insanely ~ positive

India v/s Australia

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:37:00 +0000

Anyone remember India-Australia series in 2008, when an 11 member Indian team played a 14 member Australian?

I hope, this time Dhoni and his team teach some manners to the most arrogant cricket team ever, even if they still have 3 umpires in their team.

The Australian players then were considered the most professional. They went to great lengths to win a match. If good play doesn’t work, they sledge, if it still doesn’t work – they cheat and get it done.

I hope they get crushed this time!!

Libya No-Fly Zone?!?

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 01:48:00 +0000

* Now you are at war with THREE different countries

* You do realise your national deficit has reached $14 trillion, don't you?

Phil McLight’s Day Out

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:20:00 +0000

Life gets so tiring and monotonous at times, you need something to keep yourself alive. After months of procrastinating, I finally bought a DSLR. I spent a fortune on a Canon 1000D (18-55mm kit lens + 75-300mm telephoto + 8GB card + tripod and case). I actually wanted to buy one when I visit India because UAE is definitely not the place if you have an interest in nature photography, but then I couldn’t resist the offer on this camera.

Handling an SLR camera is quite tough unless you know what you are doing. So I’ve been having a pretty tough time and to make things worse, the lens on my camera doesn’t have image stabilisation feature; so handheld low light and zoom shots turned out to be a nightmare. Carrying around a bulky camera is another problem. It’s interesting though, if you have enough time to plan your shot and experiment with the settings.

Check out these pictures taken for Al Ain Zoo on my first day out with the camera. Couple of them are pretty good but not good enough to be added to 'The Very Best of Phil McLight'. Boy, I just realise how much I miss my Canon 570IS, the original Phil McLight.

The antelopes, deers and gazelles were all tagged, giving you a feeling that you were visiting Noah's Arc than a zoo.

The meerkats were definetely the most interesting creatures in the entire zoo. Even though locked up in a very safe environment, they still exibit their instincts. While the whole 'gang' fed on peanuts, a lone sentry scanned the surroundings for predators.

This absolutely magnificient creature, which appears to have missed the train the dinosors took, is a green iguana. I was able to get a nice photo in low light as this creature stood dead still.

It was hard not to get intimidated by the looks of this vulture. Its eyes were as big as those of humans.

Maybe, the best shot of the day. I was able to capture this eagle with lens extended to 300mm at 1/30 sec, 5.6f and 100 ISO.

I'd love to visit the zoo again, better prepared this time. However, I believe I would be a lot happier with a lousy shot of an animal in the wild than a hundred great pics of them in captivity.

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:38:00 +0000

* in case you didn't know, Valentines Day has got nothing to do with Valentino Rossi's birthday, even though its only days apart *

Copenhagen

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:20:00 +0000

for wasting all that time, energy and resource at Copenhagen
hope there wont be anymore international agree-to-disagree summits

- flashbacks of a fool -

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:44:00 +0000

I am turning one more year older this Christmas eve and I thought this would be a good time to brag about myself. Despite the fact that I can shamelessly ask someone’s name five times in a fifteen minutes conversation and still manage to forget it, I have a very good long term memory. Here are a few flashbacks of a fool, and its only a few.

· The old lady who lived in a house next to my apartment in Bangalore. Every morning I see her sitting outside on the ground, legs crossed, her gaze fixed on a newborn baby on her lap, basking in the morning sun. When the toddler shows the slightest discomfort, she leans forward to block the sunrays for a while then lean back. That was two years ago and am sure I saw the entire world’s love in that woman.

· I remember having goose bumps when I listened to ‘coming back to life’ for the first time; that was four years ago. I’ve been a diehard fan of Pink Floyd ever since; there may never be another band who could play better music.

· No matter how hard we tried, the high-pass filter circuit we built for our mini project in college gave output only twice; once during the internal exam and a few weeks later in front of the external examiner. Thank God for mighty miracles and sweet surprises, and that was six years ago.

· Nine years ago, I saw this leper begging near the bus terminal. The disease, eating into his body, had crippled his legs and there was very little left of his arms. Next to him, I saw another man in a similar state, half naked and unable to move. He wasn’t a beggar or crippled, he was just too drunk. As the saying goes, God gives and forgives; man takes and forgets.

· The Bihari classmate I had in school, volunteered to read aloud Nehru’s famous ‘Freedom at Midnight’ speech. Half way through, he went emotional and the class went berserk. Its been eleven years since that class; wish I could meet him once and pat him on the shoulder for that speech.

· Zahid, a Pakistani classmate of mine, once brought to class a small circuit board attached to a small battery. He asked me to touch two wires coming out of it and I did, only to get a rude electric shock. Years later, I was in college listening to a lecture on voltage multiplier circuits; I thought of him and could only say to myself “You Bastard!!”

· I was in fifth grade when Zahid promised to show me something and took me to the school toilet. There, like a true magician, he pulled the rope attached to the overhead flush tank, and nothing happened. He pulled harder the next time and the whole tank came down crashing and we were drenched. At the principal’s chamber, he dramatically pleaded innocent and put the blame on me and we ended up sharing the cost for a new flush tank. I wonder what his little trick was, certainly he wasn’t a pervert; I wish I could meet him once and ask, hopefully he recalls.

· I remember my grandmother on her deathbed. As instructed by mom, I asked her whether she was feeling alright. She gave a big smile and I made my way out through all the people gathered, to the courtyard. My cousin and I were playing with firecrackers when she passed away a few hours later. Mom was surprised when I recalled this incident happened almost twenty years ago.

· One day, I came back from school and saw my sister for the first time. She was lying in bed next to my mom, neatly wrapped in a blanket. Maybe this is the oldest thing I can remember; she was born in May ‘85.

I was told that when I was a toddler one of my aunts threw me up in the air and failed to catch me and I landed on my head. I am sure, if I had not had that 6 feet plus fall my brain would have found enough space to store lot more fond memories.

It wasn’t about my memories that I wanted to write when I began typing, but it turned out like this. So I guess I will write about it next time as a continuation to this post.

~ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ~

Human rights violations and role of media in Abhaya murder case

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:24:00 +0000

In 1992, a 19 year old Knanaya Roman Catholic nun was found dead in her convent well in Kottayam, Kerala. The case, first investigated by the local police then the crime branch and later by various teams of the CBI, took 16 years to make the first arrest. Relentless efforts by social activists and the courts refusing to close the case on multiple occasions made this much manipulated case a media event over the years. Wikipedia has the whole case history in detail and this article is about some human rights violation and media ethics pertaining to the case.

Since the arrest of two fathers and a sister, over a year ago, the media has been following every step of the proceeding with great interest. I have to agree that in the past they have done a wonderful job, like in the BMW hit and run and Jessica Lal murder cases where their persistent effort made sure the guilty are being punished. However, in this case, based on evidence, the authenticity of which is still being argued in court, the media seems to be passing the verdict on behalf of the court.

The videos of narcoanalysis tests and a report on virginity test conducted on the sister were leaked out to the media recently. While the videos were watched by thousands on news channels and is still being watched in You Tube, only a few cared to speak about human rights violation and question the role of the media.

Rights of the accused and legality of narcoanalysis evidence:

Narcoanalysis is an investigative technique in which the suspect is drugged and made to answer in a semi conscious state. This technique is not openly permitted in most of the developed and developing countries as it raises a lot of ethical and scientific questions. However, in India, this technique is now being used more frequently than ever.

Rights of the accused

The basic idea of punishment by a court of law is to bring into conscience of the perpetrator that qualified and respectable individuals representing the society, following a set of fair laws, in a trial where he was given enough time and resource to prove his reasons/innocence, found him guilty beyond doubt. The following prison sentence should be long enough for the guilty to fully comprehend the gravity of his crime or to keep him away if he is too dangerous for the society.

For this reason, the law has given some rights for the accused. In India, like most other countries, under Article 20(3), the constitution gives a fundamental right against self incrimination. So the law puts the burden of proving the accused guilty on the state, the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty and he cannot be compelled to self incriminate.

The whole process of narcoanalysis test unless under extraordinary circumstances is gross violation of individual rights, liberties and freedom. The unethical use of truth drugs is classified as a form of torture according to international law. In India, narcoanalysis tapes are not admissible as evidence and are used as corroborative evidence. While the effectiveness of the technique itself is being questioned by a lot of experts in the field of psychiatry, the police throughout the country find it as a magic wand to solve difficult cases.

Media ethics:

Controversy revolves around the genuineness of the narcoanalysis video tapes. An edited copy was presented to the court and CBI maintains that the confessions in it were not tampered with. This video evidence, which should have been watched by the court and those involved with the case, was leaked to the press and was broadcasted in the news.

In one of the video, the psychologist Dr. S. Malini asks the nun, “With what did you hit her?” and she replies “Axe … vessel … hammer”. After the arrest months ago, the investigators would have asked the sister the same question a hundred times, presenting her with numerous scenarios and list of weapons forcing her for a confession. Now how can anyone be sure that the drugged person is telling the truth or involuntarily speaking out something that was forced into her mind earlier?

The law gives the suspect the right to be considered innocent until proven otherwise. In this case, the news anchors make suggestions on the role of the accused and the general public passes their verdict watching the same videos in You Tube. My point is, if the accused feels that this turn of events had influenced the final judgment in the case, the rights of the accused for a fair trial has been seriously compromised.

It’s sad that online communities and You Tube video comments are forgetting the blatant violation of human rights in this case. If you think the media should have let the court to decide on the evidence and kept the public out of it, or if you have any counter argument, you can post it here. It’s foolish to hope the media would apologise, but hopefully they won’t repeat it.

Tail Lamp

Do share the link with your fellow bloggers if you find this article worth spreading to a much wider audience.

You can check the narcoanalysis videos in You Tube, one of them is in English, however, I am not providing any link here.

With all due respect to Sister Abhaya, may her soul rest in peace.

Les Languages

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:42:00 +0000

If you have read any of my previous post you must have a fair idea about my literary skills. I was never good with languages, I still remember how my Malayalam teacher at the govt lower primary school, where I studied for a brief period of time, used to pinch the living daylight out of me when I found it hard to reproduce the jalebi letters he laid on the board onto my slate.

By the time I finished schooling I wrote neatly and sensibly, however, recently I found out that the neat jalebi letters I once wrote looks more like over stretched spring when written after a decade.

Hindi at school was an absolute nightmare. I hated hanging letters on a line, it’s double the effort and writing with dull HB2 pencils didn’t make things any prettier. Hindi grammar is still an unsolved mystery; pul-lingh and sthree-ling was okay for me until my teacher went on to explain genders in sun, moon and other heavenly objects. I found it unacceptable; you see these objects rotating naked in the sky and never saw anything on them that would suggest a gender, then why do you have to complicate a language for no reason? Isn’t that phool-ish?

This gender confusion did cost me a lot, my Hindi answer sheets looked more like arieal shots of American Civil War, with plenty of red cutting into few rows of blue.

To be continued….

Missing blogger found alive!!

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:07:00 +0000

My apologies if your search for a ‘missing blogger’ took you to this page. I am just being polite here, I know for a fact that the google crawlers aren’t dumb enough to take my post tile seriously. Anyway, I’ve been absconding from bogsphere for over 4 months; now am back and has a lot of catching up to do.

The last time I tried writing was way back in January, on the Gaza issue. I made no less than five attempts over a period of two weeks and each time I ended up losing my mind. I realize the Israel-Palestine issue is not political and to which you cannot find a political solution, until and unless people on either side realize the value of human life. I hope to write more on this someday.

My sister got married in February. It was one blitzkrieg wedding; planned and executed in just ten days. Less than a week after the wedding I flew to the UAE. I, being the master of bad-career-moves had resigned my job in Bangalore a few months earlier, hoping to find a better one abroad.

In UAE, I had three months to find a job and thanks to all the busted banks in the US, job openings were very rare. Finally after two months, I got into one of the telecom companies. Now that my visa has expired, am back home, hoping my company would send me an employment visa in the near future.

Enough bragging for one day, I promise I’ll post better stuff hereafter. I just wanted to get things moving all over again. Noticed how I avoided the term writers block? That’s because am an aspiring writer and will always be :)

Mid Summer Deluge

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:30:00 +0000

.

A smile beamed across his face as he surveyed the dark sky; he whispered to his fellow third graders, “It’s going to rain”. Even before they could react, he picked up his battered notebooks from the ground and climbed over the school’s mud fence. He felt a sudden cold breeze on his face; the rain was coming and he had to reach home before it did.
He pulled out a few marbles from his faded navy blue trouser pocket and made sure the big one with the yellow streak was there. Holding his books close to his chest and clutching his trouser pocket containing the marbles, he jumped off the mud fence and dashed towards the rice field. Balancing himself with one hand, he crossed the field over a narrow path while the rice plants danced to the tune of the strong breeze. By the time he reached the banyan tree just outside the rice field, a heavy wind had started to blow away leaves and the tree rained down ripe fruits like heavy pellets.

He reached a long dusty road and saw his house on the other end. His small feet kicked up dust as he raced towards the house. He heard the rain, like a swarm of bees, getting closer and felt the air getting heavier with moisture. He turned back to see the dusty road changing color to dark brown as the rain splashed on it, racing towards him. He ran as fast as he could while the trees on either side swayed violently, as if cheering him. He leapt over the steps leading to his house followed by the thundering sound of the rain hitting the clay tiled roof. He fell on his knees trying to catch his breath, the sweet smell of earth filled his lungs and he felt it flow throughout his body.

Twenty years have passed since that mid-summer deluge, but the sight of the rain chasing him down the dusty road, the sound of it pelting on the roof and the sweet smell of earth it brought will remain locked in his heart forever.

This story was originally posted in Writer's Lounge
.

.bringing down the beast.

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:19:00 +0000

It’s unimaginable what human beings are capable of doing to each other. Three days of mayhem in Mumbai leaves us stunned and asking a lot of questions.

The attack wouldn’t have happened if the young perpetrators, before setting off to kill innocent people have had asked themselves; is it worth fighting and dying for an ideology or a political cause that demands the blood of 5000 innocents? If there is a force that is smart enough to convince the worthiness of this cause and mentally prepare educated young men to kill innocent civilians, then that’s the enemy we have to bring down.

A war against terrorism can’t be won with weapons and tactics because rules of a conventional war don’t apply here. You can cut off the funding and burn down the infrastructure of a terror organization, but how can you fight a highly motivated terrorist? You just can’t. Of course, you can neutralize him, but it’s just a matter of time before someone replaces him. ‘One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ I believe this was said about Yasser Arafat, after his death. To the Palestinians he was a great freedom fighter and the Israelis considered him as a terrorist. While we thank our armed forces for killing those terrorists, a group of aspiring ‘freedom fighters’ might be keenly listening to the inspiring story of how ‘a few young men lost their life fighting the evil Indian armed forces’ and they will soon arm themselves to fight and die like their heroes.

People in the Indian subcontinent have lost faith in the political system. Most of Pakistan’s politicians are educated in the west and have charming personalities. But they are just the pretty political faces of the country; they don’t have control over their army, the ISI or anything for that matter. These politicians are so helpless, they risk losing their head if they criticize the army of make a move against the local terror groups. Pakistan has become a safe haven for breeding terrorists who are capable of doing unimaginable crime against humanity.

In India, political parties are like warring clans. Close to 200 people have died in the Mumbai attack and the opposition leader was not ready to visit the place along with the Prime Minister, nor was he willing to attend an all-party meeting, fearing that it might help the ruling party in the coming election.

We have forgotten that the power lies in our hand. We let a petty politician like Raj Thackeray unleash terror on North Indian immigrants. He ordered his henchmen to strike upon the poorest of poor. Where is he now? He hasn’t uttered a word since the terror attack, maybe AK57 and grenades are too much for him to comprehend. There were reports of three MPs stuck in Taj during the attack. MPs usually have their dinner in five star hotels? Who is paying for their luxuries? We must not let anyone rise above the law or forget his responsibilities to the nation.

This gruesome incident has brought us together as a nation, stories of selfless sacrifice will be always remembered and a stronger faith in our country will bring down this beast one day.

~ rich-poor machine ~

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:15:00 +0000

The excitement could be seen on Anto’s face as he jumped the compound wall and ran towards the bushes. Even though he was 10 years old he looked much older, thanks to the hard living conditions in the slums of Mumbai.

He couldn’t stop giggling as he neared the bushes and saw his classmates, Guru and Sethu, dressed up like never before, waiting for him. Guru was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and blue jeans, the clothes fitted him well but looked as old as the boy himself; Sethu on the other hand was wearing a brown full sleeve shirt neatly tucked in and black trousers, the tip of a long comb exposed its head from his shirt pocket.

Anto went around the boys inspecting them; Guru was wearing a long belt and the loose end was dangling behind him.

Whose belt is this? Anto asked, pulling Guru’s tail

Brother’s, he replied

He bent the protruding part of the belt and pushed it back inside, making it invisible from outside.

Now facing the boys, he started speaking “The guard is not a problem unless you try something stupid. The first time they caught me because I looked like a beggar boy, the second time the machine alerted the guard who caught and slapped me; he said he would strip me naked if I went there again…”Anto paused for a second seeing the anxiety on Sethu’s face “…. It’s alright, you look good. The guard is not going to stop you, but the machine might. That’s why I asked you to bring money. How much do you have?”

“Sixteen” Sethu replied

And you….?

Guru pulled out a few currency notes from his jeans pocket “twenty…”

“That’s good enough” Anto said as he pulled out some coins from his pocket and held towards Sethu

“I have five rupees here, take this now and give it back once everything is over”

The three boys started walking towards the huge mall across the road, it’s 5 in the evening and there was already a huge crowd coming in and out of the main entrance. Anto, who was walking a few steps ahead of the boys stopped and turned around.

“Remember what I told you, no fooling around… I’ll wait here until you come back”

The boys nodded and started walking, as they reached the entrance they avoided looking at the guard’s face and stood in the queue before the metal detector. Sethu turned back to check whether Anto was still there; Anto gave a thumbs up sign. There were a few well dressed guys in front of them in the queue; the machine let them pass through. When Sethu went through followed by Guru, the machine gave a loud beep….

The boys stood dazed for a second, they looked for Anto, and at the same time a guard at the entrance was calling them towards his desk. Just then there was another loud beep, the machine also caught the girl who was standing behind them in the queue. She moved towards the guard near the desk to show her purse, just then the boys saw Anto signaling them to get inside….. and they did.

Walking towards the shade behind the popcorn vending machine kept outside the mall Anto breathed a sigh of relief. He had asked Sethu to count the number of cinema halls that are in the fourth floor, he never believed his friend who heard someone saying that there were 11 of them. How could that be possible?!

He sat on the floor behind the popcorn machine with his face resting on his knees; He could see people going under the metal detector one by one. He wondered how a machine could find out whether someone was rich or poor. Sethu had 21 rupees; still the ‘rich-poor machine’ caught him… How much money does one need to be called rich?? Maybe the machine is not all that smart, it did catch the boys, but it also caught the girl. She had to go to the guard and let him check the money she had in her purse. She must have had a lot of money in her purse, say 200 rupees…

His eyelids started to feel heavy and the images getting blurred, the smell of pop corn made his stomach growl, maybe there’s a ‘rich-poor machine’ inside him as well..

Oh Mama… It’s Obama!!

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:43:00 +0000

After 21 months of campaigning at an expense of over $2 billion, America selects Barak Obama as its 44th President. It’s amazing to know how much time and energy this country has put in, so that it gets a leader it so desperately needed.

African slaves were first brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619; 400 years later, a black American becomes the President of the country. Obama promised, Change; by electing him, the country has proved how much it has already changed.

I was listening to Obama’s acceptance speech. “This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change…..” he said. I wonder how ready he is for this job. He has to fight a global financial crisis, bring back troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, deal with the climate change issue and the list goes on. He doesn't look very confident; maybe he is just tired after the election. I really hope he lives up the expectation and delivers the ‘change’ he has promised.

REAR VIEW: I am using WORD 2007 in my laptop; it didn’t recognize ‘Obama’ until I added it to the dictionary, till then it suggested ‘Osama’ :D

- 5 - The big show :)

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:48:00 +0000

It was incredible, that’s all I can say. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and went to Pulicat lake area where the launch can be seen clearly. It was nearly 10km from the town and I shared an auto with 8 others… Yes, 10 adults in an auto!!

Among others in the auto there were three guys from Hyderabad. From the point where we got down, we could see the launch site brightly illuminated. By six, we were able to see the second launch site and the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) as well. The weather was great and the sky wasn’t too cloudy, so we all knew we can expect a great show.

We could have gone another 4km towards the launch site, i.e. till the front gate of SHAR. There we could have seen the rocket a lot closer but won’t be able to see the trajectory and can see very little of the lift off itself, if the rocket enters the cloud (as happened today).

Folks at home alerted me when the final countdown was initiated. It was so beautiful, the huge ball of flame rushed towards the sky while the assembled crowd went berserk. A few seconds later, the rocket vanished into the cloud, that’s when the people assembled close to the launch area lost sight of it. Once the rocket came out of the cloud it took a curved path away from us, so we couldn’t see the full arc. But people watching half a kilometer away from us were able to see it perfectly.

It was a great learning experience. We heard the rocket approx 30 sec after it lifted off the ground. Sound travels at 330 m/s; if you do the math, the rocket should be approx 10km from the point where we are standing, and the actual distance would come around that much (correct me if I am wrong).

By the way, I have uploaded the video in YouTube.

- 4 - Just ten more hours to go.

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Amruthanjan balm and a pain killer tablet did work wonder, I feel great now. It stopped drizzling as well. I walked through the crowded streets for over an hour after lunch. I can’t make out a thing what the locals speak. Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada have a lot in common, but Telugu is something else.

I met someone who works for ISRO; he was pretty excited and showed me a list of duties he was supposed to perform prior to the launch. He also told me about the best locations to witness the launch.

You can actually go as far as the front gate of the space center, SHAR, but you won’t get to see much because of the trees. According to him, the best spot is a place called ‘Kudri’. It’s supposed to be a beach and gives you a very good view of the lift off. So that’s where I am planning to go early in the morning.

I can’t wait… :)

- 3 - @ Sullerpet

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:58:00 +0000

I reached Chennai on Sunday afternoon. It was so damn hot when I got down at Chennai Central railway station and it took another hour in the local bus to reach Adayar.

By the time I took a shower and had lunch, it started raining. It rained for the rest of the day and the next too (two days of rain in Chennai.. how rare is that!!). So, all I saw of Chennai was pretty much nothing.

Monday evening I left for Sullerpet. Even though it’s a remote town, the road that connects it to Chennai is the smoothest ever and after a 2 hour bus ride I reached Sullerpet.

The rain has been following me all the way from Chennai, It was raining at CMBT, it was raining when we stopped at a dhaba and it was raining when I got down at Sullerpet....... its still drizzling here :(

I checked into ‘ABC lodge’ (can a name get any simpler?!) at around 10 in the night. I’d like to tell a few incidents that happened along the way, but I am not in the right frame of mind. My neck sprained (yes, once again), and it sprained big time. I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I had planned to visit ‘Nellipat bird sanctuary’ today; forget birds I can’t even look at my own feet.

I applied balm and took pain killers; I am feeling a little better now. Less than 20 hours for the launch and I have a stiff neck; I didn’t see that coming!! If I don’t get better by tomorrow, I’ll have to stay in my room and watch the launch, happening 13km away, on TV. That’s sad…

- 2 - So far so good.....

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 10:02:00 +0000

I got my leaves approved and also booked ticket to Chennai for Sunday morning; so far so good… I am planning to spend two days in Chennai with some old friends who are now working there.
I have never been to TN before. I’ve heard that except for the climate and the scarcity of water, it’s a great place to be. This time I can visit Marina beach, Spencer plaza and wherever they are kind enough to take me. Also I can sweat like a pig; I really can’t remember the last time I got drenched in sweat and I kind of miss that. Bangalore has the best climate and that’s one of the reason I am reluctant to go work elsewhere.

I still haven’t figured out how close I can get to the launch site. There is a town called Sullurpeta located just 17km from Sriharikota. It’s 83km from Chennai and can be reached within an hour and half, thanks to the excellent rail service. I am hoping to be there on the third day as early as possible, so that I can talk to the locals and find out the best possible spot to view the launch scheduled on the next day.

So that’s the plan………

What if they abandon the launch for some reason!? I do have some back up plans; but since I am hoping for the best, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and forget about the alternate plans.

- 1 - Man with a plan

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:57:00 +0000

I was beginning to feel that I stand a better chance of giving birth to triplets than writing a few lines in my blog. Getting to that frame of mind where ideas flow effortlessly was not happening at all. Since I am not the only person in history to experience this, I’ll just stop whining and write about some interesting turn of events.

A couple of days back I was at work reading an online feature on ‘Chandrayaan-1’, India’s first mission to the moon. I have to admit that even though space exploration is one of my favorite subjects, I wasn’t really keeping a track of this particular launch. Then I learned from Google maps that the launch site, Sriharikota was less than 100 Km from Chennai and 300+ Km distance between Bangalore and Chennai didn’t sound too much. That was when it struck me, maybe I could witness the launch LIVE!!

Then there was a sudden rush of adrenalin, an insatiable desire to be there when history will be written. If there is one wish I have now, then it’s to experience the deafening sound and feel the ground vibrating while the rocket thunders away to the sky.

From office I went straight to my friend’s place, the first thing I said as I saw him was

"Do I look like a man with a plan?!"

(I have no idea how that popped out, but I am sure I’ll regret saying that)

“Huh??” He couldn’t make out whether that was a question or a statement.

“I am going to Sriharikota to watch the rocket launch…”

“Huh??” again, this time totally lost.

I needed moral support, so I explained for half an hour how exciting it would be to witness the rocket blast off. I must say I had some success even though I have a feeling that the term ‘man with a plan’ will pop up in many get togethers we will have in the future.

Since the blast off is scheduled on the 22^nd, a Wednesday, there is no point trying to persuade any of my friends to tag along, also I don’t think anyone would be interested in traveling all the way to witness something that would, in the best case scenario, barely a minute.

So am all set, and will update my plans in the next post.

feel-so-phies

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:30:00 +0000

I took a full seven days off from work and right now am cooling my heels in my very own house. I didn’t have to push too much to get this leave approved. Batman shift at work and two weeks of fasting did have an effect on my physical appearance. Now I don’t have to touch my access card until Wednesday :)

So, my first day at home, I slept until evening to have my body clock in sync with the time zone. Bangalore – Kannur, a time difference of 10-15 mins according to my understanding (don’t prove me wrong, I like it that way)

The second morning at home is usually spent updating my knowledge base. Mom tells me what all happened since my last visit. By afternoon I am enlightened with the stories of a few wedding, untimely death of our plumber, my tiny cousin’s exam results and so on.

Now let me tell you about this tiny cousin, who has a vague resemblance to Calvin. He had proclaimed at the age of three that he would ‘never’ go to school and my aunt became an icon of persuasion when she managed him to think otherwise. A couple of days back he came home with a scorecard, 9/50 in grade two maths. Even though it’s not big news for me*, it was like the key to a theory I was trying unlock.

My sister had the same problem in school. She was exceptionally dumb when she started schooling. Dad had to arrange for tuition when she was in first grade; the lady made her write A-Z for a week, the next day she pointed at ‘A’ and sister answered ‘ONE’. That lady never came back. Now she is doing her 7th semester engineering with an aggregate of 76%. On the other hand, when I was a kid I sang the entire book of rhymes when a poor guest asked me to sing ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and I still have my report cards with red and silver stars pasted on it. My engineering mark cards never had any stars in it; very often shining stars would hang around my head when the results come.

So my theory is that good and bad things are like two halves of a sine wave; without any external effort a good thing will turn bad and vice versa, in due time. If you put in enough effort, you can make the negative cycle a short one. But, how do you explain it when someone is born poor, lives and dies poor?!? Well, the negative cycle (his misfortune) was so long that he passed away before he could see the positive side and he could have done that by working hard.

This theory is still in its initial stage and I am open to criticism... All in the name of science...

*I have seen all the single digits in my mark cards; just a disclaimer, not particularly proud of it.

Stiff neck..

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:25:00 +0000

Boy, a lot of things happened in the past few weeks. A handful of bombs went off quite close to my place, a trip to Munnar and another one to Hogenekkal happened, and saw Heath Ledger pull off an amazing performance as The Joker in Dark Knight...

... I badly wanted to write about these in my blog, but lately I‘ve been at my personal best when it comes to laziness. At night I’ll boot up my laptop with lots of ideas to write about and end up sleeping late night after watching 4-5 episodes of ‘Friends’.

I think the jinx is broken after I sprained my neck. On Friday, early in the morning I stretched my arms trying to reach north and south poles and something snapped in my neck. It was a pretty bad one; even a deep breath sent lightning down my spine. I had to spend a day and half in bed while my roomies took turn in emptying a bottle of Iodex behind my neck.

Lying in bed I managed to watch ‘Superbad’; the movie did justice to its name. I also convinced my room mate about the existence of a free multi gym run by a Christian missionary (what a story!!). I felt like I was living the character 'Verbal' in The Usual Suspects, when my roomie, after a lot of walking around, couldn’t find the gym and called me up.

I feel better now….. I’ll keep you posted :)

its raining in the sea

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:54:00 +0000

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I have taken a few days leave from work and now am at home in Kerala. It's been nearly a month since my last visit and I was looking forward for a break. I had thought of coming when the Monsoon is in full swing; but then its Monsoon, you can't predict anything.

It's been drizzling non stop for days and the place is so green and the air so fresh, I don't feel like going back to Bangalore.

* This is how our backyard looks like* There are muddy pools all around, frogs croaking throughout the night, really huge millipedes and other creepy creatures inside your house... its total fun.

In the evening I went to Payyambalam beach with friends, its 40km from my place. I visit this beach almost every time I come home. It was raining when we reached, and the beach was empty. Nothing gives me more pleasure than watching it rain in the sea.

We walked along the beach and met someone special, a sea snake. It must have been washed ashore in a wave, and the creature must have missed the trip back. It was struggling hard to move in the sand and I used a piece of wood to take it back to the sea.

* In the excitement, I didn't notice the shoot mode in my camera, Phil Mclight, and the picture turned out bad*

Later I felt stupid for not picking it with my hand, you don't get too many chances to hold a sea snake. I knew it wasn't a poisonous one, if thats what you are wondering. All sea snakes with fancy colors and designs are dangerous, it would be wise to stay away from them and this one was a normal one.

The snake had a tough time swimming against the strong waves and it kept coming back to the sand, then there was one smooth wave that came a long was into the shore. I believe the sea held its breath, it skipped the next wave and the snake disappeared into the deep.

I had met other interesting sea creatures on other beaches before, once it was a dead puffer fish. I wasn't carrying a camera then, so no pictures taken. Another time, it was a dead whale, a mighty 30 footer. I have the pictures in my Orkut profile.

Cheers to life
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Jannath - for 'heaven' sake

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:27:00 +0000

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Normally I dont watch any Bollywood flick until it runs for weeks in theater or kicks up a fair deal of controversy. I was quite free today, so Jannath happened.

I've been reading good reviews and like all other Emraan Hashmi movies, the songs have already become a hit. How does he do that?? This is not fair, all his movies does excellent business just because of the hit songs, without which most of his 'soft porn' movies would have bombed in theaters.

So, in this movie our dude plays the role of a small time gambler called, Arjun. His side kick is Vishal, the guy who anchors 'Disney Hour' (Boy, how fast kids grow) and the female is some random chick, I haven't seen her in any movie before and may not see her again :p

The movie begins with Arjun losing a game and the movie ends with Arjun losing the whole game :D

Its not a great movie to watch or write about, but there are a few things to watch out for,

(1) Emraan Hashmi's hair style : the just-outta-bed hair style, am afraid, is too realistic. Looks like the dude is carrying a load of hay on his head.

(2) The good cop : He is one eating machine. Maybe that's the new trend in Bollywood movies, I've seen a foodaholic cop in 'Race'.

(3) Vishal : Every time this fellow finishes his dialog, I expect to see 'Quack Pack' or 'Micky Mouse'. Man, he has been anchoring Disney Hour for over a century.

(4) You've got to watch this tense scene where the psyched chick pleads Arjun to surrender to the cops. In this 6 minute scene, she yells 'Arjun' 35 times. Trust me, I counted.

By the way, the movie is not all that bad, maybe I'll give it a 4/10 and I am yet to watch Tashn ;)
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Greenpeace

noreply@blogger.com (insanely~positive) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:52:00 +0000

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Here you go, my fourth blog and the only one which can be traced back to me (easy... will explain all that someday)

It was World Environment day yesterday and I bumped into a Greenpeace guy at office. He along with a few other Greens were there to spread awareness and also get support for Greenpeace activities. He started talking about Olive Ridley turtles, Whaling in Japan, Rainbow Warrior et all. Finally he popped a question at me,

"What do you think about genetically modified crops?"

"I think they are good" I replied

"Why so?"

"Coz people are not goint to stop making babies, and there has to be a way to feed them all"

He knew I would say that. He then explined about how GM crops can corrupt the entire ecology by messing up other plant genes through pollination and other means, which in turn would affect other creatures.

Shoot, I never thought about it.

It didn't take him much effort to get me signed up as a volunteer for Greenpeace. So next time they plan anything, am gonna be right in the front line :)
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