Life of Pi

For starters, ‘Life of Pi’ is a book that won Man Booker prize in 2002. It grabbed a lot of attention in India for mainly two reasons: the book’s protagonist is an Indian and the story is about survival which Indians quite easily relate to. The protagonist Pi is a devout and follows all religions that are prominent in India viz., Hinduism, Islam, Christanity. The story mainly deals with his survival on a lifeboat along with a Bengal tiger for some 270 days. Being a son of Zoo manager, he explains some interesting facts about Zoo, animals and how to tame them.

The book is a good fictional read, but I couldn’t actually connect to the character and his survival story. The writing is just above average and Yann Martel didn’t impress me as an expert writer of make-believe stories. The story is a good change from other fictional stories that we get to read from our mainstream writers. However reader should not consider Pi as a stereotype Indian, Pi is young, naïve and over-zealous follower of religion. The part that I hate about the books with Indian protagonists is that they take the characters over the roof and end up showcasing them as naïve. And sadly that seems to grab the attention of western world and the books end up winning prizes across the globe.

Assassin’s Creed

AC is really good but only for first 3-4 hours. Then it becomes repetitive to a point that I decided to give up playing. My rating for the game is 6.5 / 10. It is an impressive stealth game though. Best part of the game is:

a) You can climb anything in AC. You feel this immense power of a super-hero, who can climb everything he lays his hands on.
b) Simulation of people wandering in town, that makes the town real
c) Experience of cities like Damascus, Jerusalem is very hard to resist
d) Riding horses, collecting flags, rescuing citizens are good gameplay features but are short-lived

Assassins however are not creative and make player follow the same protocol over and over again. This is a best game to borrow and try your hands on rather than buying yourself.

Alfred Hitchcock

“You cannot call yourself a movie buff without watching Hitchcock’s work”, this is what I realised in last 40 days. Hitchcock movie festival in Stanford theatre was an enriching experience especially since I watched movies in a theatre that had 70’s style interior. I ended up watching Rebecca, The foreign correspondent, North by Northwest, The Birds and Pyscho. I was bowled over by Rebecca and Psycho. The part that amazed me was the screenplay. You will notice Hitchock slowing down pace of the movie by showing his characters doing some useless chores like Rebacca cleaning up the house, Norman bates cleaning up the dead body. There are lots of mundane details which you would think that they can be skipped, and then suddenly you will see a twist in the movie that will leave you short of breath. Keeping in mind that these movies were made in 60’s and 70’s, I completely agree with critics that Alfred had set a standard which very few moviemakers can match.

I

I want to be a cricketer, I want to be a quarterback, I want to be a lead guitrist in a rock band, I want to be a vocalist, I want to be a drummer, I want to be a moviestar, I want to be a director, I want to be a politician, I want to be social worker, I want to be creative director, I want to be a CEO, I want to be a producer, I want to be artist, I want to be a designer, I want to remain an engineer, I want to be an adman, I want to be a best-seller author, I want to be a cartoonist, I want to ride a fighter plane, I want to ride a submarine, I want to fly in a space shuttle, I want to be filthy rich, I want to be a homeless, I want to be passionate in life, I want to give up everything and lead a life of a yogi, I want to dream, I want , I……

CoD4

Yep, this is another game review, review for Call of Duty 4. Having never played first 3 sequels of the franchise, I was impressed by the 4th one. It’s a very polished game which one might expect when a game comes out with its 4th edition. The big change with the 4th edition is that it involves around modern warfare as compared to the previous ones which involved around WW2. I liked gameplay the most where player is bombing the enemy territory while sitting in a helicopter, not that I complain about blowing the tanks and enemy choppers from the ground. My friend mentioned me that Chernobyl (Russia) in the game is the exact replica of the real city which is quite mind blowing. The ending of the game beats a Hollywood climax by leaps and bounds. I would recommend this game as a ‘must play’ for first person shooters out there.

Movie scripts

Currently got into an unusual habit of reading movie scripts. After reading significant number of fictional novels and short stories, I realized that I am interested only in story-telling part of the whole writing. So I shifted to reading movie scripts and so far it has been a pleasing experience. The movie scripts that I have read so far are Meet Joe Black, Matrix, Amadeus, Annie Hall, Hannah. All of these scripts have won accolades in different film festivals. Movie script reading is interesting because there is no background explanation for either a place or a character. One has to define a character by his behavior and interactions; one has to give a quick overview of how location is by its effect on the characters residing there. The whole writing is usually precise and very direct.

I strongly believe that films should always be well-scripted. Once you read a script and watch the movie based on it, you realize how worthy was the director of that movie. Film making is all about doing right justice to the given script. If you are interested in trying out new things in your life then you should give a try to reading movie scripts. And if you happen to know some really good scripts then please list them in comments section, Thanks.

Portal

Yeah, I know, I am getting addicted to the games. But in my defense the games released in last 6 months have been awesome and truly stand to the definition of next-generation. Take Portal for example, Portal is different than other games in so many ways. It’s a puzzle game and you have to solve the puzzles by creating 2 portals, one for the entry and other for the exit. Well, each portal can be used as an entry / exit portal. It’s a short game, fun and enriching in many ways. The last level of the portal has a better climax than most of the current movies. I would recommend everybody to play this game as it is quite a learning experience. My rating for this game is 8 / 10.

Battlestar Galatica

I am completely blown by the series Battlestart Galatica a.k.a BG. It is a sci-fi television show with a really well-developed idea of human race fighting against Cylons (which are machines created by humans) and trying to reach a planet called Earth before they run out of their limited resources. Well, one might say many sci-fi movies and television series try to sell the same idea to us in different versions i.e. humans fighting against the machines, the machines that humans created at the first place. But BG is different, different in many ways. It draws parallels with current US-Iraq politic situation, questions the importance of religion in our lives and other factors like love which only humans experience.

I would recommend everybody to watch the show as it sets high standards of production quality, story narration, characterization and execution of well-written idea into a convincing and inspiring show. The other thing that took me by surprise was that the original BG was aired in 1978 which means US television was airing really good quality thought-provoking shows in 1970s whereas other countries were still trying to come up with a process of producing television shows.

Bioshock

is definitely the best game of the year 2007. No matter whether you are a beginner, mid-level or an expert gamer this game is for everybody. I would rate it 9 / 10, hoping that someone would make a better game in the future to match my 10-point scale. Here are the highlights of the game:

- The storyline and setup of the ‘city under water’ are impressive
- The set of powers that player can exercise is creative e.g. telekinetic power
- Levels and npc characters are interesting to play and interact respectively
- Tasks assigned to player are fun, for e.g. kill a guy, take his snap with a camera and put the taken picture in a frame to finish the incomplete art work
- Graphics are no doubtable matching the next-gen standards
- Overall, the great world filled with lots of interactive objects is too addictive to give up playing

2008

Happy New Year to everybody!!!

On the occasion of new year, I decided to give my blogsite a complete makeover. Hope this layout and year brings freshness to me and my readers. (Alarm: lame lame, yeah yeah I know, but its new year, what the hell!!!)

Travelogue

I had a flight to catch at 1am on 3rd of November and I was having "Pav Bhaji" for dinner that night. Then and then it strike me, the fact that many friends had warned me earlier: excitement factor goes down as your number of trips to India goes up. Pav Bhaji had been one of the big incentives for me in all of my earlier India trips but this time I was having it before catching the flight. I follow Indian politics and India stock market with much zeal. I read Indian newspapers on daily basis. I call my family more frequently as compared to my friends in India who are not staying with their folks. I have watched almost the same or more number of Indian movies as compared to my Indian resident friends. Apart from the geographical distance I couldn't say much about missing India, yes of course, I am fortunate enough to miss out the commute, water, electricity and pollution problems which I believe have been a big part of current India. I guess you cannot call yourself an Indian without going through all the hassles that every regular Indian goes.

This is how the world ends......

Before I blog about Halo 3 I would like to use abbreviation mil for million as I am afraid this word would be used quite frequently in this blog.

The game that made 170 mil$ in first day, 1 mil online users and 300 mil$ in first week, the game that broke all the records, the game that made history financially. Its quite irony for a employee of EA like me to praise Microsoft and Bungie studios. But the matter of fact is that it has gained popularity across the globe. It even boosted the sales of Xbox360 and overtook sales of Nintendo for a month.

Gamewise (yeah thats my made-up word), I would rate Halo3 7 / 10. Here are my observations:

1) Graphic scenes are mind boggling
2) Cut Scenes are fantastic
3) Story ends in expected way but in good taste
4) Player's HUD view is a bit realistic and makes you believe that you are looking through a helmet.
4) However Sword slashing is different from the previous popular 'in-your-organs' style
5) Player's jump seems to lack gravity
6) Level design is a bit redudant as it involes lots of backtracking, player is asked to go to the same place from where he began his task
7) Campaign mode is noticeably short
8) The last part of the campaign mode that involved driving through the world, which is about the break down, was quite impressive.
9) I am not sure whether it was the hype or the game itself, I was bit unsatisfied with the campaign.

However I have hopes for the multiplayer mode which has always been a successfull formula for Halo franchise.

I would like to see Bungie testing new waters as they now went independent from their adopted dad MS.

Mulholland drive

After hearing much hype about the movie finally I got my chance of getting awed by it. To summarize the film, it’s different. It is different in many ways viz., story narration, cinematography, short scene sequences and filming style. David lynch will show your eyes something which will not make sense at all or you would be able to make something out of the scene after a while. He in fact denied explaining the story of Mulholland drive. Thanks to IMDB, confused people can now get their answers. After you understand the story the whole movie would make lot of sense. The movie is considered to be one of the ground breaking movies of the new century. I am not sure that I loved his style as it keeps the audience frustrated and feeling stupid. Maybe his movies are considered as one of those abstract paintings where you are supposed to appreciate it even if you feel that your 2 year old nephew can draw and paint better.

101st blogpost

Having never tried consciously to blog frequently it came as no surprise to me that it took me 4 years to write 100 blog posts. I started blogging for mainly four reasons:

1) to improve my writing skills
2) to write about topics that demand more thought and attention
3) to remind myself that life is a huge opportunity and I need to jot down and celebrate small and big events that happens in my life.
4) write something on impulse and purely on my natural instincts.

I was reading some of my earlier posts and compared them with my current ones. Based on my observation it seemed that I am moving in the right direction in achieving those above mentioned goals, or is it just my age and maturity that has changed in past few years. One way or the other, blogs have been a place of recluse where I measure the changes that I have gone through in last few years.

My first kid!!!

Well, not literally. I am talking about my first game getting shipped and hitting stores on 18th of September. It’s called MySims and it’s available on Nintendo Wii and DS. It feels nice to see your work getting out and being available to the whole world. Till now the work that I have done was to impress my teachers in school and score some good points. I see this as a new phase of my life where the whole world is my teacher and my work is to keep them happy. Yeah you are right, that was quite a cheesy line….

Finishing a product exposes one to the complete development cycle and all the related problems associated with it. Having some failed projects under my belt, I would relish this game for some time. This product was a result of a newly assembled team, new IP game made for a new platform Wii, with a newly built game engine. Keeping these all ‘new’ factors in mind, the labor pains were not unbearable, especially when it was followed by the good news of making a sequel for the game.

If you want to have a look at the game, visit MySims.com.

The art of Comics

Comic has always been looked upon as the entertainment medium for the kids. But in last few years things have changed, and changed pleasantly for comics. Most of the successful comics have been made into movies or games or both and even more, people of all ages love it. This transitioning from comic to movie is not surprising as Investors are more comfortable producing a movie based on a popular idea which already has a fan following and which has relatively less legal hassles. Every comic developer wants to increase its fan following and would be more than happy to encash on his idea’s rights for a movie. So this business deal seems to satisfy both the parties’ needs. I don’t see any other better business model as coming up with a new IP in comics is the cheapest way of bringing one’s idea to the public. Only downfall is that you will have to find a good comic to read out of many bad ones.

If you are not into reading comics but want to get started here are my recommendations: Watchmen and Batman (Year One). From the Indian comic collection, Virulent seems to be a short and sweet one.

Oh Harry, Ginny is calling you!!!

I kept myself busy reading 6th and 7th book of the Harry Potter series for big part of the last month. I am not an ardent fan of Harry Potter but having read the books, I would say one thing, Harry Potter series has got most of the elements required to attract readers of all the ages. Every writer and story teller can learn from Rowling’s books. For me the attractions for grabbing HP series were:

1) The world of wizards and wizardy and their nuances
2) Great characters viz., Hermoine, Ron, Dumbledore, Snape and ofcourse my favorite Lord Voldemort
3) The everlasting suspense that many threads of the story managed to keep successfully till the end
4) Usage of simple words, concise sentences and funny mini-stories viz., fights between Ron and Hermoine, Hermoine questioning Harry’s plans etc.
5) The big win was Harry’s character has been written as a regular guy surrounded by good friends, teachers and a lots and lots of luck. So reader was able to able to digest most of it, except the luck part where Harry happens to survive every evil plan made against him.

I would recommend every person out there to read HP series for it will be subject of the talk for many generations to come.

And you wondered why we need lighthouses for...

LightHouseEffect.Org

One of my good friends Nirav Desai owns the website. He has done quite an impressive work on the website and it deserves attention. Their mission in their own words: "lighthouseffect uses its web space to throw light on the efforts undertaken by nonprofits, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs in their quests to improve the living conditions of children".

My life....March -July

1) 9:00am : Wake up in the morning
2) 10:30am : Reach office
3) 12:30pm : Lunch
4) 5:00pm : Walk across the lake / play pool
5) 7:30pm : Dinner in the office
6) 10:00pm : Home
7) till 1:00am: Simpsons / Battlestar Galactica / Family guy / Comics / Novels

This is what I call 'a life of Nerd'.

Courage (A short story)

[The story is fictional and a new chapter to my collection of short stories.]

There are some unforgettable moments in everyone's lives; I have quite a few. These are usually moments of unexpected success, sad events or some amusing incidents in which you didn't play any part at all. One such amusing event will always remain close to my mind. In 5th grade we were asked to write essays in all the languages that were taught in school, i.e. English, Hindi and Marathi. Well, scoring highest grade in a language subject was different and writing an essay in that language was a different ballgame altogether. Best escape was to buy some cheap award-winning essay book and try to imitate their writing style in your essays. Well that used to work out great for me and I hope it still does for the current 5th graders.

The story is about a boy, Atul, who being a bright student, also had an unparalleled passion for languages. Teachers used to ask him to read his essays in front of the whole class. Not that his essays were great but they were original. His originality used to bowl me over. But on one such day, when we were supposed to write an essay for Marathi class, he was not prepared. The essay was about our local hero and king, Raja Shivaji. The class was scheduled after lunch break when he busily started writing his essay. There was a glitch in this essay-writing homework – an incomplete essay would affect the overall grade. After scribbling for a while he was able to finish about half the essay which was about 2 pages. After lunch-break the lecture began and unfortunately the teacher asked him again to read his essay in front of the class. The poor guy couldn't dare to admit that he couldn't finish his homework as it would affect his otherwise clean academic record. He took his book in his hands and stood in front of the class. Few of his friends, including me knew the actual facts but we didn't know how he was going to pull this off. Reading an essay that you have written and in a language that you are not quite familiar with, is a big task for an 11-year old guy. Atul started reading his essay explaining King's birth, childhood, schooling which exhausted his essay completely. Without looking at the class, staring at his notebook Atul continued his essay by elaborating about an event where King killed his arch-enemy Afzalkhan with his wits. I was amazed to see his cool, calm poise and confidence with which he was fooling the whole class but with a good intent. Well, teacher was impressed and awarded him good points for his essay. From then on he never missed his homework. The point that I realised was that a given task should first be completed in one's mind before its execution and there will be times where you will not be prepared for an event, but approaching it with a positive attitude will have higher chances of bearing success.

Innocence - A Short Story

"Oh man, I think this would be the end of my simple life. From today onwards everybody would be expecting me to act as a matured person. I have to think twice before making any decisions, I have to maintain my reputation, think about my career. My girlfriend, Priya thinks I am a loser. I wish I could go back in time and lead a tensionless life. I have to be a good son, good brother and a good citizen. I need to plans things and execute them in order to be successful person. I would read newspaper, technical and art magazines on a regular basis. I would eat healthy food daily. I would sleep early and wake up early everyday. From today I would be a changed and better person. From today..."(A lady enters in)
"Welcome to the fourth grade, kids!! I am your class teacher and I would promise you that we would have more fun than you guys had in third grade."

A Poem

On a lonely street
As you walk by
Moments of truth, you visualize
Places of beauty, you passed by

A journey full of surprises
Mind and heart need to cross by
Utter in confusion, you realize
It’s too late to go back by

Don’t you see, the poem is fooling you
To the same old plot of life and it’s saddening you

Read a poem twice
Artistic and critique eyes
A poem can be a prose
Can be simple, can be short

Need not a poem be rhythmic
Need not be it romantic
But memorable message it need to carry
With passion, substance and style

Don’t you see, the poem is again fooling you
It is leading you, back to you

Live your life on your own rules
So when you look back with critique eyes
It has carried a simple memorable message
But with passion, substance and style

The Game

"Hey Vikas, how was your day?" My replies usually are: "Busy, spent whole day trying to get bear working in the game", "I was trying to get player sit on a chair, smoke pipe, play flute, mine gravel pile". By now you might have realised that I work for a gaming company. Yes, I have been working on 'LOTR:The White Council' game (target consoles are PS3 and xbox 360) for almost 9 mons now and yes, I work for EA.

This is one of the best times to be in a gaming company. The transistion period as it is called when next-gen consoles hit the market and consumers expect games to be the same i.e. Next-gen. Gaming companies thrive hard to create a next-gen experience by taking some ground-breaking decisions and risks. I am happy to be part of this whole effort.

So what is a next-gen game? It is an open-ended question. Come to think of it, it is upto consumer's imagination. Personally, I feel quality of game should be much superior. By that I mean, game should exploit console's processing power to full extent and create a virtual-reality experience for gamers who should believe in the world that they see. If one looks at television screen, he should not be able to say whether he is looking at a game or at a movie. It is easy said than done. Interactive entertainment is gaining ground and people's attention all over the world. I personally feel it is still immature but hopefully next-gen consoles and games would be able to help bridge that difference.

Mahabharata

I completed reading Rajgopalacharya's version of Mahabharata. His writing style comprises of using simple words, small sentences and compiling them into concise chapters. I came to know about some unheard stories of our great epic through this book. I believe every emotion (desire, greed, love, sincerity et al) , social tensions and other facets of life can be found in this epic. We don't have evidence about who wrote this book (of course, if you don't believe Lord Ganesh who wrote this epic, as our mythology claims) but whoever it is has done a great job.

The thing that makes Ramayana more popular than Mahabharata is that Ramayana is a story of victory of good over evil. Ramayana deals the story in white and black whereas Mahabharat deals its epic in grey. There are times in Mahabharata where it would be difficult for a reader to determine who is right and who is wrong, which makes it more interesting due to its alignment with current practical world.

I would love to see a trilogy made of Mahabharata. It would be much better if a director originating from western culture makes it as he would visualise our mythology in his own way and give a global touch to the movie. I strongly believe our mythology if projected elegantly through proper media channels would become globally popular. Anybody up for it, Peter Jackson, u listening ????

Omkara !!!

With a quite few weblinks pointing to this blogsite, you have to be an avid reader to reach here. And if you are an avid reader you might have read lots of good reviews of Omkara by now. Let's take a different angle on the movie in this blog i.e. a negative one. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie a lot and I can go on and on about it. But pointing mistakes is such a satisfying experience :-). Here are the points where I think movie needed improvement.

1) The movie didn't show how saif convinced his wife to steal Omkara's family necklace. The woman, who gets enraged to the extent that she kills her husband for treachery, should have a strong reason to steal the necklace at the first place. I am sure Shakespeare might have explained about her character in detail in Othello but I believe that was not projected properly in the movie.

2) Viveik's roles should have been much stronger instead of being just a casanova.

3) The history of Omkara's association with bhaisaab and saif's (Langda Tyagi) association with Omkara needed more spotlight. Such character and relation development should be given higher priority over songs. Time has come for good directors to get rid of unnecessary songs from their movies. 'Company' scores higher in this aspect of film making.

4) Enemies of Omakara seems to be have given no respect in the movie. The hero is stronger only if he has stronger enemies. I understand that Omkara's enemies do not need to have much scope in the movie but their history would have helped in understanding the scenario better.

Overall the movie is a must-see one this year.
Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Dual World

As our current world spends half its time in digital universe, time has come to look upon Heros created and revered by geeks. Yeah, I am talking about heroes of digital world who can give a tough fight to our heroes from mythology and our history. These heroes came to life from video games, comic strips, anime and other medium (which I might not be even aware of). Comic strips seem to be the originator of this whole other world where today's 40+ males can comfortably relate to. In 1970s these same geeks were outcaste and considered to be the losers. But now wives proudly discuss about how their husbands / kids play video games, read comic strips, watch anime and other sci-fi animations. So what do you think how our future looks like. As I can see it, we would end up having two lives: one in real and one is digital world. Due to increasing population the world has become quite competitive and it has become difficult to taste success in real life. That’s where digital universe will provide solace to people. Each person will have alias name, profession, home and life which he will care as much as he cares about in real world. I would like to call this whole prediction of mine as 2084 :-) (Courtesy: "1984" by George Orwell).

The Hobbit

Finally I read one of the J.R.R.Tolkein's books "The Hobbit". It is the first book in the series of "The Lord of the Rings" where he has created his own world of MiddleEarth. I liked the book for it is a kind of adventure where you would be interested to know what happens next, i.e. he has maintained a sound amount of thrill throught the book. At regular intervals in the book the author introduces new characters (new races, in fact): elves, humans, wolves, goblins which makes the story more interesting. Each race has its own strengths and weaknesses and hence are interesting beings. The sudden turn of events on unexpected time seems to be the key to success to this story.

One the negative side, I felt that it would have been better if author had described each race in more detail like, what are their professions, what excites them and why they are friends / enemies of each other. Who are wizards and why they are so powerful. Maybe JRR has taken this into account in his subsequent books. One more thing, adventure doesn't seems like a diffcult journey where you get help from wizard and hobbit on a regular basis. Oops I just revealed some events from the book. For now I feel like I will be reading all trilogy of LOTR series.

Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

A coffee story

I usually avoid posting forwarded emails on my personal blog but this (Akshay Pandit's email) one is really interesting and thought-provoking.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So, don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead.

Irony in Cultures

After having been exposed to more than one culture, I am able to notice some distinct features in each of them. American culture, or should I say western culture, has individualistic and community-centric people. And people of India (Eastern culture) are family-centric. Let me clarify my point here:

Western people care a lot about themselves and how government governs them. They will keep track of government policies made and their impact on people's lives. But they will never like to find out who stays next to their house, I mean, they don't care much about their neighbors. They will perform great amount of community service but (at the same time) will also not hesitate to destroy their own family i.e. divorce their life partners if they think they are unhappy. They maintain safe distance with relatives as well. While eastern people don't give a damn out what government is doing for their benefit and they will not hesitate to filth their surroundings. But they know who their neighbors are and keep great relationship with them. They also tend to maintain a regular healthy relationship with their relatives. So which approach is better. In ideal world, it would be better to maintain a balanced individualistic, familty-centric and community-centric approach. The interesting part would be to come up with satisfactory explanations for why cultures emerge in different ways..

Its never late for Holi blog (And pictures are worth of million words)

Addiction

So how many movies one should see in a week to be called as a movie addict? I think I will comfortably fall in the 'movie addict' zone. Take this last weekend for example. I saw 4 movies in this weekend. And I end up watching about 1-2 movies during weekdays. So on an average I watch 4-5 movies every week. Come to think of it, I also fall under "TV shows addict" . Let me put it this way: there are very few episodes of Seinfeld, Friends, Everbody loves Raymond, Frazier, Yes Dear, South Park and Lost left that I haven't watched YET. My next POA (plan of action) is to watch Simpsons. And my long term plan is to play lots of lots of video games. Afterall, that is precisely why EA pays me.

South Park

In my experience of watching television shows, I would rate South Park in top 3 of my favorites. You already know the reason if you have watched even a single episode of it and for others it would be difficult for me to describe. My advice for you guys would be to "watch it". If I have to pick a single reason behind the success of south park it has to me Eric Cartman or should I say "unbelievable son of a bitch". People love to hate him. He is one of the best defined and well-presented characters on small screen.

I could not resist but watch all nine seasons of South Park in straight 2.5 months. To sum up the series, its all about making fun of general perseption and insulting others in a good way. Ok I will take 'good way' back. This television series makes you sit back and appreciate American culture for the reason which is intelligently stated by an anonymous (I don't who he is :-)) author: "The freedom of a culture can be determined by the measure of extent to which people can laugh at themselves".

Life in general

1) Wake up at 8:30
2) Leave for office by 9:30
3) Check office mails to see whether there is anything that needs immediate attention
4) Work for 2 hours
5) Take a lunch break
6) Start working again
7) Take a coffee break.
8) Back to work
9) Drive home
10) Eat food
11) Do some timepass
12) Go to sleep at about 1 am

Well, now i am figuring ways out to improve this schedule. There are many ways and I firmly believe life can be more interesting.

Lost

After getting some good reviews from my colleagues and friends I finally took up watching american TV show 'Lost'. I am used to sitcoms but this was a whole new expereince for me. I got instantly hooked upto it (like others) and watched almost all (37 odd) episodes in 3 straight weeks. Here are some of the reasons why you should watch it:

1) Production quality is very high. You can easily rate picture quality experience of Lost to a cinematic movie.
2) Although concept is not new, characterization stands at the top.
3) The story is totally script driven.
4) The makers have kept the suspense exceptionally fresh which makes you feel watch subsequent episodes at the earliest.

Tipping point

Well, this is not a review of 'Tipping point' book which everybody might have assumed by now. I always think about the 'tip system' as something which has been forcefully imposed on the society. Why one needs to tip a waiter for his service. From what I understand that is exactly why he gets paid by the restaurant.

I had discussion with my roommates regarding the same. Interestingly we came up with some of our own reasons about why and how 'tip system' started at the first place. Here are some of them:

1) Waiters don't get paid well. So that is why customers decided to pay them with gratitude.
2) Customers always look for some kind of royal service on their tables. So it was not a diffcult plan to come up with paying some extra money to waiter and expect some special service from him.
3) Customers wanted to impress their dinner/lunch buddies so they paid more than expected to prove how human they are.

This 'tip system' has now currently gone out of control and restaurants proudly print on their menus in bold letters to remind customers than if the group is more than 6 ppl then 15% of tip would automatically be added to the bill. Now that is insane !!!!

My Photos

Now that I have a good collection of photos, its right time to post it on blog.

Rang De Basanti

Well, the vedict out there is pretty good. And fortunately, I agree to the bollywood verdict after a long time. I happen to see this movie on the first day of release. I can say this comfortably that RDB is one of the most experimented projects in Indian cinema. I consider this movie in the same league of Lagaan. Its not surprising that Aamir leads in this movie. The impressive thing for me was that Aamir is one of the characters in the movie and the script is so strong that it doesn't revolve aroud him. Rahman is always likeable. The message of the movie is pretty clear. We should have such movies very often. If I were in place of Rayesh Mehra I would have changed the ending and replaced it with a happy one. The catchy name, attractive colors of the movie and ofcourse the script revolving around the current youth seems to me the recipe for success in current bollywood.

Just Like That

I am impressed !!! This is the best blonde joke ever !!!

Five point someone

After hearing some good reviews about the book, I finally bought it in India. One of the reasons of its popularity, I feel, is its cost i.e. 95 Rs. The book is easily accessible to people of the country where most of the books are read by downloading and printing the content for free. Conceptually it is a 'Dil Chahta Hai' version in book format. The actions that 3 characters (protagonists) take in this book will land them in big shit even if they do not belong to IIT. So that brings me to another conclusion for the book's success i.e. readers are happy to know that IItians are normal people just like us. Another good thing about the book is its title which makes buyers take notice of it. Characters are well-defined and their contrast nature is appreciable. So what you take home after reading the book: some of your college memories and a good message: its OK to screw life up until you are a student, then you might not get another chance :-). To become old and wise, one should act young and stupid.

Welcome bloggers!!!

Its high time that I edit the bloglinks I visit frequently. I am glad to add links of my good friends' blogs. Welcome Nilesh and Deepa!!! Well, Nilesh is not a new blogger but knowing that Deepa also blogs motivated me to add these people and create a network of our college grp, the wish that finally came true. Its really nice to know that Mumbaikars also blog as opposed to Punekars who blog about anything and everything!!!
Nilesh, are you listening?

Who am I, I am a New Yorker

Just happened to had a great blast last week. I spent about 6-7 days in New York: economic capital of the world. Ok, I was trying to make a big deal out of it, my apologies !!! So what did I see: Empire state building, Times square, Intrepid museum, cruise around statue of liberty, American museum of Natural history, Museum of Modern Arts, Central Park, Rockefeller Centre, St. Patrick's church, Ground Zero, Wall street, brooklyn bridge, Madison Square Garden and of course subways. I used to travel about 6-8 miles per day in Manhattan just to feel NY air.

Here are some of my interesting observations:

1) NY is a morning city. Most ppl work from 7am - 4pm. The peak hours in trains are from 6am-8am. I was really surprised by it.

2) If you are visiting as a tourist make sure you rise early and make to places before 4pm.

3) Travelling by subways is pretty cheap and you can travel any distance with the same fare.

4) The skyscrapers will blow your minds off. Every brand name that you have heard will have it s headquarters in NY (ok, I am jumping the line again)

5) Best part for me was 2-hr afternoon walk in Center Park.

One thing that I would like to suggest is visit as many places as you can, you will learn something and build memories from every place, Amen !!!!

India Trip

Well, where should I start? Reached India by flight, went home by van, took a ride on bike as a third seater and with the current electricity crisis in my home town, I could comfortably say that my trip was nothing short of 'Swades' film. But since EA is much strict than NASA (I guess, I cannot take 2-3mons of holidays) and absence of GF made me realise that 'genrating electricity' project would be a disaster.

Jokes apart, going back to your home after a long span of time is always a fulfilling experience. Its like coming back to your roots. I was lucky enough to meet most of my school friends, BE friends, attend my friends' wedding and get my H1 visa stamped. My religious trip and my novels collection were the other highlights.

Here are some of 'stuck-in-my-mind' observations:

1) First thing that strikes you is 5-hr power cut under the name of 'load shedding'. No comments..except that i avoided wearing any t-shirt at home at any cost, by that, I mean even in the presence of relatives who would come to see US return kid, who is supposed to be looking sophisticated and well-dressed.

2) Most of my friends are planning to move either in Mumbai district or move as far as possible from Mumbai (Pune, Blore etc). One can also sense responsibility on their faces: parents, home, money and ofcourse their life partner.

3) Many of them are fed up with company politics and their workstyle. But changing companies doesn't seem to be the best solution as all companies work in the similar fashion. Key seems to work in a MNC or a US based company.

4) Population seems like a problem which would not be solved during my lifetime. I am happy that people don't kill each other to get a window seat in local trains. Thanks to companies who have started bus services for their employees.

And above all, I feel due to the above-mentioned factors people lack passion. For they have to think about survival,which is a logical approach for any mumbaikar as he has to struggle a lot for basic necessities like electricity, water, home and commute. I am pretty sure very few might be appreciating their lives and happy to be alive. Very few would be dreaming about taking 2-week off and going to Agra for a Taj-Mahal visit. And whom should we blame for that !!!!

I must admit its easy to comment on these factors by sitting in bay area, but one must remember that we are not getting any younger !!!!

Triumph of the Nerds

Its a documentary ran by some TV channel. My manager mentioned it to me and in fact he made a copy for me. Its about how software geeks took over the world and how the whole software industry began accidently in garages where teenager geeks worked hard just to impress their friends. It gave me kind of an insight about how it all began and who all were responsible for it. Most impressive person you would see in the video would be Steve Jobs and impressive innovating company would be XEROX research center in Palo Alto.

Its a very good documentary. Try to get hold of it. I also heard about its sequel which talks about the internet technology and its emergence. Hmm time to find the video now...

Catcher in the rye

Read another book which is also considered as a part of the classic league. The book is very different from all other books that I have read so far. It talks about a guy and his struggle with the world. But here the boy is a pyscho and the story seems like his personal diary. The good part of the book is that it gives an alltogether different outlook towards worldy activities. I cannot say for sure about entertainment value of the book except that its different....if that means anything to you !!!

To Kill a Mocking Bird

There are some books about which one cannot and does not want to write anything else but praise. This book is precisely ons of those. I truly agree with other fellow readers that its a classic. And I strongly recommend everybody to read it atleast once. The book being published in 1950s is a timeless creation and Harper Lee [author] still considers it as just a simple love story.

The book mainly describes about children growing up and their dynamic thought process during those changing times. It describes about a man who stands for his principles. It describes about a village which is good at heart but follow all the old traditional idiosyncrasies. It describes about how everything falls at right places at time passes by. Its simplicity makes the book great. This books proves that simple story narration and innocence can improve the book quality by heaps and bounds. You do not need any complicated stories or situations to make a successfull book but a simple story from the heart. I would prefer it to be read as a part of curriculum for English graduation courework (or it might have already been done).

A guitarist

The bar was crowded, noise and wine flowing all the way
waiters and cleaners at their toes, at work it was just another day
every table one could see and hear, people involved in their own small worlds
mortgage, loan, rent and credit, nothing else was their worth

raising voices, emoting faces, one can sense the tension
rising temperature, gulping glasses, happy were they none
the podium lights up, people pay no heed
a jacket, jeans and cowboy hat arrives, with his guitar and strings

out came a divine music, fingers to guitar as his rest
faces turned at every table, silence was at its very best
played the player face down, he became irresistable
even deaf cleaner could hear him, his music was visible

forgot the worries everybody had, felt like existing in different world
where sun don't have to hide, for moon to rise and shine
Stepped he out after an hour or so, audience did not believe him
bowed he and left in silence, audience could not digest him

audience of that day, came day after day
helpless addicted were they, music which was trip to far far away
realised they after few years, existed never the guitarist
before and after the show, unknown was he to everybody
believed they him a glimpse of divine, earth on stepped he to teach
what is life all about and how to live it!!!

(A poem dedicated to myself on my 25th Bday, yeah !! u r right, I am so full of myself :-) )

My new Nephew

My vahini (Mallika) and cousin (Prasad) had a baby boy last week and here is my bro's interesting letter subjected "New Release":

" Our new product has been launched into this world! It was nine months in the making and was ready one day before the deadline. The CEO and CTO (Mallika and Prasad) are delighted by this cutting edge product. The main features of the product are feeding, sleeping and wetting diapers. However, by far the best feature is the cute smiles :)

You might have guessed the product by now! "Dhruv Deshpande" was born on July 15th at 1.59 pm at Santa Teresa Hospital. He was 6 lbs 10.6 Oz and 21 inches in length at birth. The name "Dhruv" means the North star and stands for someone who is steady and unchanging.

Mom and baby are healthy and recovering. Dad is enjoying playing with him. "

Where is Novelty?

So where do we stand today? One movie releases, along come related console games, cell phone games, music video, remixes, food drinks with movie brand and what not. Everybody wants to monetize on the existing idea prevailing the old profound theory of human mankind : work less, earn more.

And you will sense the height of the above theory when ppl declare that they are cashing on the old popular movies as well. Distinguished directors are planning to remake Don, Sholay. Game Industry is making games based on GodFather, JamesBond etc. Technology thus is used to ensure that an idea doesn't get wasted and everybody makes full use of it.

So the question to ask yourself is: where we stand today?

Piracy !!!

Onsite interview with Electronic Arts (EA)

EA techincal director: So do you have any questions for me?

Me: Yes, Why doesn't EA concentrate on Indian market as well and try to cash it by developing asian games?

EA techincal director (Without a blink, in lightning speed):

Because there are 3 (he said 3, precisely) reasons:

1) Indians have the habit of using pirated copies (out of 10 million copies of FiFa soccer game sold, only 5% were original copies)
2) Indians don't have the money power to play on different consoles like playstation, xbox which are the main sources of revenue as compared to PC games
3) We cannot shift the development to India because they would not be able to understand the american and european games.

I could see the frustation in his eyes. And I think the main reason is the first one: Piracy. Can we stop it for giving a bad name to us?

Comics

I had almost forgot about the comics till I saw the 'Sin City'. Sin City is a sincere attempt of bringing comics to the larger screen without any filmy element. Everybody would be having their own sweet memories reading comics during their childhood. But in this part of the world people never get old. They still are fanatic about the comic strips. I, myself, have started reading the comic strips back again.

My favourite comic is Asterix. The whole idea of Gauls fighting Romans, with due respect to magic potion, instigates my imagination. Almost all characters (especially Obelix) are funny. Their village setup, dressing sense, boar eating culture and other things attracts the reader's attention.

The main advantage of reading comic strips is that it is fun reading and ends in shorter time unlike novel where it has a single idea to present and takes about couple of days to finish. Comic strips are the visual retreat and takes you back to your childhood.

Addicted

Well, I think life was quite simple few years back. Right now I cannot imagine my life without my laptop and cell phone. Does new inventions and science make life simpler or more complicated? Everything is getting complicated under the name of the simplicity. You are made dependent to things that you never cared before. The companies might call it as 'determing the need of the market'. But I would like to call it as creating a new need (market) for the people (business).

In early days, OK wait !!! By early days I mean 4 - 5 years back. Man, generation gap is getting smaller and smaller. So in early days people never cared of maitaining communication with their knowns on day-to-day basis. But with the arrival of the cell phones you even call a person you have met in some hippie party some few yrs back. I know there are more pros than cons to the given situation and I am concentrating only to the cons, but still I feel i (as a human being) am being cheated !!!

Suppose if some family denies to buy a computer and cell phone, it will be looked upon as some naive tribal gang. There will be lot of pressure from the society. I know this all doesn't make true sense but still I want to make sure all type of ppl get along well in this world. Think about it ..

Man - a lazy animal

I heard a pretty interesting theory recently about philosophy i.e. man works very hard because he is very lazy. I know it doesn't make sense at first reading. But let me explain. With majority of the peoply, working hard means earning lots of money. Ppl work hard so that they can make lots of money so that they can retire at early age and chill for the remaining years of their lives. They want to reach that level of complacency asap where they need not care about money any more. And as we all know, except few countries, ppl all around the globe don't preach and don't follow the concept of 'savings'. So work hard to make sure you have enough money for your lifetime and get retired soon.

It is amusing, isn't it. So as lazy animals as we are, lets work hard....

Life in general

I always thought that once I get a job I would have enough time to enjoy. I guess I was wrong. Blogging has become a rare occasion for me. But some new interesting things also got interwingled with job. Eating food in restaurants all the time, getting cafenated, waking up early, sleeping early, staring computer about 16 hrs a day, thinking about the clothes that I shud wear, money management, working under pressure etc etc. Man !!! childhood was so damn cool and easy. Well the positive thing about job is that u have money to enjoy, independence to make decisions and lifestyle that u always craved for. But dreams never end.

I hate to be that 8am to 8pm guy with nothing else to do at home other than sleep. I guess every job-going person should start his day, week, month with a plan. For a change, living without a plan is also a good plan, but, not always !!! I would like to emphasize the idea of job as mentioned in one of the chain emails that I recieved sometime back: "If something bad happens and u happen to die, then who is the biggest loser -u, ur family and friends for not spending quality time with each other. Well, company will find a suitable replacement for u...."

what else do u want - cricket !!!

I have received this in email and could not get the source's information. But its funny especially for indians who love to see the pak lose the current cricket series....

Sehwag ki maa ko bulao,
Sachin ko Pepsi pilao,
Ganguly ko Chawanprash khilao,
Kaif ko Lays khilao,
Dravid ko Castrol pilao

Kaise bhi India ko jitao

Irade hai nek, hosle hai buland
kasam hai hindustan ki
phir wohi jalwa dikhaenge
rawalpindi express ko
local train banayenge

aaj ek ball aur khel lo
aaj ek bat aur pakad lo
aaj ek wicket aur le lo
aaj ek match aur jeet lo...

aaj bas aaj...

kya pata kal Pakistan ho na ho...

BLACK !!!

After reading a lot abt Black, finally got an opportunity to watch the movie. Well, I must say the movie lives upto its much hyped reputation. I am not surprised if AB claims that this is his best movie ever. TO begin with, the movie is different. It talks all about fighting against the odds. It highlights the sacred teacher-pupil relationship. And above all it has female lead as a protagonist. It is easy to show all the above-mentioned fighting spirit etc etc in a movie featuring any damn game, take for e.g., joh jeete...., lagaan. But to feature a dumb,blind girl / female as a lead takes lot of guts from Bhansali. It is clear in everyone's mind by now that this movie was made with OSCAR (lady) in mind, why, here's why: no songs, based on christian family, abt 70% of dialogues in English and many more. Well, we hope this gets a thumps up from OSCARs.

My fav part of film was: rani teaching AB all over again right from the start, thus proving that learning never ends and can be started at any age, and life is all about helping others.

Inscrutable americans !!!

Well, this is my first novel that has an Indian as a protagonist. And to be frank - its a really funny novel. Reading a funny novel is always a different feeling. It describes the life of an indian who comes to US for higher education (yeah right!!!). His innocence, cultural shock and his american friends will make you feel "how lonely u r in foreign land". Overall the book is a 'must-read belonging category' especially for all immigrants who are residing in US.

Sorting Algo

We all listen to music. We categorise them according to the artist / band. We also categorize them according to the language of the lyrics (eng / hindi / etc) .We categorize them according to the era in which they were composed. We also have a 'favourite' folder. But at the end we select some few songs from each category and make and call it as 'my playlist'. So is it efficient, nah !!! I think we can do something else...i.e categorize them according to the mood as each song brings authentication to some particular type of mood. For e.g. we should have song folders like romantic, party, fighting spirit, gazal and many more. So if one wants to listen songs then he can select songs that suits his mood. I understand this sorting might create some new problems, i.e one will have difficult time in knowing whether he has some particular song and also in exchanging songs with friends. For this sorting to be successful, ppl would need to have a training eye which is difficult to achieve. It would be a big change in approach for ppl and ppl hate to change. But this sorting might help some mavericks like me!!!!

An Omen

Atop a high hill, among the canyons
stood he wondering, what a life has it been
the wind with its chill, came his life in a flash
clouds resting at his feet, proved his actions right

with some unknown reason, felt he an everlasting peace
the silence was at its best, made him realise that now it is
head and hands high up in the sky, with closed eyes and an open mind, he spoke
"O God !!! what is life, what are my actions, and did I do alright?

anxiously waited he for an answer, expected not was it though
prayed he for some omens to show, a path, away from his mistakes, to go
sad was he when opened his eyes,but found a flock of birds in the premise
realised he something that never thought before,every bird led the other bird in its row

wrong felt about the path they fly, any can change the route, no late
worry not about the dangers ahead that lie, all follow a new leader they made
satisfied was a smile on his face, answer he got for his mind
flight of birds on a new trend, new leader with a new vision, his life

- VPD

Rules of a game

In this big world to which we belong, there is a different sport played in every corner of it. The rules are different for every sport but the test for a champion remains the same. Every sport needs its winner to be determined, skilled, hard worker and above all be a sportsman i.e. believe that its the just a game and all his day-night efforts were to win just a game and not a war i.e. the current game is important and your previous accomplishments would not help you and i.e. ANYBODY CAN WIN TODAY.....

Every now and then you will see the same pattern in every sport that you follow. There is a championship final game and there are two contestants for it. Yeah, this seems trivial, I know !!!! But one contestant has a record of winning such huge games and other contestant is a zero as far as record goes. The poor team do not have any medals to show and have even lost to the other team few times before. But who knows EVERYTHING MIGHT CHANGE TODAY !!! And this is the way new histories are made.

I feel the main reason for people to follow any sport is the factor of "unexpected things happen in sport". They chose one of the contestants as their favourite and want it to win because they believe that they can predict the future. It is just a different way of gambling. People want to escape from their daily routine where they know what they would be doing for next week weeks and even months. They believe in a hope that some unexpected event would happen that would blow out their minds and would be larger than their expectations. And if you follow any sport religiously you would find that most of the people favour for the weaker team i.e. an underdog.

I guess I made my point clear: Don't miss to watch Super Bowl XXXIX on coming sunday. Its being played between NewEngland Patriots (Defending champions) and Philadelpia Eagles (won last in 1981). And I vote for a new history - Eagles !!!!

The Alchemist

what? = Read this book today
whose? = Paulo Coelho
about? = A fable dealing with philosophy of life and determination to achieve dreams
any good things? = good climax, shorter in size with better content as compared to "5 people.." (read previous blog)
recommended? = yes as it wud take just 3 hrs of your time and wud add a new perspective to your life
ratings? = an international bestseller

5 people ....

Read "5 people you meet in heaven" yesterday. The book being declared as a bestseller, I was curious to get hold of it. But to be frank, the book did not live upto my expectations. I think there was a lot of scope to make the book more interesting. Actually the theme is what made people go and buy it. Everybody is excited to know what heaven looks like. Everynow and then people get philosophical and want to read something that is beyond life and spiritual in nature. Comparatively, the book is smaller in size and cheaper at price.

Having said all the above stuff abt the book, I would still recommend my readers to read the book. Because it would not take more than 3 hrs of your time and would give you a new perspective towards life. The climax is quite good. I guess the key to success for any book is a better biuld-up and a good clean climax exciting the readers' creative minds.

Psilent !!!! (P is silent)

So what the hell do silent letters mean in english literature? I mean I know there would be a better explanatory science behind using these letters but I don't understand why we need them in 21st century. I am pretty sure that abt 90% of the people don't know the use of using silent letters in words. It doesn't matter to much ppl though unless for those ppl like me who live in San Diego. Here most of the words are originated from the spanish (a non-english lang). And I feel that is the reason why english scholars introduced these silents words so that foreign languages can be translated to english: to prove the world that other langs are useless and see how difficult it is to translate and pronounce such words in english.

To end with:
Pronounce "La Jolla". I can bet u r wrong. The exact pronounciation is "La Hoya". 'J' becomes silent and 'LL' becomes 'y'.

Now say whatttt !!!!

Kramer, Sir

As for now, I am busy searching for a full time employment and my pleasure time is watching Seinfeld. I wonder how guys like Kramer live their lives. I know few guys back in India who live their lives in the same fashion. But their count is by fingers. If u have a lot of free time like me then you will surely think of that envious carefree lifestyle. Kramer does whatever he feels like doing at that moment of time. He has no significant past , present and even future. But who the hell needs all those. He comes up with some new ideas and try to cash in for those ideas. I would not go far apart from using the term "new idea".

His small time businesses:
1) helping a company CEO write a autobiagraphy, by selling his events of his own life.
2) pizza business where customers will add their own toppings and bake their own pizzas.
3) selling Bro for men as what is Bra for women.

and the list goes on. But he helps all the needy ppl by any means and that means mostly leads to Seinfeld's help. He also gives a different opinion to each situation which a common working guy would never come up with.

Just think about it....

King, Stephen

I would like to recommend every story-lover about the king's books. He has covered almost all the horror topics one can think of: car driven by a dead person, autopsy of a living person, extraterrestial animal, weird painting, a hotel room and the list goes on. Stephen king is one of the writers who can play with his characters very well.

Many of his novels are being taken to the silver screen as well. Even "The Green Mile", "The Shawshank Redemption" are his contributions to this world. One cannot keep his book down. The magic of suspense is maintained till the last page.

The best thing I like about his work is that he creates a story out of anything and everything. He is "must-read" author.
Just finished his "Everything eventual" and now took up his "From a Buick 8".

Best break-up line

George Costanza's (In Seinfeld) girlfriend is fed up with him and try to breakup with him.

GF: Seriously, george, its not u, its me.

George: you are giving me "its not u, its me" routine.
I invented "its not u, its me" routine.
Nobody gives me "its not u, its me" routine.
If there is somebody its not them, its me.

GF: OK george, its you.

George: You are damn right, its me.....

Tsunami !!!

I guess this is how worse things can get when two natural elements (earth and water) declare war against mankind. Especially when it is unexpected. Now the question arises what action should be taken to minimize the effect of such calamities in the future. There are many active online discussions and it seems so that concerned countries hesitate to join 'tsunami club' (name changed for my convenience) because its a costly affair. They say they can afford such calamity once in 40-50 yrs rather than joining the club.

Its easy to scrap the idea but i feel its a very sensitive issue. Keeping mind over matter: what if this tsunami never strikes india again for near 300 yrs.I guess govt might be knowing abt this in detail. It all depends on the cost involved in loss and the cost to rebuild the destroyed world. And don't forget the personal loss involved.

But one thing is for sure: ppl will avoid going to coastal areas, for recreation, for a long time now...

Been there, Done that

Masters in computer science, well, I could now officially say: been there and done that. Well I must admit MS changed me in lot of ways. I would recommend all the ppl to go for post graduation if time,money and family permits.

Experience of a foreign land is a big plus for international students. Cooking, laundry, cleaning the apt and of course course work makes the person instant mature. And when this process goes for two years, u realise u have come a long way and all was worth it.

Graduation commencement was held on 18th dec in my university USU. Will post the photos on my website at the earliest. Follow the link (link) mentioned below. Graduate walk was a grt feeling especially when this feeling was not provided by our dear mumbai university. 10 secs of fame is worthy...

Some things that I learnt in MS:

1) Education is fun
2) World is much bigger than our busy Mumbai
3) Leaving alone away from the family and friends makes u stronger to face the world
4) Planning in life helps

yahooooo!!!!

Well there are some things which you think will never happen to you. One such thing is your email password being hacked. It happened to me about a month ago. I am not sure whether a culprit is known or a unknown person. But that stupid guy changed my password as well. So I could not access my account right till now. I wrote some 10 emails to yahoo security grp to finally get my password reset.

Well I would not blame yahoo for that. Yahoo being the provider of one of the largest free services might find it difficult to attend the numerous complaints they might be receiving from all over the world. But I would defintely like to suggest yahoo guys to come up with some technique which might help a user in detecting that something might be going wrong. For e.g. if there is drastic change in location of two consecutive access to the same email id then a warning email should be sent to the alternate email id provided.I guess there might be more solutions to the problem.

I guess I can be a better example for ppl to learn from: make your password a tricky one, never disclose it to anybody and never use the same password at many places.

Namesake !!!

Well, all NRIs would agree that foreigners find it difficult to say our indian names. My name is usually called as vykas. Nowadays I have stopped to correct them. Because I think 'What the hell, as long as i know they are referring me'. And it makes them happy as well as they don't have to think much about how to spell my name.

I personally feel we should follow china's steps in this case. Their names are so awful that they have an equivalent american names for the 'other-than-china' countries. I would like to have a new name, I mean who wouldn't !!! So my american name would be 'Victor'. I like thatttt !!! So currently I am looking for new americans to make friends with so that I can introduce myself as Victor.

And now about indians. You would hardly see friends calling each other by their first names. Each guy would be associated with a nickname. Sometimes even surname would do but never by first name. It is kinda insult to the friend. I have some nicknames too: vpd (my initials), stud, vykas and currenly new coined name (of MBMBBS fame) 'mamu'.

So the rule is to introduce yourself with your first name. Then it is upto the listener what he plans to call you. IF he is foreigner he will call u by american name and your natives would not miss to coin a funny nickname for you. I guess thats how world works !!! Everbody wants to run from their first names and knowingly- unknowingly ( I invented this word) they love their other coined names. Its a well accepted fact and nobody can deny it. Everybody wants to escape from the routine. Think abt it !!!

Shwaas

Finally got the opportunity to watch shwaas. The film, in literal sense, touches hearts of the audience. The most striking feature of the film is that it proves the good old truth of films : film should have a message and a film should be simple.

One do not need many characters or songs or any fiction plot to prove a thing. Shwaas followers would agree that a film is much more bigger than costume, characters, film sets and ofcourse the current trend of 'sex'. The climax of the film is very touching and simply beautiful.

Hope it gets entry into oscar final set of nominations.

My bit of Philosophy towards life

I am a human being. And I tend to believe it is the most advanced species. I have a single life and I tend to make the most out of it.

The question one must ask is how to make the best of one's life? What is that one must achieve and what is that one must call the cup of life? I think about it a lot and I guess there is no definite answer. Lets say the ans differs from person to person. The least one can do is keep learning, who knows one fine day one might find something "worth living for".

So next question that arises is what to learn? I guess one must have an open mind that can learn whatever it feels interesting. For e.g. reading a poem, writing one, playing a musical instrument, sports, drawing something etc. Each day should take you nearer to the perfection stage. Each day should be better that the last day. One must always find ways to improve oneself. Learning a new thing a day will leave you with 365 new tricks at the end of the year. Mind you it is not easy. There might be some events in life which can take back to you where you have started. So application of learnt lessons in real life is equally important.

Wait what if I don't find anything that is "worth living for" till the end.But didn't you spend your whole life without it and that too with a strong learning curve. I guess this is what we call GOD or HOPE. We never give up our God (Hope).And that makes all the difference.

As L.Richards truly says: "In the end the pesimist may be right, but the optimist will have enjoyed the journey more."

Veer - Zaara

THe most anticipated film of this year has finally been released. And how is it ? Well lets say it is not one of the best creations from chopra productions. Main idea of the film of creating an another timeless classic lovestory weaved into india-pak arch rivalry seems to be genuine. But script once again follows the famous "DDLJ" tradition : protagonsits meeting by a chance, hero following heroine to her home and creating havoc, songs on fields etc.

In fact King Khan is a big flop in first half. You can literally point that this is the same stuff he is been repeating from Deewana. And that sucks big time. However his expressions in court scenes in second half is a novelty for his fans. Preity is there just for songs. I personaly feel about 75% of her screen presence is during song sequences. And one might guess why rani cries like she will never stop.

The good part of the film is the fresh tunes of Late Madan Mohan, ofcourse Lata and variety of male voices. Climax would make you feel the sacrifice made by khan as a total waste. Amitabh looks effective after much of his flop films. The best part for me was the last poem that khan recites in last court scene. It is kinda summary of what yash chopra wanted to say through his whole film but was kinda unsuccessful.

Phheeewwwww Finallyyyyyyy !!!!

I successfully defended my Master's Report (kindof thesis) on 15th Nov and was passed with no corrections in my report. For all those who don't know, defense is kind of seminar where you would be presenting your work to committe and students. They might ask questions and you would be defending your work. It marks the completion of my Master's education with some paperwork to be finished. Man, its a grt experience for I am a masters graduate now and I would be walking in dec graduate commencement.

One of committee members (professors) made a memorable stmt at the end of my defense while passing me off. He said "IN last one min you just raised your salary by millions of dollars". He meant being a masters graduate now, I can demand a higher salary and better std of living.

One thing that struck me was that this might be an end to my education life. Well I don't want to think abt that as I might start with some new degree in the future. Who KNows !!!

I would be keeping my report online on my website within few days.

Sports and Statistics

Lets start with the beginning. Why sports are played? Reasons : sportmanship, competetion, strength, show of skillset and above all to have fun. Then to make the sports more interesting and a profitable business tournaments were arranged where people liked watching two countries fight for excellence. But insatiable media did not stop here. They gave rise to statistics.

Let me give an example, fiction though. Suppose sehwag hits a century in, say, wankede stadium against south africa. They (One who shall not be mentioned by name) would say its his career 10th test century. Then they would say its his 3rd test century against south africa. Then they would say its his 2nd test century in wankede. Then they would say its his first in wankede against south africa. Then they would end the article stating that sehwag is a first indian (or any cricket for the purpose) to score a test century against south africa in wankede in first innings in after-tea session under 200 balls finishing a century with a six and completing 50th run by a four.

Thus, every century made by every crickter will go down in the history with some unique set of statistics. I know few people who don't play cricket at all but know the statistics made by every cricketer in every era. So to make it short, sport is reduced to mere material mean game where all that matters is statistics.....

The Apprentice

The current new season of Apprentice has been a big showdown as compared to its previous season (thats what I have heard). I guess I know one of the reasons. If you follow the episodes seriously you will observe that Donald Trump mostly fires the project manager(PM) of the losing team.

We all know PM is a vital candidate of any team. But it doesn't mean he/she should take the responsibility of anything and everything. I totally understand that in corporate world PM would be accountable for all the happenings. But at the same time he may not be the weakest person of a team.

I don't think I am a right guy to argue with Business mogul Donald Trump on this issue. However it seems insane to fire a PM when he is of the same calibre as everybody else unlike in real world where PM is much more really experienced than his team members.

Here is a list of what I think abt PM.
Must-have qualities for a Project Manager (My list):

1) Maturity (he should not take any in-promt decision)
2) Experienced (its better if he knows the things waiting ahead)
3) Vision (how to make a current proj better than the last one)
4) Respect (good relationships with colleagues)
5) Competent (hard working, good skillset etc)

funnyyyyy stufffffffffff

One of the things that separates US from India is the element of comedy. US People hate to be in distress. Once people return home from work they find the sitcoms (situation comedy) all over the television. Standup comedians are the real celebreties in this part of the world. And Indians find desparate fighting housewives waiting for them on the television!!!

Let me give you a simple example. When asked about why did she marry xyz guy then about 50-60% of the US girls would reply: "because he is funny" and not "because he is from good family and somewhat good-natured". Typical Indian reply to that comment would be "if he is funny then laugh, don't marrrrryyyyy himmmmm". I don't want to cross any line over here but would like to stress the importance of 'being funny' in the lives of americans.

'Enjoy', 'chill', 'peace' are some of the words amrus use frequently in their conversations. It indicates their approach towards life. They never land in any uncomfortable situation i.e. they never sacrifice anything in their lives. They never save money. LIfe is a big party for people over here. Individual happiness is the foremost thing and I wonder is this the ultimate truth?

Third attempt of sketch from my side !!!  

GUTS

My good friend (also my old rommie) got a job in Microsoft. He was called for onsite (Redmond, WA)interview two weeks back. But this is not the interesting part. Interesting part is that he wore a t-shirt saying "My stars say...I would be next Bill Gates" for all the 6 interviews held onsite. I could not help laughing. Now I know whom to refer when somebody asks me for the definition of GUTS. I would have bought a new formal shirt and pant for the interview and I guess this is a normal mentality.

The event changed my overall view for the whole formal thing. Its all in our minds. We tend to behave as formal as possible for such events in our lives. Why ? because its a right thing to do, thats why. We should question such assumptions and try to break the custom: just for fun. I am planning to do the same in near future like for defense of my Master's Report. Hope I would stick to my word, but the whole thing scares the hell out of me.....(hehe !!!)

Border - Gavaskar Trophy

Well, Ind-Aus test series finally begins. However it has lost some lustre due to the absence of stalwarts like "apna" sachya and Ricky Ponting. But the series is still imp because the cricketing world believes that this time Aus will have trophy back.

Going by the current Indian and Austrialian teams' form it might look correct. But Indian tradition to surprise the world with fairytale endings still reigns. Looking back to the Indian team that won over Aus in last test series, our current team is definetly more strong and more confident.

My bet is that India will win the series 2-1. There is no scientific reasoning for it except that it is my gut feeling....

Second Masterpiece from this artist (That's me !!!) 

Profession

There are very few options left for a Masters student to escape from 8-5 job routine:

1) Either do Phd and become a prof
2) Or do MBA and enter into management.

I never had aptitude for the first option. Second option is kinda interesting. Management is something which always fascinated me. A management guy has some level of freedom and authority which a developer/programmer will never enjoy. He can change things around him and make a difference. He can experiment with some ideas instead of blindly following some set of specifications (programmer's job) given by some client. If he is really competetive then he can take the company to a very new level.

I guess every one of us wants such virtues in his profession.

See what unemployment can do to u !!!! 

Ganesh Utsav

We celebrated Ganesh Utsav for 1.5 days here in Logan, Utah. It was special this year for we "mumbai" group were the organizers. Being senior students in USU, we took the responsibility of Utsav and it was great fun.

The noticeable part is that Indians living outide India follow the Indian culture with great passion. The proverbial stmt of "One knows the importance of a thing after it is lost" stand true in this case. We have "Dasera" and "Diwali" coming in next month.
It is a truly said fact that Indians create a "Mini-India" wherever they go.

One guy wore a T-shirt in Ganesh Utsav with this tag line:

"Come to India......... One billion people can't be wrong"

The Wall

For every organization (for e.g. a company, cricket team, school etc) to be successful there are 3 essential elements required:

1) A strong technical guy who gives instant results
2) A mangement guy who manages the whole team
3) And a guy who bridges the above mentioned categories and makes many sacrifices without complaining

Lets talk something about the third guy and his qualities :
Yeah, first thing that comes to ones mind is he is dependable. If something goes wrong in the organization then he is the most sought after. If somebody has some problems then he comes to the help. He takes reponsibility for both success and failure with grace. And yes, his work ethics are very strong. These qualities makes him respectable in the whole group.

These guys don't work for promotions or any raise. But they make sure that grp is always in good position.

Are we still talking about just any other ordinary person. Nope, we just finished describing the WALL. He was declared the "Best Player of the Year" and "Best Test Player of the Year" by ICC.

Mr.Rahul Dravid deserves it all....

Time

Kramer: "Hey Jerry!! Would you watch my car for 2 mins ?"
Jerry declines the request and then says to George:
Jerry:"According to the time frame Kramer follows, a man should live for 2000 years."

So how many of us have experienced this. Somebody asks you to wait for 10 mins and then comes back after half an hour. Somebody, till today, use the phrase "back in 2 secs". 2 secs....

I have a good friend who would call the whole group at some place at some time and would himself appear atleast half an hour late.

On poking, he would reply: We are Indians.
I guess he was right. Partly because I didn't have a good reply to that statement except some trivial comments like we are the future of India blah blah.

I saw the same pattern among the Indian students here in US. Every ISA (Indian Student's Association) function starts atleast half an hour late. And back comes the reply from Mr.President :
'We are following the Indian Standard Time" and the public goes ha ha ha !!!

But the same ISA would hoist the flag on 15th August at the exact pre-decided time. According to the organization, hoisting flag late is an insult to the country.

hmmm !! yeah, that makes some sense.

Some of my weird thoughts

As one grows up with age, he observes the world around him and makes his own conclusions. I have my own such conclusions. There is a possibility that this might be present in a book of philosophy or in pschology:

There are two paths to success. One path is a result of engineering(E)other of science(S).

1) The former believes in hard work, dedication, devotion and thinks that it is a 'easy' path to success. These guys are basically restless and work day and night to reach their goal.
2)The latter one comes up with altogether a new techinque for the same goal and believes in spiritual success. These guys want to set their own path of perfection and excellence.

These both paths lead to the same goal.
Now let me give some real-world examples to prove this theory.

1) Sharukh(E) and Aamir(S) (In Indian Film Industry)
2) Agassi (E) and Sampras (S)
3) Mcenroe(E) and Bjorn Borg(S)
4) Roddick(E) and Federer(S)

and above all
5) Windows (E) and Linux (S)

Hope this all stuff made some sense to all u guys.....

A good quote

I got it from some other blog site while browsing (kinda liked it)

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-- Robert Heinlein

Seinfeld's scripts

For all Seinfeld's fans .......

http://www.seinology.com/scripts-english.shtml

A good lesson of Business

Laloo Prasad Yadav talks to his son :
>>Laloo : Hai Betta......I want you to marry a girl of my choice

>>Son : Oh.... Dad......I want to choose my own bride.

>>Laloo : "But the girl is Ambani's daughter.........yar.."

>>Son : "Well, in that case..."

>>Next day Laloo approaches Mukesh Ambani.........

>>Laloo : "I have a husband for your daughter."

>>Ambani : "But my daughter is too young to marry."

>>Laloo : "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."

>>Ambani : "Ah, in that case..."

>>Finally Laloo goes to see the President of the World Bank.

>>Laloo : "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."

>>President : "But I already have more vice-presidents than I need."

>>Laloo : "But this young man is Ambani's son-in-law."

>>President : "Ah, in that case....."

>>This is how business is done!!

It teaches a simple thing:

Business is not all about one's personal interests. It is about knowing what others are interested in. And we all know Laloo is the master of this game !!!!!

Perfectionist

Rare are such men
whose beliefs are very strong
never they give up the hope
always sing a happy song

following their wild hearts
they don't mind the daily chores
loss and gain doesn't mean much to them
like a perfectionist, far far away from the shores

answer they have for everything
problem is itself a solution at ease
made not for materials of life
a saint is a hero for these

dreams they have very high
but like to live a simple life
wonders the common on every night
what they eat, what they are like !!

work they do lead to peace
path they choose lead to freedom
rules they define step to success
thoughts they give lead to religion

rare are such men
who live with great passion
great lives, one should learn more
to be a perfectionist, far far away from the shores....

Art of telling a story

During a Charlie Rose interview, Quentin Tarantino talked about screenwriting (It is one of the purest forms of telling a story):

"I start two characters walking down the street. And the characters take on a mind of their own. If I want the characters to go into the bar, they might say to each other -- Don’t mind Quentin, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Instead, let’s go into this hotel. I say okay and follow them into the hotel."

The Village

This movie by N.Shyamalan should be considered as a case study for films-related courses. He has built a beautiful love story woven into a thriller. Its similar to "Titanic" where love story is woven into a tragic accident.

The simplicity of the film is outstanding. The village set, children, elderly people, their understanding of outside world et al. Manoj proves that the only thing required for making a film is 'a good concept'. Rest (starcast, big expensive locations) all is just to make a film look good.

Highlights of the film are obviously the twist in the film and its ending. Many trade analysts have rated this film as not a good film. I guess filmgoers (especially US ppl) are used to watching extra-terrestial animals and were expecting the same in this film. But this is a reality film. If one forgets his history of making movies with a twist then this would be one of his best.

But he needs to stop this film culture (with twist) as in the future people will never stick to his storyline as they will always know that there is going to be a TWIST....

India as seen by NRIs

What exactly is India for NRIs? They learn about India from newspapers which are available online and what do they find?

More than 50% of the articles are about "Bollywood" and "Cricket". I guess all media guys have made a rule: "No newspaper is complete without an article on Amitabh (AB), Ash or Sachin (tendulkar)." So what image should one have about India !!

Yeah ! they are having the exact same one: India is an underdeveloped country where only news worthy events occur in filmland and sports (that too only in cricket).

This is what I call as "Luck"

It was viva season of 6th sem. Me and some other dombivilians boarded a heavy crowded bus to college for viva of microprocessor. As some of u might know viva is something mumbai students (especially boys) think as "revenge time" for profs where they can selectively screw-up any guy. Anyways, we got into heavy disussion about some concepts in MP and ended up with some unanswered questions.

After an hour or so, my time came to go in torture chamber and face the profs for viva. After entering the room external prof gave me a mischievious smile. A cold chill passed thru my spine. I convinced myself that i am stucked in this room for atleast an hour as my previous classmates.

External guy requested my (internal) prof to permit him to ask me questions. "Go Ahead" my prof told him. This is the time when every guys asks himself the same question "Is engineering necessary for succesful life? Can I just ...."

He started asking me questions and i kept murmuring something. Wait !!! these are the same questions i was discussing with my friends. He introduced himself as a passenger of the same bus. He confessed for listening to our whole conversation and ended up answering all my doubts.

He praised all dombivilians for thinking (in the right direction) and questioning every small doubt. I was out of that room within 10 mins breaking the stunning news to my fellow anxious dombivlians.
I got a good score for this viva and it will always remain my most pleasant exam....

The Da Vinci Code

This novel by Dan Brown will explain clearly the secret to success for the fiction stories :"make readers believe that everything is real".

Fiction is a medium where you can present your fantasies in a realistic manner. And the key to it is play around with some unsolved mysteries and build up your own script. And to make it a bestseller make sure you show the protoganists on a run where "thrill is waiting for them at every corner and 'someone' is always watching them".

By now you guys might have concluded that I am insane to comment about one of the bestsellers (of all time) in such plain english. Its nothing like that. Just that being a regular reader of fiction novels I was able to guess the characters of "The Teacher" and "Sophie".

I liked a lot of things about the novel. Especially the way Dan Brown has mixed his concepts with the truth - the way he has dragged big personalities (Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Pope) in his fiction. The story is very convincing especially the secret codes hidden in some famous paintings. I guess it requires a lot of hard work and heart for such a brilliant creation. The best part I liked was the plan 'grandpere' devised along with his family to hide the secret.

Hats off to Dan Brown !!!

"The Best"

What is "the Best" ? X is the best in ABC and Y in PQR. And on what basis is this rating given?

I am the person who believes that there is nothing called "the best" in this world. The world is no more "a black n white" place. There exists no guy who is out n out "a bad guy (villian)" or "a good guy (hero)". World (of Kalyug) is painted in grey.

If you believe in mythology then probably u might believe in gods (white) and demons (black).

Yeah!! it is equally true that some are damn good in some stuff. For e.g. Sachin in cricket, Schumi in F1. But "the best" seals the future with no hope for possiblity of better person existing in future.

The reason for my "uncomfortability" with this term is that it just halts the definition of perfection i.e. there is nothing beyond this best. And I believe that nobody is perfect and learning curve never stops. In that way it keeps the thrill in life going. So whenever somebody say: "Man !! that guy is the best", then u shud repy: " Nah !! somebody might be better than him".

fundas of fun !!!

Each individual has his own idea of happiness. Some ideas are weird, in the sense, it is fun only when it is done in a particular way in the presence of particular ppl on a particular day.

I have experienced such types of weird fun:

1) Playing football(soccer) with my friends on a rainy day on my favourite ground (gaudevi grnd).
2) Watching soccer leagues on television with my friends at my friend's (Akshay) place.Of course it includes snacks.
3) Hitting 2 consecutive sixes (or 3 in an over) to abhi(jit), straight over his head, once again on my favourite gaudevi ground.
4) Pulling some impossible cricket matches by hitting some good run in last ball of a last over.
5) Ahh ! here it comes, eating mom-made sabudana kichdi by laying down on sofa during live cricket one-day international on TV. (make it a day-night match)

And the list goes on...

Characters

World is full of characters and by that I don't mean any offense to anybody. It's just that their interests amuses me. For e.g. I have few friends who know "which batsman scored how many runs in which match" in cricket world. But when it comes to actual play they back off. Some know abt every geographical place in the world but when it comes to driving: NO please!!!

Some guys spend their whole free time in finding cheaper deals on the internet while some others in chatting....
Such guys don't "waste / use" their energy in physical activities.

I guess these guys are the product of today's electronic world which has been 'so far' successful in minimizing the human intervention in each of the daily activities.

I bet u have some of these characters as friends !!!!

Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permament !!!

Dare to be different !!! Take the path less travelled !!! Take more pain than others!!! Only then you will be "Special" and "Rare".....