KT'z Lesser Travelled World

"Smoke Free" India or Smoke "Free India" ??

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 02:49:00 +0530

Ok, in order to put a funny caption, I admit the caption might be a little PJish but I think it will be an instance I will remember 2nd October for having changed the life of majority in a better way, if till now we remember it for Gandhi's b'day. I for one can not but admire Health Minister's courage to take on the tobacco lobby with govt's latest directive to ban smoking in what I can loosely term as public places.

I being a non-smoker very much welcome this change for various reasons. And for this post let's suspend our judgment of Mr. Ramadoss was in AIIMS controversy.

In past, often any move against smoking has been discouraged with the argument that govt. is hypocritical in the sense that they don't ban tobacco products because they can't survive without those revenues. Although it can't be directly established the effect of such ban on sale of toabcco products (I heard in news reports that world wide with such bans, the sales dipped by mere 2-3%), but accd to me it is a step in right direction.

For those who oppose this ban arguing freedom of choice, inconvenience in hotels, pubs etc, here is a question, How many times before lighting up a cigarette, have you asked bystanders, colleagues, relatives, "Do you mind if I light the cigarette here" or as a judgment call stepped aside to smoke somewhere else? I guess, passive smoking as a concept is now at least 2-3 years old in India, however despite that awareness I don't have any recollection of any smoker putting that question to me. Every Indian has been guaranteed freedom of speech and expression, but in this instance, no smoker exercised freedom of speech although everyone of them did exercise freedom of expression, to light a ciggie and blow circles in air without caring how many they are inconveniencing. So now when this small section is in spotlight, why cry fowl!!

The way I look at it is that till now, choice was always in the hands of smokers, whereas now it is being shifted into hands of non-smokers, who undoubtedly are in majority and would be benefitted greatly.

And this article will tell you that India is not first country to introduce ban on smoking in public place.

Yes, admittedly there are still grey areas and implementation issues here, but I have realised this change, after smoking was banned in public places, I have seen instances where group of people have asked fellow bus passengers to stub it out when in my childhood I remember people freely smoking and blowing it in people's faces. The backing of the law has actually given confidence to those voices.

I believe with time, implementation concerns will be sorted out. It will be interesting to see, how a postman or teacher is able to fine a smoker or exactly which places are open for smoking and which are not. But I am happy with the fact that most of the places frequented by general public has been covered. But lets not ambiguity be a reason to deny majority of the Indians right to live in a smoke free environment.

P.S. Image from www.athletic-scholarships.net

Really mein Jaago Re

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:10:00 +0530

It took one ad on TV to make me write about something I have been thinking about writing.

It's funny to realize this. I probably remember a couple of our past governments and what all they did. But Congress' would be the first government, when I lived and felt first hand what they made and what they broke in the country. So I recall the time of anti-reservation tide and the time of nuclear energy debate.

So now when election time is real, I realize one thing. I, as Indian citizen, never participated in choosing the government that is now. Yes, I didn't vote!! So now when they make policies, some of which I admire, some I am okay with, some I hate, I really shouldn't be having full freedom to criticize. Because I never voted!!

Although my recent experiences were not so encouraging. When Karnataka elections were about to set in, I thought why not start exercising my voting rights right away and ran to nearest election card issuing camp. I filled up the forms but till date didn't receive my voter id card. However, recent advertisements saying Agar election ke din aap vote nahin kar rahe hain to aap so rahe hain, made me sit up and sort of rekindle the old fire. So I have decided to run to offices and obtain a voters id card for myself. It might take some effort but its worth it. I believe it.

So having realized, how important it is to vote. I am urging all of you to vote. If you are a software engineer, airline pilot, student, businessman, consultant or any other citizen, please vote this time. So next time when we sit together and criticize govt. over reservations or other such policies all of us should have been a party to choosing the current govt.

First Step would be to obtain voters id card and once you've done this, everything else is just cakewalk. Since it would take time to obtain voters id card, start now and but think of this time and effort like an investment, which will come back as returns to you. So surf internet a bit, collect information, go prepared to election commission office in your city, if needed use RTI to grab your voters id card.

So you can visit any of the below websites for more information to a future of our choice:

www.jaagore.com
http://www.eci.gov.in/
http://karsec.gov.in/

And without bothering who said to whom, I quote this to you, This time if Congress loses by even if one vote, I want it to be one of yours.

Sweet Surprises

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:27:00 +0530

Surprises have their own way to amuse you and please you. And as I write this post on two experiences I realize sometimes bad surprises too have an element of sweetness in them

The first surprise I got was not planned by anyone just happened by chance and a small one.

So I have been doing late nights at office for quite a while. Being a bachelor, I solely depend on the mercy of my cook (to cook some good good) and my room mates.

Now by the time I would come back from office, the food often would be very cold. Now, my state of bachelorhood has taught me one thing, to love food and not the state of the food. So I am pretty ok with cold food, never bother to warm daal, sabji or rotis. Anyway, I used to be so hungry that anything would be delicacy for me.

But for past 2 weeks whenever I would come back sometimes there would not be enough food left .I would see other plates, where extra food has been left to waste and cringe and deliberate about , what am I working so much for, what am I living for and if it is worth it? But as usual I uwed to take whatever food is left and sit in front of TV late night, I would forget about everything else, eat quickly, watch TV for an hour and then go to sleep. Not that I don't bother. I told my room-mates over weekend to get some more food cooked but it sort of never happened.

So that day, when I came back, my room-mates were still up watching Euro Cup. I proceeded to kitchen, expecting what is in store for me. So there was pressure cooker, giving hint of some daal, covered kadahi giving hint of some vegetable and two thalis again covered.

So as I proceeded with my thali, uncovering each vessel by turn, I got the first very sweet surprise. There was bhindi, that too in good amount. There was a bit of surprise because of the amount but also since none of my room mates like bhindi, they never get bhindi made at home except only when I raise a big stink about it.

Next was pressure cooker, daal was there, just ok. Anyway I am not a big daal fan. Next in line were rotis. Today rotis were good enough in no. and in good consumable state.

Then I got the biggest surprise in the next plate. The plate was full of salad, cucumber, lemon (my favorite), chilies, tomatoes. Trust me, by the very look of it I felt elated. And that day I didn't think of any of those philosophies, just enjoyed my food and TV.

It was a fulfilling meal and although not the best of the food that I have ever had but the satisfaction after having it still lingers on.

As I finish writing this I was amused remembering a different surprise.

The difference was that the food that day was extremely crappy. I was in Mysore that time and a tiffinwallah used to deliver the tiffin for me at home. So that night I was late again, opened the tiffin to see the extremely crappy food. As I stared to evaluate consumable-ness of the food items, I left out the sabji, leaving me with some roti, rice and daal and watery curd. As I saw the food I began to realize that the experience would be a repeat of what I used to have in my college hostel. Ah, that boiled daal, that unidentifiable sabji.

Since the food was hostel-type, streategy had to be similar, I mix rice, daal and curd (all time savior for hostellers) to make a paste of it, then used paste as a sabji with roti.As I was eating it, I remembered of the jokes that me and my frnds used to crack over lunch about food, the ingredients, strategies to digest it and then stories of horrible things being found in daal. And slowly I began to enjoy the food, not the taste of it but the repository of old jokes. Again food was crappy experience was not.

Surprises Ah! so who doesn't like them, especially if they are good. But I think we should give even bad surprises a chance, who knows we may be pleasantly surprised. :)

No Research is Enough

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:37:00 +0530

They say sometimes even research is not enough.

I am planning to buy a laptop and somehow I'm hooked to DELL XPS laptop. I then researched a couple of websites (deals2buy and dell website) and did some comparison between 5 models of laptop and came up with the excel sheet below.

DELL XPS LAPTOP	Laptop 1	Laptop 2	Laptop 3	Laptop 4	Laptop 5
Model	M1530	M1330	M1330	M1330	M1530
Processor	T7500	T5500	T5500	T7250	T7250
GHz	2.2	1.83	1.83	2	2
RAM(GB)	3	4	4	3	3
HDD(GB)	320	250	320	250	250
OS(VISTA)	PREMIUM	PREMIUM	PREMIUM	PREMIUM	PREMIUM
SCREEN(")	15.4	15.4	13.3	13.3	15.4
Bluetooth(802.11)	b/g	b/g/n	a/b/g/n	b/g	b/g
Webcam	2 MP	2 MP	2 MP	2 MP	2 MP
Graphics Card	128 MB NVIDIA	128 MB NVIDIA			128 MB NVIDIA
CD	RW	RW	RW	RW	RW
DVD	RW	RW	RW	RW	RW
Extras		Travel Mouse	Biometric	Biometric	Biometric
Weight(Kgs)	2-3	2-3	<2	<2	2-3

Price($)	1058	1002	1003	1049	1049

Now I am confused between these 5 models as well. So I throw it open to you, what do you think would be better or rather as I intend to choose, best. Now the first question that you'll throw at me is what are my needs.

तो अब एक software engineer की कितनी जरूरतें होंगी, थोड़ा सा programming, थोडी सी movies, थोडी मस्ती, बस और क्या। Just that I don't want to end up with a slow or a very heavy laptop , to me they are as good as pieces of junk. हांलांकि मैं विस्टा नहीं लेना चाहता लेकिन मेरे पास कोई विकल्प उपलब्ध नहीं हैं।

आपको क्या लगता है कौन सा लैपटॉप सर्वश्रेष्ठ है (Which laptop do you think is the best)?

Inspiration or Conspiration

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:24:00 +0530

watch these two videos....

and now this video....

by now most of you may be knowing that inspiring IPL ad was "inspired" from Yankees ad on Fox TV sports commercial.

The only question is is there something like an inspiration in the field of advertising?

I can imagine it in movies. I can watch Memento and then get inspired and then write an entirely new script (suiting local audience) and make Rajini and someone else can get inspired and make Ghajini. In the end they are all different products. If I take Leon the professional, copy frame by frame and dialogue by dialogue and make Bichchhu that is not inspiration, that's conspiration (pardon the bad joke) or simply copying.

Now I just thought, in advertising the main art would be "how" to convey your message across. The word "how" can encompass a whole lot of details, but the word is the mootpoint. But if you get inspired by this "how" it surely won't come across as inspiration in the final cut!!

P.S. I am still searching who wrote those lines in IPL ad, they are really awesome.

Migration =?= Blood Brothers =?= Prarambha =?= Positive

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Wed, 5 Mar 2008 16:46:00 +0530

If =?= would mean "how is related to" what would be your answer.

Well they are abstract words, but my only aim is to compliment a few people, albeit late, but in good time for the wonderful effort they made.

And the answer would be AIDS. Yes, these movies were part of AIDS Jaago campaign last year.

The words above are the titles of four small movies directed by Mira Nair, Vishal Bharadwaj, Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar in that order. I remember having read somewhere that it was the brainchild of Mira Nair. These movies were even shown on 1st December (World AIDS Day) on MTV.

Now they have been been screened free on Jaman (here). I think its no use giving brief plot of each movie, since each movies being roughly 15-20 minutes long, any takeaway from this blog would be a spoiler. But there are some thoughts on these movies that I'd like to share.

So warning here to go and watch the movies first then come back and finish reading it. Also advising you all to just go and watch the movie rather than read the sub-text before watching the movie.

Blood Brothers, was one amazing story where story's progress would be anyone's nightmare, the end everyone's heavenly relief. I think this is one movie where the real embarrassment, grief is shown in one brother and courage and spirit to fight in another.

Prarambha, to me appeared a bit pot-pourri of messages director wanted to convey but the end result was something Bollywoodish- it's a good deal if you are willing to believe the goodness of the story.

Positive, again was a movie which hammers its message slowly and you actually get to know how would you feel in this situation no matter which character you associate yourself in the movie. The son's touchy temperament, mother's patience and having made truce with situations and father's repentance and attempt to get his family back.

Migration, was another classic. I really appreciated how this movie folds itself in the last moments. In the end you have a pregnant urban mother, an HIV+ rural family.

You may claim there are enough giveaways in the movie to know who-gave-to-whom. But as the street-play portrays you never know who did the character in the movie contract it from. I think you'll appreciate the ending more if I argue that hints in the movie were not enough to blame one person so we have an open-ended movie. You just know that nearly everyone in the movie is now HIV+ and they don't know who they got it from. Just like the urban housewife might feel later, who did she get it from, his husband and she might have infected the rural worker or from the worker and she later spread it to her husband.

I believe if one understands this spread-network factor in HIV and give it a thought, once can't think of unprotected sex (at all?). Another real beauty was to portray that spread of HIV infects both rich and poor alike. I would rate this movie as the best of all (despite the fact that I hate Shiney Ahuja).

But overall, all the movies were good in spreading message of safe sex while also trying to explore how your families, friend, society and above all YOU react in these situations.

P.S. I will post EPL Vs IPL comparison-II a bit later.

EPL Vs IPL - Comparison - I

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:56:00 +0530

Given the recent hype IPL has been enjoying, I decided to do a small comparison here:

League: Governing, Game Format, Finances

Criteria/League	IPL	EPL
Year of Formation	2008	1992
Season	April-May	August-May
No. of Franchises	8	20 (over 40 leagues have played)
No. of Matches	59	380
Location of games	Night matches on Home and away basis	Home and away basis
Revenue	Yet To Be Seen	3.7 Billion $ (2007-2008) by all clubs.
TV rights (including overseas rights)	~$1 Billion for 10 yrs by Sony (addition $10-15 million by Network Ten)	£45 million a year from 2007 to 2010
Prize Money	5 million $	£10 million
Governed By	IPL council	operated and jointly owned by the 20 member clubs.
Record Attendance for sports event (1,2)	13,094,307 (Average: 34,459) 2006-2007 EPL	425,622 (Average: 30,401) 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series

Finances:

Prize Money: per se is not such a big attraction in either case. EPL is owned by member clubs, so members draw their money from money pool with EPL accumulated mainly by broadcasting revenues.

In case of IPL , the revenue share model in years one to five is that 80% of the revenues from media rights are being redistributed back to the franchises, and 60% of the central sponsorship revenue gradually reducing this amount over the life of the contract.

Individual club earnings are from stadium tickets, club advertisements for both leagues. So that will be key differentiating factor in earnings of clubs just like EPL (although some difference is created at Prize Money level as well). MANU Vs Liverpool may draw record crowds so these two clubs are far ahead in the year-end earnings amongst the 20 clubs.

(P.S.:I don't know on what basis is broadcasting revenue distributed among EPL clubs and on what basis will it be distributed to IPL clubs by IPL governing council.)

Absolute fan base may not be such a big factor since TV audiences have already been covered by TV rights, where both are on nearly equal footing.

Stadium attendances will be the key differentiating factor. Average stadium attendance may be close but absolute is what is going to earn money here. So here IPL loses out and again since it is hosting much less no. of games.

EPL registers record attendances in both home and away games. Enough heat has been generated for IPL and all matches are being hosted in Indian cities (some like Kolkata which have recorded upto 100,000 in ODI matches) so here too IPL is matching upto EPL's strength.

Merchandise wise anyone can guess IPL will be nowhere close to EPL. IPL franchises are still building their clubs while EPL has a legacy of 16 yrs behind it and merchandise forms a decent part of premiership club incomes.

Conclusion:

IPL may lose out to EPL because EPL' season is longer so more matches and more money. IPL may again just lost out to EPL on per match basis as well since EPL's tickets are again overpriced (184$ for a 2006-2007 Arsenal match!!) which may not be a feasibility in India. Also IPL clubs may have negligible merchandise sales.

Click here to see 07/08 Ticket Prices for Premier League Clubs.

P.S.: I don't follow EPL so there may be inaccuracies here. Correct me if I am wrong.

Addendum

Read Ganesh's comments, I think there are certain correction to contribution of merchandise sales in my post. Also I mis-understood the TV rights part. Figures for EPL are per club.

Timeline-II

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:14:00 +0530

For prelude to this post, read Timeline. It is a bit long, take your time to read it.

05^th January

House

Sreedhar comes to take Pappu's investment cheque. I make a 20k cheque for Pappu and give it to Sree. But Sree says he can’t accept the cheque because starting this year, investments will be accepted only through cheques made from one’s own account, not even cash and Pan Card Xerox is mandatory, only PAN NO. won’t do. I realize the mission threat now because of F2, F3.

07^th January

Office	I googled for PAN card related info, even thought of filing RTI as to what has been happening to the case of my PAN card all this long. As I read more I found RTI stuff is little cumbersome given the little time I have so I thought it would be better to stick to direct measures.
House	I was able to uncover the application no. given while taking action on F2

08^th January

UTI Office	I enquire from a lady at the counter about my PAN card. She told me that my card is hanging in abyss because DOB in my application and DOB requested do not match. Well, I smiled and explained that it was the exact reason why I applied for change of detail. Then I wrote an application and submitted birth proof.
UTI Office	She declined to give me an acknowledgement citing provision of rules. I pleaded my case because I needed an acknowledgement proof for investment. She gives me a print out of her screen which shows the status of my PAN with minimal details with a UTI stamp. Sreedhar tells me on call that it may acceptable.

09^th January

Office

I give Sreedhar a copy of the print out and 2 cheques for investment in MFs. Now these were the last leaves in the last cheque book so I put request for new cheque books. They will arrive from Mumbai so it would take around 10 days to reach me. I felt I will need these cheque books (rem the mantra?)

So I had nailed entire mission pretty soon. HRA was there and investment would be there within a few days so I had nailed it quick and I was happy. But what’s a game that doesn’t turn against you!!

10^th January

Office	Sreedhar tells me that my acknowledgment proof can't be accepted because it wasn’t the recognized format so now I dearly need PAN/PAN copy!!
House	I come to know that I can apply for a new PAN card with same PAN no. and it will be delivered within 10 days. UTI ppl come to Bajaj Allianz's offices for this.

11^th January

Bajaj

Allianz

I am told it will take 30-45 days for PAN card to reach me. Now, either I should invest entire money in PPF this year or take scan of someone else’s PAN and modify it to reflect my details. Latter option is not easy because of this.

Bajaj

Allianz

My last option, I called up Krishna in Mysore and request him to manage a photo copy of the PAN from Mysore office.

Office

On further googling I get a couple of email-ids of UTI ppl, I shoot them mails explaining my case.

12^th January

Office

There is a reply from Divya, telling me that I can e-mail birth proof to her.

13^th January

House

I realized that I had lost my pen drive and lost all e-data so scan of my 10th mark sheet and passport are gone. Game is much more exciting now!!

15^th January

House

I am able to find a scan of my passport which I promptly forward to Divya. Pan Card is cleared of objections 3 days later.

18^th January

House

I realize that I had deposited the HRA cheque WITHOUT TAKING ITS PHOTOCOPY!!!! I am now anxiously waiting for cheque books.

So I am back to square one- no investments and no HRA relief as well. And to top that I don't have cheque books to make cheques

22^nd January

Office	My PAN card has been dispatched but to Infosys Mysore address because of F5. So my Pan Card would be reaching Mysore address, where I don’t know anyone now. But many thanks to Divya and now I know that govt is now a little net savvy processing application through e-mail as well.
Office	To my great relief, Krishna called to say that he was able to get a PAN photocopy so I ask him to fax it. The print was extremely black so I asked him to courier it to me.

24^th January

Office	Called up my landlady telling her that I will deposit next month’s rent in advance for my HRA. Then I realize I don’t have enough money in my bank account to last this new expenditure. MF money is still left to be credited so there is further expenditure. I am still waiting for my new cheque books to arrive from Mumbai.
Office	I call Karun to transfer 15k in my a/c. Month end is approaching and my salary will be credited but I don’t want to wait that long.

25^th January

Office

I receive PAN photocopies by courier. I call Sreedhar and give him the photocopies. 2 days later I get investment proofs which I "securely" put in my bag

27^th January

House

Sreedhar gives me investment proof, two small slips which I put in my bag immediately.

28^th January

Office

I receive cheque books from courier so this time I make the cheque and keep photocopy ready so that I don’t forget at a later date. I also make some more cheques for other investments.

29^th January

Office

I received money from Karun. I deposit the rent in my landlady’s a/c next day.

04^th February

House

I think of keeping the documents ready to submit it next day. After an hour of searching I realised that I did what I am best at... screwing things!! Because I am not able to find there anywhere. So I decide that I will have to call Sreedhar and ask for duplicate proofs. It was only later when I went to petrol bunk that I realised the proofs were perched in my wallet.

05^th February

Office

Mission successful. I submit all the investments proofs and HRA

Lesson learnt:

Sometimes there is scope for 59th minute escape in an 11th hour action.

At the time of writing this post:

My PAN CARD is still with Infosys Mysore, I am trying to get it from them.

ICICI Cheque Book arrived 2 weeks late. But now I know whom to trust in 11th Hour action.

Timeline

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 19:52:00 +0530

Mission Started: 14^th January 2008.

Mission Deadline: 05^th February 2008

Mission Objectives: To successfully(?) invest in Mutual Funds for 2007-2008 and submit 1) investment and 2) HRA proofs by the deadline at office.

Warfront Locations:

Qwest Bangalore – company I work for

My house

UTI Main office – Ulsoor, Bangalore

Bajaj Capital – UTI folks frequent its offices to accept Pan Card applications.

(action at MG Road and Koramangala branches)

Mission Comrades:

Me – no songs here but only action. Some spy games for me.

Krishna – My tax consultant in Mysore. He did the processing of Pan Card details change.

Sreedhar – A MF agent I and my room mates Pappu and Karun happen to know.

Divya – UTI lady with whom I was in touch through e-mail and who sped up my case pretty quick. Thanks!

Room-mates

SWOT:

Strength: Excellent efficiency in 11^th hour actions. Mantra for 11^th hour action: Don’t take anything granted at all. Be as cynical as you can be. Trust you gut-feeling nothing else.

Weakness: Loses motivation very quickly

Opportunities: Test if strength is still there and if weakness is gone. May be an adventure

Threat: Failure to comply may result in 5 figure amount landing up in govt coffers. It may be the last that you see of it for 2-3 years.

Full Mission timeline very soon …. At worst the account of it is funny at best exciting and nail-biting.

Addendum:

Facts of the case prior to start of the mission:

F1 - PAN Card is with UTI Mysore local office for the last 14 months for correction of DOB. No idea till mission start time what happened to PAN Card

F2 - I only remembered Pan Card no., took 15 copies and scan of pan card before submitting but lost them in good faith (?). Didn’t even have acknowledgment for submitting Pan Card. So I don’t have PAN card or its photocopy or its scan which is taken while investing into mutual funds (MF). I can invest in PPF but I don’t want to do that. So mission starts because of this

F3 - Had already decided 2-3 MFs to invest in for the year

F4 - HRA needs photocopy of bank cheque made in the name of landlady with quarterly rent receipts. I had already deposited the cheque for rent to my landlady's account on 1^st January, 2008.

F5 - Infosys Mysore was my last company where I got my PAN card made and I had put Infosys Mysore address while applying for PAN card.

F6 - I hold Axis and ICICI bank accounts.

Confessions of a dying blog

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:03:00 +0530

Lately I have been dumped just like one slumps down after a high from few drinks. I was born out of confusion (now that doesn’t mean – in an antisocial or immoral way). Normally things arise, take form and are born with a certain idea but I was born out of the wedlock of my owner and yes, confusion. And I was christened in the same spirit, “Trying to understand…. Life”. It’s ironical to say this but yes I was born so that my parents’ may end up getting divorced and I may be credited for it.

I was stuffed with articles, from political to lame poems, stories and even some pastime researched compilations on topics people may simply brush aside as ludicrous.

My timid father sought me to speak out against reservation, lame govt policies, criticize intellectuals from PC Chidambaram to Narayan Murthy. I was so happy back then, I felt myself equal to social activist, in the most ideal sense, trying and fighting hard to bring a change.

But lately I feel as if my parents’ matrimony is far from divorce, in fact its so strong that I think they may as well celebrate their silver jubilee anniversary. The only grouse is since I couldn’t help the divorce, I was dumped by my parents as if I don’t belong to them.

My father is nowadays a drunk addict only reduced to reading other’s blogs but when it comes to voice his own ideas and confusion, he dumps the idea thinking that it ‘s a cliché idea and it doesn’t have any substance to be talked about. Well yes, as if the blog on “Poor Jokes” had a lot of substance in it. And talk about substance, seems the next blog here may appear when my father becomes a modern day Carl Sagan.

Only a miracle can save me and my alcoholic father now.

IXIGO = EASY GO!!

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 3 Aug 2007 16:05:00 +0530

Probably that was the aim of Travenues, a travel 2.0 technology company, when they started working on their travel portal IXIGO and I think they have done a pretty good job there.

If you didn’t know about IXIGO, it’s a travel portal. How is it different from hordes of travel portals? Like some of the majors in the league like Yatra, MakeMyTrip and some of the lesser known like Indiatimes and Rediff (yeah they too!!). What is refreshingly different is
· They don’t book tickets for you so the initial cynicism of costlier tickets is gone. You have to book the tickets on sites which you choose to book from. They only display the results for you. They even claim themselves as infomediary and not intermediary.
· The search is extremely fast compared to MakyMyTrip, Cleartip and Yatra.
· They show prices including the tax amount, which means no hidden surprises and one stop shop for deciding which flight to choose
· They take all permutation and combinations for flight routes,flight carriers and then display the result. And to my wonder they search for lesser known routes as well. I mean I did a search for BLR-ALLAHABAD and I had 10 results. They were not in my budget though :(
· To top it, they allow you to customize “comfort features” like maximum no. of stops you want in your journey, filter results for combination of carriers or single carrier.
· They filter data from travel portals like Yatra and airline websites like Air Deccan as well so no running around to multiple websites and comparing fares. You can watch the flight details on the same page. So it indeed is one-stop-too-quick-a-shop for flight decisions.
· And they are constantly adding new features, from multiple airline combinations, direct checkout, book-marking results they have sprung forward to launch IXIGO search on mobile in collaboration with ONYOMO.

Infact, if you have heard about it on this blog only, they were chosen as one of the top six
startups in the internet space in India and invited to showcase their product at Proto.in,
India's premier product startup showcase event. Part 1 and Part 2. (There is no sound in
the presentation when I watched it)

Features I think they should include. I think they should include search for +/- 2 days as is in case of Yatra. When one goes to search for a flight, rarely one is fixed on the days one wants to travel, one just has a rough date in mind and cheaper fare so +/-2 days would really present one with options of quickly looking and deciding to utmost satisfaction that one has got the best deal.

But considering my strategy of looking for the cheapest fare on these sites and then booking on the site of the carrier, I think this portal replicates my strategy very well :D... and I really think its EASY GO!!

Check it out @ http://www.ixigo.com/ and let me know what do you think abt the portal and if you disagree with my review of it

Answer: My Bollywood Family

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Thu, 2 Aug 2007 21:39:00 +0530

As I said in my options there are some obvious and unobvious choices. The most obvious choice would have been Bachchan family, infact as many may argue, Silsila and Abhimaan were closely related to Bachchan seniors’ life. Deol family too has had a very dramatic life with Dharmendra allegedly marrying twice.

But I think the most fitting family to fit the answer would be Dutt family. Yes, the Dutt family and I hope at the end of this blog many of you might see my point. Dutt’s would be a story that would provide ideal masala mix of emotion, tragedy, thrill although may not be the end.

Sunil Dutt, born in 1929, Khurd district (now in Pak), moved to India with his family during partition and settled in Haryana. He faced parents’ death at an early age and struggled to complete graduation at Jai Hind College in Mumbai while working as a radio announcer at Radio Ceylon.

He got introduced as an actor in Railway Platform in 1955. It is believed that Dutt braved the raging fire to save Nargis on Mother India’s sets and thereby won her love. Sunil and Nargis had a son, Sanjay and two daughters Priya and Anju. Sanjay Dutt had from an early age (at around high school) was addicted to drugs which worsened after Nargis’ death owing to pancreatic cancer. She incidentally died a week before Rocky’s release, Sanju’s first movie in a lead role directed and produced by Sunil Dutt himself, was to be released. This worsened Sanjay Dutt’s addiction who took more to it. Finally Sunil Dutt had to send him to a rehab in Texas whence Sanju suffered from a collapsed lung. It took 3-3.5 yrs of treatment when Sanjay could be “purged”. Richa Sharma had nursed him back after this and a year later they had a baby Trishala. Barely 2 months later he learnt that his wife had brain tumor. He lost the bitter custody battle for the baby against his in-laws after Richa succumbed to brain tumor.

Meanwhile in 1984 post Indira Gandhi’s assassination on Rajiv Gandhi invitation, Sunil entered politics. Since then he had been a loyal supported of Congress and worked really hard for national and world peace. Snapshots:
· Walked from Mumbai to Amritsar in wake of militiancy in Punjab for a stretch of 2000 Kms
· Walked from Nagasaki to Hiroshima for world peace and nuclear disarmament.
· Helped Imran Khan raise 1,00,000 pounds for building a cancer hospital in his mother’s name through a fund raising dinner, at Birmingham

Sunil resigned as MP in wake of Hindu-Muslim riots in 1992-93 and did a lot of relief work for muslims. Till then Sanjay had shot to fame and even accorded as successor to Amitabh. Sunil staunchly criticized Shiv Sena for the riots for which his family allegedly received a lot of threats. And months before the Mumbai serial blasts in 1993 Sanjay allegedly purchased one AK-56 from Abu Salem with help of few produced friends for personal and family safety. He had earlier taken 3 AK-56 rifles, 25 hand grenades, one 9 mm pistol and cartridges but later returned everything except one AK-56 rifle.

Following Sanjay’s arrest in serial blast case, Shiv Sena upped the ante against Sanjay and branded him as a terrorist through their mouthpiece Saamna. Sunil Dutt fought a bitter court battle only to hear that his son is not a terrorist. While Sanjay was in jail, he was regularly visited by his brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav, his then g/f Rhea Pillai. Sunil is said to have waited for hours to meet his own Congressmen leaders in Mumbai and Delhi to seek atleast bail for his son who disappointed him. Sharad Pawar was the CM then and PV Narsimharao was the PM. He then went back to Bal Thackrey, who in a small personal meeting at Thackrey’s resident, changed his stand. So did his mouthpiece Saamna, it was only then political support and support from Bollywood fraternity could be mobilized and public opinion could be moulded. Sanju was released from jail on bail and since then it is said he is one of the most humble stars of the industry. Later he married Rhea. Sanjay was later questioned in hawala deals and other cases as well.

He was later absolved from TADA charges but held guilty under Arms Act. But Sunil Dutt didn’t survive so long what he wanted to hear for more than 12-13 years: that his son was not a terrorist. Later Priya Dutt won from the same constituency in Mumbai where his father was a MP of.

And to close the serial blast trials, this day Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to 6 yrs RI. I think Dutt family has lived the most ups and down as a (Bollywood) family. So according to me Dutt's would be the perfect choice for a typical Bollywood script. It would make for perfect mix of several Bollywood movies.

P.S. I was reading the book Black Friday by notable investigative journalist, Hussain Zaidi and found some of the info in the book and some through Wikipedia and other internet links. It is an amazing book. One must read it to relive what we didn’t live through.

P.S.S.: Sources:
1) Sunil Dutt’s Biography as MP here.
2) Sunil Dutt’s interview on Rediff here
3) Sunil and Sanjay- Documentary by BBC Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Do watch these.

Next: My take on a new travel portal. What's different abt this travel portal? First to appear on my Blog!

Question: Bollywood Family

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:05:00 +0530

How would you react to the question, “Which bollywood family’s life would be best suited for a (typical) bollywood script”. What would be your choice? Difficult to think?? Lemme give you some choices.

· Bachchan Family- Amitabh, Abhishek, Ashwarya, Jaya
· Dutt Family- Sunil, Sanjay, Priya
· Deol Family- Dharmendra, Sunny, Bobby, Hema, Esha, Ahana
· Oberoi Family- Viveik, Suresh
· Kapoor Family- Raj Kapoor and others
· Kapoor Family- Shahid Kapoor, Pankaj Kapoor.

Let this question wait for sometime when I will post my choice and answer. I was inspired to post this question based on a book that I read recently. There are some obvious and some non-obvious choices here, but the answer would be a good read I hope.

I am waiting to read the answers and their jsutification. Will post mine very soon.

Big Sister!!

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:39:00 +0530

“Big Brother”!! Most of the people would know that the term originated from George Orwell’s novel by the name 1984.

Interestingly in 1984, Apple ran the following ad, which was inspired from 1984. The half-time of the 1984 Super Bowl featured the 45 second ad that would be declared in 1995 the best ad of the last 50 years. The commercial, directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, 1979, and Blade Runner, 1982), announced the imminent arrival of the Macintosh computer. The ad ran only once.

In the end of the ad delivers a punch line

“On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984”

Probably someone’s imagination got the better of the one and thus came out the following satire / anti- campaign. Portions of ad and Hillary Clinton’s speeches have been merged in a technical brilliance to create this ad where Hillary appears as Big Brother…er I mean Big Sister. (search in youtube with keyword “Vote Different”)

As far as I could get to read about it, fingers immediately pointed towards Obama, who denies the charge, saying that it’s an extraordinary piece of creation and his team lacks technical brilliance to create it. Also read how Clinton has been included as object of Hillary’s speeches. Too Good!!

In the end this ad delivers a punch line

On January 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you’ll see why 2008 won’t be like "1984”

P.S.: In both the ads, notice the frame when this girl turns around to throw the hammer at the screen. She has a i-pod kind of thing around her neck. And this ad was featured in 1984. Is this really an i-pod ??

Sense of Humor

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 2 Mar 2007 17:12:00 +0530

Hmmm some time back I thought of this but took some time to realize the full importance of it.Everyone often appreciates someone who has a good SEnse of Humor (SEH). "The one" keeps everyone smiling and is often very confident.

But I want to point something else in this regard. Some days back I said to my friend (who put it across to me that I have a bad sense of humor because I crack something and start laughing myself at it), "You know most of the time, having a bad sense of humor really helps". After scratching the brain trying to think, she asked me how that was possible. I said that it helps because it helps you laugh out loud on every occasion and not wait for someone with a good SEH and crack a good joke and make you laugh. You can even treat it to be a gift.

Well I think the timing was apt as well: the Budget when FM was announcing the budget. Among the many "disappointing" news he dished out (yes even I fail to understand, who gets benefited by this budget), one had a reference to pets' owners. Although the humor was quite subtle but nearly every channel picked this up to prove the insincerity of the intentions of the budget.Then yesterday as I was watching FM being questioned by an economist and Prannoy Roy, the last question was, "Sir, did you mean to put some SEH in your budget speech when you referred to pets?" FM in his normal cool and to-the-point manner retorted, "I wish that every one has some sense of humor in this life or the after life"

I too wish that everyone has some SEH, good or bad, doesn’t matter. Then, just may be, not everyone will take to streets on release of Da Vinci Code's, M.F. Hussain's paintings, Salman Rushdie's books and so many things.

So isn’t having a “bad SEH” not all that bad??

Palna - WCD Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:16:00 +0530

In a bid to stop the alarming rate of feticides in India WCD (Women and Child Development) has come out with a scheme- palna. There will be a cradle or palna in every district. If you are expecting a girl child and you don’t want to raise her you can simply leave her at the palna in your district. Later if these people have a change of heart they can take the child back. Full news here (1, 2, 3)

Now there are some positive aspects related to it.

It is aimed at correcting the skewed sex- ratio in India. Sex ratio (females per 1000 males) as per 2001 data is 933 with Haryana, Punjab and Delhi far worse in these figures.

It has been declared as an extension of ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services Scheme).

I am not aware what percentage such children would have made of total orphan children. But such children if at all born and left to fend for themselves in hospitals can’t be brought up in normal orphanages. They need more secured environment which palna may just be able to provide them

But there are some reasons as to why I am a bit ambivalent about it

Firstly because how would this palna differently from Rajiv Gandhi Creche Scheme.

Now there are already so many ailing orphanages in India. Some districts don’t have any. So wouldn’t obviously the govt. should have first strengthened its network of orphanages.

“The govt. will take care of the girl child” is a very ambiguous phrase, since if the govt. means that govt. will make these girl children self-reliant and self-sufficient then I think its old wine in new bottle. The govt. has been aiming the same in orphanages but the success rate of such schemes is quite less.

While ICDS is a very innovative idea that aims to empower the mother by making her aware and self-reliant, since this is a new idea of its own dealing with children who can be empowered only after careful bringing up, it becomes very imperative that an NGO will good track records takes this up. Else it will just be another torn feather for govt.’s cap.

Would it not promote the culture wherein parents may simply not want to take responsibilities of their children? It shouldn’t be a precursor to opening up of palna for another child.

While it is quite clear that the intentions are noble but the execution part is always the most difficult one and in countries like India where govts’ small follies are highlighted more than its huge success, it is very essential that govt. is very clear what they wish to achieve and how are they going to.

Not Such a 'Hard Talk'!!

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:51:00 +0530

The Interview:

I was eagerly looking out for this interview (termed as Hard Talk) on The Devil’s Advocate. It could well have been termed as a good watch, with Mr. Murthy a person of impeccably clean image and Karan Thapar not letting go of any opportunity to challenge, provoke and accuse on any front. One led his business very well and another does his research with sheer brilliance unearthing reports and facts. I expected it to be different.

However the interview was as interesting as to predict in what digits are Sehwag and Sachin are going to score these days in a match. When I read the whole transcript, I found that Karan mainly talked about the following points

Capitalism and entrepreneurship

Governance Issues

Public-Private partnership

Importance of privatization

Lack of political will and vision

Why does NRM not want to join politics?

Now I think the media as a whole need to do a better job at interviewing when it comes to NRM. Abhishek and Ash wouldn’t have been thrown as many questions on their relationship as Mr. Murthy has oft reiterated:

Success story of Infosys with particular mention of seed capital of 10000 Rs borrowed from Mrs. Murthy.

“Those days”, with Infy as just a start-up.

The whole saga of transformation from Marxism to capitalism following an arrest

“Breaking-up” with GE Money, one of the biggest customers of Infosys.

………

Soft Grounds:

There are so many troubling issues which Karan didn’t even come close to.

One of them as pointed out on Reality Check, the issue of seemingly perpetual tax-holidays for IT sector.

Issues like haphazard expansion of SEZs and STPIs, for example.

Some probing questions like blind hiring rate which seems to mask otherwise high attrition rate of Infosys would have been a food for thought for audience.

If he sees that current Infosys model is efficient enough to insulate it from the growing threat because of the shift that Google is bringing in.

Some questions related to socio-corporate issues as to how is Infy going to take initiative on reservation issues, skewed ratio of women in top management etc.

These questions are not what I want to ask but I feel Karan would have done a good job by watching the Quarterly Town Hall (event in which Infy declares its results and CEO addresses employees) and heard what questions are generally asked there(Here is the Nandan’s interview aired on the day Infy declared the Q3’07 results). Not all of them are very relevant to general Indian audience but some of them do make a compelling case.

From the transcript available, it seemed Karan either seemed intimidated to challenge or just chose oft-repeated questions to put forward to. In another interview of Ratan Tata (the only link I could find was this. NDTV, it seems doesn’t publish the transcripts of interviews; something which they should) taken by Barkha Dutt, she was forthcoming in challenging his position on Singur, his position on Corus deal and realizing that Ratan Tata is far more reserved than this wonderful orator, DA didn’t do justice to the task at hand.

Whose Govt. Is It Anyway??

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:45:00 +0530

This question popped into my mind today. I’ll tell you the reason but let me first ask you to guess the first answer that came to your mind: UPA’s, ministers’, bureaucrats’? Well I don’t think so I think it’s the Supreme Court’s govt.

Well this thing became evident and the extremely controversial debates judicial activism would be revived with increased fervor. In some landmark judgments today Supreme Court revoked the “sanctity” of 9th schedule, set stage for police reforms.

Definitely some of them are compelling examples of judicial activism although with a grain of salt. The Parliament is entitled to make laws by a vote of chose representatives of India but it seems that Supreme Court is out quashing them if they seem to be violating fundamental rights of any party thus granting it a level above Parliament. SC can hardly be said to be running a parallel govt.

This also makes the Indian Supreme Court the most powerful govt. as it has now powers to repeal any law (of course, which violates basic structure of Constitution) which is in the 9th schedule which was designed by Constitution as a safe area which so far could not be reviewed by the courts. Nearly every state has contributed to 9th Schedule by framing its own sets of labor laws, govt. contract policies and the most contentious TN’s reservation policy. So SC suddenly has a magic wand which if it wields may bring about a political, social and perhaps economic turmoil in the country

Now the grain of salt is here: How would it be received by the public at large. As far as the 9th Schedule is concerned, it may depend on case to case basis depending on the size of the parties affected in each law but the second would be welcomed by almost everyone. But I can safely assume that there won’t be much organized resistance from the aam junta, which clearly is indicative of the balance of democracy inclining away from the executive arm. Although the above two judgments are cases of judicial activism but the recent decisions (read Jessica Lal murder trial, upholding tainted MP’s expulsion, convicting bureaucrats’ for murders)of courts in taking govt at task have ignited in people high quantum of hope and respect for judiciary.

Just a week back Rajdeep Sardesai wrote about the same, equilibrium shifting against the govt Barkha Dutt puts a different angle on those sitting in judgment asking who would judge the judges!! Read more about 9th Schedule here.

P.S.: Update 1: Some different views but nonetheless a landmark decision accd to me.

Update 2: Probably above video is not loading... will fix it up asap

VCism '06 From My Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 5 Jan 2007 02:14:00 +0530

I was just seeing ContentSutra for updates on what companies are getting funded by Venture Capitalists (VCs) and angel investors. Check out this article on companies getting funding in 2006. I am sure you might have heard of many of these start-ups. Nearly 98% of these start-ups are dot-coms serving on retail or wholesale basis.

The amount of funding that these companies get versus the idea that they are pursuing, made me take a few observations:

Ideas in most of the services are not very creative/original or hitherto unheard of but infact such services have already been provided by some other provider across the globe in well-of countries eg: Burrp, Seventymm, Carwale.

They don’t provide unique service but instead most often they are directed at the general psyche/inclinations of the people. TutorVista hits at the psyche of every parent to get the best education for their wards at cheapest prices available; Carwale, solves the problem of asking agents, car mechanics to look for a second hand car.

These companies haven’t sprung overnight and claimed success. They have been around for at least 2-3 years. Like any other businesses these ventures too have challenges; if not competition then dynamics of predicting the trend a fickle consumer group will take. Because most of the businesses are aimed in areas which are still in nascent stages (such as IPTV, selling second hand cars on portals etc) or very limited in few areas.

The one big advantage (according to me) is that this business, although run by professional companies elsewhere, is still unorganized in the sense that not all such discrete services are provided by one giant service provider. This is a great comfort to any investor since the risk of stronger competitor/hostile-takeover is greatly mitigated.

Some of the ideas may seem too farfetched to be successful and may be dismissed with a wave of cynicism such as saying Indians ka koi bharosa nahin- jab dukaan ki CD nahin waapas karte to online waali to nahin hi karenge (for 70mm.com). But it’s the eye-popping figures which are noteworthy.

When we talk of globalization I think that not only all the companies are shifting their operations to India but the increasing polarized social status, probably increasing tendency of people to have one-stop-shop for most of the chores and easily accessible (hmm, internet) avenues of service is the reason people are taking cues from outside and implementing them locally. May be it’s this part makes the effect of globalization more complete and complement win-win argument.

P.S.: While I write this, I view these from the aspect of a user/ virtual partner and probably with a naïve sense too since I have no expertise in any of these areas. I am not even sure about the business models for these portals. Most of the portals are just fun to hang out (Mauj) or are just search portals (such as Burrp), so is the revenue model just advertising (Ad-sense, eh?)?

Tag of the (New) Year

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 19:33:00 +0530

Don't think too much..... just hop on and write how you celebrated your last year New Year eve, how you plan to do it this time.... and a few more easy questions...

How did you celebrate last New Year eve (at least two unforgettable things of the occasion)
What were your New Year resolutions for the last year (hope you’d made at least 2 resolutions for last year)
How successful were you in any/each of them?
How do you plan to celebrate them this New Year eve (any crazy wild plans are most welcome!!)
So any resolutions for this year(hoping again that you’ll at least make two resolutions this year as well)
What do you think are the chances of those succeeding?
Tag at least 3 people to know better about them

With friends in Goa for 3-4 days:

Most of the time was on beaches followed by some awkward but memorable incidents:

First I lost the bike key, then when we got a new key my friend Ankit was demonstrating to me how to keep the key safely in trouser pockets and instead went away to city with the key and leaving me and my friend Soumya feeling helpless with a bike beside but no keys!!

Then some small fights with autowallahs and roaming and late night driving in lonely roads of Goa.

The extremely bumpy and uncomfortable ride back to Bangalore by bus

a) To quit procrastination

b) To be more honest with few things in life which earlier I think I was not.

c) To be not tempted or moved by short term gains and view things in long term perspective.

(d) To wake up early morning and do some physical exercise.

a) I have procrastinated quitting procrastination.

b) I think I have done justice here….so may be my life is better because of this one thing

c) A little justice I can say but still confused over it.

(d) Quit on that the very next day, now I know these adventures are not for me.

No special plans… going to Bangalore so may be just another night of drinking and crashing out.

a) To quit procrastination …again!!

b) To work for an NGO for at least a couple of months.

(d) To do some physical exercise combined with some meditation

a) I think I can do it… I just need to be reminded of it. The only problem is I can put reminders for this in each nook and corner but how would I be reminded to put the reminder.

b) I think the possibility for this is fairly good, considering some thinking I have done because of Last Year Resolution No. 2. So I think I can take out time to work for NGO’s something which I have wanted to do for a long time.

c) I think this should be done fairly ok too but again I will need to be reminded. For the past 2 years in Mysore, I had never been to the Mysore Zoo thinking it to be a collection of dying animals in dilapidated shacks. This time when I visited the Zoo, I got the shock of my life. It was one of the best zoos I have seen in India.

Another evidence of bad record in this. Having stayed in Delhi for more than 4 years I have never visited Lal Quila, Qutab Minar !!

(d) Since this is New Year resolutions, I don’t want to spoil the mood by commenting negatively on this. Diplomatically, this too stands a good chance.

Sid, Amrut, Cuckoo, Jat, Arun, Avishek and anyone and everyone who would like to join in.

And How can I leave without saying that May all of you have a rocking New Year and may you all achieve what 2006 denied to you.

Weaker Sex!!

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 20:54:00 +0530

This news shook me

...A woman, even if she is involved in an illicit relationship, cannot be punished for adultery and is treated as the victim under law

.....And the National Commission for Women (NCW) has shot down proposals for amending Section 497 so that women can be prosecuted for adultery.

....that considering the relatively socially disempowered position of women, the Commission suggests no amendments to Section 497 of IPC.

....The existing provision in the IPC is based on the mindset that the wife is a personal possession of the husband, who is the sole aggrieved person in an incident of adultery.

In turn NCW has recommended that

as the wife already can take action against her husband under various other legal provisions, such as Section 498A of IPC, there is no reason that she should be debarred from initiating prosecution under Section 198 (which as of now disqualifies the wife of an unfaithful husband from prosecuting him for his promiscuous behavior) of CRPC.

While the second recommendation above is understandable in light of the further recommendation by NCW that “adultery should be treated as a civil wrong and not a criminal offence” but the whole article makes me feel like thanking NCW members that they didn’t recommend instead that women adultery should be treated as civil wrong while men’s as criminal offence!!

Time for NCM, eh?

Dhoom Machale ....Dhoom Machale ...Dhoom

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:58:00 +0530

After Venkatesh Prasad's reply to Aamir Sohail I think this is the only reply which has amused me.

While Venkatesh's reply was suitably apt in "language of cricket" this was a step ahead and apt in both satire and befitting in "cricketing language". Although it had similarities to Javed Miandad replying to Denis Lilee.

P.S.: And please note that Sreesanth in his personal life loves break dance and once has been declared the National Break Dance Champion too and that too in eight grade. It seems he has learnt his lessons quite well!!! [Source]

Credits: courtesy Google Videos and Youtube

Update: Seems like there was a entry fee for the break dance, because Sreesanth has been fined 30% of his match fee for this. [Source]

MTV Bakra!!

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:27:00 +0530

Well I don't need to explain what the first two words of the post-title suggest. Well not that someone played MTV Bakra on me, but having watched this show on and off makes me think, how would I behave if someone played something like this one me and how alert should one be to find out if someone may be playing MTV Bakra on me.

It happened one Saturday; I went with a friend of mine to do some shopping at Levis Signature@ Devraja Urs Road. She was giving me some t-shirts to try out and later some jeans as well and I used to come out of trial room to take second opinion. I don't know what was on her mind but sometimes she was giving me one of the weirdest color combinations that I would ever lay my hands on (red & black was one...on me!!… yuck). Well after some time I had tried some 5-6 combinations and I think we kept the staff busy collecting the tried-n-discarded stuff from the trial room. Well, to put it mildly they were amused at my state.

All along when I used to come out, my frnd was standing out waiting to approve/disapprove; I was noticing this guy, standing at a distance and just casually checking out clothes. He was taking side glances with i-pity-you kind of looks. I noticed him smirking twice or thrice and getting amused.

So just once when I tried this yucky red& black combo, I came out he was standing at the far end near the counter and as soon as I came out, my friend started laughing a bit loudly, attracting the attention of most of the other people in the store at that time. Then I noticed this guy lean on to this friend of his and whisper in his ear something, as if saying "look at that poor mannequin/guy!!" (my sorry state of affairs didn’t hint anything else to me). I was so conscious of this that I quickly went back into the trial room.

She was still laughing, so I casually asked if she was playing some MTV Bakra on me. I said this was the final combo and closed the trial room door. Then the big questions hit me-- what if?? All this time I was trying out different pairs which meant that for most part of the time in the trial room, I would be clad in just the basic garments. So I just looked around in the trial room for any traces of holes and some camera chord hanging out.

Thankfully there was none. But I did hallucinate the people in the store to break into peals of laughter, as I am coming out of the trial room, shouting, “bakra………” with the dreaded bakra-cap!!

So what would you do if you doubt that you are in this situation??

Blog Vs Diary

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Thu, 7 Dec 2006 09:27:00 +0530

This article got me thinking if there indeed may be a difference between a diary and a blog. Although the statistics are inaccurately presented to draw the conclusion, but to think about the headline, the ones who can answer this comfortably and rightly are very few because the domain itself of people who blog as well as maintain a diary/journal is limited. I am one of those lucky limited.

Having been blogging for around 1 year and maintaining a diary for 6-7 years now, I can say that there are indeed differences between a diary and a blog, but subtly so. There may indeed be differences but no topic can be exclusively set aside as being written in diaries only or blogs only.

Apart from the usual longevity factor differences related to either medium, while a diary is a more personal and generally has restricted access, blog is nothing but throwing open ideas, creations in public for adulation, revisions, discussion, criticism et al. So going on emotions side, to me my diary gives me a more personal feel than any blog of mine or anybody else; the ink, the writing and the impressions on the paper and even the awry letters and designs on the diary are simply inimitable.

A blog is meant for observations, individual opinions/interpretations on a news item, articles, journals, reviews. In fact, it’s something synonymous to journalism, covering all and everything under the sun. Blogs are more about someone’s passion, interests and hobbies. Like some maintain a technology blogs, some Photoshop edited photos, some pen humorous takes on things of this world. True, these may be penned by an enthusiast in one’s own journal as well but someone in need of some praise and motivation is more likely to use a blog. Similarly, someone caring to keep certain events of one’s life hidden from public purview would appropriately choose a diary.

A difference in language style ensues after this basic difference. While the one in diary can take more freedom with (mix of) language, words the same may not produce a desirable difference in case of blogs. Other differences arise because of availability of tools, while blogs can be made visually more appealing with plethora of tools available on cyber community, diary entries can still attract a lot of attention through original crafts, sketches which still are much more appreciated than the same in digital counterparts.

So which is the better medium and which is lesser. Well as the article itself lists a few things, things which you would like to share, collaborate, display in full glory are meant for blogs and you can earn pretty decent dough out of it. While the things that you wish to keep to yourself and a trusted few, and come back time and again and revisit it are more apt for the diary. And again the choice will definitely depend on the matters you wish to write, its sensitivity for you, its effect on others etc.

Anyways in the end both are a medium to write and interesting thing is to see them together rather than against each other. One says, your sad, happy and ecstatic moments, other tells about your inclinations, preferences, hobbies, triggers. In a way they gel with each other to put together in nearly complete totality a perfect you!

Swades Revisited Finale- Spiritualism of convenience.

noreply@blogger.com (KT) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:13:00 +0530

Contd from previous post…. There is something more that came to my mind (although not everyone of you might be able to relate to it…realization is personal… if you ever talked to me on such topics you’d be lucky enough to notice it). I realized that in every debate related to Indian society, populace, choices, freedom I have very often presented contradictory and confusing views.

I realized that I’ve seen the life here at the village wherein there is very little freedom, very little choices and primary struggle is survival, not prosperity, I’ve seen the life at Alhbd wherein there is a little freedom, people have a couple of choices, I’ve seen the life in Delhi wherein people have more freedom and choices and finally I’ve just been lucky to see the life at UK, wherein people can’t imagine life without freedom and/or choices. May be I’ve read/seen/experienced the best and worst of so many strata of societies wherein excess of one strata is the basic necessity of the other one and taking into account all indexes no particular hierarchical ratings for “best society” can be decided. So may be, just may be, I have not been able to decide what package is best for anyone of any strata and I keep swinging like a pendulum to grab the best of all the worlds, hence the confusion.

Later while I was at Alhbd, I had a good discussion with my mother over the entire puja and concept of spiritualism. I told my mother that I don’t really believe in idol worship very much although don’t deny it at all. I argued that if really these big pujas would be a better way to make Him notice your faith, then would money not be the ultimate God; you spend more of it, have a grander puja and God would notice it more. Then why God, why not do everything to achieve money since it is a way to reach Him.

Well, my mother didn’t have much to argue against it but she felt as if I didn’t like spending money on the puja. She tried to turn the tables on me with this idea but I clearly said that I did the puja because they all wanted and I am not very religious at all. Then I further told her how pandits fighting and pandits discrimination ultimately defies the whole logic of puja-path, that I don’t totally neglect a mandir when I pass by one but don’t believe that running every Tuesday to Sankatmochan will make Hanumanji happy (or maintaining a dry day on Wednesday or any other day will appease any other God, although I didn’t mention this).

Although (to criticize it) this may be called as spiritualism of convenience but I have faith and I don’t hurt anyone by this and the best part is atleast I am not vulnerable to faith-breaks like in incidents like those of Shabrimala and Amarnath.

The interesting part is that my mother had no reply to all this, and in some ways she did agree to what I was saying but she is planning another puja shortly. Seems my arguments were good but not effective enough.

But the point to think is this, is spiritualism only/more effective if you take pains to reach, adulate Him or as Mohan Bhargava puts it across to Ravana in Ramleela, “Dekh taj ke paap Ravana, Ram tere man mein hai” spiritualism is a self-faith and self-satisfaction thing. (thanks to Sid for making me realise the connection)

Update: And this article couldn’t have come at a better time. Read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 : TOI survey on youth’s take on spirituality!!

Next Blog: Blog Vs Diary!!