Of no fixed address

A new home

2010-01-21T09:02:00.002+05:30

NOTICE

This blog is being discontinued with immediate effect. Please update your bookmarks to http://www.vibhanshu.com/blog.

cc: Chief Minister of Jharkhand

Weekend Adventure

2009-05-27T06:54:00.000+05:30

I rode the Ice dragon. Enuf said :D !!!

OPIM Party

2009-04-18T00:02:00.004+05:30

Seattle Post goes offline

2009-03-18T01:33:00.002+05:30

WOW !!! The Seattle Post just printed its last edition today. This shows the mess the newpapers are in right now. This is what their site says:

The print P-I was irreverent and unpredictable, a long-shot survivor from the start. It persisted through 11 moves, and more than 17 owners. It didn't miss an edition when its building burned to the ground along with its press in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. It outlived some 20 scrappy competitors before the turn of the 20th century, an era described by Clarence Bagley, one of its 19th century owners, as a time when newspapers "lived hard and died easy."
But it couldn't endure the firestorm of the Internet. And in the end, it wouldn't outlast its long headlock with The Seattle Times.

Definitely print media is going out of business, but I guess traditional press is on the way out too. Is it a good thing? I am not so sure. Though I am all gung-ho for citizen journalizm, I want to trust the news I read. I want credibility, I want hard facts behind the opinions I read. Citizen journalism/blogging is still to a very great extend, mere views without substantial backing. And the views on the net are very polarized!!

I would trust New York Times more than any blogger, even though it might be John Battalle or the like. What happens to the credibility of news in this new era? Does digg define whats news now? Are there alternatives that promote subjective journalism or is journalism as we know it doomed in the years to come?

What happens to coffee with the morning newspaper ?

The new colonizers

2008-11-13T10:59:00.003+05:30

While America is preoccupied with the war in Iraq (cost: half a trillion dollars and counting), and while think-tank economists continue to spit out papers debating whether vital resources are running out at all, China's leadership isn't taking any chances. In just a few years, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has become the most aggressive investor-nation in Africa. This commercial invasion is without question the most important development in the sub-Sahara since the end of the Cold War -- an epic, almost primal propulsion that is redrawing the global economic map. One former U.S. assistant secretary of state has called it a "tsunami." Some are even calling the region "ChinAfrica." more

Our moronic leaders

2008-09-26T10:29:00.002+05:30

I am simply amazed at the comment made by Oscar Fernandes over the death of L.K. Chaudhary. How can a cabinet minister make such an irresponsible statement. I think he is either too dumb which he might be or he is simply trying to preserve his vote bank.

And then there was this fiasco by Mamta Banarjee. On one hand Chidambram goes around giving talks all over the world inviting people to invest in India and on the other hand our beloved politicians. To top it all the Prime minister refused to take a firm stand on any matter. Amazing !!

Sometimes I think the country would be better managed in the hand of thugs. Should I be concerned about the state of affairs or laugh at it?

What appalls me most is the stark indifference of the people of India to the political/economic climate in the country. People care more about Shilpa Shetty in Big Boss that bomb blasts in Bombay!!!

Old Memories

2008-05-03T06:26:00.003+05:30

An old pic that I chanced upon while going through gazillions of Photographs I have. CSE Batch of 2003 :) It brought pleasant memories from the only department trip we ever went to. People were literally dragged out of their beds to join this picnic :D

Code Monkey like You

2008-04-15T05:23:00.001+05:30

Keep walking...

2008-03-14T00:52:00.000+05:30

The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Blurb

2008-03-11T07:49:00.001+05:30

I have aged 10 years in the last 3 months.

WOW !!!

2008-03-04T13:56:00.002+05:30

Super 30

I am IMPRESSED !!!!!!

Hal Varian on Google

2008-02-28T05:20:00.005+05:30

I read this post by Hal Varian on the Google blog and my first knee jerk reaction was what crap!! This seems more like a quickly put together office memo than a statement from the Chief Economist, much less coming from Hal Varian.

Here are some of my gripes about it:

Network effect

1. I think Google is what it is because of its people and that has a very strong underlying network effect. In the early years of Google, most of the tech companies were laying off workers right left and center. This led to Google getting the best and the brightest and not necessarily at the highest cost. So from a company point of view G! benefited a lot from the negative externality it imposed on other companies.

2. The initial batch of great people led to more great people joining Google, they led to more great people joining Google. More network effect.

3. Lots of creative people with small startups are in a race to sell their products to Google, some of them startup with a sellout to Google as their exit strategy. This makes Google a storehouse of innovation. Which again induces a positive externality.

4. I will be on the IM n/w that has most of my friends. DUH ? Did I miss something here?

5. The number of users affect the no of advertisers who would come to Google. Thats one of the most common stories people talk about when they talk about two sided networks.

I fail to realize how he misses these points especially for a company like Google, most of whose wealth is lying around in Intellectual capital.

Switching cost

1. It has been proven time and again that there is significant switching cost in online services even though it is assumed not to be so. I won't join a new mail service even if they paid me to, because everyone mails me on Gmail and I am used to the interface. My mails are archived here etc etc. They amount of money they pay me for which I will be indifferent to switching will be my switching cost (~$250. Come on, I am a poor grad student and this is a HIGH switching cost). There is a significant cost even though the alternative is just a click away.

Economics of Scale

1. The only this that works in these information goods driven companies is the initial capital you can put into your product, aka setup cost. The more money you have the better you are. (Hint hint: Google market cap). The marginal cost is zero. You can product a gazillion copies after the first one, almost for free. Why does he even talk about economics of scale here ?

I personally think Google is a great company. The biggest reason I can think of is its GREAT EMPLOYEES.

And yeah some bit of luck and accidental good timing.

PS: For those of you didn't know Hal Varian is one of my favourite economists, but this article by him is badly reasoned. Period.

Games

2008-02-22T08:54:00.004+05:30

Did you know its a good thing to have a rotten child? Well even I didn't but I found out last night at 2. And have you ever played the centipede game? And contrary to what people think , its not always good to have more information.

Well why I am blabbering all this? Because I really like this Game Theory class I am attending, though I am not smart enough to get most of it. I generally try hard to put my heart and soul in the class but most of the time I end up doodling or dozing off. Given that its a small class I guess the instructor can't help but notice.

Though I think I am picking it up slowly and steadily. I better do because most of my research would use economics and game theory. And this class is a good preparation of George Mailath's class, who hates every thing Nash and is extremely likely to get the Nobel one of these years.

... another one of those geeky rants.

Amazing Gimp plugin

2008-01-19T08:19:00.000+05:30

Neat plugin for image resizing. Look for the object removal method.

Happy New Year

2008-01-06T09:06:00.000+05:30

The world is beautiful, in many unfathomable ways. In our hurrying, though, we frequently miss what is beautiful around us, in the same way that we forget from time to time what we want our lives to mean. Just to stay afloat in the modern world, many of us reluctantly choose detachment from the constant stimulus. We even turn away from beauty, as if it were another thing we had too much of.

This year, let us resolve not to turn away and embrace the beauty that surrounds us.

On Fire

2007-12-02T23:16:00.001+05:30

A room with a view

The failing sunshine sets the trees and the building on fire. Now the tree lay barren and the ground covered with snow.

Yay it snowed :D

"You're Beautiful"

2007-11-21T10:36:00.000+05:30

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,

-James Blunt

Sometimes you live your life in an instant. And sometimes even an eternity seems too less...

Kids at Play...

2007-11-18T11:23:00.000+05:30

And at Work...

LFS School Anthem

2007-10-27T09:46:00.000+05:30

Welcome to this amazing performance, *ing Abhishek Ranjan, Neha Sinha Pappu (aka Abinash Rout), and PV Sushmita.

Great job guys !! Keep it up ;-). ROFL !!!!

ALCOHOROSCOPES

2007-10-25T22:29:00.000+05:30

GEMINI Drinking style
Gemini's can drink without changing their behavior much-- they're so naturally chatty and short-attention-spanned that it's just hard to tell sometimes. They can amaze you by conversing with finesse and allusion, then doing something to belie an extremely advanced state of intoxication, like puking in your shoe. Gemini's possess the magic ability to flirt successfully (and uninfuriatingly, which is very tricky) with several people at once. They like to order different cocktails every round -- repetition is boring -- and may create a theme (like yellow drinks: beer, sauvignon blanc and limoncello) for their own amusement.

Quite true I must say. Except the flirting part ;-)

Note to self: Sleep properly before an exam. Especially an econometrics exam.

Energy: The Politics and Economics of

2007-10-18T00:27:00.000+05:30

This post couldn't have come at a more opportune time. With Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to make the world aware about global warming it time we start talking about energy and the powers that govern them.

Most of the unwarranted politics in the world is around one of two things arms and oil. Oil primarily. One who has control of the oil well controls the way the world goes around. The developed world is so dependent on gasoline, aviation fuel and what not that it shudders to think of a day when people turn up to the gas station and the pumps have run dry. Especially the US. Hence its ever increasing desire to control the oil supplies in the world, by money or by force as witnessed by the recent wars (on terrorism ??). A lot of strife in the world is perpetuated by this fight for oil. The Al Kahida hates the US and the US hates their guts and both of them engage in mindless bloodshed that hurts the world at large. It divides people, us versus them. And I think most of it goes back to this fight for Oil.

Now why am I talking about oil politics? I think we have depended on this fossil fuel for a long enough time and definitely the debates show that this mechanism is not sustainable. We should look for alternate sources of energy. That has been common knowledge for years. But I believe asking the developed nations to lead the way would not help. Their switching costs are too high and most of the people in power want the monopoly of oil to continue. It fills up their coffers. An average American can't even imagine a day when there would be no oil left such is the dependence. Its very unlikely that they will make the switch.

This offers the developing nations a big incentive to explore new and sustainable energy sources. They have not made extensive investments for exploiting these fossil fuels and most probably they will not have a say in the allocation when OPEC decides the quota. I think it offers then an excellent opportunity to do extensive research and develop alternate forms of energy.

If they were successful this would definitely make them a more independent and prosperous as a country. It will also make the human race more sustainable and maybe the world a more peaceful place to live in.

Fall Break is here. YAY !!

2007-10-13T13:24:00.000+05:30

Have a great fall break guys !!!

Life as a grad student

2007-10-08T05:55:00.000+05:30

Life has strange ways of playing tricks with you. At times it puts you through really hard times, and yet you feel happy about it. I don't think I would have worked as hard ever in my life before, not even for the JEE. I guess that was a piece of cake compared to the effort I am putting in now. Some of that is definitely due to the fact that I have been away from student life for a long time, but most of it just because grad students in the US are expected to work a lot, especially here at Wharton. And I am doing mostly economics and statistics courses this semester dosent help things a lot, they being almost new topics for me. Add to that the fact that I am considerably underpaid compared to my last job [ boohoo :'( ], I am away from my friends and family and do not have the material luxuries that I was used to in my earlier life.

Even after having said all this, I somehow like this life. I like working till 2AM only to get back to my office around 9 in the morning. I think thats because I really love my department and the people around, it just has this energetic vibes. Like one of my friends said, "We have the coolest profs ever in our department. They are much cooler than the students". I don't think that speaks too much about the doctoral students here but I think she is absolutely right :-) Most of them bike to school, have a couple of startups/companies to their name and are real fun people to hang out with. And YEAH they are very well respected academically.

The only thing that worries me is I need to get into a routine soon and take out some time for myself, for my photography, travel and having fun. Or I just might die of boredom. But now I must head back to my books :-)

PS: I think I'll update my blog more frequently

Mindstorm NXT

2007-09-21T01:28:00.000+05:30

Something that I conceptualized 5 years back comes to life. WOW !!! I feel accomplished, though I am still a poor grad student :-)

I pushed so hard for this distributed architecture to be adopted while I was interning at LEGO in the summer of 2002. Though I worked closely with the Mindstorm team for well over a year I am not sure that they still remember me. I guess I would have been lost in the mound of paperwork and office politics. But I feel really glad to see that my baby finally materialized into a product :D

WOW !!

If any of the LEGO guys are reading this PLEASE SEND ME A COMPLIMENTARY KIT :D

The Doors of Perception

2007-09-15T04:30:00.000+05:30

“We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies - all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.”

Blah

2007-09-12T10:14:00.001+05:30

It took me close to 3 hours to read a 7 page paper written in the 50s.

I feel elated :)

Changing tides...

2007-08-17T01:15:00.000+05:30

I was discussing something with Kartik the other day and the new Dean comes in and says hello. After an initial round of introductions this is what the conversation goes like.

D: "Where are you from?"

Moi: "Jamshedpur"
and he is a little confused,

Moi: "Its where the Tata's have most of their production facilities"

D: "Oh yeah, I am going to call up Ratan Tata in a few days to discuss certain things. So are the biggest in India?"

Moi: "No I guess the Reliance guys are."

Kartik: "Their head is an alum of our school."

D: "Yeah I am taking to Anil tomorrow."

Hmmmm...

...and still I can't find a place to stay :-(

Anyways do let me know if you know someone, even if he is your cousin fourth removed, who is looking for a roommate or is looking for a house to share with someone. I'll be extremely obliged.

To be soon homeless in Philly
Vibs

Predicaments...

2007-06-25T13:25:00.000+05:30

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

At no point in my life did this poem sound more apt than it does now. Giving up a life of certainty, monetary stability (well I am not $RICH$ but still my employers kept me well provided for ;) ) and of course the proximity of loving friends and family seems to be getting to me. But I guess this too shall pass. Will it make all the difference? I do not know...

Updates

2007-06-20T00:40:00.000+05:30

This one is for you Meenakshi :-)

I am jobless.

my PowerBook died and since I am jobless I don't have money to get it repaired.

Since I don't have my PowerBook I can't get a job.

Hence the cycle continues....

Hehehe so now my days are spent fighting with the guys at Apple, sleeping endless hours and catching up on some reading. I guess this the most interesting one's life could get :-)

Anyways now that I am on the verge of going back to college, I am getting cold feet. I am handling the situation by not thinking about it at all. I have developed partial amnesia to the fact that I shall be leaving Bangalore soon. I trust people around me to shove me on the the train when the date is due.

AND I have a writer's block...

From a zoom lense...

2007-05-27T21:15:00.000+05:30

...everything seems interesting. I have been noticing this for sometime, when ever I change over from a wide angle to a zoom lens things take on a different hue. The crowd changes to a face narrating the story of an individual. seems to get accentuated, the shining eyes, the wisp of hair, the sagging lines on the face. Small insignificant things get a life of their own and appear spectacular. Patterns emerge out of chaos. The other day I was shooting at a temple and I chanced up to an elderly man. Round spectacles, gandhi topi, all dressed in white. His face dark in complexion was packed with dots, wrinkled with age. He seemed to be an anachronism. But I somehow connected to him through the viewfinder of my camera even though he was more than 200 feet away.

Anything and everything is interesting. If we look close enough.

Just what the doc ordered...

2007-05-24T17:27:00.000+05:30

The Plan

Each team consists of two members
Each person is allowed Rs. 1000 and a back pack.
Participants are allowed to carry extra money, but are not encouraged to use it unless they are in some deep trouble.
Remotest village in a state is a must visit.
Farther the distance of travel from starting point more the fun.

3,166,414 sq. km
500,000 villages approximately
1000 bucks per person
28 states
15 days
10 destinations
2 per team
1 race

Are You Game?

I am thinking I'll take part in this competition, not for the sake of winning but just for the travel. I guess I'll be able to collect lot of material for the book during the race. If you want to pitch in with me drop me comment with your email id/phone no and I shall get back. See you there.

Lonesome Chairs

2007-05-16T11:45:00.000+05:30

Locust Walk, Philadelphia

Rapid Fire

2007-05-02T17:17:00.000+05:30

YAY I got tagged !! By Anki...

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.
A slit on my abdomen. Keep guessing how I got it.

2. What is on the walls in your room?
1100 piece jigsaw puzzles and a couple of framed photographs... No more are my walls adorned with scantily clad women.

3. What does your phone look like?
A Remington Typewriter.

4. What music do you listen to?
Rabindra Sangeet.

5. What is your current desktop picture?
Dewdrops...

6. What do you want more than anything right now?
A trip to the Bahamas. Scantily clad women would be the icing on the cake ;-)

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?
As long as I am not involved anything is fine. BTW how about group marriages ?

8. What time were you born?
9:30 PM on a Friday. Now you know why I am so chilled out :D

9. Are your parents still together?
No and Yes.

10. What are you listening to?
iTunes Radio.

11. Do you get scared of the dark?
I am scared of light, I think my body will disintegrate when sunlight hits me. So I am dormant during daytime.

12. The last person to make you cry?
Boys dont cry.

13. What is your favorite perfume/cologne?
Deep Blue ;)

14. What kind of hair/eye colour do you like on the opposite sex?
Black/Blue.

15. Do you like pain killers?
Why would I like something that kills me ?

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
Actually I am, and I act pricey to hide the fact.

17. Favorite pizza topping?
Lots of veggies and less cheese.

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
Ingera and Misr Allecha (Ethopian dishes)

19. Who was the last person you made mad?
I have attained Nirvana. Nothing can make me mad.

20. Is anyone in love with you?
I would LOVE to believe that girls all over the world are drooling over me. Does that answer the question?

Now the important part [wicked grin], I would like to tag Meenakshi, Vyom and Cuckoo. I dont know why someone would like to inflict oneself with the pain willingly, but hey anyone else is welcome if you want to :D

Show me the Money, Honey

2007-04-27T10:03:00.000+05:30

Why is money such a bad word in India? If someone were to say "I like money" he is always looked down upon in our society. It has been seen as a vice almost synonymous with sex and all the things considered bad in the Indian value system. Too much money corrupts, we have been taught. Everyone wants money, but no one is ready to accept the fact. Why such hypocracy?

You would have heard lot of managers say you should not be working for money. Now this is one thing I fail to understand. I can always do better work in an academic institution or on my own. I work for a company whose ONLY responsibility is to create wealth for its stakeholder. The only REASON I might be interested in working for a corporate entity is the fact that I WANT MONEY. What is so difficult to comprehend? The whole charade that the HR puts up during recruitment and the managers henceforth is so sickening. I say India, because I am familiar with the recruitment practices elsewhere and almost all employers worldwide are ready to talk about and negotiate the compensation except India.

Lots of people have told me that they want to start companies. They have this great technical idea that would change the lives of millions, they are sick of working for someone else, they want some excitement in their otherwise mundane life. These might be valid reasons for thinking of a startup but if you are not interested in making money you can't be an entrepreneur. Period. I think this conscious aversion about money or talking about it needs to change if a new wave of entrepreneurship has to sweep through India and give rise to the silicon valley. People need to start thinking of money before they get the itch to create great companies.

Lots of money.

Post India

2007-04-22T19:58:00.000+05:30

For those of you wondering what is this about, a friend of mine and I am writing a book. You can find more about it here. Put up this poster on your blog, on your office bulletin board, you college gazette and where ever it might catch people's fancy. You can get a high res version of the poster by clicking on the image or here. Any help shall be really appreciated :-)

Virginia Tech Shootout

2007-04-20T13:15:00.000+05:30

My heart goes out to the students and faculty members who lost their lives in the massacre. Virginia Tech is supposed to be of the most peaceful college communities and no one would have expected something like this to happen there. The sheer suddenness of the event is shocking and disturbing. Is there a SAFE place left in this world?

Memories

2007-04-17T14:00:00.000+05:30

"The Storm". Painting by Francesco Guardi.

A painting very similar to the one about used to hang in my grandfather's studay when I was a kid. There was something so melancholic about the painting that used to indimidate me so much that I woke up at nights in a pool of sweat. The paints was pretty simple, a huge mast ship in the midst of a raging storm. It was not the subject that ailed me but the colors, they seemed to suck out the all the energy from the spectator, putting him in the same despair that people aboard the ship might have been feeling. Thats one of the strongest evidences I have seen of colors being used to convey emotions. Sadly this picture dosen't dosent potray the helpless I felt after seeing the painting that hung on the wall. I have changed a lot since I saw that painting first. I am no longer afraid of water, I can swim pretty well. But even now when I think of the painting on the wall, a shudder passes through me. Just thinking about it transforms me to a state of helplessness and saps aways all my energy and mirth.

Have you ever felt something similar?

Impressive

2007-04-13T22:43:00.000+05:30

वाह क्या बात है। अब हिंदी में ब्लॉगर !!

मैं खुश हुआ।

A Potrait of an Young Man as the Photographer

2007-04-12T18:01:00.000+05:30

I have always had this fascination for photography, but not until recently since I started some serious photography did I realize it would change me. For Good.

Patience: As a photographer I have developed lot of patience, precariously perched on my haunces, with sweat tricking down my face, waiting for the opportune moment to click the scene. Not to forget the insanely heavy camera and the lense.

Carpe Diem: In photography you need seize the moment. Nothing lasts for more than a second, if you have captured it, its for you to keep or it might have gone forever.

Resilience: You learn to live with your mistakes and evolve with them. At times I have spent the entire day clicking photographs only to realize I didnt choose the correct ISO or I had a greasy lense.

Photography has taught me a lot more than any class or college I ever went to. Long live photography and long live the photographer in me.

Yet another change of address...

2007-03-28T20:20:00.000+05:30

My friends (- MissT) keep complaining about my frequent change in coordinates, and finally when I thought I am done for good its time to move again.

This time I shall be moving to Philadelphia, spending the next 4 years (hopefully not more) at Wharton working towards a PhD. That was the only place I had sent in an aplication and I was fortunate enough to get selected. A hurried trip to Philly convinced me that its a great department, very vibrant. The profs seemed like really nice people and the students are extremely smart. People who have been admitted with me have calls from all the top schools like Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, and Chicago. I hope all of them join, it would be a great group. I am in esteemed company :D

Its time to do some serious work now. After graduating in 2003, I have been mostly whiling away time. Work has been interesting but only in patches. I have worked with some really cool technology, contributed my bit but learning has been mostly off work rather than on it. The last few years have been good in eroding the naivety that was almost synonymous with my thinking while I left college. Now I understand the people and the world in a better light. I think I am a lot more mature and focused now and this is an appropriate time to go back to grad school and make the world a better place...

Wish me luck :D

Man's Best Friend

2007-03-23T16:27:00.000+05:30

B&W III

2007-03-21T13:53:00.000+05:30

Children at play. City Market, Bangalore

B&W - II

2007-03-12T15:27:00.000+05:30

Kids posing at City Market, Bangalore

B&W - I

2007-03-11T03:17:00.000+05:30

Barber @ Brigade Road, Bangalore

Holi

2007-03-08T17:37:00.000+05:30

Why do we read books?

2007-03-07T16:57:00.000+05:30

I was with one of my oldest school friend Anand yesterday and we were discussing how a book is a reflection of an authors experiences and desires, both met and unmet. The discussion somehow came around to Fountainhead and then Ayan Rand. I started narrating the story of We the Living to him. After listening to me patiently for a while he asked what was it about the book that made me like it so much. At that point I told him I really liked the character of Kira Argunova, one of the strongest female characters I have ever encountered.

This question persisted with me on my way to Bangalore. On some contemplation I reached the following conclusion. As we live our lives we undergo several experiences, some pleasant some not so. Each of them make our lives richer if we are willing to understand and assimilate them. I think its the same thing when we read a book, a book transports us to a place set in the writers imagination. Personally I get so engrossed in a book that I feel a part of the scene that the author describes. Watching sunsets with the lovers holding hands or fighting the battle with the wounded soldier, breathing in the same air that they exhale. For me the experience of reading a book is as real as experiencing it in real life, images flashing by in quick succession. I mostly see a book than read it.

Coming back to the question poised by Anand, I liked the book because I loved the fact that I knew someone like Kira, so passionate, so full of life and love. Someone who fought to rebuild the future and did not give up hope till the very end. I loved the fact that I existend in the same space with her. Even though it was fictional and transient. But isn't everything around us? Mere spacedust ?

Visual DNA

2007-03-02T12:20:00.000+05:30

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

The break in the clouds

2007-02-25T01:53:00.000+05:30

"I don't think we can spend our lives together".

The unnerving silence that ensued consumed all unanswered questions. There were so many things she wanted to ask, to say, but the silence stiffled her. It had been months, years since she last met him, touched him. She was too overwhelmed with emotions to even count the number of days since they had broken up. Like a child dreads to enter a dark unexplored cave, she too was afraid that counting back to that unfortune day would rip apart her already battered heart. Mia did not have the courage to think about the last conversation she had with him. Before that everything else was crystal clear as if it had happened only yesterday. After that it didn't make a difference. Her life had come to a standstill, she went on living like an automaton, bathing, eating, sleeping - fulfilling the bare necessaties for survival, without emotions without feeling.

"We'll always be together ?"
"Till death does us apart honey"

Mia distintly remembered the day he has proposed to her. She was sitting by the window looking out at the sun setting over the lake with Bob Dalyn palying in the background. A box of Godiva chocolate lay in front of her, that he had got on his way back from Europe. She smiled and picked up the box, she was waiting for him to come before she opened the box. He could be heard in the kitchen, fiddling with the pots and pans to make coffee. Love for chocolate got the better of her and she ripped apart the wrapping paper. She opened the box to find one sole piece of chocolate remaining with a note. It read...

"The world's finest chocholate for the most wonderful girl in my life."

She broke it into two like she always did and there lay the ring. Overwhelmed by emotions, she ran up to him, hugged him and kissed him. The happniness was so intense it, came out in tears.

Its strange how tears change their meaning, the same tears that were a harbinger of happniess now represented intense sorrow and pain. Even the mention of his name used to make her eyes well up. They had been known as a couple for so long that everyone inquired about his absence. Initially she answered their questioning glances with a feeble smile, but soon she started to withdraw from the company of others. Acquaintances fell off and then even close friends followed suit. She wrapped a cacoon around herself that absorbed all the sounds from the outside. Nothing could get through to her. She no longer lived in this world, just continued a mere existance.

Mia was the only child, and fiercely independent. After her parents passed away she lived all alone. Wary of the ways of the world she allowed very few people to come close to her. A few friends at college, some relatives were the only people who knew what went on with her. Most of her evenings were spent in solitude looking out of the window or curled up with a book. Though a recluse in personal life, she was warm and helpul in the social world. Always ready to win people's heart with a smile and to lend a hand whenever required, as long as her personal space wasn't breeched. While working for CRY, she had met him. He was leading a project that she had volunteered for. The attraction was by no means instantaneous, Mia wasn't a girl given into emotional and hasty descisions. They met a couple of times and they started liking each other's company, the fondness that grows out of being with someone amicable for long durations of time. Slowly yet cautiously, she opened the door into her world. It was more than a year before they went out on their first date. It was pouring heavily when he arrived at her doorstep. He took out a crumpled bunch of flowers from underneath his jacket. She smiled and they hugged.

Every passing moment of her life she waited. She waited for his letters, his phone calls. She longed for him to return. She burned for his touch and his kisses. She listend to every footfall, lest it belong to him. At every knock she prayed to God that it was him. In the night she would get up when she didn't find him sleeping next to her. Everything was the way he had left it, nothing was moved out of place. He could come back tomorrow and start living as if nothing had happened. Everything that he had left behind lay encased in time. Whenever she was at home she could not bear to wear anything apart from the clothes that smelled of him. That was the only thing she looked forward to when she went back home. She always set two plates on the table, and waited for him to come home for dinner. When no one turned up she dumped all her evening's effort into the garbage.

She could never fathom why he had left her. Was it because of something she did, did he fall in love with another girl, where did he go away? There was so much that was left unanswered. In the night, these questions spread their heads like monstrous snakes ready to annihilate her. They grew within her till she could no longer contain them and more often than not came out in a flurry of tears. Her pillow was always drenched when she woke up in the mornings.

They had always gone on walks together, starlit night, cool chilly mornings. That was there most favourite hobby as a pair. When he was gone she continued retracing their steps. Everyday she hoped to find him jogging along one of these roads. But that day never came.

Once on her daily rendezvous, omnious clouds threatened the city. A thunderstorm was announced and everyone was asked to stay indoors, but she had more overpowering thoughts on her mind. Her own safety was the least of her concerns. She started out from her home driven by a maniacal urge that could not be restrained. After she had gone a long distance it started to rain. First it came down in mild droplets but soon the earth was pelted with ernomous raindrops. The stinging rain shot a wave of pain through her but she continued her quest. Soon she started to enjoy the suffering inflicted by the torrent. For once in many days she was thinking about something other than him. It was almost as if she had taken recluse in the pain caused by the downpour to escape from his memories that had haunted her. When she got back home she was completely drenched, her hair plastered all over her face. All her clothes were dripping.

She stepped out of her clothes and started to dry herself. Her hands automatically reached out to his jersey but then suddendly she stopped. For once she found the warmth of the towel more comforting than his clothes. She walked across the room and sat down by the window. The rain had stopped and the moon shone though the clearning in the clouds. The lake was bathed in the milky moonlight, she sat there, mesmerised, for a long while. Solitude was peaceful again. After sometime she got up and tucked herself in the bed. She thought about him, but this time there was a smile on her face instead of agony, she lovingly though of the time they had spent together and wished for his happiness. The rain had washed away all the pain and hurt, it had dissovled all the buring questions that haunted her. They no longer mattered now, she was at peace with herself. Soon sleep took over and she fell into deep slumber, one like she had not know in a long time. She slept calmly, the sleep took away all the tiredness weariness, for tomorrow would be a new day.

A tear of happiness escaped from her eyes.

==
This post was inspired by Meenakshi's post. I wanted to find a happy ending to her story and here is my 2 cents worth. I don't know a lot about love and am not romantically inclined though I strongly believe there should be a closure to all relationships. Only then do we have pleasant memories, otherwise all that stays behind is unanswered questions that cause anguish.

Of men and ships

2007-02-22T21:58:00.000+05:30

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

-Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery

Reaching into the void

2007-02-21T15:22:00.000+05:30

The International Finance Centre, Hong Kong

On cloud 9

2007-02-20T11:39:00.000+05:30

Birds

2007-02-17T17:48:00.000+05:30

"Reach for the sun, O new-age-Icarus! Thou shalt not fall for thy wings are made of the sternest stuff. Dream the highest dreams, do not look back, for the future is yours to conquer. Adieu!I wish you the very best."

- Supriyo Bose, IIT Kanpur - 2003

Take right

2007-01-28T13:57:00.000+05:30

The Struggler’s Guide to Mumbai

2007-01-21T22:32:00.000+05:30

A great article by Taran Khan I came across on the Struggle in Bollywood.

Great moments from the life of Rajesh M, aspiring actor. “After one performance, I saw Mahesh Bhatt beckoning me from the other side of the (Prithvi) café. I started walking towards him, heart pounding, and it was the longest walk of my life.” Just as Rajesh reached the director, Bhatt’s phone rang. “He started talking, put an arm around me and we walked around the café. All eyes were on me, I could see them thinking, iski to nikal pari--—this guy is made.” Then, as they reached the edge of the theatre, Bhatt got into an auto and left, still talking on his phone. Rajesh still agonises over that moment which occurred years ago. “What if that call hadn’t come right then? Would he have given me a chance in some film? Would my life have been totally different?” Welcome to the Bollywood Struggle, a sub-culture held together by handshakes, inspirational myths and liberal amounts of wishful thinking.

The Struggle may seem chaotic and random, but scratch the surface and highly developed patterns emerge. Long before Orkut was thought of, strugglers had written the code. A new recruit, depending on his lineage (NSD, Delhi, FTII) and inclination, is almost immediately inducted into specific networks and communities. There are well-defined routes to the ‘break’, signposted for your convenience. There are even conduits, channelling frustrated talents in other directions. It is possible to build a wider network, even to switch allegiance to another circle. But, as actor Vinay Pathak asserts, “You have to be part of the system.”

The ‘system’ demands that connections be honoured. Work goes to friends, or friends of friends. To struggle is to leap over the six degrees that separate you from the person in charge. “I knew someone who had a friend at an office…” is how most stories begin. The Struggle is to gain that point of access. There are always people who got there before you, a crowd straining to catch up. The Struggle is a growth industry, with every success story inspiring hundreds more to board the train. Faces change, people move up or out, but the hang out joints, the addas and the route remains the same.

The road to success is called The Struggle.

PILGRIMS ROCK

When Shah Rukh Khan first came to Mumbai, so goes the story, he stood on the rocks at Marine Drive and yelled, “One day, I will rule this city.” Devotees who pay homage to the spot feel compelled to do the same, preferably in a dramatic silhouette against the evening sky. Variations to this theme include asking “Mumbai ka don kaun?” a la Manoj Bajpai in Satya. There is only one correct answer to that.

MAHURAT SHOT

As his train pulls into Mumbai, the struggler has just two words to guide him in the teeming city- “Andheri station”. This is where most arrivals get picked up by their ‘seniors’, old hands at the game. At the Irani restaurant across the road, they get their first taste of what will be their staple diet for at least the next few months— milky tea and gyan— information, gossip, phone numbers, lots of hope. The struggle has begun.

FOOD CHAIN

Where a struggler eats is an accurate indication of his market worth. Most newbies are found at roadside Punjabi dhabas, like National Restaurant, Bandra, where Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha used to dig into cheap chapatis. The action has now moved to Lokhandwala’s Guru da Dhaba. Scaling the food chain is important, but revisiting the haunts of your struggling days is permitted for purely nostalgic purposes.

MUSCLE CELL

The workout is purely incidental. In gyms like Barbarian or Sykz in Bandra and Andheri, more connections than muscles are being built. “Behind every actor on the treadmill, there will be five strugglers waiting for their turn, just so they can shake his hand and say hello,” says Rishabh Sinha, actor. Also developed is the fine art of greeting a celebrity like a long-lost friend, or at least a steady acquaintance, on the very first meeting.

THE HUNTING GROUNDS

The struggle never sleeps. In a one-hour conversation, Sinha exchanges fifteen handshakes, twelve nods and at least one conversation with each table. “This is all part of the struggle,” he explains. The fiercest networking is in small teashops. With success comes Barista and other upmarket coffee shops where writers and directors meet. It may appear otherwise, but the cappuccino-sipping horde is actually hard at work, waiting to be discovered.

COMFORT ZONE

In times of loneliness or celebration, strugglers seek out the sea, usually on Versova beach. If the mood for contemplation occurs during the day, coconut water suits the script. But at night, the ‘Rock Bar’ offers better comfort from the liquor shop nearby. The resultant bonhomie regularly prompts more optimistic members of the group to strike a pose on a handy elevation and declare, “Ek din apna bhi aayega doston. Our time will come.”

THE END

In the carefully graded hierarchy of locations, an invitation to the JW Marriott, by a director or producer is cause for celebration. “A guy calling you to Andheri station can only give you hope, a meeting at Barista can yield a number to call. But the Marriott can only mean The Break,” explains Sinha. This is when the credits roll on the ‘struggling days’, and the screen reads The Happy End. Or, as they say in Bollywood, The Beginning.

A new dawn

2007-01-11T21:00:00.000+05:30

The days have gone by, pages of the calendar have flipped and another year has marched right in. Almost stealthily. Last year saw a lot of activity both pleasant and upleasant. It was an year filled with activity. A year that started in New York and almost ended in Bangkok. I changed jobs, parted company from a lot of friends. Last year helped me gain a lot of direction in life, now I DO KNOW for once in my life what I want to do. That realization also brought in lot of hard work or at least the inclination. I believe this year too will be extremely eventful. Though I do not know what it has in store for me, I am excited at the onset.

I hope you too will have an extremely joyous year. "Naya saal mubarak ho"

BTW I am in love with Picasa and have uploaded a lot of my photographs on picasaweb. As time passes by I grow fonder of this hobby of mine, sometimes it almost reaches maniacal frenzy when I go out in the cold at 11 in the night to click night photographs. I hope this fascination will continue to grow. Have a look at the pics and let me know your opinions and suggestions. Till I write next, Alvida

Handpicked

Diwali @ Home

2006-11-01T00:45:00.000+05:30

Somehow I just love clicking candles :-) Got back from a long trip home. The trip was hectic, kept running all over the places, had to go to Calcutta a couple of times. Met up with Guddu Bhaiye after a long time, almost 2 years I guess. We missed Chomraj's company, her tid-bits about Jsr, the masala news and delicacies (??) at her place. Listening ma'am ??? You better send some chocoltes this way to redeem yourself :D

Jamshedpur never changes. Its the same old place where we went to school, the same old roads and the same old shops. Well almost all. Maybe thats kind of reassuring, now matter wherever you go you can come back to some place that you can call home.

Post India

2006-10-13T17:12:00.000+05:30

Ladies and gentlemen here I present to you PostIndia...

"PostIndia is an experiment to delve more into the Indian psyche and find of the common threads the runs through the diversity of this magnificent nation."

After a long hiatus I have started work on this project. Your contributions are most welcome.

And do spread the word.

Thanks,
Vibs

Some reading

2006-10-09T14:02:00.000+05:30

I happend to read two amazing books back to back over the last couple of days. It was impossible to put them down even though they were taking away a lot of time from my hectic schedule but they were well worth the read.

"I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can."

A Million Little Picecs is the memoir of a 23 year man undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation center. Its a story of courage, of shame. Of everything bad a man can do and how he tries to atone for it, realizing all the while that atonement might not possible. Through the book there were so many incidents that made a chill run down my spine. You start of being in control and soon the addiction takes control over you. So much so that even though you know its killing you, all you can do to get over the feeling is dope some more. I thinks its a must read for all youngsters, it would prove to me a real deterrent in the fight against drugs.

Its also about the camaderie that develops in so obsure a place that seems so far away from a normal person's psyche. Judges and felons, drugdealers and doctors cohabit the same dorms, eat the same meals, share the same jokes and of course recourse to the same cigarettes to drive away the "urge". I am dying to read the second book in the series, My Friend Leonard.

The Cave is surprisingly another book on hope. Extremely enchanting.

BTW I am looking for a copy of The Story of Civilization Vol 1. Please holler if you know where to find it. Its out of print.

one night...

2006-09-27T13:34:00.000+05:30

the light dispels the darkness.
well, almost !!

Bombay Blasts...

2006-07-12T13:20:00.000+05:30

Helpline: + 91 22-22005388, 24451515, 24452222, 26207254

List of casualties: Here

Mumbai Police website.

My heart and prayers reach out to those who left their home in the morning never thinking they wouldn't return. And to those that waited in vain... And also to those who came close.

Amen

PS: I am too numbed to say anything more.

Life: A users manual

2006-06-23T17:33:00.000+05:30

Some pages from it actually. I haven't updated in quite sometim. To say my hands were full would be an understatment. There has been such a whirldwind of activity that I didn't even get time to sit back and ponder. Some updates on the life of yours truly
- Joined a new place to work. Thankfully before they kicked me out of Sarnoff ;) Heh. I'll be working at Fair Isaac for the next few years and see how life takes its course from there.
- Solved a 1100 piece jigsaw puzzle with a friend of mine. Estimated time 10hrs.
- Have been decorating my place, since I plan to stick around for some time in Bangalore. Theme oscillates between Austere to Minimalistic.
- Have a lot of work to do and lots more to learn so I wasn't really getting time off to mail/blog.
- Started working on a book with A. Lets see how far it goes :D
- Finished reading a couple of books, The Piano Teacher, Moral Animals, The Old Man and his God and a book on photography.

Work has been extremly good thus far, lots of interesting problems and as usual I cant write about my work :'-( But at least I am happy I wouldn't be writing s/w for killing innocent Iraqis.

There have been some other things that are really important and I am way too happy they way things turned out, but this does not seem the right place to post about such an incident :-)

Need to get back to work now. More later....

I am not pro reservation...

2006-05-25T15:07:00.000+05:30

...but I am not anti reservation either.

I would like to start this post with some facts and figures:
Total population of India: 1,028,610,328
SC/ST Population: 250,961,940 (~25%)
OBC Population: No definitive number, assumed to be around 52%
Percentage of Upper Caste: ~22%

The Consitution of India bars reservation beyond 50%.

I have been pretty unconcerned (read cold) toward this reservation issue but there was a big debate at work yesterday and every one was throwing up numbers in the air. So I went back and tried gathering as much information on the net before I had anything further to say. My sources include the Census of India, newspapers and some reports I found on the matters, a few of which also talk about the Mandal Commission. I know its really sad to know that more than 75% of the population of India is considered backward but lets move on...

Part I - On Social Justice:

Firstly who constitues the Other Backward classes?
The Mandal commission proposed 3 categories to identify the OBCs depending on social, economic and educational backwardness. A detailed description is given in Identifying OBCs.

I am not very convinced about the different parameters used to evalute whether a particular group belongs to the OBC or not, but it definitely talks about sections of society that are deprived.

India still remains a nation of extremely poor people. The central estimate is pegged around 40% but I belive it is somewhere in the range of 55-60%. I know, it hurts to accept the fact that more than 60 years after independence, majority of the population is still living in such a pitiable situation. More so because of the callousness of people who are affluent and can bring in change. But this post is not intended towards the social indifference in the Indian society.

Hence most of the people who would get affected by the reservation are people who belong to the upper/middle caste. The middle cast constitutes about 7% of the Indian population. Of the upper class 10% have so much money that they do not really care about the reservation issue, they can always send their kids aboard for studies if they WANT to. So doing some simple arithmetic the fraction of the population that is getting affected in an adverse manner if at all is about 12%.

Another EXTREMELY important aspect of governance. Goverments are not run like corporates and thankfully so. They have to keep the benefit of the masses in mind !!

So of the goverment thats affects 50% of the population in a positive manner at least makes social sense. I know there are other ways of improving the situation, like good primary education, vocational education, micro-finance initiatives but all this would take time and effort and initiatives are already on their way in these directions too. But coming back to question of reservation, if this reservation helps someone get education and a job later, his entire family transforms. The turn around time is much less in this scenario.

Part II - On Education

Now lets talk about meritocracy, and let me tell you all this talk about meritocracy is pure balony and nothing else. The only places in India that where one can get good educations are the top tier colleges like the IITs, AIIMS, BITS, a couple of others and of course DU. But once you move away from the these colleges, the quality of education decreases exponentially. All education means in India is just getting a degree. I have hardly come across anyone who really learnt something during their college days and yeah I HAVE interacted with a lot of people. The second/third tier colleges are dime a dozen and many more would mushroom if there is a demand for them, so the students going there should not be really alarmed.

Now coming back to the premier institutes. They still have 50% seats thats are based on Merit. The very best will still get in, and if you really care about meritocracy thats all you want. People getting into these insitutes would be more focused and determined about their goals in life because the competition is so much tougher. People wont just land up in IIT because thats what everyone around them aspires to do. Then and only then would we have good Engineers/Doctors in the true sense of the word. And even if 20% of these students were really good, thats all it would take to change the country. Sadly thats not the case (maybe another post on that sometime...). So as far as retaining the best talent is concerened this "current" system of reservation does nothing to hinder the growth of true merit. People with true caliber would still go places in this scenario.

Now lets consider someone who belongs to the general category and was just on the border and would get rejected because of this act. He does have an option, an option to work harder and make it to the insitute. And is working hard bad? A developing country like India needs people who work really hard!!!

After my little research I feel various organizations like Youth for Equality are fighting a non-issue. They should have fought when the standards of IIT-JEE were smashed, they should have revolted when the number of IITs were being increased. India does not have enuf Profs to teach in the existing IITs where will they get profs for 11 more IITs. These are things that would have really taken down the name of IIT but we didn't hear even a whimper of protest. Did these people take up to the roads when they discovered the sorry state of affairs in primary education, or Narmada Dam issue for that matter. There are so many more important issues that need addressing, but alas their selfish motive is blind to them.

The reservation helps a major section of the society in a positive way and makes things a little harder for a smaller section. I really do not see how that is a cause for such uproar until all those protesting want is things made easier for them, easier for them to get into colleges to get jobs. India at this juncture can ill affoard these luxuries. And they talk about MERITOCRACY !!!! I am amused...

Part III - On Autonomy of Educational Insitutes

The only reason that concerns me about this reservation issue is the ease by which the Legislature can affect the course of education in this country. It is not reservation but the power of the Legislature to govern and change the functioning of colleges is what irks me. And this is not something that should be allowed in a Knowlege based society. US is what it is today because of private universities, that have complete autonomy in their governance. Sadly in India all these good colleges are goverment funded, and whereever thats the case the funding agency decides the course of research and teaching in the country. This flaws plagues not only India but a lot of European countries like Germany. They used to produce the BEST engineer till about the 40's but now they are reduced to second rate counterparts of the US univs. I hope people with capital (the big corporates, alumni of the premier institutes) realise this flaw in the educational system and take steps to change it before its too late. These should be private insitutes of the stature of MIT, Standford and Yale.

And after all the deliberations I think it makes sense to have some kind of reservation. What kind and what percentage I am not knowledgeable enough to comment.

At the end: I DO NOT approve of students getting beaten up during the demonstrations but at the same time I do not approve of students taking to streets for solving their problems. What then is the difference between people who attend Laloo's rally and the ones who attend the Maha Rally of the medicos/engineers. I believe it is just cheap mindless theatrics in a fit of josh.

There could have been more ways of solving the problems of poverty, of backwardness. This is one way and the numbers show that if implmented in a correct manner they would indeed affect the society positively. If not you better come up with an action plan before you curse the goverment for their deeds.

What is the current goverment's motive behind the reservation, and would they be able to implement it in a fair way? I don't know.

Jai Hind

References:
Census of India
Positive Discrimination in India: A Political Analysis
Identifying OBCs

Which element am I ?

2006-05-20T17:34:00.000+05:30

Your Element is Metal

Your power colors: white, gold, and silver

Your energy: contracting

Your season: fall

You are persistent (and maybe even a little bit stubborn).
If you see something you want, you go for it.
You have a lot of strength, and it's difficult to get you down.
Very logical, you tend to analyze everything going on in your life.

What Element Are You?

OK.TA.TA. BYE BYE

2006-05-19T11:51:00.000+05:30

A mail about this contest dropped into my inbox today. You are supposed to travel through India for 15 days and document you expereinces. I have always wanted to do this since I left college, and all my "close" and "trustworthy" friends (read: Supriyo and Madhur) kept ditching me on this. I had planned to hitch rides from truckwallas and buswallas and maybe hop onto the train for certain legs of the journey. Starting from Kanpur, I would go on to Amritsar or Peshawar depending on whether I had the required visas. Then it would be a visit to Rishikesh via Delhi. From there on I would have moved on to the heart of India, to MP, places like Bhopal, Indore that I have only childhood memories of. After exploring the forts of MP I would again hit NH 1 and head on eastwards towards Calcutta. Would laze off there for a few days, relishing the great Bengali cusine and then move on to Silliguri, and then further on to the North East for a week. But more that visiting these destination I was interested in talking to these people, putting up in one of those roadside dhabas, travelling in the truck with music blaring on the radio. As I write this I can almost visualize the sounds and the smells. I am looking forward to someone joining me, if you are game and jobless let me know :-)

I had planned another escapade with my roommate Rishabh, we had coaxed a fisherman to accompany us on the boat from Kanpur to Allahabad on the Ganges. The journey would have taken 4 days and 3 nights. Have u ever been on a river in the night? Its an amazing experience. Total darkness all around, and you are surrounded by water. The land is far enough for you to swim and reach and in the darnkness it becomes almost impossible to locate the shore. It has an eerie kind of enchantment. Anyways all arrangements were made and a day before we were supposed to leave Rishabh mother found out about it, and me acting like the nice guy as I always do, talked Rish out of the plan :-(

Some how I have this fascinstion for the Ganges, I lived for a couple of years in Calcutta when I was a kid, then I moved on to Patna, and then finally to Kanpur. I have stayed on the banks of the Ganga for almost half of my lifetime and for some reason I tend to keep moving closer to the source. Sometime in the future I would like to settle down in Rishikesh if there is anything like settling down for me ;-) Another things I liked about the All India Trip was the fact that I would intercept Ganges at so many places. The river meanering away in the distance dotted with small fishing boats. The sun setting on the horizon, painting the entire sky with a golden hue and reaching out into the river to quench its thirst. And once it has satiated itself darnkness breaking out. The dark sky daubed with orange puffs of clouds. The chants of the temples wafting on the river and countless diyaas starting their fleeing journey on the waves of the river...

Devī Sureśvarī Bhagavatī Gange,

Tribhuvanatārinī taralatarange,
Śankaramaulī vihārinī vīmale,
Mamamatirāstām tavapada kamale.

Disclaimer: The author is in no way affiliated to oktatabyebye.com or the contest

On Startups...

2006-05-18T12:56:00.000+05:30

Read this talk by Paul Graham on startups: How American are Startups? He makes some really interesting points which I have always believed in:

"You need two kinds of people to create a start-up: rich people and nerds."

I have always felt that only a right blend of the two can actually get the engines revved up to go. Startups need money to hire smart people, and its takes really smart peole to turn the investment into a 100X profit. Only an organization driven by innovation/IP can offer these kinds of returns in short period of time. Normally in India there is a disconnect between the two. The "RICH" are mostly people that belong to the old world economies, like the Tatas and the Birlas, most of these are not people who have become rich a part of the new world economy. They are still in the brick and mortar timeframe and I think it makes a lot of sense for them to be so because of the manner in which these industries work. None the less they are changing, but these changes cannot be forces and can only advance organically. There is some money that is coming in though funds like West Bridge Capital, Blue River, Intel Fund for India but its nothing compared to the money floating around in the valley. And most of these funds tareget IT/ITES companies (except the Intel Fund) which is not a really innovative bussiness, at least not a lot of techical innovation takes place in this industry. Most of the good startups in India like TV.Veveo and Riya are funded in the Valley by American funds. Paul specifically metions this "Won't work in a poor company. India might one day produce a Silicon Valley, because it has the right people but it's still very poor. US has never been as poor as some countries are now, so we have no data to say how you get from poor to Silicon Valley. There may be a 'speed limit' to the evolution of an economy." I feel there is still a BIG gap between the nerds and the people with the moolah, the gap of two different economies.

One of his statements that really made me smile was "So basic recipe for a start-up hub is a great university and a nice town. You could improve on Silicon Valley easily. Just let people in." Sadly India still does not have either. Yeah not even the IITs are good enough places for innovation/enerpreneurism, they are just good "undergrad" teaching institutions. And the only one that has some flickr is situated in a God forsaken place called Kalyanpur :p

Drew this while I was getting bored in a telecon... Write in ur suggestions :D

More info on HIV

2006-05-16T18:49:00.000+05:30

What is HIV?

HIV is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It attacks your body's ability to fight illness and weakens your immune system, eventually leading to AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Most people who acquire AIDS die from the disease or its complications.
HIV is spread through contact with 4 bodily fluids: blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk. There are 3 ways that HIV can be transmitted: blood-to-blood contact (such as sharing a needle with someone who is HIV-positive); unprotected sex (oral, anal or vaginal) with a person who is HIV-positive; and from mother to child (before or during birth or from breastfeeding).
HIV is not spread through casual contact like hugging, shaking hands, sitting next to someone, sharing meals, using telephones or by being bitten by an insect.

How does HIV work? - The 4 Stages:

HIV develops in 4 stages:
Stage 1: In the first stage, HIV infection is recent and usually occurs 2 - 8 weeks after the virus has been introduced to the body. During this time, a person may feel like they have the flu. The immune system is still able to fight back and symptoms may only last a few days up to 2 weeks.
Stage 2: In this stage, a person may look and feel perfectly healthy. Symptoms may not exist for another 8 - 10 years in some cases. However, the virus is still at work and damaging the immune system.
Stage 3: In Stage 3, a person begins experiencing symptoms that may include fever, night sweats, swollen lymph glands in the neck, underarm or groin area, upper respiratory infections, fatigue, diarrhea, rapid weight loss, decreased appetite, vaginal or oral yeast infections, white spots in the mouth or rashes. HIV can also cause damage to a person's nervous system, making them forget things easily and/or confused. These symptoms are persistent and may last anywhere from several weeks up to several years. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms for more than a week, you should see a healthcare provider. While these may be signs of other illnesses, it is very important to seek medical advice.
Stage 4: In the final stage, HIV has severely damaged the immune system, leaving a person's body vulnerable to infection and disease. AIDS has now fully developed. In some cases, this does not occur for more than 10 years after infection, especially with the help of treatment. It is also important that a person's AIDS status be diagnosed and confirmed by a medical professional.
With the body weakened by AIDS, other infections such as tuberculosis (TB), invasive cervical cancer, PCP (AIDS-related pneumonia), wasting syndrome, candida/thrush, CMV retinitis, Kaposi's sarcoma and toxoplasmosis can simultaneously occur.

About Treatment

An early HIV diagnosis and steady treatment can help a person live a full, active life. Currently, there is no cure for HIV infection or for AIDS. But new treatments are working to battle the virus and prolong the lives of those infected. You can talk to your healthcare provider to learn more and decide what's best for you.

Know the Risks, Prevent the Disease

HIV affects all walks of life - anyone can get it. Of course, some forms of behavior are riskier than others. That's why it is important to know the risks as well as the ways to prevent HIV. The safest ways to prevent HIV are abstinence (not having sex), not injecting drugs or sharing needles, and for pregnant women, inquiring about treatments during pregnancy.

Practicing safer sex through the use of latex condoms or polyurethane condoms will help reduce the spread of HIV. Use a new condom every time, and a water-based lubricant for vaginal and anal sex.
Using oil products such as petroleum jelly or body lotion with latex condoms can cause the condom to break.
Condoms should never be reused.
If you do inject drugs, do not share your equipment and only use needles and syringes that are new and have been sterilized.

Testing

HIV testing is widely available. Most test centers are able to process your results within a few weeks and provide counseling to handle your concerns and answer questions.

Where

National AIDS Control Organisation
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Government of India
9th Floor, Chandralok Building
36, Janpath
New Delhi 110001
India
Tel: 23325343, 23731774, 23731778
Fax: 23731746
E-Mail info@nacoonline.org

It was so frustating to find one contact number for an AIDS Helpline by googling. Sad state of affairs :-( Info cut and pasted from here

AID/HIV in India

2006-05-13T16:51:00.000+05:30

One of my favourite magzines COLORS is running an article on the situation of AIDS/HIV around the world. I remember watching a documentry on AIDS way back in 1994 when it had started taking on monsterous proportions, and its a shame that the public awareness about the virus still lags by so many years. Currently about 0.9% of the adult Indian population is infected, with the estimated numbers close to 5.21 million. About 0.88% of the expectant mothers carry the infection and most of them are unaware of their condition. These numbers are mostly speculative as most of the cases go unreported, because of the social stigma attached with the HI virus and also because of the lack of skilled doctors. Its is only recently that the Medical Council has started training doctors to detect and handle patients. The following chart shows the increase in infection over the last couple of years.

The spread of this epidemic is second only to some African nations and even a 0.1% increase would result in millions of people getting affected. Today India stands at a critical point where if adequate measures are not taken would result in an uncontrolable outbreak of this disease. There are several organization like the Gates Foundation, NACO, GAP that are doing commendable work in these areas though they are looking mostly at the grassroot levels. Most the of the people who are infected with AIDS are truck drivers, sex workers( ~9%) and about 11% drug users. But it has started spreading into the common population. In the earlier days of AIDS everyone in the US thought that the virus was something restricted to the gay communities until they found themselves in their midst. It is not long before the it becomes a pandamic especially because the so called "normal" citizens of this country choose to be unaware of it. And these are the reasons I believe it would happen:

1. The sorry state of affairs of the Indian medical system. Walk into one of the goverment hospitals, like AIMS, Safdarjung or one in your local neighbourhood and you'll see the filth and the total lack of consideration for patients. The situations in private hospitals is even worse where there is no accountability. This is the country where the patient consider the doctors second only to God, and sadly most of the new doctors abuse this trust. Almost 30% of the disposable needles are reused. And there are very few legislations or government agencies in place to prevent such a gross abuse of the Hippocratic oath. There should be effective mechanisms in place that monitors the quality of medical facilities and the doctors.

2. India stands are a crossroad where its is being bombared with ideas from all over the world. Young kids are coming out of their shells and experimenting with their bodies. Its one thing to raise a hue and cry about the Indian culture going down the drain and quite another to acutally do something that makes a difference. These growing up children should be educated about themselves, about sex because its very natural that they would experience attraction towards the opposite sex. The least that can be done is make them more aware of the pitfalls, the hygiene. Make them more aware about STDs, AIDS, contraceptives... And all the grown ups like to do is turn a blind eye to this problem, like it does not exist.

And only once people start accepting that a menace like AIDS exists amongst them can they accept people who suffer with this dreaded disease and accept them as a part of the society.

The first step towards solving any problem is acknowledging that the problem exists.

बच्चों कि लिए- इकबाल

2006-05-06T18:33:00.000+05:30

Dedicated to my my niece Avni :)

लब पे आती है दुआ बन के तमन्ना मेरी
ज़िन्दगी शम्मअ़ की सूरत हो खुदाया मेरी

दूर दुनिया का मेरे दम से अंधेरा हो जाये
हर जगह मेरे चमकने से उजाला हो जाए

हो मेरे दम से युंही मेरे वतन की ज़ीनत
जिस तरह फूल से होती है चमन की ज़ीनत

ज़िन्दगी हो मेरी परवाने की सूरत यारब
इल्म की शम्मअ़ से हो मुझको मोहब्बत

हो मेरा काम ग़रीबों की हिमायत करना
दर्द-मन्दों से, ज़ईफों से मोहब्बत करना

मेरे अल्लाह! बुराई से बचाना मुझको
नेक जो राहा है उस पर चलाना मुझको

One Lazy Evening

2006-04-28T13:00:00.000+05:30

Reminds me of the evenings I used to spend at my Grandma's place during the summer vacation. Picked up from ddoi.

LFS Ahoy !!

2006-04-21T12:59:00.000+05:30

ROFL !!! Something I shamelessly plagerized from the LFS Orkut community

Disclaimer : These are comments from our school teachers, just in jest :) We mean no harm, just plain fun. Thanks for being such an integral part of our lives. LOVE you all :D
--
Sister Helena happened to be our principal and was torment by kids from the kindergarten to the 12th standard. Well actually we lived in dread of her till the 10th std, and then things changed some :)

"I will shake ur ears until ur teeths fall off (While poor Swaminathan couldnt control his giggle ;))"

"There are a number of students waiting outside to get a seat in LFS"
--
Mrs Lisi Mathews was the bestest teacher we ever had. She always stood by her class even though they were thrown out at the end of 12th std and were not allowed to answer their Pre ISC. Well I guess they didnt have any problems with that ;). And this wasnt MY class, we were the best behaved batch ever :p

This was after the whole class did pathetically bad in our half yearly exams -" R u people Coakraoches, dont u have any brain .. if u do then make the brain cells work"
--
Ms Scolt, dunno much abt her except she was Mr. Scolts wife, the best maths teacher you could ever expect

"You r acting as if Butter wont melt in your mouth "
--
Mrs Chakraborty, lets say we had a love hate relationship :D

"...like Pouring water on a ducks back"

".... you still have'nt seen the worst of me" I can never forget Monish's comment on that one !!!!!!!!!
--
Mr. Munro, out PT teacher. I got on pretty well with him,nice guy :)

After plucking a twig from the tree during the PT class.... "I will leave you out in the sun to die like rats"
--
Mrs. Moss, she actually made Shakespeare interesting to read. Go figure :)

"Refined people" her class seemed to be a refinery...
--
Mrs Suzan Mathews - one of the strictest teachers in school, she happened to be my first class teacher at LFS and I became her pet after sometime so chill :D

"The 1 thing you all can do well is warm the chair and hatch eggs'" (std dialog)

Normally this was said to someone sitting in the front bench "Go and bring me d-merit slip book from mrs samuel" We would all hope that person never came back :)

"I do not mind if u curse me , the more you curse the longer is my life , I am happy with that"

"Get out of my class...."

"Where r u ? I want to see ur face,stand there right in d middle" Once she made 90% of the class stand outside with books on their heads, Was quite a sight :))
--
Mrs sahay, she happend to be my sisters Godmother in school(hindi miss)

"shaant ho jao dhayan dooooooooooooooooooooo..."
--
Mrs Gogna

"Agar tum ladko ne aur halla kiya, to pant kholke class ke bahar khada kar diya jayega. Kal 4A ke ladko ko pant kholkar ghar bheja gaya tha" :O
--
Miss Rana, was my hindi teacher in the 6th std. And once she pointed me and Sharon out to the class saying we are the epitome of decency and everyone in the class went "OH YA" :))

This happened wen payal panda was caught passing her note bbook to someone in class by ms. rana..n then started the lecture "aaj tum notebook pass kar rahi ho..kal chit pass jkarogi..ki yahan jhadi ke peeche milo"
--
Ms Bhuyan, the sweetest ever computer teacher.

U button button eyes.. I will trow u out of the window.

i was lookin outside the window as usual....n then i hear a loud scream whose decibels reachin 2 that of the supersonic level..mrs bhuyan was shoutin at me..to quote her without her consent."oyeeeee sauthya(this is how she called my name) WAT U LOOKIN OUTSIDE THE WINDOW 4....UR PRINCESS IS SITTING INSIDE THAT AUTO.."...n then she makes a sad face on the board .."now look at this..stupidddd one

she asked sarthak "ayeee sarthuak ..i will give u programs 2 write n rasagullas 2 eat wat will u do.."we dodn't know why on earth she gave such wierd option 2 him..neways i know that motu must b thinkin of havin rasagullas..lmao
--
Mrs. Munro was the first teacher I came to know in school. Extremely nice person :)

One favourite one liner n' this used to come when some girl would burst into laughter..she used to say "girls should be seen and not heard" Hmmm yeah DEFINITELY :D
--
Kripal Singh, was an ardent reader and had information about anythign under the sun.

Geography classes in 10th were amazing....we had to carry those maps D/7 and D/10.....as if we were on some "survive the jungle-camp-trainig-program" ......and during classes wen ppl wud really start the chitter pitter .....he wud say " YOU LEAKING GUTTER PIPES" :-))

"Some people don't know that they don't know, that they know" ... still confuses..

Std everyday question "Can anyone tell me which is the coldest place in the world??" Verkhoyansk in Siberia -43C
--
Common by all "I dont want to hear -gud gud gud...morning morning morning...miss miss miss give me 1 solid "gud mornin miss"

Hooligans, Hooligans, Hooligans...

That we were =))

Bangalore Burns

2006-04-18T15:36:00.000+05:30

The last week saw mahyem errupt in Bangalore. The city was torn by riots and incidents of violence. Lots of public vehicles were gutted, most of the offices and shops remained closed and the city almost came to a standstill...

Dr. Rajkumar, one of the forerunners of the Kannada film industry passed away on Wednesday afternoon. Till this day I haven't witnessed such mass commotion break out due to death of someone. I do not wish to belittle the sentiment of the people of Karnataka and Dr. Rajkumar's stature but I fail to understand how could someone command so much passion amongst the masses. Like the autowalla that drove me home that evening said "Woh Karnataka ka Raja tha. Koi politician bhi maare to itna riks nahi hota. Ab to sab kuch band ho jayega." If people has taken out processions showing their grief that would have made a whole lot of sense. I do not think any civilized society can warrent such a rowdy behavior the intensity of emotions not withstanding.

What Bangalore witnessed last week was not public outpouring for their deceased hiriyaNNa (elder brother), neither was it an outpouring against the outsiders, the IT industry, the North Indians, the Tamils. It was a very lucid attempt and albeit a very successful one at causing mass hysteria and holding the entire city at ransom. Acts of violence like riots are never committed because people FEEL too religiously/emotionally about a matter, thats just the facade, the underlying reason IS always a chance to loot people without any consequences. It gives people (read hooligans) a chance to have the wildest wet dream possible, breaking building, robbing shops, settling scores...

There have been a couple of posts about this incident on the blogsphere, some very enlightening other that try to make a whole deal about how people are not happy with the IT industry etc. But I earnestly believe there is no justification behind this commotion except the one that is very basic to human nature, humans by nature are prone to loot and plunder. These riots give them a window to do this in today's so called civilized society. One can always weave a multitude of reasons on top of this but then again they are fit to burn in the same fire that incinerates the city.

Some interesting reads you can follow:
http://sriyansa.wordpress.com/2006/04/14/two-eventful-days/
http://www.landoflime.com/archives/writing-films/sad-day/
http://community.livejournal.com/bangalore/298061.html

I also think this outsider v/s us debate has gone on too long and is pure balony. Most of the people from outside would love to go back home. There is nothing left in Bangalore that would make someone linger on. Bangalore does not deserve the cosmopolitan tag that it so loves to flaunt. It not the infrastructure that makes a city cosmopolitant but the attitude of people that inhabit it, and sadly Bangaloreans/Kannadigas have not been too welcoming to the outside world.

Would I have expected something like this to happen in Bangalore? NEVER... The city is dead, long live the city.

Primere Book Stall

2006-04-12T14:11:00.000+05:30

Wanted

Space for Primere Book Stall, the "bestest" bookstore in Bangalore.
Contact Mr Shanbhag
Ph: 080-25091220
Address: Church Street, behind the Night Watchman

Bangalore and the House Hunt

2006-04-04T12:58:00.000+05:30

"Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders."

The sunscreen song is what comes to mind when you look at Bangalore, a place that has gone so beyond me that I do not even wish to catch up. Bangalore, the only Indian city I fell in love with when I saw it for the first time. Bangaloreans, one of the most happy go lucky lot you would find anywhere. All of it suddenly transmorgifed into something that is so alien. The tree lined roades replaced by the choking smoke of the unmoving traffic. Lido replaced by INOX. And now they are closing down Premier Book store :o I went down and talked to Mr. Shanbhag the otherday and asked him if I could do something to help. He wants some place to set up his shop :-( Sadly thats something that I can definitely not help him with. But if you do know someone please call him at 080-25091220. I need to move out of Bangalore soon. My reason to stay here diminish as days go by, a city that broke my heart like no other (well not exactly but it sounds better that way :p).

Anyways on a good note after looking at 40-50 different houses I finally found a place to stay in Bangalore. So my address changes yet again ;-) And with a stroke of good luck I found two that were in the same lane. Its exactly what I had in mind, open spaces, not too much traffic and all the jazz. Now one of these apartments was on the second floor and the other on the ground floor. I would anyday choose a place thats as high up as possible so I had made up my mind about the one on the second floor. But my sis wanted the one on the ground floor because it had a garden!! Well anyways I was contemplating which house to choose... And out of no where this amazingly beautiful girl comes out and says 'Hi, I guess we would be neighbours pretty soon'. For a moment I went speechless trying to figure out what to say, then we chit chatted for a while.

"Where are you from?"
"Where do you work?"
"Ah I stay here with my husband"
"You should come over to our place when you move in"
Yada yada yada...

And all the while I kept looking at her pleasant face trying to catch everything she was saying. She had such a rich husky voice (Anshuman husky is not raunchy :p). I so have a crush on this lady :-) Not since my 9-10 std. do I remember having a crush on anyone. I have been in a couple of relationships since then but I guess the chemistry is extremely different.

Well I decided to take the house with the garden so I won't be her neighbour, but hey I can always call her over for dinner and alas her husband too *sighs*

PS: Rach, I am not giving you my(her?) address. I can handle competition from guys, not from the fairer sex :p

Kaze @ Zen

2006-03-28T22:37:00.000+05:30

Deepak, Harpreet and me went over for dinner at The Leela this friday and it was one of the most sumptous dinners I have ever had in Bangalore. After gulping down a couple of drinks we drifted off to one of these personal tables which are very cozily poised on the second floor of the restaurant. There was a crackling fire on the heart in one corner of the room (sorry no pics...) that gave it a very homely feel. And then there was the FOOD. There was a serving of garlic chips, which I savoured pretty much. Harpreet and me started talking about Kanpur with Deepak's racist(Delhi v/s Kanpur) remarks thrown in. We talked about the swimming pool that was started while he was there way back in the late 70's, the canal at the back which I know most of my batchmates won't know about, the SAC and so on and so forth :) It always great to meet someone from your college who graduated so many years back and even better to work with him. And quoting him "Delhi guys were quite an unmannered lot back then", well somethings never change (yeah Deepak sue me :p). We talked quite a bit about how things are changing there, academic rigor going down, lack of faculty. Though there was a brighter side about students willing to stay back in India, lot more enthusiam and the willingness to take risks. Now coming back to the food, we had yummy Japanese food, scampis, chicken, some Japanese soup. And the best part of the dinner as ever was the dessert. Thats what you see getting cooked in the pic. Caramelized fruits with ice-cream. HEAVEN !!!! An extremely filling and delicious dinner though pretty expensive. Well the most expensive I have ever had in India. But, Go EAT !!!

Update: And I forgot to mention our charming hostess Bharti who cooked for us :D Thanks to the "kind-hearted" Deepak for reminding me :p

"Quote"

2006-03-18T19:59:00.000+05:30

Extremely succint and so true...

The world survives by those that have generosity of spirit.
But it is owned by those that have none.

-Tarun Tejpal

Jamshedpur again :-) !!

2006-03-18T19:20:00.000+05:30

Sometime ago I was reading a book on Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata that was written about 80 years ago. It gave me an inkling of the foundations that makes the Tata Group what it is today. Companies like TISCO and TELCO transformed the landscape of a predominantely tribal region in the the Chota Nagpur region. Unlike the IT industry of today which touches the lives of the educated elite, these pillars of modern India also transformed the lives of the uneducated, underpriviledged sections of society. Tatas do only make steel or machines but they transform the lives of thousands of people who work with them. These industries have not only made profits but have also altered the landscape of this region, making it one of the most evolved regions in the country. I believe India needs more corporates like the Tatas who not only contibute enormously to the economy of the country but do it fairly too. For me the Tatas represent the pinnacle of industrial rigous and social responsibility. Will write more on this later...

Here is a talk that L.N. Mittal delivered when he visited Jamshedpur this year.

"I visited Jamshedpur over the weekend to see for myself an India that is fast disappearing despite all the wolf-cries of people like Narayanamurthy and his ilk. It is one thing to talk and quite another to do and I am delighted to tell you that Ratan Tata has kept alive the legacy of perhaps Indias finest industrialist J.N. Tata. Something that some people doubted when Ratan took over the House of the Tatas but in hindsight, the best thing to have happened to the Tatas is unquestionably Ratan. I was amazed to see the extent of corporate philanthropy and this is no exaggeration.

For the breed that talks about corporate social responsibility and talksabout the role of corporate India, a visit to Jamshedpur is a must. Go there and see the amount of money they pump into keeping the town going; see the smiling faces of workers in a region known for industrial unrest; see the standard of living in a city that is almost isolated from the mess in the
rest of the country.

This is not meant to be a puff piece. I have nothing to do with Tata Steel, but I strongly believe the message of hope and the message of goodness that they are spreading is worth sharing. The fact that you do have companies in India which look at workers as human beings and who do not blow their software trumpet of having changed lives. In fact, I asked Mr Muthurman, the managing director, as to why he was so quiet about all they had done and all he could offer in return was a smile wrapped in humility, which said it all. They have done so much more since I last visited Jamshedpur, which was in1992. The town has obviously got busier but the values thankfully haven't changed. The food is still as amazing as it always was and I gorged, as I would normally do. I visited the plant and the last time I did that was with Russi Mody.

But the plant this time was gleaming and far from what it used to be. Greener and cleaner and a tribute to environment management. You could have been in the mountains. Such was the quality of air I inhaled! There was no belching smoke; no tired faces and so many more women workers, even on the shop floor. This is true gender equality and not the kind that is often espoused at seminars organised by angry activists. I met so many old friends. Most of them have aged but not grown old. There was a spring in the air which came from a certain calmness which has always been the hallmark of Jamshedpur and something I savoured for a full two days in between receiving messages of how boring and decrepit the Lacklustre Fashion Week was.

It is at times such as this that our city lives seem so meaningless. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had created an edifice that is today a robust company and it is not about profits and about valuation. It is not about who becomes a millionaire and who doesnt'. It is about getting the job done with dignity and respect keeping the age-old values intact and this is what I learnt.

I jokingly asked someone as to whether they ever thought of joining an Infosys or a Wipro and pat came the reply: "We are not interested in becoming crorepatis but in making others crorepatis."

Which is exactly what the Tatas have done for years in and around Jamshedpur. Very few people know that Jamshedpur has been selected as a UN Global Compact City, edging out the other nominee from India, Bangalore and only city of India and 2nd in Asia who has got ISO 14001, Selected because of the quality of life, because of the conditions of sanitation and roads and welfare. If this is not a tribute to industrial India, then what is? Today, Indian needs several Jamshedpurs but it also needs this Jamshedpur to be given its fair due, its recognition. I am tired of campus visits being publicised to the Infosys and the Wipros of the world. Modern India is being built in Jamshedpur as we speak. An India built on the strength of core convictions and nothing was more apparent about that than the experiment with truth and reality that Tata Steel is conducting at Pipla.

Forty-eight tribal girls (yes, tribal girls who these corrupt and evil politicians only talk about but do nothing for) are being educated through a residential program over nine months. I went to visit them and I spoke to them in a language that they have just learnt: Bengali. Eight weeks ago, they could only speak in Sainthali, their local dialect. But today, they are brimming with a confidence that will bring tears to your eyes. It did to mine.

One of them has just been selected to represent Jharkand in the state archery competition. They have their own womens football team and whats more they are now fond of education. It is a passion and not a burden. This was possible because I guess people like Ratan Tata and Muthurman havent sold their souls to some business management drivel, which tells us that we must only do business and nothing else. The fact that not one Tata executive has been touched by the Naxalites in that area talks about the social respect that the Tatas have earned.

The Tatas do not need this piece to be praised and lauded. My intent is to share the larger picture that we so often miss in the haze of the slime and sleaze that politics imparts. My submission to those who use phrases such as "feel-good" and "India Shining" is first visit Jamshedpur to understand what it all means. See Tata Steel in action to know what companies can do if they wish to. And what corporate India needs to do. Murli Manohar Joshi would be better off seeing what Tata Steel has done by creating the Xavier Institute of Tribal Education rather than by proffering excuses for the imbroglio in the IIMs. This is where the Advanis and Vajpayees need to pay homage. Not to all the Sai Babas and the Hugging saints that they are so busy with. India is changing inspite of them and they need to realise that.

I couldn't have spent a more humane and wonderful weekend. Jamshedpur is an eye-opener and a role model, which should be made mandatory for replication.I saw corporate India actually participate in basic nation-building, for when these tribal girls go back to their villages, they will return with knowledge that will truly be life-altering.

Corporate India can do it but most of the time is willing to shy away. For those corporate leaders who are happier winning awards and being interviewed on their choice of clothes, my advise is visit Tata Steel, spend some days at Jamshedpur and see a nation's transformation. That is true service and true nationalism.

Tata Steel will celebrate 100 years of existence in 2007. It won't be just a milestone in this company's history. It will be a milestone, to my mind of corporate transparency and generosity in this country. It is indeed fitting that Ratan Tata today heads a group which has people who are committed to nation-building than just building influence and power. JRD must be smiling
wherever he is. And so must Jamsetji Nusserwanji. These people today, have literally climbed every last blue mountain. And continue to do so with vigour and passion. Thank god for the Tatas!

Images from back home

2006-03-13T12:35:00.000+05:30

I went home after a long time, tried to capture some pics that took my fancy. The resolution is horribly poor because my cell-phone camera is totally screwed up but I kind of liked the eerie affect it gives to all images.

motion
Man on a cycle, life passing by

flight
A flock of birds flying over my house in Jamshedpur. Something that I was so fond of earlier and never realized it went out of my life without me even noticing it.

queue
Taxis awaiting their turn on Howrah railway station.

rest
A rikshaw puller resting after a tiring day. They STILL have hand pulled rikshawas in Calcutta. So INHUMANE !!

It was a rushed trip home. Could not get to meet my friends, a very handful of who are still there in Jampot. Had a nice chat with Parnil, she is joining HLL this June. Was missing Soma aka "Chomraj". But all in all a good journey home :D

PS: My MOTO RAZR works like a charm with my Powerbook :D My earlier Nokia 6600 was totally diagreeable... And balls to Nokia UI, this phone has a much better and well thought of interface.

Back to the basement !!

2006-03-04T17:25:00.000+05:30

I went over to meet Obaid today in the basement Lab 001. Its been more than 2 years since I last set foot in the lab and most of it came back like it was yesterday. The faint smell of agar, bottles of fly culture, chemicals and of course the EP lap :)

But some where I realized how naive and unsystemmatic I was when I first started working there. I wish I had been more organized, and then maybe I would have stuck to neuroscience. But then again that was a field where I was completely overwhelmed by the amout of information (NOT knowledge) and the monotony of the work. Though while discussing several problem with him I was able to realize how my problem solving process has evolved considerabley over the years, asking specifics, on the toe thinking, more mellowed and deep analysis. Quite unlike what I was like when I was in college, where anything and everything seemed possible. I have become more result oriented in my approach to things, personally and professionally. And I believe the transformation is a good step towards the "consolidation" of my efforts.

Anyways got to see a lot of familiar faces. Some pretty ones too that I remembered from some distant past. After a long enough time has passed all most people can say is "Hi" and move on with a smile... Like a great abyss of time seperating people, they can see each other, but only so vaguely that all that comes back is a faint recognition. Saw some new ones too that were prettier than the old ones :) Well girls is one reason I should have gone into Biology in the first place ;)

Apart from that the place pretty much remains the same. Like what it was when I went there for the first time with Madsy. Just a little more crowded...

[Book]The Alchemy of Desire

2006-02-28T20:25:00.000+05:30

Wicked book :'( Made me extremely restless.
Go Read !!

On a lighter note read my blog on colors :)

UPDATE: All lovers the same in love/lust? Do they desire the same things, go through similar emotions of passion? So predictable... ??

2006-01-30T12:15:00.000+05:30

Your Birthdate: June 5

You have many talents, and you are great at sharing those talents with others.
Most people would be jealous of your clever intellect, but you're just too likeable to elicit jealousy.
Progressive and original, you're usually thinking up cutting edge ideas.
Quick witted and fast thinking, you have difficulty finding new challenges.

Your strength: Your superhuman brainpower

Your weakness: Your susceptibility to boredom

Your power color: Tangerine

Your power symbol: Ace

Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

To the lighthouse

2006-01-24T07:51:00.000+05:30

The lighthouse at Long Island beach

And where am I?? High up in a plane trying to keep the camera (not this one) stable and get some jerky videos of the lighthouse :D

I am working on this project where we needed some aerial data, so a coworker was great enough to take us to the airport and ask us to hop on his plane. Off we went shooting, all over Princeton, Route 1 and couple of places around that are classified ;)

It was so much fun being up in the air. And believe me being in one of these small planes is a far better experience than sitting crouched in the Boeing 777. For the first time I was really able to make out the curvature of the earth, I could look in all directions.

And John, our pilot kept doing all these manouvers, much to our pleasure. And none of us were airsick so it was a real swell. I was able to capture the famous bridge at Trenton that says "New Jearsy makes and the world takes" We approached Philidelphia, not all the way though. It was like one of those action movies when you can see the sky hugging buildings rising in a distace, growing at amazing speed.

There are so many pics that I would love to share, but a couple of them wouldn't do too great on the net *wicked grin* Would post some soon that are mild and neutral :)

GMAT Essays

2006-01-10T08:40:00.000+05:30

Since I have been advising people on how to write their B-school essays, I think its high time I earned some money to do that ;)

So here it is, in true DD fashion:

"Hear ye, Hear ye !!!

Don't have time to write your essays??
Don't know what to write? How to write??
Do you know someone who is tearing his head tring to complete his application packages??

You need someone who can take the burden off your shoulder and provide the much needed shoulder to push you cart around.

Mail the super wiz at vibhanshu AT gmail DOT com.
Complete satisfaction guaranteed !!!"

LOL !!! Well though I am pretty serious about it. The deal is INR 10,000 or US$ 300 for a set of essays for ONE college. You can pay me if you like the essays. But I chose who I wish to write for AND you would need to work in tandem with me if you want your essays written :D

All work will be issued under Creative Commons. So that means if you get a high paying job at the end of it you need to send me some grub. Well just kidding. But some cookies wont hurt anyone ;)

I hope my dear blog readers will spread my fame FAR and WIDE :D

Adobe

2006-01-08T05:24:00.000+05:30

Well first things first - Adobe labs should have been /Labs rather than <labs>

The site redirects to labs.macromedia.com if you click on any of the link. Its nice to see that Adobe is continuing the Macromedia tradition but it would have been neat if they exposed some of their technology to the world. I hope they plan to do that sometime in the future.

Adobe is the ONLY company that understands digital media in all its entirety, with product lines ranging from the creation to distribution. Some things that I think could become opensource or public knowledge - PS Level 2, the Vector Graphics project that the marketing shelved due to competition to the earstwhile MACR, libraries for processing images, videos. API's to build cool plugins on top of the Acrobat framework.

I think Adobe is in a great position because it has a great fan following and some of the users are actually people who can write "good" code. Exposing APIs would be a great step for Adobe to bring the hacking talent of these people to good use which can help enhance the product to a much greater extent than its current team of engineers can do.

Lets see how the future of Adobe unfolds...

Another year, lets start all over...

2006-01-03T10:53:00.000+05:30

Let this be a time to build bridges that were broken down,
Countries that were torn down,

A time to wipe away our blemishes,
To revisit promies that were never kept.

Put an end to the ever growing strife,
Of endless greed and pride.

So that the sun,
May someday, rise

Born into Brothels

2005-12-20T23:30:00.000+05:30

Watched this amazing movie last night. A photographer from NY spends some time with the children in the streets of Sonagachi, Calcutta. The movie potrays the helplessness of the kids that are born to these sex workers, especially the girls who are marked to become a part of this ever consuming flesh trade. The conditions these kids live in is something that cannot be put into words, I think only experience can make you aware of their incapacity to get out of this world and the pain such resignation brings with it.

And very enderingly it bring out the fact that all kids are equals, they have the same squabbles, the same laughter, the same sense of comraderie and above all the same innocence. Why is then that they are born into such situations so that there is no freedom from their shackles? Why is it that they are doomed for life? These children need more care and attention than the prostitutes themselves, still the society turns a blind eye to their existence. It does not provide any means of escape from such a shithole... Can such a cold and heartless society even justify its existence?

The lady, Zana Briski, teaches the kids how to take photographs and I was REALLY AMAZED at some of their compositions. Some of them were the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen, the line, the shapes and the tones were all just perfect. It was wonderful to see the way their creativty was given a vent to grow and enrich. The movie in itself is really well made and beautifully shot. And ultimately the impact that the movie has on these children's life is great.

But its really sad that this movie had to be directed by a foreigner. Sometimes it takes someone from outside to show you whats ailing within you...

Would I have ever gone to Sonagachi to do something like this for the kids? Maybe not... But yeah maybe some time in the future.

An Ode...

2005-12-16T10:25:00.000+05:30

... to love

Life is as purposeless when u are in the embrace of your lover, your bodies clasped together as it is when you are standing alone staring out at the city, waiting forever to feel her warm breath on your skin.

Only in the former situation your senses are too saturated to realize...

FOR: Dear Misty and Tess >D<

Suicides @ the IITs

2005-12-05T06:58:00.000+05:30

About a couple of days back all national newspapers where resounding with the shocking news that 3 students at the IITs took their lives due to the extreme stress they were under. I think there is much more to the matter than meets the eye.

The IIT system as such is extremely flexible and it gives you as much freedom as you could ever wish for. Sadly that freedom sometimes translates into a myopic utopia, where students hardly go to classes, drink excessively and when they are not able to perform end up taking their lives. Well sometimes really hard working students also undertake such drastic steps but I can not think of any reason they might have to do so. Someone who is regular with his studies should not face too much problem managing the course work. At times there is stress, but that is nothing that people should take their lives for. That prepares them for the world they would face once they are out of college. And TOI's claim that "...And there are questions reverberating through India's 'techno Ivy Leagues' about our academic cream being put in harm's way. " is pure crap.

Why someone would take away his life is not a question that I can answer, but I think there are/were ways such incidents could have been prevented.

1. Ragging: I know its a very controversial issue and not many might agree with it but I would like to share my experience on the matter. We used to call them introductions and not ragging at Kanpur. It would normally start off with the fresher introducting himself and go on with the seniors grilling you with gruelling questions. Mind you there would never be anything physical, but facing them would be harder than solving the JEE paper. Once wrong answer and they would take u for a long ride, torturing you mentally for hours. But at least all seniors I was ragged by were extremely considerate seniors and I guess that was the normal case. They were not saddists to say the least. It was just a breaking in session where you would learn how to handle stress and a whole lot of humility. Something that prepared you for your 4 years at IIT. And once they were satisfied, they would be your best friends for the years to come. Advising and helping you through your years at school and later. You could always turn them for any help you needed and they would generally be more helpful than you peers, at least in the first few years. This camaraderie that forms can help you through any problem you face in life.

Sadly even this form of constructive ragging is looked upon badly in these institutes. What the faculty, the freshers and their parents do not realise is that it used to make us better personalities, and helped us come out of our shells. This was one way of passing down the traditions of a great insititution called the IIT. It is this interaction that makes the IITs great and not so much so as what you learn in the classrooms.

2. For once the people of this country have to realise that children that go to IITs are normal kids, they DO NOT metamorphise into Einstein the day they enter college. They are students who work hard during their school, some of them were smart but most of them were very average students or maybe a little above. So please do not burden them with the resposibility of chaning the world. Eventually they might do so, but it is terribly unreasonable to expect that a 16-17 year old can carry the responsibility of so many expectations. They are kids, let them have a normal carefree growth, I think only then they would be able to realise their potential.

Somehow I have felt that the standard of the students in the IITs declined during my stay there. When I entered college there were these seniors we could really look upto. Fantastic individuals capable of taking the world through the next revolution, but sadly there were very few of them as we moved down the years.

And making the enterance eaiser would not in any way solve any problem. It might escalate things in the worng direction as far as I can see.

Antheen Yatri

2005-12-01T07:09:00.000+05:30

A poem by Dharmvir Bharti I came across today, and feel so in love with. You keep running around all the time, taking life as it comes, too busy to sit back and ponder. But sometimes when you do, your entire life passes in a jiffy. You do not even realize that so much time has gone by. The only thing that connects you to the real work is the numbers changing on the calendar, everything else looks like a dream. Yellow tinted, motion blurred. You travel to so many places but you cannot connect with any place in particular. You move away before it is time for the roots to penetrate the earth and get a firm grounding. There is no place you can call home. Wandering forever, without meaning, without a destination, like a gypsy...

Thats what I have been feeling like today :-(

I guess this too shall pass.

Happy Deepawali

2005-10-31T13:33:00.000+05:30

May this diwali take away all your sorrow and anguises and fill it with eternal joy :-)

What's kept me busy...

2005-10-25T23:08:00.000+05:30

My product is going to come out in some time :D

And yeah I know I work with for the Devil but somehow I don't feel any regrets. Not as of now at least...

Read more about it here. It def looks like something out of those si-fi movies ;-) The first time I saw portions of it I thought it was a new version of Google Earth. Well its "better" and truly r0x0r !! A pity its for gov use :'-(

WOW !!

2005-10-11T11:47:00.000+05:30

Jamshedpur selected for the UN Global Compact Cities Pilot project

"Jamshedpur: Jamshedpur will be among the six cities chosen to participate in the UN Global Compact Cities Pilot Programme. The other five being Melbourne (Australia), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Tianjin (People's Republic of China), Nairobi (Kenya) and San Francisco (USA). Jamshedpur will represent South Asia."

How come I didn't didn't know this earlier :-? Well maybe becoz I haven't been home in such a long time. I am all excited to hear this though :D

Jelly Fish in the sky

2005-09-20T15:01:00.000+05:30

Once in a while you see nature in all its magnificance, which makes you stop and observe normal commonplace things with awe and amazement. The other night there was this wonderful ring in the sky around the moon and it looked so beautiful. To me it looked like a jelly fish spreading out its tentacles in the sky. I was anxiosuly waiting for the diaphanous structure to start puslating and swim across the sky. Such an amazing sight !!

Night view someone ??

2005-09-02T16:30:00.000+05:30

The military objectives of the US Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program have created an aesthetic byproduct — a composite photo of the planet, taken during nighttime hours. More than 99% of these representations of actual light sources are indications of human activity on the planet. For example, this image includes more than a million man-made fires, most of them in the Third World, chiefly propagated for agricultural purposes. Population centers are easily identified; however, the amount of light represented here is not necessarily proportional to the population size. Imbalances arise due to unequal electrical consumption. Japanese consume 15 times as much electricity as Chinese per capita, and Americans consume 21/2 times more than Japanese do.

God...

2005-08-29T10:42:00.000+05:30

What if God was one of us

If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with him
In all his glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?

*And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
Yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home

If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that
you would have to believe
in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints
and all the prophets (*)

Trying to make his way home
Back up to heaven all alone
Nobody calling on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome(*)

Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
'cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

Joan Osborne

Apun ka naam aaj se pakia ;-)

2005-08-16T19:01:00.000+05:30

Monica di suggested this name for me, and I quite like the sound of it. So from now on you can call me "Pakia" :D

And since I have been christened again, here is a matrimonail in keeping with the times...

“Apun Pakia!!!
umar chaubis saal,
wajan sattar killo
aur 6 phoot height ..............kya! abhi who bole to.. kya hai na.........
apun ko bhi life me settle hone ka maangta , isiliye yeah
advertisement apun blog par chaap re la hai...
Maanta hai apun Tapori hai bahut log ka pungi bajayela hai magar
kya hai naa apun ka bhi izzat hai baaaaap markit mei!!! apun ko
bhi public shaadi bya mei bolati hai... who bhi izzat se! Saaal
ka 5/6 peti to apun aaram se kama leta hai...
buri aadat bole to daaru aur bidi, ab who kon nahi pita yaar
akkha bada bada log apun log se jaasti chada leta hai...
Ab chokiri apun ko aisi chahiye ke saath me nikele to public ki
tho jal ke raakh hojaye! bole to aik dam jhakas , patakha aik dam patakha...
thoda padi likhi hogi to chale ga kion ke saala yeah kabhi kabhi
form bharne ke liye saala apun ko 25 log ka haat pair jodna padta hai..
Apun jo hai na shaadi ki baad aik dam sudhar jaayinga imaan se...
apun ka baccha log ko padalikha-tapori banayinga... bole to
Tapori Doctor, Tapori computer waala aur bohat kuch...
Maa kasam shadi ke baad apun aik bhi chikni ko line nahi dega...
Dekho baap apun shadi ke baad me koi chokri ki phamily ka lafda
nahi chahiye haaan ........
bole to.... kabab me haddi nahi ban ne ka kya!
abhi yeah sub accha lage to apun ko contact karne ka ...kya!
Munna Mobile……
Pappu Pager Ka Right Hand
ShanPatti Nagar, Hairan Gali No. 420 Pareshan Road, Bhai Ka Area."

Anyone interested ;-) ??

Tid-bits

2005-08-09T22:28:00.000+05:30

Walking into the mist

One of my favourite pics I found out while going through my harddisk which is close to a "Terrabyte" now ;)

Neways since I have nothing profound to write like most other times here is some trivia from my life over the few days.
1. Met an accident, some bruises. Worst of all my baby took a bad fall and was squished in one corner. No internal damages though. Apple r0x0r :D
2. I am working on a product that goes into Baghdad in November. [Did I see some eyebrows being raised ;) ]
3. You can spot me on Brigade Rd these days taking images for my personal project ;)
4. Read "of no fixed address" by Kaziad Gustad. I can so relate to the book. *sobs*
5. Planning to start a book bar at my place :D U get the booze, I'll get the book and then things would r0x0r !!
6. KG - THE DICKHEAD was here over the weekend. He also happens to be my ex-roommate :D
7. I feel so jobless :p

Hamari Dilli on Google Maps

2005-07-22T11:22:00.000+05:30

Spent a long time going through this map at maps.google.com Go EXPLORE !!

The messenger is dead. Long live the messenger.

2005-07-19T09:52:00.000+05:30

... at least for me it is.

Instant coffee, instant karma, instant information. We live in a world of instant gratification. And some of it freaks me out. I would rather live in a world when people sent letters when they wanted to communicate with someone. Yeah I know I am one of those old world types ;) So I have decided to give up instant messeging. Nothing profound, just some timepass experiment of mine :D

I was ROFL when I sent out this messege to all people in my buddy list. In a matter of 5 secs some 20 people pinged me back saying wtf, whats wrong, yada yada... LOL !!! Seriously it was hilarious. And then the phone starting ringing. C00l d00d called me all the way from Princeton to ask wht was wrong. sashib5 also called up and the calls keep coming at the day progresses... Before I hurt their sentiments - its was really nice of you to be concerned :)

Hey guys, there is nuthing wrong. And definitely there is no "bandi" problem !!! To even think of it =)) I wouldn't really stop mssging if there was. I would rather go out, give her two nice whacks till she saw the reason and get her back :p And chillax , no one is dead or anything. I am always there on mail and my cell phone which again i am planning to dump but it stays for the time being.

So long...

(LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

Perfectly...

2005-06-30T22:04:00.000+05:30

Just got Natalie Imbruglia's latest collection Counting Down the Days Hmmm, this album seems to be worst of all her three albums, the best one definitely was Left of the Middle. Though the lyrics of some songs are pretty good. I had this MAJOR crush on her when I was in school *blushes*. I used to come home and wait for her songs to play on MTV/V. Those were the days ;;) And I am so in luv with her again... This too shall pass :D Dosen't she look amazing. What eyes !!!

Prefectly

When I say it doesn't matter
It matters most of all
You're not up for conversation
So I'm blinded by it all

The further away you push me
The closer I feel to you

Every fall
Every crash
Everything that was never meant to be
All the perfect little things I can't release
All the nights
Everytime we were just about to leave
Now makes no sense to me
But it seems that when we fall
That's when we land
Perfectly

Can't see what's before me
And I cannot feel the ground
This place that we exist in
Is the sweetest thing I've found

The further away you push me
The closer I feel to you

Every fall
Every crash
Everything that was never meant to be
All the perfect little things I can't release
All the nights
Everytime we were just about to leave
Now makes no sense to me
But it seems that when we fall
That's when we land
Perfectly

The further away you push me
The closer I feel to you

Every fall
Every crash
Everything that was never meant to be
All the perfect little things I can't release
All the nights
Everytime we were just about to leave
Now makes no sense to me
But it seems that when we fall
That's when we land
Perfectly

Perfectly
Perfectly

I missed gym today and I am feeling so guilty :(( Will go listen to some more of her songs...

Bombay

2005-06-28T11:20:00.000+05:30

Whenever I used to think of Bombay I had these sepia toned images of old cloth mills churing out yards and yards of creamy colored fabric. Of workers moving like drones. Of old business houses like the Tatas, and whole parsee feeling. But above all this a feeling of warmth. Of joy that comes out of a hard day's work. Somehow the fast moving traffice on Marine Drive was never a part of my imagination, nor the Queen's necklace. For me Bombay symbolized something like NY, a city of dreams. A place where hard work is appreciated, a place where people do not have time for useless banter. Driving engines of economy.

I had the same feeling when I visited Bombay a few days back. The air itself seemed to resonate with this feeling. The city seemed so vibrant and alive even in the late hours of the night. I was staying somewhere on Napean Sea road, and had a lovely view of the sea, frothing and foaming during the rains. WOW !!!

My sis took me to her office in Fort and since it was on a Sunday there was no crowd at all. That place resembeled one of those quaint Victorian towns, with paved roads and stone building. In fact I saw lot of these victorian looking building throuought the city. Hmmm... I had the feeling that I was in Edinburgh, albeit a much much bigger and crowded one.

Somehow I have really started liking the city :-) Should I move to Bombay :-? Hmmm...

This trip to Bombay was also a time to think and interospect. I was able to reach the lucid clarity which generally tends to allude me becoz I am doing so many things at the same time. Something had been troubling me of late, but now I am at peace :D I think the sea also has something to do with it. It generally tends to make me calmer...

PS:I asked my driver Ganesh to take me to the place where the old mills once stood. All of them stand in ruins. Most of them have been closed down and the workers disbanded :-(
And the sea in Bombay is REALLY FILTHY !!!