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6.35 cereal omelet bread milk strand somerset-west stellenbosch office coffee gtalk orkut Deccan-herald e-paper Google-news work coffee salad nik-naks lays coffee Amy Winehouse transcend spring vineyards clouds spar woolworths pick-n-pay beach-road sunset nikon d80 rythmcity the young and the restless 7de laan etv sabc chicken tikka masala butter chicken veg samosa de akker stones temptations thumsup mistake bohemia springbok bukhara pool double brandy and coke millers phabia aby yuthan alexia rozanne bhavnesh charls francois inx axel chaylene jaco julius marnus melanie nataline nazeeha seshni spur kfc mc'donalds dagama shooters paulo coehlo the piligrimage veronica decides to die the mammaries of the welfare state english august kysna hermanus cango caves greyton oak falls benjamin gopal Dheeresh black bull techno park marius give it to me candy babe absolut sibaya durban shree the discovery of india raj-e-melanie wuthering heights the argumentative indian cosmos dros grand west casino Capetown long street paarl visa 8:51 vodacom telkom n2 n1 r44 protea square the forum pomegranate bla bla bla

De Akker - The Oak tree

De Akker – This is the second oldest pub in South Africa and I have been there many times. It is very special because of its oldness. You may call it kind of mature pub.

You will meet a lot of peculiar people here, including me. Some people come to study the nature of other people. I find it interesting to be with these people and make them the subject of my study!

Many people who come there just to get drunk and to get hooked up with somebody. I go there for the same reason as well! ;)

People come with friends or meet friends there and have fun time. People come to listen to music. Men come to check women and vice-versa.

I go there because I don’t have much to do on weekends and the time ticks faster over there.

I can read books at home. But reading people is very nice and especially when they are under the influence of alcohol.

I have met Indians who have settled here long ago, Americans, Pakistanis, Swiss people on holiday, Germans, and yes, lot of local people - white, black, colored etc.

It is interesting. When I was in India I never used to go to a pub/bar alone. It was always with friends. And I had never experienced this sort of thing where you meet strangers.

There are many ways to get into conversations. Men will be waiting for some female to take out her cigarette, so that they can light the cigarette and strike a conversation as well. It is usually the fastest and the most alert who wins in the end. Darwin’s theory holds good here as well.

Or, if you have a cigarette you can go looking for a girl with a lighter!

Another thing to be taken care of when you are looking for men/women is to know your probability in the crowd and also to be able to estimate somebody else’s. If you know your probability, then its relatively easy, than shooting everywhere.

For ex, when I am in a white crowd, my probability will immediately go down when they see that I am an Indian. But it will shoot up if I go to some other pub where there are more colored people. Again it is Darwin’s natural selection.

Well, that will do for this post. I will come with more specific cases later!!

Facebook mania! ?

Some interesting stats on facebook:

1. Microsoft has invested $240m (£117m) in social networking site Facebook in exchange for a 1.6% share of the company. That puts a value of $15bn (£7.3bn) on a firm that has only been in existence three and a half years.
2. According to a report, 233 million hours of work are lost each month in the UK due to staff looking at social networks. Advertisers can now target people when at their desks.
3. The network has gone viral in the last 12 months, with more than 50 million users worldwide and a user base that is growing faster than great rival MySpace. According to Facebook, it adds 200,000 new users each day.
4. The average user spends 3.5 hours a month on Facebook - more than the average user on rival MySpace - which is increasingly attractive to advertisers.
5. Workers who spend time on sites such as Facebook could be costing firms over £130m a day.

wow!! check out this link for more!

random quote

When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion!! - Robert M.Pirsig

Indian politicians extraordinary: Yale

I cant stop laughing after reading this article. Intelligent!? I don't know. But i can say that they are clever. Thats why they are in politics.

Another excerpt from the article:

"Indian politicians are extraordinarily intelligent, extraordinarily passionate about India's advancement and extraordinarily committed to helping the nation and its people"

For god's sake!!
Everybody in India knows that people enter into politics because of one of the following reasons:

1. he/she is too rich and cant move his/her ass to do any other work and never learned to do that as well. And as they are rich its easy to get into politics. And, once they get into politics, they know that they can get back whatever money they had invested. They also see that politics can be entertaining.

2. One should really dig out our politician's academic records. It will be an interesting study. Because, am sure most of them wouldn't have a decent degree. Even if they have one, most probably it will be a fake one. Yes, with the kind of education they have, they cant get into any private sector organization. They can get a govt job by pulling some strings and boot-licking. But as they are clever they see that being IN the govt will be a better option than working FOR the govt!

3. Most of them would have committed serious crimes and politics would be definitely a safe-haven. Being on the other side of the law will definitely make a difference. One can buy judges, witnesses, change the constitution and what not. And some people will even run the govt from jail, like it happened in Bihar some time back. And if you are a bandit its even easier to get into politics. Because you have already gained a lot of popularity. If you cook up a cock and bull story and get public sympathy then the people will easily vote for you. And parties will be eager to get you into your fold. They know that they have a winner!!

There may be some exceptions to this like our own PM, but , on an average these reasons will hold true.

Another excerpt:

"This is an exceptional group of individuals. They are alert, engaged, smart, and passionate. My one surprise was how connected they were to business and management. Some run newspapers, some run hotels. So they understand not just the political environment but also some of the management challenges as well"

People at Yale should realize that being in power and running businesses will be extremely easy. power will provide all the lubricant needed to run the business smoothly. You can get grants, evade taxes without being noticed, suppress opponents and do a lot of other things which will keep the business in pink health.

Please do read the article. I am sure you will burst out laughing.

Divide and rule!

The TN gov has carved out a 3.5% out of the existing 30 % reservation for Backward Classes for Muslims and Christians who are already listed in the category. Politicians!! given a chance they will go to the extent of creating village-based, lane-based, person-based reservations, just for votes. I really cant see India without reservations in the near/far-future. Its a dream.

It was also funny to see the Supreme court's reaction:

The Supreme Court today expressed concern over the increasing number of castes on the backward classes list for quotas in jobs and educational institutions.

“Is there a list of total number of castes?” asked a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan. “It is strange that when we do not have an outer limit we are adding more castes to the list.”

The court’s observation came during hearing on a petition filed by anti-quota activists.

“India is shining but backwardness is increasing rapidly with the number of backward castes,” he said.

Sethusamudram

The VHP has called for a nationwide road blockade protesting the construction of the bridge between India and Srilanka, apparently giving the reason that it will destroy the existing bridge below the sea which was built by Lord Sri Ram. Mythology is fine. But people shouldn't be so idiotic as to be doing something like this. Anything like this can happen only in India!!

Do you have anything else that your wife doesn't use?

The wife came home from work early and found her husband in their bedroom making love to a very attractive young woman.

Understandably, she was somewhat upset. "You are a disrespectful pig!" she cried. "How dare you do this to me - a faithful wife, the mother of your children! I'm leaving you. I want a divorce straight away!"

Her husband replied, "Hang on just a minute luv, I can explain what happened."

"You can try", she sobbed, "but they'll be the last words you'll say to me!"

And the husband began - "Well, I was getting into the car to drive home and this young lady here asked me for a lift. She looked so down and out and defenseless; that I took pity on her and let her into the car.

I noticed that she was very thin, not well dressed and very dirty. She told me that she hadn't eaten for three days! So, in my compassion, I brought her home and warmed up the soup I made for you last night, the soup that you wouldn't eat because you're afraid you'll put on weight. The poor thing devoured three bowls in moments.

Since she needed a good clean-up I suggested a shower, and while she was doing that I noticed her clothes were dirty and full of holes so I threw them away. Then, as she needed clothes, I gave her the designer jeans that you have had for a few years, but don't use because you say they are too tight. I also gave her he underwear that was your anniversary present, which you don't use because I don't have good taste.

I found the sexy blouse my sister gave you for Christmas that you don't use just to annoy her, and I also donated those boots you bought at the expensive boutique and don't use because someone at work has the same pair."

Then he took a quick breath and pressed on - "She was so grateful for my understanding and help and as I walked her to the door she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said:

"Please ... Do you have anything else that your wife doesn't use?"

Looks can be deceiving

John and Bob were inseparable childhood friends. One night, they both died in a terrible car accident.

When John woke up in heaven, he began to search for Bob but could not find him anywhere. Very distraught, he ran to St. Peter and said, "St. Peter, I know Bob was killed in that accident with me, but I can't find him!"

St. Peter said, "My son, I am sorry to tell you Bob didn't make it to Heaven."

This upset John so much that St. Peter agreed to let him see Bob one more time. St. Peter parted the clouds and John saw Bob sitting in hell with a keg on one side and a beautiful buxom blonde on the other.

John looked at St. Peter skeptically and said, "Are you sure I'm in the right place?"

"My son," St. Peter said, "looks can be deceiving. You see that keg of beer? It has a hole in it. You see that woman? She doesn't!"

Namesake!

Nice movie. May be the book will be better! I donno why, but i always avoided buying this book by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Ashima and Ashok migrate to the US in the 1970s. Ashima gives birth to a baby boy and the US people need that the boy be named immediately. Ashok decides to name him as 'Gogol', just for namesake. Eventually this funny name affects the guy a lot. But his father tells him as to why the name is very special and such stuff. It also brings into focus, the importance of our parents. We often dont realize it, coz we take somethings for granted. They manifest themselves when they are not around. One of the few movies which have made my eyes go wet.

Tabu and Irfan Khan have done a splendid job. News is also floating around that Tabu is in the line for oscars.

You look like a Bong!!

I was pretty early for the Emirates flight and was waiting for the Emirates desk to open. I got a book and started reading it. Then this girl came and sat beside me. She looked bored and was boring. Now that i had lot of time i thought of striking a conversation and see what happens.

Me - Are you also flying by Emirates ?
She - No, Indian Airways.

Looked like she wasn't interested in extending the conversation. I returned to my book. After some time i noticed that she was carrying a cylindrical plastic case, which most probably had a drawing or something. And her name was written on it and it also said that she was from iisc. Now that i had threads to pull, i thought i should give a try again.

Me - so you are from iisc. I noticed that on this thing.
She - [with a big smile lit on her face] yes! i am doing my Phd there[huh! i dont think i will like a phd girl! sounds too academic].
Me - which department ?
She - Molecular Bio-Physics. [wow! i know something in this area. I had recently read 'DNA' by James D Watson]
Me - related to DNA and such stuff ?
She - [looking surprised, thinking that i wont understand that term] oh! you know this?!!
Me - ya..[i am a know-all, cant you see it on my face? ]! what on exactly are you working ?
She - I am working on tuberculosis! [sounds very depressing] am going to Budapest to attend a conference.[wow! that sounds like a nice trip!!]
Me - I often come to iisc for walks. Its a nice place.
[she started laughing as though i told her that i walk naked there!! whats so funny abt it ?]
She - you look like a bong! [from which angle?? just bcoz i am reading a book written by a Bong writer doesn't, in any way, mean that i am a Bong!! for god's sake!!] are you ?
Me - [horrified] No!! am from Karnataka. What abt you ?
She - I am from Hyderabad. you know, iisc is full of bongs!! So, where are you going ?
Me - To South Africa.
She - Are there lot of mosquitoes there ?? [man, all, people can think of Africa is mosquitoes!! ]
Me - Mosquitoes!! no!!

At this point of time she asked me to have a look on her luggage and went to the restroom. I thought that it was the only reason as to why she came and sat beside me. She wanted to go to the lu and wanted somebody to have an eye on her luggage. How mean?? I took revenge. After she came back, i asked her to keep an eye on my luggage and went to the restroom. Tit for tat [ i donno why there is a tit in this phrase and what is a tat ?? i would definitely wanna get some tits by giving tats]!!

The desks opened and i went to check in my luggage! we did not exchange emails or whatever.

Mr and Mrs Iyer

One of the best movies i have ever watched. Amazing performance by Konkona Sen Sharma and Rahul Bose. Watched it again today.

Its about two people - Meenakshi Iyer, a religious and orthodox brahmin and Jehangir chowdary, a Muslim photographer, who meet during a journey and find themselves caught in between a communal riot. Meenakshi helps Jehangir by telling people that he is Mr.Iyer, her husband.

By the end of their journey they would have developed, i wouldn't say it as love, emotions (even though she was married), which makes their parting difficult. Its a treat to watch the movie. Please do so!

Its human nature i believe!! Love transcends all the religious and social barriers. It just happens, without our knowledge. But very few people will have the courage to pursue it.

Also watched 'Page 3'. Again Konkona sen sharma has done a good job. Watchable movie which opens up some of the unknown facets of the rich and the famous.

I have become a fan of Konkona Sen Sharma!!

Reading 'English, August' in August!!

I started reading this another nice book 'English, August' written by Upamanyu Chatterjee. The author himself is/was(i am not sure) an IAS officer. And in this book, he opens up the life of an young IAS officer, Agastya (nick-named August and hence the name of the book), who has been posted to a remote town for training and also narrates as to how things work in the IAS. Definitely a nice and must read.

An excerpt:

" In his essay Agastya had said that his real ambition was to be a domesticated male stray dog because they lived the best life. They were assured of food, and because they were stray they didn't have to guard a house or beg or shake paws or fetch trifles or be clean or anything similarly meaningless to earn their food. They were servile and sycophantic when hungry; once fed, and before sleep, they wagged their tails perfunctorily whenever their hosts passed, as an investment for future meals. A stray dog was free; he slept a lot, barked unexpectedly and only when he wanted to, and got a lot of sex."

So many reasons to be a domesticated male stray dog!! how i wish i was one!! I am already dreaming! :)

Incidentally there is a stray dog(i am not sure whether its a male or female!) in front of our office which is one of the topics of discussion when we go for chai and smoke. Whatever the traffic be on the road, it will be happily sleeping in the middle of the road devoid of all worries and it will not move, what come may!! It has either reached the pinnacle of spirituality or it has become highly suicidal!! I just cant believe its utter carelessness.

[wow! this is the 50th post on this blog!! a 50 in 5 months!! not bad at all.]

Quota should stop some day, says Supreme Court. But who will bell the QUOTA cat?

Article from 'The Hindu' here. Having good intentions is fine. But which government will have the balls to remove the quota system? That will be a suicide.

It will definitely create a lot of unrest in the society and the opposition parties will be waiting for such an opportunity to create chaos and gain public sympathy. A coalition govt can never do such a thing. And we need a leader who has the courage and vision to do such a thing.

The question is, who? when?

Independence day colors everywhere!

Independence ?? Huh!!

Even Andra Pradesh is pondering over implementing the quota system that has been kicked off in UP!

"An empty mind(a politician's mind (most of them!)) is a devil's workshop!". Or you can equally say that "An empty mind is a politician's workshop". The meaning remains the same.

Only God can save this country. But i don't think he will get a chance for anything due to all the quotas and reservations and all the crap happening.

But wait!! which caste does God belong to?? hehhe!!!

We are celebrating our Independence day tomorrow. Independence from what??? The British ?? I think thats the only Independence we got in the real sense.

My country doesn't have independence from poverty, corruption, power-politics, crippling infrastructure, quota systems, red tape, diseases, naxals, terrorists in kashmir and bla bla bla. If you open the news paper you will see a whole lot of issues like this.

You guys must be thinking that i am one of those guys who just complain and do nothing. sirf bolnese kya hoga?? (talking won't help).

But atleast i complain !!

(Majority of India is like this)

I am sure that 100% of the people who are reading this blog will not have any sort of serious problems and will be pretty happy in life to celebrate Independence day. But what about the rest of India? Independence day doesn't mean anything to them!! It is still a daily fight for food and shelter.


I am ashamed of the current state of affairs in India. My head hangs low in front of other people when they talk of India as a poor and corrupt country. I cannot defend my country. Because thats the truth.

And our people raise a lot of hue and cry about Indians who have settled abroad. I don't think its wrong. People find that the quality of life is much better there than in India and hence they decide to settle there. At the end of the day everybody is selfish and would like to have a good life!

Somehow not so proud to be an Indian today!! Miles to go!

Jai Bharath! Vande Mataram! and Happy Independence day!!!!

U.P. moots voluntary quota in private sector

Story here. Interesting point is : "Though senior officials insisted it would be "voluntary", they made it clear that the units not implementing the quotas would not get government assistance of any kind", which means, in a way, government is black-mailing the industry to introduce the quota system.

Pure vote-politics. In the first place there should not be any reservations based on caste. Our politicians have learnt a lot from the British and one of them is to "divide and rule"!! And thats precisely what they are doing.

How can anything be based on caste!!?

deja vu

I found this definition for 'deja vu' in 'Catch-22' which sounds quite scientific and convincing:

"Yossarian shook his head and explained that deja vu was just a momentary infinitesimal lag in the operation of two coactive sensory nerve centers that commonly functioned simultaneously."

Yossarian knows everything. Some more vus i found in the book:

"There were terrifying, sudden moments when objects, concepts and even people that the chaplain had lived with almost all his life inexplicably took on an unfamiliar and irregular aspect that he had never seen before and which made them totally strange: jamais vu".

"And there were other moments when he almost saw absolute truth in brilliant flashes of clarity that almost came to him: presque vu".

This book is increasing my knowledge by leaps and bounds!! And its quite alarming!

Supreme court Rulez : NO to OBC quotas!

Some news which made me happy today. SC says no to OBC quotas. Check out the story here.

The maid in the lime-colored panties

Another stunning excerpt from Catch-22:

"The maid in the lime-colored panties was a cheerful, fat, obliging woman in her midthirties with squashy thighs and swaying hams in lime-colored panties that she was always rolling off for any man who wanted her.

She had a plain broad face and was the most virtuous woman alive: she laid for everybody, regardless of race, creed, color or place of national origin, donating herself sociably as an act of hospitality, procrastinating not even for the moment it might take to discard the cloth or broom or dust mop she was clutching at the time she was grabbed. Her allure stemmed from her accessibility; like Mt. Everest, she was there, and the men climbed on top of her each time they felt the urge. Yossarian was in love with the maid in the lime-colored panties because she seemed to be the only woman left he could make love to without falling in love with. Even the baldheaded girl in Sicily still evoked in him strong sensations of pity, tenderness and regret."

a gPhone!?

It seems Google is coming up with a phone of itself!! wow!! that will be definitely something!! It will surely increase Google's reach for its ads. Check out the full story here.

Back to SA

Am going back to SA again. It looks like some cunning cosmic conspiracy set in motion against me to pack me to SA.

It feels awkward, especially after they had given all the farewell party and gifts and after i had written a nice goodbye message and all. Now they have to welcome me again!!

But i am looking forward to living by the sea and the mountains and vineyards. That should be the only console.

Warning!

Consumption of Alcohol:

- may make you think you are whispering when you are not
- is a major factor in dancing like a wanker
- may cause you tell the same boring story over and over again until your friends want to smash your face in
- may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to telephone them at 4 in the morning
- may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your trousers
- may make you think you can logically converse with other members of the opposite sex without spitting
- may make you think you possess mystical kung-fu powers
- may cause you to roll over in the morning and see something really scary(whose species, and/or name you can't remember
- is the leading cause of inexplicable rug burns on the forehead
- may lead to traffic signs and cones appearing in your home
- may lead you to believe you are invisible
- may lead you to believe that people are laughing with you
- may cause an influx in the time-space continuum, whereby small and sometimes large gaps of time may seem to literally disappear

Catch-22

An excerpt from the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I couldn't resist blogging this.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would be no longer crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to;but if he didn't want to he was sane and he had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

Simply APJ

Which president can do this? check out the story here.

Another interesting chat

He: do you believe in God?

me: i am actually in confused state. my logical mind is fighting with me nowadays to prove god
what about u ?

He: I support your logical mind....

me: hmm.... but i have believed in god all these years .. so i think it will take time for me to actually reject god completely
its difficult

He: true.. we cannot become atheists overnight.....

me: ya

He: I believe there is God which is nothing but your Self Confidence....its the greatest power

me: very true, but still we cannot delete god!! :)

He: correct...but I wonder...who created the world and the universe...and what is the purpose for which we are here??..any thoughts and opinions on this ??

me: there is no purpose for which we were created... we were just created by accident - we are a by product of evolution. time and space is still a mystery - i think, we cannot find as to when all began or when all will end or how big is this universe ... time and space are infinite quantities
what say ?

He: may be...not sure...but dont you think...time and space are defined by humans ...and just a concept...not concrete quantities

me: thats true ... do you know that if we travel fast time will actually slow down

He: ya....

me: relativity

He: true....

me: all i can say is we quantify those bcoz science needs things which are quantified to work on

He: very true, so ...what do you think...what should be our aim in life?? is it just surviving ??

me: ya... food is the basic need of life... we all do whatever we do for food... bcoz we dont like to be starved to death.. and other things we do is to keep us occupied till we die - like studying, working, entertainment. also we want to propagate our genes .. so we get married and pass on our genes to our children...
thats it :)

He: i feel man wants to live for ever ..but cant do that..so tries to live thro his children...
but i am not sure why we should survive and propagate...??

me: u r asking the purpose again .. .our genes have been coded like that :) they make us reproduce and pass our genes its inbuilt [or only the genes which do that have survived]

Google is placing ads in orkut

I saw Google ads today in Orkut on the communities. I was surprised all these days as to how google did not put any ads in orkut, with so much traffic on the sites. Finally they are doing business.

The lion king

A sketch i did recently.

Attention!!

Its 3 AM. I woke up and I am unable to get back to sleep. One thought is going round and round in my head and I thought I should let it out and then get back to sleep. One of my friends had told me this long back and it has popped out now all of a sudden.

It is about our need for attention. Whatever we do, we do it so as to be noticed by others or we do so, to seek attention. Attention by others is the food for our ego. We need to sustain some level of ego in ourselves to do whatever we are doing. Otherwise we will become depressed. The engine will stop working. And spousal love is the peak of attention we get.

May be, most probably, I am writing this to seek attention and feed my ego!!

There is a pub called ‘The Forum’ here in Stellenbosch. They have an amazing menu with all kind of witty sayings. I borrowed one from them to take back to India. One of the sayings:

“Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, and you’d step over your own mother just to get one! But you can’t stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!” (Homer Simpson to Bart)

Is this right ?

I could not believe that our prime minister said this at the CII conference:

"Three, industry must be pro-active in offering employment to the less privileged, at all levels of the job ladder. The representation companies give to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women, in their workforce and staff must increase. I am, therefore, encouraged by CII’s Report on Affirmative Action. I commend your example. I hope it will be widely emulated."

you can find the entire speech here.

Chat with Narayana Murthy

In this chat with Karan Thapar in Devil's advocate, Mr. Narayana Murthy talks about India's imminent need for quality political leadership. Please do read it.

Interesting debate!

Some interesting debate happening here on God, between me and one of my friends.

Some facts on South Aricans

Some interesting facts about South Africans:

1. If you tell them something/anything they will immediately acknowledge by saying "is it ?".
ex: Me - i went to a party yesterday
Y - is it ?
Me - (No, I am just kidding!! for god's sake!! )

Now, I have also picked up this habit of saying "is it ?". Friends back home will have a tough time when i go back next week.

2. Weird Afrikaans words and pronunciations.
They pronounce g as k. v as f.
ex: Federer can also be written as Vederer in Afrikaans.
King can be written as ging and it will sound the same.

Tjek is pronounced as cheque.

3. On the road:
- They will turn on their headlights when a single cloud blocks the sun or when the watch hits 6 O' clock in the evening, even though there is enough light to see the road.
- When you allow them to overtake you, they will say thanks by flashing the hazard light and you can say welcome by flashing your high beam.

4. They say it gets cold when there are no clouds because its more open and cold air comes in from the space or from wherever.

5. They think India is a very poor country and Indians don't know English.

6. They like to brai[put on some fire and cook meat] for no reason.

7. They cannot live without alcohol. its a sin not to drink.

8. They like rugby!

9. They love their beaches.

10. Usually when you enter office in the morning you will be greeted with a "Howzit?". Now howz what ?? and they don't expect any answer for this question.

11. They believe vegetarian people have a short life.

12. They love to keep tab on the weather forecasts. On an average they will know exactly how the next week is going to be. Rainy, sunny, hot, cloudy etc.

13. South African Indians have a taste for Tamil. Any songs from Hindi blockbusters will be immediately translated to Tamil. You can hear to Dhoom 2, Guru and all other hindi songs in tamil on the Durban FM - Lotus.

14. Suppose somebody wants a cigarette. He will come to me and ask it like this:
He - " May be you don't want to lend me a cigarette?"
Me - (Ya, May be i don't want to!!) sure!

I would have simply asked - 'can you please lend me a cigarette ?' . They make talking complicated.

15. Confessions. Suppose somebody tells you a wrong thing and later they realize that its wrong. They will come to you and say:
He - " I lied to you ".
Me - "(OK. thats 100 push ups ) its fine!"

Its OK. You did not do it intentionally! But its a terrible sin for them.

16. They are nice people! :)

oops!

Salman Rushdie was knighted a couple of days back for his literary contributions and see this now!!
Osama has also been honored !! I have gone dumb!

Hilarious

Sonia Gandhi as Durga. This is hilarious. Heights of boot-licking.

Google gets hard on Microsoft!

I found this news article today which tells that Google has raised objections on Vista's new features. According to the article:

1. It is difficult for users to disable Vista's integrated indexing and search
2. If a second desktop search application was installed, the computer would slow down as two competing indexers churned through the hard drive
3. Microsoft's search was the only tool allowed to generate results in Vista's search bars, which appear in several places, including the Start menu, in the Windows Explorer file manager and in the Control Panels main display

If Microsoft believes that its desktop search is so good that users will not switch to other desktop searches, then it should not be doing this. It should just allow users to choose whatever they want. Anyways, I have not used Vista till now and i don't know how the product looks like. Probably i should take a peek.

O Blessed Superstition!

[One of the poems written by Swami Vivekananda. it sounded like an answer to my earlier post on god. good one! ]

One bending low with load of life —
That meant no joy, but suffering harsh and hard —
And wending on his way through dark and dismal paths
Without a flash of light from brain or heart
To give a moment's cheer, till the line
That marks out pain from pleasure, death from life,
And good from what is evil was well-nigh wiped from sight,
Saw, one blessed night, a faint but beautiful ray of light
Descend to him. He knew not what or where from,
But called it God and worshiped.
Hope, an utter stranger, came to him and spread
Through all his parts, and life to him meant more
Than he could ever dream and covered all he knew,
Nay, peeped beyond his world. The Sages
Winked, and smiled, and called it "superstition".
But he did feel its power and peace
And gently answered back —
"O Blessed Superstition! "

Is it good to believe in God?

We have a very bad habit of associating something, which we cannot understand completely, with supernatural powers/phenomena. I guess this very tendency gave birth to God once upon a time and it is so much into our culture and people nowadays, that we almost cannot live without God. We just love this idea.

Coming from India and that too a rural background, where science is almost an outcast, I guess I grew up with the idea of God and never questioned it. It’s so easy to live without questioning prevalent ideas. Luckily I got good education and now I am in a position to understand so many things, get exposure to so many ideas meet so many different people. I am constantly surprised as I come to know different new things everyday. I guess it has affected my thinking a lot and in a very radical way. I am so open to new ideas and new ways of leading life nowadays. Questioning the existence of God is one of those ideas. People back at home will be surprised if they get a clear picture of me and will be forced to ask a question – ‘what has education done to him?!!’

For most of the people in India, the idea of education is not ‘education’ itself. It is just a way of getting a good job and getting a handsome pay and living life comfortably/happily. The motive is purely monetary. Knowledge is a secondary outcome of education. I don’t see anything wrong with this kind of motive. Only food can satiate a hungry man and not knowledge.

At least 60% of India lives in poverty. These people see the educated people with good jobs and good money. Parents are forced to think that education for kids is an escape route from poverty, which is also true. And I must agree that this kind of thinking has done a lot of good to people. I am no exception. I hope this thinking will change over time. It should change. Children should be educated for knowledge and nothing else than that. But again, food is important.

Coming back to the question of God, I agree that the idea of God has done a lot of good to mankind. It has, without question, induced a sense of morality in people. I am pretty sure that world would have been a far worse place than it is today if it were full of atheists. I am not telling that atheists are bad people. But just the idea of God adds another check on people doing bad things.

The idea of God also gives a sense of peace to an already confused mind. It calms down the mind. We think that God listens and most often we talk to God when we are in trouble. Psychologically, it strengthens our mind.

It also unites people (sometimes in a bad way, like people of one community fighting others. Here we see that god has indeed divided people!). Sociologically, the idea of God is like an adhesive. It brings people together. We often see huge masses of people taking a dip in the great Ganges, looking at the sky, offering prayers and ‘washing’ off their sins. We also have the Amarnath Yatra where thousands of people trek to the Himalayas to visit one of the shrines. We also have the Haj among Muslims and similar practices in other religions. The effect, these phenomena have, will definitely make an interesting study.

There are many good things with the idea of God. So why question it?!!

Science has always worked on the basis of data, experiments and ideas which can be ‘proved’. That’s one thing that God hasn’t allowed us to do - to prove His existence!

But I believe that the very fact that we cannot prove the existence of God gives enormous strength to the idea of God. It’s a paradox. The more difficult it is to prove the existence, the stronger the idea becomes.

I have read a lot about Swami Vivekananda’s life and his works. It makes a very interesting read. The story goes like this: Vivekananda was very intrigued with the idea of God and he started questioning the existence of God. He became an atheist for sometime. Then one of his professors told him about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa – the only man known then, who claimed to have seen God!! The rest is history. Vivekananda becomes a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and is believed to have seen/experienced God. And Vivekananda started a mission to spread the ideas of Hinduism (not the religion) all around the world. Even today, the Ramakrishna mission is a very big organization which is striving to spread the ideas of Hinduism.

It is becoming very uneasy for me to live with the idea of God, an idea which does not have any foundations. Only God can help me I guess!! I sometimes seriously think of putting some efforts to find God with whatever means available. We also have a school of thought which tells that God is in everybody. So why take the trouble of finding?!!

Or, it’s a Sunday. Probably I should just go and have some beer!! :)

Why do people fight ?

I happened to collect some data on wars and was curious to chart their trend with time. And i came up with this chart.

Its pretty interesting to see the war trends and speculate about the reasons as to why wars increased or decreased at some times.

Of course this is the data the we have recorded and there might have been many wars which could have gone unnoticed. But i am assuming that this data is mostly correct.

By and large, the wars before 500 BC were very less and looks like people hardly fought, as the population was very less and there was no need to fight. But we can see that people still fought. I think these wars must have been fought, solely, to establish supremacy over others and nothing else.

But the wars began to increase from 800 AD. I associate this closely with the increasing population and decreasing resources. People were also exploring a lot and that eventually lead to a lot of conflict.

Then we see a meteoric rise in the number of wars fought starting from 1500 AD. This must have happened because of the technological advancements made at this time and looks like the wars are never going to end.

I guess the 2nd world war was the bloodiest and most of the wars nowadays are usually conflicts and not full scale wars.

We cannot afford a full scale war now with all the nuclear, biological and what not weapons. Cities can disappear within hours and they are going to be costly.

What i have written is just a birds eye or a satellite eye view of the wars. I am sure it will make an interesting study to chart wars along with other factors. But as Ford said 'History is mostly bunk'. What historians write is history. The data is unreliable. With the advent of internet and
online media nowadays, i can say that events are being recorded with a high degree of precision and accuracy. We can rely on data nowadays.

But yes, Time can distort anything!!

Gyan for the day - male sex cells (sells!!)

This one makes a good read :

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/science/12angi.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Ancestral tourism

Want to find out where you come from or who is your oldest ancestor ? Scrape few cells from the inside of your mouth and send it to any one of the nowadays common companies which does the genetic mapping. Its as easy as that and within few days you will have a reply telling where your ancestors lived!!

All this has been made possible because of the collection of large quantities of genes from all over the world and storing the sequence data in a gene-bank. Our genes will be compared to the already existing sequences in the bank and thus tell to which group you belong to.

Using genetic data, scientists have even developed how earlier people moved from place to place. It looks like the first man/woman came from Africa and eventually they moved on to different parts of the world where their genes evolved!

If everybody came from the same root what the hell is racism all about ?! Although we came from the same roots, our genes have evolved and are different(although the difference is small it makes a big difference in our appearances) from that of the first people. People with similar genes look similar.

Genetically speaking, racism can be defined as treating people with similar genes in a better way than others who contain less similar genes. Racism is in built into us by birth. Our genes tend/work to increase similar genes in the gene pool rather than other genes. We are born-racists. Mother nature has made us so!

Nevertheless, looks like(it only looks like) we have been fairly successful in suppressing this quality of the gene. At least there are no wars nowadays based on races. Never predict the future though!! Hitler can come again one day saying his race is the supreme!

So much in our genes!!

[check this out to see what all our genes can tell !! ]

Unconditional Love!!

I happened to have this interesting conversation with a girl I found on chat. It was a good and intelligent chat and we were discussing a very debatable topic. Hope you will find this interesting.

(The words in italic are comments by me after reading the chat once again. Of course, this is purely my point of view, and it may be wrong)

Me: if one goes on thinking... nothing really matters ..
But that life will be very boring

She: well..nope
i don't think so
a lotta things DO matter

Me: like ?

She: Family
Career
Friends...
Physics
Mathematics
and a million others

Me: hmm ..... i think we have created so many artificial [emotional] needs arnd ourselves that we think we need all these ...
one question still puzzle me as to why we are here [I guess its pure accident... there is no reason. we are just a by-product of evolution and we exist. that’s it] !!

She: well...we are here..to think, to feel (love),to see and understand beautiful things[I think its exactly the opposite: we think and feel and understand things. therefore we are here. we have surpassed all other species in this arena and hence we are here. Otherwise we would have gone extinct like the Dodo]

and all in all we are [just another brick in the wall !! [this was a spontaneous addition and itsounds true]]here to ask why we are here [ we are here. hence we ask this question]..and to learn the answer through its steps!

Me: but thats only science...

She: it ain't

Me: i think love and such stuff is purely taught to us starting from our childhood... [and, as it is said in 'The selfish Gene', we show altruistic behavior with our relatives because they share a lot of similar genes than all other people. The more similar genes, the more we like them!]

She: it is everything
every field

Me: i disagree.... all the emotions that we feel are really because we are trained to feel that way [i really wonder as to what would happen if some kid is raised in an isolated chamber and trained in everything through computers and some hi-fi technology and books. After he is some 20 years would he really have the capacity to feel emotions. Are emotions really necessary? ]...
i dont think eve and adam felt that way!!

She: well...that is stupidity...

Me: well... its my point of view ! may be stupid

She: i don't call your point of view stupid
all i am saying that...the emotion i feel towards my mother is not artificial
and the feeling my mum gets towards me when i was born and now..that i am a part of her is not artificial

Me: hmm... well... i never told that they are artificial... the very first moment after u were born - all u need is some air and some food... but eventually u start "developing" emotions and liking and such stuff...
one develops such things ..

She: no. my mother feeds me
My mother lets me out to the harsh world delicately

Me: see - that’s called trading... u love ur mother ... She loves u ... [I really love my mom. All i am trying to understand here is the process by which it came into existence]

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..

Me: love is purely circumstantial

She: it is not my dear. love is unconditional [i wish there was a thing like this. The world would have been a far better place]...if it is circumstantial then it ain't love..you are mistaken!

Me: it is conditional.. for ex... u cannot start loving me instantaneously !! u need to have some situation/motivation/precondition to start doing that !!

That was the end of the chat and i guess its still incomplete. You guys might be thinking that i am fellow with no heart (i dont know why heart got associated with love though!! ) and who does not know what love is. Thats not the fact. I have experienced love from my parents, relatives, friends and lot of other people all through my life till now and its on. I also love/like lot of people in my life.

All i am trying to tell here is that there has to be a trigger for any kind of love. It cannot be created out of nothing. There has to be a reason and there is nothing as unconditional love.

The political chimps

On the other day i was watching Nat-Geo where there were showing a documentary on the behavior of chimps - our closest relatives in the animal world.

The aim of the documentary was to show the similarities between them and we human beings. There is this one guy who has been studying chimps for a long time. You have to basically pack your stuff and follow the chimps in the jungle. There is no other way.

So as he was following a group of chimps, he observed a very strange behavior. The chimps were actually on a patrol, looking for one of their fellow chimp. looks like he had done some mistake or crime. Finally one of them finds the culprit sitting on one of the trees. He goes up and brings him done. Then these 15-20 chimps brutally attack and kill the culprit. This was a coup!!

A marvelous display of co-operation and working together for a goal. Not sure what the poor thing had done to be killed. May be it was political or may be it was a fight for a partner. I have seen animals fighting for a partner, but not in groups like this. But this shows that chimps do actually live like us in a community. They punish if they don't like somebody. But getting so many chimps together to kill one chimp requires a lot of communication skills. This incident clearly shows that the chimps do really have such an effective mode of communication between themselves.

They also showed some chimps which use twigs as tools to fish out termites to eat. while eating grass they clean it using water. If they find a nut they will use a fallen off branch to break it and eat it.

They also showed a particular species of monkeys in South America which use rocks to break nuts. This monkey will first keep the nut on one stone. It will lift another big stone with both of its hands just like we do and bring it down with great force to break the nut. Just like what our most primitive ancestors did. It was fantastic to watch this kind of behavior. I had never expected chimps to be so clever.

This in a way explains our own political behavior in communities. We do collaborate with people to defeat somebody in politics. Looks like we have derived this behavior from the great chimps!!

Thing like a horse! (PG 13)

I got this forward today - good one!

A horse and a chicken are playing in a meadow. The horse falls into a mud hole and is sinking.
He calls to the chicken to go and get the farmer to help pull him out to safety. The chicken runs to the farmer but the farmer can't be found.
So he drives the farmer's BMW 328i back to the mud hole and ties some rope around the bumper. He then throws the other end of the rope to his friend, the horse, and drives forward saving him from sinking.

A few days later, the chicken and the horse were playing in the meadow again. This time the chicken fell in the mud hole. The chicken yelled to the horse to go and get some help from the farmer. The horse said, "I think I can stand over the hole." So he stretched over the width of the hole and said "grab my 'thing' and pull yourself up.
And the chicken did and pulled himself to safety.
The moral of the story:


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"If you have a "Thing" like a horse, you don't need a BMW 328i to pick up chicks."

Open Source Genetics!

Am currently reading this book - 'DNA - the secret of life' by James D Watson, in which he chronicles various events that started after the discovery of the double helix by himself and Francis Crick in the 1950s. Its a nice read if you want to know new things on DNA. At least i did not know most of the stuff written in that book.

One fact that struck me most and makes me very uncomfortable is that, often science is closely associated with commerce. This is very true nowadays in case of genetics and in the era where the scientists work to find something before anybody does and patents it; i.e. you have to be the first one to find it otherwise all the effort is gone waste. If you cant patent something then its of now use.

Take for example that there is some research going on to find the gene associated with some disease X and team A and team B are working on it spending lots of money and time. Suppose team A cracks it first and patents it. Then team B cannot work anymore on that gene. In other words no other person or company can use the information discovered by team A to discover drug or to do anything on that gene. Its the sole property of team A now! and only they can work on it.

How does this sound to you ? Its sounds absurd to me. It practically stops everybody who want to work on that disease and hence reducing the probability of the drug being found for that gene.

I do understand that those scientists must have put a lot of money to come till that point. But closing further access to others or giving permission only on large sums of money simply beats me. May be they should work out a model where in they get back all the money that they had put in and some profit. But money really complicates things. When you know that you can milk money out of something, I guess you will.

Why cant this work like open source software ? Here companies develop things and distribute it for free. But they eventually benefit from the users of the software and all the associated training, enhancements and everything related to the product. If anybody uses open source software, it has to be open source as well.

If we translate this idea to genetics, it will be like this: If team A decides to put its discovery in open source, then any further discoveries resulting out of this have to be open source. Sounds simple. But its not as easy as software. We are dealing with humans here and we tend to exploit whatever we can out of the discovery. Its a matter of life and death.

At the end of the day it looks like money matters to most of the scientists today. I always thought that, it was only pure curiosity and the desire to find things, that drives them. Unfortunately thats not the truth.

At least pure physics is free from all this patent stuff i guess. I don't think anybody would benefit from a discovery which predicts the size of the universe!! It is pure knowledge. But who knows.. may be one day! thats why we patent stuff.

Its a debatable topic: Should Genetics be made open source ?

Chini Kum ( less sugar )

I would say that this is a must-watch movie both for its new message, which advocates marriage between individuals whose age differs a lot, like in this case by more than 30 years and for its light n nice humor.

Big B and Tabu (to be precise, whoever wrote the script) have done a great job by adding a great sense of humor which is hardly to be found in Bollywood movies nowadays. Big B runs an Indian restaurant in London and happens to meet Tabu somehow and the story starts there. I would not tell the whole thing here as to what happens in the end. I would advise you to watch the movie. With light comedy in the kitchen backdrop, the movie is worth the money and much more.

I don’t think the old generation would like the concept in the movie. Just imagine a situation where in your daughter is some 34 years old and some 64 year guy wants to marry her! Would you allow it?? May be after watching the movie you will say ‘I may! ‘ or considering the fact that she hasn't been able to catch any guy till now, you would probably say 'its fine!' . But I think it will be very difficult to practice, at least in the Indian sub-continent.

I would not say that it is wrong. Everybody has a right to marry whoever he/she likes. But if everybody starts doing this, human race will definitely come to an end over a period of time!! You are defying natural selection by choosing to marry somebody who is very much elder to you and who is most unlikely to help you in carrying your genes further down the stream. Am I sounding too scientific? may be! Darwin would have definitely not liked this, if he had seen this movie.

Anyways, these cases do not happen much too often in practice and we can be assured that the human race will continue to prosper.

At least I will definitely try to help! I need Zyada Chini (more sugar) :)

DNA computing

I was browsing through Orkut and saw a community called DNA computing. I was curious to know what it is, as i had never heard of anything like that. I googled on this topic and found that since 1994 lot of stuff has been happening in that arena i.e. using DNA to do things that we require. It seems one scientist mixed some DNA and enzymes and amino acids in a test tube and solved a mathematical problem!! Till now we are quite successful at using DNA for doing small calculations and games.

I also found an article in the New York Times dated today Nov 21 2003 which talks about DNA which can self-assemble an electronic circuit. Now that sounds like a sci-fi !!

This article talks about storing data in DNA. Its a known fact that we can insert plasmids, which are similar to DNA strands, into a cell and they will replicate them without fail during multiplication! so, in theory, if we code some data into a plasmid and inject it into a bacteria it will remain there for generations if we keep them alive!

Amazing stuff!!

God is squaring me out!

An addition to the squares! I noticed that my office extension is 9682 = 25 = 5 squared.
I am really being squared !!

The number 23

It’s a new movie that we saw today. It is about this man who gets obsessed about the number 23 and he starts seeing it everywhere after he starts reading a book about that. Like in a word, by adding up letters, by giving them a number based on their position in the alphabets. Jim Carry has done a good job. Nice thriller and it keeps you on your toes till the end.

Trust me, the movie will also leave you looking for 23 around.

My birth day is on 23^rd of Jan!

Take E=Mc^2, the famous energy equation. E is 5, M is 13, c for 3 and 2 … all make up to 23. I guess Einstein did not notice this stuff!

So, start looking for 23!!

I am a bit of a number manic. I usually try to find something interesting in the numbers I see. Like the apartment that we are staying in. It is 4, 121, Kusweg, Beach Road, Strand. If you look at the numbers they are 2 squared and 11 squared!

My birth day is 23/01/1981 = 25 = 5 squared.

My current mobile number – 7668 668 89 = 64 = 8 squared.

My number in Bombay – 9820333759 = 49 = 7 squared

My car registration number – KA 02 MA 64 – You can see a 64 here as well.

SA – country code – 27 = 9 = 3 squared.

Today – 20/5/2007 = 16 = 4 squared

Interesting numbers!!

Living in Strand

South Africa is a beautiful country. Living by the sea only makes it even better! I never knew why property rates are so high along the sea until I myself started living by the beach in Strand. It is flat no 4, 121, Kusweg, Beach road, Strand. It has an amazing sea-view and it is a treat to live here.

I don’t know why, but I never get tired of simply sitting and watching the sea. Everyday the sea changes its colors depending on the clouds and the clouds change the colors too. Strand is situated in a kind of bay area where on the other side of the bay is Cape Town. The sea is lined by mountains on the other side and that’s where the sun goes down.

It’s a treat to watch the sun go down in the mountains by the sea, painting the sky with spectacular colors which I would have never thought of! Trust me, God is a great artist. The sea also changes colors depending on the sky, clouds and I have not understood till date as to what the formula is for the color of the sea. It can be blue-green, dark blue, gray, red (because of the red planktons that float) sometimes and when it rains as it is today it is light gray-green. So many colors!!

It is lovely to watch the clouds as well. The sun gives them different colors during different times of the day. Morning and evening are the best and the clouds come in different shapes too. Sometimes it is as if a huge army is coming to attack you from the other side – big monstrous dark cloud which covers the mountains as well. Some times small clouds are scattered all around in a very regular manner and shape.

On the other side of our apartment I can see huge mountains lined up as though they are guarding us from the invaders. On some days you can see huge clouds which come and rest on these mountains as though they are tired by the journey. Or as though the mountains decided to get a white blanket for the night and have a good sleep. And in the places where there is a gap between the mountains you can see the cloud flowing down similar to a water fall but in a much slower fashion as if time had slowed down. Sometimes when the clouds are sitting on the mountains and the sun shines on them, I can only think of heaven!

Some day I will buy a beach house!!

weekend fracture!

You might have started guessing if i had a fracture over the weekend. No!! I watched this new movie, 'Fracture' featuring Anthony Hopkins and Van Gosling. Nice movie. Its a treat to watch Hopkins. He is amazing. He just steals the show. The movie is a suspense, semi-thriller stuff. Nicely done. I wont tell the story here. I recommend you to go and watch the movie for yourself. It will be worth the money.

the monk who sold his 'blind date' !!

I must tell you about one little incident that happened in Durban. I missed a date or threw away a date!! Can you believe it??

Some days before going to Durban I started to look for girls in Durban who were on Orkut. You know I started scrapping them and see if they responded. I was just trying my luck or testing the probabilities that I might get a date in Durban.

Many of them did, but I started some real conversations with only a few girls. I guess these had an internet connection at home and checked emails and scraps regularly or worked with computers at office. So I had a very limited choice to start with and they had to be single! :) , So that they will come out with me for a blind date. I could not fix any real date before going to Durban. Life is tough, I must say!!

So, I went to Durban. 1^st day, no luck. 2nd day, no luck. On the third day, I asked one of them if she is interested in a blind date. I really did not expect a ‘yes’. She was a Durban Indian and doing studies. You see, the probability of finding a girl, who is a student and single, is very difficult. Because usually you get to have lot of friends around when you are studying and hence the probability of finding a boyfriend or a girlfriend is very high then! I guess I was bit lucky in this case. Anyways, she replied back saying that she is busy and bla….bla..bla. Typical girl I believe. I left a scrap with my mobile number asking to let me know if she changed her mind ;) ! According to what I have seen, most of the girls – may be around 90%, change their mind very quickly and this girl did!! She messaged me asking whether I was enjoying Durban and when I was returning back and such stuff. I call this ‘beating around the bush’! Why don’t you girls get straight to the point? Anyways, I did not wanted beat around the bush and asked what she is doing that evening and whether she is free for a date! Believe me, she was good in making plans and she was fast. She told that we can go for supper and then a movie. I was like ‘WOW’!! She knows how to plan a date. Must have done it many times. But there was a problem. She said that two of her ‘cool’ friends will also be joining!! I did not like this idea and told that I liked going alone with her. I guess she must have been scared to go on a date with a stranger all alone knowing that the crime rate in Durban is very high and i could be potentially kidnap her!! I tried to convince her a lot but she did not budge. She was bent on going for a ‘double date’ as she termed it. I thought ‘double date’ is going out with two girls (all for yourself :) )!!

I guess I was bit adamant. Also, I was tired due to my previous night at the casino. I really stayed late there at the casino. I was already feeling sleepy in the evening. Finally I gave up and asked her to go ahead with her plans thinking that she will change her mind. But, she did not. She asked me to ‘SUIT MYSELF’ to her plans. What the ****!! May be I was begging but I was doing it with some self-respect!! I think that really hurt my ego. That was it. I was not going to take any more. I declined the date!!

That’s it. Do you think I was stupid? I really felt so the next morning :) . What if I had gone for that date with her? I know that one date will really not turn your world upside down but I am thinking whether it would have any considerable effect on my life!! What if I had started liking her? I would have been going on a very different path than what I am now!!

Life is always filled with these interesting twists and turns and I missed one. Anyways I am just wondering what would have happened if I had taken that turn. I wish I had some time machine, by which I could go backwards and see what would have happened. Unfortunately I have no ways of doing that.

May be it would have been an interesting path taking me to a wonderland. May be not. May be. May be not. May be. May be not. May be…………………….. :)

Durban day 5 – Chasing the sun (of a bitch)

I had a flight to catch at 4.45. I packed up my stuff and decided that I probably can’t do anything much. I had started reading a book called ‘eleven minutes’ by Paulo Coelho. So I decided to go and sack in a bar with the book and have some beer. I found a nice place called Mimmo’s in the sun coast casino with a good beach view; ordered myself a millers and started reading the book. It was good. I was reading at a pace of 30 pages per beer. Not bad at all. I finished around 100 pages when I thought I should catch the flight.

I was early at the airport. I got my boarding pass, had lunch there at the coffee shop and boarded the flight at 4.30.

It was closing to sun set and I was about to see the most spectacular sunset from the plane. Now if you imagine being outside the plane you would see that we were going in the opposite direction as to earth’s rotation and towards the sun. As I told before the plane travels at about half the speed of earth’s rotation. If it had traveled at the same speed as earth’s rotation then the plane would have been at the same point relative to the sun if you ignore the revolutionary motion for some time. And hence we would see the sun at the same point all through the flight.

But we were traveling at a lesser speed and hence we were losing out. The chase was good. I could see the sun going down with spectacular colors around. The horizon was filled with colors of yellow, which was soon changing to red. The best part was after the sun went down. The whole place looked like as if there was a volcano and red-hot lava was flowing out. I wish I were the pilot. I could have got a better view. It’s difficult narrate things of beauty like this. It’s best to keep quiet. Otherwise we would be doing injustice. Anyways I have tried my little best to explain this. I think you should try some flight like this and see it for yourself.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever – some poet has said this I guess.

At last Cape town was there and that’s the end of my Durban story!

Durban day 4 – Umhlanga Rocks.

It was a nice sunny day and Caroline told that I should go to the beach. I strictly followed what she told me and went straight to Umhlanga Rocks. I got myself an umbrella, a beach towel, a book to read and laid myself down on the beach. It’s a nice beach with lot of people around.

I was reading Richard Feynman’s ‘The pleasure of finding things out’. It’s a very nice book. I have often come across some books, which suddenly change my flow of thinking in a much-unexpected direction. As this has done, I have started reading physics and such stuff nowadays. Believe me. But it is good to get such unexpected turns and twists once in a while. Life will be interesting. I suggest this book to you guys to read, especially if you like physics or science or if you like exploring things.

It was afternoon and the tides were rising high and I could no longer lie on the beach. I was also getting hungry and decided to get something to eat. I went to Sibaya again, had some lunch there and started playing again with the slot machine. I lost some money and won some. In the end it equaled out I guess. Then I was watching Black Jack being played on a table and asked another person standing beside as to what the rules were. He was happy to see an Indian there J I guess it knocks on some door of their heart and makes them happy. Ravi also worked with the SA police. Trust me; I was meeting a lot of people from the police. I don’t know why. Anyways he told me that if he had money I could go and play on another table where the bets were low – 25 rand. I said ok. We went to another table and I started with 200 rand. I played for some 15-20 minutes and I had 300 rand in profit. Not bad at all. But it was actually Ravi who played and I decided that we must divide the profit. He was my working partner! I gave him 150 rand. He did not insist of course. It was fun.

I met another Indian by name Kugen. He was from the Tamil land. It’s the same story that his forefathers came during the sugarcane boom. He was working as a technician for audio systems. He was happy to see an Indian too. He said that the Indians there still feel that one-day they should go to their roots in India. I was surprised to hear that he was sending his daughter to Bharatanatyam classes!! Not even people in India do it nowadays. They don’t want to lose the link. Somewhere in their hearts, its still there, that, they are Indians living in an alien country. Kugen also told that the Indians in Durban are very hardworking. On weekends the South Africans go to the beach and spend time but the Indians go to the market to buy stuff! I told him that his kids will start doing that stuff!

I think its man’s eternal quest to seek what he does not have. It’s very difficult to live with a sense of completeness. We always need a purpose in life without which our life will be like a ship in a storm with nowhere to go. We are always in search of that Lighthouse.

Durban day 3 – Botha’s Hills

Caroline was actually becoming my travel planner by suggesting various places to visit and guiding me. That was nice. On the third day she suggested me to go to Botha’s hill, which is around 60 kms from Durban.

I forgot to tell you that I met an interesting couple at the guesthouse from Johannesburg. His name was Lucas and he worked in the South African Crime Intelligence Dept. He was amazing. It seems he had fled SA during the difficult times and gone to Uganda where he got some military training and such stuff. Eventually he returned to home in 1993, just before SA got Independence. It was very nice to talk to him. He said that when he starts working on a case, it can keep him away from home for 4-5 days sometimes as he has to pick up leads and go to different places. Crime is a very bad thing. He told ‘Hey Bro, when I say bye to my family everyday, I don’t know whether I will do it again. It’s a very difficult life for the police’. I could not say much to what he said. It is very difficult to step into his shoes and empathize with him. Some experiences have to be had first hand. One cannot learn much by listening or watching.

They were here for a holiday and take some rest off their busy lives. I learnt that Lucas loved walking and the previous day he had gone for a small walk of some 15 km. that’s all!! I thought that he must be around 30-35. But he told me that he was 46! I did not have a camera. I should have taken a photograph of him.

Anyways, I got the map and started off towards Botha’s Hills. Its actually part of an area called the Valley of the thousand hills. The drive was a nice one with mountains and farms around. I went to a café. Had my lunch and started driving back. The café had a nice view but not so nice service. Anyways I had some good beerJ. That’s one thing I like about SA. You get to drink anywhere and everywhere.

I was rather tired, as I did not have much sleep the previous day. I skipped dinner and went to bed.

End of day 3!

Durban day 2 – Casino Sibaya

I did not know what to do on the second day. I feasted on the nice breakfast that Caroline had prepared. The weather was looking bad and it had started drizzling slowly. I left the guesthouse and went to a nearby Internet café to check mail.

The owner of the café was an Indian and I started talking to him. He said that he is from the Telugu land and that his great grand fathers had come here during the sugarcane boom as laborers! I asked them whether he supports SA or India during cricket. He said that it is SA. I think that’s the way it is with the Indians here. They have become true South Africans but nevertheless maintaining some flavors from the roots. He suggested me that I should go to the casino Sibaya.

I started off from there and went towards a place called Bellito, which is further north from Umhlanga. Recently this place got hit by huge waves, which caused damage to lives and property. I could see the damage myself. I spent some time on the beach there watching the waves. There were really huge scary waves or just that it was hit waves recently made them scary! Whatever…

By now it started raining a little bit and there was no point sitting on the beach. I decided to go to Sibaya and have some fun.

Sibaya is built on the top of a mountain and it’s a beautiful place. All around the place there are sugarcane fields and you can see the sea from the place. It’s a lovely view. I had gone to the Sun-coast casino the previous night, but I had not gambled. I thought I would try my luck at Sibaya.

They have a very nice system. To play the slot machines you need to buy a card with a magnetic strip, which will hold information about the money you have won. It will have zero balance initially and you need to go and insert it into any of the machines. Then you insert the money in another slot, which will get updated to the card, and you start playing. If you win it will add to the card. If you lose it will reduce the balance. After you have decided that you have won enough or lost, you have to go and give the card and they will give you the money! Nice system isn’t it

After knowing how to play, I got myself a card and started playing a machine called the Mystery-Jackpot. I was a conservative in the beginning and started with 20 rand. It vanished in no time. I inserted a 50 rand note now and it also went in no time! I got frustrated. You see nobody wants to stop when they are losing. So inserted a 100 rand note now and started playing. I guess lady luck tilted a little bit to my side and I had started winning some money. I had won almost 850 rand with that 100 rand note. Then I lost some money and eventually stopped when the balance was 750. It is all probability I believe. But the machines may have been programmed to make you lose. Sibaya has lots of restaurants inside. I got myself a beer and a pizza and ate a victorious lunch.

It was still raining outside and coincidentally rain had stopped the ICC cricket world cup match between Aus and Sri Lanka. The Aussies haven’t stopped winning for a long time and I wanted them to lose and the theory of probability also said so!! They had reduced the overs to 38 and Gilchrist was looking murderous - he made 149 off 100 balls and Aus made 280+ I guess. The Lankans were playing well but not up-to the required run-rate. Rain stopped the match for some time and it was really a struggle for Sri Lanka with bad light and a bad pitch. They lost eventually.

It was 1 in the night when I finally left the casino. I had a good time, had made some money, watched cricket and it was fun. I was tired and the music of the slot machine was still ringing in my ears when I slept that night. So that was day 2!