Destined to Win!

How do people achieve what they do? Lets not take the celebrities or their quickfamed children. Lets analyse the common - next door boy and gal! One interesting point to observe is that, they would have had a tough childhood! Tough being relative from one person to another. Second, they would have been through innumerable situations in life - where they would have had to progress to the next level. Sometimes - its by choice, mostly, the situations are by destiny.

My favourite D word - DESTINY!

Sounds very vague and illogical at first glance! Are we really destined to do what we end up doing? Is it not that we go through a path of complicated choices and end up choosing at every stage? Choices we take are usually compatible with our core fabric. The fabric which entails the sum total of all our traits/emotions/feelings and skills - dormant or existant. No one comes to this world empty handed. They come - yes - with loads of invisible skills. It takes time for the world to recognise it, for the world to appreciate it and most importantly for the individual to come to terms with it!

When I look around myself, people who surround me in the avatar called 'friendship' - I have to say, some of them stand out like the North star! Outstanding qualities, extraordinary personality, very young yet as mature as it gets. Smart, committed, focused! I can go on. Some of these qualities, in themselves, take a lot of time and effort to identify, build and sustain. But having all of them as a package, is truly worth wondering, what is the secret behind all of this??

"The Himalayas" didnt happen by chance! It wasnt a fluke. It happened because of the consistent situations it had to face when two continents collided and continued to push each other, over many years. Steve Waugh once famously observed that whenever he walked in as a batsman, he was always nervous. But he also had the thought that like him, everyone else was equally nervous, if not more. This simple understanding made him play at relative ease and helped him mentally succeed in most cricketing situations - as history would tell! (Not sure if you have ever been on a cricket field. I have and trust me, this thought works like a charm!)

There are certain thoughts which are different and unique and when we possess those, our ability to deliver - be it in any sphere of life - is magnified enormously. Some of us already have it and dont know about it. Some of us do! Battles and wars are fought in the mind! They are won there too!! So, if ever you are facing a tough situation in life, think about that extra special quality you possess - something which is invisible yet holds matter! That is what will help you achieve what you are destined to do.

What is, never is! What isnt, ever is!

Finally, defeat catches up!

India finally lost out in a major tournament in quite some time actually! Dhoni's magic run which started with the previous T20 World cup, ironically has turned a new leaf this time around. Only that the leaf is a thorn!

It had to be said, the Indian team started this tournament on the wrong foot. Be it accidental or incidental, Sehwag's so called fight with Dhoni - took the focus of the team to the wrong pedestal!
Cricket teams like most teams at work - never exist with all members agreeing. Its always hierarchical and if the Captain says - "its a great day to play today" - everyone in the team pretty much agrees - while standing under a big umbrella, protecting themselves from the fiercest of rains!

With this setup, and the "Indian team" being always an emotional passtime for the Indians - its not difficult to see - why every single drop of a hat - is taken as an "infight" Catch 22 situation! Dhoni was to be a level headed guy, but even he seemed very fired up at the press meetings. These out-of-the ground situations only tell the story of a team not prepared to focus. Focus on the right targets!

Complication 1: The IPL schedule with its innumerable games and energy-sapping schedule. Its as if the BCCI looks at the players like some greedy merchant running a circus. The more the number of shows, the better filled is my coffer! Hello the great "BCCI" - wake up. These are also human beings who are playing the game.

Complication 2: The new magic ball! The bouncer! How many times would these top players practised it in the nets! Is it really a mystery ball?! The pitches on which India played, cannot be termed as fast or furious. Purely run of the mill. It beats the sensibility of the average fan, why the entire Indian team went to UK - to swat flies instead of hitting the cricket ball!

Complication 3: This was existant from the day we won the T20 World Cup. The ability of Indians to handle success. Its quite a story in itself, how Indians at large, prefer to be the underdogs - rather than the favourites. This one is a topic for another blog!

Watching the game vs England, one amongst the many millions - that nite, it was just too difficult to come to terms with the eventual result. 80 runs and 45 balls - I sort of knew it was all but over! But then, as is common with the Indian psyche - greed or lets say - overambition - that India might just about pull it off. It was not to be as the English bowlers, learnt many lessons on bowling short, thanks to the chapter being introduced by the West Indians!

The night grew old too - as Dhoni and Yusuf walked off the field around 1:20 ish in the morning. Compare this to the feeling in 2007 - when in UK, we were congratulating fellow Indians at work - "Thank God, India has won a world cup in our lifetime". Umpteen brisk paces of anxiety, shock and disappointment - as the game progressed - between the hall and the dining room of my house - is what remains fresh of that night!

The party is over. Time for clean up!

The elasticity of relationships!

The equation of life doesnt come simpler than this! Last Friday, in an Economics session - I learnt this - in as many words - "the elasticity of supply and demand".

Simply put, it means eat as much as you are hungry and when you consume just the right moment, you will have that indicator! Its called Belch point!

Over the week, I was all alone at home, family was in Mumbai. Reminded me of the "Robinson Crusoe" days in Bangalore and London - using only a part of the apartment - with yummy food from the "home delivery" route! The period of solitary refinement also helped think about my college days - when there was an era of friendship, fights and festivity-less breakups! I am not talking only about myself. Its also a story of a good group of friends and not so good friends around me in college! Observing most of them - from a distance - one could have an unbiased opinion of what was going wrong, what was going right and what was simply not even taking the name of going!

Typical trends of an economic cycle include the initial phase of growth with increasing growth rates. This corresponds to the new found interest and energy levels, when we meet someone special or potentially special! We get to know them well, it ofcourse take time to finely present mainly our "pure positive" side to him/her. It can be said that during this phase - we hardly get angry or impatient - even if it meant waiting endlessly in the rain for the dude to turn up!

Then comes the period of growth with decreasing growth rates. This is economics. In life, we slowly tend to have got a complete perspective of the individual in question and we are forming our opinions on where we want to take this. Its not anyone's fault that this phase tends to be the way it is! Lets safely blame the economics theory for it!

Then comes the third and most important phase - growth is at zero percent or tending to zero percent! Voila - we are at the decision point! Its either a make or a break, at this phase! From this point on, either it can be a period of indecision or status quo - in the relationship - no one wants to take the last move - or - the decision is made and its time to wrap up!

In all this fun and frolic, in a typical economic model, everything is measured in Dollars, Euros and Pesos! In real life, we measure this whole experience in terms of smiles, tears and utter pathos!

Enter the Theory of Elasticity!

What does this say - this says if the price of a product is increased or decreased, there is a definite impact on the supply or demand of the product! (Let me spare you the pain of going further on this!)

So, if for example, there is a certain relationship in consideration. Lets say - father and son! If there is a specific decrease in the time, importance or quality of experience by the son, as the father is extremely busy on a given week, there is an immediate impact seen in the behavioural pattern of the son! That would be: unable to cope with the change initially, but gradually getting impatient, upset and angry with poor busy dad. (Being a dad isnt an easy job, let me tell you!) So what happens effectively is that - the elasticity of relationship has an direct proportion between the experience of the son and the time spent by the father!

Lets take the ever green example of two individuals in college! Raj wants to be good friends with Revathi! Raj is putting in a lot of time and importance but nothing really seems to be clicking! Plotted on a supply/demand curve, this would a case of supply being more than the demand in question. Hence it seems like Raj is overdoing it or in extreme cases, even seen as stalking the poor gal! The more he does it, the further away Revathi would go! Though good at heart, he is poor in Economics and hence cant get the Belchpoint right!

Applying a touch of Indian Cinema here, instead of products "ice-cream" and "cinema tickets", there is increase in "wine" and "whiskey". This impact of decrease in demand for one product influencing the demand for another product - is called "cross elasticity of products"

To make it interesting, lets take a different pair now - Priya and Prakash while the context remains the same! Priya is interested in being friends with Prakash but has a certain level of demand - Prakash doesnt meet it, either in terms of the quality of experience or time! What happens here is that the elasticity is inversely proportional, because you just dont know whats the upper limit! You are always on first gear in a F1 race! The slower you are, the bigger the task of catching up in the race, leaving alone winning!

There are a lot of exceptions in this elasticity theory! The most prominent one being, George (on debut) wanting to be friends with a Miss College XYZ - Sherry! (I should stop watching Indian movies!) Leave alone the money factor - what is more important to note is that George will want to do all that is needed, irrespective of quantity of time or the importance Sherry attaches to him! This kind of blind "impractical" approach is called "Perfectly Inelastic Demand" - in Economics. No matter, if she meets him or even knows him - George's committment and interest remain absolutely intact!

Dont want to write a book on this, do I?! Its also getting too late in the nite!

Be it any relationship - with a friend/parent/neighbour/stranger - and "money and social status" remaining constant - the first and foremost step is to understand the demand curve and the supply curve and find the belchpoint! Demand curve being the emotional expectations of your target partner and Supply curve being the energy and effort you invest into the relationship.

Once you know what the belchpoint is, it becomes very easy to evaluate, what it takes to get the attention 100%. From then on, its a simple case of maintaining the effort and energy at the same levels or working it out - depending on the elasticity!

Simple, scientific and hopefully succint! This economics crash course should help you analyse your relationships, using basic graph skills (remember your 6th Std. Maths Teacher who always gave a 10 mark problem for graphs) and mathematical analysis of where you want to take it!! If you still dont make considerable progress - its absolutely inexorable! I wonder if there should be a subject on "Applied Economics" in schools - well lets keep that topic for another weekend!

Zoommmm!!!!

Life, in its purest terms - gives us the ability to pick up certain skills and then use them in infinite ways - to derive a means of life - and an ability to earn Karmic points.

But in the materialistic world, Karma is taboo! The boundary lines are very distinct - divinely made there are, they ought to be that way! What happens subsequently is that there is an upbeat influence of competition and circumstances interwoven incredibly and innovatively.

Life is never easy! I wonder why. Why cant it be that simple thing where we just come here, travel to different places, meet different people and choose when we want to leave this place, bored of the identity we carry! Isnt that a good model? One would argue that life is full of "energy conversions". Well. how about an energyless life -where one can just walk his way through.. and not sweat it!

Or, it could be that there is no intersection of interests between different people. No conflict of interests or interesting conflicts therein. How simple, what you want - you either get or you dont. If you get it, remember to smile harder that day. If you dont, just move on to the next thing. No silly feelings!

How simple, straightforward and easy life would be then!

But no! This model was drubbed left, right, center and under on the drawing board! The board of Executive Powers unanimously chose the theme of "Energy". Everything was meant to change from one form of energy to another, sometimes into many! It didnt stop with that - did it? Integrity of conflict is one thing, but more important is that Conflict is integral as well.

So with these base rules, life was woven as the most complicated road system ever seen. Every single road had umpteen vehicles, each wanting to go at its own pace and direction. So where does the balance lie? This was going to be chaos, if there was no way of self-checking the system!Thats where "Committment" came in as a wave of fresh air. Energy - focussed consistently on a target became "Committment"!

So with this new C word, anyone or anything with the ability to be clear about what one wanted or one aimed for - could get to that destination! Is this sufficient enough? Do we need any other spices to get the aroma of life going?! Yes, its called "Trust". Trust in others. Ability to inter-relate to and come to an understanding of mutual interest!

One that masters these fundamental traits and uses them as the most basic of his/her toolkit, will be able to sustain the journey at hand and make some fun as well! After all, whats the fun in driving on 200 miles/hour on an empty road!

No sooner that we identify how much of these skills we have left in our toolkit, everything around it can be created, with simple chemical compositions and formulae. Conflict can be worked out and life or the "Long Mile" would be interesting enough!

And to believe, that all this was created - just for a fun filled ride! Sounds too odd to be true!

So next time you set off on your journey, dont forget to check your toolkit. Thats where your core competency starts and thats whats going to help you reach the distance!

So what are you waiting for? Just take the wheel and Zoommmm!!!!

The IT Lothlórien!

It was just another day at work - yesterday! Minimal time and infinite deliverables and expectations! After managing to do what would fit in as a hard dog's day - I was browing my favourite Indian Zeitung website - Times of India. 

With the normal news of the Indian puppet elections and the ministers' lucky draw results - it was seemingly a boring view! All of a sudden, somewhere there was a link about something exciting in the IT field!

My eyebrow directed my cornea to focus on that one link. It was about something wavy called Google Wave!

With limited broadband facility at my residence in Aundh, I couldnt really view the entire video all in one go! Determination after a long day slog, is a topic for a book, not a blog! Somehow, after half an hour, I was finally able to see the video uninterrupted.

This was a demo of Google Wave which was done earlier at the Google I/O summit. My heart sort of jumped a beat, as each and every functionality of this unique and powerful product/platform was unveiled! Most amazing was the breakthrough in technology to make information sharing in IM and Email as real-time as is possible - to the level of "a letter" and not "individual messages". Equally amazing was the fact that this was Open Sourced right from the beginning, making it an important strategic technology shift since the invention of Internet!

You can name anything - email/IM/web browsing/blogging/social communication - everything has changed and changed for the extraordinarily best!

The most extraordinary feature in the demo is the part where one single email is being edited by multiple users - all at the same time! Creation of team deliverables will no longer need to be done in iterations - the door has been opened for them to be done "in collaboration" and "in parallel".

Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox have ruled for too long. Time for them to retire!!

Sincere suggestion to each and every IT worker in the world - whatever you do today - please check out the future of IT - Google Wave. The link to the demo is here: http://wave.google.com/

If you see this demo and you are not blown away,  there is nothing much which can interest you any longer in the IT world. You can quietly retire today!

Taking a few steps away from the topic in a related way - AR Rahman's Lothlorien composition in the "Lord of the Rings" musical - is a true masterpiece. If you are a true/loyal Rahman fan and you havent heard it, please take corrective actions immediately.

The lyrics of the song go something like this:

From the west she appeared,
Sunlight and stars in her hair.
In her eyes an undying memory of home,
A land that is magical and fair.

When her feet came to rest,
Deep in a canopied glade,
She lifted her face and there she danced.
The realm of Lothlórien she made.

Gaze on me lady of gold,
Reawaken my slumbering soul.
Beacon of courage summon me home,
to your haven of wonders untold.

Oh child of my heart,
Born of a never ending dream.
You were cradled in light,
Bathed in an ever flowing stream.

Flourish and grow,
my mystical world.
Here you will ever belong.
Son of my yearning,
Daughter of hope.
Beautiful child of my song.

Although storms may descend,
Mountain and valley may quake.
For the days that remain,
This is the promise I make.
No shadow fall across this land,
Before the wind and fire I stand,
And you my child will know no harm,
Enfolded in my arms,
Lothlórien!

The IT Lothlorien has arrived. Google Wave is the golden invention of the decade. Mountains of companies and valleys of IT vendors may quake, but the promise it holds is truly magical! 

Fresh off the Mac!

After many days, composed some music today.

Link: http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=114501

Other earlier compositions can be found at:

http://www.icompositions.com/artists/avsatish

Last word:

There is a fine line between music and noise. Someday I intend to erase it!

Silence at Frankfurt!

It was a cold windy day in January 2009. Germany was experiencing its normal quota of excess winter weather conditions and the temperatures are freezing.

Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1.

7:21 AM

Raghav just finished checking in his luggage. He was booked on a Lufthansa flight to Chicago. As is routine in his Sales Development job at Google, he has to regularly fly to meet potential customers all over the world. In tune with the hectic travel schedules, Raghav has always been a true Indian IT professional - he always keeps work first and family next :)

Nearly 12 hours ago, he was bidding farewell to his wife and son in Chennai. Nothing dramatically emotional at the airport, it was only a short visit of a few days! Couple of visits from the Sun and the Moon would ensure that he returned back home.

Waiting at gate 32, he was left all to himself. No one to talk to, no topic to think of.

There was an hour to kill. The flight to Chicago was delayed because of the bad weather. 

"A brief stroll in the terminal - some window shopping" or "finding a good corner to snooze with a bit of snore" he thought. Finally he decided he would go for a walk.

Known as one of the busiest airport terminals in the world, the place was buzzing. Though it was early in the morning, one could see passengers of different sizes and genders walking keenly to different corners of the terminal - making sure they have all their bags intact. One elderly old man was trying hard to keep pace with what seemed like his 10 year old grandson. A baby, on the other side, was desperately waiting for the morning quota of milk, while her mother was doing the routine of mixing milk powder and water, in the next seat. 

Having seen his wife Kavitha do these routines every day in the morning, he could understand how delicate the situation was. Babies, like managers only want results. They have their own deadlines and will create enough problems if things are not delivered on time!

Deep in this thought, he was walking ahead, when something caught his eye. At a distance, a young girl, in her twenties, was holding on to a heavy trolley, stuffed with suitcases. She seemed to be having a lot of difficulty in keeping them all from falling down. Dressed in proper winter wear, and a scarf to go with it, the young girl was of Indian origin. Bumping into Indians in foreign airports is nothing new in 2009 - he thought. The Indian had arrived on the world scene with the stupendous success of the IT firms some 'many years' ago!

There was something a bit familiar about this person, more than the normal. All of a sudden, it struck him like a lightning bolt. He knew this person!!

Straining his eyes, he tried to catch a proper glimpse of her face. With the scarf hiding it, it was a tough proposition, but he finally made it happen.  Was it Shruthi?!?!

Years seemed to rewind in seconds. The scene was changing.

Pondicherry, April 1995.

6:10 AM

The town was just about waking up, the odd dog barking down the lane. April is a horrible month in Pondicherry, only second in intensity to May. The Kathri Sun would literally come outside the homes and watch intently at what we were doing inside. Sweat, sweat and more sweat was the order of the day. Nights tend to be a bit better with dry winds, completing the equation.

Raghav was getting out of his home, on the main road. On his Kinetic Honda, he sped, as usual, like it was a F1 track. Luckily for the others, it was early in the morning and the roads were nearly deserted. 

The road to the Mathematics tuition class, was just about 5 mins away. Raghu always made it in 3. 

Parking it outside, he took the stairs to reach the class. It always started at 6:30. He was early and sat down at the last row. Unlike the early birds, he preferred the last seat, for unknown reasons. Looking around, he noticed that there were some girls seating across the class, in the last row. Little did he know, he would become very good friends with them, in the days to come.

Unlike in the movies, its hard to remember how the initial introductions are made. In the next 12 months or so, he would know the 4 of them very well. Cometh the 12th std exams, cometh the results. 

Life started spanning out into different directions. As is common with most 'school friend groups', it was time to move on to new places, meet new people and keep the past archived! All went in different directions and no formal communication channels existed.. for unknown reasons!

Raghav came to his senses again. Shruthi had just passed him at the airport terminal lounge. She hardly noticed him!

Before trying to stop her - he rewinded again in his thoughts.

It was nearly 15 years since they had first met. 15 years since they first spoke in that tuition class. How many new people would have come in her life, since then, she must be married too.. would she even remember the good old tuition mate? Would she take him seriously? Raghav had certain bad experiences earlier on with some of his college friends. One of them, who was really close to him - he had tracked her down to her home in California. After a brief phone call, she promised to mail him back. 

Yeah, that was more than 2 years now! - He thought. Would it be a repeat of that? Anyway, its worth a try - he muttered. 

Shruthi was now far ahead and was moving towards gate 50. 

Raghav had to act quick and smartly. He rushed towards her, while avoiding other passengers walking in the opposite direction. Finally, as he was nearly there, one of her bags fell down. As she stopped abruptly, Raghav was standing just behind her.. and bent down to pick it up for her. 

Shruthi was too keen to pick her stuff, she gave a simple glance at the stranger helping her. Raghav started the conversation - Hi!

The sudden glance turned into surprise and from nowhere - the face beamed with a smile. She managed to recognize him. With the bag restored to its original place in the trolley.. the conversation started - exactly where it stopped 15 years ago!

How are you? Fine - And you? Where have you been? - What a "Super" surprise?! Meeting in the middle of nowhere? - Laughter interspersed the words.

Shruthi seemed to have caught on with the word "Super". She used it more frequently than the verbs and nouns - surely this would disappoint her English teacher at school!

Having helped her go to Gate 50 and check-in her bags, Raghav took her to the nearest coffee shop at the terminal. Both of them, have seen umpteen people in their lives in the past 15 years, some close, some closer and others - in general. But there was something truly genuine between them, something which stood the test of time. Its called friendship -  the most ancient of gifts, given by King God Himself.

There are moments when you let someone take you for granted, pull your leg as you discuss your mistakes openly and voluntarily. This was just that - Raghav and Shruthi had a funny conversation of what happened, what did not, what should have and what could not!

With the multiple rounds of 'catch-up' conversations over, they walked back to the Gate 50. Shruthi's flight was to take off earlier. When she was leaving, she looked back at Raghav. Not a word was said, the silence was still and yet stirring. 

In a matter of a few minutes, someone had come from the past, knocked at the present and was leaving away again into the unknown future. How time plays with our emotions! - Raghav thought.

Emails were exchanged this time - not to repeat the mistakes 15 years hence. The link was re-inked.

This incident could have happened to several of you, reading this blog. While you could manage to retain the old friendships going with some of your schoolmates, years apart, there would surely be others who have moved on and do not have time for you anymore. Such is today's fast paced life with totally re-organized priorities.

And yeah, if you ever want to know how deep your friendship is - its not the words which are spoken - its those that aren't that matters. Silence - is the language of the eyes. The language of truth!

As the 'Moon' sees it!

Yet another foregone incident with a common man. Yet another night in the average life of an Indian!

A Hyundai Getz was leaving the Aundh area of Pune. It was nearly 11 PM at night - on the 14th of May. Another hot summer day in Pune had passed by, the trees were tired of the heat and were intent on sleeping early. I was trying to help them at it. The roads were nearly empty, the wind all but dead.

The car zipped through the outer Baner Road and headed towards the University Circle. Inside it, three people were travelling. The occasion was to drop a lady at the railway station. The train was to arrive at 15 past midnite. At the station, the car was parked and the three walked in. Platform tickets were not purchased because of the long queue. It was announced that the train would arrive at Platform 5.

Indian railway stations, for those who havent felt and smelt it, are nothing but an absolute disgrace. On one hand, the Railways is earning profits in crores, on the other hand, it has no vision to spend on enriching the conditions in the trains and the stations. Pune was no ordinary station in India, btw! Its one of the second ring of cities and not some distant village in the middle of Timbuktoo!

The coach was supposed to be S6. The three protoganists duly reached the location where the bogie would end up aligning on the platform. Around 11:50 PM. The stench, the uncleaned platforms and the ever-adapting Indian crowd were all around the three.

Soon and surely, the train chugged into the station. The seat number was supposed to be 16. Umpteen train journeys have come and gone in their lives till then. They never had had too many issues to comfort themselves with, once a train arrived. It was the mere formality of getting in and arranging one's luggage. A due-diligence inspection of the namelist pasted on the bogie usually accompanied the final round of the "train onboarding formality". Happened here too, but with the name not seen at all, in the entire S6 namelist. Strange situation - Hmm?? - they thought!!!

Nevertheless, the three marched into the train. Suprisingly the seat 16, which is supposed to be "Side Upper" - complicated the matter. The normal side berths in Indian trains only had two tiers. One nearly aligned to the window and the other absolutely above it. As they say in german - Fall der Fenster and Uber der Fenster...! This one had drei tiers. The english translation would go with the number between 2 and 4.

Whats this new complication?! To add masala to the omelette being cooked, all the three tiers were occupied. "Which one is number 16?" - asked one man accompanying the lady. One can congratulate Luck for it - the person who occupied berth 16 - immediately got down and said it was not his berth. The lady jumped in and put her luggage in the mid tier berth. The person at the topmost berth was dreaming about something very important - and hence couldnt muster the distraction of opening his eyes! The one at the lowermost berth, awake, was probably getting worried if the next question would put him out of the berth he was occupying!

Not used to travels made in the middle of the night, with Me shining bright - especially with a lady in Modern India - the two men were worried, if she would be able to manage the probable situation - if the person whose name was posted in 16 on the namelist - did arrive?!!! Ofcourse one has the maturity to handle such situations, but was midnite in that dirty train; in the middle of nowhere - the opportunity to test one's skills?!

Dilemma ensued. To ensure that all was cross-verified, they tried to check the lists of S5 and S7. No luck. Seemed like the Railway employee who printed the namelists, didnt like any name we were looking for!?!! How could all this go wrong, in such quick minutes. A good point to note, Indian trains have a healthy habit of leaving the platforms - without any formal announcement or preword! Time was running short. Enter a man in his 30s and another one accompanying him, equally old! One of them, wearing a heavy rimmed glasses, came to seat 16. "Is this your seat?" was his question. A quick cross-check of both tickets by the lady and the spectacled man ensued. The lady asserted that it was her seat. The man and his companion duly left to check if their name was in the namelist.

One could see them duly studying the list for S6 from seat 10 to almost 20! With obvious confused looks, they walked back right in.

The Indian train was keeping up to its habits - only this time it was nearly punctual. Without any hint, it started leaving the station. The two men waved "bye" only with worries written between the frowns on their faces. Called the lady on phone and told her to manage any situation with the TTR to ensure that she had a place for herself. The lady sounded confident of handing the situation.

Pune saw an eventless morning the next day as I moved on and my counterpart took charge. The phone rang - on what actually happened the previous night, in the train. The lady explained that there was no TTR to discuss the situation with, suprising since, such situations are great opportunities for "minting" money from the average Indian passenger..! She added "The spectacled man was probably a very soft spoken man, with a village background." He pleaded to her - "Where will I go now?" - with a very distinct simpleness and resignation to fate. The lady got support from the men in berth 15 - as she was a lady! They convinced the villager to go and find a place somewhere else.

There was absolute fairness in what they had said.
Was there absolute fairness in what they had said?

Only almost. The lady had got the ticket for the train - S6, berth 16 but dated the 14th of May. It was expected to reach Pune station by 12:15 midnight time, which meant the travel date should be the 15th of May. Since she had got the ticket for the previous day's journey, her name was not listed in the namelist. The printer clerk at the Railways is correct and exonerated of any charges! The spectacled mild-mannered villager was the due occupant of berth 16 - for the journey on the 15th of May.

No TTR and no one else to clarify on this issue - the villager found a place to sleep on the compartment floor. He had duly paid for the fare of the journey, only to be left not availing it!

As the silent "Moon" watching all of this happen, I didnt know how to react! Was it the fault of the lady? Could she have accepted her fault to the villager - and ended up travelling in "no-man's berth" on that train? Was it safe for her in that crowded train, to take that risk? Could the villager have been more assertive in putting his case through? What would have ensued if he was a city bred dude? Who would have taken berth 16? What if there was a duty bound TTR - added to the mix?

- These questions will remain unanswered. For ever!

The irony of Indian life these days is such! Who comes first, takes it all. Whoever is duly supposed to - doesnt! Who needs to be present to monitor it, isnt!

In a Moon's life, this is not anything new. I see many such incidents from the distance. Sometimes I introspect - sometimes I ignore. Now that you have heard the complete story, hope I have you introspecting!!

Listen - dont just hear!

Today - the IT world is getting templatized!

In the previous generation, it was raining "engineers and doctors". Some droplets of "lawyers" maybe. "Army and Police" were the options of the rural youth. "Government jobs" and the "9-to-5" lifestyle were the norm. It was quite a success too.

But then the ones who really moved away from these quadrants of public acceptability, neednt be termed as failures. In fact those that are currently enterpreneurs can be termed as having culturally moved out of the mould - to realise their own dream! Why they do that is because of the fact that they see "something which others dont"!

Dont want this blog to sound like a cut-paste from any management book - but then I do feel the time is right to put my perspective to some of my dudes at work.

This generation is aligned with IT whether they like it or not. Most fields are aligned with the omnipresent "computer"! In core IT terminology, there exists a divide between "the acceptable" and the "also ran". Development/Delivery roles are really accepted as having the most benefit to one's career. Support roles are slightly looked down at! BPO roles probably fall even lower!

At the end of the day, they all get paid, in proportion ofcourse. But if you look at the careers of the chunk, they will fall under development/delivery. Does this mean that they are all very successful? Not really. They only believe in going with the crowd - nothing more nothing less.

When I joined HP, I faced some interesting questions from my friends as to why I chose the "support" role that I did. Looking back at those years, I had a chance to work in multiple technologies - facilitated by the chance of attending multiple trainings and it really helped me widen my perspective. Wasnt the case of looking between the code written by another developer in the team and the bug therein!

Sincere suggestion to my dudes in the IT world - break the template - do step into newer roles. Its no longer a fair world. The one who takes the risk, gets ahead!

Now, dont tell me you didnt know all this!! You did - you have heard it before but didnt listen enough. Thats the mistake you made and it has made all the difference.

Listen - dont just Hear!

Cricket avec Deutsch!

25 April 2009

The IPL is in Full flow. The rains surely do their part in disturbing the rythm. Ofcourse its the South African Herbst season. Vierfach is the effort of the umpires to have a game going.. even if it is for die fünf overs per side. Sounds really ridiculous!

Amidst all of this, the players on whom millionen dollar were showered, have really been pathetic - to say the least! Flintoff, sorry mate, you are not even worth mehrere hundert!

Wouldnt be suprised if anyone in the team management went upto him and asked: Wie machen Sie hier? - Null contribution indeed! On the other hand, the new captain of Bangalore, horribly absent in the mind. He only walks into the pitch to ask the Indian bowlers: Wie hißen Sie?! But then, even before the answer starts - Ich hiße.... he gets out! Unbelievably lost in his own world. Leave alone the fact that the team is losing heavily!

Deccan Chargers - man what a team! Extraordinary team, excellent team spirit. Sie lernen how to win, having put the past behind! But need to see if they can keep the winning habits going into Mai. They are the Number Eins team at the moment!

Kolkata Knights. To say the least, they have been most unlucky. Having put pressure on themselves with die mehrere captain policy, its crazy enough for starting off in a crazier tournament like this one!

Delhi - has the distinction of the only player who has scored hundert runs in the tournament so far! And to add to that, Sehwag and Gambhir make it a point to give a minimum of dreizig or vierzig runs at the top - its certainly amazing when they do it consistently. One or two exceptions, here and there are pardonable.

Rajasthan Royals. Mehrere average players but a very few exceptional players. Yousuf Pathan is certainly one of those. Having successfully hit sechzehn runs in vier balls - its an unbelievable achievement!

Kings XI Punjab want to say one one thing all the time: Entschuldigung! They look the most unbalanced and incomplete side of the tournament. If they reach the last four, it would be truly a miracle!!

Mumbai Indians: Star players and a cool combination. Need to keep their cool to get past the winning mark! Lets hope that they can make it to winning ways again :)

Looking forward to the games today for some more fun and content for the next post :)

Guten Tag!

Which side am I on?

IPL season 2 has started in full flow. God knows how the schedules of millions of people are going to change again. Just similar to the jetlag phenomenon - we are all going to get "time lagged" to accomodate the 4 PM and the 8 PM tv slots.

Settling down in my new Pune residence - I wonder which team should I support?

Pune doesn't gave a team of it's own. I just about relocated from Chennai. Mumbai is where my wife hails from. Bangalore gave me my first IT job and I managed nearly 4 years there. Considering I am just about 22 that's a huge part of my life!!

Let's start eliminating some for a start. Nothing to do with Kolkata. Delhi - nothing again. Hyderabad - some of my relatives stay there. Nothing more.

Rajasthan. Hmm - now here's another link. Pilani. 6 years there. How many teams do I have to support? Not that it matters to anyone.

IPL Cricket, however regional they market it as - it certainly has many points of confluence for most Indians. I am sure most of the IT professionals in India would agree.

One disappointment though. The stadium noise seems to have fizzled out with the South African crowd. Nothing near the Indian decibel standards.

Chennai beaten in the first game. Go Mumbai Go. I am closer to you than before.

Time to watch the next IPL game. Now surely my blogging schedules have changed. Ciao.

New year in a new city!

Just to put the record straight, today is Tamil New Year day. Last new year - I was in Chennai, just about back from London. This year too, its nothing too different. Moved to Pune in the first week of April. Ofcourse this has a professional reason to go with it.

I have got selected for an Executive MBA program via IBM. Simply translates to "effective time management among the various contenders - work, German language classes, MBA classes, study project and yeah family". What about cricket? Need to fit it somewhere in there.

Sounds crazy rite?! Well, guess every step we take forward, it always sounds crazy and impossible. Once we dissect it day by day, month by month, probably it wont be that tough!

Settled in a good place in Pune - Aundh. Its a very peaceful and pleasant place to be. Only that sometimes I dont get mobile signals in my home. But otherwise this place is as good as the Wimbledon of London or the Koramangala of Bangalore. You get the idea, dont you!?!

So here we are, another new year, another new city and another new challenge. With support and ideas from some of you reading this blog, I am sure the weather can be weathered.

Only if I dont respond to emails or phone calls, you all know why. :)
Bonne Annee et Bonjour!

Signing off from Chennai

Nearly a year has gone in the sultry heat of the eastern coast.. Fine I am supposed to be used to it with my roots being in Pondicherry. But with the experience of staying in London it does seem like a tough place to be.

After some interesting months in the early part of the year - finally some good news came on March 6th. The MBA interview was on 5th. Lucky it all happened for the good. Let's see how the future unfolds.

For now it means relocating to Pune.. Something different to look forward to. It's just the beginning - the road ahead doesn't seem to end all that soon.

Signing off from Chennai for now...

Satish Viswanathan.

The Ghost and the Darkness!

Its not everyday that I decide to get up at 5 in the morning. The last time I did for some non-official reason was quite some time back. Cricket was back in my dreams. Mostly it would be India playing at some odd hour, in some odd place on earth. This time, it was South Africa.

Many seasons have passed, since Australia started on the decline. I hate Australia especially when they win, because they make the game look one sided and boring. When someone brings on the heat from the other end, it makes for justified watching, even if it meant odd hours. The South Africa - Australia series, was over in the first two games. South Africa beat Australia black, blue and grey - a margin of 2-0. Put it this way, the last match was all but destined to be "dead rubber", a mere formality, for the sake of statistics, records and television viewership.

However, one significant prize was at stake. Australia's Number ONE position at the Test Rankings. Its been like my mom's handbag. Always with her, all the time. Australia finally realised that if they lost this one, the bag was gone. They wanted to desperately hold on to it. South Africa on the other side, wanted to rub it in. They always had ended up losing to the Aussies in close encounters. Had an ill-famed "choker" monkey on their back and desperately needed to throw it out to sink on the Australian shores. They did just that with the series win, but wanted to ensure that they didnt lose the third test.

In modern times, test cricket resembles closely to "war". We dont get to fight the province next to us, no more invaders from other parts of the world. What would have ensued in such a war, would have been extraordinary strategies, starting from the decision to choose the place of war, the time of war and trying to gain advantage by using the best conditions available during the war. Once the fight begins, it would seem like one side is winning. The other side would immediately re-draw its strategy, try to attack another front.. and so on and so forth, till they get bored or they get killed.

Test cricket luckily has no blood to go with it. Its supposed to be some kind of "neatly pressed white shirted" war. Its all mind games and a lot of patience. Watching a test game needs a lot of patience too. Luckily no one got to see wars in real-time. It would have been long, intense and really tiring!

The third test started off poorly for South Africa. Their captain, Smith got hurt and really seemed like he couldnt move his hand, leave alone bat. The team was instantly reduced to 10 men. The rest of the days were like any other, ups and downs, twists and turns. What was going to transpire in the last day was beyond anyone's expectations. 300 odd to win when the umpire said "Play". Wickets started falling. The famed South African batting tumbled unexpectedly. It was left to Makhaya Ntini and Steyn to hold on to their forte and ensure a draw. As the final hour drew close, every one was counting the number of overs, some stated it with the balls to spare.. From nowhere, Steyn got out. Australia had finally got all the 9 wickets they needed. The Australian commentators had been saying the whole 5 days that Smith wont come back to bat and understandably happy saying it too. Now that the 9 needed wickets were taken, the crowd cheered like it was all over. The commentators were heard raising their voices in happiness. Then slowly the camera panned to the South African players room. A huge figure emerged.

Almost from nowhere, in typical poise and style, Smith emerged. The crowd was so stunned that it began to applaud the batsman. The Australian players couldnt believe it. One arm broken & in plaster and a finger injury later, a batsman emerges from the dark of the dressing room. Unconcerned about the fuss around Smith entered the ground to a standing ovation. Watching it from the television set was numbing, inspiring and worth every second. With one active hand, he managed to hold forte for nearly 7 overs before getting clean bowled. Australia did win. The series ended 2-1.

The Australian media, the people and cricet lovers worldwide will remember Smith's valor more than the victory. He emerged as a true "Ghost" out of nowhere and he shone amongst all the "darkness" of mundaness around him. The Australian players could hardly match the power of the spirit he displayed. They were dead dark. A true leader in his own right, Smith's name would become epitomized for the "utopian" leadership skill, which every leader should practice. The ability to lead, even when half dead. Quite similar to the moment when a South Indian hero enters the screen first time in the movie, there were cheers and cheers galore. A truly "legendary" moment for a "superman" bodied sportsman.

Though Smith lost the game, he won the accolades, more than Ponting. The Australian crowd, known for its lack of support to visiting teams, was spontaneous in their applause and appreciation. A single action has inspired a generation of cricket lovers, who will live to tell this tale in the many coming years. If South Africa punish Australia yet again in the upcoming home series, its all about one man inspiring an army. One man with one action will have changed the balance of world cricket forever. And Mom, start looking for a new handbag, will you!

Inconvenient Indian Truths!

A nation battling its image in the world -after a devastating attack in MUMBAI. Its not like India was never attacked before, but yeah, 24*7 television has changed the impact of an attack, far from the scene of the crime to the cosy bedroom of each and every Indian family, within and abroad. Though the situation was brought under control in less than 3 days, (appalling by any SWAT standards), the nation still has a feel for the "sitting ducks" that they are, in the eyes of these terrorists.

But if we start digging around these Indian ducks, one of which is typing this line - all one can see, without bias, is a well-segregated and differentiated sub-groups on the basis of state boundaries, languages, religion, caste and so on.. Segregation is infinity exponentiated. We hardly have a core concept of what "India" should mean to all of us, but we can easily recognise ourselves as a Tamil xxxx or a Bengali yyyy. This is where the fundamental terror link exists in our social framework. States which were drawn on linguistic lines have caused irrevocable damage to us, only ensuring that we are fighting over water and electricity and what not?!

Taking religion more seriously in our lives, tends to be the other prominent dividor. One needs no explanation to understand this perspective of Indians.

Given these "I can find 100 differences in you" attitude, it needed an event like the Mumbai Attack or a war or maybe, an alien attack - on extrapolation - which would have given purpose for unity, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh.

Politician bashing ensued and it held for very eventful television viewing, funny and satirical. The bare fact remains that each and every one of us isnt really much different from the politician we blame. Again not a no-brainer, but I will elaborate nevertheless!

How many of us maintain an orderly queue to get tickets at a railway counter or to order our favorite dish at the restaurant. How many of us try to drive in line with another vehicle in the many roads of the many cities we have? My personal belief is that "the culture of a city, a country can be understood by looking at the way the people drive on the road". One can get a sense of the law of the land, if it is of any significance, the patience quotient of the folks, the social adjustment factor and most importantly, the orderliness and cleanliness perspectives of the combined social setup.

While we are pathetic in most aspects, what shines out, is the emergence of grassroot corruption - paying the quick buck to the traffic constable - to escape official censure and processes. The reason for this - "who will go and waste time paying fine and appearing in the court?" So we take a more "practical" approach and avoid the legal system altogether. Policing and legal ways are essential not just to maintain an orderly society - but are essential to securing it as well. The system's corruption is such that, even a terrorist can bribe his way through the police, the army and even the legal system. If all of this fails, politicians with narrow goals, will support these groups, on some pretext or the other.

This is where we have been an incubator for not just terror, but for a kind of "illegal lifestyle". It was least suprising to know that all the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai had 400 dollars in change - why? - because thats the bribe one has to pay to the Coast Guard to sneak into India. One shouldnt blame them, we are all equally responsible for encouraging the kind of society where money can buy you anything, including legal shortcuts, citizenship and in such cases, entry to the country.

If there is no one to give, there will be never anyone to get.

If you and I, start following the law, and ensure that we do our bit to maintain its high ink standard, most of the other aspects will start re-organizing itself. Intelligence, blamed for its failure in the attack, doesnt only rely on phone calls and foot locker notes - it depends on the common man as well, from reporting on a new tenant to the nearest police station to ensuring that suspicious activities are reported instantly. Intelligence has to be as close to the battle ground as possible and cannot always be a matter of something orbiting the world, miles up.

At the time of retaliation, our leaders are still appealing to the world and to the galaxy, for support, for retribution. Nothing which comes from them, can give everlasting peace to India. The problem isnt entirely external. Its internal reasons need a much bigger and serious corrective action. Inconvenient truths. Inconvenient Indian truths.

The drive to Switzerland!

It was just another day, a month back, when we suddenly drew up a plan to go to Coorg. Coorg, for those who dont know, is named as the "SWITZERLAND OF INDIA". Much of my push on this plan was to enjoy driving my new car.. and test my newly pruned driving skills and my endurance for long drives.

The ground work done was quite minimal. A couple of glances as to which National Highways to take from Chennai and also which key cities would be enroute. We started in two cars, one - I drove and the other - my dad's - we had a driver take that one. Driving in the highway is one thing, two cars driving as a group is just yet another!

Learnt this extra-ordinary lesson on this trip. It was always going to be a long drive, and all family members had advised to take a backup driver as well, incase things went wrong! I was however, quite confident that I Could pull it off.

In all, the journey was supposed to take around 8 hours. This according to some bhp team (on their website) which I am sure now, didnt go by road from Chennai to Coorg!!! The roads were immaculate, one has to admit. Perfect for driving conditions and if the surroundings were kept clean, one could have been duped that they were in a western nation. Arcot, Vellore and many smaller cities followed. With each city, we were passing, the elevation was on the rise. Finally as we reached Krishnagiri and onwards, one could see straight roads sloped effectively to blend with the hills beside. It was 6:30 that we started in the morning and we reached Krishnagiri by around 11:00. The next challenge was hitting Hosur and ultimately the land of traffic nightmare - Bengaluru!!

Hosur has a decent road stretch and we had a good lunch in one of the many restaurants. Being the driver, I had to curtail my intake, to avoid becoming sleepy. And so I did!! (This is the part I hated the most in the entire trip!!)

Bengaluru and its experiences deserve a new paragraph. So here go. Hosur to Bangalore, on paper is around 40 kms and Bangalore to Mysore was stated to be another 2 hours drive. What lay in store for us beyond Hosur was a nightmare and that too in the middle of the day! The road to Bangalore seemed endless, what with the array of vehicles and the extraordinary flyover which was being constructed. One birdie on the internet mentioned about some route from Electronics City to the Mysore highway, without having to hit the City and its traffic. What that birdie missed out, as we later realised, was this route was only 80% complete and had a good chunk of it missing. So we had to go right through the middle of the city, Forum Mall and then onwards to LalBagh and finally the market. Needless to say to anyone who knows Bgl traffic challenges, this journey took nearly 2 hours. Finally we were pleased to hear that we were in "Mysore Road". Phew, we thought! 2 hours to Mysore and we could go to Coorg by evening!

The road to Mysore was not going to give us any leeway. It was again, a halfcooked, so called highway, most roads in Pondicherry, would beat the width it offered. Anyways, we drove and drove and drove.. finally we were on a highway and gave us some opportunity to hit decent speeds of 80. It was slowly getting to the evening phase, when most office goers decide, enough is enough, and go home to start logging again from there. Had a quick bite in one of the highway restaurants, and we asked him. how far do we have to go to get to Coorg? He said.. "get off before Mysore, you will have a road to the right and yeah you can take that all the way to Coorg". My next question - was the most important one - of the entire journey - "Are the roads ok till there? Is there any challenge in driving in the night?". - "Ohh Not at all", he promised - "the roads are good." Till date, I dont know why he didnt tell me the truth, maybe we didnt tip the waiters sufficiently?!!

The sun finally started to lower its guard and we were firmly committed to reaching Coorg by nite to stay in the accomodation I had booked the previous day. So no stopping elsewhere in between. Coorg it is, come evening, nite or midnite!! There were not adequate lights on the highway and it was dark now, around 7 PM, a Karnataka Tourism vehicle was honking hard at me in the front. I finally gave some way, once it was possible. The driver, dont know if he was a qualified driver, raced ahead and put a sudden break and did something which swerved the bus to hit my car on the right side panel, just behind the headlights. It was a cool "thud". SHOCK and AWE, (quoted from George W Bush) followed. It was the first accidental accident for my car. The damage wasnt much but tears of blood flowed to see the ghastly bump!

This was also not to deter us, in our quest to get to Coorg.

Soon, around 830 PM, we decided to break for dinner - we were in a town called Hunsur. From thereon, we were told, the roads would be steep as we were entering the mountains. Ignorance, coupled with lack of local conditions, ensured that we were climbing an unknown route, in the dark, with no idea of what lay ahead. A lot of twists and turns followed and somehow we mustered our guts and it seemed like we were getting somewhere. We were all so happy. Atlast, we had succeeeded. A polite enquiry confirmed that it was not Madikeri, but Suntikoppa. "Madikeri is another 30 kms from here". Next question obviously met with a sign of "sorry - you are in trouble" - "Is the road any good till there?"

The route from Suntikoppa to Madikeri is so extraordinarily damaged, that one should wish that one's enemy also shouldnt have to take this route by car! Oh Holy Road Engineers of South India! Wish I knew what raw materials you use to build this road. My Hyundai GetzPrime gruntled all the way, as we worked our way painstakingly, through the dark forests and the so-called "road". If our vehicles had broken down there or got punctured, if we had been robbed there, no one on planet Earth would have an inkling to know, leave alone help!!

Prayers to previously unknown Gods and Goddesses followed, and the signboards showing the remaining number of kilometres to Madikeri, were cheered like never before. Finally, around midnite, nearly 18 hours after we started from Chennai, we were in Madikeri. A couple of calls to the homestay lady ensured that we didnt roam around too much and found our way correctly to the residence.

Once inside, visibly tired - we were all in for a great treat. The cottage I had booked, was an old residence which has been converted into a homestay. It was a four bedroom home, complete with dining room and a kitchen. We were all thrilled to get into those cozy beds and all promised the homestay lady - "If we get up tomorrow morning, we will ask for morning coffee!!"

Ohh, we got at 7 sharp, with the sun slowly finding its way and the pleasant air of the hillstation, pulling us out of our beds!

What happened later and how the drive and the places were - I will cover in a subsequent article. Its tiring, even to remember a gruelling drive :)

Knot Knot Knot or NOT AT ALL?

Man and his journey from birth to death. In between both these "accidents", he has a bigger incident this time, in most cases, by choice. Its called "marriage". Why do humans get married? Hmm.. does their sixth sense have something to do with this?

Is marriage truly the distinct characteristic differentiating a human from an animal, for animals  or for that matter birds hardly marry. Never heard a bee get "4 flowers" as dowry!

What would happen if in today's world marriages are stopped altogether? 

Not in any particular ranking, except that these thoughts come to my mind as a sequence.

The two genders would have less complicated lives. More achievements will follow from an individual and grouping it together, from a society. More time to spend on one's nail trimming or one's crossword. 

Surely, the quality of "life" would be much higher, for there would be no restrictions or classifications or expectations to meet. One would get up in the morning and do what one thought of. Very stress free and independent!

The side-effects on the society as such would be much more damning!

Since there are negligible opportunities for arguments or differences, the average person would be healthier and would need lesser medicines. No need to worry about Blood Pressure after the age of 45. No expectations to meet on "i want a boy" or "i want a  daughter", which means slightly  declining population. If biologically, we can be programmed to reproduce only when we are married, then the previous statement will mean a huge decline worldwide.

The diaper industry will have only one standard size to sustain itself!!

No Marriages means there would be no divorces - the legal industry would have lesser cases to deal with. Buildings and apartments will be more of one bedroom suites and not the extravagant 3 or 4 bed as is today. This results in better buying capacity with additional luxury added in the deal. Surely one beds wont cost a fortune!

Sportsmen like cricketers will play for an extended period of time, for there will be no more cribbing about spending time with a "family" back home. These days girl friends obviously travel with them anyways! 

Cooks. house cleaners, drivers would be in high demand. And so would be the restaurants, for most men would prefer outdoor food. Cant always trouble our mothers and grand moms every day, can we?! Home catering with speciality dishes every day of the week could be the marketing mantra.

Average savings would be high, (if everyone knew what the word "savings" meant) and one could go on longer travels abroad and see more of the world. Liquidity wouldnt be an issue, as spending would be quite normal, be it on boy friends, girl friends or on one's interests. This paragraph obviously is self-contradictory and depends on individual's inner tubelight.

The Indian Film Industry would lose dearly, as most of their movie stories depend on how to get a guy and a gal to marry - with complications, with geometry involved (triangle story) - or how to swap people at the last minute in the marriage hall. "Friendship" will become the central theme of all movies, where heroes and heroines would start as buddies in the first reel and continue that way till the end. 

"Love" would still be around, but it will not necessarily need to culminate in anything. It will be an ongoing thing, without any boundaries. 

"Festivals" will not mean buying costly dresses or jewels! One-liners on TShirts would go like "My Friend wears anything cheap I buy". One could also just buy a photo of a 22 Carat necklace as a gift - like the many cards and ecards we send each other every festival. 

Dowry cases will be non-existant, unless you force one of your friends' father to buy a gold watch for new year! No more suicides in the name of "my parents are not agreeing to the marriage" - The cops would surely welcome this.

We think that humans enjoy the best quality of life amongst all living beings. That aint true simply because we havent heard the other side of the story. Animals dont have "love" as their core construct of life, they just move on where life takes them, hibernate here and there, identify new sources of food and shelter, take it day by day, session by session (as they say in test cricket commentary) and yeah, surely, I havent known of  any bird cry or any fish weep.

In short - Man works, animals work. Man marries, animals DONT.

Maybe, thats the secret of their happiness. 

Top Ten MumMums!

Disclaimer::

Coming close on the heels of my "unsucccesful GM Diet" stint is purely incidental and has no consequences therein to GM or to the word "Diet". All characters described in this write-up have been expressed in the way I saw them, do things. Any connection to any person, living or dead is true and is intended to be so.

My Top ten foodie moments:

10) On a recent visit to Singapore, I realised that finding a good Indian meal was a challenge. Luckily for me, the food god "Gobu" blessed Singapore with a few restaurants like Komala Vilas, Saravanna Bhavan. The moment you enter, after all the difficulties travelling via the trains/taxis.. there is exactly one or two moments of paradise. Something which is more than life saving and cant be explained!

9) Love for the parottas has always been etched in my memory since school days. Whenever a new restaurant comes to my locality, as sincere AUDITORS of food, I would team up with some of my buddies and we would be there, tasting it and making our assessments!! There is something called as "salna" - atleast thats how it is pronounced - man, this is the first cousin of history's elixir :)

8) The one rupee Samosa. At lunch, in my school days in the 80s, we used to get some samosas in the canteen. They were as distinct as two biological species would be. One was for 50p and was a small triangle. In fact, it used to be so accurate, you could use it for your geometry class. The other one was the bigger one and was twice the amount - priced at Re 1. (no taxes attached). Not just bigger, the freshness of the potato, the peas and the masala ingredients really made it something to fight for. If someone was to bet on what would be inside my lunch box, they can guess it 100% accurately all the time. It would be curd rice in the lower compartment and some pickle to go with it in the upper one. Add to the equation, the Re 1 Samosa and thats deadlier than any 5 star food :)

7) My sister, in her early days, setup a R&D division in the kitchen. The chief tools for research would be onion, tomato and chilli. God only knows, how many of their numbers she cooked off, in the name of "getting it rite". But every single day, she will make a slightly different but tasty dish and I - the official "tester" of the family - would be there to rate the food and also finish it at a quick rate, if good!! Her alu curry is one of the best, it had to be, for the many trial and tribulations the potato-ceae family had to go through, until she decided to stop. :)

6) Mom or super mom, was a great cook. The way she used to manage her office work, make breakfast and pack lunch - was of such great speed and precision, you could almost pass a 6 sigma certification. The precision of curd rice mixed with the right quality of milk and water and curd and how it all had to be properly mixed up, can only be explained when you have it for lunch at school. Luckily I had the chance to be there! Also of equal mention was her chappati - potato dish. A true memoire; I used to spend hours eating a few chappatis, enjoying every single bite!!

5) "Brinjal Sambar and Yam curry" at my grandpa's place was a common combination and quite deadly too. The sambar had the right amount of water added, the dhal proportions were on target and so would be the end result - the taste would hit you almost immediately, after you sip it. The Yam curry was made with some exquisite care and treatment. And it used to be so soft, you really didnt need any teeth for crushing it. Coming home from school for lunch, this combo would really be a great relish and something which comes to my memory years on.

4) After marriage, I learnt to admire a certain "fast cooking" style - needless to say, of my better half! The speed at which multiple dishes would be made and the taste and quality of it would really impress me a lot! This is not truly a moment, its a collection which is expanding even today. "Payasams" are her speciality and thats really when the heavens wish they were in earth.

3) Nair was a man of Biriyani. A malayalee by birth, his understanding of how the spices played with each other, what language they conversed in and the tone at which they would sing - was outstanding. He was the cook at my place for many years. Sporting a beedi during his off hours, he could be easily shrugged as yet another - but give him a kitchen and ask him to make biriyani - you might be tempted to build a "temple" for this man. Sundays used to be the day of Biriyani. He would start working at around 10 and by 12:30, irrespective of where you are in the home, you would have a stunning aroma chase you down. Thats the formal "silent" lunch bell - Nair has opened the cooker!!! The speciality would be the bread crust toppings which would be fried and added. The onion pacchadi helped one eat as much biriyani as one could! Years later, when I look back, the family lunch on Sundays would be a great occasion to enjoy a holiday and good food and share those simple moments of what really makes a true family - happiness!

2) At the age of 5, I used to go and pick up some tiffin from a nearby hotel - close to my grandpa's place in Pondicherry. "Konark Hotel" - that was the name then. One had to stand in the queue for sometime, get the attention of the waiter, pass on your wish list and wait for it all to be delivered. Once home, it was evenly distributed to everyone in the family and I always ended up relishing the one poori which I got. It was sufficient yet tasty to earn for another one! These incidents happened for many a time, during my single-digit age. No wonder, Poori Masala (numbers wary) is an essential tiffin item since then. 20 years on, I still cant erase the feeling of that one poori I got and the yearning for the second one.

1) Visiting Chennai, during my younger days, was a rare occasion. There was an event to it, all the time. Never really got too much time to spend there. One such occasion, I dont know what event it was, we were all sitting for lunch and my grandmother served us some sambar with appalam. In my home, appalam is a strict inclusion for all, and hence it used to be in a big container. The sambhar which I had that day, even today, after umpteen lunches at different places, different cities, I havent had anything even to come close to. The preparation was obviously a brahmin, palakkad type - what they call the "arracha" or in plain translation "ground" sambhar. Very few ppl on this planet know how to get this deadly mix right.

The freshness of the taste, the suttle balance between spice and salt, and the combination of good old appalam, make it a moment which I have frozen in my heart for ever!

(This occasion is also special because it remained a rarity and wasnt repeated. She eventually died when I was in college.)

Another Week in Utopia!!

If the world is a funny place, the stock market is where all the jokes are made!! This week - if a kid was taught alphabets, it would be like this:

A for American
B for Bailout
C for Credit (Crunch)
D for Depression
E for Emergency
F for Fannie Mae
H for Henry (Paulson)
...

The impact of the big American collapse was also felt in my study. I got to learn a lot about the sub-prime loans, how securitization processes worked and what kind of controls or the lack of it existed. This is really heavy duty stuff for the engineering (read IT) processors in my brain. ( I think I have it!!)

The scare reached some private banks in India too. Not sure how that would unfold in the months to come. Also in the limelight, in my country, the usual terror bombs, suspected terrorists arrested and communal violence. Sometimes I dont understand if they teach "National Integration" as a subject in schools anymore!

Cricket is again on the fore, thanks to the kangaroos who have come to the sub-continent to roost or roast (lets see what the series ends like). Its a relatively cooler period.. October - November.. but also to be noted that their famed squad is cut by more than 50%. Ageing bones or a lot of wrinkes are the typical characteristics of this team. Have to say, some of the younger players dont know clearly what their role is and how to go about it.

In the middle of a chaotic place called Chennai, neither do I. Have been putting on a lot of experience (read "weight") - its becoming difficult to recognize myself in the mirror at times. Blame it all on the lack of cricket or of any other sport like squash. If you are tied in to your laptop most of the hours in a day, where is the opportunity to play a game and slim down.

"GM Diet" suddenly became the mantra and I started it yesterday morning. The first day apparently has to do with fruits. For the swipe card in my mouth (my tongue) anything non-masala will not be permitted. It can come in any size shape or color, but the indian masala topping is essential, else it will be rejected. The programmed taste buds, instantly realised something was amiss and in entirety and umpteen escalations were needed to escort the fruits, safely inside. Day 1 was spent eating fruits (I dont quite like them even on a normal day when the moon rises in the morning) and somehow I heard myself say its all going to be great and fabulous, at the end of the dieting period!

I slept pretty early yesterday nite as I didnt quite have the energy to sustain. Woke up at mid night (5:30 AM) and wondered what to do! The whole family is sleeping and here I am.... fresh and most importantly "half dead"!! The idiot box came to my rescue. Soon the moon - I mean the sun - rose. Some horrible cooked vegetables entered my system. Again there was a distinct sense or lack of sense of energy in me for a second day. At nearly 50% battery, I couldnt really hold on too long. By 4 PM today, I called it quits. Went to Ratna Cafe and really ate like my usual self.

The funny thing in this whole episode was on day 1, when I was thinking of toasted bread, fresh from the toaster, right in front of my hands, some white butter to go with it - a slight touch of it spread unformingly - the time comes to bite it and when you do, the crust of the bread makes a very suttle pleasing sound. ( This kind of hallucination will indeed happen to anyone who suddenly realises that D is for Diet and not Dinner! ) Reminded me of the Disney cartoons when they would think of food and the mouth would be full of saliva waiting to work on the edible matter!!

With a profusely thankful tongue, I am slowly returning back to normalcy. Only two options remain to slim down now - Cricket "again" or Gym "For Once".
(Time to thank you for reading till here.)

This is all that has happened in the recent days in my Utopian world.
Until the next time, pls ensure that you respect your bread and butter, while you have it.
God knows, when YOUR turn to diet will come!

DemocraZy!!

Another August 15 comes. Yet another farcical opportunity for the Indian television channels to capitalize on movies and movie stars - the sole representatives of Indian Independence!!

In a divisive country like India, events like Republic day or Independence day are becoming more of a formality for the common man, extra workload for the policemen, yet another speech for the Prime Minister and yes yet another parade in Delhi and other capitals.

Tomorrow, it will be back to the burning issues of the country including the stalemate in J&K, the terrorist bombs which can go off anywhere, the quest for another medal in the Olympics and the never ending sound bites from the dumb politicians of India.

Events of the magnitude of 'Independence day' are being nullified with absolutely nothing being done during the regular days of the year. There is no point in celebrating such events if we cant learn to do the right things for the country, during the other 364 days, if our leaders cant learn to do things which are good for the people and if the people themselves dont learn to be less corrupt.

"Democracy" is what is known to the rest of the world, but in India, it is called DemocraZy. Stunned by all the incompetent leaders who only want to increase their bank balance, the nation is not very far off from totally resigning to its fate and people deciding to take law in their own hands. For an advanced society like India, DemocraZy is certainly not the right form of governance. Neither will we setup a platform for people to succeed nor will the ever increasing economic gap between 'the haves and the havenots' be diminished in any way. Villages will remain the same and leaders will innovate in incompetence, but excel in accumulating self-wealth.

Not sounding cynical in any way, this post is truly reflecting the truth of the nation's state. As the nation ages by another year, death bells in the form of a stupid legal system, incompetent police force and a corrupt leadership setup are only echoing louder in decibels. The day we stop doing the most obvious mistakes and draw a line to have a fresh start is the day we can truly mark as our Independence day. Till then, this is a mere waste of time.