Monday, February 19, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Frugality is India’s Tradition. Modernity sees India’s frugality as Poverty
Well saw this picture in the forest office at Dandeli – Just got moved by this one really. What really is frugality – Many mistake it to be miserliness or poverty. Frugality, on the other hand, is a tendency to possess less and what is absolutely necessary. It is this intelligence to understand what is really essential for us – is lacking and this is what makes us co-relate frugality and poverty. Well common sense is really uncommon. Mahatma Gandhi was an apt example for this trait. He always remarked that a khadi dhoti was enough for him to cover his body and in remarking so wore only dhoti for nearly half of his life, after his return from South Africa. Yet many of us very casually remark “Majboori ka naam – Mahatma Gandhi”. He is the same father figure, who is admired all over the world for his principles and values and yet many of my comrades don’t give him his deserved share of respect.
When I read this quote and started thinking over it, I remembered this particular anecdote (Can’t guarantee the authenticity though) from the Cold War era. NASA (USA) spent a decade and millions of dollars developing the high-tech Astronaut Pen, to solve the problem of writing in zero-gravity in a space ship. The Soviets solved the problem another way: They used a pencil. Were the Soviets poor in opting for pencil – a better solution than the hi-tech pen? Theres another example – when Motorola or GE came up with the Six Sigma concept, people started finding examples of Six Sigma processes. Only a handful of processes qualified like the airplane safety / reliability may be. But the most effective of them all had its roots in India – Yes the Mumbai Dabawallahs had achieved a six sigma level even before the quality concept was known to the world. Well, the dabawallahs are now world famous and feature in most of the case studies, but their secret in achieving those quality levels lied in 2 color dots and 5/6 digit code. I bet any consulting company in the world can come up with a better solution to this problem of supplying home made food to the appropriate people in their respective offices. I thought may be – I can have a go at it, so I closed my eyes and started visualizing the process and the intricacies of it and the first thing I saw was barcodes, bar code readers and an RDBMS to support these.
The great Indian elections of 2004 – brought 2 surprises; well the results were a big surprise but this is not a topic of our concern today, but the other surprise was more meaningful. The world’s largest democracy had surprised the entire world by announcing the results in a mere 4 hrs span (Poor Pranoy Roy did not have the time to digest the figures and present the analysis – He normally would it for 72 hours at a stretch). How many of you knew this fact – that India was the first of all the countries to use the fully electronic voting machines. Well there were a few attempts made by USA to start using electronic voting machines, but even the Americans were not able to deploy this across the country. USA had used touch screens, encryption techniques, backup servers, voice-guidance systems, modems, storage cards and a Windows based operating systems to come up with a state of the art of the technology voting machine which were networked to the central server. God knows, how much amount of coding would have gone into it. The Indians on the other hand, came up with a electronic machine – which looked like a Casio music synthesizer may be. The scientists at work never had any fancy expectations from it apart from its basic function of adding those votes efficiently and accurately. These machines were not even programmed about the candidates and only small slips of candidates and their symbols were just clipped besides the buttons. The electronic voting machines were never wired off together and were kept stand alone – This apart from keeping the system simple and cost effective, helped in avoiding problems if any one of those EVMs were captured. It was only one EVM that was vulnerable in case of booth capturing and the rest were unaffected. Now many of my Indian friends would already have a question in their minds – Its true they worked, what was their failure rate. Of the 1 million EVMs deployed, about 1800 of them malfunctioned for whatever reasons – this is an acceptable quality figure, considering that there were spare EVMs available in the booths and in the entire elections, hardly a few of the precious votes were lost in the process. In fact, the same philosophy is being prophesized in the Japanese Kaizen principles – Come up with simple solutions and continuously improve.
There is another example – that I would like to pick up straight from my home town – Belgaum. When we were studying our Engineering, the Belgaum traffic police came up with a novel concept of solar traffic lights – they deployed this across all the major circles in Belgaum. After 2 months, they had to discontinue with the traffic lights in the most centrally located circle in the city – the traffic lights just did not serve the purpose because it would not be programmed in accordance with the complex traffic situation there and brought in new problems of traffic congestion and starvation at the same time. Then, we had thought this to be a backward step, to move away from the traffic lights. In fact we had thought this to be a project for our final year engineering to help the traffic police to get over the problem. Now we realize the wisdom that went behind that decision of going back from those traffic lights. The circle, after 5 more years, still doesnot have a traffic signal.
India has traditionally been a rich country and that’s the reason for all those sieges right from Mohammad of Gazni to the Lord Mountbattens of the East India Company. But our forefathers were wise enough to have never been behind those technologies. This is evident in all our Indian dishes – an Indian woman would never want a mayonnaise sauce or vinegar to spice up her yummy dishes. The Indian home remedies for all sorts of medicinal problems justify this again. Try this yourself, the next time you cut your finger / bruise your leg, apply turmeric – the blood stops more instantly than when you apply Dettol. I am now convinced that the high priced glitzy solutions are no more efficient than their easily found, common counterparts. Friends, after having written so much, let me confess that I am not against technology. I am as big a technology buff as many of you are, but we got to be simple in our problem solving approach, we got to apply that wisdom to justify the use of technology. We Indians have a rich tradition and culture that we got to pass over to our successors – Lets pass this as it is as we have inherited it, if not add any value to it.
Well saw this picture in the forest office at Dandeli – Just got moved by this one really. What really is frugality – Many mistake it to be miserliness or poverty. Frugality, on the other hand, is a tendency to possess less and what is absolutely necessary. It is this intelligence to understand what is really essential for us – is lacking and this is what makes us co-relate frugality and poverty. Well common sense is really uncommon. Mahatma Gandhi was an apt example for this trait. He always remarked that a khadi dhoti was enough for him to cover his body and in remarking so wore only dhoti for nearly half of his life, after his return from South Africa. Yet many of us very casually remark “Majboori ka naam – Mahatma Gandhi”. He is the same father figure, who is admired all over the world for his principles and values and yet many of my comrades don’t give him his deserved share of respect.
When I read this quote and started thinking over it, I remembered this particular anecdote (Can’t guarantee the authenticity though) from the Cold War era. NASA (USA) spent a decade and millions of dollars developing the high-tech Astronaut Pen, to solve the problem of writing in zero-gravity in a space ship. The Soviets solved the problem another way: They used a pencil. Were the Soviets poor in opting for pencil – a better solution than the hi-tech pen? Theres another example – when Motorola or GE came up with the Six Sigma concept, people started finding examples of Six Sigma processes. Only a handful of processes qualified like the airplane safety / reliability may be. But the most effective of them all had its roots in India – Yes the Mumbai Dabawallahs had achieved a six sigma level even before the quality concept was known to the world. Well, the dabawallahs are now world famous and feature in most of the case studies, but their secret in achieving those quality levels lied in 2 color dots and 5/6 digit code. I bet any consulting company in the world can come up with a better solution to this problem of supplying home made food to the appropriate people in their respective offices. I thought may be – I can have a go at it, so I closed my eyes and started visualizing the process and the intricacies of it and the first thing I saw was barcodes, bar code readers and an RDBMS to support these.
The great Indian elections of 2004 – brought 2 surprises; well the results were a big surprise but this is not a topic of our concern today, but the other surprise was more meaningful. The world’s largest democracy had surprised the entire world by announcing the results in a mere 4 hrs span (Poor Pranoy Roy did not have the time to digest the figures and present the analysis – He normally would it for 72 hours at a stretch). How many of you knew this fact – that India was the first of all the countries to use the fully electronic voting machines. Well there were a few attempts made by USA to start using electronic voting machines, but even the Americans were not able to deploy this across the country. USA had used touch screens, encryption techniques, backup servers, voice-guidance systems, modems, storage cards and a Windows based operating systems to come up with a state of the art of the technology voting machine which were networked to the central server. God knows, how much amount of coding would have gone into it. The Indians on the other hand, came up with a electronic machine – which looked like a Casio music synthesizer may be. The scientists at work never had any fancy expectations from it apart from its basic function of adding those votes efficiently and accurately. These machines were not even programmed about the candidates and only small slips of candidates and their symbols were just clipped besides the buttons. The electronic voting machines were never wired off together and were kept stand alone – This apart from keeping the system simple and cost effective, helped in avoiding problems if any one of those EVMs were captured. It was only one EVM that was vulnerable in case of booth capturing and the rest were unaffected. Now many of my Indian friends would already have a question in their minds – Its true they worked, what was their failure rate. Of the 1 million EVMs deployed, about 1800 of them malfunctioned for whatever reasons – this is an acceptable quality figure, considering that there were spare EVMs available in the booths and in the entire elections, hardly a few of the precious votes were lost in the process. In fact, the same philosophy is being prophesized in the Japanese Kaizen principles – Come up with simple solutions and continuously improve.
There is another example – that I would like to pick up straight from my home town – Belgaum. When we were studying our Engineering, the Belgaum traffic police came up with a novel concept of solar traffic lights – they deployed this across all the major circles in Belgaum. After 2 months, they had to discontinue with the traffic lights in the most centrally located circle in the city – the traffic lights just did not serve the purpose because it would not be programmed in accordance with the complex traffic situation there and brought in new problems of traffic congestion and starvation at the same time. Then, we had thought this to be a backward step, to move away from the traffic lights. In fact we had thought this to be a project for our final year engineering to help the traffic police to get over the problem. Now we realize the wisdom that went behind that decision of going back from those traffic lights. The circle, after 5 more years, still doesnot have a traffic signal.
India has traditionally been a rich country and that’s the reason for all those sieges right from Mohammad of Gazni to the Lord Mountbattens of the East India Company. But our forefathers were wise enough to have never been behind those technologies. This is evident in all our Indian dishes – an Indian woman would never want a mayonnaise sauce or vinegar to spice up her yummy dishes. The Indian home remedies for all sorts of medicinal problems justify this again. Try this yourself, the next time you cut your finger / bruise your leg, apply turmeric – the blood stops more instantly than when you apply Dettol. I am now convinced that the high priced glitzy solutions are no more efficient than their easily found, common counterparts. Friends, after having written so much, let me confess that I am not against technology. I am as big a technology buff as many of you are, but we got to be simple in our problem solving approach, we got to apply that wisdom to justify the use of technology. We Indians have a rich tradition and culture that we got to pass over to our successors – Lets pass this as it is as we have inherited it, if not add any value to it.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Ramblings from Dandeli
3 holidays in a trot (and that too a non Diwali offering) is a rarity, particularly for us, those who are associated with the manufacturing industry. The grey cells start to slog faster than they normally do and the plan is on. Dandeli, a wild life sanctuary was supposed to be Aarohi’s ** next destination. The internet search engines were pumped to find out the best possible route, the spots & the hang-outs in and around Dandeli. Resort accommodations were abundant and their charges were also exorbitant. An apt time for some of us to utilize their networking skills - we got hold of two possible options. The one that finally got materialized was a farmhouse about 6 kms from Dandeli and some 20 kms from the actual forest limits, but I still believe, the second option of the tents offered by Karnataka forest departments were by far the best - authentic and rich forest experience and yet cheap to the core (me plannin' to visit there on a yearly basis). Its not that the farm house was any less compared to an experience, but I still woo the fact that we couldnot get those tents, since they were booked about a month ago. The farm house, I personally felt, was crowded with people (another group shared the accommodation with us) and a variety of insects as our hosts (God knows - how did they manage to know that we were supposed to visit that place). The nights at the farm house were extremely vocal with filmy songs, PJs and the laughter associated with them around that camp fire. Luckily we were far off from the forest or else we would have some elephants and tigers knocking on us and yelling at us "bhai sahab!! abhi humara sone ka time hain - can you please slow down your voice".
Fauna - That we Could Capture
Jungle Walk
We went to the Kawala caves – another piece of nature’s wonders. It’s a 500 mtr crawl in the caves with all those gods sitting there, inside to watch us resorting back to the 4 legs. The 4 legs stance is supposed to be the most natural for all the living beings, and we, homo-sapiens, have literally forgotten the art of walking with 4 legs. The funniest part for me was that, after that 500 mtr drill exercise, we ended up in an opening which was merely 18 inches apart from the opening that we started off. The 200 stair descent to Kawala caves and its corresponding ascent back to the point was not enough for Ashu, who forgot his camera near the Kawala caves – Had to sprint those stairs to catch hold of a group who were busy clicking photos with his camera.
** “Aarohi – The climbers” for me personally, means a recreational group with values in pursuit of the nature’s offerings - More to be featured in this space.
Supa Dam - GaneshGudi
3 holidays in a trot (and that too a non Diwali offering) is a rarity, particularly for us, those who are associated with the manufacturing industry. The grey cells start to slog faster than they normally do and the plan is on. Dandeli, a wild life sanctuary was supposed to be Aarohi’s ** next destination. The internet search engines were pumped to find out the best possible route, the spots & the hang-outs in and around Dandeli. Resort accommodations were abundant and their charges were also exorbitant. An apt time for some of us to utilize their networking skills - we got hold of two possible options. The one that finally got materialized was a farmhouse about 6 kms from Dandeli and some 20 kms from the actual forest limits, but I still believe, the second option of the tents offered by Karnataka forest departments were by far the best - authentic and rich forest experience and yet cheap to the core (me plannin' to visit there on a yearly basis). Its not that the farm house was any less compared to an experience, but I still woo the fact that we couldnot get those tents, since they were booked about a month ago. The farm house, I personally felt, was crowded with people (another group shared the accommodation with us) and a variety of insects as our hosts (God knows - how did they manage to know that we were supposed to visit that place). The nights at the farm house were extremely vocal with filmy songs, PJs and the laughter associated with them around that camp fire. Luckily we were far off from the forest or else we would have some elephants and tigers knocking on us and yelling at us "bhai sahab!! abhi humara sone ka time hain - can you please slow down your voice".
One thrilling experience (unlucky me, couldnot be a part of the team) was when a few of us visited that stream flowin’ some 500 mts behind our camp, in the midst of a dark, silent yet vocal (birds and animals engaged in making some of the threatening voices) night. I can imagine the group’s plight in fear, since I couldn’t stop from getting afraid myself, even though I went there in the morning. Very true!! – Man may be the king of all the living beings in the city, but in the forests, it’s the beasts that call the shots. The birds around that stream were just unimaginable – plenty of them and in varieties that we may not have imagined. Early morning – we had to reach the forest office at 6 am, wherein our contact had arranged to take us in the forests in a forester tempo. That 20 km ride in the early morning was just unbelievable and scary to the core – we were able to trace 2 foxes and rabbits enroute to the forest office. The tragedy was that these were the only beasts that we would be seeing in our entire trip to Dandeli. It’s the forest office, where I caught up with the “Frugality is India’s Tradition. Modernity sees India’s frugality as Poverty” poster – the theme for my next blog. Thanks Ashu!! for capturing that for me, I doubt whether me in that cold and sleepy mood, that I was in would have bothered to click a snap. The tempo ride was fun, even though it did not fulfill our original aim of having a glance of those wildies – It offered a rich blend of flora – even thought the fauna part (except for those birds, butterflies, insects and a snake) was missing.
The 45 Rs. for a 5.5 hr ride / walk in the jungle were well spent. The safari route has become so common now, with all those resorts and private vehicles doing their rounds on a daily basis that the path has submerged down by 8 inches below the ground level and is much smoother than a Pune road, may be. Over a period time, the animals would have passed on this route’s information to all their offsprings – that this is the route that you must not venture into even before they told them about the water sources, near by.
We went to the Kawala caves – another piece of nature’s wonders. It’s a 500 mtr crawl in the caves with all those gods sitting there, inside to watch us resorting back to the 4 legs. The 4 legs stance is supposed to be the most natural for all the living beings, and we, homo-sapiens, have literally forgotten the art of walking with 4 legs. The funniest part for me was that, after that 500 mtr drill exercise, we ended up in an opening which was merely 18 inches apart from the opening that we started off. The 200 stair descent to Kawala caves and its corresponding ascent back to the point was not enough for Ashu, who forgot his camera near the Kawala caves – Had to sprint those stairs to catch hold of a group who were busy clicking photos with his camera.
Kawala Caves
While that was not enough, Amya dropped his cell phone back en route to the forest tempo - thought that one of those monkeys would get it back to him and very truly a group of monkeys actually saw that cell and gave it back to him – the group was actually headed by me, with pd, aj and amlya the rest of them. When we actually reached the forest office back we were so hungry, that the 8 of us actually ended up eating a whole canteen literally – 14 dosas, 12 idli plates was not enough that we ended up eating up buns and cakes to fill our tummies.
Our next spot was the Cyntheri rocks and as rightly read somewhere about this spot, we literally felt that we were a microscopic single celled organism in the presence of the 300 foot tall monolith of called Cyntheri Rocks.
Our next spot was the Cyntheri rocks and as rightly read somewhere about this spot, we literally felt that we were a microscopic single celled organism in the presence of the 300 foot tall monolith of called Cyntheri Rocks.
Syntheri Rocks
This is on the banks of river Kaneri, which is a small river that eventually merges into the Kali. Its beauty is breathtaking which is accentuated by the small waterfall that gushes into a deep rocky ravine. An interesting take away from this spot was that billboard alerting the people not to swim there – an innovative way of putting your say.
One blip spot was that we as a group was never able to come to a consensus on the white water river rafting – Nevermind Shrivijya, you and me have to return to Dandeli to have that experience again – Cannot miss out on that action anyway!! The night to be followed was to be spent in darkness – as 8 engineers failed in connecting the wiring to the main electricity supply (Ironically, the group of masons was able to do that the earlier night). Sunny – our local guide (how can I miss out on this character, for so long) tried his hand in connecting the wires, ended up creating a fire around the electric pole – the fire which literally bought the whole of the village together in fear – we ended up as heroes, by extinguishing the fire – the fire that we were responsible for – a corporate lesson for all, create a fire, extinguish it and become a hero. Ah!! Back to Sunny. Boy!! the food that he gave us on both of those 2 nights would just remain a memoir for the whole of my life, first night – the cabbage vegetable, the dal and the pappad and the the night to follow – something more tastier – the chicken fry and the gravy – huuun yummy.
Sunny's Place
He was more of a “one-stop solutions” for all of us – Be it the travel guide, the chef, the light man. He provided it all - that essential lantern, the snacks the battery charger and the cricket scores updates. Jagya, I still wish he might be able to find out those spectacles of yours. The return journey was more of a nail-bitter than anything else – 120 kms to be reached in 120 mins – We made it back safely, but not without those scares that PD provided me with at the end of the journey. PD, next time se khayal rakh baba, meri shaadi nahi huyi hain, abhi tak. At the end of it all, thanks to the helmet rule in Belgaum, Ajya was able to lose his red cap. That’s all folks, time now for me to sign off for today – but before we leave, heres have a look at the some of the photographic sunset memories of the Supa Dam at Ganeshgudi, which we clicked on our way to Dandeli.
Sunset at Supa Dam - Ganeshgudi
** “Aarohi – The climbers” for me personally, means a recreational group with values in pursuit of the nature’s offerings - More to be featured in this space.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The Struggle is ON!!
Here I am scribbling this piece, when the Indians are attempting to find their touch in South Africa in the last of the ODIs and there was this rare sights in cricket - The Great Sachin Tendulkar is batting on 4 facing 41 balls with an hours of play passed on. Harsha Bhogale who was on air, commentating for Tendulkar, quotes 'The emperor is learning to walk on the street like a common man' and 'He is trying to hit the ball with his eyes wide open, which in his prime he would have hit with his eyes shut.’
Initially I wanted to present a few statistics and recollect some past glories, which would have presented a case as to why Sachin should not be criticized for his poor run in South Africa, but then I had this sensible thought - who am I to present a case for the little genius and whom should I present this one to. I call that sensible because that would have taken me some 8 odd hours and realms of web pages and the end result would have been that there would be plenty of doubts raised questioning my cricketing knowledge and the authenticity of the stats. The amateur cricket fans would always have short memories and hence would always feel let down by a player who is not in the best of the form and the man in question today is the one who has been delivering them some very good moments for the last 17 odd years. But guys spare a thought for the man who has dedicated more than half of his life entertaining all of us and the entire world.
As I am watching this match unfold, at the end of 20 overs, I still recollect only one scoring shot from the master blaster that has fantasized me, when he has faced some 50 odd deliveries, as compared to when he was in prime, he would send 3 breathtaking boundaries out of the every 10 balls he faced. So, definitely the man is struggling. Here I would like to test your sporting brains - When did Pete Sampras win his first Grand Slam title? When did Tiger Woods go professional? When did Michael Schumacher win his first F1 title? When did Michael Jordan play his first basketball game? What am I upto? - Why are these questions raised in the middle of a script on Sachin. Well there is some connection that I want bring upto, each of these personalities that have featured in the questions are great sporting icons but these icons have already ended or are at the brink of the end of their careers. Each of the questions would lead to an answer which is much much latter than 1989 - when this little champ made his debut. Therefore like it or not, the D-day is round the corner and knowing the personality that Sachin has, he would definitely tie up his shoes once he realizes that there is no hunger left in him. But he is still putting in efforts and today’s tortoise paced knock is just another confirmation for this fact and the grit to overcome the struggle. This legend has already given us plenty of glorious moments - which have been sprinkled and spiced up all over our memories and now its our time to give him back something. Beware - Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that we backup Sachin even when he repeatedly underperforms; I am just wishing that we expect less from him in this difficult time and we just lower down our yardstick to measure him.
Puoupil (read it in Boycottish) here in India are worried for the fact that Ricky Ponting and Lara are gathering tons at will and would definitely catch up with Sachin in the near future. Me, for the fact of matter am very happy about this situation, where Sachin would atleast have someone very close to him and this would be the perfect tonic to spur him up and keep him going. Remember Shane Warne who literally raced off to a different level, once Murali just tickled him at the verge of 600 wickets. Well mates, the best of cricket is comin' our way, 3 champs running it hard for the top slot.
As I am ready to sign off for today, Sachin has already played a wrong shot which ended his laborious battle but not before his 74th half century. The little maestro has to struggle out of this form and he is willing to do so, but in the process and we would have to give him time and leave him all alone. I, for that matter, who would always believe in - 'Cricket is our Religion – Tendulkar is our God', would enjoy the way he struggles.
Hailth the Lord !!!
Here I am scribbling this piece, when the Indians are attempting to find their touch in South Africa in the last of the ODIs and there was this rare sights in cricket - The Great Sachin Tendulkar is batting on 4 facing 41 balls with an hours of play passed on. Harsha Bhogale who was on air, commentating for Tendulkar, quotes 'The emperor is learning to walk on the street like a common man' and 'He is trying to hit the ball with his eyes wide open, which in his prime he would have hit with his eyes shut.’
Initially I wanted to present a few statistics and recollect some past glories, which would have presented a case as to why Sachin should not be criticized for his poor run in South Africa, but then I had this sensible thought - who am I to present a case for the little genius and whom should I present this one to. I call that sensible because that would have taken me some 8 odd hours and realms of web pages and the end result would have been that there would be plenty of doubts raised questioning my cricketing knowledge and the authenticity of the stats. The amateur cricket fans would always have short memories and hence would always feel let down by a player who is not in the best of the form and the man in question today is the one who has been delivering them some very good moments for the last 17 odd years. But guys spare a thought for the man who has dedicated more than half of his life entertaining all of us and the entire world.
As I am watching this match unfold, at the end of 20 overs, I still recollect only one scoring shot from the master blaster that has fantasized me, when he has faced some 50 odd deliveries, as compared to when he was in prime, he would send 3 breathtaking boundaries out of the every 10 balls he faced. So, definitely the man is struggling. Here I would like to test your sporting brains - When did Pete Sampras win his first Grand Slam title? When did Tiger Woods go professional? When did Michael Schumacher win his first F1 title? When did Michael Jordan play his first basketball game? What am I upto? - Why are these questions raised in the middle of a script on Sachin. Well there is some connection that I want bring upto, each of these personalities that have featured in the questions are great sporting icons but these icons have already ended or are at the brink of the end of their careers. Each of the questions would lead to an answer which is much much latter than 1989 - when this little champ made his debut. Therefore like it or not, the D-day is round the corner and knowing the personality that Sachin has, he would definitely tie up his shoes once he realizes that there is no hunger left in him. But he is still putting in efforts and today’s tortoise paced knock is just another confirmation for this fact and the grit to overcome the struggle. This legend has already given us plenty of glorious moments - which have been sprinkled and spiced up all over our memories and now its our time to give him back something. Beware - Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that we backup Sachin even when he repeatedly underperforms; I am just wishing that we expect less from him in this difficult time and we just lower down our yardstick to measure him.
Puoupil (read it in Boycottish) here in India are worried for the fact that Ricky Ponting and Lara are gathering tons at will and would definitely catch up with Sachin in the near future. Me, for the fact of matter am very happy about this situation, where Sachin would atleast have someone very close to him and this would be the perfect tonic to spur him up and keep him going. Remember Shane Warne who literally raced off to a different level, once Murali just tickled him at the verge of 600 wickets. Well mates, the best of cricket is comin' our way, 3 champs running it hard for the top slot.
As I am ready to sign off for today, Sachin has already played a wrong shot which ended his laborious battle but not before his 74th half century. The little maestro has to struggle out of this form and he is willing to do so, but in the process and we would have to give him time and leave him all alone. I, for that matter, who would always believe in - 'Cricket is our Religion – Tendulkar is our God', would enjoy the way he struggles.
Hailth the Lord !!!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Tryst with Angels
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night,
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
- James Henry Leigh Hunt
I have always been fascinated by this poem, since the time I first read the same. The interest seems to have evolved over the years that I have read it - first as a memorizer, then as a part of nostalgia and finally as a walk of life. Somewhere in between those lines, it impresses me with two important maxims of life - "Put in your sincere efforts and don't care about the results, because they are surely going to follow you" and "Love your fellow men ahead of the Lord" and then the Lord would be the happiest person on the earth (Err !! I don?t know where He dwells).
For yours truly, there have been a number of encounters with the angels in the past. May be every time, the angel drops in hoping that this kiddo might have matured over the time, but alas, every time he has to return disappointed. Well one (out of the many) of the most famous trysts with the angel dates back to my Engineering days. Well every time there was a semester exam, the Trio (me, Pavnya and Sadya) would meet and discuss the topics to be studied and the ones to be ignored. An important composition of the same would be to try hurling out stones to aim at an electric pole. No there wasn't any Swayamvar contest that was on, but this was our superstition - to assume a certain result in the exam and then chuck the stone at the pole. If it hits the assumed result would hold good. The actual results rarely matched, but our fielding skills definitely improved. It happened one day, that a old gentle man was strolling by that path and we were busy with our regular schedule - throwing stones (if somebody would have monitored us more often and closely, we three would have been in mental hospital - Luckily this was an isolated path and only the one was only used for morning and evening walks) I don't quiet remember, what did he say, but his intention meant that we went inside and studied for the D-day - the next day. We ignored him and continued with our pep talk (I used to improve their confidence by telling then that this topic was easy or this won't bother you in the exams, in return they would bring my morale down, by announcing that they had already started with their revision and I was still struggling to come to terms with the first of the five mandatory units. But this would certainly spur me to accelerate from my tortoise pace of completing the units). But when we looked back to trace where exactly was our newly found uncle heading towards, he was seen nowhere - he had disappeared. We never knew - where he had disappeared, but my friends packed up our bags and went home much early than their regular time. The next day, there was a surprise in store for us - the very frightening Machine Tool Design paper seemed very easy and we could tame the paper easily. All the three of us secured good marks in the same, but this always raised hope that the angel would return back on the same road, bringing us some luck in the next examinations.
The most recent of those rendezvous had been this Saturday, when this Abou was still sleeping in broad daylight and the 12 hour sleep had been interrupted by a ringing door bell (Well now a days, angels have the courtesy of coming through the door especially when they arrive broad daylight). I was looking for the golden book in his hand, but instead he had a bag carrying various types of pappads and he enquired whether I would need a few of the packs of the same. I never wanted any of those, but as I was about to say a nay, when my instincts took over and asked for the price of one and before I could realize, what had happened, I had already bought 5 of those packets. Thanks to my room mate, who had to run hard to buy a milk packet from the grocery store, after I had promised the angel a cup of tea. Well the angel was quiet impressed about my mobile cover and I then gifted him the same. Well I did everything I could to impress upon him, so that I feature in his list of names and I wasted a complete Sunday expecting that he would drop in and show his book of gold. Neither did him nor was his book was to be seen. This again leads us back to the same maxim - Put in your sincere efforts and don't care about the results, because they are surely going to follow you.
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night,
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
- James Henry Leigh Hunt
I have always been fascinated by this poem, since the time I first read the same. The interest seems to have evolved over the years that I have read it - first as a memorizer, then as a part of nostalgia and finally as a walk of life. Somewhere in between those lines, it impresses me with two important maxims of life - "Put in your sincere efforts and don't care about the results, because they are surely going to follow you" and "Love your fellow men ahead of the Lord" and then the Lord would be the happiest person on the earth (Err !! I don?t know where He dwells).
For yours truly, there have been a number of encounters with the angels in the past. May be every time, the angel drops in hoping that this kiddo might have matured over the time, but alas, every time he has to return disappointed. Well one (out of the many) of the most famous trysts with the angel dates back to my Engineering days. Well every time there was a semester exam, the Trio (me, Pavnya and Sadya) would meet and discuss the topics to be studied and the ones to be ignored. An important composition of the same would be to try hurling out stones to aim at an electric pole. No there wasn't any Swayamvar contest that was on, but this was our superstition - to assume a certain result in the exam and then chuck the stone at the pole. If it hits the assumed result would hold good. The actual results rarely matched, but our fielding skills definitely improved. It happened one day, that a old gentle man was strolling by that path and we were busy with our regular schedule - throwing stones (if somebody would have monitored us more often and closely, we three would have been in mental hospital - Luckily this was an isolated path and only the one was only used for morning and evening walks) I don't quiet remember, what did he say, but his intention meant that we went inside and studied for the D-day - the next day. We ignored him and continued with our pep talk (I used to improve their confidence by telling then that this topic was easy or this won't bother you in the exams, in return they would bring my morale down, by announcing that they had already started with their revision and I was still struggling to come to terms with the first of the five mandatory units. But this would certainly spur me to accelerate from my tortoise pace of completing the units). But when we looked back to trace where exactly was our newly found uncle heading towards, he was seen nowhere - he had disappeared. We never knew - where he had disappeared, but my friends packed up our bags and went home much early than their regular time. The next day, there was a surprise in store for us - the very frightening Machine Tool Design paper seemed very easy and we could tame the paper easily. All the three of us secured good marks in the same, but this always raised hope that the angel would return back on the same road, bringing us some luck in the next examinations.
The most recent of those rendezvous had been this Saturday, when this Abou was still sleeping in broad daylight and the 12 hour sleep had been interrupted by a ringing door bell (Well now a days, angels have the courtesy of coming through the door especially when they arrive broad daylight). I was looking for the golden book in his hand, but instead he had a bag carrying various types of pappads and he enquired whether I would need a few of the packs of the same. I never wanted any of those, but as I was about to say a nay, when my instincts took over and asked for the price of one and before I could realize, what had happened, I had already bought 5 of those packets. Thanks to my room mate, who had to run hard to buy a milk packet from the grocery store, after I had promised the angel a cup of tea. Well the angel was quiet impressed about my mobile cover and I then gifted him the same. Well I did everything I could to impress upon him, so that I feature in his list of names and I wasted a complete Sunday expecting that he would drop in and show his book of gold. Neither did him nor was his book was to be seen. This again leads us back to the same maxim - Put in your sincere efforts and don't care about the results, because they are surely going to follow you.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
AJya, Wanna More?
Feature this..for a start, Amit in his all new improved look (ala..new look Abhishek Bachchan, with his hair gelled and a hair band to top them up) , sings this fitting number from the latest MunnaBhai flick..
Bole Toh Bole Toh Kaisi Hogi Hai
Aisi Ya Waisi Arre Kaisi Hogi Hai
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (1)
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (2)
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (3)
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (4)..(5) ???(n)..Stack Overflow Error
Well, as always, Amit was singing from the heart and then his heart did not allow him to sing further - bichara dil kya jaane, Ajya kya mangta hain or may be I had declared the variable 'n' as an integer and therefore it cannot assume any values beyond 32767.
We keep on asking him "Kyon Ajya ? Ho Gaya kya !!" hoping that someday he humms.. "Samjho Ho Hi Gaya" and then we Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. But AJya never offers us a chance and all are efforts are always in vain.
My association of Amit dates back to the Ides of October 2001 AD, when I first saw him, give a book review on Lee Iacocca. Over the last 5 years, I have always realized that AJya is a man of more actions and less words. AJya never opens up or may be the force that we apply is not able to displace the AJya's inherent inertial force. But he is always there for you whenever you require him to get you the winning runs.
The most interesting factor in our friendship has been that, we very often end up liking the same set of girls - be it the anonymous Basil wonders or the Bhavanas or the filmy Chitragandhas, Rimy Sens and the Sonali Kulkarnis. This has prompted us to sign off a pact with each other just to avoid another of those encounters ala the Sangam's Dost Dost Na Raha that we would not meet each other fiancés' until it is all done.
AJya has always been regarded the most eligible bachelor in town** Conditions Apply. But he rarely takes that tag seriously. Yesterday, we (myself and Amlya) had an interrogation session with AJya on the other side and the topic of the day - What do you want from your life partner. AJya gave us an impression - that he had not thought of it very seriously, but he did let out a few of the many well guarded expectations like simplicity, family oriented and straightaway big NO to the big fatty girl!!. He also disclosed a few of his crushes like the one in his Mohala Mohabbat Wala and very close finish, where both the girls thought him to be one of those many friendly neighbourhood boys and ended up calling him for their engagements. AJya's impression of this being yet another non-serious sessions, transpired off very quickly when I spelt out a few of the many minutiae of what I would be looking in to get to my soulmate - Certainly the Miss Unfortunate.
AJya, good to see you finally get into the thinking mode, but its still a long way to go, mate, before you finally buzz off singing.
Hey Khwabo Mein Woh Apun Ke Roz Roz Aaye
Khopdi Ke Khopche Mein Khalbali Machaye
Khali Peeli Bheja Saala Yu Hi Phadphadaye
Kisi Ko Ho Khabar Toh Yaaron Humko Yeh Bataye
Seedhi Saadhi Hogi Voh Ya Item Hi-Fi
Maa Ke Pair Chuyegi Ya Just Kahegi Hi
Hai Re Hai, Hai Re Hai? (4)
Lage Raho AJyabhai
Ho Ho ...
Just that one dose of introspection started you off; let us know if you do want More?
Bole Toh Bole Toh Kaisi Hogi Hai
Aisi Ya Waisi Arre Kaisi Hogi Hai
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (1)
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (2)
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (3)
Apun Ko Jaisi Mangta Hain Kya Waisi Hogi Hai ? (4)..(5) ???(n)..Stack Overflow Error
Well, as always, Amit was singing from the heart and then his heart did not allow him to sing further - bichara dil kya jaane, Ajya kya mangta hain or may be I had declared the variable 'n' as an integer and therefore it cannot assume any values beyond 32767.
We keep on asking him "Kyon Ajya ? Ho Gaya kya !!" hoping that someday he humms.. "Samjho Ho Hi Gaya" and then we Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. But AJya never offers us a chance and all are efforts are always in vain.
My association of Amit dates back to the Ides of October 2001 AD, when I first saw him, give a book review on Lee Iacocca. Over the last 5 years, I have always realized that AJya is a man of more actions and less words. AJya never opens up or may be the force that we apply is not able to displace the AJya's inherent inertial force. But he is always there for you whenever you require him to get you the winning runs.
The most interesting factor in our friendship has been that, we very often end up liking the same set of girls - be it the anonymous Basil wonders or the Bhavanas or the filmy Chitragandhas, Rimy Sens and the Sonali Kulkarnis. This has prompted us to sign off a pact with each other just to avoid another of those encounters ala the Sangam's Dost Dost Na Raha that we would not meet each other fiancés' until it is all done.
AJya has always been regarded the most eligible bachelor in town** Conditions Apply. But he rarely takes that tag seriously. Yesterday, we (myself and Amlya) had an interrogation session with AJya on the other side and the topic of the day - What do you want from your life partner. AJya gave us an impression - that he had not thought of it very seriously, but he did let out a few of the many well guarded expectations like simplicity, family oriented and straightaway big NO to the big fatty girl!!. He also disclosed a few of his crushes like the one in his Mohala Mohabbat Wala and very close finish, where both the girls thought him to be one of those many friendly neighbourhood boys and ended up calling him for their engagements. AJya's impression of this being yet another non-serious sessions, transpired off very quickly when I spelt out a few of the many minutiae of what I would be looking in to get to my soulmate - Certainly the Miss Unfortunate.
AJya, good to see you finally get into the thinking mode, but its still a long way to go, mate, before you finally buzz off singing.
Hey Khwabo Mein Woh Apun Ke Roz Roz Aaye
Khopdi Ke Khopche Mein Khalbali Machaye
Khali Peeli Bheja Saala Yu Hi Phadphadaye
Kisi Ko Ho Khabar Toh Yaaron Humko Yeh Bataye
Seedhi Saadhi Hogi Voh Ya Item Hi-Fi
Maa Ke Pair Chuyegi Ya Just Kahegi Hi
Hai Re Hai, Hai Re Hai? (4)
Lage Raho AJyabhai
Ho Ho ...
Just that one dose of introspection started you off; let us know if you do want More?
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Matrix
This blog is certainly not an offspring from my grey cells but yours truly couldn't resist from being inspired by it, but with due credits to the original brain.
She knows - He is the One!!
But He doesn't know it - Well Does He?
But does She really know it - Well Only She knows it!!
Mere 3 lines convey a long story cut short. I would definitely like to decrypt this one for you in the time to come, but of course, with their permission.
Cheers..Abhya
This blog is certainly not an offspring from my grey cells but yours truly couldn't resist from being inspired by it, but with due credits to the original brain.
She knows - He is the One!!
But He doesn't know it - Well Does He?
But does She really know it - Well Only She knows it!!
Mere 3 lines convey a long story cut short. I would definitely like to decrypt this one for you in the time to come, but of course, with their permission.
Cheers..Abhya
Monday, October 30, 2006
Moms - Two much !!
After 27 years of my unsuccessful pursuit for the 'Miss Unforunate' - I am now to get in touch with Bhagwan or Deo to see if anyone of them can find me one, before I decide to resort to the final redeemer - My Mom. Before you assume anything, let me clarify that Bhagwan works for CIL Engineering and Deo for CIL Quality. Coming back to Moms, they are those greatest idols for patience because they keep waiting until her (nearly aged) son tells her to get into action mode only when 12 runs are required from 2 balls and more often than not - they deliver. This is exactly what happened when James handed over the mantle to Sylviya Joseph Mendonca - read Jameya's mom. If at all, you are a frequent reader of that matrimonial page, you may know that the requirement - 'Need a Mangalorian Roman Catholic Bramhin with a MBA degree and based in Mumbai' would always be a tough task. After the mom plunged into action, it was hardly two weeks before the appropriate match was pin pointed and four weeks after that here I am scribbling my account of the engagement ceremony. (Purely techno-managerial - M.Tech groom & MBA bride) James' e-mom (the mother with the right tools - an obedient son & an internet connection) posted down his profile on one of the matrimonial websites and now after a successful stint she is busy marketing the same (Well CEO of JeevanSaathi.com, are you listening - you need to compensate for her efforts). Now after this heroic deed, aunty's confidence is soaring high and now she has offered to search 100s of suits for me - Finally had to convince her to bring it down to one - a manageable figure. (i ain't sure of that too!)
Vilma Menezes - the perfect match, has completed her Masters in Finance and now is working with a commodity trading research firm. By far, she looked more composed than our poor kiddo - Jameya, that evening (don't know why he was so fazed - the occasion or the fact that this was his first engagement - just kiddin' mates). Now action for the second lead actor - Vilma's mom was so energetic in the entire function, that she literally introduced her to-be-son-in-law to each one of those guests. Poor Jameya, had to pull off a Herculan effort - the first, 'to look up to' and then to remember each one of their names and the relationships with Vilma - Jameya, why don't you try the memory enhancer product marketed by the TVC & the Asian Sky Shopping. Well, it was one of those first Christian Engagement ceremonies to the 5 of us, who represented the Cummins family (Sorry Vinayak!! had to borrow your trademark, because none of them seemed so right here) and as you have rightly imagined we had no idea of what was in store for all of us. The march-past and the pair dance was just too great to watch from the sidelines. Our second mom was just rocking on the dance floor with the energy levels soar high and she kept pursuing us to join the dance floor. Her daughter's fiancé in turn was being seen attending a dance training session from her daughter. We were just down and out watching the others dance when finally the event manager, (cannot forget his Relaxing and Santa Singh joke - well Ashu has some better PJs than that) announced that the dance floor is open for singles too. We had to prove ourselves and hence beat to the tunes of some wonderful English & Kokani numbers with Sonya being the pick of the lot. (Un)fortunately for us, the 'Beedi jala de' song was played after we finally picked up our dinner plates; else we would have literally fired up the ramp. After the elimination round, 3 dancers were shortlisted - Vilma's mom, one of the many Vilma's cousins and our very own Sonya (he was selected by our groups votes and he was never the judge's call). We had to rope in Nach Baliye-2 judges to pick out the final winner - the Mom of course, the first runner up - the cousin lost points since he could not match up to the winner's enthusiasm and the second runner up - Sonya was rusty at the start since he had taken up the dance floor after a while now. Sorry uncles that I couldnot feature you more on this page, but you too would agree that evening Moms were just two much.
After 27 years of my unsuccessful pursuit for the 'Miss Unforunate' - I am now to get in touch with Bhagwan or Deo to see if anyone of them can find me one, before I decide to resort to the final redeemer - My Mom. Before you assume anything, let me clarify that Bhagwan works for CIL Engineering and Deo for CIL Quality. Coming back to Moms, they are those greatest idols for patience because they keep waiting until her (nearly aged) son tells her to get into action mode only when 12 runs are required from 2 balls and more often than not - they deliver. This is exactly what happened when James handed over the mantle to Sylviya Joseph Mendonca - read Jameya's mom. If at all, you are a frequent reader of that matrimonial page, you may know that the requirement - 'Need a Mangalorian Roman Catholic Bramhin with a MBA degree and based in Mumbai' would always be a tough task. After the mom plunged into action, it was hardly two weeks before the appropriate match was pin pointed and four weeks after that here I am scribbling my account of the engagement ceremony. (Purely techno-managerial - M.Tech groom & MBA bride) James' e-mom (the mother with the right tools - an obedient son & an internet connection) posted down his profile on one of the matrimonial websites and now after a successful stint she is busy marketing the same (Well CEO of JeevanSaathi.com, are you listening - you need to compensate for her efforts). Now after this heroic deed, aunty's confidence is soaring high and now she has offered to search 100s of suits for me - Finally had to convince her to bring it down to one - a manageable figure. (i ain't sure of that too!)
Vilma Menezes - the perfect match, has completed her Masters in Finance and now is working with a commodity trading research firm. By far, she looked more composed than our poor kiddo - Jameya, that evening (don't know why he was so fazed - the occasion or the fact that this was his first engagement - just kiddin' mates). Now action for the second lead actor - Vilma's mom was so energetic in the entire function, that she literally introduced her to-be-son-in-law to each one of those guests. Poor Jameya, had to pull off a Herculan effort - the first, 'to look up to' and then to remember each one of their names and the relationships with Vilma - Jameya, why don't you try the memory enhancer product marketed by the TVC & the Asian Sky Shopping. Well, it was one of those first Christian Engagement ceremonies to the 5 of us, who represented the Cummins family (Sorry Vinayak!! had to borrow your trademark, because none of them seemed so right here) and as you have rightly imagined we had no idea of what was in store for all of us. The march-past and the pair dance was just too great to watch from the sidelines. Our second mom was just rocking on the dance floor with the energy levels soar high and she kept pursuing us to join the dance floor. Her daughter's fiancé in turn was being seen attending a dance training session from her daughter. We were just down and out watching the others dance when finally the event manager, (cannot forget his Relaxing and Santa Singh joke - well Ashu has some better PJs than that) announced that the dance floor is open for singles too. We had to prove ourselves and hence beat to the tunes of some wonderful English & Kokani numbers with Sonya being the pick of the lot. (Un)fortunately for us, the 'Beedi jala de' song was played after we finally picked up our dinner plates; else we would have literally fired up the ramp. After the elimination round, 3 dancers were shortlisted - Vilma's mom, one of the many Vilma's cousins and our very own Sonya (he was selected by our groups votes and he was never the judge's call). We had to rope in Nach Baliye-2 judges to pick out the final winner - the Mom of course, the first runner up - the cousin lost points since he could not match up to the winner's enthusiasm and the second runner up - Sonya was rusty at the start since he had taken up the dance floor after a while now. Sorry uncles that I couldnot feature you more on this page, but you too would agree that evening Moms were just two much.
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