I had the luck of watching a thought-provoking B&W movie “Inherit the Wind”. And what a story it was!

Young Bert Cates teaches the Darwin’s theory of Evolution to his students of Biology which is against the obscurantist law of Hillsboro which decreed that God created the world as written down in the Bible and that any contrarian thought is heresy and punishable under the law.

But the indomitable Bert persists with his teaching that man evolved from the lower order of animals and his perils start haunting him.

The subsequent court trial scenes hog the limelight in the movie. Though the trial per se was about the battle of creationism vs evolutionism, the more basic issue of an young man’s freedom to think—to make up his own mind—was the thing that was actually on trial.

Deeply intertwined in the conflict of ideals and beliefs was the deep human drama of the lovers caught in the crossfire in the fight between Fundamentalism and Freedom of Thought. It brings on to focus the real and perennial conflict between man’s craving for independent thinking and the forces that snatch the right of holding on to one’s belief away from him.

And the lovers are at the crossroads – should the man capitulate and abandon his right to be different for the sake of a peaceful domestic life and lead the life of a robotic sheep (a la a memetic clone), or to stand up and fight!

It’s the loneliest feeling in the world. It’s like Walking down an empty street, listening to the sound of your own footsteps.
..But all you have to do is knock on any door and say, “If you let me in, I’ll live the way you want me to live, and I’ll think the way you want me to think,” and all the blinds will go up and all the doors will open, and you’ll never be lonely, ever again.

And here is the scene that cuts and dries the resolve of the crusader (sic) of free thinking!

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I recently had a chance to visit the “Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary” which is also known as “Pakshi Kashi” of Karnataka is in the Mandya District of the state of Karnataka in India. It is on a gorge formed in the river Cauvery and comprises six islets. Ranganthittu is located at 3 kilometers away from the historic island town of Srirangapatna and about 16 kilometres north of Mysore. It is an important bird sanctuary of India.

Many birds notably, Painted Stork, Asian Openbill Stork, Common Spoonbill, Woolly-necked Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Lesser Whistling Duck, Indian Shag, Stork-billed Kingfisher, egrets, cormorants, Oriental Darter, and herons breed here regularly. The Great Stone Plover, and River Tern also nest here. More than 30 species of birds are found here during the peak season which is from January to October. About 50 pelicans have made Ranganathittu as their permanent home. (Gleaned from Wikipedia)

The park is home to a large flock of Streak-throated Swallows. I had the luck of photographing the muddy nest being built by the flock of those cute little swallows under a rock protruding in the riven which was in a low tide, as it were.

Here are those shots in an album.

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I had mentioned about the theme music composed by Bobby Darin in the movie Come September in my earlier article bearing the title, “Curvaceous Gina Lollobrigida”. I had also fondly reminisced on the Juke Box in a restaurant at Mylapore, the citadel of culture in Chennai aka Madras.

The music was lingering in my ears for many years bringing in nostalgic memories of the 25 paise coin that actuated the Juke Box to play the record (Gramophone) of my choice. But it also brought into focus something that I was missing in the string of thoughts!

Yes. The music was not complete without the accompanying part that was on the reverse side of the phonograph record. The tune was teasingly ringing in my ears, but I could not put my finger on it squarely. What was the name of the number? It could not be part of the movie Come September. But how come it occupied the reverse side of the “plate”? These intriguing questions haunted my brain many a nights when I had nothing else to occupy my thoughts, not even Rahul Gandhi.

Could it be “Little Elephant Walk”? No, not at all. Then…what? I was whacking my brain to dig out the name of that piece of music, the same way Sigsbee Horatio Waddington, the synthetic Westerner was trying to recollect the name of the elusive Police officer Garroway in P.G.Wodehouse’s magnum opus, The Small Bachelor.

And an intensive search into the interweb bore fruit. First it dawned on me that Bobby Darin was not the man I was looking for. It could be someone else who might have rendered the same music. The rest of the search was easy enough since many a good Samaritan has loaded all kinds of music on to Youtube.com, the ultimate repository of audio-visual experience.

And it was not long after that I zeroed in on Billy Vaughn and his orchestra. The Gramophone record in question had the Come September theme music on one side and the reverse contained the grooves of the music that was the bull’s eye of my endeavour. Yes, it was the enigmatic number “Berlin Melody” that was the object of my search. Should I add that I was in real ecstasy!

Now I’ll let you listen to that wonderful piece of Melody that takes you to Berlin (after the fall of the Wall indeed!)

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We all know about young Robert Bruce who lay dejected after losing six attempts to defeat the English army but got inspired on observing a spider succeeding in its seventh attempt to swing across to another beam from the one from which it was hanging by its silvery silk. That Bruce went on to win and got enthroned as the king of Scotland is legend.

And we all know that one has to be focused on the aims and objectives and make efforts to succeed, undaunted by failures. It is all fine and dandy to give a pep talk on motivational stuff. But…

In real life don’t we get disheartened and leave the fight mid-way with an ‘enough is enough’ resignation? If the odds are stacked against us, don’t we lose the nerve at some point and give up? Isn’t it but natural to drop your sword like that?

But there is no gainsaying that the ones that ultimately succeed are those who persist doggedly developing a “Never say Die” attitude.

Now I’ll narrate one of my attempts to fight to the finish in spite of heavy odds, although the stakes were not substantial.

My washing machine refused to spin one fine Monday morning. Simply conked off and lay silent like a harassed husband facing false dowry charges. All my rudimentary Mechanical+Electrical engineering know-how was useless before the gadget since it is controlled by Fuzzy Logic embedded in a microprocessor. All arcane stuff!

My immediate impulse was to look up the bill and warranty card. And they were found after a search the magnitude of which would have shamed the mighty Google! And found they were at the last place I looked duly obeying the inevitable Murphy’s Law!

And Bingo! the machine was still under warranty, as divined by me after poring over the maze of fine prints on the warranty card.

Armed with that Magna Carta, I dialed the service center. But it was a gross understatement. For I was hooked on to an IVRS, which takes you through an infinite loop of “Press 1, then star, then 3 and then 0,…..” followed by an indeterminate wait. And then you are left with no option but to disconnect and start all over again – Press 1, Press 0 et al… Would you ever get to talk to a living human being at all? I don’t mind even a Mexican or a Puerto Rican or even one from Ulan Bator (capital of Outer Mangolia). Oh, half my kingdom for a real human voice!

Ultimately my Herculean struggle bore fruit in the form of a gruff voice of a ‘customer service executive’. What an oxymoron, since he was such an Olympian moron! I tend to believe that the members of human species manning service centres are specially made to order by Brahma. They don’t budge easily. They just shoo you outright with a staple response absolving themselves of all liabilities quoting an obscure term on the warranty blah blah. Abominable ‘No-men’ indeed!

But I persisted in talking to the Manager (there is always someone with such a fancy designation in addition to somebody called “Madam” in all such outfits). After roughly 13 attempts – give or take a couple, I got to talk to the manager with a rasping voice who was curt and disrespectful in cursing me for disturbing him in the midst of more important chores like watching mobile porn, may be.

After all the entreaties, sermons on fair practices, responsibilities, ethical business and all that jazz failed to cut any ice with him, I dropped the magic words “consumer court”! That made him thaw a little, but only a little, since he was a battle-weary veteran of many such denials of liabilities. But at least he became a wee bit less cold.

My next asthra (missile) was this: “I am going to talk to my friends in the press and the media and tell them how abysmally atrocious your after sales is and let us see if anyone buys your product hereafter. And your name will be chanted repeatedly and aloud”.

Boy! It worked like a typical Satya Sai Baba’s magic! The manager’s tone suddenly turned melting, musical and nasal (a la Semmangudi).

To make the long story short, the washing machine was accepted for repairs free and I got it back after hectic follow-up and good deal of yelling and threatening. Anyway that is all part of the game since that is how the system works.

So next time when something fails, dilate your eyes and take a hard look at the warranty stipulations and insist on fulfilling the warranty/guaranty obligations by the warranter. Never accept an evasive or naysaying on the part of the service provider. Adopt the proven “broken record technique”[1] and be focused on what you are entitled to and persist steadfastly till you get it and get it fully!

The moral of the story is never to give up, nor accept no for an answer. When you are entitled to something, you insist on getting it in full. It is a law of nature that you most often get it if you persist doggedly and pursue things to their conclusion, rather consummation!

Remember, persistence pays!

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[1] – Broken Record Technique is a form of calm persistent repetition that allows the user to eventually achieve what they want when confronted with a negative response. The term “broken record” is derived from a skipping vinyl Gramophone record repeating itself at the point where it is broken, chipped or smudged.

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Do you know the cost of this pen drive (4 Gb)?

If you dismiss this with a sneer, ‘Phew.. what is the big deal, it is just 200 Rupees’, you’ll be far off the mark!

It cost me Rs. 1650-00!

Yes. A thing that sells dirt cheap was purchased by me for such a princely sum!

Don’t want to believe it? Here is the proof:

But it was in 2007, eons ago in computer parlance!

But Pen drive you view in that picture was not the one that was bought for such an astronomical sum. It was a replacement, for the old one went kaput!

When I bought the original Flash drive, it came boxed along with an 8 page manual, a colourful Warranty card, a CD, and a brochure showing Transcend’s product range (but in the current plug-n-play era, it is just the piece of plastic shrink-wrapped).

A flashy bold print on the carton claimed “Lifetime Warranty”. But I took it with several pinches of NaCl since my experience with warranties bore ample testimony to the cynical Murphy’s Law that all warranties expire upon payment of bill.

The USB drive served me faithfully for over 4 years. Suddenly the impugned pen drive conked without warning when I was burning the midnight oil dabbling in my computer (as is my wont) one night. It just refused to be recognised, Period. No amount of cajoling or repeated plug-in plug-out sequence helped (poor USB port). It remained adamantly stoic and silent. Yes, my 1650 rupee drive had breathed its last (RIP). But I was quick to look at the silver lining – it contained nothing important (as if the terabytes of junk that I have accumulated in the quarter dozen of Seagates contain anything mission-critical!). But still the pathetic sight of the pastel green flash drive that had been my constant companion in many a presentation and seminar in such a state made me poignant. With a heavy heart, I tossed it into the bulging junk basket of cyber waste to join the treasures of yesteryears with no intrinsic value.

When I was musing on the fate of the drive, a sudden flash of wisdom dawned on me – why not invoke the magical “Lifetime” warranty! And off I made my yet another pilgrimage to the Mecca of IT in Chennai – yes, you guessed it right – “Ritchie Street” it is! Actually the name encompasses all the adjacent and cross ‘gali’s in and around Narasingapuram street of Chennai aka Madras.

I was directed to the warranty management services of the Accel Frontline Ltd, who take care of Transcend products. Though I was a bit skeptical about the type of services that would be offered over there, what I found in the customer interface at Accel was a real eye opener.

The dealings were very professional and businesslike. You are given a number by a courteous operative at the entrance and asked to be seated before the assigned counter and wait for your turn. I spent the time to watch and observe the working pattern and efficiency or lack of it of the employees. I was called in a few minutes. I just handed over the dead pen drive, gave my name and mobile number and was promised a replacement inside of a month which can be collected on receipt of an SMS. The whole transaction was over in a jiffy.

And I got the new piece within a fortnight.

I found that M/S Accel is providing service support for a whole range of electronic products from mother boards, storage to satellite systems.

Yes. The customer service industry has come of age in India and is offering a staggering amount of employment opportunities. You could see many youngsters from mere 10+2 qualification to science graduates and diploma holders in engineering gainfully employed in the product service outfits of electronic goods.

So next time when something fails, dilate your eyes and take a hard look at the warranty offerings and insist on fulfilling the warranty/guaranty obligations by the warranter. For that matter you have develop the habit of not throwing away the carton, bill or any other piece of paper that arrived with the product.

Things do fail since they diligently follow the infamous Murphy’s Law that if something can fail, it will! But we must safeguard our interests by being vigilant and instant on getting what is due to us.

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I was behaving in a peculiar manner for the last few days. Yes. Odd. I was actually demeaning myself by going after a friend of mine who suddenly said he hates me – quite uncharacteristic of him. His behaviour was bizarre and inscrutable. He started playing coy – why this sudden “kolaveri da”! I was foxed. I tried to unravel the mystery but to no avail. He remained incommunicado for the most part.

It was a veritable agony for me. It was all-consuming. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. The brain rewired all synapses focused on this single nagging riddle. Why this fellow, who was such a cuddly buddy, suddenly walked out on me? Oh God, gimme the answer..!

All reason, Id, self-respect, ego, super-ego (Sigmund Freud turns in his Austrian grave!) – all vanished. Here I am begging him to wise me up as to why this stonewall, with advance apologies galore (just in case).

But on second thoughts, why had I reacted the way I did? Why didn’t I compose myself and just let sleeping dogs lie? Why didn’t I remain stoic and start analyzing things in a sober way which I do normally in all such situations? A chance mention in an article on eavesdropping of cellphone conversations provided the answer to this puzzle. Here it is (Source: Cracked.com):

The human brain likes things to be predictable, and it can’t really relax and “tune out” something that doesn’t make sense. You might notice yourself trying to fill in the other half of the phone conversations you overhear. It’s the same mechanism that makes it so hard to walk away after you’ve seen the first 15 minutes of an episode of CSI or Law & Order: The brain naturally hates leaving questions unanswered. Suddenly, you’re trying to solve a puzzle instead of concentrating on how little you give a shit about the exact drunken position he passed out in last night.

“Since halfalogues really are more distracting, and you can’t tune them out, people become irritated [and], even more importantly, their cognitive performance is impaired”, avers a Cornell University study.

Postscript: Solved the riddle ultimately but still no joy! Normalcy in the relationship is still elusive since the root cause of the friction seems to be a chance remark on my part that has hurt the other party so deeply that the boo-boo couldn’t be soothed even by profuse apologies of gargantuan proportions.

So here I am, terribly bruised

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After a premature snowstorm in October, 2011 which caused widespread devastation (Read my post: “Every natural event has a meaning and purpose“) almost of the whole of New Jersey state has been snow-starved till 23rd of December 2011, dashing the hopes of getting a much coveted “White Christmas”. In addition, the skiers are hoping – rather praying for a quick snowfall before X-mas.

At N.J. ski resorts, warm winter threatens snow-centered business. Without cold or snow, not many skiers will be headed to the slopes during the holiday stretch, when resorts usually make 10 percent to 15 percent of their revenue. Hence they are trying to rig up man-made snow to woo skiing customers!

(source: www.nj.com)

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The theme music of the romantic comedy of yesteryears, “Come September” has been lingering in my ears bringing forth the reminiscences of the Jukebox prominently placed in the Gupta’s States Hotel on the Luz Corner (in Mylapore, Chennai, India) wherein I used to bung in a 25 paise coin to listen to that evergreen melody composed by Bobby Darin. But what is more remarkable about that movie is the svelte hourglass figure, sultry face with triangular chin, bewitching smile – who can forget the timeless beauty of Gina (Luigina) Lollobrigida![See post to listen to audio]

A sex icon of the tinsel world of 1950s and 60s, the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida appeared in an average of two movies a year in her prime. Her score is more than 60 American, Italian and French films. Her earthy look and short tousled hairdo were so popular that she earned the nickname “La Lollo” meaning ‘beautiful breasts’ in French! They were so crazy after her that they went to the extent of naming a curly lettuce as “Lollo”. No, they didn’t stop with it. The French? Yes. They even coined a word “lollobrigidienne” and added it to the French dictionary to mean “curvaceous”. Her alluring beauty made Playboy magazine to rank her as no. 20 on the list of the “100 Sexiest Stars of the Century”.

Gina Lollobrigida was born in 1927 in the mountain village of Subiaco, about 50 miles southeast of Rome. She came from a working-class family and grew up during the time of Mussolini and the World War II. After studying painting and sculpting in school, Gina began walking on the ramps and finished 3rd in the “Miss Italy” competition of 1947. Her film career started with Italian films. She emerged on the Hollywood scene in 1953 in the John Huston film “Beat the Devil.” In 1955 Lollobrigida appeared in the movie titled, “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” (which she truly was!), for which she received the Best Actress award. Her 1961 film “Come September” won the Golden Globe as the World’s Film Favorite. And here I come to the nub of this article!

Come September is a very light comedy and it would give a feeling of reading a P.G.Wodehouse novel, peppered with with a generous dose of unexpected twists and turns and comic events! In the end, the actor whose performance makes a lingering impression in your mind is that of Walter Slezak who as the sneaky majordomo Maurice secretly misappropriated the owner’s (Rock Hudson, the hero) villa as a hotel, and also has the temerity to persist in doing so even after being caught red-handed! His role reminds me of the wily “Avinasi” in Kamal Hasan’s Tamil blockbuster, “Michael Madana Kamarajan”, superbly portrayed by the inimitable Nagesh.

But that doesn’t let your mind wander away from savoring the exquisite beauty of Gina Lollabrigida!

As an end note let me provide a post-film life sketch of the actress by stating that Gina pursued her passions as a singer, sculptor, painter and photographer and is still going strong.

A woman at 20 is like ice, at 30 she is warm and at 40 she is hot.
~ Gina Lollobrigida

In the 1970s, Gina’s film career slowed (not until 1984 when she appeared again as an actress-on the American television series “Falcon Crest”). But she immersed herself in other passions. As a photographer, she traveled the world and captured images of Paul Newman, Salvador DaIi and the German national soccer team. A collection of her work, Italia Mia, was published in 1973. In 1975 she directed the documentary, “Portrait of Fidel Castro”, and also made a film of life in the Philippines. As a sculptor, she created works like “My Friend Liza Minnelli” and “My Friend Marilyn Monroe”. She also became a corporate executive for fashion and cosmetic companies. In 1993 France awarded her the “Legion of Honor” for her artistic achievements and for her humanitarian work with UNICEF and other organizations.

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I discussed about the Autumn Leaves and Fall colors in my previous post. I had also mused that there is a specific reason for the leaves leaving the host trees during autumn. One weird happening in October 2011 in north-east parts of US stood testimony to the wisdom of nature in setting out happenings in clockwork precision so that each event has a bearing on the other.

A premature snowfall occurred on 29th October, 2011 in north-east US around the states of New Jersey and New York. Take a glimpse of it as I saw it on that day:

But it is not a simple snowfall. It was a snowstorm that caused havoc of mammoth proportions. The devastation caused by the few hours of snowfall was widespread and serious. There was no power in many parts of New Jersey state for about 3-4 days. The annual Halloween parties and colorful processions to which children look forward to were cancelled. Trees were uprooted, buildings damaged by the trees falling on them. The list is endless. On top of that, it also caused the death of 8 NJ residents, as reported by The Star Ledger in www.nj.com/

Please watch a tree falling on a house:

You can read further in this report with graphic detail titled, “October snowstorm in N.J. brings snow, traffic snarls, downed trees and power outages” and muse about the real reason for such massive damage. remember, New Jersey experiences snowfall and snowstorm every year during winter and there is nothing new about it. And they do not cause this kind of damage. What then was the difference?

It was the presence of leaves in the trees!!

Yes! The leaves fall during fall aka autumn) and keep the trees ready to receive the snowfall. The snow flurries just embrace the barren twigs and branches down through the trunk leaving the tree unmolested. That is the reason for the falling of leaves preceding the onset of winter. But October 29th was premature. The trees were not ready. Much of the leaves were still not severed from their hosts. So the snow settled on them and became ice. The tree branches could not bear the combined weight of the ice plank fused together as the flurries on the leaves solidified. And they started falling on roads, houses and power lines.

And that bears out the brilliance of nature in scheduling events in such a way they relate to each other establishing the equilibrium.

But some aberrations do occur like the on we are talking about, perhaps to make known the principles of the nature’s innate mechanism. And a warning not to tinker with nature by GM Food, BT cotton and Monsanto!

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I have always been fascinated by the magical splendor of colors that the leaves display at the start of the fall in US during September-October. The changing matrix of colors of fall foliage never fails to surprise and delight me. Why does a fall leaf changes color? Where do the yellows, reds, purples and oranges come from? These questions pop up every time I watch this game of chiaroscuro played with clock-work precision year after year by the “Autumn Leaves”!

Curbing the tendency to dwell deep into a long-winded botanical explanation of the phenomenon, let me try to put it in everyman’s language.

Why and how leaves change color during autumn?

Leaves are plants’ food factories endowed by nature. They manufacture most of the foods necessary for the tree’s growth. Plants take water from the ground through their roots and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose.

This food-making process is called photosynthesis. That means “putting together with light”. A chemical called “Chlorophyll” present in the numerous cells of the leaf helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives leaves their green color.

The leaves contain many color pigments in addition to the green pigment, viz: yellow, orange, red etc. But most of the year these colors are masked by great amounts of green coloring during spring and summer.

But in the fall (autumn), length of daylight gets shorter and temperature also falls considerably. To match with this change, the leaves understand their passive role and their chlorophyll breaks down. Consequently the green color disappears, bringing forth the hitherto dormant color range of yellow to orange which give the leaves part of their fall splendor.

A few other chemical changes may also occur, which cause additional colors like red and spectrum of reddish and purplish fall colors of trees such as dogwoods and sumac, while others give the sugar maple its brilliant orange.

The autumn foliage of some trees show only yellow colors. Others, like many oaks, display mostly browns. All these colors are due to the mixing of varying amounts of the chlorophyll residue and other pigments in the leaf during the fall.

In addition to this metamorphosis of colors, the bonding between the stem of the leaf and the tree get severed and the leaf is finally blown off by the wind or it falls from its own weight. This completes the “fall”.

Crowds of autumn tourists flock every year to the flame-colored hills of north-eastern US, to view the fall foliage aka autumn leaves. There is a booming tourism industry in those parts.

And this is the story of the rich and vibrant hues of the fall foliage!.

Come winter, and the trees start hibernating! (But is there any other reason for the leaves falling off the trees? May be there is. Wait for my next article!)

The highly informative and illustrated “Guide to Fall colors in New York state” (Click to read the PDF file on inlay) features color images of the fall foliage of 47 tree and shrub species. If you can’t view the PDF file for any reason, please visit this web page of The college of environment & forestry to download the PDF.

Here is an album of photos taken of the woods nearby from my room window:

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Here is some candid observation by Swami Vivekananda while on a visit to Japan in 1893. The Swamiji is famous for not mincing words. Read on..

Only I want that numbers of our young men should pay a visit to Japan and China every year. Especially to the Japanese, India is still the dreamland of everything high and good. And you, what are you? … talking twaddle all your lives, vain talkers, what are you? Come, see these people, and then go and hide your faces in shame. A race of dotards, you lose your caste if you come out! Sitting down these hundreds of years with an ever-increasing load of crystallized superstition on your heads, for hundreds of years spending all your energy upon discussing the touchableness or untouchableness of this food or that, with all humanity crushed out of you by the continuous social tyranny of ages – what are you? And what are you doing now? … promenading the sea-shores with books in your hands – repeating undigested stray bits of European brainwork, and the whole soul bent upon getting a thirty rupee clerkship, or at best becoming a lawyer – the height of young India’s ambition – and every student with a whole brood of hungry children cackling at his heels and asking for bread! Is there not water enough in the sea to drown you, books, gowns, university diplomas, and all?

The present situation is not much different, isn’t it!

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It is because of a dynamic follower or a disciple. Take the case of Ramakrishna. The world came to know of him only due to Swami Vivekananda. It was Vivekananda who founded the Ramakrishna order comprising of the Math and the Mission. He organized them after the passing away of Ramakrishna in 1886.

But for the joining of the dynamic and influential Vivekananda aka Narendra Dutta as the disciple of Ramakrishna he would have been just another mystic nut!

Derec Sivers has an interesting insight to this tipping point of the first follower who makes the leader what he is.

Listen to Sivers expounding his theory of Leadership:

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