The fastest way to get around Bangalore is on a bike.
Being a veteran Bangalorean, over the years, I've seen roads turn into WMDs - 'weapons of mental destruction'. Take one trip around town during peak hours and you'll turn into an infuriated beast. Tempers start to soar high. And when you finally reach home you feel like a wreck . Nevertheless, in this chaotic world I've discovered some respite. The secret is to use a bike. Kindly allow me to present the mantra of transcendental travel.
A long time ago, from a good friend, I learnt the ways of 'Rummy'. Here, the secret to succeed is to never hold-on to the cards and wait upon that missing one. The same gyan works on roads too. So, here comes the first rule:
"Thou shall not remain immobile at any juncture. Chale chalo, chale chalo."
This is the fundamental rule and is the most important of all. Incise your way into the traffic, move left, move right, just move on.
As a corollary to the first rule is the second rule:
"Thou shall not ride behind big vehicles. Bada hai tho behatar 'nahin' hai."
The principle the second rule is based on is that the bigger vehicles will move only when all the vehicles in its front move, which in-turn are dependent on all the vehicles in its front, and ad infinitum. So, you see the dependence growing in geometric proportions.
The third rule deals with a dangerous path - the footpath. This rule is so dreaded that it's never mentioned in words. According to a folklore, people who assimilate the first two rules are dawned upon the third one. I'm telling no more.
Everything has strings attached, here too we have caveats. I've seen many amateurs try to implement the rules without understanding the essence. None can prevent their fall. So, a word of caution for everyone - Be wary. Be wary of every turn, for you know not what awaits you round the corner.
Disclamer: (Read it fast with a monotonous tone) The rules mentioned above should not be followed by a person who isn't strong at heart. Meditate upon the potential tradeoffs and then make your choices. And, for the global audience, never flout the law of your land.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire… Very Watchable
In the wake of another wave of Potter mania, the following plans were made:
Objective: Watch the latest Harry Potter movie on the first day of its release.
Plans: T-2 days, get the tickets T-1 day, visit the official website and glean information about the latest adventure T-3 hours, set meeting point, synchronize daily activities and plan for travel T-0, be there to get the best seats and have a whale of time :)
The latest edition of the Potter movie is brilliantly made. The direction is impeccable, background score mesmerizing, strong characterizations and good narration. The story is made up of the following parts:
The quidditch match: We meet the top players of various schools and then there are the death eaters and the sign that Voldermort is growing in strength. The terrorism theme has been rendered even in this movie!
Announcement of the Tri-wizard tournament: The contestants are introduced to us. And then there is inclusion of Harry into the game and the ensuing rigmarole that it causes. After things settle down a bit, there is the Yule ball.
The tournament: This is a set of three matches that test the mettle of the contestants. It begins with a dragon fight where Harry uses his skills as a seeker to outwit a dragon and get the golden egg. Then there is the underwater rescue mission. Here Harry not only comes out a winner but also wins over the hearts of everyone by being kind and compassionate. Harry's friends, Hermione and Ron are a constant support to him. It just wouldn't be possible without them. The final encounter is the magical maze where the tournament cup is hidden.
The resurrection of Voldermort: Here we learn that the whole plot of having Harry in the tournament is to capture him and obtain his blood for the resuscitation of Voldermot. There is a Harry v/s Voldermot duel, where Harry's demonstrates undaunting courage and escapes unscathed. Soon afterwards we discover the traitor at Hogwarts who has been abetting Voldermort in his stygian plots.
Overall the movie is brilliant. Much better than the last escapade at Azkaban. I'd rate it 4/5. The reason for that 1 point missing are certain shortcomings. The story is broken into parts, and there are seams between the joints. There are few moments where the story comes to a grinding halt and we wonder 'where's the movie going?'. But soon the story picks up again. I also feel that if the last 10 minutes displayed more grandeur, the movie would've come out tops.
The movie leaves a pleasing taste after we leave the theater. I've an opinion about the way this movie is being marketed, as 'darker than ever'. I beg to differ. Although this is the first time we see Voldermort in an independent form and the usage of lethal curses, I feel due to the treatment of the plot, the story seems less ghastly and hair-raising. I feel that this movie isn't the darkest of them all; the darkest was the second one - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
The bottom-line: Go ahead watch it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it :)
A recent CNN article begins by stating that the general blog-space is teeming with stereotypes - alienated adolescents and middle-aged pundits. Link
Is that really the case? Are typical bloggers the ones that are recluse and blog only because its their sole means of self expression?
In my opinion this is not the case at all. Blogs are becoming more like bulletin boards, maintained by schoolmates, college-friends, office-colleagues, professional/religious communities et al. A set of blogs constitute a quasi-forum. Like google groups. Blogging is more like having a pen-friend. Some people you can share ideas with. And the people who blog are normal everyday people who you talk to go out to have fun with. It is a new model of pull, rather than the push model of emails. And technologies like RSS & ATOM enable integration of blogs with the existing means of communication - emails, mailing lists, news aggregators, etc. My personal take is that blogging is not a new culture. Its just a manifestation that already exists, only served differently.
Peter Drucker. A man, whose thoughts touched millions…
It is said that every person is connected with another, in the human network, with an average of seven hops. If a similar graph was to be made of people connected by ideas, then the node of Peter Drucker would truly be an immensely dense one. In a career spanning nearly seventy-five years his ideas shaped the modern corporate structure. Aptly described as the 'father of management', he distilled the concept of management from the broad field of industrial operations. His 1959 book Landmarks of Tomorrow gave my role at my company a name - 'Knowledge Worker'.
Peter Drucker's thoughts had been influencing me only subtly until the January of 2004. I was then studying at IIIT-B when the following quote appeared in Fortune: “The technical graduates of the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world”-- Peter Drucker, Fortune, January 2004. This was a proud moment for our Institute. A sense of veneration for the guru was affirmed in our hearts forever.
After graduation when I joined my current company, I was in awe of the highly evolved processes and practices here. Only later did I discover that many of them were derivatives of Peter Drucker's thoughts. Management, he said, deals with the people and the creation of communities. This has been one of the ideals my company embraces - creation of communities of its most valuable resource. Another important concept is 'Management By Objectives'. All of us here prepare our MBOs every quarter and use this to guide our everyday activities. These MBOs roll up to team MBOs, group MBOs, up till the company MBO. These management concepts have been pivotal to our company's growth and has been fueling the engines to reach the destinations of tomorrow.
One man who shaped the management world as we see it today, Peter Drucker will live on...
This Diwali was real fun. The celebrations began early last week at the office. The Admin Council had made elaborate arrangements with Rajasthani lunch. Stalls selling mithais, bengali-sweets, diyas, crackers, were setup. There even was an Arabian mehandi corner for the ladies. All of us were dressed in our best ethnic outfits. A fashion competition was organized in the evening. I gave it a shot - enthralled the crowd with a monologue and emerged a winner! Yippie!
We spent the next day distributing sweets to our office staff and preparing for our guests' arrival. I had the responsibility to shop for sweets - and it's quite an obligation to sample so many of them to make the final choice ;)
My Mom's birthday coincides with this festival of lights. And we had cake-cutting during the day - I can still feel myself biting into those oh-so-soft Black Forest… yummm. The evening was warm and effervescent. India's splendid cricket victory elevated the already soaring spirits. The celebrations began by offering a small prayer to Goddess Lakshmi. And then it was cracker time. Sweets were served in abundance and were relished beyond everyone's satiety. To top it all, a sumptuous dinner followed.
Such festivals are pure fun! So many people getting together and spending moments of joy. Moments that would be cherished for a long time to come. Moments that are a part of us.
