My Thoughts..

The Rising of Aam Aadmi ...

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 22:22:00 +0000

Indian politics had always been one of my interests but last few years were quite a roller coaster for a common man. Gone are the days where synonym of politics was Congress. India has seen a lot .. BJP ripping off Congress from head to toe and winning the Lok Sabha Elections, BJP changing the face of politics. But we must admit BJP ran their elections with a marketing strategy and let’s face it, we all knew that Congress had done enough bad to the country and it was time for a change. BJP did make some smart choices. My favorite once was to side-line the seniors, come-on it’s time to retire. Regardless of the controversies around our prime minister which personally never affected me (as if we have never seen our ministers doing anything wrong/controversial); I am very impressed by Modiji’s profile. His stand on Economic Development in Gujarat was splendid and his efforts made Gujarat one of the investment platform. I have never come across any leader who has guts to order demolishing temples. All in all Narendraji as a Chief Minister of Gujarat is something every state needs.

I am sure most of us might have thought this about our Prime Minister and hence the thought of being lead by such a powerful man is truly in parallel to their slogan “Ache Din Aayenge”. And we already have started seeing many global initiatives taken which are commendable. But I cannot resist thinking about some of the national “quick” changes that BJP government tried and failed miserably and later became “lost news.” I do agree we need to see the “big picture” and this is too early to raise a red flag but for a common man, especially for youth don’t we need some national level changes which will inspire them and not run out of India the first chance they get?

I remember during their campaign, the focus was on speeding government decision-making. The “Swachh Bharat Campaign” was a good thought, half-baked, poorly organized campaign. At the end, garbage was thrown purposely on the street for celebrities to clean it. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Garbage-spread-on-street-purposely-before-Delhi-BJP-chief-and-Shazia-Ilmi-participate-in-Clean-India-campaign/articleshow/45058960.cms

We all know we need a proper garbage disposal system. Why there wasn’t an effort on those front, or was this just something done on the side by our government to keep us happy?

Still I don’t see any efforts on making that damn Aadhar Card work. Promise was made to bring back the money from Swiss account within certain days. This was the first time ever that an effort was made to reach out to the government by creating a website where we could send any information/complains/suggestions. Are they even read or it was just a strategy to make all of us subscribe to it just to show the count and later send “Festival Greetings”.

I am not saying all of this is possible with a blink and having BJP government in power means finding a genie. All I am saying is are we again going the route of making promises to common man to keep them happy? We can easily be up-front and start something constructive rather than just showing off.

I remember I had this discussion with few of my friends before BJP won and was of a strong opinion that AAP needs time, it is not a matured party and Congress should just die and hence only hope and good hope we got is BJP. AAP have their own share of disasters. The perfect way to describe them is bunch of young kids getting together to make a difference without knowing anything about politics. Politics is not something one should take for granted. You need to be in the system to change it and can’t just go on a spree thrashing people and expecting them to later help.

Just when I thought that now we have to wait and watch what our government does for us , to my surprise “Kejriwal became the CM of Delhi”. Both are two different things, but I am sure BJP is shaken and now we can hope, their again won’t be a monopoly in politics and hence no one can sit on their asses until next elections. It’s always nice to have a strong opposition and I can see that in AAP. Kejriwal had become the joke of the town, but he did apologize and toned down his rebellious image. So if BJP’s controversies don’t bother me, it’s just fair to say that we should always give a second chance. Things that I use to dislike about AAP, constant nagging, complaining, and thrashing opponents are much toned down now.

I hope with this new role AAP realizes that it is at the end politics and an appreciation to the chair is needed to be taken seriously. And being a part of the system you need to believe in it.

It would be very interesting to see where this goes and how (if ever) BJP reacts to this. But glad to know we have one strong government in the center and a hope for a better one in state.

As I am nearing 30 ....

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 15:34:00 +0000

Older you get wiser you become.. I have been hearing this say for quite a while now..
I am not sure about being wiser... but I would agree upon being more calmer..
I see a difference in me, my thoughts , my approach towards life.. I always wondered if there was something missing in me..
Do I lack some kind of a soul because of which I feel so indifferent on some aspects of life...

But as I logged in today to start my routine after a relaxing weekend I happened to read a simple blog from Meryl Streep(http://ioadicaeu.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/i-no-longer-have-patience/) . Nothing extraordinary .. but there it was a simple truth that people just can't digest and I feel that's where and why I stand out sometimes..

I might sound too old.. but as I look back there are so many things that I would have done differently..
I lack patience and I am not guilty about it. I have just simply reached a point in my life where I do not feel the necessity to please every single person.
I do not judge people in what they do but at the same time I don't like people judging or expecting something out of me which I don't want to do.
I hate people who can't appreciate and even those who pretend to appreciate..it just gets on me now a days too quickly..
I refuse to stay at a place for too long where I can't be myself. And I hate people trying to interrupt my life.

I just feel I lost so many years not just trying to please people but also just being patient and taking all the crap I could.. as if I had to and that was my job..

But today I would love to say ... I am too old to take that shit!!!

Sanjay Dutt Saaga ..

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:02:00 +0000

I have been following this news for a very long time now. I am sure many have . Being a Mumbaite this has been very emotional to me .. Lots of mixed emotions have run through me during this course ..

But today I am amongst those "Aaam Janta".. who might be feeling there is a rock bottom .. then there is loads of crap and then there is me.

I am going to emphasise on me being a "Aaam Janta" or rather say a Aaaam Janta who chosed to run away and be a NRI.

So this is how I see this :

On 19th April 1993 : Sanjay , oh I am sorry didn't mean to hurt people's emotions here , what I meant was Sanju Bhai was arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA).

He spent 18 months in jail and then was granted bail (So a person under TADA can get a bail)

Re-arrested in December 1995 and re-released in April 1997

In November 1993, a 90,000-page long primary chargesheet was filed against the 189 accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case including Sanjay

Balasahebh Thackeray quoted :
"Even the soul of Mahatma Gandhi would have wanted Sanjay to be freed." - Bal Thackeray, 31. July 2007

My Story and how am I related :

Honestly , not related at all.. and I am so happy to say this. I did not loose any one in 1993 Blast .. I just remember my parents trying to reach out to everyone they know making sure they were fine.
I am just an "Aaaam Janta" , who always pray that the blast that would happen next , should not happen anywhere near my loved one's vicinity. (Ofcourse, because I know blasts will happen)
I am not blaming anyone , just trying to understand my people, we lost lives , so if someone does a movie on Gandhism , is a star then we should let him go, WHy this was not proposed to Ajmal Kasab.
He was only 18 when he got into this , I am sure he must have had a better heart-breaking story for you guys. We should have respectfully taken him to some rehab and then made a better person out of him , isn't that perfect Gandhism.

Anyways , I can go on and on .....

On March 21, 2013 the Supreme Court gave the verdict to five years imprisonment. - And my belief to our constitution , our law was restored

But , Sanju Bhai has still not surrendered and now have appealed for an extension - Wow .. An extension .. And My eyes are back on newspapers all day long yet again

Whether Sanjay will be treated differently or not .. Well, we all know that by now...

I have seen nations fighting against Corruption , illiteracy , Population ,Drought and list goes on .. I have also seen nations tolerating and living with those conditions but a nation who have the courage to forgive support to Terrorism .. well.... "Mera Bharat Mahaan"

Apple-Samsung Saagaa .. Technology at risk ..

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:23:00 +0000

Definetly a major Win for Apple.After the verdict my emails and facebook were flooded with mixed emotions. Few liked the verdict as if they played a major role in the company itself and few were disappointment. I am not yet sure how I feel.

Whenever I think of Apple , first thing that comes to my mind is "arrogance" , "secretive culture" , "polished campaigns" , kind of a superior authority who thinks there customers are always wrong , "dumb" for that matter.

With Samsung and HTC One coming along and consumers moving away they just couldnt take the pain.Couldnt discover anything fascinating so

just decided to vobble on there

patent rights. I think Apple's ultimate targer is Android. The Samsung-Apple verdict was a good for Microsoft's Windows Phone. They were so incredibly happy that I heard they even tweeted about it.

Well, so what all these things really mean to us. First let me define US. When I say us, I mean we the consumers and then we the developers.So we the consumers looks like are not suppose to experience anything new or incredibly different. When I bought HTC One, I was fascinated with the whole experience , the UI , the interactions , amazing is the word for it. WHen I saw Samsung Galaxy I had similar reactions. So with all this drama am I again going to be forced to see that IE icon on my screen and use it even if I hate it and may be pay for some stupid upgrades or if you dont want that then may be pay some ridiculous about for an Apple product and if even you dont exactly get why it is so pricy still pretend as if it is cool, just to be part of "that" crowd.

With n going dramas of different browsers ,different engine and different OS, us the developers never had a good time with any of them. I just forsee the matter getting worse as if no one comes up with a pattern then it might get more challenging and then us the consumers might often get more messages saying , we do not support this version and blah blah blah

I strongly feel, that if any patent or rather on that matter any two competitors interfere in a growing technology it should be strongly discouraged. In today's world where we all are starving to achieve something new does it really matters whether some freaky layout is similar. That reminds me , doesnt all the touchpads have similar layout ?

I heard yesterday google and Apple are talking about patents . Wonder what that will bring up next.. but for now its Microsoft who is on the lead... so YAY Microsoft!!!

Dinner Date ...

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Few days back I had dinner with a close friend of mine. Usually, we friends end up taking a to-go and eat at my home watching TV. That reminds me, recently I bought a 59” TV with a 3-D view, it is just awesome. Well, getting back to my story, so I was having dinner with my friend and I realized we were having a conversation, what we were talking about isn’t important, but the fact we were talking to each other sharing few stories and not staring at that idiot box made me realize what all I was missing after I got that idiot box. This made me think even more, now-a-days I don’t call my friends that often, we have our what-so-ever communication or know about what is happening in our lives through facebook. Sometimes I make sure I “like” there comments or pics, sometimes I just ignore doing that extra step (see getting that lazy). Regardless, what that is or means , we have just skipped the part of “talking to each other”.
I am not much of a person who will share my life in facebook, I hate doing that , but I always make sure to log in facebook to know what’s happening with my friends. Weird, isn’t it why not just call. Am I getting lazier. And to top it all, my friends also are equally into it. I think everyone will agree to this, if you want to know where your friend is just login to facebook  . Also, not to mention few of my friends have started talking to their husband/wives or better-half on facebook. One of my friend even wrote on his fiancée wall, “ITS TIME” 10 seconds before getting married and then we idiots followed the drama congratulating them. HILLARIOUS!!!
All this makes me wonder , with we moving towards the “technology world” are we sacrificing those wonderful things around us which we might regret later. Now a days if you tell people to cut down on facebook and try to meet people socially, the response we get is we are going backwards again. Is that true? Or is it something we all should stop and think about for a minute.
I use to be the one who talks for hours and listen for ages from my friends. I remember my Mom use to say someday that idiot box is going to rule the world, and I could see my friends just staring at that TV  I wonder whether it has already happened. I wonder me buying this awesome TV was a mistake. I wonder whether facebook is really a social website or is something who is making us more lazy. I cant believe people updating there website without fail everyday but not calling friends or even for that matter their families.
Hmm.. something to think about….. I guess…….

What Am I Cribbing About?

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Last two days I realized a decent truth of my life. I am a working professional, who like any other professionals crib about all the inventions that have happened for the past decade. I happened to watch a show “Hilarious” from a stand-up comedian Louis C.K.and out of no-where followed it with a complete opposite genre, a Hindi movie Kabul Express and as if I was not done, followed my parade with a documentary from North Koreans. I am not sure what message the movie wanted to give to the audience or even if the director intended to give any message, but I think the show Hilarious and the documentary had already taken me to a world of reality-check and Kabul-Express just gave the last push. It was as if some external force trying to talk to me.
I have been to US now for 5 years and I think I have the issues what I like to call as “no-problem” issues. Let me explain this further, recently I had been to California. All said and done my excuse for delaying my trip was, it is a long flight from Raleigh, North Carolina and I had just come from India which is again 18 hours long flight. (CAUTION: My just been to India was like a month back). So looks like I was cribbing about six hours long flights which in olden times use to take 30 days with a life threatening risk involved. Also, to add to it I did not like the one hour lay-over between my connecting flights. I also sometime crib about usual delayed flights and wait on the runway and all kinds of stuff that one can image but dude after the delay; I just flew to my destination. I was actually sitting on a chair in the air. Hhh.. I guess I never thought of these things till now. I don’t think I am here to blame, because since I was born I have enjoyed this luxury. Flying is like an obvious thing for me. I can’t drive to a place which is like miles away, I have to fly.
Do you remember the days when we had a single phone at home, and that was the only point of contact to rest of the world? I don’t, because I never lived it. Mobile is like a necessity for me. When I went to India, the first thing my brother handed to me was a mobile with a pre-paid card. Like any other “youngster” in the town, I complain about the range, the data plan, and the network issues and so on and so forth.
Louis C.K in his show said “Dude, if it bothers you so much, go create your own” and all of a sudden there was a long awaited respect that came to my mind for Dr.Martin Cooper and Wright Brothers . Something else also comes to my mind here, I have been to Wright Brothers National Memorial which is in North Carolina, have seen all those gliders and flying machines of 19’s with appreciation but the moment I sit on a plane, I complain.
So now that I have told about my ugly “no-problem” issues, let me highlight one more thing which category of people have these issues, the one’s who really have no-issues at all. Come on... there are a set of people on this earth who fear or rather are not allowed to walk down the streets as they wish. Problems that we deal are something that they haven’t yet imagined is ever possible. They have different problems to deal with like, am I going to live today, is my family going to die, will I eat today. Women have complete different set of issues. They fear their marriage, something that every girl dreams about here in US and back in my home town since a teenager. The documentary that I watched showed me the fear that these people live in, the pain that has become an everyday affair for them.
I always say, India is my Janam-Bhumi and America is my Karma-Bhumi. I am glad both have given me the best of their worlds. I am blessed with an excellent combination of culture and freedom.I am proud to be an Indian and happy to be in US. Now, when I look back, I ask myself just one thing, seriously what exactly am I cribbing about?

Security in your homeland ..

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:19:00 +0000

We are again flooded with articles concerning security in India after the recent blast.
The same old headlines that I have been so much familiar with now...
"Mumbai still fights" ; "Mumbai does not stop " .. I find all of them ridiculous .. why they don't understand its not that we don't stop by this tragic incidents .. it's just that we can't if we want to live.
Anyways.. with all this drama surrounded by the tragedy. I found an article which made sense .. a lot of sense ..

Why My Father Hated India

I have to say now… “Mi Mumbaikar”

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:01:00 +0000

I have always believed and claimed that our generation is the cursed one. We want to live a fast pace life, life full of experiments and thrill, but after a point we are bounded by our “culture” or rather the values our parents have (enforced) given us. Some place we agree with those values and some places we don’t, but either ways we live by the rules.
I felt our next generation would find things much different or rather much easier until I met a friend. Few weeks before I happened to have dinner with a friend. He not only proved me wrong but also made me realized I am a Mumbaikar.
Honestly, from childhood , I am proud to be a Mumbaiate. I believe a Mumbaikar can survive anywhere. Mumbai has given a lot to people and truly it is a “karma bhoomi”. But so has many other cities in India. I always get annoyed when people say outsiders have spoilt Mumbai or rather any other place. Mumbai is Mumbai because of everyone living their. If people from various places wouldn’t have come to Mumbai , it wouldn’t have been where it is now. Ofcourse every good thing comes with unwanted baggage. We have few things like any other city does : corruption, slums blah blah blah.
Well, getting back to my friend , according to him his so called golden “Pune” has been ripped apart by outsiders and so he is going to kill them or make them leave home. And please, I am not exaggerating, according to him all those who have come from other place make all kinds of nuisance in his homeland and so they should be thrown out. I could see the anger in his face. On top of it , he hates Mumbai because it has become too crowded for him to live. Listening to him made me sad, this is today’s generation.
I was looking at it in a different way. For me it was like someone standing on a complete foreign land and talking about how his own small town is been populated by the worse people on this earth. Does he even realize that he is doing the same? And was he really unhappy about how crowded Mumbai is or it is all about he himself not getting any place their. Any of his claims did not make any sense to me. People come to his Pune and drink a lot and make nuisance, hello you do the same. People come to Pune and do not respect others , ah ha what about you.. ..
Well in all this, I wonder what are we going to teach our next generation, are they also going to fight for their own piece of land or realize that we are known for diversity, respect others and welcome them. I know we aren’t perfect; we need a lot to change but is fighting amongst ourselves the answer to this. I always had a hope that may be if we don’t do anything right of our motherland but at least we wont do anything wrong. But now I can do nothing but just sit and pray that there would be a day when we all can be human and yeah I am going to “just sit and pray” because I too am from the same crowd who wont want to do anything to make a better place to live in , the only difference in me is I don’t have any hatred for others.

A Murder - My Point of View

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:55:00 +0000

“Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy”, a Marathi play which is all about a hero who saved our nation from a paradoxical phenomenon, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, Gandhi. “Mi Gandhi Cha Vaadh Kela”, that’s what Sharad Ponkshe kept on repeating while getting into his character. His passion and the dialogues made me believe that assassination of Gandhi was the most ideal thing that our nation needed and the man who gave it to us by sacrificing his own life was also “a one man army”, the only person involved and the only person who made it happen. Well, I must say it is a nice effort by Pradeep Dalvi of telling people his point of view.

Recently I finally got hold of the only hope remained (as per my knowledge) about the assassination, The men who killed Gandhi by Mohan Malgaonkar. It is supported by unpublished documents and photographs of the trial and the assassins. The narration style is not at promising as it keeps moving from past to present but in-depth details of the murder are well described. It illustrates all the facts and episodes that happened before and after the murder , yes “the murder” and not “vadh” as what my Nathuram would have said.
I was surprised to know that there were an army of seven – Nathuram Godse , Narayan Apte , Gopal Godse, Badge,Shankar,Karkare and Mandanlal Pahwa . The day Gandhi was murdered was not the only time when they had tried to kill him. Reading their earlier murder plan made my heart ache. I never imagined my hero can think of a mass murder by throwing grenades during Gandhi’s Prayer hours just to kill one man. Moreover, he did not even take initiative but was happy to just be an observer to the task. He constantly complained that Gandhi had bought freedom to Pakistani’s. According to him, he was father of nation only for Muslims but unknowingly he was also fighting only for Hindus. I was confused why and what exactly made these young men take this decision. Were they not ok with the fact that a Hindu was supporting Muslims, or was it just the fact that Gandhi was so powerful that he was successful in making India a safe place for Muslims to live-in, while no other “hindu leaders” could do anything for the Hindus who were in Pakistan. I am not a follower of Gandhi’s beliefs either and will never be. The man who calls freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh a terrorist will never understand the pain that every Indian went through during the war of Independence, but I do know one thing if people are killed , oh I am sorry, if Hindu’s are killed in some place , does not give me the right to kill Muslims were I live.
Extra Curricular Activities of Narayan Apte were very disappointing and that itself made me not believe much in his patriotism. But till I finished the book, I always thought he was what is perfectly described in the Marathi Play “Nathurama chi Savli”. He tried to get an alibi from his mistress to make sure he is not trapped into the Gandhi murder case. Prosecution Witness, Badge, a path chosen by him to save himself, Gopal Godse backing out at the last moment choosing his life over death did not quite fascinate me. At the end, I just felt like it was a crime made by bunch of angry young teenagers.

I felt only common point between me and Godse are, I too believe Gandhi’s regular fast, as an answer to anything that went against him is like an angry wife fighting with her husband and the decision of giving 55 crores to Pakistan was just not acceptable. But killing Gandhi is also not justified to me yet.
I loved the book for the fact that it has not been partial at all. It has portrayed all the aspects of assassination. But I was a little upset to know that technically talking if Gandhi was struggling for peace then Godse was for independent and undivided Hinduism which he called as undivided Hindustan.

Most common thing to do at this time of the year .. :)

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:03:00 +0000

So here are few things that I would like to accomplish this year.

1. Finish reading the books that I have been long postponing.

2. Start painting again (Just an FYI, I am not good at this, but like to spoil the canvas)

3. My Thoughts have become a good stress buster for me. I would like to make sure I write regularly.

4. Give my certifications which I am long delaying.

5. Stay Veggetarian .. :)

6. Visit Florida.

7. Try to visit Kerala (Heard it is a beautiful place)

8. Get in touch with my old pals.

9. Be more organised.

10. Buy a house in India.

My goodness too much things to do in a very little time. Hope I would be able to accomplish it.

All the Best to me ... :)

Pain Again ...

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:59:00 +0000

I felt this when I was leaving my country, my parents, my house and now it is coming back- An awful feeling of leaving people.
These three years have meant a lot to me. I have come across many people, learnt a lot from them.
To be honest, I am known as an introvert, busy with my own things not related much to the outside world. But for the past few months, I met few people who have not just pulled me out of my world but also showed me a very different aspect of life. Amazingly, they were in my life when I needed friends around, unknowingly they helped me heal and stand again. I was never so close to anyone.

The day I received my offer letter, I was excited to tell my friends as I have achieved what I wanted.
I was in my living room, my friends were all surrounding me and only one thing came to my mind “I am leaving”! That moment took me back three years when I was standing in front of my parents telling them about my intentions to come to US.

I just wanted to stop there, not tell anyone, just shut myself up, actually just not go. Soon the news spread, people have started congratulating me and I always have a grin in my face. Feelings like, “they just want me to go”, “why are they so happy that I am leaving” has started rushing in my mind. I know my friends are happy for me and are trying to support me, but right now I just need someone to hug me and say don’t go.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:40:00 +0000

“127” Hours, the only movie till date that I could not finish watching.
Heartbroken to see a man helpless.

The director has done a great job in making audience visualize themselves in Aron’s place. When the boulder dropped onto him, my heart sank. “What is he going to do?” was the first thing that came to my mind. I guess many knew the story but I was among those few who had no clue about it. As the movie started taking its toll loads of things started coming rushing to me, How can he use the things he has within his reach? Then there were “if only” thoughts haunting me. If only he had told someone where he was going, if only he was accompanied by someone, if only he had been more careful, if only he had chosen a different route. Clearly those thoughts were also going through the head of the real Aron Ralston.

The movie also has a feel of "Castaway". A feeling of being alone and left alone,helpless.Boyle had made a successful effort in making me feel I was living that situation.
The scenes about his dreams –sleeping or otherwise – taking him back to his childhood, to his parents made me cry. When he started imagining himself with the two women he met before his fall and the party they invited him to, and then about the beverages of all flavours which was then followed by the “Gatorade” shot he had left in his car, I was done. I walked out of the theatre and couldn’t watch it anymore. I read about this movie and then the book later.

127 Hours makes you think about what a person can endure and learn as they fight for survival. This is not about nature vs. human or survival. After thinking over this episode I realized, Ralston did not loose his arm instead he gained his life back. Surprisingly, this has now bought an affirmation in my life. Can just think about four letters here.. Life here I come!

Let there be light

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:16:00 +0000

“Harry Potter" mania is certainly ramping up, with the release of the movie “Harry Potter and harry potter and the deathly hallows “I watched this movie the other day. Harry Potter movies have always been a disappointment to me. I watch them to see the director’s cut. But this time I had many things going in my mind. It has been a common drama when a movie is release which is based on a book; people watch it and critize the writer to death. I do the same, but this time I wondered what else they could have done to fit in a two and half hour show. I myself felt it too lengthy after two hours.

Movies based on books can be hit or miss. I remember the time when I read “The Notebook”. The book made me cry in pain. I lived their life throughout. The movie also did a good amount of justice to the book. The Notebook is a novel that a person can read very quickly because it is engrossing and very light. It is a romantic drama that absorbs the reader. No wonder this book was turned into a movie . It inspires the reader and gives them hope that the power of love can transcend any obstacle. Definitely the movie was a hit.

If you ask anyone today whether they would like to read a book or go watch a movie, the popular answer would be a movie if the person is a teenager. Since movies are far and above much popular entertainment medium, most people would rather be entertained by spending a couple of bucks and hours experiencing visual and audio effects.

The question then becomes, is a Movie really a better entertainment medium for those who have read the book? Most often you would hear “NO”. Which then brings out a question, why are we biased towards a story that takes lot of time to finish as better entertainment than a story which has a “visualization effect” to it ? The answer is imagination.

When reading a book, we are so engrossed into the story line that we make a picture in our mind about the whole story.It is our imagination that is at work which makes us intensely feel about the situation which we care ourselves as a person and leave the rest as a background story. With this in mind, it would be very difficult for a director to get the exact same picture from our mental cabinet into the screen. But if this is the case then why don’t people read a book on a lazy afternoon, rather than wasting bucks watching a movie? The answer is time. We are influenced and ofcourse drawn towards time commitment of a couple of hours vs several days.
In conclusion, when asked Movie or a Book, It becomes a personal choice. I have always loved to read rather than watch because I feel that gives me a passage to let my imagination take a magic spell.

You have a Friend's Request

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:13:00 +0000

I remember I use to love to scrap friends, write testimonials. I use to check orkut in every 2 minutes for new scraps.
It isn’t too long since the facebook mania has haunted people. I read different blogs, articles on how facebook is much better which made me create an account. Guess what, all my friends were already in it.
I remember my first day in facebook, I was trying to understand the application and I had 35 requests already. These were not friend’s requests but requests to join some application. For a while I stayed away from it, but I confess facebook monster took me down. I too started with Mafia Wars and Café World. Phewww… It was difficult to delete it completely from my account.

I have observed that, a social network is a social structure between certain individuals that demonstrates how they are connected, whether they are casual acquaintances or if they have a close personal relationship. We went to a party the other night and met few people through a friend. Eventually I started hanging out with them, so thought of adding them to my “Facebook” account. Again woohoo hoo … All my other friends have already added them. This is a cool way for people to meet, make friends and eliminate possible awkward conversations.

But has anyone thought of the availability of your personal profile on the Internet for many people to see, even recruiters for that matter.
Also the time that is spent to play those games. Trust me on this, you get addicted to them no matter how firm you are.

A social skill is one of the most critical topics today. Being able to hold conversations and relate to other people helps people not only in their business lives but also in their daily lives. With the creation of, first, instant messenger and now Facebook, the young generation is beginning to become more dependent on these technologically based ways of communicating. Facebook makes it easier to meet a people, which as everyone knows, is the most difficult part of starting a relationship, but do we realize that we are becoming addicted and dependent upon this social network. If we continue to constantly use these social networks as our primary means of communicating I fear our social skills will slowly diminish. I fear the day when people will fail to have face-to-face conversations.

Ahhh.. Am I taking this to extremes?
Anyways! I am not a frequent facebook visitor anymore, but I agree I met many of my old friends through facebook. Facebook has always given you options, using which you can control your profile and your available information. Facebook may seem like another pointless website for people to waste their time on and I have definitely witnessed many people waste an unfathomable amount of time on it, Facebook is an easy way to keep in touch with old friends and meet new people and if used properly will not hinder but enhance people’s social skills.

You are holding it wrong!

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:01:00 +0000

I remember the day when Steven Jobs officially introduced iphone4. I was eager to check out videos, conference announcements and see press releases about this product.
But this was Steven’s least favorite presentation. Might be because millions had already seen iphone 4 after Gizmodo got its hands on the prototype.

Honestly speaking I don’t think that affected anything. People are still crazy about Apple products and will always be. And why not, People are been dreaming about video calling for a while now. It has a very high resolution; it showed us a new way of multitasking.

With an excellent reputation in the market; people wanting to have it and competitors envying it, I really can’t find a reason why Apple is always reluctant to except software issues if any. Come on at last it’s a machine. Apple replied back to the reception issues that customers are facing saying that it’s just the physical location of your hand that is wrong. Official statement from Apple says:

Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases

So now Apple is also trying to teach people how to hold mobile phones, sorry let me correct myself... how to hold IPHONES. As of now moving the reception antenna to some other location is not a solution.

This makes me wonder, I have always blamed Microsoft for their theory of using their customers as a geniis, but is it the same with Apple.

Whatever may be it, I think iphone has built a reputation that I still love it.
But yeah... in a company where I work this would have been a “design defect” .

Take it light!

noreply@blogger.com (Swapna Savant) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:33:00 +0000

I need to make a confession to myself. Few people that I have met in my life have influenced me to a great extend. But unknowingly I have started expecting certain behavior from their side.

Looks like it’s a natural tendency. Strange thing has happened with me. I heard about my friend dating someone who I know. I was disappointed with him. And the fact that I cannot confront him as he hasn’t supposedly told me yet , made it more vulnerable. Suddenly after a week I realize I don’t want to talk to him.
This makes me think what went wrong or rather what is that I did not like. Is it the fact that he is dating or is it that he is dating a wrong person?
The real question is am I the person to even talk about this. I always had a picture of the girl my friend should date, the qualities that she should have. May be it bothers me that his girl friend does not fulfill my expectations.
But is that it or am I just making myself feel better by saying this.
Honestly, there is something more to it. I use to idolize my friend. I use to think he can never go wrong. He is dating his best friend’s ex., that to without talking to his best-friend. Yes, that’s what is bothering me. It scares me, what would happen when his best-friend will figure it out. Will he be upset or just throw some random viscous comment and move on. Does my friend deserve this!

Today sitting in office trying to get work done I ask myself, should I really be bothered of all this. Should I really be the one to predict? Should I really be the one to judge? He did not even care to tell me. He chosed an easy way out of this. May be that’s what is good for now. May God Bless them both and give me the vision, the strength to Take It Light!