Lessons for Rikshawallahs!

Its time that the auto drivers in pune learn something from the indian scientists...

at a time when people have already been to the moon, when there is global recession on the horizon, when markets are down, when energy crisis looms over the world, when Mumbai is being swept of by erratic media hungry politicians, when amitabh is still dancing in his world tours, when america can vote for palin who looks good(what a teacher she would be in high school!)............

They can still undertake a mission to the Moon!.....

And these auto drivers / rikshwallah are reluctant to drive from Pune Station to Karvenagar / Aundh / Many other places...

Jeez, India is going to the moon, and these guys dont even go so close....

Jara Shika Ki!!!!! ;)

Phew!

I was reading about the Indian mission to the moon some time back... on the same paper i read some children falling down due to severe malnutrition... i thought of writing these two paradoxical main page headlines, and it was just then that powercuts started.... Power cuts are back after the Commonwealth Youth Games... Where is India going to?

When the whole world is scared due to the Financial Meltdown and Unpredictable markets, India is sending a mission to moon.. Moon.... Where other countries have been about 25 years back... We are venturing out now? Putting in millions of rupees... just to satisfy a few ego's?

God Save us all!

Ahh Metallica is Back!

Am waiting for Metallica's New Album 'Death Magnetic'... The song from the 'The Day That Never Comes' is released on their website. And it surely has got me excited. The song reminds the Good Old Metallica from Load, Metallica and some Ride the Lightning days.

The album also features Unforgiven 3! Now that has got me excited more then ever! A sequel to one of my favourite songs.... WOW!

I happily tell people that i am born and brought up with Metallica.... and so are million others of my generation... This band formed in 1981... Now why should i write the history... its all there on wikipedia... But yes... Formed Just two years before i was born... And it has gripped the world.... and they are back with what they are good with!

Wow! Am eagerly waiting for the album!

Frustrations!

C : Happy Independence Day
K: man change ur status
Sent at 11:35 PM on Monday
C: nahi
K: ok
Sent at 11:35 PM on Monday
C: desh drohi
K: look who is sitting where and who is calling whom what
Sent at 11:36 PM on Monday
C: tht really doesnt matter u know tht
K: everything that has to matter matters
everything that doesnt does too!
Sent at 11:38 PM on Monday
C: thts wot
Sent at 11:39 PM on Monday
C: and now u tryin to buy ur way out
K: no some ways are free
Sent at 11:39 PM on Monday
C: talkin like a desh drohi huh??
K: boundaries are created by humans
and humans break them
Sent at 11:42 PM on Monday
C: there u go
u r referring to humans as Indians
K: and why is that so
Sent at 11:42 PM on Monday
K: u might be perceiving something else
Sent at 11:43 PM on Monday
C: i never argue with desh drohis
K: what if ur definition is wrong
Sent at 11:44 PM on Monday
C: ur definitions and boundaries r wrong
thts yy u r a desh drohi
K: wrongly taken
boundaries dont exist for me
and definitions are but cages
built by humans to trap in words
Sent at 11:47 PM on Monday
C: tht means u will crossover to Pakistan and u r against India's Voice
K: that could also mean that i would bring peace to Afghanistan’s oppressed and represent humanity
if you look through a blue glass the worlds looks blue
C: Taliban also wanted peace
only as U say
K: nope
taliban wanted to control
C: their definition of peace was different
K: not peace
C: bush wants peace
K: same thing
C: once they have the oil of the world
K: bush is paranoid to the shitless extent
C: so u also want peace once u have betrayed our Beloved Bharat Mata (sniff)
SO R U
angry face
K: well
what we know of india is something that we are taught of
we rarely have felt what it is to belong
and to make the most of this belonging
to the extent that somethings that have made us indians have also kept us away from being truly indians
C: so u want to b a Chinese patriot now
K: i want to join the humane brigade
C: Jihad??
K: if jihad is human, then gmail is yahoo
Sent at 11:56 PM on Monday
C: gmail and yahoo were founded by colleagues / friends / classmates Leaves of the same tree STANFORD
K: and they were after all HUMANS
Sent at 11:59 PM on Monday
C: yeah i mean to say they come from the same roots
K: but their fruits are different
an apple tree cannot grow mangoes
technically it can but then it doesnt remain an apple tree
Sent at 12:00 AM on Tuesday
C: thts wot u r a Desh Drohi
K: i think i am going to put this chat on my blog
C: yeah so tht u can broadcast to ur fellow Desh Drohis how a Patriot Indian thinks
u guys have advanced
u use computer technology now-a-days

Follow Up!

Gaurav wrote a very touching poem which vividly describes the consequences of the recent blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. It was really scary to know that we are facing terror right in the face. The next guy on his cycle, the bhajiwala with his tokri... and so on...

There were reports that live bombs were found in Surat! Those couple of days, this thought must have been present in peoples mind.... 'What Next'... security was tightened at sensitive areas... but the threat might lie within.. like Gaurav says in his blog, is it really possible to identify the threats before?

I had some questions then on! But then i was not sure of putting them online.... what with people using cryptic messages to organize terror attacks... cyber intelligence screening web to check for possible threats... and so on... This can really elucidate the paranoia that has been spread in people... in me... all because the enemy is invisible.... metaphorically / literally speaking!

The major question was:
Are these attacks in any way related to the IAEA deal? Some way of telling india 'Stay away from US'?
(This was fuelled by another brewing conspiracy theory of the link of the IAEA debate in the parliament and the severe power crisis in the state of maharasthra. I mean the governments are at the centre and . The crisis in the state was just before the debate.... and once the deal was passed... the crisis has simmered down and load shedding reduced in the state of maharashtra.... Just a hypothesis!)

But one must say, the attacks are likely to be internal... or they lacked some sort of vision because it was just before the SAARC summit and the meeting of officials from our neighbouring country and US. Our neighbours are seriously put under some pressure... again a hypothesis!

But still, the real WMD lies within the mind which can be fuelled by Revenge, Religion and Remorse... or maybe just a Reaction!

The invisible enemy!

Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in San Jose, California

I guess the title itself is more than enough to express some ironical angst.

Why in the world a Marathi Sammelan is to be held in America? I mean Marathi is not a language which is spread over the world in various areas like French / Spanish / German / Portuguese!

Some elitist people with a lot of money to spend on touring under the name of Sammelan wish to travel to California. Maybe spend some time in LA and then go north to Las Vegas and gamble some! They can definitely improve the Marathi vocab of the bouncers at the casinos! Tujhya Aaila... and so on!

Back home, people are not speaking Marathi! English is taking over as a language most widely used in the world! Small town folks are taking a lead and pushing their kids to English Medium Schools! Marathi literature fans are dwindling by the numbers. English is replacing Marathi words more n more. Like, 'Arrey, You carry on, mi tula nantar join karin!

And the solution to all this a Sahitya Sammelan in San Jose!

Can't these guys save money and donate it to needy rural schools?

Pune Pattern II

Well, today's update is that the load shedding hours in Pune have been increased to 6 hours daily. It would be operated in 2 sessions. Well, needless to say, it might change sometime soon, again! More hours being added!

And does it make a difference to the malls, offices where AC is full blast? Does anyone bother with keeping the temperature appropriate, keep the area closed so that energy is not lost? Nope

Nothing can stop affluent people from wasting more and more!

Deteriorating Sahyadris!

Route is the much travelled Mumbai - Pune rail road! Transport is the The 'Queen of the Deccan' or precisely the Deccan Queen. Site is the beautiful and pleasant Sahyadris.

The Deccan Queen (DQ) starts at about 7.15 am from Pune and reaches Lonavla by 8.20 - 8.30 am. The time when people need to feed their hungry tummies and break the fast carried during the night. The tea accompanies to get them started for the long day ahead!

And they are well served! Omelette's and Cutlets for the heavy eaters, Samosas and Sabudana wadas for the medium tummies and chips biscuits for the lighters ones!

All served in nice paper plates / Styrofoam cups / attractive plastic wrappings!

Ravenous appetites and train travel induced hunger makes people eat them as fast as possible and the whole aim then is to get rid of these carries. The plates, cups and wrappings! The easiest way is to throw them out!


No dustbins in the train, No moralities / ethics in people! So left with minimal choice, just throw them out! No one would want the useless items to linger around their berths!

And yes, next step is go for more food! Add more garbage! and just easily throw it out! From the windows towards the rustic valleys!

These areas area out of reach for garbage collectors! Rag pickers! (The city is so unclean, what to talk about garbage management in the hilly areas!)And after the feeding ritual is over, gaze at the beautiful valleys, the little streams, the tunnels, the fog and pay no heed to the garbage piling up!


Daily routine! Helpless people... Is there an option?

Why not just throw it below the berths which is cleaned at the stations? Why don't the daily travellers carry a plastic bag and collect the garbage and throw it at the station?

Its not that easy for one!

What an example are we setting for the children who tend to imitate their parents and think it is a game to throw things as far as possible!


I guess if they introduce Garbage throwing along with Shot Put and Javelin in the Olympics, Indians would definitely win! I would guess the team would entirely consist of the daily DQ travellers!

Pune Pattern

Starting with an announcement of 50 minutes load shedding / power cut, then changing it to about 2 hours (with detailed area wise timetable) eventually arriving to a figure of 2 and a half hours. All within a week or a wee bit more after initial announcement. This is the quintessential Pune Pattern!

No clue of what to do!

Which road to dig, when to start, when to stop, What to do!

Which is the right road, which is a one way (it means to most people that whichever side they are going on is the right way on a one way!)!

A jumbled mass of massive confusion!

Add to that some miscreants who take authority in their own hands and play god! like the recent attacks on education institutions over admissions! (Oxford of the East? Who? What? Where?)

Hysteria, if one steps on the road... Auto rickshaws drivers are most eligible to drive sukhois...Man! they will manoeuver the plane through the thickest enemies.. Dirt Track racers... Invisible vehicles for road crosser!... Racing tracks for Ferrari PMPL buses...

This is the quintessential Pune Pattern!

Dilemma!

Is it that Dhoni wants to concentrate more on Ad's now that his charges are way UP!!! Or maybe he wants to spend the money he has been earning on something! I mean now he doesnt even have to spend a lot of money to groom his hair since they are short!

BCCI is giving the poor guy no time to do all this!!! He is playing continous cricket since IPL!

How to spend all the Rs 50 crores he would get for 2008-2009!

Shuffle!

1. I wish i could sue the MSEB over their frequent, erratic, random 30 seconds power cuts, and get something out of it.

2. I want to do an experiment. My hypothesis is that in the Marathi serials 60-65% of the part is just background music (mostly just dhadaad-dhadaad-dhadaad x 5) with the camera focusing on the actors faces from various angles. I would like to do some time calculations and further statistical analysis. Maybe get a research paper out of it? Or maybe extend my research to hindi serials and get some more research papers!!! Wow, but something has to inspire me to actually do it!

3. How many of us really would like to see gmail adding new colours? Maybe not the themes like orkut but just some subtle soft colours?

4. The orkut addiction has much subsided now. Its Facebook now with its catchy applications! Currently am hooked on the Knighthood application.

Diabolic Agenda!

I was going through my poems the other day and found this series of poems i wrote on a satanic child or Satan's child! Wonder what had made me initiate writing it, but i guess it is the adolescent anger against the system. (I am still an adolescent if i may declare!)

The first one goes with the princess of some land being abducted and the satanic child is brought to the world through her! I don't think i had realised that it would turn into a series of 5 (and i do want to write the sixth one sometime!) at that time. But man its evil! I surprise myself at times.

But i do believe... Wont be able to write poems like i used to then. All the myriad set of words and their combinational play so as to derive amazing meanings are feelings!

Ah I wish i could write better!

Dirt Track Racers!

All the Puneites are experts in riding bikes (any make, any model) on dirt tracks! Thanks to the roads, of which half are potholed (courtesy the local government which the monsoons every year!) and the remaining half that are undergoing developmental work (Where the 'Go Slow, Work in Progress' sign is to be read as 'Slow Work in Progress, you have to Go')!

The JNNURM funds looks like a big scam for people who want to make concrete money and are really raking in the moolah!

Old thoughts :)

I found a notebook i had used during M.Sc. that has modifications of the Beer's and Lambert's law (the laws which govern light as it passes through a medium), which i might have written in one of the boring spectroscopy classes... here they go:

Beer's Law -
As the Molar concentration of ethanol (suggestively from beer) increases, the wavelength of light captured by eyes multiplies and mirror images are created which temporarily hinder the functioning of hypothalamus resulting in unexpected portray of feelings.

Lambert's Law -
Well its a bit too much to understand if Beer's Law is followed.

So much so for M.Sc.... :)

When will we learn!

A few days before i had been to an IT company in Hinjewadi IT Park, Pune. I saw this guy who did some amazing stuff over there!

Initially he went to the coffee machine and selected an espresso which filled 2/3 rd of his glass. Guess he wanted the glass full so he repeated the process but withdrew the glass as soon as it was nearly full. So more than half of the coffee got drained! Well this is not it, he went ahead and kept the glass in the microwave and turned it on and after opening it saw that some coffee had spilled inside! He just walked away with a cool demeanour!

What a waste! I hope it was this guys first time! But the first part of coffee wastage was ridiculous. I later found out that this was one of top guys in the company. Wow! Some people never learn and yes future generations have already started facing the heat (global warming pun unintended!) because of this!!!

Ironical Environmentalism

Some of my thoughts on Environmental Movements in todays world!!!

CDM or Clean Development Mechanisms..A booming area..Indians are cashing big on Carbon Credits! All the Carbon Players in the Carbon League (Sounds cliched now right) are earning big bucks which has paved a way for a new area. And all the guys who save carbon credits have to do is pray for mistakes that their client commits.
Going ahead, its nice to buy BIG SUV's then right? What with all the carbon money which can fuel the carbon emitting and fuel guzzling cars? It seems alright eh?
Commitment to true environment thought? (Wish i could increase the size of the question mark!!! but it doesn't aesthetically please does it!!!)

P.U.C - Pollution under control or Pollution Used for Cashing (More revenue, needless to say more!)

Solid Waste Management (SWM) - The Bottom Up approach includes the ground workers with lethargic staff but some committed NGO's who try to work towards increasing awareness amongst people (which is the most important factor for destruction of Environment in India) and also try to work for the welfare of the Waste Collectors or Rag Pickers as vernacularly called.
The Top Down approach includes huge funded projects by international funding agencies. Consultants are hired to suggest better models for SWM who try to work with some cities or towns as models and in the process while cursing and making fun of each other, publish nice glossy reports which are read / not read but eventually add to potential waste material. (Needless to say many N - 1 (N minus many) reports are printed at consultants office almost daily and scrapped for report improvement so that a best report can be published to attract more clients!)

Do people themselves follow their 'Do Not Print this email unless its really important (there goes the catch)! Think of the environmental impacts of your actions!' at least 50% of the times?

Well there are many more areas like this.... i will keep it rolling as they come to me!

First One

I am distributing topics into two blogs now. The earlier one soul-kadhi.blogspot.com for more personal stuff this one to foolishly criticize, comment and talk about stuff around.... The Intermingling Within and Without! :) (You might get the redundancy too :P)

Unity in Diversity!

I am distributing topics into two blogs now. This one for more personal stuff and moralredundancy.blogspot.com to foolishly criticize, comment and talk about stuff around.... The Intermingling Within and Without! :)

Mumbai

Yesterday i had to go to thane from dadar, the jam packed central line, where people hanging in the space between the train bogies is a common site. And there i was trying to find which is slow, which is the fast train.. finally i located a train which was starting from dadar, and it was full.

People hanging from the doors, a mumbaikar won't even look twice at them because its usual. But for me its always intimidating and marvelling both at the same time. Intimidating because of the risk and marvelling due to the tenacity of mumbaikars who travel daily in a similar fashion.

I let go two such overful locals!

finally boarded one which was full in the same manner but alteast i could get into it. This is a huge fast exodus. 30 seconds and about 50 people cram into a single bogie and mind you the people get down also in the same 30 seconds.. its maddening.

People push, some fall, luggage is thrown in different directions, fists might fly, shoulders might hit... no wonder we dont like rugby or american football so much... mumbaikars have to do this thing daily.. and yes even ladies have to! of course in the ladies compartment....

By the time i reached, which i found out was a slow train later on, it was already 10 pm. My crumpled shirt which i had forgotten to iron started straightening due to the pressure of people standing next to me. I know this sounds funny and yuck at the same time. Mumbaikars say that you can easily fall asleep without falling down in such full trains... :)

I attended the function and then again started on my way back... at around 12.20 am... Could not wait for long for a train taking me to dadar so took one which stops at Kurla (in between thane and dadar). Went to kurla and took the 12.51 am train to CST. 12.51 am and still quite a number of people in the train.. amazing mumbai.... it never sleeps... it just relaxes for a couple of hours.

I could have taken the cab back to Shivaji park from dadar station but it was 1.10 am and i felt like taking a walk to my room.

Mumbai in the night, taxi cabs along the road with drivers waiting for their fare, streetlights shining the streets polished clean by the heavy traffic, dogs lurking nearby barking occasionally, people like me travelling in the night... and silence.. which reminded me of the Simon n Garfunkel song - Sounds of Silence

Hello darkness, my old friend

I've come to talk with you again

Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence

Mumbai... its a pleasure to see it when its calm and peaceful.. just for a few hours of the early morning.. and then it gets back.. looking forward to another day!

Music

Thought that i might add in some things about the music i listen to.... enlisting some of my favourite bands...

• Audioslave
• Led Zeppelin
• Megadeth
• Metallica
• Pink Floyd
• Queen
• Rammstein
• System of a Down
• The Doors
• Tool

will write some more about music soon....

Another day!!

All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places - worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races

Going nowhere - going nowhere

I run towards the bus, the driver tells me not to board from the front... go back... i run to catch and then jump. Take a seat, catch a breath... and exhale myself out... reaching outside, absorbing, trying to fill in the hollow that is me...

an old lady waiting for the bus at the next bus stop, wrinkled face folding years of thoughts, years of feelings, hopes and experiences... memories.... now just waiting for a bus which will take her to another place....

two little kids playing on the street, their mother looking after her other two kids.... love...

a cow tied to a tree on the footpath and its owner selling grass to people who then feed the cow...

people running towards their work... towards the coming day...

i breathe in, see myself... all confused, all scattered thoughts... like a little kid playing the picture mosaic game and misplacing pieces.... the sun in the water... moon in the house.... kids on the clouds....

and i try to channelize.... thoughts which pace and run, and i like a boarder at a station see them like a train moving fast without stopping at my station... and then the next train....

all this while the song Mad World by Micheal Andrews is running in my mind... wonderful song... very touching.... and i run towards the new day....

Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson

Look right through me - look right through me

Vacation!

Want to write what i feel, but what comes out are some lines of some song.... there is always a song for a particular feeling or if not the words it is the strumming of a guitar or a solo which can be associated with an innermost feeling.

Either that or i am consumed by music and lyrics.

Where are my own words? On a Vacation?

When i need a vacation more, my expressions go on a vacation!

Giant Wheel

'Lost in the Romance...
...Wilderness and Pain...'

Jim sang with The Doors, the doors from the outside in - or the inside out!

The body, The heart, The mind and The soul.... as abstract as the transition from romance to wilderness and through the doors....

The body as a system runs then feeds the heart, the heart works on its own but feeds the body. A give and take... and inside outside... the mind the next layer, the next strata...helping us overcome the physicallity and go outside and take things inside... Feelings... outside in...

The soul... thats the mystery, The Pandora's box... it goes from inside out and returns back to the core... Who knows what it is... the name of this blog was born of the same question... What is it? Unknown?

A giant wheel in the fun fair of this stage... All the colours, fragrances and visions... all but roundess in revolutions... spectators... just gape and grasp...

The food, The aroma... The juice... The energy... What do they do?

They affect the body and then the heart... Mould the mind... Satisfy the soul... Roundess and fullness... revolutions... centrifugal or centripetal... outside in... inside out... abstractions...

Illusions... deceptions... facts... interveawing... leading to abstraction...

The Doors... the gateway... derailed... but on track... as abstract... as the compromised meanings..

'The blue bus is calling us..
driver where you taking us..'

The Doors... suggesting... encapsulating... in a chrysalis... and releasing into a mist of insanity... curt yet fully dissolved... naked open... and absorbing it all... unrelenting...

Anger at times shows a way towards sanity as easily as it breaks the fence and leads to the blue bus...

Where?

'Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free...'

How?

'Waiting for a strangers hand...
in a desperate land...'

Redundancy.... Repetitions.... Revolutions...
'Save me...Save us'

Pity... shame... stone....
Stoned to sing...

'Come on baby take a chance with us,
meet me at the end of the blue bus'