The King of procrastination's blog

Some more quotes

2010-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

A few quotes from some movies I saw over the weekend.

1. Guy says to woman: When I saw him on the computer, it said "The Butcher of Cadíz." I thought it was a profession, not a headline.

2. Sara says: Relationships are for people who are just waiting for something better to come along.

3. Max says: There is more to life than watch other people live it.

4. Guy says: "Tomorrow night Allegra Cole could have her last, first kiss.". Of course what happens next is hilarious.

5. This came from someplace else. What do you mean, like Europe? No Robbie not like europe

6. Terrified, mortified, petrified.

7. Begin each day as if it were on purpose.

Quotable quotes from some recently watched movies

2010-10-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

1. Let me bring you upto speed. We know nothing. You are now upto speed

2. Female asks : Where do you think she is going. Guy answers : I don't know, but where she is going, she will be there by 10:30 in the morning tomorrow.

3. Guy1 asks: What's he doing?

Guy2 answers: I can't ask what he is doing. I am supposed to tell him what he is doing. I ask him what he is doing and I am going to look like an idiot.

4. Sara's friend says : Do you know who plays golf? Guys who are too fat to play tennis.

This might get updated to add a few more quotes from the weekend.

Should India participate in Common Wealth Games in the future let alone host?

2010-10-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if anybody has thought about it in this sense. But really if you think about what the term "Common Wealth" means, then you would get my point. Common Wealth nations is meant to indicate the countries that were under the British rule. Do we really need to participate in such an event that is meant for the once-suppressed countries? I know we cannot change the fact that we were once ruled by some other country, but do we need to continue acknowledging it? It is like saying "hey erstwhile slaves, are you interested in competing among yourself". I would say we should no longer participate in such an event and give it any glorifying sense.

If you need to know anything more, just google what Common wealth games is supposed to mean. It was originally called the "British Empire Games". I don't think it can get anymore obvious than that.

But, we continue to participate in this. In fact are putting all efforts (or lack of) to host the event, and to top it all get the Prince to come and inaugurate it.

Of course, we gave them a royal treatment by having the President's husband (accused of land-grabbing) to sit next to the Prince. So i guess it kind of evens out some things.

Anyways, just some thoughts to ponder.

Vinnai thandi varuvaya -- an awesome movie

2010-05-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Well.. what can i say about this movie - except for "Trisha in blue saree". Of course there is lots to say like somebody actually getting Simbu to act just enough, not more not less but just enough. Songs by A.R.Rehman though could be inspired by Dave Mathews are still great. Cinematography is awesome.. Beautiful kerala has been shown even more beautiful in the movie.. And the ending which was a good twist was simply amazing. Trisha acting as a fickle person did pretty well.

Angaadi theru! - an awesome must-watch movie

2010-05-13T11:41:00.001-07:00

The directory has done a wonderful job of depicting a realistic story.. Nice picturization of songs. Without revealing anything about the story, but would like to capture the essence of the climax in one line. "In life you will have plenty of choices to make, some cases it would be easy to make a particular choice. But what is essential is taking the right choice no matter how hard it would be".. Awesome director.. You rocked this scene.

GPS turn-by-turn directions

2010-02-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

I was going in a friend's car a couple of months back in Hershey, PA when we had GPS giving us directions to some place. Its the home town of Hershey chocolates and its a small town pretty much everything named after Hershey. Anyways to the main topic - the GPS was giving pretty good directions including saying where a traffic bottleneck is and what alternate route you can take.. I came back from US in 2 weeks and I wanted to go to M.G.Road from the old Airport Road in Bangalore. I was just thinking how cool would it be if I had the GPS giving me directions for the best route until reality struck me. The GPS would probably say "Brrrrrrrr... r u mad.. just go back home" or "there is no way out without having a lot of traffic do you really want to go" or if I wanted to really go it would say "take a u-turn, go home.. take a u-turn, go home"..

Anyways.. i am convinced GPS won't work in bangalore.. u just cannot bear its pleading and still continue going.

I salute the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis

2010-02-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

I titled the post this way because I really do salute them.. I am an electrical engineer working in one of the big MNCs in bangalore. I wanted to do some farming and own a small cafe of my own for a long time. I decided I couldn't risk quitting my job (which I love as well) and start my farming or opening my cafe etc, though I did have some ideas on what I wanted to grow in my farm, what will be the menu in my cafe etc. So, I started out by buying a small piece of land and growing different plants and in a corner of the same site I opened a cafe as well. I am learning lots of new stuff in farming and bought a tractor and another machine for planting the seeds. And in my cafe I am learning how the way you arrange your table and chairs itself affects the efficiency of your staff. I work on my farm on my off days. And also on the cafe on saturdays and sundays. My sister and my friend help out in the cafe since they are interested as well. One thing is for sure it does help break the monotony from regular work. But both farming and operating a cafe are tough tasks. If you go for harvesting the crops a little later then they get wasted, and if you have too many people waiting in the cafe then they will lose interest and go away.

If I am having so much difficulty maintaining a regular job and doing some part-time farming and maintaining cafe... I can imagine how difficult it will be for the Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis. For this I have to salute them for doing what they do day in and day out and doing it so efficiently.

I am glad I am not answerable to any shareholders like them since whatever I do is in a site called Facebook :).. This is for all those who are struggling to maintain more than a few things on the website :p

Any more terror attack from Pak will be retaliated?? Really? Are you sure?

2009-11-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

I named the title such after reading an article in msn.co.in quoting our very own great P.Chidambaram saying that he will not tolerate any further attack from Pakistan. I would like to ask if he really means it or would he be willing to give them a slight chance even. He goes on to say or rather call the Mumbai attacks as "the last game". Are you serious in calling it a game? Do you think the relatives of the victims who lost their lives there would think that they lost their lives while playing a game? I mean how insensitive can you really get. But even before getting to the insensitive part, do you mean that by saying that it is the last game we will now stop the efforts we were "supposed" to be taking for the Mumbai attacks. Like asking for the leaders of the terrorist organizations or demanding arrests on such terrorists. Is that what is implied?
Please do let us know what you do mean by calling it the last game.

And other point I had was did you think the American government gave Osama Bin Laden a last chance or call the "9/11" as the last game? I don't think so. George Bush did what any leader with some backbone will do (I can't believe I am calling him this), just attack the countries responsible for giving free boarding/lodging to the people behind the attacks. And in the process giving those countries their freedom is just a side effect. We could learn a thing or two from the way they responded/retaliated. There is a reason why the 9/11 is the last attack so far in the US. And there is a reason why we have people crossing the border as if they were just jumping a wall to escape from school.

I was boiling with anger after reading this article, but have now begun to see the comedy behind all this. Such is the leadership we have, so we should stop expecting anything.

Will update this with my thoughts as and when my anger goes down completely.

Gladiator vs "I am a celebrity get me out of here"

2009-07-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

Just a short post regarding the latest reality show on TV in India (agreed it isn't the latest in US). The show goes by the name of "I am a celebrity get me out of here" or something like that. This is another one which is similar to Survivor I guess, I never got to see the original Survivor series. But anyway the point I wanted to highlight is the fact that the trailer for this show is amazing.. It is basically putting some 10 celebrities in the jungle/forest and see how they cope with living there. And the trailer gets interesting where it says "America decides your fate", ( I am sure several folks in Afghanistan and Iraq agree to that statement). But what they mean in the show is slightly different. The celebrities will be in a rigged jungle.. Rigged in the sense the obstacles they will face will be man-made. For instance, they could be attacked by bees, swimming through crocodile infested swamps (with marksman waiting to shoot if the animal attacked) etc. People can vote and say "Attack with the bees". And somebody will flip a switch and the celebrity will be attacked by bees.

Of course the original show of "I am a celebrity get me out of here" had its share of controversies like the celebs claiming the show did not actually treat them like a celeb and were treated badly. Guess they didnt get the point of the show :).

But anyways I couldn't help comparing that particular scene in the trailer of someone calling and saying "Attack with the bees" or something like that to a scene in Gladiator where the King says :set the lions loose". In that he asks the lions to be set loose against the gladiator and here bees against the celebrity. In both cases, somebody else decides the fate of another person. And in both cases it is a big event watched by tons of people. In those times it used to be in the Roman Coliseum, now it is watched on TV or through internet. Man has changed over times but his basic needs have not changed. He has become more sophisticated in torturing others or in subjecting them to torture and taking fun.

Wikipedia links :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_a_Celebrity%E2%80%A6Get_Me_Out_of_Here!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator

"Thy shall torture others, and thy shall enjoy" - Prakash.

Just how much money is enough???

2009-05-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

This i am sure is quite a common thought that everybody has had at one point in time or the other. I am sure a lot of ppl know and are contented with what they have, and I am sure that there are a few who still think they need more.
Adding a link from rediff below
http://movies.rediff.com/report/2009/may/04/bachchan-gets-sc-notice-on-tax-exemption.htm

I am sure he has a valid reason for asking for tax exemption under some category or the other. First tried to get away by saying he was a farmer, now this. He is an artiste alright :)

Nenjukkul peidhidum maamazhai

2009-02-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

In case you havent listened to this song from Vaaranam Aayiram, please do.. what wonderful lyrics and meaning...

I wonder if Surya is becoming our generation Mohan..

Sanjay Dutt to contest in elections!!! Are you kidding me!

2009-02-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

The latest (ok, not so latest) news is that Sanjay Dutt has decided to contest in elections.. And of course quickly followed by that or before that was the news that Azharrudin was going to contest in elections. I am not sure what is the reasoning behind them being accepted into their parties. Lets look at a few qualities,
Is it that they are great leaders? Sanjay Dutt may have acted as a union leader or a police commissioner or some gang leader. I think it was the gang leader role that he would have done that qualified him as a candidate. Azharrudin the only leader he was that i am aware of, is the captain of indian team. He was the winningest captain of india until he realized that winning wasnt everything, and became the leader of the pack that took money to lose games.
Is it that they are good orators? I am sure Sanjay Dutt is very good in speaking whats given to him in a piece of paper, coz he has done it for quite a few movies. Azhar though is in a whole different league.. Ask him a question about the team u will get a reply "the boys did well", "i played well in the nets".
Is it their integrity? I am sure this was the reason.. Sanjay dutt is still "out on bail", Azhar is still "out of cricket". I think that simply is the foremost reason behind them joining politics. One for aiding a terrorist to keep guns (or gun) and/or ammo. The other maybe for the same kind of ppl earning money betting on cricket. what a combination? I am sure the future of indian politics is in good hands. If Sanjay Dutt does indeed win then you will see lot of ads coming up in Sulekha saying 6x5 room capable of storing so many guns and so many bullets, blah blah blah..
Anyways thats my two cents on the above two gents joining politics.

my niece

2008-10-04T09:06:00.001-07:00

my niece
Originally uploaded by flickrrocks

my cute niece. picture taken at my brother-in-law's house... difficult to get her to pose for a photo. somehow managed to get her attention for this..

First pic with my new EOS450D

2008-10-04T08:34:00.001-07:00

First pic with my new EOS450D
Originally uploaded by flickrrocks

first attempt at capturing some flowers at my brother-in-law's place with my new Canon SLR. Its amazing how easy to use it is even for a beginner like me... Lots more to learn and spend before i can use it extensively :)

About Rang De

2008-09-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

I just came back from a presentation about Rang De. It is a very good concept that is aimed at trying to alleviate a lot of Indians from poverty. I was thoroughy impressed by the presentation made by the two co-founders (N.K.Ram & Smitha Ram) of Rang De. They were people who had given up working abroad with the thought of trying to make some difference in India. Their concept is not new, in that it is based on micro-financing. There are lots of micro-finance institutions in India which are trying to do the same thing. But what sets them apart is their interest rate and probably the main thing the transparency. Please visit http://www.rangde.org for more information though I will attempt to give you some information that I gathered . They have partnered with a few NGOs in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and are close to partnering with an NGO in Karnataka. Through the investments by social investors they lend the money to the borrowers in the villages that the partners are associated with. Their concept is to lend money to a group of women and the group is accountable to the amount that is lend. They do write a disclaimer in their webpage that the money lend by the social investor is not guaranteed to be returned by the borrower but they say there is a 98.5% success rate of return.

They make regular visits to the villages to meet with the borrowers to also ensure that the money is being put to good use and that the end-borrower is benefiting from it and not the partner NGO (though their partner NGOs credibility is duly checked before partnering with them). They don't believe in getting huge amount of money from people (though it would help if there were such generous people) but they believe in a lot of people contributing even the minimum amount of Rs.1000. I find this concept pretty neat and the commitment that is shown by the two of them. When asked a question that "what if the other micro-finance organizations (one of their competitors) start to reduce their interest rate?" - one of the co-founders Smitha Ram gives a plain answer that their job is done. Their main motive was to make sure the lesser-priviliged get access to loan at affordable rates. And if the competition reduced their rates to make it affordable their job is done they say.

They are planning to launch another campaign or product of theirs which is meant towards helping children get access to education. I am glad somebody is working towards empowering people with money and providing access to education and all instead of just donating money and making them dependable. I hope to spread the message of Rang De through constant updates about them as and when I get the information. But please do your bit and spread the word even if you are not able to contribute there will be lots of people you can reach out too. I am finally glad that I have had an opportunity to write one useful post in my blog. Thanks to N.K.Ram & Smitha Ram. Will update with their picture soon.

Running beyond dog-tired

2008-08-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

I started training to run a marathon a few months back. Ok its not exactly training, since I dont run every day of the week. I just run on Sundays coz thats the only day I can manage to wake myself up early. Anyway I am taking part in the Marg Give-life Chennai marathon (http://givelife-chennaimarathon.com/). So wanted to see if I can push myself atleast close to 21kms. So me and a couple of my friends met up in IIT and started running at 6:45 (planned to meet at 6:30 but I was late since I was searching for my new sneakers, which appears to be stolen). Anyway we started and were surprised to find that a dog joined us. This dog followed us around through IIT running parallel to me mostly. At times it would run in front of me and look back to see how far back we were. Anyway we were kinda struggling to get the first 6kms out of the way and this dog managed to do it with ease at the same time picking fight with other dogs, tracking down two motorcycles and even managed to chase a deer around.

We started on our second round and this dog also came along, I was glad it came along coz I had planned to take a picture of this dog which accompanied us in the run. It ran with us for a total of 9kms and then looked at us as if we were nuts to keep going. Obviously it got tired of running around for 9kms with no purpose. So it said bye to us and went on its own way. We continued going beyond the point of dog-tired :). All the time i was dreaming of finishing first by virtue of photo finish (head first, or hand outstretched). I managed to get to 18kms but took a time of 2hrs30 minutes. I am atleast confident that I can finish the 21kms run on aug 31st, but my hopes of winning the 10lakh first price is gone. Only to find out that one of my friends had a similar thought too :). Anyways how we do on aug31st will be updated later (provided we do good).

Iphone for 31k ---- is it worth it?

2008-08-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Is the new Iphone 3G really worth 31k? Especially since it sells in the US for $200. I couldn't care less if I had to sign a 2 year contract with Vodafone(vodatha-fone) or Airtel. I was hoping they will make it competitive enough to Nokia N95. I guess Apple quoted the same price to AT&T in US and Vodafone & Airtel in India. And Vodafone and Airtel have just thought of passing on the cost to the customer instead of even thinking of some creative marketing.

But you cant really blame Vodafone or Airtel for this because they cannot hook you onto Iphone for browsing using the 3G because, guess what they have not got the spectrum allocated. And there is no guarantees they are going to get it either. So why are we queuing up to buy something which might not actually work with the provider? And that too at a higher cost than any other place except Belgium (where Iphone costs something like $850). I dont know the answer to this question, maybe someone who else who reads this does.

If I were an advisor to Steve Jobs, I would have suggested to manufacture some more of the older generation Iphone for countries such as India where the 3G spectrum itself has not been allocated. I guess there must be a very valid reason for pushing a highly expensive phone with features that cannot be used and hoping to capture the market.

Only time will tell how much of the market Apple will capture in India ahead of Nokia. But you can help them capture it by going and picking your phone from your nearest Vodafone store at midnight (Because I am sure you cant wait one more day and would rather give up your sleep and still buy this).

I am glad I am not going and buying it because I already have my first generation Iphone.

Inspiration to win Olympics

2008-08-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

I always thought the only inspiration someone needed to get a Gold Medal in Olympics was to prove to himself and to the whole world that he/she was the best in a particular sport. But all the monetary gifts that the government, local politicians and anybody else gives is definitely a good enough reason to compete. The best inspiration that Vijender can have is obviously Bipasha agreeing to go on a date with him. I am sure Vijender will treat that reporter in a special manner for mentioning he was Bipasha's fan.

Go Vijender!! You can do it! Now I wonder if Anju would have done better in long jump if only John Abraham had said something...

And for all you guys who are ruing the fact that you didnt know about such a date waiting for you.. dont worry you are not alone. We now know what to expect for 2012 Olympics. It could be Bipasha, Deepika or anybody else for that matter. Bipasha, if you are reading this, just to let you know, I have started training for running a half-marathon :).

Now I can go sleep peacefully after having inspired a few people atleast.

India's performance in Olympics

2008-08-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

Ok... I know a lot of people are happy about the performance of India in the Olympic games that is going on right now.. The fact that we have tripled our medal tally ought to mean we have done something good. But look at the overall medal tally that shows how far back we are and what kind of countries are alongside us... Anyway one of my friends made a comparison that India should get a separate medal for showing maximum improvement from last Olympics since even the mighty China haven't shown that kind of improvement. Of course that is one way of looking at things. But we could have done even better had Rathore and Leander/Mahesh pair done something which everyone thought they would be capable of doing (this thought came from another friend of mine).

I thought there should be some sport that we should be doing really good at.. Of course at one point in time we were very good in Hockey and this time around we "managed" to not qualify for Olympics even... Anyway I continued in my previous thought and I came down to two sports, Fencing and Archery. Historically if you look at it we had been using swords to fight wars. Even when our enemy was using guns and cannons.. Anyway since every museum shows Swords of different shapes and sizes, we should be having that in our blood right.. Of course I agree that whatever they use in Fencing (Foil, epee and sabre are the three weapons used in sport of fencing) are quite different from a sword.. Meaning this is not so broad as a sword and does not stay straight, blah blah blah... But the way I look at it, its just a different type of sword. And we as Indians who have been fighting with swords should do a lot better. Anyway thats just my thought...

The other sport is Archery. We have been using this for ages too. For some reason, we are not good at this sport either or good enough to even win a Bronze medal. I was thinking hard about what could be the reason and came to this conclusion. That we are not a beef-eating country and that was the reason we weren't doing so well at this sport. Now you could ask me how does that affect how we do in this sport. Its simple, they call the target Bull's eye. We should simply call them Parrot's eye or Fish's eye so that Indians can do better. If you don't get why those 2 are ok, please go read about Arjuna :).

Anyway these are just my thoughts and does not have to make sense to you :). But if it gives a clue as to how we can improve upon our performance in Olympics then I am glad I was of help.

Lastly, congratulations to Abinav and Sushil for winning the medals and good luck to Vijender to win another Gold for India. Make us proud!

Dedication

2008-08-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate this blog to everyone who has inspired me to write a blog including my supervisors who gave me more and more work to prevent the thought of spending time to blog my thoughts :-)... Anyway thanks to my friends and family and a lot of bloggers who were inspiration for me.. I hope reading my blog is also a passtime for somebody like reading many blogs was for me..

Lastly my laptop which threatened to run out of battery while I was posting this blog...