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Wow...The story is so alien yet the essential premise of moral dilemma is so formulaic.
But I am sure, James Cameron will do justice to the story. Looking fwd for this movie Avatar.

Ideas

Well some ideas are getting generated in my head about some independent ventures. Although, I neither have the plan of taking this seriously at this point of time, but it is fun to at least orient myself.....

Eating, Working, Sleeping and sometimes Dreaming. That's been what's happening for me right now...

One idea which is definitely profitable is to start an agency which caters to the needs of the reality tv shows. One of the integral parts of Reality Tv is to elicit feedback. Feedback is basically in the form of sms'es (as of today) but it can change in the future to may be interner or web based applications on mobile, interactive television etc. So, this agency should give feedback services, conduct surveys, provide authentic voting (of the contestant mechanisms), show the voting trends etc. to a prospective television show producer. He has to just pay this agency for offering feedback services. Going down the lane, this can actually be a branded service.

Another idea (implemented by my cousin brother Sujay Rao in the US as Grasshopr.com ) which is going to catch up, in another 5 to 10 years(in India) is an agency which will provide web based services to MLA's and MP's to interact with the public. The agency should implement the processes for citizens to track and hold MPs (and the officers) responsible for their complaints. The work will be very visible. There could be a tool like a Software Defect Tracker where we raise complaints which get assigned to officials who can track the problem.

Ideas make the world go round, round, round ....

World Maps

My new found fascination with history continues (in this post) and I have found a very good website related to historical maps.

Have you ever wondered : How will an atlas published in the year 1300 B.C. look like ?

Well even I had not, but one guy has taken all the pains and created an atlas for historical eras. I just realized how much of a melting pot of cultures India has been. People from every nook and corner (of the Old World) have visited India. Chinese, Afghans,

Check this website about historical world maps

A coincidence

Yesterday I just found this three piece documentary called "The story of India" - presented by a historian called Michael Wood. And today it is Independence Day. What a coincidence!

If you have the time (like more than 6 hours) on a lazy rainy weekend (like how it is today here in Bangalore), then I would recommend this series. Very insightful and passionated documentary. Michael Wood's approach towards History appealed to me, as he puts forth the story of India right from the Dawn of Indus Valley Civilization till the Indian Independence.

The first series talks about the the Africa=>Mid East Yemen=>Kerala migration of humanity to Kerala and about the original gene preservation in some Kerala tribes (because of marriage between first cousins) and then moves over to the IVC (Indus Valley Civilization and the Aryan Invasion and Sanskrit.

The second series talks about the thinkers in Ancient India namely Budhdha and Jainism and the existence of caste system and how it worked in ancient india.

The third was about the Silk Route. Did not know much about this and enjoyed this episode the most...I was particularly fascinated by a king called "Kanishka" whom I had heard during my school days but was not aware much about him.

I could get only three episodes of this 6 episode series.

I would like to read "The Discovery of India" by Nehru someday but, you need both time and energy , so such a series is good enough for the time being :)

I saw the Hangover

recommended by zeeds ... sakkath aagi ide .... yappa nakki nakki sakkaagoythu!
I think the fat guy and the Doctor (dentist) have done a good job!

There was a similar picture called Sideways which I saw a couple of days ago. That was the same premise and there are fleeting references to Sideways in Hangover (like Napa Valley reference and the Wine tasting)

Sideways was not a goofy/slapstick comedy. It was a serious movie and there were some elements indicating a (?) dark comedy approach.

But nonetheless Hangover was fun. Saw it when I was really tired and bored and laughed the whole night!

BCB, Drag n' Drop, Coffee n Biscuits and McDonald .... Life has been pretty hectic!

The Hangover

highly recommended and not adivsed if doctors have recommended that "laughing is injurious to your health".

The name and the premise ( lost memories of a bachelor party) does not really give you the right ideas about the movie. I was in split minds when I entered the movie hall. But my doubts lay to rest as soon as the credits start to roll.

This movie is a luaghing riot. The character "Allen" is f***in (i used this for a particular reason) hilarious. The minute details are handled very well.

Dont miss it unless laughing is injurious to your health.

Another movie you might want to catch for some laughs is Sankat City.

Egomaniac politicians..

Bill Clinton recently visited North Korea to bring back two American journalists in captive back home. There could never be a remote possiblity of this happening in the Asian world. Asian political representatives are probably the biggest ego-maniacs in the world. The issue of pride (which is mainly ego), face (china and other eastern nations), royalty (middle east) will prevent them from doing anything for the common people.

The Chinese, Indian, middle east, south east politicians are probably the worst kind (combined with their counterparts in africa as well). They just keep a huge distance between themselves and the public. The political standards in this part of the world (which is usually a privilege passed on by the family or a cadre or a religious sect) totally sucks and the worst part is there will be no reform.

I wish to see a King abdullah/ Hu Jintao / Sonia Gandhi moving sometime for someone apart from their near/dear ones. We never do anything unless things reach a critical mass like the racial slur in Australia, which made Mr. Foriegn affairs minister fly down under

KPL ??

Any opinion on KPL ?

I totally agree to Kumble's opinion :-

Kumble warned that the tournament, “in its current form, would allow a backdoor entry into the KSCA for people not passionate about cricket”.

Why are people just promoting 20/20 format ? Any money for sponsorship would just be drained for 20/20 format :-( Test cricket is slowly becoming an antiquity.

Seriously, we need to support test cricket. By 20/20 format, we will forget the worlds of Yorkers, In Swing, Out Swing, Maiden Overs and getting beaten ...Ball weathering out, tiring out bowlers and fielders, slip fielder placements, off spin, leg spin and the googlies....Lunch/Tea and all the things which are actually cricket in a conventional sense. The Wisden Cricket, the real cricket. I heard that ICC wants to get away with a 5 day test cricket format which is not a positive development.


The real cricketing pundits are conspicuously missing. All we hear is about BCCI politics and some bloody Bollywood stars who just want to make money and fame and view Cricket as an investment. And Indian Media is shamelessly more interested in dishing out the politics like coach v/s team v/s captain and all that cr@p. Why can't it just focus on the cricket.

I am happy nowadays happy watching some great test cricket videos on Youtube.

pow

Sometimes I just lose it ...

I do some silly mistakes for which I am butchered and then a barrage of emails from people telling me how to do things and "avoid mistakes in the future and to try to do a quality job." ... This time I did something totally unaware (which was wrong) but which was being done by 10 other people also...But I was the lucky person to be pointed out at.

Reminds me of my FASLE compile break days in Sasken. The FASLE was used instead of FALSE and this was hidden within a compile flag. When I compiled without the compile flag everything went thru' fine and next day I had got a string of emails from people as the compile had broke.

I just lose it and find myself in a pitiable situation. This happens to me because of my absent mindedness and my basic nature to hurry up when it is a matter of nitty-gritties and meticulousness. In other words, I get bored easily ... Why ? Am I lazy ? Yes, maybe.

The human society is like a place where everyone of us is trying to outdo each other by keenly observing for that single mistake one fool makes ...Once that mistake is found that fellow can be shot, it brings a smile and relief to the rest of the people that they are not in that situation...It is that cutthroat thing and I don't like it...No point being philosophical now.

Why does it happen despite best efforts ? Maybe I am not careful enough (???)

Defying the myths of "AGE"

Found this article to be fascinating. Talks about breaking the conventional way based on one's convenience.

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?260052

Sustainablity

Recently 70% of the dow jones companies beat analyst estimates for corporate earnings. The question is that is this sustainable. My view is not due to the following reasons

1. Most EPS beat analyst estimates due to cost cutting and not due to revenue growth.
2. Analysts collectively tend to underestimate or overestimate. In Q2 they did underestimate. Perhaps they should have tied up with consultancy companies to determine exactly how much cost cutting was done. Well they were not innovative. Now for Q3 they will probably overestimate. This is make EPS for the companies to underperform. And shares will drift downwards. This week this correction will probably happen as the news regarding revenue dips permeates in the community.

btw, there are two ways to bet on this.

1. To take this as the correct prediction and short the market (sell your holdings)
2. Important one - My friends from Infosys used to always use the anti-gd strategy. i.e when I sold my shares they bought it and when I did buy they sold it and they really made (claimed) good money out of it. I dont think their strategy is anything different now as well (despite me carrying a coveted MBA). So go ahead for this one as well

ps:- The risk is assumed by thyself.
Just sold some Infy shares

Yeddelu Manjunatha !

Yeddelu Manjunatha ! is a comedy movie made by the director of the critically acclaimed Mata movie. It is already making waves here !!!

There was a very popular devotional song by PB Srinivas of the same name "YeddeLu Manjunatha". I remember during the Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations, there is a temple (near our old house) where this song was played loudly. As soon as the song was played, one of our neighbors (named Manjunatha) used to wake up and walk to the temple (he was one of the key volunteers of the temple)!!!!!

So it was a kind of signalling system or a wakeup call to him. The lyrics went "Devathegalu ninna darushanake kaadiharu" ... and those "devathegaLu" were the temple authorities who were waiting for this guy.

Oh, by the way, in the movie "Yeddelu Manjunatha !", in one of the songs, the lyrics goes :-

"This is a Manjunatha
You can see him anywhere
Manege Obba Manjunatha
Made in India"

Manjunatha is a very common name and the lyric ascertians my belief....I want to see this movie ;-)

the oil curse

http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14045268

Very interesting, baffling and saddening (US / Europe has such different standards) at the same time.

Looks like Cars get on to the top of the list of all things evil

Another Multi-Crore scam

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?250566

Another multi-crore scam. And such a simple modus operandi phewwwww!!!..

This is one of the reasons why I do not like Congress @ the helm of affairs.

Bofors
Food for Oil
Telecom spectrum

and the list goes on

Cant remember the others.. Add on please

the RIL Gas saga

Do your math first and do it well before you settle on pricing. When you come up with your price it is assumed that you have hedged your risks. And once you have signed a contract then do honour it. I have seen a lot many companies in Asia which falter on their calculations (spend very less time as well) and then spend an awful lot of resources at negotiating contracts time and again.

The case between RIL and NTPC/RNRL should not be entertained at the first place. I feel the verdict given by Bombay high court should be upheld by Supreme court as well. RIL is big enough to manipulate the petroleum ministry to get more bucks for the sale of its Natural gas from the KG basin. The petroleum ministry will indeed try to push for higher pricing which means higher revenue for them.

But, what happens to the downstream power sector which have made investments based on a gas pricing of $2.34/mmbtu? If they were to pay the RIL stipulated rates of $4.2/mmbtu, which RIL says is needed due to its excessive spending in drilling, the only way the power companies are going to recover the costs is by pricing the electricity more. This would indeed hurt the consumers.

When RIL bid for the KG blocks, it did based on its assumptions and risk. The gas pricing was based on the same set of assumptions and risks. If it won the bid based on its numbers then it needs to sell the gas proposed in the contract. If RIL had realized that indeed drilling for gas would cost more but then still bid low to get the allocation of gas blocks, then this would be FRAUD. Isnt the whole concept of encouraging private companies to participate was to push the risk/reward to them??

With its latest lobbying for higher pricing, RIL is manipulating the system and nullyfying the risks it has assumed. This clearly should not be allowed. This is the first allocation to private companies for gas drilling in India, and this should not set a bad precedence. However big RIL is and however close they are to Mr Deora, this should not be entertained. I hope the court gives the right verdict.

Guava and Pomegranate

As a kid these were my two favorite fruits apart from Nellikayi (Amla) and Mangoes. Mangoes used to disappoint a majority of the time, as most of them used to be bitter (except totapuri). Of course I am talking of the stolen mangoes. In fact I am talking about stolen guavas, pomegranate and nellikayis as well.

Some of my most memorable childhood summers in Bangalore ( i used to spend a lot of time in my village in Chitradurga as well) have been spent stealing the above mentioned fruits from my neighbours. We also used to fish for Tamarind and Gasgase (some form of red berries) during the summer. But since these were mostly available easily ( and hence probably never tasted that good). Custard apples always turned out to be raw, so never used to fish for the same.

Stealing Guava, pomegranate and Mangoes required some exquisite skills. usually follows a 3 stage process - finding the right target house, spotting the right fruits and timing the plucking. (and sometimes you need to be "Beware of Dogs", screeching gates, slippery floors etc etc ). Apart from that each fruit had its own set of problems

Guava - U need to get the riped one and not the rotten/raw one (the ones which fell on the ground were for secondary citizens)
Pomegranate - Finding a ripe one was tough and the plant has sharp thorny branches and you could not climb the tree as well
Mangoes - The size of the tree was somewhat scary.. the risk outweighed the benefits

I can remember sneaking out of the house from the backdoor (hated those doors which used to make screeching noise) during the hot afternoons of the summers. Between 2 -4 was the best time as most mommies who are the guardians of the fruits/ us would be fast asleep at this time. Before 2 pm they would be busy with the lunch and post lunch activities whereas by 4pm, the milkman used to wake them up. We used to roam around the locality during this period, take a guess at the least risky target (some spying ensured this) and u would go for the kill. Each member of the gang would take a turn indeed.

You would end up with half a dozen guavas / 2 mangoes/ 1 or 2 pomegranate / or pockets full of nellikayi for a day, which would be split between friends and savored along with some uppu/khara (salt and red chilli powder, except for the pomegranate). Also you were to make sure you would sneak back into the house and pretend to be asleep. Unfortunately you would be caught sometimes, which means being reprimanded, complained which would ensure no activity for a week when you would settle for Tamarind on gasgase. (and being condemned with bananas and moosambis from the market, these were the worst fruits along with apple)

this summer there are still plenty of guavas and mangoes... some kid somewhere in the by lanes of Chamrajpet might making his steal.. we will head for the street market sometime during the week and settle for some fruits using HKD....

Psychedelia

It seems this poem is written by Shishunala Shareef. Interesting. The translation is easier for me to follow (than the kannada lyric)

Kannada :

Gudugudiya sedi nodo Gudugudiya sedi nodo vodalolagina roga tegedu idyado manasemba sanchiya bicchi dinadinavu maho ambo bhangiya kocchi nenevemba chilumeya hacchi buddhiyesuvantha kendava mele nee mucchi burudi yembodu shareera idanaritu sukrutakkittu kolavi aakaara, kolavi aakara varashishunalanemba neera tumbi arivemba ariviya hoccho mojugaara shuddha gnana maelaeri daaridra deha suttu, hogeyu haaruvudu buddhivantara yeledu varasiddashishunaladeeshana torvudu


TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH :
Smoke the hookah smoke the hookah smoke out the disease inside you and feel good open the small cloth bag called mind take out the hash called lust and crush it put it in a chillum called faith light it up with burning coal called intelligence.

The pipe is like the body understand this.

Do the good deed fill it with water called his name air-tighten it with a cloth called knowledge around it. Let the purity rise up with the smoke burning the rotten body attracting the knowledgeable who will show you the path to the great shishunaaladeesha.

An alternative

The recession has affected JOBS worldwide. Instead of layoffs if we could have trimmed a day out of everyone's schedule it could have been fantastic. You start your week on Monday afternoon and end by Friday afternoon.

The economy will not recover until Jobs situation improves and the jobs wont improve until the economy improves.. its a chicken and egg problem..

Lesser work days and increased holiday might lead to better consumption.. traveling and a healthy work life style..

Atleast I vote for monday afternoon start and friday afternoon off..

If you are Infosys 1,00,000 empolyees, saving a day per/week will result in 4,00,000 days/month. Shaving 5000 jobs will result in 110,000 days with the much more side effects, the rest 95K will spend a day of their week worrying about their jobs resulting in a -ve 380,000 days (without saving cost benefits)...

But the practical problem is the implementation.. firing is probably more easy. implementing 25% pay cut across the board is quite difficult for a large company.

One of the finance companies which my friend works for in HK did an across board 25% pay cut. People not interested were let go (natural lay off). I felt it was a pretty cool idea. (though it was not a good deal for my friend, as he did not get an additional day off / week)

The Chinese Way

China recently detained 4 Rio Tinto employees, one of who is an Aussie of Chinese origin and is the General Manager/Head of the Iron Ore trading group, under the pretext of stealing State secrets (as a spy ofcourse). For the world this seems very rididculous - a business person stealing state secrets.



But from the Chinese point of view this makes sense..



How??



Chinalco - A STATE owned aluminuium company.. who is having a big stake (12.5%) and trying to expand its stake in Rio Tinto.



If the Aussie is digging some information on Chinalco which might be exclusive then it is a SECRET



So we have the STATE SECRET being stolen and he is allowed to be arrested under the law..