Writing and Blogging: In English

After blogging for 7 months and visiting innumerable others, I have observed the unique "bloglish" that populates almost all of them (mine included). One of the reasons I started to blog was to improve my writing skills which had stagnated after my Masters dissertation work. I was desperate to return to writing and writing well. I love writing in English and this was one of my outlets (an enjoyable one, that) to exercise my rusty skills. The experience has been very interesting in that I have learnt how really poor my writing has gotten and how much I need to work on it. Blogs have helped me learn some mistakes and I have being working on correcting them. Emails have almost destroyed the sanctity of good writing and blogs were the last nail in the coffin. Before anyone jumps on me, remember, acceptance is the first step in fixing something.

I am not a lingual purist but I like reading a well written blog. With all the commas and periods and capitalizations in their rightful place and the proper use of grammar, its a readers delight. Agreed that certain posts require region specific answers that do not need to adhere to the general rule. Some posts of fellow bloggers Jagan and Saran are examples to the region issue where Tamil almost always shares equal space with English. Sometimes it appears more personal and casual to write without the rules in place. Very true and definitely not a problem. But in other cases, where the discussion is not regional but global in perspective and content, does it work ?. Does the habit of using one's own English, really take us down a path of no return ?

I am sure some of you feel strongly against my opinion and I shall be glad to hear them. But for those who feel like writing better, here are some suggested readings:

Strunk, William, Jr. "The Elements of Style". Fourth Edition.
This book is the platinum standard when it comes to writing well. Simple, very concise (akin to Ammani's quick tales) and never deviating from the point.

Aldred, Gerald.J, et al. "The Handbook of Technical Writing". Seventh Edition.
This is more for technical writing and less for casual writing.

Van Laan, Krista, et al. " The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing"
For those who like it the Idiot's way.

Truss, Lynne. "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation"
I have not read this myself but it comes highly recommended for its engaging style in making its case.

Bryson, Bill. "Brysons Dictionary of Troublesome Words"
This is a thoroughly enjoyable tome on the oft repeated mistakes in written English.

Note:
Manoj recommends "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into values" by Robert.M.Pirsig for a good understanding of quality and all things thereof.

If there is heaven on Earth, its here, its now !

Being an Indian classical music afficionado in the tri-state area is a great feeling. The plethora of interesting concerts in the summer is a fantastic experience, embellished by the fact that I finally have the company, time and resources to enjoy them to my hearts fill.
The season formally kicked off last week with a fusion music concert featuring the violin duo of L.Shankar and Gingger. Playing their unique double violin, the artists pwww.srurovided a unique experience to the audience with a blend of western and Indian classical music. Between a fantastic Kamboji and pieces from the movie, The Passion of the Christ, there were eclectic compositions that were rooted in Indian classical music, yet made the best use of classical western jazz elements. In all, a great experience, topped by a personal tete-a-tete with ex-Shakti violinist, Shankar himself.
Last night, my wife and I were treated to an amazing violin performance by son and daughter of violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman, G.J.R.Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi at the local Chinmaya Mission center. A four hour marathon, the concert was brilliant. Completely relying on the classical underpinnings of the artists, the selection of Ragas was wide and thoughtful. Starting with a varnam in Kannada (you read it right, not Kanada), the violin virtuosos appealed to the connoiseurs of Carnatic music with their krithis in Kalavathi, Ranjani, Kedaragowla, Reethigowla, a detailed piece in Kalyani and RTP (Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi) in Hindolam. The latter was accentuated with a casual change of Raga to Kanada, Bhoopalam, Neelambhari and Hamsanandhi. Not to disappoint the casual audience, the Lalgudi siblings played some janaranjaga pieces like Theeradha Vilayattu Pillai (Ragamalika), Rama Mantrava (Jaunpuri), Manasasancharare (Shyama), Kurai Ondrum Illai (an MS piece - Ragamalika) and finally a Lalgudi Thillana in Misra Mandu. The experience was just awesome and I cant wait for more from the duo.
Next week is a Sruti concert, a jugalbandi this time with prodigies Ravikiran (Chitraveena) and Shashank (flute) followed the week after by another jugalbandi with Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.
For the music lover in me, its just about close to perfection and I am in heavenly music bliss right now. I know this post probably appeals to a select few but I had to put it down since it was such a great feeling last night after the concert.

Humor anyone ?

One of the oft argued topics between me and my mother is India is about the programming content in the satellite channels in India. Note that I mention satellite since mainstream Doordarshan and its offsprings have long lost significance in the Indian household. When I was in India until 2000, I used to laugh at my mother and every other middle aged lady that I knew of, sitting and watching weeper after weeper being shown on Sun TV and JJ and what not. Then, I found it amusing to watch completely unbelievable stories being acted out by the worst actors acting can ever produce. The scripts were hackeneyed and so maudlin that it was as if the handkerchief makers had stuck a big time deal with all channels to ensure that the content would produce tears aplenty. Now, if only these tears are the ones you get seeing a Swades or a Braveheart or a Black(I still havent seen this one yet). Unfortunately, no. These tears and all other negative emotions arise from a torturing mother in law, poor daughter in law, philandering husband, drunk husband/father/brother/son, and all permutations and combinations of "bitch" and "a#$%&*e" that a writer with total lack of ideas can conjure.

I moved to the US and got exposed to a *LOT* of sitcoms. Fresh episodes aplenty of Friends and Everybody loves Raymond and Frasier and King of Queens and South Park coupled with reruns of Fresh Prince of BelAir and Cosby Show and the Holy Grail of comedy, Seinfeld have made me realise the joy one gets out of having a laugh, sometimes non stop for 22 minutes. I worship humor at the altar of Seinfeld which I have watched so many times, I have lost count. The subtle humor of Frasier and the utter crassness of South Park and Family Guy, make you wonder, why is there no such programme in India. I remember those days when I was young and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi and Nukkad and Ghar Jamai used to make me laugh. I ever remember watching reruns of Dekh Bhai Dekh that elicited laughs aplenty. Where are those truly funny serials. Sun TV for its part has singularly associated serials with absurdity and crap. Their comedies are so pathetic, Ill refrain from commenting on them. The few minutes I spent watching TV in India during my last November trip are best forgotten.

This brings me to ask, are Indians people who want to cry and nothing else ?. If thats so, why do so many of us lap up the sitcoms in the US so much. Does that mean that the satellite channels are to be blamed for streaming crap after crap to homes all over the country ?. Or is it really the fault of housewives and old people who sit and watch the load of bullshit being thrown at them morning, noon and night ?

Will we Indians, in India, ever watch an Indian program and laugh out loud with gay abandon at the genuine humor of good writing, ever again ?

A B&W version of the front of my wedding invitation from last November. Uploaded on request from Noisyparan (http://noisyparan.blogspot.com) 

An experiment in self discovery. You be the judge :) 

Internet and Life

Before I start this post, I'd like to give a shout out to Regina Lynn, whose column regularly appears in Wired. She writes all about sex and technology. If you wonder what thats all about, check out her articles and you'll get a feel for it. Well, I am not here to really write about sex and tech. Regina does it much better. Her column inspired me to write this post and I thank her for that. I am here to write about the bigger picture, our life online and our life, not online.

Many of us who blog and/or read others blogs know very well what I am talking about. Is there any one amongst us who does not feel that our life is increasingly becoming more online, and less of reality ?. There are of course those exceptional ones who balance a fantastic online life with a great social life. But this is not about those select few to whom I bow, by the way. Its for the rest of us, who try to balance a work life, an online life and then our real lives. My wife often complains about me spending too much time on the computer when I am at home. I agree. I am at fault. But then, how do I fix it? We people, atleast those in the US, know about how everything from paying your bills to finding out routes to communicating with people to meeting our potential future partners, do everything on the internet. So how then do we escape the cluthes of the technology that really is only supposed to be there for help, and not take over our lives? Not exaggerating the scenario, I do have a good social life. I go out regularly and my wife and I do stuff that is fun and does not involve the computer. But I can also see that the quality time is courtesy a good wife who shares a penchant for doing stuff, sans the computer. I dread to think of those days before my marriage when I was wedded to my computer and all things tech. If it were not for those few friends with whom I shared some good times, my life would have started and ended with Startup and Shutdown.

I know many readers here are single, working in some good company and making a lot of money, but really not knowing how to spend their time in a way that excites and challenges you. To those people Id ask, any luck yet ? Have you made the critical breakthrough that reinforces your mental supremacy over the control of the machine ? Have you succeeded in seperating your online life from your real life, in flesh and blood ?. If so, where do you draw the line ?

The Complete Song

Like most of the readers here, I love listening to music. I listen to many forms of music from Indian classical to hindustani to Jazz to blues to hiphop and reggae. While this post isnt about all of them, its about the one form that I listen to the most of the lot: Indian film music. Indian film music has a charm of its own that fuses the best from the aforesaid and many more styles and comes up with an amalgam thats unique in very many ways. Sometimes its inspired and sometimes its blatantly lifted. Sometimes its completely original and sometimes its a mix of all the mentioned. Whatever be the case, film music enthralls the listener to an entirely different level from where he or she is.

I listen to a *LOT* of film music: hindi, tamil, and occasionally telugu and malayalam. Out of the lot of songs, there are some that have a retentive quality thats quite fascinating. I call these "complete songs". A complete song by my definition has all that you expect from a song and more of the same: an addictive and immensely hummable tune, captivating voices singing it for you, likeable and situationally suitable lyrics and as an added feature, nice visuals that pop in front of your eyes, when you listen to the song. If ones inspects these criteria carefully, you can note that there are but only a few songs that will fit the bill. I am in the process of making a list of such songs in the hope of creating a personal "Complete Songs Collection". Any suggestions are very welcome. Some examples to start with are:

1. Chayya Chayya - Dil Se ( ARR, Gulzar, Sukhwinder Singh, Swapna Awasthi, Manirathnam , SRK, Malaika - anything more you can ask for?)
2. Engeyum eppodhum - Ninaithale Inikkum (MSV, Kamalhassan, Rajinikanth, SPB, Kannadasan, KB and the disco fever of the 70s)
3. Ilamai Idho Idho-Sagalakalavallavan (Ilayaraja, Kamalhassan, SPB and the power of dance, I can listen to this one piece all day without getting tired)
4. Chandralekha -Thiruda Thiruda (ARR, Anupama, Vairamuthu, Manirathnam and a whole new meaning to music that rocks)
5. Mettu podu - Duet (ARR, SPB, Susheela, Kadri, Vairamuthu, and KB - if only the marriage of carnatic music and film music is always so good)
6. Thakida Thathumi-Salangai Oli (Ilayaraja, SPB, Vali(?),Vishwanath- the complete song featuring the best of the complete actor)

I have a few more almost there songs but these really are the benchmarks against which I can measure the rest. Any more you can think of ?

We love the game. Do they ?

Update:
Two days back , something happened in an NCAA basketball game that gave an interesting twist to the arguments we have been having on the quality of sports today. John Chaney, a supposedly ex-hotshot coach of Temple University's basketball team was unhappy with some so called "illegal screens" used by players of St.Josephs and the officials not noting them. He sent in seldom-used 6-foot-8, 250-pound Nehemiah Ingram for the single avowed purpose that he didnt like the way St.Joe's approach to things. What followed was one of the most shameful acts in college basketball history. Ingram became, in Chaney's own words, a goon to show he meant business to St.Joe's players. What was a 6 point game until then was lost on a 16 point margin but the message sure got delivered. John Bryant, the St.Joe's player who was the prime target for Ingram and Chaney is now out of action for the season.
What followed was even worse. Chaney, who has tremendous clout in Temple, took a self-imposed single game suspension for his act. Not the league, not the school, no one had the power to say, he must be suspended for the rest of the season, like the career of John Bryant, who is now going to watch the rest of the season roll by from the benches. This illustrates how much coaches matter in NCAA. A similar act in professional basketball or any other sport would have resulted in atleast 5-7 game suspension for the coach, not to mention sever fines and disrespect. Here, Chaney gets away with just a game, that too self-imposed.
Is this the way sports are going to played in the future ?. An all poweful coach, doing and getting away with what he wants and everyone else just sitting and watching ?

Original Post:
I remember a decade or more years ago when cricket was all that made sense to me. It was pure and blissful and kept me on my tenterhooks all year. And then the match fixing scandal broke out. While I tried rationalising that only a few players were tainted and the game as such was still as pure as it used to be, the enormity of the situation had started to sink in. Its professional and like any profession, there is so much of dirt in it that at this point of time was threatening to obscure the beautiful game that it was.

Fast forward to last year when the doping accusations in baseball started filtering in. BALCO and Barry Bonds were all over the papers and the SF Giants slugger was trying hard to convince the public that he had nothing to do with performance enhancers or steroids, while everyone from his friends in the game (Gary Sheffield) to his trainer to his ex-girlfriend spoke otherwise. Soon Jason Giambi and Sheffield were pulled in and the book "Juiced" released last week, ensured that infamy was here to stay in baseball.

Olympics over the last few years has been filled with doping scandals aplenty. Ben Johnson anyone ?. Late last year and early this year, owners and players of Major League Hockey in the US fought over who gets more money and the talks broke down last week and the announcement that there would be no hockey this season, followed. This time, money was the culprit.

Looking at all these, it begs to be said. Is there no more game in the game anymore ?
Is it all about winning and the adulation and money and not about the joy of being on the arena or the field and enjoying the sheer joy of playing the game ?
While its hard not to be cynical about it, are we at the end of the road for the spirit of sports or what is left of it ?

Wireless Municipalities

Almost five years ago when I started my Masters program at Virginia Tech, the wireless LAN industry was almost non-existent and wireless was all things cellular. In 2001, the Communication Network Services of VT (parent of my research group) started a pilot WLAN deployment project of which I was a part. It was one of the earliest and largest campus WLAN deployments inspired by the now legendary Wireless Andrew project at CMU. It was an awesome experience at a time when WLAN was bleeding edge.

Cut to today. I live in Philly where the city Mayor recently proposed the setting up of the largest single WLAN network encompassing the entire Philly downtown and some suburbs. I was excited on hearing about it. Philly downtown has three fairly big Universities-UPenn, Drexel and Temple. The aim of the program is to provide affordable high-speed service to low income residents of the city and also the many thousand students who cannot otherwise afford high-speed access. This move which envisions a $10 million investment by private sector and the municipality would result in 4000 wireless antennas hoisted upon lamp posts over the next 18 months. The private sector isnt really enthusiastic since the largest cable operator in the US, Comcast has its headquarters in Philly and doesnt want to pay for something that would reduce its cable internet subscriber base. Verizon Communications also isnt happy since its trying to make money with its $30 a month DSL plan. They believe that the municipality wants to hurt the hand that feeds it in form of donations and taxes.

This brings us to the question: are socialist ideas of taking broadband to every home at affordable prices really the best for the corporate community that feeds the municipality to a vast extent ?

Is the Philly project, arguably the largest such in the country, a landmark event or one big mistake ?

VoIP

There have been some extra serious topics going around and I thought Ill write about something more generic for people to chew on. Last week I picked up a Vonage broadband VoIP phone connection at home. Have to say it was long time coming. I usually like being ahead of the curve but this one I got in late. Neverthless, it has been a good experience until now. I got a 500 minutes package for 15 dollars a month which includes all the call features including Caller-Id for free and also 800 and 911 calling.I got my Activation fee waived too which was definitely nice and a Linksys router with phone ports that needs to be returned when I disconnect my service. Best of all ,you get to use your old phone and not the headset and computer speakers that are otherwise associated with VoIP.

No wonder the CLECs and RBOCs are not happy. There are already reports of local service providers blocking VoIP service in the fear of losing their revenue streams. Vonage is complaining to FCC about local operators blocking its service and its getting nastier by the day. Meanwhile, elsewhere Skype, while getting good deals under its belt is having Customer Service issues.

For Indians in the US, there are VoIP providers offering unlimited calling to India for 35 dollars a month. And for people who need more than 500 minutes a month, Vonage offers a 24.99 unlimted calling plan. And then there is AT&T CallVantage which has garnered good reviews but is a tad more expensive than Vonage.

All in all, we have a good bunch of options to choose from and with competition hotting up, things will only get better. And in that note, Ill wrap up.

Shameless Plug: If you decide to take a Vonage connection, let me know and I can refer you :)

Update: Pradeep has a good writeup on the overall VoIP picture here.

Whats with Valentine's day and gifting ?

No, I am not a Shiv Sainik who is against the celebration of V Day because of moral crap. That is pure bullshit from people who have nothing else to do and whose wives dont get the attention they deserve from their husbands. I am a sane, literate person who questions the increasing pressure and focus on V Day. Its been 5 years since I was in India for V Day. So forgive me if I am out of touch with things there.In the US, things are now at a point where the amount of caring and love you have for a person is increasingly being measured in terms of extremely tangible metrics like how many carats is the engagement ring, how many tiers are in the wedding cake and yeah, how many roses did you give to her for Valentine's Day. Added to this are what gifts to give for V Day. Is it thoughtful or insensitive. The works.

I understand that February the 14th is a day for people in love to express in some way or the other, their feelings for their lovers. Cool. I am all for it. But to have the expression of love being measured in terms of material things is taking this a bit too far. I have gifted my girlfriend and now my wife for every single of the V Days we have been together and am glad to note that she doesnt measure my gifts with any yardstick but the fact that I remembered and gave her something. Unfortunately my friends have a whole different story to tell me about their V Days, ranging from getting some really special action or getting none based on their gifts, being kicked out to the couch courtesy a bad gift and so on. Is this really how a Valentine's day is supposed to be ?

Are we losing track of the simple pleasures of live and giving anything and everything a tangible and material twist ?

We are a dynasty baby! Oh Yeah !
Pictures Courtesy: http://www.boston.com

Dynasty!

Just a few seconds ago, the New England Patriots nailed their third Super Bowl in four years and picked up the tag of the first dynasty in football in the 21st century. I would love to write and write and write about this victory given the amount of anti-Patriotism I have had to face from Eagles fans in Philly. But I will stop here and soak in the glory.

Attaboy Brady, Teddy, Dillon, Harrison, Dillon, Givens, Branch and every single member of the victorious Patriots. And most of all, attaman Belichick.

We believed and will continue to do so, always.

Go Pats !

PS: No Nipplegate this time around. Sadly.

Its SuperBowl time and the Patriots are in the SuperBowl, again ! This is me at my work during Interdigital WingBowl 2005. 

Is it worth the price ?

I am heading into a contentious territory where I have debated with many over the last few months. A fellow blogger even wrote a related article on NASA and marketing, a few weeks back to great response and debate. I wouldnt want to take up the big picture but rather focus on one small area, portable music players and the now ubiquitous iPods. For more than a year now, I have drooled over getting myself an iPod. I knew it had much less functionality than many players out there. It was definitely more expensive than the rest of the pack and was more propreitary than most, if you want to put Sony's foolish Atrac NetMD systems at the top of the pile. But the industrial design of iPod and its siblings were enough to dispel all other problems away and let us marvel at the engineering and design that went behind this runaway bestseller.

This brings me to the question, is it really worth the price ?. I succumbed last evening to the lure myself and treated my wife to a iPod Shuffle, the least expensive sibling of the family. Like the rest of the iPod family, the Shuffle gives you some good stuff but also compromises on other useful stuff like a display, FM tuner and a voice recorder. The Creative Micro Muvo N200 has a similar configuration as the iPod Shuffle but with an added FM tuner and display for $30 more. I could have afforded the price. But, then it didnt have the charm of the Pod. As is the case with all other Apple products, are the looks worth the price ?. I certainly thought so and plunked a 100 bucks on it. The sound quality is exceptional and the looks are awesome. The comfort of use is good and so is the process of moving songs into the Shuffle using iTunes. But then you cannot move songs to the Shuffle without iTunes which sucks sometimes.

Time will tell if my decision was wise or not, but for now, my wife loves it and so do I !

A conversation for a movie

Last night my wife and I finally sat down to watch "Before Sunset" which had come via Blockbuster Online, earlier in the week. I had heard a lot about the movie and was waiting to see the first movie "Before Sunrise" before I saw the sequel. But Blockbuster unfortunately put the first one in a short wait and I had to watch the sequel first. I dont regret it too much as an afterthought. The movie is a rare, almost unheard of "romantic sequel" to a modest cult movie that was released 9 years ago. The first movie is about how a young writer played by Ethan Hawke and a French free-spirited person played by Julie Delpy meet one evening in Vienna. They get to know each other and enjoy their company immensely. They have but one evening to get to know each other before they go their ways, the next morning. While parting, they plan to meet again 6 months hence in the same place, if they were still intent on being with each other. This is the premise of the first movie, as described here.

The second movie, picks up 9 years later with the hero, now a writer, promoting his book in Paris and the heroine, now an activist with Green Cross, comes to his last book signing before his evening flight to NY. The two pick off the strands of their past and what happened between the fateful evening in Vienna and today. The entire movie is a conversation between the two, set amidst the glory of summertime Paris. While it seems to be a bore to watch two people just talking throughout the 80 odd minutes, rest assured, you'll be more than surprised. The movie is unbelievably real and you can feel as if you are there as a third participant in the conversation that traverses a multitude of topics ranging from Buddhist monks to death to lost love to the history of Notre Dame to sex and what not. The movie's screenplay written by Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater (the director) themselves, sparkles with amazing insight into the flaws and strengths of human character and is a fantastic study of the two common place individuals in a unique situation. Needless to say, the climax is really the piece de resistance. You dont see it coming and when it does, you have a smile on your lips that tells you, there is always hope at the end of the tunnel.

I am now waiting to see the first movie and while I do that, I very strongly recommend you see one or both of them. Rarely do we get to watch movies where it not technique or the cinematography or the stars or anything else which is a staple of most movies today, that really matters. For once its about people and their emotions and simply wonderful character interplay between the protagonists. No more. No less.

A Collage of photos taken during the snowstorm that hit Northeast United States last weekend. 

www.blogmatrimony.com

A few days back while I was discussing stuff related to blogging with some friends, I came across this unanimous feeling that many people are possibly using blogs to impress people of the other sex. Now before you start raising the cudgels against me, give me a patient hear and then decide.

A friend of mine used to tell me that he had a domain registered and maintained a website just to impress women. He got married and voila, the site is taken down :). A week or so back there was an interesting conversation in a fellow blogger's site about how female bloggers attract more posts than their male counterparts. While I argued that it isnt true, a nagging feeling in me indicated otherwise. Do many bloggers blog because they truly want to put their thoughts and feelings out there, or do they blog just to get the attention and consequently the partner they deserve. While it might be a very far shot at the least, it is not Utopian for sure.

Blogs in essence are about a person's passions and his or her thoughts that he or she would like to discuss with friends in public. Would this also not be the best means to put your inner self out there in the hope of landing a good partner for life ? I think it makes a lot of sense, IF the person's writings truly reflect the personality. Writings, attitudes and feelings can be easily faked in the world on blogging and to get completely carried away to the extent of considering a person as a life partner would then be utterly stupid. In an online world where males pose as females and chat and vice versa, would it make sense to trust a blogger's words ?

Finally, given all the aforesaid arguments, would a person be able to pick (and correctly at that) a good life partner from blog-dom ? Here is to one such couple and the pathetic tamil film that is going to get spawned (if its not already in the works) as a result of love by blogging :)

God and the Tsunami

I have been reading and hearing a lot of interesting interpretations of the Tsunami from people of various religious beliefs and aspirations. As a believer in the existence of a greater being, I am confused as to how to interpret this situation.

As people of many faith chime in www.beliefnet.org, religion can be used to account or discount the reason for the Tsunami. Some said that it was God punishing us for losing track of our morals, while others said while they believed in the existence of God, the Tsunami was not his act. If I were to believe in the omnipotent God, how can I accept an argument that he was not responsible for the Tsunami. One Indian religious group went to the extent of attributing the Tsunami as a punishment from God for putting the Kanchi Seer behind bars. Given that it struck areas where religion assumes tremendous significance, it is hard to fathom the reasoning behind the death of so many of His or Her believers. Each religion tries to twist this cruel fate of nature to its own interpretation of sorrow and eventually redemption. But if we look through the eyes of the lonely fisherman who has lost all of his family and friends and livelihood, its hard to put things in the perspective.

A fellow blogger gave a positive twist to the whole thing by saying the Tsunami brought people together as never before. While I can see his logic, I cannot agree to that completely. Would God destroy his poor and diligent followers while letting the rich and probably more cynical to survive ? The existence of Heaven and Hell, while giving a spiritual explanation to how God treats followers, does little to explain the so many deaths of young and old, male and female.

Or is it, as scientists and even the engineer in me, says, its an act of nature. No more. No less. Tsunami's are events of nature that happen due to shifting of plates and one such happened here. And it will probably be another 400 years before we see another in the Indian Ocean.

Is there a God and if so, what was His or Her role in the Tsunami ?

Update:
01/17/2005: And now a Virus in the name of seeking AID for the Tsunami. The world continues in its ways, Tsunami or no Tsunami.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5539215.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet

Swades: We, the people

This past weekend I got a chance to watch Swades, a new Hindi movie by the maker of Lagaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan. I have to say, it was a fantastic experience. Much has been written about whats wrong with the movie and why it flopped. Let me write whats right with the movie, especially since it assumes so much significance for all of the readers of this blog.

Swades is a story about an NRI finding out how much his country needs him and going back, "To light the bulb", to use the line from the movie. For once the hero is a flawed character who works with NASA and wants to continue doing his stuff in the US but when he makes a short trip to India, sees how much he can really make a difference. Before you can jump on the "movie on brain drain bandawagon", the protagonist gets to bounce his ideas on an illiterate lot in a God forsaken part of India. While I was watching the movie, so much of it made sense to me. A lot of it stuck me as so true. The idea that the country needs us is put across so beautifully. And before all the software engineers who sneer at us desis in US get to do their victory laps, let me say this. Folks, wake up and smell the coffee. SRK gets to exploding the myth that is so rampant in India that inspite of all illiteracy and poverty and corruption, we are the greatest country in the world because of our "culture and tradition". As SRK says, while we have the potential to become the greatest country in the world, we are nowhere close to it. So true. We talk of values while we can neither control the sleeze on screen nor the double standards of so called moral police like Shiv Sena. We talk of tradition and refuse to break away from the caste system that has almost ruined the education and public sector employment system. We call the western world as unmoralistic and what not. Hey, it doesnt hurt to do what you like and not hide behind moralistic morass.

The movie boasts of some fantastic music and meaninful lyrics to boot. Each song makes the viewer think deep. Something that is so sorely missing from the songs of today. There are thankfully no duets in Switzerland nor is there the comic sidekick to the hero. The movie tells as story and it does that really well.

Yes, our country needs us. As the Mela Ram character so succintly puts it, "Whats the use in putting a lamp outside your house that lights not yours but your neighbours porch". Someday we, or atleast I will go back home to do my best for my country. Until then I shall do my mite in helping my country progress, albeit indirectly. I would like to light my bulb someday, in India and while that day is not tomorrow, it sure isnt far away.

Do watch the movie and trust me, you wont walk away without thinking about it afterwards.