Today, I figured out a new way to reach this blog (Thanks to Live.com):
Type "madhur dixit" on your IE address bar (yes address bar!!). It will take you to Live.com search results for "madhur dixit". Now scroll down at the last result, it should be this blog.
Its not long ago when we had our independence day holiday and we were asked to stay away from office,as coming to office on that day would be a violation of some weird act known as Shops & Establishments Act. What an irony, on independence day, you need to follow some law which prohibits you from going to a very usual place like your work.
Anyway, I sat back at home and listened to Rehman's JaiHe on almost all TV channels performed by highly esteemed singers and instrumentalists (is it the right name for these folks?? dont know). To do my part, I tried playing Jan-Gan-Man, on my guitar and failed miserably. It turned out that I started to contemplate on what is the degree of freedom we all enjoy and what all are the parameters it depends on:
Parameter # 1: Money (and Fame):
I dont want to keep fame as a separate parameter because people who are famous but not rich hardly enjoy any freedom. For example, you'll find Medha Patkar mostly in jail rather than out in the open. She is famous but not rich.
On the other hand, you have Abhishek Bachhan, who has all the freedom to speak his mind. Recently, I read his quote on TOI -" babies shouldnt be planned, they should just happen". If we had a strict family planning law which would prosecute people who publicly encourage having large familiies, Abhishek would have been bars right now. Dude, enjoy your freedom. He is both Rich and Famous.
Parameter # 2: Political backing:
I could have written something separately on this, but turns out that all politicians are rich and famous anyway. Besides, they have all the liberty to throw chairs and mics on their colleagues in parliament. Ever wondered, if you and I had thrown chairs on our colleagues, we would have been laid off by now for violating standards of business conduct.
Parameter # n: Break the law guts:
This is the nth parameter as I am not aware of all parameters from 3 to (n-1). But the nth parameter deserves a special mention. There are folks who knowingly break the law, and get away with it. There would be so many aspiring Telgis, who would like to make thousands of crores at the cost of spending some 10-13 years in jail. Isn't this too less for a multi-billion scam. Specially when majority of the people in Indian work for whole of their life to earn few thousands/lakhs of rupees.
So much for free India, while I crib about not being able to enter most pubs in Hyderabad because they dont "allow" singles in, there are folks in this country, who work day and nite to earn their bread, in coal mines, begging on traffic signals, breaking stones etc. [So mean here to write etc]. Good news is that there are some professions like maid servants, cook, driver which have started to pay really good sum of money.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Amitabha Bagchi...way Above Average
First of all thanks to Vinil, my colleague at Microsoft who reminded me that I have a blog which I realised I haven't touched for quite a while. Last week I read Amitabha Bagchi's Above Average. The decision to pick this book for reading was solely driven by the fact that it was lying on Crosswords's Best sellers of the month. I flipped around the pages of the book in the store and saw some reference of IIT, Computer Science ...I said thats it...thats what I came here for, to relive the memories of IIT. I picked the book and paid close to two fifty bucks and got it home. After reading the book, I think that book was worth every penny.
Amitabha though was narrating his own story, named the protagonist Arindam instead of Amitabha. I guess the fact that he was very candid in his language and exposing the "dark" secrets of his life drove him to at least change his name. Though in the beginning I thought its meant only for IITians who did graduation in CS but that would have made the target audience to few thousand people in this world, but as the story grew and I tried to imagine how different any other college life would have been, I agreed that any college student would have gone through most of all "this".
But I must confess his story was way more glamorous than most IITians would agree to. If thats not true I can at least talk on behalf of most IIT Madras folks who would probably concur to my point. Another interesting thing is that all the macho action in the story is happening to people around Arindam(the protagonist). Our man is mostly a silent spectator and an observor to all that is happening around him, except for the kiss he took part in.
The story doesnt have a really happy ending but its quite realistic.
In terms of clarity and detail, I would compare Amitabha with the stand-up comedian Raju Shrivastav. Amitabha has used each and every detail specially around IIT life to create humour which makes you laugh or feel pity on IITians at times.
Hats off to Amitabha for such a pleasant reading on anybody's college life.
Amitabha though was narrating his own story, named the protagonist Arindam instead of Amitabha. I guess the fact that he was very candid in his language and exposing the "dark" secrets of his life drove him to at least change his name. Though in the beginning I thought its meant only for IITians who did graduation in CS but that would have made the target audience to few thousand people in this world, but as the story grew and I tried to imagine how different any other college life would have been, I agreed that any college student would have gone through most of all "this".
But I must confess his story was way more glamorous than most IITians would agree to. If thats not true I can at least talk on behalf of most IIT Madras folks who would probably concur to my point. Another interesting thing is that all the macho action in the story is happening to people around Arindam(the protagonist). Our man is mostly a silent spectator and an observor to all that is happening around him, except for the kiss he took part in.
The story doesnt have a really happy ending but its quite realistic.
In terms of clarity and detail, I would compare Amitabha with the stand-up comedian Raju Shrivastav. Amitabha has used each and every detail specially around IIT life to create humour which makes you laugh or feel pity on IITians at times.
Hats off to Amitabha for such a pleasant reading on anybody's college life.
Monday, May 28, 2007
How far can positive thinking take you??
Its been a long time ... and I've also grown up a little bit in this month :) . Whatever comes out my "philo bag" (Teena's coined word), is now more justified. I've been planning to write loads of things while I am at home during the weekend, but since I still believe that internet can stay away from me for at least 2 days of the week (Its better to be called as a citizen than a netizen). When I am at office, I just cant spare time to write and the miraculous thoughts just wane away. But I just pulled myself, shunned the laziness after working out in the gym, and started writing this over...after a long time indeed.
Now coming back to what I wanted to write. There has been a lot of research going around on human brain , not just in medical science but in computer science as well. The first field is more concerned with improving the brain , and the second more to imitate it!!. Nevertheless, I wont write how neurons and synapse work together here. The idea is more spiritual and abstract. Think of brain as a state machine, just like a Turing machine or your computer.
Now anything you see, listen, taste, hear and touch acts as an input to this state machine. There are other inputs to your brain , one from your subconscious (essentially gathered and mangled from the external senses listed earlier) and another from your unconscious (wanted to call it sub-sub-conscious), which is pretty much dependent on your previous incarnation (here comes the karma). Now, any input to brain from all these sources is packaged into one thing - The Thought. This thought goes over iterations in the brain to change brain's state and its own state several times over. While this process is going on, the ALU of brain i.e. cereberal, evaluates this thought and directly effects usual the body functions like digestion, blood circulation, cell creation and destruction. While the thought is being churned in celebral, you are very much conscious, because only conscious mind has the power to change the thought which is fed externally/internally to it. This is also the reason , why you get nightmares or sweet dreams, as you just cant control them. At this conscious stage, it is now very important that you take things in the most positive way and modify and shun the thoughts which could possibly take a toll on your physical health. So, remember every thought is directly connected to your physical health. The mediatation makes your brain strong enough to control your body through modifying your thoughts the way you want it. Thats also the gist of yoga and ayurveda in some sense, which believes in well being of the mind as well as body.
Now coming back to what I wanted to write. There has been a lot of research going around on human brain , not just in medical science but in computer science as well. The first field is more concerned with improving the brain , and the second more to imitate it!!. Nevertheless, I wont write how neurons and synapse work together here. The idea is more spiritual and abstract. Think of brain as a state machine, just like a Turing machine or your computer.
Now anything you see, listen, taste, hear and touch acts as an input to this state machine. There are other inputs to your brain , one from your subconscious (essentially gathered and mangled from the external senses listed earlier) and another from your unconscious (wanted to call it sub-sub-conscious), which is pretty much dependent on your previous incarnation (here comes the karma). Now, any input to brain from all these sources is packaged into one thing - The Thought. This thought goes over iterations in the brain to change brain's state and its own state several times over. While this process is going on, the ALU of brain i.e. cereberal, evaluates this thought and directly effects usual the body functions like digestion, blood circulation, cell creation and destruction. While the thought is being churned in celebral, you are very much conscious, because only conscious mind has the power to change the thought which is fed externally/internally to it. This is also the reason , why you get nightmares or sweet dreams, as you just cant control them. At this conscious stage, it is now very important that you take things in the most positive way and modify and shun the thoughts which could possibly take a toll on your physical health. So, remember every thought is directly connected to your physical health. The mediatation makes your brain strong enough to control your body through modifying your thoughts the way you want it. Thats also the gist of yoga and ayurveda in some sense, which believes in well being of the mind as well as body.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Indian Idol is back.......
Indian Idol is back on TV with its 3rd season. The fact that I am a music lover doesnt pull me so much to this show as my interest in the display of human emotions and idiosyncrasies which makes me a follower.
People can argue that most "reality" shows are "made up". But I guess at least the audition rounds can always be interesting to quench your reality desires. As far as talent hunt is concerned, it looks like they have done a good job this time. Rather than people approaching them, they have tried pro-active search for singers across big cities by going around and asking people - "do you know anybody who sings well?". Besides this season, the judge panel has changed. There are now 2 singers , one musician and one lyricist as compared to one singer, one choreographer and one musician last time around.
On the show, I look for the dream-come-true stories which are really inspiring although the people who are kicked out are always in majority but I believe there is always a next season and another talent hunt on another channel, so if you are good, there is no need to be disheartened. In fact, most good singers dont aspire to be any channel's idol. They all sing for themselves!!!.
Unfortunately, I couldnt watch the whole of 1st episode as I reached my home little late after a hectic friday.
People can argue that most "reality" shows are "made up". But I guess at least the audition rounds can always be interesting to quench your reality desires. As far as talent hunt is concerned, it looks like they have done a good job this time. Rather than people approaching them, they have tried pro-active search for singers across big cities by going around and asking people - "do you know anybody who sings well?". Besides this season, the judge panel has changed. There are now 2 singers , one musician and one lyricist as compared to one singer, one choreographer and one musician last time around.
On the show, I look for the dream-come-true stories which are really inspiring although the people who are kicked out are always in majority but I believe there is always a next season and another talent hunt on another channel, so if you are good, there is no need to be disheartened. In fact, most good singers dont aspire to be any channel's idol. They all sing for themselves!!!.
Unfortunately, I couldnt watch the whole of 1st episode as I reached my home little late after a hectic friday.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Get serious!!!
One of my friends who works with times of india has told me that its time I start writing something which is more serious and impactful. I dont disagree with her, but all along the day , I do my job which is quite a serious one and break after lunch to write down something which is soothing to my inner self. Increasing the blog popularity by writing down investment tips, flaming remarks against mandira bedi for her latest saree , or narayan murthy's indignation towards national anthem (and yet wanne president!!!) or how India could have done better in world cup might be a good idea for some. For me , as of now, this is a non-goal.
These days, I am reading Anita Desai's Booker prize winning creation, "Inheritance of Loss". I guess much of the inspiration to write totally mundane things come from there. Most story tellers are not the best leaders or best patriots but its a different matter altogether when best of leader and patriots write their own books to share their experiences.
One my colleague was contesting that why should somebody worry about if a national leader or business tycoon or a film star for that matter said something about a national symbol or icon. "There are 20 other things to worry about" - came from him.
I guess the simple reasoning one can come up here is that these "big" people have certain following and people "below" look at them for direction and idolize them. When these big folks do things which are not acceptable in the usual social and political norms, there is bound to be an up roar , you like it or not.
These days, I am reading Anita Desai's Booker prize winning creation, "Inheritance of Loss". I guess much of the inspiration to write totally mundane things come from there. Most story tellers are not the best leaders or best patriots but its a different matter altogether when best of leader and patriots write their own books to share their experiences.
One my colleague was contesting that why should somebody worry about if a national leader or business tycoon or a film star for that matter said something about a national symbol or icon. "There are 20 other things to worry about" - came from him.
I guess the simple reasoning one can come up here is that these "big" people have certain following and people "below" look at them for direction and idolize them. When these big folks do things which are not acceptable in the usual social and political norms, there is bound to be an up roar , you like it or not.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Raj Bhog in Office...
The day finally arrived when I decided to bring one of the two cans of Raj Bhogs to office to share with colleagues. Raj Bhog is an advanced level rasagulla. Its little big in size and you need to spread your mouth really wide to take a one full raj bhog in.
My uncle back in Bikaner, Rajasthan was too generous to send them over to me as a gesture to thank me for finding out some phone numbers for him. When Raj Bhogs arrived at home, I kept them in the refridgerator and allowed them to cool down as they must have been tired after travelling for 2000 kms. My parents resisted the idea of sharing such a costly sweet with people in office who may not appreciate its worth. But it was indeed a problem of plenty which gave me the required impetus to bring the can to office.
It turned out that there were around 15 pieces inside the can and when I sent out the mail of the arrival of Raj Bhog (sounds like Raja BhogRaj), they vanished in no time. There were a few people who came late and were left unpacified - complaining.
My uncle back in Bikaner, Rajasthan was too generous to send them over to me as a gesture to thank me for finding out some phone numbers for him. When Raj Bhogs arrived at home, I kept them in the refridgerator and allowed them to cool down as they must have been tired after travelling for 2000 kms. My parents resisted the idea of sharing such a costly sweet with people in office who may not appreciate its worth. But it was indeed a problem of plenty which gave me the required impetus to bring the can to office.
It turned out that there were around 15 pieces inside the can and when I sent out the mail of the arrival of Raj Bhog (sounds like Raja BhogRaj), they vanished in no time. There were a few people who came late and were left unpacified - complaining.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Summers are here....
Summers are taking direct toll on me. Due to the hot weather around, I've discontinued my regular diet of boiled eggs. Eggs had helped me to maintain the hair treasure on my head in the past. As soon as I discontinued them, the fall season has arrived for my head.
My car too is not untouched by the mar of hot summers. The other day I parked my car in the open in office parking area. When I came back in the evening, I saw that a plastic music CD cover which was lying on car's dashboard was totally disformed due to the external heat and green house effect in the car. Thankfully , the CD wasnt inside that cover!!!
From today, I am parking my car in our covered parking area. But the damn parking area is half a mile away from my office and I need to walk all the way in open in almost 35 C / 96 F heat.
So much for global warming....cant think of coming years :( .
My car too is not untouched by the mar of hot summers. The other day I parked my car in the open in office parking area. When I came back in the evening, I saw that a plastic music CD cover which was lying on car's dashboard was totally disformed due to the external heat and green house effect in the car. Thankfully , the CD wasnt inside that cover!!!
From today, I am parking my car in our covered parking area. But the damn parking area is half a mile away from my office and I need to walk all the way in open in almost 35 C / 96 F heat.
So much for global warming....cant think of coming years :( .
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