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.