Cubicle Cacophony

The Case of the Peacock Legs

2010-04-06T13:41:00.004+05:30

Lots has been written about how it feels to have the privilege of graduating from ISB. To me, the best part of the one year was about getting to know a highly talented group of people. The first that I'd like to mention is the creative team of Reetu and Pruthvi and their brilliant cartoon series called The Cold Call.

I have gone on record multiple times that I am a "big fan" of this strip, and I hope to see the their brand grow in value. I vouch so much on their talent that I will treasure their autographed first-issue.

I knew I must be one of their biggest fans, but never knew that I am considered so big a fan that I get a special mention in their FAQ section, which brings me to this blog post.

Do you want to know why peacocks don't have legs? It's a long story... read it right here...

I don't remember the exact date, well it doesn't matter. It was a very fine day. On that particularly fine day, peacocks in the campus tried to imitate dance moves of a certain macro-economics professor, which resulted in irreparable damage to their legs (peacock anatomy is obviously quite different from that of professors') and so, rather unfortunately, their legs had to be amputated.

Just the way humans sell kidneys, peacocks ended up selling their legs, for cheap (read free). Peacock legs are considered a delicacy and the peacocks didn't know that. But Pruthvi and Reetu knew it and wanted to make money. They made an offer to the peacocks to dispose off their rotting legs for free and the poor peacocks were gullible enough to agree. But when so many peacock legs flooded the market (after all, the product was highly perishable), prices plummeted (just the way it happened for students at a premium b-school). Pruthvi and Reetu ended up in huge losses. Their idea of avoiding bankruptcy was to publish a book of their scribblings, which, because of smart marketing tactics, became a rage in the community.

People from the community were used to buying egg puffs for a whopping Rs. 18 each and so they didn't even blink an eyelid when buying the book for a premium. Goes without saying that the books sold like hot-cakes and the unscrupulous duo were back in business.

So, why is it written in the book that people should ask ME about the missing legs? Because I filed a 'peacock interest litigation' against Prithvi and Reetu for trying to make undue profits without any concern to the plight of the peacocks who were left handicapped. The fight was bitter and we settled out of court. Apart from the huge sum of money that I earned (because the peacocks didn't want any) and ended up donating (on the duo's behalf - see, I am ethical) to the wild-life fund, I was offered a special mention in their book, which I gladly accepted.

It's not enough if you read this tale and say "aah" and forget about it. Leave a note on the Cold Call's page. I love their work and I'm sure you do too. If you still do not know what their book is all about, God save your soul.

as RAW as it gets (shooting in RAW/NEF format)

2009-04-27T22:37:00.011+05:30

After getting into ISB, I had the pleasure of meeting many good photographers. When I tried to steer the discussion into RAW format and image processing workflows, almost all of them had the opinion that RAW format isn't worth the pain - atleast when shooting at a party. I thought I'd take this example to illustrate how shooting in RAW helped me get a good shot.

Here's a picture of one of my friends downing a bottle of beer. I wanted to catch the silhouette for a creative shot. But the light source that was supposed to create the silhouette crept in and fooled the camera's spot metering and grossly underexposed the picture.

Nikon D90 - 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G VR - 24mm - F/9 - 1/320s - 800 ISO - Cropped

If I had taken this photo in JPEG format, I would have had a tough time to recover the details without botching up. Mind you - asking my friend to pose for the shot again was not possible! The point is that the image sensor of my camera (Nikon D90) is actually sensitive enough to capture a lot more detail and it did. But it is not apparent on the JPEG because the JPEG processor used only part of the dynamic range of the data to render the image, thus sacrificing on the detail.

I toook the RAW image into Capture NX2, I pumped up the exposure compensation to +2 (This brings out the detail in the dark - just like 'pushing' ISO 100 film to behave like an ISO 400 film). I set shadow protection to 10 (brought out more detail and more noise with it) and then a noise-reduction to minimise the effect of noise. I then converted it to a Black-and-white image (for the feel) and this is what I got.

If I hadn't used the RAW option, this image would have been unusable.

I totally understand that shooting in RAW takes a lot of precious memory space, and the amount of work involved is a lot. I bought enough memory (memory is cheap) and I use the processing power of my laptop at night (many a times, my laptop runs overnight to convert my NEFs to JPEGs using my specific settings. 95% of the photos look good with batch-processing and then I dump the associated NEFs. The rest of the 5% can be vastly improved by manually developing the NEFs. Then there's the 1% of shots (like the one above) that have some creative potential in them and I love to spend a lot of time developing and re-developing them till I get the picture the way I want it.

Using RAW, you're using your expensive image sensor to the best capability. Shooting in RAW is not as painful as people portray it to be. You don't even need specialized software because the latest version of Picasa seems to handle RAW files from most of the popular cameras, so maybe you should give it a try. Believe me, it's worth it.

What an MBA can do to you

2009-04-24T00:24:00.005+05:30

Looking back at my illustrious past, the 18 long years of education is projected in my mind's eye in black-and-white. There were days when home-work was heavy and there were days when nothing in the class made an iota of sense. There were days when I skipped lunch to read for an exam and there were days when crows took a dump in my lunch box.

All of those days seem like sweet (or gross) memories of the past, but nothing compared to the feelings that went through my mind when I looked at the "blackboard" today. Profs have uploaded the course-outlines that describe what to expect from a class-room session. The course-outlines give a taste of how much work goes into each session. Every 2 hour class-room session seems to ask for about 10 hours of effort outside the class-room. There's tons of pre-read, assignments and projects attached to every class. I was expecting a lot of work, but nothing to this magnitude.

I then talked to a couple of people about what they think of the course, and I heard some interesting perspectives. I seem to like what they said and I pen it down here. I would like to visit this post after a year to see where I stand. Here's the jist of what I heard today.

"Attending class is probably one of the least labor-intensive aspects of the learning here. It is what I do before and after the class that really matters. I understand that I need neither an MBA degree nor association with a premium b-school to understand the basic concepts of business. I also understand that I do not earn recognition as an MBA student if I can spit out business jargon. What I get here is an opportunity to open up my mind, take a step back, and get a new perspective of life and the people that make up my society. This course will not teach me how to be successful as an individual. It will instead teach me how I can steer a team or a society to success in what they do, and that, in turn, will make me successful. I came here with a perspective of my own. I might end up unlearning all the concepts that the society has driven into my head. I emerge out of the crowd only when I can think ahead of them and the society. That's what thought-leadership is all about, and that's what I get to learn at ISB."

I will sleep over these thoughts tonight and see how I feel tomorrow. I wish all my classmates the very best for their first core-term.

Bus ride to Koti & Gokul Chat

2009-03-21T00:12:00.006+05:30

It feels good to be back in good ol' Hyderabad. I did my engineering here, and it feels even better to be back here as a student. During my 4 years of engineering, going to Koti was a ritual that kick-starts a new semester.

I take a crowded bus 225 to Koti, get down the running bus while it turns right on the Andhra Bank HO junction, walk down to a book-stall, return books that I hated in the last semester, and buy new ones. Then head over to Gokul Chat, and savor a plate of bhel-puri. Walk down slowly back to the bus-stop, take 225 heading back home, reach home, drop the books, glug down 3-4 glasses of water to re-hydrate my system, and black-out.

Now that I am a student again and have a couple of pre-term books to buy, I really wanted to re-live the experience of going to Koti as a student. I could as well hire an auto or drive down to Koti in my car, but I really wanted to do it the good ol' way. So, here's how it went:

Bus 225 was crowded as always and I had to stand for about 10 minutes to find a seat. Then I got to squeeze into the last seat, sharing the long seat with 6 others. My thoughts drifted back to the bus I used to take in Williamsport. The bus there always had a seat for me, and I didn't have to share it with anyone. The temperature was controlled, and the driver would always wish me well when I get off the bus. Open my eyes and I am back in a sultry bus sweating heavily and breathing the exhaust of my neighbors.

I reminded myself that I have done this many times before and that this cannot be classified as suffering. I reached Koti and was prepared to see all the shops on the side of the road taken off. This was a move to ease traffic on the road. The book-stalls have been moved to a different location nearby. I walked past Gokul Chat with a smiling face, this is a place I sorely miss from my college days.

The guy at the book-stall over-quoted the price by Rs.200 and after I convinced him that I am ready to shove the book into his mouth if he doesn't quote the correct price, he relented and set his record straight. After finishing the book hunting, I walk down to Gokul Chat.

Gokul-chat, for the uninitiated, is a landmark fast-food joint in Koti, and almost every student has his dose of chat during his book-hunting trip. This place is so famous that terrorists targeted the place about 18 months ago. The place was reconstructed from the ashes and was re-opened to stand as a symbol condemning the thoughtless act. I felt that going back to this place and enjoying a savory dish is a way to remember the lives lost here, and a way to let the terrorists know that we, as citizens of Hyderabad, will live on. If you are reading this blog and have never visited the place, please do it once, for me.

I then took a 225 back home. I was very tired by the time I dragged my feet back home with the books. I needed several liters of water and two hours of solid sleep to start feeling normal again. The sultry day gave way to a thunderstorm in the evening, and I had some fun time walking in the rain, something I didn't get to do in the US, because the rains over there are not so inviting.

Looking back, the journey was worth it, especially because I could fulfill the dream of going back to Gokul chat. Living in the US is a league of its own, but doesn't compare to the experience of taking a bus to Koti.

I Hope I Know What I'll Do This Summer

2009-03-14T17:38:00.005+05:30

The last 15 days have been life-changing for me. I can't say whether it made me any better or worse, but well, life has, you know, changed.

After a long and arduous wait, ISB has finally offered me admission into their 2009-'10 batch and I didn't spare an hour to give it any more thought. I was waiting for the results with bated breath (well, I did breathe just enough air to keep me alive) and when I finally got the news, I sort of cut loose. I quit my well-paying job, settled my lease, booked my tickets back to India, popped open a bottle of Chopin and what not. And now, I am here in India.

The weight of my decisions has yet to reach my brain, and I still can't believe it's happening. I've been hearing conflicting opinions from people - half of them are ecstatic about my achievement, and half of them are concerned about my future, unsure how the market will turn out to be when I graduate.

The objective of spending a year at ISB should not be the "post-MBA salary". That's probably the narrowest of perspectives you could talk yourself into. From the interactions I've had over email, I seem to have hit a group with a wavelength that matches mine, and I look forward to make many friends. The infrastructure and faculty at ISB is the best money can buy, and more. I am fine as long as I make good use of what ISB has to offer, and sooner than later, I'll get where I always wanted to be.

But the money involved does make it tough for us to step back and take the broader perspective. I guess some of us will always carry our apprehensions within us until we find ourselves on terra firma after completing the course.

For now, I'm all set to take off into outer-space. I hope I come back home with a smile on my face, and a little more than a couple of moon-rocks.

Spending

2009-02-23T11:52:00.005+05:30

With so many blogs buzzing about the economy, I didn't find anything to which I could add value. But I did find something I can talk about today. Here's the video.

So, according to the video, the money you spend on a luxury haircut could instead be spent on buying textbooks for a poor boy. And based on this logic, it questions your spending habits.

"Spending" is now a controversial issue because of the US Government bailouts. Let me argue in the Government's favor for a minute. If I had Rs.500, what kind of an effect would it have on a society if I spent it on a deluxe haircut? I'd probably pay Rs.450 to the saloon and Rs.50 in tip to my barber. The saloon would probably give Rs.100 out of the Rs.450 I paid to the barber as part of his salary. The barber gets Rs.150. He probably spends 80% of his income in the same month, which would mean that about Rs.120 is going back into the market, for probably his daily needs - groceries, house rent etc. The grocer on the street gets some business, and the landlord gets to have his rent, which he would spend on something else. The saloon owner gets his pie, and he probably spends 10% on the saloon maintenance / renovation which again is a business for someone else. He spends 50% of it to run his family, which again goes into the market - he probably goes to the same grocer. The grocer gets more business, and he spends the profit on maintaining his own family.

Get the drift? The more you spend, the more you spread your "prosperity" around. So, it's not true that you're "wasting" money when you splurge.

Is that the whole story? Hell no. It's alright as long as you spend what you legitimately earn, on something that has potential value, as long the money you're earning comes from a controlled source, and after you are done feeding your piggy. If you don't follow this, you're doing more harm than good to society. Hmm... what did I say? Read on...

Spend what you legitimately earn. Don't spend what you don't have. Take a loan if that's an utmost necessity. Don't borrow because there's someone ready to lend it to you at throw-away prices. Don't borrow what's beyond your means of repayment. Follow your dreams when it comes to your ambitions, but check back with reality when you need a loan. And when you take a loan, use the money wisely. Don't take a home-equity and go on a vacation. Oh well, there's nothing wrong in taking a vacation - you're helping the economy of the small resort-town you might be visiting, but what material value did it add to you, other than probably delaying your wife's divorce plans? And remember, you gotta pay it back some day.

The money you earn should come from a controlled source. Do you earn Zimbabwian dollars? Then I am sure you don't have enough money to look at this blog, so you're not reading this. Do you earn US Dollars? You probably are doing OK now, but you are sitting on a ticking time-bomb. The US Government is not following this rule now and neither are you, if you're spending your big US Dollars today. Uncle Sam wants you to spend, but you should now how "controlled" the source is if you look at the trade deficit charts and how well the USD is holding against gold prices. And looks like US now wants to tighten the bond (aka treasury bonds) with China. What's this new-found-love for?

Feed your piggy first. Save your money and know where your savings are going. If you're about to retire and had your valuable 401k fully invested in the stock market, don't cry foul. And whenever you think of the Government, think of this song...

You say you're looking for someone
Never week but always strong
To protect you and defend you
Whether you're right or wrong
Somone to open each and every door,
But it ain't me babe...

Bob Dylan

So, now how much money do you really have, and what do you want to "spend" it on? And are you ready to lend it to someone? Oh really?

BTW... so many thoughts couldn't have come out of me if my good friend hadn't introduced me to Ron Paul and Peter Schiff.

BTW2... Looks like AR Rahman won two Oscars. How about that! Wonder what Rahman's doing with his money tonight.

BTW3... Is Barack Obama better than George W. Bush? Obama can speak coherently, so he definitely is better. But can he scoop the US out of the "deep shit"? Let's hope he does - unlike some of the republicans who just want to "see him fail".

A big "Thank you" to Pandit Ravi Shankar

2009-01-20T18:50:00.003+05:30

Pt. Ravi Shankar was here in Hyderabad on January 11 for a concert after 20 long years. Me and my dad have been fortunate enough to be there. I cannot write a review of the concert as I did for several other concerts in my blog. I can't even find words to describe my experience. Over the past few days I have been writing blog entries to describe my experience, but I just don't seem to like anything I wrote.

So, I finally decided to just record the moment as an instance where I was blessed. The concert was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and truly extra-ordinary. Pt.Ravi Shankar is 89 years old and when he plays his Sitar, you are transformed to a new world. His physical aging body doesn't make an iota of a difference. His Sitar is as sonorous as it ever sounded.

His daughter Anoushka Shankar is a promising heir to his kingdom. I am sure she is capable of taking her father's Sitar tradition forward for the next generation.

I thank Pundit Ravi Shankar for coming down to Hyderabad to bless us and I extend thanks to APTDC and HICC for ensuring that the concert was organized well.

Fun with BR-2A Macro Reverse ring

2009-01-04T21:38:00.003+05:30

Every photography enthusiast who has a Nikon DSLR should definitely buy the 50mm 1.8D prime lens and the BR-2A reverse ring. You can have endless fun with this combination. You will spend your lazy Sunday afternoon jumping around in your house with your camera and some fun subjects.

For instance, take a look at this picture

1/400 sec, f/5.6 ISO 1600 (PP'ed in Capture NX2). Subject is a yellow-gold & white-gold ring that I have been wearing. It has a diameter of approximately 20mm.

Look at what people have achieved with this combination.

I had a difficult time figuring out how to make this combination work. The method is documented very clearly on the internet if you look - but it's sometimes hard to understand, so I am documenting it again here for the benefit of folks who land here (of all places).

Switch off your camera and unmount your existing lens.
Mount the BR-2A ring as if you're mounting a lens.
Hold your 50mm f/1.8D lens with the front element facing the camera, take off the front lens cap and screw the lens on to the BR-2A as if you are screwing in a filter to a lens.
Use the back-element cap as your new lens cap for protection.
The lens has an aperture ring with an aperture lock switch. If you have been using your 50mm lens as a regular lens, you would have closed down your aperture and locked the aperture using the switch. This enables the camera to control the aperture. Now that doesn't work. So, unlock the aperture ring and turn it wide open.
Set your camera to manual mode and switch it on. You will see 'F--' on the information panel. That's normal, and that's because your camera can't read the aperture value on the lens. The lens is essentially de-coupled, so none of the automatic controls work - no auto-exposure, no auto-focus, nothing.
Set your ISO and shutter speed to the desired value. If you don't know what suits, try some combination that you feel comfortable with.
If you have a D90, your live-view comes in handy. Switch on the live-view now. Use the live-view zoom control to zoom in. This will help you check the focus precisely.
To focus, move your camera forward / backward till your subject is in focus. The DOF will be narrower than 1mm. So, use a steady hand. If you have a tripod, use it. If the tripod has rails, couldn't ask for more.
When your subject is in focus, click. Now check the output.
The picture will end up under-exposed unless you are shooting in bright sun-light. Now, use your creativity to change your shutter-speed, aperture and ISO to obtain a great picture without camera shake, using the right DOF and with minimal noise.
If you need to use high ISO, don't be afraid to use it. A noisy picture is better than a blurry one. Remember, we now have advanced noise reduction software around to improve noise levels after the fact.

Have fun!

RIAA - on the wrong side of Copyright Law

2008-12-27T23:34:00.009+05:30

Why are Audio CDs priced at an average of $1 a track? Is it because a buck is not a serious price to pay for the creative output of a musical genius? If that were the argument, I'd buy that. As you might be aware, that's not true. How much do the end artist make off each CD? Around 10 cents a track. What do you make of it? Let's take this example.

If 10,000 copies of an album are sold at $15 a piece, the artist gets $15000 and the recording label takes $135,000. Of course, the recording label has to pay for manufacturing the CDs, for marketing them and partially for losses on albums that don't sell as expected.

I hear ya... they need to pay lawyer fees to sue individuals for acting as pirates. Oh but hey, they squeeze a lot of money out of the accused (typically $750 per track shared - have you heard of Jammie Thomas?) and they end up making a fat profit out of it. We never know if court cases can be considered an expenditure or a new source of income, so let me not count that.

The copyright law upholds the property rights of an individual or company, and as such, is a basis for success in a capitalistic society. So, the society, as a rule, takes a tough stance against anyone breaking the copyright law. Well, as a person who appreciates capitalistic ideals, it does make sense to me. But a civilized society also provides rights to criminals (at least basic human rights). So, stripping a person of $750 for sharing a song is equivalent to the Arabian law of amputating a hand because the hand was instrumental in perpetrating a crime.

RIAA's tactics of intimidating file-sharers has been met with strong criticism. RIAA singles out individuals who could be caught easily, and make them pay for the mistake of a thousand others. So, how does that help in reducing piracy? Did that stop any Chinese or Canadian torrent site from sharing files? No it doesn't. They're just taking advantage of the law to make up for the "estimated" loss caused by piracy. But that's not law is meant for. A law is put in place to restrain future criminals. If a particular law fails to achieve this goal, the law should no longer be used.

RIAA has recently realized that there are more civilized ways of dealing with the crime. They're working with ISP's to identify and prevent file-sharing. They're now using technology to prevent crime and not to identify criminals and sentence them to death.

There are other ways too.

Get into the digital music revolution. Save money by cutting down on CD manufacturing and distribute DRM-free music online. It would be of great help if you pay the artists for digital music sales.
Make music cheaper to buy. If each track costs 20 cents to purchase (ensuring the actual artist still gets paid his 10 cents), This will not stop piracy totally, but more people will end up buying original music. They have done that in India and now many people buy original CDs. They haven't done that yet for DVDs, so the DVD piracy is still a major problem.
Use technology to detect and identify individuals sharing copyright music in a big way. Send "cease and desist" notices to them. Then use the law to help the ISP withdraw broadband service to them, and ensure he doesn't get broadband access from any other ISP.
Release music across the world at the same time, at an affordable price. Piracy of a particular album is at it's greatest in the first week the album hits the market. Many people Rwill not resort to piracy if the album is available in their store, and if they can afford it.

The Radiohead story stands as a testimonial to the bad practices of the recording industry. Radiohead offered their new album "In Rainbows" for free, and asked users to pay whatever they wanted to for their download. Why did the do that? Because they grew tired of the business model of the labels. Although there is no official report of how successful the new distribution was, the general agreement was that even though a third of the downloads were taken for free, Radiohead received on an average of £4 per download. That's more than what they'd eventually make if they had sold the rights of their album to a label. The album was eventually distributed in the traditional formats, and they have made more money out of it.

RIAA, thanks for waking up. Please stop intimidating people, and earn your reputation back with the musicians and customers. The musicians need your encouragement in releasing their music, and the customers need your help in getting the music they want at the right price. That's how you add value to the supply-chain. Make decent profit and enjoy our love.

Blackberry "Drizzle"

2008-12-19T09:25:00.003+05:30

One of my friends was head-over-heals about the iPhone, but he just couldn't buy one because he is on Verizon, and is not interested in either breaking the contract with Verizon or in signing a new contract with AT&T.

Out comes the Blackberry Storm and this friend of mine is very excited. He said he finally can lay his hands on a new phone that can satisfy his iPhone cravings. Even though I didn't want to dash his excitement, I was rather sure RIM can't get anywhere near the kind of interface that Apple developed for the iPhone.

Now, we get to see video after video about Blackberry's slow-as-a-snail interface. The scrolling is painfully slow. Typing on that soft sure-type keyboard, or whatever they call it, is a pain. RIM recently sent an update to the phones which alleviated some of the problems, but it gets nowhere near the slickness of the iPhone's interface.

What triggered this post is RIM's claim that their "Storm" is Verizon's best-selling device. It truly is - because people hoped for an iPhone on the Verizon network, and grabbed anything that looked like it. And what did they do after they stormed Verizon stores and bought these babies? They returned back to the store, wished the salesman in there in a polite way and returned the phone. So, are the returns counted in these "sales"?

Come on Blackberry, HTC, Samsung et al. The iPhone's user-interface is backed by at least 4 years of research. You can't just grab the idea, grind it in your favourite blender and come up with a new UI in a year. Don't try to imitate Apple - concentrate on your own selling points. Offer Stereo bluetooth, offer MMS, offer video-recording, offer VOIP, offer high-speed tethering. Flaunt the stuff that iPhone doesn't have. Do whatever, just don't imitate the iPhone and make an ass of yourself.

By far, the iPhone has the best UI on any mobile device. Other than cut-and-paste, which just complicates the UI and a slight lag here and there, I found zero problems with the UI.

So, what other platform offers a good promise with the UI? Probably Android. It's currently being developed furiously and it's open source. But Google should come out of the clutches of the carriers and offer these phones unlocked. Only then will they be able to eat into the iPhone's market-share.

Coming to market-share, there's a report that says RIM has sold 6.9 million smart-phones in Q4 so far. That's almost as many iPhone 3Gs that Apple has sold in the same period. So, if Apple can beat RIM's 10 models with just one model, who's making more money here?

Yes - Over 60 and still rocking!

2008-11-09T10:19:00.005+05:30

Close your eyes. Imagine a major rock performance. Guitars, drums, mikes, monitors, amplifiers, speakers, gear than can cost millions of dollars, sub-woofer units that can register a 4 on the Richter scale, wild spectators, bright and colorful spot-lights that could trigger a bout of epilepsy on the most stable and sensible brains... i can go on and on. Everybody's attention is on the lead guitarist, who is looking skywards, his torso arched backwards, knees bent forwards, and making his electric guitar squeal for its dear life! Now, guess the age of the guitarist.

I'm sure you're way off. His age is 61. He is Steve Howe, lead guitarist in the legendary Yes Band. And even at that age, he makes love to his guitar on stage without a hint of hesitation.

London based Yes band rocked the Community Arts Center yesterday, and I was right there in the first row. I was pretty certain these guys were great instrumentalists, and their vocals featured harmonies. What surprised me was the psychedelic edge to their music. Their music reminded me of "Dark Side of the Moon". Even though they sounded similar to Pink Floyd, I find it hard to compare these two bands. I guess I like Pink Floyd better, but these guys were very good in their own right.

Chris Square's bass sounded very different and packs a punch. Most of the psychedelic touches of this band come from Oliver Wakerman on the keyboard. Alan White's drums sounded good, but didn't really seem to shine in today's performance. His drums sometimes reminded me of Led Zeppelin.

There are two aspects that don't seem to go well with the current line-up of the band. The vocalist, Benoît David, who replaced Jon Anderson doesn't seem to fit well. There's no denying that Benoît David has a great voice. But somehow, his voice doesn't seem to fit to the sound of the band. Jon Anderson, as seen on Youtube videos, is way better. The second problem is that the harmonies of Steve Howe and Chris Square don't seem to match the brightness of Benoît David's voice.

There was an opening act by a band whose name I am unable to recollect. They did a good job too. But the members of Yes made us wait for about 20 minutes after the opening act and that felt uncomfortable. Of course, I had my iPhone, so I used the time to research on the history of this band. This was the first band that made us wait and I am not happy about it.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable performance. Live rock performances generally take their toll on the performer's body and I am surprised at how this band can sustain the high levels of energy at their age. Hope they continue rocking for a long time to come.

The cherryholmes

2008-10-22T04:54:00.007+05:30

I've got introduced to bluegrass by Ken Shafranko, my client at work, and a dobro player in the Stained Grass Window band.

So, what's bluegrass music? Here's the answer if you haven't read the excellent Wikipedia article. It's a genre of music based on blazing fast foot-tapping acoustic music that has its traditions in old Scottish and Irish music. The lyrics resemble country music and are based on simple, yet sometimes profound, aspects of life like love, the country-side, death etc and also cross over into gospel. They seldom talk about "rock" stuff like sex, drugs yada yada. The members have the band should have mastered their instrument, and should contribute to vocal harmonies. If you appreciate instrumental music, you're sure to appreciate this genre.

The Cherryholmes are a family band. The father, mother and three of their kids are the members of the band. They go around the country, and sometimes overseas to perform, and have a tight performance schedule, sometimes clocking 300 days a year. In their spare time, apart from doing stuff like giving their dogs a tummy rub, they record albums. Their albums have been nominated to the grammies, and it's "wierd" (the way Jere, the father of the band puts it), why they haven't won one.

They were here in Williamsport last Saturday, playing at the Community Arts Center, which, according to me, is a jewel of this town. I don't have a list of tracks they performed, but all I can say, is that right from the first song, they were fast, furious and freaking awesome!

Playing fast is probably in the very roots of bluegrass music. But you can't really impress someone with your fast music, unless your notes are crisp, and doesn't sound like a series of random sounds. The members of this band are serious masters of their instrument. Their speed, accuracy, timing and co-ordination seem to be at their best in their instrumental tracks. That doesn't mean they can't do the slow stuff. Their ballads pack such emotion that I could hear sobs in the silent theatre when the band was singing "This is my son" from their latest album.

The upright bass, the banjo, the guitar and the violin. Each instrument has its own place, and the sound of each instrument strikes a sweet chord in your heart. The vocals are buttery smooth and melodious. I was greatly impressed by Molly Kate's fiddlling, and her sweet voice (I wanted to hear more of her), and BJ's fireworks with his violin.

What's really surprising is how a family could develop such a cohesive force in a band, get the members pick up instruments to fill a place in the band, and hold on to the team work in spite of the long hours driving around the country. I also wonder how the young members of the team could stick together with the family band through their difficult teenage years, when each individual goes through tumulutous times growing up and understanding themeselves. There would surely have been moments when the young children wanted to get away from all of this strenuous and unforgiving schedule, and i am eager to understand how they managed to stick together to come up with such stellar performance.

And I almost forgot to mention that this is probably the only bluegrass band that features a tap dance. They spontaneously came forward in the middle of a song and cheerfully danced, maintaining the rhythm of the song, and went back in time to continue the song. It's not just here, each move of the band is choreographed well. When the members of the band converge near a mike, you're not just enthralled at their smooth harmonies, you're entertained by constant movement on the stage, like a well choreographed dance.

To sum it all up, this is the best bluegrass concert I have been to, and ranks among the all-time best concerts I have ever been to (I still can't dislodge the Shakti concert from the top). The performance lasted for two hours, but I was transformed into a new world where time was not a dimension to worry about. I sat there staring at the members of the band while they unleashed torrent after torrent of the most melodious notes. They were stellar.

I've just grabbed an opportunity to be at a concert of the Del McCoury Band at State College, PA. I just have to wait till tomorrow to figure out what this band has in store for me. I am expecting another scintillating performance, and I am eager to be there.

The week that rocked

2008-10-20T09:13:00.002+05:30

This weekend was one of the best I've had for a long time.

Apple replaced my damaged iPhone (It had a cracked glass). I had to shell out money to get this done, but the process was fast and efficient. Now I have a new iPhone.

I've got a new Nikon D90 body, Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor lens, Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF prime and many accessories. I've had a blast taking photos with my new camera. Head on to my Picasa Web album for more.

My boss complimented me on the work I had done on a module. The business expected the process of getting this implemented to be a grueling long drawn pain, but I finished it in two weeks. Another happy moment.

My friend visited me from Baltimore. It had been a long time since I had seen him, and it was nice to spend some time with him.

We went to the PA Grand Canyon (Leonard Harrison state park & Colton Point state park) to look at the fall colors and take some pictures. We trekked through trails which run amid thick forests. When the sun shines bright, the leaves take the color of red-hot coals, and it's spectacular. Here's the photo album taken with my new camera.

We also went to the Cherryholmes concert held at the Williamsport Community Arts Center. Cherryholmes is a family bluegrass band. They are excellent instrumentalists, and great entertainers. They're probably the only bluegrass band that feature a tap-dance. This is one concert I will remember for a long long time. I plan to write more about this shortly.

What more could possibly happen in a single week?

Am I a PC or a Mac?

2008-09-23T12:37:00.002+05:30

Companies compete not just in their product offerings; they also compete well in their advertisements. I still remember the Pepsi-Coke commercials that rocked India during the cricket season.

Digressing for a second, I also would like to mention how top CEOs down-play their competitor products, at least to add some punch to their otherwise mundane presentations. Larry Ellison is famous for trashing Bill Gates. Steve Jobs is generally more subtle in his attacks against Microsoft, except for the occasion where he accused Microsoft of lacking “taste”. He generally lets his executives do the Microsoft trashing most of the time. Microsoft generally ignores such banter.

What can I draw from this? Smaller companies vying for a pie out of the larger company’s market-share typically attack larger companies. And if the larger company is unfazed of this competition, they ignore these attacks. But things change when the smaller company pulls of a successful product that forces the larger company to sit up and notice.

One clear example of this is the Microsoft-Apple battle. Microsoft never took Apple’s acusations seriously, until recently. You must have watched uber-exuberant Steve Ballmer make fun of the Macbook Air and the iPhone. Even after factoring Ballmer’s hyper-activity, the bottom-line is that Microsoft took notice. They began to realize that Apple is steadily increasing its market-share, and that Apple’s products can no longer be ignored.

I believe that as Apple continues to innovate in their iPods and iPhones offering superior user experiences, new form factors and drive sales with aggressive price-points, their computer market share will continue to grow. If a user is very satisfied with his iPhone, he would want to buy a Mac (I did the same, and there are several reports all over the internet that the majority of iPhone users want their next machine to be a Mac). Moreover, Microsoft’s Vista debacle also helped boost Apple sales.

Microsoft did take notice, and they understand that Apple’s products are a threat to their business. How do they counter it? Through their Ad campaign that counters Apple’s famous Get a Mac commercials. Microsoft has released their own set of ads titled “I’m a PC” where they feature Bill Gates, and initially the famous comedian Sienfield. They counter Apple’s ads by trying to make a point that PC users are not really nerds at the office desk, as portrayed by Apple, but are people who are successful at work, and definitely have a life worth talking about.

I believe Microsoft’s commercials attacking Apple do not have substance. By alluding to Apple’s ads, they’re publicizing Apple’s products using their own money. The target audience view these ads as attempts by Microsoft to counter Apple’s recent fame, and thus PC users who have never taken Macs seriously until today will start researching on Macs and what they offer. Every viewer watching one ad from Microsoft will continue exploring and watch ALL the ads of Apple. I feel this ad campaign would be equivalent of an own goal in soccer.

I’m both a Mac and a PC. I use a Macbook Air and run Windows XP on it using VMWare Fusion because I need it for work. When I am not working, I generally use OS X for its excellent multimedia capabilities. At home in India, I have a lovely PC. I will use whatever hardware / software that works for me. If the Government of Zimbabwe (I just wanted to know if they had a website) designs a product that will make a difference to my life, I’ll buy it.

Assorted Best photographs in one place

2008-09-06T18:28:00.005+05:30

There was a time when I took photo-sharing accounts at flickr and webshots. But I have not been maintaining them regularly. I now decided to showcase my best photographs at one place, and I have decided to put it in Google's Picasaweb.

Only the first five photos here have been taken using my old Minolta Dynax 5 Film SLR, developed, printed and scanned in the studio. All the other photos are from my newer Panasonic Lumix FZ15.

Please take a look at those photographs and send me your comments.

Here's the direct link to my Assorted Best album at Picasaweb. Hope you like the photos.

Photography while traveling - A conflict

2008-08-21T01:11:00.008+05:30

I had been to Munnar recently on a short family vacation. Since it had been a long time since I had been on a true vacation with my parents (the previous one was to the beach resort in Vizag), I wanted to go all out and have fun. Now, here’s the situation.

I can’t go beyond say 10 kilometers from my home without lugging along my camera. And when I have a camera with me, it’s hard to stop thinking about it. Instead of looking around to just stand and stare, my mind runs at a hectic pace looking for opportunities to compose a good photograph. My objective of getting to Munnar is to leave all worries behind and give my mind the much needed chance of relaxation. But my mind refuses to rest when a camera is around. So, my challenge is to balance these two conflicting objectives, by letting my mind wander till it settles down. Let me explain this in greater detail.

In my previous expeditions into nature, I used to pre-occupy myself with photography. But this time, I tried to restrain myself from picking the camera up too much. When I see something that sends my brain into a frenzy of photography, I just let it run and just refuse to pick up the camera. Once my mind realizes that it’s whim is not going to be granted, it settles down to calmer pursuits. I then enjoy the place to my heart’s content. When it’s time to leave the place, I then pick up the camera, and go snapping. Since I did not allow my mind its freedom the first time around, this time my mind doesn’t get totally involved into the pursuit of photography. I just flip the camera to auto-mode, point and shoot.

I didn’t expect to get great pictures because I didn’t “work hard” at it. But I am pleasantly surprised with the results.

At least some of the photographs have come out decent, at least to my standard.

So, I prioritized enjoying the place over photography and yet, the results were not that bad. So, I can still enjoy the scenery and take decent photographs. I've decided I need to practice this restraint philosophy more thoroughly until no active monitoring is needed, and this attitude becomes second-nature. But for that, I need more vacations. How convenient!

Switch to a Mac

2008-02-19T02:57:00.003+05:30

This was something I was planning to do for a long time, ever since I saw the first mac (or rather the second in an absolute sense) at my friend's place. He had a beautiful while Macbook, and I wanted one right then. The first one was an older iMac that I saw when I was a kid. The graphics on that system were way better than the PC-XT and PC-AT systems I used to play with, but I was still a kid and any kind of Macs were just beyond me at that time.

I have been following the Mac community ever since, and even though I initially thought they were a set of snobs who want to be in a clique, proud of the money they spend on gadgets, interacting with them changed my opinion on them. I realized they were a set of people who have taken a brave step forward exploring other operating systems, and actually found one that was better than the other one, and stuck to it. They don't stop there, but are eager to let their friends see the benefits of using one of those, and give a whole-hearted suggestion to pick one up when they can. I promised to that friend of mine that my next laptop is going to be a Mac, but I never thought that it would happen so fast.

I got hooked to the iPhone when it came in. iPhone was so revolutionary at that time that I didn't hesitate much to empty my wallet to get one. And I never had to look back. The iPhone has its quirks, but it's just a gift from tomorrow that you happened to see today. Using the phone and interacting with it helped me improve my understanding towards how Macs are designed, and why their hardware and software is a serious contender to the more ubiquitous PCs.

Then Apple released the Macbook Air. I wasn't sure if this ultra-light notebook was the thing for me. But after a few days of deep thought, I decided I will go for it. I got one after a lot of fist-fighting, and after paying quite a premium, and there's no looking back.

I'm in love for the second time.

Negative publicity from non-users

2008-02-11T08:19:00.000+05:30

I have been following the technology sector, and especially the gadget sector pretty intently for the past few months. The recent past has seen more than the usual number of technological breakthroughs, not just in terms of coming up with new gagets, but with the way these new gadgets have raised the bar on how these devices interact with humans.

The iPhone, for example, did really re-invent the phone. It doesn't mean that they have found a way to place a call to a person who doesn't own a phone, but that the phone is no longer just a pure old phone to their owners. These new generation of phones can do a lot more than making calls.

The GPS market has been buzzing with newer inventions. GPS devices coming into phones, GPS devices playing music, GPS devices calling out street names etc.

Along with every blessing, there comes a bane. And the bane of the recent up-trend of technology is the number of people forwarding negative publicity. People begin rating products just looking at it on a website, just reading the technical-specifications. I've read a report saying that more than 90% of the people commenting and rating a product do not actually own it.

It's good if they give an honest rating. But most of the people who aren't in a position to buy one, invent these depressing ways of finding reasons not to like the product. They actually like it, and want to buy it, but they just can't, because they probably have something similar that works, or because just cannot afford one. They do not stop there and go on with their life. They instead start defaming the product saying it doesn't have this, it doesn't do that, so I hate it. And I do not want you to get it either. The people who actually own it write good and honest reviews about it, or just stay out of the whole mess.

So, a novice comes in looking for a product, runs into a good product, reads the negative publicity and stays away from it, and picks another product not meant for him. His decision was based on the views of the majority, who never owned the product he's interested in.

So, to you all readers out there. Do not rely on reviews too much. Do not base your decisions on someone else's opinion unless you personally know him or you're sure he owns a product, and is trying to warn you against committing the same mistake.

And to all those who post reviews on a product. If you do not own a product, ask questions about it in forums. If you own a product, post an honest review about it, if you please. And answer questions in the forum if that's your kind of thing. Do not go around badmouthing products you do not own. Keep your gadget world clean, and encourage good products with good reviews. Because the more you encourage a product, the better it gets.

Go ahead, explore the gadget world, and have fun. Lots of fun.

New York City - a microcosm of the Universe

2007-12-05T04:22:00.000+05:30

New York City has been eluding me for a while, and I finally cought hold of it during the Thanksgiving weekend. I have been thinking about posting something on this for quite some time now, but I haven't got a clue on where to start, and how to go about describing my experiences. But I have realized that if I keep waiting for the best idea, I will probably never be able to do it. So, here it goes.

By New York City, I just mean the Manhattan area. The first thing that catches your attention is the clear difference between people who have come to visit NYC and people who stay, live and work there. The best place to catch this difference is probably at the Times Square. People who live and work in NY might not hit the Times Square in the first place, but if they have to go through Times Square, they do not look around much, walk straight and fast, and probably take the stairs down to the nearest subway. Visitors go around Times Square with their jaws half-dropped, eyes half-popped, and walk around aimlessly, blocking others' way on the footpath, and flashing their cameras around, not knowing that flash cannot be used to capture night landscapes.

Another aspect you'll notice is the variety of ethnicity. You find people from all over the world. Its probably like a good stamp or coin collection, where the collector tries to ensure you have as much variety as possible. People representing differnt nations, speaking entirely different languages, come from all over the world, but all enchanted the same way experiencing the city.

I liked the way the subways serve to take people around the city. The subway system is easy to follow, tickets are easy to procure, the waiting time at the stations is pretty less, and its definitely a very convenient way to go around. I never felt the need for a car when I was going around in Manhattan. You just buy a day-pass and keep hitting the subways.

I will have to mention about the crowds. I never thought that Thanksgiving was such a touristy time. I thought I will not find any Americans around, as they would all have gone to their grandmothers' to enjoy a big lunch and a get-together. But the crowds proved otherwise. Do you know it took me two full hours of waiting in the queue before I could reach the top of the Empire State Building? I could get to the sanctum sanctorium in Tirumala in less time than that, shelling out much lesser in terms of money.

And then the sights and sounds. I don't think we'll have any other place in the world where you feel the roar of the trains going under the road, smell fresh hot-dogs and hear a guitar strumming a few feet away, and a tourist shouting in some unrecognizable language, all at the same time, and at the same place!

One part I missed was the night-life. I spent only one evening in the city, and was so tired by night, that I had to call it a day and settle down in my room. I am sure it would have been awesome if I could have a couple of drinks at some nice pub, but then I have to ask the locals for directions, so I don't pop into some gay bar of some sort.

Other than all this, the visit to NYC went pretty eventless, like getting to see the Statue of Liberty etc. (Of course the Statue of Liberty was something I really wanted to see, but it doesn't count when I compare it to the other experiences I had).

New York City is indeed a microcosm of the Universe. Yes, not just the world, coz it's not that difficult to spot a couple of aliens from our neighbouring solar systems if you watch closely enough. I would also like to visit London, because I feel both these cities are pretty similar in terms of the diversity of visitors, the underground trains, and both represent the best in terms of being cultural hubs in their own right. Another compelling point pulling me towards London is the fact that a lot of good friends of mine seem to be hovering around there.

I look forward to visiting the NYC again, as I haven't had enough of it yet.

Starbucks logo

2007-09-03T06:11:00.000+05:30

My love for the coffee at the Cafe Coffee Day back in India has transitioned into love for Starbucks here in the US. Even though I have a cup of coffee every morning, the special cup of Latte at Starbucks stays close to my heart, and I look forward to slurping my latte over the weekend.

Now, I am speaking the truth when I say that my love for Starbucks has nothing to do with their logo. When I initially looked at the Starbucks logo, I thought it was a young girl holding a couple of big fish in her hands. Damn my over-simplifying innocence.

Here's the inside story of the logo. The truth is plain and simple. The logo is of a mermaid spreading her legs to you, inviting you to have fun with her. I wish I never knew. I wish I never visited this site.

But they have sanitised the logo over time to come up with this very innocent-looking picture. I accept I was fooled. But does that affect my love for their coffee in any way? Nope. I like their coffee, and I like their current logo. If someone asks me what the logo represents, I would still tell them that its a little girl holding up a couple of fish in her hand.

This world is a crazy place.

The Little League Parade

2007-08-31T05:04:00.000+05:30

Williamsport is a small town, and it compares to an average district headquarters in India. Yet, it holds this major event called Little League Baseball World Series every year. This is a baseball tournaments for teenagers, and most of the baseball playing countries are well represented. Since this is an international event, this little town braces for the impact. It gets its limelight in the form of press visibility etc.

This tournament was kicked off at a gala parade on the 16th of August. It was a fun evening, where most of the people from town landed on a narrow but long street to welcome the little-leaguers. Here are some photos i had taken of this occasion. Just wanted to share them.

First came in the Rolls Royces of the town. Is this a Rolls Royce?

There were several bands playing, and several teams of girls waving flags around. It was a lot of fun to see mothers holding their young kids close to them, afraid that one of the flags might hit their precious child.

This is one of the photos I had taken that day. I was trying to capture a moving object in low light. So, the shutter was left open, but I panned the camera to follow the person, adorned with shiny silver foil all over him and this is what I ended up getting. Do you like it?

And then of course, the fireworks.

Yet anothere iPhone post on the Internet

2007-08-13T04:04:00.000+05:30

I've fallen in love

I've fallen in love for the first time

And this time I know it's for real

I've fallen in love, yeah God knows,

God knows I've fallen in love

- From Queen's "I want to break free"

Yet another material gadget love. You can bet I had a crush on every revolutionary gadget in the market. But this time, it was different, its Love.

The difference was that I was just so obsessed with this thing that I went ahead and brought it home, paying up 600 of the most valuable bucks.

Where does that take me? I'm happy. I am happy the beast of phones is in my hand. This is not like one of those other smart-phones which bites more than it can chew, and then hangs in there, half dead. This is a very capable smart-phone, does a lot of things, and does it in style.

I am not saying that this is perfect - there is no such thing as perfection in this world. Its almost there. I don't have reasons explaining why it is almost perfect. It should be looking perfect to be because I am in love with it.

Bose Companion 2 Series II speaker review

2007-05-13T21:39:00.000+05:30

I set out to buy speakers to help me relax at home. My first choice would have been a 2.1 system. But since I am put up in a hotel room, a 2.1 system would prove heavy on my floor-space. So, instead I started to look out for good 2.0 systems.

After a lot of research, I ended up with two options - Bose Companion 2 Series II and Klipsch Promedia 2.0. The Klipsch ones had excellent reviews all over the place. The bose speakers were rather new and haven't yet received a professional review anywhere. My deciding factor was the size. I wanted the smallest of the speakers without a compromise on sound quality. The klipsch speakers were larger than the Bose. So, I had to choose Bose. I didn't get to listen to Klipsch Promedia 2.0 anywhere, so I can't do a comparison. On the other hand, I did get to hear Klipsch Promedia 2.1 before and they're exceptionally good. I would prefer them to any Bose system if I was OK with a 2.1 system.

I had heard Bose Companion 2 (the older ones) at a Bose store, and didn't like them much, as they sounded tinny. A lot of screeching sound, and a lack of bass. But I found Series II to be much better. Thanks to Bose for overcoming this problem even if that needed an increase in the size of the speakers ever so slightly.

Now that I had only one option, I went ahead and brought these speakers home. Needless to say that these speakers were really good. I could hear the player's fingers rubbing against the guitar wires and all.

I listen to a lot of Rock, Jazz and Classical. The sound is really balanced, and reproduces bass, mid-tone and treble on more or less equal footage. I believe the bass and treble are amplified a little more. Maybe that's a decision Bose have taken to "define" their desktop speakers.

The advantage Bose has to other speakers of the same class, is the digital circuitry they probably use to enhance the sound to bring in increased stereo separation and roominess to the sound. The sound coming out is definitely more pleasing to the ears, and feels room-filling. You wouldn't get this experience with speakers from other brands, however faithful they are in reproducing sound as exactly as recorded.

Now, an advantage that's almost a disadvantage. These speakers are so accurate in reproducing the sound that you cannot forgive playing mp3s at low bitrates. You need mp3s to be coded at least at 128kbps for the sound to be acceptable. I rip my music at VBR 192-320kbps and I find it hard to differentiate between the original CD and the mp3, So, never over-compress your music.

Now, two clear disadvantages. The first is that these speakers are built to aim their best sound at the person sitting at the desktop. The sound fills the room, but you lose out on the spaciousness. The stereo separation is good at 6-10 feet away, but the spaciousness is lost. So, these speakers do have a sweet-spot, and that is a chair right next to the desktop. I wish Bose provided swivel stands, so that I could point my speakers at my couch and still get the best from the speakers.

Disadvantage 2. I have played at least 200 tracks by now. The sound reproduction was near perfect, except for one track. I was playing a classical track "Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, "Eroica" - Scherzo: Allegro Vivace". This is an mp3 that has been shipped along with Windows Vista. Somewhere in the middle of the track, when a trumpet is played at a particular note, the right speaker gives a buzz. It means that I hit the natural frequency of the right speaker, and that resulted in resonance. I totally understand every object has its own natural frequency and you can't help it if you make a sound matching their natural frequency. But I am disappointed Bose didn't build it tight enough to avoid the buzz. I am not sure if this a defect in the speaker. But I can't return these speakers showing that the speakers buzz in only one track out of 200 tracks.

That's about it. The speakers are almost the best you could get in a 2.0 to my knowledge. The only contendor would be the Klipsch Promedia Ultra 2.0 and if you have enough desk-space and don't need them to be as portable, you could as well go for the Klipsch. But you mght miss upon the spacious-feel circuitry that Bose uses.

I give it a 4/5.

Advantages
* Good balance in sound. Enough bass.
* TrueSpace technology
* small size - almost portable

Disadvantages
* Speakers aimed at the desktop user.
* Buzz playing a particular track (not sure if this is a defect)
* Sometimes, the bass feels excessive.

Amazing Western Classical concert

2007-03-22T06:56:00.000+05:30

It hasn't been even a week, and I was still trying to chew the cud reminiscing the good time I had at the bluegrass concert, when I heard of a western classical concert being held at the same venue. I decided to take the plunge, not because I am a serious fan of western classical instrumental music, but because I have cherished the dream of seeing, or rather listening to a live western classical orchestral concert for a long time.

The concert was on last Tuesday, and was being conducted by the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra. They performed Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 and Mahler Symphony 4. The former featured Beethoven's virtuoso piano composition played by Timothy LeVan and the latter had a soprano voice rendition by Kaitlyn Lusk.

The concert was top-notch. I don’t mind using the word ‘impeccable’ here, as me, a person who doesn’t know anything about western classical music, am too far from nit-picking their performance. The only gripe is with the seating position. Not able to spend too much on the ticket, I gave in to the $14 ticket, and was ushered to the balcony, about 500 feet away from the stage. And to my dismay, I realized they do not use any loud speaker system, and we had to depend upon the acoustics of the theatre to hear anything. I could hear most of it, but the volume was a tad too low for my comfort. Because of the low volume, I didn’t have the feeling of being part of the whole ambience. I felt thrown out. But otherwise, the clarity was excellent, and I could hear every little note played by every instrument.

Now I’d like to talk about a few things here. I discovered that arts like classical music get the recognition they deserve here in the US. People here know the importance of taking the culture forward through to the next generation. I saw so many kids and young crowd at the concert. Parents here do a commendable job trying to get their kids interested in classical music. I do not see that happening in India. Back in India, a local orchestra trained in classical music wouldn’t dare to hold a concert in a theatre with a capacity of 3000. You would probably see 300 enthusiasts there, out of which 270 would be aged 60 and above.

The second point is here now. This is, after all, a symphony group of a small town. Williamsport is not a big city like Philadelphia or Boston. It makes sense to understand that big cities have cultural societies that are nurtured by a large community. But I was really taken aback by the professionalism with which the show was run in such a small town. I was truly amazed at the quality of the performance, the costumes, the theatre, the audience, in fact, everything present there was top-notch. Such a measure of quality, that is hard to expect at a concert by a local group supported by a small community, in a small town.

Another very interesting thing that I observed here is the kind of silence people maintain here when the performance is on. The entire theatre, filled with about 2000 people, just goes dead silent, except for the odd cough or sneeze from some corner of the theatre. And when such a sneeze does come in, it reverberates along the entire theatre. I can very clearly hear and distinguish even the sound of a plastic wrapper that rattled far across the theatre. Now, it is time for an astonishing discovery. None, I say again, none of the mobile phones in the theatre ever made a sound for the whole duration of the concert. Will this ever be possible in India?

Bluegrass bonanza

2007-03-18T08:50:00.000+05:30

"There are two types of people in the world, those who love Bluegrass and those who don't know it yet." - some bluegrass fan

This seems to be the philosophy of a band called "The Backwaters Experiment", a bluegrass band playing today at the Bullfrog in Williamsport. I find it hard to disagree, and this is why.

We had been to a St.Patty's day bluegrass gathering today held at the local community arts centre. This concert featured several local bands that played bluegrass.

Before I move on to the musicians, let me talk about Bluegress. Bluegrass is one of the genres of American music that features acoustic instrumentation with roots in traditional irish and scottish music. They feature all sorts of acoustic instruments like guitar, mandolin, banjo, violin, bass, dobro etc., and the music is typically lively, fast and foot-tap-inducing and enjoyable.

There were several bands that played today. I couldn't listen to all of them - I had to come away. I did listen to three bands - the Lockport Drifters, Stained grass window and the Hillbilly Gypsies. They were really good.

The Lockport Drifters started out with a bang. The music was lively and entertaining. Everyone played good, but a special mention goes to Lucy McLaughlin who played the Mandolin. The way she played the mandolin was just amazing. She would step into an interlude, and take the crowd away to a different world.

Then played the Stained Grass Window. This was the band that we were looking for, coz one of the members of the band, Ken Shafranko, who plays the dobro, or the resophonic guitar. They played well. We know Ken at work, a guy full of enthusiasm, and a lot of witty laughables up his sleeve. He invited us to the concert, and that's how we were there. This band played an instrumental number to start with, and then spread out. I liked the way Ken sang "If I were a suoerman...". The band was pretty enhanting, but I thought they lost a bit of attention from the audience when they played a couple of sorrowful numbers, which didn't fit into the joyfull mood of the spectators, even though they were good. You could listen to a couple of numbers from this band here.

Then played the Hillbilly Gypsies. Wow... weren't they a treat to watch and listen! Theirs was a unique performance. They were a band of 5 musicians, but played with a single mike. The players that need to perform at a particular moment would come forward and perform. Then, immediately, they withdraw and make room for the one to perform next. These guys play fast, and you your foot wouldn't stop tapping. They're a fun to watch, and received such a royal encore that they had to return back and play an extra number to pacify the crowds.

I couldn't catch the rest of the evening as I had to come back. But I guess everyone there had a great time enjoying the music.

Bluegrass is a type of music that appeals to young and old, and is like a tradition that needs to be preserved, like the classical music in India. Tbe younger generation must wait for a minute and listen to this genre before they get overwhelmed with the electronics of contemporary rock.

Bullfrog Brewery

2007-03-13T03:39:00.000+05:30

I've heard that Bullfrog Brewery is renowned all over North-East USA for its local brews - mostly ales and beers. And it happens to be right here in Williamsport. Locals seem to like its ambience a lot, and they often play live music. So, I've decided to check out the place over a weekend, and I did check the place out the last weekend.

The image on the right is one of the photos I have clicked there, and I like it. Hope you like it too.

The place is about a five-minute walk from where I stay, and I went there with my friend at about 9pm last Saturday. The place was pretty packed-up, and we were ushered to a small table next to a window.

The whole area had the usual pubish look to it, and the colour resembled a mix of red wine and beer. Unfortunately, I am not the best person to judge the food here, as I am a vegetarian, and the menu is very limited to vegetarians. Thank God they had an appetizer and an entree for vegetarians. The appetizer was good and filling, but the entree, which was made of pasta, was pretty bland. See the photo of the appetizer I ordered here. The photo is not good, but I guess, you will like the starter if you see it yourself. The starter tasted more like a very bland mexican salsa.

Now, we had to order some beer. Yes, this place is famous for its beer, but I never liked it. I have had a couple of sips before, and I always wondered how people liked beers so much. I've ordered some Red Inspiration here, and the situation was no different. I didn't like it much. But I guess beer lovers would have been absolutely fascinated by the poor drink.

Then came the part I liked the most. Live music performance. This was by a blues trio called "Blind Chitlin Kahunas". One played an electric guitar, the second played a bass guitar, and the third played drums. The electric guitarist was named Chris Bovard I guess, and he's the best guitarist I have seen. He's even better than Susmit Sen of Indian Ocean. Well, I shouldn't actually compare them. Both of them are the emperors of their own genre.

The music went on from 10pm to 12pm with a 10-minute break in between for beer. Of all the aspects of this place, the live band was the best.

Remember, this is a subjective review of a person who neither likes beers nor dark pubs. So, take it with a pinch of salt and a shot of vodka.

As white as driven snow

2007-02-17T07:07:00.000+05:30

Every blog has its day. Today is this blog's day, and so this blog is being revived to its original glory. Better late than never. This blog smiles at every reader who considered this blog dead. This blog rised from its apparent grave.

While the blog was busy in its deathbead trying to decide whether or not to die, I was busy playing with my life. Yes, my life has taken a major turn, or rather I've turned my life around. I had blissfully positioned myself in the laid back city of Hyderabad (laid back in every sense except for its traffice sense) and suddenly I find myself in some remote town of Pennsylvania. How did that happen? Well, all that (hi)story is not worth studying. As per my policy, there's nothing you can do with History. So, leave it at that.

Now, I believe this town has a lot in store for me to see, do and experience. Let me describe the first of such experiences. Its the snow. I saw it snowing for the first time in my life. Yes, when I had been to Shimla, I could have a glimpse of snowy mountains from quite a distance, and we did play with some stagnant ice at a picnic spot. But here, it was real snow, and atleast 18 inches of snow, as pure as it falls, all of it in a span of two days.

When it snows, a dreamland opens up in front of your eyes. Everything is pure white, and the entire ambience lightens up your heart. Its probably like the feel you get after you've quickly gulped in multiple of shots of vodka. You forget all your worries and concerns, and smile at the beauty of life for a couple of minutes. I stare into the white snowland that has enveloped my vision, and drink in the spectacle, and then someone taps on my shoulder and reminds me that it's time to reach office.

A sweltering day in December

2006-12-03T11:20:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was the first weekend in December. I really love the month of December, especially for the weather it brings. Its "December time" for us at office when most of the clients go to sleep, and the workload is at its lowest in the year. December's also the time when it starts snowing across the world, and all I need is nice music, a bean bag, closed eyes and a smile on my face to dream of the first snowfall in Hyderabad.

Let my dreams be as far-fetched as possible, but it really felt my dream was farther fetched yesterday. I had been out with my mom to take care of some shopping chores, and I needed some money. So, I drove to the nearest ICICI ATM. To my dismay, there was a queue of atleast 30 people waiting for their turn in front of the ATM. ICICI did their best by providing 4 ATM machines inside the ATM bay, but it took me nearly 15 minutes of waiting in the queue and under the hot sun.

That brings me to the subject of my blog. Why is the sun so hot in December? Global warming? Naah! Its probably the air-conditioning at office to which I got used to. But then I saw a street-dog digging itself into a pile of sand near a house under construction. I'm sure it was feeling the heat too. (Well I leave it to the user to take the correct meaning of heat here). I wished I was lying there too, digging my hands and feet into the wet sand, and cooling myself off.

I really love Hyderabad for its climate, even if it can get unbearably hot in summer. The air generally is extremely dry, and how much ever you sweat, its going to get evaporated soon. But it gets tough when it is hot, as it will sap all the energy in you. Standing in the hot sun for 15 minutes took its toll on me, and I had to sleep for more than 4 hours towards the evening to recover from the ordeal.

And it did not end there. I had a headache late in the night. I'm feeling better now, but the weekend is almost over, and I'm still trying to get into the weekend mood here. So, after I post this blog, I'll switch on some nice jazz, slump into my bean bag, close my eyes and smile.

Pandora continues to surprise me, and continues to take me into a wonderland, if I decide to lay in my bean-bag and doze off. The sun continues to blaze, but I don't care.

Weekend downtime

2006-11-26T20:48:00.000+05:30

What do you do in the weekend? I call it the "weekend downtime" where you do some maintenance activities to refresh yourself and ensure smooth running for the rest of the week. The way I do it is by listening to a lot of music. Had splurged on audio CDs recently, and there's quite a lot of collection in my hand right now. So, What I'll do now is to post one-paragraph reviews about each of them.

John McLaughlin Trio - Que Alegria
Had bought this quite a while ago, when I started to get to know John McLaughlin through my favourite band Shakti. The reason I got attracted to this album, apart from John McLaughlin himself, is because it featured Trilok Gurtu, a famous jazz percussionist. The tracks in this album were pure jazz stuff. I know I'll love it very soon, but unfortunately, I'm still not into the whole jazz genre yet. I'm still in the middle of traversing through instrumental fusion and jazz. I don't like this album a lot yet, it'll have to wait.

John McLaughlin - Friday Night in San Francisco
This is one really amazing album featuring John McLaughlin with another great guitarist Paco De Lucia. John McLaughlin is agressive and shows his explosive qualities in here, producing a lot of fireworks, and Paco De Lucia bridges the explosion with a very sweet, soothing and sonorous acoustic guitar notes. Paco De Lucia is so good that I started listening to him on Pandora. And by the way, several guitar enthusiasts rate this as the best acoustic guitar live performance ever.

Shakti & John McLaughlin - All the hits
This is a money-saver definitive collection 3-CD pack from Sony Music. The 3-CDs are the best albums ever to be released by Shakti in their prime period. They are Natural Elements, A handful of Beauty and John McLaughlin and Shakti. I'm proud of this collection and I listen to this very often. Even though I had access to almost all the mp3s featured in here, I went ahead and bought the original CDs. The beauty of mp3s is that they act like teasers. When you listen to an mp3 and you like the tracks, you should buy the original CD to give the artists the appreciation they deserve. This CD collection is really value for money.

Paco De Lucia - Gold
I've got used to listening to Paco De Lucia's smooth acoustic guitar in pandora, and I loved almost every track he made. This motivated me to try some CD of his. I was strolling through the aisles of the local Music World and hit upon this CD. I used up my HSBC's credit-card points to buy this CD. This is a 2-CD collection and has 25 tracks of solo acoustic guitar. This probably falls in flamenco genre. The music is very rhythmic, and light. Amazing album.

Pure Silk
Happened to know that this music band was performing in Hyderabad from my friend and we had to scramble to ITC to get the tickets. We finally got the tickets after a huge adventure. Anyways, the concert wasn't that great because of of several issues, but for me, the band was an instant hit. I just loved the way Shankar played with music, and how Sivamani enjoyed getting his hands dirty with all his signature sound-ware (I keep wondering how he manages his inventory when he flies from city to city... Or does he have a full set of his ware in every city?). There were Louis Banks, Carl Peters too, but they never made an impact as their instruments were hardly audible. This Pure Silk album is a recording of their live performance at a music concert in London in the year 2000 (They performed better in London than in Hyderabad). The music is lively, modern, urban jazz. A very good find and I'm fond of it.

So, what do you think of it?

Pandora

2006-10-23T21:28:00.000+05:30

I'm proud to introduce you all to pandora. This place is a treasure trove for music lovers. I have been listening to it for over 2 months now. There was a time when I thought I knew what I liked, and that I have a defined sense of musical taste and that I have had the privilege of being able to hear the best musicians this world had to offer. This site reminded me of the "frog in the well" tale.

Yes, its true. There's a "lot" of music out there. Lots of top quality music. The popular music is just the tip of the iceberg, or probably the layer of dust over a precious stone. I was amazed to look at the collection it has, and I realize I need to write about it, as I have marked pandora as an important friend that has entered my life at a good time.

Here's how you go

Choose an artist or album or song and create a station with this simple search criteria.

Pandora will dish out music for you, that closely matches the musical criteria of the artist / song / album that you wanted.

Listen to the music dished out patiently. Rate it religiously.

Keep building 3-4 stations of your favourites. Whenever you find a very interesting piece, bookmark it, go back and start researching about it.

If you fall in love with an album / artist / track, go buy the album, as a token of appreciation to the artist who has created it.

Here are some of the good points of this site I have noted till date.

Introduces you to a lot of work out there in the wide world.

Has an uncanny ability to "read your mind" and to present music that's an exact match for your taste.

You end up knowing a lot more performers than you initially knew, and your music collection grows, you enjoy a wider spectrum of music, and you end up re-defining your faviourites

Quality of music is high (almost CD quality) - good stereo, and good bass (they seem to run their music into an equivalizer that make the music more pleasing.

The quality of their collection is really good. None of the song they dish out is "bad".

Some of the things that I do not like about Pandora

No indian classical collection etc. So, you get to know only about western and world music

When you choose an artist, the first song that they play often tend to be of some other artist, whose musical qualities match the artist you asked for. This might not go well with a lot of people.

Your inputs are absolutely necessary if you want to end up with the music you like. (I'm not sure if this is a disadvantage).

Not meant for very casual music listeners, who just want to listen to songs they like. This is more for people who are interested in exploring new music.

The collection still needs a lot of content. You can't say that "everything under the sun is available here."

The bottom line - the intelligence built into the system works so well that it can read yout mind. You just need to talk to it truthfully. Over a month's time, Pandora figured out what I lile. and 9 out of 10 times, I end up liking the song it plays.

Have fun.

Dor - My Review

2006-10-08T12:38:00.000+05:30

I am not a great fan of the mainstream movies produced from either hollywood or tollywood. I might watch them and go back home happily if I am satisfied with their "entertainment value". Otherwise, my way of looking at a movie is slightly off-beat. I appreciate the visuals, sound and technique a lot more than the characters and the glamour attached to them.

Now that my evaluation criteria is set, this movie scores a 10/10 in all areas except one. Let me talk about the "one" aspect that scores low. This really is a one-and-a-half hour film, and its very unfortunate that it was stretched for more than 2 hours. Not that it ever made me feel that I'm being strangled in a movie theatre, but it actually makes you drop off from the canvas occasionally, and start thinking about the popcorn that's melting in your neighbour's mouth. I don't "like" to take my eyes out of the screen even for a second when I'm watching a movie, and this movie doesn't "glue" my eyes to the screen 100% of the time.

But even in cases where I tend to sit back and relax in a "slow moving" situation, I keep marvelling at the visuals on the 70mm screen. A very scrisp camera-work. And the music is brilliant, and never for a second makes you feel that you're listening to some boring folk number.

Rajasthan looks so beautiful in this movie and I had an intense feeling to book a ticket to Rajasthan tour immediately. The golden sand and the brick red costumes left a mark in my heart, and I will definitely cherish a chance to feel the sand enveloping my bare feet.

The background score is brilliant, and so are the song tracks. Deep in meaning, and strong on melody, these tunes will stay in my heart for a long time to come. I will need to look out for more of his work. The CD seems to contain a purcussion composition from Trilok Gurtu, who's a brilliant percussionist. I guess I'll buy the CD soon.

Stepping back and looking at the movie as a whole, I believe the "key factor" of this movie is the narration. The story is about a woman going on a search for another grieving woman to ask her forgiveness for a sin that's not committed, and it doesn't sound interesting to me as is. But the way it was narrated is astounding. If you ask me, the story, by itself, is bland. But the way the characters relate to human values is amazing. And if it wasn't for Nagesh Kukunoor, this story wouldn't have made it to a silver screen, and even if it were, there wouldn't be any takers.

This movie is indeed a bold step in the right direction for the sensual cinema. The package attracts city multiplex frequenters, and the rest of India would ignore it. But Nagesh now has the backing of his "loyal" fans, and I'm sure we promise to watch every movie he makes, Nagesh is among the very few currently in this industry who has the guts to avoid all "run-off-the-mill" tricks, and still still win success, love and huge fan following.

If you haven't watched this movie, go watch it. Be a proud to be able to be present in a time when Nagesh shows off his magic. And go visit Rajasthan if you can.

The resurrection

2006-10-02T22:08:00.000+05:30

Looks like promises are malevolent to the promiser. Here’s why. You tend to keep up to your promise, only till you actually make the promise. Here’s an example that has “not” happened with me, but I’m hoping to go through it some part of my life. You love the girl from the abyss of your heart till you actually commit the rest of the life with her. Right?

The example that happened with me is this blog. I had promised I’ll put in a lot of content about Vizag and it unfortunately never happens. So, here readers! I declare that I’m breaking this promise, in an attempt to resurrect the blog. I give up. I can’t write about the Rishikonda beach now that the experience is buried in sediments worth six months deep. Not totally unlike wine, old experiences rot. But we need to take it as one of life’s paradoxes that people don’t like all things to rot. So, time to throw the rotten experience out of the window. But the experience, when I went through it, was worth a lifetime.

Here I am, blabbering away, and that makes me feel good.

What have I been doing in the past 6 months? Well, I went on a world tour, with the most beautiful damsel the Almighty has ever cared to create. Put in more comprehensible language, I was asleep and I was dreaming wild.

License to Spam

2006-03-07T14:04:00.000+05:30

AOL has a good spam filter. Most of the spam that gets spewed out, is trashed automatically by the spam filter. Now, AOL and other mail service providers get a new idea to make more money at the espense of their subscribers. To sell spamming licenses.

If you are a spammer and you're concerned about the low number of mails that are making it to real inboxes, and can spare some money to ensure more hits, here's a way out. Pay AOL and they will guarantee that your mail gets to the inbox of their subscribers. Sooner or later, you'll have to live with the "licensed" spam, or you'll have to deal with the head-ache of designing your own spam filters.

Instead of cribbing, let me give a better idea.
The spam filters will still be there, trashing the regular spam.
There will be a set of "spammers" allowed, who can buy licenses at a premium after providing enough justification on how their spam improves the world. When providing license, they should be classified into a certain group - sex, health, financial help, shopping etc.
The subsrcibers should have an option to choose to get mails from a classified set of spammers in one of the topics above. For receiving spam, the subscribers should get paid a small part of the royalty that the service providers earn for delivering spam.

This way

The spammers are happy their spam is reaching their destination.
The serivice provider is happy earning more revenues from the spammers
The subscribers are happy as they get spam that interests them, and also earn money for inviting spam.

What say?

Mumbai Magic

2006-02-15T23:18:00.000+05:30

Here's another one that shows the Gateway of India in the foreground and the majestic Taj Mahal hotel on the background. When people visit Mumbai, they're attracted to the Gateway of India, but I marvel at the Taj.

I've modified the colour balance a bit to give a old-timers' feeling to the photograph, but the boats in the front seem to betray the idea. The modified picture looks far better than the original, so I decided to display it.

Paint the turban red

2006-02-14T15:34:00.000+05:30

This man didn't know I was photographing him. And I am pretty sure he doesn't know his photo is on the internet. He was on the platform when we were in a train that goes to Mumbai. I was lucky my camera was with me and that the camera was on. He was not there posing for a long time. If I didn't click when I caught a glimpse, I would have missed the chance of adding such a wonderful photo to my "I shot it" collection.

I am eager to take more of such shots. Wish me good luck.

Einstein and Violin

2006-02-07T00:55:00.000+05:30

Another of Einstein's photographs in my collection. Something that connects to me.

Someone said Einstein might not have come up with the theory of relativity if he didn't play the violin. I have no idea how far that is true, but I did learn that Einstein drew his creative inspiration from Mozart and Bach.

But I can definitely tell you that playing a violin does make you feel really good about yourself. Its like driving your Harley Davidson minus the adrenalin rush minus the inevitable risk.

Learning a musical instrument is always fun if you like listening to music. Even getting a few notes correctly brings a smile to your face. But violin is not for the occasional fun-seekers. You gotta be extremely serious about your practice and the initial depression will soon fade away once the initial sqeaks slowly turn into more meaningful notes. For beginners, I'd confidently recommend a key-board. Go play it away.

Bad Sad Mad Fad

2006-01-21T14:49:00.000+05:30

I stay away from commenting about fashion trends. But what I saw deserves a mention. I am unable to stop lamenting about the preposterous ideas people get.

Maruti Swift is one car that’s close to my heart. Why? Not really because I consider it worth every penny. And neither does its looks manage to mop off other cars in the market. It’s just that this is one decent car that has taken birth at a time I started eyeing the car market.

Since this bloody car is close to my heart, I keep noticing every damn Swift on the road. Today I encountered one such Swift. I was petrified to see bullet holes on its body. Quite a lot of them, in a random fashion. These holes are like the holes that the “Liquid Metal” man in Terminator II gets when he is shot at.

I took a closer look and then things started to get apparent. These are not holes. These are just some sort of crazy accessories that you stick to the body of the car.

Maybe if I get to like this kind of fashion and I have a lot of money, I will go to a plastic surgeon and get a hole surgically made on my forehead. I’ll be the man who got shot in the head and lived to tell the tale.

But as of now, even an act of ear or nose piercing will be attributed to manifestation of madness. So, the sight of this car with artificial bullet-wounds hurt my feelings.

My English

2006-01-21T02:30:00.000+05:30

This thing has been bugging me for some time now. For some unknown reason, the quality of my English dropped considerably. Not sure if that's because of reading too much of machine-translated englished in Japanese bugs. Whatever the reason may be, my english is in an appalling state.

I was trying to ignore such thoughts for quite some time. But whenever I get a chance to re-read whatever I wrote, I feel a pang of pain in my heart when I realize that king-size blunders are common-place in my English now.

A few years ago, I was extremely proud of my English. I used to sneer at every bad usage. My friend knows about it pretty well and this would always be the favourite topic in our endless conversations. But that was the time when I felt that a better English was the first thing that will convert a person from a "qualifier" to a "winner". Now, I know a lot of other parameters that can distort the selection criteria.

Can anyone here help me get back my English? Atleast help me get back my penchant for better English?

Shankar Mahadevan

2006-01-09T23:37:00.000+05:30

This happens to be a very old story. During the first week of October, there was a week of celebration in Hyderabad for the 50th year of AP formation. As part of this, Shankar Mahadevan had come down to Hyderabad to enthrall a packed audience at the Taramati Baradari open-air theatre.

This was a shot I took. Probably one of the best out of about 40-50 shots that my camera captured that day.

It doesn't matter how many shots I've tried. For people of poor knowledge of photography, I got to explain that this shot is not that easy. If you think it's easy, the only remark I pass is "go try buddy!".

Leaving the camera aside, another point I wanted to make is about Shankar Mahadevan himself. His voice is extremely melodious, and his command over music is exemplary. I don't consider myself capable of "reviewing" his performance.

A comeback from the abyss

2005-12-31T21:55:00.000+05:30

Hello the multitude of eager squirells waiting for a post from me, I am back. And really, I am back from the abyss, and am currently soaring high. Tell you the truth, I never felt better than this for a long time during new years eve.

Not that something out of the ordinary happened. No, I haven't fallen in love yet. I'm the same ofd guy whose priorities are so out of place that, strangely, love doesn't figure in the list.

The last couple of months went wasted with me working at office. I was going down the abyss where I was getting more and more dependent on the daily activities at office. I suddenly felt that I'd start feeling better if I do something different. Splurging about 50 grand on a new computer triggered a flurry of interesting things in my life.

I'm currently fighting it out with installing Ubuntu on my system. Not that there's a probkem using the ubiquitous WinXP. Not that I hate products that seem to work straight out of the box. Its just that I wanted to take up a challenging task and complete it. A task that's obviously difficult, but a task that makes you feel that all your effort was worthwhile. Once everything is up and running, I will let you guys know.

Let me conclude by wishing all my fans spread out accross every nook and corner of the world, a happy, healthy, prosporous and fun-filled new year.

A suggestion to terrorists

2005-10-31T14:54:00.000+05:30

This is in response to a report in the newspapers that the terrorist group that blew up innocent people in New Delhi did whatever they did to prove that terrorists weren't buried in the recent earthquake and also to prove that the security cover on important cities isn't a match for their bombs.

Well here's a suggestion to them from me.

The point that you fail to note is that you are hurting people who really have no real grudge against you. You're killing people who do not care much what happens in Kashmir. Some of them might want to be up-to-date on current affairs and read newspapers a lot, but they actually don't do anything more than "reading" or "knowing".

By killing them, you will not see a "change of attitude" or a "change of opinion" in the crowd. They will still get back to their own business, and the survivors keep mourning their relatives who happened to fall victims to your bombs.

If they want to prove that the security is no match for them, do something like

Releasing chemicals that smell like "dead rat" when the parliament is in session. Good way to prove that you could have released any other deadlier chemical.
Spreading a lot of smelling filth on the speaker's table in the parliament (good way to prove that you can reach that place without security noticing it)
Blowing up a diwali pataka right inside Rashtrapathi bhavan (you will see a dozen security officers suspended for their careless patrolling)
Geting into a high-security area heavily armed, threaten to kill a VIP around, and escape without getting hurt and without hurting anyone.

There are ways to pull a good one against security. You get a lot of recognition by claiming that you did it, and people will have a good laugh and love you for it.

We're lacking people with a good sense of humour around here, and someone who can put national security to shame with a funny incident is the real terrorist we need.

You have another advantage. You don't have to live in the forests hiding away from civilization. If you are caught pulling a nasty pun over a VVIP, you mjght be imprisoned for a week or a month, but the security will let you go without blowing your head to pieces in a "false encounter".

Kandisa

2005-10-29T00:37:00.000+05:30

After spendning a long time listening to this music for about 50 times now, I am not bored. There's always something new in this music. There's always something more you can yearn for, there's always something more to look for.

Kandisa is this piece of incredible music created by a band called Indian Ocean. and I like every bit of it.

I've been ignoring stuff from these guys as I more or less avoid folkish music. But I first got pulled towards folk music after listening to Shubha Mudgal. She has such a magnificent voice, and she renders her notes in such a sonorous way that your heart yearns for more of it. Please note that there's a lot more to Shubha Mudgal than her pop albums, and that those little pop albums were some of her "forgettable" works.

When I was in such a mood, Indian Ocean performed in Hyderabad. I was listening to most of the songs for the first time, and any songs that I might have heard never registered in my mind. But their performance on stage replenished all my energy and left me feeling much beeter about myself. I should really thank Shamnu for talking me along on his awesome Avenger.

Now, don't start assuming that this is a folk-music band. The band is comprised of 4 self-taught musicians. Since they are all almost self-taught, the music is unconventional. It doesn't fit into any genre. Listeners need to approach it without a pre-conceived notion. For those who insist, I'd take liberty to classify them as a hindusthani classical folk group with rock overtones.

I especially liked the way Sushmit played his guitar. Now-a-days, I listen to Kandisa just for Sushmit's guitar. (For those who can't identify Sushmit's guitar, here are the steps - in a typical song of this band, you'll hear two guitars, one is the bass guitar, which will sound more or less like a western guitar with low-pitched sounds, and another guitar which feels more or less like a very indian instrument, like probably a modified veena or modified mandolin. I am talking about the guitar).

What's so good about the music? The sound. I like the way they sing and I like the way they play their instruments. There's peace and there's excitement. There's just plain expression of joy and deep thought. There's rock and there's hindusthani classical. And the instruments are different and they're played differently. And the way they play it is impeccable.

Where do you find indian classical drums on a 7 or 14 beat scale when great drummers are still exploring the good old 4 or 8 beat scales? Do you find him play rithm on a bass guitar? And do you see people manage all that while still singing with a voice that feels like the smells like the first rain of the season?

Where do you find a western drummer play flute and folk instruments?

Where do you find a bass guitarist sing hindustani classical while hitting chords to match the notes?

And finally, where do you find a guitarist who can churn out melodies after melodies in such a speed that you'll be gasping for your breath trying to follow his notes? (I find it increasingly difficult to describe Sushmit... heck! - throw my English to the dogs!)

Look no further.

US of A again

2005-10-28T10:04:00.000+05:30

Picture-perfect
Originally uploaded by saisrujan.

My friend asked me what my plans are for the weekend. I said that I pray for no P1s and laze around in the house.

He asked me "Don't you have any friends from college-days you'd want to catch up with?"

"Yeah, but most of them are all scattered around"

"Then, why don't you just arrange with them to meet up some nice place like Goa?"

"Well, most of them are on the other side of the hemisphere."

"Oh!!!..."

"Anywayz, I have a couple of friends coming to Hyderabad, I'll probably catch up with them."

"Hmm.. ok...".

"What are your plans for the weekend?"

"Not sure..."

Why do people fall silent when I talk about friends in the US?

By the way, here's a picture I had taken in SFO. The roof, seen in the picture, was good. The wall wasn't. So, I captured only the roof.

Get a bang out of Bangalore

2005-10-17T23:48:00.000+05:30

Here I present, to my esteemed readers, a write-up on my adventures at my recent Bangalore trip.

For all those morons who haven’t the slightest idea why I ventured into such a morose place, please peep into this site. I strongly suggest you take a look at the trailer in ‘The making’ section. I have no idea which champion of Idiots talked Rahman into choosing Bangalore as the only site in India where he can have a concert. I’d like to send him a sandalwood coffin. Anyway, I get an opportunity to explore a new city, to understand the woes of its people, to spend a weekend and suffer what the people of the city have to go through day in and day out.

The picture of Bangalore I had in my mind is of a laid-back city built for retired army personnel with enough parks to keep their interests high when taking their morning and evening walk. An apt example when you describe how images are distorted with ageing.

Bangalore now happens to be a congested slum of glass buildings housing the richest of morons in India. Roads as narrow as the little streets of Hyderabad, but boasts of an opulent set of classy stores. Yet, from nowhere, traffic sense still canes people to order and the police is regarded with awe and dread. Resultantly, even the worst of roads allows for a smooth flow of traffic.

Sitting in an auto, you’d love to give anything to anyone who can tell you where the auto is going. But you end up giving everything to the autowallah once you reach your destination. Autowallahs don’t have mansions in Bangalore. They prefer having farm-houses in Switzerland instead. The software professionals of Bangalore relish feeding the autowallahs with whatever peanuts they earn, and the autowallahs make a major fortune out of it. I can bet every penny

If you ask me to choose between breathing in exhaust smoke and tobacco smoke, I’d definitely choose the exhaust. But unfortunately, I see the necessity to add a rider. “Applicable only in Hyderabad”. That’s because the exhaust of Bangalore kept giving me headaches. There’s something in the fuel that they use there that makes the vehicles, especially autos, more noisy and more smoky. The smoke makes you sulk, weep, yelp and cry out till people take you for mad.

People talk high about the climate of Bangalore. Maybe there’s some truth in that story. The weather was pretty welcoming when I stepped out of my Volvo. But as the day rolled on, things got hot and sultry. Sultry means just one mean thing. Rain just when you don’t want it.

The concert was at the Palace Grounds. I never got to see any palace, but this was a flat, huge ground. After we entered our Rs.500 ticket area, we could see the stage around half-a-kilometer away. I could see the stage, I couldn’t make out any more details. The show was supposed to start at 6:30pm. We reached there at around 5pm and waited patiently. Crowd slowly started trickling in. The clouds started to collect and they thundered greetings among themselves and waited for the right time.

At 6:15pm, the clouds got a signal that preparations are on to set the stage on fire and as a preventive action, opened up the hose-pipes and drenched the stage and the spectators. The rain stopped in 10 minutes. At around 6:35pm, there was an announcement saying that the show will start at 7pm.

Now, at around 6:50pm, the second spell set in. It drenched the spectators who managed to stay dry in the first spell, and soaked the rest of the spectators, down to the core (you know what I mean).

After 10 minutes of rain, a bit of silence prevailed. Then, a local singer sang out a very moving prayer song. The sky was more than ready to shower a blessing of rain when the song reached its culmination. This was a strong spell and spelled disaster.

After the rain stopped, Sivamani tried to keep the spectator’s spirits up. But unfortunately, he couldn’t elevate his own spirits. Then Kailash Kher tried his “Allah ke Bande”, but that didn’t help either.

Rahman spoke next. He said that a rain in the Ramzan evening is a blessing and that it would wash away all sins. The music that comes out of the heart of a singer after getting drenched in such a rain would be of the highest purity that it would touch every one’s heart in this world. He asked for some more time and disappeared.

It rained and it stopped. It rained harder when the organizers try to revive the stage and it stopped when they stop. This went on till around 8:15pm.

It stopped raining after that. At around 8:30pm the participants came out and started setting their things up and the performance began.

There’s nothing much to talk about the way the songs were sung or the way the instruments were played or whatever, since this is not something that can be written. All I can say is that it just makes you feel you’re the luckiest person in the world. This feeling is hard to get. Neither meditation, nor worship nor sex nor food nor success can give you such a feeling. The only little nagging feeling I had was that I wasn’t able to make out much of what was happening on stage.

It then happened that the gates to the costlier bays were opened. This was because the rains had dispersed part of the crowd, and now this thin stadium was thinly populated. We slowly moved up to the front. The rain had made the soft sand slippery and sticky at the same time, and you ambled along stepping gingerly. We slowly moved up front till we could get to the Rs.10000 ticket area. Here, at about 50 feet from the center of the stage, you have a control center, where they monitor the lighting, special effects and sound. There were big boxes in which they had brought in their equipment. These boxes were arranged one above the other on a high-set bench. I slowly stepped on to the bench, climbed onto the harded boxes, and stood up from there. From here, I got the occasional view of the stage. I enjoyed more music and relished the occasional chance of seeing the performers. The problem was that there were people in front, and I was generally able to see only the backs of those morons most of the time.

After some more time, I began to gather guts to climb further and to get a clear view of the entire stage from on top of the heads of people in front. I got a chance to sit on a soft box, which was almost collapsing. So, I put half of my weight on it, and supported the other half dangling from the steel frame that held the asbestos sheet to shelter to the controllers and their equipment.

Now, every note of sound was complemented by an unobstructed view of the entire stage and that was bliss.

Time flew by. I was in utopia. It was almost 12:30am when Rahan started to conclude by singing his “Maa Tujhe Salam”. As Rahman’s voice explored higher pitches taking the swaying crowd along, as if in a movie, it started pouring down again.

Rahman felt that this was a miracle, and asked us to find our ways home in the rain while he was escorted into his car that will take him safely to his hotel room.

We somehow reached home. The travails and tribulations we faced at this point of time are truly beyond my vocabulary. All I can say is that I lived to tell the tale.

As one of the friends who accompanied me rightly said, if ever I write my autobiography, this will certainly figure in it. It leaves such an indelible mark in your heart, that anytime in the future you think of Rahman, the experience at this concert strikes you like a nostalgic bomb.

This post is definitely a cribber. I promise you I'll avoid cribbing in the near future.

An interview

2005-08-28T01:35:00.000+05:30

OK. Had typed atleast a full-pager on my blues after listening to this song of Mukesh. Then I decided its not going to do any good and threw it out of the window. I picked up another topic instead, a self-invoked self-sustained interview of me, by me and for me. Something on the lines of Democrazy (well, the typo is intentional).

Current Crush
Music

Past Crush
Photography

Reason for the break-off with the past crush?
Spent enough time and money on her. We got very intimate at one point of time, but a long-term relationship with Photography doesn't seem to click.

Future Crush?
Waiting for her to descend from the sky, someone said her name's "Money"

How do you evaluate your relationship with the current crush?
Music has been a friend for a long time. I've tried advancing it to the next level but found myself unworthy of deserving more attention from her.

Spending time with her, listening to her makes me feel good. But I can't give her something in return. She's a miss-world and I'm a begger. Inspite of that, I consider it a God's gift to be able to appreciate the power of Music. It doesn't matter if you can't give something back, the relationship can keep going as long as you appreciate her and dwell in her surroundings.

Why do you anticipate a break-up in the current relationship?
I never said that I'm going to break-up with Music. Well, as long as you have the ability to bask in her glory and forget the travails of every-day life, you still love her. Though this relationship might end up being one-way all through, it's going to stay there till Music no longer helps me rejuvenate. Then its probably time to leave "crush"es to the wind and go in for a "long term relationship".

Then why did you name Money as your most likely crush down the line?
Life changes and priorities change. Certain aspects of life that used to infuse peace into my heart fail to continue to do so, as new thoughts come and take a seat. As someone said, thoughts play a "monkey-game" in your mind and that's exactly what's happening. But I hope this new thought is something for the better.

So you don't have strong reason?
Yes I do. I feel drained of energy at times looking at my current life, and I feel some Money can do a lot of good to it. So, my heart's pulling me towards this new attraction. L'et's see how I fair.

Is there something that you really hate?
One is smoking. The reason is not because its a bad habit. If someone smokes, let him smoke and die. If he's a friend, I'll try to disuade him from smoking. I can't do much beyond that. The problem is that they "trudge" on to the private space of people around them. It is a gross violation of the right of the neighbour's right to breathe. A violation grossy enough to "strangle" the violator to death.

Another aspect is one's indifference to little things that cause an inconvenience to others. One example is being late or making someone wait beyond the appointed time. Let me tell you. If someone does this to me, it hurts! Another exaple is parking a bike such that it becomes impossible for someone else to take his bike out. This "don't care" attitude is what I hate.

What do you like in other people?
Probably honesty comes first. I like people who speak out and speak the truth. When I ask someone for an advice, I'll like it a lot if the advice is unbiased. I know people around whose opinions are based. They are framed to be advantageous for the advisor and not to the seeker. I like it when people appreciate something good even if he internally turns green with envy.

I like people who sing well.

I like people who have a good sense of humor. Little jokes, however stinky they are, makes this world a better place to live in. You should also have the temperament to appreciate them.

What do you find lacking in your life?
I seem to be a "dabbler". I go about exploring every interesting aspect of life with the determination of an archer. Once I get somewhere within the vicinity of getting close, I loose all interest and start to wander. The interesting aspects all seem to come under the head of hobbies or "non mission-critical" - like painting, photography, music, reading etc. "Mission-critical" aspects don't seem to be attractive. By that I mean that the interest on what I do for a living it ebbing.

I lack a "vision". When I ask people how they deal with it, they say that its the same with them too and is actually "not a problem". I have no freaking idea what I want to settle in. I'll probably spend a major part of my life contributing to somethig, and I just don't know what it is, I'm right now floating on the stream of life, going with the wind and the waves. There's absolutely no sense of direction.

Well, I seem to be getting back into the blues and should be stopping aound here. Moreover, some people call this hour "ungodly". Its definitely not "ungodly" for the people in the US! So, maybe the God of the US is different from the God in India. Hmm.. looks like its true. The God of the US gives people more money and the God of India gives you mroe culture and tradition. Hmm.. The US God seems to be giving more "mission-critical" blessings to their people. I'm going nuts....

Albert Einstein

2005-08-20T19:40:00.000+05:30

This photo deserves to be here.

Fortunately, I wasn't around when he was alive.

If Einstein looked straight into my eyes, I would core dump.

What's the point?

2005-08-15T16:44:00.000+05:30

Shanmu’s recent blog touched me. Touched a hot, inflammated, infected and dreadfully painful spot in me. My heart.

For the past 2 years, my life has been a mess. No, not the mess you might be thinking of. It has actually been good. Tasty food, air-conditioned office, a nice activa that takes me around the city, good money, and as a top up, a US trip. Cool. But now that I have booked a house, I was diverted from my blissful journey to this treacherous dump. On introspection, I should say my life has been perfect, but perfect only from a blissfully ignorant buffalo’s stand-point.

Didn’t get it? Let me explain. What all ambitions does a hyderabadi buffalo have? Eat a lot of junk, laze in the middle of the highway, enrage a few people like my old boss, f*** someone nice, give birth to a little one, and die under the wheels of a Hyderabad MMTS train on its inauguration run. See, this is “not” a typical buffalo’s life. Its life had a little color in it. It’s not commonplace for a buffalo to succeed in slowing down a speeding car driven by a very special person. It’s a unique blessing bestowed by God, like my US trip. Secondly, not all buffalos get mowed by Hyderabad MMTS trains on their inauguration ceremony. It’s gotta be a special occasion, like the way I’ll one day die.

If you have been reading the above paragraph carefully, you should have noticed the point I’ve been trying to drive home. If it makes no sense, please press Ctrl-F4 and get out.

I understand that it is important to introspect one’s life and to analyze how one has led it so far. That’s generally used to improve upon the next introspection period. But just imagine the plight of a person who sees a grinning buffalo when he tries to visualize his life!

After two years of living a buffalo’s life, with some silly success under the arm-pits, the future looks bleak. I have learnt nothing in the past two years and I am totally unsure what to do. I have no interest in anything and I have no passion of any sort. I am just a floating twig in a pond. Riding the waves when there’s some wind and sitting still when there’s no wind.

According to Vivekananda and Gita, two epics in Indian history and culture, one has to aim high and yet, have no attachment to success. That’s another way of asking you not to get depressed if you don’t reach it. What’s the point fighting to reach your aim, when you are not passionate about reaching it? Like in the matrix, what the Oracle says is just what you ought to know, and might not be the whole truth. Like wise, looks like the philosophers who have been endeavoring to spread the meaning of life to the masses, actually manipulated the truth and told us what we ought to know, so that we don’t get depressed at the end. But the actual truth could as well be, that life is pointless.

Bottles and Chimney

2005-07-30T12:37:00.000+05:30

This was supposed to be my first official entry into the pub-scene. I had a mixed feeling about pubs for a long time and finally decided I'd give it a try some fine day. One of two of my dear friends found an occasion and finally me and 11 friends of mine hit the 'Bottles and Chimney" yesterday. And here I make a note of my experience.

The guy who lets people in let me in and the first thing I get to feel is a strong smell of tobacco. People who know me know very well how much I hate smokers. They make sure I don't have a loaded gun when smokers are around. When I see that the entire ambiance turned "tobaccoey", I wanted to be a suicide bomber.

Well that's a good feeling to get when you want your friday go bang for the next couple of hours. The next feeling I get, almost simultaneously with the smoke, but was underplayed as the smoke was the most revolting, is the rhythmic thump. I figured it was the dance floor and expected to see young guys and gals go nuts over a wicked DJ playing whatever DJs play.But there was nothing much of that sort - what I see are people on bar-stools and lounges with half-opened eyes savouring their favourite drink.

After a couple of shuffles, we were directed to our very own "corner". I'd prefer it to be a quiet cornor where I can sip my drink and reflect on life, but that turned out to be right next to a big speaker which was handing out a boom every second. I settled in a nice corner in the corner provided to us. Wanted to strike a conversation with friends sitting around me, but when I started trying to talk, people around started to look at my as if I had too much of drink.

The menu had a lot of stuff in it. Fascinating combinations really. My eye fell on this drink "espresso martini". Espresso because I like "good" coffee a lot and martini because I was asked to try that by one of my friends. My other friend tried to direct my attention to better martinis around, but I stuck to this one.

Sat there listening to what the DJ was playing and looked at my friends seriously surveying the menu for their favourite cocktail. A long wait bore fruits - we had some starters coming in. The starters were not really good, but I was hungry and I gobbled whatever came to my reach. A kebab that came my way was good.

Then came the drinks, each in a glass of its own shape, draped in its own colours and wierd shaped straws jutting out of the poisons. Then came my espresso martini. Wowee... zappo... that was served in a very wide and shallow conical glass, strawless, and looked really punchy. Actually, it looked very professional. Had a sip and there was some sort of fire flowing through my oesophagus and collecting in my stomach. I was having my part of the pan-galactic-gargle-blaster and immediately remembered Zaphod. I started wondering where he was and started looking out for Zaphods around. Most of them had only one head, if at all.

After some time and effort, I finished my drink and started looking around again. The place started getting smokey and for a second I thought that the gargle-blaster had started acting. The system parameters seemsed to have changed a bit and I suddenly started noticing some good-looking girls with guys around, dressed to their own taste. My thoughts wandered around the money they spend, the cars they drive and the work they do. Then my mind wandered about the work I do and I had to crush the thought like you crush an insect. Then I realized that the smoke was not because of the drink, it was some sort of smoke that they blew about to create an ambiance.

Friends invited me to check out the dance floor and shake a leg or two or three. I went there and saw a pretty "exotic" crowd. Not the usual crowd I get to see. They are dancing around to the hackneyed music the silly DJ was playing. Well, I was intoxicated and felt it would be good to shake a little. I started dancing to the best of my ability hoping that the DJ will notice me, feel touched about my enthusiasm for his music and play a better song. But maybe he didn't like the way I danced, he started playing very morose music. Yes, it was some mix of someone, and it had drums in it, but that doesn't mean that he can make me dance for any crappy song he plays. I quit and came back to my corner.

People started to have more drinks. I started chewing on some french fries and swaying my head to the music. Don't think that I was swaying my head in appreciation for the music. Swaying my head makes me feel that the world is going round and round and that was what I wanted the world to do when I have a drink.

The DJ announced his final song of the list of revolting tracks he played. I thought it was worthwhile to end this party in style and I patiently moved my hands around. After that, he goes to play another last one. This was "woh lamhey" which was kinda better and my body swayed involuntarily for the first time this evening. After that song, I decided to forgive the DJ. A friend of mine was terribly disappointed that the DJ was retiring for the day. Anyways, we started to disperse.

One of my other friends was really happy that I liked the party. He offered to **** everyone in present there as a token of thanks to my decision of liking this party. I restrained him and suggested that we will thimk it over tomorrow.

A waiter came in and producedthe bill. My friend stared at it for some considerable time. Well, everyone was rather sure that we're going to have holes in our pockets very soon.

People didn't want to go. But the police wanted. Well, obviously, the police wanted the place to be cleared so that they can sit and enjoy their drinks. We thought that was a decent request and moved out.

I had a great time driving back home. Driving at mid-night in the hyderabad roads always seemed to make me really happy. Came home and shut down my system anticipating some sort of hang-over the next morning.

Today morning, I got up earlier than usual, and as fresh as the morning air.

To conclude, Bottles and Chimney is in some sort of ways a "wicked" place. Best place to go if you 1) earn a lot 2) had a tough week at office and 3) trying to go mad.

Quotes

2005-07-07T23:42:00.000+05:30

After reading this quote, I've decided that I'm going to collect some of them that strike you straight on the face. You read them, you realize the profoundness of the quote and you go on. The rest of the day will always be brighter.

…trying to be on a diet is this incredible level of guilt that you suffer from whenever you eat anything worthwhile - Vishy.

How damn true! Attach rockets to diets and send them to mars. I happened to read this right after enjoying one of the most satisfyingly relishingly deliciously yummy pizza from dominos. And I won't even bother to give a damn if my weight goes up by a kilo.

I will keep adding quotes to this blog whenever I come across one that touches me right there.

Traffic on the golden gate

2005-05-28T12:02:00.000+05:30

Traffic on the golden gate
Originally uploaded by saisrujan.

If someone asks me to pick one photo out of all the hundreds of photos I have taken in the US, so that it best represents the brighter side of the US, I would pick this one up with closed eyes.

A massive bridge, called the golden gate. A classy suspension bridge represents the engineering spirit of this nation. The six-lane motor-way represents the infrastructural superiority of the nation. Cars and trucks going in a straight line behind each other in each lane represent the orderliness. The speed limit sign-board represents the discipline of the nation.

Now, I haven't ventured the darker side of the nation. If I could've taken this snap from a little-height, you would have noticed the toll-booth. Even though the toll charges are high, I am not complaining about that. A few minutes after we payed the toll and rode away, a guy came in a stolen car and shot at a toll-collector because she tried to stop him.

Think about it...

Yippie... here's my Digicam

2005-05-13T07:35:00.000+05:30

Picture 015
Originally uploaded by saisrujan.

Am I proud of it... Trying my first blog after taking an account at Flickr. Let's see how this goes. As you know friends, the activity on the blog is inversely proportional to the amount of work I have. So, please pray to God that I get some free time everyday atleast to upload photos online!

Creativity and its tools

2005-02-18T22:36:00.000+05:30

I saw the following signature in some photo forum

"Great poem... which pen did you use?
Great curry... which pan did you use?
Great photo... which camera did you use?"

Well... in essense, all the three statements go totally together... three creative products and the tools used to make them.

There... don't hastily conclude that the camera is the most unimportant part of the creative process of photography. My question is, if you have a leaking pen or a pen that's snaggy, will the poem come out great? Do you make a good curry if your pan is too shallow or if a coat of the pan gets mixed into the curry?

So, to correct, the camera is also quite important. It should have the features to actually help you in the creative process. I like macro photography and unfortunately, the camera I currently use is extremely bad at macro. Actually, the lens doesn't have a macro facility at all! I also like to have a good telephoto feature and my lens goes to a measly 80mm.

So, to quench my creative thrust, I will atleast need a Tamron 70-300mm LD 1:2 Macro. I will be glad if someone out there gifts that to me. But then, it costs a damn Rs.7500. I wonder what I should do.

Gawd. please help me.

There they go

2005-02-13T01:33:00.000+05:30

Some of my fans ;) wanted me to talk about my photography. So, here they are, a series of snaps I wanted to talk about. Well, I should have just talked about them, but I seem to have "reviewed" them unintentionally. I should have just left them there for people to see.

Self portait

2005-02-13T01:18:00.000+05:30

Me

I felt it would be worth it to add a snap of my own. The clinching point is obvious here... it's me who's taking the snap. The shutter was at probably half-a-second and observers will see a bit of a camera shake. The objective of this snap was not to shoot myself, but to record the ambience I was in, when I stayed at this Hotel in Delhi. Yes, the room has an AC and it works, but boy! Was Delhi simmering! That takes me back to the initial photo I had posted in the blog. The question is, what is the photographer's role in human life? I have three options I can see now

To record the facts the way they are and to put in evry effort to get the observer feel the picture in its true sense
Glorify the world around us using techniques in photography and to project the beautiful part of life, blissfully ignoring the pain and suffering
Project the photographic knowledge and skill the photographer has acquired and put in efforts to make his photos a piece of art, regardless of what is being shown and how it is being shown

It is left to whoever reads this to suggest me the path I am supposed to take.

2005-02-13T01:10:00.001+05:30

A sunrise at Shirdi

Aah... see the fog on the bottom left corner? This was the shot from our hotel window at Shirdi. Was it an amazing sunrise... I just love pictures like these. Now, there's another point why I placed both sunrise and sunset shots next to each other in the blog. That's because I wanted to note that sunsets are a bit warmer than sunrises, and that the sky generally remains clear at sunrise and you generally see more cloud activity during sunsets.

A sunset at Kurnool

2005-02-13T01:10:00.000+05:30

A sunset at Kurnool

There's nothing much I'd want to say about this snap, except that I had hoped the camera woud expose the Tungabhadra river a bit better. Please look carefully at the bottom-left corner of the photo. Do you see a streak of yellow light going almost through the photo? That's the tungabhadra.

The moon

2005-02-13T01:03:00.000+05:30

The moon

This is one of my older attempts. The exposure was for some 2 seconds and it was taken at 80mm, the telephoto end of my lens, all hand-held. The picture is of-course cropped. There's nothing much I can talk about this snap, expect that I metered on one of those clouds that is right next to the moon, to the right. As you can see, the clouds are almost at 50% grey, the moon quite over-exposed and well, the ambience, coming out pretty well. What could I do better with this snap? Well, I need a 400mm telephoto lens and a tripod. Then I will have a chance to show you how beautiful the moon looks like from the top of our apartment.

Saibaba temple at Kurnool

2005-02-13T00:58:00.000+05:30

Saibaba temple at Kurnool. ]

Now, in contrast, this is technically a better image. The sky looks good, there's enough light on the subject and the coolest thing is that there is some detail on the gopura too. Frankly, I didn't know what settings to use, since the subject is not flat. Also, in reference to the previous shot, time was precious here since the sky was getting darker every second. I put it on auto-landscape, requested a parapet wall to act as a tripod and shot it. I really love the way the camera really analyses the scene and tries its best to keep as many things as possible well exposed. And so, here it is!

One of my initial night-shots

2005-02-13T00:50:00.000+05:30

Here's a photo I had taken when I initially bought my new SLR.

OK. So, I had taken this snap from the shabby roof-top of a hotel in Lakdi Ka Pul. I had taken my new SLR and started to experiment with it. When I see a snap, I immediately ask what could have been done better with this. The first thing is to note down the damn shutter and aperture so that I can analyse it better. But the way things have it, I never do it and the camera doesn't help me store them either.

After the lament, I'd say I like this snap quite a lot. I initially thought that the temple itself was terribly over-exposed. But then, if I meter for the temple, I wouldn't really get any ambience. Initially, I didn't have the experience to make sure that the subject and background should not have a brightness difference more than 2 f-stops. But I waited longer than I should have. Resultantly, the camera, in its good sense, felt that the ambience was quite important in this picture and eventually over-exposed the temple. Doesn't matter.

Shakti - Set the stage on Fire

2005-01-26T15:14:00.000+05:30

To start with, Shakti is a fusion team which has been in and out of existance from the 1970s, undergoing nothing less than metamorphoses (the plural). The current Shakti team comprised out Zakir Hussain, Srinivas (better known as Mandolin Srinivas), Shankar Mahadevan, John McLaughlin and Selva Ganesh. They're touring India and on Sunday, 23rd Jan, they performed in Lalitha Kala Thoranam, Public Gardens.
The show started around 45 minutes late, which was attributed to the delay in frisking the artists from Mumbai to Hyderabad. They performed for around 2.5 hours, and the performance, simply put, was extra-ordinary.

I should say I was exhausted after the two-hour show because of the strenuous clapping at the end of each song. But I have no idea how Zakir Hussain could keep up hitting the tabla for almost the entire two-hour show. And man, he doesn't play it as slow as you would think. He's amazingly fast, and once in a while, the quality of the speakers wasn't good enough to match the speed. The bits merged together in a frenzy driving us mad. Zakir is also famous for the improvizations he does, playing notes with his tabla perfoming a jugal bandi with the mandolin and guitar.

Though I missed the violin of Shankar, we had our own Srinivas with his mandolin. The mandolin is like a guitar, the difference being that the sound is a bit more sonorous and sustains longer. Initially, I was not very impressed with the sound of this instrument, and had a lump in my throat for missing the violin. But Srinivas unleashed his provess in one particular song with a little help from Zakir and the crowd started swaying. From a slow strum to frenzied very high-pitch notes, each bit was impeccable. We were amazed at the control he showed when playing at blazing speeds.

I have no idea if Shankar Mahadevan is a part of the team or if he was invited to fill a vacant position. But to me, it looked like Shankar Mahadevan spent quite some time practicing with the other members of the team. Shankar merged his voice with the mandolin and guitar and the blended sound was a real melody. Me and many of my friends have a misconception that for melody, you need to have the song paced moderately low. But Shankar Mahadevan plays with the swaras really fast and keeps each sound distint from the other. Shankar walked out of the show midway to let the instrumentalists take over and returned back towards the end, releasing another torrent of swaras, stimulating our senses and throwing us wild. But I felt that Shankar didn't perform to the very best of his abilities in this show.

"Pundit" John McLaughlin, as Zakir Hussain introduced him, is a world renowned Guitarist, with several solo hit albums to his name. He took special intrerest in Indian Classical and really moves the crowd with his guitar playing karnatic and hindustani classical. Out of all the members, I felt John preferred slow and swaying music with some special effects from his electric guitar. The way he played "Lotus feet" was so mesmerising that you would close your eyes and float about in a green landscape filled with lots of colourful flowers. Yes, you can say I am imagining things, but if a music can induce such imagination, then this world seriously needs such music.

Selva Ganesh is famous for his Kanjira, but he played more of his Ghatam and Mridangam today. He was accompanying Zakir most of the time, and we didn't have an opportunity to appreciate his abilities as it was hard for us to distunguish the sounds of tabla and mridangam. But Selva Ganesh took some time and granted a solo performance, which was totally out-standing. His rather loud-mridangam kept on going throwing the crowd into waves of applause.

Another major disappointment was the absence of Pundit Hariprasad Chaurasia with his flute (or since he plays a lot of hindustani classical - bansuri). He's another great musician this team has as an asset, but couldn't accompany the team due to reasons best known to the team.

For more than two hours, the best musicians India has taken a modest crowd for a ride over beautiful landscapes and mercilessly threw us back in the mundane world we belonged to. For two hours, we were in extacy and it finally has to come to an end. One marked quality of this team is the speed. They play it so fast that you keep swaying. It is not the usual musical concert where the performers play it at normal speeds, but display perfection in what they play. The Shakti team has crossed all these little goals and have grown much beyond the basic classical music.

The way they have created this fusion music with title "Shakti" really sets the stage on fire and the crowd is picked up by the resulting hurricane. I really wished the performance could last longer, as it landed us back into our mundane world with a visible "thump".

Ipromised myself that If there are more shows of this kind and I get to know of it, I wouldn't miss it for anything in this world.

Swades - My kinda' review

2004-12-18T18:16:00.000+05:30

This movie indeed was a unique experience - not really because the director did his job well, but because of the circumstances that make watching this movie special.

Employees of Oracle have come out with a new club, called the "movie" club. Their job, looking out for hot movies, liasing with the theatre owners to get bulk tickets, selling them to Oracle employees at a premium rate and using the surplus money for charity.

It happened that now this club has caught up with a theatre "Sensation Insomnia" - Boy! what a name! - for showing us Swades. The actual price of the ticket was Rs.45 and we paid Rs.110 each for it. They sold out all the tickets and collected Rs.15000 for charity.

It was announced that the movie would start at 12:30pm. But the morning paper says that the movie is at 12:00pm, which confused me. Amid the confusion, I reached the theatre at 12:10pm with great expections and heard that the movie was just starting. I frantically ran into the theatre and could see nothing but the screen. People who know me also know that my eyes take quite a bit of time to open up their aperture to allow more light. How nice would it have been if we had varied ISO settings for our cornea, the way the latest digital cameras have!

OK. I just sat there and started watching the movie. I don't really want to spend time giving the details of the story or making critical remarks about the movie. The websites will be full of such information very soon.

My collegues came in on their own time, their instinct saying that if the movie is at 12:30pm, it would actually start at 12:45pm and in the mean-time, the theatre guys will show some advertisements or documentaries for the bakras that chose to come in early. They were disappointed to hear that they had lost half-an-hour of movie.

This 3 hour 20 minute movie went on at a leisurely pace with interesting background music, photography and an interesting way the story was told. Sharukh was as always, at his best, and the heroine, don't ask me her name, was as good as Gauri in Lagaan. Neat and good-looking.

The movie had an anti-climax, probably just for us. They cut 1/2 rolls of the film and dropped on the credits so abruptly that we were sitting in our chairs with eyes popping out and jaws sagging. The theatre guy was apparently bad at time management. But to get enrolled in a "time management" course, he should be working as a software engineer. And if he were a software engineer, he would be one of the spectators who had popped out eyes and sagging jaws.

Disappointed again at the anti-climax, we came out of the movie cheering each other up. Here are a list of conclusions that really bother me.

We paid around 230% the actual price of the ticket
We missed the start
We missed a reel or two which apparently consisted of one of my favourite songs "Aahista Aahista"
We missed the ending

After all this, a point to be noted is that I say that the movie is fairly good. Extrapolating the perception to the point where everything goes well, I think we end up saying that it is a pretty good movie.

I wouldn't advise you to watch it simply because it is not my business, unless you ask.

Eat Street

2004-12-05T19:29:00.000+05:30

Had a chance to go to this beautiful place for a birthday party last Friday, with a dozen of my revelling friends cum collegues. You should understand that this place was "special" now that you see it on my blog.

This place sits lazily on the banks of Hussain Sagar, almost opposite to Tank Bund. From the outside, it has a huge wall like a jail's and an entrance arch, which was also like a jail's entrance, expect for the neon lights that spelled out the name of the taurant. I wondered why a restaurant is supposed to be so big, and why it was called a street! OK. Shelled out 3 bucks and parked my Activa, and slipping my bare hands into my jacket's pockets (the evening was a bit on the colder side), stalked into the entrace carefully, glancing at a couple of good looking girls.

I got in, and after a couple of scans of the surroundings, my optical person recognizer spotted my collegues, who had landed there earlier in a car. Bang them, they would not have felt any of the cold sitting in the cozy car. Well, now it was time to look around to see what the place looked like and woallah! How the hell should I describe it... it was like a queue of branded food-stores - coffee day, pizza hut, ohris, baker's inn, subway etc. etc... all lined up, inviting you.

After we got a big table set up for us, we went in and got lots of stuff to eat from all these places. No one really had anything normal... like rotis or curries or biryanis, everyone was gorging on junk. So did I. Had lots of junk... rolls, chat, jilebis, mirchi bajjis, pizzas, chole bature etc.

Did I tell you that this was on the banks of the hussain sagar? At around 11pm, we were still hanging around, and then, God gifted us an excellent moon-rise. Over the lake, and just over a line of lights, there stood, as majestic as a white elephant, a huge crescent. It was not white, it was actually brown. How I missed my camera! Well, if only people had told me about the party a day before!

With the moon-rise, people started revelling and going out of gear. We slowly moved out of Eat Street, were back on the street, took my bike out and drove through the deserted roads of Hyderabad. Well, that's another experience to write about, and is clearly out of scope of this topic.

Time

2004-11-04T22:15:00.000+05:30

This world is a mysterious place. There's mystery everywhere. And surely, Almighty has provided a way of "closing" each mystery. God allows us either to crack it or forget it. And God, in his inimitable way, has provided the privilege of controlling all this to a shrewd, unscrupulous, merciless dictator-for-life called Time. This guy, Time, keeps this powerful weapon under his ass, and uses it according to his whim and fancy. I thought I'll write about this guy "Time" today because around two days back, people forced me to see a flash animation describing the characteristics of this wierdo.

This guy, Time, is trust-worthy at times. He has a sureshot answer about how and when a mystery will be solved. Take a look at the most recent biggie - the unfathomable mystery. This world had its sleepy eye turned towards a very excited country - The United States of America, to see how they decide who's going to lead that helluva place. I do not know what implications the result of this mystery has to each dog and cat in this world, but for me, it matters a lot. Bush is boring, we already had 4 years of him. But I don't like this guy Kerry. That's just because I don't know this guy. And I hope neither of the two become the President of the pigsty. But Time smiled at me and said, "One of those two is going to be the President, and you will have to wait till Nov 3, 2004 to know. Yes, I trust Time. I know that when he says something, it's going to happen, exactly the way he said it. You must be aware of the fact that one of the two did, to my surprise and horror, become the President.

I thought I could trust Time to keep me posted on all the things I consider important. But let me tell you, Time knows how to hurt you in such a way as to maximise the pain and optimize the anguish. I just asked him when I will be able to get my hands on my new mobile and what model would that be. Time gave his dreaded smile and said, "You figure that out!". I call that injustice. It is unfair to cut me off when I make a self-less request such as this. I have not asked for my soul-mate. I've just asked for a cell-phone to give some company to my trouser-pocket for a few hours each day. I have no idea why he doesn't let me get my hands on any clues on this.

In another few minutes, Time would give that horrible smile again and let me know that I better leave office and hit the road. But why do I have to obey his orders? He doesn't seem to be going around with a whip. But, he still controls my life in a clever way.

Here's my request to every one who's reading this blog. Please let me know if Time has ever told you which mobile I will buy. I also be glad if someone can give me an idea as to how we can lock this trouble-maker in some prison for a few yea... aah... there you are. I know how Time is controlling me. I can not live without Time. Aw... I hate him, but I can not live without him. But when you can not live without someone, people say that its Love. So, what's this Love-Hate paradox?

I am confused...

^$%^&&%^^$#$^

Segmentation fault. Core dumped.
$ _

My first photo over blogger

2004-08-15T18:01:00.000+05:30

My hotel room at Delhi

Actually, notwithstanding the fact that I am a so called software engineer, I felt intimidated by people asking me to use HTML to display your snaps, by pointing to a place where you have your snap online. So, I installed this Picasa and Hello clients. So far so good.

You may ask this question - of all the damn pictures, why this one? That is simply because with this I wanted to discuss my hobby - photography. Don't have much time. Will modify this soon. Keep checking this place out.

Delhi Memoirs

2004-08-01T23:08:00.000+05:30

Don’t panic. I am not going to put in what you might want to call – an detailed account of my journey. All I want to record here are my little experiences, which eventually prove that Delhi is not entirely unlike the good old India.

It was around 3 years back that I had the privilege of visiting Delhi along with my class mates – a better word would be friends). We had a letter from some minister then, to get cheap cum deluxe accommodation at the Western Court, a huge whitish building with a pre-independence type architecture. The good things – nice food (I have no idea why my friends hated it) and a geyser that spewed out steaming-hot water 24-hrs a day. All 18 of us crammed into 2 rooms and it was fun.

This time over, the situation was glaringly different. This time, I put up at the Hans Plaza, a 15-minute walk from the Western Court. The deluxe room thankfully had a centralized air-conditioning. I will try to add a webcam-snapshot of a photo of the room I had taken there.
Lunch was unsavory and loathsome. Another difference I see is the climate. The first visit was in early February and it was very cold and dry then. Now, in late July, it was surprisingly hot and humid. I guess now you know why I used the word “thankfully” when I mentioned about the air-conditioning. The good thing is that the steaming-hot water is still there.

My relatives later joined me and the things started to run fine since then. But there is one important episode I wanted to talk about here. I arranged for a tourist bus to collect us from our hotel for a trip to Taj Mahal and its adjoining places of Interest, and this proved to be a real “experience” in every sense.

The attitude of the people is not as impeccable as the roads of Delhi:
First thing I noticed as soon as I stepped out of the Domestic Terminal of Delhi airport was that the roads were good and wide and people had good traffic sense. People were driving about in an orderly fashion and the front-seaters had their seat-belts on. I got myself into believing that the people of Delhi had “grown up”. This misconception did not last long. The guy who was pleased to book tickets for my for the Agra tour promised to pick us up at 7 AM sharp and to deposit us back at our hotel by 10 PM sharp. He picked us up at 7:30 AM sharp and dropped us back at 2:15 AM sharp the next day!

The buzzword of Hyderabadis is “Chalta Hai” and that of Delhi is “To Kya Hua?”
Certain south-Indian individuals were visibly unhappy about certain co-passengers not showing any time-sense. These so-called co-passengers saw something of interest during their walk and they came back to their bus 10 minutes after scheduled departure time. The enraged south-indiam, interestingly, a tamilian who was didn’t get to learn much Hindi started shaking with rage as soon as he saw these nonchalant Dilliwala get into the bus.
“Are bhai… kya problem hai… kitna time leta hai”
“Sirji.. Shant ho jao… bhait jao”
“What bhait jao… kya…. See how many passengers are waiting..”
“To?”
“To kya… time pe aana maalum nai kya”
“Thodi si deri ho gayi. Bas… ab teek hai na”
“What ab teek hai na… night ko late ho jayega… small children hai… you people don’t understand.. late kyoo hua?”
“Kuch zaroori kaam tha bhayya… thodi si late ho gayi… to kya hua?”
“To kya hua… some time sense hona hai…”
“Sirji… mera dimag mat khao… bhait jayiye.. please”
“…”
“Bas sirju…. “

Visiting time is directly proportional to commission
There are three places to see in Agra… the fort, the Taj Mahal and a handicrafts shop displaying so-called genuine marble work Visiting time for Agra fort – 40 min. Visiting time for Taj Mahal – One-and-a-half hours. Visiting time to this shop – 15 minutes, extended to two hours!

All Bengalis are the same
My co-passinjaar in this bus baaz a Bengali. He barks as a secret agent for the Home ministry. He was awarded as one of north-India’s greatest Astrologers. A little catalyst provided in the form of a question triggered an exo-sonic reaction which produced a tedious series of words extending for hours regarding things that interest me and things that don’t. He opened this Kashmiri carpet of his life in front of me, carefully avoiding details of his work. After thinking for a while as to how to stop this exo-sonic reaction, I hit upon this very good idea. I pretended to fall asleep. The reaction stopped and he went to sleep instead (he might have pretended too for some reason… I don’t care). Seeing him apparently asleep, I wondered what were the reactants in this chemical reaction.

Size does matter – the size of the wallet
The last place we visited was Vrindavan. Legend says that it is here that Krishna spent his childhood enchanting and protecting the villagers around. After a painfully long blabber about how lucky we were in being able to set foot on the same land as Krishna once graced, our guide, in his own style of Hindi, ushered us into the main temple. The little idle of Krishna was indeed enchanting. But all the happiness you might ever get by taking a Darshan of this marvelous idol was marred by the priests, whose only business seemed to get money out of our pockets to run some old-age home or old-cow home. The chief target were foreigners. That's the reason why size does matter.

Looks like I am ending abruptly, but I can only conclude that I have seen a good amount of real India. I’d like to write more of it, but its getting late and I need to hit bed for a long day at work. So, signing off….

"Ha...Bhai...Ha..." - the Coldarin saga

2004-07-07T22:52:00.000+05:30

I opened my eyes today morning and felt just the way Arthur Dent once felt in the dreaded Heart-of-Gold when in its improbability drive. My head was shaking like a space-craft being hit by a blast-o-presto. The pain resembled a hangover of having 10 awful bottles of the blasted gargle-blaster.

I recovered very quickly, as the Woosters generally do and prepared myself to relish one of Jeeve’s trademark pick-me-ups. My mom very generously made some ginger tea for me, making sure of adding extra-pint of ginger to make sure the explosions inside my head resulting out of drinking the liquid has the desired effect.

I had got out of bed before tea to complete my brushing ritual, but the noise inside my head prevented me from adding other things to my list of worries, and these other things started to tap me all over to grab my attention. Each part of my body registered pain in my brain, which was pre-occupied with other worries.

Nevertheless, the enthusiasm of reading a newspaper pumped some eager blood into my limp feet and I looked around with half-open eyes for the paper. As soon as I opened page 1 and saw the face of the stinking Lalloo, my mouth opened and took in a gallon of air. Within a second, my body compressed all the air, turned my nose and mouth into a triple-barrel air gun and then blasted away. The outburst of energy didn’t stop with that. It played havoc. My eyeballs protruded out as if suffering from the second type of Goiter. Both my hands started to feel as if the blood vessels running inside were pulled out to make a violin or to be used as the string for a medieval Indian’s bow.

My dad heard the blast from the triple-barrel air-gun and came for my rescue. Looking at my half-popped eyes and seeing me clutching both my hands together to ensure that the blood vessels inside them don’t snap, asked me if I had cold, if I had head-ache and if I had body-pains. That’s when I said “Ha…bhai…ha”.

It was then that he wished me good morning.

CB Naidu and RS Reddy

2004-07-02T09:12:00.000+05:30

This was the latest circular pasted on the notice board of my apartment - "We are unable to provide 24 hr running water since we don't have enough water underground. This is because we did not have enough rains on time and also because we do not have any water-harvesting infrastructure in the complex. We request residents of Srila Towers experienced in water-harvesting techniques to help us design a good water-harvesting system. This project would be started immediately so that we ensure better underground water at least by next summer'.

When Chandrababu Naidu, CB Naidu as he's better known in international circles, was talking about the so called water-harvesting and pushed HUDA to set up regulations to make this compulsory in every structure raising on Hyderabad soil, there was a hue and cry. Now, after CB Naidu was bundled out of the CM's office, people realize the importance of his words.

Technology is not something that caters only to the high-strata of society. The cause of Science and Technology is to make life easier and more enjoyable. Naidu tried to use Information Technology in trying to make varied information accessible to general public, but people were not ready for it. His was a long term plan, which, when allowed to progress the way it has been, would have made life easier for everyone in the State and would also help Naidu increase his personal bank balance ten-fold.

Well, for all those who say, "Naidu was a corrupt politician", please also go on to say if Rajasekhara Reddy is any better. If Naidu is good at making PowerPoint presentations, Reddy is good at shedding tears without glycerin. Maybe he took special training from old NTR, we never know. One of Reddy's statements when in power was that "Naidu is a puppet in the hands of the World Bank". World Bank has been so generous to have funded several projects in AP and has the right to make suggestions and to take actions whenever deemed necessary - whenever it feels that the fund is not being invested the way they would want it to be. And when a suggestion made is cogent and convincing, a wise man always values the suggestion and implements it. Newspapers today reported a statement from Manmohan Singh about Naidu "Naidu has done a good job in some areas and he will always be remembered for that". Please let me know if I am missing something here.

Politicians in India have always been corrupt and upliftment of self will always be prioritized over upliftment of the poor. As a general statement, I support the idea of prioritizing your own development before thinking about developing others. But politicians exploit their position to expedite their development at the expense of other unfortunate sections of society and I don’t think there is any one living, who can provide a solution to resolve this.

I feel that if Reddy is given a chance to enjoy a full term at office, which looks inevitable, he will rollback everything done by Naidu and leave AP the way it was 10 years ago - struggling with extreme financial debt and lack of development. And please do not give me President Abdul Kalam's fascinating speeches. He is doing his job - giving a speech and I am doing mine - writing a blog.

The Cyberabad Police

2004-06-29T22:13:00.000+05:30

The Times of India is an interesting newspaper. Highlights the humorous side of human species much better than any other newspapers... the reason, its a hyderabadi paper! True to the word. hyderabadi characters are more caricaturish than anyone else in the world.

Best example... the police. Annoyed that people are giving a damn to them on the road (yes I did last sunday where I jumped red signal and zoomed through on my Activa ;-) even when the cop was helplessly whistling his lungs out), they take revenge, do a two-day exercise shutting down all shops and hotels, the same way viruses crash Windows machines!

Two days down the line, they extend the damn dead-line and take rest. The commissioner gets into the limelight, and cops are happy coz they're getting noticed.

Hyderabadi police might have successfully arrested dancers from pubs and might have managed to have them dance in their offices. But they will surely not be able to control the traffic here. Hyderabad is so unique that people have the traffic sense of Kolkatans and have roads like in California. There's a new entrant in the 'endangered species' list - the hyderabadi doggy. Maneuvering through the rotting corpses of these unfortunate beings during the day time gives you a good idea.

Driving in the night will give you a bad idea instead. Then the rule of majority makes you the unfortunate victim. Dogs will enjoy chasing your a** till you bite the dust. You will not just bite the dust, but will also have to swallow the fact that a few critical bones on your body are beyond broken.

If something of this sort happens, you will get a lot of gawkers and a much needed helping hand is hard to be seen.

Post-script:
The pusillanimous perpetration of the police on the poor public by purging the pubs of pretty phemales is a perfect paradigm for a pitifully petite perspective. Perplexed?

Cribber's Corner

2004-06-27T18:02:00.000+05:30

Ahem! I might be kinda cranky in my first blog. Even engines need a few seconds to get their lub system going. Especially if it is the first time the engine chose to start.

For now, I'd want to touch upon my heading.. yeah. The issue about cribbing in the blog. Yes, I understand that it is hard to find a person who'll sit with you and support you while you sit and crib. So, you open a blog account and type out everything and post it on the internet. Is this the way out? All I want to ask is... do you get your piece of peace when you criblog?

No answers yet. Silence. I remember a saying "maunam ardhangikaram". So, I take it that the answer is half-yes. So, without cribbing further, I take it that blogging can be used for cribbing.

And cribbing can be fun when you make it humorous. But since I am feeling sleepy, yeah, dontya see... I am yawning. let me sign off.

Wish me all the best.