World under Observation!

Pain

2012-01-30T09:24:00.000+05:30

A flower must wither before it becomes a fruit,
A fruit must shrivel before it becomes the seed,
A seed must rupture before it becomes a plant,
Before the universe, there must be a big bang,
Behind every wonder lies a pain,
Only from pain must spring forth the new,
Only from pain must emit the day,
Only from pain rises a new creation,
So let me embrace the pain and dream anew.

- Ardy

उद्याची मुंबई नगरी - महाव्यापार की महाव्याप

2012-01-23T08:30:00.000+05:30

मुंबई ही एकविसाव्या शतकाची महानगरी होईल का? आज तरी असे वाटत नाही. एकीकडे सिंगापूर अंड दुबई प्रगतीच्या मार्गावर अग्रेसर होत आहेत तर दुसरीकडे मुंबईतील रस्ते, पाणी आणि इतर सुविधा कमकुवत होत चालल्या आहेत. मुंबईच्या समस्या फार मोठ्या आहेत.

"गो व्हेर्टीकल" हे मुंबईच्या एफ.एस.आय बद्दल बोलले जाते. पण हेच तत्त्व आपण मुलभूत सुविधांनासाठी लावले पाहिजे. मुंबईत तीन रेल्वे लाईन आहेत. ह्या रेल्वे लाईनी पूर्ण मुंबईला जोडत दक्षिण-उत्तर जातात. तर ह्या रेल्वे लाईनीवर अपुन चार किंवा पाच माजली फ्ल्योवर बांधले आणि त्यावर रस्ते, रेल्वे आणि पार्किंगची व्यवस्था केली तर फायदा होईल. अशा योजनेचे काही फायदे आहेत.

पहिला म्हणजे त्यासाठी लागणारी जमीन सरकारचा ताब्यात आहे. त्या साठी नवीन जमीन संपादन करायला लागणार नाही. मुंबईच्या अनेक योजना भू-साम्पादांच्या व्यापात अडकून रेंगाळत राहिल्या आहेत. तसे ह्या योजनेचे होणार नाहे अशी अपेक्षा आहे.

दुसरे म्हणजे मुंबईच्या सार्या व्यवस्था रेल्वे लायींशी जोडलेल्या आहेत, त्या बदलण्याची गरज नाही. उदाहरणार्थ, मार्केट, दुकाने, पोस्ट ऑफिस इ. ह्या रेल्वे लायनीला धरून निर्माण झाल्या आहेत. अशा योजनांमध्ये सुधारणा कराव्या लागतील. म्हणजेच रेल्वे लाय्नीच्या जवळ पोहोचणारे रस्ते रुंद करायला लागणार. तसेच, पूर्व-पश्चिम रस्त्यात सुधारणा कराव्या लागणार.

तिसरे म्हणजे, बांधकाम करताना रेल्वे लाय्नीवरचा भार नियंत्रित करणे रस्त्यावरचा भार नियंत्रण करण्यापेक्षा सोपे आहे. म्हणजेच मुंबईच्या जनतेला कमी त्रास अंड कमी अडथळे असल्यामुळे काम लवकर होणार. बरेच लोक ह्या विचार्रांशी सहमत होत नाहीत कारण त्यांना वाटते कि रेल्वे लायनीवर काम म्हणजे रेल्वे यंत्रणा खंडित होणार. पुन तसे नाही, योग्य रीतीने, योजनाबद्ध पद्धतीने काम केले तर रेल्वे यंत्रणेवर काही परिणाम होणार नाही. उदाहरणार्थ, रेल्वेवर चालणाऱ्या क्रेन, रात्री २ नंतर किंवा पाहते चारच्या आधी वापरल्या तर रेल्वे बंद राहण्याचे कारण नाही.

चवथे म्हणजे मुंबईत जमिनीच्या खाली बांधकाम करण्यापेक्षा जमिनी वर बांधकाम करणे सुरक्षित आहे. मुंबई समुद्राचे रेक्लेमेशन करून बनवल्यामुळे जमिनीच्या खाली काम करणे सोपे नाही. काराचेच झाले तर खूप खोल जाऊन बांधकाम करावे लागणार आणि हे फार खर्चिक आहे. त्यापेक्षा, जर अपुन रेल्वे लाय्नीच्या वरच नवीन सुविधा निर्माण केल्या तर स्वस्त पडेल आणि त्यामुळे अशा योजनाचा भार जनतेवर पडणार नाही.

अशी योजना राबवण्यासाठी केंद्र आणि राज्य सरकारच्या सहयोगाची गरज आहे. रेल्वेची जागा केंद्र सरकारच्या परवांगीशिवाय घेता येणार नाही. पण केंद्र सरकारकडून भूखंड घेणे हजारो लोकांकडून घेण्यापेक्षा बरे.

Vulnerability

2012-01-15T09:40:00.003+05:30

This presentation by Brene Brown is one of the most amazing I have seen in recent times. Please view it if you haven't seen this yet.

Shout Out to following people for making this connection possible.
The Bamboo Project
ID and other reflections

Approaches to Education

2012-01-12T13:34:00.001+05:30

I think we need to rethink the way we approach education. The leading thinker I subscribe to is Sir Ken Robinson. He recently gave opening and closing address at the London TEDx. Also look at Jude Kelly's video. However, there is a significant bunch of education experts that believe that the new way is the way. I disagree.

I think there are four essential approaches to education and each is best suited in certain circumstances. Here are my thoughts on the same.

Atop a Mast

2012-01-01T07:58:00.003+05:30

Atop a mast, a flag flutters,
caressed by the wind, looks yonder,
a world in motion, a world uninterested,
sees the moth-eaten flag,
its colours faded, the cloth worn,
its weather beaten rope barely holds its own,
nobody notes, nobody cares,
as quietly the flag sheds a tear.

dejected the flag, notes a little dog below,
the old little dog marches up the steps,
as the flag wonders what happens next,

the dog sees not the tatters, nor faded colours,

but that it smells of the blood and tears,
of men and women, that held the flag dear,
reminded of glory, past and forgotten,
the dog however, remembers and salutes a redemption.

Atop a mast a flag flutters anew,
pride long forgotten swells anew,
the tears it shed twinkle with hope,
atop a mast, the flag looks yonder,
atop the mast, flag leaps in the air.

-Ardy

Translating songs - Zindagi ke safar mein (Aap ki Kasam)

2011-12-22T21:58:00.000+05:30

About the song
Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hain Jo Makaam
Singer: Kishore Kumar
Music: Rahul Dev Burman
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Film: Aap Ki Kasam
Listen to the song here

Lyrics (translation in bold below the line)

Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hain Jo Makaam
The destinations that we leave behind in our journey of life
Vo Phir Nahin Aate, Vo Phir Nahin Aate
Do not come back ever
Phool Khilte Hain, Log Milte Hain
Flowers bloom, people meet
Phool Khilte Hain, Log Milte Hain Magar
Flowers bloom, people meet, but...
Patjhad Mein Jo Phool Murjha Jaate Hain
The blooms that wither in fall
Vo Baharon Ke Aane Se Khilte Nahin
don't bloom again in the spring
Kuchh Log Ik Roz Jo Bichhad Jaate Hain
Some people who get separated one day,
Vo Hazaron Ke Aane Se Milte Nahin
you never meet again even if you meet thousand others
Umra Bhar Chahe Koi Pukaara Kare Unka Naam
No matter that you call them for the rest of your life
Vo Phir Nahin Aate, Vo Phir Nahin Aate
They won't come back, they won't come back...

Zindagi Ke Safar Mein...
[ Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Song ]

Aankh Dhokha Hai, Kya Bharosa Hai
Seeing is not believing,
Aankh Dhokha Hai, Kya Bharosa Hai Suno
Let me tell you seeing is not believing
Doston Shaq Dosti Ka Dushman Hai
Doubt is the enemy of friendship
Apne Dil Mein Ise Ghar Banane Na Do
Don't let it creep into your heart
Kal Tadapna Pade Yaad Mein Jinki
Them, in whose memory you will yearn
Rok Lo Rooth Kar Unko Jaane Na Do
Hold on to them, don't let them leave you in anger
Baad Mein Pyaar Ke Chahe Bhejo Hazaron Salaam
Later, even if you send thousand love notes
Vo Phir Nahin Aate, Vo Phir Nahin Aate
They won't come back, they won't come back...

Zindagi Ke Safar Mein...
[ Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Song ]

Subah Aati Hai, Shaam Jaati Hai
morning comes, evening goes
Subah Aati Hai, Shaam Jaati Hai Yunhi
morning comes and evening goes as usual
Vaqt Chalta Hi Rehta Hai Rukta Nahin
Time keeps moving on, it does not stop
Ek Pal Mein Ye Aage Nikal Jaata Hai
In a second, it moves on leaving you behind
Aadmi Theek Se Dekh Paata Nahin
We are not able to see clearly
Aur Pardey Pe Manzar Badal Jaata Hai
And the whole canvas of life changes
Ek Baar Chale Jaate Hain Jo Din-Raat Subah-O-Shaam
Once these days and nights pass away
Vo Phir Nahin Aate, Vo Phir Nahin Aate
They won't come back, they won't come back

Zindagi Ke Safar Mein..
[ Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Song ]

Zindagi Ke Safar Mein by waferthin

Note: If you have suggestion as to how translation can be improved, leave a comment below.

बी ओ टी प्रोजेक्ट्सचा भ्रष्टाचार

2011-12-19T11:30:00.001+05:30

लोकसत्ता मध्ये बदनाम बी ओ टी हा लेख वाचला. त्यावरून काही मुद्दे पुढे येतात.

साधारण भ्रष्टाचार करण्याचे दोन मार्ग आहेत. पहिला म्हणजे पैश्याची हेराफेरी करणे. हा प्रकार ऑडीट करून पकडता येतो आणि हा मूर्खपणाचा मार्ग आहे.

दुसरी पद्धत म्हणजे मालमत्तेची किंमत आणि पैशे देण्याची पद्धत ह्या मध्ये गैरव्यवहार करणे. ही पद्धत पकडायला कठीण आहे. ह्या पद्धतीत पैश्याची हेराफेरी नसते त्यामुळे ऑडीट मध्ये काही सापडत नाही (बहुतेक वेळा). टेलिकॉम घोटाळा ह्या पद्धतीत बसतो. विशेष म्हणजे कधी नसलेले घोटाळे सुद्धा घोटाळे वाटू शकतात कारण त्या वेळी मालमत्तेची काय किंमत असायला पाहिजे हे ठरवणे कठीण आहे. कंपन्या ही दुर्या प्रकारचा घोटाळा करतात. फरक इतकाच की कंपन्या मालकाच्या फायद्यासाठी करतात आणि राजकारणी स्वतःच्या फायद्यासाठी. ह्या मध्ये नुकसान मात्र मालकाचे, म्हणजेच जनतेचे, होते.

ह्या, दुसऱ्या पद्धतीचा घोटाळा रोखता येऊ शकतो का? निशितच रोखता येऊ शकतो. कंपनीत मालक जसे आपल्या मालमत्तेकडे लक्ष्य ठेवतात, तसेच जनतेने लक्ष्य ठेवले पाहिजे. हे काम पत्रकारांचे आहे. जागरूक पत्रकार असे भष्टाचार पकडू शकतात आणि जनते पुढे मांडू शकतात. त्यातूनच जनतेच्या मालमत्तेचा योग्य मोबदला मिळवता येईल.

Model parliament learnings 1 - Principles of Democracy

2011-10-16T11:32:00.000+05:30

Recently, I was a part of model parliament exercise in my law college. The exercise afforded me a chance to peek into the minds of future lawyers. It was a chance to learn about their opinion on democracy and rights. This is first installment.

Regulation is NOT about "giving" rights to citizens

I know it sounds inappropriate but it is much more powerful. In democracy we assume that citizen or individual has unrestricted rights. So imagine a set of rights and freedoms. Such a set is ever expanding by virtue of our creativity and enterprise. All the rights in this set are applicable to the individual.

However, if all rights are available to everyone, there may be conflicts when two individuals decide to exercise their rights. In my exercise of rights I may injure someone else's rights. For example, I may decide to stand right in the middle of the road waiting for the bus. Or I may want to showcase my swordsmanship in the middle of a thoroughfare.

To avoid such conflicts and ensure harmonious conduct law puts limits on the rights. Thus law restricts our rights.

The principle difference between the two points of view

There is a fundamental difference between these two point of view is apparent while drafting laws and interpreting them.

When the law makers do not explicitly curtail any right, we must assume that right exists.
When restricting a right of citizen, elaborate justification must be given. We must note that it is not the right of the parliament or such equivalent democratic institution to curtail rights of citizen. Rights can be constrained only as a matter of last resort.
When parliament constrains the rights of individual, it must build at least two types of mechanisms in lieu of the impairment it has thus caused. First represents the mechanism for limiting the restriction imposed on our rights. Second represents some benefit given to allay the impairment caused.

More to follow...

My book "Subverting Capitalism & Democracy" is available on Amazon and Kindle.

महाराष्ट्राचा पाया कमजोर होत चालला आहे

2011-10-11T16:40:00.000+05:30

बरेच लोक विचारतात कि महाराष्ट्राची आणि मराठी माणसाची प्रगती का होत नाही. खरे सांगायचे तर त्याला एक मोठे महत्त्वाचे कारण आहे.

महाराष्ट्राचा विकास १९५० नंतर झपाट्याने झाला कारण आपले मंत्री त्या वेळी प्रगत विचारांचे होते. त्या काळात MIDC निर्माण केली. दळणवळण, पाणी, वीज इ. ह्या गोष्टी थोड्या प्रमाणात उपलब्ध झाल्या. राज्याचे औद्योगिक धोरण प्रगतीशील होते. अशात मजदूर वर्गाला Trade Unions चा फायदा झाला आणि त्यांना अधिक पगार मिळू लागला. ह्या सगळ्या गोष्टींचा फायदा महाराष्ट्राला झाला.

आजचे चित्र एकदम उलट आहे. महाराष्ट्र आज मागे पडत आहे. रस्ते, वीज, पाणी, ह्या सर्व गोष्टी दुर्मिळ झाल्या आहेत. अशा परिस्थितीत महराष्ट्राची प्रगती होणे कठीण आहे.

ता.क.

मराठी लिहिण्यात बराच सुधार केल्यामुळे हा लेख फारच लवकर तयार झाला. Thank you Google!

Balsamiq - a tool for mock up

2011-05-25T11:25:00.000+05:30

I came across this interesting tool called Balsamiq. It allows users to create wireframes and tools for visualizing apps etc. similar to sketching on white board (I am crazy about white boards).

Another Tamil song - Vaseegara

2011-03-29T12:20:00.000+05:30

There is another Tamil song that I find fascinating and that is Vaseegara from the Movie Minnale. This movie too was remade in Hindi and titled a mouthful Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein or RHTDM for short. Despite Madhavan playing the lead, he could not recreate the magic of Minnale. The song "vaseegara" became "zara zara" and followed the original in all aspect. The difference in poetry is stark. The tamil song is vastly better in terms of lyrics and poetry.

The selling point of this song, however, was the music by Harris Jayraj. He uses minimum instruments in between but allows the instrument to set the tone for the poetry (more in the case of tamil version). The song is must watch for its music. I have embedded both versions and given the translation of the Tamil lyrics. (Acknowledgements below)

Here is the Tamil version courtesy rajinicreations.

Here is the Hindi Version courtesy hindisongs2009

Here are the lyrics for Tamil version with translation. I found them here. Tamil version is bold, english is in italics and my comments are preceded by "RD".

Vaseegara

vaseegara, en nenjinikka, un ponmadiyil, thoonginaal podhum
Captivator, it is enough to sleep on your lap for my heart to smile.
adhey ganam en kannuranga, mun jenmangalin, yaekkangal theerum
At the same time, as my eye rests the longings on previous lifes will be satisfied.

vaseegara, en nenjinikka, un ponmadiyil, thoonginaal podhum

adhey ganam en kannuranga, mun jenmangalin, yaekkangal theerum

naan naesippadhum swasippadhum un dhayavaal thaane
Only because of you do I love and breath
yaengukiraen thoongukiraen un ninaivaal naanethaan
I am longing and sleeping in your memories (me)

adai mazhai varum adhil nanaivoame, kulir kaichaloadu neram, oru poarvaikkul siru thookkam
The rain will fall heavily and we will get wet in it. With cold and fever in one blanket a little nap
kulu kulu poigal solli ennai velvaai, adhu therindhum kooda anbe, manam adhaiye thaan edhirpaarkkum
With little lies you will win me and knowing that dear, my heart will expect that.

engaeyum, poagaamal, thinam veettilaeye nee vaendum

Without going anywhere (I) want you at home always
sila samayam, vilayaattai, un aadaikkulley naan vaendum
Sometimes playfully I have to be in your dress

vaseegara, en nenjinikka, un ponmadiyil, thoonginaal podhum
adhey ganam en kannuranga, mun jenmangalin, yaekkangal theerum

dhinamum nee kulithenai thaedi, en saelai nuniyaal undhan, thalai thudaippaaye adhu kavidhai

Everyday after bathing you will search for me and towel your hair usinging my sari edge, that's poetry
thirudan poal padhungiye thideerendru, pinnaal vandhu ennai, nee anaippaaye adhu kavidhai Like a thief, you will come up behind me suddenly and embrace me, that's poetry
yaaraenum, mani kaettaal, adhai solla kooda theriyaadhey

If anyone asks for time, I can't even say that..
kaadhalenum mudiveliyil kadigaaram neram kidaiyaadhey

In Love, there is no time...

vaseegara, en nenjinikka, un ponmadiyil, thoonginaal podhum
adhey ganam en kannuranga, mun jenmangalin, yaekkangal theerum

Is blackberry the only option these days?

2011-03-28T12:30:00.000+05:30

All my recent visits to phone shops have become increasingly a blackberry affair and I am worried about it. Well, there are reasons of course.

Nokia Sucks!

Nokia has become an all-round failure. First of all, the Symbian OS is a central culprit. Someone please take the Symbian OS off the market. It never had no future at all in the touch world but its performance in the non-touch key-pad world is becoming worse. The phones hang and switch-off mid conversation. Secondly, even the hardware is poor quality. It is only good in some handsets - like the E72. In others, keys fall off, the screen has lines, screen goes kaput and what not.

Android is still rough

I know people talk a lot about Android being the future but it reminds me of Unix. Android is as rough as Unix though it is also reasonably stable. The phones are far better than Nokia phones and therefore a decent alternative. But my experience with Android is not very good. There is a lag in touch sensitivity. The software is not polished at all.

Windows Phones are still in the future

Windows phones have started appearing on the market place. However, I would rather let the "early adopters" test and use the Windows phones before rushing in to buy them. If Apple gets everything right in second attempt, Microsoft gets it right in third or later.

HTC produces quite good phones

However, people have told me that they tend to heat up a bit. Also, the impression is that the battery life is not all that great. I suspect the fault lies in pairing of software and hardware. But I would still refrain from buying HTC.

That leaves blackberry & iPhone

Well, blackberrys work. They are cumbersome but the calls, emails and basic apps work fine. After all the developments in the phone technology, we can find only these two that still work decently. IPhone is better on most of the counts to the blackberry but is fairly high-priced. Unless we get an iPhone nano, blackberry seems to be the only viable choice for reasonably priced handset.

Tamil Song - Snehithane

2011-03-24T10:02:00.000+05:30

There are some songs that are better in original language. "Snehithane" is one such song, the first I am profiling. It belongs to the Tamil movie "Alaipayuthey". The Hindi movie remake was called "Sathiya"and the song was "Chup Ke se". The songs were written by Gulzar, who is a fabulous poet in his own right. But the original is vastly better, the Gulzar song is awesome but it is a different song altogether.

I was introduced to this Tamil song by a friend. He had to translate the lyrics for me. It remains one of my favorite songs from Tamil movies. The melody is amazing, the poetry is superb and acting is just perfect. The enunciation is perfect and Tamil sounds so beautiful when you hear this one. It is one reason I believe the language survived for so long. The melody within the words and with the music is awesome. Watch it.

Courtsey: The song was uploaded by Adnanvictor. My thanks to him.

The Lyrics are below with translation in english. I came across this translation on Nikita's Scoop on the South blog. The link opens to post on the movie in which the song is featured. It is worth a read. The translation comes from this forum which Nikita has linked to. I have added some comments to it with a tag RD). Tamil is in bold while translation is in italics below the Tamil wordings.

Snehidhane
Friend(Male)

Snaegidhanae snaegidhanae ragasiya snaegidhanae
Friend, Secret friend (RD - mysterious is closer though I think the translation is secret)
chinnach chinnadhaay koarikkaigaL sevikodu snaegidhanae
Listen to the little pleas, friend
idhae azhuththam azhuththam idhae anaippu anaippu
this firmess, this embrace
vaazhvin ellai varai vaendum vaendum
It's wanted till the end of life
(RD - the difference in grammar and composition between Tamil and English is why it sounds like this)
vaazhvin ellai varai vaendum vaendumae
snaegidhanae snaegidhanae ragasiya snaegidhanae

chinnach chinna aththumeeral purivaay
As you perform little transgressions
en cel ellaam pookkaL pookkach cheyvaay...malargaL malarvaay
You make flowers blossom over my cells.. planting flowers
poopparikkum bakthan poala medhuvaay
Slowly like a disciple who picks flower
naan thoongumboadhu viral nagam kaLaivaay...saththaminri thuyilvaay
when i sleep, you disturb my finger nails...sleep soundlessly
(RD - It refers to finger tips and not specifically finger nails)
aiviral idukkil olive eNNai poosi saevaigaL seyyavaendum
Rubbing olive oil between the five fingers, you've to be of service to me
(RD - this is better loosely translated as "you take care of me - give me a massage etc") neeyazhumboadhu naan azha naerndhaal thudaikkinra viral vaendum
If I cry when you're crying, I need a finger to wipe my tears
snaegidhanae snaegidhanae ragasiya snaegidhanae
chinnach chinnadhaay koarikkaigaL sevikodu snaegidhanae

(RD - chorus below no one translated this for me yet)
naetRu munniravil unnith thilavu madiyil kaatRu nuzhaivadhaenoa
uyir kalandhu kaLinththirundhaen
inRu viNNilavil andha eera ninaivil kanRu thavippadhaenoa
manam kalangip pulambugiRaen
koondhal neLivil ezhil koalach charivil
garvam azhindhadhadi en garvam azhindhadhadi

sonnadhellaam pagalilae purivaen...
All that was spoken will be understood in the day
sonnadhellaam pagalilae purivaen
nee sollaadhadhum iravilae purivaen...kaadhil koondhal nuzhaippaen
All that was unspoken will be understood at night.. i'll put hair in the ears
undhan sattai naanum poattu alaivaen
Wearing your shirt, I'll wander around
nee kuLikkaiyil naanum konjam nanaivaen...uppu moottai sumappaen
As you bathe, I'll get a little wet.. I'll bear the salt sack
(RD - in the video she shows how she will carry him and get wet in the process. The salt sack is a metaphor for carrying someone on the back like she shows - usually small children)
unnaiyaLLi eduththu uLLangaiyil madiththu kaikkuttaiyil oLiththukkoLvaen
Gathering and holding you in my palm, I'll hide you in my handkercheif
velivarumboadhu vidudhalai seydhu vaendum varam vaangikkoLvaen
While releasing you, I'll get a vow to bound you forever
(RD - I translate this as : for releasing you, I will ask for, and get, a vow that you will be mine forever)

snaegidhanae snaegidhanae ragasiya snaegidhanae
chinnach chinnadhaay koarikkaigaL sevikodu snaegidhanae
idhae azhuththam azhuththam idhae aNaippu aNaippu
vaazhvin ellai varai vaendum vaendum
vaazhvin ellai varai vaendum vaendumae
snaegidhanae snaegidhanae ragasiya snaegidhanae
chinnach chinnadhaay koarikkaigaL sevikodu snaegidhanae

Rambling on Weight!

2011-03-11T18:34:00.000+05:30

I weigh 95kgs or 210lbs. But it is not the weight that I worry about. I worry about size. And size depends on what I eat in the evenings. Possibly because my day till about 4pm is very regimented. I eat at specific times and almost specific amounts.

Further, exercise does not help me reduce weight. It helps reduce flab and makes me trimmer but no specific weight loss. I am told I should exercise in the mornings to have better weight loss performance. So I may think about it soon. But currently my exercise is evening activity.

Let us see.

Windows 7 phones shows promise

2011-01-31T21:19:00.000+05:30

Last week, Fred Wilson, the famed twitter investor announced that he would like to check out windows phones. I thought it was time to revisit the master of software's recent take of operating system for phone. In the shop I got my hands on HTC device featuring windows 7 phone. My initial experience suggests that windows is getting its act together.

For starters, the animation and slide sensitivity are much better than Android though iPhone is still a benchmark. The ease of use in terms of logical arrangement and intuitive options are really good. Ok I know you seem surprised so let me repeat. It IS easy to use and intuitive and is better than Android. Look and feel wise the menu and icons are on par if not better than iPhone. The software seems as responsive during text input and error correction seems better than Android though it has still some distance to go to catch up with iPhone.

There are shortcomings related to Windows Phone 7. There is no copy-paste and other niggles. I am not recommending windows as yet, but it shows more promise than I dreamed of. I had virtually written off Microsoft in this game but I think MS may be making a comeback. One other reason I am giving Microsoft a benefit of doubt is that it can empower app-developers better than Apple or Android. Microsoft actually invented the current software model and I suppose this mechanism is right up their alley.

In sum, expect to be surprised by Microsoft very soon. Best of luck Microsoft!

Practical Guide to Choosing a digital Camera

2011-01-26T11:17:00.000+05:30

Considering my interesting in keeping abreast of all things technical, I get a few questions about which camera to buy. While there are number of sites that compare and review cameras (my favourites are DPreview and Steve's Digicams), there are no guides to help select a camera for us common consumers. So here goes a humble attempt to create one for digital cameras.

DSLR vs "normal" digitals

One of the first question that arises is whether to consider a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) or "normal" point and shoot variety. The question, specifically, refers to two concepts. First, do you want control over all the photography variables or you are happy to let camera decide for itself. Second, do you envisage a possibility where different type of lens will be required (fish-eye lens or telephoto lens for example). The second, invariably, sets you up with professionals or hobby-photographers. It implies that you need a DSLR. So essentially you have to make up your mind if you want to control ALL the variables in a photo.

A reasonable point and shoot allows you to control a few variables without much fuss. So if you are controlling just the focus and aperture then you will do well with a reasonable point and shoot.

Careful in handling DSLR - it needs care

DSLRs need maintenance. If you live in a tropical climate, you need to store the DSLR in air tight zip-pouch with ample quantity of silica gel to keep moisture out. I know people who have a air-tight box with a lamp that helps maintain temperature. Usual procedure is to dismantle the DSLR and store each lens in separate zip-lock bag. Each lens, camera body must be sealed with lens cover and body covers before storing.

If you live near the sea, the camera care increases. Sea air is corrosive and impacts the steel surfaces on the camera. Typically around the lens mount there are steel rings with connectors for the lens. These connectors, tripod mount hole (at the bottom of the camera) and strap hooks are usual culprits. Of these, the lens mounts are sensitive. If you change the lens on the shore the moist sea air is sure to reach the innards of the body. Regular servicing and cleaning of DSLR is must.

If, for some reason, you miss this, in the worst case scenario a fungus forms on the lens or on the sensor. It can be observed by looking at the lens in clear sunlight. Alternatively, if you see some smudgy spots in your pictures you may have dust problem. Dust sits on top of your lens all the time it remains open. Occasionally, it gets inside the lens or on the sensor. In first case you need a proper cloth to wipe the lens clean. Most lenses resist abrasion but if scratched the lens is as good as useless - don't take a chance. In second case you need to see authorized service center. Check if the service center has climate controlled front desk (they always have climate controlled repair areas) as dust might get in during inspection as well.

DSLR needs add-ons

When normal people like us buy a DSLR they expect it to be one solution to all photography situations. Alas, nothing can be further from truth. The truth is with DSLR you have small add-ons that are needed to make a better photography experience. For starters you need a UV filter. If you intend to have long exposures (shutter stays open for long time sometimes hours), you need a tripod. Then you need additional batteries, memory cards etc (but that you need for all cameras).

DSLR on vacations

Also when you carry your DSLR on vacations, you need to carry these things and they add weight. On an average, the entire package ends up weighing 2kgs or more. Ideally, when you take picture of your spouse near a monument or a tourist spot you would like to take picture of both of you. That implies setting up the tripod and it takes time. General tourists cannot take artistic pictures even with a DSLR - it is as good as a point and shoot for them. One solution is to make them hold the camera and take photo with a remote - but that does not work. People often like to change focus when handed a DSLR. Other times when no one is around and you want a picture of both of you DSLR is cumbersome. It requires muscle to hold DSLR in one hand and take a self-picture. So if you left the tripod at the hotel - hard luck!

If all this sounds too much, it is better to work with a reasonable point and shoot with sealed body.

What to look for in a camera?

Now that we have answered the most common question, it is time to turn to basics. Let me answer the question in terms of common usage for people like us. There are few important types of pictures that we take where camera makes a critical difference.

Night scene photos without flash

Almost everyone who tries taking photos at night realizes the problems. If there are street lights involved then picture is almost always shaky, blurry or difficult to see. The problem is three-fold.

First, the camera needs to have a decent low-light performance. It is indicated by ISO sensitivity. High level of ISO implies a better low-light ability but also implies a grainy picture.

Second, is about selecting the right setting for low-light pictures. Low-light pictures come in various options (unlike well-lit pictures). Most new cameras have different settings for "indoor lighting at night" (usually a tubelight icon or lamp icon) and outdoor night scene (usual icon is a crescent moon). Use the proper setting for proper photo.

Third, the photographer needs to be still and steady with his/her hand. Often times longer exposure is required for low-light shots and these get blurry because of unsteady hands. Experts advice breathing control for low-light shots or better still use a tripod.

Taking pictures through glass windows

This represents the next challenge for us. Usually while traveling on vacations the best shots are available when we are inside a bus or train and all we manage to shoot is a reflection of ourself with a flash on. The usual trick for a basic point and shoot is to shoot using the low-light setting but for other advanced cameras you can turn flash off. Still, the auto-focus tends to pick up glass surface and focuses on the glass rather than beyond it. (There is similar auto-focus problem while shooting animals inside a wire-mesh (or bar) fence.) A better solution is using manual focus. The issue highlights the importance of manual focus, flash control and low-light setting. It is important to check these features for cameras in consideration set.

Second problem while taking pictures through glass windows is reflections. If you can see the reflection with naked eye, then chances are you will see the reflection on the pictures. This happens when shooting pictures through the wind-screen of a car where you see reflection of the dashboard. Similar problem happens in trains when outside light is low we tend to see the cabin reflected in the window. The solution to this problem is using a polarizer filter - but it can be used on DSLRs and not in usual digital cameras.

How much zoom do you need? Why?
Some modern cameras have very high zoom 20X or more. Canon SX-30 has zoom of 35X and it takes my vote! So how much zoom do you really need? Actually, more the better. But also for the reasons you did not think about.

Zoom is effective in eliminating crowds when you shoot pictures of your friends. While visiting monuments you will encounter lot of crowds and taking picture of your friend becomes difficult as almost always there are people around. Zoom allows you to eliminate some of the crowds from the frame. Similarly, if the photographer is in a crowd, zoom allows you to get past heads and hands of other photographers. This is typical case if you are shooting a barricaded monument.

Shooting in zoom mode requires good image stabilization and good resolution. Better low-ISO settings help zoom pictures by reducing grainy-effect.

What use is the Shutter speed rating?
Faster shutter speeds are better able to capture moving objects. The typical icon for this mode is some sportsman icon (like the ones they use in olympics). However, this mode allows us to capture better images from moving train or bus. Using this mode allows you to photograph sea waves better since at slow shutter speeds the waves tend to look fuzzy in the final picture. If object is moving at incredible speed (like in a tennis match or juggling act for example), burst mode is preferred. In burst mode camera captures 5 or 10 pictures allowing you to select the best shot out of those. Burst mode performance is better if camera has faster shutter speed.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds. Typically cameras mention a range like 15-1/1600. The range means you can have shutter open for 15 seconds at max to 1/1600 of a second at minimum. If you keep shutter open for longer you can capture light lines made by cars on roads etc. But you need a tripod to keep shutter open for longer.

The problematic video mode
DSLRs often do not have good video mode recording. The frame rate is too low (<30fps), sound recording is usually mono, wide-screen format is not available. If you are going to shoot videos then you need at least 30fps recording in wide screen mode in what techies call full-HD(1980X1080 pixels). As a compromise you can settle for normal HD (which represents 1280X720 pixels). Manufacturers tend to confuse consumers with full-HD that is available at lower frames per second.

There is no good way to test the video mode of the camera. All you can check is picture performance the voice effects are only noticed when we play the video at home. So be careful while selecting video oriented digital cameras.

The image processor conundrum
The last part of camera is image processor. It is also the most important. Modern digital cameras do not capture exactly what we see. The captured image is processed through correction algorithm and then recorded. So the picture you see finally on your computer is, in a sense, tainted. Usually cameras tend to deepen the blue of skies making pictures appear more vibrant. Similarly they tend to mess with skin tones and shadows. Thus it becomes important to know how a camera "interprets" the image.

If you want to undo or work on the algorithms you should capture picture in RAW format (as against usual JPEG). It occupies more memory but records everything so that later you can tweak using Photoshop. If you intend to use RAW format also buy Adobe image processing software -otherwise not much is achieved by using RAW format.

At the moment I like Canon's Digic processor as it comes out with vibrant but true-to-life colours. Nikon is as good but my experience with Sony is not that great. Sony takes great shots in sunlight but correction algorithms cannot reliably handle low-light situations. Please note that it may be my fault too.

Testing the camera
Here are some tips while testing cameras in the camera store.

Research well before entering a camera store - particularly if you are looking for DSLR or performance digital camera. Popular sites are DPreview and Steve's Digicams. Download the sample pictures on your computer and examine them closely. Select two or three options.
Ideally, one should visit the camera store with road view once during the day and once during the night and test the camera at both times. Yes, it takes at least two visits to select a good camera. If you are like me, you will want to hang around the camera (and mobile phone) section at the mall whenever you have time.
During the day, try to take picture of a building and then review the picture. Try looking in a shadowed corners that are surrounded by bright spots and check what is visible. Inside of windows is usual place or tree leaves in shadows. (Not in autumn when leaves have different colours). Try looking between parked cars and road (cars are bright coloured while road under is in shadows)
Try to take pictures through windows of the road at night. Use auto setting and try relevant low-light settings. Notice how car headlights and tail-lights look in the picture. Notice the glare of road lights, blurs etc. Try to make out things in shadows, can you read the name of the road or a poster in the picture that you can read with naked eye.
Test for macro mode - i.e. extreme close up. E.g. try to photograph your watch from a distance of 2 inches.
Try the manual focus if your camera has the manual setting. In DSLR the manual focus is easier using the rings on the lens itself but in some digital cameras you need to use the zoom setting and get the subject into the bracket of the view finder.
Almost always study the picture by zooming into it as LCD screen on digital cameras are very small. If possible see the image on big screen like a big LCD monitor.
Check the memory card format used by the camera. Sony uses a Memory stick pro duo format which does not go with other cameras. Canon and others use standard formats. Also some cameras do not read higher volume of memory cards. In other words if a camera reads maximum 16GB card then buying 32 GB card does not make sense.
Check the camera bag that dealers offer. A basic bag should have long enough strap so that camera comes to waist high when in the bag and hanging on your shoulders. Sometimes it makes sense to wear the camera bag on the belt or across the shoulders. The bag should have long enough strap. It should also have pocket to carry extra batteries and memory cards. If not negotiate for a different bag. Trust me old camera bags have no other use.
Try to take self picture with camera in one hand. Trust me, you will be taking a lot of pictures this way. So note the weight and ease of reaching the buttons.
I find having two batteries better than charging one every night. Same goes for memory card - carry two or more.

My recommendations

In my view, if you are buying a DSLR you should have two cameras. One for normal pictures and other for special pictures. Most normal pictures are taken well by the camera on iPhone 4. It is a 5MP camera but does a great job in variety of situations. For normal occasions iPhone 4 is an adequate camera. For vacations and special occasions, you can either have a DSLR or performance digital camera.

DSLR Models and numbering systems

DSLR camera model numbering is most complicated system around. I will briefly tell you about Nikon and Canon systems. In both, a single digit model number is usually for professionals. So 1D, D3 etc are professional cameras and better left alone. The usual consumer DSLR are in thousands range in Nikon and in hundreds in Canon. There is an intermediate series called pro-sumer which is in hundreds in both. So if you get a model number like D700 you can be sure that it is pro-sumer while a model number like D5000 may be more consumer oriented DSLR.

Finally my recommendations

For DSLR you can choose between Nikon D5000 series or Canon EOS 500 series. If you are first time buyer I suggest go with the 18-200mm lens rather than standard 18-55mm on offer. It allows you more range and less baggage till you become adept at handling the camera. Also buy a book on photography basics that familiarizes you with key variables like exposure, focus, shutter speed, focus lock, exposure lock etc.

If you are looking for a performance digital camera I recommend sticking with Canon. I think SX-30 should do a good job for you. It has 35X zoom and 14MP with video recording with stereo audio.

For basic point and shoot, trial and error is better option. Sony W-series usually works but for its special memory card format. Canon Powershot is ok camera though recent reviews point to some manufacturing issues. Nikon coolpix is equally decent.

In addition buy an iPhone 4 so that you have a great camera handy. It records HD video and takes pictures at 5MP. You can also focus on the subject by touching it on the screen.

Finally a note

One important aspect of the whole decision is not yet covered above. It relates to who uses the camera. In my case, my DSLR is almost always with my wife and the accessories are with me (load - I know). While she takes better pictures than me, I am left with using my iPhone 3GS or using Sony W-90 which I had for ages.

Leave a comment if you find this guide useful and if you have any questions or issues I haven't answered.

A fight back in sports today

2011-01-21T20:31:00.000+05:30

Shaun Marsh, son of former Australian opener and coach Goeff Marsh, did a spectacular rescue of Australian innings today. His first century came when top five Australian batsmen were already twiddling thumbs in dressing room. No doubt he is in spectacular form as he recently proved in 20-20 match few days ago but today was about building an innings. His 110 gave Australia a respectable total and helped win the match.

The second fight back was by Maria Sharapova. She came back after being a set down. Barring her high decibel vocals, the match was absolute grit and determination both by Sharapova and Georges. Sharapova's game is getting better and better. The question is will it rise to challenge of Clijsters and co. The Justine Henin match with Kuznetsova was a similar see-saw.

Fabulous day all around.

Ana Ivanovic - now I will have to watch tennis!

2011-01-18T17:29:00.000+05:30

Modern tennis, for me, was hardly interesting. I am old tennis fan - in fact my tennis knowledge shows how old I am.

For starters, I fell in love with the game Lendl, Becker, Edberg played. I started watching after the biggies were past their prime. McEnroe was occasionally a winner but mostly a whiner on court. We didn't have TV when Borg played tennis. The efficiency of Lendl, understated passion of Edberg and brilliance of Becker kept me hooked on to the TV. Serve and volley was a delight to watch.

The transition to Sampras, Agassi, Ivanisevic was ok, they had big serves and lots of aces. Agassi had a penchant for returning unreturnable serves. Occasionally we spent long long time watching Todd Martin drag a 3-set match into 5 set, or a 5-set match into a excruciatingly long tie break. Occasionally Tim Henman created a flutter, or a Jim Courier.

But the best matches featured Agassi, Sampras and Ivanisevic. Goran Ivanisevic could serve! Often 0-40 down he would come up with ace after ace and win the game. But his emotional outbursts were even more entertaining. His forehead pony-tail, or his listing for Coratian army (which he was refused) etc was heart warming.

Agassi-Sampras was a match for tennis fan like me. They ran over chairs, linesmen were often in the line of fire and then they seemed perfectly friendly with each other. Sampras had the most complete game before Federer came to the scene. I actually skipped the first few years of Federer. It was couple of years ago that I first saw his mind-blowing stroke play.

But the difference is more pronounced in women's tennis. When I started watching tennis women's game was dominated by Martina Navratilova. Chris Evert occasionally put up a resistance but Martina was a Wimbledon capturing machine till Steffi Graf came along. I cheered for Graf as the underdog. But there was no rivaling her court coverage. She ran across the court faster than anyone I have seen to date. Graf-Navratilova-Sabatini was fabulous era for women's tennis. Navratilova was more forceful, Sabatini was more spin-oriented and Graf was good at everything.

That age moved to Graf-Seles-Sanchez era. In this, Graf was the dominant force, Seles was gutsy challenger and Sanchez, often caught between the two, was a strong contender. This era brought grunting to tennis - Seles leading the decibel score. The emergence of Williams sisters, however, killed the excitement for me. They were giants and Martina Hingis looked like a dwarf. They outgunned every other tennis player and I lost interest. I support Clijsters or Henin. But both Clijsters or Henin could not bring me back to tennis. That is what Ana Ivanovic did!

So when I saw Ana Ivanovic earlier, it seemed like another Kournikova in the making. Even Sharapova hasn't exactly captured the tennis dimension. But Ana seems like she means business. I saw her Australian open first round exit today, she shows brilliance and court coverage that may make her a powerful contender. To top it all, she is cute and passionate and she is just 23! So she has another 5 years of grand-slam fight in her. Let us hope she wins many more.

So, my current tennis favourites are Federer, Clijsters and Ana Ivanovic! And it is Ivanovic who will remind me of grand-slams.

A course on innovation and thinking

2010-12-17T19:48:00.000+05:30

Mary Louis Penaz asked this question on triiibes (subscription needed) and I spent some time thinking about options. She wanted to know what would you prescribe as reading or activity list for this course. Here are my thoughts dumped as a whole.

Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational is a nice book business types must read. It teaches us about how we think and act and our intention and disconnect between all these.
The idea is to understand logical thinking as a discipline. I recommend Sherlock Holmes study in scarlett the chapter titled "The science of deduction". Sherlock holmes also talks about observation being critical. Also a few chapters from Zen and Art of Motorcycle maintenance where Phaedrus thinks about solving problems.
Six thinking hats for lateral thinking. Microsoft interview problems (which by the way were not always asked at Microsoft).
TED videos
Few concepts like logical extension, our baises and how they interfere with what we see. Let us say imagine a three legged cat - how many of us imagine a maimed cat - we didn't say anything about cat being maimed did we?
Games (there is a presentation on TED about using games) for sensory activation. Let people put their hand is a cloth sack and identify what objects are inside. Dance with blindfold. There is a game I played about listening and asking right questions - it has a problem like "husband kills wife" guess what happens using only yes-no questions. The situation is that husband is knife-thrower. I forget the details of the game but will let you know.
Write dialogues as different characters - based on chits wherein name of person is already written. It has to take the problem forward. Say Inventing new type of jam - what would churchill say? What would Superman say? etc how would a 4th century farmer describe traffic signals etc.
Inventing on the spot is also important hence games like Just-a-minute and variations of it.

A directly elected Prime minister

2010-12-16T07:03:00.000+05:30

With all due respect to Dr. Manmohan Singh, I prefer a prime minister who is directly elected by the people and not a proxy. The real show in India is being run by Sonia Gandhi or Antonia Maino as many refer to her these days. Barring the fact that she is elected member of the parliament, there is no accountability. We have had leading by proxy in prior instance, namely the Shiv Sena-BJP government famously operated by remote control by Bal Thackrey and Rabari Devi government in Bihar being operated by her husband Lalu Prasad.

By creating this off-center power position, we are undermining the constitution. Constitution grants the people the power through accountability of the office of the Prime minister. However, through these off-center power positions, these individuals are running a corruption scam right under the noses of authority, thereby becoming immune to any internal investigation and reprimand.

The telecom scandal is a manifestation of this problem. It will test the strength of the democratic institution. If they withstand the pressures from the highest office, as they should, we will have truly become a democracy.

A more natural environment undersea

2010-12-15T07:13:00.000+05:30

The lack of humans below the sea makes it a viable habitat. Here species respond to each other and the environment. If there is no light, a specie evolves to work in dark, if there is no oxygen a specie evolves to be anaerobic.

In passing, I wonder, when we look for life in outer space are we looking at life like us or life in any of its form. Will we recognize methane breathing rock like silicon based form as life? Are crystals alive? They seem to grow in size?

The sea challenges us in many ways. We humans who claim to see deep into space, far back into time (light reaching us from years ago), listen to the hum of big bang itself, don't know much about the sea.

Undersea, the ecosystem is vibrant. No single specie can make asymmetric impact on this ecosystem. Here we see the vitality of life itself that must have been present on land ages ago before humans decided to slice through the ecological balance.

Humans regularly dump things into the sea and sea evolves to meet the challenges. It embraces shipwrecks and converts them to fountains of life. Possibly, even sea cannot sustain our continuous onslaught, but for the time it remains our link to a natural balance.

Computer and Interfaces

2010-12-13T08:02:00.000+05:30

Bend Desk (picture from Design boom link along side)

I came across this idea titled bend desk at design boom. It set me thinking about computers and interfaces.

In the previous generation computers the interface was limited by the amount of computing power it consumed. However, recent advances in computer technology imply that today's processors are more capable to handle complex (or high computational volume) interfaces.

It means that we can effectively separate the computer and the interface. The computer or processor with RAM and other ancillaries required to compute can be as small as iPhone and can plug into more elaborate interfaces (like the bend desk above) when required. The device, like iPhone, continues to have a basic interface for standalone usage.

Thus, I believe, iPad actually should be just a screen with slot for iPhone to connect to. It may contain additional battery. Similarly, desktop computers should have a dock interface for iPhone sized devices (like we have for laptops). I believe this is the future of computing.

Sun, through its network computer idea, had a similar concept. In that mechanism, however, the data was stored on the network and securely accessed through a high security card. The processor used was local processor of the machine used to access the data.

Importance of Arts

2010-12-03T08:57:00.000+05:30

I often wondered what is the importance of arts. Why study arts at all? What is the use of a painting, a song, a novel, sculpture or a building etc. Amongst all, it seemed, architecture seemed to be of most promising practical value. But then I had an epiphany.

Art is observation of the society

Just as a scientist observes the experiment using various instruments, an artists observes society through her art. In that way, art is a documentation of human history. It is a source of learning rather than amusement. This journey of arts originates in the Renaissance era and carries towards the age of Romanticism. Through its evolution, Arts develops as a means of observation of society as opposed to royalty or religion.

19th Century Scandinavian house - copyright Rahul Deodhar

Art, thus, can be a recreation of a living room from 19th century Scandinavia. It depicts the details of the life of seemingly rich family. The picture is from a Museum centre in Turku Castle in Finland. In the same museum, they have presented the dresses worn by ladies in various centuries. Through these dresses you can see the development of expertise in stitching and embroidery, we can see the evolving fabrics and colours, styles, use of laces, leather, corsets etc. It also depicts differences in dresses amongst those of authority and status and those serving them.

Art is exploration of social possibilities for tomorrow.

Before a society actually accepts something, it needs to evaluate its merit. But how can we explore the various possibilities without putting society at risk. A scientist would undertake controlled experiments to ascertain her hypotheses. A social scientist does not have a "controlled" society where such experiments can be done. The answer, therefore, lies in thought experiments. As the range and power of Arts evolved, it became a tool to conduct social experiments. This streak of development is also evident in the development of arts through Renaissance to Romanticism.

At 221 B, Baker Street, London - copyright Rahul Deodhar

An artist conjures up a range of possibilities and expresses them in her art form. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created an exquisite tapestry of lifestyle of a person of abnormal intelligence, Sherlock Holmes. In his thought experiments, Holmes is remarkably upstanding in his views on justice and ethics. The intellect needs experimentation to push the boundaries of scientific understanding that he pursues. At the same time Holmes uses drugs occasionally, sort of experimentation that borders the ethical boundaries. Through these experiments, we can draw the ethical boundaries for experimentation. Or specifically, we can draw these boundaries as the author visualized or opined them to be. These thought experiments are for all to see in the form of novels and books. It is for us to further our understanding based on views on this astute observer.

Actors create an option, an alternative, of how to look cool in a particular situation. Over ages, author, film-makers have explored various ways of expressing love, each different, slightly more relevant to its times. From climbing the symbolically high tower to meet his love, to quantifying love by size of diamonds each era has its own stamp over the same emotion. Art, in this case, tells us as much about the era and gives us an option to choose our way.

So what is included as arts
In a sense whatever is used to observe the society or imagine a society must be art. Photography is art. Art, however, is not news or journalism. Journalism is, at best, a commentary on arts but it cannot be art itself. Art is not an opinion or commentary on the society - it is merely an observation. It may lead to commentary but it is not the central aim of art. Thus, art is neutral in its judgement and unafraid to push the boundaries of convention.
Ages ago, authors and artists created observed widow remarriages, lack of rights for women and paved the way for a better society. Today Tina Fey (and her folk) explores the various issues through her character in 30 Rock, she creates options for viewers and their behaviours. In some cases she shows how to be cool, but real, single woman, in others she explores ways to deal with love and attraction at workplace. She also shows a way (not necessarily different always) of being a boss, employee etc. she observes and reports, creates alternatives and more. She has created art.

Modern Art is losing these roots
In many ways, modern art is losing these roots. In that sense, I believe, many of the recent paintings of modern artists do not deserve the obscene prices they fetch. I have similar views on abstract arts. In arts, we need a second renaissance. Is it coming?

Note: Images are proprietary. Use is not allowed without permission.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

2010-10-27T19:15:00.000+05:30

I have always been good with forecast about good people. But people do not believe me. So I decided to put my money where my mouth is! So today's forecast is about Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

I recently saw the movie Make it happen. It is a small movie made for television. The female lead was impressive so I decided to find out more about her. Turns out she was also part of Die Hard 4.0 as Lucy McLane. That role was not noticeable though.

Coming back to Make it happen, Mary is awesome and her dancing is mind blowing. She is very graceful and her acting is quite sincere - a bit understated but I am sure she can turn it up anytime. So here is the forecast, I think this girl will make it big. She can become the next Nicole Kidman (my all-time favourite).

I hope she chooses her films well and does not restrict to scream fests. Work ethic is important as well. But she has a long and rewarding career ahead of her. She has the making of a really big star. Looking forward to her best.

Links:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Facebook and Google

2010-10-26T21:55:00.001+05:30

I noticed a distinct difference between Google and Facebook models. Google looks at information connections between people while Facebook searches the people connection between information. Let me explain. Google needs pre-connection between information, while Facebook needs pre-approval between people. Google uses web-crawlers to verify the connections. Facebook uses friend network to do the same for people.

Facebook wants people to create content within their domain. Thus you can tag the content with personal stamp. Thus, who is saying is more important what is said. Since the people connections are already established, the default relevance factor is higher for facebook. However, Facebook does not have a subject level matching yet. So I still get to read about lot of farmville scores, or see a lot of kitty videos since I cannot isolate these.

In the case of Google, what is being said is more important. Thereafter Google uses a nice trick to categorize who is saying it. It uses page rank algorithm to find how many pages link to that page. Thus it uses anonymous ranking to bring the most popular person up on the results page. So long as it is anonymous, page rank algorithm captures the subject relevance to higher degree. Thus the content relevance is better on Google. However, it is possible to doctor the ranking using dense interlinkages between friends. So if 5 sites link to each other on numerous occasion they can improve their rankings.

This becomes interesting from user point of view. When we need to know more about a specific topic, Google is better. But facebook is better able to address the question "what's up?". Further, I would rather read opinions of my friends or friends of friends than opinions of unknown people.

If by Rudyard Kipling

2010-09-18T09:44:00.000+05:30

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

My High School education

2010-08-10T13:46:00.000+05:30

Just wanted to share my experience about my school education. Here in India we have a hyper-competitive system. We fight over a single mark and top ranking students routinely put in 14 hours into studies post 8th grade till 12th grade (high school). Those expecting admission to engineering or medicine go through the text books problems at least 3 times, solve past 10-15 years question papers in mock test and take at least 20 additional test over the year on full syllabus.

Teachers commented on handwriting, answer sheet layout, diagram style and labeling, apart from answers and their appropriateness. We had essay type questions I mean it was not multiple choice you had to show the intermediate steps in calculations or write in detail - 200 words etc. Neatness carried one mark! We did design out papers too. In math problems, all equal to signs were exactly one below the other. We always left one line between paragraphs in essays. Question number was written in a standard way like: Q. No. 1 (a) then all through the paper you will find the same format. You won't use say Question 1(a) if you have chosen the prior convention. If your format had square brackets then it had square brackets all around.

We finished annual syllabus in 8 months and rest 4 months were practice. Same goes for practical examinations. We practiced so often that there was not much chance to mess up on exam day. We had diaries which were rigorously maintained and checked during parent teacher meetings. The principle used to discuss every lost mark. He had a computer with notes that said this fellow is good in physics, trigonometry etc. and used to check specific topic marks. It was like a performance appraisal system -targets were jointly set and you were expected to exceed them. The principal, Fr. Almeida, used to visit your house at night and check whether you are following your time table or not.

Math was reserved for special treatment. I scored well in my class tenth (which is end of secondary school here). I got into a fabulous college for high school. Almost everyone had score as much as I had and some had even more. The first math test was based on class tenth syllabus but was extremely tough with negative marking. Out of 10 marks I got 1 mark and the highest was 3. Our teacher gave the test just because he thought our high marks may have gone to our head. We had math formula books and our teachers could ask for a formula any time - even in the loo.

At home too there was strict discipline. Till standard 12th there are no parties (ok may be once a semester or something), and strict curfew. All hours were allocated - we had strict time schedule wherein we were watched TV - half an hour a day. We played every day though, cricket mostly for an hour. Phone time was restricted only 15 mins just in case you have doubts. We talked mostly confirming what everyone is achieving. My answer for such problem is not matching with answers given below (it wasn't multiple choice) so I checked with my friend what answer he is getting and verified that the textbook has a printing mistake.

Calculators were not allowed so we had to invent some ways to speed up. Most knew the multiplication tables upto 30. A lot of us knew the entire periodic table with atomic number, atomic mass number, electrons in outer orbits and configuration of orbits. We even knew the log tables by heart, square roots, squares were as well known. One fellow could multiply four digit by four digit numbers without using pen or paper or any aid. We all could do three digit multiples.

We even standardized essay structures for language papers. Language papers presented a tough choice. Paper was 3 hours and typical answer sheets went to 30 letter size pages (sides so 15 pages) about 30 lines per page. You had to be on top of your game to write that much and switch between topics. You are writing "biography of a rose" (this was in 8th grade) and poetry appreciation of Daffodils by wordsworth. So essays had to be 2.5 sides and no more. Poetry appreciation should not exceed 1.5 sides. Then you have to cover the topic completely to get maximum marks. Language evaluation was subjective and hence rather difficult. So to keep evaluators interest, you have to write different kind of essay rather than usual type that people would write. So usual essay about rose would talk about love or death (wreath), you would talk about recycled rose that went to both. And you said it in the first para so that the evaluator was able to notice that your essay was different right up front.

All said, the people I grew up with were brightest and most disciplined. A lot of my high school friends are there on my facebook. It was a fabulous lot, a bunch of fabulous achievers.

Song Analysis - My Heart will go on by Celine Dion

2010-07-13T10:51:00.000+05:30

Yes, I love songs. Earlier I thought I only loved old Hindi and Marathi songs. But I realised that I actually love good songs - in any language I can understand. Today, Celine Dion is among my favourite singers with many interesting songs including "That's the way" among others. I love her voice and range. But this song is gem.

First, the duality.

The song has two distinct parts the first sounds soft romantic and the second sounds determined. The music strains a slow romantic note in the first part. The charm is that slow music sounds romantic and soulful, bordering on the melancholy but never gives up hope. The music gushes forth powerfully in the second part projecting a determination only a woman's heart is capable of. Celine's voice mirrors the music sort of matching it.

Second, it communicates the emotion expressed in the film.

The words parallel the dialogues particularly from the scene when Jack Dawson says his final goodbye and makes Rose promise that she won't give up. However there are some parts that are sort of read from Rose's mind.

Third, I love the way the words are enunciated in line with their meaning.

Let us start from the beginning. The immediate second line is "I see you, I feel you". There is immense synchronization between the rendering of words "see" and "feel" and their meaning. See is rendered clearer while "feel" has a slightly rough, possibly velvety sound to it.

The words "far", "stay" is stretched. The "on" part of "heart will go on" is held forever. The word "go" in "go on" is shorter and stays attached to the phrase "go on" rather than render separately.

I don't know if "spaces" is spaced out deliberately or it is just because of the word but the effect is wonderful. Even the the word "between" conveys a sense of large space between the two characters. The word "between", to my mind, is a testing word for a singer. When it is used to convey strong togetherness (like nothing in between) then it has to be rendered shorter, but when between is conveying separation it has to be enunciated in a stretched manner.

The lines "Love can touch just one time and lasts for a lifetime" is a miracle. There is softness in "touch", "just one time" is enunciated quickly while "and lasts for a lifetime" is stretched melodiously. The voice and music follow the meaning marvelously.

I also love how "near" is shorter and voiced as if the singer is nearer. It is immediately followed by "far" which is stretched. Same goes for "wherever" the enunciation communicated the intent of the word. The song, in that ways, is simply perfect.

That doesn't mean there are no improvements.

Two places, I felt, could be improved. First the accent of "loved" in the line "love was when I loved you" could be softer. Second, Celine stretches the "once" differently. She stretches "one" and abruptly adds a very short "nce" to it. I think the "nce" needed to stretch a bit.

One thing I am not sure about is the word "We'll" which is short for "We will". I hear it differently in various formats. The CD renders it as a stretched "We" and "ll" where there is only a hint of "i" sound, probably the best possible option. The youtube version sound like "We-ill" thanks to poor quality I guess.

Anyways, I don't think these are major improvements and the song is, in my book, perfect.

Lyrics, credits and links

Here are the lyrics and link to youtube video.

My Heart will go on

Every night in my dreams

I see you. I feel you.

That is how I know you go on.

Far across the distance

And spaces between us

You have come to show you go on.

Near, far, wherever you are

I believe that the heart does go on

Once more you open the door

And you're here in my heart

And my heart will go on and on

Love can touch us one time

And last for a lifetime

And never go till we're one

Love was when I loved you

One true time I hold to

In my life we'll always go on

Near, far, wherever you are

I believe that the heart does go on

Once more you open the door

And you're here in my heart

And my heart will go on and on

You're here, there's nothing I fear,

And I know that my heart will go on

We'll stay forever this way

You are safe in my heart

And my heart will go on and on

Credits

Music- James Horner,

Lyrics - Will Jennings

Singer - Celine Dion

Producer - Walter Afanaseiff

When I'm gone

2010-06-02T11:00:00.000+05:30

Monk - the series' final episode has a fine song called "When I'm gone" by Randy Newman. Here are the lyrics (link opens in iTunes).

The time for us to say goodbye is near
The hour I hoped would never come is here
Though many hearts are broken we must somehow carry on
Cause I think you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

I thought my life was over when we met
So little to remember, so much to forget
Though it was you who saw me through the darkness to the dawn
Still I think you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

I’m a modest man
And it hurts me to say these things to you
After all we’ve been through, it’s the least that I can do
So instead of just goodbye I’ll say so long
And as for the light by which you see me, leave it on

I’m a better man than I was before
knowing you has made me strong
and I think you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

I’m a better man than I was before
knowing you has made me strong
and I sure am going to miss you when I’m gone

Yes I sure am going to miss you when I’m gone

- Randy Newman

People I admire - Marlice and Rudie

2010-05-25T07:42:00.000+05:30

I never met Marlice and Rudie Van Vuuren. They run the Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia. Marlice was born Marlice van der Merwe and is famous for her films on lions and leopards. Her husband Rudie is a former cricket and Rugby player for Namibia. He holds the distinction of representing his country in two different world cups in the same year.

Long ago, I dreamed about being a cameraman for National Geographic. It was my fifth job aspiration in my life. When I was about 3 I wanted to be a bus driver. Then I saw the train. So naturally I upgraded my aspirations. Then I saw the fighter aircraft - so I decided to become a pilot. By the age of 10 I was firmly set to becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. It was astronomy that brought me to national geographic magazine. I fell in love with their camera work, the animals, the location the works.

Marlice had lived a life I dreamed of. I knew of it in her film on lions where she and her bushman friends guide the lions hoping they will set out into the wild. And Marlice is my age, when I was studying and wasting time watching TV, she was training the lions. I am ashamed of how much time I have wasted.

Nevertheless, I hope to contribute to the Naankuse Wildlife effort when I can. Hopefully I will spend some time in the park and make myself useful to them. Marlice and Rudie are my heroes. I hope to meet them sooner in life.

Read more about Marlice, Rudie and Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary by clicking on the links.

A dog who lived 40 years ago

2010-03-30T08:05:00.001+05:30

There are many dogs on the farms and owners do remember them fondly. But rarely does one remain etched in stories of many. Lalya (L) was such a dog.

Now Lalya simply means the red (Lal) one. Farm dogs get their names in funny ways. As is obvious, he had a reddish brown coat - the reason for his name. If it were a bitch, someone would have called him Lali (play on lal which means red). He was an average size dog with an attitude. He was the milkman's dog. The milkman was a resident employee in charge of the cows and buffaloes. Everyone called him "Bhaiyaji".

Lalya was a cruel hunting dog. His speciality was rabbits. He didn't miss many once he got after them. His share was decided, he took the head and left the rest. Brutal he was but then he was a dog. He also liked cats, but only those that did not belong to the farm. Cats usually climb up a tree and stay put till dogs lose interest. But not Lalya. He would sit under the tree in pouring rain and would not budge for days. He would go hungry till he got the cat. Not many cats survived. But Lalya had his other side.

Lalya always ate after Bhaiyaji. The ritual was set. Bhaiyaji will have the first bite and then put together part of his lunch into a plate for Lalya. Lalya loved tea! Lalya would also have tea this way. Bhaiyaji will have his tea and leave half of it in his glass for Lalya. On thursdays Bhaiyaji kept a fast in the afternoon. So did Lalya. You could not tempt him with anything, not even meat. Many tried but Lalya never ate on thursday afternoons. Bhaiyaji would end his fast at dinner and naturally so would Lalya - with a vegetarian meal only!

Lalya died somewhere in 1960s. Yet he is still mentioned in conversations. A dog who died long before I was born, I wonder how he made such an impact.

While searching for purpose

2010-03-21T11:48:00.000+05:30

# The following passage contains reference to religion. I was trying to avoid posting this but it seems relevant. Please use judgment and discretion.

We don't find our purpose. The purpose finds us. If we are aware we open ourselves to it. It is like love. You cannot force yourself into love. Love happens. The main question is what do we do till we find our purpose? Well, follow your dharma.

Dharma is the concept of duty.
It is the dharma of mother to care for her children. It is the dharma of children to listen to their parents. The society is imagined as a web of responsibility. It is the duty of jobless person to search for the job. It is the duty of the artist to crete art

What is my duty?
It is the duty of the knowledgeable to share the knowledge. It is the duty of the athlete to play and promote the sport. What are the duties of the mentor? What is the dharma in the house of God. At each step there are things you are required to do - by duty. Dharma says, you have to fulfill your duties to the best of your abilities.

OK! Where is the purpose?
The purpose of life evolves from within the duties. Sometimes you pull a little string and all the hell breaks loose. Dharma is that string whatever breaks loose is your purpose. You have to keep pulling the strings your are handed. Soon one will pull one that will reveal the purpose. May be your dharma has activated this "search for purpose" and May be that is your purpose - to write a book about finding your purpose.

Are you aware?
Here is a story. The waterman carries water from the well to his place in two vessels/pots. One has a tiny hole and other pot is good. Day in day out the fellow carries water. By the time he reaches home the broken pot is only half full. The broken pot tell the fellow how sad he is to have failed his duty. It feels it is not a good pot. Our fellow then points to the little trees that have started appearing along the route. He tell the broken pot, that these trees are the result of its duty. The trees were the purpose.

Conflicts of dharma - can skip
It is also a difficult concept. It is the dharma of lion to hunt and kill its prey. A lion cannot absolve itself of this duty. While it is the duty of the prey to try its best to escape. A soldier kills to abide by his dharma. But he cannot torture - that is not his dharma. The Mahabharata (the Hindu epic) details the challenges of dharma. One of the heroes, Arjuna, is supposed to fight his teachers and elders whom he respects. He is confused what is dharma is. Therein Lord Krishna explains to him the concept of dharma. The hierarchy of duties. Fighting for good is higher order duty than fighting your teachers etc. I will not go into more detail.

What is YOUR dharma?

Disclaimer: In the India of today, dharma has taken a beating. We are busy emulating the world.

2012 - Solutions for End of the world crisis

2009-11-30T09:18:00.000+05:30

I recently saw the movie 2012. A few things stood out. In 2009 an Indian scientist "connected the dots" forecasting apocalypse. He promptly informed colleagues at various research institutes he collaborated with. The movie shows US scientist, friend of the Indian scientist, go to the US president and share his views. US president, unlike all previous movies, promptly decides to go for collaborative solution involving world leaders. Every nation selects their top gene pool they want to save. The rest are kept in the dark unaware of the impending "end of the world".

The world leader give the contract of manufacturing the Arks to Chinese government. Some of the tickets to the Arks are auctioned to get "private capital" to finance the manufacture. The venture is kept secret by killing any who wishes to reveal the secret to the public.

The story reveals how only Chinese were thought to be competent to get this manufacturing done in secrecy, while slyly indicating that it might have used forced labour. Further, Indian government promptly, and in line with their tradition, forgets the scientist who discovered the theory in first place. I venture, most people on the Indian Ark were politicians.

My solution

First, one top official should call the research labs of top institutes and give them the problem. The problem is defined as " apocalypse is coming we have to build arks to save ourselves. Design Arks". The definition is uploaded on a moderated google wave. The designs uploaded are tested at the research labs and results are publicly displayed. In all probability, a solution will evolve within a very short time. Each design may have a facebook fan page. The final list maybe on a squidoo page where users rank the solutions they prefer.

I am sure the solution will appear in a small garage. It may be closer to refitting the car or truck with rally cages and water-proofing to make them withstand the tidal waves and tsunamis. I am sure that a truly open and collaborative approach would have saved many more lives and possibly at much lower costs!

Web 2.0 is an asset - and needs to be used like one

Well, any story of an apocalypse evokes the instinct, revealing our first tribe - the human tribe! The human tribe believes we are custodians of the planet and have responsibility to its survival. Even in the movie, we see this behaviour, when some animals are taken to the arks, when those in command refuse to leave behind a few people.

It is surprising how easily we understand that connected processors make a better computer. Then why don't we believe that connected minds working towards a goal can solve any major problem? Isn't it obvious by now that collaboration is the best way forward.

New World - Everyone is a leader

2009-11-17T19:06:00.000+05:30

Well, in the new world order we can no longer blame bosses for anything. The role of bosses is going to change into an "enabler". The customer will now take boss's place and provide the vision, direction and even your daily to-do list. Are you listening to your new boss?

The Marathi controversy - some interesting observations

2009-11-15T21:59:00.000+05:30

The language debate rages on in the media. But there is no rational debate on this. So I am putting out some interesting bits that I have uncovered:

Hindi is not a national language. The committee on language formed in 1950s was not able to conclude anything.
MLAs from Andhra Pradesh assembly and Karnataka assembly were debarred from taking ministerial berths because they don't know the local language. One of those was also taken on a ride on a donkey with a slate saying " I don't know Telugu".
India is a federal state. In other words it is like many countries sticking together. So in effect each state is like a mini country that has subordinated few basic rights to be together. The language is not one of them.
Hindi is made compulsory language in Bigboss 3 so you cannot converse in English and even the German participant speaks Hindi. In this context why Maharashtra Assembly cannot enforce Marathi seems weird.
Urbanisation means people look down (a bit) on those speaking in local language. I have seen this happen in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Mumbai, and probably every city. Exception to this are Pune, Calcutta, cities in Punjab. (This is based on my experience so I don't want arguments if this is true or not. I am stating this is my perception.)
Those who get excited after listening to the news should watch the reporting of same event in two different language channels of same media house. E.g. you can watch recent Maharashtra controversy on Zee Marathi and Zee News or Star Marathi and Star news. The difference in "intent of coverage" is enlightening.

So which side am I on? Well, I am a proud Maharashtrian who is an Indian first and respects all languages equally. I don't like people looking down on any language. I love Munshi Premchand, Pula, P.K. Atre, Kabir and others like Thiruvalluvar (translation) from various languages.

However, I think if India is to function as a country then it is better to take English as a language of the nation. Overall it is a much saner, more versatile solution than one of the regional languages. Seems fair to me....

Cable News

2009-10-21T08:26:00.001+05:30

Seth Godin highlights whats wrong with cable news with amazing clarity. I add my few points:
1) Every behaviour of a brat is symbolized in them.

2) Often these people have a set of people they call experts - irrespective of their skills or training. These people are free to comment on any subject in this world.

3) Some shout loud into the mic! (We have volume control damn it - we will turn it up if we cannot hear ya!)

4) They have preconceived notions on what is right and wrong and blatantly dismiss any counter view.

in reference to: Seth's Blog: The problem with cable news thinking (view on Google Sidewiki)

Future of Twitter

2009-08-17T11:05:00.000+05:30

Currently twitter is just a famous "status updation" service. It's future is being debated. I propose a two options.

An impromptu meeting scheduler

Quite a few times we tweet - "In central park - anyone want to meet". Now people who may be free may not read the tweets. Or tweets may simply drown in the noise. So even if I can meet, want to meet, I will not meet.

Now imagine - tweets had standard tags e.g. "Am free can meet" lets call it "Freet".

Also imagine, if your calendar can sync with these tagged tweets

Also imagine in my earlier conversation I had said to you " hope to meet you" or something like that

Now a popup box comes up in my calendar - "would you like to meet Mr. X at 2pm he is in central park (closer to my location at 2pm) and he is free!"

I can see some software and Palm pre being able to deal with this kind of stuff.

Twitter as a search engine entry point

Using twitter updates search engines might want to help you with your requirements

Imagine tweeting "Thinking of watching GI Joe" with a movie tag.

I would love google or any other search engine to take up this string and collect my friends reviews and send me back a comment "5 facebook friends watched GI Joe Rated high by 3, OK by 2" show friends, show twitter follower ratings, FF follower ratings, Linked in contact ratings, detailed reviews, book tickets?

Imagine the possibilities if I tweet " I need to buy a new phone"!

To Google - Hold on to "do no evil" principle

2009-08-15T08:32:00.000+05:30

Evil slips in casually. It does not seem evil at all. So Google beware. The way you promoted Maps, youtube (now with restrictions), Google real estate -I think someone in your ranks is getting across the scale from Good towards Evil. What won you favour over Microsoft was that you choose to stick close to good end of the scale. Now somewhere there will be a line you should not cross. Microsoft is treading the line it has not crossed it. You are becoming Microsoft. From today we begin the search for google killer.

Text Ads on the Google Homepage Move towards the Center:
If you have used Google lately, you may have already noticed that Google has moved their text ads (that were earlier displayed near the right edge of the search page) towards the center of your screen. In case you missed noticing that change, here’s a screenshot image.

In this screenshot (taken on a 1650×1050 resolution screen), the ad unit is located at a distance of 725px from the left edge so if you were to maximize the browser window size, the ad region will fall almost in the center.

Eye tracking studies (like this "Golden Triangle" heat map from Eye Tools) suggest that people normally navigate Google search pages in an "F" pattern - they focus on the top search results and often ignore sections that are either below the fold or are located towards the right edge.

With this recent shift towards the west, it is therefore quite obvious that the CTR figures will move further north for Google.

The change is live on the Google homepage but you’ll experience it only if the resolution of your computer monitor exceeds 1100 pixels (wide) according to Marissa Mayer. So if you are using a small screen netbook like the Asus Eee PC, you’re spared.

Text Ads on the Google Homepage Move towards the Center - Published at Digital Inspiration (RSS)
"

Tim Ferris - Scientific Speed Reading

2009-07-31T10:29:00.000+05:30

Tim Ferris is my favourite productivity guru mostly because his thinking rhymes with mine. Here he is trying to increase reading speed. I have an intuitive key-board specific typing speed improving technique as well - but I hope Tim will do a typing later.

Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes

Top 7 Places to Watch Great Minds in Action

2009-07-29T15:01:00.000+05:30

Top 7 seminars / conferences that bring together visionaries from various fields. TED being the most prominent and oldest starting in 1984. The Macintosh computer and compact discs were first demoed on TED. But rest are as interesting in selection of speakers and themes behind the discussions.

Top 7 Places to Watch Great Minds in Action

One year in Triiibes

2009-07-29T11:09:00.000+05:30

Years ago in 1999 I read a book called Permission Marketing. It had a unique cover. I loved the concept of permission marketing and thereafter I became a Godin fan. Last year Seth Godin invited his blog readers to buy his new book "Tribes" and join his online community Triiibes.com and I joined.

That point on I have been on an exhiliarating mental journey with some of the most awesome thought leaders I could ever meet in one place. Today the group completes one year and I want to thank Seth for introducing me to such amazing friends.

The entire webring is located here. But click the button to go to next person in the ring - Jan Schultink.

A guide to blogging

2009-07-24T09:09:00.000+05:30

Penelope Trunk is awesome writer and her blog is must read. But most of all is this post about a blogging guide - Penelope's Guide to Blogging. There is so much genuine advise here that I sort of live by. I often go back and re-read it every once ina while.

How to tie a perfect tie?

2009-05-27T08:46:00.000+05:30

This is how I tie my tie - perfect everytime. It is called the "windsor knot". Tim Ferrris describes it in detail here.

Where is modern Indian architecture?

2009-05-18T20:12:00.001+05:30

Today's buildings are actually RCC (Reinforced cement concrete) structure with customised skins. One of the most interesting concepts here are parallels from Eiffel Tower and Statue of Libery. Both have same structure but vastly different skins - giving us two drastically different monuments.

At this time, we have created huge structure covered with glass. Now every city in the world has started looking very same. Further, these are not environmentally sound. Considering that temperatures in Indian cities are mostly above 30C - it makes for a huge air-conditioning bill.

What I am looking for is skins designed using Indian conditions. Skins that don't just use glass - but use desgin motiffs from Indian culture, way of life and our realities. Something that differentiates our buildings from the world cities. In doing so, we may start a global trend towards better building. Where are all the bold architects?

leaves of fall

2009-05-18T15:10:00.000+05:30

Sometimes we pour our hearts on ripe leaves of fall

and hope time weathers them yellow and blows them afar.

But we know not what heavens have schemed,

our weathered frail leaf becomes a little kids' bookmark

The kid feels it, nurses it and smiles,

for now he knows in his fight he is not alone.

Renewed with vigor and wizened with know,

he battles and wins laurels galore.

So it is that even with our tear

heaven has plans far beyond we can hear.

It is ok for us to cry and bother a little while

but then move on to newer plans that were made for us.

Infrastructure requirement for Mumbai

2009-04-24T15:32:00.000+05:30

We all understand that Mumbai infrastructure is crumbling. That needs to be fixed. Further Mumbai needs to move into resource sustainability rather than resource drain.

The geographic constraints of Mumbai

Mumbai has unique geography. Its north-south orientation, population concentration pose challange to move people and goods within the city. Add to that slums and illegal drain on infrastructure.

Transportation infrastructure

Currently most of the people live on the north side and work on the south side. This meant that entire population of the city has to be ferried along this corridor. Mumbai locals did a fantastic job in this respect. But today those are grossly inadequate. Here are some solutions:

I think we need to go vertical for rail lines and roads. It will be far easier to create railway lines over current railway lines. Create four levels of tracks over current railway lines. Use one level for parking and two levels for railways and one level as an arterial road.
Since railway lines are restricted movement, we can coordinate and build while using current lines. This will minimize inconvenience to public. This is not possible with major roads - any fly-over work tends to create long jams and therefore a waste of time and money.
De-congest roads to station - create additional stations between current stations and make trains stop at alternate stations.
Create a commercial real estate project above the stations - like in New Mumbai, and use some levels for public parking and others office space.
Going overhead is better than going underground as Mumbai is mostly on reclaimed land.

Transportation - other ideas

There is further need to manage public transportation in Mumbai. First we need to bring this to the level of Singapore. So people should be able to travel in good condition (not crowded squeezed manner) to and from office. We need more public buses, taxis and whole set of environment friendly options. Electric Nano's will make good taxis and the whole fleet should be renewed in 5 years.

We also need to look at water-based transportation connecting near-by towns to Mumbai.

Slums draining the resources
No city in the world is designed for slums. But slums are part of most of the world cities. There is a reason. Slums represent people scouting for opportunity. Further cities are not designed with income distribution in mind. So most of infrastructure tends to get built for the wealthiest people.

The key is to build large-enough volume of mass-housing.
This needs to be augmented with preventing illegal occupation of tax-payer financed common / government property.
Educate the people that slums in Mumbai means some other city in India will not develop. Because activity that should be too costly to run from Mumbai will still remain in Mumbai.

Power-house

Mumbai has no power-cuts but power supply to the city is strained. In order to be a global financial hub, Mumbai will need much more reliable power.

Green Areas

Mumbai has one of the lowest green covers per square mile basis. We need more parks, beachfront promenades, garden and play-grounds.

Movement toward the MMRDA region

New Mumbai was developed 30 years ago with a promise to be what Mumbai could never be. The whole project failed to achieve its potential as links between new Mumbai and old mumbai were not established. Initial plan had 7 road-links between these two sister cities. Only 3 have materialized so far. Plans for other four are in full swing. If those take-off then growth of the city will move towards in-land areas.

In Sum

Mumbai's potential continues to hinge on its infrastructure bottlenecks. The british infrastructure provided in older parts of Mumbai still is holding on. We need to re-look at how infrastructure will be planned for new Mumbai project. Once that happen Mumbai can continue to create the buzz it has.

I dreamed a dream - Les Miserables

2009-04-15T15:08:00.000+05:30

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Throwing Shoes at Politicians

2009-04-07T14:23:00.000+05:30

Actually this seems to be the new meme going around. Throw shoes at your politicians - not just any but prominent minister is great! A journalist threw a shoe at Indian home minister today afternoon. This comes on the heels of shoes being thrown at George W Bush in Afghanistan and someone calling Gordon Brown a "de-valued prime minister".

Globally, people are sick of idiotic political class messing with their lives. The realization is dawning. Dean of Mumbai University had forecast this long ago - I forget his name.

Wake up politicians! It is time you worked for the common person!

Is media focussing on religion in elections too much?

2009-04-03T09:25:00.000+05:30

The role of media is to bring into focus the real variables that impact the life of common person. This is a responsibility, a duty rather than simply a role.

So media should not let go of religious issues, it should not forget 1984 riots nor should it let 2004 out of sight. But that is part of the story. Rest of the time it should also bring core development issues to the fore-front. I would like media to showcase:

how development affects livelihood and prosperity
how malls, freedom of women, and women rights are core of development
how agri-reforms will transform farmer incomes
what are typical agri reforms, how have they performed overseas and within India
how resource (minerals, Oil, water, forest, etc) management / enhancement is critical
how ministers have performed on these fronts
how previous governments have performed on these fronts
resulting experience of people - how people in Gujarat prospered post infra development.
Law and order - in terms of crime rates, reporting, investigations, not simply concerned with terror and riots (those are extreme and lower probability events that daily corruptions and lawlessness)

Post this take up religion/caste as one of the issue. Make the candidate selection process meaningful. In today's context media does not deserve the fourth pillar of democracy tag. Today media is more like a third rate propaganda machine.

Flirting!

2009-03-27T21:24:00.000+05:30

Where are films that show good clean flirting..
Where the hero charms his way to girl's heart...
Where you don't need to touch...
where "looks" are clean and smiles gentle...
where naughty is almost genteel...
but then where are those wonderful girls who you want to woo that way...

Alas the world has changed and romance is dead!

Preparing for Aggressive china

2009-03-26T16:35:00.000+05:30

According to the BBC, a US military report is drawing Chinese ire. They have link to download the same. The point that interest me the most is the report says:

In its annual report to Congress, the Pentagon said China was developing
"disruptive" technologies for nuclear, space and cyber warfare. It could be used
to enforce claims over disputed territories, the report said.

I think it is time India prepared itself for an aggressive China. We be ready to defend our borders and should stand up to idiotic antics of the Chinese like calling Indian high commissioner at mid-night. We now have a valid justification.

Driving Action

2009-03-25T15:39:00.000+05:30

Fantastic quote
Logic leads to conclusion – emotion leads to action
Donald Callum

Definitions - Socialism and Capitalism

2009-03-24T17:32:00.000+05:30

Capitalism means equality of opportunity
Socialism means equality of outcomes

# note: definition applies to way the words are commonly used. The original concepts are far more complex - given Marx's original thoughts and capitalism's new US-bailout rule book.

A new Political Party!

2009-03-20T17:54:00.000+05:30

I have been a keen observer of the Indian Political System. To put popular opinion in perspective, the system sucks! However, if we examine the system in context of our history and the assumptions made by the designers of the system, a whole new truth emerges. Under the stinky surface one finds how miscreants have taken advantage of good intentions and naïve assumptions of our elders. No doubt the system needs a complete overhaul!In this context I believe we need not re-invent the wheel. We can learn from the organisation structure / functioning of corporates. While I agree that government/political party should not / need not function like a corporate, I believe that our new age political party can borrow good workable ideas from corporates and deploy them for its gains. Some of the ideas from corporate approach could be:

Managing Efforts: Political Parties tend to take volunteer efforts for granted. How many times have we seen grass-root level worker sacrificed for son-of-incumbent in partisan politics. I often wondered why people join political parties at grass-root level when a certain Mr. Gandhi or Ms. Gandhi is heir-apparent. This concept is keeping good people away from politics. To have a workable, unbiased, “secular”, political party we need to reward all efforts “secularly”. Current system does not measure the efforts and time spent by volunteers. A strong system needs to be implemented to document through a process effort expended by each person working for our party.
MIS (frequent – complete reporting): A CFO gets details of every effort spent across the company. Corporate managers often seek inputs from their teams about activities and projects/assignments they are working on. These inputs form critical part of plan-do-check-improve routine that corporate follows. We need to imbibe this improvement process for our political party.
Managing Finances: One word that is common to all corporates (maybe to a varying degree) is Financial Prudence. Current political system works on un-identified, un-documented sources of funds hence this implementing this for current political parties is not feasible. They are caught in an “un-accounted funds yielding unaccounted benefits” spiral. Our political party needs to establish credibly a system to manage and audit its account in a transparent manner. I would go a step further to disclose the accounts publicly and be open to scrutiny. (One can look at open-source model for tax and financial reporting).
Marketing and Sales (to prospective voters): My boss says at the end its all sales! And he is right; this new-age political party’s first success will finally depend on how effectively it can sell to Indian voters. Corporates have a sales plan in place wherein the sales team regularly meets, interacts and sells to the clients. A worth emulating thought I must say. Drawing parallels, can we not expect our party to have a contact plan for each of the customer?
Recruitment: Corporates have a well defined process for recruitment. We tend to believe that Political Parties should be volunteer driven. But when we need skills we need skills and skills we will have to recruit. Recruiting for political parties can have a two pronged approach of volunteering and recruitments. This is again similar to fresh-hires and lateral placements concept in corporates. For each person it is important to know what is expected of him/her when he is recruited. Obviously when the recruit brings some skills (like event management) to the table the expectation can align to his skill for maximum advantage.
Career Plan – Leadership program: Also one other thing we can learn from corporates is career planning and leadership development. When you have people, they come with aspiration. Aspirations can be positively channelled if performance is measured. Hence, it is essential to put in place a performance measurement and reward system that is reasonably objective and acceptable to everyone in the team. Existence of such a system drastically enhances talent retention and helps manage expectations of the new members. It makes comparing between two good performing individuals easy and avoids conflict.

These things are more must-haves rather than esoteric requirements. Don't you think a political party along these lines will actually renew India!

Note:
This is reposted from a post titled Organisation structure for new-age political party from my own blog.

Will Middle Class create the political change we want?

2009-03-10T11:26:00.000+05:30

Rajesh Jain and Atanu Dey have very interesting posts related to middle class leveraging its electoral power to create political change in upcoming elections in India. I agree with their manifestos totally. I would definitely vote for a party that proposes such a manifesto. Yet, I am not sure if we are measuring the middle-class properly. Indian middle-class is an enigma! MNCs thought there was a huge middle class - they didn't succeed. I think the middle class we are measuring in numbers ~ 400 million and middle-class that is aware of ecnomic realities are two different animals.

Upper and Lower middle class

The globally aware, information savvy middle-class is actually highly educated upper middle class. The bulk of the middle class is unfortunately a lower middle-class.

Problems in lower middle

Let me list a general charcteristics of this class. (caution: mass generalisation)

This is the segment that is not as globalised.
To a large extent it is a vernacular aggregation - hence split across language and states.
They do not want to travel across states for work purposes
They often have multiple - though smaller income streams (husband-wife working OR job+ small side business etc)
Internet semi-literate, though kids may be internet savvy
Cellphone users but not mobile data users
Working knowledge of computers - kids may be computer savvy
Not globally connected
Well/reasonably travelled within India
Doesn't understand economics (or policy)
Less than minimum knowledge of civics
Understands inflation and subsidies very very well!

Politics of power in this segment

Rajesh Jain and Atanu Dey are correct! This lower middle class (LMC) will be most to benefit if the manifesto is implemented. But sadly LMC is not aware of it. In my understanding, LMC votes based on religion, local development, party affiliation or plainly their proximity to the candidate. The closest we get to economic agenda is inflation / subsidy!

So will we get the change?

Frankly I hope so - but its unlikely. Change will happen only if some political party can articulate the linkages of economic issues properly in local languages. A leader who could have done that was Pramod Mahajan! Sadly he is no more. And I do not see anyone who can communicate this core essentials well. And unlike in US or China, where one person can talk to entire population in their language, we need a team who can spread the message across languages.

सावरकर - एक नवी सुरवात!

2009-02-13T19:09:00.000+05:30

आज काल सावरकर ह्या विषयावर बोलणे कठीण झाले आहे। सावरकर हे हिंदुत्ववादी होते - ते कधी "fundamentalist" झाले हे मला कही कळले नही। ह्या सगळ्या गोंधळात खरे सावरकर हरवले। पुन आता सवाकरांवर वेबसाइट तैयार आहे। (लिंक वर क्लिक करा) वेबसाइट-चे मराठी क्लिष्ट आहे आणि इंग्रजी थोड़े विचित्र आहे। तरी वेबसाइटवर आज सावार्कारान्वर छान माहिती आहे।

सावरकरांचे अखंड भारताचे स्वप्न आजही अपुरे आहे। हे स्वप्न म्हणजे राज्य लालसा नही -तर जागतिक राज्कारानाचा अभ्यास करून काढलेला निष्कर्ष आहे। आज इराण-अफगाणिस्तान-पाकिस्तान हे जगाला उपद्रव झाले आहेत त्याचे मूळ ह्या दुभंग्लेल्या भारतापोटी आहे। आज जागतिक प्रमाणावर सावरकरांच्या विचारांची तपासणी करायला हावी। त्यातून बरेच पुढचे ताप टळतील।

ह्याच निमिताने एक द्रष्टया नेत्याला सादर प्रणाम।

A Brazilian Serial on India

2009-02-11T19:42:00.000+05:30

Sandhya links to a Brazilian serial on India - the idea is fantastic!

Have a look at the videos - its quite interesting!

Slumdog - A review

2009-01-25T09:53:00.000+05:30

I saw Slumdog Millionaire! It is a good movie. I liked it!

A Bollywood story-line!

Bollywood movies are about suspension of reality. Viewers should not question how suddenly people get transported from their bedroom to mountains where they sing songs! Or how brothers who get lost at a mela recognize each other 20 years later - using some locket or tattoo! It is plausible but probabilities are rare! Here we often go " Hey - its bollywood - anythings possible!"

Well same goes for Slumdog! I liked the story!

Slums and poverty

Well, slums do exists and that is a reality. Yes they are as bad as they are shown. Yes there are beggers, and sometimes they are created as shown in the movie. There were riots and hideous face of Mumbai is true - sad but true! Also underworld exist and there are killers for hire - often they are "slumdogs". But that often means they are more enterprising than we expect. Like Jamaal, they work like hell, at every opportunity they get. Some con tourists and take them for a ride - the Taj example though seems far fetched.

A story of Hope!

Thats what I liked the most. Jamaal, never gives up! Just like new Indians, who expect Javagal Srinath to hit a six on the last ball and win us the cricket match! But thats how we are! We do expect miracles. And being a Bollywood movie - you should not expect otherwise. Heck - they might have shown Jamaal as CEO of Excel communications and charted his journey in one item song! And they didn't do that because of Dan Boyle! So that fella deserves some credit!

Controversy about Amitabh Bacchaan

Amit's post on the controversy is must read. He also points out some movies that have depiction of poverty, underworld and the likes.

Now about the hoopla!

International media is going gaga over this movie!

I loved the fact that AR Rahman got golden globe. That man is a genius. But Jay-Ho is not his finest composition. There are others that better! Same goes for Gulzar for lyrics. I think Gulzar is a really sensitive poet. I love his lyrics for Aandhi and his album with Jagjit Singh. Those were way better than Jay-ho! I think these talented people are getting attention just because the film was directed by Dan Boyle!

The Crystal Ball!

Dr. Mankad, my economics professor, had mentioned back in 1999 that religion, food and Bollywood would be the biggest exports from India. The movie is symbolic of notice of bollywood by the west.

Let me make my predictions - Bollywood can make it global. Hrithik Roshan, Akshaye Kumar (so long as he does not do CC2C), Shankar Ehsaan Loy, AR Rahman, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shaan, Niraj, Lucky Ali, (two other singers I forget) Shiney Ahuja, Kangana Ranawat, Farhan Akhtar(as director), Rakesh Mehra (RDB director), Amir Khan (again as director or character actor), Boman Irani can make it big internationally. Shahrukh, Amitabh are already getting famous.

The phenomenon has started through music - rightly so - its an international language! I expect Bollywood to capture the imagination soon. It will be probably the only workable bet of Anil Dhirubhai Ambaani!

एक जगात्तिक चढाई

2009-01-16T17:25:00.000+05:30

"मराठी माणूस कधी मुंबई पुण्यपलिकडे गेलाय का?" असा खोचक प्रश्न बरेच मला विचारतात। त्यात थोड़े तथ्य आणि थोड़े मिथ्य हे आहेच। तसे पाहावे तर घर-घरात एक तरी व्यक्ति विदेशात स्थायीक आहे। तरी भारतात रहाणारया लोकांमध्ये मराठी लोक कही थोड्या शहरातच दिसतात। हे बदलत चालले आहे। तरी आज सुध्हा हे लागु पड़ते। आणि मीसुशिक्षित लोकन बद्दल महनत नाही तर सर्व लोकांबद्दल संगत आहे।

भारत जिनका - जग जिंका

आमच्या गावी रिलायंस च कारखाना बंद झाल्यावर रेतिरे होणारे जास्त, बदली घेणारे कमी। त्यामुले झाले हे की हळूहळू सर्व नोकर्या बाहेरच्या लोकांच्या झाल्या। ह्याचा परिणाम मराठी माणसाच्या जीवनावर होत आहे। त्यात राज ठाकरे फार काही करू शकणार नाही। ह्या नोकर्या आपल्यालाच मिलाव्ल्या पाहिजेत। मी तर म्हणतो जिंक्ल्या पाहिजेत। सर्वांनी जगभर कुठेही जायला तैयार राहिले पाहिजे।

नोक्र्याच्या पुढे व्यापार आहे

आधी नोकर्या आणि त्यानंतर व्यापार जिंकला पाहिजे। आज व्यपाराला जे हीन लेखले जाते तसे चालणार नाही। आणि मराठी माणूस अम्बानी झाला नाही तरी नारायनामुर्ति व्हावा हीच इच्छा। व्यापार करण्यासाठी थोडी-आधिक रिस्क घ्यावी लागणार। त्यासाठी लागणारे पाठबल मराठी कुटुंबात आणले पाहिजे। त्यासाठी थोड़े धीट होणे जरुरी आहे। गाड्या भरधाव चलाव्नार्य मुलांपेक्षा किंवा सिगारेट ओढण्यापेक्षा असा धीटपणा बरा।

ह्या दोन प्रकार आपण हे जग जिकु शकू। तर लागुया आता तयारीला! जुगावर चढाई करायची आहे!

The Demise of Media

2009-01-14T15:12:00.000+05:30

Long ago, in 1993, Michael Crichton made a prediction about demise of media in 10 years. Jack Shafer interviewed him in 2002 when media industry appeared to be healthy. Today, 15 years after Crichton made his insightful forecast, the signs of decay are evident and even Jack Shafer agrees. Media industry globally seems to be doomed. As with his books, his forecast was way ahead of time. Let me highlight a few signs of decay relevant to Indian media.

The fourth estate decadence
Here are some points where I cringed at the quality of reporting.

In the recent Arushi murder case, almost all major news channels were playing songs from bollywood movies expressing emotions on behalf of the little victim.
Try following the same case in newspaper. Not one bit of information is added to your understanding. I cannot “follow” a story, subject, or anything that can improve my knowledge. The information availability is sporadic, erratic and erroneous.
Yesterday NDTV interviewed the chairman of planning commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The number of times the reporter arrogantly interrupted this distinguished man was appalling. I wanted to slap her across the face and tell her – let him completely share his view with you!
I cannot bear the way CNBC interviews people. The interviewer loudly asks, nay drawls, a 5-minute, convoluted, repetitive, dumb question that get monosyllable answers. That he is an editor makes me sick.
Almost all reporters shout on TV, interject while experts are voicing and explaining their views.
Media does not understand statistics. If you come across a phrase “India believes” don’t believe it. Last time I noted it referred to a majority percentage (media definition is anything above 30%) of a fraction of population (like 10 or 20 people out of 1.5 billion population) randomly selected on sidewalk of their office!

Blogs are weighing in
The best thing I did was get my favourite blogs on my Google Reader. Since then I don’t feel the need to read the newspapers except for gossip and trivia. Last Sunday we had a programme “We the People” by prominent journalist Ms Barkha Dutt about blogging. The show was so poorly researched that it focused totally on blogs that share intimate personal details. She was skeptical about blogs competing with “main-stream” media. As usual she interjected when important points were being made and answered her own question. In my experience – I have found well developed and evolved analysis and opinion expressed on blogs. The great Mr. Amitabh Bacchan blogs clarifies a lot about how media misquoted him. The blog, often, gives more real and complete information to us fans than the media did for decades.

In Sum
Media has become too rude. They have taken the philosophy of “hard-hitting” journalism too literally. And this when the army of editors and language experts are at their disposal. In fact, debates on the BBC and their reporting are saner and analytically better than what I find in India. As Michael Crichton notes, Mediasaurus is dead! Welcome to the new media.

Note:
This was posted on my other blog which I now plan to close and shift completely to blogger.

सत्य

2009-01-12T17:53:00.000+05:30

हरिश्चंद्र के हिंद में यह कैसे लोग आयें है,
जो ख़ुद अपने कारखाने लूट रहे हैं,
यहाँ पुजारी ही मन्दिर गिरा रहे है,
यह कैसे तूफ़ान हिंद पर आ रहे है,
ऐसे में हिंद के माजी कहाँ है?
कहाँ है वोह सत्य को जिताने वाले?
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

नविन वर्षाच्या शुभेच्छा

2009-01-07T19:58:00.000+05:30

बोलता बोलता नविन वर्ष आले।

ह्या वर्षी आपल्याला अमेरिकेत सुरु ज्हलेल्या आर्थिक घडामोडी बाध्नार आहेत। तरी आपण तैयार राहिले पाहिजे। भारतावर ह्याचा परिणाम कमी होइल तरी परिणाम हा होणारच। जगाचा अर्धा व्यवहार अमेरिका करते। आज अमेरिका कठीण परिस्थितीत आहे। त्याचा जगावर तेवढ्या प्रमाणात परिणाम होणार।

आता में नविन वर्षाच्या सुरवातीलाच हा भलताच विषय घेतला? मुख्या कारण असे की - जो ह्या सर्व गोष्टींसाठी तैयार आहे तोच हे वर्ष सुखाने घलाव्नार! म्हणुन आपल्या सग्ल्यांच्या सुखासाठी म्हणतोय - कर्ज़ घेऊ नका। बाबा म्हणतात - ऋण काढून सण साजरा करू नये! वाय्फाल खर्चा कमी करा अणि उद्याचा चिंता दूर करा!

आता तुमचे वर्ष सुखाचे जाणारच!

पहाड़

2009-01-07T19:45:00.000+05:30

पहाडोंसी है उम्मीद हिंद से,
की राह दिखा दे हिम्मत से,
सख्त न हो अपने दुश्मनों से,
के उनके घर न जले,
लेकिन ये घाव गहरा है,
इसको भूलना ख़ुद का अपमान,
इससे सीख के आगे बढे,
इसीमे है अपनी शान।
क्या हम इस बार सीखेंगे?
कहाँ है वोह अभिमानी नेता,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

Tax Reforms

2009-01-05T16:50:00.000+05:30

The current financial crisis is a good opportunity to reform the tax system across the globe and particularly in India. The objectives of tax system are to get maximum revenues for the government at the lowest cost. Costs should be calculated as cost to economy for computing and paying tax revenues - this should be reduced. The application of funds collected through taxes should be clearly communicated to the tax-payer.

Taxes key historical points

Taxes in various forms are essentially an instrument of Rulers. Forms of governance have changed but taxes continue to remain on the scene. In fact, in some ways, the history of governance (from monarchy, communism and democracy) can be interpreted as struggle to gain control of tax revenues or right to tax. Democracy is a mechanism to give the power of administering the tax revenues back to the people. Yet, average people have little say in allocating the way the tax revenues are managed, what taxes are charged, what need to be charged and how they are spent. A reformed system of tax should allow for such possibilities.

Governments use Taxes as policy instrument

Government, however, uses taxes as instruments of policy. If it wants more savings then it makes savings tax-free. If it wants more investment in housing sector - it makes housing loan repayments tax-free. At the outset this seems fair and even intelligent way of creating incentives. Yet, the costs involved in creating a machinery to monitor the use/abuse of these provisions is never accounted for. And even when it is accounted, it focuses on costs of monitoring and fails to include the time, effort and cost involved in computing.

Calculating the costs of tax collection
Costs are currently calculated as cost of government (of bureaucracy required to get the revenues) and effort in maintaining and scrutiny of tax records. Rather costs should be calculated as cost to economy for computing and paying tax revenues. There is a tremendous amount of time, effort and cost associated with calculation of taxes by the tax-payer - higher than possibly required for monitoring. And these costs should be reduced. This objective indicates a move to single time, single value (in per cent terms), single tax should be most ideal.
For example, lets say we just have income tax @ 15% of total income no exemptions. For income below certain threshold there should be no tax.

Fairness of Taxes

Taxes should be fair to all citizens. Corporate entities are charged on profits whereas individuals are charged on incomes. Within corporate sector certain sectors are given benefits and certain others are penalised. It is within this frame that auditors, accountants and government officials make money. Further, to make good on fairness government imposes additional complexity to the tax system.

The most fair system is one that is very simple. The system cannot be fair and incomprehensible for people will doubt its fairness. On the other hand a simple system is convincingly fair - anyone can verify it themselves.

How much tax to charge?

The basis of tax determination is the fact that Government is really a not-for-profit organisation. The moment government starts counting profit-from-taxes it identifies easy targets for tax collection and goes after those. Still occassionally the system will throw in surplus and deficiency - and it is the governments duty to minimize both. Government can effectively tweak benchmark tax-rates and manage the finances.

माझा महाराष्ट्र! अणि माझा देश!

2008-12-15T19:44:00.000+05:30

महाराष्ट्र हे भारतातील आघाडीचे राज्य आहे। ही आघाडी आपल्याला मिळालीटी थोर लोकांच्या कामामुळे। आज आपले राज्यकर्ते महाराष्ट्राचा पाया मोदत आहेत। ह्याचा परिणाम पुढच्या पीढीला भोगावा लागणार आहे। आज महाराष्ट्राची राजनैतिक जागृती होणे गरजेचे आहे। मूलभूत सुविधा पुरवून चालणार नही - तय तर हव्याच। आता कल्पना समृद्ध विचार्कारते घडविले पाहिजेत आणि त्याना तय कल्पना खर्या करण्यासाठी प्रोत्साहन दिले पाहिजे।

महाराष्ट्राची आजची प्रगति बर्याच वर्शंंच्या तपश्र्येचे फळ आहे। ह्यामध्ये लोक-जागृती करणारे तीलक होते, शिक्षणाचा प्रसार करणारे भाऊराव पाटिल होते, जातिभेद विरुद्ध लाध्नारे फुले होते, ह्यांचावर नज़र ठेवणारे अत्रे होते तसेच इतर ही लोक होते। ह्या मातब्बर लोकन-एवढेच - किंबहुना थोड़े त्याहून थोड़े अधिकच - असे साधारण लोक होते। जनतेच्या नज़ारे आड़ काही लोक MIDC द्वारे उद्योगाला चलाना देत होते। काही लोक शिक्षणाचा प्रसार करीत होते। पोलिस सुरखा व्यवस्था चोख ठेवत होते। थोडक्यात महाराष्ट्राचा विकास बर्याच संस्थामुळे झाला। आज ह्या सर्व संस्था खितपत पडल्या आहेत। उद्योग खचले आहेत। त्या नविन महाराष्ट्र निर्माण करू शकत नाही। आज आपल्या राज्यकर्त्यानी इकडे लक्ष्य दिले नाही तर पुढचा काळ महाराष्ट्रासाठी उज्जवल नसेल। महाराष्ट्राच्या विकासासाठी फक्त रस्ते, विज, पाणी पुरवून चालणार नही। आज गरज आहे पूर्ण पायाभरणीची। सगळ्याच सुविधा पुन्हा जिवंत केल्या पाहिजेत।

आपल्याला हवी उत्कृष्ट शिक्षण पद्धति - जी मुलाना लहान वाया पासुनच कल्पनाशक्तिच उपयोग शिकवेल। आज आपल्याला हवी जगापेक्षा पुढारलेली उच्च-शिक्षण प्रणाली। ह्या शिक्षणाचा उद्देश नोकर निर्माण करण्या पेक्षा नोकर्या तैयार करणारे उद्योजग घड़वण्यावर असला पाहिजे। ह्या बरोबर पाणी, विज आणि रस्ते हे निर्माण करणे आवश्यक आहे। नवे पुल, सरल रस्ते, रेलवे आणि विमानतल हे निर्माण करणे गरजेचे आहे। तसेच उद्योग धंदा सुधरवा ह्या साथी उत्तम बैंकिंग व्यवस्था करणे जरुरी आहे। ह्या झाल्या अर्थाशास्त्रशी सम्बंधित गोष्टी।

राष्ट्र घडविताना समाज घडवणे जास्त महत्वाचे आहे। समाज़कारणासाठी धनाबरोबर मनाची जोपासना करणे जरुरी आहे। त्यासाठी पुर्वजानी काव्य-शास्त्र आणि इतर कला जोपासण्यावर भर दिला आहे। कलाकाराना समाजाचे डोळे आणि कान करून समाजाची प्रगतीचा अभ्यास करता येतो। पण नुसता अभ्यास करून चालत नाही, त्याचे विवेचन करण्यासाठी सशक्त पत्रकार लागतो। ह्या गोष्टीना आपण Soft Infrastructure म्हणू शकतो। हे Soft Infrastructure देणारे सरकार आपण निवडले पाहिजेत। हेच खर्या प्रगतीचे शक्तिस्रोत आहेत।

प्रथम अभिवादन!

2008-12-15T17:32:00.000+05:30

हा माझा मराठीतला पहिला लेख। उद्देश असा की विचार मुक्तपणे लिहायचे। त्यासाथी मी इंग्रजीत ब्लॉग लिहित आहेच। पण आज हेच विचार मराठीत मांडले पाहिजेत।

आज-काल पेपर हे मध्यम पूर्णपणे निरुपयोगी झाले आहे। पेपर-मध्ये चप्लेले लेख हे जागतिक विचारांच्या मागे आहेत। तरी आज ही मराठी माणूस पेपर मधल्या विचाराना जास्त महत्व देतो। त्यात त्याचा दोष नाही। पण आज जग पुढे गेले आहे। आपण ही पुढे गेले पाहिजे। जुन्या मध्यमाना चिकटून परिस्तिथीशी तडजोड करता येणार नही। त्यासाठी जास्तीतजास्त विचार मराठीत लिहिले पाहिजेत। ह्या ब्लॉग मार्फ़त हेच साध्य करायचा उद्देश आहे।

जग भाराचे लिखाण वाचून त्याचे लिंक्स देण्याचा मला प्रयत्न करायचा आहे। तरी ह्या लिखाणात ब्लॉगर सॉफ्टवेर आणि माझ्या भाषा सामर्थ्या कारणाने झालेल्या चुका माफ़ कराव्या।

Electronic Voting Machines

2008-12-12T16:27:00.000+05:30

Indian Electronic voting machine represents second generation electoral reforms. (First generation being related to candidates' legal records and election id cards). They are also a fantastic example of how ingenuity can be deployed to good use. I found this post about Indian EVMs and their comparison with US Diebold voting machines. It is must read - a learning of Indian electoral process and its advantages and disadvantages.

Link:
Techaos - Indian EVM v/s Diebold US EVM

ठंडी पड़ रही है आज़ादी की लडाई!

2008-12-12T14:13:00.000+05:30

बदलाव के नारे ठंडे पड़ रहे है,
रोटी के चक्के से लोग पीस रहे है,
यह रोज़ के शोर में बहरे हो रहे है,
सपनो की बलि से अंधे हो रहे है,
क्या हिंद को ये सब दिखायी न देता?
यह नेता कैसे इनका भविष्य उजाड़ रहे है,
कहाँ है वोह जिन्हें क़द्र है इस जहाँ की?
जिन्हें ना है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

Barriers to entry in politics and possible solutions

2008-12-10T16:51:00.000+05:30

One of the very central themes of solution to terror has been political change. Yet political change is very difficult to initiate primarily due to robust barriers to entry created by aligned interest. These barriers prevent legitimate candidates to create an alternative in short run. Legitimate and disclosed revenue generating mechanism for political parties, institutions to create social contribution in the form of ground work, analysis committees need to created as hotbeds for future politicians. A cross performance audit into code-of-conduct, revenue and expenses and other performance scorecards should be deployed to measure the performance of existing and upcoming political parties.

Sources of Revenue

Current political system denies any income generating opportunity for the institution. While it is agreed in principle that parties should be able to function on donations, it is naive to believe that this won't influence the decision-making of the party. Meanwhile corporates find it difficult to split their contributions across political parties on any sane basis that will help rise of new political parties. All the basis currently deployed are feeding into exisiting political parties. So current system has gets stronger with status quo.

Political change requires high expense

Any marketer will tell you if you have to take on the brand leader in their home market the new entrant has to out-smart the incumbent - and this means more interruption marketing, out-spending the incumbent. Further the incumbent often has government machinery to pay for his counter.

Communicating the change message

Using media debates is one way to create a viral change message. However, the state of media industry is apologetically dismal. Current media does not understand the need to showcase opinion leaders, rather tries to create opinion leaders out of leaders from other phases of social life. So often they ask actors their view on the economy, or economist on their view of polity and otherwise. The amount of legitimate airtime a development worker gets is abysmally low. The scouting mechanism is very weak.

Such convergence of forces have created unique problems for politics of our generation. The real thought-leaders within the political parties are denied their share of limelight against those with nuisance value (rogues and goons). The solution is to impose prudence on to the political system and then tie the benefits to the performance within the metrics.

The audit / MIS route to political change

Audit and MIS represent tools that help organisations function according to the strategy plan. It is surprising that such tools are lacking in the political sphere. No political party has instituted a call-plan based out-reach program touch most of the citizens with regularity (they do it opportunistically). Use of MIS based reporting for changing political issues at contituency level seems to be far-fetched. A CEO / CFO is expected to know drill-down numbers - sales by region, profitable product lines etc. Yet, the prime-minister is unable to point out where aid program money goes! Such a system will help conserve and direct resources more intelligently.

A systematic approach for upcoming political parties

There also needs to be a planned approach for new political parties wanting to enter the fray. This could be a 5-year management of development programs and regular publishing of the effectiveness. This will help create a reliable background for new entrants. There are risks of exploitation of this hence the process needs to have adequate counter-balance.

Another approach could be to tag social participation to the election id card and accumulate the points. Only after certain level of points can an individual be considered legitimate political candidate. Naturally there can be disqualifying criteria as well, for example, convictions under any law, criminal record etc. The collection of individuals with sufficient point base should help create a new political party. This is very similar to how VCs look at background of founders and their skin-in-the-game.

Methods for denotifying a political party

The system should also have mechanism to bar political parties abusing their power. Proposed approach should use escalation based penalty system. A political party abusing power when gaining identification should have lower weight. Party abusing power when elected but not the main opposition or governing will have next highest weight. Party in opposition leadership will be penalised further higher and ruling party abuses will incur highest penalties. The performance should yield enough material to set the qualifying criteria for political parties.

In Sum

Creating systems for political process is going to be first step of political change. Countries that take up this will set themselves up for progress in the long term. The development of democracy as a concept will depend on our institution building skills.

आज़ादी की चिंगारी

2008-12-08T18:33:00.000+05:30

बहुत एक दिन बाद एक चिंगारी जली है,
एक नए हिंद की ज़ंग-ऐ-आज़ादी चली है,
बहुत दिन बाद नया सवेरा हुआ है,
एक नए हिंद का सपना दिखा है,
आज इस चिंगारी तो बचाओ,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर उनको बुलाओ!

Questions after the terror attacks

2008-12-06T10:00:00.000+05:30

Post the terror attacks a lot of friends, clients, colleagues have asked me if India is safe. The answer is yes.

Is situation on ground safe?

Absolutely. Majority of Indians are peace-loving, level-headed people. Mumbai resumed our normal lives right on friday.

Every nation goes through its own strife

US had its war on drugs and mafia - so did India. US had its war on terror - India has been facing terror since long before - but without a war. We had mafia in Mumbai, we had our own war on drugs - now we have our war on terror.

Isn't there animosity between religious groups?

If you ask anyone if they hate a person they know from other religion - they don't. I am a Hindu, I have many muslim friends - all are helping India achieve economic, social progress. So despite the religious intonations voiced in media reports - I do not have any issues interacting with them. But if you look at actions of our political class - they are intent on dividing India under the name of secularism. The political push towards animosity gathers the ignorant youth and leads to riots and animosity. The finger points towards the political class.

Are there separatist movement?

Yes there are. I am amazed to find most of the demands of the separatist are very similar to non-separatist. The basic issues are always the same in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kashmir and North eastern states. (corners of the country). The problem is how it manifests itself. The manifestation is always nurtured and magnified by political system. So here again the blame goes to one place alone.

So what is this outrage all about?

The outrage is all about political apathy. We need better roads, more power, etc etc. Government did nothing. They shackled the economic is the chains of regional-religional- caste-based, language based divisions. It was only in 1991 that the government unchained our economy. From then on, Indians have taken things in their own hands. We have Public-private partnerships (PPP) for creating infrastructure and we are moving towards our dream. And now comes threat to safety. Indians believe that politicians will do well to stay out of our way. We will make India better ourselves.

The problem that we have now is politicians want a share of this dream and the way they are trying to get it is by creating barriers in this path. That is what Indians are sick of. Indians want them to shut up and let us be. But time and again the political class has shown that it will cripple Indian dreams if left to its own devices.

The alienation of political class

The political class of India is so different from the normal people. They consider themselves to be the new rulers of the country. Regular people can no longer identify with them. These people convinced themselves that politicians must be representing rural India. But the sad part is that they represent no-one. It has come to this - that we have two different classes of people - the politicians and others. And its time to change that. So Indians are rising - rising against the political class. Hopefully we will only rest after weeding out this mess.

साथ

2008-12-05T18:01:00.000+05:30

सोये साथी धीमेसे जाग रहे है,
पुराने दायरे आगे बढ़ा रहे है,
तोड़ हर दायरा आगे बढ़ना है,
हिंद को आज बुलंद होना है,
यह ऊँचाई साथ साथ चढेंगे,
मिल बाँट कर - कामयाब बनेंगे,
हमारे विजय साथी यहाँ है
हमे नाज है हिंद पर हम यहाँ है!

जागो मेरे हिंद!

2008-12-04T14:50:00.000+05:30

यह कैसा शोर आसमांमें गूँज रहा है?
यह कैसी आवाजें उठ रही है?
यह क्यों जहाँ बसंती लग रहा है?
उठो हिंद वालों - कोई जाग रहा है!
शायद नई सुबह के गीत गा रहा है!
लग रहा है आज जीवन बदलेगा!
लग रहा है आज हिंद जाग उठेगा!

Defining a plan of action

2008-12-02T19:02:00.000+05:30

The events of the past week have been really awful. And the hatred keeps smouldering. But the real reaction will be one which will definitely change the socio-political landscape. One of the part of the problem that plagues us as a nation is law and order. I am currently working on concept post on new principles of internal security. I plan to make it easy to circulate and debate on. If you have any links or readings for this - please send keep them coming.

Let us take the first step and hope for a definitive change to new India.

पत्रकार

2008-12-02T15:00:00.000+05:30

यह जलते महल और जलती ये गलियाँ,
ये हैवानोंकी चीखे और इनकी रंगरलियाँ,
यह चीखते हुए पत्रकारों के ठेले,
ख़बरों से ये नादान लोगोंसे खेले,
यह कैसा है बाज़ार नई आज़ादी का,
यह कैसा है व्यापार देश की बंदगी का,
इनमे बिछड़ गए कारवां खुशी के,
इनमे उजड़ गए मासूम चहरे,
इनके आँसू मिटनेवाले कहाँ है,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

-आरडी

जल रहा है हिंद!

2008-11-28T16:58:00.000+05:30

जल रहा है हिंद,
जल रहा है एक ताज,
पर है सुकून से सोया,
जिसने पहना सरताज!
कैसा नेता है हमारा,
किसइस राजनीती है,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर,
वोह नेता कहाँ है?

Mumbai terror attack of 26/11

2008-11-28T16:52:00.000+05:30

Yesterday Mumbai was attacked by terrorists. We are still amidst the crisis with rumours abound. But this crisis has tipped us over the edge. It is time to cause the political change, to make India as great as it should be.

Time has come to renew our pledge with destiny. Going forward, me and other bloggers will try and post a variety of ways to create a new world order against terror and for peace, for safety of normal people. Welcome to the new world order!

Links:
Follow Mumbai terrror attacks on Twitter

यह कैसे समाचार?

2008-11-25T16:48:00.000+05:30

समाचार से स्वातंत्र्य की आग जली थी,
कभी समाचार से नए हिंद की परवरिश घटी थी,
आज इन समाचारों में दीखते है साईं,
पर नहीं दिखती आजाद हिंद की दुहाई,
आज समाचार पे छाए है अभिनेता,
कई नहीं बता रहा क्या कर रहा है नेता,
कहीं कोई विकास की ख़बर नहीं,
कहीं कोई बीमार की सूच नहीं,
कहाँ है मेरे हिंद की खबरें, कहाँ है वोह सच्चे अखबारी,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

सफाई

2008-11-21T11:06:00.000+05:30

एक आसान सफाई अभियान हो,
जो मेरे हिंद को रोज़ साफ़ कर दे,
इस अभियान में और एक अदा हो,
ये मन को भी झोर साफ़ कर दे,
मेरे हिंद के नौजवानों के चरित्र,
ये अभियान नेताओं से बचाए,
उन नौजवानों केइस स्वच्छा आखोंमें,
हम ढूँढेंगे नए हिंद के सपने,
हमे नाज़ है हिंद पर - और हम यहाँ है!

संविधान

2008-11-20T09:25:00.000+05:30

कभी ये संविधान ज़मीन के लिए लड़ा था,
आज इसके वही पन्ने फाड़ रहे हैं
कभी ये गीता और कुरानसा पवित्र था
आज इसके पन्नों में रिश्वत का हिसाब लिखा है,
लिखा हर हर्फ़ जिनके पसीनेसे वोह देशप्रेमी कहाँ है?
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

-आरडी

चुनाव

2008-11-19T12:01:00.000+05:30

फिर एक बार हिंद जला रहे है वोह
फिर एक बार हिंद लुटा रहे है वोह,
फिर एक बार चुनाव के नाम पर
हिंद का अभिमान ठुकरा रहे है वोह,
ये कैसे घिलौनी राजनीती है,
ये कैसे मक्कार राजनेता है,
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

- आरडी

उम्मीद

2008-11-18T10:00:00.000+05:30

आज हिंद के सपने जाग रहे है
आज नई उमीदें जाग रही है
आशा नई हिंद पर छा रही है
ये आशा दीप मकारोंसे बचाओ
हिंद की कश्ती को तूफ़ान से बचाओ
आज आशादीपों की आग दिल में जलाओ,
कहाँ है वोह आग - वोह लोग कहाँ है?
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

- आरडी

भेद

2008-11-17T14:18:00.000+05:30

ये नदियाँ, ये गलियां और ये नादाँ राहें
जिन्हें भेद रही मजहबी दीवारें
ये परेशान बेबस आम निगाहें
और इन घरोंमें रोटीकी आहें
जो देखे ये नेता जो हिंद को बांटे,
कहाँ है जो अपनी रोटी को बांटे
और मिल बाँट कर एकता बाधाएं
जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

-आरडी

नेता

2008-11-14T14:40:00.000+05:30

बहुत खून बहा के एक तिरंगा बनाया,
बहुत खून बह रहा है आज भी,
पर हर कतरा तिरंगा फाड़ रहा है,
कभी नेता इसके आगे झुके थे,
आज वही नेता इसे झुका रहे है,
कहाँ है वोह नेता, कहाँ है खून अपना,
जिसे नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

-आरडी

एक नया हिंदुस्तान.

2008-11-12T15:08:00.000+05:30

आज एक नए हिंद को बुलावो,
सोये हुऐ लोगोंको जगाओ,
आज उन्हें अपने पहचान कराओ,
हम नाज़ है हिंद पर ये बताओ!

- आरडी

जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

2008-11-12T13:41:00.000+05:30

ऊंचे है सपने, पर बिगड़ी है राहें,
पक्की है मंजिलें, पर कच्ची बुनियादें,

भारी है लोग पर हलके से रिश्ते,

जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वोह कहाँ है?

-आरडी