The most frustrating thing in the world : When you pack something with great care to make EXTREMELY SURE that you can locate it easily later, and then it gets LOST !!!
HOW CAN IT HAPPEN EVERYTIME ??? The stupid chaotic theory is right I tell you #$%#@~!
I cant locate my mono to stereo cable to connect my IPOD and laptop to the home theater. How to listen to all that music on them .. sob.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Move # 9
For the ninth time I change residence in the USA in my 6 yrs here so far. Just putting it down so that I have it recorded for posterity (putar, jab mein jawaan tha tab mein 6 saal mein 9 partners change karta tha - dadaji .. aap .. casanova!!! - (with a whack) I meant roommates u moron ). This was a unique one in 3 ways, moved within the same apt complex, same roommate for a second time and some serious dumb charades were involved in the move. Well it so happened that the movers we got knew at most three or four words in english - go, no go, sankoo (thankyou)... so communicating with them have superhoned my dumb charade skills (and patience skills), the toughest part being haggling over the final bill and prorating it for the last hour without the use of language ! No mean feat that, try it in your next game.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Wonder if ...
1. the actress would be made to apologize for this if it was boys she was referring to instead of girls ?
2. it was a publicity thing ?
2. it was a publicity thing ?
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Federer
Federer beat Agassi in the US open final today. Agassi put up a grand fight, actually beating my expectations. Not that I think Agassi isnt a great player.. the way he turned around matches leading to this final was one an exhibition of great mental toughness.. but Federer .. this guy is in another league. Even when Roger lost some focus in the second set and Agassi was up 4-2 in the third set, I never for a moment thought that Agassi was gonna take it from there. Federer did show some frustration sometimes when he was down, but it was more like competing against his own best rather than competing Agassi. To me, this guy is the best tennis player I have witnessed. He just makes seemingly impossible winners from any part of the court and I have to close my jaw shut later after realizing its been hanging loose in bewilderment. Pete Sampras was great too but a huge strength of his was his serve, but in carving out winning shots, Federer rules.
Some good movies and music
Just rediscovered "Crouching tiger Hidden dragon" this weeekend. Awesome movie. Probably the best thing about it is the soundtrack. Damn good. The next best thing is Ziyi Zhang, amazing potrayal of arrogance, susceptibilty, charm, rebellion and eventaully grace.. excellent cinemtography and storyline. This ranks right up there with the likes of LOTR in the fanatasy genre.
Another good one I saw a couple of weeks back: Farewell my Concubine, ok it does sound kinky and thats what I thought when I saw it mentioned on some post (about why china cant be the next superpower.. another interting topic) but its an awesome movie. Often, I realize I have seen a great movie when I find myself thinking about the movie , going over the details long after I have seen the movie and reflecting on it. Not in the murder mystery movie sense where you are connecting the dots, but rather relishing the emotional richness and complexity of the plot and musing on the multiple interpretaions that great movies generally lend themselves to.
Well this one is definitely a masterpiece and Leslie Chung is better than perfection. How well can a guy perform an effiminate and tragic role with poise? Couldnt have imagined if not stumbled upon this movie. Apart from the acting, the recent history of China intertwined in the plot blends perfectly well with the progression of the story. One thing I felt was slightly out of place was when Dieyi tells on his partner in front of the commis ... goes somewhat against his silent strong character. Douzi's wifes characterization is beautiful. She actaully emerges as the strongest character in the movie in a sense, even though she has a relatively smaller role. I learnt later that Leslie Chung actually committed suicide in real life due to relationship problems, kind of life imitating art. It just made the movie intensely more poignant in my mind, not that it was lacking any to begin with.
Got my hands on Dead Man Walking soundtrack this weekend which features Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Eddie Vedder on some heartwrenching songs. Together they make magic. Vedder's voice is powerful as usual and Nusrat really comes out with soul stirring music. Some of the best parts of the songs are where he is performing the alap. That such a depth of emotion can be evoked without any language is sheer genius. Nusrat's music, sublime as it is, is pretty simple, just the tabla, harmonium and his voice but it is legendary stuff. Kind of like Elvis' Love me tender where all the song has going for it is Elvis' voice. Need to get more of Nusrat's songs.
Another good one I saw a couple of weeks back: Farewell my Concubine, ok it does sound kinky and thats what I thought when I saw it mentioned on some post (about why china cant be the next superpower.. another interting topic) but its an awesome movie. Often, I realize I have seen a great movie when I find myself thinking about the movie , going over the details long after I have seen the movie and reflecting on it. Not in the murder mystery movie sense where you are connecting the dots, but rather relishing the emotional richness and complexity of the plot and musing on the multiple interpretaions that great movies generally lend themselves to.
Well this one is definitely a masterpiece and Leslie Chung is better than perfection. How well can a guy perform an effiminate and tragic role with poise? Couldnt have imagined if not stumbled upon this movie. Apart from the acting, the recent history of China intertwined in the plot blends perfectly well with the progression of the story. One thing I felt was slightly out of place was when Dieyi tells on his partner in front of the commis ... goes somewhat against his silent strong character. Douzi's wifes characterization is beautiful. She actaully emerges as the strongest character in the movie in a sense, even though she has a relatively smaller role. I learnt later that Leslie Chung actually committed suicide in real life due to relationship problems, kind of life imitating art. It just made the movie intensely more poignant in my mind, not that it was lacking any to begin with.
Got my hands on Dead Man Walking soundtrack this weekend which features Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Eddie Vedder on some heartwrenching songs. Together they make magic. Vedder's voice is powerful as usual and Nusrat really comes out with soul stirring music. Some of the best parts of the songs are where he is performing the alap. That such a depth of emotion can be evoked without any language is sheer genius. Nusrat's music, sublime as it is, is pretty simple, just the tabla, harmonium and his voice but it is legendary stuff. Kind of like Elvis' Love me tender where all the song has going for it is Elvis' voice. Need to get more of Nusrat's songs.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Meet my parents
My folks are here. They came on the 7th of June and have been with me for a week now. They are still in the honeymoon phase with the US. They think its some kind of magicland.
My dad just cant enough of the US. He is getting scores of travel documentaries on the US every week from the local library.
Mom is equally awed but she voices some criticism too sometimes. There are not too many people around to interact with. EVERYTHING is so BIG here .. etc.
Good thing is I am getting amazing food to eat at home :-) (which gives me the fuel to answer their neverending questions :-) )
My dad just cant enough of the US. He is getting scores of travel documentaries on the US every week from the local library.
Mom is equally awed but she voices some criticism too sometimes. There are not too many people around to interact with. EVERYTHING is so BIG here .. etc.
Good thing is I am getting amazing food to eat at home :-) (which gives me the fuel to answer their neverending questions :-) )
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
An old friend and an unreal neighbour.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose once said, you are not a real blooger until you get a really good blogreader. Well maybe blogs werent around then, but so what.
All I am trying to say is I need to start using a good blog reader.
Well there was this guy in high school from whom I learnt some neat tricks for cracking language classes. He will make up random quotes, embed them in the essays and attribute them to some famous personalities. Like in an essay on say the importance of sports in life, he would start "Gandhiji once said that we should play football which maintains good health which is necessary for non-violence". Well maybe that didnt sit too well but you get the idea.
Ashish got me into playing tennis for veritas team today (level 3 or something). I was probably not gonna go but the team capt calls me at work around 6.15 pm to come play or we default. So I played and our team won 3-2. we celebrated over some beer. This another guy from veritas was there who I had been misplacing as some other guy from my childhood neighbourhood for around 3 years now. He cleared that up by declining any association with Indore whatsover. Thats one more puzzle cleared up in my life. Good.
Eleven O'clk. Time to get into bed with ZATAMM. Later.
All I am trying to say is I need to start using a good blog reader.
Well there was this guy in high school from whom I learnt some neat tricks for cracking language classes. He will make up random quotes, embed them in the essays and attribute them to some famous personalities. Like in an essay on say the importance of sports in life, he would start "Gandhiji once said that we should play football which maintains good health which is necessary for non-violence". Well maybe that didnt sit too well but you get the idea.
Ashish got me into playing tennis for veritas team today (level 3 or something). I was probably not gonna go but the team capt calls me at work around 6.15 pm to come play or we default. So I played and our team won 3-2. we celebrated over some beer. This another guy from veritas was there who I had been misplacing as some other guy from my childhood neighbourhood for around 3 years now. He cleared that up by declining any association with Indore whatsover. Thats one more puzzle cleared up in my life. Good.
Eleven O'clk. Time to get into bed with ZATAMM. Later.
Monday, April 25, 2005
New Laptop, ZATAMM and wierd baby tigers.
So I have got this cool new laptop from work. I am actually not a laptop person, I like sitting on a table and working better. So I am trying to put the laptop to use somehow. Well one good thing is you can sit in front of the TV and do work or chat (or write blogs :-) ). One can probably guess the lifetime of my infatuation with this new toy by noticing when my blogging frequency goes down :-)
Reading ZATAMM (that Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintainence) again. Had read it around 8 years back (damn! the length of my past remembrances is getting so long, its starting to freak me out ) when I was still in India. Just rereading it to see if relate to the book in some different way. One thing is for sure that I can understand much more of the american stuff about the novel having been here for a while now.
Lots of time when I revisit a book/movie after a long time, I find that I have a totally different opinion about it then the last time I saw it. Some movies which I used to find absolutely hilarious 10-12 years ago and considered them timeless classics then dont amuse me anymore. Wonder if the stuff I think is classic now will meet the same fate 10 years from now.
Finally I saw this incredible photo in yahoo of baby tigers suckling a human mom !!!
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/050424/photos_od_afp/050424151918_k4gr49as_photo0&e=4&ncid=1756
Crazy world.
Reading ZATAMM (that Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintainence) again. Had read it around 8 years back (damn! the length of my past remembrances is getting so long, its starting to freak me out ) when I was still in India. Just rereading it to see if relate to the book in some different way. One thing is for sure that I can understand much more of the american stuff about the novel having been here for a while now.
Lots of time when I revisit a book/movie after a long time, I find that I have a totally different opinion about it then the last time I saw it. Some movies which I used to find absolutely hilarious 10-12 years ago and considered them timeless classics then dont amuse me anymore. Wonder if the stuff I think is classic now will meet the same fate 10 years from now.
Finally I saw this incredible photo in yahoo of baby tigers suckling a human mom !!!
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/050424/photos_od_afp/050424151918_k4gr49as_photo0&e=4&ncid=1756
Crazy world.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Cricket
Sometimes I think it might be a good idea to ban cricket in India. For good reasons. People would not waste so much energy and time over it. We would not have grand ambitions from a spectacular team on paper. And our spirits would not be crushed by a bunch of eleven people crumbling like matchsticks in front of weaker teams. More sponsorship money can be diverted to other games ie hockey, soccer, tennis etc where we have plenty untapped talent. And cricket is so intolerably long a game to watch in either form, it wastes a LOT of productive time of the whole nation. Add to that the demoralization at the end when we loose to weaker teams, it just gives a defeatist mentality to the whole nation.
Another line of thinking is why would a talented team regularly loose to tough games . Is that our national character ? Or is it that once the players get plenty of endorsement money they loose the motivation? If that is so then it wouldnt matter which game you funnel the sponsorship money into, in the end we will keep loosing the BIG ones which are mostly always won on mental toughness and not talent.
Having played whatever sports I have against people of differnt nationalities, I personally feel that we have as much fighting character as sportspersons of other nations, if not more, at least at amateur level. So it looks like there is a break somewhere going from the amateur level to the professional. Maybe we are just not a professional bunch yet. Maybe its the fabric of life in India which really does not encourage sports beyond an amateur level. But we seriously need to do something about it. Its really shameful for a nation of a billion people to perform such poorly in competetive sports.
Another line of thinking is why would a talented team regularly loose to tough games . Is that our national character ? Or is it that once the players get plenty of endorsement money they loose the motivation? If that is so then it wouldnt matter which game you funnel the sponsorship money into, in the end we will keep loosing the BIG ones which are mostly always won on mental toughness and not talent.
Having played whatever sports I have against people of differnt nationalities, I personally feel that we have as much fighting character as sportspersons of other nations, if not more, at least at amateur level. So it looks like there is a break somewhere going from the amateur level to the professional. Maybe we are just not a professional bunch yet. Maybe its the fabric of life in India which really does not encourage sports beyond an amateur level. But we seriously need to do something about it. Its really shameful for a nation of a billion people to perform such poorly in competetive sports.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Monday, January 24, 2005
American Football.
I just cant take a liking to this game even after being here for close to 6 years. I have tried to watch it friends and take an interest but to no avail.
First of all, there is so little continuity in the game ( unlike say compared to soccer). Secondly it seems to me that this game requires more of brute force than skill. Someone who has a lot of skill in say dodging and catching the ball would still be not able to make it big. One can argue that most games today require a lot more power than the yesteryears eg tennis etc but nevertheless I think the skill ratio is lacking in this game. A small guy like Pele can become a soccer superstar but he would be severley punished in american football ( And I hate to type american before football so that I dont call it just 'football' ).
Thirdly there is too much of attitude display in the game and players are constantly indulging in physical "embraces" even when the game is not in play. Guess thats in the nature of the game.
There are more of these, but right now its time to get back to work..
First of all, there is so little continuity in the game ( unlike say compared to soccer). Secondly it seems to me that this game requires more of brute force than skill. Someone who has a lot of skill in say dodging and catching the ball would still be not able to make it big. One can argue that most games today require a lot more power than the yesteryears eg tennis etc but nevertheless I think the skill ratio is lacking in this game. A small guy like Pele can become a soccer superstar but he would be severley punished in american football ( And I hate to type american before football so that I dont call it just 'football' ).
Thirdly there is too much of attitude display in the game and players are constantly indulging in physical "embraces" even when the game is not in play. Guess thats in the nature of the game.
There are more of these, but right now its time to get back to work..
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Imagemakers
Saw this program on KQED. Its a collection of short movies. I just managed to see a couple:
Zen and the Art of Landscaping and
The Last Attack of the Beast
Both were amazing short movies. They are 15-20 minute movies but its amazing how much you can put in that small a time frame. I actually liked the later a lot. Cool plot. And while reading about it on KQED I came upon this thought muncher: When you're the only one around, do right and wrong exist? Hmmm....
Do see it if you get a chance.
Zen and the Art of Landscaping and
The Last Attack of the Beast
Both were amazing short movies. They are 15-20 minute movies but its amazing how much you can put in that small a time frame. I actually liked the later a lot. Cool plot. And while reading about it on KQED I came upon this thought muncher: When you're the only one around, do right and wrong exist? Hmmm....
Do see it if you get a chance.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Interviewing
So, my project got canned at the company where I work.
Lots of interviewing in the past week. It sucks. What should one judge a prospective employee on?
So I am being asked all these specific questions about my knowledge in computer languages/operating systems. Who remembers all those minute details anyways ? What the hell is google for ? Agreed, you need some amount of proficiency with the fundamentals but drilling it down to minute syntax and other stuff.. gimme a break!
After one of these interviews, I had an idea ( just a little late as always) to ask the interviewers back some well prepared tricky technical questions to judge how smart they actually were ( after all one needs to know how smart a group he is gonna be working with). Next time.
So far I had only one good interviewer. He tested the fundamentals for sure. Went over each and every thing I had written in my resume ( Got to be careful with all the crap I write in the skills section). But he was more interested in how was reasoning, attacking problems on the fly etc. We interviewed for around one and a half hours but it was nice to be interviewed by a guy who knows how to evaulate potential.
Or maybe I am just cribbing coz I dont interview well and just cant remember the details well enough.
But then again, those who dont crib dont have a life...
Lots of interviewing in the past week. It sucks. What should one judge a prospective employee on?
So I am being asked all these specific questions about my knowledge in computer languages/operating systems. Who remembers all those minute details anyways ? What the hell is google for ? Agreed, you need some amount of proficiency with the fundamentals but drilling it down to minute syntax and other stuff.. gimme a break!
After one of these interviews, I had an idea ( just a little late as always) to ask the interviewers back some well prepared tricky technical questions to judge how smart they actually were ( after all one needs to know how smart a group he is gonna be working with). Next time.
So far I had only one good interviewer. He tested the fundamentals for sure. Went over each and every thing I had written in my resume ( Got to be careful with all the crap I write in the skills section). But he was more interested in how was reasoning, attacking problems on the fly etc. We interviewed for around one and a half hours but it was nice to be interviewed by a guy who knows how to evaulate potential.
Or maybe I am just cribbing coz I dont interview well and just cant remember the details well enough.
But then again, those who dont crib dont have a life...