Weird me

Intended Draft post 1600 IST 30-OCT-2009:

How z every1… LTNS… IMHO UROK … did ya get what I am trying to say … ROFTL … I have been coming across lot of these now a days thanks to twitter. Couple of days back saw a debate of school children and teachers discussing “sms” English on a TV channel. It was quite a healthy debate with lots of good points made from either side, but the question that popped in my mind is whats wrong with it ?

The latest edition of Oxford’s English Dictionary carries about 1,000,000 words in it. An average Indian knows about 650 words, an average “Englishman” would go around 1500.  So whats the use of so many ? Isn’t coding sentences into words and decoding them a sign of intelligence ! Isn’t it something like working smart instead of working hard, u can write faster while using lesser characters. Yes u lose the “literature” in it, but does someone care for it now a days… blah blah blah

What remains at 1800 hrs IST 30-OCT-2009:

What, who doesn’t appreciate literature ? Oh so I don’t … thats why I make sure to visit at least one book store every week and spend around 2 hours hunting for books worth a read Thats why I am looking for a dictionary app to install on my phone so I could improve my poor vocab. After all language is not just a medium of communicating, its also the only way of expressing your mind … guess twitter subsided my love for English language, better I scrap this post

So what if you quit IT ??

The lackluster life of an IT Engg, sucks big time.

If at all someday I am able to quit IT, here is the list of my dream jobs.

1. Start a Micro-financing NGO: Would love to work more towards Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship sectors, empowering rural India

2.Start a vintage car and bike restoration store: This is something that my heart wants to do more than my head.

3.A lone traveller: Travelling through India on a bike, living in a duffel-bag, clicking photos for magazines for a living.

4.Chef: Would love to have my own restaurant someday.

5. Teacher: Definitely not computers, may be history…

So what if you quit IT ??

Just another post

Aloha !!!

Past few days have been quite uneventful for me, thus there was nothing to write about. This post is an attempt to capture the nothingness over the last few days. Reader discretion is advised

Work : This is perhaps the only thing in this world that I am not interested to do, yet I have to do it. Well there has been some changes at work, work schedule has changed from 2×2 shifts to 4×4 shifts, so now I get to work for 4 days and do nothing for the next 4 days. Well most people would raise an eyebrow with the thought of ” 4 days off “, but believe me thats what is causing the emptiness. The sudden silence after 4 days of hectic work, is like braking your life from 100 – 0 in 3 secs. Just to kill time I am planning for an Agra tour sometime this month.

Home : Well there isn’t any for the “unmarried” kind, anyways there has been no change to the lair except for a routine clean-up session.

Food : Aha this is the best part of life since the last few days. It’s always a treat for the taste buds during Ramzan in HYD, coz its Haleem time then. On a quest to find the best haleem in HYD, till now Pista house rocks !!!

Read : Started off with a fiction “The girl with the Dragon tattoo – by Stieg Larsson ”, a day later “Above average – by Amitabha Bagchi” joined in. Both reads are good can’t comment much on the books as I have just started them.

Movies : Have been watching a lot of movies since a few days, liked some, “Perfume, the story of a murderer” , ” Offside” and “Divided we fall” are some of them.

World around me : On cloud 9 to see Mayawati pushed to the corner by SC for the statue farce, woohoo !!! Don’t know whats the problem with indian media if Shashi Tharoor wants to stay in a 5 star hotel, or if Congress wants it MPs to cut down on costs, all they want is a topic for debate at 9 PM. RIP YSR. Did you notice Indian media has forgotten the BJP episode, since a few days, guess its all well with BJP now

Time to go now, hope the next few days will be a lot more happening — Amen

A tryst with NH 7

When I was young, my Dad used to do a lot of road trips in one of those oldie Jeeps, much of the trips were on Highways, ever since I have always been fascinated with highways, the so called NH Always wanted to go for a long highway drive, but some or the other thing did let me know. This sunday was watching TV with my roomie KDB, it was well past 1 AM, and suddenly I decided go for a bike ride the next morning. Where was the next question, quickly browsed through my TTK India Road map and found a small place Basara some 220 kms from Hyderabad. Off I went to pack my bags for the trip, I was really surprised when KD came up to me and said, “Bro m also coming”, he doesnt like bike trips much, and that too a 450 odd circuit and he has to get back and go to office !!! But he was determined, so we packed our bags and went to bed.

Dont want to write down a lengthy travelogue on it (KDB has already written one here). Next morning we started at sharp 6 am and reached Basar at around 10.30, had a quick darshan and back at HYD by 4.30 PM.  The 450 km circuit was done in approx 10 hrs with stops for tea, breakfast and lunch and a 1 hour break at Basar. Statiscally the circuit was done with an average speed of 50.88 kmph and that too on a bike Max speed reached was around 105 kmph.

Here is some road and route info:

The route is quite straight forward, Hyderabad to Medchal, get on the NH7 from Medchal continue through Tupran, Ramayampet, Kamireddy to Dichipally. Take a left exit from Dichipally and head towards Nizamabad, cross Nizamabad and go upto Jankampet. Take a right exit at the Gandhi Statue there. Basara RS is around 12 kms from there and Basara temple is around 2 kms from then on. The road (NH7) from Medchal to Kamireddy (10 Kms or so from there), is excellent, balack top 4 lane (6 at places) and very good signage. The road from Kamireddy to Dichipally (same NH 7) is a two lane, undivided, balacktop road, the road quality is good but lack of a road divider slows you down. The rest, I guess its a SH is good but not excellent. Loved the NH7 all the way, named this post as a tribute to it

What I liked about the trip:

The sense of you and you bike on an open road is an un-expressable feeling, there is a sense of freedom and an unknown sense of peace that sets in your mind when you drive on a NH. Bike trips do teach a very important thing in life, they harden your patience, at time your arse will go numb, and you will feel like speeding away quickly to your destination, but the road wont allow you to. You ought to remember one very simple rule “On a road trip the road rules and you follow… “. I beleive one is on a learning curve for the first 100000 kms, and I have just completed around 60k, there are still some miles to go …

And it goes on ...

The Indian Car Buyer …

In the US, people love cars with muscle, hot-rods to be more specific. They really dont care about the FE or aerodynamics nor do the like the curves on it thus we have Ford Mustangs, Pontiac GTs, Chevrolet Camaras and so on. The Europeans loved style, design, agility and safety features, they got us Ferraris, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Renaults and so on. In the east (AAP) people wanted FE, they gave us the Honda Civics, Toyota Corollas which are now the most sought after cars worldwide. Until late 90’s the Indian car buyer was absolutely non-existent. But in the last 15 years or so the Indian car market has proved to be the most difficult car market in the world. Why ? Because the Indian buyer wants an American hot-rod engine fitted in a European Ferrari which should have the FE of a Civic Hybridz and should be in the price range of 4-8 lacs INR !!!

I don’t have any grudge on anyone, I myself am such a buyer, I have been looking for a car with all the above features in one package Lot of good cars which have performed very well in global markets have went bust in India, the best example is the Renault Logan. The Logan is one of the most successful European Sedans, the reason it was pitched as  the cheapest entry level sedan globally, in India its bit expensive as a entry level Sedan! The new Fiat GP is perhaps the best hatchback in India today, but it wont work, the GP uses the same MJD motor thats on the Swift DDIS but it wont be as successful as the Swift. Over the years Maruti has cast its spell on the Indian car buyer, they have created such good brand value, A.S.S, resale, and customer delight that the Indian car buyer follows it blindly.

Why cant the Indian car buyer, break the shackles and welcome the next gen global brands into India? Yes of-course its gonna take a lot of effort from the manufacturers also, if GP wants to be as successful as the Swift, then it needs to be faithful to the Indian buyer and stick to the market long enough as  Maruti has done, not just sell 10-15k cars and head back home.

I know this post wanders around, but guys I am bored with the Hyundai’s and Maruti’s just wanna see some great new cars on Indian roads.

What goes UP, must come down …

Sensex surges to highest level since June 2008, the 30-BSE Sensex surged by 253.92 at 15,924.23, after hitting the day’s high of 15,963.36. Sounds good, yes I am getting a ROI of 30% now !!! But where is it headed ?? Here is my prediction, whoa I am no expert, I have been in this trade as a novice for over 2 years. Just wanna write it down somewhere, so that if it happens, then I would say “Aha I told ya”

What we are seeing right now is an economic revival, there is enough liquidity (CASH) in the market, thanks to the various bail-out packages by Government’s worldwide. Interest loans, be it home, car, commercial is at a all time low. Inflation is at all time low, rather its at a negative figure now, (defaltion). People are quite accquainted with the word “Recession” a slight upsurge in the markets leads to frenzied buying. Everything is just perfect for the markets to roar, but it does’nt have any steam in it. So my guess would be the problem would start if the economy revives, if it happens at all. Read an article on TOI, “At 8.5% EPF gives you better return than FD”. Banks would never let it happen, they would increase the rates, in turn the lending rates increase, the inflation increases, and utopia doesnt exist any more !!!

Lets see how my prediction goes BTW, I am on a frenzied selling mode now.

Sensex surges to its highest level since June 2008, the BSE Sensex surged by 253.92 at 15,924.23, after hitting the day’s high of 15,963.36. Sounds good, yes I am getting a ROI of 30% now !!! But where is it headed ?? Here is my prediction, whoa I am no expert, I have been in this trade as a novice for over 2 years. Just wanna write it down somewhere, so that if it happens, then I would say “Aha I told ya”

What we are seeing right now is an economic revival, there is enough liquidity (CASH) in the market, thanks to the various bail-out packages by Government’s worldwide. Interest loans, be it home, car, commercial is at a all time low. Inflation is at all time low, rather its at a negative figure now, (deflation). People are quite bored with the word “Recession” a slight upsurge in the markets leads to frenzied buying. Everything is just perfect for the markets to roar, but it doesn’t have any steam in it. So my guess would be the problem would start if the economy revives, if it happens at all. Read an article on TOI, “At 8.5% EPF gives you better return than FD”. Banks would never let it happen, they would increase the rates, in turn the lending rates increase, the inflation increases, and utopia doesn’t exist any more !!!

Lets see how my prediction goes BTW, I am on a frenzied selling mode now.

Friendship day, is it a scam ?? Who cares …

01:00 am, got a tweet  that says “I so hate this #friendship_day crap btw. Its a scam IMO. “ OMG its friendship’s day today!!!  Hmmm, there I go into the flashback, back when I was in school, me and couple of guys get a bunch of friendship bands and come in early this day, no points for guessing where these bands went ofcourse to all those pretty gals

Ok let me get back to the tweet, it sounded interesting, what is the history/origin of Friendship Day ? Took some googling but found some interesting answers here are some of them:

Theory 1 : International Friendship Day celebrations takes place on the first Sunday of August every year. The tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends began in US in 1935. In 1935 American Govt had killed a person on 1st Saturday of Aug. The next day his friend committed suicide in his memory. Since then American Govt declared 1st Sunday of Aug as friendship day. Gradually the festival gained popularity and today Friendship Day is celebrated in large number of countries.

Theory 2 : With the devastating effects of the First World War still showing and increasing hostilities, mistrust and hatred between countries, provided the perfect conditions for another imminent battle, there was a greater need for friendship and camaraderie not only among nations but also among individuals. Hence, the US Congress decided to designate the first Sunday of the month of August as Friendship Day and with a formal proclamation in 1935, officially declared the occasion a holiday dedicated in the honour of friends and friendship.

Theory 3: Just after the the first world war, when the economy slowing down, people spent their money on basics, the gifts and card industry was badly hit. Friendship Day was then created by wealthy business-men, as another merchandising opportunity to make up for the slow period between the previous splurge and the next splurge.

There are some other boring theories which date back to the Bible and even Mahabharat ages, but I found them to be kinda boring and pointless.

Ohhh I got one more tweet “Aug 2nd is apparently Friendship Day! I hate such commemorative days. As if you need a day to remember your friends. I do that *everyday* “

Come on guys why do you wanna spoil the friendship spirit, take this day as one more day to celebrate friendship, are we going to crib the same way 3 days later when tying rakhi’s to our sisters, why do we need a special day for sisters, we love them everyday !!!

Winnie the pooh- World's Ambassador of Friendship

Anyways wishing you all HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY !!!

Good going …

One of my new year resolutions  was to visit 10 new places this year. This post is a mid year review of how much has been achieved and how is the next half gonna be executed I have not been posting my travelogues online, so the world doesnt know yet where have I been.

Whats acheived ?

Warangal/Yadagirigutta – One day trip in the month of March , wanted to make it a bike trip but went by train and bus. I liked this trip, it made me feel like a real traveller. The trip was decided at 23:30 in the night and off we went at 05:30 hrs. Research for the trip was made only using google and the internet This trip was never planned but it happened so there were lots of minor and major mods done to the trip, like Yadagirigutta was never on the list but it happened, found a good trav buddy Nitant on this trip.

Guntur/Vijaywada/Amaravati/Kotapkonda — Made this trip in april, courtsey dear friend Sasi. It was during Ugadi, when sasi invited us to his hometown Sattenapalli. Some of  the places visted on this trip are Narsimha swamy temple at Mangalgiri, Ma Durga temple at Vijaywada, the huge 32 feet shiva linga at Amaravati, a quite evening on the banks of river Krishna and finally a short bike tripa and a trek to the top of Kotapkonda. All these places are within the radius of 200 kms and we covered it in 2 days. Oh yes almost forgot to mention it, on this trip we somehow managed to get into the river-side farm house of a billionaire in vijaywada which had a discotheque, an open air bar and a motor boat in it, it was sort of the things you see in TV

Srisailam — This was a very quick 1 day trip to the Lord shiva temple at Srisailam in the month of April. Much of the trip was in an hired Innova, and the heat in the month of April stopped made the trip a very tiring one. Something that made this trip special was it was my first outing with my wud be in-laws !!!

Medak/Pocharam wildlife Sanctuary — Finally a bike trip after a long wait of 6 months with my roomie KD Bhai. There is nothing much to do on this trip,  The destination was just an excuse for the ride Medak has an old but beautiful chruch and a boring Bird santuary. But 250 kms in 8 hrs … nostalgia !!!

Indore/Bhopal/Ujjain – This was the most recent one, last week of june. A trip to remember, not because of the places I visited but because of the people I met It was my first trip in Central India, Indore was much to my expectations, lotsa shopping malls and cute gals, spicy food and hustle bustle of an upcoming metro. Bhopal was an utter dissapointment, better not talk to about it. Ujjain is a beautiful temple city, really enjoyed it.

Whats to be achieved ?

Six months in the year and 5 new places/trips added to the list, good going, perhaps this is the first new year resolution I would be keeping up to.. wooohoo. Research has begun for a trip to Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram sometime in August, and also a bike trip to Nagarjun sagar in Sept. In the pipeline is a bike trip to Bidar too! Would like to go on some adventure trips in the later part of the year.

Jagannath Rath Yatra

Its Rath Yatra today, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannath. It would be a joyous and festive day at Puri today. The deities of Jagannath Mandir – Lord Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra – are traditionally installed on huge chariots (rath) and devotees would pull the chariots through the bada-danda (grand street at Puri) all the way to the Gundicha temple. This is the time when the Lord “comes” to the devotees. Some under-privileged sections, foreigners, and devotees from other religious belief are not allowed in the Jagannath temple at Puri. Lord jagannath comes out this day so that everyone can catch a glimpse of him, it is said that just a glimpse of the Lord takes away all the pains, sorrows and augurs happiness. Devotees chant “Jagannath Swami; Nayan Path Gami; Bhava Tumeh”. It means O! Lord Jagannath! Enter my heart through my eyes.

Normally the festival is in the first week of July, but this time it is on Jun 24th. The monsoons have also been delayed, and its almost 41 C at puri with humidity as high as 92%. The devotees would have a hard time this year. As per news reports, despite the hot and humid conditions, there seems to be no decline in the number of devotees.

Here at Hyderabad, the Rath Yatra is carried out by ISKCON. There are also some special prayers arranged at the new Jagannath temple at Banjara Hills. I will not be able to make it there today, as I am travelling to Indore this evening. Next year I wish Rath Yatra is celebrated at the new Jagannath temple in just the same way as in Puri, that way Oriyas here at Hyderabad would not only get to enjoy the festival but also it would make us feel at home

Today – 06/11/2009

Its such a boring day today … absolutely no work. Its like one of the days when you get tired of browsing and want your manager to assign you some work

Thought this was the right time to checkout twitter, heard a lot about it and wanted to try it. After creating my profile, I was wondering what do I do next ??? Searched for some friends, found a few, started following them. Posted a few updates, but no-one replied, felt like it was like talking to a wall. Then started searching for topics and posted replies to it, aahh now I got it why do they say it twitter Have you ever been near/under a huge tree (preferably a Banyan tree) sometime late evening? All kinds of birds return to their nests and keep chirping like hell, as if , as if the sky is falling down, whith abolutely no-one understanding who is saying what !!! Felt twitter to be the same, there are some many people talking with so many others, its like you are in one big room with the entire world in it, you can talk to anyone and whatever you want. It was like I was lost in this room while trying to find someone to have some meaningful discussion. It was frustrating. Will give it a try again tommorow

Any tips on twitter are welcome