Back

From a good vacation. 4 days just flew past. Will post the travel diary soon. The cascade mountains of Oregon are breathtaking. Mt. Bachelor, The Three Sisters, Broken Top, Mt.Jefferson, Mt.Washington offer some of the breathtaking views no one can expect.
I was primarily focused on skiing and after 2 days I could barely lift my legs. Learning ski turns is one hell of a job and learning to turn without coaching is even more difficult. Somehow I learnt it and can now manage the blue runs. After 2 days of skiing happened to visit Smith Rock State park and decided to take a 2.5 mile hike which is quite strenous but the views of a monkey face shaped rock were worth every effort.
As the year ends, just thought of putting down the places I got to see:

Nature:

1. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - Summers can be killing, but the views of the canyon - unsurpassed. The best activity - rafting along the colorado river.
2. Redwood National Park, California - Its hard to believe that the seqouias are nearly 2000 years old and the sheer magnitude of these trees makes one realize how tiny the human body is.
3. Point Reyes National Seashore, California - One of California's best kept secrets. Just an hour from SFO, the seashore has everything to offer for a nature lover from backpacking to whale watching.
4. Yosemite National Park, Califorina - Donno what to say - just splendid. Been there twice and long to go again and again.
5. Mono Lake and the eastern Sierras, California - Just the huge expanse of this lake makes one wonder how it would have been if the incoming waters had not been diverted to Los Angeles. The limestone crystals emerging from the lake are a natural wonder.
5. Oregon Coast, Oregon - The drive from the oregon california border until Astoria in northern oregon is probably one of the most scenic drives in the continental US. I took 5 days to drive along this magnificient rocky coastline and the experience was more than what I had expected.
6. Columbia River Gorge, Oregon - I havent seen so many waterfalls in a single region elsewhere. Multnomah falls, Wahkeena falls, Latourel falls, silver creek falls and horse tail falls are the famous few. Fall is probably the best season to visit the gorge as it tends to be less crowded.
7. Mt.Hood National Forest, Oregon - Not very far from the gorge, the Mt.Hood national forest region is a hiker's paradise. The vast network of trails are impressive and so are the views of Mt Hood from all around the national forest. This is also a skiing paradise in winter.
8. Mt.Rainier National Park, Washington - A fairly undisturbed national park in washington. Guess all the tourists pour into the olympic national park.
9. Mammoth Caves National Park, Kentucky - Supposedly the largest cave system in the world. If there is something that can be described about caves - its the 'darkness'.Whether u keep your eyes shut or open, makes no difference.
10. Mt.Bachelor and the cascade mountain ranges, Oregon: Another winter landscape paradise, but with most of the access roads closed in winter getting around can be difficult. Given the right conditions, the mountains offer great vistas.

Urban:

1. New York, New York: Love At First Sight - thats how I can describe the city. Someone once asked me where would I live given a choice and I said - give me two choices - I'll alternate between NYC and Mumbai :)
2. Louisville, Kentucky: A typical southern town. The traffic lights in this city suck, they dont turn green forever.
3. Los Angeles, California: No matter what time of the day it is traffic never moves in LA. Its always bumper to bumper and yeah the shady downtown parts are pretty scary. The city is an absolute concrete jungle.
4. San Francisco, California: The best part of the town, a beautiful beach just minutes from the downtown, the great Golden gate bridge and the nearby wine country which is home to some of the world's best wines.
5. Seattle, Washington - A music lover's city in the west coast, Oh and yes a coffee lover's paradise.
6. Cincinatti, Ohio - On a saturday afternoon, the downtown was deserted. No more comments.
7. Austin, Texas - A great college town and the Texan blondes - need I say more.

Work has kept me unusually busy over the past few weeks and hence am unable to update the blog regularly. So christmas is here, and as there is festive fervor everywhere. Shopping malls have become human zoos virtually :). Am going to find some respite in the cascade mountain ranges. Specifically will be skiing in the Mt.Bachelor and if possible will take a hike down the three sisters and the broken top. So heres wishing everyone a merry christmas and a great holiday weekend.

I Shouldn't Be Alive

Forget about Survivor or Lost or Fear Factor. This new program on Discovery channel will send the producers of these shows to a tailspin. Its about real life experiences of people who have cheated death or should I say survived a close death. Its just bone chilling to watch the ordeal of adventure seekers, stranded amidst deserts, oceans and mountains, surviving for days without food and water and somehow making it back into civilization. The programs are adaptations of real life experiences with intermittent commentaries by the survivors themselves.
In my view the most inspiring adventure adaptation is a documentary 'Touching The Void', a saga of 2 climbers on a climbing adventure in the Andes.A must see for all adventure lovers. Another must read is the novel 'Into Thin Air' - a reporter's quest to conquer Mt.Everest. Another worthy mention is the documentary of Captain Scott's expedition to the south pole. Some of these adaptations will bring out that adventure spirit and make you feel as if you are just sitting at the comfort of your home and doing absolutely nothing, but for others they seem totally boring.

A good article about how Google ( NASDAQ: GOOG ) is creating a niche for its own ideologies and its uniqueness in the market place. What I like about the company is they broke all traditional business laws, created a market cap of 120 billion $ ( as of nov 17 ) from a simple concept of 'search'. As someone wrote in slashdot, Google is one company where tech whizkids rule the show.

Some recent funny mail forwards:

Wife is dreaming in the middle of the night and suddenly shouts: "Up!! Quick! My husband is back".
Man gets up, jumps out of the window, hurts his back, and then realizes: "Oh Damn, I AM the husband"

Ladka: Janeman is dil mein aaja.
Ladki: Sandal nikalu kya?
Ladka: Pagli mandir thodi hi hai, aise hi aaja!!

Mayawati came to Lallu's house with a goat.
Lallu: Bhaiswa ko kyon layi ho?
Maya: Dikhta nahin goatwa hai?
Lallu: Hum goatwa se hi to pooch raha hoon.

Nikon D200

Nikon has announced the new D200 (almost everyone knew about this release and it was no surprise). Details.

A 10 MP sensor, 5 fps continuous shooting ( impressive 22 frame raw buffer), weather sealed magnesium alloy body and a very attractive price tag of 1,700$ makes this camera a wonder. All I can say is 'wow'. DP Review has a detailed preview already available and almost all the aspects of the camera are discussed in detail.

Combined with this camera Nikon has also announced a 18-200 mm AF-S VR zoom lens ( 27-300 mm equivalent ) priced at about 670$. This is just what all semi-pros, amateaurs and serious hobbyists need. Just one lens for general purpose photographic needs.

As Ken Rockwell puts it, for another 3-4 years the D200 and the 18-200 lens will serve the general purpose photographic needs with an investment of about 2,400$.

p.s : This entry should have been in my upcoming photo blog but owing to the unexpected busy work schedule the new blog is still 'under construction' :).

Current Events : E Ticketing - Indian Railways

The much awaited e-ticketing has been introduced for few New Delhi bound trains. This is certainly a boon for the urban traveller. However, I could'nt find more details as the site requires creating a username/password even to look at booking details. Hope the system works and they introduce this service on more trains.

Consequently MTNL has slashed broadband internet rates to 199 Rs per month. BSNL also has a broadband offering for 250 Rs per month I guess. My personal experience with dialup connections was pathetic, even with top providers like Tata Indicom. 2 years back broadband rates were at a staggering 900 Rs per month. The reduction in broadband prices and online train/flight reservations will definitely help the urban traveller. This will in turn hopefully lead to online vacation planning, hotel reservations etc fuelling the much needed boost for the Indian tourism industry.

And yes wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous deepavali.

Technology - Google Base

It's bieng rumored that Google plans to offer a database service where one can store and search whatever they want for free. What is google targeting now - its ebay. More details on this article. Theres a lengthy discussion on slashdot. What google is trying to do , how they'll manage to stop people from using the database for illegal materials etc etc.
So far there is no confirmation from google regarding this service but it will be interesting to watch their announcement. Yahoo must be planning something similar.

I also noticed that google has launched www.google.org as their philanthrophic arm. Theres not much information on the site other than some funds and donations made to Africa.

SPLOGS

Spamming takes a new dimension, lured by blogs. Check this
out on cnet.

The spam entries are always from anonymous usernames, sometimes have an URL associated with them and mostly clog the RSS feeds. As per the article, there is no solution for this menace so far.

IIPM and the Blog Community

This arcticle has created quite a stir in the blogging community because it was linked here and it relates to an institution IIPM>. The institution has claimed that it is ranked in the top 10 Indian management institutions, boasting international placements etc etc. From the limited knowledge that I have about international placements, foriegn compaines hiring management graduates in India usually go to these institutions: IIM - Ahmedabad, IIM- Bangalore IIM - Calcutta and to Indian School Of Business. Also IIPM claims that they have faculties from Harvard, Columbia, Yale etc.
Someone at the institution retaliated to the blog article by launching several blogs with the same article and without any links. (A search engine flood). Now the issue seems to have died down a bit. IIPM has filed a defamation lawsuit against the blogger - Gaurav.
The blog community has vehemently opposed IIPM's claim and tons of bloggers are protesting against the act. Not to mention I've joined to bandwagon

UPDATE : I wrote to Columbia business school to check if it was possible for them to find out if any of their faculty teach at IIPM ( as this was one of the claims made by the institution ). The public affairs department at Columbia sent the following response:

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Unfortunately for
us, it is not uncommon for other institutions to mention us in their
marketing efforts - especially regarding faculty. Many of our full-time
faculty do teach sessions at other schools. In addition, adjunct
faculty (those who only teach here on a part-time basis) often teach
other classes at other schools and describe themselves as Columbia
faculty. I suspect that this is the case here. We will keep an eye on
how IIPM uses our name, but at the present time Columbia Business School
will take no action.
Again, thank you for informing us of this situation.

Apple - Capturing The Media Business

The name is enough for the the cupertino based company. No need for more appreciation or accolades. A total innovator from desktops to graphics to online music. Apple, for many is more than just a brand name. The culmination of beauty and elegance with state of art technology is what makes Apple such a coveted brand.
The launch of the new video iPod and a surprising new iMac G5 with a remote control to watch video and music will mark the entry of Apple into the media business. A few months back in one of our coffee table discussions, I was arguing like hell that Apple would want a slice of the media industry and Jobs will do all thats possible to grab that slice. Everyone at the table disagreed. They would never agree that Jobs would bring videos or movies to iTunes. When I saw the news yesterday about the new G5 and the video iPod I was so thrilled. More than the video iPod it was the G5 that grabbed my attention. The new features with G5 - a remote control that can operate from a distace of upto 30 ft and an integrated iSight video camera will mark the first steps for Apple's entry into the media business.
Jobs has managed to stay friends with Walt Disney and has cut a deal with them to have television episodes some popular shows like LOST, Desperate Housewives made available via the iTunes site. Many music videos will also be available for download. In my opinion this is his first step. The day is not far when Jobs will get movies to the iTunes site for a nominal price(5.99$). The day when leading news channels start broadcasting news headlines as video podcasts is also not far. For sure, Apple will one day be a major player in the media business.

Blogging - Going Forward

Having spent a considerable time on blogger, I now feel the need for taking the blog to the next step which means expansion, adding better features and better content. Buying some space on the web and a good web designing software will provide the new features. Travelling and photography will provide some content to start with. So I intend to start a travel and photo blog. I need to find a good title for the blog - travel-photo.com, photo-travel.com etc sound too mundane and ordinary. Some of the creative names have already been taken. So am on the hunt for a title and would greatly appreciate any suggestions. Need some decent web designing software. MS frontpage would be an option I guess. ( Am a total illiterate when it comes to any artistic designing of websites ). This Article by Bob Atkins provides some information on building a photo website. Definitely a useful read. This blog will still remain but the frequency of postings might decrease.

El Salvador

A country the size of Masachussets, nestled on some active volcanic mountains ( one of which erupted recently), and which is just a 2 hour flight from Texas bedazzled me at the first sight. The capital San Salvador is so much like a typical Indian 'Malnad' town, for instance Agumbe. Incidentally because of storm winds in the Atlantic, it has been raining ever since I landed here. Well how did I happen to land here, in San Salvador ? - got to complete a project for one of our clients here. I should say I was lucky as there was no one else to take up this project.
Speaking of El Salvador, the disparity between United States and this country in spite of the close proximity is what struck me at the first sight. El Salvadorians follow United States principles like keep right traffic, 110V electric power etc, however everything is so rustic here. Its kind of nice to see empty roads with a few cars here and there, a few cycles and a few people crossing the roads carelessly.
El Salvador has been ravaged by civil wars all through its indepenednce. People have struggled for basic aminities. Only after it signed a free trade pact with the United States, the country is seeing some prosperity I guess. The coffee from this country is special because of the volcanic soil on which it grows and hence earns tremendous export revenue.
Am yet to explore the place. Given the continuous rain, the impossible work load I have and the lack of spanish knowledge, I donno how much I can roam around. Everything is so green and beautiful here. So I hope to explore a little bit as I have 2 weekends at my disposal, weather permitting. Overall, its quite exciting to be in Central America.

Me and My Memory

For those who know me, its no surprise how forgetful I am. Its a matter of annoyance sometimes when you forget important things but there's hardly anything I can do to overcome it. The instances of forgetting key chains, pens, cell phones are innumerable. Also I rely heavily on the calendar and appointments. However so far, my 'memory' has been successful in getting me into quite funny and bizzare situations:

Our hostel had only one phone where all of us got calls. I was the only 'pradeep' in the hostel. So one night someone calls, I pick up the phone, ask him to wait, come out and shout 'pradeep, phone for you' only later to realize the phone was actually for me and that was my dad calling.

In college again, the day after we get the final exam report cards we were all having chai in our canteen and suddenly I discovered I didnt have the folder containg the reports. Just a thought and I took it for granted that I've lost the folder, went to the office to ask for duplicates: the expression on the clerk's face, who had handed me the reports just a few minutes earlier was priceless.

So we go to Barista around noon have the usual cappucino, chat for a while, get out and head to a pub when I realize I've forgotten my jacket but I dont pay much attention, and after all the roaming n pubbing we come back to the same Barista again and are sipping coffee, when I spot a jacket - I am about to return the jacket to the cashier when my friend yells - 'Hey, isnt that your jacket'. Thats when I realize.

Am in the Mt.Hood National park, get out of the car to take a picture, put my keys in the jacket, open the trunk put the jacket in the trunk and conveniently close it. I dont realize that the key is in the trunk until I get back. (Thankfully the moon roof was tilted slightly and I could slide a rod thro' it to open the lock )

So far, by God's grace, I've been able to get out of bizzare situations and I dont mind bieng a part of funny situations. As long as I can find what I've lost I'll consider myself fortunate.

The superb 50 mm lens

During the 1970s and 80s a 50 mm lens was the standard lens sold with slr cameras. During the coming years, however 'cheap zooms' in the focal range of 28-80 and 28-90 replaced the 50 mm lens. The 'zoom' factor attributing the most for replacement.
However the 50 mm lens is still in the market and available for a throw away price of 75$. So what makes this lens 'superb'. The maximum aperture is 1.8 as compared to 4.0 on the cheap zooms, its wonderfully light, brutally sharp, has absolutely no or negligible flare, sufficient contrast. Whats missing in the lens is full time USM and distance scales. I dont need either of them as I shoot mostly landscapes with this lens and its always tripod mounted. So far I havent come across a single negative factor. Put a polarizer on and you can get some good pictures. These days this lens remains my standard, only to be replaced occasionally by the classic 20-35 USM zoom , hailed as the 'best buy' in any available wide angle zooms. Examples of some pictures taken with the 50 mm lens.

It had been a while since I posted some pics. It took quite some time for me to scan the slides, the result was not all that impressive. Heres a shot of a bunch of geese in flight, taken at the East Palo Alto bird reserve.

Life without a Television

Is it possible at all ? I've always wondered. TV in my view is one of the greatest 'time pass' devices of the century. Studies have revealed that americans watch on an average 5 hours of television per day. Japanese are next watching on an average of 4 hours per day. The multi billion dollar cable industry thrives on TV. From what I know there are atleast 500 channels airing programmes from sports to nature to adult entertainment. All said and done, is it worth spending 5 hours a day infront of a TV?
In my opinion, definitely not. These days, TV has become so rampant that day to day lifestyle is designed around TV programmes. Breakfast, while watching 'breakfast today', dinner wathcing 'Kyoon ki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi' etc etc. One incident literally shocked me: My friend's wife called him up, and asked his parents to record an episode of some reality show because she lost power in her house. The first thing that my uncle does when he wakes up is turn on the TV. My parents and my sis are addicts to some of the soaps.
When such is the craze around TV and cable, I've opted to live without one as long as I can. Ever since I moved to portland, I havent bought a TV. Though it felt a bit wierd in the first week not to have a TV ( my hands would involutarily fumble for a remote ), I've gotten used to it. Not having a TV gives me so much time to pursue other activities,especially reading. It also helps me in sleeping early, and thereby waking up early. There's also lot of time available for introspection.
Speaking of reading, am picking up some wierd books these days -
Histories - Herodotus, The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli, Stupid White Men - Michael Moore, Love and Death: Murder Of Kurt Cobain.

White Water Rafting

This was a long wait and it finally happened. Saturday night I was just thinking on taking some good pictures the following sunday and then I thought why not go on a white water rafting trip. The advantage of bieng in portland is that all kinds of adventure sports are within a two hour reach. Not being a great swimmer kind of made me think twice about rafting but then I took the plunge.
Wet planet Adventures offers a decent begineer/intermediate class III-IV rapids trip down the white salmon river. I chose the morning trip. It was good fun, especially for a first timer. The water was super cold, so we had to put on wet suits. Generally 6 guys and a guide fill a raft, but in our case we were just 4 and our guide - a super nice guy. Spending 3-4 hours on the river is totally exiting. I could not get an insight as to how the rapids are classified, the guide simply said 'U tend to gauge water with experience'. There was a 20 ft cliff jump which I chickened out of ( altophobia u see ).The rafting came to an end with a fall down a roaring water fall. That was the best part of the trip. It was like one of those movie scenes :).
Just like any other sport, rafting is quite addictive and as long as one does not panic its great fun. Next am aiming for the 3 day raft trip down the Rogue river in Oregon.

Katrina - A natural and economic disaster

Dubbed the worst disaster in the history of United States ever since the 1905 hurricane in Texas, Katrina has literally wrecked the Gulf Of Mexico. Thousands of lives have been lost in the southern states of Loisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. An otherwise burgeoning city of New Orleans is totally submerged in water upto 20 ft in some places.
The economic impact - astronomous. $26 billion in insurance coverages - AllState insurance will lose all its profits this year. Another $14 billion in miscellaneous damages. About $40 billion in the rise of commodity prices and gasoline that is pegged to reach 4$ a gallon. People are fearing loss of jobs. Even coffee prices are slated to shoot up as some 1.6 million sacks of coffee is stacked in New Orleans warehouses.
Some people are terming Katrina as 'American Tsunami'. There is no power, no water, no food in the affected areas. President Bush made a statement that it will take 'years' to recover.
Not to draw a comparison, but not very long ago the Tsunami that hit southern Asia was a disaster in a much larger proportion. However, the economic impact was not to this extent. The hard hit countries of Indonesia, SriLanka and India have already recovered. India, recovered so fast without any foriegn aid. After the Tsunami, the Mumbai floods caused severe damage. But, the economic impact - almost nothing. Mumbai has already recovered and there is little or no worry about job losses etc.
In India, we may lack infrastructure, we may not have the best possible facilities, but what we have is 'resilience' which is much more valuable than any of these factors. One hurricane, and the american economy is shaken. We've had a disastrous Tsunami, floods that literally put the economic capital out of business for days, yet our economy is strong and shining.
These disasters are proving that man is finally paying the price for polluting nature. Researchers are studying the causes of Katrina and linking it to the enormous CO2 pollution. It is predicted that more hurricanes will follow and will cost the american economy upto $100 billion. Well I hope after all this, some people wake up and take up small steps to prevent pollution. Atleast, they can stop driving Hummers.

Sources - Forbes.com and CNN.com

Just read about the Benefits and Risks of drinking coffee. Some of the facts I was not aware, like coffee bieng rich in antioxidants. Now am not a health freak of any sort but it feels good to know that my addiction to coffee wont cause a major health issue in the long run :).

Am bitten by the 'change' bug again. Life seemed pretty good all these days. A year or more of almost solitary living, 80,000 miles of flying, almost a month of vacationing, my sister's wedding, it was all good fun. Now for no reason, I feel like doing something different. Ok, thats too broad. So what do I want to do different ? First thought that strikes me is that I need to change my 'job profile' or move into a different product line. Next, I need a break from travelling ( atleast for 2 weeks ). Next ( and am not sure about this ) I want to get back to school.
Well I have to strongly think about getting back to school ( and the more I think about it, the more I get confused phewww ). Darn!! To heck with all this, time to think about something exiting, aah!! white water rafting in the salmon river :).

Day To Day things that I

Dont Like To Do:
Press Clothes
Pay Bills
Expense Reports/Time sheets
Follow up Emails
Grocery Shopping
Dish washing
Laundry

Like To Do:
Sleep
IM
slashdot.org
Swim/Play/Excercise

Unfortunately my day is just filled with all activites in the top list :)

An incident on Brigade Road

This was narrated to me by my friend yesterday in New York. He and a couple of pals of mine were meeting in front of Rex Theatre on Brigade road. It used to be our regular meeting place. When I was up in B'lore we used to meet at least once a month and relive old college memories, now that all of us have been thrown across the globe such meetings are a rarity. However 3 of my pals somehow happened to get together a couple of months back and thats when this incident occured. As these guys were talking and watching people walking across Brigade road, they spotted a couple. All of a sudden a girl walking in front of the couple turns back and slaps the guy. 5-6 cops dressed in plain clothes immediately jump to the scene and start beating the shit out of the guy. No one knows why and whats happening. Apparently the girl who's with the guy happens to be his wife and starts pleading the cops to stop beating. The cops are relentless. After a while the guy's face is totally in a bad shape, nose bleeding, a few teeth broken and the wife is sobbing hard. As usual a large mob gathers around. My pals get a bit curious and try to find out whats happening. In any such 'incidents' the best sources of information are auto drivers. So my pals approach an auto driver and enquire what happened. At that point of time one of the cops yells in their usual Kannada tongue to the guy 'Be thankful to your wife, but for her u would've been in a lockup by now'. Then the auto drivers explain that the girl who was walking in the front felt this guy's hands trying to grab her ass, turned around, caught hold of his hand and slapped him hard. The guy probably was thinking that since he is with his wife, the 'act' will go unnoticed.
How shameful. I felt so sorry for the wife, what a pathetic situation for her. Wonder why she was protecting her husband ? Kudos to the girl who slapped him and the cops in plain clothes. The police department in Karnataka may be highly corrupt but when it comes to such incidents they will just beat the hell out of the culprits. Guess they too need to vent their frustration at times.

Instant Messaging

I got introduced to instant messaging sometime during 1997 0r 98. At that point of time access to internet was pricey and not everyone was into IM. So it was kind of a mellow thing. But ever since I graduated in 99 and got into work, Instant Messaging (IM) became more or less 'The medium' of communication. Even between people sitting across cubicles in the office, IM ruled. Though I was and am still a yahoo user, I got used to AOL as it was the mainstream communication medium in the company I worked for and is still by far my most widely used IM.
Being a highly talkative guy, getting hooked on to IM was pretty fast and these days I prefer IM over any other means of communication: telephones, emails, snail mails or faxes. Another mode of preferred commumication is SMS. Other than meeting anyone face to face , IM is my preferred medium of communication. As I see these are some of the advantages of IM:

1. Cost effectiveness: when it comes to communicating with people across the globe.
2. Discreet: Unless you have hooked your pc to a projector
3. Conferencing abilities : A pretty decent alternative to telephonic conference calls
4. Smileys and emoticons: Quite useful in expressing oneself.

That goes to explain, I spend almost 40- 50% of my time on IM. I even learnt to type fast and accurate.However IM comes with its disadvantages: primary one bieng the usage of short forms like 'l8r'. Also am kind of losing the 'attitude' to write. I have 2 travel diaries, one essay and numerous posts on my blog still in a 'pending' state. That bieng said, I just cant imagine a world without IM.

Portland - The City Of Roses

I will be moving to portland, Oregon shortly from the 'revered' bay area. Though portland is another IT hub, its far less expensive and not very crowded. The sad part is the climate, its gloomy and cloudy almost 8-9 months in a year. That hurts. The reason for my move is that all our offices are getting consolidated in our headquarters here in portland. I had an option of working from home but I hate that idea. Also some benevolent exec decided to hand out some money to aid in relocation which worked to my advantage.
The Oregon coast is voted as one of the most scenic coastlines in the world. The rocky sea shores are paralleled by none. The historic 101 route trudges all along the coast. What this means is that am gonna drive on thie route for 5-6 days starting from san francisco and ending in portland, stopping at various places and enjoying the coast. The drive is not planned as of yet. The most definite pit stops are Redwood National park, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Crater Lake National Park. 5-6 days of solitary driving, its just me, my coupe and mother nature.
So why is portland called the city of roses? In summer roses just grow like weeds in this city.

UPDATE : The itenerary is set. All hotel bookings are done.

Day 1:
8 PM - Departure
Next morning 5 AM - Reach Crescent city.: 300 miles

Day 2 and 3 : Crescent city, Explore the Redwood national park

Day 4:
7 AM : Start the drive up the coast of oregon, drive all day: 230 miles
8 PM : Reach Newport, check in and relax.

Day 5:
8 AM: Depart Newport, drive till evening: 110 miles
8 PM : Arrive Cannon beach, check in.

Day 6:
8 AM: Explore Cannon beach
Evening depart for portland : 80 miles

So we are having this conversation while having our usual drinks:

Me : I donno what it takes to get into sales, seems to be a fun job.
He : Dude, its a hit or miss career, either you feast or you are in famine.
Me : I would rather feast for 10 days and stay for 30 days in famine, rather than eat shit for 40 days.

Everyone at the table bursts out laughing at this. Am not sure if it was all that humorous .

Creating religious disharmony seems to be the birthright of islamic terrorists. Now why did they have to attack the disputed site in Ayodhya. Though am not a proponent of violent activities, its fair to say that the CRPF did a commendable job in gunning down the terrorists. Hope this doesnt lead to any communal fights.

A Wildlife Photographer In A Telugu Movie

Creativity seems to be springing into the minds of Telugu film directors. I happened to visit a friend here in Sunnyvale, and his BIL was a big time Telugu movie buff. He was watching a new Telugu movie, Am not used to these movies but since there was nothing else to do I ended up watching the movie.
The lead character in the movie happens to be a wildlife photographer (Now isnt that something ). The role is played by Jugal Hansraj. Probably the director of this movie envisioned himself in that role as the photographer had around 15 people around him on a wildlife shoot, carrying all sorts of reflectors etc etc. May be they were there to help him identify the wildlife. The jungle has a tinge of white smoke everywhere. The director probably forgot to turn off one of those artificial smoke guns. Now how does Jugal Hansraj and his crew reach the jungle ? white water rafting. Hope Mr.Jugal and his crew carried weather sealed equipment.The scene goes like this: Jugal Hansraj is waiting on a shot of a fancy bird (some kind of a cuckoo). Just then a crew member steps on a dry leaf, the leaf crackles thereby making a loud noise ( there's definitely a mike out there ), this startles the bird, the bird looks at Jugal for like a minute ( as if telling him, 'someone scared me' ) and then flies away.
Perhaps the director has never seen any wildlife episode on discovery channel/ngc even by chance :). It was so hilarious to watch the filming of wildlife Hyderabad ishtyle :).

Hiking to waterfalls

Recently we had been on a hike to a waterfall near Sacramento, Feather Hill falls. Its a 3 hour drive from the bay area. From the parking lot its a 2 hour trek to the waterfall and its quite pretty. Unfortunately I dont have a slide scanner to scan and post the slides. I spent a lot of time on the way mounting my tripod, taking pics and walked at my own sweet pace. It was a refreshing hike though. Once we reached the waterfall, spent nearly 3 hours just sittting and gossipping. What we repented most was not carrying food.
The hike reminded me of an earlier hike to MeenMutti falls in Wayanad. That was probably one of the toughest short hikes of my life. The path was so slippery and the descent was so steep that we had to crawl most of the time. Also it was pitch dark and misty as it can be seen here. This pic was shot at sometime in the noon. Thats Punit, Hemant, our local guide (forgot his name)and myself. We were so freakin tired by the time we reached the falls, there was absolutely no energy left to trek back. Somehow we made it.

Another waterfall hike or walk as that I've liked is a really short hike to vernal falls in Yosemite National Park. I didnt know how to take good photographs then and hence this sloppy snap of the otherwise beautiful vernal falls.

Other memorable hikes to waterfalls have been the Jog Falls in Shimoga, and the Hebbe falls in Madikeri Hope I get to trek some more beautiful waterfalls, atleast I can hope to see the Niagara Falls.

Music Tag

Arun, here comes the music tag pal. As it goes with the movies tag, here is a brief compliation. This is by no means a complete list :)

Songs listened to the most number of times, I cant even recollect the count:
1. Pukaarta chala hoon main: Film - Mere Sanam: Playback - Mohd.Rafi
2. Kya Yahi Pyaar Hai: Film - Rocky: Playback - Kishore kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
3. Jotheyali: Film - Geetha, Playback - SP Balasubramaniam, S Janaki
4. Nothing Else Matters : Album, Metallica S&M Symphony, Artist - Metallica
5. High Hopes: Album - The Division Bell: Artist - Pink Floyd
6. Enter Sandman: Album: Metallica: Artist - Metallica
7. Chehra Hai Yaa Chaand: Film - Saagar: Playback - Kishore Kumar

Songs I would love to Sing:
1. Aise na Mujhe Tum Dekho by Kishore
2. Ehsaan Tera Hoga Mujhpar by Rafi
3. Wonderwall by Oasis
4. Mere Naina by Kishore
5. Bhavre Ka Gunjan by Kishore
6. Laaga Chunri pe Daag by Manna Dey
7. O Saathi Re by Kishore

Most loved Lyrics:
1. Kisi ki muskuraahaton pe - Lyrics- Shailendra
2. Chingaari Koi Bhadke - Lyrics- Anand Bakshi
3. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
4. Coming Back To Life - Pink Floyd
5. Kuch To Log Kahenge - Lyrics- Anand Bakshi

Tag Time

I got tagged by Pallavi for movies and Arun for music. Even a hundred pages will not be sufficient to write about movies and music. The most concise way to put things would be to categorize them, in a slightly different manner.

The most number of movies watched in a time frame:
About 300 in a span of 4 months - year 1998. A celebration to mark the end of college.

The movies watched most often:
Terminator 2 Judgement Day: 40 - 50 times
Where Eagles Dare: 40 - 50 times Year 1990
The Spy Who Love Me: 30 - 40 times Year 1990
The Matrix: 20 - 25 times Year 2003
Sholay: 10+ times Year 1995

Intriguing movies:
The Matrix: First time, I was spooked. Had to watch it again n again to know wot the heck was happening.
Minority Report: Spielberg comes up with a concept, in the end proves it's a piece of crap.Took a while to figure it out.
Gold Finger: Till the end I was thinking GoldFinger would steal money from Fort Knox :)

Emotional movies:
To Kill A Mocking Bird: Gregory Peck brings tears to the audience with his award winnin performance.
The Notebook: An unusual romantic story, powerful perfomances and every scene is filled with emotions.
Titanic: The oscars speak for the greatness of this movie.
Phenomenon: It was unusual to watch John Travolta in such an emotional role.
Top Gun

Inspiring movies:
Independence Day: The speech in the end.
Meri Jung: Oh God the court scenes.
Enter The Dragon: I almost joined a karate class after watching this movie.

The Best Entertainers:
Lord Of The Rings,Sholay,Golmaal,Star Wars,Matrix,Speed

Arun, the music tag will follow pal.

World Environment Day

Yep Sunday it is, also my birthday it is. Not sure what to do. Its just another day for me and am not that much into celebrations. A cup of coffee with a bunch of friends would probably be the best thing. It beieng world environment day, I do feel bad that the environment around us is getting from bad to worse day by day. As I sit and ponder, enormous efforts seem to be spent in preserving what still remains good of the world around us and preventing further damage. However visible signs of the damage are still pervalent. Am reminded of the Matrix philosophy 'Everything that has a beggining, has an end'. Earth and mankind are no exceptions. Mabbe mankind will draw an end upon themselves someday probably a million years from today. Mabbe I am growing pessimistic with age :) have a great week everyone.

Nature Photography Field Guide

I happen to spend atleast 2 hours a week in a Barnes&Noble bookstore browsing through books and magazines. While browsing the photography section, just came across this book by the renowned nature photographer John Shaw. I have tried to read several books on photography but so far none have matched the quality of this nature photography field guide. The book sells for around 17$ on amazon and is worth every penny. It's filled with such amazing photographs. Also John Shaw is such a good writer. Simple and very easy to understand language and humourous anecdotes keep the reader engrossed. For anyone interested in bieng a good nature photographer this book will be a great aid. The book has gotten into me, I should say cos one night I even dreamnt about having a long discussion with John Shaw.

Digital 2 Film

When everyone in the world of photography is upgrading to digital, I kind of downgraded to film :). Said goodbye to my Nikon and got a new Canon Elan 7N and a 100-300 mm lens. Choosing the camera body was easy. The lens took me sometime. Oh the camera is awesome. I still need to buy a good tripod, a slide scanner and a few more lenses. Thats still a long way though.I could'nt find a better way to kick off the summer holiday season :).

Carnatic music - A new found obsession

Ever since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with music. During childhood it was the all time great music of the 60s and 70s ( cos my dad would mostly listen to them ). During high school and college it was Pop and Rock and eventually rock dominated the scene.As I got to work, my music folder would have only old hindi songs along with Metallica and Pink Floyd mostly. Some off beat pop would fill in some gaps.
In the recent past however, I've been obsessed with carnatic classical . It all began with BalamuraliKrishnan and his 'Jagadaananda kaaraka'. This was sometime in early 2000 or late 1999 I guess. Then I gradually began listening to U Srinivas and yesudas. A couple of years back, I happened to listen to Maharajapuram Santhanam, and I was totally mesmerized. I accidentally heard his 'Raghuvamsha Sudha' in one of my friend's house and I was like wait a minute this voice cannot be so captivating. I literally hunted for that particular CD, got it and the first day I listened to the song all night continuously. My dad was shocked. Till then I would just listen to Pink Floyd or Metallica and piss him off :). Gradually I started listening to other singers but mostly stayed with Santhanam.
Couple of weeks back was in my aunt's place. A good feel about my family is that everone has got some or the other penchant for music. My aunt has passed vidwat in vocal, my mom has passed her senior in vocal, one of my uncle's is a vidwat in Mandolin etc etc. We got to sit and chat about carnatic music and she has such a magnificient collection. Name the musician and u'll find the cd. The greatest fun was to listen to a single song from all great musicians. Since I was the guest I got to choose and I wanted 'Raghuvamsha Sudha' a Patnam Subramaiam Iyer composition in kadhanakutoohala raaga. Instead of fumbling for cd's we found an easier way to listen on musicindiaonline. What a delight to hear to all maestero's playing the song one after the other.
Kunnagudi Vaidyanathan - Violin
U Srinivas - Mandolin
T R Mahalingam - Flute
Nikhil Joshi - Guitar

Here are the links to Raghuvamsha Sudha by
U Srinivas
MS Subbalakshmi

Two varying forms of the same song, same raaga and same thaala.

It is now I regret not having taken any lessons in carnatic music :) but I guess its never too late to start.

These days my work schedule is something like this: Monday 4 AM wakeup and catch a 6.30 flight to Kentucky. With a 3 hour time difference the travel costs me 8 hours. For the next 3 days work like hell from 8 to 5. Evenings, grab dinner with friends, watch TV and crash. Friday afternoon take the dreadful flight back home.
In spite of bieng a travel freak, this travelling is hitting me hard. On some fridays, I avoid getting home and go to some nearby places.
The good part about travelling is I get time to read and sometimes have a chat with feloow travellers. An interesting book/magazine is the best travelling companion. When am not reading,I'll have some brief conversations with someone sitting next to me. It's good fun to listen to their travelling adventures. Sometimes I get to meet oldies who'll be fascinated to talk about India. Most of the topics of discussion revolve around travelling: which hotels to stay, which airports to avoid, which cars to rent etc etc.
The sad part about travelling: flight delays, baggage loss, last minute gate changes and crying kids. Most of the times, I have to travel through Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world. Whenever bad weather hits Atlanta, most of the flights get delayed and in my experience it has happened thrice. My worst delay has been for 12 hours ( 9 pm to 9 am ). I dont really bother about baggage loss cos most of my clothes are inexpensive and in the pretect of losing baggage I get to buy more clothes :). Crying babies are a nightmare on flights. In one of the flights there were 3 babies crying in competition with each other. The babies cry for several reasons, darkness, pressure differences, turbulences, time differeneces, lack of space etc etc. Somehow the parents will try to calm them down but that'll take hours.
This travelling spree will probably continue till July and hopefully I get to stay at home for atleast a month before I take off again.

Rwandan Genocide

Last night, I happened to watch a documentary on the Rwandan Genocide. It doesnt feel good to see around 800,000 people massacred by their own country men and the whole world watching the horror in mute silence. I was totally horrified.
The entire episode of the genocide is a result of bitter hatred amongst Hutus and Tutsis, two prominent tribes in the nation. What instilled this hatred, I dont know. It all began in April 1994 with the killing of the then Rwandan president Habyarimana (a leader focused on ensuring peace between Hutu and Tutsis ). The Rwandan army and the Hutu Militia go on a killing spree and literally pull out Tutsis from their houses to be shot in masses. The killings continue in an unprecedented manner. The Rwandan Patriotic Forces, an army unit of the Tutsis though small in number tried their best to protect their sect/tribe. Refugee camps were used as safe havens by the killers, students were killed in schools, hospitals were set on fire and what not. The documentary depicts these killings as is, Hutus treating the Tutsis like roaches. Theres a scene in which around 200 girls are shot in a school and one of them happens to survive the slaughter, She wakes to find herself in a sea of dead bodies.
The most disturbing fact of the genocide is that the whole world watched this horror for 100 days and practically did nothing. The UN deployed 5000 troops and pulled back leaving only 270 at the peak of the genocide. The US, did not deploy any troops at all during the genocide. The worst part, every country airlifted their country men but left the Rwandans who worked for their corporations/embassies. After the genocide ended, all that the rest of the world had was 'apologies' and support on reforming the country.
Isnt that hysterical for a country like US which projects this image of 'policing the world' not to have done anything about the massacre and now, they are fiddling around with Iraq and North Korea. Nothing was done in Rwanda, why ? because there was no oil, no communism, they are just another 'African nation'. I just happen to correlate this to another African nation, Sudan has been literally brought down by the Oil czars who call themselves Exxon Mobil. It was no massacre that they did but the company has successfully ruined the Sudanese economy for its own benefit. In that regard, have absolutely no doubt in terming the present day US government a czarist regime of the Oil Barons (Chevron Texaco, Exxon Mobil, BP etc) whose only concern is amassing billions of dollars at the cost of less powerful nations, environment and of course common people. It all finally boils down to dirty politics :).

Another Wierd Dream

In my expereince dreams are mostly wierd, regarded as manifestations of a person's subconscious. How this 'subconscious' sees things differently, how they get registered and how they are recollected is definitely not something that I've tried to understand nor will I. ( I figure it to be the job of some researchers :) ).
So my last nite's dream goes like this. I get into some sort of an aircraft which is a lot more sophesticated than an airplane. There are a few others along with me but I cant remember the faces. The aircraft takes off just like any other airplane and after soaring in the air for a few minutes, the aircraft pivots itself like a rocket and starts an immediate burst into the atmosphere. I have no clue where its headed to. All I can realize is its behaving like a true rocket and I could literally feel that enormous speed. So after a while, this thing goes and puts us on the some surface that looks like the moon but am not sure what it is. We ain't wearing any space suits or anything like that. Theres some kinda township into which we just walk across from this aircraft. Its totally covered by glass ( some sort of a dome or something ) and then we can see our beautiful earth from a distance. It was gorgeous, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was so exhilirating. After gazing at the earth for a while, I just realize I dont have my camera and instantly kind of shout

'oh shit, I've forgotten my camera'.
The guy next to me: 'so wots the big deal'.
Me: Dude, do u think anyone's gonna believe if I said I went into outer space. At least if I had my cam could've taken a picture of earth from this distance which wud've proved I was here :).

At this intance, my alarm goes off .. I woke up n was so amazed, even in a dream I was trying to be realistic. BTW as I wrtie this, am wondering could this dream be a manifestation of 16 hour flights every week. Contrary to this, a few days back I had a nightmare , which I better not write bout :).

LOTR - Marathon

It had been on my agenda for a long time, to watch the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, without a break. Luckily got such a chance in my aunt's place over the weekend. I was on an official call over the weekend to support any disastrous issues with our customers and hence could'nt venture out anywhere. So made use of the opportunity to watch the trilogy. So saturday night me and my cousin sat to watch the trilogy. She's a die hard LOTR fan. She's so passionate about the movie, probably she can rewrite the entire script without missing a dialogue :). The extended version on the DVD is fun to watch. There is an additionl hour of added scenes.
Felt really good just to relax at home, eat good food and just laze around.

Sin City

Go Watch it .. a fabulously made movie which doesnt give the creeps of usual filmy violence. Its more like a comic book. The movie is shot completely in b&w with streaks of color, like the red lipstick, a blue car or the ugly golden face of a so called 'villian'. Almost all the guys whom I spoke to liked the movie, women on the contrary mostly didnt ( mabbe cos theres 'zero' emotion and absolutely no sentimentality ). The movie definitely rocks and presently topping the box office. Reviews can be found on IMDB, Yahoo movies and other popular movie sites.

and I dreamnt of a 'threesome' last nite :). Woke up wid a laugh.. cuz one of the girls in the dream happens to be a dear friend of mine.

Back

From a fabulous vacation. My sis' wedding went really well, though it was a bit tiring for a few of us. A typical wedding in my community lasts for 3 days. Its great fun but theres too much of chaos and tension especially when there are lot of oldies around. It was a good learning experience for me, dealing with varying temperments of people. I should say my sister's in-laws were highly co-operative.
Now that my sis got married am the one to be placed on the sacrificial altar :). All I could make out was atleast 4-5 guys were willing to give their daughter's hands to me. What they dont realize is that am not ready yet. Its tough to make em understand so I just warded off everyone. Getting married at this stage of my career is more of a nightmare :) especially with a travelling job.
Met almost all of my friends. Some had gotten engaged, some married and some had become 'father figures'. Speaking of places in Bangalore, nothing much had changed, the restaurants, coffee shops, bars and pubs .. just that there were new ones everywhere. I however stuck to the old ones especially Java City on Lavelle road. For some reasons, thats one of my all time favorite coffee shops. I just love the open air ambience and the vibrant crowd there.
Was speaking to one of my good friends and we ended up talking mostly about childhood friendships, teen age romances crushes, heartbreaks etc etc. Just then a thought struck me why not write something a like 'women in my life' .. :) and am somehow persuading my friend to write about men in her life. She seems kind of not open to the idea.
So a short lived vacation came to an end on saturday when I had to fly back and from monday onwards its work and travel as usual. Next week am headed to Louisville, kentucky.

Am heading home for a couple of weeks to attend my sister's wedding. Its been almost a year since I left home. Boy time surely flies. While in B'lore plannin 2 do some day trips to Bandipur etc but thats too much of an asking amidst all the wedding frenzy.
So catch y'all in the first week of april .. adios.

How To Start A StartUp

For those ambitious few this article is a must read. Slashdot readers may skip this.

One of my friends came down from India. Bieng new to Bay area etc etc the lady was quite tensed (am quite unsure y). On one of the previous chats when she told that shes comin over, she had said 'Pradeep, u donno how secure I feel just bcos u r there', my response 'don worry lady, the moment u see me: u'll feel equally insecure' :).
So this girl comes, and we check into her guest house and here goes the conversation:

She: 'I cant stay alone', theres no one here.
Me: Wot ???? ( puzzled look on the face )
She: Pradeep, am new here and donno neone, u r the only one I know.
Me: U gotta get used to bieng alone here or make new friends. ( At this time I wished she had come with her hubby .. he he )
She: It takes time
Me: Ok, so wot u wanna do? ( Foot in the mouth )
She: I'll stay over at ur place
Me: ( with the thinking cap on ) ok but my house is all messed up. Wl chk with my roomie
She: ok
Me: Fine its all done, stay over for a week.

I donno why but somehow I cant get along well with this girl and cant tell it on her face too. So that evening bieng unsure where to take her, ( my ever fav starbucks came to rescue for a while ) and then like a lightening a brilliant idea struck me, temple. So took her to the temple, and there an old man heard me sneeze twice and could make out my running nose, pats on my back and then remarks:
'young man, ur wife is not takin care of u is it ?'
Me : Shez not my wife
He : So u guys arent married
Me : No, shez married
I wondered if people still belonged to the school of 'wife taking care of husband', but I was wrong. Somehow am highly opposed to someone taking care of me, unless am unable to move or somethin like that. Jeez it feels very uncomfy. I can manage on my own.
Another week of stay in the bay area and am headed to portland and then to Bangalore. Cant wait to get home

p.s: Just realized that my skiing weekend is ruined. Wot a way to work, get to office on a monday and the first thought is of skiing over the wknd he he :)

The 77th Annual Academy Awards

'And the oscar goes to' .....
Perhaps the most coveted phrase in the history of films, raising the heartbeat of all those aspirants, for whom the academy is more or less the 'Mecca' of their lifetime.
Almost all the dailies, the world over will be hosting the details of the academy awards starting from who wore which underwear to who had the last sip of drink at the dinner party.
So a brief report on the winners:

Million Dollar Baby: What a movie, swept the oscars for the best picture, best actress, best actor in a supporting role and best director. All well deserved.
Clint Eastwood, even at this age winning 2 oscars makes a humble acceptance speech and says hes still a kid when compared to all the other eminent directors.
Hillary Swank has successfully depicted, how tough and determined can a woman be esp in a phycially demanding sport of boxing. The way she shapes up in the movie has to be just watched on the big screen.
Morgan Freeman, perhaps should've won the oscar for another category called 'Best Narration'. People who have seen 'Shawshank Redemption' know the depth of this man's narrative abilities. The same narrative power is portrayed in million dollar baby coupled by his powerful acting.

Jamie Foxx: Almost every movie buff in the world was rooting for this guy to win the best actor award and he did. What a performance in Ray, the genious of Ray charles has been relived and the acceptance speech couldnt have been more emotional.

'Born Into Brothels', a documentary on the calcutta red light areas snatched the oscar for the best documentary and 'Little Terrorist' found a nomination in the category of 'Short film (Live Action)'. Some Indian presence was felt at the academy.

In my opinion, a captivating song, 'Vois Sur Ton Chemin'(Look into your path):It was nominated OST for the movie 'Les Choristes'. Beyonce sang it on stage and the beauty of this song is the combination of the sentimental piano tunes with the chorus of the children. Am simply hooked to this song.

Finally these were the movies that were common in almost all nominations and walked away with atleast one award:
The Aviator, Finding NeverLand, Million Dollar Baby, Ray and Sideways.

An unusual aspect: Most of them are blockbuster hits.

Financial Literacy

This may sound like an economics/finance course jargon, but its apparently not. Way back in the 80s the ABBA sang, 'Money Money Money, Must be Funny, in the rich man's world'. Whatever made them sing that song, money is surely not funny in a rich man's world. In fact its not funny in anyone's world.

Without money, life doesnt just go on, everyone understands this. So does it mean, one should have money just to suffice for the livelihood. Yes, definitely. But 'livelihood' is a broad term and it varies from individual to individual. As the 'livelihood' or more appropriately put 'lifestyle' of an individual changes, so does the need for money. Most of us individuals understand this but when there is immediate availabilty of money to satisfy a 'better' lifestyle, the understanding we had before is masked by the lure for the betterment in lifestyle. This is where most of us become 'financial illiterates'. The first and the foremost resource for 'immediate availability' -> credit cards. The next bieng 'loans at lower interest rates'. Just these two things prompt an average common man to 'spend' his money more and more on things that will be of less or meagre value with the passing time. These are classified as liabilities. So lured by a better lifestyle, a common man puts most of his money in liabilities. What we fail to see is, in due course of time, these liabilities lose their value whereas the money bieng poured to them keeps increasing day by day in the form of 'interest'.

Does that mean, we should not buy liabilities, no. We should buy liabilities but buy intelligently. Just because there is a sale going on some jeans, buying a pair even though the wardrobe is full of jeans is definitely not wise. Also if one starts thinking about a way of earning some money from a secondary resource ( part time jobs, investment in stocks, bonds ) and fuel those earnings towards buying liabilities, that'll be kind of ideal. These investments are termed 'assets'. Assets are defined as those which provide a moderate return on investment ( commonly called ROI in the business jargon ) over a period of time.

So it goes without saying, a salaried person earns more money by acquiring more assets and not by aiming for a higher salary. ( The more the salary, more the taxes and the finaly pay off is minimal ). It is an observed phenomenon that the 'rich' buy more assets, reduce the tax burden or intelligently and legally avoid tax and remain rich, whereas the middle class buys more liabilities, pays higher taxes and remain as middle class. As someone said. 'The rich remain rich, and the poor remain poor'. Yes of course, these are more or less the same words of 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' :), a must read in my opinion.

I learnt this lesson the hard way, but there are few I know who are kind of born with this learning, who have managed to earn enough to sustain decently for a few years, retire at an early age (35 - 40) and pursue what their heart desires. Thats the pay off for bieng financially wise.

I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it before me, and said this:

"You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love."

This was how I saw it:

As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there. However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it, it will spill through the first cracks it find. This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet love...they try to posses it, they demand, they expect... and just like the water spilling out of your hand, love will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings.

-- Swami Vivekananda

Happy V'day

Craigslist

If there is anything interesting about classifieds its on craigslist. A very simple easy to view website. Theres everything one can look for and best of all its all free and local. By local I mean, its local to your place of living. People advertising on craigslist can either wish to remain anonymous ( their email id will be something like anon12312412@craigslist.org ) or they can put in their names and ph nos in their ads. Atleast I havent seen 'anything/anyone' you cant find on craigslist. Be it finding a roommate, finding a date, looking for a group of people to join in on a party, finding a hiking group, finding a gym partner, looking for used furniture .. oh the list is endless. people advertise, seek and give advice, write about their experiences and what not.
The site has 1.7 billion page views per month. Theres a documentary that features how a day's life is spent on craigslist. There is a craigslist fan club and craigslist more of a 'brand' than a website down in the San Francisco bay area, its birthplace. To conclude, the website is a real time pass just when u need it :)

Austin, The Town Of Pretty Women

Thats how best I can describe this town. Surprising to find such beautiful women in Texas, of all states in the US. Beauty beckons :)( I guess even some of the stewardesses in the restaurants can take up part time modelling ). The foremost reasons could be the presence of one of the world's largest universitis, University Of Texas at Austin. There are some 30,000 - 50,000 students here. I guess atleast 50% are women. UTA is probably the world's best college for party goers. Cant speak much about the place, havent got to go around town much because of rain. Theres a beautiful river, San Marcos river out here. Am put up some 30 miles from Austin and the sad part is the nearest StarBucks is like 25 miles away. Bieng a coffee addict makes life difficult sometimes.
Overall a great place for Students. Very affordable cost of living, good transportation and one of the world's best universities. ( Of course, great women :) )

Japanese Garden, Portland

Supposed to be one of the best authentic Japanese gardens outside Japan.Since the day was overcast and cloudy just managed to get this picture of a waterfall in the park.

Happiness

Well, this is not a post about describing or analyzing happiness, rather a briefing of the current issue of the 'Time' magazine. Its the annual body and mind issue of Time and in this issue the magazine has some superb articles about happiness. If possible pls grab a copy. Here are the highlights:

1. Happiness in human biengs is bieng attributed to a chemical ( geez I forget the name ) and the frontal cortex of the human brain.
2. Marriage doesnt make someone happier, but most single peeople tend to show relatively less happiness.
3. Happiness is shown to boost the immune system of the human body thereby making the body resilient against even deadly diseases like cancer.
4. Its proven, 'meditative' state is actually a state of happiness and it can be measured.
5. Happiness is mostly genetically inherited.For instance infants who tend to cry the moment their mom went out of their sight are prone to unhappiness whereas infants who still remain calm and bubbly inspite of their moms' absence are shown to have higher levels of happiness throughout ther lives.
6. People who are religious and 'believers' are more happy and less stressful than 'non-believers'
7. Cocaine, alcohol and nicotine are proven to shoot the levels of the 'chemical' responsible for happiness and thereby induce a state of 'euphoria'. No wonder they sell so much :).

ON a different note, Some of the 'happening' facts I was unaware of :

1. The famed 'G spot' is actually named after a german scientist Dr Ernst Grafenberg. Courtesy, a book titled 'She comes first' :).
2.Swimming regularly is supposed to aid in a satisfied 'sex life'. - The complets swimming guide.
3. Califorina, the world's 7th largest economy has a 22 billion $ trade deficit and the state govt has gone to the extent of closing public schools and hospitals. On the contrary, they are spending about 2 million $ to move a ice-skating ring by a few yards :) - CNN
4. The 'Da-vinci code' is bieng made into a movie. Columbia pictures has purchased the rights, Tom Hanks will play the lead role of Robert Langdon. Not sure who's gonna play the role of Sophie - The Da-vinci code, secrets unvieled-US News.
5. Apparently, the US is still scared of 'Al-Queda'. Their worst fear, an attack on the country's nuclear reactors - KQED TV channel.
6. Of late, partygoers have discovered a new cocktail: Red Bull with Vodka
7. Starbucks, which started as an espresoo bar in seattle became so popular that playboy magazine had an article on the 'women in starbucks'. Boy surely some of the girls who serve coffee in starbucks blow your mind off :)- National Geographic magazine.
8. Caffiene is proven to stimulate the mind, reduce sleep and increase alertness - The National Geographic magazine.
9. Oberoi RajMahal vilas in Jaipur, Rajasthan features as a top hotel in the most of the 'world's best hotels' ratings. What a pride for India. The cost, a whooping 500$ per night on twin sharing basis - GQ group, World's best hotels ratings.

Have a great week fellas, adios.

Grand Canyon - South Rim

Christmas vacations, we headed to the south rim of the Grand Canyon region . The drive is quite scenic going through the Mohave desert national reserve. 2 days was in no means enough to explore the national park. After a tiresome 17 hour drive on the first day all we could do was to drive along the rim and we caught some breathtaking sunset views from some of the famous view points. My desire to hike down atleast on one of the easy trials was'nt fulfilled as the rangers advised not to hike alone because of slippery paths and unpredictable snow storms.
The grand canyon region has an interesting history. In short its a canyon formed by layering of various kinds of rocks over a period of millions of years. The bottommost layer is termed 'Vishnu' layer. (I was surprised by the name as it refers to a hindu god ).
This picture was taken from Hopi viewpoint ( Hopi refers to an Indian settlement in the grand canyon region) just prior to sunset.

Tsunami : The Aftermath

The world's worst natural disaster has left more than 150,000 dead and several thousands more wounded. Almost a dozen countries have been affected from south east asia to east africa. The aftermath of the disaster, was presumed to be a bigger disaster than the tsunami itself. It was feared that fatal diseases such as cholera would end up killing more pepole. Also psychologists feared that the wrath of the disaster would force many survivors to commit suicide. However the situation today seems to be very positive. International aid has totalled $3 billion. Volunteers from all over the world have poured into the region to distribute relief supplies. Decmposed and dead bodies have been cremated/buried in mass graves. Drinking water crisis is bieng resolved and any outbreak of diseases is bieng unheard of. In Sri Lanka, one of the beer companies started bottling water instead of beer to meet the demand.
Recovery seems to be on a fast track in the Indian subcontinent though the magnitude of the disaster was no comparison with that of Indonesia. Any organization/company that has not helped in this recovery will be hard to find. Amidst all this, some disheartening news was that survivors are bieng raped and sexually abused and bieng looted of whatever little wealth is left over. Hope all this comes to an end and the region sees a fast recovery.