Bulls Eye!!

Remember the award?

The Hoot

From their own web site --

Why This Website
The subcontinent has plenty of media, it does not have enough scrutiny of the media. This portal is the outcome of the concern felt by a group of practicing journalists at some recent trends in journalism in this part of the world. It is an attempt to revive a concern for media ethics, restore focus on development
in the subcontinent, and preserve press freedom. It will attempt to hold a mirror to the way journalists practice their craft in this region. It will be devoted to examining issues of accuracy, fairness, right to information, censorship, and the responsibility of the media.. It is aimed at journalists, users of the media including lay readers and viewers, and students and teachers of journalism and communications. Particularly for the last group, as for media professionals, it attempts to bring together several relevant links and readings. It also attempts to provide tools for communities and individuals to interact with the media.

Visit http://thehoot.org

Reminder!!

Oh!! Groovy baby

India vs China

So you thought you have heard enough about how India lags behind China in infrastructure, FDI in manufacturing and what not. There is one more aspect added to the list.

We have only 3 universities in top 500 while China has 18. Read this.

I think we need better politicians. But more important then that is the fact that I need to start voting. We discuss so much about corruption and bad policies and dumb people getting elected but it's of no use unless and until we start voting.

I am going to start voting. What about you?

RVCE Express

The RVCE Express is on roll again. This time it's the Shrilankans who are on the mat. And no, he never had a doubtful action ;)

!!

One refreshing channel

Great Indian Comedy Show, Laughter challenge and Nach Baliye. For once we three roomies are not fighting for the remote. Star One rules!!

A sad change

The best captain we had. The guy who infused aggression in to the team. The leader who believed in giving it back to the opposition.

This is a sad change. But definately not 'The End'.
Ganguly will be back.

More changes taking place in Varanasi

• Kanhaiya Chitra Mandir, the good old cinema hall is now gone. Now stands tall in the same place is KCM multiplex which will give PVR a run for its money. Watched the latest Harry potter movie with my kid sister. Wonderful.

• The cost of your life is only equivalent to a pair of sports shoe, a jeans and a T-shirt. That's all you need to pay somebody to sniff out a life. Horrible.

Change

Harivansh Rai Bachhan ke do bol

I am back, so here I go

May be its time to give you some glimpse of the changes that are taking place in my small home town. Ofcourse one by one.

Flashback to 1994

I wanted to make an STD call to my dear Papaji. I cycled three kms to reach the head post office. Waited in a queue of four for my turn. Made a two min phone call with a stop clock ticking in front of my eyes. Paid the bill given to me by the operator, which was quite a sum. And ofcourse, cycled back home.

Cut to present

In a family of ten( Kids included) we have five cell phones, four landline connections and two broadband connection.
At the max I can boot out a couple of them but still. And if you think its no big deal then take this. We got a broadband connection in my small town in flat fifteen days.
And if you still think its no big deal then I will like to tell you that for our first telephone connection we waited for one and a half years.

Some change huh!! More to follow.

I am back

The small town boy is back in bangalore.
And is getting bored in the office.

It is something that gathers strength with patience, grows despite obstacles, warms in winter, flourishes in spring, casts a breeze in summer, and bears fruit in autumn -- I found Love.

-- Khalil Gibran

I love Microsoft

For people who think Apple invented the UI and mouse and Microsoft copied the concepts.

Read this

I have always felt that if not for Microsoft the IT market would never have grown to this size.
You can hate it but I strongly feel that Microsoft rules.

And I smile

Delhi, Paris and now Jordan

The world has to know this has nothing to do with Islam

Bridegroom Ashraf al-Khaled, Whose wedding party was bombed in Hotel Radisson, Amman,Jordan

France is burning

"As far as I'm concerned in this war against Islamofascism, since they think nothing of killing innocents in a marketplace bombing, I don't mind loading Google with Google bombs for them. If Sarkozy did it, good for him. Those kids are riff-raff. At their age I had been without any parents for ten or fifteen years, dragging myself up with my bootstraps and learning about life on the run. These kids have a home, cell phones, notepads and plenty of money for leather jackets and jewellery and still have both parents at home along with the rest of their families. They're just not grateful for what they have. From where I stand, lots of them have a lot going for them...they're just not making use of it."
-- A French commenting on the rioters in France.


This precisely is the condition all over the world. Islam is going to define this century for us just as Hitler defined the previous one.

One major concern that I have is that Muslims are not ready to give any rights to others but they want it for themselves. For example how much religious freedom an immigrant will get in UAE or any other Islamic country. But they demand this when they live in a secular nation.

And they feel victimized. Among the muslims it's a common feeling all over the world. Be it J&K in India or the suburbs of France. I don't know what this french man says is correct or not but it's true in India. Just look at J&K, it gets the best of aid among all states but still.....It never seems enough. They are always complaining.

There is a lot I want to write about this but.....as usual lot's of work.

Amusing

Example of Parisology
"The message is that there are known knowns - there are things that we know that we know. There are known unknowns - that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns - there are things we do not know we don't know. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."

Listen more here or read here.
If you think Bush was the best listen to his men. They are not very far behind.

I know Jill watches this space :)

Sorrow engulfed me... Then it slowly left.

Happy Diwali

What happened
Bomb blast in Delhi. 59 dead, 100+ injured.
All of them, women, children, men who were out there to buy or to sell, to celebrate the festival of lights, to be happy. Being from up north I can imagine the hustle bustle, the buzz in the air, the happiness.

And then there was the blast. People torn to pieces, life and happiness sucked out as if it was not there at all. I feel sad for what has happened. I feel sick somewhere down below, that I didn’t take up the offer to join NDA. I don't know how many jehadis I would have killed, I don't know how much difference that would have made to this whole thing but.....

What disturbs me
Is that none of the secular Islamic leaders of India had to say anything about it. Not even the CM of J&K, who remembers us only when he needs something for his state. People are afraid of calling this Islamic terrorism because they will loose a vote bank. On the other hand we have leaders who talk openly about having a Muslim CM for Bihar. We have leaders who want friendship with Pakistan and leaders who don't recognize the problems that we will face from Bangladesh in the near future. I don't know where this approach will take us. But certainly I don't have a good feeling about it.

Questions

....that will go unanswered.
For example IIPM and this.

Rain rain go away

Come again another day. I like it when it rains but now its getting on to my nerves. More so with the pathetic state of infrastructure in Bangalore.

Media

As has been my opinion, Indian media is biased. What you listen, see or read is controlled by them. To form an opinion about something you need both sides of the story but most often you get to know only one, the one that media wants you to know.

Take the iipm case for example. But I am pleased to see atleast one mainstream magazine taking up the issue. Read here.

!ideal

If you can make somebody feel like being pushed over, treated like a door mat.
.
.
Be sure there is nothing ideal about it.

West Bengal's virtual deindustrialisation

"In his zeal to reverse this process of West Bengal's virtual deindustrialisation"
From here

Now whats virtual about it? Its real sir, real. Anybody who has seen towns like Asansol and Durgapur in the past will agree with me. What once used to be a vast industrial hub is now a ghost town. When the West Bengal governement says that they have excess electricity, don't be fooled there is no addition to the power generating units. All that means is that the industries which used to consume the majority of power have all closed down.

Just to give a glimpse of how it all works. Some 3-4 years back my Dad got a chance to visit the Durgapur steel plant. He told me that to do some mundane job in a blast furnace they have recruited 8 people. A single person can work for two hours a day and finish the work on time. You will that its plain simple stupid. The company is never going to make any pofit with such policies in place. But the management can't do anything about it because if you touch even one worker the trade union will go on strike.

Enough of West Bengal, now the same is happening to my state UP as well. Reason is different, in this case its criminalisation. Pretty sad but true. And I can't complain because I don't vote.
Damn!!

Ground reality

The people
Many people said when the earthquake struck, they thought India had attacked Pakistan with nuclear missiles and that is why the earth was shaking.

and
The Government
That is the reason why Musharraf refused to accept help from the Indian Army. Musharraf had no problem accepting help from Israel even though Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Jerusalem.Pakistan is getting help from countries, which are thousands of miles away from our borders, but why can't our neighbour send us helicopters for help? If we cannot accept help from India during a natural disaster, then we cannot have genuine friendship even during normal times.

And some people still believe there can be peace between India and Pakistan. As I always say, even I want peace but this is the ground reality. And I think it will take another generation minimum to change this.

Read here

I got an award that just screwed up my day.

Jamshedpur rocks !!

Click here to know why.

Makes me nostalgic. The two month long summer vactaion followed by week long Durga Puja. The fifteen people who made the gang. The packed schedule, what to play at what time.

Will write more later.
Lot's of work.
Sigh!!

Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn't, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence. -Honore de Balzac, novelist (1799-1850)


I agree.
-An Ideal Boy, NDA drop out(1978-)

PJ Three

PJ festival

Once all the scientists die and go to heaven.They decide to play hide-n-seek.Unfortunately Einstein is the one who has the den.He is supposed to count upto 100 and then start searching.
Everyone starts hiding except Newton. Newton just draws a square of 1 meter and stands in it right in front of Einstein.

Einstein's counting 1,2,3......97,98,99.....100.

He opens his eyes and finds Newton standing in front.

Einstein says "newton's out..newton's!! out!!"
Newton denies and says i am not out. He claims that he is not Newton.
All the scientists come out to see how he proves that he is not Newton.

Newton says "I am standing in a square of area 1m squared. That makes me Newton per meter squared.
Since one Newton per meter squared is one Pascal, I'm Pascal, Therefore Pascal is OUT"

PJ - Two

PJ festival

Teacher :What happened in 1869?
Student:Gandhi ji was born.

Teacher :What happened in 1873?
Student:Gandhiji was four years old.

PJ - One

PJ festival

Other than being fruits, what is common between an Apple and an Orange?



For the answer click comments.

********* PJ Festival *********

Starting soon!!

First in the History of Blog world!!

The Gratest ever PJ festival on Earth.

Daily one Show!!

Northward Ho!!

I will not think about my career and what I want to do in life.
I want to go home, I want to make a difference to my family.
I want to live for my people. Nothing else matters more than that.

Mama I am coming home.

Chicken who? Chicken Little

Time to be cute. Time to Stop being silly and being the Angry Young Man that I am.

Time to Stop stop stop...so many other stupid things.

Things are different and different for good. Chicken little is here for sometime and Daffy is going to be there with me all my life.

Its fun and I am loving it.

You Must Have: The WinAmp Skin here.

Life is beautiful

It is. It is.

Schadenfreude

If this word has any real life example.... it's here, it's here, it's here.

Thanks Reva, working under you was a blessing.

Is it really worth it?

In the morning mom cried over the phone. She said it's been a long time since she has seen me. She felt lonely, helpless,all alone and she cried.

Dadaji is suffering from memory loss. He is fighting a lonely battle in our village. He just can't let go. He has built everything from scratch and I can't ask him to leave it. Not that he will. But now at 80+ he is alone there with Dadi. Nobody to look after them.

Papa is not well, it frightens me to even think what will happen if he gets really sick. He live alone in that big flat and the only connection with me is that bloody phone line which sometime just does not work.

All of us have worked hard, I can say we have been morderately successful. We have three house, some farm land and we earn a more then decent sum every month.

But is it really worth it?

Light, bright light.

Ashes is over, I didn see much of it.
Sketch book is lying in the drawer.
Tennis.. all I can think of is to get my money back from the instructor.
Ten books waiting for me to pick them up and read.
Carrom board is all dusty.
Kites.. lets not talk about them.
Cricket..I have not played for one year.
Eyes are gone, back pain shuru ho raha hai, ghar jana hai....

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Light, bright light.

India, Pakistan release prisoners.

Bole to

Rules to be strictly followed, starting today:

1. "Doosaron ke mamle mein apni lambi taang mat aadao."
2. "Phaltu ke judgmental comment mat pass karo."
3. "Jo karega wo bharega, leave it to them."

Bahut khana kha liya aaj.
Burp!!

Thoughtless

Ruthless, blackmailer, Got handles?
Confused..sad case.

War with Paikstan

Read more here.
And laugh your heart out here.

Hah!!

ThIrD laW oF tHeRmOdYaNaMiCs

Two people can't touch each other and simultaneously say
"Oh!! You are hot."

The passengers

Funny!!
Players who stepped in and out of the team over the last two years

Series	Season	Player(s)
India in Australia	2003-04	Sadagopan Ramesh, Deep Dasgupta
VB Series	2003-04	Amit Bhandari
India in Pakistan	2004	Ramesh Powar, Hemang Badani, Amit Bhandari
Videocon Cup in Netherlands	2004	Dinesh Karthik, Rohan Gavaskar
Champions Trophy	2004	Dinesh Kartick, Rohan Gavaskar
Australia in India	2004-05	(4th Test) Dheeraj Jadhav, Shib Sankar Paul
India in Bangladesh Tests	2004-05	Shib Sankar Paul, Gagandeep Singh
India in Bangladesh ODIs	2004-05	Sridharan Sriram, Joginder Sharma, Dinesh Mongia
Pakistan in India	2004-05	Sridharan Sriram (5th and 6th ODIs)
IndianOil Cup	2005	Jai P Yadav, Lakshmipathy Balaji

Anand Vasu is assistant editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo

Talk

So we have Google talk to talk about but I love this too.
Client side scripting has come a long way and I am stuck with it.

But its cool you see. You can do so much.

The Rot

The worst top order collapse followed by the best rearguard performance ever.

Isn’t it ironic?

Poms and reverse swing

"So you see Richie, on the left screen, the little dark gentleman is busy introducing the ball to a bottle top and on the right we see that very ball swinging very late at high speed straight into the base of leg stump.

This is swing but unconventional, swing but reverse to what you would expect. And that is what the Pakistanis and Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in particular, have been doing right throughout this series."
From: cricinfo & bbc

This is going to be fun.Poms have mastered it. Lets see what the Aussies come up with.

Fourth test, Trent Bridge. 25-29 Aug

Ashes 2005

This is not a game of cricket gentlemen.
This is war!!

We get to read it from the phoren media

Its bad when Hussain draws nacked picture of our godess. Media gives it all the publicity possible. And the Hindus are the bad guys if they protest. How intolerant of us!!

And then this happens.

And guess what we get to read it from the phoren media. All our secularists keep mum, not a word in the papers or the news channels.

I smile.

Constitution of India

Oh, we have a constitution.
And that too the biggest one on planet earth. But we can't convict a single accused, either be it Godhara and its aftermath or the Sikh riots. And to rub it in you make some of them cabinet ministers.

And surprise surprise our humble PM is apologetic. He wants us to forget the past and work towards a better future. I say, WHAT CRAP. I really feel pity for our honorable home minister Shivraj Patil. Poor guy was made to say all the wrong things and when it started to heat up, pop comes the humble PM. All sweet and apologetic.
Dear PM, you can say such things because you were lucky. None of your loved one was burned alive in front of your eyes.

I ask: "So what's wrong if they ask for a seperate Khalistan?"

Double standards

One more shining example.

When it happens to them its terrorism

• London rocked by terror attacks

and when it happens to us they are

• Just gunmen

"Indian police have killed five gunmen who attacked a flashpoint religious site in the northern city of Ayodhya. ... The Ayodhya complex is one of the most fiercely disputed religious sites in the world...."

Picked up from sabha.

 

Fate

"I turned up expecting to have plenty of coffee and tea, and cake - and end up playing in a Test match."
Michael Kasprowicz reflects on the strange circumstances of his elevation to the Test side, following Glenn McGrath's ankle injury


And he ended up playing the ball of his life.

Don't chuck

This is to all the throw bowlers in the world. If you have a bend in arm by birth or by accident, please stay back home. We don’t need you in cricket. It gives you an unfair advantage over other genuine players and that’s not good for the game. As Bishen Singh Bedi said sometime back “Will you allow a blind man to fly a plane?”

You allow one and soon you will be flooded. Afridi, who chucks once per over. Then Malinga, Akhtar and that West Indian bowler.

Not good for the game, not at all.

Ball of his life

Like million others I assumed that the 2nd test is a two ball affair and went out to reclaim my life. And while I was cooling my heels in the hills of Ramanagaram, somebody played the ball of his life. Some match, I just could not get enough of it. Read every bit that was available on the net and watched the highlights with my eyes wide open.

And this happened when I thought I was loosing interest in Cricket. It's been more then a year since I have touched a cricket bat and the dismal performance of Indian cricket team has not helped either. Indian cricket reminds me that yesterday, in TOI Chappell was talking about leaders in the team. It seems he needs 10+ leaders in the team. That sounds like some corporate bullshit. Why can't people just shut up and do a sensible and honest job? I know 3-4 matches are not enough to judge him but I don't like people who speak before they act.

I agree

Deleted

A birthday to remember

Good old friends, new family members, three cakes (yum) and lots of phone calls.

Certainly.. a birthday to remember, all my life.

Thank you everybody and thank you Charlie!!

A goodbye at the station…

Found this here here. Do read the write up.

Happy!!

Uneducated Opinions

"One reason is because most reporting is not done from an impartial standpoint. The real kicker is that most people will not take the necessary time to investigate the issue first and then form their own educated opinion. For the most part, people have preconceived notions and as a result they tend to listen to “news” stories or political banter that reinforces what they already want to believe."

If that’s the case in America, just imagine what happens in India where a large percentage of population is illiterate. People who don't even know what’s happening and how they are exploited. Reason why we have Lalu as our honorable Railway Minister.
Sometime back my friend told me that Ayodhya attack was planned and executed by RSS. I just smiled.

I AM A PROUD HINDU!!

Picking up from here.
Somehow felt this needed more attention then being merely a comment on somebody's blog. Not to mention the underlying guilt of misusing somebody's personal space. Sorry Reva, my apologies.

Hah Anonymous, AIB is here to clear away all the confusion you created with your incoherent rambling. Usually I leave people to suffer in their own misery but this one made me feel miserable myself. I hate your kind of self righteous pseudo asses who act smart and think they are the best.

Let’s talk about Conversion? Yes I have problems with the Benny Hinn types. Yes I will always have a problem if they try and change the demography of my country. I hate Bangaldeshi immigrants and I hate people who want a free labor market with Bangladesh. I want India to be a Hindu majority country. Very true that I was not here all the time to protect my religion but there were like minded people or else how do you think Sikhism evolved. Go read history instead of writing essays.

In Hinduism there is only one kind of follower, the Realised Rishi, in your own word “Those who follow one God and feel that a person who prays to any other - in whatever fashion that might seem apt to him or them is ultimately his own God”. And that’s why I say that I am a proud Hindu. Ayodhya was one example of our tolerance and our will to live in harmony with others. No other religion and its followers have this trait. You are far away from the ground realities annoyed baby, get a life.

And wow, it’s not Islam that disagrees with all other religions. It’s just that all the people who follow it, happen to disagree with others who follow some other religion. And hence the bombings and terrorism activities. You deserve a night out with Aishwarya Rai for all your the dumb observations. Kindly arrange one and have a nice time.

Neo-colonialism

"The survival of the colonial system in spite of the formal recognition of political independence in emerging countries which become the victims of an indirect and subtle form of domination by political, economic, social, military or technical means."

BJP wants an apology because our PM acknowledged something that's very basic and true.

I don't know how related this is to neo-colonialism but we Indians have a love for everything foreign. Next time when you are passing in front of a swanky building, be it an apartment complex or office building or shopping mall. Just stop and try to figure out its name.

"Victoria Embassy", "Brrokfields", "Prestige Meridien"

Case of intellectual bankruptcy?
Kills me!!

Dhichkiyaoon!! 

Anybody? 

 

I act

indifference
The trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care; a casual lack of concern

matter-of-fact
The trait of being concerned with practical matters, of having a pragmatic approach to the problem



When you act as a matter of fact, I act indifferent.

How will you rate a developer?

• The number of lines he/she codes per month.

Morons!!

• Number of bugs fixed per month.

Idiots!!

What if he/she writes 10000 lines of redundant code.

Inner conflict

Fortunately analysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.
-- Karen Horney

I have a personal, more effective therapist. And so my processor rests in peace, to be used for things like fixing this bug.

Bug silly bug.

Happy, silly happy.

I am

not feeling good about myself.

I am

T
I
R
E
D
.

The end of 18th main

July 2002: Hostel life comes to an end and we move in to Kuteera, 18th Main. Some of us had a job, some don't. But there was hope. As Ravi said, Kuteera was an extension of hostel life. A stop over point for all the RVCE hostel guys.
I had a damn good time there. Thanks to Manu, Gupta, Ravi and Bhaiya.

Sad that I had to leave the place because of two pests. My heart felt apologies to you guys. I owe it to you. When I look back, I feel that was a golden opportunity to get rid of some stupid people from my life and all I did was mess it up for all of us. I am doing that now. Better late then never.

Bhaiya, All the best.
Pune, get ready. Its going to get much more noiser.

Please read this before voting
"Mufti Habibur Rehman of Darul Uloom Deoband said in a fatwa on Sunday that the Imrana's life with her husband Noor Ilahi has become untenable as per Islamic law after the alleged rape on June 3."

#$@%

Nahle pe dahala

Was blissfully unaware of the whole issue. Tuned in to NDTV and my favourite secular leader Salman Khurshid was there. He was defending this whole issue by saying that we should not point fingers at the muslim community.

Who the hell is pointing a finger towards the muslims. These idiots do not represent the muslims and they don't have any right to think that way either. And I am not pointing my finger, I want to poke their eyes.

I am lost for words. This is stupid, idiotic.....how can you do this to a woman?

Things that I want to do

Game?

Bangladesh

Somehow this bangaladesh keeps popping up in my mind. May be its because I have seen the damage they can do the local economy, law and order etc. For a first hand experience come to my hometown.

Why bangaldeshis harbour so much of hatred against India. Give me one single reason except that we are a hindu majority country.

Now look at this. I have never been able to understand this Kuldip dood. I mean what's his problem.

"We should not fence our borders with bangladesh, we should give work permits to bangladeshis, we are hurting their pride and self respect by doing this. Bangladeshis are well meaning people who want to be close to India, they have realised it now."

What nonsensical, crap, disgusting stuff. What else he has, to support his arguments except his whims and fancies.

Eh!!

What one should do with a relationship which you have been dragging for the last three years? Which irritates the hell out of you? Which is a burden? Which has no respect for your personal space? Which is too loud and vulgar?

As Shaan would have said "Kya karoon ki mujhe na kehana nahin aata".
Enough!!

Evil ;) 

You think you know?

"All this the world well knows;
yet none knows well."

From: Sonnet CXXIX
By: William Shakespeare

I am not a Shakespeare fan. And I have no idea in what context this line was written. But somewhere it touches a chord. That you think you know, but you don't. It may be because there is something hidden purposefully. Or it may be that you are looking for the wrong thing or you are looking the wrong way or....

Mostly true with people. Sometimes true with facts.
Weird.

Is this Motorcycle maintenance or is this just you?

Back..

I am back (Bangalore-Hyderabad-Calcutta-Chennai-Bangalore). One more short trip. It was good fun..infact lots of fun.

And finally..

• The broadband connection is working.
• The mobile is switched off.
• And most importantly, I have time for myself, to sit, to read, to think and to blog.

Right now..

• I want to write about how strongly I agree with this and disagree with this.
• I want to throw the peace doves who talk about the Mountain of Peace in my toilet and flush them.
• I want to sketch. And a lot of other things. Lots.

But these days I have only one thing on my mind. One thing.
So lets end this post.
STOP
FULL STOP

Home run

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

--G.K. Chesterton

Catch-22

"A concern for one's own life proves that he is not really crazy, and to get out of combat you have to be crazy."

Basically you are screwed both ways.
In a fix. Am I?
Oh yeah!!

The good, the bad and the ....

And what is good, Phaedarus,
And what is not good--
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things.

From "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance"

Looser? Yeah!! Sigh!!

"My time has not come, some men are born posthumously"

Nietzsche

Around India in 9 Days

Bangalore--> H'Bad-->Kolkatta--> Jamshedpur-->Varanasi-->Obra-->Varanasi-->Delhi-->Bangalore

Thanks to my friends, my sister and buaji. It was one trip I will remember all my life.

Happy!!

Report card

A long as everything happens on a scale of ten,...

This is one example of where ass licking can take you. Pretty high. Sigh!!
Not that Manmohan Singh is a buddhu and that he is not a nice guy but still where he is, is all because of ass licking.

Picked from Indian Express