And the number 1 training method is

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

Winners

1. 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.
2. 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
3. Heidfeld. Great result for him and BMW.
   
4. Ralf. Outqualified Trulli and then out raced hm. Plus 3 points in the bag
5. 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

1. 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.
2. Massa. The pendulum is swinging away
3. McLaren. I don't think I will be fan for much longer f this continues. Hello Kimi!
4. 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.
   
5. Fisi. What on earth was he doing in this race?

Myopic view of f1, formula1, winners, losers

Man's best friend

This is one heck of a cute photograph!

Myopic view of cool, photo

European GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. 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.
2. Massa. Probably disappointed with the result. He should have won this. In hindsight, 8 points is not bad.
3. Webbo, DC and RBR. Amazing result for them! Kudos...

Losers

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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?
4. 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

Winners

1. Kimi. The way he hustled Hamilton in the first stint and blew past Alonso in the third was just amazing.
   
2. 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
3. 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.
4. Honda. For once, they got it right (well... sort of) and got both cars in the top 10.

Losers

1. 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.
2. Williams. Really a poor result and that too in their home GP.
3. 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

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

Ingredients:

1. 4 Tomatoes
2. Spaghetti sticks (or whatever they are called)
3. A little Basil (Tulsi)
   
4. A few cloves of garlic
5. Olive Oil
6. A little Mozzarella Cheese
   
7. A dash of Thyme
8. A dash of Parsley powder
   
9. A dash of freshly ground pepper
   
10. Salt to taste

Now on to the recipe

1. 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.
2. As the same time, take a large saucepan and pour some olive oil in it.
3. Heat the oil till it starts to get hot. Put finely chopped garlic into the olive oil and saute.
4. Throw in the Thyme, Parsley Powder and some of the finely chopped basil and continue to saute.
   
5. 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.
6. By now the garlic would have started to go golden brown. Pour the puree into the saucepan.
7. Cut the remaining tomato into quarters and put it into the saucepan.
8. Keep the lid open and continue to cook the sauce.
9. At the same time keep checking on the spaghetti. Push down the sticks into the water and keep cooking until they soften.
10. 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.
11. Slice up a bit of the Mozzarella cheese into small cubes and put them into the sauce.
12. Stir the sauce to melt the cheese.
    
13. Drain the spaghetti from the water using a sieve.
14. Once the cheese has melted into the sauce put the spaghetti into the sauce and mix well.
15. 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

Winners

1. 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....
2. Ferrari. Big win after the American leg. Ferrari were eating McLaren dust in Montreal and Indy, here it was the other way around
3. Button. Wow! For once, I have something good to say about a Honda. Good to see him in the points
4. Fisi. Good result for Renault. Plus he managed to hold back Alonso.
5. 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

1. 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.
2. RBR. Where were they this race?
   
3. Sato. After the highs in Montreal this was possibly his worst result
4. Rosberg. Bad luck to finish just out of the points.

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

2007 US GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Hamilton. Boy! This season is going to be good.
   
   
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Massa. On the whole a good race.
5. 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

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

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

Is Hamilton the next big thing?

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

Winners

1. 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!
2. Sato. He's the man. Overtook a McLaren, a Ferrari!
   
   
3. Heidfeld. The only other guy to have been unaffected by the Safety Cars. Great result
4. Wurz. Nice to see him on the podium.

Losers

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!
4. Usual Honda. Yada yada yada.
   
   

Lucky to be Alive

1. 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

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

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?

link



Myopic view of funny

Dressing for Dinner

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

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

Winners

1. Massa. After the Malaysian disaster, to come and win is really nice. Did everything right this weekend. Pole to Victory
2. 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.
3. Heidfeld. Great move on Alonso! He then held on for a good finish - fourth
4. 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

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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

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

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

Winners

1. 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.
2. 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
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
4. Fisi. From a disasterous qualifying, to a good finish. Great start too.
5. Heidfeld. Qualified well and finished one spot ahead. Kept Massa at bay as well

Losers

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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

1. A great Breakfast!
2. Not having to go to work, because its a holiday
3. The start of a long lazy weekend
4. 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

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

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!

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

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

Winners

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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
4. Rosberg. Got his Williams home ahead of the factory Toyotas and the "crap" factory Hondas.
   
   
5. 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

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

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!

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

1. Budget
2. Schedule

This is true of a lot of industries!



Myopic view of dilbert, best, funny,

The best page on the net

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

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



Myopic view of bangalore

Now that the Cauvery Tribunal

has awarded x TMC of water to TN, y to Karnataka and the rest between Kerala and Pondi, the biggest question I was asked was - WHAT IS TMC?



The answer is quite nicely put here. So, 419 TMC means 11865 Million Cubics Meters of water or 11865 Billion Liters of Water!



Its time we changed to SI units fully.



Myopic view of cauvery

A new QC2

I flew from Bangalore to Dallas via Frankfurt last week. The Frankurt-Dallas flight was overbooked so the airline (very efficiently :-)) gave the option to fly via Houston for a tidy sum of 300 Euros. The delay? Around 2 hours in total.



How best to spend 300 Euros is the question I asked myself during last week, and finally decided to buy Bose's QC2 Headphones. They costed around $325 (after tax) and I got to use them on the flight back home on Sunday.



The noise reduction *really* works. There is still a slight hum that you hear, but its far less than the background roar that one hears without it. It does not have much of a value if the flight is for a few hours but when you are doing a US to India trip with close to 20 hours on an airplane, it really pays off. It fits quite nicely around the ears and does not hurt even when worn for a long stretch of time.



The main drawback is the AAA battery that is required. It is supposed to last about 40 hours and that makes it only 1 return trip :-).



On the whole, a good buy (basically free for me), but its still the honeymoon period! Would I have spent $325 of my money on it? Probably not.



There are alternatives out there but not a well known. I'm not sure about their performance but this is a brand that has good recognition at home and that itself notches up a free brownie points.



Myopic view of bose, qc2

Should DD get to co-broadcast the Cricket Matches?

There is a lot of debate happening right now on whether or not DD, the ubiquitous State run TV Broadcaster should have the "right" to co-broadcast the current Cricket Series. I for one, don't agree that with that premise.



By sharing the broadcast rights with DD, without any kind of compensation, is a violation of the Rights that Nimbus has bought from the BCCI. Its debatable if the figures that they paid are worth it, but its still their Right. Rights are no different any other contract. Take personal property. There is a growing divide between the Rich and the Poor in India. The solution to that is not "Flog the Rich and Hand it over to the Poor" ala Robin Hood, but to uplift the Poor out of their quagmire by providing adequate infrastructure and opportunities. The very idea that DD should automatically be given a TV feed, just because there are folks who do not have access to NEO Sports is based on the Robin Hood principle. It may be good in a story but not a practical solution.



If DD were to be allowed to broadcast, then it should be due to a contract signed between NIMBUS, NEO Sports and DD. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry should not have any role to play in this. DD should pay to share the feed and NIMBUS should be compensated appropriately.



On the whole, there are number of things that the I guys should not do. Firstly, this whole "holier than thou" attitute is rubbish and self indulging. If anything the powers to be should focus on

1. Setting standards for the quality of broadcast feeds. Right now, I know of a variety of Cable Operators who provide pretty poor quality signals to their neighbourhoods. There needs to be proper regulation of this quality to ensure that the customer gets the signal quality that she pays for.
2. Discourage the increasing sensationalism in TV News. Everything seems to be breaking News. Everything seems to be blown out of proportion. Take the Shilpa Shetty case. Is it really so important? The real issues of racism are hidden away when the media trivializes such an important issue.
3. Reduce Censorship. A case in point is the fact that the first amendment to the US Constitution increases its citizens freedom of speech while the first amendment of the Indian Constitution reduces it.
   
   
4. Free the boundaries of Radio. Radio is now forced to be a friviolous medium where only songs are allowed. No serious talk and definitely No News.
   
   

Fix all this and allow Information to flow. Otherwise, rename the ministry as The Dept for Prevention of Information.



Myopic view of cricket, broadcasting, tv

10 for dinner

A common dinner party question is - if you had to invite any 10 people over for dinner, who would they be?

My list in case I'm interested in having spiritual view of things would be (In no particular order)

1. Jesus Christ
2. Gautam Buddha
3. Adi Shankaracharya
4. Muhammad
5. Moses
6. Confucius
7. Zoroaster
8. Guru Nanak
9. Mahaveer Jain
10. Any other (decided by prophecy)

In case, I have the choice of meeting Scientists then I would have (In no particular order)

1. Sir Issac Newton
2. Aristotle
3. Albert Einstein
4. Thomas Alva Edison
5. Benjamin Franklin
6. Leonhard Euler
   
   
7. Richard Feynman
8. Stephan Hawkings
9. Marie Curie
10. Any other scientist (decided by quantum physics)

If the choice was limited to Modern world leaders then I would have

1. Theodore Roosevelt
2. Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Josef Stalin
4. Mao Zedong
5. Adolf Hitler
6. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
7. Vladimir IIyich Ulanov (Lenin)
8. Nelson Mandela
   
   
9. Golda Meir
10. other world leader (decided by the ticks of an atomic clock)

I would then put these people together in a room, and put Feynman in charge :-)



Myopic view of shortsightedsid, on, dinner, humor

What I will remember about Micheal Schumacher

I'm not a Micheal Schumacher fan. Yet, in all fairness, I do agree that he's probably the greatest racing driver of all time. What I didn't like about him was his gamesmanship. I felt it was unnecessary and most of the time uncalled for. That's I have put together things that I remember in this post rather than going by what the pundits say. For e.g. I can't say that I saw the 1994 collision with Hill because I just stopped watching F1 when Senna died. I didn't see the 1995 season either. Seasons earlier to that are so far back that I just don't remember much about Schumacher in those years.

This post is a tribute to Micheal Schumacher.

Things that made me drop my jaw -
1. Revival of Ferrari. There's no way that Ferrari could have won any of their championships from 1999 onwards without Micheal Schumacher. The genius of man was such that he was able to win 3 races in 1996 with a POS. That's when Williams were super dominant and could have won every single race. What also made the difference was Ross Brawn and Rory Bryne following him to Ferrari. The difference was visible immediately and Schumacher could have won the 1997 season itself.
2. Overall Record. The same number of wins as Prost and Senna put together. That's pretty amazing. I still remember the post race press conference where Schumacher had equalled Senna's Record of 41 wins. Going hand in hand with these was his absolute domination of the 2002 and 2004 seasons.
3. Jerez 1996. Some say that he could won that race in a Minardi. That's how good he was in that race
4. Spa 1998. This was a race he didn't win but it was because he ran into the back of DC's car. But it was a rain affected race and it was just incredible to see him in the rain. He had nearly a minute's lead and was coasting to victory when it happened.
5. Sepang 1999. To my mind, this is his best race ever. He came back from injury and promised to help Eddie Irvine win. And boy oh boy did he do that. Nobody is a better defensive driver that MS and the way he held back Hakkinen was just incredible. It wasn't just 1 or 2 laps but a whole bunch of laps. Mind you Hakkinen was no slouch in the Mclaren either. Hakkinen did get the better of Schumacher in Spa 2000 with an amazing overtaking move, and keeping that in perspective, this effort in Sepang was astonishing. I also remember him defending against Ralf in Brazil 2002, but won't rate that as highly because Ralf's known limitations as a racer.
6. Brazil 2006. I think his last race was a bit underrated. He was nearly a lap down on Massa after a few laps and yet managed to come within a few seconds of second place Alonso. That means he gained almost 40 odd seconds on Massa! That's pretty special.

Some of things that made me go "That's why I don't cheer for him" aka gamesmanship -
1. Last race of  1997 against JV
2. Austria 2001, 2002 "against" Barrichello
3. Indy 2004's Dead Heat Attempt
4. Monaco 2006 Car Parking

Myopic view of f1, formula1, micheal, schumacher

More than 50 years, but still no progress

Recently, a friend of mine told me that he had agreed to get married. That sentence would sound a little odd, unless you already knew about arranged marriages in India. The system basically starts with the parents of a "suitable boy" or a "suitable girl" take it upon themselves to convince their son/daughter that it is time that he/she gets hitched. After some persuasion, the prospective bride/grom gives her/his requirements. Some parents choose to ignore these and but many urbane, educated, "modern" folks do keep these "requirements" in mind.

In my friends case, it was his requirements that shocked and surprised me
1. She had to speak only a particular south indian language. No other south indian language would do, because
a) He disliked the movies and tv shows made in another south indian language
b) His mother disliked the other remaining languages
c) The girl should not feel offended if my friend and his mother happened to converse in his mother tongue
2. She must be religious and must have no aversion to a particular sect (with its own weird and controversal guru). If he chooses to donate hundreds of thousands of Rupees to the sect then its his choice and she must not have anything to say about it
3. She must not watch too much TV or movies as its offensive to his parents.
4. She must first devote herself to taking care of his parents and next him. Her wishes are irrelavent.

I could go on further, but my point is made. Essentially, I feel my friend is not looking for a marriage or for a soulmate. He's looking for a slave.

What surprised and shocked me was that this friend was very well educated, highly capable in his job, liberal in his views and quite dynamic. And yet, what these "requirements" reveal is a very parochial and narrow minded person. It was this revelation that came as a shock. After more than 50 years of Indians trying to rid themselves of their parochial nature, even the most educated, well travelled, well read people still tend to be highly discriminating in their personal chocies and views.

Its not that just one blow up

It looks more than likely than Alonso will now win the championship, but its not because of Schumacher's Ferrari blowing up its engine in Japan. In the end, its due to Alonso having a better start to the season than Schumacher.

Considering that its been 6 years since Schumacher's car has had an engine failure, its a bit ironic that this season may be coming to an end without a title due to an engine failure. He has won 5 championships for Ferrari since 2000 simply because of that amazing relability. Some call it luck, some say it was amazing driving, some say divine inspiration, and others a bit of FerrArI magic (sic).

All said and done, I think Ferrari are the best team in terms of reliability and that's why they have won so often. Consider the case of Raikkonen who is now moving to Ferrari. He lost the championship last year because of reliability issues and if his McLaren was reliable, then could have finished 3rd in the championship this season.

But, that's the luck of the draw. Sometimes its destiny, sometimes its luck and sometimes its outside forces. link (nsfw).

What to do during a Bandh?

Everything comes to a standstill, so what's the best things one can do?

Most Bangaloreans thought that its best not to venture out, but I couldn't resist. Who can resist the chance of driving through silk board at 9.00 AM on a Wednesday, with no traffic?

That's what I did and added a drive to Electronics City and back. 8 mins from Silk board to Electronics City and 7 mins on the way back.
I can't remember the last time, anyone could do that at 9.00 AM on a Wednesday Morning!! Ya..

Talking of zipping in and out of traffic, here's a nice clip of a "leisurely" stroll through Paris. Yes sir, for F1 Drivers, this surely is a leisurely pace.

Havent you got a patent yet?

That's supposed to be motivating, esp. when you are in R&D (Reading and Documentation). However, all one needs to do is have a look at some of the crazy patents out there. Check out this link. It lists some the craziest patents out there.

1. A method of exercising a cat (Garfield's nightmare)
   
2. Inclining coffin! (And he rises from the dead :-)
   
3. Pillow with retractable umbrella (hmmm must be useful for sleeping outside during the monsoons)

But the best of the lot has to be "Beerbrella". Yup... It keeps the sun of your beer! How cool is that?

Myopic view of funny

The other side of Ganesh Chaturthi

Its been over 11 days since we celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi. End of the festivals, the idol(s) are supposed to be immersed in water, signifying the joining of individual souls with the infinite.

However, the festival has now degraded into just merry making with thought going to the environment. These photos show the ugly after effects.

We'll be back with our regular programming shortly

No Reruns...
New Shows!!!
The old favorites continue..

Coming soon, to a blog near you..

Hungary 2006 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. JB. Finally a win after all the waiting. Considering that Honda were on the brink of disaster a few races back, this must be an amazing result. What makes it even more special is the fact that he beat RB, who is considered by many to be one of the better drivers in the wet.
2. Honda. 13 points from the race in which Renault scored 0 and Ferrari scored 3 points. Great result. Could have been better had their gamble with RB's tyres had paid off. Otherwise, it could have been 2 Hondas on the podium
3. Heidfeld. Podium finish was the result of a clinical drive. No dramas, no spins and no overdriving from him. The TV producer did not even pick him up until he actually got ready to challenge MS for the Podium. That means he drove a quite, clinical and yet effective race.
4. DLR. After the 1st pitstops was starting to close in on KR, and perhaps that way contributed towards his losing a bit of concentration and crashing out. 2nd place was a fantastic finish for him.
5. DC. To get the RB in the points is pretty good, but to finish 5th, which is ahead of both the Ferraris is pretty amazing.
6. Michelin. The wet weather tyre that they brought was literally miles ahead of Bridgestone. There was no way that Alonso could have driven around the outside of MS, the Rain-meister, without a huge advantage.

Losers.
1. Renault. A rare DNF for Alonso, but for both the Renaults to DNF when conditions were some much in their favour does not speak well. Very rarely does one see the Ferraris losing badly if things are in their favour. In the end, it was 3 points lost to Ferrari when there could have been two Renaults on the podium.
2. Bridgestone. A poor tyre from them, and yet is unfair to blame them completely for the Ferraris failure. RS finished ahead of both the Ferraris and he was on Bridgestones as well. Nevertheless, the Bridgestones were a poor match to the Michelins this race
3. Alonso. A great oppurtunity lost. It would have been 9 points in his favour and would have tilted the scales hugely in his favour. Can't blame him too much if the problem was Mechanical
4. KR. A bad miss. A really bad miss. Too many times, McLaren and KR have cocked it up when things are going well for them. It was because of such failures that they lost both the championships last year. Compare that to Ferrari, and it looks like MS and Ferrari are going to fight all the way.
5. Massa. Looked totally lost in the rain. MS also was struggling but once it stopped raining, he made up for it as much as he could. Massa didn't even look like he was trying.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, hungary, 2006, gp, winners, losers

Germany 2006 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. MS. Last year, around this time, Kimi was able to demonstrate a huge advantage over the Renaults, and yet, it was Alonso who won the championship, and too with a comfortable margin. I'm not sure if Alonso or MS would win, but the championship is getting a whole lot closer. Ferrari have a clear advantage over Renault now that the weights in the suspension have been ruled against Renault. The one thing that is Ferrari's strength this year as against McLaren's, is their bulletproof reliability. MS converted that reliability into another easy win.
2. Massa. More than the 2nd place, he managed to get himself between MS and Alonso and thereby did what all that is expected of him
3. Kimi. A welcome return to the podium
4. Weber. Agonizingly close to finishing in the points for the change but as usual the Williams gave up before the end
5. Button. A good result given the disasters that the Honda team has been experiencing in the last 3 races

Losers
1. Alonso. The drop off in performance has been quite sharp in this race. I didn't expect him to win but I did expect a podium from him. I still feel that Renault will improve in Hungary and will be able to challenge Ferrari

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2006, germany, gp, winners, losers

France 2006 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. MS. Clincal, professional and leagues ahead of his team mate
2. Ralf Schumacher. When he's in the mood, he's as good as anybody else. Today was one of those days
3. Scott Speed. How on earth can a Toro Rosso (a.k.a Minardi) finish ahead of a Sauber, Williams? 10th place is pretty amazing for Torro Rosso especially considering JV, Klien, and Rosberg were behind. Great result
4. de la Rosa. The other spaniard in the race, but he did make it more memorable than his more illustrious countryman. His were the only exciting moments in the race
5. Alonso. Damage limitation to the maximum. 2 points lost but once we get to Hungary I'm sure things will turn back in his favour.

Losers.
1. Honda. As usual - WTF?
2. Williams. I'm not sure whose season is going backwards faster - Williams or Honda. Right now, Honda is winning on a canter but Williams aren't too much behind. Its a shame considering their heritage.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, france, 2006, gp, winners, losers

Now McLaren say Goodbye to Montoya

With Immediate effect as well. link.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, nascar, mclaren, montoya

No not JV but Montoya

That's right folks, Juan-Pablo is moving to NASCAR. link.

There were rumors circulating that Villeneuve would move to NASCAR buts its Montoya who has confirmed the move. This is pretty sensational. JPM's options were limited for 2008. Alonso was moving in and given that JPM's record vis-a-vis Kimi was pretty poor, it was obvious that he was going to head out of McLaren. However, there was no information on where he was going to go.

JV too might be packing his bags. BMW aren't too interested and there are not many teams that are interested in him either. On the whole, I hope this brings in some exciting new talent to F1.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, nascar, montoya, villeneuve

sublime savage stupid

I took out my old T-Shirt with French colours from 2002. It has a No. 10 on it. No. 10 for Zidane. Today he was sublime for 110 minutes and then lost it in a second of madness. A disgraceful headbutt is the last thing that Zidane should be remembered for, but it looks like that will be his karma. I doubt whether I will be wearing this shirt ever again. BLOODY ^&*(^&*%$ &*(@#^$*&^ #@&*^$$$ &*^@!#$ HELL!!!!

In the end it did not matter. Italy has won. Not because they were stupid, but because they were level headed (sic). Buffon, Cannavaro, Grosso all heros and deservedly so. After all they didn't concede a single goal until the Final and that too it was a bit unlucky.

So that ends a great match and a pretty decent world cup.

Sigh!! Back to our usual programming.

Myopic view of football, soccer, worldcup, france, italy, zidane,

Microsoft to supply ECUs for F1

In a previous post, I had mentioned about Bridgestone being the sole supplier for tyres. It now looks like Microsoft is going to supply the ECUs. link (via slashdot).

Naturally, the comments at slashdot were overflowing with anti-microsoft comments. Some of them are really funny. Sample these -

Gentlemen, restart your engines!!!!!!!!! (link)

and a reply to that

Using [ctrl]-[alt]-[brake] of course. (link)

Myopic view of f1, formula1, microsoft

Ferrari are going to win lots of races next year

why? That's because its official that Bridgestone are going to be the sole tyre supplier next year. link.

McLaren struggled for a year when they switched from Bridgestone to Michelin and that was the year that Ferrari were super dominant - 2002. No wonder M Schumacher does not want to retire this year. Next year is going to be a cake walk.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, 2008, tyre, bridgestone, michelin

What's the role of a captain?

David Beckham has stepped down as the English Football captain. What difference would that make? There doesn't seem to be much that captain of a football team needs to do. Take Rooney's Red Card. Did the Referee first talk to the captain and then make his decision? Does the captain make any tactical decisions on the field? Perhaps he and the coach get together to decide the overall strategy for a game, but its mainly the coach's job to do the thinking.

That's quite different from a game like cricket. No other sport puts so much power in the hands of the captain. A good captain and good tactics can win not just a match but also a series.

Myopic view of football, cricket, captain

Indy 2006 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Trulli. Great drive. Not spectacular, but to start dead last, from the pits and to nearly finish 3rd is amazing. When you also consider that fact that Toyota isn't even the 4th best team currently, that takes some doing.
2. MS. I think it was a foregone conclusion even before the race that MS would be really difficult to beat here. That's not just because of his past record and Ferrari's dominance of Indy, but also due to Bridgestone. However, the thing that really made it special was his in and out laps for his first pitstop. He was visibly faster into the pits and that put him ahead of Massa. In the end he finished an incredible 12 seconds ahead of Massa and that's pretty stunning
3. Massa. Good solid job to get Ferrari their first 1-2 in almost 2 years. Great start and managed to beat MS to the first corner with ease. Also his tactics at the restart were pretty awesome. However, in the end MS was just too good for him and that's why he is lower on my list.
4. DC. Right combination of Bang-on-target strategy coupled with all the luck in the world. If not for the first corner melee he might have finished 10th or 12th but end of the day its 2 points in the bag.
5. Fisi. Good job to finish 3rd and upheld some Michelin pride. Was faster than Alonso all weekend and that's pretty awesome.
6. Bridgestone. They were lightyears ahead of Michelin at Indy. I think its more due to their better knowledge of Indy as compared to Michelin. By supplying the IRL with tyres gave them an edge in this race. However the next race is the French GP and I doubt whether Michelin will sit back and let Bridgestone whitewash them at their home GP.
7. Italian Connection. 3 Italians in the points (Fisi, Trulli and Luizzi). 2 Italian teams in the points (Ferrari and Torro Rosso). 1 reminder of Italian racing heritage.

Losers.

1. JPM. What can I say? I was a fan of his driving a few years back especially his no-nonsense, no-compromise style, but his tenure at McLaren has been quite dissappointing. This race too it was pretty bad. Looking at where Trulli finished on a 1 stop strategy, the McLarens had a good chance. They might not have caught the Ferraris but I think Fisi was in striking distance.
2. Ralf. That's 3 DNFs in a row at Indy. There's something about Ralf, Indy and Round things. Last year it was his massive crash that triggered the Michelin Fiasco. This year it was a wheel nut failure.
3. Alonso. Poor race given his high standards. Looked a pale shadow of the man who won the last 4 GPs. The weird part was not just him struggling against the Ferraris but also Fisi. That almost begs the question. Now that half the season is over and Alonso isn't going to be staying, is Renault going to focus more on Fisi. They couldn't care less if Alonso won the WDC but would dearly like the constructors.... Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Its probably just a one-off.
4. Williams. Struggled throughout. The car just doesn't seem to work in high speed circuits. Hungary isn't too far away and we may see some Weber magic there, but there was not such thing in this race. Rosberg struggled and Weber didn't even get till the first sector of the first lap.
5. BMW. Promised more than they finally delivered. Heidfeld was a victim of circumstances but JV had a great chance of finishing in the points. Could have even challenged Alonso for 5th. If not Alonso, I'm pretty sure he would have gotten past Barrichello's Honda. Yet another mechanical failure has meant that a golden opportunity is lost.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, indy, 2006, gp, winners, losers