Howdy!

Will You Cross the Skies for Me? - Vinnaithandi varuvaya

2012-02-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

After a long time (many months), it suddenly occurred to me that I should watch a Tamil movie. It was while listening to the song, Hosanna sung by my new favorite singer, Vijay Prakash, I was reminded that I have not watched the movie Vinnaithandi Varuvaya. Upon wiking I found that the director is one of my favorites, Gautam Menon. But alas, the actor was Silambarasan (eerily reminding immediately of T.Rajendar, his dad :( ) who to me is more of a real life actor than an actor in a movie. Nevertheless, in a rare event, I started watching the movie right after I reached home this evening. Though there was a non-trivial amount of typical Tamil movie masala, I thoroughly enjoyed watching most scenes. I managed to listen to the songs and multitask with cooking, thus avoiding seeing the typical dance scenes. Simbu wasn't too bad, but to me, the perfect actor to portray Karthik in this movie was yet another actor who also portrayed Karthik in Karthik Calling Karthik, Farhan Akhtar. Trisha was very good and I seem to like the side kick and his way of sighing! The best part of the movie however, was the climax. A spectacular unique, open ending and a wonderful evening very well spent. I hope many more such movies are made in Tamil, with excellent music by A.R. Rahman and non-Tamil/Indian actors being considered. And, I hope there is, isn't a sequel!

The Subway Sandwich Wars : Jon Stewart on John Fleming

2011-09-22T21:08:00.001-04:00

I just watched the Jon Stewart show of Wed Sep 21, 2011 and found it downright to the point and extremely hilarious and wanted to note it right away. The topic of comical discussion in the show was President Obama's plan to reform the tax code so that high income ( > $1m) and large corporations pay more tax. Stewart shows a clipping of Fox News (as always, either Fox which is fairly right wing or CNN which is so fluffy) interview with Louisiana Republican Representative John Fleming as a 'small' business owner. Fleming owns 33 Subway franchises and some UPS franchises and makes an annual turnover of over $6m and would technically be affected by the tax reform plan.

This is where the fun starts. Fleming claims that after all the taxes he pays now, pays his 500 employees, he has around 600000 left to 'feed' his family. And after he feeds his family, he has 'only' 400000 left to reinvest in his business (Mr. Fleming, reinvestments are not personal-taxable, get a better tax consultant). That means his ravenous family 'feeds' on 200000 per year! Guess what you can buy with that amount - Stewart very smartly points out, that there is a place where you can buy a full 12" of food for $5 (yes, its Subway of which he owns 33) - would buy 40000ft of food to eat in year by his family.

This is the best example for what Obama mentioned - this tax reform and debt resolution is not class warfare, its simple math. Mr. Fleming definitely needs some math lessons. And for the same reason, I cannot wait for Sarah Palin to enter the 2012 presidential race and behold, even better if she ever manages to get the job!

நான் சொல்வது எப்போதும் சரியா ?

2011-09-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

சற்று முன்பு நான் சுகி சிவம் அவர்கள் பேசுவதை கேட்டேன். அவர் சில மனிதர்கள் அவர்கள் சொல்வது எப்போதுமே சரி என்று சாதிப்பதை மிக எளிமையான உதாரணங்களைக் கொண்டு விளக்கினார். அவை என் மனதை கவர்ந்ததால் இவ்விடத்தல் குறித்து உள்ளேன்.

1 ஒரு ஜமிந்தார் ஒரு கொக்கை வேட்டையாடி தன் சமையல் காரரிடம் கொடுத்தார். அப்போது அங்கு வந்த அந்த சமையல் காரரின் பிற்கால மனைவி அந்த கொக்கில் ஒரு பகுதி தனக்கு வேண்டுமென்று கேட்டாள். ஒரு பகுதியை சமையல் செய்ய வில்லை என்று தெரிந்தால் ஜமிந்தர் தன்னை கொன்று விடுவர் என்று சமையல் காரர் மறுக்க, தன் மீது காதல் இல்லை என்று அந்தப் பெண் வருடினாள். கடைசியில் சமையல் காரர் ஒரு காலை தன் பிற்கால மனைவியிடம் கொடுத்துவிட்டார். மீதம் இருந்த கொக்கை நன்றாக சமைத்து ஜமிந்தர் இடம் கொடுக்க, அவர் ஏன் ஒரு காலை காணவில்லை என்று கேட்டார். அதற்கு, கொக்கிற்கு ஒரு கால் மட்டுமே உண்டு என்று சமையல் காரர் ஒளறினார்.

Patronage democracy, civil society and elected government

2011-07-17T13:43:00.001-04:00

As an Indian, I have been amazed at the recent scams involving billions of dollars in what is still a developing country. I also found a interesting detail giving out information about how India isn't actually poor but rich. The India that the article talks about is the government (GDP) and not the people (PPP). So who is the government in a democracy if it is not by, for and of the people? Politicians. Ever since the birth of the concept of a republic, things haven't changed much. I sure agree that a republic is better than an absolute monarchy. The concept of a constitutional monarchy isn't too different from a republic in terms of governance to talk about. The thing that separates a republic from a kingdom is the presence of a council of people's representatives that somehow are better in making decisions than one person, the monarch. But what happens when the representatives are not taking proper decisions? What if they do not present a clear choice? What if the choices they provide are not really solutions and not the one that people really want?

I want to recollect two examples, one in India and one in the US. In India, there is the center-left Indian National Congress and the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. How different are they in terms of policy towards terrorists, Pakistan, industrialization and corporations? Honestly, there are some minute details that are different and most of these differences are seeming to be determined by what is called 'coalition-dharma' which is often called upon by the most-honest corruption-free integral prime minister India has had, to answer questions of inefficiency, clogged-policy making at the parliament. Is this because of the pressures of regional parties that try to cater to a smaller region and make sure that their voices are heard? What is the difference between the parties in terms of fight against corruption, improvements in government, proper spending and audit of tax payer money? Almost nothing that I can note - apart from the obvious commissions set by successive governments to investigate the corruption of the previous government and continue to follow the interesting ideas set by previous politicians to increase kickbacks for themselves. There just isn't a big difference between them for me to choose one over the other. But of course, like the wise people of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, we could alternate between them so that one group will not get more time to 'get-settled' and empty the treasury on its own.

In the US, there is a clear difference in terms of domestic and fiscal policy between the two main parties - the left-leaning, big-government, more-tax democrats and the opposite right-wing republicans. Again, no single party has held on to power for a long time in order to get the country on to a single type of policy. However, I see the once-in-two-years form of elections (congress and presidential), sort of limiting the administration's ability to have a clear mandate. By the time the new president starts implementing major reforms, the two years are up and invariably loses congress support as the next party gains majority. And of course, they have to say no to almost all that he has done and clean the slate.

So, we either have parties that aren't that different and provide no choice, or there are parties that hardly want to continue good things of the other party and delay reforms. In either case, things that should happen in a country do not happen and leads to undergrowth and stagnation. What would be a way out? Civil society - a collection of non-politicians that are interested in a set of aspects of economy, polity demonstrating lobbying, garnering public support to make sure certain things happen in the country? Does this sense of shadow government actually work? I for one, find the idea that a group of individuals holding the government and the public hostage by conducting 'fast-unto-death' protests a bit backward. It is quite different from the non-violent civil-disobedience sort of thing that Gandhi stood for. There need to be more practical approaches that actually gain results, rather than threaten, subvert and coerce certain policies with an emotionally charged public support based on certain ideologies.

These thoughts lead me to believe that a higher degree of direct democracy should be entertained. In the past, lack of technology to easily understand people's wants, lesser understanding of society and world affairs, and the absence of an independent judiciary and media might have prevented the spread of direct democracy. This form of purest democracy which involves making decisions directly by the people through referendums is only seen in very small countries like Switzerland. I believe that with current technology, biometrics and instant connectivity, referendums can be easily conducted. Also, the spread of independent judiciary, under the watchful eye of the ubiquitous media, can keep a check on the fundamental problem in direct democracy - a majority enforcing a 'wrong' decision on the minority. This problem exists to a lesser degree in a representative democracy, but with the absence of choice, it is almost the same as that in a direct one.

Who would not want such a direct/patronage democracy? Maybe an indecisive, lazy minority who want the others to take decisions for them, sit on their couch and do nothing. But they are served anyway in even an autocratic government. And of course, corrupt politicians who need to be rid off society. I'd like to be asked if I want my country to attack another state, ask two states in a country if they are OK to share water, build a $500m bridge to nowhere, etc.

There's no there there

2011-02-14T18:08:00.002-05:00

The quote "There is no there there" appears in Stein's Book "Everybody's Autobiography". When Stein returned to California on her lecture tour to the United States in the 1930s, she wanted to visit her childhood home in Oakland, CA. She records that she could not find the house. Hence, "there is no there there." –Sonja Streuber

Well, I was on one of my random wiki hopping session and came across the above on another site. It immediately captivated my attention. Not for the reason that things change a lot and places do not always exist, but another connotational meaning of the phrase.

There, to me, refers to a specific place with unique qualities, differentiating itself from all other places. There is something that it offers that justifies the 'there'. Increasingly, globalization is making the world a really small place. As with all perceived good things, there are some bad effects. To me, the two big effects are loss of local economy (and the subsequent reliance on transportation and logistics) and uniqueness. The first one is a major issue and is more or less the way it is going to be and I hope there is some way that technology will lend a hand.

The second issue is a more personal thing. When I read old books by non-resident Indians, they talk about the big changes that they had to adapt to live in their country of residence and how difficult it was to get Indian food etc. I seem to be of the thought that this is to be expected and it is these changes, experiences and being outside the comfort zone is what is normal. Why would you want to live in a country that you don't like? Before I digress into the sensitive "multi-culturalism" topic, the point I am trying to make is that places are ought to be different and should be digested as such.

When I travel around in the US, a vast country with fabulous geographical features, one thing that is interesting is the enormity of commonness among states and cities. I am fairly sure that things will be very different when I hop a few states in India - and that is a good thing. What good will it be if the entire world does things the same way? I am sure such things will never happen, but the small extent that things are now common is itself disturbing to me. I for one have not watched a Tamil movie at a theatre in US and I make it a point to see one whenever I visit India. Even if I wanted, I cannot get the Arisi Murukku laced with coconut in the US or any other city other than my hometown. There should be things that are very nice to do in every part of the world that they will be cherished. This cherished sense diminishes when things can be done anywhere anytime at any cost.

I am sure there is a differing level of things that people agree to accept as necessary to replicate at another place, but there could be some sense of individuality maintained, else, there's no there there, there is there here and here there and everywhere...

Software journalism

2010-12-30T11:44:00.003-05:00

I was appalled by the BBC article " Windows bug 'behind Skype crash' ". The title seems to suggest that Windows operating system has a bug and that was exposed by Skype software and is one of the reasons behind the recent Skype outages.

When you look inside the article, the summary becomes, "Server overloads and a bug in Skype for Windows caused the two-day outage for the net phone firm."

Shame on you, BBC. There has been a rise in number of cases, where the articles tend to gloss over technical facts and results in such incoherent sentences. I was under the impression that in order to become a journalist in the IT arena, you need to have an IT background in addition to the generic journalism background. I hope this indeed becomes the case in the future. How bad it'd be if Jeremy Clarkson knew nothing about cars and continues to present TopGear (notwithstanding many people think this is the case :) )

Supercooled water

2010-12-28T18:28:00.005-05:00

While watching a documentary on the aircrash investigation into the now famous Roselawn incident, I came across a natural phenomenon that I was not aware of, but was living with for a while now - supercooled water. It has been a long time since I learned of chemical properties of basic materials like water and was immediately enthralled.

Essentially supercooling is the process of taking liquids to temperatures that are lower than it's freezing point. How is that possible? Wouldn't it become solid? That's when I read that all solidifications need crystallization agents! Water ice needs a small non-water particle to form ice. What happens otherwise is, water continues to be supercooled until it touches such a agent - precisely how it happens during a freezing rain. In the case of freezing rain however, it happens because the ground temperature is much lower (like a snow storm blew over the previous week) and there is a pressure system that moves hot air in the higher atmospheres and causes rain, and that rain water becomes supercooled as it approaches land and then, the glaze that looks like frozen snow (ice) and can bring down power lines, trees etc!

In the case of an aircraft flying through freezing rain, it immediately forms a glaze around the protruding wings, completely changing the aerodynamics. This was apparently unknown until the Roselawn incident and has since be studied well.

And, the reason why I thought this was so cool is because the humble slush that I so much like during summer is actually supercooled water! I always thought its crushed ice, but no! There is this perfect YouTube video that explains what I mean by cool! (pun intended).

Flash mobs and social media

2010-12-23T17:37:00.004-05:00

I very recently was made aware of the phenomenon of a flash mob. I understand that a flash mob is a sudden gathering of people mobilized by social media that perform some activity for a brief time for various 'causes' to attract passerby. The thing that makes me find this interesting/weird is the impact of social media. I am not a Facebook 'updater' and do not follow Tweets. I do use Facebook, but I do not find the idea that I might find or someone will find my updates on where I am at that moment or what I am eating to be appealing in any sense.

As an extension, I find the concept of social media quite ironical. I say that because I think the term 'friend' seems to be thrown around a lot. I agree that there might not be a better term that is slightly more personal that an 'acquaintance'. The ironical part in all this is that the amount of time you spend on 'connecting' with one's acquaintances reduces the amount of time that you spend with yourself or your real-life friend. I for one do not think that I'm becoming more social by knowing what 200+ 'friends' in Facebook are doing that day - doesn't it give a false pretense that you 'know' what everyone is up to? and eventually know none? I like Facebook in the sense that if I suddenly remember what an old classmate is doing now, I can quickly look it up just like what the original paper face book would do. Nothing more!

Now, back from my rant on social networking, the idea of a flash mob seems too hip to me! Wiki seems to suggest that flash mobs occur because people want to conform to something and be part of something big that is happening. This reminds me of shady links which say, oh click on me and you'll be donating a buck for some cause - and we in our generous urge to 'freely donate' something, click on it and feel good about it. Do you expect something to turn out by such simple acts and say a 15min flash mob? Numbers do help, just in the context of democratic protests, but for social causes, people should be involved in their community and personally help people. These social media based events seem to take people away from directly involving and is deluding the actual cause, or it appears so to me.

These things make me feel that I'm old and reminds me that I'm not catching up with technological changes brought about in society - or is it that certain things should not change and these are just passing clouds? How weird it would be to get married online? I'm sure at least a few happen that way every year. If I'm old and not social in this context, maybe I am!

October 9, 2010

2010-10-08T21:50:00.005-04:00

Today (technically still October, 8th) was quite the opposite of the same day last year. Firstly, mom being here made it 5 years since I have spent my birthday with her. Secondly, my friends made it up very well for last year by planning quite meticulously, albeit with quite a surprising level of connivance from my mom!

Starting with the pre-planning in my absence (am I sticking to such a strict routine?!) with my mom, opening of back doors without my knowledge, trying to hold me at the front door to keep me distracted, opening the doors with such a less amount of noise, tio-toeing in and gathering in the kitchen and surprising me! Marvelous! A nice 15 min comedy thriller directed by the 54-toothed director, Sandipan. I thoroughly enjoyed being part and target of it - thank you!

"27th time ever" :)

Left -> Right: Sandeep, Jai, Sumit, Mukesh-Pranjal, Ammar, Nirmal, Mom, Sandipan, Dad, Jaya, Hari, Pradeep-Dhivya, Nishith, Jeoffrey

So who opened the XIX Commonwealth Games, Delhi?

2010-10-03T12:05:00.003-04:00

With the Commonwealth games themselves being questioned for their existence, the Queen (of Britain) has added to the issue by deciding to not open the games for the first time in 44 years. I tend to see her as a head of state who oversaw the independence of most of the nations in the Commonwealth and would have been fitting to continue the tradition of declaring the games open. Prince Charles, along with the Duchess of Cornwall (who was 'hysterically' laughing throughout the opening ceremony as aptly put by the BBC) seems to use these events to come of age and set himself up for his eventual reign. The Indian Government was apparently not happy with the Prince declaring the games open, with the President of India, Pratibha Patil (the most senior official at the ceremony) present - held 'intense' discussions with Clarence House and came up with a compromise. So Prince Charles reads from Her Majesty's note, "I have much pleasure in declaring the 19th Commonwealth Games open" and within minutes, the Indian President says, "The Games are now open. Let the Games begin." So, who opened it?

Prince or President?

I, for one, think that a better option would have been to use all the wonderful technology we have and the Queen could have used telepresence and used Skype/GChat to open the games :) and put an end to these silly, minor issues that none-the-less gives a lot of fodder for news channels and memoir writers like me.

The Jovian show

2010-08-08T00:19:00.003-04:00

Finally, after having watched the Jovian system for ages with just my eyes, binoculars etc., I was awestruck by the king planet tonight watching through the telescope. Jupiter and the four Galilean moons were so very clearly visible today. With a nice Sky & Telescope utility, the four moons were (from left to right), Ganymede, Europa, Io (shadow on Jupiter's surface) and Callisto. My favorite composite photograph of the Jovian system is from the most famous spacecraft of my school days - Cassini:

Jupiter Globe, Date: 7 Dec 2000
This true-color simulated view of Jupiter is composed of four images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. To illustrate what Jupiter would have looked like if the cameras had a field-of-view large enough to capture the entire planet, the cylindrical map was projected onto a globe. The resolution is about 144 kilometers (89 miles) per pixel. Jupiter's moon Europa is casting the shadow on the planet. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

When I saw Saturn for the first time, I was more than convinced that the giant exo planet's rings would most probably be the best feature of the solar system that would be visible to me. But no, Jupiter being so close to us and being the biggest, so much more detail was visible - the brown clouds, the yellow bands and the four beautiful moons. I wish I were sitting inside a cabin in Montana with the telescope setup - I would be sitting the whole night watching Jupiter, and the sun rise and set on Venus. I will one day...

Drenched, tube burst, a wonderful biking ride and World Cup 2010

2010-06-12T16:30:00.005-04:00

The day started promisingly. It was warm, sunny and mildly cloudy. It was to start raining at 1pm and we decided to head out to bike at the Nashua River Rail Trail from Ayer, MA to Nashua, NH. It was a nice bike way, though not as spectacular as the Blackstone Valley Rail Trail near Providence, RI. For statistics, we were the fastest ever, averaging at 13mph and covered 23mi. But, we got reminded once again that Mother Nature rules and weather forecasting is a very tricky business. It started drizzling very slightly before we reached the trail head, but since it was very low, we decided to go ahead. After biking almost 8mi, it started to pour as we biked into NH. Oh, but we can't skip the first cross-state (only 3mi inside NH though) experience. So, thats how we got completely drenched. Along with soaking up almost my body weight in rain water, I also harvested some pine leaves, maple-ish leaves, grass, squirrel droppings (Hello to all those adventurous squirrels that always wanted to cross the road/bikeway and inevitably squished), and lots of mud. It was a very down-to-earth experience. Getting completely wet isn't that bad after all. There have been maybe 4-5 times I have gotten myself drenched and it is just the dirt part that comes for free that makes the return journey very, lets say, uncomfortable.

On the way back, there was a loud pop. We thought that something had hit the car. While trying to judge while still driving, I couldn't spot my bike's front wheel! Stopping at the first opportunity and inspecting, the wheel was still there :) It was just that the tube seemed to have blasted. My hypothesis is that it was very close to the car's exhaust while sitting on the bike rack. One interesting thing to check while stowing the bike. I hope to fix it fairly quickly and cheaply and bike fast past my first tube blast.

Oh, the afternoon was very spent watching England vs. USA, World Cup '10 match at Rustenburg, SA. Comparing with my previous World Cup season '98, that I followed, there was a huge difference in camera angles and shots and in general viewing experience. I wonder if they are using those spider cams that I saw in one of the cricket matches. And, if any South-African is reading this, please, can you reduce the volume of your vuvuzelas? or the number of them, or the number of ones simultaneously blown. Though it is part of SA culture and nice to see it add to nice mix of colorful attires and music, it gives a feeling of sitting in a mosquito infested backwater - so white-noisy!

Rajneeti, Politics and Mahabharatam

2010-06-04T23:38:00.006-04:00

I am just back from watching the movie Rajneeti and have to admit that the movie was an interesting package of political reality, "love" stories, links to Mahabharatam and my favorite part - wonderful jokes; subtle, obvious, satire and dry. This along with an appreciative audience (mostly Indian) made it a nice experience.

Sticking to the line of my previous posts on movies, I'm leaving the job of plot revelation to other better sources. The political reality portrayed in the movie really hit the nail. One of my previous posts on politician's clothes was conceived out of partial disillusionment with Indian politics. I always expect politicians to be practical, stick to a valid non-hurting ideology and honest. The movie shows the stark reality that politicians (most of them) are pretty much the anti-thesis of my expectations and dynastic politics are here to stay. The repeated usage of political language and direct references from Mahabharatam really roused the audience. The lively reaction from the audience (laughter, whistles and claps) for very serious scenes in the movie (but so very funny when we relate it to politics in reality and epic stories), the tolerance shown when the projector went out for 10min (my first in the US) and a cheerful applause when the technicians announced it'll be all set in a few minutes, made it very nice to be part of.

Oh, please Katrina Kaif, please don't 'act' in such serious roles! She really was bad at crying, delivering speeches etc. Nana Patekar was absolutely wonderful in his delivery. And, having realized that I am liking new takes at old stories/epics (much thanks to Director Prakash Jha's own assistant Jimy sitting with me and giving me hints), I found it so very thrilling to try and map most of the characters in the movie to the characters in Mahabharatam. And, of course, there was Bipasha Basu (thanks Sandipan for so carefully spotting her dancing, yes she was dancing in a TV watched by a character in one of the scenes in the movie)! Here is the mapping of characters that I've settled on and please do watch the movie!

Mahabharatam characters Movie character
Kunti - Bharti Pratap
Dhritarashtra - Bhanu Pratap
Sooraj - Karna
Yudishtra - Prithvi Pratap
Arjuna - Samar Pratap
Krishna - Brij Gopal
Draupati - Indu Pratap ? (at least in her unrelenting proposals of 'love')
Duryodhan - Veerendra Pratap

What's in a village?

2010-05-13T14:40:00.001-04:00

During one of random-Wiki-article-reading-sessions, I was astonished to find some interesting facts:
* that India has the most arable land of any country other than the US,
* that India has the most water area, again other than North America,
* that India has the second highest percentage (51+), unsurprisingly behind Bangladesh (58+) of its land used for agriculture.

It is only natural that a country of such natural resources overwhelmingly geared to agricultural usage is quite populated. This caught me off guard as I always thought of India was so over populated and there is hardly any space left. I am definitely wrong and this immediately led me to dig into the validity of my thoughts and quickly uncovered the skew - I have not lived a single day in my life in any of the 638,000 Indian villages. I have never lived, played or worked around farms and am completely unaware of that way of life. I am beginning to see the reason why I used to like gardening right from childhood (much to my mom's displeasure) and have continuously taken care of at least a few plants all my life. An ideal village for me (complete input from books and movies and a rare drive-through(s)) is an extremely calm, closely knit, very natural, beautifully arranged agricultural fields and most importantly, center of nowhere.

I was so curious, that I took a quick bike ride to the remotest part of the place that I live in, Natick. It is the area around Prospect St. in South-west Natick and is very sparsely populated. I could only count around half a dozen or so houses in the entire 3+mi stretch. It was beautiful, calm, had a nice horse farm, but not technologically behind. It made me wonder how many villages actually fit my 'ideal' bill. The things that draws me to villages these days are not the beauty, calmness etc. It is getting to do things that I would not do at my work/home. More so, it would be getting to not do anything that I do at work/home. In that sense, it is the technological black hole that I might be looking forward to. How would it be if I did not know what's happening in the rest of the world? How would it be to not talk to any known person for some time? Are villages really, the nothing-happening places that city dwellers label them as?

The more I think about it, the more counter-intuitive it gets. Aren't villages supposed to be close knit places where you know everyone and you don't lead an isolated life? If everything was so calm and you don't even see anyone for a while, isn't that more individualistic? You farm, cook, make, live in an isolated place in a village or is it? I guess, there is a big difference between Indian and Western-world villages. Even after having traveled only a very small part of the US, mostly in the New England area and California, I am getting to uncover the big lapse in my understanding of the Indian countryside and the vast amount of exploratory opportunities it preserves, deserves and offers. I look forward to it.

Biking

2010-05-09T14:03:00.006-04:00

It has been one of those things that have been on my radar for a very long time now - bicycling. As someone who was biking to school everyday for over 7 years and then had a two-wheeler for 6 years, and then biked again at university for 2 years, I was so confined to the automobile here to get around. My biggest hurdle in getting a bike in Massachusetts was weather. But, thanks to a stupendous Spring season this year, I finally took the plunge and got myself a hybrid Specialized Crosstrail.

It is a well designed and hopefully well built bike with very smooth gear changes and ability to go off-road. I can't imagine not having the ability to change gears in my first bike, but I guess I was too young to think of options to keep myself from biking :). Yesterday, though it was cloudy, we decided to bike as the chance of precipitation dropped to 10%. But as we biked from West Natick to the Eliot St Dam in South Natick, the clouds became so dense that we thought it was the end of the world! There were almost 3 layers of clouds that I could spot and were moving so quickly.

And then, I saw over the road and at the intersection it was raining so much and in 5sec, it came down upon us. After waiting in shade for a few minutes and thinking that the rain is over, we started off again. While passing through Pond Rd in East Natick, sigh, it started raining again. Though it wasn't too heavy, I don't like to get wet in rain, and I was forced to be in rain for over 20 minutes that it took us to get back to West Natick. Here is our route on Trailguru

So, I felt the road a lot, rode over gravel that reminded me of my home construction, felt the real thickness of the white paint on the curb, got completely drenched, had a warm beautiful sunshine when I just got off the bike (Nature rules!) and had a fantastic appetite waiting! I simply love biking and am glad to have taken it up again. Come Summer, I hope to give it some time along with swimming, running and hiking.

Nanate badhuku natakamu

2010-05-03T15:53:00.002-04:00

I have been captivated by this song, Nanate badhuku natakamu, composed by Annamacharya and sung ever so beautifully by M.S. Subbulakshmi for over 2 decades. The thing I loved about the song is the rendition and the partial meaning I understood from my poor grasp of Telugu. I finally googled around, asked others who knew Telugu better and my admiration for the song and its simplicity has increased more than ever. Here is the lyrics and translation which I never hope to search for again.

Lyrics:

nAnATi patuku nATakamu
kAnaka kannati kaivalyamu

puTTuTayu nijamu pOvuTayu nijamu
naTTa naTimi pani nATakamu
yeTTa neduTagaladI prapaNcamu
kaTTagaTapaTiti kaivalyamu
(naanaaTi)

kuTicEdannamu Shoka cuTTeDidi
NaTu mantrapu pani nATakamu
voDigaTTu konina vubhayakarmulu
gaTidATinapuDE kaivalyamu
(naanaaTi)

tekadu pApamu tIradu puNyamu
naki naki kAlamu nATakamu
yevakune ShRI vEngkaTEShvaru Telika
gakhanamu mItiti kaivalyamu
(naanaaTi)

Translation:

Everyday life is a drama
What is seen, yet not seen clearly is liberation

To be born is truth and so is to die
Everything done in between these two is a drama
That which is right in front is the universe
That which is the eventuality is liberation

To relish food, to wrap around a cloth
This conjured up work is a drama
When one's thought is beyond this, there is liberation

There is no break to badness
There is never completion to goodness
All this laughing (and also laughable) time is a drama
That which is even beyond the sky is liberation

My 'Oh my God' moment today

2010-04-30T22:43:00.004-04:00

The day was below average as I was not feeling that well and UPS decided to deliver my stuff at 6pm. But, on the flip side, it was gorgeous outside today at 75F and an almost cloudless sky until 10.30 PM. I started tracking Venus by the time I got my Celestron Nextar SLT Newtonian Reflector telescope delivered. It is not a spectacular/expensive piece of scope, but as a first time telescope, I think it is fantastic. After assembling the beautifully designed scope, I put in my 8 rechargeable batteries and alas, it didn't work that well as I guess the NiMH rating was lower. I got some normal batteries (I hate to do this :( ) and headed off to my favorite spot for gazing - the trail head of the Middlesex path. This spot is right on Rt.135, has a nice parking lot, is in between Fiske pond and Cochituate lake and the best of all - the street lights flicker here and work only once in 30 min :). Perfect.

With clouds fast approaching, I decided to skip the SkyAlign system and gave a shot at the three brightest objects in the souther sky. My aim - the most intriguing of all planets and the one that I have never properly seen using my Celestron Skymaster binoculars - Saturn. I only have the two default lenses that Celestron provides - 9mm and 25mm. After failing to see anything other than a star with the first object, I moved on to the second object. After centering the object in the finder scope, I viewed using the 25mm lens. This should be giving me a magnification of 26x and I was seeing a bright object with a faint cross line. Excited, I immediately switched to the 9mm lens that gives me a magnification of 72x. And voila! there it was, Saturn indeed. The farthest object I have clearly identified and arguably the most beautiful Sol planet. Of course at this low magnitude, I did not see any color other than a faint yellow. But, I could hear myself say loudly, Oh my God and I will never forget this moment when I saw Saturn and its rings. Clouds were over most of the sky in a matter of minutes and I had to pack up. I really hope to learn and observe a lot of the night sky in the coming Spring and Summer months and explore dark natural surroundings on the way. Thanks to Isaac Newton for having invented the cheap designs of reflector telescope for the common man and Arthur Clarke for imbibing a sense of astronomical curiosity and the resulting humility. Here is my first successful setup:

A dad and his three sons - the corner stone of diplomacy

2010-04-22T08:46:00.001-04:00

It has been ages since I came across this comical snippet. If my memory serves me right, it was sometime around the Obama Presidency's state dinner hosted for the visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in Nov 2009. The snippet struck a very real and a perfect caricature of current international perception of socio-economic-diplomatic-military relationships. With no additional comments from my current mindset that might give away the core meaning for any reader, here it goes:

Obama: “Ok Dr. Singh. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was this Dad who had three sons. The eldest son earned a lot and was the true breadwinner, paying a sizable sum so that Dad can pay his health bill, buy clothes and in general live his life. Dad, knowing that he was totally dependent on the eldest, would scold him from time to time but essentially would let him do what he wanted to if for nothing else than for self-preservation.

"The youngest son was wild, debauched and an absolute criminal. He lived off on Dad’s and the eldest son’s charity and yet wanted more. If he did not get what he wanted, he threatened to set the house on fire. Hence he had to be paid off.

"The middle son didn't earn as much as the eldest and was peaceful, tranquil and positively sheepish. Hence he neither commanded nuisance value nor actual value. Sometimes Dad, in a gesture of supreme tokenism, would throw a party “in his honor” but that was it."

Dr. Singh: “Hmm…So USA is the Dad….”

Obama: “Yes Dr. Singh. I know you can figure this one out. Now if you will excuse me, Michelle needs a foot massage and I really should get going. It was a pleasure talking to you and sharing the values of our great democracies and reinforcing the bonds that have held together the peoples of these two mighty lands.Thank you.”

Brilliant!

The inner planets this April night

2010-04-12T20:57:00.005-04:00

On April 12th, I had the opportunity of seeing 4 planets on the same day. Bright bluish Venus (first time I have seen in the evening sky), a subtle Mercury, yellow Mars lurking near the Praesepe (beehive cluster) and the hard-to-find Saturn. It was also easy to spot them because of the absence of the two other usuals in my night sky - our Moon and the massive Jupiter.

Jupiter has been my favorite through the winter because it is so easy to spot, bright and comes with 4 additional niceties to watch - its moons Ganymede, Io, Europa and Callisto. My favorite being the 4 moons and Jupiter in a diagonal.

My next favorite is our Moon. Honestly, it doesn't need a binocular to see and usually the most watched. But again honestly, it is the single most brilliant use of a binocular :). The craters and geology of any object in the universe that I can watch now in such clarity of a birds eye view is the Moon. To see even Earth, I have to fly up in to the space. My iPhone app has an interesting way of putting the timings you can see Earth in :

With such wonderful things to explore by just looking up, there is no doubt why the heavens are above. It has taken humanity less than 3000 years to map the sky and less than 400 to view the sky in such detail and ease. And how long have they been there like this? 13 billion years? Makes me think I'm like a spluttering mustard seed....

Cars vs. Computers?

2010-02-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

The recent spate of recalls by a variety of manufacturers like Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen to name a few, and the idea that some if not most of these recalls, were related to the invasion of computers in the auto industry made me think of why?

Like many industries starting with textiles (Jacquard), agriculture (pipe irrigation and soil chemistry)and later with industrial automation ( assembly lines) and recently aerospace (fly-by-wire) have long been using computing and electronics to achieve efficiency and economy. So, why the sudden hype in the usage of electronics in cars? Here is my current take on what computers already do in cars, what will they eventually be doing and what could be an issue:

Cars (at least the more technologically advanced ones) have long been using electronics for many things-

- Climate control

- Airbag deployment

- Electric window and Locking

- Intermittent and automatic wiper control

- Engine management

- Lane assist

- Sensing that the driver is sleepy

- Terrain sensing suspension

- Automatically braking based on the car ahead

- Roof tint changes based on ambient light etc..

In the future, thanks to my unending hunger for sci-fi, I expect to see cars slowly taking over many manual oddities associated with the driver. Some that I look forward to are - a good voice control (one that understands accents), a touch sensitive steering mechanism (no wheel), seat adjustments based on who is sitting etc. This would not only lead to improved efficiency, better safety, and other positive improvements that result from the removal of the unpredictable human element, but also freeing up our senses to engage in more useful and joyful activities. Before thoughts make me look like a robot-humanoid-maker, I'd quickly add that there should always be a manual override option. This is currently there for many systems such as gear changes, traction control etc. that more adventurous drivers can and will utilize - hopefully in non-dense safe areas for pure joy.

The more recent changes have started with replacing the mechanical (cables, hydraulics and pneumatics) connections between the driver and the engine, transmission and brakes. Just like how an intermittent wiper worked, these systems should also work perfectly. Just like how a solid state hard drive is better and more efficient than a generic magnetic hard drive, a non-moving element based acceleration/brake transmission system should be immensely better than a cable/hydraulic system with lower maintenance. The only difference - system criticality. When any one or more of these systems fail, the safety of the entire car is in jeopardy. Needless to say, no human-being or the animal kingdom in general would want to entrust with another entity, specifically its own creation, with safety. But, given that aerospace industry so heavily depends on electronics to even function in the state where it is now (the most safest mode of transportation), why can't this be replicated in the auto industry?

When we break down things to a basic system level, what are electronics in cars? They are just a bunch of algorithms and associated hardware that achieve a specific goal. Who sets the goals?Engineers. These goals are nothing but system requirements and use cases. When these use cases and system requirements are well designed, implemented and tested, they can be made quite safety-critical in usage. I strongly believe that any system when properly designed and tested cannot become a hazard and should not be seen as a deprivation of control from the driver. If it does, then it is BAD design.

In essence, software that run the electronics in a car should be built in such a way that a human touch and elegance is retained. This is utmost important because the end user is a human being. By human touch, I mean that these systems should be designed and behave in a way that other human beings would in fact have done it and expect it to do. That is the elegance of the human mind and natural design.

Why do Indian politicians dress differently? Why always garbed in white?

2010-02-17T12:27:00.011-05:00

Have you ever noticed why Indian politicians dress very differently? I know that the first question is what do I mean by differently. I observed that Indian politicians especially the ones from the southern India (my definition for the 4 or 5 states in the peninsula) stick to this very peculiar 'uniform' of white shirt and white dhoti and some form of a towel (sounds gross, but I couldn't think of a better word other than angavastharam) over their shoulders.

Who said Indian politicians do not agree on anything - there is a complete consensus on the white attire. Now, I have to agree that I observe this in only male politicians. Women, with the availability of at the very least different colors of sarees, do not look so weird in their uniforms.

Let us see what we can think of as possible things a common citizen would expect his representative to wear:

1. Decent, clean and pressed,

2. Not some antiquated clothes that teeters on the verge of embarrassment,

3. Not overtly flashy or ultra modern that is not in sync with current trends,

4. Something that portrays the culture (again, current),

5. And lastly, though not of my concern, but for completeness - egalitarian.

Some politicians use their clothes to make a statement. This is more so when he/she is charismatic, idolized etc. For example, former prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was always dressing in khadi (hand woven cotton) sarees when she was in India. But, we can see striking change in attire when she is abroad. I am so fondly reminded of two such visits - both to the United States. In the first one, with president Nixon she is wearing something that I do not have an idea of what (maybe a cross between a shawl and a coat?). In the second one, she is scary (to me) in a sleeveless (!!), pink (!!!), flashy saree when visiting President Reagan.

My point here is not to say she was dressing in, let's say interesting, clothes. She has every right to wear what she wants. She is still satisfying all our criteria and serving as a cultural ambassador. When you think of what might have happened if she dressed in the same way when she was back in India in the 1980s, things take a turn. Of course, practically speaking, these are party/formal clothes and not comfortable at all times. Khadi being a natural, thinly woven fabric, is extremely comfortable in hot Indian climes. But, why is there such a big difference in her style (note that it is still a saree)? Because people will think she is flamboyant? I personally hate to see politicians dress very differently as though not being themselves.

Talking of staunchly sticking to traditional politician clothes even in the most weirdest of places, I cannot stop laughing when I think of the current (2010) defense minister Mr. A. K. Anthony. I could not get the picture (scope for improvement, Google :) ), but he was wearing a normal dhoti and then topped with all sorts of winter accessories to save him from the -30C or so weather. At yet another occasion, I see that he has improved a bit, but what is that strange contraption on his head? A fusion of Russian Ushanka and Gandhian hat?

Returning to the issue of the uniform, why do most male Indian politicians dress in white? I read about various possible reasons such as being unique, wearing spotless clothes that reflect their character, uhem uhem, being comfortable in khadi (khadi can be dyed you see) etc. This has been such a big trend that the moment you see a person in white clothes, you tend to assume he is a politician. Especially in the south, politicians wear the white uniform and then they wear some colored towel to associate themselves with a political party. So it looks to me that they want to make sure people identify them by just looking at their clothes. By 'them', I mean not their self-identity, but their party. I am very happy when I look at politicians like the current Textiles minister, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, who wears normal pant and shirt. I say normal, because most if not all people wear a shirt and a pant in India for official business. I hope that trend continues and people just wear what is most comfortable and their choice and not stick to the uniform.

Another aspect of politicians clothes that I hate is the sort of suit prime ministers seem to wear when they go out of India. This includes the current prime minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh. I do not know the evolutionary seed for this garment, but I heard that it is based on Nehru's suits? But when I look at Nehru's clothes, it looks like a fusion between a sherwani and a coat which is perfectly fine. The current suits are different though - normal length, shape etc. but without the opening for the tie. Why?

I am also fascinated by the idea of this artist who paints party symbols on all the white kurta-pyjamas. He says all politicians are same in their corrupt power hungry motives when they wear similar white clothes. I cannot agree more, though I am not saying that all politicians are bad. They should just be themselves and wear normal clothes that would fit their lifestyle. I, having never worn a dhoti (except for once at a temple for an hour), would never wear these white uniforms, let alone those towels if I ever become a politician.

The more I write and think about politicians' domestic clothes, I think I am OK with the dhotis and pyjama-kurtas. They are comfortable, dignified, cleanable, culturally fitting and non-flashy. But not white! I hope more and more politicians start being themselves and garner support based on their ideologies and policies and stop sticking to these funny attires.

Car of the decade and of the year, a Tramp and a world tour - BBC Topgear Season 14 Episode 7

2010-01-04T21:27:00.003-05:00

The show started off with an interesting looking Lexus LFA which is a £340,000 supercar. Seriously, I really doubt if someone who could buy it would ever buy a Lexus. They would rather buy -

a Bugatti Veyron - The car of the noughties decade

or a Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni - The car of the year 2010,

both unsurprisingly are from the Volkswagen stable. Obvious is the Topgear bias (like I am biased towards VW) towards impractical, technologically advanced cars which made them to not choose the new Volkswagen Polo which won the European car of the year award.

Jeremy Clarkson (according to James May, an apocalyptic dingleberry :)) then goes off on a ridiculous world tour - to Australia, Hong Kong, the Alps, England, Spain and Barbados! to prove that the BMW X6 is too complicated, too cramped, too expensive not a car, not an SUV but a so called Sports Activity Vehicle.

There was also a very weird star chosen for 14th series' episode's Star in a reasonably priced car. It was someone whom I never heard before - a former tramp called Seasick Steve! (Steven Gene Wold). The official reason being they couldn't afford Tom Cruise's£150 charge for his visit.

Unfortunately, quite a boring episode where they beat around the bush with the same joke that the episode was shot on Dec 9, 2009 and was aired after new year (today is this year but coming christmas was last year :( ).

Security reform or an opportunity for reform?

2009-12-31T14:54:00.004-05:00

I was reading this article on Security reforms on the way. I tried brainstorming on some changes that could be done to the security apparatus that will keep at bay the senseless violence against innocent people.

Unsurprisingly, the TSA and other national transportation safety agencies always seem to be playing a catch-up game with perpetrators. Human beings are creative enough to come up with some sort of a mechanism that will thwart even the best of screening technologies. The fact is that technology is hardly needed to perform violence and to avoid that, an enormous amount of technology. Apparently, Nigeria is planning to introduce those body-scanning machines (I personally don't like them and I am already thinking of the awkwardness during my next flight!). I'm sure they cost a lot and such developing countries need to focus their resources on more important things. The only people who enjoy this trend would be corporations that make these devices.

So, the bottom line is even the best of security agencies (systemic or simple failures) cannot always catch the simplest of violent devices. Because, the origin of these is the single most complex system on earth - the human brain. It will always be a question of when next. Why not remove the issue at the seed, rather than let it grow into a tree and invent a nuclear-powered saw?

I agree that issues (I do not want to go into that topic for the sake of brevity) that are claimed to be the reason for such violent acts (nothing should lead to such acts), are very complex and not simple to agree upon. But, I'm failing to see even a palpable interest among major countries/entities to initiate a dialogue. There are some olive words (yes, olive branches in the form of innumerable speeches read from a teleprompter) that are occasionally uttered and those do not lead anywhere.

Why? In my humble opinion, we as humans, staying in one home called Earth should at least start to talk about what the issues are. We cannot yet change homes as humanity and get away from crazy room-mates. At work, we follow some techniques that basically ask the same question, 'Why?', five times. These at many times have led us to the root of an issue. Believe me, when everyone at the table asks all questions and all reasons are on the table, there will be a simple, clear solution for any problem. Now, the hurdles are of different kinds:

1. Regional
2. National
3. Religious
4. Past events and Justice

The first three reasons are very much rooted into our modern civilizations and I cannot find too much fault with those. My simple reason is because, without those bindings, the world might have been in a much worse situation. Having said that, these bindings eventually tend to mature into irreconcilable differences. At this point, some of them have to be shed. This was the idea behind one of my other posts.

But, even in the absence of resolution/tolerance/reconciliation/compromise events happening in the context of these three reasons, some short term solutions are possible. These, again in my opinion, will eventually lead to a grand long-term solution. Take, the reason of past events as an example. Most issues, when discussed, start with 'they did that to us, so we are doing this', or 'we are preventing this from happening by removing them', or 'we will distance ourselves from them' etc., The same revenge that leads someone to avenge an act will obviously act as a revenge for someone else to avenge. When will this vicious circle stop?

The past century's cold war was between two political ideologies and it seems to have come to a peaceful end for now. Most past events are no longer avenged and they simple remain as how humanity can torture itself. The sacrifices and failures are memorials and act as milestones. That was more simpler because once a political ideology fails by itself results in ending of hostilities. But the current religio-racial issues are more deeply vested into human psyche and are not so simple. Without removing the prejudice of past events, and the requirement for justice for those events, a possible initiation of a dialogue is not even practical.

So, why not remove such tabs on past events, move on with a dialogue? Why not engage and resolve outstanding issues, and then in a harmonious setting talk about justice for past events? Isn't it always common sense to talk to the enemy, become a friend and then talk about compromises and justice? We can never talk to an enemy about justice because, such a talk will not even happen.

I hope and wish the next year, 2010, will be one such year (very unlike 2009), where common sense prevails and leaders of power engage, reason, resolve and compromise on humanity's issues. Happy new year!

Satires by Jeremy Clarkson on cars, pollution, Sherlock Holmes - BBC Topgear Season 14 Epsiode 4

2009-12-16T19:14:00.006-05:00

Jeremy had more than his share of satire in this episode that I couldnt not write about it. So here you go.

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution points out that too many street lights produce dark areas where criminals can hide. So light produces more dark areas than darkness? Apparently helps nocturnal creatures like bats and badgers though there will be a 10% increase in fatal accidents!

No matter what person you are, you always have a car for you. If you are an Air-hostess, you can have the Audi TT. If you are a Free mason, you can have a Lexus. And if you have huge ears with hair sprouting out of them, you can have the Peugeot 3008! But, what if you are mad? What if you pass through a window with an uncontrollable urge to lick it? You have three choices.

1. The BMW SNM X5 - the car which weighs a bit more than the center of the earth, when you drive you feel like 4 miles above land and so uncomfortable that you feel like sitting on the top of someone's ears. If you like those, get a nurse to help you with a crayon and write out a check for £76000.

2. The Audi Q7 - the car that has 7 seats that can move about for your every need. If you dont know how to use a crayon, you can spend more money on this one at £96000. It has a diesel engine - 6litre, twin turbo, V12. But diesel engines are generally for economy. So it would be like switching off your home's central heating and keeping warm by burning Rembrandt's!

or

3. The new Range Rover - It is heavier and thirstier and slower and costs £80000. It has more comfortable interiors, has an elegant look and an off-roader. But the problem is the engine. It has a V8 5litre engine which only makes sense in Abu Dhabi where petrol is cheap. So all 3 cars are really rather ridiculous just like licking the window. :( Or if you still wanted to get it, buy the £139000 custom edition that is so luxurious to have Louis XIV's bedroom in it along with a self replenishing liquer (they come and fill it for the first year !!).

Based on driving by the Stig (the guy who has 14 different types of custard in his drinks cabinet and even if he leaves home in a hurry, he will never hit a fire hydrant! Haha), the fastest of these three cars was the BMW SNM X5.

Now to the star in the reasonably priced car - Guy Ritchie. Since it is Topgear, Jeremy wont talk to Guy about Madonna. Instead talk about winching. Obviously for winching, you have to get stuck in mud. So apparently he gets stuck often so that he can winch himself out. Guy uses his bicycle for 90% of his transport in London. Robert Downey Jr. actually has a more British accent in the new Sherlock Holmes movie than Guy, atleast according to Guy.

In response to Mr. Needham from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jeremy went to Belfast to test drive a normal car - the Renault Sport Twingo 133 and the Fiat 500. So the review:

The Renault is like driving a mosquito - it is a fast, hot hatchback. But not as fast as the Fiat.
The Renault averages 40mpg (costs £1000 less than the Fiat) while the Fiat averages 43 mpg.
The Renault is rather comfortable. But a firmer suspension might just get your lungs to jump out.

But what if I want to go upside down in a tunnel? So they tested that out in a sewage tunnel under Belfast after asking people in the city to cross their legs. And at precisely 37mph, the Renault did drive upside down!

How is it in winter? Jeremy takes it to a ice hockey stadium. The front wheels spin and show that the car is traveling at 133mph - quite fast on ice heh?

On the whole, it was a very weird and useless review of cars. But as always, was very funny to watch!

The 10 greatest car companies by BBC Topgear (Season 14 Episode 3)

2009-12-07T21:46:00.004-05:00

After the recent ending of Kolangal and after browsing a bit, I came across Topgear and was able to see some previews and trailers of Season 14. I am trying to watch every weekend now. Jeremy Clarkson, with his usual arrogance cracks quite a number of jokes. He is the quintessential Brit who always wants to think of the not-obvious and try to fit that as his favorite. He is so controversial in his comments which are so funny at times. Like for example, he says of Stig (the unknown fourth anchor) that he should be chosen as the President of the European Commission because no one knows him :) This is in direct reference to the almost internationally unknown Belgian PM Herman Von Rompuy who is the first chosen President of the EU. I love watching James May trying out ingenious ways to fail and Richard Hammond pulling victories right under Clarkson's nose.

Now to the topic, Topgear Season 14 Episode 2 asked voters to choose the top 10 greatest car companies and was announced in Episode 3. Here is the list !

I was so proud of seeing Lamborghini (9th) and then Audi (8th) and then VW (2nd!) creeping up the list. They all fall under VW-Porsche and from which my Passat comes. But, my sense of happiness was short lived. The first was Ford! I was so upset that VW is second in a list that Ford tops. What sort of a list is that? The list that 350 million Topgear TV viewers came up with (claimed by Clarkson). One consolation is that the Topgear team chose the Lancia as the best. Lancia belongs to the Fiat group and is atleast a sensible European car company unlike the cheap (quality), undependable American ones and the cheap (inexpensive), soul-less Japanese ones.

Hoping to see much more of Topgear in the following weeks...