Thoughts

Squaw and Alpine

2011-09-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

The map above outlines Squaw and Alpine ski resorts in Lake Tahoe, California.
(photo courtesy:http://www.powdork.com/2011/squalppinwolf-born-to-be-wild/) squaw=blue, whitewolf=purple (privately owned resort), alpine=red, possible-additional-terrain=yellow.

The merger of squaw and alpine could mean that we have one of North America's largest resort right here in Tahoe, with around 6,400 acres of skiable terrrain when combined. (For reference: heavenly = 4,800 acres, kirkwood = 2,300 acres, whistler blackcomb = 8,171 acres, vail = 5,289 acres). My colleague, an avid squaw fan, told me once that squaw has lots of accessible terrain that it can expand into.

Possible Expansions & White Wolf: A third neighbor to the two is the much smaller White Wolf (private) resort with about 400 acres of skiable terrain. Its owner, Troy Caldwell, told the San Francisco Chronicle this in March 2008: "If my dream were totally brought to fruition, White Wolf Mountain would become an inter-connect between Alpine and Squaw. A skier could ski from the Squaw side all the way to the Alpine Meadows ski area."

Future: Squaw did host the 1960 Olympics that some say transformed Lake Tahoe area. There are already rumours around the 2022 Winter Olympics bid and the host is not picked until 2015. There is some worry on how all this affects lift ticket and pass prices and whether Tahoe is on it's way to be the ski-vacation alternative to the fancier colorado resorts. We have already seen some consolidation in Tahoe with Vail (owns Heavenly) buying North Star resort last season. It will be interesting to see how all these consolidations affect Tahoe area economy.

Under the Covers: KSL Capital Partners owns Squaw (which they bought from the Cushing family) and now majority stake holder in the merger, JMA ventures owned Alpine and now are minority stake holders. JMA also owns Homewood. JMA recently teamed up with 49ers to buy Great America theme park. Not sure if they will be involved in the new 49ers stadium.

Taxes: Lessons for a civil society

2011-08-26T18:31:00.001-07:00

(some excerpts were swiped, reworded and added here from a cnn article).

It's surprising to me that many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Lets break this assumption a bit. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Agreed, no debate there. However, voting for our government to use guns and force people to give money (in the form of taxes) to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness. I know, this might sound shocking. Please read on.

People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we're compassionate we'll help them (voluntarily), but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

People try to argue that government isn't really force and forcing you to pay taxes isn't what it is. You believe that? Try not paying your taxes. (This is only a "thought experiment" -- suggesting that someone not pay his or her taxes is probably a federal offense, so not to be taken seriously). When they come to get you for not paying your taxes, try not going to court. Guns will be drawn. Government is force -- literally, not figuratively.

We are always asked to submit to any tax increase silently and we are expected to never question why such tax increases are necessary. Rachel Maddow, the political analyst said recently, "we have 2 great wars in the last 10 years, but no tax increase!". So, here we are, justifying tax increases so as to fund wars half-way around the world. If we do object to it, we are playing politics, hindering progress, allowing the terrorists to win and letting old people die. It is never a good time to question anything.

The problem I have with taxes is that I don't have control over how government uses it. If it is used to fight unjust wars and unending welfare schemes, I want no part of it. It is not Government's God given right to collect money from the citizens to fund all their mis-adventures. Sure, we can pay for the services we use, and a reasonable tax seems acceptable for allowing basic functioning of a civil society. I also believe in charity, out of one's own free will ofcourse. Case in point: the annual american private humanitarian aid is higher than the US govt humanitarian aid (citation needed).

Problem arises when the vocal majority take this to the next level. I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone. The fact that the majority thinks they have a way to do good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that don't want to pay for it. If you have to use a gun and force people to pay up, I don't believe you really are getting the point. Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid and trampling his individual rights. People who trumpet democractic values need some lessons on the idea of the "Republic".

Republic and Democracy: Lessons for a civil society

2011-08-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

It is terrible misconception that US and India are just Democracies. They are Republics too. In a Republic the minority is protected from the tyranny of the majority because majority always gangs-up and muffles the voice of the minority so as to get things done "their way". We should understand what "republic" means. We seem to be under this illusion that we are a democracy only and the view of the majority always trumps. It is incorrect.

Anyone remember why we have a bicameral parliament/congress (2 houses)? Lower house is the voice of people (democracy in action) as they represent the people, the upper house is the voice of reason composed of thinkers. Lower house, representing the people, can recommend things from the citizen's point of view but upper house needs to consider the bigger picture. The upper house needs to deliberate it from all angles and decide whether a tabled proposal is good for the country, and whether it upholds individual rights and liberty. Did you know that the US senate is considered the world's most deliberative body for exactly that reason? But a rational debate of any issue based on this framework is dismissed as partisan politics and a hindrance to progress. The majority always wants us to be an "Yes Man" for everything.

One might say that societies have become way too corrupt for such idealistic thinking. Then, it is the duty of citizens to correct these mistakes rather than exacerbate the situation with more draconian measures. That is when we slip into authoritarian rule. This is not a movie where the hero cleans up the whole system by beating everyone left and right. People should limit dependence on government and stop considering the government to be the "One" that will will solve all problems. If you rely on the government for everything you tend to give it unprecedented powers and resources, and they are invariably wasted and misused. To prevent this misuse you then create another body of governance fitted with a massive bureaucratic machinery granting it even more power. But there is insufficient guarantee that this new body won't be influenced and infiltrated by politicians and their vested interests eventually (think long term). So now you have two problems instead of one.

So next time, someone touts democracy and asks you to fall in line with the majority, it is time to explain the idea of the republic and let your opinion be heard.

The Legend of Curds with Sugar

2011-07-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

In South India, it is common practice to finish a meal with curds (plain yogurt) or buttermilk. The way it is done is to mix rice with curds which gives "curd rice" and then add a touch of salt for light seasoning.

There is also a variation to this simple dish. Instead of mixing curds with rice, we can just take curds in a bowl and add sugar. That's it! Now, it is very important to ensure that we use the right ingredients. The main ingredient is curds and it should be curdy, and not watery like butter milk. Also, cane sugar is better than one of those sweetener substitutes.

There has been some controversy as to who actually came up with this idea of having curds with sugar. Some have claimed that they have had this dish in the MTRs and Kamat Hotels of the world since time immemorial. While that may be true, I would like to make this claim that I independently came up with this recipe when I was a kid.

I distinctly remember that when I was 6-7 years of age, I noticed others in the family having this dish of curds+rice. Now, I disliked salty taste back then, so I substituted salt with sugar. I liked it, but after a few days, I realized that the reason I liked this dish was not because of the rice, but actually curds and sugar. That moment was when this legendary curds+sugar dish was born. Even now (some 25 years after this dish was invented), it is quite customary in my family circles (immediate as well as extended) to offer me this special dish after I finish a meal.

I don't like controversy myself, and I can't possibly defend my claim against those made by the pezzonovante of the culinary world, but I just wanted to get the truth out there.

Technology Tipping Point

2011-07-07T21:58:00.001-07:00

They used to say, "What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow", as a nod to West Bengal's standing as India's intellectual capital in the 20th century. Silicon Valley can claim that "What technology it uses today, the world uses tomorrow".

In 2003, I used to work in Gandiva, a start up, where I had to use HTML, Http in the context of web-applications. Now there was this one issue that we were particularly frustrated with. A small change/update anywhere in a dynamically generated web page meant that you had to regenerate the whole page with all of the page-data which was sub-optimal. Little did I know that there was already a solution in the form of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) wherein web applications can send data to, and retrieve data from, a server asynchronously without interfering with the display and behavior of the rest of the page.

Back then, I used to use Yahoo messenger quite a bit to keep in touch with friends and family. Sometimes, I had this habit of putting up status messages (as did others) and would receive the odd IM from someone I know on how they felt about it. Fast forward a couple of years, and Twitter takes this to the next level as one of the first micro-blogging site.

In 2004-2005, as I bought my first laptop in my grad days, some of us friends had this observation that we rarely seem to use any software other than a browser and a ssh client. We now see that cloud computing, net-books have become the hottest buzz words.

Now, in 2011, I have begun to notice a drastic change in the type of messages I receive in my email account. A majority of the emails I receive these days are from social networking sites such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn updating me with messages from friends and family. These sites have become the de-facto place for all my social interactions and messaging needs. This makes me think that in a few years, we might see an end to email as it is used now and will completely embrace social-networking services. The only issue is that these sites are heavily siloed and don't inter-operate well.

Windies

2011-06-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

I love the West Indies, always have. Never been there though.

As a kid, I didn't quite understand what this "entity" meant, I mean, it wasn't a country but they had a cricket team. How? Michael Holding, the great fast bowler, once mentioned that since the end of colonial rule, these islands in the Caribbean have tried numerous political and economic associations, but nothing ever worked. The only unifying force was cricket which brought these West Indians together. As the years passed, my love for watching and following cricket in the West Indies only grew. I enjoyed the flamboyance of their batsmen, aggression of their bowlers and the general look of casualness in their approach. But they were intense, mind you! They were also considered genuine sportsmen. Gavaskar always said that while their fast bowlers intimidated the batsman with short stuff and hostile stares, there were no personal attacks and they never ever crossed the line. They dominated world cricket but were still admired by everyone, unlike the world champion Australian team of recent times.

You see they always had these great players. A certain Sunil Gavaskar enamoured by the great Rohan Kanhai names his son after him, Umpire Dickie Bird was surprised with the quiet, smooth action of the devastating Michael Holding running upto bowl that he nicknamed him "Whispering Death", the swagger of Viv Richards which unnerved even the great Imran Khan, the deadly Ambrose who was implored with calls of "Up the nose Amby!" from his fielders when a new batsman walked in.

It is sad to see such a mighty cricket team fall to such lows. But, I sense a great disturbance in the force. They have in their midst a young batsman Darren Bravo who is an out-n-out Lara clone, his mannerism, those exaggerated cover drives is indeed of that great Trinidadian. Sammy, their current captain, said that he couldn't sleep the whole night after he dropped Dravid in the 1st test. Poor performances such as these should hurt and hurt deep. It is time West Indies cricket stop reminiscing about the past glories, and build a team afresh.

Wally Grout, the Australian wicketkeeper, once remarked, "Whenever I saw Ken Barrington coming to the wicket I thought a Union Jack was trailing behind him". West Indies Cricket team need a flag of their own -- the pride flag.

Notes from B'lore

2011-05-14T13:26:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since I was in namma bengaluru in the summer.

- Traffic sucked for the initial 2-3 days, but felt really good to drive after that. All my dormant Bangalore driving instincts were back in full force. I probably honked more than anyone else out there. "Waat? you won't let me pass on your left? blaaaahorrrn!", "Only idiots wait for the traffic light to turn green".

- Bangalore rains are incredible. They come in thick and fast and roads are flooded in a matter of minutes. Oh, the sight of those mighty rivers and lakes on the streets of bangalore. But the power-cuts are irritating (really? KEB?? even now???)

- Wish 'Ganesh Fruit juice center' can go and teach Jamba juice on how to make juices, shakes and smoothies.

- Constant 85-95 F in Apr-May. Maybe better than other places in India but still quite hot.

- Masala Dosa made here is unbeatable. Others (other cities, states and countries), please learn.

- Sub-tropical fruits are the heaven. Move over boring apples and oranges, bring on the delicious mangoes and jackfruit.

- Economy is booming, shops and malls are thriving, people seem to be hungry for success/money, jobs galore, everything is expensive, money flow is evident. So many Bimmers and Mercs.

- Nothing on T.V! Missed my fix of 30 Rock, Community, Family Guy, South Park, The Office and Conan/Letterman.

- BIA airport is so much better than the old HAL airport, but put on your glasses and you can see that it is essentially one large cow shed.

- Talwalkar gym rocks!

Mr. Infosys

2011-05-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

(Copy pasted from a rediff.com article for my reference)

Here is one of NR Narayana Murthy's most famous speeches, the 2007 pre-commencement lecture he made at New York University's Leonard N Stern School of business. In it, the Infosys founder talks of the seminal moments in his life and of how a belief in learning from experience, a growth mind-set, the power of chance events, and self-reflection have helped him grow into the person he is. The lecture can also be found in his book A Better India : A Better World published by Penguin Books India.

A chance encounter
After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons.

I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future.

I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career.

Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned.

My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be.

The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur in India.

At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university.

He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing.

I was hooked.

I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science.

Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter, for the better, the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.

Break with communism
The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974.

The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria.

I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, my home town.

By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9pm on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money.

I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in. The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy.

I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.

The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small eight-by-eight-foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for more than 72 hours.

I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul.

The guard's final words still ring in my ears â€“ 'You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!'

The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left.

I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.

Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist!

Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.

An audacious step
While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory.

On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb.

The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million.

After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money. I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.

Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn.

I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket. There was a stunned silence in the room.

My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking.

I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident.

They have more than lived up to their promise of that day.

A blessing in disguise
A final story.

On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors including Infosys in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another.

This customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous.

First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.

Second, this customer contributed fully 25 percent of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company.

Third, the customer's negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds.

Our various arguments why a fair price â€“ one that allowed us to invest in good people, R and D, infrastructure, technology and training - was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer. By 5 pm on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer's terms or to walk out.

All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision.

I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys.

I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of the customer's choice. This was a turning point for Infosys.

Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee.

The crisis was a blessing in disguise.

Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilised its revenues and profits.

Life lessons and advice
I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.

I will begin with the importance of learning from experience.

It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place.

I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.

Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure.

If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.

A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices.

While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial.

Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed.

Put simply, the former view, a fixed mind set, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential. The latter view, a growth mind set, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement.

The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge.

Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge.

I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.

Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mind-set, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present.

Back in the 1960's, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you!

With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.

My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice.

Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events? Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?

I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.

A final word: when, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.

I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behoves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come.

I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.

Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!

Forgetting the Roots

2011-04-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, the things that made America great were the principles on which the country was founded, the so called Jeffersonian democracy, and the value attached to life, liberty and individual freedom. In recent times, we see a marked departure from these core values in the American society and thinking.

The Problem is...
...this sense of entitlement that is creeping in, the sense that you should be led to the path of success by someone else,
...this socialist notion that all men are born equal with the same kind of needs and not acknowledging/celebrating the uniqueness of each individual,
...this thought that your misfortune was because of another person's deeds,
...this nauseating jealousy of other people's successes and riches and not accepting that they deserve it,
...this robinhood-esque mentality of stealing other peoples hard-earned money through a middle-man ("the government") in the form of a progressive tax system and a multitude of other taxes.

"Everyone feels a little let down because, on some level, people expected all their problems to go away. But real change comes from everyday people. You can't wait for a leader." - Matt Damon on Obama rule.

"The American values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- that's pursuit, nothing is guaranteed in this country." - Hansen Hashim Clarke, the newly-minted member of the United States House of Representatives.

Ski Days

2011-04-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have been maintaining a spreadsheet counting the number of days I ski each season across the various resorts. It has been an amazing 2010/11 ski season with Tahoe area receiving around 170% of their average snowfall by April, and over 700 inches of snow at most of the tahoe resorts. Our home resort of Kirkwood reported a seasonal Total Range of 720-720 inches.

Update (Apr 26th): 2010/2011 winter is now among the top 5 on record in terms of snow accumulation at Tahoe. So much for a bleak La Nina outlook last year. This season will surely be remembered and reminisced as "that" season for many years to come.

While in 2009/10 season, my heroic claim was having skied every weekend (either sat/sun or both) from Jan 1st to end of April (a 'Weekend Warrior' as such people are called), my 2010/11 claim is to have skied 6 months (November - April). Squaw is open till May 31st, so there is a remote possibility of putting on the ski boots for that "one last run" (tm) and a 7th month.

As they say: ski as much as possible...but it is good to keep a count of it. Onto the stats.

PontingClarkeHaydenSymondsism

2011-03-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Define PontingClarkeHaydenSymondsism: the belief of an Australian cricketer that being aggressive means hurling personal abuses at the opponent, opponent's spouse, mom, dad and everyone in between...but call one of them a monkey...and it is racial vilification.

White Gold

2011-03-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

State Route 49 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush. Highway 49 is numbered after the "49ers", the waves of immigrants who swept into the area looking for gold. It's a beautiful highway that also gives access to some of the less crowded scenic spots in the central sierras.

We have I-80 connecting the bay area to most of the ski resorts on the north side of Lake tahoe, US-50 and SR-88 connecting to resorts on the south side. Now, route 49 cuts through these highway systems at Auburn (I-80), Placerville (US-50) and Jackson (SR-88).

On days when we have the Epic Tahoe Storms (tm), it is difficult to predict which of these highways close due to low visibility, avalanche danger, hazardous driving conditions, multi-vehicle pileups etc. So people pick their favorite resort and take one of these highways, but as they reach the 49er towns of Auburn, Placerville or Jackson, it is time to check on road conditions and decide whether to continue east or switch north/south on route-49 to the other unclosed highways and hope to reach a ski resort of some kind.

I ended up using this scenic route-49 twice this way.
- Epic storm on President's day long weekend 2010: Driving to Kirkwood, SR88 closed at Carson spur, decision @Jackson, switch to route 49N, drive to Placerville, onto US 50, SR89 and SR88 to go around and reach Kirkwood.

- Epic storm on Mar 19th 2011: On a bus to Sugarbowl, I-80 closed due to zero visibility, decision @Auburn, switch to route 49S, drive to Placerville, onto US 50 to reach Sierra-at-tahoe.

It is interesting that now, in the 21st century, fellow crazy "neo-9ers" (skiers and boarders) are using route 49 in pursuit of another kind of gold called 'snow -- of the powder kind'.

Microblogs

2011-03-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

I tweet/buzz my blogs, but I wanted to blog my tweets/buzz.

https://profiles.google.com/u/0/hemant.t3/buzz
http://twitter.com/#!/hemant_t3

People's Army

2011-02-01T00:53:00.000-08:00

"The army and the people are one – hand in hand." - Egyptian protestors

Where does the loyalty of the army lie? Is it to the supreme commander of the armed forces, the government, the people or the generally accepted principles around which the nation was built. In combat situations soldier receives an order from his platoon leader, receives his remuneration from the government, decorations from the higher ranks in the military pecking order. But what is he fighting for? Whom is he fighting for?

The military is not designed to quell peoples rebellion in city streets nor destined to fight the very people it has vowed to protect. The military is of the people and for the people. Viva la Revolucion!

99

2010-11-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

The crowd at the Chinnaswamy stadium was it's usual boisterous self, all 80,000 of them. They know a good test match when they see one, and Aussies always put on a great show. Mitchell Johnson bowls to Murali Vijay. It was a crucial match for Vijay, trying to cement his place in this strong Indian batting lineup. Vijay lets the ball alone, crowd responds with a mild mannered disapproval. You can sense their excited impatience.

Next ball, Johnson to Vijay, 87.7 mph, closer to the off, still outside and no need to play a shot; Vijay doesn't. Fourth ball of the over, Johnson to Vijay, 88.2 mph, It lands outside off and goes further away, left alone by Vijay. The crowd is now restless, one might think that Vijay is batting very well, playing ball on it's merit, but that leave didn't seem to impress the crowd. Infact, you can hear a few boos going around, murmurings of disapproval. Poor Vijay! his own countrymen seem to be taunting him, imploring him to take a run.

Vijay seems anxious to get to the other end too as if he was facing the deadly Holding, but he wasn't and Johson is medium-pace at best. You can sense that he himself doesn't feel like he should be facing the bowler right now. Johnson to Vijay, 86.3 mph, on the middle stump line, that round-armish action brings the ball into the middle and leg line. This was gold, Vijay's eyes light up and he clips it away for a single. Stadium erupts and a huge roar goes up as if Vijay scored the winning run in the worldcup finals. Surely he did, since the crowd has assumed a life of it's own and have started to cheer wildly. The crowd raise in unison as a relieved Vijay completes the run. Running from the non-striker's end was Sachin Tendulkar, on 99.

Quotes

2010-10-07T20:21:00.001-07:00

I have this habit of collecting quotes I find interesting. Here's a dump:

--
National anthems can be learnt, but can't be felt. - Figo
--
Forget Ram Temple, let's build a temple for Laxman.
--
Its not like they know what I am bowling, its like they don't care what I am bowling. - Brad Hogg's thoughts on the Indians' mastery over spin on one of his tours to India
--
Anna (Annadurai) wanted to gain power to bring about reforms. However, in his own time he saw the decadence of power. He saw how power corrupts. So he was a disillusioned man at the end.
--
Only people who have lived under Riots, bombings and ethnic murder will realise Prabhakaran's role. Good or Bad .. he will be in memory and remembered.
--
The bureaucracy is strong in this country (USA), and unlike other countries, hard to bribe.
--
When one woman asked whether it was safe to leave (during the 2008 Mumbai attacks at Taj), the commando replied: "Don't worry, you have nothing to fear. The first bullets have to go through me."
--
Perhaps it is possible to create more net evil by poorly chosen efforts to keep evil in check.
--
The more I see him, the more I want to see him. - Azhar on Sachin
--
His life seems to be stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos, it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. - Matt Hayden on Sachin
--
Sachin, the man we all want to be. - Andrew Symonds
--
Nobody does solos better than Sachin Tendulkar, nor, perhaps, has anyone endured as much heartbreak during those solos.
--
CEO Eric Schmidt told: while he assumed that "Google would be an important company; the founders always assumed that Google would be a defining company."
--
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. - Thomas Jefferson
--
Sachin didn't sleep well for 15 days leading up to the match against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup. He would stay awake planning how to handle each bowler. He admits that he played the entire innings in his head way before it happened on the field. - Akash Chopra in his cricinfo article
--
If to be alive is to be remembered by others, Rajeev will always live amongst all of us. - Tribute to Rajeev Motwani
--
20,000 people die from novel 2009-H1N1 and everybody wants to wear a mask. 9 million people die from AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom.
--
What I'm saying is - and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form - is that men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.” - Harry Burns in When Harry Met Sally
--
Well innovation is how America works. The characteristic of America that is different from other countries is that we have more jobs lost and more jobs created per year than anybody else. Literally the creative destruction, this constant process of layoffs and new jobs and new companies and so forth is key to America's competitiveness. We don't want to lose that. - Eric Schmidt
--
Once you’ve found the global optimal, why waste time looking for something else? - Rajeev Motwani
--
My own theory of attitude of intellectuals is that the market is too big to control, so massive that it can't be understood in conventional frames of thought too caught up with the overt symptoms to delve into the underlying framework. If it can't be easily controlled, or easily understood, it evokes fear. This fear prompts calls for regulation and state intervention. I wish it prompted a fresh look at the frames of thought. Alas...
--

The Beautiful Game

2010-06-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

"Football is for people who play with cunning...so to put technology like a chip in the ball to see if it went in...I think you take away the cunning and then football ends for the great players...it takes away what football is about, Football is for the cunning, not for technology." - Sergio Romero (Argentinian keeper)

Argentinian goal keeper suggests that you have to be cunning to play football, and might be hinting that introducing technology might take that away from the game. I have to admit that I agree with him. I think for a contact sport like football, pushing, shoving, handballs etc. are integral to the game. I played a little bit of high-school soccer to understand the inevitability of leg-kicks, shoulder-pushes in these tight spaces, and the necessity of these things to win games. Lesson 101: say you are in position to meet and head-in a corner kick, how do you get elevation? You put your hands on the defenders' shoulders and help yourself up as you push him down.

If you have played a totally non-contact sport like cricket, the goalkeepers' view might not make sense. Essentially, in cricket, you play in isolation in your own personal space. Now in Soccer, if we introduce camera reviews of certain incidents, it becomes so much harder...what with every kick, shove, shirt-grab being reviewed and judgements passed. It could lead to situation where players are compelled to give each other space and that isn't soccer anymore. Worse, if these reviews are done during live matches it disrupts the very flow that makes the game so beautiful to watch.

One might object saying that we *start* with simple things like goal line technology, offside calls etc. But question is, what other incidents will you include as we go on, and more importantly will you stop there?

I feel that a few 'Hand of God' incidents make soccer unpredictable while being delightful and we don't need an all seeing 'Eye of God'.

Late Night Wars

2010-01-15T12:22:00.001-08:00

Having been a fan of Late night talk shows, I have been religiously following Letterman, Leno and Conan 'o Brien all these years. Being a comedy geek, I was particularly excited when Conan took over the coveted 'Tonight Show' last year and was looking forward to some innovative comedy moments from one of the genuinely brilliant comedic minds of this generation.

So when NBC decided to move Leno to 11:35Pm, pushing Conan to past mid-night, everyone looked up at Conan to see how he would respond, and respond he did -- with a mind-blowing press release statement that was a lesson in class, dignity and self-respect. The ingenuity in the release started with the way it was addressed: "People of the earth". (I have reprinted his statement at the end of this blog). His response/press-release was so amazing that people have called for it to be encased in glass to be studied at graduate programs.

I have always liked Conan O'Brien. He is goofy, funny and insightful in a way that doesn't appeal to everyone. But my respect for him grew exponentially with his stand, and what 'Tonight Show' meant to him. Conan's monologue bits, since then, has followed it up with scathing bits ripping NBC and it's execs, and does not even spare Leno.

Ironically, his particular monologue bit where he said "NBC put him and Jay Leno in a pit and told them to fight it out with sharpened weapons, the winner gets to leave NBC", might actually be in his best interest.
--

Conan's statement on the Tonight Show fiasco:

"People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way."

End of Cricket 2009

2009-10-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

And so, the long drawn cricket season of 2009 ended in the Bay Area. What a season! Played since April in two leagues -- Cricbay and TCA, eliminated in the Quarters in cricbay and shot down in the Semis in TCA.

I have been playing for a team called Hurricanes for some years now, but we never quite got our act together until this season. This season, our team was rated the best in the tournament, with us being called "the mighty hurricanes", "the best team of the season, period". But it was disappointing to lose out early in the quarters against the only team we lost to in the initial rounds -- Squared Leg. Overall we won 13 of our 15 games. I thought we played well as a team, dominated other teams so much that we were never really pushed to the wall in any of the games leading to the quarters, and the one time we were challenged, we choked.

I also played in the TCA league for a new team that we formed called Rangers. Its tough for a new team to gel together and perform to win. It was a fighting performance all through, as we beat good teams in crucial games and just made it into the playoffs. One particular day was memorable as we played and won a game in the morning in the cricbay league (took about 3-4 hrs), and rushed to another ground in 20 mins (around a gridlocked 880S), played another game (3-4 hrs) in the TCA league against one of the champs of the tournament -- Acers, won that game, all in 90-100 degree heat on a hot toasty summer day. phew!

I think our performance in the TCA league was more satisfying as we never really dominated the tournament, always fought in all of our games and made it through. You could hear the buzz from the other teams as they were pysched about this new team being giant killers (we beat a few top teams). In the end, we failed in the all important semis and had to bite the dust. Maybe next season, we will scale new heights.

Cricket never ends in the bay area. Its fall, and another season starts soon. But this is it for me and cricket this year, as I look at other sports to try out.

Indian Ocean

2009-09-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

There was a concert by the famed band Indian Ocean in a rundown bar/dance-center called Ashkenaz in Berkeley. I must have been living in mars or something as I hadn't listened to any of their songs, except the 'Bandheh' song of Black Friday. Better late than never!

I became an instant fan, they had a different sound to their music, a fusion of indian classical beats with western rock/jazz and a theme of sufism, environmentalism. They had a lot of good songs -- Jhini, Rewa among many others. I particularly liked one of their instrumentals, interestingly called 'Melancholic Ecstasy'.

Now, towards the end they played their magical signature number - 'Kandisa', a cult classic that I have been constantly listening to for the past 4-5 days :). Search for [kandisa indian ocean] on youtube, and it is very unlikely that you won't like it. Apparently, its an Aramaic christian song that was brought to Kerala by syrian traders eons ago. Even though none one of us really understood what the song was about and as one of the band member Rahul Ram confessed - "they are not sure of the meaning or pronounciation of the words in the song...", it seemed like it struck a chord in everyone.

Bike Trails

2009-09-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some bike trails I have rode this summer.

View Big Basin in a larger map
This was probably a intermediate level dirt trail with quite a bit of elevation gain,
more suited for mountain bikes. We started at about 1600 ft, went down to around
800 ft and then had to climb to 1900 ft to finish off. Damn tiring!

View Halfmoon Bay in a larger map

This is an easy one, with the trail going along the beautiful halfmoon bay coast. More of a fun family ride.

View Arastradero Park in a larger map

This park is located in the Palo Alto hills, a barren trail with no tree cover, we were roasted in the hot sun!

View SFPier41-GoldenGate-Sausolito-Tiburon-SF in a larger map

This is a beautiful route that starts off
from one of the famous SF piers, takes you across the Golden Gate bridge to the
town of Sausolito, then a ride in the country side into Tiburon. We took the
ferry back to SF.

My Precious!

2009-09-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

Finally got my Kirkwood resort season pass!! Under 100 days for the start of the season (hopefully).

Kirkwood Ski Resort Opening Dates (past seasons)

2009-09-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Kirkwood's opening dates for the past few seasons:

2011/12 - 11/25 (expected, not confirmed)

2010/11 - 11/24 (Bluebird opening on Nov 24th, after an "Epic" November storm with 5-7 ft of snow in 4 days. Chairs 5, 6, 11 and 1 were turning.)

2009/10 - 12/04 (opened with chair 5)

2008/09 - 12/15

2007/08 - 11/25

2006/07 - 11/25

Tribute to the King

2009-06-26T00:25:00.000-07:00

Jamie Foxx was on Leno's Tonight show a couple of months back. Leno asked Jamie, a great entertainer in his own right, as to what was the best musical concert/show he ever attended. Jamie recalled a show he went to when MJ was at his peak and said that MJ was so electrifying, such a showman that no artist ever came close to him. I think that sums up MJ's effect world over.

Michael Jackson was probably the only music artist I knew when I was a kid in India. His moves were legendary and I remember that as kids we all used to try and immitate the 'moon walks' and his quick swirls.

As I looked around youtube for MJ videos - 'Thriller' clips (ah! the soooo 80s 'Beat It'!), elaborate 'Black or White' music video, and the cult classic 'Bad', I came across this video of him with the sassy Britney Spears (in her element). Class act! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOG8lwvVSmo

M. King. J, RIP.

Biking

2009-06-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Summer dawned and I began to suffer from Skiing withdrawal symptoms (symptoms include frequent countdowns to the next ski season - around 180 days for the curious, lurking in the epicski community among other things). So, I took up biking with some friends.

I bought this classy new bike - Trek 7.2 Fx, and was happy riding it all over the place. And then Shit happened! As we drove across the golden gate bridge on our way to some bike trails, with our bikes tied on the back of our vehicle, believe it or not, my bike comes off the rack, flies close to the car behind us, misses it and bounces off the road before crashing. We then treaded along the dangerous narrow freeway shoulder to retrieve my bike. And man was it screwed up, fork twisted out of shape, wheels bent, headset scratched and bent, saddle torn, seat post bent and unusable, front brakes broken. Only the frame held up along with the gear system, so technically not salvage material yet. Later I learnt that this is a common problem with bike racks (WTF?#@!&). I just blame it on my star alignment.

I also got a chance to try out some of Google's Android applications. One application called "MyTracks" deserves special mention. This app uses the gps device available on the G1 to record geo coordinates and store them. Later, when I get net connectivity, I can upload it to docs/spreadsheets, maps etc. That was very cool. Heres my trip around shoreline.

View Travel in a larger map

Bunny to Black

2009-05-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

The Mooney we flew on a company offsite(on the way to Truckee-Squaw)

Inside the 4-seater Mooney

Beautiful Sierras

Me doing parallel turns

Our cabin on one of our trips to Tahoe

The title describes my journey as I began to ski for the first time since 2007. What a season! Here I am - a strong intermediate skier, a confidence acquired after 15 days of skiing this year at 6 different resorts ranging from Northstar, Homewood and Squaw in the North Lake Tahoe area to Kirkwood, Sierra-At-Tahoe and Heavenly in the South Lake region.

It has been a great learning experience. One might think that Skiing involves just sliding down a hill, but as I studied more about skiing, I began to understand the limitless expanse of skiing -- the varied skiing techniques, the differing terrain, weather conditions, difficulty levels, degree of gradient, or different surface conditions such as moguls, powder, icy, corn snow, slushy etc.

After graduating the green slopes, it was an absolute delight to tear into the long broad intermediate/blue slopes. These cruisers are an absolute favourite of mine, as they are long, steep and broad that enables me to turn at ease. Some of my favourite runs have been: West Bowl at Sierra, Shirley Lake at Squaw, Bonanza and High Grade at Homewood, Bark Shanty/Juniper/Whiskey area in Kirkwood and Meteor and Comet runs at Heavenly.

Having been comfortable on intermediate slopes, I began to venture into some of the tougher black diamond slopes. Some of the blacks that I tried were the Siberia Bowl at Squaw and Upper Zachary at Kirkwood. Skiing blacks can be tough. They tend to be really steep and it takes some courage to shake off the initial chills and jump in. The presence of bumps along the slopes makes it much harder. These ventures really exposed my shortcomings in technique as a skier, but made me determined to really "learn" skiing. I have now begun to work on the art of carved turns, an elusive technique for most intermediates. The more natural way to ski would seem like using the flat skis on snow, but carved turns requires us to tip the skis on their edges and achieve a certain degree of edge control. With sufficient angulation of the body, the skis tips on their edge, and the body's weight pushes the centre of the ski down, so these parabolic shaped skiis carve their way into the turn. Sounds simple, but has been a difficult skill to acquire.

Many experts suggest that beginners should be taught parallel/carved turns right away as that will prevent them from learning such bad techniques as wedge turns. But I felt that wedge and stem-christie turns, bad as they might be, provided me with a defensive platform and kept me interested in skiing. As I learn to use parallel/carved turns and graduate into tougher terrain, it is comforting to know that I have a stem christie to fall back on for tougher terrain.

Although this has been a great skiing season, I am sad that it is coming to an end with the advent of summer. I am already looking forward to the 2010 season (some 7-8 months away) as I aim to take my skiing to the next level.

Discovering America

2009-03-02T00:44:00.000-08:00

I arrived in the United States in Dec 2003 and as I rolled through my grad school years, I took a detached interest in the 2004 Presidential primaries and the elections that followed. As an Indian, I guess my "natural" naive inclination then was towards the democrats. Over the course of the next 4 years, I took an interest in understanding many political ideologies and schools of thought: Socialism, Communism, Objectivism, Libertarianism, Anarchy, Monarchy, Democracy, Fascism/Totalitarianism, Pragmatism, and different economic ideologies such as Free-market Capitalism, keynesian and their numerous morphed versions...in this endless battle between the "Haves" and "Have-Nots".

I have taken a particular interest in the Libertarian ideas -- coupled with the idea that the individuals can make better decisions for themselves than the government can make for them, Constitution and the rule of law, and in the ideas of Free-Market Capitalism. I have also been particularly fascinated by the Austrian school of economics. It also coincided with an introduction to the 2008/2009 republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and his ideas for a free and just society. I was totally blown away by the sophistication of the American/Western political thought, the wisdom of it's founders and their understanding of the value of freedom and liberty.

In 2008/2009, it was surreal to watch Barack Obama galvanise the Americans as he "rode the wave" into the White House. Having watched him talk from a few feet away, I could sense the excitement and inspiration he had on his audience. Surely, Obama was smart, articulate, young, inspirational, but the main question was: will his government-solves-everything policy work? Can an entity such as the government manage trillions of dollars in capital investment or is it best left to private enterprise? I thought Americans missed a trick by not understanding and voting for the Ron Paul revolution. I think a majority of the world's political problems could have been solved with Ron Paul as president. He seemed to have the most sensible, logical non-interventionist foreign policy. He is a fiscal conservative, a constitutionalist (with the belief that the individual should be protected from the government, not the other way round), a proponent of individual liberty, lower taxes (it's possible!), free market and sound monetary policies. But then he is not the president, and maybe, just maybe, the World and the United States missed it's best chance for peace and prosperity.

At the 2004 Republican National Convention, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a speech and explained why he was a Republican:
"I finally arrived here in 1968. What a special day it was. I remember I arrived here with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of determination, full of desire. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon-Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which I had just left.
But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since."

God

2008-06-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

Courtesy http://xkcd comics

Funny comic strip! The comic author parodies the sense of purity among the various fields of study. This got me thinking -- when we think about life we probably start off with the sociological and pyschological aspects of it (relationships, personality, behavior, family, society), then try and explain it with biology and chemistry (all bodily/life functions are chemical (re)actions, my teacher once said). This leads to a discussion on physical matter and the universe -- the physics of it. We then try and reason it with mathematics, and when all fails, we abstract it with the notion of God.

I recently watched the movie Dasavatharam (btw, highly recommended movie) and there was this one quote I really liked. At the end of the movie, the protagonist (Kamal Hassan) says: "It's not that I don't believe God exists, all I am saying is...it will be good if he did (exist)".

Random Musings

2008-05-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in a guy's life when he has to choose his........car. I, for one, chose the ultimate driving machine. Yes, thats right!! Its a bimmer. So, I now own a beautiful BMW 330I, and a stick shift at that! 255 Horses take me to work everyday. Pics, details coming soon.

I follow the IPL cricket league passively, and for once a prediction of mine actually seems to be right on the money. I had thought that the 'one' team that everyone should watch out for are the Rajasthan Royals, simply because their captain was Shane Warne -- a guy with great man management skills and an ultra-aggressive streak to boot.

R.K. Laxman had a cartoon in an English daily in India. To paraphrase, a shop owner tells his worker -- "supposedly there is inflation all around, so don't forget to add Rs. 8-10 on all items". I thought this was the best definition of inflation I have ever read and understood.

A few months ago, Shah Rukh Khan makes a statement saying that Hollywood should learn from Bollywood on how to "tell" stories rather than relying only on special effects. I thought, "well, heres an idiot". Shah Rukh Dude!! have you watched any "good" hollywood/foreign language movie other than Jurassic Park?

Circa Summer of 2004, India was choosing her next ruling coalition, and there was uproar that Sonia Gandhi, a foreigner/outsider was about to become the Prime Minister. I put up a status message on my beloved yahoo messenger: "India under foreign rule again...my 24 hours of protest". The next day, Sonia stuns the nation by appointing Man Mohan Singh as the next PM. In a masterstroke, she silenced a great many of the critics. I like politics and follow it fairly closely whether it is in India or the United States and I admit a certain degree of admiration for Sonia Gandhi and her assimilation into the Indian culture and diversity. In India, no one is an outsider.

When I write a blog, I start by first picking a song for inspiration. So, the song that is currently playing as I write up this random blog is 'Imagine' by John Lennon.

The Test

2007-12-25T01:55:00.001-08:00

For the first time in many many years, I am excited about a cricket series. As I lie around on this christmas eve listening to 'Little Drummer Boy', I pondered over India's chances in their epic battle against the Aussies on boxing day at the MCG.

India could put up a fight. Certainly the team has sound leadership. Two former players who avoid the high emotions that dog Indian cricket - Chetan Chauhan and Venkatesh Prasad - are taking care of matters off the field. Anil Kumble is a calm captain capable of commanding loyalty from his contemporaries and respect from the youngsters. I remember Kumble -- the fighter that he is, once after having his jaw broken from a Merv Dhillon bouncer, came to bat and then to bowl against the West Indies, bandage around his head and chin. Trust a Kannadiga to show passion and determination in his work. India couldn't have asked for a better leader.

India has one of the best middle orders that it has ever produced -- VVS, Sachin, Saurav, Yuvraj and Dhoni to follow the openers. Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid will be sacrificed and will have to open the innings to let Yuvraj play in the middle order. Trust a person from Karnataka to take one for his team.

This batting fire power should be able to handle the Aussie pace quartet. Ricky Ponting's faith in his bowlers is understandable, but none are good enough (as yet!) to fill the shoes of a McGrath or a Warne. Australia are definitely a good team, but I have never seen Aussies play well when pushed against the wall. Our bowlers are a big concern though. All bets are off the table on whether they are going to be fit all the way through this grinding series. Now, India are coming off a damp squib of a series against Pakistan, so they are not really match-hardened although they are match-fit. For the first time in my life, I saw a Pakistani team that didn't have the heart for a fight-back, albeit save for a Misbah.

Lastly, there is this man called Sachin Tendulkar. India's love-hate relationship with the great one continues as he probably holds key if India are to take honors in this battle. For all of Andrew Symond's hubris, he knows a gem when he sees one. Supposedly, hanging conspicuously on the wall of Sachin Tendulkar's privately owned restaurant in Mumbai is an Australian one-day shirt once owned by Andrew Symonds. It contains Symonds' signature and the brief, poignant message - "to Sachin . . . the man we all want to be".

Class Matrix

2007-07-30T00:12:00.000-07:00

A while ago, a fellow anonymous blogger took objection to my blog where I suggested that *not all* guys can be considered "pigs" for leching at girls. The blogger went on to claim that 90% of the Desi guys are in that bracket, but steadfastly defended her husband, whom she passed of as scrupulous. My belief is that girls are equally curious about guys as guys are about girls. But this blog is not about that...

One of the problems an average Indian male kid faces when growing up is the lack of interaction with girls, especially in Middle, High schools and sometimes even in Colleges. In my generation, it was the case that guys used to sit in groups, and never ventured out of their comfort zone...to interact with girls. There were many groups actually. There would be this one group of guys who considered talking/interacting with girls as a crime and refused to even lift their heads when faced with a girl. The fellow anonymous blogger, whom I referred to at the start, brilliantly referred to it as "forced samskaara". It seemed like that this has been ingrained into their young minds, from parents and peers alike, that being around girls is a distraction and one needs to focus on their studies and career. I usually found these guys in the first row of benches, and also in columns 8, 9, assuming the girls are seated in the 123 matrix. I believe this group is what girls term as "decent".

| 1 2 3 | | 4 5 6 | | 7 8 9 |
| 1 2 3 | | 4 5 6 | | 7 8 9 |
| 1 2 3 | | 4 5 6 | | 7 8 9 |

Simple School Class Matrix, circa 1995

There would also be the guy group which would sit in tight huddles concentrated in the last couple of benches. This guy group would traditionally be the group which indulged in staring at girls, passing remarks, lots of jokes flowing around, but very rarely could muster up the strength to talk to a girl. I believe this group is what girls term as "indecent". Mind you, this group was desperate for female attention and did some funny things to pass of as being the cool guys around. There were also lot of assumptions in this group (Read "The Deepthi Effect"). Lot of these guys rarely spoke to girls, and when they had a chance, they misinterpret the girl's friendliness to mean something else. The problem is accentuated in that the girl rarely discloses her feelings and personal life, with the guy later finding out about her disinterest or another guy in her life. My sympathies are with these broken hearts and departed souls. RIP.

There was also a fringe mercenary group, isolated pockets of guys whom I call "floaters". These guys usually sit in the 4th column (actually any side columns such as 3, 4, 6, 7, except 9) but could be anywhere, again assuming the girls are seated in the 123 matrix. These guys usually don't belong to any one particular guy group and mix a lot. They like to be seated as close to girls, and are sometimes considered their friends. They interact a lot with girls and they are what the girls term as "brothers" and are the ones who used to get most of their attention on Rakhi day.

Growing up is not easy, be it for a guy or gal. I found that most guys mature with age (even the indecent ones) and learn to deal with the opposite sex. However, there seems to be a certain assumption made about a guy and girl being seen together in the Indian society. It seemed impossible to fathom that a guy and girl can be just "friends". Maybe this was what the young Indian male kid was apprehensive about -- the parental objection or societal stigma about such friendships, the peer taunts and the fear of rejection.

The Phenomenon

2007-06-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

In Tamil Nadu there are only three festivals, Pongal, Deepawali and the release of Rajnikanth movie.

I am a South Indian, so it not very difficult for me to understand the adulation the film-stars receive in the southern indian states. However, I hadn't watched a complete Rajni film before and wanted to understand what this Rajni mania is all about. It was with great anticipation that I went along with a friend to watch this movie, very keen to experience the Rajni style.

Looking back at the movie, there wasn't much of a story. I didn't expect it anyways. With such a big star and reputation, you can't write a story and build the characters around it. There is this incredibly popular actor, and you have to build the story around him. Also, if you want a reasonable story, you have to give sufficient screen time for the other characters to help enact the story. In this movie, I tried to remember a scene which didn't have the superstar, and I could think of just 2 scenes. So the bottomline is that all the scenes in the movie had Rajni around (and had to be the case) -- people are queuing upto to watch Rajnikanth, not a Chopra love story production. I think there were some subtle ways in which the actor was dressed up to help identify with the masses. Although Rajni had a trendy look, he did, on occasions, wear a auto-driver's outfit and a coolie's outfit. My interpretation of these scenes is that it helps this section of the population to identify themselves with the actor. I thought the comedy was fairly top-notch. Some of the one-liners were well timed and hilarious. There wasn't much of a romance as the hero literally forced the heroine into agreeing to be his love interest. On the whole, I was disappointed with the movie -- too weak on the story line.

I was trying to formulate a rationale behind this Phenomenon. Why is there such mass hysteria? In the American culture, there are the supermans and spidermans who have saved America and the world (which are the same) from earthquakes to mad scientists. People like to see their favourite heroes do super human things. In the south indian movies, the hero is shown to be down-to-earth, ordinary looking, but still romances this glamorous heroine (2 in the case of Telegu movies), maybe the masses like to identify themeselves with that hero. I also tried to reason out why there would be a Japanese or Malayasian fanbase.

Initially, I couldn't understand why there would be a strong women fan base. It's actually quite pathetic when you look at the roles given to the heroines in the south-indian movies. They are shown as weak-willed (sometimes with an attitude) characters and the south indian hero has the onerous task of taming them. But then the women fans might be attracted to the power, energy and the aura that the hero wields in these movies.

Looking at some of the other South Indian stars -- Dr. Rajkumar, NTR, MGR, Shivaji Ganesan, they played a number of mythological characters which elevated them to Godly status. Dr. Raj was different in that he never entered politics and worked hard to inject the Kannada pride in his fans, Gokak agitation being just one example. With regards to onscreen presence, Rajni is unique in that he has this fantastic style. As I walked back home, I couldn't help myself trying a few of the Rajni stunts which surely is infectious.

WTF?!! @$%#&!!

2007-06-05T00:08:00.000-07:00

So, the sequel to the Fantastic Four movie series is due for release in a couple of weeks. Everytime I hear about this movie, this is all I think about: You have one of the most beautiful actress in Jessica Alba and you cast her as the 'Invisible Girl' in this movie series. WTF!! What was the casting director thinking?

This is one of those times when I would do the slow-clap routine...

Darwinism v/s Creationism in Software

2007-05-21T01:05:00.000-07:00

While browsing through my old email archives, I came across this particular email which I had tagged as "Interesting". This happened to be an email exchange with my senior manager in my old company. My manager always had a great sense of humor and had an interesting view on things. Heres one particular reply he had sent me, laced with his brand of subtle humor.

-----Original Message-----
From: Hemanth xxxxxx
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 3:58 AM
To: xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Food for Thought

Hello, i was just reading an interview where a 'research scientist kinda guy' was saying that people need to change the way software is being written currently. I thought it was an interesting topic and these are my thoughts>>>

The issue with current software is, we provide "known solutions to known problems". In a protocol adherent program as is mostly written, we adhere to a particular protocol as defined by the business logic. The program code reflects only this. A limited level of Intelligence is acheived by learning from past experience and mistakes. Yes, this makes the program smarter in a way, since it has "learnt". This is a difficult thing to achieve and this is probably the first step towards "Artificial Intelligence" or "Intelligent software". This level of Intelligence is akin to the Design Patterns which provides good solutions to known design problems.

But this is not the only level of intelligence that can be achieved. When we look at evolution and how Components of nature (Like Life) evolve, they not only seem to learn from past mistakes but they come up with "unique solutions to unique problems". This i feel is the 2nd level of "Intelligent Software". So a Life form does well not only by relying on it's experience to survive, but also it evolves.

In other words - "Life finds a way" in a lot of situations.

To take this to developing programs/software - we program according to the Business Logic, that is, we "expect" that protocol to be followed. also in case of error handling we again "expect" an error to occur at a place and "handle" it. So it is always the "expected way" we code for. But is that the case at all times in the universe? Suppose a problem arises, and we havent coded for that extra condition, we write a fix for it and update our design database of "problem-solution Map" and be happy that the bug has been fixed. That is developers strive to consider all possible exceptional conditions and program for them. But is there an end to it?

Programs should probably learn to provide solutions for unique situations and that is the truely "Intelligent Software".

-----Original Message-----
From: Animesh xxxxxx
To: xxx xxx xxx
Sent: 2/3/2003 6:04 PM
Subject: RE: Food for Thought

Hemanth has raised an issue very close to von Neumann's ideas about self-repairing computers. He was concerned about self repairing hardware and Hemanth is concerned about self repairing algorithms.

I have not done any search of the literature in this area, but I can summarize different approaches to achieving this. In fact, this discussion raises philosophical questions about what makes the changes that we call "evolution" and occur in life: some will say that God does it, and others will say 'nature'. Lets see how it appears to software.

The traditional way to deal with 'errors' in operation is to pass them onto an expert who determines whether it is a defect (design is okay, but implementation is awry and needs to be fixed) or a feature request (design needs to be changed). If we were talking about a life form, in the first case we would go to a doctor. In the second case we would need to go to the creator.

That's what we do in software: go to the creator and get the design and implementation changed. Many religions suggest that this how life gets changed.

Those who believe in evolution think that the design change requests are acted upon randomly by life itself and many variants are created. Those variants that are successful continue to be used for the next wave of changes (are released) whilst those that fail are deleted.

Hence the question that Hemant is asking comes down to Darwinism vs. Creationism! Of course, here we are talking about software/algorithms...

The failure that is Indian Cricket

2007-04-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

I waited for a fairly long time to comment on the Indian team's dismal performance in this world cup. For once, I wasn't surprised. Call it premonition, but I was certain of an early exit by this Indian team. The vibes were not right. Sehwag was picked based on his past performances. That's the cardinal error. I also thought that dropping Kaif for the WC was another mistake. If given a choice, players like Yuvraj, Harbhajan and all these jokers should have been shown the door. These players are one time wonders, and can't be relied on to be consistent. They score a big hundred in one match, and then fail for the next 10. I dislike "stars". They can only twinkle, not shine long enough.

In the on going spat between Sunny Gavaskar (if there is one guy who can put both his feet in his mouth, this is him) and Ponting, Ricky Ponting chided the Indian team's record and their approach to playing cricket. While, out of sheer pride, I would reject his claims, all that he said just makes sense. The question is not about losing the two matches, but the way in which we lost.

I have seen Sachin Tendulkar play for all of 17 years. I have enjoyed his cricket, having skipped many heartbeats on the numerous occasions he failed us, and cheered on the few occasions during which he made it all worthwhile. But his attitude at times is irritating. His insistence on opening the Indian innings (widely expressed in the various interviews) just because he has been most successful in that position speaks of personal preference above team's interest. Sachin doesn't attack the bowling any more, and we need the best attacking batsmen at the opening slots. I can't believe he is dumb enough to not understand these simple facts. You don't open to show respect to the opening bowlers like Vaas or Mcgrath. By the way, bowlers! if you haven't figured it out already, Sachin is suspect against the incoming delivery. He can be bowled with an in-cutter at the drop of a hat.

Playing team sports is not about scoring 100s and considering that the job is done. It is pertinent that I talk about Leander Paes -- the Indian tennis ace. A former Indian tennis coach once said this: "Indian Cricket team needs someone like Leander to take them to great heights...what an attitude he has!!". This is what sport is all about -- the attitude with which you , the manner in which one fights when his/her back is against the wall, the never say die attitude, the passion of playing a sport.

Looking ahead, I am worried about Indian Cricket. It seems to be heading down the path taken by Indian Hockey during the 70s and 80s when power plays introduced by the Europeans and the Aussies subdued the soft dribbling skills of the Indian players, a blow from which Indian Hockey never recovered. Anyone who has seen how cricket coaching is done in India can corroborate -- its always about batting and bowling. Almost no emphasis is placed on fielding -- the art of falling down, stopping the ball. In my opinion, in Cricket, one needs to participate in more "opportunities" to "create" opportunities. Time and again you see the other good teams win because they effected a crucial catch or run out. We tend to rely on batting or sometimes bowling to win matches. Sure this cricket team is going to win at home, and win that occasional match overseas. Sure Sehwag and Yuvraj are going to get their 60 ball centuries on the dead pitches at home. But then we are sure to fail every time we are called on for a fair fight -- a fight of bat, ball, mind and the body.

New Years at Guadalupe -- An account

2007-01-15T00:38:00.000-08:00

The great state of Texas is a boring flat land, no mountains or forests in sight for hundreds of miles. But with us being in Dallas during new years of 2007, we decided to drive across the state, from it's eastern border to it's western border with New Mexico and camp at Guadalupe National Park. Guadalupe is a beautiful National Park -- bang on the border of Texas with New Mexico. We, a bunch of 4 guys -- Vijay Mishra, Vikas Hegde, Sudhi Murthy and yours truly, had made up our minds to camp at the park and celebrate new year's in the wilderness. We planned carefully, listing all the required items under the 3 categories -- Food, Clothing and Shelter. We noted that the park is devoid of any amenities (including drinking water) and we were advised to get everything possible. We packed a lot of food, tents, stove, lots of water, but surprisingly we didn't pack a lot of warm clothes. We regretted this later though.

Renting the car was an adventure in itself, as we got delayed in reaching the car rental center at the airport as we missed a few exits. Tempers flared as a mini blame-game began as to the cause of the delay, but we made it just in time with a minute to spare as we picked our car at midnight. We quickly dumped all our stuff, and fled Dallas at 3 am on the morning of Dec 30, 2006 with me at the wheel. I had slept for most of the morning and afternoon the previous day, so was feeling fresh (it was "day" for me then). It was a gruelling 9 hour drive across the great state of Texas as we reached the park headquarters in the afternoon of Dec 30,2006. Then, our first surprise, it was snowing -- in the middle of this freaking desert!! I knew the kind of landscape to expect, having lived two years in Tucson, but snow was a pleasant surprise. It was the first snow experience for my friend Vikas as we got down from our cars, rolling in the light half inch snow. The majestic El Capitan and the Guadalupe peaks greeted us as we entered into Indian territory and New Mexico.

We had originally planned to camp at Dog Canyon and trek a day towards McKittrick Canyon, camp in the wilderness, and then trek back to Dog Canyon. The rangers at the Headquarters of Guadalupe said that there is atleast 3 inches of snow at Dog Canyon as it is at a higher elevation. He also said that we would pretty much be all alone in the campsite as no one had registered to camp there for the night. We drove to Dog Canyon, warming up with a light hike at McKittricks' and then driving up to Dog Canyon. Then it hit us, snow everywhere, atleast 6 inches of snow and we were in a sedan with no wheel chains. Luckily, there was a truck ahead of us and it made a clear cut path across the snow on the road. We reached Dog Canyon just before sunset and it was a fairyland there -- snow everywhere, everything covered by a blanket of snow.

Light fades fast in these mountains as we scrambled to setup the tent. It was cold, and we tried to fix up our torches as we bought up the camp tent. Our stuff was not organized and we dug up the whole trunk to find the stove and matches to heat up some veg pulao that our friend Vijay had prepared. Call it inexperience, but we realised that the stove we had bought didn't match the propane gas tanks and we couldn't light a fire. There was only one other guy in the entire campsite. He gave us his stove and a spare gas tank, but then we still couldn't light it up (and we call ourselves engineers!!). It was cold, and we were hungry, so we decided to eat the cold pulao and call it a day. We cheered ourselves with some vodka which made us warm for a little while. Luckily there was a campsite restroom nearby, which had a heater and that saved us a bit.

Night was cold, with each of us trying to curl up as much as we could to keep our limbs warm. Sun shone above us and I came out to see my shoes frozen so hard that I could't put my leg inside them. The camp ranger came and chatted with us a bit, saying he didn't expect us to camp the previous night. It was time for the hike and and our chef Vijay made hot tea and heated some rotis (we had figured out the stove by this time, after all we are engineers!!). We decided to leave our campsite as it is, as none of had the strength to dismantle and setup the tent again. We just packed lots of food and water and decided to trek for the day and return.

With ample sunlight on our backs, we set out from Dog Canyon onto the Tejas Trail hoping to touch Lost Peak and return. It was beautiful. Snow covered trees and mountain slopes greeted us as we walked in foot deep snow across the valley in our worn-out running shoes. Some mule deers crossed our paths along the way -- pretty much the only mobile life form we saw in the entire hike. I think it was just us 4 doing the hike on this trail. We stopped at all the "patel" points we could find, taking profile pictures of ourselves. The hike towards Lost Peak is quite a steep one along the ridges with a sharp drop. We were huffing and puffing our way up with power bars to energise us. Sudhi pointed at a few mountain lion tracks on the way, but we couldnt confirm. Supposedly these lions are always watching and would have been aware of our presence. We had made our decisions, if a lion attacks, we run, the slowest one loses, hard luck.

We finally reached Lost Peak, jumped about as we took in the magnificient view of the valley at such a high elevation. I was trying to visualize an ancient sea that is supposed to have surrounded these mountain ridges. We had our food there, took the mandatory pictures and decided to return as it was getting darker and colder. Hiking back was a breeze as it was down all the way. We quickly made our way back, bearing the biting cold. As we reached campsite, we talked to the ranger who gave an account of his various travels around the world and also gave a book on mountain lion encounters for the night.

We decided to cook something up and had bought some rice along, with various ready-to-eat gravy stuff. It was painful, trying to boil rice in the cold night. Not much heat was being contained in the open vessel and we tried to cover the utensil with plates and sticks. It was long and painful and in the end we gave up and decided to eat the half boiled rice and mask it with the gravy stuff. This was new year's eve of 2006,with 2007 about to dawn on us. We took the last sips of vodka and cozied into the tent. Sudhi was reading the mountain lion encounters book aloud with a pen torch. Maybe we were tired, or maybe it was the gruesome encounters of the mountain lions, or even the eloquent voice of sudhi (ahem!), we quickly fell asleep...well before midnight.

Jan 1, 2007 -- a new year and a new hope. We dismantled the tents, packed all our stuff, dumping it into our trunks and left Dog Canyon as a 11 hour drive stared before us. Roads in Texas and New Mexico is characterized by long straight roads and we shot forward. I looked around as we drove across the state, and the most striking aspect of the state is the flatness. It hits you, not a mountain or hill on sight, just plain flat. Amazing. Why is it so flat?

We reached Dallas close to midnight again and scrambled to return the rental car with minutes to spare, again! I had a flight to catch early in the morning, so packed all my stuff as I thought about the momentous trip to Guadalupe.

Programmer hierarchy

2007-01-05T18:41:00.001-08:00

Thought this was funny as well as true...

http://www.hermann-uwe.de/files/images/programmer_hierarchy.png

Confession...

2006-11-27T01:56:00.001-08:00

Yes, what you suspected all along is true. I, am a SouthPark fanatic! I can't hide it any longer...

South Park has been airing for a long time now, but it's only been a year since I began to follow it seriously. I just can't get enough of it. Its just so amazingly, outrageously funny. The humor is out of this world. Cartman! What a character! The funniest character ever. Some of the episodes are so hilarious, you will cry out loud, laughing your ass off. I have watched quite a few television shows in my life. Some of the top ones being SNL, That 70s show, 3rd rock, but this is beyond any of them. If someone out there doesn't watch South Park (is that even possible?), please do so -- you will never watch anything again (I told you I am a fanatic).

A Note of caution: Having recommended the show, the cautionary note is that you really have to be open-minded to watch and enjoy it. Many a times, South Park borders on crude humor, humor on really crappy subjects (but that can be funny as well). Their philosophy is to make jokes on just about anyone and anything. And so, you have been warned!

Playing BlackJack

2006-09-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to list some tips on playing Black Jack, mostly for my reference.

1. 2 Aces facing up, always split. Split for 8-8 as well (depending on whether dealer face card is 10?).
2. If you get a 11, *always* double down. You have a good chance of getting a 10.
3. If you get a 10, double down for everything except for the case when the dealer has a 10 or Ace facing up. You have a good chance of getting a high card.
3. 13, 14, 15, 16 are tricky. If the dealer has a face card of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (these are well known bust cards), stay! But if the dealer has 7, 8, 9, 10, Ace facing up, take a Hit. In this case, you just assume that the dealer has a 10 underneath the face card.
4. 12 is also very tricky. If the dealer has 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, Ace facing up...take a hit. But if he has 4, 5 ,6 facing up, stay! 4 ,5 and 6 are really good bust cards.
5. Don't hit on 17, 18 or even 19, 20 for that matter. The chances of getting anything less than 5 is very slim.
6. If the dealer has an Ace facing up, and you happened to have a black jack, go for 'even money'...always. Never take insurance though.
7. 3-9, I always go for a Hit. Also take a hit on soft-(anything). You can probably take a hit till soft-17, anything above that -- the recommendation is to stay.

There are probably many other tips and tricks, but I am aware of only these. Card counting is another beast that I will need to at least try to understand some day.

Knowing these tricks is one thing, but it takes balls of titanium to actually...really...solidly gamble. Sticking to the minimum bet for the table rarely wins anything (you may just break even) but it is a good way to learn the game. But to really make some serious money, you should be prepared to stack it up. However, if you are not doing so well, you should have the sense to walk away...not to the conveniently located ATM, but back to your room.

Now get back to the tables and gamble away...so that in the end, the house can get it all back (with interest).

Some of the best movies ever

2006-08-04T00:21:00.000-07:00

I was trying to list all the movies that I ever watched and enjoyed. This has not been an easy task and I am unable to provide a complete listing at this time. So, here we go...and in no particular order:

Walk the Line, Good Night and Good Luck, Silence of the lambs, Hannibal, Schindlers List, 2001: The Space Odyssey, Back to the Future (I II III), Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, Pulp Fiction, Manchurian Candidate, Life is Beautiful, A Beautiful Mind, Hotel Rwanda, The 10 Commandments, E.T., Raging Bull, The Godfather series, Bridge on the River Kwai, Crash, Oscar, Rocky series, The Blues Brothers, Forrest Gump, Shawshank Redemption, U571, Cinema Paradiso, Gandhi, Gladiator, Matrix series, Lord of the Rings series, Star Wars series, Naked Gun series, EuroTrip, Terminator, Fools Rush In, One Fine day, To Sir With Love, Patch Adams, Instinct, Die Hard series, The Sixth Sense, Malena, Falling Down, The Good, Bad and Ugly, Fistful of Dollars, For a few dollars more, A Night at the Roxbury, Casino, Cocktail, TopGun, 3000 miles to Graceland, Southpark, Hot Bubblegum, Blame it on Rio, Guns of Navarone, Force10 from Navarone, Remembering the Titans, The Grudge.

If you ever think "hmmm, I want to watch a movie today, what do I choose...?", above is my list of recommendations.

No Fate

2006-07-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

I have thought about this long and hard and I have come to the conclusion that there can be no fate, no destiny. There is no such thing as karma. Your life is not guided by your past actions. If things happen, it is because they just do. If you die early, it is *not* because you were resigned to that fate -- its probably because you were driving too fast, too fast into a tree. If you get married to someone, it is not that this marriage was conceptualised in heaven, it is just that certain circumstances led you to meet someone and marriage conveniently followed. Nothing more to it. Just because your stocks tanked doesn't mean it was pre-ordained by a higher power. Certain market conditions prevailed and your stocks went south. It just is that simple.

You also see people with religious beliefs praying to God for certain personal favors -- maybe a better job, more money, a good grade in exams. I find that ridiculous. Imagine two sports teams praying to the same god for a win. How will that work? If one team wins, does that mean: that team had greater influence with God? Or Maybe they had good karma? Rubbish! They won because they were the better team on that day.

It is also ridiculous to think that people like Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates built successful companies and amassed such wealth and success because they were "destined" for that. It is just that they were incredibly smart people with good vision, intelligence and had the guts to go the distance. They built products that filled a certain void for that generation and so it worked. No fate! If another person is doing well in life than you are, it just means that person is better than you are. Accept that reality and move on. Excuses like "that person got good breaks" are just too lame. There is No Fate, you are *not* destined for anything, in the end it is what you make yourself to be.

The "Deepthi" effect

2006-06-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I do not claim that I alone have formulated this theory. This theory was carefully crafted by a few of us on the campuses of our engineering college. This theory and it's subsequent corollary are in no way meant to be degrading to women, men or humanity in general...of whom, yours truly, holds in high regard.

The "Deepthi" effect, simply put, states that: When a pretty girl walks by a group of guys and just happens to cast a casual glance at that group, *every* guy in the group thinks (or likes to think) that the act of her glancing towards them is solely because of him, and him alone.

This phenomenon was carefully researched by my friends during lunch hours and all the empirical data that we came across corroborated this theory.

Corollary: There was also a corollary added to the "Deepthi" effect theorem. It states that: As a girl walks past a group of guys, and is met with stares -- casual or otherwise, the probability of the girl thinking that she is pretty has already exceeded '1' (with due respect to probability theory which confines itself to values between '0' and '1').

Introduction to South India for North Indians

2006-06-07T01:20:00.000-07:00

1. South India is not just one big place called Madras. Essentially, there are 4 states - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and 1 Union Territory - Pondicherry. Madras is the capital of one such state. There are other cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum etc. And no! they are not aliases for Madras.

2. It is pronounced as Kannada and not Kannad.

3. We love our movie actors and we tend to make it a very big deal when they die, but such emotions are reserved for only a select few - er, actually make it three.

4. We don't always eat Rice, Sambhar and Rasam,...there is aviyal and bisi bele bath as well.

5. Some people finish their meals with desserts and some with wine or beer, we do it with Curds and Buttermilk.

6. We have our own languages and we _are_ chauvinistic about them. That doesn't mean we intend to breakaway from India. Generally people from TN would have preferred that Hindi was _not_ declared the National Language, whereas we from KN don't give a "rat's ass" to that debate -- We prefer English.

My Tribe

2006-06-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

My ancestors were a band of hunters who roamed the western ghats in search of food, battling many beasts...

Sounds cool doesn't it?, but it is not true. My tribe is known as the 'Gangadhkar Vokkaliga' Community. We usually end up having a last name of 'Gowda'. My ancestors (I know only the story till my great grand father) were traditional landlords, the village heads. Interesting to mention that my forefathers were the heads of the village panchayat, the local judicial system, who used to dispense justice in their spare time. Rest of the time was spent in numerous discussions over hot tea. But as time passed by, the new generations moved to new cities, new countries and became Doctors, Engineers, Builders, Artists, Teachers and Professors. One ended up at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Any sports-persons? nopes. I am still their best hope!

Now the obvious question is - am i rich? am i a landlord? Well...No! The "original land" has been divided so much across the various generations that what land I am left with is just enough for a tennis court.

Observations in Computer Science

2006-05-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

My OS professor in U of A made two statements which continues to fascinate me each and everyday:
1. "A number of Computer science problems can be solved by adding a level of indirection".
2. "The smartest and the most successful technology/solutions are the ones which are also the easiest/simplest to understand".

As I continue to study and understand Computer Science, I increasingly find (1) being applied/exploited to solve an extremely huge number of problems. In (2) the observation seems to be that the solution which make you say "aha!" are the ones which are also the most effective. I have to admit that I am a huge fan of these observations. Although I may not have the knowledge, and the experience of my prof to fully appreciate the wisdom behind these observations, they just seem to manifest themselves time and again. Amazing!

Summer of 2004

2006-05-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

I always considered the Summer of 2004 as a memorable phase in my life. But, it was also the time when I had the most ridiculous working schedule ever. It was then that I was working on two jobs and it was killing me. Mostly, the day would begin at 12 - 1 pm in the afternoon, and would continue well into early morning. Lunch, dinner, post-dinner (supper?) was either at chipotle or subway.

By about 4 or 5 am, I would have been really sleepy and I remember as I walked back home: looking out for possible muggers, being suspicious of anyone who walked near me, being wary of the cars on the road -- hoping that they would not throw a beer bottle on your head. I think it continued for about 2-3 months. Luckily, I was not alone during those times. A friend, who also suffered from such delusional insomnia attacks, was there for company.

The people that I met during those long walks back home were usually funny. Sometimes, it was the odd beggar asking for some spare change or a cigarrete, or a guy looking for his lost dog, and at other times it was a drunk student from pima community college..on his skateboard..explaining why he broke up with his girl friend. I also made sure that I carried some cash so that when someone mugged me, I had something to give to them -- you never know what some desperate drug addicts can do.

Back then, I was hoping this would end and I would be back to saner working hours. I hoped that I would have a car soon so that I don't have to walk, and I hoped that I worked on just one job. But looking back, when I think about it, I feel that those were some good times. Ah! Aa Dinagalu.