Being Dhurka...

NOT SO THUNDERBOLT

2011-05-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

For all phone aficionados, I'm not talking about the hTC 4G LTE phone. I'm talking about the 10Gbps copper version of the 20Gbps optical transport standard called LightPeak.

We went to buy a spanking new MacBook Pro the other day at the Apple Store. While I'm there - I must admit that God did not give me enough strength to resist buying the first gen iPAD. Not only that, God made us fight over the 1 iPAD we first bought, enough to make us buy another one. Now - each one of us has one. Oh well...

So, this MacBook Pro - amazing piece of technology, could do with a better keyboard - had the brand new Thunderbolt port. Remember this symbol?

Now - I started asking the Apple geeks at the store, if there are any accessories available. I knew the answer, but what surprised me was that the TB cable was not included in the box and you can't buy it anywhere. No Thunderbolt cable is available today. This was confusing to say the least.

The idea behind TB we were told was to be able to transfer atleast 2x faster than USB. However, it seemed more like a strategy to not put HDMI. The only thing you can do with the TB port today is to add a DisplayPort monitor to it. There were rumors after TB was released that the USB IF did not allow Apple to use the USB footprint, but IMO thats a bunch of bologna. Apple just wanted a better display port. If you can add USB 3.0 speeds, and release something before Intel supports it natively, why not work with some group of people inside Intel to create this science project. Kudos to the VP at Intel who negotiated to keep some of this credit - allowing Intel to brag about LightPeak in IDF 2009.

The TB architecture inside a MAC is like this:

For a 3D picture of the same:

It is actually quite nice. I personally am not a big fan of HDMI. DisplayPort - is a niche, but if you add it with fast transfer speeds, the resulting technology does have a potential to revolutionize. However, I'm not sure it is being promoted right. First, it comes at a time where a simple Thunderbolt search on the web will give you the hTC phone. Second, no-one can use it right now. Third - for system designers, it is not "open".. Intel still owns the rights to the Thunderbolt accessories. I've heard that this expires by this quarter - but who knows what happens next.

In the meantime, the USB 3.0 train has picked up speed. HP announced that they'll not put TB, Lenovo is backing USB 3.0 and Dell has USB 3.0 in their roadmap. The article that caught my eye recently talked about Thunderbolt being dead in the water. I am not this pessimistic, but it does not seem to me that Apple is doing anything differently from the Firewire days.. Still remember the first iPOD release video by Steve Jobs where he said - "And guess what, this iPOD comes with a FIREWIRE port". Sigh.

http://techgage.com/news/is_intels_thunderbolt_dead_in_the_water/

TRIVIA OF THE PAST WEEK

2011-05-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Just to keep the blog going..

- hTC pays MSOFT $5 for every Android phone shipped

- There are more people going to the Apple store these days than at a MLB game

- It takes $14.65 for every 100 miles driven on a gas powered car like the Altima, but only $2.80 on the fully electric Nissan Leaf

- The unemployment rate of people between 16 and 24 years here in the US is 18%

- 3 million died in the great famine of Bengal in 1943 - the ration was 400 calories worth rice, the same given to inmates at Buchenwald

- Zuckerberg kills the meat he eats, by himself

Why I will not buy the first gen iPAD

2010-02-17T09:39:00.001-08:00

First of all - apologize for the hiatus. Have been meaning to write for quite some time, but never managed to. Hoping I can be a little more regular with these now.

Back to the subject of this post. I have read enough on the iPAD and have made up my mind now - I will not buy this particular Apple. Infact, I don't believe this first gen iPAD will sell more than a few million units which is definitely much less than what is needed to set this market ablaze.

Here are the things that irritate me:

1) No multi-tasking: Its a well known fact that the iPAD is nothing but a bigger iPod Touch. If Apple really wanted to create a market that fills the gap between a phone and a notebook, and wanted to replace the netbooks (coz "they dont' differntiate much") - this is certainly not something you compromise on

2) No Adobe Flash support: I was irriated to hell this weekend when I tried watching some of my favorite shows on my iPod Touch while running. Lack of Flash support was very frustrating. I understand that Steve Jobs feels that Adobe is lazy and not doing the right things, but what about the users? Shows that can't be watched online include Jobs' favorite Daily Show.

3) E-Book: I can understand how Kindle would be worried but not too much (hence the "we've sold millions in the press release" by Mr. Bozos or is it Bezos). Apparently the iPad screen is not too reader friendly in daylight. I still remember the culture shock when we saw hundreds of sun bathing students doing their studies on the USC lawns. Can't imagine them to be frustrated while trying to read from their iPads

4) Price: For all broke people like me, shelling out another $700 for the iPAD (thats the price of the one with AT&T connection folks - don't be fooled with the $500 price point) vs buying a Acer netbook for under $300 is a no brainer. Its the # 2 computer company in the world now!

So - there it goes. Its almost a rant. But this will be my final decision the iPAD. God - please give me strength to stand by my decision. :)

DIDGERIDOO !!

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been very hectic. I've been in 4 countries and 3 continents after returning from India. China, Korea and obviously the good ole US of A. The APAC trip was so hectic that Deepa and I have a running joke that home was a transit spot for me in December. More on this later.

Okay, enough of talking abt things that have no relevance to the wierd sounding title of this blog. So here it goes:
We definitely needed a vacation after a hectic year and I wanted to up the ante on adventurous spots to go to for the chuttis.

There comes the third continent and the 4th country - AUSTRALIA ! (More on AU too later)

One of the coolest things in Sydney that I came across was this long hollow wooden pipe calling itself a musical instrument. Its called Didgerridoo. Trust me folks, the sound is just awesome. High in bass, it looks and sounds way too cool. The sound instantly reminded me of the Jaane Kyon song of Dil Chahta Hai. And a couple of Google searches later it was confirmed - the starting bit of the song that kind of stays on for the entire song - that incidentally is picturized in Australia - is indeed Didgeridoo. We saw a very cool show of Didgeridoo that I promise to take some videos during our trip here.

The instrument is made out of Eucalyptus trees that are eaten up by termites from the core. Termites can't penetrate the outside of the tree. Custom is that the aboriginals look at the yellow leaves to locate and tap the hollow trunk of these trees to find out if termites have left the tree.Some finishing touches later, Didgeridoo is ready.

Originally called the Yediki, Charles Darwin first named this the Didgeridoo based on the sound he perceived it created !

Now back to DCH. I noticed a similar sound in the Tanhahee song (the heavy bass rhythm that plays throughout the song). There were only two songs picturized in AU in the movie, so chances are high that its Didgeridoo. Let me know if someone knows for sure what that bass sound in the Tanhahee song is.

Anyways, Didgeridoo (and Sydney in general and AU so far) are super cool!

Need to run for my flight....

Metros, mega cities and places to live

2007-11-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

In the last 2 weeks I've been to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Udupi. Though I didn't spend more than 5 days at any given place, each place left me with a unique feeling.

Ahmedabad has always been special for me. Having grown up here, I am familiar with every knook and cranny of the city. I am very disturbed by the degrading air quality of the city though. Every year I come here, the air quality seems worse. I landed during Diwali taking off from a clear ocean view of SFO to a sky so polluted that only the haze of the million lights in Ahmedabad were showing through.

Bengaluru was a little light due to the holiday season. But with one of the worst traffic congestions in the country, the former Bangalore will always remain a place where many young 20 something Indians start their career. Bangalore still hasn't lost its allergens and the cold and chilly nights. I know of very few people who don't suffer from allergy attacks here.

I'd been to Chennai a few years ago - during college days. The sight of public transport buses jam packed with people and about 8 odd passengers hanging by the door with one hand and one foot hanging out is still very common in the old city. Life size cut outs of Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi are still sprawling. I stayed at the Niketana Guest House - situated at the posh Boat Club Road. This "home away from home" guest house is worth staying for anyone fond of some luxury in a traditional setting. The roads in this area are full of early morning walkers. Overall Chennai was a city worth exploring more. Nov is the best month to go. Otherwise there are only 3 seasons in Chennai - hot, hotter, hottest. The original Saravana Bhawan food is spicier and has Paneer Pasand, Hariyali Kabab (with aloo), Papri Chat and even Dhoklas amongst other "North Indian" dishes in 4 pages of a 5 page menu!!

Mumbai stay was very limited in scope, but much has been written abt it already. The highest density of people you'd ever see per sq inch anywhere in the world, worst traffic in the country and fashionable people with loads of attitude sums up the city. The city has a unique character and remains one of my fav on the country.

I spent most of my time in the serene and peaceful Udupi. Starkly different from the Amdavad landing; while landing at Mangalore's Bajpe airport you can see the lush green ground from the sky so clear that one can start counting the leaves in the trees below. After a tumultous NH17 journey we arrive at Udupi - the Krishna Math town. The 5 + 2 days I spent here were truly relaxing. Starting with the happy bird chirps in the morning, palm trees in every backyard, a well in every household, kritters in the night and some of the yummiest and healthiest foods anywhere, Udupi is what living on this planet should be like. Spending a lifetime here only comes to a lucky few.

I wish some of our metros and mega cities cared a little about preserving the ecosystem. As cities around the world show that its possible to have millions of people living together and still maintain an air quality that's not laden with dust, roads that actually last all 4 seasons, and noise created only through the passing ambulances or fire brigades.

Living in India is fun, with the culture, people, colors, and plenty of life around - but we deserve a cleaner air and a little less chaos outside the 4 walls of home.

TWO OMs AND ONE SHANTI

2007-11-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Of the 90 odd channels broadcasted in a cable network in India about 50 of them are 24x7 news channels. On this day of Diwali 2007 – Nov 9^th, the top two news items being covered are Anil Kumble’s test captaincy and the release of two simultaneous Bollywood biggies – Om Shanti Om (OSO) and Saawariya. There is apparently nothing more important going on in the neighbourhood – maybe that’s good.

We just returned from being a part of one of this breaking news event. We watched the first day first show of Om Shanti Om at the Red Carpet in Ahmedabad. There are some movies that inspire me to write about them instantly, and I’m writing within the hour of returning. However this time, I left the theatre feeling something was amiss. And then Deepa described it perfectly; she likened watching OSO to chewing gum. “It feels good while you’re chewing, but once it’s out you feel like cleaning the after taste with a plain old glass of water”.

OSO is something like that. It’s a re-incarnation flick with the first half set in the 70s and feel-good rendition of the Bell Bottom days in Bollywood fashion. The first half is extremely hilarious with great sequences, one-liners, clichés and everything one loved in those old Hindi movies. Must watch sequences include SRK’s ‘South Ka Rising Star’, ‘Bhago’ sequence that is aired in the trailers and the visual effects in “Dhoom Tana” song. Big props to Sandeep Chowta for re-creating the 70s background sound during the sequences between SRK and Maaa (Kiron Kher).

In the second half, SRK returns to his own self, Deepika re-appears inviting the biggest cheers and whistles I’ve heard in a while, the ‘Deewangi’ song with 30 odd stars and then starts the revenge track. Both halves have enough funny moments, slapstick and quality humour, intense drama and lots of Ms Padukone. But, you’ll enjoy the movie while watching it, but many like me might return feeling that something was missing.

The problem lies in the parallel storylines. There are two tracks in the movie. Besides the re-incarnation track, there is Farah Khan’s tribute to Bollywood of the 70s and today. I feel that this movie-within-the-movie track is so dominating that the intensity of the re-incarnation is lost at times. The eerie sequences in the second half add to the intensity but again make you lose focus of the re-incarnation track. Plus, a lot of things have been shown in trailers, revealed in press and the Dastaan song of the movie already. This leaves very little surprise element in the movie except for the eerie track. They say don’t search for logic in this kinda movie and treat it as a Manmohan Desai film. However, some of the sequences don’t do justice even to the lack of logic. The ‘Jag Soona Soona’ track comes without the audience really feeling for the actor. The way Arjun Rampal / SRK sequence switches from song to final dialogues in the climax left me searching for a missing reel somewhere. SRK adds a lot of energy in the first half, and is par excellence. His energy is visible in every frame and that’s the reason he’s where he is today in Bollywood. The movie belongs to Deepika Padukone – who has a dream debut. Going by the whistles – she’s bound to have a long career in movies. Arjun Rampal is a good Pran. But, the movie left me asking for more. It’s worth watching for the fun but be prepared to look for a glass of water to freshen your taste buds after watching.

Nobel thought?

2007-10-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last Friday the news shocked me. Al Gore, Mr. Global Warming himself, has won the 2007 nobel peace prize. A NY Times article wrote - The prize is a vindication for Mr. Gore, whose cautionary film about the consequences of climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won the 2007 Academy Award for best documentary, even as conservatives in the United States denounced it as alarmist and exaggerated.

WHAT!???

Since when has the Nobel prize - remember Mother Teressa was one of the recepients of the peace prize - become a sympathy vote? !!

But this wasn't all. I also learned that day that Mahatma Gandhi has never been awarded a Nobel peace prize. To quote the Norwegian Nobel committee he could not be given the awar as he was "neither a real politician or a humanitarian relief worker".. Apparently, the Nobel committee saw the list and realized - "I think we are missing someone who really brought peace during tense times".. As the executive director of the Nobel Foundation in Sweden says "We missed a great laureate and thats Gandhi. It is a big regret". !!!

It gets better. Apparently Bapu was nominated 5 times (1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and in 1948 - a few days before his death). In 1948, the Nobel Committee did not announce any winners because "ther was no suitable living candidate that year".. !!!!

And finally the clincher - in Feb 2007, when Al Gore's nomination was recommended, this is what one of the Norwegian lawmaker said - “A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference,” Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press. !!!!!!

Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of coverage in the media about which Indian movie should make it to the Oscars. There was also a huge movement to make Taj Mahal as one of the "new" 7 wonders in the world. The entire country came to a standstill when 20-20 cricket winners returned, with 24/7 news channels airing this well, 24/7. I found this information on the 10th page in a small paragraph of the Indian Express. Is it that trivial??

SUVARNABHUMI..

2007-05-18T16:46:00.001-07:00

Thats the name of Bangkok's new International Airport. I'm on my way back from a short tip to Bangkok - and this is the only thing I'm getting to see in Bangkok. More on that later.

First - the name. Suvarnabhumi means "The Golden Land" and it has a Sanskrit base. But as the following site points out - http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Suvarnabhumi.htm, there is an interesting history to it. The region known today as "South-East Asia" (South of China and East of India) - region including Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia has always had a strong influence of Indian culture. One visit to these countries make this very apparent. And this is no coincidence. I was amazed to read that there is a mention of "Swarnadvipa" in Ramayana (that Sughriv sent some of his soldiers to the Yawadvip in search of Sita). Whats Yawadvip - thats where Java comes from; dvip = island, yawa = barley corn. It was even more interesting to read that the Chinese call it the "Kin-Lin" and guess what Kin means; gold.

I'm cosily ensonced in the airport lounge here, but one of the things that really struck me was the sculpture as soon as you get out of immigration departure formalities is a 30m wide, 5.5m high sculpture of the "Churning of the Milk Ocean".. Yes - we are talking about Samudramanthan. Check out some pictures..

Amazing eh? The sculpture was built for $1.1M by Suvarnabhumi master concessionaire King Power (courtesy: http://www.moodiereport.com/Martin/?p=57). Pictures can't capture the grandeur and the beauty of the sculpture. Its one of the most wonderful depiction of Samudramanthan that i've ever come across.

The airport itself is a grand venture - the pride of Bangkok. It was completed and opened for air traffic last September 2006 and it took about $4 Billion to complete. The airport has faced many delays and constantly comes under local scrutiny since it is built on a swamp. There have been complains of cracks in the runways,
inability to handle exteremities. But the vital statistics of the airport are impressive: two parallel runways to cope with simultaneous arrivals and departures (most airports have only one), over 120 parking bays and 5 of them capable of handling the A380 and an ability to accommodate 76 aircraft movements in an hour and 45M passengers annually.

Serirat Prasutanond - the mastermind behind the airport was sacked when the military coup dethroned the PM who took personal interest in completing the airport. Serirat believes Suvarnabhumi could become one of the top 10 airports of the world. Only time will tell!

Bangkok is a lovely place. Lively streets, yummy food (both restaurant and street food), very courteous people and lots of greenery. The green reminds you of Singapore but the street life reminds you of India. Can't get better than that !.. It was hot and humid - a full fledged sauna - but these are not the months to enjoy Bangkok. November apparently is the most pleasant month. The place where we were staying - Sukhumvit, another example of the Sanskrit influence - is a big shopping district and hence 'twas a little more lively here. Pity I couldn't spend much time outside. Definitely one of the places I'd like to come back to.

Need Poirot

2007-05-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

Breaking news in TOI.. (I've only copied a section of the article - for the full article click the title).

'Champagne bottles passed on to Woolmer by Ahmed'

ISLAMABAD: In a new twist to the Bob Woolmer murder case, a Pakistani television channel on Thursday claimed that two champagne bottles which were reportedly mixed with poisonous substance were passed on to him by the Pakistan bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed.

Ahmed, who received the bottles from some other person, passed them to Woolmer, ARY TV quoted Pakistan's media manager for the World Cup, Pervez Mir as saying.

Mir said team manager, Talat Ali, was a witness to it.

According to reports in British media, some weed killer was mixed with the champagne bottles.

I have one question to ask.. Why would anyone give a bottle of champagne when the team had just gone through one of the most humiliating defeats in the history. And then - why would anyone take it??

The article goes on to say that one bottle was found empty and the other full from the hotel room. So great - someone drank the champagne too!

Ridiculous!

Marauding Maharajas!

2007-04-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

I read this article in the Economist (title borrowed) about Indian companies on an acquisition spree of multi-national firms. Some of the data in the article is really worth noting.
- 34 acquisitions announced in 2007 so far worth $10.7B
- In 2006 this was at a staggering $23B
- The 2006 number was more money than the foreign companies put into India
- Some of the acquisitions are really impressive:
Hindalco acquired Novelis for $6B creating the biggest alluminium rolling company
Tata Steel acquired Corus for $13.2B
Ranbaxy has already acquired 8 companies and just recently was eyeing Merck
(The Mittal Steel acquisition of Arcelor at $32.2B doesn't count as Mittal Steel is Europe based)

For the chart junkies here's a graph on how Indian companies have made an impressive growth in acquiring multi-national companies.

*Source: The Economist March 29th, 2007

Must see “Blood Diamond”

2007-04-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

You hear of some movies being very hard hitting. Hear about how they change your outlook. Hear about how you vow to be cognizant of certain facts in life which remain alien in the world you live in – a cocoon with protection from all evils.

My basic problem with such movies is that it’s difficult to remove hype from reality. Many of these “hard hitting” movies (Million Dollar Baby) are sometimes so ‘Oscary’ that you leave the theatre almost depressed.

I shied away from Blood Diamond for the longest time for this very reason. Finally I saw it in the latest Boeing 777-300 with a brand new spanking 10” screen, and wished how I missed it on the big screen.

Based on apparent illegal diamond trade that still goes on in Eastern Africa – Blood Diamond is a movie that serves a dual purpose. It shocks (and o boy how) and entertains. Let’s get to the shocking parts first.

The atrocities carried out in Africa, the ruthless killings in Darfur for example, the civil wars, the foreign rulers are all written about and shown in movies like Hotel Rwanda. Blood Diamond ensures that a political angle – rich diamond companies trying to stockpile diamonds in the basement (literally) to increase the prices and the local governments of the lands where these precious diamonds are available trying their own ways to not let them go out of the country. This automatically creates a militia force supported by the corporations against the local governments. The killing of entire villages, abduction of teenage boys to make them the next ‘infantry’ members, refugee camps, horrid state of life is captured with no holds bar. It’s not clichéd, but its not lack of gore as well. The movie stays true to its story about one such hapless African who gets separated from his family in the midst of this crisis. How his path inter-twines with a greedy diamond dealer and a reporter looking for a major story is what forms the basic plot. The emotions of the characters provide shock value as well with beautifully scripted characters.

Now for the entertainment value – truly exceptional performances, beautiful shots, excellent photography, breathtaking action sequences and an apt end (during credits roll) that sets up the mood. Leo has been giving powerhouse performance off late – its sad that he is not being awarded for these. Jennifer Connoley adds the right amount of feminine touch as a rebel journalist in this otherwise ‘macho’ movie. I was most amazed with Djimon Honsuo performance. Its worth it just for him. The movie is beautifully shot with some amazing African landscape captured on lens. The action sequences are worth rewinding and watching again – it really makes you feel “you were there”. Finally the movie ends with a rap song that plays as the titles role that almost provides a vent for the anger and frustration that you feel during the movie.

Let me know if you’ve seen it already and tell me if

- You’ll not think of this before buying a diamond again

- You’ll not think of this movie when you hear about Darfur

- You didn’t feel like finding out how these things are going now

If that’s not hard hitting – what is? Worth a watch – don’t miss it.

Whats wrong with people (Abhi-ash wedding)

2007-04-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

People - I give up. I don't understand some people - no matter how hard I try. I don't understand some of the practices, and I don't understand how some people can take our (Indian) customs and age old practices literally. Look at the picture below. This is on the eve of the "biggest wedding of the year" (as claimed by many in the media). This picture is taken in Bikaner by people from the Amitabh Bachchan fan club. Give me a break!

Cricket: Average experience comparision

2007-03-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

I was discussing with one of the friends today about the average age of the teams (India and Australia) as I had noted earlier in my blog. His point was, lets see what the average experience of the players is. The thought was - Indian players are 'older' not necessarily by the age, but by the # of years of cricket they've played. With so many years of cricket behind them, the fire may not be there to do what it takes to win in crunch games.

This was an interesting excercise to do. Gosh - doesn't it feel that Sachin, Saurav, Rahul and Kumble have been playing forever. I decided to do the comparision - same teams, same format but this time the numbers represent the # of years since the ODI debut.

Rahul Dravid 10
Sachin Tendulkar 18
Ajit Agarkar 8
MS Dhoni 2
Saurav Ganguly 15
Harbhajan Singh 8
Dinesh Karthik 2
Zaheer Khan 6
Anil Kumble 16
Munaf Patel 1
Irfan Pathan 2
Virender Sehwag 7
Sreesanth 1
Robin Uthappa 1
Yuvraj Singh 7
Average Experience 6.9

Adam Gilchrist 10
Mathew Hayden 14
Ricky Ponting 12
Michael Clarke 4
Andrew Symonds 8
Michael Hussey 3
Shane Watson 5
Brad Hogg 11
NW Bracken 6
SW Tait 1
Glenn McGrath 13
Stuart Clark 2
Brad Haddin 6
Brad Hodge 2
Mitchell Johnson 2
Average Experience 6.6

This is very interesting! I wouldn't have thought that the Australian team and the players in the team have been on an average as many years as the Indian players have been.

I think the real statistic here is the # of matches played, and I'm pretty sure that that statistic is not going to be very different for a Dravid/Tendulkar/Ganguly when compared to Ponting/McGrath/Gilchrist.

Bottomline - I think there was nothing wrong in the team selection. Adam Gilchrist had once said - "A cricket matures at the age of 33/34".. All of our "old horses" are in that age bracket. Give them a break. They are fine cricketers. (To the media) Don't create a fuss when one of them is dropped for not performing upto the mark. Let new guys come in. Let the "old horses" keep their place in the team based on performance. Tendulkar's average in the last 10 matches is 39.. That qualifies him in the Indian team compared to anyone else. Don't expect him to save our behinds all the time. Let a youngster come in place of a ill performing Sehwag or Ganguly or Harbhajan or Agarkar. Rotate the players. And most importantly, if you're following Indian cricket. follow some domestic matches as well. There's loads of cricket talent in the country!

Week in pictures - last few weeks

2007-03-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Continuing on my earlier posts - here are some amazing pictures found on my fav 'pictures of the week' websites (MSNBC, Time, BBC)

The Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador (Mar 5 TIME)

The Wallace moument in Scotland (Mar 22 TIME)
Cloud effect on the Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (TIME)

Dust from the stardust hotel implosion in Vegas (Mar 13, MSNBC)
Known as the French Spiderman this woman climbs tall buildings w/o strings or support (Mar, BBC)

Another french dude - Alain Robert does similar things.. Do these people have anything else to do? He's training here to scale a sky-scraper in Dubai (Feb 26, TIME)

Aerial view of flooded land in Bolivia - natural disasters are disturbing, but the awesome scale of this picture is simply amazing! (Feb 26, TIME)

My pick for this week - Bill Clinton in the audience as Hillary speaks! A very simple yet powerful picture (Mar 20 MSNBC)

Did I hear that right? - Media myth: Indian cricket team does not have bench strength

2007-03-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

First of all - what does bench strength really mean, and which of the teams should we say has a decent bench strength? Is it -
Australia - who lost 5/5 matches when their top players (Gilchrist, Ponting, Hayden, McGrath) were not playing?? or
South Africa - who took almost 4 years (2000 - 2004) to rebuild after they lost their key players (Cronje, Symcox, Cullinan, Donald)? or
New Zeland - whose 11 players I bet many of us can't name without a little help? or
Sri Lanka - who went into a deep crisis for almost 2 years (2004 - 2006), they were # 7 in the ODI rankings? or
West Indies - who everyone knows never came close to the 1975/1979 team? or
Pakistan - who lose all the key players after a WC loss, goes into oblivion for a few years, flatters only to deceive later? or
England - with question marks in the playing 11 - leave alone the bench?
That leaves Bangladesh, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Canada - off all teams playing in the WC. We're not comparing our bench strenght against these teams, are we?

Here's something to chew on for all "India does not have bench strength" skeptics. How many times have you followed a Ranji, Duleep or Deodhar trophy match to see our "bench strength"?
Well, to make you less embarassed about yourself - here are a few names.

Other than the ones we know;
Raina, Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Venugopal Rao (all bastmen)
Dinesh Karthik (wkt batsman)
RP Singh, Piyush Chawla and Joginder Singh (all bowlers),
there are some other exceptional talents that you might not have heard of. These players have had a sensational run over the past few months. They've performed exceptionally well in the domestic as well as international circuits (A and under-19 teams); many a times solely responsible for their team's success.

1. Manoj Tiwari
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
21	15	1150	210*	57.5

2. Shikhar Dhawan
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
21	36	1388	131*	44.77

3. Gaurav Dhiman
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
20	7	119	94*	19.83
Star of the under 19 - used to open batting and bowling

4. Cheteshwar-Pujara
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
19	12	789	177	43.83

5. YK Pathan
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave	Wickets	Best	Ave
24	21	828	92*	31.84	53	6 for 47	32.22

6. Ambati Rayudu
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
21	47	2715	210	39.92

7. S Badrinath
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
26	47	3128	206*	48.12

8. Mithun Manhas
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
27	83	4722	193	42.16

9. Murali Vijay
Age	Matches	Runs	HS	Ave
22	7	628	179	52.33

Plus - here are some stars of the current under-19 team that the coaches are raving about:

Batsmen
10. Virat Kohli - 18
11. Tanmay Srivastava - 17
12. Ajinkya Rahane - 18
13. Parvez Aziz - 19
14. Bodapati Sumanth - 18

Bowlers
15. Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh - 19
16. Ishant Sharma - 18
17. Abu Nechim - 18 18. Shahbaz Nadeem - 17

Hence, with these 27 names (18 above and the 9 others that I'm assuming many of us already know of) - lets stop kidding ourselves when we say "India does not have bench strength".

These players need to be given a bigger opportunity - atleast a recognition, and that won't happen as long as we keep worshipping the current players. The entire country mourned for over a year when Ganguly was ousted from the team. There will be similar uproar over some other player being ousted 2 years later, the player will hence be forcefully selected in key matches, won't perform and will become a subject of effigy burning, chappal beating and other crazy acts - and then we'll say "India does not have a good bench strength". This is a vicious cycle - that will never allow a "bench strength" to be recognized, let alone be developed. And adding fuel to the fire is the tabloid Indian media.

Media - please stop being a tabloid, you're not doing the country any good by being so.

Did I hear that right? - Media myth: Indian cricket team selection was flawed as many players were 'past prime'

2007-03-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

India is out (okay - almost out) of the WC 2007. Worst performance since the 1979 WC. The "commercial favorites" have disappointed a billion hopes (as not all Indians have TV - many won't even know what cricket is, we're counting each TV watching, internet surfing, cricket knowing Indian's hope atleast twice).

I'm sad, mad and very pissed off - as any loyal fan would be. But, the tabloid type myths that the Indian media is spreading is pissing me off even more. I'll try to address some of these baseless, ignorant and extremely inflammatory comments passed around in the media (both print and visual) in the next few blogs.

Here is a table of the ages of the Indian squad for the WC.

Rahul Dravid	34
Sachin Tendulkar	33
Ajit Agarkar	29
MS Dhoni	25
Saurav Ganguly	34
Harbhajan Singh	26
Dinesh Karthik	21
Zaheer Khan	28
Anil Kumble	36
Munaf Patel	23
Irfan Pathan	22
Virender Sehwag	28
Sreesanth	24
Robin Uthappa	21
Yuvraj Singh	25

Average Age 27

Are you telling me that 27 is old??!!

To compare, here's the average age of one of the favorites of the WC - the Australian team.

Adam Gilchrist	35
Mathew Hayden	35
Ricky Ponting	32
Michael Clarke	25
Andrew Symonds	31
Michael Hussey	31
Shane Watson	25
Brad Hogg	36
NW Bracken	29
SW Tait	24
Glenn McGrath	37
Stuart Clark	31
Brad Haddin	29
Brad Hodge	32
Mitchell Johnson	24

Average Age 30

Average age - 3 years older!!! Lets put this in perspective. Its almost a difference of playing/seeing/being aware of one additional world cup. While most of the Indians were not even born at the 1979 world cup, many of the Australian team members were getting their first dose of cricket.

Point proven. Media - please stop saying that 27 is old!

Week in pictures (Week 8, 2007)

2007-02-24T19:59:00.000-08:00

Time flies - Another week has gone by. My last posts were during the last weekend. New posts this weekend start with the week in pictures - best shots taken from the various "Week in Pictures" from various websites around the web. This week's pictures are from MSNBC, Time and BBC.

This is a classic MSNBC picture. This one taken in Beijing during the week gone past (the week of the Chinese New Year) captures beautifully a simple pedestrian bridge in a cold and chilly Beijing morning.

This one is a beautiful picture taken from the Time Magazine. Its the spices season in India. In this picture red chillies are dried and grided to create one of the simples and most effective spice (used in many Indian curries) - the red chilli powder.

And finally a picture from BBC. Last week the Samjhauta Express (train service b/w India and Pakistan) was attacked and 65 innocent people lost their lives. This picture reveals the terror in the incident.

Filmfair??

2007-02-19T07:37:00.000-08:00

Reading Dushyant's blog has prompted me to share some thoughts on the topic of the 52nd Filmfare award nominations.

Let's look at the nominations.

Best Film nominations
Dhoom 2, Don, KANK, Krrish, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Rang De Basanti

First, whatever happened to the 5 nomination limit? Looks like next year's filmfare will have all movies released in the year nominated for the best movie award. Come on - you can't have D2, Krrish and KANK in the same category as LRM and RDB. And as Dushyant pointed out - where's Omkara and Gangster?

My picks (notice - 5 only - winners in bold): LRM, RDB, Gangster, Omkara, Dor

Best Director Nominations
Karan Johar (KANK), Rakesh Roshan (Krrish), Rakeysh Mehra (Rang De Basanti), Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai), Sanjay Gadhvi (Dhoom 2), Vishal Bhardwaj (Omkara)

Karan Johar for KANK? Did I read this right? KANK was one of the most poorly directed movies of 2007. I am a fan of Karan Johar's work but I'm not sure if KANK was the right one. Anurag Basu's fine work in Gangster was one of the finest I've seen.

My picks: Rakeysh Mehra, Rajkumar Hirani, Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Basu (Gangster), Nagesh Kukunoor (Dor)

Best Actor in a leading role (Male) nominations
Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti), Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom 2), Hrithik Roshan (Krrish), Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai), Shahrukh Khan (Don), Shahrukh Khan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

SRK in Don and KANK nominated as country's best in 2007? What is wrong with everyone? How about Shiney Ahuja in Gangster? I agree with the rest of the list.

My picks: Aamir Khan (RDB), Hrithik Roshan (Krrish), Shiney Ahuja (Gangster), Sanjay Dutt (LRM), Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom 2)

Best Actor in a leading role (Female) nominations
Aishwarya Rai (Dhoom 2) Bipasha Basu (Corporate) Kajol (Fanaa) Kareena Kapoor (Omkara) Rani Mukerji (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Aah - don't even get me started on why this list is wrong. What good did Rani and Kareena do to deserve the nominations? Also - why do we have 6 actors nominated and 5 actresses - don't we have talented actresses in the industry?

My picks: Aishwarya Rai (D2), Bipasha Basu (Corporate), Kajol (Fanaa), Kangana Raut (Gangster), Ayesha Takia (Dor - has she looked prettier in any other movie?)

Best Actor in a supporting role (Male) nominations
Abhishek Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) Amitabh Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) John Abraham (Baabul) Kunal Kapoor (Rang De Basanti) Siddharth (Rang De Basanti)

Okay - give credit where its due (5 nominations only). I agree that both Kunal Kapoor and Siddharth should be nominated. Both Abhishek and Amitabh were the only saving grace in KANK. John Abraham had a good role and did do a good job but not better than Nana Patekar in Taxi # 9211.

My picks: Abhishek Bachchan (KANK), Amitabh Bachchan (KANK), Kunal Kapoor (RDB), Siddharth (RDB), Nana Patekar (Taxi # 9211)

Best Actor in a supporting role (Female) nominations
Kirron Kher (Rang De Basanti) Konkona Sen Sharma (Omkara) Priety Zinta (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) Rekha (Krrish) Soha Ali Khan (Rang De Basanti)

After getting it right in the actor nominations - this one is messed up (again notice 5 nominations). Preity Zinta in KANK? Her acting was the worst I've seen - ever! Rekha didn't do anything dramatic in Krrish to deserve a nomination.

My picks: Kirron Kher (RDB), Konkona Sen Sharma (Omkara), Soha Ali Khan (RDB), Alice Patten (RDB), Gul Panaag (Dor)

Best Actor in a comic role nominations
Arshad Warsi (Lage Raho Munnabhai) Chunkey Pandey (Apna Sapna Money Money) Paresh Rawal (Phir Hera Pheri) Sharman Joshi (Golmaal) Tusshar Kapoor (Golmaal)

There are a lot of problems here (only 5 in this one as well). Phir Hera Pheri didn't really deserve a nomination. There have been better performances from Paresh Rawal this year. After the tons of comedies that released this year - this list is very very weak.

My picks: Arshad Warsi (LRM), Chunkey Pandey (ASMM), Shreyas Talpade (Dor - the mimickry made me LOL), Paresh Rawal (Malamaal Weekly), Rajpal Yadav (Chup Chup Ke - the actor made you laugh all year long, he deserves a nomination)

Best Actor in a negative role nominations
Boman Irani (Lage Raho Munnabhai) Emraan Hashmi (Gangster) John Abraham (Zinda) Naseeruddin Shah (Krrish) Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)

Boman Irani was one of the lamest villains in LRM. And why did the list come down to 4 here - did we not have many villains in movies this year?

My picks: Boman Irani (Don), Emraan Hashmi (Gangster), John Abraham (Zinda), Boman Irani (Khosla Ka Ghosla), Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)

Best Music Nominations
A R Rahman (Rang De Basanti) Himesh Reshammiya (Aksar) Jatin-Lalit (Fanaa) Pritam (Dhoom 2) Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Don) Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Himesh Reshammiya in Aksar - was the music any good? Pritam in D2 - the music sucked and well documented that it was a major letdown. I don't think KANK deserved a nomination as well.

My picks: A R Rahman (RDB), Pritam (Gangster - copy or no copy), SEL (Don), Shantanu Moitra (LRM), Vishal Bharadwaj (Omkara)

Best Playback Male
Atif Aslam (Bas Ek Pal), Himesh Reshammiya (Jhalak Dikhlaaja, Aksar), Shaan and Kailash Kher (Chaand Sifarish, Fanaa), Sonu Nigam (KANK - title), Zubin (Ya Ali - Gangster)

Where is Daler Mehndi for the year's biggest hit from RDB? and KK for Tu Hi Meri Shab from Gangster or Kya Mujhe Pyaar from Woh Lamhe. And how can we forget the wonderful job that Udit Narayan did for Khaike Paan?

My picks: Atif Aslam (Bas Ek Pal), Zubin (Ya Ali - Gangster), Daler Mehndi (RDB - title), KK (Kya Mujhe Pyaar - Woh Lamhe), Udit Narayan (Khaike Paan - Don)

Best Playback Female
Alka Yagnik (KANK - title), Shreya Ghoshal (Pal Pal - LRM), Sunidhi Chauhan (Aa aa ashiqui mein teri - 36 china town), Sunidhi Chauhan (Beedi Jalaile - Omkara), Sunidhi Chauhan (Soniye - Aksar)

Now agreed that these are popular awards - but some talents are better recognized for their capabilities and performances (some may only give such a performance once in a lifetime). There are a lot of songs that were absolutely breathtaking and definitely deserve a nomination for the best of 2007.

My picks: Sunidhi Chauhan (Beedi Jalaile - Omkara), Rekha Bharadwaj (Omkara - Namak Ishq Ka), Shreya Ghoshal (Pal Pal - LRM), Kavita Sheth (Mujhe Mat roko - Gangster - just listen to this one and you'd want to listen it over and over), Alisha Chinoy & Mahalaxmi (AAj Ki Raat - Don)

And finally - I'd be mad like hell if Saroj Khan doesn't win the best choreography for Khaike Paan. I watched the movie twice just for that performance.

I used to think Filmfare as India's Oscars and would defend it bad against all the SRK bashers. Trust me - I'm a fan of SRK, Karan Johar and the Yash Raj. However, one has to give credit to the talent when you spot one. People take being nominated for the Oscars as a serious credit to their performances. Ask Kate Winslet - who has been nominated so many times, never won but still thinks of it as an honor. You must have noticed the "Oscar Nominee XXXXX" during movie promos. With this list in the 52nd Filmfare, they've clearly removed themselves from the credible awards list. This is very discouraging to all the rising young stars and will continue giving rise to 15 other award functions throwing trophies out to anyone and everyone. Bollywood - if it has to compete on a global scale has to reward the right performances. Populist awards or not - there is no way you get away with a list like this. Shameful!

Stunning Pictures

2007-02-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

Continuing on the theme of websites I visit frequently - heres one: MSNBC - The week in pictures.

Even though The Time Magazine, LA Times and CNN carry out similar features, the pictures in MSNBC are simply breathtaking. I've captured some pictures here from Jan 18 - Feb 15 (last 1 month). Kudos to the photographers of MSNBC.

Enjoy!

1) This is my fav picture - a picture of a cosmic eye. Taken from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the Helix Nebula, a cosmic starlet about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. IR light from nebula’s outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture, while the red color in the middle of the “eye” denotes the last remnants of gas expelled with the star died. The brighter red circle in the center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf.

2) Jan 18: The McNaught comet as seen in New Zeland. Discovered last year, this comet came within 75 miles of the earth and had frantic calls of ‘fire’ and police authorities around New Zeland thought that something burning was falling from the sky.

3) Jan 19: Even the power grids can’t sustain strong winds.. This one in Germany bows down to mother nature.

4) Jan 19: Its not just the Indian parliament with such incidents. A shoe was tossed on the speaker of a Taiwanese national parliament. Notice the grin on his face!

5) Feb 8: A tugboat pushing a load of barges in the Mississippi river. I like the shot - beautiful river waves and it almost appears as a ship is going through a vast ocean.

6) Jan 23: A car sticking out of a parking lot in Germany. The woman confused the gas and break pedals while parking her car backwards. She was not hurt. Like the way the car sticks out of the parking lot here.

7) Jan 27: Beautiful shot of a jumbo jet passing through the moon. Another one of the German shots.

8) Feb 5: Beautiful shot of a sun shimmering through the exhaust of chimneys in the outskirts of Shanghai

Welcome the new # 2 ODI team

2007-02-17T22:31:00.000-08:00

I check a few websites very often, and Cricinfo is one of them.

While catching upto the stories from the cricket world, something caught my eye.. Look at the current ratings table.

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
South Africa	36	4595	128
Australia	45	5692	126
Pakistan	34	3780	111
New Zealand	36	3996	111
India	48	5243	109
Sri Lanka	44	4733	108
England	36	3806	106
West Indies	39	3956	101
Bangladesh	35	1454	42
Zimbabwe	34	755	22
Kenya	9	0	0

Did I see this right?? Australia is the # 2 ODI team now. If you've followed what has been happening in the cricket world recently, you'd know that this is more of Australia's undoing than South Africa's blazing success. Lets look at the score cards of the last 4 matches.

Just a week ago Australia had lost the Commonwealth bank tri-series against England.

Feb 11 Sydney - 2nd CB final
Eng 246/8 (50 ov, Collingwood 70, Flintoff 42) beat Aus 152/8 (27 ov - target 187, Hodge 49, Plunkett 3-43) (D/L method)
surprising to see new faces rejoicing after a final against australia

Feb 9 Melbourne - 1st CB final
Aus 252/10 (48.3 ov Hayden 82, Ponting 75, Flintoff 3/41) lost to Eng 254/6 (49.3 ov Collingwood 120, Bell 64, Lee 3/41)

Thanks heavens - I can go back home now

At the end of the second final Ponting had made comments like
"I don't really have any explanation as to why we have played the way we have in the last couple of games. I'm really angry and disappointed with the way we let the game slip away on Friday and even today I thought that total was really gettable. Maybe this is the kick up the backside we needed."

And now the Chappell - Hadlee trophy against New Zeland.

Feb 16 Wellington - 1st ODI
Aus 148/10 (49.3 ov, Hussey 42, Bond 5/23) lost to New Zeland 149/0 (Vincent 73, Fleming 70) - 10 wicket loss!

Shane bond taking a beautiful C&B

Feb 17 Aukland - 2nd ODI
Aus 336/4 (50 ov, Hussey 105, Hodge 97) lost to New Zeland 337/5 (48.4 ov, Taylor 117, Fulton 76).. McGrath's last 4 balls went for 11 runs!

Note: Ponting and Glichrist were rested for this series. That's why you'd say.. But wasn't Australia a team with the strongest bench, and look at the losses!

On top of all this, there's injury concerns as well. Lee is 50-50, and so is Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds

This is not the Australia we're used to seeing. 4 losses in a row?! Looks like the 2007 Cricket world cup just became competitive. Lets see how this goes.

Lufthansa

2007-02-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

Back from a hectic week at 3GSM which I'll talk about in the next few entries. This one is dedicated to my experiences with Lufthansa.

The flight deserves a special post, since for the longest time I've heard people taking Lufthansa to go to India because there's a smaller layover in Frankfurt. I've always been contesting that notion for two main reasons:
1) Is there any airline in the world better than SIA?
2) Have heard lots of negatives about flying with Lufthansa.

POSITIVES
- Operating since 1926, Lufthansa is one of the oldest airlines in the world. Its the second largest airline in Europe (only behind Air France - KLM and ahead of BA). It was Lufthansa that gave Boeing the idea to launch the 747-8, competing neck to neck with the Airbus A380-800 for being the biggest jetliner. Plus, its a part of Star Alliance the largest airline alliance in the world (read: I can use my krisflyer card!)
- Excellent Hindi music collection in the radio program - Rhythms of India (in flight entertainment -> flights to germany from NA -> Listen & Relax -> Channel 21). This was the best part of the flight. Lots of good songs with classics (Julie, Saath Saath), new songs (Kailasa, Corporate, Tere Bin) and Bhangra mixes. Better radio programs than many other flights. There's also a special channel for Tamil songs (channel 22).

NEGATIVES
- Service sucks! - kinda. There was a sense of "I'm doing my job" in the service. There were some air hostesses that tried to show the genuineness, but most were very cold.
- No individual TV screens. You get the common 17" TV screen that you share with about 75 other passengers.
- In flight entertainment sucks (other than the radio)! . They showed Marie Antionette on both routes (SFO - FRA and back). Who in their right minds would show a stupid movie which was booed during its launch in France, and for good reason. The MOVIE is s....l.....o.....w.... and you have the 18th century French kings and queens talking american english. I'm choosing not to go on and on about how bad the movie is - will need a special blog entry.
- Lufthansa has one of the smallest seats and leg room in the world. Only the United Economy seats (not the Economy Plus) come close. Infact, what surprised me was that their domestic airlines (I flew Frankfurt - Stuttgart, Stuttgart - Barcelona, Barcelona - Frankfurt) had more space than the international ones.
- Food sucks! The choice was between 'Salmon and Pasta' or 'Beef and Pasta'. My neighbour had ordered Indian Vegetarian and she was served the Pasta!
- They gave me a German I-94 card, and said they don't have English ones!!

WTF!!
Now for the part that really makes me wonder why people choose to fly through Europe on Lufthansa while going to India.

Frankfurt is one of the main hubs in Europe. Most flights to India will go through Frankfurt. Lufthansa obviously has dedicated space at the airport. However, there are some critical flaws in the check in system at the airport.

1) All US bound flights go through one check in counter. Now most airports have it this way, but when you have flights to Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Denver flying within 2 hours of each other the system is bound to crash. I've seen many a long lines, but the Economy checkin lines at the Lufthansa counter - are the longest I've seen ever! The story is the same with First/Business Class lines. This is the only place where I saw about 50 people queued up in the Business Class line. On top of all this, I saw a couple of check in counters closing since it was 'lunch time' for people behind the counters and now you had 2 (instead of 4) counters serving these huge lines. People were directed to go to another counter!!!

2) 4 security checks!! Expect huge lines here as well.. Once again, you have people for 11AM flights as well as 9:30AM in the lines at 9AM. I was seeing the plight of people with 9:30AM flights, begging others to let them go first. Should've checked in earlier you say - they were at the airport at 7:00AM! During the first checkin line, I was lucky to get into the business class check in line - even though I had an economy ticket. I quickly realized my mistake, but the economy line was way too long.. I said yes to "Business Class ticket?" and no-one bothered to check after this. I saw people being asked to get back into the Economy class line. Lucky eh? This was only the first check though. After immigartion (second checking - passport only) I thought I could take a small breather in the lounge - glad I decided against it. I walk into a next baggage security check with even bigger line, and this one was a mumbo jumbo of flying classes. One attendent took us upstairs saying lines there were shorter, but the guy in front of me swore they looked the same. No tricks here, I waited till 9:45AM for my 9:55AM departure when I heard "Passengers to SFO, this way please".. We were branched into the 'Business Class' checking irritating the passengers already there. After all this, there was the last checking (passports again) where the lady kept looking at my H1-B for some reason and with a lot of reluctance told me to go to the gate. There were 12 other passengers behind me stuck in security. The flight left 30 minutes late.

Now I agree that you'd only have 2 of these checks in a transit flight, but there are crucial flaws in the system if you don't time the flights/gates such that passengers of 10 flights don't get in at the same time through the same gates. Hence, I'm convinced that the best way to fly to India is through the Pacific. Take SIA if you can. If you have "long" layover at Singapore, refresh yourselves with a quick shower, catch a movie, catch a nap, do emails - there are so many things to do at Chengi.

For a FRA-SFO I don't think there are a lot of options but to put up with this mess. Give yourselves 3.5 hours to board the flight if you're boarding from FRA.

Guru facts

2007-02-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

One of the most anticipated movies of 2007 - Guru is currently the # 1 movie in India. Earning a lot of moolah with a boost from a nicely timed engagement between the lead actors (Mr. Jr B with Ms. Rai), Guru is a Mani Ratnam flick and is worth a watch. I wouldn't say that Guru is Mani's best work, but it does have his TM.

I'm not going to write a review of the movie - since a lot has been written about it already, but what I found most exciting was how close to reality this movie really is. Everyone knows that this movie is from the life of Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, who lead Reliance Group of Industries (RIL) to become India's largest private sector enterprise. RIL's annual income is US$22B and is a Fortune 500 global company. With >US$7B in exports to more than 100 countries in the world, Reliance employs about 25000 people. (info from www.ril.com)

But not many know about the real life people/events that were depicted under pseudo names in the movie. A quick look at Wikipedia and other google searches yielded the following results:

1) Manikdas Gupta (Mithun) ---> Ramnath Goenka

2) The Independent (newspaper) ---> Indian Express
3) Journalist Shyam Saxena (Madhavan) ---> S. Gurumurthy
4) Minister who Guru gets Petrochemical approval (Unknown) ---> Ms. Indira Gandhi
5) Shakti Group of Industries --> Reliance Industries Limited
6) The contractors (Parsi competitors) --> The Wadias (of Bombay Dyeing)
(BTW Ness Wadia, son of Nusli Wadia is currently dating Preity Zinta and the Wadias have a direct linkage to Mr. Jinnah - the founder of Pakistan)

7) Stadium of meetings during the last/first scene of the movie --> Cross Maidan, Mumbai

Other facts accurately described in the movie:
- Reliance Commercial Corporation, his first business venture was started with a capital of Rs 15K
- The business was set up with partnership with his second cousin Champaklal Damani
- Dhirubhai went to Aden, Yemen during his early years
- Dhirubhai's was one of the first IPOs in the country
- Had shareholder meetings in stadiums
- Fight with Indian Express died after his first stroke
- Bogus investment companies registered under the 'Isle of Man' island located in the Irish Sea

With so much resembling real life Dhirubhai, wonder why the film makers didn't come out openly and admit it.. If you have more data points/people that match the real life (other than the wife and kids) do let me know.

WELCOME!

2007-02-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

I've been resisting a blog for the longest time. Why? - coz its work :)

However, after constant pestering by the DW and seeing no outlet for the built up thoughts, I've finally decided to launch one. Thanks to the DW though for creating the template and almost making it as easy for me as typing my thoughts out after clicking the 'New Post' link.

The name - I'm fully aware that it seems 'inspired' by a popular Bollywood movie which I haven't seen yet - came after a lot of deliberation. There were names like "Dhurbeen" (in Hindi Doorbeen means binoculars) and "BajaDhur" (in Hindi Bahadhur means brave) or just simply "Dhurka" (which the DW felt was too plain).. I ruled in the favor of "Being Dhurka" inspite of sounding unoriginal, since its much easier to relate to.

For those who don't know me (though I don't expect a lot of people to come to the link) my name is Vikas Dhurka, currently working in the Bay Area (otherwise known as the Si Valley) marketing semiconductor chips. Product of the 100% EOU, LD Engineering College Ahmedabad, Gujarat India, did my MS in USC - LA and have been in the Bay Area ever since.

I met DW - http://deepthoughtworkshop.blogspot.com, at USC and have been married (alright happily married) since 2004.

The blog will contains posts for movies, music, marketing, technology, food, television, cell phones, stocks, cricket, jokes, politics, sports and anything else that I might have missed here. No promises on the # of posts, or the frequency. But, it will definitely describe the challenges of Being Dhurka.