die Fiale - Pinnacle

Checkpoint Charlie

2010-05-30T22:25:00.001+02:00

I've been experiencing quite a few events over the last months which have been very moving. I was in India for three weeks and it all started there. Some of my very own bloodlines never seemed so unambigious. I saw them in a completely different way to what I had always. They were like an open book to me which had everything written in a horribly simple verbiage. Rather, I must have seen them in a way I wanted to see them - all the time.

The next spike came only a week back when I was in Berlin. For more than two years, it was my wish to visit Berlin - at leisure. Reason: to see and live moments in retrospect - of the fall of Berlin wall. I am happy and feel blessed for the time to have come at last.

After having done a super satisfactory guided walk tour in Munich, it was clear that I will do a similar tour in Berlin as well. Only that it was better this time - I did a Bicycle tour. Our guide was an American dame, quite enthusiastic in her part time job. After a quick briefing of the tour, we were on our way through the city, religiously following our guide and stoping at all so called points of interest. It was just another trip until we stopped at the "Checkpoint Charlie". The Guide meticulously draw a small map on the pavement and started to take us back in history - to the fall of Berlin wall.

Checkpoint Charlie - one of the crossing points along the Berlin wall, the Soviet Union had installed to control movement of people from both the sides (The checkpoint divided Berlin into East and West - ruled by Soviet union and the rest of the Allied forces, respectively). While there's no checkpoint anymore, the streets at the juncture have been serried with placards of text/and very German high definition pictures of the historic times - the times that might have been at a bare minimum - brutal, barbaric, vicious and inhuman. The checkpoint was a heavily guarded gate, people from either of the sides were required to pass through - to even just walk to the other part of their own town. The pictures themselves are very disturbing. It goes on listing the chronology of events for the fall of wall, names of the people who were killed for their attempts to illegally cross these checkpoints, the hurdles the people had if they were to visit their loved ones who lived on the other corner, the vast difference between the currencies and the impact it had on their lives, their agony which sunk them deeper and deeper into no man's land. To be honest, I was in tears to have read only a few of the placards. I am sure, checkpoint charlie is one of the innumerable checkpoints one can learn from history - from every corner of the world. Be it from South Africa, America, India, Germany, Israel, Tibet or Timbukto.

While I stood bewildered, I went on questioning myself as to who the hell is anybody to question anyone's freedom? How on Earth can anyone take it for granted the right of dictating terms without any rationale? These souls are at best a pest to Humanity - who should be castrated, beaten to death and burried deep under. Why does one bear with this torture until it turns into a volcanic outburst? Shouldn't it be nipped in the bud? I had no answers. I went on digging deep. Aren't pests inherent to any society? YES. So, who then is the bigger problem? The people who are exploited themselves? May be. Isn't it in fact the right and duty of every human soul to fight against atrocity? Shouldn't we as intelligent animals of this era fight and uphold and respect our very own freedom? A resounding Yes thundered from within. As minutes passed, the variables in the equation dwindled - the only ones remaining turning into constants - Myself. I vowed to live for righteousness and not to let my integrity succumb.
Still sunk, croseed the street to see that all the other folks back to their bikes and waiting for just two of us (myself and my friend). Running, I hopped on to my Bike, introspecting myself for the rest of the tour.

Anyways, the stop for lunch was at a beer garden and glugging a mug of Beer did put me back on track for the rest of the tour.

Hail freedom.

In the name of BABA - Get stoned.

2010-01-08T16:16:00.003+01:00

Wish you a great 2010 for all you folks out there. Hope you too were sloshed and stewed (and stoned too?) on the first hint of 01.01.10. I was; this time in Amsterdam - the sin city. The city of Grass, Alcohol and Sex. Hmmn, didn't my Mom ask me to be away from all these?! Yes, so was I:)

There was definitely one thing that struck me - not sure where to categorize it though. It could be the Indian invasion into the West in every possible walk of life or the new age marketing strategy or a (de)mystification of Hindu mythology.

It was around 23 hrs and the streets were packed with no room even for a stampede. At one time, I realized just walking in a direction that the crowd headed to - with no idea whether I was away or towards the train station. I regretted not having bought the T with the print "Don't follow me, am lost too" for a few people stopped by me and asked for the directions:) I could only wish I could answer them.

If you've ever been to Amsterdam, the walk in the downtown is just like a matrix of ladders. Every 50 mts you would find a bridge with a so called coffee shop embracing the corner. One such corner had so much of frolic that folks were nothing less than roaring. I lift my head up to see a huge board reading "BABA". Hmm, this used to be (still is?) one of the popular tobacco brands in India! I could easily recall having seen many good fellas with those small cans of tobacco flakes named BABA.

The tinge of Grass was in the air and even more so in people. I decided to get in and take a sneak look at it. First surge of emotion - Wonder+Contempt. While it was a small joint selling heavy joints - of all kinds, from flavoured to pure, from 3EUR to 15EUR/5 gms, it was by large the hottest of the joints out there. The joint was in itself very international - I could see Africans, Chinese, Americans, Locals and what not. Of course, I was the only Indian around, other than the Gods thereof! The joint welcomed its guests with a 5 mt giant idol of lord Ganesha, with replicas on all other walls. Just above the counter, was a strip of idols (engaged in a war) that we usually see in temples. Could the Joint be also called a temple?! For it had the idols and surprise! - Gods too.

In one remote corner was the real lord. He was an easy 7*3 giant with tattoos all over selling the stuff after having meticulously weighed them to the nth decimal. Was he was the modern Ravana? Or even Indra?! That reminds me of one of the oldest and popular discotheks in Hamburg, its called Indra. In fact this is the place where Beatles played for quite some time before getting into limelight.

While I keep my eyes open to uncover further Indian invasion, this could be an opportunity for our own TV channels. I am sure they can make a good story out of this, establish connections, inteview people and make it a big show split into 9 episodes - If you're one among them, don't forget to show this line: "Special thanks to: fiale.blogspot.com"

Nowhere --> Now here

2009-11-15T13:11:00.006+01:00

I am sure I have more time these weeks for I am writing after the one I wrote only a few weeks back.

One thought that has kept thumping my head for the last few years is on discovering my strength - In the sense of what I am best at. I hate to admit, I still do not know. It has till date been a journey with my arms, ears and eyes wide open to someday bump into that very strength I wanna embrace for life. I in fact envy artists who are at the pinnacle of their ecstasy while they are into their art. I know a fellow colleague of mine who is an amazing painter. I envy her for she's engrossed in painting for good number of hours to the extent at times even a tornado goes unnoticed by her! I envy musicians on stage who are at absolute bliss (Of course, at times I am also in bliss when I adopt alternate strategies :) I envy architects who seem to be in their own world of impeccable nirvana (until the edifices crash of course :)

Having said that, I do not even mean that I do not enjoy whatever I am doing at present! Very often, I do not know how time flies while I am at work. For most of my work these days is limited to MS Office, hours pass by when I prepare some presentations or when I review some or when I analyze some rso called risks! I do enjoy those moments like anything; nevertheless, I am not sure if it is the same ecstasy that I exhibit as that of folks I spoke of. One reason could be that my job is not the one of my choice but of chance. I am sure I never dreamt of analyzing risks and getting brainsick of custom shapes and animations in MS PowerPoint while I was in school! I believe I just took the life as it came along - What a stupid statement! I should take my life wherever I wanna go.
Do I have the conscious of Stone Age? I do not know!

Recently, I read a book "Stumbling on Happiness" and some of the logical conclusions thereof were worth a few kilo bytes in my brain and so is its shedding in here.

It goes on to prove that the human brain is anatomically obliged to get influenced by the current situation while we attempt to foresee/recall something in future/past. It is due to the fact that the part of brain called the visual cortex gives priority to reality than to anything else. The brain is obliged to give the right of way to present reality than to future imagination/past memory. Cryptic isn't it? zum beispiel, let’s say on a hypothetical day, my Manager appreciates me to glory in a team meeting (hmm, Scott Adams will hang himself if he gets to read this:) and soon after the meeting, if my colleague who is foxed making a selection for his new car asks me how happy am I with my car - - I am more likely to put a positive picture to him even if I usually envy other cars while I am driving mine! The rationale is simple, the brain just cannot objectively decide on anything that is not happening now without being influenced by what's happening now!! Mathematically speaking, the frame of reference is always "Now". Our feelings about everything else (equally for past and future) are nothing more than a function of present.

Future = f (present); F = f(P)

The corollary I could deduce is that, when I think and feel to be 1000 times happier flying a Chopper rather than dying with flying animations in PowerPoint, rest assured, I WILL not feel 1000 times happier when I actually fly one! Simply due to the fact that my happier (?) feelings of flying are considerably influenced by whatever I am doing now.

The concept looks so damn simple and in fact, one can easily correlate to a lot of philosophy as well. So, why think about something else and get into a sovereign illusion than enjoying the Now?! I think it is a constant back and forth of "Now here --> Nowhere".

Nevertheless, one day I am sure I will realize what I wanna do - living in seventh heaven with every moment being as ecstatic as it can get! Who stops me from dreaming anyways?! I know I like illusions :)

Are you an Aryan?

2009-10-25T16:09:00.004+01:00

I have been searching the Internet inside out for some several weeks on one question - "Who are Aryans". I couldn't sotp myself to kill time this Sunday by writing what I've deduced out of a hundred sources*. I strongly suggest folks to not to get into this labyrinth of chaos that has been created on the very interpretation of the word 'Aryan', read this and thank me instead:)

Lemme start.
The word "Aryan" in Sanskrit means "One who is Noble". Perfect. Question answered. Who are Aryans? The ones who are noble! You, He, She, They, We and possibly I - are all Aryans. Then an army of questions invaded my empty mind: Why did Hitler have to use it for what he believed to be right? From where did the term Indo Aryans come? Are Aryans and Indians different? Are Indians Aryans? Where did this originate from? Am I an Aryan? and many more...

I have to go back to Evolution to make it a bit confusing:-) The first signs of human societies are discovered to have been around 3000 BC when Civilizations like Babylonian and Indus Valley (IVC) dwelt. Babylonia which is somewhere in present Iraq has been the cradle of civilizations and Indus Valley of course is along the river Indus epicentered in NorthWest India. This is also one of the hypothesis of the origination of the term 'Hindu' - to have derived from the Sanskrit word - Sindhu (river Indus). Contemporary civilizations started in other parts of the world.

The IVC lasted until around 1200 BC termed as Late Harappan period and then started to decline. One theory puts forth that there was an Invasion from the West and the natives of IVC were pushed down to the South who were/are later called Dravidians (more on this in another blog). The invaders settled in NW India and began extending their footprint. This is the time when Mahabharatha is said to have taken place** (800BC; coincidently, Homer wrote Odyssey and The Iliad at the same time). The chronology continues until the era of Mouryans (Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka, 300-250BC) who almost conquered Persia (Iran) and Babylon. Later on started a fresh set of Greek invasions in 180 BC and rest is history.

The mighty people who are said to have invaded India were supposed to be Aryans. Let me say that this theory has been largely contested and proved otherwise. One of the reasons is the lack of substantial evidence in any form. Over and above, the Vedic works do not cite any invasion of India from the West at this time.

To the second hypothesis (includes some of my own minute derivations as well):
Etymologists have long remarked a lot of similarties between Indian and European languages. It was the German Sprachforscher (Linguist) and many others who have proved this fact over and again. If we were to categorize the languages, they can be derived from a parent group called Indo-EU languages (This superset I guess includes the world's most of the most spoken languages)

As I mentioned already, the word Arya means 'Noble' in Sanskrit. It is also a word in Persian and some other variants as well. Because these languages had many more similar words (like Arya), one rule of thumb was to put them into a common subset "Indo Iranian or Indo Aryan" under the superset of Indo-EU languages. This is where it all begins and ends. Indo Aryans are a population who speak a language based on one or the other common substratum. This poulation speak languages like Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Konakni, Zazaki, Kurdish, Waziri and many others.
Going by this theory, an Aryan is one who speaks an Aryan language! Which means anyone can be an Aryan - irrespective of being noble or not:)

The word Arya henceforth took many forms and became an anchor for catastrophies like Nazi Germany, American civil war, Apartheid and British Raj. I guess there can be no better example for human (mis)interpretations, excellent thinking capacities and the blunders they create thereof.
We camouflaged history to our own vims and fancies and created a comprehensive color code to address and treat people likewise; brighter the better, rather nobler! Blacks the inferior and White, the super superior. Quite logical.

Thanks to great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, MK Gandhi and many others who lived the word "Aryan"; Kudos.

* The content pulished here contains extracts from sources that I believe runs into hundreds. I've not coiped anything in verbatim. It is more of a representation of what I've read and possibly understood from all of them
** Not to say that Mahabharatha was a result of the invasion

Do you have freizeitstress syndrome?

2009-08-27T21:07:00.014+02:00

I am Home from my first class of second level German and the chapter the Tutor took us through is still lingering fresh in my mind. By the way, the Tutor was a young Dame working part time as a language Teacher, who I believe was not more than 22 yrs of age. Hmmn...at the offset, all my concentration was riveted at her two primary arguments*. Ok, it was time for ground zero. The topic was "freizeitstress" which translates into "Free time stress". What a topic! Yes, this was yet another proof for my belief of German over-engineering - It's in everything and everywhere. Ubiquitous I call.

The situation was that one of the two friends was guiding the other to overcome freizeitstress. The stress that over-engineered souls go through while picking the right activity they wish to do (among many of their interests) in their free time. Germans, the text said, of 148 hours a week have 77 hours of freizeit. Of these 77 hours which includes for example weekends, often (some) Junta get into the dilemma of doing one of many they want to do - the result? sTrEsS - which in turn has the obvious consequence of screwing up their work days - not to mention that this subsequently leads to less effectiveness and I guess which ultimately jeopardises the German economy. Catastrophy!

The syndrome is having an ever increasing trend and Doctors have started showing up on Television giving Gyan on leisurely enjoying the freetime.

A brainstorming session followed and we were supposed to opine. I was the first to start and I made faces as if it was the most ridiculous of all I have come across. I went on to say that I do not suffer from this syndrome for I enjoy my weekends, rather I keep looking for my weekends all through the week :-) I make my weekend plans very much in advance and usually its decided as to what I shall be doing for the next two to three weekends. Hmmn..my comrades nodded and seemed to agree. Good attempt. It was the turn of others and to my surprise, a few of them did agree that they often do have some confusion as to what they should be doing in their free time. They were torn by options like - Cycling, Theater, Cafe, Swimming, Mini Golf, Tennis, Books, TV, Shopping or just being at Home. My inner Being couldn't stop giggling at them....They were suffering from freizeitstress syndrome.

While on my way back to the parking lot, I started attempting to figure out my weekend plan and an avalanche of ideas started fighting for existence - finish the book I started reading last week/take my Bike out at least once/time to clean/prepare for that important meeting on monday/rock concert n beer/snooker/catch up with Sonali and Pradeep/drive/blog/hjuy../......Darwin's theory of Survival of the Fittest didn't seem to apply here. I gave up.

Afterall, Darwin cannot be wrong! There was one winner - the one which was silently peeping from that cornermost lobe of my brain: "I do have symptoms of freizeitstress syndrome"

Do you?!

* For folks who got it, the owner of the metaphor is a very lovely friend of mine and I take liberty to reproduce it here, am no Plagiarist :-)

The Godly "The God of small things"

2009-08-16T15:02:00.015+02:00

While I was in Bangalore, I had been to Landmark in Forum to pick up books I had shortlisted while reading other books. To my bewilderment, the gentleman at the counter searched all the titles and grinned- "all your titles are age old". I saved my face and looked around - to find one unequivocal winner - "The God of small things", a Booker prize vistor, by Arundhati Roy. I had heard quite a lot about it. With all pride, I picked it up with a few other books and walked away.

On my return, I had stuffed 'em all into the inundated shelf (not with books though:) of mine and they laid with all majesty and a topping of fine dust for more than two months. Finally it was time, I started with the winner over this weekend and here I am - craving to read it again! What a narration; from a first timer. Small things portrayed as naked as they could get; sailing the reader (read "me") into his own Self to live each and every character and situation. A better than the best amalgamation of suspense, humor, drama, hatred - all in the very own Indian fragrance. No wonder it has been a landmark in today's literature.

I could not resist to pen down a few of the best ever articulation I have ever come across. Here they come; in a small way. I do not want to dilute them by giving the context, they'll speak for themselves (of course, have hinted at a few).

"......strange insects appeared like Ideas in the evenings and burned themselves on Baby Kochamma's dim 40-watt bulbs"

"She wondered what had caused the bald pilgrims to vomit so uniformly, and whether they had vomited together in a single well-orchestrated heave (to music perhaps, to the rhythm of a bus bhajan), or separately, one at a time"

"The chaise longue on which Baby Kochamma reclined had crushed peanut shells stuffed into the crevices of its rotting upholstery"

"The one who had once led her (swimming) through their lovely mother's cunt" [In context of two-egg twins, medically termed as Dizygotic]

"Then the gristly-bristly face contorted, and Estha's hand was wet and hot and sticky. It had egg white on it. White egg white. Quarter boiled" [An innocent boy exploited by a near paedophile to get his cum fired]

"The slow ceiling fan slicked the thick, frightened air into an unending spiral that spun slowly to the floor like the peeled skin of an endless potato"

"...as though phlegm was an Arithmatic answer sheet that had to be revised before it was handed in..."

"The air was heavy with moisture, wet enough for fish to swim in"

"The silence dipped and soared and swooped and ooped in figures of eight"

"...mud that oozed through toes like toothpaste"

"Insanity hovered close at hand , like an eager waiter at an expensive restaurant (lighting cigarettes, refilling glasses)"

"...where woodshavings blew about like blonde curls"

"...could see it coursing through his veins, as clearly as an egg down an ostrich's neck"

"He grew to depend on Margaret Kochamma for not depending on him. He adored her for not adoring him"

"Comrade Pillai had finished his avail and was squashing a ripe banana, extruding the sludge through his closed fist into his plate of curd.."

"Batons in their hands, Machine-guns in their minds"

"...the posse of Touchable Policemen acted with economy, not frenzy. Efficiency, not anarchy. Responsibility, not hysteria. They didn't tear out his hair or burn him alive. They didn't hack off his genitals and stuff them in his mouth. They didn't rape him. Or behead him"

"Fear fermented in her and the spit in her mouth turned sour"

and ....

and ....

and ....

A broken wall

2009-06-26T11:25:00.011+02:00

Another Swim incident. This time, a joyous one.

Last evening was one of those days where I did nothin more than running from one corner to the other. I and my Manager had planned to catch up for a Beer in the evening at 7 to vent out the heat. It was at 6:20 I realized I had been to the Pool only 2 days in the week and am out of town during the weekend (for I plan to be in deep state of Nirvana with one of my Engg Buddies who's in DE for a Business trip). Hmmn, tough call, I made my mind to rush to the Pool asap and have a short 20 min dive. I sneaked into my Manager's office and rustled that I'll meet him straight at the venue at 7:15.

Just minutes later I was in the Pool about to start stroking -- a guy (as young as I am), 6 footer, muscular Hulk came to me and said in German that he has seen me swimming regularly. Hmmn....I have been observed (of course, many stare at me, sometimes with disdained cold eyes for I have dark hide and hairy chest). I was happy that I was able to understand him and I replied affirmatively. That followed with an avalanche of German words which threw me into an abyss of bewilderment. I took a deep breath, told him that I cannot understand so much of German but can try to if he can be slow. He asked me whether I know English and boom - he started speakin GRE English! for what he told later that he was in the US for some years of his Education. Good; connection established.

"am takin part in a swimmin competition tomorrow n wanna ask if you can watch me swim for a while n gimme some tips. I used to swim a lot but quit an year back n hav started again since 3 months. I do cycling to keep my feet tickin. Somehow, I doubt somethins gone wrong with my style..if you have a moment, it would be wonderful" said the Deutscher Junge. This for me was something. It has not been that very often I've seen/experienced/heard any white skinned soul approach someone unknown from the Orient world - and what I saw was even more so for it was to seek a suggestion!!! To keep it straight, I was zapped; and moved.

Though I didn't have much time, I was convinced of myself that I should watch him swim (of course, I was also as proud as a Peacock for a while :) I asked him to crawl from one edge to the other, I went underwater and closely followed. Moments later, I was on my way givin Gyan revealin the less known tricks of trade. I did a few Lengths myself to show him what I meant. He (now quite a few folks in the Pool) watched me with curiosity. I stopped and asked him whether he could follow and realize what I said. "Sure, thanks a ton for ur time n advice; I may not be able to learn overnight but am sure it'll help me take long strokes. I hope I didn't trouble u much. You and the way you talk reminds me two of my best Professors who taught me Math n Physics in the US. Thanks again, I'll see you soon" was his reply.

10 mins gone and I was all bliss in water the next 20 mins. I had heard many nasty incidents, this was a welcome ice-breaker or even a wall breaker.

Nothin comes for free, I was late by 15 mins for the Beer and that cost me ein Bier:(

Caught cold feet? Switch on your WiFi

2009-04-19T13:16:00.024+02:00

It's been long since I wanted to write this. 7 changes that will rock the world in the next 10 yrs. Not surprisingly, I started writing this blog on Sunday, 19th Apr and it realized only today, 22nd Jun 2009!~

1. Auto
The Auto Industry will consolidate to a large extent and it'll be a world of fewer Combis and Powerhorses. Small, fuel efficient cars will triumph. Analysts predict that Plug-In Hybrids and pure Electric cars will make up almost a third of the new car sales in the US by 2020. Companies to watch are Toyota and GM (if it sustains till then).
However, there's a catch in here. I always wondered whether the much hyped Hybirds are really friendly on the Environment; whether they in fact contribute to a greener world. This ambiguity was squashed by a recent research done on it by IEEE (rather IEEE Fellows). It is clear that the effectiveness of a green Hybird car will solely depend on how green will be the Grid that kick starts it. This means that Hybrid Cars do not necessarily contribute to a greener world as long as the Electricity that it needs churns out almost the same amount of CO2 as any normal car would! The study points that a typical hydro electric generating plant powered by coal spews ~110g/km of CO2 whereas an Audi A3 with 110 BHP (which can effortlessly take you flyin at 200 km/hr) spits only 135g/km!!! So, sustainability folks - talk about greener Grids please.

2. Business Applications (for ex: ERP)
My favorite. No prizes for guessing where it comes from:) Being in this industry for a while, have never watched it closer than now.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is getting increasingly popular, more so with the current recession hit world. Enterprises are spending less and less on the huge, on-premise implementations with much cheaper On-demand versions available from umpteen vendors out there. IT spending will dwindle to less than 2% and Enterprises will start using remote, virtual Cloud services. IEEE will come up with yet another standard for Cloud computing security and vendors will rush; this time too many of 'em. Companies to watch are Amazon, IBM and Google.

Does it mean that the vendors for large enterprises will cease to exist? I doubt. With implementations that handle millions of transactions per second writing about 2.5 Tbytes to the DB - - its hard to see it collapsing in the next few decades. Let me revist this blog in 2025:)

3. Collaboration
Loads of changes happening here:

Conventional Postal service, standard desk phones will become extinct, rather, to play safe, definitely be endangered. With VoIP replacing standard telephony and cloud services on the surge, Talking will become dirt cheap or even free.

Collaboration will be seamless. I love to quote this from an article I read a while back "You shall be able to google your lost keys". Just recently, I learnt from a friend of mine that Geeks at MIT are working on a concept of realising Technology to the levels of Nirvana - code named Sixth Sense - augments reality with a pendant picoprojector: hold up an object at the store and the device blasts relevant information onto it (like environmental stats, for instance), which can be browsed and manipulated with hand gestures. The Sixth Sense in question is the internet, which naturally supplies the data, and that can be just about anything -- MIT has shown off the device projecting information about a person you meet at a party on that actual person - - watch this - well, you may dislike the gentleman there but worth watchin it for 3 mins.

Mergers and Acquisitions will be more than ever. We'll see a consolidation in the industry. The mantra will be "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em". While I write this, the news flashed on my screen that Oracle does it again! It acquires Sun.

Business will dramatically change and so will the driving models. Customer is gonna rule - at last (am being a bit ambitious here, but lets see). Companies that doesn't cater to Customer's needs and add absolute value are gonna get butchered. The design will be absolutely user centric, accessibility and usability will be the key differentiators.

Companies to watch are Microsoft, Google, Blackberry, Apple, Adobe and SAP

4. Nuclear energy (A topic which is offtrack but can't help:(
The World will dig out more and more of Uranium and all its usable Isotopes to generate cleaner energy. US and France will play the role of a Big brother to other fellow countries.

Many European countries will begin outsourcing power generation to cheaper countries like India and China. This in my opinion will be the most important and the must do change if we need a better life in the next 50 years. The figures from the World Nuclear Association indicate that that even today, ~50% of the world's electricity is generated through Coal and Oil powered Plants. At this rate, I believe it doesn't take long to exhaust the fossil fuels.

Using Nuclear Energy for Power generation contributes to cleaner Grids and better Sustainability. Lets hope for 0 power cuts in Countries like India in 2020!

5. Healthcare - Powered by Intel. Take it with a pinch of salt.
Intel in collaboration with GE is working on a Chip meant to be implanted in Human bodies that indexes information upto 2million parameters every minute (starting from heartbeat to neural snaps). The Chip by itself is 20*10*2 mm. It is made of a special material that is absolutely harmless when implanted. It can be implanted anywhere, recommended part being Hands. It is automatic, in the sense that it is powered by the heart beats (strange but true).

The Chip reader is being designed by GE wherein the information on all the 2 million parameters are correlated, verified and validated against the best fit/ideal Body condition. The reader then gives a report of the probable illness and the root cause as well enabling Doctors to do further diagnosis (should there be a need). The idea is to have the Chip implanted and the Owner can get his chip read at the card reader in case he wants to have a preventive checkup or a reactive probe. No more XRays/CT/MRI, no more registration at hospitals and chaotic waiting times.

Intel is also working on a model where the data can be read remotely via wireless. Of course, data protection and privacy, security are the parameters that are yet to be looked into.
So, got cold feet? Turn on your WiFi...... This breakthrough innovation will revolutionize Healthcare - - as long as it is not my fantasy:)

Now, I let go the last two changes and ask you folks to shoot out your thoughts on changes that you expect to see in the coming decade. Do you see people visiting Mars for a vacation/a comet hitting Earth and givin us salvation/Robots finally replacing Humans/????

Park and Fly. Courtesy - Blackberry

2009-04-15T16:37:00.004+02:00

Last week, I had to fly out of town to Greece from Frankfurt International Airport. Recession in Germany impelled me to look for the most cost effective option available to commute to and from the Airport. My flight ticket had cost me about 48 Euros and I was reluctant to spend anything more than that. The strikingly disciplined State owned Deutsche Bahn (DB) would cost me ~ 50 Euros! One of my colleagues suggested me to look for private ParkPlatz (Parking Place) near to Frankfurt which offer cheaper options.

Google came to my rescue and phew! was soon on the page of Park and Fly! The parkplatz was located 15 kms away from the Airport but all I had to to do is drive to the parplatz with a time buffer of 20 mins. The personnel at the parkplatz would drop me back to the Airport immediately and even pick up on my return!! Was indeed surprising. The cost? 40 bucks - dirt cheap; having given the fact that I can call for hitch hikers. I make 20 bucks from the hitch hikers and shell out 20 more from my pocket. Sounded a great deal.

I managed to get two hitch hikers, dropped them at the Terminal and drove to the Parkplatz. It was an irregular open piece of land of about 10000 sq ft fully occupied with Autos (German name for Cars) I got in and squeezed my Audi into a corner, collected the receipt and was on my way back to the Airport in his car. Took about 15 mins and I put my naive German into test to talk a bit to the Business User.

While he was getting incessant calls, I almost immediately guessed he's a busy man. He told me that the parkplatz is open 24*7 with just two people managing the show. My only question was how does he manage all appiontments during such peak times. He then gave me the complete picture within the next 10 mins (as any German would do)

He gets requests from three sources: Internet (through his website), phone calls, or people who drive in to take a chance. Each of the requests from the website gets logged into his MS Outlook through a simple program that he got done from a small time company. The appointments from Calls are manually transferred to Outlook by whomever receives the call, so is the case when people just drive in. This was the setup since 2 years and it worked fine but they were pissed off by this tedious process of looking into their calendars every now and then and making note in a scrap/make calls between both of them almost 50 times a day.

Since last two months, they have a Blackberry and bingo!!! There was a sudden gush of eternal satisfaction on his face the moment he waved his blackberry at me. He synchronises it with Outlook and he's on the move! His car is now clean without stickies and scraps, has a cool head; he's on top of his business and most importantly, he has happy customers. He says when he picks up the customers on time on their arrival - they're almost everytime so amazed that they return!

That was a business case for me. And so he was a Business User. Enquired about cost benefit and he grinned:) Ofcourse, a bit of investment but he's happy to have a relaxed smoke while waiting for his customer in the Terminal than breaking his head into the crap PC:)

A small time parkplatz owner using technology to ease his life. Go baby Go!

Ohrenberg Strasse, 5

2009-02-15T13:52:00.012+01:00

It was Saturday, the 1st of March 2008 that I landed in Frankfurt Airport at about 9AM. It was cold and windy. I had worked on Friday, had a few drinks on Board, had not slept; I was dead tired. I collected my Baggage and was waiting for the Taxi booked by my Office to pick me up from the Airport to a temporary accommodation in Bad Schönborn, 100 kms to the south of Frankfurt. My 45+ kilos of Baggage made it obvious that I'd come for some good time. Not surprisingly, a fellow colleague who was coincidently waiting for the same Taxi broached up a conversation. He started enquiring whether I've come for good. I, with all pride said I had been transferred from the Indian subsidiary to the German Headquarters. He was a tall, medium built man in his late thirties returning from his Business trip to India. The Taxi arrived in a minute - a VW Touran. The Driver helped me put my Baggage into the Boot and soon we hit the Autobahn. Not to mention, there was a sudden spike in my blood pressure for the Machine was cruising at 200+ km/hr yet rock solid and as clam as crystal. In the meantime, the Colleague in the Car started briefing about his visit and how satisfied he was with the team in India. In less than 45 mins, we were in Bad Schönborn and the Driver said to me that he would first drop the other guy. I nodded and smiled. While the guy got down he bid good bye to me he asked where my accommodation was. I pulled out the print out and read "Ohrenberg Strasse, 5". He said that's only a few cross roads away form his place and handed over his Business card saying I can call him anytime should I need any help. I thanked him and looked at the card - he was a Vice President! There was a second spike in my blood pressure. I said to myself what a down to Earth Gentleman he was! Ok, I was in Germany. Hierarchies didn't really matter as they did in the other side of the World. Next few mins, I was in my temporary accommodation, a nice cozy serviced apartment (Read my Blog Call Easy to know more about the Apartment and the Services it offered)

I freshened up and called back Home; the doorbell rang. It was the Consultant from a Relocation Management Company who was assigned to take care of all legal formalities for my stay in Germany. It was about 1PM then. The Consultant collected all the artifacts he needed and said he needs a Biometric photograph. We came out and wow! It was a BMW 325 that he zipped through the empty streets of Bad Schönborn to a Studio. The photo was done and so was he. While he said, he would drop me back Home and meet on Monday, I asked if he can take me to the Office so that I can collect my rental Car. Without any hesitation, he said he shall and we were soon in the Office. He guided me through the Security office (for he was one of the most frequent visitors to the Office and it was my first visit to the Headquarters) to get the keys of a Red Nissan Micra. It is a tiny lil darling car. I got into the car and oops! Left hand drive. I always boasted of my driving skills and said to myself - big shit. Lemme start cruising. Until then, I always had the impression that the Consultant would drive me back Home - rather I follow him while he drives. I asked him if he could be kind enough to do so but he said there's no need for it, for I cannot miss the way at all. "Just drive straight, take the first exit to the left, then straight again. There's no way you can miss" - he said so and was on his way. I had the third and the hardest spike.

It should have been 2PM, I was tired than ever for I had eaten nothing since the last 12 hours, had not slept for the last 30 hours. To make it worse, it was the fist time I was driving a left hand drive, in a foreign country. I started slowly only to have some Cars behind me dip their head lights. It was 70 and I might have been at 30+ (Though it is not a violation, it is not accepted to drive terribly slower than the speed limit). I had to speed. I religiously took the first exit entering 100 zone. I cruised happily and should have driven about 10 kms. Boom! My subconscious said I have lost the way. I could no more recall any of the landmarks I had seen when I started from Home (first of all I doubt if I had any impressions of the landmark, for I never thought I would be driving back alone). Everything looked brand new. I do not know how many spikes I had until then. My heart was pumping double-time and all I could hear was my heartbeat thumping in my head.
I immediately realized, the Car didn’t have a GPS, I didn't have a phone (I had my phone but it was not yet activated), didn't have a map; I had forgotten the printouts at Home which had the Consultant’s telephone number and the address of the House. All I had was my Wallet which fortunately had some Euros, Indian Drivers License and the Business card of the VP whom I met at the Airport. And yes, I could remember Ohrenberg strasse, Bad Schönborn. Thank God. I could recall something.

Not to take any risks, I pulled over the Car to a parking lot. I wasn’t sure if I could park the Car there as the board read in German. I looked around and not even a single human soul, the place looked deserted. It should have been 3PM and was getting colder and darker. I said to myself - Whatever I should do, I better do it in the next hour or so, for it'll soon get completely dark. I bundled up the left of courage, and started walking in search of my House. I walked into cross roads and tried to recall how my House looked like. (If any of you have been to EU, you know that all Houses look alike). I walked for almost 2 kms, getting into every other cross road. No matches found. I had the worst time of my life as everything looked so similar - the Streets, the Houses. I finally resorted to look for pedestrians and ask for help. Should everything fail, I had one option to call the VP and show off my stupidity and ignorance for having lost the way; for having forgotten the phone # of the consultant and what not.

The first one I approached was a lady who had no clue what I was asking her for she knew only German (well, I couldn't digest this fact as I had thought people would know some English). I was feeling out of place as the people whom I approached bore a feeling of insecurity while I tried to ask them something. It was as if I was intruding their personal space when I walked towards them. It was then a couple of people, fortunately one of them could understand and even speak a bit of English - but she said she had no clue where Ohrenberg Strasse is. It should have been 4:30PM and I was still loitering, looking for people rather approachable people. It started getting darker. I had a couple of Ciggies that my Folks had given me at the Bangalore airport and they were exhausting too. It was cold and had only worn a thin Wind Cheater. The winds cut through my skin and all I could do was to accept the reality - I was lost.

I decided to look for a telephone booth and call the VP - the sole silver lining. How unlucky I was - I couldn't find a single public telephone. I then thought I should get into some Shops which seemed to be open and ask whether I can use their telephone. I wasn't lucky enough. They had the lights On but they were closed. Germany, especially small towns and villages go on nirvana on weekends and weekends start at 2PM on Saturdays.

My mind was void and vacuum. The only option was to ring at some House and ask if I can make a call. I decided to give one last try with the next approachable pedestrian (they were one in 5 mins or so). I saw an old man with a dog who looked pretty relaxed. He was The One. He soon understood that I was lost. He looked for a few other people who can speak English so that they can translate what he wanted to tell me. Fortunately, he found one and they told me that Bad Schönborn is a town that has two small towns. Both belong to Bad Schönborn, one is called Bad Mingolsheim and the other Bad Langenbrücken, both about 4 kms apart. And I was in Bad Langenbrücken which to the best of his knowledge doesn’t have any street by name Ohrenberg Strasse. So, the only option was that street should be in Bad Mingolsheim and I should drive back on the same state highway - B3.

I thanked him in the best of words I knew in English and hurried towards the car. I started driving back - with an Eagle’s eye on the speedometer. I drove 3 kms and slowed down to see of I can recognize anything. Just after a few hundred meters, I saw the board which bore the name “OhrenbergStr”. It was regaining my lost life. It was bliss - eternal satisfaction - nothing less. I took the turn and there stood #5, the House which was my Heavenly abode. It was 5:30PM and was completely dark. All my hunger was gone; I crashed on to my Bed - only to get up at 11AM on Sunday.

Its one year since that day; off late, every Friday night I go to Bad Schönborn to play Pool in a Club, a street away from Ohrenberg Strasse. Every Ball I pot, reminds me of the cold balls I had a year back!

Go green Bengaluru!

2009-02-14T15:21:00.026+01:00

It was early this week that I watched the video on Youtube:

It features the MD of SAP Labs Gurgaon who commutes to his Office on his bicycle. I was almost immediately wondering if we can have this Tip in Cities like Bengaluru which boasts of the largest number of two wheelers in the World.

Not any later, I started connecting to the phenomena explained superbly in the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Am sure, his name sounds familiar even to the most amateur of readers (like me). The Tipping Point is an explanation of how trends explode. It offers a great insight into how practices/trends/behaviors/opinions initiated as small time incidents/events suddenly grow exponentially.
One of my own all time favorite example of such a trend is Pubbing! I still remember the time when there were only a handful of Pubs in Bengaluru during my Engineering years (1998 - 2002) and Bengaluru now boasts of the best Pubs in the Country, each one of them horribly crowded all week!

Now, back to my earlier thought on a greener Bengaluru, I hereby present my few cents (largely motivated by The Tipping Point) to Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BMP). I call it the Octcycle programme:

Install Bicycle stands. Start with happening hubs like Jayanagar 4th block, Koramangala (Near JNC), Malleshwaram (Sampige Rd), Forum, Garuda Mall
It can come with a nominal parking fee and a security service can be called for as well
Install trendy hoardings in all such places, giving room for Bicycle shops to advertise as well
Broaden a bare minimum of the footpaths and make way for the Cyclists
Penalize Motorists for exhibiting their exemplary skills of driving on footpaths
Organize Bicycle marathons. Call for an event management company and let it do the rest. Am sure many Institutions will come forward to sponsor the event
Let it roll through City fests like Bengalura Habba (or is it still called Bangalore Habba?)
Get the RJs and VJs talk about Bicycles in their Programs. Get the FM channels feature public figures using Bicycles (at least for short distances) as their mode of transport
Get the happening pubs in/around these hubs to offer free Beers for the lucky Bicycle winner of the weekend

All the above if done even with a bare minimum of diligence can - not only improve the traffic situation in Bengaluru but also churn a bit of revenue to your kitties. So, this is yet another opportunity for you guyz to ascertain your existence!

Are Zeus and Indra brothers?

2009-01-26T22:29:00.008+01:00

I am half way through the book "The Odyssey" by Homer - an exemplary work by the Master himself dating back to 720 BC.

"The Odyssey" is about the Hero Odysseus (Odi-si-use) who has been away from Home for years together fighting in the long terrible Trojan war. The Epic is about his return to Home and the hardship he faces on his way.

I am bewildered by the similarities that exist between Indian and Greek mythology. While the source of Hindu mythology are the Epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha believed to have written sometime during 6th c BC; one of the oldest reference literature of Greek mythology is "The Odyssey" by Homer.

I have to admit, I have not yet Googled on the chronology and the root of all similarities but am writing to let out the mystic lava in me. Here they go!

The Gods of both mythologies:

are of two types - the Good and Bad. The ones who do and support the Good and the ones who do exactly the Opposite. To cite a few, they are Hydra, Lamia (Demons) and Zeus, Athene (Gods). They are termed as "Suras" (Gods) and "Asuras"(Demons) in Sanskrit.
are innumerable in number. As you turn the pages of "The Odyssey", you get interwoven by the brothers, sisters, kith and kin of the lord of all Gods - Zeus, who is very much the like the Indra in Hindu mythology
have superior powers (common, that is why they are called Gods:-!) They do turn into any other form/size, say from a Human being to a Fish or to a Flower. There are instances where Goddess Athene disguises herself into a Passerby, a Girl and many other forms. The Hindu Gods too disguise themselves in innumerable avatars
do curse and bless the far inferior Humans. The Greek God “Poseidon” curses the subject traveler Odysseus and makes his life miserable on his way back Home
savor an immortal drink! It is called Ambrosia which is similar to Amrut
have life saving herbs at their disposal - It is called Moly which is again similar to Sanjivini
have specialized tasks. The Gods of Sea are Poseidon and Varuna; Gods of Sun are Apollo and Surya; Gods of death are Thanatos and Yama
live in a heavenly abode. Greek Gods live in Mount Olympus and the Hindu ones in Mount Meru
accept Offerings from the far inferior Humans. While the fact of Offerings are common, the Offerings by themselves are diametrically opposite! They are largely of animal sacrifices in Greek mythology: "Hecatombs" (100 Oxen), while the sacrificial rites in Hindu mythology are driven more by "Homas" (sacred fire)
..
..

Wondering whether Zeus and Indra are lost brothers in the Kumbh meLa!

Unsolicited advice? No thanks.

2009-01-13T23:03:00.010+01:00

I am watching my conversations and resulting impact in the relationships I have with my colleagues/friends more closely than ever. One startling discovery has been that people I've encountered (now, they are quite a number, but I shall refrain to generalize) seek empathy and not advice.

Clan 1
More particularly, when folks shared their problems with me, they always needed some understanding soul that can say a few words that make them feel better. Somehow, I was (and probably still am) into the habit of stumbling into giving them advices rather than expressing that I am with them. Not to mention that I can never ever afford to advice someone without understanding them. That would be a blunder and I would not accept of anyone and nothing less of myself. Nevertheless, my neurons which are advice savvy fired before any other! Result - I was perceived more as an advisor than anything else. Rest is history.
A very simple example is when my colleague said he is having a hard time to keep to the work pressure, he rather expected me to feel him and express some consolation, but I instead, gave him quite a gyan to come over it/kill the problem. As I said, I would not give the gyan if I am not genuinely interested in getting my colleague out of shit he was in. Next time, he approached me with another issue of his, I made it a point to make him feel comfortable and then offered my advice in a very low ampere - it was embraced and appreciated!

I have to be frank; this also relates to one of the earlier blogs where I patted myself with solid consoling skills. In fact, they were my advices that were camouflaged as consolation. Unsurprisingly, I was misinterpreted. It is another story that, over time, I made things quite clear and we are great friends now.

Clan 2
This is a tribe that neither expects to be consoled nor advised. This is interesting. I reckon, their feelings are shared as a victim of circumstances. They do not expect anything. In simple terms, it is FYI. So, I better be informed, could perhaps express empthy but again, no unsolicited advice - they are trashed hard and fast.

Perhaps, there is clan 3 as well that presumes they'll not be consoled but advised! Be it tribe 1/2/3, I still have quite a distance to travel in understanding them.

They are called Hostels

2009-01-09T17:33:00.009+01:00

It's 2009 and what can be a better start? Satyam finally coming out with Satyam! Lets face it and hope we live by it every moment.

I am back from an exhaustive tour of 10 days from Austria and Czech. Returning to normalcy from 10 days of Nirvana is no easy job. Afterall, one cannot continue with just Beer:-

I (and another friend of mine) started with Innsbruck which is nothing less than a paradise for Skiers and Snowboarders. I was both elated and horrified watching them go down the pinnacle of mountains in rocket pace. They do have Austrian Nerves! It was then Salzburg, a beautiful UN heritage city, Vienna - the city of palaces and back to Hometown to get ready for the next big thing - Czech.

One horizontal feature throughout my trip has been Hostels. I had ofcourse stayed in Hostels during earlier trips in EU but they were neither this long nor chosen with due care. We chose the Hostels together - proving the power of two. How have they been? One word - Orsem! Four different hostels in different countries have certainly had an impact on how I used to perceive them.

For a traveller on a shoestring (like me), it simply cannot get any better than this. The Hostels were surgically clean, safe with lockers, free of bed bugs, cost effective and guess what - there was an ocean of like minded crowd out there. Put in an Introvert in a Hostel and see him transform into a Connector of Connectors!

It was interesting and fun to meet these Backpackers (a good chunk of them travel alone) and exchange ideas. We infact toured the city of Vienna together with a Chinese who was in the same Dorm as ours. A couple of Beers in the indigenous pub and we were a team of 10 playing Snooker. Ofcourse, it was amazing to realize the linear relationship between Perfection and Beer:-
Not to forget the friendly staff who equip you with every basic information you need, the moment you check-in. Wanna visit local Heurige in Vienna, comes an instantaneous reply "try 10 er Marie", authentic Czech food "try Medvidku", disco "try Roxy".

You're single and looking forward for some luck on your side, book mixed Dorms and you could just be as lucky as us. We were three in Czech and we had three ladies in our Dorm! Of course, we were only lucky, not the luckiest:-(

Worst case, you get bored to death - Do not worry, there's free Wi-Fi and LAN (limitied nos. for a fair price) to hook on to your gmail account. So, all you travel freaks out there, next time you're out with your backpack, do give a thought on the Hostels. Its great fun and you'll love it.

But never ever, I repeat, never ever forget to carry your Earplugs.

50 gone, 500 to come

2008-12-04T21:34:00.011+01:00

It is exactly 50 days since the blogspot - http://katteboyzbng.blogspot.com/ (the only other blog am an administrator of) has been in place and it’s been a totally interesting journey till now. I am leaving for the day in a while but do not want to miss writing today as this IS something that goes out there for all the folks expressing themselves more candidly than ever.

Number crunching:
Total members: 10
Start date: Oct 16th 2008
First 20 days: Hardly anything moved, the creator of the blogspot (Veteral blogger - Vidyashankar Harappanahalli - popularly known as VSS) was the contributor too
Next 30 days: 30 blogs! (A blog a day) - This is a quantum change considering the facts that:
Eight of the members were first timers - never blogged
All are pressed for time; most are married too
Non contributors: 0, only three of the members (I am one of them), have not authored blogs but they have had their witty comments. Am sure they have so much to write that they are still in process of choosing the “to-be” blockbuster)

I have been a steady observer (and a commentator too) of the blogspot and it’s worth noting the two most apparent actions which I believe have led to what it is today - full of life.

The right Connect - What is in it for me?
It was the creator of the blogspot who realized every available lead into an opportunity to conceptualize the blog. It is this VSS (who was in France sometime ago and still didn’t manage to meet me) who wired the connections. I reckon he did appraise the existence of a virtual free universe of expression to canalize thoughts into words on a webpage in the internet.

How is that?
A few words and a pat on the back made the difference. And yes, a word of caution, all this came naturally! No filmy melodrama in here. Well infact, if you were to go through the blogs, you’ll soon notice that melodrama is not the flavor of coffee this brotherhood savors. Due the fact that everyone appreciated everyone else in their own Being, at worse, nothing could go wrong!

I leave it up to you to tweak the above into today’s management gyan.

I am amazed by the versatility of the blogs. It’s every world out there - Fiction, Fact, Poetry, Literature, Engineering and much more to come.

All in all, to speak for all, kudos to the elite Gemeinde (I’ll let you wonder and wander for an online translator). Today is Friday and as always the tribe will be at the pinnacle of self realization, topped with extra spirits - and so will I.

And yes, all the reasons to cheer VSS and see him off to cloud nine - only for a while:-

hic-hic-hic

Hören sie musik?

2008-12-01T22:42:00.008+01:00

Now that winter has kicked in and Christmas around the corner, more often I see dense, obtuse smoke out of the chimneys of many Homes. I reckon they are from the Fireplaces. I love to capture these magic moments but my camera is too good for such shots at night. Time to await my bonus to blow it up on a Nikon SLR.

The impact is seen almost everywhere, less folks in restaurants, office, streets and even swimming pools. Thanks to winter, I now have fewer accidents in the pool (But I used to rule in India, I remember days in December when there were only two - A Doctor who was a religious swimmer and I). Now, if you're guessing that I might have just missed Gold in Olympics....I wish you could be right:-( I am a humble, slow, lazy shark in water. Mine are 40-50 mins crawling with 2 breaks of 3 mins each (I shouldn't miss other colorful stuff you know). I know most of the staff and occasionally keep having a word with them.

It was on a Sunday that I saw this new lady staff who was starring at me every now and then. She bore an amalgamation of expressions - curiosity, perplexity, bewilderment, and what not. I had to ascertain the obvious. It was time soon and I cautiously got out of water when she was not around and headed towards the shower in swift pace - only to meet her right in front of the shower door. I smiled and said "hallo" and so did she. The immediate question she had was "hören sie musik warend schwimmen?"(close to this) which translates into "do you listen to music while swimming?" I took some seconds to let the question sink in and hesitantly said "Nein" (No). Next, she pointed to the thread across my chest and asked what it was. Well, it was the Janai that I put around my neck (while in action) which seemed to her as cords of a new swim slim, ultra light model of iPod which plays in water as well!!

With all the words I knew, I explained her what it means to me - the cords of general merit in India.

Fests beat Pests

2008-11-30T13:53:00.013+01:00

It was 3AM in the morning that I returned Home after having been to the "Weinnachtsmarkt" (Christmas market). Of course, these markets close at about 10PM and I was playing Snooker till 2:30AM (And I won 4 games to 2)

I have been observing ever since am here in Germany that almost every month there is always one thing or the other happening at one place or the other (in the near vicinity). The term used is "Fest" which translates into "Festival" in English. Let me cite a few of them:

March - May: "Stadtfest" These are fests that "Rathaus" (Local Municipality) sponsors. A gathering where the entire village comes together. I was surprised to see that almost everyone in my village knows everyone else (I've to say it is not small either, has a population of about 13000). Happens in every town, an opportunity to walk to the Festplatz (Festival hall) and happily get drunk (you need not have to drive back anyways:-). It was in this fest that I heard to “Zap-Gang” a popular rock band in Germany and take it from me - they Rock!

The planning is such that not all StadtFests happen at the same time. They are spread so that you can still enzoy in the neighborhood village if you miss yours!

June - August: Peak Summertime. The time of the year when one can see everyone cycling. The “Freibad” (Open air swimming pools) are flocked and so are the Beer Gardens. Lot of open air music fests. I was more than privileged to have my colleague take me to one such music fest - “Das Fest” in Karlsruhe. The biggest gathering in the state here (Baden Wurttemberg), no entry fee but one rolls bottles till death. Good bands invited, both German and English. About 50000, full of life jam packed crowd. Not to mention the orsem food and many small attractions - from tattooing to body piercing. Very sensibly organized with a lot of toilets:-)
This is still, the only time; I have traveled by train in Germany. It was a 20 min train journey from my place to the Fest and I returned by the last train at 1AM - which reminded me of Mumbai local trains (am serious)

Sept - October: “Winzerfest”. This is how the Autumn is celebrated with new wine from the wine yards. It is called “Nuerwein” (New wine) which is sweet and served in .5 l glasses. Got to be careful as it starts fermenting once it is in your belly:-) the less you drink, more it becomes:- Even these are planned in advance and well spread across the region. Nothing to worry if you've missed to sip new wine at your place - It’ll be newer next week in the neighborhood

Not to mention the Beer fests in October - Though it is only the Munich fest which makes to papers, October beer fests is a commonality, I guess throughout EU. (I was in Belgium in the last week of October and I saw a poster titled October Beer Fest)

November - December: "Weinnachtsmarkt" - Christmas Night Market. Open all day but attracts crowd during evening and nights. Bummer on freezing temperature. Who cares?! You have "Gluhwein"! It is a wine that is zested with aromatic spices and many other liqueurs. Served hot, the best hot wine I've had. Imagine sipping hot wine at night amidst snow! Ofcourse, you could soon find yourself in no man's land if you abuse 'em

"SauerKraut": A typical German dish - fermented shredded cabbage and sausages, served with Wine. A delicacy in the Rheinland Pfalz (A state in south Germany). However, there is also a fest by this name in Autumn. It was in November first week at my village.

I’ll stop here. I reckon there a couple more like this but let me conclude.

I was said that the people here in Germany (rather Europeans) are more to themselves and do not have or enjoy much of social life. My friend says “reality is stranger than fiction” and so it is! Come what may, rain, snow, storm, scorching heat, folks just do not care. They just do it. They are right there with Jack Wolfskins, Umbrellas, Buggies, , - - - but they are. Nothing matters. They do come out and enjoy, do a lot of small talk (though there is nothing called as small talk for Germans. You ask “How is the weather today”, rest assured, you’ll get a weather report), greet everyone with all pleasure; beer’s on the floor, so are music and food

And these fests in fact act as a catalyst in keeping them alive. No doubts about it.

A striking fact is that we have festivals spread throughout the year in India too. Each one has its own timing and significance. Now, to look at the basic principle, we have invented festivals to come out of our couches, look around, network, socialize, appreciate life and rejuvenate. It is in this sense the festivals are to be lived.

Until next Fest,

Gulmohar.

Do we see the big picture?

2008-11-15T22:02:00.014+01:00

Recently, two of my close friends were in deep depression - As always, I used my solid consoling skills and made them feel better over weeks. Both of them are housewives married to their loves, have children, totally committed to their families and are convinced of what they are doing for the family. They cook, raise children and look after their husbands well.

The first lady is bugged up of the same life everyday. In her own words, it is just the same stuff that she does everyday. No change at all. She is connected to a few people and at times she wishes that she were to be them or do things that they're doing. But she cannot because of the commitments and constraints. At times, she's too hard on kids for not listenening to her. So many things make her feel sad. I asked her what would make her happy and her reply was I do not know
The second is a young lady who has just stepped into motherhood. In her words, she understands her husband well and always working for the better of the family. But she's not getting what she wants in return. It is simple love and empathy that she expects from her husband which she thinks, is deprived of. She's good but the world is cruel to her.

I had to highlight in bold to both of them their brighter sides of life, give instances and cite opportunities on how they can get into a lot of excitement and eventually realise that life is simply beautiful (which I am still in process of assimilating and implementing for my own self).

Of course, they had different problems but I could see one tangible commonality in both of them:
They see only what they want to see in the world around - they have a terribly narrow vision on what they want to see in people. They see only that part which interests them and the rest is simply out of focus.
The chances are naturally high to stumble on framing a wrong opinion because they see only a part and not the whole. The big picture is completely lost! To cite an example, if I am fanatic about reading newspapers every morning (which I am definitely not:-) and the gentleman next door doesn't even subscribe them, for me he becomes a dull guy though he's a rocket scientist by profession. And all this happens in a split second - it is so fast and probably our neurons fire the same way everytime, the moment it sees a trend - just like antivirus routers.

Putting into the right words, our (allow me to extrapolate and make this generic) love towards our children, parents, friends and whomsoever connected is as I said - very narrow which has a defined scope and strict boundary - it is conditional. There are inumerable instances of this very same loophole in our everyday life. When I started interviewing people for my company, 3 years back, I initially used to probe candidates with stuff that interests me rather than getting to know the candidate's strengths and then relate them to our needs and organizational standards. It was not even 10 candidates for about a month, I started hating interviews and looked for excuses to avoid them. But shortly I realized that I am being very mean and unfair to the candidates to impose conditions and topics that I am a interested in - suddenly interviewing became a pleasure! Every interview was a great opportunity to know people and in fact I was recognized for being the most active participant in recruitment for that year having interviewed a whooping 98 candidates. This for me has always been a good reference and am happy that it has a documented evidence - my hours are booked in a system with date, candidate name and feedback too!

Next time we meet the guy next door/colleague/wife/children/husband - let's make a consious effort not to stereotype them.

Whatever goes around, comes around

2008-11-15T15:51:00.007+01:00

It was last month that I finished reading a book on Yoga - "Iyengar - the Yoga master" and needless to say, I was thrilled by what people had to say about Yoga and the Master himself. One has to be terribly great to have his name added to the Oxford dictionary and to be named as one of Top 100 people by the Times magazine.

So, a week later, I decided to see if Iyengar Yoga can be my cup of tea as well and decided to search for some yogic practitioners in Germany. The results were simply too much for me to digest! I could find more than 50 certified teachers of BKS Iyengar method in Berlin alone (which is atleast 5 times more than the # of similar schools in entire state of Karnataka in India!). I could also find that the teachers are spread almost to the length and breadth of Germany - from Aachen in the West, Rostock in the North, to Freiburg in the South. Indian Yoga is unequivocally popular in the heart of EU and this made my raise my head and blow my trumpet in Office that whole week:-

While India is embracing the West and Rest , are the Rest and West reciprocating? I think days are not far when people from the West travel to India to hold seminars and workshops on Yoga! (or is this reality already?).

Call easy!

2008-07-16T11:37:00.001+02:00

It is not more than an year ago that I was new in Europe and had just relocated. My Employer was kind enough to grant the first 20 days of accommodation for free and I was taken to a guest house - which was well furnished and maintained too. It had a WLAN, parking garage, furished kitchen, free laundry service etc. not to forget the Television - a replica of CP/M professional system released at the beginning of the 80's, powered by an Intel 8085 processor, 80x24 text resolution on a 12" built-in green phosphor monitor. Nevertheless, it had a brand new rocket age remote control - which was more colorful than then TV itself! I bet, the landlord would have paid more for the remote than the value of the TV then:-) It was torturous to look at it for the first 30 secs after switchin it On when the fluorescent green display turned into multicolor display:-

The landlord also gracefully pulled a contract the moment I stepped into the house and had it signed by me. It had all the restrictions under the Sun:
1. No watching TV b/w 2200 - 0800 hrs
2. No smokin
3. No littering
4. Wipin the shower glass after every shower (there was a free demo too
5. Being ultra careful with the keys - losing which invited a fine
6..
7..

And so there was a small note saying "the telephone would be charged on usage basis and the guest is required to clear the dues on the day of vacating the house"

As I had arrived on sunday and the city was literally dead (Europeans go in for Nirvana on sundays), I grabbed the telephone to catch up with my buddies back home. Somehow, my risk appetite stopped me from talkin for long and I guess I was on the phone for about 70 mins. So, days and weeks passed and I couldn't get the mobile phone as my Passport was submitted to the registration office for visa stamping - - not surprisingly, I used the Home phone a few more times but now, not more than 5 min in total.

And finally the day came or rather the landlord came to me with the bill which had a whooping 408 Euros! Which is good enough to:
1. buy swimming passes in an indoor pool for 4 continuous years
2. fly from Berlin to Zurich and return - 4 times - in Lufthansa (all inclusive and miles too, this data is as on today from Lufthansa website)
3. pay your electricity bills in Europe for a lil more than an year (If you're single, you would have to pay about 30+ Euros/month)
4. and yes, speak to say US for 45000 mins (24/7 - for a month) to any landphone/handphone over internet!! (This rate is from Europe to US at the rate of 1 cent/min - which is prevailing at this time)

One of the above or a 70 min telephone call - - unfortunately, I had to choose the latter ('coz, I like small numbers you know)

This runs down as the the most stupid thing I have done in my life till date. On the other side, its really amazing to look at the way technology is changing and affecting our lives pretty much personally and directly.

Days are not far when these calls would just become free to and from all over the world (of course we have this already if 2 people wishing to talk are on the same domain, Gtalk and Skype are good examples).
Days are not far when the conventional telephone companies just run out of business if they don't change
Days are not far when there's seamless connectivity between people - world will not only be flat but nearer too

On the other hand, its vulnerable too - atleast as of now, there are still ways to hack into your conversation, so, if your wife's a computer savvy, make sure to speak to your girlfriend over physical phones

Gulmohar.

Cloud computing - where is technology headed to?

2008-07-15T16:33:00.001+02:00

Something cloudy? Not exactly.
I heard this new buzzword at my workplace some months back and its interesting to know how and where the technology is headed to.

Cloud computing is the highest degree of encapsulation to the user wherein she/he cannot see anything running behind his desktop as such. Rather on the other side, the users need not worry about the underlying infrastructure/applications enabling them to place a purchase order for his employer. But the question is - do these really work?! There are already instances of such realization. The best examples are Google/Yahoo/Amazon. We are in the verge of following the footsteps of outsourcing fever that started a few years ago. The mantra of outsourcing was "give away and earn more" and the same seems to be slowly applying to clouds as well

Some food for thought:

Pros:
1.
Effective usage of computing power - the greatest advantage is that we will be able to do efficient and effective computing with this model. We are definitely far below the ideal threshold usage of computing power with our pervasive and disparate computing capacities

2.
Easy regulatory compliance as the only record needed in most of the cases would be a SAS70 report. So, the company saves effort and some smart bucks too!

3.
Reduced IT budget. With the prices being attractive and on-demand, this appears to be the way to go! So, it could be time to fire some IT employees:-

The other side of the coin:

1.
Is the same level of security ensured as one would have on-premise? Ofcourse contractually the vendors are bound to maintain confidentiality. But have we reached an ideal world already?

2.
This will also open up a new world with a chain of vendors, say vendor X offering an application which in turn is hosted by the infrastructure provided by vendor Y. Who would be liable in case the customer loses his data integrity? Will this be just another law suite as many others that go on for years?

3.
Are the exit options safe? How can I make sure, there's no image left on the cloud after I discontinue to use the service?

Nevertheless, for me, it appears we are not there yet. Of course, not a bad start at all. I would use on-premise for my core business and any day use clouds for non-core businesses (anyways, does it matter?

Gulmohar.

Smokin kills?

2008-07-13T16:39:00.000+02:00

Does it matter?! Well, that's what even I think when I have that burning tobacco between my fingers. But soon after am done with blowin them into flames, I think it does worse than killing..

A cigarette in my hand,
I feel like a Man, the flames moving up in the air,
listening to "waiting for the Sun" - Jim Morrison in the band
quitters are not winners, to think like this is just not fair:-(

Gulmohar.

First law of Thermodynamics

2008-07-07T17:33:00.000+02:00

In my Engineering days, I religiously studied (and probably forgot to understand:-) the first law of Thermodynamics - "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, the sum total of the energy in an isolated system remains constant". What a memory! Call it the power of mug-up

Then it was not too much in the past, that I started wondering if the law would be true, how the hell can we produce enormous amount of nuclear energy with so little input power? Is this an issue of a lot of benefit with negligible cost? My deeper sence of consciousness yelled at me to figue out how this works. A bit of scratching my head resulted in the below:

All bogs down to the law of gravity. The law of gravitation is that every body attracts another in a manner directly proportional to their mass and inversly proportional to the square of the distance between them. Naturaly, the gravitational force between the consitutents of an atom is enormously large because of the distance between them is infinitely small. So in case, the Nucleus is split (which is in fact the case in nuclear power generation), the amount if energy that has to get released has to be obviously huge:-

And the 2nd point is that the first law of Thermodynamic also takes into consideration of the system attributes - - It says that the energy is constant in an isolated system. And our case has 2 independent isolated systems - so problem solved!

By the way, when I think about the law of gravitation, it was only after a couple of years of my school days that I got to realise the exact law. Until then I was wondering that if I were to stand at one of the Poles of our planet and drop a ball, the ball would be gone for ever in space (because, its opposite to what I do when I am away from the poles - to throw a ball upwards and it comes down) and it was hard for me to believe and to imagine too -
But then I came to know that the force acts towards the center of the Earth and in fact even in Poles, I can only throw it upwards:-!

Gulmohar.

Word of the day - - - KATTE

2008-07-05T01:52:00.001+02:00

Literal translation of word "Katte" (Pronounced as "Cut"+"Tey") into English is "Bench". This english word is well known and used pervasively among the software engineers in India. Whenever people have not been staffed on any projects, it is to say that they are on Bench:-)

Now, Katte on its constructive sense is to use it to:
1. catch up with your comrades on an evening
2. have discussions that does and doesn't matter
3. have some tobacco butted
4. and kill time:-

What can a Katte be:
1. any meeting point (Treffpunkt for our Deutsche pals)
2. any smokin corner
3. any literal bench in a parkland

So, thats about it. Each one of you shall have some kind of a Katte - - think about it and post it. It shall be interesting to spread the variants and versatility of Katte

Gulmohar.

Saaz....the musical journey

2008-07-05T01:23:00.000+02:00

It's movie and music time:-

People who have the minutest of interest in classical music will just rock on the songs in this movie. Watch it online for a price or grab yourself a DVD. The movie is directed by Padma Bhushan awardee Sai Pranjape - who is also the director of - "Chashme Baddoor" - must watch for Katte (Refer to my blog http://go-for-a-kill.blogspot.com/2008/07/word-of-day-katte.html) and all Bachelors) - a straight simple comedy movie starring none other than Farroq Shaik and Deepthi Naval.

Now, back to Saaz, the music is directed by Pt. Zakir Hussain, Bupen Hazarika and Rajkamal. Pt. Zakir Hussain has acted too.. The movie is a smooth storyline based on music and strong emotions. Listen to the classic on Youtube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FS39rjdSF2c - - Kavita Krishnamurthy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vji36gxM9-g&feature=related - Suresh wadekar

Gulmohar.

What is goin for a kill?!

2008-07-04T17:36:00.000+02:00

Hey Guest! Welcome to the "Does it matter" blogs!
Do soak up and just kill time - afterall, you wouldn't be doing this if were not to kill time:-)
Rest assured, you'll constructively kill time in here!!

More to come
Gulmohar.