The dust is settling down

The world as I know it seems to have cooled off its recent hectic activities and is beginning to offer some quantum of time to sit back and think, maybe bask in the glow of what it has achieved in the past few months that have sped by. While I was never a very prolific writer, this blog did allow me to explore and keep in touch with my English and its nuances of grammar and sentence construction.

As time goes I have begun to realize more often than not that I personally become very conscious of what I say, not just the syntactically but also semantically. That I believe has helped me in my communication with my customers these past few months. Of the many design documents and the follow up discussions mails that have been exchanged nobody has said "Could you explain ?" In fact, there have been commendations on the economical use of words and the lucidity of language. For those who are not aware, I quit my previous large organization and joined a services startup, where our current business model focuses on generating revenues first and then channelizing those into in-house products to give that fillip to the revenues. Given all the market scenario and the negative spiral ( tailspin, perhaps ?), it so far has been good going. Things are looking steady so far, and we are now planning to look at more avenues for growth. Let's see what comes along.

Speaking of the world of markets, while the general markets are still in bad shape - thanks to all the dole that these governments have been giving out - and may continue to do so for some more years, the capital markets have at least shown some signs of hope, maybe lesser despair to say the September - October time frame of last year. That was an awesome time - a time to understand and appreciate behavioral finance as a respected field of study. There are so many biases that an investor holds - confirmation bias, hindsight bias, anchoring bias. From what little I know of the actual finance industry it looked like the hotshot big bosses went through at least some or all of those. In fact I am pretty confident that the ordinary conservative Indian investor did better. My Dad, with his fixed deposits, definitely did better for sure. And I for one have learn some valuable lessons that will last me my lifetime. Couldn't have come at a better time as I have just begun my investment journey and am yet to have invested large sums. In retrospection things look rational - the markets rewards only the rational investor over the long term. That apart the best investment is the investment in oneself and in one's career.

To help the Indian capital markets come out of its despondency vis-a-vis other world markets, along came the endgame of the Indian Political Theater - the five-yearly General Election and the Election Commission behemoth. At the cost of sounding much too cliched, the world watch as we did the dance of democracy and elected our representatives, lawfully and peacefully to a large extent. And the citizenry did quite a good job of getting convinced massively by the arguments of the Grand Old Party. Kudos to the strategics in their camp to have devised whatever they did and to have come up with such numbers when all and sundry to bet on haggling and horse-trading post elections. Thankfully that did not happen. What happened instead is that the party seems to have found some spine on its own in the way it is dealing with its current allies. Hopes are up that the disinvestment process that had been stalled, thanks in no small measure,to the Left, will be renewed and the fiscal deficit will go down. Now all that we need are a few more honest-to-self ministers and things would start to look pretty good. Looks like steps are being taken in the right direction when we consider that the party-and-family loyalist Arjun Singh has not been honored with ministerial berths. I am also hoping others like Kamal Nath also make way for better people. These two guys top my list of personal peeves in politics. All this 5-week long election and threw up quite some interesting tidbits of voting patterns, mindsets, etc, etc.

There are other places also where the dust has settled - Indian Premier League. Apart from the elections if there is one topic which occupied the mind and heart (o yeah, the heart too!), it has been this. The drama has been never ending. But the best comment was from a local spectator in the field - "I don't understand cricket. I came here to watch the cheerleaders." I like it !!! And in all this I also discovered a few good places in Bangalore where they broadcast matches for the public and serve nice drinks too !!! Obviously you need to pay.

Anyways, things are cooling down all around. And as the dust settles the leader starts to prepare for the next boom cycle.

Cheers !!!

Britain's Got Talent

Change of Perspective

I called up my brother today, wanting to discuss a transfer of funds to some account. I was expecting it to be a pretty regular call as calls between brothers could go. The call went something like this:

Tring, Tring

Bro: Jaldi bolo. (Be quick)
Me: Kyun ? (Why?) [Normal human tendency to delay proceedings when you are asked to speed them up.]
Bro: Abhi hum ICU mein hain. (Am in the Intensive Care Unit)
Me: Wahan kya kar raha hai? (What are you doing there?)
Bro: I got my duty posting here.
Me: Ok. We can talk later.
Bro: Nahi. Tum bolo... (It's Ok. You can speak)

Did I tell you my brother has completed his studies as a medical undergraduate student and is currently undergoing his one year long internship.

I know money can't buy happiness

... but money can buy stuff that can buy happiness. For example this bike.

Why do men marry??

I was visiting a newly married couple in the evening, and as usually happens the talk got around to the experiences of marital life. Those already experienced were advising on both sides and it was a very excited and spice filled discussion. While on the way back, I began reflecting on why a man would want to marry at all. What is it that a man could get out of marriage, that he could not get otherwise!

First and foremost, at least in the formative years of a marital life is someone who would share the marital bed and keep the man happy on that respect. After all, we men are all built to function that way. Sometimes I wonder if that is all that is there for all the men to do. I even had a discussion a long time back on this with a female friend of mine on this topic. She very frankly made it clear that had it not been that only men carry the million of invaders required to infuse life into the otherwise infertile egg, there would be no need for the creed of man, per se. And with all the accessories available today, she was not far from the truth.

Coming back to the topic, the second reason why a man would want to marry is for someone who would do the basic feeding, cooking, and housekeeping stuff. Men, I admit, are not socially geared to that role, although more are picking up the basics pretty good these days. But then again, you can always hire a maid for the same purpose.

Third reason, is for that yearning for constant companionship. Somebody who would take up the emotional side of man (yeah, men do have a emotional quotient), listen with a good year. Someone who is smart, intelligent and is able to engage the higher needs of existence. Preferably someone who can also handle the finances (but then you have portfolio managers for that). Again, for this a man can have very good female company that is totally platonic.

All the reason that I have listed out above are very easy for a rich man to have without having to actually be tied to any one woman, if the man has something like a few billion dollars at the start of his career. I have earlier pondered upon what a billion dollar every year would mean. Now it seems that it would free you of constrained relationships.

There is yet another reason why a man might want to marry. And that is for an offspring. For a child that a man can call his own. For a kid, for which the man can proudly say he has fathered. I think that is the most major reason, why a man would go to any lengths of time to actually search for such a potential wife. And for this, and for this alone, I could not find any counter. I am not able to see what alternative could potentially replace this need (let's leave aside those men that choose to live the life of a hermit out of the society).

After writing such a post, I still hope that someone out there is still ready to marry me sometime in the future, if not now.

====================================================================
Someday, I would hopefully find such candid discussion from a woman. Would be interesting to know and assimilate. Men are supposed to be narcissistic chauvinist. I wonder what keeps the women from being so.

Weekend Roundup

This past week has been interesting in terms of the blog world, with me reading and subscribing to a lot of blogs. Some posts have been pretty interesting.

Is it trick or treat : The Economic Times' detailed analysis reveals that there may be greater cause for concern than reasons to celebrate in the current stock market volatility in the Indian markets.

Biofuel brews up higher German beer prices : Bad news for the beer lovers. If that is the case, then it won't be far when the rippling effect reaches us. But then I am ready to pay more for a cleaner environment.

"Our most valuable resource is our... ": How to make employees believe in a slogan : Somebody believes what we have been hankering about for so long. That an employee is not just a resource, but can contribute in a more meaningful and efficient manner to an organization.

Should you invest in dividend paying mutual funds? : Readers of this blog would be aware of my bias towards growth oriented mutual funds. This article also clears up additional points.

Indian markets and the global crisis : A humorous and very balanced take on the kind of effect the subprime mortgage issue might have on Indian markets.

Top 10 Wealth Building Ways of Ordinary People : Well, I am firmly in the second part and am aiming for the first part of the topic. Interesting to note that these ways are not very out of the world. Just requires some hard work.

12 Ways to stop the telemarketers (sure shot ways to ensure you are not called again!) : A hilarious take !

The newest feather in Jumbo's cap : This roundup would have been incomplete without mention of Anil Kumble's century against England in the 3rd test at Oval.

My journey through the blogworld

As you might have guessed by this time that I keep reading a lot of blogs, or at the least have subscribed to a lot of them and read those that interest me most. There are a few categories under which those blog feeds can be grouped.

• Personal - This is the largest category I think in which people tend to discuss their personal dilemma, their hopes and aspirations, their lament and love. A couple of them are of brilliant expressive writing and I love to read them (i.e. whenever the author's grace this online world with their talents!). Most of them are from people I know personally.
  
• Financial Markets - These are content based blogs, where there is good and bad advice on which stock, mutual fund or bond investment to bet on. Some of them give a very good overall picture and some tend to lean towards one or the other.
• Personal Finance - Most of such blogs are American, very few from people in India. Well, I think if the consumerism in India keeps rising the way it is doing, it won't be far when we are also discussing issues like which debt to pay off first based on the cost of the debt, and what strategy to follow to do that. (But then there are people like me who can benefit by investing in companies involved in such operations!
• Professional Domain and Work - These are mostly blogs on SCM, and/or blogs on my current area of technical work. Heavy duty stuff, not all of which makes sense and on which I break my head to understand.
• Miscellaneous - General advice on career, life and related news.

Well, some blogs are a mishmash of things. Others portray a multitude of events on a single theme - this is what I like best. Being able to hold onto a philosophy in all walks of life, in all day-to-day activities. In all this meandering, I also leave comments on posts for discussions' sake and have managed to ruffle some feathers. There are yet others who find my posts and my comments interesting enough that I have to invited to private blogs and have readers writing to me through email, although that number is not very high

Anyways, what I wanted to do post a list of links to the good posts from what I have read over the last week. The recommendations are purely from my personal opinion. Hopefully you will be able to enjoy it!

The Science behind Astrology

As happens when old school classmates meet, there was lot of discussion today between three of us going back to school days on lots of topics, ranging from the usual how-to-convince-the-parents of the wanting-to-be-significant-other to how boring/exciting our life has become depending on perspectives to which course of work/study to pursue to the science behind astrology.

Some interesting observations from the conversation:

• Each human being is born at a different moment. Now from one moment to other the entropy of the universe changes, hence affects the life of the individual born at that moment. For example, the word lunatic has its root in lunar which means the moon. And as is obvious, the closer the moon to the earth during your birth the greater the chances that you are going to be loony.
• The only science behind astrology is statistics. All that the so called astrologers have done is charted the sky formation of a select few heavenly bodies whose relative motion through the sky are repetitive over a certain period of time. And every time somebody asks for advice all they do is pullout their voluminous books, read up the charts and spill out the readings.

One thing I do concede to is that astrology does point out the potentiality but the actuality is unknown even to the sooth sayers. For some that may be blasphemy, but I do believe that nobody can predict their own future for the next second, leave alone tell about the life happenings of the other.

An interesting side event that happened as if to prove just the point.

As the three of us were walking back to my place, an Indica taxi braked pretty hard and sudden to avoid a huge crater in the main road. Most probably the driver was new to the route and did not know the presence of the crater before hand. Well, what followed next was the most comical thing to happen. A Scorpio which was behind the Indica also braked hard and missed scratching the Indica's bumper by less than a whisker. But the Scorpio behind the first one braked also braked hard but managed to kiss the Scorpio in front, and that too pretty hard. And as if on cue a Maruti Esteem behind the second Scorpio banged into it very hard with the loudest "noise". The headlights broke and went strewing all over the place, the hood on the engine was ripped open and the front grill I am sure must have been smashed to a pulp.

While all this went on, the front car driver quietly turned his car and went along his way merrily. By the time the shock of the crash could wear off of the other three car drivers, the first car was no where to be seen. And you should have seen the look of shock and disbelief in the eyes of the last car driver. It was very obvious from his face that there could not have been a greater unrealistic event unfolding in front of his own eyes of which he was a part.

What I want to point out is who could have predicted this fateful crash beforehand. The last car owner would have to shell out more than Rs. 50,000 definitely. And that is a huge expense. I don't want anybody to predict the actual loss of the money but just the fact that you might be involved in such a situation.

Cricket - not my religion

Yes, that's true even though I am an Indian. For the simple fact that every time I raise my hopes they are dashed harder than the waves of the ocean against the shoreline rocks. There are those that would be apt audience for the new Star Cricket channel. But alas, I am not one of those. For me the only team that plays is the Indian National Cricket team.

While I am not so qualified as to pass judgment on the recent developments in the world of cricket (formation of the Indian Cricket League), I do hope that things work in the favor of cricket the game. (To some I might sound contradictory, but I can't help it!)

Anyways, I was remembering a few interesting and eventful cricketing events that went on in real time matches between different nations while reading a forward. There's a huge list of such; I am putting up just a few.

The Prasad vs. Sohail Incident: Zero to Hero in 3 easy steps

Chasing India's score of 287-8, Pakistan got off to a flyer of a start with Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar tearing the Indian attack apart.

1. Aamir Sohail was completely bent on demolishing the Indian bowling to pieces charging down the track to faster bowlers. In this particular case he came down the ground, a good 4-5 steps and slashed the ball over the vacant off-side area. The ball disappeared into the fence in a flash. And what followed has since been etched in the memories of every cricket fan in the subcontinent.
2. Amir Sohail is no Miandad. But he tries to be, and fails miserably. Sohail after hitting the shot pointed his bat at the area where the ball had disappeared and then towards Prasad, apparently gesturing where he will send him. It's not everyday that you see a batsman sledging the bowler, and Sohail was about to learn just why.
3. Sohail attempted to repeat the shot (albeit with his feet stuck to the ground this time), made room and exposed his stumps, and his weakness, and in return lost his wicket and his face. As the wicket lay uprooted, Prasad returned the favor to Sohail, pointing to the pavilion this time.

McGrath Vs Brandes (I love this one!)

In a showdown of best pacers of two countries, Brandes made up for his complete absence of batting skills by displaying some great sense of humor and presence of mind.
Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath was bowling to Zimbabwe number 11 Eddo Brandes - who was unable to get his bat anywhere near the ball. McGrath, frustrated that Brandes was still at the crease, wandered up during one particular over and inquired, "Why are you so fat?"
Quick as a flash, Brandes replied, "Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit."
Even the Aussie slip fielders were in hysterics.

Viv Richards vs. Greg Thomas

This incident took place during a county championship match between Glamorgan and Somerset. Glamorgan quickie Greg Thomas had beaten Viv Richards' bat a couple of times and informed the legendary West Indian ace, "It's red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering."
The very next ball was given the King Viv treatment and smashed out of the ground, into a river - at which point Richards pipped up, "Greg, you know what it looks like. Now go and find it."

Sachin Tendulkar vs. Abdul Qadir

The year was 1989, the little master had recently made his debut in Pakistan. Sachin not even old enough to get a driving license. Sachin Tendulkar was facing the best bowlers in the business. As the Pakistani crowds jeered and mocked Sachin holding out placards saying "Dudh pita bachha... ghar jaake dhoodh pi" (hey kiddo, go home and drink milk), Sachin sent the then young leg spinner Mustaq Ahmed hiding for cover (he had hit two sixes in one over.) The frustrated mentor of Mustaq Ahmed the legendary Abdul Qadir challenges Sachin saying "Bachhon ko kyon maar rahe ho? Hame bhi maar kar dikhaao." (Why are you hitting kids? Try and hit me.)
Sachin was silent. Since then we all have come to know that he lets his bat do all the talking. Abdul Qadir had made a simple request and Sachin obliged, and how! Sachin hit 4 sixes in the over, making the spinner look the kid in the contest. The over read 6,0,4,6,6,6.

Ravi Shastri vs Mike Whitney

Its common knowledge that Indian's usually don't resort to sledging and the Aussies swear by it. In this rare occasion the tables had turned and it was the Aussies who were at the receiving end.
Shastri hits the ball towards Mike Whitney (the 12th man in the game) and looks for a single. Whitney gets the ball in and says, "If you leave the crease I'll break your f***ing head!"
Shastri, without batting an eyelid, "If you could bat as well as you can talk you wouldn't be the f***ing 12th man."

Merv Huges vs Hansie Cronje

Merv Huges was one of the greatest exponents of the fine "art" of sledging. Once during a tour game in South Africa Huges was bowling to Hansie Cronje. It was an especially flat wicket and Cronje was hitting Hughes for fours and sixes all over the place.
After the umpteenth boundary, Hughes headed down the pitch, stood near Cronje, let out a fart and said, "Try hitting that for a six." It was five minutes before the guffawing stopped and play could resume.

The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race

That's the title of a paper by Jared Diamond where he exposes what has been held sacrosanct for centuries - agriculture - as the worst step that mankind took. You can read the pdf here. The article in itself was published in 1987, but is seminal in its approach, for me at the least.

From healthy food to malnutrition - In today's age, the remaining nomadic have a more protein and fibre rich diet as opposed to a carbohydrate diet that our staple rice and wheat provide. Also, since we are totally dependent on a few varieties of food, during a famine there is lack of food as opposed to the nomadic who rely on more sources of food that we could possibly imagine.

From tribes to kingdoms - When it was cult of the hunter/gatherer, there could be no one who could command over the other as a parasite, since there was no concept of stored food. Each tribe fended for itself on a daily basis.

And then there are arguments that farming is less time taking. But statistics reveal that an average hunter/gatherer works less than 20 hours for its food needs, as opposed to the farmer. Also art. The progressivist view keeps that art flourished because we went farming. But evidence is in place about art existing even before farming. Given that these days preservation methods have become better, but that is due to technological improvements and not due to agriculture.

The article is an eye-opener. Read it. Opens the mind in a different direction.


====================================================================
The article was sent to me by a friend of mine, who is leaving to pursue a phd in economics. Ah! the life of an academic. I also have such plans but it is going to take some time to materialize and I have calculated the financial implications of such academic pursuits.

Bongs - A Thesis (an essay in understanding the myth)

There are two kinds of Bengalis that I know. Probashi or Expatriate Bangalees, a fairly large and diverse group about which I can't write as I am one of them. And Bengalees who are from Kolkata. This group is incorrectly known as Bongs, as they are merely a subset. However, this is the only group which matters. Gokhale told of them, long years back, 'What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow.' To which Rene Descartes responded, 'I think (today), therefore I am (Bengali).' Like all other Nobel Prize Winners, Oscar Awardees and most successful Indian cricket captains, Rene Descartes was also a Bong (this fact is not known outside of Kolkata).

Physical Description: The Bong has a large head, glasses, glistening hair and dark skin. Older Bongs develop an ample stomach to balance their large heads. This happens by the age of 25. They smell of Keo Karpin. The average life expectancy is 65 years. What is even more impressive is what they do in those years. Outside Kolkata, regardless of weather, sex or age, Bongs can be seen in Monkey Caps. This is a must-have accessory as well as a sign to recognize other Bongs. (please see second update for more). The Bongling can often be recognised in either over-sized or under-sized school uniforms. The Bong mother's second biggest fear (See diet for the biggest one) is that the 'porer bochor o lomba hoye gele abar notun skirt kinte hobe!!' or 'Next year, if you grow taller, we'll again have to buy a new skirt!!' Thus, the school uniform is selected to last at least three years. Thus the uniform sits as conspicuously on the Bongling as the plumage of a macaw.

Early Years : While most Bongs are born with innate talents in singing, dancing, painting, film-making, cooking or embroidery, their creative talents are honed even before they can start speaking. Frequent meets are organised between infants and their successful ancestors and other relatives. MA degrees (preferably from Cambridge , at least from Presidency or Jadobpoor) are displayed over the cots. The infant is exposed to the best of Bengali thought - Marx, Bentham, Kalidas, Tolstoy, Chekov*. This increases the sizes of their heads and the height of their ambitions. Similar examples, though rare, can be found in European tradition as well, like in the case of Mozart. In India , however, Bongs have the sole preserve on such activity during infancy. Soon, when they grow up a little, their characters are honed in the best of schools. Here, I am not referring to the South Points, La Marts, Don Boscos and all. They are important in the nurture a Bong child goes through. What is even more important are the schools the Bong child passes through before school and after school. Many a Bong child wakes up at five o'clock in the morning to attend swimming classes. After one hour of swimming, he attends tennis coaching before rushing off to one of the South Points, LaMarts etc. mentioned above. School finishes by two or so, from where he scoots along to Singing/ Instrumental Music/ Dance Classes, then tuition (for at least three of all five subjects). He rounds off the day with coaching on either Debating or Quiz. Many a Bong mother will carry the child along through this day, feeling equally energised. This behaviour is again not restricted to Bongs. It also seen within kangaroos in Australia who rush along from one clump to another bush.

Growing up: Soon the Bong attains adolescence, doesn't find friends of his age (since everyone is competing for the Nobel Prize or the Indian captaincy) and finds intimacy in conversation in his/her parents and poems of T.S.Eliot and Pablo Neruda. When school ends, they move on to the good colleges- Presidency, Xavier's or IIT Kharagpur. The best of them, though, move straight to Joo (Jadobpoor). However, in recent years, Dilli (Stephen's obviously) is becoming the preferred destination for some escapists. In colleges, they decorate their rooms with books or portraits of Robi Guru (Tagore). On the opposite wall, men would have posters of Che/Maradona and women would have Enrique Iglesias, thus expressing solidarity with Latin American culture. All of them share equal interest in the Bong-Rock (Bhumi, Chondrobindu, Cactus, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple).

Later Years : Bongs mature early. Critics have said that they grow old early, but that is nothing but old hat. Years of toil and Eliot would obviously bestow wisdom. The reason they look older is because the sole purpose of a Bong's life is to win the Nobel Prize or the Oscars (and in recent years, captain the Indian team). With great responsibility comes great age. Add to it the chlorine in the swimming pools and you know why Bongs grey prematurely. As far as their mission in life is concerned, they have been very successful at it. Every Indian Nobel Prize winner has been Bong (the others who weren't don't matter). So have the Oscar Awardees. And most successful Cricket Captains. And Bipasha Basu. Once Bongs have kids though, their mission on life changes. The only raision de'etre for them is making sure that their progeny achieves the heights that they could (or couldn't). Hence, they are mostly found outside of schools, colleges and tuition classes.

Diet: Diet is as important as Robindro Shongeet. There's nothing that a Bong can't eat. However, they prefer protein over other food groups. The largest source of protein for them is fish, then meat, and then mishti (sweets) made from milk. More than fish itself, it is the knowledge of fish which is coveted and enjoyed. Carbohydrates are tolerated if they are fried in oil or if it is accompaniment to fish. Luchis (somewhat like aPuri), Telebhajas (pakoras) and Phuchkas (Paani Puri) are the favoured source of carbohydrates. The young Bengali though invariably always has Farex, Lactogen and Waterbury 's Compound. As far as the most important meal of the day is concerned, please do note that what dieticians have been saying in the last few years, Bongs have known for centuries. Breakphast/tiphphin is an occasion where the entire family comes together, to watch the office-going Bong male and school-bound Bonglings eat. The Bong woman's biggest fear is that 'Shokale bhaat dal mach bhaaja na kheye beriye gailo' or 'In the morning, He went out without eating rice, dal and fish fry.' To round off the calories, Dal is often accompanied by aaloo bhaate, aaloo bhaja, potol bhaaja and various other heartily fried stuff. Not for the faint-hearted.

Mating and procreation: A few Bongs end up being in relationships, which lead to love marriage. This is sometimes shown in movies and song. However, most do not have any such social malignancy and end up marrying the woman of their mother's dreams or men of their father's choosing. This results in mixing the right genes for the next cycle of Bongs.Love marriage, by its very nature, is random. It sometimes results is tragedy, like marrying into another country (most often, India). Hence, it is avoided, wherever possible.

Social Life: Adda, robindro shongeet and cha....Repeat. Do note that the young Bong doesn't have a social life (at least not till he wins the Nobel or gets a Government job). And phootball. The Bongs have had an illustrious history of achievement in football. Every para (neighbourhood) has stories of when they won the World Cup at the expense of the next one. The last time it happened in my parent's para was in 1986, when Argentina won in Mexico . Diego Maradona, who looks Bhodrolok enough, give or take a few lines of coke, scored famously using his hand, a skill which he learnt in Kolkata.Over the last few years, Brazil has been gladdening the hearts of many Zicos who were born in Kolkata around 1982-86. The only team which is not Bong is Germany as they play with more efficiency and no creativity, which thus is not amenable to adda. Do not ask of a Bong doing anything on the phootball field as then the Bong will keep you occupied about Jakarta ,1962. 'Chuni Goswami je Ball tule dilo PK ke. Match-er aagei bolechilo, 'Ekta Ball debo. Daam kore maarish. Gol hobe'.' Chuni Goswami put a football up for PK (Banerjee). He told him before the match itself, 'I will give you one ball. Hit it with a bang.Goal will happen.' Obviously, it is also the crowning moment of Indian phootball.

Habitat: While you may find a Bong in other places (like occasionally in offices), the best time to observe a Bong is in his natural habitat - the best of colleges, the best of schools, the best of coffee houses. It is here that he will tell you about Balzac while she will recite poetry with gay abandon. To mix in with the Bong, apply Keo Karpin to your hair and carry a jhola. Hopefully, they won't notice your small head. Do not worry about not knowing the language as the Bong likes being heard.

Famous Bongs :Many famous Bongs have been referred to in this extract. Hence, this section is used to debunk that big myth about Bongs. People believe that Bong men can't be hunky. If so, then what about Abhishek Bachchan (via mother), Saif Ali Khan (via mother), John Abraham (via girlfriend), Hritik Roshan (via grandmother) .

Bongs in Literature, Film, Art: Everywhere you care to look.

Closing Word : Being Bong at the end of the day is a state of mind. Or, a case of being discovered by them. Best of luck.

I am ready to learn again

Since sometime the comments section on my blog was disabled. While the exact reason cannot be ascertained, it bears mention that I was going through a phase wherein I did not want to learn from you! I was going through a phase where I was trying to learn by reading more than from discussion.

Well it has been somewhat fruitful, as might have been visible somewhat from my intermittent posts. I have been following the most fanciful of all material things: the Sensex from the Bombay Stock Exchange. While I don't profess to know even 10%, I am good enough to find that wealth creation is about changing your lifestyle and mindset, the latter more so than anything else.

Besides that there was the internal battle within self about migrating to foreign lands. And it was not all about the lure of the green lucre. I gradually have discovered that in the enterprise application space I am more interested in the business part than the actual technology implementation. While I can and will write code when required, I somehow cannot see myself doing just that. I have come to realize that it cannot be done staying away from the center of action. So am currently biding my time and building intrinsic value.

This blog of mine will now tend towards my materialistic trials and tribulations. Hopefully the philosophy will remain same.

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

I scored a B+ :(
And my parents thought I was good at science and therefore good enough to become an engineer.

Stop and smell the roses !

That is what I keep telling people but these past two weeks I have been working a bit too hard at office, and becoming a bit too much of an idiot over the idiot box at home. Hence I decided to stop and smell the roses !!!

Which this article puts in very nicely. It is a bit longish, but nice.

Seems...

... that the inertia is finally taking over. I have a dozen posts lying my list that I started but never finished with only one reason: why??

Living the proper lackadaisical life of a IT worker. Even the physical activity of swimming is becoming half-hearted. And there's a bit of work overload. Combined with a heavy dose of the idiot box at night, I am settling down. The restlessness is cooling. I have given up questioning for the time being. No new knowledge gleaned from the vast intricacies of life and various teachings. I am near the I don't care syndrome. This especially when there people in my age group worried about their career, academics, nationalism, reservations and the universe that revolves around them, about who noticed them.

Methinks this blog will remain suspended for some time to come as will all other activities apart from those required for the most basic survival. Oh, obviously there are levels of survival that you are ready to accept. These levels are mine.

By the way, thanks to those readers who have pointed out that I have not updated my blog for sometime now. Now you know the reason.