Chennai Chapter...

And so, out of the blue, I have been flung far away from my cosy Mumbai home to distant Chennai, for my summer internship. Thankfully I can speak the local language, so life is manageable. Just that I have to now adjust to a very limited range of options for my food, specifically four  - Idli, Dosa, Medu wada and Uttappa.

The positive point is that my office is airconditioned, and so is my guest house. Which is very comfortable, give the hot and humid Chennai weather. The downside is that the the TV in my guest house screens mostly southie channels, and I have only recently realized that there were so many south indian channels on air in the first place! 

Sample this:

Sun TV

Jaya TV

'K' TV

Asianet

Surya TV

Udaya TV

Gemini TV

And to add to it, there are also some Southie music channels (SS Music, Gemini Music, and some more that I can't remember), mostly beaming corny south indian music videos where oversized females heave bosom and pelvis with great gusto. Occasionally you find a few cute-looking girls, but mostly you feel pity for them coz fat, old and ugly men being passed off as 'heroes', move their hands and mouths all over the helpless girls.

Fortunately, SET Max is available, and so I enjoy most evenings glued to IPL.

Coming to Chennai, the transport system seems to be surprisingly well-organized (or maybe I had a wrong notion about Chennai). The buses are good, the trains aren't bad either. Neither are too crowded, and I generally have a comfortable journey to my office. Project work hasn't started off in full swing either, I'm just getting my bearings on the telecom industry.

Hopefully the good life will continue for the next 40 days...

Windows XP Genuine Disadvantage

Hmmm.. It's been nearly five months since I last posted on this blog, primarily because i'm getting too lazy, and secondly because I am (actually) quite busy with college life. Most of my time goes in looking around for an opportunity when I can scurry back to Mumbai and spend an evening at home :)

And when I reach home, the very first task that I do is to switch on my PC and troubleshoot all the problems that the enterprising members of my family have either found, or created on my PC. I'm like the hardware engineer that you call every month to your house to fix your PC if its broken. Normally the problems that I need to fix are rather simple, requiring only a few minutes of thinking. But this time, I got something new. My dad had unknowingly tried to auto-update Windows XP, and the sneaky bastard that Microsoft is, it managed to detect that my version was a pirated one. Since then, it had started throwing up nasty warning messages about me being a "victim of software counterfeiting"

Pretty normal, you would say. Everyone knows how to turn off the Genuine Windows Advantage notification. Not so fast. This time, the error messages was accompanied by an inky black desktop with a notification on it. Everytime you change the wallpaper, it reverts back to the same irritating black desktop, with the same stupid message again. On googling, I found that this is the result of Microsoft's recent drive against piracy - an update released on 20th October 2008, which has caused a lot of controversy. Read an article about about this here : http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=76

I found a solution on the net. The solution was to kill the WgaTray.exe process using the task manager, and then delete the WgaLogon.dll and WgaTray.exe files from the System32 folder in Windows. However, there was a problem here. The moment I kill the process, it automatically restarts immediately. And since it is not possible to delete a file when it is running, I was unable to delete the files. What do I do?

Then I had a brainwave. This is what I did :

1. Insert a Windows XP bootable disk into the drive (Ha! Using the venom as the antidote!!)

2. Restart the PC and boot from the CD.

3. Wait for the program to do its mandatory loading processes, to initialize Windows installation

4. In the screen where it asks you whether to install a fresh copy of Windows XP or to repair an existing installation, select Repair. A command prompt screen opens.

5. Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

6. Use the commands "del WgaTray.exe" and "del Wgalogon.dll" to delete the two culprits

I guess one could use any bootable disk to do this, but I derived a special pleasure doing it using Microsoft's own CD.

Computer back to normal.The human intellect triumphs over the computer! Muhahahahaha!!!!

Living the MBA Dream

As they say, life's what happens to you when you have other plans. Nothing sums up the story of my life more aptly. Dealing with rejects from various colleges on one hand, and thinking of CAT-2008 on the other, while at the same time balancing my work at TCS, I suddenly find myself out of TCS and into a management college within a span of ten days!! Destiny sure has rather innovative ways of proving that it is indeed unpredictable.

It's no secret that the most beautiful places in the world are those that haven't yet been touched by man. One such place is where I have landed up, my college campus. As I sit near the window of my hostel room and write this, a cool breeze blows past my ear, causing me goosebumps. This truly is one amazing place! Situated on a hill overlooking Pune, my college campus at Lavale is nothing short of a hill-station. The view in every direction is simply breathtaking, and there are times when, walking down the road, I just stop in my tracks to admire the view, even though I've been seeing it all through this week. It feels almost stupid to be studying in a place which looks like a picnic spot!

So, college's started, and I'm back to being a student after two years in the corporate world. A strange feeling, to sit and listen to four-hour long lectures, and experience that familiar drowsy feeling after lunch, when the lecturer's rhythmic cadence gradually puts you to sleep. A weird feeling, when I have to pay for tea and coffee (I am so used to drinking several cups of coffee during the day, from the coffee machine at my office). A realization that I'm no longer earning money, but instead spending it!

So here starts a new phase in my life.. new challenges, new opportunities, new avenues... and my career is now (hopefully) traversing through a warp zone..

And Words are all I have...

Right from our childhood, we constantly hear new words. And then, as we progress on in our education/work/daily life, we learn words specific to our education/work domain, and these words start making a conspicuous appearance in our normal conversations. Hence, if you are a software techie, you would find nothing abnormal about this conversation:

“Hey, look at the message written on that birthday greeting card.”
“Yeah, that's such a beautiful font!”
“The font is nice but the font size is too large.”

As an engineer, my vocabulary is largely influenced by technical and software jargon, and I frequently use terms like “writing in caps lock” to imply using block letters, try to “undo” pencil marks with an eraser, and use “default” modes to refer to normal settings for gadgets.

Lately, I'm finding that technical words apart, a new class of words is creeping into my vocabulary - CORPORATE jargon! And at times it irritates me when I myself end up using bombastic words where simple, terse words would have been enough. So the loo (I just love the simplicity of this word) becomes the formal-sounding washroom, the canteen becomes the cafeteria, the watchman becomes a security personnel, the guy who mops the floor becomes a housekeeping staff, a customer complaint becomes an escalation, problems become issues or concerns, meetings become conferences, and so on. And the more senior you are in an organization, the more imperative it is for you to be aware of such heavy-sounding words, and use them liberally in your everyday speech (even if they sound utterly fake).

I am thankful I’m not a lawyer, for I am told that legal jargon, has some even more scary words! I’ll sign off with this old one :
One day in Law class, Professor Jepson asked one of his better students, "Now if you were to give someone an orange, how would you go about it?" The student replied, "Here's an orange."

The professor was livid. "No! No! Think like a lawyer!"

The student then recited, "Okay, I'd tell him, 'I hereby give and convey to you all and singular, my estate and interests, rights, claim, title, claim and advantages of and in, said orange, together with all its rind, juice, pulp, and seeds, and all rights and advantages with full power to bite, cut, freeze and otherwise eat, the same, or give the same away with and without the pulp, juice, rind and seeds, anything herein before or hereinafter or in any deed, or deeds, instruments of whatever nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding..."

Gunda Ka Funda

YES!! I finally managed to lay my hands upon a Bollywood classic named Gunda. I had first heard about this cinematic gem after I noticed several Orkut communities dedicated to this movie. Apparently this relatively unknown 1997 Mithun Chakraborty starrer is rapidly becoming a rage in today’s times (The Economic Times had a detailed review of it in 2007!!) .

So, when curiosity got the better of me, I decided to hunt for a DVD. After searching for several days, I finally managed to get a DVD from a roadside vendor.

There are several unqiue things about this movie. For starters, the main characters have some really innovative names - “Lambu Atta”, “Lucky Chikna”, “KafanChor Neta”,“Ibu Hatela”, “Bulla”, “Potey” and “Chutiya” (Yup, you read right). Compare these with the hackneyed names that Karan Johar dishes out in his movies – Raj Chopra, Rahul Singhania, Pooja Malhotra… how boring!!!

Further, each character has a unique introductory line (‘Mera Naam Hai Bulla, Mai rakhta hoon Khulla!!’, ‘Mera Naam Hai Ibu Hatela, Maa Meri Chudail ki Beti, Baap Shaitaan ka Chelaa. Khayega Kela?’, etc etc)

Almost every character speaks in rhyming verses, that (supposedly) adds to the drama. Most of the verses are unabashedly double-meaning, which adds to the fun if you are watching it with your friends. I bet you and your friends will be repeating all the lines for several days after watching the movie! Sample some literary gems from this movie :

'Mera Naam Hai Potey.. Jiskey Baap ke bhi nahi Hotey!'

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

'Tu ne Gundagardi me bahut naam kamaya...

Dushmano ko kabhi faada, kabhi kaata...

Dikhne me to tu naataa.. par naam hai Lambu Atta!'

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

'Kaam ki baat bataa.. jiske liye tu Billi ka doodh peeke Dilli se aaya hai!'

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

'Roti hoti hai Khaane ke liye,

Boti hoti hai Chabaane ke liye,

Bulla ki behen ho ya Fakeer ki Peti,

Ek na ek din aati hai Mard ke neeche bajaane ke liye!'

(I just loved the last one!!)

There are some outrageously choreographed numbers with male extras clad in lungis executing steps that you need to see to believe. And of course, the mandatory rape scenes, the most integral part of any B-grade Bollywood flick.

And then, there is the one and only Mithun. This is a movie that simply underlines the sheer magic called Mithun Chakraborty. It makes you realize why even Rajnikanth pales in comparison with this deity. As the Coolie Shankar who works at an airport(!), he is the undoubted star of the show Check out the scene where he blows up a politician’s Ambassador car, with a single shot from a tiny pistol. The car is thrown as if it was hit by a tank rather than a bullet. Equally memorable is the scene where he destroys a hundred autorickshaws (the producer probably couldn’t afford cars, so he settled for autorickshaws instead) with a hand-held rocket launcher (I guess rocket-launchers are easily accessible in Mithun’s world – you could probably buy one at the local hardware store). Yet another gem of a scene is one where Mithun kills some goons at a brothel which has got cots hanging in from the roof. Sure gives a new meaning to the term ‘love in the air’. Spooky, but innovative!

The movie is currently rated 8.3 on IMDB. That’s a phenomenal rating, considering that even Titanic is rated 7.2. Watch it! You’ll know what innovative cinema is all about. And you’ll become a Mithun fan for sure :)

Music Phone vs MP3 player

A recent trend that has caught up with today's generation is music. It is nowadays the 'in' thing to have musical inclinations, and such people are frequently the centre of all attraction in peer groups. No surprise then, that we see most people spending a large amount of their time listening to music. With the advent of the MP3 format, the good old casette player is out, and what we have today are smart, sleek MP3 players that are as small as matchboxes, and can store songs equivalent to hundreds of casettes.

Evidently, the mobile industry has noticed this and come up with its riposte to music players - music phones. And I must admit, they have actually done a great job! In fact, today many of us contemplate having a personal music player, and are unable to decide whether to go for a dedicated MP3 player or buy a phone that can play MP3 songs.

So, how does one decide? Let's look a few aspects regarding music players.

1. Sound quality : Till recently, the most important edge that an MP3 player had over a music-enabled phone was the sound quality. The sound quality of an MP3 phone never came even close to a dedicated MP3 player like an iPod. However, today, with the advent of music-branded phones like the Walkman series by Sony Ericsson and XpressMusic by Nokia, this gap is rapidly closing. Most music-enabled phones in the market today can be a decent substitue for a music player, and in some cases like Walkman or MotoRokr, can actually rival an iPod in terms of sound quality. No doubt, most audiophiles would swear by their iPod - undoubtedly the best music player currently available. But that's why they are called audiophiles - they are so obsessed with technical terms like acoustics and sound clarity, that they fail to really appreciate music. They tend to forget that the objective of buying a music player is to listen to music, and not to get tangled in acoustic jargon.

While I certainly do accept that an iPod does give a (slightly) better listening experience than a phone, the sound quality of most phones today is fairly acceptable, and in some cases excellent. Hence, I conclude that this advantage that an MP3 player had over a phone is now nullified.

Score : MP3 Player - 0, Music phone - 0

2. Screen : Many of the MP3 players in the market (Read iPod Shuffle) lack a screen for viewing the song list. The only way is to manually scroll through the songs one by one, till you reach the song of your choice. What is the point if you can store several hundred songs in your player, but can't play one specific song of your choice at any point of time? In comparison, even the cheapest music phone has a screen where one can see a list of all the songs, and select the one that he wants to listen to. MP3 players with screens are available, but most of them are slightly on the expensive side - the iPod Nano costs nearly 7000 bucks.
An additional advantage of a screen is that it enables you to create new playlists, sorting playlists by album/singer/title, changing equalizer setting. Thus the phone wins here as well. Score : MP3 Player - 0, Music phone - 1

3. Charging : This is a point that is frequently missed by most buyers before buying a music player - most music players need to be charged via the PC USB port, so the only way you can charge the player is by connecting it to a PC. A mobile phone can be charged anytime by connecting it to a electric point - and you charge your mobile phone regularly anyway, so charging is not a concern for phones. Score : MP3 Player 0, Music phone - 2.

4. Memory capacity : Okay here's a point where MP3 players win by a huge margin - the 2GB or 4 GB available in music phones is peanuts compared to the 80GB monster called iPod Classic. However, a word of caution here : 80GB is actually overkill. A player with a capacity of 80 GB can actually store 16000 songs at good quality (128Kbps), and I bet you don't have so many songs to fill up the player. A phone with a 2GB card is sufficient for storing around 400 songs - a decent count. 400 songs, assuming each song to be of around 5 minutes, would mean a listening time of around 2000 minutes. That's more than sufficient, unless you have absolutely no work to do from morning till evening. Moreover, technology is fast working on building larger memory cards, and it won't be uncommon to see 8GB memory cards by the end of this year. Anyway, I'll grudgingly give the MP3 players a point here. Score : MP3 Player - 1, Music phone - 2.

5. Convenience of carrying : Ah this is one thing which I have always believed - Why do you want to carry two gadgets in your pocket, when you can do with just one? You carry a cell phone to office/college, so with a music-enabled phone, you will be carrying a music player wherever you go. Score : MP3 Player 1, Music phone - 3.

6. Cost: This is surely an important issue - Will buying a music phone be cheaper than having a phone and a MP3 player? Doubtful. But the difference in price is going to be very less - An entry-level music phone would cost under 5000, and with a 2GB memory card, will end up costing around 5500. An iPod Nano with a video screen costs Rs. 6900. Decide for yourself.

**Final Score : MP3 Player 1, Music phone - 4.**

So what do we see? If you are a person who is particular about avoiding unnecessary expenses, it makes a lot of sense to buy a entry-level music phone like a Sony Ericsson W200i or a Nokia 3110 Classic or even the upcoming MotoYuva W230, rather than a dedicated MP3 player. On the other hand if you are Mr. Moneybags with tons of cash to spend, you may look at mid-range music phones like the SE W810i or Nokia N70 music edition. Either way, the music phones defeat the MP3 players by a HUGE margin.. So
Musically yours,Vivek.

Aaj ka GundaRAJ

There was a movie by this name, released sometime in the 90s. Somehow this title aptly sums up the current political situation in Maharashtra. The recent attacks by the MNS on the North Indians, followed by the retaliations by the Samajwadi Party, coupled with a spineless government that is scared to hell about taking strong action against the offenders, have made a complete mockery of the world's largest democracy.

Why is the government dithering so much about prosecuting Raj Thackeray? It is scared that this will turn him into a 'hero'. And how was he granted bail so easily? The whole drama is just an eyewash. The government is under pressure from both ends - the MNS supporters who threaten violent consequences if Raj is arrested, and the prospect of it losing its credibility in front of the general public if it doesn't go ahead with the arrest. So it finds an easy way out - arrest him temporarily to "show off" its courage, and then release him on the same day to avoid any violent aftermath. It is an attempt to fool the gullible public.

Taking a holistic view of the entire situation, it becomes disturbingly clear that each and every political party involved in this issue has it's own political agenda. The actions taken by each political party reeks of votebank politics. The MNS obviously wants to get noticed among the "Marathi Manoos" and is resorting to this extreme political stunt which seems to have failed miserably, as Raj has been made out to be a villain, by a large part of the media as well as the general public. The Samajwadi party is trying to cash in on this situation, trying to get the support of the substantial North Indian population in the city. The Shiv Sena has been taken by surprise by this sudden aggressive development, and is trying to work out a strategy to get the support of the North Indians, while at the same time trying not to lose the support of it's loyal Marathi-speaking populace. The Congress government is the one that looks completely clueless - right now it resembles a lamb caught in a rhino stampede.

Ultimately, the people who suffer are the general public - The exodus of people from Nashik has let to a drastic increase in the prices of fruits, vegetables and other such commodities. Damage to public transport vehicles will ultimately be borne by the common man in the form of increased taxes and cesses. And will the offenders be made to pay for this? No. They go away scot-free, their mission accomplished. That's the dirty game called politics.

After the 1993 riots, people indulged in bouts of self-praise, claiming that Mumbai has now become more sensible, it is now unaffected by trivial issues like caste-based or mothertongue-based politics. But the recent events have only reconfirmed that Mumbai has learnt nothing from its past experiences. It is still like the Diwali bomb that needs a single spark like Raj Thackeray to explode.

Aah.. should have waited more before posting the previous blog.. coz I just finished listening to another equally weird track. Check out the lyrics :
Zara Zara Touch Me, Touch Me, Touch Me
Zara Zara Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me
Zara Zara Love, Love Me, Love Me
Zimbblly amazing!!

Words Worth

It feels funny to write a post that criticizes a lyricist, just after a post that praises another. Now it so happens that, I constantly keep having arguments with my dad over the quality of today's music. Though I manage to put a strong argument in favour of today's music, I have to admit that when it comes to the quality of lyrics, contemporary music has taken a beating. Because apart from an occasional poetic gem by Javed Akhtar or Prasoon Joshi, we are now frequently subjected to horrendous Hinglish lines being passed off as lyrics. The modern-day dominance of Western instruments like the electric guitar and drums over traditional Indian instruments has only aggravated the situation. The nature of music in Hindi movies is predominantly Western, and to compliment that, most songwriters - Javed Akhtar being a noteworthy exception(thank god) - lose all their poetic instincts, and come up with gross lines containing a mix English with Hindi, and a bit of Punjabi (mainly the staple words like chakde, shava, etc) thrown in for added misery.

Sample these lines from a song in the recent movie 'Race' :

Teri baaton se mila Temptation (!),
Tere pyaar ne diya Vibration (!!),
Ye mere dil ne kiya Confession (!!!),
Chori Chori akhiyaa ne dil tera le jaana (somebody save me)

Now that's what I call absolutely uninspiring, emotionless lyrics. Probably the lyric writers ran out of words that rhyme in Hindi, so they had to go overseas searching for words.

A popular romantic song from Boyzone goes -

"You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say
It's only words, and words are all I have
To take your heart away!"

Well, if words were anything to go by, the hero in the movie Race has scant chances of taking away someone's heart with lyrics like that.

Music Review: Taare Zameen Par :: A heart-tugging album

It requires an unconventional film to come up with unconventional music. Taare Zameen Par seems destined to be added to the list of such films. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, after a recent string of mediocre offerings, have finally come up with a stirring album that is melodious, soulful and moving. None of the typical thumping beats that you normally see in their tracks - this one concentrates more on emotion and expression.

The bonus here is the beautiful lyrics penned by Prasoon Joshi. I have always been a diehard fan of Javed Akhtar and his Urdu poetry, and have never found anybody else even remotely close. But I have to admit that this time, Prasoon has come up with lyrics comparable to Akhtar's standards.

Two songs stand out in the movie. One of of course, the title track - Kho Na Jaye Ye Taare Zameen Par. The subtle likening of little children with dewdrops, that forms the opening lines of the song, is simply breathtaking. Each line of the song draws beautiful analogies. My favourite lines are at the end of the song

Mohalle ki raunak, galiyaan hain jaise
Khilne ki zid par, kaliyaan hain jaise
Mutthi Me Mausam ki jaise hawaayein,
Ye hain Buzurgon ki Dil ki Duaayein!

Awesome!

The second song is again another emotional ride, this one simply titled "Maa". If you can listen to this song without a single tear coming to your eyes, you've got to have one of the hardest hearts ever. Lyrics that are amazingly simple, yet so stirring. True music lovers will surely find their eyes wet when they hear this one.

The importance of the singer's voice in soft songs can never be understated. The tenderness in Shankar's voice does ample justice to both the above songs, as he sings them soulfully. What you get in the end is a treat to the ears - Two emotion-filled songs with melodious music, touching lyrics and top-notch singing.

The rest of the songs (Bheja Kum, Bum Bum Bhole, Kholo Kholo) are mainly meant for little kids, and sound reasonably okay. But it's "Maa" and "Kho na Jaaye" that are the life of the album. Enjoy!

Finance MisManagement

After the CAT, it's time for an onslaught of dogs, sheep, goats, cows and the rest of the cattle. And the worst part is, each one of them is damn expensive! I've spent nearly ten thousand bucks on exam and college admission forms alone, and there are more to come yet. My folks think I've got a secret source of illegal income, that's why I'm spending so much of it. But how do I explain, that this is how this wretched world works? That you have to apply to several colleges EVEN BEFORE knowing how much you will score in their entrance exam? It is obvious that this is nothing but an easy way for these greedy colleges to make more money. Their excuse: If you get into one of these colleges, you'll make a hundred times more money after passing out.

Aha. Thus you learn the first principle of management before even getting into the college - I'll loot you, you loot someone else.

The Aftermath......

Phew!! The past several months of hectic preparation finally culminated in a nerve-wracking two and a half-hour climax last Sunday. And boy, was it a cracker! This was one hell of a wild cat - tough, tricky and dangerous. I was majorly mauled, but have survived to tell the tale!

First of all, the main lesson I learnt from this exam : Never underestimate others' intelligence and your own stupidity.

Was it tough? You bet! But then, that's the fun in it - as I keep saying - the bigger the challenge, the greater the glory. It doesn't get bigger and more challenging than this! This was surely the final frontier in terms of mental challenges.

Was it possible to tame it? Possibly. Could I have fared better? Definitely yes. But then, days are rare when each and everything goes exactly as planned. So, I end up with a score that is tantalizingly close to an IIM call. So near, yet so far. That's when you realize the value of a single mark. A mark that could have probably made a difference of a lakh in my earnings. A mark that could have changed my career, my life. Just one silly, goddamned mark.

I've always felt, that marks are like money. Inspite of how much you get, you still feel like having some more. That was exactly the case here. From what I can see, my performance here has been better than most of my mock cats :) That gives me some kind of solace and comfort.

As for the hope of that one single call, well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed ! The suspense unravels after another 40-odd days... Till then... adios amigo and hope for the best!

Enjoyyy
Vivek S.

Office Office

The end of this rather long vacation is approaching, and it's only five more days left before the regular office grind starts.
The same old work, the same old place, the same old cubicle. On second thoughts, it doesn't seem too bad either, except for the travelling part. Maybe, if Miss Kitty doesn't smile on me, this place wouldn't be a bad alternative after all. Less pressure, less work, less effort. I'm actually missing office ;) Now that's a scary thought.

The CountDown begins....

Yikes! I almost forgot that I had a blog! Been ages and ages and some more ages since I last posted on my blog. I guess there are several reasons ranging from hectic work schedules to erratic internet connections (the main reason, however, is my eternal laziness).

Hmm.. Right now, the time is 12:05 AM (What a beautiful time to write a blog) on 25th October 2007. I'm on leave for the past few days for certain "feline" reasons (get the hint). However, I don't seem to be making much use of this leave, as is evident from the fact that I'm spending this leave writing blogs!


Another 11 days of leave to go, and less than 25 days before the feline finally strikes. Let's see whether I have an adequate answer this time. Every day I motivate myself with lots of inspirational thoughts like "Chak De!" and crap like that.. but every sunday morning brings me crashing back to reality.. reminding me that I'm just an ordinary bloke among the crowd, who stands no chance.

I'm gonna need lots and lots of favours from a certain lady, named Miss Luck.. But right now, she seems to be in a rather grumpy mood, so I'm just gonna hope that she finally smiles on me on the D-day.. (or rather, the C-day!).

Chalo cya.. the next post on this blog will probably be after my rendezvous with Miss Kitty, and I hope I survive to tell the tale!

Nowadays, I am busy meeting friends. And I found that I have more friends than required! Every weekend, I have one returning to Mumbai, or going away from Mumbai. So every Sunday, there is either a farewell party or a reception party.

My folks are highly bugged ("On weekdays, you are hardly seen at home, now you run away on weekends too!"). Actually sometimes I agree with them too.

Dual Joy....

Hmmmm... After nearly three weeks of surviving without a PC at home, I've finally got a new one. And how!! A roaring 64-bit Dual-core AMD Athlon 4400+ engine, powered by an ASUS 690G chipset-based motherboard, with a princely 1GB of Transcend DDR2 667 MHz RAM, plus a royal 256MB 7600GS graphic card which handles heavy-duty games like kid stuff. This is one wild beast for sure! And oh yes, there's also the visual and audio treat provided by the 19" Widescreen LCD monitor and my beloved Altec Lansing ATP3 audio system. Life sure has come a long way from my frail old Pentium III.

What makes this new PC special is that each and every part in this rig was handpicked by me after nearly seven months of painstaking research, and learning on computer hardware. All this hard work has finally culminated into a final product that has no possible drawbacks to the best of my knowledge. There is this immense feeling of joy when the shopkeeper at Lamington road tries to con you into buying something inferior, and you are able to see through his tricks. The knowledge that you know more about hardware than the guy in front of you.. it truly gives you a feeling of superiority. Knowledge is definitely a kind of power!!


Back on the work front, things looking gloomy as usual. Kintana still keeps springing new surprises for me, and am having a tough time handling her. But still, the frenzy of the previous weeks is now lesser, and I'm now slowly "getting into the groove".. but I guess I'll have a looooooong way to go before I manage to catch up with my teammates (most of whom seem to get some kind of divine pleasure in working for 12-15 hours a day!)

There's some kind of trek this weekend. I'm gonna be trying to heave my grossly unfit body over hills and mountains. Now that's what I call an "uphill" task! ;)

Indian Idol - Triteeya

What's with the new set of judges on Indian Idol? They don't seem to have ANY kind of authority while passing a judgement on the singers. The previous panel of judges - Farah, Sonu and Malik was a balanced one, with Sonu and Malik handling the subtle musical details whereas Farah monitored the performance. All three of them were assertive in their own way, having opinions independent of each other. None of them hesitated to voice their opinions even if it conflicted with the majority.


The current set of judges is pathetic. Anu Malik dominates over the rest of the judges. Udit Narayan remains neutral most of the time. Alisha Chinai merely rephrases Anu Malik's opinion. I have never seen Alisha having an opinion of her own. Javed Akhtar, as one would expect, focuses mostly on the pronunciation and poetic aspect of the performance. Now with Anu Malik out of action temporarily, the rest of the panel is completely clueless on how to judge the contestants. Anu Malik was the only judge who seemed to have an opinion on the 'singing' part. Without him, the rest of the judges just try to extol the singers endlessly. The panel went on and on about all the girls being "soooo brilliant". I, for one, felt that many of the girls were pathetic. Alisha and Udit merely keep praising the contestants with the same hackneyed "accha gaaya, fabulous, fantastic". Bullshit.


I find it so ironic that in the absence of Anu Malik, it is a lyricist who makes the most pointed observations on the singing quality, inspite of two professional playback singers being on the panel. Is this a healthy trend? No. Alisha and Udit praised ALL 28 singers as potential Indian Idols. They seem to have forgotten that many times, the viewers get highly influenced by the kind of feedback that the judges give. Obviously the viewers are not so knowledgeable about music to pass a judgement on who sings better. Most of the decisions taken by the viewers are either on the basis of emotion or after listening to the judges' feedback. If Alisha and Udit keep extolling all the singers, then the audience will vote solely on the basis of emotion. The end result would be that we will have an Indian Idol who doesn't really deserve to be there.


The judges should be more strict while judging the contestants, and point out the flaws and merits of each performance in more detail, so that the audience gets a clearer idea. I can only hope Anu Malik gets on the show soon, coz he is the only guy who speaks fearlessly.

I sincerely hope the the best singer wins!
Signing off.. (it's getting late)
Vivek S.

Change - For the better or worse?

Every now and then, I run into a few old friends. And almost everytime, I get that nostalgic feeling - the typical "those were the good old days" kind of emotion that takes you back in time when life was much simpler, our hearts and minds were clearer, unlike the emotional muddles and ego hassles that we are in now.

I met someone the other day. This was a guy who I was not too close to during my school days. Most of the time, I used to look at him with a contempt, a guy who I felt was a troublesome pest. But that day my mind was surprisingly devoid of such feelings. I spoke with him as though he was a dear friend. We chatted for nearly an hour, reliving the days gone by. He seemed to have undergone a complete change from the guy that I had known during my childhood. He was now more sober, more polished in his behaviour and speech, more sophisticated in the way he conducted himself. When I pointed out this change to him, he replied back, "You have changed a lot too!". I desperately wanted to ask him, "For the better or worse?", but I stopped myself.

The question still keeps haunting my mind.

The 'Special Someone' in my life....

Nowadays I have a special someone in my life... Kintana! What an exotic name you might think. She is far more exotic than the name itself. I spend most my day paying attention to her. I have to try and keep her happy as much as possible. Everyday, I meet her in office the first thing in the morning. She is always there, waiting for me, with new surprises for the day (sometimes pleasant, mostly scary). And before I leave office late in the evening, I just check up on her, in case she's got a few late surprises up her sleeve, that will keep me with her for that extra few hours...

She's quite reserved actually, coz she never meets me outside office. I have to take utmost care not to anger her, because her temper can be devastating too. She couldcomplain to my boss about it (who by the way, pays a lot of attention to her too). But nevertheless, when you spend more than half the day with Kintana, it's hard not to fall in love with her. She's become my heart and soul. My every heartbeat, every pulse, every breath, every twitch of muscle is now governed by her. She must know exactly what I have done in the day, whether I spent the day constructively, or in frivolous activities. I've almost surrendered myself to her all-pervading power.

And I know one thing for sure, as long as I'm in TCS, my tryst with Kintana's gonna continue...

Dombivli Fast

Saw a stirring Marathi movie today named 'Dombivali Fast'. A movie about a man standing by his principles in a corrupt world. Nothing out of this world, but excellent treatment of the subject, coupled with brillant acting. Heartening to see that people still make (a few)good films in India.
Our richer Bollywod directors and script-writers would do well to learn a thing or two from these talented blokes who may be short on finance but are rich in talent and ideas.

End of another weekend..

In a few hours from now, it's gonna be Monday morning, and the start of another monotonous week. I am starting to believe that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have no legs, because they really seem to crawl! Saturday and Sunday must have wings, because they literally fly past you!

Another week where I have to commute to the distant suburb called Borivali, and back again. (And try to do some work in between these two trips). What a life....

Aha. Got some info on my previous blog's topic, after some research.... Here is a shamlessly lifted link from indiainfo.com :

http://movies.indiainfo.com/2007/04/27/hansika.html

So that girl is indeed Hansika motwani. Hmm.

The Return of Himesh

Himesh Reshammiya has made a comeback to Bollywood after a refreshing break(for us). Though I hate this guy from the bottom, top, inside and outside of my heart, he still keeps amazing me all the time. He's composed music(?), lent his voice(??) to his songs, now he's starring(hahahah) in a film of his own!! Boy, this dude's really got the guts to stretch his luck this far. What next? Direction? Production? Choreography?

And that new girl paired with him... why is she being called "Riyaa" ??.. To my eyes, she is the little girl Hansika Motwani from Koi Mil gaya, now grown up. There are so many people with similar sounding names... Riya, Riyaa, Rimi, Rimii, Rima, Reema, Raima.. (Oi Maa!!) I've lost count of them. By the way, she was supposed to debut with Mithun's son Mimoh right? Guess she couldn't resist Himesh's offer...

Ta Ra Rum Pum..

Just finished listening to the songs of Ta Ra Rum Pum. Can't stop raving about one particular song - 'Saiyaan Ve'. What a beauty of a song. Easily the best song in an otherwise boring soundtrack. It starts off with a folksy guitar, then progresses on to some Western percussion beats, finally blending and playing in tandem with the dholak. And you can't miss the rock pieces from an electric guitar throughout the song, plus the occasional title piece on a piano and the folksy guitar instrument providing the accompaniment. Phew! One hell of an amazing sound arrangement!

Sung by the music director Vishal Dadlani himself, this touching yet inspirational song is a winner all the way. It's difficult to believe that this is the same guy who sang the Western-sounding title track of Dhoom 2. Here he sounds like a combination of Kailash Kher and KK. Very classical, very soulful, very indian. Javed Akhtar, as he always does, delivers top-class lyrics the way only he can. Don't miss this track! Miss the film, but not this track!

India Whining... Are we overdoing it?

Three people - a Japanese, an American and an Indian were conversing.

Japanese : In Japan, even cats can understand English!
Americans: In America, even dogs go to space!
Indian : In India, even donkeys play the cricket World Cup!

The above SMS is currently doing the rounds after India's sudden and unexpected exit from the World Cup. The advertisers have lost money and the fans have lost faith. Everyone is deriving great pleasure commenting about the bleak future of Indian cricket. Suddenly, India-bashing has become the "in" thing nowadays. The cricket team itself is facing the heat from all quarters. Since the day it lost to Sri Lanka and bowed out, I regularly read in the newspapers about the various ways in which the team is getting screwed. From pay cuts to curtailments in product endorsements , the BCCI is severely cracking the whip on the players.

In such circumstances, I can't help but feel sympathy for Dravid and his boys. This article is not to condone their below-par performance in the World Cup. But one seriously needs to examine whether the Indian team's performance is really as bad as it is being made out to be.

Let's look at things from a statistical point of view. India played just three matches in the World Cup. In one of those matches India not only won, but also notched up the highest One-day total in World Cup history, and also won by the greatest margin in World cup history. Agreed this was against a team like Bermuda, but you've got to give them credit for what they did. As far as the loss against Sri Lanka is concerned, you can't really be too harsh on the team for it, considering the fact that both Sri Lanka and India are more or less evenly matched. Either of them could have defeated the other on any particular day.

Thus we come to the main argument of the critics, the loss to Bangladesh. Almost everybody had assumed that India would win against Bermuda and Bangladesh, and go through to the next round. The match against Sri Lanka would then have been mostly irrelevant to India's chances. By that one loss to Bangladesh, India screwed up their World Cup party. One loss for a team, One huge loss for Indian cricket. No doubt India played badly in that match. But hey come on folks, it was a one-day match! Upsets frequently occur here, that's why One-day cricket is so unpredictable. A single bad day in the field for the team can lead to a loss. That's what happened during the India-Bangladesh tie. Unfortunately, this bad day proved too costly to the team's fortunes in the World Cup and before you knew it, Bangladesh had muscled their way into the Super 8 and India had found their way out of the World Cup.

The moment everybody realized that India is out, the swords have been drawn out, the blame game has begun and the mud-slinging has started. The attitude of senior players has been criticized, the efficiency of the coach has been questioned and the captain's skills have been doubted. All this, just because of ONE upset. This was the same team led by the same captain under the same coach, which has been performing for the past one year. Where were these doubts about sincerity, attitude and skills then? The point is, there is no reason for such drastic censuring of the team after one defeat. People take one defeat too much to heart and act on impulse. How many of these critics have themselves played in a World Cup? How do they know what a player feels when he is playing the World cup for his country? Every budding cricketer aspires of donning a World Cup cap, at least once in his lifetime. Nothing can give a player more pride than the satisfaction of having represented India in a World Cup. Any player would give his hundred percent to a tournament that decides the best cricket team in the world. A tournament that comes just once in every four years, a tournament that very few players actually get to play.

So let us stop cursing the cricket team and let the poor blokes try and improve themselves. Excessive criticism by us will only add to their frustration levels. Let us motivate them to do better and once again become the dangerous team that nearly won the world cup in 2003. Indian cricket has plunged to great depths in the past, only to recover and strike back again. History bears testimony to the fact that in times of despair and scepticism, the Indian cricket team has always recovered and shone back to its brilliance. Remember India's tour of Australia a couple of years back? All Indian supporters were expecting a 3-0 whitewash. But contrary to expectations, the team almost managed a series victory. Even during the 2003 World Cup, India were in danger of getting eliminated in the opening round itself, but managed to rise from the dead to almost winning the World Cup. Let us hope that the Indian cricket team stages such a comeback very soon and wins the World Cup next time.

Till then, sit and watch the other teams slog it out in the current World Cup. Our time will come soon. Better luck next time folks!

Abhi-Ash and the wedding bash

I am still reeling under the onslaught of the media coverage of a certain Bollywood actor-actress's wedding. Seriously, the hype regarding this event has reached such monstrous proportions that it has totally overshadowed even the World Cup. Of course, with India being thrown out of the tournament, the World Cup doesn't seem very interesting anymore, unless you are one of those who watch the game "for the pleasure of watching the sport". Who cares a damn about the sport? All I wanted to see is India winning. Pity it wasn't meant to be.

Coming to the point, if India had managed to stay on till the super 8's, it would have been interesting to see which event received greater TRPs - the live telecast of India's cricket matches or the live telecast of this over-hyped star wedding. The frenzy that has been whipped up by the various news channels has touched sickening levels. Media persons are camping outside the houses of the stars just to provide all the "juicy details" of the event. Over-enthusiastic correspondents are excitedly providing a running commentary of the even right down to the minutest detail, right from a starlet slashing her wrists to Aishwarya getting emotional about her "bidaai".

A Smart Alec once quipped: "Marriage is nothing but a public announcement of private intentions." In this case the announcement has evidently become too public, albeit unintentionally. Even the Pope's visit doesn't get this kind of media coverage. It was a good thing that Mandira Bedi and Charu Sharma were busy with the World Cup presentation, or else we would have had them presenting a show before the live telecast of Ash's wedding, titled "Extraaa Innings" (pun unintended!).

Which brings us to the question, "Are we really interested in watching this wedding?" Agreed, the two are probably the most desired stars in the film industry, adored by millions. And it is also true that with this marriage, millions of hearts have been broken. But very few people in India actually have the time and patience to sit and watch it on TV for three days. The media is trying to hype this event by literally forcing it down our throats. Each and every news channel is showing the same footage, looping it over and over again. Even the families involved in the wedding would be irritated by this unprecedented hysteria.

Under such circumstances, the question remains to be asked whether it was a wise idea to have such a wedding in the city at all. What a striking contrast this wedding is with Aamir Khan's private wedding to Kiran Rao at Panchgani, with minimal media coverage. Aamir saved himself (and many of us) a lot of headache with this smart move. Any star planning a wedding in the near future would do well to learn a lesson from this.

Hopefully by tomorrow, all the din will have died down, and everything will be back to normal. It will be business as usual for everybody, the world will be as it was before. Just one small difference.. Ms. Rai will now be Mrs. Bachchan.

And before I sign off, here's wishing you both a happy married life, Abhi-Ash!