2008 & 2009

It's been a mixed year, like most others. Ups and downs, professional and personal. A year of very little interaction on LJ, though. I didn't post much, you guys didn't either. Blame it on Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and what have you. Blame it on laziness. Old age. Ennui.

Or perhaps blame it on the fact that society itself is moving towards instant gratification, capsule reviews, micro updates. No one wants to spend more than five minutes on anything anymore. And even if you do, why do you watch a movie? Because everyone's talking about it, because you won't be cool if you don't talk about it too. Why read a book? Because it's won the Booker and everyone's talking about it. Because the movie had millions of teenage girls queuing up, shrieking. Why have an opinion? You don't need to. Not when you can copy paste others viewpoints to your twitter.

I am getting old. 37 in a few months, for crying out loud! I never believed I would be this old, to be honest. Nor did I think I would lose this much hair.

And you guys have aged too. and , did you ever think you'd be a dad one day? , did you know you'd write for Rolling Stone magazine? , did you see yourself being rated India's #1 Twitter user?

What I'd like for 2009 though is to write more and read more. Read what you guys really think about these days. Put aside that damn Twitter or Facebook status update for a few minutes. Write about language, ! About Delhi, about Mumbai, . About comics, about music, . About technology, about the sheer magic of being a geek, . About life itself, all of you. Don't be comfortably numb. Please.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Vibgyor

And now there's a beautiful rainbow out in the sky. Man, I love Bangalore!

A vague sense of unease persists. Ides of March?

A vague sense of unease persists. Ides of March?

Vinashakale vipareetha budhi

Vinashakale vipareetha budhi

Call center

My landline conked out yesterday. I've been trying to register my complaint for the past hour, its like banging your head against a brick wall.

First, I needed a number to call and register a complaint. The tel directory at office had the first twenty pages torn off, so tried the net. None of the bsnl sites I went to had any useful info. SMSed my brother at home and asked him to check the directory there. He came up with "Suffix 2198 to the first three digits of your telephone number and call that". I tried numerous combinations - 2 suffixed, 2 prefixed, without 2 and what have you. No dice.

Called 22355555 which is the general helpline. I found from them that the number to call is 1500. Dialled that, waded through numerous menu options till the voice asked me to wait, my call was being transfered to the complaints section. Next thing I hear is the tone you get when you dial an STD number that is not reachable. Called 22355555 again. The lady asked me to check another number, one with 1111 at the end. Again, no response. Tried without a 2 at the beginning. Got a reprimand for forgetting the 2. Tried with the 2. "Please check the number you have dialled".

Aaarggggh !!!

But hark ! What light through yonder tunnel break...

But hark ! What light through yonder tunnel breaks ?

I've been going through a rather rough patch. Don...

I've been going through a rather rough patch. Don't think it will get over quickly - if at all.

Whats up ?

A few updates:

1. I took the red pill on Sunday and have been feeling great since. My mind is finally free.
It really is a relief to read the Hindu after the Times

2. The first quiz on is up. This was posted on quiznet once by himself, but what the heck. Its a good quiz, just perfect to start off.

3. Sindha, Rachu and I are off to Mysore tomorrow, to attend a friend's wedding. This is the first time we'll be going on a relatively long drive with the kid; hope everything turns out well. Planning to stop over at Srirangapatana and Channapatana on the way back, if we have the time. I would like to visit Ranganathittu as well, but my guess is that we won't have enough time to do all of this and be back in Bangalore by 7pm.

4. The battery of the car conked out on Saturday, the first real problem I've had with the Palio. Got a new one fixed today. Funny, it should have lasted for at least 2-3 years. The guy told me its because I didn't get it serviced regularly. Hmm.

5. And oh, here's a pretty decent photo of el kiddo:

Interesting stuff that convince me the world is becoming a smarter, better place for mankind

The wonder that is email

I get this mail from Microsoft on my yahoo account every single day, asking me to use a patch immediately. The mail is sent from the address security@microsoft.com but has a return path to admin@duma.gov.ru. I cleverly went to this website but my browser settings appear to be incompatible with whats displayed. Couldn't make head or tail of these characters. A firebird bug, very possibly.

The mail is very nice though. It reads: "Dear friend , use this Internet Explorer patch now! There are dangerous virus in the Internet now! More than 500.000 already infected!" The mail helfpully contains an attachment called patch.exe which I think I'm supposed to use to kill all these 500.000 viruses (virii ?). Man, I feel like a Terminator already.

Traffic Improvements

The traffice police in Bangalore is implementing a new policy in some roads like MG Road and Airport Road. You need to switch off your headlights while driving on these roads. I think this is a very positive move and will make driving a pleasure, comparable to playing games like say, RoadRash and Need For Speed. I was cruising along MG Road the other evening, having a wonderful time trying to separate the autos from the Qualises (Qualii ?) when the streetlights went off. There was great merriment all round - some vehicles had headlights on, some had none, others had their parking lights and a few were switching from high beam to low to off and then again back to high. All the horns were working very well, though.

Speaking of Airport Road, there is this massive roadwork going on just next to my office. A clover leaf shaped flyover (in contrast to a horseshoe shaped one, I guess) is being constructed. It takes roughly twenty minutes to cover twenty metres on a good day. Not satisfied with this, the good folks of the BDA are planning another constriction construction upstream, near the Windtunnel road junction. This is going to benefit me a lot - I get to work from home or look for a job at ITPL. Win-win.

On the other hand, some really good stuff

My parents arrive tomorrow. lands up in the evening. Mu ha ha ha !!

Random notes

• The King of Torts is probably the worst book I've ever read


• Boiled tapioca and chicken liver fry is a nice combination


• My cd-writer cannot read and hence cannot write. Need to start a saaksharatha program soon


• The position of the TV is the most important decision while finalizing the plan of your new house


• Mothers can be more intimidating than mother-in-laws


• I need a good developer for my team


• MSN messenger 6.0 is pretty nifty

Updates

Been busy at work. Suffice to say:

• The weekend was spent burning cds from . Thanks, buddy !


• Kichan left for Delhi yesterday, for his civils interview. All the best, brother !


• Salary reviews at office. *sigh*

How the weekend was...

We keep our washing machine in the balcony, for want of space in the bathroom. It did not start on Saturday morning, exactly when the laundry pile was assuming ominous proportions. I slapped the machine a couple of times, in the time tested manner men have while trying to get anything mechanical to work. The machine didn't budge, but a rat did. It ran from under the machine and into the maze of drainpipes adjoining the balcony.

Called the Godrej folks, who sent over their service engineer the next day. He opened the top of the machine and out popped three more rats who had made the instrument panel their home. The wires were all chewed up, mouse shit all over the place...you get the idea. The guy from Godrej fixed the wires and assured us the rats would be back. So Kichan and I lifted the machine into the living room yesterday night and spread rat poison all over the balcony floor. We think the rats must have feasted on the poison, as the lumps were rather neatly arranged in one corner today morning, with mouse turds all around. Must have been some party. Perhaps they were trying to get over their disappointment in not finding their usual home.

So right now we have the washing machine in the living room, taking up space and hidden from rats. Need to think of a working alternative fast.


Went to Gangarams and bought 5 books, just 400 bucks over the 1000 which I had won as gift coupons. Picked up Mario Vargos Llosa's The Feast of the Goat (thanks to ), A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (thanks to & a few other l-jers), The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass & my usual quota of Stephen King - Everything's Eventual and From a Buick Eight. The only book which I wanted to buy but later discarded as being too 'pulpy' was Crichton's latest, Prey. Maybe I'll buy that before a train journey.


Bought a Reliance mobile phone, coughing up Rs 23,000 out of which we get Rs 2000 back after two years. If our calculations are correct, this should reduce our monthly phone bills considerably. There are a few gotchas in the scheme, but we thought we'd take the risk. Cancelled the Airtel account which Sindha was using. Time will tell whether we made a good decision.

And oh, received the mother-in-law at the station, went shopping for vegetables, fruits & sundry provisions, cleaned up the house, read a bit and watched Nadodikkattu for the twenty seventh time.

Columbia

Well, yes, it was quite tragic. But I live in India, I've seen worse.

Much worse.

Where's Joseph Heller when you need him ?

The office has about a dozen VOIP phones installed in the conference rooms and in a few cabins. Making calls to the US using these phones doesnt cost the company a cent. The marvels of modern technology. But...

The IS department says they can install an IP phone in my room only if they have me marked as a frequent user of the normal phones, with a high ISD bill. Now the reason why I do not have a high ISD bill is that I try to use the IP phones as much as possible, good employee that I am.

In essence, I need to spend a lot of the company money for me to save the company money.


Sindha got a job offer with MVJ Medical College, Whitefield. She has resigned from her current job but needs to serve the notice period till Jan 17. The college has a bus, so the commute should be better in the New Year. (The driver didnt turn up, btw. I still double as the driver).

We are off to Mumbai on the 26th, back on the 30th. Taking the Udyan, returning by IA. Another family get-together which I'm looking forward to. This trip has the bonus of meeting up with as well.


current book: The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Wants

Saturdays still piss me off. I'm here working at office when I could be chilling out at home. All because of that stupid bandh call last Monday.

Want to play Black and White. Want to try out Age of Mythology.

Want to watch India win overseas for a change. Want to see some spine in the batting, some sting in the bowling.

Want to be at Pecos, beer with beef on the side and rock bands I never heard before but sound oh-so-marvellous.

Want to be home with Sindha, listening to music and reading a good book, birds near the window and all's right with the world.

Man, I'm a spoilt brat.

Four Parties

Sindha and I had received party invites from four people, spread out over the past three weeks. The first was a birthday party of the son of a friend, the second was a dinner invite from a newly married couple settling down in Bangalore, the third the first wedding anniversary of another friend and the last the house-warming ceremony of our neighbour.

The birthday party was a typical Mallu male affair. Wives and kids in the ground floor, sitting on chairs around the dinner table and talking about cookery, knitting and other delightful things women do. The husbands were on the terrace downing Old Monk, Kingfisher and McDowells. The wives waited patiently, dutifully, obediently till late in the night for their husbands to descend. The husbands drank, went down for dinner and cracked jokes which were much appreciated by all. The menu included chicken curry, kerala parotta and veg fried rice. There was merriment all around. Oh, one of the wives had a spot of bother with asthma, but her husband was busy with his third shot of rum and so she had to wait till he was done. Strangely enough, yours truly didnt drink that night.

The second party had Sindha and me seated in the living room along with 4 to 5 other couples. We spoke about our jobs, our ex-companies, our common friends and classmates from college. My friend's in-laws hovered in the background, making sure we had everything we wanted. Dinner was masala dosai, idli and pongal. Sindha and I got home by 1030, feeling much better about life in Bangalore.

The third party - my friend's first wedding anniversary - was on the terrace of his house. There was a caterer who catered hariyali chicken, chicken tikka, veg kababs, veg biriyani, chicken curry and veg kadai. Smirnoff, Teachers, Bacardi and Kingfisher were available in plenty. There were couples in ethnic Indian wear (kurta pyjama, salwar et al), western wear (midriff revealing tees, figure hugging tops, etc) and there were couples like Sindha and I who wore their sole set of decently ironed clothes. Music was by The Doors, Eagles, Nirvana and Clapton. Champagne flowed after the cake was cut. We got a small portion of champagne, but not the cake.

The last party was held on the terrace of the apartment next to ours. The invite said 1230pm, so we reached there at 1240 to be fashionably late. Sadly, we hadnt accounted for Bangalore time. The hosts reached a few minutes after us, the rest of the invitees reached on time at 1:30. The buffet had pulao, puri, kurma, curd rice and halwa, catered by M/s Kanthi Sweets, Thippasandra. Returned home to a good afternoon's sleep.

current book: The Tintin Companion by Michael Farr

Running to stand still

There was this prof at SP who used references to Alice in Wonderland (or Through the Looking Glass) in almost all his lectures. He was particularly fond of the part in Through the Looking Glass where the Red Queen and Alice run like crazy but wind up where they started. I now understand how that feels.

Lots of work, lots of stuff to do. But nothing changes. In fact, "do more with less" is the mantra. When do we get to take a step forward ? If at all.

Food World Wierdos

I never knew Food World was home to wierdos. I have been accosted twice by two different men, both interested in presenting me a unique business opportunity. The routine goes like this - I stand near the counter, trying to get the ordeal of shopping over with, generally minding my own business. The person behind me passes some remark on the lines of "Isnt it hot today" or "So we finally won, eh?". Genial soul that I am, I nod and smile. El wierdo then proceeds to get chummy, asks me where I work and comment that i2 is a great place. After a few minutes of buttering up, he slips me his visiting card and asks me for my phone number/email id. The next day I get an email from him, inviting me to take part in an extremely profitable business venture. I dont reply, merely add his id to my ever increasing list of spammers.

Being rather slow on the uptake, it didnt hit me till yesterday that these people might be agents of the dreaded Amway network. Horrors ! I might have been reduced to a low level marketeer with a smarmy smile, shunned by friends and foes alike.

Good people, please do not talk to strangers at Food World. Please circulate this to as many people as you know. Thank you and God bless.

Current Book: Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

Why I dont update no more...and why I will

I started off on Live Journal a year ago, mainly because of and (the late lamented) . That was when I was alone in Bangalore, Sindha was doing her MD at Manipal, Kichan was just completing his engineering and had packed up and left for Mumbai. Posting updates to l-j was a good way to keep myself from going crazy.

Cut to the present - the wife's back, the brother is at home and the late nights at work have vanished. Ergo, no more updates, no more sob stories and no more raves 'n rants.

Well, I just realized that I do want to write. Meeting a bunch of fellow l-jers the other day at Barista's also helped. You feel you have a space of your own out here on Live Journal. Marking entries personal and friends-only has its advantages too.

So here I go again. , , and other irregulars, wake up !

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Got this from a link on rediff. Great pics.