Sunder Kaand

Perils of Gaining Knowledge

2011-08-01T19:41:00.004+05:30

I am back in the blogging circle after year and a half. Reasons are not so trivial. There have been many things that happened that I possibly can neither put here in brief nor justify the absence with something substantial.

I would like to put the perspective directly. Pardon me for speaking in indirect references or pronouns but diplomacy is what I have learned from this journey. I am on the drive which is 'supposed' to lead me to a Career that encircles Knowledge. But sadly, the experience has been a Real Education. Although it has not been a complete disaster, but the administrators of knowledge, my fellow participants and the system overall have been a Big Disappointment.

I would create the caricatures of the participants to narrate the story in brief. The battle is between these three candidates - The Knowledge Keepers, The Fellow Participants & The Administrators, all encompassed in a Sphere of Time. Those who have experienced what I have, will readily identify the caricatures. The one who cannot, can take any perimeter which calls itself to impart knowledge. समजदार को इशारा काफी है |

From the entry, I found that "junta" does not speak their mind. Most do not even use it (lol)! No one cares about new ideas. No one wants even to discuss. There is an underlying awe and skepticism even with your peers. The funny part is, amidst awe and I-did-not-understand-that attitude, there is cribbing. Everybody speaks about the need for change in the system, no one likes to lead or even follow(when some one takes the lead(read me)). Why is it so at this stage or age is beyond my comprehension.

Often I stopped to think, why are The Keepers imparting knowledge and what is their Purpose. I pondered around this question and I am yet to conclude. All are aware of the system but apparently do not know how to ready me & My Fellow Participants. Average days have been in doing the routine with no specific direction. I am pretty sure, one will only land at the sought after destination by coincidence. Though a Spoon Feeding is not expected, but there is serious lack of Diet that is required for the Competitive Edge. Overall The Keepers are a lot that are ignorant and need to get real for the real world.

The next lot are my Fellow Participants. I see most of them do not have sense of spirit for path breaking work in Science. Most are doing their time like a felon. Some are escaping from parents' badgering. Some are vary about future, some are oblivion that there exists a future. Some are sure about the Future but are unwilling to gallop the path and some are mere escapist. Some are vagabonds and some are careless. Many are with a sense of responsibility with no protocols and many are ignorant about their actions cause others' their precious time and energy. Overall a funny lot.

The Administrators are the Invisible Puppet Masters. They lay the rules as Totalitarian but it actually servers vested interest of few. They have put the system in an infinite loop with no pause that there can be no room for change from the periphery. The design of the system is not that bad, but no system is perfect. Once designed it starts evolving. The Administrators have to keep probing, reckoning and then progress it. Often the faults & loopholes of systems can be revealed when it is up in work mode and that is the time it needs most of the time to refurbish. All this requires is a constant check and passion to drive towards best. Many organizations (govt./private) all over the world follow a model that gives it a space to keep such checks. But, sadly I did not see that initiative. More or less it is like BMC's road development authority. Overall The Administrators are the Oblivion.

I am muddled amongst these Caricature. All I can conclude is to use the three pieces in such a manner that I will make the most of it. Happy to vent out for a relief and will be back on more things about many things later....

A Wide Reckoning of Narrowed Entertainment

2010-01-23T04:03:00.005+05:30

Why do humans need entertainment? Any guesses...? Well, frankly no one can say why we need it. Perhaps we can answer the question why we get bored? Any guesses...? No? So it is a vicious pair huh! Perhaps some viewers can guess why I am asking this question! Meanwhile, I tried to google about Animal kingdom sans Humans and found that Animals (Terrestrial, Aerial, Amphibious & Aquatic) don’t get bored. They do relax, obviously after they had their meals but don’t get bored and do not hence seek for entertainment. The young ones till they are young do play and have fun but there is no boring time to do time pass or seek entertainment per se.

Entertainment, recreation, time-pass or whatever, we all want some during the day. Forms of entertainments could be different for different people. Well, this posting is no lecture on forms of entertainment and people’s choice. This posting is about entertainment’s one form – cinema/tv where actually we can choose from what is offered and not mend it according to your wish (like book reading or driving et al). Reason to talk about this form is because of its power. It is not just an entertainment but actually A Very Powerful Medium. A medium that can transform thought process which I must admit A Book or all Best Seller Writers put together cannot. The screen is mightier than the pen.

The medium’s main advantage is 1 to n correspondence, simultaneously(oops! Sorry for a tiny mathematical expression). It is also debatable that whether entertainment should be something that gives you relaxed thought process or organize your thoughts or just make you thoughtless. Hence it is debatable just because cinema/tv is a medium that is far reaching & hence should it be used only as message or just recreation that produces void space in our mind.

By separating the notion of engagement and enrichment from that of entertainment, we seem to be acknowledging that the idea of entertainment today is one that excludes all forms of thoughtfulness. The word entertainment seems to be contained entirely in the idea of amusement, diversion and distraction, and needs to be supplemented with other descriptions when we want to connote any use of the mind.

While diversion is without question a critical ingredient of entertainment, it is by no means an exhaustive definition. To be entertained is for ones mind to be agreeably occupied as one dictionary puts it. Thus just as watching a Govinda movie is entertaining (although one could argue that here the mind is kept agreeably vacant), so is solving a crossword puzzle, listening to an inspired comic, reading a good book, going to the opera or listening to classical music. But implicit definition for the today’s times is such that any activity that calls for application of mind defines work of some kind and hence definition of entertainment has been redefined as an idea of amusement, diversion and distraction.

Add to this technology coming to rescue. Sometimes I feel most of the technology (I would argue that up to 60% at least) is just meant for the world of entertainment which actually makes entertainment quickly accessible, provide a high degree of sensory stimulation, and keep us from actively doing something else. Like iPod, Walkman, Discman, FM Radio, et al. That means the best minds who work for Apple, Xbox, Playstation, Sony, Samsung etc are working on such problems that do not exist or for people who really have no problems. I mean who is actually worrying for not having iPod before it was created? Ironically this culture present in any society means it is ‘Advanced’, i.e. it has an advanced form of entertainment. The other day there was an article about Google's new phone 'Nexus' not coming to India any soon. Hoosh! What a concern? Present day engagement of twitter, blogging and networking sites where people would like to expose everything about themselves but would like privacy when they get a seat in the train or bus(ironic once again) is another form of entertainment.

To be entertained today, one must be passive, and surrender entirely to the experience. It sounds yogic! The mind must be idle in neutral and yet be able to enjoy what is thrown at it, & any effort on its part means that entertainment is gone. The argument is market (read acceptability) for sense and sensibility exists in a small percentage but otherwise it is mindlessness all the way. I have often observed that most of them enjoy that form of entertainment where the thought process is arrested, jailed, paused, paralyzed or completely made non-existing after the so called hard day of work but not punished; as they think so, by making it work again. No thought and sensory stimulation equals entertainment. No wonder this thoughtlessness has put creativity on the back stage. Once my closest pal said that, “just like not everyone can be 1st ranker in a class so there can’t be many best creations of entertainment”. That is another thoughtless behavior.

Life today substantially is “live today because tomorrow may not come”! Boloney! Optimism is all about waiting for that tomorrow. But revelers are neither Optimistic nor Pessimistic. They are stateless and voluntarily mindless. It is strange that all animals are born with organs or adapting capability to survive except humans. What we can do is a little of everything that many animals do, we can swim, climb, hop, run, see et al and although we are not the best in everything where we lack the ability to become the best we mastered it with our intelligence, that is by using our mind. And now whether we all use it or not, the state when actually we are not using it is the state we all seek most of the times now a days. Even many forms of meditations from Martial Art to Yoga to any act of discipline as such insist on bringing the mind to that state. Does it mean we are becoming animals of other form by not making mind to work for a while? Hmm… Should I think about it? :P

ALTER EGOS!

2009-12-31T14:08:00.002+05:30

Most of us often spend time in becoming what we are not and forget who we actually are. Well, I do not mean by profession but by person. I have comic examples for that, He-man, Spiderman & Superman et al! Taking my favorites it is clear that He-man in his non superhero form is Prince Adams, Spiderman is Peter Parker and Superman is Clark Kent. These three characters are really interesting to speak. No! I would not narrate any episode, but the characters I am talking about.

Peter Parker’s alter ego is Spiderman, meaning Peter Parker when he goes to bed wakes up as Peter Parker but becomes Spiderman when his city denizens are in trouble. I wonder why he wears a mask when he is doing nothing wrong. Why a superhero has to anyway? Superman’s alter ego is Clark Kent. Superman hides himself as Clark Kent and not the other way around. Though Superman hardly has a mask (it is arguable enough that what he conceals and what he doesn’t and what he should or shouldn’t) He-man is from the world of space age and fairy-tale magic. He becomes so from Prince Adam with the only change is in his color and baritone voice.

My curiosity lies in these comic characters. In a way the creators create a form of life that is so believable that as a kid we all (at least I was) wanted to meet them and let them solve our problems or most of the time we wanted to become them. Becoming a superhero would be any kid’s (mostly boys) dream. Why? Well the sense of not being what we actually are is an amazing high. This psychology gets so engraved that as we grow we start identifying that alter ego in many different aspects, such as Profession, the kind of spouse we want, the house we would like to live in or the car we like to buy. How often in our school days (10th of 12th) we have been showered with this question – What do you want to become in life? And now we either would like to chase the alter ego or ask for options or some need more time to identify their alter ego. Or when the right age of marriage comes along – What kind of spouse you would like or when are you getting married? And once again the idea of perfect spouse meant for us backed with poems, people, movies or phrases such as “some one some where is made for you” fuels the thought of chasing the alter ego.

As we grow, the superheroes or alter egos change. The same roles are identified by us in our elders or bosses or colleagues or friends or perhaps media caricatures. Some how we want to set ourselves free from what we are born as. The logic trickles to our appearance too. Many boys (I was one of them too) would like to look like Salman Khan or Stallone or Schwarzenegger so do many girls would love to look like their favorite actresses or models. If not so many would love to become like their icons (read any one like an IPS Officer or Social Worker or Freedom Fighter or some professional whom they admire).

Time & again it is this chase that we some times call life. Chasing alter egos! Life today is all about personal gratification by hook; that is by following a dream or by achieving something in life (just to prove to people around you) or by crook; which could be so selfish that we would like to compete all the way. Alter egos are our never ending nuclear fuel. They could be named as Desires too and as Buddha puts it, “Desires are the root cause of sorrow” we still would love to chase them.

I am convinced with my experience and exposure that no holy book defines life in its perfect sense but the closest it comes is that ‘a cycle that is a chase’ & I would say the chase is chasing our alter ego. Right now I am chasing my alter ego, to become a Scientist and perhaps win a Nobel Prize! Wish me luck! Wish you all luck too. Hope this year all of us come few steps close to our alter ego. Happy New Year!

26-11-1977 to 26-11-2008 to 26-11-2009

2009-11-27T00:43:00.002+05:30

I stayed away from blogging for many other reasons but incidentally 26/11, I could not stop myself!

26/11 is date now in the league of those black dates such as 9/11 or 7/11 where ordinary innocent civilians got killed in the name of Religious War right at their work place or while commuting to home or office or at a place which they used to visit often. Incidentally it is this same black date that I share my birthday too. I was born 32 years ago, but on 26/11 – 2008, I was reborn.

I did not witness the event live but I happened to be in the same area where one of the actions took place. I was at Jazz by Bay, Pizzeria Restaurant right at the junction of Marine Drive and Churchgate Road. I was having my birthday dinner with my beloved. What gives me goose bumps is not being there, but actually these three things –

1)My favorite eat out place is always Bade Miyan, a Mughlai Fast Food corner behind Taj Hotel, but something made me choose this place. What if I would have chosen Bade Miyan...?

2)At about 9 p.m. me and my girl friend finished eating and I forwarded my card for the bill. For no rhyme or reason, the waiter took 45 minutes to clear our bill. I volunteered to scold for that unwarranted delay. But, something else was in store for me. If he would have relieved us by same time, me and my girl friend would have definitely been at C.S.T. station, to head back home, by 9:30 or 9:40 p.m. welcoming our death messenger Kasab & Ismail. What if the waiter would have relieved us sharp at 9:00 p.m. ?

3)We were supposed to take a walk after the dinner around Marine Drive, but just then a lady ran towards us and especially told us, the couple to head back for there was a blast at the Oberoi Hotel. I heard the blast but just like many I thought it was some fireworks of some joy and still wanted to take the walk. How ignorant I was... ! Some how my beloved did not want to go ahead and forced me to head towards home, where in we got a cab finally and were heading towards CST, incidentally the cabbie took the route towards a direction which was not towards CST since the cops has already cordoned off that area. We just crossed the route where the infamous and visually imprinting Qualis seated with Kasab & Ismail firing was passing. I turned around from the cab and saw the vehicle going. What if cab would have got delayed for a few minutes ?

I did not realize in what mess I would have got caught or was sailing easily as if guided by some friendly angel. When I reached home I realized, I just missed death thrice on the same day when I was born. This new born realization towards life has not yet sunk, though I never expressed it to anyone. Today after a year I am sharing this small anecdote.

About 5 days later I heard that Mumbai is back on its heel with its invisible self heal attitude. It actually angered me and I fired back with a mail to my acquaintances shaming Mumbai’s Resilience which has actually made the people who are supposed to protect us, Lethargic! I did get many calls of appreciation but a year later the Resilience apparently has only come to show that Life Must Go On since we can do nothing anyway, except to light candles, blog, fire mails, sit in a talk show, call politicians and useless retired Secret Service or Office Bearers across the border(read Pakistan) on Prime Time News Channel(read Arnab’s Newshour on Times Now at 9 p.m. and Sagarika’s on CNN IBN at 10 p.m.) and ask them the so called uncomfortable questions to remind them of their accountability and things like this. R. R. Patil is back as Home Minister. The over aggressive but with futile agenda clan is busy keeping Marathi Pride(minus the lives) top on its agenda. Aam junta is still loitering for opportunities to survive. Teens are keen on Roadies, Pubs & few in some esoteric habits such as Career etc. Bollywood incidentally has not cashed in on the event, surprise, surprise, though we had seen R G Verma with V. Deshmukh at the Trident after the 8 Terrorists were slained!

There have been few new things happenings though, such as a Commando Unit called Force One(in addition to the Counter Terrorist Unit NSG) and some technologically strange vehicles for the Civil Forces. I hope the Intelligence Failure does not bring the same fate again for few more honor killings.

I received lots of calls and messages today for my birthday from many of my near and dear ones, but I did not receive them. My apologies for this unwarranted act, but frankly speaking, I am not one of those who forget and move on. I do take time more than requi red. This blog-posting is dedicated to that date, which sadly is also my birthday and strangely my second chance of life day. Life has not been the same for me since 26-11-2008!

Astrology as a Science? LOL

2009-09-21T13:23:00.005+05:30

A letter to Times Group based on their Article "Why believe in Astrology?" published on Sunday September 20, 2009 in their Supplement, TIMES LIFE!

I am a regular reader of Times. I would like to respond to the Article "Why believe in Astrology?" by Sunita Chabra published in the Sunday Times Life supplement on September 20, 2009. The urge to respond came in when I read the sentence, "Astrology as a Science". Though I guess there must be many responses voting & vetoeing Ms. Chabra's manifestation, still I felt I would like to add my perspective.

First of all no offense to people who believe in Astrology; I am myself from a family(including my would be) which are ardent believers of Astrology of all forms. So, this is not an attack sans personal vendetta. Now, let us understand what is Science or how to define Science? I always say the following that Science can be defined in the following chronological steps -

1. Observation
2. Inference
3. Theorize or Formulate the observation & inference
4. Experiment to validate and verify the theory &/or formulation
5. Once confirmed with the above 4 steps, then believe it as law of nature or perhaps that is how it is made "by God"...

Astrology came as an offshoot of Astronomy. So the initial steps (from 1 to 3) are same with a minor difference @ 2 & 3.

By observation it was understood that the positions of planets have patterns to accomodate in the space and they do have periodic motion. The planetary motions & their positions were predicted correctly with the help of Mathematics. But remember if they did not have periodic motion, locating them would have been as difficult as it is to locate a particle(electron) in Quantum Physics.
Inference has so many misleading gestures - a) They are encircling Earth; which is natural to think so, but with Mathematics it was proved later that Earth is not the centre by Galileo when he saw Jupiter with its own set of moons meaning which each planet is a centre of its own satellites and not Earth the centre of the Universe. b) They affect people born on Earth. I really cannot comprehend why would people think so? What made them think so?
Theory & Formulation were now only based on the above two beliefs. So argument ends here itself.
Experimentation to validate has not been the goal till date. Ms. Chabra, Ms. Sunita Menon(of Tarot fame), Mr & Mrs. Jumani(of Numerology fame), Mr. Bejan Daruwala(of Sun Sign fame) and so many others known locally, personally and otherwise are now our messengers, interpreters and the soul window to our future exclusively authorized by the Gods or the Heavens. None of us want to validate what they say, instead we want to sit, wait & watch series of events with "dashas", "mahadashas", "muhurats" & "shubh-gharee" and conclude what they say is true, though some of it could be wrong.
Some of this becomes the Law.

These are the type of ethos that make me sick. I am no Astronomer or Astrophysicist yet. I am a simple Science enthusiast just for the fact that it gives me the power to prove what Newton or Kepler claimed. I see what James Clark Maxwell, Ampere & Voltas proved. I use what Edison and Tesla gave to manking based on simple laws of Physics. When I am sick I go to doctor(read Ayurvedic, Allopathic, Homeopathic or any form that gives me relief) instead to an Astrologer. I believe so do every body who keenly read the Astrology column of every new paper every day.

What is it that makes people drawn towards Astrology when according to its base theory, "everything is pre-determined", & mankind cannot change it. Simply put, if I can't change it why know about it and live in fear? If joy is destined why try to know it? Some how the Gods and Heavens via these planetary motions have made Mankind powerless so why bother anyway? What does Astrology does beneficial to mankind compared to Science? So not only based on the above 4 points but even with this logic(if you choose not to believe Science) Astrology has no place in anyone's life except for Astrologers to make it as an occupation. Still keeping it as a hope, I would say that the day, Astrology is able to validate experimentally its predictions umpteen times, my vote will go for it. Another important distinction is no two Astrologers speak the same or predict the same where as Science in India and Europe is same. One does not see Newton's Laws behave differently in India or Sri Lanka. Newton's Laws are basically Laws of Nature(in this case the Motion) so Newton does not have any hegemony on it.

Last, I would like to manifest the article Questions and answers given in the order -

Why should we believe in Astrology? - The answer is Numerology's Father was Pythagoras and John Kepler being credited to some of the discoveries in Astrology and hence we need to believe it. Also it mentions about "Astrology is science of Stars" and based on "belief that their position influences human life". Well first, Pythagoras was indeed the father of Numerology, but with a difference. Numerology today is studies as Number Theory and has umpteen applications in Science and Technology(for example - Cryptography + Comp Science). By definition it was Number Logic. Pythagoras was also a theolgian(meaning believer of God) and hence he believed Numbers have supreme power or God speaks in Mathematics. Why? Well it was his way of interpreting it. He was human after all and human beliefs and imagination have no boundaries. We are not born with names, but once christened we answer to the call. What is that? Belief! There are many other forms of belief and they could be only without proof. Technically one can discuss within the realm of psychology and behavioral science to understand how does our mind understands and makes a perspective of things. But that was just my indication to point Human Beliefs. Secondly, it is Johannes Kepler and not John Kepler. Kepler lived in an era when there was no clear distinction between astronomy and astrology, but there was a strong division between astronomy (a branch of mathematics within the liberal arts) and physics (a branch of natural philosophy). Kepler also incorporated religious arguments and reasoning into his work, motivated by the religious conviction that God had created the world according to an intelligible plan that is accessible through the natural light of reason. So, though planetary motions can be predicted based on Mathematics, but they influence our lives has not substantial Mathematical(read Scientific) evidence. Hence, your answer that we should believe in Astrology because it is based on Mathematics and these Mathematicians have contributed to its development is absolutely misleading.
Is the daily horoscope equally true for everybody of that sun sign? - Your answer was itself so misleading that I laughed to my heart's content. You said, it is generally true and there were references to Lunar Sign & Zodiac Sign as the right reference to be taken to convince onself for the daily prediction. So my Lunar Sign is Taurus(Rishabh) and Zodiac Sign is Sagittarius(Dhanu), I should be checking out both, make an average and draw conclusion, is that what you mean? How is this justifying? What if I refer, Midday, Mumbai Mirror, Times of India & DNA, by mathematics, I am supposed to read 8 columns of daily horoscope written by 4 different astrologers, who have interpreted "heavenly messages" in their own way, add to this our family astrologer (yes! we have a family astrologer like family doctor). I guess in a day I am going to spend 2 hours in convincing myself my 8 hour work, 3 hours travel and 6 hours sleep(thanks to my work and my bosses). This is what again is illogical. Astrologers are always contradicting. Why? 2+2 is always 4. Why contradict? Once again, your answer sounds like "foot in the mouth".
How can the lines on our palm predict the future? - The answer once again was a mass of bewilderment. It brought everything together, karma and consequences etc being the cause & effect duo responsible for our lives. While it makes absolute sense that my actions will lead to the results what I get but how does it validate "palmistry" ? What the lines of plams have got to do with my actions and results? Originator of Palmistry was Sage Valmiki. I can give you a lecture on who he was and what he actually meant by reading lines on the palms in the Scientific sense sans Astrology, but right now I would just emphasize that the Palm Lines are just gooves caused due to blood flow and the variable body temperature. None of this leads to prediction of fate.
How can planetary positions and energies affect our lives? - This was the most convincing answer that Astrology is indeed just a belief and nothing more than that. It is said, "it is possible to change the course of destiny, but only through karmas", how true? Some how it gives a dual answer and a paradox actually. a)Planetary positions govern our life. b)We can change our destiny through karma. Does it mean then we can change the planetary positions? LOL! What exactly is the point to be made? Please do not misguide people with sets of thoughts that are so contradictory. Many actually take Astrologers very, very seriously but they are people with no knowledge and no confidence at all on themselves.
Does the time you are born affect your destiny? - The answer cleanly vindicates all Astrologers. If one does not say or know the right time, Astrologers cannot predict the life. I have no argument on this escapism. I agree with the escapism cum logic.
Are there some astrology streams that are more effective than others? - The answer that "Astrology has suffered many attacks" & "some ancience scriptures have been destroyed or taken away by invaders etc" is the crux of Astrology's existence. If things are lost in time, it has to be studied. I am all up for it. I am yet to see an Astrologer who is actively involved in Research. But no! All of them follow the same scripts which are tattered and half manifested. Keeping an open mind I would say, why not give Astrology a chance. But no one seems to be taking it as a cause. So today we are hearing from Astrologers who are actually having half knowledge.

I would like to end this mail saying that, eradicating Astrology is not my aim. I would just like to see if it is Scientific. You know that way, instead of Astrology, Science becomes more powerful and anything that is not Scienitific is hard to believe for me. I also don't buy this argument by some of my kins that "everything cannot be proved." Wrong! This was the thought in the past and if it remained so, mankind would have not landed on moon, made cure and treatment for many diseases and would have made no progress beyond discovering fire by rubbing stones. I also believe ancient Indian "Rishi Munis" must have been the same type of Scientists that we have in our premier R & D Orgs such as IIT, TIFR, IISc. but they were misinterpreted eventually. Their scripts first of all were lost and the ones which transcended could have been partially misinterpreted too. Like in case of Astrology the off shoot of Astronomy, as planetary motion influencing us with not scientific base.

PLEASE ASK THE ASTROLOGERS IN RESEARCHING WHAT WAS LOST INSTEAD OF MAKING MONEY OUT OF THEIR COMMUNICATION SKILLS. FOR GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS THERE ARE PROFESSIONS NOW A DAYS(INSTEAD OF IN THE PAST) LIKE MARKETING, SALES AND BPO. I can connect them if they want only if they don't want to mint money unscrupluously.

Dil Bole Hadipaa! Dimag Bole Uttapaa

2009-09-19T13:31:00.007+05:30

Well, I liked the movie songs and Rani's screen presence. Never mind her english as Veera and short stature with husky voice in the beard clad Sardarji(whom we are yet to see as of now as a Sardar in real life!). Yash Raj movies are always about foot tapping beats, song & dance with the repeated and enforced reminder of Indian culture only bordered around Punjab! ( Will some one tell Chopra there are other states and cultures too...? )
Story line - borrowed from the West? Doesn't matter! We borrow sometimes and some times they do. What is original anyway? But it would have been better if we acknowledge the one who first creates it. Sorry, that was never the habit.
Cast - as usual it is about selling dreams and dreams are sold with smooth and presentable faces else it is nightmare. Ha..! Shahid delivers the eye-candy for teeny bloopers for both the sexes. Rani - at least she tried a hand at comedy single handedly like Sreedevi and Juhi Chawla. Dilip Tahil, Poonam Dhillon, Anupam Kher - props. Rakhi Sawant - better managed as oomph factor for a song and Veera's friend to cheer and be prodigal in desi-matka-jhatka style. Sherlyn Chopra - much awaited debut of "the most downloaded Internet Diva" was not so impressive with acting, dialogue or skin show, in fact I felt she had cold when she spoke. My vote goes for Mallika Sherawat on those parameters in that genre.
Technicalities(Sound, Camera etc.) - Good work.
Direction - Fine! Under Yash-Raj banner it seems apt as expected, only I missed foreign locales in volume.
Overall - time pass for people who have nothing to do and want nothing to think too! I guess I could have had a dash of uttapaa with some madrasi "thenga" chutney! :P

Now I know why we say "Bappa Morya...!"

2009-09-08T12:57:00.005+05:30

We are born believers. Human beings are programmed by evolution to believe in God because it gives them a better chance of survival, researchers have claimed. The idea has emerged from studies of the way children's brains develop and of the workings of the brain during the religious experiences. Researchers suggest that during evolution groups of humans with religious tendencies began to benefit from their beliefs, perhaps because they tended to work toegther better and so stood a greater chance of survival. Richard Dawkins has long argued that religious beleifs results from poor education and childhood "indoctrination". But research has also proved that children have a natural intutive thinking about supernatural existence without the "indoctrination". As they grow up they overlay these beliefs with more rational approaches but the tendence to illogical supernatural beliefs remains as religion. These findings are by Prof. Bruce Hood, professor of developmental psychology at Bristol University. Even hardcore atheists have their own set of paranoia and idiosyncrasies to avoid bad luck. In short superstition is also hardwired in our brain.

Dr. Hood's work is supported by other researchers who have found evdence linking religious feelings and experience to particular regions of the brain. They suggest people are programmed to get a feeling of spirituality from electrical activity in these regions. Prof. Andrew Newberg of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, has used brain-imaging techniques to show that such feelings are invoked by activity in "belief networks" operating across the brain. This supersedes the earlier concept of a "God spot", activated during meditation or prayer. "The temporal love interacts with many other parts of the brain to provide the full range of religious and spiritual experience", he adds.

This mechanistic view of religious experience is reinforced by separate research carried out by Micheal Persinger of Laurentian University, Ontario, who has used powerful magnetic fields to induce visions and spiritual experiences in volunteers.

Experts also belief that religion is in part because it helps people to bond. Though I am not expert, but based on Astrophysical data, such as

Universe has been for 13.5 billion years.
Our nearest star and only source of energy, Sun has been for 5 billion years.
Our planet, Earth (& also Moon to cause the seasons, tides, ocean currents etc and keep Earth from wobbling) has been for 4.5 billion years.
Life on Earth has been for 3.5 billion years.
Modern Human beings on earth have been for 200,000 years.
Culture, civlization and religious belief systems pertaining to theory of creator has been only for the past 5,000 years.

... I always ask this question why then the Creator took so many years to create the only being , known as of now in all the life form to identify the Creator in Mathematics, Basic Science, Religion etc . ? Somewhere something is missing terribly. But the evidence suggested by the Scientists(Basic Scientists & Social Scientists) makes one thing clear, we are programmed to believe there is God and one who doesn't believe so, has probably a brain software from Microsoft :-)

Number Sense

2009-08-29T00:12:00.000+05:30

Man, in even in the lower stages of development, possesses a faculty which, for want of a better can be christened as Number Sense. This faculty permits him to recognize that something has changed in a small collection when, without his direct knowledge, an object has been removed from or added to the collection.

Number sense should not be confused with counting, which is probably of a much later genre, and involves, as we shall see, a rather intricate mental process. Counting, so fast as we know, is an attribute exclusively human, whereas some brute species seems to possess a rudimentary number sense akin to our own. At least, such is the opinion of competent observers of animal behavior, and the theory is supported by a weighty mass of evidence.

Counting especially has become such an integral part of our mental equipment that psychological tests on our number perception are fraught with great difficulties. The genesis of number is hidden behind the impenetrable veil of countless prehistoric ages. Has the concept been born of experience, or has experience merely served to render explicit what was already latent in the primitive mind: Here is a fascinating subject for metaphysical speculation, but for this very reason beyond the scope of this study. It is counting that consolidated the concrete and therefore heterogeneous notion of plurality, so characteristic of primitive man, into the homogenous abstract number concept, which made mathematics possible.

We enter a hall. Before us are two collections: the seats of the auditorium, and the audience. Without counting we can ascertain whether the two collections are equal and, if not equal, which is the greater. For if every seat is taken and no man is standing, we know without counting that the two collections are equal. If every seat is taken and some in the audience are standing, we know without counting that there are more people than seats.

Whether we accept or not Mathematics is part of our DNA.

Verbatim

2009-08-28T23:10:00.003+05:30

"Every five years, it is the masses who determine who will form the government. And in between those five years the classes determine what that government will do."

- Mani Shankar Aiyyar, M.P., India

"The best brains in the world are busy solving problems of rich & elite who really have no problems."

- Dr. Sam Pitroda

Jaswant "Jerry Maguire" Singh - Show me the (money! oops!) Hindutvaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

2009-08-20T20:30:00.006+05:30

"I am saddened and it was conveyed over the phone" was a distressed reply to media by former Minister Jaswant Singh when he was expelled before the so called (though not necessary when they are not in power) BJP's "chintan baithak" at Simla! Detailed story is as follows - Jaswant Singh! Well Jassu bhai reminded me of character from the film Jerry Maguire, played by Tom Cruise.

Jerry Maguire is about a 35 year old sports agent for Sports Management International (SMI). After suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of stress and a guilty conscience, he writes a mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and how he believes that it should be operated. He goes to a copy shop early the next morning and distributes copies of it, entitled "The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business" to all of his fellow employees. His co-workers are touched by his honesty and greet him with applause the next business day, but the company's management orders Maguire fired for his actions.

While Jerry had a stroke of honesty in the intensely competitive sales world, which he regrets but still keeps going on with an emotion as he has done the right thing, Mr. Singh though is no fictional character, since he has been handling responsible position in the Union Government under the Saffron Coterie, has been subjected to similar treatment. At least Jerry Maguire was fired on the face( but in a public restaurant(well, that too was humiliating), Mr. Jaswant "Fauji" Singh was fired on the phone.

Still there is a huge difference between the two events. Jerry had a strike of conscience and Jaswant had lost his consciousness that he is still with a party that hates anything from the world of Muslim and Pakistan. Jerry was a sports manager from the corporate craziness called business, and Jaswant (ahem!) is from the craziness called politics. Jerry's reaction was a classic sales rage of ripping his ex-company by getting all the clients they have and Jaswant's reaction has been (suddenly for the love of freedom of speech in this nation) "if disagreement has been taken as disloyalty and what one thinks and writes is stopped, then what sort of country are we making ourselves into?" LOL!

First of all people from saffron clan, should never speak about country and freedom of speech in the first place, when all they know is pilfering human rights and being jingoistic about Indian culture, history and past. I pity Jaswant for not understanding politics even after being in politics for so many years. Wake up dude! When you are commoner, you can do anything in public, like urinate or spit or rioting, but when you are in a position, you just have to be conniving in expressing yourselves. So sorry for your loss, but it was too stupid for writing about the father of a nation, especially after 3 wars and infinite evidences of terror atack epicenters, which has only one agenda from politics to defense - India bashing! Hope you too survive like Jerry Maguire! Show me the Indianeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssss!

Child that refuses grow up - India @ 62

2009-08-15T14:32:00.006+05:30

Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’ book about events in the Indian Independence movement in 1947-48 beginning with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten of Burma as the last viceroy of British India, and ending with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi has many shades to reflect the last moment that gave this region, then divided into some princely states and territories, customarily now known as the British-India; coldly reflecting British hegemony and well-planned subconscious invasion since the Company Rule(1757-1858) and then as rulers(1858-1947), a birth name – India from Akhand Bharat or Hindustan as the Mughals knew. At 62, it is difficult to gauge how much India has grown if the yardstick is Western World, but I feel India as in Indians have refused to grow up on many aspects though on the surface many changes(if we refuse to call it as development).

In school I had been a regular attendant of 15th August & 26th January Celebrations, especially due to my upbringing. My parents did not encourage jingoism but made me feel proud of the people who sacrificed their lives for a cause which they felt was the only to thing to live or die for. Today, sadly, I lost the chance to salute the flag – guilty as charged, but probably because today it is more easy to salute the flag with movies, tv and newspapers giving us the comfort of seeing it and feeling mellow and flip to the next interesting item.

“Destiny is not static” mentions the article in TOINS. Indeed! At 62 whether the newly formed India is a child or not is up to us to decide but a sms awakened(& I mean in literal terms) me –
We live in a funny nation, where pizza reaches home faster than the ambulance or police… “Happy Independence Day”

To which I replied,
Perhaps we should Americanize Cops and Ambulance Service

This is the main thread that provokes a thought for young Indians like us. We are still considered as third world but I still do not have the idea based on what, since diseases and economic slash to crime and uneducated citizens are also in the first world. Is it because we do not have military or even civilian technology? But the first world also buys the same tech built from many third world either in the form of assets or intellect. Is it because we do not have proper legal system to tackle offenses? But the biggest and the worst offenses from bank frauds to capital market pullers is also from West. Is it because our population and poverty makes look like suckers? Well, if poverty is the benchmark to make a nation look like needy, America(world’s super power) has the entire world swept in debts and cash crunch. So it is okay if you make others poor because of you being poor or if your citizens are in debts, but being penniless is the worst of all. I fail to understand. Is it because we have a culture that is vast and complex? Well Westerners(Easterners – Australians – (sic)) too appreciate our historical ownership.

To be precise nothing can judge a nation, whether it is India or any other nation, to say it is developed or not. At the dawn of independence our nation builders then must have had a dream, but the dream, though not in every Indian anymore, is perpetrated through many unknown ways by private and government bodies, including me and you. So the child refuses to grow up, but it has grown up in its own sense that has made the whole world to sit and look at it for the diversity(good since ancient times and bad for unfortunate reasons presently)it has now. Things will change and are still changing since the midnight of that fateful August day, and hence the Child refuses to grow-up but is still growing(pun not intended)

And here is a rare cutting of Times of India on 15-August-1947

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_at_Midnight

25 ka dum!

2009-08-14T12:30:00.010+05:30

Was this expected or not, I couldn't tell, but I have a motor bike and had to park it in the compound of the apartment me & my family live in which is a rented place, so we do not have hegemony on many aspects from painting the house to rewiring electrical points or re-plumbing (sic) water resource. Well, this is expected in a rented apartment, but owners too do not take many initiatives in India, but our owner is mellow and attentive for our pains of course after we have no dues. Amidst this was this sorry saga of me parking my motor bike in the compound which is owned by owners!

The saga was triggered by a pugnacious but living-for-the-sake of integrity man who apparently manages the Housing Society's accounts. Ceremoniously or religiously our house owner was fetched for the addition of a Rs. 25/- more on his monthly maintenance payment to the Housing Society due to the dastardly act of his tenant parking his 'vehicle' within the compound wall. Well, my words do not have to be sarcastic, but yesterday morning when our house owner ambushed us on the account of this addition he being charged, we were almost in the situation of foot-in-the-mouth. While the trigger holder could have explained it patiently to the owner and at the same time the owner could have also spoken to us on the same wavelength, but the objurgation & the sudden raid on us(not to mention the detailed inquiry on the cost of the vehicle, manufacturer's report, mileage, spot of parking about the center of the attention - my motor bike) was not anticipated.

It was a major mis-communication within my family, possibly because of me. We should have religiously added the designated Rs. 25/- to our monthly rental and inform the owner, but somewhere something went unnoticed and the battery of authorities made the brunch go berserk. Guilty as charged, I am appalled only for the fact what happened to politeness and decency of communication? Not that we did something illegal, since I had informed the trigger holder before even the simple mascot stepped in to the promenade, that was 27th of May, 2009 and my tag-team partner, my sister was supposed to convey the other opponent, the owner, which she failed and caused the ambush.

The story did not strike the chord as a lesson. I had heard that there are no mistakes but only lessons in life, and this tale did not teach me any lesson, but a moral that even if it is paltry sum of Rs.25/-(which is not even a $) people's ire can be invoked! Beware of many such people and be disciplined in your approach, whether they are or not is not a debate.

For those who would like to see the epicenter of the chaos of yesterday's morning, here it is:

Slow & Steady wins Spirituality

2009-08-07T13:41:00.002+05:30

In physics, we come across an interesting analogy of the spiritual path in the form of one reversible path. In thermodynamics, work can be accomplished by two different ways, reversible & irreversible. All natural processes are said to be irreversible since they are either spontaneous or abrupt. Like irreversible processes such as, water or heat or a gas flows from a higher level to a lower level and cause changes in the surroundings.

In case of reversible process the science tells us that it is a slow process, so much so that the change does not affect the ambiance at all, or in the language of thermodynamics it is always in equilibrium with the surroundings. Because of the slowness of the process as also the fact that it does not inflict any changes to the surroundings, it takes a pretty long time, to go from on state to another state.

Way to spiritualism is also a reversible process in my context. Since irreversible processes such as growth(in terms of age and physique), lust or lure for luxury, greed or being pompous for a while cause changes around us(read surroundings), one cannot attain spiritual enlightenment with these means. I don't detest Spiritual Gurus or ethos who are proponents of such philosophy of embracing modern life style or chasing luxury and means to it such as Osho Rajneesh and others, but their thought process is certainly skeptical for me. I am little bit of orthodox(read old styled) in this case. I believe only by discarding these worldly pleasures one can achieve the necessary spiritual enlightenment and it is indeed a very, very slow but a reversible process in the sense of attaining "nirvana"!

A reversible path can also be reversed to the initial state without disturbing the surroundings in the same way as followed in the forward cycle. The resemblance here is surprising as the divine seeker in the exalted state may slowly come down to the normal state for the benefit of mankind.

One good question in thermodynamics too is why reversible processes are slow? In this context of spiritualism, slowness is the prerequisite for attaining spiritual enlightenment for human beings, sadly, with all natural evidences too, other animals cannot as much as humans can. The plausible answer may be that the human mind is expansive. The fastest moving complex system, which is otherwise almost impossible to restrain, needs the nagging slowness for a considerable period of time as the perfect antidote to control it, so that each and every minutest level of mind can be focused and sensitized to the maximum effect. Thinking is indeed a slow process no matter what Dhirubhai Ambani says as "think quick!" Hence I would say, Slow & Steady wins Spirituality not sooner or later but in the right time.

Corporate Circle

2009-08-05T17:30:00.004+05:30

Life comes one full circle always.

We throw tantrums and are immature in understanding while we were kids and we reach the same state in more or less same manner in old age.
We spend a fortune of time in gathering assets before which we are penniless and then in difficult times we write off whatever possible, sell the assets and make sure we are debt free or file for bankruptcy or penniless and reach back where we started.
We begin as single, find some one, procreate and when the kids leave us for better or worse and if one of the is no more the other one comes back being single again.
We begin with people pushing us up towards an aspiration of a qualification or career, we do pretty well amidst the corporate jungle and jerks, reach to the top, find ourselves alone or find many trying to pull us down eventually our qualification or experience is so saturated that we end up being an individual who wanted to be part of team but now a consultant with his skills that are in least demand.
We have a quest for traveling many places, trek or tour and finally in old age the biggest journey turns out to be from bedroom to bathroom, many times with no travel.

Just heard about Jet Airways cutting jobs. I think it is the same phenomena with our so called Economy and Corporate Houses. First they germinate a new Industry with full, partial or no support from Government. They show lots of dreams to young minds in the event generating many cottage or secondary service industry along with the primary one. The there are hypes of people being hired from the best lot from the best institutes or colleges etc. Then comes my favorite “futile educated” clan who have nothing more to do but ogle at Laptops and High Salaries where in productivity brought by the smallest employee, but some how they take credit for being the leader, the MBAs. If these MBAs are ever taught to become leaders or create jobs, why then in the certain Economic downslide(perhaps brought by consumers – who they created or government – whom they pay taxes) are into Job Cuts. So the circle of MBAs’ or Managers’ or the Board’s responsibilities is to create jobs & then cut jobs. I wonder what Managers actually learn, whether they go to a business school or not. Corporate arena is always not knowing where it goes but sadly all of us rely on them. I wonder how pre-industrialization things were.

Known Unknowns

2009-07-28T01:41:00.004+05:30

Martial Art for me has indeed been a path to life in many aspects. There was a phase where I observed the art of self defense in awe and learned with no breaks in practicing it diligently day in and day out. Then came the phase where I started learning it (as put forward by my teacher Sensei Sriram Rangan )in a way "learn what you know already", that was when we achieved our Black Belts. Many small aspects such as kicks and punches were taught in a very emphatic elegance like a "kick should be felt like a snake bite" meaning the faster you are, the better you are. The phase was not about kicks and punches but achieving perfection in what you know already, "learn what you know already"!

Then came a phase where in we started projecting Martial Art into our daily life. The speed, the concentration, the memory and the diligence was in real sense to be put into practice outside the fighting ring. "A way to life" as teacher always taught us! Those were the times when what was taught either we took too seriously in the sense of obedience but without analyzing them or other, due to the lack of experience, just heard but never thought over it. I was one of the former clan. I used to sit and think and think over again. I would say it without any shame, that I hardly understood anything, but just made sure that I remember what is told to me. May be some day I might understand.

Today, I have developed reading as a habit and after reading many things that I had noted as part of knowledge beyond fighting skill sessions I would say, I can comprehend what was taught to me. There is an old Martial Art saying, "it is not what you have, but it is what you think you have!"; how true? The true power in kicking and punching or defending is not in our outer strength, but it is the ability, the will power. Isn't the same applied to life too in terms of being pretentious or working hard to succeed? When wealth reaches deep down in our thoughts, it is indeed not the wealth but it is the feeling within about possession that makes us snobbish or powerful or egoistic or pretentious or prodigal or some times just humble enough to appreciate the situation of freedom to choose. Even during the struggle to succeed or achieve one's goal, no single step could be taken by a person unless he/she thinks that they can. A thought about within! Name any endeavor or challenge, it is always the inner voice that makes a person. The same inner voice makes the attitude(good or bad)! Philosophically speaking it is just the will power or positive attitude. In common parlance it could be just the grit and gumption to go ahead or feel oneself.

The key to success might be luck but to sustain luck or the success one has got, listening to this thought is primal. Realizing that one is lucky is humble, but as said before, "it is not what you have, but it is what you think you have!" is the real humbleness. On the hindsight, key to success might be hard work, but the same principle of thinking what you have in terms of capabilities is the real essence. That is the first step towards hard work.

I remember, Sensei used to pester me when I used to loose fight with one single counterpart of mine, my dear friend(who is a very successful pediatrician today) Nandkumar Kene and I used to feel very low in those times. Some how, I never won a fight with Nandu. He was too good compared to me. But Sensei used to encourage me against my morose looser face. He would ask,"what is it that you think, Nandu has that, you don't have?" I was speechless(those days I was ultra reserved too). Sensei would point out(of course in private) that, "he has the same number of legs and hands that you have, he learned simultaneously with you, he does the same number of push-ups as you. I see both of you as same in real sense, but still you come as a person who has inferiority complex. Why?" Again my reserved nature did not take me anywhere except in the good books of mute. Sensei would summarize that, "You start winning only if you think! That is the only weapon you should have! Your attitude!"

Today, in the larger sense of my life style and challenges that are far bigger than winning a fight with dear friend, I reminisce the same golden words of Sensei and also attach the principle of thinking, that is "it is not what you have, but it is what you think you have!" I do not know how far or how unachievable is my goal amidst many personal and worldly turmoils, but I sure feel my thinking can only change my chances of success. These are some of the unknown thoughts which we all know by second nature, but ignore due to many distractions.

Solar hurray!!!

2009-07-23T21:14:00.038+05:30

Diamond Ring of Solar Eclipse at Varanasi

22nd July, 2009 did create History in India or rather India has become an Iconic Figure(pardon for grammar) in History of Astronomy. It was the moment where Astronomers and others(basically those who do not chase the sky like us) were filled with joy to see the Longest Solar Eclipse of this Century. The last one, which was the longest, in the 20th Century was on 30 June 1973, a whopping 7 minutes and 04 seconds. Eclipse of 22nd July was for 6 minutes & 39 seconds visible in a belt from India to China. There are plenty of details over the net about the same.

Eclipse Path in India

Eclipse path in China

The Eclipse called "Khagraas" meaning Total in Sanskrit, brought the North Eastern & Central cities of India like Varanasi, Patna, Itarsi, Gaya in the domain of Astro-Tourism. I would like to provide some technical details to this spectacular event about which Media had done the same thing which it does easily concealing the truth, create a hooplah! My science enthusiasts though know more than the panelist on the screen. Definitely superstitions have no room any more, but India still has problems in accepting many facts of Science in spite of being the pioneers. Indians knew Mathematics before the West came to know about counting.

For starters, Eclipse, as a common sense, is nothing but a game of shadows as put forward by the 12th Century Mathematician and Astronomer, Bhaskaracharya. Moon comes between Sun and Earth and Moon's shadow falling on Earth creates a momentary darkness. This darkness is called as Totality during Solar Eclipse. Solar Eclipses are partial, annular and total. 22nd July's was a Total Solar Eclipse and was a much awaited one since it was the longest. The maximum possible tenure of Total Solar Eclipse can be 7 minutes and 31 seconds.

History

Eclipses should have been since Earth and Moon systems existed but the scientific interest in Solar Eclipse took a new turn after renaissance. J. J. de Ferror was probably the first one to travel to foreign lands to observe eclipses in 1803 & 1806. He coined the term 'corona' the glow observed during the Totality. Real interest amongst common people started with the work of Mr. Francis Baily, a Finance Guy turned Astronomer in his 50s. in year 1842. He created the hobby of 'eclipse chasing'. When the disk of the Moon covered the disk of Sun, the jagged limb of the Moon's disk due to mountains and valleys, allowed the sunlight to pass through. The thin rin of sunlight was broken up into 'a row of lucid points, like a string of bright beads'. This is now termed as Baily Beads.

Baily Beads

There have been eclipses since then that have been photographed and scienctific experiments carried too. 22nd July's experiment with respect to Solar Eclipse within India have also been substantial from Indian Institute of Astrophysics. A group of Indian Astronomers part of Helios Astronom Group have also been set out for their quest. Details are here.

On 20 May 1919, Arthur Eddington proved Einstein's theory of relativity and that light bends near a massive body like the Sun, was confirmed during this eclipse.

Significance

Well, for starters, Solar Eclipses occur only due to a finite distance and size of the moon. Moon's & Sun's apparent sizes are just the same with respect to Earth. Both appear like a disc in the sky.

Diameter of Moon = 3476 km
Distance of Moon from Earth = 384,000 km
Diameter of Sun = 1.4 million(14 lakh) km
Distance of Sun from Earth = 150 million(15 crore) km

Sun's diameter is 400 times that of Moon but it is 400 times farther than the Moon, hence they appear of same size to us and hence we have Solar Eclipses, else it would have not been possible.

If Moon was some 300 km smaller or few km away from Earth, we would have got Eclipses like they are on Jupiter. Jupiter has 63 moons amongst which 5 are massive but compared to Jupiter their sizes are too small. In short we would have not had total Solar Eclipse if there was a slight difference in sizes or distances.

Things to see during Solar Eclipses:

Corona
Diamond Rings
Phases
Solar Prominences

Critics and also Skeptics will agree with me that since this being a Natural Event and Man can never make it happen, the spectator ship in itself is meant for a marvel. Secondly, it was during these Solar Eclipse is what Helium, the only element discovered, not on Earth. Einstein's theory of relativity was proved. Sun's atmosphere can be studied during this time which is very important to understand Solar Storms, Solar Prominences and temperature variations on Earth, after all Sun is the source of Energy for Life on Earth.

Eclipse's some unknown infos:

Solar eclipse occurs during New Moon Day only
Maximum number of total solar eclipses per year:3
Minimum number of total solar eclipses per year:0
Maximum number of total solar & lunar eclipses per year:7 (with solar more than lunar, always, like 5 Solar & 2 Lunar or 4 Solar & 3 Lunar)
Maximum, i.e. 5 Solar Eclipse seen in the following years: 1805, 1935, 2206, 2709

Duration of Totality of Solar Eclipses

(minutes:seconds)

Longest possible: 7:31
Longest from 2004 B.C. to 2526 A.D. :16 July 2186 A.D. - 7:29
Longest from 2004 B.C. to present : 15 June 744 B.C. - 7:28
Longest in last 2000 years : 27 June 363 A.D. - 7:24
Longest in last 1000 years : 09 June 1062 A.D. - 7:21
Longest in 21st Century 1 : 09 June 1937 - 7:04
Longest in 21st Century 2 : 20 June 1955 - 7:08
Longest in 21st Century 3 : 30 June 1973 - 7:04

Characteristics

Solar eclipse has certain characteristics. An eclipse with similar characteristics takes place after a period of about 18 years. Greeks could predict this and this frequency is popularly known as 'Saros' cycle. To understand saros cycle, consider a total solar eclipse occurs on a specific day then a magic number of 6585 days Sun and Moon will return at the same point. This solar eclipse will occur in the same eclipse season with the positio of the Sun, at the zodiac, is also exactly same as it was 18 years earlier. Both the eclipse are related to each other. Earth moves to 120 degree west, thus eclipse will be visible 120 degree west of earlier eclipse location obviously not from the same location. It is estimated that after 1300 years from the first eclipse no more eclipse will take place from that saros cycle.

Each family of saros lives for about 1315 years.
There are on average 73 eclipses in each saros family.
There are 42 different saros families simulatenously running, each at different stages of evolution.
Each saros is identified by a number suggested by George van den Bergh of the Netherlands in 1955.
According to this numbering system, eclipses occurring at descending node are even-numbered & at ascending node are odd-numbered. 22nd July's Solar Eclipse is numbered saros 136 family. More details are here.

Lot of experiments are being carried by various R & D Org.

Spectroscopy of the Solar Corona:

A 30 cm two mirror system (coelostat) will be used to direct the sun & coronal light to a 10 cm objective to form an image of the corona on the slit of the Littrow type spectrograph. A 14 cm objective will collimate the beam and image the spectrum on the two CCD cameras. Broad-band filters will be used too separate the orders. A grating with 600 lines per mm blazed at 2 microns will provide a reasonable dispersion (2 Angstrom per mm) to determine the emission line profiles. Two CCD cameras of 1K x 1K format with pixel size of 13.0 x 13.0 microns will be used to take the images. The CCD chip will be back illuminated for high efficiency and camera will operate in frame transfer mode to obtain data with high frequency. The read out will be in 16-bit format at 5 Hz. Initial tests with the equipment indicates that we shall be able to able to take the spectra of the solar corona at a frequency of about 5 Hz with an exposure time of 200 ms.

Photometry of the Solar Corona:

Two 40 cm telescopes with effective focal length of 200 cm each will be used to image the solar corona. A 5 cm narrow band (3 A) filter centered around 637.4 nm kept near the focal plane in one of the telescope will permit to take images of the solar corona in the red emission line. The second telescope fitted with 530.3 nm narrow band filters will permit to take the images in the green line. The CCD cameras of 2K x 2K format with 13.5 x 13.5 micron pixel size will cover the solar corona up to 1.5 solar radii where most of the emission occurs. The 16-bit read out at 5 MHz rate and will provide high dynamic range and fast kinetic series. The back illuminated chip will yield more than 90 percent efficiency at the wavelengths of interest. After binning the CCD pixels by 2 x 2 we expect to get the images at the rate of about one frame per second with an exposure time of 200 ms.

Location of the observations:

Keeping in view the prevailing weather conditions along the path of totality and altitude of the sun at the time of the epoch of the eclipse, it appears that the chances of viewing the eclipse from Indian parts are small and about 60 percent in parts of eastern China. Hence camps are set at Anji a small hilly area near Hangzhou, China.

For more info on :

References:

Khagol Mandal
Prof. Mohan Apte
Wikipedia
Google & my own set of books, obviously
Image Courtesy - Indian Institute of Astrophysics

Photographs

Creating Music and Playing an Instrument... Same?

2009-07-08T18:07:00.022+05:30

Oliver Sack's book, "An Anthropologist on Mars" is an awakening for mortals who are involved in soul stirring. Though I have yet to finish all the essays, but the fourth essay, To See and Not to See has a profound effect for those who understand what is food for thought. Mentioning the whole story is like stealing the essence of the book, for those who are interested can mail me, but moral of the essay is essentially in the human tryst with understanding the world within and without(sic). My teacher always says, "there is an outer world and there is an inner world and you are searching for answers of the outer world with the help of Science, but understanding and searching for answers for the inner world is My Life Time Goal!" I often wondered about it, but perhaps due to lack of experience and also understanding in his terms is not my capacity yet, but some where along the line of his thought I could relate due to Oliver Sack's this Master Piece.

To cut a long story short, One can play a musical instrument very well, but creating music is a different ball game. Indeed it is true, but the essence of the sentence is not an advice, but actually it projects an attitude one should have. For an illustration, I would take a leaf from my Martial Art experience, my Teacher taught me. Teacher always taught me how to defend than attack. Reason? Simple, he would say, "We are not learning Martial Art to attack people. Even a dog can attack. Attacking is the instinct and there is nothing I need to teach you on that. We are not street fighters. What is important is to learn to defend. Often in a street fight both the opponents keep hitting each other. Do you find some thing wrong?" All of us used to religiously nod head and point the obvious. Teacher would remind the same fact once again that attacking is basic instinct, like it happens with all animals(though it is mostly for hunting, survival or mating) unlike humans do it for(ego, prestige, personal space, selfishness...). "So learn to defend, because anyway Martial Art is not about attack. By learning that aspect, one also develops patience. Learning to attack fuels the instinct. A true Martial Artist fuels his patience and control" will be teacher's humble words.

To tap a practical aspect, when we use to do sparring, focus on attack and only attack made us aggressive. In the event when the opponent retaliated often we got hit and it looked like a street fight. Teacher would analyze the same and guide us through the defense mechanism. In short what he would reflect upon us is that when the punch / kick comes towards us, we know that it is coming, but instead of defending ourselves, we focus on our attack strategy and that was just aggression. Trick to win any fight is not aggression, angst or temper, since they come with our animal instinct anyway. The only trick is to analyze the opponent and that comes only if your defense is strong which can happen if we are not aggressive. How true...!

Though these words were definitely philosophical in terms of an art that is fatal, but I recently related the same preachings towards life. It just came alive when Sacks reflects that creating music is not the same as playing an instrument well. To create a music, one has to choose the right chord and put the feeling. Focusing on Instrument is like focusing on attacking (making people hear) with your instrument. Music is more like letting people listen and not hear. Quiet defensive. How true...!

The revelation also brings about the knowledge of life. Like teacher's eternal analysis of Inner World, one can realize about oneself, one's actions' consequences, purpose of the action, purpose of existence, purpose of Life in all, only if one chooses to. Search for inner world answers questions that are metaphysical but one learns to listen to the music than hear the instrument. Hearing the instrument is the outer world, which amateur Physicists like me understand and rest of the world just hears. How often it is true that people make a pass on a Scientist...! It really makes no difference because people just hear him. But it does not take a Einstein to know that people listen when life's problems are not solved by Science alone but things beyond( in a way within), the outer world, that is the inner world.

For now, I find that it absolutely makes sense that one has to learn to play the music than the instrument alone, since they are not the same.

A Near Miss...

2009-07-04T11:46:00.005+05:30

I recently had very fantastic opportunity. I would have mentioned what it was, but that would reveal some details which would not be appropriate. The very fact that my opening line says, "I had" shows that I missed it. I have had more failures than successes in my life, be it recognition to work, opportunity, education, career, money or relationships. All the times, I only use to frown, rant and loose my cool, but this time it was not the same. Perhaps it attributes to my experience with it or some thing I stumbled upon as a sacred text. A very interesting fact about Laws of Life; though when it comes to Laws of Nature(Physics & Mathematics) I can comprehend from the word go, Laws of Life have been elusive to me(which will stun my dear friend Ajit definitely!), but I thought of sharing the same to people who read(but don't comment on) my blog :P

According to Hindu philosophy, there are three types of karma

Sanchit Karma - accumulated stock of one's past karmas.
Prarabdha Karma (what we call as destiny) - is that part of Sanchit Karma which is passed down to us in this birth for suffering or enjoyment.
Agami Karma - which is performed in this birth, out of free will.

The illustration (analogy) is of Archer with his Bow & Arrow!

The accumulated stock of arrows in the archer's case, slung over his shoulder is the Sanchit Karma.
The arrow that has just left his bow is Prarabdha Karma ~ destiny
The arrow in his hand is Agami Karma ~ free will

Rule # 1: Prarabdha Karma cannot be undone.
Rule # 2: Agami Karma is in his hands, use / no use results have to be faced (good/bad) :P

But role of Prarabdha theory is only in explaining the results of the action. In spite of the best efforts, if results could not be achieved, it can attributed to destiny.

Theory of Destiny is so that:

A person accepts results without being frustrated. (something I should learn :P, Ajit will agree more on that about me)
A successful person should not become egoistic if he understands the role of destiny in his success.

Moral of the story: Do your best and leave the rest to ________ (Fill in the blank space)

Indeed this makes sense, though like Mathematics/Physics, it begins with an assumption that there is re-birth. My debate - discussion opponent on Hindu Philosophy(spiritualism, Theism etc) Ajit must be smirking on this posting. To an extend the above Philosophy makes sense, but only when assumes there was a birth before and there will be rebirth. I have to come to terms on that thinking.

I (will) do!

2009-07-03T09:56:00.010+05:30

Why do we hate to be told? Many animals we see do obey us and there is no question of intelligence here. We could tame a lion, do doubt, but they do obey us when he instruct them. Humans surprisingly do not like to be told and reactions are often more disastrous! Here is the list of things we are told, in the garb of double standards, not to do right from childhood till "death do us apart" (:=P) :-

Don't play in the mud...(but we do go to beach only for that)
Don't eat like that...(whatever that means, but take a look when people have buffet)
Don't keep on playing...(but elders do admire Sportsmen, especially the money around the Stars)
Don't watch TV...(do I have to say anything on this)
Don't put such posters...(check any elder's Internet Surfing Folders, one would know what posters are being watched)
Don't over study(sometimes even this is said)...
Don't pick your nose...(I agree)
Don't speak like that to your elders(uncles etc)...(well fights amongst elders never end within family and conflicts on street they are ephemeral)
Don't keep the music so loud...(remember Ganpati or Navratri festivals, even worse is Gayatri Mantra by Lata ji all the day long loud and clear)
Don't associate with that boy or that girl...(yeah right! like elders always make the right choice, and never loose anything like money or whatever by cons)
Don't be hasty...(lets look at Bus Stop or Train Station)

Now it progresses to elders being told & it gets more funny when they are told by their so called parents and elders by Law and Democracy, The Government :-

Don't smoke...(but they will never close the Tobacco Companies, reason, TAX!!!)
Don't keep the bar open till this time...(who would like to drink in the morning?)
Don't litter...(I agree)
Don't marry at this age...
Don't (in fact say no to...) Drugs...(this is always confusing, but I will come to this on a different posting)
Don't drive so fast...(like there are any options, but why not have better safety measures, ask the pavement dwellers to go away from cities, footpaths are not meant for them)
Don't join Government Office as an employee after certain age limit...(what age has to do with working as a Govt employee, take a lesson from Pvt Sector, with age comes experience)
Don't see certain movies...(Censor board! Hah! A body which is nothing but a joke, people see things whatever they want from internet or even on streets)

What I identified is the more we are being told don't do it, we tend to do it anyway. There is always some one above in terms of age or post or status who says don't do and there is always this urge to do it. Why are we like that...? I am wondering about this anthropologically.

Carnivorous World & the Crowd Mining

2009-06-07T18:21:00.002+05:30

In school we learned about biology, bios = life & logia = study of, so it is study of life, though I was good only for the sake of marks. My only distaste was with the Latin names. I still can’t remember any one of them, though my memory is as good as I can remember till 2nd standard. What made me think about biology all of a sudden, is the incessant telecast on NGC & Discovery Channel about Carnivores and the present news of Racist attacks in Australia.

I would like to first talk a little about biology first.
We learned that animals are into two categories, Carnivorous(hunters, eating other animals(Carni & Herbivores, both) and Herbivorous(grass eating). But NGC/Discovery, in India at least as I know, has only Carnivores to show as Nature's Beautiful Creation. NGC/Discovery had, is & will have umpteen shows on similar line. I really never understand this fascination about Carnivorous World. The incessant shows are oft repeat with -

Crocs – croc saviours, and croc hunting zebras etc.
Lions – always in groups, never alone and then the chases or basking in Sun
Tiger – always alone when hunting or basking in Sun or drinking water near a pond
Leopard – carries its prey up the tree and devours it
Cheetah – chases its prey for 1 minute which increases its body heat and hence the sprints don't last for more than one minute
Insects & Ants - The Masters in catching their prey alone, always!
Some times about the Scavengers.
If nothing else, it is always about Snakes, their types, comparisons of their venom strengths and death rates.

Gosh! Everything about hunters and hunters only. Not only shown but identified even by a 7 year old is as follows:

All hunters (even Lions & Tigers, made a metaphor for valor and bravey by us) hunt in hiding, by stalking.
Most big animals(sparing Elephants, obviously) like big cats etc hunt in groups and herds.
The smaller ones surprisingly hunt or catch their prey single handedly.

Nature's(if it is GOD's creation; for no debate right now) rule book is absolutely twisted. Size matters, but often ain't helpful. The biggest animal, Elephant is a Herbivore but ants aren't. Housefly lives on microorganisms and garbage but it is always alone, but honey bees, having strong defensive mechanism, still live in colony for fear & unity and attack in groups most often. What is interesting about Carnivores for them is beyond my comprehension, but I can see beauty and fascination in many things that are not Carnivorous in nature. For example the way a Bird builds a nest or medicinal or herbal benefits of plants or creating home appliances for using solar power or recycling things at home and I mean in Indian sense, Western recycling goods are not even available here. I guess there will be atleast 1000 episodes on these topics.

May be it is (some and not all) White Guy's instinct towards destruction. His nursery poems are also destructive like, "Rain, rain, go away" or "London Bridge is Falling down" or "Jack & Jill --- who fall down" or "Piggy on Railway --- eventually breaking his bones". Compare this with Indian, or my experience with Marathi poems as "Yere, yere pavasa..." means pleading Rain to come (obviously India being an Agricultural Country, makes sense).

But, Man is supposed to be one step ahead of Carnivores. He is termed as Omnivorous. He can eat anything(meaning plants and animals) like Crow. On second thought it also means anything and everything. That is instinct!

Man is an animal. Just like animals he too has instincts such as being territorial. Animals are territorial and racist. How often it is a sight on street in a third world country like India, even in a City like Mumbai, where a discolored or disfigured or of a slightly different look DOG is chased, yapped or barked by other Street Dogs first. Many times it is Oxes or Cows shooing dogs or birds from their area of rest. I notice this even in pigeons fighting it out with pack of lizards. This happens with the same kind too. Man is racist by instinct. To top it all we have created borders, religions, communities by ourselves over this period of evolution. With manners and senses we tend to avoid them, but it is instinct that surmounts sense.

In short, it seems like Carnivores are the Crowd Miners!

I just hope the Racist attack are over asap and may harmony prevail like before.

Weak End @ A Hill Station!

2009-05-25T17:40:00.007+05:30

Mumbai heat has got me boils over places where even sunlight does not reach. So I decided to cool my heels for a healing place (supposably inscribed by British) nearest hill station from Mumbai, Matheran! I spent a day, night and a morning. I stayed in a Hotel called Ashok Hotel and the experience was fantastic. The food & service were so hospitable that I did not want to leave the place even for a second. What was annoying was commute from my place to & fro. One hell of an experience! I have travelled abroad on business trips, not for leisure, but vacation outgoings in India, especially, have been so much of nightmares, for me, that I always fear to take the initiatve. Trips abroad are always a pleasure, perhaps our standards for an average middle class type of life style are so mediocre that below average abroad is better than our 5 star rating.

Coming to the point of Matheran, it all started from reaching Neral and searching for that famous Mini Train where in I was stunned to find that the frequency is limited. So now we have our usual conmen available at all Picnic Spots, Pilgrimage & many places where in foreigners(read, not being localites) are ripped at freewill. Strange the Government has no control on them till date. I was intercepted by some one called Sarfaraz, a street agent for Cabs. There is a huge Taxi Lobby and one can't escape them, since our Mini Train has 3-4 frequency and no other transport to the eager destination. Then there are bookings of the hotel at this place itself. Interaction with these people is not recommended for slow thinkers. Within 5-10 minutes you are minus the taxi money and hotel booking(depending on your choice, obviously). I wish there was a proper place for information rather than the cottage industry which is not organized. Internet did not help me so much before the kickoff. There are MTDC hotels, but their review was bad to worse and hence I did not dare to.

Next comes the cab drive. A small Maruti van! Supposable, Rs. 50/- per seat. The van was packed with 3 more people plus the driver. Everything happened so fast that I hardly could come to terms till I went to bed. The drive was supposed to be across the hill till a point called Dasturi naka, beyond which no vehicle is allowed and one has to get a Horse Ride to reach the actual spot/ your hotel. As the drive began, I thought this was the only hiccup so let us build a positive attitude and then it happened such that a Car crisscrossed my cab and some of the fellow travellers forced the driver to stop. I thought I am being kidnapped, LOL! With some scuffle, the car halted and the driver ran away. The fellow passengers asked me to get out and asked me to find my own path. Me with my so called "communication skills" tried to break the ice and what came out was that the cab was being confiscated by the bank due to non-payment of loan EMIs. Luckily for me another cab came across and the bank-recovery goons, forced me into it "if at all my vacation was so important to me!" Hush! The new cabie wanted more money than usual. I said, go ahead, rip me off. Then was the new cabbie's Formula 1 Style Driving on the road that is actually on the Hill. The lapses were not horizontal but on a 30 to 40 degree steep with no pitt-stop! For the first time speed did not excite me. The drive ended at Dasturi Naka, the point where we need to buy a ticket to enter in our Holiday Spot. Government toll obviously!

Now comes the surprise. You can neither run, nor hide and forget about escaping. You are in the middle of the jungle and you have second clan of bread winners. The Carriage Carriers or Horse Riders! When I said about my hotel, the guy was happy for the Hotel was farther than the destination. He swiftly asked for something un heard of. Rs. 700/- for the ride. My negotiations worked for 50% reduction and I was put on a Horse called 'Raghu'. Suddenly I thought of our bad guy from MTV, Raghu and prayed that my horse does not have a bad temper like him. I don't know its breed, but Raghu was a nice 5 feet tall brown color Steel. So the journey began to the Hotel. This jaywalking was a pleasure. Thank god, it did not gallop. Anyway these horses are not for races nor for battle, but still there is a fear when we are on such animals. Another 30 minutes on the Horse, I reached the Hotel. The Hotel pleasure was unbelievable and I fell in love with their hospitality. Food was absolutely fantastic.

Evening I was supposed to see many points, but decided to visit the sunset point only, due to the tiredness! Here are some snaps around that point.

I was lucky to have the ticket for that mini train but luck was not in favor and the train derailed. So all the passengers got down to push the bogies and put the humpty-dumpty train back on track, but all in vain. Finally our motorman asked us to walk down the hill and reach for the road. On road, I got am auto rickshaw. The journey ended with a memory that is unforgettable. But word of caution, plan your trip to Matheran from some one who has been there at least twice, and beware of bad-luck and unscrupulous rippers. Here are some few snaps about the humpty-dumpty scene and a week end that ended weakly but with few amazing experience too.

The Broken Train - Engine Separated!

All the Men putting the Engine back on track - in vain

People abandoning the train

UPA(270) + INDIVIDUAL(4) + [(RJD+BSP+SP)=48] = 322

2009-05-20T21:07:00.004+05:30

I am not NDA fan/follower but we finally have a Government that is more or less not so charismatic except for Team Rahul, what is interesting is the landslide victory by Congress as majority. The details are here! The zeal for power is still on for some politicians such as DMK chief M. Karunanidhi. He is 85! But many youngsters hardly care. Some like "Team Rahul" have entered politics, but only results will speak. Talk is cheap and till date pre-elections that is what has happened. But who is really caring about these results, I mean in majority?
My panoramic observation gives the following results:

Media as usual from all corners of Parliament keeps us updating the latest developments.
Most youngsters are chilling out at CCD or Mochas, some are waiting for their results of HSC etc.
An average middle class Indian from Mumbai will only care about Local Train coming on time and will he/she gets a seat(at least 4th) in this new Government :-)
Celebritites from Page 3 who proudly pointed their middle finger after voting, will continue partying and shooting abroad or bagging huge business contracts, evading taxes, siphoning funds and also providing employment. Funny how people with money always have guilt and pride going hand in hand, but poor hardly have any thing to go in hand.
Various Government Offices where our dear Selected Personnel will once again behave as they act according to the Elected Personnel, but things will go the same.

Yes, there will be some developments. I am not angry, I am not a communist, but seems like we in India have become so sluggish that we are not even supposed to demand development and just be fatalistic. One of my friends who is doing her MBA in Australia said that India is not even considered as a case study when it comes development and she felt sad about it. Well, indeed development in our country is slow, overall to be precise. There have been changes, but the pace at which they happen is what the concern. Recently, I was in a Physics Lab for my internship in a reputed Institution, and we still have experiments from 19th Century, the apparatus are 12 years old and moreover to take some readings we still use a Lamp and a magnifying lens(partly broken) where as a Magnifier with inbuilt torch will cost only Rs.75/-. That is the saddest part. Imagine how we fare with the whole world.

The more interesting part is to forgive and forget. Everybody has almost forgotten about 26/11/2008 - Mumbai attack, instead our Sons of Soil are fighting for seats. Some leaders claimed that they are only for Marathi Manoos but "Amchi Mumbai"'s people who got killed(like those marathi and non-marathi constables & Officers) no one knows what has happened to them. Our politicians are now rejoicing on the number of seats won, but the issues remain same. Even the latest has been inscribed as 'late'. This is the tragedy that I feel. Huge population, less than 50% voting due to such politics(though we have the youth now like Scindia and Gandhi, but remember today's oldies were also young when they joined, and people have lost hopes because of that), lots of things to be done yet and still we have promises and less than 10% development. We still don't know whether we will be protected or not against walk-in terrorists like Kasab, whose case is being delayed for reasons unknown.

William Blake! A Legendary Painter

2009-04-20T01:48:00.013+05:30

Painting for me is an expression of a person, just like blogging, only better with Colors and no Text! That does not mean, I don't like blogging or writing, but Painting is an Art and every Art is Supreme form of Human Beauty! I have tried my brushes in numerous ways expressing Agony, Aggression, Aesthetic sense, Ugliness and even 7 deadly sins(Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy & Pride)! My canvasses are not a Master Piece but my admiration to some of the Legendary Expressionist is honest. For many Modern or Contemporary might not be comprehensive, well I would say that Art is a Taste and not a Test; which every one can go through but comprehend individually and comment exclusively!

Of the many Expressionist from Centuries, my most desired Artist is William Blake! A Legend!I am not Francis Dolarhyde, the notorious, serial killer & cynic character from the novel "Red Dragon" written by Thomas Harris & neither I am his worshiper, but Blake's piece is indeed an inspiration. The most inspiring being the same one what Dolarhyde worships, "The Red Dragon". Here it is:

The painting in itself is a portrayal of a negative character. It portrays the Dragon is seen ready to devour the child of the pregnant woman, who symbolises the Church, the Virgin Mary and Israel. Blake was commissioned to paint over 100 paintings intended to illustrate books of the Bible. The painting is housed at Brooklyn Museum.

I am no negative person nor I devour women or rather anything :D! What I like about the painting is its symbolism of evil! Blake could bring this characteristic alive on his white-board. Imagination is a worm that sets your thought to wiggle and this painting brings the chill in your spine. It is inspiring to draw a learning expressionist like me to think and then lift the brush or even open the bottles(pun intended!) What a wonderful piece of work? Blake's perfection reflects just like many icons I respect from the Renaissance to Impressionists to Fauvism contributors, but what transpires into a soul stirring is the sharp edges of the strokes which creates a story around the Painting. I had a chat with friend of mine about Blake and his works and he revealed that Blake was also a poet and many times his poems were the inspiration behind the Painting. This is more astonishing and I felt Blake is indeed Britain's Greatest Artist ever born. The Red Dragon inspired me to learn more about Blake and I found these Paintings on the Net. Though they are available I just want to possess them & keep it for display at least on my blog. Here are some:

God and His Angels by Blake

Godmath by Blake

Newton by Blake. Demonstrates his opposition to the "single-vision" of scientific materialism.

If God Was Raghu...

2009-04-19T23:40:00.018+05:30

Isn't my title absurd? Indeed it is! I am writing about a weirdest reality show. The show is not about singers, dancers or choreographers(the types which are currently dominating Indian reality shows, unlike American shows. American reality shows are geekiest to eeriest; at least the ones I have seen on Star World and AXN!). This show is about wannabes, teenagers, mostly with high spirits(joshilay aur hosh khoye huay!). The ones who are from all corners of India gathering in hordes to get into the show and many switch on to the channel which hosts this show just to hear but not to listen (since there are lots of beep, beep; you know why...) to abuses and dirtiest of words one can say. Who says? Obviously the participants and also the greatest youth icon of today's metro-teen, the baddest of all known negative and villanious characters you have known till date(from Ravana to Kans to Duryodhan to Gabbar to Lion to Mogambo); the one and only Raghu Ram! Yes! No prizes for guesses, I am talking about Hero Honda Roadies 6.0 Hell Down Under.

Raghu Ram
The Rudest Man on TV

Though on the face of it the show claims to be "Hell Down Under!" I did not find many tasks as such. Yes the show is extremely popular. Why am I watching it? Well, I am a trekker myself and every trekker's attitude in real life is not to seek for the expected but chase the unexpected! I try to keep the same attitude even while watching tele shows and trust me, songs, videos, saas-bahu serials, national news & even cartoons are mostly predictable. Many reality shows give me the kick on my seat when unexpected happens. There is what Roadies comes on the top of the list. I had mentioned about reality shows even before, check it out here !. But what happened at Roadies today, the first of the season finale, was mind blowing for me and there is what I salute Raghu, no matter how obnoxious he is.

The inspiration to my title comes from a book I had skimmed through in 1 hour, some time ago; If God Was A Banker by Ravi Subramanian! One of the worst books written ever. There are plenty of comments and brickbats about this book all over the net and I don't want to re-emphasize Ravis writing skills. I would just repeat what one reader had said, R.S. is an Iyengar Brahmin and he should stick to being an Iyengar Brahmin only, which is visit Vishnu Temple and focus on making money as an ideal Banker or IT Professional or doing something in US and make India proud, HAHA! On second thoughts, I would say if there is an urge for writing, first take a course in Vocabulary, Grammar and read lots of literature to avoid innuendos for Book Sales!

Coming back to our topic, If God Was Raghu, definitely things on Earth would have improved. Raghu's insurmountable skill of abuse is beyond appreciation in comparison to an achiever from Harvard, Stanford, IIM or IIT. What he is and what he is not will be a separate blog, but what I liked on today's show was absolutely fantastic twist brought out by Raghu. Nauman and Palak the most unlikely and hated amongst most of the Roadies plus the eternal cat-dog fight between themselves were till now the ultimate contenders and challengers to each other. They survived some tasks but not vote-outs or politics from the Hell Mates!. They came back on the show with wild card entry! Whether they are deserving or not only time will tell. But the deserving candidates, based on tasks of course, were Sufi, Samrat, Pradeep and Natasha! Reasons being obvious, Samrat though was absolutely being very good in task, especially the "crocodile task" was voted out by a very dirty plan by Nauman and Sufi! Pradeep deserves to be on the show because he is good in task and damn right straight forward Sardarji; some how I am biased to Sardars(may be because I did my High School from Khalsa College :D); but he was booted out. Sufi and Natasha literally had bad luck shined on the day of vote out with no fault of theirs but an unfortunate twist in the game show they were booted out too. I felt very bad then. Natasha was out of the show by a Card Shuffler and Sufi was booted out by the Roadie who was actually voted out; and by whom? our very own Queen of Abuses, Raghu's real contender in the Game of S**t spewing from mouth, Ms. Gurmeet aka Palak!

But as I said, If God Was Raghu indeed he would have done what Raghu did and Raghu was absolutely right in this. He brought the show's greatest twist by bringing those unlucky booted out wannabes(Sufi & Natasha) back into the game. That is absolutely genuine. If a Roadie goes out because of politics or failure in Task it is understandable but not by Luck. "Har ek Roadie akela hai" is a repeated line by Ranvijay in every episode but "koi Roadie badnaseeb to nahi"! I personally don't believe in luck(except for lottery winners :D) and vouch for hard workers in everything even though it is a reality show of wannabes. Thankfully, Raghu did support this funda! These Roadies were given a second chance and yes they got their opportunity to try to achieve the coveted ROADIE TITLE and win Rs. 1 Million plus possibly be on MTV shows or become popular, whatever. My vote goes to Raghu and not to Roadies, since the show is his brainchild and he did Justice. Raghu is simply unique in his style of producing TV Shows, from Roadies to Splitsvilla(1 & 2) on MTV; Sitaaron Ko Choona Hai on Real Channel! Raghu is my man.

The second twist was asking Roadies to vote the deserving candidate as the third participant in addition to Sufi & Natasha! Wow what a twist. I did not think about it in my wildest perception. Simply justified. To the surprise, Kiri got the maximum votes! Surprise, surprise.

The last one was the scolding and straightening up of Palak by Raghu for all the nasty (from abuses, fights, quarrels to physical assualts with almost everyone) screen appearances of her! This Punjaban is really a daring girl but too loud in her behavior. Raghu knows to make things right and Palak was almost silenced with tears in her eyes and no words. She did her usual gimmicks of gaining sympathy but this time neither the pariticpant, nor the show host or unit stopped her! She almost walked out but came to earth the next day. Raghu knows to control such wild cats.

Then was the task which made Kiri the champ and the third contender with Nauman and Palak. Now I feel the Roadies 6.0 is something to watch. At least we have Kiri who never played any games but played the sport by doing the tasks to his capacity. No politics, no charms, no tricks , no plotting, no groupism and no nothing. He is indeed a slow dude. But he should win the Roadies, I think so. Let us wait & watch.

Raghu did what was right and he deserves to be the reality show-man. More about Raghu sometime later.

Today's episode was the best of all. I simply enjoyed it for the Justice done!

Sky Observation @ Vangani

2009-03-31T00:33:00.012+05:30

A weekend at a place called Vangani on 28th of March, 2009 for a Sky Observation was just the same as last time. Fanstastic! The Observation session was Organized by Khagol Mandal. For me it was a night-sky sprinkled with stars & the constellations to identify. Astronomy was my passion long time but Martial Art & Engineering Career Aspirations got in the middle. The Club, Khagol Mandal has been conducting these sessions for more than 20 years, but silly me, I never went there before even though I heard about it so many times. In fact Vangani is like just 5 stations away from my place, but still something had blindfolded me before. I was oblivion to pursue this career due to a so-called "dedication" to Martial Art and people around it for a good 14 years! Then came family & their problems. Obviously being the eldest and the only son, I had to take the seat behind the wheel. Sadly, many opportunities were lost mean time. But today, getting back there as a hobby is really exciting. I am enroute to pursue a career in Astrophysics full time, but some things had to be fixed before that.

The Observation sessions were really well-organized. It was at a Farm House of some good Samiritan named Mr. Chavan. Our anchors were members of Khagol Mandal. The programme was divided into sections between Tea Time(s) & Dinner. There were two sets of groups organized for people who would like to listen in English and the ones in Marathi. The anchors were very well experienced in their work. There were also few students doing their MSc & few working professionals but interested in Astronomy or have been following this club for long time, to present some aspects of Astronomy. Knowledge regarding Constellations, Comets, Asteroids and Planets were given in the manner so that even non-science participant can also comprehend. The most interesting part of the event was seeing Saturn & Jupiter through Telescope. I saw Saturn with its rings & Jupiter with its four satellites, thanks to the eight inch Telescope. I wanted to take snaps with the new Digital Camera, but I did not know how to use the night vision & also placing it on the Telescope and rearranging the setup was not feasible, since so many people were lined up. But I will make it some other time soon. The view of Saturn was fantastic, since it was once in 17 years. The rings were edge on. Another interesting was the Meteor Showers & Satellite Motions. We saw at least 4 satellites in different orbits. It is a spectacular view. One of the meteor shower was an awesome show of two red fireballs making a raging parabolic surge in the Earth's atmosphere. I wish it could be anticipated and capture it. But Sky-Observations are always a surprise.

I must say Sky-Observations are quiet geeky way of camping. Many of the observers were found napping or yawning or in deep sleep. I guess they came with some one who was interested. I did not have a wink of sleep.

Though very interesting, today with my awareness of Physics, I am interested in Astrophysics. Astronomy has tinge of Astrology, which I am skeptic. But it is interesting to listen. The Q & A sesions were usual with the same queries such as Black Hole, Hypernova etc. I guess google has better answers. But still when people ask such questions like Black Hole, Dark Matter, Dark Energy etc, I find too amateurish! Most of these could be understood only Mathematically & even today we have not got the technological capability to see them. But they are so mysterious, that every body jumps into it the first chance they get either in the form of Questions or Analysis. I never dare to ask questions, not because I have stage fear or think my question will be stupid, but instead I feel I would like to solve my questions & just an answer by the Speaker in a limited time is reasonably insufficient for such topics. Besides that reading only about one topic will help in discovering plethora of topics & answering many questions, hence I keep mum in the Seminars, Public Lectures and Observation sessions. Also, one has to have certain type of grasp in the basics of Physics & Mathematics. But questions asked by kids are welcome, since that shows they are interested.

All in all, it was wonderful experience. Here are some snaps which are not any Celestial Objects but The Sun!

The Sun set captured in some amateurish way!

A Garden near the Observation Block!

Single, Happy to Mingle, but no Jingle...

2009-03-28T10:41:00.003+05:30

I have heard many of my friends saying staying single has its benefits & yes many disadvantages too. Was I politically correct by saying 'benefits' (though plural) & 'many disadvantages'(plural with emphasis on "many")? Perhaps! I have been single for a long time now, though I dated for a year or so & now back in the same fraternity.

Things were indeed fantastic then. As a couple sharing the time, the waiting(though obnoxious for me) had its own kick which one would get only with something as addiction as nastier it could be, meeting, the lies to your friends, families & foes(from work :P), the aimless walks near the beaches(though, I used to take her to ponds & lakes(wondering where did I find them in Mumbai, well that is a secret you will know only if you are girl dating me, guys consulting & information will cost you)), those unnecessary rants about things that don't bother us(always from her), the gifts(pinches in my pockets many times), the long drives(that was my favorite!!!), those talks & commitments(which were without the knowledge of consequences), those often visited places(for the lack of limited places one can actually go as a working person in Mumbai), those days & anniversaries(I must appreciate, I remembered more than her; "the 100 days of first this" & "the one year of first that"; gosh!), those movie times(well my choices she did not like & her tastes weren't mine, so we will end up at the Cinema Hall's choice for the sake of magnificient mall; somehow most women like Malls, I don't know why? It is just Glass Building with so many people & shops to confuse men. I guess you understood, Malls are not my favorite!), those constant watch on each others' looks & weight(mostly by her, I did not care so much so about these things), the constant monitoring of where I am looking(where she was looking I did not have to care, since she was monitoring me :P) & many such things... The Goods & Bads... Life is such with bed of roses & thorns around it which do not tear your skin like a knife but pricks you such that you have to give the healing touch of yourself & put it back into your mouth.

Being a single had its benefits of many things such as being alone for a drive(where I can zoom it carelessly), going to places(without the baggage or waiting or planning) and as such. Though fun a lot, the things start sinking when it pricks to see couples having happy times(I don't mean vulgar or censored) and the feeling of being alone.

Face it, man cannot live alone and hence he made partners, community and eventually a kingdom. Man evolved from animal but he is less of an animal and would prefer to stay with his kind rather than just enjoying the nature. As for now, I am enjoying the nature with her... :P Where? Don't ask! I need some time alone with her, for you I have this boring blog. As soon as I will be back, I will post some snaps - minus her obviously.

Did you all realize, by her I meant whom? Keep guessing...

India & the Oscars - Just Like That - Slumdog...

2009-03-03T12:48:00.006+05:30

I am not going to point out my opinion exclusively(as it is I am too much :P). I am going to make a collage of all those people, near & dear and far & not-so-clear in terms of relation to me, what they said with my views in the brackets(how can I forgo the chance).

Sonia Gandhi said, "Rehman has made India proud!" .
Today morning saw the news where Mr. Modi has brought up this movie under Political Agenda against Congress saying it is the Congress which has created slums and hence the movie(I believe politicians are really artist who see the unseen & create that does not exist like an Abstract Painter)
Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bacchan(wow! what a name?) said, "I was always fan of Rehman".
Mr. Bacchan said things that looked like he slammed the slum-phillic director but actually what he meant only he knows.
Hemaji, Babbar ji(pardon for the ‘ji’, but that is the trend in the filmi duniya) slammed, slapped & ranted the Oscars for not recognizing Mother India or other master pieces from India.
Danny Boyle the director thanked every one in Mumbai while accepting the Oscars(thank you Danny, iski kya zaroorat thee? yeh to mera farz tha… - my words, I am from Mumbai na!!!).
Anil Kapoor said during some Indian award(sorry, there are at least 4-5 yearly film awards now a days, so it is confusing) "I got my Oscars tonight"!(thoda zyaada hee ho gaya, comparing our awards with Oscars)
Most celebrity viewers when they came out of Cinema hall after seeing this movie said, "Fantastic, fabulous, splendid" (same words that do not speak their mind).
My friend who accompanied me to see the movie said, "Accha hai! Something different!" (anyway she is not a critic of anything unless the majority does, she is beautiful by heart).
My sister said, "Ok! It was Sunday, and the pirated-CD was good"(amazing huh! Well she just wanted to relax on Sunday after a hard call center bill collection week due to recession and Americans not paying their dues but giving away such awards and people making money)
What film critic Nikat Kazmi said is here - Times
and there are umpteen others, with the blog circles actually throwing bouquets and brickbats.

They said this & he said that mean time she said so. Hush! I wonder if this movie was not nominated for the Oscars then what would have happened? I mean, this much recognition & media hullaboo around it with every tom, dick & harry along with infantile mortals like me would have spent time to write good or rant about & around it? I seriously doubt, though. Perhaps it is because of today's media too. During the days of Mother India, Indian media was not so popular or did not have its tentacles from Oscars to the kids who fall into some man made ground holes and the Army rescues them after 2-3 days, & the kids come alive. Media, media & its media. It is the media that makes people popular or notorious, events that make houses in our memories but at the same time it is the media which makes us forget things too. Just like the media made the hype about Swaroop's auction / contract purchase of 100 paintings of M F Hussain for a staggering Rs. 100 Crores and Telgi Scam to Hawala & Parekh-Mehtas scams to Raju's Corporate "chori" it is the same media which brought the face of the terrorism right into our living rooms while we want to havea cup of coffee to see what is happening around the world. It is the same media which is just displaying the rants & appreciations of this movie too.

The way I see it, is the proverb what we bloggers prove all the time, “Opinions are like noses, everyone has them”. But on top of that it reflects another fable which I remember from the Film Division cartoon of 7 blind men & an Elephant.

In simple terms it is not an Indian Film, it is based on a story from India that too slums of India. When it comes to slums we can only feel nasty but the movie shows the rise of underdog suddenly by some twist of fate amidst his own circle of misfortune. Though it does not show it in the traditional Indian sense of struggle and gumption of our angry young man of 80s. But then Oscars is always about this theme and stories that bring this fact out. That is the real American dream or hero. Like Rocky movie deserves Oscars or not is debatable but it showed the same theme. Rising against the odds, by luck or hard work. Gladiator had the same theme though set in Roman era. Million Dollar Baby, Monster , Boys don't cry, A Beautiful Mind, and so many other movies are all stories of success born out of hardships and by an underdog. Slumdog… just has a different background. That’s it! Whether it was an entertainment or not, that is again debatable and depends on your definition of fun.

As far as my opinion is concerned it was an afternoon time spent that I do not regret. Why? Just Like That!

India & The Oscars

2009-02-23T05:18:00.004+05:30

By the time one reads this blog the Oscars must be already given out. My contention is why the media tailgating this issue or anything that has to do with International Exposure? Indian media is especially trigger-happy to report anything that has to do out of India. The most common one is an IITian working in an MNC abroad, or IIM grads getting a placement abroad. "Desi”"things when sold to "Pardesi" become more valuable than its actual price in this "Desh".

The 81^st Academy Award has a special place, though. This year, instead of India we have a movie based on slums of India made by a "Firang". Surprisingly, people from the industry are not so happy about the movie getting nominated for the Oscars. I heard from many celebrities such as Mr. Bacchan, Hemaji & Raj Babbar that there is nothing new about this movie that it requires a nomination. I have not seen the movie yet, but if it is based on some realities, I think movies are just an extension of facts but are not the real facts. So why become serious about it? It is true that India has produced Master Pieces but never got the recognition unless there was an International Midas Touch. Some of the movies which made it to Oscars in some or the categories but had some tinge of India are as follows :

Mother India - 1957
Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth
Sir Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi - 1982
Meera Nair’s Salaam Bombay - 1989

The only Indian who got the golden statue was Mr. Satyajit Ray, that too for Lifetime Achievement.

But then why point at this issue in such a way? So what if Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire is getting dominated based on an India – story? Is this envy? Why do we have to behave like this? Guru Dutt made 9 Master Pieces and was never recognized in his own country. Who is to be blamed for that? Many things originated in India and have migrated abroad, eventually becoming their cult or culture. Like Martial Art originated in India and today we recognize it as Japanese or Chinese. Algebra originated in India but today we learn it as Western Mathematics. Astronomy, Astrology, Medicines, Sanitations, Gardening, Engineering, Economics & many more were basically Indian & now we learn even by going abroad. Taking from India and winning accolades or making things larger than life is usual practice. Why crib? Today the entire Western Economy to a sufficient extent is dependent on India. We let this happen. Who is supposed to be blamed for that? I think as an Artist or a Professional, one should either focus on commercial viability of their work and/or Artistic Self Satisfaction of creating a Master Piece. If we peek into other’s work we should only appreciate and learn and not crib about not getting it.

Politics or no politics, biased or unbiased, good or bad these thoughts can only get up to so much. If we have chosen to bow to the accolades given by some one then there has to be a spirit of seeing others win it & at the same time, learn to make a better work that appeals International Audience too. Cribbing makes us look bad.

Now comes the media. How exciting it is for the media to dig controversies around “ A MOVIE” ?. I wish there was constructive journalism which made sense and brought only good news to people in the morning when they have their first sip of coffee instead of negative, though negative sells better.

Eye twitching & Myths

2009-02-16T18:15:00.002+05:30

For the last 4 days, my left-eye is twitiching. It has been almost 3 years it happened. Well I did experience some bad-luck the last time it happened, but when was good luck on my side anyways :P ? But I went of searching on the net about superstition & eye twitching & as usual google came up with millions of links. Why is google so good in searching ?
Millions of people suffer from eye twitching – in some it may be intermittent, brought on by a sudden increase of stress or sleeplessness. In others, it’s more pronounced and can interfere with day to day life. Regardless of which category a person falls into, there’s a goldmine of superstitions that revolve around eye twitching. In fact eye twitching ranks up there with itchy palms and hiccups as the most superstition prone condition! Each culture seems to have its own take on the deeper significance of eye twitching.
In China for instance, where superstitions and myths frequently cross over into modern living, the chief superstition seems to be that a twitch in the right eye signifies good luck, maybe a major windfall. A twitch in the left eye? Not so good. It’s a bad omen; a sign of ill luck headed your way! The entire situation seems to turn around in the case of females; for them, a twitching left eye signifies good luck while a twitching right one is a strict no no!
There is even a superstition based on an anatomical break down of the eye. A twitch in the lower left eyelid means you can expect to cry soon while a corresponding one in the right eyelid means good fortune is headed your way. There’s yet another one that claims a twitching eyelid means someone is gossiping about you.
In any case, all these mental calisthenics figuring out whether an eye twitch means you’re going to win the lottery or have the sky fall on your head, will probably give you enough stress to trigger off a whole new series of twitches!
Next to the Chinese, we the Indians are the Olympic champions when it comes to superstitions. The commonly believed one here is just the opposite of the Chinese version. Here a twitching left eye is definitely a good omen, while a twitching right one is considered inauspicious. At times it is more gender biased too, like left is bad for men & good for women & vice versa. Hoosh!!!
The Nigerians go with the Chinese version. Left eye – bad. Right eye – Good.
Another superstition is a little more frightening than the above. It’s not clear where this one comes from, but according to it a twitching left eye means there’s soon going to be a death in the family. A twitching right one on the other hand means an impending birth.
To the Hawaiians, an eye twitch can either mean the arrival of a stranger, or that you’re soon going to mourn for someone.
In Cameroon and some other parts of Africa, a twitching lower eyelid means you will soon shed tears. As far as superstitions go, this one is quite scientific. Tears normally flow from the corner of the lower eyelid. Still on Africa, when the upper eyelid twitches, it’s a sure sign you’re going to meet someone you didn’t expect to see. This one’s also connected to anatomical science, it seems. Surprise and amazement are normally expressed in humans by the raising of the upper eyelids.
Next time, your eye twitches in its usual maddening fashion, keep your fingers crossed because something good just might be coming your way! (Be optimistic, people!) OR check this link for solutions

Reality Shows, The Business & Quarrels of Chawl Dwellers

2009-02-15T23:57:00.006+05:30

Reality Shows are almost on every TV Channel. Some International, some Indian & guess what, our local Cable TV also has some dance reality shows. Here is the list of those in India LIST that have come through inspirations from abroad.

While I am not here to comment on how bad or good they are since that is upto each individual to take the call, but what Reality Shows do is a hope for a “nobody”. Perhaps it reflects the desperation for success & hunger for opportunity. I don’t feel there is any difference between these reality shows and people queing for MHADA flats or Admission to Engineering / Medical or Concert / Show Tickets etc. All this is for a psychological odyssey of self satisfaction and the hope to achieve that dream. One common attribute seen is 90% aspirants, whether it is Singer / Dancer / Roadies / Splitsvilla / Celebrity Dance shows etc, it is always youngsters who are vying for the Gold. Being young is always being alive & ambitious. The network executives & producers make good money out of their dreams. Many a times it is also said that nothing is real, perhaps true, but what happens is an eye-candy for peeping toms. Other things that are common to reality shows are :

• Sympathy gain by projecting the efforts taken.
• Quarrels, either amongst the contestants or amongst the judges.
• Humilation.

So in summary common elements

• Sympathy gain by projecting the efforts taken.
• Quarrels, either amongst the contestants or amongst the judges.
• Humilation of the participants.
• Youngsters most often time.
• Vote outs(by contestants or audience)
• Omnipresent TEARS! (It is cool & request for votes + TRP)

So, if one can convince few deep pockets, one can create a reality tv show. Everything for name, fame, & moolah. Another use of Reality show is when actors of saas-bahu serials have no work or their serials are sliding to dump, these actors become contestants here. Chalo, kuch kaam-paisa to milega.

But my heart goes for those who succeeded in winning the contest but then forgotten by the masses. This is just a reminder for those who are reading this blog.

• INDIAN IDOLS
• Sa Re Ga Ma Pa-Debojit
• Big Boss 1 – Rahul Roy
• Laughter Challenge winners
• Nach Baliye
• Roadies

I like to see those shows where there are only contestants and no judges. Things that wonder me is who are those who actually vote through sms & spend money in glamorizing others’ life ? Things that are distasteful & really unpleasant are the quarrels by respectable celebrity judges and wannabe contestants.

I used to live in a Chawl in my childhood where we had umpteen problems of survival in a middle class way that God could think of. One of those problems was shortage of water supply & we either had to carry vessels & walk at least a kilometer where there could be Municipal Water Supply Tap or some rich man’s personal well in his Bunglow. We kids never realized the pain until we grew up. It was always fun for us. What reminds me about this part of my past is the quarrels on reality shows. I remember there were some dreadful ladies amongst us who used to find opportunity to quarrel when standing in the que for water. The fight will arise on volume of water taken beyond the allowed quota or barging ahead into the que or bringing more members or vessels. We kids used to watch it in fun. But as we grew, we found it disgusting and so did many ladies themselves. We realized that was down market or very cheap to behave & hence most of those chawl dwellers are in so called buildings or flats in complex or cooperative housing societies. But now when we look at these judges & contestants, I bet none of them are even around those areas from where I have come. But they are equally cheap & down market. At least in the chawl it was basic necessity, here it is ego clash.

Perhaps it is to shoot the TRP. Whatever it is, reality shows are some thing to watch as a human emotions and dramas in a naked manner. Let us see this trend stays for how long.

Recession, Depression, Expression, Impression

2009-02-12T23:08:00.006+05:30

Some of you might wonder about the title, but I mean what I say & I say what I mean that too in the order of appearance. The title I mentioned due to the following article Great Recession. Now first of all I have never heard about Mr. Michael Psaros, apart from C K Prahlad, Peter Drucker etc from the Corporate High Seat Accomodators. Second of all, what does it mean by forecasting a disaster? I would like to ask few questions such as :

Based on what we are predicting recession ? I mean what are the parameters ?
Why was it not forewarned when the market was singing big songs of success & upward mobil?
Who are these people caused recession ? Consumers, Business Men, Investors, Government, Neghboring countries success ? What ?

Whenever such people give comments, they probably give based on their business graph. Now, listen to this side of the story. My ex-colleagues, who are very much part of the outsourcing industry - IT & ITES, said this last six months have been hectic for them. They had more business than usual. It was just yesterday, I spoke to my friend who is in UK right now, being a fresher in the IT industry, dared to leave his job and has started working as a Consultant / Freelancer & he mentioned the " F-word " for this recession hoopla. It was this evening, I had a brief discussion with one of my vendor, who was supposed to bring me business in the last semester, but could not because my skill sets (I am a Java Trainer, basically) were not his primary sale, said that business is actually as usual. I survived some how because my business decisions were not so much pre-planned, but I was not in the loss too. My very close friend is from travel industry & she says that the destinations she handles are Greece, Sicily, Turkey, UK etc & she says that she hardly feels its a recession since her work ends being pending every day & in fact she has even won a all paid (hotel(6/7 star), local travel, ticket & visa processes - all paid) trip to Turkey. Is this recession?

Another of my friend is from the training industry(which is supposed to be a cost function, according to my another senior most friend & very senior person in the IT industry, so his words should make sense all the time especially when he is VP Sales / HR for this CMM Level 5 company at Singapore) & she said that, she is unable to apply for leave due to growing work. My brother who is a fresher in the IT industry recently went to UK for overseas assignment. I myself made a short trip to Kazakshthan for an assignment. Work, money & business is as usual.

I know some one from manufacturing industry who will vouch for Mr. Michael Psaros though. But when was the last time you spoke to a business man who is not from the IT or service sector & looks happy about business? Brick & mortar business seciotns has already government regulations & silly issues like labour relations, credit cycle of the payment, etc. So I guess recession is just another reason to frown.

Now let us see around us & we will notice that, people are buying houses, cars (used/new), jewellery, travelling abroad, going for vacation within India, buying electronics & all other consumer durable goods. Film industry is not effected by this dread ful term, how come? If people are not having money or job or no business how come they would like to go for movie? It is said that A. Khan's Ghazini has grossed 200+ crores. How was that ? My ex-company has actually brought a new office near the new MMRDA Project along Ghatkopar-Andheri-Varsova link. Is this recession?

Now who is actually suffering? Well the ones who anyway have no talent to survive or they were making money as a byproduct. At present there is a financial buckle, but it is not for those who are talented or those who are skilled or in business circle those who have good repuation(& of course reputation in business means many things). I am myself getting offers for higher positions in IT industry, many are willing to work with the package I am asking for, though I have different priorites.

I would like to end with this small experience of mine. We all are people who have our behaviour based on the childhood habits. I had a neghbour who was 1 year elder to me. She was not academic but was very competitive. Her concerns, when the test scores were released was not whether she will fail or not, but how much any one has scored less than her. If she scored a disaster then she will find out whether every student in the class room has gone through & if she finds out that every body has scored less, like even the topper has made very average, she will be happy announcing her marks to the neighbour and at the same time blame the system for such result. I termed this as the rabbit-effect from the small fable we learned from our marathi school lessons. So, if you come across people yelling recession, they are the rabbits of this business and not the tigers / lions who will score a point in their habbit during tough times too. Tough time is a misnomer. Stay way from people like Michael Psaros & rabbits such as these. Follow the " F word " of what my dear european friend said about recession. I remember my ex-colleague’s words (who is a sales person but now is a GM of the Corporate department & an awesome inspiration in terms of aggression in business ) when I departed from the company, & he told me that “there are good parts of the business & there are bad part of the business, you make a choice to chase the good & avoid the bad to haunt”. The message is clear. “F word” for bad part & Welcome to the good part.

IAF, Media & ATC

2009-02-11T18:25:00.000+05:30

I stumbled upon this story The Story
A simple sentence has become the ultimate justification. IAF Chief is not an ordinary man. But on the hindsight when was the last time we had defense person accepting his mistake in front of a Civilian ? Even in personal life, defense guys are always considering themselves high above everybody. So this statement is not new. Even if it was there a mistake they would not accept it anyway. What should happen right now is situations like this should not be judged by Media. Whenever media comes to know about such things, & gets itself sitting in the between two parties, both the parties go on defensive. First, ask media to stop intervening. Second, find out the problem(technical or human factors) with respect to ATC, IAF Pilots & Commercial Airline Pilot. Third, under RTI, release a report. End of the story. Result : Valuable time & money on TV & News Paper will be saved & aam-junta will stop gossiping.

Media, "Aam-junta" & Memory

2009-02-11T06:19:00.000+05:30

Apparently media now has new topic of discussion - INDIAN OF THE YEAR, ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR(A. KHAN) or SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE blah blah. I pity our nation for getting independence and becoming republic. Did we become Republic for this reason so that we can have fun even when the house is burning. Kashmir issue is anyway a favorite side dish for all the scoun***** who are at the Lok Sabha, the Naxal issues and crime against women & children are a never ending cancer for us. Amidst all this we have Thackerey clan reminding us about that we are Marathi & not Indians(though they will close their speeches, with politically correct statements, "JAI HIND! JAI MAHARASHTRA") & scams from fodder, bofors, hawala, stock market(Mehtas, Parekhs & now the Rajus of the world) & also umpteen attempts & success to assassinate some sensible leaders like Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi along the line of Terrorist Attacks.

Hence I really don't understand should we rejoice our freedom or frown? There is no GOD who will take care of us if we abuse ourselves amidst our celebration of Maha Aartis of Ram Navmi, Ganesh Chaturthi or Durga Puja in the middle of a busy road when some woman in labor need to reach Hospital urgently, or Id or Pateti or X'Mas or Guru Nank Jayanti or Baisaakhi or Laxmi Pujan or umpteen other festivals which remind us our wonderful culture of acceptance & tolerance but sadly does not forces us to practise. Unfortunately we have accepted and tolerated our Ministers & Politicians and until some time ago Under World too, not to mention the sad state of Indian Cinema from North to South or East to West. We have tolerated and accepted our very own next door neighbors to relatives who finish their education in India and fly abroad for greener pastures and come back to flaunt their assets with India bashing and bitching. We have tolerated & accepted the new age of followings of Indian "ishtyle" of Western cultures to larger extent(Gay relations, Pre-marital Sex, Live-in relationship, Love Marriages(with no consideration for elders), Pizzas-Birgers or Italian, Mexican, Thai Food). We have accepted & tolerated everything that Miscrosoft sells us or US Companies throw at us what we call as "Software Projects" so that we can copy-paste laboriously. We have accepted & tolerated the unaccepting and intolerant teachers who never understood the meaning if guidance and becoming a light house to our career(with few exceptions, of course). We have accepted & tolerated our economic ups & downs. Funny, until 2004 we had stories & advertisements from the BJP Govt of India is Rising / Shining and there was this numero uno tag line for everything under Sun that shines on India, "A Feel Good Factor" with ignorance to our neghbor China's same factors. Within 8 years we went upto the level of SHINING & now with hardly any LUSTRE but only BURNING CORPSES & TERROR on STREETS.