A year gone by. Still your memory lives on.

Today it is 1 year since you left this world, leaving a void in the lives of all those that were
lucky to know you either in person or online. Your memory lives on in our minds.

Miss you Robin (RTech).

Some more details on the MAD contest.

Googled a bit for details on the MAD contest which Divya won and came across a page on the
online edition of The Hindu newspaper.

With all due credit to The Hindu and its Staff Reporter (the author of this piece), I give below
the article in full. The article can also be accessed online at this linky.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Children get to meet their TV icon
- Staff Reporter

— Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

YOUNG AT HEART: Rob, host of Pogo’s Music and Dance show, in Kochi on Saturday.

KOCHI: Few people have the knack of coercing hyperactive kids into silence. Out in Kochi
on Saturday, Rob – the popular host of Pogo channel’s award-winning show Music, Art and Dance (MAD), threatened to sing when the decibel level of kids who had crowded around
him became too much.

He reminded them of how bad he was at singing and lo, there seemed to be a semblance of
order at the venue. All through the event, the corner of the room was abuzz with the chirpy sound of the kids. A sizeable crowd comprising kids and parents gathered at the interaction
Rob had with kids at the Reliance Trends showroom in Oberon Mall here.

They crowded to catch a close glimpse of their TV icon. The kids brought along paintings,
origami craft work (there was even a frog made of paper) and other curios that they had
done at home. Rob took a look at them and appreciated their skill. He promised to sign autographs after the event drew to a close.

This was under the Design the MAD Way Contest, wherein the kids collected scraps and
props that littered their home or school and used ingenious ways to create curios.

Earlier, the suspense whether Rob would in fact come grew intense as he failed to turn up
even 15 minutes after the scheduled time. The kids then began shouting out ‘Rooobbb, we
want Rob…’ and in a couple of minutes he appeared, wearing a pure-white cap & eye-catching attire. Having viewed his regular TV shows, the kids were quite at ease when asked how to paint, make crafts from paper, and also sculptures from plaster of paris. Their parents too were quite enthused on seeing their kids’ icon cheer the kids up.

The programme MAD has won many awards for being a popular show for kids.

Congratulations Divya - on winning the "Design the MAD way" contest.

Apparently, there is a show called MAD (Music, Art and Dance) on Pogo channel (kids would
know about this kiddy channel) and the guy (Rob) that hosts it was at Cochin yesterday for a promotional event.

The event was at the Oberon, the newest mall in Cochin & Reliance Trends was sponsoring
this event, where you could meet Rob and even participate in a design contest, with prizes
for the kids that have the best 6 entries. If you had done a purchase worth Rs2o00 at the
mall, they would give you the coupon making you eligible for the event.

My sister's neighbour had a coupon for the event and thus Divya participated in the event,
she being a regular Pogo watcher, like most kids. And you know what, her entry won the
First prize which included among other things a MAD set, something which she had always
wanted to have.

I am sure Divya would have had trouble sleeping yesterday night, what with getting to see
Bob, winning the 1st prize and to top it, she is on TV (Amrita news channel, JaiHind channel)
and in the newspapers (The Indian Express). Now, that surely is something.

BTW, her entry was a vegetable man - created from various vegetables. Seems like Bob was
pretty impressed with her creation. She has snaps of the same - will update this post with
the snaps later.

Way to go, girl. I am really proud of you.

How about leading by example, Chief Minister ?

The other day I came across an article in the newspaper about the CM of Tamilnadu
getting all sad & pained about how today most Tamil parents were not giving their kids
Tamil names.

I am neither for or against naming kinds the Tamil way or Kerala way or whatever. I would think that it should be the prerogative of the parents to decide the names of their kids, with
the only caveat being that it should not be something really dumb or something that will
make them the butt of jokes all through their lives.

For example, the previous weekend I was looking up my name on the railway chart and
came across someone named 'Alpha'. If this person had siblings, I am sure they would
have been named Beta, Gamma and so on...

But the first thought that came to mind on reading the CM's exhortation was how could he
ask people to do something which he himself did not do ? I mean, one of his sons is named
Stalin, which is not even an Indian name, forget being a Tamil name.

I think politicians just can't help shooting their mouth off.

When a private walk in the park gets to the public domain.

It's a nice Saturday morning and you decide to hit the nearby park for a walk with your
family, to spend some time in the midst of nature. Unknown to you, there is a newspaper
photo-journalist in the vicinity who thinks your family walk in the park makes a good
picture to go with his article about the parks in the city.

Thus you end up in the pages of the newspaper and since you don't subscribe to the said newspaper you are not even aware of you and your family gracing the pages of the daily.
Till, your kid is asked about it by her friend's parent. Kind of what happened in the case
of my friend.

This picture came in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper (Chennai edition) of 23-Nov-2008.



The guy in the pic is a colleague and friend for more than a decade. A few of my friends who
visit this blog would also be able to recognise him, having worked with him. He had gone to
the Theosophical society campus in Chennai for a walk one weekend with his family when
they were snapped by a journo and ended up in the newspaper.

He was pretty excited about being featured in the newspaper, but could not get his hands
on a copy of the paper, since he did not subscribe to it. While I usually buy the DC, I did not
have this particular day's paper. Anyway, with the internet around, why would sourcing the paper be difficult ? Went to their online site and got the picture from their archives and sent
it to him.

What was that old quote again about every person in the world getting his / her 15 minutes
of fame ?

The image that stays on long after the guns fell silent.

It is close to 2 weeks now since the audacious terrorist attack at Mumbai (previously known
as Bombay). Many innocent lives were lost in the attack, leaving many families in mourning.
And I am not talking about the 9 terrorists who died. They anyway had come prepared to die. And they deserved to die.

For the life of me, I have never understood what these guys gain by killing innocent people.
How does it further their cause ? Does it not actually make people stand up against them and
the cause they espouse ?

One of the images that will remain in my memory for a long time to come is the picture of
little Moshe crying. His Jewish parents were killed in the attack and being a parent myself,
it feels so heart-rending every time I am reminded of the innocent kid who lost his parents
for no fault of his.



I see the crying kid and it reminds me of my son. Even imagining how my son would feel in similar circumstances is painful for me. My heart goes out to the kid and I hope he is not in
any way scarred by the violence he saw at so young an age.

I hope and pray that he has caring relatives to bring him up well, in the absence of his parents.
May God bless him.

Rain rain go away. And please don't come again another day.

It has been raining almost continously in Chennai since 5PM last Tuesday (25th Nov).
And mind you, this is not the usual Chennai rain, which is a brief pitter-patter for 5-odd
minutes after which the sun comes up brightly. This time, it has been raining heavily a la
Kerala-style and the sun seems to have gone on vacation for the last 2 days.

While rain is a good thing, the problem with too much of it is that it exposes the poor roads
we have and the almost non-existent storm-water drainage system. Which means, the sides
of the roads get flooded with water. So, if a road has 2 lanes, one of them would be full of water and motorists would avoid that lane because there is no knowing what could be below the
water - potholes or even big ditches that can swallow a car whole.

As a family learnt to their dismay when they were negotiating a water-logged road last week. Their Tata-Sumo (an 8-seater people-mover) just vanished into a big water-filled ditch dug alongside the road. Luckily there were some people around who rescued the 3 passengers & driver from the rapidly sinking vehicle. The vehicle was eventually pulled out by a crane.

See pic below of the Sumo in the ditch, courtesy The Deccan Chronicle newspaper.


A few more days of such rain in Chennai and we would need to swap our cars/bikes for rafts
or boats to take us around.

The best gift is the unexpected one.

Gifting is an art. And one that requires keen observation, patience and lots of time. Oh yes, money also. But that is not the main factor because you could spends loads of money and still
end up with an unsatisfied recipient, while you could make a person happy with a well-thought out gift that did not really cost you much.

I was pleasantly surprised by a gift from a colleague today morning. He had come around to
my cubicle during tea-break and I presumed the intention to be just to discuss tips on what shares to buy, since we both discuss the stock market a lot and take tips from each other often.

Well, he did discuss shares and stuff, but before leaving, he handed me a small packet, which
he said was a small gift for me that he had bought from his recent vacation at Goa. It was a
bottle of Fenny (an Indian liquor native to Goa, made either from coconut or from the juice
of the cashew apple).

I was really surprised at the gesture, because I was not expecting a gift from him. He had
been to Goa on a week's vacation with his wife and while I would expect him to get gifts for
his family, I would really not expect to be on his gift list.

Thanks, man. Not only did you take me by surprise, but I am honoured by your gesture.

P.S. : More info on Fenny available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenny

It's the economy, stupid. Nothing to do with dope or a wrongly wired brain.

While travelling in trains week-after-week is boring, one also comes across so many varied people/incidents - some funny, some sad and some really a pain. The last category is when
you have a few cranky kids as co-passengers, coupled with parents who just let them loose without worrying about the inconvenience it causes others. I hate irresponsible parents and
just hope I am not termed one by others.

I am not sure how to categorise this incident that happened 2 weeks ago on a fine Saturday morning. I am on the train to Kerala when I am woken up by a commotion around 4AM.
It seems like 2 guys are having an argument. But why would you argue at 4AM and disturb
the rest of the passengers who are sleeping ?

I think it will die down, but the commotion persists. I can now see one of the parties in the argument - an average built man around in his late fourties. I tell him that he is disturbing others and should shut up. He comes near me and says something that I can't make much
sense of - something on the lines of the other party being at fault and stuff. Anyway, since
he doesn't seem to be making any sense, I decide it is futile to argue with him. He continues pacing up and down the compartment, talking gibberish.

And to my horror, he is cooly smoking inside the compartment. Much before the "No smoking
in public places" law came into effect on the 2nd of October 2008, smoking in trains was a punishable offence. And with atleast 3 railway cops patrolling every train, I am surprised how
he can smoke so freely. Maybe the cops stop their patrolling after midnight and doze off .

And it is then it dawns on me that there is no 2nd party to the argument. He is actually talking
to himself loudly. Some passengers snigger that he must be high on marijuana (rolled in the cigarette). Others suggest that he sounds mentally challenged.

Anyway, he continues his tirade at imagined enemies. Then he suddenly plays a movie song loudly on one of his cellphones (he had atleast 3 phones on him), which naturally makes his
co-passengers protest. Instead of switching off the phone, he just flings it down, breaking it. Reason he gave for that was that he does not know how to switch off the song.

Around 7AM, the train reaches Cochin station and the guy detrains there. It is only after he
is gone that someone notices that he left one of his cellphones in the train itself. A passenger
who boarded the train with him at Chennai wonders why he detrained atCochin when he had
a ticket till Chengannur (2 hours away) & which was where he said his final destination was.

Since he does not seem to be in a good state of mind, the co-passengers are worried about his family who might be awaiting him at Chengannur station. They look up the address book in
the phone and identify his home phone number and call up his folks to tell them about the
phone he left behind and also about our man detraining at Cochin itself.

It seems the guy already called them from Cochin and asked them to come to Cochin to pick
him up and already somebody was on his way to Cochin to get the guy. One of his sons agrees
to come to Chengannur station to collect the phone, which he does.

When I reach home, I am recounting this incident to my people. I am still not sure if it was
the marijuana playing tricks or whether there was something wrong with the guy. My wife
and parents debate as to what could be the reason for his abnormal behaviour. Ofcourse, a conclusion evades us. And that is when the following conversation happens, which was both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Wife : OK, what did his profession seem to be ?
Me : Don't know for sure, but he mentioned some army cantonment and stuff. So I guess he is in the Army.

Dad : I know for sure what his profession was.
Me : What is his profession ? And how did you deduce that from the little I told you ?

Dad : It is elementary. He must be a software professional who got laid off due to the current slowdown, resulting in the mental state he is in. :-)

While I don't know what to say, my wife and Mom burst into laughter.

I know that he was kidding, but for the past few weeks, the media has been reporting daily
about lay-offs here, slowdown there, organisations asking employees to take sabattical or
just plainly saying not to come to work etc. So maybe there is something in even what was
said in jest.

How do you know if the real-estate market is in the dumps ? Just keep a tab on your bike-mechanic.

Yeah, I know it sounds strange that your neighbourhood bike-mechanic has anything to do
with the real-estate market's fortunes. I don't know about other countries or even other
places in India, but if things in Chennai are an indication, you better keep a tab on the guy.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Chennai city has the highest number of motor-bikes in
India and it would only be natural if the number of bike-shops and bike-mechanics are also proportionately higher. Every street here has a small pigeon-hole shop that is supposedly
a bike-repair shop.

After buying my bike in 1995 (yeah it is 13 years old and nearing the government specified
life for cars/bikes of 15 years), I used the services of the authorised workshops only for a
year. This was because only they were qualified to do the 3 free services that need to be
done at 1/6/12 months of owning a bike and if you got these services done elsewhere, it
voids the warranty.

Once the free services were done with, I went about identifying a good mechanic near my
home with whom I could entrust my bike for any repairs. The criteria was reliability, honesty and reasonable expertise and ofcourse economical, when compared to authorised workshops. With help from friends, I identified one such guy and he has been taking care of my bike all
these years.

A friendly guy, he could easily detect problems and fix them too. And he had his shop on the same road where my apartment was. So, things were going fine. Atleast till a few years ago.

Some 3-4 years ago, I noticed that he would not be available whenever I went there. In his
place there would be a young apprentice, who while all eager to work, was not skilled enough.
Which meant that my bike would be a guinea-pig for him to learn the trick of the trade. But though my bike is old, I still like it as I did when it was new. So, I would give the kid some
excuse and come at some other time. But the friendly owner/mechanic would still be missing.

It was only after a few such visits and talks with my friends that I came to know that our man chanced upon an alternate occupation - broker for land/home deals. The real-estate market
was booming like crazy in Chennai and he was making quite a packet by helping sell/buy land. Compared to that money (typically a percentage of the deal value), the measly income from repairing bikes was negligible.

Still he did not want to give up his first occupation fully which explained his keeping the shop active with an apprentice. While his business repairing bikes suffered due to his absence and
the inexperience of the apprentice, he was making good money from real estate deals. This continued till early 2008. I gave up visiting his shop altogether & identified another workshop
for my bike-repair needs.

A few months ago, I was walking by his shop & see him working seriously on a bike. I dismiss
it as a one-off case of his putting in some time on the bike just for old times sake. But over the days, I see him regularly at the shop repairing bikes. The apprentice is gone and it is he himself who does all repairs.

I am surprised initially, but then can make out the connection. Like elsewhere in the world,
the real-estate sector came in for a correction here in India also, specifically in Chennai. As
they say, "When America sneezes, the world is sure to catch a cold". Effect of the American
slow-down/recession is to be seen here also. Not only are salary & recruitment freezes being
put in place, but lay-offs are also being reported.

When people are worrying about their jobs, buying a new home or plot of land would be the
last thing on their mind. As the situation stands currently here, there is a kind of stalemate
in the market - builders/developers have stopped new projects and going slow on projects
that are under construction because there are not enough buyers at the price they are demanding. And buyers are not buying because they are expecting the prices to crash.
Who will break first remains to be seen.

Anyway, this situation is bad for the brokers also. After all, if no transaction is happening,
where would they get their cut from ? Which explains why my bike mechanic is back to
repairing bikes.

Courting travails, the Xbox, Mace etc

There are some regular columns like "Ask Stella", "male call" etc in the Deccan Chronicle that
I like and follow without fail. Ofcourse, they would fall under the category "junk" if you go by
any test of news-worthiness or knowledge-addition. But, it is fun reading them & I guess that
also matters.

Anyway, I came across a particularly interesting 'male call' article a week ago, on the eternal
question of who should pay during dates - the guy or the girl. And the humorous way (esp.
the parts about Xbox, Mace, duelling etc) in which it was answered made it all the more
fun-to-read. Here it goes :

Ques : Is the guy always supposed to pay for the date? I’ve been out on a few dates with
this girl & she’s never offered to pay anything, even though she knows I’m no moneybag.

Ans : A few quaint Elizabethan-like customs have endured, like the practice of men paying
for everything. Oh, and also duelling. So the answer to your question is a qualified yes.
Guys are expected to pay, at least in the initial phase of the courtship. But contrary to what
you might be thinking (“I could be spending this money on a new Xbox 360?”), the girl isn’t
out to fleece you. She’s simply trying to get some insight into an important aspect of your character: Are you a cheapskate?

But it gets trickier after you’ve been dating a while. If she has a decent job & still never offers
to pay for so much as mints, you are allowed to question her motives. Which doesn’t mean
that if she does offer, you have to accept. Often, the correct response is “Thanks, hon, I've got it.” Of course, for all you know, she’s got nothing but a can of Mace in her purse anyway. But
at least she offered.

After a month or so, you should know each other well enough to say, “I’ll get the tickets if you get the popcorn,” or “Do you mind picking up the lunch tab?” That should be enough for her to dust the cobwebs off the Gucci. And if she still manages to head to the restroom to freshen up just as the check is arriving, well, maybe you should be looking for a new love. Or a dueling partner.
Article courtesy : The Deccan Chronicle.

An interesting quote

Came across this quote a few days ago in the Chennai edition of the "Deccan Chronicle" newspaper. Found it interesting enough to post it here.

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy
for the rest of your life." - Rita Rudner.

Makes sense, doesn't it ? :-)

Young lives lost for so trivial a cause.

Of late, I have been reading many newspaper reports of suicides committed by youngsters,
mostly in their teens. Reasons have been varied - parents scolded the kid, teacher rebuked
the kid, a girl spurned their love, parents did not like their daughter being chummy with some guy etc etc.

While adolescence is one of the most troublesome phases of life (for both youngsters and their parents), I don't think previous generations resorted to taking their lives for such trivia. While growing up, I cannot remember even a single case of suicide by any youngster for any reason whatsoever. Looks like the young today are really a breed apart. Very confident about themselves, to the extent of being cocky, but at the same time, prone to breaking up for a
trivial thing. Any which way you look at it, it is not a good sign when kids give up their lives at the drop of a hat.

What made me write this post was two such incidents that came in the newspapers on two consecutive days. Yesterday, a girl in her teens committed suicide because she was hurt that
her parents scolded her for her 'friendship' with a guy. Obviously, the parents felt that she should be concentrating on her studies instead of being involved with a boy. But, the girl just went and took her own life, without even thinking how it will remain a lifetime loss for her parents.

And even stranger and bizarre was the suicide reported in the day-before-yesterday's paper. Three boys (looks like friends) were interested in the same girl and propose to her. Faced with
a dilemna of whom to choose among the three, she could have either chosen the one she really liked or if she did not like any of them, could have asked all three of them to scoot.

But, in her infinite wisdom, she chose to proclaim her verdict as, "Of you three boys, I will
choose the one who will lay down his life for me".

Hello there, madam !!! Once they have laid down their lives, how do they claim their prize ?

Atleast the boys should have had some grey matter to see that this is a lose-lose proposition.
But no, their minds are already racing to prove themselves the best in laying down their life
for her and then getting her affection. Though I can't figure out when they will get her affection
- in after-life ?

Anyway, the three of them get hold of some poison, go to some field/open area and consume
the poison. By the time, some passers-by can get to them, 2 of them have died, while the other
is in a critical condition and is rushed to hospital.

What a waste of life ? And all this when the effort is not going to get them what they desire. I know love is blind and all that crap, but ain't this a little too much even for that ? I am not sure how the girl in question will live the rest of her life, knowing that her silly prank cost two lives.

My favourite store bites the dust.

A few days ago I had emailed my friend who works in the U.S. about the effect of the whole recession, economic slow-down thing in the states. He mentioned about the value of his home going down, car dealers getting hit by dip in sales, electronic retailers getting hit bigtime etc.
On a personal level, he said he is avoiding buying new gadgets (he is a gadget freak), has
decided to postpone changing his car & instead is sticking to his few years old Honda Odyssey van etc.

But it was only when I read in yesterday's newspaper about CircuitCity filing for bankruptcy that the seriousness of it all hit me. CircuitCity and BestBuy were my 2 favourite stores for shopping anything electronic, while in the U.S.. I liked the reasonable prices, the store display/arrangement, the big spacious stores, the huge parking lot, the shopping experience
etc that these two offered.

So, knowing that one of these stores is going down makes me feel bad, even though I don't
own any stake in it or know anybody who works for them. To me, they seemed to be doing everything right - atleast from a customer's POV. Maybe the relentless price-war with other retailers killed their margins or maybe it was the ridiculous pay/bonus/stock-options of the
top executives that bled them.

It is stores like these (and others like WalMart, Target, ToysRUs etc) that make shopping
such a pleasurable experience in the U.S., unlike the irritating experience it is in India. One
of my long-time dreams is to take my wife to the US and let her experience this amazing shopping experience. I think it would take her atleast one full week to just go around a
"Super WalMart" and check out all the stuff in the store. I am sure though that she would
love the experience.

I hope CircuitCity is able to make a turnaround soon and are back to what they do well -
not just selling a wide range of electronic goods, but making shopping pleasurable.

Of thirsty squirrels and baby aligators.

I am having a coffee break with a colleague at the corner of the office basement car park, which is lined with coconut trees. We are talking when something falls with a thud in front of us from the nearby cocount palm. It's a squirrel, which immediately scampers away. The following conversation ensues between me and my friend, who is a know-all - he has a firm opinion on everything from falling lizards to satellite launchers.

Me : The poor thing must have lost its grip and fallen.
Friend : Naah. It fell because it was either thirsty or hungry.

Me : What ? !!!!
Friend : Yes, because you know squirrels belong to the lizard family.

Me : So ?
Friend : Don't you know that when they are really thirsty, lizards just drop to the ground ?

Me : And ? How does this help quench their thirst ?
Friend : They have some internal mechanism which quenches their thirst when they fall down.

Me : @#$%T(#(#@

Ofcourse I know that it is pointless to argue with him due to 2 reasons :
1) I have no knowledge about the dietary habits of the lizard family.
2) From experience, I know that there is no way you can win an argument with him.

I leave the conversation at that and as we walk back to the office, the topic of lizards brings another interesting incident to my mind. Some 6 years ago, there were 2 engineers visiting us from our Belgium office. Since I have enjoyed the hospitality of my Belgian colleagues many times during my visits there, it is only perfectly natural for me to take them around Chennai after office-hours and on weekends.

One day, I invite them home for an Indian dinner - they had already tasted Indian food and found it good. So, after work, I drive them home, where my wife has prepared a decent Indian meal - rotis, rice, chicken, veggies, fish etc. Ofcourse, I ask her to tone down the spice because the western palate would not be able to handle the hot 'n spicy Indian food.

We reach my apartment and while we wait for my wife to answer the door, my Belgian friends happen to look around the corridor wall and see a couple of house lizards on the wall, and almost in unison they say, "Wow, baby alligators".

Everytime I recount this incident to someone here, it raises laughter. From just a plain house lizard, these creatures got an instant upgrade to the scary alligators. Well, can't blame the Belgians because I think it is their first sighting of a lizard - don't remember seeing any during my stay in Belgium.

The next time a lizard falls off the wall, I guess I should have some water handy for the poor thing. On second thoughts no, I just can't stand the sight of lizards.

Globe-trotting - All it needs is the will. The means will follow.

A month ago, my parents went on a 10-day trip outside India, covering Egypt, Israel & Jordan. This was a kind of "Holy Land" tour organised by the local Catholic diocese and costing around Rs.65000 (approx. $1350) per person. This was the first overseas trip for my Mom, and the second one for my Dad, who had been to Russia in the late eighties on a short official visit of 3 months.

It took quite some convincing by me and my sisters to make my parents agree to go on this trip. The interest was definitely there and money for the trip was not an issue for them. But spending it was. Like most people of that generation, they had worked hard in life and had only learnt to save and avoid unnecessary expenses. And so blowing up Rs.1,30,000 in 10 days was something they could not reconcile to.

But once convinced, they looked forward to the trip and I am glad that they had a good time. It was not only about seeing the Sphinx/Pyramids, Dead sea, or seeing cities like Cairo, Amman, Jerusalem etc, which they ofcourse enjoyed. But being devout Christians, this trip was also significant for them because the itinerary covered places having a strong connection to Christianity.

Till they did this trip, Galilee, Cana, Jerusalem, Bethlehem etc were just places that they read about in the Bible. But thanks to this trip, they actually found themselves at those places. Any Christian would be aware of the "Miracle at Cana" where Jesus turned big casks of water into wine, at a wedding feast. The marriage party had ran out of wine and Jesus intervenes (on his Mom's request) to convert water to wine to avoid embarassment to the host. Now, my parents were actually able to visit this place and even bought a bottle of wine from there - which was much in demand back home.

Now that they have experienced the pleasure of going to new places, they can't seem to wait before heading out on another trip to another country. My Dad is planning a longish European trip, but before that we thought a short trip to some place nearer home would be good - like Sri Lanka, Singapore or Malaysia. Sri Lanka, while a nice place, is ruled out for some time since hostilities have escalatedthere between Government forces and the LTTE.

I was going through the newspaper yesterday night, when I came across this couple who in my opinion are the real globetrotters. Which convinced me that all it takes is the will to travel. The rest will follow. We keep postponing vacations, thinking that we will do it later, when the kids are older or when we retire etc. But in planning for the future, we miss enjoying the present. Read on to know about this globe-trotting couple whose modest means does not prevent them from seeing the world. Truly commendable.

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For 58-year-old Vijayan, owner of a tiny tea stall in Ernakulam, travelling has been an obsession for long. Ever since 1988 when he accompanied a godman as his cook on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, Vijayan has made it to Badrinath-Kedarnath six times.


A sworn Marxist, he has visited Tirupati 81 times and is keen on scoring a ‘Balaji century’ pretty soon. His first foreign trip was on a package tour of West Asia taking him to Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and the UAE.

He is getting ready for the next journey, this one to Europe and London. And he takes wife Mohana on all his trips. "I save Rs 200 a day from my tea shop earnings in a chit fund and that takes care of the travel tickets. I spend just 10 dollars or less on picking up some tiny souvenirs from the places of visit while my co-travellers waste huge money on costly liquors," Vijayan says about his budget-tours.

"Rome, Vatican, Paris, Geneva and London are the places I will be visiting next April. Paper work for the journey is progressing," the tea-man told Deccan Chronicle.

Vijayan does not remember when and how he caught the travel bug. "I visited all the temples in Kerala during my school days. With the passing away of my father, I had to take care of the family and had to temporarily call off the journeys," he said. Old-timers in Kochi remember Vijayan cycling along arterial roads selling tea and coffee.

"My sons-in-law also help me. People ask me from where I get the funds. I tell them God is my funder," said Vijayan. Impressed by his passion for journeys, an old acquaintance has offered to take him around South Africa. "He has asked me to pay for the air-tickets. Once I reach South Africa, he will take care of me," Vijayan said.

Article and pictures courtesy : The Deccan Chronicle newspaper dated 3-Nov-2008.

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Reminds me of my long-pending promise to my wife to take her on a vacation outside India. Ofcourse I stand by my promise. But can we postpone it till the global economic slowdown/recession is behind us ? :-)

-

Palin falls for prank call by Canadian radio comedians.

This came in yesterday's Deccan Chronicle. The Republican vice-presidential candidate falls for a prank call. The conversation is pretty hilarious, especially the hunting part and about Carla Bruni, the French President's wife. Read on.
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Pretending to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy, two Canadian radio comedians tricked US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin into talking to them for about seven minutes on Saturday afternoon.

Marc-Antoine Audette, a member of comedy duo Masked Avengers on Montreal radio station CKOI, said they talked about a whole range of issues — from politics to hunting with vice-president Dick Cheney — in reference to Mr Cheney’s shooting of a friend during a bird hunting trip in 2006.

When one of the pranksters told Ms Palin that “I see you as a President one day, too”, she replied: “Maybe in eight years.” When the Sarkozy impersonator told Ms Palin that “we have such great respect for you”, she said: “John McCain and I, we love you and thank you....” At the end, when the prankster tells Ms Palin that she has been tricked, her aides snap the conversation line.

The pranksters — Audette and Sebastian Trudel — said it took them four days of persistent efforts to get through to Ms Palin. Excerpts from the phone call:

Sarah Palin: This is Sarah.
Masked Avengers: Ah, yeah, Governor Palin.

Palin: Hello.
Avengers: Just hold on for President Sarkozy, one moment.

P: Oh, it’s not him yet, they’re saying. I always do that.
A: Yes, hello, governor Palin.

P: Hello, this is Sarah, how are you?
A: Fine, and you? This is Nicolas Sarkozy speaking, how are you?

P: Thank you sir, we have such great respect for you, John McCain and I. We love you and thank you for taking a few minutes to talk to me.
A: I follow your campaigns closely with my special American adviser Johnny Hallyday, you know?

P: Yes, good.
A: You see, I got elected in France because I’m real and you seem to be someone who’s real, as well.

P: Yes, yeah. Nico, we so appreciate this opportunity.
A: You know I see you as a President one day, too.

P: Maybe in eight years.
A: Well, I hope for you. You know, we have a lot in common because personally one of my favourite activities is to hunt, too.

P: Oh, very good. We should go hunting together.
A: Exactly, we could try go hunting by helicopter like you did. I never did that. Like we say in French, on pourrait tuer des bebe phoques, aussi (we could kill some baby seals, also).

P: Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we’re getting work done. We can kill two birds with one stone that way.
A: I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun. I’d really love to go, so long as we don’t bring along vicepresident Cheney.

P: No, I’ll be a careful shot, yes... You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife. Oh my goodness, you’ve added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of yours.
A: Thank you very much. You know my wife Carla would love to meet you, even though you know she was a bit jealous that I was supposed to speak to you today.

P: Well, give her a big hug for me.
A: You know my wife is a popular singer and a former top model and she’s so hot in bed. She even wrote a song for you.

P: Oh my goodness, I didn’t know that.
A: Yes, in French it’s called De rouge a levre sur un cochon (Lipstick on a pig), or if you prefer in English, Joe the Plumber... it’s his life, Joe the Plumber... I just want to be sure. That phenomenon Joe the Plumber. That’s not your husband, right?

P: That’s not my husband but he’s a normal American who just works hard and doesn’t want government to take his money.
A: Yes, yes, I understand we have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It’s called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit.

P: Right, that’s what it’s all about, the middle class and government needing to work for them. You’re a very good example for us here.

A: Governor Palin, I love the documentary they made on your life. You know Hustler’s Nailin’ Paylin?
P: Ohh, good, thank you, yes.

A: I really loved you and I must say something also, governor, you’ve been pranked by the Masked Avengers. We are two comedians from Montreal.
P: Ohhh, have we been pranked? And what radio station is this?

A: CKOI in Montreal.
P: In Montreal? Tell me the radio station call letters.

A: CK... hello?

No wonder the China growth engine is firing on all cylinders.

Each kid has a different taste when it comes to toys. Some, like my sister's son Dan, are just scared of anything that moves or makes a sound. He starts howling on seeing/hearing such toys - ofcourse he is only 9 months old.

With my son, toys are for throwing around, resulting in them breaking. Whether it is a toy car or a doll, all he wants to do is throw them hard. It is always tough to decide what to buy for him, since I could not gauge what he likes. And that is when I saw his fascination for phones. Both the cellphone and the landphone were his favourites. He would play with them and even keep them to his ears and act as if he were talking to someone.

I was glad that I could find something that interests him. Plus, given that real cellphones are not safe for kids (even adults) due to the radiation and giving him the landphone to play with would result in it being not fit for use, I decided to shop for some toy phones for him. Basically something that looked like the original thing, with some lights and sounds to keep him interested.
That is how I decided to check out "Mera Toy Shop", which can be called a scaled-down version (in terms of size and variety) of "Toys R Us" for some toy phones. My plan was to get a cellphone and a landphone toy for him and I was expecting a total damage of max. Rs500 to the wallet.

I walk into the shop, ask the salesgirl where the toy phone section is and check out the models available. First the landphone toys, which are really well made, look bright and basically a good toy for kids. I forget whether it was a Mattel or FunSkool brand. Anyway, I like the toy, but the shocker comes in the form of the price, which is like Rs.1300.

Rs1300 for a toyphone ? The one in my apartment installed by the Telephones Department should be available for less than 1000 bucks!!! I am not sure if it is a good idea to spend so much for a toyphone. So I move to look for cellphones. Again some decent models are available, with the only problem being again the price, which is like Rs.1500. The Motorola cellphone I use cost me only Rs.2700 and it is a real phone, not a toy.

I told this to a friend and she was like, "Why do you count pennies when it comes to toys for your kid ? Those are good toys from renowned companies and will last a lifetime and more. Go get them". Well, I do love my son and while I would spare no expense when it comes to his basic necessities, I cannot bring myself to spend such money for a toy, which he will in all probability outgrow in a few months. Which is if he has already not broken it by throwing it at the wall.

Anyway, I walk out without buying the toys, though I am also feeling guilty that I did not buy the one toy that my son seemed to be interested in. I tell this to my wife and she says that she will try in Kerala at a baby toy shop where she has noticed that stuff (same or similar type) is much cheaper than at Chennai. And true to her word, she goes and gets this toy cellphone for our son.


It plays many of the current favourite Hindi movie songs, some other music, has lights and also has a normal phone ringing sound with a girl saying 'Hello'. Basically my kid just loves the phone. Ofcourse this did not prevent him from throwing it at the wall, breaking a few keys, but still it works.

Any idea how much she paid for this phone, which is made in China (where else) ? See the snap below showing the price tag.


The cellphone cost the princely sum of Rs.15, which at today's currency rates, is less than 1/3rd of a dollar. Assuming, the seller keeps a margin of Rs.3-5 on this phone, and the manufacturer keeps a margin of Rs.1-2, the total manufacturing cost comes to Rs.8-11. Man, how can you make something like this for so low ?

I was discussing this with my Dad and he said, "For Rs.11, you can't get a guy in Kerala to even move the phone physically a few metres." Given the functionality it has, the batteries that came with it, the plastic casing, speaker and other wiring etc, I cannot for the hell of me figure out how someone can make a product so cheap. Agreed that labour is cheap in China. Still how is this possible ?

Is it then any wonder that the world is getting flooded with everything Chinese ? Even during my US trip 3 years ago, most of the products on store shelves had "Made in China" on them. Heck, the ultimate symbol of patriotism which is evident everywhere - the national flag of USA itself is imported from China. Do we need to say anything more ?

Who else but a Government organisation would be so dumb to snub regular customers ?

Assume you are running a brick-n-mortar business selling some product/service. And doing pretty good too because you happen to be a monopoly, being the only company doing that business in the whole country. People flock to you to buy the product and wait hours in the queue to avail the service.

Being a monopoly and given that the possibility of competition emerging in the near future is nil, you can afford to continue as-is, without bothering about spending time/effort/money to make life easier for your customers. But some forward-thinking guys working in your organisation take the effort to bring your business online, so that customers can avail your service from home, work or practically anywhere in the world, requiring only a PC and internet connection.

As expected, this becomes a hit with the customers as they do not need to spend long hours standing in queues. And inspite of the extra Rs.10 charged by you, this option makes lots of sense for them in terms of time and effort saved. The service is zero-risk for your organisation also because payment is either via Debit or Credit cards.

Now, if this were a logically thinking progressive organisation, they would come up with loyalty plans for customers who use this service a lot. Maybe in the form of points for every purchase, which could be redeemed for some gifts or so. Ofcourse, being a monopoly, there really is no need to have programmes for loyalty because the customer does not have any other option than your organisation.

So, even if we assume that you don't provide any frequent-user programmes, will you dissuade a user from making as many purchases as he or she deems fit and requires ? I am 100% sure that no organisation led by level-headed people would even think this way. But then government organisations are a breed apart. No wonder they are bloated with personnel and low on efficiency, which finally leads to their ending in the red.

Being a very frequent traveller with the Indian Railways, I was excited when they setup online ticket booking/reservation. No more going to the booking office and standing in line for hours to book a ticket. I could book my tickets in minutes from home / work. However, I was in for a shock today, when I tried to book a ticket on their site. The error message I got was :

Note : You are Permitted only 10 transactions per month, and you have exhausted them. Please use other services.

Basically, since I booked 10 tickets this month, I cannot book any more. How dumb can the guy be who came up with this restriction ? I am paying money to book tickets for my travel requirement, which is legitimate in all ways you look at it. But somehow some bird-brain decided that the limit should be pegged at 10 tickets a month. Instead of trying to come up with ideas that increase revenue, they want to reduce sales.

Ofcourse, there is no such restriction for those that book tickets at the booking counters - they can book as many tickets as they want. And also lest someone wonders whether this is to prevent black-marketing of tickets, that also cannot be the reason because while booking tickets you need to give your ID details and the same ID would be verified when you travel. So, it is not like I can book a ticket and sell it to someone at a premium.

So, what do I do when faced with such a stupid stumbling block ? Since I really need to book that ticket and can't wait till the month of November rolls in, I just open a new online booking a/c in my wife's name and go book the tickets.

I don't expect them to reward me for being a frequent traveller. But is it too much to expect them to not create unnecessary stumbling blocks ? But does this surprise me ? Naah, government enterprises are capable of much more stupidity and customer-unfriendly behaviour.

The biggest animal on earth. And some old time memories.

We were driving back home after a visit to my sister's home, when I chance upon this temple procession on the road, with 4 elephants part of it. Which is not really an uncommon sight in Kerala, given that most temples have elephants and so you could see them sauntering on the streets, while being led to the nearby river by the mahouts for their daily bath.

But somehow since my son was born, I never have seen elephants on our streets. Usually you could hear them long away, by the bell around their neck and the rattling of the huge chains around their legs. And hearing the racket, people would come out onto the streets to have a look at the majestic animal walking leisurely on the road. Infact there is a popular saying in Tamil - "Yaanai varum pinnai, mani-osai varum munnai" which translates to "While the elephant comes behind, the sound of its bell precedes it".

Usually, I like to introduce my son to the various animals and birds around us and he now knows the crow, hens, pigeons, goat, cow, cat, dog etc. But an elephant would surely be a sight to behold - I would love to see his eyes widening as he takes in the big animal. So, I think of parking the car on the side of the road and taking him near the elephant. But my idea is quickly vetoed by my wife who feels that it is not a good idea to wake the kid up from his sleep. I agree and decide to later take him one day to the nearby temple so that he can see an elephant.

Aah, the pleasures of being from Kerala. Who needs NatGeo or Discovery or even the nearest zoo, when wildlife is all around you ? As we move on, leaving the elephants and the procession far behind us, my Dad goes back to his childhood days :

Dad : When I was a small kid, in school they asked us to write down the name of the largest animal and I wrote down "cat".
All of us : Cat ? Why would you think a cat is the biggest animal ?

Dad : Well, we did'nt have the kind of exposure that kids of today's generation or even your
generation had. Also, then we were living across the river, in a sort of island, waterlocked on all 4 sides. The bridges you see now, did not exist.
My wife : Agree to the exposure part and about being on an island. But you surely had cows, goats, dogs etc in the neighborhood and they surely are bigger than cats. Then why did you name a cat ?

Dad : True - we had all these animals around. But I don't remember why I named a cat of all the animals. I was too small, and somehow that was the answer that came to mind.

I don't know what my Mom and wife were thinking, but my mind immediately tried to imagine those times - no electricity, water all around, landlocked place etc. That was where I was born, though in a few years my grandparents moved across the river, to where we live now. We had a small piece of land there, where the old house used to stand, where my Dad was born and grew up. It was kind of sentimental for me and I hoped we would retain it, but some of our relatives made my grandparents gift it to them, citing some emotional reasons. Anyway...

Dad brought me back to the present by saying, "And do you know what your Grandpa did when he saw the notebook with the wrong answer written by me ?"

Me ; What did he do ?
Dad : He promptly took me to the nearest place where an elephant was available (must be
some temple) and showed me the elephant. Letting me know which was the biggest animal.

Why am I not surprised by what my Grandpa did ? Exactly what I would expect him to do. Teach by example, instead of rote. He could have corrected my Dad and said that, "You are wrong. The elephant is the biggest animal on earth." But he chose to actually show him the biggest animal, since seeing is believing.

The longest time I spent with my Grandpa was during my 2 years of schooling in Kerala. He had by then had had a paralytic stroke which rendered one symmetric half of his body pretty much useless and also had weak eyesight. But he still kept himself active. I learnt quite a lot from him during those 2 years and things which I still hold on to.

The blog-writing I do, can be attributed to him. He was an avid diary-writer & even today we have his diaries extending back to 3-4 decades ago in which he has noted down various events like my birth and that of my sisters, my Dad's career & important events in life etc. I started off with diary writing and then stopped that to have it online on a blog.

He also practiced what he preached and had a set of principles by which he lived. Charity was an important part of his life. Most of the day, he would be reclining on the easy-chair which was placed close to the main door from where he could see as far as the main gate. He had a bowl kept within reach with coins in it to give to anyone coming for alms.

And another of his principles that I follow religiously is "Everything has a place for it. If you take something from somewhere in my home, ensure that you return it to that place. This will help the next person looking for it find it easily." Somehow my Dad did not get this practice of his Dad's and occasionally would be at the receiving end of my Grandpa's rebuke for not replacing stuff at their set location.

And one of his quotes that I still vividly remember is, "Do not ever lend anyone your pen, spectacles & footwear. These 3 are personal objects and only for one's own use." In today's world, I guess we can add "cellphone" to the list. I ofcourse promptly modified the adage to include bike/car in the list of items that one should not lend to anyone.

He was also religious, but not a blind follower. I remember him debating the finer points of the Bible with preachers/priests and in some cases even recall them leaving unable to answer his questions.

Did he have any vices ? Sure he did - he was no saint. Smoking was one. Even to his last days, he used to smoke. Also I have heard from my Grandma about how when he was younger and abler, he used to like his few glasses of toddy and would occasionally take me along to the toddy-shop on his bicycle when I was a small kid. Somehow, my Dad turned out to be a teetotaller, while I smoke and also like my occasional drink. Looks like the vices skip a generation in our family, which I hope is true because then my son would be a teetotaller.

Another vice, if I can call it that, was his buying lottery tickets. He was convinced that he will hit the jackpot one day and would buy the weekly tickets without fail. On very rare occasions he did win some small money, but nothing even remotely close to the jackpot. But he never stopped buying lottery tickets. On the train to Kerala, there is always this guy selling lottery tickets and whenever he comes around, I am reminded of my Grandpa and even wonder if I should try my hand at it.

What if I hit the jackpot ? For all of Rs10, I could end up winning Rs.10 million, which after-tax would work out to some Rs6.5 million. Still not a bad sum to retire early to Kerala. You know what ? I think I will give it a try next time. And if you don't see me updating the blog, you can be sure that I am somewhere in Kerala, enjoying the moolah and having fun in the backwaters.

The girl with a strange way of expressing how she misses people.

Yesterday evening I was at the station to catch the train to Chennai after a 3-day weekend. As is the normal practice, my parents, wife & son had come to see me off and we are all talking on Platform-1. The train's arrival was announced and since it would be coming on Platform-2, I move to that platform.

A distance of some 10-metres (and 2 railtracks) separate the 2 platforms. Earlier my son would not even recognise me once I moved to the other platform. But as he grows older, he sort of understands that I am going away and this time he tries to jump towards where I am standing, from my wife's arms. He wants the 4 of us (me, his mom and my parents) to be always near him and even if one of us moves away, ever so briefly, he starts bawling.

Anyway, the train arrives and I get on. There is a brief 1-2 minute wait before it will leave. So, I stand near the door of the train looking at my folks and saying goodbye. And that is when I see a girl (actually woman - mother of 2 kids now) talking with my parents. Even though she has changed quite a bit since the time I last saw her (13 years ago), I recognize her as a friend of my sister's.

Actually, they met each other due to taking the same train to college and over time became
thick friends and she has come home many-a-time too. My parents know her well too and so they catch up with news on each other. There have been many friends of my sister's who have come home and whom I have met, but I am not sure I would be able to remember most of them. But the moment I saw this girl, I could recollect her immediately, due to two reasons.

First being her strange way of letting others know that she is missing them at that particular moment of time. In the mid-nineties, when there were no cellphones and even a landline was a big deal, when I was home on vacation, occasionally I would hear the phone ringing. If no one was around to take the call, I would abandon what I was doing and rush to the phone. But many a time, I saw that by the time I reached the phone (say after 3-4 rings), the phone would go silent.

When this happened repeatedly, it would irritate me no end. But we did not have Caller Line Identification on the phone and there was no way to track the caller. Sometimes after this routine has happened a few times, I would wait near the phone to pick it up on the first ring, but mysteriously there won't be any calls at that time. This happened occasionally and even though irritated, I did not give it much thought.

Then I happened to mention this to people at home and my sister revealed the mystery behind the caller. She said that it was a friend of hers who has this habit of giving missed calls to the person she was thinking of at that time and whom she missed. So, this was her way of telling my sis that she was missing her. But, problem was my sis usually would not be at home when this girl missed her and used her unusual way to convey this to her. Instead, it really ended up irritating me. Anyway, after I came to know of this, I stopped rushing to the phone and if it rang briefly for a few times, I would just ignore it.

This was what struck me immediately after I saw the girl, helping me identify her. Ofcourse it also helped that she had complimented me (not directly, but via my sister) and like anyone else, I do not easily forget people who compliment any attribute of mine.

As the train left the station, I waved to her too and was wondering whether she still uses her missed-call technique of letting those she misses know about it. Must be much easier to do it
today with cellphones than with the landlines of old times.

And the last bastian falls. Where do we go now for a weekend get-together ?

In the last post about WTPT (and maybe other earlier posts too), I had mentioned about the Friday night get-togethers that me and a group of automobile-crazy friends have, over food, drinks etc. Gotta mention one peculiar thing about this crowd - we all met over the internet.
Yes, all of us Chennai-ites, but it took the internet for us to meet and become friends. And
the medium that helped us was www.team-bhp.com, inarguably the best automobile forum
in Indian webspace.

While I am an infrequent visitor to these weekend meets due to my travelling to Kerala on almost all weekends (I need to catch the 8PM train to Kerala on Fridays), the rest of the
gang have been religiously meeting almost all Fridays.

Except for a few weekends when we got together at the home of 2 of the married members(when their family was away ie.), the rest of the weekend meets were always at the home of
one of the bachelor guys in the group. He has a nice cosy pad on R.K.Salai (salai being Tamil
for road) . This guy is a nice, friendly chap, with extra-ordinary knowledge in automobiles
and pursues both racing and off-roading with equal interest. Usually people are attracted
to only one of these - I love racing, but don't really find it fun to take a Jeep and navigate a
rocky river bed (he does the annual Palar challenge and also won this year) or to go through knee-deep slush.

Anyway, we have had quite some nice weekend meets at his place, with some nice music
playing on the car-stereo setup he has in the drawing room. Till recently, we used to use
the drawing room, because one of the rooms was full of automobile stuff - a seat from one
car, an LPG tank from another, set of racing wheels, etc etc. But after he disposed off all
of it, that room became our venue.

However, like anything else, all good things have to come to an end. And so was it with this arrangement too, because our guy got married last week and no woman is going to be ok
with a bunch of guys having a party in her home. We are on the lookout for alternatives,
but yet to zero in on one, which meets our needs - has to be inexpensive, should allow us to talk/argue/shout and should be ok for a sub-10 crowd.

One option that looks like a fit would be the bar of the Hotel President, again on R.K.Salai.
Would surely be much more expensive than our "R.K.Salai bar" as we used to call his pad. :-)
Thanks for the nice time at your place, man. It was great while it lasted.

Google-dependence and the mystery behind WTPT.

There are some appliances / applications that are so helpful that over time, we just end up relying completely on them. For eg. the cellphone. Before it came into our lives, I had atleast
10 phone numbers committed to my memory. Today, all I can remember is the landline numbers of my parents, inlaws, sister and ofcourse my own Chennai number.

It is tougher with the 10-digit mobile phone numbers. The only mobile number I can reel off from memory is mine. If someone asks my wife's cell number or my Dad's, I would be clueless. Once I reached Kerala by train and needed to call my wife to ask her to come pick me up from the station. But since my cellphone battery had lost its full charge, I had no way of knowing
her number to call her.

Had to then call her parents (who were surprised to know that I did not know my wife's phone
number) and get her number from them. Ofcourse, they also did not have it committed to memory - they got it from the address book. :-)

Similiar is the experience of most netizens with Google. You want to know about something,
the first thing to do is google it. See, it became a verb too. Just like "xerox it" is used liberally
in India (not sure if it is used in other parts of the world also).

So, when my friend called to tell me that our common friend's wedding reception would be at
the Tag Centre in Chennai, the first thing to cross my mind was to google the place to locate where it is situated in Chennai. As if reading my mind, my friend said, "I have no idea where
this place is. Will ask around. And I am sure you are already googling it as we speak". :-)

My googling-mania became a kind of a running joke with my auto-forum mates after I
googled WTPT. I am not sure about you guys/gals, but when I first heard this acronym,
I had no idea what it meant. Ofcourse, I tried to challenge my mind by thinking what it
would be representing, but failed to find a logical expansion for it, given the context in
which it was made.

It was a Friday evening a year or so ago and I get the following message from one of my
auto-forum guys : WTPT ?

Just 4 letters. The ? indicated that it is a question. But what the hell does WTPT stand for ? Ofcourse it being Friday, I could guess that it was about the weekend get-together that we normally have - basically comprising of some good Signature whisky, nice eats and finally a
light dinner. And all this interspersed with lots of talk - about cars, bikes, etc. And yes, a bit
of talk about women too. :-)

After a few minutes of mental struggle, I automatically reach for the keyboard and google WTPT, with the sure belief that Google will deliver. But no, I do not get the full-form for
WTPT. Quite a let-down actually, given that I had come to depend on Google so much.

Anyway, I get another SMS a short while later mentioning the time and venue for our
weekend party. While there, I tell the guys about how I could not find what WTPT stands
for inspite of googling it. This leads to allround laughter for a few minutes and comments
about how those in the IT industry are so hooked to PCs, google & stuff. Finally the mystery behind WTPT is revealed - Where's The Party Tonight ?

Is this what it all was about ? Something so basic and simple and I could not get it. Anyway,
even a year later, when talk at our weekend night parties drifts to the internet or google,
the joke is on me. So much for being a google-believer.

The absurd height of advertising.

Like any other cellphone subscriber, I keep receiving junk text messages advertising anything
from self-driven rental cars to inverters to portfolio management. And I know that this is the
result of my service provider (BSNL - a Government enterprise) selling my phone number to
all and sundry making a neat packet for themselves.

Since my phone has a beeping reminder to remind me of missed calls and unread messages,
it can be quite irritating at times to keep hearing the beep and when you take the effort to
read the message, it happens to be some junk SMS. I sure can turn off the reminder feature,
but I need it to remind me of any calls/sms-es that I might have missed while I am driving
or so.

So, today I am at work and there is this beeping every few minutes. I take out the phone and
read the message, which goes thus : "Working women's hostel at Vadapalani signal, with good
rooms, bath attached, distilled water, T.V., phone, internet etc. Please contact xxxxxxxxx.

Having TV is surely great. Especially for women who might like to watch the weepy family
soaps aired during late evenings. With the residents being working women and most of them
being techies, an internet connection in the room is actually great.

But, distilled water ? Ain't that what you use to top up your car-battery ? I am not sure why
someone would advertise distilled drinking water as a feature ? While there is nothing wrong with drinking distilled water, it is not generally used for human consumption. Guess they got
it confused with mineral water, which must be what they meant. Or actually they just meant treated water, which is a big industry in India today, with all and sundry selling water in satchets, bottles of various sizes, bubble tops etc etc.

I just hope the women trooping to the hostel are not provided distilled water because there
still exist two camps of thought on whether distilled water is good or harmful for us.

It's good to love your country & its customs. But bad to expect the world to follow them.

Long ago there used to be a time when I would voice my opinion via the comment section on websites, when I read something of interest. If I liked what's written, I would say so and if I
did not agree with their view, I would post a comment in that vein.

But over the years, I stopped the practice of commenting due to a mixture of laziness, lack
of interest and a feeling of "why bother?". However, I could not resist commenting on this
"Open letter to the Prime Minister of UK" from an American waiter, which was published
on one of my favourite blogs - waiterrant.

Check out this letter, which rants about how the British (& the Canadians & the Australians
& the New Zealanders & those from EU & the rest of the world) are bad tippers and how we
all need to be educated on tipping by the all-knowing American wait-staff. Some snippets
from the letter for those who are lazy to click on the linky :

"...one behaviour of your citizenry here in America of which I find the most annoying,
disturbing, and ultimately maddening is the ignorance of a peculiar American cultural
artefact, which manifests itself most obviously in the act of the tip."

"Mr. Brown, I urge you, if only for decency’s sake, to inform your citizens, before travelling abroad to the United States, that while dining out in a restaurant where waiters take orders
and serve food, that the tip is not compulsory, but mandatory, ..."

"I can only surmise the problem stems from a lack of education of the British People, "

And this interesting (but one that apparently stems from ignorance) one is for my Canadian friend Will of "Wandering Will" blog fame :
" Please forward this letter your your pals, the Prime Ministers of Australia, New Zealand,
and Canada, as we have similar problems with them, Actually, we’ll deal with the Canadians as we see fit."

To which, the author of waiterrant commented thus : "Actually Martin, the last time the U.S. invaded Canada, it didn’t work out so well for us." He he...

The author of waiterrant himself has posted many-a-time about stuff like bad tipping, linking bad karma with bad tipping, soliciting tips via PayPal etc. But since I like his writing, I chose
to ignore that minor abberation in his attitude. But this 'open letter' was a little too hard to
resist and I posted the following on the site's comment section.

"While this blog has been my favourite for years (Congrats! waiter, on the book), I could
never digest the attitude towards tipping that it tries to enforce on the readers & the world.
If the U.S. laws do not even guarantee minimum wages for wait-staff, I think you should
start working on that first, instead of trying to 'educate' the rest of the world about how
to tip. We know how to tip, thank you.

And BTW, the US is not the world. Just because a few million of you follow something, does
not automatically make it the world standard for the billions elsewhere. For us, a tip reflects
the "Quality of Service" and that is how it should be. You serve well, the tip will reflect that.
Your service is lousy, there ain't gonna be a tip at all.

It would be the height of self-centredness to think that you could get away with poor and abysmal service on your job and still expect the patron to tip you. And that too 10% min.
Why don't you guys then get this enshrined in the US constitution, under a tipping section ? Something on the lines of, "Any visitor to the US is required to tip a minimum of 10%".
Truly hilarious. "

Feel so relieved now. Really. :-)

P.S. : Just tried out some text colouring in this post, to distinguish between quotes from
different people. Hope it is not too harsh on the eyes.

What matters in life is attitude. The right attitude, that is. Gotta learn this from kids.

One of the most important traits to have, is the right attitude - to life, work, relationship or to just about anything. Yet, that is one attribute that most of us (including yours truly) do not
really work on.

I was having my usual weekly phone call with my sis who is based at Cochin in Kerala. After
the usual talk about life in general, she said that she was actually planning to call me to discuss something. She said it was about Divya (her daughter and my favourite niece) and some problems she was facing ather school.

Some background details :
Few months ago my sis had got a job as a lecturer in a Government college in Cochin and
since it was a big career growth for her from her previous job of teaching in a school, she
and my BIL decided (after weeks of thinking) to go for it. Even though it meant relocation
from their own home in Kollam (150kms from Cochin) to a rented home in Cochin. Plus
moving Divya to a new school in Cochin.

Ofcourse, Divya was all gung-ho about the move. Like any kid, she was open to change, more
so if it meant moving to a new city, new school, new neighbours/friends etc. Ofcourse it took
only a few weeks for her to realise that it was not as much fun as she imagined it would be.
Kollam was just 50kms away (1 hour drive) from my parent's home and we could drop in
every now and then. Plus, the neighborhood was familiar to her, with quite some of her Dad's relatives living there.

But, things were different in Cochin since everything was new and required adjustment on
her side. These problems sunk in only a while after the move to Cochin and by that time,
there was no turning back. The main problem was making friends at the new school, because
while the rest of the kids had been studying together for the last few years and were already friends, she was a newcomer to the group. So, getting entry into the groups was a hurdle.

Ofcourse, she did manage to make friends with some of the kids in her class. Over the weeks
and months, she managed to gain the confidence of the other kids in her class and things sort
of settled into a routine. She still missed her friends at Kollam, but was slowly getting used to
the eventuality of having to be in Cochin for atleast 2-3 years, till my sister got a transfer to a college near Kollam.

Since Cochin was 100kms away (2-hours if I drive, 3-hours if my Dad drives), we could drop
in only once a month or so over the weekend and she would be delighted. But when it would
be time for us to leave, it would invariable find her crying. Anyway, things were settling down and she was doing good at school -she always was a good student and figured in the top-5 of
her class.

And that is when trouble reared its head. She got an invite from a classmate (let's call her D)
to a party that D was hosting at her home. D is the daughter of a big shot in the Malayalam
movie industry - I googled his name and saw that he seems to be some kind of an alrounder - producer, distributor, music director, talent spotter etc etc. Anyway, to summarize, a real
loaded guy. During our Cochin visit last weekend, we were walking around the neighborhood
and Divya showed us D's home and it sure was big and well-designed - the backwaters on one
side, a fancy white picket fence and stuff.

Anyway, my sis being a little wary (like any Indian mom when it comes to their daughters -
sons are ok) decides that it really isn't a good idea to be attending house parties and stuff
when you are just 10 years old. More so when the hostess is in a different league all together.
So Divya has to decline the invite, which was not really an issue with D, though I think Divya
would have loved to attend the party.

But what caught D's goat was seeing another classmate playing with Divya at Divya's home.
D's thought process went something like, "She would not come to the party I hosted. And yet invites over other classmates to her home. But not me." Being an adult, I am not sure how
this becomes such a big issue, but kids being kids, D is not happy.

And since she has so much clout in the class with the other kids, she directs everyone in the
class to not talk to Divya. Basically a fatwa to boycott Divya. You can imagine how this would
be for a kid - no one in the class talks to her and to top it, she is new to the school. Some of the kids do want to talk to Divya, but don't do so out of fear of D's wrath. They do converse with
her when D is not around.

Anyway, like with any kid, these developments have their effect on Divya, which does not go
unnoticed by her carefully observant Mom (my sis). After quite some prodding, she tells the
whole story to her Mom. My sis expects her to cry or feel down due to the kids boycotting her. Knowing Divya since she was born, I would have also not been surprised if she broke down.
She is the exact opposite of my other neice Ann, who is defiant and would take situations head on. If Ann were in Divya's place, I could say with certainty that D would have ended with a bloodied nose.

But Divya surprises her Mom (and me too), by saying, "I am not going to sit and cry about
this. I will show them all by working hard on my studies." And this was not empty rhetoric.
She follows up her words with hard work and excels in school, especially in the Computer
Science class, where she is ranked first in the class.

The teacher is all praise for her achievement and puts a question to the rest of the class,
"Who all here are Divya's friends ?". No one answers or raises their hands in the affirmative, given that they do not want to get in D's bad books. The teacher (who does not know about
D's fatwa to boycott Divya) is kind of surprised and says, "None of you are friends with Divya. That is so odd because you should always make friends with hardworking achievers like her.
I am really surprised that none of you are pally with her."

Now, the kids slowly overcome their fear of D's wrath and a few hands go up here and there
in the classroom. Obviously D is not happy about the development, but given the teacher's encouragement, there is nothing much that she can do about it. Things get easy from here
and slowly Divya is taken into the fold.

Divya had 2 choices here - to sit and sulk, which I really doubt would have helped her gain
any friends OR to take the steps to overcome resistance. And the decision she took shows
her attitude to obstacles. Ofcourse taking a decision is only half the work. Completeness
comes only from following up the decision with hardwork. The course she followed speaks
volumes about her attitude and if this is any indication of how she would approach other
things in life, I am sure she is on the right path.

I could surely learn lots from her approach to what we would otherwise dismiss as a kid's problem.

Why do we drive the way we do ? Something to do with how we behave off the road ?

As someone who spends atleast 2 hours a day on the road, I have always wondered why
we drive the way we do. We drive rashly, do not show courtesy to other road-users or pedestrians, do not follow any rules or in case of many on the road, are not aware of rules
in the first place, etc. The list is long.

To know/understand why we drive the way we do, all you need to do is observe how we
behave when off the road, and the parallels will emerge clearly.

1) You are standing in a queue to buy a movie/railway-platform ticket, patiently waiting
your turn. Suddenly one smart-aleck rushes over to the front of the queue and thrusts his
hand into the counter. As far as he is concerned, all the people standing in the line are just
not there. Sounds familiar ?

Translate this to road-behaviour and you would be able to explain the behaviour of those
punks who ignore all those waiting patiently at a signal and drive around them to plonk their car/bike in front of them. Or worse, drives on the wrong side of the road to bypass all those waiting at the signal.

2) You are still in the queue to get your ticket. You and others in the line have managed to
drill some sense into the guy who was trying to bypass the queue and embarassed, he moves
to the end of the queue. The line is moving as fast as the guy at the counter can handle it, but
the guy behind you is impatient. He is almost shoving your back, making sounds of impatience and acting as if you are not moving, while the fact is that there is a guy already at the counter transacting business, which needs to complete, before you can move forward.

These are the guys who are ready to wait 110 seconds on the timer-enabled traffic signal,
but become impatient at the last 10 seconds as if their life depends on speeding away from
the signal as fast as possible. And on the road, they indulge in honking or revving the engine
or gesturing you to move on. It does not bother them that the signal is still red with a few
more seconds to go, which means that it is green for someone else and your moving forward
now could lead to disaster.

3) You are walking along the pavement in your city. Yeah, I know, how many roads in our
cities have pavements ? Anyway, the pavement is good enough for 2 people to easily walk abreast. But our hero is bent on having all of it to himself (must be the one with the "Yes, it
is my Grandpa's road" sticker on his car) and is walking bang in the centre of the pavement.
And that too very leisurely. He is strategically positioned himself such that you cannot pass
him from either side.

This would be the guy who would straddle both the lanes on a 2-lane road and be driving
slowly, maybe even talking on the phone and basically creating a big traffic jam behind him
for no valid reason.

4) You are again continuing your walk on the pavement and in front of you are two guys
walking at a normal pace. You walk behind them maintaining your own steady pace and
then when you least expect it, one or both of the guys just come to a sudden abrupt stop,
for no apparent reason, resulting in you almost banging into them.

These are the ones who when driving on road, stop all of a sudden for no obvious reason
or for dropping someone at a curve or in such a way that traffic gets blocked. No amount
of honking, swearing or shouting would have any effect, because they are just oblivious to
all that.

5) You are again back at the railway station for a ticket. There are just a few of you in the
line, with enough space for all to stand comfortably, but the guy behind you just needs to
stand in contact with your rear. Also add the occasional poking with the book or bag that
he has in hand. He has no idea at all of what personal space means.

This would be the one who would park his car/bus whatever really close to the rear of
your car, inspite of the two of you being the only ones at the signal and there being space
for him on either side of your vehicle.

I am sure there is scope for many more such instances where our behaviour on-road
mirrors what we do off it. Is it any wonder that we drive the way we do ?

Quitting the instant gratification path for the traditional. Even if it takes more time/effort.

One of the things visitors to Tamilnadu usually love is the filter-coffee available here.
The aroma, the froth and taste is just out-of-the-world and a delight for any coffee lover.
While I also like filter-coffee, till recently I never bothered to find out how it is made or
to brew it at home.

Reason being that instant coffee made life so much easier. Just buy a satchet or pack of
Nescafe Select and add the coffee to a cup of hot milk with sugar to taste and your coffee
is ready. Coffee is made the traditional coffee-filter way in most TamBram (Tamil Brahmin)households and I have had the good fortune to be treated to this beverage at the homes of
my TamBram friends.

Last week, we dropped in at the home of a TamBram friend and she served us a cup of hot
filter-coffee. Having savoured the drink, we went into the specifics of how the coffee is brewed and she not only showed us the coffee-filter used for this purpose (see pic below), but was also kind enough to gift us a coffee-filter.



Check this Wikipedia link to know more about filter-coffee. Ofcourse, having the equipment
is only half the job. You also need to know how to use it properly. So, over the weekend we
did some experimenting, but found that the coffee we made was still nowhere as good as the
one she served us.

Add to this, the 'expert' comment from our neighbour, "Only TamBrams can make good filter coffee. The rest of us can't do it." I am neither Tam or Bram, but this comment was enough
for me to take this up as a challenge. Gave my friend a quick call today to reconfirm the
process and learnt that we were adding too much water, which was hopelessly diluting the
brew, which resulted in ultra-weak coffee.

Hopefully tomorrow morning's cuppa would be just perfect. Anyway, I am saying goodbye to instant coffee for good and intend to continue with filter-coffee. I guess some things in life are
best enjoyed the traditional way, even if it takes little more effort and time.

Finally its monsoon season in Chennai. Yippee !!!

Looks like the monsoon has finally set over Chennai. It has been raining on and off for the
past few days and from yesterday the intensity has been increasing. Today morning, when
I was driving to work, the showers were strong enough to reduce visibility. And this inspite
of the windscreen wipers running at the highest possible speed.

To say that it was raining cats and dogs would be an understatement. While I do love rains
like any true Keralite, there is only so much rains that Chennai can handle. Even with a brief
5-minute shower, the roads get flooded, resulting in traffic snarls.

So, while I hope it rains now and then, which would also help the water reservoirs around Chennai get full, I also hope the rains are spaced out well over the course of the month, so
as to not flood this city.

Now, if only I could sit at my balcony at home, with a cup of steaming filter coffee in one
hand and the newspaper in the other, just looking at nature in its wet glory.

Aah, if wishes were horses ....

The best way to resist temptation is to succumb to it.

I do not remember the last time any motorbike really tempted me enough to spend time drooling over it or thinking about buying it. And now, out of the blue, this new offering from Yamaha has set me thinking.



Quite some reasons for being interested in this mobike :

1. Awesome styling and looks.

2. Lineage inherited from the legendary Yamaha R1.

3. Exclusivity on the roads, courtesy the high price of the bike. This 150-cc engined bike
would set me back by a hundred thousand rupees plus change. Compare this to the 150-cc
bikes from Bajaj, TVS etc that you can buy for 60 thousand odd rupees.

4. Maybe I am growing old - I read somewhere that when men feel they are aging, they try
to prove themselves younger by indulging in macho symbols like motorbikes etc. :-)

And yeah, last but not the least, I am sick of seeing all these Bajaj Pulsars on the roads.

But then there is also a sane voice trying to make itself heard to me, with logical arguments
like, "This bike is not something that you can use as a city commuter in a crowded city like Chennai" or "Why waste good money on a bike that you are going to use only occasionally ?"
or "Throw in another hundred thousand bucks and you could get a 800-cc small car, which would be an ideal gift for your wife for the upcoming anniversary." etc etc.

And the fight between the mind and heart rages on.

P.S. : For those that did not know, Chennai has the distinction (dubious, if you ask those that
drive cars here) of being the city with the highest number of motorbikes in India.

Having your cigarette and smoking it too.

With effect from 2nd October 2008, smoking has been banned in all public places in India.
And if you are caught smoking, you are liable to pay a fine of Rs.200 per instance of violation.

Since the definition of "public place" can be hazy, I looked up Wikipedia as per which, "A public space refers to an area or place that is open and accessible to all citizens, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. Most streets, including the pavement are considered public space, as are town squares or parks. Government buildings, such as public libraries and many other similar buildings are also public space."

Given that India has such a huge population and an equally high population density in most places, this effectively means that all of the country is a public place. Which means, a smoker's options in case he/she wants to light up, are to take a flight to a neighbouring country like Sri Lanka, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Or maybe book a seat on the space flight planned by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. Not very practical options though.

I do understand the intention behind the new law. It is to minimise smoking among the public thereby reducing the casualities due to cancer caused by tobacco usage. But if the government
is so concerned about the health of its subjects, isn't it better to just ban the manufacture and sale of all tobacco products in the country ? You know that tobacco kills. Then why let it be
made and sold in the first place ? Just ban the damn thing.

But no, that means loss of millions of rupees in tax revenue for the government. Ofcourse they would not admit to this reason. Instead they would come up with the following reasons against banning sale of tobacco products :

1. Banning the sale would lead to grey market sale of the product. Maybe. But then if you can enforce a law against smoking in public places, you can surely also track down grey marketers. Also, grey market sale involves the risk of being caught by the authorities, which means the prices would be higher than what is charged currently - much higher actually. How many
would be able to afford their nicotine fix at such inflated prices ? So naturally the number of smokers would come down, which I would guess is what the government wants. Right ?

2. Another pathetic reasoning from the government against banning tobacco sale would be "What about the thousands of people making a living from the tobacco industry, who would
be out of jobs if we ban tobacco ?"

This line of reasoning is as absurd as the drunkard whose rationale to drink is, "If I drink,
only my liver gets damaged. If I don't drink, the thousands that work in the beer/liquor
industry would be out of jobs. Their families won't have food to eat and would die of starvation. Isn't it better that I drink and lose my liver than all those people dying" ?

The government's attitude seems to be something on the lines of "hunting with the hounds
and running with the hares". They don't want to let go of the huge amount of money they make in taxes from tobacco, but at the sametime they also want to be seen as socially responsible.