Games kids play

Yesterday I was returning from work in the bus. There was a pretty over-energetic kid sitting in the seat in front of me and we got into playing a game. Lets call it hide and seek of the eyes. First you look at the kid and the kid will smile. Then the kid will look away. You too look away. The kid will then cast a furtive glance at you and you have to catch the kid doing that and he/she will squeal in delight or will give you a sweet smile. Then you repeat the steps and keep on doing it. I don't know what is with kids and this game but I have played this game with kids very often and learnt that kids just love this game.
Another interesting incident I remember having with a kid was when I visited my maternal aunt's place in Mumbai last month. This kid (my maternal aunt's husband's brother's son's daughter, phew!) ran away from me. She was not even prepared to come near me. Then I went down and got some small toy cars for her. She was not even prepared to come and take them. She sneaked in surreptitiously when I was not looking and took the cars. Then I went into the room in which she was playing and I was most welcome there. She showed all her toys and the picture books she used to learn alphabet and numbers from, asking me the names of the animals and fruits depicted there. Indeed, kids learn to be bribed at a very young age!
Last week I was again in Mumbai and one of my cousins, who is appearing his 10th board exams, was down with fever. He had to go for his blood test. He is the youngest in the family in our generation and behaves like a perennial kid, though he is quite bright. Now, he mortally dreads pricks. We somehow managed to get him to the pathology and give his sample. And guess what we had to do? Very simple. We just had to buy him a cap and floaters.

Covers and Copies

An interesting observation that I have made over the years is the way people cover their books. We had this thing in school whereby we had to cover all books and copies in brown paper bought from the school stationary shop. But after I passed out of my school, I noticed this habit of people. First it used to be the newspapers. Depending on the education level and the parental preference in newspaper language, either in english or in the local language. Always a double layer. The page was first folded and then used as a cover. Remember, at that time we did not have those jazzy colour specials in newspapers. Then our town and the newspaper industry began to progress and we started having the special weeklies with lot of colour on glossy paper. People were instantly hooked and the local newspapers gave way to glossy sheets.
Whatever college I went to, I saw this covering streak in the people around me. Whether normal newsprint or glossy paper, it was necessary that all books be covered. No matter what. It was the thumbrule. No matter the effort put in by the publishers to make the cover design. Nontheless the book had to be covered. It was supposed to protect the book for a long long time.

Another habit we have with respect to books is we copy them here, there, everywhere. No need to buy the book if somebody else has it. Just make a copy. It's far cheaper. Whats the harm in that? Everyone does that. Even teachers encourage it. The copyright law for us seems to be nonexistant and people feel that making a copy of a book is their birthright.
I remember one similar incident about which I had a conversation with a friend. This guy is doing his masters in the UK. One prof guy had gone to his university to see the labs and the facilities so that such course could be introduced in India. All he asked the profs there was the list of books and lecture notes/materials, this inspite of being warned by my friend that lecture notes are a big copyright issue there.
Here in our country there are no such issues. Lecture notes themselves are copied from books in most cases. And we have the liberty to distribute the notes freely..

Me and my project

There are currently three people offshore in my project: my Project Manager, my Project Leader and me! Another guy here is on leave for a couple of weeks and a couple of them are returning from client side in a couple of weeks.
But as long as it lasts, I am enjoying the only Team Member in the team tag!!

Conversations with I

Another of those conversations which I had last week (the first conversation of the series can be found here)..
I was thinking why do I read newspapers. Good journalism seems to be dead. Apart from a few brilliant pieces here and there, what has remained is sheer sensationalism and tabloid culture. Who is to blame for this sorry state of affairs? The media should shoulder a huge part of the blame. But partly the blame should fall on the public at large. After all the target audience wants it and the media caters to it. What have we come down to in the name of progress. Silly sting operations? Judging the morality of others? Taking cheap shots? The latest example of taking cheap shots is send hate mail to Saurav Ganguly by TOI. Whats up with these guys? Can we please concentrate on creating better pieces of journalistic literature than raking up false controversy and hullabaloo?

The great Indian card trick

Well, we did it again. Collapsing like a pack of cards. The Domino effect. Whatever you call it. It is with great agony that I have watched the famed Indian batting line up crumble under pressure time and again. Instead of playing their natural game, they go into a shell and lose their wickets to pretty ordinary deliveries. Such is my frustration that I don't have words to express it. Here was a series to be won and what do we do. We go all out and try to lose it to the best of our abilities. What is bygone is bygone and I don't look forward to the one day series.
Coming to other things, this holi was a sort of pilgrimage for me. Went to Shirdi, Shani Shinganapur and Nashik with six other friends. The trip was interesting. We planned to start at around eight on Friday and ended up starting at eleven. Reached Shirdi in the wee hours of Saturday and missed the morning aarti by a whisker. Watched it on the CCTV though, while standing in the queue for darshan. The best part was the cave temple in Panchvati and the Hundred Huts just outside Nashik.
It ended with me being coloured by the three monkeys who went with us. I shall have my revenge, in this world or the other. I don't need to administer myself an oath, 'cos "my word is as good as a promise!"

Grandma Science

According to Hindusim, time is measured in 'Kalpas' which is made up of 'yugas'. Here is the list of the various yugas and their time frame:

1 Krita Yuga     = 17,28,000 years (4 times Kali yuga)
1 Treta Yuga     = 12,96,000 years (3 times Kali yuga)
1 Dvapara Yuga   =  8,64,000 years (2 times kali yuga)
1 Kali Yuga      =  4,32,000 years
Total duration of four yugas  = 43,20,000 years = 1 Mahayuga
1 Mahayuga = sum total of 4 yugas
2000 Mahayugas = 1 Kalpa = 8,64,00,00,000 years
1 Kalpa = 1 day and night for god of creation, Brahma

Currently, nearly 1.95 billion years have elapsed in this Kalpa.

One thousand Mahayugas form one day of Brahma, i.e., 4.32 billion years. A similar expanse of time will make His one night.

According to modern science, a day has 24 hours which are made up of 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds.

1 day = 24*60*60 seconds = 86,400 seconds

Now,
1 Brahma day = 8,64,00,00,000 years
86,400 Brahma secs = 8,64,00,00,000 years
1 Brahma sec = 8,64,00,00,000/86,400 years = 1000 years

So a second in Brahma's day = 1000 years on earth.

Now, din't my grandma tell me that when I was a kid!!

23rd March..

Today is a very significant day in the history of India. Three great sons of the soil laid down their lives on this day in 1931. These martyrs were Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Let their souls rest in peace with the knowledge that the cause for which they sacrificed their lives has been achieved. Jai Hind.
On a less significant note, this blog turned exactly one month old today. Happy Monthiversery.

Conversations with Myself

Oh yes, finally I decided to document some of these. That too in the morning. The mainframe link seems to be down and the connectivity is slow. So nothing else to do.
I was wondering why I don't like to make my birthday public except to a few people who are close to me. The origin of this practice goes back in time, so back that its origins are lost in the mists of time. Lets pierce the mists with Myself.
Myself studied in a small Convent school in a small town in a small state in the eastern part of the country. We had this assembly thing every morning where all classes used to stand in queues and we used to say the prayer before class (there was one after class too, and not to mention wishing the teachers as they came and went in a sing song voice), sing the National Anthem (one of the few good things we did) and take the pledge (India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters (and we are all incestuous) .. so it went).
Like every school, we had our own traditions and customs. Like the birthday custom. Birthday boys and girls used to be special. They could shed their school uniforms for a day and come in "colour dress". During the assembly they used to come up on stage and everyone would break into the customised Happy Birthday song. Then he/she would offer chocolates to the principal. Well, that's not all. The birthday boy/girl would, during the day, not only distribute chocolates among his/her classmates, but also go round all the classes in the school and offer chocolates to all the teachers.
Myself went through this ritual once, don't exactly remember when, but it was sometime in the late 80's. And found it very embarrassing and to add to it, Myself had this terrible stage fright. How Myself got it is a different story in itself and will be the topic of another post. The ritual since then has been toned down and I remember that the "stage show" was done away with. But somehow the earlier memories remained with me and I avoided letting people know about my birthday lest I again had to be paraded on stage.
These memories have come to haunt me once again. In my office I have another of those rituals, just like every other office. The birthday man/woman is special. He/she has to inform everyone through a mail that he/she has got some sweets on account of his/her birthday and that they are requested to come and have them. And then the wishers start pouring in.

Air Conditioners

Lesson of the day: ACs cause the cerebral fluids to freeze or at least slow down, if the temperatures aren't too low. That is why they offer free tea and coffee here. Realised this in the afternoon when I had to go through an old program to figure it out. My brain seemed a bit heavy and stuck up until I unfroze the fluids with a cup of steaming tea.

How Soon Hath Time

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!

Yes, I turn 24! Twenty three years of my life gone. All so soon.

My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew’th.

Twenty three is a special number for me. It was not only my roll number at college, but also the number with which the great Michael Jordan is associated. I hoped to achieve greatness in my twenty third year. But it was not to be. May be I was not ready.

Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu’th.

The twenty fourth birthday is a truly memorable one, like the years that have passed. With India getting a victory in the Kolkata Test, even more memorable. Have been alone at home for the last couple of days, its all me, myself and I. Having these little conversations with myself ( and I of course). Will post my conversations sometime, may be in a day or two.

May be what I have been trying to achieve will come this year may be it will not, but I am sure, I gonna be twenty three till I die.

SACK BUCKNOR

Steve Bucknor is the biggest A$$HOLE in the world. People who agree please comment.

I never thought..

I never thought that I'll watch this movie. But yesterday night I did watch it. Socha Na Tha. And I don't regret that I did.
It's a cute movie, a comedy of confusions. The hero loves a Christian girl but can't tell that to the girl or his family. His father insists on marriage. He goes to see the girl and tells her about his love and they decide to say no to marriage. But the catch is that the girl's sister sees them wishing each other luck and thinks that they are holding hands and assumes that they will marry. But when the boy refuses, what ensues is a mafia type clash between the families. All these is hilarious. Then the guy asks the girl to come to Goa with his group and see if his girlfriend loves him. More fun. After they return, he proposes to his girlfriend and to her father. Everything is set.
But our hero here is confused. He doesn't know whom he loves, his girlfriend or Ayesha (Takia). Finally he goes to her place and proclaims his love for her and on returning finds that is father has come round after a bit of cajoling by his sister-in-law (the other Ayesha, Jhulka) and his girlfriend's family is at his place.
More confusion follows and eventually he runs away to find that the herione's family have setup another guy for her and comes back home later. Then there is another twist in the tale. No, I'll not reveal it here. If you want to know, better watch the movie.
With its tounge-in-cheek dialouges, the movie raises a lot of laughs, specially in the first half. Both the hero and the herione are good, the good thing is that both have michief in their eyes which suits their characters.
On the whole, an enjoyable movie, eventhough the script gets a bit stupid at times.

Sachin scales peak 10K

Phew.. what a relief it must have been for Sachin. It was apparent by the way he played after reaching the landmark regaining his silken touch. He has now equalled the record for the fastest 10,000 in Test cricket in terms of innings by equalling the record created by yet another genious of contemporary cricket, Brian Lara. Meanwhile, Pak has struck back with 3 quick wickets, and with the Great Wall of India felled just before stumps, the match is evenly balanced.
Coming to other things, experienced the first earthquake of my life on Monday. I dint know that there was an earthquake on till much later when I read it on net! But I heard from other people in the office that it was there for a considerable period of time. What an opportunity missed to personally experience a mild natural calamity! Well, after being through the super cyclone, most of the nature's furies would now look mild.
Workwise, I successfully negotiated the PCMM questionnaire for which I had to appear yesterday. I commented on 80% of the questions in the test, the HR guy filled some of the ones I had left out! It was more of a farce than anything else. First they missed my name and when I reminded them they put me at a different location. So much for rewarding proactivity!

Oh No! Sachin misses a double record

Disaster struck for Sachin as he missed out on two records. One of scoring his 35th test century and surpasing Gavaskar and second of being the fastest to 10000 test runs. I don't understand why he takes so much pressure on himself. He was playing so well, middling almost evey ball, and after the dismissal of Sehwag, he surprisingly went into a shell. I have seen this happen too often for him. He should play his natural game without bothering about the landmarks. Anyways, the record is his for the taking and hopefully he will be the highest century maker before the series ends.
The two Pakistani players who have impressed me are Asim Kamal and Danish Kaneria. Kamal is a gutsy cricketer and what impresses me most about him is his fighting spirit. He had impressed me during India's tour of Pakistan last year when coming in to bat with an injury, he din't give his wicket away. Kaneria, on the other hand has been a revelation. He has bowled superbly with great control and nice variation.
More later. Just have been informed that I'll get a brand new P-4. I have to take lots of backups. Since I have a final PCMM session at 6:30, I m a bit short of time. This has made my dull day come alive. I m loving it!!

Khufia Khan

The new ad of Pepsi is quite interesting in more ways than one. Continuing with its fine tradition with Khans, this time its Saif Ali in the Khufia avtaar (after Aamir and Shah Rukh). Interesting. They have added a new dimension to the scratch card concept with their blue khufia card which reveals its booty only in front of the blue television screen. One not only has to drink Pepsi, but also watch the ad in order to win the booty. Interesting. The story is built in a nice way so as to keep one waiting, wanting and thirsting for more. Yeh pyaas definitely hai badi!
Khatam nahi hua khufie..
Meanwhile, life has slowed down to a stand still. No major work issues. Thankfully the India-Pak series has started at this opportune moment. So its just watching the match in the cafeteria nowadays.

Global Warming and Kyoto Protocol

Global Warming describes an increase in over time of the average temperature of the Eath's atmosphere and oceans. Use of the term "global warming" generally implies a human influence — the more neutral term climate change is usually used for a change in climate with no presumption as to cause and no characterization of the kind of change involved.
Most climate models predict that the temperatures will increase in the future, however, the precise magnitude of these increases is still uncertain. A range of +1.4°C to +5.8°C for the temperature change between 1990 and 2100 is the estimate. The most common global warming theories attribute temperature increases to increases in the greenhouse effect caused primarily by a human-generated carbon dioxide.
But every theory has its opponents. Same is true for global warming. In the midst of the propaganda generated by the global warming theorists, few people are aware that there are still question marks over the theory. Between 1940 & 1970, the temperatures had gone down though the carbon dioxide levels were increasing. Should this be considered as an anomaly or is there more to it?
I quote an eminent Astrophysicist Sallie Baliunas, in a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on February 5, 2002, "...about 80 percent of the carbon dioxide from human activities was added to the air after 1940. Thus increased carbon dioxide in the air cannot account for the pre-1940 warming trend. That trend had to be largely natural. Then, as the air's carbon dioxide content increased most rapidly, temperatures dropped for nearly 40 years. And it seems that human effects amount at most to about 0.1 degree Celsius per decade -- the maximum increase in warming seen after the 1970s."
Also, as has been pointed out, carbon dioxide levels often increase after warming rather than before. Is this also an anomaly that can be discarded? According to some, there is nothing to panic about the increasing global temperatues because the earth goes through heating and cooling phases from time to time as proved by the Medieval Warm Period (around 1000 AD) and the Little Ice Age(around 1600 AD).
The Kyoto Protocol proposes binding greenhouse gas limits for developed countries, but there are considerable disagreements about the extent to which the Kyoto Protocol will be able to address the issue of greenhouse gases and global warming even if it is successfully implemented. Current estimates predict that even if successfully and completely implemented, the Kyoto Accord will reduce global temperature by between 0.02°C and 0.28°C by the year 2050 - a tiny fraction of the projected increase. Even some of the defenders of this accord agree and view it as a first step with more political than practical importance. Several economic analyses have been made that show that the KP is more expensive than the global warming it avoids.
Another argument is that if the developed countries start curbing carbon emissions by using less carbon-based fuels, it would drive the cost of such fuel down thus making it even more attractive to the developing nations.
Only time will tell whether the Kyoto Protocol is successful or not. Meanwhile, the jury is still out.

Time flies

How has time flown.. its the weekend again.. barely a week since I started my blog and its already 200+ hits..
An eventful week for Indian sports.. after a fine show in Dubai, Sania's fine roll was halted, hopefully only for the time being.. Harsh Mankad has given India the lead in Davis Cup against China and Amritraj is also leading in his match.. most importantly, Narain tries to make his F1 debut this weekend.. the fun is about to begin..
I was deeply pained by the govt.'s decision not to allow cricketers to use the National Flag.. the flag belongs to the people and everyone should have the right to carry it with pride on their sleeves or helmets (or the blog, as in my case).. the govt.'s arguement.. helmet is kept along with the shoes and other gear and this is a disrespect to the flag.. but no worries even if the govt. does not allow people like us to display the flag (in my case they can deny with the arguement that the the blogspot is a host to blogs of the third kind too ;o)).. we carry the pride in our heart.. proud to be an Indian.. always..

Crib Time

Appeared for a mock PCMM test today.. had to be at the office by 8.. woke up at 6:30.. can't imagine I did that.. coming back to the test.. it was 36 pages and 225 questions long.. all the questions had a rating and a box where one had to corroborate the rating given.. we were told that it was mandatory to comment for all questions.. what crap.. i slogged for close to 4 hrs.. still could hardly write for 50-60% of the questions.. and my hand, neck and back ached badly.. appeared to me that they were dropping shit on us.. or rather dropping us in shit.. apparently the answers are going to be evaluated and feedback given.. but I don't think that they can figure out my handwriting.. and much less read so many copies.. screwed them nicely in the compensation section.. rest all i gave good feedback.. the final test is on 14th march.. but i wonder how I will return from mumbai and appear.. cos i badly want to participate in the NMIMS quizzes.. and Parnab Mukherjee has a habit of taking the quizzes late into the night.. will cross the bridge when i come to it.. as of now have to go thru some material given by the "organisation"..

Of Sania, Salads and Software industry

Sania seems to be on a roll.. this goes to prove what self belief can to to somebody. Ever since the Aussie Open, she seems to have gained a lot of confidence and WTA points.. way to go Sania.
Today morning as I was heading towards the office cafe for breakfast, I saw one of the new recruits, who has finished her training and is in "Business Wait" (ah, what has this training done to me.. even I m using jargon), was doing a rangoli on the floor. Poor people.. they join the software industry with a dream of doing hard core programming and they end up doing this. And wait, there is more.. we had a salad decoration contest in the cafeteria in the afternoon.. and belive it or not, there were five participants.. most of them, u guessed it right, new joinees in business wait..
My Project Manager came to my desk before lunch. He was having problems with some image editing for a PPT and was reluctant to ask me to do it as I have often shown umbrage in doing such work. He asked me how to go about it. I decided to climb down from by earlier stance a bit.. and made the bit a byte.. and took the images for myself. And guess what did I manage to achieve in the afternoon.. editing 2 pics.. So much for efficiency!

On Training

Truck load of SHIT. They use such jargons and name such tools that makes u feel that u were sleeping on work all the time..

Monday morning blues

I am back after a long weekend, extended by a day by my not turning up for office yesterday. But sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do. What I missed most was the coverage of the budgets on the net, I couldn't make it up by watching on the tele. Of what snippets I have read and heard so far, it seems to me that I may have to pay fewer taxes this-next year. That comes as a bit of relief, but since I have not read the entire budget, will refrain from passing any judgement on it. Will read the entire thing later. Have some training today at the office. Company going for PCMM Ass-essment. But the worst part is that will have to appear a mock test on Thursday at 8 in the morning. That definitely sucks. Normally I am well ensconced in my bed at that time. If this schedule is not changed, will have to alter mine. Too bad. Good thing is that Sania is on a roll.. just heard that she defeated someone ranked 34 in the Dubai Open. And to add, I sent a goodluck message to apna Narain this Sunday. Was moving around a shopping mall, when these guys in yellow t-shirts turn up asking me if I want to send some message to him. Jumped at the opportunity. Anand also held by Kasporav. Ahh.. time for the training. more later..