Mundane tidbits

Very creative

2012-01-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

This came through one of those emails from friends. So, dont really know the credits behind it.

Does this remind you of your own...

2009-03-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

A must read....please read.

"Some days, we’d go exploring in the woods. Our minds full of fantastical stories of bad guys chasing us, we decided we must build a tree house. So we gathered up scrap pieces of old wood, rusty nails pulled out of rotting pieces of equipment, and a hammer someone nicked from their Father’s toolbox. Then we’d nail this crap to a tree. Once the rickety house was complete, we’d climb up in it, careful to hold on to the branches in case the floor gave out beneath us. Then, we’d muse to ourselves that we had not built it high enough.

We built ramps in parking lots and jumped them with every toy we had that sported wheels. Skateboards, bikes, roller skates. We didn’t have helmets or kneepads or elbow pads. It didn’t matter. Sometimes we’d fall and rub the skin completely off of our bodies. Nobody cared.

We’d eat berries and apples from strange trees. We’d ride our bikes 6 miles to the park, alone. And not just any park, either. We went to parks with monkey bars higher than our Dad’s heads and dangled our legs over cement. We sat in puddles full of oil and water and swam in water so dirty it might as well be called sewage. In the summertime, we’d go 6, 7, 8 hours at a time without laying eyes on our parents."

Excerpt from: Childhood: Then and Now

Warren Buffett - words of wisdom

2009-03-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

I admire Warren Buffett for being a person firmly rooted in ground, in fundamentals. Short-cuts are short-term. Whether you listen to him being interviewed on TV or read his annual letter to his companies' share-holders, you see that his wisdom lies in his simplicity. Below is an excerpt that caught my attention as I was going through his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders in these tough economic times.

"However, I have pledged—to you, the rating agencies and myself—to always run Berkshire with more than ample cash. We never want to count on the kindness of strangers in order to meet tomorrow's obligations. When forced to choose, I will not trade even a night's sleep for the chance of extra profits."

Skilled immigrants leaving the U.S.

2009-03-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Why skilled immigrants are leaving the U.S. is a summarization of Vivek Wadhwa's research presented in BusinessWeek. I read through the article and found it to be, at best, naive. To me, it doesnt tell something that we dont know. Given the fact that it is a research work, I expected more than what is served.

However, the motivation behind this entry does not lie in the article. It lies in the comments to the article. Going through a few pages of comments that the article has received, I felt surprised at the whipping meted out to the H1B candidates. Maybe, the research article wrongfully provokes a seperatist sentiment at a time when American people have lost jobs for no consequence of their own.

However, it is important to look at the other side of the coin. A migrant worker comes seeking opportunity. H1B in particular, is an example of supply and demand. It is not one way. Being someone who has been in the same shoes, the settlement in a new land is particularly challenging for the first generation of immigrants. It is the lure of opportunity, a better tomorrow and the inherent will to explore that drives people to uproot themselves and tread the path less known. Sadly, most of us who have migrated will remain fickle life long.

The comments to the article, some unexpectedly inflammatory, drove me to ponder on the fragility of virtuous tendencies like openness and acceptance. How the varying parameters of temperature and pressure extend their effect past the lifeless world of matter and unto the human mind. It is no surprise when analysts forecast the impact of the global recession to incite social unrest.

And, irrespective of all rhetoric to shun protectionism, seems it is no to immigrants in Britain as well. How time changes everything!

Photo: thomas and friend by Andre du Plessis

2009-02-13T18:00:00.001-08:00

I stumbled upon this page as I was leisurely enjoying some beautiful photographs. Tired from a day’s work, complaining, whining, focussed on the emptiness of the glass, I came to this photograph. Unquestionably an attention grabber, my focus shifted from the details of this photograph to the description modestly tucked below. Ashamed at myself and inspired at the same time, I share with you this lovely work of art, both by the photographer and the subjects themselves.

thomas and friend
by Andre du Plessis

I came across this man and his dogs when I assisted at a trade show in Paris during September 2008. At the time he was sheltering from the rain in a disused shop entrance close to the Pompidou Centre.
Thomas was very forthcoming and courteous, and agreed to my suggestion to visit him later that day to take some pictures and was happy for me to record and share his story.
He avoids sheltering schemes, and moves around all the time, spending most of his days around the St. Michelle area. Originally from Dortmund, he has been living rough in Paris for 15 years now. Odd jobs supply him with some income, as he still sends money to his 4 children, who are back in Germany.
This location was quite intimidating, as this doorway was immediately opposite a very plush bar/brasserie, and everyone was staring and probably hating me for taking advantage of such a situation. Thomas seemed to have enjoyed this session. I did not ask him to change his position - just plonked myself down on the pavement in front of him and shot as we spoke and he sat. For this image I asked him to follow the gaze of his dog, and used the available light, as I always do.
He moves around town with his four dogs on long leads, pushing a bicycle & trailer contraption with a flag on top of it. How he manages to keep his dogs in tow is quite a mystery, as they hardly adhere to any orderly system, and half of his awake day must be taken up by the constant untangling of their ropes.
We made an arrangement that I shall look for him on my next visit there to hand him the prints from our impromptu photo session in the street. That will hopefully be soon.
Given Thomas's life and hardships, I especially appreciate this frame where both him and one of his friends look forward and upwards. Positive and determined.
à bientôt thomas!

Courtesy: Photo: thomas and friend by Andre du Plessis

Gliding in symphony - a photo

2009-02-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

Came across this shot taken at US Figure skating Championships.

Courtesy: Seattle Times

News delivered to your PC!

2009-02-11T13:47:00.001-08:00

Interestingly, after reading a blog entry explaining Netbooks, their emergence and price comparisons, my attention swayed onto a rather queer looking title for this day and age. Turns out:

“In 1981, San Francisco TV station KRON aired a news segment about how a select group of computer users were getting their daily copy of the San Francisco Examiner not on paper, but on their home computer (!).”

Here’s the report, a must view, to travel back in time :).

1981 - report from KRON

Courtesy: A Newspaper? On a PC? That’s Crazy Talk - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Teetotalism

2009-02-11T11:37:00.001-08:00

Teetotalism (or T-total) is the practice and promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller (plural teetotalers or teetotallers).

Courtesy: Teetotalism - Wikipedia

India: 500,000 job losses in the last quarter

2009-02-09T09:30:00.001-08:00

When I first read of the 500,000 number, the question that sprung to me was, who and how did we arrive at this number. When countries like US & Canada announce their numbers, they have data on hand like unemployment claims to back those numbers. What metrics does India have to arrive at that number. And now that we have arrived at a number based on the tools and inputs in place, how accurate could that be? To me, it conceals more than it reveals. Browsing through Business Standard today, I found some validation and more questions.

Citi further said that the Ministry of Labour has indicated that over 5,00,000 jobs were lost during October-December 2008, with export-oriented sectors such as gems and jewellery, autos, and textiles being most impacted.
However, the report stated that this statistic only covers the organised sector, which comprises just 10 per cent of the country's workforce of close to 385 million.

A shark in your tank!

2009-02-07T16:16:00.001-08:00

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the water close to Japan has not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring the fish. If the return trip took more time, the fish were not fresh.
To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish. And they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!
But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan. How did they manage? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark.
The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!
Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active. If you are steadily conquering challenges, you are happy. Your challenges keep you energized. Don't create success and revel in it in a state of inertia. You have the resources, skills and abilities to make a difference. Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go!
"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character" - Albert Einstein

Courtesy:

Phew! This is really the hard part. As I was stumbling around, I came across this beautiful passage and wanted to share it. I started searching around to validate the source of this write-up, but could only find blogs and other websites sharing just as I do. At best, someone has attributed it to a forwarded mail. It really frustrates me to be unable to mention the source of something so strikingly motivational.

In the best of fairness, I am linking it to the blog I read this first at. Thanks, Deven.

In my search for the origins, I enjoyed Deven’s blog, especially the words of wisdom in his profile and, Shekhar Kapur’s blog.

This inspirational passage also reminded me of another motivational piece about the Lion & the gazelle.

Every morning…

2009-02-07T16:14:00.001-08:00

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must out run the slowest gazelle or it will starve.
It does not matter whether you are a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up you had better be running.

Courtesy:

An African proverb – source unknown.

This is one of my favourites. I first read it at an organization I used to work for. It has been etched in my memory every since.

A Passage To Hollywood

2009-02-06T12:51:00.001-08:00

The director is American. The stars are from India. And the movie, which is scheduled to open in India and the U.S. this fall, has Hollywood special effects and Bollywood song-and-dance.
The horror film "Hisss," currently wrapping up shooting in Mumbai, is a result of a growing collaboration between Hollywood and the Indian film industry.
Money, stars and scripts are flowing in both directions, giving rise to a new genre of crossover cinema. Among the projects in development: Screenwriter Paul Schrader, famous for such films as "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull," is working on a thriller with an Indian producer. Sylvester Stallone will appear in "Kambakkht Ishq," or "Incredible Love," an action-filled comedy shot in Los Angeles and starring Akshay Kumar. Indian film mega star Shahrukh Khan is producing and starring in a superhero film that will be co-written by American and Indian screenwriters and digitally souped up by American special-effects technicians.
Crossover projects have been percolating for several years but are heating up with the success of "Slumdog Millionaire." The rags-to-riches tale shot in the slums of Mumbai has become a surprise Oscar darling with 10 Academy Award nominations, including best picture.

Excerpt from: A Passage To Hollywood - WSJ.com

Perfect!

2009-02-04T16:57:00.001-08:00

Someone once told me, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”. I finally understood what it meant thanks to a similar reference by Obama in response to the Republicans.

"Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential," Obama said as Senate Republicans stepped up their criticism of the bill's spending and pressed for additional tax cuts and relief for homeowners. He warned that failure to act quickly "will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession."

Downturn Idles China's Laborers

2009-02-02T16:21:00.001-08:00

Firecrackers, which on the new year's eve once went on all night, stopped shortly after midnight. About a quarter of the village's migrants didn't even make it home -- mainly because they had lost their jobs, and were unable to afford the trip or loath to show up with bad news.

The government estimates the total population of rural migrants -- those working outside their home village -- at approximately 130 million people. Mr. Chen said his estimate of 20 million job losses was based on an official survey in January of migrant workers in 15 provinces, which showed 15.3% of respondents had lost their jobs or been unable to find work. He said the total number of migrants looking for jobs this year will likely be at least 25 million, since usually six million to seven million people join the migrant work force each year.

Courtesy: Downturn Idles China's Laborers - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: Financial crisis

Amazing advertisements

2009-02-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

Courtesy: forwarded email from Mayur Rawal

Humour in crisis - Nuggets from Fwds

2009-02-02T12:24:00.001-08:00

Few of my favourites from the last email I received:

Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are?? Wall Street is now being
called Wall Mart Street - Jay Leno
The problem with investment bank balance sheet is that on the left side
nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left.
Bush was asked about the credit crunch. He said it was his favourite
candy bar - Jay Leno
The rescue bill was about 450 pages. President Bush's copy is even
thicker. They had to include pictures - Jay Leno
and the best….
What worries me most about the credit crunch, is that if one of my
cheques is returned stamped 'insufficient funds'. I won't know whether that
refers to mine or the bank's

Part 3 - End of Wall Street: What Happens Next (WSJ Video)

2009-01-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

Chapter Three:

This final chapter of the crisis on Wall Street tells the story of the $700-billion bailout, as seen through a reporter's eyes, and looks at what's ahead for the global economy.

Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com)

Part 2 - End of Wall Street: Why it Happened (WSJ Video)

2009-01-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

Chapter Two:
What was going through the minds of CEOs, corporate boards, fund managers and mortgage lenders as they created hard-to-understand derivatives Warren Buffett once called "weapons of financial mass destruction."

Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com)

Part 1 - End of Wall Street: What Happened? (WSJ video)

2009-01-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

Chapter One:

In the first of this three-part series, Journal reporters explain how the housing bubble inflated and burst, and why easy money led to the collapse of Wall Street's biggest financial institutions.

Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com)

Fundamentals, I guess

2009-01-26T11:58:00.001-08:00

Baycrest Six know credit

Even during the Depression, credit was the last thing anybody wanted, a sign of shame. "When I was nine or 10, my dad was a tailor but he couldn't find work. My mother had to go to a grocery store to buy essentials. The owner wrote our name in a book, $1.65," Mr. Brown says.

When his father found work and was paid, the first thing his mother did was wipe out that $1.65 debt.

Times have changed. Canadians have never been in more debt than they are today. They have also never saved so little.

The present state - in a nutshell

2008-10-24T17:00:00.001-07:00

“When we came in to work today, the futures market was telling us the world was about to end,” said Sid Mokhtari, a market technician at CIBC World Markets Inc. “In the end, we managed to hang in there relatively okay. But sellers still have the upper hand, and we're still searching for a bottom.”

Where that bottom is, no one really knows. As country after country announces it is expecting, or already experiencing, a recession, it is becoming clear that this is no fleeting panic.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, and possibly the largest financial crisis of its kind in human history,” said Bank of England deputy governor Charles Bean. “In terms of impact on the real economy we are still early days.”

With a speed that is taking everyone's breath away, the world has gone in a few short weeks from credit crunch to credit crisis to global financial meltdown and now to full-blown economic emergency.

An excerpt from a RoB article.

Trying Scribefire for Firefox

2008-10-20T17:32:00.002-07:00

After being out of touch with blogging lately, I was curious to find how the Scribefire add-on for Firefox works. Here is a test post for the same.

Cadillac commerical - return the favor?

2008-10-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

Left me impressed.

On this day in...

2008-09-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

1781: Spanish colonists found a settlement in southern California known as El Pueblo Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula, later shortened to Los Angeles!

A different perspective

2008-06-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

While all of us are busy ranting about the price of OIL for each barrel, CNBC has a perspective to offer. See how you feel when you start comparing the price of OIL to that of other routine items like coffee, milk, ice-cream, beer and coke - by the barrel.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/25086684

Opening post for the summer

2008-05-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

On my blog again after a few months of absence - on the brighter side, this is getting pretty consistent! And once again kicking off this session with my usual prayer - Lord, grant me the strength to be consistent in updating my blog (which includes getting the ideas, content, time, space, attitude, verbage and ofcourse, the fire within).

We will keep this short for the summer inaugral session and refrain from getting carried away by the first post. Cheers, everyone (aka the 2 gracious people who visit this blog once every two months).

Stumble Upon

2008-02-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

I recently stumbled upon, er, Stumble Upon. I cant stop raving about it ever since I have started off early this week. Its a perfect tool for people like me who love surfing but want something new dished out to them at the click of a button. It reminds me of my love for the radio and the unpredictability that comes with it as you sit wondering what the next song is going to be like.

With that intro done, I will use this space to share a few interesting things I find there and are worth blogging about. Stumble Upon does have its own blog area, however, I find it comfortable to stick to one address.

In the meantime, if you are interested in taking a peek at my favourites as I stumble out there, please visit http://mdjani.stumbleupon.com/

Happiness Always!

Of India's contrasts

2007-10-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

Was going through this article in TOI and noticed some facts and figures. Here go the excerpts. Original article can be found in the Title link.

AT Kearney has ranked India at the 71st position in its annual ranking of the world's most globalised nations, AT Kearney and Foreign Policy Globalisation Index 2007.

The list of 72 countries is topped by Singapore for the third consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland in the top five. India fell 10 places from its 61st position in 2006.

"India's standing as a premier offshoring destination with a booming economy often masks the fact that 70% of its population lives in rural areas," the report said.

Despite a doubling of Internet users in 2005, only 5% of India's population had access to the Internet and less than half of its population was attached to the power grid, it said.

My loony bun is fine Benny Lava!

2007-10-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hilarious! I haven't laughed like this in a long time. Then again, I haven't seen a video like this in a long time too :) ! Check it out.

Life's regrets

2007-10-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

Came across this as I was surfing around and thought worthwhile to share. This is a brief presentation of people aged 10 to 83 speaking of their own regrets. If you have any regrets, this little piece tells you that you are not alone. We all have regrets. Guess most of us always will because many things may seem irreparable. The question is if we should dwell in it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/regrets

Building Bridges with Rwanda

2007-09-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

"I like to describe this as sitting between two stools. One foot in Rwanda. Another one in Canada," he says, smiling. "This is the beauty of Canadian multiculturalism. That you can jump into the salad bowl and remain a tomato."

-Lama Mugabo, balancing his perspectives as a Rwandan expat and as a Canadian Citizen.
Excerpt from Sept. 24, 2007, Vancouver edition of 24hrs. Article: small world, big problems - Rwanda.

Please visit Mugabo's NGO effort - Building Bridges with Rwanda - http://www.bbrwanda.org/

What did I learn today? The expression: That you can jump into the salad bowl and remain a tomato.

Seven blunders of the world

2007-06-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

I was hopping through the web reading on the candidates for the new seven wonders of the world to be decided on 07.07.07. That is when, I jumped onto a wikipedia link titled Seven Blunders of the World.

Proudly, the seven blunders have been authored by none other than Mahatma Gandhi. Reading through them reminded me of the immaculate character, the never ending pursuit of truth and the constant critical examination of one's self that Gandhiji's autobiography presents. Veritably, the most profound truths are the most simple too.

Seven blunders of the World

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice
Politics without principle

Those craving for more on the above, please visit M. K. Gandhi Institute of Nonviolence.

Yahoo Messenger hits the Web

2007-05-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

This is surely something to rave about. This morning I woke up to the freedom from the chains of my work PC restricting me to install and logon to Yahoo Messenger. Introducing Yahoo! Messenger on the Web. Yes, we always had Meebo, Google Talk, MSN and the likes around, but this coming from Yahoo! is a very welcome addition. I have hardly used it for 10 minutes before I jumped to blog, but the user-interface is very well done. More as I use it.

You can now login to your Yahoo Messenger account just as you would do it from your desktop. Only now you can do it over the web without the need to have Yahoo Messenger installed onto your desktop.

And yes, it does bring its integration with MSN messenger to the web as well.

Check this out at: http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/

Life's like that

2007-05-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

We have these years upon us. They may seem like a few or more depending on the context. Compare them to a day that passed, and may seem a lot. Compare them to the millions since life was created, to the centuries as history unfolded and lost itself in the waves of time, and they may seem barely few. However you see, they are like a journey akin to many small vacations you may have taken – hit the road, went to a beach or, visited friends and family. An unplanned itinerary thrown at you to decide where do you want to take the journey each day. You may pitch your tent, hike around, but you got to pack your backpack and keep moving. It’s up to you to view a sunrise as just another day or, a brand new day. At the end of each day, if moments haven’t been created; at the beginning of each day, if you are not woken up by something other than your body clock, its time to talk to yourself. Even in the most peaceful moments of nature, life runs.

Testing Blogger integration with MS Word

2007-04-28T12:09:00.001-07:00

I recently purchased MS Office Professional 2007 and was pleasantly surprised to find MS Word's integration with Blogger. Guess Live Writer's integration with Blog providers has made it into MS Word (or, vice-versa?). A very welcome feature. Testing this out to see how well it works. Also purchased MS Project 2007, and plan on flirting with Project Management around a few test-worthy home-based projects.

Click to confess

2007-04-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Surfing through Indiatimes Spirituality, my sight fell on a link that beamed me up. It was a virtual confession box. I have yet to look around if similar sites exist on the net. Personally, I think a virtual confession box is a very very powerful idea.

There is and will always be a side to every individual that even the closest of confidantes wouldnt know. There will be something grueling from the past or something confounding in the present or something a person is apprehensive about for the future. At times, we are just not ready to share our inner conflicts, burdens, feelings, aspirations or something as simple as a thought for the fear of being ridiculed, or laughed at, or judged. I am not saying that these elements may be something despicable or lowly. No. It could be something that we are extremely joyous about. It could be something we are so looking forward to. We want to share it and yet, we may not be ready to share it with someone we know. We need a place, real or virtual, where we can go and be ourselves. Where nobody is watching us except ourselves. Where the fear of being judged, defied, ridiculed, questioned does not exist. A place where we can be ourselves without the anxiety of being rejected.

It may sound like escapism, but it is not. It is that testbed where you train yourself, before you can cross over to the fortitude of proudly accepting yourself as you are - with your follies and your triumphs.

Gotta write something!

2007-04-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Nothing eventful today. Just a few things cos I'd to blog! Ok, lets go.

Times of India - I had given up on their site. I cant even faintly recollect when was the last time I paid a visit to their site. Their web presence didnt even reflect close to what they stand as the national newspaper of India. And then, a couple days back I bumped into them again. And what a pleasant surprise! TOI sports a new look! And you know what, having set such low expectations, it sure is commendable. I like the organization of the page and the content too. One complain though. For a newspaper of TOIs stature - its legacy, its readership which I am sure translates into good revenue, can someone tell me why on earth do they need Google Ads. They could do much more with that screen real-estate than displaying Google Ads. And then, its not about money. Its about the image! I heartily welcome their long-due new look, but to me, having Google Ads on their main page shows that there is something seriously flawed with their branding model. Keeping that complain aside, I think they got me back! Good job, TOI.

On a more jubiliant note, India is now a trillion dollar economy! What I learnt today was that India has been the 10th largest economy all along. And, it is the fourth largest economy in terms of PPP (Purchasing Power Parity). TOI's article does a kind job of explaining the term for a layman like me. Here goes:

In purchasing power parity (PPP) terms - which converts rupees to dollars on the basis of what the two currencies can actually buy in their respective economies rather than on what the nominal exchange rate is — India has been for some time the fourth-largest economy in the world behind the US, China and Japan and its size is closer to $4 trillion.

Yesterday, I learnt that Toyota raced past GM for the quarter's top car manufacturer of the world. What surprised me, was my ignorance - GM reigning as the world's top car manufacturer so far.

I read today that Sony launched PS3 in India at the price tag of Rs. 39,900. Their target, which is modest, aims to sell 10,000 units of PS3 in the current finanical year. Per Sony folks, the Indian gaming market which is currently at $50 million, is expected to grow to $425 million by year 2010. This left me completely speechless. Now I know what they mean when a desi returning from India says, "Mannn, India is changing!". However, one thing that amazed me is the tag on import duties companies in this segment have to pay: a whopping 35%.

In comparison to Sony's price tag, Microsoft Xbox's premium version sells at Rs. 27,990. Nintendo's Wii still awaits its launch.

This to me spells the bell tolling for a major cultural shift. Not that it is not underway, but being in this part of the world, where governments give TV ads asking kids to go out and play, obesity levels rising, school shootings on the rise, I am not sure how would I want to qualify this. Never mind, thats a story for another day.

Today's tidbits

2007-04-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Work hours have changed for the temporary. The work-day now starts off at 6:45 AM and is theoretically expected to go until 4:00 PM. Given the early shift, my day starts at 4:00 AM. Do I like it? Sure. Anyday. Ask me about rising early and I take that very personally. It's a self-improvement challenge for me, a life-long one to wake up early.

Though this appears a one-week stint, I am seriously contemplating about adapting it into my schedule. Start the day early, end the day early. That gives me time to head home early and spend some good time with family. Lets see how this works out.

A gradual feeling of addiction towards blogging is inconspicuously making inroads into my blood stream. I always loved writing. I always loved expressing. Most times in the past when I couldn't express something in public or to the close-ones, I used to pen it down. That gave me an opportunity to chat with myself as I articulated my thoughts on paper, and called for introspection in the process. I wouldn't be honest if I said that blogging replaces my notes completely, but it does go a fair length in satiating my expressive self.

By the way, our personal TV turn-off week fared, well, average. I would give a 6/10. Though I resisted the occassional tantrums my son threw, my wife and I once gave in to watching the last episode of KBC online. Damn, that wasnt even worth messing with our resolution. On the positive side, the turn-off did give us an opportunity to play together and read.

That reminds me, I haven't formally sat down and watched a movie in the last few weeks. Guess thats the power of a thought. Which again reminds me I have been wanting to right a post on two things I was thinking about - intention and action. See, I wasn't wrong when I said I was getting addicted to this stuff.

Sheryl's manifesto

2007-04-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

Warning: This is stinky!

On my morning commute, flipping through 24hrs, I came across Sheryl Crow's endeavour to make the world a better place to live in. Being environment friendly in easy ways by reducing the consumption of toilet paper is how she envisions contributing towards the solution to global warming.

With all due respect to the environment, the hazards that global warming poses and all the sincere citizens who are striving in their own ways to make this planet a better place to live in, I could not resist posting a statement I found rather funny. Courtsey 24hrs, as Sheryl Crow states on her blog:

"Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating." Her toilet paper manifesto would limit how many squares of toilet paper Americans use in a sitting. "Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required," she wrote.

As I read the word pesky, I started laughing out loud in the transit. I'm sure people around may be thinking I have gone crazy. Sure I was, as my imaginative faculties started spreading their wings.

As if this wasnt enough for someone starting the day, 24hrs' daily Poll asked readers if they could make 1 square of tissue work for their visit. I turned the page.

Update: 83% declined with a strong No Way to the Poll!

What is there in a name?

2007-04-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

Deap posted his rant on the naming of Indian movies. Here is mine (those intellectually sensitive are hereby warned). I am pretty sure Shakespeare had no idea what a few intellectually challenged can do to a name. For your reading pleasure; your's truly could not resist the temptation of adding his own feedback - italicized.

1. Ek Chalis ki local train (tera movie le ke jaayegi)

2. Khanna And Iyer (Producer and Director)

3. Kya Love Story Hai (Khood hi tareef karega ya phir audience ko bhi kuch bolne dega)

4. Good Boy Bad Boy (You could have added Ugly as well from where you stole Good and Bad)

5. Khallas (The name sealed the movie's fate)

6. Life in a Metro (Must be a documentary)

7. Pangaa Na Lo (Audience ke saath)

8. Say Salaam India (Ok!)

TV Turn Off Week

2007-04-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

In a bid to introduce some level of decency to our otherwise sedentary and brain dead evenings & weekends, I made a call this Sunday evening to sever our ties with the tube for a week. We had been realizing that we were going a bit too far succumbing to the inertia that the deadly combination of our couch and the television set brought. My son, realizing that this was a no contest situation, immediately resorted to diplomacy. "But what about Mom's weather reports", he quipped. I pointed him to the patio. "Walk up to the patio, look outside and you should be able to find out whats in store." I explained that it wasn't just him, but all of us who were not able to draw the line. We've just been a day into this so I'll report our progress as we head into the withdrawal phase.

Interestingly, on Monday morning, as I flipped through the pages of the free daily (24 hours) on my commute, I bumped into this article harping the same tune. Amazed at the concurrence, I read on. And lo! I was not the only one to put my foot down. And if you good folks are anywhere close to making a week worth of resolution, you are not the only one.

April 23-29 is the TV Turn Off Week!!!

Its only a week! How bad can it get. I am challenging myself to help uncover what my options are. I am not saying watching television is bad. Anything intelligently regulated is always entertaining and adds value. It is my personal discipline thats gone bust. If any of us feel the same, I would suggest trying this out for a week. After all, we can always get back to our friendly couch and programming the following week.

Check out www.tvturnoff.org for more on the upcoming TV Turn Off Week!!! It may not be the most glamorous website, but then, thats not the point.

Earth hour, my hour

2007-04-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

I came across this excellent feature, thanks to its posting on Kedu's blog (dont miss the video). Named Earth Hour - it was a call to Sydneyites to express their commitment towards reducing global warming.

Essentially, on March 30th from 7:30 to 8:30, more than 2 million residents in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights and appliances responding to a call for Earth Hour. As per Energy Australia, this dropped the energy consumption for the Sydney area by 10.2%.

Unfortunately, I wasn't part of it. However, it did set me thinking. Thinking on different lines than the quest to reduce global warming. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize an hour late in the evening in darkness. No lights, no TV, no music, no cranking from the dishwashers or the washing machines. No screeching from the elevators. I almost started hearing the sounds of a cricket chirping, or biased by the climatic zone I am in, a frog croaking. As I write, I realize that I haven't heard these sounds for quite some time now. Our lives today are mostly drowned either by the sounds of commute or iPods blaring into our ears or the television ignorantly running in the background. We long for a quiet walk or to plan a camping trip into the serene wilderness. We jump at the first opportunity to take a ride through the countryside. We pine for a dark star-lit sky, devoid of any light pollution that the progressive metros inflict.

I eagerly await that one hour of darkness to reach Vancouver. While it will go a long way in contributing to the ever affectionate and forgiving mother earth, it will give us frantic racers time to slow down, sit with ourselves, introspect and help us see things in the light of darkness. At the very least, it will allow us to tune into the clock of nature and may set us to ponder that after all, each evening, the sun does go down for a reason.

Staying away from Tagged.com emails!

2007-04-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

Alright, I had other things I wanted to blog about, but then this seemed imperative and hence its here. This has been pestering me for quite some time to warrant a rant (nice rhyme, eh!).

Lately, for a month now, I have been receiving this emails from Tagged.com representing folks I know. I went through the standard invite emails (all spiced up with a ready-to-serve guilt trip if you didnt accept the invitation) and resisted hopping onto another social networking bandwagon. I am already on a couple and am having a hard time staying loyal to either of those.

So, for a little backgrounder for all those who have been spared this invite or have been resolute enough like me not to give in and press the Yes button:

1. You receive an email from a person you know saying s/he has Tagged you :)

2. When you open the email, here's what you see. I have removed the name for obvious reasons.

3. You dont respond to this and you are served up a fresh reminder every few days!

Fortunately, I have not gone past this. And so, I really can't say more. However, I came across a couple blogs who have been bitten by this and I definitely didnt want myself or my address book participants to go through this. Feel their pain here:

http://shiftlessmind.com/2007/03/22/taggedcom-sucks/
http://dotnet.org.za/thea/archive/2007/04/09/i-hate-tagged-com.aspx

So, in conclusion, for all of you nice folks from whom I've received these mails, I just want you to know that I love you, I am your friend, but no, I wont say yes to this glorified, twisted spam.

Phew! With a clear conscience, I'll now go and delete all those mails from Tagged.

What did I learn today - paraskavedekatriaphobia

2007-04-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

First things first. The credits for the title What did I learn today must go to Andy. His blog has a section with a very similar name/tag and I couldn't find a more fitting categorization. Going forward, I shall try and post more of what I learn each day to the same category. Andykaka, please treat this imitation as the sincerest form of flattery and let me know if you would like me to change it.

Coming to my learning for the day, is a word - paraskavedekatriaphobia. This entry is very fitting for today. It means the fear of Friday the 13th. The word is a derivation from triskaidekaphobia which means the fear of the number 13.

I was amused to learn that this fear or if you may call it a superstitious belief, existed much wider in geography than just India.

As I surfed more about it, I came across some astonishing details. Here is an interesting snippet courtsey an article on National Geographic.

"It's been estimated that [U.S] $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do," said Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina.

And some remedies.

Folklore offers other remedies, however. One recommendation is to climb to the top of a mountain or skyscraper and burn all the socks you own that have holes in them. Another is to stand on your head and eat a piece of gristle.

For a more detailed read, visit the complete article on National Geographic site.

Tamara ahin aaj - Gani Dahiwala

2007-04-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of my, well, almost every Gujarati literature lover's favourite.

I was introduced to this ghazal in the first year of my college. This may not sound very surprising at first, however, the reason why it invites a special mention is because the first time I heard the ghazal, it was from my English Professor, Shri Kirit Trivedi, in our English class! I have to say that he has been one of the very few and fine educators/teachers/mentors I have across. He made learning a joy and did something that I strongly believe is the most fundamental element of education - aroused the curiosity to learn! My most sincere gratitude and respect to you, Sir.

ઉપવને આગમન

તમારાં અહીં આજ પગલાં થવાનાં,
ચમનમાં બધાંને ખબર થૈ ગઈ છે.
ઝુકાવી છે ગરદન બધી ડાળીઓએ,
ફૂલોની ય નીચી નજર થૈ ગઈ છે.

શરમનો કરી ડોળ સઘળું જુએ છે
કળી પાંદડીઓના પડદે રહીને,
ખરું જો કહી દઉં તો વાતાવરણ પર
તમારાં નયનની અસર થૈ ગઈ છે.

બધી રાત લોહીનું પાણી કરીને
બિછાવી છે મોતીની સેજો ઉષાએ,
પધારો કે આજે ચમનની યુવાની
બધાં સાધનોથી સભર થૈ ગઈ છે.

પરિમલની સાથે ગળે હાથ નાખી-
કરે છે અનિલ છેડતી કૂંપળોની,
ગજબની ઘડી છે તે પ્રત્યેક વસ્તુ,
પુરાણા મલાજાથી પર થૈ ગઈ છે.

ગની દહીંવાલા

Courtsey: Kavilok

Why books?

2007-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

It is a thought that has been crossing my mind for the past few days. Though I have recently been at a distance, I've loved reading books for quite some time now. When I think about the kind of books I like, it is very hard to classify them by genres, authors or any category. From the way I have been reading, I have enjoyed books spanning a wide variety. For me, I believe, it boils down to the way it is expressed, the way it is narrated.

And that brought me to think why do I love reading books. Why do I love watching movies. I am not sure but I feel it may apply to a vast majority of readers.

I love being told stories. I love being taught. I love being mentored and guided. As we grow, the figures in our life that teach us, that guide us, that show compassion for us, people that we turn to, are not with us anymore (rather, we are not with them anymore :) ). We have grown up, instilled beliefs, notions, developed mindsets and frameworks we live within. Nevertheless, whether we express it or not, we still need our mentors, our father figures, people we can talk to without being judged, people who can look into our eyes and tell us that we have faltered, people who can pat on our back and say, Good job!, people we know will be there for us inspite of us taking them for granted.

We need all of those wonderful selfless folks who we can turn to with the same child-like innocence we once had.

Unfortunately, depending on where we are at in life, emotionally, geographically or in terms of age, we dont have them.

And that is why I believe we turn to books, movies - our surrogate mentors, teachers, friends and more, filling in for the void of compassion, knowledge, wisdom and most importantly, a shoulder to lean on.

A walk through the park

2007-04-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

Central Park is right across the building where I work. Right when I started working, I was cautioned about walking through the park in the evenings enroute the nearest transit terminal. Since then, being new to the area, I never bothered venturing into the park.

Today, desperate for a stroll and some quiet time, I aimlessly walked into the park. It didnt turn out to be the least bit scary as I had conjured it up in my imagination.

It was a very pleasant walk through the towering firs, passing by the startled squirrels staring at you, a nice quite pond with geeses and just the right number of people walking/jogging/running through the park. I walked for the most part and than sat down at a bench for a few minutes before resuming my walk again. I didnt bother to look at my watch trying to figure how much time had I spent.

Such moments are few and far when I get to sit with myself without thoughts racing, priorities clamouring to find their place, tasks popping from the perpetual ToDo list and the brain racking to be on top of things to never miss the balance. These are hence, very treasured moments.

These are moments when you talk back to yourself. These are moments when you listen to yourself. It is when you strike a conversation with someone inside you. Not that I dont talk to myself rest of the time. In fact, I talk to myself all the time. But compared to these serene, quiet moments, you realize that it is mostly chatter when you are rushing to work, on the transit, in the elevator.

I dont see how this time that you spend in communion with yourself is any different from meditation. I believe the essence is striking a chord with something within you that makes you feel - ah, full circle. I think now I sort of understand what they mean when they say that you are not at peace with yourself. No wonder these things are hard to explain and only experiential.

Law-enforcing family values

2007-04-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

Courtsey: Link above and 24hours Vancouver print edition

Beijing - A county in central China planned in-depth checks on how its
officials' treated their parents, with those who were nice to their mum and dad first in line for promotion, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
For more, click on the link above.

Take this

2007-04-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

What a killer! Had to post this:

"There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees..." ~ Victor Hugo

This week inaction!

2007-04-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Following up on the previous post, yes, I did take a day off - the much needed break. It was a good call. What did I do? Not much really. Watched Departed. Oscar material? No. Good movie? Yes. Jack Nicholson's performance is a highlight.

Later on however, I picked up Blood Diamond and that made my day. Leonardo DiCaprio has done a stupendous job with his acting and boy, what accent. If at all I get to buying diamonds, I'm gonna make sure they are not conflict.

Hems shared a youtube video of the MotoRokr ad featuring Abhishek Bachhan. Commendable. Take a look.

Dilipbhai shared a funny/sarcastic video on the Indian call-center business. The start is ofcourse hilarious.

Well, why am I blogging. I just got off an eight-week ordeal featuring an average work day of 17 hours, weekends included! Not one day off. All that craziness abruptly nosedived to a regular day where I now have to manage a release 7 weeks into the "future". Someone asked me, how do I feel? My answer: I feel like one of those CIA trained post-war Afghans; lost.

Reading hasn't been very inviting lately. However, from whatever reviews I have been through there is one book thats stands out - Confessions of an Econimic Hit Man by John Perkins. If you have read this book, your comments are very welcome.

For now, looking forward to the Easter weekend! Cheers!

Balance

2007-03-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

I took a walk today. Not the workout kind. The more of being with myself kind. It is nice and sunny here in Vancouver. I am feeling the need for a short break after the unnatural schedule and work hours I have been through for the last few weeks. Today, I felt that it was important to take breaks. It appeared like one's mind and body needs them to function optimally and consistently. I have lost on my consistency for the last two days and it affects me that I am not being productive in my duties.

Sometimes, when I over-work with the motivation of making some gains, financial or personal, I am reminded of the story of the person who has the time to run and cover as much land as he can before the sunset. He must return by sunset and all the land covered until than, is his. The man runs with all his strength and keeps running as much as he can in the desire to cover the most. He doesn't budge though he is completely exhausted. He finally makes it back before the sunset, but when he reaches back, he crashes and drops dead. At that point, all he requires of land is the six feet worth to hold him. The moral is pretty self-explanatory. This is what flashes before me when I try and run too hard. It helps keep myself on track, reminds me that if I run too much behind one thing, I will lose the balance and eventually miss out on other aspects of life.

I have to say that it is a challenge for a person to strike a balance in the various spheres of life that revolve around one's existence. One cannot afford to be negligent about any because if s/he does, the whole effort would be entirely unfulfilling. Anything left out, will come back to haunt you sooner or later. However, I know that this is something that is experiential knowledge and cannot be taught. It can only be learnt.

What are these spheres. Here are what they mean to me (in no specific order of importance):

1. Family (emotional, bonding, duty, being there)
2. Financial(near-term, long-term, towards family, kids, personal)
3. Spiritual
4. Social (giving back to the community)
5. Professional
6. Personal (self-development, personality development, continued education, passions, etc.)

Cheers!

A step closer to invisibility

2007-03-25T14:30:00.001-07:00

Scientific American: Visible Light Bent the 'Wrong' Way
Another new trick magnifies fine details normally invisible to lenses

Just complaining...

2007-03-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Finally, something to write about. Here goes.

I was calling up travel agents for fares to India and boy, what an experience. First, the price tags vary dramatically in some cases than I used to find in the US. Singapore Airlines is still decently priced. I am kinda tempted to take the London route and hang out in London for a couple days, but then when I think of the hassles of getting a visa and trading those days with India, I find myself pushing back on options. Wishful thinking!

I talked to about 8 travel agents (desis) and 6 of those were just plain pathetic. I am very passionate about the hospitality industry and if I were not where I am on my professional front, one of the very strong candidates would have definitely been this industry. These brainholes can't even be fundamentally courteous leave alone being equipped with the etiquettes that are expected of customer service. I pick up the phone and dial one of those travel agents, he picks up and farts in a groggy voice, "Vikram!". %$#@ I care what your Mom calls you. You are running a travel agency and can't we just start off saying Good <time of the day>, <insert your company name here>.

Not one single person out of the 6 travel agencies I crib about, be it a guy or a girl, greeted me or even bothered to mention their company name. How the hell am I supposed to know if I have reached the travel agency or it's a damned wrong number. Forget any expectations of reaching out to your customers and helping them make a decision.

Out of the two that atleast let me retain my dignity as a worthy probable customer, one of them was courteous, informative but was munching something really big (wasn't a gum) as she talked. My imagination spreading wings, it seemed like some sort of sandwich stuffed up until the last morsel that could squeeze in.

Nothing conclusive, but had to whine.

Am still alive!

2007-01-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a long time has it been since I have written. I keep rebuking myself for the absence, but then, I usually get caught up in either of the two. When I want to blog, thoughts raging, ideas racing, I dont have a computer. When I have a computer, blogging seems far-fetched. The screen takes over the processing time of my brain and I am busy assimilating rather than producing. So now, when I have hit the moment when that rare combination has been reached, I thought I had drop in a few lines.

Honest to all, I have been really wanting to blog. And not for the fun of it; its because I find content that I want to blog about. I spend a good 180 minutes in commute (an eye-popping combination of community shuttle, bus, train and bus again.) each day. And I read a variety of stuff in transit that sets me thinking. I hope I can break the vicious semi-circle of computer and blogging and eventually get some good stuff out there. Cheers!

Crank it up!

2006-11-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

Came across the excerpt below as I was surfing around for some info. Thats how I learned today why they used to turn the crank thing for making a phone call in the good ol' days!!!

In 1900, the Bell Telephone Company of Canada introduced the first central energy switchboard, or common battery, which eliminated the need for customers to generate the power to make a call by turning a crank on the telephone. That innovation in technology may seem quaint today, but at the time it was the ultimate in customer service. Not only did the new device speed the time to make a switchboard connection and thus alleviate customer frustration – it just might have cured a few aching arms.

Photo courtsey: http://www.atcaonline.com/phone/we317.html

Text excerpt: http://www.informationbuilders.com/applications/bell_can.html

Shmile please...

2006-10-18T03:14:00.000-07:00

I found this analogy followed by a witty comment in an article on taxation for Small Business in The Globe and Mail (a Canadian national newspaper). Had to bring in here.

Erik is something of a permanent student. He's got more degrees than the thermometer outside our kitchen window.

Further...

"Uncle Ron, how's Erik doing?" I ask.

"He's just fine, Tim. He's back at university this month."

"Still?" I reply. "I thought he finished last year. What's Erik going to be when he graduates?"

"A very old man," he replies.

Trends in Canadian immigration

2006-10-18T02:22:00.000-07:00

Courtsey: The Globe and Mail

“For years, China has dominated. This is about to change and there will be a dramatic shift in cultural taste,” said Richard Kurland, a Vancouver immigration lawyer who obtained the data under the federal Access to Information Act. “There is also a lower cost to the Canadian taxpayer, as Indian immigrants usually speak English already and can hit the ground running.”

The numbers:

In June of 2006, just 19,826 immigrant applications were processed at Canada's mission in Beijing , compared with 37,124 in July of 2004. The number of applicants from Hong Kong is also “in free fall,” decreasing to 32,752 in June of this year from 47,260 in July of 2004.

In contrast, 132,693 immigrant applications were processed at Canada's mission in New Delhi in June of 2006 (20 per cent of the global total), compared with 88,383 in July of 2004 (16 per cent of the total).

These numbers include economic immigrants (skilled workers and entrepreneurs), refugees and people being sponsored by family members in Canada.

And more...

For the past several years, China has been among the top five source countries, if not the top, for immigration to Canada.

In 2005, 42,291 of the 262,236 immigrants who arrived here were from China, more than from any other country, while 33,000 were from India, in second place. However, these statistics are based on applications filed more than five years ago. “There is no doubt Indians are set to surpass Chinese,” said Mr. Kurland, the Vancouver lawyer.

Pluto, we'll miss you!

2006-08-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Everything changes. As I grow up, I learn that History changes. As we move ahead in time, we set the course for the new chapters of history our children will study. New archaeological findings shape and alter our understanding of everything from history, geology, geography and anthropology. Just as all disciplines, science evolves. And today it has! Astronomy in particular. Our fundamentals of our solar system will be changing going forward. All these years we wouldnt even blink stating the number of planets in our Solar system. Going forward, that is changing. The International Astronomical Union has deprived Pluto of its planetary status bringing down the number of planets in the Solar system to 8! Pluto will now be categorized as a dwarf planet.

Playing with Windows Writer

2006-08-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

I was on my way to uninstall the Windows Live toolbar and all the paraphernalia that comes with it, when I thought I had check out Windows Writer.

Setting up Windows Writer to work with Blogger worked like a breeze. Now, lets see how this post fares. Cheers!

Wake Up!

2006-04-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

It is true - some things cannot be taught, they ought to be learnt. How many times have we heard the "early to bed, early to rise" advise.

Starting this week, and its been only two days I know, I retire to bed pretty early. I am trying to get myself into a pattern of waking up early. I like to start my day slow. No hush hush. Wake up, shower, prayers, tea and glide through that to work. Its now been 15 years at work. Long time it feels already! With another 25 to go at best, I dont want to carry this with the chaotic madness of a raging bull.

Waking up early also gives me a much longer and a much more energetic day in view of its length to do things. It also helps balance the different aspects of life rather than looking at a day from only one standpoint - work. To me, I like to accomplish several aspects in a day - spirituality, family, work, social, routine responsibilities and personal. Some, I do like to focus more on the weekends, but I havent been very impressed by leaving a bulk of this list to weekends. It doesnt work well in the longer run. It is best to establish and follow a routine that balances things on a consistent basis and it will get in as a habit.

Memoirs of a momentous occasion

2006-04-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

We finally embarked on our much awaited trip on April 6th. Following an assiduous attempt to ensure that all paper-work and documentation was in order, and finally dozing off at 4 am the same morning, we started our journey at around 1 pm.

We first reached the US Customs and declared the greens we carried in cashiers check. Having done that, we got back into our car and fired the engines. And then, it was the moment! We went up to the Canadian border at Blaine and proudly declared, "We're landing!".

15 long months of persuasion, innumerable photocopies, notarizings, Fedexs, passport photos and all in all, a good five grand of investment now awaited fruition.

What followed next was all too smooth and may be categorized as mundane. We went up to the Immigration, presented our papers, provided a Canadian address for mailing our Permanent Residence cards and were finally greeted with a smile and "Congratulations!". Though I had expected the immigration officer to greet us with the very standard and curiously awaited, "Welcome to Canada!", I believe, the radiating familiarity of my recent frequent visits to the country dissuaded him from doing so at the cost of sounding artificial. Next, it was the Customs and none too different. Our arduously prepared Goods to Follow list were stamped and acknowledged. We were waved a bbye, and yoooohoooo, we were on our way into Canada as permanent residents.

Ah, the joy of km/h speed limits, the term petrol, the measurement in litres and back to the world of DD/MM/YY!

The next day, we applied for our Social Insurance Numbers stayed for a day more and toured a few suburbs around Vancouver before again crossing the border to return to the US.

One thing I have to say. The whole border crossing thing, the fact that you are crossing over to another country by road, in a car, gives me a kick. I have now done this for a few times, but then again, everytime I do it, I scream in utter excitement as I pass the border officials to step into the respective country.

Anyway, for now I am basking in the newly attained PR status, which for once, means a lot to me - simply because, now, you cant kick me out just because I dont have a job! And I so love the idea of leaving jobs at will and vacationing for a month or two! Lets see if I can really do that now.

Viva le Canada!

Bardo Thodol

2006-04-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

"Watched" The Tibetan book of Dead (Bardo Thodol) - a presentation on the subject. Simply beyond words. A commendable attempt to capture the subject the book so beautifully enlightens you through. I remember reading halfway through the book a good 5-6 years back. And then I realized I was not ready to appreciate or understand the meaning in its entirety. Now after a long time, knowing my interest in the subject, Gauri picked up this DVD from the library.

As always Death and Dying have been my pleasant interests. I have never viewed death or dying as something akin to obliteration or oblivion. I do not know if it is because I don’t want to face it that way or if it is the conditioning of my religion. But it is something I like and I want to believe in. To me, Death and dying is very similar to the sleep we fall into at night and then wake up in the morning. Its just that the experience and the associations may be on a different scale and plane. But the approach should be similar. If we are not prepared for the day that shall dawn at the night we fall asleep, we wake up directionless and just trudge on. Just as it is important to know/prepare/plan/act today to be ready for the tomorrow that we seek, it is important to know/prepare/plan/act and get ready for the inevitable continuum of life, death.

We are somehow conditioned to view our identity only as our body, our relationships, our desires, our aspirations. And because we do that, we are limited by what we think. Of course, it is on us; what and how we think about the different projections of ourselves. We have fears, apprehensions, our portrayal of joy, happiness, our definitions of insecurities, our yardsticks of success and failure. When we (think of it as the body) die, all associations with our body are severed. Be it painful or pleasing. It appears to be painful. I mean, imagine we lose the sensation of touch, the ability of sight slowly withers, we cant "see" our family and friends anymore, our ability to hear slowly dwindles as we progress through dying, our sense of smell dies down. Imagine how would you view yourself as someone who cant hear, who cant see, who cant feel a touch, who cant hear or who cant smell. Now, while it appears very painful and very depressing, imagine someone in severe physical pain - someone who is handicapped, someone who is ailing, someone who is in pain for some years. As the body dies, the senses wither, all this pain goes. But with the pain, the gross identity of the person leaves as well. Now, for some of us, this identity, characterized by different things our life has led us through, might be very important, something very dear to us. We may have a good life, good family, be financially well off, a loving spouse, a child we love very dearly and a social standing we are proud of :). Why would we want to give it up. Sure, we are attached to it. But dying is inevitable. Like it or not, the day will come, we will breathe our last and our gross aspects will detach itself and will be on the way out. Whether we like our existence and our identity or not, we will have to leave it. If we are prepared in terms of detachment, in terms of what's to come next, our transition will be something filled with awareness.

The different ashrams of life help us prepare and lead us through this path. The joy of the Brahmacharya ashram - childhood, learning in grace of an illumined teacher; the grihastashashram, the vanprasthashram and eventually the sanyasashram. We are fulfilling the duties of different stages of life, realizing our purpose, fulfilling it, and then as we pass through the different phases, we eventually ready ourselves for the final transition. Vanprasthashram and Sanyasashram lead us and ready us through the transition that is Dying.

What we will carry with us in life will follow us in death. Fear, Hope, Love, Hatred, Faith, everything. Our religions are not purposeless. Their aim is to provide a framework for us to lead a life that follows the best practices experienced by seers and hence is an assurance of a life filled with the positives. Thereby preparing the baggage that we shall carry with us in our death, until being born again to fulfill what's been pending as in the baggage.

Fluctuations

2006-04-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

Had to share this. Thanks, Hems!

An Asian man walked into the currency exchange in New York City with 2000 yen and walked out with $72. The following week, he walked in with 2000 yen, and was handed $66. He asked the teller why he got less money that week than the previous week.

The teller said, "Fluctuations."

The Asian man stormed out, and just before slamming the door, turned around and shouted, "Fluc you Amelicans, too!"

My thoughts on Water, Bhopal Express and Flightplan

2006-03-31T12:34:00.000-08:00

Flightplan turned out to be a bit disappointing. The movie is well directed, however, the plot derails itself and is very unconvincing. At the end of it all, one is left with a sore feeling.

Deepa Mehta's Water does a wonderful job highlighting the plight of widows resigned to a widow house. The surprising fact is that these widow houses exist even today. Set in the timeframe of 1938, melodious songs, lyrics and music add to the lovely treatment of a subject which seems pretty off-beat but sinks in as you glide through the movie. Although both, Lisa Ray and John Abraham have done justice to their roles, their glamorous legacy makes you wonder if it really is 1938. Its a viewer's bias after all. Seema Biswas gives a marvellous performance and so does Sarala, the little widow.

Deepa Mehta ignites the debate on the pertinence of our interpreations of the scriptures while also pointing to the fact that good traditions and customs should be upheld. When is the time that we challenge the customs and scriptural interpretations that have been so deeply entrenched into the fabric of our collective psyche. Seema Biswas portrays a superb conflict between adhering to your faith and listening to the voice of your conscience.

And finally, Gandhiji's words answer it all. Gandhiji has said that up until now he believed that God is Truth. However, now he realizes that it is the other way round - Truth is God. All in all, a fabulous movie. Definitely a must watch. On very similar lines, Diksha is a must watch as well.

Bhopal Express by Mahesh Mathai is another brilliant example of what movies as an art form can do to present the reality, the truth and the injustice that plague our worlds. Bhopal express is about the Union Carbide tragedy - the worst industrial tragedy ever. Led by Kay kay and Naseeruddin Shah, the movie delivers a punch. The film presents the trauma, the neglect & mis-management that led to this gas tragedy and the shameless cover up by the Union Carbide. Bhopal Express highlights the following facts - 15000 people died and 500,000 are suffering from exposure implications. 10-15 people of those exposed succumb to death every month, even today! For more, check the facts from Bhopal Express's official website.

In pain and pleasure

2006-03-30T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hate to start on a rough note. Last few days have been painful. Something's gone wrong with my lower back and its been excrutiatingly painful. Literally speaking, something has been on my nerves! Being able to stand more than 5 minutes is beyond question. However lying down and sitting in certain positions helps escape the trauma. Its fascinating to recollect how your body speaks to you and how when you dont listen, it just screams! I have been feeling the beginning of this pain from last week. An optimistic and an equally avid procrastinator that I am, I paid no heed to what was being told to me. And now, there are these funny postures I find myself in.

But, as with any pain, there IS pleasure. My forced confinement to my home did help me get a few long-pending things done. One of them is the completion of my Goods to follow list before we embark on our landing procedure in Canada. Resolved a few vital US & Canada Customs and Border questions related to my move. And thats not all. In fact, the best part was I got to see quite some movies !!!

I watched some very lovely movies. Water by Deepa Mehta, Iqbal by Nagesh Kukunoor and Bhopal Express are simply a different league. Excellent choice of subject and brilliant execution. Dosti and Soch are good pass times in the masala genre of Bollywood. Jigyasa is a no-no. I also partially watched a documentary on Prophet Mohammed. Learned quite a few interesting things on the life of Muhammad. However, the fact that the contributors to the documentary were only US-based Islamic researchers or muslims, left me with a bit of distaste.

Whatever little I learned from the documentary:

1. Prophet Muhammad married a 40 year old widow whose name was Khadija. At the time of his wedding, the prophet was 24. Khadija was a working woman!

2. The prophet was a merchant before he was enlightened.

3. Kabba (in Mecca) existed even before Prophet Muhammad was born.

4. Jewish and Christian religion existed way before Islam was founded by Prophet Muhammad.

5. Islam is the fastest growing religion in United States.

I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this information.

I hope to write in more detail on these movies and the documentary. For now, my eyelids are drooping.

Currently reading - Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Movies in pipeline: Flightplan, Being Cyrus.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2006-03-27T18:43:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a very very very Happy Birthday! I love you!

A Good book. A Bad reader.

2006-03-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

I finished reading the five people you meet in heaven in a hooked-on mode today noon. The explicit mention of the mode invites itself because of two things. I made a desperate yet unsuccessful attempt to complete the book battling my heavy eye-lids and eventually falling short of the last 30 pages at 1:00 am. This late morning, I picked up from where I left as I walked to work. Determined to complete it before starting my work day (which ironically began at 12:06 pm), I was hanging around my office building as I read through the final pages of the book. And yes, it was all worth it.

However, I committed absolute injustice reading this book. For one, I think there are these books that lose their charm if you pull through with a lot of small breaks. The continuity, the feel and the ambience are lost. You are at a point where you find yourself in the skin of the character(s) or are just done visualizing the situation and picture the author has sketched. And then, you take a break. The next time you pick up, it is not the same train.

Books like these theorize the unknown and abstract and then conjure a story to present the message. The five people you meet in heaven touches upon a subject very dear to me - death and beyond. As a matter of fact, it is a story of the beyond based on what one has lived in the here and now. It is a well written book. A nonjudgmental note, nevertheless - certain parts of the book do lend the feel of a self-help motive. On the other hand, the author has done a brilliant job addressing some challenges that most of us brood on at some stage or the other in life.

Parallely reading - Ishavasya Upanishad (text, translation, commentary)

Books in the pipeline - Tipping Point, Ishmael, Blink, The World is Flat

Movies looking forward to - Being Cyrus

Teen Deewarein and more

2006-03-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

Over the period I have read books and watched movies, one thing I have learnt is this. It is not you who choose the books; its the books who choose you. I have had this feeling umpteen number of times and I can, with undoubted surety say that it is true for my movies as well. Often times, I have brought movies home and have returned without watching them. And then, one fine day, you bring the movie back, it is the perfect mood setting for the movie you still dont know about, and you stick it in. A few hours later, the movie ends and you begin! You are swept by the thoughts you never imagined could have been there.

I love to read books and watch movies that are both, optimistic and thought-provoking. I flinch from depressing, pessimistic movies. True, some of those can be thought-provoking as well. But at the end of it, i want my mind running, thoughts gushing and my self, charged up!

That was precisely my bias for my delay in picking up Hotel Rwanda. But it turned out to be thankfully different. The movie is a riveting story of the courage and humanity of a moderate Hutu man married to a Tutsi woman set in the times of Rwandan genocide. The ruling Hutus are avenging the previous Tutsi rule by cleansing the Tutsis and the moderate Hutus. Don Cheadle, the protagonist, gives a stupendous performance showcasing how his character evolves from being self-centered to someone who is ready to sacrifice for the sake of his fellow beings in the midst of adversity. The film is a poignant sketch of an infamous historical occurence; something called Rwanda, that to many of us may have crossed our minds as a mere news headline or a blip on our memory's radar.

Yesterday, I watched Teen Deewarein by Nagesh Kukunoor. It is one of those movies that choose you. I remember renting it a few months back and returning without watching it. The success of Iqbal (what a shame, I have yet to see it) and hence Nagesh Kukunoor shows what this guy is made up of. Teen Deewarein is about brilliant story, direction and performances. To me, it appeared as a movie portraying how our lives intersect with that of others without us knowing it and how those few moments leave an indelible mark on all of us. It is cinema very well done with excellent performances by Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff, Nagesh Kukunoor himself and Juhi Chawla. No wonder it may not have minted big bucks at the box office for the sheer overuse of English. However, that by no means goes against the movie. Go watch it!

Following Teen Deewarein, the first thought that struck me was how two movies and a book had recently crossed paths with me giving the very same message. One of those movies was ofcourse, Teen Deewarein.

A few months back, I watched Crash! Until Teen Deewarein I could not realize its essence although it was so evident. Maybe it was because of the lack of my attention or the simple fact that I didnt have the English sub-titles on. Yeah, I still need them! But now, its all falling into place. I'll probably watch Crash again.

The book. I am reading Five people you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - the brilliant author behind Tuesdays with Morrie. I wont be a spoiler for those of you who havent read either of the books. But I will surely come back to share my thought once I am done reading Five people ... As for those who haven't read Tuesdays with Morrie its a lovely read. You cant go wrong picking up this book.

Recent movies and books

2006-03-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

Movies:

Cinderalla Man is a delight. Flawless movie-making, brilliant performances and a stimulating story of courage in the midst of adversity.

Finding Neverland is thoroughly enjoyable. It took me this movie to appreciate the brilliance of Johny Depp's performance. Kate Winslet is commendable.

Next in line: Hotel Rwanda

Books:

one night @ the call center: a page turner, simplistic, easy, enjoyable read. witty humour. stay patient to go past the prologue and you will be rewarded.

the monk who sold his ferrari: pathetic, outrageous, shamelessly superficial. all thumbs down!

Current: The Five people you meet in heaven

Indian blogosphere

2006-03-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

In the past couple days, I have been blog-hopping some Indian bloggers I found references of, either from the Yahoo 360 community or while googling for a book review (my memory has mostly done quite opposite of what it was meant for). And boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise. I rushed through a range of emotions as I jumped from one to another, reading their blogs, skimming the feedback, hopping onto someone I found in the blogroll or those from the comments. It is one remarkable exposition of talent that I have found. So far, to my sheer ignorance, I was always under the impression that Indian bloggers mostly belonged to the US, were inherently techies and hence followed that genre, and that those who were from India were only a celebrated few that adorned the likes of rediff and indiatimes. Am I glad to be proven uninformed!

These blogs that I am talking about are not one of those 84000-a-day creations, neither come today gone tomorrow. I came across these as stupendously varied in interests, exuding amazing clarity of thought and presentation, blog entries that were very well categorized, displaying brilliant command over language and very vocal.

For those curious, here are some pointers. How far you hop, well, thats another thing.

Jabberwock, A writer and his web-blahg, Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing-wax, k'uvvat-e-guftaar.

For a while, I wondered at the concentration of bloggers only in specific regions of India. But then, I came across Baghdad Burning. If someone could blog from here, its only a matter of time!

Parking place

2006-03-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

Feel sorry for using this blog as a parking place. Looks like its going to be that way for sometime. However, if I do come back, am pretty sure, i would be back with something worthwhile. For now, parking this thought I found somewhere:

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do".

Shall be parking a few poems for future reference.

Timeless beauties by Robert Frost

2006-03-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Do they need an introduction.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it's queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep

Quotes de resistance

2006-03-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my favourite quotes.

This one by Martin Luther King Jr., always amazes me at the strength of thought and elegance these few words have captured.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

By Winston Churchill, found from my Grandfather's diaries and always etched in my not-so-brilliant memory.

A fanatic is a person who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

2006-03-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

Believe me, I hate as much as anyone else posting poems and calling it a blog. To do justice, I am calling this my parking place for the sheer want of a web-site.

I never knew of what follows, as a poem when I wrote down two of its lines (bolded) on a post-it and stuck it in front of my desk. Now that I do, here it goes in its entirety.

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day;
I don't borrow from its sunshine,
For its skies may turn to gray.

I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said;
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what lies ahead.

Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.

I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty.
But the one who feeds the sparrow
Is the one who stands by me.

And the path that be my portion
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me
And I'm covered with His blood.

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.

Ira Stanphill

The Pulley - George Herbert

2006-03-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

Though I didn't take away much from my school, the few things that I have, I treasure. This poem, for instance, yes, my love for literature and, the knowledge of how education systems shouldn't be!

The Pulley

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by -
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can;
Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.”

So strength first made a way,
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honor, pleasure
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.

“For if I should,” said he,
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in nature, not the God of nature:
So both should losers be.

“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.”

George Herbert 1593-1633

A Gujarati blog?

2006-02-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Christo

2005-12-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

I have never come across this name before - Christo. Today, when I came across a passing reference, I thought I had check it out. Its unbelievable what he has done. Check out the link on the title.

To entice you to read about it, here is an excerpt from the Encyclopaedia section on this topic featured on answers.com:

The two met in Paris and moved to New York City in 1964. A leading figure in conceptual art, Christo, in collaboration with Jeanne-Claude, has specialized in large-scale temporary outdoor installations. Running Fence (1976), a shimmering fabric curtain, was strung more than 24 mi (39 km) across the rolling N California landscape. Other projects have included surrounding 11 islands in Florida's Biscayne Bay with floating hot-pink fabric (1983), wrapping the Pont Neuf in Paris (1985), concurrent installations of thousands of 20-ft (6-m) tall umbrellas—blue near Tokyo and yellow near Los Angeles (1991), and wrapping Berlin's Reichstag in silvery fabric (1995). On the paths and natural contours of New York City's Central Park the two created (2005) The Gates, a meandering installation of 7,500 saffron-hued rectangular vinyl gates. Each was 16-ft (5-m) tall and hung, to about halfway down, with a pleated nylon panel colored to match, which blew with the wind and shifted color with the changing light.

If you are still reading, check this out - Running Fence. He did this work through Sonoma and Marin County (a lovely place north of Golden Gate Bridge in SF, where we lived for 2 years).

Learning with Answers.com

2005-12-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

Answers.com has proved to be a really helpful site for me. As with the Oneclick Answers tool, while reading an article, it becomes very easy to click on a word (Alt + Click) to get immediate reference. This atleast proves to be a key thing to learning - the instant gratification of one's questions. Most people love to learn but are lazy to make that effort. I am definitely one of them and answers.com has helped a lot in satiating my curiosity.

I am reading an interesting article on the northern Alaskan region. There are so many references I come through which I have no clue about. Pass them and you never get the complete idea about the topic and miss out on learning. I have found it easy to jump to such references using Answers One-click thing. Ofcourse, it is very digressing because as you get into the details, one topic leads to another and its hard to end it. All in all, great stuff. Go try it. Damn this sounds like a commerical!

Snowflakes and Northern Lights

2005-12-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

I have been lazy to come and write-up. But there are two things I learned in the last week. When it snowed in Redmond, talking to one of my colleagues enjoying the snow, I found that no two snow-flakes are technically alike. I do recollect that I made a passing mention of this in one of my earlier posts. For those with insatiable curiousity, below is more:

1. A snowflake primer
2. Is it true that no two snow crystals are alike? (Scroll down 1 page)

Northern lights (or, Aurora Borealis) have fascinated me ever since I came across its mention in The Polar Express. By the way, for those who havent watched the movie, go get it. Its a delight! At this point, I am just dying for an opportunity to watch this phenomenon. From what I have read, the Northern Lights which are, naturally, in the northern hemisphere can be viewed from places like Yukon (Canada), Alaska (USA) or the Lapland region (Finland). Basically, you need to be in the northern oval to be able to see it. Do visit the links above for preliminary information on the same.

The same phenomenon, taking place in the Southern hemisphere in Antartica is called Aurora Australis or Southern Lights.

While I was reading on Northern lights, i surfed onto reading about the north pole. I read something that initially made me wonder and later, smile about when I recollect. Here it goes:

The unique thing about being on the north pole is that from there, you can only travel south :).

Crab Nebula

2005-12-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

What a beauty! Click to enlarge.

White Christmas in Redmond

2005-12-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

It is snowing in Redmond!! Yooohooooo! It looks just beautiful. I just stepped out and had snow-flakes all over. One more thing I learned from someone is that no two snowflakes are alike. Yes, its like our finger-prints. No two snow-flakes ever are alike.

I am not blogging!

2005-11-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

Thank God, I never claimed to myself that I was blogging again. I have kind of gone again through that bout of absence I always go through. My focus has shifted to other things that need attention which speaks for my absence on this site. I wonder if anyone is reading it, but for once, I have told myself to stay away from that temptation driving the writing. I have to keep telling myself that i do it because i do it. Till I get back on track again awaiting that stimulus to jump right in, I shall keep reminding myself that I am not blogging. Yeah, denial it is!

Near-Field communications (NFC)

2005-11-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

I recently came across DoCoMo introducing phones in Japan that doubled up as wallets or smart cards. This allowed people using transit systems to simply wave at the bus/train and get in, or someone waving their phone at the check-out counter of a grocery store to complete their purchase.

Today, I came across an article on InformationWeek talking about Near-Field communications (NFC) as the next big thing. NFC is a short-range wireless technology operating in the unregulated RF band of 13.56 MHz. I probed further and thought I had share what I found. Below are excerpts and pointers to some references.

Dated back from 2003, here is an excerpt from Sony's press release:

NFC IP-1 is a Near Field Communication technology, which utilizes the 13.56 MHz wavelength, and is composed of a physical layer and data link layer. When devices with an NFCIP-1 compatible chip are brought into proximity, they will be able to recognize each other within a certain range*1, and can exchange information. NFC IP-1 provides a new, highly intuitive method where simply bringing devices into proximity allows them to directly recognize each other and communicate. This is in contrast to previous methods where devices have identified by screen icons on computer screens or selected within wireless networks like Bluetooth and Wireless LAN. Data exchange will take place at speeds of 106kbps, 212kbps or 424kbps. It is also possible to transfer to other communications protocols with higher speeds, once devices have been connected by NFC.

While Bluetooth, IR and the upcoming UWB are sure contenders for the PAN space, NFC is being seen as complementing rather than stepping on these technologies. An interesting read here.

Also, here is a white-paper (PDF) from ECMA International detailing NFC and show-casing its utility.

NFC forum has more details on the technology, working groups and news.

What is also hot is the NFC RFID marriage. Below is an excerpt:

The goal of NFC RFID is to provide a low-cost short-range form of wireless communications to enable consumers to use the NFC chip built in to their mobile phones and other devices to make electronics payments for various purchases or to use devices with built-in NFC readers to read information stored in NFC-tagged objects. Nokia, for example, already sells an NFC-enabled mobile phone, and other phone and electronics vendors are expected to follow suit with their own NFC-enabled products (see Developing RFID-Enabled Phones).

For additional reference, here are some articles talking about NFC

* Wi-fiplanet.com
* ABI Research
* Nokia's piece of the NFC pie

UMA & IMS - Overview

2005-11-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to blog about 3GPP UMA (Unlicensed mobile access) for quite some time, but have been postponing it for the want of a clear definition. Today I found one, thanks to this article in Unstrung. Here it is:

UMA is the 3GPP global standard for Mobile/Wi-Fi convergence that enables mobile subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and WLANs using multi-mode mobile handsets.

The article talks about Infineon (IMS) and Kineto (UMA) joining hands to provide IMS services seamlessly across mobile and Wi-Fi networks. While UMA is the 3GPP standard for Mobile/Wi-Fi convergence, IMS is a network specification for delivering IP services across fixed and mobile networks. From the same article, a definition for IMS:

IMS is the open, standardized IP multimedia and telephony core network specification for mobile and fixed operators that is defined by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).

As a part of the IMS specification, IMS uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) as one of its underlying protocols. More on IMS and SIP here.

Infineon and Kineto come together to provide services enabled through IMS, seamlessly across your Mobile and Wi-Fi network. To expand a bit on that, imagine watching MobileTV (or a VoIP call) over your GPRS connection outside the home. As you step in the Wi-Fi network in your home, the same IP services are available to you on the phone through your Wi-Fi network instead of the GPRS network - and the beauty of this is that it happens seamlessly.

To make this happen, UMA treats your Wi-Fi network as mini-cell base station which makes for the easy hand-off between your cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Here is some stuff from Kineto on how UMA enables broadband IMS (by Director of Mktg, Kineto).

Delayed roundup

2005-11-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick roundup I wanted to post a couple weeks back, but my time-management skills ditched me completely.

Cheers for Yahoo on their earnings - quite a rev up in the past year. Yahoo Podcast has been a welcome addition. I am a fan of Podcasts and Yahoo is good stuff, definitely for starters. This also will help Podcasts become pretty much mainstream. Also, Yahoo teaming up with Verizon to introduce the $14.95 DSL (update: until I recently learn that it is a 6 month only promotion and prices are being jacked up), Yahoo announcing its $5/month unlimited music download service. As I look forward to Yahoo Mail's Beta, Yahoo and MS teaming up for their IM presence, Yahoo and Alibaba deal.

Good news from Cingular on several counts:

HSDPA - I look forward to seeing how things stack up against the EV-DO camp at Verizon and Sprint-Nextel.

56% rise in 3Q profits

going the IMS way - Good news for Lucent too as SBC follows Cingular. Speculations on BellSouth being next.

And yes, this makes me so on-top-of-the-world. The first commercial Flash-OFDM deal - T-Mobile Europe introduces Flash-OFDM for Slovakia. Siemens built the network. "... mobile data speeds up to 1M bps for downloading data and 256K bps for uploading." Can see Qualcomm smiling!

Also, T-Mobile International launching high speed wireless service dubbed "Internet-4G" in Czech - 1MBps on UMTS TD-CDMA

Cisco to invest $1.1 Billion in India. From the article, $750 million are going toward R&D. The balance - "The company also plans to invest $150 million in India through Cisco Systems Capital, a division of Cisco Systems, to provide leasing and other financial services to Cisco's customers and partners. The company also plans to invest $100 million in venture capital for Indian startup companies, besides spending $100 million in its customer support operations in the country. "

Note the $100 million for venture capital. Thats the kind of trend-setting thing that Indian entrepreneurs need - I sincerely hope that this could kick-start a lot of fun and also be the seed for seeing more venture capital in India.

E Ink now in color

Microsoft VirtualWiFi technology - sounds interesting and brings about speculations.

Flock

2005-10-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

I installed Flock today - a social browser. It allows, apart from browsing, social bookmarking and integration with del.icio.us, integration with Flickr and a blogging tool. I wanted to test out the blogging tool and so, thought let me post a small post from the Flock blog editor.

Still, in its very beta, downloadable as developer preview - will keep all posted on what my opinions on Flock are. If you wanna check it out, http://www.flock.com.

Narayan Murthy on the rise of India

2005-10-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Mercury News recently talked to Narayan Murthy, Chairman of Infosys, on the rise of India. A few things I took away from the article are outlined below. On being asked if this boom was sustainable, Mr. Murthy affirmed, as long as, "... we deliver value to our customers, as long as we attract the best and the brightest professionals, as long as we use speed, imagination and excellent execution -- and improve that. The day we stop doing that, we will disappear like dew on a sunny morning."

Mr. Murthy also made a very important point - the established corporations can make a fortune by focussing at the bottom of the pyramid, which constitutes a 5 billion+ population. I have always wanted to read C K Prahalad's vision in his book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Talking about the bottom of the pyramid, Mr. Murthy brings a very crucial mention of big companies the likes of Microsoft, SAP and Oracle introducing pricing models for countries like India, China and Brazil. Depending upon how they price their offerings for these economies, they stand the opportunity of making them major markets and at the same time reducing piracy rate.

Mr. Murthy's advise on the pricing models for developing countries reminded me of something interesting that I had come across. In the very recent past, HCL introduced sub-10k Rs. low-cost PCs in India. They were finally able to hit a price point which can facilitate wide-spread adoption. With Microsoft not giving them much room on the price, HCL finally went with Linux to maintain their pricing goal. A few weeks back, we heard MIT working on releasing a $100 laptop for the kids of developing countries. Needless to say, Linux once again. On the same subject, the people's PC project in Thailand has most of its PCs running Linux. Microsoft, in an effort to compete for its slipping share reduced the pricing way down to $37. By then, most populace of Thailand, who hadn't even seen a PC before had gotten way too comfortable using Linux.

On the cell-phone side, with companies like Motorola and Philips working diligently on introducing low-cost handsets, the pricing model for developing countries shall dictate who makes the best of these growing economies.

Wi-Fi, WiMax and Mesh

2005-10-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

With the recent wave of cities in US looking at blanketing themselves in Wi-Fi, the surge of expectations for WiMax and the doubts surrounding it, the future of Wi-Fi and WiMax, I have been trying to follow-up at my best and understand what all of these mean.

Wi-Fi has established itself pretty strongly in terms of residential wireless networks, hotspots at cafes, airports, hotels and now, the Munis. WiMax, with all its promises is being looked upon as the next DSL/Cable alternative. It is important to note that WiMax has two parts to it - fixed and mobile. While, all the activity is around the fixed wireless alternative aka 802.11d-2004, what folks are glued on is the mobile WiMax - 802.11e. While mobile WiMax is slated to hit the markets "sometime" in 2007, there has been a lot of activity with companies installing and trying out pre-WiMax (fixed wireless) equipment. WiMax touts an ideal speed of 75 Mbps and a range of 30 miles. Whether this comes to pass is yet to be seen.

Next, Mesh networking has lately been gaining a lot of ground in wireless networking technology. Very broadly and loosely explained, a Mesh networking device is a wireless device that carries out two functions. One of them is what actually all wireless devices do - connected to their backbone (be it a DSL modem or cell base station), they send and receive their data. Second is where the Mesh topology comes in. A Mesh device also acts as a routing node for other Mesh devices. Elements of Mesh networks engage in a symbiotic relationship. While single point of failures are eliminated, Mesh devices communicate with each other to route their data to the final destination or the backbone. Two interesting developments proving the practicality and benefits of Mesh networking I came across - first, Motorola Mesh networked Buffalo, MN - a small town. And second, a fine article on how Mesh helped revive the WLAN solution in Athens, Georgia that was setup by its University students.

The Wi-Fi cloud located in rural Oregon exemplifies a lot of these. Spanning 700 square miles, it harnesses the convergence of Wi-Fi and WiMax (albeit, pre-), and uses Mesh networking to route data between different wireless Access Points (AP). As it substantiates the value of WiMax, especially in rural/remote areas as an alternative to DSL, the story here also talks about the limiting political factors in the easy adoption of these technologies.

Biometric payment solutions

2005-10-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

I recently read a story (turned out that it was from last year) about Columbian banks launching Biometric ATMs. It appears that biometrics has been steadily gaining ground, especially in countries where identity thefts are soaring. I have had an opportunity to see biometric authentication at a company that expects fingerprints to log you onto the system. However, US, out of privacy concerns mainly, has been lagging behind in the introduction and adoption of biometrics in mainstream usage. That, seems to be in for a change.

October saw the annoucement of Pay By Touch, a company rolling out biometric payment solutions as a novel way of paying for groceries, good and other services. As this article in The Mercury News (free registration) notes, the company has already rolled out their Biometric payment solution in a couple of hundred stores on the East coast. From the same piece, here is how the Pay By Touch payment solution works:

Customers sign up once, by registering a checking account or a credit card, and showing government identification such as a driver's license. The Pay by Touch technology records the lines and ridges of their fingerprints, and translates the data into a numerical algorithm that is stored in a secure database. The customers thereafter never have to carry a wallet or purse back to the store, and can use their finger to pay for goods across the Pay By Touch network, which now includes stores in 10 states.

Keeping fingers crossed!

New Songdo - ubiquity in action

2005-10-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I wanted to post this. New Songdo is South Korea's dream of the future. Planned 40 miles outside of Seoul this city is all about ubiquity. Blanketed with RFID, smartcards, video-conferencing and unified systems, this city dreams of being the test base for future technology, the centre of trade between US/Europe and Asia and as its site boasts, a self-sufficient city. The city is a $25 billion project, touted as the most expensive private real-estate stuff ever. Check out New Songdo's impressive website for what's to come. However, with the excitement, a word of caution. The timeline is 2014.

Some references below:

* techdirt.com

* Engadget

* nytimes.com

Google, Comcast and AOL

2005-10-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

Interesting what one learns from these news. Today, the story making headlines is about Google and Comcast joining their hands to get a stake in AOL. This comes on the lines of Microsoft eyeing AOL. I was wondering what guided this deal.

To give a little backgrounder, 99% of Google's revenue comes from advertising. Its those Google ad columns that people include on their website as non-intrusive listings. Whenever someone visiting a site, clicks on Google's Ads, its a source of revenue for Google. Having said that, I was surprised to find that a good part of Google's business came from AOL. Google powers AOL's search. Here is what a Yahoo News article states:

Any deal between AOL and MSN could threaten Google, since AOL is major contributor to Google's thriving Internet ad business, accounting for 11 percent of Google's $2.6 billion in revenue during the first half of this year.

AOL leads the IM subscriber pack with 51.5 million AOL IM users in the US. Microsoft IM trails behind with around 24 million users and Yahoo with around 21 million. Thats where MS and Yahoo joined hands to make their combined presence of Yahoo and MSN cater to 49.5 million of their joint users.

I also found while referring to the news on this deal is - Yahoo is the no. 1 Internet website. AOL comes at second. Refer to this article for more.

AOL is the Internet's No. 2 Web site network with 112 million U.S. visitors last month, trailing Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) with 123 million.

Dark Fiber and DWDM

2005-10-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

Speculation of Google's national network owing to its buying of Dark Fiber and recent news about Google seeking vendors for DWDM implementations had raised my curiousity on what these terms mean.

Dark Fiber is essentially, optical fiber laid out by huge network companies in anticipation of a surging bandwidth demand during the 90s, but was never used or "lighted up". Hence the term, Dark Fiber.

Today optical fiber alongwith DWDM has become much cheaper and is hence eyed by enterprises to build their own networks. As this article from lightreading enlightens, now with optical fiber and DWDM technology becoming inexpensive, combined with the surge in anticipation of VoIP and IP-based applications, enterprises are seriously considering the option of their own networks.

For me, this explains a lot on the feasibility of Google's move. Stated below is an excerpt from the article which explains the contribution for the toning down of the cost of optical fiber. It now makes the picture clear to me.

Which brings us to fiber: It’s now substantially cheaper than it was in
1999. In the shadow of the bubble, huge global networks like Global Crossing Inc. (Nasdaq: GLBC - message board) and Group Telecom/360Networks went bankrupt. Through the process of reorganization, they were able to shed billions of dollars of debt and clean up their balance sheets. With that debt wiped clear, we were left with global fiber networks that now were available for pennies on the dollar.
For those curious about DWDM, here are some pointers:
A Webopedia definition
A tutorial from IEC
Detailed article on DWDM, applications and advantages from Cisco

Nintendo DS and USB Wireless router

2005-10-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

So Nintendo DS owners who do not own a wireless router can now plug in Nintendo's USB dongle which is actually a wireless router. Attach the Wi-Fi dongle to the USB port of your DS, navigate through the screens to connect to your PC and Internet connection, and you are on your way using the DS online.

More from engadget below:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000913061983/

Sharp's dual angled display

2005-10-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sharp has come up with a dual angled display. For now, it has found its utility in car navigation systems, where the driver sees the GPS, while the accompanying rider could be watching a movie - both on one single display. Its the angle doing the trick. Dont know if and how well this may take off, nevertheless, surely some technology here.

More on engadget.

Why blog?

2005-10-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Why do we blog. We blog to express. But just like me, there are many who like anonymity. We like anonymity because we do not like to be judged. For each one of us, it always takes time to open up. And then, while blogging, its about the challenge to open to a vast audience. We want the kudos from the audience, but we don’t want to be judged. We have always learned to express ourselves with those we confide in. Its because we know them. There is a level of trust built in. We communicate at different levels with different people. We decide to open up, partially, fully, circumstantially or not at all depending upon the trust relationship we establish with people.

I don’t think one should be blogging because everyone does. Blogging is a medium of expression. But then, so is Notepad. I don’t have to blog if I just want to write notes to myself. I can do that very well in my Notepad. Blog, as I have learnt, is a publishing medium. I have realized this after a very long time and after a lot of internal strife. I don’t want to be blogging just because everyone is doing it. I have to be realistic about the fact that, as soon as I start "publishing", it gives rise sooner than later to an inquisitiveness to find out if anyone is reading it. And unless I am not really sure what I am blogging for, I may just be doing it to keep the page updated and please the audience. While publishing mediums may have different motives and aims, blogging as such has an unwritten classification of it being a medium of self-expression. People may then get interested in your views or they may not. Given that, you may have a following or you may not. It is important to remind myself from time to time about this. That blogging is a publishing medium aimed at self-expression. However it is also a stage where you are performing. And that there cannot be a performance without an audience. The challenge is to be resolute about expressing yourself without getting biased by the audience. At the same time, be open enough to recognize if you have one. That sure is walking a tight-rope.

Google, Sun and utility computing?

2005-10-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Its been all over. Google and Sun shaking hands on more than what meets the eye. My feelings are that all the talk about Sun hardware and the Google toolbar being packaged with JRE is all crap. Google and StarOffice/OpenOffice.org tie-up makes sense given the speculations that Google may be soon coming up with a webified suite of applications. Seeing the types of Zimbra, that boasts a online collaboration suite, its only a matter of time as Google brings OpenOffice to a web-based reality.

Adding to all the speculations, it just occured to me that the tie-up between Google and Sun may well be a long-term step to bring the WebOS ideas to reality. If Google is fighting MS to look at Web as the OS, it may well be looking at Sun's utility computing initiative to provide the computational power needed for its applications (more than just calendar, word-processing etc.) hosted on its web. Given the spread of Google in areas ranging from VoIP, GoogleTV, Google Wi-Fi, it sure is dreaming big. And Web is the turf that Google can out-play MS on.

After all, Google and Sun share the vision of making the Web your computer.

Google's dark plans

2005-10-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

This thing really stunned me. I have been hearing speculations on Google's plans for a national network. Its now been a few months since I have heard about Google buying dark fiber. But this article I came across today on ZDNet left me awed. As is pointed out in the article, talking to Joe Kraus, founder of Excite.com, Google has been buying dark fiber for a good five years. Now that, is something to me! They sure have the whole game charted out.

Fuel cells

2005-10-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Interesting. Toshiba has prototyped what is called Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC - damn, one more acronym) and initiated tests with their mobile audio players.

An excerpt from the story by NE Asia:

The 100mW unit, similar in shape and size to a pack of gum at a 23 (W) x 75 (L)
x 10mm (D), can power the Flash-based player for approximately 35 hours on a
single 3.5ml charge of highly concentrated methanol, the fuel that drives the
electricity-producing chemical reaction in the fuel cell. The 300mW unit is 60 x
75 x 10mm and delivers enough power to keep an HDD-based audio player running
for approximately 60 hours on a single 10ml charge.

Pioneer's technology for 3D drawing

2005-10-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Now thats what I call "technology". Damn, its such an over-used term today.

Pioneer has announced a technology which makes use of a 3D camera and spatial sensors to allow a designer to draw in our 3 dimensional space and then have it displayed back to screen. With every day passing, isnt one-time fiction starting to shape into reality?

Via Engadget

Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone - W800i

2005-09-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

PC Mag has a review of the new Sony Ericsson's W800i Walkman phone. While it sure looks damn cool and is music to my ears, what brought me to this post is its ad. Play the movie and be patient to watch it through - cool stuff.

Music, FM radio, USB, Bluetooth, a 2 MP camera, comes with a 512 MB Memory Stick PRO Duo card. Can bump it upto 2GB if still hungry.