So, you are disappointed, heh?

haan haan, baba. I get it. You are disappointed with the Aam Aadmi Party.  Rather, you are disappointed again.  What is your concern this time?

Kejriwal/AAP Delhi govt resigned after 49 days and failed to deliver on its promises.

Kejriwal is back to shaming everyone else, this time the paid media.

Kejriwal is hungry for news coverage and wants to be seen as Bhagat Singh of this century.

AAP is giving tickets to celebrity/celebrities.

AAP is growing too fast.  What are they thinking contesting so many seats?

What is all this drama that Kejriwal is fighting in Varanasi against Modi?


I do share some of your disappointments. But I am glad that you are disappointed. Infact I am delighted. Your disappointments prove two things to me - (a) You had/have expectations out of this party. There would be no disappointments without expectations. So atleast AAP did something good there. (b) You care about AAP. You are not a cynic. You have not given up. You want it to be a party that you idealize. Just like behind a joke there lies a tragedy, behind every disappointment, there lies hope.  You see hope here.


But tell me one thing - Is your disappointment with AAP big enough that you will vote for BJP or Congress or any other regional party? Is it enough to ignore the disproportionate number of candidates with serious criminal cases against them fielded by other political parties? And can you get over the lack of local work done by the current representative to vote for him/her again?  If your answer is yes, and you truly believe that BJP/Congress is a better alternative, then my dear friend, lets agree to disagree and leave it at that.

In my case, yes, i am also disappointed too. In some cases, i am disappointed when AAP has failed to take the moral high ground when i expected them to (like the Somnath Bharti case where IMHO they should have issued an unconditional apology in case anybody's sentiments were hurt) and in other cases when indeed they have taken the moral high ground  and i was not expecting that (like resigning on principles after 49 days).  But when i count all my disappointments, they are significantly small when compared to the things that AAP has done right. The right things sometimes just blow me off, like i feel proud, i cry that it is happening in my lifetime, in front of me, amidst all the hopelessness that i am was filled with. Let me share some of these -

- Candidates for Lok Sabha:  I am so proud of AAP for giving these people a chance to be elected as people's representatives -
Soni Sori from Bastar. If you do not know her story, just google it.  For someone who has faced so much in her life, i am just glad for her. If i have to pick just one seat for AAP, i would wish it for Soni Sori.
Ashish Khetan from New Delhi. I have read about Ashish's work on Tehelka and i know how good of a journalist he is.
H S Phoolka - The advocate who fought hard for justice for 1984 riot victims.
Tiliya Devi from Jharkhand - A nobel peace prize nominee.
Bhagwant Maan from Sangrur - Just watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyu6KCi9s-Q

And there are many more like Medha Patkar, Nina Nayak from my LS constituency, Prof Anand Kumar, Kanchan Chaudhary -  the first women DGP, and not to mention AK taking on Modi knowing in full realistic consciousness that he will loose this race but atleast he will talk about issues in the process.

- Paid media. Media is biased. A lot of is paid. We all know it and yet we all accept it. Why? Just as "This is politics" is an answer to all things bad in politics, "This is how it is" is the only answer that used to be until AK questioned it.  If things are broken, lets fix it rather than just accept it.  We follow it all the time in our work life, why not in real life.

-Clean money. I would have voted AAP for this reason alone. Transparent, clean fundraising. On top of that -  no paid volunteers.


I agree with AK that it is a miracle that AAP exists. Our difference comes when he uses this to explain the existence of God and i am not ready to do that, yet.  So as you see my disappointments with AAP are nothing when compared to my appreciation for this small party.  And I write this only by looking at AAP. The moment i get into a comparative mode and i compare AAP with BJP (or even Congress), there is no choice. Mere thought of BJP or Congress led govt. fills me up with despair, the same hopelessness that i am trying to fight.

I have an idea of India. I have a vision of the kind of country i want to live in and the kind of person i want to grow old into. The only political party that helps me get there is AAP.

November blues

Aah, the guilt,
the internal pain,
anxiety, restlessness
the constant pressure.

Of not updating a blog.

When the rate of production is less than the rate of consumption,
then the consumption is not getting assimilated.
No reflection, no introspection.

Reminders, steady reminders,
As i wake up.
in all those actions when brain feels under - utilized
Like taking  a shower.

Do it! Now.
I am not in the right mood.
Then when?
Tick tock. Tick tock.
This month will be over soon.
Lets do it, then.
Today. At this moment....
Peace

Why i hate Aamir Khan and yet want Satyamev jayate to succeed?

Other title candidate:
Dr.Strangelove: How i learnt to stop hating and love the idea of Aamir Khan.

Disclaimer one:
All thoughts expressed below are my opinions. If you disagree, i know that you disagree, so please do not share here.
Disclaimer two:
Whatever i say about this article, at the end of the day it is a rant. I will offer no justifications to whatever i am going to say. Again, if you disagree, please keep it to yourself.



Yes, the title is meant to be sensational and at the start i would like to clarify that i do not hate Aamir Khan. I have nothing against him as a person but i detest the adulation he receives.  This post is divided in two parts. In part one I clarify/justify my thoughts on Mr. perfectionist and in part Two, i would describe why the first episode of Satyamev Jayate was simply cult. 

Part One:
I hate the adulation of Aamir Khan for  two main points -
(a) He is the  epitome of celebration of mediocrity. I am talking about Aamir Khan as an actor and i think his acting is average or slightly above average (since the pool of actors is so bad, the average itself is abysmally low).  I think his selection of movies is indeed decent and i have no doubt that he commits himself 100% to it. But so does Abhay Deol whose selection of movies has simply been great and he also gives everything but Abhay Deol also is a decent actor, not a good one. 
To justify my point, I will highlight Aamir's movies and my take on them. It is futile to discuss all his movies, but lets just discuss his early movies and later ones. In his early "debut" avatar, Aamir movies like QSQT,  JJWS and AHAT where success because of Mansoor Khan's direction, and the excellent writing that went into it. Andaz apna apna's credit will pretty much go to the dialog/characters. His mid-career movies like Ishq, Mann, Mela were a disaster with the exception of Sarfarsoh. Lagaan was a turning point in his career and i think Lagaan and Sarfarosh has been his best performances. But post Lagaan, i think his movies worked because of the brand value and marketing. I hate 3 idiots, RDB and Ghajini. If people claim that his movies have social message, IMHO the social message was not done any justice as they deserved.
If i claim Aamir to be average, who are good actors? To name a few, Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin shah, Vinay Pathak, Raghuvir Yadav, Kay Kay Menon are few examples.  
So my point is that, i think the media and we as a nation have chosen a celebrate mediocrity and have neglected the finest talent that this profession has to offer. Mediocrity is contagious and we should be very cognizant of this. Companies like google are great because their hiring rule is that the new person's talent should be higher than the average. Companies like GE have survived because they weed out the bottom k% every year.  I think we should be very careful of who should be our role models, whom do we want our aspirations to be.  Aamir Khan as an actor does not reflect the acting standards that i look for.

(b) Aamir Khan is an excellent marketer (or salesman): To me this is the second thing wrong with our society. We (and i include me in this) believe whatever is presented to us in nice package. We judge a book by its cover, if something is sold to me nicely, we believe it, we trust it and accept it wholeheartedly.  Aamir Khan's post Lagaan movies have simply done that and here i would give him credit - he has done it excellently.  He has a very shrewd understanding of what works, what people want and he has a genuine knack of timing in delivery. People who do MBA (esp in marketing) treat him as God. This is my problem. He is inspiring people to be salesman and i hate him (or us) for that.  Sidenote: I think one of the most creative industries in India is the advertising industries and i always have mixed feelings  about it.  His recent movies are successful not because  of their content matter but because of his brand value and the way they were pushed on to us. If anybody tells me that 3 idiots is a satirical take on Indian education system my reaction is (a) to smile because laughing would be rude and (b) to walk away from the conversation as soon as i can otherwise i would just explode. 

Aamir exploits our psyche and what we want to hear in his movies and there is nothing wrong with it if the contents inside package are equally good.  But what he delivers is simply average. Yet, we celebrate it because the salesman has sold us and now its all hallucination and we just nod. The idea of independent judgement has been lost.  This is main reason - his salesmanship is killing independent opinion in our minds. Case in point is Ghajini which again IMHO (a) movie with horribly pathetic ending (b) the unique aspect of the story line that was partially copied from a cult movie and (c) the usp was Aamis Khan's 6 pack. That movie was a hit because it was sold to us. The "All is well" in 3 idiots which became the nation's favorite punch line, was so idiotically portrayed in the scene where the new born baby kicks when listens this phrase. I can go on with examples but i think i have made my point.



Part Two:
I loved Satyamev Jayate's episode one. I think it was one of the finest piece of Indian TV show that i have seen in years ( Sidenote: TV being a medium that has been totally neglected for people with intellect, again IMHO).  As i said above, i have nothing against packaging things nicely as long as the content inside is good. If bad things are sold with a nice cover, thats when things get problematic. I would honestly admit that when i saw the ads of Satyamev jayate, even when i heard that the name of the show is going to be Satyamev jayate ( a phrase which  is probably the only ideal that i espouse in my life), i was very impressed and yet being Aamir Khan, i believed that its all in packaging. I was so weary that i started the show at 11:35 instead of 11 am and i can honestly say that the show was really really well done.  Here is what i liked about the show -

(a) In one show, Satyamev Jayate showed what is wrong with all the news based reality shows. There have been many such shows on sahara, samay etc etc channels which report on these crimes but all of them ended up sensationalizing the issue in a wrong manner. Satyamev Jayate just proved that raw emotions appeal to our sensationalities in a far more effective manner than any other means. In a single stroke, i predict that this episode is going to change the face of reality based reporting.
(b) Oprah and respect: While talking to the people involved in real incidents, one was reminded about the Oprah Winfrey show. There is nothing wrong to compare but at the heart of it,  what both these shows are pointing that these people should be treated with respect and dignity. Again something that those news channels forgot in their attempt to sensationalize. Satyamev jayate brings it back and i would like to add Thanks you!
(c) All round coverage - There were point case studies, there were statistics (i would have liked more), there was public opinions, myths and reality. There was both cause and effect (the Kurukshetra case which also brought humor to the show). There was the problem, the solution (the Punjab village case) and a call to action.
(d) Swanand Kirkire's voice and Ram Sampanth's composition was like icing on the cake in terms of production value. (One of the great things that i used to like about House MD was its song on closing).
(e) Aamir Khan :) When people with klout do something that is good, when the klout is used to shape the views of people in large, there is nothing better usage of that.  Aamir Khan, thank you for doing this, for not dancing in IPL, for doing a good job at it.

(f) I think its awesome that this show was aired on Doordarshan!
Lastly, i think the topic of first episode is just the topic that needs our attention. So many things are a result of this gender inequality.  Full marks to the team of SJ and indeed Mr. perfectionist.







Few predictions -
(a) Aamir would be the in some list of most influential men of this century soon.
(b) I think SJ would be a trend setter in many shows to come in future. A welcome move.


A note:
There are those of you who will question my authority on making the above claims. A few of you may ask - "How good of an actor are you to make such comments?"  Here is my answer. I do not know how to sing yet i can appreciate Lata Mangeshkar over Shreya Goshal, Mohd. Rafi over Abhijit, Ust. Bismillah khan over an average shehnai player. So my point is that the appreciation of greatness can also come by making independent thought and judgement, by depth of perception.  Knowledge of subject definitely adds more subtleties, makes the difference more apparent and makes the appreciation of greatness more enjoyable.
Second question comes about my own professional skill - If you are average yourself, how you are making such a big comment? I must admit that among my peers in my company, i consider myself fortunate to be working with such great people, people who without any questions have superior skills than me. But i believe that if we look at the industry wise distribution, i know for a fact that i am damn good at the job i do. 

Lets close this rant with these four lines from the title song of Satyamev jayate -

Mujhey khud ko bhi hai tatolna
Kahin hai kami to hai bolna
Khahin dag hain toh chupayein kyon
Hum sach se nazrein hatayein kyon

Bangalore Traffic survival guide

Everybody has heard about the pains of driving in Bangalore traffic. For few of us who are Bangaloreans we face it everyday. For me, it has been about two months of driving and i can positively say that i am no longer as bothered as i was when i started driving. Here are my tips to survive the traffic woes -

Tips about driving -
1. The time slice rule: Leave to office early, leave for home early. Beat the traffic, beat the weather. Life is good!
2. Drive in the right lane. In Bangalore, on a road with two lanes, there exists a middle lane. I didn't knew this fact when i started. If you know you are going straight, drive on the right lane. It may take little more time as compared to if you optimized switching lanes but it will definitely be more peaceful.
3. Leave space for a two wheeler to pass on your right. Do not drive just next to the divider.  Leave some space so that bikes can overtake from right. Left overtaking bikes are very difficult to spot. A space on right makes them happy which makes you happy.
4. Use indicators while changing lanes. Bike-wallahs are very careful about indicators, they always respect it. And indicator is always a good defense if you get into trouble.


Tips about car -
1. Buy automatic car. I cant stress this enough. Mankind invented anesthesia so that there is no pain when you go to dentist/surgery. Similarly automatic transmission was invented to take the pain of stick-shift away. It is worth the extra money before car buying and it is worth the extra mileage cost that it brings.
2. Make sure that your car has a music system - fm/am, cd player and an aux port.
3. Invest in a good cell phone charger.
4. If you have money, buy a car which has steering mounted audio controls. (Mine doesnt has and i am regretting it now)
5. The car should have cup holders (two is better than one)


Now, comes the main part, what to do while the traffic is moving slow.  This is the breeding ground for pain, frustration, anger etc etc. Here are things that will keep your cool -

1. You must have a smart phone or smart device (ipad/ipod). Without this, you are screwed.
2. Download apps that can download podcasts. Apple devices have iTunes. Android has Listen (and many more but i am happy with listen)
3.  Always have 10 hrs of podcast handy when travelling. Here is sample of a list that i follow -
(a) Planet Money
(b) This American Life
(c) Moth
(d) Prairie home companion
(e) Educational podcasts from law schools.
(f) All Music considered and any good music podcast.
(g) Any other NPR show that you liked :)
With the above in hand, listening to them is a joy and soon, you are no longer stuck in traffic, you are listening to podcast. Driving becomes secondary, podcast is primary and then everything fells into place.
4. Good radio is important. I hate almost all bangalore radio channels, they are horrible RJs talking great things about horrible songs. But then there is 106.4 FM which has a show called EarthBeats  which is aired from Netherlands and that has total NPR appeal.  Love the show, it comes from either 5-6 pm or 6-7 pm.
5. Have good cds. Indian ocean, swarathma, ennio morricone, dylan, kabir etc etc. I need to buy a good cd box in car.
6. Audio books - I have not tried it yet (podcasts keep me busy all the time) but audio books is soon going to be an experiment.
7. Coffee mug - Life is good whenever you have coffee in your coffee mug. Those cup holders were made only for one reason - to hold delicious coffee in coffee mugs.


Spiritual tips -
(Advisory note - Although these have been tried but they have failed to work on me.)
1. The Zen approach - There is no traffic. It sounds great in theory but when you see the clock and realize that you have only travelled 4 kms in 40 mins, the zen goes outside the window.
2.  The Denial approach - The traffic is not slow, infact it is quite fast. Doesn't work -  Period
3. The "Its not you, its me" approach -  It may work while breaking up relationships but doesn't work when the taxi driver will persistently honk you knowing full that there is no space ahead to take advantage off.

Life in Mar 8 - Apr 8

Welcome to the latest and greatest of this month. If there is one to describe the last month gone by, it would be "explore".  Many many things to explore. Here are the highlights -

~ Bought my car. Its Hyundai i10 with automatic option and electric red in color. I never thought that i would ever buy a shining car but here it is now.

~Went to Veena Strores for idli today morning. Veena stores was rated #2 place for best idli in bangalore after Brahmin cafe. Brahmin cafe was visited with Nikesh when we came to Blore in Oct. Veena idli had a long queue in front and had to wait 20 mins before placing the order (Sunday morning!). The chutney and idli were really good.

~Visited places at Bangalore (Other than the cafe hopping blog post) -
-- Java city cafe - Very nice cafe on Lavelle road. Loved the coffee there.
-- The Biere club - Mainly a beer place but the food is good too. Nice ambience.
-- Indijoes - Well known for its sizzlers. Quite good but not great.
-- Fava Mediterranean food - Decent food, not close to the sunnyvale downtown one.
-- Food Hub - Not expensive place to to buy breads and other rare delicacies.

~ Movies:
Deool : The national award winner for this year's best film and actor. Liked the movie a lot. Nice satirical take on religion, globalization and morality.  http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review_review-for-gods-sake-dont-miss-deool_1607425 sums my thoughts quite nicely - "a movie every Indian should be proud of". Personally i think any movie on religion as a subject is quite a bold attempt. The fact that people still make that good regional films makes me very glad about India in general.

Gulaal: Yes, i have seen Gulaal now.
Thass: There are some movies which have a waiting time. I have the movie but i wait for the right mood to watch it. There are many such movies in my life. And then a fine day comes when it feels like that today is the day to watch this movie and life is as good as it can get. Or sometimes the desire to watch that movie grows so much that the wait is unbearable and it has to be seen at the earliest. Gulaal fell into the latter category, i had waited almost 6 months for it but after watching Rahul Ram video where he sings that song from Gulaal, it had to be seen.
Loved the movie especially the songs and acting from Piyush Mishra. I think Gulaal threw many surprises at me, almost every 5 mins, the movie took a turn that was not expected and the story was quite unique, especially the whole patriotic element in story, cant remember seeing this in any other Indian movie (but often in US series). And again music/score is a delight. It is a good watch.
Hunger games (review written)

~I have to write a post on many ecommerce sites that i have tried/explored in India. Loving the diversity and spirit of entrepreneurship here.

~ Saw IPL match live at Chinnaswamy stadium. It was Bangalore vs Delhi and Bangalore won. I am a strong Bangalore supporter and this season i am cheering for either Bangalore or Rajasthan(Rahul Dravid). I am totally an emotional guy when it comes to supporting a team, no matter whether the team is good or bad, i support them because of some reason that i like.  Watching the match live is a very different experience. Participated in a mexican wave at the stadium, quite excited to see it live.

~ Have joined Runner's high for running training now. Have registered for TCS 10K happening on May 27. Ran 8K yesterday, feels good to be back into running. Love living close to Cubbon park now.

~Went to Dr. Gideon's place to get my Terrarium and have asked him to make that awesome acacia lamp for me.

~Delhi trip: Went to Delhi over last weekend to visit Amit bhaiya. Quite a good family function. Also, met Aman, Nandini and Gurshi. Liked going to Hauz khas village. Visited Kunzum cafe (very highly recommended) and Yoda book store. Bought more books and cds. Have to finish up now. Hauz Khas village overall is a very nice thing to have happened, a collection of all local, little artsy, and unique shops. There is more to delhi than that meets the eye :)

~ Watched the play Good grief @Alliace de francaise. Didn't like people talking in two different accents and overall didn't like the play itself. But (a) Got a 1K coupon for a salon as a gift on lucky draw and (b) The cafe at Alliance de francaise is still awesome.

~ Watched the play Tango with Gurshi at Ranga shankara. Quite an interesting play, political subtext but played inside a family. Very different.  And yes, the RS cafe is also very good.

~Cooking: Made Thai green curry, Tabouli salad, Panna at home. More to try in cooking experiments.

~ Attended yet another Swathama concert with Divya at Hard rock cafe bangalore. Great concert! Big fan of swarathma now. Love the songs - Khul ja sim sim now. Need to buy their cd. A more detailed blog post on new music discoveries is also on the todo list.

Rahul Ram Foundation Lecture

Thanks to Parul for sharing the video although at an odd time (11:30 pm). And now, its 1:20 am and i cant sleep now. Before you read forward, just watch the video.
 But it was a great to listen to Rahul Ram.  This is what thass is all about. Just loved the talk! It is no secret that i am a big fan of Indian ocean. I am yet to see Leaving home, have been saving it for a good day to enjoy it properly. In this lecture, Rahul traces his life path as he was growing up and how he ended up being a musician. But his stories are marked with a very careful analysis of how we (Indians mostly) live (Humor on us is the best humor) and he basically shows us a mirror. But in the process, he offers many many sound advices and they are very practical. So he is someone who is preaching ideological way but at the same time he has practicality in view and he is very honest about it. Things that stood out for me -

1. If you want to do something on your own, just remember that you will be poor for a long time, just be prepared for it.
2. Always assess what you are doing, it is quite possible that you are not meant for it. So, this is something to be very careful about.
3. Happiness and money have no relation.  A very known fact but sometimes i forget.
4. Live in a village, just be part of an NGO that is doing good work in a village and just experience it.
5. His general rant about people doing MBAs after IITs..... and to some extent a general rant about MBAs.... loved it! :)
6.  There will always be people saying that you are a fool. Be polite but don't listen to them until your assessment says otherwise.
7. Money is needed to survive. Do not forget it.
8. And then one day you find, Ten years have  gone behind you, No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
9. Lastly, i have to watch Gulaal now.

Life in Americas (the good side)

One way to ask the question is - what are you going to miss ? 

The other way to ask the question is - what do you want to remember?

I prefer to answer the latter because thats what this blog is about. I do not miss stuff because i am a very forward looking person. But there are things that i do want to remember.

~ Let me categorically write that work was one of my the best things that happened. The culture, the people, friday talks, tech talks, hallway conversations, startup atmosphere, ideas in the air and everything around them. I am going to remember my colleagues and working with them.

~ Masters at Gatech. It was a tough period in life but all i remember now is great courses, great teachers, lots of fun, lots of hard work put in, a great library, theory courses, talks with coffee and cookies, movie course and the univ atmosphere. 

~Nature - I had never seen the beauty of nature as i experienced it in US.  Right from yosemite trip (the first one) to Redwood and many trips in between, the care that is taken to preserve nature, the feeling one gets when one is hiking in those trails, camping under the starry night, be it alone or with good company. Also, the parks within city such as Bayshore or Heyler park at San jose, or the one at Campbell, running at those parks was a delight. I think i will always cherish those memories. 

~ NPR. Oh yes, NPR is very high, I knew that radio had lots of potential but existence of NPR was a great joy. I would like to document the shows that i liked - Planet money, all music considered, Wait wait dont tell me, Car talk, Prairie home companion, selected shorts, this american life, terry gross interviews (fresh air) , michael krasny interviews. Listening to NPR while driving makes even driving a joy. I will try to follow them even when i am here.

~ Jon Stewart and Colbert. The intersection of satire, comedy and politics has never been better and their creative evolving execution was always entertaining. Comedy central is now airing in Indian channels as well, so woohoo!

~ Cafes. See the blog post - the bay area coffee chapter. And the whole culture around it - performance by local artists etc. 

~ Internet speed. Even though i cursed comcast, i knew that i will hate Indian ISPs. The bandwidth makes so many things possible in US and internet speed is one of my aha things here. 

~ Farmers market - Oh yes, the Sunday morning walks at Mountain view's farmers market were a delight.  Tasting fruits for free, awesome strawberries, live music, indian samosa, veggies, macaroons, fruit tarts, people casually strolling and enjoying the sunday - Thats how markets should be!

~  The whole DIY culture. Be it makers faire, or be it local people doing things of their own. From making your halloween costume to making your honey/eggs, and lots of stuff here. 

~ Bike path - The fact that there exists specialized bike path on roads and the fact that the footpath is so well maintained, bike riding and walking is awesome.

~ Indie cinema and halls. The camera cinema club was awesome. And so were the local halls such as Aquarius, Guild and CineArts, closely followed by camera cinemas. Movie watching with like minded people was always a delight. 

~ Food diversity. For a food junkie like me, it was one of the best things. So many cuisines, so many styles and all so yummy food.  The openness of country can be seen in variety of restaurants. 

And many small things such as road infra, living so close to half moon bay, a general sense of confidence in people, political debates etc etc. 

Aanandam!

The Bay area coffee chapter + my car

Waking up early morning, taking my car and driving up to a coffee place... that has been one of the most pleasant things living in a bay area. My fav cafes have been (in order of preference) -

1. Philz at Loma Verde, Palo Alto.
2. Dana Street Roasting company, Mountain view.
3. Sufi cafe.
4. Peets at Castro.
5. Red rock cafe.
6. Starbucks

What i like about these cafes -
Obviously the coffees. But not that much. But good coffee opens up all the senses.

The diversity of people around me. There are book readers, song writers , ipad readers, people with small cute children with cheese/chocolate on their faces, random activities like board games, crossword solvers, etc etc

The music, oh yes the music.

Just the community aspect of a coffee shop. The locality that comes with it.  Those who say that people are not social anymore, those who say that social networks only exists in online world.... they should visit these coffee shops. While they may be true at an overall level, these coffee shops help preserve the humanity in all of us.

Discussions, arbit discussions, overhearing conversations, strangers ......

And most importantly the feel of it. It takes effort to create a feeling and these cafes do it in such a style that it just makes my day.


Today, i think this Bay area coffee chatper is coming to an end. I am going to move back to India (many posts will follow to explain the process). And also i am going to sell my car, my awesome toyota corolla Sports model, the silver colored think tank which was able to understand me and had enough sense to override my traffic sense and sensibilities. The car that took care of itself, that never complained, never cried even when i made a dent in it, the car that never made a sound when i scratched it, the car that ran even when its tire had a puncture and i couldnt see it, the car that took me to all those places, the car that gave me such music to listen, the car which carried all those big luggage bags, the car which never gave me a problem ever, the car that took me to redwood forest, weekend drives to Half Moon Bay, vegas, LA, and everywhere. A great car!  A personal car. My car.  It is today, Jan 26 ( on India's republic day), we say goodbye. 

From

From

Leela ki leela

यह पांच स्टार में रहना हमारे जैसे लोग के बस की बात नहीं है
हम तो अपने देश में  ही अजनबी हो गए
अपने ही देश में जा के खो गए
देखि हमने लीला की लीला
अपने देश में ही विदेशी हो गए


We stayed at Leela for a week and believe me, even though it was all lavish and rich, it very soon became uncomfortable and unfriendly. Plus the rates, the charges, i was just surprised. We wanted to rent a taxi to explore Bangalore. I asked the front desk , how much it will cost to get a taxi for 4 hrs/40 kms, he checks his computer and comes back with a number - 3700 Rs ($70), i was shocked. I called some external cab companies and got an AC car for about 600 Rs for 4 hrs. Thats less than 1/6th.

I wanted to get a print out, i called the Guest services and they said that it will cost me 27 Rs to print a single page. For 10 pages, i can buy the entire cartridge :). For 27 Rs, you can send them the document to be printed via email and they will take its printout and send someone to deliver it to your room with an envelope around the document. Talk about self service.

I was told that the morning coffee was complimentary and it can be delivered to your room. Next morning, i was up at 5 am, thanks to the jetlag. After an hr of trying to sleep, i gave up and decided to get the south indian filter coffee. I call the Guest services  and order a coffee. After 10 mins, there is a knock on the door and i open it, yes, the coffee has come, but instead of filter coffee, it is the brewed coffee. I ask him, why brewed coffee, why not filter coffee? He smiles and says that this is the new trend here.....

Breakfast was complimentary and it was served same as US style only with more varieties and Indian options included. But the sambhar and chutney were so bland, no tamarind, no spiciness. It was as if we were in US itself.

Even though the room charges were in the range of 14K Rs, the internet/wifi was very bad. They could have charged another 1K and given me a personalized web connection.

We also took a tour of Bangalore (Trinity church-Ulsoor lake - Lalbagh - Vidhan Soudha) organized by Leela. The tour was actually contracted to some other company but it was a horrible tour.

From India "official" trip 25 Sept - 2 Oct 2011

From India "official" trip 25 Sept - 2 Oct 2011

The goods -
Leela used to have live Indian classical music downstairs every evening. That was really good. The Leela galleria outside was still very interesting, specially the Barista and Oxford book store.  They were big on selling Massages/spa. I got the Leela special massage (3000 Rs) which was basically an oil massage, quite good.

Overall, i will never stay at Leela with my own money. Not only i can't afford it, also its not worth living there.

Laches and Charmides

Amazon link - http://www.amazon.com/Laches-Charmides-Plato/dp/087220135X

Thanks to Charles Pletcher (Chuck) for generously giving me this book to read. What a delight to read. It took me more than a month to finish this tiny book. It is a great pleasure to read this book, but it is quite heavy material if one wants to see the hidden layer. The best part about the book was how the sentences were constructed and how conversation was written. Here, this is Kudos to Chuck who insisted that translation matters a lot.

This book is a good introduction to Socratic method of understanding a topic. More about the Socratic method can be read here. I need to do more reading in this area to fully understand it. The best part of this book is that it was both philosophical and literary in nature. It was educational without being didactic. A fun to read, definitely to be included in one's summer reading list :)

And i think, one can clearly see the "thass" being applied in practice by none other than one of the masters of thass aka Socrates.

Standing desk

I have moved to a standing desk at office. Lets do the usual round up of questions?


Why? Were you having back pain?
No, I was not having any back pain. I should not have to wait for back pain to move to a standing desk model. This will be a preventive measure.

Then Why?
There are two reasons - (1) I was never happy with my monitor's height while sitting, i always had to bend my neck. (2) I was just bored of sitting. Two consecutive weekends and all week days included on one chair, it was just too boring to sit and work.

How does it feel now?
Quite good. My feet still hurt when end of day comes. My bar stool option to sit at a height is makeshift and not comfortable. But standing is lot more fun. As more time passes, i am getting more adjusted.


The making of standing desk was quite fun. A genuine standing desk comes at about 700$+ range. I just got an IKEA coffee table and put it over my desk to move to a standing desk model. I also bought a bar stool as my standing option but later found chair in office that can be used as well. My total investment was $20 for the table, $70 for bar stool and $30 for the monitor riser = 120$.

Here is how it looks

Consumers of democracy

Thass

10 things i know to be true

1. I know that hard work has always pays.

2. I know that there is a truth and it is universal.

3. I know that there is nothing to fear as long as i am truthful.

4. I know that my writings/poems are mediocre but it feels great to write them.

5. I know that good music can always make me smile.

6. I know that i do not need to drink/dope to experience high.

7. I know that time will change and change is always good.

8. I know that i have limitations.

9. I know that respect has to be earned.

10. I know that there is a joy in giving that can not be felt in any other way.


Inspired by this TED talk -


Update 1: Now, i have watched that video twice. I love the 2nd poem "Hiroshima" that Sarah narrates in the end. It reminds me so much of veer ras in indian kavi sammelan. She sings in that ras. I like it a lot. More videos can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJdQHQ6kbv0

Platonic lambda

I was going home after watching the movie King's speech. Naturally, i was in a very good mood. Good movie, good music always makes me happy. Roughly halfway, on San Antonio bus stop, i saw a man hitching a ride. No body was stopping. I saw him, he looked harmless (yes, i fear people hitching for rides, don't ask why), but i moved on. 100 metres ahead, i went and then decided - no, i should help him. I took a U - turn and went back to the bus stop. This time, i stopped. He wanted to go to Cubberly field, about mile and half from the bus stop. Not exactly in my way but it was just 1.5 miles. I said sure.

This person was middle-aged, carrying a bag pack. He told me that he is coming from Stanford where is taking poetry classes.
My mind thought - "How exciting!"
He was going to take some class near Cuberly field. He gave me his background - he had a PhD, he had worked a lot earlier but at some point he realized - what he worked on was not what he wanted to do.
My mind thought - "This sounds familiar".
So, he decided to take poetry classes and then he shared with me his today's poem - "Platonic lambda"
Its about the origins of the symbol lambda, Plato suggested it - thats why Platonic lambda. He shared his idea that he has observed for quite some time. Lambda is very similar to golden ratio - Like the way there is golden ratio everywhere, there is lambda everywhere around us. When we walk, in the shape of our nose, when birds fly etc etc.
My mind thought - "huh! He may have a point there. Intriguing! "
He gave a copy of his poem which i can not print as i do not have his permission. He also shared some of his life's experiences, what he has learnt, understood and how much happy he is now. At peace.
We talked for 15 mins at his drop place. I said goodbye. His name was Peter Chou and he runs wisdomportal.com.
My mind thought - "Good site name :)"


Overall, this is what means to be in the spirit of HKA. A random occurrence, a chance created out of nothing, a refreshing and exciting conversation, people sharing random ideas, observing things that are in front of you, things that you always saw and it never occurred to you. That just made my day.

Aanandam!!

Settlers of Catan

Oh man, this is so addictive.
Two days ago, Guy invited me to his friend's (Eric) place for a night of board games. I have played board games couple of times at office and always liked it.

We played Settlers of Catan and Puerto Rico. I had never played either of them before. I loved both the games. The interesting part is the design of these games, so much has gone into making them, so many details, all leading to logical end. Too hard to figure out which one was better among the two. Settlers of Catan has more randomization built into it than Puerto Rico.
Very very impressed.

And then today, i woke up at 2:30 am (yes am) and don't know why but i downloaded the Catan app on my iPad. And then from 2:30 am to 12:30 noon, i was just doing this. Playing against computers, it is absolutely amazing. It would be much better playing with people though. But so far, the addiction has not reduced. 23rd of January 2011, if it will be remembered in my life, it will be for Settlers of Catan.

Thanks Guy!!

Travelogue

How a SEO guy would write his travelogue.

So many places were visited in a month time that very soon i will forget. This travelogue is a set of keywords to remember all the uber set.

Los Angeles -
Disneyland, Universal studios, Rodeo drive, Beverly hills drive, Kodak theatre, Chinese theatre, hollywood walk of fame, Redondo beach, Santa Monica beach sunset, Santa Monica Third street promenade walk, Souplantation, Crepe place.

Las vegas -
Casino - Ceaser's palace, Paris, Venetian, Excalibur, Mandalay bay, Luxor, South point. Eiffel tower ride, Bellagio fountains, Blue man group, Chinese food at food court.

Las Vegas to LA -
Mojave National Preserve, Kelso dunes, Joshua tree, Cima dome, extinct volcanoes and hot cinnamon rolls in cold weather :)

Santa Cruz -
Mystery spot, Roaring camp railroad, Redwood forest, Beautiful redwood trees :), bear camp, Monterey, 17 mile drive, Cypress trees, Lone cypress, white sand beach, Sand city, Restless sea and other points.

San Francisco -
Golden gate, Crooked street, Pier 39, Half moon bay, Poplar beach, Linda Mar beach, Highway 1 drive, Santa Clara Nutcracker ballet, Vasona park Christmas lighting, Great mall, Gilroy outlets, Stanford university, University ave, Castro street MV, Palo alto book sale, Farmers market MV, Century cinemas.
Food -
Zeni's (Ehiopian cuisine), Amarin thai, Bangokok thai, Pasta ?, Dosa palace, Madras cafe, Whole foods salads, Chipotle, Denny's.

New york -
Manhattan, Statue of Liberty, Battery park, Wall street, Raging bull, Times square, Empire State Building, Museum of natural history, Trinity church, Ground zero memorial, Macy's, Tiffinwalla, Jersey city, New Jersey, Mexican restaurant

Washington -
Liberty bell (Philadephia), White house, Capitol building, Library of congress, Botanical garden, Natural history museum, Hope diamond, Memorial - Lincoln, Jefferson etc etc, Treasury building, Supreme court, Washington state memorial.

Anatomy of Kerala tourism video

Thanks to Justin for sharing the video and his interesting post can be read here - http://the-quintessential-justin.blogspot.com/2010/10/kerala-tourism-video.html

I just cant seem to get over the visual imagery in the video. I think its time for me to watch another Kim Ki Duk's film, its been a long time.

A few thoughts before i begin my analysis -
Thanks to the video makers / kerala govt for making this. With the video so surreal, i am not sure how it got approved. This video has some elements that are non-trivial, and they are not visible immediately but they add to the experience. It is videos like these which are made for repeated viewing, mainly to understand how one's brain works. If we like the video, if it clicks to us, then what is it. This post is my attempt to understand this 3 min video.

Start scene - Man fishing. ( 0 to 26 sec)
Firstly, it is an animation but very well done, so my mind is always trying to fiigure out, is this real? This creates intense concentration. Next, the camera is fixed but it is the water that is moving which gives life to the scene (as opposed to a static postcard). The man is still for the first half of this clip, and during that time, the eyes are looking at the imagery which is too good to be true. And then at 11 second mark, the man moves, but just observe his style of movement, and when i see his posture with legs crossed, my facial microexpression says - "yeah! thats correct".

Woman on massage table scene - (27 sec - 57 sec)
Camera is upside down, but that should have been ok, but it is the lateral movement of the camera which keeps us engaged. Since it is handheld, it is not entirely linear, so it gives us a perception that we are looking by our own eyes. And ofcourse the model is very beautiful too! Next, the camera jumps to show her in full, but again the lateral camera motion is still there. The camera just becomes our eyes and we feel as if we are there. And look at the next clip, the camera cuts to her face but this time, the camera is static and the actress is the one who moves, still giving us the same feeling of being physically observing it. The next two scenes just gives us the visual beauty of the landscape and what speaks is the calm, serene, and beautiful backdrop.

Man practicing Kathakali at his home (58 seconds - 1min 18 seconds)
This one is the best as per me. Look at how the video starts - the camera is outside the man's boundary, just above the mud wall, as if it is sneakily peeking to someone's house. It looks like we are the ones who are sneakily peeking, this goes for 6 seconds (just enough time for the brain to register this feeling) and then camera goes to the closeup. In all kathakali / tourist promotion viodeos, we always see the final imagery, man with paintings making facial expressions, but very rarely we have witnessed a man practicing the art, without the makeup, in its pure raw form, and while sitting at his home. We can see what actually happens, beyond the makeup. And then the last part, the camera is now inside the house, just above the wall boundary and we see the lady walking outside. This completes the story here, it was she who was peeking. It took 20 seconds to narrate a complete story and people experiencing atleast 5 different emotions in this time period.

Lady in boat scene (1min 19 seconds - 1 min 39 seconds)
Again, a very deep 20 second clip. What should you do if you are in the most peaceful place in the world - you think, introspect and reflect upon yourself. The 20 second clip describes those three adjectives in that order. It starts with the lady deep in thought and her reflection approaching her. Again, kudos to the way it is done, same clothes, almost same expression. But notice carefully, they two ladies are looking i different directions, it is not entirely a mirror image. And as the boats cross, the lady directly stares in the camera. At this point the viewer is convinced that the two are looking into each other, the camera position just adds that effect so silently. "Reflect upon oneself" if you ever have to portray this idea, how will you do it? Just think about it, its very hard! But the way this scene captures it, :) . Also there is some effect by the fact that the boats are moving, it does give some subconscious signal of time, passing thoughts and the slowness of the boat, just registers the fact that time slows down in this world.

Lady with long hair ( 1min 40 to 1 min 59 seconds)
We start by looking at the lady through a tree's branch. And the camera is moving backwards. I am not sure about the significance of the scene, to me there are two possibilities - on one side, it tells about Kerals's traditional practices portraying the myth and the mysticism in it or the other possibility is that you can be as insane as you want to be here :) . But cut to the next clip, now we are looking in the opposite direction and instantly we see the big tree with its convoluted branches and children sitting on them. The camera, again from this angle, moves backwards. We see the lady coming out of herself and looking at the people.

Dance form scene ( 2min to 2min 13 seconds)
I believe those are different dance forms in Kerala and they are just shown in an artisitic manner. The scene where we see the man arbit lip faces and the lady relaxing enjoying it, its actually the lady looking at the dance and enjoying it. The lip movements are not directed towards her, it is a art trick to show both the player and viewer in the same frame. And there are many things that are beyond my art interpretation, like why there is a dog in the long shot scene in this clip?

Lady and the elephant ( 2min 14 seconds to 2 min 50 seconds)
What is the end feeling that the maker wants us to leave with ? This scene captures that in a very indirect manner. The final emotions are natural beauty, wildlife, peace and being one with yourself and nature. Notice how the camera moves laterally here, just showing that there is so much silence in the backdrop. In the closeup frame, the expression on her face is of peace And in the last part, the camera moves backwards, as if it is leaving the two together .... in inner bliss. In the moment.

Your moment is waiting.
Which moment is talking about? Justin Cherian in his blog writes that it could mean anything but i beg to differ. I believe that there is only one moment that is being referred and that moment is the moment of inner bliss. The same moment with which the camera signs of that visual imagery. Admire the articulation "Your moment is waiting" here - It is not you who is waiting, it is your moment that is waiting. You can achieve the moment, it is within your reach, infact it is waiting for you to come.

Wow! It will take some time to settle it. The application of the whole to Kerala tourism is just a brilliant idea. Kudos!

Lastly, if you liked the video, may i recommend the movie - The vertical ray of Sun

Techcrunch disrupt.

I attended Techcrunch disrupt second day as part of my company. Techcrunch disrupt is an annual conference where startups come and pitch their products, mainly focussed on some disrupting products.

Liked products such as qwiki (which even won the contest), cloudFair, Gunzoo, Lark ( great idea) , and some others. Some were quite bad which made me wonder - really ? :)

But overall, what i liked was the spirit of conference, great minds gathered under an expo and discussing the next generation of disruptive ideas. This to me was the highest point in technology so far, everyone sitting with their smart devices, sharing ideas on twitter/fb etc, companies demoing on ipad, judges evaluating on ipad, startups everywhere, cloud, social, all buzz words in the air. And everyone excited about it, everyone trying to add their contribution to this ecosystem. Everyone believing in their ideas and working towards it.

A nice experience, a good look into whats happening in Silicon valley. Seriously, if you look here, if you see some things that people are doing here, it is a totally different world. Ways to make information tractable, meaningful etc, these are problems that silicon valley is seeing and silicon valley is solving. Only once the solution is there, then the world will notice it and adopt it, till then we are on an island, trying to make sense of things.

Indian constitution

Now that i have read the human right law, it makes me an expert on Indian Indian constitution. Doesn't it?

Here is what i think are some issues with Indian constitution -

1. Temporal factor. The only place where time is mentioned in IC is in the context of right to education where it says that GOI should aim to provide free and compulsory education within 10 yrs. It has been 6 decades and yet it remains elusive. My issues is that the IC fails to use temporal factor more often especially in case of preferential treatment. For example in case of reservations, (yes on some level i do understand and even agree on reservations); but i think it has to come with a time plan on when the preferential treatment will cease to exist. Reservation exists solely to promote the under privileged sections which is fine but assume in an ideal world (which is assumed when IC is written as it is an ideal document), if a backward section is given some privileges and assume that the execution is fool proof, because of the special privileges, after some time, the section will no longer be backward because it will get equal standings with other sections. Thus making the preferential treatment a discrimination. So, all preferential treatments must come with a time factor. Moreover, this time factor should also act as a deadline so that organizations strive to deliver before deadlines. Ofcourse for fair play there should be clauses for time extensions but with penalties as well.
So, i claim that it is reservation is okay as long as we say that it will get removed by 2020 by which we believe that it will no longer make sense.

2. Preventive detention - Many have written about it, the fact that in India, you can detain a person under preventive detention even in normal circumstances (meaning in non-emergency situations), this makes this law the most dangerous law. Here is what should happen here - Either this law should be there only in emergency situations, if not then atleast the powers to preventively detain a person should exist with a special body, instead of the normal police. Moreover, this law should come with clauses about Individual responsibility model when individuals responsible to detain others will face harsh punishments if they break the law. Preventive detention does not give anyone the right to torture. The rights of a detainee are sacrosanct and individuals who violate detainees' rights should be punishable. Furthermore, there should be an independent body (such as NHRC) with suo-moto powers and also powers to arrest and judge the perpetrator.

3. Remove Muslim law: India like western nations should bite the bullet and introduce uniform civil law for all religions without any preferential treatments. Special casing has no ends because of India's cultural diversity and moreover Muslim law is a very tricky business. They have chosen to include law as they seem to fit and some of the laws are opposed to the principles of HR.

4. Due process: Although the Supreme court has started to use "Due process" in lot many judgments, i believe that "due process" should be added to the law itself and hence should be formally defined. It will help a lot in future cases.

Overall, many people have many issues with IC and some are debatable. Above are the ones that i feel about quite strongly.

Mustache May 2010

May ain't over yet. And it will not be over until i submit my Mustache May pictures.
I participated in the category Grizzly Adams and won the competition this year at workplace. There were only 3 participants this year in my category. But it was lots of fun for me.

Archimedes said "Give me a place to stand and i will move the Earth"

I say - "Give me an opportunity to be a Jhalla and i will be a Jhalla that day and every other day until the next opportunity comes."

Enjoy!




May ain't over yet. And it will not be over until i submit my Mustache May pictures.