Yeah Right!

You might have received an email (forward of course!) titled "How Niagara Falls Originated". The email has pictures of Niagara Falls (claiming the year to be 1869) with no water flowing over it. The picture also shows some construction vehicles/equipment nearby. That picture claims to be the Niagara Falls origin scene! I have had the privilege of seeing Niagara Falls and want to categorically state that the email is FALSE.

The pictures that you see in that email, where no water is falling over the Falls was a repair effort undertaken by the NY water authority some decades back. This was in response to a portion of one of the cliff rocks falling over due to erosion. To avoid such cases and thereby potential injuries, susceptible portions of the land mass were reinforced. The Niagara river was diverted for some time to fall over the horse-shoe section of the falls while the repair took place at the main location. That's why some photos show no water over the falls. After the repair was completed, the river was re diverted and the falls resumed.

(How Niagara Falls originated!...Yeah Right!)

Forsyth is King

That I am a fan of Frederick Forsyth's writing would be an understatement. I have thoroughly enjoyed 'The Day of The Jackal', 'Icon', 'The Fourth Protocol', 'No Comebacks' and 'The Odessa File' before. But the book I finished yesterday has surpassed all those! 'The Devil's Alternative' is by far, his most complex and thrilling book according to me. I should not be making such opinions since I have to read many of his novels yet but this is surely one of the best.

I can't remember sleeping so peacefully after digesting any climax. I finished the book at 12.45 am yesterday, 5 weeks after I started reading it! (I am a slow reader and many would laugh at my speed, I admit!) As always the book's Epilogue changes perspectives so dramatically that you awe at the literary and formulation skills of Forsyth. The last 3 paragraphs of the Epilogue makes an absolute mockery of the reader as to how he has smoothly been taken for a ride like one of the protagonists in the book!

For those who have not read the book here is a short synopsis.

Charlize & Deepkia

There's an uncanny similarity between the South African bombshell Charlize Theron and our very own supermodel Deepika Padukone ! Both are unusually tall, both have sandclock figures and both have the most awesome eyes.

Daughter of the ace badmiton player Prakash Padukone, Deepika is proving to be an ace on the Indian fashion scene. Entry into Bollywood is inevitable. Charlize on that front has been quite advanced with some dynamic academy-award winning performances.

From some of her interviews I've seen, Deepika seems to have a sensible and down to earth personality. May she attain all success in her career like Charlize. After all there is some similarlity!

Intelligent Life Murphy Style

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the
Universe is that none of it has tried to contact us"
-Corollary to Murphy's law

Seafood

I did not relish seafood before I left India. I confined myself only to chicken. Then I went to the US for study. There I had to be a bit flexible on my non-veg diet. Barring beef and pork and the other kinds of red meat, I expanded my menu to include seafood. I started developing the taste and started liking it. Now after my return to India, I ate seafood in India for the first time at The Kalinga in Kothrud, Pune. Man, now I know what country makes the best seafood. The fried fish and prawn curry was out of this world!

What are you?

There are 4 types of people-

1. Those who know that they know!
2. Those who know that they don't know!
3. Those who don't know that they know!
4. Those who don't know that they don't know!!

Category 1 are the best lot, 2 are a down to earth and practical lot, 3 are the unlucky lot while 4 are the nuisance lot!

What category do you think are you? ;)

My Online Pseudo

The Royal Kingfisher.
I carry all colours of the Rainbow and fish with the authority of Kings.
I am Kingfisher.

Can drive In Pune or Mumbai = Drive anywhere? NO!!

People from Pune/Mumbai claim that if they can drive comfortably given the traffic conditions in Pune/Mumbai they can drive anywhere in the world. That is false. Because they have not imagined one natural scenario offered for driving: SNOW.


Driving In Snow 

Driving in snow is an ordeal. What do you do if your car turns right when you want it to turn left? What happens when a perfectly straight steering wheel on a perfectly straight road takes your car obliquely? What happens if inspite of your careful (smooth) acceleration and braking your car slips? An advice of: Keep your steering straight no matter what direction your car is taking to make it safely out of snow is spine chilling! So all those friends from Pune and Mumbai (or that matter any torrid driving part of India) please take this possibility into account before making any such claims!

Touching the Colour

"Mausam kee adla badli mein,
Pavan gulabi ho jaati hain,
Haan maine chuukar dekha hain!"

(Change of season renders the wind pink; I've touched and verified it)

From a normal perspective these words don't make sense - seem illogical - but from the fertile imagination of a deaf and blind girl these are a perfect appreciation of beauty. Through the available (and intensified) senses the beauty is recognized by touching a 'colour' produced during the 'change of season'. These intelligent lines are Prasoon Joshi's lyrics of the only vocal song in the movie BLACK composed by the newcomer Monty and sung melodiously by (the IIM Lucknow MBA graduate) Gayatri Iyer!

Kudos to Prasoon Joshi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Monty & Gayatri Iyer!

Filhaal

Filhaal, the movie which has the following simple but thoughtful lyrics in a song by Gulzar. Always admired him. (These get classified into my Only Live in the Present notion)

"Aye Zindagi,
Yeh Lamha Jee Lene De.
Pehle Se Likhha,
Kucch Bhi Nahee.
Roz Naya Kucch,
Likhtee Hai Tuu.
Jo Bhi Likhha Hai,
Dil Se Jiya Hai,
Yeh Lamha, Filhaal, Jee Lene Dee.."

Kudos.

(Song Music: Anu Malik, Singer: Asha Bhosale)

[Oh you life! Let me live the moment. Nothing pre-written, you serve something new everyday. Whatever came by, was lived to the fullest. For now, let me live this moment]

Natural Horror

We always talk about horror films being scary or ludicrous. I for one seldom get scared watching even the best horror movies. But as always nature made me look like a fool yesterday. It is Fall in Buffalo now in November. Trees shed their leaves and are reduced to a bare collection of brown twigs as branches. I travel on interstate highways where there are thick forests (now huge networks of brown twigs). A monotonous brown expands over the entire forest cover. You can't help getting fixated on the colour when you drive. So I was driving and staring at the brown forest when all of a sudden a white tree appears from nowhere. This white tree seemed to be of a different wood-type than the ones surrounding it and over the complete forest. No leaves, branches looking like a bare skeleton and all white among brown. All of a sudden. That scared me like anything. No motion, no noises no histrionics. Just stillness with two contrasting natural colours. That was natural horror! Then reached office, continued the work day and in the evening headed back. It was all foggy with very low visibility. The rush hour was gone since I left a little late, so pitch black darkness on the highway. Even the fog goes unnoticed in the dark until.. Another horror. A huge beam of scattered light appears from nowhere and rotates. I can't understand what it is. The presence of the light makes visible the presence of the fog. After a while I understood that it was the headlight of a car heading 90 degree from my road on a distant turn. The fog had scattered the light far beyond the car and the turn that separated its path from mine. I proceed further. Now appeared huge red glow adjoining the road. I think it was a hotel or a shop with its neon signs. I try to look carefully. Nothing. I proceed and the glow reduces. It must have been some light scattered by fog again but I could not find out what it exactly was. A scary experience nonetheless. The fog driving fatigued me. I returned home, ate and dozed off by 9.00 pm!

Truth (Search)

I've come across writings referring to some "search for truth". Earlier I used to read the words and say Ok and move on. But its not as shallow as it looks. Its profound beyond imagination. Truth. That which cannot be explainable or comprehensible given the latest thinking, technology or evolution stage. Does God exist? If yes, is he inside us or somewhere else. What happens to us after death? Why are we born? Why were we born to the two individuals who are our parents, in the country which we call our homeland? What is the purpose of all this? No one has understood it yet. Eons can pass before the truth unfolds. *Anytime I write a spiritual/philosophical blog I come to a typical conclusion :)* Live life without worrying about anything. Whatever you are thinking about anything right now may not be the truth! So why waste the energy?

Marathi Breath at The Academy

"Shwaas" (Breath) is nominated for the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film. This is a happy moment for me and all Marathi brethren. The Marathi film industry, criminally neglected for some years now, needed this kickstart. Now it should roll. Shwaas epitomises effective storytelling. Modestly budgeted with no star names, this film impressed the Academy for its sheer content. I wish the makers who are currently promoting the film at the pre-Oscar film festivals, the very best. Bring the statue home!

Way to Go Boys!

The Indian music scene has great future thanks to the likes of Sandeep Chowta, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and of course A.R. Rahman. These guys have understood sound engineering earlier and better than most trying to compose music these days. Rahman brought effective sound engineering to India. His score for Roja was ten years ahead of contemporary music when it arrived. He is still going strong. His composing methodology itself renders to advances in sound engineering keeping melody intact. He has attained international acclaim recently and that will only push him to test his own limitations. Shankar Ehsaan Loy form a formidable team too. Coming from totally disparate musical backgrounds they gel together well. Melody has been their forte along with a great sound. They have many more musical years ahead of them. Sandeep Chowta is to music what Ram Gopal Varma is to direction. Experimenter. His 'Mitti' transcended all musical genres and brought a new twist to sound. He as the other two (four) understands sound engineering better than most others. He is foraying into international alliances with jazz musicians to bring out his new album. He has built a brand new studio and that augurs well for the forthcoming years of Indian music. These musicians are letting the world feel the Indian presence. They are giving music connoisseurs food for their ears. Way to go boys!

Marriage & Optimization

An interesting analogy formulated in my mind yesterday between Marriage and Optimization. Specifically, Love Marriage::Gradient Based Optimization and Arranged Marriage::Heuristic Optimization.

Optimization is a mathematical technique for finding the optimum solution of a function. There are two major methods of doing it viz. Gradient based optimization where in the derivative information of the objective function is used to approach the optimum solution and heuristic (stochastic) optimization wherein a more stochastic approach is used for reaching the optimum. Survival of the fittest is the solution strategy for Heuristic Optimization (like Genetic Algorithms). There is a higher probability of achieving a global optimum in Heuristic optimization while in Derivative based optimization its highly possible that you get stuck at a local optimum. In other words it highly depends on from what point you start your optimization for Derivative based optimization. Derivative based methods require fewer objective function evaluations since they use derivative information as opposed to Heuristic Optimization.

Before a love marriage, the lovers test out the chemistry (use derivative information) between themselves and arrive at the conclusion or marriage (optimum). In an arranged marriage the bride(groom) is selected at random (Heuristics). Of course its not entirely random because the family etc is known but the chemistry and compatibility between the two are unknown. The solution is kept feasible by the patrika matching exercise (constraints satisfied). Love marriages are quicker once love is initiated (faster optimization), while Arranged Marriages may take time (more bride(groom) evaluations). Arranged Marriages work wonders since Global Optimum is highly probable. Love Marriages work too since its still an Optimum (Was a Global missed?) :)

Karmic Cleansing

Choices. We make hundreds of different choices every moment, every minute, every day. All these choices have consequences or other choices needed as a result. Each of these choice sequences can define an alternative life path for us. We don't think of this consciously but we chose to live the way we want by our choices. So if we make a conscious effort to let our Self do these choices for us then that would mean a meaningful, stress-free, eniriching and a very enjoyable life. It will pave the way for Karmic cleansing. You consicously decide at each moment to make a choice which will be beneficial for you as well as good for all. No malice, no envy, no hatred, no anger. Peaceful decision making. Once you get used to the procedure you don't need to do it consciously. The Self will take over.

Boon of Energy Conversion

Its been a long time since I've written any technical stuff. Most of my earlier posts have been spirituality and movies. I was studying some alternator and motor theory today and that invoked the dormant-for-a-while energy conversion fascination in me. Its one of the many ones I got during my Mechanical Engineering study. Energy conversion is the most cruical means of existence for us, for mother earth, for the universe. We can't 'see' energy but can feel it, manipulate it, need it, use it; just like air. Isn't it fascinating to observe the chemical energy in fuel getting converted to mechanical energy which moves the vehicle you drive? Electrical energy getting converted to mechanical energy in a motor and exactly the opposite in an alternator also is as enchanting. Whatever form it is, energy is available to us. What would we do without it? A spine-chilling thought!

Legend called Pu La

I have always been an ardent fan of the satire made famous by the great Marathi literary P. L. Deshpande affectionately known as Pu La among his reader fans. His comedy based on happenings in mundane matters strikes a chord with anyone who goes through similar circumstances some time or the other (everyone!). I had been exposed to fact that he had written material other than satire too. I experienced it first time when I began reading his "Vyaktee ani Valli" lately. It has some really beautiful instances of serious lives, tragic lives, indifferent lives, sympathetic lives and many more. How can a person put oneself on an observation point and so keenly sketch characters as variegated as the ones in this work? Sheer talent and observation strength has made Pu La what he is today even after leaving this world. I have just started out with this book and am amazed, with each proceeding page, at the amount of emotion bundled up in it. It is said that tragedy and comedy lie on a razor's edge. You know it when you read some of the works in this book. Characters speaking of tragic matters in the most uniqely comic fashion
challenges you to laugh and cry at the same time. A truly heart-wrenching but awesome experience. I hope to enjoy more of his non-satirical works in future.

Kill Bill Grandeur

This is a very happy period for me. I am getting to experience one cinematic art after another. Yes 'experience' it is rather than just watching. Quentin Tarantino has displayed sheer class in the Kill Bill volumes. Cinematic art at its best. The two movies are so delicately intertwined that its injustice to view/review them individually. A layman will view the movies as ones with gross violence and dirty tricks. But if you keenly pay attention to the level of meticulous detail in all dialogues and scenes, you will know that these are works of a master filmmaker. QT rocks.

Uma Thurman was created only to act in this movie. I don't see any other Hollywood actress in her place. Beauty, anger, wrath, frustration all adorn her face and personality equally effectively. Insequential editing, a QT trademark spices up the proceedings. The editing chronology is disturbed not only in each volume but the whole two volume set as well. Not once do you forget what happened in Vol. 1 when you're watching the sequel. Use of foot-tapping background soundtracks during serious fights scenes can only come through the mind of QT. The movies look authentic. They are a blast.

The Village (Weirdness Wins)

M. Night Shyamalan has always impressed me. So prior to my comment on The Village, I would pen something for this great Indian American director. MNS's films always carry some solid undercurrent of an idea. Can't call it the central theme. The incidents depicted all belong to this undercurrent. Sixth Sense differs in that it lacked this undercurrent but was an excellent movie nontheless. Unbreakable (contrasts/balance) and Signs (no coincidences) had these undercurrents in their best form. Weirdness, suspense and thrills all rolled into one epitomize his films.

The Village is weirdness at its best. It falls into the same category as The Sixth Sense in that there is no substantial undercurrent idea. It stayed with me long after it was over. My brain could not come to terms with it and thats the best thing about it. That made me like it. I know my movie absorbing prowess and can confidently say no movie invokes (or intrigues) me much. Be it horror or romance or gross violence, I can take it all well. But this movie made me uneasy for a long time after it ended. This effect has made me a follower of this intelligent filmmaker. I hope he keeps on developing good ideas like this in future. Critics and movie-goers have had mixed opinions about this film (moslty negative). For the record, The Village opened along with Bourne Supremacy and The Manchurain Candidate. Three weeks later the chart rankings prove my point. Weirdness wins! It has too.