Sahaj Kadhi

"Shivaji: Hindu king in Islamic India" New toy in the hands of vandals

2010-07-11T16:03:00.043+05:30

“Just to make things clear, I have not read the book (courtesy Maharashtra govt). Nevertheless, I do not think people should ban the books just because they do not like the content. The book may be biased, even incorrect at places, but then there are many such books around. We need to be more tolerant. Even if one wants to ban the book, they should have a logical argument, which the government obviously lacked and hence lost the case in the court. The Supreme Court verdict (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/SC-lifts-ban-on-Laine-s-Shivaji/644639) has given fodder to the political parties for more vandalism. I mean don't these people have some business (apart from 'Rasta Roko' and Bus burning) to mind? Why can't they vent out their energy in some constructive work? Tomorrow they will say ban all the books by OUP. It's utterly ridiculous.

The situation is like 'either you write something praiseworthy about our idols or do not write at all'. Quoting Writer Shanta Gokhale "Today, it is impossible for anyone to say or write anything about Shivaji. It’s almost like 10 people or so have a monopoly over the man [King Shivaji]." (http://bit.ly/9veoRP).

I found following reviews of the book on Amazon (http://amzn.to/bIAtMp) useful and am pasting them here.

Nothing to get too excited about - Written by - Pankaj Saxena

This is not so much a review of the book as my take on the controversy surrounding it and some of the comments in the other reviews on Amazon. Yes, I've read the book. Yes, it's silly in parts. But nothing to get so upset about....

I read with dismay about the ban on this book and the vandalism at BORI, with the loss of so many irreplaceable historical documents and treasures. This is Indian history that was lost forever through senseless destruction, and Indians are the poorer for it. It's a shame that a democracy has to resort to book banning; and so readily produces mindless mobs who wantonly destroy priceless history. Democracy can't exist without the freedom of speech, including speech you consider to be wrong or contrary to your beliefs.

That said, this book is an ill-assorted compendium of half-digested facts and speculation, without any attempt at rigorous scholarship. I know the author has since explicitly stated that it is not meant to be historical; it is in fact a collection of stories about Shivaji -- some historical and documented, others that he heard from his buddies over a cup of tea in Pune. The trouble is that most people *do* see it as a factual account (with authority conferred by the credentials of the author and the Oxford University Press). To some extent, it is the fault of the author for not being sufficiently explicit to begin with, but then again, he probably did not expect such scrutiny from the public.

No one knows the truth except the author himself, but I really do not think he set out deliberately to demean Hinduism or to defend Islam. The hints of cultural smugness, his confidence in the interpretations of Western rather than Indian scholars, and the discussion (funny and inept though it may be) of why Indian scholars might be biased in their accounts, are probably also not deliberate. It is common practice to assume that someone who has nothing invested emotionally in the culture or religion under study is more impartial. This viewpoint ignores any biases that the scholar may bring with him from his own culture, but the assumption is not inherently demeaning or mischievous.

I see more prosaic explanations. First, there is this trend in the West to introduce ambiguity into *all* history. All history was written by humans, who no doubt had their own biases and motives -- so all history is suspect. All history, that is, except physical, archeological evidence. But that doesn't really tell us who the heroes were, and who the villains. I'm sure a healthy skepticism is good for research. Sometimes though, and this book comes across as an example, it is carried to an extreme, resulting in a very flexible history where one man's speculations are as good as another's documented facts; and who cares about the difference anyway so long as you tell a good story.

That brings me to the second reason. Aside from getting brownie points from fellow scholars for being fashionably ambiguous, it also opens up a popular mass-market for your books. Many of the scholarly books that score big with the lay public do so not because of their originality or scholarship, but because they tell a lurid and exciting tale. And anyone who thinks that "scholarly" authors like James Laine didn't have this market in mind is kidding himself. They check their Amazon sales rank as often as any newbie novelist.

The book indeed shows no sensitivity towards Hindu beliefs or culture, but why is that so strange. It was written by a Christian, who at the very least, must believe that Hindus are deluded and must be brought into the fold. By the nature of Christianity (or Islam, for that matter), you do people a favor when you chip into their heathen beliefs and soften them up to accept your God. This is hard for Hindus to understand on an emotional level, since Hindus are typically born into Hinduism, not converted. They have no experience of the missionary-conversion zeal, except as it was done to them by Muslims and Christians.

My suggestion is, get used to it. As India modernizes and becomes part of the global economy, more world attention will be focused on it. You will see much more of this kind of attention, and banning books or destroying manuscripts only gets bad press. Indian historians and intellectuals have their own accounts to give. These are valuable accounts, largely unknown to the West. A century's worth of respectability and authenticity has attached itself to the interpretations of dead white colonial men. It can't be dislodged in a day, and surely never by book bans and mob violence.

Victim of a Massive Misinformation and Censorship Campaign - Written by - Unknown

The first thing to said in a review of this book is that most of the other reviwers are not responding to its contents at all. Indeed, one must doubt whether most of them ever bothered to read it. So, I will begin by assuring the readers of this review that I have in fact read the book and have done so as an educated layman, which is to say, in one of the ways that the author intended and foresaw.

This book is in fact a work of scholarship, which is not to say that it is a documentary history of the reign of Shivaji or a biography of that great Maharashtrian king. Rather, the work is, simply stated, a literary analysis of the texts that have, over a three hundred year span narrated and re-narrated the life and legend of Shivaji. The author is a Sanskritist by training and also knows Marathi. Accordingly he has access to and has actually read the various entextualizations extending from the time of Shivaji's own life through the 18th century hagiographers of the Maharashtrian poet saints to the works of nationalists such as Lala Rajput Rai and Justice Ranade. This reading distinguishes him from most of the reviewers here, who, one seriously suspects, have no such familiarity with the materials in question (though one reviewer implies otherwise).

The book itself is, in truth, an unobjectionable, if somewhat naive and at times spotty, work of discourse analysis in a now long familiar mode. This fact is wholly ignored by the reviewers here, who, if they have in fact read the book, are incapable of making the distinction between such a mode of scholarship, which is fundamentally preoccupied with the ideological preoccupations of source material and/or of historiography, and is not itself an instance of history writing per se. Thus the charge that this is not history is beside the point entirely, as is the reference to Laine's "thesis" which is supposed to be, we can only assume, the "claim" that Shivaji's parentage is in question. No such claim is ever made in this book. Rather, the claim is made that the ideological construction of Shivaji as the exemplar of various virtues according to the predilections of the particular text precludes the possibility of those texts analyzing the reasons for Shivaji's father not being his political or military ally, not being present for much of his youth, and not designating him his heir. (For these latter claims, Laine does provide substantial historical corroboration established through the usual historicist methods of sifting the sources, privileging those most contemporaneous when there is no obvious reason not to do so, seeking corroboration from sources arising from other institutional locations with differing ideological preoccupations, etc.). It is in this regard, and clearly and explicitly so, that Laine retells a joke (most likely told by a Sadavshivpethi brahman, though Laine does not say so) which does in fact cast aspersion on Shivaji's mother's mother by claiming her son to have been conceived out of wedlock. As for the contemporary "veneration" of Shivaji's mother, etc. by (some of) the Maratha community, a veneration said to have been insulted by Laine's work, such matters cannot ultimately guide any scholarly enterprise, any more than a serious scholarly analysis of early Christian writings or the Vedas or the Koran and hadith can be guided by any such concerns.

If people believe that scholarship writing on this subject should confine itself to "the achievements of the great hero who never lost a battle, who was a great social reformer; [sic] who had technological foresight, who gave impetus [sic] to Hindu nationalism and instilled confidence that even in the face of Muslim brutalities [such as?], a Hindu king to be coronated [sic] with full rites" then such people don't know what scholarship is and ought instead to confine themselves to historical novels designed to reinforce their sense of identity. In short, then, Laine's book is just another book, one that makes an able, if flawed, contribution by undertaking a detailed ideological analysis of a single theme within Indian literary practice. The controversy that has arisen around the book, which has resulted in considerable vandalism, assaults, censorship, and unconstrained intimidation of persons in Pune has also had as one of its many deleterious effects, the spoliation of Dr. Laine's career, who, one expects, will not be undertaking further research in Maharashtra anytime soon. People such as those who have written many of the reviews here are responsible for this, as for the effects of their "veneration".

I'm all yours. Literally.

2009-12-29T12:47:00.011+05:30

“Darling, I would die for you.” And they mean it, unlike Bollywood heroes who just read it from the script. I am talking about some peculiar species of spiders who have an unimaginable custom. After mating, the female spider would eat up the male, without any resistance offered. When I first read about this I was like OMG! After all doesn’t this defy nature’s basic rules? Why does someone of the same species have to die to assist birth of another? Who in the right mind would do such a thing? Why is the male spider so desperate? Is the sole purpose of a male spider is to have sex and die, and that too because of its partner? This sexual cannibalism custom seems so unnatural. In humans, we did have some unnatural customs, like going Sati after the husband meets his fate. But, that was not because it would aid the human race, but just some stupid custom. Isn’t stupidity the patriarchal right of humans alone?

Female Australian redback spider eating male spider. Image: Ken Jones, UTSC

(taken from http://www.physorg.com/news63467462.html)

What do the biologists have to say about this baffling phenomenon? I have referred to some research and tried to make sense out of it. Maydianne C. B. Andrade, a zoologist from Canada, has done some research in this area. You can read the original paper here [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/271/5245/70]. I will try to cut the very long story short.

Redback spiders (Latrodectus hasselti: Theridiidae) were observed for the experiment. An interesting thing about their anatomy is that the mass of the male is only 1 to 2 % of that of the female. In order to facilitate death, during copulation male positions itself above the female’s jaws. It was found that not all males die after mating, but some do survive. It is claimed that the males actually ‘benefit’ from being eaten. Firstly, cannibalized males copulate longer and fertilize more eggs than those that survived copulation. Secondly, females were more likely to reject subsequent suitors after consuming their first mate. These results represent empirical evidence for male copulatory suicide as an adaptive behavior.

Many male arthropods present food gifts to their mates and thereby ensure complete sperm transfer. Such mating gifts apparently differ from the somatic gift of the male redback only in the degree of their effect on male survivorship. Because females may mate multiply, male redbacks are selected to invest heavily in mechanisms that protect their paternity in the single mating they may achieve. Therefore, the two paternity advantages of sexual cannibalism outweigh the low cost of suicide for males. Male facilitation of cannibalism probably evolved through sexual selection as the most extreme mating gift.

Whatever. It is still contradictory with my common sense. But, as it happens, nature has its own queer ways. Perhaps our common sense itself is flawed.

The Tipping Point

2009-06-02T13:00:00.004+05:30

Epitaph for a dead waiter:"God finally caught his eye."

George S. Kaufman

It's a big restaurant. You are sitting with your friends, enjoying the dinner. From some corner Jazz funk is playing. Laughs, anecdotes, and experiences are being shared. After a while lemon bowl comes up, and with it comes the bill. If it's not a treat, the usual fiscal discussions take place. Finally, it is decided who is going to contribute how much. The money is paid. And after exactly 2 minutes, the waiter comes back with the bill folder. The person nearest to it checks how much is the change. Now, the question comes – should we leave the tip?

Ever since I was a kid I have observed elder people paying bills at a restaurant. Sometimes they keep the tip, at other times they don't. I never dared to ask them why was it so, either way.

But now that I have to pay the bills myself, I am thinking seriously about it. Why, where, and more importantly how much tip I should give?

So I researched, googled I mean :) And Lo! what I found.

The tipping custom is prominent in the western world There they not only give the tip at the restaurant, but also to luggage boys at the hotel, hair stylist, taxi driver and whatnot. They have an old saying 'If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford food at that restaurant.' Better visit McDonald's. Stunning, isn't it? In fact, there are many people enthusiastically debating on the net about how much tip should be given for a particular kind of service. The western folks strive to be gratuity savvy. They even feel sorry when unable to pay the tip. In America there are 'Tip Charts' at every restaurant. The custom is to pay from 10% to 20 % of the total bill. These charts tell you how much your tip should be if your bill is some XXX amount. Of course, there isn't any federal law, it is just a custom. And by the way, there is a long form of TIPS – To Insure Proper Service.

There is no universal tipping etiquette. It changes just like the local dialects. For example, in Europe tips are customary in Britain, France, Germany while it is not necessary in Italy, Switzerland, Sweden.

My frugal second self is shouting - 'Isn't all this essentially looting? Whatever tip etc. is expected, shouldn't it reflect in the menu card itself? We aren't raja-maharajas of yesteryears who liked to gift generously to the servants. Why should we pay the servers, aren't they given salary?'

The answer is yes and no. In western countries major part of a waitperson's income comes from tip credits. Often they are paid below the minimum wage and hence they have to be dependent on the tips to make the ends meet. In a way it's a good system, the waiter who works hard and still keeps a smile gets good tip. His/her job is not just limited to bringing meals, but also answering queries about the menu. So, tips act like an incentive to them. But what if the food is not up to the mark, certainly that is not the fault of the waiter. In this regard following advice is given on wisegeek.com -

Bear in mind that food and service are separate issues. If the food was bad but the service was good, complain to the manager about the food, but tip the server for their efforts. On the other hand, if the food was good but the meal was ruined by poor service, a lower tip can reflect that as well.

By the way, I still don't know who gives tips to the cook. Ultimately it is the chef who prepares our meal. Is the tip we pay distributed equally among the workers? God knows.

There are generous tippers and there are those 'others'. Generous tippers are welcomed cheerily. But what happens to a lousy tipper? I read somewhere that if you don't give the tip servants will spit in your food next time when you revisit the eatery. Here is a warning from a server (as posted on a website)

'Anyone who does not tip, or tips very poorly should know not to eat at the same place more than twice because you have just messed with the person you has your food before you eat it. A server handling their junk then touching your food is the least that will be done.'

I guess this particular waiter looks like this -

Thank goodness, situation isn't so bad in India. Here we can happily eat at a dhaba/hotel without worrying about the tip. Hospitality of an Indian waiter is not directly proportional to the amount of cash he receives from the customer. Well at least it used to be so. Today, Indian cities are becoming more and more western. People are becoming richer by the day, hence by the nights they lessen the burden of the wallets by visiting posh restaurants. When everybody is getting rich, why should waiters be left behind? But then these waiters should also learn some manners from their western counterparts.

A few months ago we had gone for our weekend dinner to a restaurant near our place. The service was kind of average. The busboys weren't prompt, we had to ask three times for filling our empty glasses(of water:). After paying the bill, the bill folder(well, what is the word for the thing in which they take back money?) returned to our table, with a tenner as change. There was an inner pocket in the folder, and the note was kept in it, as if for hiding from me. Now, if a customer wants to leave the tip, s/he will, why play such tricks? I took that note out and returned the cashless folder to the waiter. To my surprise – he frowned and animatedly spoke something in Telugu(my nearest guess) - none of which I understood, except for the word TIP. I thought for a while whether to speak to the manager about this, but then it would have spoiled the nice mood that all of us were in.

You might have witnessed at least one restaurant brawl involving a waiter and a customer. But please, hold that rage. How you treat a waiter can predict a lot about your character. And you don't want to leave a bad impression on others, do you?

Here are some of the customs which are followed in the different regions of the globe. (Source: http://www.airlinecreditcards.com)

In Portugal, usually tipping is not considered a pleasant thing to do in public with other people watching. But it is always quite welcoming money when this is done in private.

Hah! Was that word 'tipping'?

The best advice about tipping in Japan is usually simple: don’t. Handing money directly to a waiter or waitress is considered quite rude and a predominantly Western custom.

I like Japan. :)

Tipping in Egypt, often referred to as baksheesh, can be a complicated custom for foreign visitors. It’s more than just a custom, it’s a way of life. Tips are not only given to those who perform services, but a small tip can also get you granted small favors like admittance into places that would otherwise be closed.

And what are those places?

There is a great debate on whether or not one should tip in Spain. Many, if not most, natives do not leave tips for meals or drinks and often tourists will be the only ones to do so.

Foolish tourists. .

While tipping has generally been frowned upon in communist China, and still isn’t a true part of Chinese culture.

Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai!

The tipping culture varies all over the world. You should add that point to your checklist while planning a foreign tip. Always bear in mind – when in a Roman hotel leave the tip as Romans do.

P.S. Do you know what is the banner line of the website LousyTippers.com?

P.P.S - Also check out 13 Things Your Waiter Won't Tell You

[Note - To link to the original webpage - just click on the cartoons]

Bing Is Not Google - or is it ?

2009-06-01T15:25:00.004+05:30

Shown here are two images - First one is from Google maps, second one is from Bing Maps. Yes, you guessed it right, it's near our BITS Campus.

If seen carefully, you will notice that both the pictures show two ships (boats?) in the sea. Aren't these two boats the same in the two images? So, it is clear that Bing Maps gives you the same information as given by Google Maps minus the location names in detail.

Of course, data source for both the services is the same - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EarthSat - but then saying 'Bing isn't Google' is very lame.

P.S. - Check out http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer/01bbb409/i-love-that-bing-means-is-not-google-very for a few laughs courtesy Microsoft :P

Lolgallery @ Bangy

2009-04-08T15:21:00.001+05:30

Bangalore is a funny place. See for yourself ---

Pele, Mother Teresa, Dr. Ambedkar and Buddha
All in One!

PAN or PAAN ?

Smoking Behind
(Captured from Tech Park top)

Name says it all
(seen on Airport Road)

PS - Photo Credits Mandar, Pranav (me!)

A Day as an Invigilator

2009-04-05T22:28:00.002+05:30

After reading Shashank's blog I got very much inspired for going to a DLPD exam as an invigilator. So I called my PS faculty and she later confirmed my invigilator-ship for this weekend. Equipped with the map to reach the center 'Baldwin Boys' Highschool' I eagerly waited for the E-day.

- Meanwhile a gchat intercepted by confidential sources -
“Abey, tera center kaunsa hai?”
“Kuch Baldwin Boys' School karke..”
“Ohh, mera bhi wahi hai. Will there be all boys for the exam :(”
“Xxii$ Saala!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------
fast forward to Saturday

Exam is on 0900. To be safe we get there at 0815. We meet some veteran invigilators. They guided us for the process. See how....

NewBie1 [who is looking irritated for having woken up at 6 a.m. on the weekend] asks
'Paisa Kitna Milega?'
NewBie2 : '600'
NewBie3 : [in typical North style] 'Kya! Humko to 900 bola tha. Saale BITS wale beech mein paise kha rahe hai bol raha hu mai tereko.'

All of them go to a veteran. He explains to them that since it's a comprehensive exam they might be paid Rs. 900. But he isn't sure.

NewBie1 : Khane ko kya kya dete hai? Kitne Baje?
NewBie2 : Chup Baith. Do they pay by cheque or cash?
Vet : Line mein khada karke dete hai ek-ek ko.

NewBie3, who is a die hard fan of big B is thinking -

He aka Amitabh Bachhan is dressed like a mazdoor and is standing in a long queue. The queue is made up of all the exhausted invigilators who worked for 12 hours. After some time his turn comes. In front of him, behind a table, there is sitting a thekedar or contractor. Thekedar smiles “khi: khi: khi: khi: Yahan pe angootha lagao beta.” and points at the register. Amitabh squints and suddenly grabs the hold of the pen in Thekedar's jacket. Signs the register in style and collects the money.
“Yahan pe to 900 likha hai aur paise to sirf 600 hai.”
Thekedar[again laughs disgustingly] :“Jitna mila hai Bhagwaan ki den samzo.”

Amitabh throws the money on his face and kicks the table. Thekedar falls down while still fixed in the chair. All the fellow invigilators cheer for Amitabh....

“Hello Mister, aapka naam kya hai?”

“Vijay.”

“Your name is not there in the list.”

“Kya?”

Our NewBie realizes that the DLPD coordinator is talking to him.

“Sorry sir. Sorry sir. My name is ..” And then he signs the attendance sheet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DLPDians collecting money after the exam

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orientation programme

The DLPD coordinator explains the rules to all of us.
“Do not read novels or newspapers. Do not play mobile games. Do not listen to your i-pods. Blah blah blah ”

The classrooms are randomly allotted to us. We are given a sizable stack of sheets- containing answer books and question papers. I am thinking – 'Voila! My dream of childhood has come true. For the first time in my life I have the very question papers in my hand well before the exam. But alas! I am not writing the exam. . .'

My classroom was in the other building. With enthu and all I run , carefully holding the slew of papers. After climbing 3 floors down and 3 up I am puffing heavily.

When I stand in front my class – 3 A – I am in for a surprise. There is no one in the class! “Where are they?”, I exclaim. Did I miss the class? Am I in the wrong building? I noticed that all the other classrooms were getting filled. But why is my class so deserted? I call the corridor boy [who stand there for any help just-in-case].

I point finger at the room and say “Nobody is there!”. He goes in and comes out after checking the class as if I am faking. He then consoles me “They will come. You wait.” Just then the first bell rings – signifying the answer sheet distribution. He hurriedly disappears.

I am standing helpless in the class. Still holding the heap. After two minutes a woman comes in running in the class. I think 'Yo yo! Somebody has come.' But still to make sure I ask her “Are you writing embedded systems - ” She sharply cuts me down.
She: Give me 8 question papers.
I (to myself): ??? Who is she? Why does she want 8 question papers? And what about the answer sheets? Is there something wrong in here? Is she going to sell these papers outside? For what price? What will be my cut?
I get embarrassed even for feeling that way. I clutch the papers to my chest, deciding not to give her any of them.

Now she is talking on the phone. “Yes, yes, I am in room 3 A. There is nobody here. I am bringing the papers.”
She (to me): Quick! Hand them over.
I gather some courage and utter “What for?”
She: Some papers are not printed correctly. So we need extra.
Then suddenly I remember that she was there while the invigilator orientation was going on. 'Oh, so she is a faculty.'
Like a good boy I take out eight papers from the brown envelope and give them to her.

I : Madam, Nobody came in this class.
She: You wait here till 9.30. Then come to the staff room.

I stand in the door of the class. 'Will they pay me or not if nobody comes here?'. That thought stirs me. My eyes search fiercely in the vicinity for the students. I am feeling like [some] BITS professors whose lectures are avoided like plague by the students. A typical situation - BITS Prof who is standing at the door of the empty class shouts at a boy “Hey, you! You are in my course right?” The boy ducks down and runs as fast as he can in the opposite direction. Prof Sighs “Why no one comes to my class?” I echo the same.

A girl comes asking for something. My eyes lit up expectantly.

Girl: Where is the classroom for Computer Networks?
I(to myself): Why baby, don't you want to write embedded systems paper?
I(to her): Ask that corridor boy there. He will tell you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A long wait follows

I go and sit in the teacher's chair and keep the heavy stack on the desk. Oh boy! I am actually sitting in the teacher's chair! (this was my second childhood dream:)
In slow motion, I move my eyes all over the class. I notice the posters made by the kids. All of them seem have a common theme – 'Moon and stars'. There are some notices also on a wall. There is a timetable hanging. What's this..After the second period there is a 'TEA – BREAK'. What kind of a school is this? Shamelessly promoting stimulants.

Next I open the table's drawer. There are some dusty notebooks, one school diary and a piece of printed paper. I lift it. It is a paper of 'Environmental Study'. I read it to myself.

Fill in the blanks:

1.Always ____ the truth.
2.Respect your ______.

I look around and discover the answer on the wall. There is written:

One of the God's Gifts
YOUR TEACHER

And besides it on a paper it's written

Remember
Always respect your teachers. Be nice to them.

Then I came to the subjective questions. Some of them were -

'Who or what is a couch potato?'

'Why do we wear clothes?'

I read the last line again. What kind of a question is this? I am brainstorming for all the possible answers for it. Just then a mobile rings loudly. Almost as a reflex action, I get up saying “Sorry, sir.” But then I realize. 'What the heck! I am the invigilator, not some brat student. Plus there is nobody in the class.'

I look at my watch. It's 1000 already!

I run towards the staff room on another floor. Inside the room an 'iconic' BITS faculty [B.F.] is sitting.

BF : Who are you?
I : Sir, I am actually a student. But I have come here for - -
BF : Do you know what time is it? Now you cannot write the exam. What's your ID number?
I(blurting out) : I am an invigilator, sir.
BF : Then what are you doing here? Who is invigilating in your class?
I : There are no students in my class, sir. Nobody came.
BF throws his hands in the air saying : How is that possible? Are you sure?
I : Yes, sir. I am 100% sure.
BF : Let me check the sitting arrangement. What did you say your classroom is?
I : 3 A, sir.

BF scrutinizes the paper in his hand and says. 'It seems 7 rooms are allotted for embedded system design. Number of students must have been overestimated. And there is no seat number system so anybody can seat anywhere.'

I am still thinking 'But why my room?'

I : What should I do now sir?
BF thinks for a while and says : Mereko nahi pata. I am here for the first time. Perhaps you can help any other invigilator who wants to have break for some time.
I say 'Aye Aye, sir!' and get on the twos.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon session

Before reaching the class I prayed 'Please send some students to my class'.
And when I reached the class I was again in for a second surprise. My class was houseful! Overjoyed, I went in and started counting the students.

[To be continued....perhaps]

nice

2009-02-23T12:01:00.001+05:30

Heard this?

Never Had Love Before
Never Felt So Secure
Since I Saw You Taking A Breath
What Have I Done?
Now You're Hiding
What Have I Done?

download from

http://www.esnips.com/doc/045dc4e9-160d-41d8-956e-48fd99a98eb2/Axe-3---Crashes-(Never-Had-Love-Before)-(2008)

The moment of Truth

2009-02-20T17:08:00.003+05:30

Is there an honest person left in America? This is the tagline of the reality TV show The moment of Truth. Now, what do you have to do to win this show? Pretty simple - just tell the truth. To quote Mark Twain, 'If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.' Seems like Gandhiwadis will have a roll on this show. But is it really a cakewalk to tell the truth? Let's find out.

First of all, let me state the rules of this game show.

The candidate's thorough background scan is done. His/her friends and relatives are interviewed. This data is used to frame the questions. Prior to the actual show some 50 questions are asked to the contestant in a polygraph (or lie detector) test. All the questions are Yes/No type. They are not told the results of the test at any point of time. During the actual show, 21 of those questions are asked and the answers given are verified against the polygraph test results. Note: It doesn't matter whether you repeat your answer during the show. Unless it has been registered as truth during the test you will be dubbed as a liar. If the person lies, he is out. Contestant can't argue against the lie-detector test results. It's a bit like KBC where you win money for every 'truthful' answer. Some questions can be asked by a surprise guest - such as your friend or sister.

Now where is the catch?

The kind of questions asked are highly personal and more often than not, embarrassing.

For example - Have you ever done something that you feel guilty about when your husband was out on a business trip?

Have you ever had sexual fantasy about your friend Eva? (this was asked to a girl)

Have you ever been paid for sex?

Are you sexually attracted to one of your wife's friends?

Well, how does the lie detector test work anyway?
The thing is when you are lying about something and you know that that you are lying - then your body takes the toll - the effects -> heart beat increases, breathing pattern changes etc.etc. Better visit wikipedia for more info.
How to cheat on the test - there are workarounds. Sing along with the Beatles- All I have to do is act naturally. See this wikiHow.

Till date not a single person has answered all the questions truthfully. They all either have lied or have withdrawn. Can you guess who will win in this show if it starts in India ? It's no brainer. We have no dearth of politicians like Lalu and the rest,whose lies will be undetectable for any man or machine in the world. Those who have left their self respect safely at home can easily earn big money here, just like any other reality show. Yeah, I'm referring to the Roadies Auditions :)

We, the ordinary people are generally truthful. We know that doing something is bad/immoral/illegal but that doesn't stop us from thinking about it. I mean you don't practice debauchery but can you confess that you never had thought of it? Our practical morality tells us not to act immorally, what about our thoughts? The TMOT makers take advantage of this fact - they may not ask you 'Have you ever taken a bribe? They will rather ask- 'Have you ever thought about taking a bribe?' Imagine what will the people in your workplace think when you answer this.

As another case of deceptive question - Suppose you are real pissed of because of your boss and you murmur sometimes " I'm gonna kill that swine!" Of course you don't mean it, but when you are asked this question on the show - 'Have you ever thought of killing your boss?" What would your answer be? If you say 'No', lie detector might catch you. If you withdraw from the game show - the reason behind it will be obvious. If you answer 'Yes', don't expect 'Good Morning!' from your boss next morning.

Sometimes a very disturbing question may be asked, such as -'Have you lost attraction to your husband?'- even if you can give the truthful answer to it - you will think a thousand times before answering - what will happen if my spouse/relatives know about this, and thus, thinking about such possible aftereffects your heart beat will increase. So now, it doesn't matter whether you answered truthfully or you lied. It would be registered as a lie by the machine. During the game show you have 50 percent chance of losing even if you tell the truthful answer.

There are some questions which are absolute killer for the player ' Do you think you're a good person?' Hey! What kind of a question is this? Sometimes I am. At other times I'm not. What should be the answer?

I guess that the producers would be choosing the contestants only if they have/would have done something embarrassing in their life. Such faux pas would cause them to refrain from answering the questions and withdraw from the show, despite the chance of winning a huge amount of cash. They deliberately select candidates who couldn't answer personal questions truthfully during the polygraph test. If they start selecting people with mythophobia, the show would be smoked!

By now you must have agreed that this show has the caliber to ruin a marriage, break a friendship and so on. But not all questions make you lose respect or love. Some make you earn it. There was a totally gone-case guy - who had done lots of things which no body would admit doing - in short, a real sucker. (see episode 7) As a surprise guest his father posed a question to him - 'Do you think I will love you even after I know how you have lived your life? - the guy answered 'Yes.I think so.' And then they both broke out crying. That was really emotional.

Courtesy TMOT, at least Americans have one good reason to tell the truth. Earn money, of course. Reality TV is becoming too much real day after day.

******************************************************************************************************************
P.S.

There is a joke on RD website -

Being a teenager and getting a tattoo seem to go hand and hand these days. I wasn't surprised when one of my daughter's friends showed me a delicate little Japanese symbol on her hip. "Please don't tell my parents," she begged.

"I won't," I promised. "By the way, what does that stand for?"

"Honesty," she said.

With a little help from my friends

2009-02-18T17:25:00.002+05:30

Oh no! It's not yet another list of 'best free software'.

Umm, well, perhaps it is:)
Here are some tools which I have been using for quite some time and they come quite handy. Just sharing the information for general knowledge.
Bye the way, I am assuming that you use firefox, and not IE. Otherwise your place in hell is reserved :)

OK. enough bakwaas.

1. Firefox addons - IETab - with this you can sign into two gmail/ymail accounts simultaneously in 2 different tabs. link - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

Another useful addon will be All-In-one sidebar. link - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1027 Use the gtalk sidebar along with this. That requires no gmail/gtalk sign in, you can chat in a sidebar, and close it as and when emergency arises. Yeah Bitsians, you know what I mean.:) link for it -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4708

2. Many a times when your terminal gets incapacitated due to the wrath of viruses, you can't access task manager or registry editing tools. For this you need following software. It's just some 96kb and worth a shot. Download it from my google site http://sites.google.com/site/tronixcept/Home/Scanner.doc?attredirects=0 .After downloading - rename it as .exe file (reason - I can't upload .exe file so just changed the extension)

3. To protect your usb from some kind of virus transfer use http://realtrix.blogspot.com/2009/01/usb-virus-protection-stop-usb-pen.html . Sometimes it happens that you are unable to delete some file. It says ''some process is using this file blah blah" But you don't know which process/program is using the deleterious file. Use unlocker.exe, it finds out which process has locked the file and shuts down the process. Download it here - http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/unlocker1.8.7.exe

4. If you are a die-hard note taker, and don't have MS one note, which is one of the rare good software by microsoft, you can use Google Notebook. Also download firefox extension of it. http://www.google.com/notebook/ . If your work includes reading lots of IEEE type papers better use Foxit reader, and use it to the fullest. You can comment/color/underline or do anything you want with the document. Link - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_in

5. And last in the list would be the 'Bookmarklets' . There are so many of them. Just visit the page to know more. FYI I use their hide all image bookmark, which hides all image on any page by just clicking on the bookmark (see figure below.)

2009-02-05T09:37:00.001+05:30

from XKCD

Why Do People Hate Nadal

2009-02-04T12:11:00.002+05:30

I have some friends who follow Tennis quite religiously. There is one thing I have noticed while watching 'Federer &/ Nadal' matches with them. All of them always cheer to the shots by Fed, all of them always loathe Nadal. Whenever Federer hits a good shot, it's his class. Whenever Nadal hits a good shot he is a machine. Nadal scores because of his physical power, Federer scores because of his greatness. It all seemed so biased to me that I decided to trawl the net and see what people all over the world are talking about them.

BTW there are more google results for the search entry "why people hate Federer" than for "why people hate Nadal".

These are some of the comments I saw on a forum -

"wow… so many reasons for disliking the antipathetic topspinmonkey !!! i’ll start with his disgusting behaviour on the court…
i can’t bear this flow of negative expressions he’s showing… this ugly kid has something “evil” in the eyes…… this is visceral : i can’t bear his permanent fistpumpings (OMG when he does it while jumping or rising his leg… that’s the worst !) "

"1. Main reason. It seems to me that he doesn't respect GREATs. When he strikes some successfull shot he starts jumping, making some gestures with hands, starts looking at opponent with an anger as at enemy, as if this young kid wants to say " Look, how I have f..d you".

I imagine myself in his situation. How could I behave if I'd play against Agassi or say Federer. I think very modest. With big respect.

Concerning Agassi every player must understand in the first that he doesn't play against real Agassi, but against 35-years old Agassi. Agassi could teach such a player as Nadal if he were at age 19. Even against 35 y.o. we must recognise that Nadal won him with big difficulties.

2. Second reason. Don't like his tennis. Very primitive tennis based mainly on physical condition of the player, on his youth. Despite so many words about his bright future I tend to consider that with every year his position will worsen because his tennis is based on running, trying to get every , even impossible balls, on youth."

"I hate Rafael Nadal because he is arrogant and he pisses me off."

That's enough I think, you get the picture.

It's all illogical, don't you think? What's this 'respect' thing? Everybody has his own style of playing. I have a hypothesis about why people hate X player. It's not the only reason but It's one of the main reasons.

____People who express their thoughts are hated. [e.g. those who do 'YES!!' every two minutes] People who show their emotions - especially aggressive ones - are hated.____

I mean, C'mmon, it's a sport after all. Not a chess game, where you remain stoic.

PS - Want to know 'why people hate'? go to http://www.kuufnh.org/whyhate.htm or

An unrelated but interesting quote -

"It matters not whether you win or lose; what matters is whether I win or lose." - Darrin Weinberg - [who the heck is he anyway?]

Weekends @ Bangy

2009-01-27T14:55:00.000+05:30

When I asked my friend what are you doing this Saturday, he said there is this big mall somewhere around. I said “Mall? Who would go to a mall on weekends? Especially when you got nothing to buy. Just hanging around in malls is not my kinda pastime”. He squinted - “where do you go?”

Here is my recipe for the weekends @ Bangalore

•Open the newspaper. Search for 'free entry' painting exhibitions, plays, cartoon exhibitions, movie shows etc. etc.

•Open google maps – track down the location. Print it.

•Get on the state bus. Volvo buses here are dearly priced. And maybe that’s why they seem half empty most of the time. Be ready for long walks before you reach your destination. I have met lots of enthusiastically helpful guides who point in exactly opposite directions adding to my confusion.

•Sometimes it's better to call on the number given for contact in the newspaper before leaving your home. This Sankranti, me and my friend went to see a cartoon exhibition featuring David Low organized by 'Indian Cartoonist Society' just to know that it was closed on the day. I was wondering why the heaven did they print the ad in the tabloid that day?

Last Saturday we went to see the movie by German director Werner Herzog. FYI the film fest will go on for the whole week, check out http://www.goethe.de/bangalore - for more details. I thank Max Mueller Bhavan for a nice experience of watching 'Aguirre – The Wrath of God'. It was an awe-inspiring movie. Only god knows how it was shot under such grievous conditions. The story is set in 1560. Most of it is shot on a raft on which a group of people hopelessly go on searching for Gold City of El Dorado. They are frequently attacked by Indians.

My favorite shots -

The raft is going by a place where they see some Tribal people running and shouting.

The leader asks his interpreter - “What are they saying?”

Interpreter answers - “They are saying 'Meat! Fresh meat passing by!'”

In the end all the people on the raft die, except their power hungry leader – 'Aguirre', who made them come this far. There is also an assembly of small monkeys. I don't know from where Herzog got so many of them for shooting. Aguirre holds one of them in his hand and asks - “Anybody else here with me?”

Throughout the movie Herzog surprises us with the shots of wild animals in the jungles of Peru.

PS – There were English subtitles.

For the Bookworms

For those who love the smell of age old leafs there are some shops of old and rare books on the Brigade Road .

It is not as vast as you would find in Old Delhi. As always, you never know what you are going to find unless you are ready to get dust laden in these shops. Man! Those lovely Stacks of books…

This is just my 3^rd week here. Hope to find new ways of spending weekends here as time goes by.

The Last Lecture

2009-01-22T08:58:00.000+05:30

Just got my copy of 'The Last Lecture' the book telling the story behind Randy Pausch's Last Lecture - http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo]> btw don't click on the picture to look inside :) it was taken from http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251

good read

2009-01-01T23:44:00.000+05:30

JRD's 1982 reenactment flight - Can you guess his age?

Recently read two books, nice ones

First one - Beyond the Last Blue Mountain - Biography of JRD Tata written by his R. M. Lala -published by Penguin - I must say, JRD's personality is inspiring for any Indian.

Some excerpts -
...At eighty-seven he [JRD] is as particular as ever. 'I know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into details you can avoid. It takes a lot of energy but that is the only way you can achieve excellence. So, in that sense, being finicky, is essential.'..

...The thunderstorm hit them and it was dark. Captain Vishvnath says, 'Usually pilots fight this force of nature. J.R.D. flies by his brains - a natural pilot who becomes a part of the machine. He let the small plane he flies go up and down like a piece of paper in the wind. He did not "fight the controls" or put the plane under the slightest stress for under a stress a plane can break up.' He adds, ' There was no panic in J.R.D. at the controls.'

The second book is मराठी.
'त्या वर्षी' - शांता गोखले - मौज प्रकाशन

I felt as if i'm watching some movie while reading this one. It's a novel about a group of friends, belonging to different professions, namely -music, painting, journalism. Background is of religious violence (is that even an appropriate word?). The author is somewhat old by age - but the writing is amazingly young. The book has some pages that will make you experience a music concert, drawing of a painting, in short it is not only a book to read but to listen and see too. Nice read. Know more about the writer at http://www.indiaplaza.in/goldenquill/goldenquill_jury-shanta.aspx
बऱ्याच दिवसानी चांगली कादंबरी वाचली.

History of a My Surname

2008-12-29T12:18:00.000+05:30

My surname - Jawale - and the fact that my being a deshastha brahmin confused me when I googled it.
There are some references to it [the surname] belonging to CKP community as per these sites.
1. http://www.bendre.net/Family%20History.html
2. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Chandraseniya_Kayastha_Prabhu

There is even a village by the name 'jawale' in Ratnagiri - http://wikimapia.org/1830103/Jawale-Village

Now, I am damn interested in zeroing our family origin, but can't find any book. Can anybody help?

btw I saw an interesting book on google on people of india - http://books.google.co.in/books?id=BsBEgVa804IC&pg=PA1033&lpg=PA1033&dq=brahmin+jawale&source=web&ots=0lW1jWc5Ro&sig=WMetqj4LFqdIpIeq_ImCz3g5Mdk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result

Just Two Drops of Inspiration

2008-11-03T04:15:00.000+05:30

So, You are depressed.

Why?

-> You tried for something,something which is very dear. But you failed. Your dreams are broken, and you wake up. Sleep wasn't nightmarish. You are having a daymare. You can't come to terms with it.

-> Somebody, someone whom you respect or love has become upset because of you.Unable to handle the situation you are biting your nails.

-> Someone is getting ahead of you in some race. Either you know you are better than him/her but can't overtake OR you know you are clearly outclassed. You are asking 'why him, why not me?'

-> You think you are going 'the wrong way' in life. It's like playing motoGP on computer and going reverse all the circuit. You see the red 'WRONG WAY' sign but your keys are stuck. You can't change your direction. You know you have to change it,but you don't even try.

-> Everybody ignores you. You feel like the dirt on the road. You need people's attention, but don't get it. You think nobody cares for you.

-> You are feeling guilty because of some act of yours.'Why did I do it?' You can't see further. All your thoughts revolve about the same thing, you get sucked up in the whirlpool.

-> You have become nostalgic. Past was so greener, present is so marooned.

-> You were stoic. Just then heard a song, which opens up a lid over your oppressed mind. Sometimes you don't even know you were feeling that way before, but the music has hypnotized the mind. $

-> There is no reason. No apparent cause. Just like that.

Now,the question is what do you do about it? I'm not a psychiatrist, but what I {would} do is (by the way, tell me what do you do when you are depressed.)

-> Talk. Talk with your friends. Share your feelings.

-> Eat some chocolates.

-> Try to remember all the good deeds/achievements of yours. It will give you a confidence.

-> Do some physical activity. Go for a run.

-> Forget everything. I know it's hard. And help someone in need. Believe me, it works. It will get your mind off you.

-> Listen to music with a dash to it. Please don't play Coldplay, especially their XndY . They are so-oh depressing.

-> And last but not the least, write a blog entry about your depression. :) Check this out http://www.depressionblog.org/

The most important thing is to fight. Don't loose. Luck may not be with you. But have faith in you. Throw away all the self-help books that you have. You can handle your life. Imagine that you are entrapped in a great wilderness. Nobody thinks that you can escape. All the bets are against you. And still, you know you are going to have the last laugh. If no door is open, create one for yourself.

Cheers!

P.S. Have you seen 'Randy Pausch's Last Lecture'? See it/read it. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

$ for example 'aatasha ase he' by Sandip Khare.

You are on Television!

2008-10-07T01:16:00.000+05:30

I was thinking some years back, what if our life, our whole life can be recorded and watched whenever we want it. From any angle. Every damn thing you did would be on it there.

Here I'm not talking about recording all the people around you. Only some small radius with you as it's centre would be caught. So you cannot know too many things about others, what they did at the time you were doing something, what were they talking behind your back and all those things. And yes, only YOU can watch this movie. So there is no question of censoring anything for public viewing, because there is not going to be any.

Our world as we see it, is different for everyone. I see a red box, you too, but is it the same colour that we are looking at? Who knows? The sounds we hear, the things we see are limited by our physical and mental limitations. Our eyes can see, our ears can hear only what our mind can understand.

How would our life look from this Recorded Version of it? You will have many laughing moments for sure. The way you fell from your bicycle. The way you cried for chocolates when you were a little kid. Beatings by the teacher. The pictures you drew on the walls. And of course, your fighting with siblings and other friends. Your innumerable lies. Your lonely walks by the empty street. Your tears, screams, laughs,winks and stares.

So now you got all your life televised. What would you do with it? Will it help you in knowing how you are? It surely will act as an encyclopedia for your psychiatrist. But apart from that, it will ask you more questions than you can answer. You will want to skip some moment where you think you didn't do the right thing. Will your viewes about some things change as you watch this movie? There are some things in life which you don't want to have second thought about. Will you feel more guilty about some of the things you've done? Will you say all the time while watching this movie, "Oh! Gosh! Why did I do that! I should've chosen the other way. I should've taken the other choice. I should have spoken my feelings out then and there. I should have shut my blessed mouth at that time." I this and I that. Everything should have and shouldn't have. Come on now, why do you want to see what you can't change?

Your life is like a game of chess. Not the one with 64 squares. But the one with infinite squares. Your opponents, [well not exactly in that sense, you can include all the people around you in that set], aren't singular but are plural. You can't change any of your moves once you touch. There is no ctrl + Z. Everything seems like cause and effect. Except, except perhaps the moments in which you have defeated the fate.

Initially you don't have any clue how you are going to play it. Your strategy in the game is decided more or less by your surroundings. Sometimes you have long term plans, if you think earlier and faster. Many a times you don't know what's going to be your own next move. At times, you are left stranded in the middle of the vast chequerboard. You don't know what to do next. You are completely lost. You might quit if you want but that's illegal. Also, there are times when you have reigned your game. Everything happens the way you thought it would.

The basic postulate here is that 'this game has some rules.' Are you sure it has? Are the rules you think are forbidding you from playing something are real rules? What if you don't obey them? What if nobody actually knows the rules?

What is the purpose of this game? Is it a game wherein someone's victory means the othere one has lost? How does this game end? Does it end with your tenure as a homo sapien?

Is it's aim NOT to win but to play a better game than you played in the past? All the joy in the ride, none in the destination.

I think I'm getting too philosophical, so let me stop at that.

* what's this picture? you might find in my next blog entry.

Tricks They Play

2008-09-29T02:32:00.000+05:30

Yesterday an interesting thing happened during placement of an IT company [read just another IT company]. Let's call it company Y. After the last round of interview 6 people were selected.

They were called by the company people and there was a shocking announcement. They said "Actually our package is not 4.5 lpa but is around 3.8 lpa." Hearing this students asked some time for thinking. Four of them already had a job with company X, which has name in the market but is paying just 3.5 lpa. Other two didn't have any job till then. The placement rules of BITS say - If you get a second job - first one is gone.

These 4 people who had job backed off and said "No, Thank You!"

Other two guys didn't have any option to accept the offer.

What happened after this was quite totally unexpected. Company said "We were testing your commitment. Our package is 4.5 lpa only." The 2 guys who accepted the offer got the job.

Now this situation raises a whole lot of questions.

1> Is it ethical for a company to declare some package and later deny it? Some of you might say, why not. After all it's their choice, everything is in their hand. They are the Boss. I agree.

2>What did the company gain by doing this?

Did they get the committed people they wanted, who would work just for the company, not for the money they get. I think here they made a grave mistake. Their intention was right but execution was wrong. The 2 guys were really desperate to get a job and that's why they agreed, NOT because they desperately want to work for it for the reasons company people intended. If tomorrow some other company offered these 2 guys some better offer, they would definitely go for it. Sure.

3> One of my friend gave a different kind of viewpoint.

'The company didn't want 6 people. But they had no other test to distinguished between them. Hence they played this trick.' I think that's a viable situation.

4> What would have happened if all six had backed off? What would the company do then? They are left with no other option to pack their bags and return without recruiting, even though there are capable guys. So it's rather risky for a company to play this game, especially if it is not that big. MY VIEW: It's alright if Microsoft plays this game. They have the name in the market. But other smaller fishes in the sea shouldn't try it.

5> What is the ideal choice to make?

To each his own

Marathicha Bhoot

2008-09-12T01:36:00.000+05:30

हे काय लावलय मनसए आणि शि व (font problem yaar) सेनेने? रोज पेपर उघडला की याने मराठीचा अपमान केलाय अन त्याने मराठीचा अपमान केलाय । यांना काही काम नाही का दुसरं ?

A nerd and A pervert OR Where Rose beats Gun and Guns beat Roses

2008-09-09T04:07:00.000+05:30

Hey just log on to google trends...google.com/trends

What's that?

Well it's a tool using which you can see search behaviour of the people all around the globe.

What do you mean by search behaviour?

Let's say , you search for 'Cars' in Google Trends..As a search result Google will show you top ten countries which searched for the term 'car' and it also shows you a graph displaying searching sensex over last four years.

Umm..interesting. I wonder what I can use it for. Let's see who searches the most for 'money'.

Hey! U.K. is first while India comes second. Now what....let me search for AK 47.
Oh My God! Why on earth are Hungarians so eager to search for AK 47???

That's not all. You can see trends for say money, woman, alcohol and see relative searches.

Let's do that. .................Do you see, Iran tops the list. Now I'm getting different ideas.

Ya. I get you. Search trends for 'sex' and tell me which country searches for it the most.

It's XXXXX (see for yourself :) )

Let's check out the most pervert country of them all.

Ob. Let me search for $###&& %% #@11 ^^

_________________________________________________________________________

Search for google, yahoo, microsoft and see the results.

That's pretty cool. More number of people search for yahoo on google!!! Actually. LOL.

__________________________________________________________________________

Other interesting searches---
christmas, god, terrorism, jihad, LGBT, Osama, Obama, McCain, kashmir, etc. etc.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Did you note this--- trends for the word 'earth' show a dramatic increase after 2004. I wonder why...

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
An interesting thing- Trends for 'yoga' show a typical rise around middle of every year around june-july.

Any ideas as to why it may be happening??

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Hey, how can you be sure that Google is telling you real stuff??

Aavadati Gaani

2008-09-04T00:02:00.001+05:30

Radha Hi Bawari (Avadhut Gupte) - aveet basari. surekh shabda.

Tu Tevha Tashi (Hridaynath Mangeshkar) - Nivdunga chitrpatatale he gane kitida aikale tari kananchi tahan bhagat nahi. Aarti Prabhuni rachalele ajun ek gane mhanje 'Lav Lav Kari Pate'.

Lyrics sathi hi site paha - http://www.geetmanjusha.com/marathi/lyricswriter/42.html

Madyantari eka site var barich juni marathi gani sapadali.

link - http://music.coolgoose.com/music/category.php?id=10327&page=2&order=title&PHPSESSID=06a1151a40fd29b216e4c0d44da02bd5

Tyatil kahi -

1) Bhay Ithale sampat nahi (Mahashweta fame)

2) Avelich Kevha - he gane Shridhar Phadke yaani gaylele aahe.

3) Avgha rang ek zala - Ek bhakigeet -He gane aiktana manala aanghol ghatlyasarkhe watate. ekdam khada aawaj.

So, how's c h r o m e ?

2008-09-03T23:54:00.001+05:30

The new sleek chrome is so oh nice! But I wonder why they forgot to keep a shortcut for saving a page - ctrl + s. No dropdown in search box. It needs a lot of tweaking. Otherwise I'm sure people at google will make it the best.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Just came back from audi after watching practice for tomorrow's culturals [Ganeshotsav]. Certainly they have bettered upon the last time's (with singing performances to say the least). I would miss actual session though, gotta interview call.

Isn't it nice?

2008-08-26T03:10:00.000+05:30

My little sister drew it.

Get some Adsense

2008-07-06T20:02:00.000+05:30

You must have seen this.. a cement ad on hoardings.
Actor Perizaad Zorabian smiling nicely juxtaposed with an ash-white cement bag and 'CRACK RESISTANT' written in between. Now could anyone please tell me what's the relation between her smile and that mortar material? Have all face-cream companies gone bankrupt? A boro-something would have been more appropriate - with 'crack resistant' tag.
This is stupid. These people will sell anything (Shaving Kit, omg) with beautiful ladies endorsing it.

I remember seeing an ad of shaving blade on a wall with a drawing of Shivaji Maharaj. Huh! Is this the end of the world?

2008-07-06T19:03:00.000+05:30

Of Cats and printed words

2008-05-26T12:23:00.000+05:30

If you are bored by the same kind of sci-fi novels you have been reading for all your life, do read these books, to get an idea about rebels in sci-fi.
1) River of Gods - Ian McDonald
2)Schrodinger's Cat - Robert Wilson
While holding these books in my hands, all time I wondered why am I reading this Six hundread pages Seven-star crap. Both of these books are sci-fi, but not of your usual kind. River of Gods has the scene of some future Bharat. It is a pungent concoction (never mind my lingo) of hindu politics + action + spiritualism + hi-fi gadgets (there is a gun which kills you soul). No, I cannot describe the plot. It's impossible to guess where the script is leading, and also what was it like, just two leafs before. But some chapters are just mind gripping. No doubt, you will like the coverpage which has pictures of Hindu gods, rather incongruous with the content inside.
I thought even R of G was a sobre attempt, when I read Schrodinger's Cat. Some chapters are full with Pidgin english. Literary Hell..short but exact description of the book. It is actually a trilogy, each 'logy' is the same story happening in 3 parallel universes (for those who haven't heard about the concept of parallel universes concept - Everything that can happen does happen, only in different 'parallel 'universes). The author (with all and due respect) seems to be on Absinth for months before churning out this stellar work. As per Wikipedia the author's credo is to get people into a state of general agnosticism, which is evident from his book.

P.S. for the pervert- There is an 'interesting' glossary at the end of River of Gods.

Prabhavalkar Overdose

2008-05-22T14:11:00.001+05:30

Sagle 7 Bokya Saatbande + Anudini.
Kay sahi lihito ha manus!
I recall one marathi movie in which he plays a timid young professor who curses his father-in-law with "TU LYABANT UBHYANVAYI AVYAYA!"
:)))

How do people get caught in cybercrimes?

2008-05-22T13:52:00.000+05:30

Not that I indulge in such malevolent business, but still I'd like to say. First of all
1) These people should not use their home computer for such deeds (OB) but a cafe. (of course not near their home) And change the cafe each time. There are a lots of them around these days.
2) I mean do such ignorants who get caught (like the one who send email to President) use their regular mail account?? Why can't they create a new mail account each time they get overpowered by the evil spirit?
Come on. You blockheads! Be intelligent.

Aired Music

2008-05-12T19:19:00.001+05:30

What do you prefer listening to --your own playlist from your mp3-player or --the radio?
Well, I love radio. First of all I don't have to create a playlist there. (I'm too choosy when I create one,it takes me 15-20 minutes overall.). If you don't like a song ,NP!,change the station. Here in Goa 4 stations play all time (FM rainbow,Radio Indigo,Big FM, and Radio Mirchi) Each one has its speciality. Indigo will play English only. I like their 'Time Tunnel'. FM rainbow is good. They play Hindi- marathi- konkani- english all type of songs.
Radio Mirchi has a catchy 'Radio Mirchi' tune. Wherever they open up,they come up with some new RM tune. Big FM sucks a little bit. I wonder from where did they find that gaudy name- BIG FM. They have some competitions all of which have a thing in common-the name will start with 'BIG'. Big Goyenkar , Big Maa(this was lolest. listeners were asked too send a poem about their mother, NO, Big Maa! The poem should contain 'Big Maa' all over..I had never seen such an example of marketing + Maa, except that 'Sehwaag Ki Maa' ad.)This reminds me of Bhajji ki maa(Don't take me wrong. I'm not cursing him) During the recent Bhajji-Symonds Episode these newspaper reporters flocked towards his home and took his mother's interview. How the hell is she supposed to know more about the situation? But no- they will go on repeatedly showing her interview with that repulsive RED strip at the bottom of the screen 'Mera beta Bekasur Hai- Bhajji Ki Maa Ka kehna'.

Oh where was I....Hm..Radio stations in Goa. Another thing I like about radio is the Rjs. My favourite pair is RJ Narendra and Fakruddin['Hasto ke Ghar Baste'- Rainbow] Some others include Malvika Dhawan from Radio Indigo.
When I was a kid I used to listen BBC. I still remember the Big Ben tune they played. Interestingly, we could hear a Pakistani station also! They always talked about deteriorating situation in India, Indian soldiers torturing common people, and sing songs about their leader, Mr Mush. Then there were Chinese stations. I don't know if that was real Chinese or some random noise but it was funny. We kids used to sit in front of the radio and imitate that sound. chan chan ching munh pikachi chuvano!
I had read some sci-fi book in which aliens contact earthlings through radio. I was quite amused and for some days listened to random frequencies on radio, thinking that I will hear something unearthly. But alas! No luck.
One thing I like about the radio is its connectivity. Even when you may be sitting anywhere on Earth, you are most likely to be able to listen at least one radio station. You feel connected to the world though you are alone.

Art, Death

2008-05-08T04:24:00.000+05:30

We humans are amazing beings. Here is a photo that shocked many people in 1993.It won the coveted Pulitzer prize.
The place was Sudan,an area affected by great famine. The picture shows a starving girl child crawling towards the food center while a vulture is waiting to see its prey die. Lots of questions sprang up in my mind when I saw the photo.
Is this on earth? What were that girl's sins, so that God put her in that situation. Is God their only for the healthy and wealthy and not for the needy? And what kind of animals are we taking photographs of such scenes?
We all feel bad for a moment or two for for the unfortunate ones. What else can we do? What else do we do? Why should we do anything at-all about this. Is it my job? Is it my fault? It has been long we stopped listening to our conscience. But that is the way we are. We have evolved from monkeys,but not in all ways.

PS: I learn that the photographer committed suicide some months after taking this shot which gave him a lot of fame. To read more about the photographer,his name Kevin Carter, see http://www.thisisyesterday.com/ints/KCarter.html

Keys Keys..

2008-04-16T01:15:00.000+05:30

Is it possible to reconfigure our keyboard, so that when I press '1'the character being printed will be '!' or for that matter any other bloody character but not '1'.
I tried to search on google but couldn't find any info.\
Is it a hardware thing or software, I guess it's software,may be a registry hack,
anybody for help?

My linux+NS-2 blog

2008-04-14T03:51:00.000+05:30

just inaugurated
http://pranavjawale-ns2.blogspot.com/

Grace Mhanato..

2008-04-11T17:45:00.000+05:30

Bhay ithale sampat nahi

Maj tuzi aathvan yete

Me sandhyakali gato

Tu mala shikavili gite

Te zare Chandra sajanache

Ti dharati bhagavi maya

Zadanshi nijlo aapan

Zadant punha ugawaya

To bol mand halawasa

Aaushya sparshoni gela

Sitechya vanvasatil

Janu angi raghav shela

Strotrat Indriye avaghi

Gungunti du:kh kunache

He sarata sampat nahi

Chandane tuzya smaranache

Bhay ithale sampat nahi

Maj tuzi aathvan yete..

A Cool World: Enjoy a rosier future as a Virgle Pioneer.

2008-04-02T03:02:00.000+05:30

Another April Fool from Google....
This one is good. See their questionnaire http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html
The one that really zaps me is a question about some rocket.Can you make out if at all it is a question:)

logged in Ubuntu

2008-03-30T20:48:00.000+05:30

Hushh..Finally managed to access net in UBUNTU..
As an experienced person I can tell you,if you're buying a computer with an NVIDIA lan card it it...beware. You may never find a driver for it. The LED in the LAN socket will go on blinking ,saying, "Why did you buy this computer?Why?Why?" I wasted six months searching on the internet for the lan drivers,(I've Coppaq v3155AU).
HP website is useless. They have all drivers,quick-launch button's drivers, battery check drivers, wireless lan drivers...but NO ETHERNET DRIVER!
Oh,and these HP service centers. When I called them,my call was transferred to atleast 6 peoples after which they started asking me "Which OS do you have?""WindowsXP""WHICH SERVICE PACK DO YOU HAVE?" WTF.I mean what difference will it make??"Go to this and this hp website." I told them I've already gone there,but they couldn't believe me. I asked them directly "Is my comp having a lan card or not?"They said there must be.Since you have a lan socket;)But they couldn't tell the maker of the driver.(This is rather tricky part which I came to know latter. Unless you have a driver, your lan card will not show up in Device Manager. It will be listed under 'other devices')
After someone's suggestion,I bought a chinese usb-to-lan converter for Rs.600 ; which worked fine for 2 months before blowing off. (Well not literally.It got overheated.). I had no other option but to pray..
Then one lucky day, I found that one of my friends had same comp as mine. I asked him whether he had lan drivers,and voila! He had them.Which of his friends had given him..LOL! From the driver he gave me, I learnt that it was 'NVIDIA nForce network controller driver'. I still don't understand why can't HP give an http:// address of NVIDIA site for the lan cards?? (Did you know that HP site has won awards for being Best Website for Users..Bullshit!)

Two days before I installed UBUNTU. (that will be a rather long story,sometime later). the same problem haunted me once again....SIOCGIFFLAGS! NO SUCH DEVICE. Thankfully there are so many Linux geeks out there to help you on the net. I'll just tell you the trick..
In the terminal type in sudo dhclient eth0 .And it will work.

P.S. Does anybody know about lan drivers for Compaq Presario V6138? My friend needs it.Thanks.

"Music is the silence between the notes"- C.D.

2008-03-19T00:46:00.000+05:30

I started listening to the english songs in the first year of my collage. Till that time I had never thought I would ever listen to them. I remember even betting with my friend about it, thanks to the Hard Days Night program on FM Rainbow, I lost it. I had always equated english songs with loudness, meaninglessness, and madness. But as they played beautiful tunes on FM,my opinion altered. And I still don't like the songs that shake my ear bones vigorously.

First english song that I liked was 'When I'm Sixty-Four' - by The Beatles. Since then I'm a die-hard fan of them. I love most of their songs.

I have developed a weird taste for english songs,or so say my comrades.
If you are bored by the same songs you hear,
try these out.

Starry Starry Night - Don McLean (a song about Vincent Van Gogh)
Mama look a bobo - A funny song
There is a hole in my bucket - both by Harry Belafonte
The Girl is mine - M.J with Paul McCartney
Winter Wonderland - Striper
Just My Imagination - The Cranberries
I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone - Otis Redding
Sugar, Sugar - The Archies - Jolly good
The Hardest Part - Coldplay - I don't know why but this song makes me cry
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! -Frank Sinatra - He really creates the atmosphere with his vocal chords
Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer - Dean Martin - A christmas song
Tie Yellow Ribbon to the old oak tree (I heard it first in the movie 'Julie' wherein Amol Palekar's mother in law sings it)
I really don't like you -Plain white T's(I like the way this song starts off-LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE)
No Milk Today - Herman Hermits- A Nostalgic Song
Thanks for the Lamonade -Chris Rice {I've listened to it only once on the Radio,but it was great. I tried to download it from net but couldn't. Tell me if you have it.Thanks.}
LSD - Which stands for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds-(and not the drugs!) -The Beatles - It's video is very..what can you say..very imaginative

Past Teen

2008-03-17T00:32:00.000+05:30

[A page out of my diary ...Written on 12th March]
Today is my 20th birthday. Oh, My God! I'm already out of my teens.
My teenage gone. Whoosh!
It's really a weird feeling that you get when 1/5th of your life is over .So much time spent on the earth.
So I got into a senti mood and pondered over what I have gained in all these years.(Am I sounding like a septuagenarian?)
When I was 8-9 years old I used to think I would do this and I would do that once I become tall and big like the people around me. I used to dream about all the GREAT things I'm going to do and how all the mortals will respect me and will talk about me all the time. As days, months, years passed I never thought very seriously about How (the hell) am I going to achieve my dreams, but I was (and fortunately, am still) sure that I will get there someway or the other.
Childhood is very pleasant. You don't have to pay attention to the realities (did someone said harsh?). You try to please your elders and earn their praise. But as you grow old and spread out your wings (cliché no. <1>) you start thinking about and working with the things you love to do. These are the things which are not forced on you by the others, these are some of your own favourite things. (This is getting too general; I must stick to the point.)
This (passing teen) is a kind of warning signal for me I suppose. I'm feeling weight of responsibilities on my shoulders (cliché no.<2>). What is it that I'm in pursuit of? It truly is the time to think about this, and what better time can it be than today?
When you look towards your future how does it feel? Do you get scared? Do you feel the adventures ahead? Are you ready to grab them? Are you curious about your future or you don't care about it? (This is what I ask myself.)
I have some idols. Feynman and P.L Deshpande are two of them. I am wondering..What these great people were like when they were of my age? What personality did they have at that time? How did they deal with the life? Were they always confidant about their future..or what I mean to say is.. HOW DID THEY DO WHAT THEY DID? Were they some dedicated normal persons or were they gifted?
I do not know answer to this question but I do hope that it is the former.

2007-11-06T00:11:00.000+05:30

Why would anybody name this cute butterfly 'confused'?
May be because it is going to write its first blog soon..