2006 November | mere funde

Return of the IT!!

29-11-2006

The IT department of our company had been lying low for pretty long now, and I was kind of caught napping when they moved. Last time they did something stupid I wrote about was in February.

Digg was officially blocked by them late yesterday night. Though I agree that it does not contain business related information for us, but it is huge source of up to date IT knowhow and throws up tools every now and then which help work in several ways. One more “Message Boards and Clubs” dies a silent death. There will be only a few people who will mourn this but I am bewildered at the ~~non~~sense behind this all.

Someday, which I doubt will come, I hope they realise their mistake and understand that in a time when Web2.0 is the buzzword and collective knowledge sharing by people online (e.g., Wikipedia) is a huge hit banning such websites will only prove negative for them.

PS: This comes at a time when our department is all gripped by a new internal initiative which promises to change the way we work by the use of AJAX etc. Now this is called irony!!

Don’t Dance So Fast

By: Goyal

29-11-2006

Philosophy

Was reading through Dexterous Doings, when I came across these lines.

When life is zooming by and we’re caught up in it all, the pigeon reminds me to slow down, relax, take it easy. Actually enjoy the moment we are in right now. It’s the only one we’ve got.

Reminded me a lot of two things. First, an email forward claiming to be poem from a terminally sick child. Whatever be the truth behind the mail, the poem, Slow Dance, is one of my favourites.

You better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last

Next, it reminded me a great deal of the song “I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker” by Sandi Thom.

When music really mattered and when radio was king,
When accountants didn’t have control
And the media couldn’t buy your soul
And computers were still scary and we didn’t know everything

Seems like we focus too much on the destination and forget to enjoy the journey. As they say, the problem with rat race is, that even if you win you are still a rat.

Sleep Over It

By: Goyal

26-11-2006

Personal

Okay. This is one wierd post. Even I don’t know why I am writing this crap.

Don’t you sometimes think that the concept of night is way over rated??

I studied in a school which was affiliated to the ICSE Board of Education. Under its syllabus was a story (don’t remember the name though) about a man stuck in a storm and a beggar woman, who gives him the support needed to spend the night, stuck in a room on a railway station, when everything else gives way. It was during the course of our discussion on this story that our teacher, (one of my all time faves!!) Ms. Gulati, told us how night gives us the time and peace to recuperate from all that we have gone through the day. Similar sentiments were echoed by Mr. Thapa (again a gem of a teacher), and there I was, a believer in the necessity of the night in our lives.

But now when I stop to think, I feel that the theory is flawed some where. During the day, you can keep your thoughts off stuff, not think about things you don’t want to. You seem to, at least temporarily, forget certain things which would otherwise be hard to dismiss. You think you are in control. But then one night, one dream, and everything comes crashing back. You again have to face the situations you did not want to face. You have to answer questions you always tried to evade. And why, because you have no control over how the subconcious brain functions while you are asleep.

I wish I had control over things I dream about. That would have made life so much more easier. Night, definitely, is highly over-rated, much like our Indian cricket team.

… and World Peace

By: Goyal

23-11-2006

Humor, WTF

What is the world coming to?

Orgasms!!

It is true. If you do not believe me, read this, or visit this. People would do anything to gain publicity nowadays. Immense curiosity arises about the thoughts going through a couples mind!! Was ROFL when I read this:

The couple have studied evolutionary psychology and believe that war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of ”my missile is bigger than your missile,” as Reffell put it.

Gives the sentence a whole new meaning, doesn’t it!! I just keep wondering about the range of such missiles

Long Weekend

By: Goyal

23-11-2006

Music

Tomorrow I would be taking a day off while being in Gurgaon after almost 1 year. Last time I did so was around December last year. Rahul is coming to Gurgaon and tomorrow also happens to be his birthday, so I plan on spending the day with him doing nothing in particular.

Day after we (me, Rahul and Bansal, TK might join) head to Jaipur to attend the marriage of a close friend, Abhijeet “Joy” Choudhury. Though sometimes irritating he is a genuinely nice chap and has been a great friend through and after my BITSian life.

Meanwhile, high on my list of songs now is Def Leppard – Long, Long Way To Go. This is one melodious song. Also playing a lot nowadays is Coldplay – Clocks. A beautiful, though haunting at times, song it is right on the top of my list of songs from Coldplay along with Trouble, Scientist, Yellow and Speed of Sound.

Kamal Hai!

By: Goyal

19-11-2006

Music, Tech

Quillpad is an online transliterator (complete with AJAX and the works, with a very Web2.0 feel) which I have started liking immensely. An Indian startup, it does a pretty decent job and provides you a very very clean and simple interface. It also supports Kannad, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam. Below is a sample, lyrics of the song Tere Bin from Bas Ek Pal. Since my Hindi is not great I do not know if the spellings are alright but they seem decent.

तेर बीन मैं यूँ कैसे जीया
कैसे जीया तेरे बीन
तेरे बीन मैं यूँ कैसे जीया
कैसे जीया तेरे बीन
लेकर यादें तेरी रातें मेरी कटी – 2
मुझसे बातें तेरी करती है चाँदनी
तन्हा है तुझ बीन रातें मेरी
दीन मेरे दीन के जैसे नही
तन्हा बदन तन्हा है रूह नाम मेरी आँखें रहे
आजा मेरे अब रूबरू
जीना नही बीन तेरे
तेरे बीन मैं यूँ कैसे जीया
कैसे जीया तेरे बीन
तेरे बीन मैं यूँ कैसे जीया
कैसे जीया तेरे बीन

क़ब्से आँखें मेरी राह में तेरे बिच्छी – 2
भूले से ही कही तू मील जाए कभी
भूले ना मुझसे बातें तेरी
भीगी है हैर पल आँखें मेरी
क्यूं साँस लूं क्यूं मैं ज़ीयू
जीना बुरा सा लगे
क्यूं हो गया तू बेवाफ़ाा मुझको बता दे वजह
तेरे बीन मैं यूँ कैसे जीया
कैसे जिया तेरे बीन …
तेरे बीन मैं यूँ कैसे जिया
कैसे जीया तेरे बीन …

Here I Go!!

By: Goyal

19-11-2006

Personal

Me taking CAT today without having the faintest idea about even the sections or the length of the entire exercise. Even God cannot help me here.

Anyways, the second half of the day will be better as me and Ojas plan on meeting Shivam Vij of the National Highway fame. This will be the first time I will be meeting some blogger personally, other than Dilip D’Souza of course.

Update: Cat sucked and I am not meeting Shivam after all. Damn. Sunday, bloody Sunday.

Cold hands, Warm memories

By: Goyal

18-11-2006

Personal

Its starting to get cold at nights here in Gurgaon/Delhi nowadays. Just sometime back when I was riding a bike, my hands almost froze from the chilly winds beating against it. I must get some gloves.

Anyways, these cold hands brought back a lot of memories. Those first year nights when we used to burn wood every night outside Bansal’s room. All those nights at ANC trying to warm the ice cold hands holding a warm cup of coffee/tea (we did not generally have money for more stuff) after returning from the Bio Labs or after a movie with Rahul and Thax, or my wingies. Psenti sem. Those fire burning sessions in the QT. And many more. Sometimes I wish I was still in Pilani. I wish things were the same.

Too much cricket?

By: Goyal

16-11-2006

Cricket

England opener Marcus Trescothick has quit the Ashes Series citing stress related disorders. He had also cited stress when he pulled out of England’s tour of India earlier this year as well as the Champions Trophy.

The stylish bastman, a consistent performer (he scored well over a thousand in Tests for three consecutive years), had been the backbone of the English batting line up along with Kevin Pietersen during their amazing Ashes victory last year.

This brings us to the main question. Is he unable to handle pressure or is he a victim of too much cricket being played? Cricket, unlike football, tennis, and basketball, is no more a seasonal game and is played through the year all over the world. Players spend a lot of time away from their families traveling to various places, at times even to meaningless places like Malaysia to play in meaningless contests. Is it taking a toll on their physical and mental fitness. Adam Gilchrist, one of the toughest cricketers around, has in the past criticised the ICC for imposing no upper limit to the number of matches being played in a year.

I tend to agree with people who think that we have had too much of cricket, and remember too much of anything is bad. Its taking its toll on the players physical fitness as well as their mental makeup. Its not only the body that is tired after a five day game but also the mind. Also the players are required to handle the pressures and expectations of playing for the national team. One cannot concentrate for that long without mental fatigue setting in. As more and more players start facing physical problems early in their careers and the problems of Treschothick surfacing, I hope ICC sits up and takes notice. Else we might lose many more Trescothicks.

Meanwhile, I hope he fends off the bouncers from the demons in his head and we get to see him again.

The Fountainhead – A Review

By: Goyal

15-11-2006

Movies, Review

Ojas reccomended this movie to me. The novel I had already read and liked greatly. The movie sadly fell short of expectations. It could have been a brilliant movie, and is in parts, but is paced so fast that, for someone who has not read the novel, it is difficult to put two and two together.

Movies based on novels very often do not do justice to the original. But there have been movies otherwise. The Godfather, the LOTR trilogy and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest being excellent examples. This however, belongs to the former category.

The major problem with the movie is the length of the movie. According to me the movie should have been at least 3 hours long. During most parts the movie seems extremely rushed and at times it is difficult to connect pieces. The screenplay by Rand is crisp but haphazard at the best. For example, the relationship between Roark and Dominique could have been explored a little more.

Gary Cooper are Howard Roark and Robert Douglas as Ellsworth Toohey are extremely good. The other actors however, do not leave a mark. Patricia Neal, playing Domonique Francon, is good only in parts but mostly has a wooden expression that fails to convince you. Raymond Massey as Gail Wynand is ok. Peter Keating, played by Kent Smith, hardly has any screen time to be judged.

The fans of the novel however, must watch the movie once. I rate it as 3.5/5.0.

Interesting: You can read a NY Times review (of 1949) criticising the philosophy behind the movie, and the movie itself, here (sign up required).

Vijit Jain: My thoughts exactly – they should have automatically created/suggested a circle of people already...
Ojas Sabnis: I agree with most points Goyal and I am also mighty pissed with the loss of sharing feature. I hardly...
Sumit: We have developed the habit of being “politically correct”. Everybody accuses Modi for Godhra...
Ojas: Anything that has story telling in it must have a mention of the greatest (or worst) storyteller of the...
Teanju: Thanks, All awesome

— mere funde

Return of the IT!!

Don’t Dance So Fast

Sleep Over It

… and World Peace

Long Weekend

Kamal Hai!

Here I Go!!

Cold hands, Warm memories

Too much cricket?

The Fountainhead – A Review

Twitter

Interesting!!

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