Happy new year

I am normally not in the habit of posting New year messages on this blog - but i guess there is sufficient reason to break the trend this year.

Here are two things:

Thing# 1 - The Incident

Might be classified 'interesting', especially since it happened on New year's Eve ( at least - for people like me who have antisocial tendencies bordering the level marked 'MANIAC' on the scale)

Today, Dec 31, 2008 - S, Mr. B's last son drowned in a pond - while he was enjoying an afternoon of drunken revelry with 3 more useless assholes. The assholes live. Poor S was fished out in his underpants a few hours later - as dead as the proverbial dodo - and as drunk, got rest his soul, as an english lord (His corpse puked when it was pulled out. )

As our plant is just 10 mins away, i was amongst the first to receive a call to organize / attempt a rescue - and i was like standing next to the hole when they were first searching for him and when they eventually pulled him out. It was too late for emergency procedures anyway.

To explain it in more detail - the hole in which he drowned is like just off the road leading to the hills near alagarkoil (which is a spot for all such activities - loads of greenery, loads of such small idyllic ponds & abandoned wells). And as the story surfaced subsequently, the 4 assholes got to the hole, got drunk and had this diving contest or something.

The 3 other mahatmas were so drunk that they did not notice S was missing until, like 30 or 40 minutes later and one of them - a hint of consicousness awakening him - saw that their mate was missing and promptly used S's cellphone to call S's dad, Mr. B, give a so-so description of the incident / location and promptly pass out, drunk and dead to world (as they lay, when the first search party reached them)

Mr. B knows my dad for more than 20 years he even does some work for us in Tirupur, and was there yesterday, as always. He calls me, then my old man and we call the police (who come over in 20 mins) and then the Fire service (who reach the 'spot' in like 2 hours and maybe a bit more) - We were there with a few of our employees, a couple of policemen - the 3 mahatmas are so drunk that they arent able to confirm the name of the guy in the pond, they get slapped around by the cop - manage to puke a few times, stumble out some details.

In any case, its been more than hour since S went in - and we all can do nothing but wait - cursing the fire service - S's mother comes, wails & curses every1 in sight and faints, gets carried home. Its a full 2 hours since the call went out - for the firemen to arrive. They stroll down from their fireengine, with great loops of rope and a few them strip off. Theres now a big crowd - the locals, a lot of our employees.

Then, surprise surprise, the firemen walk around the perimeter of the hole - dipping a rope / hook in - hoping to hook the corpse out - no sign of them jumping in - my father loses his cool and reminds them, in pretty severe language, about what they are supposed to be doing and what jokers they are - we quickly gather a few locals - who then dive in - the firemen watching them go in - and one manages to pull S out in about 20 minutes.

Out he came, wearing a bright orange chuddi - and the crowd actually burst out in applause! He was pretty dead in any case.

I spend the rest of the day taking S to the Morgue, bribing the cops, firemen, the ambulance man, the morgue technician and listening to a constable bullshit about drunken louts, whores, bus-marials and the general moral degradation of today's young people.

Throughout the episode, i felt nearly no emotion, except when his mom & sister were on the scene - i did not know S that well - i know his big brother, R, because i sell some stuff to him. I know his mom and his dad pretty well - they come home often.

Strangely, when i came home around at night, mobile battery dead - i hated S - for being such an asshole, for letting every1 down - for going out with trash like the 3 i saw, for getting drunk and getting killed like that.

I heard today that he was engaged to be married in April - they are so-called 'orthodox' muslims - and his mom said, scheduling his 'nikkah' was supposed to 'stop him fooling around' and 'settle down' and that he was brought up 'chellam' because he was the last kid - i actually became peeved with Mr. B and his beevi - i know that R, S - always scoot around all the time, Mr. B buys for R a new car every year - and that their idea of fun is to drive -inebriated- up to kodaikanal - cool off - load up again and drive down

- Although i wont understand these things completely - i also blame Mr. B - kids' behaviour is a reflection of how they are brought up. My own father has never told me what to do / what not to do with my personal stuff nor asks me to account for expenses - but he neednt. Not that i dont make mistakes - but i know when im crossing the line and i more than know what a foolish, irresponsible, juvenile jock can do to himself, to his friends and family.

2008, as hot and happening as it was, ended thusly.

Every now and then life throws up an experience when you least expect it - but as with all things in life, you go through it - try and take away a few things. No ?


Thing # 2 : The Gyaan

Now to copy something off another New year message and tweak it slightly:

I never used to like New Year's - Faux merriment, drinking, SMS greetings, socializing with jocks/assholes or louts (however cool or hip or socially required it is) - from this year - i make it OFFICIAL and consider the above experience as a validation of my regular existence as a voluntarily obnoxious person.

('an excuse!' C says on the phone ;- when he called me today. He was surprised that my phone was switched off one New year's eve and he actually thought i officially turned lunatic!)

More important :

While you are still growing up - PLEASE do not indulge in behaviour similar to poor S's. EVER. Dont mix with trash who are prone to such behaviour. They arent worth it. They are just foolish, juvenile, attention seekers who have nothing better to do in life.

When you are grown up - PLEASE bring up your kids right or you have no right to spawn any.

And Lest i end on a morbid note:

HAPPY 2009 ;-

( p.s - funny telecon from evening, 1 Jan 2009:

me to A: Dei, 2009 is going to be an important year for me at work da. Possibly the most important ever.

A: Poda waste fellow. Youve been saying that every year since ive known you. )

Sooper time waster post - Five fives - ;-

I am sitting on the outside porch - it is nice and cool - the laptop feels nice and warm on my lap - heres a post il complete

-Ta ta da - Presenting: Five fives from 2008

No.1 # 5 so-so movies i was forced to sit through this year

1. Flashbacks of a fool (Starring Daniel craig)
2. Beverly hills Chihuahua (Publicly screened on a plane. sema dumb)
3. Dosti (Pathetic flick starring bobby deol & akshay kumar - played over and over on S's new car DVD player and him saying ' Waah kya mast movie yaar' )
4. Ghost rider (Starring Nicholas cage. yuck)
5. About 30 mins of 'Saawariya' (But it still qualifies)

No.2 # 5 places ive been to for the first time on work

a) Sivakasi (ammadiyo)
b) Sao Paolo, Brasil ( ;-)
c) Mannheim, Germany (Wow)
d) Chiang Mai, Thailand (Nice)
e) Guangzhou, China (Big)

No.3 # 5 names ive been called this year:

a) Pundi kazhudhai [pun dee] (Mother. It means 'dirty' 'untidy' in palakkad tamil)
b) 'Kaaten da enaku,loose Koo&#*' (Brother, yelling about 2 feet from 15 elderly uncle/aunties sitting & listening to music at V's wedding, the poor bugger was excited, my oh my, he was like red in the face after!)
c) 'Dear abhi darling' (Fa - on MSN)
d) 'sarcastic b$#%$%d' [The baaaa pronounced - like a sheep bleating] (T. During last telecon)
e) 'Moron' [N - sort of metaphorically implied, via email]

No.4 # 5 works of Non-fiction that one mustnt miss - Lucid, easy on the head, but worth the read

a) Anthony Bourdain's autobiographical - Kitchen confidential
b) The Lexus and the olive tree : Thomas.L.Friedman
c) Sidney Sheldon's Autobiography : The other side of me (His BEST book by far)
d) Andy Kessler: How it all began
e) Jeffery Archer's Prisoner's diaries (All volumes)

No.5 # 5 companies on whose stocks iam down by more than 100,000 bucks

a) Shasun chemicals (Y = 0.20 X)
b) Ipcalabs (Y = 0.6 X)
c) Amtek auto = (Y = 0.4X)
d) Canara bank (please dont ask)
e) Bhartitele (Y=0.70X)

X= quote at xtime
Y = quote at ytime

You figure what is what :(

I am spent

**yawn**

Wikipedia etc.

After one's working day is spent - trying desperately -- in vain - to fix either the phone line or the broadband cable to get some work done - the day in question being the first day back in more than a month - by the evening - one isnt too inclined to put up majorly masalafied posts like rad descriptions of Scarlett Johanssen's backside or reviews of soccer matches.

Heres something thats worth a minute or two:

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge — Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia"

Heres an appeal hes put up - asking for donations - " An appeal from Jimmy Wales "

I am seriously tempted to drop a few $$$ in - considering the inordinate amount of wikiing one does these days - its one of those things - like Thayir saadam & Vadu maangai - that one cant live without.

I cant help but wonder - why doesnt he syndicate Adverts on wikipedia ?? I am sure they can rig it up with google ads and with the kind of specialization they bring in to contextual Ads and stuff - im pretty damn sure that wikipedia will more than make the 3 million dollars it needs a year - heck, maybe a lot more than that.

Take these blokes at google for eg. - they are as commercial as they come - AND everybit lifechanging with the kind of things they come up with - Google, Gmail, News, Reader, Gtalk - and Google Apps - (for this princely sum of 10 dollars a year - i deploy gmail, docs, sites, gtalk - the works across upto 200 users - near unlimited space - on my own domain- i do this with GREAT results in our own company) - all of it done with a commercial motive by the good folks over at google. No ?

Wikimedia foundation ought to ask Eric Schmidt to sit on their board and make them some money on the amazing franchise they've built up.

Heck, if they fucken charge 20 dollars a year for unlimited access per computer - they'll fucken take in cash by the jumbo jet load !

*sigh* i am not really in mood to stay up.

Paul Theroux becons.

Ha

Presenting the amazing Sia ;-

('Si' as in 'ceylon' and 'a' as in 'asia')

S (Sia's dad) : Sia beta, abhilash ko jaanti ho naa last year mili thi! halo bolo!
Sia: <> naahin
mrs.S: arre. Halo tho bolo.
Sia: naaahin.
mrs.S: #$#%## in a mixture of thai and punjabi.
Sia: naaahin mummi. aap kahan ke hain ?
Me: Chennai. Chennai jaanti ho kya ?
Sia: India jaanti hoon. Mumbai dekhi hai. Photo keentchna aata hai? keetcho naa.

Sia, all of 6 years of age and with near unlimited energy is already a master in the arts of charming, manipulating and getting things done - not by crying, yelling or throwing tantrums - but by batting her eyelashes and sweettalking you into doing her bidding.

I saw her chatting up waiters (for ketchup - which is normally self service) , camera salesmen (whom she sweet talked into gifting her this camera cleaning bellow - like the kind one squeezes with hand (like this autorickshaw horn) to produce a gust of air - which sia found amusing) and even her tired looking 8 year old elder sister to play 'camera ' -all in a mix of not less than 4 languages.

Later....

Sia (dropping me at the airport): Aap kabhi aayenge next time. Kuch leke aayenge for me ? (the tilted chin and smile again)
mrs S: ##$#*&*& (Thai mostly)
Me: Very soon. U just see what il get you. :)
Sia: See mammi i told you, abhilash is my friend.
S: (smile and shake of head) iski tho aap kaafi thick dost ban gaya yaar - mere se bhi ithna baath karti nahin hai.

And i always thought i was such a whitewash with girls ;-

The Paragon

Whats the best shopping mall youve ever been to ?

Ive been to quite a few - Ones in dubai, in Europe, Singapore..a few others and of course the chickenshit ones in India.

My pick of the lot is the Amazing - Siam paragon - here in bangkok. (*** Update below)

It has its own train station, this HUGE multiplex, HUGE. 20+ screens / Imax / what not, A big aquarium on the ground floor, a food court with thousands of outlets, atleast 5 book stores - each have atleast twice the number of books at Landmark in Spencer, ULTRA cool sports car showrooms on the 4th floor - macerati, BMW, Porche, Lamborghini, a HUGE gym and a HUGE gourmet department store on the ground floor - (How many kinds of mushrooms do u know of ? I saw ATLEAST 50 kinds of them here)

I did one stupid thing and one super thoughtful thing today - i left my camera (stupid) and my wallet (super thoughtful) behind.

I put 300 bhat and some small change in my pocket when i left.

What can one do with 300 bhat at the amazing paragon - Eat this measly plate of Indian food and not have money left over to buy a bottle of water - And by the time i bought a 25 bhat return ticket to Asok - i had about 2 bhat left

- But with no wallet or dollars or tempt you - you can ogle all you want at pancakes, exotic fruit smoothies and 500 bhat special offers for Imax screenings of 'The day the earth stood still'

Please, PLEASE go here if you ever get the chance to visit these parts.

UPDATE:

I seem to have made a sweeping declaration all too soon.

Theres the Emporium (ive been going to it now for 3 years) - about 10 mins by foot from my Hotel which gives it a fair bit of competition. The thing with the emporium is that it has these MILLIONS of shops where you can ACTUALLY shop - like Clothes, bags and stuff.. cheap and like FLOODED with choice. The paragon is more,um, ritzy, shall we say?, stuff is more expensive there.

In the main entrance, every December, they put up these superb christmas declarations and invite school choirs (full of Attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome afflicted thai kids), conductor in tow - dressed in costumes - to belt out chirstmas carols - different choirs perform in slots / dates assigned to them and competition appears fierce - ADS seems to be affecting parents too - who wear santa hats and sing along with their kids in some cases. Quite a case study in human behaviorial patterns i guess - but very entertaining to watch.

The Emporium's Kinokuniya branch is amongst the best bookstores ive ever been to. Woodpanelled flooring, they even have displays for antique / collectors items type books - original handwritten stuff from T.S.Eliot - and stuff like that - some for display and some for sale. Kinokuniya of course has a fiercely loyal following from upmarket patrons of all ages & Expats - their children's section has the most amazing collection of comics from all around the world and brilliant picture books -and it is a common sight to see young parents sprawled on the wooden floors with toddlers - showing them all kinds of kiddie books.

Stuff

First - this REALLY nice thought. (Off Seth godin's blog here)

Quote

Confusing activity with action

Thing is, most of the stuff you do online doesn't cost money.

In the old days, money added friction. Money made you choosy. Money ensured that you valued your marketing efforts appropriately, because if they didn't work, they cost you money.

Today, reading and posting and linking and networking and connecting and commenting and podcasting and linkblurbling and doseedoing online all feel like essential marketing tasks. They certainly keep you busy.

But is the activity getting in the way of action?

Is the online work you're doing actually leading you where you want to go, or merely keeping you busy?

Dmitri calls this "imitation of turbulent activity" or ИБД, Имитация Бурной Деятельности.

Unquote

That is EXACTLY what i feel too.

How much more is more enough

Its like 12:30 at night here in bangkok but il complete this post and get back to washing clothes in the bathtub.

Conversation # 1 - Subjects Abhilash (A) & Mrs. S (this thai lady with PhD in pharmacology from UK and a big stud, bad ass boss of this BIG customer)

S: Hi Abhilash. How are you ? You havent come in a year. How are you? whats new ?

A: Hi Mrs.S! I am fine. Nice to see u looking so fine. All is well. I sent u the email about our COS getting listed...can we looked at the 500mg coated tablet project in more detail now ? because last time you preferred a listed COS (inspite of your country being in the same regulatory level as India and you buy CONTAINER LOADS of Non-COS grade - but still push for a COS grade - but prices revised DOWNWARD with every upgrade i bring to you)

S: yes yes. Good work abhilash. Now you have a COS - i need you to immediately run around and send me 10 kilos of DC, with full formulation evaluation data, and basic in vitro comparision with innovator product. T here will give you a sample bunch from our regular product. Then next year we'll take another step.

A: Right Mrs. S. Thank you so much. (F$#%#n C$#%, you rotten, sadist #$%##)

Conversation # 2 - Subjects Abhilash (A) & Mr.G (This big stud bizdev guy from a BIG listed Indian Pharma company)

G: Abhilash! Man! how are you? havent seen or heard from you in six months! Where hav u ben ? I told u to keep in touch or call me. You havent!
A: Hi Gji. I am sorry actually didnt want to bother you at all (I emailed u 2wice when u were in brazil - i was in brasil at the sametime too and i cud av used some help. Then i called u thrice in hyderabad - u did not answer ur freakin phone). Kya haal hai ?
G: Haalath kharab hai bhai. Not much going on. Tell me Abhilash, T tells me that youre doing great and hes been selling in 100,000s of $$ regularly. Badiya hai! Keep it up! Doosra product bhi banao. U need help, please tell me.
A: Right sir thanks so much. Actually we cud do a little better, u know, But im working on it.
G: So lets meet for dinner wherer ya stayin.
A: Rembrandt sir. Sukhumvit.. regular jagah pe. Room 1701.
G: Arre that place is bad man. I am at the Westin grand - in Silom. Its far from sukhumvit - i guess ul go crazy coming over. Lets meet in India. k?
(he breezes out)
T : Abhilashji, Gji sold something for 700,000 with Mrs.S's guys when you were chatting her up he's just pulling your leg about how much we are doing. So work harder. Mrs. S really likes you. You should get BE / Invitro/In vivo all done this year. When are you doing USFDA ?

(The westin grand charges 7000 bhat a night - about - 200 dollars - G is staying for a day - but hes booked for 2 days nonrefundable - He sells 700,000 every month - one product - one customer)

Conversation # 3 - Subjects Abhilash (A) & R(My cousin & soon to be daddy 0n the subject of my absence at his wife's seemandam on google talk)

R: Enda b#$#u. Enga da irukke !Mobile switched off varudhu.
A: Hi R. I am travelling i told u right. !? I had this really important appointment and a plant trial so i really had to come. im still here. Im in the hotel.
R: I specifically told you to come because K (his missus) told me - you havent ever met her brother and sister and all her batchmates from MMC. Uve met her exactly three times -( inspite of working out the next street )- since we got married like a year and half before and now we're having our first baby and we had this periya gathering. There was R, B, G, H, his sisters, why even your lazy brother dropped in. Nee seriyana waste fellow da. Oru vaaram kazhinzhu poyinrunda koranju poyirupiyo!
A: Ille da. Romba mukiyam adhaan.
R: $#%^$^ $#^$^#%&!$

Conversation#4: Email from R - this lazy ass QC guy at a big, bad paint factory in madras- whose purchase manager was a slave trader in his previous incarnation and now bullies suppliers with his old instincts.

Dear Abhilash,

ASOL 1001 of batch no.:1109808. In one of the barrel , half quantity of the resin is found in semisolid condition.We do not test all the barrels and hence this problem is not noticed initially. We added this defective material in one of the batch and 800ltrs of the paint batch is now held up because of bittiness in the finish.

There is 14000kgs from your last supply left and we really do not know what is happening at your end.

Kindly arrange to send your representative to observe the problem at our end. Please call tomorrow as i am unable to reach you on mobile.

[ This guy is supposed check each batch before use. I know for a fact that the other supplier's FULL last supply gelled in the drums because they left it in the sun or something and they are hving this awful fight and all - but still - he'll call and ask us about who is responsible for the end product that has failed etc. ]

Conversation#5: Email from C- This great girl who works for me in Uruguay. But could use some more grey cells up in her head.

Dear Abhilash, TOP URGENT???

Ref. yr attached email about Szabo problem - they found tablets of strange product with strange markings (Those are tablets made for testing the quality - but for some strange reason - my QC guy had the gall to pack a few in with the supply and scare the fuck out of the customer) inside the drums of the DC and reclaim every day for a concret explanation we could not inform nothing, for this reason, for avoid more problems with this customer we need yr maxim support on this matter and we expect yr urgent reply still during this week, because the next week the customer will be closed for christmas holidays.

We thanks in advance for yr urgent reply.

Bst rgds,
C

There are 100s of such things happening now every week, every month, every year. This raises a more fundamental question - What is all this for ? How much more is more enough ?

Any1 know some1 who'll pay me 30 grand a month at a 9 to 5 desk job ? I'l attend seemandams, weddings, watch movies every weekend or go to carnatic music concerts wearing studly kurtas.

Update

The old man's cronie, Zeenat ;- called in the morning, trying to broker peace - trying everything from 'spend a few more days in bangkok' (How lame!) to 'your poor dad is not feeling well' to 'what did u have for dinner'

When I only gave her monosyllabic replies and non-committal grunts - then she put the old man on - who proceeds to ask me this that and if i spoke with any1 last night, order book for January etc. - as if we had this pally stroll through natesan park all of yesterday evening.

ha, What nerve!

More...on the last one

I have quite a bit of work to get through after this - cleaning up, packing up and stuff - i but i think a few minutes on this will be worth the effort.

[ Sidetrack# I am reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen confidential: Adventures in the culinary underbelly - an absolutely gorgeous read if ever there was one. Its a kind of autobiography, cook book and a sort of mini book on management.]

Back to the main theme - i think - with reference to the old post below - my old man has been essentially trying to tell / teach me what Anthony Bourdain is trying to say in one of his chapters - relevant text typed out here to make more sense:

" I can break down line cooks in to three subgroups:

You've got your artists: The annoying, high-maintenance minority. This groups includes specialists, butchers, garde-manger psychos, the occasional saucier whose sauces are so ethereal and perfect that delusions of grandeur are tolerated.

Then there are exiles : People who cant make a living in any other business, could never survive 9 to 5 jobs, wear a tie or blend in with the civilized society - and their comrades

Finally, there are the mercenaries: People do it for cash, do it professionally and do it well. Cooks who, though they have little love or natural proclivity for cuisine, do it at a high level because they are paid well to do it - and because they are professionals.
Cooking is a craft i like to think, and a good cook is a craftsman - NOT - an artist.

Theres nothing wrong with that : the great cathedrals of Europe were built by craftsmen - though not designed by them. Practicing your craft in expert fashion is noble, honorable and satisfying. "

It what my dad keeps saying - mildly most of the time - severely at times like today (with a nice dose of sarcasm) - truely sucessful business people have always been people who are people with lesser knowledge of the wider world, people who dream less, people who sit on their arses all day at routine day jobs and practice their craft with consistency and discipline.

Nowadays thats what he says all the time - sit down, work at more fundamental aspects of the business like systems, infrastructure - etc. - the trouble started when i send him a big email giving list of plant requirements / deficiency analysis of our plants vis-a-vis - ANVISA/COFEPRIS requirements (they are the FDA equivalents of Brasil and Mexico) and giving him information that i received from the consultant - he wants me to bring my ass down there and do it myself. He said something like: "Easy to write up an email in one night. It takes more than knowing to get what u ask done. We'll see, wont we ? "

I guess i should save the dreamer's hat for special occasions and try and learn to be a craftsman.

But seriously, i have some advice for any dreamy, hyperactive, distraction prone young person who wants join the family business - especially if the business is not like pyramidal, fully manager run companies like Godrej or Tata or something - you ought to be prepared for a really rough ride.

Be strong. Be patient and be prepared to HATE your normally docile, friendly old man - whos suddenly turned into Colonel Jessep :)

Pretty depressed

Earlier today, I got this absolutely viscious, caustic tongue-lashing - gaali and all - on phone - from the old man - and officially now i am making it my life's mission to cover his face in egg, soot and whatever.


The thing is - for more years that ive been alive - hes been used to doing things his way and mostly hes turned out right - Now he loves to sadistically rub in any old slip up / mistakes when hes in full swing with this rant - he calls my computer names, he calls me names, calls my customers names... asks me what i do all day and all night long in office.. etc.


I think he gets majorly uncomfortable if i stay out of madurai for extended periods of time or something. Maybe hes just plain old and has a blood pressure problem to add to his existing attitude problem!


My existing complex gets compounded when such things happen. I am not sure he realizes how emotionally fragile his offspring can be. Hes sure to call me at night and il fucken not answer the phone. Serves him right -the stubborn old cynic!

Then il be abroad rest of the week and send him emails addressing him as "Mr. Narayanan" and he can curse and rant all he likes.

I wonder if every1 has so much trouble with parents!

Political Jokers !? ROTFL

Read this - Apparently a Sri Lankan Army chief called all TN politicians 'Political Jokers' in the pay of the LTTE. LOL

And all of the gang are now up in arms claiming that some 'outsider' has no right to comment etc. -

Some of the regulars ('the alleged Jokers ;-' ) from TN who comment on Sri Lankan affairs / Make Pro LTTE remarks etc. are 'outsiders' in the Sri Lankan context - No ? They ought to keep their noses out of this - we're much too close - there really cant be any spillover of any incidents into India - bad for everyone.

Staying on with the 'political jokers' theme - when in the last week or so when all the DMK honchos announced their patch up with the Sun TV gang citing 'Mana Maatram' as reason - amma, with an amused expression - on JayaTV said - 'Manamaatramaa, illai panamaatrama ? :)'

I dunno who'll answer for the few blokes who got lynched at the Dinakaran office - their fault being the fact that they got in between internal crossfire. I am pretty sure too that no one ever got convicted for that incident.

Some world we seem to be living in!

Disturbing stuff

Read this and cringe

The lone terrorist arrested apparently told police that they use Google Earth to study geo layouts and its apparently explicit that they were trained in pakistan.

Im imagining a scenario where some1 carries out an attack of similar scale in America or for that matter in China or in Europe and then it gets revealed that the blokes involved are trained in Pakistan - They would go into a state of war with pakistan - wont they ? - I havent a SHRED of doubt - they would go to war - the next moment.

Why do i get this sinking feeling that we'll (or a coalition of nations) be at war with Pakistan in the near future - its probably the most popular thing for some government in India to do anyway - Heres something here - about all the Government bashing thats going on in Bombay and all around the country -

If there are a couple more sparks and if all diplomacy fails - thats pretty much the ONLY way Congress can hope to get reelected.

Theres this article about 'South Asia's Deadly Domino effect - Here - it concludes like this:

'' The Mumbai terrorists “wanted to create a problem for the whole region, because they knew this could radicalize the population more.” But, he said, none of that has to happen — if the Indian government resists the domestic pressure to hit back at Pakistan. It would be too much, to start a war just to keep a government in place.''

If ONLY things quieten down from here- just a FEW more sparks - diplomatic or otherwise - and India' government WONT sit by and be accused of not acting - and there will be this godawful border tension - there will be troops taken out of western pakistan and brought to the Indian fronts -

Our generation (born after 1980) havent really seen big Indo-Paki wars and stuff - But basic ramifications from such incidents will leave - fundamental ones / religious tolerance related ones

I remember a telecon with a friend couple of days back - he was saying crap like 'Basic islamic stuff is all wrong / radical teaching is corrupting muslim minds / religious tolerance is going too far now in India etc.' - i am often accused of pussyfooting around the issue - adopting a fake 'ever tolerant, pseud - pragmatic, non-confrontational stance' - but seriously i cant muslim-bash at all - its plain stupid - heck, there are more muslims in India than in pakistan for pete's sake

With stuff like Citibank, GM, Most US job losses in a century - things can only go from bad to worse if theres war.

*Sigh* all so worrying.

Right!

im attempting a french beard and im now going back to - 'Hierarchy of beards': Evolutionary history of facial fur' on Boing Boing (a subscription of which comes HIGHLY recommended) and this close up of the beard catalogue - to try and visualize myself in one of those dos when im like 60 or something.

Busy DND ;-

Funny pic

Batobama & Robidden

(Bonus: Palin as Catwoman and geriatrix as The Penguin)

LOL

Image credit here

Read of the day

Here

From another perspective, such 'Living in the moment' sounds like such a blessing :)

Pics from yesterday's gateway rally

Here. are pictures from yesterday's rally where lots of mumbaikars showed up - holding a lot of anti government stuff.

Sometimes i always wonder if Government bashing in India is almost all too easy - calling cops chors, traffic cops as corrupt, tax officials, ministers etc. - but somehow with the number of people and the amount of strain they put on the governmental resources - the fact that its functioning without a state of anarchy is itself a big deal -

and after all, elected officials are just like glorified common people - mostly powerless to change how the governmental's systems function. They just get into their portfolios after election, fit right into the existing system - the corruption and all.
All violence happens when some1 feels insecure/threatened - the easiest way to promote tolerance / reduce extremism is to spread economic prosperty, gradually professionalize the governmental machinery.

Staying on in the same theme - Thomas Friedman says - In the context of Pakistan's reaction to the whole thing -

Quote:

On Feb. 6, 2006, three Pakistanis died in Peshawar and Lahore during violent street protests against Danish cartoons that had satirized the Prophet Muhammad. More such mass protests followed weeks later. When Pakistanis and other Muslims are willing to take to the streets, even suffer death, to protest an insulting cartoon published in Denmark, is it fair to ask: Who in the Muslim world, who in Pakistan, is ready to take to the streets to protest the mass murders of real people, not cartoon characters, right next door in Mumbai?
......
We know from the Danish cartoons affair that Pakistanis and other Muslims know how to mobilize quickly to express their heartfelt feelings, not just as individuals, but as a powerful collective. That is what is needed here.

Unquote

One cannot decribe this concept any better. The full articles is of course on his blog here

I do regular business with Pakistanis - they speak hindi - and most of them are no different from the typical North Indian person - maybe the hindi is too correct - but im sure they too, as they often tell me when we meet in European fairs - hope that all the internal violence and animosity between India / Pakistan can end and they can do productive work - they agree that their political system is corrupt - and there are constant security hassles in Pakistan.

I guess for pakistan its a bit of an internal grappling to get through - getting rid of the corruption / weak government (in a way, Musharraf was kind of sucessful) - and when that gets strong - they have the muscle to give the radical/madrassa types a firm shove or two -

Um, a really rad letter

QUOTE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amit Gangapurkar <amitgangapurkar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Subject: Fw: Editor - Times of india

To:
LETTER TO PRIMEMINISTER

Dear Mr. Prime minister,

I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that.Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed.

Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India.Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima. We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb.

You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn't it?I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money.

Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn't it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison.

I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn't even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.

Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holder. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?

PLEASE READ N FORWARD AS MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR CONTACT

UNQUOTE

Holy moly! The guy sure sounds peeved!

I have to admit though - most part of this rant kind of makes sense - no ?

2008 - Lesson of the year

Little knowledge is a dangerous thing - is wrong.

The more one knows, the more one yearns for, the more one is like 'oh my god, oh my god, this, that, whos doing this, whos doing that, this book, that place-' and more one tends to get pressurized and eventually one turns bitter, psyched and starts drifting.

These days it should be Little Excessive knowledge is a dangerous thing - and while i hate to admit it - the old man is right again.

-The point can be illustrated thusly - i would probably feel like the king of the world if i had no knowledge of this, this, this, this (and this) and all the various tidbits of info that endlessly rain down my laptop daily - constantly asking myself why i havent done this, been there, have this etc.

During his own quarter life crisis - My dad only read the day's newspaper at night after getting back from work, there was no TV until the 80s - and he confesses that the only exotic actresses he could ogle at were from Hindi cinemas - but his trips to theatres were so few and far between that he could never (till date) tell the difference between Zeenat Aman and Dimple kapadia - he thought they all probably looked a bit like my mother [ :) ] - when they had first met - when she was all of 20 years of age and he, a few years older.

Until the time like when i was born - he had been to madras a handful of times, to bombay even fewer times and isnt really sure if he ever had been to other places and he was like 6 years older than i am today - he says, 'tut - tut'ting all the time - that now, while i am all of 24 years of age, my first passport is out of pages, a few of the second one's are gone , that i whine like an old woman and that i have a 'haunted' look on my face - all because i worry / think / meddle in too many things.

Hes bloody right, i say.

I tried calling him an hour ago - my mom (aka zeenat) says he's asleep - while i fight off any sleep - worry about what to biography to start reading - Andy Grove's or Warren Buffett's, refresh inbox a few times per second, chatting with half-crazy latin americans on MSN and 'constantly spoil my eyes' as he wud say.

*Sigh*

Thanni party tonight

After swatting flies all through the weekend - i receive an email from EDQM today saying that our Metformin's DMF is now approved for registration and sale in the EU.

It took me a lot of effort this one - over 2 years - and when it wasnt coming as planned on 10 Nov - i was getting jittery - a lot of professional pride, money and effort riding on it.

But now - its 'Thanni party' tonight (I told my mother about the thanni party and she laughs saying theres enough thanni in Madras already. She says that im not capable of having anything to do with getting drunk. Ha! what does she know ?)

Here, ha!

Photo

How long has it been since Titanic ? It was in 1997 / 98 i guess.

11 years is a bloody long time :) - i guess somethings have gotten better - Like Kate and Leo. They look gorgeous together, dont they ?

(p.s This is from a New flick thats coming out Here. Image credit - the same place as the link)

Crickey!

Someone googled ' "barkha butt" bitch' and landed up on my site.

Good lord!

I am going to be sued by NDTV and put into primetime slots by CNN-IBN :)

**Hmm. My site is not really amongst the top results when one actually googles like that. But i appear safe on the legal front - there are people who appear to have said much more. :-)

I hate this template. HATE it. But too lazy to tweak it - lets see.

Hmpf. Now I like it. So im keeping it.

T Nagar is beginning to resemble the everglades ( - minus the alligators, i guess) like they say here and because i dont own a boat - - iam pretty much marooned at home -

All thanks to Nisha - (as theyve godawfully named this storm thing) - so i am chumma ambling online - answering the phone - trying to bring myself into mood to do some work - but with our office called off today - we're on the weekend already.

My trade fair in Bombay scheduled to start today has been called off - so there nothing really in terms of daily chores to do - but a good chance to get through pending, long, boring gigs that need concentration (and sadly, also,the Mood - as ive come to realize)

For the past hour or so ive been:

- munching on semi frozen aloo methi

- Listening to this song far too many times to not to mention it. Such a nice song - such a RIDICULOUS video :)

- Trying to write code to publish my bit of telescopic fiction : An illustration is, of course, here (ps. click on all the orange bits of text) [ Courtesy: This guy ]. But i cant get it to work. :(

- Trying to get in an entry to this contest. LOL

- Trying to complete a bit of my review of 'The white tiger' - i wont. I erased the draft and put it in here instead: Here -

"" I guess Adiga did not write with the booker in mind - so we wont blame him - but this book also adds to my long held belief that prize winning books are, more often than not, disappointments.

That said - the book - after the 'booker monkey' is taken off its back - is quite interesting to read, albeit being based on a cliche'd theme - and it being long winded and aimless towards the end.

The narration has been handled brilliantly - and i loved Balram's language - 'half baked indian', 'pinky madam', 'the stork/buffalo', 'dipping beaks' and the likes.

But its a kind of surreal look at the Indian scenario - i read a lot of reviews written by Firang types - and they say it captures the 'indianness' 'real india is revealed' etc. - all crap.

Adiga would have gotten a bit of a pat on his back from me for the sheer wit, entertainment value of the book.

But then he said this : " Where this Shining India everyone’s talking about? It was time someone broke the myth,” and this “The world needed to see the other side of India"

- Now, thats bad and wrong dude - coming from some NRI type guy who hasnt been in India during his formative years (as this says).

Closing comments: The White tiger is a very entertaining read.Nothing more. And as for the booker, i wont be fucken suprised if blokes like him wins one next for ridiculously light stuff like "The 3 mistakes of my life". Period.

""

Maybe il fucken write "Autobiography of a half baked indian" (à la, Balram halwai) and try for a Man Booker :)

- Now, i read this - and i cant help but feel that i ought to slap Barkha dutt's face a few times. She, even Rajdeep sardesai, and one other Shiv (or somename like that) guy from another news channel - are the worst journalists i know. Even normally, i HATE the type of 'hi iam a bitch and il do anything do my story. Il jut into the middle of every comment u make during my interview' kind of attitude in a journalist. Its ok if ur doing a show like Hardtalk or Karan Tapar's Devil's advocate - but for primetime news, christ!

Its awfully boring -but nothing a quick trudge down to the bookstore wont remedy -

More Palin bashing

Two OUTRAGEOUSLY funny articles:

a) The Sarkozy prank call transcript: Here

b) The 11 dumbest things Sarah Palins ever said : Here (See numbers 9, 10 and 11 - especially)

Wow !

This photo is hereby officially declared as my serendipitous discovery of the month :)

WOW

More

Shit happens

In the last 10 hours - 3 of my 10 largest clients cancelled the rest of the year's supplies - citing recession and their own cancelled orders as reasons - and i now officially sit on - i dunno - quite a few container loads of expensive stuff for which i have to find new takers.

Europe officially entered a recession, the US consumer confidence is at its ALL TIME LOW (since 1967, when it was started), Latin american currencies - The Reai, The Peso - have depreciated 25% - 35% in the last 2 months - Public health organizations - about 80% of the market in Latin america - have cancelled orders, stopped buying

My chinese supplier who normally makes 2000 tons a month - sold only 300 ton last month - so hes throwing material right, left and center to get rid of his stocks - but still finds no takers.

Crude oil went from 160 to what, 56 !? :) - Xylene went from 65 to 45 - Methanol from 28 to 14 - Pthalic anhyride from 70 to 35 - i can cite one thousand such cases -

One should visualize the scenario like being in one helluva party and suddenly one guy comes in (imagine a chinese guy, for good measure) with a sack of shit and throws it up into the ceiling fan - the shit hits the fan - and every1 gets a bit of it on their faces - and every1 runs like hell to take cover - but the room is bolted from outside.

Indians blame chinese, chinese blame americans, americans blame i dunno who - but its a once in a lifetime, extremely viscious incident- the pace of onset of it - and how it spread like a contagion to every corner of the globe - so quickly - is quite incredible. Lots of lessons to be learnt !

I complete 24 years of existence with tonight - Happy Birthday to me - one helluva partys is on in this shitstorm :)

Vaaranam Aayiram - Review

I saw my first theatre movie yesterday night - in 8/9 months - and my first tamil movie in, i dunno, a year and a half (Sivaji was the last one) - and my first movie in Madurai - since, i dunno, 'The World is Not Enough' - which came out back when i was in School or something :)

I wasnt particularly jobless - but with all the hype surrounding the movie - and the theatre being a mere 5 min walking distance from home - brother & I - and then a cousin - decided to take the plunge -

Gautam Menon's : Vaaranam Aayiram - [ ahem, it technically belongs to Dayanidhi Azhagiri as was evident all over in Madurai - i heard 9 theatres are running 5 shows - with no other movie shown - talk about muscling :) ]

First thing - it deserves a review - it reminds me of some of my own 1 year or 2 year projects - where a lot of thought, planning & all of one's talents are deployed with a lot of care, painstaking effort - but somehow the end results come out as a fleeting glance of what the real possibilities could have been - what future possibilties exist - brilliant in some segments, so-so in a lot of others - an overall Grade of 3.5+/5

- maybe money constraints, maybe something else went wrong during filming, i dunno -

I actually saw a segment of - what turned out to be the 'Anjale Anjale' song - being shot in Elliots beach - back in 2006 - when me and C were taking a stroll at some ungodly hour over there - the segment which had guys on bikes waving their arms or something - came on screen for like, 2 seconds - and i am certain that it was shot for atleast 4 hours - i can certain understand now - how hard it must be to make a living from the movies.

Okay - the review -

The biggest setback for the movie is that the dialogue writing / screenplay is like total pseud/fake sounding - when the story is about some educated middle class tamil family starting somewhere in 1980 or 1985 - one does not expect mom & dad to say 'i love you' every other line, the son says 'daddy, i miss you. i love you', 'i made love' etc. and almost 40% of the dialogue in English - it takes off some of the impact the visuals create.

Ah, the visuals - 5/5 - the filming is technically superb, the small moments of brilliance in some of the Romantic scenes - background score - some bits of action - There are segments where Surya does guitar + vocal recitals of old hindi tamil songs, real nicely crafted

- the casting is superb - Sameera the babe [She has a future, this one ;)], surya's family, priya's character - all do their job 110% - they cant really be blamed if their script calls on them to say things like "Mom! I love her mom!" "Hi darling! i will come and sweep you off your feet" "Son! Do what your heart tells you", ugh! - Surya does a superlative job with all the characters he portrays - the Abs and all - he cant be blamed if his character as the old man had really sloppy make up on.

- The music - it easily is the Tamil album of the year (and it has been a good year!) - and it naturally makes it that much more hard to make videos that live up to the hype - Mundinam Paarthen - shot in a sort of Retro style - is the pick of the lot - all other songs show up abruptly and makes it that wee bit irritating

Closing comments -

Worth a watch - definitely different from most normal Kollywood fare - Gautam Menon ought to learn a thing or two from folks like ManiRatnam, Farhan Akhtar, Ashutosh Gowariker - Style, class and sophistication dont just come from slick filming, army fatigues, romancy segments and pseud-daddy, i love you- type dialogues - I dont remember even ONE out of place English dialogue in films like Aayuda Ezhuthu, Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya or Swades - all 4.5 / 5 movies (They all had english dialogues all through - but none out of place)

- when this realization sinks in - Gautam will probably hire a more down to earth dialogue writer - stop lip syncing music videos ( play them like background scores i guess or skip them from the movie) - and concentrate on the rest of the stuff he does so well.

With parents out of town, brother delivering babies all day (he take pictures of all these teeny piglet type babies he takes care of/or helps deliver and proudly uploads them every other day) and with this huge house with 5 or 6 doors to lock up every night / servants to let in at 6 am - i dont particularly look forward to this weekend - but weekend it is. *sigh*

I feel terrible, its 00:45 am - and i might have botched up a 400,000 dollar contract - OR - my move might have sorted out a nagging channel problem and give me a leg up AND the 400,000 gig - its still hanging

I have a really bad feeling about this - on top of this - im terribly tired, sleepy and feel fucked up and my mom called me a -get this- 'psycho' during dinner today. Maybe i am one!

It also reminds me about strictly following the rule of not emailing anything sensitive after midnight or when im too sleepy to be sober

I feel awful ! Somebody cheer me up!

The Curious case of Benjamin button

' The Curious case of Benjamin button ' - starring Brad Pitt - based on an old short story by F Scott Fitzgerald - the story of a guy who is born old and ages backwards - the trailer looks yum!

- I have in the past blogged about a book i have - Confessions of Max Tivoli - a novel by some debutante author - although i remember thinking that concept was great but the book too garrulous and winding.

Trailer (This is the nicer, longer version with dialogues)
A full piece about the movie : here

"Life can only be understood backward..but must be lived forward"

Not so many movies that one looks forward to these days - but heres one, it releases this christmas - and i swear il watch this one in a theater - and NOT on Emirates or Lufthansa.

Something interesting.

Assume that I got hold of, subsequently validated and going to shortly manufacture something for which a patent was filed by the first producer already [ Incidentally, i know them as customers and i actually know the main author of the application personally i speak to him once a month]

It is like a formulation technique, special ingredient kind of thing really. Like making a standard end product X - which is like specially formulated to give desired effects using so and so technique, so and so special ingredients etc. - all details beautifully written down in the patent application.

Crudely put - im just making a copy of what the guys already done - and do what we Indians do best (as my pakistani friends always say) - screw the inventor's price on cheaper costs, backward integration etc.

Those issues are secondary really - I am going to go with manufacturing it anyways - but i really am wondering about a few things:

a) Who the heck is going to know - just based on the end product - about what protocol went into making it ? Who can stop me from making it ? I certainly cant think of any customers who are regular buyers who'll care two hoots for who invented the process.

b) Isnt the guy actually better off not patenting the stuff (thereby keeping all the details quiet and secret in his own factory etc.) - especially if the end product is not something thats patented - its just like a formula to make, say, paint - you cant patent the paint - but when you file for it - you are patenting the technique of adding X additive etc. stuff, in my opinion should be kept quiet.

Isnt his act of actually filing for a patent - thereby attempting to protect his intellectual property - actually becoming like a counter productive act ?

I , as amongst, say, a handful of people worldwide who can benefit from this free bit of knowledge - seriously dont understand how this whole patenting thing really works - especially in this context - all companies in question are Indian - the patent was filed in the centralized EU/US format with the Patents office in Geneva.

Maybe its different in the US - i really dont know. But its a basic thing here - that im asking about really - isnt it ?

*Yawn* maybe i am not educated enough :)

Motivation

Heres something iam nicking shamelessly from Hari mama's status message on Google talk :

"Motivation can take the form of a goal or girl, dream or team, destiny or history, but in most cases, for most men and women it takes the form of a simple 11th hour crisis.... "

How bloody true :) - This is probably like how 99% of my motivation comes

( i wonder where he got this one from...)

Have have been assigned new job responsibilities - Im sort of in the middle of the boot camp - first time in nearly 10 years - i have been sleeping before 11 (out of exhaustion) and waking up earlier than 6 for more than 7-8 days in a row.

Two completely unrelated thoughts:

a) The kinds of things happening with the world today with currency crises, price fluctuations, stock market troubles etc. - is not just stuff that usually comes in the papers about Russian soldiers selling their uniforms outside the Red square or AIDS in somalia - its big, maybe once in a lifetime kind of thing for many people and is having far reaching consequences for what one does for a living in a rural place in tamilnadu. Time for caution and a lot of introspection.

b) One must really learn spanish - theres a large part of Latin America - very receptive, much more conducive to business than ever before - its probably going to be a thing to watch out for as a business theme in the next decade.

*Yawn*

Doonesbury calls the US Presidential elections

Theres the Doonesbury strip for publication after the election - Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau, that is) has called the US presidential elections already. Some newspapers are reluctant to take a chance and schedule the strip, in case its prediction is wrong. Here’s how Trudeau supposedly responded:

Newspapers should run the strip because “Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight.com is now giving McCain a 3.7% chance of winning -- pretty comfortable odds. ... Here's the way I look at it: If Obama wins, I'm in the flow and commenting on a phenomenon. If he loses, it'll be a massive upset, and the goofy misprediction of a comic strip will be pretty much lost in the uproar. I figure I can survive a little egg on my face. There’s a greater risk that their presses will break down on election day. So I’ve been encouraging editors to choose hope over fear. And reminding them that if I’m wrong, it’ll be my face that’ll be covered with egg, not theirs.”

More:

>> Heres " India's all important Obama Endorsement "

>> A photo of the incumbent first family. Its kind of powerful, this image - an all black First family of the US of A. Its probably as big a historical milestone as the bringing down of the berlin wall or September 11.

Gd luck obama!

[See im calling it too :) ]

Democratization of personal genetics

Look at whats just got democratized :)

Ever heard of 23andme ?

For backgrounds go here, here, and (**) here.

(** Super)

Heck, even Esther Dyson is involved!

What the fuck am i doing writing up stone age business plans to manufacture paints, chemicals and the likes ! Wheres the world going to !?

Little things about life

Two separate things i chanced across today - some article remembering Christopher Reeve - who as all of us know - got involved in a horrific accident which paralyzed him from the neck down - while he was at the peak of his popularity, prowess - then a second bit of information about Paul Nurse (scroll to the bottom of the linked page for the relevant info) - the Nobel prize winning British Mol.biologist - who discovered - at the age of 57 that the lady who he thought was his sister was actually his Mother - it was hidden from him from the beginning.

In this context - imagine going along with your daily chores, living each day recklessly like theres no tomorrow - then if suddenly something unexpected, profoundly life changing happens - like getting involved in an accident, getting diagnosed with some life threatening disease, losing a close family member, discovering something shocking - like Paul Nurse did

- how mentally tough one must be to take it as it comes and get on with life - and how precious & important it is to live a balanced life, take care of one's health, relieve stress from aging parents etc.

I can hear content snoring from across the hallway and i cant help but wonder how blessed & darned lucky i really am - and how - as much as it is a blessing - it is that much of a responsibility towards getting into a more healthy, stress-free, stable, balanced, predictable pattern of life.

Second innings

Nothings been published on this new blog yet. But i had been contemplating archiving my old blog (which is 200 odd posts long & 5 years old -) in another name and get a new one started - and keep posts non personal (in terms of details at least) & general in nature. The old one remains - archived in another name. Might make interesting reading sometime :)

Uh, here it is. (yeah the templates all crappy and all - but will sort it out soon)

Season's Greetings, everyone!

UPDATE: Ive actually merged the old blog and new one together - and get on with it. The old one reads funny now. The new one even funnier :x - so WTF. They all belong together.

Rain

Did i ever mention it before - i HATE rain - especially the 24x7, nagging kind. Before i jumped ship yesterday - Parts of T Nagar had joined the Titanic & Atlantis under the abyss - most of GN Chetty road was missing - Just imagine - whats left is just a bunch of holes & stones - the road is just washed away.

VERY interesting

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e7/48529.htm

Its an official transcript of a conversation between Henry Kissinger & Richard Nixon - and the subject -Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Indians - somewhere around 1970 i think - they refer to her as 'bitch' several times - Indians are referred to as 'bastards' atleast once - and the whole conversation reads like a script from one of those gripping White House/Thriller type movies where every one bangs on the table and say stuff like 'goddammit' 'bastards' 'i'l hang their asses out to dry' etc.

I understand even the president of the United states & his Secretary are human beings and will swear in private - I dunno what kind of clowns will actually release these old transcripts anyways ! - Kissinger must be like 90 years old now - i dont think hes dead yet - but whats the point now in getting these released now !?

Imagine Kalainger Karunanidhi and his progeny sitting around the table after dinner and showering Jayalalitha with the choicest of epithets ! :) My oh my - will be quite an earful with Stalin, Azhagiri and their ilk !

Prof. Krugman

Well heres someone every reader of The Hindu looks at daily - Prof Paul Krugman - theres his column on the Hindu every day syndicated from the New York times.

Ive always been a follower, and subscribe to his NY times blog : http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Hes one of those guys like Thomas Friedman - who are are original, widely travelled and are their work is always extremely lucid & is as insightful, informative as it is simple.

In case you arent aware - Prof Krugman won this year's Nobel Prize in economics for "New trade theory" - and heres the post from his blog explaining the concept - heres a student's pictorial illustration of this theory's crux - its oversimplified - but it still is alright

Show me one Nobel Laureate - from any discipline - whos as hip, current and able to explain his Nobel prize winning work as simple as Krugman :)

A lot of people say -Krugman won his Nobel partly because of the global meltdown & his subsequent, continuing coverage of it & the impact / relevance his theory has on the current scenario - hes amongst the most respected voices who write on a daily basis on the global situation.

{ Related reading: The EXTREMELY well written - The Lexus and the Olive Tree - by Thomas.L.Friedman . I have 2 copies and one is for sale ;) if there are takers }

The last month or so - id always been meaning to get myself a copy of The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - recommended by a friend, and being centered around a very interesting subject, i nearly picked it up the last time i was at the bookstore - but wasnt prepared to be riddled with something mentally demanding - so decided to pick it up the next time - It won the Booker yesterday - now i guess the prints'll get cheaper :)

This is what i ended up with as a 'light read' from the pirated book vandi - its called - hold your breath - 'Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging' - it is amongst the chicklitest from the pick of the chicklit genre i guess - it took about an hour and half i guess to get through - and i dont recall anything from it today.

Look at this- the author's next book is called : 'Its OK - I am wearing really big knickers' -

Iam keeping up with my sema reading standard i guess :)

Lots of work these days in general - time consuming, boring - but no real option - life is always like that, eh?

I think within the next month or so - i am going to be here - for a week

Its a great place, i hear. We'll see - wont we ?

Worst week EVER for the Sensex and Nifty

http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/local-markets/worst-weekly-performance-for-sensex-nifty-ever/13/38/360464

I checked my portfolio (Otha - Long term, value principle based, scientifically built up - portfolio) - which has been largely been unattended in the last few months - and i havent seen a bigger mess in my lifetime. I instinctively feel up my pants - to see if i can have my chuddi left - i guess its still there.

I think we've lost more money than what we made in the last 2 years on the portfolio - i should be feeling guilty, stupid and fucked up - strangely i feel detached, helpless and kind of numb

Theres something wrong with my life and all thats happening in it - i cant quite put a finger on it yet

Iam contemplating turning into a big time alcoholic or something - like in the movies - i wonder if it will help :)

Interesting thing

P - a friend from school - and I spoke on the phone today (I never had thick friends from school anyways - but he was one of the nicer ones - We used to sit on the bench together back in class IX when we met first - we took tuitions together, study together - take the same school bus - watched movies together taking permission from parents and all - we were friends till we left for colleges outside town and then we lost touch)

He was home for a break from some MBA course for Puja - and now he lives like a 10 minute walk from our place - so i took the walk and visited him today - the guy hasnt changed that much - he claims that i speak different, look different..- remember this is like after 8 years -

What struck me as odd after i got back - after about 15 mins of small talk - i cant fucken think of anything to talk about with the guy - we finally asked each other about the other kids we used to be with - half of whom i dont remember - and the rest i havent heard of in many years - so it was mostly him telling me stuff and me saying "oh him" "oh him" "oh okay"

Now i have nothing against the guy nor is there anything wrong with him - but i bring this up because i guess its something a guy like me always has to think of - to spend time, effort and develop a consistency in approach when making, retaining friends & social ties - its like moving from one phase of life to another - burning bridges as you go along - not really keeping any1 else along

Maybe i have a different sort of life - maybe every1 has this problem with old friends and stuff - but i am kind of worried if i have a bigger problem - i even remember one time about 6 months before - some guy from college called me up and was like chatting with me - and me thinking "fuck! I dunno what to say to him"

It'll be interesting to see what other people feel in this context (especially those living single, adult lives - and working - not studying or something)

Sema Song

Are you tired, bored, lonely and feeling hopeless ?

Listen to this

I know i make it read like an ad for Vicks vaporub :) - but it actually is a link to this lovely song -Mundinam Paarthen - from Vaaranam Aaiyiram - the new Gautam Menon flick.

Some ass i met last week told me that is sounded a lot like one of George Micheal's songs - but hey who gives a $#%@ - when you have some1 singing as good as him and a chick as yum as her featured in the song ;)

One of those songs which makes me so goddamn proud that Im tamil - Remember to pay attention to the lyrics when you listen.

(If the Youtube quality isnt gr8 - send me an email and il send an mp3)

Frankfurt > Part II

Back to horrible weather in chennai - dry, dusty, sunny, muggy and rainy all on the same day !!

The other day, back in Frankfurt - i did manage a nice bus tour, followed by a quiet stroll around the old part of town - Old frankfurt - along the River Main - called Frankfurt am Main (- contrary to what i was told to expect -) was wonderfully european and photogenic - where stunning century old gothic cathedrals clutter around tall gleaming glass towers, modern buildings - a kind of a great blend of the traditional and the modern.

I spent a particularly wonderful hour loitering about the Römer - its surrounding shopping streets, cafes and the imposing views of Frankfurt's modern skyline all around it

- Standing by the Romer's main square you are like a stone's throw from St.Katherine's cathedral - the St. Paul's church visible nearby - all with the River Main running nearby - with the imposing Commerzbank tower and the Main tower (amongst Europe's tallest buildings) clearly visible in the backdrop.

So-so photos here (Theres no commentary yet - maybe later on)

Frankfurt > Oct 2008

Arbeit zieht Arbeit nach sich
[German Proverb - Translation: "Work involves, well, work" ]

I am in Frankfurt (Frankfurt am main) Germany since the Monday - spending working hours at the Messe - and the nights hanging around / meeting old customers in sports bars in the old part of town - Niederrard - and other places just near the Messe -

Small place, frankfurt, really - much of the financial sector / big offices of the Banks/services/i banks etc are in just within,say, a 2 square kilometer area downtown - its all glass, gleam and American style, tree lined avenues.

The other actual life - for much of the working folks is spread out - pretty much like France i guess - in small communities within, say, a 50 mile radius or so - all connected by gleaming autobahns, zippy trains, trams and pakistani cabbies driving top of the line Mercs. [ Taxis cost like from 3-4 Euros minimum to like 40 Euros for a 50 mile ride ]

Costs in Germany are *suprise* lower than french or UK costs - in terms of rooming, travelling - well atleast not higher definitely. 2/3 Euros for Burgers and the likes, about 10 Euros for like full orders even at pricey places like tradefair grounds - the bars i went to with customers both my previous nights were pretty cheap - like 3 euros for big orders - 1.30/1.50 euro for drinks etc - cheaper than the Uk definitely.

The biggest surprise for me was how wrong my perception was about German people i guess - i know a lot of germans - some of them behave / at least reputedly so - like pricks - they speak loudly, rudely, have ugly, dirty teeth :) - they have a pretty serious Language problem with English - I have spent a day in the past once at Dusseldorf - where i remember we had trouble finding taxis etc.

Frankfurters are warm, jovial and nearly every1 - Hotels, taxis, hostesses / the girls who work in shops and stuff, bar maids - speak, well, good english. I chatted with several people - it appears that frankfurt was the central base for american forces in Europe after world war II - to until recently - that - and that frankfurt also is home to lot of asians - pakistanis mostly - so it is reasonably mutlicultural.

I went into Mannheim / Ludwigshafen - the other day - its about an hour's drive from Frankfurt - just driving around - and mostly indoors meeting people - It is probably THE most important chemical industry center in the whole world - BASF employs, like, 60,000 people or something in just this one site (Ludwigshafen). Wow ! - Germany is a shining example of how manufacturing has gone High tech and efficient - costs are rising everywhere in the world - but German manufacturing has gone from one level of efficiency to another - and i am sure in like 5-10 years - Germany will be so advanced & India/China so expensive that there will again be a bullish case for manufacture inside Germany.

All in all - i am having a ball here - works wonderful - because im very relaxed and did not do hectic appointments - i am getting a lot of time to bump into old friends, new ones, go out for dinners with special customers and the likes - gr8 in every sense - give you a perspective of what you are doing vis-a-vis others - whats other people's perception of your work - etc.

Um, not too many photos - im afraid - but theres still a day or two left - lets see

Enough boring crap - i have lunch tomorrow with the delectable Isabelle - (she is my friend's booth receptionist hired for this week) - she is a college student in languages, looks like Claudia Schiffer's little sister and claims to know 'all about' bombaii, madrasse and dilli :)

Its just past midnight and ive been like sitting on the balcony reading - theres a cool breeze, its raining a little - im playing trance music as lovely as this - the whole apartment smells wonderfully of Ariel which like, wafts along , in the cool breeze - im wide awake but too lazy to do any work -

What more does a guy need ? :)

Worst day of the entire fortnight - was pleasant enough for most of the while - i even got a visa issued in hand in like 5 hours after the interview on the last working day before my weekend flight

I am feeling particularly depressed because i spent most of the day doing chores i suddenly have started hating - i figure that my problem is that im unable to switch between one mode to another - making sales calls one day and making technical dossiers the next day - often unable to enjoy the periods of lull in one type of work / which often gets more than made up with a hectic, crappy phase with the other type of work. It feels like a fever that wont go away - a sort of a sleepiness, heavyness that nags u all the time.

And ive crossed the phase where everything was a new challenge - a point to prove - and take on head on - its now gruelling, time consuming work - which ive setup in such a way that theres no one else around to do it -

I wonder how big is big enough for me to say - hey we'll get people to do that job - one for each kind of job - i guess its more than being able to afford doing it - it needs a certain mental makeup to be able to setup that kind of an operation - I read a few chapters from the book about entrepreneurial IIMA alumuni - most of the more successful blokes seemed to have scaled up by getting quickly to a stage where they just run the macro show- and move on

I look at my mom & dad and cant help but feeling jealous - they have their egos, their social lives, personalities wrapped up around their work,establishment they own and run - i wonder when or if at all i'l ever feel that way - my approach has so far been like - hey this is interesting, thats a possibility, go here, call him, why can we do this - kind of a juvenile approach -

I guess i have a huge personal challenge - be more productive with my hours, set goals on the personal life front - and get into some kind of a settled, less hectic, more organized kind of a lifestyle - to make all these efforts sustainable.

But today, im fucken depressed - if i wasnt so tired - id av driven myself to the beach or something.

Il need to talk to some1 about all this - i wonder if i'l go mental if i keep this up :)

Funny stuff

I got this in email today :)

Funny Quote of the Day -

"Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry." -- Bill Cosby

My parents werent privy to this bit of wisdom when they had me named i guess !

Arcadia > A wonderful passage to think about

" The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is. It's how nature creates itself, on every scale, the snowflake and the snowstorm. It makes me so happy. To be at the beginning again, knowing almost nothing.

People were talking about the end of physics. Relativity and quantum looked as if they were going to clean out the whole problem between them. A theory of everything. But they only explained the very big and the very small. The universe, the elementary particles. The ordinary-sized stuff which is our lives, the things people write poetry about - clouds - daffodils - waterfalls - and what happens in a cup of coffee when the cream goes in - these things are full of mystery, as mysterious to us as the heavens were to the Greeks. We're better at predicting events at the edge of the galazy or inside the nucleus of an atom than whether it'll rain on auntie's garden party three Sundays from now. Because the problem turns out to be different. We can't even predict the next drip from a dripping tap when it gets irregular. Each drip sets up the conditions for the next, the smallest variation blows the prediction apart, and the weather is unpredictable in the same way, will always be unpredictable.
When you push the numbers through the computer you can see it on the screen. The future is disorder.

A door like this has cracked open five or six times since we got up on our hind legs. Its the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong. "

- This is an excerpt from Tom stoppard's play: Arcadia

If reading this passage doesnt feel like a nice slap across your face - read it again. I havent read any piece in my life before which express such a complex idea / thought process - coherently, near-completely, simply and in so few words.

wow

Bombay > September 2008

;)

Was down in bombay for a couple of days - after like - aages - i think the last visit was like in Nov 2007 - it involved the usual - the running around in the rain - in taxis, autos & in the air pollution.


Now that nearly all of whats left of our looney college gang live in Mumbai - we all had this 11'0'clock party at the Mc Donald's at Andheri station - C, L, T, M and me were present - and we had this perfectly gr8 time - calling each other names - discussing everything from Lehmann brothers, Currency futures to Gult movies and making total fools of ourselves.


Its back in Tnagar for the weekend, then back on the road again.


**Yawn**

[ Me + M, T & L - a commodity futures trader, an Investment banker, and a B Schooler - we probably look just like the same old bunch of half-crazy assholes]

the photo reminds me - i need to look for a goddamn barbershop tomorrow

One of those weeks where there has been so much going on - heck at what, like 11 in the evening, i even completed this beautiful call with a consultant who sorted out something thats been nagging me for a year and a half.

A trip to chennai and back - an english dinner guest, a filipino for the next night - an episode where i locked the T nagar place with the key in it - thankfully had my car keys & mobile out - and there was a spare in the office -

But WAY too much information to sift through, digest and act upon - i sometimes wonder if i wud have led a much better quality of life if id opted for another way of life - my old man calls me a fool and tells me to wake up early every morning and think about how lucky i really am to be able to do all the crap im doing without pressure at my age - he says 'i have a great quality of life - as much quality as i can imagine.You do the same work i do, so u ought to define quality properly and fit into what ur doing without feeling drained'

- easy for him to say, eh ? :)

Sarah Palin & all the haa hoo

Theres this issue that has been bugging me whenever i switch on any TV channel - The nomination of 'hockey mom' Sarah Palin as geriatrix's running mate.

I always believe that american analysis of politics - especially commentary from some of these half witted, party spokes people, campaign volunteers etc. - women mostly (incidentally!?) - is logicless crap - i dunno

Here there was this reedy, blonde hag the other day - who was like saying - Palin was carrying Hillary's flag - victory for feminists - Palin has won conservative hearts with her church going, all american, anti-abortionist mom - type image, anti corruption, anti establishment - Mccain is for change and crap like that

For christssake - i heard palin make her 'hockey mom' speech the other day - she even mentioned that she got into politics after she got active with her kids' PTA at their school - Gawd!

John 'Geriatrix' mccain - in my opinion is like as much as a buffoon as Bush - maybe speaks a little better - has any1 seen how his wife looks like ? Imagine her in the white house :)

Obama's concept of change : imagine a guy whos black, with Hussein for a middle name (cliched, i know :) ) - but still does not appear mainstream black - appeals to every1 - this is CHANGE - it will, i am 100% sure be a HUGE stabilizing factor for everything worldwide

Geriatrix and Sarah Palin - who's supposedly gathering up where Hillary left - goddamn it - Hillary is all class man - you cant beat her in class & intelligence - she wont call herself 'hockey mom' for godssake - and palin is insulting all of America if she thinks if such a ruse can emote them into supporting her -

I know my analysis sounds baseless and overly one sided - But somehow i get stirred if some1 makes overly chauvenistic comments - men are men AND women are women - each of them are like nature intended them to be - and sometimes theres stuff some do better - some just cant do - no point talking crap like reservations, feminism, arguing for men Vs women or vice versa.

Heres another post i wrote 2 years before - on a slightly similar subject - i guess my feelings havent changed all that much :)

Update

Im back - then have managed to travel back down south to Madurai - where ive now collapsed - i am severly jetlagged and have lost my voice. And I am sick and tired of Airplanes.

Good news is - ive managed see TONS of movies on the like 40 hours i spent on the various flights - Kung fu panda (Sema hype - lives upto about 20% of it) , Indiana Jones & The crystal Skull, Kevin spacey's : Recount (a kind of an adaptation of the gore/bush florida vote drama), Juno (um, wasnt all that intellectual as i thought it wud be - heck what is it about, really ?), The Bank job (Jason stratham starrer - where baddies are called 'villains' and are always from the East end of London & support west ham - mildly entertaining id say), My blueberry nights (Starring Norah Jones, Jude law, Natalie portman and the absolutely delicious looking Rachel Weiz) But hey - Nah, not my kind of movie), The Other Boleyn girl (Natalie portman all the way, scarlett ought to be disappointed)..i might av watched a few more - but i cant seem to remember them being noteworthy.

Then, some1 called me and asked me come to Delhi on sunday, i said, for petessake - NO - i dont give a rat's ass - for what business there is :) i wudnt be put on a plane even if theres preity zinta in a string bikini waiting at the other end. No sir.

I am hunting down here for a book to work on for this sunday

*yawn*

Brasil August 2008

Ola !

Ive been in Sao Paolo, Brasil since wednesday and will be here till this wednesday. To be fair its been mostly work so far - in the suburbs of Porto Alegre (a 2 hr flight from SP) in the lush green, river valleys of the great state of Rio Grande Do Sul and then in the surprisingly sunny Goiania (another 2 hr flight the other way)

So not much time trying to try being a paulista :) - but today - i went on a date with this lovely lady (well, and her husband and her cute little daschund - in tow) who took me to Parque do Ibirapuera - a sprawling, lush 2 sq.km park in the middle of Sao Paulo full of jogging paulistas, babies, sweethearts, old guys & ladies and folks walking an assortment of dogs - brasil is like mecca for these tiny toy dogs - poodles, all kinds of terriers, pomeranians, skinny hounds and these really stupid dashunds - i had a pleasant time strolling around watching ducks, herons, geese and of course, our regular kind of birds - the ones in spandex , sneakers, totting ipods, with cat-sized dogs in tow and most of them, are like SO good to look at.

Surprisingly most brazilians living along the metros on the East coast are European in Origin - consequently most girls in Sao Paulo look like italian girls - fresh faced, earthy and with smiley faces - i guess it comes with the climate, the food and the culture - i expected a strong representation from girls looking like,um, eva longoria - if u get what im getting at - the latino kind - um, they're pretty rare to spot.

*sigh* on to other boring subjects

One brazilian Real is like 25 Indian bucks (1 USD = 1.65 R$) - BUT - in my estimate Sao Paulo is as expensive as, say, Italy - my Hotel costs in excess of a 100 dollars a night - and EVERYTHING is extra - Taxis start at a 3.5 R$ for like 3 kilometers after which the meter starts ticking extremely fast - a 20 km trip in Saopaulo costs about 110R$ - in smaller places (like the ones i went near Goiania - it costs a lot lesser though) - i guess it figures - if some1 does an estimation of Indian PPP levels based on Mumbai costs - he's sure to list India in the Top 5 most expensive places on the planet - up there with Monaco or Montecarlo :)

I was accompanied on my trips out of Sao Paulo by F or K - depending on the customer. Now, F and K are special girls - i know them very well i talk to them almost on a daily basis and they give me the most business amongst their colleagues - both are in their early 40s, have little kids - like 11 yr old, 7 yr old - and are divorced - they are very chatty, friendly and ask me all of things about India & personal things like theyre my big sisters :)

I am reading Alan Greenspan's - The Age of Turbulence - from the Airport - the first few sections ive been through make an interesting read - but like he says - Developing nations have a much higher savings / spending ratio than developed ones - because of past experiences, poor social security etc. BUT rapid urbanization is causing pockets of consumer culture growing explosively in many parts of the world - like China, Brazil - i guess in places like Mumbai. I specifically asked K & F - they earn a lot of money - like - 10,000 R$ a month - they're building houses, or paying apartment mortgages etc. but not saving much - as they told me.

Another interesting thing i always wanted to watch out for : Gas prices. Gasolina (the petrol) costs about 2 R$ - Diesel about 1.5 R$ - AND they have something called 'alcool' (Ethanol) which sells for 1.4 R$ and most petrol cars in Brazil have dual functionality - they run on Ethanol AND petrol - cool, huh ?

The other big thing - it struck me on the face, especially when we were driving out - like 100 kilometers from Porto Alegre, to a place called Sao Jeromino - there was this HUGE river - about a kilometer wide - and FULL of clean water - the whole roadside - just 10 km off Porto Alegre - was lush with agriculture, cattle ranches - upto what the eye can see - making brasil (atleast the state of Rio grande Do Sul-from the looks of it) very very rich in natural resources.

English is not as wide spread as i'd expected - all kids study english - but i guess its a bit like Hindi in Chennai - Taxi drivers, Doormen, Bell boys happily gesticulate & chatter away in rapid portuguese inspite of u clearly telling them that u dont know the lingo :) - Mucho Obrigado - Ola - un, dues, Tres, Quat, Buena dias is all i can say - but its ok - its easy - traffic is traffico - mucho complicado - saida (exit), santitario, alimento - they're all easy to pick up

I have managed to get an adapter and get my camera, laptop etc. charged and get my life back on track.

Photos will be up here

Hey hey - i almost forgot - She will be loved (Maroon 5) is almost as popular as Ricky martin's Maria -in sao paolo - it seems :) - i hear this song on taxi radios, K's ringtone, in the hotel lobby ...

Will update soon with other things & more photos if possible.

*kiss on the cheek* ciao ciao

(Brazilian style ;))