Who is sexy?

Your girl/boy friend, or her/his friend?

If you decided to answer the latter, then I would also like to know how many of your girl/boy friends know of your answer? Do they know your answer and are still perfectly happy about it? Or is it that they are not aware of your answer, maybe not in the complete clear sense! This incompleteness may be attributed to the habit of polishing up answers, which many if not all tend to do as per the person you're speaking to and their reaction through the conversation. Is this a right thing to do, I am not very sure, but I believe this is a very common thing to happen in many cases.

If you said the former, then I do hope what you said is true and not just the intuitive right answer which came about for you ;) I am happy for the girl/boy who you are with, as I believe such a feeling (that the person you are with is truly the sexiest, in your view) is a feeling which can add so much confidence and strength to a relationship. There is never any mixed feelings, or urge to prove oneself. All in all, why would you want to waste time in proving yourself (always) to someone! Will that be able to give anything good to any relationship?

I have also been thinking, is it so important, the whole physical appearance bit? Or is it something which should be pushed to the background in due course? What if one's personal good feeling depends on his/her physical appearance, its appreciation; and if that is not appreciated or worse still, liked, then where will the general happiness come from?

I completely believe that one's happiness should be given a lot of importance, if you wish to have a happy relationship. For that is it a lot to ask that your significant other be given some importance? I am sure that there will come some point of time, when your significant other will be deserving of some raving comments! Right?

What is the point of playing on the ' make one jealous' string?

Invest in the change

The ongoing financial changes ( I choose to not call it crisis) have lead me to follow the economic and the financial times. I have come across so many words which I have wikied ( now, I notice how easily that came to me, like googled!) and there was also the whole bit about what was investment banking, and then now what happened to it?

In my understanding, investment banking would entail raising funds in the capital market, assisting and advising on mergers and acquisitions, management of various securities for private investors and also pooled investors ( mutual funds). It will also encapsulate various associated streams which would serve as enablers to the success of their this core business. The distinct division of investment banks came about after the Glass - Steagall Act, prohibited a bank from accepting deposits and also underwriting securities ( assessing business customers for capital funding). Why? Because the bank might accept some huge deposits and then go on to provide more capital fuding to non deserving customers? I am not sure why would they do that though, in the end, wouldn't they be only hurting themselves? Anyone knows the exact reasoning behind this, please explain.

And, now what happened, all of them decided to shun their covetted statuses and step into a commercial bank status! That is almost the end of Wall Street many say, and many choose to differ also. They say, these banks will generate more help money from the government with the change in status, and offer new services to the general public, but still continue to work along their previous lines also. So this is almost like nothing much changed for the banks in terms of their functioning, but a tuck and a frill here and there, or is it more? Well their losses have changed a lot for them I guess!

People have also been so actively moving into all the other sectors, like consulting, technology, construction etc. Many I believe are also looking at this chance to start on something new. Is this a good time to start something new? Where will all the money required be coming from, if the governments start to bail out company after companies! (I am not really sure how great is it to use the public taxation money for some company which is in a ditch.)

I am thinking I should get my hands on some goood reads regarding the financial systems across the world. Any suggestions?

Confusion zone

Many say the divide has narrowed with regard to gender in India, at least some so believe when we talk about metros. I certainly am not sure if that is the case, in case of metros even.

Here are some things which I could think of without pausing for over a few seconds between these thoughts

• Do we have parents ever saying that boys should not return to the house late? But I am sure that even under safe surroundings, unless with parents or family, girls are never unquestioned regarding a long night out partying!

• Any choice which a girl has to make is always with associated pressures, which the boys are not faced with. You need to go far from home to work, in most cased, if not parents, someone is sure to bring up the question, " W dont you look for a job here ? " I do not understand, why is it such a big relief to have the girls all rooted to where the parents are!

• Another aspect which I have recently seen is that, when a guy comes along and says, I am keen on marrying so and so girl, and I would like you to meet her, there is some resistance, some please note! Once the guy says that I think this is what I want to do, there is nothing more said. On the contrary a girl walks up and says that please meet this guy, I would like to marry him, there is a long list of facts and insights the girl is given about the problems, difficulties and possible outcomes all pre-decided by parents and relatives! If none of this is seen to deter her from her path, then you have the full throttle emotional blackmail route!

That is a lot of fairness at home, forgetting the world in general for a second!

Well you can certainly wish to counter that girls are at least allowed to leave the house ( 1st instance), to work at all ( 2nd case) and to speak of a choice in marriage ( 3rd case). I guess, here I was necessarily speaking of a metro and with some openness of thought.

I think many parents are stuck in a warp zone, with mixed thoughts and reasons( which necessarily need not make sense)! I am not sure if that is anyone's fault either.

Its just a state of Confusion!

Spiral Fussilli

Some things are about to change, and I am not sure what I perceive of them.

I feel at times at peace, but then at other times, very uneasy

I have conversations with my logical mind, regarding why and what and how this is a change to accept; following which I have musings with my heart and there I start to falter in my thought

When I think about what I had envisaged and what I further wish to see, I am confident, but thinking about the smaller things, a frown crops up

When I close my eyes to what is not in front of me, I am all smiles; but knowing not the road ahead is not not nice

Imagine the traffic and spikes

When I happened to read Seth Godin's blog, it struck a point which I have been faced with so many times, and even though I am hooked to so many completely revolutionary ideas, still I do not accept the imagination of many when they come up with ideas which are completely wacky! I wonder what people will be willing to accept and incorporate in their lives, I have been trying to get a website to show potential in the web and I think of all the few options which I have to connect with those who might find this new venture interesting.

I am sure that when orkut/facebook started, the fact that you put all pictures on the web, was not very consoling and it did at least put me in a not so comfortable a position. Now, that scenario has certainly changed, when we see the frequency with which new photographs and videos are uploaded by friends and friends of friends.

On the other hand when we see the different ventures which have not been not so successful, then I wonder what is the issue and where did they go wrong with their whacky ideas, or was it that the idea was not so whacky or original in itself? There are so many social networking sites even in India, and they spend so much on marketing and ad campaigns, in spite of which their success has not been in any comparisson to these giants. I have seen many register with the local networking sites, and they do stick on for a few months, but following which they roll back onto good old orkut/facebook! Why? Is it that there these giants had a first move advantage? Or is it that their ideas floated in at a time when none existed in these lines? Are these sites merely trying to bring in the localized approach to a concept which is intendedto break all geographical barriers ( WWW)?

I found this blog which had a complaint which I am sure many would have, especially with number of new ventures starting out with its main interest as individuals. I have seen that new websites target social bookmarking promotion and campaigns, but this tends to see only a ECG sort of graph which really does not prove any success, or does it?

There are many small peaks which might change tracks for them, or is this what they believe will kick off a change in their traffic soon.? Aren't these peaks completey complimentary to the kind of promotion the team does? If you send more scraps on orkut, the spikes are seen. What happens when you check the returning visitors with no new mails/scraps sent, then does one see a decrease in these spikes or is it a plateau of sorts where the ones who moved on to new site, do return everyday? Ideally I think to show success you should have a upward slope on your graphs even if the slope might be very small. If you do not see this slope creeping up, then are all these promotions useful?

Suchindram & Kanyakumari

On route to Kanyakumari from Trivandrum, you would come across many broken bits of the ghats, almost close to their end as we edge towards Kanyakumari

On the way, falls Suchindram, where is a very famous Sthanumalayan Temple. This temple is famous for its stone workmanship, with musical pillars and extraordinary pillars and statues of gods and goddesses. This temple has a Hanuman statue, which is 22 feet tall and carved from a single granite rock. This is said to be one of the biggest statues in India.

This picture below is taken outside the temple.

When you reach Kanyakumari, there is the temple which is the alter of Goddess Kanyakumari. Mythology says that Goddess has played a very important role in diverting ships from the rocks of the Indian mainland during heavy storms and winds. Her diamond nose ring is said to have reflected the moonlight and cast long beams which ships mistake to be a lighthouse beam and anyhow steer clear of disaster.

Another entity that you see is the Vivekananda Rock and statue which is out at sea. These are almost inaccessible during the high tide or stormy moods of the Indian Ocean.

The first picture shows both the statue and the rock with its small temple.

The second picture shows the statue alone.

The third one is a very zoomed picture of the temple on the rocks out at sea.

A Weekend of Nothings

Yesterday, I was so bored at home, did not happen to step out of the house in 2 days. Not that I was down with something, it just didn’t happen. I thought I might go out someplace for dinner, but then that finally bombed too; in fact that ended with me going to bed with a glass of juice.

Anyhow, I decided to unearth all my old photo frames and photos to fit into all that. I found close to five frames, which now adorn the top of my refrigerator. (I shall soon post a pic of this) I must admit that, it looks very nice now as compared to a dust laden top.

Once this was done, I decided to go on a cleaning spree, so I ended up cleaning my refrigerator (yes… too much refrigerator happenings!), and bedroom too. Whisky didn’t really find this too fascinating, so she has been like dirtying the whole place. I washed the bean bag 4 times in the past 3 days, she somehow insists on using that as her favourite spot to pee. I do not know whys she does that. When I leave some clothes on the bean bag... voila… no problems, just that when it is devoid of anything, she feels that she has every right to use it! I still have failed to understand this, so if anyone knows why cats tend to do this… any help will be appreciated!

On Route to Tirupati

Now thats how we started the trip, with lunch at this shack; I believe this will truly define the word!

There are some truly nice places with some great stone formations/shapes around here

Well most of these hills and stones are almost being removed/quarried away for mordernization. I am not too sure what good will it be at the end. I am sure that so much of area for a petrol pump is not required for sure!

I liked this pic the most, maybe the bird and the sun on this cloudy afternoon!

Now thats what I call a very nice pic of a real cloudy afternoon. (I know real amateur)

AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories: India’s first charity book

A non fictional work spanning across the breadth of India by some of the most eminent writers in today’s India. We have been in almost a state of denial with regard to the epidemic which surrounds us, with the name AIDS.

I was shocked to learn that India is home to 5.2 million HIV cases. And each and every essay in this book talks about one whole line of HIV cases, and in most cases these are the cases which are very easily missed out sitting in the metros of India and mistaking the Indian population to be the metro population at large.

This is a book which was an instant buy on just reading the short excerpt at http://www.indiaplaza.in. The following day I read regarding an article featured on livemint.com on the same book, and this certainly only added to my impatience in getting my hands on this book.

When I started digging in more regarding the book, I realized this book was being brought out in collaboration with the Gates Foundation, then the instant thought that did come to me was did all these writers come together for this mainly due to this fact? I am not too sure, nor do I have any evidence to prove not. The Foreword by Amartya Sen was very enlightening. I always knew the social stigma, fear and behind doors discussions regarding AIDS but, one aspect which I never knew was the economic implications of having such a large number of people inflicted with this sure – death disease. With the rise in numbers of those affected with AIDS, we need to provide more medication, create awareness and support these unfortunate, as explained by Sen. He explains that we have a loss of approx 0.9 % in GNP every year due to AIDS alone, this is not very large when compared to 7, 8 or 9 percents of growth though. But, so many doomed to die is a very large number!

Each essay deals with the various modes of spread of this disease and the aids that AIDS receive in its spread, in the form of unawareness, society, and sheer helplessness. The authors have visited each locale in India and send time in understanding the depth of the problem which we face ahead of us.

In spite of all that, I am not sure whether a book like this will help in changing any thought process in the Indian minds. For instance, who is this book intended to educate, those who are already educated about AIDS, or those who do not know this side of the story and need to know. This would mean that these people might never pick up this book for Rs.395 and read it. I believe that this book will only serve as a crowd drawer for all the various reasons that it was to offer. Promotion of this book as a charity drawer will certainly work; with the extensive and engaging author line-up most readers are sure to pick this up.

Driving: Toddler Steps

I have done something this weekend, which I have never done before. But then I am sure I have so many such things which still exist, i.e the stuff that I have never done before. But this was something which I always thought I would just never do; change the tyres of a car!

I must admit that it was not as difficult as I thought it would be, though there are some specific techniques which if you do have explained to you, will certainly be a much more easier do. Apart from that, there are certainly some things which is just a sheer usage of power. If you need to tighten or undo the screws of the tyres, I believe there is nothing much one can do, other than apply all the power that you have. Well, the spanner might be of some use here certainly, but would still require quite a bit of power, especially if the previous time, the screws were tightened by someone quite strong.

I think one thing which I a yet to manage on my own is to know where to place the jack, which would involve groping under the car and figuring out which would serve as the best surface for the jack. This is quite scary as a wrong spot chosen might just end up having the car crashing down as the jack slips from under.

Once I changed the tyres, I was certainly less tense and now as even if the jack did come off, would not cause any great damage, though I know it certainly would not be appreciated! ;) One experience which was a good one, for learning the basics involved apart from just driving the car!

Driving: Baby Steps

Learning from one driver or the other.... would be the same thing.. that's what I used to believe initially.

But, that view has changed. When you learn to drive with someone on a singular control car, then things seem to shape up differently... you are more cautious, more scared too. But, you also seem to learn to do everything simultaneously faster. Driving schools which let you take baby steps towards the whole driving bit makes you in a way make you not adept at handling all the controls and movements together, efficiently.

I happen to have both the different mediums of instruction and it is quite confusing when one does not seem to be appreciative of the other. Though at times, more important seems to be the right method where you understand why you need to do a thing. Someone telling you to follow something as an order somehow doesn't render the same effect as knowing the possible mishaps that might happen when you will not do as prescribed. Showing the alter always seems to pose a better way of making me understand!

All in all i hope my driving classes ( all put together ) will help me be more mobile!

Anger!

Now my Pune trip is canceled and I have nothing to look forward to. I am so bored that if anyone is willing to come with me, I am just ready to take the bus to anyplace within the 300 km radius around Bangalore... you see I have usually just a day to travel in a week where as the rest of the time I do the other chores of the world.

You know, there are those innumerable times when you so wish you want to do something, then you voice the very fact that you want to do this so so bad, and then what happens... the whole idea just collapses. I have had so many occasions where this happens that now I am so irritated with even thinking that I want to do anything. Things just never ever seem to happen :( It is so disappointing. Be it a small thing or a big thing, things just never ever happen to take place when I want them to.. in fact they decide to happen never. I have been wanting to step outside this city and in the past one year it has never ever happened:( All I do everyday is what I did the previous day, in fact I feel like revolting now!

White white Tiger

White Tiger is a book which I picked up with no particular but solely for the author sharing his name ( the exact spelling) with my brother. (So that shows how I pick books now!) Anyhow, on starting the book you also start seeing the poverty from those who sweep our roads, clean the cars, and drive us around in taxis and auto rickshaws. It would be only too common to say that ' we do not see what happens in their homes'! This is anyhow true, but what would be more true is that we do not know what they dream to have and what they are willing to do to achieve this. The times described when innocent drivers are asked to take blame for their employers fault seems something which we might read in the news papers and here we have someone whose whole life is changed by this single event which was a very instantaneous suggestion from his employers. I bet they didn't know the repercussions that this tweaking of justice would have.

It is certainly an interesting read with insights into what the world of politics and luxury look like to many in India. Though this is not something which would leave a lasting impact of sorts.