Birthday Post Removed

For reasons unknown to me and all, I have removed the earlier post on my birthday. I am editing what I had posted earlier. The content of the earlier post (for those who have read) would be split into two distinct posts. Watch this space for updates.

E-Mail of The Day

Saw this e-mail first up today morning:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rutwij Diwanji
Date: Dec 17, 2006 7:53 AM
Subject: Holy India!!!

There are two groups belonging to the higher caste that are currently on strike in India.

• One is group of priests of Jagannath temple for allowing Dalits to enter the holy temple.

• Other group of fledgling IIT Kanpur students for allowing Dalits to enter the holy institution.

What a travesty..............

Super Thought!!! Way to go RDX!!!

Kabul Express

Watched it on Saturday Morning at AMC. Decent Flick.

My Complete Review: Click Here

Nothing too much more to write on this.

* Dialogue Spoiler Warning *

A dialogue from the film that got me thinking (Not in exact words) --

Pakistani Talib: Hum hamesha se bola hai 'Madhuri Dixit do, Kashmir lo'
Arshad Warsi: Par Khan Saab, Madhuri to shaadi karke America chali gayi hai
Pakistani Talib: Sala, yahi to problem hai apne mulko ke saath. Hamaari saari acchhi cheezein America chali jaati hai!!!

Vivah Apna Sapna

Straight to the point, "Apna Sapna Money Money" is a nightmare of a film, the sorts that would work only if it were a horror flick. This one's so ridiculously pathetic that I wonder how on mother earth can people like this film.
It does not deserve space on The Review Point. A real shame. I wouldn't have wasted time posting this one, had PP not coaxed me into writing this. (How giving of me :-))
Ritiesh "Dittu" Deshmukh was decent and that's about it. I couldn't finish the entire film.

Another film I watched yesterday evening is "Vivah". Could manage just 25 minutes of it before the inevitable ... Am tempted to ask you lovely people to multiply the description above by 2 (minus Dittu) - But, then I remember my Class 2 Math - Anything multiplied by a zero is a zero.

That's Time.

Riddle

Another thought I had while driving to work today morning. Posting it as a riddle:

"Which is the book that cannot be read by all but can be written into by anyone?"

Put on your thinking caps ...

Two Thoughts I Thought

Thought 1:

"I take my work very seriously but I take myself more seriously than my work."

Couple this with what I have always believed:
"I don't take myself too seriosuly."
And it does not reflect the correct results - Or does it?? (So, is there a disconnect somewhere??)

Thought 2:

"Being a Pessimist half the time and an optimist half the time enables me to be a Realist all the time."


Both of the above are an outcome of a bemused mind - I never fail to boggle myself!!!

Katana (Rated PG)

This one's an SOS post. I was speaking to a very good friend of mine who is a Venusian. This got so freakin' hilarious that I had to type this rightaway.

What you do: Paraphrase the description below by substituting all (but not limited to) references of 'phone' with the unique tool possessed by all (well almost ...!) Martians. Imagination holds the key.

I use a Sprint Phone. Since my contract with the current phone was expiring, I decided a new chic instrument. Here are the details from the website.

Product Summary

This ultra sleek phone by Sanyo features a stylish profile. It's so thin you can slip it into a tiny purse or a pocket. Capture life as you see it with it's camera. And with the built-in productivity tools you can keep in the groove while you're on the move. It is the phone you've been waiting for.
We like to call it the KATANA. Katana is the word for sword in Japanese. It is also used specifically for a type of Japanese backsword or longsword: a curved, single-edged sword.

* Built-in camera captures images, then lets you easily share them with family and friends
* Enjoy the convenience of high speed communication and connect with other devices
* Built-in capabilities gives you even more hands-free capability

What's in the box:
* KATANA™ handset
* Travel charger
* Headset adapter
* Standard Battery
* User Guide
* User Terms & Conditions

Features

The neat stuff
* Large external display lets you view information even when the phone is closed
* 500-entry phonebook puts all your contacts at your fingertips
* Numerous Productivity tools
* Customizable Picture Caller ID lets you really see who's calling
* Voice memo: send yourself reminders
* Available in 4 different colors: Mystic Black, Blue Sapphire and Cherry Blossom Pink
* Your KATANA (Polar White) is available only at RadioShack

Manufacturer Parts Warranty -- 12 month
Manufacturer Labor Warranty -- 12 month


Tech Specs

* Product Length = .6
* Product Height = 3.9
* Product Width = 2 inches
* Product Weight = 3.2 ounces
* Product Type = Flip Phone
* Enclosure Color = White
* Vibrating Alert = Yes
* Antenna = Integrated
* Talk Time = Upto 3 hrs
* Stand By Time = Over 10 hrs
* Power Device = Battery
* Size = Specialty
* Rechargable = Yes
* Call Waiting = Enabled
* 3-Way Calling = Enabled
* Phone Navigation = 5-Way Navigation Supported


How I love my Katana!! :-) ;-)

Me against Me

After the antics last week, a busy week ensues. And I realize that it's not so easy to post blogs regularly even though this one's quite mundane unlike Triple Point (Which btw continues to be my first love - Though strangely enough I haven't been able to dedicate enough time for my beloved since it needs lot of effort and research).

So, that leaves me with a zillion unfinished items that I had planned on finishing by end of week:

• Passport: My passport now has just half a page (1 side) remaining for visa to be stamped and barely any place for immigration stamps. I plan to go to India pretty soon and had planned to apply for an additional booklet from CGI, Houston. All I did was to get the paperwork done. I don't have time to wait since you never know how long it'll take for the booklet to be issued.
• Cell Phone Reimbursement: I have my cell phone bills for the last 4 months that have to be expensed. Didn't even start work on it.
• Florida Settlement: Have to settle all the expenses incurred during the Florida trip a fortnight ago. AA was kind enough to send an Excel sheet that I opened and checked. But never thought of filling it up. (At least I did pay AR a portion that I owed him) :-)
• Hair Cut: If ever there was a list of things made about perennial procrastination, hair cut would be a winner hands down. Don't know why - But, I quite hate the whole experience here specially when compared to how the act is performed back home in Bombay (Brilliantly Summarized by AJ here)
• Unpack: I had to unpack my bag from the FL trip. But I have now found a very good excuse. Will be flying off to Dallas this Christmas for 10 days. So, why even think of unpacking :-)
• Backups: Had to take backups of tons of things. Haven't performed this activity for nearly 6 months now.

And here's a list of excuses:

• Work: Common! Hasn't it been really crazy this week? Oh ya, it sure has been. You didn't even find time to watch Wedding Crashers, Read Blogs, Orkut, Listen to Music. Very Sad.
• Weather: It has been terribly cold. I don't think any sane person would feel like finishing these chores in such weather. Oh ya, and you don't even have a heater in your apartment. Can't even imagine how cold it would be getting in there.
• Why: And btw, WTF ... Why on earth do I need to complete ALL these things by the end of this week. The sky's not falling down if I am not able to finish all of this by EOW .... I thought you said you wanted to go to India and that your hair are bothering you and living under the eternal fear of losing important (?) data and ....
• Aggressive: Maybe it was asking for a bit too much. Do I really have it in me to fit everything in my schedule. OK - Let's not talk about it ......

Acchha Listen .... The week's not over yet .... I still have a chance to go for it!!

(Let's see - I'll be waiting)

Fast Not To Be Furious

So I called my folks back home in Bombay late Thursday night. Spoke about a thousand things. They happened to tell me that Friday was "Maun Ekadashi", which apparently is a very sacred day for us Jains.
As the name suggests, many Jains maintain complete silence and fast on this auspicious day. Also per the math, any penance, ritual or good deed performed on this day will fetch 150 times better results.

So, here's the deal. Being silent the entire day wasn't an appealing idea. I had several calls and meetings to attend on Friday. So, I had a nice lame excuse out of it. However, fasting was definitely on the cards. While I do consider myself to be a religious person, I haven't quite fasted (ever?) outside Paryushan which is the holiest time of the year for us Jains.

A Jain fast (Upvaas) is quite a rigorous task compared to so many other religions. To perform a correct Upvaas on Day X, you have to renounce food from sunset of Day X-1 to Sunrise of Day X+1. Boiled water is allowed from Sunrise to Sunset of Day X.

Hmm ... I thought to myself .... Wassup with this fasting thing ..? Think!! Why do I think I should take it up. Here are a few points that I could come up with:

a) Control over Body: This is not too hard to achieve i.e. I do not find it too very difficult to sustain around 36 hours without food and very little water. However, it is indeed a very good exercise to check if you can control your body or if your body is controlling you. Also not a bad idea from scientific perspective - It gives the body a much needed respite from the daily grind it is subjected to. (I personally think that the control over speech i.e. remaining silent thing would be a lot more difficult than staying hungry. I have never given it a shot - I really hope to give that a try sometime pretty soon. Was speaking to DKS a few days back and he told me he has managed to stay mum for several days on one of his spiritual trips - Had some nice anecdotes related to that - Quite Funny)

b) Control over Mind: This is the hard part. I consider this to be my single biggest weakness. I do not have control over my mind, my thoughts. I get the bizarrest of thoughts like this. My mind is like a vagabond with chronic digression. So, for me, this fasting exercise is a challenge up atop where I have to control of my CPU instead of the opposite. A fast is not complete by mere renunciation of food and drink - it should not feature even in thought - That would constitute a complete renunciation. I know people tend to think about things they should not (don't wan't to) be thinking. (What when a loved one is no longer with you? Doesn't your mind keep thinking about him/her inspite of all efforts?). I ain't no different. And, am still not UP there. I could not achieve this goal. There were at least 2 or 3 instances during the day when I thought about food (Food that Jains are not supposed to eat - e.g. The Pav Bhaji from Shiv Sagar - Wonder when I'll get over it!!). But there's no harm trying. This perhaps is just a very very small begining towards a long journey in pursuit of a beautiful goal.

c) Karmic Concepts: Every second of our being on planet earth, our actions attract +ve (less in quantity) and -ve (greater quantity) karmic particles to our soul. These actions are all encompassing not limited to physical activities but also relate to thoughts and speech and all of that. So, a day in fasting would at least reduce my accumulation of the -ve karmic particles to the soul. (That fasting is also a means to actually kill these particles according to Jain philosophy is an altogether different topic). So, this one's more akin to the concept of "A penny Saved is a penny Gained".


Bottomline/Disclaimer:

• I candidly admit that I wasn't a 100% successful in achieving bullet (b) above
• All of the above are simply my interpretations and beliefs from Jain Philosophy that I try to implement on myself (And my knowledge on the subject is very very limited and prone to errors - Am open to corrections)
• I didn't quite read too much into the 150X mathematical bit (Though I hope that's the case ;))
  
• I at least feel good that I try to walk my talk

On a lighter note: Another thought that crossed my mind and something that I was tempted to do while writing this piece relates to "Karmic Concepts" - I really felt like spelling it as Karmic Koncepts .... Silly Me ...!! Can't quite figure out the root cause of this one though!! :-)

Dhoom 2

For a change we didn't have to go to a desi theatre to watch D2. The sound system and the screen in that one sucks big time.
Went for the Saturday morning show at AMC where it's going to play for 2 weeks / 4 shows a day!!
I liked the movie. In fact - All of us who had gone for the movie enjoyed it.
Watch it, if not for anything, to see how Hrithik Roshan disdainfully eats off Abhieshek (I hope I got his spelling right - Not that I care anyways ;))

Click Here for my Review

I have to write this on a side note. Was so darn thirsty after my fast yeterday that I had to buy some water. The lady at the counter in AMC charged me $3.50 for a glass of water w/o ice. I asked if I had a free refill and you can guess the answer ..... :-(
Probably my most expensive glass of water ever!!

12 Inches of Snow

Felt like listening to an old song "Informer" yesterday. Flashback a good 15 years - This number used to be a rage during my school days. A chartbuster. Sung by Darrin O'Brien (Snow), this one's taken from his debut album '12 Inches of Snow'

A bizarre correlation. There was a snow storm in Kansas (and the entire Midwest Region). We were to receive 12 inches of snow.

Surreal for sure .... How do I control what thoughts cross my mind?

As a result of all the ice and snow and storm, I've been indoors both Thursday and Friday. It's the first time that I have worked from home two days back to back. Was at work on Wednesday for just around 2-3 hrs. I have started to like it in a way primarily because of the following reasons:

• I can have my bath whenever I want to
• I can use my speaker phone without worrying about anyone getting disturbed
• I can listen to music from my home computer while working on the work computer
• I can have a desi chai breakfast - On a typical workday, Jimit is always running late to have the luxury of time for a breakfast
  
• (Sshhhh) I can take a power nap if I feel like - This option was exercised on Friday - The nap was supposed to be 30 mins and it lasted a good 2 hrs. Luckily it was a Friday and it didn't screw up my happiness
  

Here are some pictures from the storm: