The Enigma called 'MIND'

Let me start this with a short story.

Across a crowded room your eyes lock with an attractive stranger. You look away, you look back. The first hint of a smile plays across their lips. Suddenly you're nervous, your mind goes blank, you want to go over and you want to run away, both at the same time. You try to make yourself look busy in some other chore, but your mind is only thinking of that gorgeous stranger. You turn around too fast, bump into someone, almost spilling your drink. 'Wow,' you think as you recover, 'What am I doing!'. Its more of a amazement rather than a question.

And...cut.

Unfortunately I have to bring you out of this little scene to ask a question. Do you think you'd be able to accurately describe why you find this person attractive? Indeed how good are we in general at pinpointing what it was about others that attracts us? That is, the inability to describe what is attractive about another person. That's probably why we end up using such vague words like 'energy', 'magnetism' or 'electricity'. Perhaps we genuinely don't know. This, along with many other questions are simply mind-boggling.

How do great artists create? How do brilliant scientists solve the hardest problems in their field? Listen to them try to explain and you'll probably be disappointed. Artists say mysterious things like: "The picture just formed in my mind." Writers tell us that: "I don't know where the words come from." Scientists say they: "Just had a hunch."

Of course, not all scientists, artists and writers give such mysterious answers. Some talk about the processes they went through or what inspired their conceptual jump. But their explanations are almost invariably unsatisfying. They usually can't really explain how they made that vital leap of the imagination. This is strange. Why is it that otherwise brilliant and articulate people seem unable to adequately explain their thought processes? Don't they know how they did it?

What is true of great scientific and artistic leaps of imagination is also true in everyday life. When people are asked why they chose one career over another, one partner over another or one flavor of ice-cream over another, the same problems emerge. Often, people's answers are unconvincing or they just don't know.

The process of human creativity is both fascinating and, at the same time, mystifying. Understanding the mental processes of great thinkers offers an enormous reward to any who can replicate them: immortality. Perhaps if we really understood what was going through their minds, we too could create an object or idea that would live long after our deaths.

There was a study conducted some time back in a shopping mall:
"For this study researchers set themselves up in a mall pretending to carry out a consumer survey on nightgowns and nylon stockings. Passersby were asked to evaluate what they were told were four different nightgowns and four different pairs of stockings. In fact, all four items were identical.

Quite by accident they discovered a positional effect for the identical goods: people seemed to prefer the item that was on the far right. In fact this effect was really obvious for the stockings. The right-most pair, although identical to the left-most was preferred by a factor of four to one.

When asked why they had chosen a particular item, no one mentioned its position. Even when experimenters suggested to people that the position might have an effect, most participants looked at best very confused and at worst utterly dismissive.

Result: these people didn't have a clue why they preferred one identical pair of stockings over another. "

This study shows us exactly how how little access we have to unconscious processes during everyday activities. This also shows how we often fail to spot effects that are really there.

Bike Ads in India

This has been kind of a trend in India now, for in the past 3 years, all kinds of ridiculous ads have been screened on TV. And not so surprisingly the major contribution is from the Bike makers. These ads so fake, even computer games are more real.

Let me give you the example of Hero Honda CBZ Extreme ad. These people apparently have no intentions in showcasing their product (a good reason could be that they have no likable features in that :-P). This 'dude' jumps from a building, smoothly lands on the bike, winks at a promotional chick, and in the next scene is in 'paradise'. Then apparently for no reason starts to do a wheely, and then skate boards behind the bike. So stupid. They even show sparks coming of his boots (this I think is inspired by Rajini movies). Then they show a land slide in 'paradise', and instead of showcasing a part called 'BRAKES', they show him performing a stopee, with the back tire grazing a boulder. Then comes the worst of all the stunts. A 180 degree turn around and a back flip, all the time when the rider is crossing a gorge. Seriously nothing can get more stupider(if that is a real word :-P) than this. Not even Rakhi Sawanth can beat it. I can't figure out what they are selling to the viewers. Is it some kind of death machine? None of the situations shown are remotely plausible. And on top of it all, there is a cautionary message flashing at the bottom of the screen. ****These stunts are performed by professionals. Please do not try it at home*** .WTF! Who the hell in his right mind will even think of trying it. Even if he does, can he pull of a stunt like a Skate Boarding on a 14BHP bike? I was thinking if we could sue these companies for providing wrong information to the customers about their product!

Not lagging behind are the makers of the popular bike Pulsar. Again serious crap. I feel these ad makers are confused lot. They want to showcase all these impossible stunts, all the while ignoring the features of the product (only thing we get out of these ads is the looks of the bike), and they don't want the viewers to repeat these stunts. So they are basically wasting lakhs of rupees to promote nothing! Heights of craziness.

Cheaters, Liars and Manipulators

Not so long ago, I used to play a lot of cards. A game where luck plays a crucial role. But, it is also a game where one can make his/her own luck.

Let’s engage in a thought problem:

You’re playing poker. But this isn’t just any poker game, it’s the most important poker game you’ll ever play. Besides playing for money, you’re also playing for your future. If you win, you get the girl you’ve been courting… or the promotion you deserve… or the happiness you’ve been searching for. But if you lose… you get none of it.

You’re an excellent poker player. You can recount the rules even if you are woken up in the middle of the night. You have done all the homework, studying your opponents for a long time now. You know who plays instinctively, who plays emotionally, and who plays according to the cards dealt.

But as you play… you realize that something is wrong. You start to realize that there is another type of player. One who constantly wins! At first, you start to attribute it to "pure luck", but quickly you realize that they are cheating. They’ve got cards up their sleeves, mirrors on the wall that enable them to see your hand, and other tricks designed to ensure their successes.

You want to leave the table, but you can’t. You aren’t permitted to leave. You want to make them stop cheating, but you can’t. There aren’t referees in this game. You’re stuck in the game… and your future depends on the outcome! If you quit now, you won't get the 'girl', or the 'promotion' or the 'happiness' that is eluding you for such a long time. And now you’re holding three aces and two queens, and knowing that even this great hand can’t compete with whatever your opponents have up their sleeves. You’re faced with a dilemma:

You can take the “high road”, lose the hand and the game and screw your future. Or you can recognize that the rules have changed, your life is at stake, and failing to cheat… would only be cheating yourself!

What do you do?

Many of us prefer to think of ourselves and our lives as straightforward. Sure, there are gamers who lie, cheat, or manipulate their way through life — but we aren’t like them. We play by the rules… and, we think, karma will eventually reward us for it.

These are nice thoughts… but unless we’re living in highlands of the Himalayas, they simply aren’t true. We all lie, cheat, and manipulate – to varying degrees and with varying levels of comfort – because it helps us live amicably, because everyone else is doing it, and because it can make the world a better place!

Here’s what I mean:

·When we begin dating someone, we engage in a seduction process that requires the same kind of duplicity our opponents showed at the poker table. If our house is typically in disarray, we clean it up. If we tend not to use mouthwash, we use it anyway... if only to see where the relationship might lead. Without such gaming (and instead quickly revealing our hard-to-live-with quarks and disgusting habits), seduction wouldn’t be fun and attraction would be harder to achieve.

· When we interview for a job – whether it’s for a clerk at Government Office or a VP position at Microsoft – we take the twos and threes out of our hands and replace them with the aces up our sleeves. We may prefer to wear shorts and a Hawaiian shirt to work, but during the interview we wear formals or even worse a suit. We may have been fired from our previous job for slacking… but we speak only of our glowing record there. We do this because, simply, we have no other choice. We know that every other applicant is doing the same thing, and we know that speaking candidly about ourselves would have us out on the streets and starving.

· When we comfort the friend who has just failed in a class, we empathize with him. We agree with him that the evaluators were assholes. We comfort him by telling that this is not the end of the world, that your career in no way will be hampered by this 'temporary' setback. We tell him that he deserved to get a rank. We may know that none of this is true... that he might be a dullard, probably didn't even deserve the marks he got... that he might be wasting his time in studies when he could have done something else which he is good at.

Our lives are filled with situations just like that poker game – situations in which we are forced to choose between playing it straight and losing out on what life has to offer …or lying, cheating, and manipulating because, simply, it’s better option for everyone involved.

Most of us choose to be gamers: to participate in the seduction process, to wear a suit to the job interview, to comfort our friends… but as we do it, we tell ourselves that it isn’t lying, cheating, or manipulating…. rather it’s “putting our best foot forward,” “being compassionate,” or “being diplomatic”.

And when the stakes are really high, like in the poker game, and we’re forced to examine ourselves for what we really are – liars, cheaters, and manipulators – we don’t need to grit our teeth and think something like, “Oh gosh… what does this say about my character?” We already know the answer!

Instead, we can smile, roll down our sleeves, slip a few aces into our hands, and do whatever else it takes to get the girl we’ve been courting… the promotion we deserve… the peace we’d all prefer… or the happiness we’ve been searching for.

The tache is gone

I don't know what prompted me into doing this. I shaved my mustache today. This is the first time I'm removing it in my life. I was shocked to see myself in the mirror. I never really thought a small strip of hair above the upper lip could define my image so much. For a second, I felt I was seeing another person in the mirror. Needless to say, I have become a laughing stock at home. :(

But at some level I'm happy I managed to do it. It was like breaking the norm. Getting out of shackles. Probably the boredom of the last week pushed me over the cliff. But seeing the end result, I will probably grow it back. Nothing like a mustache on a man's face :)

So anyone seeing me till I grow it back, please don't act too surprised :)

What are the Odds?

Well this is the first time I'm putting 2 posts on the same day. What are the odds of that happening again? Very slim. I am so bored at work, I closed my eclipse workspace as soon as I opened it. TGIF. Well this is not the odds that I wanted to talk about.

Odds in life. Which is way more important. If you have ever read Paulo Coehlo's The Alchemist, you will definitely start to believe in the concept of destiny (if you don't do so already). Well the concept of destiny is that, if something is stated to happen, it will, no matter what you do.

In my own life, the things I am most sure about are my ravenous appetite (I don’t remember the last time I ate less than five meals in a day), my addiction to TV series (I see everything from FRIENDS, PB, Lost, 24, Heroes, House, Scrubs, Numb3rs...) and many more.

Yet despite my faith that this stuff won’t change tomorrow or the next day, there’s a chance it might. Perhaps I’ll get sick and won’t want to eat; perhaps there will be a bigger strike in US, and they stop airing the serials.

Nothing’s for certain – not my appetite, not your on-time payment of taxes, and not even, according to some physicists, death. Everything in life – including the chance we will find great friendships and relationships – is an odds game!

Recognizing that anything is possible in our lives can be inspiring – hey, Miss India might walk into your bedroom in a bikini tonight. Or it can be discouraging – it’s more likely that you’ll be robbed at gunpoint or beaten up where you bruise like a peach.

Luckily, if we want something badly enough, life oftentimes gives us the opportunity to increase the odds of making it happen. For instance, if you really want Miss India in your bedroom, you can work off that pot belly, become a celebrity photographer, and get commissioned to do a shoot for her (which you bashfully suggest should happen in your bedroom ;-)).

Yes, it’s crapshoot that we’ll ever find the people we’re looking for in life – whether they are our soul mates (some of us deserve more than one :-P) or a job you like or just the peace that has been absent in your life for sometime now. But the probabilities of making these connections can be significantly enhanced or diminished depending on how we go about doing it.

Money Talks

I came across this video from a NGO Open Space, where in they go around a city asking people what they would do, if they were to be given Rs. 500/- (approx $10). This was one of the most moving 2 min video that I have seen in a long long time. Before this, if anyone told me that they could convince me about any topic and change my believes with a 2 min video, I would have probably laughed at them. It is a must watch.




$8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market.

$30 could buy you an ER DVD Boxset OR a First Aid kit for a village in Haiti.

$73 could buy you a new mobile phone OR a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda.

$2400 could buy you a second generation High Definition TV OR schooling for an entire generation of school children in an Angolan village.

What do you wish to do with your money?

What would you do if you were given Rs. 500/-?

Where are you ranked in the world’s richest people list? Check out here

Two Worlds

In the past 6 months, I have come to realize one thing. That I'm living in two completely different worlds ruled by two completely different concept of 'TIME'! Surprised? Well read on...

This stuck me when I started pursue my new year resolution. More introspection! It is safe to say that, even now, I don't understand myself completely. But I'm at a better place than I was 6 months ago. But with constant introspection, I came to scrutinize my every single move, every dialogue. Every conversation I had participated in had to go under the hammer of my scrutiny. I fear I'm getting to a place where I am my worst critic. Enough rambling, and back to the topic of the post.

I consider my world is ruled by two times. There is the 'Mechanical Time' and there is the 'Body Time'. Former is the rigid, unyielding and predetermined, just like a clock that goes tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. The other is free, instinctive, responsive, where I make up my mind as time flows.

Many a times I feel that this mechanical time does not exist. I feel that I live life as it comes by. At these times, the 'time' is ruled by my heartbeat rather than the metallic pendulum of a clock. At these times, I really feel in touch with my emotions. The time is ruled by my desires and moods. At these times, I feel that the time flies by when it has to, like when I'm in a exam. And the same time will slow down when I'm relaxing, like when I'm on a trip, helping me to take in every single detail of nature.

Then there are 'times' when I feel I'm so predictable, that I could be easily confused with a robot. I wake up at the strike of 6 AM, do morning chores by the clock. When my stomach growls, I look at the clock to see if it is time to eat! When I'm seeing a boring sitcom, I see the time to check when it will end, rather than switching it off. It is like I have been programmed to do it. I begin to feel that my body is not a collection of wild magic, but just a collection of bones, muscles and nerves which are all hard coded before hand about their purpose at that particular time. As such the body is ordered by the laws of physics rather that laws of nature. The body at these times is a thing to be ordered, not obeyed.

I have come to understand that existence in these two worlds is inevitable. But having experienced the joy of the world with 'Body Time', I have come to despise the events that I have to 'perform' in the world of 'Mechanical Time'.
I also believe that Time in general is the only absolute thing in the world. It is an infinite ruler. It is the same for everyone rich or poor, good or bad, irrespective of religion or race. A second is a second is a second. It is the basis on which we even base our religious belief. Like the concept of 'Yuga' in the Hindu mythology.

Topic of every single conversation in the past week!

No prizes for guessing whats coming up on this post. It's about the terror strikes in Mumbai. This has been the conversational topic for the past week. And I'm sure its the same with all Indians. Although every single person agrees with the problem that our country faces today, everyone seems to have a different opinion, on what needs to be done to change things. Justifiably there has been a lot of emotional talk, but talk won't magically convert to actions, do they?

I heard one of my friends talking about joining the defence forces. It was the only source of genuine smile for me the whole gloomy week. Well, first of all, he is not fit physically to be in the armed forces. Even if he was physically fit, he has no where the amount of mental strength required. Thinking of the mental strength, I remember telling him that his heart used to race while playing CS(Counter Strike), a popular Multi player game. Think of a real situation, where he is holding a real gun and real bullets a flying past you. Well there is no reset in the real world!

I also hear a lot of people blaming the politicians for what has happened. They deserve to be blamed. They did not do their job in the right way. If the government were to be a software company, all these people would have had pink slips by dawn break. For the sake of analogy, its equivalent to me introducing a virus in a product of my company, but just way more serious than that. But the disappointing fact is that, no one seems to come up with the answer as to who the replacements are for these people. No politician in India is worth the respect a leader deserves. There is no idol among us. So that leaves us with no replacement. Lot of people are suggesting that a newly formed party should come to power. Although a Nobel idea, it would never work. Even if it does, how can one be sure that they are better administrators than the current people. So it is better to have a known devil rather than an unknown fairy.

Others are contemplating on national television of removing the democracy. Well, although I do believe that a strong dictatorship is better than a weak democracy (as mentioned in one of my previous post), I think its better to continue with democracy at the moment. Think of the 100 years of freedom struggle, all the lives lost for one purpose, to bring democracy to this country, to bring freedom. Changing this due to some bloody lunatics, is a disgrace to their courage and the selfless sacrifices they have made for their homeland.

For the moment, I would like just one change from the politicians a.k.a our leaders. "Be true to yourself". They need not be answerable to anyone. Lot of things cannot be answered in public. But they should be able to touch their heart (hope they have one!), and tell that "I think what I'm doing is in the right interest of this country".

Lastly, all I have come to hear in the past week is finger pointing. Common man points to government which in turn points at Pakistan. I have seriously introspected and come to the conclusion that I'm not even half brave to take up a job in armed forces. I'm sure that I cannot be a great leader. With those two options ruled out, the only career choice I can make now, which will at some level contribute to this country, is to accept an Administrative job in the intelligence forces. Not field work, but I think I would be good at handling the back end logistics. On that front, I'll seriously consider taking up such a job profile after I complete my MBA.

India needs leaders. Inspirational leaders. Since they are hard to find, we have to make the best use of the current ones. As they say, "Live in reality".

Dream Weekends?

There was a time not so long ago that I used to detest weekends. Those were my school days. Days when I looked forward to the Mondays. The hatred towards weekends were due to the fact that, I would miss chatting and playing with my friends for two whole days. More dreadful were the winter and summer vacations. Two months of idling and killing time was such a waste for me back then.

But things change. And when they do, they change dramatically. Its a 180 degree turnaround now. Friday evenings are the best part of the whole week. Sunday evenings are the worst. I never realized till I started to work that 'Monday Blues' could happen to me. In fact I have met very few people who do not have it.

It does not mean that I don't like to work, nor does it mean that I don't like to hang around with my colleagues in office. It's just that, I hate being in that closed environment. I sometimes get the feeling of a bonded laborer, sometimes of a prisoner. Working in a cubicle tends to tie me down. It has nothing to do with claustrophobia. Cubicle spurs my unhappiness. What ever the reason the bottom line is that I feel that I'm not 'free'.

But that feeling changes to euphoria once the Friday evening mist sets in. The drive back home becomes so much more enjoyable. I tend to feel that freedom awaits me. It's the best feeling I have in the week. So much so that I tend to plan activities of the next weekend all through out the week. Rarely has there been a weekend in the last 1 year where I had absolutely no plans.
Even small things done during the weekend make me happy. Things so small that I would have taken these for granted not so long back. But this is not the worst part. The worst part is I don't know how to change this dangerous trend and again start looking forward to the MONDAYS!

They all come 'Via Agra'

Add some length to where it matters the most. You know what the mail with this subject line is talking about, right? And the mail asks you to buy their so called wonder drug which, well, apparently can make a Qutub Minar an Eiffel Tower. But, isn’t a Qutub Minar supposed to be enough for anyone? I mean- isn’t it true that all that matters is what you do with the Qutub Minar and not the physics of the Qutub Minar. Anyway, when I was young- I mean when I wasn’t as ‘mentally matured’ as I am now- I used to get so pissed off with ‘the people’ who send such mails. My argument used to be- How can they make such blind assumptions and suggestions about my size without even making an attempt to look at it? Not that I am an exhibitionist, but…..

My spam folder is full of such ‘length giving’ mails. Thank God, we have a one click spam delete. I'm just wondering if women also get such spam? And what will their thoughts be? :D

Review of Psycho Songs

I have been accused of being partial to A.R.Rehman as my blog carries reviews of only his albums. I cede to these accusations, as he is my favorite composer. So this is for the people who crave for variety, a review of non-Rehman, non-Hindi album!
It took me just one hearing of this album to blow my mind away. Truly inspirational.

So let me introduce you to the amazingly talented Raghupathy Dixit, the music composer, singer and lyricist. I had been waiting for a long time now to hear fresh voice in Kannada industry. And my patience has been rewarded big time. After 'Mungaru Male', there has been a wave of excellent music and lyrics in Kannada film industry. Much of the credit should go to Mano Murthy and Jayanth Kaikini for not only giving us great songs, but also inspiring others. But it was kind of sad to see Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Shreya etc.(non-kannadigas) to sing in 'Sandalwood'. We have always know to breed great singers, who go on to sing in other languages, right from the great P.B.Srinivas. But with the introduction of Raghu, we have nothing to worry about. In him, we have a genius for the future.

Raghu came to limelight with chart-busters like 'Mysore se aayi' 'Ambar' and 'I'm in Mumbai'. But he was never a household name till Psycho happened. One story goes like, Raghu had prepared these songs for an album. But the director sensed(thank god!) that these songs should be in a film. So started building a story around these songs. Though this is not a verified story, its just a testimony to how good the songs are.

Raghu tries to bring in the bass guitar into most of the songs. So you will get a rock kind of touch in some songs. That is quite different in Kannada songs, although it is now commong in Hindi film hits. Also what I like in this album is that, Raghu tries to keep the number of instruments in the song to a minimum. He has given priority to certain instruments in each song to accompany the beautiful percussion.

Track Listing:
01. Ee Tanuvu Ninnade
02. Ninna Poojege Bande Mahadeshwara
03. Beladingalante Minuguta
04. Mussanje Rangalli
05. Eno Ide
06. Preetiya Manashantiya
07. Psycho Theme


Ee Tanuvu Ninnade is probably the best rock song in Kannada. Use of violin in this song is awesome. Even the dialect has a rock touch to it. Although it takes couple of hearings to get used to the pronunciations, it is a very good experimentation. It is a typical Raghu song. Sung by Raghu himself, the song is refreshing. It is certain to drive the emotions in you.

Ninna Poojege Bande Mahadeshwara sung by Raghu, has a folk touch to it in the beginning. But I was really surprised when I heard the 'Kannada Rap' in the middle. It was just too good. Again the experimentation pays off. Raghu experiments with the trumpets in this song. This song has a very Kannada touch to it in many places, even the pronunciations are 'Mysore/Mandya Kannada' and one can expect this to be a hit among the masses.

Beladingalante Minuguta is a beautiful romantic duet. The lyrics written by Jayanth Kaikini is extremely poetic. It has some 'Hale Kannada' words in it. Haricharan and Saindhavi render justice to this awesome lyrics. The BGM is also romantic. The beats are soft and smooth. After the first time I listened to this song, I kept on humming it through out the day. It was difficult to take away the music from my head! Raghu uses Flute as the main instrument in this song.

Mussanje Rangalli is a typical South Indian song. There is even extensive use of Veena. I just love the sound of this instrument, but lot of composers hesitate to use it. The lyrics is R.N.Jaygopal is extremely good. Saindhavi touches the right notes every single time. The percussion is dominated by Mrudangam. I also liked the way Raghu makes a fusion of the Jazz guitar and Veena.

Eno Ide is my favorite song of the album. Raghu gives us another master piece. When I listened to it the first time itself, I felt the pain/confusion that he is trying to convey. All those emotions felt by the protagonist oozes out in this song. Yet again the lyrics of Jayanth Kaikini is exemplary.
"baLina deepave indu aari hogide
nanneya neraLe nanna bittu hogide
jeevana allola kallolavaagide
kareyuva koraLe mounathaLide" wah wah! Amazing way to describe that you are lonely!
This song somehow reminds me of 'Yeh Jo Desh Hai Tera' from Swades(only difference is the use of Flute instead of Shenai).

Preetiya Manashantiya is a beautiful song describing this great land "KARUNAADU". This song made me feel proud to be a Kannadiga. No doubt this song will be sung on Nov 1st for a long time. Jayanth has described this land, its culture, and its environment in a very poetic way. Raghu has again done a great job, singing with lots of emotion. The only disappointment is the song length. Seriously this song deserved a second stanza. Still a excellent patriotic song.

Psycho Theme is a beautiful note rendered completely through flute. Being a flutist myself, I can attest that this a very good piece of music. Reminds me of the flute used by Rehman in Roja.

For those who would like to know more about Raghu Dixit, visit his personal site www.raghudixit.com . Raghu is a self learned guitar player and a traditionally learnt classical singer. He had a band called Antaragni. And one thing before ending, this man is a great talent here. I hope Kannada industry retains him before he is lost.

Getting into Shape - Part 2 - The diet

In this part I'll summarize my diet. But before I start, I would like to comment on "dieting" in general. Many people have a misconception of what dieting is. Dieting does not mean to eat sparingly to lose weight. Nor does it mean cutting out certain types of food. For me dieting is taking everything in moderation. Don't force yourself not to eat something because it has too many calories or something like that. This in turn will make you to quit exercising as your mind will carve for that Sunday ice cream or a cheese burger. There is nothing wrong in an occasional bite of a pizza. But do practice restrain on these stuff, as these tend to negate all the hard work you put while exercising. So when you hear people say 'Don't diet', what they mean is don't starve yourself to death.

With that clarified, I can tell about the diet that I'm am currently on. Being a vegetarian, I was constantly told that body building requires one to eat meat. Well, that is bull-shit. Agreed, eating certain type of meat will give more protein and easily soluble protein, but one can get the required amount through pure vegetarian menu.

Simple formula. More protein => Quicker Muscle building/recovery => Better body. Sounds simple right. So where do you get the extra protein from? Soya is the major source of protein for me. I consume soya in many forms. From the beans to milk. It has higher protein content per gram than any other natural substance. Apart from this, egg whites are know to contain amassing amounts of protein (don't consume yolk, as it it known to have the bad cholesterol). Apart from this green vegetables and citrus fruits contain the essential minerals to supplement the protein intake. Do not go low on carbs, since it is the major source of energy for your workouts. It is when we go low on carbs, does a workout result in loss of body mass. In general have a balanced meal. 5-6 meals with lesser quantities is better than the 3 meals a day formula.

If you are working in the evening, don't take anything for 2 hours before the workout. During the workout, one can eat a banana or have an occasional energy drink for the instant energy. Remember to drink lots of water. Don't let yourself get dehydrated. And do not listen to people who tell that drinking water during workouts is bad.
It is desirable to work on the abs and run on the treadmill on an empty stomach. So its better to do these workouts in the morning.
So what about the capsules that claim to give you the 'Arnold' body? Most of them are bad if not outright dangerous. But some are good, like the Whey protein. But take your doctors consultation before having anything that is not natural.

Review of Yuvvraaj songs

I'm back again with the review of another A.R.Rahman's album. This time it is the yet to be released Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj. This is expected to be a musical, so one thing you can be rest assured is the music quality would be top notch. Ghai is one of the directors (along with Mani Ratnam and Shankar) who constantly get the best out of A.R.Rahman.

Before I begin to dissect each song, a few general comments on the album itself. Rahman, after experimenting with various types of music comes back to his forte - fusion of Indian Classical and Western classical music, using the piano, violins, cello extensively in most of the songs. As for the singers, most of them are established. Not many new voices to look forward to, which is a bit of a dissapointment after JTYJN. And being a musical you can expect most of the songs to be exceeding the 5 min timeline. I was really not that impressed with the lyrics of the songs. Its definitely not even near the levels set by Gulzar saab. This might partly be attributed for the fact that there is intertwining with english lyrics written by different people.

Track Listing

01. Yuvvraaj - Main Hoon Yuvvraaj
02. Yuvvraaj - Tu Meri Dost Hain
03. Yuvvraaj - Shano Shano
04. Yuvvraaj - Tu Muskura
05. Yuvvraaj - Mastam Mastam
06. Yuvvraaj - Zindagi
07. Yuvvraaj - Dil Ka Rishta
08. Yuvvraaj - Manmohini Morey
09. Yuvvraaj - Shano Remix

The first track is by itself disappointing. Please dont judge the album by this track. It starts with Salman Khan (protagonist) introducing his character. Although he makes no attempt at singing, he still manages not to deliver the message and is as usual very confusing.

The next song Tu Meri Dost Hain is performed by Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal. It is melodious from the word go. This was the song used for the promos, so the producers think that this is the most catchy song in the album. And they are dead right. It grabs your attention immediately, all the while being very simple. Benny Dayal starts of the song and Shreya completes it in a amazing way. Although Shreya is currently my favourite female singer, the way she intentionally takes deep breaths while singing is getting a bit irritating lately. In the end, its just an excellent song!

The next track is Shano Shano. Sung by Sonu, Srinivas, Karthik, Timmy, Sunaina, Vivienne Pocha & Tina. Its a real surprise. I never expected this kind of a song in a Ghai musical. The song starts with a discotheque music, and english rap. It feels weired for the first time. To be honest I skipped this track the first time I listend to it. Especially when I listened to the weired voice in the middle. A second hearing will make it bearable. Not a great song. But I think it is more of a situational song. I'm not sure how this song will fit in the film.

The next track is Tu Muskura. Sung by Alka and Javed Ali. It is one of those melodious situational songs, accompanied by excellent instrumentals. The song starts off well with Alka easing us into the song. This is the kind of song that goes well with both romantic and sad situations. It is really not that evident that it is the duet till the last minute of the song, when Javed Ali really comes alive with the swaras, which is used extensively in most of the songs.

The next song is Mastam Mastam. Performed by Alka and Sonu, its a soft romantic number. Its a typical Rahman melody. When you hear this song, you kind of get the feeling that you have heard similar tunes before. The claps and the percussions are very much tried and tested formula. But it still works and works really well.

The next song is Zindagi. Performed by Srinivas who is one of the main singers for Rahman in Tamil. As a keen listener of Tamil songs, I have to admit that this is a typical Srinivas song. Very melodious. But something makes me feel that Hariharn would have been the right choice for this song. It sometimes feels that Srinivas is trying too hard to make it more impressive than he should have. But the quality of the song is very good. The song although initially very slow, picks up after a minute with the beats.

The next song in the album is Dil Ka Rishta. One word for it. Awesome. It starts with just the piano. The music has a eerie feeling to it in the beginning. But once the drums starts, the pace picks up dramatically. The voice of Sonu Nigam is as ever refreshing. The lyrics easily blends the hindi and english pieces. The swara in the middle of the song is trademark Rahman. It reminds me of the music of 'Bombay'. This is also happens to be the lengthiest song of the album. And also my favourite song!

The next song is Manmohini Morey. This song is performed by Vijay Prakash. Some might not recognize him. He has sung in Tamil and Telugu, also in lot of Hindi films like Swadesh and Lakshya. Even as the song starts, it puts you in a comfort zone. It has all the touches of a perfect Indian Classical song. Again the swara in the middle is super.


It is a very good album. This is what I expected of a Subhash Ghai - Rahman musical. But while it is very good, what it lacks is a killer song to make it ranked among the best. And also couple of mediocre songs pull the album down. But kudos to Rahman for pleasing our ear again!

Getting Into Shape - Part 1

Warning : Lots of self praise ahead ;P

This article was long overdue. Its finally here. It was my new year resolution to get into shape, and with two months to go, I'm confident that this will be the only resolution that I'll manage to keep. I intend to write this as a series, and since this is the first part of the series, Ill list down my feelings about exercising and dieting in general. Later on, I plan to write on specific exercises that help you to tone your body and get into shape.

I first hit the gym 3 years ago. But it was a failed attempt. I was going with my brother who was my gym partner. And as I was still studying and he was working, our times never matched, and not surprisingly I wasted almost 6 months of the gym fee. That is when I realized that, keeping yourself fit should never be that costly. So I made myself a promise that I would start a home gym.

That promise materialized this year. What probably triggered this was a general visit to the family doctor, where I checked my weight. I was shocked to see the needle oscillate between 67 and 69. I weighed 68 kilos! I also started to notice the bulge in my waist whenever I used to wear formals. I was slowly getting conscious of my body. Let me tell you, no one, and i mean no one can work out, if they are not self conscious of how they look. You need to take long silent looks in the mirror, and only when you feel the urge to look better will you start working out.

The build up to this was very gradual. First I got 6kg dumbbells, not the fancy steel ones, but cast iron dumbbells which cost around Rs18 per pound, and did a lot of core workouts. This means that you will have to build your inner strength, to be able to sustain the weights. I started with push-ups, pull-ups, dips, parallel bars and power yoga for a whole month. You will be surprised with how much you can improve in one month. Just for example, I barely managed 10 push-ups in the beginning, but at the end of the month I was doing 2 sets of 30 push-ups!

In February I added 10kg dumbbells and a bench to my collection. I started with weekly workouts. This basically means that you concentrate on different parts of the body on different days. This is a proved method to increase the pace of muscle development, rather than working on the entire body everyday. I started to keep a schedule. The week started on Mondays with Triceps, then it was Chest, Wednesdays I concentrated on lower body like thigh and calf muscle. Thursdays I worked on my biceps, followed by shoulders and lats on Friday. Saturdays I concentrated on my back. Sunday was the rest day.

In March I added a treadmill to my home gym. The basic reason to shell out 20k on a treadmill was to do cardio workouts. In the beginning I used to run for 1km. Slowly it picked up and now I run 5 km in 30 mins.

This routine continued for couple of months. This was when Bala decided to join me. I really liked this part, as Bala was a newcomer to the world of gymming. Initially I was his tutor/coach, but bala being a quick learner, picked up everything very quickly and thus my joy of being a mentor was short lived. But with this, there was another kind of joy, that of having a partner to do workouts with. We used to put music in our laptops, discuss the days happenings. What me and bala also started was to build our abs. We used to crunch our abs everyday. Couple of sets of 20 reps each. This is by far the most difficult muscle to shape. Especially when you are a vegitarian and addicted to ghee, cheese, and chocolates. It takes patience, humongous effort, and a balanced diet. Ill get into the diet details in the next part.

By the month of July, I had started to see significant improvements in my body structure. And by this time I was also addicted to working in my home gym. I always used to look forward to this part of the day. Its true that gymming can get addictive. You start to get a rush when you crunch your biceps, or the rush of boold into your head when you complete 2 sets of pull-ups can make you feel dizzy. I saw the movie/documentary "Pumping Iron" starring Arnold. There he compares the pleasure factor of working out to be equivalent to that of having sex. Since I haven't yet experienced the latter, Ill go with his word for now :D.

By September, I started to work on my abs in the morning, along with my cardio excercises. This time, I added more variation, doing different workouts for my lower and upper abs, as well as the sides. More details later. But when you start to see the outline of the possible 6 packs, there is no stopping you. Its like a bait to a fish. It grabs your attention, and you will push yourself to extreme levels to get those perfect 6 packs. I'm happy to say that with a determined effort and a conservative yet healthy diet I have been able to get strong 4 packs in my abs and i'm confident that my lower abs will again split to become a 6 pack abs in couple of months time.

The result of 10 months of joy is more joy. I'm now 60kilos. My waist is 29" compared to 32" in January. I'm slim, i'm fit, i'm healthy and i'm happy.

I must say that working out will add a different dimension to your life. It will give you purpose, it will give you a sense of confidence about yourself. It is defenitely a positive investment. I would suggest everyone to try excercising. It is the best precautionary medicine ever!

Another Cousin's marriage

This time the location was different. It was in Hubli which is in Northern Karnataka and also the home town of the bride. Its a pretty big town, with decent facilities. The dry heat in this part of Karnataka will sap your energy in no time. You feel like taking bath every 30 mins. Including the groom we were 55 relatives who travelled from Bangalore to Hubli. The journey was comfortable. The hospitality was great, and the FOOD was spectacular. All in all, it was a fun trip with family and relatives. I wish the newly weds a happy married life. :D

Bankruptcy Explained through a story

Once there was a little island country. The land of this country was the tiny island itself. The total money in circulation was 2 dollars as there were only two pieces of 1 dollar coins circulating around.

1) There were 3 citizens living on this island country. A owned the land. B and C each owned 1 dollar.

2) B decided to purchase the land from A for 1 dollar. So, now A and C own 1 dollar each while B owned a piece of land that is worth 1 dollar.

The net asset of the country now = 3 dollars.

3) Now C thought that since there is only one piece of land in the country, and land is non producible asset, its value must definitely go up. So, he borrowed 1 dollar from A, and together with his own 1 dollar, he bought the land from B for 2 dollars.

*A has a loan to C of 1 dollar, so his net asset is 1 dollar.
* B sold his land and got 2 dollars, so his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C owned the piece of land worth 2 dollars but with his 1 dollar debt to A, his net residual asset is 1 dollar.

Thus, the net asset of the country = 4 dollars.

4) A saw that the land he once owned has risen in value. He regretted having sold it. Luckily, he has a 1 dollar loan to C. He then borrowed 2 dollars from B and acquired the land back from C for 3 dollars. The payment is by 2 dollars cash (which he borrowed) and cancellation of the 1 dollar loan to C. As a result,
*A now owned a piece of land that is worth 3 dollars. But since he owed B 2 dollars, his net asset is 1 dollar.
* B loaned 2 dollars to A. So his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C now has the 2 coins. His net asset is also 2 dollars.

The net asset of the country = 5 dollars.

A bubble is building up.

(5) B saw that the value of land kept rising. He also wanted to own the land. So he bought the land from A for 4 dollars. The payment is by borrowing 2 dollars from C, and cancellation of his 2 dollars loan to A.

* As a result, A has got his debt cleared and he got the 2 coins. His net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owned a piece of land that is worth 4 dollars, but since he has a debt of 2 dollars with C, his net Asset is 2 dollars.
* C loaned 2 dollars to B, so his net asset is 2 dollars.

The net asset of the country = 6 dollars; even though, the country has
only one piece of land and 2 Dollars in circulation.

(6) Everybody has made money and everybody felt happy and prosperous.

(7) One day an evil wind blew, and an evil thought came to C's mind. "Hey, what if the land price stop going up, how could B repay my loan. There is only 2 dollars in circulation, and, I think after all the land that B owns is worth at most only 1 dollar, and no more."

(8) A also thought the same way.

(9) Nobody wanted to buy land anymore.

* So, in the end, A owns the 2 dollar coins, his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owed C 2 dollars and the land he owned which he thought worth 4 dollars is now 1 dollar. So his net asset is only 1 dollar.
* C has a loan of 2 dollars to B. But it is a bad debt. Although his net asset is still 2 dollars, his Heart is palpitating.

The net asset of the country = 3 dollars again.

(10) So, who has stolen the 3 dollars from the country? Of course, before the bubble burst B thought his land was worth 4 dollars. Actually, right before the collapse, the net asset of the country was 6 dollars on paper. B's net asset is still 2 dollars, his heart is palpitating.

(11) B had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. C as to relinquish his 2 dollars bad debt to B, but in return he acquired the land which is worth 1 dollar now.

* A owns the 2 coins; his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B is bankrupt; his net asset is 0 dollar. (He lost everything)
* C got no choice but end up with a land worth only 1 dollar

The net asset of the country = 3 dollars.

End of the story; BUT

There is however a redistribution of wealth.
A is the winner, B is the loser, C is lucky that he is spared.
A few points worth noting -

(1) when a bubble is building up, the debt of individuals to one another in a country is also building up.
(2) This story of the island is a closed system whereby there is no other country and hence no foreign debt. The worth of the asset can only be calculated using the island's own currency. Hence, there is no net loss.
(3) An over-damped system is assumed when the bubble burst, meaning the land's value did not go down to below 1 dollar.
(4) When the bubble burst, the fellow with cash is the winner. The fellows having the land or extending loan to others are the losers. The asset could shrink or in worst case, they go bankrupt.
(5) If there is another citizen D either holding a dollar or another piece of land but refrains from taking part in the game, he will neither win nor lose. But he will see the value of his money or land goes up and down like a see saw.
(6) When the bubble was in the growing phase, everybody made money.
(7) If you are smart and know that you are living in a growing bubble, it is worthwhile to borrow money (like A) and take part in the game. But you must know when you should change everything back to cash.
(8) As in the case of land, the above phenomenon applies to stocks as well.
(9) The actual worth of land or stocks depends largely on psychology (or speculation).

*P.S: Got this story as a forward.
**P.P.S: I'm not that creative ;)

Time to say TATA to DADA with respect

One of the hot topics this week has been the future "Fab Four" of the Indian Cricket Team. At least we now know that during the Border-Gavaskar series we will be bidding adieu to Sourav Ganguly aka Dada. I have to confess, I have never been a hard core fan of Ganguly. By that I mean I haven't supported him during his "rough patches". But you have to give it to the sheer determination of this guy for staying in the dark for a whole year and making one of the most inspiring comebacks in the history of sports. In his comeback year he scored the most runs by a Indian in that year, achieved his highest score in Tests, and was part of 2 series wins. So, why is everyone questioning his place all of a sudden? Is it because of that one failure in SriLanka, where he scored 96 runs from 6 innings? I don't think so. Like most Indians I feel it is more of a forced exit than a individual decision. I feel it is unfair for someone who has served BCCI for so long, not to be given the right reasons to quit the game. They cant tell that due to age he has slowed down. 5 years ago when he was the captain, he was not a inch faster than he is right now. He was never a good fielder, in fact he was and is a pathetic fielder. Unlike last time when he was dropped, he is told to quit for the wrong reasons. Age should never be a concern for an athlete, until he is performing at his peak. And for me Ganguly is batting at his best in last 1 year. There is a never seen before determination in his batting. Lets take the example of Lance Armstrong, according to me one of the greatest athletes to set foot on earth. He has decided to compete in the Tour at the age of 36. And this is no small team which he is coming into, he is coming into Astana, which contains 2006 tour winner. So, why is that in a country with such patriotic and fanatic fans of the game, do we treat those very people who have brought joy to our lives on numerous occasions with such disdain?

I also completely disagree with the concept of terminating a career with future in perspective. Let me put out the current scenario here. A upcoming player struggles against the system to make it to the national squad. By the time he is noticed in all the domestic games he is 25. By the time he is a permanent member in the starting eleven, he is 32. And when he just about turns 34, all the talk about the seniors start. So he will effectively get 2 years of cricket. And we are not talking about normal players. No. They will get far less to play. We are talking about greats, those who have changed the way people play the game. And I'm all the more ashamed to say that this seems to happen only in India.

Fall of Indian Rupee in the Global Market

I was discussing this current trend with one of my friends, and found that I had a naive understanding of the dynamics of the global market. So I did some basic research, and will list down my findings, so that others in my state can benefit out of it.

The discussion started when we saw the newspaper clipping which read that rupee had fallen to a 2 year low against US Dollar. What surprised me the most was "Why the hell is the rupee value falling, when it should have been the other way around? The US market is at its worst, India is not hit as badly as the US, Indian companies are still making a 2 digit growth, then what was the reason for the falling rupee." And to my surprise there was a perfectly valid reason for this.

As I write this, the rupee is trading at 47.2 to a dollar. To put this into some perspective, it was 39.3 to a dollar in January 2008. That is a 20% increase in the value of the dollar in 10 months. Just to illustrate this point, it was not too long ago, the Indian Software giants were sacking people, just because they could not cope with the increase in the value of the rupee to a dollar, which resulted in them getting lesser income for the same client billing.

Let me just give a small description of my understanding on how this index is created. It is calculated as the amount of foreign investment in another country, i.e Amount of Dollars invested in India to the amount of Rupee invested in US. There are many participants in any foreign exchange market. These entities -- like banks, corporations, brokers, even individuals -- buy and sell currencies everyday. Here too the universal economic law of demand and supply is applicable: when there are more buyers for a currency than sellers, its exchange rate rises. Similarly, when there are more sellers of a particular currency than buyers, its exchange rate in the global markets will fall. This does not mean people no longer want money; it only means that people prefer to keep their wealth in some other form or another currency

With this knowledge let me list out the main reasons for the fall in Rupee:

1. The main reasons behind the fall of the rupee are an increased demand for dollars due to a spurt in crude oil prices and the flight of foreign funds from the Indian market (the market situation in India is growing grim by the day, with the main index BSE going below the 12,000 mark as I write this). Demand for rupees, simultaneously, has dipped because capital inflows are down. The American sub-prime crisis that shook the global financial markets has seen unprecedented bailouts and infusion of dollars into the US economy. This infusion has been at a cost of many an emerging market, from where funds have been pulled out to plough back into America. India has been one of the worst hit countries on this count, as foreign funds took flight, thereby making dollars scarce. The sudden and colossal demand for the US dollar has seen it strengthen, while the rupee's exchange rate has depreciated dramatically during the same period. India's stock market regulator, the SEBI, has said that foreign investors sold more Indian shares than they bought.

2. The higher price of imported goods, especially oil that is now ruling at over $90 per barrel, has also led to an increase in domestic inflation and a fall in the value of the Indian currency. High inflation and a strong growth in the Indian economy have already forced the RBI to raise interest rates. The inflation is hovering around 12% mark for the past 2 months.

3. One more reason for the fall of the rupee, as propounded by some economists, is the overseas non-deliverable forward (NDF) market that is not sanctioned by the Reserve Bank of India. An NDF is a non-deliverable forward contract where financial institutions buy forward dollars (that is, they book dollars now for delivery at a predetermined future date) in the Indian market and at the same time sell a similar amount of dollars in an overseas market -- or vice-versa -- so that on the delivery date they make a profit or loss, which is the difference between both the rates.

So what is the conclusion of this? Who gets affected, and more interestingly who is under loss and who is gaining out of the current situation?

As the rupee falls, foreign investors will want bigger returns for their money to compensate for the higher risk. This means that the Indian government, companies and individuals will have to pay more for the money they borrow: in other words, higher interest rates. This will also mean that Indian Govt will have to pay that much more for the foreign loans, like from the World Bank. This could further deter foreign investment, which results in a cumulative effect (people stop investing because the rupee is devalued which is a result of foreign players divesting).

So how do we reverse this trend?

One measure that can be taken by the RBI, is to change the interest rates, so that value of the rupee is appreciated in the global market. Another thing is for RBI to sell US greenbacks in the open market, thereby getting this situation under control momentarily and stopping the spiraling downward trend.
But the best thing to happen is to hope for a bull run in the market, similar to the one we had in 2007. This will ensure that there is more foreign investment, and as a result the demand for dollar falls, and strengthens the rupee considerably.

Understanding Sub-Prime Mortgage

Sub-Prime Mortgage is no more a unknown word. People have started discussing it over coffee and it has suddenly become a buzz word. In the past 2 weeks I have notices at least 5 headline articles having this keyword in newspapers. So, its natural that everyone is eager to know more about the crisis which brought about the downfall of a 150 year old company. Here, I try to explain this crisis in simple "human-readable" terms.

Before dwelling into this hot issue, let me describe the current state of affairs (majorly in U.S market). We have seen that Lehman Brothers have filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. AIG has been taken over in a multi-billion dollar deal, to keep it afloat for god knows how long. Merryl Lynch was taken over (the deal was more like a give away price). Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are no more just investment banks. Freddi Mac was brought by the US govt. And looks like many more are going under the hammer. So why is this chaos in the market. Well, to explain this I will have to start with the happenings as back as in 2001.

The US real estate industry witnessed a boom between 2001 and 2005, with property prices soaring to historic highs due to low property loans, interest rates and other factors. Some of the weaker borrowers, who were either on the verge of defaulting on their financial commitments or had already done so, owned house properties whose values had risen dramatically on paper. So lenders looking at increasing their margins were quick to spot an opportunity and lent money to such borrowers on the basis of this increase in the paper value of their homes and these loans were either used to repay the old loans or for other expenses. All was fine till the housing party crashed.

The US property bubble collapsed, and interest rates began to rise. The rising rates led to a spate of defaults by borrowers, as a result of which several US sub-prime mortgage companies had to declare bankruptcy.

The result was that the shares of lenders dealing in sub-prime mortgages took a tumble. That's not all. The effect spread to the entire financial markets because these lenders had raised monies on the basis of such loans and were now not able to pay them back. And the ripple turned into a wave, affecting a wide section of the markets, and then spread overseas.

Exact definition of sub-prime mortgage:
A sub-prime mortgage is a loan offered by a lender to a borrower with a poor credit history (meaning he has defaulted on his financial commitments in the past) against the security of his house property. Such borrowers are called sub-prime borrowers. Since the risk of default is high, these loans are offered at relatively higher interest rates compared to loans offered to people with an impeccable repayment track record. However these sub-prime mortgage loans are relatively much cheaper than completely unsecured loans to the same profile of borrowers.

How does this affect Indian market and does this slow down the Indian Growth Wagon?
The US sub-prime crisis has had a short-term impact on the Indian stock market and on credit instruments with overseas investments. Collateral damage in India was extremely limited, as Indian entities do not own structured finance instruments. In effect, all it has managed to achieve is to create panic among investors. But soon those who were too quick to shed off their shares will repent their hasty decision. Our market is strong (or as strong as before the Wall Street crash), and it is highly unlikely that a sub-prime mortgage crisis will ever happen in India, since most of the Indian population which has bad credit rates are Non-prime users. Borrowers falling in this category may have never defaulted, but have low incomes or may not have proof of such incomes. These people may have borrowed earlier, but from local moneylenders and not banks or formal institutions. This is the case even with the ridiculously high interest rates the local money lenders charge. There is a reason for this. Since lower income group people do not find the need for large capital investments, they only need to borrow to sustain their daily needs. So they would prefer small amount, short duration, no surety loans, which no banks offer. Because of this, I think there is extremely less chance that the Indian markets will fall as it did in the US for this reason. But I do think that it is time the property bubble collapsed in India too.

Adaptability at Workplace

Recently me and my team performed a skit on Adaptability at Workplace. An interesting idea on its own, we had to perform on this topic as it is one of the Foundational Competencies of our company. Excited by this new opportunity to show our creativity, Darshan, Padmashree and myself assembled in a small Discussion Room to script and enact this skit. The most important decision to make was the fact that we got to know about the skit just 2 DAYS in advance. We had several doubts if the time was sufficient to come up with a script, and also the dialouges. We also had doubts of our ability to come up with an innovative idea for the script. But two things probably cleared the dilemmas. We found out that this was a competition, so there was that extra motivation to participate ;). But more importantly we came across the book "WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?" by Dr. Spencer. This was the "inspiration" for our script. Let me take some time in describing this amazing book.

This is a simple book, with a huge moral. This is that kindof book we generally have in middle school as Moral Science text books. It is a simple parable book that reveals profound truths about change. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a 'Maze' and look for 'Cheese' to nourish them and make them happy. Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are little people' - beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw. 'Cheese' is a metaphor for what you want to have in life - whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, good health, or spiritual peace of mind. And 'The Maze' is where you look for what you want - the organization you work in, or the family or community you live in. In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.

We just took the basic idea from this book. We had 3 charecters in our skit
1. A person who anticipates change, keeps himself ready by being upto date in current technologies, and basically plays the role of Sniff and Scurry. This was played by Darshan.
2. A person who is dejected by change, is at first reclutant to accept the change, but later realizes it is better to overcome the fear of new and unknown, rather than rot in a place where there is no future. This person adapts to change, allbeit a little late. But finds the journey to be fruitful.
This was played by Padma and she depicted the role of Hem.
3. A person who is angry that there has been a change. Who is adamant that his environment has to change with him, and not the other way around. Is constantly brooding over the changes that have taken place, and will never come to terms with it. This was played by me, and I tried my best to depict the charecter of Haw(I always play the bad guy role ;) ).

The 'Cheese' was depicted as AWESOME PROJECTS (which everyone desires for). And the change was depicted as the project getting shelved.

The skit started with all the 3 of us playing new hires in our dream company. We go through the rigours of training, and after 2 months of hard work, we get rewarded by getting the AWESOME PROJECT. In the beginning we are all enthusiastic about it. But 5 months down the line, when we are comfortable with the project, and can handle all the situations with ease, Padma and Me start to relax. But Darshan keeps himself upto date with the current growing and 'happening' technologies. 1 year into the project, we get a disastorous news that the project has been shelved. Although all of us are disappointed over it, only Darshan decides not to brood over this, and makes some calls and gets into another project since he was upto date in the new technologies that he had voluntarily learnt. Padma is dejected, and I',m angry. We feel that we have been cheated. This is the part where we try to potray that some one has moved our cheese. But after sometime Padma realizes that its not worth waiting for the project to come up again and decides to search for new ones. But it has been a long time since she has learnt anything new, and finds it difficult in the beginning. But she decides to enjoy the learning phase, and finally lands into another great project.
The final moral that we tried to portray was "Change Happens, Anticipate Change and Adapt to change as quickly as possible. Change is inevitable, So Enjoy the change as it will happen again and again."
And needless to say, with this script and an incredible performance(sorry for being modest :D) we won the first place!

Billionaire College Dropouts!

I recently came across an article which listed some of the billionaires (present and past) who had not completed formal education. I'll list out some of them first and then give my take on this topic.

Dhirubai Ambani:
Dropped out of school when he was 16. Went to Turkey and worked as a gas station attendant and later as a clerk in an oil company. 10 years later he returned to India, and started a business with a meager capital. Today Reliance Industries is one of the biggest, with both of his sons in the Top 10 richest men list with a net worth of $40 billion each!

Subhash Chandra:
Dropped out of school when he was 12. Started his own vegetable oils and rice trading unit at 19. Later he launched Zee Telefilms, India's first Hindi Satellite channel. He also pioneered new business - amusement parks Essel World. His personal wealth is estimated to be $2.3 billion.

Bill Gates:
Dropped out of Harvard when he was a junior there. Started his own company Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen. For long the world's richest man, till he was upstaged by legendary investor Warren Buffett recently, Bill Gates wears many a hat: computer whiz kid, entrepreneur extraordinaire, compassionate capitalist, top management thinker. . . His personal wealth is estimated to be over $50 billion.

Steve Jobs:
Dropped out of Reed College after just one semester there. In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer Co in the family garage. Jobs revolutionised the industry by popularising the concept of home computers. Introduced the Macintosh to the world. He had an influential role in the building of the World Wide Web. He is also the former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios. Today, with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple is bigger than ever. Incidentally, Jobs worked for several years at an annual salary of $1. It got him a listing in the Guinness Book as 'Lowest Paid CEO.' He was once gifted a $90 million jet by the company though. And his net worth? More than $5.4 billion.

Michael Dell:
Dropped out of University of Texas when he was 19. He started his own company Dell Computer Corporation. By 2003, Dell, Inc. was the world's most profitable PC manufacturer. His personal wealth is believed to be more than $16 billion.

Roman Abramovich:
Dropped out of school very early. Richest Russian alive, Roman is popularly known as the boss of Chelsea Football Club in which he has invested $500 million. His personal wealth is estimated to be over $23 billion.

Ralph Lauren:
Dropped out of City College of New York while studying business. He was in the army for a while and later went on to work as a sales man for Brooks Brothers. He started a necktie business under the label 'Polo' in 1967, and then went on to build a global reputation for himself as a fashion designer and a formidable businessman. His net worth is estimated to be around $3.8 billion.

Henry Ford:
Dropped out of school when he was 16. Worked as an apprentice machinist, married, tried a bit of farming, ran a sawmill, experimented with internal combustion engines and eventually formed the Detroit Automobile Company with a few other investors. When the company went bankrupt, he formed the Henry Ford Company, but was forced out by investors. He returned with the Ford Motor Company. And here's something everyone should thank Ford for. In 1926, he instituted the five-day, 40-hour work week. And the modern weekend was born.


To list some more:
Gautam Adani : Adani Groups.
Li Ka-shing : The chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings. Worth $18 billion
Carl Icahn : Leading shareholder in Yahoo. Worth $14billion
David Geffen : Founder of Dreamworks SKG. Worth $5 billion
Larry Ellison : Co-Founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation. Worth $25 billion
Richard Branson : Founder of Virgin Recording, Virgin Flights, Virgin Mobiles.
Francosis Pinault : Owns Christie's auction house, Samsonite luggage, Converse sneakers, Gucci, YSL, etc. Worth $15 billion

So what makes these achievers great. For one, most of them have achieved against all odds, even when the society around them did not permit. But is it because of the fact that they did not have a formal education? Let me explore this a little more.

There are many college and school dropouts who have amassed a huge amount wealth. But good education is never a waste of time, because there are millions of dropouts, but only a few of them go on to become billionaires.
But there is something in these people that makes me think that they would not have achieved what they have if they had got/continued their education. I feel that these people have learnt more from the experiences of life. These people did have education, the education that life teaches everyone of us, but only few can grasp it to become achievers.

The billionaire college dropouts list shows that a combination of qualities like vision, determination, hard work, business acumen, ability to spot an opportunity and turn it into a winning venture, leadership and motivational skills, etc is more important than a college degree.

Olympic Sports in India

I had a few thoughts on this topic. But before i jot them down, I would like to take a moment and applaud the efforts of all the athletes who represented India in Beijing. I would also like to congratulate the medal winners - Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, Vijender Kumar and all those people who might get added to this list by the end of Olympics.

This Olympics saw a lot of firsts for India. First Individual Gold, First time more than 2 medals, First time more than 1 medal in a day. So the natural questions that can be asked is - Is this enough (i.e are we going in the right path in the right speed) and has anything changed from the last time?

According to me, or for that matter any lay man, nothing has changed wrt to the infrastructure or the monetary benefits to the budding athletes. But there is some change in the confidence shown by our athletes. They now have a feeling that they belong to that stage, and compete with the rest of the world. It might also have something to do with the growth and recognition of India and Indians in areas other than sports. What ever might be the reason, its nice to see Indians competing with self confidence.

As for the other question - is this the right path and pace. Yes it is the right path, but I still can't come to terms with the pace of the growth. If you see the growth of China in the last 24 years (after its re-entry into modern Olympics), I feel disappointed. There is a lot to be done. Hopefully the CWG in 2010 to be held in Delhi will inspire the Indian athletes as Beijing 2008 has done to the Chinese.

I also have some thoughts on the sports we should concentrate more on. I would like to see Indians build specialization in certain sports like the US in swimming, Cuba in boxing, Jamaica in Track&Field etc.. As we have won a lot of medals in Shooting, that should take the top priority. Not only because we have a Olympic champion there, but the fact that the number of medals to be won in Shooting is too huge to take it for granted. Many of them can compete in more than 2 events, and with rifles, pistols, shotguns , and the difference in distances, and also the team events, there are many medals to bag. This also goes for Archery. This sport does not require great infrastructure (which Shooting needs), but what is necessary is a excellent coach and well paid and content athletes.

Next comes events like Weightlifting, Boxing and Wrestling. The important thing to notice in these events (apart from the fact that we have individual medalists), is the fact that there are lot of categories. Which boils down to lot of medals. The weight classification is one of the key areas that we need to concentrate and get the medals. Finally a gold in Hockey is same value on paper as a Gold in Flyweight Boxing. And I feel that our country is looking more for Individual heroes rather than Teams.

Some other events that can bag us a lot of medals are Badminton, Table Tennis(have to figure out a way to beat the Chinese).

One event which we should minimize our investment in is the Track & Field. We have to accept the fact that, we are genetically disabled compared to the people from Africa and the Americas. We might get a surprise winner in that sport, but it is definitely one sport which we can't dominate.

PS: I do not intend any disrespect for any of the athletes who have represented India. Nor do I intend any disrespect for their sport.

Much needed break

After a week long deliberation and discussions, Anirudh, Sathish, Madhu K V and myself decided that we needed to take that much needed and deserved break. But the planning was not a smooth ride. We had half of our college gang dropping out of the trip for different reasons (but the most ridiculous one was given by Adi). Then we had the rains. Unfortunately for us it started pelting down that week, and in course flooding most of the Karnataka rivers. But none of this mattered for us, as we were determined to have a blast!

We decided to go to Kemmangundi, which is a hill station in the Western Ghats. We had booked the Horticulture department cottages by phone. Even though the weather forecasts showed torrential downpour near Kemmangundi, we decided to try our luck. So the jaunt started on 14th August (all of us had applied leave except Sathish). Everyone assembled at my home at 6:15 AM. We filled the tank of my Swift and loaded our bags and were on road by 6:40 AM. We took the NICE corridor road till Nelamangala (this 40 km distance took 30 mins to cover). From there we took the Tumkur road. The road was awesome, even with the intermittent rain. We had our breakfast at the Kamat restaurant just before Tumkur. After Tumkur we took the Bangalore-Honnavar road which is narrower (single lane - which takes a couple of turns to get adjusted to) and of inferior quality. We constantly clocked around 70km/hr.


Our first pit-stop came after the town of Gubbi (famous for the theater artists). We stopped near a field where farmers were sowing paddy. It was a nice experience to watch it, marred only by Sathish's obsessive nature to take individual pics. We continued our journey towards Kemmangundi, with a second pit-stop in front of a sunflower field. After this there was a scary moment on the road. I decided to overtake a Scorpio, who was much slower than me, but not letting me go through. I saw a lorry from the opposite side, but calculated that I could overtake the Scorpio. But that person, seeing me overtaking suddenly increased his speed. The result was that I went pretty close to the lorry. But the scarier thing was that a Tata Sumo was trying to overtake the lorry from the opposite side. It was a pretty close shave.

We reached the town of Birur which is 230kms from Bangalore. There we took a deviation to the left to a small village called Lingadahalli(16kms from Birur). The road started to get worse from here. Due to the constant downpour and also bad quality of roads, there were more pits than tarred road. Reaching Lingadahalli, we saw a deviation board (about 1km) towards Kemmangundi. This road was even worse, but it prepared us for the next 20kms upward climb to Kemmangundi. We stopped on the way (this was where Sathish called office to tell he wasn't coming) to take in the magnificent view of the hills. There was a cool breeze. I remember mentioning atleast a couple of times that I wished I had my office desk there.




Next stop was the Kalhatti falls or the Kallhatgiri falls. It is a stepped falls. So even though it falls from a height of 160 feet, there are a lot of places where one can get under the falls. The falls is more famous for its temple. There was some kind of big pooja going on there. So we had to be content at having the darshan from a distance. We started to trek to the top of the falls. We found a secluded place, where only 4 of us could enjoy the water. I think the temperature of water was below 10 degree. With my first step in the water, my feet went numb dude to the chill water. It was the best waterfall I had ever been to. I wished we could have stayed in the water a bit longer, but we were hungry and it was already 2:00 PM. We were hoping that we would get a nice hot meal in Kemmangundi.








After enjoying the euphoria, we headed upwards. Slowly but steadily the fog grew thicker. At first we started encountering running water on the road. It was actually fun to see that. But after some time we saw a couple of uprooted trees and some landslides. It was a scary drive to the top. But once we reached the top the view was spectacular. It made us get rid of all the tensions in our mind.

We reached the cottages and we were in for a shock. The rooms(or so called rooms) were the most disappointing part of the trip. It was no more cleaner than a godown. More over there was no power in entire Kemmangundi. We somehow digested this fact and felt it was our destiny to stay in this place and went for lunch. Comparing the canteen to the room, the room seemed to be heaven. This canteen seemed like a place where they feed criminals in jail. I haven't been there or tasted that food, but I guess nothing can be better than what was served to us!

Around this time it started raining. Only people who have been to these places know what rain really means. In the Malnad region, when it rains, it pours. And it pours for hours together. Unfortunately for us, the weather forecast for once proved to be right. But the bad room, pathetic food or the rain was not enough to deter our enthusiasm. We ventured out in the rain for a trek to a tourist spot called Z-point. Half way through the trip we realized that there were other creatures that was living on our blood. We had leeches all over our shoes and socks. We made a hasty retreat to the godown. We were wet, cold, and all our warm clothes were wet now. Some of them did not even have a dry pair of socks. We were occupied through out the evening with removing leeches from our shoes. It was a fun exercise in retrospect. Sathish acting like a girl. KV acting like a child. Me and Ani trying to teach them that a leech bite would not kill them. I am disappointed to say that we failed miserably. Sathish at one point used the torch as a focus light to put a foot down!

We settled on the beds(as it seemed to be the only safe point). We had lot of caching up to do. Some of them had moved on a lot in the last few months, and it was time to share all the experiences. We had lays and biscuit for dinner, as we decided we would not eat at that god forbidden place ever again. We slept pretty early, as we had plans for early next morning.

We got up at 6:00AM the next morning, and started climbing down by 7:00AM. Me and Ani had hot tea during the downward journey. It was still raining when we had started our journey, and we expected more landslides because of the rain. But we were lucky and we hit Lingadahalli by 8:00AM. We took a right deviation near Lingadahalli towards Chickmagalur. The road was of top quality. Especially the ghat section roads were a real surprise after the roads of Kemmangundi. We had breakfast in Chickmagalur.

From there we went to Belur(50kms). There is a temple in Belur of Sri Channakeshava which is famous for the stone carvings on the temple's outer wall. The road was pretty decent and the journey was smooth. Although I have been to Belur several times now, it was the first time for KV and Sathish. But every time I go there, I feel dumbstruck. When you first see the carvings on the stone, the architecture, and the imagination sculpturer, and the fact that it was done in 10th century, with such under developed tools, makes one feel that God has done this in the hands of man. Those who have never been to Belur will never get to know what stone sculptures really are. From the top the temple is seen as a 8 rayed star. The pillars inside the temple are all of different design. Its like every sculpturer is trying to better another one. The outside of the temple has carvings that depict a story. The Mahabaratha, Ramayana, Sri Bhagavath have all been depicted in stone carvings.























From here we went towards Hassan(60kms). Again, it was an awesome road. We had our lunch in Hassan and continued towards Bangalore. On the way, we decided to visit Shravanabelagola. It is a place of worship of the Jain's. But for us, it is the place of the largest monolithic stone statue in the world. Shravanabelagola can be reached by taking a deviation to the right on the Mangalore-Bangalore highway after the town of Channarayapatna. We have to take the State Highway for around 20kms. We have to climb a hill on steps to have a glimpse of this mammoth
yet beautiful statue of Bahubali. It is said that the dimensions of each part of the statue if reduced to that of a 6 foot man, would result in the perfect features for a man. At the top there is matap, where we rested for some time. The weather was really good, and we ate some of the things that we had carried to the top.

We left Shravanabelagola at around 3:30PM, and continued our journey towards Bangalore. We reached Bangalore at around 6:00 PM. We had covered 620Kms in the entire journey. In all it was a real fun trip, with lot of adventures, beautiful places, and most important of all with amazing friends.

Cheers guys,
We Rock!