Uninitiated talk

Banks

2009-03-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Walking down on the streets of Mumbai, one thing I did notice was that the number of bank locations had exploded. I could spot atleast 5-6 banks in a stretch of road less than a mile. These are retail banking outlets and not merely ATM centers offering personal bankers, cash counters, loan facilities etc.

I was in the US till a few weeks back and was constantly informed by varied news sources that the banks were in trouble. The confidence amongst banks was low, and they had accumulated a lot of bad debts (as different products). The market capitalization of the US banks had come down precipitously.

The sprawling vehicle friendly roads of the US, can explain the sparsely located banking outlets. In Mumbai, it is surely very convenient to have a bank just down the road, and one certainly doesn’t mind options in choosing which bank. However I do wonder in this world where more and more functions are moving online, how often does one really need to go to a retail banking location? Many times I answered, as I pushed two people in the crowded bank to reach my personal banker.

There is no denying the utility of having many-many-banks-and-all-next-door. However when a Bata outlet has to compete with banks for retail space, one can sense something is not quite right.

Confusing currencies

2009-03-16T03:08:00.000-07:00

Been in India for four days and the USD - INR chemistry confuses me.. A dollar can fetch you an record high 51.4 rupees. The way I understand this is that rupee has never been weaker, and the American goods never more expensive..

Couple of days back, I went to a local Chemist in Chembur to gather up the stuff for shaving as I had little space left to pack it all from the US. The following were the purchases

AXE deospray 150 ml - Rs 165 (which converts to $3.2)
Gilette foam - 250 ml - Rs 225 (which converts to $4.36)
Mach 3 turbo - 4 blades Rs 425 (which converts to $8.25)

I used to buy these items at pretty much the same price at Target in the US. Back in 2004, someone mentioned that the buying power of the dollar was 10 times that of the Rupee. Well logically it should be 51.4 times, shouldn't it?

The reality is that India and most of East Asia is crowded with American brands like Gap, Gucci, Levis etc. People in the states get fat discounts on a lot of these items. In the days of recession, the discounts are very deep sometimes exceeding 50%.. On the other hand, most outlets in Mumbai charge full retail price (converted to Indian rupees).

There is no doubt that the western goods are super-fashionable and of very high quality, and hence worth the price. What confuses me is that in a global village, the prices are not flattened to the local buying power.

Errata: A Champion's Mind

2008-08-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

How do you feel when you find an errata, but can't locate a place to report it. Helpless! I've decided to blog about the errata, hoping that the publishers will stumble upon my blog, read about the error and correct it.

Book: A Champion's Mind (Pete Sampras)
Page: 205
Ultimately, it was grinding that almost undid me in that period in 1988 when I was driving to capture that sixth straight year-end number one ranking.

Corrected
Ultimately, it was grinding that almost undid me in that period in 1998 when I was driving to capture that sixth straight year-end number one ranking.

Philosophy: Life

2007-09-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

It is not about what you get from life, but what you take from it.

Events: Surreal

2007-07-29T10:14:00.001-07:00

A great performance at an awesome venue (Stern Grove). Loved it!

Photos: Apple Store-San Francisco

2007-07-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

Sports: Tour De France (Updated)

2007-07-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Running from Saturday July 7th to Sunday July 29th 2007, the 94th Tour de France will be made up of a prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,550 kilometres.

Distinctive aspects of the race
- 3 mountain finishes
- 2 rest days
- 117 kilometres of individual time-trials (including the prologue)
- 21 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed

Extracted from official site

The following pages are a very good resource
Event News
Race Preview 2007

Tour De France has a very passionate following, however it is a sport that is caught in a bunch of controversies these days. Personally I watch the event whenever I get a chance and hope that I go to France and watch the final race at Paris Champs-Élysées, someday.

Some more views:

Dopers on Wheels: The Tour's sorry history
A Freakonomics Blog

Books: Flat Paperback World

2007-07-19T02:27:00.000-07:00

As I await the release of the paperback edition of the The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, a friend recommended a interview of Thomas Friedman on a show by Charlie Rose.

The video Charlie Rose - An hour with Thomas L. Friedman (Guest Host: John Doerr) is below. Please note the interview is more than a year old.

Statistics: IITians (Updated)

2007-07-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Roughly 150 to 160 thousand students have graduated out of IITs since their inception. About one third of them or around 50 thousand are in the Unites States.

Mentioned by Rajat Gupta in an interview with Fareed Zakaria .

Update:
Fareed: But ofcourse, now the IIT graduates are not coming here, they are staying at home, right?
Rajat: Many of them are staying at home, more and more of them are staying at home.

Philosophy: Food for thought

2007-07-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

What means everything to one person, could mean nothing to the next person. Everything in political, social and corporate systems revolves around reversing this.

Techology: Interview

2007-07-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

An interesting interview with an IIT alumni, Umang Gupta, which appeared in the San Francisco chronicle today.

Some snippets are:

Q: What is your take on Silicon Valley? What is it about the valley that makes it happen?

A: There's no place like it on Earth. It is a combination of an amazing academic setup -- Stanford and Berkeley and others -- combined with venture capital that has over time grown up here, so it's an institutional knowledge of how to invest, combined with companies that are at the center of their industries, whether it's the Internet or enterprise software or the semiconductor or hardware industries.
...

Q: Has America become the place whose lunch everybody wants to eat? Does America get to eat the world's lunch, or is America disadvantaged in the future?

A: I think it's a deeper economic question ...
Nobody has to eat anybody else's lunch. There is plenty for everybody.

Click for the complete interview

Usability: Google Reader

2007-06-08T01:05:00.000-07:00

I started writing this on 24th May.

Google Reader (GR) is a web based application where one can subscribe to RSS feeds. It has a typical Google interface (tagging et al). GR displays one blog entry per line in the content section, pretty much like an email client. Upon clicking the line, the blog opens a inline discosure component, which contains the summary of the blog or the entire blog depending on the way the RSS feed has been setup.

At one time the blogs lines that fit in the browser page are loaded, and then as one scrolls down, the remaining blogs get loaded. The cool feature is that the detailed content is also loaded along with the blog, and stored at the browser. I like to scroll down some 5-6 pages and then disconnect the internet. After that I can spend time reading the complete blog or the summary offline. The trick is not to click "Sign out". Now this may not be a big deal in the US where most of us pay a monthly subscription for the Internet. But at my place in India, internet connection charges re on a per hour basis.

However in late May, I saw a link about Offline reading appear in GR, which was further talked about at Google Developer day . The official description was as follows.

Set up Google Reader for offline use: This feature enables you to read your 2000 most recent items even when your computer is not connected to the internet. To use the offline features of Google Reader, you will first need to install the Google Gears plug-in for your browser. Here is the Official word.

Offline web usage is a topic of bigger discussion. However I think the offline mode is perfect for a mainly download-only content that Google Reader dishes out. Its great for a laptop user in India since he/she spends more time being offline than online. However the moment one tries to do too much with the offline mode, it would become over-complicated (issues include syncing, simultaneous editing etc).

Usability: NY Times

2007-05-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

On the New York Times website www.nytimes.com, while reading an article when someone double-clicks a word a new window, containing the search results for the word, opens. The search includes results from a Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Wordnet.

Many a times while reading one encounters new words. When reading a book, I usually open a dictionary to research the word. While reading online I tend to copy the word and do one of the following
1. Google search for synonyms (~) or definitions (define ) View more details on this at http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html.
2. Use Dashboard Widget on my Mac to find the meaning of the word.
3. Visit dictionary.com and search for the word

On NY Times website, all one needs to do is double-click the word, which is incredibly easy. I checked a few more websites like LA Times and SF Chronicle, but they don't have this feature yet.

Usability: the series

2007-05-28T18:40:00.001-07:00

Traditionally I am not a usability person, and I usually ignore small details. But lately I have realized that the small things go a long way in making a lasting impression. The logic is that if attention has been given to even the small details, then the bigger and more important aspects must definitely be solid.

I am starting a series of blogs, which will be marked as "Usability" in the title, and I will also tag them. I intend to delve more into this topic.

Statistics: Always insightful

2007-03-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

Time magazine does an excellent job with numbers. In the article "China counts...and counts", they compare US and China. The following are some of the numbers

Statistic	China	US
GDP	$2.7 trillion ($2,054 per person)	$13.2 trillion ($43,950 per person)
Private Cars	11.5 million (9 per 1000 people)	136.4 million (450 per 1000 people)

Complete article available here

I don't know what the corresponding figures for India are. Though, one can easily conclude that the developing countries have a lot of catching-up left to do.

While we are on the topic, he is another one from the same issue of Time

85.5: Years of life expectancy for Japanese women in 2005

33.2: Years of life expectancy for women in Swaziland, where the HIV infection rate is nearly 40% and life spans are the lowest on earth

Tennis: The incredible run

2007-03-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

After winning the Australian Open without loosing a set, US Open, and a lot more, Roger Federer showed that he is human after all.


"For Roger Federer, glimpses of vulnerability often vanished in mere seconds during a winning streak lasting nearly seven months and 41 matches and spanning seven countries
...
Also, an issue of rhythm, or a lack thereof, came into play when Federer twice called for a trainer to adjust the tape on his feet to deal with blisters. The first was after the opening set."

Complete article here

Philosophy: Maintenance

2007-02-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

We always ask the "whats new?" question. We love the bright ideas, shiny new cars, and brand new houses. We love fresh thoughts, so much that we dislike old(ish) people.

I sometimes do things, which make me look like a stranger to myself. For example, I started to take my household responsibilities more seriously. Simple chores like cooking, cleaning, dusting, and restocking get both time and attention. While cleaning on a Sunday afternoon, it struck me that "Left to itself everything decays".

"Everything" is a big list, which includes fruits, teeth, relationships, gas burners, cars, and computer software. Dust accumulates on the furniture, and requires a periodic cleaning. Weed grows in the backyard, and needs pruning. Almost all walks of life need maintenance; only the form and frequency vary. Maintenance essentially needs time and energy.

Every new aspect (a girlfriend, new born baby, a car, a house, money), which gets added to our lives, comes with its share of maintenance. I believe that as we grow older, we spend more and more time in maintenance. An interesting aspect is that one can put in seemingly endless of time (& energy) into maintenance of any item/aspect. Some people vacuum their house just once a week, spending 15 minutes. There are others who vacuum daily, brush all their showpieces everyday and in this process easily spend a couple of hours each day.

These days maintenance can be outsourced, is a big part of business/economics and generates a lot of revenue. Housemaids, car mechanics, production support teams, and personal bankers are a few examples of maintenance shops. What one spends in money, he saves in time.

Having spoken so much about maintenance, once in a while one notices things, which require minimal maintenance. Like a TV set which runs for years, or the vi editor. A thing like that is precious, one to cherish.

Brilliant!

2007-02-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

Someone once challenged Ernest Hemingway to create a story in six words. Hemingway wrote

"For sale: baby shoes, never used."

Or so goes the legend.

Technology: Email (or spam!)

2007-01-31T01:50:00.000-08:00

In the beginning, using email for personal communication felt similar to leaving a voice mail. However in the digital era, email is the primary means of communication. Some of key differences between face-to-face conversations and email are
1. Uncertainty of delivery and element of delay till the reply comes.
2. No secondary validations like facial expressions, gestures etc
3. Being in writing, emails can be referred to, quoted, or forwarded.

Some of the behavior of email is similar to postal letters, but I never experienced the postal letter era. Relatives are now an international call away, and time-zone differences have started interfering with friendship. I went from having friends down the road and relatives a phone call away, to using email to communicate my affection.

However, just when I was getting comfortable with using email, I read the news that spam made up 94% of all e-mail in December. This certainly adds to the seriousness of the first difference, which I listed. The reality is that the recipient of my email, playing tag-team with the email service has to locate my message amongst 16 spam messages.

Tennis: Hingis v2.0

2007-01-21T18:40:00.000-08:00

Martina Hingis (6) defeated Na Li (19) 4-6 6-3 6-0 in the Women's fourth round match. But as they say, don't judge a game by its score! (ok, I made it up!) The scoreboard seems to suggest that Hingis found her form after the first set and demolished Na Li. But that is far from the reality. The 6-0 of Hingis was very different from the typical 6-0 of Roger Federer.
Have a look at the match statistics below

Winners (Including Service)
Na Li: 33
M Hingis: 8
Unforced Errors
Na Li: 69
M Hingis: 18

The talented Na Li didn't miss a first serve until game 10 of the first set. She was hitting winners from all flanks. Na Li has a clean nice two-handed backhand, and generates a lot of power in the shot. Hingis had a weaker serve, and lacked the Na Li's firepower in the ground strokes.

Second set onwards though, the experience of Hingis showed, as she played percentage tennis, well within herself. She got more balls back into play, and forced Na Li to earn her points. This started to put pressure on Na Li, and who seemed to loose her composure, and started to make unforced errors under pressure. Towards the end, with things not going her way, Na Li just couldn't play consistently enough, was quite erratic, and in the process essentially gifted the game to Hingis.

I wish Sania Mirza saw this game, as she can learn a lot from the way Hingis played today.

Tennis: Federer magic

2007-01-21T02:36:00.000-08:00

R Federer (1) defeats N.Djokovic (14) 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in the 4th Round of Australian Open 2007. The score suggests another page in the champions book, and it truly was. Federer is displaying a level of game which is higher than I have ever seen. Some of the salient points in Federer's game were
1. Equanimity: one can see him flinch or frown. Missing are the war like theatrics which are displayed by players like M Baghdatis. He saves the energy for the more important things
2. Balance: Federer's height (6' 1'') seems to be just right. He is able to get in position of every ball, however hard Djokovic hit it. Having such balance and court positioning ensures he is able to create angles, from where other players just hit percentage shots.
3. Judgement: Couple of times on the net Federer as position got into position it seemed as if he knew where the ball was going before Djokovic hit them. Anticipating where the opponent is going to hit the ball (based on approach, tendency etc) and preparing early for the shot, is an aspect of the game which commentators don't talk about much. Although very important for the serve returns and volleys, it is critical even for ground game.
4. Good second serving: Federer pulled up some solid second serves at some critical points. It means the Djokovic didn't get inroads into the match.

We must be lucky to get an opportunity to see such marvelous tennis Live.

Tennis: Sania slump

2007-01-18T01:37:00.000-08:00

India’s Sania Mirza(Singles Rank 53) lost to Aiko Nakamura (Singles Rank 65) 6/3 6/2 in the second round of the Australian Open 2007. Here is the Scorecard, and some press coverage.

Vital stats (of Sania) in the game:

Unforced Errors 26
Winners (Including Service): 14
Winning % on 1st Serve: 14 of 23 = 61 %
Winning % on 2nd Serve: 4 of 20 = 20 %.

I saw Sania play at the Stanford Open in 2006. My impression of Sania was of a good player with immense potential who needs fine-tuning, and direction. However I could find the same two problems with her game
1. A very weak second serve, something, which she could definitely improve by practice.
2. Habit of hitting every ball hard, very hard and in the process making a bunch of unforced errors.

Sania's game is arrogant, like a raging bull. One can see aggression in every shot, but I fear the thinking cap being misplaced at critical junctures in the points. Sania has been ranked in the Top 50 for a while now, and at that level, the game becomes a craft, and one has to work their way through tough points, weather elements, different opponents, and injuries. At 20, Sania has time to learn. But its a game of the young with Sharapova (19), Safina (20), Vadisova (18). Ms Mirza needs to hurry up.

Philosophy: The fuzzy subjective

2007-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today afternoon I was listening to the story of two kids being kidnapped, and the associated stories about other missing kids.

I grew up in the city of Mumbai, India. Mumbai, although being the most modern Indian city at that time, still had the slums, open garbage cans, and smelly sewers. The image of the US which my generation saw on TV or in photos sent over was of a "spic and span" country, with shiny high-rises and neat rows of houses in the country side. The only time we saw something contrary was the movies, but movies are part-fiction/part-reality anyway. US seemed a country with near perfect living conditions.

Living in the US for more than 2 years had left me a bit disillusioned regarding my notions. I heard about crime on TV, I tripped over a Starbucks coffee left at the pavement, and on radio I heard about homeless people getting affected by the un-seasonally cold winters. All this sounded familiar, so what was I missing?

Its numbers, which are conspicuous by their absence. Although I don't have the statistics on this, but I think if one pulled them they will show that # of pounds of garbage per square mile, # of incidents of crime per day, and the # of homeless people per person is more in India than US. Where subjective views can create a fuzzy equality, the statistics can clearly setup aside reality from vague notions.

-MG

p.s. Just trying to make a point about objectivity. I know India has changed a lot, and continues to change as I type.

Game: The 500 piece Jigsaw

2006-12-26T01:20:00.000-08:00

It took me around six hours to solve, and I have never learned formally how to solve the jigsaw. Jigsaws don't come with an instruction manual. This raises the topic of formal training vs self-learning.

Tell someone the rules of the game, but don't give any instructions on how to play it. i.e. in case of cricket don't tell him what in-swinging delivery is, in case of poker don't tell him what a "check-raise" is. Given enough time, the person can still learn how to play, but I believe the 99% of the people will only go so far. Its like discovering maths without knowing about the pythogoras theorem. I don't think the human lifespan is enough to re-discover the learning of generations of human existence in every field. Thus always learn the current state of knowledge in any field and go from there.

However I will do the bang opposite for jigsaw puzzles, and here are some of my techniques to solve the jigsaw
1. Separate the edges from the other pieces.
2. Take a piece, and find it on the picture, and place it accordingly.
3. While looking for a particular piece, work with patterns.
4. Concentrate on regions of the jigsaw, one at a time. Low hanging fruits first.

The debate on formal training vs self-learning is on. Ofcourse, it is not limited to sports, but applicable to life at large.

- MG

Tennis: Greatness

2006-12-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Roger Federer vs James Blake Shanghai 2006 Final

Tennis doesn't get much better than this. I guess the creator will continue to make people like Federer, to give others a level to strive for, and hence a reason to live.

Philosophy: Happiness

2006-12-17T03:40:00.001-08:00

The Secret to Happiness is Low Expectations.

- Barry Schwartz (author of "The Paradox Of Choice")

Barry Schwartz is a sociology professor at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. In this talk, he persuasively explains how and why the abundance of choice in modern society is actually making us miserable. (Recorded July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 20:22) - More TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com

Philosophy: Signs

2006-12-03T23:44:00.000-08:00

In an interview Jeannette Walls, the author of the book The Glass Castle, is asked about the signs of homelessness in kids. She replies that the kid will often hesitate when asked address the address of his house; often he would wear the same set of clothes for days. Signs are a very powerful tool and are used all over. In a chemistry lab, when a substance turns grey upon reaction with an agent, we are able to determine its composition. Similarly, when the skies become cloudy, it is a sign that it is about to rain. When the car wobbles a bit on the freeway, it’s a sign that the wheels need to be aligned.

Upon further analysis, signs can be derived by observation. What I mean by observation is that if an action/event (say A) is followed by or results in action/event (say B) many times, one can assume it will happen the nth time. This is very similar to the principle of mathematical induction in math. In simple terms, lets take a person had too many chilies, and is jumping up and down. Say he sees milk somewhere and drinks it, and it gives him relief. On another day, he eats too much hot stuff, and this time looks for milk, and drinking it gives him relief. He probably suggests the same to his wife and kids. Thus is born a sign that milk provides relief for hot food.

Signs in science and medicine are elaborately studied and documented. Lets focus on the concept of signs in a personal context. In a conversation when a person is sitting back in a relaxed way, it’s a sign that he/she is not interested. However, I wish to look at the power of signs well beyond this, and in a much more tailored way. Hypothetically lets take a person Chris. Chris has found that his relation with domineering girls never work out. Chris observes that domineering girls show early signs by being overly assertive. So next time Chris sees a girl as overly assertive in simple things, he will be wary from the start. This can be extended to all walks of Chris's life. Say he discovers that whenever a client is interested in Chris's business proposal, he asks Chris to join him for lunch. Another sign, Chris can use. Chris, now watching out for signs, which he has mastered, walks around knowing in advance the outcome of things. The implications of this are immense.

I guess the question, which now arises, is if it is even possible for one to master sign's to such an extent. One must take into account that people belong to different age group, communities, social standing etc. Would the signs be too varied for one to master. And say one is able to master them, can't people fake signs.

In the end, I guess the power lies in the skill of the practitioner.

Philosophy: In brief

2006-12-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

There is a democratic way of doing things, and there is a right way of doing things.

Philosophy: Too much?

2006-11-18T01:43:00.000-08:00

I missed the 10 PM deadline for most restaurants around here and went to Taco Bell. I ordered a "Seven layer Burrito" and "Cheesy Fiesta potatoes" to-go, and shelled $3.02 for it. After finishing the dinner, I was amazed at the trash generated. It included
- A receipt
- A Tissue
- A Moist Tissue
- A Fork
- Wrap paper for the Burrito
- Container for the Side
- A Polythene
- 6 unused packets of sauce (I consumed 2)

I am not a staunch environmentalist, but something doesn't seem quite right. In the land of opulence, I guess the trash is also in excess.

Philosophy: News (via the Web)

2006-11-08T00:21:00.000-08:00

I am still trying to come to terms with using internet as a source of daily local/ world news, technology updates, sports updates, Indian business news etc. I am working on a list of websites which I would visit on a dialy basis. It is stuff that I am experimenting with. The assumption is that this is a comprehensive and a competitive list, and will provide me with enough information to avoid the "I am not up-to-date" feeling. So here goes..

World News: news.bbc.co.uk
US news: www.nytimes.com , www.cnn.com
Indian news: www.timesofindia.com
Cricket news: www.cricinfo.com
Financial news: finance.yahoo.com , money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune , www.economictimes.com
World magazine: www.time.com/time
Business news: money.cnn.com/magazines/business2
Tech news: www.slashdot.org , news.com.com
Tech articles: www.artima.com , www.javaworld.com

My aim is to have the perfect list for the given range of categories. I promise to update this list based my experiences, reading daily.

btw. I do save the links to any good online stuff I encounter, at del.icio.us/mohitg.

Statistics: US numbers

2006-10-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Statistics are facts. I remember a discussion I had with a friend, on whether facts and truth are the same thing. As it usually goes, this exchange had ended without a conclusion. Athough, I have often thought about this hence.
I always believe that people who are statistically inclined are closer to reality. Personally I strive to be so, but am seldom not. Often numbers leave us disillusioned, shattering long held beliefs. I have always believed that nothing proves a point better than numbers.

I was reading the Time magazine and came across some interesting numbers about US. I believe such numbers can provide crucial insights into the society. So here goes..
In America
- Of the 300 million, 51% are women.
- Alaska is the most sparsely populated state (1 person per square mile) and New Jersey is most densely populated (1,134 people per square mile)
- 35.8% children are born to unmarried women
- 6.1% of people are over 75 old and this is expected to be 11.6% in 2045.
- Half of the people aged 25 to 29 are unmarried
- Of those over 25, 29% of men and 25.8% of women have finished 4 years of college.
- 12.6% Americans live in poverty
- Howard Stern makes $1000 every 24 seconds
- Average American works 46.2 weeks a year
- 32% people are at work by 8:00 AM, whereas 37% are still in bed. 50% people are preparing for bed by 10 PM
- Half of the people earn less than $30,000 a year and 90% less than $100,000
- 9,677 people have an income of more than 10 million
- 582,213 people have a income between $500k and 2 million
- Of every 1000 working people: 27 are Cashiers, with a median salary of $16,260, and 3 are Computer programmers, with a median salary of $63,420

Philosophy: Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

2006-09-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

Am reading the book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", and the mind rocks. These are one for deep thought..

- The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth", and so it goes away.

- You always suppress momentary anger at something you deeply & permanent hate.

- You can't really think hard about what you're doing and listen to the radio at the same time.

- Your common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past. Ghosts and more ghosts. Ghosts trying to find their place amongst the living.

- You follow these little discrepancies long enough and they sometimes open up into huge revelations.

Philosophy: News

2006-08-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

One can judge a man by the newspaper he reads..

News is a fascinating. Very often these days I have conversations with people about the newspaper/website/news channel they follow/subscribe to. It is striking that I never had this conversation in the 23 years of my life in India. Then, why now?

In India news comes naturally to us. When I used to get up, the TV was mostly tuned to Star News or Aaj tak and the correspondents are dishing out the top headlines and the associated masala. Upon getting onto the bus, and I usually peeked into my co-passenger marathi newspaper. At work during breaks, daily news is a topic of general talks or hot discussions depending on the weather, intensity of the news, and understanding of the other person. After coming back home (albeit a bit late), I used to read the Times Of India. It is apparent that I was surrounded by news. The quality of the Indian news (all inclusive) is a debate for another day.

Upon landing in USA, I realized we didn't have TV. The newspaper, if I got my hand on one, would contain local news of a world foreign to me. I didn't travel much to work. Internet for news was an alien medium to me. So suddenly, there was no news.

Time passed, and I got more used to the internet to get my news. The local news became more relevant. I started subscribing to Mercury News (Sunday edition) and the Time magazine. We bought a TV set and got ourselves cable. I even adopted podcasts as a medium for getting news. So gradually the news was back in my life. I would like to spend the rest of blog, digging into the associated intricacies.

These days I can see myself clearly being influenced by the media I follow. Facts well filtered and forcefully presented, almost pass for truth. Leaked, made up, distorted, planted, and blown up are all adjectives for news. The question then is how many times we are able to figure them out. Are we smart enough to outthink a billion dollar news industry?

There is just too much information available. Ideally one would read/listen to all the news from all the sources, and form his/her own opinion. Life doesn't give us enough time to have this luxury. Obviously all the books/magazines/online articles are not meant for a single persons reading. This is where the problem starts. Nowadays, every time I discuss or try to form an opinion, I feel I don't have all the information. Maybe if I read some more, maybe if I researched some more. Maybe if I dedicated my life to it.

I am, what I think.
I think based on what I know.
I know from what I read.
So, what I read is who I am.

Soccer: Love the game

2006-08-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

Am usually a defender, but today I played forward for some time, and scored a Goal!!

General: Sudoku

2006-07-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Does a Sudoku puzzle have a unique solution? Given that the books come with a answer key, one would assume they do. However the above puzzle given to me by the RadioShack Sudoku game seemed to have 2 possible solutions. The 2 and 6 could be flipped to dish out two perfect solutions. What bugs me is that, if there are two solutions then there could be more. So, is it a buggy Sudoku generating programs, or a norm?

Thanks, Akhil for pointing a error in the solution, here is the corrected copy

Soccer: World Cup

2006-07-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Italy wins the WC'2006. There are so many aspects of the game, which came to forth in Germany this summer.
One prominent aspect was the player fatigue. It was disheartening to see Patrick Viera, Thiery Henry go out in the finals due to unforced injuries. With France down to 10 men, one would expect Italy to charge. The players though seemed tired, almost unable to draw that extra bit of energy. Most of the player had played a complete season of league soccer, Champions league, and International friendlies. The better the player, the more he plays. Rarely do players opt out of, say league soccer, because World cup is coming up. So by the time the world cup arrives, the players are off their peak.

The game is played over 90 minutes, with the players having to run 100 meters to attack and then fall back to defend. This is grueling, especially in the hot daytime. Then the additional 30 minutes, with little breaks means that the players are exhausted towards the end.

Also with the average age of the French team being more than 29, the age becomes a factor. It is interesting to contrast this with games like tennis, where players as young as 15 compete with the top players. Also we have players as old as 35 competing with the top guns, or being the top guns.

Allowed substitutions are too few. The coach has to manage, change of strategy, injured players, and send-offs with the three allowed substitutions. It seems to be a good idea to allow the number of substitutes to be higher. I would rather see fresh Italian players go for the kill, rather than tired souls, waiting for the whistle.

Weather plays a big factor, as the sun beats down even the fittest of the athletes. I know that athletics has a wind factor to categorize the 100-meter sprints, as the wind can assist, slow down athletes. I wonder if we need to have a sun factor too.

The repartee one expects to all these theories is just one; the best players always adjust to the playing conditions. This will always separate the cribbers from the winners.

Philosophy: Does trust prevail?

2006-06-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

Just once, you are too casual to backup. Just once, even the tested trust fails. Just once, trust is traded for convenience. That once, you trusted too much. Minimize your losses (it is damage control time), save your bones, save your soul, and next time think before you trust.
My theory is that humans are inherently lazy. All the drinking, all the artificial highs, all the fervent shouting, mesmerize people into action; violent actions, fighting for a nation, fighting for cause. People die, ideologies fail, kings sell their empires, fighters sell their cause, and convenience prevails.
Practical people never trust completely. India is the land of opportunists, and opportunity prevails. Bombay is a city of dreams where money prevails. A moment of blind trust, and chicanery prevails.
Trust, valor, chivalry are un-cool ideas of a bygone era. In our generation, charity needs more publicity than a Hollywood movie, to prevail.

Philosophy: Trust

2006-06-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

In the book Maximum City, Suketu Mehta is interviewing a don, and the don explains that it is all about trust. The don is there because he trusts his friend, who referred him here. It is generally said that the lives of the dons, the warriors, the explorers i.e. the "real" men, is based upon trust. Trust, is thus this larger than life idea, under the aegis of which one's life, one's girl, one's money is secure.

Trust I think is way too glorified. I believe trust is the essence, on which world works, the equilibrium on which the world is based. I trust my radials (tyres) when I drive my car at 80 MPh on the freeway. I trust the pressure cooker to not explode, when I cook. I trust the pilot, when in an airplane. Moment we loose trust, we are distracted. Loss of trust on one thing, has a ripple factor too. It leads to paranoia.

How do one decide if something/somebody is trustable? This one is hard for me to answer, as the parameters can vary from person to person, and situation to situation. However each parameter is intriguing, for each one can be cultivated, each one can be misused. How many times have we seen a hero create a setup, where he saves the heroin from fake goondas? Corporates talk of steady growth numbers to promote investor confidence. I suppose statistics is an established parameter. Thus, the smartest men can manipulate facts.

However not everything is trustable. When it really matters, we test trust. Not every trust is fulfilled, and thus we have backup. We are used to have backups in mind, in case the trust is ever broken. The unanswered question for me is if there is something called absolute trust?

Travel: what makes it fun

2006-05-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

Traveling, I must say, is beautiful. Would like to focus on tourist traveling, as haven’t done much of business travel. I am not a fervent traveler who drives 200 miles every weekend.
As a kid growing up in India, our family used to take (govt. sponsored) trips to someplace in the country every four years. We went south and saw Mysore, Bangalore, Ooty, all the way to Kanya Kumari. The heritage and temples stood out. We went east, to the Calcutta, Darjeeling, Shillong, Guwahati. The natural, idyllic beauty stood out. We went to Rajasthan, to Pilani, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mount Abu. The unique and rich culture stood out. I especially liked Udaipur, with the lakes, and palaces.
I stayed in Mysore for four years, and the vicinity has a plethora of places to visit. Tipu Sultan did his bit and there are many palaces, and prisons. Tal Kaveri, where the river originates was another splendid place. Brindavan gardens deserve a mention.
I spend a few months in Trivandrum, Kerala. The beaches were awesome. Still remember the soothing sound of the sea at Kovalam and beautiful evenings at Vakala. The hill station, Munnar was a peaceful place, with the tea plantations and the Tahrs. The Vivekananda rock gave an opportunity to meditate, but the mind wouldn’t stay calm.
I took a trip with friends to Goa which was all about the sun, sand, playing frisbee on the beach and sitting back again on the beach at 2:00 AM. Will restrict myself to the travel related experiences.
Mumbai is an experience in itself, but the travel is more to work or to a friends place. Some places Murud, Alibaug, Raigad, Roha, Poona, Nashik, Silvassa are worth visiting.
My family roots go back to Uttaranchal; UP and I have been to Haridwar almost every year since I was a kid. Have visited Varanasi, Hrishikesh, Kanpur, Lucknow and a lot of small unheard of towns.
In the US, I went to San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Phoenix, Reno, Lake Tahoe. Each places with a different story to tell. The organization, and the planning stand out about United States. Environmental issues apart, for once it seems that humans planned and got it right.

I have always felt that traveling is a rich, enhancing, and an enormous learning experience. It teaches you stuff in an unconventional way. However what I have not been able to completely figure out how. Hence will attempt to approach it analytically. Some factors, which come to mind, are
1. New people
2. New cultures
3. Lack of comfort factor of home, and consequent insecurity
4. New laws, rules
5. New experiences
6. Travel companion

Hope the fact that I am blogging on a flight to NY adds credibility. Running low on battery, and world around me asleep, I will end this entry. I plan to elaborate on the factors and home in on the most important one. Your two cents on this are invited.

Poker: Know when to fold'em

2006-04-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

I got introduced to Texas hold'em poker a few months ago. I had played rummy, 29 (simplified bridge!) and a few card games before. But poker is a unique game in many ways.

The basic principle of playing good poker is to play the odds. There are a few rules / combinations of cards which one can get, basic rules can be found at a website. In world-series poker TV telecast, a small display shows the percentage of the player winning the game, which gets updated after every round. But we are not playing against the computer or a slot machine, and the opponents make the game complicated? The amount of psychology involved is striking. In the game of rummy one can pack/fold at the start of the game and loose 20 points. But one doesn't analyze the facial expressions of all the other players, before folding (bad Rummy face, huh!?). From what I have learned so far, the trick in poker is to play the odds, while making sure the opponents don't realize it.

Poker is as much a mind game, as it is a card game. There is another game called bluff/challenge, where the objective is to trick other people by slipping in a bluff. The player (say A) throws cards and claims what they are (say four Queens). If the next person (say B) takes the challenge, it’s a showdown. If A had truthfully stated his queens, then B picks the stack of cards, else A picks them. Similarly in poker, one can raise stakes to scare opponents into submission, good cards being incidental. All-in poker is a altogether different story in itself, one I don’t know much of.

However, poker does have a lot in common with other games. Aggression in poker, as in any other game may or may not always be good. One can scare or be stung. We know that the cricket teams go about these days with cartons of footages from previous matches, to figure out the opponents better. One does the same thing in poker too, analyzing the opponent’s style of play. Also, sledging in cricket (wiki page), correlates to a lot of patterns in poker.

The unanswered question for me is, which is the more important attribute of a good poker player: analytical skills or guile?

Movies: V for Vendetta

2006-03-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

A futuristic sci-fi movie, setup in an all-powerful and authoritarian Britain. The movie starts with a action sequence which reminds of mask of zorro, after which V (yes, thats the name) starts the barrage of words starting with a V (v for vapid!). As the story unfolds, V (Hugo Weaving, agent Smith from Matrix) declares his intent to liberate Britain. V himself has quite a disturbing past, and many a scores to settle.

Natalie Portman (Evey) is rescued and sheltered by V, and her parents had fought the same battle. Evey seems to discover herself, through the course of events, and associates with the cause. The chemistry between Evey and V is quite intriguing.

But for the big screens used by the chancellor and the mention that 2014 is history, not much seems futuristic. V’s mask, and his chief weapon (sword!) seem old-fashioned.

V for Vendetta keeps a brisk pace, and the plot is gripping. Some sequences like the prison term, are theatrical marvels, and leave a distinct impression of the directorial acumen. I would recommend carrying much more brains to the movie than you did for Daredevil.

The length of the movie would be one for the discussion. I have watched many a Spielberg movies and wondered if they are too long. But movies like Schindler's List deserve the whole three hours and more. At 2 hrs and 12 minutes, V for Vendetta seems a touch too long, for the plot's a touch weak, a touch lacking in meat.

While the category is still movies; I can't get over the fact that a movie as good as Munich, won so little at the Oscars.

Philosophy: Home alone

2006-03-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

[Given that all my news blogs seem to stay as drafts, I have decided to write this one *LIVE*, i.e. I click "Publish Post", instead of "Save as Draft"]

Friday was an exciting day. I started a stint of staying alone. Having only done it back in India, when my folks were out for a week or so, staying alone by myself was sort of a big deal. It started ok really, with the first thing I did was to clean, almost at a frantic pace. I did a pretty decent job, I thought. The problem with cleaning is that it is not something you do once, and forget. You do it over and over again. Problem is there are way too many such things. How does the poor mind get its stimulation in the drowning noise of a vacuum cleaner?

My philosophy when it comes to good food is mostly "anything that fills". However it doesn't suit the stomach, or the wallet to eat outside all the time. So I have to cook, and it’s an ordeal from start. Its not so much the cooking, but how much time and energy it takes. And hours later, one has to do it all over again. So have stuffed the refrigerator with the frozen food.

The productivity takes a boost, with no distractions. Having to do a million things is the painful part. Feel old, going shopping with a shopping list. Hope it will boost my organizational skills.

The main advantages are the flexibility, and lack of noise. I don't mean noise in a bad way, but any sound that is not mine. However, sometimes the noise is so much within the head, that the outside factors are an excuse. Staying alone basically ensures, that it always goes your way, if that’s always a good thing, I am not sure of. The ordeal of locating the lost TV remote is an example.

Just finished my first weekend alone.

Phone, internet, TV all connect. When are we really alone? Compared to Tom Hanks in Cast away, my life is a party. Over the course of the week I did not have dinner on three nights. My say the staying alone is coming to an end on 12th March.

Business: Peripheral: but important?

2006-02-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

As were leaving the movie theater in San Jose after watching Match Point, there was a theater personnel standing at the exit with free candy and a smile. Being a candy junkie, the gesture left a nice impression on me. The question of interest is whether it will be differentiator in my choosing a theater the next time I go to a movie.

My usual movie-going process is to first pick a movie and an approximate time, then visit movies.yahoo.com and search for a theater near my house. Typically 2-3 theaters pop-up showing the movie at the desired time, and become candidates for movie. Now the important factors, which govern the choice of the theater are: convenient location for friends, surroundings of the theater, proximity to a good restaurant, cost of the ticket, interiors of the theater, and likelihood of getting a ticket. It would seem that the candy distributing personnel is a trivial factor, one likely to get overlooked.

However analyzing further, in a place like San Francisco bay area all the theaters are comparable when it comes to factors listed above. Given the close-knit nature of the bay area, all places seem equidistant. Every movie seems to cost $10, and there always seems to be a good Indian restaurant around. The interiors are all the same, but for a few exceptions. Also, it never seems to be very hard to get a ticket (a relief from the regular brush-off at IMAX, Mumbai). Now with all the so-called important factors causing a tie, the small candy gesture could cause the decision to tip over. It then becomes the deciding factor.

Another aspect of regular moviegoers habit is constancy. Once a theater is chosen and visited, the same energy is not spent the next time around. If the previous visit to a theater is not remarkable, by default, the same venue gets chosen again. Have heard stories of birds going around the globe but returning to nest at the same tree every year. It is only natural for animals to settle down to one place. Sticking to a theater just convenient, since there is are no hassles of deciding where to meet, looking for a parking lot, getting directions etc. So the candy gesture will probably ensure multiple visits.

However take the case if one of the theaters had a $2 ticket or say if the theater had a theme interior. It would have become an automatic choice for the movie. The candy gesture would be soon forgotten, since the real factors assert their weight. Thus I suppose we can say that; given the important factors being almost equal, the peripheral factors can cause the decision to tip. The challenge is to concentrate on the peripheral factors only when there is a tie or a deadlock in terms of market share.

Movies: Rang de Basanti

2006-02-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

On a overcast Saturday morning, I went into the movie hall to watch Rang de basanti (RDB) with expectations running low. The trailers suggested fluff and gloss, sprinkled with content. Movies these days show actors dressed in the Tommy Hilfigers dancing in Dubai, driving BMWs, romancing in the alps, and living in India. The pollution and population are conspicuous by there absence. Even for a fast developing India, it seems a far cry from reality. Another variety of movies contain below-the-belt-and-way-too-loud humor. Obviously, I was apprehensive.

RDB has the right pace from the start. The humor is situational. The movie potrays the color and life of Punjab with the right music. The theme of the movie is the comparison of the Indian freedom struggle with the struggle of the current times. The history is subtly interplayed with the present. The director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra seems to get it.

The gunda'ism, politics, corruption, crippling bureaucracy are things we have to face, and live with in India. As DJ (Daljeet) says in the movie, "there are two ways to live life: To let things be the way they are, and the other is to stand up and face them". I believe that the reason why there are no heroes in India these days is that the cause is not big enough. I can't imagine an Indian plunging for the country as easily as Avner does for Israel (as potrayed in Munich).

However the wrong people seem to rise in RDB. Those guys drink and smoke so much that one would imagine them, as being on a high for life. Their actions seem rash and foolhardy. Everything goes and everything is justified is the attitude potrayed, it seems to be the new mantra for life. This attitude distorts everything from morality to valor.

Overall Rang de basanti strikes the right chords, and provokes thought. However the way India is progressing these days, a pertinent question is whether such an awakening is even called for?

Tennis: Australian open: The champion

2006-01-31T23:41:00.000-08:00

Federer won the Australian open '06 with some work. He was pushed hard by Haas, Nikolay Davydenko in the previous rounds. Marcos Baghdatis came in all guns blazing, and the hopes were high. For a moment, I was expecting the unexpected. It was a brief moment. Federer is a killer of dreams. He got his groove and the rest was expected.

Pete Sampras was a great server, good ground strokes, consistent to the point of being robotic. Both he and Federer had won 7 grand slams at this age. Federer is not the biggest server in the game, but what sets Federer apart is the sheer beauty of his ground game. Unlike Sampras, Federer makes his share of mistakes. But also unlike Sampras, he can hit a winner when he feels like, almost at will. His balance and position on court and are superlative. Experts attribute him to having the amongst the best ground strokes in the game. The challenge (as with Sampras) is clay.

I watched a few matches of the SAP open at HP Pavilion in San Jose last year, the highlight being an Agassi game. Looking forward to this years tounament.

Tennis: Australian open: Women's tennis..the pain continues

2006-01-28T03:28:00.000-08:00

She defeated the first seed Davenport, fought back to send the fierce Sharapova packing, and was well on her way to becoming the champion. It was heart breaking to see Justine Henin-Hardenne, the eight seed from Belgium to go out due to retirement. Amelie Mauresmo was crowned the 2006 Australian open champion.

I would like to continue the thread "Tennis: Australian open: Hantuchova watch ends" on 1/22/06" regarding Sharapova's grunts. Clisters had to retire in the semi-final due to an injury. Henin had to go out due to lack of energy. She was on anti-inflammatory tablets for her shoulder, and she was having an upset stomach too. Suddenly the game doesn't seem idyllic anymore. I like to think of the champions as genuinely talented players, who are at the peak of their game, having fun playing. It’s disheartening to see that the players are in pain, grunting to stay there. It reminds me of games where performance-enhancing drugs are a norm.

Trying to remember why we started playing in the first place, because it certainly was not for money, or stardom. Unfortunately, I am not the only one who seems to have forgotten.

Tennis: Australian open: Mens tennis..

2006-01-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

On a grass court in a well-trimmed wimbledon grass court in summer, Sampras would serve and rush to the net for the return, followed by volley. Seems such distant past. Nalbandian serves, stays back, and grinds out the points using his groundstrokes, and so does almost everyone else these days. Baghdatis reached the semi-final with a first serve percentage of less than fifty percent. Even the big servers like Krajicek, Rusedski seem to have disappeared with the exception of Roddick.

The groundstroke consistency seems to have improved especially on the backhand side. The strokes, which seem miraculous some years ago, now seem routine. The players seem fitter, more muscular, even more energetic, and more charged.

The matches last for five hours, and we haven't even started the clay court season yet. There is more talk of hours spent on court, as if talking of a marathon runner. It seems everyone around is a clay court player. Also, the players seem more neurotic, and erratic; emotional energy is a big factor in the game. Two sets can be lost, when the player seems to loose concentration. Even the fighters like Hewitt's seem to be few and far in between.

Things have changes, some for good, some for bad. It just feels different, that’s all.

Tennis: Australian open: Hantuchova watch ends

2006-01-22T02:35:00.000-08:00

The women's fourth round saw another tough opponent for Hantuchova in Maria Sharapova, her almost siamese twin. The game was a very closely contested one, with Hantuchova taking a lead in the first set, but eventually being clawed down. One blunder by the line-person when Sharapova was serving at 30-40, break-point was to award a clean-out ball as an ace, it left Hantuchova visibly annoyed and distracted. Hantuchova lost the set 4-6. The second set also saw a good start (3-0) by Hantuchova, but an injury (seemed like a strain) slowed her down, and crippled the movement a bit. She lost the set 6-4. The Hantuchova campaign was over, but the career shows incredible promise.

What stood out in the game were the Sharapova grunts; loud in the first set, louder in the second. Contrast it with the ease and elegance of Roger Federer. A person usually grunts / groans in discomfort, and one wonders if the game is now so to-the-limit that it is a pain (literally) to play. One other game where people play through the pain is American football. I wonder if the rules of tennis can be bend to side-track the trend, but fall short of ideas on the actual changes. With the attrition of the hard hitting girls like Venus, Serena, Capriati the sustainability of the power game is in question. All said and done, it is assured that I am going to watch the next Sharapova match in mute.

Tennis: Australian open - Hantuchova vs Serena

2006-01-20T03:03:00.000-08:00

Daniela Hantuchova (17) vs Serena Williams(13) in the third round would seem like a Serena whitewash for a guy like me, who hasn't kept in touch with the women's game enough. The William sisters used to walk into the court and display power and a game which was a notch or two better than any opponent. They ended up playing each other in the Wimbledon finals in 2003 (so much for competition). Title after title went to the William residence. Serena plays a power game with a big serve, and has won 7 grand slam titles. Hantuchova had never even won a set against Serena before, and only one tournament till date. On the upside though Hantuchova is a lean, athletic player who hits the ball very aggressively and very cleanly.
The game though had a different story, an antithesis to the description above. Hantuchova came out all guns blazing, and thoroughly dominated the first set, got three breaks and won 6-1. The second set was better matched, with Serena getting a early break. However Hantuchova came roaring back, and after a few nervous match points in the 12th game, won the set in the tie-breaker.
You got an impression that Serena was not as keen, motivated, or as focussed as Hantuchova. Hantuchova's game was one of very high consistency, aggressive serves, long wait between points, and ambitious drops. There were just traces of familiar Serena fight-back. The 2005 champion went out rather too tamely. Also with Venus knocked in the first round, the women's draw will seem queer, hard to digest.
Hantuchova seems to be a player of the coming times, one I will surely be watching very closely.
Match stats: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/stats/day9/2306ms.html

The intro..

2006-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Tennis, cricket, chess, movies, soccer, IT, technology, books, philosophy (not-theoretical), politics is the stuff of interest. Just getting initiated to the world of blogging..