Saturday, August 16, 2008

My Brother

My Brother.
I owe many things to you.

Looking over your shoulder, while you became a geek.
I owe my love for PCs and geeks alike, to you.

Playing Tarzan on roof-tops, while you broke your limbs,
I broke mine with you, I owe my sense of adventure, to you.

Eves dropping on your phone calls,
I owe my value of silence, to you.

Standing behind you on one foot as you cycled,
I owe my sense of balance, to you.

Practicing gymnastics, trying to beat you and only you,
I owe my diligent nature, to you.

Holding your hand while tincture was applied to my wounds,
I learned not to cry, with you.

Following the WWF and wrestling,
I learned to defend myself, with you.

Watching your experiments,
I learnt my love for science, with you.

Following you to college, applying to only the one in which you studied,
I found my life there, cause of you.

You never did teach me to write, though.
Your gift was always your own.
And so, you have to read this.
But even then I say, Bhaiya,
I owe who I am to you.


I love you.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Of him. Of her.

She stood there, tall, poised, slight wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. In the lobby, ignoring the curious glances of the security guards. Office people walked by, in their hurry to get to that meeting on time. She ignored them too. She was there for but one thing. For, but one person.

As an hour went by, even the guards started getting tired. As the hours went by, she still stood there. Eyes firmly on the doorway, searching for someone. They learned to ignore her, stealing glances only in the middle of their talks. Head held high, eyes unwavering, and her stance resolute, she moved only to get that stubborn hair out of her eye.

As the end of the day approached, they were getting antsy. She looked delicate. She had not eaten, moved or said anything all day. They nominated one of them to go and speak with her. This nominated guard, with all the pride of helping a delicate damsel approached her. When he was close enough to see her pretty brown eyes, still unwavering, he asked, "Miss, Can I help you with something?"

She turned around slowly, with a slight smile on her face, her brown eyes so deep, her cheeks curving ever so slightly in the light, and she said, "No, Mike. Thank you for asking though." She then turned around and left the building. How did she know my name?, thought Mike, only later realizing it was on his name plate.



She was there again the next day. Wearing a yellow halter dress tied around her neck, the nape of which was visible as she had pulled up her hair. Mike, just gave her a weak smile today. And the hours started to go by again.

It happened then. Around noon. A group of six men from one of the floors above had walked out. Rather than ignoring them, she took a slight intake of breath. She turned around and followed with her eyes as the group had proceeded out the door, oblivious to the fact that everyone who worked on that floor had stopped to see what it was that she had been waiting for.

She didn't move though. She simply turned on the spot and kept following the progress of the group. It happened then. One of the six men, suddenly stopped. He stood there for five seconds, separated from his group, his hair sprinkled with grey, looking straight ahead. Then he turned around, slowly, slowly, and looked at her. She hesitated, then smiled. A slight shy smile. His eyes gleamed. A gleam of the unknown.

She took slow, determined steps towards him. "Come with me", she said. And they walked out together, with no other word.



She had taken him to her car and was driving now. He had no idea where they were going. But, did it matter? They sat quietly, going through the traffic. Not a single word spoken.

The warmth of his body was making her hands quiver. She couldn't give in now. But, aware of his body to her right, the slight bulge on his chest, his hands dark and big, the way his arms bulged under the office shirt, the curves of his face as they looked strong and his lips so… No, she had to concentrate. She hardly dared to glance at him during the ride.

He sat unaware of where she was taking him. But the rush of want, of years of feelings, of desire so great probity held no bounds, of gazing at her pictures with him, swirled in him, bringing forth a storm he could not control. And she was next to him, right there, with a known destiny, and an unsaid but understood understanding. He dared to glance at her hands, driving. Long, thin delicate, yet so firm, what he would give for… No, he could not. He dare not. Not, yet.



They came to a stop. She sat there, staring ahead. He knew this place. It was a secluded garden of a secluded building, from back when they first met. This is where they had met before- the first but not the only time they had walked- the first but not the only time they had spoken. He turned around, a grin beginning to form. But she was already outside. He stepped out and walked up behind her. Smelling her hair.

She knew he was behind her now. She could smell the perfume, like rain. Feel his warmth through her dress. It was now. She had to do it. Gathering up her courage, lips half open and quivering, she turned and looked up in his strong dark face, his black eyes looking straight at her.

And she lifted her hands and put them around his chest and neck and pulled his big, dark lips down onto hers.

And they kissed. Kissed as he held her slim waist tightly close to his. Kissed as the cars whizzed by. Kissed as a tear trickled down her cheek. As he opened his mouth slightly, to take in more of hers. As her tongue touched his. As he enveloped her even more tightly in his arms when she shuddered. As she felt the tight muscles of his arms, on his back. As he felt how her delicate body curved narrowly into her waist and he pulled her closer still, holding her firmly now, her soft breasts pushed tight against his chest. They kissed. As birds started singing. As leaves fell. As the sun went down. As he tasted her sweetness. As she tasted his wild rain. As he smelled her hair. As the soft stubble of his cheeks brushed hers. He kissed her.



There was nothing to say. Everything was understood. Always had been understood. As two, they stood smiling, grasping each other, never to let go.



And that's the story of those two. Who met with serendipity. Who met for the first time, one evening, watched movies, studied, worked, fell in love.



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Saturday, August 09, 2008

Casteism; Can it ever be rooted out?

I just logged into YouTube to check something out. To my initial irritation, it redirected to http://in.youtube.com AND, I can't change that.

Having resigned myself, I proceeded, as I was also was curious to see if it sucked as the Indian version of Ebay does. Other than that, I had no prejudice or compunction in loading up the 'most watched' videos page.

Yes, I am trying to avert stating what I saw. I am going round in circles. Or atleast want to. But then you would too. If you had to revisit THAT.

To my pleasant surprise, unlike Ebay.in's empty pages, there were a lot of videos uploaded. There were 10-15 thumbnails of women with very curvy bodies- the layers of their fat rolling on top of each other to form multiple curves around their naked tummies. They stood in dark background rooms, with the paint peeling off; sat with their legs open on couches which looked like a dog peed on them.

And no, I was not disgusted. How could I, a grown up person, with a questioning and open outlook, have any problems with porn- even ugly, fat, made-in-a-shack porn? Nope. I could not. So, I decided to read on rather than bring out a basket to vomit into.

Ah, and what I read surpassed any other feeling that I had previously. My hats off to the unknown, but not unpublished, amateur pimp. You have managed to cater to your audience perfectly. I mean, how else to cater to the Indian audience than by making it easily sortable by caste!

Of course, a Mallu teenager would get defiled if s/he saw naked women with a Telugu caste. So, why not let the 15 year olds preserve their sanctity and jerk off to someone from their caste!

The tags and titles, were clearly defining the cast, religion or cultural ethnicity of the woman/man. Yup, as you can guess, (i.e. if you don't already know) I could choose from Telugu, Tamil, Mallu, Marwari- if your caste has been left out, don't worry, I am sure it's in there somewhere. I just found it a bit tough to go beyond the first page...

I just don't get it. All Indian woman look the same so why this level of casteism? Are they actually imagining that masturbating to another caste's women would make them defiled?

Someone! Please explain!

It is curious though. Would be interesting to get some research on it. It would be highly interesting if one could find out the type of porn watched by cultures, age groups etc. I am sure its a reflection on one's culture of what we do in the most secret of our times. And since the data of usage is mostly available on the net, a non-scientific study shouldn't be hard to bring about.

Is our education system effective?

What am I talking about?

I am telling the story of Geeta. It is NOT about how hard the poor girl has to study and give tests every month. Nor am I talking about Geeta being Indian and thus having a better education than her American friend, Amy.

This is a story of Geeta. Of her kids'. Of her kid's kid's.

Of what she learned in school. Of what she did after school. Of what her kids learned and what their kids did for a living.


Our future? Our Unintended Aim?

You must be still be wondering what I am talking about. Well, a bit of background- What is it that we have to do as a species? We have to survive. And the best way for us to survive is to grow, expand, reproduce- spread out. First it was Africa, then Asia, then most of the world. Next step, the stars.

Ah, this is not a sci-fi story. Just a bit of reality stated succinctly to setup the background.

You see, how else will I prove that Geeta and her kids, all of them, have to specialize in some subjects and add some original thought into our human knowledge pool?


Geeta, today. Her kids, tomorrow.

Geeta is a Java programmer. She doesn't lead a completely boring life. She works 5 days a week and goes out for dinners over weekends. She will be doing the same when she is forty.

One day, an asteroid comes and destroys earth. No Geeta. No Kids. No mankind. Another billion years wasted.

Her kid's life needs to be saved. But is it up to her? She is after all, just a java programmer. Is it up to that one cell in my liver to keep me alive?

The only solution is for us to escape the planet. Survival through diversification. We also need to greatly increase our knowledge structure so future calamities can be dealt with. These two can come around only through huge numbers in population and yes, education.

I'll give another example. Centuries ago, our population was tiny, education was limited to a handful. Thereby, it actually took us thousands of years to discover electricity and all the other inventions that depend on it. But, imagine if we had then the population that we have now. If we had then the education that we still don't have. The industrial age would have come a couple of thousand years earlier.

How? You still ask? I'll give another more extreme, more cliché sort of example. Take our body. Our individual cells are not that different from an amoeba's. However, what makes us different is that we have billions of them (population) and that they are specialized. If our only motive to exist is to be intelligent then those few brain cells are being supported by the lung cells who are being supported by the heart cells who in turn, are being nourished by the intestine cells…(Specialization) Our body is also able to keep its knowledge of all these cell's work together and pass it on to the next generation through DNA. (Knowledge Storage)

This is the aim towards which we are progressing. Mankind will get there- have a huge population, have more specialized functions. Question is, how can we make it happen faster. Can we afford another couple of thousand years to discover the now equivalent of electricity's discovery?

Geeta needs to be able to become a java programmer not at 23 but much much earlier. She needs to learn and grow and contribute to society- faster.


Conserve knowledge AND Train EVERYONE on earth to be specialists?

First one is easier- conserve our knowledge. We have already lost invaluable bits of knowledge till date. The best ways of irrigation, surviving without water, moving heavy objects have already been lost.

I mean, imagine Geeta, she is a Java programmer. Wouldn't it be a waste if her kid's kid's kid's kid got an equivalent of a noble price for spending a lifetime creating a 'new' way of getting/storing data?

We have to conserve our collective knowledge else we take 2 steps forward, 1 back.

Oh yes, computers! Such an obvious in-my-face answer, right?

But computers only act as libraries. Much bigger, much faster, including much more personal knowledge but still a library. We need to provide training to ourselves so we can pick bits of information from this library and use it to add something original of our own. Collectively, taking us all forward, towards our unintended aim. Take Geeta's future kid. Imagine he lives in this system of basic training/education and a system of computers to access when some piece of knowledge is required. To make it simpler, let's put it in Geeta's context- it will be akin to her being a Computer Science major and wanting to contribute towards the Aurangzeb's historical significance. Sure, she can look it all up on Google. But, can she actually, gather enough data to be able to see some fact that was missed by someone else and ADD to our understanding of the man? Probably, not. She will mostly go through Wikipedia and a couple of books and write some blog entry about it- summarizing but not contributing.

But all this is obvious. Right?

Ah, but then my point had to be established. We can have mechanical storage of data. In fact, it is essential that we do it. However, we will also at the same time have to have a species storage.

Heavy, weird term. But, all it means is that Geeta needs to be educated, have a career and then teach her kids.

Is our current system of schools and colleges the right one, the best one to make sure that Geeta's 7th grandchild and not her 20th grandchild is born not on earth?

Our current system is that of specialized knowledge. That is good. That is what Geeta needs to be able to comprehend everything around her and still build a place in society where she can contribute her share.

What we however need to get her kid into the stars, next century and not 2000 years later, is a much, much more specialized system.


Grow more specialized, faster

Do all of us really need to learn calculus? Geeta is a java programmer. Sure, she might need calculus. But then again, does she need to know when Aurungzeb attacked India? The exact date? His commander-in-chief's name? Would that really help towards making her programming better?

Specialization is still being achieved in the current system. Through higher and higher education. But this system is not optimized. Does it really help our goal if Geeta gets a PhD? At the age of 30? She would still have to be trained by her company.

Most people join companies after college. Most companies hire fresh bachelor's graduates. Most graduates spend the next three years of work learning the tricks of the trade. Most graduates stick to their career choice.

But most graduates don't join companies with the degree they graduated in. Every day I get resumes of people having career histories completely opposite of their college degrees. Sales people with chemistry degree. Programmers with physics degrees. I, myself? Management with computers degree. Never programmed after college.

A solution is to cut out the crap.

I don't need to learn calculus. I don't need to know the history of the civil war. I can Google.

Back to Geeta. She has a bachelor's in Computers. She has been made a general specialist with this degree.
She can write high/low level programs, complex/simple algorithms, use Java/.net, be a technical journalist, create computer chips, be a scientist in computers- basically anything of her choosing right out of college. Does this really specialize her? Can she contribute her bit to mankind?
Not really. She has generic knowledge. It's all extremely useful to be able to fit in society. Her education gets her more reverence by her peers and manager. But that's it. It's mostly junk.
The real education is on the job. Geeta was trained again by her company. She learned by doing. Even these social skills like humanities learnt in college are re-learnt at work.


Education through Companies.

Wouldn't it be great if Geeta could have decided that she wanted to work as a java programmer when she was 14? Rather than starting training at a company 10 years later, if she could start training with them at 14?

If she were to choose to work for NASA, she could apply, get her aptitude tested and actually get trained at the age of 14. No crap- pure education. Pure specialization.

Companies acting like education centers. Specializing everyone- faster. They get paid to train- like a college. They in turn get highly trained people perfect for the job. No money wasted on training fresh graduates.


This will fit into the economics of the globe
Geeta gets a basic education- arithmetic, one language, brief history of mankind, basic sciences- then makes her choice. She gets a specialized education, gets to work faster, and produces more. Her kids might still reach the stars.


Question is what if she wants to change? What age is too early to choose? Is 18 the right age? Have all of us chosen the right fields?


Wednesday, August 06, 2008

What do you blog about?

Well, my question should more appropriately be, "What do you like to say?"

Just tried http://www.wordle.net/ : It creates a word sphere of the words mostly used in a given text, website or blog.

Here is my 'wordle'


and here is vinit's


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