tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89967912024-03-13T05:18:40.617-07:00It's my mind...Harshit Shah's online journalHarshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-33201790236704172492023-01-14T06:20:00.000-08:002023-01-14T06:20:37.632-08:00India trip 2022 - Thoughts and Reflections<p>Got a chance to visit India after 3 years. Thanks to COVID, 2020 was almost a year ripped out of history. 2021 was an unfortunate tryst with destiny, where the non-availability of visa appointments postponed meeting family for one more year. But in 2022, it was finally the time to come back.</p><p>Along with the eagerness and excitement of meeting friends and family, I was also curious. I had seen India change to great lengths during the Pandemic. In my opinion, India provided an amazing and somewhat unexpected resistance to COVID with a discipline I had not seen in my lifetime (I do acknowledge the mistakes which led to the immigrant population pass through tough times, but still, I had never seen India this united before). But for someone who had not been here in the thick of things, I did have a question. Has India changed? Will life be here the same as before?</p><p>Thankfully, the negative changes in people's lifestyles due to COVID seemed to have disappeared in 2022. Everything was operational, tourism was booming, masks weren't the norm anymore and things seemed to be better. Fingers crossed.</p><p>Still, a few reflections based on incidents </p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Me today, discipline tomorrow </span></b></p><p>Every time you land in India, it's a ticking time bomb of when you are first hit with the lack of discipline. Over the years, I have thought about it in various ways. Am I getting too "Angrez" expecting discipline and queues everywhere? Are the Americans better than Indians in this? OR is there more to it than it meets the eye?</p><p>I have always believed, that discipline is marginally easier to implement in the USA just because of the sheer numbers. A normal queue would be about 10 minutes and at the most 30-40 people long. In India, these numbers are an order of magnitude higher. It is not surprising that people would think of breaking queues. No, I am still not complaining. I am just expressing my surprise and appreciation for the various "jugaadu" ways of breaking the line</p><p>It typically starts at the airport. 500 people, having gone through a long flight in super crammed space (long distance trains in India seem such a luxury) and having their ego's thrashed by the air hostesses (Economy class passengers often line up by the kitchen to get a snack ) need a quick release. Their instant source of happiness in the absence of food, drink, family , and air conditioning comes from the satisfaction of oneupmanship in which they defeated their fellow Indians by their canniness. India also seems to be their "cheat space" where breaking of rules is suddenly all kosher.</p><p><b>#smart-ass tip 1: the "dusra line"</b></p><p>And so it starts, a queue of 1000 people trudges forward</p><p>Till someone decides to act smart, get out of the line , take 10 odd people and join the line somewhere in the middle. In practice, it takes one Uncle who in the act of being nice to a lady, sacrifices the time of 100s behind him, by allowing 10 people to create a parallel line and merge ahead. If this Old uncle wasn't enough, there's always another one standing right behind you who'll not do anything about it but will curse the young generation (or rather us directly) for not doing anything about it. I have still called out, but before you know the 10 odd people have had their way with 80% of people telling "Hum kya kar sakte hai"</p><p><b>#smart-ass tip 2: the "connecting flight"</b></p><p>Mumbai is undoubtedly the hub for many airlines to take an onward flight to their home city. More often than not, there's tension to catch the connecting flight. As we stand in the line after having a 4 year old endure a 26 hour flight journey, your parents patiently waiting in the cold at 4:30 am, some family comes and says , we have a connecting flight, please let us go. To which, I always feel like questioning - why did you not reserve some time ? It's nothing new to have lines at the airport. It's not as if Modi announced demonization and all the mitron have suddenly congested the line. But while it's annoying to other passengers, I do acknowledge the tradeoff between having a short connection to a rather long one. </p><p>But then, come the smart asses. After 4 families were allowed to go, an uncle in front of me ( a nice "old uncle") got irritated . He asked everyone who asked for this favor to tell him where they were going, flight time and boarding pass. To our surprise (or maybe not), 3 of the 4 people we saw next were lying through their teeth and as soon as they were asked, they immediately retreated. The 4th one had a connecting flight after 6 hours. It is surprising how "Trust other Indians" goes for a toss so fast at the airport itself</p><p><b>#smart-ass tip 3: the bakshis (or not ) zone</b></p><p>Corruption in India has become fairly less in the last decade. Airport workers have been nice, but every now and then , someone sneaks in something to get them ahead. If that wasn't enough, some honest workers can't say No when the aunty says "<i>Bhai sahaab, hum kab see khade hai line me? ". </i>Bakshis or not, interfering with a line in a high pressure zone causes more people to break the rule . For a country that is really trying to fall in line with people following rules, such actions notoriously break the morale of everyone else and create a chaos</p><p><b><i>One set of people to commend here are the immigration officers. In 19 years of travelling, they have always been straightforward, nice and (my personal favorite) they stamp the passport correctly so the stamp is well visible and falls within one quadrant of the page - thus allowing reuse and not leaving any ambiguity . In the chaos however, they always isolate themselves from the queue ruckus and if things get too hot, they simply go out for a lunch break :)</i></b></p><p><i><span style="color: red;">But , little inconvenience apart, the arrival airport is always an emotional place to be (and the arrival time is a particularly happy spot). It is always heartwarming to see grandparents hug their grandkids, young men and women bowing down after a seemingly long flight in the coolest part of Mumbai's day (which is still warmer than the warmest part of SF). Indian parents will stand hours in the cold waiting area, old eyes scanning every arrival and the police there always have a tough time balancing rules and emotions</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></i></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Mob mentality</span></b></p><p> A lot of people might disagree with this , but hear me out. This is surprisingly very disturbing</p><p>I was on the way to catch a train on a crowded railway station when a man came running behind me. I am not sure what he was trying to do, but in a flash, he pushed me and another lady, and both me and the lady fell on the ground. The running man, managed to run and catch his train. </p><p>While this was unfortunate enough, what followed was worse. Within seconds a crowd gathered, and help us stand up. But while people asked the lady if she was OK, someone had caught my collar, someone had grabbed my wrist and insults were being hurled about how I wasn't walking properly. The crowd then decided that the woman needed medical attention, so I was obviously "pulled" in that direction. In a timely stroke of luck the woman said "Inka fault nahin hai!" , and I was let go. In a brain fade moment, I simply caught the first train out of the situation</p><p>But a number of questions crossed my mind:</p><p>1. Why did no one think the woman could have accidentally caused the problem? Why was the guy targeted?</p><p>2. What would have been my plight had the woman been unconscious or more gravely injured. without a shred of evidence, the crowd had already caught my hand and collar , and a thrashing did not seem to be completely out of the possibility list</p><p>3. It reminded me of the classic Munnabhai MBBS scene where Sunil Dutt reminds a young https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nawazuddin_Siddiqui that everyone is going to take their frustration on wife, son, father, sister, and husband on this person.The notion that "we can't depend on law enforcement, so it is our job to enforce the law" can't be more dangerous. Mob violence is not acceptable. Even if someone does something wrong, handing over someone to the police is the most people should be allowed to do. It's sometimes sad that we treat mob leaders as good samaritans. </p><p>4. Thinking that this is in a cosmopolitan city consisting of some of the most educated people in the country, imagine the plight of young men in remote areas where caste and religion would also play a stronger role.</p><p>Controversial as it may sound, it is just wrong, and anyone being part of it should be punished for society to function well.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. A corruption-free India</b></span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">No, this is not sarcastic</span></i></b></p><p>While corruption might exist in various quarters , for someone who lived through the nineties, the present day India (or at least Bombay) is a huge leap</p><p>An aadhaar card application can be so smooth - who knew?</p><p>At another appointment, the lady at the desk guided me through the form , and carefully checked the form and gave me a token to wait.</p><p>Throwback to the 90s where , a friend was considered to be the ultimate James Bond for getting a learners permit from RTO for just Rs. 15 (which was the actual legal cost of getting it). Most people paid anywhere from Rs .50 to Rs. 500 through different agents</p><p>Receipts from grocery stores. Throwback to the 90s again, where a shopkeeper used to simply rip off a wholesale box and sell packets of biscuits (clearly marked "not for individual sale" ) at the same price with "Lena hai to lo, varna raasta naapo" </p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. Krupaya <strike>Sutte paise</strike> Digital payment dya</b></span></p><p>When you are away from India for huge chunks of time, sometimes India just surprises you like anything</p><p>In 2005-6, I was surprised how mobile phones took off in India , and how (till the Iphone arrived) India had such amazing multi functional phones</p><p>Bandwidth in India grew from being super expensive in the late nineties to being dirt-dirt-cheap and continues to grow.</p><p>In a similar vein, digital payments in the form of Google Pay , Paytm and the likes have seen such a sharp spike. It was a couple of days when I did not have google pay setup on my phone . When I told the cab driver, he asked me "Sir aap to padhe likhe lagte ho? Kahaan see aaye ho?" </p><p>A step in the right direction, towards the elimination of black money and laying the foundation for a strong transactional economy, it is indeed impressive how everyone from taxiwala to bhajiwala, from maids to chai ki tapris, all have adapted to this</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5. A business digging it's own grave</b></span></p><p>Growing up in India, the auto and taxi wallahs were a unique business. It was the profession of most immigrants, wannabe actors, sometimes even people with advanced degrees who held onto it for a strady income till they made it. </p><p>Memories were mostly pleasant. There would be stories of honest autowallahs who would come back in case you left something in there, or that taxi wallah who would make sure that they would escort elders all the way home. </p><p>Of course, their market share has been eaten by the evil business run by Uber and Ola </p><p>Or is it?</p><p>The truth is - it's a business community that has stopped respecting it's customers and have got a similar reaction back. I found it surprising, shocking in fact that in the middle of a busy road, an empty taxi or rickshaw would prefer to go 30 minutes without business than listen to my plea of helping my sick dad (we were standing outside a hospital) get home or at least to a place where he could get another taxi. </p><p>An unofficial "Double rate" at night because they have to drive back alone? A "my rate" when demand is high ? Or a just "I don't care what the rules say"</p><p>I am not saying that Uber and Ola (or any service) are flawless. They are profit making companies at the end and someday consumers will feel the pinch for them as well. </p><p>But if there are rules put in place, people are expected to abide. The government rules state that any auto or taxi is expected to ply the passenger to the requested destination and charge as per meter. But if you survey a 100 people who have lived in Bombay and ask them if they have never seen an auto break this rule, I bet you won't find more than 5 people. </p><p>It's not just technology, but a clear "gap" in the current system that is leading to Ola and Uber take up the market. What's sad is that the taxi and rickshaw drivers seem to ignore the gap and dig their own grave. If technology was the sole driver to closing businesses, dabbawallahs, the local buses , the local trains would have probably been replaced as well. It is always a deep mistrust that drives people to other channels and unfortunately this business is doing just that .</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>6.And a business that keep's getting better</b></span></p><p>It is no secret that I am a big fan of Indian trains. Every India trip starts with buying a first class pass which I believe is the best (unless you are travelling with small kids or aged parents) . It provides you with something that is very rarely available in Bombay - a guarantee of reaching someplace on time !</p><p>But while the local trains improve their infrastructure with escalators, AC trains, ticket vending apps and much more, what impressed me more is the long distance trains. Super polite staff , super clean toilets (an NRI's biggest pain / pleasure point) , charging points , great infrastructure . Railway booking can do better but I guess they do reasonably well with the constraints they have. What would be interesting if they lease out some tickets to an orbitz kind of price model for long distance booking instead of Tatkal - but in the balance of providing good service to the masses - given the challenges (high population and limited land to build infrastructure), I think they do pretty well. Accessibility for physically challenged people has also improved. Long distance train travel is also amazing. There are always going to be smaller issues, but at the scale of population supported, it's pretty good. I did not get a chance to try food delivery apps - but the combination of technology and a grassroots infrastructure has made railways a great force !</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><br /></p><div><b><br /></b></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-26449393245790053222021-12-11T16:16:00.005-08:002021-12-11T16:18:41.648-08:00The cricketing paradox of not playing for records<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0dfFH4f02tqQJhDUttmRHIwn-drWppHXVyfBuwxbiGBEMI4XqcZcpaYakTGsZNdrLXpIqkF6_8yqOcvUr3PtrZZbq_ELNQb3Tn4CkfodYGaCh3G1jvGI9I8u_-KV2IcqWVnSnfItiBc3ST5iEMz3DJsbvTwl8cctrb5q8LqlNqFh0K3WLgw=s1022" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1022" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0dfFH4f02tqQJhDUttmRHIwn-drWppHXVyfBuwxbiGBEMI4XqcZcpaYakTGsZNdrLXpIqkF6_8yqOcvUr3PtrZZbq_ELNQb3Tn4CkfodYGaCh3G1jvGI9I8u_-KV2IcqWVnSnfItiBc3ST5iEMz3DJsbvTwl8cctrb5q8LqlNqFh0K3WLgw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p> As is every Indian, I grew up watching and obsessing over cricket. From Kapil Dev to Sachin to Dhoni to Kohli, from Richards to Warne to Murali to Stokes, cricket has been an indelible part of life. Over different periods I have obviously been exposed and obsessed with other sports - be it Tennis, Badminton, Hockey, Soccer, American Football, Chess , Formula 1 , but it would be fair to admit that cricket has been a constant part of life. </p><p> Growing up, my dad bought me a book which had all ODI stats will around 1987. It was like cricinfo statsguru in paperback format and a dream of a 6 year old who loved maths. Unsurprisingly, West Indies, the then-dominant force in ODI cricket with a set of powerful cricketers across all dimensions - Richards , Greenidge and Haynes sharing all possible batting records, Garner , Holding and W. Davies with bowling and Dujon completing the circle with powerful wicketkeeping. </p><p> Over the years, Pakistan, SL , Australia have had their share but the dominance of that era has been great. Records deemed impossible once in the past (the first time India ever scored 300 in a 60-over, 55 -over or 50 over match was in <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/pepsi-sharjah-cup-1995-96-60984/india-vs-pakistan-4th-match-65757/full-scorecard">1996</a> , being the last regular country - even after SL and Zimbabwe did it) now became the new normal. Haynes' once secure record of 17 centuries is now just a "special mention". 300 became cricket's new 200, an individual score of 150 became a century and a once impossible 200 became common. </p><p> But of course, cricket has been subject to an intense debate - one of the most memorable events of them being Tendulkar stranded on 194, just to make sure India left no stone unturned in getting a win. On the other hand, Lara's 400 has been called an extremely selfish innings, and while Sachin has been spared the flak most times, his 100th 100 did come under scrutiny after India lost the match against Bangladesh.</p><p> So then, as all players are trained to say - "We don't play for records" OR more subtly "I am not as happy about the double hundred as I am happy that it made India win it's zillionth match against Sri Lanka , is it really the truth?</p><p> My opinion is - that is the paradox of cricketing records. And at the risk of sounding callous, I'll say that the "I only want my team to win and not care about breaking the record" is just diplomatic lies. Every player wants their team to win, of course, but if I had taken 9 wickets in an India - Sri Lanka test match, would I still wish someone else would take the 10th and race India to a forgettable test victory or would I wish that I take the 10th, even if it means risking a draw in a series that would be forgotten within weeks if not days? </p><p> Of course, the other extreme is also not justified . If everyone simply played for records, the non-striker would never run with passion for his or her partner. People would not push the pace of a game risking their own wickets. <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/wills-world-series-1994-95-60962/india-vs-west-indies-4th-match-66000/full-scorecard">Prabhakar's super slow selfish play </a> is certainly not correct. Just as <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-west-indies-2003-04-61746/west-indies-vs-england-4th-test-64080/full-scorecard">Lara's 400 wasn't </a>. But then , we saw a glimpse of it in<a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/new-zealand-in-india-2021-22-1278658/india-vs-new-zealand-2nd-test-1278675/full-scorecard"> Ajaz' 10-for, where he set a memorable record but the team lost </a></p><p> Which brings me to the actual moral of this article. Different entities in cricket, broadcasters, statisticians, portals like cricinfo have somehow managed to bring records to the foray in an otherwise team-oriented game. And they are not to blame, it is eventually their consumers - which span various ages and social classes who are fascinated by records. And unlike other spots where the records are always in line with the goals of winning (eg: soccer where the more goals someone scores, the better it is, OR tennis, which is an individual sport to begin with), cricket can be played with 2 different approaches of either winning the game or setting individual records. And while international matches , where one plays for the country might be some exception, the 664 run partnership is a great example <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a-tale-of-two-terrors-135328">where kambli and tendulkar were able to create the record only because their coach was not on the ground and they continued to go against the "set" principles </a></p><p> The paradox of whether records are important or winning is important has evolved unintentionally but certainly will be the talk for at least a few decades. </p><p><br /></p>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-19914919756555124272021-09-27T07:38:00.003-07:002021-09-27T07:38:55.175-07:00Indian Standard Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R36fFxbrCvc/YVHW6uy7miI/AAAAAAACcqs/k1-wxjFe7UAuImoeS2bCIPp2wFQKl0VowCLcBGAsYHQ/s350/indianStandardTime.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R36fFxbrCvc/YVHW6uy7miI/AAAAAAACcqs/k1-wxjFe7UAuImoeS2bCIPp2wFQKl0VowCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/indianStandardTime.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p> Well, this isn't a discussion on why a country of more than a billion people follows one time zone , or why the <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zone/usa">US has 11 </a>, which of course is inflated by some states choosing to follow daylight savings and some states don't . It also , makes up for a great ice-breaker conversation especially when someone calls in from India and they ask "What time is it there?". Unrelated to this post, people in India seem to think that the most interesting thing in calling someone in the USA is to demonstrate their understanding of the circularity of the globe in addition to suddenly switching to speaking in English when they realise someone has been in the US for a long time.</p><p> Actually, this post is about the rather universally distributed nature of people, who always think that birthday invite times always have an associated factor. Similar to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant">Max Planck</a> , <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant">Newton</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avogadro_constant">Avogradro</a>, people always feel that there's a constant , which defines , sometimes in minutes or hours, the amount of time you should arrive to a party after the scheduled time. </p><p> Many years back, I was invited to a colleague's daughter's birthday party. The invite said 11 am, but unfortunately, something went wrong with my car and I got super late. I stretched the tensile power of my corolla and the flexibility of California speeding laws to barely make it at 11:40 am. Shamefully, I rung the doorbell, and was about to apologize to my heart's content, when someone opened the door in tracks, t-shirt and unkempt hair. It took me a few seconds to realise, that I still had to apologize, but for different reasons . I had reached the party way too soon .</p><p> As I sat around and helped the host clean the house, organize their food, and wait for the rest of the guests (who promptly and correctly showed up after 1 pm), it dawned upon me that I should have realised what <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdDusqwOnVg">Jaspal Bhatti did years ago </a>. And that's when I realised how rude I had been to not understand people's feelings and associate the "IST constant" with the party invite. </p><p> Growing up, I was actually the person who would always be late. Engineering days at VESIT meant a strict regiment in which we had to get into college by 8:30 am or else stay out for an hour (which I thought was for good reason, that a late coming student should not disturb the decorum of those who showed up on time). It was also sometimes nice to socialize right at the start of the day and simulate your brain for the rest of the day. But still, there was an attempt to get in the door by 8:40 (which was the allowed time), and catch the last possible train which could possible get you there. I was often late to play cricket, to return back home, and sometimes waste my parents' hard earned money on autorickshaws than buses just because I was late.</p><p> But as age has progressed, I have realised that in the universe of latecomers, I was just a Hemang Badani of cricket or Avinash Wadhvan of Bollywood. In the course of the last few years, I have been blown away by the Amitabhs and Tendulkars of this sport. What is further notable is that there's a strange bit of pride in being the last one, since in the group of people, you technically optimized for your time in the best possible way. And to top it all, if the majority is composed of latecomers, you are the odd man out and taunted for coming in too early. Not too much respect for Socrates , really.</p><p> Parties aside, gatherings, movies, picnics have all had this problem. Which brings me to the main point. The IST factor. Over the last several years, I have mentally modelled the IST factor with most of my friends. While for some Subodhs, the number tends to zero, for most people it tends towards infinity. The IST factor is calculated by a complicated, dynamic and slightly biased equation which involves the number of minutes they arrived late, the stupidity of their reason , the plausibility of their lie the promptness of their informing that they would be late, and often the sheer shamelessness (or pride, as they like to call it) of their actions. It is also a self-training model, meaning your good actions can quickly wipe out your sins of the past, but the converse is also true .</p><p> And oh, does not go to say that my late factor is similar to Subodhs, but I certainly don't take pride in it. Back to work in US Pacific time. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-9587223949552561982021-07-21T22:12:00.005-07:002021-08-27T15:03:30.841-07:00The Indian airport emotion<span id="docs-internal-guid-f6aa8208-7fff-da01-899f-0a84c5f1782d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> few weeks from when I was going to depart to the US for my Master's program, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had come to Bombay's Sahar airport (since renamed CST international airport) to drop someone . That's when I realized something.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was the last time I was coming to the airport without much emotion. Growing up in India, flying was not as frequent and easy as it is today. Every time someone took a flight, the entire family came to drop. Everytime someone took an international flight, the entire town seemed to come to drop them. Earlier, sitting inside the airport was also available. Security was much less , people were few, systems were archaic, but still even the thought of someone else flying seemed to be a big deal for the entire family to make an airport run. Couple with the fact that India has adapted well to the "leave at night" international flights. The ordeal is simple. Most flights leave after midnight. It is said that this system originated because in the initial days of flying , when flights were mostly through frankfurt or london, it was difficult to get airport staff in those cities at odd hours, so all flights were timed in such a way that Bombay would take the hit. But what seemed to be an uncomfortable time to fly somehow became the highly preferred time to fly - for multiple reasons.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First among them - traffic , it is so much comfortable driving to the airport at midnight, enjoy the cool breeze on the empty highway, rather than trying to reach at 7 , for which even a lead time of 4 hours was no guarantee. </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second, for the person departing, it was perfect, spend time with family, have dinner, joke around a little over tea and recharge. Then spend the night at the airport , and start adapting to US time zones to get rid of the jet lag. Finally, board the flight, eat like you've been hungry for days, drink like a dog , and sleep off at 8 am India time. About 9:30 US Pacific time, and your body has already become 'angrez' </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lastly, the inconvenience caused to the people dropping at the airport. Somehow growing up, the excitement of going to the airport trumped all such things . Seeing people wear suits and ties on a 24 hour long flight seemed perfectly normal. After all , they were going to Amrika , where everyone expects them to show up in suits on day 1 (On a rather interesting note , when I first flew , I wore a suit and a leather jacket, since at the last minute that was the only way to fit all luggage)</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But then on, I was the passenger and the emotion changed so much. I almost felt jealous of the people dropping me, since I knew they would go home whereas I was to take the rather cattle class flight and after spending 24 hours sitting in crammed seat and eating limited tasteless food , and watching movies over and over again, I would be greeted by the friendly immigration officer, who , if my luck was good scribble something on my passport and let me go, and if my luck was bad, I might be subject to the <a href="https://twitter.com/cyberomin/status/835888786462625792?lang=en">ultimate Software engineering torture </a></span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the years a number of things have changed. Flights have become smaller, food has become worse, premium economy is what used to be called economy, and economy is like travelling ticketless . Of course , I have seen an increase in various dimensions including age, weight, circumference etc. all making this flight even more interesting. Things have also moved on from the time when you would give up your mobile phone at the airport and then talk with parents over a glass wall , which almost seemed like being in prison , to having smarter mobile phones to still simulate the same stupid behavior . I have also become a dad, and the two times I flew, I have been sad that my daughter was so well behaved, and I could not take my revenge of the 10 odd years that I was constantly troubled by babies crying , and parents pushing them closer to my ear and looking at me as if I was obliged to care for them just because they had a baby. The presence of Ipads, offline videos and smart headsets has meant that I can now look forward to some more interesting movies.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, at the core, some emotions remain the same. It's still the middle of the night, parents are still there. There's always a crowd, someone always breaks a queue, and an old uncle comes out of nowhere to curse you for not doing anything about it. But surprisingly, I have always and still long for the time when i sit on the flight and I am asked to switch off my phone. I think of this as the time, when I can't communicate with the world , and hence have zero control to do anything. It surprisingly puts me in a state of great bliss, where all I can do is eat, sleep or watch movies. In this modern , ever-connected world, that serenity has been always very precious, and while I know sooner or later technology will get there, for this one time, I am hoping it takes some more time.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes the helplessness of a 24 hour flight (Mumbai and San Francisco are really the most extreme when it comes to air travel) sounds very overwhelming, it sometimes dawns that life would be so simple if we just called one place an eternal home. The airport emotion is hard to fathom. It'll always be.</span></p><br /><br /><br /></span>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-82640005565108968552021-05-18T16:16:00.000-07:002021-05-18T16:16:23.049-07:00A sad yet deep thought !<p> <span> </span><span> This is a post I want to write for a long time. The events of last year have taught us the importance of health and how vulnerable we are against the forces of nature. Who would have thought that a micro-organism would disrupt our lives in such a way.</span></p><p><span><span> </span><span> But frankly, the motivation goes beyond the last year of COVID. It's about a constant realization of how tricky and unpredictable death is, and how life has it's own plans and how helpless you can be ! It is also a rather deeper realization of how tiny and powerless we are in the Universe, and that we should be grateful to nature for giving us what we have (most of all - a human life) and that we should strive to give back (by making sure we are being conscious about environmental issues)</span><br /></span></p><p><span><span><span> </span><span> We all know that death will come one day . Yet, we have different philosophies around it. At 19, I was Hrithik Roshan in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (of course sans his body and looks). I wanted to earn all the money and retire as early as possible and then "live life to the fullest" . His number was 40, mine was 35 . The fallacy of that approach hit me pretty soon (fortunately) , but not before I said no to a number of fun events and trips with friends. I once had an opportunity to drive to Vegas on a hunch, but decided that 8 hours of time could be utilized in doing the one school project which could propel my grade from A- to A (which it did not :D ) . I missed some fun games because I was doing that "extra project to get a reco from a professor" . I took up a saturday job and missed a bunch of fun trips because I could make "21 dollars more every week" . But fortunately, the moment came early enough and I realised that I had to make every moment count. While I do believe balance is necessary ( you can't live paycheck to paycheck your entire life), enjoying every moment is certainly something to live for.</span></span></span>I do believe that most of the people whom I know either believe in the prior point , or have had some point in their life which led them to believe it. </p><p><span> <span> </span>The second philosophy is to have a "bucket-list". All of us have it in some form or the other. Some day, I want to become CEO of a company. Some day, I want to see my daughter graduate from a great place. Some day, I want to tour the world. Some day, I want to start an orphanage. Some day, I want to be as great as my Dad. A combination of adventure, love, noble and sometimes funny yet heartwarming wishes. As with most people, I believe that it helps in life if you have a list and work towards it. Some people also have an extension of it like "Places to visit " or " things to do before you are 30,40,50 and so on...." . In my opinion, it is one of the healthy things to do. Planning helps you align your actions, keep your focus and gain satisfaction when you check it off. After all, Farhan Qureshi did not want to be 70, dying in a hospital and thinking "Only if I had convinced Dad to allow me to pursue wildlife photography". </span><br /></p><p><span><span> </span><span> The third philosophy is - to have something in your heart, good or bad - that you'll tell people one day. One day I'll show my boss that inspite of what he thought, I worked really hard for his success and wshes him well. One day, I'll thank my parents for what I am in life. One day, I'll tell the friend that inspite of not talking for many years over a small issue, I remember his SRK imitation everytime SRK says "kkkk". One day, I'll meet the old uncle who used to help me jump puddles and watch over me as I went home int he dark. We all have a secret list of mostly good, some maybe brutally honest things, we want to tell people. Or do - for example, I'll donate a bunch of money to charity . I'll sponsor a kids' education. At the very least , we all have a speech prepared to say when we are successful, rich or old - like "I would like to thank ...."</span></span></p><p> Except that most likely you won't ever say it . Which brings me to the fourth and rather most important realization - something that hit me int he last year or so. Someone close to me passed away, his last words being "my heart hurts". I heard of someone who went scuba diving and never returned back. Someone who was sitting on a beach and was eaten away by a wave, to be never found. Someone who could only manage to say "I can't breathe". And which is the truth of life - that unlike SRK and Rajesh Khanna movies, when it happens, you won't have the time or the opportunity to say what you wanted to . Achieving everything in life is not in our control - and living each day as if it is your last will probably make it the last one day - <b>but telling people you love them in advance, mending relationships and getting together does not take too much effort. </b>If you haven't heard this, please listen to this very <a href="https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc?t=544" target="_blank">interesting perspective from Steve Jobs </a><br /></p><p> </p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span> </span><br /></p>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-51071748385844335752021-04-25T16:29:00.001-07:002021-04-25T16:29:27.398-07:00A year of COVID ...and a year of realizations !<span><Started writing around March 5th 2020 , lazily completed > </span><div><span><span> </span><span> </span></span><div><span><span><span> </span> It was March 5th. 2020. Our CEO, sent out a message that given COVID-19 has started to create some impact on global health, we should be prepared for a scenario when we are forced to work from home. We had an award function that night , and we all went to a nice party in San Francisco. It was Thursday and it was announced that the next day , would be a "game day" where all of us would work from home just to work out the kinks in case there came an emergency that we would "temporarily" need to work from home "for a few days". Very very thankfully, my parents who wanted to spend some time with their granddaughter narrowly made it to the USA on that very day.</span></span><div><span><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> The day was weirdly memorable. The awards function was great with some amazing performances and some deserving award winners. There was an after party but soon we were on our way home. I had a long walk to the BART station, and as I was eager to get home to my parents and daughter, I was passing through a pretty lonely street when a middle-aged woman approached me. I initially felt that she was asking for money, but she asked </span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> </span><span> </span>"Sir , this is a pretty lonely street, I am waiting for my bus to go the BART station. Do you mind waiting with me?" . Well, I did not admit, but I was frankly scared to walk on the street myself. But the thought of waiting there was a little scary too. The security that my parents were home with my wife and daughter and reaching late would be OK, coupled with just the instinctive reaction, I waited at the bus stop. Any case, I really doubt if I would have turned down such a request unless things were absolutely out-of-hand. A bus arrived 15 minutes later and we took it to the BART station and we both managed to catch out respective trains. In those 15 minutes, I was thinking of a lot of things. Some around just routinely planning my next week, some about calculating how much I was delayed, but more so, being grateful that I was in the position of "helping" rather than "being helped". Also in my mind was the emotion (both positive and negative) of having to work from home for a few weeks. </span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> </span><span> Would not commuting be good? Of course. Having taken the train for 8-9 months, it was draining. The frantic search for parking in the morning , the hope to get a seat (and not having to give it up in "being a gentleman"), the uphill climb on 2nd street on an empty stomach , plus the scare of COVID due to packed trains (BART was particularly crowded in the rush hours)</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> </span><span> But barring that, I had loved coming to the city. The office was almost always full, there was always chatter, the food (and especially the chocolates and desserts ) were nice, our CEO would greet everyone like they were family and in the evening, I would love the pace of the city as people scrambled to get home , reminding me of some of the office trips I did with my Mom and Dad to VT in Bombay (yeah, VT and Bombay ! )</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> The bus arrived soon, and I was able to escort the lady all the way to a public place on the Bart station where she (and I also) felt relieved and went on with our day. I was feeling happy that I was able to get her and also wasn't too delayed . Now, I was a train ride away from "home" given my parents, wife and daughter were all there.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> <span> </span></span><span> The next day, we went to a grocery store to "stock up". A store where normally you would not see 3 customers at one time, had a line which stretched 50 yards out of the store. The owner was so slow in billing, that I almost felt like volunteering for some time to relieve everyone of the stress . In the line, a few young Indian kids were behind me (yeah, I am now at an age where I can use that term). One hour into the line, and the guy had managed to get the girl's name and add her on LinkedIn . I was patiently waiting and this thought had brought some humor / positivity to the otherwise looming stress that everyone was </span> anticipating. </span><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> </span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span> </span><span> There were so many funny things we did. For example, I went to Safeway a day before the county's stay at home order took place. The crowd there was more than I had ever seen. An elderly staffer there told me that the store was going to open as normal tomorrow at 6 am and she assured that everything would be available. But still, no one was willing to wait , no one knew what was coming. I remember buying things like "powdered milk creamers" - just in case things reached a point where a curfew-like atmosphere ensued.</span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span> The next few weeks were different. As everyone adopted to the new lifestyle, they were happy than sad . People played games, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wokgnnmzo" target="_blank">played music with plates</a>, adopted a "enjoy these days", "respect the healthcare workers" . Soon enough, the plight of those affected economically by this saddened us. The plight of migrants, business owners, restauranters drowned the early cheer . Some images made the world stand up and pay attention to the seriousness behind this.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span> But still, by and large, everyone expected this to be a temporary phase. A month, two at most and then things will return to normal. After all, Mumbai local trains have never shut down for more than a few days (even during heavy rains) , either ways, we'll get there. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span> </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span> Except that it did not. Numbers started growing, emotions became murkier. Businesses started shutting down. People started struggling with life. Children were losing their active life. Doctors were working overtime . A year down the line , while life has moderately returned to "some" normalcy, it looks like the thought of living life as it was before 2020 seems like a far fetched dream. It almost always feels like, some day , I'll tell Kavya. Yeah, those things, yes, we used to do them before 2020 . </span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> And that brings me to the main thought I wanted to express. That of gratitude. To be, to live, to exist. To have the technology that at least made life livable - imagine <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/">it happening in 1990</a> . Gratitude t have doctors and researches who have been racing to get to a vaccine. To have a smartphone and the internet to make medical co-ordination easier. If someone told me that I would spend an entire year without traveling 40 miles away from my house, I would have laughed like crazy. It someone told me that I would not visit a movie theater for an entire year, or not sit down in a restaurant for an entire year, I would have said "I'll go mad". If I did not meet friends or co-workers for a year, I thought I would have a nervous breakdown.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span> Yet, here we are. One year down. A realization that when life gives you problems, it gives you enough strength to face them. Of course, it is easy for me to say, but I am sure some people have suffered much more economic hardships and my heart goes out to them. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><span>And for one, this time we are united in the fight. All of you reading it. All </span></span></span></span>7,854,896,896 of us. Needless to say , <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t1IK_9apWs">this speech is more important in today's time than ever before </a></div><div><br /></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span> </span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></div></div></div>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-91734975543714078922020-04-30T22:07:00.000-07:002020-05-17T16:08:44.766-07:00Good old days?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the late 1990s , I was preparing for the final stage of the <a href="http://www.ncert.nic.in/programmes/talent_exam/index_talent.html" target="_blank">NTS</a> exams, and had taken a short course.One of the professors at the DG Ruparel college, who was teaching us, was discussing about the internet and how protocols were developed.<br />
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Mind you, this was a time when internet was limited to email via a pine client and chat via irc, all done through a command line interface, and the cost of internet was about Rs.25 per hour which was pretty expensive given the standards of living then.<br />
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The professor explained to us the structure of the internet, a bit about internet protocols , but then he went into the various applications that existed then , the ability to send emails instantaneously across the globe, being able to read news from around the world, and a cheaper , faster way of two-way communication (then chat) to any part of the world (some of it mentioned in <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2009/06/evolution-of-computer.html" target="_blank">this old post</a> ). Of course, in the light of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN4U5FqrOdQ" target="_blank">iphone</a>, the social networks, the broadband speed and the decreasing costs of 3g/4g internet, this might seemed small, but in the late 90s, being able to send a message to the USA free of cost seemed like a dream.<br />
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But at the end of the technical discussion, the professor said something philosophical which resonates with me a number of times, and especially relevant now. He said , next time your old uncle speaks of the "good old days", explain to him the struggle of not having a search engine, not able to get news and updates regularly, and the pain of one way communication using letters.<br />
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Which brings me to the main point. Imagine if the same pandemic had hit us in 1990. How different would life be?<br />
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" You take the train home , as you reach your house, you wait patiently for the 8:40 news in Hindi. There is some mention of the pandemic , the entire family listens attentively and wonders what is in store for us. You call up your doctor on his landline but it is continually engaged as he is receiving calls from his various patients. The news at 10 in English confirms what has happened in Italy could happen to you.<br />
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You step out for work the next day, newspapers are carrying reports of the pandemic. The reports are bringing in only little information that the editor was able to procure over the bad quality, super expensive ISD call with his US friend. The information still does not speak of the extent of the crisis and how it is going to affect you. You go to the STD booth and speak to your brother in another city in India . There's a line of people and you get to your turn after half an hour.<br />
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You leave from work and head back home, rumors of a shutdown are already doing the rounds. You pick up grocery for a few days and go back home. The prime minister announces the shutdown that night. For the next 30 days ,you are at home. No going out. No playing. No gathering.<br />
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Money aside, imagine spending 30 days without communication, the phone being the only source of communication which is expensive , and will probably be unreliable given the load. Doordarshan will put some movies , which you probably won't like. Kids will play inside the house, getting bored to the hilt . You have a limited supply of books you can read .<br />
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There's a lot of confusion about how to use masks. The kirana store guy sells masks at 20 times the original price. He becomes the "I-know-it-all" guy about masks, forcing you to buy multiple when you might need one. He also starts off with the "Drink the cow urine" and "KEM ke hospital ne bola hai" With no way to verify information, confusion hits an all time high .<br />
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Five days on, the world is hell. The books are done. Newspapers are not coming. Your curry still does not taste good even after trying 5 times from the partly torn recipe book with masala stains all over it. Doordarshan is showing<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMPTE_color_bars#/media/File:SMPTE_Color_Bars_16x9.svg" target="_blank"> it's true colors </a> all day long.<br />
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Businesses have come to a standstill. Factories have stopped production since they need manual intervention in everything. Food, medicines, everything is in shortage. Lack of awareness is leading to more deaths. Rumors are doing the rounds. Cash has dried up completly."<br />
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The Coronavirus pandemic is one of the most extraordinary global situations I have seen in my lifetime. I do imagine the world wars to be worse , and maybe even the great depression, but still a global pandemic has shown us that while we have made strides in science, nature reminds us that we are it's creation and we should respect it (or 'aukaat mein rehne ka')<br />
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But, there is no better time to thank technology strides made in the last 30 years, thank <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/cerf-kahn-bio.html" target="_blank">Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn</a> and all the technical visionaries who have got us to a state where our life is not impacted.<br />
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The old days were certainly good, but thank you technology for making these days better. Hope this will pass soon.<br />
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Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-24845996808645625582019-09-07T12:02:00.000-07:002019-10-06T15:41:53.410-07:00Yeh un dinon ki baat hai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Growing up in the 1990s is a surreal experience . I always feel that as a generation, we have been very lucky to see technology grow with us . It is a golden mean between my dad's generation in the 70s who really got wonderful things very late in life to the people born in the 1990s and later for whom a lot of things were taken for granted<br />
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The first and the best thing about those times was the 'It's OK to be middle class'. My schooldays were a lot of fun. And while there were kids around me who were richer and had access to some really cool stuff (some examples I can think of are Action shoes with lights, funky school bags, pagers on which you could see cricket scores) and also not as rich , it did not seem to make a lot of difference.<br />
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It was assumed that some things were unaffordable, even impossible, and we never felt sad about it.<br />
In the pre-information age, even information was considered to be an asset. Like the guy in our class who saw that one cricket match we had all missed. Or that girl who had Madhuri Dixit's phone number and she would flaunt "mere paas uska number hai, pata hai?". Without any validation or attempt to see how easy it was to get it, such things were basis of one-upmanship<br />
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I think my parents were indeed pioneers in getting us exposed to computers and technology and it's a gift that was always amazing.<br />
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But I guess somethings that are fairly unusual today might have been so usual then:<br />
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1. It was rather usual to walk around without a single penny in your pocket as schoolchildren<br />
2. Time seemed to be always abundant. In fact in 1993/4, I remember an ad about the "Hero Cup" and it was 100 days away . I was counting each day as it came.<br />
3. Things were valued more. Pencils, Erasers, Toys, cricket balls. I recently saw someone go to Tennis practice with about 40 balls and I felt a little lump in my throat<br />
4. Simple picnics were fun. No out-of-India trips. Going to Matheran every year seemed to be a top luxury.<br />
5. Getting lost was the scariest thing ever. In my childhood, I always feared that if I let go my parents' hand, I would end up searching for them the rest of my life. There were no announcement booths to announce "lost children". Every outing was associated with mom's instruction to meet at one pre-decided place if you get lost<br />
6. Trust was more. Everywhere. Banks, shops, friends, relatives.<br />
7. Asking for help was considered totally fine. Relatives would babysit for you, dropping onto people's home for dinner or even staying over was very very normal . Asking people on the street to help you with a chore was also considered normal<br />
8. Valuing money was not considered bad. It was OK to not go for a picnic or a movie citing costs.<br />
9. Entertainment was less, not all was good quality but all entertainment was well respected.<br />
10. Access to information was limited. It was never possible to google and check something. The limitation of books in this regard was almost frustrating at times.<br />
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Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-35094550426998614292018-06-12T23:01:00.000-07:002018-06-12T23:01:01.177-07:00Funny but interesting mini-post<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just felt like blogging this.<br />
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It's a really hot day. Sitting inside the house is very muggy, warm, and sweaty.<br />
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What did I do?<br />
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1. Keep complaining and thinking how hot it is and how bad I am feeling<br />
2. Thought twice about complex ways like turning on the air conditioner or picking up a fan from another room<br />
3. Thinking about having a cold (sugary) drink.<br />
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What I eventually realised?<br />
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There's a sliding door right next to where I am sitting. Slid it open and the cool breeze came in and solved all my problems<br />
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The solution to the biggest problems in life might be right next to you, but you don't see it :) . </div>
Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-85894800796518080992018-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:002018-02-17T21:00:47.089-08:00The story of Amerium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the late 18th century, a platinum-typed shiny element was suddenly found in South America. It was soon named Amerium and started getting very popular . It’s color was platinum but it had a sharp shine in the sun and was very different from all the elements found then. It’s mining needed a special technique which only a few miners knew first , but they taught others and people started catching along.The early miners started making ornaments of it and it also became a symbol of wealth. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Europeans heard of this element and a number of voyages began. They too learnt the technique, although they paid a price to the miners who were getting richer due to the growing popularity of Amerium. Soon the reserves of Amerium started depleting and mining them became tougher. The early miners realized this and started spending a lot of money in securing their Amerium and also selling small quantities of it at huge prices. Every new batch of Amerium mined was sold off at premium prices soon after.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">News of this spread across Asia, Europe, North America and Africa and soon everyone tried to buy this from the early miners. The early miners still held on to their reserve, selling only parts of it, enough to make them survive, but saving their best for the last, and thus expecting a spectacular exit which would not only make them the richest people then, but maybe the richest people in history. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">People were trading land, food grains, gold , silver for the smallest bits of Amerium sold.Slowly Amerium started replacing gold and was used as an exchange for goods and services.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point, the miners opened up their reserve and became the wealthiest people on earth. They knew that by selling their Amerium, they could barter for anything. They could probably buy land worth the entire area of a country. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the miners was walking on the street when he noticed a man standing with a huge cart of fruits. Proudly, he walked and said ,“I’ll buy you and your entire cart, Here’s the payment” , handing over a grain sized quantity of Amerium. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The man said, “Well, just because you mined this piece of metal first, does not make you rich. Get me something more worthwhile to exchange, I’ll not give you anything for Amerium”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The miner threatened to wipe the fruit-seller away , and almost did so, and in his effort, the news of the fruit-seller spread. And everyone started asking the same question “Why should the early miners get an unfair share of the wealth? Finding Amerium was great, but that should give them a reward, not half the wealth of the world” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">People stopped accepting Ameriums for food, land or gold. The miners were left with Amerium and nothing else to do but use up their food and riches while it laster. People who had bought Ameriums at premium prices eventually gave up on them. The world shifted back to a barter system and Ameriums are nicely displayed at the museum in DC .</span></span></div>
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Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-23659443788536030322015-10-11T18:37:00.000-07:002015-10-12T13:43:15.470-07:00NaMo NaMo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I had the honor of visiting Narendra Modi's lecture in person at the SAP center yesterday. While there's enough controversy surrounding him, something now makes me think that Modi becoming PM was one of the best things to happen to India.<br />
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There's been enough talk about two things - one being his past, and one being if he delivers on his promises. Lot of people still speak about Gujarat riots, and there is an equal amount of emphasis on whether foreign trips are going to solve India's problem.<br />
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But the whole point of hearing him yesterday - was that the fundamental attitude of India should change. We elect a leader , he gets a salary and amazing benefits from our taxes, he gets to decide on what we should or should not do, he is responsible for ensuring our security and freedom. Personally, I have always felt that religion, caste, economic status is really not the criteria. Even the fact that Narendra Modi is Gujju should only be perceived as him having a true Gujju business mindset.<br />
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There are many opinions, but two sections of population have really caught by eye.<br />
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The first is obviously, people who blindly believe in him and can't hear a single wrong thim about him. I don't fall in that category - I am sure he is human, and in the wake of political ambitions or otherwise, I don't agree with some of his actions<br />
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The second is the people who bring Gujarat 2002 to every debate and discussion. They might have some arguments to back it , but given that the supreme court has exonerated him, I personally believe we should give him a break.<br />
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There's a third set of people - mostly who are highly educated (techies, NRIs, MNC employees, professors) who kind of look more objectively , the kind of people who don't believe anything till it is proved. I feel I fall among them, and obviously I see some fallacies in the Modi mania (like was the Gujarat model really as successful as advertised).<br />
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But over the last year or so, I would think Modi is the best thing to happen to India given the times. Why? Here's why:<br />
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1. A Leader, finally<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xz4k-K9Z9gw/VhrYS8eRbiI/AAAAAAAAxco/zGtlRrcoNmw/s1600/Leader.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xz4k-K9Z9gw/VhrYS8eRbiI/AAAAAAAAxco/zGtlRrcoNmw/s1600/Leader.gif" /></a></div>
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Having stayed in the US for many years, one thing I have liked is the importance of the President when it comes to Govt elections. It's about the man, maybe the Vice President as well, but you know whom you are voting from. For far long, India had not had that opportunity. If an opinion poll was conducted when Deve Gowda was PM, asking how many people wanted him to be PM when they voted , a heat map would have strongly proved this point. I am sure the same thing would have applied to the likes of Manmohan Singh, and IK Gujral for that matter. In Modi, we've seen a leader, someone who speaks for himself (unlike Manmohan Singh's favorite <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ag9Mx0ToJ8" target="_blank">"theek hai" comment</a>). Also he knows what concerns people have and brings it up in his speeches. For an educated audience, he brought some important points (like the PIO/OCI card issue in NY)<br />
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2. Reputation<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KKYBwNbHaIk/VhrfOgt3UTI/AAAAAAAAxdU/4nw7YkOUxPo/s1600/proven-results.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KKYBwNbHaIk/VhrfOgt3UTI/AAAAAAAAxdU/4nw7YkOUxPo/s320/proven-results.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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No, I am not talking about the Gujarat model. Although there might be rights in that, there are a lot of people questioning it , and I don't have substantive proof to defend it (although I would love to believe it). But here's a CM who ran a state like Gujarat for 12+ years, in spite of opposition,controversy. This should give him extra points on a lot of people, esp Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal (who I think resigned as Delhi CM way too soon), In the US, every person who stands for elections is asked about "what have you done before?". If all candidates were asked this, I am sure Modi would have won hands down<br />
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3. Feedback<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Td5hmAYPURg/VhrdxLaTLlI/AAAAAAAAxdI/uGWFwX3FRiU/s1600/feedback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Td5hmAYPURg/VhrdxLaTLlI/AAAAAAAAxdI/uGWFwX3FRiU/s320/feedback.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I can't believe that a huge party like Congress never had strong PR people telling Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi what and what not to do. Even in corporate America, people have speech writers, debate helpers, personality makeovers. Every keynote in Silicon Valley is conducted so that it appears as if the speaker is speaking to the public and not merely reading out of slides. Modi achieved this. He probably had a team that gathered information about the Gadar party/ Bhagat Singh/ what do desis in the silicon valley like or not. Educated or not, the truth is people like leaders who speak what they want to hear. End the speech with the announcement of a non-stop flight from SF to India was really something the people wanted to hear. Making the PIO process easier was what desis at Madison Square garden wanted to hear. It's almost basic intelligence and wisdom that a leader should have. And Modi does.<br />
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4. CEO material<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mxJODx4c4ZA/VhrZb_G2FqI/AAAAAAAAxcw/-DS8uL3UM0M/s1600/Profit.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mxJODx4c4ZA/VhrZb_G2FqI/AAAAAAAAxcw/-DS8uL3UM0M/s1600/Profit.gif" /></a></div>
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I have always felt, that India needs not a politician but a CEO. Let's accept it , the 'Nayak' style Anil Kapoor is ideal but not practical. If someone suspends his entire government for being corrupt, it might look great to begin with, but will not solve the problem. We need someone to systematically clean the system, have tougher measures, take a lead but not go into every minute detail. Another factor of Modi is his fearlessness, not afraid to take a stand on certain issues.<br />
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5. Ability to Turn Around things.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ad_JP-zh680/VhrbaGaAS1I/AAAAAAAAxc8/yjOlq7mWbYU/s1600/baazigar1_gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ad_JP-zh680/VhrbaGaAS1I/AAAAAAAAxc8/yjOlq7mWbYU/s1600/baazigar1_gif.gif" /></a></div>
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To be frank, I wasn't a fan of Modi. Like a lot of people, I had thought that he was communal in some sense. The US categorically denied him a visa inspite of he being the democratically elected Chief Minister of a state of almost 60 million people. The media had not been his best friend. From such a point, to actually win an election with absolute majority, turn around the US attitude (Obama coming to the Indian republic day) and meeting Modi thrice in a year, to changing people's attitude towards him (me included), he has shown that he can achieve what very few Indian politicians have been able to achieve<br />
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I personally believe, that people who are opposed to him should give him the chance. After a long time, India has had a leader whom people truly believe in - and this is Modi's biggest strength. I haven't seen an Indian leader in my lifetime who has so much of popularity among the people. And his agenda of growth , with a combination of good administration and people participation might be our biggest strength !<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h1PjmomTTw4/VhsPjolQ6GI/AAAAAAAAxeQ/sv_c3UOrbB0/s1600/modi%2Bcollage1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h1PjmomTTw4/VhsPjolQ6GI/AAAAAAAAxeQ/sv_c3UOrbB0/s400/modi%2Bcollage1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/103074709466898662370/ModiVisitToBayArea?authkey=Gv1sRgCKOLxfe6ttTZdg" target="_blank">Here are some pictures of the event</a><br />
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Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-70344063962177011412015-04-15T19:11:00.000-07:002015-04-15T19:11:00.738-07:00Format for a fairer world cup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
World Cup Reformat<br />
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Current scenario:<br />
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The ODI Cricket world traditionally consists of eight historically great teams in Aus,Eng,NZ,WI,India,Pak,SL and South Africa. There's little doubt that these teams are much better than the rest. Then there are teams like Bangladesh,Zimbabwe,Ireland,Kenya which have shown potential but still are a lap behind the top eight. And then there's a bunch of new teams trying to make their mark.<br />
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Main requirements:<br />
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1. Associates should get international exposure of playing against top teams<br />
2. A world cup would not be great if a top seeded nation drops out in qualifying stages (unlike Tennis or Soccer) - as shown by India and Pakistan's exit in 2007<br />
3. The World Chess championship has an interesting format where the world chess champion only competes with the winner. In short, if we implement that format, in the next WC, all teams except Australia (the current champion) will play a qualifier, and the winner will challenge Aus in a 5 match competition. Fair as it may sound in chess, it'll not work to have a champion team not play the world cup!<br />
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It is widely apparent that the group stages are not interesting, since more often than not, they don't matter much. The top 8 teams will generally qualify for the QF (as they did in 1996 and 2011 and narrowly missed by England in 2015. So for most teams, the initial group stage did not matter much. It was less seen in 2015, but in 2011 and 1996, the top team of one of the groups was defeated in the QF. So , basically a team playing really well can have one bad game and exit the tournament. Sad but true. Unfortunately, SA has had it's max share of this and there's a hint that giving top 8 teams fairly equal opportunity does not make sense. Also, there's no pressure of qualifying, making the group stages unimportant<br />
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So summarizing:<br />
1. Current format: Top 8 teams get to play lot of matches, associates get exposure, but early leaders have zero advantage<br />
2. Super six (99,03) : Good that top 8 teams get to play lot of matches, associates get exposure, but gained a bad reputation because of team carrying forward points. That led to teams deliberately allowing other teams to qualify, which was not perceived well. Goes against the basic spirit of cricket and sports in general. Noteworthy , however , is that in sports like F1, this is considered to be a valid thing - like Barrichelo losing to Schumacer on the last lap on Ferrari's orders.<br />
3. Tournament like 1992: Most fair world cup, all teams play each other and top teams qualify for the semis. The disadvantage is to not include<br />
4. The most fair format would be one that does not involve a final or a knockout game. While this would be a blessing for SA - a tournament without a final does not sound that great. The format would be to just play round robin and the winner is the one who tops the table. Very fair, but quite less exciting. Interestingly if this format was followed, following teams would have been the winner:<br />
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1975: WI or England<br />
1979: WI or England<br />
1983: WI or England<br />
1987: India or Pak<br />
1992: New Zealand<br />
1996: Sri Lanka or South Africa<br />
1999: Pakistan or South Africa<br />
2003: Australia or Sri Lanka<br />
2007: Aus,Sri Lanka, NZ or WI<br />
2011: Pakistan or South Africa<br />
2015: NZ or India<br />
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Obviously, this system does not like people who come back from being behind in the lot and surprise everyone, so while it is fair, it is not exciting. More so, no final? Does not look like a WC.<br />
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So let's say what the most important things are in deciding the format of a World Cup<br />
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(1) Fairness - Obviously, the best team should win. The two best teams should have a chance of meeting in the final<br />
(2) Giving exposure to associates with matches against top teams<br />
(3) Ensuring that top teams (or atleast the money bank India ) get enough matches to play and are not eliminated early. 2007 was the most obvious example of how a highly anticipated "India vs Pakistan" became "Ireland vs Bangladehs"<br />
(4) I want to add an advantage to the teams for doing well in the group stage. This will make the group stage even more interesting and will also reward teams who do well early on<br />
(5) While the 2011/15 world cups had all of this, they missed what I think is a very important point- which is , all matches should have some part in the final outcome. In that manner the 1992 world cup was a great example. No team should be able to take any match lightly.<br />
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Two format suggestions:<br />
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1.<br />
12 or 14 team world cup.<br />
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Two groups of 6/7 teams each:<br />
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1.Top 3 teams qualify for the next round. <span style="color: red;"><b><i>- This removes the obvious assumption and makes the first round exciting</i></b></span><br />
2. The top team from each group qualifies for the final directly. The other teams play an eliminator game. So<br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">Eliminator: A2 vs B3 and A3 vs B2</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Semi Final: A1 plays (winner of A3 vs B2) and B1 plays (winner of A2 vs B3)</span><br />
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So this means it could be an A1-A2,A1-B1, or B1-B2 final, which satisfies the Fairness. It also gives exposure to the associates but still maintains importance of group matches.<br />
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Also this is a huge incentive for teams to finish top of the group. It's a direct entry to the SF without playing a knockout game<br />
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2.<br />
10 team world cup with a qualifier to select the last 2 spots<br />
Top 4 teams get to the semis<br />
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This is similar to 1992 format, but it will chop out associates. The qualifiers will obviously have less attendance and teams like Ireland might still miss out on exposure with the top teams if it's not their day. I would also suggest an IPL-like modification to reward the teams coming out tops.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Team 3 vs Team 4 play the eliminator</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">Team 1 vs Team 2 play the qualifier</span><br />
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The winner of qualifier goes into the final. The loser of qualifier meats the winner of the eliminator to have a second chance to go into the final .<br />
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The plus is that such a world cup will actually have so many quality matches. A tournament in which every player plays against every other player will have some great battles lined up. And it'll mean that every match will be important. For example, in 1992, Pakistan's entry into the semis was blessed by Aus defeating WI in the last league game. Makes things exciting!<br />
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Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-71304305693418324242015-04-15T18:32:00.000-07:002015-04-15T18:32:11.667-07:00Blogs - Kal, Aaj Aur Kal..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My blog has been fairly inactive for quite some time. There are some posts, fewer people reading and even fewer comments. Initially, it could be attributed to lack of time, lack of subjects, less creativity and people having less time to read the blog . And inevitably, it looks like my blog is dead.<br />
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The <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2010/08/enthusiasm-levels-of-blog.html" target="_blank">first sign</a> of it had already come in 2010, which is pretty much a normal path for people who are average in terms of content and language , and miserable in terms of people following, but soon enough I have realized that most bloggers who used to blog around have also stopped. And I think I know why.<br />
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Kind of dates back to why blogs became popular, When I first came to the USA, there were so many new things I saw. A time when calling cards were expensive, there were no social networks (Friendster was there, but I did not know about it, and honestly , when someone described it to me, I felt "what's the big deal about it :) ? ") . While I was making new friends, I missed some of my buddies and felt I should share the interesting things that are not mentioned in news. Some things that you should know about. So I wrote <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2013/08/ten-years-ago.html" target="_blank">this email</a> to a bunch of friends. People who were kind enough to tolerate the spam and appear to appreciate. Fueled my enthusiasm a little more, and more emails came by. Like <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-and-improved-life-n-times.html" target="_blank">this incident</a> . Before blogs, brief replies to emails meant so much. It was actually a huge acknowledgement that maybe what you are writing isn't as boring . And before long, I wanted to archive these things, all emails, all replies, just for the satisfaction of it.<br />
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And then I saw blogger. I don't remember, but it probably came from <a href="http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Animesh's blog</a> . Well, I too want to do something like that. And so the journey started. Lot of factors contributing to it . It was the time when everyone wanted to blog. I think all of us have 10 random topics on which we have an opinion and we want to voice it. So well, let it into the blogosphere. It's free, it's easy, and let the people decide if it's good content or not. The problem though is that all of us don't have more than 20 such things. And the literary / comic ability to make it sound nice. So slowly blogs decline.<br />
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However, I think this is not the reason blogs died. The reason was probably the advent of microblogging, transformation of social networking sites to be a means of microblogging, immediate response in the form of 'likes', and ease of using them as hand held devices became faster, cheaper and increasingly common.<br />
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One great example:<br />
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<a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2005/10/fire.html" target="_blank">This post in 2005</a><br />
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There was a fire in SF near my workplace, and well, I blogged about it. Now , it's interesting to imagine,<br />
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Or , when I first discovered <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2006/03/million-dollar-web-page.html" target="_blank">this great idea</a> .<br />
<br />
So in 2006, I blogged about it. In 2015, I would have shared it on facebook, and tagged it, people would like it , reshare it...<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, though, this means the decline of something we thought was so cool a decade back :). It was like a good friend when you needed someone to share your thoughts with.<br />
<br />
So goodbye, blogs - we'll be in touch of course :D. And of course, I'll put this on facebook so people like it and contribute more to the demise of it :P .<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-15353011523366803372014-02-02T19:26:00.002-08:002014-02-02T19:26:37.264-08:00Brilliant ideas in real life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
1. Re-organize - A robot that would automatically sort your room. I don't like my things dirty, but there was a time when things spread across the room was kind of common. The floor was clean, so no problems of hygiene there :P . But how I wished for this!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sphotos-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/11185_616253911764314_1491289352_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://sphotos-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/11185_616253911764314_1491289352_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
2. Search - Actually doable with non-invasive bar codes / tracking devices. An app to which if you ask "Honey, where's my watch?". It returns by making a beep sound or pointing to the exact location rather than "Why don't you keep your things correctly at the first place?"<br />
<br />
A better bet? Iphone/Android app for the same<br />
<br />
I thought that this must have been actually developed though not popular and turns out it is. Found a few of them <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/08/14/209917395/this-little-thing-may-help-you-find-your-keys" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://store.apple.com/us/product/H7522VC/A/pocketfinder-personal-gps-locator-powered-by-lbt" target="_blank">here</a> . I am sure this is a thing for the future<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://everythingfunny.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://everythingfunny.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1115.jpg" height="202" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
3. Personal lie recorder<br />
"A recorder that records all conversations you do with people - at least your own voice " - so you never go "What did I tell him about why I can't come to his stupid dance performance?"<br />
<br />
4. Personal wearable call assistant- Siri and Google goggles are almost there, but something that'll call people at one say and on a wearable device<br />
<br />
5. Personal wings set - what better than jet airplanes / hand gliders and skydiving parachutes- simply a set of personal wings that you can ride around like a bicycle or motorbike. This is something that is probably already in experimental mode, but I am wondering if someone finds out a way to make them for $200 and make them available to everyone. Seems too cheap? Well , that's what people said to IBM about computers!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://s.ngm.com/2011/09/personal-flight/img/personal-flight-615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://s.ngm.com/2011/09/personal-flight/img/personal-flight-615.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
(Image courtesy : National Georgraphic)<br />
<br />
6. Smarter Crowdsourcing apps<br />
<br />
There are a bunch of crowdsourcing apps in the market. But think about how divine you would feel if you had a google-esque system that whenever you need something, there might be someone offering to help you out. Like , you are waiting for a train and need to reach your office well in advance. A quick app allows you to find someone who'll take you in their car and charge you a nominal pre-fixed fee? OR , you are looking for that elusive technical spare part which is the last piece of a puzzle you are trying to solve and instead of getting it shipped from thousands of miles, you find that your neighbor has a box of it lying in his attic? While this is going to affect taxicabs and service providers, an amazingly smart thing for the future. In fact, I would be very excited to know how well it would work in India, a country which progressed slow during the initial computer revolution but suddenly took leaps and bounds during the internet and mobile revolution. On a lighter note, I am thinking one use would be to look for a 'bai' to come and clean your vessels on the day your maid took a day off :P<br />
<br />
..more to come hopefully :)<br />
<br /></div>
Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-83627599705846419182013-08-08T13:01:00.003-07:002013-08-08T13:01:56.404-07:00Ten years ago...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>It's been ten years to the day that I landed in the US. Here's a fun story from where it all started! It might sound a little long/kiddish/sms language (I can't believe I wrote like this) - but it surely is memorable to me. This post and the subsequent <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-and-improved-life-n-times.html" target="_blank">Life n Times emails</a> were what eventually transcribed into this blog! Hope you like it and do leave a comment if you do.</b><br />
<br />
hi ppl<br />
<br />
well now the big story<br />
<br />
well landed up at 7 aug nite at CSI :) chhatrapati shivaji int'l airport..my family and a few close<br />
relatives had come to drop me on ...and so had my coll frnds..<br />
<br />
was walkin down the long terminal ..when suddenly i bumped into a huge figur in front of me...pleasantly<br />
surprsied to find it was our very ownb dharam paji...<br />
<br />
<b>(Yes, I actually met Dharmendra on Bombay airport - I somehow lost the other part of this email. Basically I boarded the plane and reached Hong Kong. The flight had been late to take off, and I thought to myself that it would probably land late as well. The connection time I had as per schedule was one hour. Story continues after landing at HK airport)</b><br />
<br />
as already told...landed at hk airport...<br />
<br />
i looked at the watch b4 landing ..it was 115 pm ist...now my nxt flight was at 140 pm ist...and this flight was late..coz of the initial delay...i realised tht i wud prob hv no time at hk airport to send an email or for tht matter even call up home...<br />
<br />
first thing i realised..i cudnt find neone gettin down who was goin to be with me till LA...made me nervous<br />
came down ffrm the airport-plane bridge..there was this chinese guy standin<br />
<br />
i told him mu flight no and dest..<br />
<br />
he put a sticker on my jacket<br />
(YES I FORGOT TO TELL U THT I WAS WEARIN A FULL LENGTH SUIT AND A 2 LAYER LEATHER JACKET IN THIS HEAT TO CARRYMORE LUGGAGE)<br />
<br />
and said(he didnt knw much english)<br />
<br />
'there...go downstairs..catch train...upstairs...gate<br />
4 runnnnnnn'<br />
<br />
gosh..first cudnt find ne downstairs...<br />
<br />
after abt 500 m of running ..found a escalator goin down..still no company...<br />
<br />
found a train stop...which was pretty ultramodern..<br />
<br />
soon trrain arrived...<br />
<br />
now for those of u who think tht we indians are worstin boarding trains..these ppl are no better...<br />
<br />
it was like ppl rushin for a train at VT:) catchins eats and even standin supports...<br />
<br />
neways<br />
first i hd to figure out where i hd to get down ..<br />
<br />
luckily the train only had 2 tops..one where i got on..and the other where i hd to get off<br />
<br />
got off ..anbd found an escalator on which again ppl<br />
started rushing<br />
(AND NOW THE BIG ONE)<br />
<br />
went to a counter where there was this female...<br />
i gv her my boarding pass..and she saw it, saw her watch and said<br />
<br />
'u've ne idea wht time it is ..dont speak ..just run'<br />
<br />
and started running<br />
and i was running behind her on the big hk airpotr<br />
<br />
just say she was fast and helpful<br />
<br />
took me to the beginnin of a big security check line..had a security check done...the guy cudnt cpeak<br />
good english and i cudnt understand so pretty problematic again<br />
<br />
neways started running again. got nervous abt my docs as i was runnin hap hazardly..finally got near the<br />
flight<br />
<br />
the staff was helpful..they checlked and stamped my docs.,,and let me into the flight bridge<br />
<br />
and yes, here one more thing<br />
<br />
there was this old gujjulady running the same way as i was...and when she came to the checkin counter ..her<br />
ticket was taken frm here.../and she started worryin and fightin with them to return back the ticket<br />
<br />
now she sudnt speak english and these ppl cud not understand nethin..<br />
<br />
so i was called frm halfway down by the security officer to explain her..and i was actin as a translator..was reall funny ewven in this time ...<br />
<br />
to top it all ..my hand baggge gave in beautifully..tore off right next to the chain..with<br />
all my imp docs in........gave me the scare of my lif.e.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
neways got into the flight..<br />
<br />
<br />
and as the plane was abt to tke off i wanst sure if nethin had dropped frm tht bag..coz i dudnt knw when<br />
had given in........heart in my mouth<br />
<br />
neways flight took off..docs were ok ....<br />
<br />
still no companuy..although oi had a gentleman who wasan indian settled in the US and he was good to me...<br />
<br />
soon was up in the air<br />
<br />
the altitutde went higher and higher<br />
..8600-8700-8800-8900 and soon realiised tht i was<br />
higher thtn mt everest :D<br />
<br />
neways it got till 11300 m after which it was const...<br />
<br />
now i was in a boring flight for 13 hrs..with not much company...<br />
<br />
neways..<br />
<br />
the flight was boring..<br />
<br />
i had no one 4 company ..u cud say..except 2 gentlemen<br />
who were pretty old but ....phir bhi...it was good<br />
<br />
the food was too horrible..i hv to say<br />
<br />
theer were roti's tht looked like omletttes...sabji had no taste..wasnt even like bland..just terrible there was some rabdi yes..and tht was good :) then some time durin the flight i asked for some veg<br />
snacks and all they cud offer me was peanuts!!!!!<br />
<br />
neways. ..i slept quite a lot on the flight..almost 8-9 hrs...aur kucch thaa bhi nahin<br />
<br />
cathay boasts of givin every person a personal tv ad a personal audio channel with speakers..sounds hi tech<br />
doesnt it :)<br />
<br />
the fact is all but 2 channels in each carry chinese programs grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr<br />
<br />
and yes...the ppl on this flight..well..i wud say in my chamber...i cud find exactly 4 indians..suddenly this atmosphere seems hostile...<br />
<br />
believe me...there's a strange sense of hostility tht u feel in such a flight...the sun was out when we started at 4 pm hk time...itwent down at abt 7..to rise back at 11 again ...i was findin it pretty amusin...<br />
<br />
finally we reached the coast of california..and in a few min landed at LAx....<br />
<br />
to be frank here..i didnt find this airport way too different frm our very own CSI :) airport at bbay...<br />
<br />
its not out of the world or nethin..but yes..ppl r def more co-op at the airport thn at bbay<br />
<br />
for eg..i needed help in a form and a spanish gurl at the counter actually offered to fill one for me...and<br />
explain me everythin..nice ppl:)<br />
<br />
and now for a thrillin one.<br />
<br />
well..<br />
<br />
at La airport there was this long line for immigration..took me abt 2 hrs+<br />
<br />
finally got thru it and found my baggages lying somewhere....(US..organized?????????NO!!!!!!!)<br />
<br />
the baggages were all scattered over the place...<br />
<br />
and went thru for the customs...<br />
<br />
<br />
to save on luggage, i was wearin a suit andon it, a leather jacket..and tht too in a hot temp at LAx.(close to 40 degree celcius)<br />
<br />
and prob a cop found me suspicious enuf..so he asked 'u feelin too cold out here'.<br />
<br />
and thne he started questionin me abt my univ, why hv i come, where frm...(terrorsit type ;)<br />
<br />
then he took me to a restricted area..and srarted seein my docs and askin questions<br />
<br />
finally he asked me to open my bag.he wore proper gloves n all.imagine this in a foreign country..a cop is questionin u and checkin u ..andnsuspectin u to be a terrorist :)<br />
<br />
and then..one by one all items were removed from the bag<br />
<br />
pehle clothes..and then there was lotsa food courtesy my mom of course:)<br />
<br />
and every food packet he saw..he asked' whts this'<br />
<br />
and i said' food'<br />
<br />
he was kind of amused at the food i was carryin<br />
<br />
sweets<br />
then more sweets<br />
still more<br />
then theplas<br />
<br />
he was now showin signs of frustration<br />
<br />
then finally came a big dabba full of gol papdi..and he was like..are these also food..and i said<br />
yeah sweets<br />
<br />
then he said ok..no probs at all..<br />
<br />
and then when i asked him if he wanted to open my 2nd<br />
bag..he was like' no no its ok'.he was prob so irritated by the 1st..tht he cudnt<br />
think of goin for the 2nd:)<br />
<br />
so finally got out..the person who was supp to pick me up was waitin for almost 3 hrs..but i cudnt find her..<br />
<br />
all i cud see was chinese ppl with boards..and gettin more into my head..neways i finally found my<br />
aunt...and got to the apt in some time<br />
<br />
rushabh and dipesh (my roomies who had reached earlier) were there to welcome me<br />
:)..neways thts abt the story..will continue to send mails...<br />
<br />
so guys<br />
do keep in touch<br />
<br />
i m missin u all a lot<br />
<br />
i hope u hv the number<br />
1-213-741-6355<br />
<br />
do call in its 7 rs a min :D<br />
<br />
Harshit<br />
<br /></div>
Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-59384827932180053402012-10-01T17:24:00.001-07:002012-10-01T17:26:12.165-07:00(Nahi) Ho!<B> Old,Old event- draft completed recently </B>
<br /><br />
In my entire life, I have gone to a few concerts, Rehman, Indian Ocean, Kailash Kher to name some, and I generally feel the experience falls into one of the categories, Amazing!!!, Good, kind of OK- you find some negatives, maybe it could have been better. <br /><br />Till me (with N and J) saw Sukhi Paaji yesterday.
I have(actually make that had) generally been a fan of Sukhvinder Singh- and was really looking forward to a nice sunday evening.
<br /><br />Here's how it all went - the scheduled start was 6 pm
<br /><br /
>
6 pm : No, after being to so many Indian events, you learn that Indian Standard Time is at least 45 minutes past the scheduled time. We leave home in anticipation of a great evening. Though N and J had dressed to the occasion, I preferred traditional jeans and t-shirt
<br /><br />6:30 pm: Reach the concert, feel proud that we did not reach on time and still got a nice place to sit. In Gujju tradition, we step out to get some food.<br /><br />6:50 pm: The show gives it's first signs of starting- a singer comes and sings a couple of songs - and the crowd kind of reacts, feels this is a pre-cursor for the show<br /><br />7:05 pm: Random singer # 1 enters- he sings well- but people are now cheering for Sukhvinder to come in- my expectation is that he'll make a real big entry<br /><br />7:30 pm: Random singer # 1 continues- the crowd gets a little impatient, with 'We want Sukhvinder' heard around<br /><br />7:40 pm: The stage turns dark and someone comes onto stage. The music starts, and people think this is 'the moment' they are waiting for.<br /><br />7:42 pm: The singer starts singing- the voice is suspicious - and as soon as the lights come on- it is revealed, it's not Sukhvinder , but random singer # 2, more random than # 1, and singing really bad Punjabi songs . <br /><br />8:15 pm: Random singer #2 continues, there's an announcement, 'Now, we present what you all have been waiting for'. The crowd heaves it's final hurrah thinking yet again, that this is the moment<br /><br />8:20 pm: The announcement continues 'We present Tanushree Dutta'. No one cares, she is hovered with insults, boos and even shouts to get lost <br /><br />8:25 : Random singer #1 and #2 continue. Things are getting fairly bad with N,J and me. We update our status on facebook as things become popular in the outside world<br /><br />8:45 pm: We make a call if we should go home. Think maybe we can wait for a little more<br /><br />9:45 pm: 'Sukhiji ' makes it to the stage. A few apologies, and then he starts singing, the crowd enjoys it and some of us soon start enjoying the music. But, most people have lost enthusiasm in 3 hrs of wait<br /><br />10:05 pm: Sukvinder leaves the stage for a 'short break of 10 mins' We realize that things are indeed as wrong as they seem to be .
<br /><br />
10:10 pm: Going to a concert with a couple gets interesting when one wants to leave and one wants to continue to watch. I wasn't sure whom I would side with , except that I was equally pessimistic about any good music for the evening
<br /><br />
10:20 pm : Leave home - realization of a sunday evening and a (I really don't want to go to office) Monday Morning strike you. Vow to never ever watch a Sukhvinder Singh concert
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JMRNuoRGdIE/TBE-UVD09XI/AAAAAAAAQE0/L5HgUaM0KZY/s480/concert_saree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="480" width="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JMRNuoRGdIE/TBE-UVD09XI/AAAAAAAAQE0/L5HgUaM0KZY/s480/concert_saree.jpg" /></a></div>
Since the show was so bad- it would be inappropriate to put Sukhi's photo. This was the only nice photo I could think of, an elderly couple sitting in front of us on a cold, boring , Sunday evening .
Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-11466799377464975752011-09-06T13:47:00.001-07:002011-10-19T17:31:01.915-07:00A hair-raising, soul-realising experience<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cHA1Nv1nrTw/Tp9rq3lJ8sI/AAAAAAAAR58/0Kmt0LjY08E/s1600/GLORIA-STUART.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cHA1Nv1nrTw/Tp9rq3lJ8sI/AAAAAAAAR58/0Kmt0LjY08E/s320/GLORIA-STUART.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665365240473842370" /></a><br /><br /><br />I had decided that once I am done with the marathon, I'll put up a post about something non-related. Something more mainstream. Movies,Cricket, Indo-American values and the usual stuff we bloggers love to express our useless opinions on .<br /><br />But-here's something that happened, that I think I should write:<br /><br />It was one of the track events for the marathon program. After finishing it, I went to another location and parked my car. I had to buy something and I came back to my car. I just sat inside, all doors unlocked and was looking up a restaurant menu just to check what I could eat for dinner .<br /><br />Just about then, someone opened the right front door of my car (which was unintentionally unlocked) and came and sat right next to me. I was just too shocked to realise what was happening. It was an old lady with dense white hair . She was probably European and must be really old. She looked scared, and told me something in a language I did not understand. I was shit scared for a moment, but she seemed harmless and was trying to tell me something.<br /><br />Just as a precaution, I opened my left side door (I seriously thought of an emergency plan to escape the vehicle). But I was still somewhere confident that she was very harmless. She looked a little like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/media/rm305827328/nm0001784"> Gloria Stewart from Titanic </a> . She was trying to communicate me to go ahead , go ahead.<br /><br />The first impression was that - she got into the wrong car. I got out on the road to not find a single car. I tried to reason out with her - but to no avail. Finally, I waited for about 2-3 minutes, before I stopped a car (just waving my hand) and a Chinese lady stepped out. She was a little angry on me as to what I was up to- but I convinced her that I was in a situation that needed help. <br /><br />To my big relief, the Chinese lady understood my problem- she saw and said that there was an old age home board she could spot. She volunteered to go in and find someone as I stood outside my car, still kind of shocked by the event. The Chinese lady came back and said someone would come by soon, and left. I got into the car and tried to comfort the lady, but realised I was only scaring her more.<br /><br />I waited for what seemed an eternity - after which I stopped another car, and asked a gentleman to help me . Before he could do so, a nurse came out . She went and talked to the old lady . She apologized to me, but all I could say was "No don't worry about me- just take care of her".<br /><br />It was a feeling that left me sad. Sad enough that I could not eat dinner that night.<br />What must have gone through the old woman's mind to leave the old age home? Is old age really something that you just need to live waiting for your life to end? Will the western philosophy of "It's my life" lead everyone to such a life?<br /><br />The question remained unanswered. As for me,it's time to volunteer for another cause that's suddenly become close to my heart.<br /><br />(Image courtesy <a href="http://trueclassics.wordpress.com/"> trueclassics </a>)Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-64787942867885277322011-08-14T00:47:00.000-07:002011-08-22T23:01:35.576-07:00The Marathon - in pictures and words<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vAYNQog9Hr0/Tj9JVRxkjJI/AAAAAAAARs8/KsBO2cBbxbM/s1600/DSC_0201.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vAYNQog9Hr0/Tj9JVRxkjJI/AAAAAAAARs8/KsBO2cBbxbM/s320/DSC_0201.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638305888388549778" /></a>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The first thoughts after the half marathon</span>
<br />
<br />As I mentioned in my <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2011/07/from-huffhuff-half-mile-to-i-love-it-10.html">earlier post </a>, I was training to run the beautiful SF half marathon. Here's how it went:
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The build up to the race</span>
<br />
<br /><a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2011/08/marathon-in-pictures-and-words.html"></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />I was feeling quite well after I ran 11 miles comfortably at Crissy fields (which was preceded by two 9 and 10 mile runs), and it did not seem to be a big issue to run the 13 as such. Of course, there were 2 major issues. The first being that the race started at an insane 6:02 am, which meant, reaching SF by 5:00, which meant leaving South bay at 3:45, which meant leaving home at 3:15, in short waking up at 2 )
<br />
<br />For a nocturnal animal like me, sleeping early was going to be a pain, but luckily I slept at 10 pm. Before that, Mahesh and Arpan came home and we went over my checklist, getting everything ready, so on and so forth :)Everyone's mantra: Make sure you enjoy the race
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BPoZO-Iuy9U/Tj9KUPR_kbI/AAAAAAAARtE/Y-HG3UQ8Udg/s1600/me_and_arpan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BPoZO-Iuy9U/Tj9KUPR_kbI/AAAAAAAARtE/Y-HG3UQ8Udg/s320/me_and_arpan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638306970050990514" /></a>
<br />
<br />Me and Arpan the night before the race
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The morning</span>
<br />
<br />I had a sound sleep for close to 4 hours, and woke up at 2 am. With all preparations in place, got ready, had a little pain in the left leg (which had been a nagging issue), foam rolled a little and got ready for Arpan. Arpan came a little late as I stood outside in the cold updating my f/b status (Boy , am I addicted to that) and we soon got into the sunnyvale caltrain station .
<br />
<br />Got into the bus, chatted with Coach Raman, tried to sleep, eat something- too many thoughts.The bus had a restroom too-prob good for runners to avoid the port-a-potty lines [Every SF marathon starts with the first instruction as -get to the race and stand in a port-a-potty line] . My interesting observation was that the toilet in the bus had no flush, no lock, no light, but yes - it <i><b> had a mirror </i></b>. People were even more amused by how I observed that of all things
<br />
<br />Got down at the drop point- Figured out it was an awesome decision to take the shuttle, it drops you right at the start point. Met a few Asha runners- with similar sentiments, a little bit of fear, a nervousness, last minute things. I figured out that most people were not in the mood for too much stretching. I found Rohit, who was as enthusiastic as me to do a warmup and stretches (I had severe issues once when I ran without stretching). We decided to go for a warmup run - and I did not realise that Rohit's idea of the run was a pretty long one. Came back , did our warm ups (which in hindsight were very useful). The excitement continued till our wave was finally announced.
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yZ5eJ80YAH8/TlGtpXnv_VI/AAAAAAAARxY/_DwvrBqVRe0/s1600/Marathon_start.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yZ5eJ80YAH8/TlGtpXnv_VI/AAAAAAAARxY/_DwvrBqVRe0/s320/Marathon_start.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643482734298922322" /></a>
<br />
<br />The start of the marathon. Just about dawn. Awesome time . (photo courtesy Rupanshu)
<br />
<br />I lined up with Arpan , Sumedha and Parag (I am not sure how me and Rohit somehow did not end up together) . As soon as the wave went off, I started running with Arpan and Sumedha. The start is something to be careful about, you have to take care to not <b> trip or fall</b> else thousands of people are going to run you over in the race. Kept running, but realised they were too fast for me. I remembered the coaches advice - to <b> run slow during the first 2 miles </b>. I let these guys go ahead, but realised I was without company.
<br />
<br />Slowly, I started running, enjoying the beautiful SF coastline. First target- finish 5 miles and get to the Golden Gate Bridge. I went along at about 12 minutes a mile. I was seeing some people running with me , but no Asha folks. Was feeling very bored. As I approached the Golden Gate Bridge, I found a runner from AID. We talked for a bit, she was running a little slower than I was - but we were both in for some well needed company, the race was getting pretty dull otherwise.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />The Golden Gate Bridge is visible from very early on in the race- and as you slowly move towards it, the excitement increased. We kept running and soon reached the Golden Gate Bridge
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sbh1HS8DSy4/TlGu37w7d2I/AAAAAAAARxg/VhwKj2QrO_g/s1600/1959.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sbh1HS8DSy4/TlGu37w7d2I/AAAAAAAARxg/VhwKj2QrO_g/s320/1959.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643484084030895970" /></a>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><u> The Golden Gate Bridge Stretch </u></span>
<br />
<br />This was the most amazing part of the race. As we started running, suddenly, the feeling of tiredness and pain seemed low. This was what I had dreamt off 3 months back, this is why I had signed up for the first half at an unearthly hour . The Golden Gate Bridge means a lot to every resident of the valley- and it was a true pleasure running over it.I met Coach Bharath on the way, but he asked me to run faster since he was running the full.Eventually though, I stopped for taking a photo and saw him way ahead of me .
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcweN98ZR-0/TlGvaEI1vFI/AAAAAAAARxw/OTh5faBWAFw/s1600/1964.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcweN98ZR-0/TlGvaEI1vFI/AAAAAAAARxw/OTh5faBWAFw/s320/1964.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643484670394219602" /></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lo-baZjPlf8/TlGvZwAB-fI/AAAAAAAARxo/YGAPe2V2wUQ/s1600/1963.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lo-baZjPlf8/TlGvZwAB-fI/AAAAAAAARxo/YGAPe2V2wUQ/s320/1963.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643484664988563954" /></a>
<br />
<br /><b> Some more photos along the Golden Gate Bridge </b>
<br />
<br />To add to my happiness , I got an sms from Himani- that they were on their way. The bridge was beautiful, I got my iphone out and decided to take as many pictures as I could. It was nice and cool, till my iphone realized that handling 3 applications of Camera, Ipod and the running app was getting too much for it, and it crashed. Crashed pretty bad. It was a tedious thing to stop in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge and try like an idiot to restart your phone .
<br />
<br />But then, something struck me. Might sound filmi, but I realised that the app, the camera, the music, was nothing compared to the beauty of this place and the experience of the race. It somehow reminded me of "Zindagi na milegi Dobara" and I decided to shut it down, squeeze it in and just enjoy the beauty. It was heavenly, awesome! I was again down to running alone since my friend had ITB issues and stopped abruptly.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><u> The last few miles </u></span>
<br />
<br />All through the marathon,I have had this psychological thing. Once you cross the halfway mark, it all seems fine. I have had this in the 2 mile run , 3 mile run, right down till the 10 mile run. After crossing the GGB, you knew that you were done with more than 50% of the race and it was just a matter of time now.
<br />
<br />The other interesting part is that through the Golden Gate Bridge, with runners running in 2 directions, I was finally able to see some known faces from Asha [ it felt awesome, Team Asha rocks!] . We kept on egging each other, with "almost there" and (Coach Raman special) "Looking Good" . I was running exactly as per my expected time, and maybe a little faster, so I decided to take it a little easy. Did a run-walk for about half a mile.
<br />
<br />I saw Balu and Chakri along the way, as they shouted "Hey, it's Harshit " click click! and I posed for some nice snaps. Thanks guys! - it was awesome to see a known face after a while and someone actually shouting for you . Both of you guys rock!
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wr2oVnXxptY/TlGwf7cK0rI/AAAAAAAARx4/Lss4-eVUqhU/s1600/chakri.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wr2oVnXxptY/TlGwf7cK0rI/AAAAAAAARx4/Lss4-eVUqhU/s320/chakri.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643485870650217138" /></a>
<br />
<br />I lost my running companion somewhere, she was running like a hare, stop at times, and then run fast, and I was like a tortoise, running slowly now with a lot of rolling hills. Met some more runners on the way including Vikram (my Baylands AM mentor), who was running with Nupur .
<br />
<br />Vikram slowed down a little with Nupur for some stretches, and asked me to go ahead. Soon I hit my 11 mile marker and now I exactly knew what I had to do. It was a less crowded SF street with runners a little more tired and a little less enthusiastic, so I restarted my phone , and called Himani and the other folks that I was expected to come down the finish line soon. I decided not to ask her who all had come, the suspense and excitement were keeping me going .I decided to continue walking till I hit the 12 miler, so that I could finish the race in full strength. It is interesting that amongst all the excitement, you still want to look strong when your friends and on lookers are seeing you. Decided to walk till mile 12.
<br />
<br />Hit the 12 miler, it was a little uphill so I continued walking for a bit. Started running , I don't know why, but I felt emotional, had moist eyes. It was maybe the culmination of the dream to run the half-marathon, the happiness of actually raising money for kids, the belief in myself that I could do this, or just the pleasure of being with yourself, or the anticipation that soon friends would see you and cheer for you.
<br />
<br />
<br />Very soon, could soon spot Sneha and Ritika - who had both run this race last year. Before I knew, I could see Chetan, Himani, Jigi, Nimish,Kanu all coming and running with me, with Kanu instructing me to "go slow" for non-marathoners :). It was such a sweet experience. I carried on to the finish line and maybe missed the idiotic electronic bib tracker which meant my timing was screwed up.But who cares ? I know I finished the race in good time and thats all that mattered.
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OBb5p9y4pIY/TlGw6fVYXgI/AAAAAAAARyI/_yBbOtILEOU/s1600/finish_line.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OBb5p9y4pIY/TlGw6fVYXgI/AAAAAAAARyI/_yBbOtILEOU/s320/finish_line.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643486326962019842" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />I went over to collect my medal- and seeing it was so awesome!
<br />
<br />Akki came out of nowhere with his DSLR and took <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/alkeshnshah/AshaMarathonJul2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPTpvWU_OuugwE#">very cool photos</a>. It is great when people are like "Mera bhi ek photo Harshit ke saath" -I was enjoying the momentary celebrity status . Some friends called , spoke to them, updated facebook, took more pictures.
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZhNgQCDyL2Q/TlGz0GT2hUI/AAAAAAAARyg/zJ056A6Bo8w/s1600/DSC_0178.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZhNgQCDyL2Q/TlGz0GT2hUI/AAAAAAAARyg/zJ056A6Bo8w/s320/DSC_0178.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643489515700389186" /></a>
<br />
<br /><b> The cheering squad (most of them). Thanks for coming by guys! </b>
<br />
<br />We had a lovely time together after which they left for home.I met Wako , it was awesome to see her, given that she had been one of the people who had constantly motivated me throughout the season. Soon, I found Vikas, Akash, Divya and we headed to catch a shuttle to the Asha Tent.
<br />
<br />We reached the Asha tent to meet our fellow runners/ coaches / mentors and some great food. Imagine getting paneer , parathas, gulab jamun, Raita and Samosas . It was freaking awesome! Thanks to all the people who made it possible (Asha volunteers are awesome. I can name a few, but I am sure there were a lot more who were involved)
<br />
<br />Chatted with Coaches,runners before we headed out to Shivam's place for a relaxing session ahead :).Thanks to all the wonderful coaches, volunteers, all friends who cheered and supported me , Mahesh Palekar for being a driving force through the marathon. It's been an awesome one.
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<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OrU-8jonnfI/TlG0oA-PjeI/AAAAAAAARyo/umMDHswL86o/s1600/baylands_pm.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OrU-8jonnfI/TlG0oA-PjeI/AAAAAAAARyo/umMDHswL86o/s320/baylands_pm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643490407620775394" /></a>
<br />
<br /><b> Baylands PM group met on the Monday after the race - most of us just enjoyed the feeling while season 2 runners did their stretching and strengthening and then used their help to click so many nice photos . Can you also believe that just the people in this picture must have raised about 40,000$ to 50,000$ this year alone ? (numbers might be approximate) </b>
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xI937JyKols/TlG0oc6IeLI/AAAAAAAARyw/mu2f6y0OfVk/s1600/bayland_potluck.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xI937JyKols/TlG0oc6IeLI/AAAAAAAARyw/mu2f6y0OfVk/s320/bayland_potluck.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643490415119726770" /></a>
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<br />
<br /><b> Both Baylands groups on a potluck party after the race </b>
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<br />More coming soon ! Oh btw, if you wish to donate <a href="https://www.ashanet.org/siliconvalley/marathon/runnernet2/public.php?2011TASV1145">here's the link! </a>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-69071118207314569732011-07-31T16:36:00.000-07:002011-08-07T19:32:02.280-07:00I run ....for them and for me :)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vAYNQog9Hr0/Tj9JVRxkjJI/AAAAAAAARs8/KsBO2cBbxbM/s1600/DSC_0201.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vAYNQog9Hr0/Tj9JVRxkjJI/AAAAAAAARs8/KsBO2cBbxbM/s320/DSC_0201.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638305888388549778" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The first thoughts after the half marathon</span><br /><br />As I mentioned in my <a href="http://harshits.blogspot.com/2011/07/from-huffhuff-half-mile-to-i-love-it-10.html">earlier post </a>, I was training to run the beautiful SF half marathon. Here's how it went:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The build up to the race</span><br /><br />I was feeling quite well after I ran 11 miles comfortably at Crissy fields (which was preceded by two 9 and 10 mile runs), and it did not seem to be a big issue to run the 13 as such. Of course, there were 2 major issues. The first being that the race started at an insane 6:02 am, which meant, reaching SF by 5:00, which meant leaving South bay at 3:45, which meant leaving home at 3:15, in short waking up at 2 )<br /><br />For a nocturnal animal like me, sleeping early was going to be a pain, but luckily I slept at 10 pm. Before that, Mahesh and Arpan came home and we went over my checklist, getting everything ready, so on and so forth :)Everyone's mantra: Make sure you enjoy the race<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BPoZO-Iuy9U/Tj9KUPR_kbI/AAAAAAAARtE/Y-HG3UQ8Udg/s1600/me_and_arpan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BPoZO-Iuy9U/Tj9KUPR_kbI/AAAAAAAARtE/Y-HG3UQ8Udg/s320/me_and_arpan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638306970050990514" /></a><br /><br />Me and Arpan the night before the race <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The morning</span><br /><br />I had a sound sleep for close to 4 hours, and woke up at 2 am. With all preparations in place, got ready, had a little pain in the left leg (which had been a nagging issue), foam rolled a little and got ready for Arpan. Arpan came a little late as I stood outside in the cold updating my f/b status (Boy , am I addicted to that) and we soon got into the sunnyvale caltrain station .<br /><br />Got into the bus, chatted with Coach Raman, tried to sleep, eat something- too many thoughts.The bus had a restroom too-prob good for runners to avoid the port-a-potty lines [Every SF marathon starts with the first instruction as -get to the race and stand in a port-a-potty line] . My interesting observation was that the toilet in the bus had no flush, no lock, no light, but yes - it <i><b> had a mirror </i></b>. People were even more amused by how I observed that of all things<br /><br />Got down at the drop point- Figured out it was an awesome decision to take the shuttle, it drops you right at the start point. Met a few Asha runners- with similar sentiments, a little bit of fear, a nervousness, last minute things. I figured out that most people were not in the mood for too much stretching. I found Rohit, who was as enthusiastic as me to do a warmup and stretches (I had severe issues once when I ran without stretching). We decided to go for a warmup run - and I did not realise that Rohit's idea of the run was a pretty long one. Came back , did our warm ups (which in hindsight were very useful). The excitement continued till our wave was finally announced.<br /><br />I lined up with Arpan , Sumedha and Parag (I am not sure how me and Rohit somehow did not end up together) . As soon as the wave went off, I started running with Arpan and Sumedha. The start is something to be careful about, you have to take care to not <b> trip or fall</b> else thousands of people are going to run you over in the race. Kept running, but realised they were too fast for me. I remembered the coaches advice - to <b> run slow during the first 2 miles </b>. I let these guys go ahead, but realised I was without company.<br /><br />Slowly, I started running, enjoying the beautiful SF coastline. First target- finish 5 miles and get to the Golden Gate Bridge. I went along at about 12 minutes a mile. I was seeing some people running with me , but no Asha folks. Was feeling very bored. As I approached the Golden Gate Bridge, I found a runner from AID. We talked for a bit, she was running a little slower than I was - but we were both in for some well needed company, the race was getting pretty dull otherwise. <br /><br />The Golden Gate Bridge is visible from very early on in the race- and as you slowly move towards it, the excitement increased. We kept running and soon reached the Golden Gate Bridge <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><u> The Golden Gate Bridge Stretch </u></span><br /><br />This was the most amazing part of the race. As we started running, suddenly, the feeling of tiredness and pain seemed low. This was what I had dreamt off 3 months back, this is why I had signed up for the first half at an unearthly hour . The Golden Gate Bridge means a lot to every resident of the valley- and it was a true pleasure running over it.I met Coach Bharath on the way, but he asked me to run faster since he was running the full.Eventually though, I stopped for taking a photo and saw him way ahead of me .<br /><br />To add to my happiness , I got an sms from Himani- that they were on their way. The bridge was beautiful, I got my iphone out and decided to take as many pictures as I could. It was nice and cool, till my iphone realized that handling 3 applications of Camera, Ipod and the running app was getting too much for it, and it crashed. Crashed pretty bad. It was a tedious thing to stop in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge and try like an idiot to restart your phone . <br /><br />But then, something struck me. Might sound filmi, but I realised that the app, the camera, the music, was nothing compared to the beauty of this place and the experience of the race. It somehow reminded me of "Zindagi na milegi Dobara" and I decided to shut it down, squeeze it in and just enjoy the beauty. It was heavenly, awesome! I was again down to running alone since my friend had ITB issues and stopped abruptly.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><u> The last few miles </u></span><br /><br />All through the marathon,I have had this psychological thing. Once you cross the halfway mark, it all seems fine. I have had this in the 2 mile run , 3 mile run, right down till the 10 mile run. After crossing the GGB, you knew that you were done with more than 50% of the race and it was just a matter of time now.<br /><br />The other interesting part is that through the Golden Gate Bridge, with runners running in 2 directions, I was finally able to see some known faces from Asha [ it felt awesome, Team Asha rocks!] . We kept on egging each other, with "almost there" and (Coach Raman special) "Looking Good" . I was running exactly as per my expected time, and maybe a little faster, so I decided to take it a little easy. Did a run-walk for about half a mile.<br /><br />I saw Balu and Chakri along the way, as they shouted "Hey, it's Harshit " click click! and I posed for some nice snaps. Thanks guys! - it was awesome to see a known face after a while and someone actually shouting for you . Both of you guys rock!<br /><br />I lost my running companion somewhere, she was running like a hare, stop at times, and then run fast, and I was like a tortoise, running slowly now with a lot of rolling hills. Met some more runners on the way including Vikram (my Baylands AM mentor), who was running with Nupur .<br /><br />Vikram slowed down a little with Nupur for some stretches, and asked me to go ahead. Soon I hit my 11 mile marker and now I exactly knew what I had to do. It was a less crowded SF street with runners a little more tired and a little less enthusiastic, so I restarted my phone , and called Himani and the other folks that I was expected to come down the finish line soon. I decided not to ask her who all had come, the suspense and excitement were keeping me going .I decided to continue walking till I hit the 12 miler, so that I could finish the race in full strength. It is interesting that amongst all the excitement, you still want to look strong when your friends and on lookers are seeing you. Decided to walk till mile 12. <br /><br />Hit the 12 miler, it was a little uphill so I continued walking for a bit. Started running , I don't know why, but I felt emotional, had moist eyes. It was maybe the culmination of the dream to run the half-marathon, the happiness of actually raising money for kids, the belief in myself that I could do this, or just the pleasure of being with yourself, or the anticipation that soon friends would see you and cheer for you.<br /><br />Very soon, could soon spot Sneha and Ritika - who had both run this race last year. Before I knew, I could see Chetan, Himani, Jigi, Nimish,Kanu all coming and running with me, with Kanu instructing me to "go slow" for non-marathoners :). It was such a sweet experience. I carried on to the finish line and maybe missed the idiotic electronic bib tracker which meant my timing was screwed up.But who cares ? I know I finished the race in good time and thats all that mattered.<br /><br />I went over to collect my medal- and seeing it was so awesome! <br /><br />Akki came out of nowhere with his DSLR and took <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/alkeshnshah/AshaMarathonJul2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPTpvWU_OuugwE#">very cool photos</a>. It is great when people are like "Mera bhi ek photo Harshit ke saath" -I was enjoying the momentary celebrity status . Some friends called , spoke to them, updated facebook, took more pictures. We had a lovely time together after which they left and I found Vikas, Akash, Divya and we headed to catch a shuttle to the Asha Tent.<br /><br /><br /><br />We reached the Asha tent to meet our fellow runners/ coaches / mentors and some great food. Imagine getting paneer , parathas, gulab jamun, Raita and Samosas . It was freaking awesome! Thanks to all the people who made it possible (Asha volunteers are awesome. I can name a few, but I am sure there were a lot more who were involved)<br /><br />Chatted with Coaches,runners before we headed out to Shivam's place for a relaxing session ahead :).Thanks to all the wonderful coaches, volunteers, all friends who cheered and supported me , Mahesh Palekar for being a driving force through the marathon. It's been an awesome one. <br /><br /><br /><br />More coming soon ! Oh btw, if you wish to donate <a href="https://www.ashanet.org/siliconvalley/marathon/runnernet2/public.php?2011TASV1145">here's the link! </a>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-22981403912868706872011-07-25T09:48:00.000-07:002011-07-25T09:50:19.729-07:00Educate! Encourage! Empower !Weird blogpost this time - because I am going to ask you to simply visit <a href="https://www.ashanet.org/siliconvalley/marathon/runnernet2/public.php?2011TASV1145">this page </a> :)Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-17760839172940383172011-07-09T15:12:00.000-07:002011-07-09T16:06:25.169-07:00From (huff)(huff) half a mile to (I love it) 10 miles!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fJLJrXiOafA/Thje616aiLI/AAAAAAAARmw/paaQhWlOP8U/s1600/teamasha.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 47px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fJLJrXiOafA/Thje616aiLI/AAAAAAAARmw/paaQhWlOP8U/s320/teamasha.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627492836885301426" /></a><br /><br /><br />As most of you would have observed / known, I have been training to run the Half Marathon this year.<br /><br />I would not say that I got into it almost by accident, in fact, it was something that I was looking forward to it ever since <a href="http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/2006/03/262-miles-of-pain-sweat-and.html">Animesh's marathon </a>. It was an interesting thing to think about. Can I, who would go huff huff in half a mile of running, actually think of running 13.1 miles (or more than 21 km,or more literally,<a href="http://tinyurl.com/kurla"> from Kurla to the Gateway of India </a>)<br /><br />With so many of friends here in the bay area running the marathon with Asha, it was almost imminent that I would follow suit. And I did , this year.<br /><br />To be honest, the decision was not that easy. I first played with the idea of just working with Asha. As you would put in a job resume, "Use my interpersonal skills to benefit the organization". I joined Team Asha as a volunteer earlier this year - working towards getting sponsorships , contacting tons of businesses and asking them if they would contribute to the noble cause. I was getting into marketing (albeit for a good cause) after quite a few years- and soon enough, I managed to get sponsorships of almost 2000$ for the cause.<br /><br />And then came the idea of taking up the challenge. I show up for the first couple of runs, and find people from all ages, castes, nationalities, professions show up and run. Trust me, that worked- or was the "Aha" moment for me. The truth is that you can't stop when a 50 year old gentleman keeps running right next to you and keeps encouraging you. <br /><br />1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and today I ran a full 10 miles ( and also a little more due to a missed mile marker :P) ,and am all set to run the <a href="http://www.thesfmarathon.com/"> SF half marathon </a> which runs right over the lovely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_gate_bridge"> Golden Gate Bridge </a><br /><br />But then, why run this marathon? Coming up in next post. Soon. Very soon.Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-7795106059372733152011-03-12T16:12:00.000-08:002011-03-13T16:40:43.758-07:00The big business men of Mumbai<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-beJHQn-SMQU/TX1UJKa90aI/AAAAAAAARMw/7tOfg4HOpvA/s1600/Gola.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-beJHQn-SMQU/TX1UJKa90aI/AAAAAAAARMw/7tOfg4HOpvA/s320/Gola.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583711629402296738" /></a><br /><br /><b> Post-started in Oct- laziness and work meant procrastination </b><br /><br /><br />So Barack Obama is visiting India. While people are speaking about the impact of this visit on Indo-US relations , about what previous presidents did, about how Obama answered students of Bombay, there was one news story that caught my eye. <br /><br />The closing of sections in and around the areas where Obama was visiting (in Mumbai) and how normal people faced harassment. Security for a visiting foreign head of state is one thing, and enforcing <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_not-everyone-s-going-gaga-over-the-obamas-in-mumbai_1463175"> curfew </a>(Some residences in South Bombay were advised- come home at 7 pm - or else next morning ). Well, still, I might accept that.<br /><br />But the worst I felt was for the small business men of Mumbai. Coming from the city, and also being a Gujarati - who are famous (or infamous) to be very great at business , I felt bad for a lot of people who earn their daily bread and butter by putting up stalls/ tapri's / or even doing roadside vending . While some people might term them as a perennial nuisance , I have somehow always been impressed by this class of people.<br /><br />I have developed this habit of striking conversations with people in India. More often than not, it works wonders, and also gives me an insight that is very rare to achieve. Like that doli-wallah who lifts people across 3800 steps in Palitana for a meager amount. Like that rickshawallah who earns 200 Rs a day, spends rs 20 on himself and sends the rest to his family. And for all the criticism that these people might fact for making Bombay unclean, unhygienic , disorganized, corrupt - my heart still always has a lot of respect for them. All of them have some common points: A simple business idea, innovative techniques for sales and marketing, a lot of hard work and an aim to make it big.<br /><br />Last year, I was having a 'Dabeli' at a small roadside joint, when I happened to ask the guy, how old was he, and how did he run this business. The conversation was simply mind blowing. He told me about his business- this guy used to sell about 350 Dabelis in a 8-10 hour shift at 8 Rs / piece. On further analysis, I figured out that the cost of materials/ transport / cleaning /miscellaneous came to about a 1000 rupees a day. And wait, this meant that this guy was making a clean profit of Rs.1800 per day!!!! If this wasn't enough, he said that he takes a lot of party orders where the revenue is much higher. <br /><br />The truth about Bombay (which I know a lot of people might not be very convinced about) is that if you are intelligent, willing to work hard and know to do the simple things correct- it'll never betray you. I had a similar conversation with a Taxi driver. Sometimes, it just helps if you show some respect by sitting on the front seat and referring to people as 'Aap'. They are after all, simple people, who are trying to make their living, working hard. He said he earned about 20,000 rupees a month and though he himself came from a poor family in UP, he had made sure that his son and daughter have the best access to education and they don't have to struggle. He spoke about his early days, when he had to save money, make efforts to go forward in life, and how that period makes him a very satisfied man today. I could see bits of my first day in the US- and was somehow so happy that he was satisfied by his life today.<br /><br />The third was an interaction with one of my father's friends, who had come to India in the 1950-1960s , and started doing odd jobs. From there, he started selling pens which he would buy from a wholesale market and sell them on the streets of Bombay. From there, to a small shop, from there, to a wholesale business, and finally to become one of the Bombay-made Crorepati. <br /><br />True, Bombay has the stock market, one of the best natural harbours, some great industries set up by the Parsi businessmen in the early 20th century- but seriously, if there's one point that is a big factor to the development of the city as the commercial capital of India, it's this bit of entrepreneurship that people seem to have learnt from their mother's womb and the willingness to work hard - maybe not just hard, but hard enough to make the impossible possible. Something that involves self-made management skills. <br /><br />The only sorry thing is that their businesses (as mentioned earlier) are subject to losses when India or in particular Bombay succumbs to one of the many 'business-stopper' events. Be it the Shiv Sena Bandhs, the rains - and really irritating- Obama's visit meant that a good part of Bombay was closed to the general public - and that too on the eve of Diwali/ New Year which are prime holidays and mean a lot of business to these people.<br /><br />The other interesting angle I see in this- is the commonality I find between my first days in the US - to what they must have had in Bombay. Any city which breeds immigrants (be it domestic or International) has a flavor which is worth an experience. The Bombay that I have seen- is surely different from what they have . A lot of things we took for granted- from having your own home , to having parents with you always , is something, they have fought their way through. That - coupled with the spirit of the entrepreneurs of Bombay- is what makes the city special !Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-84129948962542413092011-02-20T12:30:00.000-08:002011-02-20T13:18:05.902-08:00Do Dooni Chaar ! and some memories!The Indian cinema in the last decade has seen a lot of change. The most evident according to me - is the acceptance of movies which need not have even one of the basic masala ingredients (a) a love story (b) a fight sequence (c) a conventional story (yes, all hat-ke movies did need to have some kind of convention in the 1990s)- and where a simple but well made story line would still gain acceptance and popularity among the masses <br /><br />And one of the movies that I really loved off late was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Dooni_Chaar"> Do Dooni Chaar </a> . It's a simple story really- a story of a middle class family in Delhi with a school teacher as head of the family- and how the school teacher struggles between balancing his ideals and wallet to make his children happy.<br /><br />And the film was really well made, and had a nice message too. And the movie definitely was a reminder of the tremendous effort all those teachers at Friends School put in to make me what I am today. To all you great people, a real big thanks from the heart . I wouldn't have come so far without holding on to your finger. Again - Thanks!<br /><br />But then, the film disturbed me to an extent. And the reason was it's truthfulness and the fact that there is something wrong in India. Why are the schools not as great as they should be - when the teachers working there are extremely hardworking and intelligent too ( At least I can vouch that for all of my teachers) ? Why is it that people will do timepass while listening to lectures in school but pay the same amount of attention to the same thing being taught by an equal or lesser-experienced teacher in the badly crammed A/C room of a coaching class ? Why is it that people will pay tens of thousands on tution and coaching classes, but crib for a school fee raise of a hundred rupees? Why is it that we sat through 7.5 hours everyday during our summer vacations ( 2.5 months non stop including sundays ), but cribbed about being called for a saturday extra class?<br /><br />Something , somewhere is not right. Having said that, I won't be radical to say that the system is totally messed up- and neither would I say that coaching classes are necessarily bad. No one in the entire system is bad in their own right, and at the end of the day, they are all good teachers, trying to make their life a bit better by giving knowledge to students. It's any day an extremely noble profession.<br /><br />A brief analysis of what I think the problem / what the solution could be:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">a. Low pay scales at school</span><br /><br />This I think is really is the bottom of all things. I could not find enough data on the internet (some stats <a href="http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=High_School_Teacher/Salary"> here </a>) - but the truth as we all know is (and what the film signifies is) - it's not deserving enough. Some school teachers I know say that the only reason to stick to a school is to have an 'extra income' and to be in constant touch with students. So then, if we are ready to pay the teacher the same salary for tution classes , why not give more fees- which would in turn increase their salaries and in-turn their performance?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">b. School hours and attendance worries </span><br /><br />This is really the most interesting part here. As I mentioned before, why do people crib so much about long school hours (which are mostly less than the hours you spend in classes anyways)? On the other hand, why do schools crib about attendance? <br /><br />As a student myself, I know that there are some lectures which would benefit me to such an extent that I would think a hundred times before missing them. This in turn would also enable teachers to develop reputation and the feedback on them (simply measured in terms of how many students actually turn up for their class)- would ensure that good teachers are rewarded and under-performing ones are put through developmental programs.<br /><br />So, really, why force students to sit through lectures? Also, that is a consequence of (a) . I am sure if a student missed school, the parents would be fine, but if they missed a coaching class , the parents would be "We paid 5000 rupees for this one" - you have to go and you have to be serious about it. Simple solution: let the performance of teachers get the attendance running- and for good teachers, I am sure students would not mind odd hours (longer than the school hours)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3. A constant crib about the system</span><br /><br />The classic problem which magnifies itself as "Is desh ka kucch nahin ho sakta" . <br /><br />If there is one thing I could change during my attitude when I was in India- it is the constant belief in the minds of all that the system is faulty - there's more emphasis on memorizing, there's not enough attention to every student - and so on. During my engineering days, an HR person from a famous IT company in India who came for college recruiting said these words " The first thing we need to do is to train you for 3-6 months. You haven't learned anything during your engineering. We need you to forget all this and begin re-learning" . <br /><br />Why? Having worked in the USA-there's an enormous respect for Indian learning standards here too. And frankly, the system might be flawed, but it's definitely not something that is not useful. Maybe it needs some tweaks. A greater emphasis on class projects and practical work. A more systematic examination system. But to term it as non-useful is a crime- and also a bad thing to instill in the minds of young students. <br /><br />The same holds true for schools. Why constantly blame teachers for being too fast when you could have asked a few more questions? Although-somewhere, the schools are also to blame for having given up on a few of these things. <br /><br />Solution to the problem: An active, secure feedback system - where parents can raise their concerns , not about individual teachers, but maybe point out great ways to improve them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4. More realistic and popular scholarship plans</span><br /><br />I got an NTS scholarship which is awarded to only 750 students in India every year. During my school days, the scholarship used to be less than Rs. 3000 per year. While for me, it was more of a reward, but for students who really needed it- I am sure it was way lower than the mark. To give you a comparison, the Tata Foundations used to give out scholarships upto Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 to a lot of deserving Engineering students strictly on the basis of performance.<br /><br />The sad truth is that the NTS is really known for the honour it gives you- but not really for the scholarship amount - which I am sure is one of the important issues it is designed to address. <br /><br />Solution:<br /><br />How about corporates giving an income-based scholarship to NTS students (and maybe based on other criteria like merit/sports etc) who actually need them? It could be based in income alright, but then every student would be happy to pay their fees and not burden their parents with it.<br /><br />Also, how about schools charging a little higher fees, but having 10 selected students - based on merit, performance - to have their school year free? <br /><br />--Incomplete blog, hope to add more stuff here soon --<br /><br />Again, a big thanks to all teachers!Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-64963109382874599902010-11-20T14:00:00.000-08:002010-11-28T11:07:25.423-08:00How to become a successful astrologer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Jsof7qVGqTk/TGc7rtZ6TYI/AAAAAAAAQRc/YOIUmqFVwWI/s1600/popatcha_popat_zala.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 228px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Jsof7qVGqTk/TGc7rtZ6TYI/AAAAAAAAQRc/YOIUmqFVwWI/s320/popatcha_popat_zala.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505434691592408450" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"> Note: This post is not intended to be insulting towards astrologers or numerologists . It's just a take on an idea to mimic an astrologer without any knowledge. Please take in lighter vein :) </span><br /><br />In my school and college days, my Dad got an interesting hobby- numerology. He found a book and then used to tell people things about them from that book - and it looked as if the book was 60-70% accurate.<br /><br />One other time, I had an encounter with a self-proclaimed 'Gyaani' who told me things about myself. Slowly and steadily, I found a pattern . There was something about this that would work without any astrology skills. <br /><br />I have tried this trick on a few people and it has worked. It's simple really.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1. Claim that you have studied astrology via a book/parents/guru for a short time</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2. Generate some interest by claiming that you have generally been accurate</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3. Take the person's birth details , ask some questions [ like if they say they were born on so-and-so date, ask for time , confirm somethings ]. This simply builds your reputation and makes people think that you know a lot.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4. Start out with the predictions</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"> i. You are a very hardworking person <span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />This is really a line which no one in the world will every deny. Even people like Arjuna Ranatunga will say that they would always claim that they are extremely hardworking<br /><br />Interest piqued.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">ii. You have not really achieved what you are capable of . Something that would match your intelligence and diligence.</span></span><br /><br />99 % of the world thinks like this. I do. My boss does. His boss does. It's human nature. This might result in a sign of "So true!!"<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">iii. You are very helpful and considerate to people's needs.</span></span><br /><br />This one works in a crowd setting. No one is going to admit in a bunch of people that he or she is the most selfish person born on planet Earth. Even without people, it's extremely difficult to tell your inside ego that you are really quite selfish from inside. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"> iv. You have had a really major incident in your life in the last x years [ Make x between 5 and 10 depending upon the person's age </span></span><br /><br />Trust me, everyone of us has had one major incident in the last 5-10 years [ Getting a job, an accident, moving countries, getting a baby, starting a new business]. Most people will be like , 'Yeah, absolutely correct! This happened 5 years back!'<br /><br />If you know the person and his life history well, try to be more accurate here. It'll work wonders.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />5. At this point, check the mood. If you think your reputation is built, move to next step. Else loop around </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6. Time to start with predictions. This is the easy part. There's no reference to check, so you can get away with what bu** you say.</span> <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"> i. The next 5 years are going to be very important in your life</span></span><br /><br /> This is a charge-up line. Like having a coffee before an exam. It'll suddenly get the feeling of "It's time to do something"<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"> ii. You should take more risks at this age </span></span><br /><br />This thing is sure to get some questions. If you are comfortable, make up a Ekta Kapoor-esque story involving Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun ( or in Indian languages as Rahu, Ketu and some term that they have never heard of ] Most people will not understand a word of it and also not admit that they did not understand it. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> <span style="font-weight:bold;">iii. Predict Marriage</span> </span><br /><br />This is a very sensitive one.Of course, it's for unmarried people. Give them a date 2 years from now. "The best 'Yog' to get married is in 2014 . February." After all, who's going to sue you if they don't find someone by that time. If they do, your reputation will work wonders. After all, your luck is also good sometimes .<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">iv. Predict Age and Wellness </span></span><br /><br />This one is amongst the easiest. Predict an age of about 75-80. If you see a long lifeline and can make up something, put it to 90. Do some jargon about the behavior of the line. <br /><br />Predict one illness from the present date to the time of death. It's fairly logical and averages out well.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7. Come up with lucky entities.</span><br /><br /> This is a good time to use your knowledge and end on a high. Check what facts you know about the person, like wife's birthday, anniversary, color of car. If you know some secrets about them, you got a big bonus.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> <span style="font-weight:bold;">i. Life partner names</span></span><br /> If you know that the person is already committed secretly, pick up the letter of the spouse's name and say that that letter is extremely lucky for him<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">ii. Colour and number combo's</span></span><br /> Pick up a color from Red, Blue, green, yellow , a number between 0 and 9, a stone from sapphire, pearl, ruby, emerald, a month of the year and claim that that's lucky for them. <br /><br />I myself am not too keen on this step since it induces unnecessary superstitions, but nevertheless, something that works .<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">8. Say "God Bless You" and move on before people get too sentimental .</span>Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8996791.post-3905143108073616892010-10-10T17:43:00.000-07:002010-10-11T14:59:23.973-07:00A tale of 3 captainsThe rarest of rare post- I seldom blog about cricket [ These days , I am sure people would point out that I seldom blog at all ] , but something that I saw for a while and I have been wanting to write about it.<br /><br />It's really simple. It's about 3 captains that I have experienced in Indian cricket, and in some ways , how their attitudes have spoken about 3 different teams, 3 different attitudes and 3 different feelings that I have experienced as a fan.<br /><br />It all started when I read <a href="http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/376791.html"> this article </a> which referred to the time for which cricket started for a lot of us. For me, it started around the time Tendulkar first came in. I remember a news bulletin in which Azharuddin was made the new captain. I was too young to realize that there was a little bit of politics in the move, but nevertheless, Azhar was a great cricket player (of course, sidelined by his part in scandals) , and under him India won several great accolades, the most memorable ones for me being a great test series win in India against England (3-0 including 2 innnings victories) and a win in the Hero Cup. Then came Ganguly, pocketing a great win in England in the Natwest series, and years later he was replaced by another captain - MS Dhoni.<br /><br />I have excluded temporary captains like Jadeja, Raina, and (maybe surprisingly ) Sachin Tendulkar. The reason is , that for the tremendous respect I have always had for Sachin as a batsman, player, human being - I think he was never comfortable in his short reign as captain- and more importantly, his 'captaincy' in itself did not match his greatness at all.Anil Kumble too was made a leader very late, and anyways, his captaincy was only for Tests while MS Dhoni led the one-day side.<br /><br />So brings us to the 3 again- Azhar, Ganguly and Dhoni. It's a change that has been over time, but now it seems true.<br /><br />It was the 1992 world cup game against Australia. India were chasing - a field they considered themselves terribly bad in. We were close, very close agonizingly close. Kiran More came in and punched 2 boundaries. But then at the brink of victory, we lost. Lost by one run. Painstaking. But, I remember this match distinctly- watching it with Mom, Dad who had seen many matches earlier- and the verdict was clear before the match- India can't win a close one like this. They had lost by one run in 1987, and most likely will face the same fortune. And they did.<br /><br />Fast forward to 2002.<a href="http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/66292.html"> A final at Lord's </a>. India chasing a mammoth 326 and 146 for 5, as Mohd Kaif and Yuvraj Singh guide them to an amazing run-chase. The famous Ganguly shirt incident. But more than the attitude, it was a match that instilled in the generation of fans- that India could win a nervous chase. That they could put their act together in a time of crisis.<br /><br />2007. The T20 final. The new captain-cool, MS Dhoni keeps terribly cool as Sharma bowls a wide in the first ball of an all-important over. And as Pakistan Mis-ba 5 runs , India become the champions, and more importantly, it establishes the confidence of this Indian team in a tight situation.<br /><br />2010. The commentators are talking about Ricky Ponting finally getting to a win in India. (yeah right). But an injured VVS Laxman and an amazing Ishant Sharma have other ideas, as they take India to their <a href="http://www.cricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2010/engine/current/match/464526.html">first ever one-wicket win</a> and that too against Australia. It was sweet revenge for most of us especially because it was against Ricky Ponting ( at least for me). The important thing here was that right till the end, there was this confidence, this instinct that in such a close situation, India could still win. and they did...<br /><br />As greatbong put it rightly in his <a href="http://greatbong.net/2008/10/08/his-last-bow/#more-591">farwell to Ganguly</a><br /><br /> "If there is one enduring legacy of Dada, it is that he taught an almost perennially defeatist Indian cricket team “to believe” (For those who have sat through wimpy, gutless Indian performances through the 80s will appreciate even more the truth of this statement). "<br /><br />We have learnt to win . Or should I say, we have started believing that we can win. And that according to me is the most important transition from the days of Azhar to the days of Dhoni.<br /><br />Let's hope it stays on.Harshit Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11046300044759159505noreply@blogger.com1