The Adventures of Gman

5 Months

2012-02-05T00:10:00.003+05:30

Although there are still 10 days to go for Saachi to actually complete her 1st 5 months...

September 16th 2011

2012-01-04T15:44:00.001+05:30

Sep-15th :
Debbie was slightly more restless than usual nights. She woke me up a few times to massage her back and I tried my best to fight the sleep and you know "be there" for my wifey.

Sep-16th

4:30 ~ 5:00 AM : Anyway, after a restless night Debbie fell asleep at may be around 4:30 ~ 5:00 AM. It's a pretty standard time when people suffering from pain usually go to sleep (even without pain killer meds). You can quote me on this - No matter how much severe the pain is the patient will always fall asleep by early morning. I guess around this time the brains puts sleep on the top of it's issues to address. Anyway coming back to the story. So the next morning, i.e. Sep-16th, I had to go to the bank for some office work and so anyway I was going late to office.

9:00 AM : Since Debbie was only able to go off to sleep by early morning only, I didn't wake her up until around 9AM. I think I made nice breakfast also that morning.. :) Debbie asked me not to go to office that day. So I just went to the bank and came back home. Also made a pit stop at Road Transport Office to submit my application form for a Permanent Driving License. I think around this time Uma Di called to just check and asked me if we've already prepared the baby and mommy bag for the hospital. I told her that we are planning to do so this coming Saturday. As usually she got really mad and scolded me, so I told her that I'll do it today itself.

11:00 AM : When I reached home, Debbie was pretty uncomfortable and was almost not able to rest in one place. She was pacing up and down. I was massaging her back but there wasn't much relief. She was doing some breathing exercises but I guess by this time the pains were not very regular, although intense. This continued for an hour or so..

12:00 ish PM: I asked her to take the pain killer meds that the doctor had given to test if it's an actual labour pain. You see, a pregnant woman can experience false labour pain towards the end of her pregnancy but these pain subside by taking these pain meds. but if they don't subside then that means that these are real labour pains. So Debbie took the meds and the pains did not subside. But we were still sure that this weren't the real labour pain. Because that pain makes the woman go crazy but Debbie was managing pretty well till now.

Sep-16th, 3:00 PM : <But before that flashback>

Sep-3rd :
We came to know that our baby is in breech position, which meant in today's scenario a 100% caesarian. No doctor goes for a normal delivery these days in a breech condition. After we came to know that our baby is in breech, we were pretty upset. I mean after all the efforts we did to make sure that we get a normal delivery the baby was in breech position. (At that point of time I thought that God is teaching us a lesson on arrogance - Anyway long story). So after we came to know about baby's condition we decided that we'll still do our best - with all the possible exercises etc. and then just may be 3-4 days before the expected date (which was 23rd Sep) do a final ultrasound and then decide whether to go for Caesarian or not. So we told the doctor that we will confirm about the caesarian in our next scheduled appointment i.e. Sep-16th. She was ok with it.

Now, since the context is more clear..

2:00 PM : So, Debbie was still in pain, even after the pills and we were still convinced that this is false labour. Since, I had taken leave, we decided to get the ultrasound done and if the baby is still in breech position get the caesarian done on the next day. We reach the clinic, got the ultrasound done and found the not only was the baby still breech but now it also had umbilical cord around its neck. The clinic doctor advised that since the baby is full term and fully developed there is no point in delaying further. I told that we've decided that if the breech we'll get the operation done tomorrow. She said that it's a very good idea and recommended that I take my pregnant wifey out for a nice dinner tonight and get the caesarian done tomorrow.

4:00 PM : So by now Debbie was in a lot of pain and so we decided to leave for the Hospital for our scheduled appointment but a bit early. And probably get admitted in the night to prepare for tomorrow's operation. But while getting ready Debbie vomited and after this I was a bit worried. So now we also picked up the baby bag that Debbie had prepared after Uma Di's scolding. But we took the bag mainly because we thought we'll get Debbie admitted in the hospital tonight and get the operation done the next day. Around that time I decided to call my mother also telling her about our decision to get Debbie operated on Sep-17th and asked her to come either tonight or next day early morning. I think within 15mins she and my brother were on their way.

5:00 to 7:00 PM : So we got ready at Debbie's pace and left home at 5 PM. The stretch between our home and the hospital is merely 2.5 to 3 kms but we got stuck in a major traffic jam. All the roads were flooded because it had been raining for last 2-3 days and we all know Gurgaon basically becomes Venice when it rains. So heavy rain + peak traffic hour + traffic lights not working (not to mention the lack to civic sense we observe while driving on roads) resulted in a crazy traffic Jam. I think even by 5:45 we hadn't reached South City 1. And the no. of lanes on that two lane road had increased to 8. Debbie was quietly sitting next to me so I thought that her pain has subsided but since she was not talking also, I also knew that all was not well. I found an opening on the other side of the road and took a U-turn. Believe me to take this U-Turn I had to request at least a dozen unrelenting drivers. Almost all of them gave way completely reluctantly, some of them were even pissed. Anyway, we decided to get to Sec-40 market road via gullys in South city. We took a gully which was in terrible shape already but to add to our woes we reached a dead end. So we went back toward the same road and decided to take a by lane to get to the South-city 1 gate crossing and then take the Sec-40 market road. We somehow reached the Sec-40 market road rather quickly but only to encounter an equally bad traffic condition with severe water logging. Anyway, there was no turning back this time so I decided to get into the side of the road that was completely drowned in water (which the other vehicles were avoiding) and thank God to that I covered quite a distance. And thank God to the fact that the invisible road beneath the water was intact. I mean thank God that there were no potholes or any other major damage to the road. So we entered the main road (Arya Samaj Road), I think by 6:30 and thank God that it was pretty empty till Huda City Center round about. Which was also crowded, but not jammed, so finally we reached the hospital by 7:00.

7:00 PM : The minute the doctor saw Debbie she knew that Debbie was in real labour. In fact, the minute we entered the doctors cabin, Debbie, who had been quiet till now, started crying. She was rushed to the labour room as I started signing related papers in the reception hall.

7:30 to 8:30 PM : Mom, Sifty, Uma Di, Arun & Anupa arrived and all of us were just waiting anxiously to hear just one news - whether it's a Boy or a Girl. We had already finalized the name for a baby boy but never got to a consensus for a girl baby name. Around that time, as I was updating my college gang, I received an sms from Kanu proposing the name 'Sanvi' if we have a girl baby. Although I like the name but because Sanvi means goddess of wealth, I didn't want to use it. This lead me Sanchi and Sachi. I asked Arun to look up for the exact meaning of these two names because I knew that one of them had a Japanese origin and the other didn't. Meanwhile, as Arun was googling for the meaning for the two words, my mom asked me to get baby and mommy bags from the car, as we might need to clothe the baby as soon as it arrives. So, I went to the parking and on the way back I saw Victor Uncle also.

8:35 PM : The minute I arrived on the maternity ward, everybody who had come started congratulating me. It was a Boy!!! 1st among those, I remember was Arun. I wasn't expecting it to be so soon. I, being the father, was allowed entry to the nursery. And as soon as I entered the nursery, my eyes fell on the baby's wee-wee and it wasn't the kind one would expect a boy to have. So I was a bit confused and I thought that may be the wee-wee descends later but I had never read or heard about it so I was not sure what it was and some other things also came into my mind. At this time the attending doctor spoke to me congratulated me for having a Girl baby!!! For a second, I didn't know how to respond to that but I was glad that my biology was ok. :)

Anyway, I came out and told everyone that it's a Girl! \o/

2011 Reflections

2011-12-24T13:17:00.003+05:30

What we've seen and experienced this year can never be summed up in one blog post and further more can never be justified by my writing skill. None-the-less, here is a recap of what went right and what went wrong this year.

Well actually, this year was mostly a year of new experiences mostly....

Loss of a brother :

The year actually started on a very sad note, I lost my cousin brother to meningitis. He was only 21 at the time of this death. When I heard the news all I could think of was that when he come to my wedding he came to me greeted me and then sat down somewhere in the corner. And may be was called upon once or twice for family photos. Had I known that that was the last time I'm meeting him.... When he died I thought that this might change a lot of things, specially with his mother. But I realise that even someone's death is not good enough to change some people and now upon reflection after almost 1 year everything is just the same.

Brother-in-Laws Wedding and Kuala-Lumpur Trip:
Well there were moments of lament and there were moments of happiness as well. In Feb. we went to Tirunalvelli via Chennai via Kuala-Lumpur, all first times. It was a great experience to be a part of Augustine's wedding and specially when I got to know that I get to be the best man for the wedding just because I am the "Damaad-ji" of the house. Such is the power of the Damaad in the house of his in-laws.

Baby News:
We weren't prepared for this at such an early stage of our marriage but it happened. Towards the end of January Debbie missed her period and from a home pregnancy test we found out that she was pregnant. At first I didn't know what to do, as we were neither prepared for this pregnancy nor were we planning for it. When we came to India to attend Augustine's wedding we decided to come to Delhi and meet a gynaecologist and the minute I heard the heartbeat of those lump of cells (that later turned out to be our daughter) we simply bowed down to the will of God.

Earthquake, Tsunami and Radiation:
At that time we were almost finished with our stay in Japan and were all set to depart by the end of March. But on 11th March what we experienced cannot be described in this small section of this blog post. At best I can only narrate what happened with us. So here it is : I was in my office when we felt the 1st tremor, immediately I called up Debbie on landline to tell her that now her experience of Japan is complete and she can check the earthquake from her list of "Must experience things in Japan". But as we were talking the tremors became wilder and wilder and stuff started falling at home and in the office. At that moment I asked Debbie to get out of the house and what did my dear wifey do - as trained in India she ran towards open space which apparently was near the river that merges into Tokyo Bay just 1 km from our place. At this point I can only thank God that Tsunami did not hit Tokyo. Otherwise God only knows what would've happened. Actually at that point of time we weren't even thinking of Tsunami until the videos started coming in on the web. Only after watching those devastating videos that later would become synonymous with natural calamities did I realise the actual sense of what I had just experienced. Although to me it was actually not so big a deal back then and even now but when ever I tell that I had to walk 3 hrs non stop to reach home that night people are amazed so I'm mentioning it again. But did I even have a choice?

The news related to Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant radiation leak made every Indian I knew in Tokyo run to India like way we run to toilet when we have diarrhoea. We too were one of them, but my main concern was Debbie's pregnancy. The water was contaminated, the air was contaminated and I was not willing to allow my first born being born short of a limb or mentally retarded. So we had a genuine reason.

Return to India, Settling in & Saattal:
On April 20th, after a brief return to Japan to settle the issues that I had left in the middle because of the earthquake and aftermath, I returned to India permanently. And boy was it a delight. To be with my people, my Church, my family and my home. I did experience the cultural shock for a while specially on the roads with traffic, littering etc. but I was back. Returned to Saattal after 2007.

Raining Babies:
Have mentioned this in previous blogposts also but no harm in mentioning again. Our joy of having a baby was multiplied a billion times when we came to know that 2 of our best friend couple were also expecting babies at almost the same time. And it turned out that not only these two other couples were expecting babies along with us but there were 5 more couples (also our friends) who were expecting babies between the period of August to December this year. Here the list:

Josh/ Sarah - Aug - Girl
Vishal / Mary - Sep - Boy
Gaurav/ Debbie - Sep - Girl
Arvind / Karisa - Sep - Girl
Biju/ Jeena - Oct - Boy
Freddie/ Beaulah - Nov - Girl
Amit/ Pinky - Nov - Girl
Ajay / Rachna - Dec - Boy

Not only that some celebrities also had babies. :)

Life After Sep-16, 2011:
Yes, having a baby in the house and being it's father completely changes your world. Honestly, when I first saw my baby I didn't know what to make out of it. I just stared at it for a while and then asked the doctor standing next to the baby - What should I do? The doctor gave me a brief statistics, reflecting babies good health condition. And I nodded pretending to understand what she's saying. Since I was the only person who was allowed to enter the nursery, when I came out, I was greeting with my friends and family, that had heard the news of Debbie going in labour and had reached the hospital just in time to see the baby along with me, and they were asking me - How do I feel? And was like - I don't know... I mean I actually had no thoughts expect phew!! finally the 9 months of pregnancy are now over. But now I can say How I feel. I feel like I've been given a blank slate and now I and Debbie have a chance to write our version of life story on this blank slate. But that's the big picture I also sometimes feel happy - When I'm able to make her smile, sometimes relaxed - When she's sleeping at the perfect hour in the night, sometimes frustrated - When she's not sleeping and it's 1:30AM in the night., sometimes anxious - Whether I'll be able to shape a good human being out of her.

I think it was nothing but blessing from God that we have had our baby at this point of time, now that I look back at it. I mean now since Debbie has rejoined work, if it wasn't for Arvind / Karisa who so lovingly volunteered to take care of our baby when we go to office, we don't know how we would've managed. Mostly likely Debbie would have left her job but with the housing loan due to start soon, that option was almost out so we were literally at God's mercy and showed us his faithfulness once again. In fact, looking back, it appears that He had this planned right from the very beginning.

There is a small interesting nugget - The Story of How Saachi was born that I'm leaving for now.

Another 40 days

2011-12-09T10:05:00.001+05:30

Metallica Concert and F1 - Delhi 2011

2011-11-22T09:47:00.001+05:30

My 2nd ffffuuuu comic.

Concept by Vishal Das

Enjoy :)

If you like this then also visit : www.dbfgurgaon.org

My Memories

2011-11-21T11:07:00.001+05:30

A few days back I got this email saying there is a software called My Memories and these makers of this software want me to have this software for free. But in return they want me to host a "giveaway" of their software on this blog. After minor investigation , you know these days people will a lot Billions of dollars everyday, I found out that this is a genuine email and these guys actual mean what they are saying and probably find my blog interesting enough to use it for the publicity of their software and in return will give me that software for free. Wow!!

So it's a Digital Scrapbook software called My Memories. You call can go to the following link to download the software: http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software

But if you want to learn a little bit more before you decide to buy this software then check out the following links:

Blog: http://www.mymemoriesblog.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite

I have successfully downloaded the software for now but I'm yet to organize my pictures properly in order to use this software effectively. But after a few trial rounds it really looks good, the slide layout and everything is really fancy. In fact, I'm thinking that I'll make a nice scrapbook for our anniversary and get it printed also.

Day by Day...

2011-11-16T16:14:00.001+05:30

First 40 days of Saachi Liza Maurya ...

Experiencing Parenthood...

2011-10-17T19:10:00.000+05:30

The First Encounter!! 16-Sep-2011

Mother and Daughter...

Arrgggghhh... yummmmmy..

Chillin' out ...

he he he... sizes.. - Mother and Daughter..

Dhishum..

Dhishumm..

Flying kick!!

Her point of view - Who are these peepals?

Attempting an artistic shot..

Can swallow her in one go.. :O

Parde ke peeche.

Hi Five !!!!!

V is very very.. extraordinary..

Caring for my lil one (now all you with weak hearts please shed some tears)

Grip on things

Yo Mama!!

What?? Poda now...

September Babies

2011-09-23T17:23:00.002+05:30

Why Grass is Greener on The Other Side ;)

2011-09-07T11:49:00.002+05:30

If only I was your english teacher!

2011-09-01T11:46:00.001+05:30

I am trying to attempt to fuse some circuits for my English loving desi friends in this blog post. Do try this at home.. he he he...

Nao!! let us begin...

Floridabad
Yes it iz, right next door to the place we live you peepal of Gurgaon... haven't you seen the sign boards. Pahadi wala rasta. And so is Okhlahoma .. Didn't know Amreeka was right next doors... after all searching se God's secret location also finding, then this is only Amreeka no?? :)

Buggers
Long upon a time there used to be the Nirulas and it was in CP and peepals were crazy about it. One of my uncle used to be a waiter there and he use to bring not only foods laik the Peetzaz and the marconis but also drings laik coca cola and gold spot and what not... ya seriously... it is a true. Then the glory of Nirulas vanished as the globalization dawned upon us. And thus came the MacDonalds!!!111! Be leave me - They just offered one type of food - The Buggers and we all were like waaahhh!!! mouth watering no??

Jawani
Deewani!!1 thodi aag hai toda sa pani.. ok ok these are some stolen words from some non sense hindi cheepo song... but anyway.. today-tomorrow peepals are laik running behind "Desainrz clothing". I meen when I was laik in college, which was laik 10 years ago only, I was laik on the 9th floor of a cloud if I bot T-shirt and jeans from Peter Ingland and shoes from Nikky or Rebook.. but now I see peepals wanting hi fi stuff laik Jawani shirts and Lee Kapoor shoes. Waahhh!! but figure out what Jawani iz before you pop out your 'aaeez'

Maruchee
To be hawnest the true source for this one are my Japaaneez friendz. U see, they don't have the "TI" sound and the next closet substitute for that sound i.e. "CHI". So this is what the Japaaneez teech 2 thier peupils in schools (GK claas)... Chirren!!!11 What carz are most popular in India?? All chirren (unanimously erupting) - MAAROOCHEE!!! <good good>. Of corz Amreeki and Yoropian carz are not that good too we have like Frauds from US and Renu from Idli. You know.. what?? TATA for now. more coming soon ..may be.. :)

FAQ: Why Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal a bad idea

2011-08-24T17:08:00.003+05:30

Don’t fall for the miracle cure that is being offered. Corruption must be fought differently and it’s not easy.

1. Is Lok Pal is necessary to fight corruption?
No, not only is it unnecessary, it will make the problem worse. Corruption in India arises because of too much government, too many rules, too much complexity and too much ambiguity. Adding one more, huge, powerful layer to an already complex system will make the system even more complicated. Complexity creates the incentives for corruption–both on the part of the bribe giver and the bribe taker.

See my article on why Jan Lok Pal is no solution and Amba Salelkar’s article in Pragati.

1A. Is the government’s version of the Lok Pal bill better?
No. We don’t need a Lok Pal at all. Making existing constitutional institutions—like CAG, CVC, CBI and the Election Commission—more independent will serve the purpose equally well. If we have been unable to prevent the politicisation and undermining of these instutitions why would we be able to prevent the Lok Pal from being politicised and undermined? If we can prevent Lok Pal from being politicised and undermined, why can’t we restore the independence and credibility of CAG, CVC, CBI and the Election Commission?

2. What’s the alternative to Lok Pal then?

The alternative is to proceed with second-generation reforms, or Reforms 2.0. Contrary to conventional wisdom reforms have reduced corruption, albeit by moving it to higher up the government. In 1989 an ordinary person would have to pay a bribe to get a telephone connection. By 2005, there was no need to pay a bribe at all and anyone could get a phone in minutes. Yes, 2010 saw the 2G scam in telecoms, but that was because the UPA government reversed the reform process.

In fact, data show that perceptions of corruption are lower in some sectors of the economy, usually those that have been liberalised.

If you are interested in exploring real alternatives, you can start by reading Atanu Dey’s slim, easily readable and inexpensive new book, “Transforming India”.

3. Doesn’t Hong Kong have an Ombudsman and doesn’t it enjoy low corruption?

This is a specious argument. There is little evidence to prove that Hong Kong has low corruption because it has an Ombudsman. On the contrary, there is empirical evidence from across the world suggesting that countries with high economic freedom are perceived to suffer from less corruption.

Hong Kong is one of the freest economies of the world, and therefore, incentives for government officials to be corrupt are relatively low. The Ombudsman is useful to address the residual corruption in economic sectors and in sectors like law enforcement that do not have discretionary powers over economic sectors.

4. How can we have economic reforms if the corrupt politicians don’t allow it?
We have not really demanded them at all, actually. If we did, they are bound to register in the national political agenda. We should persuade politicians that their political future is linked to implementing economic reforms.

5. Easy to say, but how can we do this?
By voting. The constituencies that stand to benefit from economic reforms—the middle class—needs to vote in larger numbers. In the absence of the middle class vote base, politicians appease the poor by giving handouts and entitlements, and cater to the super rich by allowing the crony sector to exploit the half-reformed economy. It’s not easy, and we have to be innovative. See for instance, Atanu Dey’s interesting idea to form middle-class vote banks to induce good governance.

Whatever may be the claims made by the people promoting Lok Pal, there is no miracle solution. They are peddling miracle weight-loss pills. Sadly, such pills usually don’t work and can cause severe damage to your health. If you are cautioned not to take those pills, you can’t ask “which other miracle weight-loss pill do you recommend”? The answer is in diet and exercise, which is hard work.

6. In the meantime, what’s wrong with Jan Lok Pal?This question has already been answered above, but it’s usual to encounter it again at this stage. The problem with Jan Lok Pal is that it’ll make the problem worse. Does anyone seriously think we can hire tens of thousands of absolutely honest officials who will constitute the Lok Pal? Who will keep watch on them? Maybe we need a Super Lok Pal, and then a Hyper Lok Pal to watch over the Super Lok Pal and so on…This isn’t sarcasm, this is the logical extension of the Lok Pal argument.

7. Don’t we have the right to protest peacefully? Why do you say that a fast-until-death lacks legitimacy?
Of course we have the right to protest peacefully. But it’s not about whether we have the right or not. It’s about are we using that right wisely. (You have the freedom of speech but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to blast Eminem using a loudspeaker at 2am in a residential district.)

As Ambedkar said while introducing the Constitution in November 1949, once the Constitution came into force, we should avoid all non-constitutional methods like protests and satyagraha, for they are the grammar of anarchy. If two persons go on fasts until death for two opposing reasons, we cannot decide the issue by allowing one person to die first.

Fast until death is political blackmail. It is a form of theatre engaged in to coerce the government into doing something that the agitators want. Whatever may be the cause, a single person cannot be allowed to dictate laws to the whole nation.

8. Doesn’t Anna Hazare have the right to fast until death?
Anna Hazare has the right to protest peacefully. However to the extent that his actions amount to an attempt to commit suicide, they are illegal. The government can legitimately prevent him from killing himself whatsoever the reason he might have to attempt suicide.

9. You are an armchair intellectual. Shouldn’t we trust activists more?
Pilots don’t design aircraft. Practicing doctors don’t discover new drugs and treatments. These jobs are usually done by armchair intellectuals. So being an armchair intellectual is not a disqualification.

You shouldn’t trust intellectuals or activists because of what they are. You should examine their arguments and make your own judgement. Most of the people supporting Lok Pal have not examined what the proposal is, have not tried to consider opposing arguments and blindly accept it as a solution because some famous people said so.

11. Aren’t those who oppose Anna Hazare’s agitation supporting the corrupt politicians?
No. It takes an enormous amount of arrogance to claim that Anna Hazare and his supporters have the exclusive hold on the right way to fight corruption.

In the real world, it is foolish to expect 100% clean and non-corrupt politicians. The real world challenge is to achieve good governance with imperfect constitutions, imperfect institutions, imperfect leaders and imperfect citizens. This requires us to realise that individuals respond to incentives. If we remove incentives for taking or giving bribes, then corruption will be lowered. We can reduce incentives for corruption by following through with the reforms that started in 1991 but have stalled since 2004.

It is entirely possible to oppose the UPA government’s politics and policies, while recognising that it is the legitimately constituted government of the country. Individuals and parties might suffer from a legitimacy deficit because of flagrant corruption, but the Government of India as an institution remains the legitimate authority to make policy decisions for the whole nation.

12. Why is fasting illegitimate when Mahatma Gandhi used it in our struggle for independence from the British?
There is a huge difference in context between 26th January 1950 when the Constitution of India came into force and the time before it.

Mahatma Gandhi used civil disobedience against laws imposed on India by the British government. Indians had no say in how the laws were made and how they were implemented. Indians could not repeal laws we didn’t want. Civil disobedience was justified in this context.

Gandhi also used it to coerce Indian nationalist leaders too, including Ambedkar and the Indian National Congress, into accepting his views. Whatever might be the wisdom of Gandhi’s intentions, this was undemocratic and created a culture of ‘high command’ that lives on to this day. Fasting was not justified in this context. This part of Gandhi receives little attention in the dominant narrative of Indian history.

With the formation of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950, things changed profoundly. All Indians have a say in how laws are made and how they are implemented. We can amend or repeal laws that we do not like. There is, of course, a method to do this, which must be followed. These are the constitutional methods that Ambedkar referred to in his grammar of anarchy speech. When constitutional methods are available, there is no case for non-constitutional methods like satyagraha or hunger strikes.

There is thus no equivalence between Gandhi’s satyagraha against the British ruling us and Mr Hazare’s hunger strikes against we ruling ourselves.

Update:. Read this FAQ in Kannada, at Vasant Shetty’s blog.

Originally published at:

http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/2011/08/14/faq-why-is-anna-hazare-wrong-and-lok-pal-a-bad-idea/

The Baby Name

2011-05-31T14:04:00.008+05:30

If I wasn't clear in the previous blog post then let me announce this once more, D-cat is pregnant. Revised estimates on target date of delivery is Sep-23. So these days apart from going through all the pregnancy related stuff, that a couple has to endure, we are also finalizing the baby name. And as we are going through all this, I have realised that deciding a name is a process. A lot of things have to be considered before one narrows down on the name that the little fellow will either endure or enjoy for the rest of his/her life.

One could name a child after a popular or significant historic figure. Someone that a parent or both the parents idolise. This is very significant, in a way you not only honour your hero but also give your child a sense of identity and a message that will remain with him/her for the rest of his/her life. Some magnificent examples that I came across - Queen Victoria, Abraham Lincoln, Jim Reeves, Richard Nixon, Subhash Chandra Bose, Lancelot, Jhansi Rani. But what if you have 2 role models or both the parents want their respective role models in the baby's name. A mix two names in one is absolutely okay. In fact this puts even more weight on the name and makes him sound significant eg. Napoleon Einstein (this guy is a cricketer). Imagine when Napoleon Einstein is playing in the line-up of the Indian cricket team, who will give a damn about Tendulkar. Please believe me when I say that these are names of not the historic figures but the names given by the inspired parents to their new born.

One can also name a child after a quality that one would like that child to possess. There are two ways of doing this one is by simply giving the child the same name as the quality. Some superb real life examples that I came across are Soulwinner, Deathcheater, Pathfinder (ok I made-up the last 2). But the other and more the creative way is to name a child after an event that personifies that quality. For example - if you want a child to possess qualities like "Achievement"& "Success" (and nothing emulates achievement & success than man landing on the moon) then a good name can be Apollo 11 (also a real name, except for the 11 part).

One can also chose names after a city or a place in which the child was born like Shimla, Hrishikesh, Paris, Holland (all real names, people).

Recent trends and my research on the web has shown me that these days parents chose abstract names with a deep hidden meaning behind it. Kind of like a Dan Brown type code that the child needs to solve during the course of his/her life. These names help the child fit in with the crowd and yet stay unique. It can also be a mix of two hip names as well, to sound even cooler example Dylan + Frodo = Dyldo. (also a real name)

Of course, there are some other names that can make a child popular. This of course is not initially intended by the parents examples - D.K. Bose, P.K. Muteja (real names).

We?? Still looking for that perfect name...

It's Raining Babies coming Sep-2011

2011-03-08T13:51:00.000+05:30

Time for some updates. Little did we know that this day will come so soon. But anyway, it happened and now junior-G is on the way.

But also interesting to note is the forecast for the month of Sep this year. It will be a monsoon of babies.
Two of my close friend's wife's are also pregnant. So in summary (based on information available so far).

Vshall - 15-Sep
Rwind - 25-Sep
G-Man - 27-Sep

by God ki kasam this Sep is a busy month for DBF-G.

I am thinking that all of us guys can open a To-Be-Father's-in-Sep Club and we can meet up weekly at beer bars or strip clubs.. you know to drown our sorrows and pain. :) just kidding.

Internet Voting In India Using UID

2011-02-17T10:04:00.004+05:30

Nandan Nilekani is working on a UID for every individual in India. I think it can be used for internet voting. At least in the cities where people have started using internet for paying bills, transferring funds, buying/selling stuff so why can't people vote as well. I think this might do wonders in increasing voter turnout in cities, specially in the younger, facebook addicted, generation. I hope the guys who are working on this have already figured out this potential use of the UID. But I wanted to put it out there via my blog, just in case. I am sure that if you've read so far and if you are a person who uses internet regularly for checking email, social networking, banking, paying bills, buying/selling etc. you would have already made a mental list of the advantages that internet voting will have, specially in the cities. Well here are a few anyway:

1. The voter turnout amoung the young generation might just reach as high as 99%.
2. People in hospitals can vote.
3. People who are not in the city/town at the time of voting can vote
4. NRI's can vote
5. No bullying/threats at poll booths
6. No booth capturing (of course places where booths are captured might not have high percentage of internet voting)
7. People don't have to miss work. They just need 10-15 mins off and can cast their vote.

Possible problems:

1. Hacking
2. Overload
3. System Crash or bugs
4. Somebody may steal your UID and password and cast your vote

But I think these issues can be addressed and should not be a detterent to this idea. Of course if you are worried that someone might steal your UID and password then I think this is a matter of personal responsibility and not a drawback of this system.

The Noosphere

2011-02-12T09:43:00.000+05:30

Some half cooked ideas and some thoughts for the reader's pleasure and my records. Why for my records? Because if anything that I write below happens, I will have to opportunity to say - "I told you so."

Last evening when I was relaxing in onsen in my gym, it struck me, it was not just like the moment of Eureka, it was the moment of Eureka. A little bit of background first, the Little Green men in Toy Story series and Buzz Lightyear movie, live in a planet where they have developed a machine that keeps that connected all the time (in every sense imaginable). If someone discovers something, everybody knows. If someone is lost, everybody knows the location of the lost. This system has helped them develop a very strong community and which in turn has helped them fight against the invading aliens.

After a little bit of googling, yahooing, binging and yodeling (ok! I just googled)..I found out that these green men live in a planet called Noosphere.

Now the interesting part, "the Eureka moment", I realized that this is actually happening. We are e-mailing, blogging, facebooking, twittering, buzzing, orkuting, likedin-ing. All this is now available in our mobile devices. All this is networking, what about knowledge, news, data? Well do I really need to answer that?

Some companies and governments are working on a chip that can be implanted into our bodies (albeit its criticism) and so on. In short, we are now in some ways actually working toward the future as seen in the world of the little green men.

Somethings still need to be developed though and may perhaps be our biggest challenge before the noosphere can completely see the sunlight.

a. Democracy/Governance : The question or the challenge is - Can we really achieve facebook democracy? Something like the person with most no. of "Likes" is the president of the world. Sounds laughable, right?. And decisions are made instantly by real time consensus.

>> I am too excited about this aspect of noosphere (specially in the context of Indian politics) and so I want to discuss this in a separate post. Actually I am simultaneously drafting a sperate post for this.

b. Monetary system: We have internet banking but what about network banking? Honestly I don't know what "Network Banking" means. I just made it up. :)

c. Currency - Now this may sound crazy but why do we have exclusive currencies in all the countries. Since money is already dealt as a commodity in the trade markets then why not allow the common man to take advantage of all the currencies of the world like say soaps. Example, In a situation like this RBI and US Federal bank not banks but competing companies and their respective product being Rupee and Dollar.

d. Markets

e. Medical & Emergency situations - Since everybody in the noosphere know about everybody else, we can actually save more lives.

f. Disaster & Relief - Nobody can control natual disaster (right now) and even if in future we remain powerless against nature, we will still have enough information to conduct swift and effective relief work.

g. Crime Control - Crime control in noosphere reminds me of Tom Cruise movie Minority Report but of course without the precogs.

Probably Facebook isn’t such a bad thing to happen to the world after all. It is a step toward the noosphere. Looking forward for the noosphere, developers are you listening.

In Loving Memory of Sanky

2011-01-22T13:51:00.003+05:30

16-Aug-1989 to 21-Jan-2011

Hakone Trip

2011-01-03T06:55:00.001+05:30

The last day of the year was spent sight seeing in Hakone. Debbie got to see Mt. Fuji for the first time. Although I have seen Mt. Fuji a million times already and have also gone hiking all the way to the top. And this trip was not just about watching Mt. Fuji from some other mountain. The trip had other attractions as well - a ride on a toy train, a cable car, a rope way and ship cruise. Watching volcanic activity in a mountain and watching the beautiful terrain from the cable car and toy train. But believe me when I say that all the other activities are like side-kicks of a movie in front of Fuji. The presence of this dormat volcano is felt at every point. Although the snow covered Fuji is just standing there all by itself at a distance afar but it draws your attention like a magnet draws paperclips. Everything is dwarfed by its mere presence. And as I said earlier even though I have seen Mt. Fuji a million time already but I was still in awe by it. How great is thou art.

This is 100

2010-12-30T05:30:00.002+05:30

It started in June 2007 and 3 years and 6 months later on the December of 2010 it is 100 posts old. Well let's see what happened in this period.

This blog account was actually opened much much before I wrote my 1st blog post. Sarah Salins opened an account in Dec-2005 and edged me to open one too. Sarah has been married for over two year now and her blog is dead.

Dec-2007, First visit to Japan
Feb-2008, Barny got married.
Apr-2008, Permanently shifted to Japan
Aug-2009, Arvind got married.
Nov-2009, Buvana got married.

The Shoppers Stop
Well I guess Debbie and I can differ about the moment, or the day, when our relationship actually started but since Debbie doesn't write this blog, you get to hear only my side of the story. So we met in the church youth meeting at Salom Hills School in Gurgaon. In fact I and Barny use to pickup people who didn't have the means to come to the meeting. So we were suppose to pickup Bhanu, and Barbarra and her room-mate aka my wife. I said "Hi" to Debbie. Debbie will say that I didn't but I'm sure I did. That was our "first ever" meeting. This was sometime in the summer of 2007. Things moved on we met occasionally in the church, in youth meetings but the next singnificant meeting took place in Dec that year. At this time I was shopping for my trip to Japan. I had asked Bhanu to accompany me while I shop but at this point I don't exactly remember how Debbie ended up showing up that day. May be I only had invited her. I hope she doesn't kill me after reading this, but honey I as I said, I don't remember. Anyway, I bought loads of stuff... oops... I shouldn't say "bought" at this point, I picked up loads of stuff and arrived at the checkout counter and voila my credit card was not working and I had no cash in hand. Oh poor me!! dude in distress.. enter Debbie to the rescue she paid my bill and saved me from the humiliation. She saved the day. Later, I dropped her home that night and promised that I will return back her money the very next day.

No I didn't run away with her money, in fact I met her the very next day with the sole intention of giving back her cash. As it turned out, I had buy a suit as well so I asked her to accompany me to the mall. I was expecting the suit shopping to be over in 30 minutes and then adios... ta-ta..good bye.. but the suit that I bought needed to be altered and the shopkeeper promised that his tailor wouldn't take more that 10 minutes but he took more that 2 hours or so. So what was supposed to be a "Hi... thank you .. here's your money.. bye..see you around.." meeting turned out to be "lets have coffee..." I mean it became a date. And that's the beginning of our relationship.

No I'm not implying that that was the day I decided to marry her or I knew that she was the one or anything lovey-dovey like that.. but that was the "kick-off" of ,God only knew at that time, of a life long relationship.

Rest of the story... well may be later.

It was Christmas in Tokyo this year

2010-12-29T13:59:00.005+05:30

This was our 1st ever Christmas together. The day started with the morning worship service at Tokyo Union Church in Ometosando and the rest of the day was spent just roaming around together.
The Church is located in one of the most prime spots in Tokyo. On its left is the show room of Louis Vuitton and on the right Armani. The street itself has the showrooms of probably all the designer labels I have ever heard of…

Ometosando dori is famous of its autumn trees although we couldn’t take pictures of the autumn trees but the street right now is illuminated by hundreds of lights in the night which too was a sight to see.

Window shopping at the designer street was a delight. Probably someday we will have enough money to buy stuff from these stores. Anyway, moving forward… apart from the glitter on the street and the beautifully decorated shops the Christmas trees caught our attention.

We too decorated our own Christmas tree and when I say we, I mean Debbie. She did all the hard work while I happily slept in the night.

We are looking forward for the New year now…
Personally speaking it was the best Christmas ever.

Honeymoon at Phi-Phi Island

2010-12-25T21:50:00.000+05:30

Have not been able to find time to update the blog recently... for obvious reasons.

I could not execute any of screw-ups that I had planned and shared in the previous post. I guess life doesn't even allow us to plan our failures. But I am sure if any one of those ideas had been executed I would have been in my divorce deposition. :)

Here are a few pictures from our honeymoon. Will be uploading the wedding album soon.

The Perfect Wedding Adventure

2010-11-04T17:25:00.006+05:30

Debbie and I are getting married and the wedding preparations are on full swing. By the way there is something about the wedding that makes women cranky (for lack of a better word). So just like everyone else wannabe Mrs. Maurya is has also been infected by the wedding prep. virus.And she is working hard for the elusive "Perfect" wedding.

So, I was wondering about the ways in which I can goof up the wedding. So me an my co-conspirator Vishal were scheming all day today and we've come up with some ideas that can make this day go crazy.

1. Dropping a banana peel in front of Debbie when she is walking down the aisle.
2. Make a small ditch somewhere on the aisle fill it with water and put the carpet on it.
3. In wedding vows, instead of saying "I take you as my lawfully wedded wife".... say "I take you as my Awfully wedded wife"
4. When its time to exchange rings, I bring out a thick, large, silver ring with a skull, snake, swords, blood dripping from its mouth... like pirates wear.
5. I put plaster on all my fingers and ask her to put the ring on my toes.
6. I put paint or mud in Bride's flower bouquet (the one Debbie will toss in the end ).
7. When the paster recites the final banns I'd say i object...
8. During the wedding ceremony, when the pastor comes to the part about, "If anyone has any reason why these two people should not marry, speak up now or forever hold your peace..." a couple of kids running up the aisle yelling, "Papa, papa."
9. I make loud stinky farts on the stage.
10. As we both walk from the stage after the ceremony, a funeral music plays. (This one is a bit classy, I don't think many people will notice).
11. Make faces when photographs are taken.
12. During the wedding ceremony, when the pastor comes to the part about, "If anyone has any reason why these two people should not marry, speak up now or forever hold your peace..." a muscular, well dressed man runs up the aisle yelling, "Darling please dont leave me"..... but he runs up to me and start kissing me, begging me not to leave him.
13. I say someone else's name during vows preferably old married woman like Mrs. Chib.
14. Select a guy as maid of honor and a girl as best man.

I hope my girl will appreciate it and I hope that our wedding is a fun filled event with errors and goof-up, some deliberate and some unintended and we'll fondly remember and recall them for the rest of our lives.

The Ponzi Scheme

2010-10-25T19:36:00.001+05:30

I read this in "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicolas Taleb and it appealed to my darker side. (Please note I have 2 sides one is dark and the other one is darker). So, imagine one fine day I decide to become a share market pandit and start predicting the future of the market on a monthly basis.My objective is to fool some people by making him believe that I do possess some genuine know how about the market and thus can actually forecast the future of the market. (But actually I don't know a thing about the market).Can I do that?

Ok, so I start with selecting 10000 random people and send them an emails. To 5000 people I send an email stating that the market will go up and to the remaining 5000 that the market will go down. Ok now let me do this systematically...

Jan: Prediction Group A (5000 people) - Market will go up , Group B (5000 people) - Market will go down
Actual outcome - Market goes down.

Feb : I dump contact Group A but from Group B, I send another email
Group C : 2500 people - market will go up; Group D: Market will go down
Actual outcome : market goes up

Mar: I dump group D, and send another email
Group E (1250 people) - market will go up, Group F: Market will go down..

and so on...

In April I will have 625, in May 312, in Jun 156, in July I would've accurately predicting the fate of the share market to 78 lucky people seven times in a row...

Now, imagine that you are one of these lucky people who has received this email 7 times in a row and before you receive the 8th one, the I send another email asking you to invest in a share or mutual fund... would you invest?

A Developed Nation

2010-10-23T16:31:00.027+05:30

Japan rapidly grew from a catastrophic nuclear disaster to an economic super power. I've met people that were Young boys and girls when US dropped 2 Atomic bombs on Japan during the second world war. Remembering those days, these people tell me when their father's use to go out in the morning they didn't know whether or not they will be able to bring food for the family that day.

But they were determined people. Their farmers toiled hard in the fields, their workers worked hard in the factories and their leaders had vision. The vision of not just building a developed country but building a culture. They wanted to make their world the perfect world and as a result in less than a half a century, Japan was one of the most powerful economy in the world. Not just that, they were able to cultivate an environment where the people were humble, respected one another. Their streets are safe, clean and their country looked beautiful.

A job well done, I'd say. Now what to do...

As humans, we do things. We've climbed the top of the highest peak of the world, we've learned how to fly, we've walked on the moon. We communicate with each other at the speed of light. We have sent objects out of the solar system. And everyday we are breaking the boundaries of thought. I guess the reason we do these things is not just because we can, but to make this world a better place.

But what do you do when you've already made your place the better place? Japan (and may be some other European countries) is the example of the end result of the development. There is no inflation, indicating that the economy has grown to its peak and can't grow any further. The government can't put money in infrastructure projects to boost the economy because everything they needed to build has been build. The country is growing old, people are not interested in having kids because Nintendos and X-box's are more fun and easy to handle. They've got night clubs and bars where men pay women to just sit with them and hold hands. They care about their environment alright so they import all their timber from other countries.

Some perfect world huh!

Tele-translator

2010-10-15T09:09:00.007+05:30

Here's an interesting business idea. Let's see if someone can pick it up and make some money out of it. I'll lay down the idea in a systematic form.

Let's give our company a name say Tele-translator.

Service it will provide - Language Translation on phone

Need for this kind of service - Let's talk about people like me who have to meet with people that don't speak the same language. Now, it may be easy to find a translator but it's not cheap to have him when you are travelling abroad.

How it will work - This service will be on phone. Say you are an Indian and have a meeting with a Japanese guy, in Japan, but you don't know the language and you didn't hire a translator. You reach the meeting spot and as the meeting starts you realize that there is no way you can have a productive meeting because of the language barrier. You dial tele-translator, put your phone on speaker mode and have the meeting.

How to pay - I could think of two options:

1. You can become a member and dial a toll free no. or
2. A non-member can dial a hotline no. where he or she can be charged on per minute basis.

Any takers?