Rock On

BPL-Below Poverty Line

2011-09-20T20:24:00.003-05:00

We all heard about IPL-Indian Premier League. Very few of us including me heard about BPL. BPL is a term coined to describe people who are Below the Poverty Line.

Yesterday (Sept 20, 2011), the so-called Planning commission submitted its report to the Supreme Court of India recommending the new poverty limits for urban and rural areas to be set at Rs. 965 and Rs. 781 per capita per month, respectively. To explain in simple lay man terms, a person living in an urban area spending more than 965 rupees per month (Rs. 32 per day) cannot be considered to be poor and hence don't qualify for the Government poverty schemes such as subsidized food. The affidavit submitted also claims and I quote "At June 2011 price level, for a family of five, this provisional poverty line would amount to Rs. 4,824 per month in urban areas and Rs. 3,905 per month in rural areas"

The Planning Commission however said that the final limits would be decided after completion of 2011-12 National Sample Survey (NSS). The final report would be available sometime next year, but I doubt the limits are going to change much, as the same commission set the BPL at Rs. 579 per capita per month for the urban poor in its 2004-05 report.

In the same report, they published this table showing the monthly budget of Rs. 579.

So according to this report, to qualify for Government poverty aid and schemes:

A person can only spend Rs. 25 per month on medicines which is less than a rupee a day. The price of Aspirin is higher than that!!

For a family of four, the rent allowance (forget about transport) according to this report was Rs. 30 X 4 = Rs. 120 per month. This limit extrapolated to year 2012 would be close to Rs. 200. Can anyone find a decent enough place to stay in Mumbai or Chennai or any other metropolitan city for such a low rent?

Amount spent on Eggs and meat should be Rs. 30 per month (2012). What is the price of a dozen of eggs? Half a Kilo of Chicken?

Amount spent on milk per family of four per day should be less than Rs.10!!

Amount spent on education is less than Rupee a day!!

We should probably give Rs. 32 each to the committee members and ask them to survive a day in Delhi or Mumbai. Only then will they understand how hard it is for families to survive with four thousand rupees a month in a metro!!

So why did the Planning Commission set such a ridiculous and unrealistic limits? The reason is obvious, if you lower the poverty limit, the number of people below the poverty line would decrease and the amount of money to be spent on the poor would decrease.

To keep things simple, Government is not willing to help the poor. If you put the Rs. 1,76,000 Crore 2G scam into perspective, I bet there is only word that comes to your mind. Shame

Real Freedom

2011-08-15T13:26:00.001-05:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 23; the twenty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is FREE.

64 years ago to this date, on August 15, 1947, India proudly declared Independence and claimed freedom. Dictionary.com defines the word “Free” as “enjoying political autonomy, as a people or country not under foreign rule; independent.” If we go by this definition, we are undoubtedly free. Because, we are an independent nation free from the agonizing rule of the British and over the last six and half decades became the largest democratic country in the world.

But, let us all ask ourselves this simple question: “Are we really Free”?

With scams in almost every possible sector: cattle fodder, plantation, shoes, bofors guns, stock market, airplanes and the latest, biggest 2G spectrum allocation scam, our country has seriously failed against corruption. According to conservative estimates, the amount of money involved in various scams in the last ten years alone is 80 Lakh Crore Rupees!! Since my childhood, I hear that India is a developing country; 25 years later, even now, India is still a developing country. If that money was spent productively, for example, on people below the poverty line, instead of being stacked illegally abroad, India would definitely have been a developed country. Can you think of an instance in the past where measures have been taken to root out corruption? Although many people were arrested, only few people were brought to justice with majority escaping unscathed. With India progressing towards creating records in largest scams, how can we declare that we are "free"? We are definitely not corruption free.

Another important issue plaguing our country is the illegal transfer of funds. According to a recently published report by the Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the total amount of illegal funds transferred abroad is a staggering $ 462 Billion which represents 36% of India’s GDP. This money is a product of tax evasion, crime and of course corruption. Disclosures by the Swiss bank claim that India tops the list of black money in swiss accounts at $ 1200 Billion dollars. In comparison, India’s external debt is $ 300 billion. This illegal flow of funds has increased the gap between the rich and the poor with an estimated 400 million people below the poverty line!! With 42 % of the Indian population earning < $ 1.25 per day (international poverty line), how can we claim we are a “free” nation? People below the poverty line do not have the freedom of having at least one full meal a day.

Terrorism is another serious concern. Mumbai has been the primary target with series of bombings starting from March 1993 till the most recent explosions on 13 July 2011. In the last 5 years alone, there have been as many as 3 explosions in Mumbai. 11^th July 2006 train bombings to siege attacks on 26^th November, 2008 to bomb explosions on 13^th July 2011, terrorists have claimed thousands of lives. After 2006 massacre, what actions has the Government taken to stop terrorism? None. If any serious actions were taken, there would be no attacks in 2008 and 2011. The relative ease with which these attacks have been carried out has created the feeling that terrorists can attack whenever they want and wherever they want. Also there is the everlasting problem of naxalites in several states, not to forget the Kashmir militants. If we constantly live in the fear of terrorist and naxal attacks, how can we proudly say we are “free”?

However, all hope is not lost. With the fight for Jan Lokpal Bill intensifying, and support for anti-corruption law increasing in several quarters, I hope attempts would be made in the near future to repair the severe damage. Also, stronger financial and strict anti-terrorism policies are long overdue.

We as the citizens of this great nation should also take more responsibility moving forward. Because, until and unless our country is free of terrorism, corruption and poverty, we have not achieved the real freedom.

PS: The above views are strictly mine. I would also like to acknowledge rediff.com, GFI and other internet sources for the statistics.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Happy Independence Day!

The other day

2011-06-10T20:00:00.004-05:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 21; the twenty-first edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The other day, Venkat was sitting in his spacious business class seat waiting for the flight to depart. The chief steward announced “Good evening ladies and gentleman. Welcome aboard the British Airways flight 2356, non-stop service from Chicago to London.” He was getting ready to write his diary, when he suddenly noticed a lady in her mid 40s making her way into the flight. She was well dressed and had a remarkably flawless face. She looked familiar and it took only a few seconds to recognize the face, a face that brought back memories of his college days at Pilani. She sat down in the seat next to his, looked at him and opened her mouth, amazed. She recognized him too.

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

“May 13^th, 1986

Today is my last day at Pilani. Pilani has been a wonderful place. Until yesterday, I felt it has given me everything, fantastic education, 2 best friends, and even a good job in a multi-national company as a farewell gift. But everything changed today.

I proposed to Ramya. We have been best friends for 4 years but I wanted more. Of course, I didn’t expect her to say “yes” immediately. But the reply she gave shocked me. She said that she can’t marry me as she loves Sandy. I didn’t know how to react. She tried to explain something but I didn’t want to listen. I just ran from there. She loves Sandy? The three of us have been very close buddies for four years. We have done our assignments together, labs together and exam preparations together. I didn’t know that they loved each other.

And most importantly, Sandy knew from the last one year that I loved Ramya. Every single day for the last one year, I talked about my feelings for her with him and not one time he mentioned about his love for her. Even yesterday I told him that I would be proposing to Ramya today and revealed that I was tensed. He told me that everything would be alright and wished me luck. He must have been laughing within himself about that response I was about to get. What a fool, I was

Now everything is clear. All along he was acting as if he was supporting me and did the exact opposite behind me. He back stabbed me!! How can he do this to me? Is there no value for friendship? And as if nothing happened, he dropped by my room an hour ago and knocked on my door. I didn’t answer him. Why should I? I don’t want to talk to him and for that matter see him again in my life. I don’t want to see Ramya again too.

I was feeling sad that I had to leave Pilani, but now I am glad that I am leaving it forever. It hurts to lose two friends on the same day, but not if you know they cheated you.

Good bye, Pilani.”

Venkat closed his diary and replaced it back on the stack of 32 diaries he carefully preserved in the carton in his garage. His mom gifted him a diary on his 15^th birthday and he has cultivated a habit of writing it every single day for the last 33 years.

Radha was starting to get worried. She searched for Venkat everywhere in the house, but he was in the basement, sitting all alone on a broken chair. From the time, Venkat came back from London, he has been acting weirdly. She debated with herself whether she should ask him what is wrong. In 20 odd years of marriage, Venkat had been a kind husband, but never her soul mate. He always maintained privacy and she never intruded. She mustered enough courage, walked down the stairs and touched him on his shoulder and enquired “Are you OK?”

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

The flight started to move and the staff was making safety demonstrations while Venkat was trying to avoid eye contact with Ramya. The flight eventually took off and half an hour later he heard a voice, the same sweet voice “Hello, Venkat, How are you?”

Venkat waited for few seconds before responding “I am good”

Ramya was taken aback by the short answer but she wanted to keep the conversation going “Long time. Chicago?”

Venkat reluctantly replied “Yeah, almost 25 years. I work in Chicago, I live here.”

Venkat came to the US for MS in 1987 and had been living there ever since.

Ramya kept talking “NRI? Me too. I am living in London for 20+ years, I guess”

That crook is in London then, he thought

But Ramya didn’t stop there “Really surprised to meet you like this after so many years. How many kids? Well they might not be kids now” she smiled

Venkat knew that Ramya wouldn’t stop asking questions even if he asked her to shut up, so he had no choice but to answer “Two, A boy and a girl, twins actually. They graduated recently.”

Ramya was visibly excited and shouted “Twins? That’s awesome. I have 2 kids too, not twins. I came to meet the son. He works in Chicago. My daughter is still studying, she stays with us in London.” She continued “So what does your wife do?”

Venkat replied “House Wife. What about..” and he stopped

Ramya replied “Oh come on, you can ask about my husband. He is a stock broker.”

Sandy, A stock broker. He is supposed to be an engineer. He didn’t want to ask this but he did “So how is Sandy?”

Ramya’s facial expression changed “Sandy? I don’t know. Haven’t talked to him after college”

So the cheater got his due. He cheated me and took Ramya and he lost her. Must be a break-up. No wait, after college? “What do you mean? You both were…” and he stopped again.

Now Ramya felt a bit awkward and questioned “We both were?”

Venkat grew curious and asked “That day… Err I thought you two..” were a couple He couldn’t complete the sentence.

Ramya “We both were just friends, nothing more”

Venkat looked genuinely confused and questioned “But you told me, you loved Sandy.”

Ramya said “Yes, that’s right.”

Venkat asked “And Sandy loved you too?”

Ramya said “Yes, he did”

And then there was long silence.

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

For the first time in many years Venkat felt the need to share his pain with some one else and so he opened up with Radha.

But Radha had many questions What happened. Why didn’t Venkat and Ramya marry? But she was still hesitant to ask her husband because Venkat coming out of his private zone which was a “No entry” for her till then was a completely new experience. But the questions were written all over her face

But Venkat wanted to share more “Just like you are curious to know what happened between the two, even I was anxious to know. So after 2 hours, I broke the silence”

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

The last two hours have been the most frustrating moments of his life. He couldn’t sleep and was thinking about hundred different possibilities of what went wrong, but he wanted a definitive answer. So he finally broke the silence “Ramya, Then.. err. Why didn’t you guys marry?”

Ramya couldn’t sleep either “That night, Sandy came to meet me. He said that you didn’t answer him, so he suspected something was wrong. I told him what happened that morning and expressed my…” she stopped and Venkat was more curious “And?”

“And expressed my love to him” she completed.

Venkat was confused again “What do you mean, express? Didn’t you express already? You guys already loved each other”

Ramya looked angrily and shooted “No. That was what I was about to tell you that day, but you didn’t listen. I loved Sandy but I never expressed it to him till that day”

Venkat was even more confused “But you said Sandy loved you too, an hour ago?”

Ramya adjusted her hair and shyly replied “Yes, he did. Even before you started to love me.”

Venkat said “Ramya, this is really confusing, Sandy loved you and you loved him, then what was the issue?”

Ramya looked at Venkat and replied “You”

Venkat looked frustrated and questioned “Me?”

Ramya wanted to end the conversation soon. This whole thing has been awkward “Look Venkat, Sandy loved me from second year and was waiting for the right time to express it, until..” she paused “Until you told him that you loved me. He said he stopped thinking about me since then and didn’t love me anymore.”

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

Venkat removed his heavy glasses and rubbed his moist eyes and said “I lost a true friend, a friend who sacrificed his love for me. And the worst part is I haven’t given him a chance to explain his side of the story. I hated him for the last 25 years for no fault of his.”

Radha didn’t know how to console him. She knew venkat as a serious man who kept everything to himself. She never saw this side of him. She put her arm on his shoulder and said “Venkat, we all make mistakes. In the last 20 years, I have never seen you feel this sad about anything or anyone. I can feel your pain. Clearly, he means a lot to you. Why don’t you try contacting him?”

Venkat replied with a sad voice “After that day, I have decided I would only have acquaintances but no friends. I have not been in touch with any of my friends, so I don’t have any information of him.”

Radha replied “Come on. In this world of internet, I am sure you can catch him”

Venkat felt a bit light “Let’s say I get his contact information, I don’t know what to tell him.”

Radha calmly said “He is your best friend, a friend who left his love for you. I am sure he will be happy to talk to you. And yeah, I forgot, I have an envelope from your alumni association about your 25 year re-union. The re-union is sometime next month. Since they sent an invite to you, they should have all the addresses of their alumni. If you can contact Sandy before that, you guys can meet at Pilani, the very place where everything started. In fact I want to meet him too.”

Venkat was elated and relaxed after hearing that. Both of them went to their drawing room and he sent an email to the alumni association. He also created a Facebook account and entered “Sandeep Kondapalli” in the search box and hit enter..

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Cricket World Cup 2011

2011-04-11T20:13:00.002-05:00

WC 2011 started with several predictions, expectations but only one team achieved them

India

Touted as the favorites since the beginning and with the advantage of familiar home conditions backed with tremendous crowd support, India was expected to win the world cup. They looked rusty in most of the matches in the group stages, more often putting themselves in trouble and inventing ways to escape. It was only in the knock-out stages, they began to play to their potential. Once they eliminated Australia, four times former champions, in the quarters, there was no stopping them from laying hands on the prize. Successful completion of the highest ever chase inspite of losing two key wickets inside the first 10 overs to win the WC, speaks volumes of the attitude and ever growing confidence of the team.

Sri Lanka

Won most of the matches by huge margins which in turn turned out to be a bane. Their top order scored 90% of the runs in the tournament and the middle order was seldom exposed except in the match against Pakistan which they lost. Srilankan crowd gave them ample support till the semi-finals which propelled them to beat the opposition black and blue. But once they moved to India to play the final, they lost that home comfort. Fielding which was excellent till then, looked slippery, bowlers struggled, batsmen blinked and the game was over. To be fair to them, they played excellent cricket, and had a better chance of winning the cup if the final was in Sri Lanka.

Pakistan

They reached semi-finals because of their excellent bowling attack led by Shahid Afridi who went on to become the highest wicket taker of the tournament. Their ground fielding was criticized through out the tournament and their campaign ended the moment they missed four chances of Sachin Tendulkar in the semi-finals. Their bowling was good if not excellent but its their batting that let them down completely. They lacked consistency with batsmen always inventing ways to get out. But, after losing two world class bowlers and their former captain to spot fixing, it was definitely a performance worth appreciating.

New Zealand

The last one year before the WC was probably the worst patch NZ has ever experienced. No one expected them to reach the semi-finals, but they reached it in some style choking South Africa, the clear title favorites, in the quarter-finals. Through out the tournament their batting seldom clicked, but their bowling backed up with an agile fielding unit helped them reach the semis. NZ have reached semis in five WCs now, but to be regarded as the best, they have to cross that hurdle which would require a lot of work especially in the batting department.

Australia

After 3 consecutive WC triumphs followed by loss of several key players and a not so convincing cricketing year, Australia was under too much pressure to perform. With the names of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitch Johnson who consistently hit the 140 kmph barrier, they have the best bowling line-up on paper, but unfortunately it didn't live up to the expectations. Their batting through out the tournament was far from spectacular. Calling Mike Hussey, mid way didn't help either. They had India in trouble briefly during the run chase in quarter finals, but to be frank that was the best they have achieved this WC. The tournament ended with Ponting giving up captaincy and with claims of end of the great Australian era of dominance.

South Africa

If you have been following RSA closely in the WCs, you would agree they are the unluckiest team. As usual, they started the WC with a side that looked the best of the lot and they looked clear favorites, ending the group stages at the top of group B. Their bowling led by Steyn was threatening and undoubtedly the best in the tournament. Their batting line-up especially led by De Villiers was outstanding in the group stages except for the choke against England. They went into the Quarters looking like front runners for the cup, but NZ choked their famous batting line-up once again. Another shocking WC exit meant that they still retain the infamous C tag!!

England

ODIs were on the brink of extinction until England decided to step in and take charge. Every match they played until the quarter finals clash against Sri Lanka which they lost by 10 wickets, was a close nail-biting encounter. Their batting never clicked as a unit except Jonathan Trott who was exceptional. Their bowling had to carry the burden of poor batting performances but came good most of the times. Their overall performance as a team varied between excellence and mediocrity: choking RSA, drawing level against India but losing to Ireland and Bangladesh. Having played a lot of cricket probably took its toll on the players and losing couple of key players before and during the tournament didn't help either.

West Indies

The only high point of their WC campaign is the 58 all out they handed to Bangladesh. The present West Indian team has nothing in common with the legendary WI team that won the first two editions of the WC. Although their inexperienced bowlers bowled well, their experienced batsmen never scored enough runs, failing in almost all the matches Their tournament ended with a batting collapse against the Pakistani bowlers in the quarter finals. They left the tournament, leaving everyone wondering whether Ireland deserved to be in the quarters instead.

Ireland
Ireland is probably the best associate nation that played in WC 2011. Kevin O' Brien's maverick innings against England resulted in one of the modern day cricket's biggest upsets. Their bowling is not bad either and gave most of the teams including India some nervous moments while chasing. The only way forward for Ireland is getting better but unfortunately ICC stripped them of chance to play in the next WC. However, with talks going on about setting up bi lateral series against top teams, Ireland is definitely the team to watch our for in the future.

Bangladesh
Bangladesh had the home advantage and confidence of beating NZ at home before the WC and it showed in their games against the associate nations. After being embarassed by West Indies and stoned by the public, they came back strongly to beat England and Netherlands and stay in the race for the quarters. But another humiliating batting performance against RSA gave clear indications of the lack of quality and consistency to come good at the cricket's highest level. Unfortunately, the story of Bangladesh over the years has been a few upsets here and there, but they never came across as a confident unit that can pose serious challenges to the oppositions consistently.

Zimbabwe, Canada, Netherlands and Kenya
Zimbabwe lost heavily against the stronger nations and won comprehensively against the minnows Canada and Kenya. Canada almost replicated Zimbabwe's performance in the tournament and the only consolation they had was the win against the miserable Kenya. Netherlands was impressive against England, India and Ireland and probably deserved an entry in the points column. With zero wins and comprehensive losses, this was probably the worst WC performance by Kenya.

All things said and done, WC 2011 was definitely one of the most successful ICC events in the recent times. This WC has definitely breathed new life into the dying 50 over format and provided a glimpse of the improving skills, emerging talents and an ever growing market.

Picture courtesy: Cricinfo

Being a Kid

2011-04-01T19:46:00.002-05:00

Unlike many people who like kids or get excited on seeing kids, I am indifferent. Being a kid has its own advantages. You will be loved everywhere, no body judges you and everyone enjoys your company. On the other hand, you have to follow the commands of your parents and other elders which can be frustrating at times :)

But the most important thing that always intrigued me is a kid's brain. A kid's brain is clean and devoid of all the distractions we face as adults. It is clearly more easy to learn several things when you are a young kid rather than an adult. I can neither swim nor skate, and I have felt depressed to see kids less than 5 years old swim and skate quite easily. Also, most acclaimed actors have been acting since their childhood.

Before your mind starts to wonder, why this sudden interest in kids, let me tell you that I have recently visited my brother's family in Washington D.C. My niece is 1 year old and had just started walking. She can turn on/off the TV with a remote, she knows that she has to hold the phone to her ear and whenever she sees someone wearing a coat and seem like getting ready, she immediately waves her hand and says "bye". And my nephew is 4 years old and is going to pre-school now. He talks with an impeccable american accent and on numerous occasions put my english speaking skills to shame.

Actually kids try to mimic what elders do but what's surprising is their uncanny ability to remember and reproduce the skills or actions learnt. I always wonder what goes through a kid's mind, what does he think and the thought process that happens in his little brain. But one thing is for sure, all kids are lost in their own world full of peace, harmony and happiness, enjoying each and every little thing that life offers them.

I sometimes wish I were a kid lost in my own world...

New York in 2 days

2011-03-26T00:06:00.000-05:00

I was planning on visiting New York for more than 2 years now but the plan kept getting delayed due to several reasons. Finally, I visited New York during the spring break. I only had 2 days to see New York but I couldn't find a proper resource on the web to build my itinerary in such a way that I can see all major attractions in the given time.

I hope the below itinerary will help people who want to see NY in 2 days

Fly in between 6-11 PM the day before and have a good sleep

Day 1. (starts at 8 AM)

Empire State Building (1.5 hours; waiting times are less between 8-10 AM)

Madame Tussauds (2 hours)

Statue of Liberty (3 hrs; plan for 2 PM trip)

NY water taxi Night watch (1 hr; after 8 PM when it is dark)

Times square (1 hr; after 8 PM when it is dark)

Day 2. (starts at 7 AM)

Central Park (3 hrs; park opens at 6 AM)

Museum of Natural History (4 hrs; opens at 10 AM)

Wall Street and the raging bull ( 30 mins)

Ground Zero (30 mins)

Brooklyn Bridge walk(1 hr)

Fly back ( after 8 PM)

I strongly recommend buying a 10 trip metro card for $ 21 and use it for transit in NY. I was extremely impressed with the NY subway transit system. Every attraction is well connected and <0.5 miles from a subway station. Hotels in downtown Manhattan are expensive, especially if you don't plan the trip well in advance. We stayed in Central Park Hostel which is 20 mins away from downtown Manhattan and it was good for sleeping and shower. Having a New York subway connections map and if possible a smart phone with a data plan helps a lot in reducing confusion and also saves lot of time!!

Laws

2011-03-07T13:27:00.000-06:00

Preface: No no, its not about Mother-in-LAW (Saas) or something :|

Caution: The following article may cause extreme drowsiness.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely of the author .. :)

First, each of us think in our own terms we are comfortable with, in fact, most of us "think" (or talk to ourselves) in our mother-tongue,
And we also associate ourselves closely to our job etc
For e.g., Java guy thinks, boss.annoy(), "lets take a decision at run-time" etc
a EEE person can think, "Deccan chargers are dis-charged :|"

In the same way, Physics has brought a world of change in my thinking... most notably the "Theory of Relativity"

Well, I'm not gonna discuss details of Physics, but my funny/different interpretation of the laws:

Legend:

Actual Law

Actual explanation

My Interpretation

Extra

1. Law of conservation of Energy.
According to "The law of conservation of energy", total energy remains constant, and it just converts from one form to another.

Law of conservation of happiness:
Likewise, I feel, all people cannot be happy at the same time.

For instance, take cricket, when India beats Australia, people of India are happy and those of Australia are unhappy and vice-versa too.
Some can argue that both countries can be happy if its a tie? But I bet, people of country who are "expected/favored" to win won't be so happy.
If rich people are getting richer, then poor people are getting poorer..
if some economy is developing then some other economy is definitely going down...
if software engineers are highly paid, hmm, they have to be happy.. but, their nature of expenses only increase the standard of living thereby causing trouble for the middle/lower class as a result of the repercussions.
Next time you're happy, remember that someone else is not happy because of you - even though you are not the direct cause for it.
No no no, don't even think like that.. lets not make life complicated and live it in a simple way.

Perhaps, the only time all people on Earth will be happy is, when we successfully throw back (in unison) the assault launched by Aliens. But then the aliens are unhappy now :D

Corollary: Law of conservation of Availability:
Well, this one means if you're Available for something/someone, it only means that you are not available for all other remaining things/people.
If you say "Yes" to something, Don't think you haven't said "No" to other things, but it implicitly means that.

Very Different Interpretation:
Vyas Maharshi: LOVE can neither be created nor destroyed, it can just be transferred from one person to another.
I quite didn't understand this :( still trying to.

2. The different type of forces existing in nature are:
(i) Gravitational force (weakest, attractive)
between everything (that mass)
I treat this as the (attractive) force between every two creatures...

(ii) Coulomb's force (moderate)
Its the attractive/repulsive charges between two like/unlike charges respectively.
Not much explanation required.. (charge = gender)

(iii) Nuclear forces (strongest)
Ever wondered why the positively charged protons stay together in a nucleus? (they're supposed to repel each other by Coulomb's force). Of course they do repel each other, but there's a much stronger force of attraction (nuclear force) between them that actually binds them together. Its not just between proton-proton, but between proton and neutron too, etc
This is what I call the force between best-friends and it can be between two guys, parent and a child, man and his dog, guy and his computer etc.
However, the nuclear forces of attraction decrease after they come closer than a certain distance and they become repulsive there-after (explains why all nucleons in a nucleus don't collapse into one). I see this as, however close best-friends are, they still cannot become one, because they are two different brains/characters.

3. Dual nature.
The advent of Quantum Mechanics (by Max Planck) has brought a revolution in the world of Physics. Newtonian mechanics being no longer valid for extreme cases.!!
One such proposal is that the same light/photon or electrons etc exhibit dual nature (particle and wave nature) under different circumstances..
And here is a set of dual-nature according to me:
(i) Masculine/Feminine
I believe every person has part of masculine nature and part of feminine nature and depending on circumstances, he/she would bring out the individual nature.

(ii) Child/Adult
Same can be said about child and adult nature: we behave as a child with few people and as an adult with few. :)
Haven't you seen grand-parents playing like kids with their grand-children, but behaving as an adult with their children??

(iii) Love/Hate
This is a bit tricky, .. but, I feel, every person has the capability to both love/hate a single person. No one will dispute with me on that. Its something like, People act as Mirror image to themselves at times. [ISOMER]
And another important thing is, you get angry on a person who love and not on some strangers.
People who can hate so much can also love so much..
so, psychos/sadists, who hate people in an extra-ordinary manner are also the ones who love mankind the most (in my view) and they're probably hurt :|

(Corollary) Note: I can't say that, in those dual-nature, each nature is opposite of the other. i.e. its not like masculine is opposite of feminine, child is opposite of adult or love is opposite of hate.
I should rather say that they are complementary or They (Need and) Complete Each Other. And existence of only a single nature alone is useless.

4. Einstein's theory of relativity:
This is probably the biggest thing that influenced me. According to this, everything we observe is relative (or very much dependent) on the frame of reference.

People may have read this:
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.”
[of course, I dispute it - it depends on when/how you do it - if you put your hand on a hot stove just after you held ice for a min, it wouldn't feel so bad... and how good will it be to sit with a pretty girl if she's eating your brain :P]

If some still think that there's something absolute based on which we can decide upon few things, here's another example:
Almost all of us would have traveled in a train, didn't we? Okay, we are sitting in a train, which is stationary at the moment and you also see another train beside yours through the window which is also stationary.
Suddenly your train starts moving slowly and before you feel happy that your train has started at last, you look at the wheels of the other train (or the ground) and find that ACTUALLY its the other train which is moving, albeit in the opposite direction. ;)
In other words, we do not even know which train is moving for quite some time. (Until the train picks up speed, you see ground etc. blah blah)
See, how important the frame of reference is!

So, according to me, if you feel a person is good, hmmm, that's only according to you (and a few others around you)
If you argue that a person is good, I can bring some other who says the opposite.
Same is true when you say a person is bad.
It all depends on our perception and circumstances which change with time/person. (and our opinion changes with time too.....)
if you say Gandhi is good, then probably at least one person (Godsey) exists who certainly didn't think so.
likewise, if you say Hitler is bad, well, I'm sure someone exists (at least his gf) who would like to counter you!

Few people think India's bowling is worst!! x-( I would rather say, every other team thinks that our bowling is okay and our batting is super-good.
I bet people will be thinking (negatively) about their home-teams as well in the same way.

Some might say, killing a living thing is absolutely wrong (mostly vegetarians say that).
hmm, I'd want to say that its relative.
if killing of mosquitoes isn't bad, killing of enemy soldiers/terrorists at the country's border isn't bad, if killing of deer etc by carnivorous animals isn't bad, then so is this and many others which are beyond my contemplation.
[well, I'd also like to dis-agree on this one on a few counts, but can't help think the other way :( ]

I know, many people would like to dis-agree, but, as I said, those are only my opinion and they are to be same as yours, then there's no point in my brain existing :|

Trivia: I have been planning to write this article since 2 yrs or so :( and finally wrote it. I don't even remember few things which were in my mind earlier.

Thanks for spending your valuable time. :)
you may probably spend an extra minute to let me know your thoughts.. thanks again.

Change

2011-03-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton Season 2 edition 18; the eighteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Wounded hearts crave for it

Politicians vow for it
Life would be boring without it
What is it?

"CHANGE"

Beggars plead for it
Bus conductors demand it
Life would be difficult without it
What is it?

"CHANGE"

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

WC Fever

2011-02-20T20:07:00.001-06:00

So finally the much awaited tournament of cricket lovers had begun. India comprehensively beat Bangladesh while New Zealand and Sri Lanka thrashed Kenya and Canada, respectively. FB is full of cricket updates and the WC fever caught up with me too. I woke up twice at 4 A.M and 6 A.M to check the score on my mobile and even saw the last over of Indian batting. Given the strong Indian batting line up which most of the times masks the insipid bowling attack, I am hoping that the men in blue would lift the cricket's most coveted prize. But experts say that this is world cup is different since more than one team look favorites to win it. If we look closely at the format, all the major teams should easily reach the quarter finals even after losing 2-3 matches. And from there on its only 3 matches to the trophy- Quarters, Semis and finals!!

Sri Lankan fans believe and most agree that their team has the potential to win the World cup in the familiar sub-continent conditions. South African team as always looks challenging and they have already announced that they are well prepared this time as compared to the last; they have also claimed to have gotten rid of the "chokers" tag!! Australian team which has the last 3 WC trophies in their kitty looked mediocre the whole of last year but returned to form with a 6-1 thrashing of England. But everyone knows that this time unlike 2007 they are not the clear favorites and have to play out of their skins to win it, especially without Mr. Cricket, Mike Hussey.

England played fantastic cricket through out last year but were marred by injuries in the lead up to WC. Although they lost couple of key players to injuries, they do have a balanced batting and bowling attack not to forget their allrounders!! Their confidence is slightly low but the winners of the T20 WC are sure to provide other teams a run for their money. The last one year had been really challenging both on professional and personal front for Pakistan Cricket. But anyone following world cricket knows Pakistan's ability to spring in surprises. Their captain had already expressed confidence in reaching the semi-finals and who knows from there on its just 2 games to the cup!!

New Zealand had the worst year of cricket with a bunch series losses including Bangladesh. Kiwis claim that they play the best when the expectations are low and this time as always few expect them to win. They have reached atleast to the Quarters in the previous WCs and they should reach this time too given the leniency of the format and as I already said its only 3 games from there on.

The current West Indian team is a sorry figure of the legendary team that won the first 2 WCs. I feel bad to say this but WI are in the same group as Bangladesh and it is difficult to predict whether they will reach the Quarter-finals. The team comprising of Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Bravo surely deserve to be in the Quarters. Bangladesh created the biggest upset in 2007 WC by thrashing India and eventually ousting them out of the WC. Given their strong batting performance in the first match of 2011 WC against India and match winning spinners who can wreak havoc on sub-continental pitches as they did against New Zealand, they are a team that can never be taken lightly.

I have utmost respect for the minnows: Canada, Kenya, Netherlands, Ireland and Zimbabwe. However, the probability of any of them reaching the Quarters is minimal given the format and their current form.

Let the best ONE win..

Go India, Go..

An encounter

2011-02-01T16:04:00.000-06:00

Based on a true incident

“Twenty rupees” said the cobbler as he handed the shoes back. I looked at the shoes to make sure that the repair was taken care of. I took out the purse and opened it to give the money. My purse is unusually thick with lots of notes!! I was leaving to US the next day. A small kid walked by and looked at my purse. I didn’t pay attention and took out two ten rupee notes and handed them out to the cobbler. I kept the purse back in my pocket, started my bike and began to move when I heard the boy crying “Anna.. Anna”. I was in the middle of the road and hence didn’t want to stop. I accelerated but the boy ran behind me and shouted again “Anna”. I pressed the break, stopped and looked back at him. He ran towards me and said “Anna.. Please give me five rupees. I don’t have money to go home on the city bus.”

I looked at him closely as he didn’t look like a beggar. I discourage giving money to these kids as I heard that they use this money on beedis and guthka. It is difficult to differentiate those who really need money and those who bluff. So, I am always confused whether I should give money or not.

I pointed to the plastic bag in his hand and said “If you don’t have money where did you get the money to buy this food from that hotel?” He retorted “This food is for my mother. She is at home. I have to give this to her.” I didn’t believe him and said “I don’t have change” and turned back to re-start my bike. He sadly said “Anna.. I really need money to go home.” I thought instead of giving him money I should rather drop him and asked “Where is your house?” He said “Nagaralu”. I have never been to that place and was really in a hurry to go home so I asked him with a serious face “I will give you the money. Will you really go home?” He looked honest and replied “Yes, I will”. I gave him the money and we both departed in opposite directions.

I rode 100 meters or so and turned back. The boy stood in the middle of the road and looking back to see whether I left. Suddenly a thought crossed my mind “What if this boy uses this money for beedi or something. Am I encouraging his bad habits?” I decided that I will follow the boy and see whether he really boards that bus or spends the money on something else. I decided that if he spends the money for something bad I will never ever give the money to any other kid.

I took the next U turn and followed the boy. I rode slowly looking around the shops on the road and couldn’t find him. Suddenly, I saw the boy walking on the right hand side of the road eating a slice of water melon with one hand and holding the plastic bag in the other. I accelerated and stopped in front of him. The boy looked puzzled to see me again. I asked “You said you wanted the money to go home. I would have given the money even if you told me it is for the water melon. Why did you lie?” He said “This is just 2 rupees. I have 3 more rupees to go home.” He noticed that I didn’t believe him and took out the three rupees from his pocket and showed me. I said “OK. Is the bus ticket only 3 rupees? Will you really go home?” He stared at me and replied “Anna.. If you don’t believe me, you can come till the bus stop and see me.”

Convinced, I turned the bike around and started my ride back home wondering “Am I cynical?”

The Perspective

2010-12-22T17:33:00.000-06:00

The other day I was talking to my American friend about how organized the USA is

Here is what I said..

USA is very well organized. For example, the road system here is outstanding!! They are very well planned. Movement from one place to another is very fast and less time consuming. You take a free way, then take an exit and you are there!! There are very less traffic jams. If you go to India, say Mumbai, it is so overcrowded that it will take forever to go from one place to the other. And if it rains, forget about it, the roads are completely flooded and the traffic seldom moves.

And this is how he responded..

Dude, here we have to be organized and prepared. Because the winters here and very bad and if you don’t have a proper system in place, everything will stop. It snows pretty frequently for almost half the year, so the roads should be cleared after snowfall immediately, otherwise people can’t commute!!

India on the other hand has a very good climate.. Your rains are not that frequent and most of the times not so bad. And you have no snow. So it is OK even if you people are lazy, we on the other hand have to be ready!! I agree that the traffic jams are because of the population. But India is investing a lot in infrastructure now and I am sure it will do better soon!!

After the conversation I was thinking for a lot of time. What he said made sense, a lot of sense.

We always tend to be lazy unless the condition becomes critical. Lets take a simple case here. We have an exam scheduled one month later, we relax and don’t study until it is like two days before the exam and end up burning the midnight oil.

US has a rich economy but extremely cold climate during winters (most parts). India on the other hand is developing but has favorable climatic conditions.. Wonder how India would be if we had the same climatic conditions as the US?

P.S. Wanted to convey the message in the exact way I talked with him... So the sentence construction is intentional!!

The Mystery

2010-12-03T12:30:00.016-06:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 17; the seventeenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Mumbai, India 09:45 IST

“Trrrrrrrrringgggg” the alarm rang for the thirteenth time!! Aman took his hand out from the warm blanket and banged its head. He wanted to go back to sleep, but a quick recount of the number of snoozes made him realize that he must be late for work. The voice of his boss resounded in his ears; and he sat up like a zombie from the grave. He contemplated on going back to sleep but the face of his boss flashed. He looked at the alarm but he couldn’t see anything, it was hazy. He took the spectacles on the desk and put them on. The clock read “09:45”!! “Another day in the office for the tiger” he murmured and jumped out the bed stretching his body. He started walking to the rest room and was petrified to see a strange figure in the corner. Before he could open his mouth to let out a cry, a bright flash lighted the whole room. He fell down, unconscious.

New York, USA, 00:13 EST

The elevator door opened and she stepped out and looked hurriedly for directions to her room. “1313, Bryant” that’s what her agent told. She turned right and started walking briskly. She could feel the phone vibrating in her purse and picked it up. “Damn Jessi. You are late again. Bryant just called in, he was waiting for you for the last 15 minutes”, its her agent. She looked at her watch and it read “00:15 AM”. “Err.. I am right outside his door now. You are wasting more time here” she retorted and hung up. She could hear Bryant speaking on the phone. She knocked on the door and a voice came from inside “Coming”. But at that very moment, an intense light emanated from the room and then the lights in the corridor flickered and went dead. The door didn’t open and she stood in the dark for ten seconds before the lights came back. She knocked again but no one answered, she inserted her access card, turned the handle, pushed the door and stepped in. It was dark inside!!

Liverpool, UK, 05:15 hrs BST

Peter was driving home after a late night party. He was drunk but sober. He likes these early morning rides. Less cops, no traffic rules and no speed limits. He looked at the dash board as his wheels made a fantastic sound. “60 mph? I need more” he said to himself as he hit the accelerator hard. He looked at the dash board again as the car sped past 70 and lifted his eyes to see someone standing in the middle of the road!! “Shit” he shouted, closed his eyes involuntarily and pressed the brakes harder. The car shook violently and came to a halt with the wheels making an annoying sound. Peter slowly opened his eyes and looked in front of his car. Surprisingly, there was no one there, just a traffic signal pole. He looked in the rear view mirror and there was no one too. He looked at the empty brandy bottle on his left and laughed. He turned to his right and was frightened at what he saw. All of a sudden, there was a bright flash and the car engine died.

Thirteen days later, FBI, Washington D.C., USA, 13:13 EST

Agents from all the major countries gathered at the FBI head quarters. What started as random happenings have turned into a huge mystery. Sergeant James Butler, appointed as the chief detective to head the investigation was answering the questions of his international colleagues.

“How many people are missing?” the Chinese official questioned

The sergeant looked pensive and said “According to the latest reports from all over the world, 666”

The noise levels in the room increased after that number. “Are any of them found?” enquired the Russian diplomat. The sergeant cleared his throat “No.. None of them”

“What do you think is the motive behind these?” asked the Japanese officer

The sergeant again turned pensive and replied “Clearly this is not a case of kidnap as none of the relatives of the missing received any demands for ransom. There is surely a motive behind this because all the 666 people have been missing since the same day and most of them from the same time”

The last answer raised lot of eyebrows and the British officer asked “Did you just say exact same time?”

The sergeant retorted “Yes! We are dealing with different time zones here. The information I have clearly shows that all these people had been found missing on Friday, August 13, 2009 at 4:15 AM GMT”

“Any evidence at all?” enquired the Mexican chief

The sergeant displayed some photographs and explained “This is Aman Mitra’s apartment. No blood, no indication of any struggle whatsoever, the door was bolted from inside but no one was inside”.

He adjusted his glasses and zoomed in on a picture “Look at this alarm clock in his bed room.. It stopped at 09:45 IST, which is 4:15 GMT. When the police were inspecting his house, his refrigerator and TV in the living room worked fine but suspiciously the computer and music system in his bed room were dead!! There was no power outage on that day. The crime scene looked almost the same in all the cases”

“Any witnesses, Sergeant?” the Korean diplomat chipped in

“Unfortunately, No” The sergeant continued “The closest we have is a woman from New York, Jessica Sanders. She claims that she went to the hotel to meet her boy friend Bryant. When she knocked on his door, he answered and then there was a power failure for 10 seconds. But, he never opened the door. She finally opened it using her access card and found the room to be dark.”

He clicked his laptop again and continued“These are the pictures taken from that hotel room. Room 1313. Again, no blood, no finger prints, no clues, no trail left whatsoever!!” The room turned silent as he pointed to an object in his next picture “See the wall clock? It stopped at 00:15 EST which as I mentioned before is 4:15 AM GMT”

“No evidence, no witnesses.. Too bad, looks like all the kidnaps happened at home or places where there is no or minimal CCTV camera surveillance” commented the French official

Sergeant intercepted “I wouldn’t say that. There is one case, Peter Finn.”

Everyone in the room looked interested as this could be promising.

The sergeant played a video this time using his laptop and started to explain “This is the video from the traffic surveillance camera in Liverpool. This is Peter’s car speeding and coming to a halt at this signal post.” He zoomed in and showed the person in the driver’s seat and continued “He is Peter. He looks shocked and inspects the road infront of him, then he looks in the rear view mirror. Finally he looks to his left and laughs, then turns right and…”

The video turned blank and everyone in the room was disappointed. The sergeant was not done yet. He pointed to the right hand lower corner of the video and read “And..At that very moment, look at the time stamp on the video, 5:15 BST or 4:15 GMT, the camera was dead”

Everyone in the room was shocked after the last piece of evidence shown by the chief detective.

“Based on the footage you showed us, these are undoubtedly preplanned attacks. All 666 people are missing on the same day and from the same time. Did we establish any connections between the missing?” questioned the Indian officer

The sergeant replied “Pre planned? Yes.. But all 666 people kidnapped are ordinary people and they are in no way connected to each other. These people never met each other and are from more than 30 different countries.. US, UK, France, Spain, Japan, China, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Singapore, Germany, UAE and more. However…”

“However?” everyone questioned in unison

“However, all of them are aged 23 and August 13, the day they disappeared happens to be their birthday” the sergeant completed

The crowd in the room became restless and began to chatter among themselves. They didn’t know where this case was heading.

Amongst all these, an unknown official took out the New York Times news paper and showed it to everyone “The Mystery. That’s what the media throughout the world is calling it. So when and how are we going to solve this case? Where are the missing people?”

The sergeant got angry but calmed himself. He walked to an open window in the big room and looked out into the sky. He had no answer!!

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

Aman woke up. He had no idea where he was. He looked around tensed and saw many people, people speaking in different languages, people from different countries. All of them looked equally worried.

The room turned silent when they heard a voice in the background. The voice continued speaking as the screens in the room displayed in 10 different languages

“Welcome homo sapiens. Congratulations, you are all chosen for a purpose”

Galaxy 13666, several light years away from the earth, Time unknown

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Celebrations

2010-11-07T12:10:00.001-06:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Rana Singh looked concerned and upset listening to the increasing atrocities of the British all over Hindustan (India), especially Punjab. His 6 year old son, Munna was however busy asking his mother for more laddoos she prepared on the eve of Baisakhi. They have travelled all the way from Patiala to celebrate Baisakhi in the holy town of Amritsar. “Papa, I can’t see anything” Munna shouted looking at the tall human wall standing infront of him. Singh was so engrossed in the speech that he didn’t pay attention. Kids need lot of attention and Munna was no exception. Munna started scratching his father’s pants and the frequency increased each passing second until Singh could no longer take it. He lovingly pulled his son’s cheeks, lifted him up and put him on his shoulders. Munna was awe struck by what he saw; the park was completely packed with thousands of people all cheering the leader talking on stage. He innocently looked all around the park and his eyes stopped at what looked like a mini army of policemen marching into the park making a synchronized sound with their boots. The leader suddenly stopped speaking and everyone looked at each other, confused, as the policemen completed their cadence. The confusion soon transformed into fear when the policemen were ordered to take position, a position to shoot. Singh held onto his wife and son tightly.

“Tak.. Tak.. Tak”, someone knocked on the door. Singh slowly got up and adjusted his turban. He was astonished as it is still not time for the morning count.

“Shoot” cried Brigadier General Dyer, pointing to the densest sections of the park. 80 policemen all fired their guns at once sending out a chilling sound. People ran in all directions of the park to escape the firing. There were so many people that it was impossible to move quickly to a safer place. Singh hid his wife and his son in his arms with his back facing the policemen and began running towards the solitary narrow exit on the other side of the park. One of the bullets hit his right leg cramping him, but there was no way he would bend as that would risk both his wife and son. At that very moment, some other person running hastily, tripped and fell on him. Singh lost balance exposing his wife momentarily, and in the blink of an eye, a bullet veered past him and hit her in the head. Singh looked shocked as she collapsed to the ground. He stood on his knees and examined his wife closely; her eyes were wide open but she didn’t move. He hugged Munna who was petrified and crying inconsolably. He wanted to get up and take his son to safety but some one stepped on his leg that was hit by the bullet. Singh winced in pain and fell down. By the time he regained control, another bullet came straight and hit little Munna in the chest, the sheer force of which sent Munna off the ground. Singh tried to get up but his injured leg wouldn’t let him. He crawled on the ground, reached Munna and shook him; he was dead.

The door opened and a guard in his early 40s was standing outside. He smiled warmly and Singh was surprised as he was not the same guard who opened his door everyday.

It was still raining bullets but Singh didn’t move. Actually, he didn’t want to move. He lost his wife, son and his life in less than a minute. He placed both of them in his lap and cried. He looked around and saw people climbing the huge walls being brought down by the bullets. Most of the people flocking towards the narrow gate were killed either by a bullet or in a stampede. Some women jumped into a well with their kids. The policemen ran out of ammunition and the firing stopped after ten minutes. The place which resounded with cheers and applause ten minutes ago now looked like a cemetery. Singh spent the whole night guarding his family’s bodies amidst the cries of the injured calling for help. However, no help came until the next morning as a curfew was declared.

Everything looked different as he walked though the corridors of the prison. The cells which were usually packed beyond capacity were almost empty.

“This is our land” shouted Singh. He continued “We treated them like guests when they came here for business but they are treating us like slaves. They killed more than thousand of our innocent people at Jallianwala Bagh. I have lost my family too on that fateful day. We could have retaliated violently but that would only have resulted in loss of more lives.” Singh looked around and found out that he had the attention of his audience. He spread his arms and said “We have been fighting against British since 1920. We stopped using their goods which severely impacted their economic power. We have taken the pledge to disobey the British Government’s orders. We made several protests to show them that we don’t need them. They tried to suppress us by arresting us. The time has come to prove to them once again that we are not weak and we can’t be suppressed.” The audience looked on eagerly as Singh continued “Bapuji called for Bharat Chhodo Andolan. Quit India, this will be our new slogan. We will not stop until the British leave this land that rightfully belongs to us.” The audience cheered Singh and shouted “Quit India” The local police officer found out that Singh was starting another rebellion and rushed to the city centre. Singh was arrested and charged for instigating and conspiring repeatedly against the British Government and sentenced to indefinite term in prison.

“Where am I going?” he enquired. The guard retorted “To meet the Jailor.” “It is almost midnight” he said to himself as he entered the jailor’s room. He was puzzled to see his trousers and bag on the jailor’s table. The jailor smiled and said “Please sign this log book and take your personal belongings. You are free to go.” Singh opened the log book looked at the date and read “August 15, 1947.” For a man who had been spending more time in jail than outside in the last 25 years, he didn’t show any emotions. He simply signed it, changed his dress and stepped out of the jail.

Outside the jail, he was greeted by other members of his group who hugged him and stuffed his mouth with mithai. “We have done it Rana bhai, We Won!!” Singh looked confused as everyone shouted in unison “They ran away. This land is our’s.” Singh couldn’t believe what he heard. Someone turned on the radio as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru announced “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new…India discovers herself again.”

And the whole country broke into celebrations

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Tips on IRCTC

2010-10-21T06:59:00.001-05:00

Note: This article is useful only for people in India who book train tickets extensively using IRCTC.

Today, I have had to book three tickets for different purposes (to attend one idiot's wedding :| ), and each time, when it came to payment stage, I used credit card and selected different Payment Gateways (PG). At that time, a curiosity arose in me to find out the cheapest way, and after a little research, found this link:
http://www.irctc.co.in/payment.html
Here are few things to be noted from that site: charges are,
Using Credit card : AxisPG: 1.65%, Other gateways: 1.8% [so, choosing Axis PG is the best option]
Using Debit card: Rs 10/transaction
Using Netbanking: Rs. 10/transaction + service charges (which I presume to be < Rs. 2)

[Of course, we can't escape the Rs. 10 service charge by IRCTC]
Going by this, and after a small calculation, choosing these options for payment will cost you the least:
1. If ticket price < Rs. 606
then book the ticket using Credit card and choose AXIS PG.
2. If ticket price > Rs 606
then book the ticket using Debit card, where the transaction charges are Rs. 10/transaction

Of course, Netbanking is the fastest option I should say and you may prefer this when you want to book without much delay, e.g. Booking using Tatkal at 8:00 AM ;)
[I just did a dummy transaction to see the charges and I guess the charges are 10/transaction+ service charges which could be around 0.5% of ticket price]

Suppose you were booking tickets worth Rs. 200/month using NetBanking, the charges would be around 10+1=Rs 11
using Credit card (AXIS PG), it will be 1.65% x 200 = Rs. 3.30
And some of us are already using Credit card but, with selection of AXIS PG, we can save 0.15% and if you were to spend Rs. 500/month, then savings would be 75 paise only :( but still...

I was discussing this with my colleague and he suggested me to share with everyone since its useful (even though its a small amount) and in return,
haha, yes,
Please donate some part of what you are saving to some charity.
Which charity? even I don't know, use your brain and heart and give to someone :)

Find anything wrong or needs improvements? suggestions are most welcome :)

The Google Car

2010-10-12T23:15:00.002-05:00

Google always fascinates me with its innovations.... The exciting thing about Google is that it keeps on improvising on these innovations pushing the limits of perfection!!

Recently, Google has reported on its blog that it has developed technology for a self-driving car!! To add the icing on the cake, they have also tested this car and technology on busy Californian roads. You can read more about how they have made this possible on the blog link I provided above.

The aim of this project according to these guys is to reduce the number of road accidents by 50%!! So, in future, we can expect to work, sleep, dress up or whatever while driving too without hiring a driver and do them safely.

But the biggest question that is haunting me since many days which returned back after I read about this technology is "In an attempt to push the limits of technological innovation, are we reaching the pinnacle of laziness?"

And the most important question I have is whether do you guys feel the same way as I do or am I just being too impractical and cynical?

A trip to remember!

2010-10-03T14:45:00.000-05:00

Here I'm gonna describe about our trip to Shivanasamudra (Oct 2nd, 2010). I wanted to do this, because this has been such a memorable experience for us, and I'm sure it will be used as anecdote in years to come (among us).
As I started to write this article, I seem to write every detail, making it very long :|, and so, for the third time, I shall skip some of the incidents to keep it short :)
    We are 9 ppl travelling on 5 bikes, and all is going well for some time. On the NECE road (since the road was so wide and good), all of us went at top speeds, I remember our bike clocking at 110 kmph, and within few min, my cap flew away despite tying it very tight (AGAIN!). :|
    Later, since I was learning how to ride bike, I took help of one guy and slowly went on the side of road, significantly slower than others, survived some nervy moments esp when some vehicle comes opposite to me and somehow successfully drived for 13 km. :). Afterwards, we again started going at top speeds, and bad.. one of our bike met an accident!! After seeing the state of bike, I considered them very lucky to have evaded major injuries and survived with just bruises. Lucky!! We split ourselves into two groups, one to get some first-aid done to those, other to get the bike repaired. We were fortunately near to a town and found both hospital and a service center. Ya!, in the process of accident, one guy's mobile and another one's spects were broken. He had a back-up spects and managed with it.
    After giving the bike for repair, we started off slowly. In the mean-while, our bike's tyre was punctured :| got it repaired, went on to reach Barachuki falls. All of us went around falls in Teppa (small boat), and got into water, went very near to the falls. The water force was high, and guess what? one of my friend lost his spects :D later we began to play with each other splashing water on each though we could barely stand on the slippery rocks and the moving water. Here comes the scene of fun. The guy whose spects was broken and had a back-up spects, lost that too in water :D :D and his chappel started to float away, but one friend swam fast and got it. Now its amusing all of us by these ridiculous smaller incidents. So, three spects, one cap, one mobile lost altogether till now (not to mention the bike's situation).
    After some more sight-seeing, snaps etc, we finally decided to start our return journey. To our horror we discovered, the bike's repair was still going on, and we were just loitering around the service center. The service center will close by 8pm and repair has to complete by then any cost. After some warnings, they did complete it somehow with big bill though, despite the power-cut. At 8 pm, after the bike was up and running, the power was restored :D and it just started raining heavily.
    Left with no option, we waited for some time, asked about a different route from the guy at service center and started off in the rain. We mutually agreed upon to go at low speeds to avoid further mishaps. After sometime, we found that one bike was missing :|. Later, we came to know that, the head-lights failed for that bike and our bike had to go with them side by side to show them light (it was pretty dark outside with no street lights, raining and road full of potholes, we were cursing that guy for suggesting this route!)
    Somehow, after guiding them through the dark, we reached a good road after an hour or so, rain subsided a bit, and we got off to Bangalore. It did rain again heavily for sometime in between but we never relented for it. With wet clothes and shivering, we finally reached our homes, somehow.
    Actually I forgot to tell, my watch's glass also got broken.. don't know how :|

    Anyways, I was saying to myself "majaa aa gaya!" It indeed was, because I know that there's every possibility that each incident would have gone worse! And people are getting ready to make stories out of it! :D

Adieu.

Farewell

2010-10-02T00:07:00.003-05:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

May 28, 1970

"यात्रिकों, कृपया ध्यान दे!! दिल्ली से अहमदाबाद तक जाने वाली गुजरात एक्सप्रेस, रवाना होने के लिए तयार हैं "

The train whistled releasing a cloud of smoke and the guard swung the green flag wildly signaling its time to move. Ramu trying to control his emotions said "Bye.. Take care". Raj replied " Sure.. You too take care of yourself.. I am sure we will keep in touch through letters". The train now started moving and Ramu walked briskly to catch up with the pace of the train. He doesn't know when he will see his friend again, so he didn't want to miss these farewell memories. The train gradually picked up speed and Ramu tried hard to run but the bag on his back is too heavy.

Raj held Ramu's hand and said "Ramu.. No.. Don't Run." Ramu stopped there and swayed his hand and bid adieu to his dear friend.. Raj also retorted by swaying his hand.. Ramu slowly turned back as the announcer read "दिल्ली से हैदराबाद तक जाने वाली आंध्र एक्सप्रेस थोड़ी हीन देर में एक नंबर प्लात्फोर्म पर आएगी" He walked to the first platform and sat down on the wooden bench and looked up into the dark sky which reminded him of the emptiness and gloom in his life. Raj stared at the moving trees outside his window and wondered how four years of engineering finished so fastly.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits
Image - Alston Station by Wandering Soul
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

The Shocking System

2010-09-26T14:39:00.001-05:00

Inspired from an article I recently read on TOI

In a country where women are excelling at par with their male counterparts, its surprising there exists a shameful system where women are treated badly.

The above article casts light on a shocking system where young tribal girls are sold for as low as Rs. 50,000. These girls are then exploitedand allowed to stay in their husbands home only until they give birth to one or two girls. After that, the girls are kept and the women are asked to leave and live on their own. The worst part is if the women gives birth to any boys, these boys are also deserted. Those little girls are then sold off to some one else and the process repeats. What a shameful system!!

If women are treated as commodities, how can we be proud and hold our head high and say "India Shining"

Nenu Meeku Telusa? (Do you know me?)

2010-09-18T23:36:00.005-05:00

We always feel that we know everything about our friends.. Actually it is practically impossible!!

Here are some things about me which you may not know....

I like the smell of cigarette and petrol
My favorite God is Lord Krishna
I always get this weird dream where I end up breaking my teeth
I had allergic Conjunctivitis (blood-shot eyes) for more than 10 years until 2002
In my +1, I once took the answer sheet home without returning it back to the examiner as I didn't study well for the weekly exam
I had the habit of saying sorry by writing a letter and keeping it in my friends book or room after a tiff
I love dogs
I am uncomfortable with toddlers
I am afraid of patients
I make a resolution to wake up at 7AM everyday
I get tensed when my flight is about to land
I am partially superstitious
My right eye is smaller than my left eye
I wear a silver chain with three lockets: Om, Christ and Hanuman

Chicago

2010-09-16T22:48:00.008-05:00

I have recently been to Chicago. I absolutely loved the trip!!

I thought I would put together my trip details here so that it would be useful for people who want to see the city.

I have purchased flight tickets and reserved my hotel in advance using Priceline.com for less. I also bought a 3 day Go chicago card from smartdestinations.com. I recommend taking a hotel in downtown, believe me its not too costly!! I also suggest to buy 3 day CTA pass which you can use for your local transportation. You can also use this pass to commute between airport and downtown in the blue line train.

I have done some research on what places to see and planned in such a way that I don't waste much time commuting between various attractions. Remember, Go Chicago Card allows you to go to most of the attractions only till 5:30 PM.

I used google maps to find the bus routes from my hotel to all the attractions.. All the attractions I visited are within 2.5 mile radius and took a maximum of 20 minutes CTA bus ride!!

Here is what I did..

Friday, Sept 3rd (Fly from Minneapolis to Chicago)

Shedd Aquarium
Adler Planetarium (+2 movies)
Field Museum
Buckhingam Fountain

Saturday, Sept 4th

Willis/Sears Tower
Art Institute of Chicago
Hancock Observatory
Navy Pier (Rides, Architectural River cruise)

Sunday, Sept 5th

Museum of Science and Industry(+1 movie)
Navy Pier (Sightseeing Cruise)
Downtown Chicago/ Magnificient Mile

Monday, Sept 6th (FREE stuff!! Remember, I bought only a 3 day Go Chicago Card)

Lincoln Park Zoo
Wrigley Field
Millenium Park
Magnificient Mile Shopping
Fly back from Chicago to Minneapolis

I am not a great fan of museums, but man the Field Museum and Museum of Science and Industry are awesome.. I wanted to go to the Brookfield Zoo, but had to skip it as it is far away from downtown and would take an hour to travel. Have a map of the city on you and I suggest not to waste too much time and money on restaurants/food!!

Enjoy your trip to the Windy City :)

Social Network

2010-09-15T22:18:00.009-05:00

One out of 14 persons in the world use Facebook (FB). Now thats an interesting statistic!! I myself spend a minimum of 1 hour on Facebook everyday. I have been so damn addicted to FB that my hand involuntarily types in FB in the browser atleast 10 times a day to check a friend's response to my wall post, a friend's like to my picture, etc.

Most of the Organizations have accepted FB as the primary mode of communication. RSVP to any event no longer requires an email confirmation, its just a click of button away. FB has become increasingly popular and equally addictive in the last 2 years that many of the companies have banned its usage during work hours!!

Undoubtedly FB has brought old friends closer and help us make new friends and expand our circle. If you have the intention, intelligence and energy, you can make 500 million friends using FB!!

But we humans, have the tendency to get bored of seeing/using the same thing as time proceeds!! FB is trying its best to keep up the interest by introducing new features frequently.. As time rolls by, I am sure there will be a new social networking website that will surpass FB, similar to what happened to Orkut!!

Lets see..

PS1.. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq27k6njR40

25

2010-07-23T15:16:00.004-05:00

Turned 25 yesterday!!! Feeling old already :(

I have been experiencing ample indications that I am growing older.. I started forgetting the names of people I met a while ago and I suffered a ligament tear in my left leg 2 months ago and the pain still remains ever since.

When I turn back and look at myself in retrospection of what I have done in my life so far, I see darkness!!!

But as said by Robert Frost:
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

Message from the Future.

2010-06-17T06:32:00.000-05:00

Date: June 18, 2017.

A small kid, just having finished his school comes running to his dad.
Son: Dad, the teacher gave me a E grade in English..
Dad: Why is that son?
Son: I wrote A B C D F, missed E and the teacher gave it .. I'm worried, how will I pass this LKG :(
Dad: haha, don't worry son, these things are common. Trust me, you don't have to worry so much.. you'll get through them easily..
Son: (sobbing) No dad.. :(
Dad: we shall take care of it.. now go and play :)

Then, the "Dad", logins to gtalk to find his old friend online..
He thinks: This fellow has kept some stupid status msg again!!! when will he grow up??
lets ping him..
(the conversation goes this way..)
me: rey mental, u thr?
he: u dental ;)
me: u environmental :P
he: u accidental :D
me: ur monumental ..
he: your are incidental .. haha
me: STOP IT!!!!
he: :|
he: I guess I have surpassed Axel F Crazy Frog as the most annoying thing in the world.
me: cha, get lost..
he: :(
me: today, my son came to me, and was telling about how tense while writing A B C D's in exams and so on..
he: all your qualities only! :P
me: cha, i don't get tense at all..
he: is it so? I still remember you getting tense during your classes/exams assignments etc
me: true, but only some times..
he: no, at all times..
me: as if u r ideal, u make some stupid resolutions etc
he: >.<
he: Compromise... we both are tense :D stress x strain etc etc..
me: hehe ;)
he: but certainly there wasn't need to take so much tension that day..
he: don't you feel silly thinking about those days??
me: i do .. yup, ur right..
he: oops, I am left too.. sometimes .. ;)
me: u idiot!
he: :|
me: if only we knew tht we neednt be so tnese...
me: *tense
he: oh yeah, why don't we convey this to ourselves in the past? what say
me: how?? future mail? using that,we can send mails to future..
me: past is gone, u cant go thr..
he: we probably can/.. use imagination ;)
he: if somebody from past is thinking this way, then, they are communicating with us ;)
me: reyyy, wastest fellow..
he: get lsot.. I shall use my imagination and send it to past ;)
me: TRY..
he: I'll build Time machine ;)
me: is it so.. even if u build it, if u happen to go back in time, ppl won't realize this situation and continue worrying..
he: what if I show this chat of ours to them? or to you in the past?
he: lets say on the same day as today, some 7 years back??
he: i.e. June 18th, 2010??
me: hmm.. they might believe..
he: haha, see,
me: mental!!!
he: sarle, my mgr is coming.. I gotta go..
me: ok.. i too have to do my son's home-work. take care..
he: :D good night
me: bye
he: bye!@

he got busier in his imagination - again! ;)

--- End of Story ---
==========

Here, one incident I want to share is, when we moved to Patna in my childhood (because of my father's job - transfers), I know nothing of Hindi and I remember getting zeros in both Hindi subjects :( By the end of that year, I improved a bit and could barely pass in Hindi subject. :)
I would have been in an embarrasing situation at that time - but now whenever I think of it, it just brings a smile! ;) and I think, I needn't have worried so much at that time .. :D

Apply this to you .. you might be finding some situations silly which happened long back.. and you might be thinking you didn't have to worry sooo much.. if only someone reminded you that day that "that much worrying" isn't required...
Now, think this way - you are worrying over something right now (and are forgetting to actually LIVE and ENJOY) and you from the future sent a reminder to yourself.. "arey idiot, don't worry so much - the world isn't coming to an end.. just enjoy :)"
You probably will listen and change your stance :)

I'm saying this because one day, you shouldn't say "Suddenly I realized I forgot to LIVE!"!!! THINK..

I'm not saying we shouldn't react at anything or we should react at everything - its upto you to decide which ones to respond and which ones not to.
As always, there is no proper conclusion - I do urge people to think of the long term consequences for some of our actions - esp the actions which cannot be revoked.

PS: The above chat is fictitious and never really happened with anyone.. although the chats tends to happen that way with me. :) and some spelling mistakes are introduced deliberately and next time, you see an embarrasing situation, smile it away :)

Right Ya Wrong?

2010-03-26T20:34:00.008-05:00

Our entire life is dependent on the right or wrong choices we make.. It's ofcourse practically impossible to make all the right choices in every walk of our lives!! Actually there is a catch here, it depends on the impact factor as well.. We may make 50 wrong choices with low impact factor and one right choice with a high impact factor and still end up on the beautiful side of life.. And the vice versa is true to end up getting screwed up BIG time!!!

But the biggest problem is we don't know whether the choice that we are making is right or wrong during the decision making. Another factor comes into play here, the luck factor.

Often in life, we encounter situations where we need to make difficult choices..

For example, Shyam is an outgoing guy who just passed out of IIT, working in a big MNC, enjoying life, has a gf and loves her. Shyam's gf's parents want to marry off their daughter as soon as possible. Shyam says he needs more time may be a couple of years as he has plans to do an MBA and is not ready to take such huge responsibilities now, moreover he feels he needs more time to know more about her. Parents say "No. We can't wait for 2 years.. Marry her now or leave her alone". Shyam's 2 choices are clear-cut here!!

Choice 1...Shyam decides to marry

#1 Its the right decision-- Life is Beautiful
#2 Its a bad decision-- Shyam realized post marriage that his gf is not the person he is compatible with.. Had he waited for 2 more years instead of marrying, life would have been different.

Choice 2...Shyam decides to leave her
#1 Its the right decision-- Since his gf is anyway not compatible. Luck factor helped him make a right decision although it was a painful seperation.. Obviously there is little chance that Shyam would know that he made the right decision
#2 Its a bad decision-- Shyam lost the love of his life, his life would have been amazing had he chosen her, but with little luck he can still get someone caring and understanding!!

There is a dialogue towards the end of the movie Leader.. "In life you can't get choice for everything".. True, but even if we get the chance to make a choice we don't know for sure whether its the right or wrong one, and by the time we come to know it, it might be too late!!

On the brighter side, I have known people who made the wrong choices but had the courage to overcome them and turn their life beautiful

PS: Btw, Hindi movie "Right Ya Wrong" is definitely a one-time watch!!

blurreday!

2010-03-09T12:41:00.002-06:00

Last weekend, we have gone a trip to Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry. It was considered as one of the worst trips as the tempo broke-down twice and our plans were upset! But worse was in store for me... I lost my spects in the beach :( . From then onwards, it was a blurred day for me. :|

Well, after a string of negative thoughts, came the creative ones ;) Philosopher Mahe woke up! :D
I was sitting beside the window (in the tempo), and could only recognize the vehicles after they come close to me. Other than that, I can see that there are some lights in front of me, but can never tell what they are! One important thing I observed here was, after some time I no longer bothered about the ones far away because I cannot apprehend them anyway. Then I felt, right, that probably, I was thinking (or actually worrying) about future all the time without giving due thought/importance to the ones going on right now before me. I was worrying about how my future/career is going to be, how to shift job etc etc, and I failed to realize that life is good enough and all that are happening now, like, playing cards with stupid bets with roomies, teasing friends on Facebook, making jokes on our company for not giving hikes... and watching Cricket, playing TT - all those I enjoy are small but, this is also life is all about. :) That I probably need to get rid of my spects once in a while (and sleep all day :D )

Life is happening NOW!

Previously, when I had head-ache, I used to get rid of spects, roam around the cubicle for some time, and the head-ache used to run away. The main thing which helped me was diverting away from the topic/place which caused me head-ache!
Ok, friends, the thing which I wanted to say is, we all look at things surrounding us through our five senses and also using our sixth sense which according to me is our thinking/perception. We already have different opinions/conclusions about some things, which we already looked through our friends' eyes, parents' views and the stupid media :P . Once in a while, try shutting up one channel of sense and you'll notice that the world around you is very different to what you have thought and could be more beautiful than what you presumed ;)

Idle minds are devil's workshop.

These are the thought of idle minds. And so never be idle. :P

PS: Try connecting to people using a different medium that what you are used to. Try shutting down one channel completely for some time and see reach them using a different one. :]

Love aaj kal

2010-02-05T18:14:00.003-06:00

First of all, Happy New Year... It's surprising that I haven't had a chance to blog this new year until now... It has got to do with me being lazy rather busy!! Anyways...

Love aaj Kal... I have seen this movie, liked it, but let's not talk abt that here...

Now some of the stuff I write here might hurt some people, but my intention was to present the facts rather than judge people.. I perfectly know that I shouldn't judge, given that I am neither in their situation, nor I am mature enough to tell whats right and whats wrong.. The thing which may seem right to me may be wrong to others and vice-versa.. I believe in "Live and Let Live", so its their life, and let them do whatever they want to , because ultimately everyone seeks happiness.

Inspite of this, if anyone has any qualms with me writing the stuff here on the net, please let me know, I can delete this post :)

Love#1

Guy likes the gal, gal doesn't know it, guy waits for the signals, but the gal doesn't give any, the saga continues....

Love#2

Guy likes the gal, gal likes the guy, but gal's parent's don't encourage love marriage, gal keeps quiet and marries some other guy, guy marries some other gal, life moves on....

Love#3

Guy and gal love each other, problem is they are from different caste, parents of both sides don't agree, both leave their parents to be together, happily ever after? (now that's a ?)

Love#4

Guy1 likes gal1, gal2 likes Guy2, but Guy1 marries gal2, Guy1 loves Gal2 now!!

Love#5

Guy likes gal, parents agree, they marry

Love#6

Guy1 and gal1 like each other, but gal1 marries guy2, Guy1 likes gal2 now, they get married

Love#7

Guy and gal like each other, but they are just waiting for the other to propose or might be afraid, the end may be tragic

Love#8

Guy likes gal, gal also likes the guy, but either of them might not have the "feelings" to take it to the next level

Love#9

Guy likes a gal, gal likes guy's fren, guy remains silent for his fren's sake, the story ends

An outside person like me might feel, for example in Love#1 why is the guy so dumb and waiting for the signals. Also, some of the mini-stories I mentioned had involvement of parents too..We complain that parents don't understand us, while parents complain that we don't understand them.. Who is correct nobody knows!! I can probably say why can't we forget someone we love and marry according to the wish of our parents? Or I can question the parents, why don't they allow their children whom they have given everything they asked for until then, to marry the person of their choice.

As I said its easier said than done, and since I can't be in their shoes (atleast now), I can't feel their pain and agony...Everybody have their own reasons!!! What can we do? If we are their frens, help them.. If we are someone completely unrelated to them, wish them luck..

Don't know why I turned so philosophical. It's 2010.. Keep rocking!!

Cheers!

A perfect date

2009-12-01T18:17:00.007-06:00

Don't know why, but I have been feeling nostalgic about BITS, Pilani for the last few days. Its been roughly 2.5 years since I left the campus, and I haven't even got a glimpse of a safer, secure, carefree, relishing lifestyle anywhere else. True that I have achieved some financial freedom but other than that I have missed probably everything else that made BITS, a special place to live..

After my PhD, when I go back to India, I want to visit BITS, not for the 25 yrs silver jubilee meet but much before that..

And here is how I plan to spend a day at BITS...

Bus ride from Delhi to Pilani had always been a pain during my college days, but I would like to have a nice bus ride enjoying the beautiful scenic views on the way

Enter the BITS campus and check in at V-Fast.

Breakfast at VK Reidi; menu: jamun with rapdi and sam chat; followed by which I would go to FD-III to visit the labs where I would see guys dressed in white aprons toiling hard with the chemicals and apparatus!!! I would find an empty class room and sit for a while reminding myselves of the innumerable classes I attended. I would then go to Vyas 150, the hostel room in which I spent my first year at BITS. I don't want to miss the TT room and the common room. Sight of friends pulling each others legs, loud noises from the rooms of people watching movies or playing PC games would surely bring back the memories of my past.

My lunch would be at RPA Mess with dal and chapati, the items which I despised in the past. And obviously ek ande ka rice wouldn't hurt!!! Then, I would like to visit the library which had been my home during the exams. I am especially interested to sit on my special corner seat in the library. I would then go to the Lecture Theatre Complex which has big, air conditioned class rooms. Although I had bitter experiences with my CP-II class at LTC, I would like to hang out there for a while.

After a brief stay at LTC, my next destination would be IPC. Then, I would head directly to the sky lawns for a cup of hot coffee and a veg pattie. Sky lawns is the favorite hang out place for pharma students especially after the hectic afternoon labs. After spending some quality time in the lawns, enjoying the gentle breeze, I would walk to the C-Lawns. C-lawns is indeed one the special places for me on the campus with memories of cricket matches won and lost.

I would then go to ShivGanga for a stroll along the small pond and offer my prayers at the Hanuman temple located at the corner. I would then attend the evening aarthi at Saraswathi temple. I would also like to spend some time enjoying the view of the clock tower sitting on the temple steps and the lawns in front. I would then straightly walk to Gulabji ki Reidi infront of the Vyas Bhawan for some casual talk with him. He was my only non-student friend at BITS. BITS Auditorium is one place which I definitely don't want to miss, and it would be more fun if some movie is being screened. Again, this was one place where I had maximum fun with my friends. I would also love to visit the Institute Canteen.

Nutan would be my next destination where familiar scenes of shopkeepers selling fruits, pani puri, cycle shop would greet me. Then, I would go to the C'not place to enjoy my dinner. The dishes would be: Dosa and curd Rice from Annapurna, Butter Naan and Dum Aloo from Green Field, Chicken Hot Pot Rice from Noble's. I would also like to enjoy a glass of milk shake sitting on the wall looking at the other students in C'not thinking about my good old days when I was a student. Grabbing a popcorn or a pack of ground nuts on my way back from c'not, my next stop would be at ANC. I would make sure to have enough space in my stomach to fit in a delicious fried maggi and a Nescafe Hot Chocolate. This was one place which I commonly visited at uncommon hours during my Bitsian life. Although I might have some notes to pay for the bill, I would like to pay with coins, counting them infront of the counter :)

My day would end with a gentle walk on the roads in the night, sitting under the Gandhi statue, relishing the times gone by and cherishing the sweet moments..

Truly looking forward to this, the perfect date.....

Obsessed

2009-11-30T23:40:00.003-06:00

Yes, I am.. I am obsessed with internet..

Don't know whether there is a medical term associated with my strange disease, but here is the problem:

Whenever my laptop is running, I have this strange habit in which my fingers without the consent of my mind, involuntarily type in Times of India, Gmail, Orkut, Cricinfo, UMN-email, facebook one after the another. This happens atleast 5-6 times a day.The frequency of this strange happening increases if I don't have any work to do.

I have experienced similar happenings in the past with gtalk, when I signed in involuntarily in gtalk to be surprised by a ping from one of the frens leaving me wondering when I signed in? Guess what, i haven't checked the option "sign in automatically"!!!

Internet is definitely one of the best inventions by man but unfortunately, are we becoming the slaves? Looks like, me for sure!!!

$$$$$

2009-10-20T22:19:00.004-05:00

This was the Question I asked my "Principles of Economics" prof at BITS, Pilani four years back

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prints the currency notes. Why can't it print as much currency as possible and distribute among the poor people in India, so that even India can become a rich country?

India, The Great

2009-10-19T22:59:00.004-05:00

The following took place between 3:45-4:00 PM today...

I was sitting at Java Cafe and discussing about the problem set due tomorrow with Amit. He was busy googling something on his laptop while I was looking at the passers by. An elderly American woman, may be in her late 60s looked at me, smiled, joined both her hands and said namaste. I threw a wierd smile which was enough to attract her attention. She came to us, again repeated the gesture and said namaste and enquired "You are Indians right?". We shook our heads in agreement to which she smiled and said "Sorry. I won't disturb you guyz for long.. OMG! What a country. Very Beautiful!! Where are you from?"

I said "South India". She asked "Kerala?". I said "Hyderabad", she retorted "computer city?". I was shocked by the old lady's cognizance. She turned to Amit and asked "What about you?". He said "Bombay" to which the old lady replied that she landed there. She added "I met some of the poorest people, but they were richest in happiness. I see a spark of happiness and friendliness in their eyes. Great place. Fantastic place". We put a grin on our faces wondering whether the old lady was exaggerating things but she was prompt and added "I see US spark in your eyes already. Don't lose your Indian spark" Both of us being shy laughed and she finally said "Welcome to US. All the Best for your life." We wished her the same and she departed with a true smile, a smile which I haven't come across for a long time.

I felt nostalgic and wondered whether I should have picked up a lengthy conversation with her instead of watching her leave. I don't find people who find India that fascinating often.

Isn't India really great?

PS: Sentence construction hasn't been taken seriously. The words are almost as is said by her

Headlines

2009-10-13T22:27:00.002-05:00

I have been inactive for a long time, blame it on my exams, assignments, problem sets, lab work :( Today, I have decided to break my long break and post this...

Its strange how some people make funny statements to grad the headlines....I have taken this example as it was the most recent and I found it amazingly funny :D

Pak Cricket team lost in the semi finals of Champions trophy to New Zealand.. They also lost their last league match to Australia in a last ball thriller which resulted in India getting ousted and Australia entering the semis. (Pak already qualified for the semis)

An MP said "They lost to Australia just to keep India out of the tournament" and also hinted of match fixing.

Sports Minister complained "Definitely, it is clear that India were miffed at not qualifying for the semi-finals after Pakistan lost to Australia and they took their revenge in their own way. They influenced the umpires to favour New Zealand"

Rashid Latif, former Pak captain replied "I think parliamentarians should first look at the corruption in the government before talking about cricket. People tell me a lot of things about some parliamentarians, should I repeat them in public without any evidence?"

I have also been quiet surprised by similar situation in India not long back where our netas in the parliament were more worried about the Indian cricket team's performance than the hardships faced by the common man.

The Ugly Truth

2009-09-13T09:18:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I watched the much hyped telugu movie "Mallanna". I liked the movie probably because of the fact that I didn't expect it to be good.

There is a dialogue towards the end of the movie by Vikram (hero) which was really thought provoking....

"The amount of money saved (illegally?) in overseas banks by billionares from India is INR 65,00,000 Crores!!! This money can be used to clear all the debts taken by the Indian Government and an additional 1 lakh can be given to every family below the poverty line!!"

Is it true? :O

Mimicking Hollywood

2009-09-07T17:33:00.011-05:00

People say that the standard of Telugu Cinema has reached the level of Hollywood? But, did we really reach it or are we just mimicking it?

The answer lies in the two movie posters below:

Forget abt lifting the idea or the theme, the shape of the inner box (depicting a girl's face in Gamer and Gandhi in Mahatma; in color) at the centre of the fotoes is also exactly the same!!!

EnthavarakU? EndukorakU?

2009-08-28T13:25:00.005-05:00

Enthavaraku, Endukoraku, inthaparugu ani adakku!!
gamaname nee gamyamaithe batalone bratuku doruku
prashnalone badulu undhey, gurthu pattey gundenadugu
prapancham neelo unnadhani cheppedaaka aaa nijam telusukova?
telisthe prathi chota ninnu nuvve kalusukoni palakarinchukova?

This song summarizes my present mindset!!! These beautiful lyrics were written by the great "Sirivennela". Wonder how he manages to churn out so many songs with awesome lyrics that makes you retrospect!!! :)

Enjoy your weekend :)

PS: Btw, this song is from the movie "Gamyam"

Here I am...

2009-08-27T15:58:00.005-05:00

It's been 80 days since I last posted on this blog. I wouldn't have sat down to write this even today had Sridar not sent me an email asking me to post something on this blog. Lots and lots of changes have come up in my life in the last one month. First and foremost is that I am no longer single, not even committed, shitt man I can't believe that I am married.. :(

My trip to India, I should say went well although I got vexed up with the innumerable pujas I had to perform before and after my marriage and was sleep deprived with red shot eyes for 70% of the time :D On the brighter side, I had lots of attention, met old friends and relatives and made some new friends too!!! My return journey was a bit off from what I'd have wished for (grr.. Kingfisher), but it's good that I had some company :B

Ever since I returned to US, most of the time was spent in buying, arranging, shifting things for my "so called" new house. In the process, I discovered some things about myselves that I previously didn't. When there is someone else to take responsibility, I wont. This may be due to my inherent laziness or shyness. But when I have to do something and there is little help from others, I take up the responsibility.

For example, recently, I bought a bed, sofa, a table and an iron rack from a guy who lives about 6 blocks from my house. I had to carry these things to my house, I needed a vehicle and I didn't have one. I asked one of my old friends who has an SUV to help me out but unfortunately his SUV wasn't in a good shape. I didn't have any option other than to hire a pick up truck and thank US drive it myselves!!! At least I did a good job of earning a driving license last summer, otherwise I would've been in more trouble.

This might appear to be trivial, but considering my nature and people who know me would agree that it indeed is a accomplishment, of course small!!! Driving a pick up van in the city isn't that easy at least for beginners like me :j

I realized that as long as we are in comfort zone we don't understand our true potential.. In other words we realize our true potential only when we move out of our comfort zone. It's still hard to tell whether I learnt the lesson in the larger context of life though!!!

Here is the pic of the pick-up van that I drove

PS1: Thanks to Dew for daring to accompany me on this pick-up van
PS2: I'm happy that one of my good friends is back to blogging again Vee
PS3: I have faced a lot of difficulty in sentence construction while posting this :(

Marriage invitation

2009-07-23T02:14:00.003-05:00

indumoolamuga teliyajeyyuta emanaga,
budugu and budugi are getting married on Aug 2nd andi at 9:(9x2) pm :D
ade mana Guntur lo

so, vachhi, cool-drinks thagi, nalugu thitlu thitti vellandi :P

itlu
all budagalu :D

Being twenty something...

2009-06-22T01:12:00.002-05:00

I found this forward to be intriguing and am sure you'll find it the same way:

Maybe we all r going through this "Being Twenty-Something". They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you. You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You
get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap.. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

I felt like sharing it with you so that u further can pass it to your near and dear ones...

Maybe it will help them feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion...

PS: Though I haven't understood this completely, I felt someone has expressed my thoughts (and could be yours at some point of time) ;)

My darling

2009-06-09T14:59:00.006-05:00

I still remember the first time I saw her. It was after my +2 exams when life was getting boring and irritating, when one of my friends introduced me to her. Although, she was new to me, I developed fondness towards her as she was attractive, impressive and exciting. Probably that is what we call "Love at first sight".

The following days were spent day dreaming and waiting anxiously to meet her again. But the chance never came and I had to go to BITS, Pilani for my undergraduate studies. I was wondering when I would see her again, when one day when I went to a senior's place, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise. There she was!!! She looked much beautiful than the last time I saw her. Being shy, the only thing I could do was to occasionally glance at her!! After all, seniors aren't easy to handle. I wanted to be friends with her and meet more often, but I didn't know how? I frequently visited places where groups of students gather to watch movies or play games so that I could atleast get a chance to see her. One year was wasted in just some casual glances and weird smiles. I was able to see her in public places but we weren't comfortable. We needed solace if not privacy.

Second year came in and I had the chance to meet her at a friend's place. He re introduced her to me and that was the first time I touched her. Initially we could meet only when my friend was around but as days passed by, we enjoyed each other's company and within no time became friends. We began to meet even when he wasn't around. But 10 hours a week wasn't sufficient by any means and I always wanted to spend more time with her.

I could meet her more often in my third year. I watched movies, played games and had lots of fun. She even helped me do my assignments and reports. I felt bad when I couldn't see her during the exams. The worst part was she was always ready to meet me 24 X 7. She was also there during the bad times and helped me to get back to normalcy, getting me back into good terms after a feud with a friend or low score on an exam. At the end of the third year, I realized how important she is in my life and I decided to take the next step.

Then came my fourth year and she was always with me 24 X 7 except when I was off to classes. We had some fantastic time and one year of crazy fun. But then, the eventual thing happened. Gradually my liking towards her started to decrease. Desperation to own her was replaced by a feeling of indifference after I owned her. But she never complained. She always greeted me warmly and her feelings towards me were always the same. I slowly started neglecting her. She started appearing outdated and no longer attractive.

I passed out from BITS and we remained friends. I joined the job in Mumbai and she was there too. Though I found her to be boring, we had to meet daily and work together. We maintained a diplomatic relationship, but the spark was lacking.

And then I got the chance to leave my job and come to US. I left her in India and came toUS where I found my new love, my laptop!!! People hardly use PCs now, thats why I left my darling, my PC, with my parents :P

Cherry and a Daisy

2009-05-25T23:24:00.008-05:00

Sculpture garden in Minneapolis. Loved this cherry!!

A smart answer by a student here to a question on an exam which I graded recently. I liked the daisy but I couldn't give him/her the extra point :P

Do or Die

2009-05-14T13:18:00.003-05:00

Childhood is the best part of everyone of our lives .Most of us have been fortunate enough to have a fun filled and pleasant childhood sprinkled with joys. But unfortunately childhood has been a burden for these children. These pictures have been captured at Hogenakkal waterfalls located in Tamilnadu. This place is an excellent tourist attraction for Indians and foreigners alike .It is also the place where children who are barely 15yrs of age are risking their life for survival. These children would jump off from the cliff which is around 30-40feet high and plunge into the deep Cauvery water if u would hand them 5/10 rupees. The worst part is that this has been happening there since many many years. Many tourists visit this place, feel sorry for these kids and give them some extra tips, go back and forget the issue. It’s unfortunate that they don't seem to understand the seriousness of the issue.The only option that life is giving them is "Do or Die".

I had recently come across an article which said that an approximate amount of Rs 2,000-2,500 crore was spent in form of “unofficial money” or cash paid to the voters in the current loksabha elections. This context reminds me of a dialog from the recently released telugu movie 'kick'. The protagonist goes to a politician seeking help for a small girl who is on her death bed waiting for an emergency surgery. The politician blindly refuses to help to which the hero aptly retorts that the policies which various political parties initiate like providing basic amenities at a meager fare, providing free electricity and loans to the farmers free of interest are only to lure the common man and pull in their vote. None of the political parties have any policies whatsoever to help the needy children in their manifesto because they don’t add any votes to their kitty. This surely is a thought provoking statement!!

Who can bring a change in the lives of these children is a million dollar question?????

Childhood Culprit II- Rubber! [:D]

2009-04-22T23:09:00.001-05:00

To follow the suit of childhood culprits, I would like to share this incident in my life, which has changed the way I think... forever!

It happened in the fourth class and I used to sit in the front bench with my then partner-in-crime, Mohan. We used to peel off the label and stickers on the note books of our class mates, scribble something on the blackboard while the Miss/sir is not watching. One day, when we, as usual, were removing the cover of my friend's notebook, she noticed it and complained to the Miss. The Miss got angry and asked us to stand outside the classroom. I felt very embarrassed and wanted to take revenge on her. She had a nice cute little eraser (which we used to call rubber!) in the shape of a dog. She loved it so much and I thought if I can steal it, she would feel very bad about losing it.

During the lunch over, she has gone downstairs, (Fourth class used to be on the first floor) to get her lunch box. And I set out to do the job! I went near her bench, stooped low, without even looking at the bag, I removed the rubber and kept it in my pocket and I went downstairs as well. After a while, I went to the classroom seemingly naive. I was a little surprised to see her cry, because my intention was to hurt her but not to hurt her so much that she would cry! She was crying so loud that it's almost unbearable. Everyone started searching the surroundings. I also started searching, though I know where exactly it was. She was saying something while crying. I went closer to her to understand what she was saying. She was saying something like, "My Dad will kill me today..." I felt bad about myself. I was really disappointed with my behaviour and I realized that she complained to Miss because I did something wrong and there is no point in taking revenge against her. So, I quickly slipped the rubber near the blackboard stand, where the duster is kept! I started searching in different places while one of her best friends found the rubber! She stopped crying and I stopped feeling bad! I realized, that what seems so little to us may cause extreme agony to others!

PS: I tried not to steal others' properties from then on. Though, I don't remember if I have stolen anything. [;)]

Childhood Culprit I - Color sketches

2009-04-20T18:51:00.004-05:00

Woohooo.. Good to be back and nice to be blogging!!! Actually, I have three main reasons why I have decided to post this blog today:

1. I haven't been active in blogging for the last 25 days
2. My take home exam's deadline was extended by two days from Wednesday to Friday
3. I need a break from this routine life although I haven't been doing anything great academically

All the characters in this post are real and any resemblance to any other person except me is purely coincidental

I was studying fourth standard and I had this dreadful drawing class. I hated painting and drawing since my childhood because I wasn't good at them. Its just that my hands never co-operated!! My hand writing is also bad which might be one of the reasons why I landed up doing PhD at UMN and thats a different story!!!

We had this first unit test where we were asked to draw a penguin!!! I tried my level best to draw a figure that would look like a penguin, atleast remotely!! I managed to draw an awkward creature that looked like a giant bird !!! I was supposed to color my drawing too which further added salt to my wounds. I had these crayons which I hated the most!!! My father bought those because they costed only Rs. 2 or so and they would last for a long time and me and my sister can share those for atleast an year!! Born in a typical south Indian middle class family, where parents spend their whole life saving money for their children, I didn't have any other option. The chimeric creature turned to a giant devil when I finished coloring with my crayons. My palm had rainbow colors too and I looked around the class. I envied those guyz who were busy coloring using color pencils and felt sad for those who had crayons!!!

The test ended and in the next class the teacher returned the graded drawings to us. She showed us a beautiful drawing and called upon one of my friends and appreciated him. His penguin was like a penguin with perfect colors!! At the end of the class, I went up to him (name intentionally withheld) and asked him to show his picture. It was perfect and his score too was a 10/10!! Especially the colors were spot on. I asked him what colors did he use, I knew they weren't crayons. He put his hand inside his bag and took out a set of color sketches. Ohh Boy, my eyes lit up seeing those. He said that those sketches cost around 15 bucks and the ink in them comes for about a month!!

I wanted those sketches at any cost. I decided to steal them from him and next day we had a games class which was a perfect time because everybody would be in the playground. I slipped into the class midway of the games class and opened his bag and got the booty. My hands shook but I slowly walked to my bench and slid them into my bag. I couldn't sleep that night for sometime, as the feeling of guilt engulfed me. Only when I decided to return those sketches next day, did I manage to get some sleep!!

Next day, my friend was worried that he couldn't find his color sketches. I didn't have the courage to go and tell him that I stole his sketches and return them. So during the lunch break, I took out the color sketches and kept them in the teachers desk!! When my friend returned, I started talking to him casually, moved around the teachers desk and acted as if I opened the desk casually and said "Hey!! Color Sketches? xxxxx, Are these yours?". He rushed towards me and thanked me profusely!!! He didn't doubt me!! Thank God, at the age of 9, we have an innocent heart!!! I felt relieved and I got some sound sleep that night!!

P.S. I scored a 2/10 on the penguin test and I was asked to stand outside the class for the whole 50 minutes of drawing class for securing the lowest mark of the class!!!

If Only

2009-03-28T23:05:00.009-05:00

Sometimes we are on a collision course and we just don't know it. Whether its by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it!!!

A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping. But she had forgotten her coat and went back to get it. When she had gotten her coat the phone had rung, so she had stopped to answer it and talked for a couple of minutes. While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for performance at the Paris Opera House. While she was rehearsing, the woman, off the phone now and gone outside to get a taxi. But before she got onto it another man rushed into the taxi and drove away.

Now a taxi driver had dropped of a fare earlier, and had stopped to get a cup of coffee. And all the while Daisy was rehearsing. And this cab driver who had dropped the earlier fare and had stopped to get the cup of coffee, had picked up the lady who was going shopping who had missed getting the earlier cab. Taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did because he forgot to set his alarm. While the man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing and was taking a shower.

While Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a Boutique for the woman to pick up a package which hadn't been wrapped yet because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot. When the package was wrapped, the woman, who was back in the cab, was blocked by a deliver truck. All the while Daisy was getting dressed. The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move. While Daisy, the last to be dressed, waited for one of her friends who had broken a shoelace. While the taxi was stopped, waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out the back of the theater.

And if only one thing had happened differently, if that shoe lace hadn't broken, or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier, or the package had been wrapped and ready because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend, or that man had set up his alarm and got up five minutes earlier, or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee, or that woman had remembered her coat, and had gotten into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would have crossed the street. And the taxi would have driven by.

But life being what it is, a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control, that taxi didn't go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted. And the taxi hit Daisy. And her leg was crushed!!!

Wooo... Now how fantastic was that. The dialogues written above were picked up from the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". I was spell bound when I saw these scenes I narrated above, on big screen.. It was awesome, really, you should watch this, if you liked the narration.

I was thinking of writing a blog on exactly the same concept of several lives being interlinked!! When I saw this on screen yesterday and given the fantastic way in which it was depicted and narrated, I went ahead and wrote all the dialogues from those scenes!!! Took some time, hope you liked it!!!

Rock On

2009-03-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

I don't remember exactly what was going through my mind when I started blogging on March 22, 2007 i.e. 2 years back from this day.. My first blog titled "The Beginning" read:

As wisely said by Lillian Dickson... Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. My basic idea about life... Live a happy and cheerful life, help the needy and most importantly LIVE STRONG

Two years down the lane, and I realize, how philosophically preachy and boring I was two years back :) I was probably irritated and frustrated with how life was treating me at that time for reasons which I don't recall now.. But I can say that my outlook towards life has changed a lot.

Life mein kabhi kabhi serious hona zaroori hain, lekin zyaada serious hona bhi acha nahin hain!!

So, my blog would have a new title from now ON
Presenting to you.. ROCK ON.....

What's your password?

2009-03-19T19:34:00.007-05:00

I needed to enter my password to logon to the computer, enter another password to logon to the wireless network and yet another password to access this blog!! If I need to check my official email it needs a password, gmail needs a password, yahoomail needs a password, rediff.....

If I want to chat with my frens AOL needs a password, skype needs a password.....

No need to mention specially that we do have passwords for our bank accounts, ecommerce, download websites. Every damn thing which is restricted over the internet requires you to undergo a painful process of registration and choose a login id and password for access!!! Ofcourse most of them are necessary for our safety :)

What passwords do people keep? Names of the person who is some one close to their hearts, Movie names, car names, favorite movie stars, celebrities, dot dot dot and the list goes on!! Given the fact that the number of passwords we need to remember are increasing exponentially, we tend to prioritize things. We keep complicated passwords for our bank accounts while not so important internet subscriptions do have simple passwords.

I was reading an article on TOI that 123456 was the most used password over the internet. Actually the source for this finding was an interesting compilation by whatsmypass.com!!!
I didn't know that such a website even exists and out of naturally extra curiosity for which I get frequently scolded by someone, I went ahead and opened the website in which I found the compilation, a list in fact titled The Top 500 worst passwords of all time.

The website claims that and I quote "Approximately one out of every nine people uses at least one password on the list! And one out of every 50 people uses one of the top 20 worst passwords"

Some interesting, some hilarious, some obscene, some disgusting passwords made it into the top 500.. Inorder to protect my already tainted image, I quote only those which I found obvious and hilarious... These passwords are:

password, 666666 (six 6s), 7777777 (seven 7s), qwert, qazwsx, 121212, ...

iwantu, love, lover, iloveyou, white, super, forever, whatever, naughty, blonde, naked, hello, please, girls, booboo, coffee, happy, cookie, welcome, doggie, women, mother, monkey, money

michael, jake, charles, john, smith, richard, ashley

batman, love, superman,

scooter, ferrari, yamaha, mercedes, toyota, scorpio, jaguar, ford

bond007, matrix, batman, superman,

apple, orange, banana,

football, baseball, swimming, hockey, tennis, soccer, chelsea, arsenal

london, paris, chicago, newyork, sydney, russia, japan

Now these are surprising............

Apparently the pswd "srinivas" was 283rd most used pswd. Thats interesting!!!

Einstein would be proud as his name is 363rd most used pswd.. '

iloveyou is 394th most used pswd.. But I am bit skeptic as 394 is too large for the frequency with which it is used!!

cocacola finds place in top500.. highlights the brand value!!!

Chelsea, Arsenal made into top500 but manchester united didn't.. Probably becoz its too long.. Given the high popularity it shud be der!!!

Surprisingly cricket isn't there in the top 500. Is cricket not so popular? Thats weird!! Looks like the survey guys looked only at the internet users in North America and Europe :)

Beer is top 297th.. Now I understand why its so famous? :D

No surprises here though...
There are all obscene words that you can think of in the top 500.. Check it out if you so desire by clicking the link above!!!

The Conspiracy

2009-03-06T21:25:00.008-06:00

"Pic"ked from: http://pgco.everybusywoman.com/

Paulo Coelho quoted "When you want something, all the world conspires in helping you to achieve it" in the Alchemist. My main intention in writing this blog is not to downplay what he said. I am neither a critic nor a genius to either criticize or analyze this famous quote written by the great author.

Have you guyz had a worst day of your life when everything you plan to do on that day screws up bigtime and you end up in a huge mess at EOD. May be something like this?
1. Alarm doesnt ring and you happen to oversleep; get up late and run to work after an improper shower and no breakfast?

2. The temperature outside is 14F and you forget your muffler

3. You see the bus just departing from the bus stop and although you wave your hand, the driver doesn't observe and to make matters worse the traffic signal next to the bus stop turns from red to green

4. The next available bus is after 15 minutes and you are already 15 minutes late to work!!

5. The work place is 20 minutes by walk and the bus takes 5 minutes and by simple math, you would reach office only after 20 minutes. You decide to take the bus!!

6. 20 minutes up and the bus hasn't come. 25 minutes and yes you see the bus!!

7. You get on the unusually crowded bus and this time the signal next to the bus stop turns from green to red!!

8. Traffic jam and the bus is barely moving. You see huge lines of cars stalled on the road due to the heavy snow.

9. You remember that you need to attend a group meeting due in 10 minutes. You get down at the next bus stop and start walking

10. The face of your boss flashes and you start running and in the process you stumble and fall down on the snow wetting your pants. Two gals passing by giggle!!!

11. You reach the office and the lift takes an eternity to come. Oops!! You forget your wallet which has your swipe card and the lift doesn't take you up until you swipe!!

12. You catch the stairs and storm directly into the meeting room and your boss gives you a "Regularly Irregular" look.

13. There is no chair to sit and you have to go out and grab one!!

14. You are bombarded with one research update after the other by the group members and its your turn. Your USB which contains your presentation doesn't work :(

15. You have to connect your laptop and arrghhh you have an uncensored wallpaper on your desktop

16. You forget what you wanted to talk and you are asked questions which are completely OHT!!

17. Some guy gets very excited about your research and asks you some questions and you happen to miss your lunch too!!

18. More and more research presentations and all you can do is smile and maintain a "Yeah. I understand everything" visage!!

19. The meeting ends at 4PM and just when you plan to go to the restaurant to grab a sandwich your boss calls you to his chamber to discuss the progress

20. Your boss criticizes your work, ridicules your research, sets up your deadlines and leaves you at 5:30 P.M.

21. You run to the restaurant as if you run for your life and fill your tummy!! Oops you forget that you forgot your wallet at home!!! You have no identification to assure that you would pay it later and you have to catch hold of some one you know to assure you!!

22. Remember the traffic jam and you slowly walk home although its snowing heavily!!

23. You see a lot of people outside your house. Hehe you forgot to turn off your geyser

I acknowledge the fact that the chain of events may be too exaggerated but I am sure you would have felt atleast once in your life that "Even when you didn't want something, the world conspires to make it happen"!! This brings us to a new quote "Everything happens for a purpose" Hehe Don't worry I am not going to ridicule this now!!

PS: I wantedly ended my post at sequence 23!!

Matrix

2009-03-04T11:12:00.003-06:00

Hiiiii
Matrix is one of my all-time favorite movies (which shares the same theme of humans vs machines like T2 :) )
Here is one hilarious video which hypotheses Matrix running on Windows.

Yet another song: Dosth bada dosth (from Saroja)

2009-02-23T08:04:00.004-06:00

This is one of many songs which I liked, and that which hasn't received much attention owing to the "low budget" nature of the movie. Here is the link:

Download here

BTW, the music director for this movie is Yuvan Shankar Raja.

Music from AR Rahman is enchanting most of the time, but there are other music directors whose music also I follow and some of those include Mani Sharma, Keervani and so on.. (Each of them have their own weapon - actually instrument with which they impact us.)

And yes, while in distress, do listen to soothing songs because music does have the power to heal. :)

PS: Congrats to AR Rahman and the Slum Dog team for bagging oscars and I still believe there are several other movies of his whose music is much more enthralling. (Wonder why they never reach Oscars :| and if they do, there isn't a chance for other music directors :) )

PS1: This song isn't expected to be liked by many. :D And these songs (liked only by you and not by others) actually differentiate/characterize us from others. :P

Tu Hi To Meri Dost Hain

2009-02-07T17:53:00.005-06:00

Music from A.R.Rahman is always sensational, wonder how he does that!!!

Victory

2009-02-06T14:34:00.008-06:00

Four runs of one ball, thats what is required for victory!!! Given that he is a bowler and not a well recognized batsman thats a tough ask. Even he knew it and he is tensed. He had never struck a six before and the number of times he scored a boundary prior to this match is closer to 0. But he had no choice. All that had happened before doesn't matter and the only thing that matters is he has to hit this ball, the final ball of the match for a boundary for his team to win. He could hear his team mates shouting his name from the boundary which made him further tensed. They were trying to encourage him; their cheers are more out of wild hope rather than belief in his batting capabilities.

To add salt to the wounds, two gals, his classmates were cheering from the boundary rope too. Guys take things seriously when girls are around and most of them try to become a hero or atleast pretend to be one!!! His mind began to race with wild thoughts "What if I don't score a boundary? How can I score a boundary? Where do I hit the ball? What if I fail to connect it? Will this ppl get pissed off? Why did the gals come now? Shitt I will become a fool now!!" and suddenly his heart rate began to catch up with them. The burden of losing is very tough to bear.

A tailender who needs a boundary of the final ball in a match against his profs who teach him in the class, all eyes of his team mates and friends on him coupled with the presence of gals is one of the worst situations in which you don't want to be in!!! He mustered up some courage, closed his eyes, said a brief prayer and looked at his partner at the other end. He was looking at him with his mouth wide open in anticipation of some miracle.

But there are a few things in the favor of the batsman too. The bowler, his Kinetics lab supervisor was getting similarly tensed at the other end. He is not an experienced bowler and he only bowls right arm slow spin which is comparatively easier to hit than the fast or medium pace bowling. The lab supervisor is surrounded by the remaining profs of the department, each one suggesting him of what line to bowl. The umpire called for the resumption of the match and all of them left to their fielding positions. One young prof, a pace bowler, looked at the batsman and gave a "What can you do?" smile. The batsman's heart sank seeing the smile. Actually, the prof always made fun of him for not even able to connect bat to ball when the former was bowling!! The bowler got ready at his bowling mark while the batsman took guard.

The batsman talked to himself "God, just one shot!!! Just one". The bowler ran gently and bowled a juicy slow straight delivery. The batsman's eyes lit brightly as the ball is delivered in the direction from which it can be hit straight down the ground, the area in which he is pretty strong and the area in which he plays shots frequently to squeeze in 1s and 2s. But there is an issue here. The fielder at mid off is a bit straighter than he normally would be and he has to hit the ball strongly to evade him. He tightened the grip of the bat and hit the ball with all the strength he had. The ball travelled in the air straight over the head of the bowler and it was just hit strong enough that it escaped the hands of the diving mid off and then rolled to the boundary. Ironically, the diving mid off fielder is the prof who mocked him!!

The batsman couldn't believe that he has done it!!! He has hit a boundary, a boundary when it mattered. His team mates erupted in joy and his partner hugged him. There are no giant leaps or wild celebrations from the batsman though. He is still in a state of shock. He trudged towards his team mates waiting at the boundary accompanied by his partner. All the profs including the bullish guy came and shook his hands. His team mates patted him on his back and lifted him up. The two gals are pumped up and jumping. They shook his hand and said "Well done". Slowly, he regained his senses. He screamed "Yes, Yes". He is the unlikely hero of the match and finally he knew it!!

Victory is sweet when u experience it, sweeter when u are a part of it and sweetest when you are the reason for it.. I experienced the sweetest part that day!!

PS: Looks like my recent blog titles bear strong resemblance to English/Hindi movie titles!!! Sorry, can't help it, the effect of watching too many movies I guess!!

The Superstitious

2009-01-26T15:53:00.009-06:00

Pic Courtesy: Buycostumes.com

In this modern age when we are crossing new frontiers in science and technology every day, being superstitious may sound a bit stupid!!! I mocked my mom whenever she asked me to wait for a few minutes if somebody sneezed before I was going out. I laughed at her when she used salt and mirchi to remove the so called dishti which was supposedly the reason for my untimely headaches and leg pains!! I scolded her when she suggested particular dates and times to start any new work and the list goes on...

Of late I was wondering how superstitious I was/am?

In BITS, I had two sets of shirts segregated as "lucky" and "unlucky". Those shirts which I wore for exams which I ended up getting low scores or on days when I got screwed by some prof or got involved in an altercation with a friend were labelled "unlucky". I don't remember where I exactly picked up this bad habit of labelling!!! As time passed, the "unlucky" shirts piled up in heaps while there were few "lucky" ones that I used for the whole semester as a result of which people branded me as a beggar (lolz)

In my +1 and +2 days, I observed that the hall ticket numbers of my IPE exams, EAMCET, AIEEE added up to either 9 or 7. Since I performed well on these exams, I believed them to be my lucky numbers!!! I dont know whether do you call this a superstition or obsession, I don't mind taking a center stand either :D Guess what my BITS ID last 3 is 855 which also adds up to 9!!! 169 is the room number I stayed in my third year @ BITS and I performed quite well compared to the first two years which were worse!!! Even now, I add up numbers to see whether it adds up to 9 or 7 and my UMN ID's last 3 adds up to 7 too :) But my luck hasn't been that good so far and thats another issue!!!

I also had this unusual feeling in BITS that I performed well on alternate tests. It was true initially for some tests but it failed miserably many times as a result of which it was shelved!!! For any exam, I always made sure that I take the same roads , that I took previously for the tests I cracked to reach the exam center from my hostel room!!! Guess what it worked many times :D I also had unlucky days of the week; Tuesday and Saturdays are the two days which I feared the most!!! I am tired of telling you why they were unlucky :D

I also had this silver chain in BITS, and I unusually performed well on tests for which I wore it and miserbaly on some tests that I forgot to wear!! I still have the chain and I wear it for my exams but I don't have the same attachment rather fear for the consequences of not wearing it that I had in BITS!!!

I guess I am no longer superstitious about these things which I know are silly!!! But the obsession for 7 and 9 still remains!!! Someday, some one might make a movie on me similarly on the lines of The Number 23 , watch out for that :)

Tu meri adhoori..

2009-01-19T15:54:00.004-06:00

The most melodious song with an unique combination of amazing music and touching lyrics in recent times!!

The Ghajini in me

2009-01-15T14:31:00.011-06:00

I'm sure all of you had either seen the Hindi or Tamil or Telugu version of the movie Ghajini, given the fact that its a super hit in all the three languages... And as you know, Aamir Khan suffers from short term memory loss in the movie . So what? Unfortunately, I suffer from a similar but not so complicated problem. I tend to forget things a lot.. There have been instances where I had to face the wrath from others due to my bad memory.

Last night, a girl from my lab entrusted me with the work of putting her samples for overnight drying and left home. I completed my work, forgot entirely about her samples and ran home. Whats more surprising is that I didn't remember about the samples until I saw her in the lab today morning. Actually, she is just a lab mate and not close to me, which made my life more miserable. With a lot of difficulty and after mustering a lot of courage, and after a few rehearsals, I went and said sorry to her. She said "Its O.K" but I was ashamed as I know that its not OK. I am sure that she would never ask me for help in the future.. The worst part is no body would do that including me and I know it :(

Another such instance was two years ago when the victim was my dad. One evening, I was busy watching T.V. (that's the only thing I do when I'm home) when I received a phone call from an agent who works in my dad's office. My dad wasn't at home and so she gave me some details about a new insurance claim and asked me to pass it onto my father as soon as he is back home. I quickly noted them down, hung the phone and returned back to watch the idiot box. My father returned home after 2 hours or so but I totally forgot about the insurance claim details and didn't pass on the information. The next day, I was as usual busy with TV when I heard my dad shouting at some one over the phone. It was the agent who called yesterday and my dad was scolding her for not giving the claim details. The lady was trying to convince my dad that she indeed gave the details yesterday. My dad thought that she was lying and became more furious. Finally, she somehow convinced my dad that she passed on the details. My dad immediately banged the phone, rushed near the TV, switched it off and asked me about the claim details. I said sorry for forgetting, but the details were unfortunately very important and hence I got screwed badly :((

I remember another familiar situation which kept on repeating through out my bitsian life. I have quiet a decent number of friends and we used to have the same class schedule which allowed us to have breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Often times, I would be busy watching a video song or talking to some one in my room before going to the mess to eat. So my friends would come and call me for lunch and I usually ask them to wait for 5 mins or so. They would readily agree to that and ask me to call'em before I go to mess. After sometime some other person would come and call for the grub and in the hurry to go, I would forget to call the first person who was waiting for me. I would be happily filling my tummy in the mess when my friend would show up and give this look that makes me feel like shit.

When bad memory couples with over confidence things get worse. I think it was in my ninth standard and final exams were going on. I finished my maths test, came home and prepared very well for the Geography test next day. I reached school half an hour early and my jaw dropped when I saw my friends holding History and civics text books. I checked the test schedule which I didn't till then and, to my utter shock its indeed History and Civics exam that day!!! I went to the exam without preparation and some how I did an OK job but the 30 minutes before the exam were horrifying..

Actually there are many more instances and blame it on my bad memory, I don't remember most of them in detail. But I was frequently found guilty for...

Not returning the phone calls
Not replying to emails/scraps
Not wishing frens on their birthdays
Not showing up at a pre planned video chat with frens
Not reciprocating to the help seeked
Not returning the library books on time
Not releasing the hand break of the car after starting it and forgetting to apply it after the car is stopped
Not bringing all the groceries asked for (if i don't make a list)

Atleast Aamir Khans's alarm beeps every 15 minutes to remind him that his memory is F5ed(!) and he uses his camera to take pics of his house, people to identify them.. He also has phone numbers, names, messages, instructions tattoed all over his body. For me? I use my cell phone alarms, email calendars, wall stickers to remind about the birthdays of my frens and other important things to do!!! But unfortunately, these gadgets sometimes screw up big time ending me up in total mess. Thank god Orkut, facebook have birthday reminders and since I logon to them regularly, I atleast have the chance to wish majority of guys on orkut/facebook

On the brighter side, bad memory helps me forget the trivial bad things that people said to me. and help me stay normal and positive. Ofcourse major curses, fights were never forgotten!!! However, I do remember some major things such as assignment deadlines, class room numbers, names of people, bus route numbers, class timings, important appointments, etc.

But I still remember the angry expressions that people put when they get super pissed off due to my bad memory!!!

PS1: Enjoy your weekend!!!
PS2: How many times have I used the word remember in this post? Guess I need some verbal coaching urgently!!

Defying Death

2009-01-03T20:57:00.004-06:00

Disclaimer: The following text is a piece of fiction

Date: Jan 03, 2009
Day: Saturday
Time: 09:15 A.M.
Place: 414 Erie Street, #5, Bathroom

An !dea can change your life... That's old!!! What about an !dea that can bring you back to life?? Can we defy death?

Given the rapid pace at which science and technology has been making progress in uncovering things that we never knew they existed, and making impossible things possible, there is a fair probability of discovering a medicine or a methodology that can bring back the dead people back to life in the future, something on the lines of the procedure followed in the movie Young Frankenstein

Now, let us assume that a private firm named XYZ is established say on Jan 1, 2009. XYZ charges a certain amount of money for being its member. In return, it will bring you back to life!! How? Suppose a person named Akash, aged 45 pays the required amount of money and becomes a member of XYZ on July 1, 2009. And then let us also assume that Akash dies on May 31, 2050. aged 86. Akash's son Praveen informs XYZ that his father passed away. XYZ informs a biotechnology firm SRI specializing in cryopreservation. Akash's dead body is taken by SRI, assigned a unique serial number called SRID and stored in a cryogenic liquid that has a special property of preventing all the organs of Akash from decaying. Years roll by....

Its July 22, 2250. Pharmaceutical giant KRISS announced the results of clinical trials of its most mysterious yet prestigious project BREATH. KRISS has been working on BREATH for the past 100 years investing a huge amount of money. No pharmaceutical company would dare spend so much money on any drug for 100 years without any returns. KRISS had finally developed a procedure using which dead people can be brought back to life by following a complicated, lengthy but reliable protocol. XYZ which was thought to be yet another fake firm finally made the headlines by collaborating with KRISS.

XYZ immediately began its operations in the order of the SRID, on the dead bodies that were stored in various facilities of SRI. Akash who was dead 200 years ago was brought back to this materialistic world once again!!!

BREATH may on surface appear to be an exciting project and who doesn't want to come back from death? Assuming all the above things happen.. Think...

The world is already suffering from high population growth and other interlinked problems such as poverty, increased crime rate, famines, etc. If a project such as BREATH brings back the dead people back to life, it would result in nothing except utter chaos!!! Moreover Akash's body might adapt to the climatic differences in the last 200 years but he would have very less friends to talk, a few people to share and no people to love. After all, generations are changing rapidly!!!

We are brought into this world to play a role and when our role is complete we need to go!! I believe in God and some people don't but everybody agrees that there is some supernatural force controlling us. I'm sure that the supernatural force would prevent such a catastrophic event from taking place and preserve the harmony of this world!!

P.S. Have I gone crazy?

Favorite Song # 10

2009-01-03T14:18:00.004-06:00

Hindi song "Hathat ja" from the telugu movie "Balu"!!!! Manisharma's foot tapping music, Kunal Gunjawala's amazing voice and Pawan Kalyan's stylish performance make up this superb peppy number.

New Year.... New opportunity

2009-01-01T22:22:00.002-06:00

New year has come in.. giving us new hopes and opportunities...

Lets put all the bad, failures from 2008 behind, carry the gud things with us and make 2009 a more memorable and successful one

HAPPY NEW YEAR.. Wishing u all loads of luck

États-Unis d'Amérique

2008-12-26T01:03:00.006-06:00

USA is undoubtedly the most popular country in the world.. Really? I visit my aunt's place, a small village in Andhra every summer and I have heard many people talking about USA which they refer to as America, so it shud be famous!! To them America is a fantasy land, a land of dreams.Not only to them, most of the people in the cities and towns of India love to come to US for a wide variety of reasons most popular and presently the hottest reason being grad studies!!! Don't believe me? Check out the folks and long queues in the visa consulates in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai!!! Or check out the city, state, country in the profiles of your friends in Orkut. I am also one of them who landed here with a F1 visa for my PhD program... Its obvious that the quality of education here is great given the increasing number of F1 and J1 visas every year and I don't see any point to discuss about it..

I want to share with u other things that really amazed me here.......

Time Sense.... Most of the things happen on time. People here realize that not only their time but also your time is a most valuable asset..

Buses.. OMG, they are cool.. All the bus stops have a time table and most of the buses I have travelled on arrived and left on time. The buses are very well maintained

Physically challenged people are well respected and the amount of care taken to make their lives easier is simply amazing. The buses have a special automatic system that can help them move in and out of the bus with ease without struggling on the steps. The rest rooms, drinking water fountains, doors, swiping card access systems, entrances, parking lots, stair cases all have separate facilities or designs or models to help them out.

Rules...Its a well known fact that most of the people in US own a car.. But, the best part is that they follow traffic rules, don't honk horns (I have never heard any body doing that till now), wait patiently for the pedestrians to cross the street. They never seem to be in a hurry at all!!

Roads..... These are pretty clean with no litter.. Even in the winter when heavy snow falls, roads and streets are regularly cleared off snow!!

Parking ramps... Six storey buildings only meant for parking the cars :) Never seen them before!!

Customer Service... If you go to any restaurant, you will be welcomed with smiles and greetings, attenders give you enough time to think what you wanna eat, take your order when you are ready, gets it on time, makes sure everything is alright and the dish you ordered is what you wanted and how you wanted it, gets your bill on time and thanks you for paying it!!!

People... They are very very hospitable.. Coincidentally, I have visited my Indian fren who stays with an American family, to celebrate Christmas today. The American family was very kind. they made sure that I felt absolutely comfortable :)

Dogs.. This might appear a bit silly.. Firstly there are no stray dogs on the street.. I have seen people taking their dogs out for a stroll in the evening and to my surprise they never barked seeing other people or other dogs.. The dogs are pretty cool and not wild.. I got a chance to spend some time with a dog, the pet of the American family which I mentioned above.. Although I was new, it came near me wagging its tail and started licking me. It invited me to play by scratching my legs with its paws.. I was too afraid though and it got irritated with me and ran away :(

I personally feel that in USA, overall you get a feeling that its pretty well organized and the system here works well if not perfect!!

PS: I have a few things which I don't like in US too, but I just wanted to give you an account of those which I liked.. Positive thinking you know!!

PS2: Slumdog Millionare movie was awesome!! A.R.Rehman's background score stole the show and the performances of all the actors was impressive

PS3: Unbridled Emotions by Ravi.. I liked this article a lot.. May be you shud give it a try!!

Fear of being Ordinary

2008-12-23T22:28:00.003-06:00

My frens have come up with some exciting posts in the last three days and I thought I would continue the chain..

Over, the last five years I caught, I don't know from where, this fear.. The fear of being ordinary... No, I am not complaining of not being a superhero. I am worried about why I am so ordinary?

OK let me put this straight...

One half of my brain thinks.................
Till now, I mean in the last 23 and half years, ever since I was born, what have I achieved? Am I being too harsh on myself? How can anyone achieve something in the first 23 odd years of his life? First few years after birth is spent in recognizing people, understanding things and gaining cognition which is followed by a relentless journey of nursery, primary and secondary school, high school, undergrad and u end up being 23 odd and thats me. But why am I doing this?

I have asked many people and they all answered in unison "The knowledge you gained over the last 23 years would help you in your future." Mark the two words "you" and "your". Think, what I would be probably doing ten years from now? I picture myself graduating from grad school, earning a well paid job (hopefully), marrying a beautiful (to me) gal, tolling in the lab, taking care of my kids.. Oops have i gone overboard? What i want to say is... I would be caught in a self centred circle where my mind only thinks about me. This is not my story, this is the scenario of 90% people in this world.. Probably the percentage is an underestimation.. Over the years, I grow richer financially and older physically and one day I die, so what? Nobody knows me, nobody cares except for the people in my circle about whom I have spent my whole life thinking about!!! The very thought I am going to die unnoticed just the way I was born brings shivers down my spine!!

I buy Shakespeare's idea of "World is a stage where every man plays his role", but I don't want to play the role of an ordinary person. If I look back at my life when I become old and weak, I should be satisified that I have made some significant contribution and made the world a better place to live in.. And people apart from those in my self centered circle should remember me, appreciate my contribution. I seek glory!!!

Second half of my brain thinks.................
I am not a God. I am just another person. If I complete my grad studies, earn a job, marry someone, a small happy family taking care of my parents and kids, buy a house, increase my bank balance, I would consider myself successful. And about the contribution to the world, if it's not me, someone else will make it.. What I am more concerned is nothing else but me.

When the first half of brain takes control I experience this fear of being ordinary and make some strong resolutions to work hard and selflessly.. The control runs for a few days and then the second half takes over in which I join the league of ordinary people running the race either for money or for the survival...

PS: Actually, I am pretty much confused myselves and I guess I couldn't present my exact feelings. But, if you could get even a pinch of what I wanted to say, I consider it a success..

PS2: Happy X-Mas

Reliving memories ..

2008-12-23T01:48:00.005-06:00

Teachers, in my opinion play an important role in shaping up our lives by inspiring and inculcating the right habits. Here is a teacher who taught us Maths in our school. His name is Raju and I like him for his two qualities "Humbleness" and "Simplicity". Once in a while he used to entertain us (or actually encourage us) by the anecdotes about some mathematicians, some of which I remember are:

1. Once in a rusty class, a teacher was just whiling away the time, not interested in teaching his students. He couldn't bare the children making noise (may be interrupting his sleep ;) ) and so his evil mind thought of making them "busy". He immediately told all of them to add all numbers from 1 to 100. (1+2+3..+100). All the students were pretty busy in adding up all numbers, getting confused in between, starting all over again and so on... After five or ten minutes, this teacher observed one particular student sitting idle. Upon enquiring, he replied that he has finished the addition. Baffled, the teacher asked him to explain. The student replied, he just wrote this way...
1 +2 +3+ .. + 100
+ 100+99+.........+ 1
================
101+101+..+101 (100 times) = 100*101
and since the addition is done two times, he just divided by 2 and got the answer as 5050.
And the teacher was awe-struck. (The student was some mathematician, donno who he is :| )

2. There was this student who was sleeping in the last row during a maths class. zzzz
Upon hearing the bell, he woke up and saw that his teacher has written three problems on the board as home-work. He immediately jotted down the three questions and went home where he tried his best to solve them. Apparently, he didn't listen to the class and those appeared very tough. At last he could solve one of them completely, solved the second one upto half and gave up. Next day, he went to the prof and admitted he didn't listen to the class and apologised for that and showed his notes. The prof was a bit shocked and carried on to say that those three problems were the ones which were left unsolved so far in mathematics. :O
All I can say is, we are often limited by the history or what others perceive as "impossible" and give up. And that's why I like this quote:
Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.

3. There was a great mathematician (Indian of course) and he's Srinivasa Ramanujan. Another mathematician (G H Hardy) was his close friend. When Ramanujan wasn't feeling well and got admitted to a hospital, this particular friend of his came to visit him. He was saying about the cab no. 1729 in which he came and thought it was a bad number. (saying its a prime no. and its factors:7,13 & 19 which are all prime no.s themselves). To which Ramanujan replied saying, its not at all a bad no., in fact it is the smallest number that can written as sum of cubes in two different ways. Hardy thought Ramu had gone mad and is speaking senseless at that time. After many years/days, Hardy came to know what Ramu told was indeed true and praised him a lot and hailed him as the best mathematician he has ever seen. :)
(1729 = 1^3 + 12^3 = 9^3 + 10^3)
Yesterday (22nd Dec) happened to be Ramanujan's birthday :)
You know these interesting facts really inspires us to attain great heights.

PS: Everybody is a teacher and without your knowledge, you inspire others :) and hence keep the good work going :D

PS1: I am leaving home tonight to see my gf after so many days :P. Wish you all very happy Christmas.

PS2: Two stupid guys missed their centuries :( and thanks to DaKOTA for encouraging me to put my thoughts into words. If at all minds are blocked, you know who to blame :D and thanks (in advance) for your comments. :)

Thaye Yashoda

2008-12-22T02:39:00.003-06:00

My life is a series of emotions recurring periodically in a given amount of time. Now, the time has come for classical Telugu music. Classics given by Ghantasala, Ilayaraja and like-wise. Today, I was going through my routine boring life at work and thought of checking my favourite videos in Orkut. I opened Thaye Yashoda song from Youtube.com and started listening to it. At the end of it, my eyes were moist, my whole body is shivering with a sensation I feel almost every time I listen to the song. Everything about the song is perfect, emotions, lyrics and most importantly, the music and the rendition. The highlight of the song is when at the end of it, Najar stands and appluads for the efforts of Shabana Azmi despite his disinterest and hatred towards her. Here's the youtube clip for all of you who want to listen to the song!

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

2008-12-21T10:39:00.012-06:00

As you have guessed, obviously it is not about the movie of Sharukh as I am not here to give you one more review of it. But I like the title so much and again I am lost in thoughts with so many concurrent questions coming to my mind about “How do people choose their partner? Or No.. Matches are already made in Heaven!!”

There was surprise news yesterday in my office. Two of my colleagues (one cute girl and equally good looking guy) came to me and gave their Wedding card and I was just more than Shocked with surprise. Not because they are not good couple but the way they broke the news to entire team. Though they seem to be close these days, we never thought that they are seeing each other. And moreover they kept it as a secret and directly informed all with Wedding cards. People search so much for their partners (technically our parents do search for us in India). But in fact, the right person may be very near to you. I guess from so many days her parents were trying to find a good match for her and could not as they are looking for lots of qualities in one person. But finally she could find a right person to her in her office only. Though they are working the same office together for more than 3 years, They just realised in last 6 months that they are actually make a good pair. So it’s a happy ending to the story of two good looking souls J . I don’t call it a ‘love story’ as it does not contain regular ingredients of it. It is Just they had the mutual feeling that they can be good together and decided to tie the knot.

Let me tell you one more recent incident. She is also from my project. One fine day she broke the news to me that she is getting engaged and getting married soon. During the coffee break in the evening, I asked her about how it happened. She ordered one big tea for her and small tea for me and I started listening to her. Her parents saw a profile in a matrimonial site and suggested her to think about the guy. The guy is also working a in software firm in Bangalore (huff....in Bangalore ..everyone is a software guy and there is a funny saying here. If you throw a stone here either it will fall on a Dog or on a Software engineer). Since he is also working in Bangalore, she met him in a weekend. During the conversation I asked her “How can you be so sure that he is right one for you?”. She simply said with a serene expression on her face. “Surya...You will feel it when it happens”. Yes she is correct. Obviously it is not science. In this case, after first meeting itself, they liked each other and said yes to each other. Then they informed their parents about their decision. Guy’s parents did not even see the girl. The same case with her parents too. So ‘in laws ‘did not see their soon to be new member of the family yet they agreed. And she got married recently just few days back. So this is another good story of people who never met each other before 3 months but now they are a couple!!!!

But why am I surprised at all these things? May be because I came from a different background and I have seen same kind of examples again and again. From my experience, let me tell you a typical scenario how these things happen (in South India). It is a ‘N” step process (where N>3).

First....Guy’s parent receives a girl picture (with a good background location and girl is of more traditional looks)

Second...Parents/Relatives will go to girl’s house to see the girl (but not the guy who marries her) Meanwhile girl’s parents tell hell lot of Do/Don’t s to girl and give a session on “how to behave/talk in front of soon to be ‘In laws’

Third...Parents now do the famous SWOT analysis and once they are satisfied then they will tell their son “Beta..she is a potential match for you. (and if the guy is in US, parents do the interview for say 2 or3 girls and give the final list to guy to hire a new housemaid (no offences....I respect women))

And finally, guy and girl meet each other just to say ‘Yes’ to their parents. It’s multiple a choice question with just one option in many cases. (It happened in my brother’s case as well and of course he is happy with it)

It looks fairly simple but my uncle and aunt almost saw ten girls’ profiles (including some visits) to find a daughter-in-law for them.

Well...whatever the procedure is...it is so embarrassing for the girls who go through this match finding process (of groom’s parents), if all is not well at the end. But things are changing now with the times and educated girls are making their own choices for their life.

And let me come back to the point where I started. Actually I started this piece of writing just to explore the possible answers to a conundrum of “How do you find your Jodi”.

Oh..Man!! I just lost the plot.

P.S: SuSri is not experienced enough to explain about all this “Matured Stuff” though he explains a lot about it with his friends and he wonders how he will tackle this situation of finding a better half for himself.

Favorite Song#8

2008-12-08T18:58:00.003-06:00

"Muvvalle Dhoosukouvache..." from the movie Avakai Biryani.. I also liked "Nannu choopagala adham". But I liked the first one a lot may be becoz the male singer's voice is different.. Check it out on the youtube gadget.. I am sorry that the video and audio quality are not that good, since its a new movie!!!

Out of Action

2008-12-07T17:28:00.002-06:00

Folks, I know I am out of action for many days. Its not that I did some productive work or anything. i just found unlimited ways to waste time and some how didn't do many things that were meant to be done including blogging. But, as wisely said, its waste to rue about the past. I have finals starting this mid week and ending the beginning of next week and hopefully I will be back with some good stuff.. Just wanted to keep u posted...

cya and wish me luck!!

Favorite Song#7

2008-11-28T23:22:00.003-06:00

Another song that falls into the genre of unnoticed due to the non performance of the movie. This song "Chamanthi Chamanthi" is from the movie "Raraju".. Click the youtube gadget on the right panel...

Thanksgiving???

2008-11-28T19:18:00.010-06:00

Thanksgiving is a harvest festival celebrated in North America. It is the festival in which people express thanks for giving them the material and spiritual possessions. It's more like "Pongal" which we celebrate in India :) Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth thursday of November every year. The day after Thanksgiving is called black friday in which people go out on a shopping spree.

This is my first experience of thanks giving in US...

Actually, I was waiting for Thanksgiving mainly for the red hot deals on black friday. Ofcourse I couldn't get one for a good digital camera, but I went out and experienced the black friday shopping fiesta. Actually, I heard that people flock the shopping centres on thursday midnight and spend the whole chilly night waiting in a queue for the shops to open. I didn't want to have such an experience rather I am lazy and hence I decided against the idea of standing all night . I woke up at 10am and went to rosedale mall, 45 minutes journey from my home. First time after my visit to US, I could see so many people. The parking lots were filled beyond capacity and there were long queues near the payment counters. My initial reaction was OMG!!!!

I visited JCPenny first where my friend bought himself a jeans and reebok shoes. There were discounts on everything ranging from clothes to shoes. I didn't want to buy anything for myselves, but eventually I gave in to the $ 25 (50% discount deal) on reebok shoes. The deal was supposed to end at 1PM and I decided to buy them at 12:55 PM. In a hurry to make the long queue, I took out a wide and longer shoe model, tried one hurriedly on my right foot, satisfied myselves that they were good and ran to the counter and paid the bill. I realized that the shoe is loose for me only after coming home :( (SILLY DECISION). We next went to one Kxxx store (forgot the name). I have seen a electronic foto frame which stores fotoes on an in -built memory card and just like a screensaver or slide show displays the fotoes. We also visited Dick's sporting goods in which I have seen golf clubs really for the first time in my life. Then we went to Best Buy famous for electronic goods. I contemplated on buying a Nikon Coolpix S550 but dropped the idea this time as I thought I didn't read the reviews and didn't know much about it. I realized that I should have bought that, only after checking the online deals now :( (BAD DECISION)

Then we had lunch at Chipotle, this time a good decision given the fact that I was hungry. The mexican burrito was awesome!!! Post lunch we visited Circuit City famous for electronics. I bought myself a brand new logitech headfones. Guess the price?? Its $32. Shoes for $25 and headfones for $32 :O (VIOLENT DECISION). There is also some problem with the mike in the headset which makes my day more worse :)

Hmm.. chicken curry and hot hot puris waiting for me.. Gottago!!!

cya!!!

500

2008-11-23T20:16:00.002-06:00

Check out this youtube link to know what Rs. 500 means to different people in India.. Value of 500
The views expressed in the video are real and the caption at the end "The price of someone's haircut= price of someone's school fees" and a kicker "Think before you spend" are touching!!

Favorite Song #6

2008-11-16T20:21:00.003-06:00

This time I got you an english video song. Its an official video of Alisha keys and Jack White's "Another way to die".. So what's great abt it?? It is adapted as the title track of the latest 007 movie "Quantum of Solace". The song is awesome!! Play the youtube gadget on the right panel :)

News??

2008-10-30T00:10:00.001-05:00

News channels have become the most influential and powerful means of communication. This is indeed reflected by the dramatic increase in the number of news channels in the last two years. There are more than half a dozen 24/7 news channels in telugu alone. But are they providing quality news to us is a big question mark. I have seen many households especially the senior citizens watching the news channels continuously throughout the day!!! News channels undoubtedly provide you news up to date. They churn out latest news in their most famous "Breaking News" section in the lower middle portion of the screen. You may have seen the email forwards where people sent pictures showing news channels showing "Breaking News: DGP's dog is missing from the last two days", "Breaking news: Amitabh Bhachan is having cold!!!". I often wonder who actually cares for these? I couldn't guess even wildly why these guyz put such news.

Almost every news channel has a program exclusively dedicated to crime news that runs in prime time. The reporters or the anchors in these programs are very animated and describe you the entire process of crime with a pale face. The programs which might have been designed with a genuine intention(which I fail to realize till date) better serve as the resources to commit crimes. Another classic example of the lack of responsibility is this particular case where they show a doctor who cheats and blackmails his female patients and asks them to do obscene acts. The intention of alerting the people is good but is it necessary to show these obscene acts that too improperly blurred?

Another aspect I don't like is that the reporters crave for news neglecting the emotions and sentiments. You might have seen many a times, news reporters at the site of a crime, with their big fat mikes going to a kin of the deceased and ask them silly questions. The poor guy ends up crying in front of the camera and the worst part is that these scenes or shots are used to promote their crime news programs. I don't say that they shouldn't ask them the questions, but is that the right time to ask questions? Surprisingly, the news reporters fail to realize this. If you happened to see Soha Ali Khan's role of a news hungry reporter in the movie "Mumbai Meri Jaan" and how she feels bad to face the camera when her husband is dead and the news channel she works in requests her to do a program for publicity, you will probably agree with me!!!

Now lets look at a different scenario, the latest example of Anil Kumble. Anil Kumble is India's leading wicket taker and a true champion, match winner. He didn't do well in the last few tests and immediately the news channels chased him down asking him to drop captaincy and retire. How can they forget about his past record, his match winning skills? And who are they to decide when a player has to retire? Its pretty shocking that these very news channels, heralded Kumble as a great leader after India's famous win at Perth not long ago. Dhoni is now projected as a super hero with midas touch and ofcourse he is!!! But, if either India loses a series under his leadership or if he scores badly in a series, I bet he would come under some serious scrutinization by the very media that is at present backing him strongly!!! These two examples clearly show that news channels feel that the only way to improve their viewership is to bring sensational news and since sensational things don't happen regularly, they create them through controversies!!!

I can give more examples but I already feel guilty that I have been too harsh on the news channels. I believe in giving the credit where its due.. News channels have become integral part of the man's closed, selfish, busy world providing him atleast a flavor of the outside world and helping him to preserve the tag "social" in the phrase "Man is a social animal". But it would be much better if they understand the emotions and sentiments of the viewers and emphasize on the quality rather than the usual thrash thrown at us!!!

PS: I don't know why I wrote this blog, may be I got frustrated a lot. I need to catch some sleep!!!

Favorite Song #5

2008-10-27T20:22:00.004-05:00

Hmm... This time I got you a YouTube Video!! Its a beautiful song "Dil churaliya" from the movie Saaya. The lyrics and the music are simply awesome!! Watch it by clicking play on the YouTube gadget on the right panel

Favourite Song #4

2008-10-20T22:59:00.004-05:00

This peppy number "Endhuko.." is from the recently released "Chintakayala Ravi".. The voice of Mahalakshmi Iyer in the song keeps haunting, especially the humming part :) Music by Vishal-Shekhar has been outstanding and I liked all the songs!!!

Life is..

2008-10-17T19:16:00.005-05:00

Life is leaving the house in the morning, dressed in clothes that you bought on credit card for work, driving through the traffic in a car that you are still paying for, putting in petrol that you cannot afford, in order to get to the job that you hate but need so badly so that you can pay for the clothes, car, petrol and the house that you leave empty the whole day, in order to live in it..

PS: This was a stat mssg in gtalk!!!

m0st stupid questi0ns pe0ple usually ask in 0bvi0us situati0ns.

2008-10-17T09:15:00.001-05:00

1. At the movies: When you meet acquaintances/friends...

Stupid Question:-

Hey, what are you doing here?

Answer:-

Dont u know, I sell tickets in black over here..

2. In the bus: A heavy lady wearing pointed high-heeled shoes steps on your feet...

Stupid Question:-

Sorry, did that hurt?

Answer:-

No, not at all, I'm on local anesthesia.....why don't you try again.

3. At a funeral: One of the teary-eyed people ask...

Stupid Question:-

Why, why him, of all people.

Answer:-

Why? Would it rather have been you?

4. At a restaurant: When you ask the waiter

Stupid Question:-

Is ! the "Butter Paneer Masala" dish good??

Answer:-

No, its terrible and made of adulterated cement. We occassionaly also spit in it.

5. At a family get-together: When some distant aunt meets you after years...

Stupid Question:-

Munna, Chickoo, you've become so big.

Answer:-

Well you haven't particularly shrunk yourself.

6. When a friend announces her wedding, and you ask....

Stupid Question:-

Is the guy you're marrying good?

Answer:-

No,he's a miserable wife-beating , insensitive lout...it's just the money.

7. When you get woken up at midnight by a phone call...

Stupid Question:-

Sorry. were you sleeping?

Answer:-

No. I was doing research on whether the Zulu tribes in Africa marry or not. You thought I was sleeping....you dumb witted moron.

8. When you see a friend/colleague with evidently shorter hair....

Stupid Question:-

Hey have you had a haircut?

Answer:-

No, its autumn and I'm shedding......

9. At the dentist when he's sticking pointed objects in your mouth...

Stupid Question:-

Tell me if it hurts?

Answer:-

No it wont. It will just bleed.

10. You are smoking a cigarette and a cute woman asks...

Stupid Question:-

Oh, so you smoke.

Answer:-

Gosh, it's a miracle ........it was a piece of chalk and now it's in flames!!!

Favourite Song #3

2008-10-13T23:45:00.002-05:00

There are many songs in movies which go unnoticed becoz the movie doesn't fare well. This song falls into that genre.. Listen to "Neeku manasistha.." from "Idhi maa ashok gadi love story". I love the voice of Sadhana Sargam!!!

All these need special mention

2008-10-08T22:37:00.002-05:00

This is a post by one of my friends famously called as "Vee". This more or less describes my life style here and the places I visit and like. Go ahead and read it at http://psychesvisage.blogspot.com/

PS: Thanks Vee :)

Favourite song II

2008-10-06T22:56:00.004-05:00

Everybody must have listened to the "Khuda Jaane" and "bachna ae haseeno" songs from the promos of the movie "Bachna ae haseeno".. They are undoubtedly great, but I liked this song "Lucky boy" from the album. I have added this song to the music mazaa gadget on the right

The U Turn

2008-09-30T16:50:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: The following blog is purely for fun. It's not intended to hurt anyone!!

Two months ago...

Life looked beautiful. I resigned my job and was enjoying at home. My mom prepared my favourite dishes. Everyday before sleeping, she asked me the menu for the breakfast, lunch, dinner of the next day. All my demands were met with lots of love and smiles. Though the dishes were tasty most of the times, I complained about something or the other. I explored n possible ways of killing time; I travelled to some places, chatted on net, surfed the net, watched TV, watched movies, talked endlessly on phone and what not!! Wherever I went, my relatives welcomed me warmly. United States has definitely a lot of weightage. People whom i didn't know much before invited me for lunches, dinners!! I wondered either I must be the most luckiest guy on this planet or these people are crazy. I laughed within myselves initially but as the D-Day (Aug 11) approached I felt tensed and irritated. Tensed because I was worried about my future and irritated because the people around me were expecting me to become Bill Gates :)

Present day..

Life took a dramatic turn. Every day there are assignments or problem sets. Every week there are exams to be graded and every other week I have exams to ghot. There is no time to travel, less time to chat, further less time to surf net and watch movies. The fantastic dinners I relished are replaced with half cooked, less tasty and improperly fried "so called" curries. And the worst thing is they appeared alright because we prepare them. Most of the lunches are either borrowed from the neighbours or managed with pickles and yogurt. The breakfasts are usually skipped to satiate the craving for sleep but occassionally I do have the traditional bread Omlette which I hated for long time. I don't dare to eat outside daily not only to save the dollars but the grub doesn't fill my small yet hungry tummy. If somebody calls me on phone during the day, I talk in a rush and politely keep the phone assuring them I would call later because the minutes are billed for incoming too. Everyday, I wait eagerly for the hours hand to strike 9 PM coz it is then when both outgoing and incoming are free in US :) Weekends come and go like whirlwinds. Either the weekend is spent doing laundry or shopping for groceries or talking on phone for hours. Generally, either on a week day or a weekend, I am hungry most of the time before meals and sleepy all the time after meals :)

PS: And for the bitsian folks who want some nostalgic stuff.. Click the link below, sit back, relax and think about the good old days@BITS.. Its a non-exclusive interview with Nagarji.. VK redi :) http://sandpaper.bitsaa.org/quarterly_bitsian/nagarji.htm

My Favourite Song

2008-09-29T20:16:00.004-05:00

I have added a gadget of Music Mazaa to the blog. I listen to a decent amount of Hindi, Telugu music and I wanna share some new songs which I like here.. I am starting with a telugu song "Nenani neevani" from the yet to be released movie Kotha Bangaru Lokam. I will try updating the gadget fairly regularly with new songs as and when I like them.. So folks, Enjoy!!

A New Beginning!!!

2008-09-18T13:00:00.010-05:00

In an attempt to make the blog interesting and more entertaining and to improve the overall quality of the content, I have invited three of my close friends to write in my blog. Mahesh Saka, my bitsian fren, who was behind the stage for some of my beautiful posts so far, will be displaying his creative abilities directly now. Ravi, owner of the high quality stuff containing blog "All about me!!" (previously "Relentless Hope") will share his intuitive thoughts and author many interesting posts in the future. Sridhar, my other bitsian buddy, will be blogging for the first time and I am sure he will come up with some good posts. All said and done, I assure you that we will do our best to make this blog the BEST :)

Guyz welcome aboard!!

Statistics Revealed

2008-09-15T00:14:00.007-05:00

The above graph gives details about the individual share of the percentages of people from various countries who visit my blog. I was looking at the sitemeter statistics for my blog, when I saw a feature called country share. I clicked it, and it gave out this amazing graph which inspires me to keep blogging. It may be possible that they entered this blog by mistake and they immediately closed it without reading its content, but I want to take things in a positive way. It is also a modest example of the terms "world wide web" and "globalization". :) I am happy and hence I gotta catch some sleep.. Bye Bye!!

PS: Thanks Sitemeter

26

2008-09-14T18:55:00.005-05:00

My one year stay at Mumbai has left a lot of sweet memories. Two months after I left this beautiful city, I find myself missing the buzz and the intricate beauty of the metropolitan. Here are the 26 things that I miss the most!!!

Adlabs Movie destination, Bollywood style
BEST Bus They rock!!! Well maintained and well run!!
Cricket Weekend gully cricket at friend's place
Dabba Source of survival on weekdays.. Cheap and best
EPL Started liking Soccer because of the English Premier League
Friends Made many friends and a few best friends for lifetime
Gupshup Late night chats with roomies and mocking our bosses at the office!!
Hindi I speak understandable Hindi fluent enough now!!
Independence To do whatever, whenever and whichever I wanted
Juice Centre Weekend hang out space.. Rs. 20 Grape yummy!!
Krishna Restaurant Discussions over dinner everyday in the last few days with a friend
Local Trains Always Jam Packed.. Very difficult to get in or out!!
Money Spent it like water
Noise Mumbai never sleeps!!
Organized lifestyle Paid my electricity bills, washed my clothes for the first time in my life
PVR This name occured atleast 10 times in my credit card monthly bill statement
Qs Queues at railways stations, ATMs, bus stops, net centres, anywhere for that matter
Rajdhani Gujarathi Thali. Great food.. Costly but worth it!! (occasionally atleast)
Satkar Weekend Food centre; Paneer Makhanwallah rocks!!!
Traffic Mumbai Traffic doesn't move :P
Unlimited enjoyment Lots and lots of it
Vikhroli West Busy with narrow roads; a decent place to live
Weekends Sat, Sun: Eat, Sleep, movies, Koi tension nahin
Xpress Highway Runs between Mumbai and Pune. Lovely scenic beauty.. Must see Lonavla
Year The one year I spent in Mumbai
Zzzz Peaceful sleep without tensions

PS: Mumbai, I love you!!!