Monday, December 18, 2006

Dikka chikka dikka chikka dikka chikka dik!

In my 15/16 years of watching south Indian movies, I have never seen such brilliant solo performance. Forget all the gult, tam, mallu or kannada movies, never ever I have seen such spontaneous, enjoyable dance ever! And believe me, I have seen many. Vijay, Prabhu Deva, Chiranjeevi, or even the great Thalaivar .. forget all, Sreeshanth's performance outshined them all. Wow!!

I could not stop laughing for the next 30 mins. Man, the whole build up was just too much. Nel, who always has a thing to say to the batsman and never short of words, was in his elements! Sreeshanth ducked the previous short ball and Nel went right up to him, pounding his heart and shouted, "show me some heart". Sree told him to just go and bowl the next ball. Next ball, Sreeshanth charged down the wicket, hit Nel straight over sidescreen for six and did the most hilarious and brilliant jig you will ever see. This is a treasure. VRV Singh, the non striker, came to calm him down but Sree was charged. I loved the passion Sree wore. As if saying, "Take this, nai ...tengakola" :) ...Brilliant.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Its a mad mad mad world!

Girls like to be mad! Numbers of girls with their nicknames suffixed/prefixed with “mad” in all online communities are astonishing! Even better are the self proclamations or confessions, "I am mad"!

Is it because they want to project themselves as crazy? Do they relate "mad" to being fun! I think they just like to behave mad! They want to be called “mad”. Crazy? Genius? Beautiful? Weird? Happy? Sad? Hmmm ..

Actually, the liking for the human race for madness is age-old. Madness is also close to Godliness. The witch-doctors always portrayed themselves as mad, some "raged sadhu baba/maa" supposedly see god when they go into fits of madness (especially in West Bengal!).

I remember seeing one Satyajit Ray movie, where in the end, it was meant that only the mad is the sane person!

Coming back to my initial thought. No wonder girls are so difficult to understand! And I love them mad! :)

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

cows have beautiful eyes

No doubt! Absolutely. Between those pretty eyes they also have a brain, which I can't say for sure regarding the commuters, drivers (bikes, cars, buses, trucks ..) of bangalore (sorry bengaluru).

Consider this; 9:30 am, the chaos at madiwala junction. Up in the median, stands a cow, waiting patiently for the road to clear so that it can cross over to the other side and to gorge itself with goodies at the vegetable market! But it knows that crossing the road at the wrong time is harmful for itself, to the traffic, and to cops!! So it waits patiently for the road to clear up. Do you expect the same from any human in Bangalore? Nah!

Adugodi road; I am driving bonnet-to-bonnet to line of cars; from the other side comes a cop’s ambassador car (& a significant one as visible from the baton stuck in front), it comes out of the police station, which is across the other side and legally not permissible for cross-cutting, and tries to fit it between my car and the one immediately behind and accelerates so quickly in its endeavor that it hits my bumper. I pull over and stop, and the cop argues to indicate its my fault. The traffic cop on the road urges us to move on! A crow does not a crow’s meat! Nah!

Less said about the rest of the dog-eat-dog drivers the better!
coming back to my initial pretext; my college (erstwhile KREC) main building area was walled and the entrances had cow-traps. You know, the small crossings made of pipes over the pits, so that cows get their foot stuck if they try? The main building area was beautiful, with gardens, pretty flowers, creepers, orchids, shady trees which obviously cows loved so much. But we would always find cows inside. How? Once I came across one, who came right to the edge, got all its four legs together and leaped across just managing to evade the cow-traps! That would have been a clear 6 feet jump! Smart huh?

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Iftar Party

We had a gala Iftar party yesterday. Took off from office lil early to do the necessary shopping. Even better, Barnaba had brought some Zubrowka. The tradition continues. :)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

dhikh-chakh

As soon as someone tells you that a song is a "dhikh-chakh" one, you can immediately relate to a special genre! dhikh-chakh, dhikh-chak! Is there any other way to explain that? I don't think so. This word ought to be in oxford dictionary.

Who are the pioneers to really bestow us with this music? Hmmm .. the furthest I can remember, Gulshan kumar of is T-Series! Jhankar beats! Must be his greatest contribution to music, apart from Kumar Panu! heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey-hey, ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa .. dhikh-chakh, dhikh-chakh, dhikh-chakh! Oh! Truly astonishing. Mr. Himesh Reshmaiya, who turns me cold with his "himel" voice, and Mr Pritam, with his plagiarism are just carriers of the "bukhar", flag-bearers of "dhikh-chakh".

Imagine, Water scooter kumar (Akshay kumar) and Miss 38s, dancing to "dhikh-chakh, dhikh-chakh!" heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey-hey .. ahahaaaaa .. dhikh-chakh, dhikh-chakh!"

Jai-ho ...

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Internet Information!!!!!

Internet search engines ... and internet has long arrived! I use FireFox browser specifically because I can configure different search engines with it - Google, Lonely Planet Guide, Yahoo, Wikipedia, MSN, Amazon, BBC News, Creative Commons, Dictionary, EBay, Linked In, Market Watch, Webster, Technocrati, Infoseek etc. Just use a specific search engine for specific information, otherwise just use any generic one.

Since ages, whoever had the best(?) information, ruled. He was able to establish himself as someone knowing all, someone armed and powerful with knowhow! The psyche works this way– “if you do not know something, you do not understand something”. Has it happened to you where you have sat through, just listened, kept quiet, nodded your head because you haven’t had any clue what was being told and you just had to accept whatever was told? Otherwise you may appear as clueless!!! You doubt that the person is talking no sense but you do not have information enough to say anything convincing otherwise; you may still overpower a person with your personality, but he might have had the right info and you would be wrong completely, which you as a nice person would not want to!! In both the cases, as you see, info is vital!

Information can also be misleading and extremely erroneous and hence dangerous. People still have to understand that information available over the internet is subjected to scrutiny of being authentic and truthful. In online forums, it has become a common practice these days to give facts, information from Wikipedia –but people fail to read the very first page and the disclaimer of Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About
“Because Wikipedia is an ongoing work to which in principle anybody can contribute, it differs from a paper-based reference source in some very important ways. In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism. Users need to be aware of this in order to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation …”

Whats it for intelligence .. link between Information and Knowledge? Can Intelligence be there without knowledge? Aren’t they always evolving, and is it same for Information as well? Carl Sagan in Broca's wrote: “Most organisms on Earth depend on their genetic information, which is 'prewired' into their nervous systems, to a much greater extent than they do on their extragenetic information, which is acquired during their lifetimes. For human beings, and indeed for all mammals, it is the other way around. While our behavior is still significantly controlled by our genetic inheritance, we have, trough our brains, a much richer opportunity to blaze new behavioral and cultural pathways on short time scales. We have made a kind of bargain with nature: our children will be difficult to rise, but their capacity for new learning will greatly enhance the capacity for survival of the human species. In addition, human beings have, in the most recent few tenths of a percent of our existence, invented not only extragenetic but also extrasomatic knowledge; information stored outside our bodies, of which writing is the most notable example.”


Internet has given us the near endless source of this extra ‘Extrasomatic knowledge’.


I think human inquisition, investigation, rationalization, helps decide whether the info is true or can hold true; and that’s when it is passed onto his brain as knowledge.

That’s what we need to understand, Internet is a great source for information but we still must validate the correctness of the information. Hmmm ... sure! Has it not encouraged plagiarism? Reminded me of one comic incident in my old organization….

While working for a client, we were working on Capacity planning for a particular software solution implementation. For that we needed to tell the client how much hard disk space, memory and CPU usage, network bandwidth etc will be required. I prepared the document as part of our mandatory review process sent it to my superior and also reminded him to fill in some of his parts. Next day I get a mail which would give Gilbert’s classics a run. I of course could not make head or tale about it; but I was pretty sure that he could not have written that bullshit, so took the first sentence and did a google search. Bingo! The first link was for a whitepaper on Capacity planning (a PDF File). I read the first page, and it was ditto copied from there. I breathed easy because I was feeling sort of guilty of ever doubting his English!!! I of course didn’t say a single word knowing that I will never hear of it again, I finished the document myself and sent to the client.

Oh! Wonder if there is a “Internet for dummies” book! Must be sent to whoever responsible for recent blog blocking in India – to authorities, ISPs, media.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Qui?

Walking down the street to work, more or less oblivious to what’s around; I am thinking randomly of work, home, friends or the latest issues in hand. A familiar face comes walking from the other side, as unmindful as I am. Suddenly I stumble: so does the person in front who stops startled on her heels. I have a vague recollection! I scratch my memory for the person's name. I am happy to see her(?), we exchange greetings “Hi! How are you? Long time!” Pleasantries done, I am running late. I exchange business cards, take a glance; and shove that onto the endless pit of my bag, midst of all other printouts, slips, receipts, cash bills, notes, etc etc! We bid adieu. “So long!” The face hangs around in my thoughts for a while but I have more important things to take care of now!! The day is long and the project is a critical one!

Later in the night, I think, “What was her name? Seems so long ago!” I would find the card in my bag, but ... too many things to shuffle through in there... I am so very tired after a hard days work! “Ah! Check later!”

The face sinks somewhere in the vast ocean of my cerebral cortex!

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Tonight

-- And later in the evening, as you lie awake in bed; smoke the days last cig, remembering what she said … "feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues, hey feeling good was good, enough for me … my eyes are tired, but not drooping dead, see you soon".

Something like that. Read this in Pecos! Wonder who wrote it?

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Attack of the killer bees!

I was attacked!! I just got stung (beaten?) by bees, mercilessly. Everything being closed today and confined to my house, and without any option I was in the kitchen trying to cook up some broth! Without any warning came buzzing the insects and they were all over me! I like to believe that I am a sweet person but not so to such ferocious of species! I ran helter-skelter, they were all over me. Some got stuck on my hair as I tried frantically to get them off me!

I took shelter in the bathroom, picking up a bed sheet on the way. Draping myself in that, I came out .. those bees were still buzzing. I put on a helmet, with the glass down, and armed with a wet towel, first burnt a cloth (with few goodnight mats in), creating lot of smoke to drive the bees away. Quite a few were left behind still buzzing, and I killed them one by one, with a vengeance. I can now be called a qualified bee killer.

Then I smelt something funny... Different from the burning goodnight mat smell. I ran to the kitchen, and found my lunch burning! The daal was burnt to charcoal, the starch of rice spilt over the oven!! Arrrrrrrrrrgh!!

And I had procured them after a lot of fight last night. Courtesy Dr Rajkumar’s death, everything was closed. I had got hold of one autorickshaw (with quite a price) and went around looking in the ‘hallis’ for some shop! I had to make up a story that my sister’s kid needs milk! I saw whole lot of wine shops with partly open windows with shadowy characters hanging around; my alibi milk was nowhere to be found. Finally after an hour or so, I found a departmental shop and got rice, daal, vegetables, and MILK!

The maid, who is always looking for some excuse to bunk, did not of course turn up today! So I had to do all the cleaning of vessels myself! Now this! Do you know how difficult it is to clean a burnt vessel!! Oh the stench! I can not even open the windows, for those killer bees might return!

I wish I had bought some booze last night! That would have helped! There isn’t any cigarette too! There was no power for quite sometime and this only stuffed the house with all the smoke and heat! My head and face hurts like crazy! My doctor who stays close by is stuck at his in-laws place on the other side of the city! There isn’t any vehicle moving. No shops open! No... Nothing!

Actually I am to blame; I should be prepared everyday for a possible death of a celebrity.

Damn! Those bees! Tomorrow I am going to find the hive and kill them all. Chun chun ke marunga!

Monday, March 27, 2006

Dave Matthews

In all the "halla gulla" of contemporary British rock, I think I have missed out on Dave Matthews big time! Although I found some songs of bands like Travis, Train, Live, Oasis, Coldplay really nice, but after a while most of their songs do not really stick in my head. I had heard very little of Dave Matthews, till one day I saw a live acoustic concert of his on VH1. Inquisitive, I bought "Everyday", which did not help at all. I was disappointed but thinking of video that I liked so much, I asked Bruce (TAAQ) for some albums. He gave me – “Before These Crowded Streets”, “Busted Stuff”, “Crash”, “Remember Two Things” & “Under The Table and Dreaming”.

I love them all. I have been listening to Dave Matthews continuously! The music just grew onto me .. every day! He is brilliant. Surely one of the best musicians of the this era. Actually much ahead of his era I would imagine! He is awesome! His music is diverse, pushing the limits, deep, thought provoking. Some are very ambient, some are so layered! You are bordering on something touching Jazz, Classical, folk, blues, rock …!!

Rapunzel – what a song!! Spoon - the part where the mandolin comes in is just absolutely brilliant .. so is the ending. “Tripping Billies”,“Ants Marching”, “Grey Street”, “Where Are You Going” are just bind blowing stuff! He is a brilliant composer. You just have to listen to "#34", "#41", or “Spoon” or “Lie in Our Graves” to get completely hooked onto Dave Matthews!

What the heck was I doing all this time? I have missed out good 10 years of Dave Matthews! I wonder whether the current world is reflected through his lyrics. Music carries the composer’s times. I guess his lyrics shows that too. I don’t think I have read so moving lyrics of “Grace is gone” in recent times. Or “Ants Marching” ...

(Dreaming Tree..)
Standing here
The old man said to me,
"Long before these crowded streets
Here stood my dreaming tree."
Below it he would sit
For hours at a time
Now progress takes away
What forever took to find
And now he's falling hard
He feels the falling dark
How he longs to be
Beneath his dreaming tree



(Seek up..)
“Look around about this round about
this merry-go-round and around
Well If at all God's gaze upon us falls
it's with a mischievous grin, look at him”



Awesome!

Dave Mathews must be a big influence for school and college students. I think I can see the connection and inspiration in Kamal's (of Lounge Piranha) The Gun song! Wonder if Dave Matthews has inspired Bruce too? I think I am gonna be buoyed by Dave Mathews from this day onwards! Dave Mathews Rocks!!

Saturday, March 04, 2006

SRV

If one musician caught me by the collar and dragged me towards the beauty of blues is Stevie Ray Vaughan! I don't think anybody else played the blues with so much energy, passion and soul, as SRV did!

Number of people have played "Little Wing" of Hendrix, but none ever so beautifully than SRV. You just have to listen to "Tin Pan Alley" or "Sky is crying" or "Lenny" and you just melt!! Magician!

I am learning .. "Marry had a little Lamb".. What a beautiful lead! If not for Bruce, I would not even get the salient bends and touches ... he is just so spontaneous! Wonder if he is rocking Indraprastha! And all the Menekas, Rambhas drooling over him!