Bookz

This sunday, I had been to the Landmark book store @ the forum mall to buy a book worth 150 bucks(Nope, not telling you which one). However, ended up spending 2k on others!! Typical me! The other stuff I bought:

Maximum City - Suketu Mehta
Men of Mathematics - Bell
Requiem for a dream - Hubert Selby, Jr.

Anyhow, not the point I wanna make. I wonder how people manage to piss me off even at a bookstore! Be atleast a LITTLE considerate.

If you spot somebody, looking for a book at a counter PLEASE do not slip in front of that person to find the one you are looking for. WAIT, nobody is going to spend the rest of the day at that store.

Please switch off your bloody phone, nobody gives a shit if you have the latest HIMESH RESHAMIA ringtone or your friends are going to feed you lunch today!!

This is not a picnic spot or a place for family get togethers. So, atleast look like you need to find a book and not here for a guided tour of a bloody bookshop!!

The small stuff you brought along (I guess they are called kids. It is not mandatory for them to tag along you know!) either check them in at the entry where you kept your other belongings or get them modified to have a silent mode!

And yeah, nobody cares that you can see a copy of KS available!! It is just a book so stop hovering and drooling around it. Either pick it up or MOVE ON!!!

Finally, PLEASE do not screw around with your girlfriend here! EVERYONE knows u love her and BLAH BLAH BLAH.....why don't you just SHUT UP or find a room and leave other people in peace!!!

Any guesses?

Can you guess who this guy is?

"From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more—to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible." — His Address to the United Nations Security Council, 1967.

He is the enigmatic leader of the ___ Foundation. Little is known about him, but it is known that he is or was a Danish weapons conveyer. "Driven by a need for privacy and a deep-seated sense of humility, he has released few details of his personal life to the public. He first made his mark during the Second World War, providing munitions to various resistance movements around Europe. After the War, he became the leading purveyor of high-technology armaments for NATO. After decades of keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems, he turned his attention to critical areas of science and technology - always searching for new ways to improve the human experience, and create a brighter future for all humanity." It is unknown whether or not he is still in charge of the foundation.

Active projects

A number of "active projects" of the Foundation are listed on their revised website.

• Mathematical Forecasting Initiative: Weather, disease, species extinction, and population support are listed as examples.
• World Wellness and Prevention Development Program: "A far-reaching educational initiative designed to teach the basics of sanitation, nutrition, and disease prevention to the world."
• Mental Health Appeal
• Electromagnetic Research Initiative: Division studying electromagnetics.
• Institute of Genomic Advancement: Working towards the eradication of disease and birth defects, via understanding of the human genome; a eugenics project
• Life Extension Project: Works on gene therapies, and the "development of young minds".
• Joop The Orangutan: The Foundation owns Joop, a 105-year-old orangutan, who celebrated this birthday on September 21st, 2005. Joop was "harvested" by British explorers in the 1900s, and is housed in Copenhagen, Denmark. You can "send a message to Joop" on its website, and view the orangutan on its webcam. The orangutan never moves, however the faux-webcam "updates" regularly

If you can find out who is reffered to here, you are a TRUE fan!!

Clue: Fiction!!

Road trip Bangalore-to-coorg 2

Before I get to the trip, some points that I missed last time

1) The red thing in the background of the first pic was our ride for the trip, a red Alto. (Sandy put me upto this)
2) If you still can't recognize us in the pics, then:
The tall one - Praveer
The fat one - me
The BALD(almost) one - Sandy
The other one - Vipul ( Aasaram)

So where were we? Oh yeah.....the road after the turn from Srirangapatna is pretty bad. (Something to keep in mind, Sandy has become a bihari due to peer pressure.....we have made him a Bihari that is so every time patna is mentioned in any of the names "Srirangapatna" for instance you HAVE to visualise Sandy smiling) It took us the better part of 3 hours to get there and the other three being addicted to tea like any selfrespecting engineer (i'm addicted to music) we HAD to stop for a chai break. We spotted a tea stall in a small village somewhere on the Mysore-Hunsur road. Since, I was not gonna indulge in the chai fiesta, I was the designated photographer....

We thougth why not surprise the people who knew we were on the trip along with the fact that the mobile signal was decent we did let em know that we were not turning back, not yet anyway!

If you have EVER travelled by road anywhere you'll know
The whole world is a loo (the green parts any way...).
The next pit stop was for the call of the wild....the nature that is!! and this was a perfect photo oppurtunity too :)

You must be wondering why I haven't mentioned anything regardin what was goin on while we were actually driving...we'll here is a sample YOU tell me if you want more...

while munching on Lays (Spanish Tomato)
Praveer: Have you guys heard this one
Us: Nope (Unanimously)
Laughter.....Chotu pauses...after some moral support and encouragement

Chotu: What is Red and goes tring tring?
Us: errrr.....a red bell??
Chotu: Nope....a Tomato
Us: WHA???
Chotu: The tring tring was to confuse you...
US: NAHINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! (NOOOOOOOOOO if you don't know Hindi (fewer Os coz I am just being lazy!!))

the "joke" had three other questions too, but i'd rather not type all that.

Moving on....we needed some refreshments. So it was decided that we needed to stop when we spot the next coconut seller. As it turned out, we did find a guy and we DID stop (SURPRISE!!). Chotu nd I got out Aasaram nd Sandy decided to skip it (they basically wanted to test for any side effects on us before taking the risk). This being a small village, the guy had no straws for us to use(to drink the "Narial pani", wiseguy!). We said what the hell, lets drink it up as we were supposed to. I will never be able to figure out, what was SO ammusing! Most of the people came out and had this broad smile on their faces. The genuine ones were actually laughing (at our expense again, I might add). Well take a look for your self. WHAT IS SO FUNNY?? Yeah, Sandy and Aasaram joined in too.

So the trip continued....there was one contention on the way though....the pic below...which flowers are these?? Palash or Gulmohar??


The next pitstop was worthwhile. We found this plantation. Had no clue what it was, so figured lets find out(aah, the young inquisitive underused minds of s/w "proffesionals"!!)
As it turned out they were actually growing "paan ke patte" I have NO CLUE what it is called in angrezi!. The pics below are from the small hut where some women were processing the harvest (that basically means we have no idea what was goin on). Anyway, we managed to click a few snaps. Such a pity, the still shots do not capture the audio or you could have heard 'em laughing in the background (at our expense I guess).



We decided we did need a really wierd (apart from our faces i.e.) pic so....

Rest of the journey was pretty uneventfull, till we actually saw the room where we were supposed to stay. That one for the next installment....

Road trip Bangalore- to-coorg 1

After about 2 years of delibration and hoping to get enough guys for a road trip (the destination never mattered) it finally materialized. Our very first road trip (together i.e.). Before I start rambling, if you too are planning a trip to Coorg the following are helpfull
1) Good drivers, we had three good drivers and me.
2) These directions turned out to be pretty accurate, keep a couple of detailed maps handy.
3) The 52 weekend getaways (book from outlook) especially if you are like us and do not have a particular destination in mind.

L-R Praveer(chotu), me, Sandeep(sandy) and Vipul (Aasaram)

Well anyway, we started on the morning of 29 April, 2006 at about 6 in the morning....the four of us. From Sandy's house near Airport road. Although no body actually belived that we will be able to wake up at 6 in the morning it DID happen :). The first target was getting outta Bangalore, which was accomplished pretty easily since chotu was asleep and thus no PJs for distraction!!

By 7:00 a.m. we were pretty hungry and wanted to finish up the sandwiches that Sandy's mum had packed for us (thanks aunty). So the first stop was at a Kamat yatri niwas on the Mysore road the sandwiches were accompanied with Chai (worth the 12/- I guess). The thing that we missed...if you like the coffee at CCD then there is one about 0.5 Kms further down the road and is open 24/7. That is another option that you can take.

Any how, so we carry on enroute to Srirangapatnam. As per the directions in the travelogue mentioned above, we were looking for the temple on the right side. It was smaller than what we had expected and we promptly missed it. We did realise our mistake (surprisingly) about 200 meters down the road and turned around to get on the rite path. (actually you can spot the orange county hoarding, that is much more visible!)

The road was supposed to be pretty bad from here on (and was!!).....chalo gotta go now...get some work done....will get back with the rest of the trip!!

GIG Guide

Swarathma will be opening the show and Euphoria will take-over later for ‘Pukar’ on the 6th of May 2006 at Palace Grounds, 6pm onwards. Host for the evening >> RJ Rohit Jayakaran.
We hope you’ll be there to watch us live right from the beginning at 6pm.

Tickets are available at the following outlets:
• Pizza Corner outlets
• B11
• Purple Haze
• Bulls and Bush
• SOS
• Zap
• Tavern Inn
• Coffee day express outlets.
• Coffee World
• Shoppers Stop
• Lime lite

vAsU dIxIt
swarathma

Instant Karma?

There are a couple of temples on my way to office. If you have seen me drive, you know, I HATE slowing down. However, if you know the bangalore traffic you know that two wheelers will stop at will without any signal. Invariably , the tail light of these rides in question are out of commision. When you realise this guy in front of you is slowing down and you have no other choice but to follow suite, as there is NO SCOPE of overtaking them (trust me the gullys are that narrow).
Any way, you look at that guy in irritation and realise he doesn't have any time to get down and go inside so is cleansing himself of his sins (this is a dialy procedure so lets assume the sins are of the day before...) and you tend to give the driver a wry smile and carry on, slowing down that is.

The guy picks up speed for about a 100 yards and then starts slowing down again (WHAT THE?) turns out he prays in front of all the god's creations (the female type i assume). The MBA institute on the way if PERFECT for his devotion. AAAAAAAAAA......Now I understand why this guy has to cleans him self of his sins everyday. Get MOVING YOU F***. OR ATLEAST MOVE TO THE SIDE AND PRAY WITH SOME DEVOTION!!!

GHAR MAIN MA BAHEN NAI HAI KYA?????
ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST!

Kristen Barry - Ordinary Life

And I shed my soul and feel it kneeling down...
I'm clutching my faith and pull it tightly round...
You're moving your mouth but you don't make a sound...
But I feel the walls slowly tearing down...
Heel to toe takes you from my side...
In and out and every breath divides...
My eyes to your head,
I can't go the distance...
But when you go you take me in an instant...
In this life and I'll give it time...
Cause its always pushing up from behind...
It'll be alright and it will be fine...
Its nothing more than ordinary life...
And I show you my sins and show me all your scars...
As we settle in and its written in the stars...
Your watery eyes got me send me floating...
And my weak heart is swimming with devotion...
But in this life...
I'll give it time...
Cause its always sneaking up from behind...
It'll be alright and it will be fine...
Its nothing more than ordinary life...

what if?

What if I have cancer?

What if I am never told I have cancer?

What if I am never able to do what I was born to do?

What if die before my dad?

What if I was able to talk to people?

What if mom was still alive?

What if there were no books?

What if my ipod stops working?

What if I become a vegetable?

What if you never asked me?

What if there is world peace?

What if eminem was not perpetually pissed?

What if I was talented?

What if you never told me?

What if there was no reality tv?

what if there was no wikipedia?

What if I end up being a parasite?

What if I end up getting married?

What if I have to take care of somebody?

What if my bike stops working?

What if there was no Sachin?

What if there was no football?

What if I do not have control over my future?

What if I do not end up a millionare?

What if I am never able to travel outa B'lore?

What if people hate me?

What if she never understands me?

What if she doesn't exist?

What if you think this post sucks?

What if you never let me know what you felt about this post?

What if you never read this post?

What if I never wrote this post?

What is the POINT?

A point is an entity with a location in space but no extent (volume, area or length). In geometry, a point therefore captures the notion of location; no further information is captured. Points are used in the basic language of geometry, physics, vector graphics (both 2d and 3d), and many other fields. In mathematics generally, particularly in topology, any form of space is considered as made up of points as basic elements.

Yesterday, had a pseudo intellectual discussion with another Friend of mine. Here goes....

She said: Get the point?

I said: A Point is pointless....

She: WHAT?

Me: Arre, A point has no dimensions (ref the defn above..) so, it can not possibly contain another point. Thus, a point is pointless!!

She: But the very fact that the point exists is proof that there IS a point.

Me: True but I am not denying that fact anyway.....it does exist but it IS still pointless!!!

She: Yup, but it still contains itself doen't it?? So, it ain't pointless.

Me: You can say that for some thing that has a dimension!! Since a point Has no dimension so it CAN NOT contain itself.......Anyway by this time we got bored and got the point that the whole thing was pointless and gave up on it.

Ok, Sandy if you are reading this I know I had a simillar discussion with you regarding this (yup, I am completely jobless)......but then we both were building the argument and not arguing about it so.....this one was much more irritating :) ...and pointless!

do u LISTEN to the music??

I guess I was in the 9th grade when this happened. I got my hands on one my cousin's mixed tapes (yup we had tapes back then). It had this old Billy joel song on it, we didn't start the fire. Nice tune, everybody loved it. Neway, during one of my history classes at school, the teacher mentioned this song and said it was an example of history in pop culture....WHAT?? Nope, none of us had a clue as to what was she talking about. On the other hand, she was shocked that all we did was listen to the melody and never actually heard the song.

As it turns out this is what she was talkin about.....the song actually is a chronological list of specific events, names, and places, beginning in Joel's year of birth (1949-1989). The lyrics are as follows, for maore info on the events mentioned here take a look at this the bottom of the page has the whole info

We didn't start the fire.....lyrics

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China and Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell and Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker and Television
North Korea, South Korea and Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray and Panmunjom
Brando and The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye

Eisenhower, Vaccine and England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace and Santayana goodbye

We didn't START the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't START the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov and Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella and Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini and Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls and Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean and Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter PAN, Elvis Presley and Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama and Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place and Trouble in the Suez

We didn't START the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't START the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle and Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai and Bridge ON The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle and California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide and Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey and Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro and Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho and Belgians in the Congo

We didn't START the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't START the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichman and Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin and Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia and British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn and Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul and Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away and what else do I have to say

We didn't START the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't START the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh and Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate and punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine and Terror ON the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran and Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal and suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack and Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics ON the shores and China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars and I can't take it anymore

We didn't START the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't START the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Thanks to my history classes, I LISTEN to the music now......

My IP?

So can I sue this guy for copying MY style or can he sue me?? :)

this is me......I think....

Just cynical?

Reel life taking on real life taking on reel life.....that is exactly what every body thought when a handfull of former IIT(yeah the same IIT that was mentioned by dilbert) students launched their own party...as expected it got a lot of coverage....and the usual cynical urban youth of India saw a raw of hope (yup me too....).

We have a monthly online magazine here at my place of work. They ran an interview with one of the founder members of the party. This is what led me to their site and their "ideology" and "strategy". The Hidustan times article which tears the recent hit rang de basanti to shreads and refers to this party as one of the saviours we were waiting for is a case in point.

So why am I writing this? Take some time to go to the party's site and read their take on why they made the party and how they want to get around to implement it. Two things are disturbing:
1) You get an impression that a software engineer who HATES documentation went about writing it. I do not mean the presentation of it all, the issue is how the article simplifies the whole issue of a socitey to a relationship diagram (just like all those cpp books)
2) The whole thing seems to be an impulsive decision taken by some really bright young minds.

Well may I am just being cynical( old habits die hard!!)....they will be fighting the elections this time around in TN, pondichery and kerela I guess. I do wish them all the luck and hope to god I am completly wrong about the whole thing. Well anyway they did take a step unlike me who is sitting on his useless ass and writing this....well as i said old habit die hard.....and sometimes they are immortal!!

P.S: Take a look at their interview on the N.D.T.V site and you might agree with me.

STOP THE HYPOCRISY!!!!

NDTV is currently in "save the nation" mode. In their pursuit of being the saviour they have been running this story on Sarabjit Singh's life (the Indian national accused of being a terrorist by Pak). His guilt has been proven in a Pakistani court. Now we want him to be "pardoned". I am not very bright so please help me understand the following:

1) India want's the Pakistani court to change it's decision....But we don't want pak to interfere with our internal matters.
2) Sarabjit did not commit the crime.....but still Mr. Mush kindly pardon him so that he is not hanged for a crime he never commited...HUH???
3) The Pakistani and Indian kids rotting in their neighbouring country's prisons can not be released....they are the blood thirsty terrorists!!!

Saddam will be tried for crimes against humanity.......
When he killed Iranian soldiers using his biological weapons (weapons of mass destruction) paid for by US it was a great service to humanity as Iran could not get more american hostages!!
now since Bush did not get a piece of the pie and Saddam "tried to kill his dad" he is the supreme evil.........Man I do not understand this........

As understood by Malcom X an enemy who atleast tells the truth and let's u know he hates you is much better than one who has a peace treaty with you and is inclined to help you shoot your toes off your feet....

Nah, can't figure this out.....processor overheating.....abort, retry, fa........

The Fact remains......Frodo failed......Bush has the ring!!!!!

dunno......

Wanted to write this ever since the cartoon row started. If you do not know what I am talkin about please move on to the next blog. Any way, me not being religious, as a matter of fact my being indifferent to any matter of race or religon makes me the wrong person to write this. But the fact is this reaction has NOTHING to do with any of those.

Got this impression after reading the biography of Malcom X . Well the fact is what the black americans, sorry the african americans went through is quite simillar to what the muslims feel (Indian muslims too). Atleast a section of them surely do. The apprehensions that the majority community of any group (group could ref to country, world, your friend circle...) have with any tight knit community would be simillar. Look at the few chinese people in Kolkota, the parsis in west India or the Muslim community. There is no denying the fact that minorities in any group ALWAYS endup strugling for what they want in the begining but if you do not allow your self to be used by other people you will not remain in that state. There is no right way of getting this done, tonnes of wrong ones though are being used currently. Nothing works out perfect. But everything can still be worked out.

P.S. If you read Alex Halley's book on X keep a few things in mind
1) Be objective 2) Do not judge the person till you have read the book, his part and Haley's impression of X. 3) Make up your own mind....do not let them do it for you!

As vasu says......Let the music spread.

Hmmm....so i'm outta hibernation.....y?......here goes..if you stay in b'lore and like
to listen to new artists, then I'm sure u must be a regular listener
of Radio city live.....yeah the play good music to.....sometimes ne way..

Ok, lets get to the point.....this band SWARATHMA was showcased
in one of the recent shows......If you like stuff from lucky ali....silk route
(that means their first album ).....nd you don't mind if a band refuses to
play covers and wants to experiment...then give them a listen.....

The catch?? Radio city is organizing a concert on the 17th of march....2006
i.e.....these guys need your votes (unlike the elections there ARE worthy candidates)
if selected they get to play with PENTAGRAM!!! ne how here's a message from
Vasu Dixit.....

Hi,

In case you missed our performance on the Radio City Live with Rohit Jayakaran aired on the 5th march ’06, you now have the opportunity to listen to bits of our performance. Just visit www.swarathma.com and yes...
Don’t forget to vote for us, if you like our music. Just type RCL G and send it to 7007 from your cell phone.

Thank you
vAsU dIxIt
swarathma

Tell your friends. Let the music spread.
www.swarathma.com


The first is a number in kannada.....the second one is in hindi.....so
spread the music....lets get a chance to hear them LIVE!!!!