short-sighted sid

Lost in Translation

2011-02-14T22:13:00.000+05:30

A big business manager came down from the US to meet us a few weeks ago. So, my boss had setup a "Roundtable" discussion between us (a team of around 20 people) and him. As is usually the case, there's a round of introductions. We typically say a few words about our work and what we are doing and how long we have been doing it. Plus the visitor also does the same thing.

This time around, the Business guy (let's call him Jim), wanted one more thing in the introductions. Jim wanted us to add one line about what we do outside of work esp. our hobbies. Call it touchy-feely kind of Management.

So, we all went around with our introductions. A couple of people mentioned Chess, a guy mentioned playing Football (the kind where you play with your foot and not American style), someone said watching cricket and the youngest guy in the team said playing console games. I mentioned my interest in the Violin.

After that is was Jim's turn. His first comment was - "How many of you have kids?". Almost all our raised hands (except the gamer, but that's because he's really young and just out of college). Immediately, Jim said - "I'm surprised none of you mentioned spending time with your kids.". He then went on with his introduction and mentioned that outside of work he liked spending time with his family and playing in the backyard with his 11 year old son.

It really struck me that this was a classic cultural difference. I love my family and I do love spending time with them. But is family time a hobby? Its a natural thing to do and one does it but that doesn't qualify as a hobby, does it? I then put my mind to the various Roundtables and presentations we have had with visitors. Invariably family comes up during introduction time by our visitors, but its not so forth coming from us. I wonder why's that?

What's the toughest thing to buy in India

2011-01-29T13:42:00.000+05:30

If you thought about a Rolls Royce, you are wrong? What about a Ferrari? Nope not that. How about a fancy high end music system, that make Audiophiles drool? Nope, you can get that from somewhere.

Basically, all consumer goods save this item are available in stores. They may not be cheap, but if you have the money then you can buy it. If something isn't sold in India, then just pick it up on your next trip abroad. No, the thing that you cannot buy (at least without jumping through hoops, paying a few bribes) is a humble cooking gas connection from the Govt owned petroleum companies. So, if you do have a connection, then make sure its the first thing on your list that you bequeath in your Will.

Today, I stood in line for an hour and a half, then ran to a public Notary to attest a copy of my Dad's Id, my electricity bill and a got a declaration written out in Stamp paper, got back in line (at 1.00 PM), had a cop shout the choicest words at me, just so that the Govt. have the pleasure of allowing me to buy cooking gas from them. Apparently, all the money that I give them via the various taxes is not enough.

Why not go to a Private company for cooking gas? Because they are twice the rate and twice as unreliable in terms of service. Book a Cylinder today and get a replacement on Mar 15th. Not that the Govt companies are any better. Book a Cylinder today and you may get a replacement by Feb 15th.

This drive to collect information was with the noblest intentions in mind. Weed out illegal "consumers". But given that there are 15 million consumers and the ineptitude of our Govt, a deadline of 10 days was set. Imagine the Govt going through 15 million consumers' papers and removing the illegal ones. Heck, these guys won't even be able to go through 100 different set of papers.

Cricket world - Bangalore gets to host stupid matches

2011-01-18T18:09:00.000+05:30

If you are a Bangalorean and want to watch the world cup at Chinnaswamy Stadium, then here are your choices -

1. On Mar 2, we can look forward to Eng. vs Ireland
2. On Mar 6, the Irish are back. Its Ind vs. Ireland
3. On Mar 13, the Aussies are here. Its Aus vs. Kenya
4. On Mar 16, the Aussies return. Its Aus. vs. Canada.

This sucks!

The 2 Qtr finals are in Bangladesh, 1 in Columbo and 1 at Ahmedabad. The Semis are at Colombo and Chandigarh. The finals in Mumbai.

Kolkata gets atleast 1 good match - Ind. vs. Eng. Delhi has to make good 1 good matchup - SA vs. WI. Chennai has 3 matches not involving minnows - Eng vs. SA, Eng vs. WI and Ind vs. WI.

I wonder why Chennai gets the 3 test playing nation matches... *cough* *cough*.. I have cement in my throat..

Neravals and the magic of carnatic music

2011-01-06T09:44:00.000+05:30

On the way to work today, I listened to a super RTP by Balamurali
Krishna. Not the full RTP but only the Pallavi. My CD player chose to
play the Pallavi first and then the Ragam-Talam.

By the time I reached office the Pallavi was just over. It was
amazing. I had heard this multiple times and I used to like the Tana
quite a bit. However, this time I heard the Pallavi and the Thani
without any interruptions (save the traffic) and understood the
beautiful concept of a Neraval for the first time. The violinist also
was keeping up with Neravals and that made it doubly awesome for me.

I had read before that Neravals are essentially variations of a
Pallavi but this time I could follow the changes.

Keeping the Tala and the Pallavi line, essentially the same, one can
bring in a number of variations. The artist can choose to change the
tone, the speed, the notes although keeping the Raga intact
etc..

Think of your favorite song and one line from that. How many
ways can that song be sung changing its tone, some notes and speed?
Maybe one time we can speed up a few words and stretch out the
remaining words so that the tala remains. Other times we can sing in a
different octave. Even other times, we can change a couple of notes.

A true genius like Balamurali Krishna can come up hundreds of these
variations while keeping both the Tala and Raga intact. The tune
remains the same but the variations are unbelievable.

Once one's ear is tuned to the Pallavi understanding and appreciating
the Kalpana Swara variations sung and the following Thani variations
by the Mridanga artist is easier. The whole effect is just
mesmerizing. This is the beauty of Carnatic music.

Link Express trains

2010-02-01T07:11:00.001+05:30

Here's a something I didn't know till today. A Link Express is a train that gets attached to a different train at a intermediate junction. It is an express, so that stops are only at the major junctions. However, the funny thing is that if you search for its arrival, it won't turn up. That's because the train number would have changed.

I came across this while searching for Vasco - Bangalore Link Express. I kept searching for the train and just did not find its expected arrival. Thanks to google, I got a different railways website that gave me a map and schedule. There was a comment on that page which explains what a Link Express actually is. So, The Vasco - Bangalore Link Express train actually gets hooked up to Rani Chennamma express at Londa. This is the train you need to search for when looking for arrivals.

Unfortunately, the train is running an hour late.

A Must have for all F1 Fans

2010-01-13T23:01:00.000+05:30

Keith Collatine's F1 Calendar is a real must for next season.

The best drive to work

2009-12-17T10:41:00.003+05:30

.... today. The reason? Was listening to Chitti Babu play the Veena on AIR 100.1. It was a moving experience. Its been nearly 2 months since I went to Violin class, and had stopped listening to Carnatic music. Just this week, I started listening again while dropping off Dew to work.

Kommalu Koyila or the Cuckoo song is just amazing!

Funny things on the road

2009-10-19T11:50:00.006+05:30

Firstly, a TN registered Bus....

Nothing special about that, except that the license plate is in Kannada. I have never seen such a single Kannada letter East of Attibele (on Hosur Road towards Tamil Nadu), and yet we now have a Tamil Nadu registered bus with a license plate written in Kannada. Boggles the mind.

Now, something that's truly inventive, ingenious even. How about a propeller bike? (Sorry for the poor pic quality but it was from my car and my pathetic mobile).

Blue - a cold review

2009-10-18T23:35:00.004+05:30

It was late 2007 or maybe 2008, when a meeting probably took place in Bandra, Bombay. The meeting was on the movie blue. The team had money to burn, 120 crores of it and decided to burn it. This was probably a group of people who were floating in moolah and decided to make a movie about floating... In water, that is..

The result? Well, Blue is like a series of ad shots coupled with National Geographic. There's no doubt in my mind that the director is primarily an ad movie maker, because every since scene seems to be right out of an ad film. We get all the actors essentially modeling in various poses with cliched shots. In between the cliches are really beautiful underwater cinematography. You get to see plenty of coral, lots of different tiny fish, as well as several members of the Selachimorpha family.

So, should you see the movie? Here are reasons to see it

You are a big fan of National Geographic, Discovery and Animal Planet. Instead of seeing it on the small screen, you want to see some good underwater documentary stuff in a movie theatre.
You like looking at Lara Dutta in various skimpy Bikinis. Plus, the cameraman ensures that you get all the various angles and views to observe this animal up close and personal. (Hey' who doesn't?)

Why shouldn't you see the movie?

You pay 200 bucks for a action thriller and instead get a long set of ads featuring swimwear and Natgeo. Apparently when scuba diving, men need a full wet suit, but women manage just fine with a tiny maroon colour 2 piece.
You see the initial title, and start salivating at the names of Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif. You know that its a movie in the water and expect plenty of struting by both esp. when KK is credited for a "Special Appearance". You get plenty of your money's worth with LD's double Ds but not even one shot of KK in a swimsuit. Considering that this movie is essentially about selling swimsuits to the Indian public, not seeing KK model in one, is a waste of time. I wonder if the Producers did not first approach Mallika Sherawat. Having large floatation devices would have been useful in this kind of movie.
Stupid storyline and plot holes (even for a Bollywood movie) such as having a bunch of sport bikes race each other while shooting guns in a dirt road. Yes that right, if you are the kind who believes that Ducatis and Hayabusa's are to be driven flat out on a bumpy dirt road where tractors used to roam free, then this movie is for you. For the rest of us, we know that there are plenty of dirt bikes for that. This movie uses a dirt bike to jump into the water from a boat and chooses to use sport bikes as dirt bikes. Plus, we get a nice ad shot of the Hayabusa (all with the right lighting, angles, and a well positioned helment) at the end of the said fight sequence.
Terrible fight sequences. Consider the following. If you are a good guy who has his back to a wall, the other side of which is a baddie, would you keep your back to wall and shoot 2 pistols not at the wall (made of wood) but at the windows that are away from the wall and perpendicular to the wall? No, you turn around and shoot at the wall, hoping to kill the baddie. Apparently, this doesn't occur to Sanjay Ak47 Dutt, who chooses to shoot to his left and right while keeping his back to the wall behind which the baddies are shooting back at him.
Now, consider you are a real bad assed villian or even a dimwitted henchmen. Would you use your machine gun like a drill to put a single hole through a thin wooden wall, when you know that your enemy is on the other side? No, you don't you shoot through the wall not a single place but everywhere with you machine gun. In this movie, the baddie is so dimwitted that he uses his machine to shoot at exactly one spot and thus create a nice and small keyhole. After that he decides to peep through this machine gun created keyhole while ignoring all the windows nearby to look in. This is when Sanjay dutt uses his pistol to shoot back while the same keyhole and thus ensure that the baddie wins a darwin.

In the end this movie is about bad choices that guys behind the camera make. Do you make a slick action movie or a documentary on sharks, fish and coral around Bahamas? This crew decided to make both but ended up with neither.

Do you want to make a funny movie or just be unintentionally funny? This is easy, be unintentionally funny. Eva and I were laughing throughout the second half thanks to useless dialogue.

Do want a proper villian or get confused whether your protagonist is a hero or a villian. This was the worst part of the movie. Make a proper villian yaar, not a stupid hero who betrays others close to him only for him to chill 2 seconds later and transfer 20% of all the treasure you find into a bank a/c of the guys you betray in the first place.

Sheesh... If I had 120 crores to spend on a movie like Blue, I would definitely include KK in a Bikini and shoot more of LD in a Bikini as well. That's the only thing that works in the movie. Rest of it sucks. From the uninterested "acting" of a pauchy Sanjay Dutt to a pathetic plot (even by Bollywood's low standards for good stories).

On the whole, the concept is good, but the execution and direction is rubbish.

I want my money back (and time, cause I missed the first half of the Brazilian GP. :-( )

post race blues

2009-10-18T23:30:00.003+05:30

Well, that must have been quite a good GP. I missed half the race because of two reasons -

Stupid Times of India doesn't publish TV times
I went to see Blue thinking that the race would start 1 hour later (1030 IST) instead of the actual 930.

Congrats to Button and Brawn! Its amazing how this team didn't exist even last year and yet they come back and win. This must be one of the most romantic moments in all sport (No... Mr Gill, F1 is a sport and not just entertainment)..

An Inglourious Reveiw

2009-10-16T00:37:00.003+05:30

Just got back from watching Inglourious Basterds and no, I will not explain the typos.

This movie has to be one of Tarantino's weirdest movies. I know all his movies are weird but this is unlike any other Tarantino movie. Sure, there is copious amounts of violence, absurdist themes, irrelevance to time and space, but this movie takes the cake. Would I watch it again? Sure, I would. Was I entertained? Sure, I was. But did I understand the movie? Not really.

I went to the movie expecting Kill Bill but what I got was cartoonish Pulp Fiction and mean this as a complement. Deux Machina is the name of the game. This happen because they have to. People appear and disappear as required. This movie does not give answers, but instead does homage to the B-movies of the 70s and 80s. Its almost like an old South Indian movie (pick any - Tamil, Kannada, Telugu or Malayalam.. It doesn't matter). Y'know where the hero is atleast twice the age of the heroine, has a huge pauch, can't dance, but still has a James Bondish role. Funnily, Inglourious Basterds does that as well in a broader scene. Its pure entertainment and yet would please the critics.

I did like? Let me put it this way. I didn't realize how quickly the time passed. The movie is great but as with every Tarantino movie completely different from what you have ever seen.

I'm not sure if Brad Pitt's was acting the way he did, or was it just bad. I didn't like the way he played his role, but Christoph Waltz was pure gold. His portayal of the Nazi Col Hans Landa was magical. I read somewhere that Tarantino thought that the role of Hans Landa was unplayable, but Christoph's rendering of it was just amazing.

Go watch it if you can. Don't expect answers. Don't expect logic but you will be entertained. Govinda-David Dhawan movies have no logic but are highly entertaining. So is this, in a dark humour kind of way.

Kimi's back to the future

2009-10-08T18:37:00.002+05:30

There are some thoughts that Kimi will be back at McLaren from next season and how it would pan out. On the whole I think the whole Kimi + Ferrari deal never really seemed right. It may have be a bit of luck that he won the 2007 championship, but it was a bit of bad luck that made him miss out on the 2003 and 2005 championships.

On the whole, I think he's a better driver in a car which has "stopped development". The 2003 challenge was on the B spec 2002 McLaren with the 2003 car failing to pass FIA safety tests amongst other things.

If he moves back to McLaren, I buying a Finnish Flag!

Sri Raga Varna - Sami Nine

2009-09-13T20:22:00.001+05:30

ರಾಗ | ಶ್ರೀ | ಆಧಿ ತಾಳ
ಆರೊಹನಾ: ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ಸ'
ಅವರೊಹನಾ: ಸ' ನಿ ಪ ದ ನಿ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಗಾ ರಿ ಸ

|| ಪಾ, ಪಮ ರಿಗರಿಸ ನೀ. ಪ.ನಿ.ಸ.ರಿನಿ.|
ಸಾ, ಮಿ- ನಿ--- ನ್ನೆ ಕೊ------ರಿ
ಸಾ,,, ನಿ.ಸ ರಿಗರಿಸ ರಿಮಪನಿ ||
ರಿ--- ಯ----- ನ್ನಾ-ನು

|| ಪಮಾ ನಿಪನಿ ಮಪ ರಿಗಾರಿ ನಿ.ಸರಿಗ |
ಚ-- ಲಾ-- ಮ- ಸೇ-- ಯ---
ರಿಸಾನಿ. ಪ.ನಿ.ಸರಿ ಗರೀಸ ರಿಮಪನಿ ||
ಮೇ-- ಗಾ---- ದೊ-- ರಾ---

|| ನೀ,,,, ಸ'ನಿಪಮಾ ರಿಗರಿ ಸರಿ |
ಭೂ--- ಮಿ- ನೀ ವೇ- ಲ-
ಸಾ,,,, ಮರಿಪಮ ನಿಪ ನಿನಿಮಪ ||
ಯು--- ಶ್ರೀ-ಗ- ರ್ಭ್ -ಪು-ರಿ-

|| ನಿಸ'ರಿ' ಗ'ಗ'ರಿ' ಸ'ರಿ' ನಿಸಾ'ನಿ ಪನಿಸ'ರಿ' |
ನೀ--- ವಾ---- ಸ-- ----- ಪ----
ಸ'ನೀ ಪದನಿ ಪಮ ರಿಗಾರಿ ನಿ.ಸರಿಮ ||
--ಶ್ರ್ ಪ--- -- ತೇ-- ಶ್ವ-ರ--

ಚಿಟ್ಟೆ ಸ್ವರ

|| ಪಾ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ರಿ ಸ ಸ ನಿ.ನಿ.ಪ.ನಿ.ನಿ. |
ಸಾ ಸ ನಿ.ನಿ.ಪ ನಿ.ಸ | ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||
|| ಪ ಮ ನಿ ಪ ಸ'ನಿ ರಿ'ಸ'ಗ'ರಿ'ಸ'ನಿ ಪ ನಿ ಸ'ರಿ |
ಗ'ರೀ'ಸ'ನಿ ಪಾ ಮ | ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

ಚರಣ

|| ಸಾ',,,, ಸ'ನಿಪಪಮ ರಿಗರಿಸರಿ |
ಕಾ---- ಮಾ-ಕೋ- ಟ----
ಸಾ,,,, ನಿ.ಸರಿಗರಿಸ ರಿಮಪನಿ ||
ಸು್ಂ-- ದಾ-ರ--- ನ್ನೇ-ನ್ನೇಲು

|| ಸಾ' , , , , ರೀ' ನೀ ಪಾ ಮಾ |
ರೀ ಗಾ ರೀ ಸಾ ಸಾ ರೀ ಮಾ, ಪಾ ನಿ ||

|| ನೀ , , , , ಸ'ನಿ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ನೀ. |
ನೀ. ಸ.ನಿ.ಪ.ಮ. ಪ.ನಿ.ಸ.ರಿ. ನಿ. ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

|| ಮಾ , , , , ಪ ನಿ ಮ ಪ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ |
ಸಾ , , , , ನಿ ಸ | ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||
|| ಪ ನಿ ಸ' ರಿ' ಗ' ರಿ' ರಿ' ಗ' ರಿ' ರಿ' ಸ' ನಿ ಪ ನಿ ಸಾ' |
ರೀ' ನೀ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ನಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

|| ನೀ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ನೀ. ಪ. ಮ. ಪ. ನಿ. ಸ ರಿ |
ನೀ. ಸ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ರಿ ಸ | ನೀ. ಸ ರಿ ಮ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ||
|| ನೀ. ಸ ರಿ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಸ ನೀ. ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ಪ ||
ನಿ ಸ' ರಿ' ನಿ ಸ' ನಿ ಪ | ನೀ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

|| ಸಾ' , , , , ಸ' ರಿ' ನಿ ಸ' ಪ ನಿ ಮ ಪ ರಿ ಗ |

ರಿ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸಾ ನಿ. ಸ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

ಸ ನೀ ಪ ದ ನಿ ಪ ಮ ರಿ ಗಾ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಸಾ |

ಸ ನೀ. ಪ. ನಿ. ನಿ. ಸ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ರಿ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

ಸ' ರಿ' ಗ' ನಿ ಸ' ರಿ' ಪ ನಿ ಸ' ಮ ಪ ನಿ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ಸ |

ರಿ ಮ ನಿ. ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ಸ' ರಿ' ಗ' ರಿ' ರಿ' ಸ' ಸ' ನಿ |

ರಿ' ನೀ ಸ' ಪ ನಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ಮಾ ಪ ರಿ ಗ ರಿ ಸ |

ರಿ ನೀ. ಸ ಪ. ನಿ ಸ ರಿ ನಿ. ಸ ರಿ ಸ ರಿ ಮ ಪ ನಿ ||

Predictions for Monzo

2009-09-04T21:41:00.002+05:30

Now that the dust has settled over Fisi's move, here are some outrageous predictions about the race weekend at Monza.

Fisi will be out qualified by both Force Indias.
A Toyota will qualify on Pole. The same Toyota will finish outside the points.
Kimi will be seen eating gelato during Qualifying.
During the some tv conference, Alonso will be seen trying to make Fisi look like he has rabbit ears by doing a 'V' with his hand.
Barrichello will win the race.

Any takers?

Now its interesting

2009-08-04T18:48:00.002+05:30

So.... There are cracks in the FOTA wall. Mad max and his whipping coterie must be laughing. No test for Schumacher!

Ya!

I for one applaud this. Schumacher was a great driver and in my view will win atleast 1 if not 2 races this year. However, Haug comment that by letting Schumacher test is the sporting thing to do, is pure rubbish. If anything, Schumacher went very near the edge of what is sporting and what is not. There were times that he did cross that line. Even his most ardent fans will no doubt agree that he revelled in mindgames. Sporting gesture towards him. No way.

What's in the rules are the rules. They apply to everyone.

Todi si magic

2009-08-02T20:17:00.006+05:30

I spent nearly the whole day playing thodi raga on my violin. My back pains and my left index finger has a permanent groove! Time well spent, because I was struggling with raga. After 6 hours of practice, I can finally say, that I getting some bhava (or emotion)

Nobody ever said that Carnatic music was easy, but getting this raga right is really tough. I changed my finger technique a couple times today. The scale being

Shadja (S)
Shuddha Rishabha (R1)
Sadharana Gandhara (G2)
Shuddha Madhyama (M1)
Panchama (P)
Shuddha Dhaivatha (D1)
Kaishiki Nishadha (N2)

I would normally play R1 and D1 with my index finger, G2 and N2 on my middle finger and M1 and the upper Octave S again with my index finger by drawing my hand up. However, the G2 and N2 were just not sounding right.

I tried to play G2 and N2 with my index finger itself, esp. when they are part of an ascending or descending note procession. Only when I needed to stop the procession at G2 or N2, I tried to use the middle finger.

So, a sequence like S'N2D2 would be played with just the index finger, or even a M1G2M1 would be with the index finger only, relying on my hand and wrist slides. But a sequence like PD1N2 would use 2 fingers. That of course assuming that the song's lyric goes as such.

The impact? Not so good for my neighbours because this bit of experimentation happened during the afternoon siesta but it did sound far better. Played it to my teacher and she agreed that the technique was now correct and what I was playing earlier didn't sound right.

I'm still a beginner but its getting interesting by the day. I wonder what my scary friend would say about this? Scary??

No pain, No gain, eh?

Nostradamus springs to a massive comeback

2009-07-31T21:25:00.001+05:30

(sic).. LOL...

Now that Schumacher is confirmed to race as Massa's replacement, here's a list of things to look forward to and a list of predictions (pinch of salt).

I look forward to -

Seeing Schumacher and Kimi face off. Kimi was at his best when fighting Schumacher. I hope this will motivate him.
Hearing Schumacher pit to car during the race. Ferrari never allowed this while he was actively racing. This time, it will great if we get to hear what he has to say.
Seeing Monza and SPA. Will not miss any of the remaining races, but these will be special.

There are plenty of comparisions cropping up between Lance Amstrong's comeback and Schumacher temp'ing for Massa. Here's my thoughts.

Amstrong spent a year in preparation for this year's tour. Schumacher has 3 weeks.
Amstrong was mentally prepared when he made the decision and he made it for himself. Schumacher's decision seems to be on the spur of the moment.

Predictions

Schumacher will outqualify Kimi in Valencia
Renault will lose their appeal to race in Valencia. The reason given by FIA - we have a 7 year WDC. Who cares if a 2 time spanish champ cannot race?
He will win atleast 1 race this year.....
So will Kimi..
If he wins more that 2 races, he will sign up full time for 2010.
Renault and Toyota will follow BMW out next season, and so we will have Ferrari, McLaren racing three cars....The 3 drivers for 2010 ferrari will be Schumacher, Alonso and Kimi.
Schumacher will lapped.... at Spa.... in pouring rain..... by Adrian Sutil
DC will replace Nelson Piquet at Renault.
Ferrari will finish 3rd or higher in the constructors this year.
2 guys of Indian Origin will come to blows over Schumacher's gamesmanship at the Singapore GP..

An argument

2009-07-29T22:03:00.003+05:30

Recollecting that discussion I had with my 22 month old darling.

Dew - Give me Minnie (soft fluffy doll and Dew's favorite toy)

Me - No, Minnie is mine.

Dew rushes over, snatches Minnie away and gives it a huge hug.

Me - Ok, then Dew is mine.

Dew - No, Dew is Mom's.

Me - Noooooo, Dew is Dad's. (In a whinging tone)

Dew - Noooooo, Dew is Mom's. .... Mom's baby is Dew.

Me - Then what is Dad's?

Dew - Toys are Dad's. (In an authoritative, school principal type tone)

Me - Which ones?

Dew - Only the Lego blocks. (In a strict, and almost dismissive tone)

Now, re-read the whole post in Kannada and you will have the exact conversation that I had with the precious one.

LOL. That made my day.

What a relief

2009-07-28T15:18:00.002+05:30

The family is back after their trip to London. Man! The young one has learnt a lot of new words in 10 days. In the afternoon she and I went down to get some stuff from the car. She quickly climbed into the passenger side and said - "Lets go for a round".

So, I took her to the supermarket nearby and told her we will get some sugar as we were out. We picked it up and went back towards home. As I turned into the driveway, she said, "Lets go for a little longer round". I told her that the drive was over and its now time to head home.

Once we got home, she ran to Eva and proudly said, "We have got some Sugar".

She's growing up really fast.

Is it worth it?

2009-07-27T21:00:00.004+05:30

Tweeting? Absolutely... Having spent the last few months mainly on twitter and spending very little time on my blog, here's what I have realized.

Twitter is good for

Searching for info. Ask a question and it might get answered by a person in the know quite quickly. Not the same as IRC but still worthwhile.
Keeping upto date. This is the most useful thing. People post tons of links everyday and usually to a blog post. Today's news and "in" thing that is just made for twitter.
Tracking subjects of your interest. You can search for #hashtags and with some client even follow them. That way, you get the latest info on new blog posts, interesting tidbits etc.. I typically follow techie stuff like #ruby, #perl, #emacs, #eclipse and most importantly #f1.
Following what celebs do. Not all are interesting and even the interesting ones don't always share interesting things but there are always snippets of interest. For the Indian male, there is Gul Panang and Priyanka Chopra on twitter.

Twitter sucks at

Creating real content. Very useful at sharing a blog post url but pretty limited at creating real big info.
Talking about yourself. Its just boring to find out that someone just woke up.
Archiving info. You can find that blog post from 2 years ago (and possibly even cringe), but nothing beyond a few thousand tweets on twitter.

On the whole, get on twitter if you haven't. Yes, there is a point to it and No, its not going to replace blogs and real content.

A quick poll

2009-07-18T11:32:00.003+05:30

Family members who have seen London

Wife - Yes
Daughter - Yes (at age 20 months)
Brother and his family - Yes (In fact, even lived there for a while)
Dad/Mom - Yes
Paternal Grandparents -Yes
Maternal Grandparents - Yes

Family members who have NOT seen London

Me - No

How weird is that? I must be the black sheep of the family. Shortsighted indeed.

A new challenge

2009-05-09T11:48:00.000+05:30

I went for a physical checkup yesterday. Its part of my new Gym program. The physio made me stand on a machine and hold on to two rods. Within a minute, the machine spat out some ugly statistics.

1. My BMI is Normal, Ya!
2. My fat mass is high, Oh Oh :-(
3. My muscle mass is low.. Damn.
4. Water retention is poor.
5. BMR is below normal.

So, the machine says that I'm basically a skinny guy, with not muscles, but due to my sedentary lifecycle, I have poor metabolism which is making me gain fat on my tummy. Oh, and I don't drink enough water.

I came back home and told this to Eva. "Big Deal", she said. "I don't need a machine to tell me that about you. Your arms and legs thin, your waist is twice what it should be and I keep telling you to drink more water".

Having spent a good amount of money on the Gym and having got this advice (from a machine) and gleeful sarcasm from the significant other, I have decided to take it seriously this time.

My goals.
1. Reduce my weight by 10 kgs
2. Increase my muscle mass by 1-2 kgs
3. Knock the know-it-all grin from the buttercup's face.

The gym (J P Nagar Branch) is pretty good and adds to the motivation. The staff are really friendly, and very helpful.

Myopic view of funny,, fitness

The votes are out

2009-04-23T11:43:00.001+05:30

Don't want to vote for Congress, because of the Reservation issue. Arjun Singh really made sure that they are not in my radar. I'm not against affirmative action, but am against the incompetent implementation of it. The really disadvantaged and exploited classes will not get any benefit from Reserveration. It is the "creamy layer" that exploits Reservation. It was Arjun Singh in a TV interview who said that he believes Reservation is forever and does not believe that the "creamy layer" should be excluded. Perhaps a 1000 years from now, we will still have different castes in India hankering after a "Backward caste" tag.

Don't want to vote for BJP, because of increasing communalism from them. Their brand of Hindutva does not match my Hindu values of tolerance, acceptance of different points of view and a multi-facetted spiritual reality. Jainism influenced Hinduism by bringing in the concept of Puja, Veg Food (before that we were all about Animal sacrifice, and Yajnas). Buddhism influenced Hindu towards philosophy and higher thought (before that we were about rituals). Christian influences brought in charitable work (before that we were all about enriching ourselves. This is not what the BJP stand for and it does not match my values.

Don't want to vote for JD-S, because of Deve Gowda and how he paralyzed development in Karanataka. Plus, their party projects a pro-rural bent but actually does nothing of note for the rural poor. Didn't do anything for the rural rich either and spent all his time in useless rhetoric.

Don't want to look at SP, because they want to outlaw English, Computers and the Internet (Its true and part of their Manifesto). Apparently by banning these urban evils, the rural poor get a chance to compete. I wonder what the SP Movie Stars will look like without the magic of computerized editing, soft lens, and other technological advances that so hinder our rural masses.

Don't care about the Commies, because they are living in the past. Their blind hatred of the West may have been fashionable a couple of decades back, but that's just archaic today. Its their lack of pragmatism that caused Jyoti Basu to miss out on the Prime Ministership a decade back.

Don't want the DMK because of all the pro-LTTE stand that they have. Prabhakaran is a damn terrorist. I still remember the fear that was in Mysore about the LTTE wanting to blow up KRS. Today MK has the gall to talk about friendship with LTTE.

Don't like the AIADMK because of their heroine-worship. I still remember the TV images of Pannerselvam, the CM of TN, prostrating himself as if JJ was a goddess. I don't believe in worshipping human beings.

Don't understand the BSP because of their penchant for building statues, parks and other eye candy glorifying the Dalit cause. If they really care for the Dalit cause, they should spend the money in uplifting the disadvantaged and oppressed rather than building gaudy crap.

So, who do I vote for? No one?

Myopic view of bangalore, elections, 2009

Fake IPL Player!

2009-04-21T14:50:00.001+05:30

This is a great blog. Nice tidbits about KKR. All bets are off on who the mystery blogger is. Seems to be a Cal boy. No real names in the blog but its pretty obvious who he means.

I really liked the description about a certain commentator - Kishen Kanhaiyya. Looks like Ravi Shastri to me. Plus there are others. A former Captain Lord Almightly - no doubt about that one. A opening batsman - Calypso King - again no issues there and finally an Indian Fast Bowler - "Little John".

Equally interesting is his description of the coach and his entourage.

Blogging at it best! Recommended Reading, I just hope it continues.

Myopic view of funny, cricket

Bento C&H

2009-04-21T13:13:00.000+05:30

Bento is really cool. Check out this C&H version.

Australian F1 GP 2009 Winners and Losers

2009-03-29T21:56:00.001+05:30

Winners

1. Brawn GP. This is perhaps one of the greatest if not the greatest fairy tale story in the history of all sport, let alone F1. To come in to race with just 7 days of running, huge uncertainty for months. The cynics may say that this is after all just Honda in sheep's clothing, but let's not forget that this team got its engine deal with Mercedes less that 1 1/2 months. Its amazing how they put that engine into a car designed for something else.
2. Button. Its stating the obvious, but he's won his 2nd GP.
3. Red Bull. Even though they threw away points, they seem to be the fastest non-diffuser team. It also looks like KERS is a handicap in Qualifying. Since RB has no KERS they are better at Qualifying, but they also have the speed during the race.
4. Lewis Hamilton. To start dead last and yet finish 3rd is pretty special. That too with a car that most people have written off!
5. Beumi. 2 points on debut. Good one.

Losers

1. Ferrari. I'm sure they are thinking about last year where they didn't score points till the 3rd race and yet won the constructors and also came within a point of winning the driver's championship. However, I don't think that is probable this year. There's no scope for testing. Plus Brawn looks like they have a second a lap over them at this point. Plus having Massa make very negative statements doesn't bring in confidence.
2. Webber. He definitely got it wrong this GP. I don't know if it is bad luck or just plain bad driving, but every race I remember seems to have him in either a crash or the wrong side of a pitstop or the rains or something. Plus Vettel really rubbed it in.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, australian, 2009, gp, winners, losers

BMTC Volvo buses

2009-03-26T09:44:00.001+05:30

Its really good!

I took the bus today to work. It takes about an hour and 15 mins. I caught the bus at 7.50. It reached the office around 9.00.

Airconditioned, smooth riding and very comfortable. I was able to read my newspaper on the way. Usually reading anything while on a vehicle in India gives you a headache or worse, this bus turned out to be surprising good!

Bus schedules and other information is available at http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/volvo.htm

How to burn yourself out

2009-03-19T22:01:00.004+05:30

Step 1. Agree to a WW (actually only between US and Ind) teleconf at 6.00PM. The call is pretty important as its a status call where you are one of the presenters

Step 2. Inform Spouse

Step 3. Spouse calls at 5.45 as there is a deadline and she needs to fix something ASAP.

Step 4. Spouse calls in temporary babysitter (a.k.a Granddad) to take over from the real babysitter. GP picks up Granddaughter at 6.15 (win-win for Granddad and Granddaughter).

Step 5. Pick up the little one (already fast asleep) from GP's house at 9.15. From now on, your KRA is to keep her asleep.

Step 6. Check if Spouse is at home. No.. She's still fire-fighting

Step 7. Juggle bundle-of-joy (starting to stir), car keys (which you drop to the garage floor), and house keys

Step 8. Enter house. Find Master bedroom door shut. (As per pre-arranged protocol).

Step 9. Still juggling the Apple-of-my-eye (nearly awake), car keys and house keys, search for master bedroom keys in the study. Don't find it, and so give up.

Step 10. Put the cuppy-cake in her room with the plan to move the crib after dinner. Pray to non-existent superior being that the sugar-plum remains in dreamland. She does!! (Superior Being does exist!)

Step 11. Search for keys and find it! Ya!

Step 12. Change and head to kitchen.

Step 13. Bad luck strikes. No rice. Clean rice, and put the rice cooker to work.

Step 14. Read a blog post about the virtues of having software engineers leave on time - http://asserttrue.blogspot.com/2009/03/developers-should-not-be-allowed-to.html.

To add salt to the burn, skip breakfast, have lunch at 1.20 (instead of the usual 12.20), avoid eating anything since that time.

If that doesn't kill you. Rinse, and Repeat.

Avoiding Traffic

2009-03-18T21:51:00.001+05:30

What's the best time to avoid Bangalore traffic in morning? That's what I spent my time thinking today while driving to work. I left home at 7.30 and reached at 8.10. If I were to leave anything after 8.00 it would take me an hour at the least. The peak rush hour is 8.30 to 10.30. So by leaving early, I saved 20 minutes at the least and close to an hour as compared to rush hour.

Leaving for office early, Pros:
1. 20 minutes saved.
2. Not many people in the office, so I get some work done.
3. Fewer autos.

Leaving for office early, Cons:
1. Instead of office traffic, you hit school traffic.
2. Not many people in the office, true..... except my boss and his boss. So.... I'm cornered in the morning.
3. More School buses.

Leaving for office late, Pros:
1. Consistent time. 1 hour. You expect some jams, whereas in the morning, the jams are unexpected and hence more irritating.
2. Most people are already in and busy. The boss is past his "productive" time and so, I can actually get some work done.
3. Fewer cars.

Leaving for office late, Cons:
1. Instead of getting on to the road, you hit a traffic jam right outside the apartment gate.
2. You end up working late because you don't have an excuse for leaving early. You can't leave between 5.30 and 8.00, because of rush hour. So, you end up leaving only by 8.30 or maybe even 9.30
3. Bad parking spot.

Myopic view of bangalore,, traffic,, funny

Tweet!

2009-03-13T09:18:00.001+05:30

I'm going to be tweeting for some time. Follow me.

Sat this one out

2008-11-03T19:51:00.001+05:30

but I shouldn't have. No TV at home and its the first season in over a decade that I have missed. (I also missed most of the 94, and 95 seasons). From what I saw on Youtube (via), it must have been heartstopping at Brazil last night.

I went to bed early last night, but got up at around 10.30. I knew it was the last race and that I needed to follow it. So, it was formula1's live timing for me. Trust me, I thought that McLaren have messed it up yet again. That's they have succeeded in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But looks like the Gods were smiling and they finally won a driver championship. I was really astonished to see that LH passed Glock on the last lap. My first thought was that the timing was wrong, but then I saw the commentary which confirmed it. Wow!

Maybe I'm cynical and maybe I read too much into the FIA favours Ferrari line of thinking. I went to bed after SPA thinking, hey! that was a great drive by LH. Even though I was rooting for KR at SPA, I felt that LH really did a fantastic job. Then to wake up and read the newspaper that he's been penalized, made it seem that the results was being scripted and that we were watching a puppet show.

I got up today morning, with a sense of dread. Maybe the newspaper would say that LH was doing something illegal (as per FIA Stewards) or that Glock is reinstated or that Luca D M strode manfully into a certain tinpoint dictator's house and cracked the whip (if you know what I'm saying :-)) or yadda yadda yadda. But that was just my cynical self. So, it was with a sense of relief that I read the headline that confirmed what I knew - LEWIS HAMILTON's THE 2008 F1 CHAMPION! Ya!

Tough luck to Massa and it was really sad for him and his family but today was about LH. I'm not a natural Massa fan, but this was perhaps a touch too cruel. It must have been in the stars and his destiny. He crossed the line the WDC but for no fault of his ended up losing by 1 point just 20 seconds later. Man! That's tough.

And finally, a bit of gloating.. Guggu, Koli, Gana - BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA (Evil but satisfied Laugh!) And Kudka - Great huh?. Let's celebrate (when I'm in NYC).

Perhaps, we will buy a TV before next season's starts and perhaps I will follow it. But till then, I can only sit back and wonder - how on earth did they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

Myopic view of f1, formula1, mclaren, ferrari, lewis, hamilton,

Had to turn it off

2008-11-02T22:16:00.003+05:30

I'm a Batman fan and make no bones about it. However, I haven't yet seen the latest Batman movie - The Dark Knight. I wanted to setup an office party and get everyone to see this movie. However, it never materialized and I missed catching it at PVR.

So, when I was channel surfing today and came across the movie on HBO, I stopped. It was the beginning of the movie and so, I hadn't missed much. However, I could only watch it for 10 minutes or so. Why? Because of the stupid subtitles.

Looks like HBO has done a half-assed job for the sub-titles for this movie. Its so bad that its not just distracting but just plain irritating and very frustrating. To top it off, (since we don't have TV at home and watching at my in-laws' place), the neighbourhood and household noise made it nearly impossible to follow. The end result? I switched channels.

Thanks a lot HBO. You just ruined my day.

Let's see how long it lasts

2008-10-25T23:08:00.001+05:30

This may be interesting.

No negotiations

2008-10-24T10:26:00.001+05:30

2 nights back, Dew started wimpering at around 4.30 AM. Both Eva and Me were fast asleep but she continued till we got up. Eva took Dew and tried to put her back to sleep. But the wimpering grew and soon she was wailing.

Here's the conversation (Mind you, Dew is just 1 year old)
Eva: Taa chi maa dumma. (Editer: Go to Sleep, while patting Dew)
Dew: Waaaaaa
Eva: Taa chi maa doo. (Editer: with sleep deprived irritation)
Dew: Nana (Editor: Short for Banana)
Eva: No Nana, Taa chi maad doo. (Editor: Quite firmly too)
Dew: <short pause>, Doodoo (Editor: A.K.A milk)
Eva: No Doodoo (Editor: with a tinge of exasperation)
Dew: Doodoo
Eva: Theo, you $%*^&*(#^. Get up and hold her. I will get the milk.
Me: Eh?? Ok... Dew come..
Dew: Doodoo. (Editor: and the wailing continued)

This morning (if you can call it that), 5.30 AM (God forsaken time)... Again, it starts. Wimpering + Doodoo (no banana and no negotiations).
Eva: Theo, you $&%$^. Get up and go get the milk.
Me: Eh?? Ok.. (Stumbling out of the room, reached the kitchen).

After that, I don't remember if I heated up her milk or was it mayo or was it a jar of ice cream, but either way once I got back, and handed the bottle, Dew kicked back and relaxed!

Hmm. My daughter has now reached the age where negotiations with Dad and Mom has begin, and she doesn't take no for an answer. My mom used to keep complaining to me that I would throw a fit if I didn't have milk at 6.00 AM sharp. Apparently, I won't even wait for a minute and I wanted the bottle ASAP.

Looks like karma does exist. One more milestone passed.

Google Chrome - a review

2008-09-04T22:26:00.001+05:30

This is my take on Google Chrome. Mind you, I'm a long time firefox user (and occasional opera user). I'm not even going to pretend to be objective here :-)

The Good:

Speed. Javascript heavy sites seem to be blazingly fast as compared to Firefox
Tabs. I really liked the fact that you can very quickly split a tab into a separate window and vice-versa. I have a dual monitor setup and this is a killer feature!
Automatically set up my office proxy without even my asking. Looks like it is using IE's settings directly without any proxy on its own (Unlike FF or Opera)
Doesn't crash on Eva's laptop which runs Vista Home. This is one problem with FF3.0 but Opera sails here as well.

The Bad:

No gestures. I keep trying to use mouse gestures and get frustrated with the lack of them. Once you start using gestures there is no going back.In general, the lack of configurability or more specifically lack of extensions. No Scribefire to publish to this blog, no forecastfox and most importantly for me, no single click mechanism to change proxies. The Proxy item is pretty important for anyone who has to use a office laptop from home. Mind you, this is absent in opera as well but Gestures works out of the box.
No rss based bookmarks. I keep a lot of bookmarks as delicious tags and organize them as folders on my FF setup. Even though Chrome imported my FF bookmarks, it just couldn't import these
Auto Dial. Don't quite like the feature, because I want to be able to open blank tab. I definitely don't want anyone to see my browsing history.

Overall, its a good beta but a lot more can be done. With FF 3.1 moving to Tracemonkey, I expect javascript heavy sites to be as fast on FF as well.

In other news, IE 8 is out, but who cares?

An important milestone

2008-08-31T21:44:00.001+05:30

Its said that the bond between a daughter and a father is amongst the closest in the world. Daddy's girl is pretty much the norm in our house.

This week my little Dew (all of 11 months) and I took one more step in father-daughter bonding. I had to put in quite a few hours this last week at work and could not spend much time with her. However that all changed over the weekend, when she and I spent a lot of time together.

It was during this weekend that she did a couple interesting things.

Firstly, on Saturday, she left her mom and crawled all the way from her room to the master bedroom where I was having an afternoon nap. She climbed on top of the bed, and then she coo'ed into my ears. She wanted to wake me up!

Next, on Sunday afternoon, again she came up and woke up, but this time accompanied by Eva and a half eat apple. She continued to eat the apple and then decided to give me a piece. She pulled my half asleep face towards her and force a small piece of half eaten apple into my month and made me eat it. LOL!

Needless to say, Eva is very jealous :-)

G 'n' R too, on a violin

2008-08-24T15:09:00.000+05:30

Bobby Yang "Sweet Child O' Mine.

Let's Jazz it up!

2008-08-24T14:50:00.001+05:30

This is really good stuff...

paul dateh

Now, some metal...

2008-08-24T14:46:00.001+05:30

and nothing else matters...

MJ on a Violin

2008-08-24T14:37:00.001+05:30

Whew! This is breathtaking stuff...

Chanced upon this on del.icio.us! Who says that Violins don't rock?

Weird'est story of all time

2008-08-03T09:21:00.001+05:30

This has to be the most weird cops and robber's story of all time. link. via. (NSFW)

An Aussie man (39) was caught by cops but that's not the only thing.

He was being naughty.
With himself
While driving
At 150 km/h (in a 130 km/h zone)
Plus, he had with him 5 kilos of cannabis
And a Rifle (that he said was to shoot Kangaroos)

LOL!!! This has to be the funniest, if not the weirdest story ever!

But it doesn't end there.

The court granted Mr. Genius bail.... That's so he could marry his Girlfriend! Not just that the guy has 3 kids!

He paid the bail ($10000) and his Dad paid surety ($8000).. I can't imagine they way he would have told his Family. LOL.

I can almost imagine his GF telling his kids that Daddy needs to be away for a little while because he was .....???? LOL

Myopic view of funny

Don't go to this place

2008-07-14T14:52:00.002+05:30

I'm p*ssed off. Poor Dew has had a slight stomach upset, diarrhea and so we wanted to take her to the doctor. Nothing serious, just precautionary. She's active and looks ok except that we need to change her nappy 3 times a day. Its a bit green but that's not the point of this post. The last time this happened, we were a bit late on things and so it got a bit worse. This time we did not want to take any changes.

A friend (unmarried, no kids but has plenty of sisters and so has experience with kids that way) suggested this doctor near Deve Gowda Petrol bunk. The last time around, there was a huge rush, and we had to go in the afternoon. However, this time we decided to take an appointment.

Step 1 - 9.30 AM. Eva gives a call to the clinic. Does not get through. Keeps trying.
Step 2 - 10.00 AM. Eva gets through but the receptionist is very rude and says that all appointments are full. She asks if she can walk in. He says no. She asks for an appointment in the evening but he still says NO. Its not possible to give an appointment in the evening. If we need an appointment in the evening then we should call in the evening.
Step 3 - We feel that the doctor is good and so we decide to walk in anyways after lunch. We reach the clinic at 1.15.
Step 4 - We ask the receptionist if he can take down D's name. He haughtly says - NO but we can wait. I talk to the low-life receptionist about the process to get an appointment. He says that people wait in a queue from 8.45 onwards and that they get appointments for 9.30 onwards. Calling at 9.30 does not guarantee an appointment. WTF?? Essentially the idiot says that there is no way to take an appointment even the board outside loudly proclaims that there will be no consultation without an appointment.
Step 5 - At 1.45 we ask again how long it will take. The nasty receptionist just says he will let us know. We wait for a few more minutes and ask again. This time he takes down her name and says that there are 3 people ahead. A couple of women walk in with kids and ask if the doctor is available. The receptionist takes one look at them, decides that they are economically disadvantaged and tells them that "they should call before coming". The feisty lady replies saying that she tried but didn't get through. So, there was no option but for her to come directly.
Step 6 - At 2.00 doctor leaves for lunch. That's not a problem because its a tough day for him as well and as a human being he needs to eat.
Step 7 - We ask the psychopathic receptionist how long will the doctor take. He rudely replies 10 mins.
Step 8 - Its 2.30. No sign of the doctor and the mad receptionist is no help.
Step 9 - Its 2.45. Decide to leave and go back home.

There's another doctor in BTM that we will go to. Atleast the reception is pretty friendly. 6.00 PM I will pick up Eva from her workplace and we will go there.

Note that I have no complaints about the doctor but the whole setup is rubbish.
1. The doctor charges more than Sagar Apollo Hospital OR the other Paediatrician in BTM.
2. There are no kid friendly material in the clinic to keep Dew busy. Just some sterile handouts on immunization. Compare this to Sagar Apollo where there is huge room just as a kids play area. Even the doctor in BTM has a few toys and eye catching posters for kids.
3. The whole clinic is stuffy and one cannot breathe. Sagar Apollo has excellent ventilation and is bright, clean and vibrant. The BTM clinic has the added advantage of being next to my in-laws place and so we can wait there if required.
4. More than all this, the receptionists and support staff at Sagar Apollo is unparallelled. This LKB receptionist at Dr. N's place near Deve Gowda petrol bunk is a real SOB. The doctor is very good but I'm never going back. At Sagar Apollo Dr. B is fantastic and very gentle in his prescriptions. Dr. V in BTM is very enthu and more than happy to listen to what we have to say. So, in no way will I say that they are not as good as Dr. N. The key difference is the receptionist. I remember the BTM clinic guy once even gave me a call back because the Doctor could not come and changed my appointment. That's exceptional service, but that's not what I'm complaining about.

Health care in India is not universal but this is rubbish. Hospitals such as Sagar are jam packed but they are well equiped and have trained support staff to make the whole heathcare package painless.

I lost a whole day of work, Eva lost 1/2 day's work and the worst part is that Dew still hasn't been able to see a doctor. I'm a pretty patient guys but this takes the cake. Even though we had to wait for 3 hours in the Registrar's office when we bought our apartment, it was clear that there was some work going on. People were moving in and out. Our lawyer kept us up to date on things and finally our job got done. At this clinic neither did our work get done nor was it pleasant and it definitely isn't worthwhile.

DONT GO TO THIS PLACE. The Doctor is good but the practice sucks. The receptionist will make the most patient of fathers tear his hair out and blog this rant. I love my daughter and I will NOT take her to this place where its stuffy, intolerable for not just me but her as well, where we have to wait in small room stuffed like sardines in a can.

No F1 Report this time around

2008-03-17T10:19:00.001+05:30

Have decided to renounce TV for some time. Hence no reports on F1.

Winners:
Dew

Losers:
None.

Its crazy

2008-01-19T00:26:00.001+05:30

For a family of 3, Eva, Dew and I, have 4 vehicles between us. Two cars, One Bike, and One Scooter. No bicycles or tricycles.

Car No. 1 - Battery died tonight and didn't start.
Car No. 2 - Haven't started for months now. Eva tried to start it a couple of days back. It didn't budge.
Bike No. 1 - Less said the better. Haven't started it in years.
Scooter No. 1 - Rear tyre punctured couple of months back. Haven't started it since.

So, we have 4 engines, of which 3 haven't been cranked for sometime, 4 batteries, all of which, I suspect are dead, 15 wheels with tyres (including the stepney for 3 of them), of which one is definitely punctured, 2 haven't had air put in them for years, atleast 5 are low on air and the list goes on...

As they say, the most important part of any vehicle is the nut that holds the steering wheel. Here the DoNut (a.k.a me) is not just grounded, he's up a creek without a paddle. Not good!

Myopic view of personal, funny

He's right where he belongs

2008-01-16T09:32:00.001+05:30

F1 Testing has started. Kimi and Massa were in their Brand new Ferraris. De La Rosa and Heikki led the McLaren charge, but its the big boss - Alonso who is in charge!

That too not in the 2008 car, but the old 2007 car. Fisi and Heikki didn't do much with it but Alonso tops the test times.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, alonso

Time for a change

2008-01-15T22:27:00.001+05:30

Yes, Yes we all know about the Nano. Not the iPod variety but the one you drive.

So far all the TV channels have been gushing about it, but there are a couple things that struck me.

The Nano employs a CVT gearbox. I remember reading a newspaper article long back, that the Tata's are sourcing this from Kinetic. The Kinetic was famous for bringing the gearless scooter to the Indian market and thereby changing the market forever. "Gearless" essentially is a CVT.

The question is whether the Nano would do the same to the Indian car market. Unlike the US, where a "stick shift" is unusual to find, in India its the norm. The main reason being that Automatics are more expensive and give lesser mileage. But CVTs are different from Automatics, and yet provide the same basic user experience - no manual shifting.

Given the state of traffic in our cities, its logical that we all drive "gear-less" cars. Its less stressful especially for folks who drive on Hosur road and through Koramangala!

Myopic view of CVT, tata, nano

Monkey See Monkey Do

2008-01-08T00:01:00.001+05:30

Forget calling someone a Monkey. Here's 11 other animals.
McGrath - Pigeon, because that's what they call him.
Ponting - Fox, cunning as ever, but he's probably bitten off more than he can chew.
Harbhajan - Male Goat (Ram), since he's always charging into controversy.
Greg Chappell - Vulture; he picked Ganguly's flesh off his bones!
Ian Chappell - Eagle. Says what he means and doesn't beat around the bush.
Hayden - Bull Moose, whatever... you know the reason!
Warne - Definitely a Rooster. He has his flights of fancy when he tries to surround himself with chicks
Viv Richards - Peacock, most certainly
Ishant Sharma - Giraffe... Adam's Apple the size of a cricket ball.
Boon - Walrus, great Mustache too.
Ian Healy - Porkus porkus. Always reminds me of the 3 little pigs.
P.S. I'm not condoning racism but here's a chance for caricaturization.

This also reminds me of an anecdote concerning Javid Miandad. JM was considered to be really cheeky, and a past-master when it came to the art of "mental disintegration". He even called Ravi Shastri by his nickname "Rambo", on live tv.

So, this one time, it seems JM was playing Australia and it was Merv Hughes who was bowling to him. MH completed his follow through when JM walked towards him and tried to catch his eye. MH continued towards his runup area when he found JM was still following him. Out of curiosity, MH asked JM what's he doing. JM said, "I wanted to know if you were going to the parking lot". MH was apparently puzzled and asked JM why. JM supposedly said, "I wanted to see you truck because you look like a Lorry driver!". LOL! The mother of all insults!

Myopic view of cricket

Which year is it?

2008-01-07T22:10:00.001+05:30

Come Feb 07, 2008, we will start the Chinese year of the Rat. Till then it will be year of the Pig.

Going by all the cricket controversies, you would have thought that it was year of the Monkey. If anything, I think this whole stop-the-tour thingie is all Macaque excreta. If Harbhajan was acting like a Chimpanzee by ignoring express instructions not to bring Race into sledging, then he deserves to be banned. However, if its just a case of the Boarish Aussies, then a better solution could have been thought of.

In the end, I think it was a case of high emotions. The Indian team felt robbed by the Umpires. I don't necessarily agree that they should feel so, but that's just my view.

Its a bit funny that emotions have been brought up this way. The Monkey-God Hanuman is one of the most revered God in the Hindu Pantheon. To compare someone with him, would actually be a compliment. Having said that, there really is no place of racism. If Harbhajan was being a racist, he deserves all that he gets, and the BCCI must also apologize to Symonds.

Lets not forget a real case of Racism. Just a year back it was desi, who was called a Macaca and the American Neta who called him that had such a backlash that he had put his tail between his legs.

In my view, its the ICC who are bunch of Langurs. They have screwed up so badly here, that they have a 800 pound Gorilla in the form of India to contend with and if they toe the Indian line, they will end up looking like a bunch of squirrels. If not, Hanuman help them. As for the Aussies, I really hope they improve their humility. They needn't look any further than, Cliff Young, a 61 year old Aussie who in 1983 beat the best of best in a super marathon from Sydney to Melbourne. Sadly Cliff Young passed away recently.

Myopic view of cricket

That's not cricket

2008-01-06T19:53:00.001+05:30

I don't blame the umpires. They could have had a bad test as well. What I'm really dissappointed about is the way the Aussies have appealed. Gilchrist is one of my favourite cricketers. Its not just the fact that he's probably one the greatest Wicketkeeper-batsman of all time, but also the way he "walks" when he knows he's out. He's done that a number of times and he also typically appeals only when he knows its out.

Today, either he was really convinced that Rahul Dravid nicked the ball or he was had a change of heart. If its the former, then its ok. But I doubt it and that's what really irritates me. Had it been some other Aussie cricketer, I wouldn't have complained, but the fact that its Gilchrist makes it hard to believe.

In the Mahabharata, its said that Yudhishtira's chariot would always travel 3 inches above the ground because he always told the truth. The moment he succumbed to weakness and "lied" to Drona, his chariot too touched the ground. Due to this human failure, its said that he spent 1/13th of a hour in hell before seeing Swarga.

You let your fans down!

Myopic view of cricket

frustation and blues

2007-12-30T14:42:00.001+05:30

sigh!

There is a huge difference

2007-12-09T20:04:00.001+05:30

The last time, I went to see a cricket match was 3rd Test between India and Australia, at Bangalore in 1998.

We had our semester exams going at the same time but managed to catch the last session before the aussies won. The main aim was to watch Mark Waugh bat. He didn't make too many runs but he was not out at the end. Every run he made, was sheer poetry.

That was then, and this is now.

I went to see the first day of the 3rd Test between India and Pakistan yesterday. Boy! Was it a refreshing change. Here are some home truths

1. Watching test cricket isn't boring, just watching it on TV is. Consider this. Who that hell will enjoy watching tv 7 hours a day for 5 days only to find a no-result or boring draw? No one.
2. Test cricket is interesting, if you pay attention to the fielding captain. The field placement is chess-like and its really interesting to watch, especially when they come off.
3. Watching a spectacular fightback is exciting. Session by Session play has a wonderful feel to it.
4. TV with its multiple replays just doesn't give you a feel of things. Half the time you watch only the batsman, but the theatricals are lost. There was one time just before Lunch that Shoaib Akhtar (one of the reasons to watch!) came to field at final leg near our stand. The crowd went berserk, and he acknowledged that by doing a short Namaste!
5. TV commentators talk crap. They mention field placings in passing and give undue importance to the batsman, or whatever the camera catches. I caught the highlights on TV once I got back home and also heard some of the comments. They were pretty plain and obvious.
6. No ads!!! Ya! Though the big screen does show ads between overs, its not overwhelming like it is on TV. No stupid animating tigers during the broadcast, no frantic channel surfing.
7. The crowd! Oh I really missed that, especially when the Indians were playing well. I'm not sure it would have been as good had they collapsed from 61/4 to a paltry score, but since it was a beautiful partnership, the crowd enjoyed it and made it exciting to watch

I'm going again, when the chance comes.

Myopic view of cricket

Number 1 training method - Improved!

2007-12-07T16:50:00.001+05:30

I've posted about the number 1 method of improving your driving earlier.

Here's an improved process to number 1
1. Put a Bike at the back of garage such that
a. Its precarious balanced
b. The tyres are punctured (optional)
2. Ensure that the space between the Bike and Garage door (or if you park outside, the gate) is just enough to place a car. For calibration use your car

Rule 1: Every time you back into the garage and you hit the bike, you lose 1 point.
Rule 2: Every time you back into the garage, try to close the door, but find the space lacking (and therefore find yourself having to climb back into the car, turn it on and inch it back), you lose 1 point
Rule 3: If you a lose a point due to Rule 2 and then while moving the car back you infringe on Rule 1, then you lose 2 additional points.

For every point you lose, do something that hurts. E.gs
a. Scrooge would donate $1 to charity
b. Micheal Schumacher would let his team-mate race him openly and freely for 1 race
c. I do an extra lap around the park :-)

So, far I owe myself 2548 laps around the damn park. Eva would be please if I did that many laps in this lifetime.

Myopic view of driving, funny, rules

Akki Roti

2007-11-28T09:18:00.001+05:30

Here's my recipe. Had a great Breakfast.

Ingredients:

1. Rice Flour - 3/4 cup
2. Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup
3. 1 Onion, finely chopped
4. Curd, slightly sour - 1/2 cup
5. 2 Chillies slit and sliced into small pieces. Keep the seeds.
6. Salt to Taste
7. A pinch of Jeera
8. Cooking oil 1/2 teaspoon
9. A few drops of ghee (Clarified butter)

In a mixing bowl put in the rice flour, coconut, salt, chillies and jeera. Mix well with your hands (wash your damn hands before you enter the kitchen and no shoes allowed). Add the onions and continue mixing. Slowly add in the curd and continue to mix. Make sure that the dough starts to bind and does not run. If it starts to become too much of a liquid, add a bit more rice flour. Mix nicely until the dough has bound well.

Now comes the cooking part. Make a small ball out of the dough. It shouldn't be too large a ball otherwise the roti will end up becoming too thick. The thicker the roti, the longer it will take to cook and less likely that it will end up being crisp.

Take a flat pan and add a little (couple of drops) of oils to the center. Put the ball of the dough in the pan, and slowly start pressing it down to make a nice pancake. Be sure to use your fingers to press it down. That will give the roti its characteristic ridges. Make the pancake as thin as possible without leaving in gaps. Turn on the gas to low and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Keep the pan covered while cooking (optional).

The edges should brown as it gets done. Flip the roti over (be careful, as it will break quite easily), and put some nice ghee on the cooked part. Turn off the gas and flip it back over again. The ghee will now cook into the Akki Roti and gas is saved!

And Voila! Its done. Serve with a nice dollop of Green Coconut Chutney and a heart attack inducing slab of Butter.

Variations:

1. Eva ishtyle. Replace the curd with water. This will make the Akki Roti crisper!. Also, another tip. If you use a Wok instead of a flat pan it will be easier to make the pancake. Warning from Theo - The Akki Rotis are crisper this way but not as tasty :-). However, as Eva has reminded me this morning, I used to eat this type of Akki Roti every time she made it without a single complaint or murmur. So, there!!!

2. Aware-Kallu. I don't know what the English word for this magical bean is or what's biological name, but essentially its a Bean that's available in Bangalore in the winter. Steam the AKs, cool it down and mix it into the dough right before you add in the curd.

Myopic view of indian, kannadiga, recipe, cooking, akki, roti

And the number 1 training method is

2007-11-23T21:31:00.001+05:30

to back your car into the garage every day.

If you want to be a better driver, then you should back your car into the garage. Proven method. Couple scratches and broken mirrors later, you will be a better driver.

Myopic view of driving

1 in 5 humans are

2007-11-21T13:45:00.001+05:30

Scientific American has a very interesting article about Aliens on Earth. link (via).

That got me thinking about Aliens, Humans and our attempt to contact or check for them contacting us. Do I believe that aliens exist? Well... There are Billions and Billions of stars out there. To assume that there is only 1 star out of those billions that has the "right" to hold life, seems a bit conceited. Its a different question if there is "intelligent" life out there. Again, to assume that we are alone (though I know plenty of humans who fit the description - alive but unintelligent), is very conceited.

If we look at all the alien type movies, one thing strikes me as really odd. They portray alien life forms in black and white terms only. Aliens are either super-intelligent, or extra dumb, they are peaceful or extermely violent, they are good looking or grotesque.

Keeping this in mind, lets look at the Voyager Gold Record and Pioneer Plaque. Both of them contain what can be considered as informational or even peaceful items. Yet history tells us that people are violent, weird and bloodthirsty. Consider, European Colonialism. It had its good points and bad points. It made many Europeans very rich and yet there were others who tried to bring good.

I guess the same would apply here as well. If intelligent life contacts the earth surely it will have its peacemakers and rabble-rousers, its pioneers and its jokers, as well as its leaders and its thieves. Painting them as Two-Dimensional essentially contradicts "intelligence".

Myopic view of intelligence,, aliens

Damn! He's Back

2007-11-13T22:59:00.001+05:30

I'm NOT a fan, but damn! the guy is great. One year out of F1 and MS tops the timesheets on an official F1 test.

Ferrari want Schumacher's help for next year's car, which will have standard electronics i.e no driver aids.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, ferrari, schumacher

Oops! They did it again

2007-11-12T22:23:00.001+05:30

NDTV and their carbon copies CNN-IBN and Times Now! have a way of irritating me. Its reached a stage, where I don't consider them news channels any more. Their news sections are fluffy and their editorial pieces are poorly researched. I don't think they plan to be about news. In most of their programming, they appear arrogant and ill-informed. A long way from the BBC indeed. Unfortunately, I don't get the BBC (My ^(&@#$ing cable operator) and so, I have to turn to these half-baked morons. Some of their stuff is ok, but its always with a tidbit that makes you cring in horror. Sort of like having to eat fish with a lot of very sharp and very dangerous bones.

NDTV Goodtimes had a show for Diwali by Marut Sikka where he presented a number of yummy recipes for deserts. All was fine, until very end of the show, when he proclaimed - Diwali is the New Year for Hindus and so, Happy New Year.

That's a load of crap. It may be New Year for *some* of us, but not *all* of us. Down south some of us celebrate the new year in Spring. Its known as Ugadi for the kannadiga hindus. Other parts of the south don't have it on the same day, but they too have festivals welcoming the new year in Spring. So, when you are chef, stick to cooking. If you want to mention a fact, then research it.

Another problem that I saw recently was an interview of Anil Kumble. The piece was about his new role as the Indian Test Captain. Again most of it was fine, except for the beginning, where the reporter what's-her-name literally said that Anil Kumble was born in obscure part of Bangalore known as Jayanagar. I may be biased, but Jayanagar is probably the best planned middle-class residential layout in Bangalore. Its not the pretentious part of town and neither is it where the rouveau riche live. To call it obscure is just poor journalism.

Buckle up

2007-11-10T14:47:00.001+05:30

"This is your captain speaking. We are approaching Bangalore Airport soon. Please buckle your seat belts as we may be experiencing some Diwali Firecrackers." Huh?

I was at the club on Thursday evening. There's a nice rooftop restaurant, where one can order a drink, have some snacks and take in the view. What made it really nice on Thursday, was the fireworks for Diwali. Some of the rockets were spectacular, while some were ordinary, and yet others just damp squibs.

But that's not what I was thinking.

As I was enjoying myself, I noticed the wind shift direction and blow gently from the East. Within a few minutes, I noticed the first one. Airplane, that is. Coming in to land from the West. That got me thinking. I saw some cool fireworks in the sky and with the plane above them, I started wondering if the plane could ever be hit by one of those.

Planes can get hit by birds at takeoff and landing and that's why they seem to take a lot of precautions. I'm not sure what would happen if a Diwali rocket bursts near a plane. I don't think a rocket will go higher than 20 stories, and the only place where a plane would be lower than 20 stories would be near the runway.

Hmmm.

Myopic view of planes, diwali

Gmail has IMAP but it doesn't work yet

2007-10-27T09:08:00.001+05:30

Gmail now supports IMAP, Ya! OR so I thought.

I deleted my POP email in Thunderbird and went through the configuration steps in gmail help. The final step was to enable IMAP in settings.

To my horror, its not there! It still says "Forwarding and POP", when it should have said "Forwarding and IMAP/POP".

I read the official announcement again, and found this tiny disclaimer

As we roll out the feature over the next couple of days, you will be able to use Gmail at work, in your car, or just about anywhere on any device, and actions you take will be automatically synced with Gmail on the web (and remember it works the other way too: anything you do on the Web will be seen on your phone or in your mail client). Just click the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab in your Gmail "Settings" and turn it on. (Psst. If you don't see the "IMAP" in the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab, then check back soon. We are giving it to users as fast as we can).
Gosh Darn... Now to wait and watch.

Myopic view of gmail

Many a slip between the cup and the lip

2007-10-22T13:11:00.001+05:30

I saw the Brazilian GP all the way, and was in disbelief when KR won. Mind you, I didn't have any real favorites or was rooting against anyone. Things have changed from the MS years.

If we analyze the Ferrari, McLaren foursome's season, no one really was consistent throughout the season.

1. KR. Started in style at Aus, but then slipped back until the European leg was truly underway. Starting from France, Kimi has finished on the Podium in all races except Germany, and has never qualified below 3rd except at Monza where he was 5th. So, one can say that he was really consistent in the next half of the season.
2. LH. His season too had 2 different halves. In the first half, he was really on top, finishing on the podium in every race until Germany. From Germany it was a sea-saw. He won 2 race but also finished up and down the order. After the Japanese GP, he had over a 90% chance of winning the championship but still lost. I think the pressure was getting to him in the second half of the season and that started affecting his results.
3. FA. I think he had a fairly inconsistent season. He would win one race and then finish 7th or something in the next. Take Monaco, Canada, USGP and France. In those 4 races FA finished 1st, 7th, 2nd and 7th respectively. He followed that with a 2nd place at Silverstone. I think it was this inconsistency that lost him the championship and NOT just losing points to LH.
4. Massa. Had a lukewarm start but then won a couple of races in a row. If we look at his results, they just weren't good enough. Lots of podiums and lots of retirements as well. No bulletproof reliability in his Ferrari this season.

Guys who were winners this season
1. KR. Super star!
2. LH. Despite the hype created by the English press, he really is very good. The second season would be interesting.
3. Kubica. Cool show all season
4. Heikki. Maybe a bit up and down but improved considerably over the season
5. Vettel. This guy has talent and could do wonders in a good car.
6. Alonso. Despite all the temper tantrums and angry fits, I think he did the best he could. He had a new team with a style that's possibly alien to his own and yet he managed to hold his own. I hope he stays in McLaren.

Guys who shouldn't have raced. (Bit cruel here but that just my opinion).
1. Ralf. I'm not a natural fan of his. He's always blown hot and blown cold but this season it was colder than ever.
2. Rubens. Not much to say here. The Honda was pretty poor, and he did manage to out drive Button a couple times, but towards the end there really was no fight.
3. Webber. I'm a fan but this season was not what he would have wanted after leaving Williams last season.
4. Fisi. Less said the better.

Myopic view of f1, formula1

Scary Moment

2007-10-18T10:05:00.001+05:30

I went by Eva's Kinetic to work today. The road adjacent to BEML on the way to work is paved with concrete and not asphalt. As I was driving on this road, I found it to be a bit slippery and slowed down a bit. It had rained last night and it didn't make sense to take chances on a wet concrete road.

Just as I slowed down, I noticed two bikes (rather one bike and one scooty) driving towards me. The bike guy was trying to overtake the girl on the scooty and cut the girl off. The girl hit the brakes and immediately lost control. Very quickly she and the guy were stuck together like glue on a slippery road, with no control and driving straight at me.

Thankfully, I managed to turn away from them at the last moment. They must have missed me by millimeters!

Just as they careened past me, they lost complete control and landed up on the road and soon came to a stop.

I too stopped to catch my breath and watch what happened. The girl obviously pissed off, jumped up and starting shouting at the guy. I just thanked my stars and continued to work.

Phew!

Stupid B*stard. Nearly killed one girl on a scooty, and almost got me as well.

Myopic view of bangalore, traffic

Sunshine

2007-09-29T23:50:00.000+05:30

Dyuthi - Splendor, Brightness.

and she already responds to my voice. As I left the hospital to get some rest, she was in the cradle, eyes closed but not asleep. I said, "Bye, sweetheart".

She opened her eyes and tried to talk back!!!

I love you Sweetie-Pie!

All your bases belong to us

2007-09-25T08:51:00.001+05:30

India won the T20 world cup. Yup. Feels good, but a couple things stood out in the final.

Shoaib Malik's captaincy. I liked the way he handled his spinners and especially the part where he made sure they bowled from the correct end. Hitting towards the shorter boundary would mean hitting against the spin and that was smart.

Dhoni's coolness! The man's cool as a cucumber. He looked in control and is definitely captainship material through and through.

Shoaib's offensive statement on the "Support of Muslims around the world". I think Shoaib either got his English wrong or forgot what he wanted to say or is just plain stupid. Cricinfo has a piece deploring it and a quick search on google threw up more here, here and here.

Just to be a bit sarcastic, but perhaps India won because Lord Ganesha removed all obstacles, a trip to Tirupati ensured that Lord Venkateshwara granted the team's wishes and the support of all Hindus around the world ensured that the Indian team won. That just sound's weird and really wrong because it belittles the efforts of everyone in the team, regardless of the religion, caste, or creed.

End of the day, we shouldn't focus too much on the gaffe, if one can call it one. The cricket was superb and I enjoyed watching every minute of it.

Myopic view of cricket, twenty20, india

I'm upset

2007-08-19T00:11:00.001+05:30

Its midnight, and I can't sleep. Damn.. Bloody hell. This is rubbish... WTF? Why on earth?

Myopic view of personal, rant

Did Bradman need 4 more?

2007-08-10T22:17:00.001+05:30

Everyone gets it wrong. Sir Don Bradman did NOT need 4 runs to have a test batting average of 100. A recent post on cricinfo demonstrates this ignorance.
Did the Oval crowd know it was Bradman’s last innings in 1948? “That they might have, because England were bowled out for 52 and Australia were 117 for no loss when Bradman came in. So it was unlikely he was going to bat again. But I don’t think anyone in the crowd would have known he needed four more for an average of 100. Statistics weren’t that big then. Neither were they called the Invincibles on that tour. That’s all retrospective coinage.”
Now let us look at the stats to prove my point.

Don Bradman scored 6996 runs and ended up with an average of 99.94. That means 6996 runs were scored in 70 innings (runs/innings = average). On his last innings he ended up with a duck. Therefore, he had scored 6996 in 69 innings itself and the last one, the 70th did not contribute even a single run to that aggregate.

Applying our formula of run/innings, we get 6996/69 = 101.39. That's right! Don Bradman average over a 100 before his last test innings. So, we need re-phrase the term - "he needed four more for an average of 100".

The correct term would be "He needed four more to maintain his average over 100".
Amen!

Myopic view of cricket, stats, bradman

Hungarian GP Winners Losers

2007-08-06T10:02:00.001+05:30

Winners
Hamilton. More than the win, I think he has set the scene for Alonso's departure. Regardless of who the WDC is going to be, (though its quite likely to be Hamilton) Alonso will not be happy.
KR. Great drive in the Ferrari. Considering that his blow-hot, blow-cold team mate finished 13th or 14th or whatever, Kimi did a fantastic job
Heidfeld. Great result for him and BMW.
Ralf. Outqualified Trulli and then out raced hm. Plus 3 points in the bag
Rosberg. Even though he had a weird strategy, it was a nice drive. I'm not fully convinced that it was right strategy, but the proof's in the pudding. Finishing ahead of both the Renaults, both RBRs and one Toyota is sweet, but to finish ahead of a Ferrari is Mega!
Losers
Alonso. I don't know who started it, but its obvious that Alonso lost out badly here. I'm not a big fan of unnecessary gamesmanship a-la Micheal Schumacher. This guy has talent and doesn't need to resort to this kind of tricks. If he had not tried to rob Hamilton of his last lap, its very likely that Alonso would have finished 1st or 2nd. That would have meant 5 or 3 more points than his current 5 points. All these points will come in handy as the season comes to an end. If Alonso loses that championship by less than 5 points, then this is where he lost those points.
Massa. The pendulum is swinging away
McLaren. I don't think I will be fan for much longer f this continues. Hello Kimi!
Trulli. History tells us that Trulli goes backwards in races. He qualifies well and then finishes a couple of places lower. This time, he didn't even qualify well.
Fisi. What on earth was he doing in this race?

Myopic view of f1, formula1, winners, losers

Man's best friend

2007-07-24T21:31:00.001+05:30

This is one heck of a cute photograph!

Myopic view of cool, photo

European GP Winners Losers

2007-07-24T21:16:00.001+05:30

Winners
Alonso. I don't know if he deserved this win, but in the rain he was really quick. This is not just the last 2 laps but the first part as well.
Massa. Probably disappointed with the result. He should have won this. In hindsight, 8 points is not bad.
Webbo, DC and RBR. Amazing result for them! Kudos...
Losers
Kimi. I'm not sure what is it about Kimi and 'Ring. He just cannot win! This time, he didn't make it easy on himself. If he had not made the silly mistake entering the pits, Massa would have had to wait behind him. True, he didn't finish due to a mechanical problem, but atleast he wouldn't have come away looking a bit foolish.
Hamilton. I think he reminded everyone that he is actually a rookie this time around. Choosing the wrong tyre was a classic mistake. If he had been a little prudent, he would have been able to come away with a point or two. However, its amazing how he kept his wits around him when he ran into the gravel and was able to keep the engine running.
Barrichello. I'm making a point here. When he was at Ferrari, he and MS were nearly invincible in the Rain. MS has always been better than the rest in the rain, but RB also had a reputation of being able to "fly" in the rain. He did neither in this race. JB got upto 4th at one point! Where was RB?
Toyotas. Cologne is supposed to be just 50 kms away. Enough said.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, european, gp, winners, losers

2007 British GP Winners Losers

2007-07-09T21:58:00.001+05:30

Winners
Kimi. The way he hustled Hamilton in the first stint and blew past Alonso in the third was just amazing.
Alonso. He did the best he could, but the tyre strategy was surely wrong. If he had gone in with Soft Tyres in the third stint, he would not have lost over 6 seconds to Kimi on fresh tyres. He would have lost time, but it would have made Kimi's outlap very interesting. End of the day, this is what we expected - a Kimi Vs. Alonso battle. This time Kimi came on top
Kubica. Cool drive! Not only did he outqualify and finish higher than Quick Nick, he managed to hold back Massa for 14 laps in the end. That's really cool.
Honda. For once, they got it right (well... sort of) and got both cars in the top 10.
Losers
Webber. Well... I'm not sure what's the problem. Is it Red Bull's lack of reliability or is he just a bad luck magnet.
Williams. Really a poor result and that too in their home GP.
Toyota. I wasn't sure whether to put them here or in the Winners list. They did astonishingly well in qualifying but screwed it up completely in the race. So... Its the Loser's list.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, British, GP, Winners, Losers

Spaghetti in Tomato Basil sauce

2007-07-08T09:48:00.001+05:30

I can make a mean Spaghetti in a Tomato Basil sauce!! Here's my recipe.

Ingredients:
4 Tomatoes
Spaghetti sticks (or whatever they are called)
A little Basil (Tulsi)
A few cloves of garlic
Olive Oil
A little Mozzarella Cheese
A dash of Thyme
A dash of Parsley powder
A dash of freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
Now on to the recipe
Take a pot of water and put about 1 teaspoon of salt in it. Put the spaghetti sticks in and cook over a light flame.
As the same time, take a large saucepan and pour some olive oil in it.
Heat the oil till it starts to get hot. Put finely chopped garlic into the olive oil and saute.
Throw in the Thyme, Parsley Powder and some of the finely chopped basil and continue to saute.
While the garlic is being sauted, cut 3 tomatoes into quarters. Put the tomatoes, 1 clove of garlic and rest of the Basil into a blender (a.k.a mixie) and make a fine puree.
By now the garlic would have started to go golden brown. Pour the puree into the saucepan.
Cut the remaining tomato into quarters and put it into the saucepan.
Keep the lid open and continue to cook the sauce.
At the same time keep checking on the spaghetti. Push down the sticks into the water and keep cooking until they soften.
Both the sauce and spaghetti take about 15-20 minutes to cook. The sauce will reduce from a watery puree to a thick red sauce.
Slice up a bit of the Mozzarella cheese into small cubes and put them into the sauce.
Stir the sauce to melt the cheese.
Drain the spaghetti from the water using a sieve.
Once the cheese has melted into the sauce put the spaghetti into the sauce and mix well.
Serve immediately!
Full Veg. All ingredients available in Bangalore, including the cheese, herbs and spaghetti. Since I don't cook meat at home, I have no clue on how to add meatballs to it.

Mama Mia!

Myopic view of cool, italian, spaghetti, recipe

F1 French GP 2007 Winners Losers

2007-07-02T17:11:00.001+05:30

Winners
KR. He needed to win and he did. According to Massa KR was luckier with the backmarkers. I'm not sure about that. The last pitstop times for Massa and KR were 8 odd seconds vs. 7 odd seconds. When KR came out of the pits he was just ahead of Massa. So....
Ferrari. Big win after the American leg. Ferrari were eating McLaren dust in Montreal and Indy, here it was the other way around
Button. Wow! For once, I have something good to say about a Honda. Good to see him in the points
Fisi. Good result for Renault. Plus he managed to hold back Alonso.
BMW. Cool Strategy. Alonso and Hamilton may have overtook the BMWs on the track but they got one back by beating Alonso in the pits.
Losers
Alonso. Lost out big here. Its not how many points he gets that is important but how many he gets in relation of Hamilton that's of concern. Hamilton gained 4 points on Alonso here and now leads the WDC by 14 points. Plus he has 17 points over Massa and 22 points over Kimi.  That means if he loses 2 points to Massa every race from here,  Massa would just edge him by 1 point. Plus Kimi has to make sure that he beats Hamilton by 2 places every now and then. Alonso has is slightly easier, but he still needs to beat Hamilton in almost every race from here on.
RBR. Where were they this race?
Sato. After the highs in Montreal this was possibly his worst result
Rosberg. Bad luck to finish just out of the points.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, french, gp, winners, losers

2007 US GP Winners Losers

2007-06-18T23:09:00.001+05:30

Winners

Hamilton. Boy! This season is going to be good.

Alonso. He did try everything he could but couldn't get by. Nevertheless, the only difference between 1st and 2nd was qualifying on Sat. Alonso had more fuel and he qualified 2nd. That made all the difference.
KR. Some speed at all. It was an interesting strategy by him to go out on the hard compound tyres first up, but he really pulled it in after the second round of pitstops on the softer tyre. Had he managed to be a little closer to Massa in the first stint, we could have have seen him in third.
Massa. On the whole a good race.
Trulli. Great finish. Considering that Trulli is known for qualifying well and then driving backwards in the race, this result must be a confidence booster.

Losers

Ralf. I don't know if I should say it, but this looks like his last season in F1.
Hondas. Always on this list.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, US, GP, Winners, Losers

Is Hamilton the next big thing?

2007-06-14T16:51:00.001+05:30

Doctorvee has a great post on the Hamilton, Alonso and McLaren.

There's no doubt that the hype surrounding Hamilton is just that - Hype, but I'm not going to be betting against him. In my mind, based on current form, the two contenders to the title are Alonso and Hamilton. What makes it exciting is that they both race for the same team and have access to the same machinery.

1. Hamilton is a rookie. This really is his first year, and for a rookie to be leading the WDC its really amazing.

2. Hamilton's results have been really impressive. We cannot compare his results with Alonso's, Kimi's, or even Senna's for the simple reason that none of them ever got a chance with the best car on the grid in their very first season.

3. Alonso is super talented and a Double World Champion. Its foolish to write of Alonso. He won his championships with Schumacher still racing and that's amazing. Plus, it was on a competitive Ferrari.

4. Ferrari also have a great car, and he has managed to be on the podium 6 races out of 6 this year.

Another interesting thing to note is that only guys who managed to come into a team and assert themselves immediately were Senna and Schumacher. Senna won the world championship in his first year for McLaren. Schumacher did not win the world championship in his first year at Ferrari, but he had 3 amazing wins. However, unlike Schumacher, Senna has Prost as his teammate. Schumacher came to Ferrari as the undisputed No 1 with no team mate entrenched in the team. Senna came to McLaren when Prost had already won 2 championships for McLaren.

So, when we look at Kimi and Alonso in their new teams, its not surprising that they are taking their time to get the best of out of their new cars. If Alonso had still been in Renault, there's no doubt he would have done better than Fisi. Last year Alonso had more that double the points that Fisi had after 6 races (54 to 24). Assuming that the same trend would have continued, Alonso would have had atleast 26 points after 6 races this season in Renault. That would have tied him with Heidfeld on points and possibly 3rd or 4th in the championship.

All in all, Hamilton is good, but I feel he needs time to prove himself. Alonso and Kimi have had poor seasons so far, but not without reason. All this makes it an exciting season to watch.

Myopic view of f1, formula, alonso, hamilton, mclaren

2007 Canadian GP Winners Losers

2007-06-11T13:39:00.001+05:30

Winners

Lewis. First Win and he can only get better. At first I was not sure if he was just plain lucky or whether Alonso was taking his time to settle in at McLaren. Today's result showed that it is both these things plus real ability. Before the season began, it looked like a Kimi vs. Alonso season, but Lewis has put both of them in the shade. Cool!
Sato. He's the man. Overtook a McLaren, a Ferrari!

Heidfeld. The only other guy to have been unaffected by the Safety Cars. Great result
Wurz. Nice to see him on the podium.
Losers

Alonso. Lost out badly due to the Safety Car rule. I actually think the rule is a bit weird. If a car has run out of fuel, there's no way the driver will avoid pitting. But that's not where Alonso lost it. Its turn 1 that was the problem. However, he was really flying in the 2nd stint, and could have made up quite a few place had the extra safety car periods not come alone.
Kimi. 5th is really not acceptable, but he lost it when he had queue up behind Massa in the pits. That cost him atleast a few seconds and boom the rest of the race was ruinned.
Massa and Fisi. Considering that Kubica was patiently waiting at the end of the pitlane for the lights to go green, these guys were crazy. They just drove past him and earned themselves black flags. Weird!
Usual Honda. Yada yada yada.

Lucky to be Alive

Kubica. This has to be one of the biggest crashes I have seen in the last few years. It looks like he has only a sprained ankle and that's just amazing. He crashing at 180Mph and has just a sprained ankle? Jesus!

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2007, canada, gp, winners, losers

Thundering down the road

2007-06-05T18:57:00.001+05:30

Had an interesting "race" with a Thunderbird today. He was really tearing up the road (a.k.a ripping) and I was on a 15 year old kinetic. Yet bangalore traffic is so bad that me and the kinetic with a top speed of 50 could easily keep up with a 350cc godzilla.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Myopic view of bangalore, traffic

Hosur Road

2007-05-11T09:16:00.001+05:30

Thankfully,  I don't work in Electronics City. It's not the place that's the problem but the connectivity between EC and Bangalore - Hosur Road. I do travel to EC once a week on work, but I avoid Hosur Road like the plague. Its the new NICE road that I take and it's really a timesaver. Except for a short bit, the road is complete.

For the rest of you, who do have to take Hosur Road, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA (evil laugh!). But hey, atleast we can make jokes about the commute right?

Myopic view of funny

Hmm?

2007-05-09T22:22:00.001+05:30

link

Myopic view of funny

Dressing for Dinner

2007-05-06T23:42:00.000+05:30
I just got back from having dinner at this nice little Italian place called Fiorano. The food was excellent, but there was something that struck me as unappetizing. There was this young family sitting at a table next to us. The mother was fairly well dressed and so was the little boy, but the father was wearing a faded, dull grey T-Shirt and Jeans that looked like he had just gotten out of bed. Now, this Italian place is an upmarket place (the food is really good), and so its unlikely that the man would have been too poor to buy some decent clothes.

A large family dropped into the restaurant as we were mid way through our meal. There too I found something really unusual. The women were well dressed, but the men were not. There were a couple of boys, probably around 9-12, who were dressed in dirty T-shirts and Jeans.

This got me thinking. Are we as a society, poor dressers? I had the opportunity to go to two separate weddings in rural Karnataka a couple of months back. In both places, I remember the men being really shabbily dressed. Most of them were in the worst possible cotton sarong's (aka Panchay) with the dirtiest towels drapped over their right shoulders. But as expected, most of the women were wearing their best silk saris!

The trend doesn't end with Rural Weddings. In almost every single wedding in Bangalore that I have been to, the male friends and collegues of the bride/groom have always turned in the worst possible clothes. In fact, its a given thing that only the groom, the fathers, the brothers and possibly an uncle or too, will be well dressed.

Take a quick look at our politicians. Kurtas for the men may be the norm, but the sight of shaded and dull kurtas is just sickening. Yet, I am yet to spot a lady politician wear anything other than the choicest saris and with hair never out of place. I remember a story on NDTV where the camera follows various netas hot on the campaign trail. There was this one story where the camera followed Sushma Swaraj. When asked, what is the toughest part of the roadtrip, she said, it is the lack of time to attend to her sartorial needs!

I'm often berated by Eva for dressing badly when we go out, but there's hardly ever an occasion where she has dressed badly when we have gone out. In fact, even if it is to my grandmom's (or her granny's) place, she dresses up a bit more than I do. At dinner tonight, I was wearing a pair of Jeans (a newish one :-)), but had a "good" shirt on. I don't think I was under dressed.

Our women dress up well, but we men don't. So, I don't think we are poor dressers as a society. Its just that our men are slobs! Its also not that the concept of dressing well when going out is alien to our society. Women do it all the time, but men just don't seem to care. I think this is why dress code that some companies impose makes sense. We really need to be told to dress appropriately.

Its time we improved our sense of clothes and paid attention to ourselves. While the proverb, never judge a book by its cover, may be true, Clothes Make the Man.

Myopic view of culture

Ambulances and Traffic Jams

2007-05-02T17:37:00.001+05:30

I saw something interesting on the way to work today. Ejipura Junction on the Koramangala-Indiranagar Link Road is always a mess. Getting pass the traffic lights takes up atleast 10 minutes.

I was on my bike (rather it was Eva's :-), and I was waiting for the signal towards Indiranagar to turn green. The opposite side had just turned red when an ambulance arrived from Indiranagar. This being Eijipura, the ambulance was stuck behind atleast 10-20 cars. Just when I thought that the ambulance will now have to wait for a couple of minutes (unfortunately), something astonishing happened. The traffic cop at the junction, quickly turned off the traffic lights, and let the Indiranagar traffic to continue to Koramanagala.

The ambulance passed within a minute and hopefully the time saved was enough to save the life of the person inside.

Bangalore does not have advanced traffic control systems to prioritize ambulances and other emergency vehicles. I have seen a number of ambulances stuck at traffic lights or behind slow moving traffic. The cop really showed some good old fashioned common sense and did his job beautifully.

Good to see some humanity in the city and that the Bangalore of old (with its quintessential charm, hospitable people and charming manners) is still lurking under the "swalpa-adjust-maddi" attitude that overpowers the city today.

Myopic view of bangalore

Tyre Puncture Rum Pum

2007-04-30T20:32:00.001+05:30

I went to see a movie at PVR today - Ta Ra Rum Pum. Both Eva and I agreed that the movie sucked! After seeing the movie, I'm confused about what the movie was about.

Was it a racing movie? If so, it does not even demonstrate the basics of racing. The racing scenes were contrived and were totally B.S. Firstly, except for demolition derby or the wacky races, there is no way one can "take out" a competitor by just raming into him. Secondly, stock racing cars don't go about overtaking other cars as if they are standing still. Thirdly, being in the pit crew is really a tough job not the namby pampy stuff shown. A good racing movie focuses on real racing, for the excitment in that is pretty much unmatched in any other sport.

Was it a movie about revenge? Nope. The "villians" were pretty ordinary, almost cartoonish, and one could hardly connect with them. Plus the revenge part of it lasted about 20 seconds.

Was it a movie about a daughter defying here father and choose her beau? That part of the movie was just rubbish. The subplot about Rani and her father was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the movie. Just one small subplot about a dad preaching "I told you so" and a daughter fighting back tears and upholding her husband's honour. Give me a break...

Was it about encouraging people to save for the future? Perhaps, but it was quite clear. The movie starts off with a girl's voice extolling the happy-go-lucky attitude that her father has, but it does quite end that way.

Towards the end, I got the impression that it was possibly a kids' movie. There's even a song and dance with animated bears (poorly drawn and with wooden expressions). God! If this was a kids' movie then it was pathetic. Kids' movies are so much better. This was just rubbish.

Overall, the actors looked tired. Javed Jaffery was unfunny, Rani was distracted and Saif was just puppy eyed.

If not anything, Bollywood movies make up for pathetic stories and huge plot holes with excellent music, great cinematography. Unfortunately, other than the title song, the rest of the songs are hardly upto scratch, and the camera work was professional but not memorable. I want my money back!!!

Myopic view of movie, review

Is it really over and done with?

2007-04-29T21:39:00.000+05:30
I think the only way the Aussies can loose a World Cup Match is if they play the World Cup in Australia. The "host's jinx" has prevented the West Indies from even reaching the Semi's and it was business as usual with Australia winning the World Cup.

I was the only one backing the Australian team at work. From day India got kicked out, most people were supporting Sri Lanka, South Africa or New Zealand. In the end it was interesting that RSA, SL, NZ and AUS were the four semi finalists.

A lot of people were hoping for either a SA vs. NZ or a SA vs. SL final. If that had been the case then it would have been a real shock. Since the last 5 world cups a South Asian team has always made the Final, and in the last 4 world cups, Aus has reached the Finals. I think this is a sign of times. Cricket is really strong in Aus, South Asia, and South Africa. RSA has never performed to their potential and that's why its not such a surprise to see a Aus vs. SL final.

I really love the way Gilchrist plays his cricket, far more than anyone else in the Aus team. He comes across a guy who plays cricket in the right spirit. I remember a couple of instances, where he has "walked" before the Umpire ruled him out. Combine that with his batting and his safe hands behind the wicket, he surely must be counted as one of the best all-rounders of all time. I saw his entire 149 in the Final. Breathtaking!

In the end, Aus are deserving winners and I'm happy that I backed the right team :-)

Myopic view of cricket

Where is it?

2007-04-26T19:08:00.001+05:30

I read this post about a restaurant called Potluck Cafe and decided to go there for lunch. Since the blog said that it was on Bannerughatta road it made it all the more easy. I had planned to go to Electronics City today (on work) and decide to sample the food at this place. What made it really attractive was the supposed price (15-20 bucks for some Dal) and its quality.

Since the blog didn't mention where it's located, I tried to google it. All the results talked of a different place where, I don't think we can get even water for 15-20 bucks :-)

Update: New post with directions! Maybe I'll try it soon

Myopic view of food, bangalore

April Showers

2007-04-22T17:22:00.000+05:30
Thank God, its raining!
April Showers are really amazing. The extreme heat of the day, followed by a sudden downpour. Aha!
More than me, my collection of potted plants are happy!

Moving away from the Lillies to Jasmine. Well, I'm cheating a bit here. The Jasmine grows on the fence, and so, its really not part of my collection. Nevertheless a great couple of pics taken by Eva.

We have put some plants in a corner. Its really come out well.
and finally some more closeups

Myopic view of cool, garden

Guide to identifying F1 fans

2007-04-17T08:52:00.001+05:30

Linksheaven has a funny list on how to identify different f1 fans. Going by the Ferrari and McLaren fans I know, the description is pretty accurate!

Myopic view of f1, formula1, funny

Bahrain 2007 GP Winners Losers

2007-04-16T20:10:00.001+05:30

Winners

Massa. After the Malaysian disaster, to come and win is really nice. Did everything right this weekend. Pole to Victory
Hamilton. He's getting stronger each race. It will be interesting to see what he does in Spain, considering that Alonso would be desperate to win there.
Heidfeld. Great move on Alonso! He then held on for a good finish - fourth
DC, Webber and RBR. They were faster than the rest for quite a while. Considering that DC started from the back of the grid, it was really good. Too bad they couldn't finish. DC hasn't finish a race yet this season!

Losers

Alonso. He really lost out here. Not only did he struggle to keep up with Hamilton, once Kimi got past after the pitstops, he couldn't hold on against Heidfeld.

Ralf. Considering that Trulli got home 2 points, held off Fisi in the end, you would expect Ralf to have been close by. He was nowhere near. Did he even finish? 17th?
Myopic view of f1, formula1, bahrain, 2007, gp, winners, losers

More on Ads

2007-04-12T20:35:00.001+05:30

Continuing on a bit more on ads.. I just saw a new ad by Pepsi on TV.

Their last ad had about half the cricket team in it and it was a bit ironic to watch considering that the Indian Team did pretty badly. What made it worse was its catchphrase - "If you do, you win" (loosely translated from Hindi). What made it even worse was the morphing of some of the players scowling to a Tiger Roaring. LOL!!!

From there to the latest ad, is the real change. Going with the latest mantra (ala Greg Chappell) that the team needs younger players, this ad talks about 14 year olds dreaming about winning the world cup next time round.

Time will tell.

Myopic view of cricket, pepsi

Crazy Ads

2007-04-10T22:41:00.001+05:30

There are two adverts that I noticed. The first one is for Appy Fizz and its a radio ad. I heard it on the way to work recently and I just couldn't stop laughing. The ad makes fun of the cricket team and their pathetic showing in the world cup. It "welcomes" them back and goes on the say that the team has made the country proud. You got to hear it!

The other ad is in the latest Week. Its for Malayalam Manorama, and it proudly proclaims that MM is the largest selling vernacular newspaper in the south. The caption shows a cop shouting and the translation in English says that the biggest newspaper is not in Telugu. That's not the problem. The problem is that the language shown is actually Kannada! The words used by the cop are in Kannada and talks about Kannada. However, the English Translation talks about Telugu. Either the copy is bad or the copywriter is trying unsuccessfully to be funny. Either way the ad is just incompetent. So much for the largest selling newspaper. Perhaps a bit of editing would help!

Myopic view of funny

Malaysia 2007 GP Winners Losers

2007-04-09T21:56:00.001+05:30

Winners

Alonso. He did absolutely everything right from Qualifying to the Race. Massa got the better of him on Sat but by the first corner at the start, Alonso was ahead. He also showed his experience and was faster than his teammate throughout the race, on both hard and soft tyres.
Hamilton. Fantastic result. The way he 'tricked' Massa was just brilliant racecraft. Loved it! But he's still a Rookie, and it showed. FA was faster all throughout the race. Its quite likely that it was FA's ability of going a tenth faster that made the difference between the McLarens and the Ferraris. In the end, KR was very close to Hamilton. Nevertheless, a great drive and even better racecraft - made watching the race worthwhile

KR. Circumspect in the beginning, but came back strongly. Had he been a little faster on the softer tyres, he might have been able to catch LH before the last lap. Historically, McLaren have always been better at using the softer compounds than Ferrari and vice versa.

Fisi. From a disasterous qualifying, to a good finish. Great start too.
Heidfeld. Qualified well and finished one spot ahead. Kept Massa at bay as well
Losers

Massa. Boy! Not only did he screw up his chance against LH, he could barely keep up with Quick Nick. Bad day at the office for sure, but I wonder what it has done to his confidence.

Honda. I don't think I'll move them off this part of the list for some time. The way they are going, it looks like its going to be atleast a month or so before they get up to speed. By then the Ferraris and McLarens would have long gone.
Myopic view of f1, formula1, malaysia, 2007, gp, winners, losers

Simple Pleasures

2007-04-06T09:35:00.001+05:30

A great Breakfast!
Not having to go to work, because its a holiday
The start of a long lazy weekend
The knowledge that some of your friends have to work as its not a holiday for them! BWAHAHAHAHAHA (evil!)

Myopic view of funny

A Subtle April Fool's

2007-04-01T23:19:00.001+05:30

The Geek House has an excellent and subtle April Fool's Page. If you visit it with Firefox, you get an IE 404 and vice versa. Neat!

However, the jokes on them when you visit it using Opera. Neither 404 appears.

Myopic view of april, fool, funny, firefox, ie, opera

A bit of advice for the Indian and Pakistani Cricket Teams

2007-03-26T23:04:00.001+05:30

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

-- Rudyard Kipling

Myopic view of cricket, rudyard, kipling

Sigh!

2007-03-24T08:22:00.001+05:30

Its over.

At least now we can look forward to seeing some good cricket without the stupid media hype on how great and fantastic Indian Cricket is.

Myopic view of cricket

RIP Bob Woolmer

2007-03-19T00:38:00.001+05:30

The Beeb has the shocking story.

It will not be for Pakistan's losses in this world cup that he will be remembered, but for his successes with South Africa. His novel methods and use of technology were path breaking. Most coaches have embraced them today and those innovations will be his greatest contribution to cricket. He more than anyone else brought the role of the coach from the shadows to the forefront of a team's success.

May he Rest In Peace. Condolences to his family in this stressful and very challenging time.

Myopic view of cricket

Australia 2007 GP Winners Losers

2007-03-19T00:23:00.001+05:30

Winners

KR. Awesome pace from start to finish. If the Ferraris can be reliable and fast, it will be difficult for Alonso to retain his title. In 2003, KR finished 2nd in the WDC with a reliable but slower car and in 2005, he finished 2nd with a fast but fragile car. Combine the impressive pace seen today with Ferrari's history of reliability, it looks very scary for FA and co.
LH. Impressive would be an understatement. Stunning, superb, exciting are all words that come to mind. Considering that he was ahead of FA for most of the race and except for a rookie's mistake in not passing backmarkers, he might have finished 2nd. That would have been a fairy tale, and its unlikely that FA would have let it happen.
FA. It was interesting to see the way he drove. He was quite content to stay behind LH for most of the race, and then make it stick when it really mattered. Nothing flashy but very clean
Rosberg. Got his Williams home ahead of the factory Toyotas and the "crap" factory Hondas.

Sato. Similar performance to Rosberg as he nearly managed to get his Super Aguri ahead of the both the factory Hondas. JB was going backwards and RB was incapable of overtaking. Sato on the other hand did his job well to finish ahead of JB and just behind RB.
Losers

DC. Well.. Atleast he owned up to his mistake, but that's not why he heads this list. Webber was far ahead of him both in Qualifying and in the race. DC moment did come, but that was with all 4 wheels off the ground.
JB, RB and the Hondas. When BAR moved from Bridgestone to Michellin a few years back, they showed a remarkable improvement in pace. The forced move back to Bridgestone was never going to be easy, but they are really in bad shape.
Heikki K. Entertaining yes, but fast no. Especially when you compare him with the other rookie - LH. Renault had a close relationship with Michellin, (similar to Bridgestone and Ferrari) and their lack of pace is showing. He probably had an off day, but his boss wasn't quite as forgiving after the race. Welcome to the big bad world of F1.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, australia, 2007, gp, winners, losers

First Look

2007-03-13T10:47:00.001+05:30

We went for an ultra sound scan yesterday. Its pretty amazing to see the baby for the first time! The moment the doctor placed the scanner (for the lack of a better word), it happened. The magic moment. Its an amazing rush!

Myopic view of parenting

Finally

2007-03-04T20:22:00.000+05:30
The keys to my apt. MY APARTMENT. My Home! My own... All mine. Well... half of it. The other half is owned by Eva :-) The only thing left is to pay the government the damn taxes and register it in our names.

Its time to furnish it and wait for the dust to settle. Then its time to find an auspicious time to ward of evil by inviting a cow and calf into the house, perform the appropriate poojas to placate the gods, invoke their blessings, treat relatives and close friends to a sumptious lunch, boil the milk, give to charity and only then move it.

Time to call the interior designer, astrologer, priest, caterer. No party planner for this one.

Myopic view of home

One of the best Dilbert's ever!

2007-02-26T10:52:00.001+05:30

Scott Adams really nails it with this one. link.

More often than not this seems to be the case where Managers control all the critical items required for the success of a project

Budget
Schedule
This is true of a lot of industries!

Myopic view of dilbert, best, funny,

The best page on the net

2007-02-24T23:48:00.001+05:30

for the "in" crowd, that is. Plenty of links to all the places that create a buzz!. link.

Myopic view of cool

Nothing to do

2007-02-12T11:10:00.001+05:30

Yawn!! That's the problem with these General Strikes...

Myopic view of bangalore

short-sighted sid

Lost in Translation

What's the toughest thing to buy in India

Cricket world - Bangalore gets to host stupid matches

Neravals and the magic of carnatic music

Link Express trains

A Must have for all F1 Fans

More posting on my other blog

The best drive to work

Funny things on the road

Blue - a cold review

post race blues

An Inglourious Reveiw

Kimi's back to the future

Sri Raga Varna - Sami Nine

Predictions for Monzo

Now its interesting

Todi si magic

Nostradamus springs to a massive comeback

An argument

What a relief

Is it worth it?

A quick poll

A new challenge

The votes are out

Fake IPL Player!

Bento C&H

Australian F1 GP 2009 Winners and Losers

BMTC Volvo buses

How to burn yourself out

Avoiding Traffic

Tweet!

Sat this one out

Had to turn it off

Let's see how long it lasts

No negotiations

Google Chrome - a review

An important milestone

G 'n' R too, on a violin

Let's Jazz it up!

Now, some metal...

MJ on a Violin

Weird'est story of all time

Don't go to this place

No F1 Report this time around

Its crazy

He's right where he belongs

Time for a change

Monkey See Monkey Do

Which year is it?

That's not cricket

frustation and blues

There is a huge difference

Number 1 training method - Improved!

Akki Roti

And the number 1 training method is

1 in 5 humans are

Damn! He's Back

Oops! They did it again

Buckle up

Gmail has IMAP but it doesn't work yet

Many a slip between the cup and the lip

Scary Moment

Sunshine

All your bases belong to us

I'm upset

Did Bradman need 4 more?

Hungarian GP Winners Losers

Man's best friend

European GP Winners Losers

2007 British GP Winners Losers

Spaghetti in Tomato Basil sauce

F1 French GP 2007 Winners Losers

2007 US GP Winners Losers

Is Hamilton the next big thing?

2007 Canadian GP Winners Losers

Thundering down the road

Hosur Road

Hmm?

Dressing for Dinner