Dash Maniac a.k.a. Bharath

Language Terrorism

2009-11-10T02:08:00.020+05:30

Today again was one of those "Hindi Meri Jaan" days which led to unfortunate acts in the Maharashtra Legislative assembly. Violence is anytime not so good and should be avoided.

This incident was enough to keep our media busy the whole day. Among the numerous personalities our media interviewed, I came across two sensible and neutral comments from Kumar Ketkar of Loksatta and Advertiser Bharat Dabholkar. Both went on to say that the scene MNS created in the assembly was severely condemnable. I agree. Dabolkar went on to say, what big thunder would have stuck had Mr Azmi uttered those couple of sentences in Marathi, since he knew what was coming. I am sure he could have easily managed to speak that. But he did not and will not – sheer reason being - he believes that Hindi is our national language. Legally he is allowed to take the oath in Hindi, but the legislator was quoted as saying that Hindi is our National language (Which itself is completely lame) and no one can insult it. In what way is asking him to take the oath in the state’s official language an insult to Hindi? When Mr Azmi is a member of the legislative assembly of Maharashtra, he can definitely make an effort to speak out two sentences in the state’s official language. MNS is not against outsiders. Mr Yadav rallying in Sivaji Park talking about “Tamaam Muddhey” and the rights of outsiders in Mumbai is what triggers anger in the MNS. Then they choose the wrong path to settle it out.

Every time this topic comes up, I have heard a lot of people ignorantly say "But Hindi is India's National Language." Pity! In fact today couple of very senior Indian politicians, who are also founders of a national political party got their facts wrong. Mr Yadav, a three time Chief Minister from India's most populous state, was quoted as saying "I would like to congratulate Azmi for maintaining the honour of the national language Hindi".

That Hindi is our national language seems to be one of the most successful rumors spread in our country - The rumor with the widest reach - that probably gave birth to this Hindi arrogance. I wish these leaders and crores Indians realize the fact that India does not have a National language. There is no such thing in our constitution. The national language of the United States is English and that of Ireland is Irish. The national language defines the people of the nation, culture and history. India is culturally so diverse, there are so many languages spoken that there cannot be any one such language that defines the culture and history. As of 2009, the Indian constitution recognizes 22 scheduled languages.

Neither the Constitution of India[1] nor Indian law specifies a National language.
Article 343 of the constitution specifies that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
But it was decided that till 1965, the proceedings of the courts, the services, and the all-India bureaucracy would be conducted in English.
In 1965, attempts were made to introduce Hindi by force, sparking widespread protests in Tamil Nadu. Then the Union Government extended the use of English in inter-State communication.

An article also says that every state has the right to choose its own official language.
Article 354 specifies that the legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the Language or Languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State.

Communication between the States:
Communication from a Central (Union) Government office to a State or a Union Territory in shall, save in exceptional cases (Region "A") or shall ordinarily (Region "B"), be in Hindi, and if any communication is issued to any of them in English it shall be accompanied by a Hindi translation thereof. Section 3 of G.S.R. 1053, titled "Rules, 1976 states Communications from a Central Government office to State or Union Territory in Region "C" or to any office (not being a Central Government office) or person in such State shall be in English. Region C covers Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

English is the authoritative legislative and judicial language. In fact, one can say that English is the official language of India for all practical purposes. But from time to time, the chauvinists of Hindi tried to press their case.

Yesterday Mr Azmi further said "Atleast I did not talk in Angrezi". English is perfectly fine, Mr Azmi.

The 1965 amendment to the Official languages act[2] permitted the use of English for all official purposes. It also said that communication between two Non-Hindi speaking states or between the center and a non-Hindi speaking state has to be in English unless otherwise agreed upon.

In the National Policy Resolution of 1968 and 1986, the Three Language Formula[3] was proposed. But as of now this policy is hugely successful in very few states like Kerala, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

Personally, having lived in five states, I always make sincere effort to learn the state’s local language. As an outcome of this I can now manage to speak 7 Indian languages. I often get irritated when outsiders expect the localities to speak in Hindi, be it in Bangalore or Hyderabad. The expectation is justified only above Jabalpur. Adding to this they complain that people don’t understand Hindi. Have you seen a Keralite who has migrated to Noida speak in Malayalam to the fruit vendor? Even a Tamilain would learn Hindi when he goes to Noida. [Sadly he doesn’t learn Kannada in Bangalore:-(]. But why doesn’t a Hindi speaking outsider never make any effort to learn Kannada, Telugu or Marathi? Hindi Arrogance probably. Recently I got thoroughly irritated when I came across a stranger in Bangalore who came up to me and started talking in Tamil, with an assumption that anyone in Bangalore will know Tamil. (I am a Tamilian :-D) There’s nothing wrong in talking in Tamil, but that assumption that everyone in Bangalore will speak Tamil and the resistance to learn the local language is what that’s not so good.

This reminds me of a very interesting and famous exchange between Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and E. K. Nayanar, the late Chief Minister of Kerala. Both were chief ministers at the time. Not complying with the above section from the Indian Constitution Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav wrote a letter to the Kerala CM in his language Hindi. EK Nayanar replied back in his language Malayalam. In response to the letter, Mr Yadav replied that Nayanar should learn Hindi. Referring to UP’s literacy rate, Nayanar came back with a devastating response. “You teach the people of UP Hindi first, and then ask me to learn it.”

An apt response to the Hindi terrorism.

[1] http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/coiason29july08.pdf
[2] http://www.rajbhasha.gov.in/dolacteng.htm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-language_formula

My travel wish

2009-08-06T14:55:00.014+05:30

I was trying to compile a list of places I badly want to visit whenever I have time and a lot of money - and in about 10 minutes I could come up with this -

Times Square, New York City
The city of Paris (I regret to have missed this while I was in Amsterdam)
Burj Al Arab, Dubai
Swiss Alps - Eurorail trip - with lot of wine.
Leh-Ladakh, India
Parthenon in Athens
Death Valley, Nevada
Valencia, Spain
Genting Highlands, Malaysia

After reading the list top-to-bottom about 4-5 times and looking at my wallet, I decided this weekend I would go to Sinhagad fort, Pune - about 20 kms from where I stay. Sinhagad-ka-Quila.

Politics, Tamasha and People's money

2009-07-22T18:30:00.017+05:30

The recent protests in the parliament over Dr Abdul Kalam's security check issue have once again proved and showcased the inefficient usage of tax-payers money. Why does our media sensationalize such a news to this extent when Dr Kalam himself cooperated so well to the mandatory security checks? The incident came to light only after three months. Today I could see this report on the first page of almost all national newspapers. On certain media I could also see our extremely concerned people questioning If this would have ever happened to George Bush. First of all, why should we be bothered at all? Even if it does happen, what's wrong in that? I don't think there is anything derogatory at all in it.

During the Zero Hour a prominent MP from the opposition said - “It is an issue which puts the whole nation to shame". What was so shameful in that, Hon'ble MP? I don't think the so called victim Dr Kalam would have considered this shameful :-) From what I have read and heard about Dr Kalam, I am quite sure, he would have cooperated and finished it off in a couple of minutes without any hesitation. But our great parliamentarians have already wasted lakhs of public money on this at the parliament. In fact the airline thanked Dr Kalam for flying with them and for the support rendered during the security checks.

The protesting MP also said that whenever foreign dignitaries visited India, a vehicle was sent on to the tarmac to receive them, while Indian dignitaries are frisked. Wow! What a comparison :-D So the next time George Bush flies Air India, let's frisk him and do a complete security check :-)

I don't know the exact figures for this year, but I know huge amount of money is spent to run every session of the houses of our parliament. A lot of money is spent to enable the MP's to attend the parliament sessions. [1]

I am not saying all our parliamentarians are like this. In his recent tweet, one of my favorite MP said that when the commotion began over some issue at the parliament he made an early exit do something productive. I was surprised when I saw a few MP's work at odd times of the day, patiently answering people's concerns and communicating the action taken. They very efficiently use Twitter as a medium to talk to the people, keeping the conversation crisp and to-the-point. That was very much against the perception I had. When I wrote about this to him, he replied back saying "We politicians are used to this routine- working till late and waking up very early in the morning"

Coming back to the present issue, the Continental Airlines flight was flying to the United States in which case the US department of Homeland Security has every right to frame rules and order the airline to follow them. The security check that is carried out at the aerobridge just before entering the aircraft is done by the airline and not by the CISF personnel. When you and me can be checked at the aerobridge, why not Dr Kalam or Robert Vadra. The US Dept. of Homeland Security might not recognize Dr Kalam as a VVIP or Mr Vadra as a VIP's husband. Even if it does, it might not exclude them from security checks. I was surprised to read that other than His Holiness Dalai Lama, the one and only "individual" name in the list of persons/positions to be excluded from security checks at airports in India is Robert Vadra.

Dr Kalam being told to remove his shoes during a mandatory check and the media and politicians protesting this - Does it at all affect the common man in any way?

[1] http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/57720/

Remembering Rajeev Motwani

2009-06-07T10:50:00.009+05:30

Silicon Valley mourns the death of Stanford Professor Rajeev Motwani.

"..his legacy and personality lives on in the students, projects, and companies he has touched. Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it" - says Google's Sergey Brin.

I have admired him ever since I first read about him in David Vise' "The Google Story". The paper "What can you do with a Web in your Pocket" co-authored by Motwani has one of the early mentions of PageRank technique. His other works can be found at http://theory.stanford.edu/~rajeev/.

Elections and the Eelam

2009-04-27T10:54:00.009+05:30

These days, I get put off when I watch the election campaign speeches by the leaders of political parties in Tamil Nadu. Every leader has a statement to make about Sri Lanka and The Eelam. Someone says "Velupillai Prabhakaran is my good friend", someone else claims If she is voted to power she "will not rest until Tamil Eelam is formed". Someone makes a statement that "Tamil Nadu would witness a bloodbath even if slightest harm befell Prabakaran". He was the same person who once said "If the need arises, I will be the first man to take up arms in support of Sri Lankan Tamils. I will gather youths all over the country for this purpose." and was put behind bars under the POTA act for "waging a seditious war against the state." But this time Elections are around. The government cannot afford to do that. Rather everybody is commenting on the issue.

Every election rally if full of promises and solutions to the Eelam issue. Are there not much bigger issues at home which need urgent attention?

I recently read a post by Sanjiva, a Sri lankan himself, where he says the blame for present situation needs to be shared by India, US, UK, Australia, Canada and others.
An editorial in Sri Lankan Sunday Times says ; "Take the typical case of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This week, giving testimony at a Congressional hearing, she asked that Pakistan take more action against (Islamic) extremists and asked Sri Lanka to 'pause' action against (Tamil) extremists. To cap it, she asked Pakistan to adopt a 'paradigm shift' and called for a 'change in mind-set'. Look who's talking."

I am not saying that you ignore the sufferings of the people in North Sri Lanka. Yes, big problems exist there.
But these should not be used as poll gimmicks. The parties should not take undue advantage of such a situation to divert attention of voters from much more important issues which affect them directly on a day-to-day basis.

Lightning Talks

2009-03-27T03:09:00.007+05:30

This post is a sequel to one of my old posts "The anatomy of a Cool Dude"
It's been more than a couple of years since my first visit to Subway, described in that entry. And this is what happened today.
I am in Amsterdam for a week. Today I ran into a Subway at Dam Square. I got in and said "Hello" to the person at the counter. Then I asked him "Sir, Do you have any vegetarian options?"
He replied back "Bhai-Saab Hindi mein poocho na".
I was stunned for a minute.
He then says "Aapko ekdum acha Veg sandwich banake deta hoon mein. Isme aapko tamatar, shimla mirchi, pyaz, aur yeh lettuce milega. :-)
I say "Hahahaha. Isko apne vahan Veggie Delight bolte hain."

Then he asked "Saath mein cold drink chahiye?"
I said "Apne wahan Make-it-a-meal? poochte hain"

Towards the end of the Sub process, he asked "Bhaiyan, Mirchi Daloon?"
I said "Haan haan. By the way isko apne wahan jalapeno bolte hain".
:-D

Two years and I again remembered "Which bread", "Make it a meal" and "Which sauce" at the local Subway. :-D

Lake, Forest, Hills and Serenity

2008-10-06T13:58:00.005+05:30

Mulshi- A 2 hour drive from Pune into the Sahyadri Hills.

The complete album is here:

Mulshi

Overall a fulfilling weekend as I got to click some photographs as well.

Tiger of Mysore

2008-09-30T23:21:00.000+05:30

He still stands tall.. Captured while at Cochin Harbour.

Green Pune

2008-09-30T00:23:00.000+05:30

The Commonwealth Youth Games-2008 are nearing and Green is the theme. And the venue - Pune - is indeed green.
My experiments with the lens -

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Untitled

2008-09-27T02:34:00.000+05:30

I recently moved to Pune and now I am living with my family. The last 3-4 years were one of most memorable times - in Hyderabad. I made quite a few good friends, learnt a lot at work and had a good time.

But with this relocation I have also realized you miss out a lot when you move away from your friends. No matter what the advancement in communication technologies - mobile phones and internet - you still miss out on something basic. There is nothing like sitting besides your friend sipping coffee- engrossed in one of those endless conversations.
When you are with friends, all through the day at work and at home you tend be more happy, the lighter moments, the good and bad times shared, and the fun! I somehow feel the same cannot be compensated by talking to a friend who is in a different city on a mobile phone. All of a sudden you miss those good times, the late night conversations at the veranda, the weekend mega plans, the midnight dinner at Ohri's, and of course the Biriyani. Distances do matter!

I realize you miss out on a lot of things when you leave a city, friends and work. More so when when you come back to live with your parents, where there is always a generation gap and the resulting conflicting opinions. Only now I realize there were so many changes in my lifestyle in the past few years, which might not have happened had I been staying with my parents. But in my view, they were good, and I enjoyed it! At the end happiness matters. And now I find it difficult to live the other way!

Back in four years

2008-09-04T11:04:00.000+05:30

It has been four years since I started using mobile phones and this week marked the arrival of my sixth instrument. I started off with Nokia 1100 and later used phones like LG smartphone and Nokia 6275 - with CDMA internet, bluetooth, and camera. Apart from these they even had excellent value added features like talking to a person on the other end and things like SMS. One reason to move from LG to Nokia was the hope for a better battery backup, which was obviuosly taken care of, but not to the extent I had thought - The previous Nokia phone I used was Nokia 1100.

Now that I relocated to Pune, I thought I would move back to GSM after using CDMA for some 3 years now. I had chosen CDMA initially for wireless internet and better roaming. Since I am back home and no longer need these features I opted for a GSM and my dad gave me an unused Motorola MotoRazr v3i flip phone, which he got an year back but never used it.

An aspiring dude and a flip phone - that's what I wanted. Soon I developed my own style of opening and closing the phone, attending calls etc. While driving if you get a call, take the phone (Flip Phone) from the jeans left pocket, slightly open it, (not fully, though its is completely possible) take it up towards the face and then open it fully with the chin - while the right hand still on the steering with an expression I cant explain on pen, And then after all this say "Hey, I'll call you back".

But it took no time for me to realize that the battery talk time of my new Flip phone was 32 minutes to be precise. This without using any of the value added services. I got a new battery last week and the talk time in that was 20 minutes. I had to recharge the battery every few hours.

Quite frustated I decided to buy a phone with the most battery backup. Went to the shop and asked for a phone which did not have a camera, GPRS, Mp3 player, FM and color display. Soon the person on the counter showed me a Nokia 1200 phone, the entry model in Nokia, which had a very close resemblance to my first phone. The cover said 7 hours talk-time and 2 weeks standby time. And priced same as the model number. I can talk and send sms with this phone, manufactured at the Nokia plant in India - Sriperumbadhur, near Madras.

Back to typing sms's without even seeing the phone and a comfort level I wanted. I have spoken for 3 hours and the battery still shows full. Feels good:-)

The anatomy of a "Cool Dude"

2008-02-02T16:52:00.000+05:30

Cool Dude - The most used word in a day.
One who can do things which we cannot do - is termed a "cool dude". Be it growing hair, or not growing hair, tattooing, speaking four letter words, smoking ultra milds or menthol, going all the way to Bangalore for a rock band maiden concert, or laughing amidst a group of dozen girls. The word has become the most used word in the group of people (folks - to sound cool) I move with, to such an extent that every other conversation ultimately comes to the same thing "Dude, you are becoming cool".

Be it when my office moved to a cool, vibrant IT park (And I became a Parkite), when I applied a temporary tattoo on my forearms, when I got a wireless internet connection, when I browse internet on my mobile, when I insist on wearing socks before putting on the Sandals - All I could hear is "Dude, you are becoming cool!"
So I assume, by now the reader has got an idea of what a Cool Dude is, rather what an Item he is!

Some random notes:
Q. What do Dudes do in Office?
A: The do stuff. Not work. Remember "I need to get this stuff done" ?

Q: What do dudes have for lunch?
A: They grab a Sub. And remember A dude would always "customize his sub".

The sub topic reminds me of a very crude (the most closest antonym of cool) incident at the Sub. During one of those initial visits to Sub, I had taken a friend along with me, thinking he would be a moral support to me at the cool shop (cool joint to sound cool).
The friend whom I had taken along, had once tasted garlic bread that someone in office had ordered from Pizza Hut. After finishing the bread, seeing the label Pizza Hut written on the sauce packets, he commented - "The Pizza was good". This after being in the IT industry for 7 years!
So it was just uncool of me to take him with me for moral support. Since we were two, we had the courage to face the questions shot at us. Yes, too many questions for having a sandwich. Oh not sandwich - It's a Sub. With great difficulty, we were able to get something made though we still do not know what we had answered for questions like 6 inch or foot long? , Type of bread, should i toast it?, with cheese /without cheese? , All vegetables? etc. All we could see is something had been made for both of us. And soon we are going to eat the cool sub. And then a question. "Do you want to make it a meal?" I asked my friend "Acha yahan meals bhi milta hai kya"? I did not see the "Meals Ready" board outside. All eyes on me. My friend did not have an answer.
Then came the final question. With the gesture and tone, we could make out that this is the final question and soon we can start eating. But what he asked was too fast and unheard of. He repeated it. Still no change in his reaction. Again the question with a demeaning look at us. Finally we answer - "Yes". And he gives a much demeaning look, in fact something like - These people can never grow up. Then he gave us the bill and the Sub - both the subs in the same plate (Tray to be cool).
And then My friend says aloud "Donon sandwich parcel kar do yaar". All faces in the restaurants were on us. All the Sub makers at the counter saw him. My friend was stunned. He was trying to think what he spoke. He was saying to himself "Did I use any abusive language?". Soon the person on the other side of the counter, said in a slightly louder tone, "That's what i asked you. You could have said you wanted Take-Away". So that is what he was asking towards the end of the Sub making process.
All this when the person who made the sub also knows the local language or atleast common english - The kind of English that we have been listening to, since our childhood. But if he does that then whats cool about Sub? Or rather what so cool if even in the mid of his sleep a dude can say whats the Sub of the day.

Q: Where do Dudes go for snacks?
A: CCD, MacDee

Q: What do dudes do on weekends?
A: They groove and dance around in the disc by just shaking their head or grooving their hip. Whereas all we go to the Pub is to drink. And talk about Deva's latest gana song inside the pub.

Few days back, I had a conversation with a cool dude during one of those bus journeys to Pune. After talking for a while, I could make out that he is a Tamilian. So to confirm my speculation, I asked him "Where are you from?". With a bit of restaint, he said - "I am from Madras (pronouncing it the non-native way), but I currently stay in Pune." This was followed by the information that next month he would be going to... (some place in USA, later on he said it was in the Valley). The valley part of the answer was the most stressed one. My further questions in Tamil were answered back in English and not so fluent Hindi. And I could notice, he was so uncomfortable talking about Madras, or even Pune. They find it demeaning to answer questions like Which part of India they belong to. They do not like to be geographically identified (unless of course, it's the valley)
Yes cool dudes are Global Indians - or may be Global citizens.

One good thing about dudes is that they do not care much for what others think. Their actions are not dependent on their surroundings. Rather, "They give a damn.." Yes, thats how they say it.
Another interesting aspect that me and my fellow dude observers noticed, is on the dude's blogging pattern. Most of the times, the title of the post will have twice as many words as the content, combined together can be less than 10 words. Probably Cool dudes can express in few words.

Recently on one of those try-to-be-cool acts from me, a friend of mine asked me If I would give him a treat if I am ever successful in turning cool. And when I said I would rather give a party to all, he says - "No dude, Dudes do not give or host a party. They throw a party."

To be continued..

Postscript: There has been a radical change in my thoughts and actions ever since I came in terms with Sub making process. As I write this post, the coolness factor has increased so much in me and a crude friend of mine [His first Sub was here] , that we can now make world class Sub at home. Yes, we will customize it for you. Honey Mustard or Southwest, Italian bread or honey oat, Jalapeño or Lettuce.. Not just a Sub, a salad too. And if you are not much bothered about the calorie intake (as against dudes), we can make it a meal.

My friends made me realize my capacity and stability

2008-01-08T01:57:00.000+05:30

This is a follow up of a post written by my friend here.
My first take on karma (as Dude puts it) when I woke up today was "What do I do for the keys now? Let me go to the temple and I will get the keys back." Saying this to myself I get ready and put on the jeans and hear something chime in the pockets.
"Eureka! God, you appeared even before I came to you! My keys are here in the pockets!"
Saying this (again to myself), I jumped to announce to my friend that I have found the keys. And that they were in my jeans pockets. This again made my friend to have an edge over me by saying "You get really bad after you are drunk. You searched for the keys so many times in your pocket and still did not find it. You were not in your senses". So the friend, who was part of the privileged three, and who generally cannot control her laughter and never during these kinds of plots was still able to manage the situation very well by again putting the blame on me.
Thinking on, even I was a bit shattered as I am that kind of person who often boasts about his capacity and stability, more so after a couple of pegs.

Today morning when I come to office a friend who was not part of the privileged three - but who knows me so well, that the moment he read this post on the web, he pinged me and asked - "Dude, Is this you?". He has accompanied me several times on those key finding expeditions.
Reading the post, I was happy. They found the keys at exactly the same place where I remember seeing it last (I mentioned the place last night only.. not now). So after a brief period of being down, once again I am proud of my capacity and stability. Cheers!

Amazing Week

2007-11-13T18:23:00.000+05:30

Staying at a wonderful resort amidst vast serene tea and cardamom estates and thick forests, at about 10-12 degress temperature, no network connectivity, Ayurvedic body massage, timely food at the doorstep (unlimited idlies, Nei Roast, Boori and Barota!), unlimited supply of Military wines- Bliss!
Gods Own Country- Ente Keralam! Better seen than written:-)

http://picasaweb.google.com/bharathganesh

Ferry Station, Jew Town, Fort Kochi

Backwaters at Alappuzha - Venice of the east

Cherai Beach, Kochi

More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.co m/bharathganesh/Munnar
http://picasaweb.google.com/bharathganesh/F ortKochi
http://picasaweb.google.com/bharathganesh/CheraiBeachAndATrainJourney

Postscript: If any of the readers are really impressed by my photogenic senses, and thinking of rewarding the artist inside me, why not a Club Mahindra Lifetime membership?

[Photos taken on a 2 Mega pixel Mobile Phone camera]

The same old portals to Web 2.0

2007-10-15T10:39:00.000+05:30

Today morning, I happened to run into Sulekha.com classifieds for some home search. Sulekha and Rediff have always been my favorite web portals ever since I started using the internet.
Firstly, they were offering localized content long before Yahoo! India or MSN India. Second, the Web 2.0 storm hasn't taken much toll on them. I have always been a great fan of Rediff. Whenever I want to see any news on the web, rediff would be the first site to be opened. Recently I was amazed to see a friend still using Rediffmail as his primary e-mail account. Dont know if they are still lightening fast!

But today while looking at an advertisement on Sulekha classifieds I saw something really interesting. I was looking for a apartment for rent. So I quickly applied the filter for my specs like area, locality, budget etc. And then it displayed a list of suitable advertisements. Besides the advertisement I could see a phone symbol and below it was written "Sulekha Classifieds can call your phone now and connect you to this advertiser for free". And then there was a text box for entering my phone number. I just entered my number and the system gave me a call within 30 seconds and connected me to the advertiser. I was amazed:-)

Now I saw the real Web 2.0 and look up at it:-)

Of Tele-marketing calls and my Workaround

2007-09-18T11:49:00.000+05:30

Of late my mobile and myself have been die-hard victims of the tele-marketing menace.
I remember a few years ago, receiving a tele-marketing call was considered a privilege and a status symbol for few. But now with the recent entry of some private banks (off late even SBI is aggressive on this) in India this whole telemarketing calls have become a nightmare, a nuisance. [I have come across a few really professional telemarketers whom I wholly liked talking to]

This was a recent conversation

Caller: "Sir I am calling from XX Bank"
Me: "Are you an XX Bank employee?"
Caller: "No Sir, But I am calling on behalf of XX Bank"
Me: "Ok Tell me"
Caller: "Sir, we are offering you a lifetime free XX Bank Steel/ Copper/ Silver/ Gold/ Diamond/ Platinum credit card. I would be needing a signature of yours. When can I send my executive?"
Me: "But I already have a [metal name] card of the same XX Bank.
Caller: "But Sir U can get one more card which is a [metal of higher value] card.."
..
I laugh
The caller tries hard to control his laughter, gives up at the end.
This XX Bank wants to offer a card every week.

Next a call from YY Bank for personal loan.

Caller: "Sir I am calling from YY Bank"
Me: "Ok Tell me"
Caller:"We are excited to tell you Sir, we are offering you a Personal loan of (some) lacs, with no documentation. If you agree I can process it right away."
Me: "Sorry, Not needed now. Will let you know when needed (that sentence is
enough for him/her to catch it)"
Caller:"But Sir, If we process it today, I can waive off the processing fees"
Me: "What would make you so happy to see me in Debt!"
The caller Smiles.
....

The issue with me is I feel a bit uncomfortable to say a harsh "No" to a telemarketer as a I feel I should not be the person who spoilt his/her day. And most of the times the call wouldn't end unless you say that harsh "No".

That reminds me of a bank which has its insurance company, where the folks are extremely keen on insuring my life. After lot of thought on how to handle them with minimal words and in a very soft way I decided the next time they call me, my response would be "Bharath just died a few hours ago. [So there is no point in insuring him now]. I am his brother, just came back after the last rites".
That is the easiest, fastest and most gentle answer I can give.

Postscript: If there are any pretty tele-marketing girls who are reading this post, please do not decide to remove me from your call list. Remember, though the author is still single and has given up looking, he can be looked by others.

Of Saturday and Sunday

2007-07-23T10:34:00.000+05:30

After a very long time, I had a fulfilling weekend at Hyderabad. Yesterday went for a movie with Neha and Samarjit. Though I felt the Govinda movie a bit boring, the constant Neha-Laughter on every scene, made me feel that I am a highly humorless guy and hence I have no right to say that the movie was boring.
Another usual incident that happened in the cinema hall was about an unknown couple sitting next to me. Till interval, the girl was sitting besides me. Post interval, the guy (her husband/boyfriend/fiance/whatever), swapped seats. Fearing his sweethearts security, he sat next to me. Though even after swapping, there was a strong man sitting next to her(on the other side). Which means that guy thinks I am more a threat than the strong guy on the other side.

The best part of the evening was the dinner after the movie.

We went out to dine at Basera. After a very long time, after those college days, I saw someone doing justice to the unlimited Buffet system. The foodie in Samarjit was in full form(which according to him, is nothing compared to his old times). And I am really happy as long as the person with me goes on doing justice to food, so that I can do some justice to the Alcohol.
Ohh don't think I am a drunkard. Yesterday It was only cold drinks (Beer has fallen into that category ever since Egg became a veggie).

All this was at the Ohri's restaurant at Basera. For the dessert (another beer) we went to the Pub at basera. There we were witness to come cool dudes and dudis, who were drinking and dancing, with no sense of what is happening around them. Probably, they were chilling out. Or probably we are so crude dudes, that we can never do that, even If we really want to. Anyways, watching them was fun. We came to know what all we can never do.

So obviously today morning starts at noon. Evening went on a long drive with Ramesh along Shamirpet lake. Ramesh is one such nice person who is ready to join whenever you invite him. Way back did something which I have never done before. We stoppped-by at a soft toy stall. Probably the soft boy in me aroused today. Got a 2 and a 1/2 feet white feathery teddy bear, which, considering my height, looks really big when I see it. Now the question: Why should a crude-uncool dude ( the closest antonym of cool dude) like me, buy a teddy bear? Ohh no idea. Still thinking on it.

Anyways the weekend was really memorable one.

Postscript: Reader might think how boring this author is, who thinks and writes about people having fun/chilling out at pub as a very unusual act. Also reader might think why cant this guy gift the teddy. Remember, the author is still single and has given up looking.(the tragic end of the single and looking phase).

Why do I blog?

2007-07-21T15:38:00.000+05:30

I was just thinking what makes me blog. Or rather why do people blog. The post might be really boring, so continue reading only if you can bear the boredom.

Sometimes I think I just blog for ego-satisfaction. What do I get when someone reads my blog? Or what does the reader get? Whatever we do in life, their would certainly be some purpose behind it. It can be as simple as to live a life to - earning money or making friends or achieving fame or attaining pleasure. Or it can be to help someone.

Same applies for blogging. If it is a technical blog, you might blog to share your knowledge, initiate some discussions, criticisms on your ideas or showcase your ideas. Or to publicize your idea or yourself.

So now comes my concern. My blog here is not a technical blog. Neither it is an informatory blog, in the sense not a notice board kind of stuff.
It is just a board where I write what I think, or rather what goes on in my mind. Then why cant i write in a diary and keep it only for me. Why should the whole world know what I think. I am not thinking on any social issues which need mass opinion/criticism. Then why?

Is this ego-satisfaction? Is it that I want to be known to more people? Is that the reason I write my thinkings on a public place? Some old time bloggers say a blog is ones private place to express oneself etc etc. I do not agree on that as, if you think it is really a private place then make your blog a private one, readable only to you. Otherwise a blog is a public place, just like any website.

So why do I write my thinkings on a public website? Is is that i want to know what people think about my thinkings? I do not think even thats the reason. See the comments on my blog, hardly one or two for every post. Very rarely 4-5. It has never crossed 10. Unless when some spammer tries to sell Viagra through a comment on my blog.

Then why? Is it to increase my page rank on Google? Even then what do I gain? Again Ego satisfaction. I can ask myself why do I work. There definitely I gain something. My company also gains from me. So thats a different case.

Now let me come back. Is is it that I want to make myself in sync with the web 2.0 thing. Definitely not me. I have been blogging since 4-5 years, thats much before web 2- the cool stuff. So thats also rules out. Which leaves back only ego-satisfaction. Which I am unable to accept. Off late, in the last couple of years, mostly on Dash-Maniac I have tried to make my posts have a bit of humor. So that, the person who reads it, might laugh at least a couple of times. Which really makes me happy. I think through any of your writings the person opposite has a good laugh(of course in a positive sense), you have definitely done something good. Few of my good friends say, they laugh a lot when they read my blog. (But they, like me, actually laugh for any small thing. You laugh and tell some simple thing, they will start laughing).

O.K i guess this is getting really boring. Friends say something has happened to my psyche after I had that that tooth ache and subsequent treatment.
Anyway I still lie confused as to why I blog? Or even why I write this post?

Postscript: Reader might think how boring this author is who writes some senseless intellectually depressing stuff on a weekend evening. Why cant the author freak out or chill out during the weekend, instead of sitting in front of the comp and writing some junk. Remember, the author is still single and has given up looking.(the tragic end of the single and looking phase).

Improper use of urban land

2007-07-20T19:46:00.000+05:30

This comes as a follow up of Jayati Ghosh's column on "Uses of urban land" in this fortnight's Frontline. She talks about the more-than-needed malls coming up in South Delhi, thus terming it as not a very proper use of urban land.

Most of the development in the urban land is happening in the form of Malls,
Multiplex, IT Parks and Residential townships. Of the above, latter two are justifiable to an extent.
But consider malls and multiplexes. What is the real use of these? Flow of money? Today malls and multiplexes seems to top the list of places where urban population "freak out".
Does freaking out only mean Purchasing things/ spending money/ watching a movie? A well known mall in Hyderabad used to be second home for an ex-colleague and friend of mine. She used to believe in Shop, Eat and Celebrate.

I remember this was not the trend a decade ago, or rather 3-4 years ago. I remember people visiting the nearby park to spend the evening. Other places to freak out included beach, planetarium, museum, zoo, forts etc.

Today there is a segment of urban population, who no longer visit these places for entertainment. They instead prefer shopping, watching a movie and grabbing a coke and have a combi for lunch/snack, all at the same place - the nearby Mall. Or is that that they enjoy spending money, just because they have more of it?

Is it because the malls are the safest and most convenient places to visit?
Probably cool dudes prefer taking their sweethearts to such cool places, since the crowd at these malls is also cool. They could feel that places like beach, the multiple class cinema halls (the huge ones comprising of A class, B class and balcony, ideally not located in malls), parks are generally inhabited by rogue stags like me, who they think might be a possible threat to their relationship. Or they probably think rogues like me indulge in certain unconstitutional activities. Actually what they do not understand is such places are most safest for them and people like us are the safest. Anyway people like me are chronic stags, and we have been like that since birth, so there is no chance of your girl getting attracted to us!

I understand that mall phenomenon has taken over only a minor segment. But consider the amount of urban land taken over by them, right at the heart of the city, making it usable only by that niche segment of urban population.

Postscript: Contrary to the author, the reader might still prefer to choose a mall/multiplex over planetarium/museum/zoo/fort to "freak out". Remember, the author is still single and has given up looking.(the tragic end of the single and looking phase).

A day of bliss

2007-07-06T17:31:00.001+05:30

Today I was just thinking of what makes for a day, at the end of which you can say you had bliss, a one-off day.

This is what I could think of and what I have been wanting to have since long.
Wake up in the morning by 6 AM to the hymns of MS Subbulakshmi's Suprabatham. Open the door, to see the Hindu lying on the veranda. Comfortably lift the paper and you should not see any pamphlets falling off from within the paper. (Which is never the case with the Hindu/Times in Hyderabad, or may be off late in Madras also. Recently Hindu gave a half page ad clarifying that it's not them who is doing this manipulation).

An easy chair in the Veranda, sit on it and mom comes with coffee - Not the Bru/Nescafe kind, but the proper filter coffee, with its rich aroma spreading around the veranda. This used to happen when I was in Madras, the only place I have stayed in an independent house.

Filter coffee with Hindu paper - Ah the best combination you can ever think off!
Neha says here, that when it comes to filter coffee I am The Sanjeev Kapoor of it!
An hour passes by reading Hindu.

Have a bath. Visit the nearby temple. Reminds me of the KK Nagar Aiyappa temple:-)

Head off to watch one of those morning shows like the Sun TV Vanakkam Tamilagam/ Asianet/Surya TV.

Next in the line comes up the most important and exciting meal of the day- The Breakfast - called so since you are now breaking the fast you were on since previous night.

For me, an ideal one would be some hot - steaming - soft Idly (Ohh ya the Khushboo idly kinds) with equally good Sambar and coconut chutney. The chutney would taste better to your tongue if its bit wet and hot (not the temperature). A plate of pongal would top up the pleasure. And some sweet - best at this time of the day would be the sweet pongal or Chakkara Pongal as it is called in Tamil.

An hour passes by watching one of those debate shows on TV - Sun TV Arattai Arangam. Next in the line is some mild reading. Spend some time reading the Sunday Magazine/Frontline kinds.

Now comes the lunch time. I would prefer a kerala Palakkad lunch.
Top it up with one of those Sunday special movies on Asianet/Surya. Next comes the sleep time.

The evening would be more fun if the next day is also a holiday, if not as blissful as this. Else the sheer thought of the next day routine makes this evening a dull one:-)

Head off to meet some school/college friends. Drive along to ECR. Used to be our everyday hangout in the last two years of college. Ashok Nagar to ECR , with a 2-3 minutes tea break(glorified way of saying a cig break), every 4-5 km - CIT Nagar, Adyar, Tiruvanmiyur.. Mostly till Mayajal - Oh not to watch a cool movie, but only to the tea kadai opposite it and to the un-attended beach alongside.

Way back home visit one of those Udupi hotels for the pre dinner intake. Set Dosa would fine at this time. Back home, have a light dinner, sleep.

This would be bliss! A bland way of so.. A one-off day.

Postscript: The activities and ingredients that make up bliss for the author need not be same for the reader. Remember, the author is still single and has given up looking.(the tragic end of the single and looking phase)

Two years and On

2007-05-08T09:08:00.000+05:30

Today, It's been two years since I came to Hyderabad. I still have some memories of that day.

After a 26 hour train journey from Kerala, I landed here on a Sunday evening at the Secunderabad railway station.

Of my 7 years of existence in Chennai, I was always told that the Auto wallas in Chennai are the rudest and cheats of all. And also I was told that everywhere else auto wallas come on meter. (Even now people say that:-). So as a very happy auto commuter (auto commuters outside Chennai are happy), I told the auto walla in front of Secunderabad station to take me to Hotel Athithi Inn in Ameerpet.

A distant friend had told me that it would be around 8 Kms distance. And presuming that the guy would start the meter(as this is not Madras) I got into it. And then he says "Saab 200 lagega". Ahhh! Then I say "yaar mein kerala se 350 Rupeye mein aaya hun". Then he says "Nahi saab Nai aata" in that typical Urdu kind of Hindi slang. So I go to the next guy. This goes on and finally I settle for 150 which is by no means less than Chennai standards. And there were no prepaid counters too at the station.

It was very exciting to see my first office on the way!

Apart from the kind of work here another major reason I convinced myself to come to Hyderabad, was that I was under the belief that Hyderabad, being and considered to be part of South India, would definitely have lot of those Udupi restaurants.
So after I checked-in at the hotel, had a bath and started out for some food intake as I had none till that point that day.

Assuming I would come across many of those Ganesh Bhavan, Vignesh Bhavan, Murugan Idly kind of outlets, I walked, walked and walked for nearly 30 minutes in the busy Ameerpet area. All could see is a busy market road, some Irani tea shops, and a few Chinis restaurants (yes spell intended). All I know is no-one here!

Till that point in life, I had managed to avoid eating even Vegetarian food at hotels that served Non-Vegetarian food. That evening I was extremely distressed that I would have to finally give up on that:-(
The very next day, on joining my office I asked my colleagues out there for Udupi restaurants around this place. And one of them told about one Anand Vihar opposite to Airport. Since I met lot of new people that day, I don't remember who told that, it was a better place. Over the last two years, I have had my breakfast at the same place, everyday- Idly.
But my search for proper Udupi restaurants (those Ganesh/Vignesh Bhavan, Ambuja Vilas types!)is still on.

Tried almost every available option in Hyderabad, from the duplicate Saravana Bhavan off PG road to the expensive not so tasty Chutneys!

Now two years down the lane, I am no more new to this city, have moved around every part of this city and explored lots of restaurants and also started liking this city.

And for the critical Idly issue, now I make better Idly at my home. The chef in me can now make excellent "Kushboo Idly", "Sreya Dosa" and more recently "Namitha Biriyani".

Product Review: DishTV Direct to Home Service

2007-03-19T15:14:00.000+05:30

Being my first experience with the interactive television, it was quite exciting to start off.
Choose between multiple camera views to see Michael Clarke blasting. Or watch the highlights of the ongoing match whenever you want. Truly interactive.

Yes, DishTV's Direct to home service seems to be value for money.

Get to watch YOUR favorite channel.
Crystal clear - You would never know if the content is being served off your DVD player or from somewhere in the skies.
Pay only for what you want. If you want only the free-to-air channels, you dont need to pay any monthly charges.

The regional mix is really cool, where you can pickup a regional bundle of your choice (Tamil/Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi etc). Best part for me is, Tamil and Malayalam fall in the same category. My cable operator in Hyderabad gives me just 1 malayalam channel and 2 Tamil channels now and that too with extremely poor quality. For him Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada are all Madrasi. With DishTv I get some 20 Mallu and Tamil channels.

Some neat features:

Select a Programme category - News, Sports, Cinema, Music, Movie-on-demand, Kids. Click on any category and your screen display splits into various parts showing the preview of channels which are airing programs of that category- in full web 2.0 style. Now click on the preview of the channel you need to watch and the preview now expands to cover the entire display area of your TV- Again in web 2.0 style.
Select any channel and the channel preview is shown in the left part of the screen and the programme schedule for that channel on the right half. Browse over the schedule for the next few days.
Create an alert for a particular programme while browsing through the schedule and you will be notified 1 minute to 1 hour before the start of that item.
You casually browse through the channels and find a known movie being played but it takes a couple of phone calls to find out the name of the movie. Have you gone through this? This would no longer happen - thanks to an ' i' button on the remote which displays the information about the current programme. It's start time, end time, episode number, Cast, Genre. And if it’s a movie, a brief synopsis.
I clicked on the sports category and it took me to world cup section which shows today’s match timings (When I clicked on it, it took me to that channel), the tournament stats, team stats, player stats and so on.)
Highlights of the current match whenever I need.
Multiple camera views
Lot of radio channels (Including All India Radio-Chennai, AIR Malayalam..)
Games
Movie-on-demand: Imagine this. You go to a multiplex paying some 150 bucks for the ticket + 80 bucks for the so called 'combo' snack. And that too for a noon show on a Apr-May afternoon, if you haven't booked early enough.Now just Call up a toll free number/send an SMS to watch your favorite movie lying on the couch with loads of snacks and drinks and the cooler on.. It's bliss!(The multiplex+noon+ 230*2=460 Rs might seem better for some, but for non-romantic chronic stags like me couch+chips+cooler+movie would be all-tinme bliss!)

I heard Tata Sky DTH Service is also equally good. But haven’t tried it. Doordarshan also has DTH service (Apna DTH) since long. And there are no monthly charges for the DD DTH, but you only get the free channels. Probably DD should have marketed that long back in a much better way.

In the coming years lot of people would be moving from the tradational cable TV to the satellite TV. Especially since the Conditional Access System is being implemented in all big cities. Chennai was the first to implement CAS (without much noise), 4 years back. The pay for what you watch rule is picking up well.

Off late there’s lots of happening in the DTH space in India. Coming soon is Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Direct. (Sun TV’s)

To sum it up, DishTV DTH seems to be true value for money.

Moved to bharathganesh.com

2007-03-04T00:06:00.000+05:30

I moved this blog to my own domain(bharathganesh.com). The blog can be accessed at http://blog.bharathganesh.com/. Having used blogger for couple of years, it is almost impossible to use some other blogging tool. I was always waiting for this feature of blogger with which I can publish my blogger blog at my own domain. At last new blogger has it.

I guess for a few days access to my old url would be automatically re-directed to the new address. But anyway update your feed readers. The new feed is at http://blog.bharathganesh.com/atom.xml

Dum-ka-Driving Sense

2007-02-03T18:11:00.000+05:30

Of late I have been really fed up with these traffic jams in Hyderabad. But never blame it on the authorities for poor infrastructure. In fact the roads here are pretty descent. The real cause of these traffic snarls is the excellent driving sense of these drivers here.
Be it any kind of driver-2,3,4,6 wheeler-, all think the road is their's and they are driving within there living room.

Sir is a VIP.. Has a separate lane for him. The foot path.

Look the auto there.. I thought he has parked it on the footpath and gone for a biriyani. Oh no.. He is also driving happily on this express lane

And he is the smartest of all... He reached the other end of the footpath and now going under the foot over bridge stairs to bypass the traffic.. He is the true winner.

Also there is absolutely no respect for the pedestrian. Its far easier to illegally cross the India Pakistan border than crossing the road opposite to my office in Lifestyle building at Greenlands:-)
And even on the major roads there are no subways for pedestrians crossing the road. It's only recently that the MCH has started constructing those foot over bridges(after a couple of dirty accidents). But only now I understand why the MCH didn't dare to make subways for pedestrian crossing. Our dum-ka-drivers would also have used it:-)

It's also the cops who are to be blamed for the dum-ka-driving-sense. In fact the incident which made me to write this entry was a clash involving a two wheeler driver a group of patrol cops. This happened right at the greenlands signal(which is just a few yards away from the chief ministers residence). The patrol van spotted a guy showing all bike gimics on the road and 2 cops got down from the van and started shouting at the scooter guy. The scooter guy started shouting back, at a much higher volume and enthu-level than the cops, and with all the vehicles blowing horns from behind, the cops told this guy to leave. Wanted the photograph the scooter guy shouting at the patrol cops but was a bit afraid. I was damn sure the cops wouldn't have done anything, but the motorist would have hit me- hard.. And the cops would have been just watching..
Probably the cops here are too good to be a cop!

I still remember. When in Madras I once jumped the spencers signal, I was later tracked down near Gemini flyover within 1-2 minutes only to realize that I was caught not only for signal jumping but also for lane breaking. After that I never dare to jump signals, even in Hyderabad:-)

Safe Banking

2007-01-11T15:33:00.000+05:30

Earlier in day I subscribed to Amazon S3 using my HDFC Bank Visa credit card. Though S3 is pay-for-what-you-use kind of service, they still do a verification transaction on your credit card. So they charged 1 Rupee from my card. Probably they would revert this transaction after some time.
But my bank got suspicious about this 1 Rupee transaction from Amazon, US and immediately called me up asking if the transaction was actually made by me. When asked they said they generally go for a confirmation from the card holder on certain suspicious internet transactions.
Safe banking guys! Alas one worthy call among those annoying credit card/personal loan marketing calls.