My First Pictures on the New Cam

My First Pictures on the New Cam

Voting Turnout- Why a Rational Voter wouldn't even turn up to vote

Why is democracy doomed to failure? Because no rational voter would vote according the Down's Economic theory of Democracy

http://wikisum.com/w/Downs:_An_economic_theory_of_democracy

The Mysterious Twist

While the rest of the world(Except for Bush, Cheney and O'Riley) is literally jumping up and down with joy, something really insidious has happened to me. The niggling ache that I felt when I rested my weight on my right foot yesterday had grown to a full blown agony by the time I woke up today. I have absolutely no clue as to how I came to twist/ pull/ strain/ sprain my heel. But, I do have a few suspicions
1. I cooked yesterday. Although, my room mate assured me that the Dal Fry that I'd made was perfect, maybe he did not like it that much and did something to my leg when I was curled up in the living room sofa
2. It could have been the girl who carpools with us who I never can make conversation with. She probably thinks I am a bit of a snob and decided to teach me a lesson. Although, I don't see her stealing in to our house at 4am.
3. It could be voodoo. I don't think I have pissed anybody that much, but you never know
4.The US secret Service is definitely a suspect. Did they somehow find out that I was a closet socialist? I've watched X files and catch up on Fringe regularly. The government might have a super secret weapon and decided I was expendable and did something to me.
5. The Thai food that I had yesterday was so bad, my taste buds died! My sprain could just be some unknown side effect. I could've sprained myself while hurrying out of a potential Martyrdom.(I could've died you know! The food was that bad. If I did die though, it 'd be pretty cool. I'd want them to call me St. Red Curry and serve Thai food on my Feast day)
6. I could have sprained it while I was sleepwalking. I do talk in my sleep. Sleep walking would just be another step on my long walk towards a mental institution.
7. It could be Psychosomatic. Well, I do hate our weekly jaunts to the local super market. I would lie, cheat even murder to get out of it, if I could get away with it. Maybe, I don't want to go so badly that, somehow, I have, through my subconscious, managed to convince myself that the agonizing pain in my heel was real just to get away from shopping, cooking and going on a shopping trip! Like I said, I've been watching too much T.V. It also gives me an excuse to refrain from going out in the freezing cold.
8. It could be "Dhrishti". Although, I can't imagine why anybody would be jealous of me? Maybe that Poem was actually good!
9. It could be some sort of witchcraft. God knows, I've pissed off enough women by ogling at them. If making me immobile for just looking sounds a little extreme, you must remember that they call themselves Witches. Of course they are crazy!
10. CIA could have done it! Why? Maybe because they can?
11. My boss could've done it just to get rid of a few manpower allocation problems. HR and the top management could have done it for similar purposes. HR especially have had a very, very deep grudge against me. That's the only theory that explains my Salary and the impossibility of deciphering it, the policies that they put up and the stupid updates that I get too often and the fact that I have to put in much more effort on my appraisals than on work through the year. Although, making a 100,000 people suffer just to get at me does sound a little too extreme. (I don't buy in to my colleagues' theory that they are just incompetent and stupid. There is a conspiracy, my friend)
11. It could be the result of a secret weapon the Paki scientists have discovered, which sometimes fell in to the hands of the Al Queda. Dude, anybody who chooses to live in the Afghan hills when you have so much oil money either has to be really, really crazy or well... just plain bonkers. So, don't ask me to tell you why Osama would choose to target me.
12. I am a Vampire. It is possible you know. Maybe a cool, good looking Vampire like Brad Pitt, or the guy in Angel or better yet the guy in Twilight, when I get all Vampiry. I might have landed with a thud when I transformed from a bat!
13. I might have multiple personality disorder. Maybe I something happened when I was a super-cool Tyler Durden( See Fight Club). Or I might have anterograde amnesia( You know like Aamir Khan and Suriya) and simply forgotten how it happened
14. It could be the Devil you know. I've pissed him off frequently by either referring to him as a jackass or pretending he doesn't exist. I've also confused him often with God, a very reasonable mistake, if you ask me.
15. The Crazy old bugger up above has always had it for me. That sadistic b****** likes making me squirm and raked by doubts and misfortune. That psychotic voyeur is by nature a murderous clown and who knows what he is thinking? He has the power and is crazy enough to do something about my leg. Maybe he did it!

Jack and Jill

I was checking out the lyrics for the song 'Ramblin'Rose' by The Grateful Dead when I came across the complete Rhyme of Jack and Jill.... I only knew the first stanza and I'm pretty sure I've never heard the rest. So, here we go

Jack and Jill and Old Dame Dob

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.


Then up Jack got,
And home did trot,
As fast as he could caper;
To old Dame Dob,
Who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.


When Jill came in,
How she did grin
To see Jack's paper plaster;
Her mother, vexed,
Did whip her next,
For laughing at Jack's disaster.


Now Jack did laugh
And Jill did cry,
But her tears did soon abate;
Then Jill did say,
That they should play
At see-saw across the gate

Nostalghia

No, the spelling is right. Nostalghia is Russian for well, Nostalgia. I discovered Andrei Tarkovsky the same time I discovered Ingmar Bergman, sometime in late 2006. Both of them are fabulous directors. But somehow, I found that I was drawn more towards Tarkovsky's work than Bergman's. Although, to be frank, I have seen only a couple of movies each of these great directors. But, I believe, I have seen atleast the most acclaimed of their works, which I suppose is enough to form a reasonable opinion. Anyway, from what I have seen, the difference is that while Bergman is more dramatic and visually powerful, Tarkovsky brings in a wholly different depth of meaning in addition to the kick-in-the-gut camerawork.

I've had the good fortune of being able to lay my hands on three fabulous movies of Tarkovsky's so far- Stalker, Nostalghia and Andrei Rublev. Of these, Stalker is the movie with the most depth, Andrei Rublev the most poetic and Nostalghia is the most emotional. Nostalghia, talks about a Russian exile and his feelings of alienation in Italy. Tarkovsky waxes lyrical on the inevitable angst that accompanies living abroad, the uniqueness of culture and the futility of translation. While I really could not appreciate what he was trying to say then, with almost a year and a quarter of living abroad, I begin to understand now what Tarkovsky was feeling- He based the movie on his experience as an exile in Italy.

But, when you really think about it, what does one actually miss? Nostalgia atleast for me is that vague, nebulous, shifting feeling in the gut every time I hear the word "Home". On the face of it, there is nothing that I actually miss. The quality of life is definitely better here, it's not as if I have time on my hands and I feel bored or anything; in fact my days are absolutely full, I make more money, I am in touch with most of my clique thanks to Google chat and Orkut, I've discovered that I am a good cook and I have better food than I would in India, I speak to mom just about every day, I get much better books to read and a lot more stuff that I can stand on TV. Still, I feel like I've left part of my soul in India. Not that I love the place. In fact, I have a litany of complaints about the place and when I was last there in August, I couldn't wait to get back. It couldn't be because most of the people that I see around me are different in race, color and attitude, because on some days, I think there are more Indians here than in Haridwar during Kumbh Mela. Am I just lonely out here? Is that the problem? Hmmm... that's a tough one, but, I never felt this in Bangalore. Admittedly, I had quite a few friends there but I have a couple here and I speak to Sriram and Divey & Suresh just about every day, Catch up with Thairu and Rajesh Khanna atleast once a week. I even ring up Lopa and Jan once in a while. Maybe, deep down, knowing that I cannot just pack up and go back home anytime I want unsettles me. But, you know what, for all that Mumbai is in India, I couldn't catch the next bus for home from there either. Even if you discount the fact I had quite a few distractions there, I never felt the longing for home that I feel now. No, it is not Ranipet. I had this feeling of displacement when I was there as if I did not belong in that... picture, if you will. I've never felt at home in Bangalore or Vashi or London or Sunnyvale or Krakow. I feel rootless and at times, my relations with people, even those I feel close to is so nebulous and thin as if all I need to do is blow a little harder and it will all disappear along with the people themselves and it would just be me and this place might as well be... well... Jupiter.


When I was in Delhi with mom and Badri, years and years ago, we'd gone to this Delhi Zoo, where there is a great ape called Vana Manush(Forest Man?)which, when we went there was in a foul mood. I remember how it gripped the cage, thrust its head between the bars and roared out its frustration, all the while shaking the cage with all its might. I can't help wondering how the adults who accompanied me then could stand the screams of desperate frustration from that animal and walk away, not feeling a shred of empathy. How could they shamelessly flaunt their intolerable cruelity in front of their children? How could they not feel the answering flame bursting in to lifein their hearts when the Ape roared? How could they leave the tortured soul in so much agony and go back to their own prisons? How could anyone stomach chaining such a mighty beast for something as frivoulous as entertainment? Now that I think bout it,I feel like, I'm there in that cage with the Ape, wishing I could howl like he does and rattle my prison. You don't recognize this feeling until you see the chains on yourself or someone else. I could't put this feeling of Nostalgia in to words until I remembered the Vana Manush five minutes ago. But, I still don't have enough strength to strain at the chains or scream out in despair. What can one do when one is caged in his identity, in his race, languages, thoughts, wisdom, friends, enemies, family, body, faith, opinions, perceptions, why, the whole universe. My prison is existence and its reality. I am trapped within myself while trying to stave off this sinking feeling that I will never be free. Can there be a greater Hell?

Okay, this is really, really scary. The other day, I was thinking how wonderful it would be to go back home, have good food, stay in Ranipet, stop worrying on washing, ironing, cleaning or cooking or buying provisions and best of all meeting all my friends... wait a minute! Apart from a few, there is no body in Tamil Nadu. There are people in Bangalore for now, but they will be moving away soon. So, where is everybody? I pulled up my Orkut Friends map. Lo and Behold, everybody I know is in the US! I have more friends in the US than I do in India. Looks like most Indians of my generation or atleast my socio-economic status have migrated en masse to the US.

My jab at poetry

The Goddess

Deep in the forest of the Evergreen Trees;
Far, far away in the unseen distance
Her ageless, unceasing, lonesome vigil
The lady keepeth: fairest moonbeams dance
About her shadowy skirts: above her swell
sentinels of ancient oak and elm;
From many a dolorous frog and sleepy cricket
a ceaseless chatter, in vain,
struggles to awaken the slumbering green.
There she hath stood for ages, and will wait
weeping, perhaps for glory days long past,
until time takes pity and wears her down
when by no living soul to be seen
with a small sigh shall she crumble to dust



Okay, first of all I know nothing about poetry. I have no clue about meter or rhyme. Rhythm and splitting verses in to syllables only gives me a headache. So, I had a brainwave. Why not use an existing poem as a template and kinda replace the words and bring in a certain mood. So, I pulled up the smallest poem I could remember and tried it. The result of the barefaced plagarism was the stanza above. It was fabulous how it all came together in my mind in the last two verses. It's not a bad effort. But, somehow, unsatisfying. Anyway, here is the original. It's called the Kraken by Lord Tennyson


The Kraken

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die

Dev D

Can the soundtrack of the Album make the movie? Well, if any album can, it would be the monster soundtrack for Dev D. I'm not a big fan of Hindi movies in general and Desi music in particular. But, sometime last year, thanks to one of my colleagues I came across this fabulous album called "Aamir". Every song in this small movie was out of the World. It was so good that the first thing I did was to download the album on my laptop. In fact the only Hindi albums on my iPod are Aamir, Jodha Akbar and Rock on. I love the other two, but, Aamir blew my mind away. I did not catch the name of the Music director at that time. I suppose I thought I this guy was a one hit wonder and did not spend too much mindspace on him, even though I couldn't stop listening to "Ek Lau" from the album at least once every week.
A month or so back, I was browsing the net idly, when I came across this video of a new movie starring Abhay Deol(Who normally looks a little pansy, but, definitely chooses his movies well. A canny actor)The trailer left my mouth agape. The movie seemed to have definite influences of Requiem for a Dream and the premise, a reworking of the Devdas story was definitely good. But, the highlight was the soundtrack "Emosanal Atyachaar". I'd never heard anything like that before. With silly hinglish lyrics combined with definite influences of Elvis(On the visuals as well)and a brass band instrumentation, this song is definitely not a standard bollywood staple.

When I read the review for the soundtrack on Rediff today, I was hooked. I downloaded the Album. 18 Tracks. Despite the Punjabi fillers, this is one of the most creative albums that have come out in recent Bollywood memory. The sheer range and variety of the songs in the album are breath taking. It covers just about the whole gamut(At least the whole Bollywood Gamut) from Rock to Folk to Bhangra(Yeah, I realize that Bhangra is Folk too). Like I said, great work. Is this symptomatic of long awaited influx of serious and original creative spirit in Bollywood? With the amount of money Bollywood has the capacity to generate, it definitely has the potential take the movie-going experience to the next level. This album is a step in the right direction. Be that as it may, after Aamir and this one nobody (Least of all, yours humbly) is going to forget Amit Trivedi's name in a hurry

In Bruges

I started watching "In Bruges" at about 12:30 last night. I was a little too nervy and I thought I would watch for ten minutes before dropping off to sleep.
The next thing I knew, I had a lump in my throat and a rictus-smile on my face and the time was 2:30 am. Yup, this one is a fabulous movie with top notch performances by Colin Farrell, Brendon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. But, Colin Farrell was, for me, the revelation in this movie. He plays the over-confident, contrite, inncocent and brash Irish hitman brilliantly. Ralph Fiennes as a menacing London Gangster is awesome as always. His lines, delivered with a truck-load of expletives, are hilarious. They could've shown more of Bruges though. All in all, a brilliant movie. You can watch the movie again just for the accents and the dialogue....

Poetry Picks- III

This poem is by Teresa Cader. I retrieved this from 3 Quarks Daily. This is a wonderful usage of Newton's three Laws of Motion. I do not know enough Poetry to write a critique. So, I'm going to hold back. Let me know if you enjoy it.

Amma's specialities that I miss very badly!

Writing about things which you are nostalgic about is supposed to be catharitic. Well.. let's see how that works out.... Yeah, yeah I'm a mama's boy

10. Kuzhi Appam Or Kuzhi Paniyaram as it is called all over Tamil Nadu. Amma has been making it since, like forever. She makes both the sweet and the karam Variety. I miss the karam variety the most. Soft in the inside and crisp on the outside. I never could restrain myself around this one. Amma usually makes this in the tea time and serves it with molagapodi. The best thing about this is the little pieces of Onion.

9. Chepan Kizhangu Fry is probably not the healthiest food around but, when you have it with sambar, it kicks ass. Golden brown and lightly salted, you can have it separately as well. Although, I should warn you, do not try to eat it immediately after it has been fished out of oil, however fabulous it looks. For one, it hasn't been salted yet. Then, there is a fair chance, you wont be able to speak again for the rest of the day!

8. Mullangi Sambar is another speciality of amma's. The best part about this is that, it goes with just about every curry from Vendekkai to cabbage. The golden mullangi tastes fab. Oh, and amma slices the Mullangi across, so that they form coin shaped pieces. It. Tastes. So. Very. Good. With. Idlis

7. Paruppurundai Sambar is an extremely difficult dish to make by all accounts. The urundai has a tendency to either become very hard or very soft, spoiling the dish completely. Of course, Amma gets it down pat, well, most of the time. On the same note, Parupparacha karamedhu tastes great as well be it Vazhapoo or Paruppusili

6. Vazhakkai Karamedhu is made once just about every single week when I'm in Ranipet. Mom doesn't make it too spicy. Just the right amount of spice and it goes fabulously with any Sambar especially the aforementioned Mullangi Sambar

5. Bread Upma is another tea time snack. Amma makes it with tomatoes, Potato and loads of red chilly powder. When it is very spicy, I love having Bournvita immediately after. The pleasant sting that accompanies the Bournvita is a cherished memory. Best of all, she doesn't use carrot, which totally spoils the taste in my opinion

4. Molagu Kuzhambu is another favourite. Amma usually makes it on Sunday afternoons. It is normally pretty thick and goes amazingly well with Vendakkai Curry(deep fried, obviously) and Arisi Appalam. Appa mixes this on the iluppachetti with rice and serves it. The iluppachetti imaparts that ineffable something that elevates this simple food to greatness. You have to taste it to believe it.

3. Dosai along with idli, is the most common dish in South India. But, the dosais I have at home are somehow above and beyond anything else. My usual count is 4-5. Amma knows I don't care for the crisp Dosais that Badri prefers. I like to be able to fold the dosai and dunk it in to the awesome thengai chutney and the molagai podi without breaking it in to pieces. Amma's Dosais are my favourite breakfast

2. Venn Pongal and Chutney should be made staples on the menu in Heaven if they don't have it on already. When Amma doesn't overcook the Kadugu and the cumin, it tastes like a blessing. The best part about having pongal at home is that, I generally have a second helping at about 10:30 in the morning between breakfast and Lunch, after I've has my fill at about 8:30. The cold chutney with the not-so-warm pongal is something to die for.

1. Urulai Kizhangu is by far my favourite vegetable when Amma's got her hands on it. She makes it two ways either by dicing it in to tiny cubes and frying them over a small flame or the more traditional roasted Alu Jeera sized version, albeit without the Jeera. I love the former and adore the later. The larger version tastes spectacular for lunch with a thick sambar, but it kinda loses out when you have it with curd. The Kutti urlakizhangu Karamedhu on the other hand goes very, very well with curd rice. Badri and I would fill out small davaras with Urulai kizhangu and have them separately.

There are many, many more dishes I'd like to list here. But, considering my manager might walk in any moment and the fact that I can't really come up with more adjectives for great-tasting food means I will stop here....

Over the weekend

This weekend was fabulous. Yeah, I had a miserable cold for most of the weekend, had trouble sleeping, had a very bad throat most of the time , it was freezing outside and I did not venture out at all. Still, the weekend kicked ass because,

1. I finished all five books of Codex Alera by Jim Butcher(Yup, 5 books in 3 days. No, this guy is no Steven Erikson). It is traditional epic fantasy. There is nothing new in terms of story lines and the character building is pedestrian, but, well, you don't read Fantasy for it's innovations in story telling or its literary merit. In terms of pure escapism, this series scores very high. Loads of fun!

2. I saw reruns of Psych. I find this show really funny. It's really surprising how much comedy has evolved here and in Britain(Coupling), whereas in the mainstream Indian media it's still driven by slapstick. This is not to say that the comedy in the US is all intelligent and incisive. It's not. Most of it is bad. But, there are shows like the Daily Show and Southpark which really kick ass. Also, I must say that some of the plays that I saw in Mumbai were really really good. Oh, and Crazy Mohan, is world class...... So is S. Ve. Shekar. But, by and large we suck........

3. I had fabulous Pizzas from Pizza Hut. Yeah, I completely freaked out when I realized I was loading up on calories for about five minutes, after which I decided it was totally worth it. :(

4. I thought really hard about going to the GYM. Although I did not actually go, I believe this is a major step forward. Small steps, friend, small steps

5. I saw Harini Athai on webcam. Although, we have spoken off and on over the phone, It was great to catch a glimpse of Athai(after years and years) and my youngest cousin(For the first time. Although, I was disappointed that she refused to sing!)

6. I saw the first five minutes of Kismat Konnection. It's on this list because, I did not watch the movie beyond the five minutes. Yeah, the movie is that bad!

7. I had Unniyappam. No, I did not make it. It was ready-to-eat.

What am I Reading Now?

Another post on invisible cities

I just noticed. All the cities have female names. So is there another layer of meaning here? Is Marco Polo talking about the women he's met? Some of the names are sheer poetry. Take a look and please, please read the book. I need to rave about it to someone!
The Invisible cities:-
Cities and memory 1: Diomira
Cities and memory 2: Isidora
Cities and desire 1: Dorotea
Cities and memory 3: Zaira
Cities and desire 2: Anastasia
Cities and signs 1: Tamara
Cities and memory 4: Zora
Cities and desire 3: Despina
Cities and signs 2: Zirma
Thin cities 1: Isaura

Cities and memory 5: Maurilia
Cities and desire 4: Fedora
Cities and signs 3: Zoe
Thin cities 2: Zenobia
Trading cities 1: Eufemia

Cities and desire 5: Zobeide
Cities and signs 4: Ipazia
Thin cities 3: Armilla
Trading cities 2: Cloe
Cities and eyes 1: Valdrada

Thin cities 5: Ottavia
Trading cities 4: Ersilia
Cities and eyes 3: Bauci
Cities and names 2: Leandra
Cities and the dead 1: Melania


Trading cities 5: Smeraldina
Cities and eyes 4: Fillide
Cities and names 3: Pirra
Cities and the dead 2: Adelma
Cities and the sky 1: Eudossia

Cities and eyes 5: Moriana
Cities and names 4: Clarice
Cities and the dead 3: Eusapia
Cities and the sky 2: Bersabea
Continuous cities 1: Leonia

Cities and names 5: Irene
Cities and the dead 4: Argia
Cities and the sky 3: Tecla
Continuous cities 2: Trude
Hidden cities 1: Olinda

Cities and the dead 5: Laudomia
Cities and the sky 4: Perinzia
Continuous cities 3: Procopia
Hidden cities 2: Raissa
Cities and the sky 5: Andria
Continuous cities 4: Cecilia
Hidden cities 3: Marozia
Continuous cities 5: Pentesilea
Hidden cities 4: Teodora
Hidden cites 5: Berenice

Desire

My last post on invisible cities, touched off something in me. Italo Calvino is one of my favourite writers and Invisible Cities is my favourite Calvino.
The premise of the book is this- Marco Polo, the greatest traveller of the mediavel world expounds on his travels to Kubla Khan, the Emperor of China. Marco talks about the various cities that he has visited and tries to explain their nature to the Great Khan. However, after a point, the Khan starts describing the cities Marco must've visited.

The following Excerpt is entitled "Cities and Desire 1". I have published the entire section here. Notice how Marco, while ostensibly talking about the particular City Anastasia, is infact talking about the nature of Desire itself. Aren't we all trapped by our desires? Is not Anastasia our Chennai or Bangalore or Mumbai or Delhi or London or New York?

Cities and Desire 1
-------------------
At the end of three days, moving southward, you come upon Anastasia, a city with concentric canals watering it and kites flying over it. I should now list the wares that can profitably be bought here: agate, onyx, chrysoprase, and other varieties of chalcedony; I should praise the flesh of the golden pheasant cooked here over fires of seasoned chery wood and sprinkled with much sweet marjoram; and tell of the women I have seen bathing in the pool of a garden and who sometimes - it is said - invite the stranger to disrobe with them and chase them in the water. But with all this, I would not be telling you the city's true essence; for while the description of Anastasia awakens desires one at a time only to force you to stifle them, when you are in the heart of Anastasia one morning your desires waken all at once and surround you. The city appears to you as a whole where no desire is lost and of which you are a part, and since it enjoys everything you do not enjoy, you can do nothing but inhabit this desire and be content. Such is the power, sometimes called malignant, sometimes benign, that Anastasia, the treacherous city, possesses; if for eight hours a day you work as a cutter of agate, onyx, chrysoprase, your labor which gives form to desire takes from desire its form, and you believe you are enjoying Anastasia wholly when you are only its slave.

Marco Polo and India

After Invisible Cities(Exerpts here), I've developed an interest in Marco Polo, so when I saw this essay, I had to stop and read it. What really shocks me about this article is, how little we have changed in almost a thousand years!