stupendousblog

Random Saturday Musings

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Nothing much to report except for a few things here and there:

My friend who moved into her new swanky apartment hasn’t stopped talking about… her stainless steel appliance kitchen. After all the hype she generated, I must say I was completely taken aback – the kitchen rocks – and the stainless steel gives it a very posh feel. Now only if she would cook and feed me everyday…

To match the appliances, she said she’s got a very “pretty” stainless steel trash can, but it seems the trashcan is so pretty that she doesn’t feel like trashing anything in it!

…So off she goes to buy another trashcan, suitably unattractive to throw trash, while the pretty trashcan can add glamour to the kitchen.

My friend remarked that most Indian Saas-Bahu dramas were made of –

“Arre Bahu, aaj khaana kyo jala diya thune?”
“Kyonki aapne kal jalaya tha khana Maaji, isiliye!”

  • Type.

I couldn’t agree more.

At a furniture store, I and my friend were looking at a brown “side-table” to the sofa, while his girlfriend was engaged in a very colorful discussion with the saleswoman:

Girlfriend to saleswoman “Which color is this?!” (Brown, as we “guys” thought it was…)

“You know, its not really brown, it actually dark brown, and believe it or not, it has hues of red!” (I and my friend to each other, mentally: Where?! – his girlfriend nodding in agreement with saleswoman)

The saleswoman continues: “I know its not exactly that brown – you know it reminds me of the bamboo with red and brown hues! Every time I see this I think of bamboo with brown and red shades…)” (I and my friend: – Red bamboo?!)

The saleswoman still emphasizing: “You know, I think coffee bean color would be the most appropriate to describe this! It has that black feel to it, which is very much coffee like. You could say its coffee bean color with a light touch of dark red hue!” (At this point, I am unable to control my laughter – the saleswoman looking at me, giving me a very “you-don’t-know-anything-about-colors” look, walked away).

I to my friend, who by now has also started laughing: Its brown!

I live a very discolored life 🙁

Reservation

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Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote.

That’s the price the educated that did not steer out of their homes to vote, have to pay to witness the current government about to pass the Reservations Bill. Yes, educated people – the uneducated, the backward, the oppressed, the SC/ST and everyone you can think of have finally proven that they are the majority, and not you. They are the one’s that count – not you. And why shouldn’t they? After all, they voted. You didn’t.

The fact is you didn’t vote, because you felt “What’s the use?” You didn’t vote because you were “educated” and understood that all politicians are crooked, and you were better off not voting. You didn’t vote because you always believed “Nothing’s going to change anyways!”

It’s a sad state now, the government who is merely trying to appease the people who voted for them, is now at loggerheads with the educated people who didn’t vote them out in the first place. Its sad the educated majority don’t really care about themselves and their future, let alone the country. The SC/ST/BC votes, whether they were bought, tricked or were honestly got doesn’t matter. What matters is, the 70% majority lay stupid, watching Hum Aapke Hain Koun on TV on day of elections, little knowing that the government would soon ask the same question “Hum Aapke Hain Koun?” back to them.

So the government goes ahead and gives the SC/ST/BC/OBC what they wanted: A reservations bill increasing quota in elite institutions (Read IIM and IIT) to 49.5% and introducing reserved quota to 27% in higher education, under the garb of increasing “seats”. After all, they are the people who voted, didn’t they?

Over the history of time, we’ve observed only 1 thing. That only fittest survive on this planet. Nature has never made any provisions so that a certain “malformed bacteria” could get a second chance to become a poly headed hydra. No sirs. Dinosaurs were not given preferential treatment post meteor crash so that they could “come up” in their life.
In a simple tone – there were no “Reservations”, and if there were, it hasn’t helped any.

Reservations don’t need to exist in this modern day and age – the reservation system needs to be abolished once and for all – it’s a dog eat dog capitalist world; and its survival of the fittest. That has been the rule of the law, and nature. Those who could not fight have not survived. Reservations are a sure shot success to dependence rather than independence. And reservations have ensured that those animals that were stronger and would survive, will now have to compete with weaker animals, and still find it difficult to live. And it has also ensured that a weak animal can also become the king of the jungle provided he’s been given enough reservations and special treatments.

And whose fault is that? Its the fault of the educated youth that they don’t vote and don’t elect people who can do something for them; its not about whether politicians are honest or not, its about having your representative in the government to do your work, however dirty. It is as simple as that – the educated and the majorities sadly have no one in the government to fight for their cause, simply because they haven’t elected any. Those who were elected now want to safeguard their votes by giving more and more privileges to the supposedly “underprivileged”. Neither the politicians are doing anything wrong, neither are those who voted for them frankly. After all, if I voted someone to power, wouldn’t I want that person to do something for me?

Its all about the vote. And the majority better comes to terms with it.

This is a problem that the young and resurgent India needs to face in the longer run. We see country wide protests against reservations, which is the first step in the right direction, however it is neither the root nor the end of the problem. The majorities, the doctors and others may win their war against reservations; however that does not mean that such things will not be repeated. And if they don’t win their war against reservations, it does not mean more will not follow either!

What is also needed at this hour is education to the young and educated, and the majority about the power of voting. Its not about who is a crooked politician or not, its about having a man on your side. And the only way you can get a man on your side is to vote for right man; if not the right man, well at least the man who doesn’t come after you. The people who form the majority of population need to be educated that they are the ones who need to call the shots. Its time that people left the garb of secularism and do what’s right in the interest of everyone, which means equal opportunity to everyone without any bias.

And to do that, people need to be educated today. And when the next election comes, come out in numbers and vote for those who will do something for them. Not sit at home watching “Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna”.

Headline in Times of India, 2020.

Government agrees to increase Brahmin quota from 3% to 5%….

The bride-hunt gossip! Part – 2

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Continued from Part 1 …

Now, what happens when after meeting a girl, you go to see your cousin brother’s new born son at his in-laws place? What happens when a old woman who is an old friend of theirs stops by at the in-laws place, when we too are there playing with the infant? What happens when this old woman discovers a suitable boy sitting right in front of her? What happens when the old woman’s nephew turns out be a former college mate of mine during our engineering days?

Of course – you end up meeting the old woman’s girl!

Rule #4: If sister exists, please accompany with her.

Two in a day you ask? Yes, two in a day – and much to my shock, it was third for the poor girl. Now, don’t ask me why I did not refuse to meet the girl immediately, but suffice to say my requests went unheard in the general euphoria about how such “sudden meets” often turn into fruitful relations, and how “God only made us meet like this so that such meeting was possible” talks.

So its evening, and much to my disappointment, I had to cut short my visit with my nephew; “he still has to grow, but you have to marry!” was the consolation I received. Anyhow, without being unfair to the girl, I decided maybe its me who has be the more proactive one here and not make the girl uncomfortable.

We reached their place in the evening, and after the usual pleasantries and hi-hellos, I again told my folks that I would rather talk to the girl alone. Once inside the room alone, and with morning experience still ringing in my head, I felt I was suddenly out of ideas – I didn’t know what to ask her. After five long minutes of staring, smiling, looking elsewhere and staring back at each other, I finally broke in, in English:

“So what did you study?”
“I did blah blah blah and I am currently doing blah blah blah”
“Oh really!”
“Yes”
Silence
“What do you like to do otherwise daily?”
“Nothing really!”

Arggh! There I go again, and just when I was about to give up my hopes on her, I asked her if she wanted to ask me something – and that is when she started speaking. Yes, she was a bit different from the morning one – she was at least talking a lot.

She asked a lot about my friends, my life, my job, and what I did in free time, and such stuff, with every bit of our conversation happening in English. I don’t know – I have this habit of picking up a conversation in one language and then staying on with it – it frankly never occurred to me that we both were Kannadigas, and we probably could have talked in Kannada.

Finally she quipped –

“Do you know Kannada?”

That took me by surprise – I could only stutter – “Yes… Yes I do know. I am sorry I didn’t mean to carry the entire conversation in English”

She said: “No No I was just wondering… You seem very “forward” person to me!”

I was like – what? “Forward” – I always thought only girls were “forward” and not guys. But here was I, proven completely wrong. Actually I didn’t even know what to tell her – should I retort and say “No I am not forward – but conservative” or should I just say “I am not forward, you are backward (eew, bad joke)”, or “Which village do you come from?” – Thankfully I asked none of it.

The meeting ended after another 5 minutes; Not that there were too many faults with her at all, but something was amiss between us – and no it was not certainly the forward factor. It just didn’t click. Later my aunt who accompanied us also quipped that her “cousin sister” who didn’t come out of the kitchen all this while, was much “prettier” and perhaps we should arrange a meeting with her instead!

I was like – what?! And then my aunt recited a story about how when her son was seeing girl, he actually ended up liking the sister better! And then when they asked for her sister’s hand, the girl in question retorted to her sister it was pretty unfair that instead of her, it was her sister who would probably get the handsome hunk! Hence their family rejected the ideal altogether to maintain sanity amongst sisters. SO, something like that must have happened in past like with this girl my aunt reasoned, hence it explained why her cousin sister was not visible throughout our meet. Kitchen politics I tell you!

Nonetheless, that would be the last of people I would be seeing for a while. Come next week, I couldn’t wait to get to Ahmedabad – finally a place where sanity would be found and I would not be surrounded by neighborhood alliances. Alas, my aspirations were met a red brick when I met my grandma.

Rule #5: There should not be too many common interests!

Now my grandma over the last two years has gone from “I am old, I want to see you married” to “I am old, I want to see your kids!” mode. I only fear what’s next. Anyhow, so my supercharged grandma apparently has been talking to many potential alliances – and since she’s in great hurry to see my kids, she also suggested more than once that if I like a girl, I should say yes, and perhaps I could get engaged in another day itself – all this, with my stay in Ahmedabad limited to 5 days.

Nonetheless, an alliance did come – but this was different. For the first time, my uncle in Ahmedabad quipped in immediately saying that there was no need for a family mela if I were to see a girl (Thank God!) – Instead I and girl could and should meet up at a restaurant and chat in peace. Thankfully, the girl’s parent thought the same – so one fine night, at around 9.30 in the night, my uncle drove me and the girl to the local, Mc Donalds, a place I would not visit here, but proved to be a very swanky place there.

I had almost given up on my conversational capabilities, when this girl took me by surprise and started on her own. Very quickly we became comfortable – we discovered we shared many interests, and we had a lot in common about how we viewed marriage and life; and how both of us would never be able to make a decision in the first meet itself. Our conversation went on and on, and frankly I was enjoying every bit of it – and probably in the first meet that I had, we talked for more than an hour. After which, we dropped the girl home and came back.

When I looked back at it, a single thought struck me about her – she and I had way too many common things between us – way too many! I believe there needs to be some amount of difference between two people to make it interesting, but here was I meeting a girl who had exact same feelings like me; both of us had decided that we would not make a decision at first meet. And none of us made a move to have a second meet – well, given that 5 days also passed away, there was no way to meet. I tried getting an email or chat id, but to no avail – perhaps she was not that “forward” he-he. Nonetheless, it was the first good conversation I actually had with a girl. Or perhaps the plain simple truth was – I didnt impress her, and she didnt think I was worth a second meet :).

Rule #6: Please appease the stars before meeting me!

On the day we were flying back to Bangalore, I was stumped by a surprise – my aunt who was traveling while we were away, had gone to attend a marriage at Raichur, where she came across this wonderful girl and how they were interested in meeting up – she is the most beautiful woman I have seen my aunt promised, and naturally such promises lured me into the premise.

When we landed in Bangalore, the story took a different turn – apparently when they matched Jatakas (don’t ask what this is, it is something that they talk in films – “Chattis ke Chattis Gun milthe hain” – document). Apparently there was much cosmic conflict between the two of us, and neither the planets nor gods would be happy with a union of our stars. No – can’t do – that’s what we heard. The sky would tear apart, Mars and Jupiter would collide with each other, and Pluto would run away into another galaxy, we were told if this alliance were to go ahead. And being a firm believer in Jedi world order, I pondered if such a cosmic disturbance was worth it. Nonetheless, planets were left in order and I never even met the most beautiful girl my aunt promised. Later I wondered, if such stars explained Helen of Troy. Oh Boy.

So there it is, the end of my meets! If I had stayed a week longer, perhaps I would have met more people  and there would have been more stories to tell. However, the two week extravaganza, ended up with quite a whimper and nothing happening. “This is just the beginning” my aunt grinned when I was coming back – and I thought – “Oh dear!”

The bride-hunt gossip!

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OK – this was a post long in coming, and I am pretty sure all the people who were very much interested in latest gossip about my marriage, would, at this point must be completely disappointed and might have turned away from this blog. Nonetheless, the post has arrived – it took a little long (you know, work-shurk and all that), and I was trying to be “in-the-mood” for this post. So here it is, the bare truth, and nothing but the truth about my trip back home, of which a good section was devoted to Bride-hunt.

Now I also intend to make this as a one-stop guide to all prospective brides and their family to read through before they think about meeting me. Yes.

Rule #1: Do NOT visit me the day I land in India.

I know it sounds weird, but what do I know anyways? So I reach India on a fine Friday night (Sat morning) at 1.30 in the night – here was I, sleepy groggy and in middle of a cataclysmic jetlag, and completely drained out. I figure – home sweet home – it will be nice to sleep through next day itself, when I am reminded the moment I reach home – “Remember, they are coming to see you tomorrow at 11.00 am!” God – jeez! – The first feeling I get here at this point is – “I hate you if-you-will-ever-be-my-in-laws already!” What’s the hurry? Where was I running to? Am I in much demand? That had pretty much sealed up my initial impressions about them.

The worse part was next morning when I was all mentally prepared and all that, when we are informed that “they” will now arrive at 4.00 pm. How lovely. Now if only the meet could have been on a Sunday instead when I was a little bit fresher? Can’t do – this train had derailed even before it got on the tracks.

Rule #2: If a guy and a girl have talked before, umm, what is there to talk about?

So now, its 4.00 pm in the evening; I am waiting, morose and still tired of my journey. Now its not as if I had not talked to the girl in question before – I had – and there were enough predomination that things were unlikely to go forward – there were way too many differences, no common matching interests, and a huge language problem between us; however the meet was organized “just in case”.

Now, this was the very first “muh-dikhai” held for me; the result? A baraat of 25 people from my side were crowded in the room, when the girl’s family of 5 arrived. 30 people sitting in a room, all giggling at each other, giving smiling looks, generally feeling uncomfortable, having no idea about what to talk to each other about, waited breathlessly for one of me or the girl to break the ice. While they waited for ice to be broken, banal topics as “What do you do for living?”, “Where do you live?”, “Oh I also used to live there – do you know XYZ?”, “Yes I do, in fact they stayed next door!”, “Really! We were great friends with them”, silence, silence, “Are you a housewife?”, “Yes how about you?”, “I am also housewife”, “Today generation ladies like to work you know – time has changed”, “Yes, my daughter also insists that she work, what to do? Tell me”, “Oh, yes, today’s people, how many children you have?”, “Two, one boy, one girl, how about you”, “One brother to her”, Silence, Silence, Silence.

So while others waited in vain for ice to be broken, the girl smiled coyly, looked out the door, admired the ceiling, looked out the door, smiled at my sister standing in corner (hardly visible to rest of us), looked at a bored sparrow chirping nearby, and repeated the circle – all the while, not glancing at me. For unfathomable reasons, I did not want to speak up unless the girl looked at me; I was dead tired anyways, and my brain was definitely not in a mood for some “What do you do?” talks (dumbhead, you already talked to her on phone, remember!).

So the ice thawed and melted into water, and ultimately evaporated into vapor, without me and the girl exchanging more than 2 words, of which “hi” was one of them. The meet ended, and pretty much all 30 people in the room knew where this was headed.

Rule #3: Be interesting please!

While I had so imagined that this would be the end of my troubles, I was in for a shock that night itself – there was yet another family coming over to meet me, on Sunday. What a way to ruin my holiday, I thought. I was not averse to meeting people; it just felt it was too sudden at that point.

Next day, having undergone my previous experience, I had made it clear to everyone around that a 30 person band was not going to welcome another family – it was just ridiculous. And this time, I wanted to talk to the girl, alone, without any family interference. So the family comes, and again the same old circle of pleasantries follow; however I notice this time that the girl is just looking down and very shy. I had to break ice this time, and I told my folks that I had to talk to her, and sitting around a tea party was not my idea of seeing someone.

After much hullabaloo, we were left alone for a while. Now, I didn’t want this to be an interview – but I wanted it to be a conversation between two mature individuals; of course, it didn’t happen that way, and ended up being an interview, where in I asked the questions, and I was provided answers. Question-answer, Question-answer; At some point I felt for the girl “Will you ask me something!” to which all I got was “Nothing really…” – I reminded her again that this was meant to be a frank discussion, and not a one way communication to which I was smiled at. Important issues like “What are you looking for in your man”, “Do you want to live here or US?”, “What are your plans to work after marriage?”, “How do you view marriage” were answered with “I don’t know”, “I don’t know”, “I don’t know”, and finally “I don’t really know!” – “Do you have any hobbies” was responded by “Umm.. nothing really”, “What do you like to do in free time?” “I am not sure…I do something”, “Do you like cooking”, “I can cook…but…” at which point I ran out of topics or questions to ask; since she didn’t have anything to ask either, our “private” conversation which took 10 minutes to be approved lasted all of 6 minutes. “Are you done so soon?!” was the reaction – “Well hell, yeah!”

Again, this was a case where priorities and preferences didn’t match up at all. I want to be with an interesting person who has an opinion about life, even if it may not match mine – I want a girl to have some hobbies, even if it is watching TV! Its not difficult to cultivate hobbies and being interesting; and marriage does not have to be a one way communication. If we had managed a conversation instead of one way traffic, it would have been much easier to go on.

Sigh! – this post is getting much longer I thought it would – here is what I am going to do – I will break here and make a part 2 out of this – that way the post wont get infinitely long and boring.

So there, await part 2.

Check my email yaar!

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Yesterday, a rather peculiar thought struck me about email, and how it has become a very personal and integral part of people. People are very touchy about others reading their emails, and most people safeguard their emails as if they were an extension of their own being. I am myself like that, and often resort to paranoia at while to assure that nobody except me reads my emails. And companies offering email security have only made it more paranoid.

There was a time though, email was simple, and didn’t raise blood pressure levels like it does today. Around 1997 when Internet and email were just launched in Hubli, it was very expensive – at around 60 bucks an hour, students could hardly afford to surf the net, not that there were any great sites out there either.

It used to be an event of sorts when someone went to check their emails. The moment someone came to know that we were going to “Internet”, friends would simply holler – “Arre yaar – check my email too man! This is my username and password!” We would write everybody’s username and password on piece of paper and then at the Internet center, check each mail for each of our friends – not that they received too many. Once back, we used to catch up on each friend and let him know about what emails he received. It was that simple. There was nothing personal about email, and anybody would check anybody’s email.

Then time went by, and people began to have more emails. Now after a year, the internet prices had come down to 40 bucks an hour, and number of email services had gone over. Friends would now give us multiple accounts and passwords to check emails. Often times we used to mess up one guy’s emails with another! But still the purpose of email was still not a personal matter. I personally had around 6 email addresses on 6 different sites then, and would usually give at least 2 email accounts for others to check on my emails. (And I must admit here, that for a good 6 months it never dawned on me that it would have made more sense to have 1 single username and password across 6 sites. Instead, I used to carry a cheat sheet with me, neatly tabular, containing the username and password for each site!).

Then, the Internet rage caught on – More cyber cafes sprang up, and Internet became cheaper and cheaper and became really affordable to 10 to 15 Rs per hour. Now it was not necessary for our friends to tell us to check their emails, neither did we have to tell them as well. Suddenly, email became a personal thing of sorts. People would no longer discuss nor be privy to other’s emails. Friends changed their passwords overnight, lest “someone from the hostel” remembered their password and would snoop on their emails. Formerly when it was expensive, two friends would use the same PC to surf the Internet on the same PC, thereby sharing the cost of it – now, two friends would sit on two different PCs, and would make sure that the other guy did not know about personal emails he received.

Ten years down the lane, this has started to become an obsessive compulsion disorder – and I observe, its not just me, but everyone around me as well. People love to check emails – it’s a part of daily ritual – you wait for people to mail you, so that you can mail back to that person, and then again wait for someone else to mail you. Everything revolves around email; weekend plans are made in an email thread; vacation plans are fortified in emails; movies are discussed and decided upon in emails. Almost everything that could be said, can be said via emails.

And the more and more we have began to rely on email as a part of human communication, the more we’ve seem to grow touchy about it. Even me – I would hate it if anybody, including my family members would read my email. Email to me is sacred, holy and something to which I am only privy too – anyone else trying to even get a whiff about it makes me paranoid. And I observe similar behavior with people around me. I know people who don’t use Gmail because Google computers read your email! We are even scared of computers reading our emails in this age. Many check their personal email outside of office lest someone in their office snoops on their emails. Email seems to have become such a sacred part of our existence, that our sanctity depends on it, and we must make sure nobody in the world can touch it.

And then I sometimes wonder. Why am I being so paranoid about it anyways? Exactly what is it about email that is so damn personal? I shudder at the thought of next big thing that technology will bring us. As I have maintained, technology was suppose to make life simpler – and yet human life seems to be hell bent on treading the opposite path.

SWADES

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Finally!

This was a post long in coming; I came back to Uncle States last week, and immediately was bed ridden for the rest of the week with flu and terrible cold. At last after a week, I am finally in better health and fresh enough to blog. As you notice, I also changed the blog theme again, and have tried to bring about some freshness to my site.

Anyhow, as the title to this post suggests, SWADES, yes this post is about my country, and yes the title is inspired by the movie name. Very much like Mohan Bhargava, I had an unique opportunity to visit my village, which is middle of nowhere in rural Karnataka; unlike other times when I am reluctant to go there, especially the temple in the village to which my family always goes to, this time around somehow I wanted to go – and the feeling came from within.

To make it more interesting, we didn’t travel by rail either – the train journey would have been a night journey and by morning we would have been in the town connecting to our village – this time we traveled by Maruti Omni! – not the best of vehicles there in this world, nor the most comfy, but it was what we could get at the last moment. Me, my mom, my grandfather and a family friend who also doubled up as the driver set from Metropolis called Bangalore to a place called Vanali, in the heart of nowhere, and whose closest “big town” happens to be Raichur, which in itself is not really a big town anyways, and is around 2 hours away.

As I travelled from the metropolis and the village and then back, a single feeling struck me – Swades is definitely shining. I don’t know what other people who return look at, but all I could see was development in the right direction, and sense of a better tomorrow. Everything around me had changed and it felt so much better. Everything felt so much happier. My decision to head back home has frankly not changed one bit after this trip. Here are some of the images I took, perhaps indicating why I think swades is shining.

This photo was taken outskirts of Bangalore, an area now threatened by ever growing flats and real estate. Just a few miles south of this road, a new township is coming up with various flats. I wonder how many days will such fields of sunflowers, shining bright last.

Somewhere along the way, now I don’t even recall, but a garden project was being constructed called the “Kumbhakarna” project – to justify its name, there is a huge kumbhkarna lying deep in sleep in the garden – the sleeping giant provided a much needed relief from driving continuously over 2 hours. Looking at crowd around, it seemed like a popular pit stop for vehicles.

An Indian country side in its colors – read blue and green.

Mitti ki hain jo khusboo
Tu kaise bhulaaega
Tu chahe nahi chahe
Tu lout ke aayega

A few years ago, the road that you see in the photograph did not exist. This road goes all the way from the last connecting town (Raichur) to Vanali – previously, this used to be road, suitable for bullock carts and not cars or buses – a journey to the village would be a backbreaking adventure, lasting 3 hours. The village is not even an important village of India, though its still connected by this 2 lane road. If this is not positive development, what is? As a side note, I must mention that roads in Andhra Pradesh are much better than in Karnataka (a major chunk of driving had to be through AP)

This is the entrance to the temple we went – I shot this photo in Black and White because it seemed to add the feeling of being back to an old place.

Another photo in B&W, this time in the temple itself. I loved the compound, and the people in the photograph – unhurried and calm. I was glad to see that this part of the village remained the same – raw and untouched. Though some welcome changes in the temple included 24 hour water facility through bore, and quarters to sleep and hold functions.

On our way back we stopped at a reliance gas station to fill in petrol – this was another sign of development. Reliance petrol stations have sprung up all over the country in plenty – and they are pretty huge at that. All the gas stations featured neat and clean premises, uniformed staff, and more importantly clean bathrooms. A welcome change this was – and yes, I was very happy to see such stations.

Before heading back, we stopped in Raichur to have a “true” north Karnataka cuisine, for which we had to go to a house doubling up as a restaurant and its family becoming the restaurant owners – the food was simply awesome. It was interesting to note that the anti-bush factor was quite strong in that town too – now, how many people could actually read that, let alone care about who bush was amused me; nonetheless, I must give admire the anti-bush factor!

A sunset viewed in wide open verdant fields is one of the best sunsets you can see ever. Perhaps this picture cannot fully capture the beauty of the sunset, nonetheless it was one of the last pictures I took before I came back to the hustle and bustle of the city.

Malls in Bangalore have sprung up everywhere even in the smallest of places. This particular mall, Garuda was very impressive – so was The Forum mall. And each mall had a class of its own – yes, another sign of a shining India; whether I could afford anything inside the mall is another story though. BigBazaar and StarBazaar could become the next Walmart and Kmarts of India, which is a great sign that Indian companies are investing in such stores before the dreaded Walmart makes its entry.

Nonetheless, everywhere there was a sign of hope and cheer in India. Yes, there were traffic problems, congestion and the likes, but I think there is so much beyond it to look forward to that these are not big issues. The road network in Ahmedabad is fabulous and changed beyond my dreams; Bangalore is growing exponentially by the day. A pleasant change was the newer real estate projects coming up which are aping their western counterparts by providing gyms, tennis courts, swimming pool and other such amenities to people. The funny thing is, the apartments though pricey get sold even before you can think. I wonder who buys them – but yes, there are people who do buy; suddenly there is a class of people with enough wealth to demand an upscale lifestyle, and needless to say I was very happy to see that!

All in all, this was a great trip back to my homeland. I long to be back again and am already missing it even though its just been a week. There is nothing like home.

PS: Special thanks to everyone who commented on posts while I was away – I will mail you guys soon. And I am sorry to bloggers in Bangalore – I would have loved to meet up, but this was one short 10 day trip and there was just too much to do (of which I will blog about in coming days…)

Homeward bound…

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At last, I have had some time to sit down and blog about my trip back home. Of course I did have loved to have done a blog post daily about my stay in India, but it was not to be, nor was I expecting it to be that way. Anyways, from now on, for at least a couple more posts, I will cover my India trip in general, and of course fill you on the interesting things happening in my world.

And to summarize all the NRI Desh Bashers – please go fly a kite somewhere or better still jump of the building. You certainly are blind. Desh simply rocks.

Of airlines and airports
The first leg of my journey was through a code share flight operated by United Airlines for Lufthansa from D.C to Frankfurt. One thing that was immediately clear right from the airport was the feeling of insecurity and distrust at every corner of the immigration process. A mere request for a window seat resulted in weird looks by the travel representative, though I for once was spared of the “if you are brown, thou shall go through advanced security check” bunkum. But, United Airlines, for all its good will needs to teach their Air Hosts and Hostess some lessons on being normal.

The staff though good, looked dreary, tired and lethargic. Though they did best to be supportive, their apprehensive and tense faces didn’t make matters any better. All the while through out the 8 hour journey, the hosts in United Airlines looked totally hassled and drained out – it was to the point where the entire journey seemed like one big tense ride, half of which was an after effect of the stewards being so damn nervous about themselves. Of course the fact that the more than 3rd of the journey was spent in turbulent weather didn’t make matters any easier.

Much to my surprise, unlike the last time, I found ground staff at Frankfurt extremely polite and very helpful. I was very impressed with Germans for once. I was directed correctly at all locations, people were polite all the way in the airport, and in general the walk around the airport seemed nice.

What I did notice in Frankfurt airport to contrast with D.C airport was the feeling of being at an airport, without the tense bundled in – most times in D.C airport, people are either hurrying, or sitting quietly to themselves. Most people seem afraid to talk to each other, and there is always a sense of fear in the airport. Contrast this to Frankfurt, where people seemed happy about being in transit – people talking in loud voices, cracking jokes and all, made for a very pleasant experience indeed at the airport. I would certainly travel by Lufthansa again.

Of coffee and desi
At Frankfurt restaurant lounge, a desi in front of me asked in a thick south Indian accent:
Can I get 2 cups of Kapi and sendweech ?
Waitress: Sir, for here or to take away?
Desi: No-no, I will buy it here and take it outside and eat it!
Waitress: Yes, you mean you want a take out?
Desi: Yes, I will take out, but I want to buy it here!

Mmmh… it seemed the desi was traveling for the first time.

Of Frankfurt and Bangalore
In contrast to my flight from D.C to Frankfurt, the second leg of the journey was a smooth and a very pleasant ride, and much must be said about the German hospitality in the plane. The staff was courteous, smiling and helpful all the way. No passenger was treated hostile, and everybody got their requests fulfilled. There was none of that hassled behavior of United Airlines.

The food was great, and it was amusing to note that the Chicken had made way for the Turkey. However their vegetarian food was really good.

Of Home
As the plane touched down on tarmac at Bangalore Airport, the first thing I felt was the feeling of coming home. The moment I stepped out of the plane, the wind, the smell of earth after a fresh rain, mixed with a stench not recognizable and something that smelled like burning rubber – and the buzzing mosquitoes – all brought back the gamut of emotions in my heart. I felt at home and like a complete stranger both at once.

Outside my brother was there to receive me in his new car – as we drove back home on Bangalore streets, I felt strange all of a sudden. Suddenly there was too much noise; too many portholes, too many mosquitoes, too many vehicles on road. Even at 1 am in the night, the streets were crowded – half built bridges and flyovers didn’t make for a good impression anyways.

Back to home, it was the familiar sight I missed since many years – the same sofa, the same TV, the same bed – everything seemed familiar. The sound of fan at full speed and the cold wind below brought back the feeling of fresh air… indeed, I was tired of my A.C.

By 2.00 am I settled down to sleep… with a mattress on the floor (as I usually did back then). A window lay open to let some cool air in, and the fan was at full speed because like a typical NRI, I was feeling “hot”. I felt apprehensive about where I had come back to actually at that point – I was not even sure whether I wanted to be back… with these thoughts I slept.

At 7.00 am, I was woken by the familiar songs of yore: Crows cawing, Cuckoos singing, a few other birds making rhythmic noises; the sound of a rickshaw passing by (probably a school rickshaw); bicycle horns; someone was playing a devotional song a little loud perhaps; and lastly the sound of some people playing badminton across our street in the park. And the smell of the morning air, when the sun is just about to come out – the damp, cool breeze. Something hit me at that moment.

This is where I wanted to be. It didn’t even take 3 hours for me to get back in the groove of my desh. Everything seemed changed, and yet nothing had changed.

I knew. I had come home.

The Soldier

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This is something which I have been writing since quite a few weeks, but have never been able to finish it for some reason or another; also I am not sure about the kind of reaction I will receive after someone reads it. But nonetheless, I am going to write it after all.

We live in times of war. while most of us liberal thinkers, free thinkers, conservatives, rightists, leftists and still many others debate about the futility of war, and either are completely for or completely against it, we are very wary about saying anything against the soldier who is on the field laying down his life for the country. At best, we all like to say “I support the soldier, he is just doing his job, but it’s the war that I don’t support”.

For a while now, I have begun to think that this argument is quite phony and at times ridiculous. How can someone not support the war, but support the job that the soldier is doing in the war? If someone doesn’t support the war, technically, that someone does not support the soldier either – saying that the soldier is merely doing what his superiors say is not a valid argument. Because, invariably the soldier is doing something his superiors say, and you don’t agree to what his superiors say. His superior might be acting on higher powers, so he is not to blame either; and neither is his superior by that argument. So the only person who is actually responsible for the war is the president or prime minister himself and the only person you can say is wrong is the president. Right?

Wrong. If Donald Rumsfeld told people that he’s acting only on President’s behalf, that doesn’t make him any less guilty than others of harboring a wrong war (or a right war, depending on how you see it). We are all prepared to be against everybody down the food chain, except when the army or soldier gets in. That’s where leniency sets in the name of patriotic favor. And we allow soldiers to get away with a war they might also think as wrong, just because it is termed as “call of duty” of nation. Why?

Let us look at the other side of the equation. We all do our jobs only if we are happy doing it. If we don’t agree with kind of job we are doing, most educated people will quit the job. They might tolerate the job to a certain extent, but they won’t continue in the company if they don’t agree their superiors, the overall company ethics and such. Most educated people quit if they are asked to do something they don’t like for a long time. Then why don’t the soldiers have that choice? Or is it a choice they are not willing to make?

A soldier is doing a risky job, where in his own life is at stake – its of paramount importance to him to know whether he is fighting for a right cause or a wrong cause; merely “its my duty” is not enough. Why should a soldier lay down his life for a wrong cause? Conversely, if the soldier doesn’t believe in the war he is about to go, what stops him from quitting the war? And what stops the soldier from making that decision perhaps after being the war for say 6 months. Its not as if he needed to make that decision on the day they went to war. And then, if he quits, how is it that he becomes “less patriotic” towards his own nation? If we are ready to equate a soldier’s job as just a job, then he has the option to quit the war too if he wishes, without the need of being labeled as a non-patriot.

And I think soldiers who don’t make that choice, are then agreeing to the concept and logic behind the war in the first place. Thereby saying that “I support the soldier” and “not the war” is a phony argument. You either don’t support the war and the soldiers dying for a wrong cause, or you support the war and the soldiers involved. Trying to walk the middle line makes one look like a hypocrite.

There is another argument – one might argue that there are so many people in the world who their jobs just because they have to. In fact many people actually take up jobs in the army because it helps pay their tuitions, get discounts on loans and more. And given all that is at stake, the soldier may decide its worth killing the enemy in war for his own livelihood. But then, that’s a conscious choice he as a soldier has made – because he is doing it for his family or his livelihood does not really mean that others need to be sympathetic towards his actions. Do we sympathize towards those bonded laborers in Dubai? Do we think of those Philippine men who work in Taiwan and get a week’s holiday in three years, and toil hard because of their family? Do we bother about the miners working in West Virginia? Often, they too work in sub-human conditions and equally dangerous workplaces, where many a men lose their lives. Because they are not doing a patriotic service, is their job any less worthwhile than others?

In a war, nobody’s right. If a soldier is willingly or unwillingly part of a war he doesn’t agree with, then he is as much to share the blame of the war. If someone doesn’t support the war, doesn’t mean they have to support the actions of their soldiers. They are humans after all, and just doing their job. Treat them as equals. Conversely if a soldier truly believes he is in a wrong war, then he should quit the war, without the need of the society labeling him as unpatriotic.

Yahoo v/s Google

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I and the Jedi have been talking about these two companies since many days – about their products, services, the general service, their usefulness to web in general and such. And everytime we have come down to the same conclusion – Google may be the darling innovator of the world, but its Yahoo which is actually doing the useful stuff, albeit without much noise and bells. I decided to put this post up after I read that Google announced Google Pack at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show – this was supposed to be their big keynote speech.

A look into Google Pack only reveals otherwise, and comes accross as a rather disappointing and I dare say, desperate move by Google to capture people’s desktop. Google Pack is no different from what was already available on their download site as a “download all” option – the pack consists of their usual suspects (desktop search, toolbar, picasa, google earth et al) and some new additions (namely adobe acrobat reader and symantec anti-virus 6 month edition). The prize catch however is the Google updater software, which will act a la windows updater style for google’s own products.


Google Pack is clear indication, perhaps now more than ever, that Google is actually NOT doing well with any of their products; And that they are losing out to most notably Yahoo, even though many geeks and self confessed google lovers would like to think otherwise; even if Wall Street and media wants to think otherwise. Lets take a vis a vis comparison between what Google and Yahoo offer to their users, and how they measure up when you account in their usefulness, popularity and usability to the user. In specific, I can account atlest for myself and Jedi 🙂

Gmail vs Yahoo Mail : Inarguably, google mail changed the world email. Gmail is superior to Yahoo mail every which way you want to see except one small caveat – and that is google has successfuly fooled people into thinking that they dont read your email. They do. Period. Its only time before people start noticing their rather friendly features (aka mapping addresses from mails automatically) to be not only intrusive, but unnecessary and adding no real value to the service. That saying, Gmail wins hands down compared to any other mail service, whether or not its Yahoo.

Google groups vs Yahoo groups: If someone tells me google groups is better than Yahoo groups, they must be outright kidding. Yahoo groups has evolved into a mature product and has stood the test of time. Google groups cannot come anywhere near Yahoo groups functionality, looks, usability, features and ease of use. Yes, Google groups though has good interface, clearly lacks everything that Yahoo groups has. Yahoo wins here, hands down.

Google Maps vs Yahoo Maps vs MSN Local: Google Maps are the best thing to have happened to web… looks wise. Yet, its Yahoo Maps which still consistently gives out better directions. Google maps have misled me many times, by refering to right turns as left and left as rights. I have sent them better directions to places consistently – one may argue its a beta product, but hell, more than 90% of google’s offerings are in beta anyways. One can argue that Google satellite map and hybrid map are its high points, but gentle readers, I suggest you give a look at Windows Live Local – yes, a Microsoft product. It kicks Google Map’s butt big time. I ain’t kidding here. And if you are, you are clearly obsessed with google. Yahoo’s trump card though along with their maps is their ability to pin point anything on their maps – but most important of all, Traffic conditions, a very useful service. And you only need to look at Yahoo Maps Beta, to figure out how good they are going to get with maps in a while. Yahoo wins again, followed by MSN Local and Google Maps.

Google Local vs Yahoo Local: You could tell very that Google Local never took off; hence Google merged Local Service with their popular Maps service to give Google Local a boost. And frankly, I still haven’t found Google Local to be remotely as useful as Yahoo Local. Yahoo Local’s interface is not only pleasing, but more often than not, it has come up with the right stuff I am looking for. 3/4th of google local is devoted to their Map interface, making their actual search results cumbersome and constricted to a small area. Versus Yahoo, which shows the map, but keeps the useful stuff in the major part of the page. Plus, the results can be sorted by distance, ratings given by users, user reviews and so on. Add to it, it also remembers your previous searches – everything about Yahoo Local is way superior to Google Local. Again, Yahoo wins here hands down.

Google Orkut vs Yahoo 360 : Both are miserable to the T. Its about time Orkut comes out of its “bad bad cookie, no donuts for you mode”. For all its hype, it still sucks in its looks department. Yahoo has a clean interface, though I cannot think of why its there in the first place! Social networking clearly belongs to Friendster, MySpace and the likes. No winners here.

Google Toolbar v/s Yahoo Toolbar: I personally think that google toolbar is just excellent. Having installed all three – msn, Yahoo and & Google toolbar, Google toolbar is the best in terms of how it handles popups, looks and icons. Also its cleaner than MSN and Yahoo toolbar. I have friends who swear by Yahoo toolbar, but I prefer Google Toolbar. Google wins this department. MSN toolbar doesnt even merit an attention.

Google Desktop Search Vs Yahoo Desktop: Again, both are miserable software, and anyone who wants to argue against me saying Google doesnt suck in desktop search – well, you can hold on to your opinions. The first thing I never liked about google desktop search was its uncanny similarity to their web interface; I can NEVER feel comfortable with that. Next they have never done the email search in Outlook properly; the moment my mails got transferred to archive directories, google desktop search would simply lose the link. Yahoo’s main problem is their cumbersome look to their software. They tried to do a little too much and ended up overdoing everything. Google desktop search hogs memory and slows down the PC; their indexing database consumed nearl 2 GB(!) of my diskspace – I usually have a lot of windows and applications open on my PC at any time, and can not afford to let a search service eat memory or CPU – which is what google did. I uninstalled it and installed MSN Desktop search – and in every terms, MSN Desktop search wins hands down; right from its memory consumption to their interface and search results – MSN Desktop rules!

Google Acquisitions vs Yahoo Acquisitions: Its a mixed bag here; Google has been buying fancy companies like Picasa and Keyhole and adding their software. But clearly after the initial hype dies out, there is nothing really great, fancy or different about either of Picasa or Keyhole. None of the software have repeat sustainability. Yahoo in comparision has been buying out smaller companies like Konfabulator, Del.Ic.Ous, Flickr and more web based companies. Konfabulator rocks in comparison go Google sidebar. So does del.ic.ous and Flicr – each of their acquisitons have had a lot of merit. Though google may have good products, I have to edge it to Yahoo here for buying out right stuff – aka stuff people use in day to day life.

Google video search v/s Yahoo Video search: Both are difrerent in the way they handle video and present it to users; Google video search lets u upload video and make it searchable; their video player is fantastic! Yahoo video search works more like video search – and often comes up with great and accurate results. Both win according to me in this area, because they are a little different in the way they do video.

Google News v/s Yahoo News: Google News is byfar their BEST beta product according to me, even eclipsing their gmail product. Not a day has gone by without me checking google news several times a days. Yahoo news is good too, but not as exhaustive or complete as Google News. However there is one small caveat that seperates the two. Google hasn’t figured out how to make money out of their News site, while Yahoo does make money. But I still think Google News wins it here.

There are also other offerings from these companies which cannot be compared really. To brief them out, here are what they feel like according to me.

Google Scholar: Thumbs Up! Scholar rocks in its accuracy in searching research oriented publications.
Google Suggest: Interesting idea, not really that useful though. Thumbs middle. Hehe 🙂
Google Translate: Thumbs Down. This one has a long way to go.
Blogger: Thumbs Up! They revolutionized blogging; though no one knows how they make money out of Blogger.
Google Blogsearch: More of the same, though is a useful service. Thumbs up.

Google Print: Two thumbs way way down! I just disagree with the concept that Google wants the author’s to opt out rather than opt in to their project; they want to change the concept of Copyright to suit them, and will set a very bad precdent by doing this. Its Google’s responbility as a responsible company to ask author’s for their copyright & not otherwise.

Yahoo Podcast Search: 2 Thumbs way up! I just love this feature of Yahoo. I dont know why people haven’t thought about this.
Yahoo TV: Thumbs up! Its fun catching up on lost episodes of various TV series. I luv their TV partnerships.
Yahoo Messenger: Google talk vs Yahoo Messenger doesnt even merit a comparision. Yahoo Messenger simply rocks.
Yahoo Unlimited: Thumbs middle: I have had a so so experience with this one.
Yahoo Radio / Launch Cast: Two thumbs way up!! Possibly their best integrated service with their messenger.
MyWeb / Yahoo 2.0: Thumbs up! I love their whole idea of myweb.

In the end…

Phew! That was a rather long comparision, and didnt even include MSN counterparts for most of the services. As above, I just feel that except for Google Mail, Toolbar, Blogger and Google News, I just dont think any of Google’s products have enough merits to cap them numero uno. On the other hand, Yahoo with its Local, Maps, Groups, Acquisitions have done a much better job of giving services to people which are actually useful in day to day life. Both companies are doing good work no doubts about it, but I think its Yahoo which actually does the more useful stuff – and they have been smart enough to let Google walk away with all the glory while they quietly do their job. Cynics accuse Yahoo of being a copycat, but then, Yahoo almost always ends up doing a better job of it. So I cannot complain.

Coming back to where I started with Google Pack – now this is why I dont like it – there is Google update software which will act as software updater for its products – which means, Google will now act as updater for my software – eventually I am sure they would want to handle all products other than Microsoft LOL. Whats worse about it is, now other companies will follow suit – in addition to my Windows updater, If I download Google updater, that too will keep sending information to google servers – and very soon we can imagine Yahoo, AOL and others to jump into the frey. Thats when Google starts becoming evil – they want your computer. And looking at the way they are going – they bloddy will get into our souls before turn of the century.

PS: I am not comparing Google’s flagship product Search vs Yahoo Search – its an unfair comparision. Google rocks. It would also be unfair to compare Yahoo Portal to Google personalized homepage as well. Yahoo rocks in that department. Both were their flagship products, and cannot be compared.

Till then, the debate of Yahoo v/s Google continues. So who do you like more – Yahoo or Google?

My favorite worst bollywood horror movies!

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I have written a lot of stuff before – its time to consolidate them 🙂 – I am now going to put up some of the best stuff I have written, as rated by me – my criteria is simple: If I can read what I wrote myself over and over again, then it has to be preserved. This is one such post.

First in the series is the one below: It was about the Worst Horror Movies made in Bollywood. I have re-written some part and improved some grammar (hopefully :P)

All right so where do we start in Bollywood? Indian audiences have always been subjugated to some excruciatingly done horror movies, who at best try to pass of as sex movies. I have been infinitely lucky (in spite of hating Horror Movies) to have watched, quite a mouthful. Almost immediately a pattern in Bollywood Horror movie is clear : a selected band of idiots decide to party somewhere . usually three couples (girl and boys) and then one or two extra to bring about the jealousy / lust/ terror angle to the plot – quite appropriately a haveli in the midst of Timbuktu happens to be the place where they either want to picnic / study / play . Conveniently all such havelis have a murderous past and a demonic saga associated with them – and its always the gardener / chowkidaar who has survived to tell the tale.

Hence, while the demons wait to be enraged and awakened, the playmates of the haveli engage happily in mutual appreciation and lustful glances; lovers in process of exploring nefarious areas of the mansion, manage to awaken the demons who, merely work for the viewer’s cause by ending theirs and our sorrow. Hence then, what movies are we talking about here? Below are the classics which I happened to see, and are my all time favorite worst horror movies!

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