Vandalism To Monuments

I really really hope this works ...
No more BAIJU Loves MEENUKUTTY on monuments of culture !

In Love With A Jerk?

Spotted this one at Landmark bookstore in Bangalore. I have seen all sorts of self help books, but this one is among the best ...

Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems

Man stabbed at York Hotel ignores wound to finish his beer

A man who was stabbed at the York Hotel Saturday night opted to return to the bar to finish his beer rather than seek medical attention.

The quote is so true ...

Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems

I am not able to resign

No no I am not trying to. This is one hilarious incident that happened today at work. A guy reporting to me wanted to resign and I promptly agreed because I could not give anything convincing for he had a very lucrative offer from another organisation.

He calls me and says - "I am not able to see the resignation form". I figured that the Exit Management System was not giving him the option. I had no way out but tell him to raise a help desk ticket.

His mail to help desk would probably look like this:

To: Help Desk
Sub: Not able to resign
Hi,
I am not able to resign. Please fix this issue.

Great way for retention :-)

Google Search releases CO2

If you are wondering why Google Search would affect environment, here is something that might be a good read ...

For comparison, the average adult needs about 8000 kJ a day of energy from food, so a Google search uses just about the same amount of energy that your body burns in ten seconds.

This was in response to a study that revealed the environmental impact of Google searches

Am I going to reduce doing complex searches on Google? ... No way ... It's the coolest thing ever ... :)

Will wait for Google to optimize instead ...

Slumdog Hysteria

Slumdog millionaire has become super popular now with 4 awards at the Golden Globes. I have not seen the movie yet, and so will not write anything about that.

Regarding the nominations and awards, I think the award for best original music to A.R Rahman is something that did India proud. I would not say, from what I heard on television, that this was A.R Rahman's best score, but at an international level, probably this was one of the best by him. H Sridhar needs a special mention for this was one of his last albums.

Somehow, I fail to understand why the Indian media is going gaga over Slumdog. Why is that we take pride in something that we have not done? Just because it was made on India? Or is it because it had Anil Kapoor and a bunch of other Indian actors? A.R Rahman is one good reason, but I do not see the soundtrack available in Indian market (Update: It got released last week, after the awards). What are we feeling great about? Something that we have not even heard?

The movie is neither produced nor directed by Indians. It was setup in India and it does not even give out a rosy picture of Mumbai/India. It talks about an impoverished guy who has no desire for any riches attending the "Who wants to be a millionaire?" show. Would this movie have gotten this much popularity and quality if it had not been for Danny Boyle? I doubt it. Coming to think of it, I was wondering how this movie would have been if it had been directed by Karan Johar or RGV (hmmmm ...)?

It's well known that a movie showing non-prosperous side of a nation always sells. City of Gods (thanks Prasant for pointing this out), Blood Diamond, Motocycle Diaries, Salaam Bombay and the list goes on ... I do not recollect seeing one Hollywood movie which programs the movie around a prosperous India. Impoverished India sells. Remember the movie "Armageddon"?

What are the other things that we take credit for just because the person involved was an Indian? Sunita Williams and Manoj Shyamalan to name a couple.

Slumdog Millionaire may be a great movie and may go down in history as one of the best movies made on hope and compassion with India as backdrop.

Something to leave you to ponder about (I am not endorsing it) would be a sketch I spotted on Mutiny.in.



I will come back after I see the movie ...

Ignorance

Was watching Jay Walking on Jay Leno show today:

Jay: You are?
ABC: I am ABC

Jay: What do you do ABC?
ABC: I am a college student ...

Jay: OK. Have you heard of Somali Pirates?
ABC: Yeah ... I think so ...

Jay: Here is the question ... Somali Pirates is:
a. Rock Band
b. Actual Pirates
c. Football team
ABC: errr ... Football team ...
(Stumped !!!!!!!!! ... I lost it here)

Jay: Oh! How did they do this year?
ABC: They did well I guess. They are pretty famous right?

Such is the ignorance ...

People who do not know, please read about Somali Pirates.

An Evening Out

We went out to the Industrial Exhibition in the evening. In Hyderabad, this is an annual event.

The first impression was - "This is huge".

But as we wandered around the place, I realised, "There is NOTHING for men". I would have appreciated if there were some decent stalls for gadgets, tools, electronics or books. Handloom and handicraft stores were all over the place. Women felt like a kid in a candy shop when they moved towards the accessories (ear-rings, bangles etc..) section.

I also noticed a bunch for burkha clad women walking around in groups hand in hand. Puzzling thing that struck me was, if one of them stray out of the group, how would the others even find that person out?

I am forced to assume that they have a way of finding out by looking at the fingers or by smell of the other.

Continuous walk for two and half hours was no joke. Best things for me were:

1. Seeing my wife so happy to be in that place
2. Pop corn and cotton candy
3. The moon in golden color just after sunset ...

Wish I had my camera with me ...

Disgusting

S**t Senders.com

One word ... disgusting !

Raju - The New Johny

Ran in to this hilarious post ...

...
Raju Raju? Yes, papa.
Missing assets? No, papa.
Unnecessarily trying to acquire a real estate company to save your skin?
No, papa.
Okay, show me your balance sheet!
Ha ha ha.
...

Read the post by Sidin Vadukut (popular by the name Domain Maximus in the blog world) for more fun ...

A Thing From The Past

Would these qualify as ancient form of pole dance?

(15th century carvings - pics taken at Vittala temple in Hampi, Karnataka)

Macbook Wheel - Notebook With No Keyboard

Innovation getting better ...

- No keyboard
- Hummingbird battery that powers the laptop for full 19 mins before it needs to be re-charged

What's puzzling is how to type using the wheel to scroll to each alphabet. Looks cumbersome ....

Will wait for the next generation ...

Pls don't allow your wife to watch Ghajini

Received via email from JNK ...

Next Generation Farting !

This one happens to be the #1 App on iTunes Store ...



On a related note, I ran into this post on Geek and Poke:


Still interested? ... Go to iFartMobile.com

"We recognize that it’s just a novelty app, but don’t we need more laughter in times of economic crisis? We think so."

Hampi In (Few) Photos

This was our road trip from Hyderabad to Hampi in Karnataka, India. It is around 900 kms up and down.











 

 



Check my Flickr Album ...

Year 2008 in Words

I did this last year(Year 2007 in words). I am going try to do that again.

Terror
Barack Obama
Economy Meltdown
Mumbai
Delivery
Travel
Condemn
Kasab
Sarah Palin
AK 47
Taj & Oberoi
Singur
Achutanandan & Dog
20-20
Bomb Blast
Yahoo
Beijing
Tibet
Olympics
Chiru
Change

Some more, but those are ones that I do not want to put down here ...

State Of Mind

Miserable. Depressed. Helpless.

Introspecting ...

Is this what I am made for?

Is this whats supposed to happen to people?

One life ... One chance ...

Viewing life through lens

Almost 6 months back I discovered that I loved photography ...

This is how it all started. We had a trip to Kerala and I ran into this DVD which I never thought, would turn things around for me ...

It was National Geographic's The Photographers ...

It changed the way I look at places, people and life. I bought Canon DSLR - EOS 400D and 55-250mm IS lens

For the readers, please go through my Flickr album and leave your comments ...

Plea By An Indian Muslim

I was reading Tejaswi Rathore's post on IBN Live blog. It is very touching.

"I am angry... but I am scared to express my anger any more. I have given up. I kneel, I bow, I break, I loose, I beg... let me lead a normal life... a common life. I just want peace... at any cost. Now I don't care how. I want a safer tomorrow. Please."

But something that caught my eye was comment by naazakmal (an Indian Muslim - I do not know even the proper name) on the post:

"I am an Indian Muslim. And every time there is an attack of this kind, I want to shout out to my compatriots, please ,terrorism has no religion. Don't stigmatise us , for the heinous crimes done by a few insanely driven bigoted Muslims!

I love my India and I love Islam. It is not a faith which teaches violence,as the Quran says that the taking of even one innocent life, is like killing of all humanity.I am proud to be Indian, a land where all faiths and cultures have lived peacefully for centuries,but for selfish war mongers who have tried to wedge a rift between us ,time and again !

These acts are abhorrent and condemnable, done by misguided youth, who have fallen prey to an extremist mindset. This has given rise to a false perception by other faiths that Islam is a violent faith, so much so that, nowadays, many times,on the silver screen or the big screen, the bad guy, is the bearded , vile looking Muslim villain! My husband has a beard, for God's sake, and he won't even hurt a fly!

I appeal to all Indians, that we stay together at these trying times of communal barriers of hate, anarchy and violence. That Muslims speak out and condemn these dastardly acts. And finally, please,don't let the peace loving Muslims have to bear the brunt of it all, be it in the form of silent hostility or mistrust!"

We call ourselves secular, but honest expression of feelings by this person and 1000 others like him/her go unheard.

And then we have the leadership who understand that the source of the issue, primarily is because of our porous borders, but fail to take action.

God save India ...

What Does Shivraj Patil Have To Say?

It is so unfortunate. I woke up today feeling miserable and reading the newspaper just made it worse.

Mumbai attacked.

I am waiting for honorable Home Minister, Shivraj Patil to come out with his statement about the incident.

Here is a background ...

Jaipur: "Their aim (to create communal disturbances) has been thwarted. The people of Jaipur have not allowed their nefarious design to succeed,"

Bangalore: "... such incidents will not deter the government from pursuing its policy with anti-national elements in a resolute manner."

Ahmedabad: "... anti-national elements have been trying to create panic among the people in our country"

Delhi: "... the government has taken a series of measures recently to beef up security in Delhi. Whatever more is required to be done will be done expeditiously."

Tripura: I could not find it ... :(

Assam: "... these are cowardly acts perpetrated by the elements which do not want peace to prevail..."

Mr. Shivraj Patil,
There it goes again. It has happened again and it's even worse this time. What do you have to say? I can't wait to hear. Appeal to people to show solidarity and answer terrorists by getting back to normal life and forget about 1000's of lives that shattered.

Be in-sensitive? Not react?

Dear Ministers/International Leaders/Politicians,

I am waiting for you to condemn the incident, so that I can go back to sleep peacefully and feel less miserable.

******************************

Update:

"Before I could reach there, the terrorists who had attacked one of the hospitals, the Cama Hospital, had left and those who attacked the railway station had also left," Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.

Patil, who condemned the attack as an act of cowardice, said the country would remain strong even as the terrorists attempt to weaken and create difficulty for the citizens.

The Home Minister had condoled the loss of lives, including top ranking police officers, in the attack and said their sacrifice would inspire the rest of the force to do their duty more resolutely.

Mr. Patil, It is so unfortunate that you could meet them in person and adivce them not to give Mumbaikars excruciating pain and why peace shall prevail in the country.

GROW UP ! Citizens have lost their patience. DO NOT PUSH IT OVER THE EDGE.

-------------------------------------------------
Update (Nov 30): Shivraj Patil offers resignation and resignation accepted. PC Chitambaram takes over.

How convenient? No need to repair damages caused. Step down, go home and relax and leave it to PC Chitambaram to handle.