Where am i?

I haven't blogged in a while... why? I love writing inane stuff... i make a living writing... so writing itself cannot be too much of a task... why then haven't i blogged?
I forgot myself... i forgot the inaneness that blogging allows... flow of words... thoughts... emotions... I was being too serious... i forgot myself...
Damn! not hapening...! let me find myself... let me find a new me...
the now me... i am not me... I AM ME...
and so shall begin the re-discovery... the re-definition... the re-genesis of the persona that i am...

Big words... all crap... but i need me...

Peg After Peg

Found this poem after a long time. This is absolutely hilarious... take a read.

Peg After Peg

I never take risk while drinking

When I come from office in the evening, wife is
cooking
I can hear the noise of utensils in the kitchen
I stealthily enter the house
Take out the bottle from my black cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is looking at me from the photo frame

But still no one is aware of it
Becoz I never take a risk

I take out the glass from the rack above the old sink

Quickly enjoy one peg
Wash the glass and again keep it on the rack
Of course I also keep the bottle inside my cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is giving a smile

I peep into the kitchen
Wife is cutting potatoes
No one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: Any news on chopra's daughter's marriage
Wife: Nope, she doesn't seem to be that lucky. Still
they are looking
out for her

I again come out; there is a small noise of the black
cupboard
But I don't make any sound while taking out the
bottle
I take out the glass from the old rack above sink
Quickly enjoy one peg

Wash the bottle and keep it in the sink
Also keep the Black Glass in the cupboard
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: But still I think chopra's daughter's age is not
that much
Wife: What are you saying? She is 28 yrs old... like
an aged horse
I: (I forgot her age is 28) Oh Oh...

I again take out potatoes out from my black cupboard
But the cupboard's place has automatically changed
I take out the bottle from the rack and quickly enjoy
one peg in the sink

Shivaji Maharaj laughs loudly
I keep the rack in the potatoes & wash Shivaji
Maharaj's photo & keep
it in the black cupboard

Wife is keeping the sink on the stove
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (getting angry) you call Mr. chopra a horse? If
you say that again, I
will cut your tongue...!
Wife: Don't just blabber something, go out and sit
quietly...

I take out the bottle from the potatoes
Go in the black cupboard and enjoy a peg
Wash the sink and keep it over the rack
Wife is giving a smile

Shivaji Maharaj is still cooking
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (laughing) So chopra is marrying a horse!!
Wife: Hey go and sprinkle some water on your face...

I again go to the kitchen, and quietly sit on the rack

Stove is also on the rack
There is a small noise of bottles from the room
outside

I peep and see that wife is enjoying a peg in the sink

But none of the horses are aware of what I did
Becoz Shivaji Maharaj never takes a risk

chopra is still cooking
And I am looking at my wife from the photo and
laughing
Becoz I never take what???

A czech beauty

These are pictures of my Bike...
An 83 Yezdi Classic... at max she is a few months younger than me.
I got her about 5 years ago and then spent some time modifying her.
She has a custom tank, fly handle bars, stepped seats and parts from most makes of Yezdis through the years.
A CL II headlamp unit, RK mudgaurds, tail lamps Et al.
The paint is called carbon black, and has a matt finish to it.

Pulp Fiction:: relationships

Then the first of an uncomfortable silence happens.



                                 MIA

                      Don't you hate that?



                                 VINCENT

                      What?



                                 MIA

                      Uncomfortable silences.  Why do we

                      feel it's necessary to yak about

                      bullshit in order to be

                      comfortable?



                                 VINCENT

                      I don't know.



                                 MIA

                      That's when you know you found

                      somebody special.  When you can

                      just shit the fuck up for a minute,

                      and comfortably share silence.



                                 VINCENT

                      I don't think we're there yet.  But

                      don't feel bad, we just met each

                      other.



                                 MIA

                      Well I'll tell you what, I'll go to

                      the bathroom and powder my nose,

                      while you sit here and think of

                      something to say.



                                 VINCENT

                      I'll do that.

Realizing reality – Part II

(You will need to read the first part to follow the chain of thought)

The danger in all this of course is the way we react to such situations. We are trust into action… to “perform” to “achieve” to “do”… and we don’t know What needs to be done? Why it needs to be done? Or anything.

We stumble along, seeking “solutions”, grab the first thing that we come across and “implement” it.

We start to imitate rather than create, we seek to push down rather than surge ahead, we seek to be secure rather than going into the unknown.

Worst… We resort to believing numbers.

Numbers which we called on to support and justify our decisions now become the decision makers. The reason of reasoning so to speak... not a good idea methinks... to trust statistics with thought and reason.

Deadlines become walls which cage our very beings Performance parameters; hours put in, marketing targets, bank balances, documents written, lines of code coded become boundaries which suffocate our thoughts, our dreams.

Everything in life becomes measured; ambiguous measurements that no one really knows what to do with. People, feelings, emotions, relationships all become measured. Everything adding up to our “success”.

Floydishly, the walls that we built are those that are crushing us now…

Is this the new reality…? Is this what is in store for us?

Or is this distorted sense of reality going to clear up as we go along?

The room still remains silent.

Realizing Reality… Part I

I will become an astronomer and discover a new planet.

I will grow up to become a policeman and fight crime.

I will be the scientist who discovers the cure to cancer, the doctor who saves lives, the engineer who builds the greatest machines on the planet.

I will be the racer who cannot be defeated, the athlete who cannot be out run.

I want to be the software programmer who taps furiously on the keyboard and save the world (against alien attack..??!!??), while people await with bated breath.

These were the dreams we children had while we grew up.

Then… we grew up…

We became engineers, doctors, software programmers, scientists, and much more, but the glory… where was the glory?

Engineers spent all their time making micro parts for inane machines. Half the time they don’t even know what the final machine is going to be.

Doctors spend their time treating kids with fever and others with broken bones, exactly what every other doctor is doing.

IT professionals?!?… hehehe… the worst joke was played on us. Programmers write lines of code which somehow fail to work the first time… then they spend time trying to fix bugs… then one after another… again…

In the field of e-learning, working for a smaller company, I at least got to see a larger picture… But most off us don’t even see that….

Hell… half the time we don’t know what exactly it is that we are doing. What it is that we are creating? What problem we are solving? Who is gaining by all of this? They don’t know us… we don’t know them… are we really effective..?? Are we good at what we do…??? No answer… the room remains silent.

With every “task” being split among many many many people and many more vendors. With micro mini tasks being delegated lower and lower down the “chain of command”, what are we trying to do? to achieve?

Sure… we get a fat salary packet at the end of the day. But for WHAT? What exactly is it that we have achieved? Who have we affected? Where is the change?

Where is the glory…? The applause? The accolades? My 15 minutes of fame that was promised to me?

I am not bitter… No sir… I realize this is the way of life. But what I am not comfortable with is… In times where most of us don’t know what we are doing, and for SURE don’t know what others are doing. How are we sure we are “progressing” (indeed what is progress)? Who is looking at the bigger picture?

The uncomfortable silence frightens me.

I need to know...

Ajax added to blog.

Allo…

As said in previous post, I have added Ajax functionality to my blog. It is a small change in the way this template works.

On your right you will find a section called “Labels”. Originally this would have popped up the relevant posts in a refreshed window. Now, when you click on any label, you will get a loading image and text from the relevant post will dynamically be displayed under the label area. Check it out.

You can then subscribe to the post as an RSS feed. Once you are done reading the entry you can close the preview window (all dynamically).

Google and the Art of User Interface.

Google is GOD… What a trip this has been till now!!! they have this uncanny ability to start off their users at the simplest of interfaces… which the users then “learn” to customize as they gain expertise in using the interface/tools.

This blog is a sexy example. I started day one with a regular off-the-site template. Into which I put my first blog. I then discovered the “edit page layout” section where I managed to put my photo and create lists.

I then managed to set the blog to my time, rearrange page elements and fine tune fonts.

As I gained confidence… I added ready off the shelf scripts for visitor counts and visitor locations… I was on a roll…

Recently a friend asked me to explore Ajax and web interfaces using Ajax… while doing some research I cam across a hack for Ajax Labels in blogger.

So I added downloaded the html for the template, added the required changes, set up my google pages to host a JS file. I then added some more HTML into my page. And Voila!!! Ajax Labels on my page.

This may not be shocking for a hard core techie… but remember I am not one. I cannot code to save anything…

As I said… ALL HAIL GOOGLE… WHATTA WAY TO DO THINGS!!!

The Quandary breaker:

A recent realization: Complex situations can have simple solutions. Well at least simple methods to solve complex problems.

In journalism, the students are thought the 5 W’s and 1 H. They are asked to practice this so that they have a complete understanding of the story. I believe this is the perfect method to solve any problem.

What are these "5 W’s and a H"…??? What, When, Where, Why, Who and How?
Simply put:

• What needs to be done?
• Why it needs to be done?
• How it should be done?
• Who should do it?
• When it needs to be done?
• Where should it be done (implemented)?

Each question should be answered completely, truthfully and in isolation. The third condition is very critical here. When answering any question, do NOT consider the other questions. When seeking “Why” do not dwell on “When”.

I have found this method effective. If not an outright solution it will point you to a more precise definition of the problem, or it will at least create sub problems which can be solved using the method again.

Simple… Problem Solved!!!

Kaladiascope Snaps

Some time ago, I was playing with my mobile cam, and happened to see my neice's Kaladiascope lying around. Here are some snaps of what I saw: