Freelance

Moving to WordPress

2008-11-15T19:48:00.002-05:00

I am moving my blog to a new web address. From now on, I will be blogging on WordPress.
The URL is

http://spawgi.wordpress.com/

पुकारता भारतवर्ष

2008-11-06T00:56:00.000-05:00

सप्तसिंधु के जल में बहता

सह्याद्रि के संग लहराता

त्रयसमुद्र के तटसे निर्भय

पुकारता भारतवर्ष है

वर्तमान का समय है चंचल

तत्त्व हमारे अटल हिमाचल

भविष्य गाये जीत हमारी

आज यदी संघर्ष है

धर्मनीती मे रामप्रभुजी

योगेश्वर है राजनीत मे

देशहीत मे गुरु चाणक्य

सदा हमारे आदर्श है

विजय निश्चित देशसमर्पित

पथकंटक भी पुष्पसमान

मातृभुमी का गीत है मन मे

कर्तव्य मे ही हर्ष है

कर्म हमारा उत्तरदायित्त्व

कर्म ही जीवनमार्ग है

बीज भी कर्म, कर्म ही फल है

कर्म ही परामर्श है

सुमोद पावगी

११/०५/२००८

Early to bed and early to rise, not really!

2008-11-04T02:19:00.001-05:00

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/nov/02/sluggish-bremerton-high-students-get-later-start/

In the town of Bremerton, WA, the school officials decided that 7:20 am is too early a time for high school students to come to school. They apparently are sluggish and sleepy. Hey we have a solution! Why not start the school 1 hour late!!

Now that is just terrific. This makes me think of my timetable when I was in SSC (Secondary School Certificate) i.e. 10th grade and high school for us in Mumbai.

Wake up - 5 am

Science tuition - 6 am - 7 am

School - 7:10 am to 12:35 pm

Maths tuition - 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm

Sanskrit tuition - 3 pm to 4 pm

English tuition - 6 pm to 7 pm

This would occasionally be accompanied by additional tuitions or practice of science practical exams. Then of course there were paper solving, math problem solving, essay writing etc. etc.

My timetable for junior college or equivalent of US high school was not much different. It was extensive, tiring and starting late was never an option.

As for me, I still believe in the old adage, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise"

माझे आवडते मराठी गाणे

2008-10-29T12:23:00.001-04:00

विमोह त्यागून कर्मफलांचा सिद्ध होई पार्था

कर्तव्याने घडतो माणूस जाणून पुरुषार्था

सुधीर फडके ह्यांनी गायलेले हे मराठी गाणे मला फार आवडते. म्हणून आज पाडव्याच्या शुभमुहुर्तावर ह्या गाण्याची "link" इथे देत आहे.

विमोह त्यागून कर्मफलांचा

पुर्ण गाणे लवकरच देईन.

Chandrayaan-1

2008-10-22T02:06:00.001-04:00

Today's day will be marked in gilded letters in India's history. Mission to moon is an important light-year asteroid in any country's space exploration programme and as Indians we all should be proud of this marvelous feat achieved by our brilliant scientists.

If you visit the website of ISRO, www.isro.org, you can see a smiling photo of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai on its homepage. Dr. Sarabhai is called the father of India's space programme and aptly so. I am sure if he would be here today, he would be immensely happy about this achievement. And so would be all scientists who chose to work for their motherland without thinking about any salaries or other perks that they could have got elsewhere.

I watched today's launch as a webcast, thanks to ISRO. It started at 5:20 PM Seattle time. Every minute, the invisible voice was saying, "mark minus 30 minutes", "mark minus 20 minutes", "mark minus 8 minutes", my heart was pounding with anxiety and hope side by side. Somewhere my inner voice was telling me that today's launch would be successful and sometimes you want things to succeed really badly. Today was that time. There were little hiccups in the network connection and it was reconnecting and re-buffering sometimes. But all is well that ends well.

Finally at the moment of launch, I saw a giant ball of fire and then slowly the trajectory of the rocket which will travel to the beloved "chandamama" of all Indian kids in a few days. After the launch, the invisible voice at ISRO was saying all the readings on the panels aloud and some of them were also visible on the screen.

One thought came to my mind while witnessing this historical moment. My country is going to progress, it is destined to progress no matter what. Whether to become a part of its future is a decision we all have to make, one day.

Inaugural Bridge Tournament in Microsoft

2008-10-19T03:38:00.001-04:00

Since I was young, or rather younger, I wanted to learn Bridge. I used to see my dad play this wonderful card game with his friends. So long story short I learnt to play it on my own using some online tutorials and playing with colleagues.

After joining MS, I was glad to find an email list for Bridge enthusiasts and joined it hoping to play a game or two sometime. Then one fine day, someone emailed about hosting a Bridge Tournament for MS Give campaign in this October. I immediately signed up as part of the organizing committee and I must say I made a good decision.

There were about 5-6 of us. I volunteered to setup an email alias for us and a Sharepoint site to host all the documents and registrations for the event. Someone came up with nice slogans and flyer designs for the event. Others arranged for the equipment like bidding boxes and score cards and snacks. The amazing thing was that most of us never met each other in person. Most of the organization was done via conference calls and emails. Thanks to a supporter, we also got gift items for the participants.

On the eve of the tournament, we started at around 6 PM. Initially there was a duplicate Bridge tutorial. Around 7 PM the tournament started. The participants were divided into two groups, beginners and advanced. We also helped pair up people who did not have partners. So interestingly I played in advanced category. I was surprised that I did not disappoint myself and we did fairly well considering that it was my Bridge tournament and first experience playing duplicate. All in all, there were around 40 participants. I met so many new people and had a great time.

I am completely impressed by all the etiquettes, rules and courteous nature of the game. It was a fun filled evening and I had a good feeling that it was contributing to charity.

I hope that this game becomes more popular and we get even larger crowd next year.

Dragons' Den

2008-10-17T02:49:00.001-04:00

I usually do not watch reality shows. I have more than enough reality in my life. So it is not surprising that I have not watched American Idol, Dancing with the stars, Sa re ga ma pa etc. etc. While I know that these shows have great entertainment value and they are fun to watch, I just do not have time for this. That's all.

So when I first saw Dragons' Den on BBC America, I just flipped through it. But just then I saw what that show was about and now I have watched 2 + episodes of it and two of them on consecutive days. Not bad, not bad at all.

What impressed me about Dragons' Den is that it is an investment related show. In every episode, some folks, lets call them Joe the inventor, come up and talk about their idea which can be the next big thing. They present their innovation to five multi-millionaires in UK. They have to present their case for the product and ask for a venture capital for a share in their company in return.

Now the fun has merely begun. The Dragons or the investors, ask the inventors many questions, ask them show demos of their product and also negotiate with them for business deal. It is surprising to see how quickly and candidly these guys refuse to invest in a new business. But more surprising is to see how smoothly yet ruthlessly these negotiations go.

It is not easy for the inventors. e.g. I watched an episode where a guy was demonstrating his electronic egg boiler or egg cooker to me precise. In the first demo, he forgot to put an egg in the machine. Then he failed in all the three consecutive demos and the egg was not cooked. But his luck was on the wind and he still got the money he needed for his start-up.

Some other inventions I have seen are portable toilet seat covers, a home gym which comes portable in a chair, automatic truck washing system. It is quite amazing to see people come up with these ideas.

I like this show because I can learn a lot from it. It has negotiation, presentation, public speaking and most importantly, if someone calls your product 'crap' in front of millions of viewers, you still learn how to keep a stiff upper lip and move on.

I will be glad if we get an Indian version of this show.

For more information http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/

"आधी भरा मग बोला" - ३

2008-10-16T01:37:00.001-04:00

आठवडा गेला. कौस्तुभचे नेहमीचे कामकाज चालूच होते. रूटीनप्रमाणे कॉलेज, टेनीस, जीम कशात काही बदल नव्हता. पुढच्या आठवड्यात त्याला ट्रिपला जायचे होते मित्रमैत्रिणींबरोबर त्याचीही तयारी चालूच होती. किहिम, मुरूड-जंजिरा ह्या सगळ्या गडबडीत त्याचे कशाकडेच लक्ष नव्हते. आख्ख्या ग्रुपबरोबर विकेंड कसा गेला हे कोणालाच कळले नाही. कॉलेजचे शेवटचे वर्ष. त्यामुळे रविवारचा सूर्य कधी मावळूच नये असे सर्वांना वाटत होते. सगळ्यांना घरी परतायला सोमवारची पहाट उजाडली.

आलेली पत्रं बघताना कौस्तुभचे लक्ष एका बिलाकडे गेले. आणि तो हसतच सुटला.

“काय रे काय झालं एवढं हसायला. काल तर नर्व्हस होतास.” आईने विचारलं.

“अगं आई तुच वाच हे”. असं म्हणून त्याने बिल आईकडे दिले.

“मला वेळ नाही आहे. कामं आहेत. तुच निस्तर काय ते”.

“ठिक आहे. अर्ध्या तासात आलोच मी”. असं म्हणून आणि बाईकवर टांग टाकून तो घराबाहेर पडला.

“अहो, हे बिल बघता का?” कौस्तुभने हसतच रिसेप्शनवरच्या मुलीला विचारले.

“सर, त्यात काय बघायचंय. लेट फी आहे. भरून टाका. बरोबरच असेल”.

“अहो, बरोबरच काय असेल? हे पहा. माझी आधीची फी रद्द केली आहे. आणि ती भरली नाही म्हणून त्यावर लेट फी लावली आहे. मुळची फी रद्द केल्यावर त्यावर लेट फी कशी लावता तुम्ही?”

“मोना, हे बघ काय म्हणतायंत ते. त्यांना बिल भरायचं नाही असं म्हणतायंत”.

“अहो, भरायचं नाही काय? मी म्हणतोय की हे बिल मला येताच कामा नये”.

आता मोनाने बिल हातात घेतलं. “आलं लक्षात काय गडबड आहे ती. आम्ही तुमचं आधीचं बिल कॅन्सल करतोयं पण ते भरलं नाही म्हणून लेट फी लावतोय. सिस्टीममध्ये गडबड असेल आमच्या. तुम्हाला अकाउंटींग फोन करेल. आम्ही बिल कॅन्सल करू शकत नाही”.

“हे बघा. मागच्या वेळेस असंच झालं. आठवडा होऊन जातो, कोणी फोन करत नाही फक्त बिल पाठवता”.

मोनाने शांतपणे एक कार्ड कौस्तुभच्या हातात दिलं. “आता तुम्हीच उद्या फोन करा अकाउंटींगला उद्या”.

कपाळावर हात मारत कौस्तुभ घरी आला तर आई म्हणाली, “अरे बरं झालं आलास. एक बिल पडलंय पलंगावर. तुझ्याच नावाचं आहे. मोबाईलचं आहे वाटतं”.

“हॅलो, मी कौस्तुभ साठे बोलतोय. मला तुम्ही बिल पाठवलंय दोन हजाराचं. पण मी तुमचा कस्टमरच नाही आहे. जरा चेक करता का, काय गडबड आहे ती?”

“सॉरी सर. बिल चूकीचं असणं शक्यच नाही. आमचं धोरणच आहे, “आधी भरा मग बोला”.

"आधी भरा मग बोला" - २

2008-10-15T01:02:00.001-04:00

कौस्तुभ शांतपणे घरी आला. दोन दिवस झाले, चार दिवस झाले. कोणाचा फोन आला नाही.

पुढच्या आठवड्यात कौस्तुभ परत जीम ला गेला.

“मी बिलासंदर्भात आलोय. तुम्ही म्हणाला होतात दुसरया दिवशी फोन करणार म्हणून. सात दिवस झाले. आजच्या आज हा चार्ज कॅन्सल करा बघू".

“तुम्ही एक काम करा साहेब. मनोज आहे आत्ता जीममध्ये. तुम्ही वर जाऊन त्याला बोलावता का? त्याने खात्री केली की तुम्ही नव्हता जादा तास घेतला तर रद्द करते आत्ताच्या आत्ता.” आज रिसेप्शनला वेगळीच मुलगी होती. तिने कानाला लावलेला मोबाईल खाली न ठेवता बिल परत देत सांगितले.

“म्हणजे मला लावलेला चुकिचा चार्ज कॅन्सल करण्यासाठी मीच फिरत बसू की काय लोकांना शोधत?”

“थांब हं पाच मिनिटात फोन करते. बरं दोन मिनिटांत.” असं म्हणून आणि फोन खिशात ठेवून ती मुलगी वर गेली.

ती पाच मिनिटांत खाली आली फोनवर बोलत बोलत.

“सॉरी हं. तो नाही आहे वर. आम्ही उद्या फोन करू तुम्हाला”.

“तुमच्या लक्षात येत नाही आहे. आठवडा झाला बिल येऊन. आता भरले नाही म्हणून तुम्हीच लेट फी लावाल मला. त्याचं काय?”

“बरोबर आहे साहेब तुमचं. जास्त दिवस ड्यू राहिली तर लेट फी लावू आम्ही नियमांप्रमाणे.

“कुठून शोधून आणतात ह्यांना देव जाणे” असा विचार करून कौस्तुभने बाईकवर टांग टाकली आणि तेव्हढ्यात त्याला मनॊज दिसला.

“बरं झाला बाबा भेटलास. वैताग आणला आहे तुमच्या स्टाफने. तुच काय ते सांग त्यांना. घरी बाबा रोज विचारतात. प्रश्न अडिचशेचा नाही रे. पण एवढी मगजमारी काय त्यासाठी.”

“टेन्शन घेऊ नकोस यार. मी सगळं फिक्स करतो.”

दुसरया दिवशी कौस्तुभ संध्याकाळी घरी आला तर अजून एक बिल पडलेलं. उघडून बघतो तर काय, त्यात आधिच्या अडिचशे रुपयांवर अजून पन्नास रुपये लेट फी लावलेली. तो तडक परत गेला.

“हॅलो सर. हाऊ कॅन आय हेल्प यू?” आज रिसेप्शनवर वेगळंच कोणितरी होतं.

“थॅंक्स. काय सध्या मंदी आहे का?”

“साहेब, समजलो नाही”.

“हे बघा समजतंय का? हा काय चावटपणा आहे हो तुमचा? आधी चुकिचे बिल लावता. ते रद्द करायचे राहिले दूरच, त्यावर लेट फी लावता?

“बघतो हं साहेब. काय नाव काय तुमचं?”

“कौस्तुभ साठे. हे माझं मेंबरशीप कार्ड”.

“अकाऊंट क्लिअर आहे साहेब. कॅन्सल केला आहे आम्ही तो चार्ज. ते बिल आधी पोस्ट केलं असेल.”

“नक्की? परत बघा”.

“नक्की साहेब. तुम्ही आरामात घरी जा.”

"आधी भरा मग बोला" - १

2008-10-14T01:37:00.000-04:00

"कौस्त्या आला नाही अजून. कुठे गुण उधळतायंत चिरंजीव देव जाणे." शेखर साठे लिफाफा उघडता उघडता बायकोला वैतागून म्हणाले.

"जीम ला जातो म्हणाला. येईलच इतक्यात." सुधाताईंनी गेल्या बावीस वर्षांच्या शांतपणाने उत्तर दिले.

"तो सिक्स पॅक बनवायला जातो पण आमच्या पाकीटाची हाडं निघतात."

"आज एवढं तिरकं बोलायला काय झालं."

"बिल आलंय त्याच्या व्यायामशाळेचं. अडिचशे चा फटका आहे."

"बाबा. माझ्यासाठी फोन आला होता कुठला? आई चहा देतेस का?" कौस्तुभने बाईक अंगणात लावता लावता विचारलं".

"अहो पेशवे. आपल्या वाड्याचं नाव साठे वाडा आहे, शनिवार वाडा नाही आणि आई-वडिल म्हणजे भालदार चोपदार नाहीत." शेखर साठे अजूनही त्राग्यातच होते.

"शेखर फ़्रेश हो. देवाला नमस्कार कर. चहा देते." सुधाताई शांत असल्या तरी संस्कारांच्या बाबतीत तडजोड त्यांना मान्य नव्हती.

"तुझ्या व्यायामशाळेचं बिल आलंय. अडिचशे रुपये एका तासाचे?"

"नाही बाबा. काही तरी गडबड आहे. मी पूर्ण चार महिन्याचे पैसे भरले होते जूलैमध्ये. तुम्ही तपासा तुमचं बॅंक अकाउंट. ही बघा रिसीट पण इथेच आहे वरच्या ड्रॉवरमध्ये. तुम्ही चिल रहा बघू. मी उद्या जाऊन सगळं कंफ्युजन क्लिअर करून येतो. आणि जीम म्हणत जा हो. व्यायामशाळा कसलं. लंगोट लावून फिरतो का मी तिकडे?".

"मी आपली मदत करू शकते क?" रिसेप्शनिस्टने नम्रपणाने शेखरला विचारलं.

"हे बिल बघा. तुम्ही मला एक्स्ट्रॉ चार्ज केलंय."

"तुम्ही आधी बिल भरा आणि तुमची तक्रार आम्ही नोंदवून घेतो. सात दिवसात तुमच्या तक्रारीचे समाधान."

"अहो बिल भरा काय? चुकीचे आहे ते. मी तो जादा तास घेतलाच नव्हता."

"सॉरी सर. आमची पॉलीसी आहे. ’आधी भरा मग बोला’."

"अहो पण बिल भरणे म्हणजे ते मान्य करणे नाही का?"

रिसेप्शनिस्ट थोडी गडबडली. तिने बाजुच्या एका मुलाला विचारलं.

"मंदार, ह्यांचं बिल चुकीचं आहे म्हणतायंत. जरा बघतोस का?"

हातातला चहा खाली ठेवत आणि चष्मा सारखा करत मंदारने बिलावर नजर टाकली.

"काय प्रॉब्लेम आहे?"

"मला एका एक्स्ट्रॉ तासाचे पैसे लावले आहेत."

"पर्सनल ट्रेनर घेतला होता ना साहेब तुम्ही? मग त्यांना तासाला अडिचशे रुपये पडतात." मंदार बिल शेखरला परत देत म्हणाला.

"जो सेशन झाला नाही त्या तासाला सुद्धा?" शेखरने साळसुदपणे विचारले.

"झाला नाही कुठे? लिहिलंय कि इथे, सात नोव्हेंबर चा चार्ज आहे."

"अहो पण माझं ट्रेनिंग संपलं होतं ऑक्टोबर एन्ड ला. तुम्ही एक काम करा. तुम्ही मनोजला विचारा. मनोज म्हणजे मनोज देशमुख. तो माझा पर्सनल ट्रेनर होता."

"ते मी विचारतो. तुम्ही एक काम करा. इथे तक्रार लिहा. उद्या तुम्हाला अकाउंटींग फोन करेल. बिल सेटल झालंच म्हणून समजा."

"अहो पण माझी पावती बघा. आत्ताच करा की सेटल."

"आत्ता आम्ही फक्त पैसे घेऊन तुम्हाला त्याची पावती देऊ शकतो. इलाज नाही. पॉलीसी आहे."

खंडीत दिनक्रम - ४

2008-10-12T03:15:00.001-04:00

“चला आहे हे असं आहे” असा विचार करून त्यांनी भज्यांच्या पुडितून एक भजं उचललं आणि आफ्टरनून वाचायला सुरुवात केली. गाडीने घाटकोपर क्रॉस केलं आणि त्यांच्या लक्षात आलं की बाजुच्या कॉलेजकुमाराने पुडक्यातून एक भजं उचलून तोंडात घातलं होतं. ते काही बोलणार तोच त्यांनी पाहिलं की ’हिरो’ पेपराची पुरवणी पण वाचत आहेत. भिडस्त असल्यामुळे ते काही बोलले नाहीत. पण त्या कार्ट्याला कसा धडा शिकवावा असा विचार त्यांच्या डोक्यात चालू झाला.

पटकन भजं संपवून त्यांनी दुसरे उचलले आणि बाजुला पडलेलं शब्दकोड्याचं पान उचलून ते सोडवायला सुरुवात केली. अर्धं शब्दकोडं सोडवून झाल्यावर त्यांनी अजून एक भजं उचललं. आणि तोंडात कोंबलं. बाजुच्या पोराने पण एक भजं उचललं. तो एव्हाना हातातलं पुरवणीचं पान खाली टाकून “एंटरटेनमेंट” चं पान न्याहाळण्यात मग्न होता. भज्याचा एक तुकडा पडून करिनाच्या चंद्रमुखी चेहरयावर डाग पडला होता. सबनीसांनी पटकन अजून एक भजं उचललं. आता ते रेसमध्ये पुढे होते. आपल्या गोष्टींवर असा डल्ला मारणारया ह्या कालच्या पोराला धडा शिकवायचाच असा त्यांनी निश्चय केला. शेवटचं भजं उचलून त्यांनी कागदाच्या पुडिचा गोळा केला आणि त्या मुलाच्या पायाखाली फेकला. त्याने एकदा खाली बघितलं आणि बाजुच्या पेपरचं भविष्याचं पान वेगळं काढून शांतपणे त्यात डोकं घातलं.

समोरच्या पोरांच्या एव्हाना लक्षात आलं होतं की काहितरी गंमत चालू आहे. त्यांची आई पण पोरं शांत झाली म्हणून जरा खुश झाली होती. ती पण आता कोण जिंकतय ह्याचा विचार करत होती. त्यांचा बाप मात्र डावीकडे डोकं करून झोपला होता.

गाडी स्लो झाली. “ठाणा, उतरणार का?” असे प्रश्न कानावर पडताच सबनीसांच्या लक्षात आलं की आता वेळ फार थोडा उरला आहे. त्यांनी आपल्या हातातलं शब्दकोड्याचं पान समोर धरलं. शांतपणे त्याचे बारीक बारीक तुकडे फाडले. “हे तुम्हाला मॅनर्स शिकवण्यासाठी” असे म्हणून त्यांनी त्या पोराच्या समोर ते हिमवर्षावासारखे सोडले. त्याने ते शांतपणे खाली झटकले आणि करिनाचे पान उलटून तो दिपिकाच्या निरीक्षणात मग्न झाला.

वर ठेवलेली ब्रिफकेस अव्यक्त संतापाने खेचून सबनीस दाराकडे जायला निघाले. गाडिने कचकन ब्रेक मारला. तोल जाऊन त्यांची ब्रिफकेस कॉर्नरवर आपटली. मनातल्या मनात पुर्ण दिवसाला एक शिवी घालून ते बॅग बंद करायला वळले. उघड्या ब्रिफकेसमधून भजी डब्यात पडली होती आणि तेलकट कागदातून बिझी बी त्यांच्याकडे बघत होता.

खंडीत दिनक्रम - ३

2008-10-12T01:59:00.001-04:00

गुरुवारी दुपारपासूनच पावसाने जोर दाखवायला सुरुवात केली होती. जुलै मधले पहिले दोन आठवडे कोरडेच गेले होते. पण आज मात्र सारी कसर भरून काढायच्या उद्देशाने पाऊस कोसळत होता. बरयाच दिवसांच्या सरींचा फॉलोऑन मिळाला होता. त्यामुळे डावाचा पराभव टाळणे आवश्यक होते. गाड्या वेळेवर असतील का असा सबनीस विचार करीत असतानाच पाच वीसच्या सुमाराला गणेश त्यांच्या टेबलापाशी आला.

“साहेबांनी बोलावलंय”.

“अरे, त्यांना म्हणावं, माझी आता निघायची वेळ झाली. आज गाड्यांचं काही खरं दिसत नाही.”

“बरेच टेन्शनमध्ये आहेत. कुठल्यातरी फाईलमध्ये डोकं घालून हिशेब लागत नाही असं बडबडतायंत”

जरा वैतागानेच सबनीस ऊठले आणि त्यांनी साहेबांच्या केबिनचे दार ठोठावले.

“मे आय कम इन सर”.

साहेबांच्या केबिनमधून बाहेर पडले तेव्हा सबनीसांच्या मनात वैताग आणि समाधान हे दोन्हीही मावत नव्हते. संध्याकाळचे साडेसहा वाजल्याचा वैताग आणि साहेबांची समस्या सोडविल्याचं समाधान. आपण रिकाम्या टेबल-खुर्च्यांनाच “ऊद्या भेटू” असे म्हटलॆ हे त्यांना फलाटावर आल्यावर लक्षात आले. होम प्लॅटफॉर्मवर गर्दी मावत नव्हती. वारूळ फुटून हजारो मुंग्या बाहेर पडाव्यात तशी माणसे येणारया गाडयांतून बाहेर पडत होती. सवयीप्रमाणे ते स्टॉलवर गेले आणि त्यांनी भज्यांचे पुडके आणि ’आफ्टरनून’ घेतला.

“साब, आज सब ट्रेन लेट हैं. बारीश से ट्रॅक मे पानी भर गया है.”

“सेंट्रल रेल्वे काय, कुत्र्याने ट्रॅकवर पाय वर केला तरी बंद पडते” असा विचार करत सबनीस इंडिकेटरखाली आले. समोरून एक कल्याण फास्ट येत होती. त्या सगळ्या गलक्यामध्ये ते लोकलमध्ये कधी शिरले ते त्यांचे त्यांनाच कळले नाही. आपली नेहेमीची सीट पकडावी म्हणून ते पुढे सरकले तर लक्षात आलं की सगळ्या सीट्स भरलेल्या आहेत. आणि आजुबाजुला ओळखीची कोणी माणसे दिसत नाहीत, सगळेच चेहरे अनोळखी. कशीबशी त्यांनी एक चौथी सीट पकडली.

समोर एक जोडपं आणि त्यांची दोन मुले त्यांच्या मांडीवर बसली होती. ती पोरं त्या गर्दीत आपल्या ऊच्छादाची भर घालत होती. बाजुला एक ’कॉलेजात जातो असे सांगून घरातून निघत असावा’ या वयाचा एक पोरगा कानामध्ये हेडफोन्स घालून सगळ्या डब्याला ’आपली आवड’ ऐकवत होता. एक फेरीवाला तिथेच पेनापासून ते चण्यांपर्यंत सगळं विकत होता. अचानक सबनीसांच्या लक्षात आलं, “सीट्सना कुशन नाही आहे. आपण सेकंड क्लासच्या डब्यात बसलो आहोत.”

खंडीत दिनक्रम - २

2008-10-08T01:42:00.001-04:00

बरोबर साडेनवाच्या ठोक्याला मस्टरवर सही करून ते आपल्या टेबलावरची “इनकमिंग” च्या गठ्ठ्यातली पहिली फाईल काढत. “आऊटगोईंग” चा गठ्ठा गणेशने आधीच उचलून नेलेला असे. त्याला सबनीसांचा अधिकार आणि त्या अधिकाराचा वापर करण्याची आवड ह्याचा प्रत्यक्ष परिचय होता. साडेबाराला ते नेहेमिच्या ग्रूपबरोबर जेवायला जात. दिड वाजता परत काम सुरू. साडेतीनला गणेशला सांगून एक कटींग मागवत आणि जरा उठून चहा पीत पीत उगाचच खिडकीपाशी जाऊन समोरच्या जाधवांशी नाहीतर त्यांच्या बाजुच्या देशपांड्यांशी देशाची परिस्थिती कशी वाईट आहे ह्यावर चहा थंड होईपर्यंत गरम चर्चा करून येत. घड्याळात पाच ठोके ऐकले की ते आवरायला घेत. त्यानंतर आलेले कुठलेही काम आता दुसरया दिवशी. पाच वाजता हातात असलेली फाईल ही त्या दिवशीची शेवटची. साडेपाचला सगळ्यांना “उद्या भेटू” असे सांगून ते बाहेर पडत.

व्ही. टी. स्टेशनवर आले की होम प्लॅटफॉर्मवर त्यांची सहाची ठाणा लोकल यायला अजून दहा मिनिटे तरी असत. समोरच्या स्टॉलवाल्याकडून ते मुगाच्या भज्यांचे पुडकं आणि ’आफ्टरनून’ घेत. बिझी बी चे ’राऊंड अँड अबाऊट’ गेल्या अनेक वर्षांत त्यांनी एकदाही चुकवले नव्हते. दादर येईपर्यंत ते बिझी बी चे ऐकून घेत त्यानंतर शब्दकोडं सोडवित. सोबतिला भजी असतच. गाडी मुलुंडला आली की पेपर व्यवस्थित घडी करून ब्रिफकेसमध्ये ठेवत आणि भज्यांचे पुडके ब्रिफकेसच्या वरच्या खणात वेगळं ठेवत. घरी येईपर्यंत त्यांना साडेसात होत. तोपर्यंत मिसेस सबनीस ह्या पण शाळेतून येऊन जेवणाच्या तयारीला लागलेल्या असत. बायकोबरोबर दिवसाच्या घडामोडींविषयी चर्चा करत करत जेवण आणि बातम्या ह्यांची चव घेईपर्यंत घड्याळाने नवाची जांभई दिलेली असे. गाद्या घालून दहा वाजता त्यांचा डोळा लागे. दुसरया दिवशी पुन्हा तोच परिपाठ.

खंडीत दिनक्रम - १

2008-10-07T03:15:00.001-04:00

This is my feeble attempt to write a Marathi adaptation of "Broken Routine", a short story by Jeffrey Archer, my favourite author.

सुधीर रमेश सबनीस ह्यांच्या आयु़ष्यात सुरस असं फारसं काही नव्हतं. नावाची आद्याक्षरं सोडली तर. पण सबनीसांची त्याबद्दल काही तक्रार नव्हती. तशी त्यांची कशाबद्दलच काही तक्रार नव्हती. लहाणपणापासून नाकासमोर चालायची शिकवण मिळालेली. आणि नाकदेखील अत्यंत सरळ. पाणिदार डोळे, मोठे कपाळ, ऊंच आणि सडसडीत शरीरयष्टी. त्यांचा आवडता सोनेरी काड्यांचा चष्मा लावून ते सकाळी ऑफिसला जायला निघाले की एखाद्या बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनीतील मोठे एक्झीक्युटीव्ह असावेत असे वाटे.

सबनीस हे फोर्ट्मधील एका मध्यम आकाराच्या आर्थिक कंपनीत म्हणजे अकाऊंटींग फर्ममध्ये हेडक्लार्क होते. गेली पंचवीस वर्षे ते तिथेच इमानेऎतबारे नोकरी करत होते. त्या दोन तपांमध्ये कंपनीचे मालक बदलले, रिसेप्शनिस्ट बदलल्या. एवढेच काय, पण खाली चहाच्या टपरीवाल्याने पण आपल्या दुकानाचे नाव बदलून “इंटरनॅशनल कोल्ड्रींक हाऊस” असे केले. बदलला नाही तो सबनीसांचा दिनक्रम.

रोज सकाळी सहा वाजता त्यांचा दिवस सुरू होई. दुधवाल्याने लावलेल्या अर्धा लिटरच्या दोन पिशव्या ते दारावरून काढून घेत. दोन कप चहा बनवला, एक स्वत:साठी आणि एक बायकोसाठी, की दोन मारी बिस्किटांबरोबर ते चहा संपवत. उरलेले दूध ते पातेल्यात काढून फ्रिजमध्ये ठेवत. मग ते पार्कला एक चक्कर मारायला जात. तेथे नेहेमीचे मित्र भेटले की थोड्या गप्पा होत. साडेसहापर्यंत ते घरी येत. एव्हाना दाराला इकॉनॉमिक टाइम्स आणि लोकसत्ता लागलेला असे. घरात बायकोने आले घालून चहा परत बनवलेला असे. पेपर आणि चहा होईपर्यंत पाऊणे सात वाजत. सव्वासातपर्यंत ते आंघोळ आणि योगासने आटपत. योगासनांतदेखील गेल्या पंचवीस वर्षांत एक आसन कमी नाही की जास्त नाही. सकाळचा नाश्ता आटपून ते साडेसातला घराबाहेर पडत आणि चालत ठाणा स्टेशनला जात. ह्यामागे व्यायाम कमी आणि पैसे वाचविणे हा मुख्य उद्देश होता. एक मुलगा आणि एक मुलगी दोघेही बापाची व्यवस्थित काळजी घेत असले तरी “Old habits die hard” असे ते आपल्या सवयिचे समर्थन करत असत.

सात पंचेचाळीस ची व्ही. टी. फास्ट फलाटावर आली की ते इंडिकेटरखालील फर्स्ट क्लासचा डबा पकडीत आणि नेहेमीप्रमाणे मधल्या रांगेतील व्ही. टी. कडे तोंड असलेल्या सीटवर बसत. खरं म्हणजे त्यांचे डोंबिवलीपासून येणारे मित्र त्यात हातभार लावत. त्यांनाही सबनीसांची सवय माहीत होती आणि मित्रासाठी ते एवढा त्रास घ्यायला तयार होते.

Transactive Memory

2008-10-04T01:09:00.001-04:00

While reading the book "Tipping Point", I came across a very interesting concept. 'Transactive memory' is something like indirect, relational or even collective memory. For example, we do not remember all the phone numbers. But we remember where we have them stored and where the directory is. This concept can also be extended to people. In a group, we do not know answers to all the questions. But we know whom to approach if we encounter a particular problem.

The book states an interesting experiment scientists performed on some couples. They gave the couples some sentences to read where one word in each sentence was emphasized. Some couples were temporarily separated for the experiment while some were together to study the sentences. After that the scientists asked the couples to write down the words they remembered. The result was that couples that were together were able to remember more words than the separated couples. The theory proposed is that when people are together as a collaborative group, we serve as each other's resources not only emotionally but also to know things, to remember things. Thus when couples get divorced, it is hard on them because a part of their so called 'transactive memory' is lost.

When I was reading this an interesting thought came to my mind. India has a history of joint family system. In these days and especially in cities, this concept has been either modified or completely outdated. So I was thinking if there are any benefits of the joint family system in terms of this 'transactive memory'. I am not saying that our forefathers decided to have joint family system because they knew about 'transactive memory'. But may be they found out over the years and centuries of observation that in a joint family, tasks are divided, including financial burdens. You have more resources at hand. Also if you encounter any problem, you know whom to turn to because the possibility of finding an expert in house is more.

I grew up in a joint family home till my high school. I consider myself very lucky as my grandparents were my emotional support in my teenage years. My parents did not have to worry about my safety or diet or anything. I knew whom to approach to ask for anything. The book describes this situation as some kind of peer pressure where we all do better because we all know each other too well.

So am I trying to say that joint family system is the best and everyone should live in one? No, that is an individual decision. I am just saying that when you are in a joint family system or in a home where the relations are of co-operation, we all have a bigger 'transactive memory' and that means we all collectively remember more things. We all are collectively more resourceful. At the same time, we all can grow individually.

एका गाण्याच्या निमित्ताने

2008-10-02T04:28:00.001-04:00

"ये वादियां ये फ़िज़ाएं बुला रही हैं तुम्हें

खामोशीयों की सदायें बुला रही हैं तुम्हें"

"आज और कल" ह्या जुन्या कृष्णधवल चित्रपटातील हे गाणे मला खूप आवडते. सुनील दत्त आणि बेबी नंदा ह्यांच्यावर चित्रीत झालेले हे प्रेमगीत अत्यंत मृदु आणि भावनाप्रधान आहे.

थोडीशी पार्श्वभुमी द्यायची झाली तर सुनील दत्त हा बेबी नंदाला बरे करण्याच्या प्रयत्नात असतो. माला सिन्हा ही चालू शकत नाही. परंतु तिचा आजार हा बहुतांशी मानसिक आहे. आणि ह्या गाण्याच्या निमित्ताने सुनील दत्त तिला असे सांगतोय ह्या निसर्गातील अनेक सुंदर गोष्टी ज्या तिच्या सौंदर्याच्या याचक आहेत, त्या तिला बोलवत आहेत. कारण त्यांना तिच्या सौंदर्याचे थोडेसे तरी दान हवे आहे. पण त्यासाठी तिने उठून ह्या सगळ्या गोष्टींकडे गेले पाहिजे.

"Youtube" वरून मी हा "video" घेतला आहे. आशा आहे की तुम्हाला पण हे गाणे आवडेल.

ह्या गाण्यातले हे कडवे ऎका,

"तुम्हारी झुल्फ़ोंसे खुशबु की भीख लेने को (२)

झुकी झुकी सी घटायें बुला रही हैं तुम्हें"

ह्या कडव्याच्या सुरुवातीला बेबी नंदा तिचा आधीच छान असलेला केशसंभार हलकेच व्यवस्थित करते आणि मंद हसते. कॅमेरा आकाशातील काळ्या ढगांकडे जातो. ह्यातून दिग्दर्शकाला जे सुचवायचे आहे ते शब्दांत मांडणे म्हणजे त्या कल्पनेचा अपमान आहे. ते फ़क्त भावनेला जाणवले पाहीजे.

संदर्भ : जर तुम्ही मराठी नाटके वाचली असतील किंवा पाहीली असतील तर तुमच्या असे लक्षात येईल की हा चित्रपट पु. ल. देशपांडे ह्यांच्या "सुंदर मी होणार" ह्या नाटकावर आधारीत आहे. "आज और कल" हा चित्रपट दिग्दर्शीत केल आहे वसंत जोगळेकर ह्यांनी.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaj_Aur_Kal

Some good books

2008-09-29T02:13:00.004-04:00

I am reading some good books these days. I just finished Jim Cramer's 'Stay mad for life'. It is about investing. I am already in the middle of 'Tipping Point'. Then I am also reading Jeffrey Archers's 'A quiver full of arrows'. It is a collection of short stories. In the meantime, I am reading about computer security and I just started with another book 'Blink'. 'Blink' is by the same author Malcom Gladwell, who wrote 'Tipping Point'. I also have a book of Churchill's speeches during WWII. But I have not started that yet.

Then I have 'Ulkridge' by PG Wodehouse, my old favourite author. And I had bought 'Security Analysis' by Ben Graham last year. I am yet to open the first page of that book. But I have read 'Intelligent Investor'. So I hope I can digest 'Security Analysis'. I also have to finish 'Random walk down Wall Street'. Again, I just purchased a book on Dot NET. So now I guess I am biting more than I can chew.

According to what I read in Tipping Point, we can focus on seven things at a time optimally. I have to count how many books I can read simultaneously and still make sense of them.

Pro Classic Squash 2008

2008-09-27T02:57:00.003-04:00

I have been playing squash recently. I am a beginner honestly, having started somewhere around May-June. What is that now, 4-5 months? But I play twice a week on an average. I have also joined the ladder where I am pretty much at the bottom. But let's have the glass half full attitude.

On the positive side, I have won the most recent two matches in the ladder. I am also doing better in terms of stamina and persistence. And after all, practice makes a man perfect.

So when I read about the Squash tournament I decided to take part. I asked my friend which group should I participate in. His answer was, "Select D. You will not win. But you will get some good matches". And so thus with these inspirational words, I decided to dive in.

Today I played my first match in the Pro Club Classic Squash Tournament. I learnt a lot from it. My opponent was much better than me and very experienced. Not to mention, he told me that he was the architect of Windows CE. Even though the result of the match was not favourable to me (in plain English, that means I lost), I had a great time. After the tournament match, we played some friendly games. I did better in them, though the result was the same. But you learn a lot by losing to a much better player than by winning against a poor player.

After I was done playing, I watched other matches and refereed a match. The club also gave a t-shirt which was cool.

Tomorrow I have two more matches to play.. I mean to win. Now we cannot predict the result, but the least we can do is have the right attitude.

Bocce - relaxed and fun

2008-09-21T04:06:00.002-04:00

On Friday we had our end-of-summer team picnic. And I was introduced to a new game "Bocce", pronounced as "Bochee". It is a fairly simple game, but not easy. So here is my understanding from a total stranger's perspective.

The game goes like this. There are 9 balls in all. One is a white ball which is smaller than the others. The rest 8 balls are divided into two groups, 4 in each group. Each of these 4 balls is of different colour, we used red, blued, green and yellow. To distinguish one group from the other, as the colours are the same, the balls in two groups have different texture. E.g. one group will have circles marked on the surface while the other will have squares marked on the surface.

To play the game, you need at least two players. Each player selects the group of balls he wants to play with, either the squares (on the surface) or the circles. One player then starts the game by throwing the white ball as far as possible. Then each player competes to throw their set of balls as close as possible to the white ball. You are allowed to hit the white ball or any other ball, the only thing counts is who gets closest to the white ball.

More details will be on Wikipedia. I just think this is a pretty cool game and could be played anywhere and by people of most age groups.

Phodani Linguini

2008-09-15T02:20:00.001-04:00

While shopping for groceries today I thought of fusing Italian and Maharashtrian cooking styles. And thus how phodani pasta was born.

Now I need to explain some terms before I get on with the recipe.

Phodani - In Maharashtrian cooking, when we cook vegetables, we shallow fry spices and condiments such as mustard seeds, turmeric, chili powder or chopped chilies, cumin, masaala etc. This process is called as Phodani in Marathi and Tadaka in Hindi. We also shallow fry onions, tomatoes etc. However I am not certain if that is part of this Phodani process or not.

Linunini - Pasta is a generic term with many varieties such as Linguini, Spaghetti, Penne, Fettuccini etc. I am not an expert on this, but I think they are classified based on texture, thickness, geometry etc.

So without further ado, here is my recipe.

Ingredients

Whole grain wheat Linguini pasta
Salt, ginger paste, garlic paste, garam masaala
Green Onions, green chilies, tomatoes, crushed peanuts, cilantro parsley
Tofu
Mozzarella cheese (grated),
Olive oil, white wine vinegar

Recipe

Boil water to appropriate temperature. Add salt to it for taste. Cook the Linguini pasta in the water.
While the pasta is being cooked, finely chop green onions, tomatoes, green chilies, cilantro and keep them separate. Also cut tofu into small pieces of appropriate size.
As the pasta gets cooked, drain the water and store the pasta separately.
In a woke or kadhai, heat olive oil to appropriate temperature. If you are new to the process of Phodani, you can put some mustard seeds in the oil. When the oil is appropriately hot, you can hear cracking sound of the mustard seeds.
In the heated oil carefully put chopped onions and shallow fry them till light pink. Add chopped green chilies and stir for a bit.
Lower the heat as we do not want to burn the phodani.
Then add to that mixture, ginger paste, garlic paste and stir for a bit. Add garam masaala to this and stir till it becomes homogeneous. Thus now the phodani paste is prepared. Add chopped tomatoes to this and stir till tomatoes get mixed up.
Add little quantity of white wine vinegar to the phodani. Stir this mixture again. You may be able to smell the phodani and also the white wine vinegar.
Once you are convinced that your phodani mixture is ready, add the cooked pasta to it.
Add tomato basil pasta sauce and tofu pieces. Keep stirring till the separate ingredients are mixed. You can also add some white wine vinegar after the pasta is added.
Once everything looks properly mixed, serve the dish garnished with crushed peanuts, grated mozzarella cheese and put a couple of cilantro leaves on top.

Here is how my Phodani Linguni looked like after served.

Notes and Disclaimers

Please note that I am not responsible in any way if you decide to follow this recipe in full or in part.
I chose tomato basil pasta sauce as the colour looks better as compared to alfredo sauce in this particular recipe. And also because that was the only sauce I had at that time. Paneer might be a good alternative if tofu is not available. But I have not tried it so you are on your own.
I reserve the right to change this recipe in any way in future.

Alt + Ctrl + Del ... a useful keystroke

2008-09-03T00:57:00.002-04:00

What is the use of the key combination Alt + Ctrl + Del? You probably know that it is used to lock your computer and later as a step to unlock it. But have you observed that this keystroke can also be used while cleaning your keyboard?

Well, that's what I used today. I wanted to clean my keyboard, but of course, the moment you start cleaning your keyboard, you inadvertently press some keys and that can mess up any open documents or applications.

One work around will be to close your applications and then clean the keyboard really gently. But even then you might end up pressing the Windows button or pressing function or volume keys. Then it suddenly dawned on me! Lock the computer by Alt + Ctrl + Del. This was an Aha moment! Now after this I can easily clean my keyboard even if I have 20 applications open. It is an easy calculation. Closing and reopening 20 applications require many more keystrokes than 2 combinations of Alt + Ctrl + Del and that is not even counting the keystrokes it will take to save the applications.

My 2 keystrokes :)

Hi 5 Mount Si

2008-08-24T03:20:00.005-04:00

Pacific Northwest is famous for its mountains and treks, landscape and lakes. Mount Si is located in the Washington state close to the city of North Bend and is a very popular hiking trail for outdoor enthusiasts. So a gorgeous sunny day like yesterday presented a perfect opportunity for a hike on this mountain. A friend took the initiative and a casual group of about 27 people was formed. We started at 8:30 am from the base. Packed with some snacks and lot of enthusiasm and fun, the trek was promising from the beginning.

It is about 4000 feet elevation with the trail of approximately 4 miles. We took little breaks after every 40 minutes. It took us roughly 11 am to reach the end of the trail. So we covered 4 miles in 2.5 hours, about 1.6 miles per hour.

The view from the top was simply amazing. To the west in the distance stood Mount Rainier. I have always felt serenity and peace of mind whenever I have looked at Mount Rainier. All the worries, everything else just melts when I look at Mount Rainier and remains only the present tense. Also was visible Seattle and Bellevue downtowns, the Snoqualmie valley and the Cascade mountain range.

By 12:30 we started our descent and by about 2, we reached the base. Now it was back to the suburbs. It was a rejuvenating activity and I am sure the mountains are going to call me again.

Yog, Ayurved, Ramayan, Mahabharat and many more words

2008-08-19T02:34:00.008-04:00

Sanskrit is the fountainhead of many Indian and Indo-European languages. Sanskrit is called as 'Geervanbharati' meaning the language of the Gods. It is famous for its conciseness, flawless grammar and honeydew like melodious sound of its verses. So it is no surprise that eventhough it was declared as a 'dead language' many years ago, the language still florishes.

My most favourite verse or सुभाषित (Subhasheet - means one that is in a good language) in Sanskrit is the following
अश्वम नैव गजं नैव व्याघ्रं नैव च नैव च
अज:पुत्रं बली दद्यात देवो दुर्बलघातक:

The meaning goes like this. Neither a horse, nor an elephant and never ever a tiger is sacrificed. Only a ram is sacrificed, alas, even the God harms only the weak.

But these days something bothers me. It is not very serious, but as someone who loves Sanskrit, I think I should at least try to correct it, in my own feeble attempt. As Sanskrit became more known around the world and ancient Indian traditions such as Yog, Ayurved and the epics like Mahabharat and Ramayan gained more popularity, something happened. Somehow, somewhere, someone appended a little 'a' at the end of these words. Now everywhere you look, you see 'Yoga Classes', 'Ayurveda Clinics' or Mahabharata and Ramayana. Even our Gods Ram and Krishn are now pronounced as Rama and Krishna. I can understand the cause. You see in Sanskrit, at the end of a word (masculine) you append an ':' and so Ram is pronounced as Ram-ah, Krishn is pronounced as Krishn-ah. But that does not mean that you go on appending an 'a' at the end of every word and start pronouncing them as Raama, Krishna. There is a grammatical reason why we should pronounce them as Ram, Krishn etc. In Sanskrit or Hindi/Marathi etc Indo-European languages, feminine words generally end with a 'deergh' (prolonged) 'ee' or an 'a' at the end. E.g. 'Balak' (बालक) means child or boy. But 'Balika' (baalika ) means female child or girl. Similarly, there are words like Sameer (wind) - Sameera, Patit (fallen) - patita, Veer (brave) - veera. There is one notable exception to this general rule. The word Savita (savita) means Sun. So this is a masculine word. However, you may find many girls with the name Savita.

I know it is not a big deal and I care more that people like Yog and Ayurved than I care how they are pronounced. But my concern is that in the flow of time people will forget how the words were actually pronounced. My biggest concern is that when people recite 'shloks' or religious hymns, they might mispronounce the words and in Sanskrit hymns and shloks pronounciation matter the most. After all that's how our ancestors transferred the vast knowledge in Veds from generations to generations for thousands of years.

आपण सारेच अश्वत्थामा

2008-08-06T04:51:00.010-04:00

भालावरती जखम वाहती
ठसठसणारी न सुकणारी
घेऊन फिरतो आपण आपली
ललाटरेषा न पुसणारी

कर्पूरासम रात्रंदिवसी
विवंचना त्या जाळत जाई
किती शोधता कुठे मिळेना
मणी सुखाचा खुणवत राही

दैवाचा हा खेळ असे जरी
आपण बांधील आपल्या कर्मा
वर्तुळामध्ये आयुष्याच्या
आपण सारेच अश्वत्थामा

- सुमोद

Monarch of the Glen

2008-06-16T00:49:00.004-04:00

Imagine a big estate up in the hills surrounded by unbelievable natural beauty. Currently the only occupants are the old lord and his lady, apart from the servants of course. The son is away in a big city trying to set his own business and having romance with a city lass. He does not have any interest in the ancestral property and wants to make his own life.

But due to some circumstances he has to come back and take charge of the affairs of the manor and look after its finances to give it back its old glory. In the meantime, he has to fend off a banker, solve problems of the local folks and figure out how to keep the estate in the hands of his family. Comes to his rescue a school teacher and his forgotten friend. But has she forgotten him and what does he think about her? Now that is the question this young lad and his unspoken love will have to explore. Together of course.

What does this story sound like? A Bollywood story right? But now shift the location to beautiful Scottish Highlands, where the nature seems at home. And you will get a 400 years old manor at a small town called Glenbogle, thousands of acres of estate, a pristine lake, beautiful wildlife. Did I mention the old eccentric patriarch, a mother who is worried abut her family's future, a maid, her wannabe boyfriend and the old straight shooter help. Blend this in together with a bunch of people that come and go in the castle and you have a fun filled drama that will certainly delight your mind.

All the actors have done a good job and particularly Susan Hampshire and Richard Briers. Alastair Mackenzie and Lorraine Pilkington have given justice to their roles.

If you love British shows, you will not be disappointed. Regardless, you will certainly love the beautiful landscape of Scotland. And yes, of course, if you like British English and British humor, then you should check the show. It is old but jolly good.

Ratio of pasta to water.... finally

2008-03-30T02:31:00.005-04:00

I love Italian food. But of course considering my limited gamut in the arena of cooking, I can only boil pasta and then add sauce to it. I prefer 'penne' pasta to others because it can be easily picked with a fork. Rigati is also nice, but angel hair really presents challenge. Now that I have not so subtly bragged about my knowledge of different types of pasta, let me come to the point.

For many days I was not sure how much water I need to add to the pasta. i.e. what should be the ratio of pasta to water when I cook it. I always ended up adding much water and so the wastage of water used to give me a guilty feeling.

So today I took one cup of pasta and four cups of water. First I heated water till it started to boil and then added pasta to it. Occasional stirring and cooking for about 12 minutes resulted in a perfectly cooked pasta and with very little water remaining. I must say that since I have electric cooking range, I switched it off after 9 minutes.

I am glad that I have finally found the correct ratio of pasta to water. Now I am free to experiment more with my Italian cooking. Viva Italia!

A beautiful musical - Everyone says I love you

2008-02-24T02:12:00.005-05:00

I wanted to watch some telly during my dinner. But there was nothing interesting on regular cable. So I turned to on demand. While hoping against hope I was flipping the channels. Suddenly a title caught my eyes. "Everyone says I love you" - Woody Allen. Interesting! I dig Woody Allen movies. So I thought, "Let's see what this is about".

Now I don't want to give away too much information. If you like Woody Allen movies, you will like this one. The cast is really fabulous. It has Ed Norton, Julia Roberts. It is a musical and everyone sings in this movie. Oh yes and there is a Hindi song too.

I am just surprised that I never knew about this movie considering this was made in 1996.

It has been a while since I watched a good movie and my Netflix subscription has not been used. So I guess this will help me restart my movie watching experience.

Adding Multiple Yahoo! Contacts to Live Messenger

2008-02-22T02:00:00.009-05:00

I read somewhere that users can now add Yahoo Messenger buddies to new Live Messenger. So I wanted to play with it. I installed new Live Messenger and started adding my yahoo messenger contacts. But you guessed it right. It is pain in the butt to add each contact individually. Thankfully Live has a feature where you can import new contacts in a bunch via a file. Great! So I made a text file from my yahoo contacts that I wanted to add. I thought "Voila!" Piece of cake.. But not exactly. I got error that my file is not in the correct format. OK. Fair enough. If importing from any text file is allowed, anybody will create their own text file formats and who will check them? So there must be a particular format that is expected.

Now how do I get this format. Using internet search did not help much. Then suddenly it struck me. There is also an option to save contacts into a file. That means all I needed to do was reverse engineering. Add one yahoo contact manually. Then use the feature to save this contact into a file. Now copy and paste all my contacts from the text file into the Live format file. After that import the modified Live format file again. Super!

Here are the steps.

1. Add a yahoo contact manually to your Live messenger contact.
2. Save the contact file. This will have the name username(live).ctt.
3. Open this file using a text editor. It will look like this.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<messenger>
<service name="Windows Live Messenger Service">
<contactlist>
<contact t="32">sampleyahoocontact@yahoo.com</contact>
<contact>samplehotmailcontact@hotmail.com</contact>
</contactlist>
</service>
</messenger>

As you can see, yahoo contacts have a certain t=32 attribute. I do not know what it means, probably type. Hotmail contacts (and live I would guess) do not have any special attribute.

So now I just added my yahoo contacts in this file and appended them with the xml tag.
I wish there was an easy way from yahoo to export all the contacts to a text file. That would be great.

Assuming that you added two more yahoo contacts to this file. Your modified file will look like this.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<messenger>
<service name="Windows Live Messenger Service">
<contactlist>
<contact t="32">sampleyahoocontact@yahoo.com</contact>
<contact>samplehotmailcontact@hotmail.com</contact>
<contact t="32">sampleyahoocontact_1@yahoo.com</contact>
<contact t="32">sampleyahoocontact_2@yahoo.com</contact>

</contactlist>
</service>
</messenger>

After this, I saw the contacts in my Live buddy list. There are some fine steps. But I do not believe in spoon feeding. So good luck.

So long 2007, Come on in 2008!

2008-01-01T02:54:00.000-05:00

It is a new year. Completely fresh, bright, sparkling, joyful, sensible, healthy, brave, friendly, smart, beautiful, funny, loyal, innocent and loving. It has so much of untapped potential that you might not be able to capture it all at once.

If I want to view the last year in retrospect, the major change was my India trip early last year i.e. Dec. 2006 and Jan 2007. I had a self realization. I discovered my real priorities and things that are important to me. I also changed my job and joined Amazon.com. It was a big change as I moved from Virginia to Seattle, across the continent. It was my long held dream to live in Seattle metro and I finally achieved it. Redmond is a beautiful quaint little town; just like a hill station. I am in love with Pacific Northwest. It is a fabulous place.

I completed two years of guitar education. It was a rewarding experience. I also learnt horse riding. Now I am not a horse whisperer, but I like talking to pets as if they are people. I believe that they understand you and you can connect with them.

I made lots of new friends and met interesting people. I like working with folks and also like volunteering. So before I knew it, I was the editor of a local community magazine. This was a great networking opportunity for me. I believe that I have become a better listener in the past year.

The best thing I purchased last year was my 40” flat screen LCD Sony TV. It is an eye-candy watching Discovery and Animal Planet on it.

Much has happened in the past year. I hope that the coming year will also be a good year.

Happy New Year You All!

Setting up a mobile account in India

2007-12-28T12:11:00.000-05:00

After reaching India, one of the first thing I do is get my own mobile number set up. That is the reason I bought an unlocked phone. Now the strange thing is I can use SIM card only of certain carriers. Fine, so I bought SIM card of a carrier. Let's call it FairCell.

Now my impression so far has been that India is undergoing a cellular revolution with access to mobiles as easy as it gets. Hmmmm.. but access to mobiles is only part of the story. What you do not hear is the procedure to setup the connection and charges for it. My experience is with the prepaid card and not the montly subscription. I just want to narrate an objective description without any prejudice.

So first with the procedure. You have to take a photo ID, a proof of address and a photo to the cell dealer. Let us assume that you buy a phone from him. Now, this guy gives you a packet with a form. The packet has a phone number listed on it and also other details. You fill the form and submit it with other mentioned documents. The form is pretty straight forward. The dealer then sends an SMS to some service and you should expect your phone to be activated within 30 minutes. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast amigo. My phone was not set up for a day and I had to visit the dealer again. To his credit, he was extremely co-operative and helpful and immediately solved my issue.

So my take, have a good personal relation with your cell phone dealer and have patience. Another impressive thing was that I had a wide array of cell numbers to choose from. The paperwork was minimal.

Now about the rates. The packet containing cost me about 495 rupees. I had to pay another 99 rupees for, I believe, activation. This sums up to about 600 rupees. This gave me a talk time of only 10 rupees. The rates of FairCell were about 2 rupees per minute. This converts into a 5 minute talk time. Of course, I found thes talk time rates very unreasonable. My dealer told me to pay another 65 rupees so the rates would be reduced to 30 paise per minute for FairCell to FairCell number and about 1 rupee per minute for FairCell to another carriers. I paid that. Now my setup cost excluding the phone was about 765 rupees. After this I paid another 60 rupees for talk time.

So excluding the phone price, the setup cost for a mobile account was about 765 rupees.

This is still cheaper as compared to the pre-paid phone cards in USA. But one thing is in the US, the phone comes free. So it is kind of hard to compare the two systems. But why compare burgers and batatawadas?

आजीच्या राज्यात

2007-12-21T04:00:00.000-05:00

अाजीच्या राज्यात सगळं िकती छान होतं

दंवबिंदू पडलेलं गुलाबाचं पान होतं

शाळेला उशीर चालत होता दांडी मारणं पण माफ होतं

पोटात खोटं दुखलं तरी मन मात्र साफ होतं

सर्दी खोकला झाला की चहा आल्याचा प्यावा मस्त

चार बिस्कीटे ग्लुकोजची त्याबरोबर करावी फस्त

फरशीवरच घड््याळ काढावे सात अाठ खेळताना

पेशंस पण समजून घ्यावा बेरीज वजाबाकी शिकताना

सातच्या अात घरात यावं देवासमोर िदवा असावा

शुभंकरोती म्हणताना थालिपीठाचा वास यावा

भीती वाटली अंधाराची तर हळूच आजीच्या गोधडीत शिरावं

मायेच्या पांघरूणात स्वत:ला गु्रफटून घ्यावं

अाजीच्या राज्यात सगळं िकती छान होतं

दंवबिंदू पडलेलं गुलाबाचं पान होतं

Setting up VNC

2007-12-20T02:17:00.000-05:00

If you are a software professional, you will probably need to work from home. If you are using Windows only environment, then Remote Desktop or Netmeeting is probably a standard option. For X-based system, you will need a different approach. While for simple tasks, using SSH is always the fastest and simplest way, to work in visual mode, you will need VNC or similar kind of softwares. In this blog, I will explain setting up VNC. My goal here is to get the user up and running quickly.

VNC connection has two parts server and client. The server is setup on the machine where you want to login. In this case, let us assume that it is a linux machine.

Setting up vncserver
1. Using PuTTY or similar client, SSH into your linux box. Assume you have bash shell.
2. At the command line type, "which vncserver"
3. Mostly it will reply back "/usr/bin/vncserver". This confirms that you have vncserver in your path.
4. Now start the vncserver by running the command "vncserver". Check if you need to run it as "sudo".
5. It will ask you to setup a password. You will need this password later to connect to your linux box from your Windows client. Setup the password.
6. Now your vncserver should be started. You can verify this by giving the command
"ps -fu | grep vnc"
7. Now in your home directory, run the command "ls -a"
8. You should see a hidden directory ".vnc"
9. Go to ".vnc" and list its contents. You will see "passwd", "xstartup" and a filename containing the servername and a number. This number is the session id. If you have multiple vncserver sessions, then you will see multiple such files with the format "servername:sessionid.pid", "servername:sessionid.log" etc.
10. Thus now your server is setup.

Setting up the client.
1. Go to http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html
2. Download the TightVNC client for your desktop
3. Open the client and specify "servername:sessionid". It will ask for your password. Provide the password and you will be connected to your linux box.

What is the purpose of the "xstartup" file
Sometimes you might see that you cannot view the visual desktop of your linux box.To fix this, you will need to edit the "xstartup" file in your .vnc directory. The "xstartup" file looks something like this

#!/bin/sh
# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
twm &

So if you see that the lines
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
are commented out, you need to uncomment them.

Good luck!

Myself.inc

2007-12-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

For quite some time now, this, crazy if you may call it, thought has been lingering in my mind. "What if I start to treat me like a corporation?" Now what does that even mean? This simply means that I think of my financial matters as if I am a corporation.

Just like everyone else, I have my own likes and dislikes. I have penchant for some things like chocolate and coffee. Take for example, the other day I went to the grocery shop to get some milk. But as I was passing through the candy isle, I saw Cadbury's Dairymilk with Irish Cream flavour. All it took was a little temptation to deviate me from my disciplined spending habit. The problem is not that I spent a couple of dollars over something I like, the problem is that I am still thinking about it after two weeks and I am blaming myself for not being firm enough.

So what makes me think that if I treat myself like a corporation, things will change? For one, I would be the CEO and the largest shareholder. And like a good corporation, the executives' obligation is to the shareholders. I believe that position should bring not only possibilities but also responsibilities. When I treat myself like a company, I will have tangible goals. My salary becomes the revenue of this company. Salary is a fixed income. So in order for me to grow the individual enterprise, I should be a good investor and cut on unnecessary spending. When you run a corporation, you should also have faith in the company and give it a mission statement. That means I should have faith in me and run my life with principles. Every company has bankers who finance it in its early and probably fledgeling years. When the company becomes profitable, it should return the loans. This brings into picture managing your debt wisely. That means not using my credit cards like a magic wand and paying bills in full.

But while these are good first steps, they will not make me much prosperous. In order to progress I should have clear objective goals and a timeline to achieve them. I should have peace of mind so I am balanced and not emotionally driven. Afterall prosperity does not come without prescience.

First snow in Redmond

2007-12-01T21:36:00.000-05:00

Today morning, I was greeted by rays of sun falling on thin layer of snow on the grass across the backyard of my apartment.

What a start to the weekend! I was told that snow is a rare occasion in Redmond. So this came as a pleasant surprise.

When it snows, I always think of the earth as a beautiful lady draped in plain white like in the famous Marathi TV serial "Shwetambara". It is pristine beauty. And the weather made it more enigmatic and mysterious.

Now coming down to earth, it is no fun driving in snow and neither is walking. It is fun when you have holidays and you can play snow fight. I like it when it snows and it is still sunny.

I wanted to take some pictures. But now it is evening and the sun sets so early these days that my plans did not materialize.

I heard that last year it was a really bad winter over here. I hope this winter is mild and it snows just to a tee.

Finding the limits on Mac OS X PPC Architecture

2007-11-21T01:55:00.000-05:00

The first exercise in Kernighan and Ritchie asks that we find out the ranges of char, short, int and long variables by writing a program. It also gives a hint just above this question by telling us that the symbolic constants are in the standard header files such as . Now all we have to do is to include this file in our program and access the variables.

So if we begin with the end in mind, here is our path
1. Print the ranges of variable class e.g. short, int
2. These values can be found in the header files such as
3. Find the header file
4. Get the ranges
5. Include the header file in your program
6. Access the variable values as symbolic constant

The tricky part is step 3 i.e. to find where the header file is located especially on my Mac. Here is how I found the file
1. I need to use command line and go to the root.
2. cd /
3. This file will most likely be in usr
4. cd /usr
5. There is an include directory. Our file will most likely be here.
6. cd include
7. OK. Doing ls in the include directory gave me a long list of files
8. Now I know that my Mac has powerpc architecture. So I went in the directory ppc
9. cd ppc
10. Found the file.

Now, of course, this is not as intuitive as above and there were some trial and error involved. But I will spare the details and just give the clean solution.

So the final location of the limits.h file is
/usr/include/ppc

And the ranges of the variables on my computer are
Size of Char 8
Size of Char Max 127
Size of Char Min -128
Size of int min -2147483648
Size of int max 2147483647
Size of long min -2147483648
Size of long max 2147483647
Size of short min -32768
Size of short max 32767
Size of unsigned char 255
Size of unsigned long 4294967295
Size of unsigned int 4294967295
Size of unsigned short 65535

Is it just me .... or did it say Chicago?

2007-11-15T02:29:00.001-05:00

I watch Frasier everyday. It is my most favourite show. Nowadays it is all re-runs. But it is still a delight to watch this elegant and eccentric, well mannered and maverick, funny and a little naive radio-host cum shrink.

So in today's episode, Frasier is supposed to move to San Francisco for his new job on TV and he tells everyone about it and boards the flight. On the flight he meets a lovely lady and tells her his story. Interestingly, when the flight is landing, the PA says "Welcome to Chicago".

Hmmm..... did I miss something?

Turning 28... with the buzz of the pager

2007-11-13T03:19:00.000-05:00

So I turned 28 today. Yesterday and until I went to bed, I had made so many plans regarding how I will start my birthday, make new resolutions, plan for the year ahead etc. etc.

So thinking of that I went to sleep and all of a sudden....
BeepBeep.... BeepBeepBeep.... BeepBeepBeepBeep...... . Man! That's my pager. Is it? Am I sure someone has not sent me SMS to wish my happy birthday. No way! I can distinguish my pager's sound from a mile! Yes, it was my pager telling me that I needed to log on immediately and respond to some potential problem, of course.

Well, so I logged in, checked message, responded to the situation and now I will be going back to sleep again.

कोजािगरी

2007-10-28T04:38:00.000-04:00

अश्विन शुद्ध पौर्णिमा हा मराठी लोकांसाठी एक छान छोटासा सण. गणपती अापल्या गावाला गेलेले असतात. दसरयाचं सोनं लुटून झालेलं असतं. िदवाळीला अजून अवकाश असतो. अॉक्टोबर हीट हळूहळू अोसरून नोव्हेंवरच्या गुलाबी थंडीची चाहूल लागत असते. तेव्हा चांदण्या रात्रीत मोकळ्या अंगणात किंवा गच्चीत अाप्तेंष्टांबरोबर गप्पा मारत कोमट गरम मसाला दुधाचा अास्वाद घेत पडायचं म्हणजे एक सण हवाच !

लहाणपणी कोजािगरी म्हटली की हे सर्व यायचंच. अामचा सगळ्या मित्रमैत्रिणींचा एक मस्त ग्रुप होता. त्यापैकी फक्त समीरच्या घराला गच्ची होती. त्यामुळे तो इन जनरलच अामचा फेवरीट हॅंगिंग स्पॉट होता. मग कोजागिरीच्या रात्री अाम्ही सगळे तिकडे जमायचो. अाधी गाण्यांच्या भेंडया नाहीतर "खांब खांव खांबोळी" खेळायचो. अामची पेटंट डिश म्हणजे भेळ. कारण ती करायला एकदम सोपी. कॉफी समीरची अाई करून द्यायची. शाळेला सुट्टी लागलेली असल्यामुळे अाम्ही सॉलिड दंगा करायचो.

अाज इतक्या वर्षांनंतर सुद्धा सगळं अगदी काल झाल्यासारखं वाटतं.

तुम्ही जर कोजािगरीची कथा वाचलीत तर त्यात असे म्हटले अाहे की ह्या रात्री लक्ष्मी घरोघरी जाऊन "को जागर्ती" म्हणजे अापल्या कर्तव्याला कोण जागे अाहे हे पहात असते. अािण जर तुम्ही जागरूक असाल तर ती तुमच्यावर प्रसन्न होते. मी ह्या गोष्टीचा अर्थ असा घेतो. "Opportunity knocks only once.. and sometimes that is just once in a year".

जुन्या कथांतून नवीन संदेश घेतले की त्या प्रथा जुनाट वाटत नाहीत. आिण अाफ्टरअॉल , Some things never go out of fashion.

नवरात्री

2007-10-23T02:04:00.000-04:00

नवरात्री म्हणजे गरबा , दांिडया , मस्ती, धमाल. नक्कीच, पण नवरात्री म्हणजे नऊ रात्री देवीच्या आरत्या , अंबाबाईला घातलेले साकडे , आजीअाजोबांबरोबर घेतलेला तीर्थप्रसाद अािण ह्या सगळयाची दहा िदवसांनी होणारी सांगता म्हणजे दसरा , विजयादशमी. ह्याच िदवशी प्रभु रामचंद्रांनी रावणाचा वध केला . पांडवांनी शमीच्या झाडात ठेवलेली शस्त्रे काढून घेतली. चांगल्याचा वाइटावर , सुष्टाचा दुष्टावर विजयाचा हा दिवस.

लहानपणी अाम्ही दसरयाच्या िदवशी आपटयाची पाने सोने म्हणून वाटायचो. वह्यापुस्तकांची पुजा करायचो. प्रत्येक कारागीर ह्या िदवशी अापल्या साधनांची पुजा करतो. मला स्वत:ला ही प्रथा खूप आवडते. मी अजुनही ती पाळतो. गरब्याची मस्ती घेताना अारतीची श्रद्धा पण जपली की पुस्तकांची पुजा करण्यामागची भावना लक्षात यायला वेळ लागत नाही.

सर्वांना िवजयादशमीच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा!

Dinner, Movie and a Nice start to the weekend

2007-10-13T03:59:00.000-04:00

This week was very hectic for me. Almost every day, I was working till midnight either for office or for the Seattle Marathi Mandal Magazine. So finally Friday evening seemed to provide some respite. And as luck might have it, with some friends, I went for a nice dinner at Cheesecake factory and then to the movie "Outsourced".

These days, I prefer to eat vegetarian food and so I ordered "French Country Salad". It was great! Agreed, in plain hindi, you can call it "ghas-phus". But it was supposed to be French "ghas-phus". Jokes aside, it had nice goat cheese pieces and pecan pieces spread rather generously. I also requested some pepper to add some test. It is a tricky thing to decide how much pepper you want. So today, I decided I will take pepper till the pepper-mill completes three rotations. Hey, I need to start somewhere to decide on a standard. As for the drink, I went with the usual, diet coke and no ice. On second thoughts, I drink so much coke, I should buy the shares.

The movie was good. To give you the gist, an american yuppie working in a US corporation faces two choices in this increasingly flat world. Either get a pink slip and leave everything or go to India and train his own replacement. In all fairness, his situation is like 'caught between devil and the dark sea'. So our dude decides that when everything is being lost, let go of the half and save the rest for future. Exhausted and frustrated, he arrives in the land of 'always hot' sun. By the time he gets little bit acquainted with the roadside food, manners, multiple gods and Indian way of thinking, he meets a 'desi' damsel and both fall for each other. Just when things are looking good for the Indian call center, the US company decides to cut costs even further and outsource to China. What happens next, how our dude faces this situation and also confronts his emotional dilemma, should be watched by oneself.

I liked this movie because it was made quite fairly. Most importantly, it showed that there are flaws in both sides of the world and at the same time, both cultures have so many good things that they can share. Now I can be a nitpick and point some flaws in the movie. But I will not do it. It is a good and fun movie to watch and I enjoyed it.

To put icing on the cake, while coming home, the drive was quiet and without traffic. I listened to one of my favourite songs, "Yeh raat yeh chandani" by Hemant Kumar. Has it ever happened to you that you want to listen to a song and you can listen to it at that moment? You enjoy the song to its fullest. These moments are pure bliss and we should cherish them. So I am going to start my weekend on these good notes.

Pizza

2007-09-30T20:42:00.000-04:00

It is about 1230 pm. I am kind of hungry. What should I have for lunch?
Hmmm..

Shall I go to Preet's? I go there pretty much every weekend. Also, it is kind of expensive. So Mr. Sumod, what is your plan B?

Subway... no. It is too usual... you used to eat there pretty much everyday. For how long will you eat veggie delight?

Chipotle is very far; also it has the same usualness like Subway.

Shall I order a pizza. Again, it is very expensive. I don't want to pay money and get fat.

You complain too much.

Hey why not make your own pizza? Anyway you have to go for groceries. Secondly you wanted to make pizza for quite some time. Make it while watching your stupid and funny Hindi movie.
Done.

After 3 hours,

One large Boboli pizza crust = 4 dollars
One Boboli pizza sauce = 70 cents
Four Toppings Tomatoes, Bell Papers, Onions, Pineapple chunks = 3 dollars
Asiago Pressato Italian cheese = 3 dollars
Having the fun of baking your own pizza and eating it too = Priceless!!

Here are the pics of the pre-release version, just before going into the oven and the pic of my first pizza , Pizza v. 1.0

So much to read

2007-09-17T02:03:00.000-04:00

Whenever I go to Border's or Barnes and Nobel's, I get an inferiority complex. I mean look at the books they have in each section. Those shelves are like towers with multiple tomes packed with unknown words and unfathomable phrases and unbearable weight. Just looking at them gives me only one feeling, "Boy, when am going to read all this?". And I am not even thinking about philosophy, history, world politics or economics. I am only concerned about books that I generally understand, like business and technology.

Take for example, today's case. I decided to take a stroll and went to Border's. First I picked a book in the business and management section. Then I thought, this is not what I want. I need to read more about programming. So I started going to that section. On my way, I saw "The tipping point". I have heard so much about the book that I picked that up. In the Computers and Technology section, I saw literally one entire shelf full of books on C++. I was also on the lookout for a good C book. One major reason I look for these books is I want to know what book is the one that covers it all. For C, I can surely say that K and R is the best. It is like reading SAP documentation. Slightly unclear initially. But then you are bound to appreciate the beauty of it.

I got a very good book on C. It is " The C Puzzle Book". I did solve some questions in the store itself with the help of "Maple Chocolate Mocha".

But what attracted me most was bunch of books on Ruby. Now this is not a new language and you can find many Web 2.0 applications created using it. But today, I saw many books on Ruby than before. So I have decided to learn it and see how far I go with it.

गणेशचतुर्थीनिमित्त एक कविता

2007-09-12T00:59:00.000-04:00

गणेशचतुर्थीनिमित्त एक कविता

सरला श्रावण बघता बघता वाट भाद्रपद मासाची
अाली जन्मचतुर्थी देवा तुझीच अामूच्या राजाची

वसलो अाम्ही दूर जरी दाटूनी येती भाव मनी
अारती, प्रसाद, मोदकांच्या किती गोड त्या अाठवणी

तव अाशिषे सर्व मिळाले मजला अाता काय हवे
तुझाच सेवक जन्मांतरी मी, हेच ऋण मम सदैव द्यावे

त्याच भावे तुला पुजितो गौरीनंदना अाद्यस्थळी
अशीच सेवा घडो हातुनी हीच प्रार्थना चरणतळी

- सुमोद ०९/११/२००७

Typhoon..

2007-09-11T00:59:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it helps to take decisions on the fly, or rather while on a drive. Tonight I was going to eat outside but was less than certain of the place. So while at the intersection of 160th avenue NE and Redmond Way, I decided to make a left turn at 161st NE and go to Typhoon.

Typhoon is a Thai restaurant in Redmond that I intended to visit for some time. I like to eat different kinds of cuisine and Thai is among my favourites. So Typhoon it was supposed to be.

At the entrance, to the left, was the welcome desk with some candys. To the right was the statue of a Buddhist monk. The couch and chair were giving an impression of "Bamboo" style furniture.

The restaurant itself was nicely dim lit. I prefer light in a restaurant to the absence of it. But you do not want so much of light that will not let you enjoy your meal in the privacy you deserve. The tables and chairs were brown and square.

I was given three menus. One for the meal, one for tea and one for wines. It was interesting to see so many varieties of tea. I learnt that some exotic types of tea can cost as much as $3000 a pound. I had veg. Panang Curry with white rice. One thing that kind of struck me was that they would not give rice with the curry. This is the first time I had to order rice separately. Interesting practice as it might seem, they do include rice at lunch but not for dinner. I chose veg. food because generally at a new place I tend to eat veg. food for the first time at least. The water jar was of peculiar shape which I cannot describe and the glass was just perfect. Not too thick or broad and would hold enough water for one thirst.

The food was pretty good and the service was quick. It cost little more than what I used to pay in restaurants around DC. But the quantity was more and quality was better. So I do not feel like I wasted any money.

There was a separate section for Bar and outdoor sitting was also provided. All in all, it seemed like a cozy place where one can indulge oneself with his companions or alone once in a while.

My assessment: Cost: $$, Quality: **

Money for the lack of a better word is good...

2007-07-25T22:43:00.000-04:00

If you have seen the Michael Douglas movie "Wall Street", you probably remember the dialog, 'Greed, gentlemen, for the lack of a better word is good". Well, I won't go that far. But I would certainly say this, "Money for the lack of a better word is good".

Since ages, money has been termed as root of all evils. People think making money is sin, rich people are termed as robbers. While there are some rotten mangoes in the basket, we should not have collective justice. After all money does have its good points.

Money offers us fair and uniform way to exchange goods, talent, assets etc. etc. We can quantify our salaries, our homes, our education costs in terms of money. That way money avoids exploitation as people can negotiate a fair price for all.

But that is not all. When a society followed a certain way of life that prevented people from earning money the right way or told people that they do not need money and the state would give everything to them it went down the drain. Productivity decreased as a whole as there was no incentive and hence no creativity. Also just because the earning capacity of people went down, it did not imply that their needs also mitigated. So this situation gave rise to corruption, as the society had few people with much more power and authority but very less earned income. So they took advantage of the poorer, weaker section of the society and the concept of individual sacrifice for all came into being. Not only that; but for the benefit of these few people who claimed to be the patrons of social equality it was necessary that the poor always remain poor. Because if there are no poor people in the society, who will they instigate against the rich.

On the other hand, when people are allowed to earn money for their efforts and work, society prevails and not only it prevails it progresses. As the old saying goes, Money begets money. So when you start making money in a fair way and you know the potential if offers for your growth and success, you want to make more money. That makes you invest it and that means that someone is getting a job and a better opportunity for their own progress.

So while I agree that we should have balance in life and should not be greedy, I think money gives us a better opportunity to grow, as a person, as a society and has the potential to make us happy. After all money is only means to an end and not an end in itself.

Sleeping quite well in Seattle

2007-03-24T00:36:00.000-04:00

I visited Seattle for the first time in 2003 Dec. Since then I always wanted to come here and stay. And now after 3 years, I am here for my new job. It is quite exciting, the weather is nice. Yes, I said that Seattle weather is nice! But after living in north-east in freezing cold and shoveling snow from the car N number of times, this is quite good. Well it rains pretty much every day, but I am from Bombay and I like rain.

So my journey was quite nice and I am settled in my temp housing now. The apartment is well equipped with utensils and is also furnished. The TV has cable. But the remote control is TV based, so it is not easy to see which channel shows what. There is TBS. So I can watch 'Friends' all the time. The interiors of the apartments are really nice and they have taken care to make them aboder-friendly.

As for the commute, I took a difficult route for the first two days. Rookie mistake. Thanks to a friend Rohit, I have been taking a much better route since then. It goes along the Alaskan Way and has waterfront on one end with nice restaurants and fish bars. It feels as if I am going on the Marine Drive due to the Elliot Bay on one end, especially in the evening.

Whats more, I am sleeping quite well in Seattle.

Old note

2007-03-05T23:35:00.000-05:00

While browsing through a book, I found the following paragraph I had written down some years ago. It is by George Bernard Shaw. I do not remember why I wrote it down in my BE Project book at that time, nor do I recollect where I read it from.

-----------------
This is the true joy in life - that being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. That being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish, little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be throughly used up when I die. For the harder I work, the more I live.I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It's a sort of splendid torch which I have got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations.
- George Bernard Shaw.

तेव्हा मी फार बोलत नाही

2007-03-04T01:03:00.000-05:00

तेव्हा मी फार बोलत नाही

काही जण म्हणतात मी फार फास्ट बोलतो
काही जण म्हणतात मी फार जास्त बोलतो

जास्त काय अाणि फास्ट काय निमित्त असतात शब्द मात्र
मनाने मनाचे ऐकले की चांदणी होते हर एक रात्र

पण कधी कधी रात्र सरता सरत नाही, काळोख होऊन राहतात अब्द
अबोल भावनांचे अश्रु वाहतात नि:शब्द

मी अगदी गप्प असतो ... अशावेळी काही कळत नाही
फार सांगायचे असुन सुद्धा, तेव्हा मी फार बोलत नाही...

सुमोद
४ मार्च २००७

Howrah Bridge

2007-02-27T23:54:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of old Hindi movies. I think they are classy, have better songs and also because some of them show the old city of Bombay.

So today I got the DVD of Howrah Bridge. This is a story of a young guy who comes to Calcutta first in search of his brother and then his murderers. In the flow of the story, he falls for a dancer in a local hotel/club. So this story has romance, suspense, mystery, crime, foot tapping songs and dance numbers. The whole nine yards.

This movie was made in 1958. That makes it 50 years old. But still, the plot is quite refreshing, the stunts and filming is quite good. And acting is surely above par today's Hindi movies.

Ashok Kumar is young Prem Kumar alias Rakesh. Madhubala, arguably the most beautiful woman in Indian film history is young and sensational Edna. Madhubala has a class and a divine smile. When the air flirts with her hair or when she speaks in broken hindi and english, you are amazed by her looks and her innocence at the same time. Her song "Aaiye Meherbaan" is sensual and elegant. It is quite interesting to see the different phases of love between her and Rakesh; indifference, attraction, affection, liking, suspicion, argument, trust and commitment.

Helen, the dance queen of Hindi cinema comes in the all time hit "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" or "My name is Chin Chin Chu". This song must have played a big role in making the movie a great hit.

Then there are the bad guys and among them Madan Puri does a good job as Mr. Chang. Of course, you also have the great KN a.k.a. Khal Nayak (villain) Singh as Mr. Pyarelal. I will not tell the entire story. But rest assured, that this movie will entertain you for good two hours and more.

If you want to watch some of the songs, they are available on YouTube.

A party, lots of fun and some guitar

2007-02-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

This Saturday I had been to the housewarming party of my friend Sid and his wife Datta. Sid was also my roommate during my M.S. They recently moved to Gaithersburg and invited me and other friends to celebrate their new residence.

I enjoy socializing and going to parties. It gives you a good excuse to skip away from the routine weekend chores and forget some serious work and have plain, simple fun with your friends. Of course, I do not forget nice wine and good food, in that order :).

So there were Sangeeta and Giri, our friends from University of Maryland and always a fun couple to listen to. Giri's and Sangeeta's stories make any party a delightful get together. My good friend Arindam added some spice to the conversation with his wits and funny anecdotes and experiences. I also met Som, Shraddha and Chirag.

The food was delicious and kudos to Datta for that. We had some roasted paneer and veggies on skewers. Then there were dahi-wadas. I had Undhiyo for the first time yesterday. All the arrangement was just too good and classy. To add to this Sid also had some nice Sutter Home and Cavit wines. My most favourite part was the strawberry top ice-cream.

After the dinner we settled down. I had promised Sid that I will play guitar at the party. Although I have been learning guitar since last two years, this was my first experience to play in front of some audience. I had practised the songs and arranged them in a sequence. But I was pretty nervous and partly because I had forgotten to take my music sheet stand. So I used the books as a music stand. The good part was that folks identified the songs I played. I was particularly happy because I could play my favourite song "Mere Rang Mein" from the Hindi film, "Maine Pyaar Kiya". After so many years, finally I was playing the song I had always liked. Some things are indeed priceless.

Soon it was time to bid adieu to our hosts for their wonderful hospitality. So we began to disperse as the midnight was entering, with promises to keep in touch for more such joyous occasions.

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

2007-02-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

I have always wished to be a global citizen. I like to visit places, know different cultures, try cuisines from different continents. So when a colleague of mine, JianRao Wang invited me to the Chinese New Year party, I was quite excited about it.

This year is the year of pig. And Chinese calendar is lunar, like in India. So the new year day will fall on different dates in the Gregorian or English calendar each year.

The weather was not very friendly and it was snowing while I was walking to our hosts' place. But the incentive of eating good food and learning new things overcame the brazen weather. I reached the place at about 4 PM. I was the last one to arrive. Other folks, including my colleagues Mausam and Bancha were already there. Everyone was busy making 'dumplings'. I also joined the gang and got a hands on experience in rolling the dough and making small circles of it. The important part was to make circular shape without letting the 'skin' stick to your roller pin. I learnt that you need to apply some flour to the 'skin' to avoid the sticking. After that, you put the dumpling mixture on the center of the circular 'skin'. It is quite interesting to use chopsticks to put the mixture on it and adjusting. JianRao and her husband Chao explained to me the process. Their friend Chen taught me how to close the dumpling in simple steps. He was a good tutor and soon I was making dumplings. Agreed, they were not state of the art. But hey, this was my first time and I think I made some good progress. Chen told me that you should close the dumplings so that water will not go inside when they are boiled.

Soon the food was ready and we were at the nicely arranged dinner table chatting with our new friends. Apart from dumplings we also had spring rolls, chicken, salad and fruits. The delicious food was accompanied by lively and jolly conversation. I also met other friends of our hosts, Ying, Xiaoning and Shaojie.

Chao works as a post doctorate scientist in University of Maryland in Chemical Engineering department. I also studied in University of Maryland. Chen used to work in Infosys in China. Yeah, it is the same dear old 'Infy' from Bangalore. Isn't this is a really small world?

Desserts followed dinner. I also tried to play a little bit of Chinese card game, Mahjong. I was not able to understand much. But JianRao and Chao were kind to explain how it is played. So after some observation I think that it is similar to the card game Rummy, but much more complex than that. Another thing, the pieces or tiles used in the game showed fine Chinese craftsmanship. I was very impressed by the detailed design of the game pieces.

Soon it was time to say good bye or "Zài jiàn" and take leave of our hosts. We wished everyone a very happy new year and left for our homes. The new year has started. May it bring everyone luck and happiness.

मिळेल तुला व्हॅलेंटाईन

2007-02-07T00:14:00.000-05:00

मिळेल तुला व्हॅलेंटाईन

वेळ काळ स्थळाने कधी थांबवले मनाला
व्हॅलेंटाईनसाठी पापण्यांमध्ये पकड एका क्षणाला

अभ्यासात लक्ष देऊनसुदधा प्रेम करता येते
परीक्षेत पहिले येऊनसुदधा मन गुंतत जाते
मन हेच व्हेरीएबल समिकरणांमध्ये, सुत्रांमध्ये
अव्यक्त भाषेतील अस्पष्ट इतिहासामध्ये

तीने रुबाब दाखवला म्हणून खट्टु थोडंच व्हायचं?
अरे एक फुल कोमेजंल तर, दुसरं अाणून द्यायचं
वर्षभर वाट पाहून काय मुहुर्त शोधणार का?
अरे तू झोपून राहिलास, म्हणून सुर्य नाही उगवणार का?

प्रेमाच्या भाषेत व्याकरण नेहमीपेक्षा वेगळं असतं
'ईश्श' काय अाणि 'इलू' काय, हे प्रकरणंच अागळं असतं
पत्र कसलं लिहितोस लेका? मोबाईल नाही वापरत?
रिंगटोनवरून ह्रदयाची धडधड तिला नाही सांगत?

मित्रांना काय सांगतोस, बावळटपणा करू नकोस
प्रेम तु करतोयस ना? , मग त्यांचं मत विचारू नकोस
अरे प्रेमच सगळ्यात फेअर असतं, प्रेमच सगळ्यात फाईन
थोडा कमी रडलास तर मिळेल तुझी व्हॅलेंटाईन

अामीर अाणि जुही सारखं फक्त पिक्चर मध्येच होतं
'पारो नाहीतर चंद्रमुखी' हे प्रेमात थोडंच चालतं?
द्राक्षांपासून वाईन बनायला लागतो थोडा वेळ
खरं प्रेम असेल तर धैर्य धर, हा नाही भातुकलिचा खेळ

बाप्पाला साकडं घालून हा प्रश्न सुटणार कसा?
शिवधनुष्य उचललंच नाहीस, तर तु बाण चालवणार कसा?
हिंमत कर, अाणि विचार एकदा तिला
फार तर फार नाही म्हणेल, कसला शिकवा आणि कसला गीला?

खरं प्रेम शोधायचं असतं, काट्याकुट्यांतून वादळवाटांतून
चालायचं असतं अापल्याच मनाच्या विखुरलेल्या तुकड्यांवरून
येईल बघ ती तुला बघून, सगळी दुनिया टाकून मागे
व्हाल व्हॅलेंटाईन एकमेकांचे, अायुष्याभरासाठी तुम्ही दोघे!

--- सुमोद
०६ / ०२ / २००७

प्रवचन - शंकर अभ्यंकर

2007-01-27T20:02:00.000-05:00

Note: To read this post, your browser needs to be able to display Devanagari fonts.

हिंदुस्थानात असताना शंकर अभ्यंकरांचे प्रवचन ऐकण्याचा योग अाला. झालं असं की बाजुच्या शाळेच्या पटांगणात दहा दिवस त्यांचे "वंदे मातरम" ह्या विषयावर प्रवचन होणार होते. सुरुवातीला मी खरं म्हणजे निरुत्साहीच होतो. म्हटलं वंदे मातरम ह्या विषयावर दहा दिवस काय बोलणार. अाणि त्यातून अापल्याला भारताचा अाणि वंदे मातरमचा इतिहास तर माहितच अाहे.

पण झालं असं की तेव्हाच अाजोबा पण अाले होते. अाणि शेजारच्या काकू अाणि माझा मित्र मंदार सारखा अाग्रह करत होता की "अरे, चल तर खरा. चांगलं सांगतात ते". मग एका दिवशी अाजोबांना घेऊन मी पण प्रवचन ऐकायला गेलो.

अाणि गंमत म्हणजे मला ते प्रवचन एव्हढे अावडले की मी दुसरया दिवशीही गेलो. खरंच, एखादी गोष्ट नुसतीच माहीत असणे अाणि तिचे विविध पैलू समजावून घेणे ह्यात जमीनअस्मानाचा फरक असतो. शंकर अभ्यंकरांनी वंदे मातरमचा इतिहास समजावून सांगितला. त्याचे स्वातंत्र्यलढ्याशी असलेले नाते सांगितले. अाणि एवढे सांगताना त्यांनी लोकांचा रस कायम ठेवला. विद्यावाचस्पती काय असतो ते मला ह्या प्रवचनांनंतर समजले. साधा पण अत्यंत नीटनेटका पोशाख, स्वच्छ वाणी, स्पष्ट अाणि खणखणीत उच्चार, भाषेवरती वादातीत प्रभुत्व, शुद्ध भाषा (त्यांनी सगळे प्रवचन मराठीत केले), अाणि प्रसन्न व्यक्तिमत्व. खरंच, अाज अापण घरी अालो की टी. व्ही. वरच्या त्या बंडल अाणि बोगस सिरियल्स बघत बसतो. त्याऐवजी अशा कार्यक्रमांना अापण का जात नाही? का स्वत:च्या देशाविषयी अाणि संस्कृतीविषयी जाणून घेणे "अाउट अॉफ फॅशन" अाहे?

अजून काय हवं?

2007-01-25T23:55:00.000-05:00

Note: To read this post, your browser needs to be able to display Devanagari fonts.

अॉफीसमध्ये प्रचंड काम होते. त्यामुळे घरी मी दमुनच अालो होतो. रात्री सुप पीऊन अाणि सफरचंद खाऊन झाल्यावर मी कॉम्पवर जरा टी. पी. करत होतो. खरंतर फ्रेंडस पण अॉनलाइन नव्हते. त्यामुळे जरा बोअर झालो होतो. लोकांना बोलायला माणसे लागतात. मला माझी बडबड ऐकायला माणसे लागतात :)

मग मी अॅज युजुअल गाणी लावली. अाजकाल मी जगजीत सिंग मनापासून ऐकतोय. गझल्स मला खुपच अावडतात. पण कधी शांतपणे ऐकली नाहीत. पण बॉस, मानना पडेगा! एकेक शब्द असा सुरेख वापरलाय की तबियत एकदम खुश पण होते अाणि अावाजतला दर्द काळजाला भिडतो. डोळ्यांसमोर सीन उभा राहतो. "तेरे बारेमें जब सोचा नही था, मैं तनहा था मगर इतना नही था", "शामसे अांख में नमी सी है", "मुस्कुराकर मिला करो हमसे" सप्तसुरांचा खजिनाच उघडल्यासारखं झालं होतं.

नेमकी अशावेळेला मला भुक लागते. मग जुने दिवस अाठवले. अाणि मी एक टोस्ट सॅंडविच बनवले. व्यवस्थित पुदिना चटणी, बटर अाणि टोमॅटो अाणि काकडी वापरून. मला खरंतर बीट पण वापरायचे होतं पण घरात नव्हतं. एन. टी. एस. च्या क्लासला रुपारेल कॉलेजला जायचो. रुपारलेलच्या बाहेर एक सॅंडविच स्टॉल होता. माझी अशी अॅम्बिशन अाहे की एक दिवस मी त्याच्यापेक्षा चांगले सॅंडविच बनवीन. :)

अाता सॅंडविच बरोबर कॉफी पण हवीच! मग नेसकॅफे पण बनवली. फर्स्टक्लास सॅंडविच, कॉफी अाणि जगजीत सिंगच्या गझल्स. मन एकदम भुतकाळात रमलं. कर्जतला राहत असताना रात्री अंगणात गाणी ऐकत बसायचो. तेव्हा अाई बाबा अाणि मी अाणि कधी काही फ्रेंड सर्कल असायचं. अाता एकटा ऐकतो. तेव्हा लता-रफी-मुकेश-तलत ऐकायचो. अाता जगजीत ऐकतो.

दिवस परफेक्टपणे घालवायची माझी एक कल्पना अाहे. संध्याकाळी घरच्यांबरोबर झकास मराठमोळे जेवण, नंतर बडीशेप किंवा सुपारी. अाणि मग अाइसक्रीम किंवा मिल्कशेक किंवा कुल्फी किंवा कॉफी ह्याच्याबरोबर शांत गाणी एन्जॉय करावी.

अजुन काय हवं?

OS X : How to see the hidden folders using Finder

2007-01-21T21:59:00.000-05:00

We all know that OS X is based on FreeBSD i.e. a flavour of Unix. So you can use command line along with GUI to browse folders. But you can notice that the folders that you can see using Finder are not exactly the same as those you can see using the command line or Terminal.

When you open the Finder window, you see the options to view iDisk, HD of your machine, the Home folder for the current user, Application etc. If you open Terminal and type pwd, you are in the home folder of current user under the Users folder. If you go to the root folder you can see many more folders than you can see using your Finder. Thus using the Terminal, you can see bin, dec, etc, sbin i.e. the Unix folder structure.

So what would you do if you want to see these Unix folders using your Finder. The answers is rather simple.
1. Open the Finder window.
2. Open te Go menu.
3. Select Go to Folder
4. Type in the name of folder you want to see in the Finder such as /usr or /bin.
Now there is a catch. You cannot directly see the root folder by typing '/'. But you can see any folder under root, which is a good news right?

Finding C header files on OS X

2007-01-20T18:05:00.001-05:00

This is a very simple yet interesting problem. By the way; simple things are interesting a lot of times, because simple does not mean easy. The problem I had at hand was to determine the range of different data types on my ibook. Yes, that is right, on my ibook with PowerPC architecture.

I know that I should be able to find the answer in limits.h file. So my task was to find limits.h file. Hmmm.. sounds too easy right. You bet!

I started with searching for limits.h in spotlight. But alas, spotlight does not search in 'hidden' folders by default and I got pretty useless results. Then I used 'find' command on the terminal. But it gave me a scrolling screen of results and I realized that this approach was not going to work optimally. So I needed a different thought process. OK. Lets step back and think what I want. I want to find a header file that gcc would use. So I searched where all header files would be stored. This location will be /usr/include. Now this directory will have a bunch of folders such as gcc, ppc etc. This /usr/include folder will contain the header files required for C. If you go to gcc folder, you will be able to go to the folder for the C++ compiler on your machine e.g. /usr/include/gcc/darwin/4.0/c++ etc. You will notice that the C++ header files do not display the .h extension the way C header files do.

Well anyways, so I opened the limits.h file in /usr/include. But hey.. wait a minute. where are all the variables in this file i.e. where is, CHAR_BIT or CHAR_MAX? That means there must be another limits.h file. To find the correct file, you have to go to the folder /usr/include/ppc. There was another limits.h file. Now this file had all the variables that I needed.

Now it falls into place. The parent folder /usr/include is correct. But since my ibook has PowerPC architecture, the relevant header files would be stored in a separate folder which is ppc.

Although this exercise took some time out of my weekend , it was worth it. I always wanted to find where all these files are stored. The joy of finding something on your own is unique and now I am sure I will never forget it. And I should acknowledge help of web search in the process.

And the times they are a-changing

2007-01-10T02:11:00.000-05:00

This line by Bob Dylan fits quite well to India in 21st century. India has since long back attracted the world's attention for its wealth. Since then a lot of water has passed down the Ganges and the Thames. And in this era, foreigners and Indians alike are flocking to India again. But this time they are creating wealth by utilizing local and international talent.

In my recent trip to India, this was quite evident. I had visited Bombay in March 2006. In that trip, I had taken the role of a sponge and just absorbed the changing faces of India. I was simply amazed by the speed of development and infrastructure work taking place. I was also surprised by the increasing buying power of Indian consumer. This had to some extent scared me a bit as growing up in a different India; I had not seen this spending attitude before.

In this trip, I was more vigilant and critical. I went through local newspapers and tried to figure out the new business deals and M & A activities. I asked some questions regarding the real estate prices. I observed the widening gap between the 'haves and the have nots'. I tried to understand the growing influx of FDI. I travelled by road on new expressway and actually saw the roadworks. I travelled by a crowded local train and found out that I still love the Bombay life.

This trip has bolstered my earlier observations that India is indeed changing. The recent success of Indian economy in general and IT industry in particular is not merely a flash in the pan. But a new sun is rising over this ancient land. Every MNC has to have an office in India these days. It is not only true in the case of software or BPO. It will also apply to legal, manufacturing, R & D and education. Also people need to understand that this is not only cost-cutting, but getting talented people at reduced cost and most importantly, running your company 24/7/365. So in future India will not only attract back office work, but also advanced R & D. This is already happening to some extent. The hurdle is neither talent nor attitude, it is money. And the capacity to run multi-billion dollars projects simultaneously and successfully.

Today's Indian youth is booming with confidence and a positive attitude. They have best of both worlds, they have western materliasm and Indian spiritualism in one go. So you can wear Pepe or Levis, enjoy your movies in multiplexes, shop in the malls and still have all the festivals and good family life. Thus they have the option to believe Indian, think American and live European.

Of course, having said this, I do have some thoughts. I am not going to paint all the rosy picture, neither will I say that everything is hunky-dory. The new culture has created some problems and as Indians we need to figure out how to solve them before they grow out of control. First and foremost, India needs a national ID card and some kind of a social security number. Even for small things you have to fill so many forms that you lose the joy of getting the service. There is PAN, there is ration card, then there is new MIN also there is a DMAT account. Can we make life simpler please? Has anyone thought how difficult it will be to manage all these things in future for a billion people?

Also, I strongly believe that India needs public surveillance cameras at places like all train stations, traffic signals. I hope that this will deter the road-romeos and public-spitters to some extent. Smoking and chewing tobacco in public places should be banned. However the major problem is the huge and widening gap between the rich and poor. I am sorry to say that Bombay is becoming out of reach for middle-class people. The real estate prices have literally reached the sky in the metros. Daily commute has become an ordeal for many people as the population and traffic is growing. All these problems are not unsolvable yet, but to solve them needs resolve and patience. Solutions do not fall from the sky they have to be grown ground-up.

We were taught in school that our first Prime Minister Pandit Neharu used to have a poem by Robert Frost on his desk,
“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”.

As a nation we all should have this in our heart for a better tomorrow.

Context menu in OS X for Firefox 2.0

2006-12-15T22:28:00.001-05:00

In Firefox 1.5.x on OS X, I could bring up the Context Menu for a link by pressing and holding the mouse button. But since I upgraded to Firefox 2.0, I noticed that this technique does not work anymore. So the only option left was to use CTRL + mouse button to bring the context menu. Now this was getting annoying. Why would you break backward compatibility?

If you want to get the old behaviour back here is the solution.
1. Open Firefox 2.0 on your OS X machine.
2. In the location bar, type: about:config.
3. This should load a page with list of all preferences and their values.
4. Select the preference: ui.click_hold_context_menus. Notice that its value will be set to false by default.
5. Double click on this preference. Notice that now the value will change to 'user set' and true.
6. Restart your Firefox.
7. Your press and hold the mouse button should now bring up the context menu.

Cheers!

Corporate ... Greed for the lack of a better word is bad

2006-12-12T18:07:00.000-05:00

Corporate is the story of two tycoons fighting for control in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) section. A US corporation Freescon (hopefully this is not a real name :)) wants to enter the growing Indian fast food market. But due to the red tape, it has to partner with local companies. Govt. of India is also considering disinvestment in its ailing PSU MBD or Maharashtra Bottling and Distribution. Now the value of this PSU is in crores of rupees (or millions of dollars) and it is also situated on a viable piece of land.

So the war begins. Swords are drawn, cries are shouted, spies are put on payrolls, honey traps are planted, govt. officials are bribed. In short, both the rival companies Marwa and Sehgal do all the things that Chanakya or Rasputin would have recommended to achieve their goal.

Now this is not just a business story, it also has a light vein of a love story between Nishi and Ritesh. Ritesh is the brother in law of Sehgal and Nishi is an empowered woman and top executive in the Sehgal group. In Nishi's bad times, Ritesh has given her a helping hand and support. So Nishi tries to help Ritesh with his new project.

But if everything goes smoothly, why would you and I watch a movie? Marwa group wins the PSU bidding by bribing a minister in the state govt. To encounter this move, Nishi steals the secret of Marwa's new soft drink from the CEO of Marwa group using what she could use best, or worst for that matter. Although this scandal ruins the life and career of the CEO of Marwa group, it gives Sehgal an edge in the making of new soft drink. But alas, what goes around, comes around. And the water that Sehgal was using to make the soft drink is found to contain pesticides. So the reputation of Sehgal group along with its market value is reduced to dust due to the lawsuits filed against it.

Here the movie takes an interesting turn. To save his skin, Sehgal asks Nishi to take all the responsibility and face the inquiry commission. Poor Nishi, in one stupid emotional moment she loses what she has been trying to achieve all her life and goes behind the bars.

So what happens in the end? I will not tell you. Although the ending did not come as a surprise to me, the movie has been directed well and lives up to the expectations.

Among the good points I would like to mention, everyone has acted really well. Especially Vinay Apte's role of a corrupt state minister is worth watching. It is heartening to see that talented Marathi actors are moving beyond the roles of housekeepers. This is the second movie in which I liked Bipasha's acting. She has done quite well as a ruthless executive and also as a helpless single mom. Other actors including Rajat Kapoor and Raj Babbar are veterans what more can I say.

The movie is a bit long for me. Also there were some logical flaws. But I can live with that.

To summarize the message I think "Greed, gentlemen, for the lack of a better word, is bad" (Thanks to the movie - "Wall Street" for this quote).

पडू अाजारी...

2006-12-07T19:49:00.000-05:00

Note: To read this post, your browser needs to be able to display Devanagari fonts.

लहानपणी अाजारी पडलो की अाजी एक गाणं म्हणायची.
"पडू अाजारी मौज हीच वाटे भारी ..." जणू काही अाजारी पडलं की सगळं काही हातात मिळतं अाणि शाळेला पण सुट्टी अशा अर्थाचं ते गाणं होतं. पुढचं गाणं काही अाठवत नाही. पण अजूनही अाजारी पडलो की मला पहिली अाठवण होते ती माझ्या अाजीची, वडलांच्या अाईची.

कर्जतच्या जवळ कोंढाणं म्हणून एक गाव अाहे. एकदा मी तिथं कुठल्याश्या उत्सवाच्या निमित्तानं गेलो होतो. भर पावसाचे दिवस. अन त्यात मला झालेली चिकार सर्दी. वर तिथं मी काय तेलकट खाल्लं हे तो रामच जाणे. पण मला शेवटचं अाठवतं ते म्हणजे मी टेम्पोतून कसाबसा उतरलो अाणि थेट घरी गेलो. काहीही सुचत नव्हतं अाणि डोकं एकदम जड झालेलं. सगळं खाल्लेलं घशाशी अालेलं.

घरी गेल्यावर अाजीनं फर्स्टक्लास चहा बनवून दिला अाणि दडपे पोहे खायला दिले. मग मी मस्तपैकी अाजीची गोधडी (तिला मी 'लाल' म्हणतो, ती वेगळीच स्टोरी अाहे) घेऊन अाणि चहा, पोहे अाणि एक पुस्तक घेऊन वाचत बसलो. नंतर छानपैकी पातीचहा पण प्यायलो. बरं कधी वाटलं ते कळलंच नाही.

गेले दोन दिवस मला खूप बरं नव्हतं. सर्दी, खोकला, ताप ... एकंदरीत तब्ब्येतिची तुतारी वाजली होती. पण अाता बरं नसेल तर जवळ घ्यायला अाणि थोपटायला अाजी नसते. फक्त तिची गोधडी असते अाणि अाठवणी.

Deutsch, Warum Nicht?

2006-12-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

For so many days I have been trying to find a good source to learn German. I started with a course that had a book, a cassette and an interactive CD. The course itself was very good. But unfortunately the CD would not be OS X compatible, only Windows. So I had to find another alternative. Secondly I would need the CD all the time.

I literally went to the public library 'n' number of times in search of books. I love the US public library system, it is awesome. Their resources were really good. So I started with an old book written by an English author. The format of the book was very similar to the one with which I started learning English; Mr. Tarkhadkar's English grammar. But soon I realized that this approach would not work in practice as I was not going to write exam based on that book. Then I got another book. It claimed to be equivalent of 2 years college course. It was quite a comprehensive book and I was almost halfway through it when I stopped. Again, the reason was it was not compatible for my needs. It had day-to-day dialogs and grammar. But it was all text and I needed some conversation that I can listen to. Learning a new language is sort of like learning Waltz. If you do not have anyone to practise with, you will soon forget. I had also got some exercise books and some books about simple daily conversations. But again, they would not contain grammar. So sometimes you just need a different approach even though the existing ones are very good in their own place.

And at this point, I found a nice website; Deutsche Welle. It has a very user friendly section on beginner German course. They have the dialogs online. In addition to that, they also have transcripts of those dialogs. They have small exercises for each chapter and word lists. Another thing I liked about them is that they provide simple phrases for a conversation. Even at the beginner level, the course has 4 sections. Each section has 26 chapters.

So far I am doing good. I have solved all the exercises and listened to all the conversations. I have completed 15 chapters from series I. That means I have a long way to go. But now I think I have finally found my source to learn a language I have always liked. So I am quoting their slogan here as well as in the title.

Deutsch, warum nicht? German, why not?

Waiting for E70

2006-11-30T23:17:00.000-05:00

After much deliberation and discussions with friends and thorough research, I decided to change my current cellphone. In my friend Manish Joshi's words, "My aim is to use a single device". This makes perfect sense to me. I do not want to carry a mobile phone, an iPod a digital camera and laptop most of the time. I want one digital Jeeves that will help me do most of my work while on the go.

So my first choice was Samsung BlackJack. They had an exclusive deal with Cingular and it looked pretty attractive, sleek and bright. It has a camera, full QUERTY keyboard, quad-band, office documents and PDF viewers etc etc. I almost bought it. But then I started thinking about what else I want in one device. I must say, Nokia's website especially Nokia India's website was a great help in my decision making process. Once on their site, I decided what I wanted in a phone and I made my list. My preferences were,

A full QUERTY keyboard
GSM International Phone Tri or Quad band
Camera
Office editors not only viewers
Wi-fi enabled. This was important. I will explain in a bit.
Music Player
Bluetooth
Extensible memory slot
HTML web browser

BlackJack and a lot of other phones including TMobile Dash, had most of these capabilities, but they lacked one or the other feature e.g. Wi-fi or Office doc editors. So if I have to browse internet using these phones, I would have to use GPRS or EDGE. This is not bad and considering that BJ is a 3G phone, it must be pretty fast. But this will require me to buy a data package from my service provider. Unlimited data package would put a hole of additional 40 dollars approx. in my pocket. Instead, if I have wi-fi, I can simple use this phone in a wireless hot spot and I am set to browse the Internet. As far as office documents are concerned, I could only view them or not at all on some phones. I wanted the ability to edit the office documents as well.

Now TMoble MDA has wi-fi and office suite and also Windows Mobile, but it was not unlocked phone to the best of my knowledge. The E70 that I have ordered is unlocked. So that gives me freedom to use it in different countries. Also MDA has 1.3 MP camera, E70 has 2.0 MP.

So finally I decided to splurge some money and bought myself this holiday gift. It has not arrived yet. But I cannot simply contain my excitement. I got a cool deal and I hope that my phone will will prove its mattle. I am going to call it my digital Jeeves.

I would surely write my review of this phone once I get is started. Till then... I pray that my phone arrives on time. Cheers!

एक चेहरा ...

2006-11-29T21:02:00.000-05:00

Note: To read this post, your browser needs to be able to display Devanagari fonts.

एक चेहरा ...

एक चेहरा असा साजरा
डोळ्यांपुढून जाइना
विरून गेली रात्र सारी
चैन काही पडेना

निमिषार्धाची भेट ती
पण क्षणामध्ये हे जुळले नाते
सेकंदांच्या चिमटीमध्ये
जग माझे गुरफटले होते

कळेन अाली कोठून चपला
करून गेली वाताहात
प्राण अडकला श्वासामध्ये
नजरेने केला त्या घात

नाव नाही पत्ता नाही
शोधू तिला कुठे अाता
भेटेल का ती परत मजला
जुळतील का अामच्या वाटा

भेटली जर का सांगीन तिजला
जीव माझा गुंतलाय ग
एक फुंकर फक्त घाल
काटा खोल रुतलाय ग

---- सुमोद

Thanksgiving.. down the memory lane

2006-11-28T22:50:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned previously, my friends from VJTI days did visit me this thanksgiving. So it was obvious that we would discuss lots of old stories. If I have to describe my years in VJTI, I can just recall the song, "Those were the best days of my life".

Indeed, I always get nostalgic when VJTI comes up in any discussion. VJTI is my engineering college where I did my BE, US equivalent of BS. So it is my Alma mater. I spent a major chunk of my formative years in the canteen of VJTI and around Matunga and Five gardens area.

I still like the Chinaman, DPs, Mani's restaurants. I simply love the aroma of coffee around the King's Circle area. I think it is the best coffee I can ever get. And of course, all the second-hand books you can get on the footpaths around that area, you cannot beat that price and the variety.

When I went there last time, I went to the open corridor on the third floor in my department and just looked at the quadrangle below. It was the 'Quad' where we would hang out, sit on the steps, have vada-pav or tea, complete our assignments 15 minutes before the submission. It was where Pratibimba, the annual festival would be held. Quadrangle was a phyical part of VJTI but it was an emotional part of our life. The 'Quad' seemed awefully empty when we left VJTI the last time. But now it looked full again. It was full of unknown faces, with the same rush, carrying same folders, speaking about same labs and viva-s and trying to catch same trains and buses.

I still remember my first lecture in VJTI. It was maths-1 and I was late for that. It did not take long to make my best friends. Semesters passed, exams happened or got postponed, vivas gave us sleepless nights, assignments came and went, practicals and journals were done as had to be. But the bonds of friendship and affinity we formed in VJTI lasted through all that. Even after all these years, I cannot forget my 7:56 morning train to Dadar and the 5:24 or 5:40 evening train from Dadar, and my friends who would hold seat for me.

Simply said, "Those were the best days of my life!"

Marathi Poem

2006-11-27T19:51:00.000-05:00

भावना माझ्या मनीच्या

भावना माझ्या मनीच्या त्या तुला कळणार कशा
पाचुमय पाषाण नजरा स्निग्ध मला मिळणार कशा

वाट पाहून विरहवणव्यात जाहलो निष्पर्ण मी
अव्यक्त शब्दकुसुमांस माझ्या बहर कधी येणार कसा

का मी झालो वेडापिसा हा प्रश्न मुळी पडणार कसा
प्रेमप्रश्ना प्रेम उत्तर हा खुलासा पटणार कसा

वादळांतून तुजपर्यन्त मार्ग सापडणार कसा
गुंतलेल्या हृदयाचा ह्या पिळ कधी सुटणार कसा

---- सुमोद
२७/११/०६

Dhoom 2

2006-11-26T22:35:00.000-05:00

It was an 'on the spur of the moment' decision. Today afternoon my friend Kini called me and asked me if I was interested in going for Dhoom 2. I had liked Dhoom 1 a lot and all the songs as well. So I immediately said yes. Afterall movies are my passion.

I went to Dhoom 2 expecting a masala movie. A movie where a hero e.g. an ACP from Bombay Police just does everything in his abilities to catch a thief. I assumed that there will some taporigiri and corny dialogues. I was expecting, ok let me say it, at least one good dance number and other songs with catchy beats. I was expecting some 'kahani mein twist'. I was looking for a stupidly funny sidekick. I was definitely expecting car or bike chase and some hollywood-like special effects. I did not go to Dhoom 2 to get lessons for life and learn some ideals.

All my expectation were fulfilled 110%. Ash has really toned and tanned her body and looks great. I liked the scene very much where she descends down stairs in Hritik's villa wearing a blue dress. Her dress matches the decor of the background superbly. Before this movie, I did not like Bips particularly. But she also earns my appreciation in this movie. She has a double role, as a cop and as a babe in Brazil. She has been terrific in the latter. Abhishek has done justice to his role and he looks fine as an ACP. Poor kid, his dad is the living film industry and he will always suffer from his father's greatness no matter how hard he tries. Uday Chopra is the stupid sidekick of Abhishek and he has acted naturally. And finally the great thief aka A aka Aryan that is Mr. Hritik. I saw his movie after a long time. He is surely a good dancer and a match for Ash. Not bad at all.

The special effects and use of cool gadgets is definitely a plus point of this movie. Apart from that the outdoors in Brazil are awesome. The Spanish music in the background is nice too. The songs are catchy and especially the "Crazy kiya re" will be a big hit.

I will not tell the story and surely not the end. In all it is a paisa vasool movie. Pure entertainment for almost 3 hours.

Thanksgiving!

2006-11-24T19:38:00.000-05:00

I love holidays, I loved them in India and I love them here. Thanksgiving is a truely American holiday and I absolutely enjoy it. Whether I am visiting someone or someone is visiting me or I am just sitting at home, I like it nevertheless.

I still remember the thanksgiving we celebrated during my MS at College Park. We decided to make turkey... but sadly our cooking skills did not match our enthusiasm. In the end, we managed to pull through a palatable menu and it turned out to be quite good. At least nobody complained :). We had all our friends invited and it was a great party.

Last thanksgiving I did not go anywhere although my college friend visited me on thanksgiving eve. For the next two days, Spike channel had Bond movies re-runs and those saved my thanksgiving.

This thanksgiving day, I had my guitar lesson. So that kepy be busy. I am practising 'Pal Pal..'. And I am glad at my rate of progress. I need to find out the exact tempo of the song and that will help me a lot. I am also looking for western notations of marathi songs. I really want to practise "Sur Tech Chhedita", but I cannot get notations anywhere.

Good news is that my college friend is visiting me and another friend will be joining us tomorrow. So it will be fun, lots of catching up with old pals and VJTI memories. I am looking forward to a great time and discussions on almost all topics.

Have a happy thanksgiving!

Something worth reading.. and remembering

2006-11-23T17:15:00.000-05:00

भग्न स्वप्नांच्या तुकड्यांना कवटाळून बसण्यासाठी मनुष्य जन्माला अालेला नाही.

मानवाचे मन केवळ भूतकाळाच्या साखळदंडांनी बांधून ठेवता येत नाही. त्याला गरुडपंखांचं वरदानही लाभलं अाहे.

एखादं स्वप्न पाहणं, ते फुलविणे, ते सत्यसृष्टीत उतरावं म्हणून धडपडणे, त्या धडपडीतला अानंद लुटणे अाणि दुर्दैवाने ते स्वप्न भग्न पावलं तरी त्याच्या तुकड्यांवरून रक्ताळलेल्या पायांनी दुसर््या स्वप्नामागनं धावणं हा मानवी मनाचा धर्म अाहे. मनुष्याच्या जीवनाला अर्थ येतो तो यामुळं !

----
'अमृतवेल'
वि. स. खांडेकर

Lage Raho Munnabhai.. bole to zakaas

2006-11-19T22:30:00.000-05:00

तो क्या बोल रेहेला था अापुन ? अाज अापुनने एक मस्त सिनेमा देखा। काफी टायम से अापुन का पंटर लोग बोल रहा था की भिडु एक बार मुन्नाकी गांधीगीरी देख लो। एकदम हिट पिक्चर हैं। तो अाज अापुन ने टाईम निकालके डीक्स पे पिक्चर देखा। दिल खुश हो गया बाप! बनानेवाले ने भी क्या सोच के चिज बनायी हैं। कॉमेडी, अॅक्शन, ड्रामा, रोमान्स, सब मसाला तो हैं ही, अैार साथमें फंडु ....... क्या बोलतें हें हा !! फिलॉसॉफि, भी। साला रात दिन मुम्बई के तेज बाउन्सर से दिमाग का दही होता हैं, पर बापु के गुगली ने कब अपनी विकेट ली, पत्ताच नाही चला। ये सिनेमा पहेले मुन्नाभाई एम बी बी एस से कुछ वास्ता नही रखता हैं। मतबल ये के, मुन्ना अैार सर्कीट वापस से अकेले हैं अौर अपने भाईगीरी में व्यस्त हैं। पर हाय ये कम्बख्त दिल कब कीसीके पे अाता हैं वो बोलके थोडे ही ना? तो मुन्ना भी लट्टु हो गया हें, जान्हवी पर, अब उसे पहेले मिलने अौर फिर पटाने के चक्कर में मुन्ना बनता हैं प्रोफेसर अौर पढने लगता हैं बापुजी के विचार, अैार उस में उसे बापुजी दर्शन भी देने लगते हैं। अब अाता हैं कहानी में ट्वीस्ट, मतबल ये के बभूआ, एक कमीना विलैन जो जान्हवी अौर उसके दादाजी का मकान हडपना चाहता हैं। अब मुन्ना जान्हवी को सच बतायेगा?, क्या गांधीगीरी से वो जान्हवी का प्यार अौर मकान दोनो हासील कर पायेगा? बॉस, सब इस्टोरी मैं ही बोलेगा, तो तुम क्या करेगा, मामु? जा जाके पिक्चर देख, वट ले, वट ले।

My first Hummingbird Guitar... well sort of

2006-11-18T22:37:00.000-05:00

I had a tough piece to practise today, "Cielito Lindo" or translated in English, Beautiful Heaven. It is a spanish piece. After a while, my guitar teacher, Mr. Williams, asked me to try a new guitar to play an etude in the key of D in second position.

I liked the guitar the moment I looked at it. The first thing I noticed about it was a beautiful design of roses and a bird done on a patch next to the sound hole. It had a bright yellow colour covering most of its body merging into sunset red colour towards the bottom. My teacher told me this type of guitar is called as "Hummingbird Guitar". And the mixture of yellow and red colour is called as sunburst. Indeed, it was giving the guitar a cool flamingo appearance. It was a Cortez guitar, made in Japan. It was not very large as compared to my Yamaha folk guitar. But even though the width, height and thickness were only slightly larger, they were increasing the total 'hollow' volume of the guitar. So it was producing indeed better sound.

It is amazing what a good instrument can do to your playing skills :). I was so happy playing that guitar that I did not realize I had made quite a good progress on the etude I was playing. For the first time, I was truly enjoying the music without worrying about the metronome.

Geez! I want to buy that guitar for me. But I am pretty sure it is very expensive. May be one day.

Casino Royale

2006-11-17T19:43:00.000-05:00

I happened to watch Casino Royale today. Since I have been a huge fan of all the 007 movies, I was pretty excited about the new movie and to see how the new Bond fares. It will be quite unjust if I just say that it was a bad movie. But I should say that I was a bit disappointed after watching the movie.

First the good parts, this movies begins with a black and white scene. This helps to create an atmosphere. The theme song "You know my name" has been done really well. The director has created a nice effect with the animated cards. The stunts especially the chase in the beginning is extraordinary and breathtaking.

Having said this, I do have some negative points to mention. First of all, Bond has been shown as an emotional person. I think this does not confirm with the Bond we have known over the years. I agree that this movie was supposed to show the beginning of James Bond and hence they might want to show his evolution as an agent. But they could have done a better job. They have shown James Bond falling in love, losing his cool and having a big ego. I mean if they only had shown him dancing around trees with Eva Green and singing group songs, they could have turned this into a Bollywood movie.

I also missed Moneypenny and Q. Judi Dench is the M, quite quintessential . About the new Bond, well, I still think the throne belongs to Sean Connery. I think Daniel Craig has done an honest job. But he simply does not have the charm and suave-ness yet. another thing to miss is, well last but not the least, witty or rather corny dialogs. And of course, Eva Green is stunningly beautiful. She looks gorgeous, acts well and keeps a good demeanour.

Will I recommend this movie? Sure I will. Just know that this is supposed to be the beginning of Bond. So keep your expectations accordingly.

Growing up

2006-11-12T21:42:00.000-05:00

Pure, simple pleasures pouring through the sky
Uncoditional love from kind hearts
Words of wisdom taught by grey hair
Friendship in its truest sense

Everything I have I am grateful for
Nothing I don't, I miss
Moments of success and everlasting memories
With loved ones near and far

Long way have I come
Remember every step I took
Gathered along the way, some experience
Lessons of life never to forget

Where will I go from here
I do not know
But I will never be away
From my home

- Sumod 11/12/2006

Marketing close to heart

2006-11-05T20:05:00.000-05:00

I had never thought I would be interested in aspects of marketing. It was until last week when I watched Kevin Roberts on CNBC. The CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi, was on Squawk Box to talk about his new book: Lovemarks, the future beyong brands.

The point Kevin made was quite simple. There are psychological reasons why people buy a certain brand even when they have plethora of options. It is kind of an emotional bonding that exists between the consumer and the product. e.g. there are a multitude of MP3 players out in the market, but iPod is the undisputed king. The other players might be better or cheaper or store more songs or offer more functions and formats. But iPod had been able to make a connection with the music lover that other instruments can only dream of. It is not only a status symbol, it also has a 'cool' and 'hip' factor. Same is the story with Nike.

"Lovemarks are brands that inspire loyalty beyond reason." (Ref: http://www.saatchi.com/worldwide/kevin_roberts.asp)

Come to think of it, this strategy should be applied not only in marketing but in lot other places. e.g. If students are studying not because they have an exam to pass, but they like it, it will produce better results. It is like focusing more on the roots than on the fruits. This is an inherent paradigm shift that considers consumer as a person and not only a marketing target. Because when you consider each consumer as an individual, you try to make your product more individualistic. And that gives your product a unique edge.

Auf Wiedersehen Mr. Schumacher

2006-10-22T14:45:00.001-04:00

Today was the last race of the 2006 season of F1. Sao Paolo saw the emergence Fernando Alonso as back to back world champion. But this race and this day will be remembered in the history of F1 as end of an era called Michael Schumacher.

For the last 10 years, Michael Schumacher has defined F1 with his attitude of and off the race track, his extreme shrewdness, his focus and his wins. The 7 time world champion was not supposed to end his career quietly and he gave his fans what they watch the F1 for.

He started the race on 10th position after a disastrous qualifier. He managed to climb to 6th position. But after an unfortunate flat tire he was relegated to 18th spot. But Michael never gives up and he came back fighting to 4th position after some unbelievably fastest laps. He could not get the title and could not stop Alonso from becoming the world champion. But he showed the spirit and the style that true F1 fans will never forget.

Ferrari won the race with Massa topping the track. Renault won the constructors' trophy.

We will never see Michael on the tracks again but we will never forget this great German.

Thanks Mr. Schumacher for giving us many reasons to be a part of F1!

10 important skills for a software tester

2006-10-13T23:43:00.001-04:00

1. Programming concepts
2. Basic OS commands
3. Scripting
4. Debugging skills
5. Persistence
6. Algorithms
7. Database knowledge
8. Analytical mind
9. Communication skills
10. Methodical approach

Life

2006-10-08T01:20:00.000-04:00

Life is
A journey, complete it.

A beauty, love it.

A duty, do it.

A pain, bear it.

A reality, accept it.

A dream, cherish it.

A mission, fulfill it.

-----sumod

Happy Dasara

2006-10-01T23:08:00.000-04:00

In India, today is the culmination of the 10 day festival of Navaratri (Nine nights). This festival marks the victory of good over evil. The 10th day is also called as Vijaya Dashami (The 10th day or the Hindu month Ashwin to celebrate this Vijay i.e. vicorty). On this day, people worship their tools. So a broker might worship his quote tracker, a student his books or a programmer his computer.

But before I celebrated Dasara by eating rasgullas and wishing my parents, I spent friday and saturday working on my guitar lessons and german lessons. My music notations books arrived from Delhi this week. I always wanted to work on some hindi songs. Now my problem is, I am learning guitar in American notations. So I have no clue about raag, taal and matra and any Indian notations. During my India trip this spring, I was searching for some music books in western notatins. Finally I found the books online and hence the story. I hope to get started with some simple songs without any sharp or flats. There are always complex things to follow. As my music teacher says "Music is patience"..

I reached about 1/3rd in my German book this weekend. Now that does not mean that I know and remember everything I have read so far. It only means that I am a fast reader :). So I hope to complete this book one time and then start all over again. In the meantime, I should write the words and phrases.

I also borrowed "The world is flat" from my public library. I just breezed through it and then returned it. When I have so many things to do, I need to prioritize my tasks. After all everyone has 24 hours. Also, I kind of know the jist of the book by quick reading.

I got to watch the BBC thriller series Wire in the Blood this weekend. Robson Green is quite cool as a clinical psychologist. But I must mention, the TV show is quite explicit and may not be suitable for all viewers.

I still have to read this month's issue of Fortune. I am so used to doing most of my reading online that reading a magazine has become a rarity.

So much for now. Lots of things to do the coming week.

Multiple version of FF.. simultaneously

2006-09-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

If I am a web developer, I would surely want my site to look good in all browsers. So I need to test that before my users do, right? This is easily possible for Firefox browser.

Say I have two versions of Firefox. One is the latest 1.5 and the other is old say 1.0.
1.5 is the one that I developed my site with. But I know that quite a few of my users are attached to 1.0. So I would need to install both the browsers on my PC. Thats where the pain starts. The moment I install the second version with all its shortcut, quick link etc. that version takes over. I found a solution to this problem on this site:

http://www.hiveminds.co.uk/node/3114.

They have detail explanation for a simple process and a complicated one. Now since I am a firm beliver in the KISS policy (Keep it simple, sir), I decided to follow the simple process. But I hit some roadblocks and had to find the workarounds on my own. So I thought why not streamline my steps.
1. I had FF 1.5 installed in c:\program files\......
2. So I installed FF 1.0 in my d:\ to be on the safer side. I did not do a typical install. I chose to do custom install. At the end of installation, I did not choose to use the shortcut, quick link etc.
3. Now I have two FFs. One is the one I can start from my desktop shortcut and the other I can start from my d:\. But ideally I want to use two shortcuts say FF1.5 and FF1.0.
4. So I created the shortcut on desktop using RMC menu.
5. I created a new env. variable, moz_no_remote and set it to 1.
6. I executed FF1.5, it started with the default profile.
7. Same for FF1.0, now I was asked if I wanted to use the default profile, or create a new one or rename the exististing etc. etc. I chose to create a new profile for my FF1.0.
8. Prima!, I was using two versions for FF at the same time.
Have fun!

Note 1: In http://www.hiveminds.co.uk/node/3114, they mention to modify the shortcuts and append "-p default" and similar things after the path to the executable. I did that, but still had to create my profile manually. So I am going to to investigate if appending path is necessary and accrodingly will modify the post.
Note 2: These steps suited my particular environment. If you decide to follow them, kindly do so at your own judgement.
Note 3: You can get older versions of Firefox from
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/

A week in perspective

2006-09-24T13:01:00.000-04:00

The week was relatively cold compared to the week before that. Fall has officially started. In fact on Friday, I had to wear a sweater to work. Now soon, all the leaves will change colours slowly and steadily. The whole landscape will be very beautiful. Then trees will shed the leaves and winter will arrive. Will I continue to write my blog till then? Too early to tell. We will see.

At work it was quite a rewarding week and I learnt a lot while solving a technical problem. This hard work deserved a good dinner on Friday. And as fate would have it, we went to a nice new Indian restaurant for dinner to celebrate birthdays of my friends. This place has a nice combination of Punjabi and South-Indian dishes. I opted for the latter and then had Mysore Coffee. The coffee was OK, not as good as I would have it in Matunga.

Saturday, as usual I went to guitar lessons. I need to practise more :). But I am progressing at a steady pace and that still counts, right?

I still have to focus on my German. I need to work on my vocabulary. Let's see if I can spend this Sunday on that. Auf wiedersehen.

The swing of life

2006-09-19T23:37:00.000-04:00

It was a cool fall evening and I was at the driving range practising my 7 iron. There was a tall and slender gentleman probably in his 50s. He was hitting the ball at a precision I had rarely seen except for tournaments. He was probably hitting 250 yards every time. After noticing for some time, I could not help but comment on his skills. He said something that I will never forget. "You hit the ball sometimes, sometimes you miss, but you have to come here everyday and hit it as best as you can". I learnt much more about golf and life in that one sentence itself.

Since I started taking lessons last year and got interested in this game, I noticed that Golf is very much like meditation or yoga. Contrary to what it may appear to lying eyes, you do need more focus and accuracy than brute force. In fact you can hurt yourself if you do not use correct technique. Correct posture, grip, nice swing and hitting the ball at the sweet spot of the club, it does not ask for much more. An interesting thing is that you should focus on the ball on the ground and not where you expect the ball to land. This is the modern equivalent of "you have right to only your work and not to the fruits of it".

Lush green field all around you, a small ball to focus on, surrounded by equally focused individuals and the freedom to apply your skills in the best way possible. Isn't Golf the modern meditation?