Going to USA

I'll be leaving for US on 30th Dec. So all those guys nearby Charlotte NC, mail me the contact numbers and we can meet up soon.

Ways to live

This is the time of the year when we think of life and times ahead. The kind of time when even timid like me start thinking of changing the ways we live. Accordingly I have been thinking of some exciting careers. Some of the fun/adventurous/ no-work work lines I can suggest are:
1. Professional Protester
2. Photographer with National Geographic
3. Active Volcano hiker
4. Storm Chaser (with free plane and rides)
5. Scuba diver
6. Sky Diver
7. School Teacher
8. Wine / beer taster
9. Day Watchman in a night club
10. Food Critic
11. Stock Market commentator
12. Free fall train operator? (does (s)he get to ride the train too? )

You can add your ideas

Season's Greetings

Its the time of the year when Xmas and Hanukkah are celebrated. The impending new year brings cheer to people. Its also the time of get together and parties and holidays taken.
All those who are vacationing or otherwise having fun- Season's Greetings and Happy holidays.
To those who are not- what are you waiting for? Go out, go and have fun.

Plenty of Action, no nothing to report

The week proved to be quite exciting for newspapers. Indians managed a comprehensive win in South Africa, Jessica Lall case finally ended with Justice done, Asian games ended, Lalu got acquitted in disproportionate assets case, Discovery had another launch and so on.
On personal front, or rather my professional front, new developments taking place which I'll update on once things clear up. Suffice to say that a city change is strongly in making for me and that should be exciting.
All in all an eventful few days. Still I hardly had anything insightful to say so kept quiet. After all whats the fun in a news blog posting? As it is we have a surfeit of news in our lives even if its mere salacious fact/opinion reading that mostly goes for news on our news channels. But then why not? Why should I decide what should be reported and what not? If the majority find it boring, they won't watch/read it and the media house go out of business.
Even blogging has this crisis of confidence. Many people pass sarcastic comments as to how Blogosphere is now mostly a teen diary capturing details of teeth brushing in morning and brand of chocolate eaten in the night. I wonder why should it not be so. So long as no one is forcing me to read any particular blog, why not take it as a rather harmless channelization of excess energy? It harms no one and at least the writer sleeps well in the night after the post.
The question is really fundamental. Should 'taste' or 'goodness' be defined by someone or a group or even the majority for everybody. Especially in something like print on web were you only pick up what you choose to see. Yes there is noise that comes across which one can filter. Why not let individual freedom range unhindered at least here?

Hiatus unhitched

Life of late has been hectic, interesting and depressing at the same time. Lots of things happening on my end and still hardly much happens. Ah lets chuck the life stories and talk of something interesting.
I have been blogging a while now. Most of it is mere recap of mundane or erratic wanderings of the mind, along with an occasional interesting idea. Today I just recount something that is supposed to be serious but came across as funny to us comic techies.
The company did a fire drill today, yippy. Last time this happened I remember I was good enough to grab a mug of tea before strolling out to the assembly area and watches the water games over glass buildings with interest while sipping tea and enjoying the winter sun.
This time however the timing caught me. Just before 12, a time when one starts thinking of lunch is not the best time to grab tea. So I had to venture out with no prop in sight. One thing I never did understand is that why with a wide road 30 ft from my building do I have to not take it and in fact traverse a 100m or so, going on the sides of potentially blazing buildings and go to a "high" area. Ne ways, whats to be done is to be done and there we were all out in a cramped lawn under a hot December sun (sun IS hot this December). Then the fun started.
The guy with the mike - yup there was one, i believe some security firm guy wielding it with the enthusiasm of a new poll fray entrant. The guy told us how God almighty is on our sides because we take precautions and how well trained the volunteers and he will now burn *sound drop* after sprinkling petrol and have it doused. Yeah we all wait to see him attempt some fire jumping stunt.
Did I tell earlier that the place was crowded. Yup checked, I did. So all i can see from my safe distance is a huge flame, sorry no one it it, maybe except few newspapers (i tell you TOI should improve its article quality). And then a huge column of fire retardant being sent up in space. Now why should the fire retardant be sent up when the flame is on the ground beats me, but then I am a mere software guy no security expert. Ah as it turns out nothing much there but then the mike comes alive.
There is a lot of commotion but a very emotional voice exhorting the crowd in the name of God almighty thanking God and invoking oaths in HIS name to fight oppression, tyranny and fire all over the world or something like it. Why God should come into it is again a bit thick to atheists like me but I did see some very enthusiastic crowd cheering God and clapping for the speaker. Then came the hose guys. I merely mean the fire hose wielding guys. Last time they washed my building clean but this time it was just a very confused 'why rains in the sun' tree. More clapping, disappointment at no one attempting a rain dance and more invocations to the God.
I have a hunch that it must be a going to poll in a God fearing town, VP of a firm, egged on my hoping for a raise subordinations who was wielding the mike. It was almost fun but for the sound drop outs. Imagine some serious guy hearing "put your finger in the socket, get electrocuted" where the beginning "don't" and the somewhere in the middle "and you might" were inaudible, taking this to be God's prophet's command went ahead and did it?. On the bright side I can do with Thursday off.
Anyways, it was getting too hot outside so at this point I troop back to the old seat.
I do think that 3:00 pm is the ideal time for such drills. Just the time of the day when one looks for excitement in life. Wonder what if there is an actual fire. Will people still troop so casually. Should we test our stampede preparedness by throwing in a few smoke cans next time we drill. That should come across as real fun.

Beautiful City

Extending the architecture theme, I recently made a quick trip to Lucknow. First thing that struck me was the Roads. From airport to Indira Nagar, almost criss crossing across the town, the road was universally good. 4 lane roads being expanded to 6 lanes, 6 lanes at places to 8. The dividers are nicely painted, crossing proper and painted in visible stripes.
While governments may have did no governance, competition with predecessors has ensured lavish parks built in the names of inspirational political father figures dot the city. At least people can ruminate questions of law and order and employment sitting in sylvan surroundings. While I do resent the waste of money, still there is a comforting thought that at least the money did leave some relic that can actually be used. Which city will resent parks and open spaces?
The other thing about Lucknow is the architecture. Of course the old city is typically nice on the eyes but even the new buildings, governmental included, in the Gomti Nagar area are nice. Most have distinctive architectural features be is innovative pillars or domes or some such thing. To put it in a way most building have a 'character' and they cater to the beholder's sense of aesthetics. Quite unlike most other modern structures I have seen across India.
The earliest example was the Mandi Parishad building in Gomti Nagar with a very interesting dome with an even more interesting lightening. It was good to grab the cup of tea, get onto the roof and stare at it in distance. Similarly the new bridge near the Taj hotel with the distinctive Nawabi gates at the entrance. I hope the 2 new bridges being built with not mar the landscape. And to think that they are building 2 more bridges to the existing 2 so that congestion in future can be avoided. I thought town planning was extinct.
Now if only the powers take care of law and order too, the city can once more become the abode of life it was once famous as.

Exporting India

There is some talk happening about opening a Buddhist university in Nalanda near the erstwhile World University. An admirable idea if implemented.
I have long believed that India must start exporting spirituality. Mind and soul, one stop shop - India. We do currently send a steady crop of Godmen abroad but frankly they do not impress me. What I want to see is Global citizens coming to India to learn philosophy, contemplate the very questions of God and morality.
From the little that I know of Indian philosophy its not really judgmental, its more of many competing schools of thought debating questions and laying out alternates (INDIAN PHILOSOPHY) . Compare that with most of the non Indian religions (spiritual philosophies) which are nearly all judgmental, which in my opinion has caused so much of a clash of civilizations.
The way I see it is that Indian tradition has questioned all thoughts and reasoned out. Not like this is the word of God and you cannot question it. It has even questioned if God is itself a creation? I remember the words from the oldest of philosophy texts, the Rig Veda - the earliest of the Vedas and it starts with the very basic questions about creation and maybe God is a human construct?. From what I know Buddhism is an non theist religion, so it does not even have a concept of God.
The point of of this is that unlike most other philosophies especially spiritual ones, Indian philosophies offer thousands of years of thoughts catering to entire spectrum of spiritual tendencies. And that makes us unique.
India already has a mind share as a land of mystics and its time we aim to get that into useful assets. Once globe starts looking to India for spiritual guidance, we shall be the real world leaders. Top of mind recall shall be ours.
Combine that with our recall in knowledge industries it will transform India's image everywhere.

Chronical of a weekend

There is never a dull moment in life when a bull is let loose! As it happens my Thunderbird is back with me and to celebrate the occasion LeChat and I decided to hit the roads. My knowledge of places around Pune is sketchy at best so the intrepid hiker LeChat is the navigator. Soon we find ourselves some small hamlet near Nilkantheshwar.
There is this nice little river murmuring by with rocks and all strategically placed for sitting with feet in water and hot day needed no better breaks.
after half an hour of nice talks and generally hunting for fishes in water we come back and the fun started. Apparently some kids (just a guess) thought that its fun to deflate both tires of a bullet in a God forsaken place with no hint of civilization nearby and promptly acted on the thought.
I know those Industrial age barons had the right idea in corralling those blighters in schools. It beats me why are they let out during day at all? So here we are no road on one side, a hill to climb on other and both tires flat.
Well I did hear a bike coming and the gentleman tells us, nope no repair shop nearby, best you can do is to get to Panshet which is the wrong side of the hill. LeChat true to form is clapping her hands in childlike glee - "Yippyy! We have an adventure ahead. Drag this beast on the hill my boy and we shall have the walk of our life!" I tell you sometimes I wish I had listened to what mom used to say about riding in woods with adventurous hikers for company!
So here we are, a shiny big bike next to us, walking up a hill for a couple of km and dragging the beast along. But we made it, only to realize that the shop which never closes is in fact closed today. Luckily someplace downhill has another shop. Wise to truant seeking shop keepers we decide to walk down first leaving the beast behind and check out on the repair shop's status. Ah luck has not completely deserted us, it is in fact open. Walk back, drag the bike along and finally we are there.
With all the dragging on dirt roads, the front tube valve body broke, the rear tyre did escape injury. I did tell you the kids couldn't really take all the air out there was just a hint of it left, otherwise dragging the bike would have been impossible. Well there is just one shop and too many pesky kids around, clearing the queue takes long. Sometime around 6, the gentleman does start working on the tyre. Took 1/2 hour to mend, shifting the valve and then adventure part duex starts. The gentleman has never worked on tyres with disc brakes before and reassembling ain't that straight forward. somewhere around 7:30 the tyre gets back, break is working and tyre seems to be doing its job. The intrepid explorers are back on track this time taking the road more explored back to Pune.
its a good hard drive for a long time and its nearly 8 when we hit Warje bang in the middle of a traffic jam and the gears start acting funny. But its a short drive and finally huffing and puffing we reach LeChat's abode. after the usual tootsie and cheerios with the family, the two of us decide to wrap up with some dinner nearby to celebrate our return on same day, hop back on bike. kick, start and the clutch wire breaks! So here we are, nearly at 10, all shops closed and no clutch. Well an old bike was commandeered and I am dropped off the nearest auto, packing food for self on the way. So an auto from Warje to Aundh.
Reach home uneventfully, just that the food could have done a lead role in Asian paints ad for sheer exuberance of colors. after picking up whatever looked edible I hit the sack.
Next morning I have to reach Hadapser to meet someone. So an auto ride from Aundh to Hadapsar. Okie met the gentleman and took an auto back to Warje from Hadapsar. Reached the bike and called the mechanic.
The overalls clad takes his sweet time and gets in around 7pm and starts dissembling the parts to replace the wire. A screw starts slipping. Okie dude now if you want my bike in your workshop - You drag it there. The dude does that and I hop into Lechat's limo and drive there. another 1/2 hr and now the dude tells me he needs to weld the screw and then take it out, no driver shall accomplish it on its own. The hitch? Guess? the welder has gone home! No option so I leave the bike and take an auto.
So an auto ride from Warje to Aundh. I get near Bremen Circle and the phone buzzes. LeChat giggling wildly! hello, I know I've been having an interesting weekend still some words would help. Ah it turns out once the shop closes, the mechanic decides to try again and the screw comes out clean! Still I am happy at least its gonna make morning commute better. So I return to Warje on the same auto, take the bike and finally home at 11 Pm.
So in total the weekend gist
1. 2Km drag of Bull mostly uphill
2. Auto from Warje to Aundh
3. Auto from Aundh to Hadapsar
4. Auto from Hadapsar to Warje
5. Auto from Warje to Aundh
6. Auto from Aundh to Warje.

And they all complaint that I do nothing on weekends!

ahem

Bombay Musings

Bombay aka Mumbai is an interesting city by all accounts. Had a visa interview yesterday and so spent most my time there. The first thing that strikes me about Bombay apart from the sheer number of people is the architecture. Short of the hill stations Bombay is probably home to some of our finest urban architecture. What is remarkable about it is what we have done to it.
Yesterday saw this immense circular building that must have been lovingly made many years ago. The windows had iron girders to hang clothes, someone extended the window by enclosing it all in dark glass and cheap aluminum. The shops in front put up high banners. In short, it epitomizes our singular lack of appreciation of a thing of beauty.
I remember this friend of mine once remarking, earlier in British times the municipal corporations were for town planning. Now the only function they do it to collect garbage and sweep streets both of which they do with a singular deficit of attention. How true. Look at all modern townships that have come up. Not one will boast of a unique architecture. Museums and town halls and art galleries and auditoriums are concepts not found in Indian town planners. This all reflects in attitudes. People take pride in defacing work of art because they simply have forgotten that there are things in life beyond roti and kapada. Saw this fort in Jaipur, there was a small nook in a corner with a view that I entered. From outside it apparently had some interesting murals on the wall. On coming closer I realized that its all graffiti with guys describing their love life all over the walls and pan stains and all. 300 years of heritage, scarred and marred on the alter of love!
But I digress. Good thing about Bombay is that most of the architecture is relatively new (last 200 years of so, mostly less) so at least much of it stands. Places like VT/Flora fountain are still a treat to the eyes so much of the residential areas marred. Someday I plan to hitch my camera to the bike and travel around the city and generally loll around soaking in the masterpieces. Only hitch is that the crowd makes it tough doing so during day. So I might take up a job there and do all this early mornings :).

Rains

Raindrops crawl across the shed, frogs sing
in the dark a solitary figure hunts for inspiration

PS: part busy, part bored
totally away
posts may have to wait

Peep into future

Open any tech news site these days and invariably there are stories about privacy concerns being raised due to some government legislation or the other. Most of these relate to data being gathered and analyzed for people. Its ubiquitous, you travel abroad and you'll find your face, fingerprints, retinas being scanned and stored. You buy online, your credit card history being stored. Google itself tracking and correlating your mails, blogs, communities.
The amount of data being generated and tagged for each individual is immense. We have already seen big corporations or corporate like entities often getting access to such data, to think that governments not having access and using such data would be naive.
History shows that while authorities assure a lot in beginning about how the data collected will not be used for xyz purpose in future, the future end up authorizing exactly those xyz. So we do not really see the frightening uses of such personal history available to people who you have never even seen or talked to.
Lets face it, knowledge is power. It makes me think- what happens when say a government (analogy holds for corporates too) has complete data on me, my family, my friends, my friends' friends... They know what I bought, looked at, talked about all my life. In short a complete record of my life and ideas (right or wrong) about my thought process. To what use could such information be put to? To deny me opportunities (maybe a coveted career opening)? The scope of power over me in the hands of someone who I cannot confront is frightening.
We do seem to be moving towards such a society. A case in point maybe the file sharing lawsuits in US. A non government agency often got access (some by rights given to them by laws made for the purpose) to search personal computing freedom. And a lawyer may make smart analogies with what (s)he finds by such search in order to destroy the defendant. After all, isn't this a technique in debate? If you can't think of something, why not question the topic itself? And a trial is basically a debate. So if I am fighting an individual and decide that while I do not have a strong case, if I have information about the person that may potentially cause people to look down upon the person, it can be valuable.
Currently this is just a the beginning of the information age and we have not yet seen the ramifications of such data mining. In future agencies can have immense amount of power over individual due to this.
All this leads me to conclude that in long term future (a few 100 years maybe), the structure of the governments may itself change. Democracy is good because the assumption is that the people know the best. But what when some people know while most don't? Will the model work? What if the current government know the best and the electorate doesn't? Should then the electorate be allowed to replace those who know by those who don't? Technology will ensure that a small group of those in know will wield disproportionate power. And this group will typically be that which traditionally found itself more in authority over a period of time and start leveraging the power of information over others such authority permits. Slowly the institution will start pulling levers in order to protect itself from loosing any influence - a classic case of elite rule.
If you look at most SF movies, the future is always a fight between forces, typically under an emperor or a league. If we take SF writers as visionaries (and many might be, as Jules Verne indicates), is this really the future. Will 3000 see Earth and its colonies under an emperor appointed by a league?

Oh no the Tower of Babel!

While on these trips abroad to client sites, lack of a common language is often a boon. It allows you to converse with your own folks about things you may not want the others to understand for whatever reasons - confidentiality, privacy etc.
Alas mere scientists are not so sensitive to social situations. So here we are. It seems these pesky computers are now creating the Tower of Babel. What it does is that it hears a word, figures out the language somehow and then translate it into another language. While UN jaw-jaws can do with it, business love it during interviews, the poor developer with a geographically sundered sweetheart on phone and pesky client on next table cannot but shudder with horror!
Thats the problem with technology. It makes life better and takes the charm away.

Life Saving Tips

I'm again in God mode so here are some tips that may keep you alive in those rare situations. Like all good gospels I take give no guarantee that if you preach to a lion it shall not devour you in the process and thank me so these are just tips no assurances
Hmmm now the valuable information that my trolling human knowledge has bestowed on me
1. If marooned in sea in a dinghy but no food or water, you catch a fish do not try to eat it. Raw fish is hard to digest and will make you thirsty. You can live maybe a month without food but not a week without water. instead suck its eyeballs to get some water and spew the rest out. Note to fish: if you see a dinghy with folks swim away for your life.
2. If buried in snow in Alps and the rompy Bernard comes with brandy around neck, chuck the hooch and hug the pooch, its warmer. brandy shall make the blood go to the skin and loose more heat. You may keep the brandy for later log fire story session though.
3. If a she asks you "do I look too fat" pretend to choke on air and practice temporary loss of voice. while doing this keep shaking your head in "no" kind of way.

We kissed. She melted. Mop please!

Wired runs this positively brilliant story about "very short stories". Short stories are a rather tough genre to dabble in. What these guys did was to invite some authors to compose short stories of 6 words each. The whole idea seemed interesting enough and so here we are gentlemen and dear ladies, the fruits of an experiment available for sampling. You can read it here.

The title of the post is one of these (by James Patrick Kelly) , another one I liked is
"Longed for him. Got him. Shit.
- Margaret Atwood" (this could be about me!!!)

And some which remind me of HHKG
"Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth.
- Vernor Vinge

We went solar; sun went nova.
- Ken MacLeod"

Happy reading

Those who couldn't run away And one who did

Now normally having life's great plans gone awry usually makes for painful reading but ever once a while comes some specimen of God's own image to make even these chuckle-able.
While going through some old clips, came across these jams.
There was this dude in Devon who broke into an occupied house, collected booty and ran off with it in a ... give a guess... another try?.. a Wheelbarrow!. The owner alerted by a neighbour called in police who were too busy elsewhere to come quickly. The owner and his kids after waiting for 2 hours for police decided to chase the thief in their car and caught up with the gentleman still tootling along with the booty bearing barrow. I tell ya some men will always overestimate their sprinting speed

In other news, a German, punches in for directions to the nearest loo in his car satnav. The ever dutiful technoslave did what it does best and gave the directions. The rather hassled driver took the directions dutifully and drove the car right as per directions running over the portaloo! I'm impressed buddy by your satnav service, amazing accuracy.

There was this other one, sorry could find the link, where this gentleman from America ( :) ) called in cops to report some contraband stolen from his house! The cops came, took info and managed to even zero in the thief - a dealer this dope once went to get his dope!. Both were last reported to be in the cooler.

In others - This granny got a thief in such a grip the bugger was glad to see a police car come in!

This dude tried to rob a CCTV store`while the cameras were whirring away!!

Wonder how it feels to have a mugger return stuff to you because its too cheap for him to mug?

Once a while though the thieves do do better. In this case they just walked away with the entire surveillance system!

I think I'll start making a series of such chucklethons, the site can do with some extra traffic :)

Abbot and Monk- In conversation II

Monk: Master, a law has been broken
Abbot: What my child
M:They tell me that SWIFT broke privacy rules
Abbot: I pray for those who suffered anguish
M: Master I am sad, what happened to the trust?
A: Its a harsh world we live in child
M: Master I wonder if the righteous thing to do is to hit back at injustice
A: what would you like to do child?
M: Sue them master. We can get money that we can use Master.
A: You need to have big money to have an account with them first child
M: There always is a catch nah master?

Life of a tea

Sipping a hot cuppa \ I wonder
What might the tea have said to me
-----------------------------------------
Too young to remember when I was asunder
from my mother tree
They took me out, planted in black ground
and then on I was called tea

I sipped on nature, fresh dew and soil
and grew up green and lush
tender fingers than caressed me about
and as I danced they plucked me out

cut and dried I was left in ferment
....
-------------------------
at this point I reach my limits of poetic inspiration so will leave it for you to finish.

I was really there

Given my near absolute abstinence from carrying a camera around, some friends doubt if its not just me hiding away from all telling them- "Ah I'm away someplace for work, sorry la can't meet". They say eyes don't lie so here you are.

Just after lunch, what you see behind is Two IFC - the tallest tower in HK and where I spent the day drinking tea - or meeting clients if you insist on the boring version



View from the terrace of my apartment

The adventure sport

"Writing can be a dangerous activity" thus spake a headline in The Hindu. Well our dear lady- Ms Kiran Desai has the Man Booker and all is well with the world. I had read speculations that she will win it one day after her first novel came out and she has done it in very good time.
To those who scoff at this profound truth- of writing being an adventure sport, I merely say "Ha!". They apparently have never attended one of my impromptu poetry sessions I sometimes subject my worst enemies to. There is an almost divine sense of happiness on watching someone face contort with literary anguish when that someone is your arch non friend.
The latest Monkism is- You are either with me or you Will listen to me(Period) And there are plenty of masters around. Many of my top bosses are very fond of cracking humorous things in their often made speeches. Nothing quite as interesting as to see someone on stage mike in hand, crack a joke, look around with a telling pause while the audience decides the most appropriate response to the as yet unclear -is it a joke or something else- statement. Then some start crying, some laughing, some sombre; each as per own interpretation of the intent. When all dies down, I start laughing at the whole thing. Whack! come the immediate boss's feedback restoring peace.
And they say writing is an arm chair hobby *rubbing head*!

IgNobles

The 2006 Ig Noble are announced. These are among my favorites, Good clean fun year after year. Most of the academic life is so drab, always done with a stiff collar, that almost anything that can chuckle at academic research needs to be applauded.
There is no political angle to it, no slap stick, its fun poking at its best. Ig Nobles along with Stella awards are keenly awaited every year. In this super racing, serious world, these epitomizes the spirit of pausing and laughing it all off. There is also this predictable absurd guy who is good unclean fun ;)
Come to think of it there don't seem to be too many humorists around anymore. PG Wodehouse gone long time back, Douglas Adams is gone too, so is Harishankar Parsai, one of my favorite modern Hindi humorist. In such gloom, there are very few true works of humor emerging. I can think of the TV show- Whose line is it anyway, that was perhaps the best comedy show without being slapstick. Yes I know there is Friends and a few others which are also laugh riots but then their humor is more of very typical kind- political satire or Innuendo.
Maybe its all because of the social flux. Suddenly technology has transformed the world and maybe we are all too busy coming to terms with it all to really think of funny things. So the only creative fun around is what happens to others in courtrooms or science labs. Mercifully some nice souls have captured it all and by instituting an yearly prize, brought a smile on our lips.
Thankie dear fellas

Happiness?

Recently read some distressing news about another school shooting in US. I've always wondered why is it that so many such incidents happen in US. While school shootings are mercifully less in other affluent countries but they have their own set of behaviour problems.
Now while many will be quick to blame western decandance and lack of moral values etc, I consider that pure drivel. US/Europe is as moral as India or anywhere else. Its just that morality is a very societal concept and definition must vary.
Poor countries have their own problems of violence in life but what got me wondering was why should rich countries with all their investments in education, personal attention to each individuals, social security and all, should have so many senseless crimes?
Now basically I am a restless guy jumping from 1 thing to another. Another chain of thought was how does social security improves one quality of life and society in general. For one, it allows one to follow the heart and do things that makes one happy rather than do what will ensure a steady trickle of silver. This has obvious benefits. When people do what they enjoy doing, they tend to do it well. And this may explain why so much of western art and social thoughts are path breaking.
One the other hand, I think it also gets in the way of evolution. In jungle if a tiger decides to loll all day in green grass smoking pipes and thinking of what ills has the society inflicted on it, it will starve and the deers shall all be happier for it. So maybe by removing the fear of starving, it allows the social misfits to become a drag on society.
So these folks will happy live of the social security and not bother with any productive work.
I am not saying that social security is bad, what I Am saying though, is that a system that allows a person not to try and do any productive work and yet live a decent life will be abused. Remember the general human trait is that if there is a potential for abuse, people will start abusing it.
So you have this case of someone living in car, having handguns and all, I assume not working- still managing to afford all these, having wild fancies on some kind, walking into people and killing. In a poor society, such a guy would either have starved and thus removed the danger to society or else would have been too busy scraping togather a living to do any real harm. There is a certain misnotion in most of the western world that we humans have some God given inherent right to have a good life. Why should human have a good life which is not earned by them?

Arriviste

White flourescent lights
Cold steel tables
People in white coats
Being treated for lifestyle diseases
I have arrived!

In other News

Sony electronic book reader is out here. Been waiting for a long while for a product like this. While nothing to me, beats the plain old fashioned books, having a heavy tome on the tummy while reading in bed can get uncomfortable very soon. Laptops again are out for the same reason.
While this baby from Sony, being Sony- will be I'm sure expensive.
The whole ebook, e-ink thing has been so long in the making. I remember discussion about this in pre-2000 days. Sadly no worthy product did hit the shelves. I am skeptical about the whole availability of the ebooks at an affordable price. If the books are like $20/- + to begin with, affordability will ensure that the product stays just a gadget love rather than a real useful way to read books.
The real utility of an ebook for me is if its very light. Then keeping one around for late night reading, short travels where the weight of packing books is an issue. Why pack? because eg Hindi books are not all that available elsewhere. Publishers may do well to pack in a ebook edition along with the paperback for a small additional consideration.
So hopefully I soon shall not have to worry about hunting for the right reading material on those trips abroad.

Return of the Monk

It feels good to be back where I belong. After a hectic trip, it is fun to eat Indian food, sleep a weekend away, meet old friends.
It always happen like this. Abroad I miss India, inland it often exasperate me!

Achingly beautiful Life!

Exhilaration, pain
Moments of desperation,
Intense joys
wrenching agony
sunny smiles
Misty breath
I feel so alive!

Media

Addy bhai as usual makes a very eloquent point about 'Hindi Heartland Journalism'. To confess, I was impressed by AajTak in the begining. Heck I even bought TV Today shares convinced that these guys have their fundas right. Notice the to the Bihar accent as opposed to the more neutral UP accent. This is a channel that screamed its Hindi Heartland roots. Their political commentary was involved. The other topics that they covered time to time were still done well.
This was the time when we just had NDTV and AajTak as the two noteworthy channels and NDTV with its more Stephanian mannerisms (was AajTak more Hindu college leaning? someone from DU please comment) almost demanded a more 'desi' response. Journalism was probably still not in the rat race of TV ratings. Along came the channel explosion.
Now I turn on AajTak, its either cricket or some crime story. Its almost pathetic. One outcome was that I sold my TV Today shares. Other was that I am almost bored of all news channels. Its the same story everywhere. No real news, just cricket and crime stories delivered in extremely melodramatic ways. Small incidents blown out of proportions, sometimes a non-incident created into an incident just to get that exclusive. A typical line might be - "Aap ja jawan ladka mar gaya. An aapko kaisa lag raha hai?". What do you expect to hear- "I am dancing with joy"?. Its insensitive, its inhuman at times.
There is a silver lining though. With so many channels trying to create news, there are sometime issues/incidents that gets highlighted in TV forcing officials to take some action. That can only be good. Besides it brings the power of democracy to fore. Once people realize that media can force issues, we may see some citizen action. You can already see that in say the Jessica case. It was only the widespread outrage fuelled by media that forced the process of correcting a travesty.
There is still hope.

Hong Kong Travails

My apologies for suddenly vanishing from the scene. As it happens, I somehow found myself landing on Hong Kong a fine Sunday morning. Some client of us needed some urgent attention on one of their systems and so here I am finally experiencing the joys of our neighbour's hospitality.
Hong Kong is a fun place. Small, very efficient public transport, lots of people, high rise and generally bustling energy. Yesterday I managed to check out on of those shopping districts too. As such I am staying and working in the heart of their financial district, so evening it gets somewhat quiet. But Tsim Shats Tsui, where I went yesterday was throbbing with people at 11. And to confess, I love civilization, the glitzy eating places, people hanging out having fun.
Life has been busy this week, primarily in meeting people, so I have not been able to explore the city much. My first impression being that people here are polite and infrastructure very well managed. Somehow I did not find too many Indians here, a rarity these days. But TST had quite a few and well yes that the part where many expats live and work.
11 pm I rushed back to catch the ferry to Central HKG, being in a mood for a boat ride and then along with a couple of friends, got into the Lang Kwai Fong or some such sounding place. This is the pub and eating area in Central, a steeply rising network of a few streets on a hill, that has pubs all over and people swinging beers on roads, on roofs, on stairs. Life is spiced when some theme party gets over and folks come out to drink more :).
For a place where I did not see too many non Chinese, the street packs an amazing number of foriegners. I guess this is where they end up all night. While not quite the Vegas, still its places like these that makes travellers feel at home :).

Reservations

The reservation pot boils again. I have already written on this earlier so won't delve into the details at the moment again. I do have a suggestion though. Shouldn't our politicians set an example first?
Parliament should immediately enact a legislation to reserve equivalent proportion in both the houses of Parliament. That ways politically too the castes shall be empowered. Merely reserving seats in educational institutes is not enough. We must have reservations in Parliament, Cabinet, ministers, appointed chiefs of PSUs. Since there is a consensus in all parties on this, parties must also reserve the same proportion in its own office bearers. Until this is done, Mssers MM Singhs will always be viewed as mere devisive politicians, if they do this, I for one might believe they are doing this actually out of ideology.

Another con job

Kolkata couple buys a plot on moon screams a news item in expressindia. I am mildly surprized that people still fall for such a con, but greatly surprized that the expressed printed it as a news and not some humour item. Someone please explain to this couple that how will they ensure they actually have the plot and no other agency/government shall deny them the right.
For starters I suggest they go up there in a hurry and fence the whole area! I wonder what happens if some meteor strikes the area and they end up with a crator there? do they get a permit to live on the floor of the crater or do they get the whole lake-assuming that there is a lake there somehow?
Still maybe $100 aint that bad a deal when so many people get a free laugh in turn. cheerios dear couple, may your career get better.

Washout

Could never understand why must all cricket games be scheduled during periods of max rains? Another series washed out completely.
Not that I watch much cricket now. Just that India was playing a not so top of the form SriLanka, and I have been in an irrationally exuberant mood of late. There goes my chance of a doze of reality.

Something else

Feels good to be back after a long time. Its been almost 4 days since I put in a post and seems like forever. I stayed away not only because of work but also because nothing interesting seem to be happening. I did not want to post about politics again so soon and so stayed quiet.
Spent the last evening mostly home with a view to tucking in early for a change. As it turns out I ended up with an Odgen Nash in hands and so spent an evening reading poetry in his very unique style. There is something about poetry that I find perplexing. How do you define poetry. If its mere rhyming, then many a modern poet would fail. And I confess I do not enjoy many a modern poet. Then there is Nash who well just create words to rhyme (and with great effects trust me).
Haiku as a form does interest me. Maybe it is its simplicity that appeals to me. Basho was the poet I read first and truely enjoyed. A sample -
Clouds appear and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon. - Basho, Matsuo
Hand it to these Japs, both Haiku and Skodu - simple rules, great fun.

The tangled web we weave

German attempts world's most tenuous acronym screams the Rag. The story is that people keep coming with with phrases for projects to make the acronym come across as some common word at the expanse of ahem "decency".
I beg to differ. What's the harm in innocent verbal jugglery? Compared to that typical hacker speak -I believe employed more often by bored adolscents- this is almost a work of art. Hell Shakespeare made a name for himself by using the language in a very original way. After all, language is one of human kind's bigger achievements (and many a kid's worst but thats a separate posting).

Ah what games we play

" I will write to the Guinness Book of World Records. This is the only Prime Minister who has not even won a municipality election and has become the Prime Minister of India." - Natwar singh in as reported in The Hindu.
While I may doubt the motives of the man in saying this, am fairly confident he will deny, call it misreporting, once the government starts ensuring that the law does take its turn; this is an important question to raise. Should the PM or any of the really sensitive cabinet position, be a person not directly elected by people?
I was frankly shocked by the induction of Shivraj Patil as the Home Minister. An unsaid rule is the Home Minister is the 2nd in command of the nation after the PM. And here we had a person who has just lost a Lok Sabha election, being elevated to the 2nd most powerful post in India. A person, people in his constituency chose fit not to even make a member of parliament becomes the Home Minister of the nation.
That was probably the unkindest cut of 'em all. And somehow his performance explains why he lost. The only reason he is there in that position is because I believe he falls in that servents of the family group. Why should he work hard when his performance - leading to his re-election or not- doesnt really matter?
I now think that it might have been better if the lady has actually took up the chief chair. As it turns out she now has all the power and jilch responsibility. Always an extremely dangerous situation. That may explain why our supposedly upright and right thinking PM has actually signed on so many constitutional murders. Because it is he whom I now consider two faced, spineless politician and not the person who probably wrote that proclaimation.
And that folks indicates that the lady is the best politico of them all. Maybe she does deserve the chief's chair.

Now just what did I want to say?

I love George Bush, not for what he has done to the world, but for what he has done for India. I was in US during his re-election and having seen the opposition I had no hesitation in wishing for his win. His very streak of -rest go to hell, I am right - was what likened him to me. I could make out that this is one President who can actually side with India and make it work.
American (at least man on the street) ignorance of rest of the world is surprising and media is amazingly politically motivated. So any normal president would never have had the courage.
So here we have a President in Oval office who worked for nuclear deal, stuck for outsourcing etc, all domestically not too popular courses. Surprisingly many in India oppose the gentleman. I was surprised to hear of protests in India when he visited. Arguably what he is doing in Mideast is not correct, and I personally think the war was and is immoral. But he was in India more to cement India-US relations where I think we are heading in right direction. So those who protested forgot, or choose not to look at the real reason for visit. I am only guess at motives of the protestors.
Among those supporting the protests were the left parties. I find communisms basic philosophy tempting but I loathe the movement. I think the extent of human right violation in many of these erstwhile communist countries was probably the biggest after those of slavery. Conduct of most communist monopolistic movement is eerily similar to another one of modern world that troubles most of us.
The problem is not in philosophy of communism, which at equality of humans and distribution of wealth is so tempting (and that’s why so many innocent youngsters are tempted by it), it’s in human nature. If someone has power over others, sooner or later, that power will be misused to subjugate people. I think these parties are scared that if India really progresses, then people might actually start thinking what made them prosperous. It will do us all a lot of service if all kids were made to read and understand 1984.
The more I think about it, the more I find some sort of enlightened capitalism good. Yes it has its drawbacks, where a rich corporation can really became another of those powers we don't want. But then, that is why we have a government, to check the misuse of power by people. But by leaving people free to choose their own pursuits, it can lead to highest sense of happiness and control. Central planning cannot work. Look at a typical government. A Municipality in India these days does nothing except cleaning and road maintenance and it messes up both very bad. How can it ever manage to control lives of people and still leave them happy?

So knowing these left parties I am sure that if there is a clash between India and say China, I will not be surprised if Indian left parties work against India supporting China. Hence I understand leftist opposition to US and India coming closer because it has a potential to change some rules of the game. And when people feel confident about themselves, they hate control, and communist parties cannot survive that ways.
But what about people? Why do people, ordinary guys in street see that? I can only imagine a lack of knowledge, lack of understanding. And that maybe the reason why, government in power have never tried to reform the education system to make it effective for the masses. Because that drains their own lifeblood

On politicians and talent

Well another drama unfolding on the Iraqi oil scam.And as is usual morality is defined by which side of the political spectrum you are on. It really is a disgrace that otherwise erudite people, corrupted by power, twist an indictment which say they made a profit from an illegal activity as protests of innocent because the charge was not making illegal money but misusing position!
Incidently, our esteemed Prime Minister had given the gentleman a clean chit the moment press started on commenting this. Later when the real powers that be, got accussed the same guy our PM insisted was cleaner than a hound's tooth, was investigated and found guilty. Apparently prime ministers of India do not give clean chits based on truth and honesty. I used to really respect M M S now I just find him another two faced politician who will cling to power, morality be damned.
I have come to the conclusion that corruption will never go from politics. The real issue here is maybe that the people we choose are wrong. These are people who rose to top possibly not because of political competence but rather because of servility to a family. In my view, a politician who is actually good in politics as opposed to a boot licker or criminal, has a greater chance of being a good administrator because a politician by definition is a leader, and leader need only pick and motivate the right followers.
Look at Laloo. While he was doing the politics of poverty, he was a blot on nation. Booted out for same, he flipped like a good politician and now railways are toast of the nation. Yes, I do consider him a great politician even though I detest his brand of politics. The point here is that he rose because of his competence and once channeled in the right direction, the results are good.
Problem is that most of our current leaders rise either because of criminal links of family connections, and that is why we see so few respectable talents. What I do wonder is why we elect them (and yes I do vote in elections).
Maybe, we get what we deserve. Maybe we have such venal politicians because inherently we have lost our respect for good things in life.

Scarborough Fair

Just happen to listen to Simon and Garfunkel at Devil 's (of the tagboard). It was great listening to Scarborough Fair again. The first time I had heard this song was in La Luna - Sarah Brighman, a singer whose works I have adored for quite some time now. The lyrics are nice but I never though of the meaning.
The CD cover of Simon and G mentioned some dark meanings to the song. Well had no idea, so looked up, impresses me more as the usual love lorn than dark. La Luna I found dark. Heavy music, almost psychedelic singing, it is almost hallucinogenic.
While listening to S & G, I started thinking, why have I not really heard about rivalry between Simon and Bob Dylan. I mean why shoudn't there be rivalry between 2 comtemporary talent doing at times similar stuff? To confess, I have not really listened to Dylan or more importantly read him so this though is based on very superficial knowledge. Maybe I'll start now and figure out why is Dylan so important to the modern US poetry scene.

Moon and poets

Just read a news that Moon has a bulge, yes people it has, and its been perplexing all of us for a while. No more, they have found out the reason. Something to do with violence and a 100 million year run.
I wonder how would people on saturn find the night sky, assumming there were people on Saturn and interested in finding the night sky. So they might find a permanent dustRingBow, and some 15 moons all vieying for attention. Poets there would go crazy. Imagine Shelley of earth who said "The moon arose up in the murky east\A white and shapeless mass" saying something like - The moons, Tethys and Calypso, followed by Enceladus and Epimetheus but not Rhea nor Janus, shiny orbs, a few too many and shaped in a dustRingBow- not quite the same ring.
And Saturn kids couldn't play I-Spy-You in dark, with 15 moons, darkness would be a luxury. I shudder to think of plight, of folks in parks. Heck if I were I Saturn kid, I'd hate my geography lessons too. Maybe Golgafrincham's rocket scientists took mercy on the TV Producers and ad executives and crashed it specifically on a planet with 1 moon and only 1 moon.

Story Telling

Came across some stories from Panchatantra here. Reminded me all those happy times spent reading Amar Chitra Katha. Somehow stories like those in Panchatantra or Jatak tales always interested me more. Similarly the ones in Chandamama of those days. The stories will have quaint villages, simple people in non so simple situations and handling it by tact, luck or cunning as the case may be. No super heroes, no divine intervention.
Storytelling as an art form seem to be loosing its sheen. I hardly come across any modern work with the same charm.
Part of it is because I am looking for whats essentially passe as a style, but then so many of my friends also enjoyed those books then and enjoy them still, so there is still a market. Here again, i believe its easier to publish online and still make money, print, I wonder if it still makes money.

Stolen or lost

Weekend got into some mood for music and failed to find my favorite Andrea Boculli. Ditto with Jagjit Singh's The Latest. I could neve figure out how so many of my favorite CDs go missing. And to think of it, I entertain so few guests at my place if any.
And mind you, its only the good CDs that go missing. No one took that remix I picked up by mistake. Or those CDs you invariable pick up in that buy any 3 for RM 10/- deals in Kuala Lumpur. Why pick bad, because there is only 1 CD worth buying among all those hundreds.
Luckily I did find the other Boculli I have - Romanza, not particularly my favorite compilation, still has a few of the favorite ones. All this episode reminds me, I need a book and CD case. Huge in size and preferrable with combination locks liberally spread over, I want no keys to loose.

Hindi Writers, where are you?

Its tough getting Hindi literature in Pune. At best one can get Premchand or Ghalib (Urdu) in CrossRoads or Bookworld but thats about it. I remember, there was very healthy Hindi publishing till atleast my Allahabad days. There was Dharmayud, Saptahik Hindustan and a whole host of writers writing and being published.
Friends tell me there is still decent publishing happening there, but sadly its not all available outside the local region. Its during musings like this that I feel we are wasting IT potential. It would be so easy to have a say Hindi bookselling portal with all those local publishers selling books online. We can even have a community of users discussing, organising meets etc.
Let me float the idea around. Anybody who wanna join?

50 posts

Finally first 50 posts done, over 500 hits in the past few weeks. It feels kind of good, having picked up something and sticking to it. Usually all my interests get into a quick high and fade equally quickly. I have managed to avoid that here till now and hopefully will continue blogging for a long time.
Meanwhile special thanks to all those who visit often, those who leave comments. Thanks to all who visit.

Call of the wild

Crickets chirping in the night, calling friends
Someone tell them its time to sleep.


-----
Read somewhere "Examination of the wave or spectrum reveals that each chirp is actually three sound pulses!". Please hand over the grammy.

Exams

Finally took the exam today and have an outside chance of passing too. Not bad eh? Its been ages since I studied for (ok a slight exaggeration should not be held against me) an exam. Tried to study yesterday evening. Got home around 10, had dinner.
Cartoon network, first time in my memory showed new cartoons and ALL of 'em funny.. Something I think has not happened since the summer of 97!. Movie channels again were scintillating. So got to studies only around 11:30.
Normally I read a bit and actually sleep only around 2am, yesterday midnight and I could barely stay awake! 12:30 or so I realized I've been dozing off while sitting with the burning hot laptop in lap (it s P4 and it does burn).
Lets see if I do manage to pass. If I do, I think it'll be certifications ahead for me all August.
---------------------------
Update: Ah, just realized how did a channel change its spots. It turned out to be a different animal all togather. Pogo is now my fav channel!

Spam Art

Sometimes I wonder if all those whacko humor novels were not whacko enough. Reality catches up with them all the time.
There is this gentleman who got an idea about creating art from spam.
From the article- "Now he's working on a software agent that can "write" experimental graphical novels based on a melange of text culled from thousands of like-minded blogs across the Net. When finished, the agent, called Blogbot, ... extracts meaning from the text..."
I wish the agent were called blogMonkeys. That ways we could actually have a million monkeys one day writing a Hemlet. Priceless!

Not this now!

Why can't games stay plain old fashioned?*Sigh!*. Now kids will play monopoly using credit cards. Whats the fun in playing if the banker can't steal money from bank, friends sneakily pass notes to help friends?
We are robbing the kids of all the pleasures of childhood. They can't play unsupervised because apparently I didnt survive playing unsupervised. They can't eat food not sanitized in some lab, because well I'm lying in hospital all the time.
WTF!

Hungry Kya?

Came across this interesting item about this gentleman with voracious appetite who terrrorized unlimited food offering hoteliers, and in perfectly legal sorts of way.
The amusing part was that some college students used him to get revenge on some place that bugged em off good.

Updates

Well A seems to be getting to Australia this weekend, and I may follow by next month. Somehow a long term onsite doesnt appeal to me much. arnd 3 months is best, enough time to see the place, experience the culture and then back to home base.

OMG

Nokia N93 review And to think that my first digital camera, the kind you buy a big hip pouch to keep the camera in, was also 3ish megapixels! And it didnt have all this gizmo lens and zoom shoom.

Monday Blues

It is an unwritten rule that if I get out without wearing a raincoat, it rains. Just the other day I had it with me- not wearing-, and there was a sudden downpour, I quickly parked the bike, got the stuff on and it stopped raining as suddenly.
Well professional hazards of being the rain God.
Today, again it was sunny when I got to the bike, so I keep the raincoat in the storage. By the time I come out of the basement parking, it was all overcast, no hint of sun. However, I continued, being in no mood to stop and wear the raincoat.
It didn’t rain, throughout the whole 20 min drive. Which goes on to prove that even the clouds don't wanna play on a Monday morning.

Improvement Continues

Well my own template lasted a few minutes. Point to note is that it so moved LaChat that she got on yahoo to ask me what am I smoking and could I please destroy the stock. Point taken, the 3 pane template was way too cluttered esp as implemented.
Well I got on net again and did I tell you that blogspot is now directly accessible, yippy, found few brilliant designs and took one.
Thanks to all those folks who put out free codes, I just customized one and was fed up, here are people who do the whole thing and share it for free.
Special thanks to
Cristina Calabrese aka Pannasmontata of http://www.pannasmontata-templates.net for this template.

New Improved Haze

Whewh! Finally managed to get a new template. Took a very basic template and customized it for blogspot. Let me know in case you have any suggestions for look and feel.
Site doesnt work too well in 800*600 mode; well HTML was never my forte, but I'll try and fix that too.

What was He thinking?

Dear Lord,
You made the tiger cause it looks so swell,
and deer to give 'em food
You made green grassy plains for rabbits to frolick
and wolves to keep rabbits in check,
By why in this world, did You have to make mosquitoes?

The Bird that got away

I miss my Enfield. Just the perfect weather these days to hit the roads. With the rains somewhat slackening and the hills all green, this is the time to get to one of those biking roads around Pune.
I remember year before last, when I'd drive down to Sinhgarh very early in morning riding in the cold weather dressed in Jeans and a simple T. Then lie around in grass on the hill top, reading books and watching the Sun rise, spreading warmth, morning walkers starting to come up. Then have tea and Onion Bhaaji at those stalls in the fort, sometimes Pitala bhakri too.
In fact read most of Papillon, at Sinhgrah like that.
Those were the days *sigh*.

Finally some good news

Apparently GOI has accepted that there was a goof up and is being rectified. Hopefully blogs will soon be available without mucking with URLs.
One good thing is that this fiasco brought blogs to Indian mainstream. I hope blog traffic increases.

Lunch time fun

If the going gets boring, get some Bong and a Marathi guy togather and start discussing Tendulkar Vs Ganguly. Oh boy, doesn't get much better :)

Realization

Finally after years of passing out of college, I found out the secret to studying well. Upto now, frankly studies were a chore- still are, and other than literature books, I studied with a view to knowing facts or as a tool.
As it turns out, I need to clear some certification soon, and so registered for the same. The certification is to be held tommorow. better than usual form, I started preparing 2 days in advance and boy at over 1000 pages of material, it was a tough going.
I can manage to read at arnd 700+ words a min, so 2 days and I might have got through, for a change I decided I want to understand the rationale behind the process, its logic and utility etc. after 5 hours I realized, I have a lot more to do.
So here I am certification postponed by a week, learning something, 6 years after end of college!
Atleast I learnt.

Frustated? A Bit Of Humor

Sometimes computers do things you don't want done or don't do things, you want done. There is this piece on Error Msgs
TheRegister again at it. My favorites are the Haiku ones:

The code is willing, It considered your request But the chips were weak.
To have no errors Would be life without meaning No struggle, no joy ...and :
These three are certain: Death, taxes, and site not found. You, victim of one.

Well read the rest yourself.

Resistance is Useless

Fished out my copy of Hitch Hiker's Guide to Galaxy the other day and start on the laugh riot again. The fun started even before I started on the book, the introduction itself setting the tone.
Adams recounts how he once while being drunk meets a succession of deaf and dumbs, his sanity saved only by discovering a hotel hosted a deaf and dumb convention! and then things get better.
What I wanted to mention was the Cybernatics corporation. while reading of the emotional computers and doors, i was struck by how Microsoft Office Help wizard almost behaves like one. Knowning the popularity of the book, is it possible that one of the original designers decided a tribute at user and Microsoft expense?

Dashing Dreams

Of all the places, Europe is what I want to travel around. A backpacking trip through Italy, sights of France and Austria and history tourism in Greece is what I'd love to do.
Normally we software guys to manage to travel around and so do I, but it seems Europe is out of bounds for me. if some project from there comes, I am typically busy in some other messy project. Looks like I better come to terms with the fact, will never work there, and backpacking through those many countries can only happen if I am working in one and doing weekend travelling :(.

Easiest Way

Apparently Indian Government has banned blogspot.com. Talk about taking the easy way out.
We do not arrest the known sympathisers within India for reasons of electoral politics.
We do not curb the illegal money channels.
We do not prosecute the organisations we blame for the attacks.
We do block a website used by few criminals and millions of innocent user because frankly its the softest option.
And then we complaint that the world is not being fair to us.

Easy way

I remember reading a story in Chandamama (1 of the better children story book) in my childhood. The story went something like this:
There was a kingdom with a king and a Kotwal (security chief). As it happened some dacoit gangs started making merry in the capital after dark. So the security chief proclaimed - let there be no life after dark, citizens will stay indoor for their safety.
The king heard this. This was a wise king. He called for the Kotwal and told him gently -My dear man, it is the right of the CITIZENS to roam in streets after dark.
The Kotwal got the hint; he withdrew the proclamation and arranged for the dacoits to be hunted out.

Its a story that made its impression on me. That is how a mature, caring power should behave; alas I have realized that we as a people behave more like Kotwal rather than the king.
So some joints got robbed, some people got drunk in restaurants and made nuisance and so the police now close down all restaurants by 11. (Some people like me, at times get off work by that hour. so the only choice is to leave work before, eat and come back to work and stay till like 1 but that is digressing).

Recently the apartment complex I live had its society formed. I see the same bias here. Rules say - no bachelor can be given house on rent. I believe the underlying assumption is that bachelors will lead 'immoral life' somehow, have boisterous late night parties. I agree many do that, but then if you look closely it’s typically those fresh out of college, full on hostel spirit and exuberance of youth. Guys like me, working from morning to night or whose idea of fun is to generally curl up with a good book, get short changed. What about couples with kids? I have it on first hand experience that a gang of kids playing in park can wake up a sound sleeper on 11th floor. Should all kids be banned?
Do couple do not have noisy parties? Excuse me I just lived through football world cup. I didn’t need TV to know when something exciting happened.
Similar rule says no foreigner can be given flat on rent. Why? Go figure. Maybe it is bad to know about different cultures?

The point of the post is that we do not ban the behaviour that causes problem; we ban the most vulnerable group. So police instead of dealing with late night hooligans will close down life after some cutoff time. Societies instead of confronting nuisance will ban what they can easily ban. The reason I took the society example is because it’s not some Bureaucracy but we a resident group ourselves who have this thinking. Bureaucracy can get away with it, because we as a people think exactly the same way.

Conversations with the Abbot

Abbot:Child, u had a drain clog, why?
Monk: Master, I cleaned the water filter.
A: Hola! where did u connect this water filter to?
M: Municipal water supply Master. Comes via the tank we built on top.
A: Hmmm, you know, you should be cleaning it often.
M: I tried master, I tried
A: And why did you not succeed?
M: Master, You need the hands of a child, the strength of 2 oxen, dexterity of an eagle in order to open and clean the bottle. Not to mention some custom size screw driver.
A: We should have the skills of their service guys
M: Master, we are mere philosophers searching for truth, God and everything, while those are Water Filter Technicians
A: You mean the entry barriers are low for us?
M: Master, you know so much more. I'll say these guys find a few folks and design the product accordingly.
A: But their manual must be mentioning what do to to clean?
M: Master, what the manual reveals is substantial, what it does not, is vital.
A: So its all cleaned now?
M: Yes master, its sparkling clean but now doesnt power on.
A: Maybe shd we start making water filters?
M: Master what do I know, I'm a just monkie.

Where have all the comments gone?

I wish more visitors will leave comments and their names behind. Its good to know what the reader feels about my thoughts and encouraging to know that some of them decide to spend time and effort giving feedback.
So please leave some comments once a while. It'll keep me enthused about this whole blogging thing.

Weekend is here

Weekends end up being too busy. Got to get the bike repaired, cleanup the cottage, shop for food, all in all enough work to make me reflect on the futility of it all and sleep the weekend away.
Only thing is that I want a change from routine.

Zidane Zidane

This is great fun! and probably true.
Well I'll leave it to the boffins of the Rag to say it in their own words.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/13/zidane_headbutt_outrage/

Just finished reading India Unbound

I normally buy and read only fiction. It so happened that I was at FC Road, waiting for someone, and as is my wont, get into Book World. I was almost without cash so buying that Wodehouse collection was out of question. Saw this affordable copy of India Unbound by Gurcharan Das. I have read his column in Sunday TOI but really, what I read keenly in that now a days tabloid is cartoons, Jug Suraiya and Bachi Karkaria. so I did not really know if I'll find this much good.
The book turns out to be surprizingly interesting. Author has made a good case of highlighting the wrong policies followed by India and the notions and people behind it. its a good mix of facts, fancies and insights into an important period of India and is a good read for those into this kind of reading.
I hope there will be another work like this, which will highlight how we may still loose the plot. There are plenty of roadblocks ahead and a pity that while we realized that our policies were wrong and keep so many so poor all this time, we still are unable to shake off the burden of stale thoughts.
On other note, there was this beautifully bound complete collection of Calvin and Hobbes and at over 6000. Grrrr

Its a depression

Life, ever since the market crash - I refuse to call it a correction- has been boring. CNBC/blogs are all staid now, no action, no wild speculations, no coffee machine discussions. What fun is that.
To confess, while tons of my wealth was getting eroded it was still fun. I mean there is something exciting about coming to work in morning, staring screen all day, finding 10% of your net worth eroded each day for many days. It helps that there wasn't much wealth to get eroded to begin with and I don't depend on stocks for the daily bread, or the butter for that matter.
Then it all stablized and suddently I realize that there is no exciting movements of market, lots of those good looking experts gone from the telly, heck even moneycontrol board is all quite.
Its a sad sad world Hobbes where there is no wild SEnseX.

Nature of the beast

I had thought of this being a random musings blog. Looking at my past few entries, it seem to be taking a distinct political/social bias, and I'm wondering if thats a good thing.
Ideally I'd love to write stories, poems, put a few macro shots here. But then one come to terms with one's talents and let go of many a desire. Its almost an existentialist dilemma; grappling with the thought of splitting up the blog into separate blogs. Its hard enough feeding words to a single blog so where would multiple blogs lead?
Any comments as to what to do?

Salaam Bombay

Another attack on Mumbai yesterday. True to its spirit, the city rebounds within hours. There is something about the undying spirit of India that is so visible here - "Hasti mit-ti nahin hamari".
What I would like to see it that for once, our soft state finds the perpetuators and punish them. Punish as in sentence them if they can be arrested, or destroy them and their properties if they are outside India. The only way to fight this monster is to hack it down everytime it raises its head. India is often an easy target I think because its so easy to escape the law. When we have been able to pinpoint, the targets are off to some not so friendly country and short of making noises and passing lists, nothing happens. Why not chase em and take em out whereever they hide? If we have enough information to list names and addresses, heck punish em too, why wait for extradition that you know will never happen?
Lets for one show these murderer that they will meet a gruesome fate at the hands of our law.

DTH Dreams Dashed

INSAT 4C was destroyed and with it my dreams of competition in DTH space. I do have DishTV at home, but was hoping that with more players things will become better.
DishTV has been a mixed experience. Picture quality is decent when I get some. Had some trouble a few months back. Spent 2 months chasing them, offering prayers, threats, bribes but Zee has a policy of not replying or else replying with standard queries. So my mail will go like, Hi, my connection.. bought on ... VC number ...., S# .... is not working, look at mail trail for details.
Most of my queries didnt get a reply at all and when I would, the reply would be like - thanks for writing to us. Please reply with your VC # .... S#..... asking me precisely all those details my immediate mail will have. Gaaah!#@#$%^&
Finally one day I decided enough waiting for these guys to be honest wage earners, fiddled with antenna and set myself and it started working. But I believe their later modern and cheaper connections (because Star is launching) have better technologies.
For me, its been a waste of money on DishTV. A hint of cloud in sky and most channels don't come. The software is user unfriendly, channel switch too slow. On good side, picture quality on a bright sunny day, with dish freshly adjusted is pretty good. However if you are planning to get a DTH connection, I suggest wait till our next satellite is up and you have more players to choose from.

Movie Weekend

The week turned out pretty good. While friends complaint that I hardly ever go to movies (2 movies in theatres in 4 years), TV can sometimes find me catching one.
This sat, I tuned into Hum Tum, a movie I had earlier liked on video so watched it again. 1 good thing about the movie, apart from a somewhat different treatment is that the songs don't hurt as much. Unlike say Hera Pheri - brilliant movie where songs suddently come up and sock you firmly on the jaw, making you think what the hell was that director smoking, please never ever give me that, the songs in this movie don't really inhibit the flow of the movie.
Sun, again I could not sleep so thought of tuning into Football world cup. Discovered 'Suraj Ka Saatwan Ghoda' coming on Zee Classic. Eminently enjoyable flick. Its story telling in a pretty neat way and the depiction of a small town, old world Indian town is realistic enough. Again, 2 songs did manage to somehow to fall into the story, still at 2 only and atleast one of them, appropiate and germane to the story, it was a well made movie.
Songs for me, indicate the coward nature of our story tellers. They all claim to be experimenting, thinking of original ideas, but 99% simply fall to the idiocy of throwing in a few songs because we Indians apparently can't go in life without breaking into tunes at the drop of the hat. To me, a director who cannot have the courage not to have a song in the movie, will not have the courage to be original either. Period.

Power of blogging Part Deux

The other day my post mentioned that blogging seem to make things happen. It happened again. I blogged about the potholed road and the following day while going home, I found most of em filled. Filled with clay, so probably there is a scope for another blog on the same, but some, may God make him happy, soul filled most the the potholes on the Wakad to TB hospital stretch.
Way to go

Amazing Iceland

Watched this movie yesterday set in Iceland. No idea about the movie, it was I think in French, talking about some virus in birds thats jumped to humans and these chums are searching for which gang of birds.
The scenary was amazing. Inhospitable for most part, it was mostly glaciers and mountains, all very beautiful. Living in India, with all the crowds, sometimes silence becomes so dear. I hope I get to visit the country someday.

Potholes, Purpose, Ponderings

Ah another of those firefighting days and am totally pooped by now. Will go home and maybe curl up with Calvin & Hobbes. Weather already is instigating ideas of my being a rain God, and true to form, it has rained heavily in the evening, so the roads will be mucky and driving a chore.
There is this old Indian thought of whatever happens has some purpose. The day before, while biking towards Aundh in late evening, just before CQAE I was wondering what use could these insane, forcing you to stand still in rains, traffic jams could have in life? Suddenly realized that the car ahead will stop, I pumped the brakes. While swerving to avoid any possible bump to the car, realized I'd have fallen into that, deep enought to dent the floor of my poor Activa severely, pothole in this newly repair road, had I not braked.

Wise men- or women- of yore were indeed wise. Even traffic jams have a purpose.

Power of blogging

It really does work. The other day Ab. was agonizing over an Australian trip that will make him miss the football matches. Well we decided to test a theory, he made a blog entry proclaiming to the world that he is going http://footballingguy.livejournal.com/4289.html to Australia soon. Voila it gets postponed-promptly on queue.
Now I just blogged about it raining outside and me cooped in with no work. I moment I click publish, I get a call and work pours in.
Matrix really exists and so does Ludlum's ideas.
And I get a deja-vu that I've published this post earlier

Rainy Days

As usual, its been raining since morning and here I am cooped in office with no real work to do. Such a shame!
I could have been back home, having tea and reading Calvin & Hobbes.
Heck even watching TV would have been better.

About HIM

A chat with LaChat got into interesting groove. I'll leave the gist of that out, esp since she is touchy about Sai Ram as she puts it. I'll write about what troubles me in whats generally called as Hindu faith.
While I would say I'm a Hindu and quite proud of it, some of my views may distress the more common practisioners. For one, I don't like temples. Not as in the structures, but rather what they have become. Most temples invariably are dirty. Reason mostly being the plastics of incense sticks, rotting flowers, edibles offfered to deity etc. Someone remarked that while some of the offerings are same as in Gurudwaras, the latter are usually clean because of sewa done by the worshippers. Maybe thats it, Hinduism being more personal, does not foster the same comunal civic feelings.
Then there are those pujaris. Most temples I find too commercialised where often, the richer your offerring, the nearer to deity you get. I find that reprehensible.
For me, Hinduism is about our glorious philosophies. If you look at the discussions in our ancient discourses, you will realize that Hindu thought ( and its also the Indian thought of that time) is about following the right way of life. Wealth and connections are not counted in goods, its the thinking that determines greatness. There is plenty of debate and debate shows tolerance.
I find the same qualities missing in most of modern Indians, though we all pay lip service to the same.
Then there is that talk about idols being symbols of Gods, representations so that we weak of mind, find it easier to concentrate. What I however see is that for most of us, its the idols which have become God. I feel we worship that stone/clay statue as God, not as representation of God. So whats supposed to be the way to concentrate, becomes the object of concentration. That would neccessorily limit the spiritual God, because we don't try to reach that level where the easy way is not needed.
So the net result is that people find me less of Hindu, while I find them primitive.

Hot Blogging Topics

The reason I got so late in entering the blogging world was my insistance on discovering the hot blogging topics that when covered will make my site a very popular site.
One matures with age, so I took the plunge scribbling whatever comes to my mind. And yes, it does not really matter if I get 100 hits a day, or 2, after all its only visions in a purple haze that I am recording :).
I still haven't figured out if this blog should be limited to random musings, or the political views or what. Anyways I don't have enough content to really think about having separate blogs.
I do welcome suggestions from the few folks who do manage to land on one of my pages. If you have ideas as to what will make you come back, let me know.

I wanna be...

A professional protestor! One of these days, I want to be a part of some organisation that will allow me to protest Cancun WTO or Casablanca Round of some development or Swiss Alps meeting on poor countries or Ipanema gathering of good folks, kind of meetings.
I look for airfare/stay and a small stipend to buy beer/food for me and maybe a couple of buddies.
Let me know if any of these world NGOs are recruiting.

(:|

2:00 and the world stays boring
(:|

Zero Sum Game

In a post earlier I observed a tendency of Indians viewing Life as a zero sum game. So in order for me to get something, someone other needs to be deprived of it. Its a sweeping statement so I'll try and explain why I feel so.
Its the small things in life that often explain the most. Take the case of our roads. I first really thought of this on a trip to Delhi. Most of the vehicles I thought, were not so interested in reaching destination as early as in preventing others from getting ahead of self. So a driver will block your way even if you are faster and in reality would not really make a difference to its destination reaching time.
Its an attitude that comes from long training. The license/permit raj ( earlier society must be suffering from the same malaise but I'll quote what I have seen ) ensured that everything is rationed and so in order for me to get something, I have to 'fix' someone else's claim. And license/permit raj was also a result of certain mentality developed over time.
You see it everywhere. Notice a railway signal. People have to stop because the way is barred. Now if every one were to come in a line, once the gates open, vehicles will zip past. so lets say the 100th car in the line will be able to cross the gate after 2 minutes of its opening. What happens is when the gate is closed, 'both sides of the gate', vehicles will move in on all lanes. once the gates open you realize that traffic has no place to move because you have 2 set of armies in a face off position. so the bright soul in the wrong lane in front, who would have had to wait 2 minutes now causes a traffic jam and will spend 30 minutes in crossing the resulting pile up. and next crossing, (s)he will repeat the same idiocy.
This is just an example. you'll see on on traffic stops, parking everywhere. We not move into the wrong lane so that we can cross faster, we move in wrong lane so that the rest of the traffic is behind us (even though it actually increases my total journey time, mind you because of this tendency of people being in the wrong lane, an alert driver, on the green signal has to be slower than possible because 95% of the times, there will be some moron blocking the right of way).
Attitudes takes generations to change, but I hope lot more Indians living abroad for long periods and returning will slowly start changing. It may not happen in my lifetime though.

Dreams: Dream on

An interesting article about dreams http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/14/the_odd_body_dreams/
From the article -"What would happen if I was prevented from dreaming?"
" ...dream deprivation produces anxiety, irritability, an inability to concentrate, paranoia, a ravenous appetite, depression, and even suicidal thoughts"
The researchers here were waking up folks just as they would start dreaming (how do they know if dream has started? well read the article dude).
Sweetheart, if someone keeps waking me up everytime I get into a sleep, I WILL get murderous! and these guys thinking a certain crankiness in someone they keep waking every 15 minutes is because they were stopped from dreaming?
Helloooooo! brains there?

Wet Wet World

Pune sometimes makes me feal like the rain god. It's always raining. I might have done better to get a water scooter rather than the scooter scooter.
Firaq said "Hawain woh nahin chaltein, woh barsaatein nahin hotien". Trust a fellow Allahabadi to put the finger on the pulse. Indeed, while it may rain, and rain like a politician gathering money, here; the romance of those great rains of childhood is missing.
I remember those early day rains. It used to rain heavily in Allahabad. A couple of hours of downpour and the kitchen garden would submerge. There was the courtyard that was even lower lying and water will be more than a couple of feet deep. We would float a discarded jeep tyre and float in it. Or put out paper boats that would quickly sink under the weight of raindrop but it was fun none the less.
Frogs et all will croak, insects especially ants invade all dry areas, electricity cut off but who'd mind? Rains after those hellish summers were indeed manna from heaven. We'll run out, get wet and dirty, came back in, wash up, have those pakoris often with tea, play games especially when the schools would declare a rainy day.
Those were simple days; life was uncomplicated and almost achingly beautiful.

The 4th wave

The hot topic these days is the impending reservation laws extending it to all education institutes including the super specialty and private once. There is a fair possibility that the same will be extended to private sector. Personally I feel is the typical state preserving state rather than its people which is the guiding force behind this. However I refrain from commenting on the fairness of it all, because well I think I don't really know if cast discrimination really exists at All places (IIT/IIMS) etc to justify its extension to all institutes. Personally I think that specialty institutes like IIT/IIMS are not meant for the masses so it'll be counter productive to extend quotas to these. There are elite institutes meant for people already trained in various disciplines and as such should be open to all who can make it on merit.
The thing is that India never really in its mediaeval and modern history celebrated merit. Meritocracy was more an exception than rule. Cast is the same phenomena. its based on birth. And these holier than thou political parties are no exception. Look at how dynasties are preserved and celebrated in nearly all parties.
Anyways, trying not to digress I come back to my original thoughts. The abdication of state of its duty to citizens is also apparent in extending quota to private institutes. Most folks will admit that quotas should be at primary level. And I'll say government primary schools. but the fact remain that these seem to be so moribund that parents would rather not send their kids to these. Hence the clamour for quota in private schools, which are arguably better. If there is indeed discrimination based on caste, then lets open good schools which primarily cater to lower caste students. They should also admit enough upper caste students so that the 2 can mingle and develop a healthy respect for each other. These should also be neccessorily residential, and give decent scholarships to students. I believe West Bengal has proposed some such model, and I think that that is the step in right way. The problem is a lack of oppurtunity and that is what should be treated.
My fear is that quota will bring government control in a disguised way to private schools and that is the real danger. Our ruling classes have proved such self servient that they will make private school seats an avenue of dole. Remember the license/quota raj? It might make a comeback in schools! Someone has said the people get what they deserve; I think I notice this trait in Indians. For us, life is always a zero sum game. In order to gain, my neighbour must loose.
There is however a silver lining in my views to all this. When Mandal was brought in, I was in senior schools and like most of my other classmates was dismayed. I was in Allahabad and there the dream of most students was to be a government employee. I did not want that. And I could see that now many of us, will stop looking to government and go into private sector, which is where money is. And in many ways money is power.
History proved me right, and that is why I believe politicians now want quota in private sector. No one talks about employment generation accelerated which will produce more jobs and by extension, all sections will get a job. If I have heard our politicians correctly 60% of Indians are 'backward' casts (Including scheduled). so I find it self evident that lets say if 90% of Indians are employed, assuming that all backward casts get employed only after all forward casts get employed because of discrimination, even that only 10% of backward casts will be unemployed. Than the state can do something for them. Alas no one talks about this, because our mentality is such. If God were to come and give us a boon, it seems we will instead of asking for 2 cows, ask that my neighbour's cow dies.
So Mandal ended up the clamour for government jobs for most students, Mandal 2 will also benefit in a round about way. Look at Delhi university admissions. Apparently tons of students this year got 90%+ in 12th. So for the top colleges, BCOM, Eco (hons) etc have cut offs of 97%! Many bright students unable to get into top colleges are planning to go abroad. Now lets face it, our higher education is mostly crap, churning out graduates unfit for most work non-clerical. so if more Indians do go abroad and study in good colleges there, it can only benefit.
I also think that most countries don't really know about India. So this 4th wave, Indians going abroad for studies will bring Indian culture closer to many countries of the world. and I mean many countries, not just US/UK/Australia, because I suspect so many students will now routinely go out that many countries will start targeting them. It also gives India leverage with those countries.
This 4th Wave, of Indian students, many of whom will end up world citizens, will raise India's mind share across the world. Besides these bright souls will end up raising the awareness of folks back home about the rest of the world. Once enough students start going abroad, there will be information/infrastructure available to all (irrespective of caste) who can make it to a top university. If I have it in me to go to Harvard/MIT/IIT, why would I settle for anything less. What hampers is the lack of training and information, and that would be taken care of by the pioneers. Instead of competing for seats in the top 50 colleges of India, our students will compete with the world for world's top 500 and get there.
It time Indians come to fact that the rest of the world is not some morally corrupt sink pit of humanity but is a vibrant mass of diverse culture as good as any other and in many ways much more progressive.
It’s my hope that this mass emigration, will end up making a global country once again.
Amen

Kicking and Screaming

Football fever is high as it happens every 4 years. While I normally do not mind these sporting fests, in fact I am known to occasionally raise a beer to two to toast some victory; there is something about this mania, that well sorts of, make me feel something very akin to what I feel when a mosquito persistently buzzes overhead during my sleep.
It not that I hate competitive spirit, far from it. In fact I really love it when the cameras chuck those suicidal guys in the middle and swings to the crowds. It is that motley and colorful crowd that for me symbolizes the ideals of a sporting life. The real Samba is not in the middle of the field, it is in the stands my dear.
Back at work, its 6:30, a time when co-workers swarm over comps like bees over a bouquet. But come this football jamboorie and its more like sorority meeting which knows that I am coming looking for dates. No body in sight. Luckily I aint managing any projects now, but my heart goes out for those valient leads trying to deliver stuff in these trying times.
Ah well, I'd love to talk more but there is match in an hr or so.
BTW any takers for my wager it'll be England kissing the trophie this year?
ciao

How do you dream?

There is this interesting thing that happens to me sometimes while dreaming. I have a dream, and in that dream, I am aware that it is a dream that I am having. Some psychologist I once bumped into on net, told me that yes it happens and the subjects are quite in demand for studies.
Then I lost in touch and no idea who it was. Hey dear pschyo, if you are reading this, leave your contact behind and we may chat.
So how many of you have such dreams?
Recently, in fact 2 days ago I had this phenomenally interesting dream, where I, along with a friend, are victims of a crime.
The ending was superb, just like a Hollywood movie, gearing up the viewers for a sequel. I woke up and thought I'll write it down, but it was 6am and as you know, the rich and famous cannot be up at 6 for love or for money, so I went back to sleep. Once I woke up, I had, as usual, lost most of it, though the basic idea is still there.
Lets see if do dream up the sequel too. if I wake after the sequel at 6, well can always call some friend up and record the story :).
adieu

Mangalore Yoha

Breaking news is that the Mangalore trip didn't materialize, atleast not yet. So I am enjoying the lovely Pune weather for the time being.
It has started raining, and that does something to me- things like an urge to have tea sitting in the window while the amazing Indian monsoon does its wonder to scenary around; urge to invite friends over and chat of inconsequential things.
Well life is short and sweet and happening.

Mangalore Ahoy

Now the big oppurtunity- a project in Mangalore. Always had plans to bike thru Konkan coast, so when this project came up, I thought yes, lets do it.
From what I heard its a sleepy town. What I say is that if you have pristine beaches and lots of rich colleges nearby, you are in heaven.
So if you know anyone who is willing to let a furnished house for 6 months, if on beach even a shack may do, buzz me.
Rest, watch out for an Enfield burning rubber.

Post lunch musings

There is a lot to thank civilization for. A few thousand years ago, this time of the year, a tummy growl would mean changing into a loincloth (why at all, is a diff q), grab the spears, gather those mates, beat the drums and start chasing the deers.
Occasionally, some fat cat would decide to join in the revelries and that would really spice up the hunt.
Once some bipedal was skewered a horn sounded would signal the return.
Trip back home was fun, what with all those doe eyed loves welcoming the remaining folks coming back from the jungle with a smoking fire and hullahoo dance.
Now its just a walk to the counter and stand in queue; slay the few
specimens who think the queues are there to applaud their taking time off to come to the counter; pay for a gourmet order; grab some indistinguishable slop and guzzle it down.
We've come a long way baby

Welcome

After years of sloth, I finally crawled out of anonymity and created this blog. Now comes the tough part, capturing the musings of an active confused (or shd this be actively confusing???) mind.
As the wise folks of yore have advised, do one thing at a time, I think its best to leave the posts to some other day.
I'll be back