Shifted

Hi.
If you liked my blog, please go to my new blog Zehreelay at http://zehreelay.blogspot.com
Thanks.

SIngh was King

I was a fan of Ishmeet Singh the day I saw him on the TV for the first time. In fact I saw the first episode of Voice of India because of him.

I was surfing channels when I passed a Sardarji singing a beautiful Tune Mujhe Pehchana Nahi on Star Plus. It was one of the initial stages of VoI and I loved that performance so much that I thought he should reach somewhere in the final stages. By the time I didn't even know he would reach the mega finals where there will be two people on the stage and then win the title.

Even when the final results were about to come, I was supporting Ishmeet against a person who had the same name as mine. I even wrote a post, 'Will my candidate win this time'.

But today, he is no more. I don't know how it happened exactly, but it was a painful incident.

May Ishmeet Rest in Peace.

The 2 ways

There are two ways of not talking to one.

First, by not speaking and second, by not listening.

Out of Race

No doubt there is a race going on among all the news channels nowadays. Every one wants to be ahead of all others, not only in bringing news to people, but also bringing experts and expert reviews. As soon as something happens, there are 'experts' on TV, talking live and on phone on the topic.

But the print media is a quite different. Probably in being good, and more responsible, they do things slowly. I first felt so when I was checking websites of various news channels and newspapers yesterday. As Times of India website was showing 6 blasts, DNA showed 9, whereas Aaj tak and IBN were showing 13 and 17 blasts' news respectively.

Today, when I thought I could read some comments by the best of India's journalists/authors on two days' continuous blasts, I was disappointed to see that Times of India had nothing on blasts by any of them and the entire editorial page, 'All that matters', in their lingo. Then I checked Hindustan Times and DNA, and found that there were no articles on blasts in any of their editorial pages.

It was like coverage of the previous 5 days of the week took away the 6th and 7th days. But the obvious fact is that these authors give their opinions days before these editions come out and nobody tried to change them.

On one hand it's good because had the case been otherwise, there would be only Ahmedabad all over the pages. But then, it's striking that when on one hand everybody is talking about bomb blasts, but these newspaper experts seem to be talking of an altogether different world.

Don't you think they need to speed up a bit?

Real and Fake

I like reading Shashi Tharoor in The Times of India every Sunday. This time, it was about fake things versus real. And here is my opinion which I sent back through the ToI website.

(You can read the article by from the link given in the top right corner, 'Get real, we are living in a fake world', or simply clicking the title of this post, that is 'Real and Fake')

Thanks Shashi.

Pretty right. Absolutely right as far as drugs are concerned, and even in general, I feel we should buy original and not fake.

But sometimes piracy helps those who are not helped by originals. In today's context, I am talking about books.

Previously it was the market of CDs (read movies) that was dominated by pirates. But then, the prices of Video CDs (and even audio CDs) came down and people started buying originals, piracy taking a backseat. And though piracy hasn't been abolished completely, Moserbaer and T-Series are dominating the market with their low price CDs or say, reasonable price CDs.

Back to books now. India has a large market of pirated books. And I have bought a number of pirated books in Bangalore and Chennai, most of them Non-fiction as I used to read whatever I got in library as far as fiction is concerned. I have never liked buying pirated books but then, I didn't have much options. I don't think my parents can 'waste' rupees 495 for buying me 'The Elephant, the tiger and the cellphone' until it's going to help me out with my studies or my job or something equally important. In fact, until I start earning enough money myself, I can't think of buying a rupees 500-600 book. And I feel an average Indian student is more or less in the same situation, with the exceptions of a few rich.

Now, the options I have are:

1. I do not read the book and wait for getting a job first.

2. I stop my other expenses for a month or a half and collect money to buy the book.

3. I go to the market and get a duplicate copy for 70-80 rupees.

I think the third one is the simplest, and the best in my scenario. And in case of most Indian students. Or a lot of them, to say the least.

I still say that I do not like pirated things. I bought Chetan Bhagat books because I could afford one easily and so was the case with The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. And I feel that if prices are made a bit more people friendly, piracy can be removed to a large extent.

PS: I still haven't bought 'The Elephant...', hoping I buy an original as I'll be joining my job soon.

Blasts

It's 8:56 by my watch. And seems there is a race going on between news channels. Times of India, where I saw the news for the first time had been showing news of 6 blasts and now isn't talking on numbers. DNA is showing 9 blasts on its headlines whereas IBN live claims 17 and Aaj Tak is talking about 13 blasts.

And though they say blasts were low intensity, pictures don't suggest such 'low' intensity. I mean, of course they might have not been high intensity, but the 'low' thing is quite misleading.

As the news came, I was a bit shocked as it was continuously second day for blasts. But the real shock came when I heard my mother saying that there were 14 blasts. I opened the TV and then the sites of IBN and Aaj tak telling me more than I had read.

I still doubts all the figures but one fact is that this day has been really shocking. I had not even changed the 'Are we habitual to bomb blast news now' tag on my Orkut profile when this came up.

I know there is not much going to happen for this except that there will be POTO or POTA again when the next government comes, but I wish the politicians don't politicize this issue and do something positive together. Though I feel this is going to remain just a wish as this is yet another chance of throwing mud at each other for our leaders.

For the rest, may God help us. That's all I can think of.

Next is Where

7 blasts rocked Bangalore today.

After Hyderabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faizabad and Jaipur, it's Bangalore. And I think now we have become quite used to such news. We see, look shocked, count the numbers, lament on the situation of country, and change the channel.

Not that I feel we, as general public, can do a lot about it but I feel the way we are getting used to bomb blasts is not only wrong, it's strange too.

I am not sure about others (and welcome others' opinions on this) but when I saw the blasts' news I was soon thinking, rather calculating which town or city could be the next victim now. I also feel this attitude is wrong and I feel I need to change my outlook about this.

Also, I want to know if there is anybody who thinks the same. If yes, please give your opinion.

Beta or Alpha?

To start with, if you do not know the basic difference of Beta and Alpha versions of software, here it goes. The alpha build of the software is the build delivered to the software testers, usually internal to the organization or community that develops the software.

Whereas a beta version is the first version released outside the organization or community that develops the software, for the purpose of evaluation or real-world black/grey-box testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release. Beta level software generally includes all features, but may also include known issues and bugs of a less serious variety.

Now, let's come to current trends. First of all, nowadays companies like Google run their products in the markets for years and claim them to be beta versions. For example, Orkut, used by more than 12 crore people, is still in beta stage.

Now let's talk about Google's new service, Knol. Knol is a service started by Google where users can write their own pages about anything and put it online, something similar to Wikipedia, except that there can be a number of pages on a single topic in Knol, and they will belong to the owner of the page.

Now, Knol is in its Beta stage, but the service doesn't even have a working search system. The question is, how can a service that is so much dependent on search, reach its beta stage without a proper search sysytem.

Interestingly, Knol belongs to Google, which is considered the second name for search on Internet. Hope Google does something about it soon.

And now, Knol

What if Google owned the Wikipedia? Well, now it seems that Google is trying to something of that sort as it has started its new service called Knol, the unit of knowledge. (name trying to remind you of mol/mole of science, I think)

Though being a Wikipedia isn't easy. That too when its a commercial company like Google. I mean, of course there are companies that are much more into money but Wiki is a complete charity so a competition should hardly exist between the two.

For now, the only things I understood are that Knol will have authors who could write on topics as they wish and they can also get ad revenues through adsense for ads on their Knols.

This is supposed to create competition but I expect more of confusion and chaos. So let's see how does this new thing works. I hope Google people get good result for using their Knols of knowledge.

India. Teaching the world

Today, while surfing, I found a site called dailymind through an article called 100 Ways to Relax, Unwind and Loosen Up. Though I didn't find much in the article, I liked the site and decided to move to the home of the site, rather blog.

As I reached the home page, the sight that welcomed me was of a Kashmiri boat-sailor and a post titled 'Lessons from India 3: Dealing with hardships'.

As I watched below, there were chapters on 'Being Grateful for what you have' and 'Having a Purpose at Work'.

I think Indians are still as good at teaching spirituality as always.

Najibabad. Internet. People.

Today, 4 pm, Bharat Complex Cyber Cafe, Najibabad.

It was not a new thing for me to go to the Bharat Complex. I have been there so many times for internet when I didn't have a broadband connection even though the Rs 30 per hour the guy there takes wasn't right from any standards, I thought.

Still, today I needed to go there as I needed the print out of my Dell Laptop quotation so that I could tell bank how much it cost me.

I went there and told him I needed to get a printout from my mail. After 5 mins he got me a system. I logged in. I got the mail, downloaded the PDF and said, let me check it. By the time I could complete my sentence, he had clicked sign out. Of course, he had no time to check it.

Well, he launched himself into the printer room with the PDF in his hand, in a pen drive. By the time I got in, he told me it was 8 pages long. Pretty fast, considering I'm not slow by any standards. I was sort of shocked and asked him not to print it all and just give one page when he told me he had already given the print command.

I thought it would not be much of a problem as it'd cost me Rs 16 at max and since I hadn't asked him to print, he might consider taking a bit less too.

Guess I was wrong. Not just wrong, but actually shocked when I asked him how much I had to pay and he said Rupees 40!

Rupees 40 for eight, black and white A4 pages' prints which actually I didn't want because I could fetch the price of my commodity on a single page. Seriously speaking, I had to control my anger and I was sort of showing my magnanimity when I handed him the money. The interesting thing is that when I asked him that I and he both knew how much these eight pages really cost, I got an answer that he only knew as he was the one earning. Well, the logic was quite okay but I still wonder how I could justify Rs 5 for a printout.

After half an hour when I was chatting with my dad about the printouts, for the first time it occured to me that buying a printer was a much better option as the guy could buy a printer with the margins he got on every pack of 500 A4 sheets. (500 pages x 5 Rs per page=Rs 2500, almost the cost of a printer) In fact cartridges too could be bought in that much.

I think Najibabad is a pretty self dependent place now, as far as internet is concerned as I can see many people with net connections now, but if you need to go for printouts, and the guy in your mind is the Bharat complex one (as it's one of the best running cyber cafes), consider buying a printer. The same thing as I am doing now.

Watch Out. Don't Click

Today I stumbled upon a new thing, called dontclick. It's an experiment on the site dontclick where they check if you really miss clicking or happy navigating without clicks. Interesting. You can check it.

Shift Kiya.. Kiya... No-kia!

I wonder if there are people on this earth who do what they say. I mean, sometimes it's so difficult. Not generally, but for me it's so. I say something, and do something else.

This time it was my phone. I lost my phone to the rain of Dehradun. Well, most probably, as it stopped working later in the night after the day when it caught some rain. And so, I was going to get a new phone.

I have been a music freak for almost 10 yrs, but I still never had a music phone. So this time I decided to get a music phone. And since I got a digicam, I wanted to have a non-camera phone. I searched, and found that Nokia had no such phone. (!!)

Well, I thought of buying a Sony Ericsson and later decided to go with a MotoYuva. I even found one with a friend of my cousin and finally I was happy with my choice of a new Moto.

The day I had to buy phones (my dad also needed one, as he lost his almost a month ago), I took off on my dad's Nova with him as the driver. (I still don't drive a scooter, or any other vehicle for that matter!)

The first shop we selected belonged to 'apna subhash' who is popular in the city for his helping nature. ('Apna' was part of his shop's name when I had bought my first phone from there in 2003) By this time 'apna Subhash' had stopped selling cellphones and was only in the business of advising as far as cells were concerned. My dad asked him who had Nokia and Motorola Agencies in the town and he immediately suggested not to go with a Motorola even though he said Motoyuva wasn't a bad phone.

Next we reached Goyal PCO, our supplier of clothing except shirts, pants and sarees, I mean, from towels to bedsheets and caps to socks, the owner of course being my dad's good friend. He there asked him to come with him to Bilal's, who had almost every model of cellphone that was sold in the town. As we talked to the guy sitting behind the counter of Bilal's, the guy suggested us not to go with a Motorola and rather stick to a Nokia. The reason he gave was that we had gone to him with bhaisahab (the owner of the PCO) and hence he would give us the best advice. He also said that he currently didn't have it and it would take him two days to get a Moto as Motorola wasn't in demand in our town.

This time I finally came down. I was all in mood to get a Moto until then but as I heard I needed to wait for two days for a thing that was un-suggested by a number of people, I decided to get back to a Nokia.

I asked the guy what were the prices of 5200, 6300 and 3110 classic. And soon I decided to go with 3110 classic as 6300 was a bit too high on price and even though I was at a liberty to buy that, I didn't want to put in that much money. Nokia 5200 was de hone and hence I didn't want to buy that. Thus I got a Nokia 3110 Classic, once again a Nokia, after my 2100, 2280, and 2600. In the meantime, I got my father a Nokia 2626 that he lost last month and this time I got him a Nokia 1650, making him the third person who bought the model while going with me.

To other cell makers: I have recommended a number of phones from other companies including Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, and this time I was about to shift to a Moto myself too. But at last, No-kia.

Blogging. Not racing

Everybody makes mistakes. I do too. And here is one that I feel many people do. So did I.

Blogging. A wonderful thing. Something that gives you freedom to say what you want to say. And so people blog. And then they blog, and blog to get readers. That's where the mistake happens.

I was a guy who started a blog as an experiment last September. I kept blogging on and off with business, telecom, and Hindi blogs, hoping they would 'run well'. But in that I lost some of my real blogging pleasure. Still my big world (that's my BLOG) kept going.

And then, there was a block. When I didn't write, due to exams and then unavailability of net and then for no reason. In the meantime I started a blog on music, because I liked that. I thought I'd blog out my views on music because I always liked to make the first opinion.

This was something I was wrong with. I blogged. I gave out my views. But I joined the race I didn't have to. I started thinking more about viewers of blog rather than my views.

And that was One Of The Reasons that I wrote lyrics of three songs from Rock on!! As usual, some time after writing them I searched the song title on Google, and what happened opened my eyes. The top result belonged to a person who had copied the lyrics from my blog. (Don't ask how I know, I can understand if it's copied from mine) On the other hand, my blog wasn't in results. (I m talking top 50, that's what I keep on first page.) This little bad luck was an eye opener for me. This guy who copied my material told me that blogging wasn't a race and there was no point in reaching people with something before others, it's about reaching people with something different, something that is your own, your views you want others to know.

It wasn't that bad because I had written those lyrics because I liked them too, but I was wrong in searching for results and all, of my writings, especially those lyrics.

So if u r a blogger, or ever become one, be yourself and not what people want you to be.

Happy blogging.

Way they copy: Picturespeak

Not a big deal. But it shows the way we do things. This was the NYT site I had visited a few days back.


And then one day I opened the Hindustan Times site, which made me blink for a second, as I thought I had mistakenly opened NYT again. But it was HT only.


Of course both pictures have been taken almost simultaneously. I think it's pretty normal for us. But isn't it showing we don't want to work, or say even think much?

This is with the assumption that HT has copied NYT. In case it's opposite, which is highly unlikely, the same applies to US people. :)

The World is Flat - III

Yesterday I went to a marriage party. Probably I will be giving a description of all that happened later (actually nothing at all happened) but first I would like you to know that I found after four years of my Vellore, I am almost disqualified for a typical marriage party!

And of course, once again, that the world is flat.

I and my dad reached there sometime after 7.30 pm (courtesy dad, who thought it'll start in time) and found that the dinner hadn't started. (anything new??) Our hosts took us to a banquet hall where mahila sangeet was going on. (!!!)

Well, it seems something has changed. It was a mahila sangeet program, held in a banquet hall, with a DJ and a dance floor, and with a dinner following. Of course, purush, that is fortunate males, could join the proceedings and the sanctity of mahila sangeet was kept only by the fact that there were only females on the dance floor.

The sangeet was also wonderful and got more wonderful as I was sitting there in the banquet for almost 45 minutes. The first I remember being played was a traditional Dhoom taana from Om Shanti Om that was being supported by the dance of a lady of almost 25 (+/-10, keeping in view my record at guessing ages of people) and I was wondering how Vishal Shekhar could make something that didn't even belong to their age. Accolades!

A few minutes later, which seemed to pretty long with the dance, there were small children of my mohalla (no relation with college mohalla) who jumped towards the stage. No, it wasn't children anymore. I had been out of town for too long it seems. Now it was a girl in her teens who was imitating Katrina as the hall was filled with the tune of Zara-zara touch me. And then, after another traditional dance on Aaja Nachle and maybe one or two more songs, it was a number of school and college going girls that captured the DJ as it played Kajrare followed by some typical DJ tracks, and the girls kept on rocking with dances that I never knew existed in my town. Not in mahila sangeet at least.

Finally I was getting the point. In the five years I had been out, having seen the culture of mainly metros, living with students from entire country, I had forgot there was a similar progress going on in my town too. And that too, at a speed more than in the big cities. The number of young girls and boys who were getting good exposure to metro culture was increasing. Basically, it was the same people I had been with for the past five years. And now, I was meeting them. Surprised. Shocked.

Maybe I have not been very clear in what I have said. But try to get the meaning if you can. ANyways, there was something else I am pretty clear about. My disqualification.

Having stayed at college for four years, my diet has changed. I eat a lot now. But that happens only at home it seems. Yesterday in the party, I could not eat most of the things. I mean, I didn't like the quality of North Indian dishes because I was eating only at home. And I didn't like South Indian at all after staying in Tamilnadu for 4 years. Nor did I want to have South Indian, actually.

Just had a few little things and a poori with a sabji, and I came back after one ice-cream.

Disqualified. Mom says I won't be going to the next marriage party. Thanks mom.

This world is not fair.
God doesn't believe in racism.

Women's Game

Rolex. IBM. Anything else?

It wasn't like I was searching for jobs in multinationals. And Rolex would not offer me one anyway. It was the things I was seeing in the last match of Wimbledon. Reason: It was mens' singles.

First of all, please be clear I have no knowledge of tennis except that Leander Paes lost to America's Andre Agassi in 1996 Olympics (hope I'm correct on year) and that it's the game played by Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and of course, Sania Mirza.

So, back to the topic, I was seeing this 'boring' Mens' singles thing between Roger Federer and Marat Safin. And though I could understand by the way the match was going that they were playing well (otherwise I wouldn't know their names, too) I didn't find it very interesting, or not at all interesting if compared to the last two matches where respectively Venus and Serena defeated their Russian and Chinese opponents.

I mean, seeing those girls playing those strong backhands and fronthands (I don't know if that term exists in tennis) is something worth watching. It's mesmerising to see how one little girl makes the big lady in front of her move here to there with her tricks (though it didn't happen that many times) and how beautifully (or dangerously) they show their joy when they win their games, sets and matches. (phrase lifted from Suhail Seth's articles, eventually a 1988 movie too)

But what is there to see in those Mens' Singles?? (or even doubles, for that matter) Why do people see them at all? I mean, if you want to see muscular men doing big action, why don't go for some Hollywood movie? (I hope there are not many 'bollywood only' people who watch tennis, that too mens')

Or maybe there is something worth seeing in the game too. Since I see Cricket, I know men like games, and maybe those guys play really well, so they can watch them play. But then, in a game where even the audiences don't shout during the game, what's the whole point in watching the GAME??

So, I think, I have thrown it out in the last sentence. I didn't, don't, see tennis for game. I see it for timepass. And for those girls. After all, I feel it's a women's game.

Of Blogs and Blogging

For a long time now, I m off blogging. I mean, the real blogging- My big world. I do not know when it exactly happened, but I changed in some way. I felt I was no more able to write. But probably it was something else. Probably I wasn't getting enough exposure- to world, to worldliness.

It was those days of college (not very long back actually, it's just a few months old story) when I felt like writing on everything and used to start scribbling anywhere, hardly half of that reaching my blog. But since the day I left college, the time I was on a trip to Madurai, Bangalore, Kanyakumari and Kodai, I lost touch. And then, even when I got net back, I did everything, including writing on my music blog, but didn't really BLOG.

I thought it was because I was staying home and not getting out. But today, after reading a new blog, I sensed there was something more that was wrong. I wasn't trying new things. Not even those that did not need me going out. Reading. I wasn't reading books. And I wasn't reading many blogs either. The only blogs I read were those from my friends, but the real thing, my habit of reading a number of random blogs was gone.

And probably that was the reason I wasn't writing. Probably it was the lack of enough incoming that resulted in lesser outgoing of thoughts. Probably I wasn't discussing enough. And now that I have found the reason for my inactivity, which is at least what seems to me, it will be worth seeing for me if I get back to 'the writing' or not.

Wish I do.

Many things in life happen for the first time.
And most of them never happen again.

Mark Burnett is Smarter Than a Fifth Grader

Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain?

Well, if you really are smarter than a fifth grader, you are going to admit that you are NOT smarter than a fifth grader. At least on the show.

"Main Paanchvi Pass se Tez NAHI Hoon!"

If you have seen the episode of 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain?' where Pragjyoti Samal won a crore rupees, you must have seen the rules and must be clear why I think so. But if you have not, keep on reading.

'Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader', the show which is copied in India as 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain' was created by British television producer Mark Brunett. And the guy made a little pocket in the game which not only saved millions of dollars of television producers, but also kept the sanctity of the game by proving that nobody was smarter than a fifth grader.

The pocket is that after answering ten questions, when the winner has a crore rupees in hand, she is told that she cannot use cheats anymore (completely fair) and told that she WILL HAVE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION ONCE IT IS DISPLAYED.

That is, the players are not allowed to quit the game at the last question. If they see the question, and fail to give the right answer, they are sent down to rupees 2 Lac, from One Crore. (Bad, actually.)

I think any person who is smarter than a fifth grader will like to save the crore rupees in hand rather than risk them, and proudly ADMIT that she is NOT smarter than a fifth grader.

PS: To Guys, Sorry for the use of female pronouns. But then, no guy has won a crore rupees on the show yet.

From Jaipur to Quota

Mr. Bainsla has done it for his community. Going all the way from Jaipur to NCR, he has found his way to Quota. Where does this 5% comes from is another problem. The first problem is, what if I want reservation tomorrow? Shall I opt for the same track? Collect a few thousand people and reach block the roads of NCR?

The Gujjar 'protest' has set a significant 'example' for many leaders. Whereas Raj Thackeray had achieved only political recognition for himself, Bainsla has really 'achieved' something and I very much fear this is going to be a pattern that might be followed by some community or the other before elections.

Instead of any action against those who had blocked life in the NCR and Rajasthan, the government has awarded the 'agitation' with a 'special' quota which comes from nowhere and once challenged in court, may even go unimplemented.

But I feel it's not the quota that is the real problem with the Gujjar agitation. It is what process they have followed and what can become a trend after seeing the instant success of the agitation. There is no need to tell how badly Gujjar agitation had affected life in Rajasthan, NCR and even UP, affecting number of trains also, some of them even cancelled or diverted.

In short, whatever the motive, Rajasthan Government has set a bad example with the way they have tackled the issue. Also, I feel any such protests that affect life of general public, such as blocking of roads or trains etc. should be banned by the law and those laws should be enforced properly.

Dyslexic me

I never knew what it was until I saw Taare Zameen Par. But my writing was not legible for most of the Homo Sapiens. Or Hetero, for that matter.

Then, I somehow passed class twelfth, with the help of my parents who never sent me to a punishment boarding school. My mother made a genius out of me by making me learn everything by heart except for the maths that was dealt by my dad and his hand of which my head had become used to.

And then, my world changed. From somewhere I got the fact that a computer did not need me to write. In fact, there was a software (God only knew what a software meant. In fact I never understood where it was SOFT!!) called Microsoft Office which made your work very easy, I could make mistakes and wait for a red line to come below all the wrong letters I typed. And though my grammar wasn't bad, it told me with a green line whenever I went wrong. On top of that the keyboards did not have any letters that could confuse me. I mean there were only English letters on the keyboard (No Russian as my teacher told!!) and that too, only capital letters. I could differentiate easily between 'b' and 'd'. It was simply the difference of 'B' and 'D' with the caps lock off which was shown with a light.

Well, I heard it was some Bill Gates who made this SOFTware. My friend Titu told me that Aamir Khan did not tell Bill Gates' name in the movie but Bill Gates actually asked his company people to make this software to help dyslexic people because he was also dyslexic. Titu also told that someone told him Bill Gates was told how to write by a teacher called Steve Jobs and this was actually where the movie came from. He also told that Aamir did not mention Bill because he did not want to put Bill Gates' name with Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein.

Anyways, whatever it was, I got a great idea and finally I am a computer engineer now. But there is some difference. When I was dyslexic, I could write some letters on paper, but now I am a typing expert and cannot write a letter on paper. I understand letters now but I do not understand paper and pen anymore.

Now my alphabet is not ABCDE... It's QWERTY... I think I am more dyslexic now.

Well, whatever, I liked the movie. Aamir Uncle is great. And so is Titu.

My Name on TV

19th May, around 10 AM. It was the SRK vs ICC story running on Times Now, a channel I haven't seen much and is not on my list of favorites. But as I was surfing channels, I liked a story, started watching it, and soon made an opinion.

Pretty normal.

And then I decided to send my opinion through SMS at the number they were displaying.

Quite rare.

Soon I sent a message to 58888. (I didn't read the number actually on TV, I remember the 8888 from the days I used to read The ToI and know that we've to add 5 to all such numbers now) The message read, 'Cricket never had franchises. And now that it has, the owners should be allowed to boost their teams' morale in the way they like.', followed by my name and city.

I waited for a few minutes (thus seeing Times Now for the longest time ever, more than half an hour) and saw the ticker running which read, 'I see nothing wrong in SRK sitting in the dug out. He has the right to support his team. Harshit, Najibabad.'

Thus, I saw my own name on the TV (for the first time of course) with a different opinion than I had stated, an opinion that was being given under some other name sometime earlier.

Thankfully they had not flicked my opinion to the other side of the question and my opinion shown there was at least supporting the same cause as mine. Still, I got some truth of the news channels and once again felt that blogs are the best medium to express oneself since TV can twist the opinions of even existing-nowhere people like me.

C Naught Minor

Dennis Khuraijam, or simply Dennis, has always been a strange creature, right from the day I first heard his name. Even after living in the same hostel with him for one year, he is as big a mystery to me as he was on the first day.

All I could understand of Dennis in past two years is that:
1. He is cool.
2. He doesn't care for anything other than that.

And even though I know that I don't know him, there have been instances when Dennis has shocked me. One such was when we were listening to 'Ajnabee shehar hai' song of Jaan-e-mann one day. Generally Dennis doesn't much listen to Hindi songs except very few favorites of his, those too getting occasional chances. In fact he is not much liking for Hindi movies as they are mostly 'bad copies' of those seen by him in English, or sometimes even Korean etc. (with subtitles of course).

Still, Jaan-e-mann was one of his favorites because it was 'fresh'. Anyways, while listening to the song, i.e. Ajnabee shehar hai, I was talking casually about how well Sonu Nigam had sung the song. For those who don't know me, I don't have any 'proper' knowledge of music but since I listen to music a lot, I consider myself nothing less than an expert.

So while talking, I simply said "Kitne high scale pe gaaya hai yaar!" (on what a high scale has he sung it!)

"I think it's C naught minor."

It took me sometime to understand that Dennis had told me at what scale Sonu Nigam had sung the song. It was a sudden shock for me as I didn't have any idea that he might have this deep knowledge of music. I mean I don't know whether it was right or wrong. All that mattered was that this guy who was listening to my time-pass blabbering about songs and music actually had some knowledge of music.

Later he told me he had learned to play guitar and probably keyboard and hence he knew that much. Whatever it was, I got something to remember for a long time, something that always comes to my mind when someone talks of notes and scales of music. The 'C Naught Minor'.

Language Love vs Rules

It's been long since I have blogged. In the mean time, I have had a number of reviews and seminars. And finally my engineering is over, with just one thing remaining, that is result. And I don't think there is much I need to do about that now, following the sayings of Shrimad Bhagwadgita. :)

So here I start all new again, on the same blog.

Yesterday when I was coming home from the Bangalore station after leaving my college, I noticed there are vehicles with number plates written in local language. Since I do not happen to understand much of Kannada, I found it was wrong, ethically because many people who need the number will not be able to read it, especially with the number of outsiders Bangalore has, and legally, because I think all vehicles should have number plates written in Arabic numerals . (1-2-3-4 etc.)


In fact the vehicle I saw was an auto which should, in accordance with law, have a yellow colored number plate, while there was a white one. I think such things should be avoided so that we can have better traffic regulation.

It is surely a male dominated world. The most preferred voice for female lyrics to me seems to be of Kailash Kher.

I love echoes.
I want to hear my name when I call out yours.
Yes, I love echoes.

Lagi Shart?

I had hoped that the IPL will bring huge profits to the BCCI. In fact I thought it will be profitable for even Shahrukh, Preity, Mukesh Ambani, and may be Vijay Mallya too. Though I don't think the last one is as interested in profits as he is in the game and its glamour.

Later on, I thought it would bring profits to bookies too. Of course the players and all were to be benefitted.

But I never knew that it will be Chennai Hot Puffs 2007, my nearest baker, who will be enjoying profits from IPL.

I have been put of my hostel for quite some days for my project work and staying at my project partner Anish's room. It's a almost a small hostel as there are some fifteen people from the same college, most of them from the final year. We have a TV here that is connected to cable through some arrangement unknown to me but which is not completely legal for sure.

And now we watch the IPL matches in one of the rooms, where we all gather in front of the TV, getting a place wherever possible, on a chair, a mat or the floor itself.

It was the first match where it started. Anish supported Kolkata Knight Riders for the match and Abhishek Luthra supported Royal Challengers Bangalore. The bet was a veg puff which Abhishek lost badly. Next day he supported Mohali against Chennai and lost again. The system continued and Luthra had lost 5 veg puffs to Anish till last reported.

Anish has in total won 6 veg puffs by now and hasn't lost any. But now the bets seem to have come to such levels where we are ready to put a puff even on the number of dot balls in an over.

Whoever wins these bets, our bakery owner is sure to win in this game.

Now come to the higher end of it. We'll be soon going to our homes when the series will be in the mid of it. But we want to bet on who will be the winner of the series. So what will be the prize for the winner and how will it be given?

Any guesses?

Whoever loses, will get an e-recharge, i.e. top-up of the bet amount on the winner's phone number.

Howzzat?

I think now I understand the line 'Ye India ka cricket hai bidu'.

Ad(d) value

The little sweet doggy is back with a little girl this time. During the debut match of IPL, the thing I enjoyed the most after Mccullum's innings was the series of Vodafone ads.

The little dog wetting the tickets for envelopes by licking them was an awesome sight. The interesting part is that Vodafone doesn't come into the picture anywhere until you are completely held by the double innocence of the girl and the doggy.

And then, they simply write their message in big letters, such that it reaches every single heart.

I mean, when you watch it for the first time, it sure does.

Even before this, Vodafone has made beautiful ads for their alerts' services, the best one being for the art of living alerts.

Of course, nobody has forgot the 'Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai' ad where a guy sings one song through out his life and at the end you get an almost statutory warning telling you 'Zyada gaane sunen' (listen to more songs).

I just hope they keep on making such ads, which not only add to their customers, but also make the entire experience of watching TV great.

Torch-Light

There are innumerous ways to come into limelight. Especially when you are in India. But sometimes people use these rare things to get themselves into limelight, like the Olympic torch.

Use of Olympic torch to come to limelight is not really new. It has been pretty usual to run with the Olympic torch in order to get the limelight around yourself. But some people feel that this way, the torch doesn't give the best of its light. And so, they find better ways.

One such way is recently found by our just-arrived sports minister Mr. MS Gill.

Mr. Gill found out that stopping people from running with the torch will not only give him a brighter light in the media, it will also give brighter light to those who are being stopped. Probably that's the reason he has advised politicians and film stars to stay away from the torch.

Anyways, the Olympic torch this time has given light to a number of people, from Tibetans wanting their freedom to Amitabh Bachchan commenting on Mr. Gill, and from Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Gandhi. And to Mr. Gill, no doubt.

I just found my religion. I am a Googlist.

First Among Equals

99/100 to this one.

One of the best from Jeffrey Archer. Where you feel the pressure building even in your own mind whenever it comes to the election time.

The one mark I reduced is because I felt at times, or may be only one time, it seems that the author has written something just to add a twist and there is no enough reasonability.

But, beyond reasonable doubt, I enjoyed reading this one too just like Shall we tell the President, Kane and Abel, and As the crow flies as the book was extremely interesting even with the amount of politics involved which can be really boring at times.

With FAE, my personal count on Archer reaches 6 and I get a majority out of his novels. Hope to read a few more, and if possible, all, in the near future. For FAE, it's a highly recommended book if you are a Jeffrey Archer reader. As a word of advice, it may be better if you know a bit about the British political system as it will make the novel easier to follow.

Fall of Grand Old Orkut

No more Orkut.

It's not my new year resolution in the middle of the year. It's something that Orkut has done to itself.

Well, to be more clear and specific, we can say that Orkut has become 'facebookised'. And thus comes the fall of the grand old Orkut.

For now, all I'm feeling is that the grand old Orkut got afraid of the increasing or increased popularity of Facebook and decided to go the facebook way, adding a number of applications from music iLike to typeRacer and readingSocial to Bible Verses and IndiaDekha.

Which, I presume, is a bad, bad decision as I have seen a number of people who have found it difficult to cope with the facebook and thus have sticked to Orkut, without even deleting their Facebook accounts, for either they did not care, or they did not know how to do that.

I feel it may also trouble people who were first time netizens and found Orkut the 'simple and best' system to just stay in touch with friends.

Although, on a positive side, the new Orkut may be more interesting to people who were finding it difficult to pass more time on Orkut.

But overall, I think it's a negative thing for the grand old Orkut.

How to react?

I was supposed to be shocked. And so I was. But the fact is that I was confused too.

Today, when I reached the library gate, I saw the face of our librarian that had become somewhat horrifying and a lot detestable for me. But the way it came to me, that was unexpected by all means.

It was her photo kept at the gate of library, with a garland over it, smoke of an incense stick, and a note that read, "We deeply regret to announce the death of our librarian Ms K Kalaichelvi."

For a few minutes I could not understand if it was truth or I was dreaming. And if it was a dream, was it good or bad? Well, it wasn't good, to say the least.

Cause even though I hated the lady, I couldn't think of something like that happening. It was just, just frustration against what she used to do, and so many people do here. And understanding that, I tried not to think bad about the lady, at least now that she was no more.

But the fact is that I couldn't think much good about her, and in some way, I was feeling a bit guilty for that.

Anyways, the facts were facts, and the hatred was hatred. But now, it all exists in the past tense only. So it's better I forget all those things.

One more thing, I feel, maybe it's only a feeling though, but I strongly feel that the thing she could not do putting up hundreds of boards in the library and using all the good and bad means, (sorry!) she did it when she wasn't there as the library seemed to be in the most silent of the moods today.

Well, now, only my apologies for talking anything bad I did talk about the dead. May she rest in peace.

Google and Googlability

I had decided this post to be titled as Googlability. But since I'm a very literary person, at least nowadays, I let myself have some inspiration and named it Google and Googlability.

What is Googlability?

In simple terms, the ability of a search result to be googled easily is its Googlability.

I haven't yet made it mathematical so that it's just a concept and can be understood easily by anyone.

Now let us take some examples to understand Googlability. Let us start with the Indian Premier League. Indian Premier League is an easily Googlable term. That is, when we write Indian Premier League in the Google search box, we simply get the results related to the Indian Premier League we want and not any other thing.

Too simple. Isn't it?

When do you get results for 'Z' when you search for 'X'?

Sometimes we do.

Let us talk about Mumbai Indians. How many results out on top are for the IPL Mumbai team? Though the first ten results are for the IPL team only but not as many as come for Chennai Super Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders. This is an example of relatively low Googlability.

Today we need to know how to make ourselves more Googlable if we want people to register our presence in the online world. Being Googlable is especially necessary for those people and organisations which are googled by people and which need to be seen or heard by the people in order to advertise themselves.

We can say Googlability comes from a balance between uniqueness and generalisation. While you go out in the cyber space for an identity it should be as unique as it can be and that without losing its general identity.

Today I am happy that my name is Googlable enough and gives results on the first page of Google. After all, Googling is all about the first page search results.

Ethically Correct?

The so-called reshuffle of the UPA government's ministries has been done and there has been very little to talk about. In fact the way Congress has once again ignored its youth brigade is one thing almost everybody is talking about.

The PM-in-the-waiting Rahul Gandhi has not been given any ministry and simultaneously the HIgh command Sonia Ji has released a statement declaring he didn't want a ministry himself.

And although Jyotiraditya and Jitin prasad have been given ministries, there is a big question on why was the much popular Sachin Pilot not given a ministry.

Anyways, the question of ethically correct or incorrect lies somewhere else. It's about the former Chief election commissioner M S Gill being given a place in the ministry. The question is that is it right to give a ministry to a person who has been on a top post where the holders of the post are expected to be entirely neutral. Will this not raise a question on the political leanings of the person?

I agree that Mr Gill has done his work with complete neutrality, that is, to the best of my knowledge. But his inclusion in the ministry can surely leave a wrong impression on the other election commisioners who may lean more towards parties expecting a benefit from them after the completion of their tenures.

In fact this has taken place when an election commissioner Navin Chawla is already in question regarding his involvements with the BJP.

Apart from this, there is one more question that confuses me. Is it that the UPA government itself has doubts about this act of theirs? Because I find no other reason for a highly qualified beaurocrat like Mr Gill to be assigned a state ministry, even with an independent charge. Why wasn't he given a cabinet post is something that creates more confusion.

SRK. The brand and the businessman.

I was never a fan of Shahrukh Khan, the superstar. Probably because of my nature of trying not to do what everybody is doing. Or may be because of my taste in 'different' type of movies. Probably this 'taste' of mine can be explained by not only the movies I watch, but also the ones I leave. Om Shanti Om and Race being in the top league of the latter.

Then the times changed, and I started liking the work of the Khan. Actually I had loved his work in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai itself, but I started really admiring the actor after seeing Swades. Then came the undoubtedly wonderful Chak de India and I admired him more.

But I never became a fan of Shahrukh Khan, the actor. Still, Shahrukh Khan, the brand and Shahrukh Khan, the businessman, are making me his fan.

A few months back I got the inner and outer world of Shahrukh Khan. It was one of the things that brought the change. The way Shahrukh Khan presents himself, the I-don't-care-what-u-think attitude has always appealed to me, but the things he told in his inner world almost touched me. I still remember a few lines of his from the CD, which say "Nothing in this world is permanent. This is, hundred percent, a lifetime of it's own. It has a beginning, and it has an end." I do not know if those dialogues came out of some dialogue writer's pen, which does not hold a very high probability, but I started watching out for almost everything he says in public and I found myself being a fan of him.

Once I had got a point in a debate in my hostel that Shahrukh Khan is a person who has established himself and now after doing a lot of crap movies, (sorry fans) he is one person who can risk doing a Paheli. I very much agreed to the point. In fact, recently I read he admits that his friend Vivek Vaswani had asked him to 'first become a star and then become an actor'.

And now, the brand SRK has jumped into an all new area with the IPL. He has finally become a complete businessman now if he was not yet one.

His ways of working are also clear from the fact that he did not have any awards for his home production Om Shanti Om as it is clear to him that it will only be a bad for his image to win a prize for such a crappy movie. Of course, I do not doubt he could have got it had he tried it.

Well, now that I am almost a fan of him, I can talk a lot about him. But I think it's enough for now.

By the way, I'll surely be waiting for the new image of my favorite brand SRK at 'Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?' while singing karbo, larbo, jitbo re.

Incomplete knowledge is seldom good but complete knowledge is seldom gained.

Once again refugee?

Once again, I don't know my future. A few more months at my base where I have been for the last quarter to four years. And I will be somewhere for a few weeks. And then, somewhere else. And I hardly have any idea of either of the places.

After all, having an idea is not what matters.

I used to have a home, a school and a group of friends, like everybody else. Or like all the guys lucky enough to have a school, to be precise.

And then suddenly a day came when I no more had a school. A day I used to wait for, and a day I have detested after that day. That day took away the times with those friends of school and then, even I left my home to come back every 6 months as a guest.

Well, almost.

Then I reached Kota and had an year of coaching with some of the school friends around and some new ones. And it was a wonderful life. During my drop at Kota, I enjoyed one year of friendship, experienced one year of life, and simultaneously did one year of preparation for engineering entrance.

Well, almost. ;)

I finally got into a 'reputed' college as a result of one year of my 'hardwork', with no friends from my home this time. But then there were new friends. Like always. And sometimes, better.
After almost 4 years of stay in college, I had a friends' circle and a lot more circles. With and without girls. With and without boys. But there has been my 'Mohalla' with me all the time, except for the third year when I was in a different block. Something I know I'm gonna miss for long. May be for life.

I have had some of the best friends in college. And a big number of acquaintances with whom I have been involved with. With almost 1200 students in my year of B Tech alone, I doubt the number of people I know, at least their names, would be any less than 1k.

And there would be many of them I'll be missing at least some time in my life, for some reason or the other.

And Now I'll be leaving it all.

To stay in some place I do not know. As I've got a reputed company. I know I'll be having friends again wherever be the place I go but I doubt I'll be having such great days again with those friends. In fact, for the start, I'll be a refugee again. One in the refugee camp where everybody is new to the other and nobody knows where to go.

Ok. I think I'm not talking much sense. The fact is just that many things are going to become parts of history now. And I'll be missing it all. Just wish I get some of the present friends while getting my job. That is all I want for now.

Well, almost.

It's all fake

I had read a post of the same title by mirage a few days ago. It was a pretty serious post about pretty serious issues. But what I'm going to write here is not that serious. It's just bits and pieces I have collected from here and there. Mostly from my own college.

Today I saw a girl roaming with a guy in my college. So what?? Nothing with that. They were simply standing in the 'lovers can stand here' (only that much, that too luck favoring, of course) zone of our college. But then I realized there was an old guy with them, the biggest ******** of college. (don't count the stars, all the words that need these stars can be used) He gave them a piece of their mind saying it was not a place to stand there and all the crap I could only guess from their faces. (that was when I saw what all was happening) Finally, after a few minutes, he asked them to move from there.

And they moved.

And he called the guy back and asked him, "Where are YOU going? Let her go, and you do your work."

If only you let him do it.

Logic: he was 'saving' the girl from any problems that could happen.

Fake. Isn't it?

The girl was almost on the verge of crying. She moved in the direction I was moving. (Of course I couldn't stand and see the drama taking place) Soon I realized the girl was moving in the opposite direction again. Back to the same place. The guys were both out of sight. Hopefully, she would find the one she wants to. And not the other one.

Fake again?

I remember on the day of Shankar Mahadevan concert in our college, our teachers were busy controlling us. A few of them were simply standing and trying to look happy. And then, at the same time, I could see their spouses standing on the other side of the barrier, trying to look the same happy.

The students can't dance together cause of the protection theory. But sad is that even teachers can't have the privilege of staying together if they cannot sit in the chairs.

Like good teachers.

I see guards whistling on each and everything they see. Or dont' see. And students doing their 'work' through it all.
Center for technical support banning sites and students working through proxy sites.
CTS banning proxy sites and students finding new ways to get through. And still failing in the continuous assessment exam of 'networking'.

I do not find much of truth in this world.

Or in myself.

It's all fake.

PS: I'm not a pessimist. The fake, to me, is just as interesting as true is.

Khuda kay liye

Khuda kay liye.

A movie from Pakistan of which I saw a promo, the music touched me, and I downloaded all the songs of the movie.

Yes. I do have all the songs of the movie, and Allah Hu and Bandya seemed pretty good.

And now that the movie is out, I think I am going to see it too.

Generally i do not see the movie reviews very much. I simply see the promos and decide for myself whether I want to see a movie or not. But Khuda kay liye was a movie for which I have already read at least 3 reviews from both Indian and Pakistani reviewers. Reason, I have no idea about the director or the cast and crew or banner of the movie. And I was too interested to leave the detail of the movie.

The movie is from a Pakistani director (of course) Shoaib Mansoor and is a highly appreciated work and is said to be much above an average Pakistan flick. Interestingly, one of the most important roles in the movie is played by Naseeruddin Shah.

An Indian.

India. And Pakistan. And still no controversy? How is that possible?

Well, courtesy someone or the other, it is really not possible. When the role was given to the indian actor, a few people from Pakistan, even after acknowledging how good an actor Naseer is, had problems with the fact that the best role of the movie was given to an Indian. (I haven't yet seen the movie so I cannot say whether it was the best role of the movie or not)

And I really hope that there would be people in India also who would have problems with Naseer, an Indian actor, working there in Pakistan, who would be asking "India mein movies banni band ho gayi hain kya jo wahan gaya hai?" (Has India stopped making films that he has gone there?)

Though we do not have any problems with our young people all working for US. But then, you dare not compare working for US and working for Pakistan.

Next, since the movie was a Pakistan production, it couldn't be shown in India as Pakistanni movies' release inIndia was banned in 1968. We were being stopped from seeing a great, highly admired work of our own country's actor because it was produced by a person who lived in Pakistan.

But finally art won over the hatred and the movie's rights were bought by Percept Pictures Company and the movie is finally going to release on April 4.

Hope there are no problems with the release. Khuda kay liye.

Fire in the Boiler

"Yaar ye baar baar power cut kyon ho raha hai?" somebody asked. We were all busy discussing movies and music in Abhishek's room, just next to mine. Or we can say my room is next to Abhishek's, as he owns the first room of the Mohalla, the corridor of friends we are proud of.

"It seems Dutta has put on his big boiler again." came a reply from somewhere in the room itself.

We kept up our discussion.

Suddenly power went off again.

This time my mind's power came back and I was running before I could actually think much.

I went into my room and saw fire coming out of my boiler. Mittal, my roommate, was sleeping a few feet away, oblivious of the fire. And my boiler was burning to ashes. Power was not there, of course, and the fire in one corner of the room was making a pretty horrific scene.

It was a small plastic boiler with a capacity of little more than a glass of water. I needed some hot water for a cold n cough medicine so I had poured a glassful of water, switched the power on, and went out of the room for a spoon.

And they were discussing some song, and then some movies, and I forgot I had left the boiler in my room. To burn itself.

I called them as fast as I could. And all of them came in within seconds.

No further questions. They all started trying to put off the fire. Motz was trying his best to put off the fire when suddenly a falling piece of boiler fell down on my hand and fell down to the ground. It had touched my hand for an instant but I felt it was burnt badly. And within seconds I was at the wash basin, with one hand on the tap and the other under water.

Actually it happened so fast that I could not even feel any pain in my hand.

I could now see the while peeled-off skin of my hand.

That was when Amit came in and saw what had happened to my hand.

And before I could think, he decided we were going to the health centre.

It was 12 in the night.

I really could not think. I asked them if I really needed to go to the health centre. I'm sure it was. But I didn't realize it at the time. But that doesn't really matter. Cause when I came back to the room, the centre of attraction had suddenly shifted. The fire was gone, there were only ashes. Pretty hot, of course. Some one of us had switched on the power too. And I do not know how many of my friends were walking with me. One holding a mug of water, in which my hand was immersed.

Soon we were on the ground floor, with Jeet and I-don't-know-exactly-who-all watching every step of mine. My hand was once again under the cold, chilling water tap, while we were waiting for the Ambulance.

I stood outside the block with a half wall beside me, my hand still in the mug of water.

Oh, how good my friends were.. All of them were there with me.. Some 8-10 right in front of me.. These were the thoughts which were crossing my mind when I realized I was fainting. I collected all my strength and called Jeet who was standing nearby and told him I was fainting.

"Don't worry. Ambulance aa rahi hai." He said and sprinkled some water on my face.

I didn't faint. But I was not in my senses either. The ambulance came and they almost lifted me and put me in even though I tried to walk up.

And then we were enjoying in the Ambulance, talking the most senseless things which I do not remember now. Jeet, Ritvik, Motz and don't know if anybody else was there. Probably Apoorv.

Finally I reached the Health centre and was surprised to see Dr Reghuraman there. He had already had an encounter with my fainting problem the last time I was in for a blood test. Well, he simply suggested a silver sulfadiazine and the nurse did the bandage.

Motz had also got slight burnings so he too got the lotion.

We came back in the same ambulance and this time I remember we were talking of movies. Resuming what was going on in Motz's room a few mins earlier.

"Amitabh Bachchan and Mallika Sherawat," I asked my question, lying on the bed in the ambulance.

"What? Any such movie exists??"

"Darna Zaroori hai."

"Chup ho ja yaar! Tere haath mein problem hogi bolne se..." Jeet had no other way out.

Movies to watch out for

I do not know how many of you liked 'Race'. But I had no problem walking out of the room where my friends were playing the movie. Not that movie was bad or something. But I hardly found anything worth watching. (I've seen enough of the three gals in promos)

But I'm hoping from stock ahead. Here are some movies to watch out for.

Shaurya. Releasing next week, that is 4th April, I have at least some expectations from the Rahul Bose movie and I wish it passes them all.

Then comes U, me aur Hum. Releasing 11th April. I wasn't really expecting a lot from the movie until I saw the promos. Or should I say I was hardly expecting anything. But now I feel it's going to be worth a watch. If not more.

Tashan. 25th April. Don't know whether it will be good or not. But hope it to be a Hit. May be a super hit too. Waiting for the music launch of the movie as I'm hoping a lot from the music also.

Well, there are some negative expectations too. Bhootnath, which is expected a lot from by the media, I feel may not be such a good film. For the rest, we shall have to wait till May 9th.

My favorite, most awaited Aashayein seems to be getting late and will probably be coming in June.

Anyways, till then, if u r getting bored, there is no lack of movies. Or even good movies. For those who haven't seen it, there is a recommendation. Watch Dharm. It's fabulous. Saw it a few days ago. And if there still remains something, you can contact me anytime. :)

Captain Saab

Well, this is hardly a post. Actually I'm simply wondering how Sehwag ji hit yet another 309. (It's not out yet)

I thought and thought. And finally I reached one conclusion. Probably Sehwag ji was practicing for the IPL matches starting next month.

In that case, we can surely say, a Captain's innings. Whatsay?

Books are lenses to see the world through for the people who cannot see it on their own. But it's better to try these lenses always because what you see without these lenses may not be all the world.

ट्रेन में
तीन लोगों के बैठने की बर्थ पर
मैं अकेला ही था
बीच में बैठा हुआ
बाईं तरफ़
बारिश का कुछ पानी पड़ा था
जो बराबर की खिड़की से आया था।

यूँ तो
खिड़की बंद कर देते हैं लोग,
लोग, जिन में मैं भी शामिल हूँ
मगर उस वक्त,
वो खिड़की ही मेरा सहारा थी।

उस से आती बूँदें ही मेरी मुस्कराहट थी
और उस से दिखते काले बादल
मेरी उदासी;
नहीं जानता,
बादल काले थे इसलिए मैं उदास था
या फिर मैं उदास था इसलिए बादल इतने काले थे।

सोचने का वक्त था
फिर भी
न जाने क्यों
सोचना मुश्किल सा था

बस
अपनी बाहों में अपने घुटनों को
और
अपने अकेलेपन को
जकड़कर बैठा था
फिर भी वो अकेलापन
बर्थ पर मेरे दोनों तरफ़ था।

versus

I really have no idea why I'm writing what I'm writing in the manner I'm writing. Basically this is a result of the brainwaves that were in my head for a long time.

If u think there is any specific point u didn't get, ask me n I'll try n explain.

If u get nothing n still want to, ask in parts please. :)

Love vs Arrangement vs Force

Personal life vs Family reputation

Personal fears vs Elders' Experience

Personal experience vs Elders' fears

Young vs Old

Children vs Parents

Possibility vs Impossibility

Positive vs Negative

Negative vs Positive

Positive vs Positive

Negative vs Negative

Months of practical vs Ages of theory

Early vs Sudden

Logic vs Emotions

Emotions vs Logic

Pragmatic vs Traditional

the list actually goes on...

Child labor: Solutions?

When I came to know about the child labor for the first time, I was a child myself and thought of child labor as one of the worst things. Even when I had not seen the worst face of it. But today, after having seen various facets of it, and after knowing probably all of them, I am more confused about the question that, "Can child labor be completely eradicated?"

There are a number of places where children are overtly exploited and certainly child labor in such places is against humanity. But is it that child labor, in all its forms and all the places, completely wrong?

There are a number of child laborers in my college mess and when I noticed that, I felt it was wrong. It was against the law. (not really as law checks births certificates which, I recently came to know, make all those children of 18+) But then, later I felt there was actually nothing wrong as these children were not doing something that exploits them. It was very normal work which any child could easily do.

But...

The big question is, they are not getting education. They are not getting what it takes to rise their standard of living, yet at the same time they are poor children who are rising their standard of living. That means, to rise their present standard of living, these children are losing their future too.

What is the solution?

Ironically, when asked, most of them are happy with their lives and do not want to study as they are 'already earning money and that is what is the motive of studying'. This was what these workers were reported saying when the college offered a work study program. (I was unable to get a further detail of this as I cannot talk to these guys myself cause of my own illiteracy in the local language)

So here is the problem to which we need to find the solution. If we really want to see our country progressing and people's living standard higher, we need to change this mentality. But I have no clue how to do that.

In fact sometimes when we see the immediate effects of this illiteracy, I feel really sad. It's strange when I see those mess workers with cellphones in their hands but they cannot operate them even at the basic level and come to us to ask how to operate them.

Is it that only institutions like Parikrma can make all the difference? In that case it will take really long to eradicate child labor from our country as there is an extremely small part of population in the reach of such institutions yet. (For details of Parikrma see post 'Thanks Shashi') Or is that we can also do something useful at our level? If yes, how? and if not, why?

Read Read Read

I'm reading. More than any of the past 7 semesters. I started reading 'The World is Flat' on 5th January and completed it on 7th March. And I felt how could I read this slow? (Considering I have almost no work at hand most of the times) Though I would say I enjoyed the book a lot. In fact the book changed my entire thought process to a large extent and I started thinking differently, for the better of course.

And that turned out to be the start of a new era in my life, it seems. I started 'Kane and Abel' (Jeffrey Archer) and finished it within 3 days!! Then I started Shantaram, but left my mission mode in which I had completed my Kane and Abel. So I read almost 130 pages of the 900+ page book in 3 days.

Then by luck I found two books of Jeffrey Archer in library, probably for the second time in 4 years, and certainly for the first time that I got two. (God helps them who help themselves!!) And I decided to read them first.

Shall we tell the President turned out to be relatively shorter and I read it in 3 days. (mission mode is gone now) Then I started Honor Among Thieves, the second one from library and crossed hardly 100 pages that I found something interesting in the library again. I read the first 50 pages of this book called 'Next' by Michael Lewis in the library itself and took it to my room. Hope I'll be able to finish this one within one day.

Honor Among Thieves and Shantaram to complete.

The Alchemist and Maximum City in pipeline, along with I'm OK You're OK. Of course, magazines are also going on, rather more than ever before.

Wish me luck. For my final semester project. :)

Don't Message and Drive

Don't drink and derive is old. And though it has not lost its importance, there is a new thing that people need more.

It is: Don't Message/Call and Drive.

Yes. The biggest problem on roads today doesn't seem to be drunk driving. It seems to be driving while on mobile. People who drive with their cellphones in hand seem to be far bigger a danger compared to drunk drivers as they are everywhere.

We do not easily find drunk drivers everywhere but drivers busy with their phones can be seen anywhere, any time of the day. They are on empty roads, and busy ones, the most crowded ones with long jams. And they can be as bad as drunk drivers many a time even if they are in their senses. In fact the same has been established by studies also. That you can check here.

The ironic thing is that people who are considered to be good citizens are usually found driving while simultaneously on a call or messaging. But these good citizens can be very dangerous for others as well as themselves.

As we dial a number or type a message, we have to take our eyes off from the road that makes driving risky. Also, when we talk on phone, distraction certainly comes into the picture and the efficiency of driver goes down. I have seen many incidents where people talking on cellphones have bumped into other objects or people, resulting in little to fatal damages.

Therefore, it is important that if you intend to use your cellphone while driving, you take a headset or some such device which is suitable for talking while driving. And still, it is advisable not to get too involved in conversation when you're driving.

I think we need to understand this problem and make people aware of the dangers of using cellphones while driving. But the most important is to start with yourself.

Bam Bam Bole

I thought it was just another song to increase the number of songs on the album, when I listened to the song a few months earlier. I had not seen the video of the song. And when I did, I thought it was a song that was put there to attract the children who were getting mad seeing Aamir Khan in his new avatar of a Joker-teacher.

But then I saw the movie. And I was proved dead wrong. And a bad critic, simultaneously.

If you don't yet think Bam-Bam-Bole is a simply great song, read on.

We have a number of songs in the film Industry every year. A number, that I really do not know. But I know that half of them are crap. Or actually a lot more. Many of the songs, or most, actually, are love songs. We listen to hundreds of romantic songs every year, and a bigger number of sad songs. And we love them. What we generally lack in our songs is inspiration.

Still, for a few years, we have been getting better movies, and better music, with slightly better quality of lyrics too, though it falls down badly many times. (Examples may include mom-maani-nahi-dad-naaraz-tha from Jaanemann and the undoubted Dard-e-disco from Om Shanti Om) And so are coming a few good inspirational songs too, like Lakshya to har haal mein paana hai from Lakshya, Aashayen from Iqbal, and Kuchh Kariye from Chak de India. (although we have seen the Indian Hockey team getting disqualified for the Olympics today, no words for that) But the number of such songs stays in single digits strictly.

Now, talking of Bam-Bam-Bole, it's not just an inspirational song. It's much more. Today, where all the inspirational numbers I talk about either talk about do something, never telling what to do, (though it's not bad being general, it leaves a lot of scope), or are too specific to situations that hardly arise at a general level. But Bam-Bam-Bole not only inspires you to achieve something, it specifically tells us that we should dream and imagine, which, I think, is one of the major areas we lack. We, in India, are hard working to the limit that people sitting in far West need to worry about their jobs, still we are behind them. We are followers and not the leaders most of the time because of the lack of imagination and dreams.

But I consider Bam-Bam-Bole great not just because it preaches all the right things. It's great because it reaches all those children who need to understand the power of imagination. On one hand, the songs inspires children saying,

khul ke sochen aao
pankh zara failao
rang naye bikharao,

on the other hand it questions our education system and shows us the defects:

o rat rat ke kyoon tanker full...
tanker full tanker full...
aankhen band to dabba gul...
dabba gul dabba gul...

I hope you agree by now that Bam-Bam-Bole is a great song. In any case, I would like to appreciate Prasoon Joshi for the great lyrics, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Aamir Khan for bringing such a thing to us that is reaching its audiences well.

PS: I'm not getting any compensations from Aamir Khan or his associates for writing this. And if still some of thinks so, you have freedom to think anything you like.

Proxy!!

Well. This is a view of The Economic Times homepage as it shows at my college computer lab. Though, we can see Orkut and Google Talk are working perfectly. And so is Facebook. (not in the picture)

The more interesting thing is that I can write a blog as blogger.com is open. But blogspot pages are prohibited by proxy so I cannot see my page. And a number of scientific and general knowledge blogs cannot be accessed just because they are being hosted on blogger.

Alas!

Interestingly, many of the sites that provide materials like papers and other things that students use for their projects and assignments are also not working. And as a result almost 80 percent of the lab is empty, making me realize that students do not sit in the lab for Orkutting or chatting, even though they open these sites while they work in the lab. An altogether knew piece of knowledge. Think I should thank the lab management for that.

Anyways I just hope these people understand it soon that in order to stop a little misuse of resources, putting too many restrictions is not the solution.

And please pray that I can see my blog next time I come.

Thanks.

I'm listening

Today I was chatting with a friend when a question popped up in front of me. Which songs was I listening to nowadays. And I was a thinking. Thinking because all the time there is some song that I'm listening to. My current favorite.

Actually I have a current favorite today too. But the reason I was thinking was that the song was not from a movie, not from a private album. It was from an advertisement. Interesting. The ad makers got ahead of Hindi film industry in my ranking.

Well, it was Jashn mana le jingle of Coke featuring Hritik that I am humming almost all the day for past three days. Cause of its beautiful music and touching voice.

Think its all 'Jashn' season for Hritik. First Jashn-e-Bahara and now Jashn-e-Coke.

Enjoy.

'Touch' me

'Touch' matters. But I'm not in a mood to talk the physical touch here. I'm talking of the 'touchy' things, rather ads, that TV is bringing to us, more and more.

Movie makers have been good at touching since time immemorial. Be it Gulzar or Rishikesh Mukherjee, Karan Johar or Aditya Chopra. But now a number of advertisers are moving towards touchy-feely things compared to previous times.

Of course there have been touchy ads since the TV started. I still remember those Raymond ads which stirred my soul even while I was a child. Remember the school children collecting coins in cap for the leaving teacher? (Principal I think)

But now, a whole new dimension is being added it seems. The surf excel ad (sorry bol raha hai one), the Jaypee ad (the one in which a little boy brings a little girl to show her the dam) can be quoted among such ads.

And then came the ad from Airtel. A whole new thing. An advertisement that India had never seen before. Two little boys across border coming together to play football. Followed by 'Baatein gira deti hain faaslon ki deewaarein' or 'barriers break when people talk'.

Now the thing that made me think. The latest advertisement I saw, from Airtel. In this one, a little girl calls up her 'papa' at night cause she wants to do some drawing where 'papa' is working at a site. And then papa finally brings the girl out under the sky and they both draw on sky together. On an Airtel. Oops!

Waise, the latest coke ad I saw didn't touch me less. Maybe because of the Sufi voices involved in the ad. In this one some guys come back from presumably a party or something and are hungry when everything is closed. And then Hritik performs the magic of coke and there's a beautiful voice singing 'waqt ye na rukta hai, aaj tu Jashn mana le'. (please tell me who's the singer if u know or find somewhere, dying to know that) Yet another hit by music composer Raam Sampat, my old, old favorite.

In a Flat World - II

Today I was on my mission Malleswaram. By that I mean my schedule of roaming through the markets of Malleswaram, which is a pretty good market in itself now, with a number of grand showrooms, many of them opened in the previous 4 years, the time since I have come to college.

So when I was on my favorite shop, Temptation M, which is something just like Planet M, I saw a couple inquiring about the Ramayana of Ramanand Sagar (the old one) which was available there for Rs 3500.

The in charge of the shop told them and when they showed some reluctance, he started trying his luck and showed them the Mahabharata, Shri Krishna, and Vikram aur Betaal. But the couple had lost interest for some reason and confused, they left the place.

And I started thinking how would it be a waste of their money had they bought it.

Nowadays my mind is really giving me lots of troubles as it is making me think about lots of things I need not think. (so I think when I do not use my mind)

I started thinking how could they use those Rs 3500. First thing that can be done is, buy a Tata Sky connection with the amount of money. Or Dish TV, whichever you like more. In fact you can even have Reliance BlueMagic, but we don't really know in how much time is Mr Anil Ambani going to launch it, but anyways it is going to be cheaper than the two. At least that is what we expect from Reliance.

I think I went off the topic. Back.

So, we can buy a DTH connection and watch new Ramayana on the NDTV Imagine. And after a few days the new Mahabharata too, on Star. (according to reports) This way, we'll be getting a number of channels in addition to the Ramayana and Mahabharata we actually want which will be easier to watch as all the fights in the serials will be using higher quality animations compared to those of 80's.

Second option, we can have a broadband connection of any company. From a wired home broadband connection of BSNL or Sify or Airtel to USB/PCMCIA cards of Reliance/Tata Indicom. And then download and /or watch a hundred more national and international serials, series and shows from Youtube.

Actually I have learnt a lot from that shop itself. About the flattening of world. About technology getting cheaper and becoming more affordable. I have bought a number of CDs from this particular shop (in case u don't know, I am a big movie buff, and a bigger music buff, still buying movie CDs many times) and seen that CDs I buy at Rs 100 (in my case, that's the limit), are being sold for Rs 50 or 38 or 30 by Moserbaer or some company which has reduced its prices due to competition with Moserbaer.

So, in short, as the world is getting flatter, I think it is important for every human to get acquainted to its environment, so that we can get the maximum benefit of the things happening around us.

Hope u are keeping yourself updated.

Why do we think so much?

I generally go to the Forum mall in an auto. That is, whenever I come to Bangalore. It takes Rs 65 to 80, depending on where I start. For the last two times, and that is when I went alone, I gave almost Rs 65-70 to the autowallas.

This time my Jijaji introduced me to a new option by telling me the number of bus going from home to the Majestic. (although its an altogether different matter that I always come from Majestic to home by bus only, I never cared to notice the bus number as I know the platform there)

So I reached the 18th cross bus stand crossing the cricket ground in front of the home and caught bus number 252 to Majestic. There were no seats in the bus and I was standing all the way. No big deal, actually.

Reaching Majestic, I asked a conductor where to get a bus to Kormangala. He told it was just in front. I reached the place he had pointed towards and with my aadha-adhura knowledge of Kannada (only written, I can't speak a word, except beda) I read it was for Kormangala only. Getting nearer I realized I could read in English also as the small lists of stoppages were bilingual.

As soon as the bus number 171 came, people gathered at the gate. The passengers from inside the bus came out and then, I know I was inside the bus, and somehow found a seat.

Almost 5 minutes later, the bus was full of crowd and there was hardly place to stand. Just next to my seat there was an elderly person standing with a bag in his hand. I'm not very good at guessing age of people but he was not less than 50. I cannot say whether he was below 60 or even more than that.

Seeing such an aged person standing beside me, I felt bad. I thought I should offer him my seat as it was not a big deal for me to go standing in a city bus. I do it half the time I travel in city buses. But I was thinking, and thinking. At least ten minutes I was thinking before I actually offered him my seat and he asked me something in Kannada, most probably it was if I was about to get down. I didn't answer properly, blabbered just something in a sign of no, and stood up.

All the way I was thinking i had done something good, all the more so when I was feeling a bit tired, as the journey took more than 45 minutes I think. But I do not know what and why I was thinking when I was sitting.

But later, when I was standing there was one question in my mind. Why do we think so much while we do some good work?

PS: I would also like to know if you have the same thing applicable to yourself. Please tell if it is so. And if you find any reasons for that, what they are. Thanks.

Deepak Chaurasia in Dhoom 4??

Yash Raj Films is all set to sign Deepak Chaurasia for his next Dhoom for which the cast is not yet decided. This step is taken by the YRF after watching Deepak's performance in the special act played on Aaj tak in a budget special program. Deepak had played a kisaan from Bhaarat in a debate going on between India and Bhaarat.

Shocked?

Well, you must be knowing this is not truth but just a spoof. But do you think we shall be really shocked if we come across such a news one day? I do not think I will be much surprised.

True. News channels today do everything. Acting and hype-making. Animation and advertisement. Almost everything except news.

Fortunately, I have been from the school that is run by the Times of India Group and once got a chance to listen to Shri Sahu Ramesh Chandra Jain, who was the former president of our college and a renowned media person. He was of the view that news should not be mixed with views. He was in favor of strictly giving news where a person was to be given news and put one's own views separate from the news so that the news remains unbiased and people are able to analyze the news on their own too.

But today, news is not just being mixed with views, but the news channels have become full-fledged drama channels, covering reality shows, daily soaps from channels and their own part-horror shows and hype-creating news.

Even DD, that was considered a plain news channel, mostly the papas' choice, now tries to run the race of today's news and sometimes acts foolish. One day i came through a story made on movies or something in which I was unable to listen the voice of the guy speaking there because of the background music that was playing Om Shanti Om.

Believe me, I am really tired of these news channels. Even at home when dad says, "yaar news sunwa de kuchh", now I say, "kya karoge dad, news channel pe besure logon ke gaane sunne se achcha hai aap bhi MTV ke gaane hi sun lo.."

I Don't Pod

I don't generally regret things. Even try not to be materialistic, that is I try not to be sad for things I would want and don't get.

Till date there were two things I felt sad for. Namely, I do not have a digital camera (not even a camera phone yet), and second, that I do not know how play an instrument, not any one of them.

But it seems the list is going to expand this time.

I was yesterday in a train. From Katpadi to Bangalore. Having nobody with me, I got a boring book called 'The world is flat'. Well, the book is not actualy boring, cause had it been boring, I would not be able to cross 500 pages of that. I know I am not that good at reading boring things. That much I know from 'The Hindu' and 'Frontline'.

Anyways, I managed to read the book for 2 hours. 45 pages, that is. 25 in the first hour, and being complacent, 20 in the second. (actually that tells me its a boring book)

Got to confess something too. There were two girls sitting on the seat behind mine, most probably from my own college. But even though I thought of talking to them (just generally, maybe for yet another so-how's-the-college talk), but part for their almost continuous sleep, and part for me being me, I did not.

Well, the essence is that I was in the train, getting bored alone. And then I could see some guys who came into the coach probably at Kuppam station. Most of them were having i pods in their hands and earphones in their ears. (of course!!!) I have always been content with me singing on my own and listening to myself. (I do not bother others in public places generally, though 2 days ago my neighbor Akshay asked me to sing as he was feeling I had reduced my singing time)

But this time I was feeling different. Seeing so many people with i pods, or their counterparts from other companies, like the one I saw with Saurabh 2 days earlier, one from 'i ball', I have started feeling that I also need an i pod.

Not that I have started feeling that my own voice is not that good as before or something, just that I have started feeling that I want to listen more than sing to myself. And since I am reading that boring book, i mean my flat-world, I'm feeling I am left behind people. People who know less than me. (nothing like I have done some research or something, its my self-decided notion that I'm more intelligent than most of the mortals on the earth, and in the opinion of this intelligent mortal, its very very wrong, making it a paradox)

Anyways, I think I'm gonna get an i pod as soon as I get my salary (thanks to Mr Chidambaram, my taxes are gonna get down by almost 25k this yr), even before my camera, that is in queue since 2000, or may be I get an N82. (I loved the phone, has a 5 mega pixel camera embedded and of course i can listen to what i like with that)

Well, for now, i can just keep my fingers crossed, until I get my first salary. Hope to get it soon (and my passport too, that is mandatory for joining)

Amen.

In a flat world 1.2 (or) I've gone mad

Believe it or not. It's hillarious!! (nothing to do with Hillary Clinton)

Google is tracking what we are all listening. In all the countries. Based on those who put current track in their Gtalk. Big deal. But not much.

The much big deal is the results I saw. For the first time I entered the Google music labs (as they call it) and checked the results under All countries and All genres. And Mohit Chauhan's 'Tum se hi' was the third topper on the list.

So, in the flat world, Indians are participating in everything. Congrats India! The world is listening.

By the way, if u want to know what India is listening, u can select India instead of All countries. And if u are still not surprised, select genre soundtrack and all countries.

In a flat world 1.1

Dudes, this is a running post. For those who are interested in Google. (or rather obsessed with it)

If u want to know more about more of Google things, and how Google things work, just type 'Google blogs' in your search box and start reading the results one by one. They may be all new to you, or some of them known. But I can assure you may not know all of these things so well. Actually much of this can be geek stuff and may be it's out of range/above head, I think its worth a watch, especially if you think you know a lot about Google.

So, Happy Reading!

In a flat world - I

I do not know how many parts I will be writing in this post. But since I have been reading the book 'The World is Flat' by Thomas L Friedman for a long time now, that is almost since the first week of January, completed more than half of the book, and liking it continuously, I think I can write a lot on this Flat world.

The author has given a list of things, ten in number, that are making the world flat today. But there is, to be very specific, one, that I have been using for a long time now. And that flattener is Google.

Friends, maybe I am obsessed with Google. But I think if it is so, it's worth it.

Well, I do not know how many of you use Google how efficiently but I would like to tell you here how much and in what manners I use Google. As long as I am online.

Google starts with web search. Web search for general knowledge, studies, projects, movies' details, songs, or simply time pass. May be I have left a number of categories I search for. Then, the very next, image search (going by the order on the Google home page). Image search of Google is used for various reasons, to find various things. From pictures required in assignments to movie posters. From beautiful girls (under censored language) to my changing profile pics on Orkut. Google image search only gives meaning to all JPEG, PNG, BMP and other such words. The next one, news, is though a thing I do not search through 'Google News'. But still, almost all the news are found through the standard Google homepage.

Then comes my dear old Orkut. Whatever I say about Orkut is less. I have used Orkut for a lot, lot many things. I have found lost friends on Orkut, have talked to them sending 200 scraps in a day (to one person only) when the reply option didn't exist, have talked to anonymous people on scraps, spent whole nights visiting profiles of girls with different algorithms, collected people of my own town from around the world under the community called Najibabad, gathered information regarding admissions, colleges etc, even provided information to many, shown my power (when there was a race among us friends to have the maximum number of friends, though trying to lessen the number now), and what not.

Then comes the Gmail. A forever favorite. Currently I have at least 5 Gmail accounts running out of which i use 3 regularly. Also, my college has assigned a new mail account in the name of college provided actually by Gmail, making harshitgupta2004@vit.ac.in my new Gmail id. Basically after using Gmail I do not want to use any other mail. Recently I tried AOL mail after using which I could say it was 'Not Made for India'. I was really pissed off as I could not send even one mail properly from the American giant's mail.

Then come the two things, Google Books and Google Scholar, which I rarely use. Actually I have hardly ever used Scholar except for the main Google search engine but after seeing the papers available there, I must say it is going to help people, including myself, in their assignments and projects.

Google blog search is another interesting thing. It has found me things I could never reach through the normal web search. One day I simply searched the name of a friend and I came to know he's running a blog about which hardly anyone knows. I also search blogs when I simply want to know people's view about something, be it Raj Thackeray or my college VIT Vellore.

Photos is one thing I could not use yet as I do not have proper internet connection to upload my pics. Still, I find Picasa really useful and better my photos using Picasa as Adobe Photoshop is too heavy a tool for me.

Then there is 'Blogger' through which I broadcast all the crap that comes to my mind. And those Google alerts in which I used to write any person's name I wanted to know about and get all the info on my mail (I had hundreds of mail alerts in the name of Sania Mirza once, to keep me updated) And the desktop search that searches every item on my hard disks with the speed of Google. Wow!

And even though I don't use Google's docs and spreadsheets as I have Microsoft office on my computer, I cannot afford to forget Gtalk that I use to talk to a number of people simultaneously. In fact I have talked to 4 people at a time in the Gtalk embedded in Gmail too.

Well, being a computer engineer, I do not want to tell you how much I search on google code. It'll tel you too much then. :)

Well, that is how Google makes my world flat. that is how I access information from all the corners of the world today. And that is how my life goes on Google.