Weekends @ Bangy

When I asked my friend what are you doing this Saturday, he said there is this big mall somewhere around. I said “Mall? Who would go to a mall on weekends? Especially when you got nothing to buy. Just hanging around in malls is not my kinda pastime”. He squinted - “where do you go?”

Here is my recipe for the weekends @ Bangalore

•Open the newspaper. Search for 'free entry' painting exhibitions, plays, cartoon exhibitions, movie shows etc. etc.

•Open google maps – track down the location. Print it.

•Get on the state bus. Volvo buses here are dearly priced. And maybe that’s why they seem half empty most of the time. Be ready for long walks before you reach your destination. I have met lots of enthusiastically helpful guides who point in exactly opposite directions adding to my confusion.

•Sometimes it's better to call on the number given for contact in the newspaper before leaving your home. This Sankranti, me and my friend went to see a cartoon exhibition featuring David Low organized by 'Indian Cartoonist Society' just to know that it was closed on the day. I was wondering why the heaven did they print the ad in the tabloid that day?

Last Saturday we went to see the movie by German director Werner Herzog. FYI the film fest will go on for the whole week, check out http://www.goethe.de/bangalore - for more details. I thank Max Mueller Bhavan for a nice experience of watching 'Aguirre – The Wrath of God'. It was an awe-inspiring movie. Only god knows how it was shot under such grievous conditions. The story is set in 1560. Most of it is shot on a raft on which a group of people hopelessly go on searching for Gold City of El Dorado. They are frequently attacked by Indians.

My favorite shots -

The raft is going by a place where they see some Tribal people running and shouting.

The leader asks his interpreter - “What are they saying?”

Interpreter answers - “They are saying 'Meat! Fresh meat passing by!'”

In the end all the people on the raft die, except their power hungry leader – 'Aguirre', who made them come this far. There is also an assembly of small monkeys. I don't know from where Herzog got so many of them for shooting. Aguirre holds one of them in his hand and asks - “Anybody else here with me?”

Throughout the movie Herzog surprises us with the shots of wild animals in the jungles of Peru.

PS – There were English subtitles.

For the Bookworms

For those who love the smell of age old leafs there are some shops of old and rare books on the Brigade Road .

It is not as vast as you would find in Old Delhi. As always, you never know what you are going to find unless you are ready to get dust laden in these shops. Man! Those lovely Stacks of books…

This is just my 3^rd week here. Hope to find new ways of spending weekends here as time goes by.

The Last Lecture

Just got my copy of 'The Last Lecture' the book telling the story behind Randy Pausch's Last Lecture - http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo]> 

(Image credit: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251)

good read

JRD's 1982 reenactment flight - Can you guess his age?

Recently read two books, nice ones

First one - Beyond the Last Blue Mountain - Biography of JRD Tata written by his R. M. Lala -published by Penguin - I must say, JRD's personality is inspiring for any Indian.


Some excerpts -
...At eighty-seven he [JRD] is as particular as ever. 'I know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into details you can avoid. It takes a lot of energy but that is the only way you can achieve excellence. So, in that sense, being finicky, is essential.'..

...The thunderstorm hit them and it was dark. Captain Vishvnath says, 'Usually pilots fight this force of nature. J.R.D. flies by his brains - a natural pilot who becomes a part of the machine. He let the small plane he flies go up and down like a piece of paper in the wind. He did not "fight the controls" or put the plane under the slightest stress for under a stress a plane can break up.' He adds, ' There was no panic in J.R.D. at the controls.'

The second book is मराठी.
'त्या वर्षी' - शांता गोखले - मौज प्रकाशन

I felt as if i'm watching some movie while reading this one. It's a novel about a group of friends, belonging to different professions, namely -music, painting, journalism. Background is of religious violence (is that even an appropriate word?). The author is somewhat old by age - but the writing is amazingly young. The book has some pages that will make you experience a music concert, drawing of a painting, in short it is not only a book to read but to listen and see too. Nice read. Know more about the writer at http://www.indiaplaza.in/goldenquill/goldenquill_jury-shanta.aspx
बऱ्याच दिवसानी चांगली कादंबरी वाचली.

You are on Television!

I was thinking some years back, what if our life, our whole life can be recorded and watched whenever we want it. From any angle. Every damn thing you did would be on it there. 

Here I'm not talking about recording all the people around you. Only some small radius with you as it's centre would be caught. So you cannot know too many things about others, what they did at the time you were doing something, what were they talking behind your back and all those things. And yes, only YOU can watch this movie. So there is no question of censoring anything for public viewing, because there is not going to be any. 

Our world as we see it, is different for everyone. I see a red box, you too, but is it the same colour that we are looking at? Who knows? The sounds we hear, the things we see are limited by our physical and mental limitations. Our eyes can see, our ears can hear only what our mind can understand. 

How would our life look from this Recorded Version of it? You will have many laughing moments for sure. The way you fell from your bicycle. The way you cried for chocolates when you were a little kid. Beatings by the teacher. The pictures you drew on the walls. And of course, your fighting with siblings and other friends. Your innumerable lies. Your lonely walks by the empty street. Your tears, screams, laughs,winks and stares.  

So now you got all your life televised. What would you do with it? Will it help you in knowing how you are? It surely will act as an encyclopedia for your psychiatrist. But apart from that, it will ask you more questions than you can answer. You will want to skip some moment where you think you didn't do the right thing. Will your viewes about some things change as you watch this movie? There are some things in life which you don't want to have second thought about. Will you feel more guilty about some of the things you've done? Will you say all the time while watching this movie, "Oh! Gosh! Why did I do that! I should've chosen the other way. I should've taken the other choice. I should have spoken my feelings out then and there. I should have shut my blessed mouth at that time." I this and I that. Everything should have and shouldn't have. Come on now, why do you want to see what you can't change?

Your life is like a game of chess. Not the one with 64 squares. But the one with infinite squares. Your opponents, [well not exactly in that sense, you can include all the people around you in that set], aren't singular but are plural. You can't change any of your moves once you touch. There is no ctrl + Z. Everything seems like cause and effect. Except, except perhaps the moments in which you have defeated the fate. 

Initially you don't have any clue how you are going to play it. Your strategy in the game is decided more or less by your surroundings. Sometimes you have long term plans, if you think earlier and faster. Many a times you don't know what's going to be your own next move. At times, you are left stranded in the middle of the vast chequerboard. You don't know what to do next. You are completely lost. You might quit if you want but that's illegal. Also, there are times when you have reigned your game. Everything happens the way you thought it would.  

The basic postulate here is that 'this game has some rules.' Are you sure it has? Are the rules you think are forbidding you from playing something are real rules? What if you don't obey them? What if nobody actually knows the rules? 

What is the purpose of this game? Is it a game wherein someone's victory means the othere one has lost? How does this game end? Does it end with your tenure as a homo sapien? 

Is it's aim NOT to win but to play a better game than you played in the past? All the joy in the ride, none in the destination. 

I think I'm getting too philosophical, so let me stop at that.  

 * what's this picture? you might find in my next blog entry.

Tricks They Play

Yesterday an interesting thing happened during placement of an IT company [read just another IT company]. Let's call it company Y. After the last round of interview 6 people were selected.

They were called by the company people and there was a shocking announcement. They said "Actually our package is not 4.5 lpa but is around 3.8 lpa." Hearing this students asked some time for thinking. Four of them already had a job with company X, which has name in the market but is paying just 3.5 lpa. Other two didn't have any job till then. The placement rules of BITS say - If you get a second job - first one is gone.

These 4 people who had job backed off and said "No, Thank You!" 

Other two guys didn't have any option to accept the offer.

What happened after this was quite totally unexpected. Company said "We were testing your commitment. Our package is 4.5 lpa only." The 2 guys who accepted the offer got the job.

Now this situation raises a whole lot of questions.

1> Is it ethical for a company to declare some package and later deny it? Some of you might say, why not. After all it's their choice, everything is in their hand. They are the Boss. I agree. 

2>What did the company gain by doing this?

Did they get the committed people they wanted, who would work just for the company, not for the money they get. I think here they made a grave mistake. Their intention was right but execution was wrong. The 2 guys were really desperate to get a job and that's why they agreed, NOT because they desperately want to work for it for the reasons company people intended. If tomorrow some other company offered these 2 guys some better offer, they would definitely go for it. Sure. 

3> One of my friend gave a different kind of viewpoint.

'The company didn't want 6 people. But they had no other test to distinguished between them. Hence they played this trick.' I think that's a viable situation.

4> What would have happened if all six had backed off? What would the company do then? They are left with no other option to pack their bags and return without recruiting, even though there are capable guys. So it's rather risky for a company to play this game, especially if it is not that big. MY VIEW: It's alright if Microsoft plays this game. They have the name in the market. But other smaller fishes in the sea shouldn't try it.

 

5> What is the ideal choice to make? 

To each his own

 

  

Aavadati Gaani

Radha Hi Bawari (Avadhut Gupte) - .

Tu Tevha Tashi (Hridaynath Mangeshkar)

Madyantari eka site var barich juni marathi gani sapadali. 

link - http://music.coolgoose.com/music/category.php?id=10327&page=2&order=title&PHPSESSID=06a1151a40fd29b216e4c0d44da02bd5

Tyatil kahi -

1) Bhay Ithale sampat nahi (Mahashweta fame)

2) Avelich Kevha - he gane Shridhar Phadke yaani gaylele aahe.

3) Avgha rang ek zala - Ek bhakigeet 

Get some Adsense

You must have seen this.. a cement ad on hoardings.
Actor Perizaad Zorabian smiling nicely juxtaposed with an ash-white cement bag and 'CRACK RESISTANT' written in between. Now could anyone please tell me what's the relation between her smile and that mortar material? A boro-something would have been more appropriate - with 'crack resistant' tag.
These people will sell anything (Shaving Kit, omg) with beautiful ladies endorsing it.

I remember seeing an ad of shaving blade on a wall with a drawing of Shivaji Maharaj. Huh! Talk about irony.

Of Cats and printed words

If you are bored by the same kind of sci-fi novels you have been reading for all your life, do read these books, to get an idea about rebels in sci-fi.
1) River of Gods - Ian McDonald
2)Schrodinger's Cat - Robert Wilson
While holding these books in my hands, all time I wondered why am I reading this Six hundread pages Seven-star crap. Both of these books are sci-fi, but not of your usual kind. River of Gods has the scene of some future Bharat. It is a pungent concoction (never mind my lingo) of hindu politics + action + spiritualism + hi-fi gadgets (there is a gun which kills you soul). No, I cannot describe the plot. It's impossible to guess where the script is leading, and also what was it like, just two leafs before. But some chapters are just mind gripping. No doubt, you will like the coverpage which has pictures of Hindu gods, rather incongruous with the content inside.
I thought even R of G was a sobre attempt, when I read Schrodinger's Cat. Some chapters are full with Pidgin english. Literary Hell..short but exact description of the book. It is actually a trilogy, each 'logy' is the same story happening in 3 parallel universes (for those who haven't heard about the concept of parallel universes concept - Everything that can happen does happen, only in different 'parallel 'universes). The author (with all and due respect) seems to be on Absinth for months before churning out this stellar work. As per Wikipedia the author's credo is to get people into a state of general agnosticism, which is evident from his book.

Prabhavalkar Overdose

Sagle 7 Bokya Saatbande + Anudini.
Kay sahi lihito ha manus!
I recall one marathi movie in which he plays a timid young professor who curses his father-in-law with "TU LYABANT UBHYANVAYI AVYAYA!"
:)))