What does a blog title look like?

Better Visualizations - I

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 01:15:00 +0000

Here is a simple visualization from an ESPNCRICINFO article regarding India's future test match schedule for 2016-17. It is basically a good article - asking more questions than it answers. The author is attempting to highlight the steep increase in the number of test matches India is scheduled to play.

Stacked bar graphs are not really a great choice for this kind of comparison. It would have been much better done using a line chart. Here is the one that I created in MS Excel in less than 5 minutes.

The blue line representing test matches clearly shows an upswing in 2016-17. Easier to point out in this visualization than the one posted on the website.

P.S. - I wanted to name this post as "Bad Visualizations" but decided against it. Good decision :)

TV

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 15:03:00 +0000

Oi.

Its time for mid year appraisal at my company - the smart folks up there have managed to conduct two mid year appraisals this year so far. Given the copious amount of talent they hold inside their pea sized brains, you'd reckon they are not done yet.

Anyway, its also time for me to revisit the goals set by me in the beginning of the year. I am proud to announce that, this year I have managed to fulfill at least one of the goals. I haven't watched television this year so far. Yes, the idiot box is staring at me as I write this.. don't worry boy - you're not getting no air time this year :-)

Image Courtesy - Wiki user Denelson83

The curious case of Mr. McAfee

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 11:26:00 +0000

" I'm constantly under attack, yet I use no software protection.

I protect myself by constantly changing my IP [internet protocol] address, by not attaching my name to any device I use, and by not going on to sites where you might pick up a virus.
Porn sites, for example, I just don't go there.

Secondly, I practise safe computing. If someone sends me an email with a link, I'm not going there until I can call the person to verify that they sent me the email.

It sounds absurd to live that way, but I would rather trust my own devices and thoughts than someone else's software."

Seems like the thought process of a paranoid Luddite, doesn't it?

No, in fact these are the words of none other than the founder of one of the leading anti virus solutions in the world - John McAfee.

Go figure.

Source: BBC News

P.S. - Didn't know Mr McAfee led such an interesting life. Check out the videos here (Screen grab below)

THIS IS WAY MORE CRAZY THAN I HAD EVER IMAGINED!

Creating a product for future?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 09:02:00 +0000

I have been reading Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success by Steven Blais for last few days. Essentially, the book makes a good reading and the author has an excellent grasp on the issues faced by a business analyst (BA) on a day to day basis. In fact, at the end of the book, he goes on to compile a "list of comments, complaints, and concerns was collected over many years from hundreds of business analysts all over the world". And does a great job at that!

He also gives a list of context free questions that can be used by a BA to explore the problem domain. (How much I would love to have a list of similar context free questions that I can use a conversation starter with people both in/outside the office!) The anatomy of requirements sets the ground work for understanding the business of requirement analysis. The checkpoints and various games introduced throughout the book are informative. A comparison of the roles of BA, Project Manager and System Analyst is interesting. Overall, the author has poured his years of wisdom and practical experience in the well researched title.

However, something caught my eye. In Chapter 16, the author talks about the circumstances of interest. It has been introduced as something that circumscribes technical and business areas in which testing will occur. He further explains this using an example that I am quoting verbatim:

"..when the organization has 1,200 employees and is growing at 10 percent a year, it is not of interest to check whether the system will handle 10,000 employees."

Fair enough, an organization growing at 10% annually with a seed of 1200 will reach 10,000 in around its 23rd year. Is that too far away a date to consider? If not, then how far is faraway? (Hint: Y2K)

Now, it won't be a far fetched an assumption to say that the organization might grow a little faster? With a moderate rate of 30%, the organization will reach 10,000 employees in a little over 8 years.

Doesn't seem that far now, does it?

Image Courtesy: Amazon

Sri Lanka - Changing face of Buddhism

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Buddhism stands upright as a religion of peace. Non-voilence or ahimsa is one of the basic tenets of the religion. The serenity on Buddha's face, sitting in meditation, can disarm even the most voilent of creatures. I had a similar impression about Buddhism, alas the picture perfect has been smudged with slurs.

Burma and Sri Lanka, two countries in South Asia, that share a common history of Buddhism are today center of what might be termed as 'Buddhist Terror'. Burma has had a history of Mujahideen insurgency in the west border adjoining Bangladesh, prompting the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, many of whom have fled to neighboring countries. Ashin Wirathu, the doe faced Buddhist monk, has been portrayed as the face of Buddhist Terror by Time magazine. So much so that even Dalai Lama issued an appeal to his Burma brethren to desist from making attacks on Rohingyas.

Sri Lanka has had no direct threat from Muslims but still a feeling of religious intolerance simmers. Earlier it was the Tamils, now after the rebels have been defeated, its the turn of the Moors. Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist has organized various campaigns against burqas, halal meat and end of mosque building financed by Middle East. BBS was founded by, guess what, monks! The most alarming fact here is the patronage and instigation by Buddhist monks.

The effects of this prosecution which is seen as being supported by Buddhist clergy were recently seen in the blasts at Maha Bodhi temple at Bodh Gaya. I fail to understand, why smoke belches in India when the fires are raging elsewhere!

Passing by
While other stuff is cheaper, newspapers are mighty expensive in Sri Lanka. Sunday edition of Sri Lanka Mirror cost me Sri Lankan rupees 60 (~ 30 INR). So, once I bought the newspaper, I made sure I read every single page of it :-)

Previous Entries:
Sri Lanka - Introduction
Sri Lanka - Cleanliness
Sri Lanka - Religion
Sri Lanka - History of Buddhism

Sri Lanka - History of Buddhism

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 08:03:00 +0000

Buddhism was brought into Sri Lanka around 2400 years ago by the great Indian king Asoka. He sent his son Mahinda to Sri Lanka to help spread the message of Buddha. Asoka's conversion to Buddhism after the battle of Kalinga is another interesting story, perhaps for another time. At that time, a sapling of the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha had meditated was also brought to Sri Lanka. The tree is venerated in Sri Lanka and is the site of a great pilgrimage for Sri Lankans.

Bodhi Tree at Anuradhapura

Sri Lanka has the longest continuous history of Buddhism across all Buddhist countries. India, where Buddhism originated and was once the state religion of the grand Mauryan empire, couldn't sustain itself. Although Hindu kings patronized Buddhism, a heretic Shaiva king chopped the Bodhi tree. The University at Nalanda, a treasure chest of knowledge, burnt for 3 months after being set on fire by Muslim invaders who also destroyed numerous stupas and viharas. Once it lost the support of the kings, Buddhism would find it difficult to survive.

Soon Buddhism faced an identity crisis. Vaishanavism abandoned the animal sacrifices that Buddhism abhorred in Brahminism and started practicing vegetarianism. Shaivites disregarded the caste-hierarchy inherent in scriptures. Overall, ideas were freely borrowed from Buddhism ranging from the Sangha (the Buddhist monastic order) to Tantrism. Shankaracharya stole the wind from Buddhism's sail and not much later, Buddha was one of the avatars of Vishnu in India. Its funny to note that Vishnu is one of the four guardians of Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka!

Princess Hemamali carrying Buddha's tooth in her hair

In Sri Lanka too, the Sinhala kings had to seek refuge from the invaders from South India - most specifically the mighty Cholas. Cholas under Raja Raja I and his son Rajendra I, creators of the magnificent Brihadeswara temple at Thanjavur, destroyed the city of Anuradhapura and established a new capital at Polonnaruwa. Eventually, they were overthrown by Vijaybahu I and Buddhism was reinstated as the state religion. Buddhism continued to florish under Parakramabahu the Great. After his death, the kingdom was again brutally sacked by Kalinga Magha who established the Kingdom of Jaffna in the north. Jaffna remained unconquered until the arrival of Portuguese in 16th century.

Sri Lanka has had a tumultuous political history. The claim to the throne was laid by the no less than the Cholas, Pandyas, Sinhalas, Kalingas and even a king from far away Kannauj! The capital was shifted from one city to another by one king after being destroyed by another. However, the light of Buddhism was kept burning with the support of ordained monks from Burma and the Buddhist clergy was cleansed time and again.

Crowd outside the Sacred Tooth Temple

It was believed that the holder of Sacred tooth relic had the right to the throne of the kingdom. Even today Esara Perahara (festival of the tooth) is celebrated with great fervour in July/August at Kandy. It is attended by a large number of people who flock to see the relic. It is a very colorful sight with fire-dances and colorfully decorated elephants. I was fortunate enough to be in Kandy on the day , the Perahara started. However crowd, fire dances and elephants galore in India and hold no special interest for me therefore I moved on to Colombo.

Crowds lined up for the Perahara

Although, I originally intended to write about changing face of Buddhism in Sri Lanka in this post, I see that I have wandered too much into the history so I would put a stop here. I would write about that in the next post.

Passing By
Due to the Perahara, the Pizza Hut outlet near the Sacred Tooth temple was closed for dine-in. Instead, it had been converted to a gallery where one could book a seat and watch the Perahara pass by. The guy tried to sell me a ticket for 4000 Sri Lankan Rupees. When I told him that I was leaving the city he reduced it to 2000! I had to convince him that I was really leaving!!! And then he lightened up, beamed a smile and said, "You must be from Punjab".

Pizza Hut converted into a gallery (chairs can be seen)

Previous Entries:
Sri Lanka - Introduction
Sri Lanka - Cleanliness
Sri Lanka - Religion

Sri Lanka - Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 08:57:00 +0000

Sri Lanka is a very religious country. Having said that, it is not much of a news for Indians who are perceived to be a highly religious community. That perception is not entirely true, considering there are at least 3 states in USA that think of themselves are more religious than Indians! However, there seems to be no doubt about the religiousity of Sri Lankans. An overwhelming 99% of Sri Lankans consider religion as an important part of their daily life - which is 3rd highest in the world (behind Egypt and Bangladesh).

Majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhists and unabashedly so. A small number of Hindus (largely Tamils) stay in the north province of Jaffna and were brought to Sri Lanka to work on the tea plantations. My hotel owner in Dambulla belonged to such a family of plantation workers who made it good. A part of his family, including his parents still lived in India. Actually, he was pretty happy, once he got to know that we were Indians. He tried to coax "kunchum kunchum" Tamil out of me but all that I could manage was "Taamil illa" or "Taamil Teriyadu".

Buddha and Hindu deities coexist peacefully in Sri Lankan society. Portraits of Laxmi, Karthikeyan, Vishnu, Ganesha or even Saraswati are to be found along side a meditating Buddha. Shiva, however is conspiously absent. I found the reason for that after I visited the Sacred Tooth Relic Temple in Kandy. Shaivaites have been historically portrayed in a negative light for having persecuted Buddhist Kings of Sri Lanka and attempting to destroy Sacred Tooth relic of Buddha. Shiva temples (kovils) are to be found most abundantly in Jaffna and sparingly in Colombo.

Mohammadans can be instantly recognized with their clothes - the long black dress worn by women who huddle together, the more progressive ones made out with bright colored salwar kameez. Men as always do not have to follow the dress code so they were busy herding a group of women and children. A marked contrast from the otherwise liberated and easy going Sri Lankans. I hardly saw any mosque around my trip except may be in Colombo.

There are statues of Buddha, Ganesha, Laxmi and Jesus in a glass case around the city squares. The glass cases are kept neat & clean and unlike India, not sprinkled with food grains, colors, flowers, vermillion or blackened by the smoke from incense sticks. Also, there are no priests who keep a vigil on these sites. There is no forced occupation of land after building a religious structure.

In the next part I will write about Buddhism in Sri Lanka and its changing face.

Image Courtesy - Wiki User Obi2canibe

Previous Entries:
Sri Lanka - Introduction
Sri Lanka - Cleanliness

Sri Lanka - Cleanliness

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:05:00 +0000

I imagined Sri Lanka as a third world country with a culture and society similar to southern states of India, specifically Tamil Nadu. This also lead me to assume that Sri Lanka would share our third world problems too. Yes, they do share our problems but not all of them. There are some problems that we seem to have copyrighted in this holy land of ours.

Let's take cleanliness - the country is amazingly clean! There are no open garbage dumps, no rotting food and organic products strewn alongside the road. At some places, there might be an odd plastic wrapper, polythene bag or paper lying around but that is not commonplace. I am sure there would be garbage dumps somewhere but I must say they have been well hidden!

I do not know the exact reason for this. Is it because people don't litter around or because the local administration puts a lot of emphasis on cleanliness or because the janitors are ultra efficient! Whatever the reason might be, it is a pleasant change from what we all are used to see in India.

Passing by

Indian (read Bollywood) movies and cricketers are quite popular in Sri Lanka. In fact, the first person I met outside the airport (a policeman) spoke of Shahrukh Khan. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but then, at 3 a.m. in the morning it was hardly the time for that. Besides, he quickly moved on to Malinga and Kohli. So I had to let it go.

Also, this image is NOT from Sri Lanka. It is from Jaipur, India. Source - wiki user Marcin.

Previous Entries:
Sri Lanka - Introduction

Sri Lanka - Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 06:39:00 +0000

Ayubowan.

I am writing this entry to record my observations about my visit to Sri Lanka. I have made the observations on the country, its people, language, culture, socio-economic conditions, society etc. Whenever I fail to conjure some hullabaloo about such esteemed topics, I will write about some thing flimsier. I might have erred at times or been too judgmental about certain things which might lead the reader to a misconstruction. In either case, I would be happy to correct myself.

I am not writing this as a tourist guide to Sri Lanka although I won't mind if it serves such a cause. I will try to supply travel related information as well wherever I can plug it. If the reader has any specific question, I would try to answer, although LP/Tripadvisor would be a better place to start.

This entry is of more significance to me because my preconceived ideas about the country were challenged. Challenged is not the right word, 'destroyed' is. I am reminded of this quote by Mark Twain:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

My original thought was to avoid any comparison with India - to represent Sri Lanka as a discrete entity but I later realized that it would be futile. Comparisons are bound to creep in unconsciously so let me bring them out. What is a man, if not his prejudices! Alternatively, they would contribute some juice to the otherwise boring posts.

As I gather my thoughts, I think it would be better to divide this into smaller posts because primarily I don't want to write a long meandering post and secondly because I think each topic deserves a separate post. I have also decided to write these posts on my Hindi blog as well. Since I am lousy in both the languages, the reader should not observe any appreciable differences.

The petulance of being Ravi Shastri

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Talk about eating your hat - Ravi Shastri must have had at least a dozen! And those were not just pushed in, mind you, but being made to chew through it and then shoveled inside.

The latest being,

"I would have dropped Yuvraj Singh from my team in that last match, purely because we have seen in the last few matches Yuvraj Singh is still not quite 70% or 80%".

And look what Yuvraj did - effected a direct hit and took two top order wickets including India's tormentor in the last match - Kamran Akmal.

Dear Ravi Shastri, clearly, sometimes you need to STFU!

Bipasha and Kissing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:24:00 +0000

I read Bipasha Basu's interview on TOI where she's quoted as saying, "I’m totally ok with lovemaking scenes, but I hate kissing". It reminds me of a scene from the Brasilian movie Estômago. In the movie, Nonato, a cook while having sex with a prostitute Iria tries to kiss her. She in turn tells him that that "I don't kiss anyone. I do everything else, but kissing....because it's not ethical"

Its funny to note that at both the places, the characters later end up kissing someone else. Bipasha with Emraan Hashmi and Iria with Nonato's boss Giovanni.

Hypocrite women. Huh.

The President

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:41:00 +0000

Five years ago I wrote about how Pratibha Patil's elevation to the presidency was a step towards weakening the nation. Five years later how I stand corrected!

Wikipedia entry on Mrs. Patil has a section on controversies. Here is the entire oeuvre. Some of the gems include spending more than 200 crores on her foreign visits, murder cases against family members, misuse of her position and finally grabbing Army land for her palatial accommodation.

As I write this, another farce is revealing itself and this looks far more worse than freaking Indian Idol!

May be I'll check again in 2017 :-)

Bike and Car

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:53:00 +0000

Exactly my thoughts.

"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it, you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer, and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on. It's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness."

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

10 Most Popular Pakistanis in India

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:29:00 +0000

I am presenting a list of 10 Pakistanis who are most well known in India. They are admired, loved, idolized (and sometimes pilloried) by millions across the country.

Is your list any different?

1. Imran Khan
Surely the most inspirational cricketer to have come out of Pakistan, Imran had stunning good looks to boot. His leadership skills were pivotal in Pakistan lifting the World Cup in 1992.

He wasn't as successful in his political career where he was dubbed a 'Spoiler politician'. He still remains an inspirational figure well respected in India.

2. Wasim Akram
Akram was one of the best fast bowlers in the world and one of the finest exponents of reverse swing bowling. His two sublime deliveries to dismiss Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in the 1992 WC final are etched forever in the minds of crickets lovers.

Although his career was later tainted with match fixing scandal he remains popular in India appearing in dance shows and commercials or even denying a marriage with Sushmita.

3. Ghulam Ali
Who can forget his heart rending song Chupke Chupke Raat Din in the 1982 movie Nikaah or for that matter his ghazal Hungama Hai Kyon Barpaa.

Armed with a baritone voice and subtle vibrations he used to convey a whole range of emotions in his ghazals. Along with Mehdi Hassan he contributed immensly to the revival of Ghazal in the 70's.

4. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nustat Fateh Ali Khan is probably the most well known Pakistani musician outside of Pakistan. He was primarily a Qawwali singer who has performed in over 40 countries.

He collaborated extensively with western musicians producing exquisite music. His album Intoxicated Spirit was nominated for a Grammy in 1997 for best traditional folk album.

5. Shahid Afridi
Boom Boom Afridi is certainly a maverick. He started out as a leg spinner but made his mark for his explosive batting and now considers himself a better bowler! In his first international innings, he smacked 11 sixes to score a century in 37 deliveries.

He is the only player to score 6000 ODI runs with an average of under 25. When captaining, he likes to helps his team by chewing the ball or scuffing the pitch.

6. Atif Aslam
Atif Aslam is to the youth what Ghulam Ali was to the oldies. A soulful melancholy runs through his songs be it Pehli Nazar Mein, Kuch Is Tarah, Aadat, Woh Lamhe, Tera Hone Laga Hoon or Tu Jaane Na.

He is expected to make his acting debut this year. Lets hope he dazzles us again, this time with his histrionics.

7. Shoaib Malik
Shoaib Malik is perhaps known (in India) because of his marriage to Sania Mirza than for any other cricketing reason. He has currently been dropped from the team and perhaps will never get in again given Pakistan's seemingly unending talent pool.

His marriage/divorce with Ayesha Siddiqui left a bad taste in mouth. His subsequent marriage with Sania was given a cold shoulder by most celebs (other than Raja Murad of course). Shoaib's current pastime include cheering his wife along the ATP tour, feeding her with drinks during practice and getting banned from playing in Indian grounds.

8. Veena Malik
Veena Malik was not so much successful as an actress but much better recognized as a comedienne on a popular TV show Hum Sub Umeed Say Hain. In fact I saw her first time on this show parodying Shoaib and Sania. She was later charging enstranged cricketer boyfriend Mohammad Asif with match fixing charges.

However Veena Malik came into her own while appearing on reality show Bigg Boss 4. She was berated in Pakistan for her immoral un-Islamic behavior on the show. But she fought admirably well, took on a Maulvi and silenced him (You Tube clip). Hats off to this gutsy lady!

9. Asma Jahangir
I would be taking a bit of liberty saying she is Pakistan's Arundhati Roy. The fact is she gives them hell and we loves it. She is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

I think she is a very brave woman; a beacon in the dark age of Pakistan. Hope this beacon shines forever.

10. Pervez Hoodbhoy
It would be fair to call him one of Pakistan's greatest intellectual. Armed with a PhD in Nuclear Physics from MIT, he is also a prominent social activist.

He has written on a plethora of issues like feminism, education, environment, philosophy and nuclear disarmament. In 2001, he refused to accept the Sitara-e-Imtiaz award from President Musharraf. Also read his article on a month long lecture tour in India here.

Images: Courtesy Wikipedia

Sachin... Sachin...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Sachin Tendulkar got his 50th century today. I don't know what more can I write about this man, that has not been written in last 21 years. The God, Maestro, Little Master, Tendlya you can call him whatever you want but he is the best-est.

In every sport, there are champions who master the game and go on to rule it but none has had the sheer longevity of Sachin. 21 years and counting - highest number of Tests, runs, centuries whatever there is! He even has a bowling average of 50+ in Test - an avid fan might quip. Every run he scores today is a record. He's even got a double in ODIs. I don't have enough space on this page for listing out all his records.

This picture courtesy my dear friend Neeraj who was in South Africa watching the match. Lucky dude!

I can just say I am fortunate enough to have watched him play.

Respect.

Laxman - the 5th day Man!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:40:00 +0000

Today was special. Special because you saw someone who is Very-Very Special swear - in front of the nation. He had a bloody good reason to swear mind you! He is a very kind and gentle person but today he let his heart rip out. The lucky guy was Ojhi who appeared to be dancing down the pitch collectin' the dimes - to borrow the expression from Hindi.

So already frustrated by the antics of his other illustrious team mates, Lax gave him a mouthful. And he wasn't exactly saying 'Ah baby those are such great shoes', I can assure you that. Finally ably assisted by the beanpole Sharma, Lax on half-a-leg was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Laxman has quite been like his counterpart in Ramayana, always under the shadow of Ram. People are busy fighting over Lord Ram but I guess its time for a Laxman Janmbhoomi now.

Hats off to you Laxman - there will be Tendulkars, Dravids and Sehwags but there is no 5-th day man like you!

Boring Sunday Afternoon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:20:00 +0000

Its a boring Sunday afternoon and I am wondering why does one name their company Jhandu? Or why Sehwag's official website's cover has him playing football? Or when will Lalit Modi stand up and say "Give me 15 days and I will move CWG to South Africa".

And to cap it, guess what Amit Mishra has to say on his Twitter page:

HELLO FRINDS HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY I ENJOYED TODAY PATANG BAZI AFTER 5 YRS I HOPES ALL GUYS ENJOYED TODAY

Unbelievable man!

Diego Forlan is in India!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 06:34:00 +0000

I am writing this post just to express my ~~pleasure~~ absolute delight at the news that my favorite player at the recently concluded World Cup - Diego Forlan is in India :D

He is in Kolkata to participate in a Football reality show. He said that he "had no idea about Indian Football" but "knew that cricket is very popular here". He also said that he "was loving India" and is "overwhelmed to see the enthusiasm here".

He believed his best goal at the WC was the one against Germany in the 3rd place playoff. He also defended his teammate Suarez's action of saving a certain goal with his hand.

Forlan is the Golden Ball Winner at the WC 2010 and is being approached by the top European Clubs to play for them. While in Kolkata he will join two Brasilians - Romario and Branco for the last episode of "The Match" - a football reality show. He might participate in an exhibition match against Mohun Bagan on Sunday. He is also scheduled to visit Mother Teresa's home.

English-Hindi Dictionary (Free)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Need to learn how to say Hello in Hindi? Or for that matter FISH ? Or better still if you are an advanced Hindi learner or even a native speaker and need to find how to say exchange in Hindi. Well don't scratch your head, go no further than Shabdkosh.com.

Created by an IIT grad Mr. Maneesh Soni in 2003 this website serves as an online English-Hindi as well as Hindi-English dictionary. It started out with a database of 15,000 words it has now expanded the base with the help of contributing users. Starting from Hindi it now contributes words from many other Indian languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.

It now features a User -Forum and sections like "Quote of the Day" and "Word of the Day". You can type in Romanised Hindi and even listen to the correct pronunciation of Hindi words. If you don't have an internet connection and intend to use it offline you can download the dictionary here. If you feel like it, you can contribute to the site.

It is a wonderful site, certainly one of the best available today for English-Hindi translations. I have been using it for more than three years and I joined as a member today. I hope to make some serious contributions to the website in near future. Right now, I just want to spread the word.

If you happen to register with the website, just drop by and say hello to me!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:04:00 +0000

Definition from Wikipedia:
When asked at the end of a series of other riddles, whose answers are clever, obscure, and tricky, this answer's obviousness and straight-forwardness becomes part of the humor.

Besides the humour, there is a philosophical touch to this question, as one could argue "Did the chicken really cross the road?" Does the road exist for it? I am sure a chicken would not subconsciously be aware of crossing a 'road'. A man-made contrivance like road makes sense for a human rather than a chicken. It could also raise pertinent questions on the consciousness of an animal. Are chickens self-aware of the actions they perform -like crossing the road? More of that later because I want to write about something else today.

The art behind one-liners
What makes this question and the subsequent answer funny? Edward De Bono in his popular book Lateral Thinking writes:

"...there is often an alternative way of arranging available information. This means that there can be a switch over to another arrangement. Usually this switch over is sudden. If the switch over is temporary it gives rise to humour....the reaction to an insight solution is often laughter even when there is nothing funny about the solution itself.

A policeman was seen walking along the main street pulling a piece of string. Do you know why he was pulling the piece of string?.... Have you ever tried pushing a piece of string?

In this situation an expectation is generated by the way the information is put together. Then suddenly this expectation is thwarted but at once one sees that unexpected development is another way of putting things together."

In other words, it is the unexpected response to a build up that makes one find it humorous. Comedians often use this art on stage, where they weave a story around a joke and the end is something unexpected, a different or innovative solution to the original problem. Something that makes the audience think "Oh, I didn't think he would do/say that!". The realisation of the 'Oh-factor' is what makes the joke funny.

How mind works?
The best way of comprehending this is to understand the way our mind processes information.

Sample this:
"Borrow money from a pessimist
.

.

.

.

.

.

they don't expect it back!"

As you read through the sentence above and finish the first part, the brain identifies a problem it needs to find a solution to. "Why should one borrow money from a pessimist? Why only money? What could/should one possibly borrow from a pessimist? How does a pessimist come into picture here?". The mind races for possible solutions to a jumble of questions like these.

And then, the answer is revealed. Its a twist at the tail! There is a low probability that an average human would guess that answer. Unless of course if you have read it before or you are a genius. As Information Theory goes, the amount of information present in an event is inversely proportional to the probability of its occurrence. For example, if sun rose from the west tomorrow morning, it would make all the newspapers. It is the low probability of the answer that flummoxes the reader with a lot of information. The mind recognises it as a stroke of brilliance, but since it concerns with a trivial matter, the spark is temporary and leads to humour.

Individual perspective to the question - funny!
I will leave you now with some funny answers to one of the most (along with Lightbulb joke) humorous riddles of all time - Why did the chicken cross the road?

Aristotle:
To actualize its potential.

The Dead Sea Scrolls:
And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the Chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.

Albert Einstein:
Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

Freud:
The fact that you thought that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

Bill Gates:
To purchase Chicken 2.01a, which will both cross roads and calculate the energy it used. There are bugs, yes, but if you uninstall Traffic 2.0 and Farmer 1.2 it will run. If it freezes at WhiteLine 2.0, we have a patch ...

Grandpa:
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.

Immanuel Kant:
The chicken, being an autonomous being, chose to cross the road of his own free will.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

Jack Nicholson:
'Cause it ***** wanted to. That's the ****** reason.

Saddam:
I don't care. Catch it. I need its eggs to make my omelet.

You can read more funny answers here.

Image Credits: Wikipedia

Belly Button - key to sports success

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Close your eyes. Imagine a sprinter. What do you see?

African origin, dark coloured, long legs and robust, vigorous muscles.

Ok. Another one. Imagine a swimmer. What do you see?

Essentially Caucasian, well streamlined physique.

Ever wondered why some athletes dominate on track while others in the swimming pool? Apparently, scientists have unravelled this mystery. It's the belly button stupid!

According to the study, the factor that influences the perfomance is the location of belly button, body's centre of gravity. Among West African-origin runners, the center of gravity is 3 cm higher than whites. This gives them a 'hidden height' advantage on the track.

"Locomotion is essentially a continual process of falling forward, and mass that falls from a higher altitude, falls faster" according to Prof. Andre Bejan who led the study at Duke University.

However, in the pool whites have the advantage because of 'longer torsos'. "The swimmer who makes the bigger wave is the faster swimmer, and a longer torso makes a bigger wave. Europeans have a three-percent longer torso than West Africans, which gives them a 1.5 percent speed advantage in the pool" he said.

Image Credits: Wikipedia

Indian Football

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:30:00 +0000

With the soccer season upon us I recently wrote about the 2010 World Cup on my Hindi blog. After having finished the piece, I experienced a moment of sadness and frustration on our country's soccer prowess (or the lack of it). With the second largest pool of people in the world can't we produce a decent team that does well at least at Asian level (considering most of the top ranking countries are from Europe, Latin America and Africa). All we hear about is India drubbing hapless Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, if not getting a whack from them.

India was fourth placed at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. It was the runners-up at Asian Nations cup in 1964.So what went wrong? Is it that others progressed while we just sat on our bums?

For the 2010 qualifications, India lost in the first round to Lebanon. India's current FIFA ranking is 133 (as of May 1010); its lowest ever ranking was 165 (March 2007) and highest was 94 (Feb 96). Nobody can say for sure what's wrong with the Indian football but the apex body that runs football in this country has to take majority of the blame.

Glory of Indian Football
I am not the one to cry over split milk and don't want to bore you with stories of babudom and bureaucracy crippling Indian Football. Instead, lets look at some of the finer moments of Indian Football.

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club or simply Mohun Bagan AC is one the oldest Football clubs in Asia. It has been chosen among the top 11 clubs, alongside Bayern Munich, River Plate and Manchester United, by FIFA to form an Elite Task Force for club football. Some interesting facts on MB (source Wikipedia):

MB was the first Indian team to defeat a European team (East Yorkshire Regiment at 1911 IFA Shield).
When Maradona visited Kolkata in 1998, the only club he visited was Mohun Bagan.
Pele, one of the legends of the game played against MB for his club New York Cosmos in 1977. The match was drawn 2-2 with Pele scoring in a penalty kick.
Bayern Munich played a friendly against MB in May 2008 during their Asia tour.
MB played against and defeated Manchester City 1-0.
MB are the third club (after Barcelona and Manchester United) in world to have launched a co-branded credit card in their name (ICICI Bank Mohun Bagan Credit Card).
MB have a postage stamp issued after them to celebrate their 1911 victory (only club to have this honour).

You can read about Mohun Bagan's exploits in detail here.

Royalty free image source: 123rf.com

PAC-MAN redux

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:05:00 +0000

I wrote about PAC-MAN about two years ago and since then its popularity has increased multifold if anything. Last week Google launched a 30 anniversary PAC-MAN doodle. Google has a tradition of putting up special logos (doodles) on its webpage for various occasions.

Google blog says PAC-MAN is a natural fit for the Google homepage as they are both "deceptively" straightforward, hiding their complexity under the hood. Now, Google has made the game permanently available here. Wow my search engine can play games too! :)

So go ahead and play. I just did!

The Enigma of Pakistan Cricket

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 May 2010 11:15:00 +0000

Pakistan Cricket is not stranger to controversies - from Woolmer's mysterious death to the terrorist attack on Lankan team bus, from ball tampering to drug tests, from Afridi's ball eating adventure to the fiasco on Australian tour - its a never ending story for the talented yet ill-disciplined team.

Now former Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has called the national players 'mentally retarded'. An inquiry comittee was set up by PCB to investigate the reasons behind the disastrous tour of Australia where they failed to win even a single match. Intikhab was the coach of the Pakistan team on that tour. While Younis and Yousuf were banned for life, others like Shoaib Malik and Naved-Ul-Hasan were banned for a year. These bans, according to Wasim Akram had made a laughing stock of Pakistan (as if it wasn't already).

Intikhab was quoted as saying,"I felt that they are mentally retarded people....There is a mental problem with our players. They don't know how to wear their clothes and how to talk in a civilized manner."

He revealed that six to seven players had taken an oath on the Quran that they will remain united against their captain Younis Khan.

Shoaib Malik, meanwhile has been practicing at the Gymkhana ground,Hyderabad with his Indian wife since he is not being allowed to do so at Pakistan. While not fetching tennis balls for his Indian tennis player wife, he along with Rana Naved have also been busy belting gully-cricket bowlers at Bangladesh.

Image Credits: Wikipedia

Go(ld) Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 May 2010 08:32:00 +0000

Australia is a beautiful place. The Great Barrier Reef, the Uluru Rock formations, the Gold Coast never fail to lure tourists from all over the world (only if it was not so far!). Visiting Australia has become a financially lucrative option now with the news filtering out about the gold riches in Victoria.

GeoScience Victoria, a government agency that maps the geology of the region has reported "gold deposits still waiting to be discovered". An estimated 500 tonnes of gold, worth 20 billion USD lies in the north part of the state. During the Victorian Gold Rush of 1850-60,the population of the state experienced a seven fold increase. Victoria became the world leader in gold output. This event reshaped the society and politics of Victoria and led to emergence of Melbourne as one of the greatest cities of the world.

This event has also raised concerns about the environmental impact of increased mining activity. However all said and done, Australia is sitting on the precipice of another Gold Rush. Travelling to Australia was never more rewarding!

Image Credits: Wikipedia