Short Holiday.

I am on a short holiday. But, but............:) no complaints.
Will come back soon.

Merit.

I am talking about reservations here. I hated reservations for most part of my life. Because I didn't have any. Is it so?
I was born into so called oc(other caste) /fc (forward caste)/ uc (upper caste) family. I studied in a pvt school. After my 10th class , I got into a govt institute based on "merit". Ofcourse I thought my "merit" wouldn't flourish there and hence settles for a pvt institute.
After 10+2, I got into a govt institute again based on "merit". I blamed reservations for not getting into Comp Science. I need some scapegoat, right. And after that, I got into a PG college (MBA) based on "merit".
Let's define "merit". Merit is being born into a family that can afford good schools for you. Merit is being born into family that had a tradition of literacy. Merit is being born into family with good awareness about career prospects. Being born into family with right connections...
And all hese are linked.
How does one expect somebody who is born into a family that had been suppressed for ages , that is poor, that is not aware to compete with somebody else born into exact opposite circumstances.
We definitely need to hold their hand to make them equal to us. How long? So long as they are not equal.
What happened when girls are given 30% reservation in professional courses from the year 1993. We had seen more and more of them do better in life. The did better than us in college.
Yeah, there is this argument about creamy layer. That is, only one generation needs to benefit from reservations. Fine.
Another solution recently proposed is increase in no of seats so that seats reserved for general categories doesn't decrease. Good idea.
But this isn't something that should have happened for this reason. Do we have an educational policy? I suspect. Govt collects 0.32% on almost everything that' sold as educational cess. Where is it being spent? We need a social audit. Why are we proud about handful of IIMs/IITs. We need 10 times more such institutes. We need regulatory system that monitors quality of education imparted in all colleges.
We need more schools, more colleges, more consistent, relevant curriculum.

Pls leave me, Arundhati

No, she isn't my maniac, pestering girl friend. I am talking about Ms. Arundhati Roy. She has problems with dams, human rights in kashmir, democracy in India (or lack of it)

NEW YORK, MAY 22 :In an explosive expression of her views, celebrated Indian writer Arundhati Roy told an audience here that ‘‘India is not a democratic country’’. ‘‘The biggest PR myth of all times is that India is a democracy. In reality, it is not,’’ Roy, the author of The God of Small Things told the 1,000-strong audience at a book reading function she attended along with Eduardo Galeano, one of Latin America’s most distinguished writers.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/4941.html?headline=India~not~democratic,~Bush~addressed~giraffes:~Arundhati~in~US


Ma'am, if you were born in china/ saudi, you would have been shot or still better lying in jail for 5 life terms. She talks about "Does Thomas know that in Kashmir Valley alone, some 80,000 people have been killed? In Iraq, there are 1,50,000 military personnel, whereas in Kashmir Valley there are some 7,00,000.’’

Ma'am, we don't have equipement that americans have. Or else, we could have killed 800000 with much lesser number of soldiers. And how many have been killed in iraq for the past 3 yrs? I guess atleast 250000. And 80000 people since 1980/1990. That's 10/15 members per day? I believe atleast 100 people die in road accidents. That's not trivialising death. But that's saying we have so many issues. Where were you when a massacre happened in Udhampur about few days ago? Hmm, let's blame indian intelligence agencies.
Ok, what's your problem with dam? height, existence, rehabitilation, publicity...pls, select one of those.
I am no right-wing-hindu fundamentalist. But to see a conspiracy when there is none is a crime.
We have so many issues, to blame manmoham/ bush for all of our problems is a mistake. You want to be an lite marytr, without losing any of your benefits.
You had all advantages of an elite upper caste indian. Being groomed well, getting educated in an elite school,...
Preaching is easy, complaining is more easy. You are a hypocrite with no good reason for your weird, stupid , megalomanic, exhibitionist behaviour.

Swimming.

Walking, exercising, swimming, reading...Basically having too much fun. :)

Linus, a cool guy.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/05/18/global.office.linustorvalds/

News of the day.

My 6 yr old ultra_lazy_and_clumsy_yet_brilliant_and_smart son has learnt swimming all by himself practically. Video will be posted soon. It was a joy watching him do that. Wish he learns other things in life similarly, that is without assitance from his parents, especially his more lazy dad. :)
I avoid talking about my work. But let me record this for posterity. There is this essential stuff that needs to get completed. But it isn't happening.

Reasons.

Bus Breakdown : one day lost.

Server Breakdown : Almost another day lost

Last 30 mts, everything seems fine. There is one small but key component missing. Hmm, delayed by another day.
I am no fatalist. But there seems to be some jinx associated with this. :)

Sex starved nations. :)

Probably sex information starved nations.

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEW20060517113549&Title=World&Topic=0&?headline=Sex~starved~nations:~India~at~number~6


Pak, the most sex starved nation; India at number 6
Thursday May 18 2006 00:00 IST

ANI

WASHINGTON: A recent survey has found that Muslim states seek access to most sex-related websites and Pakistan tops the list.

The survey by Google has revealed that among the top 10 countries searching sex related sites, six were Muslims, reports the Daily Times.

The countries according to their rank are

1. Pakistan

2. Egypt

3. Vietnam

4. Iran

5. Morocco

6. India

7. Saudi Arabia

8. Turkey

9. Philippines and

10. Poland

Mundane Happenings.

I have transferred images from my digital camera. Next step is resizing, retouching and thn uploading so that my 0.1 friends can have a look at them and appreciate our kids in all possible ways and also their parents.
The book "MAO" is getting completed. The reason behind the book seems to be to bash up MAO. I am having fun reading it. I will write a comprehensive review soon. Apart from that watched a couple of crappy movies.
Apart from that, nothing much is happening. That is, absolutely nothing worthwile is happening with life. :)

Email.

The Christian Science Monitor has a piece on why it's so easy to misinterpret emails. From the article: 'First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well. Second, the prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. Finally, the inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict.


Hmm...................I wish I could say more.

It had been a while.

Friends, ignored this blog for a while. Sorry about that. No excuse. What am I doing these days? Spending some quality time with kids. Yuck, that sounds like a manufactured statement. Watched a telugu movie. Liked it. For hose who are curious, it's "Pokiri". Completed significant portion of "Mao".
Some housekeeping. Planning to start playing another game soon. That's it. Bye friends.

www.google.com/trends

Nothing more needs to be told. You check where perverts like you come from. And migrate to that place. :)

A new Digital Camera, Re working Broadband

I bought a new digital camera. A canon. My third one. A canon followed by a sony followed by a canon. And in pre historic times an analog one. Why so many? I lost my first 2 digital cameras. Stolen. Due to negligence. I even lost a pock pc phone in past 1 month. 3 lost gadgets. I am condemned to digital hell.
I am aware of auto focus, exposure, wide shot, optical zoom, grain, ...and all those terms. But I didn't got for an SLR, ....I know my limitations. the main (and probably sole) purpose of camera is to take pcitures of my cute kids. Believe me, I too was cute. "Was" is the word.
I hope they will remain cute all the time.
My 4 day old broadband worked for 50% of time. :)
I really have stories to tell you people. But I am not out of woods yet. So give me some time. And I will tell you some interesting stuff.
Oh, BTW, my new camera is canon A530, petty consumer model. Which made me poorer by 15000 rs.

Boring life.

Nothing significant is happening with life. Things just get postponed. My broadband is down. I know , this is some conspiracy. Anyway waiting for news about PS3 and WII. I hate this , a boring life.
Iran's president writes a love letter to American president. That doesn't stop crude, gold, commodities, shares , real estate from going up. Evrybody is rich. Everybody is happy. Everything is appreciating. Something must be wrong. A perfect recipe for some war and some reality to set in.
Please, god. Please let something happen. Except earthquake with epicentre within 100kms radius of my place.

A nice game.

http://drunkmenworkhere.org/129

Games

Another in long series of short , boring blog posts. I finished playing Thief 3, slightly old game. (2 yrs old) While playing I had fun. Sneaking, stealing, monsters, spirits, keepers, pagans, hammers, architecture, weapons, fights the erupt between NPCs, ...And I got irritated by lack of speed, loading times between levels, repetitive gameplay (Steal, go west, go north, get this, get that...)
The final impression is I don't want to be playing any FPS or third person shooters for some time.
What am I waiting for? Probably a Deus Ex, a system shock , a Max Payne or a Metal Gear Solid or probably a Thief again.
Racing games too aren't fun beyond a point. And I am no big fan of strategy games. Enough strategies in real life. An adventure, a story, gorgeous levels, a combination of these factors.
Waiting for My PS3, coupled with my broadband and video conferencing..Life is good.

Reading a book about Mao. By Jung Chang & Jon Halliday. As if those names mean something. :) 800 pages. So may take a month or so, unless somebody pays me 2 million and sends me off to a vacation. ;)
Later, friends.

What else?

Most often repeated question by me in IM conversations. Life too is like that. After every task, the same question (what else?) pops up.
Ultra sleepy. Some other time. Bye.

Same old life.

I always dreamt of broadband. I got it, ultrafast. Now I wonder what I would do with all this speed.

Broadband

512 kbps, coming soon to a home near you, wth, to my home, tomorrow. I am no more a third world citizen.:)