food for thought

This is a shot from the cafeteria within Motorola office, Bagmane tech park, bangalore. I was there today again for some work. The board displayed the wastage for y'day as 137 kg.

Innovative idea, i say :)

ultimate 'swing' bowling

shot this at a park in Rajaji Nagar, bangalore. There were about 10 teams playing cricket on criss-crossing pitches in an area about 1 quarter of a regulation cricket field. talk about population explosion!!

Unmatched Coverage!!

clicked this from a window at office!

Quotable Quotes -2

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

Science is built with facts as a house is with stones--but a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.
Jules Henri Poincare (1854-1912)

Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.
Swedish proverb

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.
Robert Benchley

Doubt comes in at the window when inquiry is denied at the door.
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893)

They know enough who know how to learn.
Henry Adams (1838-1918)

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!
Anonymous

They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth.
Plato, philosopher (427-347 BC)

They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. They're not laughing now.
Bob Monkhouse, comedian (1928-2003)

It is not giving children more that spoils them; it is giving them more to avoid confrontation.
John Gray, author (b. 1951)

Sometimes I need what only you can provide: your absence.
Ashleigh Brilliant

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.
Antoine de Rivarol, epigrammatist (1753-1801)

A politician is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation.
James Freeman Clarke, preacher and author (1810-1888)

A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
James Kern Feibleman, philosopher and psychiatrist (1904-1987)

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900)

Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason.
Henry Fielding, author (1707-1754)

an earlier post on quotes is here

Crypt Raider

Here's another game that I've become hooked to. I started playing thinking it'll be over by level 30...it didn't...i thought it'll end at 50...it didn't...now i'm at level 91 and apparently stuck! I'm doing everything right, but my keyboard isn't sensitive enough to move the character quickly enough from the about-to-explode bomb...sigh!
I found out there are 100 levels in all. So close yet so far! try it out

India Shining

It was heartening to read this article on CNN-IBN. I see it as a glimpse into the future of our country...people from all walks of life making their mark in life

Bloxorz!

This is what happens when u get addicted to these smart little flash games that abound on the net.

Got the game from a friend. The moment i started playing, i got hooked.

I haven't done much work at office, the last 2 days.




But now i am at peace with the game and myself. The software Industry will soon show a teeny weeny spurt in employee productivity.. he he

Apparently, the different levels can be loaded at will using the respective passcodes. I have here a list of 'em if u need em.

passcode level
098598 15
000241 16
683596 17
284933 18
119785 19
543019 20
728724 21
987319 22
293486 23
088198 24
250453 25
426329 26
660141 27
769721 28
691859 29
280351 30
138620 31
879021 32
614955 33

Interestingly, dudes and dudettes have uploaded videos on youtube showing how they solved the levels. I confess to 1 count of using them. forgot which level. But to my defense.. nevermind!!

Enjoy the game!!

what would you have done?

I found a dead roach in my food today.
I was at this newly renovated restaurant near my office.
I used to go there once in a while, before they closed down for renovation.
I found decor to have changed.
The table cloth and mats were matching with the decor.
They'd installed a juice counter. The woodwork was nice.
Even now though, the floors weren't as clean as they should be. As a result there were a few flies
I used to tell them earlier to try and maintain some more cleanliness
I used to always have the veg thali they served. Pretty decent stuff
Today i found a dead roach in my dry sabzi (palya, in kannada).
I stopped eating and observed the roach for a second, maybe to confirm
I called the waiter. He came
I just pointed to the roach and smiled. He sheepishly smiled back and hurried to the manager.
I got up and went to the wash.
When i got back, the manager came over and told me that i need not pay the bill.
Note that he didn't say 'sorry' first.
I said i don't want free food and requested for the bill.
He began ranting about how the appearance of the roach is the result of the renovatio n work and not of the practices.
I didn't react to that. I just told him that i've always mentioned that the cleanliness was never up to the mark and that fancy table cloth et al is not as important as hygiene is.
Now he says sorry
He mentions about a suggestions register.
I pay the bill and leave.

what would you have done?

culture shock!!

This is how this particular non-indian eats a masala dosa!

i hope i'm not sued for this....you never know!

Divided it stood, a United made it fall

Today is the anniversary of a great tragedy. Today is 9/11. I happened to note the date a few minutes back and was surprised to realize how obscured the day has been this year. Time, apparently, cleans even the toughest of stains. I clearly remember the day it happened. I was at my native place. We had all assembled to perform the traditional rites for my Grandfather who had then, recently left us. While preparations were going on in the house, i was watching tv in the drawing room. Incidentally i was watching the news. And then it was brought on. I took a few seconds to digest the breaking news. I still couldn't fathom the gravity of the incident. It looked bad, but never as bad as it turned out to be. I rushed to inform the others. People started trickling into the room. Surprisingly i don't recall much thereafter. It would have to be what would be expected. some shock! some disbelief, widespread curiosity, sporadic judgments and so on!

The world trade centre is no more, but nothing daunts the human spirit from resurgence. Ground zero is yet again a buzz of activity as thousands of men work towards erecting the freedom tower. With the anniversary in mind i googled for some information and this is what i have. Rather nice i say!

I run with your money!

I apologize to whoever originally said this, but its the simplest way to put it, pun intended ofcos. Jokes apart, let me announce my commitment to run the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2008. It will happen in the last week of January and I'm in the process of training for it.

If you're done with your laughing, let me get to my motivation. A few months back, i joined an NGO by name Asha. Asha is primarily into children's education. They (its 'We' now) started out strongly in Silicon Valley and with the tremendous support from enthusiastic members started out in India, where they are needed the most. Asha-Bangalore is an energetic group of like minded people and is involved in a few projects in and around the city. I was introduced to Asha by a friend of mine and being a part of it was the least i could do.

Everyone freely joins NGOs and other such organizations. But when it comes to doing the spade work, very few are able to do it. I for one am still to be involved in a grassroots level project of Asha where my actions will directly help a child improve himself/herself. But there are more sides to it. I realized that, to start with, i could help raise funds for the growing activities of Asha-Bangalore.

Marathons are a done event in The US. Its a very common physical activity and there are a lot of popular marathons which are calendar events. Awareness is very high, there are well developed training programs and it is a big Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) attraction. Asha chapters in the US have been actively involved in marathons and have raised a lot of money through individual runners who pledge to raise x dollars/mile run. Most folks of Asha-Bangalore have been involved with such Marathons while in the US.

Marathons are catching up in a large way in India. There are a few Calendar events which are participated in large numbers, including celebrities like Anil Ambani. The SC Mumbai Marathon is one such. There are also several local runs organized by dedicated running groups like Runners For Life (RFL).


So with this as my motivation and no background in running, I've set forth to achieve the daunting goal of running 42.195 km and raise Rs 20,000/- in the process. Thats roughly Rs 1000/- for every 2 km that i run.

My training is happening in full swing and since yesterday I've started documenting them here. You can also have a look at my fellow Asha guys' pages. The links are present at the left-bottom of my page.

Asha-Bangalore/marathon
Asha-Austin/marathon

My runner page on Asha Bangalore website is under construction and will be up soon :)

food for thought and psyche

People who waste food should be starved; they shouldn't be allowed to die of hunger coz there's no point then. They should starve to the point where they'll realize the value of that half roti they wasted, that one spoon of sabzi(veggies) they ignored and that almost large serving of dal(pulses) they left to spoil.

The saddest part is that many such people shovel in tonnes of food and the half roti et al is by no means an unacceptable extra. Hell, the last thing they are bothered about is that extra calorie.

No, its not about any of the above. Its about a stubborn ego. An ego i don't have an explanation for.

Its also probably a fallout of our cultural insecurities. They say, the host should refill the guest's plate of food, till something has been left uneaten. If the guest leaves behind a polished plate, it invariably has to mean either that the host ran out of food or that the guest couldn't be satiated. What rubbish!! I can vouch for this because in all traditional feasts that i have been a part of, it is customary to serve once more, after the guest has declined the offer!

But I'd like to come back to the ego bit. Its a depressing ego, not the condescending type but the hanging-onto-dear-life type. An ego which is looking for an opportunity to be bruised, an ego which doesn't want to rise up in life, which pulls down its owner further...a cruelly vicious circle, i say. I actually have sympathy for such people. They really don't understand, u know! But i have no sympathy for the fact that they don't try to change...i have no sympathy for their 'anti' attitude which says, any feedback received is bad feedback and to be taken offense to. They don't realize that people are actually trying to help them out of it. They don't want to think that their friends are going out of the way at times. I can again vouch for this because i came out of it. I changed for the better! I changed because I'm always looking to improve myself. I still have long distances to go, and I'm constantly trying. They should too!

Oops!...ummm!..damn!..too late!

Sometimes you want to rewind and playback time for the most trivial, yet compelling reasons. Like today, when i was walking down a narrow aisle in my office; A colleague with whom I'm on smile-when-u-pass terms, was coming from the opposite direction. I was ambling down, lost in my thoughts and didn't consciously recall his presence in my path. Ok! i didn't ram into him or anything, but i trudged on impervious of him and he had to squeeze past me. He was well past the moment by the time i realized this and i guess "arrogant bastard" has now been firmly registered against my name in his brain's registers.

If only i could rollback time, and graciously give him way with due respect. Alas! the motivation is not strong enough to pursue a research in Physics. So I'll let it be and stalk around his cubicle for another opportunity :D

Pleased to fleece

I saw this ad in BTM layout.
I must say, I admire the candour of the Landlord!!

Fwd: Fwd: Fwd:

Ever wondered who creates mail forwards? Countless hours are spent by one and all forwarding forwards. From 'funny video' to 'amazing pics' to 'sardar jokes' (my empathies) to 'sms jokes', everyone's seen 'em all.

this last time, while going through one such forward, i tried to picture myself creating one. Its not easy man!! Creating mail forwards is no longer amateurish stuff. It has its own protocol, it is well documented (but of course), it uses all available technologies and so on

here's a list of requisites as i see it

1. foreplay - you can't just attach a set of pics and write 'here goes'. At minimum there should be a "you won't believe this!! or "Check this out...u'll be surprised" etc etc. its just as in the big job!!

2. colours/dots - packaging man!! very important. no one wants to be associated with dull stuff. there should be a minimum of 3 colours, 5 font changes and a few italicized words. you could throw in a couple of gifs 'just for fun'

3. the link..hyperlink - there should be something under the skin of the mail. Most successful forwards that allegedly make their way to more than 50% of inboxes worldwide always entice the reader with hyperlinks. the links are mostly advertisement gimmicks, but thats ok. As long as you can click on the text, thumbs up!!

4. the connection - of course, the stuff should be good. It should connect with the reader. No connection implies a free ticket to the trash box.

Forward this to 5 people and i'll be happy. Forward this to 10 people, i'll be more happy. If you forward this to 50 people, i'll suggest that you read more than my blog

you think all this is bullshit? many have received forwards that they once forwarded, Have you met anyone, who has received a forward that he, originated? if you have, he's probably read this post..hmmm!!

cemented!

cement's been a recurring theme for me today. In the morning cement was the topic for the calvin & hobbes strip in TOI. After returning from office, i was glancing through the paper again and found that the T-shirt quote of the day was again related to cement. "drink cement, get stoned". pretty good!

i hovered over the calvin strip again and the sight of cement sticking to calvin and hobbes' back prompted a scary thought. How effective a tool for torture, grievance addressal, revenge etc can cement be! picture this - there is a person u want to badly hurt, but don't want any blood shed. Simple! tie him up, preferably with his limbs in awkward positions, pour cement over them and leave it to dry! boy! thats gonna cement his fate literally. how the hell is he gonna get it off him?

but seriously, cement can be a potent 'weapon of mass restriction'. i wonder why scriptwriters never thought of it. Imagine the prospects, Rajnikant has, to display his extra human (not to be confused with extra terrestrial, however suggestive his looks might be) skills.

Its the climax. Rajni who had been drugged and captured by the villian is covered from neck to toe in cement. An obviously irritated Rajni's temper is pushed to the limit when he sees the villian publicly challenging the heroine's modesty..next moment is heard a deafening roar from Rajni accompanied by vigourous shaking of the head and before anyone realises, cement splinters are flying in all directions and there stands Rajnikant, brushing off some dust off his shoulders, one eyebrow raised, giving his sexy look. thts fodder for a month of housefulls in chennai, i can bet.

concrete thought?

Quotable Quotes

Here's a small compilation of quotes that i liked and built up over an year or so.. not many, but i love each of them for one reason or the other. been pretty selective but hey! its all about the mood that was..happy reading! :)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.
-Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)

People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools.
-Alice Walker, writer (1944- )

War, at first, is the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off.
-Karl Kraus, writer (1874-1936)

Be like the bird, who halting in his flight / On limb too slight, / Feels it give way beneath him, yet sings / Knowing he has wings.
-Victor Hugo, writer (1802-1885)

The river does not swell with clear water.
-Italian proverb

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.
-Rene Descartes, philosopher and mathematician (1596-1650)

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
-Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don't swallow it.
-Hank Ketcham, comic artist (1920-2001)

We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.
-Carlos Castaneda, mystic and author (1925-1998)

I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: 'The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair.' In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.
-Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and author (1872-1970)

Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit.
-Edward R. Murrow, journalist (1908-1965)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man
-George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
-Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

Once you label me you negate me.
-Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher (1813-1855)

Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.
-Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher (1861-1947)

One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence.
-Charles A. Beard, historian (1874-1948)

If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again. I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on 'Babe' that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian.
-James Cromwell, actor (1940- )

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
-Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.
-Pearl S. Buck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1892-1973)

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.
-Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

In the small matters trust the mind, in the large ones the heart.
-Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
-Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)

The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing -- to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts.
-John Keats, poet (1795-1821)

The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.
-James Russell Lowell, poet, editor, and diplomat (1819-1891)

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the
beginning of wisdom.
-Theodore Rubin, psychiatrist and writer (1923- )

Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors.
-Lewis H. Lapham, editor (1935- )

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
-William Arthur Ward, college administrator, writer (1921-1994)

God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
-Jacques Deval, writer and director (1895-1972)

Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor.
-Wernher von Braun, rocket engineer (1912-1977)

Evil is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.
-Shakti Gawain, teacher and author (1948- )

We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.
-Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)

It is a funny thing about life, if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
-Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything -- anything -- be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in.
-Sam Harris, author (1967- )

Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East- to know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them- who were above such trifling.
-Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

Extended empires are like expanded gold, exchanging solid strength for feeble splendor.
-Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.
-Stephen King, novelist (1947- )

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
-John Wooden, sports coach (1910- )

In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated.
-Margaret Halsey (1910-1997)

What I stand for is what I stand on.
-Wendell Berry, farmer, author (1934- )

The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.
-Rita Mae Brown, writer (1944- )

A woman can become a man's friend only in the following stages - first an acquaintance, next a mistress, and only then a friend
-Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)

The crucial disadvantage of aggression, competitiveness, and skepticism as national characteristics is that these qualities cannot be turned off at five o'clock.
-Margaret Halsey, novelist (1910-1997)

What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?
-George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

Don't be yourself. Be someone a little nicer.
-Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)

open your eyes, if u haven't yet

read this and then think about what you've done with your life. Ponder over whether you've justified your means. If not, there is still time, its never too late to start. Its not for nothing that it is said, "where there is a will, there is a way". From my experience, i'm dead sure that its trying that matters; trying with, if necessary, blind faith and commitment. think about it

www.spoolpool.blogspot.com

hey!

i've been motivated by the movie i just saw, to dedicate a blog to movies. I present to you this

hail hollywood...and occasionally bollywood

Khosla ka ghosla (2006)

First and foremost, let me tell you that i'm only halfway through this movie at the moment. But its been such a pleasure so far, that i'm sure its going to be one of the best movies i've seen in a long long time.

Khosla Ka Ghosla, deceives by name, but more than makes up for it in virtually every department of film-making. If i had my say, this film would have gone to the Oscars as India's official entry. Yes! it has a very strong and relevant story to tell and its telling it beautifully to me. Anupam Kher and Boman Irani need no eulogies, but every other member of the cast has been a revelation. Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak have newfound respect in my eyes. they are truly magnificent in this movie.

I'm yet to see Navin Nischol take centre stage, but its understood that he'll do a damn good job. Everyone fits their role to perfection; Tara Sharma as a slightly hare-brained theatre artist, Parvin dabas as the no nonsense software professional, Kiran Juneja as the mediating and caring house maker and surely every other character that i'm yet to come across.

Three cheers to director Dibakar Banerjee for his brilliant effort behind the camera. The pace of the story is just right and interspersed with the right amount of comedy and executed to perfection by the aptly selected cast. The plot is so real, i got scared when i put myself in the protagonist's place. This is something that could so easily happen to you and me. And this is something that, if it happens, you'll have very little that you can do about it.

Whether the Khosla family has what it takes is to be seen and i can't wait to get back to the movie for that

If you think Hindi films have lost their meaning , this is the movie that will prove you wrong and wrong, in a big way. So go ahead and redeem your faith in Bollywood. I got to rush now

ciao :)

samjhauta blasts...hand of God?

it was saddening to read about the samjhauta express blasts that killed several people. Among the several people who lost their dear ones is shaukat ali. i was touched by the quote on the front page of today's TOI. it read, " chacha, ayesha bach gayi". It is hard to express how much those words mean to a parent who is ruing the loss of 5 of his 6 children. 6 children...6 children...its not a normal number...its high, abnormally high... so high that i'm forced to think that god is involved in these blasts

yes, i'm being highly insensitive...yes, the blast could happen to my family too...so i specify now that when i speak, i speak in general...for everyone...for india.

i somehow am forced to see this event as part of a bigger scheme of things...something that is under the control of a superior power...well, it can also be reasoned beyond doubt to be the error-correcting manifestation of a master algorithm that governs life on earth. the former is beyond the scope of everyone;
think about the latter, its just like a dense forest burning itself in a forest fire; friction....nature's corrective measure

help yourself

i realised why i never read self help books. there are 2 kinds of people in this world - people who put into practice what they read from such books and people who don't. I clearly belong to the latter set, which is why i don't see any point in them books. It is clear to see that whatever said in these books is logical and practical and all that. There are hundreds of them and i can confidently say that all of it makes sense. But there is one basic pre-requisite to imbibing from any of these books.

It is called determination/hard-work

the crude diligence to stick to it. someone give me a book on that so that i can procrastinate over reading it

Doing my part :)

quote

Dear All,

I have a request for you. If you have a function at home or at office,
and food gets wasted, don't hesitate to call 1098 - Child helpline.
They will come and collect the food. Do remember this number folks. Keep
circulating this mail amongst all your friends. We have to thank God for the
food that we have. But on the other hand ... ironically, we still waste
the food that we buy. Please folks, don't break this chain. "Helping
hands are better than Praying Lips."

Rgds

unquote

blech...burp!!

see, writing is all about expressing your thought. the difference between good writers and bad ones is that the good ones do have a thought when they're trying to express it. In my case, i have no thoughts but am in a jolly good urge to express whatever shit that hits my black/blue...aha.. GREY cells. its not for nothing that i've titled my blog cereral puke..:) So what are my thoughts?

One definitely goes to the riots that happened in bangalore over saddam's execution. Note the use of the word 'saddam'. Its not common for internation/national media to refer to a world figure by his/her first name. agreed hussein is a very common surname, but had saddam been worthy of respect, he would have been invariably addressed as saddam hussein. Thus when the whole world and especially Iraq cares a rat's ass about this guy, why the hell is Bangalore burning over it? that too after a good few weeks of his execution!!

Greg Chappel lands somewhere in Orissa along with the team for India's next cricket match with the west indies. At the airport, a man physically assaults him from the back. Purportedly the guy was upset over the exclusion of some orissa player from the national squad. Guess it would make sense to amend ICC rules and have a 29 member indian cricket team!!

I happened to catch tonight's episode of KBC2 (thats Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 ...lawfully plagiarized and indianized version of Celador's Who wants to be a millionaire) The news is that the this is the second episode after SRK (shah rukh khan) took over as host from Amitabh Bachchan...err 1 sec

ok..am back!..so SRK sux big time. thats the news!. I missed the 1st episode y'day and so didn't grant it much, when people opined the same. But today i saw it and boy..oh boy!! did he suck..he's outright clueless as to what he's doing. He starts of with some 'prose' before giving out the correct answer, to add to the contestant's tension, and then loses track or motivation to finish it off smoothly. His gig with his cell phone today, at the end of the show should earn him the "not-my-scene lifetime achievement award 2007"...man!! and i thought this guy talked sense and consequently had it too...i still hope that he'll come to his self soon and rock the show. The man has charisma..He just needs to come out of the haze/maze/glaze created by Amitabh Sophisticated Bachchan...yes! the suit doesn't look SRK...i'd be darn impressed if he can turn around the show to a jeans and jacket jingbang..so much for J(pun intended)

thts all folks...am catching a movie tonight..name's Syriana..Clooney, Matt Damon and the works...hear its darn good..lets see

Of words sans actions

Early morning today, i went to the Popular Bajaj service centre to collect my bike. While waiting for it to be brought out from the parking lot, i noticed the day's activities gearing up. Bikes were trickling in for service and the staff was booking them one after the other. I'd gone through the process y'day and it was slightly painful then due to the rush. Today morning was very peaceful in comparison. Still, i found this balding,lean guy cribbing away to glory. He'd found a faithful listener in a similarly grieving soul and was voicing his displeasure pretty loudly. He wanted everyone to hear it. There were others around too, waiting for their bikes to be booked . But they were just hanging around with sad faces, mentally gritting their teeth probably.

So this angry young man goes somewhat like this,

"People are waiting since 7 o'clock. If they can't book promptly, why do they assign drop-in times to customers? Let people come whenever they want. Either way they are making us wait so long. What are they doing? Are they waiting for a Tirupati Darshan to book these bikes for service. Why don't they understand that people might have pressing needs to attend to?..hrrmmph!!"

Let me explain. A customer calls up the service centre and reserves a date and time for service. He can then drop in his bike at the said time and collect it later at a prescribed time. Now it so happens many times, that people do not bring in their bikes on time. this creates undue rush later on. I faced that y'day. It took me about half an hour to get my bike booked. But if i hadn't done what i did, it would have taken an hour easily. I simply walked up to the reception and asked to speak to the head of the service department. They guided me to him and he immediately struck me as an honest man. I softly told him that it would be nice if he could press a few more of his staff into booking the bikes considering the situation. He took it very sportingly and himself moved around speeding things up. And it did speed up. I didn't get an opportunity to thank him later, but that would have been the icing on the cake.

There are a few points noteworthy here. Firstly, our angry young man could have reacted on similar lines today morning rather than shout his anger and exacerbate the general discontentment around. His words wouldn't speed up the process as mush as they would irritate the staff and thus further adversely affect the service.

There are days when I'm in the shoes of the angry young man. Its just that y'day i happened to be more reasonable. I think we all should try to do that.

The other noteworthy point is about complimenting good work. We are all very quick to point out mistakes and mouth criticism. But rarely do we appreciate good work or a nice thought. An unexpectedly received 'thank you' or 'well done' can make the day for a person and it comes at no cost.

Thats all i had to say, thanks for being with me till here :)

tipping point

when you go to a restaurant, you go there expecting good food and good service. So when you get bad service, you naturally become angry. I,become confused! Coz good service, is a pretty straightforward thing to deal with. Everything is prim and proper and there are smiles all around. All I have to do, is place a handsome tip and i'm done. But when service is bad, lots of possible reactions fight for attention in my convoluted mind. For one, i contemplate not tipping the waiter at all, thus punishing him for his incompetence. Then i think he'd take revenge and spit/fart/(whatever) into my order the next time; well, if there be one. Another thought tells me that i should be more compassionate - "what if he's having a bad day?" or even better "what if he's serving his notice period after a pink slip" - if the latter be the case, he certainly wouldn't be too concerned about service. Then again, i presume that he might be in need of money and it would be harsh on my part to not tip him.
With all these perspectives in mind, i end up neither here nor there. I tip him a pittance and walk out with mixed emotions. The waiter mentally yells "bastard" at me and makes sure he rigs my order the next time. I thus successfully demonstrate a lose-lose situation

i make it look so easy. don't i?

CAT 2006 results out!!!

you can check your scores on the followng link

CAT2006 results

there is speculation that what you might see (website is very slow) will not be your actual percentile, but a percentage of the topper's score. So decide whether you want to believe that.

Personally, i haven't been able to get to my score yet. I'm just experimenting to see if this post will increase my site hits..he he

all the best!!!