Long Holiday Ahead & some cricket

Well not that long...just 3 days for me.

While we have Diwali and Ramzan at almost the same time, the guys in US have Halloween. Have a nice time folks, whoever is reading in whichever part of the world.

Talking of what I intend to do...one thing is for sure, I will not miss the next cricket match. I have not been able to catch any crcket live so far. Have been reading and imagining Tendulkar coming out of the crease and lifting the bowlers over the covers and mid on. Well when you have 29'' Onida, it's not that hard to imagine! (borrowed from the Samsung ad)

I just hope Tendulkar's and India's form last till the end of next world cup. Otherwise it will be really sad for Tendulkar to go down as the greatest cricket player ever, not to have won a world cup. There are contenders for this too, like Lara. He is a good bat too. And in certain areas (like winning against the Australians from a hopeless situation) he is actually better than Tendulkar. But kya karein, Tendulkar is our own man.

Ganguly looks all set to bow out of International cricket. but cant write him off till the BCCI elections are over. If Dalmiya wins, I wont be surprised to see Ganguly back in the team. But captaincy is a no no for sure.

Have a great holiday ahead

Talk about vella guys

Yes when some CompSci students at the University of Virginia got vella they did something interesting

Well this is a link which can connect any actor to any other actor in less than 6 steps!

Try it out and have fun.

A Tale of Two Cities

Well it rained in Bangalore...and the city could not take it anymore. Scenes like the traffic jams on the left were seen all over Bangalore last nite. I was stuck in many of them on my way home. But some depressing news about the city was reported in Deccan Herald yesterday.

But something even worse happened 3 months back in Mumbai. And I was there. Given below is a brief description of what happened then.

Talking of that wet Tuesday...I had a relatively easy way back...Got dropped upto a point beyond Sion(which was where most of the people were stranded) by Bhaskar a localite friend(they know the inside out of the streets which will get flooded etc etc) in his Scorpio(damn nice vehicle in this kind of situations). Walked about a km when I got a rickshaw, 30 mins Mulund, another rick 15 mins Home. 2 of my friends were with me all the time.

I left office at 4PM and reached home at 6PM :) But saw few things which I will remember for the rest of my life...

I was scared of crossing the Kurla part of the Eastern expressway coz of the slums lined on both sides of the road. When I reached there it was brimming with activity, people serving tea, mineral water, biscuit etc etc And similar to scenes in War of the World, whoever was coming in a car/Bus were stopped,people bashing on the wind shields asking them to stop and take people(esp women and children) in their empty backseats. Initially I thought its ridiculous, but then looking at the gravity ofthe situation, why shudnt people be unwilling to take others if there is extra space. Pvt cars, buses were going full from Kurla as the roads were clear till Thane. And it was left to the people living in slums to teach the others to share and care for others. I thought it was great and genuine...

That was Bombay and this is Bangalore. And I always thought the South Indians are more helpful and stuff...Not anymore

One difference between Bombay and Bangalore is that in Bombay everyone has to go through the grind everyday. If you are earning 6 lacs or 60000, you take the train, you get stuck in jams, there is a hurry in everyone's life. They understand the pain that exists in their fellow city-mate.

Here it is different. They keep cribbing that because of the IT and BPO guys, the prices are soaring and if they can afford it then we might as well charge them. I see it more as a conservative city's jealousy at seeing a progressive part of the society move up in life.

King of Good Times!

After flying the good times to and fro from Bangalore, I am mighty impressed with the service. But have to admit that the cheapest one is still Deccan!

I thought I will just note down the differences of Kingfisher with respect to our other airlines. So here goes...

1. You get to watch NDTV, Star One, Ten Sports, Pogo...listen to 5 music channels. I had a nice time watching Walk the Talk in NDTV and Great Indian Laughter Show in Star One. There was a India-Pak hockey match on TenSports. Proper timepass for your flying time.
2. There is a positioning system inside which tells you the speed, altitude, how long it will take for you to land etc etc.
3. They avoid the boring ritual of the airhostess explaining the emergency exits and other instructions. Instead you have Yana Gupta doing it on the screen.

Overall a worthy experience.

The Crowded Land and the Crowded Skies

I am going to take my first Kingfisher today. Kingfisher airlines I mean. Its supposedly unique in many ways

1. It doesnt have a class differentiation. All people travel by the kingfisher class. No business, no economy class. They treat you as one single class.
2. There is this nice small cute screen behind every seat. Looks good in the ads atleast, let me check out what they show.
3. They put their tickets for bidding in ebay and rediff. You can get a Bangalore-Mumbai ticket for 1800 bucks. A cheap ticket one month in advance will be around 2700 in any of the airlines.
4. Last but not the least. Its a pleasant sight for the eyes, seeing goody goody gals in red skirts, rather than the old and almost retired aunties in sarees.

If you have not been to Mumbai airport recently then you would be surprised by the "new done up Lounge" in the domestic terminal. The departure was complete when I was there last. I guess the arrival should be getting done now. It has got a really international look to it now.

A straight contrast would be the Bangalore airport. It is not even as big as the Indian Airlines office in Nariman Point. Tell you what, people complain that there is no space in Mumbai. They should check out the unoccupied office of the Air India-Indian Airlines in one of the costliest office spaces in the world. What a waste of resource.

Another very very interesting development has been the Mumbai HC Order on selling of the mill lands. My take on this is, why should the government (read mill owners) sell off the land to the big builders who make money selling it to the rich and the richer sections of the population. They can very well build a park, (like the central park in NY, I dont know how big it is, but lets make one) have rain water storage under them or have underground parking lots and stuff like that.

You create a new multi storey housing complex in the heart of Mumbai, the density of the population will shoot up like crazy and who will give them the other resources. It is exactly for the same reason that places like Navi Mumbai, Borivili and Thane have to be developed. New offices should come up in these areas so that the one way traffic in the mornings and evenings drop. It is because cities like Mumbai are crowded further with activities like these that say a city like Nagpur or Aurangabad do not develop the way they should be doing. Similar scenario in Bangalore. Develop Mysore and Mangalore, give them a better infrastructure.

Let me finish the post with our airline industry only. You have no idea how many airline companies are there in India now. Let me just list them

1. Indian Airlines - our own oldie
2. Jet airways - The largest private player
3. Sahara Air - Looking at selling part of its equity
4. Kingfisher - the new bold and beautiful airline
5. Air Deccan - decent enough, supposedly break even achieved in 1 st year of operation
6. Spice Jet - Delhi based airlies, little low profile
7. Paramount Airways - Started by a Coimbatore-Madurai group
8. Go air - they fly Mumbai-Goa for cheap
9. Air One - hopefully they should have a Bangalore-TVM flight

I am sure there are many more lined up like

• The one planned by the Cochin Airports authority. It is going to operate in the South Indian skies

Sites like Ghumo, Make my trip and rediff are making money trying to evade the part time air travel agents. Dunno what those guys are doing nowadays

But it Rained...

Rain is a peculiar phenomenon on planet earth. It is a customary washing for this world once in a while. I like the feeling when it rains. It makes you feel nice if you are indoors away from it, feeling warm inside the clothing while it is pouring heavily outside.

Bangalore has been experiencing more than the occasional rain these days. You never know when it can rain here. I am yet to buy an umbrella for myself and the jacket I have does not have a hood to protect your head! But somehow I never had the enthu to buy an umbrella.

The period after it rains is not all that pleasant. The surroundings are sticky and muddy and it is not a good idea to take a walk. But most of the time these days when it rains I am either in office/home or in a rickshaw. And one day while going home after lunch at a friend's place my rick got stuck in a traffic signal. A huge truck came and stopped by the side. Water was dripping down itis side.

The result is this pic. A very usual scene but I thought the obvious is the in-thing now.

Rains Outside and the 13th Floor

Somethings are very peaceful and serene like the pic above. It is the view outside Vikash's house. We sat there in the morning, sipping tea, looking at the rain.

He has this beautiful apartment where he stays alone. I as usual woke up quite early. It was raining and was a little chilly in the morning. The view from his window and balcony was very peaceful. Simple things in life are very much in demand once your life gets complicated after you are 25 and working.

If there is one pub that I like in Bangalore, it has to be 13th floor. Been there twice now, both the time with a friend of mine, Vikash. I somehow do not like being in the crowded pubs with loud music and suffocating smoke. Well sometimes when you are in a disco/party or something like that with a special friend, it might be a different feeling, but altogether I would prefer to be in a more open environment with some good music.

13th Floor is that kind of a place. Ya it is on the 13th floor of a building with a view of one part of the Banagalore city.

We were there for sometime and then these days it seems you have to close shop at 11pm in Banaglore so got back to his house. Well the pic in the night time is a little hazy, kindly adjust. He is finishing off his Blender's Pride.

A Good Read

Well I completed the story.

Sometimes I wonder how influential the end of a story, the climax of the movie and the end exams of a course are. If that doesnt have an appeal the entire 200 pages of the book or the two and a half hours of the movie or the 4 years of study might not seem all that good. The end is what you remember the most. But then it is the way you think. If you had a good read, a entertaining 2 hours and a rolicking 4 years, who cares about how it ended.

So if you ask me about the novel, I would say,"The narration is just as good and simple as it can get. But the end was a bit cramped. As in too many things happened in too less a time (or rather too less pages). It did not finish the way I thought it would. I thought a tragic end would have been a good way to end the the story." It portrays the mind of a 15 year old special child and reminded me of Forrest Gump all the time. So the mental picture I had was of our own Forrest when he was a kid.

But I guess it is worth a read.

The Curious Incident Of A Dog In The Night-Time

Enough Brain chew for some time

This article is in support for Gaurav Sabhnis, Jammag and the freedom of expression in India.

Well you might wonder what he has done or rather written...well there is some institute in India by the name IIPM...well Jam Mag exposed the hollow claims of IIPM

And Gaurav quit from IBM, for keying in his thoughts...



A pity that things like this happen in India. wonder what is the extent of damage done to the future of India.

P.S. The novel is awesome...midway now

A Really Curious Book

Just started on a novel today. This book has been recommended by half of my annex toppers (thats the wing I used to stay in IIMC), Vicky...I do not know if Karthik, Kutty and all have read this. Goa has not for sure. I have just been to the first 20 odd pages and it is highly impressive.

I was wondering how exactly to describe the feeling, when I glanced at the back cover...It is a perfect description of my feeling...So here it goes, courtesy Observer

"Gave me that rare, greedy feeling of: this is so good I want to read it all at once but I mustn't or it will be over too soon"

Now let me get back to the book

~sujith

Who is the common man?

This is a rejoinder to an article in the Indian Express...

http://iecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=79647

I have been an avid reader of IE for a long time now. Now that I have moved to Bangalore, I have shifted to Hindu. My belief is that, these two are the only newspapers who have an obligation towards the society and most important believe in real journalism.
I have been following your saturday special editorials and the latest "Our Poor Little Rich" is one of the best so far. And it is with regards to that article that I intend to make my observations.
I have been brought up in a communist environment, as in my family believes that they are the only party who fight for the working class and poor etc. Most of the people I know also follow the same ideology. I know that you do not approve of what the commies are doing.
Maybe influenced by the people whom I interacted, I also have a lot of respect to the red brigade at least in some issues. This has happened over a period of time, influenced by a lot of incidents and happenings in Kerala and maybe all over india. To give you a small example, it would not be wrong to say that the movies made in India (atleast in Kerala) are representative of what is happening in the society or what they think. There have been numerous movies made on the heroics of communist revolutions in Kerala, political potboilers where the heroes are always the communist party and the villains the congress party. You might argue that no one is interested in making a movie with the opposite point of view, but I think it is because they do not have anything to speak of like this.
I have a lot of arguments with my friends on a lot of political issues pertaining to the commies. Be it the issues of fighting for the issue of Fee structure in private medical/engineering colleges in Kerala, Voting out Iran, All India Strike etc etc. But when I go home, I take the other side and argue against the commies, with my dad and uncle. So this time we were doing this exercise and we were discussing the lack of private airline penetration in Kerala. My argument was that due to lack of any business activity (Commies are blamed for this) in kerala you do not have that much air traffic and hence less airlines. These are supposed to bring air travel to the common man at an affordable price. So my uncle gave me an interesting, at the same time thought provoking argument.
He told me, "If Jet Airways start 2 airlines to Trivandrum, you would say, if only they could start 2 more flights, then I can have more choice to go home. It is not going to hit the common man if he gets a air ticket for 1000 rupees less. The issue is bigger than that, the common man is hit if you increase the bus ticket by 50 paise. It is important to decide who your common man is." All this while I thought I was from a middle class family and I should be representative of the common man. But I think I am wrong, the majority of the people in India are below the poverty line and it does not matter to them if you decrease the air fare, but it hits them hard if you increase the bus charge by 50 paise. We need to take a rethink. I guess me and my friend's are not facing the issues that stare at the face of a common man. We are no longer the common man.

Kerala in 1 and a half days

This weekend was a nice weekend,in the sense that I got to go home after a long time. Got to eat what mummy makes best, Beef (coz anything she makes - fry/curry both are good,in fact yummy) and Paal Payasam. Top it with Appam-Egg curry.
I was in TVM for abt a day and a half. well one thing is for sure in terms of development the government has made an underpass,which has reduced traffic by 0.002%. Well they had to do something so they did it. Next is the flyover in Bakery Junction. God help the tax payer.
Cudnt meet anyone other than Mohanlal in Naran at Sreekumar theatre...And I have to tell you, its quite different watching a Lal movie in a theatre. (I dont know how it is to watch any of his movie in Ramdas in Thrissur,as told to me by a RECTian) It was after a long time that I was seeing a movie in a non-Multiplex theatre (a stand alone thatre), for Rs 30. Man thats cheap. There were the guys in the front row, throwing bits of paper when Mohanlal made his first appearnce in the movie. Those were the days...
I had to catch up with a lot of relatives etc etc...There was a time when you would love to go home, meet up with relatives etc etc...when you are 25,single and eligible...you do not. they will list out the names of guys who are younger and expecting to become a father...I managed to negotiate all that and get back to b'lore - single & eligible i.e.
~sujith

My new place in B'lore

So thats a close view of my new home...cant take a better pic with my mobile...
From now on I guess I should be sharing my stories with pics...
So enjoy till then...