I walk a lot and often with an ipod plugged into my earphones. I’ve noticed that my walking style (pace, stride, etc.) are greatly influenced by the music track I am listening to. I have also been noticing that I walk better with some people than others, as if the rhythm of our movements was strengthening or hampering interpersonal chemistry. I was especially sensitive about this when I was dating. It added to the something does/doesn’t feel right feeling about the other person. If I am walking with someone, I try to match my walking characteristics to that of the other person, almost as a reflex, sometimes taking fast, smaller steps, and sometimes taking large, slower steps. But there is always a time when walking with someone is not smooth.

Personally, I have analyzed the origins of this behavior and it probably has something to do with the sense of rhythm programmed into me. Being a musician, counting the beats and perfectly maintaining gaps during improvisation is a skill that’s necessary, not just a good-to-have thing, especially in the mathematical progressions of Indian classical music, – as I’m told. After few years of practise, the task of measuring the beats and playing on-beat or off-beat becomes a task that’s relegated to one’s reflexes and my active brain is now focused exclusively on coming up with something to play next. So when I am walking with someone, or listening to music, I have this obsession of aligning my walking rhythm to the external rhythm that’s “given” to me. And if that doesn’t work, I get frustrated.

For example, last night I was listening to “With or Without You” (U2) while walking to the grocery store. I listen to that kind of music (i.e. western) on my regularly-irregular morning runs, and it works perfectly well because for every beat on U2’s drums, I have 2 steps of mine (1:2 ratio). Last night however, I was trying to match my walking to the music but those 3-something minutes were very uncomfortable because the beats were too slow no matter how large strides I took.

Then there are people who walk in a disorganized manner. Slow, fast, slow again, big steps, small steps…. what the hell! Obviously, we will never have a second date (unless they are terribly cute).

Maybe rhythmic walking could be used as a therapy: Just like watching a goldfish helps heart patients, walking in the rhythm of certain music might help people since it combines discipline and exercise. Coupled with synchronised breathing, I feel that rhythmic walking is a great way to make a trip to the grocery store really productive.

I was never a fan of Will Smith because I don’t like action movies – especially the ones that have a fake science fiction or a thriller feel to them. This was the first time I saw him act in a drama, a movie without guns or fight scenes, and I think he can do better. Will played the subdued character somewhat okay, although at some points in the movie, his expressions made me laugh: simply putting a sad depressed face is not enough in this day and age.

When I heard the title of the movie, it reminded me of Shylock, the Jewish money lender from Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, in which Shylock demands one pound of flesh as a loan repayment penalty from his rival. This movie does nothing of that sort, although it does involve transfer of human organs.

The movie starts with a suicide call and nobody knows what’s going on until scenes from the main character’s recent past are revealed one at a time. I must say that the basis of Will Smith’s drama of repentance is extremely flimsy – had they shown this at the beginning of the movie, I would have watched the movie at 2x speed. At some points, I did wonder if the movie was based on selfless generosity or mere egotism. Romance, there’s Rosario Dawson, was probably added as an afterthought and it makes no rational sense (but then some would argue that love is irrational).

I won’t further spoil the plot for those who will hopefully watch the movie – I would say that the movie is emotionally satisfying but intellectually shallow. There are very very few movies that make my eyes moist, and this was one of those.

An Economist would say: “The number of beggars-per capita is very high.”
A Mathematician would say: “The ratio of number of people to number of beggars is very low.”
An Engineer would say: “The concentration of beggars per square meter is very high.”
A Sociologist would say: “What you are measuring is actually a sign of social degradation and deprivation – how insensitive!”
A MBA (i.e. someone like me) would say: “These people are wasting their time here.”

You heard me right, I may not know the social theories regarding the cause of begging – whatever they are, they don’t matter. But one thing is clear – Parkdale is not the place to beg. Let me explain why.

The dollar store in my neighborhood, with one of the begging spots. Image courtesy Google maps street view.

See that dollar store? A dollar store is a sign that screams two things:
#1. “We sell crappy Made-in-China goods for a dollar”
#2. “This neighborhood is full of people who will buy that crap”
The dollar store is not the only sign – there are several thrift stores, discount stores, pawn shops, junk stores, cheap restaurants etc. It’s a great place to get deals and bargains. The neighborhood is full of rental apartment buildings (perceived by certain bloggers as being owned by slumlords), large number of people living on social welfare, community centers, etc. To summarize, Parkdale is a place filled with poor people* and low income families.

This place should ideally be a nightmare for a professional beggar – right?

But for some reason, it seems that Parkdale is also the home to all beggars in Toronto. Clearly, these guys haven’t done any market research, market survey, target segmentation, and their implementation shows a complete lack of strategy.

Some picture from some forwarded email. This is no longer funny

Therefore, as an almost-MBA dude, and since I find it prudent to dispense advice even if people won’t take it, I have decided to share my insights with anyone who asks me for change the next time. The beggars in Parkdale, and there are a lot of them, must go somewhere else. Not for the sake of the residents, not for the sake of the neighborhood, but for their own good – if you wan’t to beg, atleast do it right! For starters, I propose they go to Bay street, which is just 20 minutes away in downtown Toronto (a place full of tall glass buildings, people wearing dark suits, perfume and makeup …and no beggars!)

Small town white boys

The fall 2009 term at the University is set to begin next week and the campus is already buzzing with 17-19 year old’s who, after recently finishing high school, are ready to begin their undergraduate studies at the University. September is usually a strange month – young students walk around the campus with their eyes wide open, scanning everything in sight, almost looking delirious, lost, and definitely looking overwhelmed. Many of these students have never been in such a place before: the caring and confined environment of their neighborhood high school is a past. There are fifty-thousand other students at the university now, all unfamiliar, diverse, and nobody will hold you in their arms if you start crying.

Among the different kinds of students starting university, I find that the most fascinating ones are the students coming from small Ontarian towns scattered around Toronto. They come to the big city from a pretty homogeneous society that’s predominantly Caucasian and Christian (I am still learning the denominations – Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Anglican, etc. so pardon me for painting everything in one brush). Their towns are small, everyone-knows-everyone type, sparsely populated, relaxed and have similar kind of food. Toronto on the other hand is a big city, extremely multicultural, mixed, noisy, crowded, pretty ruthless and fast paced.

Consequently, these small town students are bewildered and you can easily sense some strange mix of panic and excitement on their faces. Often parents will accompany them as they go around various offices for registration, and the kids will marvel at the number of food options they have, while struggling to understand people’s accents and double checking if what they are seeing is real.

Wait. That sounds familiar!

Let me exaggerate my story a bit. I grew up in a little suburb north of Mumbai, and until the age of 16 I was pretty much a local boy, going to primary school (grades 1-7) and secondary school (grades 8-10) close to my home. Most people were middle class Hindus, spoke Marathi and were vegetarians, and those awful things they show in movies were seldom heard of. Once in a while my parents or my school took us to Mumbai, to “see the big city”, and I thought - ‘wow… how busy, how crowded, and look at that building… it has a lift (elevator)! and 10 floors!… oh god… I can never live here…’

For grade 11 & 12, I went to, what we call, a Junior College that was in the city – a 90 minute commute. I was thrilled, shocked and confused. There were people from five religions, speaking ten different languages, eating god knows what kind of food and speaking in strange accents that took a while to understand. At times I wondered if I could really take all that change.

So now, whenever I talk to these fresh puppies from small towns (and I have to deal with a lot of them), it reminds me of my own time back when I took the leap out of the shell. It’s interesting how remarkable and essentially similar our stories are.

There is a Marathi saying that comes to my mind: “घरोघरी मातीच्या चूली”¹ which roughly means: “Things work the same way, regardless where you go.” Indeed.

We took a quick look around what was going on. Apart from traditional Nepalese foods like popcorn, coca cola and nachos, they had a stage with dance performances and a small but quite enthusiastic crowd of supporters cheering for everything that was being conducted. It was very nice to see so many of ‘my people’ (apparently) enjoying a little ‘by the Nepalese, for the Nepalese’ festival in the very heart of the city while there were two other large festivals, Chinese and Caribbean, going on few blocks away (Summer Sundays are busy man!). The music was blaring, and it was what I call, for the lack of a better term, ’second grade bollywood music’.

15 minutes passed. Unable to bear it, I was getting increasingly uncomfortable, but the seemingly tranquil facial expressions on my friends made me wonder if I was the only one who was getting bothered and others were actually enjoying this ‘exotic’ music. Finally I asked each of them, “Do you like this music?” Almost apologetically, they said, “Not at all!” and added that they thought that I was probably liking it. I wish.

: : :

I had an image of Nepal as a virgin, exotic (even for Indians, Nepal is exotic) country, unharmed by foreign cultural influences. Technically, each state of India is a little country in itself (more diverse and distinct than the little European countries), and Nepal could easily have been just one of those states. Fortunately or unfortunately, Nepal is a separate country, and that, I fancied, would be a sufficient reason for Nepal to maintain its indigenous cultural identity that includes its Himalayan music.

When I think of Nepali music, what comes to my mind is not what I get to hear today. I have listened to lot of Nepali music over the last few months, and sadly I am forced to conclude that today’s Nepali music has lost the Nepal-ness in it. It’s just second grade Bolywood garbage bundled with Nepali lyrics. Now what exactly is second grade Bollywood music? you might ask. Well, Bollywood (the Hindi film industry based in Mumbai hitherto called Bombay) movies, as you might know, are roughly equivalent to what is referred to as ‘musicals’ in the west. Each movie has anywhere between four to ten songs of four to five minutes each. About 800-1000 Hindi movies are made each year, and probably an equal number of movies are churned out from different states in their own language. As a result, every year there are tens of thousands of movie songs in the market. Then there is also the music from independent musicians. Quality and quantity are almost always inversely related, and as a manifestation of this rule, a very very large chunk of commercial music produced in India is of very low quality – repetitive beats and limited variation in notes. Hardly any songs have shelf lives longer than few days, since alternatives are cheap, plenty and easily available. Ask yourself (if you are Indian) or an Indian friend how many songs you/they remember from the latest movie you/they watched. The answer will be surprisingly low since most of these songs have null significance in the movie plot. I am not painting Bollywood music in one stroke at all, there is extremely good stuff but very rare.

Traditional Nepali music (for example Newari, Gurung, etc.) has virtually lost its influence on contemporary mass-produced music, just as the impact of Indian classical music on Hindi film music is more or less a history. What I mean to elucidate is that contemporary Nepali music has unfortunately been overwhelmed by second grade bollywood music – a silent take over (or adaptation if you prefer to call it that) and I am upset with this kind of evolution.

I leave you with an awful Nepali song which could easily pass as just another Hindi movie song if the language is changed (spare yourself from watching the video). Sorry Nepal, ‘our’ Bollywood, a monster factory churning out conformist music, is uncontrolled and will kill regional traditions.

: : :

I suspect this post will force the proponents of Bollywodization into a defensive stance, nevertheless I am curious to hear criticisms and opinions.

Summary

In the movie Brüno, Sasha Baron Cohen plays an Austrian gay wannabe-celebrity and brings out some truly hilarious, fish-out-of-water situations, and raw, sexually explicit humor to expose some contradictions in the society while leaving you rolling with laughter and somewhat reeling under the shocking portrayal of certain acts.

Let’s face it, I’m a huge fan of the talented Sasha Baren Cohen and his previous alter ego’s – Borat – a reporter from Kazakhstan, and Ali G – a white British rapper. Both these shows have been immensely successful for their version of humor and that probably led to high levels of anticipation for the ’sequel’ Bruno. I enjoyed the movie, it exceeded my expectations.

The plot

I’ll refrain from talking about specific stories and scenes since I don’t want to spoil it for you, and also because I can ramble about it for hours!

Brüno, who has no known surname, is a homosexual character claiming to be a reporter from an Austrian television station and interviews unsuspecting guests about topics such as fashion, entertainment, celebrities and homosexuality, with an emphasis on the last subject as each interview progresses. (Wikipedia). In a style somewhat similar to his previous movie Borat, he catches celebrities, professionals and common people off-guard, prompting them to react to what some would call unholy lunatic situations.

Analysis of the movie

• Reinforcing homosexual stereotypes – ?
  Bruno’s role as a flamboyant fashion-conscious effeminate gay man who is all over the place doesn’t help quell the stereotypes about homosexuals that are out there. While there is nothing wrong with any of that, only a small percentage of gay men could identify themselves with such portrayal. …for the uninitiated, it’s fine to go one step at a time, but note that this movie is probably step #10…At the same time, I think the movie couldn’t have been so much fun had it not shown a stereotypical character. Stereotyping may be incorrect, but the explicitness shown here is so over the top, that one cannot but laugh at the things he does. I am not sure I thoroughly liked Bruno’s portrayal of homosexual acts, but he certainly made it a vehicle for shocking humor in a way that has rarely been done before. I do feel that conventional / mainstream audience will be repulsed by the graphic homosexual imagery – so that’s a warning for the conservative or the ‘I’m-not-so-sure-of-this-whole-gay-thing’ types. For the uninitiated, it’s fine to go one step at a time and this is probably step#10.
• Sexually explicit scenes
  What was previously known to exist in society but was seldom spoken openly, except perhaps in certain internet communities, is explicitly shown on screen here, in a boundary-pushing depiction of sexual imagery. This involves strange sexual practises, and lots of questionable acts. There are a number of suggestive (homosexual and heterosexual) scenes that will leave you wondering… who the heck does that! Again, Bruno has crossed all rational limits and the only thing holding him was his imagination. This sexual scenes in this movie movie are probably ten-times as explicit as the naked fighting scene shown in Borat. You’ll see a talking penis, large fake boobs, demonstration of a blowjob, kinky toys, among many other things.
• The actor:
  Sasha Baron Cohen is no doubt a talented actor. His characters: Borat – a reporter from Kazakhstan, Ali G – a white British rapper and now Brüno – the gay Austrian, are all excellent pieces of role play. The subtlety of his German and Russian accents are perfectly done – judging by the little knowledge of these languages I have. I cannot imagine a straight British comedian playing a flamboyant gay Austrian character and doing such a fantastic job. Where did he learn all those moves?
• His methods
  Catching unsuspecting people off-guard and bringing them in a situation where they let their guard down – on camera – and say stupid things is a unique ‘Borat’ way of exposing what we already know. The movie Borat had to face several lawsuits from ‘innocent’ people who didn’t know they were going to a be part of the movie, and I am guessing that Bruno will see the same.

Commentary

• Homophobia
  Bruno has once again employed exaggerated caricature as a tool to show that there is a lot of homophobia …Gay correction centers are places where they ‘fix’ homosexuality by brainwashing subjects with Bible preachings and often using tools such as electric shocks…in our society. Whether its his encounter with skinheads, Christian rock bands, Republican senators, Priests, Black talk-shows or Sexuality ‘correction’ centers, Brueno exposes the lack of education, awareness or acceptability of homosexuality in society. I don’t know if homophobia or anti-homosexuality will ever be fixed – especially because society is getting increasingly polarised probably on all issues, be it environment, government, religion or sexuality. At several instances in the movie, one can hear people saying things like “Fuckin Homo,” or “Go home Fag” or “Don’t try to recruit my children in your thing,” etc. I think its sad that we harbour so much hatred, ignorance and dissent for other human beings.
• Questionable Parenting
  Seriously, what makes some people believe that only straight couples can make good parents? Sasha Cohen gets some moms and dads to agree to resort to expose their kids to extreme measures just so that the kids can get into show-biz. The incidents will leave you shocked – I don’t even want to describe them here.
• Ethics of celebrity-media culture
  Poverty in Africa, humanitarian assistance, environmental crisis, etc – if you think that those chest-thumping self-congratulatory celebrity activists have hijacked critical issues for bolstering their personal agendas, welcome to dealing with them the Bruno way. Bruno tries to find “a world issue to champion that will make me famous” and exposes something unexpected.

Recommendation

…If Borat pushed the envelope, Brüno just showed that envelope off a cliff – you have been warned….Do I still need to spell it out? If you loved Borat and Ali G, move your asses right now and go watch the movie! If you didn’t like Borat or don’t want to see homo-centric, sexually explicit, raw, sarcastic, bold humor, better sit at home and have some tea, no worries, we are cool.


Here are the top 10 reasons for seeing the movie Bruno, presented by David Letterman and Bruno himself:

And if you’d like to see the Bruno movie trailer, here we go:

You’ll enjoy the movie, hopefully you liked my Bruno movie review. If there’s a seat belt, fasten it!
Cheers!

↑ Queen st. West. View from my apartment.

“Wait a minute”, I said to myself, “What’s happening!?” I used to be a kid who loved playing in the rain, and the mud, and not worrying about getting drenched and dirty, and make fun of people who ran away from the rain. When did I become one of them?

- – -
Mumbai has a distinct rainy season and it rains only between mid-June and mid-September. Rest of the year was dry. There was a special, almost a ritual-ish, significance attached to “first rain” (around mid-June). My mother encouraged me to go out when it rained for the first time, she said, “This is how you welcome rain! Smell the air, feel the wind, feel the nature!”

Oh, ha ha, rain is not dangerous, its just like taking a big shower!I was a little boy, playing in the dirt outdoors one day when it began pouring. My friend’s mother started screaming at the top of her screeching voice from the window of their house, “Stop playing! Come home! It’s dangerous!” My buddy (who was terrified of his parents because they hit him) ran away, while I was left puzzled. “Mom says its okay to play in the rain, so it must be okay!”, I thought, and continued what I was doing (probably digging a trench and replanting grass – I liked to pretend I was a farmer).

The rain grew stronger and washed away everything. I was upset that my ‘farm’ was destroyed, so I went home. I took a warm shower, clean up thoroughly and I changed into fresh clothes. It felt so good. My dad made me a cup of hot ginger tea and I told them about my friend. My mother said, “Oh, ha ha, rain is not dangerous, its just like taking a big shower! Too bad for your friend, his mother is overprotecting him.”

Later, rainy season meant only one thing – trekking in the Sahyadris. Every other weekend, a bunch of us gathered and went into the mountains. Geographically, western coast of India is similar to western coast of North America – there is a coastal strip, followed by a mountain range called the Sahyadris. Shivaji, our beloved king, built several forts on peaks of the Sahyadri range and hiking to those fortresses was our objective. We usually started before sunrise, or sometimes even on the previous night. At the end of the day, we were completely exhausted, dirty and wet with rain and sweat for hours. Next day was full of body aches and a hangover from yesterday’s thrills and exhilaration.

↑ Mahuli, ~850m (2785ft) above MSL

My ’sheltered’ friend once asked me, “What do you do all day in the rain?”
Me: We climb a mountain, go to the top!
He: And then?
Me: We come back.
He: So why go in the first place? You get all wet and dirty, eww…
How could I explain to him the blissful feeling of being close to the nature, walking through the woods, in the dirt, around wonderful insects, bright flowers, foggy, wet weather and then reaching the peak, being on top of the world?
- – -

With all those sweet memories flashing in front of me, I decided to dismount and walk my bike home, getting fully drenched in the rain on the way. After a nice hot shower, I made some ginger tea, exactly like my dad made it.

Misal consists of 3-4 layers of different foods. In the picture, the bottom layer of beans is almost invisible.

I often make misal when I am in a mood for spicy food, especially when I want my nose and eyes to freely flow and my mouth to produce fire like a dragon. It happens every once in a while. Misal is like a comfort food that reminds me of home.

How to make misal?

Every region and everyone has a unique style and here’s mine customised for my needs.

Layer one (the bed): Consists of beans cooked Indian style. The beans are usually a combination of Moth Beans (मटकी) and dried Peas (वाटाणे), but due to limited availability here, I sometimes use a mix of Black-eyed beans (चवळी), or Red/Kidney beans (राजमा) or even Chick Peas (छोले).

Layer two (topping): Consists of a spicy, crunchy mixture of nuts, puffed rice and other stuff I don’t know how to describe (फरसाण, चिवडा). But the closest ready-made thing you could get in an Indian grocery store is called ‘bhel mix’ or ’spiced crunchy mix’ or simply ask for Haldiram’s Bhelpuri mix. Adding small pieces of boiled potato will make your food less spicier.

Layer three (garnish): Tomatoes, liberal amounts of coriander, green chilies, raw mango (if available). Drench it with tamarind sauce (chutney), mint chutney and my mom-made chaat masala (a common spicy mix to give it a spicier punch).

Bread (optional): Traditional way is to eat the misal with a pav/pao bread (पाव) but since I make it dry-type, I usually skip the grain.

That’s it. Enjoy the food!

Here is a new kind of comment I got on my About me page yesterday. It was backed up by an email via the contact page.

- – -

DOSED

Tired of a competitor’s site? Hinder the enemy? Fed pioneers or copywriters?

Kill their sites! How? We will help you in this!
Obstructions of any site, portal, shop!

Different types of attacks: Date-attack, Trash, Attack, Attack, etc. Intellectual
You can work on schedule, as well as the simultaneous attack of several sites.

On average the data, ordered the site falls within 5 minutes after the start. As a demonstration of our capabilities, allows screening.

Our prices
24 hours of attack – $ 70
12 hours of the attack – $ 50
1 hour attack – $ 25

Contact via ICQ: XXXXXXX
- – -

I was both disturbed and surprised. The title of the message is called DoS’ed. DoS stands for Denial of Service, an attack that makes websites non responsive temporarily or permanently. Crackers routinely DoS attack several countries’ important websites. But so far, all the enlargement, lottery etc. spam I got was targeted at me, the reader. This DoS message, however, is pure evil. While phishing and attack websites or tools existed for as long as I remember, someone making it a business – that’s a news.

“Winning by sabotaging others” is a common attitude. Why not improve your own website or brand instead? Lets terrorise India so that we (Pakis) can win – Look where this attitude has landed that country today.

I’m sure that the authenticity of this spam is no stronger than those penis enlargers or millionaires from Africa. It’s the mindset is bothering me. What’s more, as the email filters are improving, so are the spammers – their messages are much more personalized and they are trying to identify targets selectively.

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.
- H.H. The Dalai Lama

Question to the reader:
There are several paths to victory – strengthening one’s position or sabotaging others’. While everything is fair in love and war, I find it disgustingly unethical to choose a path that damages others. Any thoughts?

Mac OS X has a built-in support for a very large number of language scripts around the world. So the option of typing in Hindi or Hebrew or Hungarian or any other language, is few clicks away!

1. Open System Preferences

Click the Apple icon in your menu bar and select System Preferences. Alternatively you can simply spotlight (command-space) for ‘System Preferences’ and it will show up.

2. Choose the International Languages you want

In the System Preferences, click on “International”. You will see the following screen:

Screen 1: System Preferences > International

Click on “Input Menu” to see a list of all supported languages in your computer.

Screen 2: System Preferences > International > Input Menu

Check the “Character Palette” checkbox.
Check the “Keyboard Viewer” checkbox.
Check the “Show input menu in the menu bar” checkbox at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll down and find the languages of your choice. For Indian languages based on Devanagri script (Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi, Nepali), check Devnagari-QWERTY.

Screen 3: System Preferences > International > Input Menu > Select languages of your choice.

Type in your language

Notice an icon with a flag on the right side of your menu bar (next to the clock and the battery indicator). Clicking the icon will reveal the list of alternate input languages. Simply select the language you want and you are done.

Keyboard shortcut for selecting language: Option-Space (⌥Space)

As you can see, I have 3 languages: English, देवनागरी and Русский installed

Keyboard Map

If you are ever stuck, the keyboard map comes handy. Click the “Show Keyboard Viewer” from the input menu in the menu bar (image above). You will get the following keyboard layouts (shown for Indic scripts only, it will change as you press the keys as shown below):

Keyboard Viewer (click to enlarge) – its not complicated at all. My mother could use it within minutes.

Some handy keystrokes

Complex Marathi / Hindi characters can be built by combining sounds. Here is a small list:

As you see, its pretty phonetic; “f” is used to shorten the sound. p=प, pf=प्

Using Indian languages in Windows XP/2000

Support for a plethora of Indian languages is available in Windows XP/2000 too. Here is a wikipedia page that shows you how to enable language support in Windows XP and certain Linux distributions.

Feedback

If this post was useful to you, please let me know. If something is unclear, I’ll revise! Thanks.