No its not about steve jobs. I stayed hungry for one full day. No not really. But I did miss a couple of meals. I had a late night dinner. Ate just a slice of bread and a glass of milk. And had dinner the next night. So the claim I made about myslef about being incapable of staying hungry has been taken back happily :).
I was just going through the orkut profile of someone I know from hostel. Just an acquaintance. He always had this reputation of being a wierdo. Doing random stuff. Being abstract all the time. He still has all that stuff on his page. I have my doubts that that man knows anything about anything he keeps talking about. He just has this reputation to stand up to. Because in college u know, being something different makes you popular. And who doesnt want to be popular. But sometime down the line (ok that sounds creepy .. i m not that old :D ) you find out that you are not the person you pretend to be. And you decide to be yourself. Ok not completely. You cant renounce everybody's hopes on you. There are some pretenses you have to carry through all your life.
On the same subject a friend of mine once commented that its a tremendous quality to be able to live low profile. You can be yourself without any expectations. Nobody notices you.
BTW this is quite similar to that book "Fall" by Camus which is the story of a guy who has lived a perfect life. He has helped everybody he could. But he thinks he did that just so that people could see what a great man he was. Because once there was a man drowning in the river and there was no one around. He didnt tr to save the guy because no one was watching at so it didnt mattered. A man does everything for reputation. Either to earn it or maintain it.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Cant buy me love .....
As I sit in my office. Having a credit card which is directly billed to my company. But all I am doing is sitting and writing this blog on a friday evening. And I didnt even have dinner. Because money cant buy you friends. It can buy you food though. But I havent been able to eat out alone. So I'll starve tonight. Well I am sure I wont starve. Considering I havent missed a meal in the last I dont know how many years. I think I am now physically incapable of doing that. If I dont get food for a 8 hr period at a waking stretch I think I'd probably die.
Friday, September 21, 2007
The game of life
Life is quite like a video game. The "mario" kind. Where you go left right, into tunnels and jump around collecting coins. And when you have walked enough you quietly walk through "The end" sign.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Cooking
Cooking is a great timepass. And ppl who cook know that its a great stress buster. Food and Sex are the two things that keep a man going in life. Another point to be noted is no matter how much and how good u eat the last day u feel hungry the next day. Eating food the next day is as pleasurable as ever again. We should be really thankful to god for giving us this Hunger.
We can talk of hunger on many levels. Hunger for knowledge, hunger for fame. Its all very good. But then in limits. But thats not the point. The point is that it comes back and thats what is good.
A friend of mine was a great enthusiast for food. But he was more into quantity. :P. He used to say, if a man loses his apetite, then theres nothing left in him. But of late I have appreciated good food a lot. Having eaten in a lot of restaurants in a lot of places has given a lot of exposure too. I have also had the opportunity to try out various cuisines. And I still keep Indian cuisine in high regard. Very high in fact. And a very big BOO to all those indian (which canonically means North Indian :D ) restaurants who make it greasy. Make your food good and tasty. Dont add oil and butter to complement that. I (and many more ppl I know) would rather have un-deilicious food than greasy food.
But again the point to which I was coming was subtlety is a big big issue in cooking. Adding flavour to food. There are only a couple of basic ingredients in an Indian dish but there are many more flavours on top of that. First there are so many spices, then there's garlic, onion, ginger etc which is added in varying quantities dependin on taste.
Americans on the other hand dont know the concept.
This opinion is based on the three foods I ate in one day, which in fact infuriated me enough to write this, so blame it on the bad food:
1. An egg salad sanwich. It just had bread and egg. No salt no pepper no nothing. They are true to their word. Not a thing more.
2. A pizza on which I requested an extra topping of sundried tomato. It had layers and layers of it. I had to dig into tomatoes to find what else was there. And it was yucky.
3. A garlic flavoured potato chips. Now garlic is something which is used in small quantities. for the smell and the flavour. . I wish I could make the guy who cooked this eat a whole slice of garlic and tell him: Dude its a spice. U dont make someone have a dinner of garlic!!
So All in all I would say that subtlety is missing in the american cooks. Italians on the other hand have a better sense. But again not as good as Indians. I am not comparing food here. Just the art of flavouring things with multiple flavours in small amounts.
Which is also similar to what they have done to the english language. It had "flavour" in it. But then they removed "u" out of it. It wasnt really required there. "o" was the main thing. But "u" added a special flavour to it. (sidenote: having "u" really adds flavour to life itself :D ). (sidenote: "u" also adds "colour" to life). The americans got rid of the flavour and now its just flavor. And u know what, it doesnt smell or taste that good now.
We can talk of hunger on many levels. Hunger for knowledge, hunger for fame. Its all very good. But then in limits. But thats not the point. The point is that it comes back and thats what is good.
A friend of mine was a great enthusiast for food. But he was more into quantity. :P. He used to say, if a man loses his apetite, then theres nothing left in him. But of late I have appreciated good food a lot. Having eaten in a lot of restaurants in a lot of places has given a lot of exposure too. I have also had the opportunity to try out various cuisines. And I still keep Indian cuisine in high regard. Very high in fact. And a very big BOO to all those indian (which canonically means North Indian :D ) restaurants who make it greasy. Make your food good and tasty. Dont add oil and butter to complement that. I (and many more ppl I know) would rather have un-deilicious food than greasy food.
But again the point to which I was coming was subtlety is a big big issue in cooking. Adding flavour to food. There are only a couple of basic ingredients in an Indian dish but there are many more flavours on top of that. First there are so many spices, then there's garlic, onion, ginger etc which is added in varying quantities dependin on taste.
Americans on the other hand dont know the concept.
This opinion is based on the three foods I ate in one day, which in fact infuriated me enough to write this, so blame it on the bad food:
1. An egg salad sanwich. It just had bread and egg. No salt no pepper no nothing. They are true to their word. Not a thing more.
2. A pizza on which I requested an extra topping of sundried tomato. It had layers and layers of it. I had to dig into tomatoes to find what else was there. And it was yucky.
3. A garlic flavoured potato chips. Now garlic is something which is used in small quantities. for the smell and the flavour. . I wish I could make the guy who cooked this eat a whole slice of garlic and tell him: Dude its a spice. U dont make someone have a dinner of garlic!!
So All in all I would say that subtlety is missing in the american cooks. Italians on the other hand have a better sense. But again not as good as Indians. I am not comparing food here. Just the art of flavouring things with multiple flavours in small amounts.
Which is also similar to what they have done to the english language. It had "flavour" in it. But then they removed "u" out of it. It wasnt really required there. "o" was the main thing. But "u" added a special flavour to it. (sidenote: having "u" really adds flavour to life itself :D ). (sidenote: "u" also adds "colour" to life). The americans got rid of the flavour and now its just flavor. And u know what, it doesnt smell or taste that good now.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
I have realized I am not a very touristy person. I have been to quite a lot of places in the last one year. But havent enjoyed a lot. I am the kind of person who likes to do things more than to see things. That doesnt mean that I "do" a lot of things. I am too lazy for that too. But yes if I manage overcoming my laziness, I enjoy that more.
Like today I went to a nice place with some friends. But it didnt interest me at all. The others were quite happy to be there and see things, but I was kinda bored. Which frustrated them in the end.
Probably thats why I have always preferred sitting on a comp than sitting in front of the tv. Like today only I started a movie on TV. Then I got the idea to write a script to make something easy. And I switched the TV off. Now, having a terminal adds to the fun of mac.
Also went to the gym today. My approach towards gym is bad. Instead of jogging for half an hour on the treadmill I ran at more than double the speed for 10 mins. People told me that it wasnt a nice idea. But I find running for half an hour a little boring.
Will continue the gym for some time.. but I am very sire its not my kind of thing. Just passing time right now. And a little bit of healthiness hurts no one.
Like today I went to a nice place with some friends. But it didnt interest me at all. The others were quite happy to be there and see things, but I was kinda bored. Which frustrated them in the end.
Probably thats why I have always preferred sitting on a comp than sitting in front of the tv. Like today only I started a movie on TV. Then I got the idea to write a script to make something easy. And I switched the TV off. Now, having a terminal adds to the fun of mac.
Also went to the gym today. My approach towards gym is bad. Instead of jogging for half an hour on the treadmill I ran at more than double the speed for 10 mins. People told me that it wasnt a nice idea. But I find running for half an hour a little boring.
Will continue the gym for some time.. but I am very sire its not my kind of thing. Just passing time right now. And a little bit of healthiness hurts no one.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Chak de India
I dont know the meaning of "Chak de". I tried to translate and this is what I got. "Chak de India" means to me "Taste of India" with Chak in hindi de in french and India in English :)
Jokes apart a week ago I was afraid of watching this movie. I ended up watching it and liking it. Though the whole scripts was pretty much predictable and probably used in many other movies. Even the scores were quite predictable. But still it was an exciting watch.
I heard a criticism sometime back that we have a lot of happenings in our country which are worth making a movie upon. Not just because they would sell. But because cinema is the reflection of the society we live in and we miss out on a lot of stuff that happens here. I was quite disheartened by the movie "Yun hota to kya hota". Not because it was a bad movie. It ws in fact quite decent. But because it had to pick up that 911 plot. I think there are enough stories to tell already before we pickup that plot. And secondly because US already does a lot of 911 propoganda. We have enough problems of our own. Now thats a completely different frustration that would come out later. BTW I am flying out to US on 9/11. :(
Coming back to Chak De: I am very emotional about a Coach-Team relationship. I had seen a movie when I was a kid in which a coach trains a woman athlete. She ran in the olympics and there was some politics where someone put glass pieces in her shoes. Her feet started bleeding but still she ran. She glanced at her coach who was looking at her with hope and encouragement. And she ran with bleeding feet. Quite a scene it was. The effort that a coach puts in a team and just watches them perform. Watches with all that hope. It moves me a lot.
And the fact that Chak De is inspired by a real story also adds to the effect. Now thats what I meant about telling stories which should be told !!
Jokes apart a week ago I was afraid of watching this movie. I ended up watching it and liking it. Though the whole scripts was pretty much predictable and probably used in many other movies. Even the scores were quite predictable. But still it was an exciting watch.
I heard a criticism sometime back that we have a lot of happenings in our country which are worth making a movie upon. Not just because they would sell. But because cinema is the reflection of the society we live in and we miss out on a lot of stuff that happens here. I was quite disheartened by the movie "Yun hota to kya hota". Not because it was a bad movie. It ws in fact quite decent. But because it had to pick up that 911 plot. I think there are enough stories to tell already before we pickup that plot. And secondly because US already does a lot of 911 propoganda. We have enough problems of our own. Now thats a completely different frustration that would come out later. BTW I am flying out to US on 9/11. :(
Coming back to Chak De: I am very emotional about a Coach-Team relationship. I had seen a movie when I was a kid in which a coach trains a woman athlete. She ran in the olympics and there was some politics where someone put glass pieces in her shoes. Her feet started bleeding but still she ran. She glanced at her coach who was looking at her with hope and encouragement. And she ran with bleeding feet. Quite a scene it was. The effort that a coach puts in a team and just watches them perform. Watches with all that hope. It moves me a lot.
And the fact that Chak De is inspired by a real story also adds to the effect. Now thats what I meant about telling stories which should be told !!
Thursday, September 06, 2007
One Year @ Bangalore
Bangalore has a terrible traffic. And its mainly because of the poor infrastructure of the city. The roads just cant handle the volumes that run on it everyday.
But given the constraints Bangalore government is not doing a very great job at managing traffic. Delhi also had some traffic problems on the ring road. And the volumes of traffic served by delhi road is much more compare to bangalore. But Delhi govt has constantly come up with new flyovers (Moolchand underpass ) and other solutions to the problems. Many argue that flyovers is not the solution. But I have seen them work quite well in Delhi.
Look at this marvel for instance from the Bangalore traffic department. It has an intersection on top. And for one half the traffic follows as "right hand drive" traffic. Its amazing how this things gets implemented. Is there no decision making body which has anyone sensible on board.
Besides there are many one-way routes. And now there is a new auto lane in place. Autos are *supposed* to ride *only* in this lane. But do they? And even if they sometimes do the argument is that its to partition "fast moving" and "slow moving" traffic. Now comes the question: WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY FAST MOVING?? If any of you have driven anything anywhere in rush hour in bangalore you would figure out the futility of this partition.
What they have actually done is partition the space on the road. And in places they have put up a concrete partition. The whole arrangement causes a loss of a little over 1 foot along the whole stretch of the road. And in cases where no one is driving in the auto lane it wastes the whole 10 foot lane. Add to that the commotion that is created at spots where the partition starts (which is mostly after a red light). There is a rule of thumb in traffic. Jams occur at places where you break its smoothness. At bisections. At places where two roads meet. And by putting up this partition they have created two such spots for every partition.
I am not saying that I have the perfect solution to the problem. But what I say is that whenever there is a problem I like to go to the root of it. Solve it there. Putting up hacks like these helps no one. Makes the code dirty and unmanageable. Unless you want to more items in "things you did this year" in your annual review.
Also there's another thing that the last year has taught me. Decisions should be backed by numbers. Arguments a re subjective. And that is why you can argue from both sides of an issue without arriving at a decision. Or worse arriving at a wrong decision. But numbers dont let you do that. I doubt any of the (FUTILE) changes made by the Bangalore Traffic Department had any statistics or research backing the decision.
Again another thing that I find disturbing is the amount of pollution on road. Auto rickshaws are to be blamed mostly for this. But Delhi revamped their autos to CNG with cleaner results. Bangalore may have a space problem, and *that is why* they are not building better roads. But what prevents form improving auto rickshaws is beyond me. Pollution is a very grave issues. And I know a lot of people who are allergic to dust and remain sick while they are in Bangalore.
The bottom line is. Its no longer the sweet city that I visited a couple of years ago and was so excited to come back to. I have been here for one year now and I think everything that was good about this city 3 years back has deteriorated. The only thing we couldnt screw up was the weather which still rocks. And I am still grateful for that.
But given the constraints Bangalore government is not doing a very great job at managing traffic. Delhi also had some traffic problems on the ring road. And the volumes of traffic served by delhi road is much more compare to bangalore. But Delhi govt has constantly come up with new flyovers (Moolchand underpass ) and other solutions to the problems. Many argue that flyovers is not the solution. But I have seen them work quite well in Delhi.
Look at this marvel for instance from the Bangalore traffic department. It has an intersection on top. And for one half the traffic follows as "right hand drive" traffic. Its amazing how this things gets implemented. Is there no decision making body which has anyone sensible on board.
Besides there are many one-way routes. And now there is a new auto lane in place. Autos are *supposed* to ride *only* in this lane. But do they? And even if they sometimes do the argument is that its to partition "fast moving" and "slow moving" traffic. Now comes the question: WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY FAST MOVING?? If any of you have driven anything anywhere in rush hour in bangalore you would figure out the futility of this partition.
What they have actually done is partition the space on the road. And in places they have put up a concrete partition. The whole arrangement causes a loss of a little over 1 foot along the whole stretch of the road. And in cases where no one is driving in the auto lane it wastes the whole 10 foot lane. Add to that the commotion that is created at spots where the partition starts (which is mostly after a red light). There is a rule of thumb in traffic. Jams occur at places where you break its smoothness. At bisections. At places where two roads meet. And by putting up this partition they have created two such spots for every partition.
I am not saying that I have the perfect solution to the problem. But what I say is that whenever there is a problem I like to go to the root of it. Solve it there. Putting up hacks like these helps no one. Makes the code dirty and unmanageable. Unless you want to more items in "things you did this year" in your annual review.
Also there's another thing that the last year has taught me. Decisions should be backed by numbers. Arguments a re subjective. And that is why you can argue from both sides of an issue without arriving at a decision. Or worse arriving at a wrong decision. But numbers dont let you do that. I doubt any of the (FUTILE) changes made by the Bangalore Traffic Department had any statistics or research backing the decision.
Again another thing that I find disturbing is the amount of pollution on road. Auto rickshaws are to be blamed mostly for this. But Delhi revamped their autos to CNG with cleaner results. Bangalore may have a space problem, and *that is why* they are not building better roads. But what prevents form improving auto rickshaws is beyond me. Pollution is a very grave issues. And I know a lot of people who are allergic to dust and remain sick while they are in Bangalore.
The bottom line is. Its no longer the sweet city that I visited a couple of years ago and was so excited to come back to. I have been here for one year now and I think everything that was good about this city 3 years back has deteriorated. The only thing we couldnt screw up was the weather which still rocks. And I am still grateful for that.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Chak de India
I cant decide whether I should watch this movie or I shouldnt.
These are my reasons for not watching:
1. I think its one of those encouraging movies. And I dont like to watch such movie. They fill you with some energy and I dont know what to do with that energy.
2. There have been many movies like iqbal etc. A losing team, an encouraging coach, a speech in the end and a glorious win. Add some other personal story and emotions in the background.
3. Shahrukh Khan had become intolerable lately. People tell me he is good in this movie. But I have my doubts with this man now.
On a different note, the song "Chak De India" by Sukhwinder singh is very very well sung. He has a very nice voice and he has used it well. Lyrics too are quite nice.
Its been so many years now since the old Gulzar days, but till date if any song has good lyrics you wonder if it is Gulzar. For one, the man is unpredictable. And then there hasnt been anyone since then. Bollywood lyrics has been quite poor. Unlike the music direction which has seen maestros on a more regular basis. Panchamda, Rehman and now HR. :)
These are my reasons for not watching:
1. I think its one of those encouraging movies. And I dont like to watch such movie. They fill you with some energy and I dont know what to do with that energy.
2. There have been many movies like iqbal etc. A losing team, an encouraging coach, a speech in the end and a glorious win. Add some other personal story and emotions in the background.
3. Shahrukh Khan had become intolerable lately. People tell me he is good in this movie. But I have my doubts with this man now.
On a different note, the song "Chak De India" by Sukhwinder singh is very very well sung. He has a very nice voice and he has used it well. Lyrics too are quite nice.
Its been so many years now since the old Gulzar days, but till date if any song has good lyrics you wonder if it is Gulzar. For one, the man is unpredictable. And then there hasnt been anyone since then. Bollywood lyrics has been quite poor. Unlike the music direction which has seen maestros on a more regular basis. Panchamda, Rehman and now HR. :)
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