Yellow on Black

New roads were laid overnight in many BBMP governed areas of Bangalore - thanks to the impending BBMP elections.

Some pictures from outside our house. The half finished road lends its beauty to the shots.

la tierra es incredible

Lately I have started signing off my official emails with the green message "Good planets are hard to find"..

Today I stumbled upon the exact reason why!
The net probability of another Earth (or a 'good' planet) forming again is: 1:10⁹⁹ !!
(See the first link at the end of this post for substantiation)

The 'impossibly large' moon, the circular orbit of earth, the safe location of our solar system in the turbulent galaxy, a miraculous head-on collision by a small planet that formed the moon and our thin atmosphere... the coincidences are endless!

Here's a quote from Dr. Nick Hoffman of La Trobe University, Melbourne Australia:

"Around countless stars in our galaxy, and innumerable galaxies through space there will surely be Terrestrial planets, yet they will not be Earth-like. They will not have glistening Silver Moons orbiting silently through space around them, but only small dull rocks whizzing in orbit. The worlds will be, almost without exception, waterworlds."



Here are the links that'll guarantee a spaced-out look at the end!

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/designss.html#MQrkCfHwr65u

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x2.html

My tribute as well.

In the Outlook Inbox at my work, I keep a folder named "Bouqets and Brickbats". It is a folder where I store all the memorable words - from customers, from colleagues. I reach out to that folder in hours of desperation - when a renewed faith in self and the work ecosystem is need of the hour..

This year in June a very special email made its way to this folder. It merely said "Let me chime and thank you from my side as well. Keep up the great work!" But it was signed - Ranjan.
Ranjan Das - the fabled CEO of SAP India. The face of SAP India, he was leading it boldly from one success peak to another. And Ranjan Das had personally appreciated my work for one of the largest customers of SAP India. Was I proud!

Yesterday Ranjan Das passed away. He had a massive cardiac arrest on the way back from his daily workout. The man was young and he defined the word 'discipline' - ate right, jogged, worked out, ran marathon, did not have any addictions - not even cigarettes! Worked hard, lived his life, motivated his people.

This is just not fair.

View from my balcony

Went to dry my laundry in the balcony (3rd floor).. noticed a beautiful butterfly on the balcony sill of the flat below.. rushed in and got the camera.. here are the snaps.

Random pods

Listened to a podcast on entrepreneurial thoughts over the commute to 9TO5.. Some quotes:

"When you get a job, you don't get a job you get a key to the building."
(elaborated with, you don't have to wait for someone to give you responsibilities or problems to solve..)

"Entrepreneurs build the ladder below them"
(said in conjunction with how entrepreneurs don't have to wait to be anointed. They can choose to print 'president' or 'ceo' on their business cards)

"To solve a problem: You first have to know the world with the problem. Then you have to visualize the world without the problem. Then build steps to reach from this world to that."

The good citizen

For 2 days the garbage collection truck did not come to Umesh' house. His house is in HSR layout - one of the popular residential layouts of Bangalore. He took the trash out in search of a garbage bin nearby.
There was none.

The good citizen he is, he did not throw it in the nearest vacant land, and hopped into his car along with the trash bag. He drove around his sector of HSR Layout, then the next, and the next - in search of a garbage bin.
There was none.

Then he drove out to the Outer Ring Road, and still did not find any.
Not willing to give up, he walked into his office on outer ring road, the garbage bag replacing his laptop bag that usually walks in with him..
He looked around and finally found one on the 7th floor of the building.
He dumped his garbage bag in that garbage bin - a proud moment for the city that has citizens such as him.

But, what happens when the garbage truck does not come to his house the next time? What did other people in his layout do - who don't have a vehicle or an office or were getting late for their kids' school?

I got a forward this morning about this initiative to clean Bangalore in a day: http://www.cbengaluru.com/. It is a drive organized by an NGO - Anonymous Indian (?!), calling all citizens of Bangalore to join in this noble drive on August-15.
(Of course, this is a well implemented prank! Thanks, Anon!)

But, what are the city administrators doing??? I am sure they will not get the point that the joke is on them!

Internet killed the childhood crush..

Recently I got back in touch with my childhood crush (one of the many, of course).. Those school days when anyone who - looked remotely like shashi kapoor or sang kishore kumar songs, or begged adoringly for forgiveness to the principal for being caught red-handed smoking in the bathroom - qualified as a crush...

And even in those primary school years you knew that the best way to keep your one-sided romance going, is not talk to the other.. Just stare now and then, and imagine that he stares when you are not watching.. just like the latest hindi movie you saw.. That make-believe romance gave enough morale high to see through the continuous bad hair days, fear of missed out homework, and worries of not finding a place next to your favorite benchmates when the classroom changed with the academic year..

So, here I am, after a few decades, happily settled in every meaning of the word - taking time whenever life permits to look back and relish those innocently clumsy memories. In my imagination, every crush had grown into a shashi kapoor or a kishore kumar or an underworld don..

..Until one of those kiddos found me on a social networking site..

Now I know about his whole history, where he went to college, who his friends are, what they talk, what his hobbies are, what his kid looks like and more.. Rrrrrrippppppp....The curtains on a stage dimly lit with delicious mystery was suddenly lifted to reveal stark brightness of knowing... And in that brightness disappeared one of my fondest memories..

These are the very few times I wish the inventor of the www paid heed to the words -"Ignorance is Bliss".. :)

What do you say?

Say NO to public transport in Bangalore - if you are going to ITPL

Or anywhere in between Marathalli and ITPL. At least, I, an avid supporter of environmentalism have vowed today that i'll drive a gas-guzzling big car to work with only the lone me sitting in it, but will not ride another BMTC bus to work.

I started working in this office (SAP Labs) 3 months back. The office is just 4.5 km from my home and being a temp assignment, taking the office bus is not an option. I was taking the BMTC buses, with intermittent patches of cycling to work (cycling albeit extremely satisfying, just does not feel safe on this heavy traffic route, so not a reliable option).

My experience with BMTC has been nothing noteworthy when i travelled on the 'towards city' routes. This was the first time I travelled towards ITPL.

This route is a "loot-these-rich-kids-they-won't-mind" route - a phenomenon rampant in Bangalore. All the buses are loaded with well dressed hard-working IT/ITES workers. even the high-end red Volvos are bursting at the doors, with people holding the handles of the movable doors to hang on..

The driver and conductor are in a rush to make money. Below are the ways they cheat BMTC as well as the passengers, and seems like BMTC does not care a hoot:

1. The conductor takes money from you for ticket and doesn't give you the ticket. Most of the time passengers don't bother to waste words for a piece of paper which is anyway of no use to them.

Personal experience:

(a) 335E khaki color bus: I asked for 'SAP Labs', the conductor asked 5 Rs. from me which I gave. No ticket, he just started moving away. I asked for the ticket, he asked me for 3Rs. more and then gave me the ticket! What just happened!

(b) 500K Volvo bus: The conductor starts taking money from everyone in a hurry, does not enter a single one in his ticketing machine. He does this for 30 odd passengers, then leans at the door, quietly looking out - hid job done. No one asks for the ticket. I ask for the ticket and he says he does not remember who gave how much money!!!! I said I gave you 15Rs. for the 'SAP Labs' stop. He says ok and hands me the ticket. After some time he tears away half a roll of ticket printing paper from his machine and just throws it away!! Dear BMTC, did you know this?!


2. The conductor takes money, gives ticket, but does not return your change. He just says I'll give it to you later. He does this with EVERY passenger! Every passenger has to constantly beg him that his stop is approaching and he needs his change! WHY?? In the hope that at least some passengers will either forget to ask or find it too measly an amount to keep asking! Dear BMTC, I hear you are the only profit-making transport corpn in India - are you paying your conductors/drivers? Why do they have to cheat like this??


3. Conductor gives you ticket for a bus-stop, but the driver does not stop at that bus-stop! Did you know that 'SAP Labs' is not a bus-stop??!! All these 3 months I did not know, because all the buses ticketed me for that stop and had been stopping there to offload us. (however the print on the volvo tickets would say 'sai baba hospital' which is the next stop after mine). For those of you from outside Bangalore, not all bus-stops in Bangalore have sign-boards saying this is a bus-stop.

TODAY WHAT HAPPENED: This was a khaki 335 route bus. The conductor jostled happily through the bus-front full of ladies (i appreciate the chennai bus conductors who sit in one place and passengers pass on the ticket money and ticket), came to me and said 'ticket ticket', i clearly told him 'sap labs', gave him Rs.10. He gave me a Rs.8 ticket, and returned the change after my asking - nothing unusual by now. When the SAP labs stop came and I requested the driver to stop, he looked at me and hit the switch to close the automatic door which was open all the while!!! I asked what happened he said this is not a bus-stop, i asked why didn't the conductor tell me that, i would've got ticket for the previous stop (Rs.5). The conductor shouted from the back saying he doesn't have to tell such things, just get down at the next stop.

So he opened the door only at the next stop. I walked back to 'sap labs' on the highway which has no footpath, with oncoming rush-hour traffic of many cars, buses & two-wheelers.

I have vowed to do 3 things:

1. Lodge a complaint to BMTC for this bus no. KA01-FA-1087, route HAL to ITPL.

2. Not take another public bus on this route, ever again. These 3 months i have stood on one leg in the crowded buses, clutching on to my heavy laptop bag, feeling good that I am doing the best I can for the environment. Today onward I will drive my air-conditioned gas-guzzler instead - right from my apartment basement to office basement.

3. Encourage everyone who can afford a car/bike, to take it to work if you work in ITPL and around. Just like most of us self-respecting Bangaloreans avoid using Autos because the shabby way they treat their passengers, if BMTC does nothing about its buses, they would soon run only with citizens who don't care or can't afford to care. The rest can afford their self-dependence - to hell with the pollution in Bangalore city.

Sprays and sprouts

One of my favorite NGOs - TreesforFree.Org
Admittedly I have actively participated in only one drive - raised money and got hands gleefully dirty planting saplings (in an apartment complex in sarjapur)..
Lately had to limit only to spreading the word.. Got to rejuvenate that green thumb..

However, been greening up the balcony alright - last weekend we had a mini adventure into a nursery almost outside city limits - beyond the granite shops and train crossing. This was a vast piece of land covered with potted saplings for sale, run by a little house (with ladies in nighties and an old thatha) next to the field.. It started raining when we reached, had a gala time hopping on mud in the midst of the pitter patter, looking at wet saplings! The LSU umbrella surrendered to the wind, it needs complete repair now.. Got back home with a pomegrenate hybrid (to be bonsai'd), kadi patta sapling, petunia, 9 o'clock, and another plant that looks like bunch of grapes - the maali said it's a cactus variety but can't find the actual name..

phew.. the rust on my blog-finger

I have not been blogging - in a long while.. And I have air-tight excuses:

1. The good old Sony cybershot 3Megapixel, does not hold charge any more.. what good is a blog post without the original snaps.. I don't like using a phone for a camera or a bulky slr.

2. Life got a little busy, and turbulent.. those patches when you helplessly wonder "why me...again?!", as well as feel strong for fighting that battle.. and that battle cannot be chronicled in a blog post.

3. The overall question of 'To Blog' or 'Not to Blog' crisscrossed my mind.. To my generation blogging is still an acquired taste.

Today 'to blog' momentarily won over. Uploaded 2 photos in the earlier post - their beauty was lying dormant inside the cybershot's hard-disk. Gotta do something about da cam..

Oh-so green today!

I am very proud to report that I bicycled to work today! It is a 4.5 KM stretch, I had been feeling guilty to take the car for this short a distance, and the city buses on this stretch are so crowded I was sweating it out anyway.

Started from home at 7:30am in my gym clothes, with a change of office gear in my lappie backback. eguy and trg saw me off, with trg saying 'chykail'.. Took the inclined inside roads of east bangalore, lined with houses donning fresh rangoli at their entrances, the Ganesha temple busy with activities and trees full of seasonal pink blossoms! Moved over to the main road and rode on the pedestrian side (facing the oncoming traffic). It felt safer that way, inspite of cars and buses zooming by. Wrapped a scarf I had taken over my head and nose to avoid the dust.





Reached work in 15 minutes - same as that a car would take with the traffic congestions, and less than the time the bus would take with its many stops. Yippppeee!!



Feeling good! Wish me grit so that I can persist on this hike!

Why on earth do I Yahoo! ?!

I have been hearing from the eguy gloomy stories about how emails sent to his users with yahoo ids keep bouncing left and right.. Either Yahoo decides to not accept the perfectly harmless emails, or just sends them to the spam folder.. And believe me you, eguy has tried every trick to pass them through.

Now I myself don't like yahoo mail much.. Its new interface was so crowded I switched back to the old interface. And the old interface does not provide useful features and does not integrate with chat as well as gmail does.. In short, I am in the gmail camp. And I use my yahoo id for backup - mainly for yahoogroups.

Well today, I sent an email, from my yahoo inbox, to a long-existing yahoogroup of which I am the owner, and is moderated by me. Yahoogroup typically sends me an email to approve the email (yeah! even if it is sent by me!). I was waiting for this email. Found it in the spam folder! Why o why, Yahoo??!! Are you suspecting that I am spamming myself, or are you suspecting yourself (yahoogroups) of sending me spam??!!

I am going to think seriously about phasing out my yahoo id..

Vintage on my mind...

Was watching the movie 'The Hoax' yesterday.. Richard Gere, in one scene, watches the tv to see how his hoax of a book on Howard Hughes is being covered by the media. The coca cola commercial shows up on his screen - "I'd like to buy the world a coke.." And it struck a chord in me - hey, i used to love this song! Brings back the memories of listening to this and other easy-to-sing-along 'angrejee' songs on my long & quiet commute on the TCS airbus, 8 years back..




So here is a youtube track of the song sung by two members of the Hillside Singers, and below are the lyrics. Go ahead, sing along!

I'd like to build the world a home
and furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees
and snow white turtle doves.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
I'd like to hold it in my arms,
and keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

It's the real thing
what the world wants today,
That's the way it'll stay
with the real thing.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
A song of peace that echoes on
and never goes away.

Put your hand in my hand
let's begin today,
With your hand in my hand
help me find a way.

I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

I'd like to teach the world to sing,
in perfect harmony.
A song of peace that echos on,
and never goes away.

My share of pink

This, for the collective big bully of moral policing:


PS: Making do with just a picture as i'm short of time to send a physical one.. Go, pink chaddi campaign!

Mumbai....??

Economic Times was following the Mumbai terror attack and above is the picture that accompanied each of those articles.. I thought it was very apt..

Now, my question: What happened? Why no news about the investigation?

I am Gen-Y

This year I have become conscious of money, of livelihood, of sustainability. This is the first recession I am living through and it gives me mixed feelings. Until now, I have only seen growth, I have only seen bank balances grow, I have only seen jobs running after hard-working people and not away from them..

I had once walked into a coca-cola bottling plant. Our factory tour-guide had taken us from a warm office room of the factory into the refrigerator section and then into the deep freeze section and then into the coldest section where the secret coca-cola concentrate is stored..

This recession somehow reminds me of it.

When it all started last year with the bank failures, I felt I was getting into something cold, but it will not bother me much.. Then I saw my stock portfolio get into deep red, and I knew we would have to keep a close watch on our liquidity. But still, this did not bother me much.. This month my employer, a conservative industry leader that is known to value its people, announced the first round of job cuts.. NOW, I am not so sure.. !

I see so many changes all around me.. Just last year, same time, all marketing messages were about "splurge, you have money and there is more to come!" and now all marketing messages are about "buy, because this will help you save money elsewhere..". Every punchline is about difficulties. Even the new Honda City ad says "Enjoy your challenges."

Economic Times is flush with news of negative growth, quarterly losses, tightened spends, interest rates climbing down in tandem with earnings, Gen-Y getting into depression.. And as of date, they say it is only the tip of the iceberg..

Ice.. getting back to my walk into the cold storage.. I sure hope that I and my fellow Gen-Y will be able to walk through this recession, feeling the chill and doing everything to keep their spirits high.

And when we survive the walk, at the end each one of us will find that secret coca-cola concentrate. It would be a concentrated life experience which will make us stronger and which we can proudly narrate to our grand kids on warm spring nights..