Nikhil Kulkarni(nikhilnk) Blog

Restarting OrangeGlass - The 'Business Blog'

2011-03-01T09:09:00.001-08:00

[God only knows what I was thinking when I started each of the 18 blogs that I have started till now. But I definitely remember what I was thinking when I gave OrangeGlass that name. I had totally run out of ideas to give a name to the new blog I was starting then. Saw that the glass on my office cabin was orange in colour and hence the name OrangeGlass. You might also want to know why the 'Idea House' is called 10+3i Media. Anyway, OrgangeGlass started more as a blog to cover and understand developments in popular culture in India. That was way too broad, but we did end up posting a few interesting things related to internet, media and new marketing activities at that time. And then, the posting....well, ended! Over the last 1.5 years since the posting on OrangeGlass stopped, I have spent a fair amount of time in working on and tracking developments and investments in the education, internet, mobile and media space in India. Thought it will be a good idea to revive the blog not only to document these new developments and develop a good perspective over a period of time, but also to share and discuss.

Will probably just share a link to the posts on OrangeGlass henceforth, cross-posting it now as I haven't updated this blog for a long time. This post will hopefully make up for that absence!]

Restarting OrangeGlass - With Education Focus In Budget '11

It has been nearly 1.5 years since this blog last saw a post and many significant developments have happened in the tech, media and business world since. A case in point is the strong growth of Twitter and its increased usage, at least in the tech, media and startup world. No wonder then, that a lot of people (including myself) are more active 'tweeters' than they are bloggers. That perhaps explains the lack of activity on this blog. (And I can hopefully get away with that excuse?)

On a more serious note, the advantage of Twitter is perhaps is its disadvantage as well. While it works great for sharing short, quick opinions and resources that one comes across, it doesn't work so well to share more detailed views. You can be as creative as you want to limit what you have to say to 140 characters, but there's a totally different pleasure in writing a detailed and a more 'thought-through' blog post running into a few hundred words or even more. Also, Twitter is a lot more dynamic with the timeline changing by the minute, sometimes even by the second and it becomes difficult to keep a track of what you have shared and the discussions around it. People do retweet and add their comments some times, but those don't add as much value as comments on a well-written blog post. Also, a blog and blog labels with the blog help in much better archiving than by searching through hash tags on Twitter.

(Note to myself: With all said and written(?), now please be regular in posting henceforth.)

Developments In Education Space In India

Over the last 2 years, I have spent a significant amount of my time in the education space in India and we are surely going through very interesting times. Developments like the CAT turning into a computer-based test in 2009 (and the 'fiasco' that ensued), the extension of CCE by the CBSE into lower classes will no doubt lead to increased use of technology.Considering that there are nearly 2,500 entrance exams in India and most of them expected to turn into online/computer-based tests soon and even schools and colleges adopting technology for learning and assessment, there's surely a large opportunity in this space.

On the other hand , the focus creating a large talent pool to meet the growing human resource demands of various industries has led to an strong thrust on vocational skills development. So much so that a unique public-private partnership, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has been set up with a corpus now of Rs. 15,000 crore to produce 150 mn skilled workers by 2022 in 21 sectors as diverse as Construction, Automobiles to Food Processing, Gems & Jewelery to Travel & Tourism.

To get a better sense of NSDC's vision and plans, here is presentation by Yuvaraj Gadala shared at the NASSCOM Product Conclave held in Bangalore last year. (This was part of session on 'Funding From Govt/Quasi Govt Sources' held at the Product Conclave and I was part of the organizing team for this session. Thanks Indus for the opportunity! More about this on Indus's blog)

NSDC at NASSCOM Product Conclave 2010

View more presentations from Indus Khaitan

Highlights Related To Education From Budget 2011

Interestingly, skill development seems to be a major area of focus in the announcements related to education made by the Finance Minister in his budget speech. NSDC seems to well on course to reach its target of skilling 150 mn people by 2022. In fact, the Finance Minister expects that this target will be met two years in advance. He has allocated an additional Rs. 500 crore to the NSDC for the coming year. NSDC also seems to be moving quite fast in disbursing funds having already sanctioned 26 projects worth Rs. 658 crore and these projects alone are expected to train 40 mn people over next 10 years. What's also interesting is that of the 20,000 people trained in FY 2010-11, 75% have found placements. One would have expected these numbers, those of number of people trained and those of placed to be higher, but I am sure these will surely look better over time.

Here are some key points related to education from the FM's speech -

Total Allocation To Education

Rs. 52,057 crore | Up 24% from previous year's allocation

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) - centrally sponsored scheme to provide free and compulsory education to children in age groups 6-14

Allocation of Rs. 21,000 crore to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) | Increase of 40% over previous allocation of Rs. 15,000 crore

National Knowledge Network - connecting education institutes through optical fiber backbone

NKN will connect 1500 institutes of higher learning. 190 institutes will be linked during 2011, connectivity to all institutes by Mar 2012
Link to the NKN Website - http://www.nkn.in/

Scholarships for SC/ST students in classes ninth and tenth

Special grants to certain education institutes

Focus on Skill Development

Additional funds of Rs. 500 crore for National Skill Development Corpn (NSDC) for next year (NSDC has a corpus of Rs. 15,000 crore)
NSDC to achieve its mandate of skilling 150 mn workforce two year ahead of stipulated target of 2022
NSDC has sanctioned 26 projects worth Rs. 658 crore, these projects are expected to train 40 mn people over next 10 years
Of the 20,000 people trained in FY 2010-11, 75% have found placements

Excerpts from the Finance Minister's speech with items related to education -

India Budget 2011 Education Excerpts

My Top Bollywood Songs Of 2010

2010-12-30T05:27:00.000-08:00

Dooriyan Bhi Hai Zaroori from Break Ke Baad is one of my favourite songs from 2010. It appears like I took the line more seriously than required and that perhaps explains the irregularity in posting on this blog. I definitely wish be more regular in blogging in the coming days. Well, there's another song for that as well, Ab Mujh Ko Jeena from Aashayein. We'll make that Ab Mujhko Blogna for our convenience. Very lame, no? Yes, it is. While we are on this self-deprecation trip, I must also add that my music listening, move watching and book reading have been on a low and I need to pick up on these in the coming year.

2010 was very good year for Bollywood music with releases having music by all notable music directors - A R Rahman (Raavan, Jhootha Hi Sahi, Robot), Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Karthik Calling Karthik, My Name Is Khan, Tere Bin Laden), Vishal Bhardwaj (Ishqiya), Pritam (Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Aakrosh), Shantanu Moitra(Well Done Abba) and Salim-Suleiman(Aashayein, Band Baaja Baaraat). Vishal-Shekhar produced consistently good (though slightly predictable) music they produced in 2010 for Anjaana Anjaani, I Hate Luv Storys and Break Ke Baad. Tees Maar Khan is a totally different category altogether. Mithoon, one of my favourites made a return with Lamhaa and I am glad that he still retains his touch. The best, of course, was Amit Trivedi who raised the bar extremely high with Udaan, followed it up with an excellent score in Aisha and wrapped up the year with another killer album, No One Killed Jessica.

Here are some of my top songs from 2010 and why I like them. I liked some because of my natural bias towards the music directors and singers I like, some because of the way they've been shot and even the dance steps and some because they do what good songs are meant to do - touch you really deep inside and bring out new meanings each time you listen to them.

Dhoop Ke Makaan (Break Ke Baad)

Dhoop Ke Makaan was a surprise discovery. I downloaded the album to listen to Dooriyan Hai Zaroori as I was curious about Monica Dogra's performance in Dooriyan Hai Zaroori. Monica is the Shaa'ir of the popular indie duo Shaa'ir + Func and has now made an even stronger entry into Bollywood with Dhobi Ghat in which she plays one of the lead characters. I liked Dooriyan Hai Zaroori and posted on Twitter about it.

Anyway, back to the song in question. Break Ke Baad has lyrics by Prasoon Joshi and there was a natural interest in checking the lyrics of the other songs. I also noticed that the songs has two versions, a regular and an acoustic version. Songs with different versions and remixes always get my attention and moreover, the singer was Shekhar Ravjiani of the Vishal-Shekhar duo. Shekhar has been on a roll as a singer this year with Bin Tere(Reprise) from I Hate Luv Storys, the interlude in Tujhe Bhula Diya, where he sounds scarily similar to Himmesh Reshammiya and Tumse Hi Tumse, both from Anjaana Anjaani. I also noticed a new name, Hitesh Sonik among the artists for the song and it turns out Hitesh is a music programmer with a excellent body of work.

The lyrics were definitely top-class and the song has a very nice and soft feel about it. It is one of those songs you listen to on a long drive looking out of the window. Listen to it a couple of times in a loop and you will come out with a really nice feeling.

Nain Parindey- Lafangey Parindey

I was actually looking forward to Lafangey Parindey, the movie. I was hoping that change of subject would work for Pradeep Sarkar and honestly, just the title was different enough to look forward to the movie. That I never got around to watch the movie is another story.

I had high expectations from the soundtrack as the were by Swanand Kirkire and the music by R Anandh. It's the same duo behind the excellent Limca commercial, Fresh Ho Jao. Which one, you ask? This one -

Lafangey Parindey soundtrack is definitely one of the better ones in 2010. But one song, Nain Parindey specially stands out . I absolutely love the way the words in the movie's title have songs based on them - Mann Lafanga and Nain Parindey. Mann Lafanga is a good song too, with Mohit Chauhan bringing his Masakali-like playfulness and smoothness into the song. But Nain Parindey, with Shilpa Rao's strong vocals and some really deep lyrics is the top song of the album. Hope we get to hear more of R Anandh song compositions and not just ad jingles.

Madhno - Lamhaa

Mithoon, one of my favourite composers had a Bollywood release after close to 3 years. His work in Anwar was right up there among the best and his work later in The Train - Some Lines Must Never Be Crossed (yes, that's the name of the movie) and Aggar, along with his consistent work with Atif Aslam proved his capability beyond doubt. His music has a very different feel to it and he also introduced new voices, Kshtij Tarey, Shilpa Rao and he himself.

His pop debut, Tu Hi Mere Rab Ki Tarah Hai was a bit of a let down and I was eagerly looking forward to what he would come out with in Lamhaa. Unlike that of other typical Bollywood movies, Lamhaa's storyline offered a large canvas for Mithoon to compose the music. While one gets the feeling that he could have done a lot better, may be due to the high expectations, but Lamhaa is as good as any sound track this year. And it's heartening to know that he still retains his touch and hope to hear from him soon. Literally!

Madhno has vocals by Kshitij and Chinmayi and is along the lines of Tose Naina Lage from Anwar with some deep lyrics and an expansive range of sound and music running through the song. I must also make a mention about Sajna, with same lyrics except for the Kashmiri part replaced, in which Mika's raw, yet soft and touching voice make you get completely lost in the song.

Also, making a composition running nearly nine minutes long and yet keeping the listeners' attention is no mean task and Mithoon comes out a winner on that front.

Long and rough day at work, a late night walk on empty roads with earphones on maximum volume, thinking of your near and dear ones - that's the best way and the time to listen to this song.

My only grouse, though a minor one, is that the song picturization doesn't quite do justice to the song. You can never get bored of watchin Nauheed Cyrusi in Maula Mere from Anwar. I can not say the same thing about Bipasha Basu in this song. Kunal Kapur is fine, but Sanjay Dutt? Well, you watch and decide.

Saude Bazi/Sauda Hai Dil Ka Yeh (by Anupam Amod*) - Aakrosh

I would have most definitely missed this one had Deepti not passed it on. Somehow I was not too excited about Aakrosh. I've sat through some terrible movies, but it was a Priyadrashan movie, De Dana Dan that made me walk out of a Bollywood movie for the first time ever in my life. Also, Pritam, except for a couple of songs here and there, hadn't had a great 2010 by his standards. Hence the lack of interest in Aakrosh, the movie and in its music.

Saude Bazi doesn't quite strike you when you listen to it for the first few times. A couple of more listens and the song's signature tune gets stuck in your head and you start following the lyrics a little more closely. I haven't seen the movie so I am not sure how in what context it has been used, but I imagine it to be like a letter one writes to their loved ones. The most striking part of this song is the simplicity of the lyrics and the tune. Listen to this song for a while and I bet you wouldn't stop humming Seedhe Saade Saara Saua Seedha Seedha Hona Jee and keep trying to get the line right.

I hadn't looked up for the video till writing this post, but another good song picturized on Bipasha Basu? I think they should bring back Nauheed Cyrusi just for songs like these. Or the pre-Kidnap version of Minissha Lamba. Wasn't she wonderful in Naam Ada Likhna in Yahaan?

* There's also another version of the same song by Javed Ali. No doubt he is an excellent singer himself, but once you listen to Anupam's rendition, Javed's version somehow just doesn't cut it.

Uff Teri Ada - Karthik Calling Karthik

Yes, there have been dance/party songs and there have been many more dance/party songs. But somehow such songs by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy seem to be the best among the lot. Remember It's The Time To Disco? Or Where's The Party Tonight? Or Aaj Ki Raat?

There was much needed follow-up to these and I think Uff Teri Ada definitely fits into that slot. Shankar Mahadevan's beginning with 'Jogi Nachle' and the part in between the song where he gets on a high tone with 'Dekh Ke Bhi Nahin Ho Yakeen' add a new flavour to such a fast-paced song. Bollywood also has a new promising singer in Alyssa Mendonsa, who also happens to be Loy's daughter, but doesn't want to be known as that.

I also really liked the video, the choreography and the dialogues before the song begins. In fact, most of the dialogues and the scenes in the promos looked quite interesting. But going by the way the movie fared, looked like all the interesting things about the movie were limited to the promos only. Anyway, enjoy the song and the video. Going out for a run or a walk, want to get something started and need to get into a fast-paced mood? This is the song for you.

O Re Bande - Lahore

I do not remember how I came across O Re Bande, but I do remember that night when I discovered this. I must have listened to the song 6-7 times over, not a small amount of time considering that it is an almost 8 minute long composition. I feel Rahat Fateh Ali Khan sings more Bollywood songs than he should be, but no one could have done justice enough justice to this song than Rahatsaab. And no one could have done enough justice with the lyrics and the music than Piyush Mishra. Shilpa Rao adds just about the right touch. I wonder why Lahore, the movie or its music did not get enough attention, but then that's the speciality about discovering and enjoying something that a lot of other people do not know about. Here you go, enjoy O Re Bande and do share with other music lovers.

Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji - Ishqiya

Enough has been said, written about this song and the song has been heard innumerable as well. It feels good when someone you spotted earlier goes on to do well. Abhishek Chaubey is a case in point. I had written about him nearly 3 years back and was expecting a lot more than what he delivered in Ishqiya. Can't blame him either, the expectations were naturally high because of his strong association with Vishal Bharadwaj.

The debate on how good or bad Ishqiya was apart, to me the scene in the bus in the between Naseeruddin Shah and the girl is easily the best piece of cinema I have seen in a long long time. (Yes, I haven't been watching too many movies of late). Those thirty odd seconds say a whole lot than an entire movie or a book manage to say. There is something totally out of the world about the chemistry between Naseeruddin Shah and the girl. And what more do you want when you have Rahatsaab's vocals, Gulzarsaab's lyrics and Vishal Bharadwaj's music? Close your eyes, listen to the song and let your bachcha dil take over you completely!

Cham Cham - Striker

I've already cursed myself enough for not watching Striker yet and those curses don't seem to be enough as still haven't gotten around to watch it. I've been a huge fan of Chandan Arora, not only for his movies but also for the music in his movies. Remember Guncha Koi from Main, Meri Patni aur Woh? If you don't remember or haven't come across the song at all, take the next 4 minutes out and listen to it. Here -

Coming back to Cham Cham. At first, it comes across as an ordinary song with a straight forward tune. But when you listen to it a few times over, you can't stop humming 'Ra Re Ra Re Ra..'. Since watching Nauheed Cyrusi in Maula Mere Maula from Anwar, I am quite a fan of videos with pretty faces in burqa (oxymoron?)and Cham Cham's video is one of the better ones of that kind. Also, the music composer

All Songs from Udaan, Aisha and No One Killed Jessica

Well, not all, but then there is hardly anything to choose between Amit Trivedi's songs. In fact, when weighed against all the other songs by other music directors, there is definitely a strong tilt towards each one of Amit's compositions. At least for me, yes. No doubt Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics play a strong role to make his compositions more powerful, but there's something very unique to Amit's music that takes you to a totally different world and makes you discover a new thing each time you listen to his songs. For example, his use of different sounds in the singers' voices. Listen to Sham from Aisha and Bum Bum Bum Para...is forever in your head. Another listen, it is the jagmagaati, jhilmliaati chorus line that you discover. Next listen, you discover the quick khaamosh dono whisper. You thought the song is over and you discover the ha ha ha ha towards the end. Enough of me typing the sounds in the song. Why don't you Here you go, take a listen -

While we are on sounds in his songs, Aali Re from No One Killed Jessica perhaps make the best use of them. The dhinchak dhinchak...rapa rap...raka chika... in the beginning, the ding dang tik ding dang in the middle and there is a set piece with ows.. and urrs.. towards the end of the songs before the boom boom phataka stanza. Again, typing the sounds doesn't make any sense. Why don't you take a listen instead?

With the music of No One Killed Jessica coming out towards the end, 2010 could not have ended on a better note. Dua and Yeh Pal are more poems than they are Bollywood. Really wonder how Amitabh Bhattacharya manages to pack in so much meaning and substance in his lyrics. Simple as the word is, this is for the first time I have heard nirasha being used in a Bollywood song. Joi Barua, Raman Mahadevan & Amitabh Bhattacharya's chorus and the sab sajde mein refrain are truly heart-touching. Somehow, the best songs from movies Amit's music seem to be sung by Shilpa Rao. Ranjhana from Dev D was my favourite from that movie and Yeh Pal is my favourite from No One Killed Jessica. The compositionis excellent and Shilpa's voice as good as ever, but what makes it my favourite is the use of Mrig Trishna in the song lyrics. One thing is for sure, if you are going to be reading this blog in the coming days, you will read a lot about Amitabh Bhattacharya, the lyrics he has written and the songs he has sung. To me, Amitabh Bhattacharya is clearly the music person of 2010. Here are Dua and Yeh Pal.

(Are you still reading this? Please drop a comment and I'll send across 17 Alpenliebes as a thank you gift)

I've already written a post about Udaan, I don't think I can do enough justice to its music. There are some songs that the truly special, give you hope and inspiration when you are down and out. Aazadiyan, Naav Chadti, Nadi Mein Talab Hai, Geet Mein Dhalte, Kahaani Aankhon Ke - each one is special in its own way and there are separate blog posts to be written on each of them. Instead of the songs, here is the poem from Udaan that was the voice-over in the promos. I had a feeling that Udaan was going to be 'different' movie when I saw the promos and I am glad it turned out right.

....bhool gaye hain ke joote kahaan utaare the, par lagta hai ab unki zaroorat nahin...

And now to my favourite song of the year! This choice might appear slightly surprising choice since the song is neither from a hugely popular movie, nor the song itself was popular. But I really immensely enjoyed song, because of the lyrics, the music and the theme. Some of my personal favourites have been songs like Piya Haji Ali, Arziyan, Noor-Ul-Ala-Noor(from Meenaxi) and Maula from Striker is the next in that league. Swanand Kirkire's simple, yet very meaningful lyrics and his smooth, yet touching singing of the song has left a lasting impression on me. So there you go, my favourite song of 2010 - Maula from Striker.

Honourable Mentions

Paani Ko Taraste - Well Done Abba
Rahiman Ishq Ka Dhaaga - Well Done Abba
Bin Tere (Remix) - I Hate Luv Storys
Tujhe Bhula Diya (Remix) - Anjaana Anjaani
Mehangai Daiyan (Remix) - Peepli [Live]
Maiya Yashoda (Thames Mix) - Jhootha Hi Sahi

So what do you think about this selection? Have I missed out any must-listen songs? I must say I haven't listened as extensively as I should have, but I hope I have heard enough good music.

And yes, it is past 12 AM and it is Jan 6 today. Here's wishing A R Rahman a Happy Birthday! Quite an appropriate time to finally post this, no?

The Nuclear French Kiss

2010-12-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

A few days back, I was going through the pages of The Hindu and came across the an interview with Anne Lauvergeon (aka Atomic Annie) , CEO of Areva, the French nuclear giant. I was aware that the French President was visiting India soon and the primary purpose was to sell the French nuclear capability to India. Fair enough, I thought. The government anyway seems to be in a sell mode and this was another step in that direction.

What really caught my attention though was Ms. Lauvergeon's tone in the interview. No doubt the deal would have been confirmed and the signing between Dr. Singh and President Sarkozy a mere formality, but she was sounding very confident, almost bordering on arrogant. While she did not clearly spell out Areva's position on the issue of supplier's liability, her tone seemed to suggest that all that will be taken care of. You know, the kind we hear in India when want get something done, mostly not going by the book. I was beginning to get the feeling that an issue as important as the supplier's liability was being obfuscated by claims of being a partner, under the guise of creating more jobs and the ability to keep the price within that of Indian regulations. Here are excerpts from the interview (emphasis mine) -

The Hindu: Have you fully identified the Indian players who are going to be involved in the construction? What percentage of the work force will be Indian?

Ms. Lauvergeon: NPCIL knows the different possible suppliers very well. They have already chosen some and they will be issuing bids for some others. For our part, we have identified a lot of different companies. We have created a joint venture with Bharat Forge for forgings and heavy components to manufacture them in India for the Indian market but also for export. What we would like to do ourselves is to create an Indian base for India and for the rest of the world. We have done the same thing for engineering, with Tata and others. The idea is to create a supply chain for India and for the rest of the world. A lot of jobs are involved. The construction of an EPR reactor calls for 5,000 people.

The Hindu: How much of a problem does the Nuclear Liability Act pose?
Ms. Lauvergeon: It is a highly political issue in India and we understand its sensitivity. That said, when we sell a nuclear island, it is clear that we guarantee the system for the next 10 years. The operator, by definition, is responsible. In 20 or 30 years from now you could imagine that the operator has changed some parts, used spares. So for the supplier to be held responsible for everything when everything in the plant is not supplied by him is a bit difficult.

Ed: So Areva is just the supplier and cannot be held responsible for any untoward incident. That's not very comforting, is it? When the questions get a little tough, Ms. Lauvergeon takes the partner route. Read on -

The Hindu: But what kind of margin of manoeuvre do you have? Are you seeking exemptions from the law?

Ms. Lauvergeon: We are not only a supplier, we are also a partner. And when I speak of the delivery of the fuel cycle during 20 years, of a lifetime guarantee for uranium supply, etc., it also means that we are not going to be a supplier that disappears once the equipment is sold. We are partners over the long haul in this domain and we have to understand each other in the right way. Maybe I am too confident. But we feel this question is manageable. We must not exaggerate the liability issue.

The last sentence particularly is very disturbing. You can read the complete interview here. I tried to digest this and did the best I could, turn to the next day's newspaper and check the Letters To The Editor section if any of the other readers have raised similar concerns. Surprisingly, it wasn't a reader, but The Hindu itself had carried a follow-up story to the interview. There was another briefing by the Executive Vice President and he was equally evasive about his company's position on the supplier's liability.

While concerns still remain unaddressed, Dr.Singh and President Sarkozy today signed a $9.3 billion deal for India to purchase two nuclear reactors for a new plant in Jaitapur. Barely a couple of days back did we observe the 26th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (#youremember, anyone?) and while the victims are yet to get their compensation, we don't seem to have learned our lessons well.

I'm certainly not saying that we should not adopt nuclear power to meet our energy requirements, I am only suggesting laying down clear regulations to avoid tragedies of the kind we have seen in Bhopal. Maybe all this is beyond the realm of us commoners and the policy-makers and the lobbyists must have surely thought through all these. Praying that all goes well and that our worst fears remain only that, fears.

I was in Bhopal last year and visited the Union Carbide factory area. While these pictures do not do any justice (ironic, no?) to the extent of damage witnessed in 1984, going by the accounts of the old rickshaw-wallah who took me around and the locals, one sincerely wishes for such a tragedy not to happen in any part of the word.

Mr. Anderson has a whole different meaning in Bhopal. Hope Atomic Anne is something we wouldn't have to remember for the wrong reasons and that this French Kiss is a pleasant one!

What Will You Say About Yourself?

2010-11-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

One of the trickiest and perhaps the toughest things to do, apart from deciding what to do when stuck in lift moving up and down many floors, is writing about yourself. At any point of time, you never really understand yourself completely. And even if you are under the false impression that you do, you are completely at loss for the right words. Right from filling up our Orkut and Facebook profiles (you know for what! *wink* *wink*), putting up your bio on Twitter to adding your Headline on LinkedIn, you are always left with a feeling that you haven't put your best foot, rather your best words, forward.

You look around and realize why smart folks like Hutch are smart indeed. For About Me on his Orkut profile, Hutch writes -

"me" is a multi-lingual word.
How?
well for starters, it works as a pronoun in English,Telugu and Marathi...

Smart, isn't it? This About Me entry can last his entire lifetime, or for as long as he retains his Orkut profile.

Then there are some very honest folks like Pole and Pong. On his Orkut profile, Pole says this about himself -

i dunno

Truer words haven't been said. Pong, on the other hand, is not only sure of how he was and how he is, but is also very confident of he will turn out to be. In his words -

i was,
am
and will always be

CRAP !

Knowing him, I can confidently say that he is on the right track. Rather, the right plane, considering how many air miles he is clocking these days. However, I haven't checked his LinkedIn profile yet. I just want to make sure that he has the same description of himself there as well. Come on, if his friends and his personal network know how he is, shouldn't his employers and professional network know as well?!

How I really wish Ayan were still blogging. There hasn't been a better social behaviour analysis expert before and after Ayan. Don't believe me? Read his post Wanna Fraandship in which analyzes the mind of a fraandship seeker on Orkut. Being strongly experienced himself, no wonder he has such wonderful insights. And what about Ayan's About Me?

You can find that out by reading the other fields. For the moment, I'll use this space to paste random thoughts :

"Do the brains of all land animals taste the same?"

Ayan will be the best person to tell you how human brains taste. Bahut sar khaaya hai is bande ne.

On a more serious note(*moves from a five rupee note to a ten rupee note*), I did what I do when I am totally clueless about ~~something~~ anything - turn to books. What do these authors, who write page loads about the characters they create or about the topics they know, write about themselves? When I come across a new book, more than the book cover or the blurbs, it is the author's profile the author's dedication that decide whether I'm buying the book or not. Also that section where they usually have a quote, a line from a movie, a poem before the chapters begin. (Does this section have a name?)

So I picked up some of my favourite books and looked at what the authors wrote about themselves. Here we go -

Chuck Palahniuk (From Fight Club)

About
Chuck Palahniuk's eight novels are Diary, Lullaby, Fight Club, which was made into a movie by director David Fincher, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, Choke, Haunted and Rant. He is also the author of Fugitives and Refugees, a book about Portland, Oregon and the non-fiction collection Non-fiction. He lives in Washington State.

Dedication

For Carol Meader, who puts up with all my behaviour.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people for their love and support, despite, you know, all those terrible things that happen.

*-List of people follows-*

Douglas Coupland (from Generation X)

About
Douglas Coupland was born on a Canadian Armed Forces Base in Baden-Solingen, Germany, in 1961. Shortly afterwards he moved to Vancouver, where he still lives. He is the author of Miss Wyoming, Microserfs and Girlfriend in a Coma, among others. His books have been translated into twenty two languages.

'Before The Book Begins' Section
"Her hair was totally 1950s Indiana Woolworth perfume clerk. You know - sweet but dumb - she'll marry her way out of the trailer park some day soon. But the dress was early '60s Aeroflot stewardess - you know - that really sad blue the Russians used before they all started wanting to buy Sonys and having Guy Laroche design their Politburo caps. And such make up! Perfect '70s Mary Quant with these little PVC floral applique earrings that looked like antiskid bathtub stickers from a gay Hollywood tub circa 1956. She really caught the sadness - she was the hippest person there. Totally."
Tracey, 27

"They're my children. Adults or not, I just can't kick them out of the house. It would be cruel. And besides - they're great cooks."
Helen, 52

Jonathan Safran Foer (from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

About

Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977. He is the author of Everything Is Illuminated which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book Award, and the editor of A Convergence of Birds.

Dedication

For Nicole, my idea of beautiful.

Jonathan Franzen (From Freedom)

About
Jonathan Franzen won the National Book Award in 2001 for The Corrections. He is the author of two other critically acclaimed novels, The Twenty Seventh City and Strong Motion, and two works of non-fiction: How To Be Alone and The Discomfort Zone. He lives in New York City and Santa Cruz, California.

Dedication
To Susan Golomb and Jonathan Galassi

'Before The Book Begins' Section
Go together, You precious winners all; your exultation Partake to everyone. I an old turtle, Will wing me to some withered bough, and there My mate, that's never to be found again, Lament till I am lost. - Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

Nick Hornby (from How To Be Good)

About
Nick Horby was born in 1957. He is the author of Fever Pitch and of three novels: High Fidelity, About A Boy and How To Be Good. All four books have been international bestsellers and all are available in Penguin. He has also edited two anthologies, My Favourite Year and Speaking with the Angel. In 1999 he was awarded the E.M. Forester Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives and works in Highbury, north London.

Dedication
For Gill Hornby

Max Barry (From Jennifer Government)

About
Max Barry is an Australian who pretended to sell high-end computer systems for Hewlett-Packard while secretly writing his first novel. He lectured in Marketing at two universities, but came to his senses. Born March 18, 1973, he now lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and three million other people. Although only his wife lives in the same house. He writes full-time, the advantage of which being that he can do it wearing only boxing shorts.

Dedication

For Charles Thieson - Who really, really wanted me to call it 'Capitalizm'

'Before The Book Begins' Section

With money we will get men, Caesar said, and with men we will get money. Thomas Jefferson, 1784 ..a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring men from one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement,and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson, 1784

Well, the list of authors I like is quite long. See below, my author cloud from LibraryThing -

Covering all of them in this single blog post will make it really long. My dream is to one day write about the books that are important to me and their influence on me, like Nick Hornby's 31 Songs. I want to do a similar book on the movies that have influenced me, one more on the songs that have influenced me, one more on the places that have influenced me and one more... ah, I'm booked already!

Anyway, what really led to me write this post and share about the Abouts of the authors is a book that I picked up recently - A Thing (or Two) About Curtis and Camilla by Nick Fowler from the roadside bookseller. When I read about the book now, it seems as if I should have picked it up long time back since it falls under the genre that I'm supposed to follow.

Anyway, what caught my attention was that the title A Thing (or two) about Curtis and Camilla had something written within brackets. Not only do I myself do this a lot, I have an affinity towards writers who do this.
You know what say about how great minds think, don't you? And when I was going through the covers and the first few pages, I instantly decided to buy it when I saw the author's bio. Here it goes -

Nick Fowler is a talented musician and magazine journalist who had written for GQ, Metal Edge, Teen Beat and other illustrious magazines. He has appeared on many television shows including The Tonight Show and The Sopranos. He grew up in Tallahassee, graduated from Corell University and now lives in New York with his dog, Monkey. This is his first novel. (Emphasis mine)

Everything else aside, I think it'd be great fun to read a book whose author has named his dog Monkey!

So, thank you Mr. Fowler for getting me back to blogging again. I hope I will enjoy reading your book.

The Great Indian Middle Class

2010-11-01T00:04:00.000-07:00

Tonnes of newsprint, miles of television tapes, years of television airtime and millions of calories of energy(ok, that was a bad one) have been spent on analyzing, debating and arguing about the Indian middle class. Honestly, all this noise got to such nauseating levels that people who constitute the middle class have ended up becoming mere statistics which various research and survey agencies have modified to suit their findings.

I am presently reading The Great Indian Middle Class by Pavan K Varma. It is perhaps the best work on the Indian middle class yet that I have read*. It takes a very balanced view on how the middle class evolved, its participation, rather non-participation in the larger national issues, how its traditions, beliefs and aspirations have changed over the years and what future holds in store for them.

I will try and post some key points once I finish the reading the book. What really struck me and what I really liked is how Mr. Varma has tried to look beyond the numbers and has come up with a well-researched and comprehensive analysis. Here's what Mr. Varma says in the introduction to the book -

In the course of this work I have deliberately avoided the not uncommon obsession with computing the exact size of the middle class and its precise income and consumption parameters. Such an exercise is better handled, as indeed it has been done, by market surveys commissioned by those who wish to sell or to buy.

Mr. Varma also talks about how the middle class has although become more prosperous over the yea, but has become become increasingly insular and turned consumerist at an alarming rate. I totally share that concern and the middle class has somehow seems to have just turned into a huge target market. Reminds me of the cover on Meeting People Is Easy, a documentary on Radiohead, which I highly recommend watching.

* I still haven't read Mother Pious Lady. I know there can't be a best book on a subject like the Indian Middle Class, but I'm really liking what I'm reading in Mr. Varma's book.

Why Film-making Is Such A Wonderful Experience

2010-10-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

You'll know what I'm talking about if you have been involved in any form of film-making. For those of you who haven't, you will perhaps understand what I'm saying in about 20 minutes after watching the two videos below. Add a minute or two to read what I've written before the videos!

These videos are about the making of Udaan. Clichéd, I know, but if you still haven't watched this movie, you have missed something truly wonderful. However, I am certain you will not be left with any reason not to watch Udaan after watching the videos of the making of the film. And be sure to listen to the music, the entire album. If you have already, you would love to get lost in Udaan's music. When it is Amit Trivedi*, no doubt one expects the music to be nothing but top notch. But for me, it is Amitabh Bhattacharya who really scores with this lyrics. Haven't heard anything as powerful as this for a long time -

Nadi mein talab hai
Kahin jo agar, samandar kahan door hai
Damakti garaz hai, sone mein agar
To jalna bhi manzoor hai
Ik udaan kab talak yun kaid rahegi
Roko na chod do isse
Ik udaan hi sapno ko zindagi degi
Sapno se jod do isse

[Here is the meaning]

No doubt Udaan is an excellent film in all aspects, but it is the passion, the motivation and the perseverance of the people behind it that makes it all the more special. It is truly inspiring Vikramditya Motwane carried and protected his dream for seven years even after failing to find producers and never compromised on his vision for the movie. (Read interview on Live Mint). Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Singh stand totally vindicated for supporting Vikramaditya as Udaan has now turned profitable. In fact, the commercial success of Udaan, Tere Bin Laden (reminder - watch it soon), LSD and some earlier films like Aamir and A Wednesday augurs really well for the small budget films. Hope that this spurs more producers to support directors/writers with good scripts.

This one moment would have made all the effort worth it -

Vikramaditya is on the extreme left. That is mighty satisfactory smile! Compare that to how intense and focused he was during the making of Udaan. There's never as pleasing an experience as having people believe in your dream, your dream then coming true and you being acknowledged for it.

I'll leave you with the two videos of Making of Udaan - Realizaton of Dreams. These making of videos are very different from the regular Bollywood ones. Watch them to know why they're different and how that difference makes them all the more inspirational.

Go fly!

Realisation Of Dreams - Making of Udaan - Part 1

Realisation Of Dreams - Making of Udaan - Part 2

So, when are you making your film?

It seems like some past life, but the time I spent in making the documentary while at PlanetRead (embedded below), was definitely life-changing in more ways than one.

Maybe it's time to bring film-making back into this life!

* Good things do happen in life. Like Amit Trivedi winning the National Award for Best Music Direction for Dev D. Go, Amit! Immensely happy that Cheteshwar Pujara is finally in the Indian test team and has done well on debut. No doubt he still has a long way to go, but I am sure he will live up to expectations that people have of him. I, for one, expect a lot from him in the coming years.

The Writing...

2010-10-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

..is on the wall.

That the writing has to be on the blog.

Why Is Common Sense Not So Common?

2010-06-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of incidents that happened recently got me thinking about our reactions to different situations. Also how, more often than not, we miss the simplest of things because we are not able to focus completely at that particular time. In hindsight, what is called common sense appears to be very common, but somehow we tend to miss it when we need it the most.

For example, an electric switch at my place was broken in such a way that it was always turned on. (Always being turned on is definitely being broken in a way!). I used to have a tough time turning it off - press it hard on the top such that the top part would go in or pull the bottom part and try and get it to the front. It gets mighty irritating when your morning begins with this exercise and not the one the whole world does. If the switch was not set right, my mind used to wander off and find fault with everyone - the building, the builder, the previous resident and even the vegetable seller who used come in every morning around that time. Was there a problem? Yes. Was there any application of my mind? No!

It was only a few days back that I woke up fine with a slightly clearer mind, went up to the switch to turn it off. I do not know what moment of genius it was, I realized that if I just pulled the mosquito repellent out of the socket, I would not have to worry about the switch at all. All I have to do now is to insert the mosquito repellent into the plug every night and take it out the next morning. (Ok, do not think that way!). In the end, it was a very simple solution to what seemed like a very complex problem. I realized that it is the ability to be able to focus just for those two or three seconds more that makes the difference being able to solve something and being troubled with it all the time.

The other day we were at a colleague's wedding reception ceremony. Like in any ceremony these days, it was the photographer and the video camera person who were in complete control. No sooner did the presentation (and the posing) ceremony get over, than they were all over the place, literally, with their wires spread around. A lady happened to trip over the wires near the dining area and fell down causing much commotion with every one rushing towards her to help her. Each of them were doubly careful not to trip over the wires but ended up almost tripping. Some of them were trying to raise their feet higher but their feet were getting stuck in the wires because some others had their feet under the wires and ended up raising the wires as they were trying to rush towards the lady.

Amidst all this commotion, there was an old man who was returning to his seat from the food counter after getting food served. He was walking through the part where the wires were strewn around and it appeared as though he would trip over as well. He stopped for a second, quickly placed his feet firmly over the wires and then got to the other side. I do not know if this makes any sense, but to me the fact that the old man was able to maintain his calm, think clearly and get out of that situation easily had some very important lessons.

The solutions to those situations now appear to be very simple. But it is quite tough to be able to maintain one's cool and think clearly in irritating and tense situations. To be able to cut out all the noise and be able to focus only for those two or three seconds makes all the difference. Perhaps, that is what they call as 'having all the time in the world' in cricket. Maybe it is not so much about thinking on one's feet, but about only thinking without moving the feet. Or thinking clearly first and then moving the feet!

Putting Pen To Paper, Again

2010-06-04T23:10:00.000-07:00

The pen had run out ink. Even if the pen had ink, it had dried long back. Even if there was a pen to write, there was no paper. Even if there was paper, it was all crumpled.

Hoping that from now on, there will be enough ink, fresh sheets of paper and a clear mind to get back to writing.

The more I stay away from writing, the more I feel there is to write! Taking inspiration from these guys, I hope to do a lot of load-shedding henceforth.

What's up, World?

Very Happy I Feel To Going To Orkut

2010-01-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

What problem is no, most girls is makings their albums and scrapbooks private on orkut. This orkut no, always introducing new features, some are good and some few are bad. Some are good features they are making, like videos to take for example. Now my friends and me can be uploading as many Himesh videos we can want. I also upload some of few of sexy hot masala videos in my profile. My friend Jaggu is say girls will be attract to that, very very secretly. I try this once times but no girl attract. Some of few friends and I play Orkut profile-profile, means to say to go to city girl profile. In the during of the evenings, we discuss with among ourselves at our tea stalls and tell about how beautiful girls we find them on Orkut. In the first time, I not know what is single and committed meaning and getting confused. Then my chacha's beta, Chintu, who come from city tell me what single and committed means to be. Chintu is very super intelligent boy he is. He know tells to say single meaning the girl has not having boyfriends, so if they find me impress she can be become my net girlfriend. He tells committed meaning having already boyfriend, real life boyfriend they are having. That girls having very little chance of becoming friend. Many of city girl have nice mast profile photos, but many About Me of their profile say fraandshippers they don't want. I feel like becoming very sad. But in Jai Maa Durga Cyber Point, operator is my friend is Chaman Bihari, he playing loud Himesh song as per on my request and I am sadness going away.

Today I come back early from college because Hindi teacher Mishraji is going on to be leave. Going not home, I going to Jai Maa Durga Cyber Point and orkut is going to. Very happy I feel to going to Orkut.

(To be continued. Hopefully.)

What Is The New New?

2009-11-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Old-fashioned is the new Modern.

Che Guevera is the new capitalist icon.

Sleeping is the new Awake.

Giving up is the new Acquisition.

Hopeless is the new Hopeful.

Getting Lost is the new Finding Yourself.

Non-conformity is the new Conformation.

Dropping Out is the new Joining In.

Working Hard is the new Laziness.

Resignation is the new Acceptance.

Minimizing Damage is the new Gaining.

Reducing Problems is the new Finding Answers.

You Can Call Me On My Mobile Phone

2009-09-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

No wonder they call it the Xtreme Sports Bar. Because we visit that place bar bar (not just because it's a bar) and extreme things happen while we are there. For example, Zee Sports is the channel they were playing on the TV screens the first time we went there. And why not, doesn't that qualify as a sports channel? Yes Sir, it does. While there has been definite improvement now, it is only to the level of playing Ten Sports these days. Yes yes, even that qualifies as a sports channel.

No problems about it at all, because just the act of playing a any sports channel on TV justifies its billing (we'll get to the billing part in a while) as a Sports Bar. Speaking of bills, they have a couple of billiards tables too, and you can snook around as well. Considering how crowded it is, no one really pays any attention to what one does there. Whether or not you pay attention to what others are doing, you have to pay the bill. Ok, I'll stop.

And continue here. Because Kaak had returned from Singapore and we had to make him feel premium, we decided to check the (then) newly opened Xtreme Sports Bar that Friday evening when they also have the karaoke nights.

One got excited about karaoke and decided to give singing a try. And try one did. Confidence stemmed from the fact that except for Kaak and Pole, occasionally only, no one would really take notice of (pay attention to is way too off, not even worth twelve grams of that) my singing and I could sing, scream, blare, be silent (there was the loud karaoke music anyway) and take it out in the name of singing. More importantly, have one thing checked in the list of things I have done. And sing (put voice to words in a rhythm I thought was right) , I did - this one and this one . Sorry Stipebhai and Gallagher bandhu, I hope you will pardon me for this transgression. But then, maybe I made a few people hear your songs for the first time. Hope that's redemption enough.

After all that is ~~said and done~~ written till now, the singing was actually nothing much to write about. Seriously, it was so mediocre (even that's a compliment) that even I don't remember it. The singing apart, the DJ(or the karaoke conductor?) was a very interesting man. One was quite pumped up after the singing (there was some jumping with the singing as well. Mostly because I could not see the screen from where I was standing and there were many people walking in between) and went to the DJ(or the karaoke conductor?) to say Hi and thank him. Here's what happened.

Me: Hey, thanks man. It was good fun.
He : Great! (Nodding his head, like the way a grandfather would to his grandson after the grandson comes running to him after his first cycle ride)
Me: Looks like a good place. Hope to see you here sometime soon.
He: I'm here every Friday, come have a good time.
Me: Nice, see you soon....your good name?
He: Val. My name is Valentine, you can call me Valentine.
Me: My name is Nikhil. You can call me on my mobile phone.

Val was not amused. I don't think it's fair to have expected him to be amused in any way. I still find it amusing though.

And then, the other day while we were there, those girls we vacated our seats for.....

Speaking At The Facebook Developer Garage

2009-09-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

One was part of the Speaker Panel at the Facebook Developer Garage held in Bangalore on the 28th of August at The Taj West End.

Having worked on building applications on the Open Social and the Facebook platforms, growing them to be among the top applications, building an active user base and monetizing the apps by running some interesting brand campaigns, I shared my experiences on treating applications as products and took the audience through the various stages of development and growth of these apps and the important elements involved in each of the stages.

It was a great experience sharing my thoughts and experiences with a very enthusiastic developer audience and sharing the panel with peers from the internet industry from companies like Facebook, Games2Win, Chakpak, Position2 and WeRead.

Below are some photos from the event -

Nikhil Kulkarni - Facebook Developer Garage Bangalore

Here is my presentation from the event -
(Suggested full screen viewing)

View more presentations from Abhishek Goyal.

Are You Really That Hot Then? Curious Incidents In The Life Time

2009-07-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

Are You Really That Hot Then?

Location: Aboard AI 620, Mumbai to Bangalore.
Time: Between 2:15 and 2:30 am.
Date: January 17, 2009.
Feeling before the incident: One of immense relief having reached the airport only minutes before the departure and miraculously enough, being able to clear the security, customs and the immigration check (Yes, it was a domestic flight. But since it was Air India, the boarding was from the international terminal and hence the customs and the immigration checks). And why not miracle, for I had met God himself just before reaching the Airport. And I am sure that the miracle was only because I had met God and not Cyrus Sahukar. Yes, this gentleman. A gentleman, he indeed is.

Story Before The Story:
Dear God insisted that I visit him in Chembur, fully ~~aware~~ ignorant of the fact that I had reached Bombay at around midnight after a tiring, but very enjoyable trip to Bhopal and that the next flight to Bangalore was only an hour and a half from then. And when Inshah Allah and one suggested that we meet at Hiranandani, we were told by God that Chembur is only 20 minutes from Hiranandani and that we should immediately head to Chembur. And the plan of action from then on was straightforward. Listen to whatever God says - check. Agree to whatever God says - check. Do whatever God asks you to - check. I don't know what means of transport God uses to reach Chembur from Hiranandani in 20 minutes, and please don't tell him this, it took us at least 12 minutes to find an autorickshaw-wallah who would take us at that ~~unGodly~~ hour.

Masha Allah was not able to make it to the meeting with God as he was busy vodka pastry* eating and doing what not-ing with God knows who(oh, God definitely knows everything!) at Theobroma. Anyway, through a Facebook photo comment later, he informed us that he had to go to office early the next morning and hoped that Inshah Allah compensated for volume. Compensate, Inshah Allah did. But what about mass and density, Mashah Allah?

And then God worshipping and receiving blessings happened, which included ending up as the last customers in a restaurant cum bar (zyaada) and eating more than the money we had to pay. The restaurant owner taking pity on us (what else could he take out , not his anger definitely. After all, God was with us) and giving us 30 rupees to be able to pay for the auto.

We returned to heaven, picked up my luggage and headed to the Airport. Inshah Allah got down at Vikhroli leaving me and the auto-wallah to calculate the probability of reaching the airport ~~on time~~ before the flight took off.

Then, with a miracle leaving me feel very blessed for spending that time with God, I was able to board the aircraft.

The Story:

I will not say that the Air India air hostesses are nothing much to write about. There is lots to write about, but then maybe that is not something you would not be interested in. But there is something about all air hostesses I would like to write. Looks like the passengers they hate the most are the male passengers (guests, if you are flying FingKisser) in their early 20s and traveling alone. I feel miserable for making them feel miserable. The worst thing one can do to another person is not acknowledge the other person's presence and I credit the air hostesses for giving me this insight. Sad part though, is that I was and still continue to be at the receiving end. Not receiving perhaps, their attention that is.

Leave alone free snacks or meals, except for a few toffees, the air hostesses don't give you any attention on the Mumbai-Bangalore route. (Another matter that it's the same case on all routes!). So I was pleasantly surprised when the AI airhostess woke me up to serve tea and biscuits. I was tired and it took me a while to register what the lady was saying to me. Then, I realised that she was serving tea and was asking me to hold the cup - plastic, with a handle. Used to holding the cup the way I used to, I did not hold the cup by the handle. While I was pleasantly surprised that she was able to tolerate me for that long, I sensed that her patience was wearing thin. 'It is fine, serve me the tea', I said. Still, managing to maintain her calm^, she said, 'Sir, I will burn your fingers with the tea'. Then, in a moment of sheer genius, one said,'Oh, is it? Are you really that hot then?'.

If looks could kill, I would not be writing this post.

I am glad that
- looks don't actually kill.
- she din't have me thrown of the plane mid-air.
- she din't have me arrested after we landed in Bangalore
- I met God in Bombay.

* Mashah Allah, pardon my memory and lack of sophistication and propriety. I know it's name is not exactly the Vodka Pastry. What is it? How is Theobroma doing now? Do you still Page 3 there? Are you alive?
^ She has to maintain her calm because it is her kaam. Work kaam, not desire kaam.

Hello, Is There Anybody In There?

2009-07-24T02:58:00.000-07:00

Really, does anyone *still* come and visit this blog? If you do, please let me know. I shall make a shrine for you In My Place. Really, I will.

Regular blogging will (hopefully) resume soon. A fair amount of traveling, reading, writing, listening to music, movie watching, cooking, eating, sleeping has happened in the meanwhile. I'm stopping. I go any further and I know a fair amount of boring and subsequently, killing will also happen.

Keep making things happen.

And Then One Voted

2009-04-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

What I had to go through to get my voter ID card will take up two and a half blog posts, but after having cast my vote now, I feel it was worth all the effort.

Here's to Indian democracy -

Wrong finger?

Thank you very much, DNA. Huh.

Old Airport Road, Bangalore at 6:45 am.

The Polling Station

List of candidates and alternate ID proofs.

The polling booth at 7 am. There were problems with the EVM and polling began only by 7:15.

Heartening to see the queues getting longer!

Do follow our analysis, opinions, agreements, disagreements on these polls on the election blog - http://indiapolls2009.blogspot.com.

It Is The Time

2009-03-13T01:51:00.000-07:00

While a few very insignificant things have happened since this blog saw a post, like meeting Shri Thomas Friedman, frequent trips to the Western region of the country, getting the best deal on Douglas Coupland books, rediscovering music on a wonderful mobile phone, the earth still continues to revolve around the sun and it's still water that pours when it rains.

Nevertheless, what is definitely happening are the General Elections and I consider myself to be very fortunate to be around and to be able to look at events leading to how our country will be shaped over the next five years. I hold my hands together or keep them separate, no pun intended, praying to God to bless us with a stable government that doesn't have to bend over backwards to appease sickle-minded, elephant-sized allies to make sure that the government's policies remain consistent and not change the direction according to the whims and fancies of those with narrow, regional and irrelevant ideological interests.

And what have I done? Doing what I do best - start another blog. Well, let me start the campaign then. Here is the blog - http://indiapolls2009.blogspot.com/

Through the blog, I hope to capture various activities from the ground on how parties mobilize workers and voters, on how the rallies and other campaign activities are held, how various media - different forms, languages and affiliations are reacting to the the election events and what do those who matter the most - the people have to say, or not have to say about the elections. I will also be keen on observing how the urban youth respond to the election activities and see how much of an interest they have in contributing to the most important activity in our democratic process - the elections.

I shall be cross-posting on this blog whenever it is appropriate. Hope all you readers (there are?) are doing well. Enjoy your meal, books, music, movies and sleep.

Literacy For A Billion - How Can You Help?

2008-11-25T00:23:00.000-08:00

The Trip To Talakadu

2008-10-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

Photos from the trip to Jaladhama, on the banks of rivers Kaveri and Kapila at Talakadu, about a couple of hours drive from Bangalore.

Flower Power

Photos taken during the breakfast stop-over at the Kamat Upachahra on Mysore Road.

Scattering of Light?

Barb Wire?

Photos of the fields on the way - the Well Fielded Series

I am quite pleased with the way these photos of the clouds came out. This is the Cloud Cult Series, dedicated to Cloud Cult, an indie rock band whose song Love You All I really like.

Photos from the resort.

Love As Seen in Bollywood Movies

Drops of Jupiter

Drops of Jupiter (on green leaves?!)

Leafing Through the Past

Contrasting Focuses

Coffee - Bean There Done That

What are these called?!

The Lonely Soldier

What Are You Getting Antsy About?!

And we all went dinning at the end of it!

All these and more pictures of the previous trips on Flickr - here.

Mysore Dasara Trip 2008 Or Why I Can Now Die A Happier Man - I

2008-10-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

The Theory of Happening Trips has been proved once again. That the best trips are those which are decided at the spur of the moment with minimum fuss about the planning, stay, travel and the company. And that the ones that are planned and thought over, over and over, never quite happen.

The Mysore Trip for the Dasara celebration started by proving the The Theory of Happening Trips right. Plan Zero was that Ashutosh and I weould leave from Bangalore on his bike either on Wednesday night or on Thursday depending on how fried a day Wednesday would be. Plan Zero never took off as Ashutosh found out that he was the only resource for a project that would save the world from global warming and end poverty. Plan One involved asking Joshi if he could come and turned out that he had to work the next day on a project to bring about world peace. I cannot blame him too, for he'd have only a couple of hours to decide. But then all of us are not like and me, who set out on the Wayanad Trip with just a day's notice. The rest, of course, were too busy with more important things in life. Taking inspiration from them all, I realised even I could not waste more time on trivial things anymore and did a very important thing - start on the trip rightaway. After a quick call to Prasanna (THE man, the selfless friend, philosopher and Mysore guide, gracious and tolerant host, and to be called as SP henceforth ) informing him about my late-night arrival in Mysore, followed by a packing of trip essentials and a quick bath, I found myself jostling for space in the Bangalore City Volvo bus, since 67% of those working in and around Airport Road were heading towards Majestic area to take buses or trains to travel to their homes.

Kempegouda Bus-stand, Bangalore ~ 10:30 P.M

On reaching Majestic, I realised that 73% of Bangalore had arrived there, looking for a bus to travel out of Bangalore. I know 73% is exaggerated as it can get, but looking at the current economic downturn and the threat of massive lay-offs in the IT industry looming large, will there be a day in the near future where we could possibly see such an exodus out of Bangalore? I'm sure the copywriters in the media would be salivating at such a prospect. I can bet my left index finger that at least 38.2% of them would have thought of such a headline - [Insert well-known IT company name] Shuts Down Bangalore Operations, Employees Asked To Log Out. Even that, I think, is a fairly exaggerated scenario. That of a mass exodus of those working in the IT/BPO industry in Bangalore. Definitely not the copy-writers, they have their copies ready I'm sure.

I pushed, shoved, shouted, tripped over, bumped into and apologised my way through an ocean of people and reached the area from which buses depart towards Mysore. Discovered that KSRTC has launched a low-cost version of their popular air-conditioned buses named Sheetal(meaning cold). These buses run at a fairly good frequency and I did not have to wait for too long to find one with a comfortable seat. At Rs. 137 per passenger with comfortable seating and air-conditioning, I'm sure even those at Capitol Hill will have no problems in voting for this deal.

With Radio Indigo giving me good company and a refreshing coffee stop-over at Maddur, the journey was smooth and comfortable.

Maddur Bus-stand. ~1:30 A.M

On entering Mysore, I called up SP so that he could reach the bus-stand by the time I reached there. And by the time I finished the call, the bus stopped and I realised that we were already at the bus-stand. I was glad that Mysore wasn't like Bangalore that it would take one at least an hour to reach the bus-stand on entering the city, even though it meant that I had to wait for SP for about fifteen minutes to come and pick me up.

Mysore Bus-stand ~1:00 A.M

The warm and thoughtful man that SP is, he had brought a jacket for me in his room-mate's car that he had come in to pick me up. Now this is non-sense and I'd advise you not to read further as the previous sentence made no sense except that I tried to play on the word warm. But yes, it was really thoughtful of SP to have brought that jacket for me.

After straight and few cover drives through the deserted streets of Mysore, which only a few hours from then, would be teeming with people wanting to catch a piece of the Dasara action, we reached SP's home. Again, there was no reason for me to mention to the straight and the cover drives because we were not on a cricket field, but then I plan to go to watch the third and fourth day's play at India-Australia Test match here in Bangalore. That thought was playing on my mind while we were driving and I was hoping that I'd get to watch Dada's cover drives and Sachin's straight drives, Dravid's defences and Laxman's drives and defence. Hence the drives find themselves tossed up into this post. But then before this post goes on to become a post on Dada's retirement, which is definitely coming soon, I better get back on track than queer the pitch. We reached SP's place with out wickets intact(it would be redundant and cliched to say that there were no maidens on the road to bowl us over and hence our wickets were intact) and danced to Koyal Si Teri Boli from Beta. No, we did not do any dancing and I'm writing all non-sense. I'm really exhausted now and will continue writing this post once I've returned to sanity after a good night's sleep. Now, are you really reading till this point? Then there's one more thing I want to tell you and want you to listen. Listen, not to me, but to Mar Jaava from Fashion. I think Shruti Pathak will go places and I should go to bed. I promise to keep the next post relevant and write about what we saw at Mysore the next day. Till then, Mar Jaaava..

Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep or Kashmir?

2008-10-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

It's either the top or the bottom, and nothing in between. Before you start getting any ideas about this tongue in cheek(or tongue in whatever else) remark, a clarification that the remark is an observation about the options for a possible trip towards the end of this year with Pole.

2008 has been a fairly mixed year, and in some cases probably the Blankest. But it has been a good one for travel. Varanasi, Kurseong, Darjeeling, Tiger Hill and Gorkha War Memorial, Gangtok, Chhangu Lake, Siliguri, Nepal, Bhutan, Kolkata, Delhi and the Wayanad Trip. And of course, the trip to Mysore and Srirangapattana with family. There's a feeling that I get, when I look to the west that even the travel that has happened till now isn't quite enough. So while we plan the year end trip to either the top or the bottom, here's looking forward to the Mysore trip for Dasara in a couple of days from now. And also looking forward to finally sitting down and writing about all those trips.

Why I Can't Have Enough of Gujarat

2008-10-04T22:35:00.000-07:00

I find it quite strange that during the four years I was at Surat and even during my trips to Gujarat before that, I had not come across Sanedo. I had not even heard or discussed about it with any of my friends from Gujarat. It was only at the Garba here in Bangalore that we went to last night that I actually got a first hand experience of what Sanedo is. First hand experience is very essential, especially when one's talking about Garba!

The garba was great fun. Among other things, the gentleman on the mike ought back umpteen memories of the goof-ups of our teachers and those emceeing on the stage during various events in the college. During the break between Sanedo and Raas, I kept on hearing Pregness over and over again and while I was wondering if it was some unknown power indicating a person's prowess to get someone preganant (Old article. Nevertheless, read on - Condom sales up by 50% during Navarati in Gujarat) and turns out someone was shouting out for one Pragnesh. My jokes on Gujarati names began and ended with Hitess, Jigness, Paress, Naress being brothers of Business, but now I have Pregness as a welcome addition to the list. Jokes apart, I played Raas for the first time and I believe I've begun to understand how such events provide a casual and an informal environment for young men and women to meet and interact Not that I did not know of it earlier, but again, it's like that dialogue in Munnabhai which goes something like Life mein bahut kuch first time hota hai maamu. It was a really enjoyable and a very interesting experience. And Ms. Nimmi, I hope you had a good time too!

And how can any garba be complete without the garba remixes of the latest hits? Hare Krishna Hare Ram from Bhool Bhulaiyya was fine, but I found it quite funny playing raas with small children singing Zara Zara Kiss Me from Race with more energy than the quintessential male garba singer - fully blonde hair, a blazer made out of the material Kajol's blouse was made out of in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai(chiffon?!) and an uncanny ability to catch dancers unawares by shouting praises of the Godess during the music pieces in a song, lest they forget why they are dancing in the first place. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Main Koi Aisa Geet Gaaon and Chaand Taare at a garba event and dance to it. Couldn't have asked for a better end to the day, which though came at 3 a.m the next day, after a very satisfying quiz at BrewHaha with Chirag.

Thank you Gujarat. Thank you Surat. Thank you Arvind Barot and Maniraj Barot. Thank you Kaka for getting us passes to the indoor stadium in Surat. Thank you Fagun. Thank you Viral. Thank you Nilesh for making that phone call and trying to get me closer to Ms. Nimmi. Thank you Mehul.

PS. Mental note: Blog more often!

Dear Aniruddha Bahal, It's Not Funny

2008-09-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Aniruddha Bahal,

Not a week passes in my life without I ~~mentioning~~ strongly recommending Bunker 13 to people I come across and who seem even remotely interested in reading among those. If I were deeply religious, one would have observed that I go back to Bunker 13 more often that I go to the religious texts. Of course, one needs the kind of madness that made MM the man he was. When I die, I will be glad that I introduced you and your writing to a lot of people around me. While I most eagerly look forward to another Bunker 13 and another MM from you, I really can't understand the need for you to invent Tony M at this moment. Yes, we Indians are starved for quality humour and what we are being served now does no justice to our discerning intellect, but I will remain skeptical of this attempt of yours till I watch the said show and find out if it really deserves you. Tehelka was excellent work and I admire you not only for what you brought to the rot to light, but also how you withstood all the persecution that followed. I really admire Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra for the same. Please convey my best wishes to them and to Tarun as well. One need not look beyond you guys for inspiration on how to fight back in the face of all odds and come back and come back doubly strong. You started Cobrapost much before those of us in the web 2.0 infected world starting throwing about terms like RSS feeds and news aggregators. For all we know, Cobrapost might just take off and make a strong comeback if you spend more time on it that trying to humour us by being Tony Bhasand. And what is this? Is this what Aniruddha Bahal has become?

Is your absurd sense of humour your forte?
Humour is not the fort. If the truth in the joking then the peoples laughing and spreading all over out from the Naini fort on the river.

I really hope you and your publisher are working on another Bunker 13 and you won't disappoint your followers and readers. Maybe your following is a billionth of that of Sharukh Khan and you are not Arundhati Roy, reading whose work kids think they become intellectuals overnight and go around telling the entire world about it. We are you fans by choice, not by the lack of it. Hope you know that.

Maybe I'm over-reacting just on the ten questions you answered for the Outlook interview. But I hope you understand that you are at your best when you are either stinging or you are writing. And please don't meet Vipul Shah or Akshay Kumar, otherwise we'll soon be watching a movie titled Stingg is Kinng, with the unnecessary extra alphabets and there is also the threat of them wanting you to write the script.

Hope to see you back to writing soon.

Regards,
Nikhil

PS. I must mention here that I immensely enjoyed reading A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Just a note that you now have some competition in fiction writing about military, politicians, war, spying and espionage in the sub-continent.

Image Credit: Outlook

Welcome (to) Ashok Mishra

2008-09-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Just when we thought no one except Gulzaarsaab, Javedsaab, Kirkireji and to a certain extent Neelesh Mishra could write enjoyable songs for Hindi movies, we have a welcome addition to this honoured club. Let's extend a warm welcome to Ashok Mishra. Ashok Mishra debuts as a lyricist with Welcome to Sajjanpur. Forget all this nonsense about how the songs try and put the cool back in the gaon, or how the songs try and show that it's all happening in the hinterland, or even how the album really tries hard to bring out the latent “gaon-waala / gaon-waali” in all of us. Just sit back and take a good listen to the songs and I'm sure you will come round to appreciate the talent that Ashok Mishra is. And it definitely doesn't harm one's chances if he's in the good company of Swananand Kirkire and Shantanu Moitra and moreover for a Shyam Benegal movie. If I were to start writing songs for Hindi movies, this would be my dream team to start working with.

You can listen to the songs here or better still, buy the CD. Or download the songs and make sure you at least ten people around you listen to each song! My picks are Sita Ram, Aadmi Aazad Hai and Ek Meetha Marz De Ke.

PS. Found out that there was no Wikipedia entry for Ashok Mishra. Here's the page I've created. If you more information about this talented lyricist, please go ahead and add it to the page.

The Real Hero of Rock On !!

2008-09-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

None of the following are the real heroes of Rock On!!

Farhan Akhtar

Arjun Rampal

Shahana Goswami

Prachi Desai

Javed Akhtar(Only he can write both - Zehreeley Zehreely Kaale Neele Peele and Jo Tum Ho Toh Hawa Mein Bhi Mohabbaton Ka Rang Hai with equal ease. Yes he wrote Dard-e-Disco.)

Jason West (He's the cinematographer)

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (As Ehsaan mentioned, it was just another jam session for them. Western music comes naturally to Ehsaan and Loy and I'm sure if ever there's a Rock On!! 2, they'l do much much much better.)

Ritesh Sidhwani (He does remain a hero for me, not only for this movie but also for the way he and Farhan have carried their friendship and passion to this level)

And not Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny or even Chakravyuh!

To me, the hero of Rock On!! is Anu Malik. Why, you ask? Because it takes something to play yourself in a role in which you know you are being ridiculed. Well, almost. Some of us know it as the ability to laugh at oneself. Perhaps that's Anu Malik's idea of laughing at himself. Hats off to you Anubhai!

PS. Hats off definitely, but I don't know about the wig inside the hat/cap!

Image Credit: www.radiosargam.com

Who Cares What Obama Says...

2008-09-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

...when he makes an entry for his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with City of Blinding Lights. Turns out he's been using this song to open his performances since 2007. Yo! Bama, shall we say then?

Koel - Kahaan Gayi Teri Boli?

2008-09-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

[Promise to myself - This is the first and last time that a post is entirely about a celebrity]

Maybe this post was supposed to be about Rock On!! Or it was supposed to be about my our music story or about Vajra, our college band comprising of Mrinabh, Joji, Chinsi and Shubam which I briefly managed during our final year. No, it's about none of them. Instead, turns out that it's about Koel Purie. I'm no style or fashion expert for I still don't understand all the brouhaha over Vidya Balan's sense of dressing or even the apparent lack of it and surely will never understand it. But I can definitely see how worn down Keol appears now, compared to her Everybody Says I'm Fine days.

Dear Koel,

Congratulations on your new TV show - On the Couch with Koel. ~~Definitely helps when you have a father like him,, doesn't it?~~. If you are listening, can you please clarify this for us? Were you drunk or high on drugs while interviewing Salman Khan on your show? And what's with that forlorn look in Rock On!!? For God's, discerning viewers', your followers and my sake, you looked like Purab's mother in the movie! Did Niharika Khan have some evil designs for you?! Please take care of yourself and your appearances in forthcoming TV shows and movies. We are watching you. Hope you are listening to us.

Regards,
Nikhil

PS. Rock On!! is good. And sorry guys, I downloaded the songs. But then I have the lyrics of all songs except Zehreelay by heart and have made at least ten people around me listen to at least two songs each from the movie. Hope that makes it up for downloading the songs. I'd have been really glad if you guys made the album available for free download and recovered the money on the music by touring across the country and performing with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. That perhaps wouldn't be BIG money, but you'd have done more than your bit to promote good music in India and encouraged other musicians to try and work towards a better solution to end piracy.

PPS. Technically, this post still remains about Koel, right? Post scripts aren't considered a part of the main post, are they?

A Mistimed, Rather A Mistyped Shot!

2008-08-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

Nice catch, what say? Or is it a great (screen)shot?

Hazaaron Khwahishein Nahin, Bas Ek Khwahish

2008-08-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Kirkireji,

I hope you, like I do, believe that this is your best song till date. I do not say best song ever because I believe, hopefully you also do, that there are many more such gems to come from you, both as a writer and a singer. It hurts me no end when I see such a beautiful composition being trivialised by being used in a television commercial*. I understand that perhaps you did not have as much say as folks at Virgin Records or at PNC, but this is still something we find hard to digest. Not music to our ears, if I may say.

I earnestly request you not to hurt your fans henceforth by letting your songs, either sung or written, be used for purposes other than for reaching musical ecstasy. Yes, there's an odd aberration like this one, but we know you're back in tune after this. Your songs, like this one, are music lovers' secrets, and only those in the know of it really understand how valuable they are. Please let them remain that way.

Please convey my regards to Jhingranji, Shantanuda and Mishraji.

Regards,
Nikhil

* The television commercial in question is the new Airtel+Nokia ad featuring Abhay Deol and Raima Sen. Glad that it's not up on YouTube yet. Glad that I'm not linking to it from my blog.

Happy Independence Day - II

2008-08-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

I only have this to say. If it takes a jazzed up version of the National Anthem to market our national anthem to our youths , then God save our country instead of the Queen. Maybe I am a little old-school, finding such an experiment with our National Anthem hard to digest. I'm definitely not against any form of display of patriotism that happens these days, which is nothing but wonderfully disguised marketing campaigns, but this one is taking it a bit too far. There's a sense of aesthetics associated with any National Anthem and this new experiment trivializes that feeling. At 00:43, it has to be Gaahe Tava Jaya Gaatha and not Gaaye Tava Jaya Gaatha. If one's looking for a mistake, there you go. That's one for you. All the best Nokia, may you have more youth, feeling all the more patriotic, thanks to your initiative download more ringtones and buy more phones from you. All the best MTV. And Thank You for reminding our youth that we have a National Anthem. Be glad India, your youth have finally found you, thanks to MTV and Nokia.

Happy Independence Day

2008-08-12T05:49:00.000-07:00

So it will be a Happy Independence Day after all. The Box Office is keeping producers of this movie happy and that the lead character's name is Happy is only, well, a happy co-incidence.

Abhinav Bindra's win at Beijing has exhausted all possible phrases with the word gold in it. With so many (more) news channels and newspapers(and some more) around, no wonder everything looks and sounds the same. So this Independence Day, all of India, which, to the news channels consists of everyone in their air-conditioned, glass-walled news studios and those whose who overwhelm them with text messages and emails will celebrate the arrival of India on the world scene (Have you already forgotten the nuclear deal?) and the emergence of a confident, self-assured youth here in India. Thank you Abhinav, if not for you, we'd have had a very gloomy Independence Day celebration or so our newsmen and women would have liked us to believe. Left with nothing but the increasing inflation and rising costs, they would have perhaps shed a tear or two(damn, it's already raining, why add to people's misery?) about the floods down South or would've gone on about how freedom is not all that happy as a certain government is making others dance to its tunes, rather not to dance to any tunes.

Rabbi's second album is out and Bilqis(Jinhe Naaz Hai) perhaps captures my sentiments best. I still remember talking about the short public memory with Sap while the Satyendra Dubey episode was making the headlines and I now wonder if any of us still remembers him. What I did not know was about Navleen Kumar. A social worker fighting for the land rights of tribals in Nallasopara, Thane District, she died on receiving 19 stabs on June 19, 2000. She was fighting against the powerful Thakur family which has built nothing less than an empire in those parts of the Mumbai suburbs. Strange enough that I did not come across this earlier, as Nallasopara is very close to Boisar which I (used to) visit quite often. Rabbi remembers her in Bilqis(Jinhe Naaz Hai) along with Shanmugan Manjunath and Bilqis Bano. Here's the video -

We're still a young country and have a long way to go. And long way in the life time of a country usually means centuries. Neither are we going to rule the world tomorrow nor will we cease to exist as a country the day after. Someone please go tell that to our media persons. Or am I asking for too much from them? What the hell, I'm free to think and wish in this country and that remains my wish for this Independence Day. That we try and nip this obsessive celebrity following and excessive consumerism in the bud or we'll end up as something else. Now, that's for another post. Enjoy the extended weekend. Did someone say Independence Day? What's that? Isn't that on July 4?

IAF Open To Women In Jet Cockpit

2008-08-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, read the, between or beyond the following lines, I'm just reproducing (pun maybe intended) the piece from today's edition of Deccan Herald. I hope it helps in bringing about world peace and reducing poverty and global warming. Thank you.

Italics are my emphasis.

IAF Open To Women In Jet Cockpit

New Delhi, PTI: The long-cherished dream of women entering the male bastion of flying jet fighters may finally come true with IAF Chief F H Major saying the force is open to the idea of allowing the fairer sex donning the frontline combat role.

Women in the Indian Air Force were doing a "good job" and there was no reason why they would not be able to fly combat aircraft in future, Major said on Wednesday.

Replying to a question on whether IAF will have women fighter pilots in future, Major said, "Why not! The women in IAF are doing a good job."

Asked whether IAF was considering any proposal in this regard, he said, "No proposal is under consideration right now. We will have to give a lot of thought on it."

The Indian Air Force has over 700 women officers in non-combatant roles.

Crossposted on Linkosarcoma.

What Is Josh All About?

2008-08-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

PS. Have a new TV at home. The fillers on 9XM are good fun - The Betel Nuts, Bheegi Billi and Bakwaas Bandh Kar.

Life Is Driving A Car In Heavy Rain

2008-07-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Wisdom decided to bless me with a rare visit while talking to Sap last evening, and this is what it left me with -

Life is like driving a car in heavy rain. You (mostly) know the destination and (mostly) know the road, but the journey is rough. Due to the rain, you never know what's going to hit you when you take next turn. You want to keep moving fast, but have to be cautious not to skid and be thrown off the road. You can't see what lies far head because of the heavy rain and though there are ~~vipers~~ wipers, they only help you to see to a certain distance. You still keep going - backing your instinct and gut feel, taking calculated risks and making decisions from experience. You stop for breaks in between, but still keep going. Your car breaks down, a stranger comes along and helps you, reminding to help others in need. You meet with an accident, break a few bones, repair your car and resume the journey. Help a stranger on the way since you know how important help is. So that's what it is - set out on a journey, pick up a few bruises, keep your ears and eyes open for the unexpected, hope that the rest of whatever is left of the journey will turn out fine.

PS. Now I know why wisdom decided to bless me. Sap was around!

Don't Blame That Miss Teen South Carolina Contestant

2008-07-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Now this is something we're more than familiar with.

Maybe this video will help us put that into perspective.

On a slightly related note, I'm a little skeptical of Rupert Murdoch's continued domination of the media world over.

Chess Olympiad Teams Will Be Topless

2008-07-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

How scandalous? And it's the Indian Chess teams we're talking about.

Are they making the right moves? Will they get pwned? Will they find out what is it to be a knight rider? All puns intended. Read on.

Chess Olympiad Teams Will Be Topless

Thank You DNA and congratulations. You win today's battle for the most absurd news-story/news headline. But you still have a long way to go before you even think of getting close to CNN-IBN. All the best!

Bhagawan Aaye Cycle Se

2008-06-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

No wonder it won the Bronze at Cannes.

Crossposted on OrangeGlass.

More CNN-IBNonsense

2008-06-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

~~It's not everyday~~ On IBNlive, it's everyday that one comes across news stories of varying ridiculous proportions, but one of today's headlines is definitely out of the box, the sort that sees a hand with a boxing glove come out of the box(idiot, if TV or a flat box, if it's a laptop screen) and punches you straight in the face. Dear Copy Editor at IBNlive, if you objective was to capture my attention, congratulations, you have succeeded. But if your objective was to make me take seriously what you folks at CNN-IBN/IBNlive say/write , I'm sorry, I won't from now on. Here's the head line and the piece following it. Emphasis mine.

Should the N-deal be seen as anti-Muslim?

A day ahead of the crucial meeting between the Left and the UPA Government, CPM politburo member and trade union leader M K Pandhe claimed Muslims are against the Indo-US nuclear deal. CPM leader Prakash Karat attended Shia rally in Uttar Pradesh to protest against India's vote against Iran at the IAEA as well as George Bush's visit to India. Analysts say the Left must not bring religious sentiments into foreign policy issues.

Thank God for the analysts, we'd otherwise have some serious trouble in our foreign relations with Azerbaijan during Diwali or a sudden thaw in relations with Mongolia during Ganesh Chaturthi. Religious sentiments are high during those times, you see.

More CNN-IBN fun.

Via Darjeeling and The Darjeeling Limited

2008-06-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

Two movies I'm looking forward to watch in some time - Via Darjeeling and The Darjeeling Limited.

Via Darjeeling comes from Arindam Nandy and has a very impressive star cast with an interesting story-line. More from Arindam Nandy on Via Darjeeling. Heartening to see NFDC (back to?)backing projects like these.

The Darjeeling Limited sounds a lot like Asiawheeling. Promises to be an interesting ride. I'm not sure which character from the movie would Scott, Woody and I be parallel to during Asiawheeling, but I'm more than sure that we could make a movie, nothing less, out of our experiences from Asiawheeling.

A couple of movies, of course, are waiting to be made out of my own trip to Darjeeling. Not to forget Gangtok, Kurseong, Siliguri, Kolkata, and Bhutan, and Nepal!

Koncerned About Karnataka

2008-06-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

No, this is not about an Ekta Kapoor serial on Karnataka, but a really concerning phenomenon which could have a potentially adverse effect on the relatively clean politics environment in Karnataka.

Outlook carries an article by Sugata Srinivasaraju on the rise of the Reddy brothers in such a very short time from being nowhere on the scene till the late 90s to dictating terms in Karnataka politics. The article is rather strangely titled Deep Vein Thrombosis. It mentions that the RSS is said to be "very concerned with the Reddys' growing influence" on the state BJP. Though I don't subscribe to RSS's RSS feeds, meaning don't subscribe to most of their views, I have reasons to agree with them on the Reddy brothers' though. And not just about their growing influence on the state BJP, but of the entire granite lobby over Karnataka politics.

Let's see how this one plays out. In these parts of the world, the granite stone is more valuable than gold and diamond. Sincerely hoping that granite doesn't do what diamond and gold did to Africa.

Image courtesy the Churmuri post on an ad in newspapers by another MLA from another granite-rich area Hospet praising the Reddy brothers and their associate with allegedly criminal records B Sriramulu.

PS. Deep Vein Thrombosis. And I have no clue yet on why the article was given that title.

The 3 Mistakes Of My Life

2008-06-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Reading the book, though, was not one of them. Liked the fact that it is set in Ahmedabad and to a fair extent captures the essence of life in the city. The book is not so much about bringing about the ethos and isolation of an entire generation to the fore as the blurb says. But we know these marketing types, don't we? Read the book if you have nothing better to do for a couple of hours.

Earlier posts about Ahmedabad on this blog.

Viva la Vida and Brian Eno

2008-06-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends sees the coming together of two brilliant brains, Coldplay and Brian Eno. Having briefly worked with Coldplay on their last album X&Y, Brian Eno has gone on to produce Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends for them. And by the looks and the listens of it, and as Guy Berryman mentions in the interview to Rolling Stones, they've gone into exploring newer territories and they've come up trumps. It might take a while for the music to be digested, but once it is, it just gets into the system smoothly.

Coldplay performing Viva la Vida at the MTV Movie Awards 2008

Rolling Stones India

It needs another blog post to do justice to the genius that Brian Eno is, but I was introduced to him through this song from The Son's Room. I can not remember a more perfect use of a song in a movie.

Here's the song -

A for Asiawheeling, B for Banaras, V for Varanasi, K for Kashi

2008-06-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Asiawheeling is currently on and I'm terribly excited to be on its Board of Advisors. Even more terribly excited I am about going to Banaras/Varanasi/Kashi with the wheelers. Though shorter, I'm sure it'll be as much fun and life-changing as Summer of '06.

Good Will Hunting Fucking Short Version

2008-05-29T03:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm not able to decide which one is better of the two - the movie Good Will Hunting or the following Fucking Short Version. Can you please help me decide?

The movie is excellent no doubt, and I was pleasantly surprised to know that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay and went on to win the Academy and the Golden Globe Awards for the Best Original Screenplay. That's some really good talent, and I'm glad they've gone on to do much better with their movie careers following Good Will Hunting. Have been following movie soundtracks more closely these days and a very poignant Miss Misery by Elliot Smith comes on as the credits roll in the end. Sad to know that it lost to My Heart Will Go ~~Yawn~~ On from Titanic for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Even sadder that like many other gifted musicians, Elliot Smith ended his life at 34 under what else, mysterious circumstances. Hope you're doing well wherever you are Mr. Smith, there will be a lot of listens to songs in your whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery style in the coming days.

While we're on the movie, lucky are those of who have Chuckies, Seans and Prof. Lambeaus in believe in ourselves more that we believe ourselves. Sonofabitch, he stole our line, the producers of the movie would say. No wonder since the tag line of the movie goes - Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them. That's perhaps the best line of the movie - Sonofabitch, he stole my line. No, wait. There's something that tops it - I gotta go see about a girl!

Mr. Cock-a-lock

2008-05-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hail buffalax and Benny Lava, aka Prabhudeva in India! Here's more on the geniuses.

The original Benny Lava video by buffalax!

Oh, and I did not know Urvasi could also become this!

Polly's bum for fantasty, ah!

The Truth About India

2008-05-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Now, after traveling some eight thousand miles around the country, I know approximately as little as I did on my first arrival. However I've seen a lot of people and places, and at least somewhat more detailed and precise idea of my ignorance than I did in the beginnning.

Paul Bowles in Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue, an excerpt from which is carried in India In Mind, edited by Pankaj Mishra.

Not surprising at all, an opinion like this coming foreign traveler. But it holds equally true for an Indian traveler like me. The more one discovers India, more is the feeling of having known nothing at all about this magnificent place.

PS. The book is put together well. It is a collection of pieces from books by foreign authors and travelers about India. Also, LibraryThing doesn't seem to be working. Anyone fans of the website and missing it as much as I am now?

Polls In Karnataka - A Quick Note

2008-05-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

As someone who follows Indian politics very closely, it is a tad disappointing that I haven't been able to follow the build-up to the elections in Karnataka as closely as I'd have liked. But still an opinion or two, or perhaps a couple more. Contrary to what these people have to say, the Congress will not get a majority. In my opinion, no party will. The Congress used the revision of electoral rolls as as an intelligent tactic to delay the elections, and this will definitely not help the BJP ride the sympathy wave. Nevertheless, the sympathy is still there and the BJP will gain from it. According to me, the tally will more or less remain the same as in the previous election. The BJP and the Congress will get a few more seats at the expense of JD(S) and others like JD(U), SP and the BSP will just be making a guest appearance in the analysis of the experts sitting in their air-conditioned studios. Good luck to you guys, hope you get higher TRPs and have more people believe that what you say is actually true. Just a small note, Karnataka is not just Bangalore. There are other regions which are part of Karnataka and people living there are also part of Karnataka.

More as the elections progress.

The Best Band Name Ever

2008-05-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Yes, that's the name of the band. Well guys, you love Boris Yeltsin and we love your naming abilities. Though SSLYBY comes very close to beating !Xobile as the most ingenious name, !Xobile still takes the cake, or the click rather.

From Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's Wikipedia page -

Will Knauer and Philip Dickey were mutual high school friends, growing up in Springfield. Phil and Will were in different bands that both "tried to sound like Nirvana."[1] After Will and Phil's high school bands broke up (Wharf and Thinking Vision, respectively), the two started playing together on Weller Street and Phil came up with the new name.[2]

The new songs needed a new band name, so we chose something really dumb, because we were only practicing in Will's attic. There were 2 girls who would watch us practice and I wanted to make them laugh...and I wanted the guys in Wharf to laugh...so that's when I came up with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin recently resigned and I was 17.

Check out SSLYBY on

MySpace
Last.fm

Won't it be fun to have band names on Indian politicians? Here are a few -

I have a crush on you Mayawati. [NO, not me]
We're are in awe of your pause Atalji. [Yawn, rather]
More as they come.

Earth Day Barkings

2008-04-22T02:38:00.000-07:00

And one was under the impression that today is Tuesday. With each day being gobbled up for such causes, one wonders if 365 days are enough. So while Google does very dull logo change, the message is gotten across by our good friend Hutch. Such a gentleman he is. Tough, and very hard for him to resist it must be in a place like Bangkok. Every possible pun intended, in a very earthly way. His status message on GTalk -

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.
~Cree Indian Proverb
Happy Earth Day!!!

Well done, my boy. But that's not enough. One needs a more powerful message from an even more powerful messenger, our Boss. No wonder he has the veto power, the power to say yes while everyone else is in opposition and the result is still in his favour. Such is his power and that of his veto. Power, by the way happens to be another creature who doesn't have anything to say on this. Here's Boss's message on World Earth Day through his GTalk addressing system-

today is earth day lets piss on the plants and shit in the fields...give back to mother earth

Short, actionable and powerful. Your words are our orders, Boss. Come, let's hit the fields right away.

Bliss - Dil Indeed Dance Maare Re

2008-04-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

It has always been my dream to make a song like this. Write it, get someone to put the song to music and shoot it. But I'm glad one among Piyush Mishra, Vishal Dadlani, Anvita Dutt Guptan or Kausar Munir(from what I gather, Vishal it is) wrote a masterpiece like this and Vishal-Shekhar gave such wonderful desi music. And Uditji, your rendition of even the word sasura is amazing indeed. Thank you Yashji and Adi for letting Vijay Krishna Acharya do this.

My favourite lines -

Rose Ke Jaisan Pink Pink Hamare Gaal Gulaabi
Sky Ke Jaisan Blue Blue Yeh Tohra Nain Saraabi
Bhola Chehra Jaise Moon, Kaali Julfe Jaise Cloud
Abb Na Aur Chhupaaya Jaaye, dhadkan Ho Gayi bhery loud

Now to the masterpiece -

PS. What if someone achieved my dream? I can always do better!

Learning For The Day - Rukmini Devi Arundale

2008-04-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

Till today, in fact a few hours before this post, I was unaware of the existence of Rukmini Devi Arundale.

Funny earlier and it's a life fact now that, as one discovers and comes across more things unknown, it appears one knows a lot lesser than what was thought earlier. That's the joy of discovery and learning.

Came across her profile in the India Today's special issue of 60 Greatest Indians. An interesting fact - she was offered the Presidency by Morarji Desai which she declined. Would've been good to have a danseuse as our President. Unlike the present one, who doesn't quite do justice to her more illustrious lineage . Hope there's no dent to the President's honourable chair during this term. So far so good, Smt. Patil-Shekhawat has been. No action is also good action. And as the elections draw close, I feel India is terribly missing Mr. Pramod Mahajan. That will be another post, but Mr. Mahajan, India needed you and one moment of insanity took us away from you. You were the best Prime Minister our nation never had. Rest In Peace, Pramodji.

Photos From The North East Trip

2008-04-11T06:31:00.000-07:00

As Partha correctly points out here, it was not exactly the North East that we know as. Nevertheless, it was originally planned as a North East trip and hence the name shall remain. A picture is worth a thousand words they say and all the photos from the put together would be close to a million words. You can find all the photos from the trip here, but the traveler suggests that you wait for the blog posts about the trip coming up over the weekend. That's the plan at least.

Meanwhile, have a look at the albums. Sets rather, as flickr calls it. It is a really neat service and totally worth the $25 I paid for a yearly paid account.

Bhutan	Nepal	Gangtok
Changu Lake	Kolkata	Siliguri
Tiger Hill	Darjeeling	Kurseong

Back

2008-04-08T02:22:00.000-07:00

The subject is back after the trip. Photos and the post will be up soon.

Going To North East

2008-03-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

One will be going to the North East for ten days from Friday. Should be fun.

View Larger Map

Update: Got myself a Flickr pro account and was going through some older photos. Came across this one from June 2006. Not too long back. Such fun it was.

Were We Wayanad

2008-03-24T02:03:00.000-07:00

Two boys. Two states. Two rivers. Two dams. Visits to places of death of two men who gave the British a hard time. Two national parks. Two nights in God's Own Country. Ruins of two ancient Jain temples. Lots of fun.

Photos and details coming soon. Notes from the scrapbook.

Day 1

Pole's call-> CMH Road ->IISc-> Kaveri Hostel confusion->Sap's quick camera tutorial->Petrol Pump, leaving the helmet behind->Ramanagaram->Maddur->Maddur Tiffany's->Satyagraha Memorial->Srirangapattana->Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple->Tipu's place of death->Dungeons->Commemorative Obelisk->Delhi Gate->Watergate->Jama Masjid->Sangam->Nimishamba Temple->Gumbaz(36 pillars for 36 years)->Mandya->Mysore->Lunch at Kamat Upachara->Nanjangud->Teppotsava(Full moon day)->Gundlupet(Return for fuel)->Bandipur WLS(Elephants)->Chill in the air->Ponkuzhi->Closed Jain Temple->Sulthan's Bathery->Vijaya Tourist Home->Hot Water->Hotel Kalapakam(Cool Hotel!)->End Of Day

Day 2

Sulthan's Bathery->Jain Temple->Phantom Rock->Meenmutty Falls->Karapuzha Dam->Museum at Ambavalam(Vijaya H S Polpully)->Edakkal Caves->Closed, pleading to no avail->Mastering Macro->Declare March 22 Macro Day->Kalpetta->Rain->Search for a hotel with hot water->Arun Tourist Home->Megha Tourist->Choosing Arun Tourist->Food at Udupi Restaurant->Mallu Rice->Women high is not high!->Chundale tea estateVythiri->Pookote Lake->Rowing->Kayaking->Physics and Chemistry of Kayaking->AnchoorTea Estate->Banasura Dam(Earth Dam!)->Kalpetta->Hotel Woodlands->Lady wanting to drink the pink thing->Hotel Pankaj->Kalpetta

Day 3

Start at 6:30 from Kalpetta->Jain Temple ruins #1-> Pole's bruise->Pole asking for a photograph and not their photograph->Jain Temple ruins #2->Mananthavady->Udupi Hotel(again! Best Kerala Parattas)->Pazhassi Raja memorial->Kuruva Island->Bavali->Kachda Road->More Kachda Road-> Spotting deer->Some more Kachda Road->H D Kote->Mysore->Lunch->Chamarajanagar Coffe Day->Bangalore Corporation.

Way To Wayanad

2008-03-20T04:06:00.000-07:00

Is this blog dead or what? In the middle of a few good and a few not so good things, Pole and I are heading out to Wayanad on his Shine. Should be fun. Here's to tripping, more of which is coming soon.

View Larger Map

23 And Me

2008-01-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

Damn you, Anne Wojcicki. And you think you can do it just because you are the wife of Google's co-founder?

I've been thinking of 23andme as the title of a blog post on my 23rd birthday for the last 28 years. And then Anne Wojcicki comes out of nowhere and names the genetic thing 23andme. Conspiracy, I tell you. But then, no conspiracy can stop me from winning the Ig Nobel Prize for the following postulate. And yes, I came up with this and am immensely proud of this discovery.

23 is the smallest two digit prime number which is smaller than the square greater than itself.

Life at 23, is either as simple or as complicated as this.

Update: Once, twice, thrice and for all, here's the final thing. Much thanks to Kunaal. I'll definitely mention you in the acceptance speech.

23 is the smallest two digit prime number which is closest to the square greater than itself.

Huh.

Thank You

2008-01-03T01:20:00.000-08:00

Thank Yous. Not in any specific order but all the specific reasons.

Thank You guys .

Thank You and You guys.

Thank You Sir and your Friends.

Thank You Panditji and You, Sir.

Thank You for this.

Thank You for this.

Thank You for this. Interesting that the main character is from Bijapur. But it's not close to Bangalore, is it?

Thank You for this.

Thank You.

Thank You guys.

Thank You Sahab.

Thank You and You guys.

Thank You for this. Thank You again.

Thank You for this.

And Thank You people - You, You, You, You, You and You. You know who you are!

The State Of Indian Politics - Post Gujarat Elections

2007-12-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

The state for now is definitely Gujarat. Much has been said, written, heard, spewed, vomited, acted, faked, dramtised before, during and after the elections in Gujarat. There was never any doubt about Narendra Modi's victory in Gujarat. Perhaps what was to be keenly watched during this election was Modi's victory margin, in Maninagar constituency where he was facing Union Minister Dinsha Patel and the overall assembly tally. Both the results have given enough fodder for the analysts and experts to stuff their mouths with and shut them. Funnily enough, they still go on. Perhaps it's the TV studio lights or the press printing machines that are to be blamed. I don't think the English language media that Ms. Ghose refers to, gets it. The average Gujarati, definition of which may vary and is open to discussion, doesn't watch any of the English language news channels, leave alone sit through the analyses and the debates. He doesn't even read the English newspapers, leave alone read the complex and sometimes fanciful Op-eds and guest articles. This of course, is in addition to the national media brand of reporting carried in the regular articles. The average Gujarati is a very real person, more concerned about what's happening with him and around him. Perhaps that little time spent through flipping Gujarat Samachar or Sandesh, the time spent through catching on a bit of ETV Gujarati or Alpha Gujarati or time the spent in the trains to and from work is his window to the external world and a source of knowing what is the world saying about Gujarat. The Prannoy Roys, Barkha Dutts, Rajdeep Sardesais, Arnab Goswamis, Karan Thapars, Yogendra Yadavs and soon to come, Vir Sanghvis (with or without Gangulys) are nowhere on his radar. These media men and women seem to have missed this point completely.

What makes Narendra Modi different from the other political leaders is that he's more real and if one were to use that phrase, in your face, than most of them. Compare him with the Gandhis, the Vajpayees or the Karats, and you find there's something enigmatic about them, as if they're only meant for those rare appearances, with the people that is. In contrast, Narendra Modi is everywhere, with his SMSes, ringtones, masks( Tehelka, of course, had an issue even with that, literally. The cover story was titled The Mukhauta Campaign) and even YouTube videos. While he's able to widely connect with his audience at the grass-roots level, he remains being very subdued and measured in his public appearances. Just being seen is not enough, being there is important.

Now that the General Elections are drawing close, we are in for some entertaining times on TV and in the papers. New phrases around actresses will be coined, like BISPASA it was the last time around. Social and political scientists from JNU, Made-Only-For-TV leaders from all parties will join the presenters and the reporters in entertaining us. But what makes me wonder is that if I, and perhaps Seth, are the only ones who seem to know the possible truth? That the country did neither vote the Congress to power because of its aam aadmi campaign nor did it vote the BJP out for its Indian Shining campaign. What helped the Congress, rather what is now known as UPA, were the huge victories in Andhra Pradesh(with TRS) and in Tamizh Nadu (with DMK), some deft coalition cobbling by M/s Ahmed Patel and co. and the Left's compulsion to align with secular forces and not communal forces like the BJP. That is all, nothing more nothing less. And Mr. Advani, you lost some respect when you recently said about the India Shining campaign being a mistake. In fact, it made a lot of us feel good about the state our country was in then. And the feeling wasn't just restricted to the urban middle-class people. Blaming the campaign for your defeat wouldn't be the right thing to do. Let's see what else is in store for us like he said in that movie - "Pichchar abhi baaki hai mere dost". But Mr. Khan, that's movies and this is politics. And politics is real.

To Ms. Suhasini Haider, Senior Anchor and Correspondent, CNN-IBN

2007-12-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

Dear Ms. Suhasini Haider,

Warm greetings. I'm writing to you regarding comments made by you during the night bulletin you were presenting on CNN-IBN on Dec 6, 2007.

At the outset, let me share something with you, which hopefully, you will be glad to know. A lot of young people in this country watch you on national television, and one day, hope to become what you are. They form their opinion based on what you say, based on what you show them and based on what you make guests on your shows say. That's a fine art, putting words into people's mouths, and you and your brethren in the media seem to have perfected that. These young people, being impressionable considering the age they in and the age they are of, appreciate that fine art as well. Stupid as it may seem, they take a lot of what you say very seriously. Hence my humble request to you is to be measured and balanced when you say something on national television.

On Dec 6, 2007 while referring to the exhumation of dead bodies at Nadigram you said - "It is still not known which party the dead belonged to" The dead, Ms. Haider, are dead. Please do not politicize their death. Those young boys and girls, you see, will talk about it in their college, talk about it during their bus and train commutes, talk about it during their numerous hang-outs and chill-outs and soon they will come to believe that the dead need to belong to political parties. Such is the power of your work and the ~~profession~~ industry you work in. Please use it responsibly.

Regards,
Nikhil Kulkarni

To Mr. Meghdoot Sharon, Correspondent, CNN-IBN

2007-12-03T01:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Meghdoot Sharon,

Warm Greetings. I'm writing to you regarding your article headlined BJP makes bachelor CM its ladies' man in Guj on IBNlive.com on Dec 3, 2007.

While I understand that Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai is your boss and you might feeling honoured to work with an intellectual like him, it doesn't necessarily mean that you share the same disgust that Mr. Sardesai has for Mr. Modi. It's a different thing if it is a company policy in CNN-IBN to always spew venom at Mr. Modi, however flimsy or trivial the reason for that great piece of journalism maybe. If you and your team are that sure about Mr. Modi's complicity in the riots, which are to be condemned in the strongest of terms, please come out with hard facts and take on Mr. Modi. Do not fight from the comfort of your air-conditioned glass-walled studios, that's not fair. Give the other person a chance to respond. And if the belief is that the evidence is all there and still there's no action, then there's something seriously wrong in the justice delivery system in our country and maybe that is what you should be looking at setting right, and not targetting an individual. In fact, Mr. Modi appears more dignified with his silence compared to your repeated diatribes, which are, more often than not, are needlessly vitriolic and below the belt. What about this article headlined Modi sells Guj Inc, 'appeases rich and ignores poor' which appeared on Nov 18. Articles like these, Mr. Sharon, are not, in good spirit and smack of vengence and a huge sense of political and maybe, even personal vendetta. It doesn't appear to be reporting or journalism, it's sleazy and sickening.

I don't think I need to clarify, but I'm no supporter of Mr Modi. If that man is found guilty by a court of law and even if he's to be hanged for the crime he's to have committed, so be it. But do not become the judge yourself. I'm reminded of that famous quote from Spiderman here. At least, credit him for the work he has done in his term as the Chief Minister. And if you stay in Gujarat and have seen things around you while you report, I'm sure you'd agree with me, that development in Gujarat has happened, and has happened at a good pace.

Good Night, And Good Luck

Regards,
Nikhil Kulkarni

Teetotaller Of A Different Kind

2007-11-23T03:56:00.000-08:00

It's a very proud moment for all of us at CircusMouse. And we wear that pride up our sleeves, literally. Hence the t-shirt.

What the bloody hell is this?

From the world's best blahg comes the world's best t-shirt. To cut the long story ~~shirt~~ short, here's the t-shirt for you. Do not get distracted by the wonderful ~~modull~~ model posing with the t-shirt, pay attention to the wonderful t-shirt instead.

Front:

Back:

Damn, it's such a stupid t-shirt

Really? You either get it or you don't. And if you have not, get out on the road, walk for 23 meters - not a meter more, not a meter less. Wait there and ask the first female walking by
carrying a purple handkerchief. She will know for sure. Huh.

Ok, I've got it. How do I get the t-shirt?

See, now you're talking sense. This t-shirt might be the best piece of visible fabric your body has ever had on it. Of course, there are better pieces of fabric your body would've had on it and much closer than this t-shirt. But we have learnt our Moral Science lessons well and we know exposing is not appropriate. Hence, this t-shirt comes with an OK certificate from the Exposure Control Authority Of India.

If you want to get this amazing creation, indicate in the comments to the post or write to 10plus3i@gmail.com. Here are the details -

Size - The model in the photo above is wearing an M size t-shirt. So an L would probably fit most men to the tee. An M for most women?

Cost - Higher the quantity of the order, lower will be the price. Estimated price is Rs. 200. And we'll try to keep it within that.

Quality - Fairly Decent.

Delivery - It's that good, eh? That you want it delivered right away? We're glad. Tell us if you want the t-shirt either by comments or by e-mail. We'll see how many t-shirt we're printing, arrive at the cost of one t-shirt and then get in touch with you for the address. Delivery charges extra. Definitely lesser than most maternity hospitals.

To hell with you. Absolute bullshit this is. Such huge fuss over such non-sense.

We're happy. At least someone is honest. Now if you'd only let us what about the t-shirt makes you feel that way. That it's a t-shirt and not a t-short? That it has Gabbar and not Mogambo? That the idea in itself is ridiculous? Tell us, please.

The Head And Tail Of It Or The Problem With Probability

2007-11-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

I was tossing what seemed like a totally biased five rupee coin to decide the outcome of something. Heads was Yes and tails was No. And in that five throws experiment, tails turned up each time. Was I then fighting against odds, literally?

Point Your Mouse To

2007-10-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

No pun intended, unless you thought of that thing as a mouse. Let's not get into the pun trap, or punt rap for now!

Point your mouse to CircusMouse. Lot of action happening there. And someone likes posts on CircusMouse doesn't mean he's gay for me. Gay for me? Now, as a young thing would say - How gay is that, Sahu? Perhaps he liked this ~~guy's~~ one's only post on that blog. Hence gay maybe.

Random Remembrances.

India- Australia Cricket Match at Chinnaswamy Stadium. [photos] No, we didn't heckle Symonds. But had awesome fun with Dada, Karthik and Powar fielding at the boundary right in front of us. Cricket will never die in India. And Cricket is a simple game of heart, mind, bat, ball and a couple of guards for safety. The excessively annoying TV coverage is doing no good to the gentleman's game ~~it is~~ it once was. Hope though, is still alive.

The mid-night trek to Skandagiri [photos] following the match. That I was tired and exhausted would be an understatement, and that I was a bicycle because I was too tired would be a wonderstatement. Puns aside or puns-a-side, I still have no clue about the source of energy that kept me alive during the trek. Thank heavens(we were definitely closer to it) for the life-saving omlettes and tea at the summit. The trek would be incomplete without the mention of birth of Joshi, a person who existed amidst us all along, but we had no idea about him. Thanks to a certain America-bound dude, we discovered his existence and he's been living with us since then. The day Joshi's true identity is revealed would be the day when this polite, gentlemanly, mature Nikhil Kulkarni's make-believe identity will be known. Till then, live and thrive, Joshi.

A Walk In The Clouds, Caffeine, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Laaga Chunari Mein Aag, Morning Raaga (Oh fuck! How could I forget Apparao and Annapoorna? Wake Up!), Tout Va Bien (Everything Is Alright - that's the movie's name in English!), Un homme et une femme (A Man And A Woman)

A special mention. We were brave enough to watch this one - The Brave One. Clovie, get out of the car! Those who suffered this at my hands, or my mouth rather, after this movie, should feel honoured. Gods (Warner Brothers, that is) have heard us and we have this great news - Warner Bros says “No More Female Lead Characters”?!
only to be followed by Warner Bros Denies Comments.
Huh, no reward for our bravery.

The trips home, the series of forgotten birthdays, the chull that was finally put to rest a minute back (Aw fuck! Commander will go crazy over this!) , the falling ill and getting back to life again, Octoberfest, the Bangalore Book Festival, the visit to that insti, the scary predictions(I should stop doing that now!)......

Pustakaaha

Londonstani - rudeboy rules, rudeboys rule! Samira Ahmed, Product Marketing and innit! Absolute must-read.

Games Indians Play - interesting, especially the application of the behavioural economics tools to understand why we are the way we are. In addition to things mentioned here, I want to become a Behavioural Economist. Very fancy it sounds. Absolutely. And that's not the only reason I want to become one.
A book on the best upcoming writing in Indian English edited by Kushwant Singh.
Plans are to read Butter Chicken In Ludhiana during the upcoming trip to Kanpur. If the previous trip out of Bangalore was anything to go by, this one should be great fun! The same refrain again - but that was Mumbai! This one is no less either- Bangalore->Delhi->Lucknow->Kanpur->Lucknow->Delhi->Bangalore. Should be fun enough.

PS. Began this post with just the thought of directing readers to CircusMouse, but it ended up being an almost-complete update post. I'm glad it came. Good for the well-being of this world. Om Shanti Om. Huh, the movie's noise these days. Shanti Shanti. Huh, that's Mandira Bedi. Ab Bas. Huh, that's Diana Hayden.

No Hyphen No Fun

2007-09-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hyphens, ~~are~~ were fun. Sad, they've killed some 16,000 of them. That's ~~leap-frogging~~ leapfrogging into the past. Huh. Perhaps CNN-IBN themselves(now, this one is with the hyphen) could definitely pick up a thing and a quarter from here.

Death Of A Great Brand Or Birth Of A Greater Brand?

2007-09-21T02:53:00.000-07:00

Change is good. Definitely. Hutch is now Vodafone. Good? Not very sure. More than its SIM cards made it into our mobile phones, Hutch - the brand, had made its way into our hearts. Not entirely impossible, but it will be very difficult for Vodafone to replace Hutch. Let's see. We'll let the brand do the talking. Of course, we'll do the talking ourselves. Using their phones and services, that is.

It was an interesting experience last night, being a witness to perhaps one of the biggest brand transitions of our life time happen on the ground. Transition it was, of the Hutch signboards being replaced by those of Vodafone.

The Hutch signboard. Perhaps one of the very few still left in the city at that time of the night.

Loosening Tied Ends - I

Loosening Tied Ends - II

Call Disconnected

Dialing A New Number

Connection Established!

Call Continues

New Up, Old Down!

New Connection Firmly In Place.

While I was taking these pictures, the owner of the shop of which the board was being replaced was giving me a very menacing stare. Apparently, he was under the impression that I was from Hutch/Vodafone and was agitated with the fact that his shop's name was wrongly printed in the signboard! Talk of a deal running into billions of dollars and not enough attention to such important details! Hope they get it right soon.

Rebranding at this scale always comes with some very amusing stories. That of ~~UTI Bank~~ Axis Bank, for example. Do not know how much the re-branding exercise cost them, but it definitely cost them much more in Karnataka. Everyone saw the Axis Bank boards with a certain patch covered and over-written by hand, due to a mistake in printing of the boards.

PS. Here's the Hutch Is Now Vodafone TVC. Decent, but not as nice as the Hutch commercials. Wonder if there will be any at all, as nice as the Hutch commercials.

Oh! It's September 11 Today? The Mumbai Trip Update

2007-09-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

I do not know what hidden energy was it that made my dead-twice-over brain to remember that it is September 11 today. More so because our flight back to Bangalore was canceled at the last minute, at 6:59 am IST to be precise. A technical snag, apparently because of a bird-hit. Interesting coincidence, we get a lot of time to rest here in the Airport and it is peaceful here. Scary!

I'm not sure if I am alive. If I am not alive, how the hell am I writing this? I think(think? Can I? Then I must be alive!) I'm living on the Mumbai air, the highest quality oxygen one can ever breathe. There is something about this place that draws me closer to it and makes me fall more and more in love with it everytime I visit this place or stay here.

Carrying back from Mumbai - memories of those days in Mumbai with Scott, Cafe Leopold, Cafe Mondegar, Mahalaxmi, Haji Ali, Raghuram's Scraping Wealth At The Bottom Of The Pyramid and Missile In The Toilet Bowl theories, Trishna, Momos with Kaak, sweat, heat, rain, Desi Chicken at Harish, Mocha at Juhu, that and all that!

Update: Reached Bangalore safe and ~~mentally unsound~~ sound. The day was quite eventful - starting at 5 am, three security checks, sneaking out and back into the airport, the slow and patchy internet connection which we paid for and the really fast internet which was available for free! Have I figured it yet? Here's an attempt though. Mumbai is very humbling, the more one discovers Mumbai, humbler one feels. Mumbai makes one's survival instincts stronger, makes us aware of the fact that no hard work is hard work enough. There's always someone else working harder than one is. There's so much energy, hope and optimism in the Mumbai air. One might be the queen of any land, but while in Mumbai, everyone is the same. But for the Queen of Englad though, they built the Gateway Of India!

Filmosophy

2007-08-30T02:12:00.000-07:00

Apart from those well spent 2-3 hours, one of the best things about watching movies is that one discovers interesting connections between the characters in the movie philosophers.

In A Fish Called Wanda, Otto's favourite philosopher is Nietzsche.

In Little Miss Sunshine, Frank is America's Number 1 Proust scholar. [Marcel Proust] And Dwyane is shown reading Nietzsche in the movie .

In The Namesake, Gogol is named after Nikolai Gogol. Gogol's The Overcoat is an important character in the movie.

Then, do good films like these and philosophy go eye in brain? Just like romantic movies and Mills and Boon books go hand in hand? Or probably something else in something else? Wouldn't want to get into the innards of this now!

The Curious Incident Of The Quote In The Night Time

2007-08-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

The problem begins when you do not know what to do with it. The problem only gets worse when you don't know what to do without it.

Looks like immense profoundity flows when one is reading Mark Haddon. It's A Spot Of Bother right now.

PS. The quote indeed came in the night time. At 5 a.m. Quite the right night time.

PPS. Only he can come up with quotes like these - I am atheist in a very religious mould.

Movies - Towards Achieving My Aim In Life

2007-08-26T02:47:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm going to become another Madhur Bhandarkar, but watching as many movies as one can has never made anyone a bad film-maker, has it? So much ado for a movie update. But seriously, if I had only seventeen more days to live, I'd ~~make~~ start working on ~~a short film~~ Right Angle. I might as well start working on it right away, but why not? I need the space and the time for it, the luxury of which I do not have right now. Here's the list of movies I watched recently-

Not a 17% contented child as mentioned here , I can probably die a 23% contented child now. Have finished watching all movies made by Vishal Bharadwaj - Makdee, Maqbool, Omkara and now, The Blue Umbrella. Each of them is brilliant, with Vishal's earnestness and honest approach standing out. Watch The Blue Umbrella in a theater, otherwise one wouldn't be doing justice to the wonderful cinematography by Sachin K Krishn. I'll be following Abhishek Chaubey very closely now on. His work till now -

Screenplay, dialogue, Associate Director - Omkara
Associate Director-Maqbool, Makdee
Associate Director & Screenplay-The Blue Umbrella

Chakde! India - ~~decent~~ good movie. Couldn't have come a better time for it to do well. Independence Day, prosperity(?) all around, things looking more hopeful than ever for our country(yes) and for the youth(?). Pop-corn patriotism is very convenient for today's generation who do not have much time. Convenient for the producers too, pop-corn patriotism sells. On a related note, this is Celebrating Freedom from CircusMouse, our new blog. We don't have a description for it yet, please visit it and helps us find one. Warning : Very chaotic there.

Naagarahaavu - the first of Puttanna Kanagal's movies I've watched. Ramachari's character is perhaps a better representation of the angry young man of those days. Even better than Amitabh's roles then? Not sure, need to watch more movies of the 70's to be qualified to answer this. But I liked the character played by Loknath the best. Ade namma speciality!

Ananathana Avaanthara by Kashinath. Kannada industry needs more people like him. People like him, Upendra, Jaggesh whose work maverick, unconventional approaches add a new dimension to Kannada film-making. But what has happened to Sunil Kumar Desai to make a sub-standard movie like Kshana Kshana? Forget the review, Shri Desai has set certain standards with his earlier movies. At least live up to them, Sir?

Movies I caught up with now, as they released during the time of my shift to Bangalore -

Guru - huh, they shoot it in Karnataka and pass it off as Gujarat! The movie fails to capture the magnitude of Dhirubhai's empire. Perhaps his story is such that one can't put it together in a 3 hour movie. Maybe one can, if they do away with needless songs and not give extra time to characters just because they are played by Aishwarya Rais and Vidya Balans. Ratnam Sir, is Mahabharat still on? Forget Lajjo, make Mahabharat. Please!

Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd - Minissha Lamba, Minissha Lamba, Minissha Lamba, Minissha Lamba, Minissha Lamba, Minissha Lamba. Well made movie.
Ek Chalis Ki Last Local - This movie would be more tight and crisp if unnecessary songs and sequences could have been done away with. Nonetheless, it was about Mumbai Meri Jaan and that more than makes up for all the shortcomings in the movie. Laree Choote. At the last count, it was 2643 - number of times I've played it.

Movies I slept half-way through -

Choker Bali - will someone please explain why it is such an acclaimed movie? Maybe I do not know the meaning of the italicized word. Finding its meaning should be a rewording exercise.
Yatra - my yatra to bed only got faster while watching this. Again, will someone please explain everything about this movie. Art movies, more often than not, are definitely enjoyable. But this one wasn't.

PS. Why Madhur Bhadarkar? I used to study and run a video cassette shop at the same time. I developed a liking for movies. I would watch all the movies in the theatre, first day first show! More in this interview - here.

My Aim In My Life

2007-08-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

~~When I grow up~~...Yes. When I grow up, I want to be an academician like Dr. Ramachandra Guha or and a film-maker like Vishal Bharwadwaj and a social entrepreneur like Dr. Brij Kothari. Seriously, I do. If I'm able to achieve even a bit of what they have, and what they will in the coming years, I will die a happy man. When I look back now, I've already worked with one of them and worked with someone closely related to another one. So, I can at least die a 17% contented child now.

PS. Not entirely unjustified this aim in life of mine. My previous posts on the desire to make a film and to become a social scientist.

The North Karnataka Trip - II

2007-08-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

The earlier part of the series here.

Snapshots of a typical village and village life in North Karnataka

This is Korwar, a village in Bijapur district in North Karnataka, well-known for its Hanuman Temple.

The temple tower in the background. And the dish antenna in front! Scott would find this very interesting, I'm sure.

The priest's home.

Grains and flowers.

The family ~~tree~~ row.

The Tulasi shrine.

Priest helping the villagers find auspicious dates.

Kids, who wouldn't let me leave till I took their photo.

On the road -

The temple at Basavakalyana, named after Basaveshwara, the 12th century philospher.

Stall at the temple

Chicks for sale. Colourful chicks.

Some more shots -

PS. A sapping, but fun trip it was. A trip to Bheemeshwari followed right after this one. And another trip to happen some time soon. More power to you, God of Travel.

The North Karnataka Trip - I

2007-08-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm brain-dead right now. A combination of a lot things, not so much because of traveling close to 1600 km in three days. Sin for a traveler this, counting the number of kilometers one has traveled. Pardon me, oh God of Travel. Photos from my recent trip to North Karnataka.

Nuggikeri , Dharwad.

Nuggikeri Hanuman Temple is situated on the banks of the lake Nuggikeri. Nearly all of Dharwad town visits the temple every Saturday. Strange, Nuggikeri doesn't have a Wikipedia entry. Time to get back to Wiki.

Dharwad to Bagalkot

Most of this is usually dry, arid land. Because of the good rains this season, the landscape is green, and driving through these roads, which have seen marked improvement, was really pleasant.

Cow Boys?

Buffaloes. I know.

This sheep line was nearly half a kilometer long. The sheep boy had a tough time running up and down trying to clear the road for us.

Old Man In Deep Thought

Bagalkot hasn't changed much since the last time I visited it, which of course was a long time back. Even if it has changed, it hasn't changed much for the good, notwithstanding the new city - Navnagar which is designed by Charles Correa. Backwaters from Almatti Dam have submerged most part of the old town and there are concerns about proper relief and rehabilitation for those affected. Glimpse, literally of the new town Navnagar -

Navnagar in the background, in the mountains!

This perhaps is the best photo I have shot till now. Just about everything is perfect - a perfect snapshot of the life in a North Karntaka town, the clouds, the light, everything. I can die a happy photographer now!

Time for a Pan break

The General Purpose Vehicle

Bijapur - those three eventful years! Bijapur is a city with a rich historical heritage. The Adil Shahis ruled from here for close to 200 years, conquering nearby areas, fighting battles which brought down a great empire, and building majestic structures like this one -

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Gol Gumbaz has the second largest dome in the world, after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Like every Taj Mahal has its Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, Gol Gumbaz has its Mohammed Adil Shah and Rambha. Legend has it that while Gol Gumbaz was being built, Mohammed Adil Shah asked Rambha, ~~the courtesan~~ his Hindu wife, if she would jump from top of the structure if she really loved him. Jump she did. Today, both of them lie buried in Gol Gumbaz.

Gol Gumbaz History - ASI ki Zubaani

Some more shots from Gol Gumbaz

To be continued..

The Root Cause Of All Evil

2007-08-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

To read the Kannada text, please download the Kannada font from here and install it.

Had this moment of realization while traveling through the ~~dry~~ green (now, because of the rain) fields of North Karnataka, that the root cause of all evil is the tongue. Like all of Shri Purandaradasa's padas (¥ÀzÀUÀ¼ÀÄ), the greatness of this particular pada lies in its simplicity and the earthly appeal.

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Source: This amazing blog. Was truly overwhelmed by the interest in Kannada literature.

PS. Details of the trip coming soon. Bangalore->Dharwad->Bagalkot->Bijapur->Basavkalyan->Bagalkot->Dharwad.
That was close to 1600 km in three days!

Too Much Is Too Bad

2007-08-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it rings so true, what our grandmothers used to tell us and we never used to listen. Too much is too bad, isn't this what they used to tell us?

Once upon a time, there was social ~~network~~ utility named Facebook which was known for its simpicity, ease of use and uncluttered look. And then the big young man announced the FaceBook Developer Programme, which let developers create different applications for Facebook's users. They said Facebook would be a social OS, some said it could even be the next Microsoft. Wait, some even called it what? A data black hole. Then came applications which let users let their friends know of their moods to applications which let throw sheep at their friends. Great, they said. Initially, driven by the hype and interest, they lapped it up. And then, they started removing these application one by one.

What happened after this? We'll know soon.

PS. How many of you are on Facebook? More importantly, do you visit it regularly? If yes, what is it that makes you visit it regularly?

PPS. Too much isn't too bad when it comes to blogging. Here's announcing the launch of CircusMouse, a blog which I'm not able to come up with a description for. Promises to be lot of chaos, fun and entertainment. Check it out and let us know!

PPPS. Have you checked eye5 lately? Regular posting has resumed there as well. Planning to revive 10+3i. Hopefully, some good news on that front soon.

What's This Stupid Internet Thing? Shut It Down

2007-08-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sir Elton John wants the internet to be shut down. And pray, why is he singing this tune? In his own words -

"The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff.

Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision."

The next gem is truly humbling. Because I was under the under the impression that my blogging was to change the world and according to Sir John, it isn't quite so. Thank You Sir for enlightening us.

“We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet."

"Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging."

I say dump your key-boards and get on the street, we're going to protest against the internet now. Imagine everyone using the internet out on the street shouting Internet Hai Hai. Or, Mera broadband connection waapis le lo. . Blogging, Wogging nahin chalegi, nahin chalegi.

More gems from Sir John in this Sun article. That's not music to our ears, Sir. The Sun reporter is better at puns. Joining the chorus with Sir John to give us more gems, she ends the article with - I guess that’s what Sir Elt would call a net loss . .

Net loss, indeed it is. A Rolling Stone article on the decline of the record industry has some real eye-openers. Some interesting points from the article -

Overall CD sales have plummeted sixteen percent for the year so far -- and that's after seven years of near-constant erosion.
In 2000, the ten top-selling albums in the U.S. sold a combined 60 million copies; in 2006, the top ten sold just 25 million.
More than 5,000 record-company employees have been laid off since 2000.
About 2,700 record stores have closed across the country since 2003

And wonder when will the industry executives start looking at technology as an ally and use it effectively, like EMI offering its entire music collection DRM-free on iTunes. While physical album sales have declined, digital sales are growing as the numbers from the article indicate.

Digital sales are growing -- fans bought 582 million digital singles last year, up sixty-five percent from 2005, and purchased $600 million worth of ringtones -- but the new revenue sources aren't making up for the shortfall.

More such DRM-free offerings, more labels entering into license agreements with YouTube, innovative models like Amiestreet is the way ahead. And people talk about shutting down the internet.

The record labels just seem to be in a hurry to squeeze as much as possible from all possible revenue sources. No wonder then that all internet radio stations in the US went silent on June 26 to observe the National Day of Silence protesting against new royalty rates.

While music on the internet in India is still in its early stages, the situation isn't very different with the odds highly stacked against those who use branded content and wanting to do it legally. Hefty license fees, very hazy regulatory body structure, use of every possible opportunity to extract that little more money, rampant piracy and the inability of the powers that be to effectively control it. is threatening to kill internet radio in its infancy in India. Remember that story in which the greedy owner kills the goose laying golden eggs? Looks like another case of the same. Hoping to come up with a more detailed piece on the scene here in India. In the meanwhile, Naa Bajega Baans, Naa Bajegi Baansuri! Isn't this what they say?

For Shrimati Sonia Gandhi and her co(terie)

2007-07-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

Related post - All The Presidents Were Men

Related not as in brother-in-law or someone's husband. Well, not really.

The Long Tail in radio

2007-07-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm no rocket scientist(I've never wanted to be one), or an economist(which I've sometimes wanted to be) or a social scientist(which I want to be), but one doesn't need to be any of the above to figure this out.

For Jaane Do Na from Cheeni Kum, Illayaraja uses one of his earlier compositions, Jothe Jotheyali from the Kannada film, Geetha. An earlier version of the same is Vizhiyile Undan vizhiyile from Tamil film, Nooravadu Naal. Been listening to lot of FM radio and happened to make this observation. The observation being - while Jaane Do Na was played across different radio stations, the Kannada original was played more frequently. Much like this from Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. Here's an excerpt which talks about a similar phenomenon -

In 1988, a British mountain climber named Joe Simpson wrote a book called Touching the Void, a harrowing account of near death in the Peruvian Andes. It got good reviews but, only a modest success, it was soon forgotten. Then, a decade later, a strange thing happened. Jon Krakauer wrote Into Thin Air, another book about a mountain-climbing tragedy, which became a publishing sensation. Suddenly Touching the Void started to sell again.

Random House rushed out a new edition to keep up with demand. Booksellers began to promote it next to their Into Thin Air displays, and sales rose further. A revised paperback edition, which came out in January, spent 14 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. That same month, IFC Films released a docudrama of the story to critical acclaim. Now Touching the Void outsells Into Thin Air more than two to one.

What happened? In short, Amazon.com recommendations. The online bookseller's software noted patterns in buying behavior and suggested that readers who liked Into Thin Air would also like Touching the Void. People took the suggestion, agreed wholeheartedly, wrote rhapsodic reviews. More sales, more algorithm-fueled recommendations, and the positive feedback loop kicked in.

Particularly notable is that when Krakauer's book hit shelves, Simpson's was nearly out of print. A few years ago, readers of Krakauer would never even have learned about Simpson's book - and if they had, they wouldn't have been able to find it. Amazon changed that. It created the Touching the Void phenomenon by combining infinite shelf space with real-time information about buying trends and public opinion. The result: rising demand for an obscure book.

While Jothe Jotheyali is by no means an obscure song, Jaane Do Na definitely helped to bring it in the popular public realm. And how did The Long Tail work here? The radio stations can store all the content they want and with smart methods of organizing such content and information, it helps them serve their audience better. All this and more without having to spend extra resources and still being able to find that one song which a caller might ask for during a request show.

Here's the Kannada song from perhaps the best example of The Long Tail -

All The Presidents Were Men

2007-07-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, tried playing on this. As I cleared my Deep Throat, I felt the definite need for it.

With our Presidential election having come down to the streets, we, the villagers of Domlur couldn't be far away from it. Now that there looks to be a distinct possibility of Shrimati Pratibha Patil Shekhawat becoming our President, the grandmother in our neighbourhood remarked - 'Nodi, Ee kaaladalli hennu makkalu yaariginthanoo kadime illa. Namma Mahila Mandalada Presidentoo hennu magale, eega deshada Rasthrapatinpoo hennu magale'. Meaning - See, women are second to none. The President of our Women's Club is also a woman and now, the President of our country will also be a woman. Just that, the President of the Domlur Women's Club(if such a thing exists) has to be a women. Oh yeah, the grandmother part is definitely made up. Do not take anyone in our Domlur for granted. And do not take Domlur itself for granted. Nothing less, it has a Wikipedia entry.

What makes me feel sad is that a lot of people enjoy such nonsense, they're missing out on much better fun - our Presidential election. Reading about this in the newspapers, hearing about it and watching about it in these news channels, with these pretty dumb things on air, is immense fun. For example, let's start taking everything they say literally. Pratibha lashes at critics. Imagine our future President with a whip and lashing her critcs, and they squealing on every lash. Or even if you take the phrases that these guys and pretty dumb girls generally use, mud slinging, for example. Imagine Shri Advani and co. on one side and Mrs. Gandhi and co. with Comrade Karat and co. to her Left (and no one to their left, because they are the Left) throwing mud at each other and the winning party candidate becoming the President. Wake up and realise, it is for nothing that they call this dirty politics. Huh, the Dhobis in Delhi will have a nice time.

It was not long back that the Left propped up Capt. Laskhmi Sehgal against the joint Congress-BJP candidate Dr. Kalam. Things have changed and how. And again, it is not without reason that they say politics makes strange bed-fellows. Now, taking that literally would be taking it a little too far, no? No wait, this piece in Outlook will make that clear as well -

Shalini Sharma, close to Shekhawat when he was Rajasthan CM, was accused of supplying women to powerful BJP ministers. Shalini was made VP of the state social welfare board by the Shekhawat regime.

The Congress and the Left would think they've effectively checkmated Shri. Shekhawat's chances by fielding Shrimati Patil Shekhawat. Fielding of course, in the cricketing sense, can add lot of fun too. Imagine Ahmed Patel running to 10, Janpath, panting heavily and breaking the news to Soniaji - 'Madam, we've caught Shrimati Patil'. Mrs. Gandhi will say - 'Good fielding Mr. Patel'.

So while those supporting her will think they've checkmated the NDA and allies by choosing Shrimati Shekhawat Patil to be their candidate, imagine what will she say to Shri Shekhawat(not her husband Mr. Shekhawat, of course) if they were to come face to face. 'Shekhawatji, check my mate - he's a Shekhawat too!' Huh, killing two birds with one stone. Take it literally? Not quite, we're non-violent people.

So while there can be birds, can horses be far behind? No wonder we hear about horse-trading around such events.

To me, the first memories of President of our country will always be Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma in his penguin-like walking style taking rounds of the different ghats laying wreaths to pay respects to our departed leaders. Such fun, those days were. Geetanjali Iyer, Usha Albuquerque, Minu, Avinash Kaur Sareen, Neeti Ravindran and I can go on listing those wonderful DD news readers. And man, the Sukanya Balakrishnan. And now you have these pretty dumb things. And yes, not to forget those commentaries during the Republic Day and Independence Day parades. And now you have these pretty dumb things.

And as far as the Prez election goes(hate the use of the Prez term as much as the pretty dumb things), I'll be happy if Mughal Gardens gets a good care-taker. Hoping Mr. Shekhawat(either of the two) will take good care of the wonderful flora there. The President's post was for someone scholarly, someone erudite, someone who is a true ambassador of India and someone who brought a lot of dignity to the post. Was, is the word now. For all the talk of a woman President or a masses man becoming our President, as a nation and as a political system I was quite proud of, we've lost something along the way. Sad.

What sex is Bangalore?

2007-07-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Indian definitely promises more than it can deliver. Also that it underwent something close to a sex change operation recently, new logo and all.

And after the wonderful flight, here's what the air hostess(if she still remains she) will announce -

And yes, in honour of Shri Balaji, who reminded me of the existence of my photoblog eye5, I'm resuming posting on eye5.

External ultrasound-assisted liposuction (XUAL or EUAL)

2007-06-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

One way or the other, you just have to get it out. While the rich can afford External ultrasound-assisted liposuction (XUAL or EUAL)or some such fancy sounding method, the poor blogger in me could only think as far as making up his mind to sit down and blog on this day, come what may. While May came and went, the only excuse I can think of was that I was waiting for it to rain again in Bangalore!

While I hope to post regularly from now on, with more organized and ordered posts, here's all that was added to that Word Document named May 8 Blog Post. Mein yeh hope karta hoon ki May there be no more such May 8 Blog Post drafts. Have I missed adding a May/mein/main somewhere?

Yes, I have been in hibernation for some time. Not that I’ve been living in a house named hibernation, a considerable time has passed since my last post. This of course, is without taking into account, the time I lost when I misplaced my watch for a few days. I was afraid I’d lose all the time in the world as I lost my watch. One of my confusions is now solved. I used to wonder what people meant when they said – ‘You can take your own sweet time’. Now I know. They meant - look at your watch and work accordingly. And probably keep licking it if they find it sweet. Ironic isn’t it? I did not have a watch and still took my sweet own time in writing this post. And by the way, I live in a house named Infant Cottage, which makes me feel more of a child under Jesus’s care. And why not? When there is Jesus Loves You written over the walls. Not all over, at three places to be precise. Thank You Jesus.

Bangalore has been fun. It’s been a little more than four months since I came here and I’m beginning to like Bangalore all the more as time passes by. Yes, you’ll have the young cool, hip, lip and such junta talking about pollution, the traffic and what was that – yes, the crumbling infrastructure! Where did you hear that? Some dumb newsreader would have said that or a screaming RJ maybe. For all the problems that it has, and which I completely accept there are, Bangalore is a nice place. One may not absolutely love the place, you can definitely not not like it. It doesn’t bring out extreme emotions like Mumbai does. For example – I absolutely love Mumbai, but I like Bangalore or I hate Mumbai, but Bangalore’s OK or some such thing. In my case, the former is true.

Why I like Bangalore is because there are places like Domlur, where Jesus protects me every night. It’s close to all the hustle and bustle of the city, yet far removed from the noise and related pains of a city. Vegetable sellers sell door to door in their carts, hearing their pitch is such a pleasure; the temples have their fairs, taking me back by many years; kids play cricket on the street during the day and badminton under the halogen lamps by the night. Not sure how many saw these knife-sharpeners in your natives, they come here in Domlur!

And of course, with Ankush around, there’s never a dull moment . Be it the sessions at Alibi, or the trip to Hyderabad that never happened, or the trip to Nandi Hills that happened, he’ll make sure it’s always happening, or make it indeed happening by not making things happen. And yes, it’s such fun when you have to ask him to keep looking at his feet while walking on Brigade Road and Picasso Street. There’s nothing like Picasso Street in Bangalore though, it’s the street on which Pecos is located. Pandit coined the name in one of his amazing moments of realization. Harsha, while all this was happening, was, well, quiet. Harsha did speak once, while we were at the air show during Aero India when he said Squadron Leader Mohit Shishodia deserves a hats-off.

Pandit and Harsha know why Squadron Leader Mohit Shishodia deserves a hats-off. The Aero Show was indeed a thrilling experience, especially the Akash Ganga formations and maneuvers and of course, Squadron Leader Mohit Shishodia brilliant dives and take-offs. One just had to be there along with Harsha, Pandit and me to know why Squadron Leader Mohit Shishodia indeed deserves a hats-off.

Hang-outs at M G Road and Brigade Road happened with Seth, Venki, Ram and Baka dropping into the city at different points of time. I’m really scared of Brigade Road though, having hallucinations that everyone on that might suddenly start beating me up. There are too many people on that road for my comfort. Church Street on the other hand is far safer. With Premier Bookstore, Blossoms Bookstore, Alibi, Ganesh Juice Center on it, and Koshy’s located at the end of it, which makes it more the kind of place I’d like to hang out. Movie watching with Pandit has definitely been fun, Apocalypto, with character names like Turtles Run, Smoke Frog, Jaguar Paw, Flint Sky and funniest of all – Ball Breath was a wonderful beginning. It continued weekly with 300, The Last King of Scotland, Shakalaka Boom Boom, Namastey London, The Namesake. Watched Anwar and Loose Change on DVD. And yes, Bharath is in Bangalore too, reminding me of this by turning up at Airport Road one fine evening. The dinner at Bombay Post was followed by a movie session at IISc - under the stars, under the watchful eyes of J N Tata, when we watched The Pursuit of Happyness.

The Iron Maiden concert was more funny than fun. With people having arrived from far and wide, from as far as Noida and Nepal, to as wide as Surat, the concert was really disappointing even for a true Maiden fan. With Chinsi and Vinzu around, we sure had our share of fun, ducking when Eddie came on stage with a gun in his hand, fearing that he may actually fire or cracking stupid jokes that the show wrapped up early because the Pandalwallah had an important marriage to set up his pandal the next day. We were also wondering if 666 was mre pronounced while The Number of the Beast was being performed because Sehwag perhaps was hitting them against Bangladesh that day. The truth as we all know now was something else. Less said the better about that. No, I will say something about it soon. But Cricket perhaps deserves more justice than just a passing mention in this post.

Between many near-life experiences,
Movies
300
Apocalypto
Namsatey London
The Namesake
Shakalaka Boom Boom
The Last King of Scotland
Anwar
Loose Change
Pursuit of Happyness – Bharath and Radhika in IISc.

A Movie A Day week

Dor – Imaan ki Chhalaang
Life in a Metro
Lage Raho Munnabhai
Parzania
Black Friday
Shootout At Lokhandwala

Books

Once Upon a Time Zone - Neelesh Mishra – husband of Nidhi Razdan.
Black Friday
My Friend Leonard
a million little pieces
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Transmission
The Red Carpet
Ludmila’s Broken English

Currently reading

Alchemy of Desire

Travel

Home, Mangalore, Bommanahalli, Home, Home, Home.

Other things – writing long letters!

Quizzing –Bangalore quizzing is funny. Thank God for Tom Swifities, buying The Undercover Economist with the prize money!

Bangalore – enough of Dr. Raj, M G Road and Brigade Road. Hate those RJs whose tribute is mocking actually. And yuppies who make fun of him – If you come today. No chai in Bangalore.

Church Street and Picasso Street are fun.

Meeting Venki, Hitesh, Baka and Ram.

Embarrassing Ankush during the swimming session! Mohit Shishodia – Air Trip
Iron Maiden - Vinzu!

Domlur is an amazing place!

BMS and PES Fest – trying to shake off the cynical feeling, of them being ‘kids’ etc.

Visits to IISc campus. Feeling of wanting to get back to studies.

Less is more - City and Blinding Lights and Snow. Stipebhai.

Nandi Hills trip. Riding downhill at 60 kmph with the engine off, overtaking three cars is not an achievement.

Mahaquizzer and World Quizzing Championship

Shootout at Lokhandwala, Life in a Metro and the auto ride back.

Kitchen, cooking. Return to Maggi.

Radio characters, sensible fun place on the internet.

Alive and kicking rain water.

2007-04-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

I'm totally alive, reminded of it by the innumerable near-life experiences! Lots to be written, but here's something to see!

In ancient times, people used to write letters and drop them in these boxes and they would be physically delivered. Silly people, no? Interesting that e-mail clients use the Post Office Protocol, generally known as (POP3)

Today, April 24th is Dr. Rajkumar's birthday. Dr. Raj, Annavru as he is affectionately called is the Father (err, Brother?) of Karnataka?! You will always remain in our hearts and (on FM radio and TV), Dr. Raj.

Fans wishing Dr. Raj comes back. You will find such hoardings all over Bangalore.

An auto-stand in memory of Dr. Raj. But it's Shankar Nag who's still the auto-wallah's favourite.

A PG accommodation ad on ISRO(Indian Space Research Organization) Housing Colony board. Does it mean they provide accommodation in space?

Accommodation in a bin?! This PG business is big, bin or space or otherwise.

Good Morning, child!

Happy Birthday, Nikhil

2007-02-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Nikhil,

Congratulations on completing 22 years of your life. Maybe this birthday wasn’t as happening as the last one, but it was only apt that this birthday celebration, if you can call it that, was very quiet. It gave you the time, however little you got, to reflect and think on what you’ve been through since your last birthday. You also thought of what you want do and where you want to be for your next birthday. Though this happened when things were a little hazy, but the sky was still very clear and you could manage to walk straight. And when the haze cleared the next morning, you were glad that you have come a long way since your last birthday, but also reminded yourself that there’s much more to be done. Make sure you never lose sight of that. Go hang yourself otherwise or pick up the phone and talk to those special people bearing the brunt of your irritation, to get back on track.

Though you haven’t had any time to digest all that you’ve been through in the last one year, you understand that you’ve surely learnt a lot and in more ways than one, they have helped you evolve as a person. They might not be visible in terms of the acquisitions that you’ve made or explained in stupid blog posts like these, but you have certainly realized that on certain occasions, decisions based on such experiences hold you in good stead rather than anything that has been taught to you or been told that those are the right things.

Judging by yourself, but considering different perspectives before that

You’ve also learnt to make judgments by yourself, but at the same time making sure that you understand all the possible ways the same thing could be looked at. While you are certainly right on most occasions, you’ve also realized the importance of making an effort to understand first and then appreciate others’ points of view. That not only broadens your outlook, but also helps you feel comfortable while dealing with different kinds of people.

Enjoy people laughing behind your back.

To this a lot of people would say – ignore people who laugh behind your back. I say – enjoy with them. There are two things to this. One, that their amusement over you could be totally baseless and thus while you’re laughing with them, you’re actually laughing at them. Two, there might be some genuine reason to their reaction. There’s no harm in laughing at yourself. Do that and make sure without being bothered too much, work on those things. It’s a little hard to digest humiliation, but you’ll come stronger out of it. I know you are smiling now, that’s how you’ve learnt a lot of things. Now that you are doing much better, you’re definitely enjoying it!

Patience and focus

Perhaps these two are the most important things you’ve learnt since your last birthday.

You cannot do everything by yourself, immaterial of how genuinely interested in each of those you are or how important it is to you. There are a few things, which beyond a certain level, are beyond your control. Then you have to bow to the structure and order and let things take their own course. I don’t mean to say that you should become a slave of the ‘system’, it is also that certain structures and systems are put in place to maintain order and it is important to respect them. Thus it becomes important to maneuver and find your way through this structure. That skill of making sure you get what you want and to keep people in good humor is something which needs to be developed. Some smart people around you know how to do it, learn it from them. Be patient, but don’t get sick!

There are a lot of things you wanted to do and a lot you still want to do. Just to make sure your energy is used judiciously in the right direction, it is better you concentrate on a few things you think you are good at and you are comfortable with. You are indeed fortunate that you have access to people and resources to help you pursue your interests, but make sure you know the difference between your interests and matters which deserve more attention.

Formalities and niceties are important.

Well yes, on certain occasions and with certain people for sure. But otherwise remain as politically incorrect and blunt as you are. Formalities and niceties are important because not only they make you (appear!) more presentable, they lend a certain degree of credibility to what you say and what you do. Though personally you might not like as it might seem superficial, it is important that you understand and appreciate this. Ways of the world, my man! Be like them, it’s ok. But don’t be them!

[Nikhil’s reaction to this: What the fuck man? Could you please cut the crap? ]

Well, let’s put an end to this crap. But remember
* You’ve definitely done your bit, but there’s so much more to do. The benchmarks are only getting higher by the day. Yes, a lot of times you have the feeling of having ‘been there, done that’. Kick that feeling, go out and take up new challenges.

* Remain as stupid as you’ve always been. You’ve learnt a lot of things the hard way and perhaps that’s the best way to learn things. Remain stupid, ask more stupid questions and make a lot of mistakes.

* Malcolm Gladwell is definitely right, Blink! is a great book. But yes, try being a little measured and less instinctive while reacting to things. Think on your feet, but sit down and talk!

* There are those special people in this world who make you the person you are today. Some help you remain sane while others make sure you are as insane as you’ve always been. And yes, the sugarcane crushing machine!
[ Nikhil : Thanks all you special people. You know who you are. Joey ishtyle! ☺]

It’ll be interesting to watch the contents of the letter I’ll write to you on your 23rd birthday.

Naansense and a month in Mumbai.

2006-11-01T06:36:00.000-08:00

[ I'm in Mumbai now. All my tech posts like the previous one on search engines will now be on WATblog.Here are my recent posts on WATblog.]

This is the tenth time I'm sitting down to write this. It should have been up about ten days back, but then ten things wouldn't have been added. Then, it would've been tentatively titled 'Tendulkar's tender tentacles'. Now that would've given you a lot of tension. Ah, enough of it.

10. I'm definitely talking about both here - nonsense and the bread - naan. Just that having stayed in Pondicherry for close to five months, it is difficult to shake off the South Indian accent. So that's naansense for you.

Naan, in this case the bread, also makes a lot of sense. With the kaamwali bai bidding us good bye, we're mostly having to eat a lot of naan. Apparently, this not(naat?) so good bai decided to do a lot of buying during Diwali with her bhais. Then while helping herself with baingan ka bharta,she decided to bid us good-bye or was she inspired while attending an RSS baithak and then boycotted us! Ah, that was too much of wordplay!

Now to the more serious mentions,

1. We still haven't found a regular bai. That is indeed unsettling.

2. Mumbai is wonderful. One word which probably describes Mumbai the best is - intense. There are way too many things happenings, there are way too many people on the roads, way too many people in the local trains, way too many scents and odours, way too many sounds and way too many things to be mentioned here. Inspite of all this, there's such sense behind the madness. I'm reminded of this post, where I had mentioned about reading books, watching movies about Mumbai. It feels good to have read those books which once one wishes to read. Gregory David Roberts's Shantaram was the first. It's probably the best investment I've made in my life till now. And it is only apt that I gifted it to Scott while he was here in India and of course, fell in love with Mumbai. Check out the t-shirts he's made. And yes, he's donating some of the proceeds of the sales to PlanetRead. Way to go, Mr. Social Entrepreneur in the making. No wait, he's already one! And yes, here's the documentary we made for PlanetRead. A long way ahead from the days of silly college videos like Over and Out and de Young Basanti. And yes, then I read Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. Ok, the book might not have the depth of Shantaram, but is certainly wide, in terms of the time and geography he's managed to cover in the book. The book certainly justifies the time it took, seven years, and the advance Vikram Chandra got for the book.

And then Suketubhai Mehta in his Maximum City delves much deeper into the chaotic universe that is Mumbai and brings to life more of its intrigues and intricacies. Can't wait for Shantram to be brought alive on screen.

52. What? Shouldn't three follow two? Blame it on my sudden surge of interest interest in random numbers.

So here's another random list of things I've been upto in Mumbai.

23. Kaak, Chinsi, Kenny and another one 'He who shall not be named' (for the simple reason that I do not know his name) were here in Mumbai. We went around South Mumbai, I bought The Perfect Store: Inside eBay and have finished reading it as well. More on the book soon. All I remember is that we walked into Gokul Bar and the rest of it is still very hazy. How we spoke of life being a spiral and not a circle, our journey back to Andheri, how they must be the luckiest people on this earth to have caught a bus back to Surat, is all very hazy. I'm glad such hazy things happen.

24. Movies watched.

Seems like it'll take another three hundred twenty seven years for Hindi movies to be regularly screened in Pondicherry. So starved I was for Hindi movies, read Hindi movies in theatres, that I had to get my dose of Hindi movies when I came to Mumbai. Here's the list - Jaan-e-Mann, Don, Apna Sapna Money Money, Deadline - Sirf 24 ghante and Dhoom 2.

My two cents worth. No wait, I paid more for these. Anyway, here goes.

I'm no big consumer of Dabur products, but I have to say Yeh baat kuch hazam nahin hui to Gulzaar Sahab. There's no comparing Naam Ada likhna in Yahaan to huaan jo zamane ka dastoor hain, woh maane nahi dad naaraaz tha and sirf do hi mahine hai seh lo agar, mera future hai teri kasam, mera future hai jismein piya in Jaan-E-Mann. It really hurts, Gulzaarsahab. Thank God, there's Guru coming soon and it does have some good alfaaz.

Jaan-E-Mann deserves no mention here, while Don was very stylishly made. For all the flak Farhan has received, I congratulate him for taking this risk and coming out trumps. Isn't Don a hit? Guess that says it all.

Dhoom 2? It's got Hrithik written over it all the way. The liplock aside, Aishwarya looks more like, like Sneha Ullal. Bikinasha, Abhishek and Uday just manage to pass the muster, helping us pass pop-corn with ease.

37. Books read

- Maximum City

- The Bachelor of Arts

- The Perfect Store: Inside eBay

- In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India. Makes for an interesting read. Having read India Unbound earlier, this book helped me put the various aspects of India- social, political and economic, in the right perspective. Long way to go before I really understand the dynamics of this mystery that is India.

- The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better by Seth Godin. I regularly follow Seth's blog, and just like on his blog where he simplifies marketing,in the books he provides real life examples to simplify web design.

All books recommended for reading, depending on your tastes and sensibilites.

58. Books to be read

- The Alchemy of Desire by Tarun Tejpal. Wonder how tasty will that be? Yes, this is in refence to this. Scroll down and you'll come to know why. Anyway, I've developed this strange liking for writers from Tehelka. Bunker 13 by Aniruddha Bahal. The rpm from that book is still very fresh in my mind. Read this to know more!

- Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog. Thought it's time I read some sensible stuff!

57. Some more movies I watched while I was not blogging
- Kannathil Muthamittal
- Pithamagan
- Fight Club(again)
- Full Metal Jacket.

Whenever I walk in the teeming Mumbai crowd, I imagine everyone marching on the road saying - "This is my rifle, this is my gun". If you've watched the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about.

63. Really glad that I'm back to quizzing. Because I'm not a B-school student, for purposes of convenience, I'm a student of NMIMS and Das remains my partner for any online B-school quiz. What's more, it was a heartening return to quizzing as Das and I teamed up to win the second prize in the entertainment quiz by IIFT. Another matter though that Dipubhai and I could not make it to the finals of quiz conducted by Avinash Mudaliar. But then, answers like the Marlboro man, iPod shuffle and more importantly FabIndia will help us take pleasant memories from that quiz. But just one point of bother - do fun and entertainment in a quiz have to include references to balls and let the tongue and cheek go haywire of tongue-in-cheek.

108. Watched Shazia Mirza perform.She was funny, hilarous, outrageous, serious, over the top, stinging all at once. But her honesty and straighforwardness are what make her more appealing and entertaining. If all her gigs are her real life stories, then this woman surely has the nerve!

457. Watched Kashinama at The Prithvi Theatre Festival. Was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Ok, this I have to write. I was standing beside Kay Kay Menon and then I asked him who the performer was. Swanand Kirkire,came the answer. No sooner did I exclaim - Oh Hazaaron, did Swanand began Baanwra Mann, followed by Raat Hamaari toh bowing to audience's request. His Main solah saal ka would be ideal for the short film on social networking I'm planning to make. Plans are to run into him again at Prithvi and ask him for the same. I know it's a tough ask, but I'll try.

3124. Shortfilm reminds me of the documentary/shortfilm Komal and I are planning to make on the recent 'corporatization' of Bollywood covering the latest attempts at
innovative marketing and promotion. We've got the basic framework worked out. All we need to do now is just go out there and do it! Promises to be exciting. What say? Ms. Big shot journalist! [ Ah, how much I'll have to hear for this]

5372. Conversations with Prayas have been educative and enlightening in a sense. We've discussed(a lot) over coffee, some Italian dish I can't remember and dinner. Hopefully, something concrete will emerge out of those discussions. Personally, Prayas has been a great person to spend time with. I shall start contributing for Mumbai Diaries soon and get invloved in the short film competition Prayas mentions on his blog.

6453. Ok, Pandora can read my mind. Talking of music, Mumbai's Rainbow FM is really good. I like it not because it is the only station which plays English music, but because unlike the RJs at Mirchi, Red, One, BIG or City, RJs at Rainbow are restrained and not shouting over the top of their voices.

3241.DesiLassi is up and running. We're still contemplating on how do we position it. Positioning might seem a fancy term, but doing business on the internet is definitely not easy if there's no focus. The DesiLassi blog is up. Promises to be a fun ride. Finished a pilot TV show episode for BookBox. Feels good to have done most of the things by my own - shooting, post, pre and free production and editing!

367532. And finally,

If you find love on the internet, will you say it was love at first site?!
If you work on the internet for a long time, will you be keybored?

Thinking beyond Google and the search for the next big thing in search.

2006-10-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Search begins and ends with Google, or so you thought. Ofcourse, there are the other search engines which you never really bothered to visit - Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and Ask. But there are a slew of other search engines which are sure to make search more interesting. Whether they'll be able to give Google a run for its money? Only time will tell. But for now, Google
rules the roost with a market share of 49.2%, followed by Yahoo at 23.8% with MSN, AOL and Ask ranking up in this order with market shares in single digits.

Google recently launched its Personalised Search. This keeps a history of all of one's previous searches, be it in Google images, Froogle, Google video et al. A very useful,feature indeed and interestingly, one can get an idea of his/her preferences/search habits after using this over a period of time.

Most of our searches are sporadic and random and it's good to know about our search preferences. Most of our work on the internet begins with a search and the Google's personalised search would give an idea of how do we spend most of our time on the internet. One may also bookmark the pages. So you need not worry if you've searched for something previously and have forgotten to bookmark it. Google's personalised search makes your life easier. One perhaps needs to use it over a period of time to get this kind of data.

A small enhancement, but very substantial nonetheless. With Google putting on hold rollout of new products and instead deciding on concentrating its energy on making the existing products work better, it remains to be seen what enhancements it brings to search. Innovation or improvement? Improvement it is, now that Google has reached a stage where it had to stop and think about its future plans, all the hype and hoopla over the GooTube deal not withstanding.

The founders of YouTube talk here about the deal.

Can't miss the naughty smile on their faces initially and how they break into an almost boyish laughter towadrs the end of the video. Imagine watching a tourist video of Pondicherry and having ads for budget hotels in Pondicherry on the side. That could be GooTube for you!

Another interesting product from Google's stable is
SearchMash. Since Google cannot radically alter search on the main site, SearchMash seems to an ideal playground for experimenting with new ideas. This has a host of new and exciting features, which indeed may lead to making one's own search engine.

To begin with, there is no Search button, which is redundant anyway. You hit enter and the SERPs appear with the top three image search results by their side. You may then drag and drop the search results according how important or relevant you think they are. The subesequent search results open in the same page on hitting the spacebar. Very neat - the features, the layout and the idea. Go ahead. Try it!

Here's a search engine whose model seems interesting - ChaCha. It offers 'real time search results'. And as ChaCha claims on its website, ChaCha is

* A smart search engine powered by human intelligence.
* A place to find exactly what you're looking for without sifting through
millions of results.
* Intelligent search results from people who are knowledgeable about the
very thing you are looking for.

One may either search the web as you do normally or do a 'live' search. During a live search, you talk to a 'guide' who searches for the information and provides it you. The guides are paid by ChaCha and the remuneration is proportionate to their 'expertise'. You need to be invited to the network- ChaCha Underground and have you work your way up through the guide hierarchy. More details on SearchEngineWatch.

I tried searching for 'Hotels in Pondicherry' with a guide and after I confirmed that that Pondicherry was indeed in South India, I didn't hear anything more from the guide.

But still, here's why ChaCha might work.

1. Instead of spending a lot of time searching within hundres of search results, people would be willing to spend that extra time to get exact results for their queries.

2. The human touch, which makes it more interactive and easy to use.

Cluster search anyone?

Try Clusty. Cluster search arranges the SERPs into cluster thus making it easier for you.

A search for 'Hotels in Pondicherry' on Clusty arranges the SERPs into -

- Pondicherry
- Discount
- Hotels and Resorts
- Deluxe Hotels
- Pondicherry Travel
- Booking of hotels in Pondicherry
- Hotel Mass *
- Accomodation in Pondicherry
- Tour packages

[ * Hotel Mass is a well-known hotel in Pondicherry]

Each have these 'clusters' have links within them and thus the search results are arranged according to the category they belong to. Definitely makes searching easier. Clusty come from Vivismo .

Also using cluster search results are Mooter and Clush. Clusty, with features like Clusty Clouds, definitely scores here.

Now either Powerset let me use its much talked about Natural Language Search or take responsibility for my death. Seriously, with so much being discussed about Powerset in the blogosphere, it remains to be seen if Powerset lives up to the hype. No doubt its team comes with impeccable credentials, especially its founder and CEO Barney Pell. The COO Steve Newcomb and Product Architect Lorenzo Thione have been in the search industry for a long time to understand its dynamics. So one has enough reasons to believe that the buzz is totally unjustified. What makes Powerset immensely likeable is its founders frankness and honesty, not to mention the clear elucidation of their philosophy behind Powerset. Here's what Barney Pell has to say in response to the blogstorm generated around Powerset -

" Anyway, we truly were not expecting all this attention yet, as we are not releasing a product in the immediate future. It is a little daunting to have so much attention but not be able show our product yet. Nobody can tell if we are hype or substance (unless they know us). However, from my perspective, one great thing about this blogstorm coming early is that it has kicked off a vibrant discussion about the present and future of search, and what it would mean to be able to express intention to a search engine in a new way. That discussion goes beyond any one company and itself can lead to the kind of transformation every startup hopes to achieve."

Personally I believe search is yet to be solved and there's definitely more to search than what Google can offer.

So, can Snap provide us with a new search experience. Infact it calls itself - ' the other way to search'. We are all so used to the 'text in text out' way of search that Snap comes as a refreshing change. Refreshing because, though not as 'simple' as Google or the other well-known search engines, it definitely provides a very pleasant search experience.

Picture here

It provides search results on the left and one can navigate through these by using the up/down arrow keys. The previews of the search results appear on the right. Pretty neat for those who aren't conditioned to use keywordese. You may mark the each result as Perfect or Junk thus enabling better results for future searches. The interface is also very user-friendly. According to Snap, here's why they feel they are better.

Snap was also mentioned as one of the 50 coolest websites on TIME.

My two cents worth on the new movement in search.

Nothing can replace Google, because of its deep pockets and its immense popularity. Ther's no denying the huge impact it is having on our lives. But there can definitely be new way out for some kind of searches for which Google definitely doesn't help much. So are websites like Guruji, Raftaar, Onyomo, burrp! the answer?!

More on these websites in the posts to follow.

Here's the wikipedia list of search engines.

Tags:Search,Google,Powerset,ChaCha,Snap,SearchMash,Raftaar,Guruji

Which came first - the chick or the egg?

2006-10-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

Location:
Handicrafts exhibition
Beach Road
Pondicherry.

State :
A little tired and busy with work.
Will be back with regular posts soon.