Yaar Main India Chala!

How To Get from New York to Paris

Priyendra sent me this link. This is how to get from New Yor to Paris courtesy Google Maps. Check out the steps :).

The End of our Era of Cricket?

As the 2007 world cup went underway, I came across this story on Cricinfo , which said that there were only 5 players surviving from the 1992 world cup to the 2007 world cup. It included Inzamam, Sachin, Lara, Jayasuria and A C Cummins who played earlier for the WI and now for Canada. Inzy has already announced his retirement and I am pretty certain that we'll not get to see the rest for the next world cup.

There's enough of nostalgia , especially , since when I started watching and following cricket seriously, all these players esp Lara, Sachin and Inzy were just starting to fire at the international scene. As a kid, I remember maintaining stats of every match of Sachin, and of course who could not be a fan of Inzy after that 60 off 37 balls that he made against New Zealand in the World Cup Semi's in 1992.

All these years, all these players have gone through ups on downs, but then, they have defined cricket for our generation. They have given their countrymen reason to cheer, reason to dance, reason to cry, and just have been an inseparable part of our lives. The time has come to bid farewell to some of the finest cricketers we have seen.

Indian Superman- a must see

Alok sent me these 2 links, one of a north Indian ( or Bollywood) superman, and one of a south Indian one. It's hilarious





North Indian Superman



South Indian Superman

Munnabhai 3 is here!

We saw this trailer or munnabhai 3 at naz8 yesterday.... Probably will me one more masterpiece.....The topic this time: Munnabhai Chale America....

Check out the trailer for more. Check out this article as well.



Lage Raho Munnabhai!

Revenge on Telemarketers

I am sure you would have all heard these calls, saying that you have been chosen to win a grand prize, to how your name came up in their electronic lottery, or just how they can make your life so much better.....A set of steps to take your revenge on them.. ..typical tit for tat style, since they annoy us, annoy them as much as you can....


This guy probably did the best thing. Check this out. It's really hilarious..!

Other great ways to handle them :)

1. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends Plan, reply, in as SINISTER of a voice as you can, "But I don't have any friends...Would you be my friend?"



2. After the telemarketer finishes speaking, ask him/her to marry you.



3. Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment, and ask him/her if he/she will give you his/her home hone number so you can call him/her back.


4. Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.



5. Tell them it is dinner time, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.



6. Tell them that all business goes through your agent, and hand the phone to your five year old child.



7. Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up...louder...louder...louder!



8. Tell them to speak very slowly because you want to write every word down.



9. If they start out with, "How are you today?", say "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems..."



10. Catch them off guard by saying in a husky voice, "What are you wearing?"



11. Cry out in surprise, "Helen, is that you? I've been hoping you'd call! How is the family?" When they insist they are not Helen, tell them to stop joking. This works especially well if the telemarketer is really male.

The Easternization of America...

Sounds funny? Could be the next thing on the block.

For years, we have heard about how American culture , American brands, American movies, blah blah blah have come into the Indian culture and 'westernized' India, as it is popularly called. No no, I am not saying its false...It's pretty true and we all are aware of it

More recently though, we have been exposed to a new phenomenon, which I would like calling 'Easternization'. In 3 years in the US, when you find things changing, you sometimes predict what;s going to be next. For example, in addition to all the great Hindi theaters like Naz8 ( great!!!! ?????? ), yesterday, me and nirav discovered that the Coming Soon list at AMC theaters had Babul as one of the movies listed :)

To add to that, I believe there are more Indian restaurants in Mountain View than American restaurants , and if you go to any public place, the probability of finding at least some Indians there is almost 100 %. And, in general, I find more Indians and Chinese than Americans for sure , anywhere here in San Francisco...Interesting..

With yoga, art of living, vegetarianism, etc , already popular with Americans, should we be looking at more easternization soon? I believe so. 20 years ddown the line, American kids will ask their parents tht they want to wear the fashionable Indian outfits....they' r so cooooooooooool !

How many earths do you need?

Vinay Kini sent me this nice link

Basically, it asks you a series of questions, and in the end tells you that if the whole world lived like you, it would need 'x' number of earths ( which means 'x' times the exhaustible materials on the surface of the earth). Staying in a developed country, I expected myself to clock 4.3 earths, which is above normal, but then I found that many people whom I knew accounted for 10 or more ....which is sad :)

In general , if you read the questions, they tell you about potential mistakes you might be making, and how you never realised that they could be detrimental to the system .

Test yourself, and let me know how many earths did you need?

And yes, if you liked the article, try to go vegan....if not fully, upto some extent...it's good for everyone!

The Trojan...

When I first came to USC in 2003, I thought, what's all this hype about Trojans and stuff. I mean, think about it, you are in a University, and in the orientation, the President says...Welcome Trojans...And ..'Fight On!' Coming from the city of Mumbai, and more importantly Vivekanand Education Socy's Inst of Technology, where discipline was the name of the game, and every such speech seemed to be simply advising you about things you really felt bored to hear...this was a pleasant , but surprising change. I mean, I always felt that the craze for cricket in India was the most overwhelming things I had ever seen, till I saw this. 80,000 people at the Coliseum, the icing on the cake....

It's intereting, that within some time of being at USC, I felt so close to this whole concept of being a Trojan, and the spirit of USC. The music of the USC marching band, is something so special to me. And USC will always live on....in the hearts of all Trojans, it was the best place ever....

I feel proud of studying in the University like USC. A university whose students have won a medal in every single Olympic games, and an Oscar in every single Award Ceremony. No other university has come close to that. In fact , in the 2004 Olympics, if USC had participated as a country, it would have come 16th :) Howzzatt!

Fight On!

This is not what a newspaper is all about

The Times of India is carrying this article, in which it says that the rope used to hang Mohd Afzal is worth Rs. 675. ....

According to me, this news sucks, and it is not good that a reputed newspaper is printing such news.. Why? Simply, because, this is just riding on a popular news story, which is fine, but the story involves the hanging of a person. I am not really clear about whether the death penalty is good or bad to society, but at least, such news stories surrounding the hanging is not a good sign.....

Even when Dhananjay Chatterjee was executed, television serials showed interviews of the officers, the person who hung the culprit, their children...I mean...what the hell? .......Instead concentrate on bigger issues, farmers dying of starvation, people in Kashmir still struggling with their lives, corruption in big cities, and government policies. True, Mohd Afzal was big news, but then print news thats relevant and respectful....May God forgive him...

History repeats : Rang De Basanti vs Lage Raho Munnabhai

The Times of India reported yesterday that Vidhu Vinod Chopra has decided to try and send Lage Raho Munnabhai as an independent entry to the Oscars, after Rang De Basanti was sent as India's official entry to the Oscars.

Interesting, isn't it? The 2 movies have lot of similarities. Both are based on historical events ( and/or characters ) , and their direct implementation in today's world, subjects which have been always untouched, and thats what made both the films unique and superhits. Having gone for both movies first day, I can positively say that people who came out of the movie halls, were overwhelmingly impressed by both....

On another note, about 75 years ago, somewhere in 1929-30, Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi were both fighting for freedom, but using different principles and paths, and that time too, it must have been difficult to decide which was the right principle, Gandhi's way of Satyagraha or the approach of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and others.......

While reading history about both these freedom fighters, I always felt that would this be possible in today's world. Both the films are the best answer and example for this. Genuinely great movies. Indian cinema has really been producing some great movies over the past few years.....I hope one of them makes it to the Oscars....

The famous USC finger fountain...

Well, I am not sure whether the content in this entry is correct or appropriate for anyone to read, so do read it at your own risk and will :)

If you are at USC , or have been there, you may have heard of the USC finger fountain. To be more precise, let me post the picture



The interesting thing is, that while this might look like an ordinary fountain, it's peculiar shape does rise considerable doubt, and add to the fact that it is pointed in the direction of UCLA, USC's biggest rival . A rivalry which has been around for decades and generations. In fact if you just go to the USC, you'll find so many different things that point to this traditional rivalry,

This article depicts the rivalry from the UCLA side of it, and the following lines really tell you, who the better team is ;)

In front of 50,000 people at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Bruins suffered an embarrassing 76-0 loss at the hands of the Trojans. The lopsided outcome clearly showed why USC and coach Howard Jones were among the nation's elite and that UCLA was young and struggling with a program that still needed to reach puberty.

The ensuing year, the Bruins improved but still lost 52-0 to the Trojans and it seemed as though the series would end.

"In 1929 and 1930 the USC-UCLA game was like a practice game for USC," said Robert Beaver, a member of the Bruin squad from 1929-32.

For the next five years, UCLA did not play its future rivals and tried to mature as a team. The Bruins wound up 30-17-2 during that span and won a Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) title in 1935 as the men of Troy turned in a subpar 5-7 record that same year.

Anyways, no offence meant to anyone , but just something that I found really interesting...

Have fun, BTW, Thanks to everyone for their wishes

President Bush 'assassinated' in new TV docudrama

Check this out guys.

There's a documentary in which in the end, President Bush is assassinated..Fundoo hai :)

Forwarding the 10 cents mail - a classic dilemma

Well, most of us might have received a mail from Divya Singh working for Siemens who is in need of some advice from someone who had a particular disease her husband is suffering. Or some mail which says tht AOL will donate 1 cent for every email forwarded. Or simply enough, a mail which says that O positive blood is required, and forward to all....

What do you do on this one ? As a techie and maybe someone who explores things more than they appear, I can maybe search over the internet, and find out if that's a fraud. But what about the common man? Someone who just uses email as a medium of transmitting messages . I think it's fair to say that ...it would be okay for someone to forward such an email. Why? Simply coz even if there is 1 % chance that it is true, then it is definitely in good faith....For example, I would strongly encourage people to read the otucome of this forwarded email ..It could have been a hoax too, but it was not...Same as maybe several asking for help wrt contacts, or anything at all....

And then there are emails which says that AOL will donate 10 cents for every forward (AOL would have gone bankrupt by now :)) . But still, for someone not connected with the tech world..it might seem to be just a very good idea....and wud forward it maybe just out of doubt..

Maybe it's a good idea to search it on the internet, but if u r unsure...what should you do?

Moust on Sale..Only $9,999

This one was posted on edealinfo.com today....

Check out this link

In case they change it, here's a snapshot as evidence ;)

Hrishikesh Mukherjee....Anand sab ko chhod gaye...

It's one of those sad days for Indian Cinema...Veteran Filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee died today.....

It's a coincidence that some days back we saw the movie Bawarchi, one of those movies, which had that typical Hrishikesh Mukherjee touch, simplicity with a deep message....

His movies Anand, Chupke Chupke, Bawarchi..and so many more have always been a pleasure to watch, and one of my all time favorite movies....

May his soul rest in peace..

The Lull

Well, I know there has been a lull in my blogging, the reason..work...and basically the fact that I have not been able to get some free time to think.
News for today:

Pluto ko ghar se nikaal diyaa gaya hai.. The poor little planet was thrown out of the solar system You can read about it here

Paryushan is on, so my diet has been reduced to eating moong and chana for the past few days..though we had dosas just before the onset of paryushan ..

I was just explaining a friend as to why the probability of an Indian guy (studying in the US) being committed is less than that of an Indian girl . One picture was quite enough reason...The picture can be found here

Life n times..when it all began..

This is a post from one of the mails that I sent out to friends and family back home in India about my new experiences in Uncle Sam's land. Given below is just one of them, and I simply find it amusing to read this ...

"hi

well its me back again...i actually wasnt having time
to write mails..but the writer in me.....

well been to Arizona over the weekend..and met some
NRIs and some ABCDs....and was pretty eventful at tht

well..tht day i had my first exp of findin my way to
the airport by bus..

here , the system though is good u just write in the
start and end points..and u;ve a map with
directions..pretty interestin though

so i typed in the points and got this map with
directions..now the best part

this is the link for the map in case neone is
interested


http://mtaweb6.mta.net/scripts/esrimap.dll?name=trip&day=TOD&m=A&fare=RG+&min=30&hour=11&timecrit=AR&format=TABLETEXT&pOrigin=@03960%2C+08393%2C6475631%2C1833062*+S+Hoover+St+%2F+W+28th+St+90007%2C+Los+Angeles&pDestination=@03502%2C+08015%2C6437906%2C1801816*Lax%2C+Los+Angeles&Submit=Continue


so with a printout in hand and a small handbag ( woh
bhi borrowed frm dipesh coz mine had torn
apart..remember)

now as u can see..it says go to the NW corner of
hoover and 28th..now i reached the spot..it was 4
roads..but

HOW DO I FIND NW???????????

there was not one single person on the road...and i
didnt knw wht to do..

and it was 10 am..and i suddenly realized tht there
was one thing which cud guide me..the SUN..and yes it
worked...

i saw the sun..took tht as east and went to the
corner..caught tthe 1st bus and got down at the
required place..the bus drivers are pretty co-op u c

the 2nd time rnd..i wasnt lucky...it was abt 11 ..and
the sun was right above me...so cudnt do nethin..

i thot for a while and went to one corner...

at a distance i cud see a board..which said


SOUTH 101 -------------->

i was pretty happy...tht i finally found somethin and
started to calc accordingly..just then i observed tht
just above this board there was another which said


^
NORTH 101 |
|


now i realised tht these werent directions..and so...

well somehow got to the airport and off to AZ by
southwest airlines..

but b4 tht, a bit abt buses here

there are metro buses..there arent any conductors..but
yes u are reminded by our mumbai cha conductors who
kick u out if u dond have 'Sutte Paise'

Here its simpler...beside the driver, there's a
machine ..u just put the xact fare into tht..if its
less u arent allowed..if its more..well no change
provided :)

neways thts abt buses..somethin better

SouthWest Airlines..seems like a gr8 american airline
doesnt it..well its a cost saving one..it costme 73$
in all to go to arizona by a 1:20 hr flight and be
back...and this fare is very less if u book in advance

and the airline..wow..proper country stuff...

they dont serve food on the airline.. :)
babes for airhostesses...well they seem more like
strict matrons(they r followin indian airlines on this
so..all 40+)...who behave like...'hey fasten ur seat
bet..wht r u doin?'

u r allowed to bring ur own food on the plane..so if
we all go..we wud prob hv thepalas and puris...and
stuff:)

then after a bit of a hassle at te airport..went for
mahavir jayanti...and the first taste of wht american
indian life is all abt...

The ppl who arent jains or not acquainted with it prob
wont understand much..but its interestin..

..hmm i hd better write tht in a separate mail so tht
ppl can easily skip tht..but ffor jains a must read!

Harshit

"

I don't know if that link works, but I did not want to change the content of the mail..

But then, I am nostalgic about these mails, and those days, when I feel that the boy in me made way for a man..and I learnt some of the most important lessons of life...from the best teacher in the world ...Experience :)

btw..the mail uses a word ABCDs. A friend of mine Prashant told me once...tht 'we ABCDs don't mind being called ABCDs, except that the C in the ABCD means 'cultured' '. To this day I remember those words, and have utmost respect for the guy..!

Interesting notice on VESIT notice board

Supposedly, the following notice has been put up on the ground floor notice board of VESIT .. Hope Bhavik Vora has given accurate information on the orkut VESIT folks community



" A 10 Rupee note has been found out outside the Office. If its urs and if u can tell the serial code of the same... u will get it!!!"


Maybe everyone should try...make a big line outside the office and enter a random number each...Too Good though :)

yeh hai bombay meri jaan...

Call it Bombay..Call it Mumbai..

It's all the same...It's where the heart is..

I won't say that it's the best or it's the number one...but it's different. there's something special in this city that you'll never find anywhere...it's the spirit of the city...it's the spirit of Bombay...

It was the usual morning for me....but even before I had opened my eyes, i got a call from my father that there was a bomb blast, and that everyone was safe..and they informed me because mobile networks were down, and it could have been difficult for me to contact them..

I read news articles that evening about the blasts and the aftermath...and i cried..cried for those people who had lost their lives, or their near and dear ones...and then suddenly it seems that the thousands of miles don't make a difference to your attachment to that city you love so much...

As always, the spirit of the city was up, and Mumbaikars from all sections of society and from all areas of Bombay rushed up to help stranded commuters, victim families, and in general to ensure that the city is back to normal the next day...

I found these lines in an article on rediff.com...

"Mohammad Karim and Mahesh Kumar, both from Malad in northwest Mumbai, are regulars; both were surprised at the relative lack of commuters. "This train is always crowded," Mahesh said. "Both of us came today to prove that our city will stand up to any kind of terrorism."

The two, cloth merchants by trade, routinely catch the 5.54; they are part of the 'local' sub-culture, where regular commuters know each other, keep space for one another, and spend the commute catching up on each other's lives -- strangers-turned-friends for the duration of each day's journey. "

yes, bombay has this category of friends..train friends as they call it...and as my father tells me...that in his career, he has had so many close friends like that...'

if you want to read more about it...read these articles.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/14slide1.htm
http://specials.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/12mahim1.htm

But then, enough is enough...a city that contributes 60% of the taxes should get more..and if it does not..it's time that the politicians are given a run for their money...

My prayers and sympathies for the victims of the blast.....sorry...we could not be there in the time of need..

Solid bole to.....Wikipedia...!

I got this as a forwarded mail from Virag. This is basically from an article in Wikipedia, which talks of Bambaiyya (Bombay-Mumbai) Hindi. It makes for quite an interesting read, and you'll feel nostalgic if you are from Bombay. Check it out...!


The best part is that you can add new words or change the meanings of words if you have more information.. The next time someone asks you about Bombay, :)


The language of Mumbai is an altogether different lingo ... wonder why?

Bus kya :
The meaning of it is that com'on don't take me for granted.

Apun :
It's actual meaning is WE but in Mumbaiyya hindi it means I or me...

Chava / Chavi :
Actual meaning of a chava is a lion's cub. However, in Bambaiya hindi
(Bhindi) it would mean a Boyfriend/GirlFriend (normally the one that's
going steady). Chava, is also used to describe to a good looking chap or
the normal stud in the locality. No, Chavi would still mean the steady one.

Chikna / Chikni :
Stands for any good looking fellow. Chikna actually means smooth.

Dhapnya / Battery / double battery :
Refers to a person wearing prescription glasses. Dhapnya is a marathi word.
The Ghati way of saying this would be "bya-tree".

Chaayla :
The original meaning is quiet demeaning. The contemporary meaning is so
flexible that "Chaayla" can be used anywhere in a casual conversation.
Agmatically speaking this word doesnt have any meaning.

Haila :
This originated from "Hai Allah " But I don't think 99% of the users know
about this.
Haila would translate to "Oh God"

Keeda /SulemaniKeeda / RehmaniKeeda :
An absolute pest.

Paka Mat:
Its means don't eat my head or leave me alone.
Actually pakana in hindi is to cook.

Jhakaas :
Superb. Excellent.

Mandvali / Mandavli :
Compromise /Negotiation or truce

Gangaram :
For a barber. Gangaram is a guy's name. I guess some Gangaram must have
played an immortal role in some play or movie for his name to stick on.

Dhakkan :
Dhakkan in its true sense would mean a cover. Here it refers to anyone with
a moronic intellect or an Idiot.

Dhating:
The word Dhating also refers to drama.

Atrang :
One meaning of this word is similar to Hajaam.
Atrangi also mean something strange or extraordinary.

Funter / Tapori :
Roadside loafer. Tapori is among the most commonly used words in Bhindi.

Shana :
Literal meaning in marathi means wise..but mostly used in sarcastic way.

Diid shana :
The word diid means 1 and half times the original one In Marathi.
That means 1 and half times shana.

ChappanTikkli :
Actual meaning 56 spots : this is not used now-a-days.
but in Bhindi it means one with lots of pimples / marks on his/her face.

Dum :
Actual meaning is cigarette with marijuana for kick.
but nowdays commonly used to refer ordinary cigarette.. or even
scold someone.

Hul [Hool] :
hul means to scold but not quite literally ..

Bevda / Gutter / Taankee / Batli / JohnnyWalker :
A Drunk. Johnny Walker comes from either the actor by the name or the
whiskey brand. Daru and gutter are very closely linked for reasons beacause
cheap beer is made from gutter water or so goes some old saying. Bevda is
often used to describe the drink as well as the totally drunk

Charsi / Fookya / Soootya :
A smoker. Charas is exactly marijuana. Charasi would mean any guy who
smokes though.

Rappak [ Rappppppppak ] :
Means Slap.

Tapri :
A road side shop.

Chotu :
For any kid working in a Tapri.

Mava / (120 - 300) [ EkSauBees-TeenSau ] :
This is a prototype of paan you get here. 120 and 300 are the flavors of
tabacco. Mava is everything that paan has without the betel-leaf.
Term also refer to the person who consumes it.

Dhakta :
Actual meaning is younger in Marathi. in this case it is small paan packet.

Dhoop Chaav :
Means Sun and Shade. Refers to the shops owned by the road side
barbers who just have a rag for the Chaav and is obviously hole-ridden to let
the Dhoop come in.

Chinese Gaadi :
No this is not a Chinese make of anautomobile, Its the "Tapri" selling
chinese food on the side of the road. You find one after every 10 meters.
The best part is that all these Chinese Gaadis are red in color, with the
picture of a dragon or a chinese man and have names like "Red Sun", "Red
Dragon", "Fong's", "Ching" "Sung-Ming"or "Chow" or anything that sounds
even vaguely Chinese. The cook is normally a Nepali working as a night
watchman in some nearby apartment complex. The only criteria to get a
chef's job at a Chinese Gaadi is to have slanted eyes.

Mahim - Matunga / Vasai - Virar :
This is a term used for squints.

Ghungroo Salmaan :
This term is very new but catching on fast. Ghungroo refers to a curly
haired guy. Salmaan (Khan) comes in the picture
since the "Ghunroo Salmaan" fellow is obviously mistaking Himself
to be a Hindi film hero. It's used as a put-down.

Cutting :
A little_more_than_half cup of Tea is a cutting. The Cutting concept would
have been started by people who used to split a cup of tea between 2
people... and finally the tea vendor started selling half cup of tea and
called it "cutting". A little_more_than_half is given to increase the patrons.

AndhaDhuni / Aadva-Patta :
These are a cricketing terms. AadvaPatta comes from Pune, means "Cross
batted shot". AndhaDhuni means "Blind shot".But nowadays these refer to
any guy who doesn't bat well.

Mama / Maushi :
Mama and Maushi translate to the maternal uncle and aunt. These words are
thoroughly misused to get some work done.
Normally used while speaking Marathi. Every other Marathi speaking street
vendor would be a Mama or a Maushi. (to increase the stakes while bargaining)

Dada / Tai :
Translate to elder brother or sister.

Uncle / Auntie :
This is used for the more sophisticated public. Normally with the Marathi ignorant.

Ghaati :
Ghaatis are the residents of the rural regions of Maharashtra. It's usage
is quiet demeaning..... and thus heard more frequently.

Ganda bhai/Gujju / Marwadi :
The money men of Mumbai. These guys are easily spotted on the road - either in colorful shirts, embroidered trousers, against the mirror of a parked
vehicle combing their hair, or doing something equally funny. These guys
are the second largest community in Bombay after the Marathi-speaking people.

Madrasi/Anna :
Madras is a place in the southern part of India. Madrasi refers to any guy
from a place to the south of Maharashtra. Doesn't matter where he is from. Bangalore, Goa, Anywhere....And the best part of being a Madrasi is that you are supposed to eat idli sambar forbreakfast, lunch, and dinner. And rasam-chaval is supposed to be the favourite dish.

Gulti :
This is a fairly new term. Used for people from Andhra Pradesh.I don't have
a clue about its origin or actual meaning.

Bhaiya / Pandit :
Any guy from UP / Bihar / MP / Delhi / Northern states is called a Bhaiya.
Pandit is also used interchangeably but is mostly used for the guys at the
Lassi/Doodh shops or for Panwallas.

Paapay / Papajee/Sardar :
A Sikh. Dont know what a paapay means. Actually its not insulting or anything like that.

Pavwalla/Maka Pav :
The Christians. I guess this started because of the fact that they eat
bread instead of chapatis.

Another very common used bhindi word is abey or abe ! This is often used in
combination with other words like abe saale, abe halkat (females tend to
use this more often), abe dhapnike, abe battrey, etc.

And last but not the least is Saala : Literal meaning wife's brother....but
in Mumbai it is used in every context whether good or bad...when friends
meet and greet then it is "kya saala kaisa hai....." when angry "abey
saale....phoot na"...

In fact this is the most common used word in mumbai.... and can be used
when you are happy / sad /depressed / angry / shy / vulgar / teasing / and when there is nothing else to say then use a saala....

Sophisticated Meaning In Bombay
There's a minor problem
Arre yaar, "Waanda" ho gaya

There's a big problem
Arre yaar, "Zol" ho gaya

There's a huge problem
Arre yaar, "Raada" ho gaya

You'll be surprised .
Ekdam "Hill" jayega tu

I am going out of this place
Chal apun "Kaltii" marta hai.

Don't make a fool of others
Dekh , Tu "Shendi" mat laga sabko

He duped him of the Money
Saala "Chuna" Laga ke Gaya

Just get out of here, you oversmart fool!!
Chal e Shaaane, "Hawa" aan de

I am not a stupid out here
Apun kya "ALIBAUG" se nahi aaya

There's some misunderstanding
Arre kuch "Galat Faimili" ho gayi

Do u drink daily?
Tu kya roz "FULL TO" hota hai?

See, You are afraid..
Dekh , teri to "FAT" gayi

Shall I just bash u?
E Du kya "Kharcha Pani" ?

Get Lost from Here
Aee Chal "havaa" aane de

Just take him into a secret place
Use jara "Khopche" me leke ja

What a beautiful lady !!
Kya "Zakaas Item" hai yaar!!

What a sensuous/unexplainably sexy lady!!
Kya "Raapchik Maal / Piece" hai yaar!!

Don't just bluff..OK?
E Jyaada "RAAG" mat de..

Ya..she is staring at u.. buddy!!!
Kya sahi "LINE" deti hai "Bhiduu"!!

Don't take much tension..
Jyaada "LOAD" nahi leneka kya??

Your clothes are very awkward!!
Kya "ZAGMAG / DHINKCHAAK" pehna tune?

I don't care about it much..!!
Abe yaar , "Hata Saawan Ki Ghata"
Please don't overbore me..
Jyaada "PAKAA" mat be tu

All this must be done without anyone's notice
Sab kaam "SUUMDI" me hona chahiye.kya?

"SAHI HAI NA BAAP??!!!...KYA BOLTAY??"

India, Aha....!

The current issue of Time Magazine is carrying an interesting cover story. In fact, when I logged onto CNN.com, it too had this one as the main story.




It's kinda sudden, that over the last few years, India has become the center of focus, and most western countries have suddenly started treating India and China as the world leaders of the future. Lets hope we make it . The post before this, seems to be the biggest deterrent though :)

Here is the link to the story on CNN.

A lot of rage, a bit of Rang De

I had always heard of the freedom struggle from my grand uncles, from my grandmother and from my history books. Perhaps I was never imagine to visualise what the atmosphere would be like in those times when students stopped going to school and people started burning all international goods, or workers went on strike, and all of India had just one goal in mind. The true taste of 'Rang De Basanti'

Yesterday I attended a small gathering here in the Bay Area against Arjun Singh and the whole idea of reservations. It felt good, in some small way, if I could contribute against this stupidity, it would give me a lot of satisfaction. All these years of frustration in the minds of all students, including myself, has finally given way . And I hope they succeed. I hope WE succeed.

It doesn't make sense anyways. Having studies in an engineering college full of these reservations, it's an open truth that many of the guys who take advantage never make it through their engineering or medicine, and the seats are sold off once they drop out. And if you are so concerned about equal rights, why do you bring the caste system into picture at the first place? Me and Asim had quite an argument with one of the guys who had actually come to this anti-reservation rally fighting on his ideology that there should be more and more reservations. I have to say that we could no where identify with any of his arguments, leave alone agree with them.

It's sad to see the plight of students who are undergoing hunger strikes and clashes with the government. May God give them strength.

And probably some pictures that I thought were really worth a thousand words in this hour of rebellion. Picked up from cartoons and news articles

Question Paper Ho to Aisa

Imagine going to an exam, with one of your toughest subjects, and guess what , the answers are printed right there, just below the questions !

Mid-day is carrying a story that in the microwave-2 paper in Mumbai University, the answers to 2 questions were printed right below the questions .Check out the story here



I guess this kind of laziness on the part of paper setters is something that no one will object to ;)!

Pramod Mahajan - RIP

It was sad to hear about the death of Pramod Mahajan, especially given the circumstances surrounding his death.

I am a person who takes interest in politics, and someone who believes, that every citizen can take an active role in determining the future of this country. I know that like every other leader Pramod Mahajan too had his share of controversies, however, i would say he was one leader who could defend himself, speak fluently, take strong decisions, and stand by them. His oratory skills, both in English and Hindi were excellent, something which I consider as a very strong point for any politician.

May his soul rest in peace.

Reservations ki to...

This mail came to me as a forward. It's been posted at several blogs. Read the whole article and then comments at the end

that may happen in future..


Ahmedabad, 30 April 2056: I attended the bash at the IIM-OBC Alumni Association to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reservation of seats for OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in IIMs. Since I’m not an OBC, I was not supposed to attend, but at present, we MBFCs (Moderately Backward Forward Castes) together with the Non-Scheduled Tribes have a political alliance with the OBCs. We sipped champagne and talked about how so many of us had progressed from reserved seats in the IIMs to reserved jobs to reserved promotions. Unfortunately, the party broke up when a Non-scheduled Tribes faculty member objected to the OBCs dancing with all the pretty girls — he wanted equal opportunities for every caste at each dance. I pointed out that the Non-scheduled Tribes had exceeded the quota of champagne reserved for them. The party ended in a pitched caste battle.

1 May 2056: Today, I became president of the IIM Board of Directors. Under the present rotating presidency system, a member of each caste is made the president by turn. When it was the turn of the MBFCs for president, they had to choose me because I’m the only MBFC on the campus. True, I’m only the campus dhobi, but then every caste must be given an equal opportunity. All those centuries of oppression by the OSBFCs (Only Slightly Backward Forward Castes) and the OFCs (Other Forward Castes) must be rectified. I hope to restore the high standards at IIM — I overheard some foreigners calling it the Indian Institute of Morons, the other day.

2 May 2056: They’ve announced the cricket team for the series against Australia. I was overjoyed when they chose an MBFC man as captain. But my hopes were dashed when I realised he was a Most Backward Forward Caste and not a Moderately Backward Forward Caste. The selection committee lamented that it was gross discrimination that no member from the Jarowa tribe (the Stone Age tribe in the
Andamans) had ever found a place in the Indian cricket team. A squad has since been dispatched to the Andamans to capture a Jarowa tribal to play in the national team. I hope he will improve their performance — they had an innings defeat against the Maldives recently. I would have played myself except for the fact that I lost a leg some years ago when I was in hospital with a toothache and a doctor recruited through the Unscheduled Caste quota extracted my leg instead of my tooth.

3 May 2056: There are too many NFCs (Neo-Forward castes) in the IT business. Under the terms of the Business Reservation Act, their firms will now be taken over by the other castes. I hope they will be able to restore the Indian IT industry back to its former glory. For some unfathomable reason, it has gone down the drain after job reservations were implemented. I went for a movie featuring star actor Mungeri Ram. He may lack teeth, be four-feet-three and have hair growing out of his nose, but this year it’s the turn of the EBC-RYs (Extremely Backward Caste-Rural Yokels) to be stars and Mungeri Ram is the best of the lot. I wonder why foreign movies have become so popular.

4 May 2056: A truly great day. We now have an OFBMBC (Other Forward But Moderately Backward Caste) general as the Head of the Armed Forces. I hope he’ll be able to win back the territory we lost ever since reservations were implemented in the Army. Since then, the north has been taken by Pakistan, the North-east by China, the east by Bangladesh and the south by Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Only last winter, we lost the war against Bhutan and free India is now limited to the western coastal states. But I’m sure the OFBMBC general will turn the tide.

5 May 2056: My wife and I have been blessed with a bonny daughter. Since my wife’s an SBBNSBC (Slightly Backward But Not So Backward Caste), my daughter will be an MBFC-SBBNSBC. I must lobby for reservation for her caste. She’s the only member and I’m sure she has a great future.

COMMENTS:

To start with, this might seem funny, but when SC/ST reservations started many years back, a thought of having 8 different categories namely SC ST OBC SBC VJ NT1 NT2 NT3 seemed funny. Yes I remember all those names, coz I missed out on quite some good opportunities due to this. Isn't this cumulative ? 58 years after independence, and almost the same time for reservations, people who fall under this category have already taken advantage of these reservations in multiple ways, and have gone far richer and forward than the middle class ( and including the high castes ), and they no longer need reservations.

And then, India with its growing population, and scarcity of resources, such reservations are only going to deny opportunities to people who need it most. Is anyone hearing?

Uttering talaq in sleep lands couple in soup

Priyendra sent me this ourtageous article

Check this one out. Makes for a great read.

2 great TV shows...and 2 dreams...

Thanks to my roomies, i am getting addicted to 2 good TV shows, lost and 24 . Both of them are based on very unique concepts and make for an interesting watch.

'Lost' is about a flight which crashed on an mysterious tropical desert island, and now the people who survived the crash, have to fight it out for themselves on the island, and it describes their struggle, and the way things work out. There are also a lot of surprise elements in the series, which make it even more interesting.

'24' stars Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, a federal agent, and every season consists of 24 episodes, each episode covering 1 hr of the day, and in each season there is some plot of assasination/bombing etc, which is finally fended off. The episodes are well made, and also have tht thrilling feel to it. Worth a watch.It's actually good to see it in this format of hours, as you can actually feel the day going on.

Yes, and i have 2 dreams, or 2 goals which I have been developing over the past some months. The first one is to run the marathon or at least half of it next year. A big part of the inspiration for this, goes to Animesh Pathak's blog and his description of the marathon. I guess I'll be able to do something about this by next year...

The second dream...well its something tht i hv been thinking for a while to do...Any guesses?

USC Application- a Must Watch

Check this one out guys.

The next time someone asks you ' What are my chances of getting into USC ?' Show them this application..! I guess this one potrays why USC is also popularly called 'University of Spoilt Children' ! The application speaks for itself, though check out the meaning of signature, and also, that in lieu of ur transcripts an 8 by 10 glossy picture should also suffice.

It's a bit sad though to see some racist comments. Guess except them, it makes for a nice application :)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in that application are solely that of the original authors. I do not subscribe nor am responsible for any racist or otherwise comment on the link.

An American's view of India

People, this is an absolute must watch. An American's view of India, and how things that seem so simple and routine to us, seem surprising to him. Also interesting is, how these simple things could possible see India becoming the next superpower. Not much to write on this video, just see the video and leave your comments

Click here to watch the video

The Million dollar Web page

Many of you might have heard about this, but for those who haven't,

First the story:

Alex Tew, a 21 year old student wanted to study business management at the University of England, but like many graduate students , he wasn't sure of how he would get the money for it. Pondering over different ideas, he thought of making a homepage and selling ads on it for 1 $ / pixel, thinking that if there would be a million pixels up for sale, at least 15k to 20k pixels would be sold off, thus giving him enough money to get through his college.( http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/faq.php#4)

This said and done, he started selling pixels and the site become hugely popular, and ultimately he made much more than a million dollars on it.

This one story is truly great. Simply because unlike startups (eg Google), where the underlying principle involved a great deal of technology and/or business models and business sense, in addition to the idea, this did not require anything at all. Plus, no venture capitalist, no proposals , and to top it all, no risk of failure. What would he have lost in case this idea did not work. Some dollars, and hardly any man hours. But then, it worked, and credit to Alex for proving to the world that 'where there is a will, there is a way '

Its good to be tired :)

On my first blog (http://harshits.blogspot.com/2004/11/tiring-day.html), I had claimed that most of my blogs wil contain the word tired or tiring. :)

After all the different turns that I went through, I truly have one thing to conclude. It's good to be tired. It's good to be working. It's good to be under pressure to do things.Idle days are good when they are few, but a monotonous life is really the last thing u want.

It is this pressure, and a desire to move ahead in life, that finally brings the best out of us, and the fruits of hard work are always sweet .

Call Center Video

Amit Rajadhyaksha sent me this nice video, of a call center scenario

http://callcentermovie.com/movie/movie.html

I have been having quite some trouble with these call center guys. I just get so pissed off when the guys act as if they are the greatest computer geniuses ever born on the face of this earth. To top it all, the most frequent habit of , 'Sure, we are here to help you' OR ' Let me connect you to an expert' . Maybe this video will tell you more.

See the video and leave your comments.

Scam busters...

It's so interesting. A friend of mine told me recently, that he had got an offer for a very high paying short term job. I was not sure what he meant. On further investigation, found tht it was in Africa ....And yes, the scam begins

Most of you might have got a mail from "BIBI LUCKY" asking you to contact them, if you wished to become an overseas agent and get 30% of the millions ....When i got the email, I found it funny, but interestingly enough a lot of people fall for such a trap. Also, the email tells u to keep the matter confidential, thus dissuading you from discussing these things with your friends.

However, there are more interesting things. Heard about the Q33NY, wingdings 9/11 email. The claim is that if you type Q33 NY in wingdings font you get a plane, 2 towers, and a skeleton, thus signifying the WTC attacks. The mail claims that Q33 NY was one of the hijacked flights which slammed into the World Trade Centers. For over 4 years now, people blindly forward tht mail.

Now, none of the flights flying on tht day was caled Q33NY

They were

American airlines N334AA
United Airlines Flight N612UA
American Airlines Flight N644AA
United Airlines Flight N591UA

So tht whole thing was a hoax. The trick is simple, send this email out, and at least 70-80% of people will send it out without confirming the truth. Maybe 4 yrs ago, i might have done the same.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/wingdings-911.html

This site pretty much exposes the number of hoaxes that we might come across.. Definitely worth a look. Also, I stronglyrecommend, looking up any such mail on google and/or wikipedia before forwarding it.

I made besan ke laddoo

Yes, yes and yes

I made besan ke laddoo today. I can also claim that I made them on my own, from start to end, although the recipe was from a book ( what else do u expect ), and that my cousin sheetal was there with me from start to end and guided me thru the entire process

but then..satisfaction was paramount

Here's a picture

And, I am enjoying my NY trip. Visited Niagara last weekend, planning to visit NYC this weekend. Anyone around ? Let me know, we can meet up!

Inzy dada, and the spirit of cricket

Cricinfo is carrying an article about the bad taste in which inzy was given out

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/pakvind/content/current/story/236394.html

There are also some videos on google video about the dismissal and inzamam's reaction to that at the presentation.

The funny thing is, its India vs Pakistan, and Inzamam accuses India of not acting in the spirit of the game. Where did this spirit go, when those guys appealed against sachin tendulkar, in that game in Calcutta, when Sachin accidentally had lifted his bat due to collision with Shoaib Akhtar, and was given run out, a decision which sparked a lot of commotion at Eden Gardens.

I guess, inzamam was unlucky, but had by no means any right to question the integrity or the spirit of the Indian players.

The X+1 syndrome - Where do you stand?

The following is a famous article by R. K. Narayan

Read it and then see the comments at the ends

When an Indian professional becomes a 'Non-Resident Indian' in the
United States, he soon starts suffering from a strange disease. The
symptoms are a fixture of restlessness, anxiety, hope and nostalgia.
The virus is a deep inner need to get back home. Like Shakespeare
said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." The medical
world has not coined a word for this malady. Strange as it is, it
could go by a stranger name, the "X + 1" syndrome.

To understand this disease better, consider the background. Typically
middle-class, the would be migrant's sole ambition through school is
to secure admission into one of those heavily government subsidised
institutions - the IITs. With the full backing of a doting family and
a good deal of effort, he acheives his goal. Looking for fresh worlds
to conquer, his sights rest on the new world. Like lemmings to the
sea, hordes of IIT graduates descend on the four US consulates to seek the
holiest of holy grails - the F-1 (student) stamp on the passport.

After crossing the visa hurdle and tearful farewell, our hero departs
for the Mecca of higher learning, promising himself and his family that he
will return some day - soon The family proudly informs their relatives
of each milestone - his G.P.A., his first car (twenty years old), his
trip to Niagara Falls (photographs), his first winter (parkas,gloves).
The two years roll by and he graduates at the top of his class. Now
begins the 'great hunt' for a company that will not only give him a
job but also sponsor him for that 3" X 3" grey plastic, otherwise
known as the Green Card. A US company sensing a good bargain offers
him a job. Naturally, with all the excitement of seeing his first pay
check in four digit dollars, thoughts of returning to India are far
away. His immediate objective of getting the Green Card is reached
within a year.

Meanwhile, his family back home worry about the strange American
influences (and more particularly, AIDS). Through contacts they line
up a list of eligble girls from eligible families and wait for the
great one's first trip home. Return he does, at the first available
oppurtunity, with gifts for the family and mouth-watering tales of
prosperity beyond imagination. After interviewing the girls, he picks
the most likely (lucky) one to be Americanised. Since the major reason for
the alliance is his long-term stay abroad, the question of his immediate
return does not arise. Any doubts are set aside by the 'backwardnes'
of working life, long train travel, lack of phones, inadequate
oppurtunities for someone with hi-tech qualifications, and so on.

The newly-weds return to America with the groom having to explain the
system of arranged marriages to the Americans. Most of them regard it
as barbaric and on the same lines as communism. The tongue-tied bride
is cajoled into explaining the bindi and saree. Looking for something
homely, the couple plunges into the frenetic expatriate week-end
social scene compromising dinners, videos of Hindi/regional films,
shopping at Indian stores, and bhajans.

Initially, the wife misses the warmth of her family, but the presence
of washing machines, vacuum cleaners, daytime soap operas and the absence
of a domineering mother-in-law helps. Bits of news filtering through
from India, mostly from returning Indians, is eagerly lapped up.

In discussions with friends, the topic of returning to India arises
frequently but is brushed aside by the lord and master who is now
rising in the corporate world and has fast moved into a two garage
home - thus fulfilling the great American Dream. The impending arrival
of the first born fulfills the great Indian Dream. The mother-in-law
arrives in time: after all, no right thinking parent would want their
off-spring to be born in India if offered the American alternative.

With all material comforts that money can bring, begins the first
signs of un-easiness - a feeling that somehow things are not what they
should be. The craze for exotic electronic goods, cars and vacations have
been satiated. The week-end gatherings are becoming routine.

Faced with a mid-life crisis, the upwardly mobile Indian's career
graph plateau's out. Younger and more aggressive Americans are promoted.
With one of the periodic mini recessions in the economy and the threat
of a hostile take-over, the job itself seems far from secure.

Unable or unwilling to socialize with the Americans, the Indian
retreats into a cocoon. At the home front,the children have grown up and
along with American accents have imbibed American habits
(cartoons,hamburgers) and values(dating). They respond to their
parents' exhortation of leading a clean Indian way of life by asking
endless questions.

The generation gap combines with the cultural chasm. Not surprisingly,
the first serious thoughts of returning to India occur at this stage.
Taking advantage of his vacation time, the Indian returns home to
'explore' possibilities. Ignoring the underpaid and beaurocratic
government sector, he is bewildered by the 'primitive' state of the
private sector. Clearly overqualified even to be a managing
director/chairman he stumbles upon the idea of being an entrepreneur.

In the seventies, his search for an arena to display his buisness
skills normally ended in poultry farming. In the eighties, electronics is
the name of the game. Undaunted by horror stories about government red
tape and corruption he is determined to overcome the odds - with one
catch.

He has a few things to settle in the United States. After all, you
can't just throw away a lifetime's work. And there are things like
taxation and customs regulations to be taken note of. Pressed for a
firm date, he says confidently 'next year' and therein lies our story.
The next years come and go but there is no sign of our McCarthian
friend.

About 40 years later our, by now, a old friend dies of a scheduled
heart-attack and it so happens that his last wish was that he be laid
to rest in the city he was born in India. So our friend at last
returns to India for good. But by now the people who were so looking
forward to see him return to his homeland are no more.

In other words if 'X' is the current year, then the objective is to
return in the 'X + 1' year. Since 'X' is a changing variable, the
objective is never reached. Unable to truly melt in the 'Great Melting
Pot', chained to his cultural moorings and haunted by an abject fear of
giving up an accustomed standard of living, the Non-Resident Indian
vacillates and oscillates between two worlds in a twilight zone.

END OF ARTICLE

Well, for one, this article is one which truly brings every Indian in America to think. I have had this chat with a lot of people and almost everyone has had incidents similar to the one described. The sad thing is , that none of those people returned back.

I don't want to put in my own comments on the main theme, but then this article is true , to the point, and sharp. The comments reflect day to day life in the US, and also the various shortcomings that an Indian finds in India, after being exposed to the US of A. I was speaking to a friend some days back, and someone whom i always thought wanted to settle in India, has now started thinking. Maybe, the X+1 syndrome has evolved for him.

The one thing I like about this article is, that there are probably inputs in this from people who have experience and gone thru all this, than just a idealogical lookout of one person. For example, I have always felt and maintained that a person stayingn in India can never comment on how (good or bad) life is in the US. It really takes one to live here to understand it. And for all the great education given to us by the various movies made, I believe it is upto one's own thinking as to how life should be shaped.

I wish to extend this X+1 syndrome experiment to all my readers. If you wish to, contribute by telling me, at what stage of the ladder are u, and what is your understanding.

Google fixes math

Well, this is some news .



Now, being an engineer that I am, I wasn't satisfied with just this as a test, and hence I tried some more numbers, and this is what I got.



I am not sure of what has been really done, except that maybe they have introduced some round off stuff which rounds off a number so close to zero to zero. What say?

DesiTune Hungama

Read this news on indiafm.com that there is a deal between hungama.com and iTunes, by which 30,000 tracks of T- series will be available for download.

http://indiafm.com/news/2006/01/31/6619/index.html

I sincerey wonder how successful this will be, as a lot of the songs/tracks which are available for download might already be available and making rounds as free mp3 :)

On another note, the music of Rang De Basanti is too good, if u get a chance , listen to the songs.Good good music. Rehman rocks as always. According to me, Rehman is a truly gifted individual, and surely the best music director i have seen. Bombay, Rangeela, his album 'Vande Mataram' , and many many more, he's a gem.

signing off : 12: 33 am on tuesday, jan 31 2006

Rang De Basanti - a Must Watch

Saw Rang De Basanti yesterday night at Naaz . Probably one of the better films I have watched for some time. A film that has got me thinking.

Rediff.com's review of the film is here :

http://ia.rediff.com/movies/2006/jan/26rdb.htm?q=mp&file=.htm

(Warning: Reading further might divulge some plot details)

The film is different, because it starts off with an english filmmaker wanting to make a film on Bhagat singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and the revolutionaries, for which she comes to India and meets up with her friend(Soha Ali Khan), who introduces them to a group of college goers , which include Aamir Khan.The role of Aamir Khan is a shade similar to the one in Dil Chahta Hai, carefree , aggressive, but inside him there seems to be an aggression which will come off at the right moment.

Madhavan plays an IAF pilot, and the film concentrates on the crashes of MIG planes in India which is a big big issue, and has been attributed to higher levels of corruption, and one thing which has been responsible for the deaths of our best officers.

The first half of the film concentrates on the stories of the revolutionaries, in the film being shot, while the second half is more on how such a scenario could be possible in present day India. A great idea, and a film well made.

Atul Kulkarni is very good in his intense role, and gives a wonderful show of emotions that run through him. And the film of course is supported by some good cast which includes the like of Kiron Kher, Anupam Kher and Waheeda Rehman.

Honestly, a film that got me close to the country I belong to, but then, to be honest, it also questioned my own conscience, of leaving my home and coming to a foreign country . :)

A must watch.

And we thought Google was wrong :(...

well from my earlier post, and following up a few threads on forums on the internet, i decided to try out something

Here's a small C code

#include

void main()
{
double d;
d=1-0.9-0.1;
printf(" \n d = %g",d);
if(d) printf("\nzero not achieved") ;
}


I ran it on visual studio :) and it did not get the zero. Might want to run the program for yourself and find out...

Thanks to Animesh for pointing it out.

So google gets a clean chit again !

Google's (in) famous math

Wow, this is interesting

Go to google and do 1-0.9-0.1

Wonder whats causing it, any comments :)?

Mercy killing, Yes or No

Read a post on CNN that Terri Schiavo's widower had remarried. For those of you who don't know who she is, try to google up.

Terri Schiavo died in March after her feeding tube was removed. She had suffered irreversible brain damage after collapsing at age 26 in 1990. An autopsy supported Michael Schiavo's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state with no consciousness and no hope of recovery.
(Source : CNN.com)

Now, here's the big big question. What should be done in such a case? There's obviously going to be an argument, like there was in this case between family members, and most of which does not depend on the nature or closeness of any individual, but an individual's assessment of the present situation, both in medical and practical terms. For example, if a doctor told Terri's husband that she would never recover again, wouldn't he be entitled to ask him to not let her remain alive?

On the other hand, speak of medical miracles. What if some miracle or some groundbreaking technology enables the patient to live on further? At a time when the patient is not making a decision, is it fair for other people to just let her die?

I have always been confused on this issue myself, right since my school days, its a tough one.. what do you say?

Bahu bhashiy Prakalp( एक बहुभाषीय प्रकल्प )

Well, if you though that English is the only language on the web, here's some news:

I came across 2 things today,

1. Wikipedia in hindi, marathi and gujarati

Check out

http://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/मुख्य_पृष्ठ
http://gu.wikipedia.org/
http://mr.wikipedia.org/

And find really good articles in gujarati. And yes, if you know more, just add to it, there's just going to be more knowledge for people in the world.

Among other news, there is a Tamil internet browser launched named 'valaiyodi' , the news of which is at

http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=70553&cat_id=580

The comments do reflect that its not really available for download and the news might not be accurate...

But then...things to watch out for

Bloggin at 1: 30 am...

Blogging at the end of another day...

Today's day...same old stuff..life goes on...

Was watching dil chahta hai, a movie i consider to be a true masterpiece, both in terms of dialogue, writing etc.

So I am back...

From now, i promise there'll be some more regular and more interesting blogs

So, here's the first. Roomie and friend nirav mehta recently broke all records, when we went to a friend's place, and in a gathering of but 6 people, there was one guy with whom he shared his first, last and middle names ( yes thts true and there's a great story behind this one too), and one person with whom he shared the exact birth date, month and year.. he also observed that one person had the same shoes (identical to be more correct) as him. Riot.

Among more interesting things, i decided to break the habit of eating maggi and paratha and making some sabji today, decided that i should stay away from such resolutions, else i might end up hungry....

USC lost the football game today, and that too in the closing stages of the game...:(

Braille and Google

Went to Google at 12: 10 am, and found this...










Today ( january 4th ) is the birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of the Braille script, which has helped thousands of blind people to lead a better life...

Hats off to a wonderful person, and great idea by Google :)

Black...

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's movie 'Black' has been selected among Time magazine's top 10 movies, according to an article by rediff.com

http://ia.rediff.com/movies/2005/dec/29black.htm?q=tp&file=.htm

Truly, this film is a masterpiece. The idea of the film is a bit on Helen Keller's life, as the main character in the film (Rani mukherji aka michelle ) is blind and deaf, and also that the methods of learning that she uses, are the same as helen keller ( spelling things out on her hand, typing out her answers etc)

Rani Mukherjee is absolutely wonderful in depicting the role, so is the little girl who plays the child role of rani's character. And of course, the big B is absolutely great in his role of the Teacher, be it strict, emotional, funny or just passionate about his work. There probably could not have been a better actor in this role than amitabh bachchan.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has made some absolutely stunning movies, be it Khamoshi, Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam or Black, and his touch is clearly seen in the movie, both in the idiosyncracies of Rani's character, and the overall picture that film depicts.

If you haven't watched it, do watch it.

I won't drink till I am 100...

CNN is carrying the news of the death of an antarctica explorer Norman Vaughan

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/vaughan.obit.ap.ap/index.html

An interesting overview of a life of a person, his shot to fame as an explorer, high and low moments in his life ( his jobs include working as a dishwasher and as shoveling snow from sidewalks, as mentioned in the article), to his great work in the exploration of antarctica.

The interesting thing here is, that he had promised his mother that he won't drink till he was 100, and in the true spirit, he kept his promise,

'Vaughan had a taste of champagne Saturday during his birthday celebration'

Guess this must have been a great memory, and a good way to end an illustrious life..

Suicide..No!

Nithya sent me a mail about an interesting article, in which the author chetan Bhagat speaks of his opinions about suicide :

Nice article by Chetan Bhagat

Last week, an IITian committed suicide. People who commit suicide do it when they feel there's no future. But wait, isn't IIT the one place where a bright and shining future is a foregone conclusion? It just doesn't add up, does it? Why would a young, hardworking, bright student who has the world ahead of him do something like this? But the answer is this—in our constant reverence for the great institution (and I do believe IITs are great), we forget the dark side. And the dark side is that the IITs are afflicted by the quintessential Indian phenomenon of academic pressure, probably the highest in the world.

I can rant about the educational system and how it requires serious fixing, or I can address the immediate—try my best to prevent such suicides. For this column I have chosen the latter, and I do so with a personal story.

News of a suicide always brings back one particular childhood memory. I was 14 years old when I first seriously contemplated suicide. I had done badly in chemistry in the Class X halfyearly exam. I was an IIT aspirant, and 68% was nowhere near what an IIT candidate should be getting. I don't know what had made me screw up the exam, but I did know this, I was going to kill myself. The only debate was about method.

Ironically, chemistry offered a way. I had read about copper sulphate, and that it was both cheap and poisonous. Copper sulphate was available at the kirana store. I had it all worked out.

My rationale for killing myself was simple—nobody loved me, my chemistry score was awful, I had no future and what difference would it make to the world if I was not there.

I bought the copper sulphate for two rupees—probably the cheapest exit strategy in the world.

I didn't do it for two reasons. One, I had a casual chat with the aunty next door about copper sulphate, and my knowledgeable aunty knew about a woman who had died that way. She said it was the most painful death possible, all your veins burst and you suffer for hours. This tale made my insides shudder. Second, on the day I was to do it, I noticed a street dog outside my house being teased by the neighbourhood kids as he hunted for scraps of food. Nobody loved him. It would make no difference to the world if the dog wasn't there. And I was pretty sure that its chemistry score would be awful. Yet, the dog wasn't trotting off to the kirana store. He was only interested in figuring out a strategy for his next meal. And when he was full, he merely curled up in a corner with one eye open, clearly content and not giving a damn about the world. If he wasn't planning to die anytime soon what the hell was I ranting about? I threw the copper sulphate in the bin. It was the best two bucks I ever wasted.

So why did I tell you this story? Because sometimes the pressure gets too much. Like it did for the IITian who couldn't take it no more. On the day he took that dreadful decision, his family and friends were shattered, and India lost a wonderful, bright child. And as the silly but true copper sulphate story tells you—it could happen to any of us or those around us. So please be on the lookout, if you see a distressed young soul, lend a supportive, non-judgemental ear. When I look back, I thank that aunt and that dog for unwittingly saving my life. If God wanted us to take our own life, he would have provided a poweroff button. He didn't, so have faith and let his plan for you unfold. Because no matter how tough life gets and how much it hurts, if street dogs don't give up, there is no reason why we, the smart species, should. Makes sense right?

-------------------------------End of Article

I used to have a different opinion about suicide, thinking that well if you think you had had enough of life, you should be independent to take this decision.

I changed my mind, and very much so, after u realise the value that this life had given you. If you ever feel that you don't have a lot in life....

If you are a human being, you are probably among the luckiest living beings on earth....its a gift that God has given you,

Living in a civilised society, where your personal freedom is not taken from you, its a gift that not many people have...

If you have good health, you are gifted with it, a gift that many people spend their life dreaming about...

If you can simply read this blog entry, you have received a gift of education, which a good majority of people on this planet have not had....

And Suicide is leading you to? If you think tht you'll have a better life in your next birth ...i wonder who ever went back to his or her previous birth to speak about the wonderful life you had....

Doing good deeds in your life, hoping for a better life in your next birth, is a valid and acceptable action, according to me, because that in some way collectively makes this world a better place to live in. Giving up things or sacrificing good things in life, might also be an acceptable way of going towards it, though people have different opinions about it...

But then, life is a gift....a gift that God has given you, and you have to live on........

and if you feel tired, just think that you are performing a duty that God has given you, and the road will be easier...

Maybe this sounds philosophical...but then thats how it is...my opposition to the concept of suicide stays on....

Is this where your taxes go?

Read this news on cricinfo

"Somnath Chatterjee, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, announced this while adding that "a great injustice has been done to Ganguly because of politics in the game". "

I guess , people should seriously consider not payin taxes, if the parliament is going to take up such issues...

First, there is no substance...as in its not like zimbabwe or something, where cricket is being politicised, and there is a direct crisis. It's simply about one man not performing, and hence been given the axe.

If these guys think that they are angry at the selector's mistake, then why did they so much support the selectors when ganguly was taken back inspite of repeated failures...

Whatevre be the case, its a sport, and its an issue which has to be solved at tht level only..such cases cannot be brought to parliament....if u really have so much time, think about literacy, education, population control, agriculture, industry, external affairs, ,.....but not cricket......its not really what we are paying you for....

Sucks!

My Contribution to Wikipedia

This is exciting. When i first came across Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/), i was shocked to see the information these guys had, and was thinking how they got it.

A simple idea, but works, and works well. Just leave some broken links and allow people to finish them, like I did today, added some more information about my home town of mulund, and now this excitement is going to lead me to do much more of it.

Of course, saw on TV a few days back, about misuse of this technology, by people writing bad things about other people, and yes, that is a negative, but minus that, this thing seems to be building up one of the largest resourse of information on the globe....

guess i fully support this one!

Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum

If the name of the post doesn't make any sense to you, it's normal, its not supposed to...

IMDB points out (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093578/trivia), that in the first scene of the famous film Mr. India, Ashok Kumar is explaining something to students and interestingly, this is written on the board...

'Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum'

Boney Kapoor is anil kapoor's bro and the producer of the movie..

Also reminds me of one scene in the film Troy , where a plane is accidentally visible in a film , which is set in an ancient age.. :)

Any more such comments?

Lazy lazy saturday

So its saturday...

The importance of a saturday realy comes into play after 5 days of work :(

i realised tht 5 days after i started working at qualcomm last summer. Seemed as if i had lost tht happiness..but hv seemed to gain tht again....

Have to do a lot of work again today, but then...laziness is really winning me over today....

lets see how it goes...

Fire...

Today, I was moving around in SF downtown, hunting for a good place (non-Mexican and non-burger) to have lunch, when I suddenly heard a lot of sirens and saw a lot of fire and police vans zeroing upon a particular area.

Did not take much time to realise, that a part of a small building was on fire. It seemed big to me, and seeing the response of the fire dept, it was probably a pretty big one. Anyways, luckily enough, there were no casualties reported

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/13046356.htm

Anyways, one more example from my side, to appreciate the efficiency of emergency systems in this country, though, from a lot of experiences, in India these services are doing good too now...

Power of blogs

Animesh Pathak had put this post on his blog some days back

http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/2005/10/nexus-between-railways-officials-and.html

I am not sure whether it was this blog, the fwded emails, or maybe some other things, but Animesh got 1850+ hits in 2 days...and soon enuf

And lot of action has been taken, some of which can be found here

Well, some where shows us, the power of blogs, and the world coming to a new age...

Many many years back, newspapers and the press were the main tools for people to start revolutions, inspire people to unite and fight for a common cause, and I would guess, that somewhere I see blogs in the same league....


Speaks a lot about the power of the internet (though this incident also depicts the terrific unity of students at usc, and in the US in general), and also the fact tht the world is steadily moving towards making the internet a more than integral part of their life....

I guess its the greatest invention since the wheel!...

Vinton Cerf probably deserves a Nobel Prize man!

Signing off/.///2:15 am on oct 13, 2005....

finally did it

Well, I finally did it..all by myself and without neone's help

What?

Nothin much for most geeks, but today i formatted my hard drive and loaded it back.....

Well, dont knw why, but I have always had a phobia of doing this, interestingly enough, the reason i cite for this is, that I am a bit (ok, well mebbe more ) disorganized, and I tend to get confused with the order of things. Add to this, that I really get disappointed if any data is lost, especially some good photographs, which I get absolutely emotional about.

Though, I really get bugged by one thing...almost always...and that is, can't data be retrieved at all?


Well, strangely enough, the answer is yes, and whilst we all know that, most technical support ppl (esp the ones with whom I have interacted), would advise you to simply format your hard drive, sayingm that there's no other option if your windows system has crashed.

Utter rubbish, i would say.

First, there is a simply way of doing it, load the OS on one of the partitions, so u might stand to lose data only on that partition. And if you have been organized enough, you will def have one such drive

second, there coould me a large number of ways, and even after everything fails, remember that there are people who do data retriaval, and maybe could save part of your data.

I would really find it very foolish, if i formatted my hdd today, and tomorrow someone wud say, well..u shud hv tried it, it wud hv probably worked..and saved my precious data...

well abt it for today...

signing off..

Harshit

Mini, nano, crash!

Well, the news is in...

Apple has confirmed of some defective pieces in the iPod Nano

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-09-28T205826Z_01_HAR851003_RTRIDST_0_TECH-APPLE-NANO-DC.XML

Though, it claims that it is less than 0.1 %, it would be huge number given the fact tht apple sells out a huge huge number of ipods...

Well, neways just a bit of information...else apple is the best!

one more blog

well,

i finally decided to break my silence on the blog

u knw, i sometimes think, that when will ppl read my blog? or rather when should they?

to be frank, i am not sure, but one day i would like people to read this blog.

Don't know if you know about Anne Frank,

Anne Frank was a direct victim of Hitler's atrocities against Jews during the second world war period...

She and her family, along with another family were constantly in hiding, and during that period, Anne wrote a diary, which was read for the first time, after Anne died :( .

However, what she writes in her diary, has been made into movies, and her books have been quite famous. I would seriously recommend that you guys google her up, or find things on the net.

ie if u read this blog, which i suppose you won't

Same is the story with the diary of Robert F. Scott, who led an expedition to Antarctica, but could never make it back. He too wrote a small diary, (in a strange similarity to Anne Frank, who hd to use different books borrowed from people, as she didn't have a diary..she even mentions margot's subject books, scott too had to save on oil, and he didn't have sufficient light) in which he mentions how things were going, how one of his brave companions decided not to be a burden any more, and instead embrace death...its interesting.

blogs and modern technology, give us a better way of doing such things...we should use them well...shudn't we?

Bangalored

:)

Tejas sent me this mail, which highlights the use of the term 'Bangalored' . Put Bangalored in google search, and you'll find what it means.

Probably, the word bangalore may soon find a place in the dictionary, similar to places like Mecca(used to say...its the mecca of engineering kinds), Rome (when u r in rome, do as the romans do), etc etc etc

Dont know, first it sounds funny, but on second thoughts, it prob feels insulting. Sometimes i feel, bangalore should go on strike, and show these people, how incomplete their companies would be if people off shore did not do their work, how expensive their softwares would be, if we did not do their work at cheaper rates...

Guess, its a bit too much....for all things the various political parties in India oppose, this is one thing they should absolutely oppose..

2 yrs down the line

I completed 2 yrs at USC yesterday....

there are a lot of things i gained and lost in these 2 yrs.....lost some wonderful post BE outings /picnics when friends back in India lived up their freedom to their maximum, lost a good time with my family.....list some money, some good opportunities...

and wht i gained..

a lot of new friends....a strength to fight life and to live it as it comes....
a desire to live life...and never give up...and a personna to make new friends..and establish good contacts with people....

maybe its my luck that has brought me to the same spot as i was 2 yrs back, temporary accomodtion, looking for jobs, running out of money and missing home...

i dont knw...cant finish this blog...

Salaam Mumbai

Nithya sent me this forward highlighting some events which make every Mumbaikar feel within him the spirit of the city....


MUMBAI'S GLOOMBUSTERS Home Delivery While for most of Mumbai Tuesday brought unmitigated chaos, for the residents of Chand Society in Juhu it brought a baby girl delivered by the neighbours. Sonali and Bishwadeep Basu had been told that their baby was due on August 8, but soon after the rain hit the city on Tuesday, Sonali started feeling pangs of uneasiness. By the time her husband and father-in-law got back home at midnight, the discomfort was acute. The Basus set right out, but all the roads leading to local hospitals were submerged, forcing them to return home. By the time Sonali had climbed the four floors to her apartment, the baby was due. As soon as she entered the house, her waters broke, and her panicky mother-in-law called in her neighbour Mitali Sen, a teacher at Utpal Sanghavi school. Sen admits that she was not exactly experienced. "I tried speed-reading the Reader's Digest Family Health guide but there was nothing on home delivery,'' she says. An unexpected educational aid came to her rescue: Hindi films. "From all those scenes, I knew two things were needed-hot water and clean cloth,'' she says. But the baby could barely wait-as soon as Sen moved Sonali, she felt the baby's head, and almost before anyone could think, "Hoi gayche'' (it happened), screamed Sen. This was just half the job. "I didn't know how to cut the umbilical chord,'' says the debutant midwife. Luckily Sonali's husband had been busy on the phone, and through the yellow pages had connected with Asha Maternity Home in Malad, which gave her stepby-step instructions to cut the umbilical chord exactly two inches from the baby's navel. After sterilising the scissor, Sen plucked up the courage to do it. "I think we all said a prayer at that point,'' she says. "Because all they had was one candle. It was some time before they could tell it was a girl.'' The experience has changed Sen's views on delivery. "I've realised that it doesn't always have to be in a hospital and at such expense,'' she says. Now, she laughs, she and Basu are planning on getting into a partnership to deliver all the babies in the society.

Brush With Altruism Like thousands of other Mumbaikars, Lokandwala resident Manjunath Hegde left town on Tuesday late afternoon in his car. By the time he reached Khar, it was Wednesday morning, and he had given lifts to many others, including a pregnant woman who needed to go to the rest room every half hour. Luckily, Hegde knew many of the hotels on the arterial roads, and he was able to persuade them to let her use their facilities. His kindness was repaid in full when he passed Bandra on Wednesday morning and found residents distributing biscuits and tea to stranded commuters. One old man offered them to Hegde, who had been fasting for two days but was compelled to refuse. Reason: he was icky about eating anything without brushing his teeth. When the old man heard the reason, he went away without a word-only to return, much to Hegde's amazement, with a toothbrush and toothpaste. We're sure the old man got a torrent of gratitude along with the Close-Up smile.

Puppy Love The water was icy cold (just like in the Titanic, but filthier and without Leo di Caprio), there were dead rats, garbage, and the filth of the world afloat in it, and the young Pfizer employee who had driven to work in her smart Santro that morning couldn't believe that she would have to wade through this muck to make it home. But since her Santro was bobbing like a boat and a night had already been spent in the office where everyone had to queue up for a strictly rationed slice of bread and jam, she decided to take her chances. As if it were not bad enough to be wading through slimy, rotting water streaming down the road from the nearby market with a current that seemed to have consumed a cask of Viagra, she found that she was being accompanied by a stray dog. Not one to drool over strays, the dog's persistent presence made her edgy, and there seemed to be no way to shake it off. It took her a long time to realise that the dog meant no harm at all, and was in fact acting as a friendly guide to, incredibly enough, show her portions on which she could walk without going under. It ran ahead of her, cocked its head back and waited till she came abreast, then set off again. All the way up to her flat, a 45-minute journey, the dog played scout. And then, without waiting to be thanked, it scampered off. The Welfare of Stray Dogs may have got itself another sympathiser.

Mangal Mangal Asunshine story of a different kind came from a certain actor who was stuck along with the plebs on the traffic-thrombosed roads. In deep animated conversation with his friend, he had a security man who kept shooing people away from the car. Finally one of the more curious bystanders asked him who was inside and the bodyguard (who could probably do with some lessons in discretion) replied "Aamir Khan''. The news spread like the currents in the flood water, and people abandoned their cars to get a better look. The actor was gracious enough to wave to everyone and even answer a few queries politely. A thought: the real happy-shiny story would have been if he'd offered some struggling souls a lift, but even inadvertently brightening up a gloomy situation qualifies, we think.

Tough Tactics If Aamir Khan had been north of Bandra, he probably would have had pedestrians forced into his car willy-nilly. Bands of young toughs on the jammed Swami Vivekanand Road from Santa Cruz to Borivli were busy all of Tuesday and Wednesday forceopening car doors and 'requesting' owners to drop weary office-goers on the long trudge home to their destinations. The cheery young toughs had it all worked out: all available seats to be filled up and women to be sent in pairs for safety. As a rule we don't approve of strong-arm tactics, but this is one dadagiri that gets our vote.

City Of Gold We hate to trot out the cliche one more time, but the thousands of volunteers who braved the lashing rain and filthy flood waters to help others proved that Mumbai has a heart. Residents along S V Road abandoned the comfort of their warm homes and stood in chestdeep water all night to guide vehicles and pedestrians. At spots between South Mumbai and Mahim where the traffic had stalled completely on Tuesday morning, shopkeepers and stall owners on the road handed out tea and biscuits to people to keep them going. When the local municipal school at Dahisar (West) closed for the day, many bawling tots waiting interminably for their parents were rescued by local Gujarati housewives-the women took the kids in and fed them until their parents turned up. At CST station, Churchgate and Mantralaya, ISKCON workers distributed 20,000 hot packets of khichdi made in the organisation's Tardeo and Girgaum kitchens. "We normally send out 30,000 meals to schools, but in this emergency situation we are distributing food to stranded commuters,'' said Brijkumar Das of ISKCON. And then there were those who played good Samaritan even after going through a gruelling time themselves. Sunil Assar walked for eight hours from Mantralaya to Santa Cruz on Tuesday evening, and reached past 1 am. The next morning when he was out on the roads with his friends, he saw volunteers distributing tea and biscuits. Taking a cue from them, the group went home, got money and bought biscuits and 200 vada pavs which they started distributing at around 11.30 am on S V Road, Santa Cruz. When their stock got over by 3 pm, they helped a family that was handing out cups of tea from a bucket. They then bought medical supplies from Asha Parekh hospital, and jumped on to barely moving buses to hand out food and medicines to weary travellers. This, of course, isn't even a fraction of the kindness and compassion demonstrated by Mumbaikars on those terrible days. What else can we say but Salaam Mumbai?

Irregular Blogger

Well, how much ever I try, this is one thing I am not regular at....'

When I first started blogging, I thought I would definitely put in a blog a day, with maybe one miss every 2-3 weeks.

However much I try, I can never be as regular as maybe Animesh (http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com), whose blog is updated almost daily.