Holiday Update

I am taking off for a week, will be back to Bangalore on Nov 7 :)

Wish u all a very Happy Diwali and Ramzan.

Its raining men..Hallelujah !

Its raining cats and dogs in the Silicon Valley of India ! Most of them are stuck in their offices, with so much of flooding and traffic on roads. Most part of the city is under water, i guess this is very similar to the recent Bombay rains. Already email forwards depicting the flood situation is bombarding most mail servers(what else will S/W engineers stranded in office do at this time?). At the moment, All i can say is that i have never seen such a rainfall in my life time !

Reader's block..


I am going through a Reader's block, which appears to be quite severe this time. I wont call myself a voracious reader, when compared to chaps like Woodworm(in his former prime perhaps ;) ), who eats, sleeps and drinks any written material. I used to finish a book in 30-45 days. Depending on that book, I decide whether to read another one or lay low for a while. If I have a block, I stop reading for say 10-15 days and then start with another book. But this time, my reader's block is spanning months ! During this period, I have started a lot of new books and left them halfway through. Here is the list of books that I started (but never really completed):



1. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Suggested by my friend Mathi, I started reading this last October. Then came a series of US trips and I could never really complete it. But so far what i have read, it was pretty good.

2. Cloud Atlas
Woodworm's parting gift to me, yet to turn the first page ;)

3. Focault's pendulum- Umberto Eco
Recommended by Ditch long back, did not start !

4. The Art of Unix Programming - Eric Raymond
Purchased last year in one of the Book fairs that happened at Office, it is supposed to explain the "Zen Principles" behind Unix. I made fairly good progress, but something struck me hard in my head and I had to throw it in bin !

5. Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome
Started this after my Hampi trip, if I were in a good mood, I would have completed this 100 odd pages book in 2 days. Somewhere I lost the enthu and thats the end of story for that read. Anyway, I plan to read it during my Chennai trip next weekend.

6. The Mythical man month
S/W engineering book, what else can I say? I was so glad to read the first few pages of the book, especially when the author(a Project Manager at IBM) pin pointed that the main problem with S/W engineering is Estimation. Will probably read it sometime next year..

7. Godel Escher Bach..
Recommended by Woodworm, crossed the 75 page mark recently ! I would say it is a good progress, considering the content of the book. I heard that freeingmind is also reading this ...

I started Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I hope I complete it successfully and come out of my block!


Wishlist :
Life of Pi - RSAS guys, lemme have the book, I know it is either Zygote or Freeing mind
Shalimar the clown- Rushdie rocks, always !
Works of Ayn Rand- I reserved this for post retirement life, but due to mounting pressure from Ayn rand fans, i am starting this earlier, probably by Jan 2006 :)


Now Playing : "Jeremiah Blues" - Sting

A quizmaster named Parnab..

For all those who have been in the quizzing circuit of BITS, the name Parnab Mukherjee would bring roars of laughter. I still remember the quiz where Venky walked out of the quiz, as he couldn't bear the rude comments made on him by Parnab. Also, i guess that was the quiz where he demonstrated the "Fart of the year", giving a new funda for the Indian Rock band "Thermal and a Quarter" ( picture Ditch's sad face here)

I just had a chance to read his exploits in Pune and other Indian cities here . That bloke definetely has a huge fan following ...

Tamil Cinema and Modern Women
I was watching this tamil movie in one of the zillion channels available on Cable, it was about some 21st Century tamil woman, narrating what interests her the most. I was just thinking that she will have Bharathiyar Poetry in her list and hey Presto ! She did say that she liked Bharathiyar Poetry. Now guys, gimme a break, why does any typical "Modern Women" like Bharathiyar poetry? It sounds too banal, why can't they change this trend for good? Why not Vairamuthu poetry or Karunanidhi's Prison diaries? Dont they find any other interesting thing, which is somewhat different from another Modern Woman? This kinda bothers me so much, huh !

On Brand Ambassadors...

I got a chance to watch this show called "I-to-I" on NDTV, where the celebrities play a dual role of interviewer and the interviewee. The episode that i watched featured Vijay Mallya, where he kinda proved why he is considered as Richard Branson of India :) . One valid point he made is that he doesn't need any movie star / celebrity to be his brand ambassador, as he himself plays that role for the UB group. That was a valid claim. I just tried to think about other Indian Big shots, who double up as the brand ambassadors for their own companies. Some non-IT Indian names that came up to my mind are Vasanth Kumar (Vasanth & CO), Selvarathnam (Saravana stores), Balu(Balu Jewellers)... strange, all Chennai big shots! Help me build up this list...

Quote of the day

"I wouldn't call this a sport. It would take a lot for the England cricket team to make a movie. Footballers are great actors anyway – all you have to do is touch them on the ankle and they roll over screaming for a penalty."

- Kevin Pieterson, while attending the premiere of football film "Goal"

The Chronicles of Chaos...

Quite an interesting weekend, filled with Music, movies and Swimming !!

Knockin on Heaven's door...

It happened when i was returning from my Swimming sessions on Saturday evening. There was a 90% chance of yours truly becoming a photo in a decorated frame sporting a nice garland. I was on my way home with my friend "Love Elephant", discussing the rash driving habits of Bangaloreans. While i was driving, I just turned back to make my point and when i looked forward, Gosh, i was yards away from a huge buffalo ! I could hear Robert Plant singing "Stairway to Heaven" ( missed the usual guitar riff by Page this time though :) ), Only a swift movement of my disc brake saved our lives ! I paused for a moment, thanked the almighty and headed towards "Pongal" :)

Things not to be missed...

• Ashes

You are wasting your life if you are not following the Ashes series. This time, England has come back with a vengeance and the Aussies are in deep shit . I guess this is the first time England is showing so much aggression on field. The Kangaroos were not at their usual self, except in sledging where they still prove that they are the Kings ! One can hear what Simon Katich mouthed after he was signalled out by the umpire. Cant wait for the final test :)

• Coldplay X&Y

This is one of the best albums that i have come across in recent days. Chris Martin rocks again with his vocals. I liked "Fix You", "White Shadows" and "Speed of Sound". At times, they sound like U2, i could picture Edge on Guitar on several occasions (especially in "Fix You"). Awesome stuff !

Perverted Neighbor
This happens almost every night, when my bike or my friend's bike enters the street. A couple of curious eyes peep out of every window in the neighborhood, checking whether their "Unmarried" neighbors have got some company or not (LOL, this is purely based on "Love Elephant's" version). He even proved this fact a couple of times. He asked a valid question: "Who is more perverted, a guy who brings a hooker home, in the night? Or a guy who peeps out of the window to check whether his neighbor has got a hooker in his home, every night? ". I replied in true Solomon Pappaiah style - "Both !".

Back to the Past

Am re-entering the blog world after a brief vacation(??), hope i continue to blog regularly from now on.( Reminds me of a drunkard promising never to drink again...), well lets see how life goes.

Life has changed a lot since June, i am taking a more positive approach towards life. Ok, lemme cut the philosophical crap... I have started attending Swimming lessons in the morning, that means i am getting up at an ungodly hour and jumping into ice cold water (it takes lot of courage to do this ;) ). I have made good progress, i can swim comfortably at about eight feet depth !

Had a good trip to "Hampi", the kingdom of Krishnadeva Raya, during the Independence day hols. It was a much needed break from the routine Office space...

Reading habit has detoriated from what it used to be. The last book i read was "Exegesis", its a different kind of story where the entire story is told via an email conversation between a Grad Student and an AI Program (Ditch, if you are reading this, please note). Halfway through a couple of other books like "Neuromancer", " Godel Escher ..", "Art of Unix Programming" (ESR)... Really need to pull myself to complete these books...

Work? Well, not much change, the same old story (I know someone is smiling ....), seriously need a fix ! One of my favourite quotes while at work - "Quality Data is an Oxymoron" :)

Now playing : “Under the Bridge” – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

An Update

Hello World !