Beat traffic irritation

You'll find many people constanly cribbing about traffic in Pune. Slander will involve: lack of traffic sense, violation of traffic laws, bad roads etc etc. But I have found a solution to eliminate all that. Works for me. So I don't really care much if it doesn't work for you. But there is no reason why it won't work for you. Its totally foolproof actually. Basic: If the environment is causing trouble, beat the environment. Let me explain.

So here's my recipe for calmness while travelling on Pune roads:

Ingredients:
- A Bike (get rid of you Car)
- A gaudy coloured raincoat (obviously when raining) - fluorescent green or pink is best!
- A big hanky which can serve as a pollution mask
- A helmet (to protect your eyes)
- SONY h.EAR model headphones
- A discman in your bag (or Walkman or iPod etc) playing your kind of music.

Assumptions:
1. You are decent enough rider.
2. You love some kind of music very much.

Procedure:
1. Don your gaudy raincoat if its raining
2. Put on the SONY h.EAR headphones
3. Tie the hanky to cover your mouth and nose
4. Wear the helmet (SONY h.EAR come handy here since they fit well inside)
5. Turn on the music on slightly above-normal volume
6. Start riding with a slightly above-normal speed

Observations:
The gaudy coloured raincoat makes people shudder. Naturally they get out of your way or take your notice making your riding smooth. If its not raining you lose this advantage but that's OK. Assuming you are a decent enough rider, your subconscious mind takes control of the riding while you are enjoying your music. All turns, braking, acceleration, slipping through gaps in traffic etc is negotiated by your subconscious mind! After some time you feel as if you are in some different world and flying. The riding continues automatically. Rain, ditches, potholes, traffic-jams all just seem to vanish. In no time you have reached your destination! As you continue this everyday it becomes easier and easier.

Conclusion:
Adapting to the environment is the secret to survival and success !! Just give this technique a try! You'll know what I mean.

Poetic Justice?

Australia's football team got a raw deal yesterday. A "foul" in the D cost them a penalty and the match and thereby the dream to win the World Cup. Italy can't be blamed much really since it was the referee's call finally. This referee/umpire acumen issue is gaining much importance when it comes to identifying what is genuine and what is feigned. In cricket more and more batsmen are getting away with innovative "not playing a shot" techniques which save them from lbw decisions.

But leave that aside. As a cricket follower, I can't help but think that the Law of Karma was in effect yesterday. Simply put, the Australian football team paid for the ill-deeds the Australian cricket team commits on the field and gets away with it umpteen times. The complicity of the cricket match referee with Australia went against them with the football referee's decision. All this may sound absurd but in the words of former WI pacer Michael Holding - "God never sleeps. He may rest for a while but never sleeps"

Saturday Musings

7.30 pm: Cannot extract some really neat stuff from a external hard disk since the data was written on Linux and the Windows PC is confused !!? Sigh..

8.30 pm: Barbecued Chicken Pizza by Smokin' Joes! Wow. Smokin' Joes is THE Pizza brand!

8.45 pm - 9.30 pm: West Indies play some really poor cricket before lunch. Having 500+ on board with only 5 wickets down, instead of accelerating they score 20 runs from 14 overs. Shit. Some Lara subterfuge for sure.

10 pm - 12 am: Good session for the Indians with lots of wickets for Bhajji and some blazing batting by Sehwag and Jaffer.

12.30 am - 12.40 am: 2 goals scored in the first 10 minutes each by Argentina and Mexico. !! The World Cup gets alive and kicking.

12.40 am - 2.15 am: Argentina and Mexico maintain the 1-1 scoreline and play goes into extra time. I cannot resist sleep and doze off.

8.00 am: CNN-IBN website shows Argentina scored the winner goal 8 minutes after I slept last night.

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!