Sunday, December 23, 2007

In the history of mankind...

This is NOT possible. Period.

I would have never believed if I had not seen it myself. Nitya and I are both so pleasantly surprised at this and are still trying to see how it happened. The incident goes like this -

Arjun knows how to connect the headphones to computer and then wear them. He does that and says, "play music", so we put some music. This evening he came and did the same. Nitya said let me put Beethoven symphony 3 and see if he enjoys it. Nitya told him, there are no words in this, just instruments.

He listened to it. When asked, "do you like it?". He says - Yes, I liked it. After sometime, he says, what's that noise? :-) Nitya again explained, that's not noise, that's music. We thought, he is listening to this just like that. The next song started and we didn't pay attention.

Now, Arjun says - Where the 'song with no words' gone? Nitya said oh great, you like it, will put it and we put it on repeat.

Arjun was lazing on the floor and we were busy with Nitya's physiotherapy. Sometime later, we realised Arjun wasn't talking. we looked at him and what do we see?

HE WAS SLEEPING.

He fell asleep listening to Beethoven's piano. Now its been more than 45 minutes and he is still sleeping happily.

In the history of mankind, this is the first instance when Arjun fell asleep by himself. Is it the sign of things to come, or is it a spike, I don't know. What I know is this is surely an improvement.

I am going to Planet M to get all Beethovens, Mozarts and Vivaldis. And next time I am in London, I know what to buy :-). I appreciate the great musicians because they have the ability to relax my son. Arjun is sleeping happily... by himself :-)

Friday, December 07, 2007

Windows Live Writer

This is awesome! simply superb. It connects to your web -blog, blogger or any other, downloads settings on your local hard drive. Even the template. Gives you a MS Word like interface and allows you to type. While typing, you can also see how your blog will look like cos you are typing on the same template.

Download Windows Live Writer for free, set it up and go. it will ask you for your blog URL, user id and password. Make sure you save the password or at times it does not let you publish the post properly.

You can link as many web-blogs as you want and publish posts one at a time. Its the easiest way to publish posts, images etc. Just copy paste like on a word doc and it gets stored and published.

image

its a fool-proof way of writing a blog entry. Its great. Just download and use it if you are an active blogger. Thats why I love Microsoft.

Testing windows live writer

I have just read about windows live writer and I am just testing this.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Goa - the Hyatt way

Goa - our first trip to this place. If someone asks me what’s the best place to visit in Goa - I would answer - definitely Hyatt. So my recommendation to everyone visiting Goa is - stay in Park Hyatt Resorts and Spa.

It simply superb. 45 acres of lush green lawns, excellent 3-deck swimming pool and excellent cottages like rooms. The rooms themselves are very spacious and beautifully done. Sunken bath, rain shower balcony, great king bed and private garden. They also have a small theatre.

They have a beach also, its mostly not crowded, probably a private beach of the hotel. There are umbrellas in every nook and corner for the hotel which the guests can use.

Service is great, warm people and they even speak in Hindi without giving you a condescending look. The outfits of hotel staff is really unique, its this khadi kurta and pajamas. White mostly, looks serene and great.

Food is one thing where this place does not score a lot and that might be because I am a foody, I need variety, a lot of it either in Indian or any other cuisine. The taste of food is good, but not much variety. it’s the same food over and over. So it gets boring eating almost the same things for 5-6 days.

Overall, its one place where I would like to go again. Arjun loved the pool, Nitya was relaxed and I really was able to wind-down. What else do you require in a holiday.

I will go there again, next year and the year after that.

My movies wish-list

Well it has to start with ‘A few good men’, so this is how it goes… not necessarily in the same order. These are the movies which I am not sure if I like anymore. But had a lasting impact on me when I saw them… then.

- A few good men
- Cast Away
- Forrest Gump
- Speechless
- Lagaan
- Gadar - ek prem katha
- Jo jeeta wahi Sikandar
- Jhankaar Beats
- Monsoon wedding
- Dil chahta hai
- Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge
- Teesri manjil
- Border
- My cousin Vinny
- The Independence Day
- Top-gun
- Pretty woman
- Dil chahta hai
- Mr India - because of Sridevi
- The Rock
- Fir wohi dil laya hoon
- Rajkumar - the old one casting Shammi Kapoor
- Deewar of Amitabh Bachchhan
- Choti si baat
- Sholay - obviously the old one and NOT the new one by Mr Verma
- Dil chahta hai
- Munna bhai MBBS
- Satya
- Amar Akbar Anthony
- Company
- Shaukeen
- Goolmaal
- Chupke Chupke
- Naram garam
- American Desi
- The Lion King
- Never say never again
- The world is not enough
- Swadesh
- Sarfarosh
- Gangajal
- Omkara
- Maine Pyaar Kiya ( How can I forget this one? )
- Hum aapke hain kaun ???
- Muskurahat
- Dil chahta hai

Anyone, anything you guys wanna add...

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Shantaram

Am reading Shantaram. Its an amazingly written book. Probably real. Or probably not. I dont know. What struck me in the book is the group of people this Australian convict meets in India. Mostly non-Indians, who know hindi. Prostitutes, writers, journalists, drug dealers, connoisseur of art.

I will have to say that had I been in touch with such varied set of people, my vision would have improved dramatically. Mostly all are like philosophers, have phrases on life which are very thoughtful
.

More to come ... as I read the book more. Read around 150 pages and its huge book...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Philips DVD player DVP 3026 region free crack

Region code hack
The hack also works for Philips DVP5960/37.
It is the same hack as with the Philips DVP5140. It worked very well for Dvp 3026 as well.

1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
5. Enter 138931
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
9. Press "OK" on the remote

Congrates!!! your DVD player is region free

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Days of Our Lives

"She is gone."

Left me alone in this world full of cries and celebrations and gone. I am angry. With her, with life and with ‘this’ world around me. I begged her not to go, I told her to be there all the time, but she is gone. I kept calling her... shouting and screaming at the top of my voice… but she did not stop.

Now-a-days, everyday I wake up; they are sitting there looking at me. They put me in water and then the torture begins. They ask me to open my mouth and put stuff in it. I feel drowsy and then… Water. All over me. Well, considering the rest of my day, the water is still a relief. I tell them, I don’t want to do it today, they don’t listen. They give me some food and water, for the rest of the day. Give me a white liquid to drink… they call it milk. “Here, drink this”, they say.

I am loaded with stuff on my back and transported to this strange place.

"Is it a slide?"

Am sitting and thinking. There is sand around me and rocks and I can see a huge structure. There are a few people around. All busy in their stuff. They have nearly the same story. But they can’t think, can they? A lot of them cannot, and a lot of them DO not. Some of them have come to terms with this daily suffering.

I think she wants me to eat… She thinks if I do, I will forget everything. I want to scream and ask her to go. She wants to talk to me like she does with everyone else around. I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I am ok the way I am. They think I am like a kid. They think I will soon turn into a person who will comprise with the situation and give up screaming and thinking. They understand I am different. I understand I am different too. They will soon take us into that darkish chamber. Everyone will be shut into it and the door will close. There she will start shouting and screaming.

"Again her same song starts"

The others are singing to her tunes. Why? Can’t they see what’s happening? How can they be so naïve? I want to go out. Out in the open, run away from here, but the door is closed. Once I was able to open the door and go out, I was held by the guards and was brought back. She is screaming at someone. Someone who is hungry and trying to eat. “No eating this stuff”, she is saying. And there are cries. She began to cry… Why is he crying? A lot of them are crying now. Going through the pain and experiencing it too. But they will stop. She will feed them what they like. They will start thinking she is their friend. She is in control.

I still remember the good old days. I can still remember a bit of it. It was a cozy place. My house. A few years ago. It was slightly small and a bit dark; I used to be a bit cramped in it, but it was mine. I was not alone. My parents used to be around. We used to interact with each other. I was happy then. Why have things changed so much?

"Let me read a bit… where is the bus?"

Oh, the door has opened, they will take us out. There are other people outside from various other chambers. I can see her hiding the knife. As if I don’t know what’s going to happen now. One of us will be randomly chosen. There are usually some strangers at this time. They hold flash lights. I will have to close my eyes, sometimes the flash light is pointing at me. So, today, she will be taken to the knife, she was good, never used to cry, she used to be happy even in this misery… still she is the one chosen for today… and… someone will be born.

"Happy B’day to you… "

Cries for some, and celebrations for some. This is my everyday life. She will cut in small pieces and those pieces will be fed to us.

"Oh that’s the bus… "

Did I see her? I think I did through that crack. Is she also here? Or is she back for me, to take me back from here?

Why is she looking at me? She has my backpack. She wants to load me again. The door opens. I run.

Amma carry”, I shout. She is smiling and she picks me up. Haaa… the school is over. It will again happen tomorrow, but till then, life is good. I am happy.

"She is back. She is not gone away."

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Dor - Hindi Film


I watched this movie called Dor this weekend. Probably the worst movie Nagesh Kukunoor will ever make and act in.

The cast is a disaster. Nagesh himself looked so bad that I am sure he wont even like watching the movie the second time. It’s a very normal movie about two women, one of whose husband dies and other’s is convicted in charge.

Gul Panag (Zeenat) played the wife of convicted - Aamir. If you watch the movie, you will know why she is not doing well in mainstream cinema. Her body language is almost non-existent. Droopy shoulders, lack of expressions and she was playing the wife who travelled so much to save her husband.

Ayesha Takia (Meera) is ok. Normal acting, nothing bad, nothing great also. Probably she is too sofo for the role she was doing. Her voice modulations were clearly matching that of a South Mumbai born and brought-up and convent school educated girl rather than the Rajasthani widow she was playing.

Shreyas Talpade (Behroopiya) was the saving grace. He is good in the movie, the only other thing in the movie. (The first thing of course is Rajasthan itself). He however has a very distinctive maratha beard and so one can say he is the odd man out in the setting, but other than that, he was good. He picked up the language and dialect well. He was a pleasure.

Nagesh Kukunoor – Chopra, playing a businessman was pathetic. He neither looked nor acted like Chopra. I would have seriously liked Shakti Kapoor better in that role.

The other person who has the only good dialogue of the movie is Dadi, herself a rajasthani widow. The last dialogue of her’s is really good and that’s the only good dialogue in the entire movie.

Music – wherever there is original music by the music director (as in most places, they have used standard hindi movie songs) is good. Never heard of Salim Suleiman but he was impressive.

So this is one movie which can easily be ignored and one should not think twice if they have not watched this movie.

So, all in all, a not-so-watchable movie.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Mentoring and bus drivers of Tirupati

I have been twice to Tirupati. Once 15 years back in '92 and once now recently.

I have noticed a lot of changes but one thing remains the same. The way the bus drivers drive the buses from Tirumala (mountain on which Tirupati Balagi temple is) to Tirupati.

15 years back, we almost prayed for our lives while sitting in the bus. The driver just left it on neutral and forgets that the break exists. The bus just flows on the curvy roads till we 'hit' the ground.

After 15 years, still the drivers drive with the same dexter and efficiency. They are as scary as their earlier collegues.

The other day sitting at the bus I realised one thing, this is what mentoring is all about. You need to transfer the same skill and method to the person you are mentoring so that when after you have moved on, someone has a look at the part you once handled, she finds the same efficiency in the way things are done.

If one cannot make herself redundant, she cannot grow to take a more senior position. So growth in corporate ladder is all about going from one redundancy to another.

Think about it...

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Molaga Bhajia on the beach!!!

Ok, I know this is really going to piss Nitya off. But, I loved the Bhaiya on the Marina beach at night time. Its the the famous molaga (mirchi, chili) bhajia.

They make it really well, really oily and brown... you wont like to stop. And they give it with worlds most tasty chutney... it has some dhania, mirchi and some coconut and green(kachha) mango (kairee).

its really tasty and mouth watering..umm....mmmm.

Next time you visit Chennai, you know what to eat...

100 rupees a peek

I always used to feel that God is getting commertialised in places like Tirupati and Shirdi (At Tirupati they charge 100 ruppees for the highest ticket for darshans. Thats the express darshan which takes around 4 hours). I realised this on my recent visit to Tirupati that thats wrong. God is not getting commertialised, its the people who are becoming more materialistic. God probabaly Himself realises this and is sad about it.

We went to Padmavati temple (who is Lord Tirupati's wife). There also there was some rush, I feel if managed well, everyone would have finished ther darshans much earlier than it takes. I have realised that on the way to Tirupati and other temples theur are man-made bottlenexks. Anyways, thats not what I will be discussing here as everyone knows this. The incident happened on my way out of the shrine of Padmavati temple. In southIndian temples, they have thsi crown like thing called sadari which the pujaris to bless people on behalf of God.

I realised that the pujari who was standing there with sadari has one hand protruding from under the railing, people put 1-2 ruppe coins in his hand, he put the sadari on their heads and they go ahead. This all happened as programmed and within 2-3 secs the transaction used to complete.

I searched for coin and felt relief when found one, but then I realised ths is wrong... the God will bless me even if I do not pay that person, its just as respect to God that people are paying him. The money is not his, its the Lord's and God does not need my money. i decided I will not give him that 2 ruppee coin to this person and see what happens then.

My turn came, I did not hand him the money, the sadari was on my head and the his hand searching for any trace of a coin. It searched and searched for almost 5 secs, then he realised there is no coin available. he took off the sadari from my head and I moved ahead. This time the transaction took 5-6 seconds. I was a slip of 100%. I realised that money and NOT the blessings was on critical path here :-).

Different strokes

I have seen it many times but have realised it just now... I went to Rajasthan/Gujarat and saw the Dilwara temple there. The carving there is world class. The guide told me that the exteriors are very simple and dry but these temples have excellent carvings inside. He was right. He told me that reason for this was to save the carvings and art work from the mughals who would have used to destroy the temples which had great architecture.

On my Tirupati visit where I visited many temples in South India, the architecture has reversed itself. In south India you see Gold plated temples and bg kalashas and stupas on the outside but inside its very dry and dark. The interiors are mostly plain black stones.

It does not suggest anyhting just that at different times and places, how things can be exactly opposite because of circumstances. Probably that will make me more open. I can acept opposite thoughts and can understand why they both are correct...

Religion and Sprituality

Once I told someone, I am a very religious person. Now I know I am not. I am actually a spiritual person. There is a meeting point between religion and spirituality and so I pass on to the other side at times.

We went to Tirupati recently. It was actually a very easy trip (comparatively). I say comparatively because it was easy for us because of my father-in-law who arranged the trip very well. So, we went to the temple and it hardly took 1.5 hours for us to get the darshan and come back.

I was looking at the deity and felt its really grand and magnificent. They keep the lights very dim and it looks as if the God is un-perturbed by the hum-drum going on for His darshan.

I realised my mom-in law has eyes filled with water. She was so over-whelmed. I remember my mom to go this way when we went to Tirupati earlier or to Amarnath. There were other people there who have walked all the way to Tirupati to get the darshan and then were waiting in line cos they cant afford to buy someone to get a quick dasrshan. I sometimes wonder whether He will bless them more than me, well, I think yes, I think they deserve it also.

There were others who were non-stop doing roll overs to pay their respect to God. Looking at all these people, I really felt like I am a very small person in front of them as far as belief is concerned.

I have been a traveller, my blog title says that. Arriving is nearly the same whereever you go. Its the journey which has always excited me and will continue to do so always even in the future. Journey is enriching. Even if it is the same journey from home to work. Every journey will be new. Arrival is stale. Its always the same.

Life is series of journeys and arrivals. A person who maximises her journey and minimises the arrivals will have a better vision and allround development.

All this does not mean arrival is not important. Arrival can be the desired outcome of a journey. And so, going to such places like Tirupati and paying their best wishes to God bring tears in the eyes of people, as they have done a very difficult journey from far away places, taken all the trouble and now darshan of the Lord is the result of their journey.

For me, the concept of paying for getting darshan done is itself so materialistic, that getting overwhelmed becomes very difficult. I am unable to separate the God from the commertialization happening in His name. And so, that samarpan does not easily come.

I guess we are just different types of travellers. They are more focused on religion so corruption outside the shrine does not matter to them and I am more focused on spirituality and so believe in simplicity and serenity when it comes to holy places.

They are simple people. Its easier for them to get the feeling of samarpan and so, probably they will reach the nirvana earlier and more easily and I am a more complicated person and so it will require many more journeys for me.

I am looking forward to all those journeys...