Logical Religion

Reaching out

2012-01-29T22:44:00.000-05:00

So much to say.Yet, nothing to say.

Doggies

2011-01-04T05:17:00.002-05:00

SO, Sherlock has grown up to be a little punk. He is known for joyously jumping and licking and person who passes by- especially girls. Unfortunately, he also likes to pick up things and run, in the hope that we will chase him!
But, that is Sherlock. Then there is Vyomkesh. As in Vyomkesh Bakshi. As in Sherlock Holmes. Vyomkesh is our little rescued baby. He was ill treated by his previous owners to the point that neighbors complained and CUPA had to rescue him all the way from Manipal.
Vyomkesh is a year and half and thinks of himself as a ten year old. This of course, results in Sherlock jumping and licking and biting him all over while he tries to lie on his back and close his eyes.
Vyomkesh also prefers our bed to his own while Sherlock believes that the entire house is his to sleep around.
Here's a pic of the two punks-

Lenovo Laptop Heating Problem

2010-08-19T09:05:00.003-04:00

IBMs were great. My 8 year old laptop is still being used by the receptionist. But Lenovos are a class on their own.

My Lenovo laptop was overheating and shutting down so much that I had to replace the fan. This helped for a day or two untill the problem started again. I would have been forced to buy a new (non Lenovo ) laptop but then I found an awesome solution!

Basically, even on power cable, put your laptop on 'maximum battery life' mode. This brings the core temp down to the 40s from 60s/70s. Any spike over 95/100 shuts off the laptop. But in this mode, the core temp never goes over 60/65c.

And you can increase the brightness using the keyboard; it doesn't affect the the temperature.

Sherlock

2010-06-16T07:02:00.002-04:00

So, we got out Doggie! His name is Sherlock and he is 36 days old today. Oh, and he is the cutest of them all!!

He is my first dog EVER and I am realizing a lot of things that are fun when you have someone to take care of. It brings a joy that makes all the work rewarding. I can now see why so many women have no qualms about quitting their careers and other types of 'life' to pursue full time mothering.

It has been essential that we have a housekeeper at home all the time. Else, the little thing is SO tiny that we couldn't possibly leave him alone. Thank fully, our person is so enticed by Sherlock that he doesn't leave him even for a second- to the extent that he refuses to take a bath after we have left!

This is what we wanted and hoped for.

Right now, we have cordoned off an area in our room for him and also make a small sheltered bed. (He seems to prefer a sheltered area- he keeps crawling under our legs and going to sleep)

Also, he seems to have a humongous appetite! He keeps getting hungry every few hours! For a month old puppy he is pretty smart. He has already learnt its name and seems to also understand a bit of where he should "go".

All our friends are in love with him also. This was important for us as atleast initially we will be unable to leave him alone so will have to take him to atleast our close friend's parties.

Maoist & Corruption

2010-06-07T03:47:00.002-04:00

We all think that the Chinese must be supplying arms to Maoists to create a disturbance in that area. That is true, but where do these people get the money to do buy the arms?

They are not associated to any religious organization (As is the case with the middles east supported Islamic fundamentalists). They don't have rich supporters from out of India (As was the case with the Canadian Sikhs supported Khalsa group). Nor do they have any democratic representative who supports their views.

So how do they get the money? Apparently and hypocritically, from the same places they have been protesting so much- Mines, dams etc. Any activity that goes on over here, has to have a commission for these people. And if not commission, they out rightly get multiple trucks full of materials for every truck that goes out. They sell this in the black market (Another reason why, at our level we should not support places such chor bazar)

Sure, a lot of their customers might not have an inkling that they are supporting terrorism. But I also wonder how many of those who are fighting these murderers know about tackling terror from multiple fronts, including monetary.

DOG!

2010-05-30T03:58:00.002-04:00

So, at first, I thought of gifting him a dog as he such a dog lover. But, he was reluctant, for whatever reason. Trying to convince him, I got into getting one for myself more than him! I have researched all the pedigrees, their habits etc. Of course, what REALLY converted me into having a dog was this

I SO want a dog just so I can get/make that machine!

Fear and the lack of it

2010-04-06T08:39:00.002-04:00

Repeated exposure to fear finishes the fear itself.

Years ago, I used to do adventure sports because the excitement of being able to overcome my fear was exhilarating. Now, I do them just 'cause they are fun. Last weekend's parasailing was calming and serene. Waving to the kids down below was like sitting in an airplane and waving. I didn't experience even an ounce of fear.

I guess this is what drives old people to keep looking for the next exciting thing to do. To generate that fear is now the goal not the abolition of it.

First Day

2010-02-01T02:07:00.004-05:00

I feel like I have lost what little writing skill that I did possess. Oh well, maybe it will come back to me as blogging starts again (due to popular ~~demand~~ nagging).

This being the first day int he new place requires me to commemorate it in some way. I believe I am in love with this place. For one, I can't hear V's meetings in my cabin. Second, everyone in the company seems to be happy and excited about it.

I am getting writer's block; will write more later.

Moving

2010-01-29T04:50:00.002-05:00

It's a good milestone to have. To move offices signifies that we are bigger than we were two years back but it also means a loss of a home.

It's the place we live in for most of our waking hours. It's where we create a family, hand picked at that. Each of them is smart and brings something unique to us as a unit. And now we are on to another place so we can add more intelligent people.

V and I have moved office locations twice and also opened a few branches earlier. I don't know why this one makes me feel at a loss. I don't even like this building!

Maybe it is because this place was a haven when I needed one. Or maybe I am just getting older. The old have a tougher time letting go of things than the young. It was exciting to move earlier. It meant sitting and planning the new design. Now, it's boring. Moving is being planned by someone else. The transportation is being arranged by another person. There is no work for me to do, except for the drudgery stuff of signing checks and clearing the local accounts.

Oh well, maybe when I am in the new place I will not want to leave it too.

Paintball

2010-01-25T04:22:00.002-05:00

Went paintballing after a long time. It was more fun than I remember, probably because of the fact that we were doing this on a bright and sunny day and with other amateurs rather than on a snowy and cold day with paintball veterans!

I did come out with three concentric bruises which will be my pride and glory for the next few days.

Might do it again next week.

wolframalpha

2009-06-15T13:43:00.000-04:00

www.wolframalpha.com

Worth visiting once. It got me addicted! It's quite fun.
However, I couldn't figure out anything useful to ask it.

Of them. Of me. And of time so inadequate.

2009-05-22T16:01:00.005-04:00

Slow down! Slow Down!
They all tell me.
You have time. Loads of time.
They all tell me.
How do they know?
I have to ask.
Do I have a lakh of days
or just enough for a prayer?
How do they know?
Do they have enough?
Whether ten or a thousand?
How do they know?

I look at them,
by the road side,
sleeping on their mats
in the heat with no taps.
I swallow a tear
too embarrassed every time
as I pass on by in my ac car
knowing my time will come
in five years or so
when I can help their kind
and change their world
as much as I can

Now I wait
As I have waited since I was eight
The time is close now
Dream, I can now
Plan, I should not
lest it takes from the path.

Time is short and the wait is long
Only by finishing my first can I go to the next
Will it run out if I run faster?

Let the world be green

2009-05-12T16:15:00.002-04:00

V's gift to me: Sony Reader!
(And yes, it does read like paper)

Voted!

2009-04-23T08:23:00.003-04:00

If you aim for the sky,

2009-04-09T03:35:00.001-04:00

reaching a mountain top will feel inadequate.

Registered voters demographics

2009-04-03T06:04:00.003-04:00

Here is a graph of voters distributed by age. Randomly selected 25K registered voters in Bangalore.

No wonder internet has suddenly become a huge marketing arena for all parties.

8.5 Years

2009-04-01T03:09:00.002-04:00

Happy anniversary to us!

Dealing With Corruption

2009-02-20T04:58:00.002-05:00

There are many forms of corruption in our country. V and I once complained about a government car not being towed/moved from a no-parking area. The DCP who took our complaint was pretty diligent about it but tried to convince us that this was not corruption but misuse of power.

To me, misuse of power is just a form of corruption. However, most of our country thinks of corruption as only bribery. So, this is what I will try to address.

Bribery happens in a very very rampant way. Only very few government employees out rightly refuse an money. We should simply legalize this.

If a government employee who initiates a project will get some commission( even .2-.5%) from whoever wins the contract, they will go ahead without any prejudice. Of course, problems will arise if they take bribes on top of this commission structure.

The advantage will be great though- we the taxpayers will be making money through the taxes that are imposed on these bribes- our GDP will be much higher if our parallel economy is merged to a certain extent with the real one.

Another problem would be that bribes would be given within organizations by these employees to get to these coveted, money making jobs. Another one would be that our politicians like to impose an image of a poor person- they would not want anyone to know how much money they are making.

Theoretically, the idea was decent though.

Stupid Little Girl

2009-01-19T06:55:00.003-05:00

Working in India as a woman is bad- really bad. It has open condescension, open hostility and open sexual exploitation.

"Stupid little girl"- is what my friend, who is a MD of a company got hear from the IT guys. According to them, she was just a stupid little girl who didn't know how to run a business and thus should pay them a bribe/pay an incredibly high and incorrectly applied fine. Too bad for them, it is just that statement which is landing them in trouble.

But fighting back openly is fine when you don't want to do business with the other company. What does one do if it is the client who does this? When you are asked "where is your husband/father"? When you go to a client who has 1500 employees and you only meet one woman in your 4 day stay? When a reseller taking you out for dinner isn't able to tell his wife that you are a woman? When a client calls you over to his hotel room for a meeting and calls you gorgeous?

This is from the women business owners' perspective- of which there aren't many. This open hostility is comparatively non existent for MNC employees- but the salary discrepancy is still appalling.

I am not a feminist and never wanted to be one. Same is true for a lot of my other women friends. But if that is what it takes to maintain our lifestyle, then that is what has to be done.

Random-ness? Predicting the future

2008-11-11T06:44:00.003-05:00

If I roll a dice, I have equal chances of getting a '6' or a '4'. However, if I have rolled a '6' once, then my second roll has lower chances of getting a '6'.

This is 'cause probability of getting two sixes in a row are low. However, both my rolls were independent rolls. Independently, I should have equal chances of a '6' both times. Then why does this happen?

Also, if 6 different people were to roll six different dice at the same time, theoretically we should get each of the numbers. But that isn't so in reality. Why?

Also, if V were to roll a six and then I were to roll, m probability of a 6 is low.

Can we predict the dice roll on the basis of previous rolls?

Now, let's make it simpler and take a coin; say I will be tossing the coin 3 times and I will have to predict the third toss result. First toss is 50-50 chance and I get a head. Second time , I get a head again. My prediction would then be a tail for the third one. BUT, what if I get a head and then a tail? What should my third guess be then? I would say head because the probability of two tails in a row is low. (But then again, head-tail-head should also be low. )

If I were to know what everyone on earth rolled till date and the number of times a number has been rolled, should I be able to predict the next number?

Going back to the original predict the future question, I don't think we can predict our own future just on probability alone. Example: pick a number between 1-20. Apparently, the most common human-generated-one is this.

Our Obsession with the West

2008-10-22T08:39:00.003-04:00

It is interesting to watch meetings of the intellectuals of our society. It will rebuff any theories of well they understand our society. The most recent one I attended had unending discussions of, guess what- Sarah Palin and other intricacies of the American election. If I were to ask them about the upcoming Assembly elections and its implications on the country’s future policies, they would fall short.

We seem to be a society taking up problems which are easy to solve and in fact, do not require our direct involvement. We are happy pointing fingers and solving all levels of issues, sitting in our embroidery-covered sofas for problems that are half a world away from us!

So few of us stand up and take up the issues that surround us that it is appalling. Every week I meet people who complain about the trees in Bangalore being cut down- but we don’t see any effectual protest being done beyond living room cribbing. The most shocking of people who follow anything the government throws at them is that of the ‘Pub City of India’; Bangalore has become such a boring city that dessert places also try closing down by 10pm for lack of customers (Corner House being an exception).

The loss of business due to the 11:30pm deadline, by my uninformed guess, would be in the range of Rs 500 cr per month. There is a definite loss of young people (which might be overshadowed by the inflow of small town kids flowing in) who prefer Delhi or Mumbai where at least they can spend a bit of their easy-earned money. I am not even counting this block on the economy- the slowed growth due to less flowing money.
The point however remains that the city which prided itself as the pub city of India is now a dead city. And no one raised an eyebrow. This city, the home of Kingfisher breweries produces sales at just a bit better than a nearby small town. And not even the king of Kingfisher pushed his political clout.

This indifference or the lack of guts to stand up what our rights makes me wonder how we ever even got our independence. It does explain a few things though- like how most of the leaders of our freedom fight were educated outside of India. Even Ambedkar, now the symbol for political usage by a party catering to the most uneducated and downtrodden of our people, spent multiple years getting educated in the west.
This indifference and the ability to merge whatever is thrown at us is a good thing too; in a country of such vastly different vested communities, where states are divided by the language people speak, where there are streets of people of only one community, we still manage to be tolerant to our neighbours, we still have relatively negligible community clashes to how many should have been. We are still one country. 17 national languages. And we are still one country. We don’t inter-marry. But we are still one country.

But coming back to the original point, we prefer solving other people’s problems because on one hand the issues are too big for us to do something and on the other hand we have a sab-chalta-hai and a swalpa-adjust-madi philosophy on life. A philosophy, that has saved our skin and also been our downfall.

On the personal front, I would just like a few intelligent people to be able to talk to about my own damn country.

A consequency of the BPO economy...

2008-10-17T02:43:00.003-04:00

...laymen judge company value by the number of employees.

Do you?

2008-10-10T08:14:00.000-04:00

I know my life's work; do you?

Subprime for dummies

2008-09-22T03:29:00.000-04:00

Naresh forwarded this a while back. In light of the current state of things, I thought I should share it:
(I don't know who the original author is)

So, this is what I got him...

2008-09-16T02:51:00.002-04:00

That's what he got me...

2008-09-15T10:01:00.002-04:00

My Brother

2008-08-16T02:19:00.000-04:00

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.

Of him. Of her.

2008-08-12T09:42:00.006-04:00

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.

Casteism; Can it ever be rooted out?

2008-08-09T18:02:00.004-04:00

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?

2008-08-09T03:21:00.003-04:00

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 7^th grandchild and not her 20^th 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?

What do you blog about?

2008-08-06T11:03:00.004-04:00

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

Credit Cards and Moronity

2008-06-25T01:55:00.002-04:00

We are getting credit cards for some people. During the process of which, I realized how little people understand about credit cards. Forget the fine print and hidden charges. On the summary paper the Fee is defined as 2.95% pm and 35.4%annual.
I had explain why it is so. Really- teaching compound interest to a 35 year old brings you to a new low.

Waiters

2008-06-23T02:23:00.002-04:00

Waiters are like robots.

Tell them something not in their limited phrasebook and they get stuck.

RIP: T40 Silicon

2008-06-09T10:27:00.002-04:00

My favourite and also my first laptop is dying. Well, it has been dying for the past few years but I have blatantly being ignoring the increasing number of signs. I keep covering up the things that have been happening and tried saying "its the best laptop in the world", louder and louder (Maybe someone would have believed it)

First in the series were the crashes- which I fixed by removing a whole lot of programs.
Then my charger always had to be connected at a certain angle- no one knew about this until sparks started coming out from the wire which had been bent at that certain angle too many times.
Vinit, being his gracious self, donated me his charger. My man has been surviving on one charger between his two laptops since then. (My repeated promises of buying another laptop have kept him from getting a new charger)
Third in line was my battery, which has slowly lost its retention power so at this point, my system hibernates immediately if the power code is removed.
And, how can I forget that my 40 GB Hdrive, somehow has reduced my workable space to only 2 GB. So I have to keep deleting files, which is no longer my hobby.
But the clincher came two weeks back- the following keys don't work any longer:
LeftCtrl,5,6,-, Delete, and a few of the F keys.

If you are wondering how I can type the above out, well, on screen keyboards weren't developed only for the handicapped.

I would still have continued in this state if every morning I didn't see the message "Your system has recovered from a serious error".

Maybe I would still not let go. After all, it didn't crash when I worked on it.

Then, one unfortunate day, we had a meeting with our potential finance guy on my laptop. Unfotunately, his favourite sample number was five. Five crore, five employees, five years. Of course, it didn't work. If he mistyped, he couldn't delete. He couldn't copy paste as he tried the left ctrl and not the right one.

Vinit has since made me sit and order a T61- the prices of which are about 60% less in US than in India.

I will always remember T40silicon.

Global Warming Or Food Supply?

2008-06-09T09:56:00.002-04:00

Current average food prices in the world have gone up by 50%.

There are two main contributing factors towards it:
1) Increase in demand of bio fuels- made to counter global warming.
2) Several weather related crop failures in US, India, East Europe and of course, Australia- caused by global warming.

Corn crops in areas surrounding US, esp Mexico are being sold to higher paying bio fuel manufacturers creating a shortage for the average man who was simply eating his corn. Also, put in the fact, that farmers who used to traditionally grow wheat are switching over to corn to capitalize on the gains (And no, this switch over is not negating increased demand as it is substantially high)

This has simply increased the food crop prices not only in corn but across a spectrum of eatables.

MAYBE this demand wouldn't have affected us so much if the world as a whole hadn't had a series of droughts and severe weather. But well it did. And it will again.

I haven't researched into biofuels myself; however, a friend who was looking into investing in it found that there isn't a lot of profit related to this venture. Maybe it does in the US where most margins are higher.

Biofuel initiative in India also seems to be catching on fast with multiple companies investing in the land being given away by the government for Jathropa plantations. But after talking to only a handful, I found that these people do not intend to do anything with this land. It is, for them, only an investment to gain control of land which maybe in the distant future become valuable.

Coming back to the topic, biofuels are part of the solution experts have been offering to fight global warming. However, as we see above, biofuels are partly responsible for the same.

So, the question again comes- which is more important Global warming or food supply?

Fine, I know I am being overtly dramatic. But it is something for us to think about, is Biofuel really the best option for us right now?

Hiring Policies

2008-06-07T01:15:00.001-04:00

When hiring junior employees, hire those who pursue you.
When hiring senior employees, hire those who you pursue.

Racism? Sexism? 'Differentianism'?

2008-05-29T07:27:00.002-04:00

'Science Blogs' was one of the blog packs that came with Google Reader when I signed up. Being a research-hobbyist, I read the pack almost as much as my friend's.
Cognitive Daily is one of the more interesting blogs in this pack and recently had an article discussing a research on Racism.
They took a group of people and while they were speaking on video conference 1 to 1, monitored their anxiety level. In one scenario, there was a deliberate 1 minute time lag and in another there was no time lag.
They found that when the people talking were of the same race ie white-white/black-black, the anxiety levels reduced when a time lag was induced in their video chat. However, in a mixed race scenario of white-black, the anxiety level actually increased.
Implications are profound considering the recent date of the study. Most people believe and will get very offended if they are called racist. But, then why is there an underlying mistrust with interracial conversations?

Someone suggested that this is 'differentianism'; anyone different from you should not/can not be trusted. This could go on a long way to explain sexism, religionism and even castism. One example Vinit gave which expats or NRIs notice is that living in the same country, white/blacks may have issues. However, send them separately to India or Vietnam and they will tend to cling together- cause now a bigger difference has arrived and after all they are of the same country/culture. The same can be applied to Pakistanis and Indians going to another country. At home, they might have many differences but amongst people with a different outlook on life, they just become 'Desis'.

According to Vinit, this could be explained by the history of humanity. According to National Geographic, humanity at one point had almost died out and had a population of just 4000. To survive that, people must have had to compete for the same meager food resources; thus bringing about our inherent distrust of strangers and people of 'other tribes'. A lot of conquests in our early history were carried out for survival of the tribe.

If you follow the gene lines created by Genographic Project, the Y chromosome line are significantly different from the mitochondrial DNA lines. Most of us are the product of armies of men coming into a region, either settling down or impregnating women and moving on (which? we don't know). This might even, shed some light on the different natures of men and women, men being more competitive on the whole. Women do seem to vanish when a field becomes very competitive even if they were amongst the initial pioneers- IT being an example.

A Forced Feminist

2008-05-07T04:35:00.001-04:00

I never wanted to be a feminist.
Then I had to defend my identity.
In the process,
I became one.

Giggle

2008-04-15T06:32:00.002-04:00

Giggle-I didn't.
Sing-I didn't.
Conform-I didn't.

Walk-I did.
Trudged-I did.

Nothing on mind- A life forgotten.

I walked.
And walked.

Found him
By my path.

Together
A path created
for those behind.
A world revealed
With him by my side.
Cause I had him for support.
Cause I had him to support.

Cost of Doing Business in India

2008-04-10T07:58:00.003-04:00

So, V and I came back to expand our Indian office into a sales office. Initial few months went by with us marveling at how easy it was to sell in India and a ton of other great advantages.
But the operational overheads that have recently started coming down on us are becoming a major pain.
1- To send a simple wire transfer out of the country takes three days and filling out of a dozen forms.
2- Banks advertise their services which only the sales people are aware of.
3- A maintainence contract for our computers mean coming and deleting temporary internet files every 3 months.
4- Taxes
5- Holidays every second week.
6- Customer service will hangup on you.
7- Personalize every meeting.
8- Women 'can't' work late.
9-

A first...

2007-11-26T00:20:00.000-05:00

Being a bridesmaid for my husband's ex!!

Picking up Kannada

2007-11-24T10:17:00.000-05:00

- Swalpa Adjust Madi
- Swalpa Limca Madi
- Dodda Aladamara Yilli Barate
- Vinit Yilli Barate
- Limca Yilli Barate
- Tumba Thanxu
- Loafer Nin Mangane
- Goobe

:)

oh, and learnt to address everyone as 'Saaaaar' or 'Boss' (Even if it makes Vinit and Arvind close my side window)!

2007-11-24T10:13:00.001-05:00

music, loud enough to tune them out
lights, dark enough to shut them out
food, sparse enough to prove them wrong
fantasy, so strong to make it real
life, long enough to do it all
strength, enough to make it all
will, big enough to make it last
friends, enough to be with you

Logical Religion P6.0- What's Religion?

2007-11-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

Religion is following a set of rules that you believe in.
Blind religion is following a set of rules set by someone else, whom you believe in, but following the letter not the spirit.

Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, is all relative. Everyone knows that. Even a bunch of HSBC ads can show that.

But then what makes us fight for our religion? What makes us stand up tell others to convert or burn in hell (Yes, I know that hinduism, jainism or buddhism don't convert) Why do ALL religions degrade after a certain period of time?

Is it that religion becomes a structure for power in time? And that our individualist quests do not fit in with the overall concept of good for everyone else?
Is it that religion becomes a beacon for a type of culture? And conversions ensure a very diplomatic way of spreading our way of life? Ensuring that WE don't have to change?

What's your social status?

2007-11-07T14:18:00.000-05:00

As Pawan Varma very aptly put in his book, we Indians like to judge a person within the first few seconds of meeting them. This is usually done by looking at the car they drive, the clothes they wear, whether they speak in English and then lastly, with a more direct Q&A session regarding what their father does, where they live and what they do for a living.

In the case of women, I have realized that the Q&A is limited to only one thing: "Do you cook?"

Apparently, this question single-handedly makes a lot of others non-essential. Either that or they are embarrassed to ask anything else!

Learning Languages

2007-09-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

I feel lucky to have been born in a bilingual house and a multilingual nation.

The more languages you know the easier it is to learn others. 'cause afterwards, learning just becomes a game of word association. However, if you only know one language, learning a new one, especially one of another family, is like trying to memorize a list of scientific names.

I will personally, have trouble with the southern ones as they are of a completely different family than the ones that I currently know.

Back!

2007-09-25T13:11:00.000-04:00

Home is where your loved ones are. You could have one, two or even three homes.

The Trip

2007-09-17T21:10:00.000-04:00

This one is already turning out to be crazier than ANY trip we have ever taken. And I am including the ones where my dad would make us walk for tens of miles on steep mountains, stay in tents and eat weird Army food.

After about 150 emails and a month of strenuous planning by four people we still have to get the visas, book a few hotels, figure out car rentals and even get a few dictionaries!

Even more fantastic is that we have to get from Delhi to Amritsar and catch a flight from there! It will probably be a train ride about 12 hours long.

Oh and I forgot to mention that this is the FIRST trip ever where I am not booking even one aspect online! It was an ordeal even trying to find flight schedules online. We finally got a travel agent in NY but they don't take credit cards so we have to make a money order and send it in.

I am not even mentioning the things A's father is doing to enable us to make these trips. He even had to put in a word to get my passport renewed. I should remember to send him a thank you card with all the work he has put in!

I am appreciating the following favorites of mine more by the day:
www.Hotwire.com, travel.yahoo.com, www.virtualtourist.com

Update- Blackwater rafting!

2007-09-13T12:59:00.000-04:00

Was just going through some old posts and saw this.

We finally were able to do it and a whole lot of other stuff in New Zealand!
(We went there in January for our Honeymoon)

The Stress of Being an Owner

2007-09-06T18:24:00.000-04:00

Everyone thinks that they have the most amount of stress compared to people they know or even times past. The best example is when people talk about their child-hoods as the most stress free time. As a child I always found this amusing because to me, at that point, I had more worries than the rest of the world. I mean, with all the problems of finishing home work, figuring out my rankings, various jealousies between friends and always keeping the elders happy.

Now, we can look back and say that it was juvenile. However, wouldn't the same apply to us at each of our current points in life when we look at it thirty years later?

But I am digressing, I wanted to write about the stress of being the owner of a company versus an employee. Because of the type of work I do, excluding my college buddies, most of my friends are about 45-50 years old. Most of them own their businesses after having spent decades working in various roles culminating in the end as General Managers.

One theme to the story that keeps coming up again and again is that as GMs, they took their boss's company from $x mil to $20x mil and decided to start their firm to make all this money for themselves. But now, the stress and the issues are making them hollow.

And I understand what these people didn't- even if as a GM you are managing everything in the company, at the end of the day the money isn't yours. All you have to worry about is a reprimand if you make a huge/simple mistake. With your own company, each mistake translates directly into the house mortgage, into the kid's tuition or the nice dinner on Friday being lost.

Over and over I have heard the words that they just want to walk out the door. They want to drive away and never look back. Go live in Bahamas and not face all the expectations to succeed. But the true entrepreneurs, the ones who are strong enough to last through such phases are the ones who are finally able to reach their goal.

I know this person who moved from Brazil, where he was a GM to here and started his own firm. For the first few years, his life was so tough that his wife started working in people's houses as a maid! Today, his company is $20mil worth.

It takes a lot to be a business owner and I honestly, do not think that a lot of people can do it. Many talk about it because it sounds cool. But most can't. And I even believe that they shouldn't. Why leave a guarantees money supply as an employee and gamble that you will make ten times as much?

V and I have been pretty smart about the entire deal too- of course there have been phases when we worked from 5am till 12am- but we have ended up not only creating a great business but also becoming closer to each other. Maybe it was in our genes. Or maybe you tend to learn from what you see. Both V and my fathers are self-made men. More than any advice, it was their endurance which we saw as children that gives us our strength today.

Indian Customs

2007-08-29T16:24:00.000-04:00

Vinit and I have been setting up to move most of our excess baggage to India for a while now. Unfortunately, my beautiful 'havai mahal' got busted when I looked up the customs regulations if I am transferring residence to India.

Transfer of Residence(TR) gives us a lot of leeway according to the rules. It actually allows us to bring back ALL of our personal items like clothes, kitchen utensils, books free of charge. In fact, now that we are married, as a family we can bring back one VCR, one washing machine and even ONE refrigerator!!! Can you believe our luck? We can actually take back ALL these items free of charge!

We will only have to pay a 15.3% duty on the rest of my electronics including my video camera, TV, projector, printer.

Oh and yes, the only thing that we REALLY care about getting to India is going to be charged a measly 142.64%!!! Our bike. Our poor, lovely, bike. First, it had to stay in the garage for an entire summer 'cause we didn't bring it to Fl. Now, it might have to stay in it forever till we take it out for 'a' ride or two.

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

2007-08-14T08:48:00.000-04:00

It is an established fact that most people when left to themselves will mingle with others of the same economic (and socio too) status. You can see it around you, most of your friends will probably be earning something in your range. There are always exceptions of course but there are enough examples to generalize.

What Vinit and I have observed is that the same also applies to IQ. Its tough to have regular dinners with people who can't think or ,I am sure, with those who think too much.

I believe that all of us, humans, try to structure the world around us as a means of understanding. This is the main reason behind stereotyping. (Another post for this one)

Can people change you?

2007-08-01T20:15:00.000-04:00

Aish was here over the weekend and while walking down the beach we saw a a few people with rolled up pants, fishing.
His question to me was whether they bothered me. They didn't.

I knew they should.They always used to. Hunting still makes me sick.

One of our friend's idea of a calm weekend is to fish. And having spent a lot of time with him, could that have altered my idea of what I used to consider disgusting and horrendous?

And why just fishing? I still loathe the concept of hunting. Both are equally bad. Both cause equal amounts of pain.

Note to self: get the disgust back in!

Questions I want to ask- somebody- anybody

2007-08-01T15:30:00.000-04:00

Why do we fast?
Why do we follow religion?
What do we achieve by doing what we do?
Why are we here?
What are we?
If X:us::us:amoeba, what is X?
If God created us, who created God?

Bovine Growth Hormone and the FDA

2007-08-01T15:03:00.000-04:00

I have four family/friends who have fought cancer in the recent years. One of them, Mary Abernathy was my mentor for my non-profit work and her story is one to be inspired by.

Her breast cancer moved to so many areas of her body that I can't even name them all(Liver, Blood, Lung...) All those years ago, she mentioned the reason so many people in America have cancer. And, she also mentioned some place where she was protesting about it. As a full time student with a full time job, I had filed that in the back of my head and forgot all about looking it up on Google.

Now, last month, Vinit decided to start buying organic milk as it doesn't have rBGH. This made me look up everything related on Google.

Did you know that American milk and milk products are banned in Canada and Europe? That's because it has rBGH in it. And since the FDA doesn't let farmers advertise "no rBGH" on their milk products, it can't be sold in those places.

Did you also know that according to the FDA, there is no "proven" connection between cancer and rBGH. However, there have been numerous reports of a connection.

Some farmers are trying to go the organic route which in America only means 'no-rBGH'. But its a start. For a person who grew up drinking 3-4 glasses of milk a day, the idea of cancer causing milk is very scary.

Life- A Running Editorial

2007-07-16T11:06:00.001-04:00

My brain has started viewing my life as a detached observer.

Its a bunch of fast moving powerpoint slides. With each scene in the middle and footnotes coming at the bottom and a small editorial article written on the right.

A part of me is advocating a switch to the comic slideshow- with little sarcastic bubble floating on top of me and a narrative voice just walking me through the scenes. And OH! those noise words like 'GRRrrrrowwlllllll' next to my tummy (I am hungry)

political correctness caught my tongue

2007-07-14T09:11:00.000-04:00

Words form in my mind.
I type them. Think about who might get affected and delete them all.

Advertising Genius

2007-07-05T16:13:00.000-04:00

There are some big marketing geniuses out there- Steve Jobs reiterating his status again with the iphone.

Only rarely do you see true advertising genius. The ones that break away from the norm and create something that sells.

The latest eBay ads do not mention eBay at all. In fact, one has no idea that they are eBay ads until one goes to the website they want you to go to- www.windorphins.com

They have completely bypassed the 'buy me' or 'remember me' type of advertising and created a fun thing. After all, why do you shop? Why did my friend just buy $300 shoes? Why did I order the laptop?

Its not because she or I needed the shoes or laptop. Its because shopping is fun. The fun goes away after a while and we are all ready to buy the next cool thing.

What better way to advertise a shopping site than to highlight and remind us of the fun?

A Nation of Geeks

2007-06-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

In most western countries, India is considered a nation of computer programmers. Most Americans believe that Indians are either programmers or doctors. I used to dismiss these notions as their narrow purview attributed to their lack of exposure.

However, a latest trend made me wonder whether I should rethink my own stance.

I have been receiving a fair amount of wedding invitations(from India) that have either been scanned or are some other innovative digital invite. All my friends actually consider sending a physical card a thing for older people. From the same family, my parents will get a pretty card and I will get the digital version.

This, if you know my drift, doesn't happen in western countries. I have not received a single digital invite. Sure, wedding registries are widely used but no digital invites.

Does this mean that whether we are programmers, artists, journalists, fashion designers, accountants, doctors or even manufacturers, we are, in our hearts, just a nation of geeks?

What is experience?

2007-06-16T08:43:00.000-04:00

Most 20 year olds detest being told that a 35 year old has experience and their way of doing things is better. But its these 20 year olds who turn into these 35 year olds after 15 years.

So, what changes their minds? What is experience anyways?

Youth means looking at a mountain and saying, "well, its a 10 mile trek. If I start climbing now and take 2 breaks, I should reach the top by this afternoon."
Its only after having failed on such a statement that the 20 year old takes a step towards being the 35 year old.

I met a couple of successful dot com era CEO/CTOs yesterday. Pretty smart men. Their first startup was out of a garage. It wasn't successful. In fact, they failed in their first couple of startups until they hit it with the last one and they hit is big.

Its at time like these that I feel good about my first startups. They are doing well and growing.
Maybe we were quick to learn from other people's mistakes. Maybe we were just smart. Or then again, maybe we were just plain lucky.

Best things about being married!!

2007-06-16T08:25:00.000-04:00

I consider myself an experienced woman; now that I will be married for about 6 months. V and I dated for about 7 years before getting married and the advantages of being married are definitely there. Two main ones I feel happy about every single day:

1) Freedom. Suddenly, after the wedding, my parents have taken the stance of "Its all right if Vinit likes it". Meaning, if before the wedding they'd have raised a ruckus about me cutting my hair, now its just a solemn "its all right if Vinit likes it". (Fine, I can think of only one example for now. But its a big one! )

2) I get to hog him all the time! He is there when I go to sleep, there when I wake up in the middle of the night, there in the morning and all the other times I just want him around.

I know I said two but... 3) I get to say "My husband and I are going for dinner" rather than a "My BoyFriend/Fiance and I are going for dinner". The former is way more fun to say!!

Of growing older

2007-05-05T09:42:00.000-04:00

I got my first white hair when I was 12. It one of those flukes of nature that don't repeat until they REALLY start repeating.

Last week, I noticed my first wrinkles (just forming) around my eyes.

This has put me in a moral quandary. According to my thoughts and what I actually like, I am actually excited about getting it (I am the person who likes white hair, wrinkles and charm :) )
BUT, I am also someone who does everything in her power not to give her future self any room for regrets.

So, my dilemma is that what if my future self changes her mind? What if she doesn't want to look old?

I am simply being ambivalent!

I should base my decisions for my future self on my present self's likes/dislikes. 'cause otherwise it is just a pandora's box of 'what if's.
Also, my choice lies between my current confirmed belief or future hypothetical belief.

Putting it this way makes the decision a no-brainer: Feel free to go around showing it off!!!

Restaurants:Fav 5

2007-05-01T19:51:00.000-04:00

Just as I was about to start nagging Meg to tag me, my dear bro did. Ha! Now, I can list those restaurants I swear by! These are the places where I can eat every single day without getting bored.

These are not the ones where you would want to go on a date but ones where you should eat if you eat out every single day.
1) Rasoi: Jersey City, NJ; Indian; Ate there 3 times a week for 7 years.
2) Olive Garden: Chain, US; Italian;I love any Italian food
3) Uno's Pizzeria: Chain, US; Chicago Pizza; Love their Pesto sauce
4) Cold Stone Creamery: Dessert Chain; Custom Ice Cream; I could live on this stuff!!
5) Chipotle: Yes, Another chain; Mexican/ healthy; Love all the fresh stuff they have

Tagged:
# Nalin
# Tarun
# Sorabh
# Vipul
# Dipika

Eve Teasing or Bird Watching? Its just a matter of perspective.

2007-04-28T00:44:00.000-04:00

A friend posted an entry in his blog which elicited a violent response from me. Since, I wanted to spare him the ordeal of dealing with a 3 page comment, I am posting it here.

Arvind's Post: http://anomalizer.livejournal.com/135517.html

If he had just given me the text of his above post, without a hint of who posted it, I could have told you it was written by a man.

Women who grow up in India face all those issues daily. And yes, looking is an issue. Its different from staring. It entails men looking at your breasts and talking. It means understanding that the person in front of you might be talking to you about the weather or about his parents but half his brain is dedicated to imagining how you look naked. How your breasts might feel if he touched them.

It's not just breasts. Imagine the impact on school girls wearing skirts and talking to people twice their age and realizing that these men, these men who are their father's age, who they call uncle or sir, are thinking about sex with them. They might not say it, they might not do it, but their body language is clear enough.

And of course, in our society, most of the time it is considered the woman's fault. Why was she wearing a skirt? If she has big boobs, she should wear a chunni.

So, yes, looking is a problem.

But then again, I am not going to say that it is a huge problem. It is also, to some extent, in a limited way, flattering. It would be good if women were empowered with knowledge. If they knew that its wrong of men to do that. Not just accept it as part of the culture.
When you grow up with any negative in a society, it becomes a part of you. It is not a problem because that is just how things are. As I said, some take it as flattering. It becomes such a part of you that if men stop looking at you, you wonder if something is wrong.

But then, when is it normal for you to let them stare at you, look at you and fantasize about you? When do you make them stop? When do you stand up and say, "Please do not look at me. If you do, I am going to make you hurt"? Do you let them brush against you while walking? Do you ignore them when they say "kya maal hai!" (As in, what a fuckable thing!)? Do you just move away without crying out loud if they put their hand up your skirt in a crowded bus? When you don't know if it was that uncle or that Sadhu or that kid who lives down the street? Do you let them try and kiss you when you are home alone 'cause you can't tell anyone? Where do you draw the line?

So, yes, again, looking is a problem.

The solution is only knowledge. It is just letting that 5th standard girl know that she should say NO. That even though she has seen her elder sister walk by such people with her head down, she should not do that.

It is also about knowledge for these eve teasers. A lot of these men are not really bad (But then no one really is). That 17 year old kid needs to understand that when hanging out with his friends, it is not a cool thing to go 'bird watching'. That it just makes them mild molesters. That 25 year old needs to know that it is OK to fantasize about women in porn magazines but it is not ok to look at their friends or colleagues or students or friend's relatives and think about them naked.

I don't know who started this, but whoever it was, s/he is pretty smart:
http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/

Of Bruises & Cuts, Winds & Surf

2007-04-17T22:50:00.000-04:00

Living on the beach has meant one big thing for V and me: More Outdoor Activity

I can, basically, take my board and catch the surf , go jogging on the board walk, go for a swim in river (other side of the house) and even go for swamp safaris.
And oh!, Get tanned
Get bruised. And scraped.
Get Cuts. And scratches.

Its awesome!
I carry these cuts and scrapes with pride. As a reminder of those waves I caught.
The bruises, of the blocks I ran. (No I still can't run a lot)
The scratches, of the times I fell.
They are reminders of the tiny victories in life which are not related to work.
They are reminders of unexpected happy moments.

On the other hand, the problem is that now, I have to wash my hair every day. If you know how long my hair is, you will understand my dilemma.
Well, Give some to Get more. :)

Logical Religion P 6.0- Fear Not

2007-04-17T11:10:00.000-04:00

Living without fighting for your rights is bland. Its boring. Its mind-numbing.

Living with fear is debilitating. But overcoming that fear is exhilirating.
The only way to do that is to do whatever it is that scares you. If you are scared of swimming, go ahead and swim. You WILL overcome it.

Gossip

2007-04-13T15:24:00.000-04:00

I have been receiving a good dose of gossip for the past few months from the various new additions to my group of friends.

All that I can say about it is that I simply hate it. Loath is also more apt.

These kind of conversations leave you hollow from inside and an overall negative feeling.

My resolve: Listen. don't contribute. change the topic.

Last Three Months

2007-03-30T13:56:00.000-04:00

V and my past three months!

NJ- Del- Blr- Del- HK- NZ- HK- Del- Blr- Del- Rajasthan- Del- Blr- Del- NY- FL

Finally, we get some rest :)

Logical Religion P 5.0-- Life

2007-03-20T13:04:00.000-04:00

Leek-Leek gadi chale
Leek hee par chale hai poot
Hat kar chalein hai leek se
Shayar, Singh aur Sa-poot

...

2007-01-02T16:05:00.000-05:00

Do you know the feeling when you are waiting to get up on a stage for the first time? Those 3 minutes when you can actually hear your heart beat? When someone could smack you and you wouldn't feel a thing?

Well, I have been in that position- constantly- for the past 2 days. I believe, the only time my heart dipped to 80 was when I was sleeping.

The problem: I can't take 21 more days of this.
The weird part: I am not the stressed kind. Or the nervous kind. Or the I'll-cry-when-I-am-happy kind.
The thought: I am the OMG-I-am-so-excited-that-I'll-jump-on-my-bed kind. But never this much.
The solution: O' married womAn, I need thee.

Him

2006-12-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

So, he wasn't there this time.
Nor is he going to be there the next time.
He had said "Don't worry; I'll meet him next winter."

The winter that never was to come. The winter which never did come.
The winter which I will want for 78 years to come.

IE 7 vs. Mozilla

2006-12-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

I love the new IE. Probably more so because I can run MS CRM in multiple tabs.

However, one big issue that it has is the inability to save usernames/passwords efficiently. Mozilla fills out the password field as soon as the page loads but with IE, I have to select the username for it to fill the password.
Quite irritating.

7,000 unborn girls die from sex-selection in India

2006-12-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

Can you imagine anything more embarassing and depressing?

Growing up, we would travel everyyear to my grandparents home in Muzzafarnagar and Meerut in U.P. ; my time for the 4 hour drive was spent either sleeeping or staring out of the window (or puking from the pollution/car sickness (I know, I know no one wants to know)) and I'd read the painted walls of homes which were being used as advertisments that screamed "Pay Rs.500 today and save Rs. 50,000 in 20 years!!!"

Of course, the multitude of aspects inwhich this statement is socially wrong is beyond words for me. Then there was the "Sex Doctor! Call today and satisfy your in-laws! 100% Guarantee!"

If I travel in the city, I am treated with bill boards and posters of NGOs saying "Women are goddesses; rever them; don't kill them". But, you don't see these posters in the villages. Maybe this is just a north indian trend or maybe all Indians are born and bred to think that women are a 'bojh'.

But how do you look at a woman whose husband earns Rs 600 per month, who tries to make her mud house prettier by putting soap packets on the walls, who lives in a world where noone was willing to marry her unless her father took loans, sold his cattle to pay for her dowry, who hasn't bought a saari in 10 years and her only hope of getting a new one is from the dowry that her son gets, who is homeless if her husband decides to leave her one day, who eats after the men have eaten in the house, who sleeps on the floor while her brother sleeps on a bed, who gets beaten by her husband and her father tells her that she must have done something to deserve it, and tell her that 'Sweety, women are equal. You should look forward to having a girl'

It just can't happen. Who can I blame? The men? they are also just a pawn in the system. Wasn't it her mother who told her not to sleep on the bed? So, is it the women's fault?
How do you change a society whose every fibre works on the belief that men come first and women are an expense to have? Where letting them work means that the men in the family are incompetant or as people put it, sterile?

How the do you change it? And all you city people reading this, I know your sisters work and you thnk thats a great hing. But do your moms? What will happen once your sister gets married? When she has a kid? Will you be one of those people who says 'leave it for the family. Kid is more important'? What will you do if she does and 20 years later she gets a divorce and she has no way of supporting herself?? Will you be the one to tell your wife to make a sacrifice to keep the 'family' happy? Don't answer to me. Speak with yourself. Be honest.

And the biggest problem is that I have no idea how to go around even initiating a change. Of course, economically independent women will even be raise a voice and not forced to call their husbands their sons after being raped by their FILs. But how do you get women to work in a society where they are not allowed to? Where even the smartest ones are asked to come back before dark from work and hence are left behind in every career race?

I HATE COLD!

2006-12-08T13:28:00.000-05:00

Vacations, Companies and Startups

2006-12-05T09:56:00.000-05:00

One of the bad aspects of owning your own firm is that vacations are taken with a guilt factor attached. You can take as many as you want but at some point, you start fretting about your valuabe time.

Dilbert showed a similar concept from the consultant's perspective:

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20061204.html

Lake Placid- Thanksgiving

2006-11-28T16:32:00.000-05:00

It was convivial.

It was photogenic.

It was festive.

It was cozy.

It was lovely.

It was warm.

It was serene.

It was funny.

It was beautiful.

It was fun.

It was a lot of fun.

It was ...

Orkut, Phatoos and Tabloids

2006-11-22T12:43:00.000-05:00

Every couple of weeks, I get urgent messages from my friends asking me to remove all my personal information and pictures from Orkut. The conversation usually goes as follows:

Concerned Friend (CF): Listen to me VERY carefully. I have an important message.
Me: (perplexed) ok.
cf: Remove all your snaps, personal info from Orkut. Delete your old scraps and remove people you don't know from your friend list.
Me: umm.. Why?
cf: Just listen to what I am saying. It is very important. I'll tell you later.
(At this point, I prod them more to tell me why and either they say that they saw my picture somewhere, which they can never reproduce, or they go back to the old newspaper-says-so-it-is-so excuse....)

cf: It came in TOI! They have run multiple stories on this. You should be aware of spammers!
me: umm...
cf: They will take your number and make it a call girl number!!!
(At this point the 'conversation' just deteriorates as I give them my reasons for not removing my information which includes informing them that their sacred TOI is actually, a tabloid.)

I don't understand my friends. Are they just a bunch of 'phatoos'? Being take advantage of by this tabloid selling stories by creating a fear of something popular?

Why don't they use their brains??
1) Question the newspaper report! Whatever is in there is not entirely true. The person writing the story has personal opinions and an editor who has to increase sales.

2) Anyone can get my personal information from multiple sites. Orkut is not the internet. My bro's website alone must have all my life's pictures.

3) How does it affect you if some porn is being sold with your picture on it?

4) Wouldn't the pimps steal pictures of models rather than of 'laywomen's'?

5) Why would anyone give out my number as a 'call girl'? Other than begrudged lovers? Call girls are part of a money making scheme. Why would any pimp give my number out for free?

6) I dont have any disgruntled ex-lovers. But even if I did, and they were to create profiles for me on Orkut with Porn, how does it really affect me? If any of my friends are dumb enough to believe in a porn pic with my head on top, then they are probably of too low an IQ for me to even continue any significant friendship. Other than that, I just have to get it deleted once I know about it.

So people please, if any of you CFs is reading this, please please stop reading tabloids, be a little more aware and most importantly, don't be a 'phatoo'.

Diamonds? Anyone?

2006-11-21T16:51:00.000-05:00

I might be pretty naive, but why are real diamonds valued so when the layman can't differentiate between them and fake ones?

Can I sue them for slander?

2006-11-20T13:03:00.000-05:00

Just got this in the mail.

Logical Religion 4.0: Can we predict the future?

2006-10-17T17:20:00.000-04:00

Consider that there are six billion people, each living on Earth, with a finite set of characteristics and each of those characteristics having a finite set of values. We know the outcome if a few of those characteristics meet in a known situation.

For example, in a gross simplification, if there were only two people in the world, Vinit and me, the situation being of us walking to our office in the morning. We both have a set of characteristics; a few of the relevant ones in this scenario, being:

ST's Elevator preference: Very Strong Affinity
- VB's Elevator preference: Weak Affinity
ST's Staircase preference: Very Strong Aversion
- VB's Staircase preference: Strong Affinity

Just with these 2 sets, we know what the outcome will be: we take the elevator.

Now, we know that we will take the elevator and we know the time it will take us to go up the elevator, so, we have not only predicted the immediate future but also made a base for the next prediction: of what will happen once we get out of the elevator and so on.

If, only Vinit and I existed in the entire world with only say 10 characteristics each, we could easily predict our entire lives, even with the current computer powers and our limited brain capacities.

The French scientist, Laplace had a similar idea but for predicting the state of the universe:

Laplace suggested that there should be a set of scientific laws that would allow us to predict everything that would happen in the universe, if only we knew the complete state of the universe at one time.
(Stephen Hawking, A brief history of time)

The problem with Laplace suggestion was, of course, that by Heisenberg uncertainty principle, we can not know both the momentum and current position of any particle. Thus, effectively ruling out the possibility of us knowing the state of the universe and thus predict an earthquake or a black hole forming, even if, we had a HUGE computer.

But we don't have that problem.

Humans have a finite set of characteristics whether the number is 1000, 5000 or 20,000. Humans themselves are finite in number; we don't know what the exact number is right now, but that doesn't mean that we can't find out. Each human interacts with a finite number of other humans, multiple times and with another finite number just once, over the course of her life. Some of the characteristics are weaker in some rather than in others.

For example, my friend J never had Indian food before and thus THAT characteristic of her was 'weak' or 'empty'. If she were to meet people who hate Indian food, her characteristic of Indian food would get filled with their's. But since she met us, our characteristics got 'copied' to hers. (This affinity to get other's characteristics into yours is also another characteristic; but then I would be going into too much detail at this stage)

With the knowledge of

1) All current characteristics,

2) The current scenario, and

3) Characteristics and current scenarios of everyone she is in contact with,

We can predict the immediate future;

We can predict which of her characteristics will change;

We can take the new base scenario and new characteristics and predict the next immediate future.

And so, we can predict her life and the life of every human on the planet.

Of course, she can willfully change some of her own characteristics. Like, I can get up one day and decide to walk the stairs everyday from there on. This one change will affect the future. But, with this new data, we can recalculate and predict again.

The future is in our hands and it’s dynamic.

All of this IS complicated. But it is not impossible.

It is a mathematical possibility just as being able to count to a googol is possible. The only thing stopping us is computing power and data collection.

Windows Live Writer- sucks!

2006-09-27T16:27:00.000-04:00

For all you people out there, who have been raving about Live Writer, GOD! did you try it out?

1) Doesn't have automated spell check like Word. I actually have to click on a button.
2) Doesn't publish images on Blogger. The reason given is that blogger doesn't publish images but it is Live Writer's job to see that all blog sites take their images.
3) Publishes draft posts to Blogger as live posts! Imagine my shock today afternoon to find that something I had drafted has been live since yesterday!!

Racism at Work

2006-09-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

This is more prevalent in small companies than at bigger corporations because the hiring manager/owner has more control over who to hire and less guidelines to adhere to.

In small companies, people tend to create a staff of people of their own religion or color or community. Jews will hire Jews, Indians hire Indians, Floridians hire Floridians.

This happens, in my opinion, not due to any overt racist mentality to exclude people of different culture or nature but just due to the following psychology:

People hire people who they understand and whose actions they can predict.

You understand those who are like you and who you hang out with: people of your religion, color or community.

'Emergency' hiring is usually done through a network and that network will probably be of people you trust: people of your religion, color or community.

-------
Update-to-clarify-for-V: I am not saying that people who hire people of their own religion, color or community are racist. On the contrary, I am explaining that they are not. A third person who walks into an office of only Jews or Chinese will consider these firms as racist- while they are not.

Yahoo Mail Beta

2006-09-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

The new Yahoo mail rocks! It is a huge improvement on any of the online mail clients including the over-hyped Gmail.

The Yahoo maps beta was already a huge step ahead of its competition. I can't live without their multiple destination mapping utility.

During my trip to Bahamas, I will have to use a physical map! Can you imagine NOT using printed directions (for those of us unfortunate enough not to have a GPS)?!

But, just for emphasis, I love Yahoo maps (beta). :-)

Those people at Yahoo must be smart ( even if they are too much of Windows-Haters) ;)

Logical Religion P 3.0-- Life after death

2006-09-19T19:42:00.000-04:00

In 2006, we considered ourselves advanced. Not very advanced; but we are living in an era, after all, when I can communicate with you across the globe. Where I would be hindered by the amplitude limits of my vocal cords, I am now relying on a visual substitute to replicate for you what I write here.

Yet.

Yet, we do not know why we are here.
What is it that makes us different from a pigeon?
Or even more so, what is it that makes us different from water? Aren't we a simple mixture of water and a few other molecules?
Why can some be revived after their hearts stop and others can't?

We also do not know what happens to us once we die. We speculate. We hope. We fantasize. We spend our entire lives based on those fantasies. But the truth is that no one knows. There is no way of knowing until some great advance is made in science; after which we will know what that one thing is that makes us alive and keeps water as- water.

I have some speculations as to life after death in my religion.

What I don't believe in is easier to layout and define. What I do believe in, is an evolving story.

Hell/heaven(H/H) is clearly an output of a scared mind. A mind that firstly, can not comprehend that life is just as it is and secondly, wants others to follow morals which can not be explained by logic or standard reasoning.

Multiple Births Theory(MBT) fails to answer the basic question of why we are going through these lives. What is the purpose? MBT, while better than H/H (since it says that the soul migrates from one set of molecules to another to bring them alive and I believe that there is no difference between us and a rat except for the DNA) is still very unsatisfactory because it doesn't explain why a soul exists and why it travels.

Our Atma/soul joining a bigger soul or god, stems from the thought that there is someone greater than us, taking care of us. It also helps us believe that we are part of a bigger being and that all of humanity is the same. This theory might also be there because of the effects that the brain experiences when slowly deprived of oxygen.

My Belief- the evolving story

According to research done by Pim van Lommel and others at the NDERF, in the event of a heart related death and subsequent revival, only 18% had any recollection from their 'death'. 12% had a significant experience, which were broken done as follows:

In our study about 50% of the patients with an NDE reported awareness of being dead, or had positive emotions, 30% reported moving through a tunnel, had an observation of a celestial landscape, or had a meeting with deceased relatives. About 25% of the patients with an NDE had an out-of-body experience, had communication with “the light,” or observed colours, 13% experienced a life review, and 8% experienced a border.

Other studies have found even lower percentages ( 10% and 6% ) of a significant NDE.

If only a minor percentage of people experience NDE, is it possible that the brains of these people were under stress/ didn't completely stop working, which resulted in the memories?

When I faint, the moments of waking up are just an onslaught of hundreds of memories and images and sounds. Could this experience be what about 2% (13% of 18%) people view as a life review?

Just by the sheer percentage (82%), I find it more of a possibility that life as we experience it, is just as it is. There is no where to go from here. No heaven, hell or another body that we will go to next.

And, even if there is a continuation for whatever is our life force that holds our molecules together, it will be nothing like our current life and will definitely not be impacted by what we do right now.

Of course, there is also the possibility that there is no 'life force'. That we simply are not advanced enough scientifically to understand that we are walking, talking, chemical reactions. After all, wasn't fire also magic with a soul of its own in pre-historic times?

I do not know whether there is life after death. I do not even know what differentiates us from water. The answer to the latter would probably lead to the former's.

There is more to this world than people have understood in the past 50,0000 years.

We can't be sure that humanity will understand in our life time but we have to try. Else, why live by morals? Why strive to be rich except to buy that Maserati? Why give money to a priest when you could to that beggar?

Mystery Spot :: Brain Pot

2006-09-18T18:26:00.000-04:00

[More to come from V & Ar]

Words

2006-09-15T16:01:00.000-04:00

Words exist. Like bricks they just are.

But, with them, some create Taj Mahals and some an office building.

Some can make you feel. Some make you fall in love. Some inspire you. Some challenge you.

I feel inspired. My beliefs feel challenged. I feel in love.

मेरी हिनदी की बलौग

2006-09-14T14:40:00.002-04:00

मैं आधे अक्षर नहीं बना पा रही हूं.

:-)

Vinit's Birthday Trip: Trapeze

2006-09-08T12:20:00.000-04:00


(We went Trapezing at the New York Trapeze school for Vinit's birthday. ) Honestly, he should be in a circus not running a software company. (The video is from my camera phone- really bad quality) (The guy who got caught is Vinit)

My day is made!

2006-09-08T11:16:00.000-04:00

P just informed me that two people he was talking to thought that V and I are in our early thirties!!!

India: Oct 18th !!

2006-09-06T12:14:00.000-04:00

Things I miss about India:

Gol- gappe
Indian McDonalds
Gol- gappe
Cook
Mali
Aaya
Gol- gappe

And of course, my parents, my cousins and my friends.

------------
This will be my shortest trip back home ( only 2 weeks) of which 3 entire days will be spent in Blore! :-(

When do you know it is time to hit the gym?

2006-09-05T23:38:00.000-04:00

... when you are being termed PwoS.

(Pregnant without Sex)

:-D

ABC's Kyle XY

2006-09-02T15:19:00.000-04:00

THE best tv show that I have seen till now!!!

Completely addicted to it.

Check it out!

Why god won't heal amputees

2006-09-01T11:29:00.000-04:00

"That's what terrifies me most - that we're never going to rid the crutch; that people will believe in an adult version Santa Claus as long as we don't actively try to get rid of this dangerous fantasy.

They need the reassurance that if they DO something ( pray), it will not happen again.
This is an interesting read: Why god won't heal amputees. I refuse to believe that 'we' are the enlightened ones (who can handle grief rationally), and that there are some other poor people in the world, who need to be fed magic to cope with life.
True information is what will set humanity free. Lies will not. " -BS, in my comments

The above reply demanded a post of its own!!

-----------------
Check out the link 'why god won't heal amputees'. Although it is aimed directly at the Bible, the article asks some very interesting questions which all religions should answer.
------------------

And, I believe, we can get rid of the crutch. All we need to do is:

create a non-profit organization,
set-up an initial few meetings,
get brochures printed and
give a few speeches.
Of course, we will have to catch them young (we will be competing with parents).
And of course, the first few people to spearhead

I wonder how many people from my immediate friend group would be scandalized at such thoughts and how many would appreciate it.
------------------

god is not needed only by poor people. Anyone who has fears and needs the security blanket needs it.
I listened to some interesting thoughts of one of our salespeople today- he is 53, used to own a company for 15 years and is now divorced. According to him, god helped him find his new fiancee. But, he doesn't think that god will prevent him from getting lung cancer from smoking.

On the same vein as the above article- why this discrimination? Why did god help with a new love but will not with a potential cancer? If by probability, he doesn't get cancer, is he going to say that god loves him?

My dad always says something which I never understood- "God Helps those who help themselves"
Well, if we ARE helping ourselves, then what is god really doing?

-----------------

Unfortunately, many religions were based on the quest to find true information. Christianity from Judaism; Jainism from Hinduism; Islam (from not sure from where but Judaism/Christianity/Islam are closely linked)

What happened to them? Do all religions have cycles? That they have to end up in the same place?

If true information is how humanity will be free, how do you spread it?
How do you prevent lies where the majority of people are willing to 'punish' you for your beliefs?

I might be allergic to pollen, actually

2006-08-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

I tried cleaning up my laptop with alcohol swabs (which had expired and V had prohibited me from using them on wounds- but its alcohol right? How can alcohol expire? So, I use them anyways)

That's my laptop 1 minute after the clean-up. I guess he was right ( humph. )

On the better side, I think I am not allergic to dust but to pollens! A good friend had brought over flowers a week back- which had been sitting in front of my desk for a while. I think they are the cause of my anguish.

Also, Diet Coke ( which I hate) is helping relieve me of the symptoms. Maybe I should patent the idea.

I might be allergic to dust

2006-08-31T13:19:00.000-04:00

Today morning, i woke up scratching my eyes out. but i have never been allergic to anything- is it the american food? is it the lack of exercise?

God! my nose and eyes are pissing me off.

What is Your religion?

2006-08-30T15:37:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine is a strong devout Christian- goes to church every Sunday but suffers from jealousy and hatred.
Is her religion Christianity?

Another friend's friend does the 20 day Ramadan fast- but wakes up before sunrise to eat and comes home after sunset to have a feast.
Is his religion Islam?

A close friend does the 1 day fast every year- but can't define what the fast is for.
Is his religion Jainism?

Another close one, does havans on diwali and holi but doesn't know what the sanskrit words mean.
Is his religion Arya-Samaji?

---------------------------------
People usually fill out their religion on a form- the religion that their parents say they are of. The religion that they proudly and haughtily say they are of. Some of them will fight for this. Some extremists are willing to die for it.

But are we really the religion we say we are?

Is a Christian really a Christian if she is Jealous of others and hates her friend? What ever happened to 'love thy neighbor'?
Is a Jain really a Jain if he has replaced a stone idol with the picture of a Maharishi? Isn't the point of being a Jain to attain self realization by meditation and NOT do idol worship?
Isn't the point behind Ramadan to understand the grief suffered by the poor? How does a feast justify that?
Shouldn't an Arya-Samaji understand the scriptures that he follows rather than just read words he doesn't understand?

All religions are the same- they teach the same things, they ask you to do the same things. The path that leads to 'coming close to god' is a little different for each one. Then why do we go against our own religions and get arrogant about the name? Why do we believe that our god is the only one and better one?

Why is it that we are so blind to not even understand the teachings that our gods imparted thousands of years ago? Why do we still hate, get jealous, get angry, feel vanity and STILL have the audacity to call ourselves, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains or Jews?

[Don't look at me- I think that its our ignorance and insecurities that lead us to think that there exists an omnipotent being called god who will save us all. I do believe in the teachings of most religions though]

What does it take to start a business? Pt.1.0

2006-08-29T13:28:00.000-04:00

Many people ask me that question. Many more people think they know.

The experience is individual and personal. Here is mine from observations of my firm and others that came and went:

Opening the company is easy.

The first 1-3 months are also easy. Not easy because you are making a lot of sales but easy because you are excited.

3-6 months a still fun. There are worries about sales but the excitement is still lingering. 'No one can do this better than me' and 'I am better than thou cause I own a company' attitudes prevail.

6-12 months see the closing down of the weakest companies.

>1 year: Only 3 type of companies survive now: a) Those who have this as a life style business b) Those who want to make big bucks and will strive very hard c) Those who still are trying to figure out how to do what they want to do but have the will to stick around.

0-2 years: Your friends first complained and then some more. Now, they are angry because you never have any time to go anywhere or do anything. 7am - 10pm of working hours have converted compliments into concerns for health.

2-3 years: Things start settling down and your work hours get easy. More people are hired and the outlook looks positive.

>3 years: Now, only 2 types of companies survive: a) Those who have this as a lifestyle business and earn enough to feed themselves and their families b) Those who are doing great and will turn into >$10m businesses

What it takes is patience. Determination. The drive to complete something you started. The will to survive on nothing for a while. The fun of working with your employees. The strength to take customer calls at 11pm on Saturday night. It takes a whole lot more to survive the guilt that drives you to work on Sunday; the guilt that tells you to work so your employees get paid. Only those who really have it can survive the stress of living under this guilt 24/7/365.

Many companies that I have seen being started have died. Many of them were competitors. Some of them were friends. Many more were acquaintances. They were owned by people 25-75. The first ones to go were the 25-29 age group ones. The rest were equally divided.

They were all started by people who knew they were the best and knew they would do it better than anyone could tell them how to.

The ones that survived were the ones with the above characteristics. The ones willing to rough out the troughs.

This is my personal opinion.

Nothing compares to Bungee Jumping

2006-08-24T11:23:00.000-04:00

Vinit and I are in orlando for a convention.

While driving back to our hotel we saw two people tied between the above two poles and being shot into the sky!! We did the obvious thing: a U turn at 10pm, shelled out $50 to this road side ride and went up.

Honestly, it was calming but not scary. Not scary in the least sense of the word. And that is when we realised that we were tainted- tainted by bungee jumping. Never again will we be scared on roller coasters, never again will our adrenaline rush during free falls.

Six Flags just lost 2 of its biggest customers.

Questions that irritate me and V

2006-08-17T15:37:00.000-04:00

Do you work?
Do you drive?
How did you allow Vinit to buy a bike?
Do you allow Vinit to ride?
OH! You ride too??!
Do you cook?
What do you cook?
But you will cook after marriage. Right?
What will he eat then?

Additions:
So, you don't know how to cook?

Jashmein Azadi! Swatantrata divas ki mubarakein! Happy Independence Day!

2006-08-15T10:51:00.000-04:00

15th August 2006 Independence Day

Credits: www.timesofindia.com

Away from my country, but with my people, I celebrate today with friends. A small Indian dinner tonight, desi clubbing on Friday and New York's own Indian Day parade on Sunday.

What I miss is the chaat, the dozens of people coming over with sweets, going to India Gate, watching the Rashtrapati speech.

Being surrounded by the tri colours- in flags, in sweets, in clothes. Reading about the day in newspapers. Listening to the march-past by our house. The endless dinners and lunches and cocktails hosted by us and our neighbours. Climbing to the roof and saluting the flag.

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Happy Independence Day to all my friends. Let's celebrate this day for what it is- a mark of our freedom, the day of the beginning of India- of us- of our future generations. The day after which, we could say what we wanted to say, do what we wanted to do, make mistakes with the pride that they were ours to make.

The day because of which, I can start my own business, I can visit any club, date anyone I want to, build my community, sleep under India Gate.

The day because of which, I can proudly say I am Indian.