Some games just lift your mood!

I can't say this was my best game on Chess.com. However it was definitely one of the most pleasing wins I have had since I started playing on Chess.com three months ago. It was Sicilian Najdorf (which reminds me of Pradeep Paranjape), and I was playing white against C Arindam from India. Here's how it went:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Be2 Be7 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O Nbd7 10. f4 b5 11. Rae1 Qc7 12. Kh1 Bb7 13. Bf3 Rfe8

At this point I thought for about 6 minutes in this 10 minute blitz. Just like my old days - during my tournament years, I would frequently spend an hour thinking 2 or 3 moves at the start of middle game! After long thought, I played

14. e5

When I get computer analysis of the game tomorrow, I will know whether this was a correct move. Although not sure of the merit of the move, I took the risk with it. And the game continued -

14. ... dxe5 15. fxe5 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Nd5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qxd5 Bxg5 19. Nxg5 Nxe5

I had not analyzed the position till here, when I played 14. e5. However, we had reached this position, and it allowed me to play an exchange sac with

20. Rxe5

He accepted the sacrifice.

20. ... Qxe5

That quickly brought the matter to close with -

21. Qxf7+ Kh8 22. Qh5

(22. ... h6 23. Nf7+ followed by Nxe5)

1 - 0

Cute little victory! :-)

Behold this audacious liar!

It just amazes me how low Manmohan Singh can stoop to stay in power. No other Indian politician could have the audacity to be such a shameless liar! How many more do we have to hear from this crook before the people of our nation kick him out of his chair?

When the whole world knows that he won 2008 No Confidence motion by bribing MPs, our disrespected Prime Minister continues to lie brazenly! And this is not the first time he has done this. He lied to the nation on CWG scam. It was he who sanctioned the escalated costs, knowing fully well where the money is going. He lied on 2G scam, that he was unaware of massive corruption that was going on (Is it even possible? Such massive corruption happening under his nose, and he smells nothing fishy?). He lied on ISRO-Devas deal, which he signed, and no one else.

Every day he continues to lie shamelessly. His lies are now becoming an insult to the nation's intelligence, an insult to the nation's self-respect, and a challenge to citizens' potency.

Finally resolved issue with synchronizing gmail Contacts with my Android phone

I finally figured out the link between my Nexus S mobile phone contacts and my gmail contacts. Ever since I synced my cell phone and my gmail contacts, I had been bewildered by disappearing contacts! I would create and save a contact on my cell phone, and it would just disappear. I wouldn't show up on my contacts after I saved it. I was miffed at the way Contacts app on my cell phone was behaving. I had to open my gmail contacts on my computer and the Contacts on my cell phone, and check them side-by-side to finally figure out the link. Whatever contacts I add to my cell phone get saved to "My Contacts" contact list in gmail. So to make cell phone Contacts app work correctly, I have to display "My Contacts" contact list on my cell phone. That setting can be done from Contacts -> Display Options -> Gmail account -> My Contacts menu path.

It was a huge relief to resolve the problem with Contacts function on my Android phone. This was the only issue with my otherwise lovely phone that was bothering me.

Cold weather in Seattle

A cold wave has swept Seattle last few days. This is what I woke up to on Thursday.

So it was work from home on Thu. On Friday the temperature was sub-zero throughout the day. Cleaning the ice off the car was grueling, because the snow from previous day had turned into hard ice! I saw some interesting icicles hanging from cars.

By evening this is how the surroundings looked like:

Blogging from my new phone!

Here I am blogging from my new Android phone, Nexus S ... when I ought to be sleeping! It's 12:30 a.m. and I an alarm set for 5 a.m. But this new phone is so addictive, I just can't keep it down!

A visit to library

I spent a few hours in the library this afternoon. I really enjoyed it. Just being among all the books makes one feel elated! It was not easy for me, even in the quiet ambiance of the library, to focus fully on my study. The habit of studying is kind of broken. Yet, between the distractions that I indulged into, I was able to spend some time reading what I wanted to. I want to make it a habit to visit the library often. Let's see how it happens.

Installed Chrome

And one of the first things I did on the laptop was to download and install Google Chrome. I browsed the Net for sometime on IE, but couldn't live with it for long. So, I quickly downloaded Chrome. I am writing this blog on Chrome. The previous one was written on IE.

The excitement of new laptop

Yesterday we purchased our first laptop - HP G62-372US. It has an i3-370M processor, 4GB memory, 320GB hard disk, 15.5 inch screen and a built-in webcam. I think this has become a standard configuration at present. This is our first personal laptop. Hence it was very exciting to unpack it today and to use it.

This is also my first brush with Windows 7 operating system. It seems more jazzy that Windows XP, which I am used to. And that's adding to the excitement. The 15.6 inch screen is larger than my present laptop, and the resolution much better. The new laptop is also considerably faster than the laptops I have used to working with. In fact, it is probably the fastest laptop I have worked on. I am really enjoying using our first laptop.

Manmohan Singh loses his clean image with 2G scam

Here's a good article on ExpressIndia website about 2G scam: PM’s ultimate humiliation

A wasted weekend?

There were several important tasks to be done this weekend, and I didn't do any of those. I was so bored that I just whiled away the weekend doing nothing. By Sunday evening I was bored to death. Finally, in the evening Poornima and I went out to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part I. That proved to be a silver lining to the otherwise dark weekend.

Deathly Hallows - Part I was a very engrossing movie. I am a fan of Harry Potter books. I haven't enjoyed each of the Harry Potter movies equally. I liked this one was better than most others. I am glad I watched it. It would have been even better if I had watched it in IMAX.

Journalists as "Dalals"

Bad web design - 2

I am quite sensitive to user-friendliness (or unfriendliness) of software, and of web pages in particular. I am really annoyed, when I come across poorly designed web pages. I find it very surprising that even popular websites that receive crores of hits everyday make some poor design decisions. For instance, let's look at the Amazon home page. It looks clean and convenient. However there are some annoying flaws in its design.

Let's say I want to buy eBooks for my Kindle. I will have to navigate to Kindle on the LHS pane, which would open up new menu options, and the click on eBooks.



The red line shows the natural path for my cursor to navigate from Kindle to eBooks. Unfortunately, that won't work. Because the moment cursor my crosses the line into Computers & Office, Kindle menu options would close and options for Computers & Office would open up. Ugh! :-( I will have to go back, and try to follow the green path. Unfortunately for me, following the green trajectory is not as easy as designers of Amazon like to believe. I keep crossing the line into Computers & Office, or Digital Downloads, with obvious results.

I once told a friend of mine who works at Amazon (and is involved in the design of their homepage) how irritating this is. He told me many users have complained about this and other quirky features on Amazon homepage, but the company is adamant about its design, and refuses to make changes. He also narrated that many people find the absence of Sign Out link confusing. Instead they have a Not user name link. Many users (including me) find this annoying. But it seems that Amazon has some ideological belief in support of it, and refuses to listen to its customers.

When do you switch off your car stereo?

If you have traveled in private buses in India you might have noticed this - the driver switches off music or video several minutes before reaching the destination. With entertainment switched off, those last few minutes of a tiring journey become even more restless. I had always wondered why they switch off the music too soon.

Recently I have observed that the car radio becomes extremely distracting in the last few minutes of my drive. My concentration and alertness are considerably increased if the radio is switched off before I reach my destination. Even when I am driving a very familiar route, like commuting home from office, I find that it makes a big difference to my concentration if I switch off the radio a few minutes before reaching home. It seems as if I have to make greater mental effort when I am close to my destination, than in the middle of my journey. I don't know why it is so. I also don't understand why I had never realized this earlier.

Have you also observed this?

And we danced to the stars!

I had a wonderful evening yesterday. I came home after a long day at work, so hectic that I had to skip lunch. After I had my dinner, when I learnt that Vedika had been unusually peevish that day, I thought it was time for us to have some well-deserved fun.

I switched off the lights in the room and switched on the new lamp we have bought that projected stars and moon on the ceiling and walls of the room. On iPod docking station we had playing Celine Dion's "A new day has come", and then Chris de Burgh's "Lady in Red". Then I held her in my arms and we danced to the music. And all the while she stared wide-eyed at the spectacle of stars all around us!!

At 8 weeks, Vedika is the most interesting person I have ever met in my life!

Less News from Times of India

About 8 months ago, I had written about not being to customize Google News to exclude news from bogus news sources. I had done some workarounds to achieve that. But I wished there were some easy way to do it.

Today, when I clicked on News Settings, I was delighted to see options to personalize Google to have more or less news from certain sources. It did not take me long to update and save my settings.

Quote for the day

Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run - in the long-run, I say! - success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it.

- Viktor Frankl
Psychotherapist, Holocaust survivor, and author of Man's Search for Meaning

"Secularists" stoking fire

Swapan Dasgupta is one of few sensible intellectuals in our country. His articles are balanced, and well thought of, unlike those of the "secular" (read anti-Hindu) intellectuals of the country. It is on such sensible thinkers like Swapan that our hopes of Indian intelligentsia guiding the country on the right path of justice, peace, progress and self-respect rest.

The Sunday Pioneer published a good article by Swapan Dasgupta on how the "secular" intellectuals are whipping up Muslim passions against the High Court verdict. Instead of putting end to the dispute, the so-called secularists are stoking fire against a popular and reasonable verdict, which the common man - both Hindu and Muslim alike - has accepted peacefully.

Here is a brief excerpt from the excellent article:

For two days and courtesy some TV channels, the "secular" modernists attempted to whip up Muslim opinion against the judgement and use the community's apparent displeasure to force the Government into using its proverbial 'good offices' with the Supreme Court. The overall idea is to build up an intellectual climate so forceful that the Supreme Court would think it prudent to overturn the HC judgement.

Historic Ayodhya Verdict - time to construct and move on

Yesterday's historic verdict by Allahabad High Court on the Ramjanmabhoomi case should pave way for a process of reconciliation and construction of a temple on the birthplace of Lord Ram. Some Hindus might be disappointed by the decree to give away a third of the Ramjanmabhoomi land to Muslims. However, it would suit Hindus to be magnanimous at this point, and accept the verdict with an intent at rapprochement.

The verdict gives a feeling of justice being done to the case to the extent that it accepts the garbhgriha as the true birthplace of Lord Ram. It also asserts that the ASI research findings from the site conclusively prove that the disputed structure was built on top of a demolished Hindu temple.

Here are the key excerpts from the Ayodya verdict from the BBC website.

Here's how Ramjanmabhoomi will be divided:

The happiest day of my life!!

It was the happiest day of my life. Our cute little angel - Vedika - arrived, bringing with her indescribable joy to our lives! I had never imagined what an amazing feeling it would be to hold my little baby in my hands. I can look at her and talk to her for hours. And when I see her smile, it is a moment of ecstasy!

Akbar's harem

While browsing the internet, I came across an article that said that Akbar had about 5,000 wives! After my initial surprise, I did some research on internet, which led to the conclusion that this was probably true. The wikipedia article on Akbar (with a disclaimer stating "the neutrality of this article is disputed") mentions that Akbar had a harem, but does not mention its size. Most other websites agree that the number is around 5,000.

I don't remember my history textbook mentioning this fact about Akbar's life. That's quite understandable as Indian government is notorious for purporting bogus history, and glorifying those who committed atrocities against Hindus. Akbar was one such tyrant, who is fallaciously glorified in government published history text books.

Here's an article on Akbar, that you should read, and re-evaluate your beliefs about him. Here's another article that discusses Akbar's life and ends with the question: Why don't the Indian school texts give these details of Akbar, and what else are they hiding?

The Hindu Encyclopdia

I came across this interesting website: Hindupedia.com. It's an attempt at creating an encyclopedia on Hinduism.

Beautiful Seattle Photos!

Last weekend we went Alki Beach. It was very sunny, with temperature of around 25 degrees centigrade - beautiful weather to be on a beach. I shot some cool pictures of Seattle skyline. Here are a couple of them.

Seattle Downtown Skyline (click to enlarge)

Seattle Space Needle (click to enlarge)

World's largest economies

Did you know that India's economy is larger than that of Russia? I was surprised to know that. India's economy (measured in terms of nominal GDP) is larger than that of Russia, but smaller than Spain, Brazil and Canada. Check out the list of top economies of the world in 2009.

US GDP is bigger than the GDPs of next three nations put together! Japan was number 2 until last month. In August China pipped Japan to become the second largest economy for the first time. India's GDP is about 1,200 billion USD, approximatly 55,000 billion INR.

Amazing football goals

Here's a good collection of clips of extraordinary football goals. And the HD effect is really amazing! Jump ahead and ignore the first 50-odd seconds of the clip.

Something to write about - my favourite movies of 2009-10

After writing post titled Nothing to write about, I thought for sometime, and remembered something to write about. Something that I wanted to write about for a long time, but kept forgetting to write. I wanted to write about the best movies I saw in last one year. And here it goes.

I saw quite a few movies in last one year. Let me recollect the names - The Last Emperor, Driving Miss Daisy, The Pursuit of Happyness, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Chariots of Fire, One who Flew over Cuckoo's Nest, Three Idiots (Hindi), I Hate Luv Stories (Hindi), Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani (Hindi), Avatar, Up in the Air, Night at the Museum II. These are the ones I could remember right now. There might be other movies that I don't remember right now. However, it doesn't matter, because if I don't remember, they are probably not the best ones.

The top 3 movies that I enjoyed the most were:

1. Chariots of fire

2. The pursuit of happyness

3. The last emperor

Chariots of fire was best movie of all and the biggest surprise of all, because I had never heard of the movie before. It's a well-deserved winner of four Oscars, including the Best Picture, at 1982 Academy Awards. The amazing true story depicts the "fire within" of two British athletes (Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams), who go to 1924 Olympics at Paris to win two Golds for their country. It's a engrossing story of triumphs and tribulations of the two Cambridge students, whose crisscrossing paths cause them to confront each other at times and collaborate at other times.

Nothing to write about

Not sure what to write about.

I watched TV

What's in it to write about, you might ask. We all watch TV, everyday, don't we? Yes and no. Most people watch TV, everyday. Most, but not all. There are few like me, who have given it up almost altogether. In last 7 years, I have spent more time brushing my teeth, or tying my shoelaces, than watching TV. I get my news on the Net. There is little else of value on TV. Yes, I know, there is that one amazing serial that you are so fond of! But for me to figure out when and where it is aired, would be like searching a needle in a haystack. Easier it is to give the remote a pass.

On Saturday, however, I purposefully watched TV, just to give myself a break from it all. I watched Dominick and Eugene, which turned out to be a decent movie. Kind of drama that I love to watch - about people and relationships, plausible and realistic. It's a story about two brothers - Nick, who is mentally retarded, and drives a garbage truck to earn money to send his brother Eugene to medical school. I not a must-watch movie, but it did entertain me enough to keep me glued in front of the idiot box for an hour and fifty minutes - not a bad achievement, I would say.

Resolving the Kashmir Imbroglio

Even as the clueless Manmohan Singh government refuses to concede that it has failed in its primary duty to maintain law and order in the country, the only sensible reaction to the relentless violence in Kashmir has come from Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF), and former chief of the Youth Congress.

In his statement Bitta has:

• opposed a special package as that would amount to conceding victory to militants
• asked for abrogation of Article 370, which confers special status on Jammu and Kashmir
• felt that governments were more worried about rehabilitating the militants than providing relief to the Kashmiri pandits
• disapproved of the India-Pakistan talks, and
• urged government to press USA, UK and Russia to declare Pakistan a terrorist state

It is rare that we see such sensible suggestions from either intellectuals or politicians, big or small. The fate of Kashmir problem is sealed with Article 370. No lasting peace in Kashmir is possible until Article 370 is abolished. The earlier India develops gumption to accept this fact, more likely Kashmir issue will be solved, and lasting peace be established.

Our New Digital Camera with "Intelligent Face Detector"

We decided to buy a new camera last November. After our initial research, we shortlisted two cameras - Canon Powershot SX 20 IS and Panasonic Lumix FZ-35/38. The two models are top-selling non-SLR digital megazoom cameras of the day. As we soon learnt, the choice between the two is a difficult one. There are many forums on internet where people have vented their frustration at not being able to decide which one of these two cameras should they buy. Each camera has its pluses and minuses.

Canon is the leading brand in digital cameras. Powershot SX 20 IS has 20X zoom. It supports 12 megapixel resolution, and has quick autofocus. To top it all it has fully articulate LCD display, which many consider an extremely handy feature. Panasonic FZ-35, on the other hand, has a close 18X zoom, and 12 megapixel resolution. Its major drawback is it's fixed LCD display. To its advantage, it has a better image stabilization. It is considerably lighter (~420 gms, in comparison to ~680 gms for Canon SX 20). And it has excellent performance in conditions of low light - an area where it beats Canon hands-down.

All in all, it was a difficult choice to make. We agonized over it for several months. Finally, one day I said enough was enough. We had to buy one of the two cameras that day. After another agonizing hour or two at Fry's, we bought Panasonic Lumix!

I have posted several photos taken from our new camera on this blog (see below - Chicago and Hawaii). The camera has lived up to our expectations. Although we were satisfied with Panasonic's performance, the thoughts of how life would have been with Canon continued to bother us.

The ghost of the torment of the decision to buy Panasonic continued to haunt us. It returned again and again to vex us. However, when we saw this advertisement for Panasonic Lumix with "Intelligent Face Detector", it was finally buried once and for all. The moment we saw the ad, all our doubts vanished. We had made the right choice. No other camera would have suited us better this day than Panasonic Lumix!!

"Panasonic Lumix - with Intelligent Face Detector"

My razor journey

I was never a big fan of hi-tech shaving razors. Until I finished my B-school, I generally used double-sided razor blades (remember Supermax?!) and a basic plastic case to hold the blade. I had tried Gillette Presto a few times in my college days (do you recall the famous "saTaa-saT vaah!" ad showing a young boy and his dad trying out the newly introduced twin-blade shaving razor). When I started working after completing my B-school, I felt I should move up to a good quality razor and purchased Gillette Sensor Excel. Although I felt that the cartridges were too costly (at about Rs. 40 each?), I loved using it. Until last year, when I lost the razor handle, and I was left with a box of cartridges without the handle. I scoured several stores in search of Sensor Excel handles, but couldn't find one. In the meantime, I purchased a bunch of use-and-throw razors and used those for a few months.

Last week, finally I gave up my search for Sensor Excel, and decided to buy a new razor. After considering options at Fred Meyer, I finally decided to go with Gillette's latest introduction - Fusion ProGlide. I bought it a bit grudgingly - like Sensor Excel, I felt Fusion ProGlide was a bit too pricey. However, the moment I used it, I was pleasantly surprised; I would say, I was almost stunned! The shave was too smooth! More importantly, I didn't feel that I had shaved. There was absolutely no scratching of the skin. I could almost throw away the after-shave, because with Fusion ProGlide, after-shave is redundant! When I bought the razor, I thought that the 5+1 blades of Fusion were just a marketing gimmick. "They are just adding more and more blades to the razor 'system' hoping to impress consumers. But the trick won't work on me", I thought. But after using it, I am willing to admit that it seems that it (I mean, the razor, not the trick) does work, and it (again, razor) works better.

Now that I am thoroughly impressed by Fusion ProGlide, and will be happy to shell out unjustifiably exorbitant price for the cartridges, I am still pondering over the oft-asked question, "should it cost a world for Gillette to develop a new razor"? Reportedly, Gillette spent $750 million in developing Mach3. R&D costs for Fusion would be on similar scale. No matter how good it is, is such expenditure to modify a petty shaving razor justifiable? I have no answer.

myaanaatun usaLe

No matter how far we are from our country, we are never far away from the memories of our great nation. No matter how long we stay away from our motherland, the memories of those great men, who have inspired generations, are always with us. The songs that narrate the heroic feats of our fathers, visit our hearts ever so frequently, and remind us that we are inheritors of a great courageous legacy. Here's the lyrics and audio of one such favourite song of all of us:

म्यानातून उसळे तलवारीची पात (listen here)

म्यानातून उसळे तलवारीची पात 

वेडात मराठे वीर दौडले सात 

ते फिरता बाजूस डोळे, किंचित ओले 

सरदार सहा सरसावुनि उठले शेले 

रिकबीत टाकले पाय, झेलले भाले 

उसळले धुळीचे मेघ सात निमिषात  

आश्चर्यमुग्ध टाकून मागुती सेना 

अपमान बुजविण्या सात अर्पुनी माना 

छावणीत शिरले थेट भेट गनिमांना 

कोसळल्या उल्का जळत सात दर्यात  

खालून आग, वर आग, आग बाजूंनी 

समशेर उसळली सहस्त्र क्रुर इमानी 

गदीर्त लोपले सात जीव ते मानी 

खग सात जळाले अभिमानी वणव्यात  

दगडावर दिसतील अजूनि तेथल्या टाचा 

ओढयात तरंगे अजूनि रंग रक्ताचा 

क्षितिजावर उठतो अजूनि मेघ मातीचा 

अद्याप विराणी कुणी वार्‍यावर गात

Lyrics taken from: गीता मंजुषा

Top link on Google - a pleasant surprise!

To be displayed among top three links on a Google search - isn't that something! If you search "Chicago snaps" on Google images, the top three images displayed are from my blogsite!

A few days back I noticed that my blog is getting increasing number of hits from Chicago. That piqued me. I wondered whether it was due to new friends I made on my visit to Chicago in April. But I wasn't convinced. Then I speculated whether Google is directing people from Chicago to my site. That sounded intriguing. I scrolled down my blog to see what could be causing it. When saw my blog entry on April 12th, titled Some Chicago Snaps, it clicked. Immediately, I opened another tab and searched for "Chicago snaps" on Google. Bang! Right there, I could see that the top 3 images were from my blogsite!

Quote for the day

Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

- Muhammad Ali

A walk down the memory lane

Today, I landed on Spring road in Ipswich, UK, and walked up and down the street until I reached the front of the house we stayed in 2006-07.

Hey, no! I am not on a tour of England. I am sitting at my house in Seattle! I am just looking at Google maps. Google maps is getting better every day.

Sitting at home, I could virtually walk on a road in UK. I could zoom in on the house, and see the the "For Sale" board in front of the house. Frasers Estate Agents Ltd, Queen Street, Ipswich, have put it up from sale. It seems they took it over from Paul West, the estate agent who dealt with the property when we were there. One fine guy he was - Paul West, unlike most of the real estate agents we met during our stay in Ipswich.

The house might have already been sold off, because what we see on Google maps is not a real-time image. We don't know when the photo was taken. Only thing we can tell is that the photo was taken on a Wednesday - it is evident from the the black garbage bin brought out from the backyard to the front of the house.

I wished I could walk up to the house and knock on the door, or take a peek inside! :-)

A satire too good!

Read this one: It's nobody's fault. Too good!!

An Article - India's Democracy Weakened

An excellent article on how the evil nexus between politicians, bureaucracy and judiciary to protect the interests of the rich and the powerful has weakened Indian democracy.

Dr. यमराज !

"Hi there! Pleased to meet you. I am यमराज. And I will take care of you." Not the kind of words, one would be "dying" to hear! When I was ill last week, these were the words said to me, almost. Here's how it happened.

I had slight cough, cold and fever last Thursday. So I took a day off from work and rested. I felt much better on Friday, and I went to office. In the evening I had dinner at a friend's place. I was feeling just fine when I went to bed that night. But when I woke up next morning, I was in terrible pain. I was having difficulty swallowing, and my throat pained like hell. The first thing I did was to call my doctor's clinic. The receptionist told that my doctor was not in clinic that day, but someone else can look at me, if I were okay with that. The situation I was in, I wouldn't have mind visiting a vet! I instantly agreed to visit the other doctor and took an appointment. (Getting a doctor's appointment on the same day in US - that's a miracle. I was lucky, I thought!)

A couple of hours later, I was in the doctor's clinic. The nurse measured my weight and checked my blood pressure. I waited for the doctor. Then suddenly a young fellow in white suit entered the room, shook my hand, and said, "I am Dr. यम. I will take care of you. How are you feeling?" "I was feeling good. Though I am not so sure of it now", I said to myself!

Serendipity!

I made a serendipitous discovery of 39 episodes of Malgudi Days on www.malgudidays.net. I watched the first episode in which Swami becomes the hero of the town.

Malgudi Days was unarguably one of the best TV serials in India. When I think about programs like Malgudi Days, I miss the good old days of Doordarshan.

We did not have 24-hr TV back then. But boy, did we have quality! And to contrast it with the junk saas-bahu crap and plotted "reality" shows of today, makes us so nostalgic. Isn't that so? Well, if you wish to relive that nostalgia, you can go here - ddnational.blogspot.com.

Measuring distances in a jiffy!

How would you like it if you were able to tell the exact distance between any two places in your city without referring to any map? Won't that be very convenient? I have discovered a way to do just that. It works most of the time, and it is very easy. Here's how it goes.

Most of the roads in Bellevue are either North-South or East-West. North-South roads are called Avenues and East-West roads are named Streets. The roads are numbered in sequence, for e.g. 148th Ave NE or NE 12th St. Every increase or decrease in a count implies a distance of 100 meters. That is, the distance between 148th Ave NE and (its adjacent avenue) 140th Ave NE is (148-140)*100=800 meters. Once you know this simple fact, finding distances is simple arithmetic. For e.g. distance between Crossroads mall (junction of 156th Ave NE and NE 8th St) and Bellevue Square mall (104th Ave NE & NE 4th St) would be: (156-104)*100 + (8-4)*100 = 5,200 + 400 = 5,600 meters = 5.6 kms. Now, isn't that easy?

When 10,000 Indians die, what does our Prime Minister do?

Dec 3, 1984:

Over 10,000 people die of methyl isocyanate leaked from Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. Over 5 lakh people affected.

Dec 7, 1984:

Union Carbide CEO, Warren Anderson charged with manslaughter, arrested and released on bail.

Warren Anderson flies from Bhopal to Delhi on Congress I Chief Minister Arjun Singh's aircraft and flees India at Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's connivance.

Shame on our nation :-O :-( :_(

Indian Express: Crisis manager confirms: Arjun ordered release, at Rajiv behest

Hindustan Times: Rajiv Gandhi was involved in Anderson's release: former principal secy, CIA

Times of India: Rajiv govt bailed out Anderson: CIA note

Press Trust of India: Rajiv Gandhi government at Centre hastened release of Anderson: CIA document

Press Trust of India: Rajiv may have had role in Anderson's fleeing: Alexander

India Today: Rajiv decided to let Anderson go, hints PC Alexander

The Pioneer: Centre helped Anderson: CIA

Central Chronicle: Alexander, CIA see Rajiv's role

Late and tired

It's late and I am tired. Tomorrow's productivity at work might be affected due to lack of sleep tonight. Nothing new, of course. How long can we IT professionals go on this way? What should we do to overcome this sick work culture? I hope and try, but rarely succeed. And I have no hope of achieving that in near future. :-(

Yet another good editorial

Here is another good editorial from The Hindu. A few days back The Hindu had analyzed the arithmetic of Lok Sabha and the behaviour of Central Government inside the Parliament. Today's editorial analyzes the Government's actions and policies outside the House, as the government completes one vain year in office.