Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
La Boîte noire (The Black Box)
Saw this on Star Movies yesterday - French movie with subtitles.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Glory in the flower - Wordsworth
Came across this and thought of sharing. From “Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” by William Wordsworth.
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
Full ode at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15926
Friday, January 09, 2009
The new Satyam nursery rhyme
Got 2 rhymes in my mail about the Satyam scandal. I got inspired to make a third one.
2 rhymes in the mail:
Raju Raju sat on a wall
Raju Raju had a great fall
Balance sheet died
Shareholders cried
Raju Raju made a fraud
Raju Raju
Yes baba
Cheating us
No baba
Telling Lies
No baba
Open the balance sheet
HA HA HA
My composition (original):
Rock a bye investor
On the Satyam stock top
When the Maytas deal breaks
The exchange will rock
When the fraud breaks
The Satyam will fall
Down will come investor
Raju and all
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Common Errors in English
Very nice site. Lists common mistakes that we make in English e.g. bullion vs bouillon.
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Ugly Indian Tourist
But this isn't about Ladghar, Pears resort, or even the Konkan. This article is about us Indians as tourists. And how we desperately are in need of improvement.
Back to what happened at Ladghar. We had a lovely time there. The only blight on our trip was when a big group landed, nay, rolled in like a pack of cats jumping on empty barrels.
The noise they made was enough to wake the dead (and kill them again). This behavior was consistent across all age groups. It was as if there was a competition going on as to who could shout the loudest. Age 3 to 73, all of them braying to their hearts' content. Now if kids shout, that is understood. But when adults also do the same thing, then it is just not done. When those who are supposed to enforce discipline need disciplining themselves, then it becomes a very sad scene indeed.
I think most of you can guess the state that they came from. But this is not about a particular group of people either. This is about all of us Indians as tourists, and our behavioral pattern while doing so.
This pattern of behavior is repeated not just in India, but overseas as well. I remember an incident when I had gone to London with some colleagues from my erstwhile organization. At the hotel where I stayed, the employees around me used to give us strange glances when we used to pass by. I generally noticed that they were not comfortable when they used to see us. At that point in time, I put it down to simple racism - stories of treatment given to brown Indians in England came to mind.
However, there was more to this than met the eye. I somehow ended up chatting with an elderly white gentleman who also was an employee of the hotel. After exhausting 'normal' topics, I hesitantly brought up the topic of the behavior that I had seen, and asked him what the reason could be. He paused, and then said "I know that you are thinking that it is racism. However, that is not the case. It is due to some other reason."
On prodding further, he revealed that the strange behavior was because previous guests from India or the Indian subcontinent had acted badly while staying there.
Examples were:
- Dirtying up the place by dropping paper, wrappers, food items, etc. in every place except the waste baskets.
- Filling up the juice placed on the counter during breakfast into thermos flasks or other containers and taking it with them out of the breakfast hall.
- Pushing the fire alarm button. This was usually done by kids, which by itself is not that unexpected. But the sad part was that when this was reported to the parents they would shrug their shoulders and say "Oh that's normal behavior for children!"
- Deliberately giving the wrong room number when the bill is presented after a meal. This means that someone else staying in the hotel is charged for that meal.
- Spitting in the hotel premises.
- Talking loudly even at the dinner table when in the midst of others who were very quiet.
He had other examples as well. After hearing them, I was really ashamed of my fellow countrymen. I really could not blame the hotel staff for being apprehensive about all Indian tourists.
After that conversation, I remembered that I myself have seen examples of this during my travels abroad. It starts with the plane journey itself. We Indians shout, demand too much service, follow no table manners, rush for seats instead of waiting patiently in line, stuff all our luggage into the overhead bins without sparing a thought for whether other passengers have space to put even one item, etc. etc. And it continues at places where we jump queues (yes, the great Indian disease of cutting in lines travels with us abroad as well). No wonder we are disliked.
Most of those who can afford to travel abroad are educated people. If education can't teach you manners, then what is the use? Do we need to have common sense, civic sense and etiquette as part of our school curriculum? Is it really so hard for us to follow a simple rule - "Don't do anything that will trouble others"?
Why do people resist good manners so much? Do they fear that if they stand in line patiently they will miss out on something? That if they don't shout while eating they won't digest their food properly? That behaving in a civilized fashion will corrupt their moral values? :-)
Some questions have no answers. I can just hope and pray that we take some of the good things from the West like manners, punctuality, public behavior, etc. instead of copying the wrong ones...
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
What good are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates without Josh Silver?
He wants to find ways to give these glasses to the world's poor. Hope that someone funds this worthy project ...
Link: What good are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates without Josh Silver?
Creative photos by Chema Madoz
Link: Creative photos by Chema Madoz | haha.nu - the lifestyle blogzine
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Restaurant Review – Bagban (Camp), Pune
Review – Bagban (Camp)
Went to this one on Friday, Dec 12, 2008.
The restaurant is on East Street, Camp – in front of the old Victory theatre. The first thing one notices is that the menu is also written on the walls. So that kind of gives an indication that food is the primary focus of the hotel - not ambience, decor, etc.
The seats are very plain. The place is also small but clean. There is an upper AC section but we preferred to sit in the normal one downstairs as there was a nice breeze blowing.
We had a few vegetarians in our group. The number of items for them were very limited. They ordered paneer tikka and promptly declared it delicious.
On the other hand, we non-vegetarians were spoilt for choice. Reshmi kababs, mutton seekh kabab, pahadi kababs, etc. – no fish items though. Only chicken or mutton.
For the main course, we went for
Ø Veg handi + Bakery Naan
Ø Mutton kheema + pav
Ø Tawa gosht
Ø Mutton biryani
The non-veg items were simply delicious! And following the general rule that healthy is inversely proportional to taste, the preparation did not seem at all healthy. But at times like this, you don’t really care!
I would rate the mutton biryani the best of the lot (and that is saying something considering that all the items were very good).
The veggie party declared the handi decent. The Bakery naan is a special item – it is a bread in the shape of a small pizza. Something different from the usual stuff.
All the prices are very reasonable. The total bill came for less than Rs 200/- per head.
Summary:
Ø It is a great place if you love chicken and mutton dishes.
Ø Value for money
Ø Not recommended for vegetarians (too less variety)
Ø If ambience matters a lot to you, then skip this one.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A few thoughts on the Mumbai attacks of 26 Nov 2008
- When will our government learn?
This is not directed at any particular political party. I am pretty sure that had any other party other than the Congress(I) been in power, the end result would have been the same.
Our "leaders" are very reliable - you can rely on them to do anything other than the right thing. They play the politics of vote banks, communalism, casteism, reservation, etc. etc. - anything to avoid doing the right thing.
We do not have a comprehensive anti-terror policy. We do not have co-ordination amongst security agencies. We do not have proper equipment for our police forces.
We do not have anything other than the bravery of our armed forces who lay their lives down for our country selflessly. A country that does not even honor them enough. - Spend money on anti-terror freely and wisely.
News reports said that 100 policemen responded to the attacks immediately. But out of them only 7 had guns. The rest had lathis!! (canes)
Only 7% of the policemen had guns? Could there be anything more pathetic than this? In the US, each and every policeman/policewoman has a gun. That is more like it.
In India, most of the gun-toting policemen are sent to guard politicians. These politicians are mostly people who, if killed, would be more a reason for celebration than sadness!! Why can't we reduce the security of such goons-in-political-clothing?
The equipment that the police had was faulty. The bullet proof vests could not stop bullets from AK-47 rifles. Ditto for the helmets.
Instead of spending more money on foreign tours of our "leaders", it would be better to spend it on such items.
Another article said that the Navy did not get the money needed for effective patrolling of the sea coast. We have outdated radar, and outdated ships / less ships than required. This is disgusting!! - Choose the right men for the job.
Just now heard the news that the home minister, the "honorable" Mr. Shivraj Patil, has resigned and has been replaced. Too little, too late.
Mr. Patil should not have been made the home minister in the first place. A post that was held by stalwarts like Sardar Patel is now being held by people who change their dress 4 times during the day but don't do what they are supposed to.
Another colossal mistake that happened was that the NSG is situated only in Delhi. This meant that it was a good 9 hours before they could come to Mumbai. 9 hours!! If that had been reduced to 30 minutes, a lot of lives could have been saved ...
To take this to another level, we must choose the right people to man the security agencies. Make them co-ordinate with each other. Make sure that all information is given to all the concerned people. - Finally, please spare a thought for all the people who died in this dastardly attack. All the army and policemen who lost their lives. All the commandos who fought so bravely. All the innocent civilians who died an unnecessary death.
Rest in peace, my friends. Rest in peace.
Insensitivity never dies !!
But no. Human nature never ceases to amaze me - both positively and negatively. In this case, it was the negative.
We live on Baner road in Pune. There are 2 marriage halls near our home. This being the marriage season, there were marriages held on Saturday (29 Nov ) and Sunday (30 Nov).
That the marriages were held is perfectly fine - life has to go on and you can't cancel an event that was organized a long time ago. But one did expect them to be sensitive to the fact that terrorists had wreaked havoc in a city that is less than 3 hrs away from Pune.
No such luck. Both times there was a band playing loud music that lasted for one hour!! Not 5 mins, 1 whole hour!! Amazing ...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Footwear designed specifically for diabetics
A Pune, India based doctor – Dr. Manisha Deshmukh - has designed footwear specifically for diabetics as they are prone to suffer from a lot of foot related problems.The article doesn’t mention where to buy the footwear, but I think she works at K.E.M. hospital --> http://kemhospital.org/diabetes.html
I have put the scanned article at http://www.flickr.com/photos/amitshirodkar/3046942477/sizes/l/
Monday, November 17, 2008
The 9/11 photograph you didn't see
Link: The 9/11 photograph you didn't see. - - Slate Magazine
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
New garbage collector G1 available in JDK7 / OpenJDK
Ø Snip from http://jeremymanson.blogspot.com/2008/11/g1-garbage-collector-in-latest-openjdk.html
G1 is supposed to provide a dramatic improvement on existing GCs. There was a rather good talk about it at this year's JavaOne. It allows the user to provide pause time goals, both in terms of actual seconds and in terms of percentage of runtime.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Youtube - “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available”
Now this error message used to come for videos that had been removed from YouTube either by the uploader or the web site itself. But now it comes even for valid videos.
There is a fix for this (courtesy http://www.marcforrest.com/). For any video that gives such an error, append one of the following to the URL (in the browser's address bar)
- &fmt=6
- &fmt=16
- &fmt=18
E.g.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AODycP1Y24M&feature=related
would become
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AODycP1Y24M&feature=related&fmt=6
Original Post:
Marc Forrest.com » Youtube - “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available”
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Electing a US President in Plain English
Link: YouTube - Electing a US President in Plain English
Thursday, October 16, 2008
E-mail Etiquette 101
Here's a nice list of dos and don'ts when writing emails: E-mail Etiquette 101 - Michael Hyatt
BTW, one rule not mentioned there: Do not overuse email. Sometimes an issue can be better solved with a face to face meeting or a talk over the phone.
