I did ppprrrrhhhh...

More photos

2005-07-19T20:18:00.000-04:00

Assorted bunch of photos shot since mid June:

Happened upon an impromptu exhibition of modified cars adjacent to the ground our match was taking place. The blue car below is a modified Honda Civic hatchback. There were several more of such cars with expensive modifications. Where do these people get the money from?

The little guy enjoying himself at a gaming arcade on his birthday.

Cricket in the Boston area.

Blogstop or Blogpause?

2005-07-19T19:48:00.000-04:00

I hate keeping a diary. I like posting pictures. I do like writing. Don't know if it is writer's block or blog tiredness syndrome. Nevertheless, the first post in a month is a sign of a slowdown. However, am too excited by the Ashes series and the fortunes of my own cricket team to be too worried. The writer's block might well pass.

My first critic???

2005-06-17T17:17:00.000-04:00

Been posting for a few months now and I suspect I may have atlast encountered my first critic! The funny part is that the comment was not even posted on my blog. A comment of mine on another blog site seems to have attracted a reader to my site and he posted his comment on the other site! Also intriguing is the tone of the comment, and I quote:

Jun 15 2005, 08:33 pm

how about getting the IQ of Vikram checked..he posts on topics which are at best remotely related!!!!

Vinay

The above reminds me of a scene from the Mel Brooks movie 'The History of the World-Part1' where he shows mankind's first art critic. Not that this blog is anywhere close to art but the semantics of the criticism did seem similar to me and that is what I was reminded of. :-)

Nevertheless, I am thrilled. Having a critic was really the next step after having an audience for the blog- I am there ;-)

The Ashes series has started!

2005-06-14T19:54:00.000-04:00

Well, not yet, but nevertheless, the two teams have met on the field in an albeit made-for-tv kind of Twenty20 contest. To start things off, my take on it is that the Aussies are playing 'possum' yet again just like they seem to do at the start of every series, home or away. Apparently this is not something new that they do and they have been doing it for ages. In the warm up games, they allow some 'rising star' in the opponent's camp hog the limelight and then when the 'star' is included in the opposing team, they pick him off repeatedly. It is almost as if the opposing team has to play with 10 players. Last time around when India visited Australia, S.Ramesh scored a ton of runs in the warm up games and looked like a sure inclusion into the Indian squad. Ganguly, and I think very rightly, did not take the bait. Ramesh sat out the whole series leaving Chopra and Sehwag to open the innings-and what a massive success THAT was!

Interestingly, this time around the Aussies don't seem to have picked their victim. Atleast not yet. The Twenty20 game was interesting in the sense that the Aussies seem to have crumbled completely. Was it the result of them not taking it too seriously or strategy, I cannot tell. Was the 'victim' this time the whole English team? With two consecutive wins under their belt against the Aussies, the English team must be feeling confident. What does it take to tip them over into over confidence?

All that being said, I still consider the English team to be strong underdogs. And I am definitely rooting for the underdogs.

Civil obedience

2005-06-08T20:40:00.000-04:00

I avidly read Indian news sites every morning especially ones that give me headlines from across various Indian news papers and websites. As time has progressed, these sites have now been focussing more on more on tabloid style news e.g. digging up the dirt on well known personalities. Another genre which pops up several times a week are articles on why India is the next big thing in the world. The articles try to fire up your betting instincts on when India will 'pass' China and the US. Apart from my curiosity on what quantifiable metrics we will be able to 'pass' the other countries on, I almost always amazed by how much these articles quote the obvious. Well, it is not hard to see that India is growing and the growth is remarkable. But is there any assessment on quality of life on average?

The average street side cop still accepts 50 ruppees 'mammool' in return for not booking a ticket for some minor offences. The average street side garbage can still only carries a small percentage of the neighbourhood trash, most of which is still liberally layered out over the surrounding road or street. The average Indian still has no concept of a queue. The average Chennai bus is still the site of many a jostle while passengers squeeze through to try to get to the one seat that has been recently evacuated. The average household is still the victim of multiple power cuts, unreliable water availability, unstable voltage when the power is available and water that is not potable when it does flow through. The response time of the local civic utility to an issue in your house is directly proportional to the amount of 'mammool' they get from you at Deepavali/Pongal time. I am going off the theory that quality of life can improve only if the things that directly affect you in daily interactions improve. I do not see any difference in any of the above over the course of the last 10 years. Moreover, I do not see any chance for improvement in the absence of a sense of community amongst the people.

The thought above stems from what I have been a direct witness to in recent weeks here in Chelmsford. Yes, my view is limited to observations made in affluent suburbia. Nevertheless, it stands as a very good example of the overall sense of community that prevails in neighbourhoods and towns and geographical entities of a wider radii in the US. Case in point- my neighbours are average folks, retirees, who had regular day jobs. Despite their professional commitments, they remained active in the town council and this continued more so in to their retirement. The town councils are diligent in their activities. There is accounting on their activity as well as over sight. The meetings are telecast on a local cable channel for the town. As a resident of the town and an employee of a company with an office in town, I recently raised an issue. The issue was reported to the town council and was immediately discussed in the next council meeting. In addition, things like ensuring shops have accessability for disabled/handicapped folks are ensured by a council dedicated to the task. Building safety norms are reviewed and discussed and the list goes on and on. While there are dedicated full time folks who work in the town offices, the job of running the town falls on the residents. And it is taken seriously and there is a sense of pride attached to this seriousness.

Switch focus to a local Chennai Corporation division. It is divided and subdivided into so many categories. The local Corporation office in any subdivision is a cesspool of current goondas, goondas who have become 'Councillors', assorted riff raff and the 'mammool' hunting peon-all these characters dispersed like dust between the Raj era desks sagging under the weight of dog eared files that are held together with a thick two coloured tape that reads 'Urgent' if one end is higher and 'Ordinary' if the other is higher. 'Beeda' stains on the corridors are bountiful and the toilets are an example of the western world's stereotypical potrayal of third world disaster.

The solution to this problem is not going to be easy. I am thrilled by privatization of a lot of governmental organization. Stock holders do not have patience for the riff raff. But that still does not address the issue of civic sense. Our eyes need to open to it as a collective. I am curious to see the effects of the new concept of walled private townships such as the Magarpatta township in Pune. I can only see this working if the results and the news of success in smaller areas percolates through.

Summer is here

2005-06-06T22:19:00.000-04:00

There are signs that summer is here. Memorial day has passed. There is green everywhere. Shorts are the norm. The weekend was great. The little guy got to go with us to his first movie- 'Madagascar'. While he was entertained the dark atmosphere and the act of him having to sit in a seat for an hour and half prompted him to start getting drowsy, not to mention that the afternoon show was in time with his usual 'naptime'.

I need to be your friend mister!

Enjoying 'ikeecoam' at Kimball Farm

And if this is not a sign then what is? A clear balcony with no snow on it, greenery in the background and a refreshing beverage in the foreground.

Enough said

Interesting wikipedia

2005-06-06T21:55:00.000-04:00

The more I read wikipedia, the more engrossing it gets. It is especially, fun to read a hyperlinked encyclopaedia. The cool part is that it also has references to external sites at the end of each article. Found a link on this article to an mp3 version of Jana Gana Mana. Reading about Rani Lakshmi Bai, ran into a link with information from someone who has researched her life.

Cricket articles

2005-06-01T21:20:00.000-04:00

Followed a link on a recent article on Wisden Cricket Asia and ran into Mike Marqusee's webpage. It has a good collection of his articles in various cricket magazines as well his opinions on varied other subjects. Most interesting was his article on Ganguly which I find to be precisely reflective of my opinions on the Indian captain. I love the fact that an Indian guy is known for his 'in your face' attitude. His record as Captain backs him up too. He may not be the best batsman in the world but he is an authoritative sight to watch when he is in full flow. What I like more about him is his ability to score one day centuries AND stay on after that till the end to ensure the job is done- a quality that, sadly, Tendulkar has not shown over the years. Everyone reflects on the efforts of Kaif and Yuvraj in the huge Natwest Trophy win, which were spectacular to say the least, against England but after I watched that match, the guy who began the Indian response to the huge English total and made it clear that it was definitely within grasp was Ganguly. The start that Sehwag and Ganguly gave that day set the momentum of the response. Another stellar example of his leading from the front was his century in the last series in Australia. The message sent during that first Test was clear-the team was there to compete AND the man considered the weakest link in the Indian batting line up can come up with a strong response. That match and the series could have been India's if not for the rain. The man is definitely ageing and my hope is that he has one more good season with the bat and as a Captain before he retires.

English words mangled by Tamil cinema/other media

2005-05-30T22:05:00.000-04:00

Tamizh cinema, dramas and other media have their own unique pronunciation of English words. A few that quickly come to mind:

comebaynee(cum-bay-nee)-company
maynayger(may-nay-jur)-manager
motahrbike(moat-ahr-bike)-motorbike

Is this the result of reading out the English words after writing them out in Tamil?

2005-05-30T21:51:00.000-04:00

Walden Pond in Concord, MA and Revere Beach in Boston.

We wrote 'Pradhyum' in the sand.

Learning to fly

2005-05-25T20:05:00.000-04:00

The picture speaks for itself. The guy has learnt to climb, run and jump. Now, he has the confidence and control to fold his legs back during a jump.

Testing an email blog.

2005-05-24T09:53:00.000-04:00

Changed settings so that blog posts can be emailed. Testing to make sure this works.

The nerd test

2005-05-14T16:00:00.000-04:00

Curiosity got the better of me and I took it.

A new recipe

2005-05-09T20:26:00.000-04:00

Been trying new recipes recently and one that I worked out yesterday seems like a keeper:

Ingredients
1 Packet of Tofu which can be cut into patties- which comes salted.

Marinade:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
quarter cup of fresh cilantro
1/2 table spoon fennel seeds
1/2 table spoon cumin seeds
1 green chilli.

Chop up the cilantro and chilli. Add them to a container with the fennel and cumin seeds. Pound the mixture together until it is nice and blended- almost chutney like. Add to this the olive oil and mix well.

Slice the tofu into patties. Pour the marinade onto a flat tray and lay out the tofu patties into the marinade. Make sure both sides get an even deal. Let this marinade for about 30 mins.

Grease the base of a non-stick pan with some more olive oil and heat it up. When ready, fry the patties till golden brown.

The result was pretty delicious especially when served hot. We have to work out the right chutney/sauce combination to go with it. Intuitively, mint chutney or even a tamarind chutney sounds like a good match.

The week in perspective

2005-05-01T19:45:00.000-04:00

A toddler today is probably aware of so much more than years past. Been noting the vocabulary of ours as it grows and it includes words such as compuuuuter, cell phone, TV, monitor, laptop, channel, CD, DVD, etc. Add this to his fascination of dinosaurs and it grows to include diplodocus, t-rex, velociraptor, stegasaurus, eorapter, maiasura, bracchiosaurus, triceratops, etc.

Been one of the more boring weeks and least boring weekends. Cricket season has started at last but our first game was washed away by rain. The ground and pitch were just too soggy and we split points with the other team. The team does have a new feel to it with a lot of regulars now having moved on and a few new faces. The loss of the game meant the gain of a practice. Back to back games next weekend and hopefully we will be ready.

Toronto and Niagara

2005-04-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

A great 4 days in Toronto. We were totally amazed by the size of the Indian and specifically Tamil population there. Street and shop signs in Tamil abound and it is very easy to find a 'Bhavan' serving food. Music and video CDs are easy to come by and relatively cheap too. For the first time since we bought our digital camera, I ran out of space on the card. The weather held up well and it was warm and sunny, however, it was hazy and it showed on the quality of my pics. Shot panoramic pics around Niagara, Toronto and even of the view from our hotel room. The room was great with a close up view of the runway at Pearson airport as well as of the adjoining golf course. Planes zoomed overhead all day long real up close and personal. Lesson learnt is that I really need a tripod if I am going to shoot panoramic pics.

The view below is from our hotel room close to the airport.

Panoramic view of Niagara. Just as I was shooting the pic, a lady walked into the frame of the 3rd shot and stood where I would have liked my wife and son to stand.

Panoramic view of Toronto from the top of the CN Tower. This is not a 360 degree view, however.

A view of the American Falls. There was still ice and snow at the base of the falls.

Four days in Canada

2005-04-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

The last day of our vacation in Toronto. This was a lot of fun and very relaxed. The weather held up very well and it was the perfect time to go down to Niagara. Absolutely spectacular. Need to post pics.

Off to Canada

2005-04-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

Our first trip to Canada. Hope to capture some great pics in and around Toronto. This should be a good experience.

A fine weekend

2005-04-10T21:02:00.000-04:00

Great weather! Getting into the 70s, nice blue skies and sunny weather. Start of cricket practice. The Indian women lost in the World Cup cricket final, the Pope was buried and Indian men lost a game to Pak. After a long time we went out to an Indian restaurant in town- Bollywood Grill in Andover. We promptly volunteered to take the buffet option and while it was no bigger in variety than what we would make at home, there was an interesting chicken jalfrezzi. We have been in the doldrums overall for a while now, being stressed out over various things such as our friend passing away, our upcoming trip to Canada and the usual work related stress. The Indian news sites are having a field day now with the India-Pak series, the F-16 deals, etc. I am still confused by their attitudes. They still cannot seem to make up their minds whether to woo the U.S or oppose it. But it does read for comic relief. Start of the cricket season. Met up with the guys and all of us are just as badly out of shape as the other. Knocked a few catches to each other and the guys were dropping lobbed up dollies. Took the little guy to a small playground close to home and let him play on the swings and slides. Shot pics of him in action. Am all gung ho about the release of Chandramukhi and Mumbai Express next week. Another interesting find this weekend. I picked up a 6 pack of pale Ale from J.W.Dundees and after opening the beer, found it to be an Amber. Now, this is very interesting since I am fairly sure that this is not by mistake and there is something intentional about it. Need to research this. Now Reading: Life of Pi, God of Small things, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Bubble time...

2005-04-03T20:16:00.000-04:00

Photos from yesterday

Hints of Spring

2005-04-03T20:10:00.000-04:00

So, the weather is finally starting to get less cold and the last week has been almost spring like with temps reaching the 60s. Time to start enjoying that balcony of ours again. Shot a few pics outside yesterday and today when the little guy was out playing with soap bubbles.

Month long blog pause

2005-03-27T21:45:00.000-05:00

A blog pause that lasted a month. What a month, probably one of the saddest I have had. Losing a friend isn't easy at all.

Saturday winter sunset.

2005-02-27T18:50:00.000-05:00

Watching the sunset. 'Appa, why did the sun fall down?' was his query after observing the phenomenon.

Budddddeeeeeeeessss!

The view of the sunset from our bedroom on a cold clear winter day.

Absolutely random...

2005-02-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

A full round of the flu in the family. More snow, more snow pics. Tax prep time. Learning more about J2EE, VOIP, Asterix Open source PBX and about jobs, real estate in Canada. What a week!

The Oscars are tonight and the Indian news sites such as rediff, samachar have been rife with rumour about Aishwarya Rai presenting an Oscar- an honour, as noted by one of them. On the one hand these sites are jumping on every opportunity to criticize the USA and on the other they gloatat every every nod and smile that the USA effects in the direction of India. It might be ages before I manage to figure out what really is their stance.

The NASA examination fiasco: News agencies all over the world including the BBC fell flat on their nose on this one. No one has outlined clearly, however, why this kid and their family concocted this out-of-this world story.

Browsed the web for websites of IIT alumni associations based in Canada and interestingly enough the only one I found was a broken link on the IIT MAANA website. Nice!

John Wright has served his notice of intent to leave after the Pakistan visit. India's first foreign coach and what a difference he has made! Speaking of the Pakistan tour, the hype continues to be built up- Inzamam now pleading to his team to avenge their home loss earlier this year, the photo sessions of Ganguly and Inzamam in battle armour and who knows what else the ad media is cooking up back home.

The 42nd Mersenne prime has now been confirmed as found!

42nd Mersenne prime probably found

2005-02-19T17:57:00.000-05:00

Found a couple of sites with some very interesting information. Appears that the prime was found by the GIMPS project(a SETI-like distributed computing project). This sitehttp://www.utm.edu/research/primes/mersenne/ has a lot of information and history on Mersenne primes.

An interesting list is the one about conjectures and unsolved problems.

Photos that I just didn't do a good job of.

2005-02-14T21:45:00.000-05:00

A few great photo situations but those where I really messed up the actual photo.

A night time view of the 'comfort control panel' in our car.

Mother and son

Father and Son.

Definitely need better focus and composition.

During my morning commute...atleast my excuse here was that I was driving.

The rendering of Eastern philosophical thought in the Star Wars movies.

2005-02-13T20:55:00.000-05:00

Watched the movie 'Star Wars Episode 2- Attack of the clones' today on DVD. I had watched the movie in the theaters when it was released several months back and decided to refresh my memory. The concept of the 'Force' and the characterization of the Jedi seem so suggestive of Eastern Philosophical thought. Did some casual browsing to see if I can get any clues to the motivations behind the characters and found several references to George Lucas being strongly influenced by Joseph Campbell, who himself seems to have been influenced by a man who was a renowned indologist- Heinrich Zimmer. The strong resemblance to Eastern religion and the similarities of some characters and storylines to Hindu mythology is not confined to this movie. Another recent blockbuster that comes to mind is the Lord of the Rings. While consensus might be that Tolkien was influenced by the storylines of the Kalevala, one cannot but admire the striking similarities of the characters to the Pandavas. There is the deposed King who is the rightful heir to the throne, the strongman who wields an axe, the flamboyant archer and the two-of-a-kind Frodo and Sam who seem to map to the Nakula and Sahadeva. The storyline of a group on a quest encountering staggering impediments along their path is not new either. The guiding light of a spiritual guru and elaborate storylines that explain the alliances and enmities between various kings are so recollective of the Mahabharatha. The slaying of the dark commander of the evil armies, a wraith who could be slain by no man, by a woman was to me a fascinating rendition of the slaying of Bhishma.

The interpretations and renditions of the Hindu classics in Western movies, literature and other forms of publicized thought seems to be pretty widespread-from the obvious 'Legend of Bagger Vance'(which was basically the Bhagavat Gita, with the hero-Matt Damon- even revealingly named R.Juna!!) to less visible and probably even ruthless plagiarizations. The mood seems to swing from the Beatles style 'it is cool to be Indian' to the hippie style 'we need to be High to be Indian' to the more practical, 'let us just use the good ideas that came from India'. The willingness to attribute the source of the inspiration, however, does not seem to readily take a visible form. The motivations for the reticence towards acceptance are indeed a puzzle to me.

Back in 1985, my father bought a one year old, shiny red Maruti Suzuki 800. The Maruti was an almost revolutionary newcomer to the Indian car market at that time and it was met with immediate competition by a rather similar minded car called the 'Dolphin'. The car stood out on the Indian roads amongst the lumbering Ambassadors and the 'forever in second place' Fiat Premier Padminis. My father was proud of his buy and the whole family very much enjoyed our rides in this peppy little car, which at that time was the Porsche of the Indian roads. Needless to say, we took a lot of long road trips on that car. A little competition developed between my father, myself and my little sister. The competition was to see who would be the first one to spot the next Maruti on the road and yell out 'Maruti Suzuki'(which in the heat of competition quickly evolved to 'Martiisskii')-with negative points for getting confused by a 'Dolphin'. The funny thing was that(and to cut short what appears to be a rather verbose segway from my original point of discussion), within a very short period of time, it appeared to us that everyone and his uncle owned a 'Martiiskii'. Is my spotting of 'Indianness' in just another real fun movie just a natural consequence of being of that nationality?

BBC America now airs an old TV series called 'Goodness gracious me' starring Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal. Some episodes are indeed very funny with several having a recurrent theme. One theme that comes to mind is a vignette that features a disgruntled, middle aged Indian living in Britain with a grown up son who was born and brought up there. The father character obsesses about the origins of everything being Indian with one hilarious scene showing him compulsively wrapping a turban on a bust of Shakespeare in a city park. Is my spotting of 'Indianness' is just another real fun movie just a real world example of this stereotype?

What I really think is that usage and reinterpretation of ancient thought in a different context is not really new to our times. Examples abound to support that. The interesting exercise for me to pursue will be to sufficiently educate myself on what really is Indian thought and what the factually proven influences have been. I have used the words 'Indian' and 'Hindu' rather interchangeably and while that is not to exclude Buddhist, Jain, Islamic and other thought, it is intended to represent a class of thought processes with the 'Hindu' word representing that sense of inclusion.

The local team won the national club championship

2005-02-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

The locals are going ga-ga over here after the New England Patriots won last night. My interest in American football gradually increased over time and waned just as rapidly, so much so that not only I did not feel like watching the game yesterday but also did not switch channels to catch the half time show last night. The more I watched this game, the more it seems like a ruthlessly plagiarized, over dramatized, super hyped game. I started following the game with genuine enthusiasm once I understood the rules and actively followed my favourite teams, so much so that on some weekends, I followed multiple games at the same time on all available Tv/radios in my apt. I have started to follow baseball a little more closely over the past 2 years especially given the good seasons that the Red Sox have had. That game, although just as bad a replica of another more popular sport, atleast seems to be more natural and hard to play. But American football on the other hand, seems like a contrived outlet for militarily inclined mindsets. The terms, the phrases, the rules and then most aggravatingly, the commentary. From John Madden's excruciating stating of the obvious to the trash-talkers-in-suits that consitute the 'analysis' panels the only focus of the commentators seems to be to hype the sport come what may. Some quotes that I have actually heard on TV include astute observations such as 'He is a football player' and the oft repeated analysis on why a specific player who made one play in a 1 hour game is 'one of the most underestimated players' in the league. I have actually heard this praise sung so many times that it is time that one seriously questions the judgement of the people who are doing the 'estimating'. Quarterbacks throw 'strikes', teams combine in the form of 'offensive', 'defensive' and special team units, there is aerial reconnaisance and photography, there are 'battle' planners a.k.a coaches, there are radio communications, there are medics and the heroes become 'warriers' while cheerleaders hoot their praise from the sidelines. However, at the end of the day, these guys are playing a funnily different game of rugby in full body armour and tight pants(the juxtaposition of these skin tight pants and the macho symbolism around the game never ceases to tickle me)! After the hype, the glamour, the money and the steroids start to wear off, my suspicion is that this game will slowly fade away. Baseball and basketball stand far better chances of extending their reach. But maybe I am over analysing this. What if the intention and the raison d'etre of this game is really 'sports entertainment'? Does that make the guys who play these any less athletes? Does it become any easier to throw a deep pass to a receiver on the full run? Should be interesting to watch the evolution of this game over the next 25 years.

A shot in the dark...

2005-02-05T23:15:00.000-05:00

Bumped up the resolution on my camera to the highest possible level. Bright, almost warm, sunny day. Good day for pics. The little guy was more than willing to pose but was just not able to keep still. Managed to catch a few nice shadows in the snow and finally, my long planned shot in the dark of the highway. It didn't come out as well as I would have liked it to but nevertheless was worth the effort. What was interesting is that it showed a 'Doppler effect' in light- the cars closer to me are virtually non-visible.

Watched the movie 'Ayutha Ezhutthu' finally. Found it to be a pretty good movie except for the music and soundtrack which was almost non-descript.

More wet snow

2005-02-04T19:06:00.000-05:00

Captured some more pics after some wet snow fell last night. This is the kind that is good for building a snow man. It is already starting to thaw today, hopefully some will still remain on the trees when the sun comes out tommorrow.

Funnies

2005-01-31T22:00:00.000-05:00

As mundane as this sounds, I rediscovered jokes.com again and looks like it is owned now by Comedy Central. Pretty funny stuff in there that is rated too. I remember checking this out way back in the early days of the internet...and as obvious as it sounds in its content, forgot about it altogether.

Learning about Alexander. The great????

2005-01-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

Recently, watched the movie Alexander. The fact that the movie showed Alexander being defeated by Porus(or was it???... nevertheless, it showed a man on an elephant with tribal/warlike markings so inconsistent with anything that can be associated with Indian culture). That surprised me. The story that we were exposed to as children was one of chivalry and friendship between Alexander and Purushottaman(Porus). Alexander, as per our school text books and Bollywood, defeated Porus but was more impressed by the defeated King's bravery and let him be.

Reading more about Alexander on the internet and the theory of his defeat, it appears that there is pretty strong evidence of his defeat in India. Also interesting is that Indian 'history' really does not feature the exploits or even the existence of Porus until the clash with Alexander. Two questions arise- why was the story of Alexander's defeat altered and why are Indian school text books still shamelessly doling out the 'translated' theories on Indian history provided by biased historians of the Raj era? Been reading a lot more about the interpretations of Indian history as provided to us from the Colonial times. It appears most of what we learnt was wrong- the Indus valley civilization was much older than what the Colonial historians wanted the world to believe. Reading and researching a lot more, I understand that the existence of the Saraswati river is now established scientific fact. Now, the denial of the existence of this river seems to have been a cornerstone of historical theory provided in the past. It allowed a lot of Indian history to be relegated to mythology, it allowed the timelines to be suitably altered to suit theory rather than scientific fact. So, why this extreme obsession of lowering the age and achievement of Indian history? Why isn't there more focus on why the Greek pantheon of Gods so closely reflects the Hindu pantheon? Why is Bodhyayana's theorem still called Pythogorus theorem? Why do Aesop's fables so closely resemble the Jataka/Panchatanra? How come proven archaeological remains of Greek and Roman history are always found but those of Indian history are not? Why was the swastika found in the ruins of Troy? Why the institutionalized and systematic targetting of the movie 'Alexander' instead of, atleast at the minimum, appreciating the rendering of a different interpretation of history? How large really was this guy's empire in terms of land area and in terms of population under his control?

I am a history buff but not a trained historian. I can laugh just as easily at consipiracy theories just as anyone else can. However, when scientific fact is presented to contradict what really appears to be opinionated theorizing, my interest is piqued. There does seem to be a lot of interest in this subject, unfortunately, right wing 'Hindu' (what an oxymoron- how can anyone call themselves Hindu if they are intent on imposing their views on other people !!) groups are also just as interested and their websites seem more intent on warping the truth to the other extreme. This leads me to another point- why do these opinionated groups obsess about the greatness of ancient Indian culture? Why do they want to label the ruins found under water off the coast of Gujarat as Dwaraka before any evidence can be gleaned? They seem focussed on just proving that it was great as opposed to analysing what made it great and how to get there again. Why not focus on the applications of science and mathematics to make the future stronger?

It is going to be hard to collate the objective information that is out there. Nevertheless it is an interesting topic to browse the web for.

The tsunami song...

2005-01-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

Read an article in the news about an insensitive song being played on the radio about the tsunami. The people behind the airing of the song on that radio station have been made to apologize and have promised to contribute a week's pay towards the tsunami relief. I have a real hard time digesting this news and this course of 'action' which is supposed to communicate their remorse. I read the words to that song, not only does it show a thorough insensitivity and a crass sense of humour but also the thorough lack of understanding and awareness of even simple facts. What is more disturbing is that this seems to me to be a growing trend. Each time round a censure and possibly a fine seem to silence the media glare. I am curious about the upbringing and education level of these individuals. Did exposure to education serve only to make them literate? Are they apologizing only to reduce the glare of negative publicity? Did they stir up a storm only to get the spotlight of free publicity on them? There are 2 kinds of people at shame here-the rabble that wrote it and the kind that plays it. Do their apologies mean anything? Will they care about this a year from now? Overall, I am observing a wider pattern- it shows a slow, steady 'dumbing' of people. Lower levels of general awareness, less levels of logic, more compartmentalized and indoctrinated thought processes- a slow but steady degeneration. I believe that it is not fair to form an opinion about a general population based on the actions of a few but as the years have gone by and days of plenty have dimished, the literate but uneducated seem to be increasing and more active in finding excuses and shortcuts to try and defer the blame for their deficiencies on others. The manifestations are many- from dramatic, attention gathering 'stupid human tricks' such as the airing of this song to rantings and ravings about outsourcing.

But enough of ranting about bad apples in another country. What astonishes me is that how astonished Indian newspapers/tabloids appeared to be about this event. This from a place where it is not uncommon for people to be set afire in broad daylight. I am very patriotic about India. I criticize only to identify faults. We can fix problems only if we admit they exist. We cannot hide our logic behind the glare of a nation 'Shining'. What was seen as the response today to this radio channel's actions is hardly still seen in current day India-a recent event that comes to memory is of this guy at a Bombay commuter rail station who got hit by a train and lay dying on the platform as hundreds of people calmly walked around him to their jobs.

I need to think. Think...how can I do my bit to help improve this.

Another snow storm

2005-01-26T19:10:00.000-05:00

We got dumped with another 4-6 inches today on top of what we already had over the weekend. I made the decision to drive to work nevertheless and it was a bad one. The roads were the most slippery I had seen and the traffic was badly backed up. A lot of people at work, including my whole team, were smart enough not to risk the commute. Nevertheless, being a nice, snowy day, chose to snap a couple of pics on my commute. The snow was again a pretty powdery one and in addition, it was forming bigger flakes-which meant that the hexagons were readily visible. The drive back home was even worse as the snow kept piling up all day long. When all this thaws, it is going to be pretty nasty- a lot of localized flooding, is my expectation.

Toasty inside the car, cold, dark, wet outside. The snow flakes were melting as soon as they touched the windshield.

The commute...

2005-01-24T20:20:00.000-05:00

The monday morning commute after the 'big blizzard of 2005' really wasn't too bad. It was slow and slippery and the 4 wheels of my car did try to run away in 4 different directions a couple of times when I had to press the break a little hard.But overall it was a decent drive considering the size of the storm since a lot of people were wise enough to keep off the roads. A lot of schools were closed and the emergency remained in effect. The sun was out nice and bright. I carried along the camera expecting to get some good shots on the drive. The weathermen, however, seemed distinctly duller now that the spotlight, although temporarily, had turned away from them.They will get it back in the nightly news tonight since there really is no other news reported around here anyway.

The first pic was shot while waiting in the routine traffic backup at the Concord rotary. Objects in the mirror are colder than they appear.

The next 2 pics were shot on Rt 119/2A. Rested the camera on the wheel and just took a shot without even looking into the eyepiece. Was fully focussed on the road while shooting that.

The sky did ppprrrrhhhh...

2005-01-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

The storm is finally over and the sun made a brief effort to break through the clouds. This was just sufficient to provide some colour to the evening sky. Shovelling snow today was really not as bad as could have been for a storm like this. The snow was a powdery light snow and once I had it cleared out of the rear windows of the cars, I was able to back them out of their spots, bulldozing right through the stuff that was piled up against the rear of the cars. A kindly neighbour gave us a hand as we cleared out both cars. The snow plow guy quickly cleared out what we dumped on the ground and we are all set. Looking from our window, I can see the speed of the cars on the Interstate increasing. The highways will be just fine in the morning. The commute on the backroads will be a different matter, however.

The wind was carving out some pretty nice dune like patterns behind out apartment.

My blood red ear after about 20 minutes out in the cold and wind.

The view from our balcony. I liked the way it provided just enough light for a good silhoutte. The majority of the branches 'going left' in a pattern also caught my eye.

The road outside, a hint of the sunset can be seen in the sky and the reflection in the snow. This is the same road that I posted a picture of in the earlier blog.

Our first photoblog

2005-01-23T13:45:00.000-05:00

Photographs from the first two snowstorms of the year...including the blizzard today. I cannot wait for the sun to come out tommorrow and provide me with the lighting I need.

The tail end of the storm

2005-01-23T12:45:00.000-05:00

The storm has been true to expectations and there is a lot of snow. The winds have kept the snow moving, however, making it difficult to gauge the depth. The snow has piled up to the windows of our cars. Took a little walk out with my digital camera and shot some pics of the wind swept snowscape that is now our apartment complex. A lot of dark brown and white is all we see. The roads are eerily empty.

Given my hobby of taking pics with my little 2.1 mega pixel Olympus, I have been pondering adding pics to these blogs. I am not sure I want to download an executable just to upload pics...need to research the options.

It is just like Disneyland, folks...just that there is no ride at the end.

2005-01-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

Blizzard warning! A massive storm is headed towards the North East US. A blizzard warning has been posted for the Boston area. We are hunkered down and watching the snow pile up. It is close to 8pm now and we are already upto a 2-3 inches in the North West suburbs of Boston. The blizzard watch notification was officially changed to a blizzard warning. An emergency has already been declared in the Boston area and people have been strongly advised to stay off the roads.

This morning, I made a beeline to the grocery to stock up on the essential so that we can comfortably ride out the storm at home. Once I reached the store, I was amazed by the number of people who were just as intelligent as me. The sheer lack of space had forced people to park all over the kerb. For the first time ever, I found I could not get a grocery basket or cart! Grabbed as many essentials and while walking over to the 'Produce' section, was amazed to note that the queues wound all the way round the store and full circle around that section. Everyone just as intelligent as I was. The crew at the grocery store were using the public address system to regulate the queues and explain their actions to the folks around. Hassled, harried but still keeping their humour about them a comedian amongst them provided me with the title for my blog today.

The expectation is that our area will get dumped with close to 2 feet of snow. The words 'possible hurricane force wind gusts' are being bandied about by the routinely over-enthusiastic weather folks on the local news channels. A weather situation like this seems to be just what local television channels wait for. Even on a normal day, the average newscast is more about getting the rude intrusions of actual news happenings over with before getting to the main event- the weather. There is more weather, more times, every time. When the 'weather' happened, THEY were THERE-they pompously proclaim. The trusted news source, that each one of them reassures us that they are, spends more time talking about a predictive event-the weather forecast- than about a reportable event, a.k.a REAL darn news! We usually hear about a big news headlines from overseas from the Internet. Reflexively, we switch on the TV to see if we can glean more information. We have waited and waited and waited. It is just like being in a long line at Disneyland, folks...just that there is no ride at the end.

Our first 'joint PTA' meeting.

2005-01-18T00:16:00.000-05:00

Attended my first 'PTA' meeting at my son's daycare. In summary, our son seems to be everything in school that he isn't at home-a kid who sleeps by himself, eats his food without fuss and is fully potty trained. A wipe board in the background, which tabulated the kids names and their potty training status next to them, stared at me in attestation as his teacher swelled with pride and noted that he was 'fully trained'. 'A good kid who is doing great' is the overall report.

It is Martin Luther King's day and his daycare closed down half day. So, brought him home with me. We entered the house and as we took off our winter wear, he declared, "Appa pooo, peesh change diappuh.".

Archaeopteryx- The prehistoric bird of prey

2005-01-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

Archaeopteryx Lithographica- a prehistoric bird of prey. The archaeopteryx literally means 'feathered wing'. It was initially thought to be a reptile until correctly identified by John Ostrom in 1970. But unlike all birds, it had a full set of teeth. The strong dinosaurian characters, however, make it an example of a species in transition. Debate is still ongoing regarding its ability to fly. Found a great reference site about this bird http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/archaeopteryx/info.html.

So, I obviously got my user name wrong and right now it sounds more like the prehistoric bird of prey intruding into in an Asterix comic.

Pradhyum Dictionary

2005-01-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

A ready reckoner to make sense of our toddler's language:

higgli shugguhh - 'idli' sugar

waassssaaat - whats that

dinozhaush - dinosaur(s) , singular and plural

avovow - armadillo(this was upto age 2)

dissha mine - this is mine

keepithiieere - keep it here

va theeyer - over there

culluhhh - colour(crayon, colour pencil, etc)

chachichi - bath

crooket - cricket

vun - run

caussheee - coffee(upto age 2)

musshin - muffin

pa - paaal i.e.tamil/malayalam word for milk

ikeecoam - ice cream cone (generic term for all ice cream forms)

caiyke - cake

ficuss - fix

beeayar - bear (like polar bear)

appa beeeuhh - his father's drink of choice

aypant - elephant

aypane - air plane

chicken - a generic term for some real foods that he will eat(upto age 2)

notta babies - not for babies(e.g. things like fire, matches, sharp implements, etc). Used in conjunction with 'no touch' as in 'no touch, notta babies'.

I wight back - I will be right back(said with utmost earnesty combined with an authoritatively pointed index finger)

fasser - faster(usually in the context of encouragement from the backseat to exceed the speed limit. Also used to express general frustration with traffic jams)

kick up - pick up(as in 'pick me up')

fyeaah cwackah - fire cracker

caamwa - camera

Pabhum - an early version of Pradhyum.

Paedhyoum - current version of Pradhyum

voundavound - round and round

vun thee foh seven - one three four seven(his way of counting one through 10). In general, a phrase used to denote any number greater than 1 as in 'vun thee foh seven cow' to identify the presence of 2 cows grazing in a field.

ashashaeff - after shave

my sitihiere - my sit here i.e. I sit here(phrase used to express his ownership of the exact spot on the couch that his father covets)

too hot - generic reason for refusal to eat

too hot. I do foo foo? - An observation of the temperature of a meal that is not his and his general offer of help to cool it down.

sspiishheee - spicy a.k.a another reason not to eat.

puttashoo - put on shoes

yeaaaahhhh - yeah (a generic answer to any question we ask him such as 'Have you gone to Timbuktu?', 'yeeaaahhh')

no - his response to 'do you want to go to school'(aka daycare)

vessa(name) - where is the person mentioned? e.g. vessaamma-where is amma?

compatter - computer

Teeveevee - TV a.k.a television

Tihexx - T Rex (a dinosaur)

bikket - biscuit

peedtha - pizza

my do it - I will do it.

i'm tired - i am sleepy.

pouvva - powder

eggee - egg

ladu - laddu

jangi - jangery

gosshishhh - gold fish

crakka - cracker

dosshha - dosai

mamam - food

wrice - rice

unnnadhuhh - another

ammoush - animals

babilduhhh- Bob the Builder

Shayeee- Stanley(another Disney cartoon)

I did ppprrrrhhhh...

2005-01-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

First time blogger, first blog. Signed up, decided on an id and stared blankly at the screen trying to make up my mind about a single phrase that will summarize every message I plan to post today and everyday. My 2 1/2 year old sauntered up to me and declared his most recent 'achievement' in an emphatic tone- " I diiiid ppprrrrhhhh..."- and the timing was perfect. I had the title for our blog! Our blog-me, my wife and my toddler. A title that I think will summarize every observation that will hence be noted here. I did not make this up...this is all true.