JB's Journey of Life

'Journey' - My Tryst with Accidents

2012-01-04T23:20:00.000+05:30

I have recently watched a Telugu movie named, Journey (dubbed from Tamil: Engeyum Eppodum). The movie is about love stories of two couples and the impact of a major bus-bus accident on their lives. Excellence (subjective and of course as per Indian/Tamil standards) in various departments like story, screenplay, photography, music and direction has made the movie worth watching and the accident scenes needing a special mention. But, this post is not about the movie, but about what it wants to convey – road accidents.

The accident scene in the movie is shot in such a realistic and horrifying manner that it has started playing on my mind, which has never been the case.

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While I was in teens, whenever I read/watch an accident news, specially a major one – I used to think why not me; why I was not in that bus/train; I too travel often (every vacation – Dasara/Pongal/Summer); I used to dream that I was travelling in such a bus/train, but miraculously escape from the accident. But, sadly it never happened after I grew up. *Please, don’t assume me as a sadist/psycho/wicked.

While I was 7, a lorry (truck) hit our scooter on which Dad, Anna (brother), Mom and I were riding at Benz Circle, Vijayawada - everyone was jumped off the scooter – I rolled on the road for quite a distance and stopped dangerously close to the rear tyres of the truck. Though I escaped with minor injuries (scar disappeared in a few years), I don’t have a vivid memory of the complete scene.

Then, when I was around 11, I sat alone beside a right-side window at the back of the bus leaving mom and Anna sitting at the front. On a busy road, when the bus was stationary, the rear end of a truck coming from opposite side touched the bus and its rear-door chains stuck into the window exactly where I was sitting. Everyone including mom were scared, but I was watching it as a fun. I was sad too as it was not that thrilling with not even window getting smashed.

The itch (to come alive out of an accident) grew exponentially during my engineering, when I had to travel to a college on NH5 40kms away. I used to see damaged or over-turned vehicles on the road side almost every day. Why not one of them happens while I watch? Why not that happens to the bus I was going? During those journeys, I had seen some major accident scenes. Some happened few moments before we passed and some could have happened to our bus, but the chance went to the preceding. One of such accidents had one side of a private bus completely ripped off and some 30 bodies were moved into autos.

But, the wait was over one day. During third year, I and four other classmates got into an Express bus at college leaving another close friend MK who had a student pass. After 10 minutes, the driver tried an ambitious overtake around an overloaded (chili bags) tractor – the tractor fell half-way into a side-by ditch and a truck from opposite hit the bus on the right. Nobody was injured. We were put into another bus. This time, I was standing beside the driver. Twenty minutes into the journey, while trying to overtake an 18-wheeler truck-trailer the left-front side of the bus hit the trailer. That was a wow moment for me, to watch a live accident and had two incidents in a single journey; though, not fully satisfied as it was a minor hit. Again, none was injured.

I was looking for more. A few months later, I and a friend LM (can compete with Kumbhakarna for his sleep in buses) got into a bus on return journey leaving MK on that instance too – I took the last seat and he was one row ahead. LM started sleeping; I tried to sleep on the last row lying horizontally, but could not. So, I got up and started gazing through the left window; Suddenly a BANG! And another BANG! A truck in the front applied sudden brake; our bus driver tried his best, but couldn’t avoid hitting; the front windows got smashed. At the same time, another truck hit our bus from rear; it was an old truck that had engine coming out (like cars). The engine protruded into the bus damaging the right side of the last row. And, there I was, on the left side on the same last row seeing this collision.

No, I was not shocked. I was not injured. Many in the bus got injured, mainly with foreheads hitting the front seats due to sudden brake. I woke up LM (yeah, still sleeping) and he asked rubbing his eyes, “What! Guntur came up so quickly?” I need not tell how much I pulled his leg in the college later. I can write a full post on his sleeping in the buses. Yeah! We had never left MK behind while taking bus.

Then, we were put into a different bus and there it was – my moment – my dream – everyone in that bus asking for the details and me telling the story – a live accident that I had live through.

***************

Now, for the last 7 years (excepting the US stints), I have been travelling regularly (once or twice a month) from Hyderabad to my home-town Guntur – most often by bus (private/APSRTC) - start on Friday night and return on Monday morning . The journey includes NH9, one of the most accident-prone highways in the country, taking away hundreds of lives every year.

On every such journey, I see at least one accident and many ‘just-miss’ incidents. Two minor accidents happened to the bus I was in. Many times, I would be sitting in the left side window of the last rows, running parallel to a truck driver, only for the truck driver to put brake at the last moment to allow our bus to slide in. Still, I never had a ‘heart in the mouth’ kind of feeling because I have seen many before during college. However, since the day I watched this Journey movie, I have become philosophical about life as well as little worried about journeys. Wish, I come back to myself quickly as now I dream of driving car to Guntur one day in near future.

Hope at least 1% of these horrendous drivers that watch this movie think twice when they come on the road.

Vegetarianism - Vegetables - Nutrition

2011-11-09T22:52:00.001+05:30

**** Read after your lunch/dinner *****
BeetRoot Poriyal and Pakoda Koorma - read the South Indian menu in my office canteen. I bet half of those interested in taking SI meals would have backed off on seeing beetroot. I was equally depressed by seeing Pakoda Koorma, though was delighted to see Beetroot and Dosakai Dal (Cucumber) after weeks of Bhindi (Bendakaya/Okra/Ladies Finger) complimenting permutation and combination of Aloo (Potato), Patta Gobi (Cabbage), Gobi (Cauliflower) and Carrot (Gaazar) with a change in name - Mix Veg Curry, Veg Kurma, Veg Kadai, Veg Jalfrezi, Cabbage-Carrot poriyal.
For reasons like not having hygienic Andhra mess in the vicinity, well wishers’ concerns about the expansion of my pot-belly and the heaviness of the Andhra food at nights means that I generally visit a North Indian food joint for dinner. And the menu usually has a curry made up of one or more of Aloo (Potato), Mutter (Green peas), Rajma (Red Kidney Beans), Paneer (Cottage Cheese), Tomato and Gobi (Cauliflower) and occasionally with Palak (Spinach), Lauki (Sorakaya/Aanapakaya/Bottlegourd) or Methi (menti/Fenugreek) .

When I went to native for a week long Diwali vacation, I told my Mom to not include Okra (Bhindi), Potato, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Carrot and Tomato in any menu. And, what I had the following for a week – The menu commonly included one curry and dal supplemented with a freshly grounded chutney (noorudu pacchadi) with a vegetable or a leaf (Gongura, Pudina/Mint, Kottimeera/Corrainder), one or two pickles (preserved chutney/ooragaya) like Avakaya (Mango), Chintakaya(Imli/Tamarind), Usirikaya(Amla/Gooseberry) Nimmakaya (Nimboo/Lime) and a grounded powder like Gunpowder, Kandi podi (Toordal powder) or Palli podi (Groudnut/peanut powder).

Curry was from one of the vegetables of Dondakaya (Tindora/ Ivy Gourd), Vankaya (Baingan/Brinjal/Eggplant), Kakara Kaya (Karela/Bittergourd), Sorakaya (Lauki/Bottlegourd), Chikkudukaya (Large Beans with seed), Goruchikkudu (Beernis/Long thin beans used in Fried rice), Beerakaya (Turai/Ridgegourd)

Dal was either Toor Dal (Red lentils) or Moong Dal (Yellow gram) cooked with a vegetable from Tomato, Dosakaya (Cucumber), Mango, Sorakaya or a leafy vegetable from Palak (Spinach), Chukkakura (Sorrel spinach), Thotakura (Amaranthus), Bacchalikura (Malabar Spinach), Menthikura (Methi/Fenugreek).

I haven’t even got a chance to relish my favorite and Mom's special Chemadumpa (Arvi/Taro root) Vepudu (Fry). I haven’t yet talked about other root vegetables like Beetroot, Kanda (Yam), Potlakaya (Snake gourd), Aratikaya (Plantain), Gummadikaya (Pumpkin), Panasa pottu koora (Jackfruit).

There was no need/time for regular Sambar, Pulusu (similar to sambar), Majjiga Pulusu (sambar type of preparation with sour buttermilk), Menthi Majjiga (rasam type preparation with Methi), Rasam/Charu and Pachi Pulusu (Dry Soup).

Ok, enough of foodies, what I wanted to tell is vegetarianism is not always about Dal, Aloo, Gobi, Paneer and some pulses like Rajma, Chole and Chana. It is primarily about all vegetables, though not a daily dose of salads with raw vegetables and cheese as Americans think. Also, eating raw vegetables in India is not advisable sometimes due to high pesticide use.

Many people (irrespective of generation) like to eat only a few varieties of vegetables and face problems while eating anywhere outside their home. I pity them. The world is full of vegetables and I like to eat all of them, though I enjoy some of them at one or two levels up. Though recently, starting to hate Bhindi and Cabbage courtesy the FC caterers. Curries are not that boring if the vegetables are rotated and the preparation is tweaked.

My Mom (sometimes I too) can prepare a curry out of a vegetable in at least 3 different methods. Add to that you get excellent combinations when you mix two three vegetables (No, not talking about cabbage-carrot poriyal or Mix Veg Curry served in canteen).

Whatever I get at home is a proper Vegetarian Meal that provides nutrition as below:
Rice/Roti – Carbohydrates
Dal – Protein
Vegetables – Vitamins, antioxidants, Iron and other minerals
Curd/yogurt and Majjiga/Buttermilk/Chaaz – To cool down the stomach and improve digestion.

A Pakoda Koorma, a Malai methi chamn, some Kofta or Kadai (Besan/Bengal Gram Fluor + Buttermilk) and even Rajma/Chola/Chana would not give me same nutrition.

Note: It is not only about Andhra or South Indian. Most of the Indian menus have given due importance to all vegetables, though I would say the Andhra menu includes a higher number of vegetables.
P.S.: I am a vegetarian (lacto-vegetarian to be specific) with not eating egg (exception to birthday cakes).
P.S.2.: A caterer produced a new dish called 'Chola-Soya Ka Dostana' today!

The Characteristic Indian Head Shaking

2011-09-30T23:09:00.002+05:30

"Oh boy! What does that mean? A Yes or a No!? For God's sake just speak it out!' the client asked me when I nodded my head as a response to his query. I understood his fury as that was not the first time I had done that in front of him.

I have seen this characteristic in Telugus (Andhrites), especially from my native district, not to generalize though. We simply nod our head in response to a lot of questions. And that would neither be a perfect vertical swing in agreement nor a horizontal in denial – but a unique way of shaking that only natives could understand (correctly) and would make outsiders pull their hair to guess. So, for an American who expects mainly a word of ‘Yeah/No’, there is no surprise that my nods irritate him.

While the silent nods are a distinctive feature for my natives, the head-shakes among many Indians are such vigorous that I sometimes visualize cows watching them. Almost every Indian – we move our heads a lot while talking and even while listening too. While moving hands in the right way when talking is considered as a good non-verbal gesture, I do not remember something similar being said about heads. In fact, it is suggested to keep head still and make proper eye-eye contact while speaking or listening.

Whether during my stay in US or in Hollywood movies, I have rarely seen an American moving his/her head as much as Indians do while talking. While listening too, they just nod their head vertically once/twice as acknowledgement – nothing more than that.

Some of you may think I have generalized it too far, but these have been my observations over the last 4 years :->>

Though I annoy people with my silent nods (shakes), I think I hardly move my head while listening. This used to annoy my lecturers in college, who felt I was not acknowledging and not paying attention in the class room, in fact, with my blank stares were defying them!

Bhuvanagiri adventure

2011-09-04T00:04:00.002+05:30

Those were the boring routine weekends in 2009. One day, roomie Venkat and I decided to go on bike trip to nearby. While searching for any such place not more than 100km far from Hyderabad, Bhuvanagiri (Bhongir) fort came into my mind. I see this fort whenever I go by train to native from Hyderabad (Can be seen on the left after crossing Bibinagar junction on Hyderabad-Guntur line).

Bhuvanagiri is on Hyderabad-Warangal NH202 highway and Secunderabad-Kazipet railway line. It is around 35km from Uppal and 65km from Gachibowli.

We started from Gachibowli on a Saturday morning, 6.30 AM. I have the route map print-out from maps.google.com and so crossed Mehdipatnam, Liberty and Narayanaguda without any problem. Then, we lost the way after Barkatpura. Somehow, we found the directions from localites and reached Uppal ring road around 8. We had our breakfast there and started again.

Since, those were the days before Infosys phase-II and extension works (the highway is being extended to 4 lanes), the traffic was less and we rallied smoothly. The weather was pleasant, with rain on the previous day, cool breeze, no show from sun and so it was the perfect day for a bike ride.

After reaching Bhuvanagiri by 8.45 AM, nobody could give the right direction to the hill base, though it was a small town. Somehow, we reached the hill-base and were surprised to see a locked gate at the base. We checked with a shop-keeper there and he informed that the gate should be opened at 9. Luckily, the watchman had come by 9. There was no trace of other tourists. He gave us a wry smile and issued us tickets. That added more doubts about the place.

After crossing the gate, we came across a statue named Sardar Sarvai Papanna at the base of a slope. We could see something like a small fort at the top of slope. We were disappointed to know that we came all the way to see such a small hillock and fort. It was a surprise too as the fort appeared to be on the top of a big hill while viewing from the train.

***Click on the picture to see full size***

Walking on the steep slop reminded me an old Telugu movie.

After hiking that steep, we could not find a way. Hiking was easy, but found it hard to come down.

Then, we found some steps on the left. After climbing the steps, we realized that what we had seen from the base was just a tower (guard point) and need to climb up to reach the fort.

Bhuvanagiri bus-station from the tower base -

There were no steps from this point onwards, it was just a hilly path.

Trekked this rocky path and seen some cannons there. Then, we were looking for a way to reach the fort at the top. It was like a huge rock without any proper stairs. There were some carvings like steps with railings to support here and there. We were in a dilemma whether to proceed or not.

What if we fall from there? Who would be there to inform about us?

Suddenly, we saw a person going up with an ease. That gave us some courage. Also, two tourists joined us - we exchanged pleasantries and came to know that they too were like us, biking from Hyderabad. They followed us on this adventurous part of the trekking.

That trekking was the best part of the trip and the thrill made us forget the effort we put in. However, the scene on the top was disappointing. There were just broken walls representing the fort. Actually it was so small that I would not call it a fort. Though, we could not refrain from appreciating the efforts of the coolies who brought up so many stones atop that steep hill.

There was a BSNL telephone tower too on the hill-top and the person who trekked before us was an employee, who looks after that. He told us that he would trek everyday to attend his office duties. And, I grumble about my software job in AC room and had to drag myself to the office everyday.

Though, the fort was a disappointment, the nature scenes from the top were breathtaking.

Slowly, the place got filled up with tourists. We could see around 20 of them. So, it was not such a neglected place. We started to trek down and reached the base by 11.30.

I heard that there is a trekking path from the back of the hill, which is frequently visited by trekking and adventure clubs from Hyderabad.

Though it was an unplanned trip, the whole experience of bike trip, trekking and scenes were awesome. We vouched to do such trips regularly, though soon broken by sudden break journey to onsite.

Andhra Pesarattu + Bru Coffee

2010-11-21T00:28:00.000+05:30

What a way to start a Saturday morning from Boston - Pesarattu (Moongphal Dosa) with allam-ulli-pacchimirchi (ginger-onion-green chilli) topping + Allam pacchadi (Ginger pickle) + Bru Coffee

The best Enginnering Wonder - Howrah Bridge

2010-11-01T09:25:00.000+05:30

*** Re-post from Archive ***

It was third month of my first year engineering. English Professor came to the class with the corrected answer sheets for the 2nd Internal.

Everyone would be anxious, but one guy was more than anyone.

A small flashback in this flashback -
The 1st internal was an exercise of 40 'Correction of sentences' (The university hadn't had released the textbooks by then.) and he was the topper with 19.5/20. Only 3 others passed, but managed only 13 or 14. Unfortunately he was off on the day the results were announced. A guy who was unknown to 90% of the class even after 1st internal, suddenly became popular in all branches – Only ten persons passed in the whole college and his answer sheet was displayed in all classrooms advising them to follow him.

Coming back to this day –
The Professor started giving marks and papers. Like many other language professors, he was also quoting some great write ups, some wild imaginations and some unthinkable blunders only Engineering students could do (Of course, each branch has its style). Everyone was laughing and this guy too.

After waiting for a long time, only his paper was left. He was tense. Not only he, but many others since he was the topper in that subject last time.

A part of the exam was to write an essay on ‘The best Engineering Wonder you have seen’. Everyone was eager to know what he had written.

The Professor picked it up and started-

"This guy topped in the first cycle. I was happy that there was at least one capable guy in this college. Now look, what this guy wrote.

He chose ‘The Howrah Bridge’ and wrote 6 pages on it! Can you people imagine it?
Turning to that guy, 'You had written very well. You explained everything in detail. The article was good and well-organized. But, as a Computer Science Engineering student, I expected people to write about Computers and not Howrah Bridges or Ganapavaram bridge(Our college was beside a riverlet on NH5 with a bridge starting almost from the gate). At least, you can write on robots or some How in the world that you got this idea? Actually, you proved that you were an Engineering student.'"

The guy stood up like that. He couldn’t understand initially whether the Professor was praising him or making fun of him. The last sentence got him the answer.

You can understand the situation in the class and the teasing he got for the next few days.

p.s.: The guy was no other than JB, that is, I.

Creative Zen X-Fi2 Review

2010-08-03T05:13:00.001+05:30

Review of Creative Zen X-Fi2 music player

Summary: Sounds excellent, navigation needs improvement

Pros: Sound quality, X-Fi feature, EP-630 earphones, plug 'n' play, S-video out
Cons: Navigation menus, Rigid touch screen, no video playlists, no volume control button

Overall Rating: 4/5
Quality of sound: 4.5/5
Quality of video: 4/5
Touch screen: 3/5
Menu navigation: 3/5

Detailed review:

I have been using Creative Zen X-Fi2 for more than 2 months now. I listen at least 1-2 hours daily while commuting and whenever I get bored.

Sound quality:
I bought this after months of research on various personal media players (PMP) in the market and was not disappointed with the sound quality. I have used Sansa Fuze, Apple iPod Nano and Creative Zen for considerable period. In addition to these players, I listened to songs a few times on Apple iPhone, iTouch Classic, Sony S-series player, Microsoft Zune and Nokia N-series. I would rate Creative Zen on par with my Nokia Ngage 3300 series phone. The high-quality EP-630 earphones too make a difference. And the X-Fi feature rocks!

Video quality:
Although the player is supposed to support MP4, I could play only WMV. The default supplied software is useless not only for video conversion, but for everything, including song/video management. I use RealPlayer's free media converter in Windows Vista. This is the best I found in my online research. I wish they release a version soon for Ubuntu.

Touch screen:
The touch screen was initially rigid, but the calibration had improved considerably since two firmware updates by the Creative. I do not face any issue, though I would not compare with iphone. I think most of the disgruntled users were using their thumbs as the general practice for most of the handheld devices. Try using index finger - it's a lot better.

Menu navigation:
Creative team should immediately pay attention to the menus. For performing a simple task of turn up/down volume, one has to first press home/power button, unlock the screen by dragging the bubble lock out of the screen, either wait for the song to appear afer few seconds or navigate to Music -> Now Playing, touch volume icon, then slide the bar up/down. The player surely does miss the special volume button that a normal Zen has.

Other features:

Video out: Though I got the audio-out working without issues, I failed to get the video-out to an LCD TV with an AV cable.
RSS feeds: Forget about this. This was one of the driving forces to buy this product - I dreamt of synchronizing my player every morning and read the feeds on the train to work. Phew! It takes at least an hour to sync 10 feeds and it strips the whole format so that it would be like reading a raw text file on Notepad.

Random play: The random algorithm needs some tweaking - For me it always repeats the 20 each from the top and bottom and a few from middle, though I have more than 800 songs on my playlist and I choose "Shuffle without repeat".

Applications: This is one of the exciting things about this player - they provide a development kit using which interested developers can create applications. The language used is Lua, which is also used by Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom and World of Warcraft. By default, Creative supplies Sudoku and Pushbox games.

I recommend Creative Zen X-Fi2 for pristine music listening experience, not thinking about the touch-screen, applications and RSS packages. Without this extra baggage and forgetting X-Fi crystallizer, Creative Zen is a cheaper alternative. People looking for a gadget as multi-purpose can go for Apple products or other options.

Creative Zen X-Fi2

2010-05-31T10:09:00.002+05:30

Creative Zen X-Fi2 - I finally owned one after researching and waiting for 6 months.

This is the 4th media player I have got - previously owning Sansa Fuze, Apple iPod Nano and Creative Zen. In addition to these players, I listened to songs a few times on Apple iPhone, iTouch Classic, Sony S-series player, Microsoft Zune and Nokia N-series, etc. With all this experience, I would rate Creative Zen X-Fi2, the second on the list of music players I have listened. I said the second because the first is my Nokia 3300 Ngage series phone.

To begin, the first time I listened to the music was in late 80's and early 90's when my mom used to play old Telugu and Hindi songs on the Philips radio. Those were the golden days, which used to start with Vandemataram song @5.55 AM on Akashvani (AIR) followed by P.Suseela's golden voice on Aaraadhana & Bhaktiranjani and then, Janaranjani from 8.15 AM. I got introduced to Ghantasala, Janaki, SPB, Chitra and Ilayaraja on these programs.

Once dad brought Weston audio tape recorder from grandpa's house to get it repaired - on which, brother and I would play some random songs for some period. Later, we bought a Philips 2-in-1 and dad maintained a good collection of B&W songs from 50's to 70's and classical carnatic music. At that time, dad was learning flute and I came to identify some carnatic ragas.

Occasionally, we used to listen to songs on 2-in-1 stereo at relative places during vacation. My cousin and uncle used to have large collection of Ilayaraja and Rahman songs, where I came to know about 80's and 90's music.

An AIWA walkman bought by bro and Videocon Bazooka (woofer) TV brought a new dimension to my music listening on entering the youth. The walkman was the first entity that introduced me to the pleasure of listening on ear-phones and the Bazooka told me about the bass and how to play aloud the beat in the songs. I started listening and viewing private Hindi pop albums from the likes of Strings, Aryan brothers, Colonial cousins on MTV, ATN, V and SS Music(Southern Spice) channels.

Music listening had become a serious hobby and a habit when dad bought me a PC during engineering. I bought a Frontec headphone at that time and collected lot of albums, especially those composed by Ilayaraja and Rahman. I used to play around the presets in Winamp and the playlists being repeated till late night.

The first mobile I bought on joining job, Nokia 2300, was the best in low-budget (< 5K INR) phones to play FM in stereo.
When it was stolen, I decided to buy an MP3-enabled phone - I checked various models on Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG, out of which, I chose an INR 8K priced Nokia 3300, that was an early model of Ngage series. That was one of my best decisions in purchasing. It was a "Made in Finland" piece, supposed to be the best and the original unlike the widely available Chinese-made Nokia phones.

I would rate this phone as the best, over the ipods and zens. I still have this phone with me.

When I came to US on office project work, I did some research on music players and finally bought Creative Zen 4 GB player. I have also bought Apple iPod Nano curious to know about the iPods. Out of these two, I rate the Zen higher, not only on the basis of ease of use without the headache of iTunes, but also for the sound quality. I feel ipods are somewhat overrated and hyped comparing to other players. I also bought Sansa Fuze player to gift and it also sounded good.

I also bought a Plantronic Gamecom 777 headphone with $90, that plays 5.1 Dolby sound. My roommates were shocked with the price, but I decided to buy thinking it was a once-in-a-lifetime decision and I was not wrong, when I started listening to songs and watching movies with that.

After coming to US again, I decided to buy a media player again and started my research again. The news that Creative Zen introduced the new touch-screen X-Fi2 player, but I was taken aback by the high price, 130$ for 8-GB, when it was a simple player without any apps, unlike iTouch. In the mean time, I searched for other players, waiting for the right deal. I ordered V-Touch player for 50$ twice, but luckily/unluckily those were missed in post. In the mean time, Creative release apps and sdk for Zen X-Fi2 and the price came down by 20$ inspiring me to order Zen X-Fi2.

I am still not fully using the player - but will soon put a detailed review.

S.Janaki for Rahmaan tunes

2010-05-14T08:19:00.000+05:30

Last week, on Ms.S.Janaki's 73rd birthday, a lot of Telugu TV channels telecasted special programs. Though, I was happy that the channels remembered the event, the heartening thing was that almost all programs defined her highlights of career as from MLA(1975) movie to Kshatriya Putrudu(Devar Magan, 1992). How could they forget the exhilerating combination of S.Janaki - A.R.Rahman. Anyway, it is too much to expect from TV channels.

So, I thought to introduce/remind those golden songs in this post. Rahman is my second favorite music director after Ilayaraja. Though she had sung very few songs for Rahman, each one of them is a gem, equivalent to her old hits. Although I listened to versions by other singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Chitra in Hindi/Tamil for some of these songs, they couldn't mesmerize me like Janaki's voice (though my intention is not to compare the legends).

Given below are the Janaki's hits for Rahman's compositions -

1. Sakhi (Alai Paayuthe/Saathiyaa) : September maasam -

Asha Bhonsle sang the Tamil version.

(Links are for Telugu versions unless specified otherwise)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLW8fBB3Sik

2. Oke okkadu (Mudalvaan/Naayak) : magadheera magadheeraa-

Sankar Mahadeavan couldn't match her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RruzmTerWyU

3. Jodi (Prasanth-Simran Tamil movie): Kadile kaalame jeevitam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKevfau8PIM

4.Uyire (Tamil) (DilSe - Hindi): nenjanile

Hindi version, Jiya jale (DilSe) was by Lata and Telugu version, "Innallilaa" (Prematho) was by Chitra. But, I like the Tamil version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sImEWzTkJ3U

5. Premikudu (Kaadalan- Humse hein muqabla): Erraani kurradanni gopaalaa -

She sang Tamil and Hindi versions too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xxsj9DxXtU

6. Gentleman (Gentleman- THE GENTLEMAN) : Kontedanni kattuko

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OyjVWF2uLU

7. Palnati pourusham - Bandenaka bandi katti

Vandemataram Srinivas lent the male voice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvT9vE-th80

8.Super Police - Pakka gentlemanni

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irw6X94O4ow

9. Rangeelaa (Tamil) taniyea taniyea -

Tanhaa tanhaa by Asha Bhonsle in Hindi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIlvqRwsEAw

10.Sangamam (Tamil): Maargazhi tingal allava -

This is my pick of this list

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt4DS0U0Ldo

11. Alli arjunaa(Tamil): Endan nenjil -

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4961339622680971991#

12. Udaya (Tamil): Anjanam -

I heard three languages (Telugu/Kannada/Tamil) in this song

http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/moviedetail.asp?mid=t0000473

Thirst for knowledge

2010-03-04T05:33:00.006+05:30

I had written the below post in 2008 on my organization internal blogs, which I had been resisting to post on internet. Finally, I decided to post this, after getting ready to face any reaction from my father.

A majority section of mid twenties Indian IT junta feel this. They are under graduates who jump into a job almost directly from college campus. Then, they start feeling they should have studied more – prepare for CAT, GMAT and others.

Reason can be anything – money/career/growth – for some, it is knowledge.

But, most of them fail to make any progress – again due to many reasons/factors – The most common reply is lack of time.

I'm one of these.
I always liked to do a PG through correspondence even though my well-wishers advise me to take an MBA for better career. But, I haven’t taken a step – largely due to lack of time (Standard reply – but for me it’s valid to an extent – Why should I always be in projects where I have to slog at least 14 hours a day) and importantly due to the confusion regarding my onsite trip - I don’t want to stop in middle.

But, as a son of my father – I should not say this.

Why? You should read my father’s visiting card or name plate

Y.B.R, M.A(History), M.A.(English Lit.), L.L.B, B.Com, D.B.M, D.P.M.,D.I.M, A.D.I.M, C.A.I.I.B

Believe it or not! He is currently writing betterment examinations for his M.A.(English Lit.), unsatisfied with his results!

In addition to the above, he has a PGDCA, certificate in COBOL (got in 1987).
He is an expert in Foxpro programming and BankMaster (application still used in SBI and I believe in many nationalized banks).

He laid his hands on VB, HTML, javascript as well.

He didn’t leave Blogspace as well. He maintains around 20 blogs on Blogspot covering varied subjects like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vivekananda, Indian Economics, India current affairs, US current affairs, Ayurveda etc. He has blogs on some other sites like writers.com, etc., but I don’t remember their names.

He has learnt flute (there are around 20 in my home now), sitar (still present), tabala, harmonium and to some extent violin (still present).

I am ashamed to tell this but, on more than one occasion – one can find me glued to TV watching some junk and my father studying in the first floor.

Then, how can I say I don’t have time! Yes, I don’t have. I have to go back and get ready for a client meeting.

But, I still have this dream – my kids should admire me more for a person I am than due to the natural liking for a relationship – just like I do at my father.

Ah! I forgot - For people wondering what some of the initials are -
L.L.B - Law
D.B.M - Diploma in Business Management
D.P.M.- Diploma in Personnel Management
D.I.M.- Diploma in Management
A.D.I.M. - Advanced Diploma in Management
C.A.I.I.B. - Certificate in Accounting and I(don't know) Instituional Banking.

p.s.: My father's blog profile

p.s. 2: He was not a graduate when he started his first job.

IPL in the North-East

2010-02-23T09:47:00.000+05:30

Team for the North East in IPL-4 - what a novel idea Mr. Anil Athale has suggested. Yes, why not a team, for example, Guwahati Gladiators?

True that there are some logistic constraints, but I do not think it is difficult.

Oh no! Just after I wrote this, I came across the news that Mr. Modi wants to limit the number of teams to 10 – He should get away with one of Ahmedabad or other tier-II cities and go to Guwahati.

In case, rediff site is blocked in your company, here are some points from http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/22/colonel-anil-athale-include-north-east-indian-premier-league-ipl.htm -

Dear Mr Lalit Modi ,
I am a great admirer of you and the way you have put the Indian Premier League on the top rung of world sporting events. The carping critics, and there are many, are shocked that cricketers are being offered huge monetary incentives or are 'bought' and 'sold'. We Indians are hypocrites when it comes to money matters. Laxmi is the most favoured deity in all households and yet we claim to not want her.
…
I spent good month in the north-eastern states last year, meeting a cross section of people. The dominant impression was that the people of the north-east are yearning to join the national mainstream. Any one who has travelled to those parts of our country will testify to the fact that the people of north-east are some of the friendliest.
Insurgency is long over there and in many respects, Kohima or Aizwal are far more peaceful and safer than Delhi , Hyderabad or Pune. To illustrate the sea change in the area, one instance sticks in mind. Captain Neikezhakuo Kenguriise, who hailed from Kohima in Nagaland, was awarded Mahavir Chakra during the Kargil border conflict. Captain Neikezhakuo led his platoon to Tololing ridgeline overlooking an important army formation, ejected Pakistani regulars and re-captured the ridgeline in a five-day-long battle. But he lost his life in mortar shelling on June 18, 1999. When his last rites took place in Kohima, virtually the entire town turned up. Many newspapers commented that more people turned up for his funeral than even for the last journey of the legendary Naga leader Z A Phizo.
Unfortunately such is the ignorance of mainstream media and rest of the country that these landmark events are seldom noted or reported. You, Mr Modi have the chance to correct this. Why can't the north-east have a team in IPL-4? Why can't we have some IPL matches played at Kohima, Imphal, Aizwal, Dibrugarh and Tezpur besides Guwahati. All these places are connected by air and I am sure the state governments will be more than willing to build stadia. The media exposure that the IPL will give to these beautiful places and people will boost tourism, economy and promote national integration.
Currently many businessmen pay hefty sums to insurgents in the noth-east. Surely they can spare some of it to sponsor a cricket team! Also some time ago the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the International Cricket Council talked of spreading cricket to China.
Then why not to our own north-east? Given the sterling sportspersons that these areas have produced I am sure the next Sachin Tendulkar could well be from Manipur!
As to the so called insurgency in the north-east, a ruling party politician had once confided to me that the north-east states themselves make sure that there is some insurgency is kept on otherwise as he said, "Delhi will forget that the north-east ever exits!" Sad but true.
Mr Modi, here is your chance to make a lasting contribution to nation building that would be remembered by posterity.
…
I know it is a daunting task to plan for this at short notice, but if you could do the miracle of shifting the IPL -2 to South Africa last year at short notice, surely you can do this!
Yours sincerely
Anil Athale
Colonel Anil Athale (retired) is Chhatrapati Shivaji Fellow studying internal security.

Save Telugu

2010-02-22T05:15:00.005+05:30

This topic has been long pending in my mind, but the specialty of today, Feb 21, reminded me that it would be the right time. Today is International Mother Language Day

The other day, while I was in a call, my mother asked me, “Disappoint ayyava?” - though I was a bit disappointed, I was rather surprised with the question. Definitely, my mother and father are the last ones from whom I hear Telgish - bring back the question,how much Telugu the current conversational Telugu contains.

On the other hand, every Telugu bloggeri is trying to invent Telugu alternative words or make exact Telugu translation to replace some latest terms to revive their mother tongue – bloggari (blogger), antherjalamu (internet), jalamu(net), salegudu (web), nesarlu (thanks), tapaa (blog post) – to name a few. Even, there are many online forums where these mother language lovers fight over what should be the perfect Telugu term for an internet generation word.

But, I think the safeguard/revival of the language should be taken priority over trying to add new words to the dictionary. I have no reservations using the terms blogger and internet, just like train and calculator than their respective innovations, Dhumasakatam and Ganana yantram. New words from not only English, but also any language can be invited into Telugu in the same way as some Telugu words have made to English, Hindi, Tamil and others.

The terms Marchaavaa? vs Change chesava?, Rasaavaa? vs Write chesava?, Pilichava vs Call chesava, Pampinchava vs Send chesava, Veltunnava vs Goingaa, Vastunnava vs Comingaa, Raava? vs Not comingaaa - it is disappointing to say this, but the second terms are widely used compared to the former ones. And, the worst thing is, people make a mockery of someone who says Adi marchaava? instead of You changed thattaah?.

Sadly, this situation (not the mockery part) is not only in Telugu, but for every Indian language. As far as I know the Tamizh are exceptions to some extent, however the effect is slowly reaching their lands – I have been hearing Try panninga, Change panninga often these days(not sure panninga is exact word).

So, I request everyone – when you speak in your mother language, try to speak completely in your language. No I late ho gaya and nenu today send chesta, please!

Please try to do your part to ensure Telugu (or your language) does not join Boro and Boa sooner or later.

Excerpt from the above THE HINDU link (http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article100977.ece):

Two unique languages disappear with death of last speakers -
When Boro died on Strait Island last November, Boa lost a friend. The world lost a language.
Last week, Boa also died. Another language died with her.
The death of these last surviving speakers of two Great Andamanese languages, Khora and Bo, has resulted in the extermination of their unique tribes on the islands.

Guntur Bomb

2010-02-12T09:24:00.001+05:30

I come from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Apart from education and rowdies, this place is very famous for hot cuisine - Guntur chilli, Guntur gongura, Guntur avakai – those names are enough to ooze saliva in mouth.

Guntur mirchi bajji with green chilli chutney – it will top the world's hottest food menu. And, the hottest mirchi bajjis in the Guntur city are made at our street – Donka Road.

On casual browsing, when I stumbled across a post on Guntur Mirchi in a national magazine, The Outlook, it brought back some memories.

When I was 6 or 7, my uncle (father's younger brother) took us to the Bajji bandi for the first time to return the favors my brother and I did to him at our shop.

From that day, mirchi bajji has become part of my life – it is our favorite pastime. Bajji party is the standard treats for every occasion. I have friends who take the bajjis daily.

The important fact is that I have never heard of stomach ulcers and gastric complaints from any localite I know.

I miss the Guntur Donka Road mirchi bajji badly :-(

Some excerpts from the Outlook article (source:http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?233612) -

You wonder what Guntur would be like without its chillies.

Guntur's chilli trade is second only to Mexico's in the world; a bad season shakes the city to its very hub.

This, though, is but a momentary lapse, as Srinivas Rao will tell you. This Gunturian has been wheeling his cart to Donka Road Crossing punctually at 7 every evening for the last 22 years, dishing out over 5,000 plump, green chillies a day dipped in besan and deep-fried in a kadai the size of a small lotus pond to his enthusiastic clientele. His business, Rao informs us in between skimming the chillies out of the blubbering oil, is booming as never before. No, Guntur can't do without its mirch masala.

Are you still wondering about the title, Guntur Bomb – it is the common name for our own Guntur mirchi bajji. Brahmanandam makes a reference to Guntur Bomb in Chiranjeevi's Chudalani Vundi movie.

Web Marketing

2010-01-25T10:20:00.000+05:30

These are my thoughts after reading a blog-friend, Veera’s post on his external site about adsense .

Google Adsense and other similar intelligent internet advertising programs process and analyze the content of the webpage being displayed and generate the ads to be displayed. But, as Veera pointed out, readers who know about Adsense do not click on these ads. We do everything to avoid ads - keeping pop-up blockers.

I feel that the web marketing still has a large potential to expand. The companies can tie up with major web-sites and blog sites of popular personalities from films and sportspersons. At present, as far as I know, the films deal only with internet media partnerships and brand tie-ups. The internet media partnership only looks into the tie-up between producer and an internet portal like sify.com or bigadda.com for the film’s promotion. Similarly, the brand tie-ups involve interleaving promotion of a market brand within the script of a movie – for example, Aamir Khan drinking Coca Cola throughout a movie.

But, how does it look if there is a full-size image of Aamir Khan drinking a Coca Cola as a permanent left side banner on his web-site (www.aamirkhan.com). Likewise, a thumbnail picture of Coke bottle could be put at the start of each paragraph on the article, like a bullet. The person reading the blog may feel to drink the coke after visiting the site. This is not as obtrusive as pop-ups and user need not click on anything. The company can pay the site owner based on the number of web-site hits and not on ad-clicks.

If the soft drink companies could reach out marriage invitational flexi-boards in remote villages, why they are ignoring such popular spaces on the internet for ads.

Now another question that may arise is how does such strategy help normal bloggers like me, who are not stars but starters who have to build up viewership. The companies can tie-up with blog sites like blogger and wordpress to insert their advertisements in blog templates and let the blogger choose one or more of the companies to display on his/her blog. The blogger can paid based on the count of web-site hits or trackbacks and the blog site can charge the company either based on the number of bloggers or a fixed contract value.

Any blogger will be happy to put the company logos and product ads of his/her liking than to depend on some randomly-generated ad, which on most of occasions is totally unrelated to the blog content or to the readers.

I am not sure if such marketing strategy is already in place, at least I do not see it. Perhaps, it may not be popular or I might not have observed carefully. If such idea is not in place, I believe this idea is worth to be evaluated by the companies.

Jyoti Basu and Jyothi Basu

2010-01-20T07:22:00.000+05:30

One of my favorite leaders, Jyoti Basu passed away. The news were more disappointing to me because I was his namesake, though I spell it with an "h" - I was named after him.

How can I forget those moments and barrage of questions whenever my name pops up - in schools, colleges and interviews - an easy and dependable ice-breaker. "Interesting name", "How did you get this name?", "Are you from Bengal?", "Are you communists?", etc.

With such short public memory, rarely I would get this chance going forward.

However Jyoti Basu was my favorite for better reasons than name - Ruling a state 24 years continuously in democratic setup was a great achievement, and that being done by a Communist added more to that (though there we`re some different views about the goondaism).

That 'historical blunder', anyone remember it - what would have happened if he became PM instead of Deve Gowda. Certainly better [if not for Jyoti Basu, for communist rule :-) ]

Henin's back

2010-01-10T06:59:00.001+05:30

Look who's creating latest waves in Women Tennis - Justin Henin has almost made a dream comeback. I think I should think twice before I put my philosophies :-)

She retired in May 2008 - and participated in 2 reality shows since then.

I think true champions cannot sit idle - not an iota of difference for this blogger who has not stepped out of the apartment for 24+ hours now, just eating and browsing.

Gridview and extra Div

2009-09-15T22:26:00.003+05:30

Disclaimer: This post is to share info for people working on ASP.Net. There is no intention to defame or pass comments/remarks or criticize any person or organization.

MicroSoft did it again!

I have code working witin ASP-HTML-Javascript that dynamically shows a vertical scrollbar when the no. of rows exceed a configurable value.

<body onload=fnSetTableHeigh() >
<div>
<table id=tblDetails >
<--- Table rows >
</table>
</div>
</body>

This has been working without any issues in my ASP. Recently, I have added a new ASPX web page to the ASP.Net section of our application.

So, a GridView control is defined to display the data and I have used the same concept. GridView control should render a HTML table and so I enclosed it in a DIV expecting it to work –

<div id=divDetails>
<asp:GridView id=gvDetails & gt;
…
</asp:GridView>
</div>

But, it was not working. I thought it was an issue with my JS and tried to fix that function. No progress. Then, I tried to adjust various attributes of the gridview and div controls – but in vain.

After struggling for 2 hours, somehow I thought I should see what was getting rendered actually. To my horror, gridview is rendering extra div; The rendered code was –

<div id=divDetails>
<div>
<table id=tblDetails >
<--- Table rows >
</table>
</div>
</div>

This was OK until I saw the response on the site when this bug had been reported in 2006! They did not bother to fix this even in VS 2008, ASP.Net 3.5.

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=104139

For umpteenth time, I thought of banging my head for choosing MS technologies as my stream.

Friendly talk

2009-07-28T23:34:00.001+05:30

I have been taking lunch alone these days and feeling alone in the canteen. The other day, while I was taking lunch alone, I was thinking – “ There were many people like me – just come, take food and leave. Why don’t they try to talk to the one sitting opposite or at least just say a friend ‘Hi!’”. Suddenly, a person came and queried whether the seat opposite was available. I nodded affirmative. Then he said a “hi” and introduced himself. We had a good conversation, though I was irritated one or two times for things too personal to be asked and to be disclosed to a stranger.

I have seen this trend commonly in IT people. If you see a train, bus, railway station or any common place, Indians have a common tendency to start a conversation with a complete stranger and make a friendly chat, make the boring waiting or traveling time tick on quickly. But, IT junta cannot come out so quickly.

I think there is nothing wrong in starting a friendly chat or at least give a smile to the person sitting opposite in food court, gym or any other place in the campus, of course, first checking the mood of the other person :)

Challenging Job?

2009-06-26T00:13:00.005+05:30

Are you feeling at the end of the day that you have the toughest and the most challenging job in the world? Nothing is tougher. Check out what this person was doing for his living -

"Adhi Naaku ivvara"

2009-06-17T00:13:00.000+05:30

Recently, I have been teaching Telugu to my roommate and I found out this.
Some words can be interpreted in different ways based on the tone of the speaker.
Consider the following sentence. This can be interpreted in 3 different ways (may be more) -
"Adhi naaku ivvara!"

1. "Adhi naaku ivvara!" - Demand - "Hey! Give that to me" - Ex: A close friend/brother/sister demanding something - "Araye! Aa keys ivvara!". - This is a transformation of ivvu+ra.

2. "Adhi naaku ivvara?" - Question (especially out of concern) - "Hey, won't they give that to me?" - Ex: If something is being given to everyone around, but not to the person, he can ask, "won't they give that to me/us" - This is a negative question.

3."Adhi naaku ivvara!" - Request (with respect) - "Could you please give that to me?" - Alternative words are "Isthaarooo/ivvaroo/isthaara/ivvandi"
Note: The Telugu in the above instance is the usage Telugu of Guntur-Krishna that is commonly used in movies. People from other areas can and most of the times will use different sentences.

Controlling emotions

2009-06-15T22:48:00.001+05:30

Right from the day he entered the international cricket, I never liked Dhoni, the cricketer – primarily due to his below par wicket keeping and lately due to the hype and his attempts to hog limelight ignoring the likes of Sachin and Dravid.

Whoever reads this may have a first thought to kill/bash me or rate me a cynic or fool or something else, but I openly supported WI and England in the last two matches and the moment India lost, I was celebrating causing irritation to my roomie and my neighbors.

However, I have to salute the way Dhoni handled the post-match conversation – controlling emotions and speaking with a smile. I like Dhoni the person, as seen on TV during matches and interviews - there are some qualities I would like to learn from him, the above scenario being the one – "Talking without showing any trace of actual state of mind in face or tone".

Kudos to Dhoni.

If interested, please visit my previous posts on emotions.

Faceless Citizens

2008-11-24T08:58:00.002+05:30

The people who pay the price for changes in the economy are those in the informal sector like street vendors, yet their stories never make it to the front pages.

Whenever I happen to go to a mall to accompany someone, I end up buying something. But, while buying a lot of thoughts come into my mind - I do not like this mall culture.

I came across a thoughtful article published in THE HINDU, Sunday Magazine on November 16, 2008.

Some excerpts:

Our friendly neighbourhood vegetable vendor has disappeared. Without a trace. No one is able to tell me what happened to him. I ask the man who sells bananas. He also comes every day by taxi with a basket load of bananas. In a few hours, his basket is empty. But he doesn’t know what happened to the vegetable vendor.

Another reason could be economic. A new retail store has opened in the area selling fresh vegetables at marginally lower prices than what the vegetable vendor charged. So, even though his vegetables were decidedly fresher than those sold in the store, and people had an old relationship with him, the majority graduated to the novelty of going to the store and buying vegetables wrapped in plastic.

I narrate this story, which will have echoes in most other cities across India, because it tells us of the largest number of people who are losing jobs and livelihood. The media runs front page stories when airlines staff are laid off. We hear about redundancies in the private sector.

Yet, these people remain invisible. Economic problems always mean stock exchange news, or news of some big factories closing down or stopping production for a few days. But what will happen to people who did not have security in their employment, could never dream of a salaried job, but survived nonetheless on their wits and by providing a much needed service? Who is counting these losses? Is anyone even bothered?

Rahul's Appraisal Time

2008-11-06T09:05:00.005+05:30

PM:
Hey Rahul! I have just reviewed your tasks. I have also taken inputs from your old PL, new PL, consultant reports and analyzed your performance measures. Your performance does not meet the expectations for fourth consecutive cycle. What has happened to you these days? Your skills appear to be diminishing, the defect injection rate is continuously rising and you are not productive enough. You have only one ‘A’ and 3 ‘B+’ in the last 3 cycles. We have already given a pink slip to the other underperforming Sourav; he will be leaving after the completion of current release.

You were the lead developer for a long time, was a successful module leader too. When there was an ego conflict between the then PL and TA, we made you the PL. You had a limited success and you relinquished it saying, you wanted to concentrate on coding and that you can happily work under a PL junior to you. But, your skills have been on a declining trend, instead of adding new ones.

SE: Kris, you know, I am out of form. You know, class is permanent and you know, how good I am. My analytical skills are still good and I am coding well in phases. Constant pressure from consultants’ reports on the senior’s performances in the project is affecting our output. I am still contributing to the tasks.

PM:
Your time is running out quickly. The young and successful PL, Mahendra had already got you replaced with freshers in the other two fast track sub-projects. You have been given chances till now in this project because your previous achievements speak for you and Anil, the PL, was your mate. But with this project also going into Mahendra’s hands, we cannot do much if he asks to replace you. As it is his responsibility to deliver, we do not have much option, but give me the resources he wants.
If you do not exceed the expectations in the last stage of this release and the next release, I and the consultant group cannot do much. You should score an ‘A’ this cycle to get Grade 3 and that can keep you continue for the next cycle. You have to perform way beyond everyone’s expectations, meet your previous high standards. You know that there are many freshers waiting to move from sub-projects to this main project. I would not want the new PL to throw you away from the project in a demeaning manner. I know you have contributed a lot to this project, but the customers are asking for fresh blood in the project for a change. So, keep performing. All the Best!

p.s: I am not good at writing humor. I hope you have understood what I meant to say.

Sleeping Rough

2008-11-04T09:09:00.000+05:30

I read ‘Coolie’, authored by one of the early Indian English writer who made it big, Sri Mulk Raj Anand. It is the journey of an orphan boy, staged in the British Raj, who comes from a remote hill village to work as a servant, works at various places before moving to Mumbai to join in a cotton mill and finally dies of some disease.

Though it is a master-piece, I felt that it is a bit exaggerated and dramatized for the English (read the British) audience.

I just remember that I have not started this writing for a literary review, neither I am equipped to review book of such standard. I read an article today, which immediately reminded this book.

Though I did not like the book completely, I was completely moved by the life of Munno (the boy) in Bombay (now Mumbai) – sleeping on pavements, then in a medical shop, sharing a hut with another big family and so on. While it was just fiction, the article I read on THE HINDU (English newspaper) Sunday magazine, it shook me for quite some time.

The harsh reality is that there are some things that have not changed since British Raj, after 61 years of independence, though I should admit that the Governments and NGOs are trying to do their part (read article). Yes, India is shining, if we read that the to-be world’s expensive home is being built in the same Mumbai.

A point to note is that most of the people surveyed do not appear to be beggars, but laborers who cannot afford the rent of a hut.

Some excerpts from THE HINDU article –
(Full article: http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/11/02/stories/2008110250050300.htm)

The dominant feature of homelessness is “sleeping rough”, being forced to sleep without the protection of walls and a roof, battling the excesses of the seasons, insecurity and loneliness. Homeless respondents in all cities agreed that the most trying and disagreeable season for homeless people were the monsoons, closely followed by the winters.

In Delhi, for over a hundred thousand homeless people, the Delhi government runs over 14 night shelters, with a maximum capacity of 2,937 people. In other words, night shelters provide a roof for not more than three per cent of all homeless people in the city. There are none for women, or migrant families. The other cities lack even these, although NGOs extend night shelters to a small number of homeless people mainly in Patna. Of the government shelters, the largest in the nation’s capital is the one near the Old Delhi Railway Station. It was the first night shelter opened by the government in 1964, and in winter and the rains, its four large halls are crowded well beyond its official capacity of 514 persons. The facilities are elementary. For a fee of Rs. 6 a night, bare mats are spread out on the floors in each of the shelters on which men sleep, body pressed against body. Ragged blankets are provided for the winter, and there are common toilets and bathing places, erratically cleaned but always in demand. Outside in the walled city, private contractors called thijawalahs rent out quilts and plastic sheets for Rs. 5 a night to homeless sleepers. Iron cots are lined up in the corridors outside shops, for a rent of Rs. 15 per night.

The respondents to our survey said what disturbed their sleep most were the police (17 per cent), mosquitoes (16 per cent), the noise (12 per cent), the weather and health problems (9 per cent each). In Delhi, police brutality figured highest at 32 per cent for disturbing homeless people at night.

Is Dravid really out of form?

2008-10-29T07:59:00.007+05:30

After tired of reading all this exaggerated media stories and equally emotional bloggers and readers commenting on various sites with respect to the so called ‘seniors’ and FabFour of the Indian cricket team, I started doubting what is wrong with one of my favorite players, Rahul Dravid and why people are so interested to put a dangling axe on his neck (position in Indian Test team).

Before readers make a quick assumption that this is an attempt by a blind follower to glorify his player’s achievement although the truth is that there are none; I am not a self-proclaimed fan of any cricketer or sports star or a movie star (I was never involved in any heated arguments to justify a third person I never know in person), but I admit that I admire a small group of sports personalities that includes Dravid.

Coming to the point, the media and the people believe that stats give a clear picture of how bad or good a cricketer is. So, the immediate weapon they have is Dravid’s poor running since 2007. I made a quick query on the statsguru provided by Cricinfo website for matches starting after 1 Jan 2007 and until Mohali test and the complaints appeared to be true.
Mat Inns NO Runs Ave BF SR 100 50
21 39 4 1243 35.51 3058 40.64 2 7

It should be accepted that this is an average performance for a cricketer of such high quality.

But, wait a second before jumping into conclusions. As they stats do not always tell the truth and we can tweak them the way we like to win our argument. I have felt that the actual match situation should be considered before rating a player. So, I have gone though innings by innings performance of the above 39 innings.

- 22 innings were scores below 30.
- 4 of these 22 were not outs (1 retired hurt, 1 in successful chase in Kanpur)
- 18 innings of < 30 out of 39 : almost 45% is not acceptable
- In 5 tests out of 21, he did not cross 30. In Melbourne, he went as opener; Kanpur was a dustbowl; in Colombo, he got one of the balls of century in first innings.

He got some rough decisions, frequent stunners (check inning-wise analysis at the end) and sometimes he threw away his wicket in his mid-thirties that was uncharacteristic of him. Being out of ODI team did not help much either going to first match of the series without decent match practice.

Therefore, I believe he is not really out of form and his reflexes are not lost, though he is not batting as fluently as he did in the golden era of first half of this decade. I wish he comes back with a style.

This whole exercise is not to prove something about one of my favorite players, but for the fear of losing the privilege of enjoying the elegant batting for a few more months, if not years.

A small analysis of his failures innings by innings –

Runs	Mins	BF	Opposition	Ground	Date	Comments
29	63	58	v South Africa	Cape Town	2-Jan-07	Decent outing
47	204	134	v South Africa	Cape Town	2-Jan-07
2	19	11	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (CDS)	18-May-07	Out to a stunning catch when India were trying to put quick runs on board - 100/6 out of 24
61	154	99	v Bangladesh	Chittagong (CDS)	18-May-07
129	215	176	v Bangladesh	Dhaka (SBNS)	25-May-07
2	15	12	v England	Lord's	19-Jul-07
9	18	12	v England	Lord's	19-Jul-07
37	136	94	v England	Nottingham	27-Jul-07
11*	45	28	v England	Nottingham	27-Jul-07
12	140	96	v England	The Oval	9-Aug-07	This was the worst innings I saw him playing
55	131	101	v England	The Oval	9-Aug-07
34	141	96	v Pakistan	Delhi	22-Nov-07	Everyone remembers this - Shoaib Akhtar to Dravid, OUT, outstanding ball, he's cleaned up him and Pakistan love it.
38	108	73	v Pakistan	Delhi	22-Nov-07	Sohail Tanvir to Dravid, OUT, bowled by a beauty!.
50	170	118	v Pakistan	Kolkata	30-Nov-07
8*	20	13	v Pakistan	Kolkata	30-Nov-07
19	45	28	v Pakistan	Bangalore	8-Dec-07
42	211	121	v Pakistan	Bangalore	8-Dec-07
5	103	66	v Australia	Melbourne	26-Dec-07	Once again proving his unselfishness, he agreed to open to accommodate Yuvraj. Though, out of form and unable to score, he was there for 21 overs - I would say that very few Indian openers did that post Gavaskar in Australia.
16	154	114	v Australia	Melbourne	26-Dec-07	100+ balls
38	152	103	v Australia	Sydney	2-Jan-08
53	240	160	v Australia	Sydney	2-Jan-08
3	5	5	v Australia	Perth	16-Jan-08
93	278	183	v Australia	Perth	16-Jan-08
18	73	55	v Australia	Adelaide	24-Jan-08
11*	98	64	v Australia	Adelaide	24-Jan-08	Retired hurt
111	396	291	v South Africa	Chennai	26-Mar-08
3	51	26	v South Africa	Ahmedabad	3-Apr-08	Steyn to Dravid, OUT, superb delivery and India are staring down the barrel here!
17	55	41	v South Africa	Ahmedabad	3-Apr-08
29	151	106	v South Africa	Kanpur	11-Apr-08	Morkel to Dravid, OUT, caught! That's a vicious ball and Dravid is hurt as well, a good length ball pitches outside off stump and rears up sharply at Dravid who comes half forward and tries to defend, the ball angles into the right-hander and the bounce is so steep that the ball smashes into Dravid's glove and lobs up to de Villiers at gully, Dravid is in pain as he walks off the ground
18*	36	29	v South Africa	Kanpur	11-Apr-08	18 not out while chasing 73 on a dust bowl
10	41	30	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	23-Jul-08	This is one of the balls of century! Nothing much to do. Mendis to Dravid, OUT, What a beauty from Mendis! His first Test wicket. Rahul Dravid is beaten all hands up. The flicker, the carrom ball does the trick. It landed on the middle stump, a unsure Dravid was on the back foot and it cut away quickly towards the off stump, past the poke and crashed into the top of the off stump. Dravid is stunned, looks back to confirm what his ears told him. The death rattle. The middle-finger assassin is on the prowl at SSC. R Dravid b Mendis 14 (55m 35b 2x4
14	55	35	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	23-Jul-08
2	7	6	v Sri Lanka	Galle	31-Jul-08	This was not out as per rule - Mendis to Dravid, OUT, Another failure for Dravid. The wall is cracking from side to side. It was the quickish off break, Dravid was on the front foot, looking to defend. The ball turned from outside off stump, collided with the inside edge and went to short leg who juggled with it before holding on. Two quick wickets. Mendis leads Sri Lankan fight back. Wonderful Test match. Hold on, some drama regarding Dravid's dismissal. The ball popped off the short-leg fielder, hit the right shoulder and then rebounded off the helmet grill before he caught it again. LAW 32 (Caught) - Section 3 e fair catch -A catch shall be considered to have been fairly made if a fielder catches the ball after it has touched an umpire, another fielder or the other batsman. However, it is not a fair catch if the ball has touched a protective helmet worn by a fielder, although the ball remains in play. anyway that's that
44	133	92	v Sri Lanka	Galle	31-Jul-08
10	52	29	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	8-Aug-08
68	226	166	v Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	8-Aug-08
5	15	13	v Australia	Bangalore	9-Oct-08	Lee to Dravid, OUT, what a catch by Ponting!
51	149	104	v Australia	Bangalore	9-Oct-08
39	118	70	v Australia	Mohali	17-Oct-08