tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214176792021-05-09T07:33:06.552+00:00Dr Mosi's KraalMosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.comBlogger227125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-39779070709134163092010-11-13T03:06:00.000+00:002010-11-13T03:06:09.138+00:00Melvin takes the plungeMy almost-Mallu-Indo-Zambian-Canadian buddy <a href="http://www.nshima.com/">Melvin Durai</a> just published his book. It's called <a href="http://www.nshima.com/2010/08/bookstores.html">Bala takes the plunge</a>. I was pleasantly surprised to find an autographed copy in the snail-mail (Zikomo) and got fired up enough to restart blogging by writing a review.<br /><br />If you like Melvin's article writing style then buy the book. He's kept it true to form with the witty puns and the humorous description of everyday events. It has a short article/blog feel about it and is a light and refreshing read. Of course, the serious issues of migration and loneliness, independence and coming-of-age, and finding a place to call home are just below the surface and come up for air occasionally.<br /><br />Well I've kept it short, but here's shorter. I love the book. Hope Melvin's working on his second one.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-90600612983990116632010-05-29T15:52:00.001+00:002010-05-30T06:50:45.360+00:00Rome and the internetI picked up a book in Amsterdam about the Roman empire. It was a limited democracy (and then a dictatorship) that lasted hundreds of years. It held territories on three continents, its people had hot running water in their homes and enjoyed goods sourced from all over the world - well, India and China at least. After the fall of the Roman empire, it would be about 1600 years before life was as comfortable in Europe again.<br /><br />The internet now is a lot like Rome was back then. It extends almost as far as people can reach, it's controlled by a small number of people who don't have many rules, and there's a degree of anonymity that allows you to say or do what you want without too many consequences.<br /><br />Here are some examples:<br /><br /><b>Situation - Anger</b><br />Modern day (pre-internet) - Fume. Mutter under breath. <br />Rome, 2000 years ago - torture person who made you angry. Kill them. Dump body in drain.<br />Modern day (internet) - Release photo and phone number of person with caption - "Call for a good time. Free." (Also see 'Public Nudity')<br /><br /><b>Situation - Joy</b><br />Modern day (pre-internet) - Throw party, get smashed, fail drugs test at work next morning, get fired and beg on streets.<br />Rome, 2000 years ago - Throw party, get smashed, sleep it off and start again until the money runs out or the army needs you again.<br />Modern day (internet) - Post party information via facebook, twitter, SMS and blog. Get completely trashed. Wake up the next day whenever and work from home.<br /><br /><b>Situation -Public Nudity</b><br />Modern day (pre-internet) - Run naked onto a cricket pitch. Get arrested. If wearing Nike shoes, see advertisement starring your bum on TV for number of years and people sniggering any time you walk by.<br />Rome, 2000 years ago - Run naked through streets of town yelling "Eureka." Have major scientific discoveries named after you for rest of life. (ok this was ancient Greece, but I invoke comedic license)<br />Modern day (internet) - Females - get naked, take photos, post on websites. Get famous and be invited to act in a chat show / get on playboy etc. Males - get naked, go on chatroulette, and get infamous.<br /><br /><b>Situation - Seize political power</b><br />Modern day (pre-internet) - Get sanctions on your country, travel bans, have money abroad seized, and have various organisations plot your removal.<br />Rome, 2000 years ago - Your wish is everyone's command. Do whatever you want.<br />Modern day (internet) - Tamper with electronic voting machines and voter rolls. Get elected. Do whatever you want.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-83506104549175598172010-05-18T19:04:00.002+00:002010-05-18T19:21:40.761+00:00Guess who's in the New York Times?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/03/blogs/a-moment-in-time.html/#/4bddbacc224fe25cb20004d7"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S_LiAzJHVbI/AAAAAAAAAH0/Z6ceIznCAXg/s400/NYTimesScreenShotCats.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These are two kittens who alternated between our yard and the neighbours'. There is a third kitten, as well as their Mom, but they were likely sleeping somewhere. They were having a good time hanging out on the fence at 1700 hrs on May 2, right <a href="http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/readers-11/">when the New York Times blog</a> asked as many people as possible around the world to take a photo. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The kittens have been dropped off at the animal shelter, and their mother has been neutered. Their mother is a wild cat and the shelter didn't think that she could be adopted, but they have great hopes for the kittens. The mother will be released back into the wild as soon as she recovers from the surgery.</div>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-90473091092341507062010-05-15T15:52:00.001+00:002010-05-15T15:53:14.169+00:00The Phiri Deception III<a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/09/phiri-deception.html">Read Part I here</a>.<br /><a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/10/phiri-deception-ii.html">Read Part II here</a>.<br /><br />...and for those too bored to read Parts I and II, here's a short summary:<br /><br />A high-tech spy / assassin type movie is being shot in Zambia. The plot is that the government is using an assassin called Tembo to kill one of their former agents, M. Phiri. Phiri has been spotted at Milky Lane in Manda Hill and Tembo rushes there to locate him. Tembo misses him by minutes. Phiri is already on Great East Road in a borrowed car.<br /><br />"Ona itaya kaya itaya kaya itaya... ati sure itaya kaya itaya kaya itaya," The phone rings loudly. "How old is that song?" Phiri thinks to himself, "and why do I still have it as my ringtone?", as he picks it up: <br />"Malcolm here."<br />"Malcolm, the time has come. Instructions will be sent to you by SMS." Click... "beeeeeeeep..."<br />"Errr..."<br />"beep-beep-beep beep beep beep. "<br />Crossroads shopping centre. 30 minutes.<br /><br />"Ah well, better get to the bottom of this." After swerving wildly to avoid several stopped, and half-in, half-out of the road minibuses, as well as a few wannabe suiciders, Phiri reached the Bwinjimfumu intersection. He took a left and wound his way past the Post newspaper office. He stopped at the 4-way stop on Parirenyatwa. As usual, there was always one fool who got through out-of-turn by almost kissing the car in front. Phiri turned left, past a guy who made his living selling rabbits on the street, braked suddenly to avoid bicyclists who wanted to cross the road, and managed to get to the Fedex roundabout without incident. The temperature monitor showed 36, but it only felt like 32. "Wonder who calibrates that temperature meter," he thought.<br /><br />Phiri proceeded to Leopards Hill Road via Longacres. At the intersection of Lake Road and Leopards Hill he took a left and pulled into Crossroads shopping centre. The familiar shouts of minibus conducters filled the air, "M'tendere ! M'tendere !" Phiri parked his car, checked to make sure the alarm was on, and walked to Buzz Cafe. He didn't know who he was supposed to meet, but figured they would find him. "Maybe I should have worn a rose in my buttonhole," he thought. He ordered a Mosi while waiting. It had been a long time since he participated in these shadow games, and he wondered what his former employers wanted from a civilian.<br /><br />"Afternoon, mind if I sit here?" A thin man with grey hair and dark glasses asked. Phiri said, "Yes." Apparently it was a rhetorical question and the man proceeded to sit. He proffered a copy of the Times of Zambia. "Have you read the politics page today? It's a scandal." Since the only scandals in politics lately had been about polygamy and what the current heads said about their rivals, Phiri didn't think it would be very interesting. He opened to page 4 and found a photo, under which a number had been scrawled:<br />5000000<br />The thin man said, "The US dollar has been gaining against the Kwacha lately. I wish they would pay me in dollars." Phiri said, "But this is..." "The man interrupted, "Yes, or No." Phiri said, "Yes." The man said, "good." You will find a suitcase in your car. It contains all you need. It must be done within 48 hours. Goodbye.<br /><br />Malcolm thought about it, "This cannot be the government. It would be too embarassing for them if it happened while he visits here. I wonder who wants this." He folded the paper and left it on the table for the next person. He asked for the bill, paid, and walked to his car. He got in, and turned on the radio. It chirped, "This is Radio 4. The main headlines. President Nyirenda today said that the visit of President Mugabe from Zimbabwe would open the doors to prosperity for both nations. President Mugabe is here on a state visit for two days. He is expected to announce free trade and a fast clearance process at the borders."<br /><br />...to be continued...Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-45932214738925955532010-03-06T09:25:00.011+00:002010-03-06T18:31:32.728+00:00The Generator, the Forklift, Big Mama, and the Drain.There was this enigmatic tweet from me last week:<br /><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"><blockquote><a href="http://twitter.com/mosilager/status/9332152240">There's a forklift with a generator-as-big-as-a-house stuck in mud outside. I figure they should give me the generator if I can get it out.</a></blockquote><br />I thought this deserved a more illustrated and detailed explanation, so I give you the saga of the generator, the forklift, the earth-moving machine and the drain.As I was walking to the chicken house (pre-fabricated all-purpose advanced green technology construction according to the corporation that installed it), I found the disaster below:<br /><br /><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S5KVlzyaOwI/AAAAAAAAAHY/XsPuDqRD6gs/s1600-h/DSC00730.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S5KVlzyaOwI/AAAAAAAAAHY/XsPuDqRD6gs/s400/DSC00730.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445579376233691906" border="0" /><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"></span></span></a><br /><br />Mr 30-tonne forklift was carrying a 25-tonne generator (at least) and broke through our floor and smashed up the landscaping. Not to mention that only people who spend 6 hours in the gym daily and eat nothing but cucumbers and tomatoes could squeeze through into the chicken house. The forklift couldn't get out because two of its wheels had no purchase and were spinning uselessly in the depression they had created. The right side of the generator was balancing on a concrete block expropriated from our recently (4 months ago) demolished furnace. The left side of the generator was balancing on a wooden beam, origin unknown.<br /><br />Upon further investigation, it turns out that the forklift operator went against the advice of our experts to knock down a boundary wall on the other side and come in through there and instead chose to drive over our drainage system with predictable consequences. The reason for not breaking down the boundary wall? A method to save a million (~250 USD) in rebuilding costs. Instead the decision will cost the forklift company 6 million (~1500 USD) in landscaping/drain repair costs.<br /><br />So then the people tried various methods to get the forklift out... various jacks (yes, car jacks among them) to lift the forklift into a position where the wheels would find some traction. Pushing and shoving using manpower was also attempted in vain. So our friends hung around the rest of the day until some bright spark called in an even bigger vehicle than the forklift.<br /><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S5KZYJNEYwI/AAAAAAAAAHg/eP2mo79GCt8/s1600-h/DSC00732.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S5KZYJNEYwI/AAAAAAAAAHg/eP2mo79GCt8/s400/DSC00732.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445583539510993666" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span><br /><br />This is something that I describe as an earth-moving machine (aka Big Mama), but I'm sure it has some technical name as well. Anyway, the idea was to pull the forklift into a position where it could travel under its own power. Big Mama had some hairy moments getting to the forklift, it was centimetres from knocking down either our lab (my very own sequencing centre) or the adjacent clinic. The driver managed to avoid hitting anything by sheer skill... he's probably one of the few people who didn't buy their legal driving permit here.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S5KbLvAJFcI/AAAAAAAAAHo/dEG9cUoEbXQ/s1600-h/DSC00734.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/S5KbLvAJFcI/AAAAAAAAAHo/dEG9cUoEbXQ/s400/DSC00734.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445585525342279106" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A huge chain connected Big Mama to the forklift and the pulling was successful... thus freeing the forklift, but leaving a big generator stranded in a place not meant for big generators. As this was a Friday, the generator would stay till the following Monday, when by ingenious use of metal pipes it was rolled to the concrete pad ready for it. While I was still offering thanks to Big Mama's driver for not burying my sequencer under a pile of rubble, the generator was manoevred by some unknown means up a few stairs to its final resting position. Of course the manoeverers positioned the generator such that the fuel nozzle was about 30 centimetres from a wall. This resulted in the ingenious idea (mainly by myself - hence the glowing praise) of getting a refuelling helicopter to inject diesel into the nozzle... I believe the idea was vetoed for lack of funding but not technical feasibility. Anyways, so that was my Friday.<br /></span></span>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-82206222393040826162010-01-01T13:26:00.001+00:002010-01-01T17:33:15.308+00:00If noughties' movies were made in other decadesI came across <a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1796381">this post that talks about what movies would look like if they were made in other decades</a>... so, taking a leaf out of the Mumbai film industry, I was inspired to indigenise it and probably make it worse... (if you have javascript enabled, just move your mouse pointer on the image to see the alternative) so, here goes:<br /><br />1990s<br /><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzNunddsSdI/AAAAAAAAAGI/fYfzcoANz3U/s400/kurbaan.jpg" onmouseover="this.src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzNuw2m2oBI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/_3lhdVfkqC8/s400/yehdillagi.jpg'" onmouseout="this.src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzNunddsSdI/AAAAAAAAAGI/fYfzcoANz3U/s400/kurbaan.jpg'" /><br /><br />The main differences are that only actresses showed skin in the 1990s, now the actors have started doing it as well. Bullet wounds have replaced roses, and there's no need for rich people to be the villains as everyone is equally rich.<br /><br />1980s<br /><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzOS8X0zIUI/AAAAAAAAAGo/BDpJKJaze-A/s400/om-shanti-om2.jpg" onmouseover="this.src='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzOTDqy7eeI/AAAAAAAAAGw/2F-itK9SHH4/s400/karzoig.jpg'" onmouseout="this.src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzOS8X0zIUI/AAAAAAAAAGo/BDpJKJaze-A/s400/om-shanti-om2.jpg'" /><br /><br />This one was pretty obvious... again, the naked guy is the most important actor in the new version, and the villainess from the old version had a sex change operation to become the villain in the new one. I liked Om Shanti Om because it didn't take itself too seriously, and made fun of the hindi film industry.<br /><br />1970s<br /><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzOGMAhWQ5I/AAAAAAAAAGY/9Fgs39T1qkM/s400/kalhonaho2.jpg" onmouseover="this.src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzOGSuQcuGI/AAAAAAAAAGg/DCMlX3KE1BY/s400/Anandbox.jpg'" onmouseout="this.src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SzOGMAhWQ5I/AAAAAAAAAGY/9Fgs39T1qkM/s400/kalhonaho2.jpg'" /><br /><br />Aaah... good friendship between males, the theme has remained constant, just that these days they have to throw in a few gay allusions to the whole thing to earn plaudits for being politically correct from the left, or lots and lots of profitable controversy from the right.<br /><br />1960s<br /><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sz36jdVV1hI/AAAAAAAAAG4/Swp2_qX2I84/s400/chup-chup-ke.jpg" onmouseover="this.src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sz36rTGPZlI/AAAAAAAAAHA/H3vpTqkOR6M/s400/padosan.jpg'" onmouseout="this.src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sz36jdVV1hI/AAAAAAAAAG4/Swp2_qX2I84/s400/chup-chup-ke.jpg'" /><br /><br />The comedies have continued to have a cast of zany characters. A lot of the comedy of Padosan came from making fun of regional hindi accents, mainly hindi accents that 'Madrasis' have. Chup chup ke made fun of Gujaratis mainly, but it was a remake of a 'Madrasi' film, Punjabi House, that made fun of Punjabi families in Kerala. Good to see that the times, they are a-changing. It's good that people living in one part of the country will understand comedy based on other parts of the country.<br /><br />Oddly in the double-oos a lot of the successful hindi comedies were remakes of malayalam films from the 80s. I was always unhappy that '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadodikkattu">Naadodikaatu</a>' and '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandanam">Vandanam</a>' weren't re-made, those were hilarious movies if other people are interested in the genre.<br /><br />1950s<br /><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sz4s4y5w8eI/AAAAAAAAAHI/uVJSmD9c--o/s400/lagaan.jpg" onmouseover="this.src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sz4tDcUfUAI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/R1HkuV_nwTY/s400/mother_india.jpg'" onmouseout="this.src='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sz4s4y5w8eI/AAAAAAAAAHI/uVJSmD9c--o/s400/lagaan.jpg'" /><br /><br />Both these movies were sent to the Oscars. Mother India was a sort of a "this is life, it sucks" type of film... people in grinding poverty having their arms crushed and such... Lagaan had a pretty happy ending and the worst thing that happens to somebody in the film is that they get rejected by Aamir Khan. Mother India avoided blaming the English for the problems, lagaan solidly blamed the English and extracted revenge too... a sign of newly found confidence?Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-2344018477523459652009-12-09T19:09:00.000+00:002009-12-09T19:12:17.549+00:00A clean breast of itI stumbled upon an article written about Travancore (Kerala) in 1869 in an <a href="http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/3258889">Australian newspaper</a>. Stop sniggering, I wasn't searching for 'breast,' I was looking for 'Travancore'. Here's some of the relevant text, please click on the title to read the whole article:<br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/3258889">Caste outrages in Travancore</a><br />Among the many instances of fanaticism in Southern India, perhaps the most striking was that displayed by the Soodras in their efforts to divest the Shanar women of the upper garments, in which their women, in conformity with Christian ideas of decency, had clad themselves. The circumstances of the disturbance so caused by the Soodras are possibly remembered by our readers. The Christian Shanar women, in clothing themselves with jackets, were attacked by the Soodras in the public streets, and their jackets were torn off. The cause of this outrage was, that the Shanars being of a low caste, and the women of the higher castes being alone permitted to wear such garments, the Soodras considered that the Shanar women, by the adoption of such a dress, were deviating unwarrantably from the laws of caste.</blockquote><br /><br />So, in 1869, in Kerala, women were forced to walk around topless by local enforcers. They were worried that women deciding what to wear would lead to the destruction of traditional culture. Today, women who decide to wear something that doesn't totally cover themselves are harassed, for trying to destroy traditional culture.<br /><br />Could the main problem be that women deciding something for themselves, in either 1869 or 2009, causes men to feel powerless?Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-85070649363102307092009-11-27T05:00:00.001+00:002009-11-27T19:03:57.406+00:00Full tank, please<div style="text-align: justify;">There was a petrol crisis in Zambia. There were long lines whenever petrol/diesel came into each fuel station. I was out of petrol and walking to lab (7 km / 70 minute walk) for a couple of days or so before I bit the bullet and waited in line. The plan was simple, I would drive the car to the petrol station that's about 300 metres from my house at the early hours of 5 way before anybody else got there. As soon as the station opened I would be the first at the pump, get my tank filled, and drive off into the sunrise. Brilliant plan, even if I say so myself.<br /><br />So I woke up, picked up my reading for the day and got to the petrol pump. Apparently, other people had the same idea... to be fair though, one of them looked quite desperate for fuel.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sw4YJR1uCWI/AAAAAAAAAFo/ejGRgHnXut4/s1600/16836_hummeratpump-lq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/Sw4YJR1uCWI/AAAAAAAAAFo/ejGRgHnXut4/s400/16836_hummeratpump-lq.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408286750205151586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">So, a small hitch in my brilliant plan. But nothing too bad. I was still 5th in line, and should manage to get some petrol. So I asked the attendant when the station would open and when fuel is expected to come in. Station opens at 7 and fuel might come in by 10.30. Great! So I settled down for a long wait with a book in hand and the occasional foray outside to scan for a fuel truck. Luckily there was a shop right by the pump and I was able to find some 'healthy' sustenance in the form of crisps and water. Hey, I was working hard by waking up early so thought I should reward myself.<br /><br />As time went on the station started to get crowded. Quite a few people had made a side business of filling fuel in all sorts of containers and selling it on the 'black market.' I was offered generous deals by a few well meaning individuals, at only 2-4 times the official rate. They assured me that the fuel would only come at 17.30 (about 12 hours from when I started waiting). I told them I'd wait and they shook their heads indreculously at the foolishness of the foriegner. The last thing I needed was adulterated petrol in the tank... then no car, no fuel, and I'd be out a few tens of millions trying to replace the fuel system on the car. I did feel sorry for these entrepreneurs when the owner of the station came out and kicked all the used milk cans away. Only approved petrol containers at this station. The black marketeers were persistent and kept putting their plastic cans back, but I didn't see any of them get any fuel. Safety first I suppose.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SxAXcfkgjjI/AAAAAAAAAFw/fiMz3CTxHvI/s1600/16838_fillplasticcans-lq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SxAXcfkgjjI/AAAAAAAAAFw/fiMz3CTxHvI/s400/16838_fillplasticcans-lq.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408848930750369330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I had some time to reflect on the political grandstanding and what had led to the crisis. The country's sole refinery had shut down for maintenance and government had ordered refined fuel from Kuwait. Government had refused to acknowledge that there was a fuel crisis and said they had ordered enough and were going to figure out where all the fuel was. They implied that people were buying extra fuel and hoarding it. Inspectors were sent to petrol stations to make sure that the stations were not holding back fuel. A prominent opposition leader took jerry cans to a petrol pump and asked for fuel in a well-photographed event. Eventually the President had to step in and order the energy ministry to bring in more fuel. Though unhappy about the situation, he let the energy minister continue in his post to be answerable to the public. The government announced that there would be no duties on imported fuel... but they didn't sign it into law so the fuel companies refused to import. It would be their trucks stuck on the border if the customs officials refused to take their word for it, you see. Also, the fuel companies were angling for a higher petrol price as (apparently) they could not make any profit with the current price of fuel even with no import taxes ! So I guess normally they are all non-profit organisations and don't make any money selling at the government approved prices. And they are so generous that they open new petrol pumps every couple of blocks.<br /><br />With the sun coming out with a vengeance and having woken up early, people all around me were starting to drop off. This guy looked very comfortable... I wish I could sleep like that when the Sun was out.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SxAatSIJ7UI/AAAAAAAAAF4/OFQrW9nJNB0/s1600/16842_sleepy-lq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SxAatSIJ7UI/AAAAAAAAAF4/OFQrW9nJNB0/s400/16842_sleepy-lq.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408852517734444354" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I got a lucky break and the driver in front of me decided he had enough of waiting and wanted to leave. He was blocked on all sides and had to do some complex jigsaw-puzzle type manouvering to get his car out. So now I was just fourth from the front. Exciting times. I got into discussions with drivers in the neighbouring vehicles about the crises. Their opinions were that the crisis was artificially created so that some higher-ups could line their retirement funds due to kickbacks. It's always possible, but I thought the amount of money lost from not having fuel for a couple of weeks was far greater than the amount gained from any shady deals. I'm sure we'll find out when the next government comes into power what these guys were up to. As we were talking, the much awaited tanker rolled in. The driver of that thing was everyone's favourite for miles, I tell you... women were throwing panties at him, people were fainting... nah, just kidding. He looked fairly harassed and wanted to get the fuel offloaded as soon as possible. Following the tanker were about 50 cars. People have taken to staying behind any tanker that comes in, following it to the station, and waiting patiently for petrol. Smart !<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SxAcSHIPI_I/AAAAAAAAAGA/DGSeCRvfg5I/s1600/16843_tanker-lq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SxAcSHIPI_I/AAAAAAAAAGA/DGSeCRvfg5I/s400/16843_tanker-lq.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408854249948783602" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">So now it was a relatively short wait... just an hour and a half... for the tanker to be offloaded and for the pumps to start. Everyone was excited, but then a potential hitch showed up. The first car at the pump, the Hummer, had no driver. Apparently it had been parked by the pump all night. We were hoping that the owner would show up at some point, otherwise we were all going to be stuck. There was no way a tow-truck was getting through the crowd. Apparently Mr Hummer had told some of the petrol pump attendants to phone him when the pumps started up, but nobody knew if he was coming or not. And then another odd thought struck us, how big was the fuel tank of that car? Would we get any fuel after it was done filling? Well, then Mr Hummer showed up and immediately was on the mobile, right in front of clearly marked signs saying No mobile usage allowed. I guess since there was no fuel being dispensed, maybe he thought he was safe from battery sparks. None of the attendants tried to stop him either. I guess they thought if he wants to set himself on fire, let him. To bring back an earlier thought, safety first, as long as you are poor. You have the right to immolate yourself and set fire to the station as long as you can pay for the damage.<br /><br />The tanker finally offloaded and we all got into our cars in anticipation. All the other pumps started working, except the one I was behind. Yes... I had been waiting for 6 hours behind a hummer and a few other cars at a petrol pump that was out of order. It was a little funny seeing Mr Hummer's antics, he got fairly angry although he had not been waiting at all. I've sort of got used to Murphy being a constant companion, so it didn't faze me at all. I quickly made deals with the cars waiting next to me and they kindly allowed me to join their line. I, in turn, let the car in front of me at the non working pump jump into line. Amazing that people didn't blow their top. There was a further hitch, with the attendants refusing to put petrol in cars where the fuel door was on the opposite side of the car, away from the pump. So started more jigsaw puzzles, with cars (the ones that joined from the non-working pump line) having to turn around and face the line to get petrol. There's another half an hour of my life I won't be getting back. Of course nobody was controlling traffic and the station was packed so it took a long time for each car to drive out, turn, reverse, and have the fuel door face the pump. Then it took a long time for them to get out by reversing the procedure.<br /><br />Finally... my turn... after about 7 long hours, "Full tank, please."</div>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-4225353515018915632009-08-25T04:49:00.003+00:002009-08-25T05:14:51.552+00:00It's my birthday 2009For people new to the blog, every year I post a silly photo of myself on my birthday (here's <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/08/birthday-2008.html">2008</a>, <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2007/08/birthday-ii.html">2007</a> and <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/08/birthday.html">2006</a>) for those of you who wish to unleash more torture on yourselves. Here's this year's winner:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SpNuauZyEMI/AAAAAAAAAFg/Lh3ix7HA1g8/s1600-h/14545_rw.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SpNuauZyEMI/AAAAAAAAAFg/Lh3ix7HA1g8/s320/14545_rw.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373760185794957506" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />Yes... yes... I know... at my age I shouldn't be doing those things, my tongue might fall out or something, but I cannot resist.<br /><br />I did a quick search of famous people who share my birthday and came up with Rupert Grint (better known as Ron Weasley), Dave Chappelle, Reggie Miller, Stephen Fry, Orson Scott Card, Paulo Coelho and Denilson. So happy birthday to all those folks too.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-45211341000600485562009-08-18T19:48:00.001+00:002010-05-15T15:54:10.293+00:00The Phiri Deception II<a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/09/phiri-deception.html">Click here for the story so far</a>....<br /><br />...or enjoy the abstract... errr i mean summary...<br /><br />A high-tech spy / assassin type movie is being shot in Zambia. The plot is that the government is using an assassin called Tembo to kill one of their former agents, M. Phiri. Phiri has been spotted at Milky Lane in Manda Hill and Tembo rushes there to locate him...<br /><br />Malcolm Phiri gets his regular vanilla cone with chocolate dip. As always the chocolate doesn't cool fast enough and drips on his hand. He licks it off, chocolate is chocolate, doesn't matter where you get it from. He walks out and proceeds to the Game store. Seeing the Barclays ATM reminds him that he only has 40 pin on him. Petrol for two days will leave no change from that. So he stands in the queue and gets to the ATM. Puts his card in and wonders if he'll ever see it again... The ATM informs him politely that there are no advice slips available. Hopefully there's some cash available. Luckily a mix of newly minted 50- and 20,000 bills come out of the machine... and the card pops out too. Malcolm wonders why it always feels like winning the slots in Vegas when this process goes well.<br /><br />In the meantime Tembo rushes up the stairs by O'Hagens. The smell of fresh shepherd's pie brings him back to the days when he was dined by benefactors. And then those happy memories are obliterated as he runs into a cloud of smoke. The usual 'young gun' crowd is hanging out by the stairs, puffing on their cancer sticks. Coughing, Tembo makes it through the smoke and gets obstructed by the tables that line the stores. The crowds at this time... and it looks like - in addition to every flavour of food - every flavour of human in Lusaka is at Manda Hill. Pushing through the crowd, Tembo makes it to the outside of Milky Lane. Phiri could be anywhere. Using all of his police skills, Tembo spots a free chair amid the melee and sits in it. All these people... rushing past... they don't know that the future of the country depends on Phiri being eliminated.<br /><br />Phiri walks to his friend's car that he's borrowing for some time. Phiri's own car was hit from behind and is doing the requisite time at a body shop just opposite Arrackan Barracks on Burma Road. The place looked shady, but that was all the 'accidenter' could afford. It was either this shop or drive around with a big dent in the car and let the other guy go to jail for a couple of hours until he bribed himself out, or pulled some strings. At least the perpetrator had offered to wait around while they fixed the car. Apparently he'd left his car unattended at the shop before and... well... it wound up missing a few mirrors and the odd alternator or so when he got back. The garage fixes things but they don't do security. <br /><br />Malcolm gets into the borrowed car and starts to reverse, braking centimetres from a car that was about to hit him. He uses the 'minibus' technique to join the stream of cars passing by, inching a little more and more until the cars coming have to swerve. Bastards still won't stop. Eventually he moves just enough to where the silver Land Cruiser bearing down on him feared rolling over when it swerved and stopped. Success! Phiri sets off on the long wait to the Manda Hill gates. Why don't these guys build a couple more entries and exits from this place ? Oh yeah... they didn't get planning permission. Probably didn't fill the forms out in triplicate at the City Council, or made someone angry. After a lifetime of moving forward, he finally gets to the lights. A lady stands by his car asking for money... he refuses and she moves on. A youngster tries the same... for mealie meal, he says. The smell of glue wafts over Phiri. This young man could be working instead of begging, there are so many jobs now with the minibuses but this glue sniffing addiction has made him lose all his self-respect. The light changes, finally, and Phiri turns on to Great East Road going towards Addis Ababa, the road, not the city. "When will our people stop having to beg?" he thinks. Maybe it's a national illness... this culture of aid. Maybe Dambisa Moyo makes a lot of sense. It took Rozalla to remind us that everybody's free to feel good... and it takes a Moyo to come along and tell us the freedom is not free. <br /><br />To be continued...<br /><br /><a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/09/phiri-deception.html">Click here for Part I of the Phiri Deception</a>....Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-62570916068457205052009-03-06T10:57:00.007+00:002009-05-03T09:27:28.016+00:00Vaishnav janOne of Gandhi-ji's favourite songs is called "Vaishnav jan." It's always associated with him because he loved the lyrics and tried to follow those ideals. He also wanted to instill those ideas in all he met. He was honoured with the title "Father of India," and I'm sure he would have wanted his children to follow them. The current crop of Indian leaders think that they are honouring Gandhi-ji's memory by bringing his glasses and slippers back to India. Perhaps if they were a little familiar with the Mahatma's favourite song, they may not have made that mistake. So I'm helping them along with the lyrics and meanings of the song. You can <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKAhRsqvZqo">listen to the song here if you want to sing along</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je, peed paraayi jaane re /</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Par dukhe upkaar kare toye, man abhimaan na aane re//</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />The true devotee [of God] is one who understands the pain of those who are not their own,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Always ready to help those who are unhappy, and does not let arrogance enter his mind.</span><br /></blockquote><br />If the government was really interested in honouring Gandhi-ji's memory, they should be able to understand the problems that the people are facing. I would say the biggest problems are that people don't have enough opportunities to fulfill their potential. There are not enough places at institutions of higher learning, and not enough jobs for the few who do get a chance to study. I would say these things take just a little bit of priority over making a huge noise about Gandhi-ji's things that he gave away during his lifetime and nobody cared about for at least 60 years.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Sakal lok maan sahune vande, ninda na karen keni re /</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Vaach kaach man nischal raakhe, dhan dhan janani teni re //</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">She bows to the whole world, does not criticise anybody,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Words, deeds, and mind are kept pure, blessed is the mother who has such a child.</span><br /></blockquote>Well, this first bit the Indian government does really well. Bows to practically the whole world. "Oho, you want to come and blow up people here? No problem, please go ahead... consequences to you? None, don't worry... we will strongly condemn the acts but words have never hurt anyone. Do you mind if we blame the previous government for your actions? That way you can seem to be victims too!" Their words are definitely pure... deeds and minds not so much. Mother India is not very blessed with some of the current leaders that we have.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Sam-drishti ne trishna tyaagi, parastree jene maat re /</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Jivaa thake, asatya na bole, par dhan nava jhaale haath re //</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />All are looked upon as equals, desire is abandoned, and he treats women as if they were his mother,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />His tongue tires if he attempts to lie, he does not want other people's wealth.</span><br /></blockquote>I really wish the government would have this attitude. Right now, men and women are not looked upon equally, different castes are not looked upon equally, hell, ministers seem to expect the public to defer to them. Violence against women is a huge problem and their opportunities are still restricted in much of the country. Lies are the bread and butter of politics and stealing the taxpayers' money... that's an Olympic sport in itself. If only the government would spend some energy and time on this.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Moh maaya vyape nahin jene, drudh vairaagya jena manmaa re /</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Ram naam shu taali laagi, sakal theerth tena tan ma re //</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Desire and illusion don't hold him, he has detached himself fromt he world,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />The name of God is on his lips, all places of pilgrimage are in his body.</span><br /></blockquote>Government is very much attached to power, but not so much to the people who give them their power. They do use God to stay in power as much as possible... for some reason if God / religion is mentioned people forget rational thinking and hand over their brains. So instead of religion being something that unites, politicians use it to divide and the "we will protect you from them" seems to work better in the short term than "we'll get schools and electricity and water," of course the latter are much more difficult than the former, especially when there's nobody to protect against... other than goons who work for the politicians.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Vana lobhi ne kapat rachit chhe, kaam krodh nivaarya re /</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Bhane narsaiyyon tenu darshan kartaa, kul ekoter tarya re //</span> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;">He has no deceit, no greed, has given up lust and anger,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">If Narsi [the poet] is in the presence of such a person, his whole family will get salvation.</span></blockquote> Government's definitely failed on all this... the bad side is shown to the people of the country, they're really nice to foriegners as far as I can tell.<br />So, I'm asking those ministers who want to keep the memory of Mahatma Gandhi alive, take a page from his favourite poem and be that person... building statues, getting bits of memorabilia back won't keep his memory alive... as Gandhi-ji liked to say, "Be the change you want to see in the world," or at the very least, stop interfering with people who want to see change happen.<br /><br />Gandhi-ji was a brilliant tactician, he knew what would work against the British and what would unite Indians at a time when India had not been united for at least 2500 years. For all his non-violence, he never backed down from a fight. The fight wasn't physical, it was one 'half-naked fakir,' in the words of Winston Churchill, versus the greatest empire the world has ever known... and the fakir won. He also knew the power of experimentation to test his beliefs and he went against the opinion of most of the country when he decided to test if he had truly conquered desire for women [the experiment showed him that he hadn't conquered it.] He had a backbone... and great bravery, which is desperately lacking in the Indian government.<br /><br />So, Gandhian legacy is... call a spade a spade, work for the good of humanity and not oneself... stand up for what you believe in... what do the politicians of today believe in, other than enriching themselves and making sure they get elected the next time... his legacy is not his eyeglasses and sandals. Seriously.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-66261315442474771602009-01-28T07:34:00.000+00:002009-01-28T15:35:19.668+00:00Driving LusakaMy favourite topic... driving in Lusaka... fraught with hazards, it's truly punctuated equilibrium in action... only the fittest survive to drive another day. It does keep you glued to the seat with both hands on the wheel at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions... just like the driving instructor said. There are multiple dangers and it is definitely not for people without quick reflexes. In fact, I'm about to market Lusaka driving as alternative training for table tennis and badminton players to improve their reflexes. There are multiple dangers on the road that anyone thinking of driving here has to be aware of, from the potholes to random people jumping in front of the car. I'll begin with the pothole.<br /><br />Aaah the pothole, it's been a favoured sqatter on Lusaka roads since time immemorial. It was so ubiquitous that people avoided the roads entirely and drove on the sidewalks. It was such an example of the failure of government that the opposition used it in advertisements prior to elections. After the opposition won, they continued to leave the potholes in place just to remind the people how bad things were in the previous regime. And the opposition has won every election since, so I figure they have no reason, really, to fix potholes.<br /><br />Minibuses... known affectionately as 'matatus' in Kenya and the harbingers of death in Lusaka. These contraptions, sometimes held together just by cello tape and faith, carry commuters throughout the city. They often have slogans on the back, such as "My lord does not sleep," "Jesus saves" and such-like. I used to wonder why they were so religious, but no longer. They really want your last memories in life to be those of God as you plough into the back when they make one of their sudden stops to pick up some passenger. The aforesaid passengers of course are too lazy to walk to the nearest bus stop which may be just about 400 metres away. (It may be noted that the world record for 400 meter sprint is 43.18 seconds, held by Michael Johnson of the United States). Of course if you don't smash into the backs of these buses, you may hit their nose. A strategy that works for the minibuses to re-enter the road after an unscheduled stop is to slowly work their noses onto the road as each car whizzes by. There comes a time when enough of the front of the bus is on the road that the next car driving by will stop to let the bus back in. It's also possible that the religious slogans are on because the bus drivers are saving the world. They do drive like they have to get to the other end of the city in the next 2 minutes to avoid major catastrophe. Picture this, a long line of automobiles waiting on the road for a light to change to green. We're sitting there, inside the automobiles, cursing the lights and the authorities who refused to make an extra lane to cater for the traffic. We're still patiently waiting even though we're late for an appointment at the Brown Frog or at Rhapsody's. Almost every single time, one looks to the side and sees one or more of these blue buses, the saviours of mankind, rushing ahead on the sidewalk. "So, are we stupid, waiting in line," pointedly asks <a href="http://shilpaiyer.blogspot.com/">my wife</a>. I don't think she's convinced by my arguement that the drivers have to be somewhere in the next couple of minutes, or somebody will die. The other drivers all know this too, as they let the buses in at the head of the line... well, maybe it's just the nose-into-road technique. In short, if the traffic police got serious about having minibus drivers pay fines for violations, the entire Zambian budget could be balanced in about a year.<br /><br />Pedestrians and cyclists - Automobile traffic in Lusaka seems to have increased every time I get the mini-minivan out (it's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Raum">Toyota Raum</a> - yeah, I didn't know they existed until I got here either). This means that if you want to turn then you have a couple of seconds where there's enough time to jump on the road. Invariably, that's the time when pedestrians and cyclists will choose to cross the road right in front of you. They won't go around you so that you can turn, they will cross in front of you right as you want to move forward. It's common to see cyclists cycling against the flow of traffic. One would think if they cycled with the traffic, at least if they got hit, they would just accelerate forward. If they get hit head on, they'd just fly off the bike and crash into the car. Pedestrians at night... man... those are deadly. They wear non-reflective clothes and jump onto the road giving you just enough time to stand on the brakes or risk ploughing into them. And they won't even cross the road straight across... normally they do it in a diagonal fashion so they spend more time on the road than necessary. Are they asking for death? Who knows... I hope I'll never be the one to grant them their wish.<br /><br />SUV's and other tall cars. Almost every government vehicle seems to be some sort of SUV. Pajeros, Land Cruisers rule the roost here. Most of the time, these guys will come stand right next to you so that you can't see the oncoming traffic. Now if you want to turn, you have to wait for both lanes to clear or risk being a pappadum on the road... usually if the SUV moves then you are safe to move as well. This is mainly a problem when you have to turn left... the right side is obscured by the big car and they wait for both sides of the road to clear before they can turn. The cost of 3 of those cars can pay for a 96-capillary sequencer.... which I could desparately use right now. Of course with SUVs the potholes are just gentle dips in the road... so why fix them?<br /><br />I have found some Lusaka drivers to be extraordinarily well-mannered. They stop and let you through if you've been waiting for a while, they tell you to overtake them if you want to go faster, and flash their lights if you're driving with your lights on. They also flash their lights if they want to let you go through, and if they want you to stop, which gets confusing, but you get good at reading the context. I still have to figure out what some fool was doing last night flashing his or her lights behind me... the road was empty, my lights were working, and this person didn't want to overtake when I slowed down and moved into the other lane. Maybe someday the reasonw will come to me.<br /><br />It just came to me, no wonder <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satwant_Singh_%28rally_driver%29">Satwant Singh "the flying Sikh"</a> was All Africa rally champion eight times... he trained on Lusaka roads.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-17743205480964389302008-12-05T22:46:00.005+00:002008-12-06T11:24:40.185+00:00Why blog about Africa?<a href="http://rakotomalala.blogspot.com/">Lova</a> <a href="http://rakotomalala.blogspot.com/2008/11/miblaogy-momba-ani-afrika-pourquoi.html">tagged me</a> to produce a magnum opus on why I blog about Africa..... naah just kidding, he was hoping I'd go <a href="http://twitter.com/mosilager">twitterific</a> on him and use just 140 characters :)<br /><br />1. I am African. Well... not officially... I spent 6 years in Zambia growing up... then left to study... then came back to help with the HIV situation... so I feel African even though I'm here as a guest of Mr Banda's government. The old saying applies here, "You can take the man out of the bush but you can never take the bush out of the man."<br /><br />2. Before I met <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/">my amazing son</a> and <a href="http://shilpaiyer.blogspot.com/">my incredible wife</a> (yes, in that order,) my concept of "home" was tied to Lusaka. Of course, when in Lusaka, home magically changed to New Delhi. When in New Delhi, home changed to Kerala. Now it's a bit more complicated, I have to add, home is where the wife and son are.<br /><br />3. Non-Africans still don't know that Africa is not a country. Seriously... it's a continent, with many countries, and it has the greatest amount of genetic diversity between people. Zambia, which has a land area about the same size as South Carolina in the USA, has about 80 tribes with as many languages. So there's this knowledge gap about Africa that bloggers such as myself try to fill.<br /><br />4. I love the natural parks here where an existence without much human intervention is still possible. It's great to see things almost the way they were before people started enforcing their dominance. The Mosi-o-Tunya (the smoke that thunders, also known as Victoria Falls) is spectacular, with or without water. On the Zambian side you can see it almost as David Livingstone did back in the day. Now they've added some 'viewing areas' and such... but it's still fairly untouched. Zambia - the real Africa.<br /><br />5. Now that I've gushed on about the beauty here, I'm going to do a shameless plug for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosilager">my photo site</a> where there are lots of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosilager/sets/72157604856396644/">photos from Zambia</a>. (Reload this page to see different photos).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mosilager/sets/72157604856396644/"><img src="http://www.flickriver.com/badge/user/set-72157604856396644/recent/shuffle/medium-horiz/000000/cc0000/36434689@N00.jpg" alt="mosilager - View my 'Zambia' set on Flickriver" title="mosilager - View my 'Zambia' set on Flickriver" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />6. Ubuntu... not just my favourite computer operating system... you can see the spirit of ubuntu here - people believe "I am, because you are." No conversation starts off without enquiring about the other's health and well being and people are very polite. Incidents of mass violence are non-existent. The last time I remember something like this is back in 1991 or 1992 when there was no food in the provinces, people were literally starving, so they stood by the side of the road and threw stones at cars. There was a government change very quickly and things settled down. Even during the previous two elections, when one major leader was using an anti-foriegner platform to garner votes, there was no violence after the results were out. Congratulations, Zambia!<br /><br />I'm not sure if this is a manifestation of ubuntu, but random people will come up and ask for sums of money for a particular purpose... "I need 2 pin for talk time," is a common one I've heard... of course the classic "how about my weekend" or "what about christmas" is ever popular. My policy is that if they've helped me I pay up but otherwise I say I'm broke (which I usually am... postdoc after all). I haven't yet tried to go up to somebody and ask them for money for something... maybe I should.<br /><br />7. The region is reeling under the effect of HIV. Thanks to President Bush and the USA, there's a lot of money being pumped in to provide free antiretroviral therapy to anybody who needs it. Based on what I've seen here, the epidemic is spreading by going from husbands to wives and wives to children. Women's empowerment is the only way to stop the spread. They have to be able to say "no" to their husbands. Because that is going to take a long time, other options such as anti-HIV creams are being tested. Hopefully something will come in time.<br /><br />What will happen if the USA decides to pull out the money it's spending on healthcare for Africans? As far as I know, the people who are on therapy now will stop getting medication and the whole system will fall apart. Governments here have to find some way of financing treatment and / or increase effective prevention mechanisms. So far I haven't seen any government initiative to address this important question. After all, especially with the financial troubles now, how long are US citizens going to let governments fund the health of people abroad in countries that they probably can't even place on a map?<br /><br />Well... so if you feel like taking up the tag, consider yourself tagged... if you don't blog about Africa, then just answer the question, "Why blog about the place where you live?"Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-87375599444492156812008-11-12T12:08:00.005+00:002008-12-05T22:43:48.948+00:00How to be Punjabi... according to hindi filmsHindi film directors love portraying Punjabi families... probably for the same reasons as Malayalam film directors love having Tamilian characters. There's a top secret manual circulated only among hindi film directors as to how to turn your average hindi-speaking family into a Punjabi speaking one. I have found a copy of this and wanted to share it with the public at large.<br /><br />1. Call anyone younger than you "puttar." (Note from Ramanand Sagar: To depict a Sanskrit speaking family, this can be changed to "Putra".)<br /><br />2. Increase the volume when a turbaned, bearded uncle is speaking. Have said uncle raise his arms up as if to hug the whole world.<br /><br />3. Have a kid yell "unkkal-jeee" as uncle is shouting to him.<br /><br />4. Have an aunty make as if to grab the ears off the heroine and say something like "kinnee sohni kudi hai." The important thing is the word 'sohni'.<br /><br />5. There must be an aunty who flirts with the hero. When he coos back to her she blushes and turns her head, saying something like "haaaai, mainu maar jaavaan..." or something of the sort.<br /><br />6. One wideangle shot taking in a huge field of wheat... yellow everywhere with blue skies... lots of saturated colours.<br /><br />7. All hindi has to be Punjabi accented. "Oye... tooney mainu kudi ko kahaan bhagaayaa?"<br /><br />8. Adding "Oye" to the beginning of any sentence makes it Punjabi.<br /><br />9. One shot of uncle waxing eloquent about the good old days in 'Pindi or Lahore.<br /><br />10. To distract from heroes who are choreographically challenged, have them shout "Ho" and "Balle Balle."<br /><br />11. Bonus: How come Salman Khan is always present in these kinds of movies?<br /><br />Update from <a href="http://shilpaiyer.blogspot.com">my wife</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Some Hindi movies play host to the following character too..<br />World hugging uncle who stiffly breaks out into song and dance routine to the shock of family members...<br />Old ,on-her-deathbed 'Maaa' who always has logical solutions to the most mundane problems.and of course the best 'achaar'recipes.<br />Pesky 'chutki' sister who insists on being lifted up at all inopportune moments..read when the hero is about to declare his undying love going down on scraped knee! <span class="comment-timestamp"> </span></blockquote>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-50176371023927872592008-10-06T20:07:00.003+00:002008-10-12T17:45:23.412+00:00Mosi and family at the garbas<a href="http://shilpaiyer.blogspot.com">My much better half</a>, my sister and I decided to partake of the spirit of Navratri and went to the garbas over the weekend. For those who need an introduction, it's a Hindu festival. The basic point of it is to dance... going clockwise and then counter-clockwise in concentric circles (or as complete a circle as possible). That part is fun... but we were really there to see which girls showed up... wait... I'm married, I can't do that any more... at least not without losing a few limbs... so we were really there to dance the dandiya. This starts after the garba and involves grabbing a couple of sticks, getting together with a few people and hitting their sticks. Usually in Lusaka it's a 4-beat.. 1-&-2-&-3-&4. The dancers all line up and each person faces somebody. On 1 they hit the stick in the right hand with the opposite person's right hand stick. The off-beat gives them the opportunity to try something fancy like twirling the stick... and then on 2 it's the stick in the other hand that gets the beating... then step back... 3- hit your sticks together... 4 - hit your partner's stick - normally here I try to hit with both sticks. Then move to your left, skip a person... 1- hit the stick. When you get to the end of the line... the off-beat after the 4 involves a 360 degree turn and 1- hit stick.<br /><br />So hopefully that was crystal clear. There's not much variation in the steps out here but the tempo keeps getting faster and faster... eventually people drop out. Since we were there for some time, I had the chance to observe the various people I partnered with. So here's a list of people you might run into during a dandiya...<br /><br />1. Why am I here?<br />These people have an expression on their face that suggests they would rather watch paint dry. And yet... you see them on the dance floor for hours. What gives? Looks like the wires that connect emotions to the face got switched. The ones for boredom and having lots of fun, especially. I didn't know I could find research subjects at a cool religious dance.<br /><br />2. Sorry... did I hit your stick?<br />These wonders give you a shy smile when they partner with you... and hit your sticks as if they shouldn't even touch. When they do touch these people give you an apologetic smile and move on to the next apology. Maybe these people all have a good idea of their strength... or they were hit a little too much by #7 - man on a mission.<br /><br />3. Monkey<br />These descendents of Hanuman jump around all the time with a big smile on their face. You almost think they're about to steal the sticks from your hand... but it doesn't happen. At least they're better than the super-bored... and they could be handy if you ever need to build a land bridge to Sri Lanka.<br /><br />4. Man on a mission<br />These people fix you with an unblinking stare. They mean business. They have bet their friends that their sticks will be the first to break and they smash them into yours like there is no tomorrow. The wife tells me the best way to avoid such is to never make contact with their sticks. After all, you're not winning any money if your stick breaks. The most that will happen is you'll get some sympathy when the splinters enter your hands or feet.<br /><br />5. Last hurrah<br />The garbas only come once a year and these people are out there to make the most of it. Leaping back, twirling their sticks in the air, turning full 360s at every off-beat... and keeping it up till the band stops playing. They play like it's the last time they'll ever do it and keep the party going.<br /><br />6. Who's that other person over there?<br />These people are always looking around to see who is there, what they're wearing, who they're with... they tend to forget that other people are swinging wooden sticks and their bodies (sometimes ample) around. It's a recipe for bloody fingers and / or noses. These people have amazing tolerance for pain... and continue to look everywhere else but at their partner. Wonder where they got their torture-survival training. Our troops could use some of that.<br /><br />7. I got my drink and my two-step<br />OK... I cannot say this enough. It's a 4 step, not a 2 step. I don't care if you're rocking back and drinking, you better be there with your stick on the 4 to hit mine. If you don't know... and can't think on your feet... observe, watch, before you jump in. Do not drink and dandiya, otherwise someone will be tempted to hit you on the head.<br /><br />8. Not these people... not these either... no not those...<br />Some people are so scared of commitment that they won't even commit to a dandiya group. They keep moving between groups... and sometimes take other people with them.<br /><br />Well, we had a great time this year. Kudos to the organisers and Lalji and his musician colleagues. Wish they could play all the time... now... what's for diwali?Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-32531299887520838362008-09-28T20:11:00.008+00:002010-05-15T15:54:10.294+00:00The Phiri DeceptionI can just imagine if some kinda hi-tech assasin / spy movie was to be shot in Zambia. It would go something like this:<br /><br />The government have set up an agency of trained killers. The killers are supposed to get their info by mobile phone. Now, the agency wants to kill one of their former officers M Phiri. Phiri has been spotted by an agency operative who is cleverly disguised as a street kid. The operative pulls out his mobile phone and takes a photo of Phiri. Now he sends it via MMS to Tembo... or at least tries to. Telecel, Celtel, Zain, or whatever that phone company is called today pops up with a message saying that's not possible. So our intrepid street kid uploads the photo to flickr by going on the internet and SMS's Tembo the URL. This is the signal for Tembo to track down and kill Phiri. Tembo is on the MTN network. He tries to get to the URL. MTN says, "connection error." Tembo cancels, tries again. His phone asks him for permission to go on the internet. He allows it. MTN doesn't... internet busy. Tembo SMS's the street kid for a location. He'll get the photo on the go when MTN comes back up again.<br /><br />Tembo gets the message. Phiri was spotted outside Manda Hill. He runs to his trusty Toyota Corolla and starts it up. The car doesn't start. No fuel. Since petrol prices had shot up to K9500 per litre (about 3 dollars) the department used up its quota in the first two weeks. Tembo curses and jumps out. He flags down a blue minibus. Sensing his desperation, the conductor charges him 15 pin to go the two kilometres to the Manda Hill stop. On the way the MTN finally works and Tembo gets to the flickr photo page. The photo starts loading. Tembo sees a bold head... and then the phone gets stuck. MTN disconnected. So Tembo starts his Opera mini again... this time he sees Phiri's photo.<br /><br />The bus hits the normal congestion at the Zain intersection just before Manda Hill. A million people want to turn into that place and there's only one lane, so it takes about half an hour. The bus finally drops Tembo off at Manda Hill. He quickly turns his head and scans for Phiri. Phiri is nowhere to be seen. So Tembo calls the street kid. Trial one: All circuits are busy... please try your call later. Trial two: engaged. Trial three: the phone rings. Street kid says he saw Phiri go into Milky Lane. Tembo races across the street amidst the normal cacophony of horns blaring and brakes squealing.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/10/phiri-deception-ii.html">...to be continued...</a></span>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-28420862372429093862008-09-28T16:52:00.003+00:002008-09-28T18:56:18.248+00:00Pappu can't dance... who cares?There's this song that's been bugging me for a while. It goes 'Pappu can't dance saala.' There are a few things that bug me about the song. One is that I can't get into it at all and everyone else seems to love it. The second thing is that the lyrics... well it's nonsense. Somebody who had nothing to write about came up with the song. Kinda like my blog posts of late... trying desperately to write something good and failing... so I recognise the type. The third thing is that basically if you add a gratuitous 'saala' to the end of your lyrics you'll get a popular song.<br /><br />Now I've liked songs without lyrics... 'pump up the jam' is a notable one... so I don't know why this song bugs me particularly. Maybe because it's about Salman Khan. Something about Salman Khan has always bugged me. The chest-baring is a big part of it... "I can't act, but here's my chest." Actually it's a lot like the 'saala' thing... add some nonsense to a song or act so that everyone focuses on the nonsense and ignores everything else.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-9323585578098492352008-09-25T13:43:00.004+00:002008-10-06T19:47:20.993+00:00Why not Halliburton?Apparently president Bush wants to spend 700 billion dollars of US people's money to bail out a couple of companies that collapsed through poor financial management. The US people have already overpaid for random wars. I humbly suggest that the companies that profited from the wars buy off this debt.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-13658419487038474542008-09-20T08:01:00.008+00:002008-09-20T10:41:16.097+00:00To the mujahideen from the government of India,Dear mujahideen,<br /><br />As you may be aware, the Government of India has declared the years from 1990-2020 "Visit India." During this time we will do all in our power to help you succeed in your aims to eat your <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5">72 raisins</a> post-mortem. We have a lovely, big, open country where you can hide out in peace. We also have lots of local fanboys and girls who will provide you with all asisstance necessary in achieving your objectives. Room to stay, great places to shop at etc. We also have people who will sell you any sort of weaponry that you deem necessary. No need to bring in Chinese <span style="font-style: italic;">maal</span> from Pakistan or Bangladesh, you can find it direct from China here. There are a lot of advantages to buying it in India. You will help in keeping the local gun/explosives runners in business. The mujahideen who are to come after you will also find a local source in case something happens to their arms cache.<br /><br />We can offer lots of crowded marketplaces and hospitals for you to set bombs at. Not to mention, everyone here is fairly religious so they go to temples, churches, mosques etc. Those might also be good areas to strike. If you are lucky the victims' families will start blaming the people from other religions and start mini-civil wars. We also hope for this because it gives our upcoming party members a chance to show how they can protect their communities from the others, gain votes, get into power, and steal taxpayers money.<br /><br />Don't be frightened when we publicly announce that 'befitting reply' will be given. This doesn't mean that your homes will be bombed and your cities annihilated and your chiefs arrested or tortured. This just means that we will have lots of chai and samosas with your bosses. Then we'll announce some sort of bilateral antiterrorism drive. We'll share data and such so that you guys know exactly what we're going to do next. We'll also pick up some people here or <span style="font-style: italic;">encounter</span> them so that our public is happy.<br /><br />We forgot to mention that with your acts of terrorism you will be doing a huge public good. Our people have not yet realised that there are too many of them. Our population control messages haven't quite worked very well. So the occasional bombing helps ease some of the pressure. Everyone forgets about the dead after 2 days and we'll be back in business. I think our rating in the world will improve if our population goes down. Otherwise that Bush of America is always accusing us of stealing all his petrol, that's why he has to raise prices over there. We have heard that before the elections petrol prices go down mysteriously over there. But that's not the subject of this letter.<br /><br />I forgot to mention one more thing, the only place that you are not allowed to attack is parliament. You see, we want to be able to sleep at work without listening to loud explosions and firecracker-like noises. It's not good for our blood pressure. So if you try to attack parliament directly we will send some of our armed forces your way. Everything else you are welcome to.<br /><br />So... namaste, welcome to India.<br /><br />Yours invitingly,<br /><br />K Nath,<br />Head Chaprasi,<br />Ministry of Useless Letters,<br />Sansad Marg<br />New Delhi<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">maal</span> - originally, loot but means goods in this case<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">encounter</span> - when the police shoot criminals instead of arresting them. Usually because the criminals are shooting back, sometimes because they're as much a danger inside jails as outside.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-87541279854403187972008-09-11T03:24:00.010+00:002008-09-11T14:58:46.520+00:00News and not newsJose told me the other day that Zambia was hardly ever in the news compared to our more illustrious neighbours such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex Zaire). A quick look at the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/default.stm">bbc africa</a> page shows the words used in news articles on Africa most - least frequently (large font - small font):<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SMkn79I5hlI/AAAAAAAAAEI/vKKGsUKi0eo/s1600-h/bbcafricanews.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SMkn79I5hlI/AAAAAAAAAEI/vKKGsUKi0eo/s400/bbcafricanews.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244767152027305554" border="0" /></a>(stats generated by <a href="http://wordle.net/">wordle</a>)<br /></div><br />That's pretty interesting. Fighting and violence fairly prominent... dictators such as Mugabe being very popular. So bad, bad, bad bad...<br /><br />Here's a similar analysis of the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/default.stm">BBC Europe</a> page:<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SMkoqRYiMQI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/Flqs18LaoV0/s1600-h/bbceuropenews.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SMkoqRYiMQI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/Flqs18LaoV0/s400/bbceuropenews.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244767947735576834" border="0" /></a>(stats generated by <a href="http://wordle.net/">wordle</a>)<br /></div><br />Again lots of fighting and wars and such. Nothing about the progress we're making with the large haldron collider coming alive and functioning like the scientists said. And the world NOT ending like the religious people said. Will this be the end of eschatology (aka religious ideas about the end of the world ?) - ever notice how similar eschatology is to scatology {study of #2 err crap err shit, or as GingaBoo would call it, poo (ok they would call it perfume)}?.<br /><br />So then to get away from the mainstream media and their ideas that only bad things will sell, I went to <a href="http://goodnewsindia.com/">Good News India</a>, which reports positive stories. Unfortunately I couldn't find an RSS feed for their main articles. I found one for the project the webmaster is involved in currently, about <a href="http://goodnewsindia.com/pointreturn/online">going back to nature and such</a>, so here's <a href="http://wordle.net/">wordle</a>'s analysis of his articles in a happy white background :)<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SMksXigL0fI/AAAAAAAAAEY/zLnvsJ8LQTk/s1600-h/goodnewsindia.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SMksXigL0fI/AAAAAAAAAEY/zLnvsJ8LQTk/s400/goodnewsindia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244772023960064498" border="0" /></a>(stats generated by <a href="http://wordle.net/">wordle</a>)<br /></div><br />Now that's more like it... farmers, solar, energy, power, windmill. More like the things I want to see in the news. (And you can't fault me for making this look happier than the other two - well, maybe you can - and then we can have a long fight about how marketing makes things more saleable).<br /><br />So, mainstream media (Sorry I picked on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk">the Beeb</a> here), (and I know you're listening, the last couple of times I wrote about you <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2007/02/state-within.html">here</a> and <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/12/whos-man.html">here</a>, there were hits from your domain,) pretty please, have 'positivity day' where a majority of the news is positive. The stuff that you don't consider news right now. For example, the President of Zambia died and there were no riots. Nobody got killed. No coup. Economy still going strong, growing about 5% per year. The funeral and mourning period went on well with minimum disruption to normal life. Lots of poor people can afford HIV treatment thanks to PEPFAR and CIDRZ. So... stuff like that, you know ? So that the rest of the world doesn't think that we live on trees and shoot each other. Thanks.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-78694579058099107032008-09-05T20:11:00.013+00:002008-09-08T20:21:03.883+00:00Nostalgia<div style="text-align: left;">I miss the good old blogging days... when my 'blog crowd' was active. We had fun. I started blogging in October 2005... mainly because I wanted to practice my dusty and disused hindi and malayalam. Predictably, it was about my doggies <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/">Ginga and BooBoo</a>. It was pretty amazing to have them around and I had to <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html">share the experience</a>. <a href="http://mamasaysso.blogspot.com/">Rohini of Mama says so</a> found the blog quickly (I still don't know how she did it) and became my first blog buddy. She's a great writer and here's <a href="http://mamasaysso.blogspot.com/2006/01/forbidden-fruit.html">her first post that I commented on</a> :)<br /><br />Lova started up <a href="http://rakotomalala.blogspot.com/">his own blog</a> pretty soon after that. I always thought he did it because of inspiration from yours truly... but as it turned out it was due to other reasons entirely... ah well can't win everything. So here's <a href="http://rakotomalala.blogspot.com/2005/12/saint-martin.html">his first post</a> that I commented on. For all things Madagascar, his blog is the place to be. He's still going strong and has a great following on <a href="http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/sub-saharan-africa/madagascar/">Global Voices Online</a> as well. He was briefly podcasting for the BBC... although not sure what happened to that.<br /><br />Meanwhile, over on the dog blog, the other Ginga/BooBoo lovers were frustrated with my writing and there were accusations that I was being partial to Ginga. It wasn't true. Ginga just photographs much better than the skinny one. I can take 5 photos of fatass and 4 of them will turn out good... BooBoo on the other hand... 1 in 20 maybe would work out. Anyway so the criticism washed off my back and I challenged them to do a better job... so <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2006/01/10-not-so-best-sellers-sequel.html">Lova</a> (January 2006)and <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2006/05/little-angels-gingaboo_11.html">Imei</a> (May 2006) started contributing (and did a much better job than me... some of the time :D). As part of the complaints, I <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/01/vanilla-ice-wheres-my-t-shirt.html">started my non-doggie blog</a>. Apparently doggie-lovers didn't appreciate cricket and photographs on the dog blog :(.<br /><br />Well, as the dog blog progressed, The visitor, Video and <a href="http://amritar.blogspot.com/">Amrita</a> started following it. Visitor and Video have stopped blogging :(. <a href="http://amritar.blogspot.com/">Amri</a> has effectively stopped blogging but at least she is to be <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrita/">found on flickr</a>... and is thinking about <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrita/2836269822/">getting an SLR</a>, yay ! <a href="http://thisiseve.net/feiblog">Fei and Eve</a>, <a href="http://www.shilpaslair.blogspot.com/">Shilpa</a>, and <a href="http://www.karenshanley.com/blog/">Karen</a> were all regular visitors. These three are still pretty active bloggers, although due to my slow (and sometimes non-existent) internet I haven't been able to keep up with them. Sorry, sorry... the Lusaka cable internet connection was expected in December, meaning by next year it will probably be ready. TIA, TIA, as we say - this is Africa :)<br /><br />In March 2007, Daisuke <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2007/03/more-about-gingas-origins.html">joined the Dog blog writers crowd</a>. He's Ginga's ex-daddy - he and Ginga's ex-mommy put G in my care before leaving the continent. It was great to find out from him how G-man was as a puppy... and there are some priceless photos of the little one.<br /><br />In the meantime, the <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/">non-dog blog</a> was gaining good ground, had <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/search/label/Science">some posts that got famous for science humour</a>... and <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/12/temple-and-state.html">got on desipundit</a>... It was great interacting with so many people because of the blog. I met <a href="http://bohemianfreespirit.blogspot.com/">Freespirit</a>, <a href="http://www.twisted-dna.com/">Twisted DNA</a>, <a href="http://analisfirstamendment.blogspot.com/">Anali</a>, <a href="http://shallowthoughts00.blogspot.com/">TGFI</a>, <a href="http://www.greeker.blogspot.com/">Crizzie Criz</a>, <a href="http://hulles.blogspot.com/">Hulles</a>, <a href="http://theinquisitiveakka.blogspot.com/">Inquisitive Akka</a>, <a href="http://www.nshima.com/">Melvin</a>, <a href="http://sheetalmakhan.blogspot.com/">Sheetal</a>, <a href="http://thisismydejavu.blogspot.com/">Rajesh</a>, <a href="http://siddhuw.blogspot.com/">Siddhu</a>, <a href="http://insatiablecupidity.blogspot.com/">Isha</a>, and <a href="http://neomilieu.blogspot.com/">Sreekumar</a>, and loved their comments and posts. Some have become friends in the offline realm as well. There were also dedicated commentors like Mansoora, Mayuri and Jose... and who can forget the legions of 'anonymouses' who dropped by. (I do have to say that I badgered the aforementioned M&M&J personally so that they would comment).<br /><br />Then I started writing less as the thesis stress got to me.. the words would come but they would not flow. About the same time I managed to fulfill a lifelong dream and get a 'that's not a camera, this is a camera' camera (<a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2007/07/canon-eos-20d.html">canon EOS 20D</a> - thanks a lot to <a href="http://capturedphoton.blogspot.com/">Ali</a> and Mansoora - she deleted her blog unfortunately - for help and advice and suggestions on this). The writer's block on the blog continued but I think <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosilager">the photography improved</a> since then.<br /><br />So now as I look around the blog world, myself and many of my contacts have stopped blogging regularly... for various reasons. There's a new generation of writers who seem to kick arse... there's <a href="http://bengloorgirlindenver.blogspot.com/">Pri</a>, <a href="http://krishashok.wordpress.com/">KrishAshok</a>, <a href="http://tamizhpenn.blogspot.com/">Tamizh Pennu</a>, <a href="http://angryafrican.net/">Angry African</a> etc. They're way better than I ever was... but one lives and learns so who knows... maybe the writing will come back (yeah, right!).<br /><br />So here's to us oldies... and the newies... may the blogging tribe prosper... and may some of the people who started blogging with me publish prize winning books in the future. I'm already published, unfortunately about only about 2 people in the world will have any interest in reading that thesis.</div>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-8264310382784655572008-09-05T13:52:00.003+00:002008-09-30T20:12:54.804+00:00"To those who attended my funeral, I say thank you"-Dr Levy Mwanawasa, President of Zambia, in the public part of his will.<br /><br />It's been an eventful week in Zambia. President Mwanawasa was buried in Lusaka following a nationwide tour after his death. Part of his will, a message to the nation, was made public yesterday. He explains that he has made enemies due to his strong stance against corruption and misuse of public funds.<br /><br />It's the first time that Zambia is losing a head of state, the previous two Presidents are still alive and well, and I wish them a long healthy life. The Zambian armed forces handled the funeral arrangements professionally. Leaders of surrounding countries came, it was nice to see Mbeki (South Africa), Mugabe and Tsvangirai (Zimbabwe), Ravonamalala (Madagascar), Kagame (Rwanda), Kabila (DR Congo), Khame (Botswana), among others.<br /><br />According to the constitution, Presidential elections have to take place within 90 days of the death of the sitting President. The candidates who are running for the Presidency are supposed to be announced today but haven't heard anything yet. Hope whoever comes in makes it easier to do business, and liberalises the telecom sector. Lower petrol prices would be nice too (it's about 3 USD / L right now aka >10 USD / gallon). A boost in science funding would be great so that the national labs can do some research without looking for resources from other countries.<br /><br />The people have taken the news maturely and there has been no violence so far. It's business as usual. Celebrations are not really taking place, and they are quite toned down as a mark of respect. The official mourning period ends on Monday.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-31632614906943635382008-08-27T17:23:00.005+00:002008-10-12T17:45:23.414+00:00All I needed to know I learnt from the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy...<span style="font-weight: bold;">10. Humans are not as important as we think we are.</span><br />The universe is staggeringly, mindblowingly huge. From the universe's perspective, we are a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot. Earth, and all of humanity could be destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass and nobody on any other planet would ever notice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. There's no point in living forever.</span><br />What would you do? All your friends would be dead or you would have fought with them. You would be so bored that all you could do was insult every single living thing in the universe, alphabetically by name. And watch that point in Love, actually where Keira Knightley first shows up as a bride for the 18 billionth time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. Being a God may not be much fun (unless other people find out).</span><br />Look at the rain God... it was always raining wherever he was. Then he got paid a lot to stay away from places. He's still lonely.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Digital watches are still a pretty neat idea.</span><br />The little things.... the wheel, the mirror... man those things are just works of genius.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. It's sometimes a good thing to have a few drinks. </span><br />You never know when you're about to find out that the world is about to end and your best friend is an alien from somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Some things are pure evil, even if they write poetry. </span><br />The Vogons, for instance, wrote horrible poetry... not because deep down inside they're sentimental, but just because they liked to torture others with it. E V I L Full Stop.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Animals are probably more intelligent than humans.</span><br />Think about it... why would an intelligent being want to have all the problems of ruling the world? It's much better to influence those who rule by changing their perceptions of reality and making them do what you want. So that you can have time to hang around in the pool and get free food. Wait... grad students might actually be more intelligent than the general population.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. The messiah ain't a-comin'.</span><br />And if she is, she's gonna reach right before the world ends. So be happy right now, the switch for happiness is in your brain, not in the PS3 or XBOX360 (those do help for a little while though).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. The answer to the secret of life, the universe, and everything is 42. </span><br />The problem is, nobody knows the question. If they did, then the whole universe would fall apart and be replaced by something even more mind-boggling.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. No robot can make good tea</span> the way mamma (or the guy in the train - for those who've been on Indian railways) made it.<br />You can have the smartest computer in the world... but that thing cannot make tea properly, even if you sit all night explaining all about picking the best leaves out of Assam.<br /><br />(I just realised that people might have no clue what I'm talking about. I just realised there might be people who've never read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy">Douglas Adams' The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series</a>. D-oh. Please to read it, thaank you very much.) It's a great book, and this post probably only makes sense to H2G2 fans.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-85616844116289016592008-08-24T07:11:00.003+00:002008-10-12T17:45:23.414+00:00Birthday 2008There's a tradition on this blog that every year on my birthday I post a silly picture of myself to remind people that I'm only getting younger. (For those just catching up, here's <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/08/birthday.html">Birthday 2006</a> and <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2007/08/birthday-ii.html">Birthday 2007</a>).<br /><br />This photo was taken by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/11778688803902806763">Imei</a> - who blogs <span style="text-decoration: underline;">at BooBoo, Ginga and the world of dogs</span> and at <a href="http://imeilounge.blogspot.com/">Imei lounge</a>... and just about sums up what I try to do on this blog.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SLEL-B5x-dI/AAAAAAAAACo/wWAYMvHSsW8/s1600-h/DSCF0153-800.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pHVtFQEDHVs/SLEL-B5x-dI/AAAAAAAAACo/wWAYMvHSsW8/s400/DSCF0153-800.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237981001899178450" border="0" /></a><br />OK... since the public humiliation is out of the way, I remembered that I <a href="http://bohemianfreespirit.blogspot.com/2008/02/tag-long.html">had a tag</a> that I never got around to doing... from way back in Feb (thanks <a href="http://bohemianfreespirit.blogspot.com/">Freespirit</a>).<br /><br />Rules of the tag are:<br /><span style="font-size: 85%;"><blockquote>Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like). Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.<br /></blockquote></span>I'm going to ignore the part about tagging other people. If this post moves you, then consider yourself tagged. Actually maybe I should start a tag that people should post a silly picture of themselves on their birthday.<br /><br />Family:<br />I try to keep my human family off the blog for security reasons - naah just kidding - I'm too lazy (and too cheap) to call them up and ask for permission individually... but I assume that the doggie family is cool with that. They know more than I do, for sure. So <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2006/01/ginga-booboo-at-dog-conference.html">here's a post of the first Dog Conference</a> arranged in Lafayette. There's some sad news, Rudy's passed away due to heart failure and Sophie has passed away due to cancer (they are No. 7 and No. 8 on that blog post).<br /><br />Friend:<br /><a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/11/ladies-get-ready-for-mr-lova-lova.html">Here</a> I have a blog post about <a href="http://rakotomalala.blogspot.com">Lova aka Mr Lova Lova the Malagasy dwarf hippo</a>. Don't worry, there's no weeping or crying when you read the post. It's just about a <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2006/11/ladies-get-ready-for-mr-lova-lova.html">trip to Chicago to watch Russell Peters and how Lova got on TV</a>.<br /><br />Myself:<br />Well... you can access me through my writing and through my photos. I'm on everywhere as mosilager. Right now the photography side of my brain is more active than the 'fun' writing side of the brain so check out my best photo stuff at <a href="http://lensaholic.blogspot.com">Lensaholic</a> and that and everything else on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosilager">mosilager@flickr</a>.<br /><br />Love:<br />Aaaah yes... love love love. I'll make a confession, I 've watched <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Actually">Love, actually</a> about 50 times. It's a great movie. It doesn't make me any less of a man (at least that's what all the girls say to my face). Man... and I thought the public humiliation on my birthday theme ended with the silly photo. Here's my other ramblings on <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-find-perfect-woman.html">how to find the perfect woman</a>, and the <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2006/12/marriage-profile.html">marriage profile that actually brought the perfect woman to me</a> :)<br /><br />Anything I like:<br />I do have some off-the-wall stuff that I like. I like this post about <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2007/07/if-harry-potter-series-was-written-by.html">how different authors would have written Harry Potter</a>. I also like <a href="http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com/2008/01/survivor-india.html">this post about surviving the trip to meet family</a> after getting a job for the first time. And here's <a href="http://mosilager.blogspot.com/2007/03/life-with-2-doggies.html">what you have to know when living with two dogs</a>. All hopes of one teaching the other good manners will fly out of the window.<br /><br />Consider yourself tagged if you feel like going on a journey to discover your old posts... and have a long island iced tea on me.Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21417679.post-3099888071457727302008-08-22T10:52:00.004+00:002008-08-23T05:11:07.117+00:00LensaholicI've been fairly delinquent on the blog. It's a combination of being busy, slow internet and writer's block. When I try to write it doesn't flow well and I hate posting complete trash. So I've been taking photos and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosilager">posting them on flickr</a>. Unfortunately flickr only keeps track of the last 200 photos that have been uploaded. In order to preserve the links to older photos than that, I've <a href="http://lensaholic.blogspot.com">started a blog called Lensaholic</a>. Do pay a visit. If anyone knows how to port flickr comments to blogger, please let me know.<br /><br />Here's a little gallery of some of my most popular photos (as judged by flickr users).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mosilager/popular-interesting/"><img src="http://www.flickriver.com/badge/user/all/interesting/shuffle/medium-horiz/ffffff/333333/36434689@N00.jpg" alt="mosilager - View my most interesting photos on Flickriver" title="mosilager - View my most interesting photos on Flickriver" /></a>Mosilagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293536314807508468noreply@blogger.com2