Greetings

Wish you all a great year ahead :-)

Arvind Kejriwal

Yoohoo we will hear Arvind Kejriwal, founder of Parivartan speak this saturday.
The forwarded mail had this good quote:
Let not your sense of morals prevent you from doing what's right
- Salvor Hardin, Foundation.
Apart from the open air theatre, this is the other thing Ill miss when I leave this place. I have heard some really good/famous/brilliant personalities speak here. One does not get this exposure very often elsewhere.
But the day of leaving this place seems so far away. Everything is getting delayed :-( Im impatient with my life and want it to rush on. Its as if its stuck in a rut. And a big shove will only get it out of this rut and push it into another ditch.
Im so morale-less early in the morning :-(
I have something to look forward to on this saturday. :-) Plus Anastasia in OAT. If they had to screen old movies, why cant they screen the classics. Im dying to see Casablanca.

Rise of China

There was an editorial in Hindu about the huge number of gold medals in the Chinese contingent. Recently, my friends attended two conferences, in different disciplines. And they were also talking about the swarming of Zangs and Mings in these fields. And many of them had remarkable work to their credit. This is the trend there - the chinese students go abroad study in top-class universities and then they get back to their country and develop the infrastructure in their country. And China offers them very attractive packages also, so that they dont lose out personally either.

A review or a comment?

Review of Kabul Express

Are we "bedding with a monster"? I still have reservations about the nuclear deal and it beats me why India appears so desperate for this. Im not knowledgeable about these things but the opinions floating around in the media are also not very optimistic about this. Instead why not revive our institutions. It is a known thing that much money is squandered away in government institutions and how inefficient, lazy and evil authorities are busy filling up their coffers and in preventing real hard workers do their job for the fear of them outshining. So the much revered establishments have now been reduced to white elephants. Why not clean out such parasites first instead of inviting more in the country?
One of my friend was saying that India needs something hard to wake up and inspire the kind of passion it had when it fought for its Independence. And I think her wish will be granted pretty soon if we do carry on with our association with the "monster". Isnt history supposed to be a teacher!
Anyway now I want to see this movie more than ever. Waiting for the last week of December :-D

Currently, Im reading the Count of Monte Cristo by A. Dumas. I had read an abridged version in my childhood and Im reading the unabridged version only now. A very gripping narrative and too good. I had read his Three Musketeers but not his Man in the iron mask, but have seen the movie.
I had heard that A Dumas used to employ writers to churn out stories for him. I dont how much truth is attached with this. But his stories are awesome.

Take 2

2nd draft = Expand the 1st draft by 3 times.
(Take a deep breath. Its no easy job. )
Im starting to think that cooking 3 times a day is easier :-(
Anyway today's phdcomics says this
I got pissed off yesterday by a fellow who was doing the thinking for me, whether Ill earn in dollars, euros or pounds next and then took offence when I said tata to him pointblank. See my patience is hanging by a thread! My next occupation is not decided and people have been worrying about what Ill earn next!!! Are they this jobless!!Anyway everyone to their own pastime.

Chimp champ

:-D I like the smirk on its face.
Disclaimer: No particular affection for this species. We see them all the time in our hostels and vice versa. We literally cohabit. They enter our rooms at the first chance available, share our food, drink from the same water cans and drape themselves in our washed clothes hanging on the strings. So no love lost between us.

Shocking

Man held for selling wife's kidney to meet liquor expenses

..

A friend once said to me "Dont say yes when you want to say no". I have not learnt that yet and I often get disturbed because of this very same habit.

A very crude draft of my thesis is ready :-D Im bad at technical writing. My 10 page reports undergo 5 revisions in general. Im gearing up for 5*6 revisions now :-( :-D.

Rahman's Guru

Do check out the soundtracks of Rahman's Guru. As usual, Rahman has given us awesome tracks. My favourite track is Bin tere kya jeena. Mayya mayya also sounds great with an arabian lilt to it. Barso re does give a feel of rains. Im watching out for the release of this movie. Anything ManiRathnam is immensely watchable starting from his Mauna Raagam.
I saw Dhoom2 and did not like it. In every scene, the director focussed on the lead stars Ekta Kapoor style - you know the 3 shots per person from different angles- dhudum dhudum dhudum style :-D Dhoom1 had more thrill factor and chill factor (psst psst John Abraham being my latest liking).
Movies Im looking out for - Guru, Kabul express and Babul :-D
Looks like Ill have a working winter vacation but I hope to take little breaks for these 3 movies..

Supernova and time travel

(Ok I tried sleeping but I had terrible nightmares yesterday so just a lil scared of hitting the bed :-D So I thought Ill blab a little on my blabspot:-D )

A few days back we had a talk in our department by an astrophysicist on supernova remnants. This was a study of the dust cloud thats left behind by stars who could not stand their own weight and blew up, the explosions are called supernova/e . The SRs have been seen in our own galaxy too and are some 3000 light years away. An interesting question was raised. Since
these stars are some 3000 light years away (meaning the light from them has taken 3000 years to reach us), what is being studied now is in the past (in fact 3000 years back). How does one know what is the current status of those remnants? Seen this way, our future generations 3000 years from now will know what is happening now, not us :-D To this, the speaker had a smooth answer. SRs have been seen in other galaxies too and these are some 10000 light years away. Since, the constitution of those SRs is the same as those in our galaxy, we can compare the time status and predict what will happen to the observations 3000 years later. One advantage of predictive science. BTW pony tails seems to be the latest fad amongst physicists these days. Why would anyone ever want to grow hair at all?!!

Douglas Adams in Hitchhikers guide to galaxy has an interesting take on time travel. Ill copy paste that here

One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of accidentally becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem involved in becoming your own father or mother that a broadminded and well-adjusted family can't cope with. ... The major problem is quite simply one of grammar, and the main work to consult in this matter is Dr Dan Streetmentioner's Time Traveller's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations. It will tell you for instance how to describe something that was about to happen to you in the past before you avoided it by time-jumping forward two days in order to avoid it. ... Most readers get as far as the Future Semi-Conditionally Modified Subinverted Plagal Past Subjunctive Intentional before giving up: and in fact in later editions of the book all the pages beyond this point have been left blank to save on printing costs.

Hitchhikers is a must read :-D
(Pic from wiki)

Q?

Was life on earth an accident or are we someone's else timepass?

Its already December!! the last month of this year! Not days, but months are whizzing past us. Was time always this fast for our ancestors too or is time in a rush to meet its end?

Is it delirium or is it time for me to sleep? Or both? :-D
May we all have a rocking end to 2006. :-)

Obit

Two of our Msc teachers passed away this week - Dr. V Ramachandran and Dr. D. K. Sharma. They taught us stat mech and optics respectively. Very harmless people and very cheerful. I didnt get to interact with Dr. VR much, but Dr. DKS was around until recently. I guess since we are still in campus, and their news came just one after the other, it feels strange.
We have been here in this campus for just too long. When will my time here in campus end....

Vivah

After braving 30 minutes of Omen, we brave souls returned to our rooms and watched Barjatya's Vivaah. This movie was like any other Barjatya movie - diabetically sweet, but it had a good ending - an ending with a message. The story goes like this - Poonam is an orphan, who grew up in her uncle's home. Her aunt doesnt like her as she is beautiful and her own daughter isnt. I personally thought her daughter had more spirit, more lively. Poonam is the shy, eyelashes batting kind of girl, very very docile. Her marriage is arranged with Prem (shahid) and they both fall in love. The day before the wedding, there is a fire in her house and she gets badly burnt. Inspite of this, Prem marries her and takes care of her. This was the good ending. There is a dialogue in the hospital where the doc says that this hospi is used to seeing brides burnt for dowry, this is the first time we see a burnt girl being made a bride.

This movie reminded me of a fire tragedy in Tamil Nadu 2-3 years back. Here the kalyana mandapam (wedding hall) caught fire while the wedding ceremony was going on. I dont remember exactly who else died, but the bride's father and the groom died in it. Bride survived. We were scared for her as belief in bad omens is very prevalent in this country of 1 billion population and god-forbid if the girl has to face any hardships because of this apart from her personal loss.

This movie also reminded me of a very romantic real-life story I heard. This guy and girl were engaged and were waiting for their wedding day. The girl was very beautiful and the first time the guy saw her (himself hidden behind a door), she was playing with her friends. Unfortunately before the wedding, the girl contracted small-pox and she had small marks on her face. Well, everyone incited the guy to break the engagement. (Society never helps make anything but they love breaking up things. So why should anyone care for them at all!! ) Anyway this guy said "If she had got the pox after marriage, then do you think I should leave her!! Its the same case now. " So they married and lived happily ever-after. You can still see the romance alive in their lives. :-D

Dare I dare the devil

Movie in OAT tomorrow is Omen-V. I am determined that I will watch at least a bit of it. I have anyway informed my friends that I might need a shelter in their rooms on saturday night :-D They are not ready to watch the movie so I should hunt for some company too.

I discovered on IMDb that the 1976 version had Gregory Peck in the lead. Woww that must have been one good movie then. I must have gushed about Gregory Peck here before. He was the proud, upright father in To kill a mocking bird ( the book by Harper Lee is also very good ) and the romantic reporter in Roman Holiday. Both the movies are a collector's piece.

Omen and Nemo (as in Finding Nemo) relate to extremely opposite characters, dont they!

Update at 3am: Im not watching Omen. By mistake, I started reading a spooky story (Fred Forsyth short story- Whispering wind), suspense kept me engrossed and I finished it at 2 am. So here I am, still wide awake and cursing my non-existent will-power, but now determined not to watch Omen. Chicken-hearted. Its 2 weeks since I ate chicken :-( Emily of Lucy Montgomery is very correct when she says that the most dismal thoughts are thought at 3 am in the night.
I am reading Wind of the willows online. Nice story. The writer has given a rhythm to the words and its a delight to read :-D A sample -

So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped,....

I agreed totally when he says that the best part of a hol is not resting for days but knowing that everyone else is at work when you are relaxing. Thats so true sometimes :-D
zzzzzzzzzz

Liked this..

Main ajab ye rasm dekhi k baroz-e-id-e-kurbaan
wohi zibah bhi kare hai wohi le sawaab ulta
-Mussafi

Crudely translated as
I witnessed this strange custom on the day of sacrifice
that she is the one doing the killing and yet gets the blessings.

Lost in the jungle

Hi Im back :) I have been busy with reports, writing, assessments and the sad part is that its not over yet. Anyway, they say persistence pays and Im following this motto these days. Lage Raho :-D And here is a list of movies I watched and books I read in this period. I watched --
-> Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna : People said I must be a die hard ShahRukh fan to like this movie and I did, but not as much for SRK as for the whole story. I felt that this movie was sensitively taken. But I also noticed that all my friends who were engaged or newly married absolutely hated this movie :-D I was thrilled when John Abraham made a guest appearance in a song. I didnt know this before.
-> Lage Raho Munnabhai : Hilarious, good timepass and thats it. My expectations were too high I guess. Didnt touch a chord.
-> Dor : A very sweet movie, sweetest cos the girl gets her freedom towards the end. Shreyas, the guy in Iqbal, was too good as the behrupiya but Ayesha was the best part of the movie. Refreshing, sweet, innocent. I had raved about her movie Socha Na Tha too. Endearing.
-> Khosla ka Ghosla : A good movie. A con-for-con story set up in a very real family background. With Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and few other known faces, this movie lingers on your mind. Do watch this too. Maybe such movies would not have succeeded if the multiplex culture had not set in.
-> Dumm Dumm Dumm : A tamil movie with Madhavan and Jyothika in the leads. I watched it for the 3rd time. Very sweet and romantic and very watchable. Good music too.

Im looking for a good book to read. The books I have been reading are nice to read and are forgettable. I want to read something moving like Gone with the wind or entertaining like the bartimeus trilogy. Any suggestions?

If not waves,

... make ripples.
I got this as a greeting card message few years back :-)
Pic courtesy: Bala, an awesome photographer and a dreamer :)

Ancient mathematics

*
I heard an interesting talk on algorithms in ancient Indian mathematics. I was amazed by the ingenuity of those days' mathematicians. And they never wrote it down in symbols!! Everything was written in Shlokas and verses. For eg. the speaker figured out for us how they expressed the concept of mods (|A-B|) in words (sanskrit) as the difference between A and B the order of A and B being immaterial. The full theorem was in 4 lines **. He spoke of so many famous mathematical theorems which were independently discovered by Indians long before the west did***. And the way they have been derived is incredible. The value of sqrt(2) and pi were known to good accuracy in those days!
And I never thought before how much astrology depends on science especially astronomy. Ok maybe now the astrologers just follow set rules and formulae and calculate planetary positions, but someone has derived all that in the first place, and for that they needed astronomy and all this was worked out!!
Someone**** in the audience said "its said that in India nothing ever dies" So maybe these sciences are worked out the Indian way even now in some place.
A very enlightening talk and well spent 2 hours.

Chennai police have been given flashy white cars NYPD style with sirens lights etc and they were seen parading up and down with loud sirens two days back. Like kids roaming with their new bikes :-D Well the sirens were louder than the ambulance sirens and thats a cause for worry too.
-------------------------------------------- *****
*back again :-D
** This reminded me of my sanskrit learning days. All I remember now is Aham gacchaami. twam gacchati/si. and kukuraha :-D He he see its very important to learn the swear words in every language. Atleast if one does get abused god forbid, one should know wat one has been called :-D
*** Why dont we lay our claim to all that? We Indians are never assertive enough or maybe sometimes we just dont care.
**** Aarghh its so difficult not mentioning names. This audience member always speaks brilliantly and I always look fwd to his insights in discussions. Im more of a listener than a speaker.
***** I love this Bartimeus style of putting thoughts as footnotes :-D

Umrao Jan & Remakes

The original Umrao Jan was a masterpiece. This UJ will have a tough time in competing with that.

I was listening to the songs of the new UJ. There is a touching song which goes as Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya na kijo.. The version sung by the kid (I think) is the best. Apart from this, I didnt much like anything else. The original movie had some beautiful songs and did you know that some of those songs were written by the real Umrao Jan whose taqallus (pen name!) was Ada. So Ada is mentioned in the last couple of lines of the songs written by her. The music was exceptional. Like you can see, Im a big fan of almost everything in the original :-D

Im told Don is also is a must-watch though one shouldnt exercise the grey cells in the movie-hall. I liked the music - peppy. Im looking for bakra/i-s who wil spend good 3 hours with me in the theatre :-D I already have one bakri in sight :-D ;-)

What puts me off Dhoom2 is the absence of John Abraham and the presence of Aishwarya. Somehow I cant tolerate her and I always wonder what boys see in her. No grace, just a pin-up doll. Give me Sush anyday. You should hear Sush speak and you ll see why she was the Miss. Universe and not Ash. Sush=intelligence.

psst psst: The flow I used to have while composing a post is lacking these days and posting for the sake of posting is boring so Ill take a breather until I get that back. Maybe soon maybe not.
Till then dhoom machaale dhoom machaale dhoom :-D

Edit: Did Umrao Jaan exist for real? Rediff has an article on this

I read about Umrao Jaan's existence in the book White Mughals by William Dalrymple. The story in this book is based on a collection of letters from that era and is set in Hyderabad. He mentions Umrao Jaan in passing.

My latest obsession

Thats my laptop :-D

Acer Aspire 5550 series.
Centrino dual core.
1.25 GB RAM.

Runs like a dream. Im keeping my fingers crossed though against any mishaps :-)

Wish me luck :-D
Now hazaaron minus one khwahishein left ;-)