Trip to Mumbai

I have gone to Mumbai last weekend on an official trip. It turned out to be quite an action-packed weekend. Entire Friday and Saturday were spent on official work, and not very adventurous. It has been fun but nothing special during this period.

The actual adventure started on Sunday, when me and Deepak went sight-seeing around Mumbai. Deepak turned out to have very keen eyesight. He pointed me to some very rare sights. We got complete view of basters at a couple of places. (FYI, a baster is a extremely skilled person who sews garment with long loose stitches). Then, we saw this person who(se) gave lace that was of finest quality.

Our flight back to Bangalore was scheduled for 6:30pm. We reached by 5:30, much ahead of time. But, there was a final twist in the tale. The flight was rescheduled a couple of times, and we ended up missing the flight thanks to Jet Airways not updating the status on the displays. We had to pay Rs. 500 extra and get into a flight at 9:30pm.

If you are wondering about what is fun about basters and lace, think twice. The words which are in bold and italicised are anagrams.

Shantaram: A compulsory in any bookshelf

I have just gone through half of this 950-odd page beast, and it finds its place to my bookshelf (see the side bar). A gripping tale concocted by Gregory Robert that leaves one spell-bound, or should I say book-bound.

The story is about an escaped convict, Lindsay, who finds his destination in the slums of Bombay. He settles in the slums and runs a first-aid center there. He gets involved with mafia, and later the Afghan rebels. He also falls in love with Karla, a Swiss national who settled in Bombay. He is christened 'Shantaram' by the motherly Rukhmabai, and hence the title of the book.

A definite read for anyone. It scores 5 out of 5 with me.

The Latest Craze

The latest fad in town is running in a marathon. There has been a spate of marathons in India. Believe it or not, Bangalore hosted two marathons: A Full Marathon in May 2005 and a Half Marathon in December 2005. I wonder what caused this sudden interest in marathons?

As I see it, people run in marathons for following three reasons

1. Give something to the society
2. Running is good for health
3. Just for the heck of it/Doing something different

One doesn't need a marathon, if the reasons are the first two. If it is the third, I don't see the person running for several times.

I checked the Marathon Calendar to see the international scene and found that there is a marathon almost everyday somewhere in the world. So, Bangalore is just catching up with world. I am unclear in my mind, about where I stand with the idea of a marathon. But, one thing is sure. I will never run in a marathon.

Life of an Injured Man

Thanks to the accident, I am forced to go around with a crippled gait. I got my dressing changed yesterday. The doctor informed that the stitches will be removed next Tuesday. Waiting for that day eagerly.

It has been quite an experience during the last few days. It is not possible to pass anywhere without drawing some sympathetic attention. Right from my house-owner to the security guards at the office, they have something sympathetic to say. I have no doubt about their good intent, but for Gods' sake, I have an injury which will be fixed in a week. Also, there are lots of jovial requests to play Table Tennis at office. Thanks to my injury, I realized that Rajesh, Jude and Deepti are capable of handling TT racquet.

There have been something positive about my injury. I took a break from office today, and what a time I had. I got to watch the brilliant batting by Pakistan amassing 353 in their quota of 50 overs.

Messrs Karma strikes

I had quite an eventful day today, which turned me into a strong believer in Karma.

I started the day at a Workshop at office. I walked out of the workshop in an hour, as my eye was watering continuously. I fixed an appointment with an opthamologist. With sometime left for appointment, I decided to go home. On reaching home, I realized that I forgot the key. Left with no other choice than going back to office. I was waiting to cross the road before my house (on my bike), when someone speeding on a bike rammed into me. He inflicted a single wound on me (leg), which had to be stitched.

Now, what do you call this, if not Karma.

కర్మణ్యె వాది కారస్య
మా ఫలెషు కధాచన
మా కర్మ ఫల హెతుర్ భూర్మ
మతె సంగొస్త్వకర్మిని

The above block is an excerpt from Bhagavad Gita, which means "Your only duty is to work without worrying about the fruit of your work"

My First blog in Telugu

I have tried to create a keymap in Windows for Telugu, which is my mother-tongue. Telugu has a complex grammar and I had some fun using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to create a Telugu keymap. I finally managed to create one, which was not working correct all the time. I then found this cool software, which does an automatic trans-literation while I am typing in English. I got that installed, and here is my first blog in Telugu. The software can be downloaded from Aksharamala. It comes with keymaps for several Indian languages.

నా బ్లాగ్ కి ఆహ్వనం. (It means "Welcome to my Blog")

New trends in language

There are new trends set in english usage with the increased popularity of SMS (related to messaging, not the person who sits next to me at office), and chat. I donot follow half the stuff in these messages.

I have been witness to this conversation recently

Person 1: Hey, Catch you at the movie
Person 2: I won't be able to come
Person 1: Gosh! That is bad
Person 2: What is Gosh
Person 1: Gosh is just something people use to express their feeling. It is something like shit

A change and an answer

Readers of my blog would notice that I have changed the address of my blog. It is easier to associate me with theproudvinnakota than scorpion-sting. I originally intended to discuss about music of my favourite band, The Scorpions, on this blog and hence the previous address. I have written about everything expect music on this blog, and so decided it is time to change the address.

People who know me, will understand the reason behind the current address. My surname is Vinnakota, which originates from a small village in Andhra Pradesh (India) our ancestors came from. I am proud and fiercely touchy about the surname.

Now, answer to my quiztime question. From the comments, I am not able to make out if anyone has guessed the personality. The answer to the puzzle is Raj Vinnakota. Yes, it is me who has done all those silly things in my childhood. I was short tempered for most part of my life. I have displayed some control over the last 4 years. Ofcourse, there is a still a lot to improve.

Quiz Time: Find the Personality

Find this famous personality based on the clues, which I found. The clues are related to his childhood. Yeah, the personality is a Male. Most of us know this person.

Clue 1:
Everyday in the morning, he used to wait at the end of the road. When the girl, who lived next door, passed that way for her school, he used to block her way and tease her. The girl complained to her parents. They informed to his parents. They threatened him, beat him. They tried every means of stopping this behavior. Nothing helped. Finally, the neighbours moved to another place. He was 6 years old when this happened. The girl was 5 1/2 years old at that time.

Clue 2:
He was playing with a group of friends (guys and girls). Suddenly he got angry at one girl and hit her with a brick. She had to be rushed to a hospital. She ended up with several stitches on her scalp. He was 7 years old when this happened.

Clue 3:
Once again, he got angry with a girl (Hmm!! seems to have a fetish of girls). He stalked her and filled her nose with a red chilli. The girl was crying for several hours that day. He was 7 years old when this happened.

Last Clue:
Who is this (in)famous personality

Let's paint the world pink

Combining the purity of white and the passion of red gives us pink, the color of gentle love and desire. Pink is also the color of many newborn animals. Pink signifies gentleness, and new birth. Pink has also been found to have a tranquilizer and calming effect within minutes of exposure. It seems to suppress hostile, aggressive, and anxious behavior. Promote peace and harmony in today's hostile and violent world by wearing pink.

Today - Deepti wore a pink salwar-kameez, Jude wore a pink shirt, Rita wore a pink shirt, We had Triage in conference room 'Pinky', I wore a pink T-Shirt.

I am contemplating on wearing pink shirt, trousers and undergarments one day. Also, waiting for someone to constitute a Pink Day, when we can paint the whole world Pink!!!!!!

A long reprieve

I am blogging after a long break. There are several factors like my vacation and long working hours at office responsible for this. There is a larger reason to this that I abhor.

From my childhood, I have displayed the trait of losing interest in any new activity, after the intial exuberance. I have played tennis for sometime before giving it up. One day, I had the idea of giving the Company Secretary course. I have registered for it and started on the first semester. It didn't take long for my interest to wane.

Luckily, none of this landed me in a sticky situation till now. I hope to develop the habit of evaluating properly before starting on a new venture. Till then, bear with me.

Game of Chess

Handling Relations and Chess have lot in common. You have to think several moves ahead to win in both. One needs to be a grand master in the art of handling relations to lead a happy life. Except when dealing with the nearest relations (parents, siblings) and a few other favorites (an empty set for most people), you need to be at the top of your form to avoid any serious repercussions.

You have to laugh at every silly thing they say, as if it is the best joke you heard (Tell them that it has been a while since you have seen them, and they respond that you didn't build a landing pad besides your home). You need to shed tears when they narrate their heart-wrenching troubles (Cable TV got disconnected, and they missed their favorite soap). You will be a spent force by the time they decide to leave.

I am ill-equipped at this game, and have decided to experiment with the following technique to counter my shortcomings. I put this here, as it might be useful to others. It is a simple three step procedure:
1) Plug your ears with cotton as soon as you see them.
Every time, they look at you and seem to be talking
2) For odd times, just laugh loud and say "Hahaha :):):), my stomach is aching with laughter".
3) For even times, cry out loud and say "Wah :(:(:(, I have no words to express my feelings".
That is it.

I will try this experiment sometime and post the results here.

Roll Call at School

Roll Call at School. Ever wondered what is its importance. It can change one's perspective to life. A person might end his life due to this seemingly innocuous roll call. What?? Take this.

Consider the case of a young boy whose name starts with 'W'. Cut to the first day to his school. He is all excited about this new world. He eagerly enters the class-room. Time for roll call. He waits and waits for his turn and finally it comes. Cut to the time he had his first son. By that time, he feels he wasted half his life waiting for his turn during roll call. He is determined to give his son a better life. He names him 'Aaaaaaaa' (pronounced Aye). He makes it absolutely sure that his son doesn't have to wait. By the time the son becomes young, he is totally distraught. He doesn't understand why everyone on the streets is calling his name (Poor Soul, he didn't know that Aye is a general means of calling out in India). He cannot handle such attention and soon gives up his life.

Consider another girl whose name starts with 'C'. She had her own share of troubles with roll call. She never had the added advantage students get by having to go later to viva voce's etc. She named her only daughter 'Zzzzzzzzzzz', again making sure that her daughter gets all the advantage. The daughter gets agitated at why her teachers fall asleep calling out her name (Teachers feels obliged to take a short nap every time they says Zzzzzzzzzzz). Again the fatal step.

Beware of the Roll Call....

Rain Rain Go Away

Rainy season is my favourite. But, too much of anything is not good. Bangaloreans are being subject to loads of rainfall. It has been raining heavily for the last 4 months, and more so this month.

Received a few snaps of the aftermath of these rains in mail today:
Snap of Hosur Road. Several software engineers, who work in Electronic City apart from other software parks, use this road daily.
Situation on Mysore Highway.
Railway Station.
Enough of rains this year. Rains go away. Come again next year.

The Movie Circle

I have watched 'Hulchal' on TV today. This is the first time I have seen the movie. It turned out to be a rip-off of the Telugu super hit 'Peddarikam', made over 12 years ago. Being an avid follower of Kappi-Man, the renowned wise man, who once said "There is nothing original in movies", I am not too sure if the Telugu movie was an original. So, let us settle on the fact that the Telugu movie was remake of movie X, which governed by the same law of movie-making would be a remake of movie Y, which... (Eh!! Are there movies made with a different story line at all??)

Imagine the tough job I have. I am an avid movie-goer, movies being a major source of my entertainment. I watch movies in four different languages. By the current trend, I would be reduced to the pitiful state of entertaining myself by watching the same movie in different languages.

A Selfless life

Let me first say something about my room-mates. For those who don't know, I share a flat with two other guys. I have been thinking of writing about them for quite sometime. Both the guys, with their idiosyncrasies, make our flat a fun place to live.

This is Rohit Kumar, a.k.a Muzu. He has been my room-mate for over 6 years now. We stayed in the same flat in Pune for 3 years, and then now at Bangalore ever since.

I don't know why he became a software engineer. He should have been a lawyer. Try arguing with him on anything under sun, and you will realize why I say that. I have given up arguing with him.

There is something else that makes him very interesting, and that is the amount of time he spends in self-admiration. He could give Narcissus a run for his money. Believe it or not, he applies over 5 different types of creams every day.


No. the topic of this post has got nothing to do with my roomy. Now, let me get to the topic in hand. Is it possible for someone to be selfless?? Everyone behaves selfishly, sometime or the other. I have lost count of the number of times I have acted selfish. We can only think of someone being low or high on Selfishness Index.

Aha!! There are one set of human beings who rank very low on this index. They are mothers. It is incredible to see how they put their children above them. They can sacrifice on anything for them.

Kudos to all the mothers of this world.

Freedom of Speech

Who am I??

What was the best part of the movie 'Spiderman'?? Special Effects? Action? There was something else in the movie which appealed a lot to me.

The movie starts with Peter Parker asking himself the all-important question 'Who am I??'. The entire movie is about the travails he endured while trying to find an answer. He finds an answer by the end of the movie, and the answer is 'I am Spiderman'. This aspect of the movie stuck with me.

I have tried answering the question several times, to no avail. I have been an achiever, farce, joker, freak, eccentric at different points in life. But no, I have never satisfactorily answered the question. My quest continues.........

Honest Intentions

Several members from my blog's female readership expressed shock and surprise at the previous posting (You know which one I mean). Some of them were embarrassed to read the post. I apologize to anyone who felt offended, although I didn't mean any ill-feeling.

I was mildly amused on reading the article sent in the mail. I might not have put my thoughts properly, but the posting was supposed to be humorous. Looks like I have failed miserably in my attempt to creating humour.

I will be careful next time around. Pardon femmes'.

Ogling Breasts Good for Health!!!

A colleague sent the above information in a mail today. It sounded great. Now, there is no need to struggle in gym. I can kill two birds with one stone.

After the initial exuberance, I decided to verify the validity. The excitement was short lived. The first hit on googling "Karen Weatherby", the researcher in the above article, revealed that this was a email hoax doing rounds from 2000.

Ogling Breasts Makes Men Live Longer

So much for the medical properties of female mammaries.

Quick Silver

Why do people beg?? Do they resort to begging when there is no other means of survival?? I honestly do not think so. It looks like begging has become a thriving industry. See for yourselves. On the streets, one gets a feeling that the numbers of beggars are steadily increasing. You are not given breathing space when you stop at a signal. They flock you from all directions and one has to shell out some money to escape from their constant perstering.

People, who don't have a will to fight, and who want to make quick money find this industry very lucrative. A few days ago, I read an article about a beggar who owns a couple of buildings. Still, he doesn't want to leave his profession.

Government should ban begging. They should allot some money (part of public money directed to their swiss accounts), to setup an organization which takes care of disabled/old people who have no one to look after them. There should be stringent checking that the deserving people are taken up by this organization. Ofcourse, I now that I am dreaming about an utopian government.

Watch out next time you give alms. See whether the person really deserves your support.

Bookshelf

I have now setup my bookshelf (see sidebar) as per my taste. I intend to provide information about the kind of books I read and what I think about them. The present bookshelf represents a fraction of my actual one. I have close to 100 books in my actual shelf. It will take a long time to add all of them here. I have made a start. Let us see if I have the energy to add all of them.

'Life for Money' or 'Money for Life'

A couple of days ago, I was having a conversation related to real-estate in Bangalore with my room-mate over dinner. Soon, the discussion entered into unwarranted territory. Ofcourse, the territory is money-related. Over the course of discussion, my friend categorically declared that he doesn't care about money.

Now, I wonder where do I stand related to money. Do I want to spend my entire life for money or do I want to forget about money for life. I guess neither. Having lots of money is great. At the same time, I don't want to make earning money the sole reason for living. Spend the time at work efficiently to earn lots of money, and party hard for the rest of the time. Carpe Diem baby.

My Best Shot

I had been to Munnar, along with a few colleagues, in April this year. We had put up in Mahindra Resort, thanks to the Himanshu's membership.

We were told there was a lake after a short trek from the resort. The trek was arduous and took around an hour. It was worth every bit. The lake was beautiful and the entire setting was mesmeric, as you can see from the photo.

I had shot several photos there. This was my best one. Enjoy the scenery.

Cricket Apocalypse

Wondering about the title. No, there is no connection between the two words.

Super Series between ICC World XI and Australia started today. It was a complete let down. World XI wasn't able to chase a paltry target (considering the heavy weights in team) of 256. They lost by some 90-odd runs. Mo was celebrating when Flintoff was out, not that Freddie could have done anything. Oh!! I haven't introduced Mo. He is my team-mate and an ardent Aussie fan. I am looking forward to the day when someone can de-throne the Baggy Greens from their Numero Uno position.

I have almost reached the end of the book, Apocalypse Now, which I am reading. This book is a first for me in many ways. It is the first Robert Ludlum I ever read. It is the first spy thriller I read. I should say I am not impressed by the book. It didn't manage to hold my attention for long spans of time. The plot was predictable at many places. I don't think I will pick a Robert Ludlum again.

Theory of Relativity

Kicking-off my blog with a note on my experiments with "Theory of Relativity". Since my 12th grade, I made several attempts to understand this masterpiece. I donot claim that Physics is my favourite subject (Mathematics takes that honour), but this didn't stop me from taking repeated stabs at this theory.

In today's TechTuesday, the topic of discussion was Theory of Relativity. I had gone to the presentation hoping that some of the secrets would be releaved. It started off on a great note. I followed most of the discussion. But, it took less than 15 minutes for my mind to wander away from the topic, as discussion moved outside the limits of my brain.

One more futile attempt. I hope to understand this theory some day.