."
2. Epistemology: Reason - "You can't eat your cake and have it, too."
3. Ethics: Self-interest - "Man is an end in himself."
4. Politics: Capitalism - "Give me liberty or give me death."

Essence of her philosophy – a concept of man as a heroic being with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life (thus challenging the altruism based theme of living preached for ages), with productive achievement (i.e his work) as the noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

It's more than clear that Ayn Rand's thoughts got shaped because of her birth and childhood days in tyrannical-socialist regime of the former USSR.

"Fountain Head" is a story of an architect, Howard Roark, and his battle against the tradition-worshipping society. Its theme is individualism versus collectivism in man's soul. Its also the author's projection of the ideal man

"Atlas Shrugged", next on my to-read list after "The Da Vinci code", is said to be the culmination of Ayn Rand's idea of objectivism and a master piece. Let me see what that book has to offer.

Icy chills

2005-12-15T18:26:00.000-05:00

I took the pic above at Snoqualmie ,WA, during my ski-trip. But the one(Coutesy CNN) below, showing berries in icy trap, beats it better.

Nihaki Annual Party 2005

2005-12-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

Read this as a continuation of Nihaki Crowd in Shenandoah Valley

While I can never dream, single-handedly, of capturing the essence of it better than what the yahoo groups “107parties” has done and shall do, there’s one thing I can say without blinking my eyelids….the whole pre-event preparation, the event itself and the post-event ripples seemed like an upheaval, eruption, and cooling-off of an active volcano called “107 brotherhood” along with its ancillary dormant ones like E8, Woodbridge, F5 and satellite catalysts in Seattle, Atlanta, LA, LongIsland etc. What binds the intangible 107brotherhood is unknown. But that it is there and is fun to be a part of it is true!!!

Big and Small details that came to mind;

- Thanks to Ravi & Co for sponsoring and getting us all together!
- Thumbs-up to Shyam, Vivek & Deepa for the spirited help in organizing it!
- Kudos performers: Chotu, Gaurang, Shruthi, Deepa, Sachin, Tripura, Jackie Chan
- Thanks to the bar-tender who adamantly made “Ultra-small” pegs and successfully prevented many from hitting the ceiling and subsequently landing in the restroom.
- Think of “Ramdas” who patiently captured your “beautiful” faces all along
- Can’t stop praising the range and taste of dishes ( or probably I was starving in Seattle)
- The satisfying feeling of landing in Newark airport.
- The "shaadi-ghar" ( sorry I did a straight translation from tamil) like atmosphere at 107.
- For dimensions of the party room, contact Madhu
- Viral was a good boy this time!
- Overwhelming presence of Latech
- DJ's did a good job
- Sorry! KVR was too well dressed to write anything about him this time :)

hmmm…..thats all I can think of at the moment………If someone has a link to the pics, send it and I will put it up over here.

Skiing in Snoqalmie

2005-12-07T20:58:00.000-05:00

Right from the time I mooted the idea, my couple-friends and I were all excited about planning the micro details of our first ski-trip.....from the usual route maps to enquiring about driving conditions in the land-slide-prone mountain passes to traction chains for the car.

All set, we rolled off at 8:30am on a not-so-cold Seattle morning listening to carnatic music and the beats of mridangam ("sen-tamizh meets Seattle" ) instead of my regular fare of techno. Twenty miles off the gloomy-Seattle(yeah! thats what I have come to call it), everything around you seem to go through a slow transformation between each wink of your eye. Rain drops turning into snow flakes turning into heavy snowfall, barren terrain turning into snow-smeared one, pines and leafless trees covering themselves with white-coats to ward away the harsh winter. The white-carpet welcome to the mountains was breath-taking and we savored every frame of the scenic views passing by.

From the time we got down the car, there was this one guy who approached us and started helping us with all the information that any beginner would need like where to rent the ski-gear, what package to go for, which slope to ski down and so on. He seemed so much on our backs that we even started feeling if he was expecting some money like guides in India. But it turned out at the end that he was an employee of that ski-resort and was just doing his duty. Thats customer service! At the end of the day he wouldn't leave without us assuring him that we will visit the resort again. Now thats doing one's duty to the fullest. Oh my God! I am supposed to be writing about skiing, right? But, I guess its okay if something really grabs your attention....just like the rivetting way our skiing intructor went about teaching us!!

Getting into the ski-boots, fastening them to the ski and walking with kind of "suddenly-extended-feet" was in itself a big exercise. That, in fact, was the lesson taught for the first 30 minutes...walking on snow with the ski's. Hmm! Try it if that sounds like nothing. Next came lessons about propelling yourself on the snow, going on a "magic carpet"( just a name for an escalator) over to the top of a small slope, skiing down that, slowing down, turning and coming to a total stop. It was real fun doing all that, including the numerous tumble-downs that we had....inevitable!!

Four to five hours of doing all these was enough to tire us down. Then we sat and ate in the car watching the experienced skiiers doing their rounds down more steeper slopes. I kept wondering about "mera number kab ayeega?".....answer is "next season"!!!

Ocean-kayaking

2005-12-07T17:33:00.000-05:00

Before I paint my blog white with snow from Snoqualmie, I just wanted to mention about another of my flights of fantasy. Its about trying ocean-kayaking out in the open waters of the pacific around San Juan islands near Seattle. You get to watch killer whales during the "fun-trip" !!! Any takers ???

oh oho...Skiing !!!

2005-12-03T01:23:00.000-05:00

Lined up for tomorrow is a skiing program at Snoqualmie ( 40 miles off Seattle ). An elaborate range of Indian dishes are ready to keep me and my friends going for the whole of the trip. I don’t know if I can sleep tonite ( just kidding), especially if I have to Ski for the first time in life tomorrow. Atleast sounds to be a promise of a great experience!!!

A little about the hide-and-seek that this friend and I have been playing since 1995.
1995 - We meet at Jamshedpur in the "famed" Bihar.
1999 - He trails me to Chennai.
2002 - I trail him to Hyderabad.
2004 - He trails me to the US.
2005 - I trail him to Seattle.

Destiny seems to be pulling us both on the same geographical path over the globe.

Lazy Sunday Morning

2005-10-23T17:25:00.000-04:00

Sundays mornings are meant for that. You wake up, but dont get out of the bed in the next hour or so, postpone shower till evening, browse aimlessly and so on. Its precisely these nothings that I did today. Its been raining asusual here in Seattle. Perfect weather to stay indoors. Only worthwhile thing was the heavy chennai brunch that I had....ghee-roasted onion uthapam with "kathrikai"(egg plant) sambar and "milakhai-podi"(idli powder). For the benefit of my mother, I thought of putting up a pic too !

Sleepless in Seattle

2005-10-22T17:39:00.000-04:00

While I am missing on my sleep here in Seattle because of work pressure, the place certainly offers some scenic solace. The undulating terrain of Seattle seems to have some good fall colors. I hardly got to see them in Ruston(Louisiana)....but for that lonely yellow-leaved tree near Carson-Taylor building. Here are some pics that I took with my Kodak easy share DX6490 camera;

Breath-taking red "fall colors". I still need to capture the other amazing yellow, orange and burgundy leaves.

Gateway to heaven

Woods behind my apartment

Lake Washington,Seattle ( I was told that Bill Gates has his mansion on an island in this lake....Seattle is the HQ of Microsoft)

Thats me on the lake's waterfront boulevard

Poem#3

2005-08-27T12:38:00.000-04:00

Here's a poem written by me while in 8th grade;

Half voyage

It was all merry
To hear a story on a long ferry.

At night soon as I slept
With eyes closed, as I kept.
Like every night, I had a dream.
On my face was a gleam,
As I set out on a travel
By sea, in a naval
Vessel, which started off gently
With all its crew light mentally.

Off we were to an unknown end
With a hope that luck on us might bend.
On we sailed for a month and a week
That the ship developed a leak.

I and my crew,
Grew
Tense as it began to sink.
Seeing no link
T o any other liner
We turned grimmer.

And as I started to weep,
Suddenly the vision in sleep
Ended in the middle
And the rest is riddle.

Crossword

2005-08-16T09:13:00.000-04:00

We ( a couple of my colleagues and I) have been getting better at this crossword that we play nearly everyday. While, earlier, we managed to score 95% on the easiest levels,now, its 93% on the toughest level. Ain't that good going? Pat Pat Guyz !!

Quite a week

2005-08-12T11:11:00.000-04:00

The jump-start at the start of the week that I talked about in my previous blog hasn't lost steam yet. Has been a busy week so far and look forward to a quiet weekend, which, sadly cannot happen because of the situation I live in. I can already see a Hungama-filled weekend staring at my face.

Jump start on a gloomy Monday

2005-08-08T15:22:00.000-04:00

Had a very very sound sleep yesterday night and had a tough time waking up to a rainy-gloomy Monday. But thanks to the vendor calls, my cell phone keeps ringing and thats enough to keep me going. Good relief, compared to the last week, which passed by silently.

DMV, NJ

2005-08-05T18:37:00.000-04:00

Today, the last day of the week, was a little different from the past 5 days. Apart from regular routine of answering vendor calls, I happened to accompany a friend of mine when he went to get driving license from DMV in Edison, NJ. It was an arduous 3 hour ordeal before he could finally get it. It just reminded me of how easily I got it in Ruston, Louisiana.
Small towns, obviously, have their advantages compared to cities. There you dont to wait for long to get anything done. In NJ, I see a queue for just about anything.

Anyways, I should say that am happy being here in north than rotting down south.

Colors of tranquility

2005-08-04T15:07:00.000-04:00

My favorite Hollywood actress

2005-08-04T14:51:00.000-04:00

This "Pretty Woman" has been my favorite Hollywood actress thus far. What do you say for that smile ?

Why explore space ?

2005-08-02T16:26:00.000-04:00

Knowledge of this, certainly, is not gonna feed you or me in our life time. But, I thought it worthwhile to know why billions of dollors go into space programs, when humanity has grave social problems right here on earth.

With Columbia having had its brush with doom, and as the debate rages over the future of space exploration, I came across www.spaext.com that gives compelling arguements of some great astronomers and thinkers like Stephen Hawking, about why space exploration has go on braving all failures and criticism.

Movie spree

2005-07-30T19:14:00.000-04:00

My latest movie spree began a couple days before, and the list of Hollywood/Bollywood stuff goes like;
Wedding crashers (quite okay a comedy, but drags over towards the end), Envy (va"poo"rizes from memory the moment the movie gets over),Bunty & Babbli (Hindi version of Catch me if u can), Farenheit 11, Terminal,Nick of Time, Open water, The Forgotten, Hide and Seek, Hotel Rwanda, Mind the gap.....

Crossword

2005-07-26T19:03:00.000-04:00

This simple crossword has come to be one of the daily liesure activities of mine, now-a-days. Its simple. Doesnt tax your brain like the Hindu crossword. You could finish that in, say, 15 minutes. You, just may have to bear with the few Greek and Jewish info that they expect you to know ocassionally.

Just a simple streching exercise for your brain. Applies to mediocre people like me.

Mercurial Musings

2005-07-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

As the heat wave shows no signs of abating and my cerebral neurons are displaying increasingly erratic firing patterns, I thought it worthwhile to find a google therapy for it. In the process, I stumbled into some common facts/misconceptions about heat related illness;

1) Heat with high humidity is worse than dry heat : Because, when it's humid outside, it's much harder for sweat to evaporate. You stay hotter longer and can't cool down as quickly. This high body temperature can lead to damage of the brain or other vital organs.

2)Going back and forth between air-conditioned ambience and the outside environ is probably a good thing.

3)Fans are good up to a point They can help evaporate sweat, which is an important cooling process. But when it actually gets too hot, in the 90s, for example, all the electric fan does is circulate hot air. Not adviseable then, it seems.

4)Northerners Vs Southerners : The former might have more trouble acclimating to extreme temperatures. Southerners are exposed to more days of extreme heat and humidity, so their chances of getting past high heat and sun are greater.

Drink a lot and stay chill !!........I mean water.

First Audio blog !

2005-07-24T13:59:00.000-04:00

My voice is aweful ! I dont think I will do much of this. Anyways dare to hear?

Hitch

2005-07-22T19:56:00.000-04:00

"Life is not the breath you take. Its the momemts that take your breath away."

Old saying. But got to hear it in the hollywood movie "Hitch". I always liked the words, and its up here. As for the movie, mediocre stuff.

While we wait for Columbia's launch

2005-07-21T11:13:00.000-04:00

We have, as kids, played with building blocks and constructed myriad things. But, have you ever thought of assembling the ISS (International Space Station)?. Try this;

OPENLINK Click here
GOTO Special report "All about the ISS", which opens a macromedia flash rendering of the ISS.
DO as instructed there.
IF bored break.
WHILE your patience persists.
CLOSE

Ever wanted time to fly?

2005-07-20T15:55:00.000-04:00

Its too short a life. So if every minute were to pass like a day, we would have a lot of time on hand to enjoy the pleasures of living. And tortured existence is better over soon. So it all depends on one's present context. The point, I wanted to make is, rarely, do we want the time to fly. It happens when you are eagerly waiting for something or meet some one or even on a boring day. Thats when you feel if time could race and come to a screeching halt to the point when the much awaited thing happens. I feel that way today and so this blog. There's probably a client interview tomorrow. Is that why I feel so ? Silly,isnt it? I wish time could fly till....hmm...I am not saying that.

En Singara Chennai

2005-07-19T17:59:00.000-04:00

Things, about Chennai, etched in my memory;

• The serenity of Mylapore Kabaleeshwarar Kovil.
• “Puli sadam” at Parthasarathy temple.
• “Kanda shashti kavasam”, that every tea kaddai religiously plays, early,every morning.
• Madras tamil, though not courteous.
• The Marina beach and “sundal”.
• “Ponn vasanam” at the roadside hand pumps, which are the lifelines of Chennai’s water supply.
• Racing with PTC buses on Mount road.
• Driving on East Coast road to Mahabs.
• Haggling with the Auto drivers.
• “Meen vandi’s” adding to the delight of driving on Madras roads.
• Some stuff, with funny names, that I used to eat off the push carts in Parrys corner.
• "Otel" Saravana Bhavan.
• Come home every evening from office and wash my face with saltiest of water.
• Devi and Satyam cine complex.
• Shopping in Pondy bazaar.
• Onyx staff meticulously picking garbage.

Good or bad, these are few of the things that I feel gives Chennai its flavor. i Welcome everyone to add more points to this.

Poem # 2

2005-07-19T14:41:00.000-04:00

Here is another poem of mine, written while in 11th grade. Its all about how I felt after I prepared well for an exam, but performed moderately. It might sound childish now. But, then it was remarkable to me for the reason that, in it I had attempted to draw parallels between what was going through my mind and a storm building outside.

Pen ever in hand

With hopes all great,
I trod up to the test
And then fly fast towards the gate.
I might get late, lest.

All came in time.
With pen in my hand,
I got into, with rhyme.
That, suddenly, light darkened upon the land.

Just as sun into the cloud did go,
All my thoughts
Went so low,
That know not I, what on me got.

From the hand it dropped.
All the blue(*) came to merge,
And on me they cropped.
What an omen! In and out so large!

It(#) began in drops,
And then in lashes.
To eat up all the crops
And leave me to ashes.

From my hand did it drift,
Bearing just my name.
And my heavy heart I lift
To limp home lame.

Through the window, I kept my stare
At the lying reed.
In spite of every care
The wounded heart liked to bleed.

Not long after it ceased,
Leaving all toppled…...yet serene,
That I got appeased.
Nothing had gone lean!!

Then could I see,
That all came up new.
Nothing went into the sea.
Even if, they were few.

Thus I learnt
That miseries come and go
To leave a little burnt
And show the tinge of foe.
But if you could stand,
Then why care about a little test?
A strong hand
Will never drop for the rest.

Legend:
* clouds and the ink in pen
# rain and tears

What kiss am I ?

2005-07-18T17:38:00.000-04:00

Some fun test had this to say about my kiss;

Quote
You have a mysterious kiss. Your partner neverknows what you're going to come up with next;this creates great excitement and arousal never knowing what to expect. And it's sure to end in a kiss as great as your mystery.
Unquote

What kind of kiss are you?

Hot day !!!

2005-07-18T15:59:00.000-04:00

Having spent two summers in Louisiana, I certainly expected NJ to be cooler in summers. Atleast, thats the impression I had of summers in Northern parts of the US. Its now I realize how badly informed I am. The humid-blistering heat of today probably vaporized chunks of my brain. Or why else should I be ranting about heat when I actually ought to be rummaging throuh SAP help site !! Okay, Bob signs off to study.

Hooked to the net

2005-07-17T19:05:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, from morning the internet connection at office was on a flip-flop for about 2 hours before it finally blinked out. After that the populace poured out of its desks and started gossiping about nothing over mugs of coffee. Some got on to their mobiles, some on computer games and so on. Welcome break, you could say. Still everyone’s eyes seemed to be talking of some profound loss.

The lunch break came in time to quell the noises in our stomachs. The internet service wasn’t up yet. Everyone had something important to be finished; pay up credit card/mobile bill, important emails to be attended to, study online tutorials, chat with family/friends.....endless online activities you see! It was then that we realized how badly hooked we were to the internet. It has become such a part and parcel of our lives that it’s difficult to get over one day of no-net.

Jokes apart.With nothing to do, I started listening to music. Also heard, after a long time, “Ale Ale” from the Tamil movie “Boyz”. And it stirred some interesting memories from my Ruston days. What say Doc & Shaun?

Emerging 'isms' of the new economy

2005-07-11T14:59:00.000-04:00

Here's some intersting stuff I came across, and which kept me in splits;

INFOSYSism- You have a 1000 poor cows. You put them on a nice campus, & send them one at a time to the US for milking.

WIPROism- GE has a cow. You take 49% of the milk.

DELLism- Intel has a Goat. Samsung has a Camel. Buy milk from both & sell it as Cow's milk.

IBMism- You have old stubborn cows. You sell them as pet dogs to innocent
small businessmen.

MICROSOFTism- You have a cow. Force the world to buy milk from you. Spend a million dollars to feed poorer cows.

INTELism- Microsoft makes horse shoes. You nail them to your cows & wonder why they don't run fast.

SUNism- You have a bull. It doesn't give milk. You hate Microsoft.

ORACLEism- You have a cow. You don't know which side to milk, so you sell toolsto help milk cows.

SAPism- You don't have a cow. You sell milking solutions for cows implemented
by milking consultants.

APPLEism- You have a cow. You sell iMilk.

SONYism- You have a cow. You spend $50 mn to develop the world's thinnest milk.

CITIBANKism- Welcome to Citibank. If you have a cow, press 1. If you have a bull, press 2...stay on line if you'd like our customer care to milk it for
you.

HPism- You don't know if what you have is a cow. You sell complete milking
solutions through authorised resellers only.

GEism-You have a donkey. People think you have a 100-year old cow. If
someone finds out, that's his imagination at work.

RELIANCEism-You don't yet have a cow. You sell empty cans to people for Rs. 501,because Dhirubhai wanted everyone to have milk.

TATAism- You have a very old cow. You re-brand it as TATA Indicow.

Nature & Adventure

2005-07-08T15:09:00.000-04:00

They have never ceased to amuse me. I do not know if it is because of my love for nature & sports, or the sheer adrenalin rush that they provide. Whatever, before the names of nature/adventure spots I have been so far in the US, fades away from my memory, I thought I will put them on my blog;

Camping & Hiking at Lake Claireborne & Bisteneau in Louisiana, Albert Pike ( Ouachita National Forest) & Archedelphia (Caddo river) in Arkansas.
Canoeing at Lake Bisteneau & Caddo River.
Kayaking in Shenandoah River in Virginia.
Ice-skating in Chicago downtown.
Cave visits to Blanchard caves (Ozark mountains, AR) & Lurray caverns (Virginia)

Having had my fill of camping, canoeing and kayaking, I next want to try my hand at skiing, jet skiing, white-water rafting, and bungee jumping. Costlier sports like parachuting & gliding can wait, I suppose.

Power of desi dollors

2005-07-08T12:36:00.000-04:00

It was the Hispanics, the Chinese and now its the American Desi's who are being seen as another big market by the American firms. The purchasing power of desi dollors seems to have attracted the marketers of corporate America in a sizeable way.Thanks to IT and our strong belief in higher education.
Check out for more on "Times"

"Garden State"

2005-06-30T00:54:00.000-04:00

I was watching the movie "Garden State" and for some reasons it brought back to memory "American beauty". Probably because of the contemporary and coming-of-age feel it infused in the beginning. Thankfully it also steered clear of becoming a disjointed-serious-heavy movie. And towards the end it toed the lines of daily run-of-the-mill romance dishes.
The movie was good on the whole and the dialogues seem to have been really written well.

An evening in D's name

2005-06-27T21:05:00.000-04:00

HOT NEWS: The erstwhile famine-hit 107 has recently gone through a palatable revolution. While there's been no dearth of food off late, Ms.D decides, on Monday evening, to delight us all with a menu (in her own words), that goes something like this;

Appetizer:
Rasam (Soup made of Tomato, Tamarind and some Indian spices)
Tandoori Chicken (Indian version Buffalo wings)

Main Course:
1. Chapathi (Indian bread 1)
2. Poori (Indian bread 2)
3. Methi Paratha (Indian bread 3)
4. Jeera Rice
5. Chicken Biryani
6. Raitha (made with yogurt, this goes with Chicken Biryani (5), to cool the spices)
7. Chole Masala (made with chick peas, goes with chapathi(1))
8. Chicken Masala (goes with Jeera Rice, Chapathi and Methi Paratha)
9. Aloo Subzi (goes with Poori (2))

Dessert:
Gulab Jamoons (Very famous Indian Sweet)
Sompapdi (Another very famous Indian Sweet)

Drink:
Mango Juice

STAR PLAYERS: danda-nakada, recent bencher from JPMorgan, "where's office" Amrit.
Thanks Deepa for the delicious dinner!!! We believe in “Gratification through Bukkufication”

Next event(and ofcourse a blog) in the offing : Nihaki Summer 2005 party.

Nihaki crowd in Shenandoah valley

2005-05-31T18:54:00.000-04:00

The memorial day long weekend this year was indeed memorable. A 15-member Nihaki crowd literally lit up Shenandoah valley, Virgiana. Though it was quite a long & tiring drive from Jersey, the fun we had there made up for it.

Luray caverns, old-car museum, canoeing/kayaking in Shenandoah river, buggy ride in Amish county, open-car ride on a nearly 100-year old train, non-stop "bukku-fying",antics of the Nihaki Jackie Chan (guess who?),water slide and finally go-karting drained us all by the end of the 3-day trip. I dont have mention that KVR kept us "entertained" !!

Really appreciate the spirit of Nihaki crowd (ever-silent Madan, never-silent Shyam, panparag Mouli, kiddo Shruti, dancing Anil, Peddarayudu, dynamic Deepa, danda-nakada-danda-nakada Vivek, Rao garu, Jackie Chan, Nappi, Vani, bukku Madhu, bigman Kapil ,and last but not the least KVR "the perfectionist").And finally kudos to the organizers!!! :) :)

Ruston & Me

2005-04-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

It’s been more than a month that I moved out of Ruston. And today I finally decided to write about it because I suddenly felt that, before long, Ruston would rust and wither off my fortunately-still-intact brain. Well, it might sound like my opinion about Ruston experience in nutshell. But then I dont wanna be very unfair. And the many intangible things that I learnt there would go unrequited. Not to speak of the master’s degree that it has earned for me.

Latech had been a “back to school at 31” experience for me. And in that it was a unique one. Landing in US for a master’s degree was more of an accident than a choice. I had never in my wildest of dreams thought would do anything like it. But looking back I am glad I did it. This "Back to school" thing, after 9 years of working in India, gave a fresh lease of life and seems to have taken away a couple of years off my age.....I bet nothing else could have done that for me.

Things I wont forget: University apartments, the "Mc D" house, a nighmarish research experience,the ghost house, tech station & perennial hunger, cybers, study sessions at Wily, the swimming pool, tennis sessions, numerous camping trips - espcially the bard spring one, two horrifying summers, endless parties, my conversion to "total non-vegetarianism".......I could go on and on.... but I have to stop now. Lots of other things to take care of.

A lost habit

2004-07-22T19:27:00.000-04:00

I had this habit of penning down my thoughts in the form of verses till I was in college. I have hardly shared them with anyone. Most of them are unedited,unfinished and many even vaporized into thin air. Somehow lost that habit after I started working. I just thought of sharing my favorite one,written while in 10th grade...........

Rest a while to live

Down by dirty lane
Walks alone an aged man,
Propped by a cane,
To listen to all he can
By the side of the gargling stream.
There he is far from the hell of earth,
Gleaning the past with a gleam
And relishing the present mirth.

Amidst the chirping birds
And restless deers in herds,
Vests the tint of sweetness.
Musing over the breathtaking
Beauty, stands he,
Listening to the humming bees,
Smiling at the swaying of trees
Nodding to the tune of his breath.

Gracious, it would be of Him,
If He let him stay
Forever in this nature’s brim,
And kept the rest at bay.
But never can it be so.
For to vie and struggle, have we been made.
So to God’s will we shall bow
And at times, rest in nature’s shade.