Water World

It was my mom who first felt the tremors
She was getting her morning coffee and paper in the hall when the picture on top of the TV began to shake
She ran into the bedroom and dragged me and my sis out of the house
We bonded with our neighbours for about half an hour before judging it safe to go back inside
Turns out there was an earthquake measuring 6.6 to 8 8.9 on the richter scale in sumatra
A tidal wave hit sri lanka
and then water breached the coast in several parts of chennai. beach resorts, beach houses, ecr, tiruvanmiyur, besant nagar are all flooded. Sea water has come in by about 3 - 4 kilometres.
Water is neck high in Santhome and parts of Mandaveli.
Telephone networks are still working. And Sun TV (in the absence of any ACTUAL footage or news) is drawing patterns of major earthquakes occuring on the 26th of a month with surprising regularity..
In any given month, there is a 0.033 chance that earthquakes will happen on the 26th :)

(.. later updates ..)

as the news pours in, we've all been glued to the telly from the morning.
And casulaties.. from 500 - 1000 in India. atleast 300 in coastal tamil nadu. It's shocking, unbelievable and hard to digest.
We all deal with tragedies in different ways. Some of us live on the phone sharing information.. trying to come to terms with 15 metre high waves. Other obsessviely change channels trying to learn what happened. The gruesome scenes on news channel are hardly any comfort.

The tamil nadu coast guard has FINALLY swung into action.. where were they for so long.. it may be too little too late.. (hope not)

Most of the people who lost their lives were fisherfolk.. or simply everyday chennaiites who were out for a sunday morning stroll or game of cricket.
May their souls rest in peace

Resurrection

Exams
Coffee
Hanging out
Shopping

Been very very busy as you all can see

Saw Ocean's Twelve last week.
It sucked.
Sucked really really bad.
A meandering confused plot, mindless action and stupid dialogues.

College has now banned camera phones. Due to the whole Delhi Public School scandal.
For those who don't know what i'm talking about.. a couple of school kids video'd themselves making out and the guy (always the guy.. MEN!!) forwarded it to his friends. etc etc. and eventually it was traded on bazee.com and became a huge scandal.

Things have certainly changed from the time i was 16. Imagine letting your boyfriend tape you. Seems rather confused and stupid to me. Whatever happened to love? too old fashioned?

Elsewhere, in Iran.. they are stoning rape victims to death for having extra marital sex. The rapist gets away without any punishment because he is male. The victim who had no say in the matter gets stoned to death. (google it, it is one of the most painful ways to die)

I've said this over and over again.. but it is worth repeating. No society can prosper or flourish or grow unless (drumroll) it gives it's women the right to their bodies and their minds.

This is why abortion should be made legal (and kept legal). Because a woman should have the ability to make that choice.
In the end, an embryo is an embryo, a foetus is a foetus, and a baby is a baby. (quoting michael moore)
Make the distinction.

This is why prostitution should be made legal. We all know it happens. We all see it happening. Making it legal will not encourage it.. It will simply protect the women who are otherwise without any hope for legal redress.

This is why most muslim countries should stop honour killings, adultery trials and stoning. And give us back the right to our bodies and our minds.

21

Day before yesterday was november 21
1,50,000 people queued up at exam centres to write the CAT
everything else you need to know is on a news channel near you since each tv station has suddenly gotten on the CAT bandwagon
I'm unwilling to analyse the paper too much. calculated a range of scores and left it at that.
let's see what happens.

earlier this month i also turned 21.
am now officially an adult
how does it feel? well not too different.. except i can now drink and get married, neither of which is on my to do list :)

now that cat's over, it's back to univ exam time
elsewhere, the US is pounding fallujah... unsuccesfully. The kanchi seer is in jail.. and the ambani's are apparently arguing over who gets what.

more later
wish me luck for the exams.

Farenheit 9/11

Finally got around to seeing michael moore's documentary. And is it earthshatteringly moving? Well in a word, yes. But it's designed to move. It dilutes the efficiacy of his message by making it sound like propoganda. His voice is a liberal democrat bush bashers voice and it's a little hard to take him seriously when he shows a mom who lost her son crying. I'm not sure i want to believe all the facts simply because he makes such a convincing airtight case
Or maybe i just don't want to believe that america's nuclear arsenal is in the hands of such a monumental idiot. The movie seems farcical, impossible. How can the world's largest democracy stand by silent while their rights are taken away. While they are lead into an unnecessary war. While the only people who gain from the war are haliburton and the carlyle group.
So maybe the movie is extremist propoganda. Or maybe the world is a lot scarier and stupider than i imagined

And another one bites the dust..

Why do i always post two in a row?
To help answer this and other extremely important questions have sprung up a whole bunch of blogs (correct grammar as applicable)
Almost everyone i know who knows to send email has a blog these days. And most of them are pretty funny.
So here's my guided tour of the blogosphere.
First up is Vindy who's been blogging for ages. Immensely funny and has a strategically placed doomsday counter. Nandan thinks it's a conspiracy to spook all the CatAspirants. I think it's working. Nandan's the bong quizzer from Comp Sci. and Our first blogger from Hell.
Speaking of quizzers there's Pps who hates being called that and loves writing haiku.
Another mech boy and our colonial cousin is Vishnu. (he's true blue brit. with the accent and everything)

So that concludes this episode of the b o l d and the beautiful

study holidays

study holidays officially from today.
no college at all till november 18th
for those who want more stress than they can handle, there's a handy cat counter up at vindy's blog
that's all that's happening in my life
and yours?

i saw vaastu shaastra last week. Making it my first horror movie. I screamed (yes, pathetic i know) each time a zombie came on screen and almost broke the arm of the person sitting next to me. All in all good fun. think i'll go catch exorcist next week.

Also, going to see flavors today. indo - american life's like that type movie. hope it's fun.

Erase and Rewind

Theatre group evam's festival Replay is on in november. They're doing all their popular plays again. If you're in town do go check it out. Especially ART which is my favorite :)

Resurrection

I've been away for so long
It's that time of the semester when you write records and then run after the prof's to get them signed
I just realised that i live in a permanent state of sleep deprived'ness.
And guess it won't change anytime soon
Think i'll redefine sleep as anything beyond 4 hours a day. Then i'll be back to sleeping properly :)

My last set of practicals as an engineer next week.
And then will be on my way to being BE

30 days left for the CAT (the second blog post in six months about this)
It's on nov 21 so all of you please set alarms on the cellphones to remember to wish me.! :)
But am so unsure about things actually working out this year.
Else will have to work

Madras on a Rainy Day

aka boredom strikes

Blog Updates

Got a profile on blogstreet .. yay!
Chennai has the highest number of blogs in India. We rock! :)

Also, added a babel fish transalator.. found it on Ramya's blog

And set up a Reading List. Now it's easier to update what i'm reading.. don't have to adjust the template each time..

Speaking of which, i want a new template.. any suggestions?

Evan Williams is leaving google. if you didn't know, he's the guy who started blogger and pyra. Awesome dude and it's sad to see him go. but he's movin on to hopefully bigger and better things :)

Media and the Mass

I switch on the television and am assaulted by Sameeras, Deeptis, Yanas and Jelenas. A bevy of Indian and Czechoslovakian beauties have hijacked my TV. And someone hijacked their wardrobe. Dressed (?!?) in thongs and tutus, they cavort around poles covered in what looks suspiciously like a fishing net.

So is this the ultimate titillation then? Are item numbers the figureheads of our promised sexual revolution?
Can you spell s-l-e-a-z-e??

Is it the masses who want these girls stripping to a remixed R D Burman song? Or is it the media that dictates what the masses want? Did Kurosawa make Yojimbo because Japan needed it.. Or did Japan realize the need for it after watching it?

Mahesh Bhatt says that "high brow art critics" should shut up and he's giving "the masses what they want". Mr Bhatt, you are a peddler of soft porn. You have the power you know, to shape public opinion. So take some responsibility. If you want to make soft porn, then call yourself Hugh Hefner and puff a cigar. Don't hide behind the "mass" excuse.. The media is more powerful than that.

And as for the rest of you empowered ladies who "strip only when the plot calls for it" and don't mind the lack of clothes "as long as its done tastefully" .. Get your clothes on and get out of my living room.

changes the channel

Buckle Up.. please

Is it me, or is chennai suddenly becoming unsafe?

Every day i hear about MTC buses driving over motorists and Water tankers killing someone on the Tidel Park road.

Every single day.
Including today.

It's becoming scarier and scarier to drive in the city with absolutely no respect for human life. Half the buses have no brakes!

And how many..!!
How many young software engineers or call centre employees have died?
How many more need to die before things change?
How many drunk idiots are taking to the wheel?
How many testosterone fuelled maniacs are ploughing into innocent girls on bikes? how many more deaths need we see before this city changes?

Earlier, each death would haunt us. Now it's just a statistic. One more dead in Taramani, ECR claims one more, One more drunk driver languishes in prison while a family mourns.

Please, if you drive a bike.. at whatever speed.. wear a helmet.
If you drive a car, wear a seatbelt.
Stay out of the streets in the night.
Don't drink and take the wheel. You have no idea how clouded your judgement can become after just one drink.

I know, we always feel like it happens to someone else.
Lately, someone else seems closer and closer to home..

The Odd Couple

Gave up on india - pakistan and went to watch a play instead. Caught evam's The Odd Couple that i was talking about earlier. The play is about a bunch of friends who play poker every friday night. It's about two brit girls called pigeon who live upstairs. but mostly it's about two friends thrown together cos their wives are divorcing them. One's an irresponsible slob (Oscar Madison played by Karthik). And the other is an obsessive compulsive neat freak (Felix Unger played by another Karthik).

Quite a barrel of laughs. Superlative performances from almost the entire cast. It got off to a rocky start with a long drawn out "advertisement" for their sponsors which was rather tacky. But after that, it was fun all the way till 10 pm. Notable were.. Oscar the slob. I loved his conversations with his wife on the phone. Felix the obsessive... His comic timing and "moose calls to clear his ears" were absolutely hilarious. And not to forget the poker players. Each one executed their parts beautifully. The british sisters jangled some nerves for sure.. but the rest of the play is well worth a watch. If you're in chennai, don't miss the repeats on the 24th, 25th and 26th.

5k calls for a celebration

I've hit 5 k hits.
yay me!
yay you innocent reader :)

Movers and Shakers

We're moving this week.
It's just a couple of streets away but has two more bedrooms. So my grandmom can move in with us.. and i and my sis get our own rooms finally! :)

Sharing a room with someone is at best uncomfortable and at worst tortuous! I hate the invasion of my private space. She hates me leaving my bags (and i have tons of those) and books all over the place. I think she's incredibly messy and she thinks i'm a fusspot. But we shut the door and dance to Rock music and sneak late night junk food into the room.. so in the end it all balances out. And now i finally get my own room.. which opens out into a deliciously cool courtyard and has the best breeze ever.

For now though.. i'm packing up the books and cd's and clothes. Next in line.. the comp. Will mostly be away for a while

101 things you never knew

Reader Kiran says : **annoyance alert** hate to tell u this because it is sort of a prejudice thingie! but today i came to know that ur real name is SUJATHA. God SUJATHA!! Now u call urself Suze and write as if u just landed from England or something- I imagined that ur name wouldn't even be to the oh-so-awful SUJATHA. I know it is stupid to have this sort of preconceived notion but SUJATHA eats MAPLE SYRUP in Chennai! Sorry Suze but the image that you have built up for yourself and your real name were completely JARRING (-with a capital J) - atleast to me!!

i also read ayn rand, make chocolate mousses and pasta sauces
quilt quilts and work out for an hour a day
i'm a huge beatles freak and ardent fan of bisibellabath
i love coffee but have no piercings as of date
sujatha is a sanskrit word that means "one who is consecrated to god"
i'm also called suze, suzyq, sue etc etc.
as evinced by the title of this post, i have a low patience level and can't count too well. :)

if these characteristics seem contradictory to you then i must hasten to assure you i am not alone. and hence by definition, your limiting stereotypes must change :)

cheers and all that :)

What's Up?

we're moving this week.
so cardboard boxes and masking tape abound. :)

but next week looks good.
evam's next play is up :

The Odd Couple It's playing next week and the last week of september and promises to be a fun comedy. so come one come all and all that jazz :)

I also suddenly came into a lot of music :)
Blasting Hip hop all day.
as the newsweek cover goes : Ipod therefore i am




this baby has 40 gigs of storage capacity and rocks hard! :)
loading up on accesories and having a blast.

Past Imperfect, Present Continuous, Future Tense

Six months ago i signed up for CAT classes at IMS. Tomorrow is my first mock cat. I haven't blogged about the Cat simply because we have so many discussions on the Pagalguy forums that it seems pretty redundant.

It's September now.
November 21 is the exam.
I also turn 21 in november.
Confusing times. Growing up, and i feel like every decision i make is going to affect the rest of my life. Strange how the small things make such a huge difference. :)

So here's to stress and coffee and to the next one year which will change my life in new and intruiging ways!

In the short term, it's been a fun weekend so far.
Went to a college for symposium yesterday.
We surpisingly qualified for the quiz finals and won a coupla events. Made some 2 grand in the process. Good fun.

And threw another suprise birthday party for a friend.

Also spent an hour at the gym today. Day 4 and i already have muscles'n'everything. :-)

Capitalist Dilemma

In a capitalist country, anyone with money should be able to buy whatever happiness his money can afford right?
What if someone wants to buy the moon?
What if Coke or Pepsi or Reebok or Nike want to beam their logo onto the moon?
Is it alright, since they can afford it?

What about my right to beautiful nights?

Or are future lovers going to talk about their first kiss under an Adidas moon?

What do you think?

Update on 31 August

Adding what girish quoted from my post on pagalguy.com:

Capitalism has recognized that desire is not a bad thing. As long as one chooses legal means with moral sanction to achieve one’s desires there is nothing wrong with having them. If I may use hyperbole, if you want to coat your roof with gold and you have the means to do so, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that.

so if you want to coat your roof with gold, you have every right to.

but what if i want to paint the moon gold.

practically, the only thing preventing me is the fact that i can't afford to do so.

okay, suppose i can. next step, government legislation.

but under an ideal anarcho-capitalist setup, there should be no government.

so am i advocating minimalist government? i think so. am wondering how comfortable i am with the idea.

every compromise is one step away from "big brother" or "nike on the moon".

so i guess what i am saying is that there are no political ideals. there's just what works and what doesn't. i'll stand by my earlier views on capitalism and maintain minimal government as necessary.

just wondering what everyone else thinks. specially the anarchists

What's On!

Elsewhere in the world,

Oprah Winfrey is serving jury duty on a murder trial
Iran's sportswomen have to wear the hejab while competing in the olympics
India hasn't won in the Olympics yet
Schumacer wins again
I had pancakes with maple syrup for bkfast

Jai Hind!

So what's up in your world?
Do you know?
Do you care?

India celebrated the 57th year of independence yesterday. I remember when we were in school, we'd go for the parade and flag raising ceremony. And get boiled sweets and lime juice at the end of it. The weeklies would inevitably feature a variation of the tricolor. And we'd all praise gandhi and nehru in suitably patriotic terms.

But what does it mean now?

I'm out of school. no more parades or flag raisings. It's been years since i even sang the national anthem. And i feel increasingly that the national agenda has been hijacked by xenophobics, jingoists and demagogues for their own purposes. Our political arena is witness to the creative hi-jinks of a bunch of stupid politicans. and this is apparently what it means to be a free nation.

To be a nationalist, you have to wear khadi, spout meaningless fundae on "trysts with destiny" and "mera bharath mahan". You have to either be a hindu, or acknowledge their superior benevolence. And you have to vehemently jeer anyone who opposes you as anti-nationalist.

Does anyone else feel jaded by this farce?

I appreciated the fine speech, Prime Minister. But what are you going to do about it? You are taking my money away in the form of cesses and taxes. I see it going down the drain. You promise bureacratic reform. And the machine grows bigger each day. You promise forward progress. But you come from a huge, inert political machine further slowed down by communist members. I see a lot of movement. But we're still in the same place.

Even Pandit Nehru was great with the rhetoric. He spoke beautifully while driving India down the middle path of socialism till each and every indian became equally poor. Show me some creative action Prime Minister.

what type of social entity are you?

Category I - The Hub

You're a 'people person'. Networking runs in your
blood. Consequently, you can move through most
social circles with ease.


What Type of Social Entity are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

untitled

search for what i am
just an idea of me
in somebody's head

probing deep inside
meaningless i find, just verse
existential

all haiku :)

Politics and Orientation

I was reading AnarCapLib recently. one of the best indian blogs. and was thinking about politics and our orientations.
what's yours?

i know i'm a laissez faire capitalism. grounded in a love of my freedom and rational thought, i think capitalism offers the best mode of relating economically as a society.

and i believe in personal and economic freedoms. and i believe the state has almost no role to play in society. in the words of an american president "the govt can't solve the problem. the govt is the problem"

which brings me to part three : i don't believe in anarchy. atleast not as a practical solution to the problem of goverment. i think a minimum government is required. and democracy rocks.

so what does that make me?
what does that make you?

The Net is Dead, Long live the Net

I haven't sent an email. or received one. in 50 hrs.
I haven't posted a commented. commented a post. in 50hrs
even gave up orkut!

i think i'm just about ready to pull the plug and get offline.
must. stop. compulsive. email. checking.

- illegitimi non carborundum
(loosely transalates to grind the B!@#!#'s down!)

BusyBee

I've been running around doing loads of things.
feel like a regular busy bee.

got the CAT bulletin. need to go get HB pencils to fill it out. :) *excited suze*
also went to the Consulate and got my visitors visa. usa here i come.
and then landmark. which still remains one of my favorite bookshops even if they have become more "airhead'y and pretentious'ly pop" over the years.

got more j d salinger. i loved franny and zooey. got "raise high the roof beam, carpenters AND seymour". a continuation of the story of the Glass family. need "a perfect day for bananafish to complete the set.

and got jeff archer's volume three of the prison diaries. why? simply because i loved everything he wrote. my first novelist and all that. by the time he fell from grace, i was old enough to understand that most of our childhood idol's invariably did.

and the beautiful and the damned by F Scott Fitz. haven't read it yet. but have loved everything else he wrote. from the gr8 gatsby to bernice bob's her hair.

then took a time mock cat. and did decently. so, happy. :)

listening now to fuzon. a pakistani band with a soft lyrical feel. aankhon ke saagar. brilliant.

well cheers to all. and good luck for the CAT.

I fell in love with the simplicity and the rigidity of a haiku.
the words and the rules
it's like a multi dimensional crossword puzzle with no perfect solution


               scribbles on margins
                  I am here, yet far away
                     somewhere a bell rings

Talk the Talk

hola amigo! ¡buonas díaz! cómo está usted hoy

That then, is the extent of my Spanish. Hello and have a good day.
with a lot more thought and referring to some old email forwards I can squeeze out Te amo
love you.

After two years of high school French I can conjugate the hell out of a verb.
I can also say "salle de bains" while simultaneously contorting my face into a picture of bewilderment.

this is far more useful than your everyday "je t'aime" and "merci beacoups".
it's very unlikely that you will meet a French stranger who does not understand English who you will need to profess undying love to.

it's also extremely unlikely that you will need to thank the French for much.
they are a very rude race.
especially to the non-French

it IS however very likely that you will be at a Swiss Sunday market and your tour guide will inexplicably disappear
the signboards will be in French and make no sense whatsoever.
you will need to find a bathroom extremely urgently.

so "salle de bains" is useful French.
while we're at is so is "donde está el baño" if you're stuck in México.

that's all for this edition of the hitchhikers guide to foreign languages :)

on another note. I read this funny take on the japanese pop culture and rock slash drug addict slash music scene. It's called the Hokkaido Popscicle by Isaac Admason.

It's irreverent, tongue in cheek and full of cultural fetishes. I wouldn't say insights because I don't know enough about japanese culture. But a fun read nonetheless.

Transmitted

Finished the book.
That brings this week average back up to a book a day :)

Transmission is a great book.
It's existential and witty.
And is full of bright sayings that i will keep turning over in my mind even after the book has been put to rest.

Studying genetic algorithms now.

Ah! am finally gainfully employed. Or atleast promised fruitful employment in july '05. I'm happy sleepy and almost all the seven dwarves all at once

g'nite folks and thanks for all the tagboard action.

Good Job Hunting

It's placement season at colleges and i'm searching for a job.
Skipped a couple so far because i'm waiting for a co that doesn't have a bond.

I've been jargonizing resumes for friends and listing out their strengths and weaknesses all week.

Sample : I hope to gain broad based technical expertise in the field of software engineering and to achieve a postion of leadership in a short while.
After this i hope to internetwork people resources and single handedly achieve a paradigm shift of core competencies in the value chain. as an encore i will pull a rabbit out of a hat

check out vinod's resume writing rules.

Suze's addendum :
       * Anything that happened while you were in the building, you can take partial credit for :)
       * Anything that you got an OD form for, you can take partial credit for.
       * Anything that you can take partial credit for, you can take full credit for.

Placement officers will now see 328 resumes of 328 people all of whom ran the Leo, Rotaract clubs, speakers' fora, organized inter college symposiums etc.

On a side note : is the IT industry witnessing the boom part 2? Cos are hiring hundreds of people. Wipro in one shot, 103. TCS 50. CTS (@ ssnce) 105!

On a sidereal note : i still don't have a job. rather depressing eh!

Hopefully will by tomorrow
Wish me luck :)

Laissez Faire vs RAC

The new Congress government is proposing to *reserve* 52% of all private sector jobs for women, backward classes, poor etc etc. (let's just call em the reservees for now)

Do you feel a strange unease creeping up on you. Are you envisaging waiting in a long queue after your final semester exams for that coveted reservee certificate??

I think this policy is both stupid and dangerous. A molotov cocktail of bad administration combined with some pretty schizoid thinking. The elections are over people. You don't need to grab votes now. Not with these sort of dumb measures.

A few reasons why i think reservation in the job market is a pretty stupid idea.

   § Companies and individuals entering into an employment contract are in fact, in a relationship. An economic one. Now forcing an unnatural relationship affects both parties. It leads to friction, mistrust and unease. nobody enjoys working where they are not wanted. All parties should be allowed to form relationships (social, economic, or in the case of prostituition a mix of both) in whatever way is acceptable to both.

   § There is a severe lack of talented workforce amongst the reservees. Not enough women, poor are offered the opportunity to educate themselves. Forcing corporates to hire them will result in a less talented workforce. The USP of the Indian company in teh world market, is it's talented workforce. This sort of neanderthal, short sighted solution will set us back 40 years.

   § India is *finally* coming into it's own in the global scenario. A goverment that looks like it is considering such a proposal will scare everyone. From FII to Outsourcing clients.

   § If companies decide of their own accord to hire only men, or upper castes etc, then they are choosing to hire a more expensive labor. If there are enough trained reservees, then they will lose their competitive advantage unless they begin hiring from this pool too.

Which brings me to, more feasible solutions :

   § First, we have to get rid of reservation based on caste, creed, beliefs etc. The people entitled to reservations are simply those who are economically worse off. So reservations have to be made only on the basis of economic standards. And sex.

   § The problem is that this pool of people are not as well educated as the rest of the workforce. In most companies (most.. videocon is still on my hate list) hiring is done on merit. With few, if any, consideration for regionality or caste. (We'll come to the sex debate later)

   § The solution therefore lies in education not reservation.
            o   Scholarships to twenty deserving students in each corporation school
            o   Lobbying corporates to donate textbooks and computers to these schools
            o   Repeat the above for all colleges and vocational training institutes
            o   Updating syllabi in state run schools and vocational training institutes so that students are equipped to work.

   § These measures would do more than reservation can.

   § This obviously assumes that if a trained pool of people are available, companies would lap them up. This is generally true for all reservees except women. The problem here, is more of a social nature.

   § Companies are scared that women, would leave to get married, not be able to handle the stress of the workplace etc etc. This is slowly changing. The pioneers are of course the banking and it sectors where a large number of employees are female. What's more, they are offered unique solutions in childcare wit in house creches, flexi time etc.

   § In other sectors (especially manufacturing) though, medieval attitudes still persist. But here too, reservation is most definitely not the answer. Instead, it should be made mandatory for companies to reveal the gender breakup of their workforce. Social constraints and outcries will push them to hire women, far better than reservations would. In the time of the informed consumer, it is we who have to boycott companies that discriminate based on sex. And, if that fails, we can always take legal recourse. Like the US.

   § But a mandatory reservation policy is frightening and arcane. Imagine someone saying 52% of our fighter pilots and nuclear scientists have to be uneducated or unqualified. (if you think that the above statement is politically incorrect, then please consider the fact that ALL educated and qualified nuclear scientist ARE gainfully employed)

Death by evam

this is a play put up by local theatre group evam. it is based on woody allen's play of the same name. and it promises to explore the various facets of death. it delivers not quite that much.

it's a look at death alright, but not with enough intensity to give it meaning. i feel like sitting in a show and tell, but i'm only being told, not shown. some superlative performances by sunil as kleinman and karthik as "man", "doctor" jimmy and gina the hooker. but apart from that, the supporting cast comes across as a little contrived. more practice maybe?

i think it's mostly because, it's a very serious play. but the audience were looking for a laugh. they were looking bewildered and wondering when to laugh. and then confused when it all seemed unlaughably serious.

it's witty and thoughtful. it's worth watching just for sunil's awesome performance. and the occasional funny line or spectacular insight. but i'd have preferred a less clichéd ending (it's what we don't do that matters? c'mon... how oprah winfrey). i guess that was new when woody originally wrote it. but with the years in between.. it's become a trite hackneyed urban proverb. on the whole, a pretty decent play. worth a watch. but not "wunnerfull"

2k+ and the unbearable boredom of being

hm. add another 1000 since may 25th. but i haven't written in ages.

i haven't actually done anything recently. apart from sitting at home, mind numbingly bored. haven't glanced at a paper. don't know what's happening in the world. am worried about the future.

not in a "carpe diem" sieze stuff by it's horns kinda way.
(sidebar..)
      though why someone would want to seize anything by the horn, puzzles me. i mean, we're talking about something that evolution has dictated would grow horns right. and then you go about waving red flags at colorblind animals and seizing them by pointed horns. it seems rather pointless to me.

(sidebar ends)

i guess this is the same sort of people who seize the day, put their nose to the grindstone and laugh their pants off while talking through their hat. contortionists that is.

but i'm in a very unseizing mood today. i could rouse myself to probably reheat lunch, but that is, i think, it. (to many commas? sue me..)

time is stretching in fron of me like a vast undecided ocean. time can wait. it's not like tide or anything, that refuses to wait for man. some very unwise soul once said that tide and taxes wait for no man. we could all die and time could spin by and the doit will still be issuing lists of "six signs you have money." etc.

i think i'll take nap.

i might come back and finish this post and lead it to what promises to be a very illogical conclusion. but i read the heisenberg principle yesterday. since i can't simultaneously predict the motion and position of molecules to any reasonable level of accuracy, if i walk too fast, my liver might just change positions or disappear altogether. if it existed in the first place. i've never actually opened myself up and seen it. according to schrodinger it might not exist.

but all that is in the very un-near future. in the short run, i see myself taking a nap. and in the long run, as the man said, we're all dead.

so pay the piper and pass the chips. wisdom doesn't always come with age.
sometimes age comes alone.

The wheels on the bus go round and round

OPEC has now agreed to increase production by 2m barrels a day. This is somewhat good news to a volatile energy market where prices have been threatening to shoot through the roof.
For those who don't know, or couldn't care less... A primer (drawn from various online sources)

What is the price of petrol?
About $41 a barrel. The highest in 21 years.

Who cares?
Anyone who drives a car?? Oil prices in India have been artificially kept high by pouring the money into the Oil Suprlus Pool. Recent hikes in crude prices and our goverments policy of selling oil to the public at three times it's input price should puch petrol prices up another notch. This hasn't happened yet, probably since politicians didn't want to upset the gaz guzzling electorate before elections. The new govt will eventually have to allow petrol prices to stabilise at three times world levels. Look to paying close to Rs.40 a litre.

Why?
Demand Supply and terrorism

~ Huge growth in US and China have fuelled a large increase in demand
~ US refineries have been caught napping. They are unprepared to supply the amounts required
~ The Middle East accounts for a large percentage of the world's oil. Literally one in five barrels sold worldwide is from Saudi Arabia. The regional instability and rising fear of terrorism in Saudi Arabia has led to escalation in price.

What's being done
OPEC has ratified an increase of 2m barrels a day. But this is already in production, so it is merely formally ratifying the amount in circulation. Until prodn capacity in the US catches up, and the middle east stabilises.. prices could continue to rise.

The Al Saud family might be willing to accomadate the US. But the question is, for how long? They themselves are becoming increasingly unpopular. Terrorist attacks will in all likelihood increase once the AlQaeeda and co realise that they could bring America to its knees by attacking Ras Tanura or Abqaiq in the Arabian desert.

Simmering Arabian Cauldron

The recent terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia have proven me right. I think it was six months ago that i said Saudi was a cauldron of terrorist activity rapidly reaching boiling point. Mostly because -

      ~ Since the 70's, the Al Saud family and others have been funding terrorist activites. Now the tables are turning.
      ~ The average Saudi (male, the females do not count) is poor. He also sees the aristocrats get rich on oil money.
      ~ Officially Osama Bin Laden is condemned. But in coffeeshops and saloons, he is secretly admired for standing up to the americans
      ~ Americans who have exploited the oil rich country and enriched a few in the land while the people are stuck in poverty.
      ~ These terrorists want the expats out. They want the saudi nation back in saudi hands. They are in their own way protesting the outsourcing of local labour to expats. And it will only get worse

The enemies are both the foreigners and the ruling family.

The Al Saud clan are in a position similar to the Shah of Iran earlier. Like most rulers, they are out of touch with their people's opinions. They are largely seen as American puppets. And revolution is in the air.

Foreigners, esp Americans are hated. Once again America, in its brash "take no prisoners" way has failed miserably to understand local culture. It presumes it has got itself an ally by just paying off the ruling family. But the average Saudi is not impressed. From the crassness of the apologies for Abu Gharib, to the nonchalance with which they invaded middle eastern soil.. America, after 9/11 is making far more enemies than it needs..

When Karan met Riyaaka we CAN live without HumTum

This is a typical Hindi movie. The only problem is that it claims otherwise. The masters of spin have portrayed this flick as a modern trendy flick, loosely modelled on "when harry met sally". It's NOT

The problem with all these titillating, modern flicks is that, they're rooted in this medieval hindi concept of "family values" which precludes premarital kissing and independent strong women roles and basically precludes life in the noughts. ('00's)

So it starts off in the land of bubblegum but then rapidly deteriorates to show that even underneath these "modern" folks lurks the heart of a true hindustani. Which brings me to the central idea which is "modern is BAD". You might stray into *modern* in amsterdam or newyork but your dil has to be hindustani.

They're basically taken the premise of When harry met sally, wrung out any resemblance to India today, replaced the fake orgasm with even more long drawn out moaning in the form of "parivar sab kuch hai" dialogues.

In the name of *hep*ness you have saif in what is probably the worst haircut since the last yeti sighting. And the only character with a scintilla of spunk (Isha Koppikar in a cameo) is promptly disowned as a drunk!

The movie made me want to kill myself in five minutes. Actually, strike that. The movie made me want to kill the person who forced us to see it.. in THE most painful way possible. It was as nikhil said worse than Yaadein. Worse than Dulhan Hum Le Jaayenge. Worse than any movie i've seen in recent times, mostly because it built up expectations and then lived up to none of them.

Kooky Quiz

Haha haha. This is one of the funniest kookiest quizzes i've taken.

I am p Everyone loves pi _

what number are you?

this quiz by orsa

I'm sick. In a *ahchoo* x 27/hour kinda way. I've got the cough, the sniffles. Walking talking germ machine. And i'm terribly sleep deprived. I had something to say about F1. And how Williams and McLaren have dropped out of our sight screens. I'm glad renault did decently. Peppy little team. But later, now i need sleep. :)

Operation Screw Iraq

We've seen the mass hypnotisation of US's claim of WMD in Iraq
We've seen the excuse for the fourth estate that swallowed the press releases, hook line and sinker
We've seen the protests and rotten tomatoes being thrown
We've seen the carnage at Fallujah
We've seen the abysmal disregard for Human rights and decency

When American POW's were lined up, the whole of america exploded! Yet here we see dead bodies being disgraced, others facing fates worse than death. And Bush is Sorry?? excuse me, did i miss something. Get the HELL OUT Mr.Bush

All he's achieved is the creationg of newer, stronger, more virulent terrorists. Newer reasons for hatred. Newer cloaks for hypocrisy and newer excuses for world dominance

America is not the world's policeman. It is not the world's saviour. The world does not need saving. Thank you very much. just pack your bags, your dysfuntional mercenaries and get the hell out.

Laissez nouse faire

Another political quiz at politopia
This one has economic and personal freedoms as the axes. Which results in me being a libertarian..
That's personal and economic freedom. Right next to Ayn Rand :D

Another Day, Another Test

found this at Maverick's blog.

Well whaddya know, i'm a waterfall.


Waterfall


?? Which Natural Wonder Or Disaster Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Political Compass and 4 digits

I read this at guhan's blog and proceeded to take the test at political compass.

I'd have put me down as a free markets loving capitalist, but at twenty i guess i'm still a bit of a flower power lover. :)



Whaddya know, i'm a left - liberal. Which brings me to what i actually believe in :

      Capitalism
      Women's rights
      Gay marriages
      Abortion rights
      Good accounting standards
      Globalization with concern for human safeguards
      Social Security (as opposed to charity)
      Euthanasia

And my pet peeves

      Communism
      Facism
      Homophobia
      Male chauvinism
      Large Corporations that exploit people in the name of profits
      Videocon

Quite a few people are surprised by my avid dislike for this co. I won't let anyone at home buy anything from them. Mostly due to the chuavinistic, medieval attitude of it's CEO (venugopal dhoot). He believes that women belong in the household and can't run a business empire.

He employs some 4000 women in the factory and oh about ZILCH in management.

I believe that if enough people boycott videocon, he'll have to change his ruddy attitude.

---

On another note, my blog hits has crossed 1000. Yay!

And i've kept it up for longer than i would have thought.
As the great Cato wouldn've said : Nunc est bibendum ( and now we drink )

Ayitha Ezhuthu

This movie was brill. I won't repeat everything i said about the hindi version, will just highlight the differences
            Rani has done a much better job at being the low middle class wife. Her emotions, their chemistry is awesome
            The character justification for Surya is beautifully done. This is something i complained about in the hindi version. It's handled excellently here.

On the whole, yuva gets five stars, ayitha ezhuthu six. I wish the plot had been less commercial though. It didn't touch me the way a nayakan, or roja or even an anbe sivam did. It didn't make me think for hours after the movie. Even with something as simple as alaipayuthey, i carried away a lot from the movie. But Mani sir, does NOT dissapoint. If you're tired of commercial cinema, go watch these movies. :D

YUVA

Ah the pains i go through for you folks. Had to drag myself to see yuva. Ah *sigh* First Day First Show.
Who am i kidding. I had a blast..
Read on for my review. I promise not to ruin the plot for you.
(Please skip the part marked with spolier alert, if you haven't seen the movie yet! don't blame me later)

Yuva starts with the premise of three young men. Three classes of society. And explores their lives and their problems. It does this to a certain extent. I wish it had done more.

Abhishek and Rani are both beautiful characters. I've always thought Aby baby couldn't act. But he does an awesome job. Rani is a perfect fit. You could watch the film for these two alone. Or you could watch it for Ajay and Esha . Granted Ajay's a little old to be playing a brilliant physics student. I think a teacher would have been better, maybe too many shades of mona lisa smile? But he's still good. And the chemistry between him and Esha is surprisingly great. Esha looks (i know ppl might disagree with me.. but my blog) like Hema Malini a LOT. And they talk about live in relationships and love in today's world. One of the few directors who's actually in touch with the youth today.


Which brings me to Vivek and Kareena. Vivek plays a *dude* who's *chill* (directors words) Which means he's a US bound cultureless casanova. As expected he turns new leaves (hell! he turns a whole new tree) halfway through. The only real cliches are Vivek and Kareena. While Vivek pulls off a great job of looking good and emoting, Kareena bugs me. But then again, she usually does. Seems like her role in the movie is to laugh. Like an airhead. She excels in her brief. There is an uncomfortable lack of chemistry between these two.

[ Spoiler alert ]

I love the first half of the movie. Typical mani ratnam. Small spaces, intricate stories that hint at a larger canvas. Beautiful, rich and tasteful. The second half, it becomes an above average hindi film. Not upto the standards of Madras Talkies. Tying up ends seems to be a problem. Ajay, Vivek reach cliched conclusions while Abhishek is granted no redemption. His initially deeper character is tarred as a *bad guy* in the latter part. Things were hinted on but not expanded upon. And it promised lots without delivering on all of them.

[ Spoiler done! ]

That said, it is still a more than above average film. It's a good entertainer, it makes you think (especially in today's politically charged scenario). Most of it is typical Mani and it's well worth watch.

Other great characters in the movie include the big bad politician (Om Puri) , the bengali neighobours of Abhishek and Rani and namma madras' Karthik Kumar who plays Vishnu, Ajay's friend and co conspirator. We've seen him grow from alaipayuthey to yuva. great job. And i'm not just saying that cos he's an alumnus of svce :)

To sum it up. Go watch the movie. It's not Nayakan. But it's better than Dil Se :)

By the looks of it, Ayitha Ezhuthu promises to outdo Yuva, Surya's definitely younger. More on Monday! Watch this space!

The True Indian

I used to respect the BJP (rather the NDA) for the progressive reforms they brought about and the way the country improved during it's tenure. Needless to say, that respect is gone now. Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, Praveen Togadia and other Hindu hardliners have been trying to earnestly define Sonia Gandhi as "not indian".

So Messrs Hindu Brigade and Co. what defines a true indian? One who is Hindu. Aryan, fair, brahmin? Or maybe Mrs Gandhi is more Indian than you.. Unlike you, she had a choice in the matter. She's an Indian who wanted to be an Indian.. How's that for starters. ??

And we have a constitution. That decrees all citizens be treated equally. This fierce charade of becoming widows and sanyasins to protest what is being done to India is stupid. The thing about India that is great is that it is inclusive. There is no Hindu/Muslim/Parsi/Jew/Christian divisions. To encourage them is meaningless, futile and somewhat dangerous. We're an inclusive society. And this is the secret of our resilience through a countless invasions. This secularism is our national identity. And we must protect it from the vicious attacks of those claiming to be true hindus and true indians.

Which brings me to another question. With what right do these people hijack the Hindu Agenda and call themselves true hindus. What makes me them a true and me untrue? I think the secular all inclusive nature is another trade mark of the Hindu religion. The Sanatana Dharma is one of the few (the only??) faiths in the world that does not claim that it is the only true path to god As good true Hindus these folks should have the secularism built in. It's NOT about sacred Ram Temples, God is in fact inside you. A strength in times of trouble. A force to push you to higher good.

I'm not sure there is a God. I'd like to think there is. I am sure there's no Hindu/Muslim/Sikh/Christian God. I believe in an all pervasive all knowing God. I also am sure that He would most definitely NOT approve of all that is being done in His name.

Let it go Ms Swaraj. Don't bring God and being Indian into this election. You lost. Fair and Square. Live with it.

Another Test

You are an Evan Williams.

You deserve much praise for empowering millions to annoy others in a way previously only imagined.
Take the What Blogging Archetype Are You test at GAZM.org

The Good Bad and Ugly

Act 1 : By the People

The Congress scores a somewhat decisive victory over the BJP. Blame the anti - incumbency factor or blame Local politics. We seem all set to have Sonia Gandhi as a PM

---

Act 2 : Of the People
Hitting below the belt

Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti launch campaigns against Sonia as PM. Sore losers. She won fair and square!!. We'll celebrate a Lord Swaraj Paul but denigrate a PM born in Italy?? C'mon folks, we're bigger than that. It's not national dishonour. It IS dishonourable that some of our foremost leaders cannot follow the dictates of the democratic process

I personally think she's too incompetent to do the job. It has nothing to do with italy, i also think lot's of Indian born politicians are incompetent

---

Act 3 : For the People

Sonia refuses the post, comes out of the sordid mess smelling like roses. Congress workers threaten suicide with a sword and a gun. now it looks like Manmohan Singh is going to be PM. Not a bad thing, but the question remains.. can he do the job?

He comes across as soft spoken, honest but academic. Can he handle the mud wrestling involved in Indian Politics?

Wait and watch :)

Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite...

This is an article i wrote for my coll. mag a while back. Why is it here? cos my miserable peer group refuses to shell out Rs 5 ($0.1667) to read it in print.

And in case you didn't notice/realise/care, all of today's topic titles are Beatles songs. The Beatles ROCK!!

---

ashes to ashes, phoenix to dust

How many of us stepped into these hallowed portals with dreams of finding ourselves? How many stepped in with dreams of finding a girlfriend? How many dreams were crushed when we realized the rather abysmal sex ratio of one is to six? However that's not the point of this discussion. Actually it's a rather pointless discussion but hang in there. It gets worse.

Are you an engineering student

1. Did you begin the first semester of college by borrowing Erwin Kreysig from the college library?
2. Have you now "graduated" to Bakshi and Charulatha?
3. Can you define OD, Kadalai, Biscuit,Mokkai?
4. Name Oolon Colluphid's trilogy

More importatnly, do you know who David Bradley is? Do you know what Kumbakonam Degree Coffee is? What does success mean to you? How will you write a statement of purpose?

In the words of Will Durant in the words of Aristotle "Gnoiea Theou". Seen that above the Oracle's Kitchen have you? Well it's Greek not Latin and it simply means Know yourself

Ladies and Gentlemen, this then is the point of my discussion. The crux, the heart, the thing DK hounded me for a week for (taaliyan.. taaliyan).

Find yourself.

You'll never get another opportunity. This age, this point of time is all you have for experimentation. Well, do it. Whatever does it for you. From tongue piercing to streaking your hair to helping at a shelter to reading a new author. Do it. Experiment. Let your imagination run wild. Go bungee jumping. Join a billion clubs. Find 12 new friends. Do something outside your realm of comfort.

As a wise man once said "The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well". Actually, Joe Ancis said that. The wise man said "Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn"

Scared of making a fool of yourself? Scared of what people might say? To (mis)quote Rhett Butler "Frankly my dear, no one, gives a damn"

If you want softy, senti inspiration, go read chicken soup or something. The bare truth is simply that at the end of four years, you're no different from the other 120 students in your class. Or the other 50000 students that Anna University churns out each year. You need to be unique, different, stand out.

From the moment you step out of this campus you need to sell yourself. To an admissions officer, to an interviewer, to your mom in law. And what is to be your USP?
(That's unique selling point to the uninitiated, and while we aren't on the subject, six by nine is fifty four not fourty two)

Whether you're a perfectionist, a bibliophile, good with numbers or a hidden tapdancer, go out and find yourself.

Read the Fountainhead. The point of objectivist existentialism is the realisation of the self. The culmination of everything in reason. And if you thought I was making this stuff up as I go along you'd only be half wrong.

These four years will define who you are and what you will become. Not just in terms of your education. But in terms of your personality and interests. What excites you, whether it's philosophy or football

You are the person you will spend most of your life with. You owe it to yourself to become as interesting as possible.

So get out of the loo. Switch off the idiot box. (that there's nothing on it is a different issue.. who are we to CASt the first stone?) Don't read wordlists, they don't help. Read a newspaper. Read Gone with the wind. (No it's NOT a chick book).

And Remember Growing Old is mandatory but Growing Up is an option

Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat

A Day in the Life

Now that i'm staying (well sort of..for two more weeks) with grandmom for a while, I get a HUGE caffeine fix in the morning. My mom makes coffee in a cup, frothing with two teaspoons of sugar. My grandmom makes coffe by the yard. High fat milk and one of the reasons why everyone in my family has high sugar levels. In one word, yum :-)

Then we sit at the old dining table that's been around since i was born. And we talk for a little while each morning. Just general gossip about who's doing what and where. I try to explain BPO's and rankings of various MS schools. And she's tries to explain exactly how Mrs ABC is related to me on my dad's side. Who's Mrs ABC? the one who's son studies at that Austin place.. etc

I first tried to convert numbers and concepts into tamil. Rather difficult considering the state of my tamil :). Then she realised i was struggling. And i realised she was convent educated, so we just switch to English.

I'm thinking of summers of long ago. Spent in Mylapore, sitting on the Thinna drinking Lassi or Rose Milk, listening to my parents, uncles, aunts all talking. And us kids listening sleepily in the drowsy heat of the summer. Till one day, the house is locked up and i'm 20 years old. And it seems like yesterday but it was ages ago. Makes you feel kind of old. Maybe because i've always associated memories with growing old. Growing old and growing up. :)

The Grand Old Duke of York

And so India voted the Congress to power. The Grand Ol Party of India. The Grand Ol Gandhi dynasty. I feel like we're reliving a soap opera. Disappointed? You bet i am. The BJP's tactics clearly failed. India Shining failed to convert anyone. It just struck a chord with the succesfull. The media, politicians everyone seems to have been divorced from the ground realities of the Indian voter.

And the Indian voter.. how did she vote? Well, for one, she's voted locally. This is especially evinced in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The BJP was terribly out of touch in TN and chose to truck with JJ. Now which misguided fool took that decision I'd like to know.

Secondly, the Indian voter has voted for the young. From Milind Deora who's all of 27, to Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rahul Gandhi.. India has voted in a new fresh breed of politicians. Quite a few of them are riding on papa's coat-tails but young blood nonetheless.

Established politicians, safe bets etc have all been ousted. Ram Naik, Yashwant Sinha, MMJ (thank god!!) all have been given the pink slips. Ram Naik interestingly lost to Govinda! :) Film stars ruled the roost with Sunil Dutt, Govinda winning. Television however lost, with Tulsi losing to a very worthy Kapil Sibal.

On the whole, a disappointing but interesting vote. And now we have the pleasure of being ruled (there is no other word for the dynasty) by another Mrs Gandhi. It's not about her foreign origin anymore. It's about her ability to do the job. I don't think she can. She's always been an insipid flavorless uncharismatic leader. She's riding on the last dregs of the Gandhi wave. And she stands for nothing. Apart from being Rajiv's widow, she's an absolute zero in politics. Let's see how she proves her mettle in the days to come

Ramblings

I feel divorced. From reality and mundane conversation. From brownies that were baked in a moment of insufferable optimism. I'm caught in verse. In Turgenev and Dylan Thomas. In Kafka and jazz. I'm drowning in strong hot rich coffee and passionate writing. Do you see a billion stars and sometimes it's just so vast you want to cry. Cry at outer space.
I'm thinking of memories of long ago. Of black and white houses on a black and white street 30 years before i was born. And yet i remember. Other people's memories in other people's worlds and they are as real to me as these words on this screen and all my life. In a black and white movie at 16 frames a second.

Shobha De and the Art of being very very stupid

Shobha De writes a column in The Week where she touches on various topics from the deep to the mindless and converts them all to equally frivolous trash. This week's column involves the sordid Beckham saga. For those who've been living under a rock, here are the facts:

      Beckham cheated on Posh while she was pregnant
      He sent some stupid sms's
      He got caught
      They're paying the femme fatale (Rebecca Loos) 80,000$ to spill the beans
      She's spilling vividly

Done? okay.. Now Ms De blames Victoria for this sad turn of events. She accuses her of becoming too thin and sexless. This drove her husband into the arms of another women. She links this with women's problems with body image and emerges a victorious Pg 3 feminist. Well, I obviously disagree.

First of all a couple's private problems are just that : private. If you insist on discussing it in the name of feminism, atleast get a brain transplant before you do so. Women have problems with body image, agreed. Too thin is bad, agreed. But NONE of this is an excuse for cheating on your very pregnant wife.

For too long we Indians have had this concept of "driving your husband into another woman's arms". Reinforced by numerous mundane articles in the so called "womens' magazines". But it places the blame at the wrong door. A man cheats.. and the only person who's responsible for this is ... tada.. the man. If he cannot take responsibility for *his* actions, then he should just be denounced as an irrational animal. Or forgiven if his wife is so inclined. But nowhere inthe script does it say she is responsible for it. We need to let go of the archaic soap opera mentality where the female is responsible for everything and anything.. and accepts it.

I'm sure if your husband was cocking a snook at the secretary you'd feel a lot differently Ms De. Or are you just too woman to let that happen? And to the editors of The Week - Please don't invade my mindspace with such drivel.

Pink Slip

If ever there was a *decisive* mandate, then Andhra Pradesh is it. Election Results were out yesterday and the TDP has been thrashed. They've managed to secure about one fourth of the seats they won last time. The INC haswon 188 seats. So YSR is most likely to be CM and Mr Naidu is without a job.

Most people are surprised at the mandate. He brought in IT, development, laptops, buzzwords to Andhra Pradesh. He was responsible for some of the most futuristic reforms in the country. He thought of himself as the CEO of AP. And maybe that was the problem. Hyderabad developed, the educated classes became prosperous. But the coastal regions, the farmers all suffered. The worst droughts, farmers commiting suicide.. these horrors went by largely unnoticed. And there lay Naidu's failing. He worked for rich, the educated, the ambitious. He worked for the future. while the present languished. Hyderabad Shined for only a few. And the majority has spoken.

It's sad that he failed, but maybe our politicians will learn from both his successes and failures.. Here's to you Mr Naidu.. One of our few honest, futuristic, intelligent, modern politicians... We need more men like you!

I got this from World 66. This is a map of places of I've visited!



And this is how i want the map to look in ten years :)



create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

I love travelling. It energizes me, enlivens me. I love seeing all the places i've read about in novels and books. I love sitting and absorbing the culture. I also hate south east asian food. Thai Malaysian etc. But what the heck, there's always McDonald's! :)

My favorite place(s) in the world are Paris, Geneve and Phuket . Paris, because it's simply Paris. Immortal and beautiful and full of life and beauty and spirit. And Geneve because you can walk by the lakeside forever and not get bored. The green lush gardens, the beautiful old architecture and all things swiss. Phuket, because it's paradise.. You can waterski, jetski, snorkel, scuba, paraglide, parasail, jump off a plane.. whatever suits your fancy!

My job was outsourced to India

We've all read both sides of the outsourcing argument and argued it to death. My take is simply that Capital and Labour find their own levels. And it's all in good economic sense. Once we're done with the political grandstanding on an election year, we can get back to common sense and productive business practice.

I promise to actually blog here and not just link to other interesting articles etc. But this column is unmissable : check out dave barry's take on outsourcing

Blogchalk and The Truth laid bear

Tweaking and indexing my blog. cos I'm bored :)
This is my new blogchalk:
India, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, English, Suze, Female, 21-25, Writing, Books. :)

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Took a quiz online to see what friend I am.
Well tell me something i don't already know. Just because i color code notes and clean my room three times a day, doesn't mean i'm obsessive :)





I'm Monica Gellar-Bing from Friends!

Take the Friends Quiz here.

created by stomps.

Main Hoo Na

Speaking of movies, (yes scroll down and check.. we ARE speaking of movies) I love the recent explosion of non-mainstream films. The whole emotional exploration of the psyche. Meaningful character and well fleshed out stories. Breathtaking and strikingly stark visuals. Crisp crackling dialogues. Like the Pianist. And Kandukondain Kandukondain, Monsoon Wedding. Even Anbe Sivam and Pithamagan. I love the way a new breed of writers and directors are crediting the audience as a discerning and intelligent group. I love how our cinema is being slowly revolutionized.

I also loved Main Hoo Na. For absolutely NONE of the above reasons. I stocked up on popcorn and cold coffee and laughed for three hours straight hours. Farah Khan has packed every bollywood cliché and every Hollywood action move into the silver screen. You have a friendly Pakistan (I'm glad we finally stopped the Pak-bashing), a funky terrorist ( a superb Sunil Shetty), an army Major and one *sizzling* chemistry teacher.

You have Kabir Bedi playing Shylock (Hath not a Pakistani feelings, Hath not a Pakistani fears..) and you have a college that looks like it's out of the sets of Grease (one or two). Boman Irani plays the forgetful principal in one of his best performances and surprisingly, in a Homer Simpson tie.

You have Ram, Lakshman, and Ra(gha)van. There's no Mugambo but there IS a fluorescent qawwali. And a cycle rickshaw chase.

Watch it for the sexy sushmita sen or the barely covered Amrita Rao. Watch it for Shah Rukh in a role where he cries only for 1/7th of the movie. Watch it for the still hot as hell Kabir Bedi. Watch it for old Hindi songs and reminisce about the good old days. Watch it for Farah Khan who's done one helluva job. It's definitely worth the fifty bucks at Satyam.

Matrices and Determinants (aka. I Love an Action Movie)

I love action movies. They are the simplest genre that exist. Don't believe me? Check it out :

   * The bad guys look bad.
   * The bad guys' girls look good.
   * The good guys look good
   * The good guys' girl get kidnapped.
   * Everybody gets guns
   * The good guys' save the world.
   * They kiss
   * End credits

Tommy Lee Jones, Harrison Ford. I loved em all. The big black cars and Flying stunts. Everything

That is until the Whatwereyouthinking brothers. They introduced drilling robots and eastern mysticism. Effectively took away the *fun* part.

So we use three dimensional offset subsampling in the spatio-temporal domain to achieve optimization of the karma in the world They had me (asleep) at hello.

To misquote hollywood - "The movie is like deep. It's like so deep that it is like light. It's lightness itself in effect causing it to be deep. It's like deep in it's lightness and like light in it's deepness"

A Few Good Men

   
   You want answers?
   I want the truth!
   You can't handle the truth!
   
   
man this movie does it for me every single time! I know almost every word of dialogue by heart. Seen it atleast 23 times :)
I re-read Jhumpa Lahiri's The namesake and half of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

   It doesn't matter what i believe
   It only matters what i can prove
   So don't tell me what i know and do not know
   I know the Law

EXAMS OVER .. well almost.. :)

I have medical electronics left on Tuesday. But that's it. Almost. Exams over. and then two gloriouls months of freedom.
I'm going to swim and study (yeah.. you heard study. need to prep for CAT) and watch every movie running at Satyam Multiplex till i go cross eyed.
How's that for a plan of action.

The Heat is On

It's almost summer now. The horrible oppressive madras heat is upon me. I can just feel myself melting as the AC bill mounts up. I finished one practical today. One coming up on wednesday. And then six theory papers to go.

   * Digital Communication
   * Electromagnetic Waves and waveguides
   * Computer Communication Networks
   * Television and Video Engineering
   * Engineering Economics and Financial Accounting
   * Medical Electronics
   
Now that i looked the syllabus up and can spell my subjects it's time i started studying them. Where did all my *spotters* go??

Israel And Palestine

I'm reading this extremely interesting book called "From Beirut to Jerusalem" by Thomas Friedman. It's basically an overview of the political situation in the middle east. The author was a NYTimes reporter there for some ten years and records his experiences over a turbulent time. It is supposed to trace the roots of the Palestine Israel conflict and promised to be good. Let's see how it goes.
I'm technically supposed to be studying my texts since i have my practicals tomorrow and theory exams from next week. :)
Think i'll go and study for atleast a little while.
If you want to read more of Israel - Palestine online.. check this out If Americans Knew

Elections Round Two

This is not a political blog. But couldn't resist round two after all the comments :)
The biggest problem in our "politics" is simply the lack of any issues. (in the words of sidd)
We're parading stars and pandering to minority interests but no political party espouses any idealogy. Unless of course "The other guy is corrupt and a scoundrel" counts as an ideology.
Literally no one (including myself) has registered to vote. Simply because (atleast in my case) i have nothing to vote for. None of the political parties have announced their allies yet. Those things depend on vote grabbing exercises and power plays to be conducted after the elections. Not on a mutual alignement of ideas but a mutual trading of money.
All politicans sound unremarkably alike. We're discussing italian origins and roads as smooth as Basanti's cheeks. Hell! that's not what's important is it. Jobs, opportunities, women's rights, roads, water, fiscal deficit, privatisation. These are the issues that are plaguing us. And no one is talking about it. I'm sorry if i'm not doing my "duty" by voting. But i'm simply too disillusioned to believe that the political process is a solution to anything. If anything, government is the problem.
So have you registered to vote?

The Great Indian Circus meets Bollywood

Jayaprada (Samajwadi Party) Manoj Kumar (BJP) Asrani (Congress) Zeenat Aman (Congress) Govinda (Congress) Celina Jaitley (Congress) Namrata Shirodkar (Congress) Sharad Kapoor (Congress) Moushumi Chatterjee (Congress) Yukhta Mookhey (BJP) Hema Malini (BJP) Sudha Chandran (BJP) Suresh Oberoi (BJP) Jeetendra (BJP) Poonam Dhillon (BJP) Dharmendra (BJP) Om Puri (Congress) Roja (TDP)

This is the list of Actors and actresses who are campaigning in our election this time around.
Funny how most of them weren't around earlier and suddenly came crawling out of the green rooms and casting couches just before the elections. Is anyone else worried about this?
There are those who say that politics is already so marginalized and trivialized that a glamour quotient is not a bad thing. Especially if it brings people to the rallies.
My worry is still this - A political participant is theoretically supposed to espouse certain values. Or stand for something. All that most of these stars stand for is box office drawings. Aptly reflected in their frivolousness. Take for example Ms Hema Malini. Our fair damsel attended a rally in gujarat campaigning for the modern day megalomaniac known as Narendra Modi. She urged voters to vote for BJP saying "Yeh basanti ki izzat ka savaal hai" (vote for basanti's honour).
Another frustrating example is the "tulsi" phenomenon. Since this Smriti Malhotra Irani joined the BJP she's been spouting lines straight off the sets of Kyunki Saas.. And the populace is lapping it up.
Our superstar bachan saab has been quoted in this week's India Today saying that he campaigns for personal friends not out of any political ideology. Don't these people realise that their faces have some value. And that value has to be backed by personal judgement and responsibility. Not by exchange of money (atleast not undisclosedly) or other trivialisations.
I agree that a few are actual proactive participants in the political process (Nafisa Ali, Jayapradha for example). They've stood for elections and worked for their constituency. But by and large, the new bollywood brigade is more talk and less action.
If they're genuinely concerned about giving back to society then ask them to take a stand. stand for election. work in a constituency. Or do any one of about three hundred things you can do on a normal non-election month to "give back" to the people.
I for one am tired of basanthis and mugambos invading politics.

And we have takeoff.
My first online blog..
let's see how it goes