Last night I scored.

I don’t remember when the last time I played cricket was. I think it must be
something like a decade back. I don’t play Tennis either. I can play Volley ball
for hours. (I am not sure if I can still claim that). The thing is, my knee doesnt
let me to run on hard surfaces.

Many a times there were opportunities to play cricket. I was always
apprehensive about fielding, running and catching and stuff. Last week
some dudes who I remotely know through my friend Zee, booked an entire
ground for a day and night match. I hesitantly asked them if I can play.

Sorry, we have already formed teams. Captain Kiran informed.
How many are there in your team. Zee enquired.
Eleven. Kiran.
Make it Twelve. Smiley is playing. Zee concluded.

Twelve we were. Before getting into the field I told Kiran that its been a
decade since I played this game.

Can you atleast stand for 25 overs? Kiran asked.
I can try.

He put me on the offside.
It was already dark and the stadium dudes switched on the flood lights.

Zee meanwhile mixed a bottle of vodka with sprite and water for me.
I ran back, stuffed my right pocket with Haldirams mixture and came back
to my position to field (with the bottle).

I was a little nervous worrying about me misfielding. It did happen.
The batsman swung his bat, before I realized, the ball came running
towards me.

According to Brian Green, the probability for it to happen is infinitesimally
small.But it happened. The ball just when it was about to close in my palms
entered a new dimension, got disappeared and reappeared in a fraction of
seconds at the boundary line.

Thats ok Smiley. Zee encouraged me from the stands.
Smiley, can you move back to the boundary line? Kiran appeared.

Sure. Within no time I actually got comfortable with the whole thing. I kept on
sipping my vodka. When the ball came towards me the next time, I actually
held it and threw it right on the spot to the keeper.

Kiran suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked, Can you bowl?

I took that question quiet literally and told him,
Of course I can, what do you think? Fucker!

Go bowl. He threw the ball at me.
Dude, I can bowl. But I don’t think I can bowl.

I did some practice rotating arms suff and tried to remember my bowling
action. It was a white leather ball. Umpire asked me for the guard.
I gave him a blank look.

The first ball was such a wide that the batsman made fun of me by
running after that ball. The second ball was a good one. But Umpire declared
it a noball. He was eighteen years something dude.

Dude, Umpire! Didnt Kiran tell you about my knee injury?
No.
Well, you cant declare nobes for the fucking balls that I bowl.
Take a shorter runup and no nobes for you.

The next ball directly went to the keeper’s glove in a semi circular arc.
Nice throw. My keeper encouraged me.

Suddenly my basics flooded back I bowled four decent balls. Actually the
fourth one was a snick and keeper failed to catch it. After I finished the over
I ran to Kiran to give him a high five. Dude, I finished the over.

They smashed 148 in 25 overs.

I finished my vodka and sat in the stands watching my team’s batting.
Zee appeared suddenly and asked me, Why are you not batting?

Come on, I cant bat. I don’t think I can even see the ball. Besides I just had
a quarter Vodka.
You are batting. Kiran! Smiley is next.
Well, Hari is next. Kiran said.

I am stopping this match. Zee ran into the field. We pulled him back.
The thing is, I never batted with pads on. They gave me full gear. After
wearing the guard, pads, thigh pad and gloves, I refused to wear a helmet.

Thats not for me. I said.

With the gear on, I was little awkward. Kiran sensed it and said,
here, Let me bowl some practice balls for you. So, in the stands, I practiced.
Someone got out. Kiran got into the field. A little later, another one got out.
It was my turn. I walked calmly towards the crease. Took my stance. Bowler
bowled. Before I realized that he bowled, the ball was collected by the keeper.
Everyone oohed because the ball missed my ear by an inch.

Kiran walked to me and said,
Dont try anything fancy. Just enjoy the show. Keep batting. Dont get out.
I made a note. Instead of simply watching the bowlers action, react to it.

Keeper shouted to the bowler. Straight onto the wickets. We will get him.
You will get my dick. Mother fucker. I told him.
I ended up driving the next ball beautifully onside for a four.

Sometimes, after couple of drinks, I get really calm and focused. After getting
drunk, no one can beat me on my Xbox.

Instead of being a nervous wreck, I strangely ended up being focused on that
night. I played for the rest of the overs, remained a notout batsman and scored
some fifteen plus.

The best part was, for one of the offside balls that I missed; I walked down to
the umpire and told him that I would have declared it a wide.
He declared it a wide.

After the match, Kiran said, with little practice, I can come handy as a batsman.

That night I fantasized a glorious innings by me in the finals of 2007 world cup.

Kong is King

The wait is over. The reports are in.
Yeah, he is gonna rule the box.

Hello..mike testing..1,2,3.

Thanks to the broadband connection at home and lots of free time.
I am suddenly brimming with stuff to say. If I ever get enough
free time this is what I would like to talk (type) about

1) Green Apples

An illustrated story starring Smiley, Leela, Shreddy the Shredder, Coo and
Boo.

2) Joie.de.vivre

3) Where have all the chicks gone wrong?

4) The art of giving

5) Strategy and Vision

6) I am wrong. Whats wrong with that?

Eats , Sh*ts and bites

Numbers

For some one (me) who loves numbers this was heavenly.



As many as 3000000 Xbox 360s will be sold this quarter.
Close to 10000000 game titles will be sold for Xbox alone.



Apple is poised to sell something like 37000000 iPods by the
end of this year. So far it has managed 17917000 iPods and
is storing 19083000 iPods for this holiday season.

Its know as the Threshold or Yield in Physics, Halo Effect in
Economics. I have a lot to comment on iPod and its ROKR.
To me this is the most important fusion. Probably the foundation
of Web 2.0.

Harry Potter ended up collecting more than $200000000 at
the box office in just ten days. If the book sales arent mind
blowing enough, wait for the total gross and the later DVD sales.

Sigh. If feels so good when someone is selling.

Annoying Thing

A ding ding ding ding dididing ding bing bing pscht,

Dorhrm bom bom bedom bem bom bedom bom bum ba ba bom bom,

Bouuuuum bom bom bedahm, Bom be barbedarm bedabedabedabeda

Bbrrrrrimm bbrrrrramm bbbrrrrrrrrraammmmm ddddddraammm,

Bah bah baah baah ba wheeeeeee-eeeee-eeeee!

If you had enough of this annoying thing (Crazy Frog of A ding ding ding) you
can now kill him at killcrazyfrog.net. If you have no clue about what I am
talking, then, here.

Bre Bre Bre he he aake.

Just returned back from a three day Tirupati trip. I havent reached
Hyd yet. Halted in Vijayawada. I am already missing Shredder.

So I asked Zee to hit the road and bring shredder along with him.
Amazingly, Zee obliged. Now I cant wait to freak out my mom with
Shredder. I hope Shreddy learned a trick or two to make my mom go
eeeeeeew.....eeeeeeew.....eeeeeew. (Like, Shreddy can eat a newspaper
and can puke it out whenever you ask him to).
(My mom is not exactly a dog person).

His Stuff



My other best friend Zee bought lots of stuff for Shreddy. We made him
a recliner (Zee and I, after three rounds of Brandy, swore that Shredder
is our brother and that he shall be treated like one.)

A tent. Carpet (inside the tent) and bath towels.
Toys. Bones. That so called Recliner.

While Shreddy was busy shredding the gift wraps and polyethene bags, we
pitched up his stuff. He slept in his tent yesterday night. He is already
hiding his stuff in there.

I ended up making lots of changes to the house. In order to understand
Shreddy I had to think at his "level". We taped all the running wires to the
walls. Had to make sure that he cant grab any of the stuff thats not his.
No simple task. Let me tell ya.

Yesterday two of my software friends dropped in for a friday evening party.
They were surprised to see Shredder. Initially they were excited and one of
them promised a silver dollar chain as a gift for Shreddy. With a Silver Dollar
hanging, he would rock, we thought.

But later they grew a little uncomfortable and watched me in almost disgust,
talking to Shreddy, kissing him and fondling him. Lucky for them, because I
had to sleep (pretend) next to Shreddy in his tent to put him (other wise
excited) to sleep at 12:15 in the night. By then they already left.

My new best friend



Dude, where is the remote?? and Hey! What happened to my tail?

This dude arrived from Russia a day before...and to my place, yesterday.
He is a French Bull Dog. According to the breeder, he is the fifth spotted
French Bull Dog in India and first in Andhra.

Yeah, you guessed it. After learning that, the first thing I asked the breeder
who imported him for me, was,...Hmmm...then whats my buddy gonna do
during the mating season? I was assured that by then there would be atleast
four females imported by him to Andhra.

So far, he hasnt barked even once. He just barely whined when I threw him in
the air to scare him. It took him couple of hours to sniff around my place. Once
he got settled, he suddenly got hyper active. Within notime I named him
"Shredder" because by then he shredded everything made out of paper.

He chewed on my shoes, peeed on my Sub woofer, shat at five strategic
locations, bit my hand and simply refused to sleep in the kitchen and to be tied
up. There was no way I could have my food and beer in the evening.

Its only a matter of time before he eats up my telephone cable and signs on my
recliner and make the wires behind the TV his bone hideout place.

In the morning when he woke up, he demanded lots of attention. He watched
me wearing my trousers with such an amazement that even I had to wonder.

This morning, while I was reading my main edition, he ate my sports edition.
I think, life as I knew it is pretty much over.

Now, all I need to do is name him. :-)

Just In

The elegant Universe by Brian Greene
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond (one of my favs)

Sold

Halo Script

..is ready (for the movie) and is sold to Universal for $5M and 10% Gross.
This script is further sold to Peter Jackson who intends to produce this
movie. According to a review, the script rocks.

Quiet predictably, the movie opens on Master Chief's visor.

We open on a SPARTAN HELMET, and a REFLECTION in its visor.

In the reflection, we see buildings. The design and architecture of the
buildings tell us this is not Earth. The suns are low in the sky, and bathing
the landscape blood red.

We snap back to show the full figure of the SPARTAN and folks we are
introduced to MASTER CHIEF (MC for short for the rest of this review).
Seven foot tall, clad head to toe in MJOLNIR armor, holding a
MA5B ASSAULT rifle

"What are my orders"? by Master Chief will be the opening dialogue.




India Vs China Vs World Vs India-China

Thats interesting.

Illusion of Gravity

Gravity, too, would be part of the illusion: a force that is not present in the
two-dimensional world but that materializes along with the emergence of
the illusory third dimension....(needs subscription)

Blogquotes

I never met a Calorie I did not like !
Swathi

He just rubbed my belly as if it was his.
Gabby

Like the time he told me, “You know, the Europeans are very sexyful.”
I kept a stony face, silently groaning and thinking, spare me your conquests.
Leela

This was to be my first proper date. It was important. He was important.
And I was nervous as hell.
Ash

Bring home a bahu. Babu! III

I understand your concern. Yeah. I have traveled far and wide. Met people from all kind of tribes, countries, continents, religions and customs. Met the most beautiful women on this planet and the most intelligent ones too.

Moms widened their eyes.

At the end I have realized that I need a cheerful companion in my life. Everything else is c in a plus b square. Hmm..I don’t know how to define cheerful companion. See, its basically two people living together and working together. Together is good when there is a common goal. Together is good when one make compromises for the other. Together is good when one knows their weaknesses and respects others strengths. Like the way Vinny and I work together. I love women who enjoy life and who can accommodate people. Someone who understands and respects my goals. Someone who can enjoy a coke, pop corn and watching Finding Nemo. Someone who can accommodate me. That’s it I guess.

Moms fell silent.

Anything else?

Yeah. I like husky voice and light brown eyes.

We all fell silent for a minute. The evening breeze added certain heaviness to the situation. Younger one started looking at the coconut precariously hanging from the tree and my parked car below it.

A little later, suddenly, one thing added to the other. The matrix suddenly revealed itself. A wave of comprehension and joy overwhelmed me. It swam upcurrent and came bursting out of my mouth and eyes.

Do you know anyone with these qua…

I cut my mom and said.

I know who it is mom. Rani Mukharjee.

Rani who? Chorus.

Rani Moo..Khar..Zee.

I knew it. I knew it. I knew you are in love with someone. Who is she? Where does she live? What does she do? Younger one hugged me with unlimited joy and streams of tears.

Bhale. Bahle. Seeghramevakalyanapraaptirastu. Elder revealed her pearls quiet uncharacteristically and took her sutram out and kissed it.

Bring home Rani. Babu!

I will.

Moms blessed me with their hearts filled with joy and radiant hope.

Next day morning Younger one called me to remind of the pressure cooker. She also told me that the night before moms thanked Goddess Durga for revealing the girl on such an auspicious moment. She also told me that the moment I took my car out the coconut fell. It’s a good sign. I am going to get what I want. She told.

I am sure. But I am a little worried soul. Because, I am planning on buying a Great Dane at the end of the month. I already named him Buddy. And I am not sure if Rani likes pets or not.

Bring home a bahu. Babu! II

Ok. There is Gabby. But I think she will be too pregnant for the marriage and these stupid international lines wont let her fly.

Moms looked at each other wondering.

Who else do I know? Aah. Nonick.

No, what?

No nick. That’s all I know about her. She lives in my comment box. Whether its haloscan or blogger.

Halo what?

I ignored the question and continued.

She is a process oriented chick. She wants processes in place for everything you do and she wants it documented. Probably she will demand recipes for all the cooking you do and processes defined in steps for all the recipes.

I didn’t get you.

Ok if she ever catches you stealing money from Dad’s pocket she would demand it documented on a paper.

My mom turned pale.

Then there is Ph. Aaauuuuuummmmm. But she is too complicated. Half the time you wouldn’t understand her.

Like?

Aaaargh. Cant you handle anything without an example? I am getting tired of this. Ok, like, if she catches you stealing she would calmly leave the room and write something in her diary.

What will she write?

Something like

Naked hands frisk loaded trousers.
Adroit fingers find their way to leather cleavages.
Wallets empty themselves to pregnant jackets.

What the f**& was that? The younger mom looked at me in bewilderment.

Didn’t I tell you? Ok, leave it, leave it. Ok I admit. I am moving with the wrong crowd. My only bet was Patrix and he fell in love with Asterix. Chee chee, he fell in love with Ash.

Moms started crying again. You need to settle down son. Otherwise you are gonna lose it. They chorused.

Babu! Do you know what you want? Atleast?

I thought for a long time. Long enough for the elder one to start her prayer again.

Mangalam. Managalam.

I think I like Bengalis.

Bengalis?

Yeah, there is something about them. I don’t know. They are so vibrant. There is a certain radiance of sexuality and you can feel they are content, calm and kind, I don’t know. I like the way they wear their sarees. I like the way they mix traditional tops with jeans. I like the bags they carry. I like their sweets. I like their food. They are ideologically challenged. But I don’t think girls are. They have this strange gift of looking modern and yet make you feel home.

So you like Bengalis?

Yeah.

Mangalam. Mangalam.

I think the first I look at is a girl’s smile. I love the ones that have a pleasant effect. Not exactly cute but pleasant. You know the kind of smile Gello has.

Aham. Om. Mangalam. Mangalam.

This is strange but true. I thought I love fair skin and cant stand dark skin. * Concluded during the early teens after watching a western blue film and a desi blue* But over the years I ended up falling in love with , mmm, how do I explain? Take any shade from brown and what we generally call fair skin, not the Scandinavian paleness, and add cheesy translucent vibrant energy to it. Make it sensitive and soft. That’s my girl.

Moms looked at each other and checked their hands and stomachs.

Elder raised her pitch. Mangalam. Aha, mangalam, oho mangalam.

Another thing. I think I have an inclination towards chubby ones rather than tall and slim ones. Between medium and slim I would go for medium. Not the American kind of Big but the Indian kind of healthy medium.

This brought a huge cheer on the oversized elder one. Her eyes glowed and she placed her palms on my cheeks and said. Thadaasthu.

But my mom looked little concerned.

Have you thought anything about the girl?

To be continued..

Joie De Damaka

Dear Children of the land,

No, you dont have be sad because terrorists killed your fellow citizens.
You have a right to be happy. Dont wear black badges.

No, you dont have to save the environment by not firing crackers.
Those adults dont know what they are talking about.
Fire as much stuff as you can.

No, you are not creating sound pollution.
No one is asking jet planes to stop flying.
Buy the loudest ones and break all decible laws.

No, you are not wasting money by burning crackers.
Poor people can be helped. Not with your money. Definitely not tonight.
Make your parents spend. Burn holes in their pockets.

No, you are not putting weight.
Thats for grown ups.
Eat as much as can.

No, you are not putting yourself at risk.
Safety is for wussies.
Be adventurous. Burn a finger or two.

Steal. Burn. Play.

Be a child. Tonight is the night.

Bring home a bahu. Babu!

Ok. I am leaving. I will come tomorrow morning. Yeah, I remember that I need to bring my pressure cooker while coming.

All three moms stood to say bye. They walked me to the door.

The younger one said, “Babu, we are all praying for you” and without any warning, she suddenly started crying.

This kind of shocked me. Not the crying part, but the praying part. What do you mean by praying?

Sniff. Sniff. Vinny and you are like my sons. You guys are of same age. Whenever I look at you I think of my son. Whenever I look at him, I think of you.

Really? But, why confuse yourself like that? ..and...ha ha ha...and..why do I need your prayers? If you havent noticed, my business is picking up day by day and I bought a brand new laptop just yesterday.

We want to see you settle down. Sometimes we dont understand how you are managing. Your mom never tells, but she is a worried soul.

I looked at my mom. Her eyes were already busy manufacturing a new set of waterlets (rhymes with applets). I looked at the elder one. She started a new round of prayers.

I thought I killed my ego at Vipassana. But three moms worrying about me hurt my ego. I was not comfortable with the idea that they think that I am not a happy person. Vinny always tells me that I must be the happiest person on earth because I have an Xbox and a 44” TV. Also because, I could get a house thats quiet near my office. Also because, I am not overweight like him.

I am the happiest person on earth. Ask Vinny. I told them.

No, you need to get married. Younger mom. We have a girl in our mind. Elder mom. New set of waterlets. Mom.

Sniff. Sniff. We dont understand why you said no to the last one. Sniff. Sniff.

I know the girl you have in your minds. Sorry, I dont get any sparks when I think about her.

Screw sparks. Spark theory is all bull. We know it. She is such a nice girl. She will be an excellent match for you. This is Mom's (Goddess Durga) wish. Younger one.

Mangalam. Mangalam. Elder one.

Elder one suddenly started crying. She glanced at my balding head and added “and you are aging”. We thought atleast you yourself will bring home a bahu. We are open to that too. But you couldnt.

What do you mean by COULDNT? I know a lot of girls. Come on. Its not like I couldnt but it didnt happen. I guess I am working on it.

Really?

Yeah. Like, OK, if you want to know. I proposed to this hot chick named Leela, last time I met her in Bombay. She is pretty. No, she is hot. Mm..actually she is pretty. She reads a lot and she can cook. She likes bungee jumping, water rafting, rock climbling. She can sing Norah Jones like Norah Jones. She loves children.

What did she say?

She said she cant marry someone who thinks a Pav Baji is a quarter bajji. Thats too much of a cultural difference. She thinks.

Quarter Bajji?

Yeah, she said a quarter Bajji is her favourite dish.

Tch. Tch. Those Bombay people. Always working hard to meet their ends. Bring her home son. We will feed her lots of full bajjis.

Thats what I told her. Silly girl. She said no. Anyways, she is in Dubai now.

Any one else?

Yeah. I know a girl in Delhi.

North Indian people? But we dont know much about them.

I know something about her. Her grand dad was like good at catching chicken. During partition he caught a lot of them in Afghanistan and sold in Delhi and got married with that money.

And?

And what?

Is she fair?

Ha she is so fair, her name is Fairy. If you pinch her cheeks they turn pink.

Really?? And?

And what? And, she works as a manager.

Works!!!!!!!!!!! Manager? I dont understand how women manage to be managers. But will she listen to us?

Listen? She will kick your ass if you dont listen to her. She also is good at detecting lies. Like next time you steal money from Dad's pocket, she is gonna detect it and report it to him.

Mom suddenly became nervous.

Dont worry. If you cant deal with that, I know a girl in Hyderabad. But she is in Europe now and she is gonna come back.

And who is she?

Her name is Mahati. She is cool. She is hot. She is pretty. She recently learned singing. As far as I know she can cook cookies and brownies.

What is she doing in Europe?

She is doing her Masters. Some kind of criminal psychology.

Psychology?

Yeah, she studies criminals, rats, abused children, rats and men. Btw, she is good at understanding whats going in your mind. Next time you think about stealing money from Dad's pocket, she is gonna detect it and report it to dad. Not only that, she will summon you for a therapy.

My mom stopped crying and started thinking.

But dont worry. I know a girl who is gonna fit in like a perfect fit.

Her name is alpha-2. She is one tenth Tamil, one tenth Telugu and so on and the last three tenths are American. She is fair. She is tall. She can cook. She can draw and I dont know about her singing talents. But, she has a fetish for female nudes. You better be careful while changing dress before her.

Thats OK. We all girls like watching each other.

Really? I didnt know that. She is working but still is traditional.

She sounds too good. There must be a catch.

Yeah. She is married.

Do you have like any normal friends?

Let me finish.

To be continued…

Sorrow

Its better not to write on Sorrow.
When I was young I thought sorrow was the naked pregnant prostitute in a Van gogh
That sorrow was like a song that wafted from afar
About unrequited love
About a nothingness in our lives
That sorrow of silences .
But today sorrow has the hues of the settling dust
A hint of betrayal
The smell of death
The bite of the cold night air when there’s no roof to call your own
Sorrow is the language of misfortune
That talks to you from the dry eyes of a mother
When her children lie buried in rubble that was once shelter.
Sorrow is the memory of a happy yesterday
And the waste around one now.

They say that the soul of the world is one.
That it lives in us.
Then this sorrow is ours too.
And if we truly Listen to the sacred silence within us
We’ll know that we are looking into our very own eyes
And the dead are ours
This sorrow. ours.

Universal soul?
I don’t know for sure. But some have felt it.
They say you become very brave afterwards.
You can stare at death’s face calmly.
makes life is pretty simple .
and I am sure they know what it is to be happy.

-nonick (In support of the call made by desipundit.com)

P.S: Posted by smiley in support of nonick's response to the
call made by desipundit.com and in support of the call made
by desipundit.com

Flock, The browser

I downloaded and tried Flock. Its basically some features added to Firefox.
I liked the idea of Shelf. But neither the Shelf nor the features to blog right
from the browser worked. Its still a developer's version and build isnt even
an unary.

Doom, The movie

According to Edbert "Doom" is like some kid came over and is using your
computer and won't let you play"

Yoda, The dude @ boingboing

Invitation

I have an invitation to Tarun Tahiliani's fashion show @ Taj Krishna
tomorrow night. Mmm..I have another invitation to a party @ Touch
tomorrow night. Both the events are by invitation only. Interested
hot (hooooooooooooooooooot) girls are cordially invited. :-)

Here is the plan. First we go to Taj. Watch the crap and then go to
Touch and get drunk. Then we go to my apartment. (Because by then
it will be really late).

Teeritiri teeri. Laaala lala laaala.

Fools paradise

My first thought was, "I dont think those legal notices served to Gaurav
and Varnam are from IIPM. In the first place, I dont think they are legal
notices at all. I wonder if any one called that Saxena dude and verified it."

The article ran by Jammag indeed is frivolous journalism. At times it is
almost a ridiculous article. (The campus photographs of all IIPM centers
are published on the homepage of IIPM.edu. I wonder why Rashmi had
to send someone to checkout the architecture and stuff).

All ads are hyped. Period. Duh. Whatever.
To obviate further clinical analysis, for Christs sake, its an ad.
IIPM runs (like any private educational institute in India) on strong
media hype. Last year, educational institutes were the largest segment
when it came to print media advertisments. (Education tops ad spending)

But yeah, people at Jammag has every right to run the article and express
their opinions.

Freedom of speech is a silly trump card. Everybody has one in their pocket.
If Jammag has FoS, so does the students of IIPM. Their freedom
of speech doesnt appeal to popular taste. But appealing to popular taste
didnt stop Larry Flint from calling pope a gay and an ass***e. It didnt stop
Howard Stern from airing a contest of "Who can fart longer" on prime time.

Sorry dudes, if you use your FoS trump card, then the students of IIPM use
theirs and will call Rashmi a lesbian.

(Larry Flynt won a landmark Supreme Court decision on February, 1988
(Hustler v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46), after having been sued by Jerry Falwell
in 1983 over an offensive ad parody in Hustler that featured Falwell. The
decision clarified that public figures cannot recover damages for "intentional
infliction of emotional distress" based on parodies. )

But then, Desipundit has every right to codemn this cheap act and to call for
a reaction. The aftermath would have been a great case study for Malcom
Gladwell for his Tipping Point. Desipundit did demonstrate the strenght of
the net.

I strongly suspect that the management of IIPM has nothing to do with the
phoney blogs and the silly legal notices that followed. I strongly suspect it
was these pissed off students who pressurized the management (who inturn
would have been pissed off by Gaurav's disparaging comments on IIPM and
its Dean) to bully IBM. (Lenovo).

I strongly suspect that that bunch of smart ass students who patiently set
those phoney blogs and comments, created those silly legal notices and
pressurized management and IBM are laughing their asses off right now.

I congratulate Desipundit on an outstanding job and the power it unveiled.

I hope this incident doesnt step into the main media.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

"Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal.
Just three stories." -Steve Jobs

Commencement address by Steve Jobs at Stanford

God's own movie

Peter Jackson decides to produce Halo

Template Change.

When 38.5% of your readers can't view your blog properly, you better
change the template.

Puja

Puja

This one is Silly's favourite. I flickred it. :-)

More

Tech

Flock

"The Web is not just a library of documents, but a stream of events and
people," says Flock co-founder and Chief Executive Bart Decrem. "And
people are spending a lot more time sharing on the Web."

They are going to release the Beta in a week. Check their website
www.flock.com

Open Office 2.0

Larry once said that the key is the Office suit. Not the OS. Sun made a
strategic bet long back on StarOffice. In Sun's tradition they donated it
the community. The result is Openoffice.org . But OpenOffice suit so far
limped behind Office. Not anymore.
OpenOffice RC (Release Candidate) 2.0 is as good as Office 2003.
I tried it and am impressed. I am sticking to it.

The world is not enough

For Larry and Oracle, the world definitely is not enough. Oracle buys
yet another database company. This time its Finnish open source
database company.

Oct 12

ThinkSecret.com thinks this time its not 'Yet Another Upgrade To Nano'.
A possible upgrade to the Mac lineup itself is on the table. Whatever it
is, I have my eyes and eara open for Steve's announcement.

Desipundited

I started this blog around two years back. I was heavily influenced by
Unified Blog Theory back then and thought that this blog is for myself.

Nevertheless, I would make it public. If people wanted to read it, let them
read. But I am gonna blog for myself. Well, that was the idea.

I wanted to keep the blog simple, non opinionated and basically easy going.
Smiley was the natural choice. He basically symbolized Joie De Vivre in a
simple and elegant manner.

Thats how it was for a long time. Few HBMers who knew me occassionally
visited this blog and occassionally left a comment. All of that changed with
some gay comments I left on Alpha's blog. (Note: I am not gay).

Those comments and what followed later defined the character of Smiley.
Smiley made friends with an amazing lot of people. LL, TP, Adi, Sensai,
Mahati, Leela, Alpha, Babita, Neil etc. (in person) Patrix, Fairy, nonick,
Gabby etc. (online).

While it lasted I enjoyed the humour it brought, thoroughly. Esp, Alpha,
nonick and TPs. Hunting down Leela on every comment box (not
necessarily mine) was shameless and classless, but priceless too. :-)
Detective Fairy is such a game. She is a very cool techie.

Thats how it was for a long time. HBM got dissolved. Alpha quit.
Lee left. TP vanished. Nonick took an off. My blog got back to its
original status. Few people who knew me occassionally visited and
occassionally commented on it.

Then all in a sudden, after two long years I decided to install a counter
on my blog. On my day one I expected something like 5-10 hits. (I never
registered my blog with any search engine). I was shocked to see 50 hits.

Needless to say, it all came from Desipundit. My post Your friends wife..
got an entry on Desipundit and attracted all that traffic. (If I hadnt installed
that counter probably I wouldnt have known about that entry).

Thats a good start for a counter. :-)

On the second day the counter registered another 56 hits. Once again almost
all the hits came from Desipundit. Another entry in Desipundit explained it all.

This blog is never intended (unlike the other A class blogs) for a larger base of
readers. But its a good feeling when the stuff you write is read (and sometimes
appreciated).

I thank the team at Desipundit for doing an excellent job of bringing the best
of blogosphere (and giving Smiley an entry into the best of the blogosphere).

Based on my experience, I humbly present this world a new verb

Desipundited

verb. To have your blog mentioned on Desipundit.com

Usage:
1) Can you believe it! That silly post of mine about picking nose in public got Desipundited!!
2) Man! Look at the number of comments I got today. I must have been Desipundited.
3) She writes so well, all her posts are Desipunditable.

I Bloc

The spell check of Blogger doesnt recognize the word blog. It offers bloc as

an alternative. Funny.

P.S: It doesnt recognize the word Blogger either. Funny funny.

Dads driving moms crazy

My dad likes clear and complete sentences, no matter what context they are
presented in. He also likes to have complete information, no matter what the
situation is.

This often leads to interesting conversations.

Thats because my mom has a tendency to enter the room with a sentence
that doesnt fit the above criteria.

Mom: They just called. They are coming tomorrow.
Dad: Who just called?
Mom: My sister and her husband. For heavens sake we just talked about it.
Dad: How am I supposed to know?
Mom: They are coming tomorrow and they want us to..
Dad: Who just called? Your sister or her husband?
Mom: Why dont you listen to what I am saying? Its my sister.
Anyways, they want us to..
Dad: So how are they coming tomorrow? By train?
Mom: Of course by train. How else? You know my sister cant stand bus
journeys. Anyway, we have to...
Dad: Which train?

By the time my mom gets to tell my dad about the real piece of information
she usually half delivers because she is already upset.

Nothing is obvious to my dad.

Mom: My sister and I went to buy sarees this afternoon. I was short of money.
So I took some money from her.
Dad: From who?

Mom: How is the tea?
Dad: Which tea? (While drinking tea)

Mom: How is the curry?
Dad: Which curry? (While having the only curry in the plate)

My uncle is a little different. (My moms elder sister's husand.)

He has a tendency to repeat the crucial bits of information and to have a
contra entry for bit of information.

We were watching NDTV. A train got derailed.

Uncle: A train collision, I guess.
Me: The train got derailed.
Uncle: The train got derailed?
Me: Yes. Train got derailed.
Unlce: Train got derailed? I thought it was a collision. Dont you think its a
collision? Look at two engines. One of them is a diesel and other one is electric.
I think thats a collision.
Me: (reading the headlines of NDTV) So and so train got derailed.
Uncle: Yes, train got derailed. Crazy. It looks like a collision.
So, the train got derailed?

My other uncle is a lot different. (My moms younger sister's husband).

He basically speaks in an antakshari mode. Not exactly akshari but more like
a wordri. Lets call it anatapadari. He doesnt need your acknowledgement
either. While he is talking there is no chance for anyone at all.

Uncle: So what time are you leaving?
Me: I have to...
Unlce: What time do you usaully go? Commuting is a big problem here. Dont
you think so? Last time remember when I came here to visit Prasad...
You know Prasad right?
Me: I..
Uncle: Prasad is the elder son of the younger daughter of your grandfathers
second sister. They are in Hyderabad now. He left to US. Where did you work
when you were in US?
Me: I..
Uncle: But you people dont maintian relationships in US anyway. It took me
two hours to reach from Kukatpally to SRNagar. What traffic? What traffic?
What do you think? Is this because of all these IT people? These days bank
folks are giving loans to every Tom, Dick and Pussy. Btw, did you buy your
car on loan?
Me: Yes, I ..
Uncle: But they are not realizing. The roads are crowded and fuel prices are
increasing. I dont know how you people are managing? Are you managing
your finances well? Be careful. Save when you can. You have seen what
happened to Pattabhiram. Huh! You should see, his apartment
construction got stopped. What a shame. There is no money to buy even
cement now. Managing finances is the key. Btw, what time are you leaving?

Now, imagine all these characters at one place. Now they are at one place.
My sister Silly is hosting a nine day durga puja. (Today is the third day).
Serious stuff. Serious puja. Moms are going to recite slokas from morning
till noon. They eat only prasadam during these nine days.
Its a grand tradition in our family.

For these nine days, dads (all retired) have nothing else but to drive these
moms crazy.

For these nine days, moms are going to pray for the health of the family,
the world and a long life for their nut husbands.

Its a strange world, I tell ya.

Your best friends wife is your friend too

A week before, my friend from the US called me and gave me the schedule.

Basically I had to receive his wife, six months kid, his in-law and their luggage (six heavy bags) at 2 AM and then put the luggage in the cloak room, take them home, feed them. Then move on to confirm the in-laws open ticket from Hyderabad to Vizag at 5:30 AM. Then take them back to the airport, get the luggage from the cloak room, check them in and call my friend to let him know that everything went fine.

Now, the ToDoListDude inside my mind got very excited with such a hectic ToDoList and started running through it repeatedly.

I woke up at 1 AM and found my allInOneSreenu blissfully sleeping on the
floor. I got maha Jealous. So I woke him up.

Make some coffee for me. We are going to the airport now. I told him

I bet he must be thinking that that must be a bad dream. For him, unfortunately it wasnt.

It went actually very well. Check out was smooth. My friends wife M, in law and the six months baby. She emerged out with a huge ear to ear smile. You look exactly the same. She exclaimed.
(She had put on some weight, to which I agreed).

No, actually I got a little bald. I bent my head to show her.
You aint seen my husband and my brother lately. They are clean. You are way better. She said.

Then the inevitable.

How is my kid?

Thank God, he looks like his father. I teased her.

I think the kid got scared or may be a mosquito bit him or may be he just felt like, but he started a marathon crying session. She got a little embarrassed.

I took them home. She admired the little Krishna on my TV. She admired the TV as an after thought. She checked out the bedroom, bathroom and the other bedroom. She pointed out to a blue checks towel and said, So, you are still using it?. I admitted.

I switched on the AC and we all sat down. The kid was still crying.
She gave him an 8ml Tylenol. His dose is 4ml. But we need to double it tonight. She thought aloud.

Suddenly the kid started laughing. Dont worry he does that occasionally. She said.

I thought I will stick to my grounds of just looking at the kid instead of trying to understand him. Apart from the kids occasional burst, it was silent and calm. There was a pause. An awkward pause.

I think the fact that she is back in India and she doesnt have to worry about the luggage and check out and check in and all this stuff, suddenly relieved her. She started talking.

A lot of stuff. How happy she felt when she discovered she was pregnant. How worried she was about her weight because of her thyroid. How the kid was delivered prematurely. On and on and on to how the kid puked on their family doctor and on and on. I wasnt even looking at her. I was thinking about the rest of the ToDoList, occasionally poking the kid around his navel.

She suddenly felt nostalgic. So, how about you? Are you still doing that? Are you still doing this? Is that still your favourite song? Remember how we used to that? Remember how we used to and on and on.

I was surprised at how much she knew about me and how much of it she still remembers.

She suddenly announced. I am so happy to see you again.

It suddenly appeared to me that, she is actually happy to see me again.
I realized that I am her friend. She cares about me and she remembers a lot about me.
To me, she is my friends wife. I dont even know her full name. To me she was a task. A payback to my friend.

I realized how hard I try to bury my past. I buried it so deep all these days. Strangely I was suddenly filled with the past. The past I thought I buried and forgot.

I remembered how her husband was excited the first time he called her from the US. (Match was settled after a photo exchange). The pre marriage excitement. Arrival of the couple. How we teased her all night. The number of weekend trips we all went out. How I used to pull her hair or unclip her clip from the hair or pull her chunni. Movies we all went to. I can just go on and make this paragraph as big as possible. It was a full three and half years.

Now it makes sense. But I never realized that. To me she was always my friends wife.

I just stayed calm looking at the kid.

Its better for us to get some sleep. I need to get up early to confirm the ticket. I said.
No, no, lets talk. Its been such a long time. I dont know when we are going to meet again. She said.
But the ToDoListDude already took over me. No, certainly not. Its better for you too to get some sleep.

I will sleep in the hall. I will go and confirm the ticket. I will wake you up at 8 AM. We can leave at 9:15 after the breakfast. I said.

She reluctantly agreed. I tried to get some sleep. But suddenly there was a power cut. With the mosquitoes buzzing around, I slipped into the past again. Power came back after ten minutes.

But inside the bedroom, they need to switch on the AC manually (AC is connected to a stabilizer) . I wondered if she can figure that out. She didnt. I could listen to them fiddling with the switches and getting clueless about why the AC was not on.

Welcome to India. I thoughtfully left them to chance and slipped back to my trance.

Ummm.A Post!

Upcoming posts

* Delirium
-Freedom
-Curse of a nightmare
-The walk
* Goa
* Story of a success and a lot of failures
* The upcoming renaissance
* Softwar

Just finished reading
Softwar

Just In
Alexander-Sands of Ammon and The ends of earth

To Fairy Dear (for fixing my bug :-) )

Blog quotes

Some time later I had a 'Wet Dream'. I must mention that it was an Irish cream and vodka cocktail, before you all start getting notions, not fit to be put down here. It tasted great!
-Fairy at Finntimes

This post isn't over. Not by a long shot.
-Dee (Praveen)

Now there are so many things wrong with the last bit of that last sentence, I canÂ’t even begin.
-Gabby

Some bonus stuff

Economics for girls

Girls donÂ’t get it. They donÂ’t understand money.

They excel at the micro level. I mean, they can tell you that the milk Kroger is cheaper than the milk Walmart. They fail to understand that the drive from Walmart to Kroger is more expensive than the difference between the prices at these two stores. (Excluding, depreciation, cost of the time, other unnecessary stuff that we end up buying at Kroger).

Have you ever checked your girlfriends purse? A girls purse is a simplified version of the girl herself. Don’t expect to see credit cards, money and driving license. They come last. Expect to see the unexpected. It could be a tampon or a bus ticket that she bought last year to her moms place. No, don’t even dare to clean it and organize it. According to her, its already organized. Don’t expect the money to be logically filed. 500 rupee note is followed by 5 rupee note is followed by 20 rupee note followed by 100 rupee note followed by 5 rupee note.

When was the last time a girl discussed her mutual funds, real estate investments and her retirement benefit plans with you? Never. When was the last time your mom/wife complained to you about the ever increasing prices of the commodities? Daily.

My mom once remarked that Vajpayee is fat. My aunt once remarked that Bill Clinton looks good and Nelson Mandela wears ridiculous shirts. That’s how much don’t women get it.

If Jennifer Lopez is telling you that that her love don’t cost a thing, don’t take it literally and fall in love with her. Its just that she doesn’t understand how much it costs.

So, to make this world a better place, Smiley’s Social services department came up with a series of articles that can be digested even by dodos. Each article is $1.99. But, if you buy today, its just 99Cents. Not only that, you will also get a free application for ordering the next article.

Smiley’s social services dept
in association with
finance department presents

Economics for dummies girls.

What is money?
What is a bank?
What is saving?
What is spending?
What is tax?

Ming Mouse

Chinese bring culture shock to HK Disney
15:17 AEST Tue Sep 13 2005

AP - Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong Disneyland on its debut day
smoked in non-smoking areas, went barefoot and even let children urinate in public.

P.S: Disney dudes, you aint seen nothin yet. Wait until you open one in India.

Smileys

Pointless posts department
In association with
Bad short stories department
Presents

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, there was a fly. It flew into a lamp one night.
It burned its wings and fell into a pond nearby. Well, not exactly into the pond.
It fell on a lotus leaf.

Burned are my wings. Motionless is my life, now. For, what? The fly shouted. Then it rolled to its right to fall into the pond.

Burned are your wings. Motionless is your life, forever. Live, for I need a friend to tell stories to. The lotus leaf lifted the fly and saved it.

From that day on, lotus leaf fed the fly with her fiber and fungus.

Every night leaf would tell the fly a story. A story of a fly who re-grew its wings. Only bigger. Phoenix. Her name is Phoenix.

During the day, the fly used to knit a house with the fiber. Within a month the house almost looked like a house.

On a full moon day, two female flies flew over the leaf and fell in love with the house.

Home, sweet home. Females shouted.
That’s my house. I built it with My sweat and lotus fiber. The fly proudly announced.

He is My man.
He is My Man man.

That night they made love the whole night.

Next day, the fly grew little wings. It buzzed them in excitement the whole day.
Next day, the wings grew bigger. Fly flew a little.
Next day, the wings grew bigger and stronger. The fly flew. Fucking flew.

When night ate the sun, the lamp on the shore got lit.

I am going for the lamp.

Friend! The lamp is going to burn you.
My man! The lamp is going to burn you.
My Man man! The lamp is going to burn you.

I am going for the lamp.

The fly flew.
The fly flew over the lamp.
The fly flew around the lamp.
The fly flew under the lamp.
The fly flew into the lamp.

It burned its wings and fell into the pond. Well, not exactly into the pond. It fell on the leaf.

Burned are my wings. Motionless is my life, now. For, what? The fly shouted. Then it rolled to its right to fall into the pond.

It fell into the pond. The leaf watched it swallowed by the abyss underneath.

The next day, female flies drifted with the wind.

Parking Links

George Musser comes up with an action plan for 21st Century.

If you havent already seen or heard about FSM , here is a great place to start.

Humour Haiku

leaves all raked

the winds skips over

to the neighbour's yard

Blogquotes

Then there is this fella, the size of a thimble. He’s so thin that if he were
the apple, he’d never fall off that tree and Newton would have never
discovered gravity.
-Alpha 2

There was a study in Britain. Not another one, you might be tempted to
add but to let you on a secret, such studies make for excellent blogging
material as you might have noticed.
-Patrix

He is speaking in another language
making another plan,
with another woman.
And all the while I am thinking:
I love the sound of his foreign words.
-Ph

The Vipassana Chronicles
Inside, outside. Outside, inside.

Yato yato sammasati
Khandhanam udayabbayam,
Labhati piti amojjam
Amatam tam vijanatam

Dhammapada, XX.15 (374)

Thats Dharmapada asking you to have an insight into the impermanence of
everything around you. Physical and mental.

A free translation of one of the verses of Day Six goes like this

Impermanent are the compounded things.
When one perceives this with insight
Then one becomes detached from suffering
This is the path to liberation

There I was, a born atheist, a learned rationalist, (never practiced any religion
in my life, never accepted anything that is not scientific) sitting in a pagoda,
dismissing my thoughts and observing my sensations.

By then, observing the sensations was spread through out the body.
You start with your head and end up at your toe. You do it in reverse after that.
You repeat that. This is more engaging than observing breath. By then,
whichever body part I was concentrating on, I was able to feel every single
sweat pore and hair of that part. That was the kind of detail it got into.

Experienced dudes can observe sensations even inside the body and through
the body. You can observe a sensation emerging on your stomach, getting
inside, passing through the gut and emerging out on the back and
disappearing. It never happened to me.

Around noon, I discovered a short cut. I was following a sensation from
my chest to my hand and by chance observed my chest, stomach and hand
all at the same time. I then realized that I can feel (unfortunately my
vocabulary is so limited) myself from inside out, all at once.

I call it the Matrix moment. My whole body suddenly became a sum
of vibrating, pulsating, appearing and disappearing sensations. Sweat pores
on the scalp, itching on the little finger, the tip of the penis, vibrations on
the back side of the right thigh. I could observe all these sensations at once
from inside out. It was a surreal moment. It lasted for a long time.

Ironically, the whole idea of Vipassana is not about discovering the sensations,
but to dismiss them. Some people develop a craving for those Matrix moments
and try hard for them. That is wrong. That sensation was an impermanent
moment too.

Day 8

Getting used to a life where you get up at four in the morning and start
meditating at four thirty is not easy at all. By then I was getting used to the
snoring roommates, the idea of surviving without alcohol and chicken, without
sexual thoughts, enjoying the little flowers on the sides of the path, listening
to the woods (they have so many sounds hidden in them), not having any issues
to deal with or any tasks to do and in general feeling good all the time. I was
even beginning to like the food and the taste of warm ginger water that is
served all the time.

Phutthassa loka dhammehi
Cittam yassa na kampati
Asokam, virajam, khemam,
Etam, mangalamuttamam

Maha mangala sutta, Sutta nipata

(When faced with the vicissitudes of life,
Ones mind remains unshaken,
Sorrowless, stainless, secure;
This is the greatest welfare).

Stephen Covey called it the Gap between the stimuli and the response.
That was his Matrix moment. He discovered that there is gap between an
event (stimulus) and our reaction (response) and with some training, we
can choose the reaction or response.

He discovered this simple idea on a remote island in Hawaii.

Using a complex methodology and with a Hindu accent Mahatma Gandhi
discovered it too and named it Satyagraha. A different kind of response to a
standard stimulus. He chose his reaction. When provoked, he smiled.
When slapped, he sympathized.

(
Understanding Satyagraha is not easy.
Understanding Buddha is not easy.
Understanding them with your mind is difficult.
Understanding them with your heart is easy.

They are beyond your thought. The spread of Buddhism in Buddhas own life
Alexanders victories. Buddhas thought spread from the remote caves
of Afghanistan (Gandhara, back then) to the wild tribes of Lanka to the mighty
kingdoms of China and most of the modern India.

Ironically, the idea of impermanence preached by Buddha remained intact
even after of 2500 years. The region of dominance and control of Alexander
perished right after his lifetime.

Now, Vipassana has nothing to do with Buddha. It was there before him.
Buddha chose Vipassana as the technique in his journey towards the truth.)

Many a great leaders found the same truth from different perspectives under
different Geo Socio Political situations and propagated the discovery to the
masses through different organizational structures using different languages.

On that day, with my heart filled with love and compassion, my face adorned
with a smile (and the gap between my teeth), I was present, sensing everything,
observing the response and dismissing it, at the moment.
And the moment after that.
And the moment after that.
And the moment after that.

Day 9

A Pali passage on Day nine during the discourse summed it all.

Pakarena janatiti panna
Atthasalini

Translated:
Wisdom is, knowing things in different ways.

P.S:
I conclude this series.
I might take up the course in the future or I might not.
Vipassana and Buddhism made a definite impact on my thought
and actions.

May all beings be happy.

In listening

I need money. My nephew called me two days back.
He is just into college.
Ok, but how do I handover the money to you? I asked.
(He lives in Vizag and I live in Hyderabad)
I dont know. He replied.

Ok, do one thing, check to see if any of your friends are having accounts
in computerized banks like HDFC, ICICI. I will deposit cash in their accounts
from here and you can withdraw it using their ATM card from there.

He called me a little later. Yes, one of this friends is having an account with
Indus Ind bank. Yes, it is computerized.

Ok, Good. Give me the account number. I asked.
Its 1634-C1709..
Wait!Wait! Is this C as in Cat?

Nephew paused for a moment and confirmed

No, its just an ordinary C.

The world is flat
Yet another surprise to Leela

Thats an audacious statement. So I saved the book for a perfect Sunday.
It was a perfect Sunday.



The day before that, I entered a book store that was nearby my office, walked
straight to the salesgirl and asked her if they have this book, 'The world is flat'.

Yes sir, but the paperback edition is not released yet. She then from a heap of
nice smelling books took this one out. I pondered for a moment, looked at the
inside flap which read 8.89 pounds. Translated, thats 689 bucks she said.

On the Sunday morning, I switched off the AC and opened the windows of my
bedroom to let more natural light and asked my all-in-one Srinu to make me
some Coffee. Luckily for me, the pillow fit under my neck in the most
comfortable position. Perrrrrfect!!!

The first two hundred pages were like duh! duh! duh! duh!. Largely because
of my IT background and also largely because it was duh! stuff.

The book opens with a great paragraph from Columbus and moves onto the
golf courses of Bangalore. The author, right from page one comes alive out
of the pages passionately putting forward his argument. (This book is not a
theory). The vivacity of the author shows up in each and every page.

By the time I crossed my 200th page, my neck started to get stiff and the
pillow started turning into a rockbed. So, I took a break, had a light meal
and reclined in my recliner watching TV and wondering if I should continue
reading this book or just shelf it.

I continued reading. The author basically explains you why he thinks this
world is flat (metaphorically speaking) and the forces that were behind it.
He starts with the Berlin wall and ends up with Google and Compaq iPaq.

For an argument to justify a statement as grand as 'The world is flat' I need
more forces than IT. I need more examples than few BPO blips in Bangalore.
By then Bangalore was quoted more than two dozen times. Happens when
the core juice of your argument is running out.

I loved the last 200 pages. The author had not only put forward
his argument, but also showed us how this would effect the world,
the Americas and the politics.

The author also rightly ended the book with a chapter titled
'The world is not flat'. He rightly pointed out to the things that could wrong
and to the things that are wrong at this moment.

I should say, the author is biased towards India and Bangalore.

The problem with writers, especially columnists, is they love words and
cliches. They love creating memes. Hindu fundamentalists, Islam militants,
Dotcom boom, Generation X, Silicon Valley nerds etc. People who love
words and emotions behind them, tend to generalize and fall in love with them.

'The world is flat' is great meme. Everyone who wants to write something on
this topic would love to have a caption like that. No wonder this author won
those Puliltzer prizes. Any writer would love this writer.

It was a good read. Well structured, greatly paced, passionately told.

I was disappointed to see so few examples and so large generalizations.
Author's lack of knowledge in Economics clearly shows up.

This book is yet another great example of 'The State of Fear' theory
put forward by Michael Crichton. Capitalist worlds run on it. They love
constantly creating a new State of Fear for every new generation.
'The commies are coming'. 'The Japs are flooding'. 'The Chinese are growing'.
'The Indians have arrived'.

Ha! I love this world. (Flat or round).

Sin City



My favorite hang out zone used to be the Foreign Films section at
'Blockbuster'. I watched many memorable and off beat films from that
section. Ironically, it was from this section I first saw all of Ray's films.

Through the staff, I came to know about a movie titled El Mariachi. It was
a movie made by a maverick Mexican dude. I just loved that movie. Long
before I watched El Mariachi, I watched a movie named 'Desperado' in India.

At that time I thought that was a B Grade film. But strangely that movie
just stayed in my mind. Later I came to know that its the same director
who made Desperado.

Desperado is just a more stylish and much richer extension of Mariachi.
I lost count of how many times I watched Desperado later.


Rodriguez, is the name of the director. He went to make more movies later.
Not my genre. So never really followed him. An article in wired.com around
four months back caught my imagination again. Rodriguez paired with one of
my all time favs Quentin Tarantino to make a movie titled Sin City.

Not just that. This maverick film maker just in the good old spirit, cut
himself off from the mainstream Hollywood to start his own studio
'Trouble Maker Studio'.

Production photos and storyboard sketches of Sin City looked simply
awesome.

So, it was only natural that I was all pumped up and excited when I got
my hands on the DVD yesterday night. I loved the film. It has a sad ending.
But I guess thats Frank Miller's style. I dont know much about that comic book.

There are some cut shots and angles in the film that are pure genius. Like in
any other Quentin movies, the cast is just amazing.

Now

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him.
Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung
himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling,
the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him.

Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the
vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one
hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other.

How sweet it tasted!

(www.101zenstories.com)

Just read

Losing my Virginity *****



Amazing.
Pure thrill.
Inspiring.

Naked at work ***



Fun read.
Some interesting and largely forgettable stuff.
A perfect travel read.