Monster

This piece of news is several months old. Yet worth sharing. I've been driving a Bajaj CT100 since 2004. It was a nice bike, amazing mileage, no big problems and it has served me loyally. I never really had any complains. It did what was expected out of a bike of its class and more. In fact, when new, I was very proud of its specifications and would tell anyone who cared to listen; and several who didn't.

I'd ridden it less for 6 years. Around 30000 Kms. Yet it was enough to give problems. It seemed like I always had a bad back or it was a due bad posture at work and in bed. At one point of time, I'd decided I need to see a physiotherapist about it. 2 days into the week long therapy he declared it was my bike. "Too short for your height", he said. That was true. Not many bikes were good for my height. But I'd never thought about such stuff when I got this. Who would? I was too excited about getting a bike for myself.

Times were different now. The bike was a problem. I tried not using the bike for a week. That coupled with the sessions with the doc worked wonders for my back. I wasn't ready to buy a new bike yet. I sought out some used ones but couldn't find a good deal. This went on for a several weeks. Jobs changed. Office was now closer home. And all the while I had the same old bike. The back pain returned, though cricket during weekends helped a lot. Around a month after I joined the new company, I'd started some research about bikes. Within a week I decided a 150cc is going to be lot more comfortable than what I owned. Atleast a 125.

Soon, I was reading reviews, complaints and whatnot on the internet. Every bike seemed to be good. All 150s were priced roughly the same, except Yamaha of course which was higher. A lot of recommendations for the same bike came in from friends. But I also had this thing about not buying something that's common. I wanted something different from the crowd. Atleast in my social circle. So a lot of bikes from my list were knocked off. Then one fine day while talking to a colleague about it I learnt about a bike which he'd bought 2 years back. I took a test ride and within few metres I'd almost made up my mind. I then looked up reviews about it, consumer complaints what not. Since I didn't personally know any other owners I had to rely a lot on online forums. And since I liked this bike a lot, I tended to read only positive reviews. I even called up competing brands and asked why I should buy their product instead - didn't get very satisfactory answers.

After I saw the new version of it at a showroom, everything seemed to fit about this bike. It was big; right for my height. Great specs. Seemed to be a marketing failure which suited me perfectly well. A very comfortable ride. Similar price tag. Delivery promised within a week. The reputation of Suzuki engines. And to top it all, the colleague who had it resigned all of a sudden which meant I was the only person with a Suzuki GS150R in the whole building! I even tried to ignore the fact that there are only 4 places I could service it in Chennai as of then. Now that I'm a proud and happy owner, I want to share a pic of the monster.

Am not going to talk about the specs here. You can find them on their website. But I can tell you its an great piece of engineering - drive it to experience it! The 6th gear (I know!) deserves special mention; almost as good as cruise control.

PS: I am no longer the sole owner of this model - another colleague bought it on my recommendation, same colour even!
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Mederma

Did you just google that word? Or did you know it already? I hadn't heard the term until recently. Unlike most of you who just learnt the term, I was introduced because people thought I might need it. Once convinced I do, my natural tendency was not to enquire people where I can get it but simply look on the internet. I couldn't find much and besides I was really lazy about it. I've been lethargic for sometime now. No real reason. But the consequences were many and varied. One might be what let me to look for this world famous product. In fact, as a friend noted it was available at the local chemist. 275 bucks for 10 grams. Am a big fan of cricket. I haven't watched a whole match in maybe 5 years. I prefer playing over watching it on tv. Recently, I've been attending practice sessions on weekends and matches sometimes. Am all alert and everything when am playing. Yet it had to happen to me. I was only hovering behind the wickets to return the bowled balls. Medium pace bowler. Pitched short and wide. Unexpected bounce. Wizzzz. Wham. Silence. Hurried voices. Obscured vision. Blood. Dizziness. More voices. Then came the pain.

With a doctor friend around I was assured it wasn't bad except for a deep cut. I was to know much later that I got real lucky with it given the area of injury. With no first aid available, my team mates had to clean the wound with drinking water (the 20 ltr cans you get for a few bucks!). They made me hold a thick towel to the wound while I was taken (on a bike) to a private hospital nearby. I was scared, the driver had a history of accidents. The nurse there cleans my wound while the doctor was busy with another patient. When she finally came over she took one look and demanded all sorts of scans. An X-ray I can understand but a CAT scan was too much to digest. And saying my brain might've been affected was too far fetched! I excused myself telling her I live far off and since I needed stitches I'd prefer a clinic closer home. There wasn't much of a fuss and the doc seemed quite relieved to be rid of me. I talk a lot of crap when am unwell, that must've been why.

Another team mate who lived closest to my place dropped me off at my family doctor's clinic. We rode some 18 Kms and I had to cover the dressed wound from the wind by holding my helmet against it. My general physician made me do simple movements and deemed it was nothing serious. However, he did recommend an x-ray before I got sutures.

The hospital I was referred to for getting stitched had only a 'duty doctor' available at that time. And what a character she was. She said so herself. She said I talk too much when I was only trying to understand what would be done to me. Besides she kept saying she was a person with a different character which I found very irritating though I was amused as I was reminded of actor Sathyaraj (non-Tamil folk please excuse). One of her nurses was patient with me while the others feared to be found chatting me up. While the doctor was getting ready, I finally got to see my wound in proper light - it was deep. And nearly an inch long. After quarter of an hour passed when the stitching was almost done, the local anaesthesia had already worn off. Later when came I home much to the shock of my parents I found the dressing looked clumsy and later when it came off, the stitching worse.

I knew the swelling and blood clot on the left side of my face wound reduce but I was constantly told that the scar wound remain. Before the sutures were undone I used to tell myself, "maybe the scar would look cool or wicked at the least". I wouldn't have minded being called evil looking. But it looked rather silly with no sign of wickedness. After several days of looking like half a panda a visit to an eye doctor left me rather scared. I was told stories of similar accidents and how I could've lost my vision. But am alright now. Am not going to scare any of you. People who don't see me often, say when they do that the wound has healed well but they still like to mention how sad it is to have a silly scar. Thank you, but I don't need your pity. I trust in the 'proven results' of Mederma!
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Pearl

So I tried to write my first poem. Like Archimedes, I got the idea when I was in the shower. Though, I didn't do the 'Eureka' part. The idea was simple and came in an instant. I guess I was inspired by my good friend Srinath who has been on a poem writing spree. After postponing for nearly a week, I was surprised putting it in words didn't seem very difficult. And it didn't take too much time either. So here it is. Do leave your comments.

Alone in the depths of the seas;

No more purpose than to survive.

The oyster awaits, what it knows not.

Along comes the hand of destiny;

Lays within, what is foreign.

The oyster reacts, to what it knows not.

Days pass by, as do months;

Layer upon layer of work.

The oyster creates, what it knows not.

Likewise is man; Awaiting God's voice.

The foreign, his duties.

The man strives, for what he knows not.

LVS
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The Raise and Fall of Thyself

Wow. I cannot believe I've been away for 2 months. It pains to remember I promised myself to blog more often only in my last post.

However, I have news. News worth waiting for 2 months? Definitely. Atleast, for me. I've had some tough career decisions to make - learning a few lessons along the way. Not to mention help a good friend make a live-love-career decision. Am not going to talk about that. So, the news? I've changed jobs. Not just jobs, but positions and technologies. Its a big jump from web development into the Cloud. (Sounds geeky? Never mind). Of course, I got the raise too.

The new office is really good - a well equipped cubicle, a great workstation, nice new people, free coffee, basement parking and more. My only complaint - the tiled floors. Back in my ex-company, we had carpets and I could run around, swirl in my chair all with great control and without causing damage to myself or others. Here however, even walking has to be a conscious effort for new comers. Fortunately, indoors is more manageable as I can pretend to be playfully tapping the top of the cubicles while really trying to get something to hold on to at the turns.

Some parts of our new building are still under construction - like near the corridor to the food court. So, this morning when hunger beckoned like never before, I didn't hesitate to go for a quick snack down to the food court all alone. As providence would have it, there was some fresh wood dust over the tiles (and light coloured ones that didn't highlight the layer of dust).

The fall was quick. At first impact, I thought I did good by landing on all fours. Next instant, I was on my nose. I still wonder how I managed that. After resting for sometime on the chair the security guy kindly offered, I set off towards the elevators feeling a growing stinging feeling inside my nose and a swelling on my upper lip. Later examination revealed, one of the incisors had cut the skin inside the upper lip.

It was a bit embarrassing to sit holding ice cubes to my mouth for the next several hours. But believe me, not as bad as a 6-foot framed guy slipping on tiles in front of adults who don't seem to find the tiles a bother at all - and then blog about it in first person. Damn! Read more…

Conscience

Today, has been the second case of chain snatching in my street. The neighbourhood is otherwise not so unlawful. I have memories from days when the street was dangerous only because it was very deserted and days when people liked the peaceful quiet of the place. Recently however, a case of theft, break in or something or the other comes up almost every few weeks. The street still looks perfectly peaceful (and green from above). In fact, these days with lot of people realizing it bridges important areas, it is almost always abuzz with activity. Why, once I found two foreigners representing a Church who tried to convert me in the middle of the road! But to think someone would snatch a chain in broad daylight, in this street, sends quite a shiver. That was months ago. Well planned and a chosen target. 4 bikes, 6 people. I guess they even have a name for this formation. I heard only the story about this one. Today morning was different.

I was still in bed reading the morning paper when I heard screams from the street. I'd usually have run outside to check what was up (the hero that we all are). But the voice sounded like a little girl's so I assumed it was probably a stray dog chasing her or something. Besides there was no other noise of a bike or screech of tyres. But the scream continued for a good ten seconds or so.

By the time I was outside, the girl (probably 15) was sobbing hard and 2 people were consoling her. It still looked like a dog had chased her. As it turns out, it was a chain snatch. A guy on his cycle. Supposedly one of the newspaper delivery boys. Seems like he'd tried snatching her chain first, when she put up a fight, hit her head twice and escaped with his prize. A friend once said conscience is what hurts when every other part feels good. Not always. Mine still hurts that I didn't run outside when I heard the screams. It would've taken all of 3 seconds. If not bash him up like some hero, atleast I'd have scared him off and abandoned his attempts.

To tell the truth I am still shaken by what happened. Imagine, 7 AM in the morning! 'Snatch' makes it sound quite harmless. And only ended up banging my fists on the wall in the shower. What's the point?

If only I hadn't been lazy in the morning. Bloody conscience.
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Status Update!

To be honest, I had nothing else to blog about. I'm [temporarily] tired of posting my life on Facebook and Twitter. Although, this post is bound to go as another update in both places. Ironic? So, what have I been upto? Nothing much really. I've been trying to, what is that..ah juggle too many balls at once. (Watching movies, reading novels inclusive). And if that wasn't enough, I had to add another object to balance - as a favour. Of course, am not going to divulge any of that here.

But there is some news for you. Sad for me. My IndiBlogger rank has come down around 30 points in 4 months. Around November last, it was 76 - my highest till date. Even my academics weren't as good. And now its just fail - 43! What with IndiBlogger Chennai meet coming up this weekend that really worries me. Imagine:
"Hi!"
"Nice to meet you"
"let me take your blog address"
"sure its...what's yours?"
"misplaced-soul.blogspot.com"
"am ranked 86 btw, what about you?"
"er..i gotta go"

Hope IndiBlogger is reading this and temporarily tweak their settings and raise my rank (Just for this weekend, please!). But while I type this, I realized I can really chatter away. I'm come thus far without really having had an idea on what to write. Oh yes, my posts are usually intentional, directed at a particular topic. Do have a look around, won't you? Yes, so..as I was saying..I realized I can start typing all the random stuff that runs in my mind, in order of appearance. Its almost like writing an examination. Only am not worried about the "rank" anymore. Hope I can post something every now and then to up my rank.

I also found my laptop [Dell Vostro 1510, more than a year old] is quite a work horse. I let it run for a few hours virtualizing two different OSes both running something heavy AND using my system myself at the same time. Good good.

A friend though recently bought a Sony Vaio at a staggering price, but loads more a workhorse than mine - a workaholic workhorse if you will. Ha! I've always wanted to use that phrase in my blog sometime - 'if you will' and I think it fits in quite well here. I digress. (that's another I've been wanting to use since long) But then he's got Windows 7 and flicked a copy of PC Quest from his work to read 'everything you needed to know about Windows 7'. Think about paying for something you didn't want and trying to learn about it. That again sounds like school. Hmmmm.

I don't know why but I really feel like I should fit a PJ in here. My colleague and I have 'discovered' a new tea shop where we like to take our evening breaks. I say tea shop because coffee shop somehow sounds hi-fi. And the tea (or coffee for me) acts like some kind of PJ inducer to us. You should hear us babble after we've had a sip. Of course, they're all time-bound jokes and would make no sense here making you go "poor joke indeed".

Of the movies I'd planned to watch, Die Hard 4.0 was the most recent. I must say I really liked the movie - cool with hackers and stuff and of course, Bruce Willis with all that action! What I find mildly surprising was that I got stuck in an elevator at work the very next day of watching the movie. How're they related? Well, there's a scene in the movie where John McClain's daughter is stuck in one. But she was alone. I, however, was with another girl...and two other guys. It was all dark and no one's cell phone screen was bright enough so I closed my eyes and started day dreaming. You know. Rescuing them and stuff..So while I was dreaming and smirking to myself, another guy called up his friend and got help. Smart. I thought to myself "doodh nahi peyega tho aisa hi hoga". But I swear, I drink atleast 2 glasses of milk - with some chocolate flavoured malt!

And after about 20 minutes of typing, I hit the wall. Nothing more to say. To share. I hope to see more updates from my 'sidebar friends' too. They're almost worse than me!

Ciao!

BTW, in other news, I am becoming an 'uncle' pretty soon...\m/ \o/ And yet, my sis-in-law manages to update her blog SO very often. Check it out. And while you're at it, you can check my cousin's too. Who's kind of competing with her. 'Healthy' competition though..

PS: Please turn off all unwanted lights. That includes your screen too. Read more…

To do or not to do...

Sometimes I feel I have an ambition deficit. Now that's bad yes. Ambition is probably one of the things that drive a person. I have, often, empty thoughts. Momentary bursts of purpose. This drives me to feel I am going to accomplish something. But for how long?

I am lazy as many have branded me. I've been told I've got "stuff" and I should use it well. There's a kind who don't work hard but work smart. But, I. I must have been just lucky to survive so far. Now I feel an overload of the deficit. I feel am not doing anything special. Something extra.

I have a good paying job (touch wood). There are good prospects ahead. My career seems stable. What else can I ask for, you think. Am not asking for riches. But I desperately need some inspiration. Look at Pranav Mistry. He's about my age. Don't need to look that far - I can look at my friend's circle. Prashanth a friend from college seems to be doing a lot for his age - and he's having a super learning curve I bet. I can name so many more. There are lots of people who've gone great lengths in their early twenties - and continue to grow. That's what I want. That's what I need!

Of course, the initiative has to be mine. Trust me, am trying something these days. But it seems to be an effort not something that makes me jump out of bed as soon as I wake up. If self-motivation were a hormone, I'd like to inject myself some! This post was supposed to be an exploration a search for what I am missing. It hasn't shown itself so far. I often blame our education system for not pushing the students to pursue something. For not inculcating the habit of researching. Why should only IITians (and the like) be the ones to get encouraged and not other 'lower' institutes? Are only such people capable of doing great things? Not always. But the small percentage of people who, are motivated right from the beginning, who are 'destined' to do great things, bring glory to their land have always shown the edge. Right from kindergarten. That sucks for people like me who have had sudden 'illuminations' after they reached college. By the time I took my education seriously, lethargy was well practised. The extra effort didn't bring any excitement or encouragement. And that is like a soft cushion bed to sleep in....so I slept.

I wonder if its part of being a younger sibling where everything is easy, available and ready for you to consume. Back in college, atleast, I thought, "I want to contribute in a big way to open source projects". Open source was something that I romanticized blindly without ever fully realizing its potential or pitfalls. It was almost quixotic. And M$ hatred and the "Send/Don't Send" messages was great fuel.

This post has been long pending in my drafts. And the only things I'd typed were the first 2 lines and the PS!

I think what I need now is focus. I need to understand clearly what I want to do next and vaguely what I aim to do in the future. Focus should help. Now that I say it, I've been trying juggle too many balls at a time and ended up dropping everything.

Ah! Atleast I feel a bit better now. Blogging after so long has helped. Lets out some energy...

So that's it guys. Focus...focus...focus...focus....

PS: This blog is kind of a sequel to A look in the mirror and Gaah
PPS: This is mostly self talk and might seem dry to you. Sorry you weren't warned.
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A twitter clone?

Sure, there are lots of twitter like websites and services available on the net. But you surely wouldn't have expected this. I came across an email where someone typo-ed gmail.com as gmail.net - I was laughing at it for sometime. But after a while, inspiration stuck and I thought lets try out http://gmail.net and see what happens. I wouldn't have been surprised if I had got some cheap search engine or 'this domain is for sale'. However, I was expecting a redirection to gmail.com (unlike airtel.in used to redirect to vodafone UK). Surprise. What I got was "What are 'you' doing?" in the header. They've even got versions it seems for says in the page 'Live Comments 3.0.4'
You have a field for name, email (both optional) and a comment field where you can type upto 255 characters. Twitter without accounts? Only am not sure how I can follow someone....Try it! Wonder why Gmail didn't buy it though.

~LVS

PS: A bit more exploring reveals that it is some geeks attempt at trying some AJAX...scroll to the end of the page
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Inflation...or is it?

I know I've been out of action here for a long time now. And I can feel that you missed me! So here I am! Source of idea: chance realization of the truth. I've had this habit of keeping an account of all by expenses. Been doing it since a few days before I entered the corporate world. I joined Photon Infotech, on Jun 13, 2007. A few days before that, my folks gave me some cash to keep and do some "shopping". That I counted as my first income and I started keeping accounts ie. income and expenditure. Later of course, the accounting got more organized and I could tell how much am spending monthly on food, travel, gifts etc etc. Anyway, I opened my old accounts "book" to see how much I spent on a shoe I had then bought. I was pleased with myself to see that I had made a single entry for some clothes and the shoe I'd bought and yet I could know the what each item cost. I digress. The thing is, I got a bit nostalgic and decided to scroll down to see what else I'd spent on in the first few weeks of my employment; esp after my first salary.

Time for a bit of history, we were around 90 people then - the bunch of freshers who had joined on the same date. Human nature as it is, we formed groups within ourselves - mostly by geographical proximity - which in itself was by educational history. We celebrated everyone's birthday, India's IPL victory, Independence day - we just needed an excuse. I must thank my company's environment which allowed for this. I digress again. So, I noticed for the Independence day celebration, we cut a cake - everyone contributed for buying it. Rs.10. That was my share. That's what most of us (in our bunch) would've given.

Rupees ten. The habit of cake cutting has continued till date. That's great really. Two years on and we don't think "its getting boring". However, things have changed a lot. The Rs.10 has become Rs.30. The vanilla has become chocolate truffle (thanks to Kunal for this particular observation). The 180 bucks per Kg has thus become 400. And the 18 to 20 have become 7 to 10. (Kunal, chose to call them 'old days' and 'modern days' for some reason). But I think there is a lesson here. Of course, gifts are non-optional social convention (http://twitter.com/lvshankar/statuses/2322419871). Yet, I have a feeling its not just the economic inflation that's causing this difference. Inflated egos perhaps? I don't know. But I still think there's a lesson here. Leave comments...

~LVS
PS: I need to get new shoes, wonder how much that has changed..lets see!
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A Silent Confession

Its been on for nearly two years now. This is the end. I've lost her. She's never going to come back to me. I must confess, I haven't treated her good. In fact, I have used her. Misused her. She gave me everything she could. Devoted herself to me. Never questioned me.

To start from the beginning, it wasn't really a love-at-first-sight kind of thing. I'd seen her before. Though I hadn't noticed, I first saw her on a loose sheet of newspaper. Then when I met her again, got to knew what she was, I became more interested. Then one fine beautiful August evening I knew I had got her. Just like that. (Though I had to run to the ATM just before) and I brought her home that very day. Mom was the usual "Am happy if you are happy" and Dad (when she wasn't around) said "Good choice son. She's very cute. Now you know why I said your previous choice wouldn't be right. Am glad you got this one instead. Anyway, not good to talk about the past..." and so on.

A few months later, the 'previous choice' came into my life again. My brother got her. (It happens people. Hope you understand). Though, it never created a problem, I must say I was like "Damn, I missed my chance". Yet, I never had second thoughts about my choice.

The first few months were great, I was showing her off to a lot of my friends. Many said, "Nice da". Some said "hey...semma cute da!". What else can a guy ask? I loved to look at her. I loved to hold her tight. Am pretty sure she enjoyed the warmth too. She too, did get warm and happy when I talked a lot (which I rarely do). Oh! How I loved fondling her!

And then, I started treating her real bad. From the days where I used to put something soft where she sat, I had come to not caring where she was lying. I started venting my anger on her. Pushed her to the floor a lot. But she took it all without a protest. Never once did she complain. A few more months passed and she started showing physical signs of my behaviour. Scratches and bruises on her face and body and more.

I didn't bother. Once I was so hard on her she cracked her head. Then a few nights later, not being able to take anymore of it, decided to leave me. Suicide. She didn't even leave a bedside note. One morning I woke up and found her lying on the floor beside my bed, in two parts. She had died peacefully in my sleep. I should've taken extra care of her in those last days, but I didn't.

And now she's gone forever. She's not much worth even in an exchange. She's left me in a confused state; I don't know what phone to buy next. Damn it! Read more…

Predicting Death

Death - comes to all. Nobody is spared. What if, you know the day you will die? What if you knew how? Would you take efforts to avoid it? Chances are high that you'd end up doing more harm. OK, am not talking about the movie 'Final Destination' or something. But knowing our future has always been interesting. Many of those who say astrology (Indian or Greek) is a waste of time, can't wait to read the weekly predictions for their zodiac in the local paper. Its because we are all cowards. We want to know in advance what the future holds for us. We aren't ready to face the challenges that lie ahead.



Wait, I didn't mean this post to be philosophical. Just wanted to share with you an online death predictor.

Try it. Its fun!
Here are some of the results myself and my friends got:

"Vidhya Shankar: At age 35 you will become lost during a road trip and wind up living out the movie 'Wrong Turn'. Sorry for ya."

Kalyan*: At age 40 you will die fighting the Interplanetary War on Terrorism on Camp Harmony, Venus.

Ambika*: At age 47 a group of children will text message you continuously for three years, eventually distracting you while driving and causing a fatal wreck; your fatal wreck. (SMS a mixed blessing?!)

Kunal*: At age 72 you will fall into a vat of neutral shoe polish, and your body will never be recovered

Aparna*: At age 69 you will have a heart attack while eating a deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, Elvis style.

Vishal*: At age 70 you will participate in the newest reality game show. Contestants battle each other in an arena with swords and spears. You will have a good run (12+ victories) but eventually be killed, much to the audience's dismay. Go Maximus!

* Names changed to protect privacy

Give it a try and tell me what you got.

PS: If you want a more serious prediction try this

Special thanks to Kunal and Ambika
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Where are my readers?

Long long ago, I had enabled a beautiful tool, called Google Analytics for my blog. And I had forgotten about it. Today, I thought I'd use GA to track visitors, page clicks etc etc and realised what I already quoted in the first line. This being my second attempt (first here) at statistics for my blog, wasn't as cheerful to look at.
Here are a few things GA measured for me (and I pick the ones which were relatively the best)

• Visitor loyalty - how many times an individual user returned to read my blog
• Visitor recency - how soon did the returning user come back
• Bounce rate - how many just came to the home page and then went away without looking at other pages
• Length of each visit
• Number of unique users
• Page views
  
• and more...

And I scored abysmally on all of the above! 70% of the people visiting my blog, turn away after reading(?) the stuff on the first page, and playing with the fish too perhaps. Unique visitors is about 200. Average time on site is 2 mins. Average number of visits per day is around 4 :-( :-( :-(

So I thought it was time for some action. I guess you now realise that I have enabled summaries (which is not an _available_ feature in blogger). Number of posts per page have been increased. GA also tells me, 64% of the visitors are new and more than 50% come from referring sites. I've decided to make the biggest draw even bigger. Backlinks everywhere! My IM status will almost always say "Blog update" henceforth and things like that...More ideas for blog promotion are welcome. Yes, am on directories like IndiBlogger and Technorati.

Also, I need to make sure the visits spike on the day of a post is not too much higher than on other days. Any ideas for that?

OK, I made this post just to tell you people that some changes on this blog (visible/otherwise). A change of template didn't work. Someone suggest one?

Thanks and keep coming back for more! :D

Update: 'ravukalam' and 'i am an idiot latin translation' are keywords that show my blog as the first result on google search! :P yay!
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Welcome or Farewell?

We all know how it is these days; ya I mean IT too.
Bankruptcies, closures, layoffs, salary cuts, delayed call letters and all that.

Yet, every company makes an effort to retain employees. They put them into a different stream, train them for that and what not.

Mine too, has always been committed in keeping the good ones. Recently, in order to bring out the 'best of the employees' innate potential they are to launch a programme shortly, which is called U-Turn. As I write this blog, the total structure of the programme is not known fully, but it concentrate on areas like leadership, etiquette (oh yes, that's needed), public speaking etc.

We hadn't a clue about this thing until a few days back. Till then, it was only posters everywhere saying "U-Turn (with a u-shaped arrow) X days to go" and such things. They were even put up at the main entrance. That was pretty confusing for a lot; and scary too! Just imagine, with the situation in the IT industry, a sign that says "u-turn" is read "stop. turn around. go back home"!
Today morning for instance, it was all the more pronounced, with the ominous symbol amidst a lot of balloons, festive garlands etc. I was like, "are they welcoming me, or giving a farewell?!".
Quite an ambiguous sign, I must say!

But then the charming smile from the receptionist was quite a welcome sign :D

Cheers!
~LVS
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Education!

Arun, I disagree with you! You can tell your cop about it and make him happy!

The Indian education system rocks! The purpose of education is to get one geared up to face the problems of day-to-day life!

I realized this today after I fixed my wardrobe. Since the recent rains, the drawers in them had gone a bit moist (No. My house ain't leaking, it was general moisture in the corner of my room) and the screws came loose. I had to spend more time pushing the drawer back in the right direction than doing what it was opened for! This is when my carpentry skills kicked in!! Thanks to the esteemed Anna University and its prescribed syllabus for the first semester, I could easily wield the hammer, nails, screws and screwdrivers!

The thought that my education had helped me had come afterwards. Immediately after this, I had visual recollections of my first semester Workshop lab viva voce. Mr.Muniraj (name changed for my privacy), gently took the steel ruler from my hands and checked if I had ever bothered reading the backside. He asked me, "How many centimetres to an inch?" "2.54 sir" "sure? 2.54 or 2.5400?" (because that how it was printed on the ruler) "they're the same sir (smile)" "good good. tell me, why are you doing carpentry and welding? you are a computer science student no?" "[er because AU made my dad spend so that I could make a living] because, sir, I am an engineer and an engineer should have knowledge of everything [,even clean drainages perhaps?]" "ver-ry good!! you can go".

Now I regret having had thoughts like that. Atleast I didn't speak them...
Now that carpentry proved useful, how else was education useful?
Back in school, my cousin was taught how to use Star Office. Now, he's using the skills he developed from school, to help his professor type of lectures, documents etc and he's making a living! (I guess many of the MS in US people are doing much the same)

And then, it was at school where we learnt to do C++ program for Fibonacci series program, it helped me clear my job interview!
Happy learning!

PS: Do share any such experiences in the comments!
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Its a dog's life

I used to drive to work on OMR daily. Often, I find a stubborn pile of rubbish in the middle of the road; on closer inspection it invariably turned out to be a dog. Run over. Squashed. Dead.

Its quite a gory sight, mind. Many a times you'd find their guts pushed out or even massacred beyond recognition. I have never seen it actually happen, though am sure it would have been terrible for them. The thing is, I have been taking the OMR for over 4 years now and have noticed such accidents only since they started with the new road. It was quite understandable when only one side of the road was usable, but on a road broader than ECR...that's bad!

Whom do we blame? Drunk drivers? Sleepless cleaners driving? Racing enthusiasts? Or the dogs?

What's worse is, I don't see the Corporation or Municipality removing the carcass. Even the scavenging crows don't get a chance with vehicles zipping past every second. Wonder what diseases it can spread....Of what I've noticed, the body is run over and over by vehicles, until its totally worn off and vanishes from the road...uuggghh...however, a few days later, the spot is spot-less!

I have never seen anyone hit-and-run a dog, neither do I want to. But lets be safe on the road, its not just humans who are involved in accidents. After all, its a dog's life...
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How to...Why is...

Google can be as enthusiastic as girl in class who knows all the answers to the teacher's questions.
Recently, Vishal discovered that in a Gmail Atom feed. I for one, found something similar. At first I thought, "Why is Google being so silly?". Take a look at the suggestions (automatically generated) given by the Google search bar in Fx3 for "How to ".

Then I tried with some other keywords, I've got a grab of that too.

This is when I realized (and with some shame, remembered), that Google gives these suggestions based on frequently searched keywords! Woah, are there really so many people who have second thoughts about their marriage?! Ask google indeed!!


Update. Seems the suggestions change with time and is also affected by what you searched. Sample, a N(a)RI-in-US's results:

~LVS
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Petrol - The Elixir of Life!

Hello people!

This is an IM conversation I had this morning with my friend. It was about petrol. Petrol/diesel has been rather scarce this week in Chennai (atleast). To the extent, our company's buses had to be cancelled. Believe me when I say, there were a lot less of the IT company buses on the road. A lot of crowd at the bunks and all that. We discussed a way to curb that.

Disclaimer: The following conversation happened for fun and either parties had absolutely no intention of going forth with the ideas discussed. Neither is this acting to encourage other parties to take a leaf from it. The participants of the following conversation AND those mentioned in its course, either real or fictional, can NOT be held responsible for the consequences of others' actions following reading this.


Note: Please forgive the occasional use of local english aka tanglish. And in spite of it being for fun, it is a serious issue. Give it a thought.

aks: hiya
aks: good morn...
me: hello
me: good morning
aks: do u have petrol!??!
me: yes :D
aks: i dont :(
me: for another week easily..
me: hmm
aks: waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh
aks: i do not have!!!!
aks: gimme some?!?!?
me: why didn't you fill before hand?
me: sure i will..
aks: cos i usually fill on monday evening
me: whatever..
me: you want some?
aks: i really do da...
aks: i don think i'll have petrol to go back home itself...
aks: last shot i'll leave at 4 today and see if they give petrol
aks: illati i'll cal u only :D
me: okk
me: i can spare you some at Rs.100/ltr
me: fair enough ?
aks: excuse me?!?!
aks: konjam overa ille?!?!?
aks: too much!!!
aks: help panuvenu paatha
me: i AM helping
me: do you know how many lorries/trucks/vans/bikes are parked on the wrong side near and along an OMR petrol bunk?
me: from mettukuppam to thoraipakkam
aks: wel...
aks: why but?!?!?
me: and there is a longer line (more like a thread of noodle) of people inside the bunk itself
me: all carrying cans
me: the thing is, its not for water..
me: its for petrol
aks: lol....
aks: such is the nelamai....
aks: i had half a mind to come in my sister's cycle...
aks: but then she refused to part wit it :(
me: she's more prudent than you
aks: stupid greedy sister of mine

[I've edited out some part here, which is out of context]

me: how much does an auto cost you?
me: *will
aks: 40 rs :D
me: ok...
me: 50 + something from your 'esteemed' canteen
aks: grrrrr
aks: seri po...
me: see,
aks: come to my office in the evenin...
aks: i shall get u loads from here :)
me: i give you more security than a stranger driving an auto
aks: so how much u gonna charge me for tat sir?!?! :)
me: i told you
me: 50+ food
aks: ada paaaavi
aks: 50 rs...
aks: plus food ah?!??!
aks: grrrrrrr
aks: even an auto wont fleece me so much!!!
me: secutiry
me: *security..
me: i'll talk in the language you're most comfortable
me: i come to meet you
aks: lol...
me: its safe to tell me your address
me: (ok that's part of sec)
aks: u already know my address u goof!!
me: precisely
me: you see how much petrol can do?
me: it is more or less like M$...you put it everywhere and now you can't live w/o it
aks: grrrrr
aks: i wish i put it everywhere other than my tank...
me: but that's what you did!
me: all the petrol went out through the exhaust pipe in the name of fun!
me: i wonder if i should become a petrol mafia!
aks: pls do... then i think i should be the police to kill u :D
me: do you realize the police need petrol/diesel too?
aks: i'll fly and cum to catch u :)
me: remember the dialogue from Indian? the RTO scene:
me: stop being an underage
aks: wit a frame ilk mine u can afford to do tat u know :)
aks: poda!
me: chandru (kamal): inga parthiya? asst commissioner thu...avare enga kitta thaan license vangararu...
me: tell you something
me: i think you'll be useful
aks: sollu....
me: why don't you join me in becoming (perhaps) the world's first petrol mafia?
aks: he he he he he... i like this idea!!!
aks: sure...
aks: wats the proper deal?!?!
aks: :)
me: 50-50
aks: done..
aks: wat am i supp to do??!?!?
aks: do i get OT handle guns?!?! :D
aks: i love shooting ppl...
aks: dishooom :)
me: [you get the one they have at the beach]
me: oh yes..of course you do
aks: phine!!!!
aks: but i'll use real bullets...
aks: wat else do w have to do?!?!? :D
me: find me sources of petrol
me: we'll employ the unemployed/dis-employed to run errands
aks: hmmmm
aks: wait...
me: exchange money (they won't know its money)
aks: find sources of petrol ah?!?1
me: get petrol from our sources
me: yes..
me: you can't justdial.com it!
aks: how?!?!
aks: damn!!!
me: that's were your skills come into play
aks: not tat easy i can see...
aks: ahem.... yes yes...
aks: so i use my skills and find petrol...
aks: olrite...
aks: then?!?!
me: then what?
me: as we grow, we need to delegate our work a bit..
aks: hmmm
aks: findin ppl wont be tough...
me: we pay enough to keep the police mum..
aks: esp when we can find petrol itself :)
me: yes, they'll probably come to us
aks: her do we get the money for tat in the beginning?!?
me: and mind you, we two have to be the ONLY people who know everything about the whole org
me: you work in world bank..
me: get transferred to accounts dept!
aks: secret keeping?!?!?
aks: so?!?!
me: yes..the rest only know what they're upto
aks: and?!?!
aks: siphon off funds from there?!?!?
me: more or less..
me: we'll discuss that offline..chat ain't safe!
aks: defi mafia only very soon...
aks: ah... for tat u should cum to my office..
aks: we shall discuss over masala dosa :)
me: no
me: somewhere more secluded
aks: urm.... like her?!?!?
me: will tell that when i call from a ELCRODAT encrypted phone
aks: i also wan tat phone!!!
me: we'll have that soon..
me: in fact all our phones need to be that...
me: remember the three blind Israeli brothers?
me: we'll need to use them too soon..
aks: sexy...
aks: hey..
aks: we can dig out Israel too...
aks: maybe they have sources of hidden resources for petrol
me: hmmm
me: i think australia has a big resource and they aren't tapping it till the world runs out
me: imagine the price of crude oil then!
aks: so we'll attack them first?!?
me: not attack..
me: enter into a deal with the oil barons there..
me: we'll need to kajafy them beforehand..
me: we'll need to go big on resources once the demand goes up
aks: oooh...
aks: u do tat talkin...
aks: i'll do the gun holding :)
me: behind whose back?
me: mine?
aks: yes of course....
aks: to shoot the gun in front of u da...
aks: ithu kude theriyathu
aks: seen films no?!?!
me: yes, how your right arm becomes a traitor
aks: ille da makku...
aks: when u talking to someone i'll whip out the gun from behind and shoot him if he tries to attack u?!?!
aks: appadi...
aks: thapu thappa yosikare paathiya...
me: just being careful
me: ok, that's it then?
me: when do we start the works?
me: or should we discuss it offline?
aks: ah.. tat is ah?!?!? all decided?!?!
aks: offline offline...
me: yep..
aks: u don believe me but you'll believe ppl who frisk the net?!?1
me: the chat on petrol mafia is hence close
aks: wogay :)
me: i do believe you..
aks: yaaaaay am all excited... :)
me: am using a secure SSL 1024-bit connection
aks: urm....
aks: i believe u too...
me: by the time they decode it (w/o the key) it'll be the next day of Brahma
aks: [watever tat is]

me: ok,
me: am going to blog this chat!

aks: lol...
aks: am waitin to read it...

me: lets share with the world this silly chat!

I sincerely hope all this doesn't (have to) happen. Is there absolutely nothing left to be done to check the price of oil? Its is not that I do not understand the petrol companies' need to recover losses and the governments' too. But yet, it is the (new) elixir of life.


~LVS
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False fueling

This post follows after I read a mail on petrol bunk frauds in B'lore. Courtesy Anu.

I almost always fill petrol from the same bunk. They follow a 50-150 tactics here. Wonder what I'm talking about? If you've ever been cheated while filling petrol at a bunk, you'd know. Or wait, you'll have to realise that you've been tricked.

Drive into a petrol bunk. Appear careless. Ask to fill for Rs.200. Chances are s/he'll enter 50 at the meter and make you believe you weren't clear when you spoke '200'. You'll find another 150 (200-50 right?) entered into the keypad. Fair enough? You wish. What actually happens is, the 150 ain't additional as you assume. Its the overall amount to be filled (wonder who designed it that way). So 150 is actually 150 starting at 50 => 100.

You've paid Rs.200/- for Rs.150/- worth of petrol. Done deal. Bye bye. A similar dupe can be made out of happy-sitting-inside-car-enjoying-AC you for any amount. Here is an account of how I dealt with it once.

I know the manager there personally, so brought him out to the operator and gave a good sounding. Actually, he produced bills generated by the pump itself; which showed bills for 50 + 150. The manager said, if the bill reads it then you can't have been cheated. But I know my bike's fuel gauge well and it doesn't lie. Yet, out of respect for the gentleman I left. But they trick you here too, after returning home, I took a closer look at the bill. It had timestamps. Rs.150/- was billed before the Rs.50 one. So the bill was right, only I was given the wrong bill. Another lesson learnt for fifty bucks!

There is no point writing letters to the govt., making noises about Consumer Rights etc. Its your money, get out and do the following.

• If you're in a car, get down.
• If you have a cellphone, don't use it
• Don't pay before fueling your vehicle.
• If you have to, better give the exact amount. 2 100 notes can't be seen as a 50.
• If you're paying by card, get it swiped beforehand.
  
• Don't take your eyes off the meter.
• Do not pay heed to their hints at how nice your bike is, how much mileage you get, your tyres need air etc.
• Don't check for 0s. Check for 8's instead!
• Have sense. Don't be scared to question if you have a doubt.
• Spread awareness instead of complaining.
  

Are you aware of any other similar tricks? Do comment about it.

Adieu. Happy fueling!


~LVS
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A New Unit of Fuel Efficiency

I used to take my company bus to office every(week)day. However, I had to walk a considerable distance from home to board it; and the same while returning. Walking back home can be considered an exercise but in the mornings, you don't want to be in sweat before starting work(!)
So, I convinced myself that bike would be a better option.

Well, my bike has been the primary mode of transport to office for 3 months now. Rarely have I had a pillion rider (I wish Seetha had come). And then one fine day I thought, "Is bike really more fuel efficient than my bus?".

After a short chit-chat with my office's admin head, I came to know that my company bus gives a mileage of 3.5 Km/ltr and around 25 take the same route as I, were I taking it. By my calculations, my bike gives 65 Km/ltr; if you try to average the number of people travelling on my bike, it would come to 1.0002 or something, so no. of travellers = 1. Today, during lunch, over a blunt conversation for no purpose, this was discussed. And I thought of this *new* unit to measure fuel efficiency: Km-people/ltr; for sake of convenience, lets call it Commutage.

With the above given information, the Commutage for me going to office, would be (65 Km/ltr)*(1 person) = 65 km-people/ltr.

The same for the bus would be, (3.5 Km/ltr)*(25 people) = 87.5 Km-people/ltr.

No prizes for guessing which is better. However, if I can get someone to ride with me to office everyday we get a Commutage that beats the bus! (130 Km-people/ltr to be precise). If everyone were to use bikes (like mine), there would be a lot of fuel saved and space. Buses, especially private ones, take a lot of space on the outside, but aren't exactly full. No. I don't recommend triples or quadruples or more on a bike, they are bound to reduce your mileage and worsens your engine's condition which further reduces mileage, which cannot be compensated in your Commutage!

Now lets take a look at cars. Assume a mileage of 15 Km/ltr. Usually a car can accommodate 4-5 people that gives a Commutage of 60-70. Take a 10 away for AC, 50-60 Km-people/ltr. It is a lot less than even a scarcely crowded bus and I've been too conservative. It can be excused for the sake of comfort. Yet, we can do better than a single person driving it.

Next, Auto rickshaws. Lets put its mileage at 20-25 Km/ltr. The average number of people travelling is 2. You do the math. The case of an Auto, brings us to an interesting point. We may now need to slightly modify our unit of measure. The driver should not be considered in the number of travellers unless he's returning home or taking his family for ride! Similar is the case for call taxis, fathers dropping kids etc. So Commutage should be (Mileage)*(No. of people travelling on purpose). In case of pick-ups and drops, the driver if returning alone has no other work on the way, gives ZERO Commutage!

Finally, MTC!! Well, we don't need to do any math for this. Truly unbeatable stats! Try it out yourself! And in the crowd of a hundred (OK. In most cases atleast), the conductor and driver do not make much of a difference :-)

Note:

1. This should be considered only for (public) road transport. Don't wonder how less a Commutage aeroplanes or fighter planes will give :-P
2. The availability of petrol and diesel maybe different and also their performance.
3. Commutage should not be the only criterion. Think about comfort, safety, urgency, availability etc. But all within acceptable limits.
   
4. We need more scales. Any takers?
   
5. The non-consideration towards drivers, parents and friends should not be taken personally, but only for the sake of calculation.
   

When I started this post, the price of oil was nearly $124 a barrel. Today water, which is a renewable resource, is also scarce. Oil isn't a renewable resource and we don't have much left in the crust either.

I hope this blog will make people do their bit for the Earth. I do.

~LVS

PS: I'm still in dilemma about my mode of transport to office :-(
Update: I take the office government bus now! my own bike now. Buses too crowded :(
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A trip down the IT high(and low) way...

Blogspot to me : Welcome back!
Me to readers: Welcome back!

With that I announce my return to the bloggers' world after a 3 month hiatus.

Brief, that's what life is. My friend would have made it more pronounced for me.
Two weeks back, around the time I leave from office. It was drizzling slightly. And with the new IT highway under construction, you can imagine how the road condition is. (If you can't imagine, see).

Buses from various companies trying to move, people climbing the half-elevated road to get to the other side for god-knows-what, some waiting for the bus - you know how it is. I figured the buses will take time to leave. Since I had an important appointment, I chose to hitch a ride with my friend/colleague Seetharaman. There was my mistake. Or ticket to an unforeseen adventure, I should say. I could've been as bad as I would've never made it to the appointment, leave alone being late.

The picture is not so very apt. The traffic was worse and it was after dark. And now when I look closely at the road, we seemed to have driven over more stones than I had imagined. During the ride-I'll-never-forget, I never once looked back. Am sure I'd had visions of buses and cars coming down at me like hungry lions at their prey. I often hallucinate those earth movers (diggers) accidentally striking unsuspecting bikers. Pretty scary, yes. Believe me, fear becomes accentuated when you're a pillion rider!!

It was amazing. Amazing how either of us (esp. me) wasn't/weren't thrown off the bike. No. I am not commending on my friend's driving skills. Sheer luck! Or it was because I was literally clinging to the bike with all 4 limbs (When I say or, I mean OR not XOR. For instance, "I'll have a burger or a sandwich" where the speaker will have either one but not both, owing to lack of hunger or money or whatever. This is or as in XOR). Slippery road, strewn stones, mad traffic, he drove oblivious to all. I think he actually forgot he's driving a bike that too with pillion rider. Did he think he was on a gaming console?

After a few minutes of roadrash and much protesting from my side, he turns back talks to me. "I'm driving after a long time da, that's why am excited...I usually drive carefully". Whilst he does this, we're moving at more than 50 Km/h, on a wet road, and some buffaloes crossing the road a few metres away!! He braked hard (he also used his feet, he claims) , skid a few feet, but doesn't want to stop! A buffalo. Nothing is more indicative of the God of Death (Yama/Yamraj). Ok, lets not talk much about that. Phew, we crossed them safely...

On we went, without slowing down once, further north. Down the IT highway where the roads were better. The traffic thinned, the road was dry, yet the driver didn't increase the speed. In fact, though he'd deny it, he was 5-10 Km/h slower than what we were doing on worser roads. Guess the adrenaline ran out of him. Not that I'm complaining, but it does seem odd to me. He could've easily saved his excitement for this road! Perhaps he wanted to scare me, or just a silly show off...

Well of course, I reached my destination with everything I own intact. Thanks for the lift Seetha!

I don't know if this compilation of words does enough justice the "wonderful" ride I had. Why don't you ask him for one?

And..err...that's it. EOP. Don't know how else to end it. Maybe I should have not included this line at all. Aaahh...chuck it..thanks for your comments..bye! :)

~LVS
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