Do you have it in you?

A.R. Rehman can win much more...

2009-02-23T09:58:00.007-05:00

Congrats to the Slumdog Millionaire team for sweeping the Oscars night by conquering 8 out of 10 nominations. It won not just the Best Movie and Best Direction, but best cinematography, screenplay and A.R. Rehman won 2 more for best original score and best song. I read the original novel written by Vikas Swarup and I must say, it has been adapted quite well for the big screen.

Personally, I think A.R.Rehman has given much better music in the past than "Jai Ho", but they just didn't happen to be Hollywood productions, so there is no way he could have been nominated for Oscars. I hear a lot of racism talk about this whole Oscar winning event of Slumdog and I also hear a lot of criticism from people for showing Mumbai's underbelly. But I don't see it that way. Slumdog was a brilliant film depicting a true rags-to-riches story, a story about the triumph of love. And what it showed about Mumbai's slums is nothing short of reality. It got nominated for all this. Now there could have been many Bolly films showing the same and they can win National awards, but not Oscars simply because they are not Hollywood productions. Korean movies win Korean awards, Italian movies win Italian awards and American movies win Oscars. What has racism got to do with this? Oscars are a means to judge only American movies. They just happen to popular worldwide. Not winning Oscars doesn't mean the film is not good. Great films are made every year all over the world and they rightly win awards in their respective countries. Oscars is not a stage for Indian movie, but the National Film Awards are. If Slumdog was made by Bollywood, it would have only qualified for the Foreign Film category in Oscars (like Lagaan); It may or may not have won in that case, but the point is it wouldn't have been the right stage anyways. And please, dont call this Poverty porn movie and don't think it was an attempt to showcase 3rd world poverty to First world countries and dont associate this with the sympathy over Mumbai terrorist blasts. There have been many movies depicting poverty, slavery and slums. Slumdog deserves all the credit solely for its technical brilliance and the human triumph theme.

I hope A.R. Rehman gets to collaborate with Western counterparts due to this recognition. I am sure he has the potential to get many more Oscars. He already gives live shows in US and other countries (and I feel happy to have attended one of his shows; oooh and he was once right behind me at the airport for a London flight :-). He is a downright genius, he is the Sachin Tendulkar of music world.

Do we have it in us?

2008-12-19T12:53:00.003-05:00

I think the sh*t has hit the fan already. Pakistan is grossly ignoring all signals - It is not ready to believe the terrorists were Pakistani citizens, it is turning a blind eye to all proof being presented, no militants have been arrested yet, it is repetitively flip-flopping, making dubious claims and is clamping down on media....all pointing towards the fact that it is in a state of panic. India, on the other hand, is looking towards US, UK and other countries for help, as a kid looks towards his mommy. But with Pakistan not ready to do anything about the terror menace, India has run out of all options - whether it be diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, bilateral crap...I am guessing we will be at war within next 20 days. Or rather, military strikes in PoK territory...but that's just a sweet way of describing 'war'. The entire Indian force - air, naval and army - is already ready to act...they are just waiting for the political green signal. I say, recall the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan and then systematically take out Pak airforce bases, missile launch stations, power grids and telecom networks...basically cripple them.

Failure to control terror on the Indian landscape and being viewed as a pussy cat in the eyes of Indian public as well as global media are some of the worst nightmares for a country - this government is turning the nightmares into realities, if it fails to act this time. The real question is do we have the balls to act?

What's the use of banning?

2008-12-10T11:37:00.003-05:00

So the Indian government is pursuing UN to ban Jamat-ud-dawa, a front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). I just don't understand what's the use of banning groups. Even LeT and JeM was banned years ago. Still, they carried out so many attacks including the Mumbai terror attacks on 26/11. Ban one group and they will operate under some other umbrella. Freeze some bank accounts and they will open others. All Pakistan has done in the past is ban groups, place few people under house-arrest and then release them. Ex-ISI chiefs, underworld dons, leaders of terrorist groups....each one of them walks scot-free in Pakistan. Pakistan says it will try the arrested people in their own courts and will not hand over to India. How is that going to help? These people will be released as they will claim to have committed no crime on Pakistani soil.

Why doesn't India realize that Pakistan is not going to change colors overnight? It is not aiding us and has never aided us in any way. However, disappointed as I may be like other like-minded people, the Indian govt. is clearly not going to take the military action route. Besides, I think it is probably too late for that now as the militants must have already gone "underground" and striking the places where we thought they may be hiding must be already vacated by now.

What Indian government is doing is to prolong this so that *we* all forget this...The government *wants* us to get back to routine life. Some days from now, there will be cricket news...then some bollywood box office hit....followed by some state elections....and bang! the people and the media are no longer pressurizing the government. The matter is long forgotten.

Get cash in exchange for hospitalization

2008-12-08T11:08:00.002-05:00

Today is 8th December. It marks my one year of return back to India. Oh, what a journey! I intend to write about the last year and my decision to return sometime soon. Today, I just want to share a funny experience.

So it was my birthday recently and it was a bright sunny Sunday and I get this call from ICICI bank on my birthday, wishing me a great day and stuff. I feel very happy because no bank has ever called me for wishing me :-) ...Then this lady, in her sweet voice, tells me whether I would be interested in this life insurance policy, which is specially being offered to me on my birthday (damn, what was I thinking). She goes on to say that if I die due to accident, these many lakhs will be given to my family. But if I become hospitalized due to injuries, then they will give cash back during my stay at hospital. I was shocked...I mean, who would like to talk about death and hospitalization and fractures on a birthday! I put this question to her "Why are you talking about death and hospitals on my birthday?"...I sense a faint smile on the other end. She replies "Sir, you should also think about your future naa...birthdays would come and go. Besides, this cash-back policy is only valid today and will not be available tomorrow"! I obviously, was in no mood for this, besides I already had a great policy. So I politely refused, but could just admire the audacity of customer care to talk about deaths on someone's birthday! I doubt this ICICI offer is even attracting subscribers.

Another funny incident. Few weeks ago, I parked my car on the side of a supposedly busy road. When I come back, there is a parking ticket stuck to my windshield. I couldn't believe my eyes, not because I thought these things happen only in US and not India, but because there were 10 other cars parked just like mine and none of them had tickets! What was my crime? Two days ago, I went to the Traffic Police office and I thought I would protest this. I was so motivated to talk and argue in Marathi, but I quickly realized these guys speak Kannada. Of course, they are well-conversed in Hindi and English; but that's no fun. I missed Mumbai's Marathi hawaldar for the first time. I ended up paying 100 bucks quietly, as I was concerned these guys might charge me late penalty. A month or so ago, I had paid another 100 because the traffic cop said I violated rules by stopping the car just after the signal. I had stopped the car on the side so that my friends get in, but those few minutes of waiting were enough for the cop to come running from the other side. Fair enough - it was my mistake. But what followed was strange. As I was arguing with the cop explaining that I stopped for just few minutes, he took my Driving License and walked away. I was asked to shell out 100 bucks or else my license plate number will be noted down and reported. Reported to whom, I wondered. More arguing followed. He showed me his little book with several numbers. Then he says "You look like a very decent gentleman from a good family, why are you getting into this complication?" :-) I was incidentally wearing a dark blue kurta and white pyjama for an event...anyways, I started wondering what he meant by complication...I wanted to end the matter quick as I was getting late. So I had no option but to "pay him for his services" (some would say that's a better word for 'bribing")...in this case, his service included returning back my license :-)

I condemn, You condemn, Lets all condemn...

2008-12-01T12:35:00.004-05:00

Everytime a terrorist attack occurs, our politicians belt out the same emotionless commentary "We condem these attacks...our sympathies are with the families....blah blah....here is cheque of one lakh rupees as compensation". Condemn, my foot!

Indians are tired listening to this same rhetoric over and over. And this time, they are really angry. I can sense it. We all can sense it. Warding off politicians, refusing to accept compensations, public protests, collective media and blog outrage, forcing politicians to resign...all signs denoting that "Enough is enough". Indians are angry today and they are united in grief. And they dont really care if the Home minister resigns or the Chief minister. The problem still exists. I won't be surprised if tomorrow we see Rang de Basanti being enacted in real life. The average age in India is 26 and their blood is boiling. They are asking just one question - Which is the country that, if suddenly made to vanish today, will solve half of the world's terrorist problems? We all know the answer to that question. The real question is, what now?

There better be a God...

2008-11-28T10:40:00.009-05:00

There better be a God looking after us - all Indians, because clearly, the Indian government is not. As most of you already know by now, the Mumbai terrorist attack and seize is now close to 48 hours. Hotel Oberoi and Trident have been secured, but Taj hotel and Nariman House are still not secured, as I write this. More than 150 people have died, 16 of which are India's brave men and over 350 are injured. Gunshots, grenades, fires, blasts, RPG's...everything that qualifies a war has been seen in the last two days. Though this has turned out to be an elongated battle, full credit to NSG commandos, marine commandos, Army, the ATS and police for the work they are doing. Thanks to media people for giving live coverage without any commercial breaks..even few politicians accepted that they are getting their info from media. Hats off to Times Now channel, btw for a brave coverage!

Here is what we know till now that points towards a Pakistan hand:

* The boats that dropped these terrorists at the Gateway of India and later intercepted by Indian Navy and Coast Guard was headed towards Karachi and possibly, came from that same city.

* A cell-phone found near Taj hotel had a foreign SIM card and had incoming calls from Pakistan.

* The terrorist that has been caught and has been interrogated has a Punjabi accent.

* A Pakistani militant was arrested near Chowpatty beach.

* Credit cards found in the wallets of one of the 11 dead terrorists could identify the nationalities, although thats not clear yet.

and Here are few things that are still not clear:

* How come these terrorists have infinite supply of grenades and ammunition? They have been continuously firing since 48 hours. Did they already stockpile arms and ammunition in a booked flat inside Taj and Oberoi?

* How come these terrorists not getting tired? They haven't slept for 48 hours. Are they operating in turns? Have they taken energy-boosting drugs?

* How do they know the interior layout of Taj hotel so well? Did they bribe or threaten someone and get the blueprints? Did they video-tape it or survey it by staying there physically in the months gone by ?

* Why did NSG's were flown from Delhi? Why weren't there enough NSG guards in a city like Mumbai?

* Why did commandos not take control of the CCTV security room up front? Every hotel of this magnitude have 24-hour cameras monitoring each floor of the hotel. Was this room bombed or set on fire by terrorists?

* Why did the terrorists specifically target foreign citizens? The terrorists have had no interest in negotiations and their sole intention is to catch and kill, until they die themselves and go to Heaven, according to their interpretation of Islam. So what is the message they are trying to send by targeting Jewish, British and American citizens in a neutral region like India?

Time after time, evidence has been found that points towards Pakistan-backed militants. Laskhar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other black-listed groups keep brain-washing people and fund incursions across the border into India. Despite all this, India has remained silent..all that our politicians manage to do is to come on TV after these blasts, condemn the killings, declare 1 lakh rupee compensation, talk about tougher laws and boosting security, and thats it. Nothing happens after that. Public memory is too short and the politicians know that. And lets not even talk about our intelligence agencies...Our politicians seem more intelligent than the Intelligence Bureau because the Bureau is clearly failing time after time to detect.

How do you think should India act??

I am really short of words at this time...I feel like giving the choicest of choicest words for these bloody cowards, but I will just say that they should be hanged naked by their balls, upside down !! I dont want to go further on this...I have been watching this non-stop on TV, my blood boiling every second...I haven't been able to sleep properly as well...I can just imagine what must be happening to the relatives of those who are dead, injured or missing.

I would end this by saying that it is upto God to forgive the terrorists, but it is our moral responsibility to fix their appointment with God...Lets fight back.

Update: Almost everything I pointed to has been proved right, it seems! I asked how come the terrorists are not getting tired and whether they are on some drugs...well, it turns out the ATS just broadcasted that they were heavily drugged and hence were able to sustain this long! I also asked whether they video-taped the interior layout of Taj and questioned their infinite supply of arms...and again, the ATS just announced they stayed close to Taj and regularly visited it. Some of them may have even stayed inside months earlier and planted ammunition or bombs, explaining their infinite supply of bullets and grenades! And as for proof against Pakistan, it has been confirmed that calls were made to Jalalabad in Pakistan from the phone found..and the GPS unit on the hijacked boat shows co-ordinates in the Arabian Sea. The terrorists had Blackberries with them and they were surfing British and some Urdu websites from inside to check on the news being reported outside. This is all latest info coming from ATS. Five of them might be British citizens of Pakistani origin (living in the same locality where 7/7 bombers lived) and one Yemeni nationalite.

Diwali, movies, moon and dinosaurs...

2008-11-15T01:27:00.002-05:00

Some events from the weeks gone by:

* I recently went on an overnight trip to a place called Kavalur in Tamil Nadu, not far from the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. There happens to be an astronomical observatory there named after Dr. Vainu Bapu. I had gone there with 30-35 people, as part of the Sunday Astronomy course that I am taking. They have some huge telescopes there - the largest one is about 90-inches, which at one time was largest in Asia. Although we didn't peer into it and see the universe, we did have other smaller telescopes. Through them, we were able to see our Moon, Jupiter and its 4 moons, Venus, Andromeda Galaxy, star cluster - Pleidaes (also called Seven Sisters), stars like Vega, Betelguese etc. It was tremendous fun...being on a remote hilltop in the sandalwood jungles of Tamil Nadu, with sparse humanity around, cut-off from the city and the pollution and the noise, surrounded in pitch darkness and having the entire sky as your umbrella...Its good to have such outings once in a while. I have put up few pictures on Orkut.

* Michael Crichton, my favorite author, unexpectedly died last week. I had no idea he was suffering from cancer. Right from my teen days, probably when I was in 10th or 11th standard, when I first read his novel Jurassic Park, I was totally blown over by his writings. He was the sort of person who did immense research before he wrote anything. His novels always had the element of possibility...even though his novels were mostly fictional, no one can really argue that one day this fiction may become fact. I mean, look at Jurassic Park concept...a mosquito sucking blood from a dinosur gets trapped in amber, which remains preserved for millions of years, until man excavates and extracts the mosquitoe's blood to unravel dinosaur's DNA...I mean, who in the world can think of such an idea? and moreover, it is quite possible this may happen with mankind. I have since then, read most of Michael Crichton's novels - The Terminal, The Andromeda Strain, Lost World, Prey, Congo, State of Fear, Disclosure, Rising Sun, Timeline, Sphere, The Great Train Robbery and Airframe. Andromeda Strain too had a novel idea - unknown strain of bacteria from outer space kills off huge swathes of people; Disclosure - sexual harassment of a man by a woman boss; Sphere - unique brain feature of forgetting things; State of Fear - claiming global warming a farce; Prey - nano agents going haywire...all these concepts are so unimaginable in today's world and seem so revolutionary and yet, they are probably just a step away from reality. Almost all these novels have gone on to become Hollywood Productions, with Jurassic Park being the most successful blockbuster.

* Movies, movies....When I was in Mumbai during Diwali, I saw two back to back movies - Fashion and Golmaal Returns. The former was decent, the latter total crap. This year had some pretty good movies and some which are patiently awaited. "Wednesday" and "Taare Zameen Par" were by far the best movies I saw this year. Wednesday is a no-nonsense drama thriller with twists and turns every 15 minutes. The movie is short - about 1 hour 45 minutes - and has no songs or actresses. Besides, the plot is senssational and attempt to tackle the topic most relevant to Indians - terrorism and bomb blasts. This is a must watch movie.

There is a flurry of movies being released this time of year. I wonder whether the official Bollywood astrologer told all producers that November-December are auspicious months for releasing movies. There is Dostana about homosexuality, there is DasVidaniya with the hit trio of Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey and Rajat Kapoor....both movies seem decent from trailers. Then There is much awaited Aamir Khan's Ghajjini. there is Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye...seems like a laugh riot, as it comes from the same folks who made Khosla Ka Ghosla.

Speaking of movies, Priyanka Chopra seems to be all over the place. Whats going on with her? She has had so many movie releases thsi year, she is on TV shows, she is doing TV commercials...Just look at the list of her movies: Dostana, Fashion, Drona, Love Story 2050, Chamku..then there was some My name is Anthony...of course, most of these are flops...I haven't seen Dostana yet, but Fashion probably stands apart...she did a decent acting in Fashion and the movie plot, though depressing at times, is little different from the standard run-of-the-mill movies.

* Diwali was fun. I had been to Mumbai. I bought several of those fancy rockets, which light up the sky with glitterati and dazzling colours. I don't have any liking for bombs or the countless other crackers that are sound intensive. I only derive pleasure in these fancy rockets now. When I bought them, it reminded me how costly these things can get. The ones I bought were about 300 bucks per box and I think the original prices must be 450 or 500...I got it for 300 only because I went at 8pm on the final Diwali night and the seller wanted to make sure he exhausts his stocks. And trust me, when I say 300 bucks per box, it only means 2 rockets. So even if you spend 1000 bucks, you only get about 6-7 rockets to fire. But its worth the spectacle. We took the camcorder with us, and my bro recorded a clip with me firing the rocket and all the way till its glory. I haven;t seen it yet, but if its good, it will be uploaded.

Evolution of Terrorism

2008-11-06T12:05:00.000-05:00

Like most other things, terrorism too seems to have an evolution. And in India, its more visible than anywhere else. Consider this:

In the 2008 Ahmedabad bomb blasts, an unsecured wireless network of a Mumbai-based American citizen was hacked and used to send a terror email with the text - "In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death." Five minutes later, the bombs did go off.

For the 2008 Delhi bomb blasts, a complete powerpoint presentation was emailed from a cyber-cafe to media outlets. It carried gory pictures with helpless Indians dying in pain alongwith text that cannot be reproduced here, but it had the clear message "Catch us if you can".

But what easily gets the icing of the cake is the email from ULFA, after the recent Assam blasts. They sent an explicit email just to "deny" their hand in the blasts, after media and politicians started suspecting their hand on television. So now, not only do we receive email threats, we also see a race among the various terrorist outfits to accept or deny claims. Clearly they are monitoring media channels for latest updates and using them to their advantage.

Technology, it seems, is being used and abused by the terrorists in a country where there is no dearth of techies. Emails are being sent from untraceable locations and newly created email ids, mobile phones are used to trigger bombs, social networking sites like orkut are used to spread hatred and even communicate amongst each other, internet is being used to dig out material on making bombs, locations of close-circuit cameras in public places are being observed and avoided...A recent bust of terrorist module by Delhi police and subsequent confiscation revealed laptops, SIM cards, credit cards, CD's, maps, mobile phones etc. Evolution indeed.

United Colors of America

2008-11-05T11:42:00.002-05:00

I am writing this blogpost just as a reminder to myself several years from now, that I was a witness to this historic 2008 US Presidential race and followed it very closely. It has gotten extensive media coverage and the news have been greeted by a warm welcome by most people all over the world.

Barack Obama has become the first African-American President of US. Never before in its 200 or so years of history has the country witnessed a woman or a non-white or a minority group President. This fact stands changed as of today and by none other than Obama, whose campaign was aptly titled "Change for the better". If Obama's opponent, John McCain, had won, that would have created another history - he would have been nation's oldest President and his vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, first woman Vice President. In either case, these elections were going to record books...another record was the voter turnout...in last two elections, which George Bush won, turnout was hovering around 50% (thats approximately 150 million people)...Although the numbers aren't out yet, but this election may have had record voter turnout in recent times in US history....blacks, whites, hispanic, asian, women, young, first-time voters, blue-collared, white-collared, disabled, gays....all categories...everyone in the "hope" that Obama will "change" things....

Whether he will get US out of the financial crisis, whether he will turn the tide in Iraq and Afghanistan wars, whether he will succeed in his health-care policies, whether he will reduce the trillion dollar debt, whether he will reduce the racial divide in the nation, whether he will clear the messy muddle that he inherits from Bush, whether he will regain the lost image and reputation of America all over the world....this is anybody's guess at this point of time. There are (atleast) 4 years to go and all people can do is indeed "Hope for Change".

The time has come!

2008-10-19T12:13:00.004-04:00

Folks, the time has come....no, its nothing about my personal life; if that's what you thought and stopped breathing after reading the title :-)

The time has come for India...my country, our country...the time has come for all of us Indians...to stand up and salute....to be proud....to be considered elite....to be recognized world over...Come Wednesday, 22nd October, India will launch its Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1. I really hope this mission succeeds. It will be a big setback for Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO], if it fails. Given the crazy media sensationalism these days, it will become a nightmare for Indian scientists and politicians to justify a second attempt, if the first one fails. We all know that failures are stepping stones to success and NASA has reached where it is today, after going through some horrible mishaps...but the current financial turmoil, India's "developing" status and the irrational media might make it next-to-impossible to make a re-attempt. But why am I talking about failures?

Consider the flip side. If this mission succeeds, its a huge boost to not just the scientific community. The young budding minds in our country - the kids - will be inspired beyond bounds. The funding for future missions from future governments will be more easier. Collaboration with other nations will become a no-brainer and the technology leap achieved will be staggering. Those who consider this mission as waste of money can ready my counter-arguments here (Man, Machine and the Moon)

The launch of India's moon mission is going to take place from Sriharikota, on the east coast of Karnataka and only few hundred kilometers from where I am, in Bangalore. I wish I could have seen it LIVE, but going alone is boring and finding like-minded people with similar interests in astronomy is TOUGH. People who know me, know that I am really passionate about astronomy, galaxies, man's position in the universe, existence of life and such topics. I would have been an astronomer (not an astronaut) if I would have known in my teens how to become one. Anyways, I will be going to a radio astronomy center about 3 hours from Bangalore the following Saturday...this trip is part of the 100-hour astronomy course that I am taking every Sunday. We might also go to Sriharikota and see the actual rocket launchpad from which Chandrayaan will be launched...but the gates will be only opened if the mission succeeds and that too, few weeks or so after the launch :-)

Update: The Chandrayaan not only lifted successfully, it has even reached a stable lunar orbit and has deployed a Moon Impact Probe which thudded yesterday night successfully into the South Pole. The Moon impact Probe had Indian flag painted all sides of it and fed back a video stream to its mother craft, as it got closer and closer, before banging!!

Don't hang out from trains !

2008-10-09T06:47:00.002-04:00

Shocking video of fate of a person hanging from train in India:

<a href="http://blip.tv/play/ga0y0cUrjKh1">Watch this video</a>

Zardari hugs Manmohan

2008-09-25T14:16:00.002-04:00

The news channels are currently flashing: The new Pakistan President Ali Zardari and the Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh shake hands and hug each other on the sidelines of the UN assembly meet in New York and discuss the peace process.

What!? Why?? After all the enmity between India and Pakistan, after all the Pakistani attacks on Indian soil, after all the army-backed militant incursions in Kashmir, after all the ISI attempts at disrupting Indian economy (bomb blasts, fake currency, smuggling of arms), after all this....how can these guys act friendly, even if it is done for the sake of media? Over and over again, Pakistan has promised something but done nothing. On one hand, these people talk about the peace process, on the other hand the Pakistan army violates ceasefire agreement and fires upon Indian army posts. On one hand, these people talk about The trade across the border, on the other hand they smuggle RDX and support bomb blasts. How long will India continue this nonsense?

Where is the guarantee that the billions of dollars that US donated to Pakistan will not be used in attacks against India? Like that shrewd General Musharraf, what if Zardari is also staging fake blasts in his country and fake attempts on his life and then issues strong words to fight terrorism, before leaving on a flight to US to win the sympathy of Americans and get more dollars?

Update: After hugging PM Manmohan Singh, Pak President Zardari (whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated few months ago) met Sarah Palin and told her "YOu are gorgeous...Now I know why entire America is crazy after you". Upon insistence by press reporters to shake hands with each other, Zardari says "If you insist, I can even hug her"....What to say! :-)

Kar Lo Jyaada Ka Iraada

2008-09-18T12:39:00.003-04:00

Some brilliant Indian commercials in recent times...

This one from Virgin Mobile yet again:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Et0eC64BBMI&hl=en&fs=1">See the video on Youtube</a>

This inspirational one from Max New York Insurance

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4haEYOZ9dTE&hl=en&fs=1">See the video on Youtube</a>

To check out all the funny commercials of recent times, click here.

Kya ho raha hai?

2008-09-17T14:22:00.002-04:00

markets crashing and inflation rising, bomb blasts in Delhi and job cuts in IT, financial firms bankrupt and hurricane disrupts, oil prices rising and stocks falling, US attacking Pakistan and US embassy getting attacked in Yemen....yeh kya ho raha hai bhai? koi please bata de...

Job Realities

2008-08-21T11:50:00.001-04:00

A cool email forward I received today...

My Dowry Gift :-)

2008-08-14T07:05:00.003-04:00

Those who have seen my old car (1, 2 and 3) will know my fascination of cars with the color red. Here is my new baby - Hyundai i10 Kappa Sportz (launched barely a month ago):

Gone are those days...

2008-07-12T04:29:00.004-04:00

(Source: http://xkcd.com/77/)

Just one...

2008-06-29T12:29:00.002-04:00

It takes only one day in our life for all our dreams to get shattered. Please eat and live healthy.

Bheemeshwari-Sangam Trek

2008-06-22T10:08:00.006-04:00

Last weekend I went to trek at a remote place called Bheemeshwari in Karnataka, 100 kms. south of Bangalore city. Its right here that the river Cauvery winds its way down from the hills and eventually meets the Bay of Bengal. I went with my colleagues to trek from Bheemeshwari to a place called Sangama (where river Cauvery meets another river), a total distance of about 20 km. This 20km. stretch goes parallel to the river, and even though its not quite scenic, it offers its own thrills. First, it is remote, cutoff and uninhabited for most of the stretch. This itself seems a welcome change for people like me who have spent most of their lives in cities. For once, you won't get any signal on your cellphone, your shouts will mostly go unheard (might attract the wildlife though) and anything that happens to you will take days, if not weeks, for the rest of the world to know :-).

Second, for a large part of the trek, we spotted fresh elephant dung and 3-toed footmarks (or pug-marks). Now its a matter of debate whether it was a fat buffalo's sh*t or whether the 3-toed pugmarks were of cattle or panther. Maybe it was just our psyche, as our jungle guide (he charged us 500 bucks!) seemed to disregard these rather vital signs around us. But then he was also drunk a little. Our collective hearts were in our mouths when we stopped to check these signs or when we heard the wind rustle the tree branches above or when a strange sound came out of nowhere. In case you don't know, wild elephants will run riot and crush you to death. And yes, they can run faster than humans. The only way to survive, we were told, was to run in circles or zigzag and tire them out. We were also told there is a unique odor in the air when they are nearby, but by the time humans sniff them out, the elephants have already sniffed you out. This jungle is also home to panthers, which in case you see Discovery, can easily climb and hide in trees. I guess the only way to survive them is to run faster than the slowest guy in your group.

The Cauvery river which flows parallel for most of the trek, is famous for crocodiles and the endangered Mahsheer fish. Mahsheer happens to be one of the largest fresh-water fish in the world and after looking at pictures online, I think a fully grown adult will require two men to hold it. Fishing is allowed in the river and there are fishing camps set up too in the jungle, but catching Mahsheer is banned. According to instructions that I read at Galibore fishing camp, if Mahsheer gets caught in your angler, then you have to release it, but you can take pictures before doing that! Anyways, our trek was uneventful and unfortunate in the sense (or on second thoughts, fortunate) that we didn't spot a single elephant, panther or crocodile. All we saw were some mischievous monkeys and peacefully-grazing cattle. One reason could be we were trekking in the noon and not early morning when animals are more active. We didn't trek the entire stretch. We trekked about 15 kms. (which is a big distance in the summer) and we hitched a ride on a passing jeep of the Jungle Range Officer for 5 kms.

To get to this place, follow NH-209 (Bangalore-Kanakpura highway) and then take left at village Halagur. There are visible signs that will guide from there on. We had rented a car (and it came along with a driver) to this place, but hopefully next time I will be able to take mine on such an outing. Take a look at some of the pics:

Gandhi's statue near a dustbin.. so what??

2008-06-07T15:22:00.004-04:00

I recently came across this funny article about Gandhiji's wax statue in London's Madame Tussaud's museum being placed next to a dustbin. Apparently, an Indian visitor noticed it, clicked pictures and shot off letters to British PM Gordon Brown and Indian PM Manmahon Singh complaining of "racial insult".

Now my point is so what if its next to dustbin? What is so bad about it? Dustbin is a good thing, yeah? It allows to collect waste so that a janitor can dispose it. The absence of the waste-bin would force people to litter stuff everywhere, right? Then why is dustbin considered a bad thing? This is not the only instance. Consider the touching of someone's feet to books or food plate. When my leg accidentally touches a book, I am expected to regret the incident and ask for forgiveness(?). Has anyone wondered why?

According to Hindu traditions, God is everywhere...in books (knowledge), in food, in other people...So if my leg (an ugly thing supposedly) touches it, it is considered evil. Our legs are as important a part of our body as our hands are or our face is, isn't it? If God has created us, then He has made no distinction between the importance of arms over legs. Then why this notion? Its not as if I am treating the book or food with dis-respect, anger or hatred. Wearing shoes and chappals is not allowed in temples for a similar reason. It is considered an insult. Lets ponder over this: The religion evolved thousands of years ago; the shoes were invented in what, 1800's? How can even the ancient religious text mention wearing shoes is prohibited or insulting. Not possible. It just got inserted somewhere in due course that wearing shoes is insulting, just like the touch of legs is a sin.

If the dustbin is put in the living room of that visitor, then I can understand his predicament. But this was, for God's sake, in a museum. There are hundreds of statues there and scores of dustbins. Some or the other statue will undoubtedly be close to a dustbin. If it happens to be father of your nation or president of US or Pope of Vatican, so what? Move on...

Whats on your mind?

2008-05-27T09:57:00.003-04:00

This is another brilliant commercial that I just caught on TV. Last month or so, I have seen so many good advts. on desi channels, that I have been thinking of starting a ad-blog. Seriously. But I just can't get to it. Maybe one day...meanwhile, enjoy this Career Builder mentor commercial:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/x6mjmqI2zPY&hl=en">Watch video.</a>

How I learned to stop worrying and love the Customer Rep

2008-05-09T10:30:00.012-04:00

Today I finally got my first Indian credit card. It has a good credit limit, has zero annual fees and comes loaded with some good features like reduced movie ticket prices, discounts on air travel and fuel surcharges, car rental schemes, holiday offers in Thailand, Singapore etc. Also apart from the normal insurance coverages like personal accident coverage and flight baggage loss, it also has some weird ones like the Plane Hijack insurance (apparently the payout is $250 per hour!!). Of course, all these benefits have that tiny asterisk at the end called "Terms and Conditions" that points to some legal mumbo-jumbo, which is carefully written so as to piss off the ordinary reader within the first 3-4 lines.

Anyways, in this post I want to talk mainly about why it took me 5 months (the time since I landed in India) to get my first card and why few of my CC applications got rejected. Before leaving US, I had cancelled all but one, of my credit cards. The reason being there was (a) no real need for having cards with dollar as primary currency in India (b) possibility of foreign currency charge for every transaction in rupee and (c) headache of maintaining cards and resulting phone calls to US customer care (which incidentally, would get routed back to Indian call centers :-) So I decided to keep only one MasterCard and boy, am I glad or what? I was able to use it at several retail outlets for shopping clothes and stuff, but apparently, international cards cannot be used at all places in India. When I tried booking movie tickets on bookmyshow.com or air tickets for Bangalore-Mumbai route on yatra.com, the US card didn't work. When I tried paying my cell-phone bills and Broadband bills online, the US card didn't work. Clearly, the universe was conspiring that I get an Indian CC quickly.

And believe me, applying for a credit card is very easy. Just go to any local bank branch and there will be hordes of salespeople waiting to hand you an application form. Actually there is no need to even step outside the house; they are ready to come to your residence even at 8pm on a rainy Saturday! Banks usually hire services of marketing firms, who pester people like you and me with daily phone calls about loans, CC's and what not. So that is another way of applying for a credit card, although you will regret the fact that they will keep calling you till you die. How they get our cell numbers is another Jhol! Even new cell-phone connections will soon start getting calls from ICICI, SBI, Barclay bank, HDFC and gang. Apparently, marketing firms must be either buying cellphone data directly from Providers or must be obtaining it through shady means.

The application process for a credit card typically involves filling up basic things in the form like name, address, phone number, employer details, photographs etc. The supporting documentation required is photocopies of some address proof such as utility bills, one photo ID such as drivers license, passport, PAN card etc. and a recent salary slip copy for the salaried people. Once the form is submitted, in a week's time there are phone verification calls from the bank where they gather additional information like mother's name, personal email address, office land-line number, employee ID etc. Then a person from the bank or a contracted firm visits your residence to confirm that you indeed stay there. This may be followed by more verification calls from the head-office and in the end, after gathering all these sensitive data, a card is issued or denied. My first application got rejected in a month because I applied for it soon after I landed. So at the time of application, I neither had a PAN number nor a salary slip from an Indian employer. But the salesperson still got the form filled up from me and made false promises that I will get a card within 2 weeks.

My second application was crazy. This time, I gave them confidential information like salary slip, bank account numbers, official phone numbers and email addresses, although reluctantly. But still, I gave them, thinking it is essential for them to decide my credit limit and whether I will be able to pay my bills and whether I am a true customer or a fraud. So I patiently answered their phone verification calls and even remained at home for Mr. Address-Verification. Two Weeks later, I get another confirmation call, this time asking for more details like my passport number. Now this really annoyed me and I denied giving it, all the time arguing that I have given enough info to prove that I am not a fraud and that I can pay bills regularly. Besides, what has passport number got to do with a credit card anyways? I was told by the customer rep. that RBI requires it, but that turned out to be false because if RBI indeed mandated it, then all credit-card issuing banks would ask for passport number. But they clearly didn't. Its not even printed in their application forms! I strongly felt that the banks (or those marketing firms) are trying to gather "more-than-necessary" sensitive info because they can then make money out of it by selling it to interested parties. When that realization dawned on me, I was shocked because they collect so much sensitive data from people like us. Lets just list what all they collect: our complete name, address, DOB, personal and business phone numbers, employer name and address, bank account numbers, personal and official email ids, PAN number, monthly salary statement, photographs, signatures and more. This info is worth millions, when its available for the general populace! In the absence of strict data privacy laws in India, there is no guarantee that this data is in safe hands. I can understand that due to lot of fraudulent cases in the past, the CC issuing process has evolved this way; but that is hardly a justification. It still needs to evolve a hell lot.

About my 2nd application, when I checked for the status a month later, I was told "your application has been rejected". Reason? "Its confidential. We don't disclose reasons for rejections". What about all my documents? "Sir, we destroy them". Hah! Not before sharing with others, I am positive. Anyways, as they say, I was getting used to the ways of accepting things the way they work. For my 3rd application, I again gave all these so-called "sensitive" data to another bank. Didn't ask any questions this time. Didn't express my annoyance this time. And no surprises...I got my shiny card today in the mail. Took only 3 weeks. I feel like a relieved engineering student who successfully clears his KT exam after 'n'th try. Meanwhile, I continue to get calls for new banking products from various banks, both on my cell-phone and office desk phone. I don't even want to talk about irrelevant marketing text messages. Sometimes, I have to answer calls for new CC from this very bank where my application was pending. They don't even search their database before calling; maybe phone calls are so cheap that they don't mind calling and wasting each other's time. Maybe its time we seriously implement stricter Data privacy laws, secured credit histories and a "Do-Not-Call" Registry that actually means what it stands for.

It happens only in India

2008-05-03T02:54:00.002-04:00

I found this in the washroom:

Hot Delhi

2008-04-28T00:16:00.001-04:00

My blogging speed has gone down considerably. And its primarily because one, I can't think of topics worth blogging and two, I feel lazy. I used to find so much time back in US. But suddenly, I feel short of time, even though there is lots to spare. There are also some events that have happened in my personal life recently that have left me bitter. I guess its one of those times when tasks keep piling on my To-Do list faster than I can eliminate them.

Anyways, last weekend I happened to be in Delhi on a business trip and is it hot or what! Its April and summer is in full swing. Bottled water, juice and ice-cream vendors must be doing great business. Bangalore is hot too, even though its cooler than Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai. I can't imagine how those IPL cricketers are slogging out in this heat and noise all over the country. Forget them. What about the countless hard-working people who are slogging their lives out everyday in the open! And here I am complaining, even though I spend almost entire day in air-conditioned offices and car. The only respite however, for all of us, seems to be the rains which are 2 months away atleast.

Some of my pics from Delhi: spent only half a day outside to escape from the sweltering heat so only few pics. I like the 3rd pic below - gives a kind of solar eclipse effect as the sun was directly behind Qutub Minar.

Sunset @ Bangalore

2008-04-14T23:45:00.000-04:00

Its been months since I even took out my camera. So much for photography as a hobby! Shame on me. I think I am finding my cam bulky and unwieldy and it has made me leave the cam behind on many occasions. I have an Olympus C-700 digicam. When I bought it 5 years ago, it was my first major dollar investment! I had bought it much before I even considered buying a laptop, a mobile or an iPod! Weird how in a short time, something you crave for becomes something you wanna get rid of. Of course I still like photography; its just that I want a good cam that also fits easily in my jeans' pocket. When I bought my digicam, it was the world's smallest digicam with 10X optical zoom, but not small enough to fit in a pocket. Maybe the cams now are both compact and with 10X zoom. I have no idea. Anyone with suggestions for a good cam?

Meanwhile, here are few pics at full 10X zoom of sunset. I was on 15th floor of a Bangalore high-rise attending a weekend party.