Beautiful Fall

I spent this weekend taking pictures of fall colours. I shot close to two hundred pictures. Fall is past its peak in Bellevue, but it is still very beautiful. I will post some of the pics over here soon.

EVM Controversy Continues

This time protests during Harayan assembly elections by all non-Congress candidates over allegations of EVM tampering by Congress.

Template botched

I have messed up the template of the blog a bit. The previous template was leaving too much margin at both the sides. I wanted to increase the width of the blog page. So I have modified the template. However, I am not an expert at HTML coding (any more). HTML standards have changed considerably since the days I used it.

Right now the box that encloses the body of the blog needs to be widened. It is cutting across the middle of the page and appears on top of the text. I don't want to spend more time on fixing it right now. I will fix it later. Until then, I beg your consideration. And any help is welcome!

Clustrmap of my blogsite

Found this when I visited Churumuri. Let me see how it works.



I have now moved the Clustrmap to the sidebar (29-Oct-2009)

On Courage

When I changed the template of my blog, I used a new feature provided by blogger. It allows you to add any content to the blog page from a set of applications. I have added displaying quotes at the end of the page. I don't always scroll down to the end of the page to see the quote. Sometimes I do, like today. And I came across this interesting quote by Mark Twain:

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Well, now that reminds me of one of my favourite quotes of all time, which I have pasted on this blog before:

Courage is the price life exacts for granting peace
Amelia Earhart

Anand's Seattle visit

Anand, Mansi & Rishabh visited us last weekend. We had a great time. Unfortunately, it rained and we had to cancel our plan to visit Mount Rainier.

It was during this visit that I came to of Anand's newfound(?) hobby of photography. He told me about his blogsite and his site on flickr. Check out his extraordinary shots. I have posted one here (without his permission - Anand, leave a comment if you want me to remove it!)

A very good read ...

I have been updating links to news reports and articles related to EVM manipulations in my post that I wrote on 2nd August. However this article by independent columnist Coomi Kapoor is too good to be buried among a list of links. So I am posting a separate link here for greater visibility.

Do read and let me know what you think. That's very important, because democracy is about what we, ordinary (or extra-ordinary!) Indians think.

Ciao! Take care.

What am I listening?

I have read Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time twice before. This week I am listening to it while driving to office. I have now discovered the "new" concept (new at least for me) of "books on CD". I often borrow books on CDs from the library and hear them while driving to & from office. It's good utilization of time. Before borrowing A Brief History of Time, I listened to You are Broke because you want to be, It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks, and The One Minute Manager.

Hence I am enjoying my commute to office. And traffic jams don't bother me anymore!

What am I reading?

Jack London's The Call of the Wild. I found it on library shelf and borrowed it. I had never heard of the book earlier. However the subject of the book - Klondike gold rush of late nineteenth century, interested me. I had never heard of Klondike gold rush before my trip to Alaska last year. It was in Skagway that I heard about it as our tour guide explained us some of the astonishing and horrifying facts of the period. The Call of the Wild is about the savagery that humans have often subjected animals to and the shame thereof. Yet the story is told in an amusing way that keeps it light and humourous.

More ...

More demonstrations of EVM failings.


Poll panel allows petitioners to show EVM's tamperbility


And more

Chandragupta's research on EVM reliability

This is an excellent research on reliability of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which Chandragupta sent me by email. I would like to post it here for the benefit of all. Enjoy!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chandragupta Acharya
Date: Sun, May 17, 2009 at 8:24 AM
Subject: Food for thought.....
To:

For the second consecutive parliamentary election, the results have defied pre-election predictions. How can political analysts, psephologists, opinion polls, exit polls, independent surveys, internal estimates of political parties (as reported in the media) etc - ALL go wrong? How come the Congress is consistently getting more seats than what is predicted by all of the above? It happened in the 2004 election and again in 2009. I find it curious and wonder if this is the magic of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) .

A short search on the internet threw up the following:
First, a detailed presentation and FAQ from the Election Commission of India on EVM used in the 2009 elections, including its security and integrity aspects:
Election Commission of India
(see 'Presentation' and 'FAQ' link on the bottom right hand corner)

For the recently concluded elctions, EVMs have been supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad. About 1.36 million electronic voting machines were used in 828,000 polling booths across the country. An IIT Graduate from Pune has alleged that the EVMs are vulnerable to magnetic fields, but his claim is rejected by ECIL Chairman. See news report:
ECIL claim

BEL tried to export its EVMs to the US. But Americans rejected India's EVMs because they were not convinved the EVMs were tamper proof (This is from July 2004 - after Vajpayee's defeat):
EVMs not to debut in US

In US, the EVMs have been a subject of intense controversy, which is why US has not yet adopted fully to Electronic Voting. Machines can have problems such as counting some votes twice or making errors in adding up. (To be fair, the machines mentioned below are different from the ones used in India)
California Progress Report

Some people claim that the machines can be easily hacked.
Hacking an e voting machine

The first link below has several references to experts who claim EVMs can be tampered with, including a video which shows the machine making a 'mistake':
Independent.co.uk

WebIndia123.com

In fact, the following passage on George Bush's controversial election win in 2004 is worth reproducing here:
"Writing in the New Statesman way back in 2004, reflecting on criticisms of the electronic voting systems used in the presidential election that year, Michael Meacher MP pointed out that statisticians, academics and political analysts had highlighted significant voting differences between electoral districts that used paper ballots and those that used electronic systems. These cannot be explained by random variation. The investigators found a much larger variance than expected and in every case it favoured George W Bush over John Kerry. In Wisconsin and Ohio, the discrepancy favoured Bush by 4 per cent, in Pennsylvania by 5 per cent, in Florida and Minnesota by 7 per cent, in North Carolina by 9 per cent and in New Hampshire by a whopping 15 per cent.

Research by the University of Berkeley, California, revealed election irregularities in 2004 in Florida. These irregularities, all of which were associated with electronic voting machines, appear to have awarded between 130,000 to 260,000 additional votes to Bush.

The discrepancies between paper and electronic voting could be the result of simple technological glitches. But some experts detect something more sinister: outright vote fixing by interference with voting machine and tabulation software".

In fact, George Bush's 2004 election turned controversial precisely because the actual results turned out to be different from what exit polls predicted:
George Bush's 2004 election

Here is an 8-part interview series with Stephen Spoonamore, a US security expert who explains why electronic voting is inherently unsafe:
Stephen Spoonamore on youtube

Or read this book "Black Box Voting" available free on the internet on the website given below, written by two US computer security experts:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

In the US, Voting machine security audits have uncovered serious vulnerabilities:
California voting machine security tests cover serious vulnerabilities

Food for thought.
-Chandragupta

Did Congress rig Lok Sabha elections by manuplating EVMs?

Many people expressed doubts on the results of recent Lok Sabha elections. Now we are reading something "official" about such possibilities. Read - Was Election 2009 rigged? on rediff.com.

What the h##l is Twitter?

Like me, I am sure you would have heard of Twitter. Like me, I don't whether you are ignorant of what it is. I was browsing the Net and somehow ended up on Twitter. So I said to myself, 'why not create an account? And I will soon find out what Twitter is.' So that's what I have done. While registering, it asked me whether I want follow some other Twitter users and gave some options. I have chosen to follow CNN and Time. Hopefully, I will soon find out what Twitter does.

By the way, it's Friday night. We will travel some place tomorrow, but haven't decided where. We have two options - Mt Saint Helen's and Mt Baker. I think Mt Baker is more beautiful, but I am tending towards Mt St Helen's because I have all the information about where to go and what points to see. We plan to leave tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. We will decide where to go in the morning. Well, I better go to sleep. It's close to 2 a.m. and I will have to wake up at 6 a.m. in the morning.

Bad web design - 1

There are some websites with good design and some with very bad design. Sometimes one wonders how very basic things are not considered while designing websites, even by leading websites. One example I came across today was of LinkedIn main page. By and large, LinkedIn is a successful and user-friendly site. However it's main page LinkedIn.com has one major flaw. It has fields for new user creation, but only a link to open the login page for registered users. Now, every person who comes to LinkedIn will be new user only once. Every time after that the user will have to click twice before being able to login. Isn't this is a very basic thing that a website like LinkedIn should get correct? I wonder these guys miss it.

What's the news?

I haven't written anything in more than two weeks. So let me give you a brief update of what's happening over here.

The days are getting longer and longer. There is natural light even after 9 p.m. I am really glad about it.

It hasn't rained in more than ten days. Not only has it not rained, we haven't even had a overcast day. It's been sunny for several days at a strech. This is not normal for Seattle weather. Shouldn't I be glat about this too? Well, yes and no! I am glad it's sunny and not raining. But I wish it would rain once so that the dust settles down a bit. In short, I am having ambiguous feelings about the sunny weather we are having, which is very surprising.

We had a good trip to Lake Wenatchee last weekend. We had booked a cottage by the lake. The view from the house was amazing. I have posted it here. Check it out:

aai-bAbA will reach here Wednesday afternoon. It will be fun to have them here. The weather is amazing and they will surely enjoy it.

Soon it will be close to two years since we came to US. One would think that I would be missing India. Altough I love Inida (or bhArat) more than anything else in life, including my life, I am not missing it so much right now. Much less after the recent elections results were announced.

The impact of election results can be summed up in the word - dejection. It is sad to see our most beloved nation sliding back into slavery once again. To see goons, rapists and debauched people ruling our beloved motherland causes so much heartburn. Often I fold my hands to pray and the only wish that leaves my lips is, "God, save yourself", from these dregs of humanity (and oppressors of Hinduism), who will now rule our country, the birthplace of countless Hindu wizards.

Biting my fingers

As I write this, the final phase of polling is under way for the 15th Lok Sabha. This election is supposed to be more closely fought than any other Lok Sabha election before this.

In the last year or so I have gained tremendous equanimity with respect to happenings in our world. It is not that I don't care what happens in the world. Far from that, I am really concerned about where the world, and especially India, is heading. But, of late, incidents in the outside world do not take away from me my equanimity. I feel elated or disappointed. I become happy or unhappy. But I do not feel depressed or demoralized. This world is like a dog's tail. No sooner than you think that it is straightened out, do you realize that is as curved as it ever was. Despite the imperfections of the world we have to go on doing what we consider to be best for the world and ourselves. Not only do I think this way, to a reasonable extent, I am able to live this thought.

Despite all this, the on-going elections is making me nervous. I feel attached to my desires. I desire certain result and it makes me nervous to think that it may not turn out to be so. My quiet continence only hides the flutter of the heart within. I have to try to be detached. Our great country will outlast impacts of a hundred elections. No power on earth can stop the forward march of our great nation. No matter what happens in this election, our country will continue to progress.

Thirteen centuries ago a great child was born in the small village of Kaladi in central Kerala, by the Periyar river. The child grew into a boy who changed the future of this nation forever. Millions have followed his path and nurtured the soul of this nation. One moment, one election, one party, one family cannot impair the institution of four thousand years and cherished by a billion people.

Our beloved nation would go on, unfettered, unshackled, unhampered. I know should never be discouraged at failure. I have never been. Never will I be in future. If anything, not seeing success should only strengthen one's resolve to work harder, with greater detachment, towards a loftier goal, more wisely. That's the spirit I am made of. If not today, there will be success tomorrow.

The demolition man

Sometimes we come across very interesting comments on websites, left by ordinary readers. Here's a very witty comment I came across today on Indian Express' website:

Weak Prime Minister?
By: K.Suresh | 30-Apr-2009

Who says Manmohan Singh is a weak PM? Under him, the Congress has, single-handedly destroyed democratic institutions - Office of President, Election commission and now the CBI. No weak person can achieve this much.

New Template!

I have changed the template for my blog. I had the previous template for over 5 years. Of late, I had got bored of it.

I hope you like my new template. Please leave your suggestions and comments.

An opinion on Opinion Polls

Here's an hilarious clip taken from Yes Prime Minister on opinion polls.

One more blog

I have created one more blog: one-news-of-the-day.blogspot.com

Both, "the-news-of-the-day.blogspot.com" and "a-news-of-the-day.blogspot.com" were taken. Hence one-news-of-the-day.blogspot.com.

The idea is to post links to interesting (not necessarily the most important) news that I come across.

A few weeks back I had created impartial-observer.blogspot.com.

Changing the template for my blog

I want to change the template for my blog. However I have customized the standard template a little bit, by adding some of my favourite links in the right hand side pane. Hence I will have to be careful when I change the template, lest the customizations would be lost.

Can you suggest a good template for my blog?

Old Man and the Sea

Today I saw movie Old Man and the Sea, which is based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway by the same name. I had read the book during my MBA days. Old Man and the Sea is a story of courage and persistence of an old man, who was once the greatest fisherman in his small Cuban town. Hemingway describes poignantly the old man's three-day long battle against a 1,500 pound marlin. Although wounded, exhausted and hungry, Santiago finally conquers the giant fish, only to lose it to a group of sharks the next day.

The message of the movie is captured in Satiango's summation of this ordeal, when he confesses to Manolin that "it was sad to see it destroyed ... ", and then with a sense of satisfiction, "but not defeated!". It's amazing story of hope, courage, persistence and dignity. It's a must-read for everybody. It's no wonder that the book brought the Nobel Prize to its author.

A relaxed weekend

Last 3 weekends, I skied at Snoqualmie. When I went skiing for the first time 3 weeks ago with Ravikant, I was worried it would leave me too tired the rest of the week. However, I survived that week and went skiing the following weekend also. I decided I won't do skiing the next weekend and take some rest. However, the week after that, the weather was great and some of my colleagues decided they wanted to try skiing too. I couldn't have let them down. We did Skiing on Saturday. I took some rest on Sunday, but it wasn't sufficient. Fatigue made me sick the rest of the week. This weekend, I have decided to take rest. I haven't stepped out of house last 27 hours, and I hope I don't have to go out next 27.

I saw a nice movie yesterday. Richard Gere's An officer and a gentleman. It was a wonderful movie. I loved it. Right now I am half watching 1950's In a lonely place. I am half browsing the web. I don't fully follow English movies until I watch with full concentration. I think it's a good movie, but not a great movie. I plan to watch another movie tomorrow. But haven't decided which one.

A - Z of Congress achievements

I had read this on a message board on Rediff. I liked it but didn't copy it down. It reappeared in the form of an email from Vikas Kerkar:

Spread these achievements and help Congress and others to get back in power.

A: Afzal guru not hanged by the congress government inspite of SC order.
B: Bomb blasts happen in hundreds, in 5 years of Congress misrule.
C: Cost of living and food prices rise, making life difficult for Aam aadmi.
D: Dr Manmohan Singh says muslims have first right to India’s resources.
E: Economy and business suffer like never before.
F: Farmer suicides continue. Where did our money for ‘farmers loan waiver’ go?
G: Gujarat police has to provide evidence to enable SIMI ban to continue.
H: Home Minister shivraj patil kicked out only after 4.5 years of sleep and 26/11.
I: India bullied by china, but NO diplomatic response by the government.
J: Jihadis offered pension in Kashmir by the congress government.
K: karunanidhi and congress insult Lord Ram and call Lord Ram a fake.
L: LeT becomes a household name, before congress forced to re-do POTA.
M: Media makes Hindu bashing a fashion.
N: Naxalism active in 165 districts of India.
O: Orissa conversions by missionaries lead to assassination of Hindu saint.
P: Padmashri awards not given to Olympic winners. Padmashris given to mediamen, who are now involved in pro-Congress propoganda.
Q: Quattarochi is helped to escape. Jai Mata Rome (sonia gandhi).
R: Report by Sachar committee advocates more minority appeasement.
S: SP’s amar singh calls Batla house encounter a fake.
T: Torture of Sadhvi Pragnya sanctioned by congress government.
U: UK rule over India was good for India, says PM Dr manmohan singh.
V: Vande Mataram NOT SUNG by PM and sonia gandhi. National shame.
W: Wheat imported by Sharad Pawar not fit for cattle..
X: (e)Xtremism bleeds our country. Soft approach on terror hurts us.
Y: YS Rajsekher Reddy sanctions subsidy for christians to visit Jerusalem.
Z: Zero development in fields like electricity generation, highways, etc.

Sikh massacre of 1984

3,000 Sikhs were massacred in 4 days by Congressmen in 1984 pogrom following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. 25 years later Congress government has given a clean chit to the perpetrators of the genocide. Read this report by two NGOs that investigated the carnage.

My Favourites

These are my favourites:

Favourite Novel: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper_Lee
Favourite non-fiction: What Religion Is by Swami Vivekanand
Favourite comic strip: Tintin
Favourite fictional characters: Salvatore Giuliano (The Sicilian), Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Favourite Hindi movie: Deewar
Favourite English movie: The Bridge on the River Kwai
Favourite song: Noori Noori ... of course not! :-)
Favourite actor: Amitabh Bachchan
Favourite actress: Waheda Rehman? Nutan?
Favourite singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Favourite place: Myeong-Dong (in Seoul)
Favourite cities: Mumbai & London
Favourite season: Monsoon
Favourite sportsmen: V Anand, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar
Favourite sport: Chess
Favourite freedom fighter: Lokmanya Tilak
Favourite politician: Atal Bihari Vajapayee
Favourite world leader: Abraham Lincoln
Favourite historical figures: Adi Shankaracharya and Shivaji
Favourite business leader: Narayan Murthy
Favourite scientists: Einstein, Darwin

What are yours?

I love DST

A couple of weeks ago when I left office at around 5:30 p.m. there was still some natural light. Until a few weeks ago it would be pitch dark long before 5 p.m. I noticed how the days are getting longer and was glad to see the change.

This Sunday the clock was moved ahead by 1 hour. At 2 a.m. on Sunday the clock skipped an hour and moved to 3 a.m. We moved from Pacific Standard Time (PST = GMT - 8 hrs) to Pacific Date Time (PDT = GMT - 7 hrs). This means that we have natural light for one more hour in the evening. This is such a welcome change after cold and dark winter. Today there was natural light even at 7:30 p.m.

A few months ago I had met someone from Phoenix, Arizona, who said that DST was useless (Arizona is the only state in the US that does not observe DST). I didn't think so, but I didn't argue with him, because then I wasn't so sure about myself. But next time some says it, I will surely support Daylight Savings. It's such a useful concept. Why waste an hour of natural light at wee hours of the morning when we are fast asleep (or trying not to wake up despite the light), when we can use it to light our evenings. I love Daylight Savings Time.

A plane with a view

It was not a part of our itinerary. When we planned our trip to San Diego and Los Angeles, we planned to see Sea World, Universal, Hollywood, and Disney. We even considered visiting LegoLand, an idea that we eventually dropped. However we never thought of adding Mount Rainier on our itinerary. You would say, it's obvious that you won't be visiting Mount Rainier if you are travelling to southern California.

To our utter surprise and much joy, we saw the most unexpected view of Mount Rainier on our way to California! How? Here's how it happened. The Seattle sky was covered with clouds as usual. For a moment we could see nothing as the airplane pierced through the layer of clouds. When the plane was above the clouds all we could see were clouds all the way to the end of the horizon, and one more thing - a huge Mount Rainier standing tall above all. It was a good view, but there was more to come. As the plane moved ahead it went very close to Mount Rainier. A few minutes later we were just top of Mount Rainier to its North West.

Then the plane took a turn and cruised to the south of the peak. The view that we had of the peak of Mount Rainier from the top was one of them most amazing views I have ever had in my lifetime. Unfortunately I did not have my camera at hand, and the fasten seatbelt sign was on. So I couldn't capture the picture for you all to see.

The most interesting personal email I ever got

I am so pathetic at replying to friends' e-mails and returning calls that I often drive my friends crazy. Here's an example of a good old friend of mine who went mad at me.

---
From: My Friend <"my_friend@gmail.com">
Date: Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 4:50 AM
Subject: Congrats
To: Jayprakash Acharya <"me@gmail.com">

Dear Mr Jayprakash,

Congrats on your long journey from being a spectacular computer
engineer in an Indian MNC to top adviser to the Obama regime. I am
guessing by the lack of responses to my mails that you are actively
involved in battling the multi headed Hydra that is the current
financial mess. Infact its more difficult to get a response from you
than it is to contact Mr Obama.

I am confident that with such dedication napping at its heels the
financial issue is all but licked. Please accept my humble
congratulations again and do deign to respond at your earliest
convenience.

Thanks in advance for your valued response which shall be awaited with
bated breath and the right expression of fascination and awe.

warm regards
Real Name (aka Nickname)
---


My dear friend, you are amazing!

Monday musings

All things come to an end. My stay here will also come to an end some day not too far away.

One Oscar to Lagaan ...

This year's Oscars have been swept by Slumdog Millionaire. Earlier, there has been debate within India about this movie and how people reacted to it. Amitabh Bachchan in his blog had criticized the movie for showing India in bad light, but he was criticized by others for it. It is likely that the debate will be opened again. So, I would like to make my contribution to the debate by voicing my opinions.

Let me first begin by saying that the individuals (A.R.Rehman, Sampoorna Singh Gulzar, and the rest of the team) who delivered world-class performance need to be congratulated. No other team of Indians in the past has shown such a performance at the Oscars. So, kudos to them.

Now let's talk about the result of their work. The way the movie portrays India is not something that will make us proud. One might say that poverty is a reality in India and so there is nothing wrong in showcasing it to the world. Well, that's right. Poverty is a reality in India. It is only as much a reality as India's mission to moon or India's nuclear program or India's rise from a third-world country to a potential economic superpower within a short span of less than two decades. It is no more a reality than India being the largest market of mobile phone connections.

India has list of spectacular achievements and spectacular failures to its credit. What do we want the world to see and know about us? Our failures or successes? Things that make us proud or things that make us shamefaced? As individuals we have our short-comings and our achievements? Do you go around the world flaunting your weaknesses or your strengths? Why then should it be different for the nation?

Within the borders of our nation, let's talk about our poverty to the death. But why showcase it in international fora? Those who have worked on this movie haven't done anything wrong. But if we start glorifying them, it would not be right. We always knew that A.R.Rehman was a great music director. Was his music in Slumdog Millionaire better than that in Lagaan or Roja? Why did Slumdog Millionaire win Oscars, but not Lagaan or Roja?

Why does the western world fete only those creations that depict the poverty and degradation in our country? It's not just true about India, but it's true about the entire developing world. A couple of years back, the movie "Borat", which won several awards in the western world and was big commercial success, became a topic of debate in Kazakhstan, because it made mockery of the culture of Kazakhstan.

We should ponder whether anybody in Hollywood would ever make a movie on Virginia school shoot-out? If such a movie is ever made, will it ever win an Oscar, no matter how good the movie is? Will Americans go ga-ga over it?

Despite it's Oscar performance, Slumdog Millionaire is not something that would make us proud. We would have been proud if Lagaan or Roja would have won an Oscar. But we can't be proud of Slumdog Millionaire. That's why I believe that one Oscar to Lagaan would have been equal to a hundred Oscars to Slumdog Millionaire

Indian economy

Indian economy is in a bad state, and it's not just on account of global recession. Here's a good article by Bibek Debroy.

Oh! How I love these folks!

I love Congress party! These guys are amazing! The way they twist the system ... no one can beat them at that!

Buying MPs is dangerous and costly game. Why take the risks? Go to the root - buy the Election Commissioner himself. Then rule in peace for five more years!

I just love these folks!

Moved

We moved to a new apartment last weekend. The new apartment has lot of natural light. That changes the disposition for better.

What should be our response to Mumbai attacks - An excellent viewpoint

An excellent article on responding to terrorist attacks emanating from Pakistan. Thank you Jeffrey for sending this!

There are many (bitter) truths in this article. The words that I liked the most are:

... We should recognise that it is our war and nobody in the world is going to wage it on our behalf. What the Americans are thinking, or what the Britishers are going to do will not help. A determined country should have a sense of dignity and independence to fight its war.

A billion appeals to the rest of the world to brand Pakistan a terrorist state will not yield any fruit until we don't start treating it the way a terrorist state has to be dealt with.

How we forget to live

Yes, the memories will never ever fade!

I scrolled down from Twenty most memorable ... , to read blog entry titled "Very few photographs of Korea trip", and I realized how true are the words I wrote three years ago!

Even today I can feel the freshness of the air in Namsangol. I still remember the thoughts I had as I strolled in the soft green grass there. I can still feel the inexplicable concoction of achievement, affection and longing, I experienced in my last ride from Suwon to Seoul. When I peep through the window of my mind, I am blinded by memory of the reflection of the rising sun on Building 63, seen through the window of the train cruising over Han river. Even today I lose the sense of time as I stroll down the memory lane in amzaing Myeong Dong! And till date no one else, except my wife, my mother, and the waitress in Seoul hotel, has been so concerned to voluntarily pack my breakfast everyday and force it on me.

I was right ... "these images on my mind will never ever fade ... their freshness will forever be the same"!

While browsing the past, swept away by Korea

I was reading random entires on my own blog. I was surprise at how many interesting thoughts I had scribbled over time. I felt inspired and moved, until I read Twenty most memorable experiences of Korea trip. And then I was overwhelmed with emotions - of nostalgia, awe, tenderness and something indescribably warm! It almost moistened my eyes. I could read no more. After the Golden Years of my life, the six months I spent in Korea are probably the most memorables time of my life. Even in these times, when inspiration has gone into an unending hibernation, images of my days in Korea stirred me to emotion.

I our mind, every place we stay gets associated with some feelings. With Ipswich, it's joy and beauty, with Pune it's activity and fun. With Korea, it's indescribable awe and warmth. If I ever want to fall in love with myself, I will think of Korea!!

Shocking!

Rs. 1000 crores for a birthday bash! So shocking, it leaves me dumbfounded.

saang saang bholaanaath, barfa paDel kaay...

...office bhovati barfa saaThun suTTee miLel kaay?


Well, someone's prayers have been answered with a vangence! It's the second day Seattle is at home. The entire city and its neighbourhoods are drowned in snow. Not an inch of ground in sight. The entire landscape is covered with snow. Tons and tons of snow. Bored of brown and green, nature wanted some change of colour, and it chosen white. Ground, trees, houses, cars, roads - everything has been whitewashed! It's so beautiful all around!

I will upload some photographs.

rab ne banayee joDi

Saw rab ne banaayee joDee on Friday evening. It's a decent movie. Worth watching once.

First snow of the season!

As forecasted, it snowed yesterday evening. I love snow. Everything is so beautiful when covered with snow. It started snowing at around 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. we drove to Boeing Museum Flight, where had an office party. The drive to Boeing was exiting. While returning it was snowing heavily, which was very thrilling! At midnight we went for a drive in the snow.

The tempreture this week is expected to remain sub-zero (do they call it sub-thirty two over here?). That's quite cold by Seattle standards.

Not just Shivaraj, the entire government has to go!

The attitude of Congress governments in Centre and the states, towards Islamic terrorism in India, can be summed up in one statement made by R.R. Patil - "baDe shahron mein aise ek aadh haadse hote rahte hain". It seemed as if he was speaking on behalf of Congressmen and all other 'secular' politicians in our country.

One of the first decisions taken by UPA government when it came to power was to abrogate POTA. Ever since terrorists have had a field day. Islamic terrorism has spread to all over the country. They have struck every state barbarously and with shocking audacity. And the governments are in deep slumber, dreaming of their Muslim vote bank. It doesn't matter how many innocent lives are lost. These are just minor irritations, as R.R. Patil explains us, in their journey towards power.

It is more than two years that Supreme Court of India convicted Afzal Guru, who was involved in attacks on the Parliament. The government has done it best to stop his execution, despite public opinion to the contrary. Soon after the grieving for the victims of Mumbai terrorist attacks is over, we will the media and politicians displaying their sympathy for Azam Amir Kasav, the lone terrorist captured alive.

This government is not a government of the people. It's a government of terrorists, working for terrorists. The earlier it goes, the safer will be our country.

Shock & condemnation not adequate reactions

Just expressing shock and condemning attacks is not adequate reaction to Islamic terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The government has to take tackle terrorism with seriousness and keep vote bank politics aside. Turning a blind eye to Islamic terrorism has allowed it to grow beyond any imaginable limit.

Oridinary citizens should not tolerate government ineptitude. We have to react strongly against this useless government that has not done anything to contain terrorism.

Bought an iPod

I am not a fan of gadgets and gizmos. I first heard of iPod couple of years ago. I knew that it was some gadget from Apple to play music, which had become the latest craze. But my knowledge was limited to that much until recently. When Poornima started asking me to buy an iPod earlier this year, I ignored it. On her birthday, I made first attempt to understand what iPods and MP3 Players are. I remember doing a google on 'difference between an iPod & MP3 Player' a few months back. Then I made an unsuccessful attempt at buying an MP3 Player. I searched the web to buy an MP3 Player online. But the more I searched, the more confused I became.

One day Poornima and I searched the Net for cheap models of MP3 Players and iPods. She liked iPod Nano, but I thought it was too costly at $150. We then gave up on the idea without a fight. Then Diwali passed and I blissfully ignored shopping and gifting. Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary. Yesterday evening after coming back from office I walked to RadioShack and inquired about iPods. They had 3 models - the Shuffle, Nano and iTouch.

Shuffle was already rejected because it did not have a screen to view and select songs. I had gone there to buy Nano, which was priced at $150. When I saw iTouch for $220, I thought why not pay another $70 and buy it rather than buying Nano, which is a very basic iPod. So I immediately doled out $251 ($31 of tax over the price of the iPod) and purchased it.

That's the way I shop. I don't buy much stuff. I hate shopping and rarely buy anything for myself. When I buy, I don't waste much time on doing research. I just go out and buy what I like. I don't care much about the price. That's the way I am.

Anyway, the iPod is really cool and we are enjoying it!

Schindler's List

Poornima & I saw Schindler's List yesterday. It was the second time I saw it and I realized what an amazing movie it is! In Marathi there's a saying - vaalyaachaa valmeekee jhaalaa. That's really true about Oskar Schindler, who first began his business by exploiting Jewish labourers, but later gave up all his wealth to save the lives of as many Jews as he could.

In 1967, Schindler was honored at Israel's Yad Vashem memorial to the victims of the Holocaust as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, or "righteous Gentiles", an honor awarded by Israel to non-Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust, at great personal risk. Schindler was the only former member of the Nazi party to be so recognized. He was also honored with the German Federal Cross of Merit and with the Papal Order of St. Sylvester during the 1960s. He is buried at the Catholic cemetery at Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the only member of the Nazi party to be so honored.

Historic day for America - Obama wins

It is quite exciting to witness this historic day for America - Obama has won! Opinion polls had indicated that Obama was in the lead. However nobody had written off McCain, until at around 8:30 pm PST, he conceded defeat in front of his supporters in Arizona, Biltmore, and congrulated Obama, now the President Elect of the USA. It was a very interesting campaign. First Obama-Hillary fight and then the Obama-McCain dual - both very interesting.

I had watched all the 3 debates between Obama and McCain, and Obama had impressed me with his views and thoughts. His views are extremely rational and progressive. To top it, he is an extraordinary orator. His victory speech should have been very inspiring to Americans.

Tonight, however, I was also impressed by the speech that McCain made. The graciously manner in which he accepted defeat was exemplary.

Quote

A nice quotation I came across in an email signature of someone at work:

"Let your mind be a prism for your thoughts, focusing on the subject of your choice and burning through to the truth".

Go-live! A sense of satisfaction

After close to three years of work our project went live today. For me it was culmination of an year of toil. It gives a great feeling of satisfaction to know that all the efforts have borne sweet fruit!

Happy Diwali!!

This year Diwali has been much better than last year. The weather has been much more pleasant. There has been a lot of sunshine until recently. Even in first week of November we can go out without having to wear thermals. We can even keep our windows open! This gentle weather has made Diwali more pleasant. It is only after coming to this western world and experiencing the harsh weather here that one realizes the obsession of the people here about weather. When so much of your joy is linked to the whims of weather, it is no wonder that the people here become obsessed with it and discuss it so frequently. Here, in Seattle, no day passes without mention of weather. We discuss weather with every other person we meet. It's either a great day or a lousy day depending on whether the weather is sunny or not.