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 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....

Linux Eye-Candy anyone?

Right.... just thought it would be nice of me to introduce you to Beryl....



Beryl is a window manager for Linux. Im no fan of eye-candy (well i do love/use a little bit of it)... but it annoys me when im working.... but there are few (actually many) M$ Windows Worshippers who think Windows is the most user friendly OS in existance and .....hopefully this will change your mind....

ooh another thing.... Beryl is completely free of charge... i.e. you dont have to buy it to use it..... or more clearly.... you need to pay squat to use it...... only restriction is you have to run it under linux.... which is also free.... hell Ubuntu even ships the CD to you Free Of Cost!!!!

One year on a Mac

It's been a year since I took the plunge and bought a Mac. At that time, given the money involved (Powerbooks are pretty expensive, you can buy 2 decent windows laptops for the same price as one Powerbook G4!) and the fact that I only used windows in my home computer, it's probably the bravest thing I ever did. Now I look back and see it as the smartest thing I ever did.

Ofcourse, I didn't wake up one morning and decide that I should shift to a Mac. Last year marked 10 years since I started using computers. Until I came to England I always thought there were only 2 major operating systems. Windows and UNIX. For 10 years I only used machines with windows running on them, right from MS-DOS version 6 to Windows XP SP2. I came to England for my Software Engineering degree and on my first day of the degree, I was introduced to Linux. At the time, I never saw anything like it before. Things looked very complicated, the normal start button was missing and the taskbar was filled with weird buttons and it just didn't look right. But it didn't take me long to notice the response time of this strange OS. It was amazingly fast, something not very common in windows machines.

Konqueror (same as windows explorer) opened files and directories so smoothly; I couldn't understand why people use windows; this was far better! After some more time and much more fiddling with this new OS, I realised it's only a work machine. There are not many media players or games or any other fun software for Linux. Even the ones that are there are not as good as the ones u get on Windows. Linux is strictly business, no hanky panky. Which is good of course…. if u are a robot. I did love the idea of a machine whose response time was excellent, but then again, I also need the machine to play my songs and videos. I can't be working all the time! So I decided not to install Linux on my home machine.

Whenever I was in University, I only used the Linux machines, even if I had to just browse websites or send emails because I could use windows all I wanted at home. Soon enough, I started getting irritated with my home computer. Windows explorer would take ages to open a folder which had just 5 files in them, most of the time the computer would command me what to do instead of the other way round, restarting and system hangs which where normal before became unbearable. The last nail on the coffin was the different 'brands' of viruses' u get for windows. There must be a million of them. Worms, Trojan horses, ad-wares, or maybe windows itself is one of them. And to top that up, you have to install anti-virus and firewall software to eliminate viruses and stop them from coming in. But not only are these just not good enough, they also take a lot precious CPU cycles and thus bring an already suffering computer to a complete halt. This happened to me February last year and I almost threw it out of the window out of frustration. But of course, being a fulltime student I couldn't afford doing so and however slow it maybe, I still had to do my work on it.

It was about that time, when I popped into the Apple store in Regent Street in London. I was just roaming around and thought to check out what Apple is selling. What I saw was incredible. There where laptops and computers all over the place. Free for anyone to use them. Browse the net, check your emails, or simply try to understand what makes Mac the worlds most advanced operating system. You could do anything. My first experience was not as weird as seeing Linux for the first time. This system had the same response time of Linux (ok… not same… but hell lot better than windows) and it looked better. Much better! It seemed to me that a candy crazy person has designed the GUI, it looked so glossy and so futuristic. Almost everything was animated. When programs start u would have a really cool high quality icon bouncing on bottom of the screen, when u minimize a window it acts like a genie and disappears to the bottom of the screen, the screen and GUI was more easy on the eyes, it was incredible.

Next thing to do was to find out how easy it is to use it. Didn't take me long. Within an hour I was using it as if I'm using a cousin of my windows machine…. Only that this cousin is like a million times faster. The computer was already loaded up with iTunes, there where a lot of freeware programs to see movies. However…. There are not as many games for Mac's as there are for Windows.…

Many people argue with me saying, "Joel, what's the point of a Mac… u don't get many games and even the ones that are there, are much better in windows!". What can anybody say to this…? Except that… well… they definitely have got a point…. But that's not the end of the story… There is something like PS2 or Xbox 360 to play games. Argue all you want, but end of the day you have to agree that games are much better on games consoles rather than on your computer. More people have a 29inch flat screen TV, compared to a few people who own a 19inch monitor; you can play with your games console right from the comforts of your sofa rather that use the dodgy chair by your computer desk which u got from Argos; and did I mention the graphics quality? Have I made my point? I think so … yes!

Back to the main topic…. How easy is it to use a Mac? Let me put it this way… Say suppose you buy a television from Sony and use it for couple of years. Then you decide you need a newer TV and you get offered a very nice offer for a Toshiba. You are used to the format of the remote control and of Sony and therefore you find the new Toshiba remote a bit irritating. Its natural! Many people think of Mac as a hard to handle OS. But it really isn't! It's just different! Remember the first day you sat on a computer? Didn't things look complicated then? Moving to Mac will be the same... The start wont be easy… but you will get used to it…

Finally… you are definitely going to say… "Joel… it took me ages to learn how to use a computer… and your suggesting start over?" To which my answer is going to be… yes. And a BIG YES. Why? For the fundamental reasons I mentioned earlier on! Speed! No Viruses! You command the computer what to do and what not to do! And there's more good news… Apple recently announced the arrival of Boot-Camp. This new program enables you to use Windows XP (Yes WINDOWS) under any Intel based Apple Computers without compromising performance. When running Windows, Windows will operate as if it's running on any other machine (like those you get from Dell or Acer) and when you run Mac … life is as usual. Although these two operating systems run on the same computer, they do not share viruses and don't interfere with one another. When starting the computer, you get the option to start either Mac or Windows. You cannot have both running at the same time. So now you can enjoy the power of Mac and the… well, options of windows…

I know I said finally earlier, but now it's the final-finally… the reason many people shy away from buying a computer from apple… a very important reason as a matter of fact…. It all comes down to money. Apple's hardware has been ridiculously expensive. As I said earlier, you will get two decent laptops for the price of one powerbook! But when saying decent, I'm talking about an Intel Celeron M machine with 128 MB memory a DVD-CDRW roughly around 40GB of hard-disk space. But top of the range laptops do cost roughly the same as a powerbook. And when you buy a powerbook, along with other necessary stuff you get a DVD writer, built-in Bluetooth, built-in wireless, a lot of free usefull software like a photo-organiser, an address book, isync a program to synchronize data between your computer and you mobile phone or PDA. And if you buy the new MacBook Pro you also get a built-in camera and a remote control, so u can use it to view your movies or play songs from the sofa! But if your wallet does not allow you to withdraw that much money, Mac Mini is a very good option. Of course it is not a laptop, but a very good 'desktop' computer. Calling Mac Mini a desktop computer is weird. Just because of the size and the amount of stuff jammed into it! The new Mac Mini's got a Dual Core Intel chip, can accommodate a hard-disk of 120GB, 2 Gig Memory and has got built in wireless and Bluetooth. Incredible… It should be called a micro- Power Desktop or something.

So… Have I convinced you why u should use a Mac?

Blog this & Blog that...

I was just browsing the net the other day and came across sabeer bhatia's (man who made hotmail) new tool.... its called BlogEverywhere.com.

Made me think.... whats so great about blogs? i want to know what the fuss is all about.... so ...i got myself my own blog. I probably will get rid of it soon... but lets see how it goes....