The Imperfect Relationship

Here is another attempt at fiction.
Its called The Imperfect Relationship.
Please leave your comments, good or bad :)

The Fall of Festival

I did not ever think that I could live without Durga pujo (I insist on calling it pujo).
We, Bengalis, live from pujo to pujo i.e from one festive season to another. Come fall and the entire city of Calcutta metamorphoses into a 24 hours party zone! Yeah, I am not kidding. Its not like other festivals in India.... most of which are restricted to pujas at home. We celebrate with the entire community, we celebrate together. I have heard ganapati puja in Mumbai comes close to it. But you can't beat Durga Pujo! The festival goes on for five long days. Five days of vacations for anyone and everyone, whether you work for a mutinational or you go to school or you work as a domestic help.
So right before the pujas the city undergoes a transformation phase.
The constuction of pandals in every neighbourhood..
Rehearsles for cultural programs to be performed by the kids living together in a multi-storied building....
Young boys knocking at your door to collect funds for the neighbourhood association...
Huge sales in every mall, people spending their savings to buy new clothes; and by new clothes I don't mean one set. Everyone gets five sets for the five days! You buy for yourself and your family members, for cousins and aunts and grandmoms and even the maid and her daughter at home.
The festivities begin on the sixth day or shoshthi.
The entire city is lit up. Lights of all shapes and sizes...in fact the layout of the lights form patterns that tell stories of events that happened that year.....
Every pandal is different, every idol is unique.....
Everyone is in the best of their attire,looking good, feeling good, with friends and family, chatting, laughing while standing in long queues to catch a glimpse of the idol and the decor of the pandal. You make new friends through friends of friends and before you know you would have made new relations too.
If you step out of the house in the middle of the night, you will not be the only one. The entire city is out all night. No one sleeps.
Now you know why I called it a 24/7 party!
Then there is the beauty of the puja itself.
The sounds of dhak early morning, the loudspeakers playing songs all day...
The voice of the purohit uttering "sarva mangala mangaley..." and an entire crowd repeating after him, with flowers in their hand which they are about to offer to the goddess, a crowd that includes even small children who find it hard to follow the pace ...
The shondhi pujo with 108 lamps at dawn....
The taste of the bhog served on banana leaves, served by uncles in the neighbourhood...
The married women smearing each other with vermilion during sindoor khela...
The beauty of the idols reflecting the light of the arati, Ma Durga in her valiant pose accompanied by her four children, on a break from shivji, enjoying all the attention at her mother's abode.....
The dhunuchi naach - a dance performed by males, to the rhythm of the dhak, while balancing chalices full of smoking embers from coconut husks....
The shantir jol - the sacred holy water of the ganges sprayed on the crowd who tuck away their toes to prevent the water from touching their feet....
And the bishorjon on the final day - immersion of the idol , seeing the goddess off at the ganges, screaming "aashche bochor aabar hobe (see you next year)"........
I remember as a child I used to cry during the immersion, feeling bad that the festivities were over and everyone would be returning home and that there were no more excuses to postpone studying for the half-yearly exams that were to follow soon after the month long puja vacations.
At that time I never thought I could live without Durga Pujo.

But I have. For many years now. Many falls have passed by without the sounds of the dhak or the lights that tell stories.
This year again. I knew durga puja was around, but not the exact dates. Ma called to inform me that it was shoshthi and that she had fasted for us. I was sitting in my lab glaring at some research papers, imagining the humdrum in Kolkata. I had to save myself from getting depressed. Googled and discovered that there was a puja held right next to my house. Man I was excited or what!
So on Ashtami morning I arrived like a good girl, draped in a new tangail saree, fasting and craving for the bhog, offered pushpanjoli, prayed for the well-being of everyone unlike the "please make sure I do well in my exams" that I used to mutter as a child, and taught A who had never seen a durga puja in his life, the entire story behind it.
There were generations of Bengalis there, away from home, who probably share my feelings. There were the American born children who did not understand what the mantras meant and just followed what their mothers asked them to do....
There were middleaged women dressed in their best clothes and jewellery, not letting the rare opportunity to get dressed and show off what they owned, slip by...
There were uncles who made the crowd laugh with their funny jokes....
There were American wives of well-settled Bengali brahmin boys, trying to manage their sarees, looking slightly puzzled at what was going on....
There were the students of nearby universities who were away from home for the first time, who had dragged their non-bengali friends along, tempting them with the free delicious food that was going to be served....
And there was me, observing, reminiscing, smiling and relieved.

Some book reviews

Recently I have been reviewing a lot of technical literature for the purpose of my research. So to go with the flow I thought I might as well write some reviews of non-research related stuff I read recently.
Four books: One night @ the call center, Five point someone, The Hungry Tide and The Monk who sold his Ferrari. Five Point Someone is great. Fresh, funny, simple -a story that, having gone to an engineering college in India, you can relate to. I feel I have met the characters at some point of my life. The kind of output I would expect from an IIT/IIM grad of this generation. Well done Chetan, looking forward to your next book.
One night @ the call center was a bit of a disappointment after Five Point Someone. A book you can probably read during a journey and forget about.
The Hungry Tide by Amitava Ghosh was on the other hand quite heavy...rich with social and historical details, with myriad emotions and well sketched characters. It was tale well told, a book I could recommend. This was my first of Ghosh's. Heard The Glass Palace was good too. Thats next on my list.
The Monk who sold his Ferrari was not my type at all. Not that I dont like philosophical and spiritual inspiration...I liked The Alchemist and have read enough of Richard Bach. But this did not cut it. I felt I was reading stuff I already knew.
Other than that I read all the old archies, tinkle and tintin that were lying at home in my old book cabinets. I have the habit of writing my name and the year in which I read the book on the first page right hand side corner. It was fun noticing the evolution of my handwriting!

Greener pastures

Yes its been a long time... travelling, post-India trip homesickness, back-to-school-catching-up, figuring out the thesis and how to use Latex ( I hate it!) have left me with no time for things I like doing. Today was the I-had-enough-of-it day! So here comes some random thoughts ....
Calcutta was good, home was good too but some things have changed, don't know whether its me or everything else but there definitely were streaks of unfamiliarity...yes to the point that at one time I was craving to get back. Why is the grass always greener on the other side? Like for example months of subs and tacos had left me wanting home made rice and dal and then a month long of rice and dal aroused the craving for a baja chalupa with lots of fire (for those who have not tried it you are missing something). Or the traffic and those ambassador taxis and autorickshaws which I was longing to see did not retain its charm for long. Is it only me or does it happen with everyone, I wonder. Yes my friends did tease me because I mentioned the traffic was unruly and I know had I been in their place I would have done the same.... it just felt weird to be on the other side. Its like I belong there but some part of me pulls me here. God knows!
Anyway..... more to do with greener pastures ....
when I was interning I wanted to get back to school, now that I am in school I want to get back to work! I mean what the hell! Will this ever end? Does it happen with everyone, or is it just me?
My mind is kind of blank right now... have to write a paper, I don't understand why they make computer scientists write papers man! I think a demo with a readme should be enough... and as for the theory I am not made for it. I have been postponing it by doing all other things that I would not do.. cooking hakka noodles with tofu whichI knew would take forever, cleaning random things which need no attention at the moment, taking the trash out- something which I could wait till the neighbours start complaining :P, arranging clothes in the closet - my most detested chore, taking a long shower, browsing through social networks and forcing friends who are online to converse, replying to ancient mails which had to be followed up, making my desktop spic and span ..... and now that I finally opened the tex editor and jotted down a couple of lines of the abstract I feel like I am done for today. Maybe I will outsource this writing business ......
At this moment in my search of greener pastures I found the right spot! A game of Spiderman on the PS2 right now! (maybe the guilty conscience after the game will work)

Homeward bound

The countdown has started...actually it started long back. Nine more days for me to be in Kolkata. After 1 year 8 months, the longest I have been away.
Domdom airport(yeah I know its Dumdum but don't you know Bengalis pronounce "u" as "o"- sounds like "aw"..
The announcements of arrival of my flight in Bengali or Bengali accented English.
The known anticipating faces of family waiting in the crowd right behind the baggage claim section.
Ma will see me and exclaim "O ma ki moila hoye gechish, naa khete peye meyeta ki roga hoyeche dekho (Oh my, you have lost your complexion, you don't get to eat well ..look how thin you have become!) ..and I know she will say it even if I have put on weight...thats just how moms are. They think that if you don't eat at home you don't get to eat :)
The musty humid air on stepping out of the airport.
The yellow and black ambassador taxis.
The roads , the hawkers, the shops with Bengali sign boards.
The mini buses which have never heard of speed limits - "Esplanade - Dum Dum Airport" written across their yellow and brown bodies, people hanging from the footboard.
Women in tanter sari holding the school bag and water bottle on one shoulder and the hand of their child on the other side, on the way to school (yeah I never support that- Bengali moms pamper their kids too much).
Rickshaw pullers trudging along to earn their daily meal.
Traffic jam.
The reeking areas on VIP road... I remember always complaining about having to roll up the glasses of the car in hot and sweaty summers while travelling across that area just to keep that smell out.
The football stadium.
The new flyoevers.
The known roads.
Gariahat mor (crossing) which used to be the most common junction for taking any mode of transport from anywhere to my house near Triangular park.
The tram lines.
The excitement of approaching our house.
Familiar smiles of neighbours, some hanging clothes in the balcony, some walking in front of our gate, the kids who seem to have grown up so much.
The grocery store where the entire neighbourhood shops from - chal, dal, brittania biscuits, rin bars etc.
The panwala(beetle-leaf maker).
The big Gulmohar tree.
The staircases leading upstairs.
The living room and my room.
My sister :)
Our code language.
Our photos.
Love, warmth, affection.
Visits of excited relatives.
Seeing their smiles when I give them the gifts that I bought for them. "Ki dorkar chhilo eto kichu aanar?" ("What was the need of bringing so many things), smiling, blessing me.
A home cooked meal.
Long adda with my parents and sister.
Showing them photographs, describing my experiences, updates on what has been happening around.
Sleeping with the ac on, wrapped inside my tulor lep (cotton quilt).
The colors of my room, the window, the balcony, the bathroom..... home :)
Weeks of freedom.... sleeping late, waking up to familiar voice of my mom and dad "Ki re shona, aar kotokhon ghumobi? Oth, bela hoye geche" (How long will you sleep, dear. Wake up. Its almost noon).
Waking up with breakfast served, milk-shake made, followed by fruits I love eating, chopped exactly the way I like them by Kobita or the new maid.
The familiar door bell.
Cousins, friends, aunts, uncles - repeating the stories to everyone, explaining photographs, locations, people they have never seen or met.
Invitations to their place for dinners and lunches ... all made especially for me :)
Unlimited good food - fish fry, biryani, pulao, luchi, aloor dom, beguni, payesh, mishti.
Park street - chelo kababs at Peter Cat followed by ice cream sundaes at Tulikas and a short stop at Someplace Else to listen to some good ol' music, not the rap and hip-hop!! (yeah I know there are a thousand new places but I only know of my old favorites).
Sunday family lunches at Tolly club.
All night TV at home, Indian MTV, star movies, some bengali channels.
Shopping at New Market and Vardaan...and don't you just love the chats and kulfi outside vardaan!
Talking about chats.... V.V. Park (stands for Vivekananda park- my uncle always teased me that this was the heights of shortening names, we did not even spare poor old Bibekanondo!) right behind my house- phuchka, alur dom and batata puri followed by Masala Thumps Up (yeah its way fizzier than the bland diet coke and pepsi I drink everyday).
Morning walks in the lakes.
Maharani's cha (tea) and jilipi(jalebi)
Drives on Vidyasagar setu.
Visists to the ancient houses of relatives in North Calcutta - flying kites with cousins on their terraces. Since the houses are so close to each other you can almost skip, hop and jump across from one terrace to another.
Pujor sale (huge sale before Durga Pujas).
A movie at Priya cinema in the balcony (the other day when I mentioned Priya to my sister, she was like "Deeds, you live in prehistoric age! We ll go to Forum , Inox. Noone goes to Priya and Menoka".
Picking up Ma from High Court.. the Maidan and Victoria Memorial on the way and of course the confusing one ways in that area which change every morning and evening.
The familiar houses of my childhood friends.. friends who know me better than I know myself, whose family is family to me.
A night-spend at one of their places, cribbing, talking, reminiscing, laughing, discussing!
Threading eyebrows at the known beauty parlours, chatting with the aunty who knows me since my adoloscence when I first ever tried doing my eyebrows!
Shared overloaded autorickshaws on Rashbehari.
The small temple near home where I have prayed before every one of my exams ever since I learnt that you should pray before exams if you want to do well.
A meal at Azad hind dhaba after a late night party.
The worlds best Kaati rolls.
Kwality ice cream.
Coffee and a book at Oxford bookstore on Park Street.
Petrol bunks where you don't have to get out of the car to fill gas :)
Indian currency in the purse.
Cheap shoes, cotton tops and salwar kameez
A trip to Belur Math.
The circular crossing at Golpark.
The lush greenery of Southern Avenue.
The regular check up with our family doctor - his chamber in Lake Gardens always crowded, smelling of medicine, his small room with a table fan and the hand scribbled prescriptions.
Eden garden and the Sourabh fanaticism.
My school, the logo, the blue gates, the buses, the bell ringing to mark the end of a period... every time I pass by 78,Syed Amir Ali Avenue, nostalgia engulfs me. Heard it has changed a lot in recent times :(
Old sirs still offering tuition to science students preparing for Joint Entrance, maybe teaching the same stuff from the same notes that I had learnt.
Naacher class - my Dance school where I spent two hours of all my Sunday evenings for 12 long years, learning Odissi, growing up to teach the juniors, guruji's voice, the sounds of ghungroos, mothers waiting outside the class gossiping, the sound of the tabla playing the taals, the songs, the items from Mangalacharan to Moksha.
Aankar class - my painting school, where I learnt how to draw figures and still lives and landscapes, where I learnt to use water colors on handmade paper, the artistic bearded intellectual teachers, we even had final exams and ranks in class to be promoted to the next year.
Shopping for fruits with Ma at Lake Market.
The stationery store from where I bought all the brown papers and labels to cover my books at the beginning of every academic year, where I bought camlin pencils and rubbers (yeah I still call them rubber - the white ones with alphabets written on them with green borders on the top), and then fountain pens and blue ink and finally dot pens and microtipped ones, and yeah the maps for Geography classes - the physical and political ones.
Metropolitan - the book store where we queued up every year to buy our text books as mentioned in the typed book list distributed by school.
Dress House on Hazra road - they tailored our school uniforms every year.
Alipore and New Alipore.
Park circus.
The hustle, the bustle.
The heat and the warmth.
The hospitality.
The people.
The souls.
Rabindrasangeet and geetobeetan, Ma reciting lines from Tagore's poems in context of something she wanted to explain to me.
The sound of conch shell in the evenings.
The superstitions.
The discussions on politics and cricket and books.
The recollections of the past, of my deeds as a child, of incidents before I was born.
The dreams of the future,of grandkids that my parents want to play with, and how mom will teach them to say "Its my life!" like I used to say to her as a teenager.
The spirit.
The city.
The life.
Everything

I am coming home.

A breath of fresh air...

The tunes of a flute at a distance
The colorful falling leaves of Autumn in North Carolina
The spread out plumage of a peacock on a cloudy day during a Rajasthan trip
Home made chocolates in a steel tiffin box
Old greeting cards accumulated for years stored in cabinets covered with cobwebs
Moonlight on a narrow stretch of road
A real white pearl in an oyster fresh from the ocean
Color pencils and plain paper scattered on a table with a yellow mug of hot chocolate
Grandmom's hand on the forehead during high fever
A chubby little baby girl sleeping in the pram, her blonde hair tied in a pink ribbon
A book fair of used books.. books with rusty pages and personal messages
Drive through a forest with the sound of running water at a distance
Walking on dew laden grass at dawn
A sparrow family's daily activities at their nest on a branch right next to my window by my study table
An old teacher who taught me, recognizing and smiling
The tough problem solved after a struggle during a night out before board exams
The smell of wet earth
A room full of antiques in the attic
The open window of a candle lit mud hut where there is no electricity and darkness all around
A folk dance by women in the interiors of a north-east Indian state
A field of wild flowers under the open sky


--- I have been in this extreme negative mood for the past few days. Don't know why...... whatever I was thinking of was dark and claustrophobic. Needed a breath of fresh air. Since it is 90 degrees outside, even that is unobtainable. So decided to recapture random images from the past that have left a permanent impression.

........
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
.........

- William Wordsworth

A Feint

...The story is here

The Known Stranger

I decided to shift my fictional stuff to this new blog....cos it was coming in the way of my regular thoughts.

The Known Stranger

To-do's off my to-do list

On a regular basis I keep a check on what I am doing by following the to-do's scribbled on the post-it software on my desktop. I could categorize them as follows:
Functional: Mostly work related. Like make so and so changes to the code, document something, follow up on something etc
Behavorial: Say a thank you every night before sleeping, stop reading news and blogs, stop chewing the pen, don't eat dessert or chocolates etc
Weekend errands: Do laundry, pay electricity bill, lodge a complaint with the apartment office regarding the clogging etc
List of things: Could be movies to watch, books to read, stuff to buy
Calls and emails: I am bad at returning calls, checking voicemail and replying to emails. So the to-dos on this list reduces at snail's pace.
Must-do's: Things from various lists which have been carried over for too long and now need to be done by hook or by crook!
So yesterday my must-do's list was so long and I was so flustered that I erased everything and wrote KILL MYSELF!!!
Finally I shut down the post-it software and went to sleep. After being bothered by some to-do's and their related consequences all meddled up in one helluva dream-nightmare cocktail, I woke up feeling happy today, surprisingly. On my drive to work I made up my mind to do things completely off my to-do list. And trust me I felt so good. I randomly picked up stuff to do. Splurged on downloading music and listened to it all day. Ate baklava without feeling guilty. Browsed all the news and blogs I had to catch up on. And also completed a lot of the boring stuff like documentation and commenting the code that I had been postponing. Didn't mind staying at work till 10:30 in the night and driving back without traffic.
And to add icing to the cake I did some soul enriching stuff after I reached home too rather than the drab tv watching, cooking, cleaning and doing the dishes (I hate doing dishes!!).

Read this: Hell-Heaven
(One of Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories not included in Interpreter of Maladies, I happened to stumble upon)
I fell in love with Lahiri's style of writing the first time I read Interpreter of Maladies long back. Namesake was good too. What connects me to her, I guess, is the Bengali soul. She captures the minutest of details constructing vivid pictures that you can almost visualize. Being a Bengali adds to that experience since most of the things she talks about, you would have encountered in reality. Like the use of the phrase "Hell-Heaven difference" or things like collecting safety pins on a bangle, or the typical Bengali strict mom who warns you about your behavior in the presence of people by giving that stern look, or a tea cup being used as an ashtray or the term *boudi* which is used to address almost any married woman.

Listened to this. I think Piya tora kaisa abhiman (Shubha Mudgal and Gulzar's poetry) and Raha Dekhe are fabulous.

And read some of these. I love his simplicity. One of my favorites:

All you who sleep tonight Far from the ones you love, No hand to left or right And emptiness above - Know that you aren't alone The whole world shares your tears, Some for two nights or one, And some for all their years. Vikram Seth

I shall go to sleep now .... hopefully the must-do's are registered in my memory, else I am in for some trouble!! :-(

Losing my religion

Recently I realized that I don't believe in religion, yeah recently. Probably because it took me some years of thoughts, deeds and experiences to come to this conclusion. But now I am crystal clear about what my take on religion is.
I believe in God but not in religion.

Reasons:

1. The entire goal of religions don't make sense to me - the goal of obtaining liberation from the cycle of life and death - moksha, nirvana whatever you want to call it. Why would I want freedom from this cycle?
This world is beautiful, life is one helluva experience. I would want to return again and again and again. Even if I have to experience pain or be born as a plant or even an amoeba I would still want to experience it because I want to breathe, I want to feel. And then I don't even know what is in store for me to stay back unattached from life, away from here. I am too patriotic an earthling to want to give life up for not living at all. What if I don't like it there and have to wait in a queue for a millenium to get back to the viscous cycle and land myself into a mother's womb??!! I would miss so much in that time and I would be a non-contributor :-( I want to be here 500 years later, 1000 years later, 10,000 years later ... till the world ends. Every time I come back I will get to be a part of a more advanced lifeform, a lifeform which has descended from me, in a place whose soil contains my blood and bones. This is where I belong. This is where I want to be. I do not wish to liberate myself from the cycle of life and death.

2. I believe in Why and not What. Every religion just lays down these set of rules and rituals you are expected to follow. I am willing to follow them but only if I know WHY.
In my opinion you need no religion to understand the difference between good and bad! And anyway good and bad are relative terms. For some religions killing an animal to eat is bad and for some slaughtering an animal to appease God is good! None of the religions I have known so far seem perfect. So I decided to create my own code of conduct by putting together values taken from different religions that make sense to me and filtering out those which don't.
For example it makes sense not to lie, to be honest and sincere, to help, to respect, to love. Things like the caste system, making materialistic offerings to God, or covering my head, or forcing others to convert to my religion etc - I strictly condemn.
It makes sense for me to offer an old person my seat or a helping hand, or adopt a less fortunate child, or plant a tree, or maybe just be honest in my daily work ....these are way way more important than visiting a temple every week and chanting mantras whose meanings I do not understand. It makes more sense to me to donate to CRY rather than a religious organization whose funds are utilized, or should I say wasted, in decorating idols with gold and silver. Cmon, God doesn't care whether you serve food to him twice a day or light incense sticks in front of him and sing hymns. You might as well have served that food to someone who doesn't get a meal. Yes, God cares if you make a mistake and apologise truthfully, or you say a thank you for the good things he has given you or do something that brings a smile on the face of someone else.
Yes, I believe in Karma.

3. So many of the problems the world is facing today is because of religion. Religion causes more tension than peace. The root problem is that every religion thinks it is supreme and demands respect. Why? What about some humility guys?

4. I condemn all so-called religious practitioners and preachers. All they want is the dough...... yeah that is the hard core truth. I don't believe they can cause any miracles. If something good has happened unexpectedly it is not a miracle or a co-incidence. It is the pre-destined path your life is following and every path has some unexpected turns! In fact this belief somehow always makes me feel optimistic about the future.


Now that I have written these down I realized that I am quite clear in my thoughts and views regarding this whole religion thing. Yeah I was in doubt, since I have grown up in quite a religious family and have never questioned the rituals done at home and I probably never will, just because it is an individual's wish what he/she wishes to follow and I respect that.
Anyway better late than never. At least now I know what to pass on to my next generations without being confused myself.

Stuck in a moment

So.... Italy won and Zidane ended his career with a Red Card for headbutting Materazzi...cmon headbutting??!!! ... in the last few minutes when he knew the match was heading towards penalty shoot outs. The latter apparently insulted his mother and sister which, I think, is a fair enough reason for headbutting someone in the heat of the moment. Will Zidane be stuck in that moment forever, regretting what he did? Will Materazzi be stuck in that moment feeling good about what he did, thinking to himself that maybe thats what got them the cup? Will Trezeguet be stuck in the moment in which he kicked into the crossbar and missed the goal during penalty, which cost his country the cup?

I was thinking if I have any moment in my life that I have been stuck in... a moment significant enough to remain alive and arouse the same feelings (good or bad) after an era of no relation to it. Some food for thought!

Trivia: Stuck in a moment you can't get out of was originally written by Bono (U2) about the suicide of the lead singer of INXS. Suicide is probably the worst moment one could get stuck in, its the ultimate point of no return.

While I am in this stuck-in-the-moment kind of mood, I remembered a quote: "An era of silence cannot wipe away a moment of togetherness". So true. In recent times I got in touch with a lot of old friends (courtesy social networks) and when I talked to them on the phone after ages there didn't seem to be any discontinuity in the chain of conversation. Its like picking up the thread right where we left it maybe 7 years back, doing a quick recap of what happened in the mean time and then continue the yakitty-yakking, discussing the moments that stick to us or that we stick to.

Mumbai blasts: Yet again terror struck. Yet again innocent lives were lost. Yet again people cried on losing their loved ones, unexpectedly. Yet again people got stuck in a moment forever. The moment in which the wife of a victim asked her husband to come back early by taking the train that he wouldn't have taken otherwise; the moment in which the guy who took the train just before the one that blasted, escaped death.
How many more times, *dear* terrorists? Will this really affect you in any way?.....what did you gain? Kashmir? Jehad? Or just another moment to stick to, taking pride in arousing some anger ?

Touch of Nature

To one who has been long in city pent,
'Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven, - to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
~John Keats


[June - July 2006 : Deception Pass, Snoqualmie Falls, Wallace Falls, Olympics National Park, Mt.Rainier, Hurricane Ridge, Lake Chelan, Winatchee River (not in order)]

I am still mesmerized. Hard to write anything about the beauty of Mother Nature 'cause how much every I praise it, it would still be an understatement. So will leave it at Keats' words.
"In City Pent" (the excerpt above is from that poem) was one of my favorite poems in school.

The non-things that make me :)

"Some of the things in life that give us true happiness are not Things" - the ad line for a bank...noticed it on a board while travelling. For the rest of the journey I was trying hard to prove this wrong, but failed. I was looking around to see if there was any*thing* that I was carrying that could give me happiness. I looked on the seat, in my bag, in my hand... the nano, laptop, cellphone, car keys, clothes, shoes, water bottle, sunglasses, maps etc.
One by one I tried to evaluate if any of those things are really a source of true happiness for me.Yeah they make life convinient but I could probably still find happiness without them. Nothing satisfactory :(
I looked out of the window....at the road ahead which was leading me to a destination that I had never been to, at the lush beauty of nature on either sides, at the open crisp blue sky above, at a little girl cycling along the road ... to add to that was the feeling of the warm sun on my skin and cool breeze carrying the tunes of old classics of Frank Sinatra playing on the music system accompanied with laughter of the people in the car whose company matter to me. And I smiled. I said a quick prayer to thank God for the beautiful life that he has given me...a life which does not depend on things for fulfillment.

Today sitting in my office cube jotting this down I was trying to recollect the events since morning that made me smile, just to double check that they were independent of *things*. So right from start:
Checked my weight to find I lost 3 pounds :)
Familiar face of the bus driver who recognized me and said hello, how are you today? :)
The view of Seattle skyline across the water while crossing the bridge, checked the sky..looks like good weather today :)
At work I got some code running, I was struggling with an issue for two days :)
Had lunch with a friend whom I had not met in the past 5 years :)
Made plans for the evening to watch Pirates of the Carribean: Dead man's chest :)
Looking forward to tomorrow's trip to Mount Rainier :)
Cool, no THINGS!!

If you are reading this feel free to check your list of events of the day and validate/invalidate my opinion.

Of known devils and unknown angels

My sneakers are three years old and need replacement. But I am just so comfortable in them that I have been avoiding buying a new one. They know my feet so well and have been with me through thick and thin for a long time now. The familiarity and comfort zone that they define is hard to replace. That set me thinking about things that I have noticed people cling on to in the fear of losing their comfort zone or things that we get so used to that we keep postponing their replacement.
Watch- the other day I noticed a PhD student wearing an Alwyn Trendy.Remember Alwyn Trendy, that was my first watch too! The ones which had removable plastic straps with striped grooves. The dial was usually circular and colorful. I was a proud owner of one of those in my teens before I graduated to a Titan. I am sure that watch which the person was wearing is at least 10 years old. Imagine his level of attachment to it that has pursuaded him to treasure that watch for so many years.
Pair of jeans - Almost everyone owns that one pair of jeans that just fits them perfect. When they were new and crisp they weren't their favorite, but after a few washes and regualar wear for a long time they have acquired the perfect color and fit. They are a must wear whether its regular work/school or a first date and doesnt matter if their edges are worn out.
Hairbrush - I have not been able to replace my favorite hairbrush since nothing else seems to give my hair the right texture. New ones either have their teeth too apart or too close.
Laptop/Computer - Computers too have their defined comfort zones. I hate it when I have to switch to a new environment- start from scratch, import bookmarks, reinstall software, add shortcuts to the quick lauch, adjust the folder view settings, get acquainted to a new mouse/joystick/touchpad and even after all this it won't have all my documents, photos, music etc... its a painful process to tread into a new territory and customize it. It is this familiarity due to which a company like Microsoft has survived and will survive for a long long time. They have made people used to their environments, their menus, their functionalities. For a layman to switch to a new operating system or software is like trying to take a detour from his known daily route in a new land.
Comfortor- Changing comforter, pillow and bed leads to disturbed sleep.
Wallet - We get used to the slots which fit the cards and ids perfectly now. The leather has stretched, expanded, collapsed to fit exactly in our pockets. Transferring all the accumulated stuff like passport sized photographs, old credit card receipts which were stored just in case we decided to return the stuff, coins which have no use, small chits with jotted down phone numbers, backup cash and unused cards, important ids etc into a new wallet is a cumbersome process. Moreover the new wallet may not have the right structure or button or the right sized pockets. Similarly changing a bag/purse you are used to carrying everyday is again a headache.
Remote controls - We get used to the placement of the buttons on our remote controls, so used to that we can operate it in the darkness. I hate it when I have to switch to a new remote control and cannot find the right button when I need to change the channel or reduce the volume immediately.
There are several such small things whose familiarity settles comfortably in our lives, so comfortably that even if we realise after several years that we could do with something better we prefer their familiarity to a new experiment. This somehow reminded me of some relationships in which two people, despite knowing that they are not meant for each other and things won't work, hang on because of familiarity... because they are used to each other or some arranged marriages where people fall in love because they grow used to each other. Its not exactly the same analogy but just thought of it.

A new love story

I am falling in love. Everything about her is whatever I always wanted. She is beautiful, lively, arty, classy,versatile, smart and intelligent, has coexisting myriad moods- she can be whatever I want her to be. She doesn't bore me with monotony, doesn't incarcerate me, doesn't make me feel that I wanted to be elsewhere. I am attracted to her hopelessly. Will this be a transient liaison or a long term relationship? Only time will tell.

For all those who are wondering about my sexual orientation... she is Seattle.

Some headlines from the top of my head

Some events in the past weeks that are worth a comment:

Rahul Mahajan and drugs: One of the comments revealed was that he spends 60-70K INR everyday on parties, friends, clubs and of course he forgot to mention, drugs. To think that is more than the individual annual salary of half of India's population! Also he failed a flight training in America, started a software firm and a production company all of which bombed.
So much for our taxes!
Apollo hospital gave him a clean chit. Another hospital contradicted that. There was supposedly no drugs and a low content of alcohol in his blood, the former said. Et tu Doctors?
Let the media hype die down a bit. Let the politician god fathers and family friends buy out a few more people. And soon Rahul Mahajan will be history. Or who knows he might create history in the good books by being elected someday.

Shiloh-Nouvel Jolie-Pitt: The few days old infant has lived her life in media. Her parents ensconced in Namibia to avoid the paparazzi. They bought the rights for 24 domain names made from the various combinations of her 7 syllabled name with all possible extensions (.com,.org,.net). They sold her photos for more than 4 millionUSD and donated it to charity. Is this too a publicity gimmick or is being a celebrity that tough?
And what's with every hollywood actor wanting to be a parent? Another way of connecting to the masses or is being a celebrity *really* that tough?

Al-Zarqawi killed: One killed, another succeeds him. The game of musical chairs continue. Will this ever end? Can we hope for peace, love and a tension free life in the year of 6/6/6?

6/6/6: Was uneventful. No satans. No devils. Not even a terrorist attack in any part of the world that happens every other day. So much for the pregnant ladies who feared giving birth to the AntiChrist. Those whose fears materialized, will they blame their child's every small mistake or poor grades on the devil? For Christ's sake!!

Google's new spreadsheet: No macros, no graphs.... so excel stays put for now! I appreciate their goal of bringing everything online, though. Free software for hitting a few links everyday. Sure thing! That reminds me of an ad I spotted, painted on a bus in the Redmond, WA area: Why do you want to give your lunch money to the big bullies? - OpenOffice.org

Finding home.....

Its been a while. I have been travelling, trying to settle down. Again. A new city, new work place, new room to stay, new weather, new traffic, new computer, new people, new food, new commute, new daily schedule. And this is the probably the 15th time in the past 7 years, since I left home at 18. Hostels, paying guests, apartments, hotels, college, work, school,internships,vacations at home ...time has flown by. While unpacking my luggage last night I was wondering what do I call home? The apartments which change sooner than I can adjust myself to a good night's sleep? The kitchens where I microwave frozen food, which I never equip completely assuming I will do it once I settle down finally, someday. Restrooms where I never get quite adapted to the mirror or the layout. The walls which are not mine, either they are adorned by photographs of families I don't know or they are bare. I make do by putting up the few photos of family and friends that I always carry, on my bedside. The cities whose roads I do not know. My suitcases and bags have to be kept handy all the time since I know my stay here is temporary.
Gone are those days when our family suitcases would come out once a year to be packed before a summer holiday trip. Mom would spend a week trying to ensure all the stuff that everyone will need was taken care of, lists were made, clothes were pressed and on the final day the suitcase was secured by tiny metal locks. Before taking off we would lock the windows and doors, let our maid go for her yearly vacation to her village and inform our neighbours that we are going to be away and that they should keep an eye on our "home". At the end of the vacation all I wanted to do was sleep on my own bed under the same ceiling fan, the noise of which I was so accustomed to that without it I wouldn't get a good night's sleep. Looking out of the window to find familiar faces in the neighbourhood, eating at the dining table, where I had my early meals as a toddler, on plates, that had been demoted to serve regular meals cause they could not be served to guests. The water from the steel filter seemed the safest to drink, the taste of the food, though we complained about it being boring everyday, was tuned to our palates. The shower head, though gushed out water with more strength than I would want, seemed like the only thing that could cleanse all the dirt.
The sound of familiar voices, the feel of familiar touch, the warmth of home.
The balcony where I have spent all my afternoons reading, playing sitting under the washed school uniforms which hung from the rope to dry and where my grandmom has narrated so many a story while tying my hair in plaits. The book case which housed my new brown-paper covered text books and the new story books bought at the book fair in January every year , the collection which had grown from Enid Blyton to Arundhati Roy accompanied all the way by Tinitin and Tinkle and of course my encyclopedias. Its all there in the glass doored wooden book case - my years of wisdom. The Godrej steel almirahs where Ma has stored our childhood clothes for our next generation to wear, with napthalene balls preserving them. The wall hangings collected from our trips, the paintings and photographs which I were a part of. The furniture whose corners had hurt my sister's and my knees while we ran around the living room chasing each other. The study table which was a support for so many years of my education especially during long nights before board exams, the drawers where I stored my secrets, the dressing table where I had sat and tried my first makeup. The television, music system, refrigerator and microwave which still serve us faithfully. The living room echoes the noises of the late night get-togethers, trivial arguments and birthday parties. The bedrooms remind me of the times when all four of us slept in the same bed because there was only one air-conditioner to keep us cool on humid summer nights. The staircases, the patterns of whose tiles are etched in my memory. The large Gulmohar tree, the tubewell, the grocery store..they all stand there the same.Thats my home. It does not have the amenities I would have liked it to have or interior decoration that I have dreamt of. But I don't think I can call anything else *home*.
To convert just a comfort zone to a home would take years of memories and familiarity. Hope I get there someday. Till then I ll miss home.

The Boom Paradox

Wherever we go nowadays, whatever be the topic of discussion, everyone ends up talking about only one thing: India is booming.
Yes, India is booming enough for the rest of the world to take notice. It has one of the highest GDPs, its an upcoming superpower, Bush is advising his citizens to learn Hindi, the word 'crores' is common vocabulary, standard of living has risen, every international company is looking to expand their operations in India, now when you need to buy a car you do not need to choose from ambassador or fiat- you can opt for a Toyota or BMW, if you are 30 years old and have been in the IT industry you comfortably own a luxury car, live in a posh apartment and have traveled all over the world multiple times, the stock market doubled in the span of a year, cellphone users are growing by leaps and bounds, India is zipping ahead on the development highway. Yes I am proud to be an Indian.

Now let us broaden our horizon a little more, lets peek outside our window, look beyond the corridors of air conditioned offices and five star restaurants, lets look at some stark reality:

50% women in India are still uneducated.
Female infanticide is so high that for every 1000 males there are as less as 750 females in certain states. In some states the situation is so bad that girls are sold for the purpose of marriage because there is a dearth.
26% of Indians are still below poverty line. In some states its almost 50%.
There are over 40% villages in the country where the children are deprived of education. They are either forced to work with their parents, as more hands to work would mean more money to bring home; or there are just not enough schools providing primary education.

A young child laboring all day in the field, without shelter and protection, sleeping on an empty stomach, hoping for a cool breeze at night for a peaceful sleep and dreaming about going to school someday- you think he cares about India being a superpower? Does India's fast growing economy affect him?
There are villages without pure drinking water, where women queue up early morning in front of tubewells with buckets and pails to ensure their children do not go thirsty. They still light lamps in the evening in their small earthen huts unaware of an approaching storm that could sweep away their thatched roof.
A girl child is killed lest her father has to pay dowry in order to get her wed.
A rickshaw puller loses his wife to malignant malaria since he could not afford the treatment. He then spends his savings to buy a mosquito net so that his children can sleep without being attacked by mosquitoes at night.
An average tax-paying middle class government official still rides his scooter through bumpy roads, satisfies the financial needs of policemen, waits for water supply, sleeps in 40 degree centigrade without a fan because there is a power cut and strives to educate his children and support his aged parents whose pensions of course never reach them. He has not seen Disneyland or sat in BMWs. And this kind of person constitutes a majority of the population. Ask him and he will laugh at the thought of India being a super power.
Even if you want to look from your angle, the angle of a mid twenties successful software or finance professional who pays 30 bucks for a cup of coffee, wears Tommy Hilfiger, watches movies in multiplexes, sits in cool offices of multinational companies, travels onsite to earn in dollars and makes his family proud....even from his angle, he still has to ride through potholes, stay stuck in traffic for hours, bribe government officials to get a simple work done and pay taxes which in turn pays for abroad trips of his elected minister's children.
And you still think we are heading towards being a super power? Yes we have the potential, we have brains and the advantage of being English speaking, we have good primary education, we have a huge population, we also have extremely intellectual president and prime minister and I will never deny that. But there is a long way to go.
Infrastructure, education, disease control, poverty control: these are primary issues to be taken care of. And the root of all these problems is one: corruption!
If only our politicians were honest enough, all the incoming money and our taxes could be utilized for benefits. For providing free education, for improving roadways not only in the four metropolis and Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad but also in the rural areas, providing pure drinking water and electricity, providing medical support.
Education will in turn take care of other problems like aids awareness, population control, female infanticide, dowry etc. Education will also lead to choice of better political leaders. Its a cause-effect relation.
Unless the growth brought forth by the booming industries is channeled towards the majority of the population in rural India, the growth will only serve to create a huge social and economic imbalance and inequality.
The common man who lives off his daily wages needs to be reassured with care.
Every citizen has to have faith in the government, in the law. To build this faith there is the need of commitment, sacrifice and honesty. And who is willing to dedicate that?
Its good to dream but its important to contribute to achieve this dream. Lets think about it.

Cross promotion at its best

Apple surely aces marketing. Check this out.

P.S: Cross promoting is when two or more businesses promote their products or services together. It works better for businesses that have the same target audience, but are not in direct competition with each other.

Finding my way...

I have a bad sense of direction. Whenever I reach a junction I am confused whether to take a left or a right. Sometimes I go with my intuition. Sometimes I don't think, just drive. Most of the times I am wrong and then I have to look for an appropriate place to take a U-Turn. If I don't find an appropriate place I keep driving, knowing well that I am headed west when I am supposed to go east. Soon I am lost. If I am alone, not queueing up other cars behind me, I make a call to my GPS service (A on the phone with google maps :D) . Yes I need a GPS but they can also be out of date. I get worked up and begin to fret and then terribly miss my country , miss the Indian GPSs.
You know what I am talking about: the autowallahs and rickshaw-wallahs or shopkeepers or any pedestrian...just simply stop the car and ask "Bhaiya yahan se X tak kaise jaaun?"
There will be enthusiastic replies with detailed gesticulated explanations.
Bangalore autowallah:"Madam, left maari. Next circle right maari."
Calcutta rickshaw-wallah:"Didi, shaamne giye baandike jaan. Tar por crossing'e daandike ghurben"
Mumbai taxi-wallah:"Pehle left maarne ka hai, phir aage signal se right maarne ka hai"
Chennai autowallah:"Madam english. No hindi"
Then you reach till wherever they have guided you and repeat the same question with a new bunch of people.
I like it :) and I miss it :(


While writing about junctions and directions my mind began to draw an analogy of the situation to decision making.
Yeah I am always at a junction when it comes to critical decision making. There are invariably multiple paths to choose from and each looks equally likely and prospective to the other. Some paths can be ruled out with little effort but ultimately there is always a bifurcation to choose from. I try to take a more professional and analytical approach: weighing out pros and cons on excel sheets, color coding the choices,assigning them weights and sorting the columns. There is almost always a tie. Then there are calls to help services: A, mom-dad-B and sometimes friends. That leaves me more confused. Since now I have 3 for the matter, 2 against the matter. Should I try another couple of people? Its like tossing a coin in the hope of heads; if heads appears stop else toss an odd number of times till you get the maximum occurances of heads! Silly I agree, the fact that I opted for a second toss itself indicates what I am inclined towards. The risk in this case however is that there are no autowallahs and pedestrians and shopkeepers whose directions I can blindly follow. In this case there is no opportunity of a U-Turn. In this case if I am lost I have to find a detour. Myself. With the aid of my gut.

Isn't making a decision for equally prospective untrodden paths always a gamble? Maybe not for many, but for people who belive that good and bad coexist and that there is no such state as utopia it might be a little more confusing. Yes we can estimate consequences, make a few future predictions, look in the blind spots, have a hind sight and foresight but how accurate can we get? If we choose path 1 today it could lead our life to a completely different track. In just a split second if we had chosen path 2 where would we have landed? How would it be if I could trace back my life to the split second decisions that I have made, opt for the other paths that I rejected earlier and see what life had in store for me. It would be an opportunity to prove or disprove the "grass is always greener on the other side" myth/fact. No, I am perfectly happy with my today...just curious.

Not equal to equality

A medical student died in protest of the increase of quota for higher education admits to Indian institutions and the media is not willing to cover it. The quota is for backward classes (supposedly people who belong to a lower caste in the social structure and who are minorities)

Are these so called backward classes really backward? They study in the same schools, eat the same food, work in same organizations, earn the same money, get promotions based on their performance, have similar social life and are treated equally (Yeah, wake up this is the 21st century. We don't believe in untouchables!). How many times have you mistreated your friends because they were OBCs? Have we not shared lunch in school and studied and played together? Do we not interact with them freely and openly without any biases? At least if we are going for higher education we are wise enough to surpass this discrimination.
Then why this inequality?
From personal experience:
I remember distinctly: two friends, with the same background, same social status, same 14 years of schooling in one of the best schools in town, attended the same coaching centers, aspiring to be engineers. A gets a rank of 200 and B gets a rank of 370. A always wanted to do Computer Science from the best college but doesn't make it in the counselling session. Why? The cut off for CompSci seats was at rank 175. But B belonged to a minority community so he happily sails into Computer Science in the best college. A is disappointed and forced to take up Electrical in a less ranked college. Surprisingly B's family's household income and financial status was way better than A's. Her wish: I will marry a person from a minority community, at least my children will not have to face what I faced.

Why should a person who has not worked hard enough for an examination or maybe is not sutiable enough, get a better admit than someone who is much more capable than him just because the former's surname catogorizes him as a backward class. Aren't we losing out on better professionals?

Is this *equality* that the government is trying to portray or is it one more of their strategies to win the minority votes?
I don't think they are doing away with discrimination by raising reservations, they are encouraging it. They are provoking people to continue their belief in caste and stratas.
This is the defeat of merit at the hands of discrimination.
This is a hindrance to a well developed nation.

Thrills and chills

Back after a long vacation...

Theme park thrills
Rides that sent chills
Shamu's splashes
Dolphins' dashes
Penguins and seals
In control of fast wheels
Simulated earthquakes
Twister - so not fake
Shark attacks in Jaws
Eaten by dinosaurs
Loony toons
Scary goons
Back to the future
Islands of adventure
Haunted mansion
Magic kingdom
Shrek in 4D
Laughter and screams
Alien encounters
Dangerous roller coasters
Revenge of the Mummy
That feeling in the tummy
Fairy tale parade
Fireworks in the end

Thank you Walt Disney for 4 days of unadulterated fun!

(That was some effort in trying to rhyme! )
Walt Disney's contribution to humankind is magnanimous. Just the fact that his creations can bring a smile to the faces of so many of us irrespective of age, can distract us from our thoughts and worries is an achievement in itself.

On our drive back we were discussing the fact that all these rides, roller coasters and simulations do manage to thrill us but the fact that we know from deep within that we are safe and nothing can happen prevents the completion of the adrenaline gush. So, the question is what kind of an *aritificial* enviroment can actually arouse real fear, the spirit of real adventure like say falling into a lake of crocodiles, unarmed, feeling the movements of their slithery bodies in the water, being able to see the sharp teethed open mouth of the animals at an arm's length knowing that there is nothing that can save you other than yourself or being actually pushed from the top of a tall tower without any seat belt or rope protecting you or pulling you back, where you know that in a few seconds you will land on your face on the ground below, smashed, your bones shattered or maybe enter a deserted haunted house alone without a torch or a weapon, hearing eerie noises whose source you can't trace back, feeling a sudden gush of wind on your neck, where you have to feel the walls to move forward or being in the middle of an 8.3 richter earthquake where you have to run to save yourself being buried under concrete, the walls collapsing an inch behind you, people screaming.
The conclusion derived from the discussion was - induce an artificial nightmare. Hypnotize the adventure-seeker and throw him into those situations in his dreams. There he has no seat belts or weapons or the knowledge that its just a ride and it will end in sometime. He is alone facing his worst fears. That should be a spine chilling!

Geekily cool

Ok, looks like I am a nerd, haha. By the standards of this quiz anyone who has spend 4 long years in engineering school and is into a software job now will be a nerd. Stumbled upon this from a friend's blog and because I had nothing better to do, I took it. So if you are finding ways to kill time, go ahead and check it out.

I had always associated nerds/geeks with messy-haired, bespectacled middle aged men in laboratories working on rats and gas emitting colorful liquids. But in recent times the scenario has definitely changed. Gates, Page, Brin, Jobs etc have raised the bar and set a new trend. Now its cool to be geeky.

Ok here are a few questions that I think, if one can answer correctly, is into geekdom, at least in the computer world.(No I dont know some of them myself but have seen people around me do it).
Before you proceed if you do not know who all the people I mentioned above are, lets talk about something else.

1. Do you know more than 4 languages (if you are thinking of hindi, english, french then....well proceed if you want to pass time)
2. Do you know how to read a core dump and debug it?
3. Can you create your own smilies and use it on an instant messenger in about 5-7 mins?
4. Can you explain Eistein's theory of Relativity to a 7 year old?
5. Have you contributed to a wiki?
6. Have you gotten your hand dirty in open source?
7. Have you been on Ruby on Rails ?
8. Given a Windows desktop and internet connection how can you transfer songs onto your ipod which are not on sale and can only be streamed? Time limit to implement: 5 mins
9. Are all your gadgets synched? address book,calendar, to-dos etc on laptop, cell phone, palm
10. Have you explored into home automation?
11. Do you still use Mapquest and Yahoo finance and IE 6?
12. Can you explore Mars anytime?
13. Can you build your own Tivo?
14. Have you printed documents or sent videos through BlueTooth?
15. Have you worked on more than 3 different operating systems?
16. How many utilities have you written for your own convinience?
17. Design the next generation photo album and photo frame. Time limit: 3 mins
18. Do you know the PS3 release dates?
19. Do you know how to keep your web page safe from web spiders and spambots?
20. Are you in the habit of solving cryptic crosswords and playing Sudoku?
21. Do you read Engadget and Gizmodo?
22. Do you shop from ThinkGeek?
23. Do you listen to concertos?
24. Do you think PI was a cool movie?

Yeah thats geekdom!

One of my favorites: (brownie points for decoding the message)

Aromas

Recently I discovered that smells influence my mind more than I thought.
For example the fresh smell of the new pot pourrie that I have kept in the wide mouthed vase on my bedside table soothens me when I settle myself in bed with a book at the end of a long day.
Or the fragrance of sandalwood incense sticks in the house arouses a pure and clean feeling. I can almost hear the sound of conch shells from our little "thakur ghor" (small temple in the house) at home in the evenings.
I love the smell of wet earth. It is the identity of the elements, of Mother Nature. Nowadays the same smell makes me miss India. For some reason I cannot associate that smell with any other land.
The aroma of a freshly baked cake, right out of the oven reminds me of childhood birthdays with family.
The smell of strong, freshly brewed coffee links to concentration, late nights and deadlines.
The crisp smell of the pages of a new book excites me. I associate it with adventure, wisdom and collection.
The smell of washed and ironed linen transports me to the hospital bed where I had stayed for 4 days during my surgery last year.
The smell of petrol, I associate with the Iraq war somehow.

There are several other smells that mean more than just a smell to me.

Of course I will write only about fragrances.

Survival of the Fittest

David Blaine survived after being immersed in water for 177 hours and attempting to break the world record for holding his breath underwater.They said he was doing this to test his physical, mental and emotional endurance.
This morning while driving to work we discussed the possibility of the evolution of a more tolerant species if the likes of David Blaine united and gave birth to a new generation. Is evolution too in our hands?
What would the evolved species be called? Still couldn't think of a good scientific name. From Homo-Erectus to Home-Sapiens and the subspecies Home Sapien Sapiens to ? That means a few centuries later we will be considered a primitive species with a less developed brain and our fossils will decorate museum shelves with a sign: "Home Sapien: The Ancient Man" !!!!!

Another interesting fact discussed- the current population of the world is 10% of all the humans that have ever existed on this planet. Now thats a big number. Are there enough resources to support this ever growing population? Will we face a global oxygen crisis someday?

P.S: To-dos: plant a seed every year

The theory of the Alien God

Aliens - do they exist?
God - does He exist?
What if God = Alien?
Possible?
I think so....
I am quite certain that we are not the only privileged lives in this universe. There has to be other stars that has given birth to life ...maybe in some different form....maybe the elements that sustain lives there are beyond our knowledge or imagination...I mean every life form does not need to survive on Oxygen and water. They could be surviving on something entirely different. Something we can't fathom.
Maybe they are way advanced than us.
Maybe they are way behind us and we could teach them a lesson or two.
Maybe they are having fun watchin us.
Maybe they have given us a time period to establish ourselves on our own.
Maybe they are running some kind of an experiment on this planet to see how far this living race goes.
Maybe one fine day they'll come out and tell us we did well, it just took us 4.55 billion years to get to the internet age whereas some other planets are still inventing the wheel in that much time.
Or maybe they ll come and tell us we are losers, our competitors are capable of flying themselves, communicating telepathetically, controlling weather and disease, have supercomputers instead of brains, have discovered other forms of life on many other planets and toured the universe - all in 4.55 billion years. We are slow and stupid. We have to surrender to the superior race and learn from them!

If this is happening and we are being controlled by one central alien race, then isn't God= Alien?
He sees us, controls us, decides our destiny by scribbling some lines in our hands and sends us here to this planet. Then he puts us through some tests to see whether we survive or not. Depending on how we do he sends us on our next mission. If we are good we are sent on a better mission maybe even to a better planet which we humans have decided to call heaven. If we are bad we are sent to an inferior living race. Thats called hell.
He ensures the planets don't collide and that the magnetic field is just right to keep everything in place. He deviates dangerous comets from colliding with this ecosystem. He distributes energy from a central repository to different stars. After all he is experimenting. The universe is his laboratory. The planets are his testbeds. The stars are his resources. We are indeed nothing but the equivalent of lab-rats. So much for our superiority complex! We the homo-sapien-sapiens ( I m not sure whether I belong to the homo-sapien-sapien species 'cause when I was in school we were called the Homo Sapiens) should give this a thought and work harder towards advancement.

I think I can use this theory to justify a lot of things that have mystified me earlier :D
Wow!

P.S: I am not drunk or haven't seen a sci-fi recently. I like to imagine.

For every mood....

Sunshine, a balcony facing the ocean, paints, an empty canvas and "If I were a painter and could paint a memory"
Early morning,the warm blanket, post dream confusions that provoke a mischievous smile, a shower, hot breakfast and "Sunrise sunrise looks like mornin' in your eyes",
Rainy afternoon, coffee, sound of water drops trickling down the leaves, old albums with black and white photos and "Don't know why I didn't come"
In the midst of a sunflower field, bright blue sky, chirping of birds and "A little girl with nothing wrong is all alone"
Moonlight, riverside, a bonfire and "What am I to you...."

Whats the common link?
Norah Jones rocks!!!

Evolution of Indian television?

Had been to N and A's for dinner. They have a subscription to a hindi music channel. I was excited to watch Indian television after eons but what followed was a culture shock. I mean what is Indian television headed towards really? What they try to portray by aping the west is not the real India....not the soul of the people or the essence of the culture. There are innumerable music channels playing the same songs which are either remixes or *inspired* hip-hop numbers. The videos look all the same, similar looking girls, similarly dressed (read skimpily) and similar dance steps (read obscene). Or the other channels run the never-ending saas-bahu soaps!
That set me thinking about the evolution of Indian television in my quarter life.
My earliest memories of television was Lucy on Doordarshan. I simply loved it as a kid. Then there was Yeh jo hai zindagi on Friday evenings and of course Chitrahaar on Wednesday evenings. That was our only choice and we were content. Our viewing was also restricted by mom. Ramayana/Mahabharata, Bikram or Betaal, He-Man, Spiderman, Quiz Time (Siddharth Basu rocked!) , The world this week and a few more was all she let us watch or all that was there to watch. 9 o clock news on DD (Salma Sultan was one of the news readers) was religiously watched.
At that time the possibility of having 50 channels seemed unfathomable. "50 channels, that too all night, you must be kiddin!"
DD2 arrived when I was in my teens....superhit muqabla was the first countdown show I had ever watched and it seemed like a cool concept. But very soon there were hundred other countdown shows and it lost its charm. Cable tv had just been introduced but it had the power of hampering our studies and so was kept away. Then one fine day dad realized that espn and star sports would let him watch sports 24/7, so we stepped into the world of more than 2 channels on television!
First few months I was addicted .... Wonder years, Crystal Maze, Mash, Bold and the beautiful on Star, Nonie and Danny McGill on Channel V, discovery channel, BBC , Star Movies ........
Hip hip hurray and Banegi apni baat on Zee I was hooked to too.
Later there was Mastermind, the Big Fight, Cyrus on MTV, Friends, Dharma and Greg, Mr.Bean and many more interesting shows which I enjoyed watching.
Down the years the influence of Bollywood percolated through all the channels ... and one fine day Ekta Kapoor conquered. Thus followed the downfall of Indian television. Well, downfall not for the profit makers and lot of the junta- the rising TRPs were evidence ... but for a sensible television watcher, it was a catastrophe!
Now television is a money making factory churning out serials from the same plot instead of the media of mass communication that it was intended to be..... very much like current newspapers, where Page 3 is the most read and the frontpage headlines include stories about celebrity affairs leaving space for important issues only in a small corner inside. And noone is to be blamed for this other than us - 'cause they make what we demand. They ape the west, we follow. They make run of the mill soap operas, we cry 'cause Mihir died. They portray women clad in small pieces of cloth, the stores start selling them. They copy songs, we download the ringtones on our mobile devices. They dance to our tunes, we dance to theirs. Fair enough!

Self assessment

Met up with P after work on friday to go for a movie. None of the movies in town seemed interesting enough so went for dinner instead. Margarita, nachos, pasta and an awesome desert called the Molten Chocolate Cake...it was sinful :). Had a late night *adda* at her place talking about various things ranging from serious topics to the not so serious ones. Slept on the drive back home and the inertia of sleep stayed with me the next day too. It was a sleeeeepy saturday.

Some realizations after the chat.... I am paranoid about the future and my ambitions, restless about achieving my goals, worry about something or the other all the time, don't share my deep down feelings with anyone .... and these things are not evident to anyone with whom I interact on a daily basis other than those who are close to me.

On some contemplation I realized why I am this way ..... one - don't want to drag anyone into my problems, they are mine..yes I can discuss but noone can be in my shoes so its entirely my responsibility to solve them, no point cribbing about them , two - I am heading towards being a perfectionist...this raises the bar of the standards I expect, be it in work or people or anything I am involved with , satisfaction does not come easily, three - ambitions which were ingrained into me in childhood are beginning to take shape and I am restless to get till the end, I need tangible results, four - in the bigger picture I don't see my contribution being significant enough..... what exactly am I on this planet for? writing code? I am on a constant search for inner fulfillment..... I know I will do it but when? five - I always compare myself to everyone around me, good or bad .... that makes me more ambitious.
I have to work on calming down, relaxing and taking life as it comes. Maybe I should dance and paint more often, they are an outlet of my pent up thoughts and unexpressed feelings which I feel noone will understand. Its meditation for me and I should start soon....now.

Twins are reborn

4 and 3/4 years back an attack planned by our fellowmen killed thousands of other fellowmen, ruined the families of many more fellowmen.....
When I visited the site in the middle of the night a year back in the midst of a bustling city I felt a lot of things that I hadn't felt when I had seen the incident on television....
I stood there looking up at the other mammoth structures above me and imagined standing there on that day witnessing a structure twice the height of the mammoth structures I was seeing, collapse, seeing people jump out of windows from 100 floors above, flame and fire, rubble and concrete, screams and sirens, blood and tears............
The area was surrounded by metal fences with pictures of the incident and the rescue process, there were numbers and facts written on boards for everyone to read but what caught my eye was a bunch of fresh flowers placed in front of those gates with a note that said "Happy Anniversary Honey - love you always"................
Today I read this.
Will they stand up again, fearless and majestic? Or will they be haunted by memories and scared of the future?They have a reason to.

Rainy days and errands

I hate paperwork! Running from one place to another just to get a signature?! Taking an appointment a week in advance just to submit a paper or get an approval. I mean why can't there be a simpler process?? Took an afternoon off today to complete the paperwork and nothing got done!!!! Was compeltely annoyed and to add to it it was ranining all day, continuously and I hate rain when I have to be outside running errands and when the edges of my trousers get sloshed with mud, eeks.

To vent out the frustration a lil bit, had a good meal of chalupas, did some shopping at Circuit city...A and I had been planning to get a cam for a long time cos our previous one wasn't working anymore and moreover ours was 3 years old, too ancient in comparison with the latest models in the market. After innumerable arguments about whether to buy the slimmer one or a bigger one, the trade off being the quality and features of course , after some market research and trying out a couple of them we decided on the canon sd450, small , less shutter lag, good quality pics and SD card. The only problem with these slimmer cameras is they don't take AAs, so we have to carry the charger just in case the battery dies.

To vent out a lil more of the frustration after the dragging day, had mango milkshake and listened to some awesome tabla and sitar jugalbandi on full volume.....that was truly relaxing.

Tomorrow is Friday , will have lunch with all the Indian ladies in our division. The invitation for the meeting was hilarious - "Lunch and gupshup" !

Whats with age!

Pool party at N's was great. Barbecue and a swim at 8 o clk in the night was crazy! Even crazier was the fact that we were not permitted to use the pool beyond dusk and that we set off an alarm trying to open a door and also while playing chicken in the water I sprained my neck! Totally crazy but enjoyable, certainly! (Brought out the child in us for sometime!)

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Watched That thing you do today. I had seen the movie before on Star Movies when I was in high school and at that time it had seemed like a nice movie. Today I just couldn't concentrate or enjoy the movie...the predictability of the story, the boyish faces, the teenagerish dialogs and cliched direction got me bored.....
Am I growing old?? (I know I am but this is a serious symptom, no more lovey dovey scenes or sob stories for me. Or maybe I have just matured as a movie watcher and critic. hmmm)

'Oceanic' music

Indian Ocean in concert was terrific! They played all my favorites: Kya Maloom, Hille re, Jhini re jhini, Ma Reva. The good part is that before they played each song, they outlined the meaning and the significance of the song and how they came up with it. Good instruments, great music, awesome lyrics: a terrific show all in all.
Their music is indeed extraordinary , the 'depth' of the lyrics, the 'vastness' of the variety of instruments, rhythms, vocals and the languages in which their songs are written, the 'versatility' of the members, the 'strength' of their voices, their 'cool' attitude and the 'liveliness' of their performance really made them live up to their name: Indian Ocean.
At the end of the show they left an open question to us: what would you call their music? world music and fusion is not what they wanted to hear ..something different. They mentioned that their music at one time seemed similar to sufi but it wasn't Sufi so they called in Loofy !
I think I would call it 'oceanic' because an ocean is beautiful, soul moving, inspiring, pleasing to the ears, a pleasure to watch, deep, meaningful, vast, versatile, strong, cool, blue and full of life - just like their music.

Eventful weeks

Its been a while ..... the past weeks have been hectic
A recap of what I did in the past few weeks:

Beach trip to Wilmington: long drive, sand castles, cold water, cheese sandwiches, sunsoaked siesta and sunset....beautiful

Weekend trip to Ashville, Smokies and Gatlinburg: Friday evening we arrived at Ashville. It is a small quaint town with a very lively and arty downtown. The city was awake till the wee hours of the morning. We walked down the roads watching street artistes perform, stopping at small coffee shops where people were seated outside and having a good time listening to live bands performing, the noodle shop where you could custom order noodles, a big standing iron where I posed uncountable times to get the right shot, and old and young couples walking hand in hand.
Saturday we drove through the Smokies to Gatlinburg. The smokies (Great Smoky Mountains, one of the most visited National Park in US) were beautiful in spite of being barren. They are renowned for their fall colors.... it was foggy and chilly and rained a bit, but the wetness added to the beauty. The smokies were inhabited by the eastern band of Cherokees till Europeans came to occupy their lands and a lot of them were forced to vacate. Some of their clan still live there having adopted professions related to tourism. So very often you can see Indians (or whom we Indians call red Indians) dressed in regular denim and t-shirts selling mementos and handicraft in small shops in the valleys.
Gatlinburg at the foothills of the smokies is a small town in Tennessee, a major tourist attraction. A small town with a lots of stuff to do.... Guiness Museum of Records, Ripley's believe it or not, Ripley's haunted adventure, sky lift, a huge aquarium, horse riding etc. There was a candy store which displayed the entire candy making process which was intersting. The popular food around the place was pancakes and donuts. Had a long and adventurous day.
Sunday we visisted the Biltmore Estates in Ashville - America's largest private owned residence - the same place where the movie Richie Rich was shot. and yeah it was H U G E! With over 200 rooms and 46 restrooms, stables, gardens, swimming pool, lawns,a pond, stables and even their own winery. The most interesting part of the house was the kitchen, pantry, refrigerator and laundromat - the technology they used in that era was fascinating. At a time when not every house had electricity the house had an indoor heated swimming pool! The views from the rooms were beautiful,peaks at a distance and lush greenery. Not only was the architecture or technology appealing, the history of the place was fascinating..... walking through rooms, hallways and staircases where a 19th century family resided, their lifestyle, incidents were a great experience. There was a flower festival in the gardens, got to see some beautiful tulips. An old man playing soft tunes on his keyboards in the wooden covered path amidst the flower beds added to the serenity of the place. The winery was our last stop. They walked us through the entire process of wine making , including distillation and fermentation. There was a wine library - a cellar where old wine stacked in shelves had been preserved for years. Then there was the wine tasting experience.... the connoisseur that I am (:), the only knowledge of wine that I have is that they are made from grapes and could be either white or red :D) .... first time I learnt the difference between chardonnay, reisling, chenin blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, chiraz etc. After tasting some nine different types I decided that I like the sweeter white wines ( now I don't remember their names :( ).
After the Biltmore tour we headed back home .... from a long relaxing weekend to Monday morning blues, from quaint beautiful small towns in the midst of mountains to city life and traffic.

Other than the trips the other events of the weeks include a new hobby: cryptic crosswords, some progress in my thesis, a party at J's place where we played taboo against the guys and defeated them (;-) ) by coming up with new strategies ("Sounds like pottery starts with L" hahhaa!!!) , a first round interview with my dream company which went well, some new clothes and a shoe sale, a surprise gift with a message hidden in an anagram engraved, ice age- the meltdown at the theatre with the kids, PI - a crazy movie, the thomas crown affair - same ol thriller, being cyrus - another evidence of changing Bollywood, zinda - let down compared to the original movie OldBoy one of my all time favorite thrillers, first time attempt to make capsicum stuffed with paneer, cleaning the closet, germination of the plants which we had sown in the beginning of spring and B's first attempt at DJ'ing under the alias DJ SnowGirl (hilarious)

That was a good recap, I think!!

Ambitions again..

As a child I wanted to be a teacher since they are the people I idolized ....I wanted to dress like them, talk like them, know everything in all the subjects like them, have the authority to scold other children like them :-)
Then came the doctor phase when I was gifted a doctor playset, complete with a stethoscope, a lab coat and a syringe. I remeber doing surgery on my stuffed toys, splitting their stomach with a pair of scissors, taking out some cotton and stitching it back with needle and thread. I used to apply Burnol over the cut to make it look like raw medicine applied over an incision. Erich Segal's Doctors contributed to that ambition.
Then one day I developed a fascination towards designing clothes. Liked the cool way in which figures were sketched and colors were splashed to make an outfit. Liked the idea of designing clothes with a theme or a meaning. I remember the trip to Paris was when I was at the peak of that ambition.
One fine day architecture occured to me. A perfect blend of creativity and mathematics. Fountainhead happened. It changed my way of thinking. Made me feel I could change the world with designs. Dad's friend was a naval architect and somehow that term sounded cool ...naval architecture was my ambition for some time.
For a very brief period of time I wanted to be a lawyer, the glamour and oratory skills of some of ma's colleagues impressed me but soon I realized I could not lie straight faced and usually lost all the arguments to my mom :(
Biology was my favorite subject and I thought I would make a good doctor till I went to submit my joint entrace form to a government medical hospital in Calcutta....there was a man who had lost his hand lying on a stretcher, blood dripping....there was a death in a nearby ward and the cries and howls of people filled the entire hallway .... I could not bear it .... I could not bear to see people in pain, suffering, crying ..... I realized it was the end of my dream. I would never make a good doctor. The dissection of toads in biology classes was something I could not get over, it used to haunt me in my dreams, made me nauseous at dinner. Medicine was removed from my list permanently.
Since I loved Biology and medicine was not going to work out I thought I'd take up genetics or microbiology and become a research scientist. But zoology/botany seemed the most boring subjects on the planet and soon I realized I would not be able to live my life working on animals and plants.
Economics attracted me once but soon turned out to be dry and materialism oriented.
Accounting class as an elective in 10th standard was fun but repititive.
Dancing brought out the best in me and I was perfectly happy doing it. But doing well in academics hindered the chances of taking up dancing as a profession.

Engineering was there at the back of my mind but I did not know if I really wanted to be an engineer...wouldn't it be dry and mechanical? I had never touched a computer till then.

I walked into engineering thinking that it would be like math and physics, interesting and philosophical. Some of the courses I hated, some I liked and some I loved and the rest is history ...

Today as I sit here coding and debugging I ask myself "Is this what I have come to this planet for? Is this going to be my contribution to the world? Writing software for corporate benefits, taking home a good pay packet, eating, sleeping and getting back to work again next morning? 10 years down the line where will I be? same cubicle maybe in a different company, may be here, maybe higher in the hierarchy managing people who do the same writing software for corporate benefits, taking home a good pay packet, eating sleeping and getting back to work again next morning.........."

I am starting my search for the right dream again..... a new list and a new set of ambitions

Decision after confusion

Today I took a big decision that could prove to be a turning point in my life .....
Today I tried diplomacy and learnt I am bad at it......
Today I re-learnt that honesty will never let you down .....
Today I realized again that there is nothing more peaceful than a clear conscience!
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Unwinding....

Today I had a long day, long enough to be saturated to the brim...one of those days when I forget about my meals, gulp down cans of diet coke, do not browse or chat or read the news, change my clothes in 5 secs flat, when the rest of the world outside the computer screen seems unfamiliar....
That set me thinking as to what are the things that I could derive the most comfort from....
1. An hour long hot shower with 93.9 fm or bubble bath with a book
2. A quiet walk by the lake
3. A phone call to my sis....complete entertainment! The conversation would include the description of an eventful day , about calcutta's weather, about complaints on how mom is partial with me, about the tv serials which everyone watches, about the times in the future when she is gonna come and stay with me and drive me nuts, about her friends' relationships, about dad's regularly repeated questions, about new entries to her shopping wish list from here, about how she never understands what I work on and study :) etc etc etc
4. A good movie
5. Cooking something new
6. Painting
7. ............ actually coming to think of it all I would do once the issue gets fixed is crash!!
Sleep is priceless!

Pattern Typing ?!!

I noticed that my handwriting has deteriorated .....it has almost reduced to scribbles now ...no orientation, sometimes slanting in one direction and sometimes straight, small and haphazard ..... after all those childhood years of pattern writing and writing with fountain pens on ruled exercise books and then of course the three hour long history exams on white sheets where we would even hesitate to give our fingers a break lest we run out of time since our scores depended so much on the presentation! Filling ink in fountain pens the night before school, initially with the ink filler and then the cartridges and the discovery of microtipped pens which wrote with ink but did not leak!
Keyboards and keypads have taken over ..... now I endeavour to speed up my typing, do not carry a pen/paper, prefer to make a note in notepad, address books, calendars or to-do lists or the even better the post-it notes software on the desktop, have forgotten my spellings, read vernacular languages at the speed of a tortoise, submit assignments in pdf, make drawings on paint, play tic-tac-toe or do crosswords online and when I have to jot down my thoughts I blog.
Are fountain pens headed towards extinction?

Streamed rabindrasangeet and memories

Today after aeons I decided to listen to some Rabindrasangeet ..... in the midst of floyd and kanye west and emran hashmi remixes the songs were a breath of fresh air ...... and hence begun a long journey down the memory lanes......
Dad listening to the voice of Hemanta on the our most treasured radio early mornings.... mom humming to it while getting us ready for school .....
The black and white Uttam-Suchitra movies aired on Doordarshan on Sunday evenings when the entire family including kalpona mashi would gather, munching on 'masala muri' ....those in the neighbourhood who did not have a television would peep through our windows to watch it :-) ..... ma commenting that the movies nowadays could not capture the subtle and innocent romance that could touch your hearts (considering this was a decade and a half back wonder what she would comment on watching Mallika Sherawat's Murder!!) .....
Rabindra jayanti programs in school when we would spend weeks practising and choreographing rabindrik dance to Tagore's songs, to pay him a tribute and remember his unforgettable contribution to literature .....literature, poetry, music reading and listening to which we all have grown up...... learning by-heart and reciting so many of his poems every year in Bengali classes ..... some of which we can still recall, surprisingly.......
The songs were sung over and over again by people....in singing classes where little children started with "Aalo aamar aalo ogo" since that was the easiest to play on the harmonium, dance classes where "Megher kole rod hesheche", "Momo chitte niti nritte" and "phoole phoole dhole dhole" were popular......from pujo functions to "Mor binay othe" on Saraswati puja, from basanta utsav to winter there is a song for every season ....collectively its usually called 'ritu rongo' ..colors of seasons ......
As I streamed those songs and listened on the head phones all afternoon while fixing my code ...... a sudden thought struck me.....if my children grow up in this country they will never experience those small things which brought us so much joy....they will never learn to sing and dance to Tagore's tunes or read shishu bholanath or beer purush ..... they will never know what basanta utsav is or the significance of wearing a yellow sari on saraswati puja ....or learn to sing a song for every season ...... they will also get lost in hip hop and rap and probably the only indian music they might like is desi bhangra remixes at clubs !!! :-( noooooooooooo!! I hope I never let that happen!!

My mornings and those dreams

The warmth of a blanket in which I've slept all night not letting go of me, the sunshine peeping through the drawn curtains, faint noises of other people in the house closing restroom doors and the alarm clock interrupting the climax of my early morning dreams - the typical start of my day.

The next few minutes pass away in a hurry...... quick shower, attire choices, hair brush, oatmeal packets microwaved in less than a minute, lunch packing, gathering the laptop, phone, bag, keys, employee id and a coat - thats the next phase which I accomplish all in 15-20 minutes flat :)

Will go to sleep now looking forward to my complicated, confusing, surprising, weird dreams which always leave me wondering.... sometimes I try to reason out how they might have been formed .... trying to analyze how one incident leads to something totally unconnected...try to figure out how different people, places, events get linked together.....some imagination, some reality .... a concoction of blatant truths, hidden emotions, wild imagination, subconscious dilemmas, unknown desires, known faces, set-aside thoughts, unrelated contexts and unanticipated endings!!

Do we realize how closely we are being tracked?

Was having a discussion about how Google is making itself omnipresent ...how it s tracking every bit of what we do, who we are, where we go, what we like/dislike etc to create a pattern that they will use as information for targeted advertising.... Its scary to think that they know so much abt us without our consent ...
Its not only Google tracking us on the internet, every company of which I may or may not be a consumer is tracking us, our purchase capabilities, preferences etc so next time they know what to advertise to us.
A few instances pointed out in the discussion:
-Mr.X buys stuff on clearance from company Y. Y makes note of what he buys, when he buys, how frequently he buys, how much he spends, where else he buys from etc etc etc.....instantly patterns get created and soon mailboxes are flooded with flyers from Y advertising only stuff which Mr.X can afford and which he might be interested in....
So don't be surprised if you and your husband receive flyers from the same company in your mailbox and they have the same contents but the covers are different, simply to attract the right attention!
-As soon as you call the customer service of any company, they track your records and determine how valuable a customer you are....depending on your worth you will be enqueued in order for receiving assistance, so if you have not generated sufficient business or don't seem capable of it you will end up with a higher waiting time!!
-As soon as you sign into a hotel you will be given RFID tags that will track you ....as you approach the bar counter you would have already been tracked and from your past records your favorite drink would already have been served

At this rate by the time today's kids are grown ups, every minute detail about them, their whereabouts, their preferences would be accessible.....SCARY!!

Can we consciously make an effort to avoid this?


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