Thoughts on Moving On

Time moves and people move with it. Be it from one crush to another, one city to another, one job to another, one hair style to another or for that matter from one waist size to another...... We are moving on....

I was born in Kuwait and spent most of my life there. I had great friends in school back then....... Is it me or does everyone else remember those days as the best of our lives? The times when we used to day dream in a group, irritate teachers in a group, go to tuitions in a group, study in a group, go to church in a group and do what not in a group?

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, my Parents were forced to leave everything they had. Everything they owned suddenly became worthless. I was 6 yrs old then. I lost touch with my classmates and it had happened so early in my life that I don't remember who were my classmates back then. Chances are that I might have met them sometime later without realizing that he/she was my classmate in Kinder garden or 1st Standard. Who knows?

Do you remember how it felt on the day you saw your school friends for one last time..... The day you had to move on and start studying elsewhere??? Wasn't that the most weird feeling? We all promised to stay in touch, but Alas!!!!!! Things don't work out the way we want them to. At best we lose touch........ and at worst........ the friendship loses its significance exponentially. It has happened to me and Im sure it has happened to many of you. Wasn't there a friend you thought you'd be friends with forever and now although u know his/her whereabouts... U just cant be bothered?

Same goes for work colleagues..... I had great ones in London..... We laughed, danced, partied, drank, ate together....... at times when we were too drunk to go home.... we slept in the office together!!!!! And then one day came when I had to decide if I wanted to do more in my life. The decision I took came at a price. I would be far away from some of the best friends I ever made. I could no longer hang around with them anymore, could no longer talk to them as often and could not see them as often. On the last day of work, I nearly had tears in my eyes. It was too much to digest, but hey...... we all have to make those tough decisions.... for me it was a matter of survival in my field of choice..... I had to move on.....

Now, I could be in touch with any one of them. But something has changed. I'm not attached to them as much as I used to be..... I feel bad..... but then.... now i know what has happened... any guesses???

When I left London for Bangalore.... I was lucky to have 2 of my very close friends in Bangalore who could accommodate me. Us along with few of their college mates had some of the greatest times in Bangalore. We lived together, visited places together, head-banged to 'Freebird' together, sang rock songs in pubs together, had lots of 'daaru parties' together and did so many other things together. Now again the time has come for us all to move on. Soon we will be at different places and God alone knows if we will ever be as close as we are now again.

I wrote this blog cause I wanted all my friends whom I have lost touch with and who were once close to me to know..... I haven't forgotten you guys... your friendship is still highly valued..... As the world is round, We will meet again.... until then..... Keep moving :)

Thoughts on Oz Racial attacks

So there is a huge cry about Indians being targeted and mindlessly attacked in some of the biggest cities in Australia.... These attacks apparently are 'Racially' motivated...

Racially!! Really? India is crying about Racially motivated attacks???

Sounds bit weird to me because this comes from a country where fairness creams are probably the highest selling cosmetic. If you are too lazy to use those, we even have bath soaps to make your skin 'fair'. If you think this has nothing to do with racism, never mind.... just ignore I mentioned it...

After the black-white division, we have the caste division. God alone knows how many of these we have. Needless to say, many! Why are they even there I will never know... maybe the people belonging to these caste's want to be called lower/backward classes because apparently they have a 27% quota in IIM's. We even had this female leader of some party who tried to take advantage of her caste and claimed the new PM of India should be an untouchable... But for the sake of an argument, lets just say this is not the case. Maybe all of them don't like to be called untouchables or SC's anymore... but then who is still discriminating them because of their caste?

I don't really want to bring the topic of Religion here, but I feel that it fits in well here. Indians follow a variety of Religion's and you can still find a lot of conflicts between them. People belonging to the majority attacking the minority just to show their supremacy (because one of the names of our country is a derived from the religions name) and the minority attacking/trying to convert few people belonging to the majority just to show their ego.

One way or another, we discriminate against each other in India. Racism is a subset of Discrimination. Unless we solve our problems first, we can't point fingers at others.

Indian government was fast to react and say ...'Hey they are Indian's, you should protect them from these attack's'. WTF??????????

Did this shameless government protect us when terrorists blew up bombs and shot dead scores of people in INDIA??? After they caught these people, did the government do anything noteworthy about it???? Did they teach anyone a lesson???

As critical as the guys in Oz may be, they didn't die. Its horrible of me to say that, I know. I don't mean to say that they didn't die, so its okay. An attack on another human is not forgivable and I hope they get well soon without any long term disability. But when so many Indians were killed in India and the government didn't do anything about it, its not very fair to ask some other government to take care of our citizens in their country.

Thoughts on Jenson Button

Good things will happen... its just a matter of time..

It was just a few years ago when Jenson Button, a young english driver constantly stood in the podium after races. Alas, he was always second or third, never the first.

At this time many Formula 1 guru's admired his clean driving style and compared it with the rougher driving style of Fernando Alonso. Many people thought Jenson was better. But his admirers/fans had to keep shut when Alonso won 2 championships in a row and Button struggled to be on points in many races.

I don't know what kept Jenson going. He had started races after races without a single win. His first win came after more than a 100 race starts. And that win was soon forgotten because the following year, in came the young and fast Lewis Hamilton. In his first 10 race starts, Lewis recorded 2 wins and a number of podiums. He was in points after all the 10 race completions. 

I would imagine Jenson had it very hard then. Being shadowed by a younger driver who already had managed to achieve 4 race wins his first year in Formula 1. To make matters worse for him, his team kept changing hands, continued to make un-reliable cars and God knows what. 

But things changed this year. Jenson is now the leader of the pack and is way ahead in points than the past few World Champs. Yes, he has a superior car now, but he has earned this reward. 

Many people would have just quit the sport, but Jenson didn't. After years of hardwork and determination, he has finally made it there. 

Work hard now, Things will be better one day.

Thoughts on My Grand Father

I have never lived with my grand parents, maybe a little during my vacations during school days. Because of this I never knew them well. All I knew about them came from my parents.

I remember when I was small and came to India, don't know when, but at that time the only language I could speak was English. Talking to people was a tough as most of the people in the villages could not speak English

My Grandfather was not one of them. My grandfather could read, write and speak good English. Hell, his vocabulary at one time was better than mine. All thanks to the British rule. My mom used to tell me stories about my grandfather. He had worked for Brits in Bombay, then he bought a taxi and then another. Having two taxis in Bombay at that time was a big thing apparently. Probably still is.

He used to travel once a year, every year to Mangalore which probably explains the one year gap between most of my mom's siblings. My mom used to tell me they used to wait for their father to come because he used to get lot of gifts for them and for other children in the village. In short, My mom and her siblings had a good and comfortable upbringing. All because of my Grand Father.

Sometime back in January, I decided to go to Mangalore. My uncle was

turning 50 on Feb 1 and there was a big celebration planned. I did not want to miss this. Normally I would have travelled back to Bangalore on 1st Feb as it was a Sunday, but something made me take 2 days leave from work and extend my stay. During one of those days I visited my Grandfather in his village.

He looked the same, Healthier infact. He could walk, talk, laugh and still could tell stories about him and his brother. He told me to be careful when taking reverse in my new car as that is always tricky. The following day I went back to Mangalore. When saying good bye, I could see the reason I felt like taking leave in my Grandfathers eyes. I knew it and so did he. We both would never meet again. It was the same picture drawn on my other grandfathers eyes when I met him 12 yrs ago. He died a year later.

My mothers father passed away on 1st April 11PM IST.

You will always be missed grandpa. Bailoor will never be the same :)

Thoughts on iPhone OS 3.0

Push Notifications?
Copy Paste?
Over the air Contact, calendar sync?
Multi-tasked environment? Blue tooth file sharing?
Mobile finder?
Offline Maps?
Support for frameworks?

Scott, please check all 8 of these will ya?

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May 23 Update:

We'll we know that Copy/Paste, push notifications, calendar sync will be available on iPhone 3.0. 

But I wonder what the phone will actually look like?

I (and many other ppl) actually like the metal casing of the original iPhone. iPhone 3G came with few new features, but the casing was not that all good.  

For iPhone 3.0, how about a Uni-body metal casing? Lets see...

Thoughts on Religion

Few concepts in this world are ground breaking. Their impacts are huge, and they will forever change our lives. Take the internet for example. I cannot imagine a world without the internet. But one day, there would be something replacing it. Maybe its being developed in one of the scientific centers/ Univeristies, who knows. The truth is that one day, Internet will be obsolete.

Religion was also a great concept. When Laws were unheard of, religion set the rules. People were told what not to do in order to live a happy life. Moreover, religion worked because everyone living in an area practiced one religion. But for few hundred years now, this is not the case. I don't think there is a single country in this world where all the residents follow one Religion. And where ever there are more than one religions practiced, you can find conflicts.

We have people fighting daily because of Religion. Look back at the past few years, can you find any instance when religion actually helped you? Have you come across any instance when being a Hindu, Christian, Muslim or any other religion you follow helped you achieve something.

I was born a Christian, but for the last few years, I failed to see the point of going to Church and praying. I have always prayed for the well being of my near and dear ones; I have always prayed for peace and unity in my family and the world in general. After doing this 'Religiously' for many years, I realized I got none of the them. Its then when I realized, if I want something, I have to work for it. Period. Merely kneeling down and praying for 1 hour simply wastes 1 hr of my time where I could have done something more productive.

Time and again people have lost lives because of their Religion. We have the latest Bombay blasts as a classic example. Terrorists killing innocent people no matter what Religion they followed. While it is true that Jews where targeted, but how did they decide who was Hindu and who was Muslim in CST? To top this all, they were taking revenge for many muslim lives lost in the past.

Another common misconception is that God and Religion are connected. I really can't see how. Religion is created by man. Adam and Even were not Christians. On the other hand, God created man. You can pray to God and not follow a Religion. I do it!. Recently when my aunt asked when was the last time I visited the Church, I blatantly said I don't go to Church. I pray where/when/how I want to. And most of the time, my prayers last no more than a second. I go 'Thank you God for everything' and I'm done. This aunty of mine is a Nun.

Whether one believes in God or not, I feel religion has long over-lived its expiration date. Its about time we get it out of our lives.

Thoughts on Baby P

Words could probably never be created to describe the amount of evil in this world.

I came across this story a few days back of a boy who was killed. This boy was 17 months in age. I chose to ignore the report and continued surfing the net.

Today I came across another report, about Baby P. Now I wish I ignored the report again. A quick glance through it will tell you what I mean. This boy was killed by his own mother, and so brutally. Why? I guess we will never know.

Even more surprising is the fact that the baby was monitored by Child Protection agencies because they were aware of his mothers abusive nature. Abusive as in, the mother has literally treated the baby as a punching bag in the past. 

We live in a world were a mother is capable of killing her child, Social Workers are just so plain stupid to notice what's going on and Governments are proud of the fact that they don't give the capital punishment because of 'humanitarian' reasons. Oh how beautiful is this world we live in.

For the sake of Baby P, I really do hope there is a Heaven and a Hell. Rest in Peace Baby P.

Thoughts on iPhone iNDIA

Update 2 (18-Aug-08):

I got some time now.. so let me get it out of my system.... 

There are a million articles/blogs about the iPhone launching soon in India... Here are my Thoughts on..

The Features

A lot has been said about how India does not have a 3G network and so the iPhone isn't worth it. For one, iPhone 3G isn't only about the 3G. 3G coverage in America is very limited yet it has managed to sell remarkably well.... Just to make things a bit more clear... Have you seen the traffic in Bangalore? The average speed of a car is (being very very optimistic) about 50Km/hr here. But I still find Mercs and BMW's and Porche's and what not around. Are those ppl nuts??? If they are, they have done pretty well for themselves..

iPhone is about the User Experience, the Apps, the build in iPod and to an extend... the Web Browser (Safari). Apple has managed to cram in a state of the art web browser which is not only easy use, but also renders actual webpages. There is no other Mobile manufacturer who can claim their mobile browser is better... or just as good for that matter. No ONE! And are we forgetting about WiFi? And speak about the other Apps, take the Mail App for example. Gmail provides FREE IMAP access to your mail. If you have another email with POP access, you can retrieve those mails to your Gmail account and then get it delivered to your mobile via IMAP. Why IMAP? Check out the advantages of it over POP3 here.

The Price

For the 8GB model, this has been reported from RS 15 - 31 thousand. If its anything like 15K then its a bargain! But if it is infact 31K, the gods carriers must really be crazy! It is pretty naive of anyone to expect the iPhone to be available in india for around RS 8,000 (thats more or less $199). According to analysts, Apple actually sells the iPhone to AT&T at around $575. AT&T sells the iPhone for $200 and then collects the remaining from the customers via the contracts that they are tied to. At a minimum of $60 per month for a minimum of 2 years, these contracts are pretty expensive.

Airtel and Vodafone could never sell that kind of contract in India, but I'm sure they can run their algorithms and come up with a better solution than 31K for the phone + a 2 year contract.

Here's my novice take on the ideal pricing.

Phone to be around RS 20,000 (thats around $460 dollars).
Monthly contract around RS 1000 per month (~$23) for a period of 18 - 24 months. To break it down, I would say RS 500 allocated to rental/talk time/sms and RS 300 -350 for unlimited data usage. The data usage is a major selling point here because owning an iPhone and not using any Data service is like owning a 52 Inch Plasma and not having a cable subscription. On top of this, carriers can charge around RS100 for insurance (remember the glass screen of iPhone). That brings up the total to RS 900 - 950. Didn't forget the taxes did you? Add another 12.5% for that and we end up at ~ RS 1015 - 1070.

If either of the carriers came up with this structure, I would buy the iPhone without thinking twice. I can only dream, looks like I'll have to wait till 22nd Aug to find out. Its 18th today and the folks at Airtel/Vodafone are still in no mood to discuss the pricing.

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Update 1 (12-Aug-08):
Some rumor goin around saying the iPhone is going to be RS 31K..... yep... thats the Daily WTF for today!

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Original Post (7-Aug-08):
Plz God... let it be affordable by us poor indians!

Thoughts on Terrorism

I love beer, whisky, vodka, champagne, wine and every form alcohol comes in. Alcohol helps me relax. It clears my mind. And when under the influence, I am a different person. That said, I know my limit & I drink responsibly. My parents have made sure that I am aware of the consequences of drinking heavily. Over doing it causes a lot of damage to your body. It may sound cliché'd, but people do die because of drinks. Well that's a very small introduction of me.

This world is filled with many different kinds of people, isn't it? One specific kind are the terrorists.

Many people link Terrorists and Muslims. For many people, Terrorists form a subset of the Muslim community. They couldn't be more wrong. Haven't they heard of the IRA or ETA? Have they forgotten what happened immediately after September 11, 2002? Remember the whole Anthrax episode? Anthrax was mailed to many doctors by a Christian organization called "Army of God" because these doctors performed abortions.

If a religion preached to kill other human beings, a lot of the educated people in that religion would have converted. I don't think there exists any religion in this world that asks its followers to drain another living human beings blood. So where do these terrorists come from?

They say too much of something good is bad. No one is born a terrorist. When someone takes their religion a bit more seriously than needed, a Terrorist is born. Religion is for us all to enjoy, but lets not take it to the extreme and overdo it. A considerable number of people have made this mistake. This mistake can only lead to death.

Thoughts on 'the OFF Switch'

Can there be such a thing?

Thinking of something which upsets you is easy....Remembering something upsetting is very easy... but how do you forget these things? what can one do to just forget the past.. forget the present... and just switch off for a while...

I could so use that right now...

=========
Update (8-may):

Got the answer! All you have to do is find someone who is looking for his/her off switch... works for me!

Thoughts on Child Labour...

Ok.... so i was in KFC the other day.... just hanging out with few friends....and waiting for my 'chicken'. across few tables there was a woman sitting.... and for some reason... maybe instinct... i didnt like something about her........ maybe it was just the fact that this woman had the biceps bigger than a watermelon... well... thats not a reason to dislike anybody.. i know! but something in this woman was not right.

She was sitting there munching her chicken away with her 2 children...... then out of no where i see this girl.... dressed in something i can only say is a little better than what the beggars on the roads do..... comes to this woman and starts talking to her... She is carrying a kid of maybe 3yrs with her...

My first impression was that this girl is actually a beggar and somehow has managed to slip her way in... and is begging for some money... or food probably......

And then the next thing i see is.... she is handing over the kid she was holding to the woman..... its only at that point did i realize that... this girl isnt any beggar... she is actually domestic help!!! or should i say servant!

Then it all made sense..... Maybe thats why i didnt like this woman.... she has actually got a girl in her early teens as her servant!

Im no activist or anything... but seeing such things really dissapoints me. Living in a city like bangalore... i would have guessed that ppl are educated and know better!

What came up next shocked me even more..... now this woman is there.. sitting with her baby.. and continuing to hog her chicken.... and she dosent even offer a piece of it to this girl.....

Ok... i'll give the woman the benefit of the doubt.... maybe the girl was vegetarian for religious reasons.... but the woman didnt offer a drink to this girl... or not even a single french fry.... when she was done with her dinner... she just got up... gave the kid back to the girl.... and they all left.... the poor girl did not get a bite of anything....

I cant imagine how she must have felt.... but back in the day.... when i was a kid.... when our car drove past KFC or McD or Burger King or Pizza hut.... my mouth always watered.... what would have this kid felt, when she was standing there right in the middle of KFC and watching other ppl eat?

Its stuff like this that really upsets me and spoils my mood..... Maybe that was the reason i couldnt finish even 2 pieces of chicken that day... naah... it must be the awful tasting KFC.......... Anyway....I hope one day things will change and ppl will stop hiring children for domestic help.... and i also hope that the little girl gets a better future.....

Thoughts on $100 Laptop

I was in bombay the other day, and i wanted to do one thing that i havent for over 5 yrs..... eat a wada paav....

So there i am, at this roadside wada paav stall. i almost asked this guy to make me a wada paav, and then the mobile goes off....not mine.... the wada paav guy's..... he removes a nice flashy mobile phone (which supports mp3 ringtones) from his pocket, and speaks for a good five minutes......

There i am completely irritated by this guy, wondering why mobile phones have become cheap. After five minutes, i get my wada paav... and while im eating it.... my mind cooled off... and i figured.... its a good thing that mobiles are cheap now.... everyone can afford one... and stay in touch.... thats the whole point of these nokia's isnt it..... Connecting PPL!

Then another 15 seconds passed by, and i realised something which is probably there somewhere future.... all because of the $100 Laptop.

Imagine this.... 10yrs from now.... owning a laptop will be like owning a tubelight.... infact... it shouldnt be shocking if a person has more than one laptop...... even the wada paav guy....

If you are able to picture that... then its not hard to see, free wifi all over india... an operating system thats got hindi as an option etc etc....

with all this commin up....maybe after 10 yrs... i'll have to wait a little longer for my wada paav... because the wada paav guy is having a video/voice chat with his family in some remote village in maharashtra....

Thoughts on Chess...

Chess.... aah... thats one game i probably will never be able to play..... for the only reason that i have a very very short attention span... and i cannot have 10 next moves planned in my head.... my memory is too weak for that.... and ofcourse i find the wooden queen very unattractive....

What made me write about chess today is that i came across this article about   Viswanathan anand becoming the world champion... yet again.... 

There is a small line in that article which says...

 ........"There is the odd country where there's some lingering doubt whether chess is art or sport," he says. "Quite clearly it is a sport."....

Hang on a minute! when did chess become a sport? ppl claim its a mind sport.... No disrespect to Mr. Anand, but that is soo lame! i dont think something like this should exist in the first place! Chess is a Game... lets leave it at that, shall we? lets call a person who sweats and works hard in the track, gym, court, ground a sportsman/woman.... If you dont do any kind of physical activity before/during the 'sport' then ur not a sports person and what u call 'sport' is not a sport!

While I'm on the topic, and if there is a term called mind sport, why don't i term some new sports!

Deception Sports - Poker and many card games come under this category.

Luck Sports - Snakes & Ladders, Ludo etc.

Geometry Sports - Snooker, Billiards, Pool, Carrom (because its all about the angles!)

Virtual Sports - all the football, cricket etc etc... u playon ur comp, ps2, xbox, etc.

Picnic Sports - Dog & the Bone, Lemon and Spoon.... 

Know more?? please feel free to add on....

Thoughts on Physics

I never liked physics much... but i wasnt very bad at it either... it was one of those subjects... which i felt its easy to score marks in... if u studied... 

I hear u saying...joel... duh!!!! u study, u get marks... what i mean is i felt it quite easy to get marks when i studied... but that rarely happened... i hated studying.... i still do.... i can go on about this all day.... so let me come to the point....

There is one very popular law in physics... i donno the exact saying... but basically it says, Opposites Attract.....

The way magnets with opposite polarity attract is amazing... I still find it amazing.... what is more amazing is that the same law applies to humans... well atleast me.....

Is it possible for a guy to find someone completely opposite of him very very attractive??? Is it meant to be that way? are u supposed to get together with a person who is an absolute complement of you?

Sometimes i wish i had the brains to understand einteins theories..... that guy i feel was very close to solve the problem of life...... He had probably realised that this is one big puzzle, and one algo could solve it for most of us..... he probably was right... who will know? for now i have to sit and break my head and solve the headache of life/love....

Thoughts on iPhone SDK

Wheheey!!!!

Thats it... cant wait for feb! thank you stevey!

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UPDATE 25/10/2007:

Well... come to think of it.... and what will be a much much more bigger dissapointment than then the 'great' web 2.0 SDK for iPhone which stevey announced on June 28th will be..... Wait for it!!! a Java SDK for iPhone....

I hear the java guys going wheehey!!!! Java Rocks!!!! but Actually... Java Sucks! I just cant stand it anymore.....

Heres why i think Stevey has got Java in mind for his iPhone/iTouch SDK..

1. Cocoa already had a java bridge till Leopard... Most of the Cocoa api could be access via Java...He is simply buying time till feb to update that bridge...

2. Java runs on a VM! The whole sandboxing-security thing comes in..... With Java, you will be able to develop fairly sofisticated apps, and dont worry about viruses accessing the memory illegaly!

3. iPhone/iTouch actually needs Java! Actually, i dont think so.... but many other ppl do! ppl who dont know shit think that if a phone does not support java, it must be pretty crap..... and they already have something to back that claim.... the shitty 2 MegaPixel (flashless) camera that comes with the iPhone..

4. Millions of ppl know Java, compared to a handfull of cocoa coders... So a Java SDK will be more appealing to a larger audience...

5. I just have this gut feeling, that its java..... PLS STEVEY!!!! TELL ME IM WRONG!!!!