Zoho - a 30 min review

Thanks Lochan for introducing me to Zoho. Heres a short review, written and shared using Zoho Writer

The good things:

1. I was able to use my google acccount to login - cannot stand yet another logon account
2. Zoho is great for students and people like me who cannot afford to buy a copy of Microsoft Office
3. Great editor - easy to use
4. Many important features are available, even in offline mode.
5. Can publish easily to four of the main blog sites - you can add others as well.
   

Areas for improvement:

1. Requires connection to the internet
   • Preferably broadband? - havent tried with a slower connection
     
2. Javascript driven
   • Google chrome is supposed to have the fastest javascript engine
   • The code is open to everyone - how is the implementation hidden?
3. Percentage of boxes/computers which access the internet
   • This will be a very low number
   • Biggest deterrent for someone to use zoho - document cannot be saved as a word doc. Is there any other way to share this document with others? - oops, found the Export button. How did I miss that? PDF format! Even word does not allow me to do this! - Oh well, the doc export is crap. PDF looks fine.
     
4. Is autosave feature available? - looks like it
5. Uses Google Gears for offline mode - increases Google's monopoly

super slow lightning

you've got to watch this : http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

source : Rakeettttt....

dilbert

Got-their-goat news

This came by email today:



Would you be willing to pay Rs.5000 in fine to mock a silly rule?

Breaking news

Breaking news is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming in order to report its details.

Not any more people. I have some great breaking news for ya'all. Its now brocasted at pre-defined, scheduled, spots on telly:

Sarla tells all

Previous encounters with Sarala

It was raining heavily this Friday. I ran to the bus with only my palm for protection against the downpour. The words cats and dogs would never been uttered by so many. I ran to my bus and looked around for my favourite companion. Silly Sarla was not to be found at her usual seat; but I was not disappointed. She was sitting in a corner at the back, right next to the only available seat on the bus. :-D.

If you recall, Sarla's company had started the appraisal cycle and she wished to be promoted.

Unlike previous encounters Sarla was whispering into the phone, like a normal person would do. I was lucky to be seated right next to her. Seemed like she wanted to avoid being overheard. But I had strain only a little bit to hear. She was on the phone with Ram, the agony uncle for her troubles at work.

'... kaNo. yen sigtu nange? motte. Harsha bere treat kotta yelrigu.'
('...yes. What did I get? Nothing. Harsha even gave a treat to everyone')

'innelli, CCD^[1]. treat bagge keltiya, thoo. nan kashta kelu andre... aiyoo'
('Where else, same old CCD. You are more interested in the treat than my appraisal. Aiyoo..')

'hoon. saaku saaku. munde keLu ivaga. nan manager bagge keLu. moDle heLona anta idde, paapa avnu anta, neenu avn mele nagad beDa anta sumnidde.'
('ok ok. Forgiven. Now listen to me reveal all about my manager. I thought of telling you a few days back, but decided that he was too paapa.')

'howdu, nanna promote madidre idella heL-tirlilla. vishaya keLu sumne, madya mataad beda. yen heLali, dodda joL party kaNo adu. avna desk hatra dinda yaavde hudugi sulidrunuu taLe yetti nodtane. yeshTe important kelsa irli.'
('yes, you are being bestowed this privileged information only because I was not promoted by him. Don't interrupt, chumma listen now. What can I say, he is a huge slobber. A drooler. Looses his concentration on work whenever a girl walks past his desk, whatever he might be working on.')

'yenu nagtiya. nijvaaglu kano. senior aagidrunu college hudgun-tarah maadtane. nanna yella friendsu adee heltare. keLu bekadre.'
('I'm not kidding, don't laugh. Acts like a college kid despite his seniority. Believe me. Ask my friends.')

'aiyoo, bari nodtan ashte. mattenilla. adakke nange siglilla promotionnu. hudgirge kaDe partialty maadovnagidre nange sikta ittu. nan-kade nodod nodidre haage ansta ittu. aadre Harshange promote maad-da.'
('Aiyoo, he just looks, nothing more. Why do you think I was passed over for the promotion? He does not favour girls. Going by the way he gawked I was sure I'd definitely be promoted. But he recommended Harsha.')

'ohoo. neen baari manmatha. inna keLiLLi. hehehe. publicalle kerkotano. thoo. chi. asaiya. hudgir iDare antanu nodalla. avnde lokdalli maja madta irtane. '
('Ohooo. You are not Adonis either. Shut up and listen now. Let me reveal some more. Hehehe. He is disgusting fellow. Adjusts himself in full public view. Thoo, chi, sickening. Does not even care when girls are around. Seems lost in his own little world.')

'neen nagu. nange yen maadodu antane gottagolla. hudgurella inna dodda stories yeltare. adella heLoLLa bidu. neen heLu, nin kelsa hegide?'
('Go on, laugh. I was the one trapped. Couldn't decide between crying and punching his family jewels. The guys have more sordid stories. I wont go into all those details with you. You should talk now, hows work?')

'bidu andnalle, adella heLokke agolla kano. che che. neen heLu ivaga'
('No no. I wont say anything more. Its your turn now.')

Seemed like the juicy bits were done with. I opened my book. Went into deep slumber right after the first paragraph.


[1] Cafe Coffee Day

paris hilton, ahmerican president?

Thats hot.

The plan

The plan was hatched more than 61 years ago, executed exactly on 15th Aug 1947.

No one knows the who, what, where and how of it; the when and why became apparent only yesterday.

The plan was very precise, designed for one, and only one, purpose.

There was no plan B, as failure was out of the question.

Folks, due to circumstances unavoidable, masterminded by a select few 61 years ago, this Friday turned out to be a holiday. Can you imagine the devastating feeling when the realisation dawned on me? Silly Sarala could not reveal her delightful life this Friday.

I would like to be alone for a while now. Life will be gray for a week.

Happy Indepedence Day!

My grandmother is 84 years old. She sometimes has difficulty in sensing the time of the day, asks us whether its morning or the evening. She usually repeats her 'what time is it?' question. She has trouble sitting straight on the chair and I keep reminding her to use the hand rest for support. She, sometimes, even has difficulty recalling our names.

Today, however, she is all smiles. Shows very little signs of senility. Sits straight up in the living room chair the whole day. Asks me to switch to the news channel at 8 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and 8 in the evening. Keeps telling me to call her when "flags are shown on TV". Asks mom to make some sweets. Amazing what Independence Day does to her. She even recalled a time when she went to a nearby school to see the flag hoisted.

I-Day is just like any other holiday to me. To my grandmom, and everybody in her generation, it means a lot more. For now, I do not have such passion for any 'day'. My generation, I guess, celebrates Valentines Days and Friendship Days with more fervor than Independence Day.

Think out of the box

Working technology industry requires me to design new components, modules, general 'stuff'. There is competition from all around, not too intense but make its presence felt from time to time, and that puts some pressure on me to come up with something new, something innovative, something not seen before by my boss. The oft repeated suggestion, guidance, is to "think out of the box". The phrase has been bludgeoned to death in the few years that I've been in the industry.

This is a myth. Nobody thinks "out of the box". They are merely forced to expand the boundaries of their box. May be even jump into a new box. The moment it grows bigger than everybody else’s way of thinking, the results you produce, the suggestion you make during meetings, is labelled "out of the box". All you've done is to do something the others could not think of.

Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty were great as action heroes (Phool aur Kaante, Khiladi, Balwaan). They switched to comedy, romantic, meaty character roles (Zakhm, Dil to Pagal Hai, Hera Pheri) when their action heroes produced lukewarm responses at the box office. Aamir Khan, Salman Khan initially succeeded acting in romantic/comedy roles (QSQT, Meine Pyaar Kiya) but gained popularity when they played action heroes (Baazi, Karan Arjun). There are examples in other fields as well where somebody refuses to stick to the stereotype and becomes a success.

People constantly trying something fresh, expand their horizons, and go out of their peer's boxes, not their own. If you think of something new, the chances of that thought being used repeatedly, till it becomes boring to yourself, are very high. That’s when your box has expanded and you move on to something else to cure the boredom.

Thinking out of the box is a myth. Expanding the box is the reality.

Random Stuff - II

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I use this Firefox feature very often now (some more here), I use this whenever I want to look up a word while surfing:

1. Go to your most frequently used search site, right click on the search box and select 'Add a Keyword for this search':




2. Enter the shortcut you'd like to assign for the search:



3. To use the shortcut, type the assigned alphabet (I've used a single letter, give multiple letters also a try if you'd like) and the search string. Press Enter to invoke the search in the same tab or use my preferred way - Alt+Enter to invoke it in a new tab:



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Yesterday, 9th of August, Infy and I had our 3rd anniversary. No celebrations.

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Sarala dreams

Fridays with the sweet Silly Sarala continue to be entertaining. I don't dread facing a dull friday evening any more :-D.

I finished my work earlier than usual, so had a full 3-seater on the bus for myself. Unfortunately, this meant that there was a risk of being deprived of Silly's conversations. All the forces of nature were in my favour when she got on to the bus. If a statistician calculated the probability of choosing a seat, the one beside me would have scored the highest. Silly is not one to go against nature's will.

Saralu had a nightmare. She calls her sister (couldn't quite catch her name, sounded like Lilly) and goes:
"neNNe ratri yenta kanas bittu gotta? Billy idanalla, adage maadta idda!"
(yesterday night what a dream i had, you know? Billy^[1] is there no, he was cooking!)

"naanu araamagi TV nodta iddini, ivnu zefrani pulav maadta idda. zefrani pulav kaNe, aiyoo, rice dish anko, saaku."
(I was araamagi sitting and seeing TV, he was making zefrani pulav . you dont know zefrani pulav? aiyoo, its a rice dish)

"tarkaari cut maadtini andru beda anda kaNe. naanu full happy kaNe. Muttina Torana nodta koodkonde"
(i told i'll cut the vegetables, he said no! i fully happy. sat watching Muttina Torana on TV.)

"hadinaidu-ippattu nimisha aad mele yenu smell bantu kaNe, adige maNe inda. yenu anta nodudre anna yella kade, goDe mele, gas keLage, floor mele, avna kivi meloonu. aiyooo yaen pajhiti yedu ankonde"
(after 15-20 mins i smelled something in the kitchen. aiyoo, the walls, floor, the gas stove, even his ears were covered in rice.)

"beralu sutt-kondidda, uff uff anta idda, yeneno tarkaari, yaav yaavdu tarah cut maadidda kaNe. nagodo, aLodo gotaglilla. clean maadodu nanna taLe mele barutte anta yochista irvaga yechra aiytu"
(he was blowing on his burnt fingers. strange vegetables, in all shapes and size were all over. i could neither cry nor laugh. i jolted out of the dream just when it was upto me to clear the mess)

The bus had not left the campus yet. Someone got on to the bus just when it reached the gates. I just hate it when that happens. Here were were, two of us enjoying all the space on a three seater and this guy barges in to make my ride uncomfortable. He was sweating because of the sprint from the security turnstiles to the campus gate and just plonked himself between me and Silly. I could feel Silly narrate the same tale to her mom and then her dad but could not make out anything because of the incredible hulk. Grrrr.


[1] Billy Balachandra, the husband

Random stuff - I

If you are interested, some celebrity blogs:
Karan Johar
RGV
Amitabh Bachchan
Amir Khan
Salman Khan

RGV has a nice post on the making of Rangeela.

Tired of telemarketing calls? Give this a try first, then go for this:

Yes, again!

Fridays with Sarala, Silly - Part III.
Part I, Part II

Turns out our boostu girl has a name, nice one too. Sarala, 'simple' in many Indian languages. Silly Sarala, bombat name no? Her friends call her Saralu. She hates the few who call her Sallu.

Silly works for the BPO arm of my company - I should have guessed it on first encounter, but the non-BPO accent^[1] threw me off. She is married, to a nice fella from what I overheard. Hopefully the smaller, low level details will be unravelled in subsequent Fridays.

Its appraisal time at the BPO. Silly only proved my suspicions from a previous encounter with her distant-colleague, who, fortunately for me, was less silly. Apparently, if what I over-heard is correct, SS has 10 peers and her manager can pull only a couple of them to the next level. SS calls up a close buddy, Ram, to express her anxiety. Completely confident that nobody even remotely associated with her is on the bus she goes:
"Lo Ram, yeno madLi, yibraNNe C3 levelGe kaLstananto avnu"
("Oye Ram, what to do, he will only send 2 people to the C3 level, it seems")

"Naanu isht dina kelasa madidella waste madtano avnu. prati dina correct timeGe bandu, poorti kelsa maadi hogtino. aa Harshantara proxy hakolvo, yella kelsa sariyaage maadi hogtino. yeno madodu nananna avnu select maad-de idre?"
("All these days I have worked without wasting time, coming and going on time. not putting proxy like that Harsha fellow. What to do if he doesnt select me?")^[2]

Unfortunately, I was robbed of the opportunity to listen to rest of the interesting exchange of ideas on manager-management. Silly must have had a suspected that she had me completely engrossed in her 'private' conversation, moved closer to the window and started whispering into the phone.

[1] Ahmerican accent for the unfortunate few who are unaware of the IT lingo.
[2] Thankfully, my company does not believe in rewarding people who work for the stipulated number of hours; I would not have met Silly.

why do people argue?

Kitty: "What is the use of arguing? No one ever convinces another."
Levin: "Yes, you are quite right, for the most part, people argue so warmly only because they cannot make out what it is that their opponent wants to prove."

Levin had often noticed in arguments among the most intelligent people that after expending enormous efforts and an immense number of logical subtleties and words, the disputants at last became conscious of the fact that the thing they had been at such pains to prove to one another had long ago, from the very beginning of the controversy, been known to them, but that they liked different things and were disinclined to mention what they liked lest it should be attacked. He had experienced the fact that sometimes in the middle of a discussion one understands what it is that one's opponent likes, and suddenly likes it oneself, and immediately agrees with him, when all proofs become superfluous and unnecessary. Sometimes the reverse happens; one at last mentions the thing one likes, for the sake of which one has been devising arguments, and if this is said well and sincerely, one's devising arguments, and if this said well and sincerely, one's opponent suddenly agrees and ceases to dispute. This was what he wanted to express.

She wrinkled her forehead, trying to understand. But as soon as he began to explain she understood.

Kitty: "I see: one must find out what one's opponent is contending for, what he likes, and then one can..."

She had completely grasped and found the right expression for his badly-expressed thought. Levin smiled joyfully: he was so struck by the change from the confused wordy dispute with his brother and Pestsov to this laconic, clear, and almost wordless communication of a very complex idea.

-From Anna Karenina

Tolstoy's discourse on arguments is in the context of Levin and Kitty's courtship - how they started to communicate with very few words. Don’t let that undermine the message he has conveyed. Although most of us understand the 'anatomy' of an argument subconsciously, it is very useful (and important) to bring this up to the conscious mind. Arguments will always be part of our life, be it professional or personal. Understanding what the argument is all about, rising a bit, just an inch, above the situation, diffuses it much more effectively than breaking heads arguing just for the sake of it, just to satisfy our egos. I’m sure courting couples and the married crowd will be able to identify with this more than anybody else.

Now for some fun, go watch this:
More Cowbell, Skit on Saturday Night Live (SNL), will turn you into Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken's fan, if you aren't already.

Why sso seeRrious?

Why so serious

This is the most amazing movie I've watched in recent months; the special effects were out of this world, the action scenes mind blowing, screenplay well crafted, the actors well suited (Rachel Dawes was an exception, I liked Katie Holmes more). 100% entertainment and paisa vasool. The Sunday 10 am show at Fun Cinemas, Sigma Mall, was packed, even with the bomb scare^[1]! I heard the guy from the box office yell out that only a couple of seats were left^[2].

Beware though, after watching this it will be difficult for you to like any other movie. Ok ok, I admit, thats exaggerated a bit.

It starts with the Joker and ends with him. There are very few movies where the title role, the supposed protagonist, is overshadowed by another character. Heath Ledger, may he rest in peace, has done full justice to the Joker.

The darting, slithering tongue (I thought I'd get tired of it, but ended up loving it); the evil, weird, insane laugh; oooohh, the word play, almost like a sword fight, with Batman; the insane, unflinching desire to have anarchy rein over Gotham; the taste for destruction; the disappearing pencil act; and more, make this the best Joker ever. Batman tries to drag the movie down with his brooding and contemplating mood swings, but Joker always lights up the screen with his wits and insane plots.

You have got to love the mobile inside the fat man. Neither the protectors of the law (police, the DA, batman, the judge) nor the law breakers (Maroni, Gambol (the black mob head), the Chechen, aforementioned fat man) never knew what the Joker is capable of. Neither did I. It was a delight to see the man unfold chaos with just a few killings. Enough about the Joker. Now go, watch the movie.

I have to add a note about the action sequences. They are grandiose. I could not help go wohooo, wooowww, oooh, yehhhh; when Batman lands on the roof of Scarecrows van, when he literally flies off with Lau, when the batbike emerges from the batmobile!, when makes the batbike do a vertical flip, when the 18 wheeler ^[3] overturns. There are more!

Michael Cain as Alfred, Aaron Eckhart^[4] as Harvey Dent and Two-face, Gary Oldman as Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox, all add the expected masala. Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes was a bit disappointing, only because of her birth, that she is not Katie Holmes who played the part in the previous movie.


[1] This was the last Sunday, 27th of july. Bit late on the review as I was busy at work :-(
[2] The tickets were at half the prime time price ;-)
[3] I did not count them
[4] Was very good in Thank You For Smoking

The first failure is already here!

I was expecting an email but in a very unconventional approach the results were posted on Reliance Fellowship's applyyourself page. When the email did not arrive ^[1] till evening, I checked the application page and was disappointed to read that I was not selected. There was no particular reason given, just the usual about number of applicants, not satisfying all the selection criteria and also that there will not be any individual feedback given. This is a wake up call, time to stop relaxing and start concentrating on applications to other schools.

Apparently, there were 1400 entries. That's a huge number considering the very low level of publicity. I stumbled upon it only when I went to the Stanford website to check if they've announced the application deadlines. Googling it would not have given much information couple of months back, the Stanford Financial Aid page was the only place it was announced. And only a few bloggers and MBA web sites talked about it when I checked couple of weeks back.

[1] The email did arrive when I writing this post

the lazy blogger

Holy Catfish! I just scared panicked dread I have not updated this since petrol was cheaper than a bottle of Grange!... You would not believe that my hands were chopped off and I was waiting for bionic ones. But I'm sorry you'll just have to take my word for it..

I am overwhelmed with an awfully big adventure, sleeping, just generally being the life of the party to every Lost Boy that crosses my path, my day is a magical flight from the second I am woken by murderous Teletubbies to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am plotting and planning. life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

I swear on the bones of my ancestors if one more person emails me to ask why I haven't posted today I will start posting pictures of toe fungus, or fecal murals. Honestly! Assuming I don't get distracted by counting my chest hairs..

Havent blogged for a while? Use this to generate one :D

Not again!

Met the 'Boostu' girl again! I could not believe my rotten luck when the office bus left the campus on Friday. Very high price for not taking time to see who my neighbour is on the bus. I became aware of the situation only after she dialed the number and said her first hello. This time the first conversation was with her mom about the agalkayi^[1] she had sent sometime back. She does have the sweet accent of a typical bengalooru girl, each word uttered with full sarasa sallapa. Surprisingly she got right to the point. Did mom use it or throw it away? Why didnt she use it the moment she received it? Amazing how the girl could stretch that topic to 5 mins.^[2] Thankfully, this conversation was not repeated with the dad or the sister.

The second topic started off with an announcment to everybody around that her kid sister was dumb as a donkey. Apparently, wires of the geyser at her sister's house had decided to breath some fresh air and broke out of their plastic casings. The sister, for some reason talked her landlord, the father, the mother and the helpful neighbour downstairs about it. Eventually she ended up using water heated on her gas stove. Boostu girl couldnt fathom the reason for all this - How could the sister even think of spreading the news to everybody? Was she out of her mind? All she had to do was call the electrician.

I couldnt stop LOLing in my mind. It was like the recap shown before a new episode of a TV soap starts. Sit next to her to get a recap of whats happened in the family over the past couple of days.



[1] Bitter gourd
[2] I have to learn how to do that. A necessary skill for writing long essays for applications.

couple of firefox tips

Some tips I came across (aprt from the most used ones):

1. Smacking your head for not copying that text from the tab you just closed? Press 'Ctrl + Shift + T' to open a closed tab!

2. If you happen to find text like kamathnama.blogspot.com which is not clickable but you want to open it, simple select the text and then drag and drop it onto the tab bar!

3. Pressing 'Alt + Enter' instead of 'Enter' when you type in a URL opens the the site in a new tab.

Have more useful tips? Do share.

live dinosaur!

Extinct, my ASS! from The Original Joe Fisher on Vimeo.

Recipe for ruining your ride home

1. Work for 11 works of the day.
2. Get on the bus back home, choose a seat with just one more occupant (recall that three is a crowd).
3. Open your book of the day and, this is important, look forward to a nice ride home.
4. Notice girl next to you dial a number. Expect her to be discreet.
5. Get all hopes of discretion shattered by her loud voice.
6. Listen to the conversation(s) which follows the algorithm:
while (true) {
  1. shout 'boostu, boostu, boostu, boostu, boostu'^[1]
  2. describe why there was 'boostu, boostu' all over the uppinakayi ^[2]
  3. get back to the 'boostu' routine.

if (tired with own voice^[3])
  break for 5 mins;

repeat loop with mom, dad, obscure distant cousin...
}

7. Watch girl get down two stops before you, with the ubiquitous phone glued to the ear and curse self for not buying that iPod.


[1] fungi, moisture, mould, mold, green stuff
[2] pickle, especially South Indian
[3] noice

Why don't I own one?

It’s very difficult. The temptation, the urge, the peer pressure to spend on the sleek little thingies. They have several titillating flavours. One of them can be used as a phone! Ok ok, it’s the other way round. Every one, and their granny (with the shiny walker), has one. They make perfect gifts for someone you (no, not love) are related to.

If its not obvious what I'm talking about let me give you a clue - they are the second most desirable objects to stick into ones ears (no, I don’t have a survey result to prove this). Following the path of the Transistor -> Radio -> Walkman and CD Player, MP3 players became instantaneously popular. The devices became smaller with advancements in flash memory technology. Then allowed more songs to be stored. Then started growing bigger to include more features. Touch pads/sliders were introduced. Non-audio files were allowed inside, photos were stored and then they started playing videos. The screens became wider and now display crisp images. The UI keeps improving in every new version. And a new version is out almost every other month₁.

Despite all this, I don’t own one. Neither will I anytime in the near future. What could be the reasons for owning one?

Listen to music - the latest, your favourite or someone else's favourite. I'm not a great fan of music now. Listening to old music stored on my laptop is more than enough. Multitasking is very difficult; if I'm jogging its only jogging that I want to do and listen only to my feet hit the road, none thing.

Time pass - Listening to my favourite band prevents me from engaging in my favourite activity for passing time - books. I carry one with me wherever I go - the bus to work, travelling or waiting in the queue to book a ticket (stopped taking one to the loo).

It’s shiny - or its the 'in' thing. Even though I love new technology, I never own the latest gadgets. Be it mobile phones, laptops, watches, camera. MP3 players fall into the same category.

Are there more reasons for buying one?

[1] You'd know all this, I was just showing off that I know my tech history too

Relax for a bit

I’m able to relax for a bit, now that the essay for Reliance Fellowship is out of the way. But, try as I may, there is a lingering feeling that I’ve missed something out, that I’ve let a great opportunity pass by. The 250 word limit was too… limited, for a very broad topic – How do you aspire to shape the future of India? The result was a botched job of putting together an idea and trying to somehow fit myself into it. A couple of my friends helped my clear up some of the mess, but the end result was not up to the mark.

The MBA application hunting season will start in a few weeks; time to list down all the accomplishments and don the creativity cap to put them together in different ways. Turn it into an Eton Mess, if time permits. Time to track down recommenders; urge them to fill them up before the deadline. The party is all set to start, are you ready?

Opinion on "My Name is Red"

My Name Is Red

Have you watched Peep Show? This wonderful book is sort of a refined version, set in middle ages ^[1]; and yes, definitely far more engrossing. If you live outside the UK and are completely unaware of the show - the whole sitcom is shot from the perspective of the two main characters, Mark and Jeremy. There is no protagonist of this book, unless 'west asian miniature painting' is considered one. Orhan has employed a wonderful way to narrate the whole story, all 500 pages of it. Each of the 59 chapters is narrated from one person/animal/satan/colour's perspective. Yes, you read it right, satan himself speaks out.

Oh, by the way, do watch Peep Show; you'll see the same characters in the UK version of the Mac vs. PC ads as well.

A corpse speaks out in the first chapter, describes a murder with all the gory details; one of the most interesting way to start a novel. The author then narrates everything from the voices of different characters about the events that occur over a span of one or two weeks. There is Black (that name might be the result of translation from Turkish Kara, like Hindi's Kallu or Kannada's Kariya); miniaturists 'Butterfly', 'Olive', 'Stork'; Black's uncle Enishthe Effendi and his beautiful, confused, cunning daughter Shekure; Master Osman the master miniaturist (Head Illuminator to be precise); Esther the Jewish clothier, who also acts as the messenger between secret lovers; A dog, horse, tree, a coin, two beggars, satan, even death aid the author in narrating the murder of an artist and the subsequent events. The author also describes the influence that Frankish methods had on other forms of art.

I'm not going into a full blown review of the book, you can find plenty on the net. The author does sometimes go very deep into art and the way artists think, but the interesting characters and narration takes the edge off. I'd definitely recommend it you want something more than a light read.

For a proper review go to Wikipedia, or here (the cover is not the same as mine; mine's better)


[1] I recommend reading the Chronology sometime during the first couple of chapters

hehehe

Lost a fan

The inevitable, albeit a bit late, did finally happen. My fan count has started decreasing. Somebody came to his/her senses and realised being fan has no advantages and decided to make somebody else his Orkut idol. Fortunately for the ungrateful little rat, I haven't kept track of who my fans were. This instance of back-stabbing has brought me to my senses, I now know each fan. The next blot on this lovely planet who decides to stop following the most wonderful human being will see social networking hell never before unleashed on the net. Alternatively, I'll just buckle up and brush up on 'Social networking 101'.

Dreams

Dreams are good for three things:
• You want something but you just can’t ask for it. So you’ll say that you’ve dreamed about it. In this manner, you can ask for what you want without actually asking for it.
• You want to harm someone. For example, you want to slander a woman. So, you’ll say that such-and-such woman is committing adultery or that such-and-such pasha is pilfering wine by the jug. I dreamed it, you’ll say. In this fashion, even if they don’t believe you, the mere mention of the sinful deed is almost never forgotten.
• You want something, but you don’t even know what it is. So, you’ll describe a confusing dream. Your friends or family will immediately interpret the dream and tell you what you need or what they can do for you. For example, they’ll say: You need a husband, a child, a house…

From - My Name Is Red by Orhan Phamuk

Man living in a nest

Interesting:
http://nest-rotterdam.nl
http://nest-rotterdam.nl/16.html

Man living in nest in Rotterdam. I will never be able to live in a place for that long. Not for free.

How was your trip?

For the past couple days I was asked about my flight to London by several people. My reply is the same to all - how different can it be? Its the same flight that everybody wants to know about. I have noticed that the conversation steers into one of three ways:

1. Your flight was delayed? Was it your idea to take the AI flight? You should have known better. I would have never done that.
2. You are lucky it was not a 2 day delay. You know, on my last trip the flight was cancelled and my trip was delayed by one whole day. I was damn tired.
3. Too bad. Dont worry, you are here, thats all what matters now. Have you rested?

MBS Interview

Only a couple of hours before I take off for the interview. I'm nervous as hell. Going by previous experiences I'm bound make a huge blunder and waste all the efforts put into the application. The interviewer is supposed to be a very nice lady; I hope this interview does not go the same way as others.

UPDATE:
Its over! Thankfully none of the questions caught me unawares. I'm not completely sure if I'll get in, but feel I have a good chance. Now to get back to all the things I have been procrastinating on.

Chopin

Bought a new CD with music from Chopin's piano sonatas 1 & 2 performed by Leif Ove Andsnes. Particularly liked this one:



I know its music for a funeral march, but still love it. This ones a bit slow compared to the one I have. Do you give a listen..

10,000 BC

The posters were very impressive. man facing a huge saber tooth tiger baring its menacing fangs (is that what they are called?) on the edge of a cliff. A man's trying to spear a mammoth which, standing on its hind legs, is trying to crush him. These were very promising and I was expecting to enjoy 110 mins of CGI generated action flick.

I did enjoy the movie. However, you'll never see the first scene; the saber tooth appears for may be 5 mins in the movie. The mammoth are too woolly and not at all scary. Although the visual effects are not too stunning, they are believable.

I missed the first 15 mins owing to Bangalore traffic (certain somebody might say I didn't plan properly :P); the only regret is that I missed the trailers. The plot goes like this: the leader of the tribe abandons it to go in search of better food sources. The tribe is dependent solely dependent on mammoth meat and the leader, like a true project manager, wants to build in some contingency into the supply chain. The tribesman only see him abandoning them and could not fathom the purpose. The son now has to bear the burden of a maligned father and always reminded of it by his mates^[1].(All this, of course, is my interpretation of the missed 15 mins; the actual story is something else.. hehehe)

Enter, a little girl with the cutest blue eyes^[2] and our man makes all the right promises that a guy trying to get hooked is supposed to. I know, I know, they are just little kids, shouldn't be so harsh on them; but you should really listen to what he says. God, I cant imagine me saying even at my age. (Ladies, do not interpret this as me being unromantic. I've got better tricks up my sleeve ;-)... )

They both grow up to be the perfect specimens for the tribe, the blue eyes of Camilla Belle, playing (not acting) the part of Evolet, really stand out. The mammoth hunting season is on and the new kids are all excited. Reason: whoever kills the bull will be given the white spear (with a beautifully crafted sheath) and gets to choose any suitable lady to be his wife. Karen, son of current white spear holder, chief Tic'Tic (fascinating name, isn't it?), is the favourite. All the men gather for the hunt, for the pack and go after the mammoth herd. But our man, D'Leh, wants to win Evolet, abandons the team and tries to go at it alone. He fails and almost gets killed in the process. The pack manages to trap the bull mammoth into a huge net made of thick rope, Karen tries to spear it and fails. The mammoth manages to pull the net away from its anchors and the pack pounces on the net to try hold the mammoth. The mammoth, still trapped in the net, starts running away and the pounces on the net to try hold the mammoth. This is actually a very funny scene with the men sort of dune surfing behind the mammoth. When it gets too much to handle Tic'Tic orders them to leave the net and let the mammoth go. D'Leh, who joined back into the pack when the mammoth broke away, conveniently gets his hand stuck in the net and does not let go; and accidentally gets labelled as the hero who did not let go. The mammoth stops when it reaches a cliff and there is nowhere to run. It then starts attacking D'Leh and accidentally runs into his spear. Although there was no courage or bravery shown, D'Leh wins the white spear and his lady.

I should probably stop the lengthy desciptions here and ask you to watch Apocalypto and some (very little) of Egyptian history, coz the rest of the movie is just these two put together. Overall, I would rate this 3/5 (same as TOI). Watch it if you nothing fruitful to do and with close friends so that you can make fun of the storyline.

Interesting trivia from IMDB: D'Leh is spelled "Held" backwards, "Held" being the German word for "hero". Roland Emmerich,the director, chose this name as an easteregg.


1. I had used 'peers' first. Changed it after contemplating the thrashing I'd get from the IT crowd :D
2. Truth is I don't remember the little girl's eye colour. But I imagine they should be based on they look like when she grows up in the movie.

List of unusual deaths

Have you ever come across this list on Wikipedia? The latest (source article) in the list is from India!

Happiness

Have you watched the new MetLife ad in India? It shows a man happy, no worries, playing with his kids, stealing an icecream man's bicycle, cheating in a game of chess with his kid and some more fun stuff which a normal man wouldnt do even in his dreams. Looking back at my own experiences I realised that I have been successful only when I was happy. If I was elated due to something at home I would do well at work and when something goes as planned at work I would talk a lot at home. This of course is an ideal scenario. I dont expect to be happy every day. Lets just hope that this fact stays in my dumb head so that I'm happy all the time :-)... cheers!!!!!

Lalbagh

I'd been trying find time to take some pictures of Lalbagh, the crowded green space in southern Bangalore, for quite some time. Finally made up mind the day before to get up early in the morning, ride to Lalbagh and try my hand at shooting flowers. Turns out waking up early on a weekend is not so easy, even for me! I woke up around 9 and found that the alarm had not gone off. I must have switched off in my sleep as I did remember setting it to 6 in morning. Then decided to laze around for the day, watch a movie and try my luck again in the evening. Well, that didnt turn out to be easy either. I was planning on leaving home around 5 and reach Lalbagh by 5.30. Unfortunately the contact lens for my left refused to co-operate and took me half an hour to put it on. It was getting dark by the time I reached Lalbagh. The first shot shot was encouraging. So, went to click some more. Although I couldn't capture the flowers very well, it wasnt a disappointing evening. Roamed around for a bit trying to locate something good and shoot. The idea to take pictures of the glass house in the night came to my mind when I noticed that the pillars had light fixtures at their top.
As the evening didn't turn out to be I thought of trying next morning as well. The place is packed in the morning with people walking and jogging. The evening crowd is bit less compared to this. Overall, turned out to be a good outing. Take a look yourself.