Take me out to the ballgame

Take me out to the ballgame
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

A stopgap pic while I write my next post. This shot was taken during last week's trip to the Phillies-NY Mets baseball game at the Citizens Bank ballpark in Philly. And no, the red does not mean that I support the Phillies, it means I support the RedSox :)

A Tale of Two Movies

Last weekend, I had a chance to catch up with two of the biggest Hollywood and Kollywood offerings this summer. On Friday, I saw Batman Begins on IMAX and on Saturday I drove all the way to North Bergen, NJ to see Anniyan. I shall try to objectively review and compare the two in this post. Bear in mind that my tastes have changed significantly over the last five years I have been in the US and might even indicate a bias towards all things American. I can assure the reader that while its a possibility, its not always the case, since I loved Chandramukhi and a large part of Mumbai Express too.

Batman Begins in one word to me is all that can be done right with a movie. Good star cast, good cinematography, great sets and most of all, excellent writing and directing. Chris Nolan of Memento fame, gets everything right with Batman Begins. Hours after watching the movie, I was still trying to remember any perceptible flaw in it and the effort has continued to be futile. Its that good. Frame after frame, the effort shows and the result is a very enjoyable adult comic book movie that blows past all expectations.

Anniyan, on the flip side is really all that can go wrong with a highly touted movie. A good message of civic responsibility is lost in the cacaphony of over the top acting, glaring holes in the script and a loud movie if ever there was one. Vikram not only acts, but overacts too. In the enthusiasm of trying to delineate multiple characters in the movie, he goes completely overboard. The movie is supposedly U rated with no censor cuts. I am really not sure why we need a censor board if this is the job they are doing. The movie is bloody, gory and violent. Some of the scenes were really unwatchable for the gore content. The only things that work for the movie are the songs and their picturisation and vivek's comedy that sparkles after a long time. Even the songs could have been done better, what with almost no dancing of mention by the lead stars.

Batman Begins was an adult look at a comic book hero. It works well with both adults and kids, although it skews more towards the former with a PG-13 rating. Anniyan is an adult look at a very contemporary issue that really supposedly skews towards everyone but it fails badly in that. I didnt have hopes for a classy movie from Shankar. What I hoped for, was a sensible movie (Mudhalvan is a case to point, if you exclude all things Manisha Koirala from it) and what I got instead was a rehash of all old Shankar movies with more gore and Matrix like stunts thrown in for a good measure.

I very highly recommend Batman Begins and ask that people approach Anniyan at their own risk.

At the Crossroads in Kalimdor

Crossroads in the Eastern Kingdom
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

This a screenshot of my character Bheema at the Crossroads in Kalimdor. For the uninitiated, this is a place in the virtual world of the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) "World of Warcraft". I have been having an unbelievably fantastic experience taking my Tauren Warrior Bheema from L1 to L14 where he is currently and there are 46 more levels to go. The cooperative gameplay is just awesome. It has to be experienced to be believed.

Oru Manidhanin Kadhai

Oru Manidhanin Kadhai
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

My good friend George Costanza describes a baldist thus:
"A person who does not associate with bald people".

In a recent email conversation amongst a bunch of friends, this whole idea of baldness and how people react to it, came up. Certainly in the US, baldness is not considered as bad as most other places throughout the world (read India). One friend, who went from hairy to no-hairy over a period of five years, had this to say about it. The email is produced here verbatim.

" Atleast for gaining weight we can blame ourselves, but what can we do about going bald ... it is never in our control, so no point in feeling bad. also, being bald and hair(or lack of) is an issue only in India. Here, I have known personally from 95% of girls, nobody gives a damn(thankfully!).

I did some self analysis and psychologically analysed male baldness. we go through 4 psychological stages ....

1. Shock ... when we see the initial receeding hairlines (this happened to me in 4th year)

2. Denial ... we pretend not to notice the reduced hairline and try to hide it by combing accordingly and not even think about it (for me end of 4th year and initial year here in US)

3. Anger ... this is when no matter how much we try to hide by combing hair over or not notice ever increasing baldness, the hair loss has become so much that it will be noticeable. The anger part is a bit compounded by friends/family asking .... "thalaikku ennai thekkaraya illaya? ... en ivlo mudi kotti pochu?" etc etc. Sometimes when guys(mostly Indian since hair is never an issue for guys here) continue to tease we have an angry retort like "amaam mudi kotti pochu, otha adhukku enna ippo?" (for me the next 2-3 years in US).

4. Rejected Acceptance ... It is just there and we cannot do a damn. We painfully realize that we have to live with it. We look at old pictures once in a while and sigh inside. But we also start looking at bright side ... that hair is not that much of a big deal and try to find alternative ways of accentuating our personalities to cover up for a "physical" loss. This is also when we start making sarcastic jokes at our own baldness. (since last year for me)."

Now to make this even more interesting, I am posting 5 photographs from that same friend, capturing the essence of his writing. We had so much fun reading the email with the photos, I am sure everyone here will too. Click on the thumbnail image to see a bigger version in Flickr.

Note: Big Thanks to my friend AP who was gracious and sporting enough to share this image and his own words on the evolution with all of us. An additional thanks to fellow blogger Pradeep for pasting together multiple images to one cohesive pic.

A picture is worth...

A picture is worth...
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

Well, this picture is worth 3 days, two 128 MB SD cards, multiple gas refills for the car, hundreds of dollars, and yep, 277 other pictures.
The joy of seeing it all in one single collage - priceless.
For all places shown here, visit Los Angeles, California.

Climbing the social ladder

Vetri Nichayam
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

Vetri Nichayam. Taken in Rodeo Drive,CA during my Memorial Day weekend trip it reminds me of Thalaivars pose in Annamalai and then Baasha. And that thrills me to no end.

More on the trip soon.

California and Wine

California and Wine
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

This photo was taken last Saturday in Solvang, CA. The color and contrast in this picture are excellent, coming from a 2 year old 3.1 MP camera. Nothing fancy, yet classy.

Rambaigal Heartil Ringtone Remo

For a change, I thought of posting something that amuses me rather than worry or ponder seriously. Pasted below, courtesy www.geetham.net, is the lyrics for the song "Kaadhal Yaanai" from the upcoming Shankar movie, " Anniyan" starring Vikram with music by Harris Jayaraj.

While this could easily become a serious discussion topic later, at this stage I want this to be enjoyed by all readers. I have listened to the song many times and everytime the lyrics crack me up. I admit to liking the song for its quirky lyrics. I don't approve of english words in tamil songs but I have to give it to whoever wrote this one for the sheer inventiveness he brings to his words. I expect this song to be picturised well by Shankar and is upbeat enough to become very popular. You can listen to the song here. Another version of the lyrics is available here.

oley oley oley yo leyo
aah.. oley oley oley yo leyo
rambo say yoke..
what to say yoke...
it's gonna rockin.noooo..nooooooooo.
yaanai sontham pearu sontham...
one mark two....

kaadhal yaanai varugira remo
mutha thanthathil muttuvom remo
appalam ithayangal bathiram remo
rambo remo...

thookathai turathem dragon remo
pookal vedikindra stengun remo
rambaigal heartil ringtone remo
rainbow remo..

algebra ivan thegam amoeba vai urumarum
king cobra ivan vegam queen ellam thadumarum..

aah aah R E M O remo remo ..romeo
aah aah R E M O remo remo ...romeo

kaadhal yaanai...
thookathai turathum...
algebra ivan...
aah aah...

ring masterin singam pol
suthi suthi varum pengal paar
verkaathey enakku visirigal kodii irukku
changu chakkaram vegam pol
pattam vitu varum aatam paar
baby doll nee enakku teddy bear naan unakku

aah aah...
kaadhal yaanai...
thookathai turathum...

oley oley oley yo leyo
aah.. oley oley oley yo leyo

cmon and take me away
won't you take me away
oley oley yaay hai
u wanna get it up i wanna check it up..

u wanna salsa take me to uuupa
u like to dance
open the raaazzz
unakku baila enakku oila
unakku salsa enakku jalsa
u like to dance
open the raam

hiroshima neethano nagasakiyum neethano
un meethu thaano en kaadhal bomb oh
harappa vum neethano mohanjadarro neethano
aayvaalan naano arayaa lamo

aah R E M O...
kaadhal yaanai...
thookathai turathum...
algebra ivan...
aah aah...

u wanna get it up i wanna check it up..
u wanna salsa take me to uuupa
u like to dance
open the raaazzz
unakku baila enakku oila
unakku salsa enakku jalsa
u like to dance
open the raam

Note: Repeated lines have the first couple of words mentioned followed by ...

Picture of a graffiti in downtown Philly. Philadephia is world famous for its myriad graffiti found all over the city. 

How much is a life worth?

This post should have appeared a month ago, but due to unforseen circumstances is being posted only today. Nevertheless, the impact of the topic of the post is going to be felt forever. On the 24th of March this year, the Government of India significantly amended the 1970 Patent Act that covered drugs and agricultural items, amongst others. While the impact of this on the Indian farmer is significant, the impact of the Law on the entire world community is huge. This Act, which until date permitted Indian drug manufacturers to make cheaper and more affordable variants of generic drugs for diseases like AIDS, was amended to ensure that the WTO guidelines were adhered to. As a part of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Indian drug manufacturers would no more be able to bypass the royalties for drug patents owned by American and European countries. A huge victory for the Pfizers and Bayers and a big setback for AIDS patients worldwide.

India, for those in the dark, provides more than 50% of the drugs used to treat the few million known AIDs patients in Africa and Asia. These generic drugs reduced the cost of a year's treatment for AIDS from $15000 a decade ago to almost $200 today. But with the global markets opening up and the pharma lobbies baying for the billions of dollars worth of lost business, this had to happen. With the new law in force, all future generics are required to adhere to global patent policies which means simply that the drugs are going to cost much much more. Agencies ranging from the World Health Organisation to HIV Kenya, have protested against this "Act against humanity". If imposed immediately, upto 25% or more patients will now be deprived of their AIDS medicine, simply because they cannot afford it anymore.

This brings me to the focal point of this post. Is'nt the main aim of medicine and open markets to save lives and enrich it for "all" concerned?. Why then are the people in third-world countries treated like s^&% just to make sure the coffers of some global behemoths are a few billions richer?. Even with the world becoming as money driven as it is, isnt there some worth for the human life?

Digression: Last weekend I saw "The Interpreter" which talks about genocide in Africa, which while fictional, echoes the very real daily horrors in Darfur. Would it have gotten more attention if it possessed any natural resources that the world needed, like oil, maybe?

A step backwards

Earlier this week the Papal conclave elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany as the next Pope. Cardinal Ratzinger who now goes by the name of Pope Benedict XVI is a known conservative amongst the candidates who were in consideration for the position. While its expected that the Roman Catholic Church would have mostly conservatives in its midst, this particular selection stands out among the rest for his steadfast beliefs in all the major issues facing the Church and refusing to take the step into the new millennium.

Quoting an article from NY Times, Q|In a document issued in 2000, "Dominus Jesus," the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that Cardinal Ratzinger headed said the Catholic Church was the only true path to salvation and called other faiths "gravely deficient."|Q. Now I am a moderate who believes that everyone is entitled to their religion and beliefs. I think each one of us has our own vision of God and path to Heaven. But for the new leader of 1.1 billion Catholics of the world to have such an opinion makes it a big problem. In an era of religious disputes and faith based problems, do we need one more ?. Shouldnt we be progressing towards a world where religion is what is in one's heart and nothing else?.

In addition, toeing a conservative line even by Church standards, the new Pope is against women in Church, for celibate priests in the Church, against abortion and birth control and definitely against homosexuality. Given all this, I am not sure how the Pope would succeed in mending fences that are tattered all over the globe. From a human perspective, don't we need a open minded healer of differences much more than a divider ?

Lunch with Rajini and tea with Kamal

Well, it didnt exactly happen the way the title makes it out to be, but it got pretty close. After a long time, I got to see two movies back to back on the same day and that too featuring the last two superstars of tamil cinema. What was supposed to be an afternoon showing of Chandramukhi ended being a double bill with an evening show of Mumbai Express (in tamil, of course). I am not going to review the two movies in detail since fellow bloggers Saran and Jagan have done it already. I will try to compare the two and see how it all pans out.

Chandramukhi is the unlikeliest superstar movie I have seen in the last few years. I mean it has the least Rajini screen time and very few superstar'isms. Gone are the multiple fights, the mannerisms that only Rajini can get away with, the cigarette thigie and what not. In its place is a family friendly ambience with more people in every frame and a story to boot. I had not seen the Malayalam original. So the story was new to me. It was definitely interesting and while it could have been done better, it was definitely not boring and the masala was not excessive. Sans the occasional praising-over-the-top of Rajini and the abominable acting of Jyothika (whoever chose her for the role deserves a kick in the posterior), the movie was derfinitely worth my trip to North Bergen, NJ.

After a half hour trip to the Edison, NJ and a nice snack at Hot Breads, we settled down to watch Mumbai Express. The movie started off hilariously and the humor was excellent. The gags kept coming non-stop and I loved the first half of the movie a lot. It was physical comedy at its best and hats off to Kamal for the screenplay until that point. Once the movie reaches half time, the gags slow down to a trickle and while the movie is still funny and all, the jokes dont elicit that many laughs. The plot gets contorted and well, the story totally loses steam. By the time the climax arrives, you are almost thankful. What could have been a crisp and excellent 2 hour movie ends up being an almost-fantastic but part boring 3 hour experience. While the movie still is way ahead of what goes by the name of comedy in Indian cinema today, it could have been much better with some editing in the second half. Kamal, Pasupathy, Vyapuri and Ramesh Aravind are excellent and on the opposite side of the spectrum, the kid and Manisha Koirala are awful.

Between the two movies, as always, Chandramukhi is more mass friendly while Mumbai Express carries the Kamal stamp of intelligence. The former will unquestionably do much better than the latter. For me, the experience of seeing the two movies on the same day was phenomenal. I have'nt lapped up to any actor since the days of Rajini and Kamal and now I know why. What these stars bring to the table is much more than just histrionics. They bring a level of enjoyment to me and a sense of nostalgia of my youth that is unsurpassed by any other. They make watching Indian movies a sheer joy, as it was always supposed to be.

Eppadi Padinaro

With the music season in full swing in the Philly area, I have been transported to the temples and auditoriums in Coimbatore where I had first listened to the masters of Carnatic music. The music season used to last all year long and all the top artists had Coimbatore in their itinerary. Be it Corporation Kalai Arangam where the ITC concerts took place or Ramar temple in Ramnagar where there were Aradhanas all year long, it was sheer pleasure listening to the stalwarts. The year end festival at Ayyappan Puja Sangam and the Pongal Music Festival at my alma mater, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, not only featured the maestros but also had slots for now and upcoming artists.

I remember my parents leaving early while my brother and I joined them later. Those days! Ragam Thanam Pallavis were not my cup of tea and the thukkadas were my primary reason to attend concerts. As I grew older and understood music and its nuances better, the significance of RTP sunk into me. I was hooked onto them, thereon. The quick breaks to the nearby bhelpuri stall or the Pazhamudir Nilayam during the Thaniyavardhanam are still fresh in my mind.

Besides getting a chance to interact with the artists, concerts were a place where one could forget all worries and just enjoy wonderful music all evening long. The amusing banter of the critics and the teary eyes of the ardent music fan were very much a part of the experience. Beyond all those wonderful concerts, the nightly listening sessions at home with family over hot Milo or Horlicks are some of my best memories of life in Coimbatore.

Today with concerts in the US being as frequent as they are, I miss my balmy evening trysts with Carnatic music in good old Coimbatore. Someday I hope to get back to that life with far fewer worries and far more music and peace.

Fever Pitch

Yes, the excitement is indeed Fever Pitch. The baseball season formally began with Opening Day on Sunday. The Champions, Boston Red Sox ( I am still to get out of last October's celebrations) faced the 800 pound gorilla, NY Yankees. The Yanks with sizeable pitching additions to their roster (Big Unit & Carl Parano) are strong favorites to win the championships this year. But then, who can forget the choke of the century last October (Can't beat that one, eh?). The Sox on the other hand have been all talk, all winter long and its time their bats do the talking. Will this be a repeat or will the Yanks rise up to the challenge, only time will tell. But for now, its Sox mania all over again. :)

An interesting aside to the season is a movie named 'Fever Pitch' that is getting released this Friday. Starring Jimmy Fallon (of SNL fame) and Drew Barrymore (of Charlie's Angels fame), the movie is a baseball version of a soccer book by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) who also serves as a co-producer. Shalini and I got a chance to watch a sneak preview of the movie last week and thankfully, the movie didn't tarnish the glory of the Red Sox. Directed by the Farelly brothers (There's Something about Mary, Shallow Hal) the mild romantic comedy about a hot shot exec (Barrymore) and a Sox crazy school teacher (Fallon) was funny and didnt tarnish the Sox name or the game. Aside from the fact that the climax was shot in St.Louis during last year's
championship and didn't go very well with fans (myself included) the movie used Fenway Park and the lore of the Curse pretty well. A decent time-pass for lovers of Sox, baseball fans (well, Yankees fans excluded) and romantic comedies.

Go Sox!

Update: The third game of the season for the Sox is progressing as this blog is being posted. The Sox have opened badly, but on par with expectations, by losing the first two games to the Yankees. I am not hoping to see any fireworks until mid-season when things hot up. Until then, I shall just soak in the joy of seeing a game a day, everyday.

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 ?