There are so many things to consider when purchasing a pair of spectacles - the quality of the grinding, lenses, lens weight, quality of the frames, the weight of the frames, after sales support and so on. It probably looks like a simple walk-in walk-out job, but there really are so many factors to consider. It’s even worse when you don’t know every factor and the people you’re buying from, don’t either! Then you end up with a pair that costs a bomb, isn’t up to scratch and will either be discarded in a few months or just go on and break. Not much use, is that?

Here’s where Zenni Optical’s $ 8 Zenni Optical Rx Eyeglasses among other products enter the picture. Affordable and quality controlled these frames and prescription lenses are probably the answer to similar products that are priced many times more. I found the site to be particularly well organized, especially the part about your prescription. That page provides comprehensive and easily understood knowledge about your prescription and I found it to be quite an interesting read - they certainly have spent time and effort in ensuring their customers understand every aspect of the transaction.

Would I say you visit the site and give them a try? Definitely so!

Still think thin is beautiful?

Diet. Don’t kill yourself!

Here’s a post that should do some good - 100 snacks that have under 100 calories.

Interesting huh? Now go get a bag of onion rings and read the post.

Go on - check them out!

Check out this great post on HIIT here.

Good, isn’t it?

ready to face the truth yet?

Useful?

1. Start the day with one 8 oz. Glass of water before breakfast. It helps to get you on the right track for the day.
2. Remember your ABCs – All Bites Count.
3. Use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
4. To avoid snacking while cooking or baking, drink water or chew gum.
5. Build a food “treat” into your food allowance every day.
6. If vulnerable to snacking later in the evening, floss and brush your teeth. This will deter you from putting anything else in your mouth.
7. Track what you eat, calories, and other things in a journal daily. You can use it to find problems that may be hindering your success.
8. After dinner, clean up the kitchen and turn off like lights. If you feel the urge to eat something, you might think twice about actually doing so.
9. Before indulging, ask yourself: Do I really want this and is it worth it in the end?
10. When going out to eat, wear a belt. A snug-fitting belt might help prevent overeating.

Not bad huh? And there are 50 more where those came from!

This site lists the top 12 foods that actively fight body fat. Maybe it’s time for some fat fighting recipes as well huh?

Here’s a tool that should help - it tells you how many calories you need to intake daily, in order to lose weight.

Go check it out now!

Have you seen it yet?

This site has a ton of information on food facts, calorie counting, facts about weight loss. It also has a little tool on how to maintain your calorie levels. Quite interesting - check it out and see what you think!

The first page I’ve found is ‘How to lose 50 pounds fast within 5 months‘. Quite an interesting tool - it asks you for various details like your age, weight and activity levels among other stuff and comes up with a plan on how you can lose weight - fast!

What do you think?

The good news is that I’m already using a Firefox 3 beta and quite like it.

Back to pressing F5 on my browser till I get to the site. :-)

Sid

Well… why wouldn’t she, if thats how he looks like all the time.

After my country’s repeated attempts at shaming its denizens the world over, and largely succeeding, it looks like Indians settled abroad too want a shot at bringing us further down. As if pouting, haggling, spitting and littering wasn’t enough, I find Indian shops here have a well founded reputation of surreptiously selling expired goods at full price. Ah Oh! The complaining. The constant whining and complaining about England. Fair enough.

Lets assume the country sucks. Why the f**k are you still here dude?

Sid

Within minutes, there was a senior police official, a police car with regular staffers, two fire brigade lorries full of men and an ambulance at the spot. A few minutes later, blow torches were at work cutting the car, so the occupant could be removed. Volunteers proceeded along the length of the vehicles waiting, telling them that they would be here for a while, if they couldn’t turn around.

Then I think of the many, many cases in India, where people lie at the side of the road, slowly bleeding to death because no one could be bothered to take them to the hospital. Most of them are also robbed of their possessions, unable to do a thing to stop the theaves. The polices and ambulances come much much later if they ever do.

Indian lives are cheap I guess.

- Sid

I don’t understand this really. If a community are dumb enough to almost literally hold a nation to ransom over a change in their reservation status, for facilities that are archaic and of no real use, what value to they really add? The answer to that is probably colored with the philosophies of votebank politics. If they’ve go the numbers, they must be good people.

Guess our politicians must be totally against safe sex for certain communities - “grow man grow… then vote for me”.

Most thinking people probably despise them and chances are, the rest do too. When I see cars in Delhi with stickers loudly proclaiming ‘Gujjar Boy’ or something similar, I actually grimace and wonder if they’re making a power statement (We can screw your happiness and supplies anytime we want) or are they berating themselves (I’m part of a community that knows no civic sense and are so dumb, we require special reservations)? Guess they think they’re doing the former but actually indulging in the latter.

I’m in the UK now and actually feel ashamed of my country when I hear such news. I wonder when we’ll drag ourselves out of this mire and who will help us do it?

- Sid

Alright, we know India has a history of caste based discrimination. However, the current reality is that with advances in technology, economy and education caste based reservations simply have no place. Yes, we could create a pool for economically challenged individuals, however, why reserve based on caste? Many people of the so called upper castes are dirt poor. Vice versa, many people of the so called lower castes are stinking rich. Then why, I ask, does Mr. Singh continue to push the case?

He has succeeded in large part with his misguided cause and for a country which needs unification and eradications of castes and creed more than anything, has lent a large helping hand towards creating a further divide.

The other absurdity is that along with reservations, minimum qualifications for academic courses are lowered too. So, if you belong to a lower caste, you can gain entry into professional courses with lower marks as opposed to general entry students. You can get away with lower physical qualities if you’re seeking to join the paramilitary forces. So, the next time you go to a doctor, ask him if his place in medical college was because of his caste or his academic performance.

- Sid

His wife was quite friendly and a nice person to spend time with, perhaps a bit on the quiet side, but then he himself is quite a mild mannered person. The surprise of the evening was his 4 year old daughter. An unpleasant child, she was spoiled rotten and we were, quite honestly, shocked.

Never *once* doing as she was told, the child would lie on the restaurant table (where we proceeded for dinner) and kick, bite and scream on being asked to sit and eat her dinner. On one occassion, she went up to her mother and delivered a resounding slap on her face. The response: a mild ‘no, sweetheart’, without any hint of disapproval from the parents.

Now, I’m not advocating being harsh or whacking the child. However, the very least *required* is the presence of strong disapproval for the child’s actions - which was missing. How else will a child know he/she is doing something wrong?

While we would love to have these guys over again, we haven’t done so for the last 2 years, just to avoid the kid. That may seem a bit extreme, but you would have to see the little storm to believe there are actually children like that… and parents.

- Sid

But that isn’t the main topic of this post.

I saw a photograph where an injured person was being pulled away by his hands, head lolling and feet dragging. Is this where we are after more than half a century of what we call progress? We call ourselves a nuclear power and we do not have paramedics or emergency medical staff? We boast of a high degree of progress in the telecom and IT sectors that generates significant revenue for the country and we cannot afford stretchers?

I guess I should be thankful we have electricity for 4 hours a day. If the dimwits running the country had their way, we probably wouldn’t have that either. I’m wondering if our wimpy prime minister who always maintains a saintly expression on his face will note that we have serious issues with emergency infrastructure across the country and think of doing something about it. Then again, he’ll probably need the cooperation of the babudom, who seem to be perenially occupied with their own private agendas.

Sid

Whenever I’ve been there, travelling myself or dropping someone off, the first thing to hit you is the unorganised, undisguised chaos that we call an airport. Complete lack of trolleys, system or procedures, it is a national shame. When returning from a trip one time, I happened to look up and see the plastic ceiling peeling away, revealing wire and dirt lined insides. There are no facilities to speak of and maintenance is something its never seen. Bathrooms are filthy and unkept, staff are rude and unfriendly and all infrastucture is sadly ineffective, inefficient, in short supply and those too are on their last legs.

I felt ashamed of what we show others in their first glimpse of our country - guess our government officials have the shame bred out of them.

- Sid

So There.

Some people (read Norman Solomon) seem to be taking Dilbert a bit too seriously. Ok, so most of us identify with one strip or another at some time or another. Yes, it targets various people and blatantly tells tales of discrimination. So? It is a comic strip, isn’t it?

But our man (Read Normon Solomon) doesn’t seem to think so. He insists on making a stripper out of a strip (sorry, bad pun) and proceeds to (try to) tear Adams apart when he says downsizing is good for large corporations.

Read all about it here and here.

Guess some people just have to have opinions.

Sid

The first was a ‘Dr. Sunita’. Engaged in an honorable profession, she claim she wasn’t speeding. According to her, she was only ‘driving’ at 64kmph on a deserted stretch of road. The highest speed limit in Delhi is 50kmph. Silly, but thats the law. How she didn’t know that, I cannot imagine. She also says, there were no warning signs. If the speed limit for that road was a funny number like 35kmph and she was driving at 45kmph, one can give some credence to her point. However, if she’s over the maximum speed limit imposed for the CITY, then one can only say that ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law.

The other lady, Jyoti is a school teacher - supposedly an example to children. She stopped in a ‘no stopping no parking zone’, was prompt fined, and then says ‘I only stopped for a few seconds’. She might as well have stopped for an hour - its the same thing.

For a city the size of Delhi, we badly need proper driver training classes and some semblence of knowledge prior to receiving drivers licenses.

- Sid

It turns out that the parking chaps in Nehru place at put a paper cup with a magnetised bottom on the car bonnet for some reason, which had dislodged itself and flown into the bikers face. I could understand his irritation, but no amount of explaining could convince him that it wasn’t thrown out of the window.

This in itself is shocking. When someone takes the trouble to explain something, purely for human purposes and the other chap refuses to believe him, there’s something wrong in the environment. Is the level of routine dishonesty so high in Delhi, that people have completely lost faith in one another?

Finally giving up, I re-entered the car and asked the driver to proceed. The biker however, had other plans and wasn’t willing to let go so easily. He followed us for nearly two kilometres, mouthing the filthiest of abuses all along, trying to kick the car  and so on. He was angry and needed some outlet for his rage.

Quite unnerving. It also makes me understand that the incidents we’ve heard of, where one chap shoots another simply for overtaking him, can and do happen.

Recently, there’s some idiotic manager there who has become overly enthusiastic about his targets. He’s probably in charge of the resum writing business of naukri and also probably been well chewed by his boss for some reason. As a result, he has told his staff to throw caution, good business sense and fair practices to the wind and spam!

Yes, Spam. Naukri.com is a spammer!

They now send mails EVERY DAY, sometimes 4 - 5 times a day, advertising their resume writing service. I called up one of their executives - Pallavi Gupta. She says, that since mails are being sent from the back end, the only thing one can do is to make ones resume inactive, otherwise they will continue to spam me. Of all the stupid responses I’ve heard till date, this one is probably the most brainless. After I confirmed this, her voice took on a ‘go fuck yourself’ tone and she says ‘you’ll need to talk to customer support and this is the number. bye’.

Interesting business tactics. Since Sanjeev Bhikchandani has a captive market here, he’s actually given his team carte blanche to do whatever they need to, so he makes more money. The best part is that this chap actually gives lectures on business tactics and so on. I wonder when he’s going to include ‘SPAM’ as one of his ’secrets’.

What does one do?

There simply aren’t enough intelligent, well spoken, hard working and talented people to go around. I’ve spoken about McDonalds in the past - illustrating the kind of people manning the counter these days, as opposed to the earlier days - there’s a world of difference.

I hired this chap a few days back. Young, well spoken, talented and hardworking chap. Quit in 10 days because an interview with a larger company came through and it was apparently his ‘dream’ to be working for that company. Can’t deny a chap his dreams - but what about me?

One wonders what exactly is the solution. Should we remain outsourcing and broking outfits till a larger office can be purchased? Do we never think of growing and be content to remain where we are?

I’m thinking… why would anyone, the right person, work for a small company anyway. Yes, there are those who dislike working for large companies and other who like the energy in a start up and so on. I don’t think there are many of those going around and too few to come around anyway. Is it the maturity of a talent pool that indicates whether people can make a balanced choice between large companies and small companies?

Intelligent, well spoken, hard working and talented young person. Bah! Humbug.

- Sid

If all the incidents are laid side by side, you find yourself looking a group of people who are apparently devoid of any moral values, education and respect for law and order. You also see a kind of rabid clannishness, supersized egos and a viciousness that would be more at place in a hyena than a human being.

Can this be for real? Could there really be such a group of people, who share so many (negative) characteristics? You tend to believe these stories as everything remains the same despite coming from many different sources. I also remember that these are the same people who killed, looted, damaged and pillaged for a change in classification in our much celebrated caste system.

- Sid

So, thats what I did and called a certain Mr. B. Kaul, who lives in Sector 61, NOIDA. He picks up the phone, hears what I have to say, inquires about the amounts, says ‘Ok’ and then puts down the phone, without a single word of thanks.

While, one musn’t expect civilties like ‘thank you’ from most of those who live in Delhi/NCR, however, I would have thought an act of civilty by an unknown person would have brought out the human even in crude forms of civilized life like Mr. B. Kaul. He, in fact, went a step further - his tone conveyed that he was *entitled* to receive such a call, being the great person he is and that *I* should be grateful for the opportunity - simply amazing. Chances are, his descendents will imbibe the same set of values and amplify them further.

And then we wonder why Delhi is going the way it is. Mr. Kaul - if you’re reading this - think of coming back to the human race, will you?

Sid

Microsoft is amazingly consistent in the quality of their software - low or high - you decide.

Sid

Good.

… what worries me is that we have a very laid back attitude towards quality, processes, safety and most other such supposedly non-tangible areas - each time, every time and within just about EVERY native Indian and first generation immigrant. Perhaps second generation too.

Ouch.
Shudder poor world - you’ve got it coming.

Seriously, has anyone taken a close look at Manpreet Brar? Yecchhh!

I’m watching the Miss World 2007 now and guess what, India isn’t anywhere in the running. Perhaps our Miss Indias’ should try participating in the Aspen Derby.

And… China wins! Was she the prettiest of the lot - naah! Brainy? probably. Politically safest - definitely!!

Sid

At one level, I don’t have a problem - I’ve signed up with a website, which has my resume and so they’re sending me mails. No issues.

Where I have a problem is the idiots who send mails like ‘your resume has been shortlisted for a fortune 500 company, so send us the following details’. Big deal. So, you’re looking to fill in a position. The least you can do, is tell what the f*****g position is, where it is located, what the responsibilities etc. But no - most of these morons continue their practices, till they are at the receiving end of my highly toxic tongue.

For example, take this ass from a company called ‘Tech Drive’. He sends me a mail stating, ‘your CV has been shortlisted’. The mail goes on to explain why Tech Drive is the greatest and then says, ‘if you’re interested, send the following details’. Is this just that Mr. Lalit Kumar is too stupid to know how to send mails or is he so damn arrogant, that he expects people to jump up and respond immediately.

Stupid jerk-offs!

Sid

On the face of it, they are a normal family, with a retired father, housewife mother, daughter looking like she’s finishing college or just started work etc. Looking closely however, you find an attitude here that reflects Indian society at large.  They insist on using public/shared resources for any and every personal situation that comes up.

Need extra parking? There’s the neighbours slot, we can always park there. Work to be done in the house? No problem, just pile the bricks up in the neighbours parking slot. Family function? No issues whatsoever, just call the neighbours, ask them to park elsewhere, make holes in the road and parking, pitch tents, hire a DJ, keep the whole neighbourhood awake, don’t even have the decency to invite them and block the entry to residents of two apartment blocks. Whats more, the tents are cleared overnight and whats left behind is a garbage dump - plastic glasses, bottles of water, mountains of waste food, roads stained with oil, ash and coals from a tandoor and the rest of that. Appalling!

These idiots refer to their family as one of pandits and probably justify this kind of hooliganism using some kind of warped religious logic. They have two cars, a driver and have a respectable income, thanks to a son abroad.

Respectability, civic sense, respect and class however, are assets this bunch will have to wait a few generations for.

Of course, right on top of the roost we have politicians who again, are barely literate, are known criminals and never lose an opportunity to make a fast buck. Political workers damaging public infrastructure, minority groups indulging in killing sprees, politicians using every trick in the book to gain political mileage [the effects on the country be damned] and more.

One wonders - is the government really in control of the country?

- Sid

1. 7-Zip: Handy, powerful, accessible and fast, 7-zip is a great and better alternative to WinZip.
2. Ubuntu Linux: I’ve used a bunch of Linux Distributions. This is by far the best when it comes to end users.
3. Joomla!: A web based content management system, Joomla! is written in PHP, uses mySQL and is probably the best web CMS out there. Usable by end users and programmers, it has a very active developer community and is extremely easy to implement and use. It is also extensible as hell.
4. Audacity: Simple, easy to use and effective sound editing studio.
5. Firefox: Ever since I’ve moved from IE to FF, I’ve never, ever looked back. FF is highly extensible, it doesn’t crash (very rarely, and thats usually because of me) and is very very powerful, not to mention easy to use.

- Sid

After scouring the Internet for a workable and possibly free profile manager, IP switcher, I found the solution in Windows itself. What I now have is a little system of batch files and VB script that works perfectly well. So, in case they may be of use to other hassled souls, here they are.

System 1 works off one VBScript file and two batch files - one for setting the home network settings and the other for office. System 2 works off a single batch file that does the same after prompting you to choose a location. While they are rather simplistic with not the slightest bit of sophistication, they do the job. :) Note that my DNS addresses are the same for both locations, so that isn’t included here. Let me know if anyone needs to change that as well.

———- Method 1 :: SwitchIP.VBS

SwitchIP.vbs

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)
If MsgBox (”Are you at Office?”,vbYesNo, “IP Switcher”) = vbYes Then
‘ set IP for office
WshShell.Run(”setofficeip.bat”)
Else
If MsgBox (”Are you at Home?”,vbYesNo, “IP Switcher”) = vbYes Then
‘ set IP for home
WshShell.Run (”sethomeip.bat”)
Else
‘ quit
End if
End if

setofficeip.bat

@echo off
REM note the ‘1′ at the end of the netsh command
netsh interface ip set address “Wireless LAN” static <PC_IP_Addr> 255.255.255.0 <Gateway_IP_Addr> 1

sethomeip.bat

@echo off
netsh interface ip set address “Wireless LAN” source=dhcp
ipconfig /renew

———- Method 2 :: SwitchIP.BAT

switchIP.bat

@echo off
title IP Switcher
setlocal
set OK=N
:loop
set /p choice=Choose location 1[Office], 2[Home] or END
if /i [%choice%]==[END] endlocal&goto end
if [%choice%]==[] goto loop
if [%choice%]==[1] goto 1
if [%choice%]==[2] goto 2
set /p xxx=wrong entry, press any key to exit.
endlocal
goto end
:1
echo Setting up IP address for Office…
echo — IP Change Output —
REM note the ‘1′ at the end of the netsh command
netsh interface ip set address “Wireless LAN” static <PC_IP_Addr> 255.255.255.0 <Gateway_IP_Addr> 1
echo — IP Change Output —
goto end
:2
echo Setting up IP address for Office…
echo — IP Change Output —
netsh interface ip set address “Wireless LAN” source=dhcp
echo — IP Change Output —
echo Renewing DHCP Lease…
echo — IP Change Output —
ipconfig /renew
echo — IP Change Output —
goto end
:end

Its all included as a file here for convenient tryouts. SwitchIP Code Files

- Sid

Sid

Turned out to be quite a good movie, very different from your ‘boy meets girl’ stories. I *was* a trifle disappointed to hear that it has been ‘inspired’ by a Korean film. All said and done however, with the exception of a certain fight sequence where the Dutt is pitted against about 25 Thai not-so-gentle-men (*very* poor direction here), the overall movie certainly kept me at the edge of my seat and made for one memorable evening - which is more than I can say for most Hindi movies that come my way.

- Sid

- Sid

He might as well have said:

You must understand, just as men will be men, pedophiles will be pedophiles. And the little 10 year old girl, did look 16 didn’t she? So whats a little rape these days?

Atrocious, shocking and degenerate are some of the words I would use to to describe the judgment. Essentially, what it comes to down to is, if a child approaching puberty, who looks a little older than her age (happens more and more with every passing generation), happens to be on the beach, she can be ‘raped at will’, because the law and the supposed upholders of the law fully support it.

- Sid

Hello Dear

I know this mail will come to you as a surprise, nevertheless I am Mrs. Cindy Johnson, aged 54 years, the wife of Major Stephen Johnson. As a result of the on-going problem in my country,more importantly getting a trusworthy individual abroad to receive the sum of US$7million and 15Kg worth of gold dust on our behalf for investment with you in your country.

I am desperately in need to move and re-locate this huge deposit to your country for safe keeping and investment as partnership with you in your company. You can email me back for further clarifications. my direct emaill cindy_js03@yahoo.co.uk

Sincerely yours

Mrs. Cindy Johnson

It doesn’t have any reference to African countries, nasty dictators, dead peoples legacies etc. Just a simple request from an apparently respectable ‘British’ sounding Army officers wife. Ever the chivalrous gent, my reply was as follows.

Dear Mrs Johnson,

It is wonderful to finally hear from you. I have been awaiting your mail as Col Bradley intimated me that you may be in touch. How is everything and more importantly, how are the kids? Little Shirley must be quite the young woman now.

On to more pressing matters. The financial climate here isn’t very good at the moment. Which is why I have been holding on to $25,000,000 of my own along with a few dozen kilos of platinum bars for conversion into universal currency credits. Now that I have your contact, please consider a joint investment in your country. All I need is a security deposit of $2,000,000 from your end. But thats just business and I know you will understand.

I do hope you will give this matter due thought and priority. Please pass on my regards to Maj Stephen.
Warm Regards,

Sid

- Sid

Now, Joomla is licensed under the GNU GPL and is totally open in every way. While the basic point that third party developers should adhere to the parents license i.e. GNU GPL, is technically correct, I do not feel it is practical. In order to make a living off open source software, one has to sell something! Additionally, what motivation does a third party developer have to make better components if he/she isn’t making anything out of it. Sure, it feels good. However, in the long run, the component will die due to sheer lack of priority. This will happen over and over again… and who do you blame for it?

On the other hand, if people are given totally free and open software and asked to pay for it - no one will. Thats human nature, by and large.

Just thinking - if I distribute a program, that depends on a service on my webserver, is it still open source, as long as all the source code is supplied? So you get the entire program, but the catch it that is requires a webservice (read ‘certain libraries’) on my server to really function. It does do something on its own, however, the extended functionality resides on my server. If you can get it to run on your own, well and good. Else… buy a subscription to my service. I do feel that will keep it open source… or not?

-sid

I had been receiving quite a few calls from ICICI agents for credit cards, insurance and all kinds of crap. Registering on the Do Not Call registry didn’t help - I received still more calls. I tried registering again. No use. Sent a complaint from the ICICI Bank Website. HERE was the point of no return - initiating contact with the morons at ICICI Bank Customer Support.

ICICI-Customer Support: go register on the DNC registry
Me: I already have, twice
ICICI-CS: send me the number of the people who called you
Me: Here are two - XNXNXNXNX, XNXNXNXNX
ICICI: Sit tight and hold your breath. Will get back to you in three days
<three weeks pass and I receive yet another phone call, so I get on to gmail and shoot off a reply asking if his 3 days were up yet>
Me: @#$#$#$#@ #$# @@@
ICICI-CS: I’ve entered your number in the DNC registry again. Lets hope it works this time. If it doesn’t, tell me.

Now, that got my goat. My reply was as follows.

We’ve already been through this rigmarole before. What makes this time different? I’ve already done this twice. You’ve done it once more today. Lets do it every morning ok?

Yes, thats a great idea. At the auspicious time of 10:11am. In fact, to make it even better, lets chant religious verses before clicking the ’submit’ button and then we’ll crack a coconut on the keyboard. While we’re doing all this, we’ll light some jasmine scented aggarbattis and swirl the smoke around my DSL modem. What do you say? Cool huh? That should work. Even if it doesn’t and one of your pesky agents calls me again, at least we know we tried. Right? Then I can mail you again, and we can do it all over again. Wheeee! Fun! Now I have something to look forward to in my uneventful life.

I look forward to your views on my implementation of Reiterative Idiopathic Customer Support Technology.

Warmest Possible Regards,

Siddhartha Khullar

- sid

Interestingly, click here to download standalone versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. There’s also a nifty little tool (under 500k) called Microsoft Fiddler. Download it here.

-sid

As would normally be the case, after meeting up with the teacher, we lop over to the canteen for a soft drink and a snack. When you get there, it seems as if you’ve stepped into a Bombay slum. People climbing over others, pushing shoving, cursing, kneeing, ramming elbows… all in an effort to get their child a snack. The child, as always, is standing besides the spouse, quietly looking at Daddy or Mommy dearest, and learning how to (mis) behave. The dustbins are untouched. Instead, there are loads of empty soft drink bottles, candy wrappers and empty crisps bags littered all around them and in every other corner… half eaten food scattered around the normally clean and green school grounds.

All these people are supposedly from well to do and ‘cultured’ families. Makes you wonder what is our definition of ‘culture’. Reminds me of what a relative (call him Vinod K) said a while back - “Culture? Why, if you have 6 cars and a large house full of servants, you have culture.”. It was beyond the poor chaps comprehension that culture could be anything that cannot be bought. Small wonder that one of his sons greatest achievement is bashing up a chap, who asked his little sister not to throw stuff on the ground.

If any of you parents are reading this - there’s no hope for you. You’ll all probably remain animals, but do try to think of your child and the next generation. Try to limit your bhangi (hooligan) behavior to when he or she is not around. Ok?

-sid

1. Have healthy respect for workers and invest in their welfare such as health, children’s education, pension and provident fund; What about having a healthy respect for all classes, creeds and walks of people, not just your vote banks or your caste. How about respecting their right to strike free days and to violence free roads.




2. Corporate social responsibility is part of India’s heritage must not be defined by tax planning alone; Social responsibility? Ask your railway minister why he has 9 children, then lets talk about social responsibility.




3. Industry must be proactive in offering jobs to the less privilegedat all levels of the job ladder; Unlike you Mr. Prime Minister, corporates work towards building companies and not vote banks. Companies in the end, make stakeholders, share holders, employees and ultimately society richer. Vote banks only fill the pockets of individual netas. We therefore believe in providing jobs on merit, and not based on caste certificates. If we followed your advice we too would end up with ineffective bureaucracy, corrupt police force, absentee government workers and most of all, good for nothing politicians.




4. Resist excessive remuneration to promoters and senior executives and discourage conspicuous consumption; Why don’t you resist 10 car motorcades, huge bungalows and traffic disruptions everytime a neta wants to take a pee?




5. Invest in people and in their skills, offer scholarships and fillyoung people with hope in their future; Right… just the way your oh-so-patriotic Mr. Arjun Singh has done with reservations? We fill them with hope all right Mr. Prime Minister… however, we do so on the basis of their performance, not freebies. But then, we understand Sir. You do need a vote bank, else you get fired, right?




6. Desist from non-competitive behavior and operation of cartels bygroups of companies to keep prices high must end;One day Mr. Prime Minister, for just one day could you put your money where your mouth is. For one day, could you keep your own party honest? Forget one day, lets say one hour. For one hour, could you ensure all your party members followed the law. We are speaking of setting an example here. Why don’t you set your own house in order before preaching to the world?




7. Invest in environment-friendly technologies since India’s growthmust be enhanced and its ecology and environment protected for future generations; Right… and Mayavati is showing her colgate teeth to the world as a free woman because you need her votes for the presidential elections. There was this little matter of the Taj right… which has nearly been voted out of being one of the seven wonders of the world? Shame Mr. Prime Minister, hang your head, gaze at your toes, rest your chin on your chest and weep.




8. Promote enterprise and innovation so that Indian industry can makethe leap to the next stage of development;Absolutely Sir. And could you tell me how we should do so when we have to give jobs to those with caste certificates rather than brains. Also, if you could enlighten us as to why we should do so when you advocate that our salaries should be reduced?




9. Fight corruption at all levels since the cancer of corruption is eating into the vitals of our body politic; A-Ha! And who should know better than a senior member of the Congress Party?




10. Promote and finance socially responsible media, advertising and causes. Let me get this right - you want us to hire duds, reduce pays, promote the environment, stop leveraging competitive advantage and still finance responsible media? You have one heck of a sense of humor Mr. Prime Minister. Ok. Why don’t you get the strutting Gujjars to stop behaving like animals and an utter nuisance of themselves, and we’ll think about it. Ok?

-sid

A darkened By way-
Whispered footsteps,
Cobbled pavements-
Blind alleys - alley cats stroll,
And terror stalks the night.

Furtive glances
Darkened doorways,
Huddled figures;
Low-toned voices- conversations-
While Terror stalks the night.

A lonely walker,
Sinster shadows
Glint of Metal-
Muffled thuds, Bodies falling
As Terror stalks the night.

Lighted highways
Throngs of people
Coming - going
Sounds and safety - Civilization
Yet Terror stalks the night

Smiles and laughter
Gathering storm clouds
Leaping pulses;
Dark thoughts-danger-poker faces-
For terror stalks the night

Power-politics
Bodyguards’ sheathed knife
Cocktail parties-Hearty handshakes-hypocricies
When terror stalks the night.

Guarded bank doors,
Hurried lunches-
Boardroom feed back-
Doctors and ulcers-absurdities-
How Terror stalks the night

Boy friends, lovers,
Late night movies;
Backseats, motels,
Polished smooth tongue-rape-murder
Where Terror stalks the night.

Falsehood-mistrust
Insomnia-hatred
Ceaseless agony
Dead or living-a world of Judas
There Terror stalks the night

-Swagata Sen Pillai

-sid

While the book is being compiled into e-book format and should be available for download shortly, I’m going to post one of his recipes every few days. If you’re vegetarian, don’t hold your breath, since most if not all the recipes are non vegetarian.

-sid

The country must burn till this reservation system comes to an end. As such, only beneficiaries of this quota are the elite who have already minted crores of rupees. Thanks to shameful politicians like VP Singh and Arjun Singh - the reservation system, which was initially supposed to be a trial for 5 years, extended by 50 years, has become a major blot on our country. We must find ways to eliminate such politicians from the our political map.

The West has evolved after some famous revolutions. I guess the time has come for such a revolution in our country too. Else, like the Tsars in Russian and Kings in France, our politicians will continue to bleed the common man, who is neither a Hindu nor a Muslim. As a matter of fact, the common man has no caste… all are just tied together in helplessness.

-prashanth

Looking at the new depths Sikh leaders and their orthodox followers are now sinking to, I’m convinced the current world situation has no place for this religion in its current format.Its violent agenda and warrior avatar probably worked well in medieval times when their methods and base in ferocious strength was accepted and maybe even required. Today however, when a bunch of turbaned, bearded, unkempt and unwashed individuals brandishing swords shrieking threats of unspeakable violence, pace the roads of a modern city, what do you do?Administration and politicians alike are bowing down to pressure from these so-called religious leaders who think nothing of degrading and disgracing an entire community. A community that is rich in morals, distinct in a culture of its own and created through the extreme suffering and toil of thousands of individuals.

Tell me, why should I accept a community one of who’s prized traditions is carrying a knife wherever they go? Agreed, all Sikhs don’t, however, those who have partaken of amrit (figuratively) are held in higher esteem than ordinary practitioners… and one of the things they do is carry a knife and insist on doing so at all times! Some would argue that Sikhism is a martial religion and weapons are a part of its culture. I agree. However, since the public bearing of weapons is universally banned in most if not all civilised societies, what makes Sikhism so special, that its exponents fight for their right to do so?

I do not believe people with sufficient knowledge, education and culture will ever show the kind of fanaticism that these people are currently demonstrating. It’s mostly the unemployed, uneducated and others with nothing better to do who have the time to indulge in the luxury of demonstrating against an individual who chose to dress in a manner that emulated a religious historical figure. He may be wrong. He may have done so for socio-political reasons. Whatever. However, in a civilised society, there are well documented methods to address such issues and to register grievances. Use them.

The uneducated ‘vote bank’ will not remain uneducated for long. Sikh leaders have to take a close look at the moral and cultural base of the religion they believe in and seriously think of reinventing it for modern times and modern appeal. I don’t mean the rewriting of the holy books. I refer to an attitude shift. A gradual but sincere movement towards practicing the core of the religion rather than reveling in its trappings.

While this article has been prompted by the recent spate of demonstrations in Punjab - Islam, Christianity and Hinduism are no better. Each one is riddled with sects, politics, rivalry, corruption and need to be reinvented for modern practice and peaceful co-existence.

-sid

While I have ceased to be surprised at the extent to which SPK is capable of innovating when the need strikes, this incident was a little surprising. Please note, there are witnesses to this. Today, he felt like a cup of coffee and there weren’t any clean cups available in the pantry due to some reason. Not to be stopped by that, SPK, first quaffed some powdered milk, followed by a spoon of sugar and then topped both with a measure of coffee. This done, he poured the hot (not boiling) water he had kept in the electric kettle directly on top of the lot.

After a few seconds of gargling (to mix it all of course), he swallowed the lot.
On finding out that he was being observed, SPK is of course denying it all ever happened.

-sid

The next thing I know, Indu (my wife) is turning around and sleepily asking “What happened?”

Cherie is lying on the bed rubbing her cheek, crying and yelling “What’d I do? What’d I do?”

It was then I realised that the whole episode was a dream and the smack, which was present in the dream, had somehow propelled itself into physical reality.

Funny & Strange.

-sid
ps: I ended up apologising to Cherie most of that day.

Then there’s this chap I particularly liked - same channel, calls himself RJ-KN. Very popular chap. I thought maybe he would take on the matter and defend his channels reputation. Nope. Guess he’s too busy standing in the bathroom, making out with the mirror.

—————————–* UPDATE *————————–

I received a mail from RJ-S (above), who was really nice about the whole affair, and who said my mails didn’t reach her. I learnt that another department handles the prize distribution (probably the ‘Queen of England’ as in my previous post on the subject) and so on. She was also very helpful and facilitated the mailing of my ‘five star dinner’ coupons as claimed on her show.

I received the coupon, but they have turned out to be of some place, which I have never heard of. Maybe they expected me to be speechless with sheer gratitude at being given a pass to a restaurant that has absolutely no mention on Google (thats my measure of most establishments, so sue me!). I’m not. Anyhow, I’ve given the coupon away and hope it makes someone happy. Didn’t do anything for me anyway, since I was expecting a ‘5 star hotel’ to be the venue and not a no-name resto-bar seeking publicity.

Conclusion: ***FM indulges in fake claims, delays prizes, has people with lousy attitudes (except at least three nice people I know of , including RJ-S) and has absolutely no idea what ‘relationship management means’.

Looks like I’ll have to read the manual of my car radio to delete 93.x from its memory and hope that the brief exposure to lowIQ radio waves didn’t dumb down my car.

To insulate RJ-S from any of this, she was probably given a brief to talk about on air, w.r.t. the contest and she did so. Also, she went out of her way to ensure that another department does its job. I don’t think I could have asked for anything more.

So, what it comes down to is: There isn’t any mechanism the buffoons at management have installed to ensure that on-air claims filter down to their ‘prize logistics dept’ OR the ‘prize logistics dept’ is manned by the likes ‘the Queen of England’.

-sid

Sikh Strike: The Sikhs, a religion I used to hold and respect above all others till a few short years back. It too is now indelibly tainted by politics, short term vision and personal gains. The violence and reaction by the so called stalwarts of the religion says it all - can you believe it - they want to form suicide squads? Perhaps all those ’sardar’ jokes had something to them after all.

Better Business Anyone? For all the hullaboo about consumer rights etc, there really isn’t a single governing body where the grahak can go and jago.

Traffic: Vastly improved in Delhi, without a doubt. Try UP or Gurgaon one of these days. You’ll find grunting neanderthals, sorry, I meant jats and gujjars driving the wrong way, parked in the middle of the road, meandering through open highway like its their village backyard. Mercedes or bullock cart… doesn’t make a difference… they’re all the same, still spitting on the road and throwing banana peels out the window. If any of the mentioned communities are reading this and would like to object in a legal fashion… forget the courts, try the SPCA.

Ok, my BP is now down again, thanks to my moaning, groaning and non-stop bitching.

-sid

a short while back, while upgrading to the ‘fiesty fawn’ edition, i came across a great online VMX file (virtual machine configuration file) generator - http://dcgrendel.thewaffleiron.net/vmbuilder/. damn neat thing. so, all i needed to do was to tick the ’sound’ option, generate the file and copy/paste the generated vmx directives into my vmx file. quick huh?

yeah… the open source thing. imagine this, I’ve been using winzip for maybe 8-9 years now. not any more. i now use 7-zip (www.7-zip.org/), an open source archive tool, that (at least for me) is better than winzip… and its free. so much so, i’ve even convinced my parents to try it out and ditch windows and the ubiquitous office in favor of ubuntu and openoffice.org.

sid