Straight Angle™

Morality of Babies?

2010-05-12T08:40:00.003-04:00

A fascinating and intriguing article in NewYork Times on Morality of Babies. Its a longish article that I am trying to read through completely, with all the other hell breaking loose around- I have completed only 4 pages so far out of the total of 7 pages. I have my own interpretation of the research and outcomes- but need to condense them and comprehend the article in its entirety before making a post on it. Will wait for when I finish the article!

Six Years!

2010-04-24T09:43:00.002-04:00

Been six years now since I got some real estate[albeit not owned] in the virtual world. Been good so far. To keep it short and simple- happy B'day to Straight Angle.

New Conversion Table

2010-04-01T08:46:00.002-04:00

0.20 centibeats =~ 0.50 times the velocity of an unladen swallow =~0.20 centons =~2.00 shakes of a lamb's tail =~ 3.21 hertz =~0.14 microfortnights =~0.66 times the velocity of an unladen swallow =~1.21 gigawatts =~ 5.48 hertz =~2.00 shakes of a lamb's tail =~6.57 hertz =~0.11 microfortnights =~11.90 parsecs =~0.02 femtogalactic years =~44.04 jiffies =~0.05 nanocenturies =~1.50e-15 epochs =~0.06 nanocenturies =~1.21 gigawatts =~0.40e+43 Planck =~warp 9.22 =~0.36 microweeks = early morning exuberance!

Days- Past

2010-03-29T09:13:00.001-04:00

Days move like the electric poles near the railway tracks. Sometimes, they move like the edges of the sleeper slab too- either single, hard to catch but too hard not to notice or hard to notice and even harder to catch. Mind goes numb at that speed and wraps itself around the safety of the past.

Clearing the cobwebs,
Scrubbing the hardened stain of oil,
I wonder- is it this hard to get you off?

காலங்களும் காட்சிகளும்!!

2010-01-21T21:53:00.002-05:00

அன்று, கண்ணன் கீதையில் உரைத்தது,
இன்று, கீதை கண்ணனுக்கு உணர்த்தியது:

எது நடந்ததோ, அது நன்றாகவே நடந்தது
எது நடக்கிறதோ, அது நன்றாகவே நடக்கிறது
எது நடக்க இருக்கிறதோ, அதுவும் நன்றாகவே நடக்கும்
உன்னுடையதை எதை நீ இழந்தாய்? எதற்காக நீ அழுகிறாய்?
எதை நீ கொண்டு வந்தாய் அதை நீ இழப்பதற்கு?
எதை நீ படைத்திருந்தாய் , அது வீணாவதற்கு ?
எதை நீ எடுத்து கொண்டாயோ, அது இங்கிருந்தே எடுக்கப்பட்டது.
எதை கொடுத்தாயோ, அது இங்கேயே கொடுக்கப்பட்டது.
எது இன்று உன்னுடையதோ
அது நாளை மற்றொருவருடையதாகிறது
மற்றொரு நாள், அது வேறொருவருடையதாகும்.

காலங்கள் மாறும் பொழுது காட்சிகளும் மாறும்!

Insanity

2009-12-27T21:41:00.001-05:00

I can’t imagine I was talking over phone on an unreceived call to a non-existing friend for over half an hour at 12' at night to avoid talking to a flesh and blood person in front- talking to me!What lengths do we go to stay in the same place!

என்னவென்று அழைப்பது?

2009-12-20T22:09:00.003-05:00

எத்துணை ஆண்டுகள் சிற்சில பொழுதுகளில் உன் நினைவுகள்? தணிக்கை உண்டா என்னிடம்? கணிக்கத் தான் ஆகுமா? முன்னிரவு பொழுதுகளில், தொலைக்காட்சி வெளிச்சத்தில் நகக்கண் நோக்கும் தருணங்களில், காலைக் குளியல் தண்ணீரின் முதல் ஸ்பரிசத்தில், உலர்ந்த துவட்டியின் மொருமொருப்பில், மதிய உணவின் கடைசிப் பருக்கையில், நொய்ந்த உடலின் சோம்பல் முறிவுகளில், நினைவுகளின் தாக்கங்கள் பல. நினைத்தவுடன் அழைக்கும் தொலைவில் இருந்தும் , அழைத்தால் மட்டுமே நினைக்கும் நாட்களும், நினைத்தும் அழைக்க மறந்த நாட்களும் இன்னும் பல. அழைத்த சில நாட்களில் பேசிய சில சொற்களின் கனம் தாளாமல் நம்மிருவரின் இடையில் எழுந்த கண மௌனம் யுகங்களாய் நகர்ந்த, நகர்த்தப்பட்ட காலங்களும், அவை மறந்து, மறக்கப்பட்டு பின் நாம் பேசிய கதைகளின் அதிர்வுகளும் காற்றில் இன்னும் இருக்குமோ? இருந்தாலும் அவற்றை பதம் பிரிக்கதான் முடியுமோ?

எத்துணை இரவுகள் உன் மடியின் கதகதப்பில் உறங்கும் கனவுகள்? கனவில் கூட கனவாகவே இருந்த நினைப்புகள் அவை. "இவ்வளோ நாளுக்கப்பறமும் மடியில தூங்கும் ஆசையா?" என்று தலை கோதியவாறே நீ கேட்டது இன்றும் என் காதில்..."எனக்கு வேலை இருக்கு" என்று சலித்துக் கொண்டாலும் மடியில் சாயும் போது மறுத்ததில்லை என்றும் நீ- கனவிலும் கூட. உன் முகம் பார்க்க ஏங்கி நின்று, பின் ஏக்கம் மறந்து, முகமும், அதோடு ஏக்கமும் சேர்ந்து மறந்து போகாதோ என்று இன்னும் தவித்த நாட்களும் உண்டு. ஏக்கம் மறைந்தும் முகம் மறந்ததில்லை.

நான் வாசிக்கும் புத்தகங்களின் பொருள் அறிய ஆர்வம் அதிகம் உனக்கு. சில பொழுது, பொருள் தெரியாமல் நான் அகராதி புரட்டும் போது கேலியாய் சிரிப்பாய். சிரிப்பினூடே பொருளையும் கேட்டுத் தெரிந்து கொள்வாய். சிரிப்பின் பொருளும், புத்தகத்தின் பொருளும் அறிந்த திருப்தியில் உறங்கும் என்னை நீ பார்ப்பாயா என்று எனக்கு தெரியாது- பார்ப்பது போல் கற்பனை செய்து கொள்வேன். அந்த கற்பனையும் இனிதாய்த் தான் இருக்கும்.

உண்ணும் போது பேச்சு துணைக்கு ஒருவர் வேண்டும் என்று, தொலைபேசியை தொல்லைபேசியாக்கும் போதும், தொல்லை பொறுத்து, பேசியதையே திரும்பவும் பேசுவாய்- பல முறை உண்ணும் உணவின் மெனு'வே பேச்சாயிருக்கும். விடுப்பு எடுத்து பார்க்க வருகிறேன் என்று பல முறை சொல்லி, பின்னர் அலுவல் என்று வராமற் போகும் பொழுதும், திட்டுவாய்- பதில் சொல்லத் தெரியாமல் வாய் மூடி மௌனித்திருக்கும் அக்கணத்தின் உணர்வுகளை என்னவென்று சொல்வது?

இவை அனைத்திற்கும் இன்னும் பலவற்றிற்கும் உன்னை என்னவென்று அழைப்பது?- கீதை போல் பாதை காட்டும் உனக்கு நீயே வைத்த பெயர்- நான் என்றும் அழைக்கும் பெயர்- அம்மா!

கல்கியும் கதையும்!

2009-11-19T10:09:00.011-05:00

சில தினங்களுக்கு முன், பழைய பள்ளிக்கூட சினேகிதியின் மறுஅறிமுகம் கிட்டியது. நீண்ட நாட்களுக்கு பிறகு, அதுவும் மின்னூட்டதின் வாயிலாக கிட்டிய அறிமுகம். இன்று அவள் கல்லூரியில்- படிப்பது முதுகலை மருத்துவப் பட்டம் ஆயினும், தமிழில் ஆர்வம் அதிகம். சிற்சில ஷேமலாபங்கலுக்குப் பிறகு, பேச்சு தமிழின் பக்கம் திரும்பியது. கல்கியின் "சிவகாமியின் சபதம்" பேசாமல் ஒரு தமிழ்ப் பேச்சா?- அதுகாறும் இல்லாத அவா...இணையத்தில் தேடியதில், "சிவகாமியின் சபதம்" முழுமையும் வலைப்பதிவாக- சென்னைநூலகம்.காம்'ல் கிட்டியதும், வாசிக்க ஆரம்பித்துவிட்டேன். நேற்று மட்டும் வாசித்ததில், முதல் பாகம்- பரஞ்சோதி யாத்திரை முடிந்தது.

கல்கியின் படைப்பில், நல்லவர் யாவரும் எப்பொழுதும் நல்லவரே..சில பொழுது, நரசிம்ம பல்லவர் மீது மரியாதையும், சில பொழுது பிரமிப்பும், சில பொழுது அச்சமும் வரும்- வெறுப்பு என்றுமே வராது. ஆனால், அவரை தொடர்பு படுத்த முடியாது- நரசிம்மரோ, ஆயனரோ, சிவகாமியோ- அவர் அனைவரும்- கதாபாத்திரங்கள்- நிஜ வாழ்க்கையில் கைக்கொள்ள முடியாத கற்பனை படைப்புகள். தவறு செய்யாத, செய்ய இயலாத மகா புருஷர்கள்- நரசிங்கரைப் போல, அல்லது கொடுமதியாளர்கள்- புலிகேசி போல [ விக்கிபீடியாவிலோ, வேறு கதை- அங்கு, புலிகேசி மன்னன் ஒரு மாவீரன் - சிவகாமியின் சபதத்திலோ, அவன் ஒரு ஈவிரக்கமற்ற கொடுங்கோலன்]. நம் உணர்ச்சிகள் ஒரு பொருட்டே அல்ல. ஆசிரியர் ஒரு கதாபாத்திரத்தை எண்ணிய விதமே, அப்பாத்திரம் அமையும்- ஐயம்மற்ற பாத்திரப்படைப்பு. அவர்களில் சாமானியர் எவரும் இலர். சிவகாமியின் சபதம் படிக்கும் எவருக்கும் மகேந்திர பல்லவன் மேல் ஒரு காதல் வருவது இயற்கை.

அன்றைய காஞ்சி மாநகரம் கதைகளில் வருவது போன்று மகோன்னதமாக இருந்திருக்குமா என்று அறியக் கூடியவர் எவரும் இலர். படைப்பாளியின் உரிமையென்றாலும், வரலாறுடன் கற்பனை கலக்கும் போது, எது கற்பனை எது நிஜம் என்று தெரியாமல் போய்விடுகிறது- சிவகாமி நிஜமா? ஆயனர் நிஜமா? சிவகாமி-மாமல்லன் காதல் நிஜமா? - நிஜமாய் இருக்கலாகாதா என்று சில பொழுது நெஞ்சம் மயங்கும். அது போன்ற சமயங்களில், ஆசிரியரின் வர்ணனைகள் நிஜத்தையும் நிழலையும் பிரித்துக் காட்டிவிடும்.வரலாற்றுத் தொடர்கள்- கல்கியோ, சாண்டில்யனோ- அவை அனைத்தும் தமிழின உணர்ச்சிகளை மையமிட்டே அமைந்தவை. மிகைப்படுத்தப்பட்ட செய்திகளும், கதாசிரியரின் கற்பனைகளும் கலந்த கலவையை பருகி வளர்ந்த தமிழர்களை என்ன செய்வது? இவை போதாதென்று, தமிழ்வெறி ஊட்டவென்றே ஒரு கூட்டம்- விஞ்ஞான விளக்கமின்றி புலவரின் புகழ்ச்சியும், கதைகளின் மிகுதியும் கையிற்கொண்டு தமிழ் வரலாறு படைக்க துடித்துக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றது. தமிழ் இனி மெல்லச் சாகும்!

I - Revisited

2009-11-17T16:15:00.004-05:00

I,
Want things that I can't have.
Dislike things that I can easily have.
Like things when they can't be had and dislike the same, when they become easy to have.

Funny me!

That was a post that I made a couple of years ago- Years go by- Time flies- yet- nothing changes!!- Funny me!

Some scribbles saved somewhere sometime...

2009-10-29T14:17:00.000-04:00

தொலைத்த நிழலை திரியில் தேடும் விட்டிற்பூச்சி நான்,

அணைந்த திரியின் நிழல் நீ..

குவளைச்சருகில் சுகந்தம் நாடும் தேன்வண்டு நான்,

சுகந்தம் மறந்த காகிதப் பூ நீ..

பாதை மறந்து, பயனைத் துறந்த மானுடன் நான்,

பயனற்ற பாதை மாறா கலம் நீ.

Flogging a dead horse!

2009-03-14T12:14:00.001-04:00

Its like flogging a dead horse- the more you beat it to resurrect it, the more you feel the futility of it. But anyways, having said that, I am gonna try beating it to life once more...to see if there is any more left in it!

I don't know!!

2009-01-09T19:00:00.003-05:00

When you have to say things that you both don't and do want to say, what do you say?

"I don't know"?

கண்ணன் மனநிலையை தங்கமே தங்கம்!!

2008-10-05T22:19:00.002-04:00

கண்ணன் மனநிலையை தங்கமே தங்கம்
கண்டு வரவேணுமடி தங்கமே தங்கம்

எண்ணம் உரைத்துவிடில் தங்கமே தங்கம்
பின்னர் எதுனிலும் செய்வமடி தங்கமே தங்கம்

கன்னிகையாய் இருந்து தங்கமே தங்கம்
நாங்கள் காலம் கழிப்பமடி தங்கமே தங்கம்

அன்னிய மன்னர் மக்கள் பூமியில் உண்டாம்
என்னும் அதனையும் சொல்லிடடி தங்கமே தங்கம்

சொன்ன மொழி தவறும் மன்னவனுக்கே எங்கும் தோழமை இல்லையடி தங்கமே தஙம்
என்ன பிழைகள் இங்கு கண்டிருக்கின்றான்
அவை யாவும் தெளிவுபெற கேட்டு விடடி

மையல் கொடுத்து விட்டு தங்கமே தங்கம்
தலைமறைந்து திரிபவர்க்கு மானமும் உண்டோ

பொய்யை உருவமென கொண்டவன் என்று
கிழப்பம் நீ உரைத்ததுண்டு தங்கமே தங்கம்

ஆற்றந்கரை அதனில் முன்னம் ஒரு நாள் என்னை அழைத்து தனி இடத்தில் பேசியதெல்லாம்
தூற்றி நகர் முரசு சாற்றுவன் என்று சொல்லி வருவையடி தங்கமே தங்கம்

This is the poem from Bharathi. Reading this, I am still amazed on the nuances that Bharathy has been able to capture in this song. The song presumes a girl in love with Krishna and in a scene where Krishna has not met the girl for sometime or where there is some "ஊடல்" as they call it - I couldnt find an equivalent english word to capture the sense of that word- anyways, with that in mind, if you read this poem, you can find first the girl's helplessness, asking the parrot to get to know Krishna's mind- saying if he speaks his mind, then may be I can decide on something- "எண்ணம் உரைத்துவிடில் தங்கமே தங்கம்
பின்னர் எதுனிலும் செய்வமடி தங்கமே தங்கம்"- and she also says, I would rather stay unmarried- I dont think Virgin would make appropriate sense here- the beauty of this phrase is that the Girl seem to be speaking for a group of girls rather than herself, when she says that they would remain Unmarried- you can sense the feeling of jealousy and "That which I didnt get would not be gotten by others too"- kinda self centered moun.

And this just in the next line morphs to one of indifference, saying we would find a king if not you. Bharathi has been able to capture this sense of disillusionment with an object of desire when that doesnt seem to be coming our way. How many time would have we thought the same way with an object of desire? Atleast I have gotten over with some of them on the same lines as abject helplessness to one of hope to one of despair to one of indifference to one of disgust. :)

Then, comes the disgust part- cursing Krishna that if he doesnt keep up with his words, then there is no friends for him anywhere and noone would look onto him. Then the cycle of emotions come back to the same starting point- this time seeing a cause of guilt -questioning self if there are any mistakes on her own- a willingness to take the blame for the sake of him. Then again, the own self image takes the upper hand and comes the next curse as to asking if someone who hadnt kept his word has any self respect- and also blaming self for trusting him, when everyone [including the parrot] had indicated about the cheat that is Krishna.

The last one is the most interesting verse of the entire poem- the direct threat to expose him to the public- this I find the most interesting part of any of the romantic escapades. The implicit understanding of the undesirability of making what is private, public- I hadnt come across anywhere, where this implied secrecy of the intimacy is used as a arguing point....

I am still relishing the poem for all the multitude of emotions that it brings out of humans and its gut in bringing Him to be just another mortal, with all its emotions and constraints...pretty interesting thought......

A lone page!

2008-09-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

I have been sifting through wades of Beethoven symphonies from morning. I don’t know how I got this urgent and immediate need to know all things Beethoven, to listen and more dangerously own [albeit illegally someone would say] all of his works. I search in torrent pages, with inviting ladies on the advertisement sections on the side, not so surprisingly all of them seem to be near my place-good work Google- now if only you were as good in getting them to me than to that web page, I think and then I concentrate on the job at hand.

None of the titles make any great sense to me- I wonder when did Symphony No.1 or 2 or anything of that sort made any sense to me. Wikipedia lists a lot of this works, which on a mere cursory look I know, I wouldn't be able to own. That thought itself saddens me- I ask to myself, what is free world, if I can't get some music, while at the same time, Jennifer Lopez shouts "Jus play my mother f****ing song"- oops, I have never known that such a song ever existed in my iPod. Mostly Beethoven too would end up that ways- but for now, I want to get all of his compositions that I can get.

Beethoven is proving elusive. None of the torrent pages that listed him would download. Most of them are "Connecting" forever when opened in Limewire. Meanwhile, aunty is back with her Grand Daughter- at times, I both loathe and adore the little girl- it all depends on my mood. I still remember the day when aunty was crying and I realized her Son is moving out of the home with his daughter- aunty was least bothered about her son moving out, she was more concerned about missing her Grand Daughter- I distinctly remember aunty bemoaning to me about her daughter in law- though it seem to me now that they are in good times- shoot, this download is not going to happen anytime now. I cancel the download.

It has started raining, Hanna is here.

A small talk with parents- appa is very happy to see his grand daughter- my sister has come down for a short visit and amma is all beaming when she says S wants Chutney for idlis and wouldn't eat idlis without chutney. I sheepishly laugh along with them, as if sharing their enthusiasm about the little one. Its all pleasantries these days to share with parents- I don’t have anything to talk to them except asking for the sake of it, how are they. The realization that I can't do much about how they are- more than sending money and asking to take care, at times haunt my supposed compassion. Amma says about N clearing the ACS exams- we both enrolled for ACS at the same time. I don't even know where my ACS books are right now- may be they are safely stashed away in the loft, where some heavy rain and termites later, I can find the mortality of paper first hand.

Suddenly while talking to her I remember I need to press my clothes- and in the conversation I drift towards thinking about the pain of pressing clothes. They are waiting to be pressed for a week now. I washed them before leaving to Washington DC for the long weekend. I knew aunty had dried them, folded them and put them on my bed- but I hadn't pressed them yet. What will I wear to office? This is not even winter when I can safely hide the crumbled clothes beneath the Sweater. The upturned "The creature from Jekyll Island" lays there on the side of the bed- I know its been lying there at the same place for an year now- expect when I clean up the bed, and back once I am done with it. I had been wanting to complete the book for a year now- if only I could. I lie to them about waking up late on a Saturday to hide my perceived guilt of uninterest. I pretend to be pre-occupied to avoid the prolonged call and thereby distraughting silence. They should have got the message. The call ends.

I get back to downloading Beethoven- if only this torrent is real!! Silence engulfs!!

உன் நினைவறியா நான்!

2008-07-23T21:35:00.001-04:00

மாற்றறியா பொன்,
ஊற்றறியா கிணறு,
கிளை அறியா தென்றல்,
மழை அறியா மேகம்,
பயிர் அறியா வயல்,
வினை அறியா துக்கம்,
உரை அறியா செய்யுள்,
உன் நினைவறியா நான்.

திருத்தம்: எழுத்துப் பிழை. நன்றி: இராஜசேகர்.

Nuclear Deal

2008-07-07T19:47:00.005-04:00

Most readers of this blog would know by this time the fate of the Nuclear Deal. It is more likely to go through the Indian Polity. However, a very good of friend mine, Mouly, has some takes on it. Though he had been against the Nuclear Deal from Day One and me for it from Day One, We have had pretty interesting conversations/arguments on the merits and the fate of the deal all these days. We even felt good/bad respectively when the Communists took up the Nuclear Deal more than Inflation and other burning issues with the Government. But, seems like our feelings were short lived- But that's for another day.

Coming to the post, Mouly makes some points on why the Deal would be "disastrous day" for India in his words. I would like to counter those points, though the wise man that he is, he had already put on the counters for some of those pointers.

Nuclear test: Contrary to what has been officially projected, The deal implicitly takes away India's right to conduct further nuclear test.

Counter: India has already declared a unilateral moratorium on further testing, with Vajpayee announcing that all the tests to validate the design and yield have been completed after the May 11, 2001 tests. So, the inability of testing comes mostly from we ourselves breaking the moratorium than any treaty.

Uninterrupted fuel supply: There is no concrete assurance on the uninterrupted and perpetual fuel supply even though India has committed to perpetual IAEA/US safeguards and inspection regime which cannot be revoked or suspended for any reason at any time after the agreement comes into effect.......

Counter: Right now, we don't let any agency to inspect our nuclear facilities and also we don't have any demarcation on whether a facility is a civilian or a military facility and the inspection is only for Civilian sites - not for Military sites- it is not as if we are throwing away everything to an external agency- we are opening up only those facilities that would receive foreign fuel. As a vendor, I think anyone would be interested in how their product is being used. If non-proliferation concerns can be added to it, better to everyone. Also, the above concern assumes that India's stature would remain the same as it is in the NSG for eternity- We would not remain the same way we are right now. Things will change for sure.

Inspection regime: As part of the deal, India is obligated to segregate and open up its civilian nuclear facilities for inspection of IAEA and the US.

The inspection is only by the IAEA and not by the US in case the deal is terminated. All in all, I would definitely welcome the agreement. I don't see a point of being secluded from the World Community on Nuclear issues. With Oil becoming dearer by the day and Coal being the worst polluter, Nuclear Energy is a much cleaner option.

I would say, with the Left withdrawing support, this would be the best thing to have happened to India in the past 4 years. But, the timing of the left withdrawal did bring a smile to my face. They waited till SP came out open in support of the deal and the recent pronouncements of the UPA constituents don't surprise me a bit- already there are talks about how grateful UPA is to have had the left support them for 4 years and kept the communal forces out of power and how UPA wouldn't want the left to leave the coalition and would welcome the left if they chose to come back. Seems like a carefully orchestrated drama forced on the People of India!

Poo Pol Poo Pol!!

2008-07-02T17:55:00.002-04:00

If I am to ask which song you like the most in Minnale, what would be your answer? Chances are it would be Vaseegara or may be Hey Azhagiya Theeye. I would say Poo Pol Poo Pol.

It is such a wonderful song-just listen to the Flute, close your eyes and immerse yourselves in the lyrics. Visualize yourselves signing it and if you don't want to start dancing hysterically, don't get goose bumps, don't want to hit the repeat button when the song is over, I would suspect you are deaf!

Interesting Realisation!

2008-05-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

The other day I was listening to some old Tamil melodies, when I realized I wasn't even born when those films were released and still I loved the music and the songs and lyrics. It struck me as a surprise, that I do have a penchant for old music. I am sure these would not have gotten into my liking of my own volition- just like Roxette or Bryan Adams got into. With Roxette, I consciously decided that I liked the music, whereas with the old songs, I can't say that.

Thinking about it, I realise these might have been the result of the way I grew up. Growing up in an extended family, with aunts and uncles living together, exposes you to a variety of tastes and preferences and makes you more of a liberal is what I think. You are introduced to a multitude of thoughts apart from your own parents- for ex- I can point to my uncle from whom I got the taste for old songs- especially MGR songs. My father has a very specific taste for Gemini Ganesan songs and I like them too. Possibly I wouldn't have liked MGR songs had I not had my uncle when I grew up. My penchant for books and reading can be directly attributed to my aunts, who were in themselves quite voracious readers. When I look back and compare my sister and her tastes with myself, I see her tastes are more modeled around my parent's, which can be reasoned by the fact that, when she was born many of my aunts have already gotten married and my uncle was away working.

These days as the extended family is mostly out of "trend", nuclear family and two earning member families on the raise- with the time spent by the parents with the children coming down, I am afraid, children would probably end up with a rather narrower taste and outlook. Not to say it is impossible to develop a wide variety of likes, exposure and tastes- but what came to us naturally, would have to be imbibed to the next generation.

Am I the only one feeling this way?

Ways of The Hindu

2008-05-07T20:51:00.003-04:00

Seems like these days, The Hindu doesn't have much as news to report- and their reporters are perpetually running for Communists rallies or in reporting Chinese Beijing Olympics. Whatever may be the reason, this news item appear to be fit to be published:

Inflation compounds woes of Dalits
Material and non-material manifestations of deprivation are at play in Dalit colony at Anna Nagar in Madurai.

Can you Imagine clicking on a link reading thus and reading just a single sentence as a news?- What was the reporter doing when he was filing this "story"- This reminds me of my school exams, where for questions that I had no clue on the answers, I used to repeat the question once as answer and leave it at that- that ways, I was satisfied of not leaving any question unanswered and also confused the teacher on whether I have answered the question or not.

Also look at the new "New Responsibility" section on the Front Page, which informs the readers that the "Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin often turns to his father, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, for advice."- Wonderful investigative journalism Hindu. Not content with this amazing piece of journalism, Hindu goes a step further and says,
.........But, keeping in line with the promise made in Tirunelveli late last year to give greater responsibilities to Mr.Stalin, Mr.Karunanidhi handed over the task to him.
This promise to the people of Tamilnadu to anoint his son to the throne, the Emperor has given more responsibilites to the Prince and Hindu is all glee for the emperor has kept his promise- how noble- mere subjects we are supposed to celebrate this "Pattabhishekam". Not satisfied with making it the front page news, it interviews Kanimozhi, another jewel in the crown of the Emperor on the performance of her brother and a great poet and a judge that she is, she rightly judged his performance to be "exceptionally well".

Hindu need to be commented on putting up a brave face, even when there is something like this happening. While IBN reports it as clash between the Governor and the State, for the Hindu Governor just "opts" for power cut, the city has been "suffering from sporadic power cuts over the past few days that the local authorities attribute largely to cable and transformer faults"- it is not any body's fault- what can the Government do if the cable and transformers are faulty? Government dont have any control on those inanimate objects- if they are at fault, can Government put them behind bars or drag them to court? And ofcourse, taking a leaf out of MK, WB Chief Secretary says, West Bengal is better off than other states.

It is indeed funny to read the articles in Hindu these days- just a sample of the story:

Shyamal Chakravarty, central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told The Hindu that he “welcomed the step taken” by the Governor and expressed the hope that it was a “pioneering” one that would show the way for similar moves to be taken in the future.

“He [the Governor] stays in a palatial place which he could let go off given the housing problem faced by the people and choose instead to live in a more modest quarter as do the Chief Minister and several Ministers,” Mr. Chakravarty said.

“Fifty per cent of the salary the Governor earned could be given to the needy as it might be more than what is required by a small family like his. He could also choose to walk the distance to inaugurate a function he might be invited to and save petrol which has become dear,” Mr. Chakravarty who is also president of the CITU said.

While IBN reports Mr.Chakravarty as saying, "Why is he staying in a palatial building? A large number of people in West Bengal are living without shelter. He should move to a smaller building or a flat," for Hindu, he says ".....like Chief Minister and Several Ministers" and there was no questioning of the Governer's action.

Such fun comes reading it. Why would Hindu be even publishing itself as a newspaper? It would be better off being a Communist Newsletter to the party faithful.

State of the Union!

2008-04-29T19:28:00.006-04:00

Just a quick status update on the state of the Union- especially the state of the society and its spurious ways of dealing with wrong doing.

A recent BBC investigation, finds that there is enough evidence that the UN Peace Keepers in DR Congo were involved in a Arms-for-Gold scandal with a rebel group. While the Head of UN Mission to DR Congo says, "We have lost lives in fighting these militias", BBC's investigation revealed that militia were receiving arms from the same UN agency they were fighting against, through some unscrupulous elements. When confronted with the question that the militia leaders have confirmed they received answers, he says, Militia is Militia and they have their own interests", as if UN doesn't have any self interest in the whole issue- but that is a mute point to what I am to discuss here. Though the article doesn't directly implicate any Indian involvement in the episode, the Indian news agencies were quick to pick this story up- and they were referring to this article, which says,

As for the allegations against Indian peacekeepers, the OIOS found many of them were not substantiated, says the UN.
But there was enough evidence to substantiate an allegation that some troops purchased counterfeit gold and illegally detained a local resident.
That report was sent to the Indian government in March 2008.

While the allegations and refusals might linger on for ever, and it does pains me that Indian Army is being alleged to have a part in this scandal, what pains me more is the comments that appeared in the article. I am producing them full below, just in case they are removed, deleted or otherwise not available for future reference:

Raghav: This docu on BBC was about many other troops and not Indian Army along. The alligations against other troups were more severe. Thought programs like this are quite common in here to keep public moral high after what ever the UK troup is involved in around the globe.( Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 03:17 )

Devesh:If British army can get involved in child abuse, sex with minors and rape why are they trying to chase Indian army who is simply trying to make some money without hurting any one emotionally and physically. ( Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 03:02 )

Reading them, I am appalled at the insensitivity and a blatant disregard for morality and probity in the conduct of duty. "....who is simply trying to make some money without hurting..."- gosh, have we become such a bunch of insensitive, arrogant people, who snugs off grave mistakes? Is this what 60 years of "Independent Corruption" has made us?

Is this now a part of our national life, accepting corruption as a "trying to make money"? When are we going to stop this- will we ever grow up as a civilized nation?. The other appalling part of the comment is trying to make it a nationalistic cause, saying "Indian army is being chased"- I can say only one thing on this- Crap!

Pragmatic has a good article on the reasons why the Indian Government keeps sending troops for UN Peace Keeping missions and the reasons why it should not continue with it, and there is an even more radical reason for scrapping the UN Mission itself. The reasons given for it are flimsy and the assertion that the UN interferes with the affairs of countries, though correct, misses out the important point, that it does so, at the behest of the same country that Ann Shibler is trying to defend! It also misses out the other point that US has been meddling in the affairs of other countries and pressing UN to do its bidding in the post-mess scenarios!

Four Years!

2008-04-24T19:28:00.002-04:00

There it goes- another year- another bunch of 365 days- now it has come to 4 full years of this blog, which I am immensely proud of- Just a trip through the pages of this would tell a marvelous story.

As a coincidence, I realised, its been 100 posts in exactly 2 years and 50 in the last year alone. Heres me, raising a toast to my trusted companion for 4 years- my blog- Straight Angle™-Many more happy returns of the day- from the humble beginnings at a non nondescript Internet cafe in Mumbai- to some of the hautest of places around the globe- from rickety computers to swanky iPhones- you have seen them all- Good Going and all the best!

Change!

2008-04-23T18:21:00.003-04:00

Have you ever been to a temple and offered Puja to the deity? I mean the usual puja or archana as we call, where all your family members are spelt out and the God is invoked to bless you- or even the one where there is Sankalpa performed?

Last Prathosham I had been to the Bridgewater Balaji Temple and something that happened there, intrigued me. As part of Prathosha pujas, Rudram, Namakam etc are recited. Before they start reciting rudram, it is customary that the Sankalpam is performed, which goes something like the below:

dweethiya parardhe, shweta varaha kalpe, , Vaivaswatha manvanthare, ashta vimshathi thame, kali yuge, prathame padhe, Jamboo dweepe, Bharatha varshe , Bharatha Kande, Meroh dakshine parshwe, Shakabde Asmin vartamane , vyaavaharike prabhavaadheenam xxxxx samvatsaranaam madhye , xxxxx nama samvatstare, xxxx-yane, xxxx rithou, xxxx mase, xxxx pakshe, xxxx shubha tithou, xxxx vasara yukthayam, xxxxx nakshatra yukthayam, shubhayoga, shubha karana evam guna, viseshana visishtaayam, asyam vartamanayam xxxx shubha thithou.......

Here, in the above sankalp, all those parts marked would vary according to the year, month, day and time of the occasion- but what doesn't vary in all parts of India is the remaining part.

In the first part, I am not sure, if we really follow the Nakshatram and thithi the same way we follow it in India. But I know for sure, if you are performing the Sankalp in US, you cannot say "Bharatha Varshe", "Jamboo dweepe", "bharatha kande", "Meroh dakshine parshwe". US is definitely not in "Bharatha Varsha" or in "Jamboo dweepa" or in "Bharatha kanda" and most certainly not to the south of "Meru"!

The Sankalp is one of the most scientific and mathematically accurate component of the Hindu rituals. Shoud it not remain so- should we not accommodate our knowledge of what it means and rather than merely repeating the slokas as a machine, should we not improvise them to suit the realities? I mean if the days and month and year can be changed, sure the geographical coordinates too can be changed accordingly. If we say we can't change because it is against tradition, are we not doing a disservice? Sankalp is supposed to say where you are and what you are doing...if we continue to "be" in India while actually in a different place, are we not cheating God?

Just thinking loud- can't we create new coordinates- say south of Mt.Rushmore or north of Rushmore? Would that be asking for too much?

A marvel that is N Ram!

2008-04-22T20:45:00.004-04:00

I don't think it is any more necessary to have the name of the paper as "The Hindu"- it can be "The Chindu". Just read this piece of absolutely stunning opinion from N.Ram- the moral torch bearer of world 's proletariat's Indian wing.

He argues his case of economic development being a measure of human rights, in the land that increasingly uses the same logic for its continued human rights violations. I am given to understand from his logic that if there are enough bread and butter, then that in itself is a great human right bestowed upon the people of the land, which sadly would only apply to those lands ruled(!!) by communists.

People’s welfare and quality of life are indices to measure human rights too, he said in a lecture at the Beijing Forum on Human Rights.

Isn't the welfare and quality of life now being measured in terms of that "oh-so-evil" capitalist's indice of per capita income? From when did the unit of measurement of "welfare" changed to PCI? Why is the Socialist being impressed by the rich farmers there in China, while in India, the same rich farmer would have been thrashed as being feudalistic and blood sucking lot?

He observed that the railway line may have had some negative impact on the region’s environment and wildlife, but that some accounts on this aspect were exaggerated.

Isn't that amazing piece of batting that Ram is doing for his across the boundary mentors?- While the environmental impact is just a "may have had", some accounts "were" exaggerated. He seems to know that the accounts are exaggerated, even without being sure if there is any environmental impact- but his ability to even give some doubt on the environmental impact is a great show of strength to stand up to his masters- Kudos for that N.Ram- you do a yo-men service to the world's proletariat standing up to the wicked capitalist in the communist's Disney land.

I guess with the same measuring index, N Ram would also acknowledge that Gujarat would be India's model state for Human Rights Compliance and West Bengal and Kerala are worser abusers- Gujarat's PCI is Rs. 26979 whereas the bastion of Communist exemplary states of Kerala and West Bengal, it is Rs. 24053 and Rs. 20896 respectively[As per GOI Statistics]. Keralites and Bengalis live in a state of relative Human Rights denial as compared to Gujarat- Isn't it Ram?

Its high time you wrote about the Human Rights abuses to these two communist ruled states Ram!

Harish Khare- the Incumbent!

2008-04-15T20:12:00.004-04:00

I was pleasantly surprised by this article by Harish Khare in "The Hindu" today- and then realised, no one likes competition and hates intruders in their territory-in what they consider rightfully theirs!

Now, I can sleep in peace!!

Hindu's Nepal tarot card!

2008-04-15T18:08:00.003-04:00

With the Maoists winning a simple majority in Nepal, Hindu is all ga-ga over the victory- I doubt if Prachanda himself would have been this happy of the victory! Siddharth Varadarajan- the leading Maoist flag bearer of the South goes ballistic with his half baked analysis and a confused deluge on what India should do and should not have done.

He opens his rant with the usual "Oh-there-is-a-stampede-for-Maoists" in his article, where the surveys predicting the Maoists defeat were all bogus and commissioned by the "Who-else-but" the US. While he minces no words in deriding the Indian Government because it thought the Maoists will not win the elections, despite getting "field reports" about the ground swell of support for the Maoists. As can be expected, Maoist leaders are "Statesmen"- I thought that word was for people who had been Statesmen for a long career in politics and have proved themselves through their sheer character- somehow, yesterday's killers[The same who were accused of murders and forced child soldiers by Amnesty] become a "Statesman" today, just because they secretly warned India and not air their opinions in Public.

While pointing out the issues that the Maoist leaders face in the immediate future, the author comes to a wonderful, "Hanging-in-the-air-as-I-am-Confused" statement like:

But it is essential that the international community not send out wrong signals on the question of civilian control over the military.

Wrong signals?- What wrong signals can the international community send over the question of civilian control of army?-Does Siddharth want the Maoists to control the Army, since they control the Government- Will the Maoists remain Maoists even after forming the Government or would the Government be different from the Maoists?- I mean even in India we have a [theoretically] distinction between the party and the Government- don't we? We are not the autocratic China or Soviet Union to have the Party to be both the Government and a Political Outfit- or may it is in the genes of Communism!

While it is true that Maoists have come to political table, there still is no concrete evidence that they have abhorred the path of violence and the author wants India to counsel US to take Maoists off the Terrorist list- while I don't deny it can help or it should help, there must be concrete evidence that Maoists have finally shunned violence and have become a full fledged political outfit, which sadly is not yet forthcoming- read this piece from BBC.

But Siddharth betrays his own sense of "I-always-thought-so" dejavu, when he unwittingly says,

The internal political dynamics of Nepal first need to recover from the shock the electorate has delivered.

If there was a ground swell of support and the Maoists had always been expected to win as in the opening of the article, where is the shock that the electorate has delivered? Is it a shock to Siddharth himself?

மழை

2008-04-07T18:17:00.001-04:00

அன்று,
மழையில், என் தோளில் சாய்ந்திருந்த நீ சொன்னாய்,
உன் தோள் நனைய வில்லை.

இன்று,
மழை,
தோள் நனைந்த சட்டையுடன் நான்.

Life and the Love of it!

2008-03-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

At times I do wonder what is it that makes you carry on with life? There should be some sort of an invisible thread- a fear of death, a fear of unknown that drives you to live, rather than a fondness for living itself..like in the moments when you want not to live- but you are afraid of death..speaking of death, I think I had a fairly close brush with it last Saturday, when I was driving Lakshmi at around 70-75 MPH in I287.

Myself and a colleague of mine had gone for some shopping roughly around 30 Miles from my place and it was raining cats and dogs when we started in the morning- though I enjoy driving in rain, I was a bit uncomfortable driving that particular day. I felt a slight unease setting in, as the intensity of the rain increased slowly, I was getting more and more uncomfortable, as the visibility reduced to within a few feet and I was driving at atleast 60 MPH. Foolish me- I know, but speed always enthuses me. I enjoyed it with a feel of trepidation.

But the sky was clean and spotless when we reached the shopping mall. The shopping mall was deserted for a Saturday- blame it on rains and ofcourse the slowing US Economy. All reasons said and accepted, the purchase went on smooth and the rains started when we started back. It was already 5:00 when we started from the mall and to our credit, we didn't do much of a shopping- what can two clueless dudes do in a shopping mall, figuring out what to buy for a 18 Month old kid?? We ended up buying something that we thought would be good..but then God only knows if that ever would be the case!

Anyways, coming back to the post, we started back to home at around 5:30- we know we had not a long drive ahead and also we had planned to come down to Saravanabhavan for dinner and for early bed!- as things would happen, we lost our way in 202- we went round and round in 202, unable to get the bearings- sadly for me, iPhone was also not of great help, as it kept giving some weird error messages in the maps. Somehow, we trusted our instincts to drive North and were really happy to see I287- following the same logic and forgetting that we drove on I287N to reach this place and thinking we need to go north to reach home, we started on I287N..the fact dawned on us, as we saw the exits increasing in their numbers rather than reducing...so had to take a detour and come back again to join I287S- but then it was already 4 miles since we missed our path...so that makes it 8 miles of round about route..anyways, cursing everything, I took the next exit to join back on I287S.

When I joined the interstate, I could feel the car was wobbling a bit and was running between lanes and the steering was a bit hard to handle- but I thought it was more to do with my speed rather than anything else..we would have gotten some 10 minutes into the highway, when out of the blue, suddenly there was a huge THUD sound and nothing was visible in the front..nor could I see anything in the rear view mirror..for a second or so, I could not make out what has happened..all I know/hear was the rumbling of the motor against the roar of the traffic outside..but the car was still running at 70-75MPH- as I hadn't slowed down or applied brakes..sensing trouble at the front, I put on the parking lights and was about to pull over to the right[as usual, I was on the left lane], when the dreaded 18-Wheeler whisked past me with a loud horn...I hadn't feared for my life ever as I did then- it was a terrible. But still, I hadn't figured out what has happened.

After letting the truck pass, and steering the car out to the shoulder, I came out without even switching off the car, only to see a gapping opening in the place of the bonnet and the bonnet perched atop the windshield. Mortified seeing at the way the bonnet has come to, I went back to switch the engine off and then came back to see the bonnet with a big dent running through its entire breadth. The force of the wind was such that, it has pried open the bonnet and had left a good dent on the roof too. More than the dent on the bonnet and the roof, the worst part was the condition of the windshield. The windshield had been completely smashed and there were pieces of glass inside the car. The rearview mirror has got detached from the windshield and had been thrown onto the rear seat. Luckily it didnt strike either me or my colleague.

I had to sit on top the bonnet and jump over it, to get it back to lock position and started back on the way. For some 10 minutes after this, I was driving on the shoulder itself- didnt have the courage to drive on the highway with a broken windshield and no rear view mirror. But after sometime, I was able to regain my confidence and started driving on the road- needless to say, was not clocking anything more than 40 MPH. It took us nearly an hour to reach home- but the wind has already created havoc everywhere. There were lots of fallen trees and my friends place was out of power for atleast 4 Hours.

I think this was for once a daring and a drastic experience for me- now read my opening lines- so, why do we live? Is it that we are afraid of death or we are fond of living?

Old Time Stories!!

2008-02-25T20:49:00.004-05:00

The Hindu and its sycophantic leader-page articles are back in the business- this time it is Vidya Subramaniam with such gem of a piece of an article- invoking the parallels between the iconic hare- tortoise with that of Congress and BJP. And she has wonderful logic and reason and hard data- as always. Just like she was accurate with her predictions about the Gujarat elections, where the Moditva [Hindutva- as the case may be- when she is whining loud or crying] was surely defeated and routed lock stock and barrel.

This time she comes up with such marvels:

Consider the three political formations as they now exist — the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, and the yet to concretise third alternative.

While a third alternative "exist" in the first line, it is yet to concretise at the third- there sure must be a lot of slip between the cup and the lip. Then follows her usual tirade and then another pearl of a wisdom:

The opposition needs to declare its prime ministerial candidate, not the ruling party........When that possible new leader is a young and untested member of the dynasty it also calls attention to the party’s bankruptcy.

She wants the Congress to dispel the confusion on the Prime Ministerial candidate and she herself seem to be confused- if there is no need for the ruling party to declare its PM , then why should Congress try to 'dispel' the confusion and if the possible leader being a "young and untested member of the dynasty" calls attention to the party's bankruptcy, then there is absolutely no point in speaking about or clarifying the leadership question..is there?

The high point of the article comes when she says,

Indira Gandhi earned her spurs. Sonia Gandhi has proven her worth. Rahul Gandhi cannot talk meritocracy and rely on aristocracy.

I am still wondering when has Sonia Gandhi proven her worth?- You mean the Gujarat Victory or the Himachal Pradesh win?- Vidya only knows what even God doesn't know!

Hit me on the iPhone!

2008-01-22T21:43:00.000-05:00

A funny piece of You Tube video...I laughed out loud...esp at around 00:44 on the timer!

Link from Boing Boing.

Air!

2008-01-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

Stevie does it again!!- Looking at the Ad, I have no doubt that this is indeed the thinnest laptop in the world Is $1800 worth it?- May be...May be not..but the latest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 once again screwed up my iPhone. I had to restore the phone to the factory settings and once again lost all the photos and songs that I had stored in the phone. But luckily for me, out of caution, I just copied all the photos onto the computer, before I upgraded. But the songs are gone- which shouldn't be a matter of concern, as I have the originals in the iPod!.

Steve compensates for that disappointment with the features on the latest upgrade- one that really blew me off was the triangulation feature added to the Google Maps. iPhone was able to identify my location with a margin of error of around 150-200 Mts- which is phenomenal- now, I dont want a GPS when I drive out. I had found iPhone to be more than enough even without the GPS- now with this triangulation, it is even better..way to go!

The other features like ability to adjust the icons on the screen- it literally sizzles. Impressed!- Yet to completely explore the latest upgrade- will keep posted!

TATA, Nano, West and everything

2008-01-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

At last, as promised, the Nano is finally here [I thought Nano is a copyrighted word by Apple ;)], and as expected, there are loads of articles, views, counter-views, concerns, delight and a mixture of all emotions all over the Blogosphere. However, most of the opinion pieces seem to be concerned about the climate and pollution related arguments-notice Friedman pointing to the gridlocked cities, pollution and others- but he seldom talks about the safety issue- not to cast aspersions about the safety of Nano- but here, I see a conflict of interest in what Tom wants Indians to do and what he and his countrymen are doing at their backyards!- I see this concern predominantly raising because of the price of Oil and the Western concerns that India and China are not helping their cause by putting more people on road and thus increasing the demand and the price of Oil.

It is indeed ironic that Americans start lecturing about wasting and about mass transit system- if you have waited for a train- New Jersey Transit especially- you would know what I mean- Mumbai trains are far more efficient in their operations than NJT- here the trains are delayed even for a slight rain/snow- I have seen trains in Mumbai run-expect when the entire city is sinking- so much for American Efficiency.

Isn't it exactly because the Oil is getting pricier and that Americans are feeling the pinch of it, they are asking others to cut down on their consumption? I see articles that say, Nano is no more powerful than a Lawn mower- now, do you use such powerful engines to mow your lawns? Friedman also goes on to say, Govt should tax the car like "crazy" untill there is a mass transit system in place- would he bother to mind his own business? Why wouldn't US Govt do the same?

He goes on to say,

Last week, I was driving through downtown Hyderabad and passed the dedication of a new overpass that had taken two years to build.

He could have done his bit by taking a bus rather than driving around in Downtown Hyderabad- ofcourse, Mass Transit is still not in place- may be his car rental should have been fixed like crazy- atleast he would have had an opportunity to lead by example. Is there a city in US, with a decent Public Transportation except some really big ones like NYC, Atlanta, etc?

There are lots of western intellectuals that think the entire world in terms of Western definitions of needs, wants, aspirations and situations. They seldom understand or care to understand the local problems and local needs- say for ex, there are a lot of comments being made about the Safety and the quality of Nano- but seldom do they understand that the safety standards applicable to West aren't the ones that are even needed for other cultures and nations. Its high time they understand the context of local developments than trying to fit in everything in a Western Context!

Search!

2008-01-09T19:34:00.001-05:00

When would this search end?- The search for the missing pie(ea)ce- the morsel of memory stuck in the cavity of life!

Why would this search be on? - What purpose would it solve or what wounded heart would it console?

Searching for self in the images of the past, frames of memories wound on the canister of life! Oh- I despise it....the remorse is unspeakable- the pain it ferments- the disappointment it hurls- terrible!

Juggling around fancy words to weave a litany of moronic babble, I search- search for the missing pie(ea)ce!!

Amen!

Peak Oil and afterthoughts!

2008-01-06T18:57:00.000-05:00

So what do we have for the new year?? A 100$ Oil, 39/$ Rs, Real Estate boom/bust [Depending on which democracy- largest or oldest that you live in], a certain/near certain election looming on the horizon [this time the oldest and the largest democracy], warmer winters, hotter summers- is that all we got?- May be....

The 100$/Gallon oil is nothing but a psychological fix- some tell us, whereas some others are really spooked about the whole thing and there are many who say, we will adjust- this euphemism is really a wretched thing with no substance- ofcourse we will adjust- we have always been adjusting- else human race wouldn't be what it is now. But what we really need to think about is, at what cost- is that cost worthy for the benefit that we would get by adjusting and who will adjust?

There is lot of stories written on the cause and the effect of the 100$ for Oil- but nothing as interesting as this piece by Nate Hagens. Ofcourse, this piece is not "written" by Nate Hagens- but nevertheless, it was he who posted it. :)

The post is a preview of the paper by Charles Hall, Robert Powers, and William Schoenberg titled "Peak Oil, Investments, and the Economy in an Uncertain Future". Enjoy reading!- Pretty long post that one is..but nevertheless interesting. However, I am yet to completely understand the assumptions and the imponderables that this paper had thrown out. Say for example, trying to measure down all productivity in terms of manual labour with no measurement for the productivity improvement through the "mental" fruits- say for example. I can say- it would take 10 men to harvest a farm working 8 hours a day- but the inbuilt assumption doesn't consider the effort required to make the tool to help up in the work- the sickle- it might have consumed some energy in being made- but did we consider the cost of the idea?- What is the worth of the idea that a sickle can be used to ease the effort?

I think till we can quantify that effort too, we would be shooting in the dark!- Ofcourse there is only some thing that we can assume and the magnitude of our assumptions affect our conclusions.

Cho!!

2007-12-16T11:22:00.000-05:00

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[Reproduced from the latest edition of Thuglak, dt, 12/16/2007]

This is one of the reason that I read Thuglak. Such fun comes reading him and more so, that he is level headed and fair. Though I don’t completely agree with him on certain ideas- most notably his antipathy towards libertarianism, I do see his points. The other point that I don't agree is his views on women. I find it outdated and backward. But then, he might have a point there as well!

Books to buy!

2007-12-13T20:04:00.001-05:00

Recently, I got a 100$ Amazon gift check. Needless to say, the next thing that I did was to draw up a list of books that I can buy- the list that you see below is a list that was drawn with the 100$ in mind and not on any specific interest gaining importance. Some of the books are impulse purchases and some more are here just to assuage my desire to have them in my collection- though I have already read them before.

The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language - Christine Kenneally
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos - James N. Gardner
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Stranger - Albert Camus
The Fall - Albert Camus
Being And Nothingness - Jean-Paul Sartre
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit & Wisdom From History's Greatest Wordsmiths - Mardy Grothe
The Age of Paradox - Charles Handy

Tell me your choice- if that would be different from this, what would you suggest?

Elections and Emotions

2007-12-09T10:44:00.001-05:00

An excellent piece of editorial in NY Times, on the Mitt Romney's recent speech on his Mormonist faith. When I first read about the US election issues (may be in May 2007), in Times, the caption read "Is America ready for a Mormon President?" or something similar. That caption did more to debunk my myths about the US society, than more than a couple of You Tube videos by Richard Dawkins and his "The God Delusion".

Though, Europe was the place Secularism in its current form that we know of originated, US had been a clear adherent, with the ideal enshrined in its constitution, as the First Amendment. While, there is no denying that the undercurrent of religion is there in all Societies, it is really unfortunate that a presidential candidate would find it necessary to give a speech like this to an audience of mostly Conservative Christians.

Where this gets even more interesting is, his Republican party has a known conservative bias- what with the current incumbent's ability to speak with and hear God's voice, there is no denying that the influence is ever present. But to make a speech that doesn't clearly distance oneself from the Church and goes one step further to say,

......religion does have a place in the public domain, and that those establishing the religion of secularism are "wrong."

is definitely not something that I would expect from a Presidential hopeful from US. When the world is much less a safe place to live, nations divided on religious lines are the last thing that we would want. What we need are not assertions of religious identities- but more of Humanitarianism.

As such, there are enough issues that need urgent attention- like the Subprime mortgage woes, the Iraq War, the Iran issue, Climate Change and Global Warming- these are those things that would affect every day life of most people in the world- not just US. It is indeed disappointing to see that there are hardly much of intellectual debate or fresh thinking in any of these issues- the most debate and haggling happens on issues, which are of secondary- but highly emotional issues.

I hazard a guess, that this is the way a Democracy work- I can see similar strains in India too- in Gujarat elections- look at the issues that are being discussed- not economy, not irrigation or power or infrastructure- but "Mauth ka saudagar", "Mercy of God", "Mercy of Sonia", "Hindu Terrorists"- where does that leave us?

I am left with a feeling that elections are more an emotional issue than the cold rational thought process that are associated with choice and freedom!!

The Hindu's pathetic logic!

2007-12-04T18:06:00.000-05:00

Sure, I was expecting an editorial from The Hindu on the Taslima Nasreen episode for long- it had been brewing for sometime in the Commy State, that The Hindu chose to ignore, till it can find some illogical logic to justify or rather gloss over the state of affairs there- Here comes an editorial true to the colours of Hindu- The RED- written all over it.

Let us go through the points raised by Hindu.

For all but the most fanatical, Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen’s announcement that she would remove from her book Dwikhandita the portions critical of Islam that were regarded as objectionable should bring to a close the controversy that sparked violent protests in Kolkata and earlier in Hyderabad. [ The Hindu, Dt. 12/05/2007]

There is no word on how appeasing to a mob demanding extradition would be a "Pragmatic Concession" as it claims in the next sentence. I fail to see any point in removing those lines-In the first place, I hadn't read the book- so, I really can't say if there are any offending remarks about Islam in that or not. The Hindu goes out of the way to say, that removal was a concession for fundamentalists, who "seem" to be beyond reason- look at the choice of words- Hindu says, the fundamentalists "seem" to be beyond reason- it is not simply beyond reason- if you were suitably powered and inclined, it might be beyond reason- but Hindu doesn't know if it is beyond reason.

However, the same editorial has these words-

Similar protests followed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s disputing the existence of an ancient bridge between India and Sri Lanka across the Palk Straits as described in the Ramayana......

Note, here too the twisting of facts- the groups were not protesting doubts on the existence of the Bridge- they were protesting MK's venous doubts on the existence of Ram and his famous remarks about Rama being a "Drunkard". Such fun comes reading the editorials of The Hindu.

There is no word yet on Biman Bose's statement that Taslima should leave Bengal if her words would disturb peace or to the statements that there are many other books of Taslima that are offending[I am unable to get the link where I read this piece of news].

Such is the state of The Hindu!

But The Hindu does get one thing right-

The increasing use of Section 295A in the recent period has underlined the dangers of competitive intolerance curtailing the space available for freedom of expression. The section is clearly not in consonance with democratic and constitutional values and it is time it was removed from the statute book.

It might also help us ask how we ended up with this competitive intolerance- when we started appeasing one group over other- this is not restricted to religion alone- right from language, region, caste- the list goes on....

May be Democracy is all about factions and group interests!

Dollar, Oil and Fed

2007-11-06T19:09:00.000-05:00

I know this comes a little late in the day, a full week after the Fed cut the interest rate by 0.25 basis points. But, that doesn't diminish the effect that would have on most things that concern many of us. Fed had already cut the interest rate by 0.5 basis points earlier. That cut was ostensibly to ease the pressure on the banking industry, inter alia the credit situation.

Now, what exactly is this Interest rate cut? This is interest rate at which the Fed lends to other banks. When this interest rate is cut, banks can avail more as loan from Fed, as the cost of the money reduces- which in simple terms enable them to repay their debts (in terms of deposits and other liabilities)- this is basically borrowing to pay off other borrowing- but since borrowing from Fed has a lesser interest rate, banks borrow from Fed and meet their obligations.

There is a case being made that, due to this interest rate cut, consumers get cheap loans. I doubt whether this interest rate cut would be eventually passed on to the consumers- I mean the retail consumer. Let us see why.

When the Fed cuts the interest rate, banks take more loan from the Fed and channel that extra cash into the retail market in terms of more loans. This is made possible because, once the banks get the loan from Fed, though the amount is a liability for the bank, it would simultaneously be classified as an asset, since this is cash in hand. Now, with this asset in hand, banks make more loans with this backing- it is like making a loan with debt- but not just a portion of the loan that it had got from Fed- but usually a multiple of that amount. With such a scenario, banks have more incentives to keep the retail lending rate at the same rates rather than cutting it. With the retail lending rates anyways tied to the individuals credit rating, the rates can be justified with arbitrary reasons. This is all the more interesting, because the Fed lending rate is a constant for all banks irrespective of the banks own credit rating- it would be the same for a splurging bank as well as a more prudent bank- so eventually, prudent banks would be loosing out to a splurging bank.

With so much money flooding the system, inflation increases. It is a basic principle of economics- when the money supply increases, it increases the purchasing power of people and so prices increase in response to the increased purchasing power. When the prices increase, this would more or less wipe out the perceived richness we get with increased money supply. What we bought for 1$ earlier, when we had 2$, would cost 2$, when we have 4$ in hand, due to the increase in money supply as a result of the rate cut. But to be true, this is not always the case. Government has many avenues to control this rise in price. As China recently did with the price control of Oil, to tame the inflation menace, Sovereign governments have multitude of controls to make it seem good- but someone somewhere had to necessarily take a hit- in the price control scenario, it would be the Government- the Government has measures to take care of this too- by way of increased tax revenues due to the increase in money supply- with increasing wages, tax revenues too increase- the ordinary consumers end up paying twice- once in the form of increasing cost of living and the other in the form of increased tax payments.

With this in mind, look at the oil prices! Dollar is primarily backed by oil. Which means, whenever there is a turbulence in the dollar rates, it makes more sense the Oil market too undergoes the same turbulence. There should be no surprise that Oil rate increases at this time. With the dollar supply increased, it is obvious that anything that is marked in terms of dollars will definitely get costlier. I wouldn't be surprised, if there is a further increase in the Oil markets.

With dollar running in its long time low with increasing pressure from Euro and other currencies- Dollar wouldn't be a safe bet in the long run.

Ass-ociated Press!

2007-10-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

How many ever times I remind myself not to get worked up with Journalistic standards, I somehow get to read stuff that simply blows me over with its, logic, reason, in-depth analysis and expert opinion.

Take for example, the recent news item from Associated Press, which announced that AT&T is scaling back St.Louis's Wi-Fi Plan. The story starts off with the news, then goes on to analyze the problem- the reasons why AT&T is unable to fully enable Wi-Fi in St.Louis.

The gem of the news item was when the article declared the reasons for the scaling down.

........initially planned to mount the transmitters on city streetlights, but some of those don't have power during the day. Utility poles didn't always provide the straight line of sight necessary to beam the Internet to a computer. Other unsuccessful options were mounting the transmitters on stoplights and buildings and even attaching a battery.

Mounting transmitters on streetlights seems to be a good idea, till you discover some of them don't have power in the day- thats understandable- afterall, who would leave the power on for street lights during the day- what intrigued me, is the word "Some"- let that aside- there are much greater things to note.

Read the next gem of a reason- Utility poles didn't always provide the straight line of sight necessary to beam the Internet to a computer- what?- You mean really- You need a straight line of sight to beam what? You mean Internet? The famous series of tubes thing?

I couldn't control the laughter when I read it. There are dumb people, dumber people, dumbest even. But this sort of reporting assumes, everyone is dumb. I wonder who would be sitting behind the desk and writing such stories. But sure, these sort of stories more than enlightening us on the news and happenings around us, does definitely crack us up for a while!!

It is now Ass-o-ciated press- it seems!

Who Said that??

2007-10-25T20:18:00.000-04:00

Modern monetary systems have fiat basis- literally money by decree- with depository institutions, acting as fiduciaries, creating obligations against themselves with a fiat basis acting in part as reserves. The decree appears on the currency notes: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private". While no individual could refuse to accept such money for debt repayment, exchange contracts could easily be composed to thwart its use in everyday commerce. However, a forceful explanation as to why money is accepted is that the federal government requires it as payment for tax liabilities. Anticipation of the need to clear this debt creates a demand for the pure fiat dollar.

Know who said that??- If I had been asked this question a couple of days back, I would have blankly said, some conspiracy theorist, an extreme rightist, an anti-establishmentarian or an anarchist- but definitely an intelligent economist.

But today- only one of those is correct- intelligent economist- Unless you consider Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis as all of those! The Fed says this in "Money, Credit and Velocity", Review, May, 1982.

Ways of the world!

MK and KM!!

2007-10-15T21:39:00.000-04:00

Why is it that, this sort of news gets only into The Hindu?? It seems that, MK did all the fire-fighting, sort of the statesman kind of role to "solve" the crisis amicably- without taking sides- but if this news (his interview apparently) is to believe, he had "doubts" on the nuclear deal even before Left raised issues with the deal.

I wonder how can a person, who already had doubts about the deal not take sides, when speaking on the issue?- Is it a peculiar mental distortion for MK, that he can speak on something, even though he had doubts about it, without casting those doubts on to the proceedings?

At no point did the Left parties ask him to support their viewpoint, he said

I wonder why would MK want to do such gimmicks?- To stake a claim to the already crowded statesmen list of the nation?- It reminds me of Goundamani's dialogue in Mannan-

புண்ணாக்கு விக்கறவன் குண்டூசி விக்கிறவன் எல்லாம் தொழிலதிபர்ங்கராங்கப்பா.

Hopefully, Statemenship wouldn't go the "தொழிலதிபர்" way!!

It is not just that, MK is alone in this "Who Said What" comedy- just watch what his daughter had to say on the remarks that he intentionally hurt the feelings of Hindus.

You know what does that remind me of?

நாராயணா!! இந்த கொசுத் தொல்லை தாங்க முடியலப்பா!!

And that, my dear readers, is the MK and KM part!

Yet another Foot in Mouth

2007-10-07T23:02:00.000-04:00

This is just another story of Foot in Mouth- but this time it is not just Indian news source- this time, the scale is global and a major goof. Read the following story of SAP buying Business Objects in Yahoo! news. It's an all cash and loan deal- though as the article says, this acquisition[I wonder why they wouldn't use that word- need to enquire with my financially more endowed friends on the exact legal difference between acquisition and buy-out]..that apart, this buy out would give SAP a good opening into the BI space- not that, it isn't there already- but truth be said, SAP is a bulky and bloated behemoth- what it needs is not a "One-size-fits-all" approach- as it is seen, what is good for big corporations needn't necessarily true for Small and Medium scale companies- the data volume, the turn around time, the decision making processes, needs and urgencies are vastly different in a SME than a traditional huge enterprise.

To be agile and nimble footed is a pre-requisite to survive in such a scenario- as also the ability to wage the price-war. SAP had been a very slow mover when it comes to acquisition and inorganic growth- Oracle had been in a buying spree for sometime now and had been lapping up promising and successful companies alike. As things stand now, almost all the independent BI vendors except Cognos had already been acquired- does that mean that it would be Cognos next? No one knows. Also, the question remains would Oracle make a competing bid to Business Objects?

Coming back to the Foot in Mouth, this is how the news report ends as of 11:17 PM, Oct 7, 2007[This is just for a time stamp- may be they will realize this and correct it later]

SAP also bought management software producer Hyperion in March for 3.3 billion dollars.

Like I said, my foot- It was Oracle that bought Hyperion, not SAP. Proof read please.

[Update at 11:42 PM]- Seems like it is an agency news...from AFP. This is not an error on the part of Yahoo! but on the part of AFP. Now, this is much more interesting because, the same news would be reported by multiple sources- in this case, like the Google News. There should be more careful editorial oversight.

The Hindu and Editorial Balance

2007-10-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

There seem to be a fair amount of heat generated by the observation of Justice B.N.Agarwal while hearing the petition by AIADMK on the recent Bandh-against-Ram Sedhu by DMK and its allies. While it does appear that the Judge had indeed stepped off the line by his remarks, the editorial by "The Hindu" is even more off the line.

Out of no where does this paragraph appears:

For example, in recent years the Bharatiya Janata Party and the saffron brigade have called for, conducted, and got away with several attempted bandhs. A case in point is the August 27, 2007 Hyderabad bandh protesting against the terror strike at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat. And what about other forms of protest actions? Will the Supreme Court rule on what kind of constitutional animal is a ‘rail roko,’ of the kind the BJP State unit staged in Hyderabad in September 2007 against the Sethusamudram project? Does it fall under the definition of a general strike or a hartal or a bandh? Is it constitutional? As political leaders have observed, the logical consequence of the Supreme Court’s unevenly implemented ban on bandhs will be a ban on all protest actions and the right to strike. If that happens, the highest court in the land will itself be responsible for the trampling on fundamental rights that its 1998 judgment warns against.

I mean what is the need for the editorial to name any one party, when the entire political spectrum- including the Commies indulge in these activities. This is very typically childish attempt at scoring brownie points with the ruling establishment in TN.

All said and done, we need to ask ourselves a question, if a Judge makes such remarks, and we feel that Judiciary is overstepping its reach, why are they doing so? How had the executive and the legislature been delivering their duties for the past 60 years- what is the confidence we have over the other two arms of the constitution? Can we, in any earnest thought, think highly on the Legislature or the Executive?- What is our experience with them- are judges any different from the common man living in this country?- they too have to face the same executive and the legislature day in and day out- may be in a bad light than the worser light that millions get to face them daily.

Had they been delivering their duties properly, may be we wouldn't be going to the judiciary for everything -from stopping disruption of normal life, because the executive that is supposed to guarantee the normal life is the only trampling on it, deciding on the affirmative action that the executive is supposed to deliver without harming everyone else in the process, clearing of garbage and restricting pollution in big cities- we need not just Judicial overview- but Judicial direction for our own duties! The executive sights Judicial direction to deliver on the rightful work that it is supposed to be made for. In these conditions, it would be impractical not to expect anything unpleasant about us to be told by the Judiciary.

In a recent "Reader's Editor" section, the same points were raised by the readers, who have been pained by the blatant partisanship of "The Hindu" editorials, news reporting and coverage in general. The Editor's response is as usual the wishy washy stuff, which gives you a yawn as you read it and say, shut up!

It is not our practice to reproduce “indecent remarks” (as one reader described it) by anyone. Often it is best to allude to them. We don’t reproduce all the remarks made by Narendra Modi or Uma Bharati against Muslims or Christians or the unrestrained attacks on individual political leaders by Subramanian Swamy.

While not publishing the wounding remarks made my anyone against Christians or Muslims and thus being the ever decent newspaper, The Hindu would definitely have published an editorial the first thing next morning condemning in the strongest possible terms the trampling on- "Oh-So-Sacred-Secularism" by the Saffron Brigade- but not so surprisingly, this time there was not even a mention of the remarks made by the Chief Minister in very specific and pointed terms to the religious beliefs of the Hindus. Oh- trampling on Hindu sensibilities is secularism- as it had always been practiced by the Secularists! This was succintly pointed out in the same page, with these words by the Reader's Editor!

The policy of not publishing abusive or wounding comments is laudable. But it needs to be followed uniformly, whether it is a Chief Minister or an unknown BJP ex-MP (whose remarks were published with the Hindi words and English translation). The clarification makes it clear that some of Mr. Karunanidhi’s remarks on the Ramayana were highly sensitive. The editorial was an opportunity to make this point. Readers noted that there was no disapprobation. On the other hand, the editorial said the remarks were “wildly misrepresented.” Mr. Karunanidhi had not said so but had made further comments.

After a long time, I did feel good about reading The Hindu- and this time, none of it came from the people who matter in there!

iPhone Bricked by Apple!

2007-09-27T19:58:00.000-04:00

As I am writing this, I am staring at a screen that says, "iTunes has deducted an inactive iPhone. Please restore the iPhone to the blah blah.....". What the latest firmware update to the iPhone had done to my iPhone is, to brick it (well, almost nearly). All my data has gone- including all my songs, my notes, calendar information, SMS's, browsing history, bookmarks - its as good as a new iPhone. Thankfully, my contact list is still intact. But my voice mail settings and all the voice mails that I had saved, are gone- I am distraught- I didn't expect this from Apple- to brick my phone- my confidence in Apple is taking a second nasty blow- after the now infamous price slash.

I did read commentary on the firmware update- all it said was that, an active AT&T Sim was necessary to get the iPhone working post update. But, I hadn't unlocked the phone in the first place- So, I don't understand what went wrong. Do I have any recourse for this?

பிதற்றல்

2007-09-25T22:08:00.000-04:00

நீ,
தொடக்கம் மறந்த கவிதையின் நடு வரி,

நீ,
தூக்கம் தொலைத்த கண்களின் வலி,

நீ,
அழுது அழன்ற மழலையின் கண்ணீர் கறை,

நீ,
நாவினடியில் பதுக்கிய ஆவற்க்காயின் ஒரு கடி.

Why Apple is better without ATT!!

2007-09-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

I just got my second iPhone bill-and it wasn't the shock that others were subjected to. But, this is a shock of different kind. Right from the beginning, I am not too satisfied with the EDGE network reception and the Internet speed with iPhone- I don't think AT&T is the best fit for iPhone or for Apple. May be they need to go for a better service provider.

The second AT&T iPhone bill, just goes to prove why AT&T is such a misfit for Apple. Along with the bill, I got couple of flyers for......well, see it for yourselves!

An advert for Samsung mobiles with iPhone bills!!- Well, thats AT&T for you!- I also wanted to prove a point- these are pictures taken with the iPhone- enjoy the clarity(!!) of the pictures! I understand its just a 2MP camera- still, I would want a better clarity picture than this!- Sample this!

Nationalistic Jingoism!

2007-09-18T20:09:00.000-04:00

It baffles me time and again, when non-issues can be stroked to such propositions, that they tend to occupy prime time in our media. CNN-IBN practically needs nothing to stroke sentiments like this. Remember Sunitha Williams?- Yeah, the second "Indian" woman in space- put there by an American Agency- an Indian as much as Musharaff is one :)

Now, see this video news item from CNN-IBN:

You know what is the most pressing issue on hand in Gujarat and in India?-
Why isn't the Gujarat government according a state reception and welcome to Sunitha Williams?- Is it because she is a relative of Haren Pandya?

I am sorry to say this, but WTF?- We have her "relatives" coming up on TV and saying that, she is the daughter, sister of Gujarat, India and the World- I mean why are we so hell bent on this "national" back smacking? What is there for India to be proud in what Sunitha achieved?- Why should Gujarat Government even be concerned about her visit, except may be for providing security?

Just hearing the words like "We dont mind it"-(when commenting on the Gujarat Govt's supposed unwillingness to welcome her), "It shows their smallness, hallowness"etc, makes me hot under the collar. As I had already written about this earlier, it is absolutely none of our business to ask questions like,"Is it becoming a camp for anti-modi campaign" and get answers like, "We dont mind because the Government is not welcoming her- it shows their smallness, hallowness", when the person is supposedly here on a personal visit- Gosh- what is the government for- to roll out red carpet welcome to some fake national pride?

Here, in the US, there is hardly any mention of her or the other astronauts who had gone with her to space- I can atleast understand all the euphoria, if she had been put in space by ISRO, with our own rockets and science. We have absolutely no connection what so ever to what she has achieved than fathering her father in some distant past- then I guess African tribes should be celebrating for every damn thing that we achieve- after all, all humans came from Africa only- right?

The ending of the interview was a piece of cake- the host says, "Hope her visit remain a personal one"- simply amazing- do these guys have any such thing as common sense?- I am sure not!

The Grand Post!

2007-09-16T17:23:00.000-04:00

At last, I have managed to sort the 1500 odd photos that we three of us (Myself, Mouly and Vivek) had shot during our trip to Grand Canyon this Labour Day weekend. It was a wonderful trip to say the least and one of the most adventurous that I had ever taken so far. Even when we planned for the trip early in the month of July, we had Rim-Rim hike on plan. Though we were not sure if we would really take the hike- because we had read that the Rim-Rim hike was extremely strenuous and should not be tried to be completed in a day, we were very skeptical on taking the hike.

Come Grand Canyon, all this changed. We reached Grand Canyon driving from Phoenix at around 5:30 a.m and what a sight it was. Truly magnificent. I couldn't resist my urge to hike down till the river- now the Rim-Rim here means, South Rim to North Rim or North Rim to South Rim, along a well established trail- there are numerous trails to do this-but the point is, if you plan for a Rim to Rim, you would have to trail atleast around 8 miles along the river before you start your hike back to the Rim[This is because, you can take only the North Kaibab Trail to reach the North Rim and this is a 14 mile trail, which is more than the 6.3 mile South Kaibab Trail that you can use to come down and claim up the South Rim]. This is different from hiking from South Rim- River and come back to South Rim. This would save you the hike along the river and would save you much time.

But, we decided against going for a Rim to Rim- we would remain with the South Kaibab Trail only to go down and come up. But, there are few words of caution- if you are planning for a hike, to the river, make sure that you have planned it comfortably well in advance. I had been to hiking and trekking a couple of times-but Grand Canyon is unlike anyother trek- its unlike any other hike- the extreme temperatures coupled with abysmal humidity, makes it a deadly combination- the South Kaibab Trail has no water source till you reach the Colorado River, which is like 6.3 miles down- it might not sound much- unless you start walking and find the sun beating down on you mercilessly.

Certain things to keep in mind when you hike in the canyon.

Carry liquids- I am not saying just water precisely for a reason- though you would loose lot of water due to sweating, it is wise to carry salted liquid- or some salty stuff, like Glatorade or Lemonade- rather than just water- It is not just loss of water, it is also loss of bodily salt that can cause much harm and tiredness.

Carry lots of dry fruits, nuts and salted peanuts to supplement your food. Take more than enough food- eat twice as your normal- its not just lack of water that is dangerous, it is also lack of good food.

Wear cotton clothes- that can stay wet for a considerable time. It is advisable to wet your dress before you start the trail, if you are planning to start it after the Sun rise. It is wiser to hike during early morning and late evening/nights- if you are carrying a flash light, it is better to start your hike after 4 p.m.

Don't carry biscuits or glucose or stuff that would require even more water to digest them :)- the best food that you can carry are probably apples, oranges and fruits like that, which would quench both the thirst and the hunger.

When the temperature around is hovering around 100+F, the water in the river is near freezing- which might lead to hypothermia.

Last but not the least- never plan for a rim-river-rim hike in a day- never- and I mean it :)

All said and done, we did plan for the hike in a day- and we had to sleep on the trail, get lost in the night without a flash light, curse the silliness and sleep without water.

But then, all this apart, it was a wonderfull trip, that I would cherish for a long time to come- not the least because, it offered me good lessons.

For all things apart from the lessons, do take a look at the collection that I have got!

Grand Canyon

As I am at it, please let me raise a toast for the 500th post of this blog- what better way to celebrate that, but a post on The Grand Canyon- Grandness deserve Grand things!

Bliss!

2007-09-11T19:54:00.000-04:00

It's no secret of my love of Malayalam. It's been a long time though, that I even heard someone speak that language. Infact, it is so worse that, I might even forget all that Malayalam that I learnt with so much of love and passion. Its indeed painful to see a language that you cherished, wither away from you, just because you are not speaking in it anymore or there is absolutely no touch with that language anymore.

I was browsing through someother blog somewhere, when I chanced upon some wonderfully composed Malayalam Songs. That, indeed opened the flood gates of my thirst for Malayalam- esp a couple of songs, that had been my favourite for a long time- which I used to listen to repeatedly- but didn't have in my iPod-somehow I had missed these songs.

What else is Raaga if not for this??

Here you go, my favourite songs from the Malayalam cinema- incidentally, both are from the same film- Meesa Madhavan.

Ente Ellam Ellam Alle, Kari Mizhi Kuriviyae

Feeling blissful, after a long time!!

iPhone, Price- Is it Worth it?

2007-09-08T16:43:00.001-04:00

Ok. Lets get this thing straight. I was indeed following the Steve Job-"The Beat Goes on" speech, where he slashed the price of iPhone by around 30%. I was following it in Engadget and I was excited with iPod Nano, iPod Classic and all. It was very exciting to see iPod Touch- but then, why was I squeaking in the chair, with so much happening around?

Now, there is very little difference between an iPod Touch and an iPhone (looks-wise), and iPod Touch comes cheaper, with no monthly charges :)
While I don't mind paying the 600$ that I paid for iPhone, I do expect a comfortable zone of exclusivity, when I can be the "Cool-Kid" in the block.
True- when you are the early adapter, you are bound to be made obsolete soon- but how soon is the case in point- Apple had traditionally been a brand that would let you enjoy this for quite sometime.
66 days off the launch and the price is reduced by 30%- this is too soon and too steep.
There were no appreciable updates for iPhone itself- except the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and the ringtones. I am not interested in buying a ringtone for .99$ and not interested in the iTunes Music Store too. I was expecting something along launching iPhone internationally- though I know it might be launched in Europe, Asia (India) is largely out of Steve's radar right now.

I did enjoy the period of "unrestrained enthusiasm" for the phone even with strangers- when I would proudly show off. I just wanted it to last a bit longer than this.

I am as well excited by the $100 credit that Jobs had offered- but I just can't help but marvel at the marketing stunt that he had pulled off. It is not easy to antagonize your ardent followers and then pull it off with minimum damage. I don't think the 100$ credit that was offered is a "I-see-the-reaction-and-then-offer" act. It must have been a carefully planned out strategy- the price reduction is an eventuality, a certainty waiting to happen. Only the timing was unexpected. I am sure Steve would have factored the angry reaction from the early adopters that followed the announcement and would have already formulated this credit offer long before he even announced the reduction.

Now, he had made even those who were disappointed with the price reduction to buy and thus keep buying more from Apple. Had this been a knee-jerk reaction to the angry feedback, he might have as well given a reimbursement. The fact that Apple had made only a credit available for future purchases, speaks volumes about the planning. I don't buy the argument that this is reflective of the disappointing sales of iPhone. Though I think 600$ is a steep price to make it a mass product, I do believe the sales had been well towards the target- Time would say if that is true or not.

In the meanwhile, I am looking out for 10 more iPhone early birds to share the 100$ credit with me, so that I can buy an iMac! ;)

IBN With its Feet in Mouth- Still!

2007-09-06T10:23:00.000-04:00

Why do I get a nauseating feeling when I read this piece of crap called Journalism? Why can't CNN-IBN hire people who can write sensible stories? Why would I even want to read anything like this? I am sure even a pre-school kid be able to write a better, cohesive story than this piece of crap.

Luckily and surprisingly, this story has an attribute- this story is written by one Pranshu Sikka/Pranshi Sikka- Pardon me for the spelling- but the Tag for the story says Pranshu Sikka and the attribute inside the story says Pranshi Sikka- may be this guy is like our Honourable MP- or may be he is an MP already.[Not to suggest anything about his alleged criminal background- just the change in names].

Look at this sentence:

Abusive phone calls, persistent physical and emotional incursions and unprecedented trauma, some banks have woken up to the spate of criticism and resorted to regulatory intervention like these.

Looks to me, that this is more like an combination of words sounding "Oxford-ly"(if there is any word like that), than a meaningful, sensible, logical sentence. I wonder, if this is the sign of things to come?- "Regulatory intervention"??? like "these"?- Words hanging in open- disjointed rambling, some sort of a kichidi story!

I see strains of this in "Oh-So-The Hindu" too. Look at this story:

Almost all senior BJP members including Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh,Deputy Leader Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Arun Shourie, former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, AIADMK new leader in the House Dr V Maitreyan, and Samajawadi Party's Amar Singh and Janeshwar Mishra were among signatories asking for the discussion to be raised.

Am I the only one reading these??

IBN's Foot in Mouth!!!!

2007-08-26T19:28:00.000-04:00

I dont know what is with IBN-Live Website these days, I am finding it highly unimaginative and stale to read the stories posted in there. May be they suffer from Foot-in-Mouth disease too. Take for example a recent article they had posted on the TATA-Land Rover Deal. The story opens like this:

New Delhi: Ratan Tata, owner of the largest Indian conglomerate is planning a smooth drive with American car giants Land Rover and Jaguar.

Thankfully, this story had been written by a Human- Karan Thapar. While I dont deny the fact that, these brands are American owned, Land Rover and Jaguar are hardly "American" Giants. They are owned by Ford- but they are basically European- British to be precise Giants. Their official websites place their registered offices in Britain- not Detroit. Though it is perfectly true to call these American Cars, it is not fair to call them American Brands. Hopefully, Karan Thapar will get over the Foot and Mouth Disease soon. May be I need to send him a Get-well card. But I should thank CNN-IBN for this wonderful discovery. If not for them, I wouldn't have been interested in searching for Foot in Mouth in Wiki and got this wonderful piece!

In other related observation, is CNN-IBN partly owned, or in debt to TATA industries? I agree TATA is a big name and all that- but what is the reason behind CNN-IBN covering only TATA related news in its business section?

Look at the news items in the business section right now. There are a total of 7 topics listed in that section and the headlines read thus:

An astonishing 5 out of 7 stories there had a mention of TATA group in it. I wonder if there aren't any other businesses in India than TATA's or is it that ways for CNN-IBN?

IBN-Dead! (Brain Dead)

2007-08-08T21:29:00.000-04:00

I am wondering if there is any editorial oversight in IBN Live Website- the sort of stories that get published, the language, the content and the "news" that those stories claim to disseminate. While it is nothing surprising to come from NDTV, I am really distraught to see this reporting stupidity pervading the media space.

Take for example the below headline in IBN-Live Website:

Tata Steel ranked world's best producer by Fitch

I read the story, re-read it and read it again to find a faint shred of evidence to understand where exactly had the Fitch said that TATA Steel is the best producer of Steel- I couldn't find any such reference. All it said was,

"The rating with stable outlook reflects the company's position as an efficient value added steel producer, with significant iron-ore and coal linkages, making it one of the low-cost steel producers in the world, Fitch said in a release."

The opening lines of the story states:

India’s biggest conglomerate Tata Group just got another feather to its hat. Global rating agency Fitch has assigned the highest rating of 'F1+(ind)' to Tata Steel's Rs 500 crore short-term debt programme.

There are factual misrepresentations in that assertion:

Though Fitch is a Global company, the TATA Steel was rated by Fitch India, which is an Indian Company- Fitch as a global entity didn't do the rating.
This assertion sounds as though, this rating is the highest rating available for any short term debt programme globally- by subtly tying the Global tag at the beginning, it is misleading to an unsuspecting reader that this rating is on a Global scale. However, the Fitch India site makes it very clear on the meaning and definition of the grade as below:
Credit Ratings
The suffix ‘(ind)’ refers to National Ratings assigned by Fitch India. Fitch’s National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with sub- or low-investment grade international sovereign ratings. The best risk within a country is rated ‘AAA’ and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as ‘AAA (ind)’ for National ratings in India. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.
This is already a sub- or low- investment grade international sovereign- to induce a global comparison implicitly by clever wording is not what a journalist should do.
There is no attribution to the story- it is as if, IBN Live website itself wrote the story itself with no manual intervention- or probably some divine power wrote it for IBN.
I agree and respect TATA for all it might. But what is the need for IBN to stroke such hype around the company?

Look at another headline from yesterdays.

Big deal: Tatas set to bag Jaguar, Land Rover
[Dt. 26/07/2007]

It declared in bold letters that TATA is "set" to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover, it even went ahead and told its readers this:

Tata Motors has nearly clinched the deal to buy iconic British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, sources tell CNN-IBN.

Again unattributed sources-that would tell only to CNN-IBN that TATA has nearly bought it. Such hype. Later today, the headline reads like:

Ford can't afford to let go of Jaguar, Land Rover
[Dt. 07/08/2007]

This headline leads to this wonderful realisation in the story:

Ford had received preliminary bids from some private-equity firms including TPG, Cerberus Capital Management, Ripplewood Holdings and One Equity Partners apart from two Indian auto manufacturers -- M&M and Tata Motors.

The company that had earlier nearly clinched the deal is reduced to a passing mention along side the other contenders.

More interesting is the part that says,

Prospective bidders for Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands have reportedly begun due diligence, but the sale may finally go through only in the next two month.

A deal that was imminent any moment earlier, is turning out to be a long, weary, drawn out process. While I was reading the earlier article, I was sure that Ford was begging TATA to buy Jaguar and Land Rover, now I find TATA and other prospective buyers doing a due diligence- earlier TATA had decided to buy those two brands, just like I buy my morning breakfast at Dunkin Donuts- look at the colour of the muffin and buy the one that is brightest- now they are thinking about the calorific value!

Mysterious are the ways of the world- that which was imminent and a near certainty just a week ago now looks not so imminent.

If you think these are the only hyperbolic stories that IBN can run, think again- better go rinse your brain again and come back.

Take a look at yet another master piece of logic, fantastic reporting and excellent grasp of concepts.

ICICI, Dena bank cut deposit rates, loans get out of reach
[Dt. 09/08/2007]

This article is the heights of intellectual paucity that had come to haunt the media. This draws such amazing conclusions as interest rate hike is "anti-consumerist" and "pro-capitalist". Look at the sentence construction:

The trend that’s emerging now is completely anti-consumer and pro-capitalist—low rates on deposit while skyrocketing interest rates on loans.

While I agree that hike in interest rate is hard on consumer, I am at loss to understand how would that be "anti-consumerist" and ludicrous of all -"Pro-Capitalist".

More over, the story tries to paint a picture as if, there had been a hike in the lending rates and reduction in the deposit rates- whereas only the second part is true- there has been a cut in the deposit rates and the lending rates are not changed- they are already higher- trying to tie two non-simultaneous events is not only illogical, but also stupid.

Inducing a causation where there exists none is bad journalism. It also announces the naiveties of the reporter on things that are monetary and complete lack of understanding of what is being reported. I doubt if the reporter meant what he/she had written there- the pro-capitalist and anti-consumerist bit.

If he/she understands a bit of finance, he/she would have known by now, that such easy credit and excess liquidity in the system would lead to high inflation which would be the real anti-consumerist proposition, than availability of cheap credit. I think its time for IBN Live to get some real finance knowledge to cover the business, rather than treating business as if it is political news- sensationalizing and hyping. And remember, this is yet another author-less, bot written story.

And the fun doesnt end there. Read for example this headline:

Walmart may eat away Indian retailer's bread-and-butter
[Dt. 08/08/2007]

This story not only convinces me of the complete lack of understanding of the business but also of english as a language, on the part of the reporter. What is Indian retalier's bread and butter and how does Wal Mart entering India as a B-2-B partner of Bharti going to alter that? If anything, it would be Bharti that would be eating away the proverbial bread and butter!

Look at the sentence below:

World’s biggest grocery store brand Walmart has probably sensed the insecurity of the small-time Indian retailers who are threatened by the entry of international brands in the market.

Did you read it right?? Walmart is the world's largest Grocery store!- Can you beleive it- Grocery Store-this is a complete ignorance(for the lack of better word) of what Walmart is and what is Grocery Store is and the difference between Grocery store and retailer. And how did Walmart sense that small time Indian retailers are insecure- I think they were roaming around Indian cities with a mask to sense the insecurity- and what have they done- that part is hanging in the air. What is the purpose of that statement- No Idea- it freely hangs in there.

These stories are more of an opinion pieces than real news. I wonder if there is any journalistic control on the sort of language that is used and editorial control at IBN- Live. Is it a fiefdom, for an individual to publish unattributed, author-less, bot generated stories?

~Cross Posted at "Third Eye"

Crap

2007-08-01T19:13:00.000-04:00

Crap adds to more Crap!

iPhone!

2007-07-28T17:58:00.000-04:00

After a month's wait, after numerous debates, I finally bought THE phone- iPhone today. I had had this feel that iPhone might not be all that useful to me. I already have an official phone and that was more than enough for me for the purpose of staying in touch.

But, When I saw the iPhone released, I know my reason, logic and sense wouldn't be all that strong and it wasn't all that strong, the other day when I had been to Apple store and was carrying some hard cash ;). I had pull myself out of the temptation to buy it. I was saved that day- but as time would testify now, not for long- just for a couple of weeks.

Today morning, woke up pretty early and with all the devotion of a pilgrimage, started to Apple Store. It is pretty irresistible once you see the beauty. I was just not able to contain myself when I saw it and asked the guy to immediately pack me one. It was as if some take away packing that I had ordered. A card, swipe and a signature later, my darling was in my hands.

Leaving you with the album, while I debate whether to take a new connection or transfer my official number to the new instrument- if that is the case, I am sure, there is going to be a lot of waxing and coaxing around for sure!

Rafting and Fun!

2007-07-22T19:13:00.000-04:00

Had been to white water rafting near here- in the Lehigh River. It was a Class III rafting- enjoyed every bit of it. While I am waiting for the film rolls to be developed [Yeah- its better to use a water proof cheap film camera than the digital ones ;)], I can't but wonder at the complete corporatization of everything that I can see here. While I was surfing through some information about the White Water Rafting, I came upon this blog. I am linking to the page that I found most interesting...The Water Level Control- In India, I have come across controlling water level only for purposes like Irrigation and Flood Control- there are no apparent industries that use the water flow in the rivers to make money and create employment. There might be reasons to it- there might be no great demand for a service- but as such, the demand in many cases is to be created, rather than expected to develop.

The rafting industry seems to be huge and very well organized here in US. The near consistent water levels in the rivers, as opposed to mostly seasonal flow in Indian rivers might be a reason. Last heard there was a rafting service available near Mangalore- Hadn't been there though. There is one Class IV rafting course near NY in Hudson- thinking of planning for it sometime.

One more interesting thing that struck me was, the style of managing the raft through the obstacles and the team spirit. When we boarded the raft, we were told that we are to arrange ourselves in such a way, that the heavier people of the group are to be at the back- since it is easier to maneuver from the back and that there is a leader for the raft. The underlying assumption being that the leader would be in a better position to instruct the team and thus stay clear of the obstacles. This also would mean that the team should trust the Leader and follow his words. What emerged out of the rafting exercise is something more interesting. We were able to find, that the less control is with the leader, the easier it was to maneuver the raft, than when it was just the leader who was taking the decision. The more individuals took decision based on the information they had, the lesser rocks we had to face.

Thinking about it, this is more like the Self Organization- where the decisions are localized, whereas the purpose is a global one. The individuals take decisions based on the information that they have and they are the best decision makers with that information. Most of the management principles that we use today, have been assembled from the WW-II. I just wonder, if it is time to change all those principles on their head and think about something more reflective of the times we live in. May be the "General-Soldier", "Leader-Follower" model had seen its day.

Message in a Bottle!

2007-07-14T19:57:00.000-04:00

The recent article that I read in Fast Company had outlined the quest and thirst we seem to have with bottled water- While in India, I think it can atleast by justifiable with a notion that not all tap water is safe to drink [provided there is water available in the tap in the first place], I find it really surprising when people gobble up bottles of packaged water when they do get safe drinking water in tap.

It is indeed surprising why people wouldn't trust their tap water- is it some sort of a psychological barrier, that the tap water brings in? Is it some collective intelligence that runs against the tap water? I don't know for sure, but this mentality seem to exist everywhere. May be it is because, we tend to value anything that is free (not to mean that the tap water is free- I assume it is being taxed- not sure about how it works in US, but for sure it is taxed in India) or atleast cheap, lesser than we value that is costly? Is the mere monetary value the end of all value?

With that in the backdrop, just check out what the New York State had been up with. They are trying to promote tap water- bottled water's cost is much more than the price that you pay at the store to get it. There are other environmental costs- not to mention the plastic waste that it generates after use.

Seems like atlast we are waking up to the reality of environmental screwup that is being termed as Life Style and Development!

Patti!

2007-07-08T21:28:00.000-04:00

இன்றோடு 80 ஆண்டுகள். 81 என்று எண்ண நீ இல்லை.

இனி
யார் முகச்சுருக்கங்கலை நான் நையாண்டி செய்வது?
யார் மடியில் தலை சாய்த்து தலை கோதும் விரலை தள்ளுவது?
யாரின் "சாப்டியாடா கண்ணா?" என்ற கேள்விக்கு பதில் சொல்வது?
யாருடன் இனி நான் "இவள் தான் எனது கேர்ள் ஃப்ரண்டு" என வம்புரைப்பது?
யாரை காலை "மடி" கலைப்பேன் என்று அழ விடுவது?
யாரிடம் பவிழமல்லி மலரை பறிக்க போட்டியிடுவது?
யாரிடம் நிலாச்சோறு ஊட்டச் சொல்லி மல்லுக்கு நிற்பது?

அன்று நீ சொன்னாய்- "சீக்கரம் நா போறதுக்குல்ல கல்யாணம் பண்ணிக்கோடா"
நான் சொன்னேன் -"எதற்கு அவசரம் உனக்கு? "அவன்" என்ன ஓட்டப் பந்தயமா வெச்சுருக்கான் - முதல் பரிசு பெற?"

இன்று- முதல் பரிசு உனக்கு- சிரிக்க முடிய வில்லை என்னால்!!

You will be sorely missed- Patti!! I love you.

Decision at last

2007-07-04T18:29:00.000-04:00

After much waggling around and much more confusion on the lens that I am to buy, I have decided on the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM lens. No doubt its a bulky one- the other day as I had been to get my camera back after a sensor cleaning exercise, I noticed the Sigma 70-200mm there at the store, and out of curiosity asked for a test use. Boy, did I say I was thoroughly impressed? The image quality, the auto focus and the near silence (well, I was on Broadway and so the lens might not have been all that silent) while the lens zeroed in on the focus was pretty impressive. The lens did was hunting for focus at far ends of the zoom- at 200mm that is. But it was also possible that there wasn't much to focus in a bland background.

I am already not satisfied with the hunt that my 18-55mm "with kit" canon lens offers- but I can live with it. Hopefully, the 70-200 would let me do some serious and good shooting. But, I would have to space my purchase for sometime. I can't buy the lens right away. Need to plan- may be in another couple of months I will be a proud owner of a canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM lens.

A Lovely Song!

2007-07-01T22:31:00.000-04:00

என்னுடைய "மிகவும் விருப்பமான" சில பல பாடல்களில் இதுவும் ஒன்று. விரசமற்ற சிற்றின்ப பாடல்.... [உன்னால் முடியும் தம்பி- SPB, ஜானகி)

இழதில் கதை எழுதும் நேரம் இது! இன்பங்கள் அழைக்குது ஆஆஆ!

மனதில் சுகம் மலரும் மாலை இது! மான் விழி மயங்குது ஆஆஆ!

இளமை அழகை அள்ளி அணைப்பதற்கே இளமை அழகை அள்ளி அணைப்பதற்கே
இரு கரம் துடிக்குது...தனிமையில் நெருங்கிட இனிமையும் பிறக்குது!
இழதில் கதை எழுதும் நேரம் இது!

காதல் கிளிகள் ரெண்டு ஜாடை பேசக் கண்டு, ஏதோதோ எண்ணம் என் நெஞ்சில் உதிக்கும்.

நானும் நீயும் சேர்ந்து ராகம் பாடும் போது, நீரோடை போல என் நெஞ்சம் இனிக்கும்.

இனிய பருவம் உள்ள இளங்குயிலே! இனிய பருவம் உள்ள இளங்குயிலே!
ஏனினும் தாமதம் மன்மத காவியம் என்னுடன் எழுத,

நானும் எழுதிட இளமையும் துடிக்குது நாணம் அதை வந்து இடையினில் தடுக்குது!

ஏங்கி தவிக்கையில் நாணம் எதற்கடி, ஏக்கம் தணிந்திட ஒரு முறை தழுவடி,

காலம் வரும் வரை பொறுத்திருந்தால், கன்னி இவள் மலர் கரம் தழுவிடுமே

காலம் என்றைக்கு கனிந்திடுமோ, காளை மனம் அது வரை பொறுத்திடுமோ?

மாலை மணமாலை இடும் வேளை தனில் தேகம் இது விருந்துகள் படைத்திடும்.

இழதில் கதை எழுதும் நேரமிது!

மனதில் சுகம் மலரும் மாலையிது!

தோகை போலே மின்னும் பூவை உந்தன் கூந்தல் கார்மேகம் என்றே நான் சொல்வேன் கண்ணே!

பாவை எந்தன் கூந்தல் வாசம் யாவும் அந்த மேகம் தனில் ஏது நீ சொல்வாய் கண்ணா!

அழகை சுமந்து வரும் அழகரசி!, அழகை சுமந்து வரும் அழகரசி!
ஆனந்த பூமுகம் அந்தியில் வந்திடும் சுந்தர நிலவோ?

நாளும் நிலவது தேயுது மறையுது நங்கை முகமென யாரைதை சொன்னது?

மங்கை உன் பதில் மனதினை கவருது, மாறன் கணை வந்து மார்பினில் பாயுது!

காமன் கணைகளை தடுத்திடவே, காதல் மயில் துணையென வருகிறது!

மையல் தந்திடும் வார்த்தைகளே மோகம் எனும் நெருப்பினை பொழிகிறது!

மோகம் நெருப்பானால் அதை தீர்க்கும் ஒரு ஜீவ நதி அருகினில் இருக்குது!
மனதில் சுகம் மலரும் மாலை இது! மான் விழி மயங்குது ஆஆஆ!

இழதில் கதை எழுதும் நேரம் இது! இன்பங்கள் அழைக்குது ஆஆஆ!
இழதில் கதை எழுதும் நேரம் இது!

What, Which??

2007-07-01T20:15:00.000-04:00

Offlate, especially after I had bought the SLR, most of my spare time is spent on reading about lens, checking for deals on lens, lens accessories, camera accessories, tripods, monopods etc., It is indeed an exciting experience to get to know the basics- but as always, my "hands-on" brain is not very comfortable in understanding the apertures and focal length lessons, unless I am able to shoot some snaps in the conditions mentioned and see the difference for myself.

Having given my camera for some sensor cleaning, I am without the luxury of trying hands on and have to be satisfied with some theoretical understanding. The camera wouldn't be back for another 4 weeks at the least and I want to buy a lens in the July 4th sales. I am not sure if there would be any discounts available for lens and accessories during the sale- but then no harm in trying your luck. If there are any, I can very well afford to buy a better lens. That leads me to the most important of all questions- what and which lens to buy?

I am torn between a Macro lens and a telephoto lens. I want the best of both worlds, and then there is this budget constraint. This is a perfect trade off world, how much ever I think I am unable to decide on the trade off component. I am actually looking at under 400$ lens. That set, the things that I need to decide are- the nature of the lens- macro or telephoto and the make. There are Tamron, Canon and Sigma. There are pros and cons of all these lenses and that is precisely what makes my decision making even more tougher. I am sort of positively disposed towards Sigma. The range is good, the reviews are better and the price is excellent[;)]. But not yet decided on the lens.

Let me wait for the July 4th.

Disappointed with Apple Safari for Windows!

2007-06-11T19:47:00.000-04:00

When I first read about the release of Apple Safari for Windows, I was jumping in joy- It's been my wish to use it ever since I saw Safari working with Mac. I wanted to use the browser- if not for anything atleast for the user interface. The moment I was able to, I downloaded Safari and installed it. And then began my saga of trying to get to open a few pages in Safari.

The pages that I tried to open in Safari in the same order in tabs.

Apple (This is the home page)
Google.com
GMail.com

I was never able to get the Apple site open for me in the 20 Minutes that I had kept the window open. In the 20 minutes, I have downloaded, Maxthon browser, installed it and even browsed all my unread items in my Bloglines account. It is fast.

The first time I am disappointed with Apple. Hopefully, this is the last time too.

Why we do What we do?

2007-06-10T16:15:00.000-04:00

Couple of days back, I was reading through something, when I hit upon this piece of post by Emanuel Derman. I follow his posts regularly and I find this post of his, informative and pretty interesting. I am just reproducing his words:

Doug Hofstadter's book about Godel's theorem, "I am a Strange Loop", points out that mathematicians before after Hilbert and Russell and Whitehead thought that in axiomatic systems, (a) if you could prove it, it must be true, and (b) everything true could be proved. Godel threw a monkey wrench into (b). There's a similar set of assumptions people often make about human beings: (a) If you can persuade someone of the logic of something, they should experience the same feeling as you about it; and (b) if people experience some feeling, there must be a logical cause. But this too breaks down in various ways. In my case, take global warming as an example of the falseness of (a): it's logical that I should be anxious to do something about it, but the logic doesn't really move me enough. I could try to explain why, but, in the end, that's how I feel. It's a version of Schopenhauer's "You can do what you want but you can't want what you want." I might want to be a person that wants to do something about global warming, but I can't be that person. That said, a long time ago I was friendly with a philosopher/physicist who told me in all serious that he wanted to be a person that liked classical music, and he could really make himself into that kind of person. I never knew whether to believe him. (b) is more difficult. There probably is a cause for most feelings or reactions, depending on what kind of cause you like -- Freud, Darwin or some neuroscientist stuff. But on the other hand, who cares: I like licorice: why? God knows and no-one cares. And why justify it? I thought of this when some telemarketer called to get me to donate money to some charity. I told her not to bother me at home. She tried to explain to me the virtue of the charity. I said I didn't want her to call me. She kept asking me WHY I wouldn't give money for something good? She wanted an explanation and I was tempted to give her one. But when I asked her why she had to call me, she said I was on her "list" and that was that. She didn't need any justification, though she wanted me to justify not giving. There's an old Lou Reed song called "Doin the things that we want to," and she knew how to do it.

There are more than a couple of inferences for me from those words. I particularly agree with these words : There probably is a cause for most feelings or reactions, depending on what kind of cause you like -- Freud, Darwin or some neuroscientist stuff. But on the other hand, who cares: I like licorice: why? God knows and no-one cares. And why justify it?

This justification is something that I have already discussed so many times. There can hardly be no reason (cause) for something that I feel or do, but why should I justify it and to whom? The do/like something intrinsically and there is no need to justify it. With Justification comes guilt- in my opinion, you don't justify unless you feel guilty about doing something- you don't justify the breath you take, the food you eat - but you tend to justify some exorbitant money you just lost gambling or the wrong way you took when you didn't know which way to go!

To me, Justifying something is an upfront acceptance of the guilt that I harbor and the moral smallness that I feel because of that, towards the person that I am justifying my actions. I don't think I need to justify my actions/feelings etc to anyone unless I really want apologies and/or acceptance. Expecting acceptance in itself is something that seems to me as repugnant. But then I realize we do it all time- every time. Seems unsurmountable to me. May be thats why we do what we do!

Nostalgia

2007-06-01T21:06:00.000-04:00

There were days when I used to steal my way away to my neighbors place late at night. Those were the days, when late night meant 8:00 PM and very late in the night meant 9:30 PM. Those were the days, when a black and white portable TV(mostly Solidaire) was the sole reason for fame. Thoe were the days when we called it Matinee the same thing that we call Noon Show. Those were the days when I was so young that I needed my mom to be at my side and my legs over her to sleep. Those were the days of Street Hawk.

I still remember vividly those nights when I have to steal my way away from my mom- we didn't have a TV then- probably this was in late 1980's- sometime around 1986 or 1987- that was the time when my mom wouldn't let me stay awake for watching Street Hawk- but at such an impressionable age, "The Man, The Machine, The Street Hawk" is such an enthralling proposition, that I didn't mind to many a times defy my mom and stay awake till that time to watch it. There were times when my neighbor would go to sleep, when I would wake him up for the show. Those were the days when watching TV was a thrill- the stories of Jungle Book, The He-Man and the Masters of the Universe- those days.

As I was feeling so nostalgic about those days, all I had was YouTube to keep me company. So, there you go!

I simply love the introduction and the "The Man, The Machine, The Street Hawk" tag line. Even the funny 300 MPH sounds good now- the green cube of focus that the Man will have in the Machine...when I see it now too, I am so excited about it. I watched it completely, called up a couple of my friends, made them watch it too- its just a great feeling to watch that, the "Ek-Chidiya- Anek- Chidiyaan" bit.

Those were the days, my friend
we thought they'd never end!- But end did they!

Interesting!

2007-05-22T18:35:00.000-04:00

This news item that appeared in BBC today, caught my attention. The news is about Google deciding to ban essay writing ads from appearing. This is a classic case of clash between ethics/morality and business. The legitimate businesses that provide essay writing services- the business line here is legitimate. They are in outsourcing industry- its that simple. However, how many of us are comfortable with an University student buying an essay from one of these companies and submitting it, as his own?

Personally, I find no wrong in essay writing companies doing what they are doing. It is a legitimate business avenue for them. They get their work outsourced from their clients. Students in this case are outsourcing their job of learning/preparing a document about their learning to these third parties. Is it something wrong? My business logic says it isn't. I would try to get my job done as easily and best quality as possible. That is what all outsourcing is about. I get my job done at the cheapest and efficient place possible. It is also about the "Core Competency". May be essay writing is not my core competency. May be studying is not my core competency. So, I outsource that to someone who does it best. But where I go wrong in this case is, when I claim such a work as mine. If I dont claim that work as mine, then there is no point in me wanting that work done..right? The essay writing companies claim that they warn the users that, the work cannot be claimed as user's own is at best, sort of a disclaimer that no one really cares about. I really don't believe the claim that their essays are not being used for submission. As I said, there is absolutely no use in me paying for a work whose only purpose is submission as my own and not submit it!

It's a good case study for ethics class is all that I can say. Having done some ethics case studies, I think this case will have not differing opinions. Everyone will try to be in the "right" side of the divide. How can I justify the stance that the material is not used for plagiarism purposes? It is completely a personal ethical stance that every individual takes. As such, morality and ethics are seldom practiced as a group - though they get framed by a group- its always an individual that needs to follow it!- Weird World- Weird People!

Realization!

2007-05-21T20:39:00.000-04:00

Was reading something when I realized how true is this picture, when it comes to me and Slashdot!

The sameness!!! Arghhh...Ask me how frustrating it is to see just a handful of topics in Slashdot after 1 hour of inactivity!! I guess Metafilter does a decent job- but the titles sometimes people give to stories in Metafilter- I would rather hang myself than to even read anything further!! I don't know how people can imagine such titles!

Reasons!!

2007-05-19T18:48:00.000-04:00

First, before I go on further, I want to make clear the history-geography of the last post!

History:
I used to write poems- well, that was once upon a time- mostly in English- some in Tamil too. But many of my poems were written when I was in despair or generally in a sad mood. Though I hold my opinion that Sadness/Pain isn't that what brings the best, my intensity of that belief isn't the same as before, when I see my own creations!! I am starting to believe that pain brings in the better expression of the feel and so, the creations tend to look better-anyways- that is apart from the history of my latest post. Suddenly yesterday, I remembered that I hadn't posted a poem in a long time. So, sat down to write. But I couldn't write anything...Didn't want to waste the momentum that had built in me to post! So, ended up with the poem that we all grew up with!

Geography:
Well, there isn't much geography to it other than that it came from Wikipedia!

This is to assuage concerns about my lost sanity! :P

Coming to the current post, I am sort of in a trance this weekend. Work has kept me busy- though I did sneak in the time required for my daily reads and news stories. Had planned for a trip to Niagara the coming long weekend. Gone to Canadian embassy for the Visa issues. I wonder how can they make people stand in the street in New York. I detested standing in the street for my US Visa. I thought people here would be more sane- seems like I am vastly mistaken.

We were standing in the 6^th Avenue, 49^th street, NYC, for somewhere around 1/2 hour in the chilling cold weather, with no one even having an understanding of what is happening. After 1/2 hour the embassy staff comes over and leads us inside the consulate. His demeanor leaves much to be desired. I understand that there is a huge rush for Canadian visa and the staff are overworked. But this is hardly the impression one would want their country to have when someone comes to it. The staff were acting as if we were some illiterate nuisance to tackle. I don't mind standing in the queue- but what irks me is the fact that, we were made to stand there inspite of the weather and inspite of vacant place available inside the building for a queue. Anyways, got the visa and looking forward for the trip. Let me see how it turns out!

In other stories, NYT runs a story on the raising Indian Second Tier Cities. Impressive. But how much of this would become reality is GOK!

Revisiting!

2007-05-17T16:14:00.000-04:00

One!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Another One!

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.

One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

Brooklyn and WTC!

2007-05-15T18:32:00.001-04:00

There are some things that are better left unspoken- like Love, like dreams...and here like WTC!! The people I move with- a good number of them, seem to have lost someone- 1^st or 2^nd or at the least 3^rd degree loss. The 9/11 is better not spoken about. So, I wasn't surprised when I found a congregation at the site, the day when I went there.

Actually, it wasn't a planned trip. We had initially planned to go to 5^th avenue- the Apple Store. When I first read about the Apple Store, I know I wanted to see this place somehow. And when I know I am coming to Newark, I know this would be the first place that I would visit in NYC. But, as they say, things have their own ways of shaping up. The day we were supposed to go to Big Apple to see the Apple, we had a slight mis-communication and the result- the people who were supposed to take us there, ended up reaching there alone.

So I decided, the best way to explore a place is to get lost ;)...Started off with my colleague. We know we need to go to 5th avenue. But we had no idea on how to get there. Got into the Tube and started our journey. I saw the route map in the Path- but then ignored them. Wanted to just go till where the Path would take us. Ended up in WTC.

Once we saw the huge crater in the place of WTC, I was dumbstruck with the magnitude of the event. For most of us in India, it was destruction of a building and loss of lives- though the number was enormous, I guess we would never be able to fully comprehend the scale of the building or what it stands for. This one picture there was so moving that I couldn't stop walking away lest I would cry.

This is part of the Art for Heart Exhibition that is being conducted with the paintings by the children who lost their loved ones on 9/11.

NYC had always been a dream place for me. I am sure, it still is! What I saw there and what I felt there- words wouldn't be enough to explain them- it's not the richness, it's not the wealth or the power this city commands- it's the sheer scale of human possibilities that this city is a symbol of- that inspires me- well, I am distracting from the topic.

We ended up in this place and started walking as our legs would carry us. I was sure, that I would be able to make my way back. So took all the roads that I can take- simultaneously, my camera too was busy with it's piece of work. I had already decided that I would try out and experiment all the functionalities in the camera and I also wanted to learn the differences between the many settings- theoretically all make sense- but when you actually see the same scene taken with different settings, you can appreciate the difference.

When I saw the board "Brooklyn Bridge", I know we had come to the right place ;)- started towards it. Result- loads of pictures - there would be duplicates of the same scene- same people- but note that, the settings for each of the pictures vary- you can see the settings in the "Details" tab of the page!

The bridge itself is a marvel of architecture- there are boards and sign plates that tell you the story behind the Bridge- but the one marvelous thing about the bridge is that you get to see the Statue of Liberty far off- the sight is breath taking and awe inspiring- the symbol of everything that I hold high as moral and as value- though that is in short supply everywhere (even here).

Every moment I was there- I truly enjoyed the freedom, the human ingenuity and possibilities- to look at the Manhattan Skyline and the distant Empire State Building- it truly inspires you like none else, of the innate Human Will and resolve. Would love to go there once again- if not for anything atleast to enjoy it in the night- I hadn't taken my jacket with me, as it was pretty hot in the day when we left- but ended up in rains when we returned.

Tons of photos for the patient enough!

From Newark!

2007-05-06T16:37:00.000-04:00

Now a days, every time I sit down to write something, I find an inexplicable reason to not proceed further. May be the lack of interest on my part is the reason for this. But, I did find a strong enough reason to blog now. It's been a week now since I landed in this country for the second time this year. The first thing to strike me was the difference this place has with Texas and Dallas in particular.

Dallas is vast, spacious, dry and hot and distinctly American or at least Un-Indian. This place is all opposite. It's cramped, wet and cold. The place that I stay in, is more Indian than most of India so to say. The first guy to speak with me after the immigration desk is an afro-american and the first question he asked me was "Taxi Chahiyae??". Earlier, I was surprised by the announcement in Hindi in the Newark International Airport- but I reasoned that it was for the Air-India passengers. But this question from that guy was enough to convince me of the "Indianness" of the place.

There were more surprises in store for me. The whole locality that I currently live in, is Indian- mostly Gujaratis. There are Subzi Mandi's, Hyderabad House, Bombay Chat, Indian Movie Theaters and behold- Saravana Bhavan. Our very own Saravana Bhavan is at walking distance from my home and I am just starting(after making this post for a sumptuous dinner there). I am sure I wouldn't have to have the "Onion" "Dosa" that I had in Dallas.

The journey to office is a story in itself. I need to take a bus, then a train and then a Metro-subway to reach office. An exciting journey in itself, as this extends just across Hudson to the Big Apple!

My office sits pretty near to the Newark Penn Station. And just peeping through the window from my seat in the 23rd Floor, I can see the Hudson curling around, I can see the distant NewYork-Manhattan skylines, the EWR airport and the flights landing and taking off. There are more to my New Jersey stay than this.

Like- the photo below!- Note the jet of water and the sea gull on top of it and also visit the album- there are tons of good ones in there!

From 2007-05-06-Ca...

Third Year!

2007-04-24T13:40:00.000-04:00

Oops..has it been 3 years already? While the first two years were really exciting and full of posts, I guess the third year had been a very uneventful as far as my blog is concerned. Only 49 posts so far, with this making the 5oth post of the third year!

Not Me...Not at all Me!

Hampi

2007-04-03T07:29:00.000-04:00

Been to Hampi- one of my "must go" destination for a long time. I didn't want to go there without my own camera- preferably a SLR. Now that I have that with me, planned for a quick trip- one of the must visit spot there was the "Stepped Well"- Well, will come to that later.

Started off from Mangalore on Friday- a KSRTC bus was all could get- When we enquired for direct buses to Hampi, I was surprised when people asked me "where is Hampi?"-While I didn't expect people to readily give me an answer if there are buses to Hampi, I atleast expected that, they would know the place. Sad that people in Karnataka themselves don't know much about Hampi.

All set for the trip, we reached the bus-stand and was really thrilled to find a decent bus. Our thrill didn't last long- the road is awesome. You virtually visit the heaven's every now and then, when the bus tries tackling the numerous speed breakers- there are a series of speed breakers, wherever a gully or a small road meets the Highway- the speed breakers are in the highway. Some speed breakers should be definitely called back breakers. I don't understand the logic of having speed breakers in the highway, when a smaller road meets it!- So much for Logic!

The trip was so much eventful, that when we reached Hubli at around 4:30 AM, we were simply amazed to find an entrepreneurial guy, trying to sell the Duck-like-sound making doll at such an hour- you would have seen those toys that make sound when hit or shaken. He was selling that in such a devilish hour- Couldn't understand the logic!

But, once we reached Hampi. all these pains were replaced by pure bliss! Let the pictures speak the rest of the story!

From Hampi Visit

I

2007-03-23T07:59:00.000-04:00

I,
Want things that I can't have.
Dislike things that I can easily have.
Like things when they can't be had and dislike the same, when they become easy to have.

Funny me!

Hardened Thoughts

2007-03-16T15:45:00.000-04:00

It's been two years that I wrote this piece.

[...Geopolitics of Globalisation by Baldev Raj Nayar. A nice collection of facts, interpretations, history and Politics of Globalisation. The author seem to have a bent towards anti-americanism...american hegemony....Hegemon of Hegemons as he calls it....though the hegemonism be true, still it doesn't prevent the author from taking stance.....would we - meaning the Indians be any different, given the chance and the ability to lord over the world...Simple facts like the amount US spent on its defence in the year 2001 (US$351 Bn) is way..infact miles ahead of the next five countires put together...the US's power isn't manifest only in Military...it is there in Hollywood, McDonald's , Walt Disney, Microsoft, Google...everything....one probable reason why US is able to lord over the world is this hidden influence on the way people everywhere think....by creating clones everywhere, US is able to sustain interest in it....there are many grey areas in the development stories of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan...the author provides a nice account of what transpired between the powers that be....how many conditions of America was accommodated..

It's surprising that in the two years, my thoughts had changed little. But I wrote those words, without seeing/verifying things on my own. But now, having seen a bit of US, I know I hadn't been wrong. Yesterday, as we had gone to Costco for some shopping to carry back to India, I noticed something and made a note to my room mates and they too seem to agree.

There is so much of imitation of American way of life in Indian Global companies- it hardly matters if you are in US or in Indian offices of these companies. The companies, though Global, are basically, very much American. It is a fallacy that we call them Global companies. The American hegemony (if I can call it that ways) is all too visible in the way business is conducted across Indian companies. Is there any distinct Indian-ness in any of the companies? Or for that matter is there any distinctiveness in any of the companies that dot the Globe now, except Americanism?

While writing this, I have a parallel thought- is there any distinct Americanism anywhere?- Or is it simply the most efficient way of doing things as we know now? Is it simply because of the American efficiency- which I thoroughly appreciate and marvel at, that we tend to have clones everywhere trying to do things that Uncle Sam had done and done it successfully?

Questions to Ponder- I don't think I would be pondering them while on flight back home!

New member!

2007-03-08T22:55:00.000-05:00

The latest addition to my luggage- a Canon Rebel XT 350D. Trying to understand the gizmo's functionality and features. First few snaps have been cool ;)

Next in line!

2007-03-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

While I used to follow the US press when I was in India itself, it wasn't all that of immediate relevance to me. But when I came here, I started following US new editions more carefully, gleaning for information with their content and context. Enough said about the BBC, now its time for Reuters.

Some days back when I was reading through the daily news, I came upon this article. It's a 3 page article and needless to say, touches one of the most stormy issues in the International politics today. Inspite all these, the flow of the article and the news that it conveys is, IMHO, simply inconsistent with general journalistic judgment.

Sample these:

"The purpose appears not to be to shore up Iran's political partners in Iraq against the Sunnis, but to cause problems for American troops," said a former intelligence official who closely monitors events in the Middle East.

.........

The secretive Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has circumvented Shi'ite organizations like the Mehdi Army to enlist individual militants and train them in the use of explosively formed penetrators, the officials said.

These allegations against Iran are all made by unnamed, unidentified "Officials"-there are no attributions to any one. Remember these were the same tactics used earlier before the war on Iraq. Now, its an open secret on who the public opinion was manufactured leading to Iraq War.

The heights of such scandalous attribution comes here:

WARNING TO U.S TROOPS?

Some experts believe Iran has supplied traceable weapons to show the United States what ground troops might face in any military intervention.

"Tensions between these two countries have escalated dramatically since 2003, and everybody has suspected for a long time that Iraq could become a battlefield," said Vali Nasr, Middle East expert at the Naval Postgraduate School.

"I'm sure these (munitions) have been used to let it be known that the Iranians have these capabilities in Iraq."

Added an intelligence source: "They could be saying, 'This is the merest taste of what you would face if you came across the border or bombed us or knocked out our nuclear reactors'."

Here, the sentence structure seems so like that the quote "I'am sure these have been....." can easily me mistaken for Vali Nasr, whereas in reality it is again said by some "intelligence source". What is this, but stroking hysteria? A population already scared with 9/11 and yet to come back to normal doesn't need further than these words to panic.

I have just one question- What Next?

Nuthing Much!

2007-02-23T22:07:00.000-05:00

How many months had it been now..that I had seen you? I remember it...Its exactly 3 months and 2 days now...Isn't it enough time for someone to forget? But how can I? I see you in the digital Screen, in the late night sleep, in the frost of the day, in the freezing fingers. While at night, standing on the balcony and starring at the almost spotless sky, I can imagine what would you say for this. May be I know you so much? May be you are all that I had thought you were?

The adorable kid on my desktop solicits inquisitive questions and a muted, understood smile. That smile is a sign of playing along with the lie that I live through- just as the same lie you are living too. Isn't it hard not to look at that kid and smile to oneself- saying this is what I am missing? It is hard..mighty hard.

Every morning as I wake up and switch ON the comp, the smile, those twisted lips, those carefree childish face- that fleeting moment is what I look forward for, in a day. The last week, when this monitor wouldn't work and the laptop had to go for a service- there isn't something that I had missed so much as that face that wakes me up every day.

It's the feeling of getting back something that left you- words can't explain them.

Visual DNA

2007-02-20T14:47:00.000-05:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Yahoo- Kanukku Puli

2007-02-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

You have 5 mails unread in the morning.
You read all of them through the day logged into another machine.
You return back and see the page opened.
You click on the "Check mail" button.
The Screen refreshes to 3 unread mails (though they had been read through the day).
You hit the button twice and you get-

Yahoo!!! for sure is a kannakku puli (Though I am tempted to ask that quintessential question that always comes with this satire! [:P]).

My father would be heartened to see his son in the care of such maths genius!

Tale of Two Worlds!

2007-02-07T19:42:00.000-05:00

We're going to run into a constraint pretty soon, though. It turns out corn is needed for more than just ethanol. You got to feed your cows and feed your hogs.

- GWB, Caterpillar, Inc. East Peoria, Illinois

"When there isn't enough money to buy meat, you do without," one woman in Mexico City, Bonifacia Ysidro, told the Associated press. "Tortillas you can't do without."

-Ms Ysidro, Mexico.

Indian Outsourcing Industry!

2007-02-06T14:04:00.000-05:00

While skimming through the headlines, I got upon this particular article from Infoworld. Makes an interesting read and one that echoes what had been running in my mind ever since I joined one of those (All said and done, my employer is still perceived as an outsourcer only- though many might not agree). I have been seeing many business managers (both from my Senior batch and my batch) joining IT companies- the lure of money, the opportunities, the general "Oh, you are an IT Guy" might have been reasons for the same.

I can very well testify that there had been movements other way too, but they pale in comparison with the movement towards IT. As the later portion of the article points out,

Indian IT spending is growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8 percent, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, to over $36 billion by 2009, Gartner said. This increase comes from rising expectations from businesses for IT to play a larger role in growth, efficiency and competitive advantage, it added.

When we have such a big IT spender in our midst, seems like we are blissfully unaware of the market or we are blatantly ignoring them, for want of quick bucks. I am sure Indian IT companies can subsidise their Indian operations for a couple of years, so that they can gain a foothold in a fast emerging market. Consider the spate of industrial growth that has been triggered in India- take for example the retail industry alone. There are other auxiliary industries like Logistics, Packaging and Supply Chain Management etc that would grow as retail grows. If we are able to concentrate on those for the time being- I am not saying that we leave the lucrative operations in NA and Europe for India...If we can just put in some effort and are willing to wait for results in a couple of years time,we might just crack the potential here.

I understand there are issues here like Margins, Credit, Pricing etc. I would assume the same issues with any client. After all, any client would be tight on his wallet. I know we can't expect the same margin as with our European and American clients- after all, we would have to negotiate in terms of Rupees and not in Dollars :)- but that's the part of the business. I am afraid, because, if we loose out on this now, it might just be too late, later.

There might be other concerns. What would be the result of such an approach on the Psyche of the employees. Take it or not, the option of an On-site is a big factor "for" an IT job. Would it still matter if I know for sure, I wouldn't have that option as an employee with a company concentrating on domestic market and still find it luring enough? Would that lead to an increase in wages- what would happen in such a scenario, where there is already pressure on the margins and also on the expenditure? Would that be a good enough scenario for Indian companies to work in and survive? Can their overseas market subsidise domestic market for long?

These questions, I assume are being asked at the relevant offices and I hope, we see atleast a spark of an activity in this area.

Nationalistic Pride!

2007-02-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

I am just waiting for more Indian noises! I fail to understand the excitement over this news(purely and only from the perspective that I am ranting about here) and the tag "Indian-American". I am afraid we live in such a hypocratic world that I wonder what makes us think she is Indian anymore. I am sure Sunitha got where she got, not because of her nationality. She got there through her hard work, intellect and merits. To claim a national pride where there exists none - or at least to rejoice in such nationalistic jingoism, sucks.

I am skeptical whether Sunitha would claim herselves an Indian, anymore than Musharaff would claim himselves an Indian. I wonder how come none of our news papers ever call Musharaff an "Indian-Pakistani". In the same league, how about calling Advani, as "Pakistani-Indian"? Such stupidity!

I had never been a votary for this thing called "Nationalism"[Though I can understand there is some shred of pride in me, in the fact of being called an Indian- Old habits- die hard]- When are we going to come out of the Nation State? I think the time has come for Nation State to wither..But frankly, I am unable to see an alternative. May be just states and not Nation States would be a solution. But states can't survive without becoming a Nation State- else America would have been a province of England still.

Funny Spam!

2007-01-24T16:38:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, when I really want a break from work for real, I read through the tens of spams that I get everyday. Some are ridiculously short "This is the file- Ok-Bye" stuff, while some are more elaborate "You inherit the wealth of Africa- waiting to confirm your account number stuff".

But some are interesting, in the subject they choose and the content they have. For example, I got a mail with the Subject "testimonial" and the content as below:

Today I bought a book of stamps. On the other hand we're all getting better as time goes along. Since this is a core piece, any application in windows will be able to use the drive. PrintAnywhere is a windows-installed piece of software that allows other people on the 'net to print to your printer. mostly sweet, with a few nuts. Today I bought a book of stamps. simpler, more efficient and quieter than it's prop cousins, this thing's sure to be a hit. you're investing in the service up front.
PrintAnywhere is a windows-installed piece of software that allows other people on the 'net to print to your printer. 51 up front to be used in 12 months. This movie focuses on an arranged wedding, and life in general in India.
after sticking my stamps carefully on the 4 pieces of mail I had. PrintAnywhere is a windows-installed piece of software that allows other people on the 'net to print to your printer. I've given up on an out of date tamps beacause it's so time consuming to stand in line at the Post Office to get 1c stamps.
Since this is a core piece, any application in windows will be able to use the drive. On the other hand we're all getting better as time goes along. With a learning Bayesian filter this has the ability to grow with spam challenges. Cripes I hate colour spaces. on the other hand you're going to have to worry about colour spaces and differences between tone on a monitor, camera, printer, and in paint. but it's memory remains.

Here comes the quote of the year:
If Microsoft wanted to get more candy more quickly, it would leave some in the jar.

Some really thoughtful words with a hurt ego:

If rationality ever becomes a widespread infectious vector, maybe someone will listen to you someday.

Slashdot and India!

2007-01-22T19:41:00.000-05:00

Its a time honored tradition of Slashdot'ers. You put up an article on some achievement by India, you would get responses that start straight away from the poverty and caste that India has to offer the world. This time too, it is no different.

One post on the successful retreival by India of the satellite, brought out so many silly, ridiculous, funny responses. But there are also some nice, insightful comments. That is what I love about Slashdot. But those niceties apart, you really can't deny this overwhelming feeling that India is been cast as a caste ridden and feudalistic society not worth its claims in the world stage. As one of my colleagues asked me at the Lunch table..." How did the cow got the sacred status it has in India state?" and "You say you are an Indian...aren't you Hindu??" and "You say you speak a different tongue than the rest of India..so are you Indian?"

These questions aren't funny. It only shows the lack of understanding that the world has over India- may be they are partly to blame..as much as (or to a much lesser extent) we are to be blamed. May be we didn't bother to make ourselves heard the "right" way. Is there a right way to be heard? Wouldn't people hear what we are and not what we want them to hear?

Whereas there is no dearth of surveys like this, I couldn't remember hearing anything of this sort done (or even thought) about for other countries...like say Russia, UK or Germany or China or India...Why is it so?

iPhone and such like!

2007-01-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday as I was hopping between meetings, lunch and SSN office and couple of other things, the one site that I never closed was this. Whenever I get a speck of a wireless access, I just refreshed the screen and when the ultimate announcement came, I wasn't too impressed. But as the pictures and other features started tickling in, I knew I am into something real exciting. Then scouring for all sort of material available on the Internet, reading for and against, so many opinions- mostly in favour..but some in doubt too. There is no doubt that this product is an awesome addition to the already exciting Apple portfolio. But the genius of this piece lies in its simplicity of design and uncluttered nature.

There would definitely be competitors closing in on Apple Inc, but then a start made is a start made and no one can change that. By throwing open the phone to public viewing pleasure (though the launch is planned only by June), Steve would have not only satisfied the FCC, but also might have given some lead time for his competitors.

I had put this post in draft the day after the iPhone announcement was made and as I am typing this today, there had already been so many twists and turns to the story. As the story keeps tickling in from all quarters and the legal minutes being fought out in the open, I am yet to take sides in this- While I am positive that Jobs wouldn't be stupid enough to say this without enough consideration, and be sure of the repercussions, I would only hope that all those started well, ends well and I get to refer to my dream as I refer to it now- iPhone.

While I intend to buy the phone the moment it hits the stores(provided it doesn't run out of stock), I don't know what I would do when I return back to India..With iPhone locked in with Cingular (now at&t), I can't use it anywhere other than in US. It seems that there might also be a contract period of 2 years and that would simply be too restricting for me. My only hope as of now is to wait till there is an unlocked phone that is available in the market. While there are no dearths of people waiting such, with the recent utterances from Stevie, I am not very enthusiastic about such a step- not the least in US. Ofcourse, I am sure if and when iPhone is released in other countries than US, it would be an unlocked version, the time for such a release disappoints me.

On an unrelated note, I have moved to the New, Blogger. Feels good- after a long wait..but yet to optimize my blog to the new features that the New Blogger offers.

Difference!!!

2007-01-08T15:25:00.000-05:00

Its been a week in a foreign land for me- but except for the cold and the wads of clothing that I wear, nothing seems any different..I wasn't able to understand the excitement in people's voice when they heard that I am off to USA- and now, I am still unable to get the reason for the excitement. To me, it makes no difference. The roads, the distance, the loneliness, the computer, the electronic faces and virtual life - all remain the same...just that, they live in a different time zone.

I still only chat with friends- lost the personal touch of meeting them in person - with some, I had even lost that chat. People have long lost their faces...they exist mostly as profile pages and a permanent residence with an @ sign. I have forgotten- to a good extent- doesn't even know how someone's face would be. I imagine context and emotions to chat sessions- I interpret things the same way I used to...nothing seems to have changed.

It doesn't really impress me that there are so many cars on the streets- so many bikes- so many what not- Unless I have any of them- how does it matter if someone else has it?- Life is as same as it had always been- may be one difference is that, now I am cooking- and that’s after a break of good 4 years. How much ever I think about it, I am unable to place my finger on the lack of excitement in my stay here...for sure, I am not frightened… I am not home sick..I am not missing anyone...I am not missing Indian Food...I am not getting jacked at office...I am not anything....I am NOT.

When I start my 40 minute walk (one way) to office and back with my iPod plugged in spewing songs, that had never been any different- be it in Hyderabad or Mangalore or Plano. The songs remain the same, the bag remains the same, the walk remains the same and everything that goes with it remains the same. I watch SUN TV at exactly the same time as I used to watch- thanks to some streaming site. I had forgotten what a good food would taste like...so its all the same- Food has for sometime become just a potion to alleviate hunger and ceased to excite me as it used to- when I was able to appreciate it.

The office, the park, the cemented road, the zipping cars- absolutely nothing is any different. May be its supposed to be so!

Confusion

2007-01-07T13:17:00.000-05:00

In an important ruling the Supreme Court has ruled that asking money to meet domestic needs doesn't constitute "Dowry" as defined in the Section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. I dont know what the Section 2 of Dowry Prohibition Act says. But do know for sure, the saying that "Law is an Ass" is perfectly true in this regard.

Though I know nothing about the section 2 of Dowry act and what it says, I am pretty much sure, that the Dowry that is being asked is mostly and (if I am anything to go by) only for household domestic needs. I would loathe any court deciding what would be my domestic need- I would definitely not like any court to decide what should I need and more so, I would definitely not like any act to define what can be and cannot be my domestic need- this sort of interpretation would definitely lead to more crooks using this ruling and escaping the justice.

Would any person claim that the dowry that he is asking is for luxury? Any one who asks money from his wife for marriage is no Man...I would not rate him anymore than I would rate a pimp. Dowry in itself is a deplorable practice. To give a twist to it as a household expense, domestic need and luxury is even more disappointing. What is manure today might be a car tomorrow. Would it be then left to a court that a man might need manure (ofcourse for agricultural purposes :P) more than he need a car? Shall courts decide what is a necessity and what is not? Is it a decision to be taken by the court or by the individual?- Now, this leads to even more confusion as to where should one draw a line. It would be highly insane to expect every man to be moral to himself and to his conscience. I would not definitely not think it would come to that state.

I am confused at the end of it- Why is it that I always end up thus?

Banana State!

2007-01-03T18:37:00.000-05:00

I love this Idea. I love every bit of it- Infact, I love the concept, the proposed execution and the idea so much that I wouldn't mind stay put at this place till this idea sees the ....errr...sky..Welcome to the Banana State of Texas!

While I am disappointed that this project is due to be completed not untill 2008, I really had a good laugh at the Introductory pages of the site..I am just wondering whether at sometime when the entire thing will become a sort of Million Dollar Home Page....Infact, nothing can be more popular than this..only point of concern is, how big the ad should be to be visible from earth?- or Should it matter at all??- The mere fact that my company is there, is enough of an advertisement for me..aint it? ;)

But then, who really cares- I just found this funny enough to cite and did just that.....[Post Courtesy - Boing Boing or Metafilter- I don't remember- Information Overload!]

New Year!

2006-12-31T13:34:00.000-05:00

The same time last year, I was sweating it out for the SAP certificaton exam at Hyderabad.This time, I am sitting in a hotel room at Plano, Texas, but not sweating-Its infact a bit cold here than I thought it would be.

Last new year brought in so many changes to my life. It removed many cobwebs, cleared some misconceptions, ushered in a new thought and brought in some treasured, lasting relationships. It also gave me some good amount of understanding of how stuff works. All in all a good year indeed in retrospect. Hoping this year too, brings with it the same kind of joy [I wouldn't complain if it is something different too ;)].

The one sore point of last year was that, for the entire year, the number of posts that I have made is only 47- I know the reasons for such a great drop- but then those reasons are as flimsy as the Windows Vista itself ;). Hope to clear that sore point this year atleast- afterall, Leapord is around the corner :)

The tale of 2 sides!

2006-12-08T08:13:00.000-05:00

Exactly as we are moving towards(or at least holding in high regard) Western Ideas, here comes a western leader, [The two links seems to provide two different versions- Not sure, why is BBC updating such off the same URL] saying thing or two (apparently, which one I am yet to ascertain).

The "Notepaded" Version of the two pages read thus:

Conform to our society, says PM

People entering the UK must be prepared to be tolerant or not become part of British society, Tony Blair has said. (Emphasis Added)

In a speech at Downing Street, Mr Blair said that tolerance was "what makes Britain, Britain" and warned "we must be ready to defend this attitude". The prime minister said: "So conform to it; or don't come here. We don't want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed." He also defended multiculturalism, saying it should be celebrated. The lecture comes a year after Mr Blair said he never quite knew what people meant by multiculturalism.

Mr Blair said: "It is not that we need to dispense with multicultural Britain.
"On the contrary, we should continue celebrating it."

Duty to integrate
In the speech, Mr Blair also announced a crackdown on funding for religious and racial groups, saying in the future they would have to prove they aimed to promote community integration. Commenting on the speech Liberal Democrat communities spokesman Andrew Stunell said: "We must ensure that the voices of moderation have their say, but support for organisations must not be distorted by government driven targets or Tony Blair's personal agenda." It was important to demonstrate what integration meant, Mr Blair said.

"The right to be in a multi-cultural society was always implicitly balanced by a duty to integrate, to be part of Britain, to be British and Asian, British and black, British and white." Mr Blair emphasised this was not about rejecting values, nor diluting identity or religion. However, he called for Britain "to re-assert the duty to integrate, to stress what we hold in common and to say: these are the shared boundaries within which we all are obliged to live, precisely in order to preserve our right to our own different faiths, races and creeds". The suicide bombings in London on July 7 last year had thrown the whole concept of a multicultural Britain "into sharp relief", the prime minister said.

'Distinctive culture'
He insisted it was an idea that should still be celebrated but said it went hand in hand with a "duty" to share "essential values". "When it comes to our essential values - belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage - then that is where we come together, it is what we hold in common." The prime minister said Britain was "better placed than most" to have a sensible debate on the issue.But it had to be prepared to stand up and fight for the tolerance which was its hallmark, he added. "If you come here lawfully, we welcome you. If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become an equal member of our community and become one of us.

"The right to be different. The duty to integrate. That is what being British means.
"And neither racists nor extremists should be allowed to destroy it." Mr Blair praised Tory leader David Cameron, saying it was "not conceivable in my view" that he would seek to exploit immigration to win votes. "That is both a tribute to him and to the common culture of tolerance we have established in this country today."

The Other page read:

'Duty to integrate,' says Blair

Tony Blair wants Britain to celebrate multiculturalism Britain can celebrate its multicultural society while reasserting the "duty" to integrate, Tony Blair has said. In a speech at Downing Street, the prime minister said differences could be preserved in an integrated society. He warned that "we must be ready to defend this attitude" and tolerance was "what makes Britain, Britain". He said: "So conform to it; or don't come here. We don't want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed." The lecture comes a year after Mr Blair said he never quite knew what people meant by multiculturalism.

'Demonstrate integration'

Last year, Commission for Racial Equality chairman Trevor Phillips caused controversy by suggesting that multiculturalism may now be outdated. He also warned that Britain could be "sleep-walking" towards US-style ethnic segregation because of a failure to address differences and create common values. Mr Blair said: "It is not that we need to dispense with multicultural Britain."On the contrary, we should continue celebrating it." In the speech, Mr Blair also announced a crackdown on funding for religious and racial groups, saying in the future they would have to prove they aimed to promote community integration.

Identity

It was important to "demonstrate and underline what is meant by integration in modern Britain," he said. "The right to be in a multi-cultural society was always implicitly balanced by a duty to integrate, to be part of Britain, to be British and Asian, British and black, British and white." Mr Blair emphasised this was not about rejecting values within a multicultural Britain, nor diluting identity or religion. However, he called for Britain "to re-assert the duty to integrate, to stress what we hold in common and to say: these are the shared boundaries within which we all are obliged to live, precisely in order to preserve our right to our own different faiths, races and creeds". The suicide bombings in London on July 7 last year had thrown the whole concept of a multicultural Britain "into sharp relief", the prime minister said.

'Distinctive culture'

He insisted it was an idea that should still be celebrated but said it went hand in hand with a "duty" to share "essential values". "When it comes to our essential values - belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage - then that is where we come together, it is what we hold in common.

The prime minister said Britain was "better placed than most" to have a sensible debate on the issue. But it had to be prepared to stand up and fight for the tolerance which was its hallmark, he added. "We are a nation comfortable with the open world of today," he said. "If you come here lawfully, we welcome you. If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become an equal member of our community and become one of us.

"Then you, and all of us, who want to, can worship God in our own way, take pride in our different cultures after our own fashion, respect our distinctive histories according to our own traditions; but do so within a shared space of shared values in which we take no less pride and show no less respect. "The right to be different. The duty to integrate. That is what being British means. "And neither racists nor extremists should be allowed to destroy it." Mr Blair praised Tory leader David Cameron, saying it was "not conceivable in my view" that he would seek to exploit immigration to win votes. "That is both a tribute to him and to the common culture of tolerance we have established in this country today."

Now, if you can see the language of the two editions, they are very different- while the first sermons the people, the second one urges. But, if you are to go by the URL, you would probably find only one page(Which one, I don't know and would that be at least any one of these too is some thing that I am unable to guess).

This, seems to me as a step by a confused, identity less and "I-Want-To-Be-Good-To-All" syndrome and an irony in itself. Tolerance in itself is not the least a Britian Value(just ought to read some of Winston Churchill's quotes about India and Gandhi- We would know the kind of Tolerance that Blair claims to be so "British"). Hardly is Britian a multiculturalist country. I wonder what would have made them think they are multiculturalist- there is nothing wrong in thinking so- guess the over stuffed Chicken Tikka Masala made them so...but then, to claim history which doesn't exist would only lead to further alienation.

The same western countries were afraid of Nationalism in other parts of the world and now, they want to have their citizens to be British and Black, British and White, British and Asian...essentially whipping up Nationalist feeling, when what you would expect them to promote Genuine non-intervention in the affairs of the individuals as a Western State.

The speech also has an implicit assumption that only immigrants are racist, hate mongers- because it is only those who shouldn't "come into Britian"- so it is indeed okay if you are a British hate monger- after all it's the Tolerance that Britian is known for, from the time Humans were conceived in the evolutionist embryo of the Monkeys!- Also note that the religious communities need to prove that they aim to promote Community Integration- the word whether this also means the Catholic Church is yet to be out..but let us assume it too, would be part of this proposal. I think and believe Catholic Church in Britian is a religious entity and not a secular one-as often the case in India!

Cross posted at: Third Eye

Truth of the fun!

2006-12-07T09:51:00.000-05:00

True...I would say! [;)]- Warning- A 10 minute video - but fun and to a good extent true.

Nice Design!

2006-11-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, what do you think the picture is, at first look? I couldn't believe it till I read the entire story here.

Take a look at the graceful structure that the turbine is and then we can come to a conclusion.[Picture Courtesy: Engadget]

As correctly the Engadget asks, can't there be a better name to it than Quiet Revolution QR5? There are more pictures than this to explain how this entire concept work(based on the vertical axis wind turbine). Though I am not competent enough to suggest anything on the advantages and disadvantages of design or anything else on this subject, I am pleased with the helical design of this and atleast this isn't an eye sore like the blade turbine that we currently use!- Hope this finds acceptance and wide use!

Point on Point!

2006-11-24T01:11:00.000-05:00

Did any of your maths teacher or professor or anyone for that matter taught you that "Point" is, in fact an idea and not a reality?- that how much ever you zoom a point, it would still remain a point and that there is no dimension to it?

A Point in fact, exists only in the mind of the person who is thinking about it. So when I say that the "Line" connects Points A and B, and also say that Line is a single dimensional entity, does it ring a bell? What I fail to understand is how can an entity connecting two non-existing entities, exist? I mean, how can a line derive its existence, when the basic definition of its existence itself is absent and still get a dimension?- In the end does the dimensions too exist only in the mind of people thinking about it or do they exist for real?

If Point doesn't exist, what is wrong in saying that Point is a Sphere, whose radius tends to Zero. Since a Point doesn't exist, you can't disprove that when the radius of a Sphere tends to Zero, it can't become a Point- You can only prove or disprove the existence of an existing thing- right? You can't prove the existence of a non-existing entity! In a similar vein, a Point can also be a Line whose Length tends to Zero. For this, you would have to first prove that a Line is in fact an entity, which would follow (from reversing my earlier argument), that Point does exist!!- This would be at variance with my earlier argument, which goes to prove that all maths that we were taught (If at all we were taught) was fiction!

So, what is the Conclusion??? You get a highly jobless, Internet enabled IT Professional!- That's the Point!

Some interesting observations about Thirumala-Tirupathi!

2006-11-20T04:46:00.000-05:00

Don't try to overtake a vehicle at a hair pin bend- It isn't a pleasing sight to see a TATA Sumo with two of its wheels in air!
Don't be under any illusion that you can have a quick darshan.
Don't think you can get accommodation (I mean decent accommodation) in the hills!
When the private vehicle operators call you for a ride in Tirupathi to the uphill, beware it is actually for a ride!
There is no point in reaching Tirupathi before 3.00 AM- You can't enter the hills before 3.00 AM (this is only if you are climbing the hills in a vehicle..if you are walking, then anytime is the best time).
Don't carry any electronic instrument- I mean things like cellular phone, camera, video camera etc. I am not sure of an electronic watch though!
If you hadn't planned for standing in the queue, then forget going to Tirupathi in the first place.
At times, there is no big difference between the private accommodation and the locker facilities that are offered at throw away price by TTD itself.
There is no difference in the Rs.5 and Rs.10 laddus that you get tokens for. Its just another way to create artificial demand!
The longer you wait in the Sarvadarshan queue, the stronger is your hunger!
The cost of living inside the huge halls that you wait for in Sarvadarshan is higher than the most costliest metropolis in the world. You get 25ml of tea for Rs.5
There are no (almost) private hotels in Thirumala. TTD is the monopoly for accommodation at the hills.
The men at the laddu-token counter are more powerfull than the GOD himself.
Often, the Kalyaanosthavams that are advertised are more crowded than the sarvadarshans.
The most interesting programs in the TV would come at the fag end of your waiting period in the cells!
Ramayan is more interesting to watch now, than it was 15 years ago!

450 and going!

2006-11-11T04:50:00.000-05:00

This is the 450^th post of this blog and it has taken me 2 years and 7 months for this!. I wonder when I will make the 500^th post! That would be a milestone for sure!

What caught my attention worthy of posting is the following news item at Boing Boing!. The study conducted at Harvard shows that Children as young as 5 years old, prefer lucky individuals over unluckier one.

Young children express stronger liking for the beneficiaries of good luck compared to the victims of bad luck and generalize this preference to those who share membership in a group. Because the disadvantaged are more likely to experience negative events beyond their control - such as the tendency for the poor to be most impacted by natural disasters - this innocuous preference for the privileged may eventually grow more harmful, further increasing negativity toward the disadvantaged. Such preferences may, in turn, help explain the persistence of social inequality.

Or so goes the inferences of the study. To me it seems intuitive. Probably, every child wants to be the beneficiary of the luck than the victim of fate. This natural tendency to be better off, reflects in liking a person who is better off -similar to our expectation of how we want to be!- I liked the way they have derived the probable reason for social inequities from the perception of luck and fate by children- Nice thought process!

The other thing that caught my attention was this!- Oh, that is a funny bit after a serious stuff!

Related.....Yet Unrelated!

2006-11-07T01:34:00.000-05:00

The way the so-called Fourth Estate had been handling some of the latest issues makes me go sick. The recent incidents and their reporting leaves a foul taste in me. First comes the Priyadarhini Mattoo's case and judgement in that. I had already written how I feel about it. The way the word "Justice" was used then, made me wonder, whether the press is overdoing their job and mandate. And then I get the proof.

Proof 1: Interview with Mr.Ram Jethmalani
I fail to understand how the press decides who is the murderer, who should be punished, who is innocent, who is guilty, who should support whom, what should lawyers do, what they shouldn't, so on and so forth. Here, as can be clearly seen, the question of why is Ram Jethmalani arguing for the accused is none of the Press's concern. Why can't the press see that even the accused is a man with equal rights for a trail and his case heard? I am appalled at the way the press had already branded Manu Sharma a criminal.

There might be evidence against him, but then it is not for the press to rule who should argue for him- and what is the Lakshman Rehka that Sagarika Ghose is talking about? Where had that Rekha gone for the press? I dont think any one can pass a value judgement on whom Ram Jethmalani is appearing for and more important whom he should appear for! I agree with RJ that, there can be noone other than the court to decide on who is guilty and who is innocent. If as Ghose says there are evidence against Manu Sharma, then why don't it be submitted to the court and the case resolved there? Now, will the press take back their words, if the Higher Court finds Manu Sharma innocent and acquits him? After Priyadarshini's case Justice for such crimes had come to be equated with Death sentence. I am wondering what will this press say, if the punishment is anything other than death. It appears to me that the press had already decided on what should be the punishment for Manu Sharma and they want it delivered- No matter what the courts might decide! [Read the entire script of the Interview here]

Proof2: Chennai's Culture reporting!
Another story on how the Chennai's cops are overdoing their duties! It escapes me completely, on how can the media take this up, when there is a violation of a law, a rule and yet blame the police for that! The Hotel in question clearly seem to have violated the rule, by keeping the Pub opened after the prescribed time. I am not arguing for such a rule. Infact, I would rather say the entire rule is a bullshit. But having said that, we need to agree and accept that such a rule exists and then live with such a rule or change it- if we are not comfortable with it. But when a person breaks it, he is Guilty. Just because we don't like the law doesn't mean that we can break it. There are thousands of rules and regulations that personally I might not agree with- that is not a convincing enough reason for me to break it.

Will the same media accept a policeman accepting a speeding motorist or a license less lorry driver saying that the motorist had only violated the speed limit by 10 Kms? A violation is a violation and a rule is a rule. Every citizen that lives in a country had to necessarily obey the laws and rules of the place. Breaking the law is not a solution for an uncomfortable law. The more salient point here is the moral policing part (as reported by the media). One girl is quoted as saying that,

That's none of anybody's business. My parents know that I'm out and I'm okay with it.

While it is no-ones business to question you on why you were out, it is absolutely correct for the cops if you break the law/rule. It is ofcourse their business. Now, there isnt anything like a tolerance limit to break a rule/law..is there?

The media(in this case CNN-IBN) completely misses the point that the hotel had violated teh regulation- apart from mentioning that,

The police cracked down on a three-star pub 'Speed' at about 2310 hrs (IST) on Saturday for exceeding the closing time of 2300 hrs (IST) by 10 minutes.

In the related video clip, the reporter is heard to say, a "whole 10 minutes" with a bit of Sarcasm(this is my personal inference- needn't be the case). Does this mean that the media would have been fine had the cops come after say 1 hour and did the same thing? Ridiculous the way reporting is being done! I don't think these are any reporting. These are plain opinion pieces.[Read the entire script here]

Proof 3: Trader's Strike
Yet another media twisting of the story. Only the news of impending closure is reported, while the basic truth that the constructions were illegal in the first place is conveniently blackened out. The saddest part comes when the Government says that it cannot go ahead with the Supreme Court mandated order citing law and order situation. What the heck? If a Government cant handle law and order, then why the hell is it still continuing in office? How can a mob hold the entire State and Central Governments at ransom? The court is right when it said,

"No one can be permitted to place a dagger at the government's neck and seek relief. No one can be permitted to hold the city and its law-abiding citizens to ransom"

Why would anyone respect law if the Government is going to cite law and order as a reason for inaction? Why should anyone respect anything, if he/she knows a mob can hold the entire machinery at bay with violence? What is the point in then blaming mobs?

All three incidents seem to be unrelated- but they are related to the same role of "Acting God" that the press in this country had come to take. While it is certainly great and desirable to have an active press, it is absolutely unbecoming to have a press with no respect for laws and a press that does opinion pieces in the name of reporting.

Remember "The Hindu"?. Its loosing its user base precisely because of such an arrogant "I am invincible" and "What I say is Truth" attitude!

Is legal murder a retribution to an illegal one?

2006-10-31T06:53:00.000-05:00

I am asking this question after hearing and seeing the news about the judgment in Priyadarshani Mattoo's murder case. And I am particularly unhappy that the judgement was hailed as "Justice" and a pointed reference made to the fact that it is capital punishment.

I had never been a votary for capital punishment. As I said here and here, death cannot avenge death. As I kept listening to the news and the commentaries being made in the media, I can't help but feel sad that we as a Society had long lost the concept of tolerance and we are no better than barbarians. I am not saying what Santhosh Singh did was correct or right- far from it. I strongly condemn his actions. I also know that condemnation would not be enough. But to avenge one death with another is hardly the way to go.

I was completely appalled to hear words like "Now, Priyadarshani's soul would rest in peace", "Justice delayed is not Justice denied"- What is Justice for these people? If you mean punishment by killing is Justice, then I would rather say we are not a civilized society. Why should we let the soul rest in peace by killing another one? If what Santhosh Singh did was wrong, is it any more right what we do? He was convicted 15 days before and there was no news of Justice delayed or Justice delivered. The media wanted him to die and only when they got the punishment, they pronounced the verdict as Justice.

We use our legal systems to pronounce who deserves to live and who doesn't. If we say what Santhosh Singh did was wrong, then how do we reconcile to what we are doing, as a sane, mature civilized society? Killing him with legal impunity. I would rate this as a more cold blooded murder than the one that Santhosh Singh did. To pre-determine a murder, to execute it to the precision of a executioner- this is what we are doing as a Society.

I want to make it clear again- I am not saying that punishment is bad- what I am saying is, Capital Punishment is wrong- morally. I wonder if the same news reporters and channels would say "Justice delivered", had the punishment been something of a life imprisonment for 200 years or so?. There can be a thousand wounded hearts wanting retribution for all sort of injustice. So if all of them prefer to answer in terms of death, then will it be fine or will it be justice then too? What lets us assume the role and power of deciding on an individual's right to live? I accept what Santhosh Singh did was a heinous crime- my point of contention is that, we are not any less heinous by hanging him to death!

Here, the media had already decided on what should be the punishment and they were only too happy to see it coming along. If this is the retribution for rape and murder (supposedly deserving death), then how can we ever condemn violence for retribution (assumed or otherwise). I can see the media's wish written all over, when there were words like "Soul rest in peace", "other victims can look forward to justice". What is the point that we are making? That we need to be reminded that our judicial system needs to hang someone to let others know that they too will be hung?

Hadn't we already hung Auto Shankar? Why hadn't it deterred others like him from committing a similar crime? If we think that we can deter crimes by punishment, we are obviously wrong. If that is the case, there should be no crime at all, for we had been hanging criminals for quite sometime now. What are we letting ourselves believe. I see a very basic flaw in our logic. We condemn revenge, we condemn violence, we condemn killing. But all these are fair and fine when done in the name of Law.

So, we legalize murder- Our way of rendering Justice!

Update: I am having an online discussion with a bunch of friends on this issue and the sort of observations that had come ranges from:

I agree to the punishment.
I agree that capital punishment is bad, but in this case, that is the only punishment possible.
I agree that capital punishment is bad not because we are killing him, but he would have to undergo a harsher punishment all life than be killed at one go!

These are responses not from any uneducated person. All of these are from people highly educated and in decent positions in Society. I am really appalled at the sense of revenge that we have (on behalf of the victim). While I completely understand their sympathies with the victim, they miss the point that what they are doing is exactly the same thing that they are opposing!

There were responses to the effect that even our Gods were killing (Rama killed Ravana, Krishna killed Kamsa etc, etc). Now, that leads me to think, have we ever made a God that doesn't threaten us with death or destruction for wrong deeds? Or is there any God that doesn't punish? and for that matter does God have the right to take ones life for the crime that he/she does? Can there be a God that doesn't punish a person and still remain a God- Wait..I am digressing.

Now, there were responses to the effect that we can't waste tax payers money on putting criminals like these in prisons and feed them till death! This lack of sensitivity to a person's life and the assumption that food, shelter and clothing are the only needs of a human being baffles me. There were also responses to the effect that we don't have a better option than death. This is even more saddening- We seem not to have a better option than killing a person for a rape and murder case.

This reminds me of the CNN-IBN coverage of the story, where the news reader kept repeating the point that this case is a "Rape and Murder" case, whereas some committee had suggested that there can be no capital punishment for only a rape case. Hardly makes any difference. And add that to some panel members comment that rapists should not be pardoned. Is it because, unconsciously and/or subconsciously we still place a heavy premium of the sexual purity of women? Had it been a molestation of a man by the same person and subsequent murder, would we still call for capital punishment? [To be updated as I get more thoughts and more responses]

Book Rain!

2006-10-30T06:10:00.000-05:00

Is this a season of books or what- that too of some of my favourite authors - First it was Richard Dawkins with his "The God Delusion", next is Steven Johnson with his "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World".

I just happened to read his interview for the Salon Magazine[Forced Ad viewing required]. I wouldn't rate it as exciting- but nevertheless, it is interesting. The first book of him, that I read was "Emergence- The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software". The moment I started reading that book, I knew I was holding one of the most interested topics that I had ever had!

That book along with The Selfish Gene and The Meme Machine, had broadened my view on science, anthropology and to a good extent religion, philosophy and God! The Selfish Gene was introduced to me by Prof. Sankaran, who has a great interest on things like Emergence, Society and Science. Once I got that book, the remaining books were a logical extension of the theme that interested me the most. I started reading more books on such topics, which let me to Immanuel Kunt's "Critique of Pure Reason". It did help me that I was at TAPMI then and had unrestricted access to the treasures of such classics that were freely available in the Library.

Now, the more I look into the ways that Cities and other Social structures have developed, the more I understand that Men, after all isn't any different/great from the so-called lower creatures. It does is a matter of pride that we were able to make fighter planes and nuclear bombs, but it still isn't convincing to me that we are any greater than any other animal on this planet.

If you need more convincing proofs, do take a look at this article.[General Warning: A Ten Page Article that requires considerable patience].

I liked especially one line- "The city of the dead antedates the city of the living"-[Lewis Mumford]

Just some arbid thought!

2006-10-28T08:52:00.000-04:00

உடல் மண்ணுக்கு உயிர் தமிழுக்கு - இதை உரக்கச் சொல்வோம் உலகுக்கு,
இனம் ஒன்றாக மொழி வென்றாக புது வேலை எடுப்போம் விடிவுக்கு,
நம் வெற்றிப் பாதையில் நரிகள் வந்தால், விருந்து வைப்போம் விண்ணுக்கு.

பிறந்த பிள்ளை நடந்து பழக கையில் வேலைக் கொடுப்போம்.
பிறந்த குழந்தை இறந்து பிறந்தால் வாளால் கீறிப் புதைப்போம்.
யுத்தச் சத்தம் கேட்டால் போதும், முத்தச் சத்தம் முடிப்போம்,
இரத்தக் குளத்தை நிறப்பி நிறப்பி, வெற்றித் தாமரையை பறிப்போம்.

எங்கள் மண்ணைத் தொட்டவன் கால்கள் எங்கள் நிலத்தில் உரமாகும்,
எங்கள் பெண்ணைத் தொட்டவன் கைகள் எங்கள் அடுப்பில் விறகாகும்.

Was listening to the above lyrical from Iruvar. I guess I was in my 11th standard then and a fierce Tamil nationalist in that [Guess all the political ("spoil"tical) meetings happening around had their own effect]. Whatever, there was a time when I enjoyed listening to this bit much more than anything- felt this gave a raw gut and an energy to do something. But now, when I listen to the same song, I find it revolting and highly inflaming. Though it gives me the same hair-arousing feel even today, I don't enjoy it as much as I did then!

The lyrics and the accompanying music aren't anything I would like now- rather I would prefer the "Narumugaiyae" and "Poo Kodiyin Punnagai" bits these days. When I intercede the moments of Tamil political and cinema history with the film, I would assume that these are the lines spoken by the "Tamilchelvam" during the anti-hindi protests (I hadn't yet seen the film myself and so I dont know who actually mouths these words on screen).

For non-tam readers(if there are any), the above lyrics roughly translates to:(Here, Tamil refers to the race and not just language)

Mortal body to Earth- soul to Tamil, lets announce this to the world!
Let's take the weapon to Unite the race for Tamil's victory,
And will treat the heavens with the cunningness that obstruct our strife!

Lets use the spear for teaching a child to walk,
If a child is born dead, let the death be of Martyrdom,
Let the struggle precede love in our life,
The bloodiness of Victory shouldn't deter us!

Foreign Legs that fall on our land would be to nourish it,
Foreign hands on our women, would be the fuel for our homes!

I still am unable to really digest the gruesomeness of the translation. But this is what would have been the contextual equivalent- if I had been able to do some justice to the context and meaning of the prose- It didn't sound this gory as it sounds in English! :)

Scott and Me!

2006-10-26T05:57:00.000-04:00

Pic Coutesy: Dilbert

Many a times, I find Scott Adams to come up with a perfect cartoon for whatever I wanted to convey. This cartoon, exactly captures what I want to say right this moment.