If you were a citizen....

Yesterday saw a historic moment in US history and America lived up to its name where any dream can come true. I am sure the global perspective about America will change and the anti American sentiments will tone down.Am I happy? Yes, I guess. I am sure Obama's health care plan will be a big boost, though I am still not sure if it will affect me as he is forgiving to the small industries , but wants the big employers to pay towards the national plan. Will it trickle down and affect my premium? I don't know, but I am OK with contributing to the national plan as I have seen lot of old people( courtesy, my red toe nail support group) suffering with the current health plan. Believe me when I say we are blessed to have an employer-sponsored plan. Yes, it might be getting close to socialism, but I am fine.My taxes will most probably get affected, now, that is something I am not happy about.It is time to wait and watch. All the Indian newspapers are screaming about BPOs and outsourcing . He is sure to take out the tax breaks which all the outsourcing firms were enjoying and if you ask me, that is a big YES!!. I think it was preposterous and ridiculous for the businesses to enjoy such benefits.
Coming to california, there was an important Proposition (Prop 8) for which all the citizens voted last night. For the unaware, Prop 8 is amending the California Constitution, which was passed in May 2008, letting gay couples marry. Unfortunately, after the passing of Prop 8 last night, no one knows what the status of the multitude of gay couples who got married in the past few months, will be. Do they have to remove their wedding bands? Its a pity that the same day when the Californians who elected an african-american as a president, proving that race is no bar , also voted for prop 8 , thereby discriminating people based on sexual orientation. In my opinion, I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. People who are together for years might get some benefits by getting married, especially while filing taxes.And , I firmly believe that Church and State should not be mingled. There were mormons from Utah, who came to Cal , with all their multitude of wives and children in tow,just to campaign for Prop 8. How ludicrous can it get?
If you were a citizen, would you have voted for Prop 8 ?

On a lighter note, whenever I type Obama,MSWord asks for a spell check and tries to replace it with Osama. Obviously, Osama has been popular till now and is definitely going to be ousted by Obama.:-)

Sterotyping

I claim that I hate stereotyping, though I catch myself doing it at times. Frankly speaking, I do get nervous when I pass a couple of black teenagers while going for my walk. And to strengthen my point, once I was teased by a 5 year old and was afraid to retaliate as I was not sure of the protocol, especially when it comes to black kids. It could be interpreted as racism just to admonish the kid… Would the kid have teased me if I were a white woman? Would a white kid have teased me? Will it be considered racist if I shout at the kid? With all these thoughts, I just walked and made sure I ignore him and his friends, just a bunch of 5 yr olds.

A couple of months after joining linear, an engineer from the Singapore plant visited us for some training on a particular tester, of which I was supposed to be an expert and was hired for the same reason. I was sitting at a station debugging some board, when this guy walks over to me and asks about some operator setup. Firstly, I was new to the place and had no clue about what he was asking and secondly, I was not an operator. I looked at him and said that he needs to ask that question to an operator. He just blurted out, “Oh! I thought you were an operator”. Apparently, in Singapore, lots of srilankan and Indian women are operators and he had never seen a female test engineer till then. Go figure!! That was just the beginning. I have been mistaken for an operator a few times ever since just because I am female and it is very rare to find women in my area of expertise. I tend to laugh it off or give some smart-aleck retort, which usually forces them to laugh or blush.

If you watch sitcoms, you can see the Indian stereotyping. Any sitcom based in New York such as “How I met your mother” will see an Indian taxi driver, which can be quite annoying. But a sitcom based in CAL will usually have an Indian doctor or an Indian scientist,aka Raj from “The Big Bang Theory”. I don’t mind the Indian accent though as I think almost 95% of Indians have their Indian-American accent, in slightly different flavors. When watching discovery channel, it looks like we have snake charmers in every nook and corner of India. People are too busy catching snakes for dinner, to be had along with Monkey Brains(thanks to Indiana Jones) while making phone calls to American customers, with a cow standing just outside the door( Have you seen the movie “Outsourced”?)..Just yesterday, a colleague was talking about catching snakes to explain to me about something as if talking about snakes will make me understand it better and no, I am not making this up. When a junior Indian guy joined our team, which was a rarity in our firm, people came up to me and seriously asked if he was my brother, 'coz we look alike you see..:-) I could go on and on..

Talking about the upcoming elections, I am yet to see a single Indian who supports the republican govt. Is it just because of Bush and the Iraq war or is it just because we like to be democrats? Most of the Indians in the bay area will have an increase in tax cut if Obama gets elected. He has given the limit as 250K. Obama always talks about the middle class, well, I can guarantee you that most of the Indian engineers , especially with a two-income household are not middleclass. The average salary for a middle class family in SanJose is 70K. Is it because we associate Democracy with freedom back home , that we like to vote for a democrat , if we were citizens? Yes, Bush can be hated and you can be against the war, but are we stereotyping here?
Be it race, gender, country of origin , government , I think our brain has some association for certain words , which triggers a set of actions. Maybe, that is stereotyping and it may not be easy not to.
Have you ever been stereotyped or have you found yourself stereotyping someone when it was otherwise?

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED

I got this post as an email. Thought it would be better to post it here.


Men Are Just Happier People--
What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last
name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take
care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can
never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water
park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics
tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have
to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is
just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which
way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles
add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People
never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One
mood all the time.Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds
flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation
requires only one suitcase.. You can open all your own jars.
You get extra credit for the slightest act of
thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she
can still be your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a
three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You
almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable
to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face
stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for
years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and
neck. You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and
one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons. You can wear
shorts no matter how your legs look. You can 'do'
your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice
concerning growing a mustache. You can do Christmas shopping
for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes. No wonder men
are happier. Send this to the women who can handle it and to
the men who will enjoy reading it.

Security & Me

I appreciate security. I appreciate the notion that I can go about my business dealings in a secure, risk-free manner.

Nobody can access my Pre-tax savings. I have been accumulating reserves paycheck to paycheck. I sit like a mother hen and imagine it grow. Considering imagination is the only course of action open to me now, it is a pretty good occupation to indulge in. Nobody can access my Pre-tax savings, not even myself.

I have been slacking with reimbursements and claims. As I groggily started my day, I decided to attack all of the 'Pending' items on my to-do list. Transit claims, expense claims - the works. I enter the site with determination. The site believes in security and so do I. It prompts me for a user id and password. Determination slowly turns to trepidation: This is where the trouble usually begins - each one asks for a different userid/password combination. I try to keep the passwords along the same lines, since there are atleast 8 different systems in the company I work in, dealing with different aspects of my life. The problem comes when each system requires me to change my passwords at varied intervals.

System 1 determines changing passwords once every 3 months is good enough, while system 3 wants it to be on a monthly basis. System 2, on the other hand, does not really care whether I change my password or not, as long as it is 32 characters long and has atleast 2 numerals irregularly spaced every 13 characters, and has atleast one special character to boot along with a rather simple requirement that the letters used cannot all be lower-case or upper-case. And it really only asks that you don't start the password with a capital letter.

I finally hit upon something - I appeased all the password Gods and dutifully complied with all the rules. I saved the passwords cryptically in my drafts folder. And for somebody to get to my drafts, they had to plunge into the very depths of my brain, and use advanced data mining techniques for connections and links to mundane details in my life, before they could find the password.

I had the system under control. Till it was determined that keeping one's email for too long is risky business too, and implemented a 30 day rolling deletion policy on email. One fine day, my drafts which contained the goldmine of information was deleted, without a trace of retrieval!

So, here I am enjoying a perfect day mailing random system administrators about my imperfect memory, and requesting system resets. They comply and remind me: I must only remember not to use any of the last 8 passwords I have ever used on the site. Given that I don't remember any of the passwords, is there a way to tell me which are the 8 I previously used, I ask innocently.

On the fallacies of the free market

The economy is in tatters and the markets are crashing! Billions of dollars of wealth (notional I agree) wiped out! The mortgage crisis, bad credit blah blah, greedy investment bankers...history repeats itself. What next? As most of you must have read, congress has voted against the proposed bailout package which could have potentially buoyed the market. As expected investors reacted by hammering the market. The question remains, was it the best decision to block the bailout package?

The credit crisis in recent times has made life tough for the average citizen. Banks are tougher on lending these days and even individuals are feeling the crunch with credit card limits being downgraded as we speak. The economy has slowed down considerably and the labor market is tight. In this backdrop, with lesser jobs and an uncertain future, people stop spending and start saving. When people start saving more the resultant lack of consumer spending hurts producers. When producers start feeling the pinch, they start to cut down on their costs and more layoffs occur. Thus the entire process spins out of control and leads to a depression.

What was the proposed solution to prevent the economy from tanking? Neutralize the credit squeeze in the market by bailing out banks. The government's plan on bailing out banks by removing bad assets might work, because it helps the banks balance sheet to walk out of the red zone. With the bad assets gone, banks are more healthy and can lend with more comfort thus inducing investment which in turn should lead to higher consumer spending. In sum, the idea is to kick start the economy by neutralizing the credit squeeze. In return, when markets bounce back the assets can slowly be removed from the books and the government does not really stand to lose.

Why was the plan rejected? Reports suggest that the citizens are unhappy with the plan, mainly because they think investment bankers were greedy and deserve to be in their current predicament. With elections nearing, it is a risky proposition from a political perspective to side an unpopular vote. Hence, it is but understandable that the vote went against the plan. The question remains: How informed is this opinion?

Agreed it might be a little late in the day to prevent near term depression in the economy, but the bigger question facing us today is how long will this depression last. There are striking similarities between what happened in Japan in the early 90's and the current situation in the US. In the Japanese case the economy tanked and stayed there for nearly 10 years. Will we see a similar recession here? While the opinion of the people is important, is it informed enough? Do they realize that their opposition will come back to bite them over the next few months? Only time will tell!

Tax the Rich ?

Came across this in a forum... Had to blog...:)

Our Tax System Explained: "Bar Stool Economics"

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:

The first four men (The poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all
such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily
beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They
realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from
everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up
being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be
fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded
to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare
their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to
the tenth man," but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth
man. "I only saved a dollar, too It's unfair that he got ten times more than
I!" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back
when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute,"
yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The
system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down
and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of
them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start
drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics University of Georgia

Education For Life

I read an article in the Times comparing the number of school days for children in the USA against the number of school days in other countries such as Korea, Japan, china, India, Australia etc. No surprises there - US ranks amongst the lowest in the world. Now thanks to the fuel escalation problems, a few schools are contemplating the move of reducing the week to have more hours per school day for 4 days, and reduce the totals number of school days from 5 to 4 per week. I am not sure I could stop with just outlining a few problems with this approach, but I'll try not to ramble on...

1) Regardless of the number of hours spent in school, children are still left with one whole day apart from the week-end twiddling their thumbs and thinking of "recreational activities". I have my serious doubts whether the studious teenagers would dedicate their unsupervised time and energy to finishing up their homework or additional research.
Holiday Homework
Every vacation, we left school with the familiar brown coloured sheets detailing our holiday homework. The holidays would start, and the holiday homework would find itself buried in my room and mind. In my mind, it would raise its head every now and then reminding me about the unfinished work as the holidays went slipping by. My intentions were good, but there was just not enough time! I had to pick berries, gather materials for our toy-house construction, cycle all over campus, read Enid Blytons and cook up adventures in my mind to solve. Before you knew it, it was the last week, and I was scrambling to complete my holiday homework. Countries may be different, but I am guessing children universally would dilly-dally till the last moment to do any work. I very much doubt that children would spend Friday toiling over their schoolwork while their parents are at work. My guess is it would still be done only on Sunday night afer giving considerable strain to parental nerves!

2) The parents would have to arrange for care for the children on this day. Companies are not giving us 4 day work weeks, they would still expect employees to be present on Fridays.

3) This point is the most jarring one. In a separate study comparing vacation times among US, Britain, Australia, France and Japan, US ranked the lowest. The number of Paid time off in the USA seems to be close to the lowest in the developed world! I am uncomfortable with this. I thought Education and schooling was meant to prepare you for life! This model teaches children to expect a lackadaisical 4 day work week, and then when they start working - BAM! We strap them to their jobs and whip them without a vacation!

Particle Physics and Music

N'Joy

I found this amusing piece of news today:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/8/27/wb-files-suit-over-hari-puttar-film-title-in-india
A Bollywood movie names "Hari Puttar" is scheduled for release. Puttar, as in 'Son' in Punjabi, and Hari - the usual Hari. Guess what Warner Bros is suing about? It sounds like Harry Potter!

The Dark Side of Youtube

I recently came across this video on Youtube.



Obviously, the professor dropping his pants was certainly off limits. But what about the lady professor? Was she not off limits? But even more dangerous is the fact that this exchange was filmed and pushed it out on Youtube. Imagine somebody recording a chit chat session where you make fun of say your manager (not intentional but just for fun) or recording an ugly scene in office and putting it on youtube. Would you actually enjoy that? As the professor himself said "...what one needs to think of is how comfortable you would be if the worst eight minutes of your life is recorded and put in the public domain...". A very valid concern I would say. Any thoughts????

A Leap_Yearly Affair

It happens every leap year without fail. There is a sinking feeling, a feeling of great shame. As the second most populous nation in the world marches into the Olympic arena along with every other countries (some hitherto unheard of), the Indian in me cowers. I know of the feeble attempt we will manage, and feel terribly sorry to see the tiny contingent who has made it to the Games.

What do we lack?Political will for sure. The making of Sports as an industry for another. Sports have to be made enticing enough to want to make people pursue them as a career. The prime-time in the life of an athlete is a short span, and if the industry surrounding this spurt does not sustain such talented individuals, few people would make the choice. There have to be careers for those who excel - as trainers, as team co-ordinators, as people who can be given the responsility to contributing to decisions in ways that touch not just their lives, but those of others who have the honor of representing the country. Cricket has achieved that, and I think it should be the same for other arenas too.

Brainwaves and I were chatting about this, and one viable option would be to have a roadmap to win 5 medals in the next Olympics, and then make a career path for aspiring athletes. Make the infrastructure ready and available, hone skills and inspire people to succeed.

It is not difficult to achieve once the commitment is made, just difficult to overcome the reluctance to commit.

Kung Fu and Professors

The gulp and the gul[grum]py sequel

2 articles that I blogged on my personal blog

The gulp

The gul[rum]py sequel

Happenings & Tragedies

You are traveling at 80 miles/hr and the traffic comes almost to a stand still because of all the
rubbernecking at a four car crash on the freeway , making you late for your appointment…..Happening

You break your neck due to a four car crash on the freeway….Tragedy

You watch the World Trade Center crash down in TV - Happening

You are in the North Tower and rush down to save yourself while watching people jump to their death… - Tragedy

Your close friend’s grandmother dies and you console her – Happening

Your grandmother dies - Tragedy

Your friend's loved one gets terminal illness - Happening

You or a loved one gets terminal illness - Tragedy

In Memory of Raga

http://nourish-n-cherish.blogspot.com/2008/06/in-memory-of-raga.html

மஞ்சள் ரத்தம் - சுஜாதா

Murthy brought her along and informally introduced her: "Ramu, her name is Sathya and she will be with you for a month"

She is probably 19, I thought. Scrambled hair, a serious and tired look. She was looking through me. This, while reading a book!

"This is Ramu. This is the place I told you about" murthy said to her.

"Do I have any say? Just show me the room", she sounded nonchalant
I dragged Murthy aside, and told him, " I don't think this will work. My first impression is not good at all"

"Ramu, you only asked me to bring someone for company while your wife is gone for her delivery. Don't judge her by her looks. I will ask her to clean-up. Unfortunately I accepted to take her for government's exchange program, but now that my father-in-law is here for his eye operation, it is difficult to keep her in my house"

"Who is she?"

"She is part of some important experimentation project. They are going to send her for orientation before sending to observation. She will not create any problems for you. She will even have her food outside, you will have no problems. Again, thanks for helping out in need"

"Don't bother" I responded

Murthy left. I showed her the room. Why does she need an umbrella?, I thought to myself.
As murthy mentioned, she was no trouble. I saw her one day while she was asleep and it was weird. I wondered where she really came from.

The next day morning I gave her the newspaper and she said, "I am not interested in your news". "Your" news. I got curious.

She also said that she will eat canteen food and rejected my offer to take her special request (if any).

She was reading. "Where are you from Satya?" I queried. "Different planet" I added.
"I don't like to answer to these kind of questions", she said. I sensed some irritation.

There were subtle differences in her approach to day-to-day things that I found intriguing. She read a different set of books and she bobbed her head a bit when she talked. She also used uncommon words. All this made me really curious. I decided to probe her a little further. First things first, I have to see her body parts. The next day I came early and peeked through the half opened door. I could only see a little bit but it was certainly very different.

"Her body is very different Thanigai. She must be an alien", I told my other friend.
"I don't think that is proof enough. Only confirmed way is blood test".
He took the small laser beam knife. "Use it on her hand or leg. It won't hurt. It is a surgeon's knife", he handed it to me.

"Why to go all the way, it is just a month", I was backing by now.
"Another way is to check for a master clock in her chest. But blood is only fool proof way", he was convinced.
"What if, she calls for emergency help?"
"Courage is must if you want to quench your curiosity", he mumbled.
Satya came out of her room and said "Hello" with no interest.
Thanigai and I decide to go for it. He jumped and held her hand. "Leave me alone. Please don't hurt me", she screamed in pain.

"Is this real pain? Is the tears synthetic?", I wondered

I touched her hands with that knife. It was swift and short.
Small droplet of blood started flowing. It was Red. Dark Red!!
Not the yellow blood we are used to.....

(My attempt at translating excellent Sujatha. He wrote this 25+ years back. Below is the strip down version of the original)
========= தமிழ் ====
சுஜாதா சுவடுகள்
மஞ்சள் ரத்தம்
ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை காலை மூர்த்தி அவளை அழைத்து வந்தான். சம்பிரதாய அறிமுகம் இல்லாமல், ''ராமு, இவ பேரு சத்யா. மாதம் பூரா இவ உன்கூட இருக்கப் போறா.''
அவன் அழைத்து வந்த பெண்ணுக்குப் பத்தொன்பது வயசு இருக்கும். கலைந்த தலை, தீவிரமான தோற்றம். சகல சொத்துக்களும் முதுகுச் சுமையில் அடங்கி இருந்தது. என்னைப் பார்த்துச் சிரிக்கவும் இல்லை, முறைக்கவும் இல்லை. நின்றுகொண்டு இருக்கும்போதே புத்தகம் படித்துக் கொண்டு இருந்தாள்.
''சத்யா, இதுதான் ராமு. நான் சொன்னனே, இங்கதான் நீ இருக்கப்போறே'' என்றான்.
''எனக்கு இதில் ஏதாவது உரிமை இருக்கா என்ன? என் ரூமைக் காட்டினா அங்கே போறேன்'' என்றாள் அந்தப் பெண்.
மூர்த்தி என்னைச் சற்றுத் தர்மசங்கடமாகப் பார்த்தான். ''அவ ஒரு மாதிரி'' என்றான். மூர்த்தியைத் தனியாக அழைத்து ''மூர்த்தி, நீ செய்யற காரியம் உனக்கே நல்லா இருக்கா?''
''நீதானே சொன்னே. உன் மனைவி பிரசவத்துக்குப் போயிருக்கா. சில மாதங்களுக்கு யாரும் இருக்க மாட்டானு, கம்பெனிக்காக யாரையாவது அனுப்புன்னு?''
''அதுக்காக இந்த மாதிரி சிடுமூஞ்சிப் பெண்ணையா சொன்னேன்?''
''ஏன் இவளுக்கு என்ன?''
''என்ன மூர்த்தி, அவளைப் பார்த்தா ஒரு மாதிரி இல்லை?''
மூர்த்தி என்னை நிதானமாகப் பார்த்து, ''ராமு, நீ... நீ எப்படி முடிவெடுக்க முடியும்? அவளோடு ஒரு வார்த்தை பேசியிருக்கியா இதுவரைக்கும்? பேசிப் பாரு.''
''தோற்றத்தைப் பார்த்தாலே தெரியவில்லையா?''
''என்ன தெரியுது?''
'ஒரு மாதிரின்னு.''
''ஒரு மாதிரின்னா என்ன? புரியலை. நான் வேணா சொல்லிர்றன், சுத்தமாகக் குளிகும்படி. ராமு, நான் ஒரு இக்கட்டில் இருக்கேன். எக்ஸ்சேஞ் புரொகிராம்படி இவள என் வீட்டுக்கு அனுப்பியிருக்காங்க. எனக்கு இப்ப இக்கட்டான நிலை. என் மாமனார் பரிவாரத்தோட கண் ஆபரேஷனுக்கு வந்திருக்கார். அதனால் வீட்ல இடம் இல்லை. அரசாங்கத்துக்கு இவளைச் சேர்த்துக்கறதா ஒப்புத்துக்கிட்டேன். அதனால் நீ இவள ஒரு மாதம் சகிச்சுக்கிட்டா போதும். எப்ப பார்த்தாலும் புஸ்தகம் படிப்பாளாம். இவளால தொந்தரவு எதுவும் இருக்காது.'' அவளை இங்கி ருந்து பார்த்தேன். நின்றுகொண்டு புத்தகம் படித்துக்கொண்டு இருந்தாள்.
''இவ யாரு?''
''ஏதோ அரசாங்க ஆராய்ச்சிக்கு முக்கியமா தேவைப்படறா. முக்கியமான அப்ஸர்வேஷனுக்கு முந்தி ஓரியண்டேஷனுக்கு அனுப்பப் போறாங்களாம். கொஞ்சம் பேச்சுக் கொடுத்துப் பாரு. நல்ல புத்திசாலிதான். என்ன, கொஞ்சம் பேச்சு கம்மி, அவ்வளவுதான். சாப்பாடு எல்லாம் வெளியே போய்ச் சாப்பிட்டுப்பா. மாடி சாவி கொடு போதும். அப்புறம் இவளால எந்தத் தொந்தரவும் இருக்காது.''
''சோப்புக்கே செலவாகும் போல இருக்கே, நாமெல்லாம் எத்தனை சுத்தமான பிரஜைங்க.''
''எல்லாம் சரியாப்போய்டும் ராமு. தயவுசெய்து என்னை இந்த இக்கட்டிலிருந்து காப்பாத்தின, உனக்குப் பிரதியுதவி...''
''தேவையில்லை, நண்பர்களுக்குள்ள என்ன'' என்றேன்.
மூர்த்தி போனதும் அவளை அழைத்து மாடி ரூமைக் காட்டினேன்.
அவள் உள்ளே நுழைந்து படுக்கையில் படுத்துக்கொண்டு படிப்பதைத் தொடர்ந்தாள். கையில் ஒரு குடை வைத்திருந்தாள். இந்த ஊர்ல மழையே கிடையாது. குடை எதுக்கு?
''சாப்பிட ஏதாவது இருக்குமா?'' என்றாள்.
''எங்க சாப்பாடு உனக்குப் பிடிக்குமா'' என்றேன் சாமர்த்தியமாக.
''வேற வழி'' என்றாள் சுத்தமாக. நான் அறையைவிட்டு விலகக் காத்திருந்தாள்.
மூர்த்தி சொன்னது போல் அவளால் எந்தத் தொந்தரவும் இல்லை. மாடியில் இருக்கிறாளா என்று தெரியாத அளவு சின்னச் சத்தம்கூட வரவில்லை. ஒரு முறை மாடிக்குப் போய்ப் பார்த்தபோது மிகமிக நிசப்தமாக இருந்தது. இவள் என்ன இப்படியா தூங்குவாள் என்று கதவைத் தட்டிப் பார்த்தேன். பதிலே இல்லை.
நீண்ட நேரம் தட்டின பிற்பாடு எட்டிப் பார்த்ததில் எனக்கு அவள் தூங்கிய விதம் விநோதமாக இருந் தது. ஒரு சலனமும் இல்லாமல் இப்படியா பிணம் போல... இல்லை, ஏதாவது மருந்தின் விளைவா?
யார் இந்த அந்நியள்?
காலை அவள் இறங்கி வந்தபோது புன்னகைக்கவில்லை. செய்தித்தாளை அவளிடத்தில் கொடுத்தேன். அவள் அதைப் படிக்கவில்லை. அதனால் தன் காலணிகளைச் சுத்தம் செய்துகொண்டாள்.
''உங்கள் செய்திகளில் இஷ்டமில்லை'' என்றாள்.
உங்கள் செய்தி!
''பின் என்ன செய்தித்தாள் வேண்டும்?'' என்று கேட்டேன்.
''எதும் வேண்டாம் எனக்கு'' என்றாள்.
''என்ன சாப்பிடுகிறாய்?'' என்றேன்.
''நான் இனி இங்கே சாப்பிடப்போவதில்லை, கேன்டீனில் எனக்கு ஏற்ற உணவு தருவதாகச் சொல்லியிருக்கிறார்கள். கிடைக்கும்'' என்றாள்.
''என்ன மாதிரி உணவு? சொல், நான் ஏற்பாடு செய்கிறேன்.''
''வேண்டாம்.''
ஏன் தன் உணவுப் பழக்கத்தை என்னிடம் சொல்ல மாட்டேன் என்கிறாள்?
காலை மேஜை மேல் போட்டுக்கொண்டு புத்தகம் படித்தாள். ''கெடல் எஷர் பாக் சென்ற நூற்றாண்டுப் புத்தகமா'' என்றேன். கவனிக்காமல் நிதானமாகப் படித்தாள்.
''உன் சொந்த ஊர் எது, சத்யா?'' என்றேன்.
''இந்த ஊர் இல்லை.''
''வேற்றுக் கிரகமா?'' என்றேன். அவள் என்னை நிமிர்ந்து பார்த்து, ''அந்த ரங்கமான கேள்விகளுக்கு நான் பதில் சொல்ல வேண் டிய கட்டாயம் இல்லை.''
அவள் செய்யும் காரியங்கள் எல்லாம் ஒருவாறு நம்மிடமிருந்து வித்தியாசப் பட்டது போல் இருந்தது. பேச்சு, நடை, உடை, பாவனை எல்லாமே நிச்சயம் இவள் நம்மவள் இல்லைஎன்ற சந்தேகத்தை என்னுள் விதைத்தது. படிக்கும் புத்தகங்கள் நம்மிலிருந்து வேறுபட்டவை. பேச்சுவார்த்தைகளில் 'விடையிறுக்க', 'பயன்பாடு', 'துல்லியம்' போன்ற வார்த்தைகளைப் பயன்படுத்தினாள். யார் இவள்? எப்படி அதைத் தீர்மானமாகக் கண்டுபிடிப்பது? பிடி கொடுத்தே பேச மாட்டேன் என்கிறாளே. என் ஆர்வம் அதிகரித்தது. கை கால்களை முழுவதும் மறைத்து ஏன் உடையணிகிறாள்? பேசும் போதெல்லாம் தலையையும் புஜங்களையும் ஏன் இவ்வாறு ஆட்டி ஆட்டிப் பேசுகிறாள்? யார் இவள்? கண்டுபிடித்தே ஆக வேண்டும் என்கிற ஜுரம் கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக ஆர்வமாக அப்புறம் வெறியாக மாறிற்று. என் ஆராய்ச்சியைத் துவங்கிவிட்டேன். முதலில் அவளை ஆடையில்லாமல் பார்க்க விழைந்தேன். இதில் என்னைச் செலுத்தியது ஒரு விதமான விஞ்ஞான ஆர்வமே தவிர, வேறு எந்த விபரீத இச்சையும் இல்லை என்பதை இப்போதே சொல்லிவிடுகிறேன். அவளுடைய உள் அங்கங்கள் நம் அங்கங்கள் போல இருக்கின்றனவா என்று தெரிந்துகொள்ளவே இந்த யத்தனம்.
அவள் இரவு ஏழு மணிக்கு அப்புறம், ஆனால் நான் அலுவலகத்திலிருந்து வருவதற்குள் குளிக்கிறாள் என்பதை அறிந்தேன்.
ஒருமுறை குளியல் அறையை ஒட்டியிருக்கும் அறையில் என் மனைவி பழைய துணிகளையெல்லாம், கண்டாமுண்டா சாமான் களையெல்லாம் அடுக்கியிருந்தாள். சாதாரண நாட்களில் நான் அந்த அறைக்குள் போனதே இல்லை. அந்த அறைக்கும் குளிக்கும் அறைக்கும் கதவு இருப்பது தெரியும். அன்றைக்கு அரை நாள் விடுமுறை எனக்கு. அதனால் சீக்கிரமே திரும்பிவிட்டேன். மாடியில் அவள் பாடிக்கொண்டே குளிக்கும் சத்தம் கேட்டது. தண்ணீரைத் திறந்துவிட்ட 'சோ'வென்ற சீரான இரைச்சல் கேட்டது. மெள்ள, மிக மெள்ள, அடுத்த அறைக்குள் நுழைந்து, சன்னமாக ஒரு இன்ச் அந்தக் கதவைத் திறந்து உள்ளே பார்த்தேன். அவளை மெல்லிய நீராவிப் புகை மறைத்திருந்தது. அவ்வப்போது அவள் உடலின் வேறுவேறு பாகங்கள் ஆவித்திரையினூடே கோடி காட்டியது. இங்கே ஒரு புஜம். அங்கே ஒரு முழங்கால் அழுந்திய வயிறு, மார்பு. எனக்கு அனைத்தும் ஆச்சர்யம் அளித்தது. அவள் பாகங்கள் எதுவும் நம்மைப் போல் இல்லை. எனக்கு வியர்த்துவிட்டது. இவள் நம்மவள் இல்லை. வேற்றுக் கிரகத்துப் பிரஜை என்பது திட்டவட்டமாகத் தெரிந்துவிட்டது. சற்று நேரத்தில் குளித்து முடித்து, தன் உடைகளை மேலே போர்த்திக்கொண்டு இருந்தவள் சட்டென்று சற்றும் எதிர்பாராமல் அந்தக் கதவருகே வந்து சரேல் என்று திறந்து, ''எனக்குத் தெரியும் இந்த மாதிரி எதாவது நடக்கும் என்று. என் உள்ளுக்குள் தெரிந்துவிட்டது. உணர்வு சொல்லிவிட்டது. உனக்கு வெட்கமாக இல்லையா? ஒரு பெண் குளிப்பதை மறைந்திருந்து பார்ப்பது எத்தனை கேவலம்? இந்த முறை உன்னை மன்னித்தேன். இனிமேல் இந்த வேலை வைத்துக்கொள்ள வேண்டாம். அடுத்த முறை இம்மாதிரி நடந்தால், உன் மேற்பார்வை அதிகாரிக்குச் சொல்ல வேண்டி வரும்'' என்றாள்.
எனக்கு அவமானமாக இருந்தது. ''இனி இவ்வாறு நடக்காது'' என்று சொல்லிவிட்டு வந்தேன்.
ஆனால், என் ஆர்வம் தணியவில்லை. கேவலம் இந்தப் பெண்! வேற்றுக் கிரகத்துப் பெண் என்பது எனக்கு முழுவதும் தெரிந்ததா? இவளிடம் நாம் ஏமாறுவதா என்று என் நண்பன் தணிகையிடம் சொன்னேன். ''எப்படிச் சொல்கிறாய் அவள் வேற்றுக் கிரகத்துப் பெண் என்று?'' தணிகை எதிலும் சந்தேகன்.
''குளிக்கும்போது பார்த்துவிட் டேன் தணி! அங்கங்கள் எல்லாம் நம் மாதிரியே இல்லை.''
''அதனால் வேற்றுக் கிரகம் என்று சொல்ல முடியாது. நம்மில் எத்தனையோ வகை.''
''பின் எப்படிச் சொல்ல முடியும் என்கிறாய்?''
''ஒரே ஒரு வழி, ரத்தப் பரிசோதனை. அவளைக் கத்தியால் கீறிப் பார்ப்பதுதான். ரத்தம் வருகிறதா இல்லையா என்று கண்டுபிடிக்க வேண்டும்.''
தணிகை தன் அலமாரிக்குச் சென்று பளபளப்பான சிறிய கத்தி ஒன்றை எடுத்து ''இதை அவள் முதுகில் அல்லது முழங்காலில் கழுத்தில் கீறாதே மற்ற எந்த இடத்திலாவது கீறிப் பார். வலி அதிகம் இருக்காது. அதன் கூர்மை அப்படிப்பட்டது. மிக மெலிதா கத்தான் சருமங்களைக் கீறும். நம் சர்ஜன்கள் பயன்படுத்தும் லேசர் விளிம்புக் கத்தி இது.''
அவன் அந்த அருமையான கத்தியை ஒரு சின்ன உறைக்குள் போட்டுக் கொடுத்தான். அதை வாங்கிக்கொள்ளத் தயங்கினேன்.
''பயமாக இருக்கிறது.''
''ஒன்று செய்து பார். அவள் நெஞ்சில் கை வைத்துப் பார். ஏதாவது அடித்துக்கொள்கிறதா? க்ளாக் ஏதாவது இருக்கிறதா பார்த்துவிடு. அதைவிடக் கீறிப் பார்த்துவிடுவதுதான் உத்தமம். ரத்தம் உத்தரவாதமாகக் காட்டிக் கொடுத்துவிடும்.''
''அவள் பயத்தில் சத்தம் போட்டு அதிகாரிகளுக்குப் புகார் கொடுத்தால்?''
''கொடுப்பாளா?''
''ஆம். சண்டைக்காரி. குளிக்கும்போது பார்த்ததற்கே ரொம்ப ரகளை செய்தாள்.''
''ஆர்வம் இருப்பவர்களுக்குத் தைரியம் வேண்டும். எப்படியாவது ஏதாவது விபத்து போலக்கூட ஏற்பாடு செய்து கீறிப் பார்த்துவிடலாம். இல்லை, தூங்கும்போது கீறிப் பார்க்கலாம். இல்லை, என்னை அழைத்தால் நான் உத்தமமாகக் காரியத்தை முடிக்கிறேன். நீ பிடித்துக்கொள். நான் கீறுகிறேன், பெண்தானே!''
''இல்லை தணிகை, முதலில் நீ அவளுடன் பேசிப் பார். அதன்பின் இந்தக் கீறல் சமாசாரம்எல்லாம் வைத்துக்கொள்ளலாம்'' என்றேன்.
தணிகை சிரித்தான். ''சரி'' என்றான்

''சத்யா ஒரு நிமிஷம். இது தணிகை, என் நண்பன்.''
சத்யா அவனை உணர்ச்சியில்லாமல் பார்த்து 'ஹலோ' என்றாள். மாடிக்குப் புறப்பட்டாள்.
''உன்னுடன் பேச வந்திருக்கிறான்.''
''மன்னிக்கவும், நான் பேசும் நிலையில் இல்லை. வினோதகர்களுடன் பேச எனக்கு இஷ்டம்இல்லை.''
எனக்குக் கோபம் வந்து தணிகையைப் பார்த்தபோது, அவன் என்னைச் சைகையால் நிறுத்தினான்.
''சத்யா, உனக்கு ஏதாவது உதவி வேண்டுமா?'' என்றான்.
அவள் கண்கள் சற்று விரிந்தன. ''என்ன உதவி?''
''இங்கிருந்து தப்பிக்க.''
''இங்கிருந்து தப்பிக்க முடியாது. எனக்குத் தெரியும். நீ அரசாங்க ஒற்றன்.''
அவள் அலட்சியமாகப் புறப்பட, தணிகை அவள் கையைப் பிடித்தான்.
''விடு என் கையை'' என்றாள். அவள் முகம் வெளிறியது.
''உனக்குள்ளே என்ன ரத்தம் இருக்கிறது என்று பார்த்தே ஆக வேண்டும். நீ மனுஷியா? உனக்குள் ஓடுவது என்ன? ரத்தமா, இல்லை வேறு ஏதாவது சிலிக்கோன் திரவமா? பார்த்தே ஆக வேண்டும். ராமு, எடு கத்தியை!''
''விடு, வலிக்கிறது.''
''இந்த வலி என்பது செயற்கை வலியா, இயற்கை வலியா? தெரிய வேண்டும்.''
''ப்ளீஸ் விடு'' என்ற அவள் கண்களில் கண்ணீர் தெரிந்தது.
''இந்தக் கண்ணீர் சிந்தட்டிக்கா, இல்லை இயற்கையா?''
கத்தி வெளிச்சத்தில் ஒரு செகண்டுக்கு மின்னல் அடித்து அவள் மென்மையான கன்னத்தில் பிரதிபலித்தது.
''வேண்டாம், என்னைக் கொல்லாதே.''
''கொல்லவில்லை, ஒரு சின்ன வெட்டு, ஒரு சொட்டு ரத்தப் பரிசோதனை. உன் ரத்தம் என்ன நிறம்? சிவப்பா அல்லது எங்கள் நோரா கிரகத்து பிரஜைகள் போல மஞ்சளா? அவ்வளவுதான் தெரிய வேண்டும்!''
அவள் அலறினாள். ''வேண்டாம், வேண்டாம். சொல்கிறேன். நான் பூமியைச் சேர்ந்தவள். மனுஷி. என் ரத்தம் நிறம் சிவப்பு. அடிமைக் கப்பலில் வந்தவள்'' என்றாள்.
அதற்குள் லேசாகக் காயம்பட்டு அவள் கன்னத்தில் ஒரு ரத்த முத்து புறப்பட்டது, சிவப்பாக!

Ideal Workspot

What are your expectations of an ideal work-spot/ professional environment?

Top criteria for me would include:

Challenging work (Just the right amount too!)

Ownership

Good Team

Good Manager

Flexibility

Proximity to home (The last two for work/life balance)

If you thought you were buying local...

I pat your back, you pat my back

Disclaimer:This post is not aimed at any set of individuals or corporations. It is months of diligent observation culminating in this highly unscientific post that many can identify with, and yet nobody can quote.

Primates have been known to use this technique. This technique has undergone Darwinism, and is perfected by few in work environments and offices across the world. I'm fuzzy on the specifics, but most scientific findings are fuzzy on some level, and just define fuzzy better, so here is my theory.

People with a high talk to work ratio indulge in this technique for survival. In general "talk to work" ratio is also related to "talk to volume" ratio. The louder you are and the more indignant you sound, the more convincing you sound. In a cubicle farm, a marginal achiever with a high talk to work ratio, and a voice that has a high bass quotient can be viewed in different ways. For people with the MBWA (Management by Walking Around) syndrome, it is a sure strategy to pull attention towards oneself.

People who fit into this elite bucket, congregate in groups every once in a while to pat each others backs. This associative behaviour is required for a sense of belonging, and a sense of fortification on one's stand and technique verification. While in the gathering, one also has the opportunity to gather irrelevant points of problem areas in other teams. This hitherto irrelevant information can then be wielded to one's own advantage in another gathering.

Such behaviour finds itself being rewarded because the higher echelons of said organization themselves would have indulged in this to get ahead of the breed. A candid self appraisal should let one know whether any of the techniques need to be perfected if one wishes to surge ahead.
Once ahead, one would think the club member would shift allegiance to the next higher level group, but this is a technique that needs constant practice. So much like a pregnant waistline, the sphere of influence expands. In order to do this, one must spend time in multiple circles patting each other's backs, talking more, talking louder and achieving less. This only means the Talk to work ratio just got higher, while still maintaining a knowledgeable aura.

Good leaders are charismatic speakers - I rest my case.

Run Away!

"Amma - why isn't appa home yet" asked my daughter while we were reading her bedtime story last night. I answered her saying her father was held up at work. When she persisted, I explained that her father had a bug, and that was why he was late.

"Then he should run away right? Ms Chato said if you see a bug, you must run away! Is it a snake or a small bug?" (Ms Chato is her teacher)

I did not explain that running away from a bug in a software engineering department is not going to bring you any accolades in your career.

I laughed, and enjoyed the sweet fragrance of innocence that the scent of childhood bears.

Madai Thiranthu -live show in chennai

Although a live show, it's been lip synced which is very evident given that it's perfect :)

Note when the video reaches 5:00 minutes. There will be continuous slow rapping happening while the swarams coming in the background are continuous. There are times when the swarams are happening and no one excepting the main rapper is singing!? How is that even possible??? Logically, if one is rapping all the time, one out of the rest has to be doing the swarams, right?

Also-- the effect of the voice quality in this live show is exactly the same as the previous original video (posted by Brainwaves) which is very difficult to reproduce live on stage.

JFYI, there's a lot of dispute about whether big shows are really being performed live or is it a track and major lip synching going on. ARR's live shows being the top on the criticism list

Scale Law

Can king-kong really exist?

Answer is No. If King kong existed as potrayed in the films, its weight will be 1000 times (10x10x10) more whereas its leg bone will only be 100 times bigger (10x10). Because of this, its leg will give away because of its body weight

Why beached whale dies?

Due to buoancy of water, whale happily swim in ocean. But if they reach the beach by mistake they get killed by their own weight.

This and more information was read from Physics of the impossible.

Though this book is good in some sections, it is not a worth buying this book. It talks about the different sci-fi themes and their possibilities in near and long term. Talks more about existing sci-fi theme and less about scientific advancements.

Some examples

Teleportation: Some level of teleportation is achieved already (at few atoms level). So, achieving full fledged may just few centuries away
UFO/Extra-terrestrial (ET) : No evidence yet. Talks about Search for ET etc.

Yogi B - Tamizh Rapper

Yogi B is Malaysia based Tamil Rapper. Listen to this song. Very interesting mix.

Listen the Tamil rap lyrics..
(Karupinar Sol-isai maindhar kidakattum Sen tamizh sol-isai chelvar ini pirakattum =
Roughly translated to "Let us get past the Black rappers and it is time for Tamizh Rappers" :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZHG6FJTcJR8

Continuing with the topic of Zest for life ....

Father Time is undefeated
Some day he's gonna get us all
He knows my name and he's got my number
But until I get that call

I'm still here
I made it through another day
I'm still here
That's more than some can say
When I feel down, I don't shed a tear
I say glory hallelujah, thank you God, I'm still here

The above poem was posted by one of my redtoenail friends in her BLOG

I am not sure if she wrote it or she found it somewhere.

Zest for life

A quick grab of the water bottle, a natural twist of the cap and ice cold water going down my throat was such a pleasure especially in between runs. And today, the same old bottle, the very same cap and the same me-- but the way I felt when I gulped that sip of water this morning during my workout was way different than yesterday, last month or 6 months ago. For some strange reason I felt thankful...

A bunch of people came in through the double doors at about half past 9. Some of them were physically challenged in some way or the other, while most of them were afflicted with down syndrome.  Youth was at its best and in particular there was this young boy, probably the youngest of the lot who was in a wheelchair as well. All of them were dressed in gym clothes, nice and fresh and so excited that it showed on their faces.

There are so many things that we take granted for in life. Talking, touching, waking up, able to brush our teeth on our own and many trivial actions which happen on a day to day basis. The first realization of this hit me was a couple of months after my son was born. A simple task as holding a cloth in your hand-- so easy for an adult was way too difficult for a baby and I watched with amazement as he mastered it with the cloth, ball, spoon & paper in tow. And, this morning I was amazed at just how much zest these people had for life. They were there at the gym trying out each and every possibility and more importantly, were having fun. 

Bless this country  for making living as friendly/easy as possible for physically challenged souls. I did feel really bad when I thought about how India still having to go a long way in making it accessible to physically challenged people. A person I know who's physically challenged still is not able to go to movies back home since it's not disabled friendly. 

My 4 miles was up and on my way out, I saw the youngest of the lot propped on the rowing machine. He was rowing with his hands while his coach/trainer helped him move his legs with her hands. The little fella was grinning from ear to ear, smiling away to glory. I stepped out into the morning sunshine. It wasn't until I saw myself in the rear view mirror did I realize that I too was grinning like a jackass, and actually had been for quite a while.

Wear Sunscreen!

The lines are amazing.....

N'Joy

Green, Grey & Blue

A low rumbling sound at a distance...

Well, I know what that is. Friday morning-- same routine, same rumble?  Is Ayush going to wake up? I wait...........

The baby monitor flickers and makes a whimper, Jr is raising from his beauty sleep. 

Long live the garbage truck *sigh* 

The sounds fades into the distance... all is well again & the baby monitor decides to go into snooze mode again and incidentally so does Jr. Daddy dearest is oblivious to these things, what a blessed soul!? 

This is exactly what happens every Friday morning, week after week, month after month for the last year. When we moved into this neighbourhood last year around April, I quickly learnt that those really giant sized garbage tubs that every house sports is actually to be wheeled out every Thursday night by people living in the home. 

First week that we were there, we received a small booklet in the mail explaining how things worked with the garbage pick up schedule. 

Green bin is for soiled wastes, garden wastes......

Grey bin is for recyclables-- now you should pay attention here. Only recyclables approved by the city code can be dumped into that (Where do we dump this ? Manu asks. "Oh that doesn't fit into the other bins? dump it in the grey" I say!)

Blue bin is for our good old garbage bags with the usual trash in it

Please note: Please place your garbage bins about 5 inches from each other facing outward from your curb.

5", 5", 5", 5" I memorized...

Oh and the booklet said: PLEASE WHEEL IN YOUR CARTS WITHIN  24 HOURS OF GARBAGE PICKUP!! 

Ok-- that is pretty easy, it's a pain I understood but it's not like NOT doable or something, just wheel them in on

your way out or way in. SIMPLE...

Our neighbours next door are from Philippines, very nice folks. Pretty elderly couple, well atleast compared to Manohar & I. I should admit that the neighbour man is very very handy around the house. A day hasn't passed when I haven't seen him meddling with something or the other. It's either weeding, laying new grass, cleaning his car inside out and the list goes on and on. Apparently the couple are very serious about their garbage collection schedules as well.

Their garbage bins are out in the cold wintry California weather only for a span of 24 hours or so. No more, no less. They are out by the time Ayush goes into his midmorning nap Thursday morning until Ayush's midmorning nap again on Friday morning. So essentially from 10 AM Thu to 10 AM Friday!!

3 weeks ago:

I saw the friendly neighbour. Waved a hi and went on about my job of see if any weeds had come up in the front lawn. He quite didn't return the "hello, how're you?" as chirpily as I would have liked. But hey.. probably he was having a hard day. He started brushing his dog's hair while I started cutting the extra weed like things that looked downright ugly. Once done,I brought out some trash bags and placed it inside the blue bin standing majestically in our front driveway-- there you go.. I thought and felt immensely proud that I had cleared my house of some trash.

Life was nice, sunny day.. all was well

Sometime between one of those Thursdays and Fridays:

I heard the calling bell and hurried down to open the door. The friendly neighbour was standing there with rather dirty hands. Was that.........? Why was he standing with...............? 

Oh hi...he said

Hi...

Actually, I wheeled in your carts for you this time since they have been out in the cold for the last week-- probably the longest I have ever seen anyone leave it

Gulp-- oh! that's really sweet of you neighbour-- thanks a ton

You know what-- why don't I do this? Let me wheel the cart in for you every Friday morning once they are done. How about that??

That would be really nice.. I said but I couldn't really impose...

"Nawh nawh.. I like doing stuff like these.... Don't worry, it's my pleasure to help you guys out" he said

I bid him good bye and thought-- Isn't he the nicest man ever??

The same old familiar sound and I woke up. AAhh-- Friday morning it is. My sleep was a goner, so got up and went to one of the bedroom windows to see the world outside. Saw the friendly neighbour outside with his labby doggie. He was just wheeling in his bins. The green went... 2 mins, the grey wheeled in gracefully, that man sure has class-- just, just see the way he wheels in those bins waaah!  2 more minutes and the blue one finally went in. 

My bins are going to be set free next. I waited patiently.. 5, 10, 15 minutes passed. Finally, I came down and went out so I could see what was happening. Neighbour was brushing his dog's hair and didn't smile at me. He looked in the direction of the bins and then again at me, a look of utter contempt

Darn those early morning dreams!

And, my garbage bins complete 15 days of successfully being out in the california cold tomorrow (thank you, thank you!). No cracks, no discolouration, strong like Dalmia cement... 

Again, within how many hours am I supposed to wheel back the bins?

:)

Olympic Torch

Morning:
Today I get to witness the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco! I am so excited seeing the crowds milling on the street with flags, and the crowded trains. There are loads of buses carrying police forces from nearby Richmond and Oakland areas. I feel slightly disturbed by the protests - to me, the Olympics is the human unifying spirit, and should not be marred by anything political. I already feel slightly dumb at not having brought my camera - but, my friend has, and I am sure we can take some pictures. I feel this is the closest I have ever gotten to anything "Olympic", and I am filled with a strange sense of excitement.
Hope the event passes smoothly!
Afternoon:
I went out with my friends - I was so excited. The streets were milling with people - protests in different hues and flavours! Some people got up in the morning, and put on their protest hats, and began randomly protesting. I think they just forgot that the protest was against the Olympic torch. A majority of the protests could be classified against China, pro-Tibet, pro-Human rights etc. But there were some protests to 'End the war in Iraq', 'Darfur' and 'Free Burma'! Free Burma from whom?! This protest took the cake though : a bunch of stark naked guys turned up, apparently calling for legalizing nudity in an Olympic Torch relay ceremony!

Of course, by the time I post this, you all would have known that San Francisco city officials changed the route, and actually had the torch bused to another route, and had the relay pass the torch every fblock or so. The closing ceremony was cancelled citing the protests, and the whole episode was all-in-all a dampener!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/MNDS102IIM.DTL&tsp=1

The olympic torch hid behind the police, and was safely moved by bus from one point to another, and only made it out in the open to streets heavily armed with police as spectators, and did not even mark the event with a closing ceremony - this for the only run in the North American continent.

Evening:
Hard to describe my feelings since I did not actually see the torch - a once in a lifetime experience for sure, and was snatched away from the thousands of people waiting patiently for the torch to appear!

What is so Divine about Divine Equilibrium

I was reading some material in game theory and came upon a particular group of related concepts termed as "DIVINE EQUILIBRIUM" and "UNIVERSALLY DIVINE EQUILIBRIUM". Why in God's name is a particular technical concept DIVINE? Self Aggrandization is probably an understatement!

Load Shedding

Kerala is notorious for its positives and negatives. Let's dwell on a particular negative. Load Shedding is/(was) a popular concept in Kerala. Load sheeding is the mechanism designed to deal with the perennial shortage of electricity in the state. Each energy consuming unit in the state is deprived of the utility for a fixed period of time. The timing varied across the state. But the proportion of electricity rationed for each consumer was equal across the state.

Think of an alternate mechanism. Suppose there existed a market for trading electricity rights. Here we make the implicit assumption that power is more valuable for certain people at a given point in time as compared to others. Hence the marginal benefit of power could be different among different consumers. To crystallize the idea, let us look at a hypothetical example.

Consider the following situation: The uniform power cut across the state is for 1:00 hr. It is 10:00 Am in the morning and at point A a doctor is in surgery working on a patient. At point B a clerk has just locked his home and is leaving for work. Both point A and point B are in the same locality, where load shedding begins at 10:30 AM and ends at 11:30 AM.

The marginal benefit of power for the doctor is far greater than that of the clerk (assume his wife works too and kids go to school or that he is single). Hence, there can be a trading mechanism where in return for no power outage in the hospital, the clerk bears a 2 hour outage from 10:30 to 12:30. In return, the hospital pays the clerk a monetary compensation. The government stays unaffected as its optimal load shed does not change. Effectively, the government, doctor and the clerk is better off.

In this situation clearly the consumer with highest priority and the consumer with the lowest priority are better off with this arrangement. What about consumers in the middle? It is not always the case that we can find consumers at two extremes. Can they be made better off too with trading rights?

The hair and the blade

I see the way my son, who is all of 9 months old, watch mesmerized when I shave and it takes me back down memory lane. My earliest memory of seeing anybody shave was probably class 4. But it wasn't until class 9 that I decided to put the blade to the skin (so to speak). No, it wasn't to my non-existent beard-- It was to my eyebrows. 

You see, I have always hated that my eyebrows join in the middle. It just took me a very long time to realize that, thats also hair that can be shaved. So I snuck into my parents bathroom, took my dads razor blade (about 2.5 inches wide). Centered it with extreme concentration and gave it a nice pull along the center of my eyebrows. Voila!! it was off.... except it took 2.5 inches of eyebrows with it. Which made me, for lack of a better way to put it, look like Captain Spock, from Star Trek that used to Air in DoorDarshan in 1986.

This was during my 9th exams (mock public exams as they used to call it). So my mom had to paint my incomplete eyebrows with whatever black believable eyebrow colored stuff she had and sometimes that meant cosmetics :). Yes, I said it. I used cosmetics. So there!!!

My fascination with the razor (btw, razor, unlike what I used to think is not the blade- but its holder) and its blade never stopped. I was fascinated by the barber shaving his clients next to me, while all I got was a measly haircut. I would see the men sitting next to me, with their eyes closed and their face like birthday cakes-- piled up with cream. In my early childhood,  the barbers used to use straight edged razors (without disposable blades). So between each shave, I  would see him artfully strop his blade on a leather strop. Ah!! the sound that made was magic.. mingling with the singular song on his radio. Singular, because I haven't heard that machine spew out any other song... it was one tune on an infinite loop. I can still hear the melody.

When my first facial hair sprouted, I declared at home that I needed a haircut. Which raised one to many eyebrows- afterall I hated haircuts and such promptness was to be looked at with suspicion. I walked proudly to the neighborhood barber, waited my turn, and plonked myself rather proudly on the seat and declared I needed a 'Shave' and a 'Haircut'. 

The particular barber in question, an arrogant son of a gun, who has probably seen my since I was an inch high, declared with a lot of amusement that a Haircut was easy, but to 'Shave', I needed facial hair. A slap in the face, nonetheless, without missing a beat, I said I had changed my mind and I needed only a haircut.

A year went by, before I stole my Dad's razor and a new twin blade and shaved for the first time. When I came out, I think I really felt like Clint Eastwood swaggering out of a saloon after a Pint of beer. Nevertheless, I felt I had finally joined the Men's club. With at most casualness in my voice, I warned him- the blade in the right side of the cabinet is mine and the one on the left was his. My dad, one not to be easily perturbed, didn't look up from his newspaper.. as he acknowledged. I'm sure he was tickled pink.

Many a years later, I saw my friend shave with a double edge razor (A' La topaz blade). By now I was using Gillette's triple blade system or something and was kind of getting disillusioned with the whole thing. Shaving had become a drag.. something one really drags against their skin. 

I tried the old shaving methods of brush, cream and regular blades. It was refreshing. I went a step further and bought myself a regular shaving knife, saved for the weekends. As I strop it on a sunday morning, with steaming hot water running down the wash basin and the smell of my shaving cream wafts from my brush. For a moment, I'm transported to that Barber shop in T.Nagar, who refused me my first shave. Aaaah nostalgia, I can still hear that singular tune blaring in his radio......

Another poem from PROF

43. Is it yours....

Why do you cling,
to everything, as if,
you created something out
of nothing, in defiance of the
universal law;
Why do you make an
exclusive property,
of not just things, but
people and emotions too;

Can you just tell me,
one being who brought
Something along before the
first cry; or at least one
who took something along,
at the last breath;

This sun, moon, breeze,
stars, space and time
Is it yours exclusively
to mix and match?
If only you see the truth
and let go of the ghosts
instead of wrapping yourself
like a touch-me-not
to enclose your small world,
you will see the world
without a blindfold!

One of the best

hello folks...here is an off beat video...well this is one of the best live rock performances i have seen...especially with the vocalist...it is sooooooooooooooooooo close to the original and the way he gets the crowd involved is amazing...this song really kicks up the adrenaline level..even if one is not a big fan of thrash metal, i would say it is worth a watch just for the atmosphere (maybe just the intro part till about 1 minute into the song)...well if not for the present, this was certainly my first choice profession....N'Joy

New Meanings for words

These are the winners from Washington Post.

Coffee: the person upon whom one coughs.

Flabbergasted: appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

Abdicate: to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

Esplanade: to attempt an explanation while drunk.

Willy-nilly: impotent.

Negligent: absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

Lymph: to walk with a lisp.

Gargoyle: olive-flavored mouthwash.

Flatulence: emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

Balderdash: a rapidly receding hairline

Testicle: a humorous question on an exam.

Rectitude: the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

Pokemon: a Rastafarian proctologist.

Oyster: a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

Frisbeetarianism: the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

Circumvent: an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

A Short Story

She: "There was a Do Not Cross police tape around the compound of the house in the street thats just around the corner. Lets check crimereports.com" 

He was getting worried as he surfaced from the newspaper that he was reading. 

He:"Nothing in the news"

She: "Come and look at this. It says forcible sexual assault".

He doubled over and peered into the laptop.

He: "You should keep the security alarm ON all day, when you are at home."

She agreed.

She: There is no mention of it any news though. Something is funny.

She had a comforting thought, "maybe it was not an intruder. Could be abuse by somebody living in the same house".

Random Thoughts

Selectivity on price is more of a concern when we go to the mall as against a movie theater. Consider the case of shopping at a Gucci store in the mall. We know that the price paid for a comparable product in another store is probably far lower. Why is this so? Gucci charges its customers for the Brand, more expensive labor, raw materials blah blah. Effectively the total cost of production (includes all intangibles like brand) is higher for Gucci as compared to other more reasonable brands and hence the price charged is also higher. This is a simple example of cost plus pricing, where products are priced at some margin about the cost of production. Same can be attributable to so many other things. But still the market exists. Now the question is the counterfactual. Does this type of market every fail?

The answer seems to be YES! Consider going to the movie theater as an experience. The cost of the movie has no impact on the price paid. Be it a movie shot on a shoestring budget or be it a multi million dollar budget, the price paid is the same (there seems to be no evidence of cost plus pricing). I have been wondering about this for a while but I cant think of a reason. Any thoughts?

Whining through Vineyards - Napa Valley Marathon Experience

After my big-sur(ge) last year, I got a renewed enthusiasm for running. Apart from the 2 months following big-sur run, during which I logged in onlyabout 15-20 miles, I averaged a decent mileage throughout the year. Though I didnt fulfil my dream of running 2 marathons last year, I ended the year with a total mileage of 1130 peaking at 188 miles last December (courtesy: Shoba was in India in December..:))... I did complete the san jose rock-n-roll 1/2 marathon in october. I decided to run a marathon early this year since I had logged a lot of miles during the end of last year. I had the choice of picking between big-sur and napa-valley. I chose to pick napa-valley since the course was simpler and I thought I could better my time doing it...;)

I was very happy with my training this time. I logged in a lot of 15+ milers and two 10 milers per week during the peak training which made my long runs easier and faster. I tried the san-francisco half marathon to get a morale boost and it most definitely did. I did 1:48:20 (official) though I had to convince everyone that I started atleast 1.5-2 minutes before I crossed the start line and there was no chip timing. So, I think I did something in 1:46ish range which, in my dictionary is an unbelievable run for me. This is where I guess, I got my cockiness to do fast runs. After the half-marathon run, I tried to do all my training runs at around 8min/mile pace. I even did my 20 mile long run in 2:49... Anyway, I was all set, both physically and mentally for the marathon day.


Shoba and I booked a room in an Inn in calistoga. The other option was to stay in Napa and get a shuttle at 5:00AM in the morning to calistoga (starting point). But, I hate to get up early and I figured that staying closer to the start line is the way to go. We arrived in Napa to pick up the BIBson Saturday. I attended a session where a bunch of elite runners talked about the course and how to "conquer" it. One of the runners was Dean Karnazes, whom, as I've mentioned before is the crazy ultra marathon dude. He ran overnight from san-francisco to napa enroute to calistoga so that he could run the marathon and then run back to san-francisco, totalling about 189 miles over 2 days... He recommended running a negative split, in napa. Thefirst half of napa-marathon has a lot of rolling hills, not steep ones, but a lot of small ones, much like the second half of big-sur. But, once u hit the 16mile point, it is downhill all the way except for a couple of hills at mile 20. So, Dean's point was to run a slow first-half and to run a faster during second half. Then came Dick Beardsley who is also a well known elite marathoner (olympian/boston marathon winner etc.,). He kind of disagreed with Dean. He said that everyone slows down during the end. So, he didnt believe in negative splits. Instead, he said that running the first half faster and trying to maintain the momentum as much as you can to end is the way to go... The other runners did offer some valuable inputs. The important one being, there was no chip-timing on this run. So, being near the start line is vital if you want to shave off those 1 or 2 minutes at start. Another one, which gave me a queasy feeling was that, the race was going to start at 7:00AM at which point, the temperature was supposed to be 38F and then quickly raises to 60-65 by 10:00AM. For whatever reason, I run comfortably in really cold climates. When it gets hotter, I lose momentum... So, I was a little worried. We did drive through the silverado trail from napa to calistoga (reverse of marathon course). It helped me realise how good/bad the hilly and flatter part of the course was.

Everything went as planned the night before. I went to a pasta feed organized by a bunch of inns. Dick Beardsley showed up here too and offered someinspiring stories about one of his marathon where he did 2:09. I talked to couple of runners, one, a beginner doing her first marathon and the otherdoing her second marathon. I tried to sleep early to get up early. But, the biological clock doesnt adjust so quickly. Anyway, I had a reasonably good sleep. Got up at 4:45AM and got ready... As usual, I was a little nervous about, let me just say "restroom fiascos"... But, everything cleared up and was all happy scene by 6:00AM. Shoba and I drove upto starting point by 6:20 or so. Initially, we were planning to wait inside the car since it was quite cold outside. Later, we decided against it, for better, since the actual start point was a good 5 minutes walk. Shoba joined me for the first time to the starting point. Something that she has never done during any of my previous runs. She could feel the energy. People, young and old justgeared up to face the challenge. A photographer took a picture of us, which was pretty good. I stood in line for the porta potties while shoba bid farewell...


The race was supposed to start at 7:00 with a national anthem by a veteran named John Keston. But, I guess he didnt show up. So, people were a little puzzled and looking forward for the "go" signal. Suddenly, the race started, rather uneventfully. I like the adrenaline rush from the national anthem. But, i missed it. Anyway, I started my run briskly. I wasnt breathing hard and was feeling good. I checked my time at 2 mile marker and it showed00:15 something. So, I knew I was going a little faster. But, I didnt mind much. I started winding through the rolling hills. For some reason, I wasnt running on the right side of the road and missed some mile markers. At some point during my run, when I thought I should be around 5 to 6 mile mark, I saw the 7 mile mark much to my surprise. I overheard someone saying that they were doing a 7:42 pace. I was surprised and a little shocked. I looked at my watch and it showed 0:55... I realised that I was speeding. But, I wasnt breathing hard. I had learnt the hard lesson from my first marathon that, hitting the road too fast too soon will knock you later. I intentionally tried to control my speed. Still, I noticed that I did 10 miles in 1:20... At this point, I was worried and intentionally try to slow down a little. In the meanwhile, I saw Dean Karnazes running along without company. So, I decided to join him for a little chat. Getting one on one time with one of the world class ultramarathoner while running in a marathon was one of the highlights of this marathon. He was very cordial. Soon, more people started crowding him asking more and more questions and I started movingpast him. At the 13 mile marker, my clock showed 1:46. At this point, I happily concluded that I was genuinely doing high pace and I could continue with that pace for ever. Retrospectively, one of the biggest mistakes.


Mano had told me that he would wait at 18 mile marker. My mind started wandering, let me meet him by 2:20 and then I can do 22 in 3:00 and possibly 26 by 3:35 or so. When I was in my high clouds, there was a downhill somewhere at mile 16 where I started getting signs of cramps. I slowed down a bit, but it didnt help. I was just looking for mile 18. Atlast, when I reached mile 18, I noticed that Mano wasnt there. A big "Halwa" awaited on his behalf and it was disappointing... When I was doing the 19 mile hill, I saw a bunch of folks offering beer for runners... It was pretty cool and refreshed my mind with a smile. I thought of having the beer, but then, decided against it... By this time, my cramps started worsening. My attempt to relieve it by stretching made it even worse. Anything I tried on my legs apart from the running movement resulted in more pain. My mind wandered in all directions. I even considered quitting my run. But then, I was still doing a good time. I reached 21 miles in 3:03. So, it was about doing 5 miles inless than an hour. In normal days, I do it in 42-43 minutes. Given that it was the last 5 miles of a marathon. I was sure I could pull it off in around 50 minutes. With my cramps and excruciating pain with every step, I kept continuing. It was a simple algorithm. Run my normal strides. When therewas pain, slow down and if pain continues, walk for a few seconds before starting to run again. It was also getting warmer. So, I felt the need to drink more water. I gulped a lot of GU gels too to keep my energy level going. Mile 22 at 3:15, Mile 23 at 3:26, Mile 24 at 3:35, Mile 25 at 3:46 and Mile 26.2 at 3:56.... I didnt care about the by standers, I didnt care about the scenary, I didnt care about anything but following my steps onto thefinish line. As I finished, I couldnt even spot Shoba. May be my brain wasnt completely active or that shoba was wearing her stylish cap...:)..I finished it well under my goal of 4:00 hrs. As with every run (I should probably exclude big-sur..:)), I felt that, if I had paced a little better, I could have hit 3:45-3:50 timing comfortably. Oh well, there is always something to look forward to and that is the excitement of life... I was totally exhausted after the race not just with pain and cramps, but a nauseating feeling that lasted for half an hour. Shoba didnt have any clue about my state at the beginning. But later, she started getting worried. She drove me all the way from Napa to San jose via fremont-udupi-palace where we had lunch.


As usual, there was a lot of take aways from this marathon. Nothin new, but just reinstating the basics. The important realisation about running is the mental kick that I get from battling the tradeoff between mind and body. Personally, when running, my mind usually sways between two extremes of optimism and pessimism. The balancing act is an art and is the most fun and the fun doesnt start till mile 20 and above. No wonder people call it thewall. A wall bridging mind and body, indeed... Again, pacing is an art. In this race, there were no pace teams to follow. But, running with a pace group could be highly helpful. When I was tired, I gulped myself with a lot of water, GU gel, fruit sorbet and orange slices at the aid stations, which I think was a bad mistake. It gave me a severe nausea at the end of the race. Another important take way was to not overspeed in downhills. Usually, my quads get beaten up when running hilly courses, especially downhill. For 2 days now, I still feel soarness in my quads which indicates that I did a lot of pounding during the early part of the race. For the positives, putting in a lot of long distance mileage in the training really helps overall performance. For example, three 6 milers is not equal to two 3 milers and a 12 miler. It most definitely is not. I ran atleast 5 19/20-mile runs and atleast a dozen or more of 10+ mile runs during the past few months which greatly improved my endurance and speed. I think I should try out some 22-23 mile runs in my future marathons to simulate myself with a run that gets closer to the 26.2 mile point as possible. For beginners, I think it is not recommended. But, as the time goal increases, it is probably a good idea to do 22+ mile runs during the peak training runs. I am hoping to do the sacramento marathon during December this year. I think I will end up doing the 199 mile relay race next month and may be a couple of half marathons before marching my way to the marathon this year end. I do realise that I am getting more and more closer to my peak potential... Only time will tell how much I can push further.


I think, it is good to do an all out effort to achieve the best possible outcome. But, sometimes, it is better not to do that. It is a strange "good" feeling to know that the best is yet to come... That, in nutshell, is how I feel about this marathon...

Traffic (absolutely) Rules in Delhi!

We had been to India for a glorious vacation. This time we travelled a lot apart from the customary visits to relatives. We had been to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in the first week. During my stay in Delhi, we travelled a lot by car, and it gave me a chance to observe the traffic.
Here are some traffic rules you might find useful in Delhi.

1) When you have trouble deciding whether you want to turn right or left, switch on the emergency blinker. This will warn other vehicles on the road, that you may turn right or left, and the onus to keep safe shifts to the other vehicles on the road. I find this most helpful, since both sides blink when the emergency blinker is on.

2) Stopping at red lights is considered belittling, and your driving capabilities are scoffed at by other drivers. While driving through red lights, it is prudent to sound your horn.

3) There are atmost three signals in a radius of 25 km where you really need to stop at red lights, and any localite could enlighten you about which ones to stop at for a red light. At such signals, please do not make yourself an object of ridicule by stopping before the line. When you do stop, you need to stop almost midway through the signal - that alone gives you the power to surge ahead before the light turns green.

4) Parking is a right - you may park alongside the curb (not cool!), or in the middle of the road, sideways perferably hindering other traffic. It does not matter as long it is not a very busy road. If it is a very busy road, the only risk you run is getting shouted at more vehemently. There was a time when I found a camel drawn carriage parked sideways on the National Highway. Many times, I found lorries parked diagonally across the road, since that was the most convenient method to unload the goods at the back. Traffic found a way of needling along despite this.

5) While it is useful for the car driver to have a clear view of the road, it is more useful for the vehicle to transport as many people as possible from point A to B. I saw various instances where there were 5 adults sitting in the front seat of a car. Unfortunately, I did not have time to count the number of children. I am assuming the gear change is achieved using a complex rhythm that involves nudging the correct individuals for gear shift. Push Bunty for gear 3, pull Bablee for reverse gear etc.

6) Roads are built for the convenience of the users. Rules are an unnecessary hinderance. For example, if there is a divider on the road built with the intention of having the left side for traffic flowing east, and the other side for west flowing traffic, it does not mean that east flowing traffic has to use the left half and the west flowing traffic has to use the right half. Since the right half is more appealing, all traffic can use the right half, leaving the left half free for parking vegetable vendor carts, and chaat carts.

7) Animals on the roads are not restricted to dogs, buffaloes and cows. Camels and elephants are a common enough sight. So much so that my daughter started asking to see tigers on the road! I couldn't help laughing at her question when we showed her the Delhi zoo as we passed it. Her mind buzzed for a fraction of a second and quipped "Why?"

8) Rear view mirrors are meant to be folded in, lest they get damaged by other vehicles on the road. You can use other mechanisms such as asking folks in your car to look out, or simply turn your head in all directions everytime you want to make a turn.

A pat on the back to my brother and brother-in-law who drove us all around safely in Delhi. It is far more difficult than we imagine!