Rusty idea

Tweeting like a morning bird

2007-11-11T15:14:00.000+11:00

Nowadays I'm more at Twitter than Blogger. There are more half-written drafts than posts. Is is just a phase or a phenomenon?

Indian Economy: Where is the reform ladder?

2007-09-28T16:55:00.000+10:00

It is not a question of doubt now. Everyone wants a stronger India. Stronger India means, the India, where the standard of living is higher than ever; where the industries perform more than what was forecast; where the money markets get stronger and stronger every day; where financial stability brings prosperity. So, exactly, how is Coalition Politics an answer to the grand success of our nation?

Just the last couple of years have seen an enormous growth in Indian economy. I can recall, Sensex, the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, rallying at a level less than 7000 points. And now, the sensex rallies just above 17000 points, the last 1000-point improvement happening in just 5 days. Yes, indeed there are some pitfalls in the sensex and how it relates to the growth of Indian economy. Sensex is just a small sample of the total volume and diversity of stocks traded at the Bombay Stock Exchange. It is too small a sample with only 30 stocks in the index. Even though, the index is diverse and dynamic as SEBI removes the non performing stocks and adds the most performing stocks, it is still too small a sample to gauge the mood of the economy. It is high time, the index gets expanded to 100 or at least 50 in the medium term. Very simply, the Indian economy has grown to a enormous extent in the last few years, that the rudimentary 30-bourse Sensex seems as though it is very outdated.

There are other changes that has to be done. Economic growth has to be sustained while the inflation is controlled. Calculated lending has to be supported. The Rupee has to be made free.

Howard's Election Year Debacle

2007-07-29T12:37:00.001+10:00

Say the word "Terrorism" and the world goes haywire. We know things went wrong for Bush, yet, sadly, Howard could have learnt some lessons from that. He didn't. And things went haywire so badly, to the extent that it may even be one of those defining moments that would bring an end to Howard's stint as Australia's Prime Minister.

Living at Gold Coast, Australia's Tourism Capital, gives an aura of fun and nothing else. I've heard people say, they didn't like Gold Coast as much as they liked Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. But it is the vibrant environment, propelled by the tourism industry, that helps us get along with our daily lives in a relaxing way. In a city where its seasons are defined by the tourists, no-one would have believed that this city could serve 'bed n breakfast' to terrorists planning to topple the peace in the world.

On July 2, a doctor of Indian origin, working and residing just a couple of kms away from my place was arrested on his way home to meet his new born baby. It came as a shock to me and my friends, one because, it happened in a place which I've been calling home for the past two and half years, and two, because, he was of Indian origin. We wondered, what it would do to the image of the Indians in this multi-cultural community and what it would do to the prospects of our immigration into Australia.

Contrary to the predominant belief that Australians are rude and racist, one would be surprised to find that this city accepts, a person of any origin as its own, be it Indian, pan-American, Middle-Eastern, Chinese, other-Asian, or Japanese. We live as a multi-cultural community; we work as a multi-cultural community to serve the multi-cultural tourist community. We see people come and go, and so are their cultures. Having lived here for nearly two-and-half years, I can gauge the pulse of this city over different inflow of tourists. In summer, the beaches glisten with sand, sweat, surf and skin. It is indeed a gorgeous summer. The sounds of the revving V8 Supercars reverberate our walls in October. It is the racing Autumn. Winter on the other hand sees a swarm of black with tourists from the middle-east. The season drapes the city with a pleasant aroma of middle-eastern perfumes, sweet accents of English and Arabic, and furls of curly Arabic signposts. We read from right to left for a few months. Tourists come and go, their cultures come and go, and I've seen this city adapt to each and every one of those cultures. I've also seen this city learn newer fashions from every culture as seasons pass by.

And even the peaceful community can go through stages of emotions inflamed by brutal acts brought upon by the unwanted. In the last few weeks, I've seen people wonder and discuss the happenings aloud and in whispers. The good and the ugly, both sides of views. Such things create an uneasy qualm within you and amongst everyone. Wary eyes boring into you, and you just walk past hoping this would get over soon. It did got over soon. What has been flamed by the government, in haste, in the end seemed as though it was done very immaturely. Even as the courts granted bail on the accused, the immigration minister, revoked the visa, citing failure to pass character test.

Then on one fine day, the blow came for AFP (Australian Federal Police). The crucial evidence wasn't how it was shown to be after all, which led to the case being dropped dramatically at the courts. Less than four weeks, and John Howard's idea of trial by media backfired and blew up on his face. This may just spell an end to his stint as PM. And people like me lay our fears to rest, slowly, in the days to come. It would only be apt for him to give an apology not only to the person whom the government wrongly accused in the month of July 2007, but also to the community, whose feelings he had hurt by doing so.

Read more: The prisoner may go free, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 July 2007.

Why do we 'run' to catch a bus?

2006-09-18T09:34:00.001+10:00

Today, I noticed a strange human behaviour. One person waved her hand to stop the bus in which I was traveling, but the bus overshot the bus stop and stopped a couple of metres ahead of the stop. And that person ran from where she was (at the bus stop) to board the bus.

Suddenly it occurred to me, that irrespective of the availability of seats or standing space in the bus we are about to board, if the bus overshoots the stop and stops ahead of the bus stop, we tend to run to board the bus. It seems strange because, anyway, we wave the hand, and we see the bus slowing down to a stop. It is certain the bus will stop for us to board how much ever long it may take for us to move to where the bus had stopped. There is literally no need for us to hustle and run or even increase our walking speed to board the bus. Yet, we do so. If you notice carefully, you'll see this occur almost every time.

But, consider this... if the bus stops behind (or before) the actual stop, we don't tend to run to board that bus that often.

Is there an explanation for this behaviour?? May be. It may be a situation where our mind goes into an illusion that we may be the only person who'll keep the bus from running on time, if we walk to the bus leisurely at that situation. May be, we fall into an unnecessary perception of subjection to embarassment, by the other persons and/or the driver in that bus, if we simply walk rather than run.

But in any case, it certainly is an awkward feeling to walk to the bus if it overshoots the bus stop. Try it yourself once. Walk to that bus, instead of running or increasing your speed. You will find it awkward.

Funny! Our mind acts in strange ways.

The end of Crocodile Hunter

2006-09-04T21:26:00.001+10:00

Australia Zoo may seem miniscule compared to Madras Crocodile Bank, but it is another experience everyone looks forwards when they go there; the famous Crocodile Hunter, as we have known in the Animal Planet series, Steve Irwin. He is an icon in Australia. We associate Australia with the Crocodile Hunter and vice versa.

His private zoo is home to a number of Australian species. It is where I fondly patted a Kangaroo and of course the Koala. The experience was inconceivably enthralling. And it is the place I met Harriet, the giant Galápagos tortoise that lived for 175 years. Harriet gave me a feel of a link to a lost connection, the famous Charles Darwin, who rocked the world with the Theory of Evolution with his book, The Origin of Species.

Sadly Harriet is no more. She died couple of months back after living a memorable life. So is Steve Irwin. He is no more. He was killed by a Sting Ray attack today, while he was recording a documentary for his daughter off the coast of North Queensland. Suddenly the whole of Australia is engulfed with grief. Many wouldn’t know how it feels like. Even I may not know. If I feel a bit closer just because I’ve been to Australia Zoo, all the way across from my home country, I can understand how it feels like for everyone around.

Famous persons come and go in this world. Every generation sees them. It may be Hitler; it may be Newton; it may be Einstein; it may be Kennedy. Now Steve Irwin joins a small list of persons whom I have come across, and whom I’ve seen live and made impact in this world or at least to a part of it and some whom I’ve seen die. Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, George W. Bush, Saddam Hussain, Osama Bin Laden, Pope John Paul, Abdul Kalam and many more... No, I will not compare them with each other. Each person is different. Each person has some part of life attached to some significance that made this world remember them for good or worse. One thing is for sure. Everyone will die. But what you do between life and death is what counts

The Sun and its Eight Planets

2006-08-28T14:07:00.001+10:00

Everyone knows this famous question, “How many planets does our Solar System have? Name them.” while we studied science at school. The answer was the same for 23 years in my life. But it had changed now. For, there aren’t nine planets in the solar system now, but only eight. Scientists of the world had coffee together at Prague and decided, “Look Pluto, we waited for you to grow up or change your ways, but it didn’t seemed to happen. So we demote you to be a Dwarf Planet in our Solar System!” And if someone says only history books get bigger with years, our science books will grow too, soon. And there will be more significant members in our solar family, following the redefinition of the planet and creation of a new category called Dwarf Planet.

I’m feeling really sad for Pluto. Like losing a family member. It is a sense of feeling I’m sure most of us in the world would have, ‘how could you do this to Pluto??’ But look, we’ve got more members in our family, the ‘little kids’ which we can look after, explore and enjoy being with them. They are the Dwarf Planets. And we’ve already got three of them. Pluto, poor Pluto, Ceres (which is located in the asteroid belt), and ~~the yet-to-be named 2003 UB313 (temporary name)~~ Eris.

So the solar system consists currently consists of a sun, eight planets and three dwarf planets. Sorry, this means, you will have to read more at school.

Img Src: BBC News Article dated 24 August 2006.

Grab This!

2006-08-20T14:50:00.001+10:00

In July alone this year, Indian mobile companies have added 5.33 million 'new' subscribers. In contrast, the Australian population clock shows the total Australian population to be 20.60 million, as on minute. At that rate, Australia will have all its people connected through mobile in just 'four' months!!!

Spanish Food Experience

2006-08-19T16:16:00.001+10:00

It was an experience none of us can forget. When coming to think of it, it had been nearly a month since we had our first international student get-together, which turned out as sort of GI Mates International Food Club, with a tagline, 'Bringing cultures to our stomach'. Today, we had our second international food club outing. This time it was alimento español delicioso; delicious Spanish food. Nothing other than having a lunch adventure would make a lazy saturday better and interesting here.

One of us suggested the place to be Flamencos at the Broadbeach, which is three minutes in bus from my house. The best part being in Surfers Paradise is the variety of cuisines you would come across, and I should say we are exploring new frontiers in food tasting. This idea should have been suggested and experienced when I had first landed here. Anyway, I’m really loving it, even if it is a late idea. It feels good and amazing to know there are some people who are so interested in food jus like me.

Lunchtime on Saturday wasn’t that busy, especially when some of my friends saying the food there being good. The menu was in Spanish. Thankfully as they do in every restaurant they had spelt it out in English as well. We started with Sangría, the traditional Spanish wine punch, which was real good, and then we moved on to Tapas, which is much similar to Yam Cha, but Spanish.

If you ask me, Spanish food isn’t as spicy as Indian food, but you can single out the specialties in the taste. Spanish food is characterized with use of olive oil and garlic. Don’t be puzzled if you find a jar of oil along with the salt and pepper in your table. Spanish food is seasoned with oil on the table. And it did taste good. Plus, they use bread servings with almost any food. Especially, we found out having the bread dipped in the Chorizo oil so delicious. And almost all Tapas servings is served with special tomato sauce.

We found the Salmon Fins to be very funny, which actually has some salmon attached to the fin, which you have to eat (only the flesh, not the fins) by holding on to the fins. It is just like eating prawns by holding the tailfin. The flesh of salmon fish attached to the fin was so small but we had a number of that serving which prompted the comment, how many fins does salmon have??

Paella, is said to be one of the very common and famous of the Spanish dishes, which is a sort of fried rice with all the ingredients of the Tapas mixed with the fried rice. It wasn’t spicy, but it was like all-in-one kind of tasty dish.

We spent around an hour and a half chatting over our leisurely lunch. We learnt some Spanish phrases. I found out that flamenco is actually a type of dance in Spain. Just as we crawled out of there with a heavy stomach, we found out that a food/wine/jazz festival was going on at the broadbeach mall. We hung around there for a while, and then finished off with cakes and milkshakes at Madisons, at the Oasis Shopping centre, Broadbeach, which is famous for the awesome yummy cakes.

We had some real nice time together as a small food club. We are hoping to organize more of such outings more frequently, as some of us couldn’t make it as they had other commitments for weekends. So, we are planning to have one on weekdays and one on weekends every month.

Hasta luego, adios amigos, gracias! (Until then, goodbye friends, thank you!)

At Cross-roads with Information Revolution

2006-08-14T12:24:00.000+10:00

The world is changing, rapidly. Well, I could stop there, just saying that. It is a very powerful statement of fact. While I was traveling in a bus in the South East Busway, (which is a bus-only expressway) from Brisbane to my university campus, I was amazed at the ingenious plan and implementation that went into work, to facilitate express travel in public transport. As they often say here, in most cases you get to your destination sooner if you travel in public transport than your car.

Time is a very precious commodity. Reducing time, reduces stress, enhances the productivity, and increases the efficiency thereby leading to a more improved way of life; all by means of rapid change in technology. The other day, I was wondering with my flatmate, what if we had come here to Australia ten years earlier. How our life would have been? No mobiles, no internet, no extensive use of computing for studies… How different it would have been?

Today, we call our loved ones all the way back in India the moment we feel like talking to them. It may be a little expensive, yet, we ‘could’ do it now, isn’t it? Today we use emails at university for all communication. Not a single thing regarding my classes or courses comes via post. Everything is email. We access and download our course materials online. No papers. Just digital documents! This semester I paid my fees online. No cash, no draft, thousands of dollars in virtual money, which I never saw with naked eyes.

If you go through one of the classic articles published at the start of the year, from The Mckinsey Quarterly on ‘Top ten trends to watch in 2006’ you would grasp a thing or two of what I'm talking about.

The focus of Global Economic Activity will shift regionally towards Asia. True. We are starting to see the trends even now. Low cost, high intellect, will force companies to shift bases. The governments will change the laws. The conversion rates will come down. The value of developed currencies will weaken and developing currencies strengthen. Gradually, one unit of a currency will be equal to one unit of another currency. Then there will be one global currency.

Demographics of the world will change. Rapidly aging population in the developed world will force countries to relax the migration laws. Today, the migration laws are very cautious allowing only ‘skilled’ migration. But when the Asian communities focus more on education and skills, movement of people across border will get streamlined. Today, anyone one in EU can stay and work anywhere in EU without visas.

There will be one market. Global Market! 6.5 Billion population is a huge market to conquer, seriously. Even today we see homogenization of markets by Mcdonalds, Coke and Nike. Most of the world will see the same product and will get to like the product gradually. There wouldn’t be much price arbitrage with the advent of technology. We can simply buy it anywhere at the price we want. Consumers will have more power on companies.

Competition will change focus. There will no longer be ‘economies of scale’ advantage. Man will become intellect-oriented than labour-oriented. Man will think, machines will work. Ideas will become more powerful. There will be fight over brains. There will be fight of ideas. There will be more pressure on companies to keep information safe within bounds. There will be pressure on governments to regulate privacy and intellectual property laws.

World’s resources will be constrained. Last week, there were a lot of discussions and arguments on managing water in South East Queensland. The prospects ranged from a 1000% increase in price of water to re-introducing recycled and purified sewage water into the region’s drinking water system. Commodity prices will go up. The price of petrol has gone up by 30% in the last 18 months alone! There will be wars over who own what. We have already seen that with America’s Oil War on the world.

These are just a few things that may gain significance over a period of time. We are at the cross-road of information revolution, which many of us think is just information technology. Take a few steps back and look back in time. The invention of wheels, the use of metals, the use of currency, the invention of steam engine and machinery, and now it is the use of information. Information management and the use is just a tool for what the world is buzzing with, now.

The rate at which the world has changed in the last 10 years is much more than what it had been during the industrial revolution. People cried aloud the word ‘globalisation’ in the 1990s. The globalisation mantra shouldn’t be ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ anymore. It will be ‘Think Globally, Analyse Instantaneously, Act Globally’.

Tags: globalisation, trends, 2006, world, Mckiinsey Quarterly, opinion

My first Yam Cha experience...

2006-07-23T16:51:00.001+10:00

Was also my first Chinese food experience. It was a perfect round-up for the once-a-year two-week experience every semester; the GI Mates volunteer program at the univ, the GI Mates Lunch. I’m not going to be there next semester as this would be my last one here. So it was a welcome round-up for me for what had been a great experience doing it. Basically our job is to welcome new students and make them comfortable during their first few days as uni student, which in almost all cases their first few days in Australia.

Coming back to the Yam Cha, which is apparently entwined as part of Chinese culture as drinking tea and having snacks with it. The Yam Cha experience is said to be one of the best of Chinese food experience. It is more like a get-together sort of experience strengthening the bond in relationships as we socialize with people. And a healthy experience too. Of course the Australian variant wouldn’t be the exact replica of the Chinese one, much similar to the famous British Chicken Tikka Masala, which is quite a variant of the Indian flavour and tradition.

We were 8 of us, and most of us having never had a Yam Cha experience; it was very new for us, the way things worked. We started off with awesome Jasmine Tea (with no milk) which was bottomless as well. There is no ordering off the menu involved. The person who serves the food brings all the hot and cold food in a trolley and shows it us. It was more of a visualizing appeal that engages us with ordering that particular food. With the ‘I-am-going-to-try-anything-today’ mood, we just dived off in little bit of everything.

I wouldn’t rate it anywhere close to the extra-tasty extra-spicy Hyderabad-Biryani; May be a bit close to mild Nando’s Chicken spice level; I always go for the extra-hot in the scale of extra-hot/hot/mild/lemon-and-herb at Nando’s. Some of the stuff in Yam Cha was sweet, some were sweet 'n' sour, some had the egg-like taste some were yummy dessert-like, but in all, it is the texture of the food, the way we eat, and the cultural significance Yam Cha stands for makes it a nice eat-out experience. It has a completely different texture, each of which can be felt as we have them in small single mouthfuls.

It was also my first chopstick experience. It was kind of annoying, even though one of my Chinese friends had taught me how to hold them way long back. It is tricky but once you understand the concept of holding the chopsticks, it is easier to handle.

I know explaining this is kind of dumb, but for many of us, who haven’t had a chance to hold a chopstick, it would be very interesting. Chopsticks are of different form at each ends; square at one end and round at the other. The round ends should be used to hold the food, so the square ends should be at the top. One chopstick should be nuzzled stiffly at the back of the groove between the thumb and the index finger, while the other chopstick should be free moving. That way, the movement is used to hold the food tightly while we eat. I had to have that on mind every time I tried to reposition the chopsticks to hold the food. But I should say I succeeded without letting any of my food slip off my chopsticks. Yaay!!

We shared the bill and surprisingly at around 10 bucks a person, it was low on the pocket while full on the stomach. And, ‘no alcohol’. You would understand the significance of me saying ‘no alcohol’ if you were here in Australia. Cos, alcohol goes with almost every food here, except of course the fast foods. We finished off with coffee at Starbucks, which again was my first Starbucks experience. Having never been to Starbucks, the words caf/decaf, tall/grande/venti, black/white/skim/soy, latte, single-shot/double-shot didn’t ring a bell anything at all to my ears. It was an Americano I settled with in the end, which is a no milk-bitter-coffee. Two and a half packs of sugar didn’t do any good to it. But I really liked it. It was a new experience for me. It was also a bit weird for me when I thought there are more than 5000 Starbucks outlets in US and a 1000 more around the world and people do drink a lot (I mean, lots and lots) of Starbucks coffee as part of their everyday life.

I was basically a no-caffeine person which, kind of translates to no-coffee and no-coke and anything related to caffeine, except for the medications. Only recently, I had turned to Coke (I really hate the concept of drinking flavoured-sweetened-carbonated water, which is the generic name for Coke, Pepsi, Cola or whatever it may be) and now to coffee, just out of curiosity to know what is really there to feel so good about having a Starbucks coffee. It is just an experience where you buy a bottomless coffee and keep on chatting with whomever you are with as long as you feel. It is really the coffee experience traditionally, a chance to unwind, but today people buy coffee and take it to their own cubicle to have it alone in their own space undisturbed. You can feel the socializing experience changing a lot nowadays.

Anyway, finally, we thought of converting this experience to be a food club, where we would try new food every time (for which the options are plenty at Gold Coast) while we get a chance to socialize. I really like this kind of experience. I’m always in it, only that I don’t find more people interested in this kind of experience. And the Yam Cha was good too… New, different and awesome.

I love you sweetheart

2006-05-24T11:48:00.001+10:00

Hoppin all the way
Like a busy bee

No time to look back
No time to look further

Lot many problems
Lot many hurdles
Lot many questions
Lot many hopes

Sometimes it feels
We carry life on our shoulders
Rather than shouldering our lives

Whatever it may be
Never failing to think
That this moment never comes again
And living life to the fullest
Is what I love to do
And more, above all
Loving the loved one
Feels the best always

Be it working on an empty gut
Be it working gutless
It feels so good
To do it just for her
For the sweet nothings
She gives me now and then

She was never there
But she was there
For, like a catalyst,
She's never part of the equation
But helps things happen for me.

And that makes me reach
Higher, Higher, and Higher
For things
Which I never wanted to reach
Cos, I was never inspired so much
Without her being part of my life.

I love you sweetheart.

Da Vinci Code: Movie Review

2006-05-21T13:11:00.001+10:00

Let me keep this short and sweet. The movie ‘Da Vinci Code’ wouldn’t mean anything to you unless you read the book. Two and a half hours of the movie trying to recreate the novel. As a person who had read that book in 14 hours at a stretch, I’d say, this movie is somewhere closer to portraying the novel. Yes, it does a decent work on that part. Compared to the Harry Potter IV, the movie, this movie says everything in the book much better.

I loved the small details that the screenplay worked upon, like the French cop noticing the Rolex watch of the banker, when he helped Robert Langdon and Sophie out. The French accent of Sophie is too good to miss. That’s the difference between the movie and a book. The accents, portrayals, the costume, the places are always well left for the readers to assume. For example, when I read through the book, as a person who hasn’t come across the French accent to a greater extent in my life, even though Sophie is a French cryptologist, I tend to read the dialogues in my own Indian accent. So, I found that very interesting to relish it in the movie.

On the other hand the Robert Langdon being a symbologist, the movie never showed those graphical representation of the words, ‘Earth, Water, Fire, Air’ in their true form. People who had read that book, would understand what I’m saying. The words would look the same if you read it by turning the book upside down. The movie made the best use of the little representations taking the viewers back in history of time.

The movie lacked clear distinction of places. It would have been more understandable to the user if directional words like ‘Temple Church’ be represented on the screen as it comes. Cos, there are too many places, as the Robert and Sophie traverse through Europe and people who haven’t read the book, will find it too hard to follow. The terms like ‘Priori of Scion’ and ‘The Templars’ used frequently all along wouldn’t be grasped and understood easily by non-readers of the book.

Overall, I’d say, the movie made its best effort to bring the book into movie format, cramping so much information from the book, but it would be like the movie ‘Matrix’ for a non-reader. You got to watch it couple or more times, to understand the story. Else, grab the book. :)

The other half of the world...

2006-03-08T16:44:00.001+11:00

Personally, I prefer conventional greeting cards more than e-cards or a phone call. Sending an e-card may be free and phone call, some may argue adds a personal touch while wishing people, but, greeting cards provide a sense of closeness than the other media. Whenever you feel that you miss someone, you can just pick up those cards from your stash and read them one by one. That gives a whole lot of memories to me.

And there is one thing that beats even the greeting cards. Personalised gifts with a small note. Literally, you can make a gift from every single crap you see around you. I remember making a stencil greeting card on a shining metal sheet which you'll find at the back of the photoframes and mirrors. I remember chiselling a gift on a 8cm x 1cm x 1cm marble with compass and nails. I remember painting on a glass sheet as a gift. Those were the days when creativity had no bounds for me. And I want it back. The peaceful mind, that can think, design and create a lot.

Today is one of those special occasions. But, being far away from home, I had to settle with making calls to everyone I knew. The first call was to mom, and a couple other closest friends and then my pen friends. It was nice to hear their voice again.

So, if you belong to the other half of the world as well, I wish you,

Happy Woman's Day

Happy Birthday...

2006-02-07T13:57:00.001+11:00

Long gone are those days
But the memories they left behind
Stays with us forever.

To one of the most lovable girls
I've ever befriended...

For being so caring
For being so thoughtful
For reminding me that
everyone is unique...
For being a friend whom
I should never let go
But eventually have to...

I really wish
I could make the wish
you wished for today
happen.

This post is dedicated to you.
Happy Birthday.
I miss you.

Reverse Reminder Principle: Think 'back'

2005-11-08T15:03:00.003+11:00

Imagine u are traveling in a bus that has only one exit and the pathway inside is wide enough for only one person to pass at a time. If u r sitting in the middle of the bus and if people from behind are lined up to get off, just like u, what is the probability that the person who is just about to cross you would stay back and let u get off and then follow u to get off the bus?

Ok. Lets come to Bionics. Imagine a wearable small earpiece like bio-sensor camera storage. It is not a camera, but an interface for storage. How great it would be if you are able to just blink at a scene and ‘think’ to photograph that scene and it gets recorded in the storage device as a photo? It would really save my time, taking my camera out, switching it ON, focusing it and clicking the button to snap that photo. This is some technology which would be hard to fathom. Our eyes see and our mind stores what we see, say, in the form of a video, wouldn’t be great to ‘think’ a starting point for the video clip and stop recording when we want.

Better, today we use manual mode of storing information. To explain it simply, we store whatever we want when we want it. Sometimes we miss what we want to do. We miss to keep the alarm to wake us up. We miss some reminders jus because we forget the reminders. Sometimes we are at a loss when we lose information. A typical example is losing the email, after writing half of it. Losing a blog post after spending a long time on it... Now think in the reverse. Our mind stores information automatically and continuously. Wouldn’t it be great to tap the 24x7 information and make snaps and videos out of that information rather that capturing it again for the second time with a still camera or video camera? How many of us have thought that it is redundant information?

Just to capture what there is already, we spend extra ‘everything’ from time to money. Our mind can act both as a static as well as dynamic device, to store information and record information. I was just thinking along the lines of the Autosave feature in Gmail. Whenever you compose a mail, it simple autosaves it in frequent intervals as a draft. You can either edit it later or simply delete it if u don’t want it. It gives us peace of mind. When we know that what we’ve worked on for a long time is there to stay even if we forget to save it or lose it someway or the other, we really have some peace of mind.

It is easier to delete something which we don’t need than creating something what we need. Because the number of deletions is always less than the number of insertions. What we lose is always greater than what we gain. Sum of Positives! You want a great piece of work or 3000 word essay; you usually write 4000 -5000 words and then trim that up to perfection. Very basic principle. This may be a reverse principle of what we follow now in most of the things. But it is simple. We keep reminders. Instead of setting reminders for every event in our life, let the reminders be set for every event by default. Anyway, those reminders wouldn’t be active till the due date. All you need to do is, every week, or every month or whenever you are free, deselect the reminders which you don’t need. I’ll explain it in a much generic simple way. Say, let the alarm clock be set for 6am in the morning every day. If you just don’t want to keep the alarm for tomorrow because it is Sunday or because u want to take a day off, simply switch the alarm off for 2mrw. Wouldn’t it be easier to switch the alarm in our mobile off for 52 or even 104 out of 365 days rather than setting the alarm for 313 days every year??? I’d call it ‘Reverse Reminder Principle’.

This can be applied in a lot number of ideas and activities apart from reminders, essays, videos or photographs. In the case of ‘Reverse Storage System’ in photos, videos, files and any information, whatever, may be the first time ‘installation’ or ‘setting up’ would take a lot of storage space, you may think. But here too, follow the mind. How does our mind keep track of information? It keeps tabs. You keep short clip or preview of the whole information to identify it. Try the Noguchi Filing system. We follow the same principle here. Whatever u use often stays there, whatever u don’t use for a long time, gets archived or reminded to you, whether to store again or delete it forever. We forget a lot of things and we accept that as human nature. Therefore some things can be lost. Some things are ‘allowed’ to be forgotten, therefore. What we remember is very large than what we forget. So, simply, store everything in the bulk and lose it in a trickle. Losing what we want lose is easier than thinking hard to search, find and learn new things which weren’t there b4. Letting go off things voluntarily or choosing from a bulk of options that is available is easier than getting a single item in the first place.

Some things I’ve spoke about above may need cutting edge technology, may need something which we don’t have. But what I’m saying here is basically a principle. Try to apply it to things in day to day life. Like groceries. How many of us think to buy things in a bulk. We don’t see it here in Australia. My mom buys the rice grains in 80kg bags and pulses that's needed for the whole year. Every year as the harvest season comes, our house is re-stocked with atleast 3 or 4 such 80kg rice bags. Things that can be done in the bulk, has many advantages. Groceries that can be done in the bulk reduces the redundant work, gets to us cheaper, and also reduces the number of times we actually forget to do it again. The groceries here, is just another example of how things can be done easier in the reverse. So, try to apply it in ur daily simple things and say to me how easier it is.

If this principle get into cutting-edge technology and research, it would make our life far more simpler like the bionic camera or the Bionic Backup Storage (At last, I found a term for my dream device.. hehehe.) which I dreamed about a few days back. Wouldn’t it be nice if this Reverse Reminder Principle brings in a lot new applications that eases our life further? I can't do anything now individually. This is just my theory. But, it would be great if tech giants like Nokia can change their mobile phones to bring in Reverse Reminders. It would be great if software professionals think and design softwares and operating systems that think back and uses this Reverse Reminder Principle effectively. Already we have the 'System Restore' option in Win Xp. Imagine if it is applied to a lot other things. It would be great if researchers in the field of bionics think in these lines and bring in new and useful gadgets. :-)

Copyright Policy and Code of Conduct

2004-11-16T14:30:00.000+11:00

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