IMHO

Fanboy

2011-08-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

I finally bought a Macbook Pro after much debate with myself. On the lines of 'It's too expensive, you can buy two (shitty) W7 books for the price. But it's awesome...And you can work on a real Unix based system, that's much more robust and less prone to malware than the W. But then, why don't I buy a Linux book instead. Yeah, but the graphics in Linux are semi-good and well, it's got that open source feel to it...And yeah, Mac's too damn expensive. But dammit, it is awesome....' for days on end.
After a lifetime of criticizing Apple fanboys I've turned into one myself today. Not solely due to the quality of the product, but because using the damn thing is a constant reminder of what a difference passion and vision can make in our lives.

ZNMD, agreed, but...

2011-07-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

So I watched Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara over the weekend. I found the movie to be average, unlike some of my friends who really liked the movie. Parts of the movie bored me and most scenes seemed like fillers between the more laugh-worthy scenes. Maybe watching a movie in a theater does that to you - the audience reaction is strongest when an actor cracks a good joke.
I also found the movie to be a gorgeous, three hour extended advertisement for Spain. The Spanish government will doubtless felicitate Zoya Akhtar for doing yeoman's service to the Spanish tourism industry in the days to come.
The endeavor seems cliched. We've all heard it, right, all the time? Carpe Diem, seize the day, live every moment as if it were your last, yada yada...
So we're made to feel that working too hard is pointless and a waste of one's lifetime because, well, it's just work. That it may also be one's passion incidentally comes across in the character of the artist and we immediately have a contradiction. Life, on the other hand, a truly meaningful life, apparently involves doing things like witnessing nature's beauty, facing one's demons and coming to terms with that imperfect relationship one is stuck in and having no regrets. Doing things to earn a living is run-of-the-mill but doing them for oneself is apparently what matters, is what we're indirectly told through couplets scattered throughout the movie and through the medium of the artist. Work is work, silly, not life. I don't know if you felt it too, but this vague sense of being talked down to pervaded the movie.
And so, despite all the spontaneity of Farhan Akhtar and the beautiful Spanish vistas and the wonderful music in the song, Jo bhi ho so ho, I found the movie to be just average.
And yeah, the lyrics of the song don't suit the chorus (or the other way around). So this dude feels his life has changed after this moment and now he doesn't give a f&^k about what happens, right? But he's supposed to, correct? Carpe Diem and all that jazz? Nitpicking, am I?

Father of the nation

2011-06-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hehehe
'Mera baap chor hai', anyone?

South of the Border

2011-05-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

Watched this documentary recently.
Seemed gushing and lacked equal depth, concentrating more on Chavez than other leaders.
But it is informative and provides an alternate perspective to the US MSM narrative of South American politics, leaning leftwards now more than ever before in the second half of the 20th century. It's difficult to get an unbiased viewpoint in these matters, but if you have two extreme viewpoints at opposite ends of the spectrum one can often assume that the truth sits uncomfortably in between.
I especially liked Stone's monologue towards the end in which he says something to this effect "...this interventionist capitalism must be replaced by a more benign capitalism..."
Amen to that.

Easily offended

2011-05-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

'End all economic and political ties with Australia...', read a placard. A bunch of protesters held a hastily made cut-out of Goddess Lakshmi killing Mahishasura. In a classic demonstration of a blend of artistic imagination and timeliness, the demon was drawn wearing what looked like Australian cricket team colors. When reminded that it was Durga who killed the said demon, he replied, 'Barobare, tumhala bhavana pochlya na?'

After an hour of slogan chanting, when the press had disappeared, the 'activists' began to disperse. One protester was seen asking another, 'Photo-bito baghitlas ka?'
'Chya maayla, lai maal hote ki nahi...'

This headline may be misleading.

2011-04-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this has happened to you. You're skimming through your regular newspaper/news website, reading all the headlines to make sure you don't miss anything interesting. And then it catches your eye. A headline that uses a clever play on words, perhaps. Or one that seems to pronounce judgement on a controversial topic. Or one that selectively quotes or interprets the contents of an interview. Or one that is polemic in nature. I've found that such headlines serve their intended purpose quite well. They make me stop and read through the corresponding article out of sheer curiosity, if not interest. Often times though, the article does not convey the message that the headline does, highlighting the dangers of paraphrasing in our age of 140 character messages. A case in point - this article.

The headline got my attention and I began reading the article with the mental image of another condescending columnist shining light on topics they 'know' nothing about. To my surprise, I found that the article was nicely written, not know-it-all in tone and was well intended, if somewhat obvious to a reasonably tolerant person. All good. What then is my point? Compare the headline with the concluding para in the article. While the headline itself conveys that the author somehow 'knows' how God thinks, the concluding para has a more careful, even wishful tone regarding God's thought process.

It's a tight rope to walk, keeping those headlines short, simple and yet conveying information on the one side and grabbing eyeballs without misinforming on the other.

Only you, TOI, only you...

2011-03-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

If you ever suspected that Bollywood and the Pakistani defense establishment had links, then you must be congratulated for your intuition and uncanny ability to divine these things. TOI has finally unearthed these links and has reported them in this article.
Before TOI realizes that this is sensitive information and changes the text of the article, I must quote from it:

.....
In 2009, ISI chief, General Shuja Pasha attended an iftar dinner by Indian envoy to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal, which was seen to herald some kind of a thaw. Earlier, too, India had asked to engage the Pakistani army chief, but to little avail. The Pakistani army chief leads the strategic dialogue process with the US, which includes both civilian and military components in the talks. But India remains wedded to the civilian establishment, and has historically only engaged the Pakistani army chief after he has taken over power in a coup.

Kayani is a different kettle of fish. Having declared to be "India centric", the chain-smoking quiet Pakistani army chief has generally been seen to be the most hostile army leader.

Yash Raj Films will have a catalogue of 56 movies online, while Karan Johar is in the process of releasing his films on the internet for fans in the US.

There you go. Crystal clear, the link between the two, innit?

Here's wishing you a Happy....

2011-01-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

....and Prosperous/Healthy New Year.

How many times have you heard that greeting already?
I wonder why people feel the need to include 'Healthy' and 'Prosperous' (notice the Caps) in addition to 'Happy'?
Doesn't 'Happy' cover all bases?
Can one be happy without being prosperous? (Maybe)
Without being healthy? (Don't think so)
Are they hinting, like I did a while back, that happiness may not be the most important thing?
Do I suffer from work-induced ADD?
Did Kennedy do Monroe?
Did Israel bug Natanz?
Can all questions be answered?
Should they be?

(Stuxnet link courtesy Ali P. via email)

An inapplicable dilemma (for the most part)

2010-12-28T23:12:00.000-08:00

To be or not to be. Most times, that is never the question, is it?
We are.
For us lesser mortals, the pertinent question most often is how?.
How do we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and yet live to hope for a better day? How can we bear the whips and scorns of time and yet hope to heal?
How to be?.. so that we then are what we want ourselves to be. That, my friends is the question.

Probably the last post of a good year, blogically speaking.

On C.S.

2010-12-19T06:05:00.000-08:00

Came across this article while browsing through the content on CNN.

I've had an on and off like-dislike relationship with C.S Lewis' body of work - and that includes the movies made on his books. Once, in a debate with a person defending Lewis , I called C.S. 'virulent', a charge I retracted later.

If I were asked to pick one passage/quote that I thought encapsulated his thoughts on Christ, I would pick this:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

The quote sums up what I like (and dislike) about Lewis. He seems brutally honest when he assesses the claims of the Nazarene. His personal faith in Christ does not stop him from critically examining Christ's reported claims (Though one might fault him for having given just one from a plethora of possible medically feasible options). Having made such a scathing analysis, he still takes the third option in his writings.

I sometimes wish the Godfather Trilogy was made in C.S's time. It would've convinced him that two great options are enough. You put in a poor (nay, pathetic and unnecessary) third where no more is required and you ruin the trilogy in average. On a more serious note, the dilemma, or trilemma as it were, seems unnecessarily psychological. One first needs to determine the veracity of the claims attributed to the Christ or if a historical Jesus actually existed and performed the miracles and quoted the quotes attributed to him. One can extend this requirement to other religious figures and it persists. In the absence of such proof, any claim of divinity/divine inspiration is hasty and speaks more of the person wanting to cling to the claim than the correctness of the claim itself.

Paanch

2010-11-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

Paanch disappoints. Too long. Even gimmicky towards the end. Also, it doesn't seem to have it's heart in the right place. After two and a half hours, I didn't quite get the point of the film. Was it about why normal kids take to drugs, rock-n-roll and violence? Was it about trust and faith and how money trumps both. Was it another suspense thriller?
Clearly inspired by the Jakkal-Sutar-Jagtap-Shah trial, the movie could have been a lot more. Or a lot less, if it wasn't for a stellar performance by the cast. Seems to be the start of a pattern I see in all of Kashyap's films. IMHO, brilliant scenes are a necessary condition for a good film, but are insufficient by themselves.

Druth Gath

2010-11-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

There's something about certain Tarantino movie scenes that reminds me of Hindustani music set-pieces. There's the languid beginning with painstaking attention to the smallest detail (bordering on boring at times but giving no indication of what is in store). Then there's the subsequent fascinating conversation between musical instruments and vocals on one hand and movie characters on the other, both brilliantly paced. The steady build-up is capped by an explosive ending that leaves you breathless. And needless to say, asking for more.

2010-11-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

Flower in the crannied wall

On Chirkin

2010-09-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

The song moTumasTer from uDaan has a line that goes thus:

Chirkin ka muse hai,
paryaavaraN hi loose hai.
uDne na dena isse,
DoomsDay ka fuse hai.

Googling Chirkin brought to my notice the interesting fact that Chirkin was an Urdu poet who had (for lack of a better phrase) a toilet fixation.
Apparently the man was pissed off (pun intended) with his fellow shayars for not giving him much attention. So he went about writing shitty poetry. How and why he made that leap of logic - 'people ignore me so I must anger them by making poetry about their excretory habits' - is unknown to me at the moment.
Unless there have been earlier Hindi songs that have mentioned him, credit must be given to Anurag Kashyap for bringing Chirkin to our notice.

It seems, from elementary web-investigation that Diwan-e-Chirkin is now out of print. What a waste...

The arbitrariness argument

2010-08-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

Recently came across the Euthyphro dilemma while reading about the Ontological argument. While the essential question it raises is of course pertinent, it does so in the context of morality, the relativistic nature of which in a logical debate raises problems.
Assume therefore that the concept of morality in the Euthyphro dilemma and in the arbitrariness argument is replaced with physically measurable (or mathematically computable/derivable) quantities - e.g. the cosmological constant, or the gravitational constant or the speed of light. A common theistic argument, the Fine Tuning Argument or Anthropic Principle is that for life to exist as it does, these constants must be precisely what they are. Let's assume this to be true. Let us also, for the sake of argument assume that the quantities were chosen by God to be so.
God being omniscient and omnipotent (two common assumptions in theology) could well have chosen other numbers for the above constants and still make the universe work in exactly the same way as it does right now. But he chose to go with the numbers we now measure or calculate to be true. In picking some numbers over the others, God is being arbitrary since no number is inherently better than others (42 of course, is an exception...).
Alternately, there are parallel universes out there with all possible combinations of these constants.
The first argument goes to show that arbitrariness is a necessary attribute of God if we believe in the concept of numbers. The second lacks physical proof and suffers from the same drawback - an omniscient being could well have interchanged these combinations amongst the other universes.
Since arbitrariness is generally thought of as an undesirable quality - one cannot 'trust' someone who is arbitrary with making 'correct' (quotations added to reflect fuzziness of the words and their inappropriateness in a logical discussion) decisions - we must conclude that our otherwise perfect God has arbitrariness as an undesirable adjoint attribute (alliteration!!).
The arbitrariness does not magically disappear even if one chooses to believe that there is a perfect reason somewhere for this set of numbers to be chosen unless, of course one considers numbers as being too illogical to figure in a logical argument.

One could alternately view God as the benevolent creator who let things proceed as they did. The constants then are not a product of design, but turn up that way just coincidentally and that we run into problems when we try to justify things by sticking probes and measuring quantities by assigning numbers to them - a limitation of man as it were. The essential problem with such a view is that it lies outside the domain of logical discussion and one enters the domain of belief, where, suddenly (and magically), our logical devices and faculties cease to function.

uDaan

2010-08-29T00:53:00.000-07:00

Positives:
Measured cinematography, exceptionally underplayed artwork that fits the setting, brilliant sound work, real acting (save the story telling bit), superlative lyrics.

Negatives:
Minor quibbles that might indicate that the negatives are more than the positives. That truly isn't the case. They should've hired locals/actors from the region to portray locals (students, father, uncle), they've gone with Ronit Roy (who does a pretty good job) for the father and Ram Kapoor for the uncle, and (what seems like) two Marathi actors (The senior and the old guy in the hospital). In this respect, I felt that authenticity was compromised. Naav suggests a fight back, but the ending seems like a cop-out. In general, the lyrics aren't perfectly suited for the screenplay (Getting it perfect must be a real bitch especially if the lyrics are so awesome). Some scenes don't fit: The car breaking scene indicating angst and frustration followed by incarceration. Highly unlikely - not the car-breaking by protagonist, but doing that in front of a cop risking incarceration - then again, I probably feel that way because I can't put myself in his shoes. The kids end up running the restaurant - again, fortuitous and artistic license must be given. Ditto for the end scene in which Rohan smuggles the kid away - just when his dad has gone to get the auto. The MoTumaster isn't that fat...

I think Rohan was his uncle's son, not his father's, both literally and figuratively. The dialog in which the uncle tells him that every father wants his kid to be just like him followed by the album scenes and uncle whispering into his ears indicates as much.

All said and done, very much worth the watch. If just 5% of the 1000 odd films made every year were qualitatively as close to this film...well it would be awesome wouldn't it?

In case my preference for local actors is somehow misconstrued as some sort of parochialism, I wish to clarify that isn't. I just like accents in a movie to be as authentic as possible.

Bi Got, these guys are awesome!!

2010-08-28T10:23:00.001-07:00

Zaid Hamid and Glenn Beck. Two demagogues, different continents, same philosophy, similar styles. Similar audience. By and large, so far, similar results, thankfully.
I worry about the day these guys become influential enough to affect policy changes in their respective countries.
I also think (but I'm not putting my money on it) that 28-10-2010 is GB's political launch pad just as Takmeel-e-Pakistan was for ZH. But things look rosier for GB since he isn't in the kind of religious trouble ZH is in Pakistan.

Update: The good Neeraj Gaur has since brought it to my notice that Raj Thackeray belongs to the group too. True that. Other than the fact that he's already a politician, he's a good addition to the group. I'm sure GB and ZH would concur.

Cover up

2010-07-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

The Slimes of India has an interesting notion of what is obscene and what isn't.
Take a look at their photo galleries and one thing immediately strikes you. Pictures of nude women are left largely untouched, but for a smattering of photo-shopping on the womanly parts. Mind you, the aforementioned parts too are left largely untouched (ahem!), just a bit of photo-shopping done on what the Slimes deems obscene.
For all practical purposes, there is little difference between the Slimes' site and respectable porn photo-sites. There is little left to imagination, and I doubt the Slimes would win if a PIL is filed against them on the grounds of public obscenity.
Note, however, that this post isn't a complaint! I just find it funny and sort of pointless that they bother to cover up that little. Or that much, depending on where you're looking from.

Naakuvenchalo...

2010-06-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

Music directors often add a few tidbits of nonsensical gibberish or a few words from another language to make things sound, well, different. I'm guessing they think it adds to the music, but I see no value addition.
Take the e.g. of Harris Jeyaraj and that song from Kaakka Kaakka - Uyirin Uyire. The 'Ummahazeeyah Waahi Aala' part is patently nonsensical and I'm willing to bet a good amount of money that the words don't belong to any standard language. Poor Jyothika, she mouths the words with such sincerity! Another instance that comes to mind is 'Naakuvenchaalo Aaguvenchalo' from Raavan's 'Beera Beera'. Or 'Aiiya ja, Aiiya ja' from 'O Re Kanchi' (Asoka) and the 'Dil Dero, Dil Dero Dil Dero, oooo...' fisherman chant from 'Chinna chinna Aasai' (Roja). In a similar mould are AR songs from R.O. Mehra movies. They invariably contain some stuff said in French, while one would never guess the need for it from the context in the respective movies, Delhi-6 and RDB.
Empty Words.

Rahman and Drugs

2010-06-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

The transitions in Rahman's music are mood altering, magical, evocative. The music grows on you and you gradually lose the power to resist listening to the music. Addictive stuff. Thank goodness it'll never be made illegal.

While on the subject of Naxalism...

2010-06-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

The songs 'Thok de Killi' and 'Beera' from Raavana give me the impression that Raavana has a Naxalism/rebellion-against-the-state-by-a-Robin-Hood-like-character storyline. A friend suggests (by way of speculation) that the Stockholm syndrome gets to Ash in the course of the movie, I concur. She gets kidnapped by the baddies since she is the daughter of someone important. She is probably engaged/married to Vikram in the movie and Vikram is probably a good cop. In a twist to the Ramayana tale, she falls in love with her captor, Abhishek who does a Robin Hood/Kishenji routine in the movie.
Let's see if idle speculation matches reality.

I don't think you'll understand...

2010-06-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

"The right thing to do is to stop the violence. How can you kill innocent people and expect your demands to be heard?"
"I don't think you'll understand, we wouldn't if we could help it..."
"Then make me understand. On moral grounds, your case doesn't stand. In the long term, this doesn't even make tactical sense. Your demands will never be met. You are fighting the might of the state."
"I know. I'm fighting a lost cause. The only hope I had was if I aligned myself with the ideologues."
"You didn't stand a chance even if you aligned with them. I suspect you knew that."
"I did, but they made me feel empowered. Holding a gun can be very liberating... I still go hungry, but at least I'm not as afraid as I used to be. I have what resembles a purpose in life, however shallow it might seem from the other side. You think I would have taken this position willfully if the state hadn't forced me to? They rape my land, my women, my rights and expect me to keep mum? And allow them to keep buggering me?"
"Some logic."
"I told you, you wouldn't understand..."

---------------------------------

Very A. Roy-ish, the above attempt. (In essence, not in terms of quality of prose)
I don't know if the logical conclusion of Green Hunt i.e. a win for the state, will improve the lot of the tribals. I'm guessing marginally and on a long term basis if the GoI is genuinely concerned. I'd like to believe that it is. Some things it will hopefully not neglect once it stops gushing about it's (eventual) victory over the cadre and the ideologues : Tribal property rights legislation overhaul -- profit sharing and/or reasonable relocation compensation or/and employment/possiblity of subsistence (in case of land acquisition for mining/development) and a semblance of administration. Not too much to expect, no?
I'm on this side of the fence. I belong to those who don't understand. I don't think I will. I don't think the tribals* can have it both ways, reap the benefits of development and yet remain isolated. Perhaps they don't want to remain isolated. I'm clueless about their demands. I only get to hear noise from the ideologues. IMO, the best deal they might get,from a preserving-the-culture point of view (if the GoI is in the mood for it), will resemble Indian tribe reservation in the U.S.

* - Oversimplification -- grouping all tribes into one

Sania Mirza

2010-04-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

got a Padma Shri some time back.
I think she deserves it. She is, as some email forwards have been telling me, A true blue Indian. She took the pledge to heart and implemented it.
Remember, India is my country, all Indians are my brothers and sisters....?

Comforts

2010-03-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

The definition of comfort that I am interested in is the one that involves making our lives easier.
This definition makes me think of how comfort has upstaged passion/interest as a prime mover in our lives.
Of course, this is no value judgement, but it has always seemed to me that comforts are meant to be conveniences, things that exist in order for us to do better that which we are supposed to be doing. I find that comfort (and eventually luxury) is now not a mere convenience, but is an end in itself.

What is more important?

2010-03-13T00:52:00.000-08:00

Happiness or satisfaction?
You can be happy to get something and yet unsatisfied because you haven't got enough.
You can be satisfied that you did your duty and yet deeply unhappy that you had to make a sacrifice for it.

A case of mistaken theism

2010-03-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

The lady who stood besides the religious warrior had spent a lifetime criticizing his faith. He had just killed her in a suicide bomb-blast.
He was puzzled by the injustice. Here he was in heaven, religious warrior, having blown himself in the name of his god. Here she was, an embodiment of all the hatred that was in his heart. Surely, she was going to pay for all the blasphemy she had committed in her faithless life.
The Angels ushered them in for judgement. God almighty spoke to the two of them, in a beautiful baritone, "My Children, you have served me well. You have prayed well and you have done all that was expected of you. You shall live in heaven in this life, the hereafter, as you called it on earth."
The lady wore a confused look, as did the warrior. They were happy, the two of them, since they were not going to hell. But they were both puzzled. Both were afraid of questioning God almighty, especially since he had been kind to them.
While being escorted to the garden, the warrior struck up a conversation with an angel. "Angel Machaiela, may peace be upon you, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, my brother, please do."
"I followed my religion all my life and for that I have been justly rewarded."
"You have, my brother, you deserve it."
"But why has that evil woman been rewarded?"
"Evil? No, our angels have mentioned in their dispatches that she was pious and recited her prayers four times a day."
"She used to, but she became a blaspheming apostate and spoke against the Lord our God"
"My friend, two thousand years ago I probably would have opened an investigation into this allegation and we would have found out the truth about this lady, but you see, our angel brothers and sisters are overworked. We haven't been able to keep track of all activities of every human. So what has been recorded, stays. When we recorded her thoughts and deeds, she was fifteen years old and did everything expected of her. That was a long time ago, but that is the last record we have of her thoughts and deeds."
"But I thought God knew everything and recorded each and everything...."
"Brother, are you questioning God's judgement?"
"I dare not, but the injustice, the sheer injustice, it makes my life seem pointless"
"Nay, my brother, stop. Enjoy the fruits of the garden and your life here. Love all, since you are all God's children."
Having spoken thus, Machaiela disappeared from the scene, leaving the warrior alone with the lady.
At the first given opportunity, he lunged at her and tried to strangle her, but he was unable to. They had retained their thoughts, somewhat magically, but did not retain the matter of their bodies. She smiled at him and just continued to walk.
She was disappointed, of course, since she had been sure that there was no such thing as heaven, but she was happy that the prayers she had said thirty years ago were useful eventually.
The warrior sunk to the ground, helpless. In the distance, beyond an ethereal lake he could see his neighbor, a Kiskotist, seemingly enjoying himself, playing in the celestial waters. The warrior began to weep.

Software Employee?

2009-04-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

This Link , contains the phrase/epithet "software employee". I wonder what that means? I mean the story contained in the link is tragic, but I think having a software employee would be pretty cool. As opposed to a hardware employee. Throw away those large clunky obsolete pieces of junk. Hire a software employee, now. I guess even making software employees will be a big industry if having a software employee would be possible. So what is an employee who writes software for a software employee manufacturing company called?

57% Male

2009-04-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Is the result of a probabilistic gender analysis of the person writing this blog by the following site.
You might want to find out your gender by clicking on this link.
They also mention that my blog (and probably me?!!!) is supposedly nearly gender neutral.

Hat Tip: Shiva

Interesting article

2009-04-06T12:59:00.001-07:00

Netas, I think is short, for Net Assets

Kaun Jeeta?

2009-04-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

I learnt last year that the PFMI- Universe Title was now secondary to the PFMI- World title and PFMI-World was actually number 1. Reading the articles written post this years event, I am damn confused. Why? Because you have a couple of contestants claiming that both had won the title, some writers writing that PFMI-World had actually won the title and a bunch claiming that both PFMI-U and PFMI-W were equal in status this year and both were actual winners.
WhoTF actually won?
Not that anybody cares about the 'change' and the message of love and hope that they are going to bring to the world.....

The land of Kashyapa Muni?

2009-03-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

This has been discussed on several levels over the past years. Several trees have been cut, reams of tape devoted to this anomaly.
I was reminded of it when I saw some videos on YouTube highlighting the difficulties faced by Kashmiri Muslims in the light of the Indian army's so called 'occupation'.
Here is a video highlighting the other side: Kashmiri Hindus who have born the brunt of extremism since the rise of millitancy in the valley in the late 80's and early 90's. Refugees in their own homeland, victims of the politics of religion, are nearly 0.7 million of these people.
Surely, even these people deserve to be heard.
In times where 'going green' is a metaphor for secularism, we should not forget that there are people from the other side too.
Gaza and Kashmir seem to grab eyeballs. But the tales of these Kashmiris seem to be less newsworthy and highlighting it, patently unsecular.
Do spread the word, not the hatred. Voices of victims need to be heard, be it a Muslim living in squalid conditions in a ghetto in Ahmedabad, post 2002, or a displaced Kashmiri Pandit waiting to get official compensation for his father's death in 1990 at the hands of extremists.

Gandhi ki Neelami

2009-03-06T15:43:00.001-08:00

How did Gandhi's belongings come into Otis' possession in the first place?
Any ideas?
If it was auctioned, then why?
If it wasn't, did Otis steal it?
Was it gifted to him?
Is guththi ko kaun suljhaega?

Ma-Kasam, WTF!!!

2008-11-30T00:10:00.000-08:00

The movie Sorry Bhai seems, on the exterior to be a movie that has a good script, treats a sensitive subject well, has a good cast and has very good performances.
You read the reviews and think, yeah, maybe the movie is good. Let's watch it.
You start watching the movie and you realize that there's a hotshot Indian scientist who wants funding for his proposal that says everything is alive because 'sab cheezon mein molecules hote hain' and such things are supposed to reflect his love for physics.
WTF moment 1.
You say, chalo theek hai, maaf, lets watch on.
A female who falls for this passion of his (besides his good looks) despite being his brothers 'mangetar' and loving him for the last 5 years.
WTF moment 2.
Theek hai, watch on.
They decide that forbidden fruit must not be eaten but suddenly realize that forbidden fruit must be eaten. So they decide to spill the beans to bhai dear who doesnt care two hoots about his beautiful wife to be, but is bothered about a stock market crash in NY despite having settled in Mauritius. (He has a business too, it is said, but then he has one big client, Marco who, like him, is in Mauritius and is worried silly about the NY stock market)
WTF, WTF moment 3.
(Must I) watch on?!
Post legume spillage, lover boy and girl-who-wants-to-do-nothing-but-study-teach-and-slide-on-indoor-railings decide they will get married, but then OHMyGodWTFHappened type WTF moment happens. Mommy dear overhears bro spilling beans to elder bro and decides that her son cannot do such a 'neech harkat' and tells the bridegroom (new, scientist), 'tumhe meri kasam hai, tum shaadi nahin kar sakte, tum thodi der ke liye bhatak gaye ho' WTF!!!!!
Whats more WTF! is that scientist son fearing for his moms life, says no to the impending marriage (It has been mentioned early on in the movie why this ma-kasam thingie is important, but in a very stupid way, so much so that you ignore the scene)
WTF moment 4,5,6.
I've started, so I'll finish type sentiment occurs, and I decide that inspite of overwhelming WTFness, I shall finish the movie.
After dirty faces from daddy dear and a sudden epiphany that goes unmentioned, mommy darling realizes that shes made a mistake. So what does she do. Well, she does a ma-kasam once more. She tells scientist kiddo that you must live-in with your love, so that previous ma-kasam is fulfilled (and she gets to live!!). Now kiddo has to do it, because he's been ma-kasammed by ma once more. So he goes for it.
WTF moment 7, going on infinity!!!
Finish off this goddamn movie.....
End scene, scientist kiddo is marrying his live-in love after eleven years, with two kids in tow. Apparently, mom has ma-kasammed him once more into doing this.
Movie over!!!! Double cartwheels(in mind) and lemonade follow.

The essential premise of the film, that of the scientist kid-brother falling in love with big bro's fiancee, is dealt with in a fair fashion, but with so many WTF moments going around, it just gets overshadowed.
Good acting alone cannot bear the burden of propping up such a poor script and bad screenplay. It was good to watch Chitrangada Singh back in action after a long time, but every shot that she's in is pure eye candy and nothing more. She has a meaty role, only in terms of screen footage, but she sleep walks through it, looking disinterested at times, as does Boman Irani.
Sad, I'd watch Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye any day over this movie, many times over.
Ma-Kasam!!!

P.S: I think mommy dear agrees to come to Mauritius only after she hears that Elder Bro has Ma-kasammed younger bro.
Why Mauritius and why the flimsy premise of the bro having settled there, I do not know. Any other location wouldn't change the point of the movie. But yes, Mauritius is very, very very beautiful it seems from the movie footage.

Native festival in foreign land

2008-10-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

We celebrate Diwali, Independence Day and Republic Day here at Purdue every year. I believe this is the case with almost all universities in the US. All these celebrations are, without exception, peaceful and do not cause any problems to local residents. We do not go around asking others to come and celebrate festivals with us, but if others are willing to come and join us, we welcome them. Again, I believe this is a uniform pattern in nearly all U.S cities and universities.
However, when I hear Raj Thackeray spewing his venom against Biharis for celebrating ChhaT Pooja or against UP guys for celebrating UP Diwas, I can feel nothing but anger for the man. I am almost certain that these celebrations do not disrupt normal life in Mumbai any more than bomb blasts, encounters, marriages and sundry other activities do. For that matter, I am sure that it does not cause more inconvenience to locals than festivals like Navratri (The large scale Garba-Dandiya version of which is essentially Gujarati in nature), Tazia processions during Moharram, Durga Puja and the biggest of them all (for Maharashtra, i.e.), Ganeshotsav.
Pray tell me Sir, are you going to support the Americans if they go around bashing Indians for celebrating their festivals and national holidays?

For God's Sake

2008-10-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

Sake as in say-k, not saa-kay as in Japanese Rice Wine.
Stereotyping, as in a Jew distributing pamphlets about Islamists wanting to kill everyone. Shahjahan built the Taj Mahal and he was one of us? who us? Us as in Pakistani us? No Us as in Muslim us...and that Muslim us is as Indian as he is Pakistani.
Indian Guy screwing the pakistani over.
9/11 apparently bullshit. And what really did happen, might you enlighten us?
Deen mein Jabardasti nahin hai!!!Awesome!!!
Poorly edited... poor scene transitions etc.
Kashmir, while not mentioning the Uighurs and the Tibetans and the Tamils.
More importantly, whatever has been said, is reportedly true.
Why would a Pashto mullah quote Iqbal? Weak argument, but still, I wonder if that were possible.
Are pakistani flags displayed so prominently in courts?
Racial Profiling and radicalism....do not go together. they are poles that feed on each other, good contrast. one guy does the crappy stuff while the other pays for it...good concept.
Feel bad for Mansoor.
The daleel about music is wrong theologically, apparently it isn't saaz, but soz .

Wrote this a long time ago, after watching Khuda Kay Liye, for some reason, didn't publish this post

Praising 'The Raj'

2008-10-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

This article in the newspaper Slimes, sorry, Times of India, made me wonder, when o when, willst thou cease to crap, o Times?
I knew that TOI had gone degenerate, but I did not know that they had taken to being apologists for Raj (If-you-are-a-northie-then-f.o) Thackeray.
Are the editors at TOI napping or what?

Sock in the plexus

2008-10-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

It is one thing to read news sitting in a office cubicle, occasionally being affected enough by it to say, 'man that is bad'. It is a completely different feeling when the subject of the news is someone you have interacted with, even if briefly, someone whose kin you've been in close interaction with over a considerable period. Someone you didn't think could do what he/she has.
Such news comes and knocks the wind out of you. You get the feeling you are mindfucked because nothing in the world can explain how a person having a similar (economical) upbringing, similar opportunities, similar surroundings can do something unspeakable.
You hope that further investigations reveal that the person is not guilty as charged, has no hand in any of the said dealings. You hope. But something inside tells you it may be futile hoping.
Damn, again.

The Times of Chindhiaan

2008-10-06T01:33:00.000-07:00

The decline of the Times of India from a bastion of solid journalism to a glamor selling, advertisement focussed newspaper is well known.
Their online edition, on the whole, was reasonably free from the above mentioned problems till some time back.
In the recent past, however, the online edition has introduced a section, wherein supposedly hot pics of celebrities are linked to. The site they link to, is called, well, what else, hotklix.
Now I'm sure that the guys responsible for getting this article online, and their bosses, know where these clicks lead onto. Which begs the question, why is a leading newspaper in India, getting away with linking to sites like 'masalababes--the hottest indian female celebrties', or 'xboards.us' which I am sure host illegally, the pics of leading film actresses. Why do they need to do this? People interested in watching Kim Kardashian's rear, or fashion disasters or even wardrobe malfunction can look for these things on the internet. That's why they have Google, retards at TOI...don't you get it?
Why waste a link on such trash, why not put it to some better use? Seriously.

Bell Labs kills basic physics research facility

2008-10-04T06:34:00.000-07:00

This article mad me sad.
Not a nice way to start a weekend.
Woe betide!!!
Hark back to the summer of 2002, when a first year engineering student, studying for his Engineering Mechanics exam sees an article in an electronics magazine about this Mecca of Innovation, this former Shangri-la of the Sciences...this likeness of the all powerful mythical heroes of yore that inspires awe and at the same time humbles you.
Wonder struck, this student thinks to himself, won't it be wonderful if we get to work here, to interact with the some of the best minds in science, both basic and applied (though he didn't know it wasn't true anymore, even then), be a part of a wonderful discovery that impacts the world significantly?
Some things are never meant to happen, or so fatalists would like to believe.
Alcatel-Lucent claim that they will be focussing instead on networking, communication and nanotechnology.
The last term has become such a cliche that I'm guessing few know what they're talking about when they use that term anymore. How is one going to do nanotechnology without focussing on basic semiconductor research, the backbone of the promised nano-revolution? Are these guys instead going to do soft matter research? But doesn't that still fall under basic Physics? Does that even make sense? Are they anything but stark raving mad? Am I anything but? Are short terms gains the only things that matter?
Damn.

President precedent?

2008-09-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

I always thought that Pakistan was a parliamentary democracy (when it was, i.e.) that was similar to India in many respects. The same federal structure, the same judicial structure and the same administrative structure.
So I was surprised when I saw Asif Ali Zardari visit Washington and address the UN as the head of state. I was under the impression that like India, the PM was the head of state for all practical purposes while the President was a titular head.
Did the constitutional changes that Musharraf made, also include the clause that the Pres will have greater authority than the PM? Haven't they rolled back those changes?
Or not as yet?

Have you ever....

2008-09-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Been in a meeting in which you're not needed?
You can do cool stuff like writing blog posts....

Some sense of humour

2008-09-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

A fast track court has sentenced four people to death and awarded life imprisonment to 11 others in connection with the murder of a Dalit 15 years ago

These guys have some sense of humour, seriously.
If the link hasn't expired, you can read the article here.

The Devil's Delusion

2008-09-17T23:31:00.001-07:00

Is a direct reply to Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and others who believe vehemently that god does not exist and use science and logic to convey their viewpoint.
It is an enjoyable read, mainly because of the belligerent feel of the book.
One cannot but help feeling that the author, David Berlinski, is totally pissed off with Dawkins and others of his ilk.
Strictly speaking about logic, though, I find the book getting its logic right 80% of the time, mainly when it exposes the logical flaws of the aforementioned atheists.
Clearly, that is the purpose of the book. To totally take apart these guys even if it is by nitpicking and taking small quotes and making fun of it.
The cosmological argument is discussed in great detail and Thomas Aquinas' views are given predominance here. Now Thomas Aquinas' views on an expedient/contingent god are complex, and on a first reading I had to literally ask myself, WTF? What exactly is this guy(Berlinski, presumably speaking for Aquinas) trying to say. Aquinas' arguments do not, logically, prove the existence of God.
However, one of the good points worth mentioning is the apparent leap of faith that scientists are willing to take when it comes to predicting that we will have a GUFT, that explains how everything works. (Why it does, will still be unanswered). This is compared with the leap of faith that believers in God take. There is a difference between firm belief and cautious optimism. The former, of course, attributed to theists, while I am attributing the latter to the attitude of scientists in general. I do not think that all scientific atheists are of the firm opinion that a GUFT will be 'revealed'/discovered in the near future.
One more point, Berlinski has, on several occasions in the book, supported his analysis, with mere quotations from people who are supposedly credible sources with infinite wisdom. Quotations cannot prove anything. Nothing. They are merely attention deflecting devices that are used when your core point isnt strong enough.
In his zealousness to 'take the case' of Messrs Dawkins and Co, Berlinski does go overboard most of the times, but I must admit, reading this book has had a positive after effect for me. I've looked up topics/personalities that I would never have bothered to otherwise and it did get me thinking on a couple of good points.

Debate?

2008-09-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

Since mainstream Indian Television (I will not call it TV!) has been unavailable for the past year or so, I've made it a point to watch clippings of videos put up on websites like the Times of India and IBNLive at regular intervals to catch up with the goings on in India.
Now IBNLive does a very good job by hosting a large number of video clippings, of nearly all the major programs that run on air in India. Most of the times, these clips load fast, stream well and are void of problems like poor clarity, etc.
Good job there, IBN, you have a much better site than other mainstream Indian media outlets, at least than the ones I've visited.
I have a complaint, though. In the so called 'discussions' that take place, the program hosts always seem to have made up their mind as to which side they are on. The questions seem to be directed at the participants with that conviction in mind.
My complaint is this: If you are so convinced as to what the real problem is/what the solution is, then why invite people from opposite views to present their case?
Why not pass off your judgment to the viewer. Why don the greasepaint of discussion/debate to cover your prejudice/pre-conceived notions.
Right from the question that people are supposed to respond to (Don't organizations like the Bajrang Dal need to be banned just like organizations like the SIMI? TYPE QOTD YES/NO and send to 5525), to the questions asked to the participants and the flippancy with which opposing(opposing the host's view, of course) viewpoints are dismissed, the whole god-damn attitude that some of the show hosts seem to have is irritating at times, though you might at some point of time even agree with them. Your prejudice, no matter how logically correct it may be, is no cause for being dismissive of other peoples' views, especially if you're asking them to participate in your show and thereby sustain it.
Stop it IBN, it's just not correct.

Bomb Squad guy or bloody daredevil?

2008-07-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the Gujarat and Karnataka bombings, we've been subjected to intense media coverage of the events post the bomb blasts.
More significant amongst these was the live diffusion of a bomb in Surat/Ahmedabad, I don't remember which.
I am completely shocked by the way the bomb squad guys go about doing their job as if it were a routine job like signing and shutting a file in a government office. Moreso, because these guys do not use any protective covering, and diffuse bombs with their bare hands.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we do not provide our bomb squad guys with suitable gear and the state of the art tech in diffusing bombs. If we do, then why aren't these guys using it??
What if something goes wrong and the bomb goes off? The guy diffusing the bomb is bound to lose his life in such a case. Every one of these guys is important to us if we are going to fight terror. I've seen instances where the bomb squad guys are wearing jackets but no helmets, helmets but no protective covering for the hands. I am yet to see a visual in which a bomb squad guy is diffusing a bomb with full protection.
I mean, I may be naive in my judgement of the situation, may be these guys first go ahead and check if the bomb is likely to go off any time soon and then when they are relatively confident they don't feel the need for protection. It's possible, but I'm not sure if this is what is happening. For one, there is no guarantee that a backup mechanism for triggering bombs hasn't been implemented, even if the time of explosion may have passed.
Ideally speaking, these guys are supposed to take a fiber glass compartment and first enclose the bomb in it and diffuse the bomb in the safety of the bomb sqaud premises...but in the visuals I've never seen this happening...
Why this callousness? Why the unnecessary bravado?

Attention!!!! General Post is here...

2008-07-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

The past few days and Summer in general have been quite eventful. Eventful in the wrong/sad way, IMHO.

Theres been a lot of losing happening.

Bombs went off in Bangalore, lives were lost, politicians have been bought and their nonexistent credibility was lost, Fed lost to a virtual unknown after losing an epic battle to Rafa, Amitabh Bachchan lost his luggage, twice,...I can go on and on...

I no more find it surprising that the Bangalore bomb blasts didn't get the attention they deserve around the world...A bombing in Gaza city seemed to keep journalists busy...I'm reminded of a scene in Hotel Rwanda where The UN peacekeeper played by Nick Nolte tells Paul Rusesabagina, 'Nobody cares about a bunch of black people killing other black people.' Now I harbor no communal or racist sentiments, but in the US, it seems like unless a Jew or a Hispanic dies abroad, it doesn't seem to be as important. I can understand that this may be due not to any hidden agenda in the American press, but something that reflects the demographics of the country and hence economic interests of newspaper. More Jews, Hispanics across the US, would mean that newspapers would translate, I think to more news about these sections of society and smaller incidents involving them to translate into comparatively greater newsworthiness than other people elsewhere.

Amongst other things, Via Darjeeling is a bad copy of Rashomon, Heath Ledger Mesmerizes in the Dark Knight, which is a good film IMHO, not like oh-my-god-im-cumming types good. Jaane tu ya Jaane Na is a bad film, Imran Khan acts passably well, Genelia can act, but cannot express herself in Hindi, Page 3 was a good movie, I dunno why I didn't see it for so long, Christopher Nolan is a good director, Christian Bale is a tremendous actor, Shatranj ke Khiladi is a satirical masterpiece, Donny Darko is excellent, electromagnetics is good to study for leisure, but sucks during exam time and nano-technology is an over-used over-hyped word.

The Lives of Others

2008-03-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

The West Lafayette (IN) Public Library, has one of the best global film collections you'll find. I was a fan of serious cinema, for sure, even before I came to Purdue, but the fact that there's a public library that allows you to borrow 5 DVD's a time, (for a week, i.e.) for free, makes one 'want' to watch all the movies on offer.
I've watched movies, both Global and American by the dozen after I became a member and I must say that the fun in watching a movie legally, in fine DVD quality print, at your own leisure, re-watching several times those parts that you liked, is quite a few times more than watching a movie on the net, fuming at the low stream rates and the poor picture quality.
Amongst English movies that I've watched recently, I liked 'No Country for Old Men' (knockout performance by Javier Bardem), The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (Every character here is grey, no completely good, no completely bad, though Eli Wallach, methinks, is literally quite ugly) , Pi (By Darren Aaronofsky, the guy who gave us the smashing, 'Requiem for a Dream' and whose style Anurag Kashyap has copied completely in 'No Smoking') and several others that I cannot recount immediately.
I've managed to see almost all of Scorcese's films, Kurosawa, (Rashomon, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai and Kagemusha, out of which the last one sucks like a newborn, while Rashomon impresses immensely), some of Kubrick's films and the Apu Trilogy (I liked the innocence of Pather Panchali, but Apur Sansar and Aparajito were turn offs, IMHO).
Coming to the topic of the post, after watching movies like 'Valentin', 'Children of Heaven' and 'Cinema Paradiso', I thought that I had watched the best that the medium could offer. I soon found out how wrong I was, when I watched this movie called 'The Lives of Others'
Set in last few years of East Germany's existence, this movie is essentially about 'Operation Laszlo', one of the many covert missions undertaken by the East German State Security Police (Stasi) to weed out potential enemies of the state by monitoring their personal and professional lives.
A engaging screenplay, superb direction by a debutant director (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck), brilliant performances by the lead cast, brilliant moments scattered throughout the movie in the form of subtle expressions (mainly by Muhe), a super ending, especially the last dialog in the context of the whole movie (this is not a thriller mind you) make this movie a must watch. And yes, I forgot to mention, that this movie also won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2007.
A few things immediately came to my mind after watching this film. If the intension in making the film was depicting the horrors/lack of freedom of life in a totalitarian, oppressive state, then I am sure we can find such instances in so called progressive states too. Why, during the McCarthy witch hunt, there were files maintained on suspected communists, their phone conversations tapped and their lives were essentially under the FBI microscope, much like is shown in this movie based in communist East Germany.
I suspect though, that this isn't the case, because nowhere is there any sort of preaching/banner-raising. It is simply a story that is set against an unfortunate background and how the lives of people involved get affected.
I'm hoping though, that there'll be many more films from this guy Donnersmarck (Quite like Bismarck, really, this surname, makes you want to clap your heels as if you heard the word 'Achtung'), because if his first film is anything to go by, the ones to follow should definitely be worth waiting for.

On Quizzing: Why do I like it?

2008-03-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Decided to start writing again, for some random reason.
Just last week, I found out that there's a Quiz Club at Purdue. It goes by the name 'Purdue India Quiz Club', I think. Being starved of quality quizzing for the past 6 months, my mind literally did double cartwheels when I heard that there was a Quiz Club at Purdue. A long quizzing session later, my heart content with the fact that theres some quality quizzing going on out here, I returned home.
Later on in the day, I asked myself why I enjoyed quizzing so much. This question didn't really seem relevant, or necessary to ask when I was in Pune and attending quizzes by the dozen (esp. during college days)
Some possibilities came to mind immediately:
1) I like to retain and regurgitate useless trivia
2) I like to show off that I know a lot of useless stuff that normal people would not bother to care about.
3) I like to compete with others who have similar knowledge on similar utterly useless topics.

I immediately disproved 1), 2) to myself on the basis of my past experiences. I felt that 1) was not valid because I don't think I have ever made a conscious effort to 'retain' trivia...(Shiva will know, however, that this is not true, we did spend the Christmas of 1996 mugging up Manorama in preparation for a quiz called IQ97, which ended un-ideally for us when, despite my best efforts to identify Cindy Crawford by saying 'Sidney, Sidney...', my team-mate, Darshan Parekh chose to exercise his power of seniority by blurting out 'Claudia Schiffer'...again, long time ago..sab maaf, but these things do stay in your mind)
So, yes, barring this one stray incident, I don't think I have ever consciously tried to 'mug-up' for a quiz.
2) Showing off, and me?? I think not. I don't think I have ever come across as a 'show-off'. But then again, I might be wrong here, people who have been in my company might be able to answer that, but yes, in this context I must say that I never have purposely tried to show that I have a lot of knowledge.
3) seemed like a possible contender, but then, theres so much competition all around anyways, be it for getting admitted into a prized University or for getting that much coveted job. So I think I will rule out 3) too.

I then tried making the question more general, by asking myself, why does someone enjoy a particular activity more than others? My own opinion is that any activity that can make you feel happy, gets an upper hand over the others. The reason the activity can make you happy can vary. People are able to focus their mental and physical faculties better at certain activities, as a result of which they perform better at these activities.
From personal experience I can say that this is true. I seem to be more focussed when I quiz, than when I try to study for an exam (True, and sadly so :) ). Also, over the hundreds of quizzes I have attended/attempted, there have been a lot of 'Voila/wow' moments. I shall define a 'Voila/wow' moment as one in which you have no idea as to how a particular thing happened, since it defies logic. I often found myself recognizing tunes that I had heard (and for all practical purposes, forgotten) a long time ago. One word in a quiz question triggers off a random thought and, what the heck, your 'educated guess' on the basis of that random thought turns out to be correct. I can also remember several instances when some connects just seemed right, just like that, pure instinct. No effort involved here, just pure, random access from shelved memory. I can't think of any other activity that has given me comparable moments.
I've seen people who like to quiz in a very structured way, thinking logically, drawing conclusions from well reasoned arguments and extrapolating information in order to piece together the question-answer-puzzle. I think I personally do not enjoy this style of logical quizzing, though I have to utilize this style of quizzing too, since the above mentioned moments of epiphany are far and few. But I generally feel I have enjoyed a quiz (even when I end up on the loosing side) when there are 2-3 such moments in a quiz. ( I think this also explains why I really really like long questions, where much side info is given alongside what are supposed to be hints to the answer. Even though useless, this side info has, on several occasions, helped me get an answer when what was supposed to be a logical hint did not do the job)

I think I have digressed from my main point though, which wasn't about why I like a particular 'style' of quizzing. (I think this also explains why I do not like writing so much. I am simply not good at it :) )
After much thought, I still don't have a complete answer, only some hints, which may be able to give me a complete answer someday. But yes, till then, I think I shall go with 'Quizzing makes me happy...' as my educated guess!!!

AweSome, AweSome

2006-01-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

This Post On Crystal Blur
had me in splits.Totally Cool.
A wise old man in a beard,who once taught me Mathematics,told me that if you learnt to laught at yourself,half your problems would be solved.Couldnt agree more.
Hawks,be warned,take it with a pinch of salt!!

Ganesh Hegde on Ganesh Hegde

2005-12-22T00:43:00.000-08:00

Ganesh Hegde.Yes,thats my name.

Now if youve hit Ganesh Hegde on Blogger! and have expected to find the personal blog of Ganesh Hegde,youve come to the right place.We'll,to begin with, I AM Ganesh Hegde,and this IS my personal blog.Ive been Ganesh Hegde for quite some time now,22 years nearly.

I also have a namesake,who has been making merry on TV,and wowing all the girls with his dance-cum-mush songs.Now not many people know that this guy was a choreographer before he hit the jackpot with "G".Going by the popularity of the songs that he's choreographed,one could also safely assume that he's a good choreographer.I mean songs like Khallas,Kambakht Ishq,and Babuji Zaraa Dheere Chalo,were huge hits,not to forget songs like Mitwaa from lagaan and Mehboob Mere,from Fiza .Some of these songs,were bigger than the films themselves.

So far,so good,Ganesh Hegde is an ace choreographer,people dont know about it and everyone is living happily,when this dude comes up with his own album "G".Its a rage amongst girls.
So,you may ask,why does this guy have a problem with his namesake making it big??

No No No,i dont have a problem with Ganesh Hegde making it big.Why should I??
In fact i was basking,quite shamelessly,in this reflected glory(this can be verified by checking the number of hits my blog has had in the last few days),when i received this response on one of my posts,from a fan called tinahegde [:-))]

"hey ganesh this is ur greatest fan on this planet earth i love u so much iam crazy for u hope ull respond soon i love u my name is christina my mail id isnatalie_200123@yahoo.com "

So I felt it necessary to clear the air once and for all,and take the risk of not getting even those few hits that i managed in the past few months *sob ,sob*.
Gals,devijis,dudes and dudettes,who have the hots for the great G,who google Ganesh Hegde and find this Blog,please know that this is not Ganesh Hegde the hot shot Choreographer-cum-Popstar,but Ganesh Hegde the...hot shot Software developer-cum-quizzer-cum-electronics&dsp-enthusiast!!

Theres something on the telly beyond Ekta.

2005-12-04T23:32:00.000-08:00

The Great Indian Laughter Challenge(Minus N.S.Sidhu),now Champions:-Star One,Friday 10:00 PM.
One of my favourite shows.The actual competition was great fun,now its kinda watered down.
One just cant stop laughing when Sunil Pal says in true Suniel Shetty Style " A-he Veerappan,MAdhurI ko choD de veerappan ",or better still "Prove karoon kya ?? Proove kar sakta hoon".Navin Prabhakar has almost started a parallel genre of bar dancer girl comedy with his "Paichaan Kaun,HaT Kutta" jokes.Besides that,Ehsaan Qureishis limericks ,Raju Shrivastav's ideas (I especially liked the Modified sholay,and laughing reporter gags),and the energy of Bhagwant Mann(Oh MyGoddddd!!!!!!mera beta mar gayaaaaaaa!!!),definitely make the show worth watching.Between Desperate Housewives,which airs at the same time,and TGILC,its a no-contest.Even some of the guys who didnt make it to the finals were amazing.among these Jimmmy Moses(the Chinese in India gag),Dharsi Beradia,and Deepak Raja.
All in all a rocking show.

Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai :-Star One,Monday 9:00 PM.
Maya Sarabhai (played by Ratna Pathak-Shah),the champagne drinking,quintessential socialite,is always at loggerheads with her daughter-in-law,Monisha,who as it turns out unluckily for Maya,is a quintessential penny-saving middle class girl.Ratna Pathak-Shah is just to good in this serial.Her dialogues,which almost always involve chiding her bahu with "its so typically middle class",are ably complemented by Monisha's,which almost always involve an exaggerated description of the middle class.Other members of the cast,like Sumeet Raghavan (who played Phaster Phene several years ago),and Satish Shah,do their job commendably.

The Kumars At Number 42:-Star World,Sunday 10:00 PM.
One Hillarious Show,never mind the BatliWalla,and the Kudkudiya cheap imitations.Sanjeev Kumar,and his grandmother are simply hillarious.Cant stop laughing when the grandma insults her less-than-pefect grandson.

KBC 2:- Star Plus ,FRI-SUN 9:00 PM.
I like this show simply because the way the Big B presents it,is unparalleled,aDwitIya.The junta pleasing questions notwithstanding, I do get some good trivia on India once in a while.

Sab Kuch Ho Sakta Hai:SAB TV ,WED-THURS 10:30 PM.
if you want to see spoofs done on Indian Personalities in the most hillarious manner,watch this show.Sajid Khan is ok,but the show stealer is Suresh Menon.Simply hillarious.
Another show that does spoofs is the Great Indian Comedy Show,modelled on the lines of Mad TV.But some of the gags here are really boring and do not evoke too much laughter.

Besides these,the usual stuff like Friends,Seinfeld(Kramer rocks),and the Drew Carrey Show.

All in all,enough to keep me occupied all weekend(I get to watch only repeats)!!

A Few Pune centric definitions

2005-09-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Recently -I happened to read this Headline in the Marathi newspaper Sakal.
It translates as follows:
ROAD:something that exists between potholes.
This coupled with my experiences with Pune's roads this monsoon,made me think about a few more definitions,or rather modifications of existing definitions,as they apply to Pune city.Though these defintions apply to Pune, they can be derated according to the road conditions in other cities to be
applicable there.

1)ROAD:Something that exists between adjacent potholes.
Appendix : The minimum distance between potholes required to complete the definition varies from area to area.e.g:in the Cantonment area it may be as far as 20 metres,while on Ganeshkhind road it is about 5 -10 cm.
note:In areas like Ghorpadi(if you knew that it existed in Pune),the concept of road does not exist.
2)CONCENTRATION:A quality required by pedestrians,and vehicle drivers,that enables them to reach home in one piece.
3)SURVIVOR:A person who has a high amount of concentration.
4)ACCIDENT:Something that happens to potential survivors,when they are concentrating so much on surviving,that they bang into
a) A Pole,or a divider
b) A Pedestrian
c) A Cyclist
Case a) can also be taken as the definition for Pole-dancing as one of my friends tells me.
5)MOONSCAPE:A clear view of the moons surface(Craters et al),earlier visible only through the telescope,and pictures,but due to the untiring efforts of the PMC(and road contractors),a very precise simulation of it is now accesible to the general public in Pune.
6)UPA:Hithertho known as the United Progressive Alliance,in Pune it is known as the United Pothole Alliance.As conspiracy theorists might tell you,it is an association formed by road contractors,politicians,orthopaedic surgeons,accident hospitals,and vehicle spare part manufacturing companies(genuine and fake).

The al-Chemist

2005-06-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Happened to read the much acclaimed book,"The Alchemist" recently.The book makes for absorbing reading.However it does suffer from major drawbacks.

It prophesises that "If you want something,the entire universe conspires in helping you get it".It exhorts the reader to follow his/her dreams through the medium of the protagonist Santiago.However there seems to be a paradox here,for it says that you must dream,for only if you dream will they become true,and it talks about Santiago having found his 'destiny'.

Now dream and destiny,for me,are not always compatible.Further,it says that you must spot the 'omens',while on the quest to fulfill your dreams.This and a lot of mysterious elements,like the 'soul of the world',and the author Paulo Coelho's cleverness in subtly putting his point across about his own(I presume) religion,Christianity,confused me thoroughly.There is talk about 'the Tradition' never being wrong,about our fate being written(Maktub).

But I guess the book can take such liberties,for it essentially is fiction.Another thing that struck me about the book is that,since the author uses the medium of Santiago to put his views forth,he does not become unnecessarily preachy,unlike other motivational books which indulge in direct conversation with the reader.

All in all,very well written,and some of the points do make sense too,but only people of enormous faith,can,i suppose put into practice what Coelho says.

im back

2005-06-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

after a self imposed sabbatical for a month due to exams,im finally in a position to write regularly again.dont know what to write about though.on my way back home,i saw a few signboards,which were pretty comical.
they read something like this.
"shrikrishna-mutton shop";
"m.s. chut-ke and sons-tailors";
"saatvik-the vitamin filled diet(on the lines of d-aag-the fire!!);
ive made a resolution to keep my eyes open for all these signboards.there sure is a lot of humour everywhere if you read the signs.
(i also saw an empty mall that had the signboard-shoppers stop!!)

Paki singers rock

2005-05-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

This thing called the PL that we engineering students have is a manna from heaven.not only does it give us all the time in the world to do all the useful stuff that we dont all semester long,it also gives us time to study.so here i was one fine pl night,downloading software for my ancient comp,when i happened to listen to the song "jiya na jaye" by faakhir from his album 'mantra'.what struck me about the song was that it was original,and melodious,unlike the remix crap thats regularly being dished out on music channels nowadays.since i had all the time in the world,i immediately downloaded the song.

i wonder why indian musicians arent doing good original stuff nowadays.the indian pop scene was totally rocking in the late 90's,with several singers like daler mehndi,shaan,sonu nigam bursting on to the scene.and they did real good stuff then.while shaan and and sonu nigam have moved on to playback singing,daler mehndi has (allegedly got several illegal immigrants deprted back to india from canada!!) found little luck with his recent albums.

on the other hand,pakistani bands and singers have regularly made good music,evident from the fact that these bands have a huge fan following in india.and lets face it,these guys are good.junoon,fuzon,atif(of yeh lamhe fame),faakhir,strings have sold albums like crazy out here.(ive purposely left out adnan sami for the simple reason that he cannot sing,and plus he would take up more space than required on this web page!!).its really good to see that these guys are getting the attention they deserve(and the moolah).unfortunately,our very own abhijit(chaand taare of yes boss) doesnt share my views.he feels a lot of indian singers are being neglected in the wake of this craze for paki bands.though his comments about adnan sami might be valid,i dont think its right to criticise these singers just because they are pakistanis.afterall,people want to listen to good music,and they dont care if its coming from across the borders.he seems to have conveniently forgotten the fact that indian movies are so popular in pakistan,that despite the ban on them,pirated copies are freely available,and people there love the stuff.chances are that if youre watching a pirated version of a movie at home,the cd has been originally burnt in pakistan!!.

thankfully,the scene seems to be getting a little better for indian pop music.ive heard good stuff by abhijit sawant(indian idol),rabbi shergill(bulla ki jaana totally rocks),kunal ganjawala(channa ve),bombay boys(though its half indian,and half norwegian) and kumar sanu(tera mera pyar),in recent times.

Kya Kool khai khum

2005-04-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

k{
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Im taking inspiration from Ekta kapoor.She's taught me so much.I mean,I realised that whatever I do,however hard I end up working,im still going to be a failure in life if theres no k in my name,or someplace around me.Because you see k stands for karma,and by adding a k in all possible places ,it improves my karma.Dont believe it??Go ahead ,try it yourself.Youll be surprised at the results.
When I was pondering over my future "Nnaaamkkarran Sanskaaarr",I Read the article about *Star* numerologist Mr.Jumaani.He says,that numbers rule our world.So the reason why Shourobh Ganguly is not doing well,is not because hes playing plain badly,but because he wears Jersey no.99.He should switch to 24 he says,because no 6 again somehow stands for akhdkhd in the house of jwhrohhht thats why hghohohogho which rules the planet of ghohgogohgohghhghghigh is not matching the numerological equivalent of his name,so if he changes his jersey to number 24 then he'll be back with a bang(No wait!! bang doesnt seem to have the right numbers.we should make that ngab,no ngam,Yes this is perfect,NAGMA!!you see Nagma and Saurav are both numerologically ruled by the god of lust,sorry light,surya,and thats why they offered prayers at the konark temple!!yes,that really fits in well)
Therefore,im thinking of changing my name.I think i should make it kganesh,or kkganesh(i can imagine people going around trying to call my name,ekdum shahrukh style,hey kk..ganesh!!),or better still,Kanesh.So please,change your names,and reap the benefits.
Have you also noted that the total number of letters and characters in this post also has an equivalent of 6??And Ive also added an extra k which has improved my karma so much,that im actually feeling more confident,and thats why im going to do well in life.Amazing,isnt it??
)
}

Ein neue Papst

2005-04-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Rejoice all you Roman Catholics of the world,for you have a new pope.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI.And he will lead you into the kingdom of God.
Im afraid for not long though.For he looks as though he may soon secure a permanent seat at the eternal security council,where Giovanni Paolo II will ask him "Et tu Papa??"Congrazie!!"".This "humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord"(dont know why he chose a vineyard over other places of work,free booze attracts one and all!!) is a known hardliner,which again puzzles me.Why would any one having any sense oppose change.Its probably out of the fear that they would then lose control over a people they have kept in the dark for ages.So God doesnt want women to enjoy their time in bed,haan (Hump not, when thy need is not a child)??Or he has an aversion to latex??Or pills for that matter??
How people still believe this stuff puzzles me.What also puzzles me is that Even after having so many names to choose from he ends up chosing Benedict.Was he so hard pressed for choice.It reminds me of a joke though.A drunkard is standing next to a manhole shouting "15,15,15......"So a guy comes up to him and asks him whats up.he says "go ahead,take a look".and as soon as the guy bends down to take a look this dude pushes him down and starts screaming "16,16,16..........!!!".
Hey Papa,im sorry,I hope my soul doesnt burn in hell for this.
May God bless you.Amen.

An Interesting method

2005-04-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Found a very interesting,and amazingly simple way to solve an equation involving complex powers.Say we have a equation x^3-x^2+x=z^2+2z;we separate this into two equations,say y= x^3=x^2+x,and y=z^2+2z.Plot the graphs of both against y,and the points of intersection are the solutions to the equation.Complex problems truly have simple solutions.The source for this solution was the book "The shadows of the Mind",by Roger Penrose.Quite a good read actually, considering that the author has gone great lengths to show where quantum physics fails to explain the workings of a conscious mind,and how we must develop a new physics to accomodate the concept of a non-mathematical consciousness.

My First post on My first blog

2005-04-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

After one year of listening to people discussing blogs whenever i visited B.C.,i decided to have a blog of my own.Not that i had any particular animosity towards weblogs.Its just that BSNL made sure that i didnt have a decent net connection,which meant that i had to make regular trips to the nearby cybercafe to check mail,and that i didnt have enough time for this 'indulgence'.Finally i decided that ive had enough,so when Sify came up with a decent offer, i jumped on to the broad-bandwagon,and here i am,with enough of online time to create some space for myself on the web(and be an active contributor too) .
Ive never understood the actual need of a blog.I still dont.But after beginning to write my first post,I get the feeling that its out of the need to express yourself,maybe in a way that can never be done in a conversation.Maybe its done out of the urge to show to others, how intellectually inclined you are.Seems pretty confusing,and i sure would like to get some comments on this.
Till my next post,
Ganesh