Sunday, February 18, 2007

Testing

Hello Hello .. Testing Testing .. My email-to-blog method is not working these days... Testing with a new email id ..

Honksecond

Under the International System of Units, the second is currently defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.This definition refers to a caesium atom at rest at a temperature of 0 K (absolute zero). The ground state is defined at zero magnetic field. The second thus defined is equivalent to the ephemeris second. (courtesy: Wikipedia). At 10 ^-44 (s), Planck time is considered the smallest time unit known to mankind. Now, news filters in that scientists have discovered a new time unit which is found to be smaller than Planck Time, known as the Honksecond.

Scientifically, it is defined as the amount of time required for the average Pune motorist to honk after the traffic light turns green.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Things I think I think

It's that time of the year again. I am bored. So, here I am writing about things that I have been thinking about for a long time now.

1. I am so used to work now, that I have no idea what to do on a Saturday afternoon having finished all errands. In an earlier life, I probably would have slept. But right now, I have nothing to do, and also did not sleep. D also complains that I am sleeping less. The down side is that when I do sleep, I do so like a baby. Takes me a long time to get set in the mornings.

 

2. It's been a year since I am in John Deere. On a lark, I decided to compare Deere with my old employer St. Jude and this is what I find based on NYSE performance.
Feels mighty good, doesn't it? Not a bad ego booster on a lazy Saturday afternoon

3. Indians have it something for the apostrophe. Let me rephrase that. Indian's have 'something's for the apostrophe's. Anywhere you go, including banks (or should I call it bank's) any plural gets hit by an apostrophe. So much so, that I am myself quite confused to the actual use of the apostrophe.

4. Another thing I find is that we are getting a lot fatter. Maybe, it's my own growing weight that has me conscious of looking at plus sized people. But, I do find a lot of fat visible these days. Of course, the kids here are not quite at US standards.

5. There's a lot of junk food available in malls these days. Malls are getting jazzier, richer and louder by the day. Kids prefer cheese pop corn (what the hell is that??) to fresh watermelon juice. You think there's a link with #4 above?? Hmmm ... I wonder...

6. We bought a new car last week.. Brand new, Maruti Alto Lxi.. Felt good for a couple of days.. Now the depression kicks in.. People are out to kill me (or making a damn good impression of it), I am the only one on the road who stops at traffic lights, and the damn Radio Mirchi plays songs that I have never heard of. I am so outdated!!

7. Speaking of traffic travails, I think we in India have stopped thinking. We are so used to simply reacting, that long-term thinking seems like a foreign language. The main road where I live has a divider running for a couple of kilometers. People who come in from the arterial roads, prefer going down the wrong side for these two kms, instead of going the right way, and making a U-turn. Now where does the thought process come into this? Going the wrong way, they are travelling so slowly because of the fast traffic that is coming their way, that I bet they would have gotten to their destination faster going the right way. 4 kms at 60 kmh is still faster than 2 kms at 15. But, people just follow the direction of the nose. It's the same reason we suck at soccer. We don't understand the value of the backpass!!!

8. I don't want to jinx it, but I really do think the Indian team is going to do well at the World cup next month. I will be in Germany and the US for most of the time, so I think it's Cricinfo zindabad for me, but I do think we'll do quite well. And I also do think the Aussies are not going to win it this time. My bet is SA or SL. For sentimental reasons, my dream final will be India vs. WI with both Tendulkar and Lara playing their final game for the one trophy that has eluded both of them!! And I hope the final is rained out, so that we don't have to have a loser!!!

9. I do also think SRT will retire from ODIs after the World Cup. The only reason he has not announced it, is that there will be commotion all over if he does. And there's too many "unnamed senior players" in the Indian team who spill the news to the hungry media that he wouldnt announce it to the team either. But for such a sharp cricketing brain, I would be surprised (and part disappointed) if he doesn't retire after the world cup from one dayers.

10. I do think a lot. Don't you think so too???

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Sunday, February 11, 2007

Fly Away, Little one

What does it take for someone to have irreconcilable differences with their own children?

I quarrel a lot with my parents, but it's just quarrels. There's no meanness involved in it, but more like arguments which get loud. That happens, more so, because all of us (my brother included) have a habit of speaking our minds. Needless to say, 4 minds may not think alike on quite a few topics. Still, I doubt we ever will fight to the point, that we cannot stand each other's company. However in the past few days, I have seen 3 cases where the parents don't speak with their children. In two out of the three, I only know the parent, so I only know one side of it, but from what I know, they never would want to be in the same room as their child. Coincidentally, all three cases involve the choice of the spouse by the child. One of the cases, even involves the girl getting married a couple of years ago, is currently pregnant and her parents have not even announced the wedding to their relatives. In an Indian social scenario, that is even more dangerous.

Is it that parents, in their love for their child, cocoon them from the outside world, so much that they cannot figure out why their precious child would want to fly away to lead her own life?

Sunday, February 04, 2007

School chale hum

The sight of kids begging on traffic lights is not a new sight in India. You feel sad, but once the light turns green you move on. Sad plight, but there's nothing you or I can do. Yesterday though, I saw something that had me sad and thinking for a while.

It's a new trend in beggardom to show the audience some value for their money, so they have these small kids do different tricks in the hope that they can get some money from people in the 5-10 seconds to go. It's really sad and the new child labor law seems to be for some other country here. The PMC has helped by installing countdown indicators at most lights, so these kids have it down to a science. 90 seconds between green lights. 60 for the show, 30 for the collection. Waiting at a traffic light, I saw a small kid playing something like a home-made drum set. He had his back to me but something looked familiar. Show done, he turned towards the audience and that's when it struck me.

He was wearing the St. Vincent's school uniform!!!

Instinctively, I felt like ripping off the pocket off his shirt, since the insignia means a lot to me, and I felt affronted that something like this was on public display. Do what you want with a plain shirt, but don't show me my school uniform while begging on the street. I even swore at that unknown parent who gave that shirt in charity and in good spirit, but did not tear out that pocket. But, it was not fair to this poor kid. How would he know the value of the school uniform, when he has no clue what a school is?

At least this way, in some weird way, he has a school uniform for himself. I hope to God some day this child also has a school for himself.