Iniya Putthandu Vaazthukkal – Happy Tamil New Years Day.
As the easter weekend meandered to a dull close and having returned from the humble abode of one's cousins, a dull boring evening appeared to be on the cards for the madrasi. Given that the bird was hosting dinner to other birds and having spent a good deal of time and effort in unpacking and arranging empty vessels in the kitchen of the new tenement, themadrasi felt it was time that the vessels were put to some use. The cry or rather the shrill cooker whistle went around, themadrasi is cooking. Excursion trains were to be run to witness this great event in the history of mankind but then Colonel Murphy in the form of Sunday timetables on Easter Monday as well as planned engineering works struck.
Given that the paparazzi wasn't around and the glorious sunshine at 5:30 p.m., themadrasi decided to put paid to the rumour that there was another South Asian store around by going out for a jog and exploring the neighbourhood in mufti . It turned out that this was also run by a fellow Tamilian from Sri Lanka and having said Omam to him themadrasi returned with all the ingredients required for successfully stocking the kitchen of a respectable TamBrahm inclusive of the famous LG Perungaayam.
At this point of time there was a flash of light and enlightenment dawned on themadrasi. Cook Ven Pongal, the supreme dish to celebrate all Tambrahm occasions. One must ofcourse point out that the w. had also reminded him that it was the new year the next day and there were no satisfactory answers to questions posed about how the occasion was to be celebrated. Beginning the task at hand themadrasi realized that if this was to be done there were a few matters of chronology to be sorted out. There was help was at hand in the form of the iphone call to the cousin to help out.There were approximations made including substituting Gingelly Oil (Nalla Ennai ) with Vegetable Oil, (the supreme act towards national integrity by substituting) Basmati Rice for Ponni or Nellai Super. The proportions mixed, the tadka made, the cooker put in, the chimney turned on (with the LG Perungaaya dabba on top) for good luck it was time to wait . Drat but where were the cashews. Whilst the cooker shrilled themadrasi pattered down to the good old Tesco found just a bag of cashews , came back up – opened the fridge for the pat of butter to fry the cashew in ( No half measures – note the jogging bit above)
A reasonable approximation to the Pongal was prepared and consumed – Dr. Onken supplied the necessary yoghurt, the entertainment was provided by SPB on the blower going on about Maarugo Maarugo Maarugazhi (Chittirai) and to hand were Bertie and Jeeves preparing for their next escapade at Market Snodsbury. All in all capital one would say and to paraphrase the bird – it was time to put on the silk hat , find the pipe and write this blog.
P.S. Rumour has it that the new year in Tamilnadu will not be celebrated on the 14th of April because an old man wants Pongal to signify this event in January. It's time I fedex'd some of the basmati ven pongal to him.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Laptop Crisis of 2009
There is something about laptops and the family this year. First my cousin's laptop blew up , then I followed suit by stress testing my pride and joy by upsetting a glass of water in a eureka moment on discovering how a particular bit of the compiler worked. Now, its the turn of the sister in the family to go and blow her laptop up. Other than my act of putting the proverbial leg on the axe ( Kulhadi pey pair maarna !), the other 2 were acts of nature , wear and tear and resulting in an explosion of cataclysmic proportions.
Currently the sister's laptop is down and she's busy with writing odes from a netcafe. The first I heard about this was a frantic call at 2:30 in the afternoon - "drop everything find me HP's number in Bombay so that I may contact them". Such tasks were duly completed and then 3-4 hours later one gets a call about how ham-handed one feels with the laptop down etc. It appears as though storm clouds are on you, the world is torn apart and you are crippled without your main course of "facebooking", "tweeting", "blogging" and "orkutting". The entertainment channel of watching dvd's or getting on youtube is out . If you are a techie, the side business of following your community's IRC chat is out. What is it about this dependence on technology and such inane devices that make them a part of you. When things stop working the way you are used to , you feel totally hamstrung as though a part of you has been cut off. One now owns an iphone, a laptop and an ipod and not having any of these would leave one like Lord Emsworth from Blandings worrying about the Empress's eating habits .
These are the occasions for the proverbial cuppa coffee, a snug blanket (definitely a thin one for an Indian Summer) and a good book.
Currently the sister's laptop is down and she's busy with writing odes from a netcafe. The first I heard about this was a frantic call at 2:30 in the afternoon - "drop everything find me HP's number in Bombay so that I may contact them". Such tasks were duly completed and then 3-4 hours later one gets a call about how ham-handed one feels with the laptop down etc. It appears as though storm clouds are on you, the world is torn apart and you are crippled without your main course of "facebooking", "tweeting", "blogging" and "orkutting". The entertainment channel of watching dvd's or getting on youtube is out . If you are a techie, the side business of following your community's IRC chat is out. What is it about this dependence on technology and such inane devices that make them a part of you. When things stop working the way you are used to , you feel totally hamstrung as though a part of you has been cut off. One now owns an iphone, a laptop and an ipod and not having any of these would leave one like Lord Emsworth from Blandings worrying about the Empress's eating habits .
These are the occasions for the proverbial cuppa coffee, a snug blanket (definitely a thin one for an Indian Summer) and a good book.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Clapham ho.
'The first thing to do,' said Psmith, 'is to ascertain that such a place as Clapham Common really exists. One has heard of it, of course, but has its existence ever been proved? I think not. Having accomplished that, we must then try to find out how to get to it. I should say at a venture that it would necessitate a sea-voyage. On the other hand, Comrade Waller, who is a native of the spot, seems to find no difficulty in rolling to the office every morning. Therefore--you follow me, Jackson?--it must be in England. In that case, we will take a taximeter cab, and go out into the unknown, hand in hand, trusting to luck.' [1]
So it's been one of those things with moving to the UK and wanting to find places like Ickenham, Clapham, Market Snodsbury, (an equivalent of) The Drones Club etc. being a huge PG Wodehouse afficionado. Given that one was to travel across the country to the lovely city of Sutton for a day trip, one didn't expect to spot Wodehousian names or be reminded of Wodehousian prose with events that transpired on the way.
The only difference between this expedition and the one referred to above, was that one had a bird for company who after a long winded preamble (which included choice epithets on how yours truly's sincere and honest efforts at figuring out the right platform for the tube) pushed you into a train that pushed us back nearly 1/3rd of the way back to Cambridge. Blame it on the birds being out of place underground or the weather brilliant today. All the angst against the delays were excused once, ( after the minor process of getting on to the correct t was completed,) one passed through Clapham Junction and realized that this would probably lead to Clapham Common in the scene where Mike does the Jijutsu on Bill and proves to be the saviour of Comrade Waller.
[1] : Psmith from Psmith and the City by P.G. Wodehouse.
So it's been one of those things with moving to the UK and wanting to find places like Ickenham, Clapham, Market Snodsbury, (an equivalent of) The Drones Club etc. being a huge PG Wodehouse afficionado. Given that one was to travel across the country to the lovely city of Sutton for a day trip, one didn't expect to spot Wodehousian names or be reminded of Wodehousian prose with events that transpired on the way.
The only difference between this expedition and the one referred to above, was that one had a bird for company who after a long winded preamble (which included choice epithets on how yours truly's sincere and honest efforts at figuring out the right platform for the tube) pushed you into a train that pushed us back nearly 1/3rd of the way back to Cambridge. Blame it on the birds being out of place underground or the weather brilliant today. All the angst against the delays were excused once, ( after the minor process of getting on to the correct t was completed,) one passed through Clapham Junction and realized that this would probably lead to Clapham Common in the scene where Mike does the Jijutsu on Bill
[1] : Psmith from Psmith and the City by P.G. Wodehouse.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The great British Bathroom.
So, its house hunting time again having moved to Cambridge to take up employment at a place that is famous for thumbs, arms and mobile phones.
The key thing to look for in any house or apartment here is the bathroom and especially the shower. Remember that in the UK it's possibly a law that no 2 showers should look or work alike. Some places have an instant electric shower which has a very intuitive and effective interface to the user. Some others make it obscure with 3 moving dials , one for controlling water flow, a 2nd dial that can make things warmer or colder and then a third to set the temperature. The result is that dials 2 and 3 can get out of sync and you can actually get cold water when you want hot water and so on and so forth. So the first thing you do as soon as you get into the house is to make sure you look at the bathroom. The other funny thing about bathrooms is that somehow in the 80s folks got the idea that a bathroom was really cool with having a carpet inside it. So now that you have a carpet inside you have to be really careful about how to take bath etc. and make sure none of the water from the shower actually falls on the carpet. Contrast this with the Indian genes of associating foot marks on the floor to leave evidence of your bathing every day to concerned parents you actually have a big problem .
In the end I chose an apartment with a magnificent bathroom with a shower that I know how to operate and laminate flooring ! Yay !
The key thing to look for in any house or apartment here is the bathroom and especially the shower. Remember that in the UK it's possibly a law that no 2 showers should look or work alike. Some places have an instant electric shower which has a very intuitive and effective interface to the user. Some others make it obscure with 3 moving dials , one for controlling water flow, a 2nd dial that can make things warmer or colder and then a third to set the temperature. The result is that dials 2 and 3 can get out of sync and you can actually get cold water when you want hot water and so on and so forth. So the first thing you do as soon as you get into the house is to make sure you look at the bathroom. The other funny thing about bathrooms is that somehow in the 80s folks got the idea that a bathroom was really cool with having a carpet inside it. So now that you have a carpet inside you have to be really careful about how to take bath etc. and make sure none of the water from the shower actually falls on the carpet. Contrast this with the Indian genes of associating foot marks on the floor to leave evidence of your bathing every day to concerned parents you actually have a big problem .
In the end I chose an apartment with a magnificent bathroom with a shower that I know how to operate and laminate flooring ! Yay !
Monday, February 23, 2009
Delay that damned flight !
Sitting at Kamaraj Domestic Terminal in Madras waiting to catch a flight back to Pune, I was sitting and twiddling my thumbs watching updates by folks on a Facebook channel and hoping that the flight be delayed because the buses designated to take the passengers to the aircraft ran out of diesel or some such. The t.v. at the airport was tuned to a popular English news channel and there were dozens mouthing platitudes but one wanted to see the actual action. I counted 4 and that included Resul Pookutty winning the Oscar for best sound mixing . That was good and if any indication meant that Rehman should now win. One was rooting for AR Rehman to win and didn't particularly care if the movie won any other awards.
But with the conservative TamBrahm gene throbbing and growing up with the Indian cricket team lose out on many occassions in the past, it was too early to be saying Jai Ho. At this point of time when there was a needless presentation about how films get made in the ceremony, one's flight got called. I had to board it murmuring vague curses on the efficiency of Paramount, the ATC, the state of the economy. Colonel Murphy does rule after all.
However one was saved by technology - the humble mobile phone hummed and one got the news that led (an imaginary clone of yours truly) to do 24 cartwheels, 5 somersaults and an exhibition of the shirshasan inside the plane. However in the general interest of humanity and not willing to stress test the Embraer Aircraft or take pangas with Sky Marshals, one took it with a smile and promptly downed a bottle of water.
P.S.
Ella pughalum iraivanuke (All glory and fame is to God) - Rehman in his acceptance speech.
Jai Ho
But with the conservative TamBrahm gene throbbing and growing up with the Indian cricket team lose out on many occassions in the past, it was too early to be saying Jai Ho. At this point of time when there was a needless presentation about how films get made in the ceremony, one's flight got called. I had to board it murmuring vague curses on the efficiency of Paramount, the ATC, the state of the economy. Colonel Murphy does rule after all.
However one was saved by technology - the humble mobile phone hummed and one got the news that led (an imaginary clone of yours truly) to do 24 cartwheels, 5 somersaults and an exhibition of the shirshasan inside the plane. However in the general interest of humanity and not willing to stress test the Embraer Aircraft or take pangas with Sky Marshals, one took it with a smile and promptly downed a bottle of water.
P.S.
Ella pughalum iraivanuke (All glory and fame is to God) - Rehman in his acceptance speech.
Jai Ho
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Tradeoffs...
Well blogging this as I am on a train from Leicester to Cambridge using my 3 mobile broadband data card, I can't help but marvel at the amazing contradictions in infrastructure. Whilst the train from Leicester to Bristol passed through regions without network coverage, atleast it did have power points for the laptop to be plugged in . However, the train from Leicester to Cambridge appears to go through areas served well by 3's network the train doesn't have any power points to plug in the laptop. A trade off everywhere. ...
Stop Snowing ...
Watching the snow come down over the past 2 days in the UK has left me with conflicting emotions. It's been the maximum amount of snow in the last 18 years in London and the parts of the UK that I am now in . I thought originally that walking in the snow would be more fun than walking in the rain but have quickly concluded that atleast in the UK walking in the snow isn't that much fun.
The temperatures aren't too much below zero, hence snow keeps melting and refreezing as ice . The other thing is the high humidity and the threat of rain that makes things even worse by converting roads into cesspools of slush , grime covered by thin layers of ice.
Other than the climatic consideration above, the pain also seems to be inhaling snow flakes, having them fall into your eyes while walking. One does read about concepts of reflection of light and so on, but you can actually see how the place really gets lit up with the streetlights and the snow - The whole city seems alight and the light effects are quite awesome.
The temperatures aren't too much below zero, hence snow keeps melting and refreezing as ice . The other thing is the high humidity and the threat of rain that makes things even worse by converting roads into cesspools of slush , grime covered by thin layers of ice.
Other than the climatic consideration above, the pain also seems to be inhaling snow flakes, having them fall into your eyes while walking. One does read about concepts of reflection of light and so on, but you can actually see how the place really gets lit up with the streetlights and the snow - The whole city seems alight and the light effects are quite awesome.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Transitions....
Moving to the UK lock stock and barrel with 3 suitcases, the trusty laptop, the ipod and the D50 has been quite good fun. Throw in tenancy agreements, tax regulations, very different shopping experiences, dependence on public transport , the rain and the cold make it an eclectic experience. Here's a 10 point irreverent rant on the same.
1. Living here relies a lot on how well you plan things. For e.g. when back home in India you don't plan your shopping because you know there are zillions of shops and you would be able to get things in time. However if you make the same assumption here, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Shops tend to start closing by 6 p.m. which is about the time you start heading back home ! Need a hair cut get an appointment is the mantra ! It takes a bit of getting used to - especially the getting an appointment for a hair cut and paying 34 quid for it but then you get there in the end. This is the bit one is still trying to get used to. Pakoda Kadar agree with the sentiment albeit grudgingly.
2. Improve your manners. Being used to thanking people aloud one gets by alright but do remember to thank the bus driver after you get off the bus, the taxi cab driver after you get off the taxi. Be polite and people will be polite to you in general. Stand in a queue, for heavens sake Ghanta Singh, don't jump that queue. Negotiate with anybody or for anything politely .
3. Movie theatres are generally empty and appear to be rather well maintained. It's a miracle really how they do any sort of business here. I watched Slumdog millionaire the day after its release with about 12 people in the theatre for a 10:30 p.m. show on a Saturday night. In Pune or Madras I wouldn't have got the tickets !
4. The cold - Whatever you do, this is the toughest part to adjust to. It is biting cold, you need 2-3 layers as I am wearing right now even to write this blog entry. Go out of the house and you need 4 layers which are quite the interesting bit. Also as I am repeatedly told cover your head with a cap or something or the cold does get to you ! BTW remember to carry an umbrella around after checking the weather reports you'll find that useful for sure :)
5. The water - It's really hard. What surprises me is the hardness of water for a nation which has so much rain and is always being filled up. Should Jayalalitha teach rainwater harvesting here to improve the quality of the water table ?
6. The buses - usually work on time but sometimes you miss them ! Travelling on a bus is infinitely more pleasurable because sometimes you can also login to the internet if you carry your own 3G dongle . However there are jerks on the bus which can cause problems with your hard drive ! Trains are also fun, you can get most tickets by booking off the internet, remember to plan your travel in advance the difference in fares can be up to 7x.
7. Learn how to walk. This is a country for people who can walk. If its close by you walk because you can't be bothered about finding parking or parking is expensive in the city centres or the malls and the airports are so huge that you need to walk. It might also be good to invest in a lighter laptop and to demand one at work to save your back !
8. Food - Well this is the most interesting bit and something I'm still figuring out. If you are vegetarian and love Indian food then you can find enough of the ready to cook stuff in one of the big supermarkets . If you feel enthusiastic about cooking , you can find most ingredients in the supermarket or in a local Indian store. If you are a tambrahm like me and absolutely dig the curds, go buy yoghurt and flavoured ones at it . They make quite some eating. Also you'd enjoy the Fru and the Gu as were introduced to me by my cousins. Now this is going to be a life long addiction.
9. Practice on Ironing your clothes and using the washing machine. Using the washing machine is usually fine but then each one in each of the places I have been in has different controls and programs and hence sometimes it becomes quite a pain !
10. Carpets in Bathrooms - The only place where you have carpets in bathrooms . Makes you wonder if people bathe with water or the latest perfume out of Gucci. More on this here.
1. Living here relies a lot on how well you plan things. For e.g. when back home in India you don't plan your shopping because you know there are zillions of shops and you would be able to get things in time. However if you make the same assumption here, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Shops tend to start closing by 6 p.m. which is about the time you start heading back home ! Need a hair cut get an appointment is the mantra ! It takes a bit of getting used to - especially the getting an appointment for a hair cut and paying 34 quid for it but then you get there in the end. This is the bit one is still trying to get used to. Pakoda Kadar agree with the sentiment albeit grudgingly.
2. Improve your manners. Being used to thanking people aloud one gets by alright but do remember to thank the bus driver after you get off the bus, the taxi cab driver after you get off the taxi. Be polite and people will be polite to you in general. Stand in a queue, for heavens sake Ghanta Singh, don't jump that queue. Negotiate with anybody or for anything politely .
3. Movie theatres are generally empty and appear to be rather well maintained. It's a miracle really how they do any sort of business here. I watched Slumdog millionaire the day after its release with about 12 people in the theatre for a 10:30 p.m. show on a Saturday night. In Pune or Madras I wouldn't have got the tickets !
4. The cold - Whatever you do, this is the toughest part to adjust to. It is biting cold, you need 2-3 layers as I am wearing right now even to write this blog entry. Go out of the house and you need 4 layers which are quite the interesting bit. Also as I am repeatedly told cover your head with a cap or something or the cold does get to you ! BTW remember to carry an umbrella around after checking the weather reports you'll find that useful for sure :)
5. The water - It's really hard. What surprises me is the hardness of water for a nation which has so much rain and is always being filled up. Should Jayalalitha teach rainwater harvesting here to improve the quality of the water table ?
6. The buses - usually work on time but sometimes you miss them ! Travelling on a bus is infinitely more pleasurable because sometimes you can also login to the internet if you carry your own 3G dongle . However there are jerks on the bus which can cause problems with your hard drive ! Trains are also fun, you can get most tickets by booking off the internet, remember to plan your travel in advance the difference in fares can be up to 7x.
7. Learn how to walk. This is a country for people who can walk. If its close by you walk because you can't be bothered about finding parking or parking is expensive in the city centres or the malls and the airports are so huge that you need to walk. It might also be good to invest in a lighter laptop and to demand one at work to save your back !
8. Food - Well this is the most interesting bit and something I'm still figuring out. If you are vegetarian and love Indian food then you can find enough of the ready to cook stuff in one of the big supermarkets . If you feel enthusiastic about cooking , you can find most ingredients in the supermarket or in a local Indian store. If you are a tambrahm like me and absolutely dig the curds, go buy yoghurt and flavoured ones at it . They make quite some eating. Also you'd enjoy the Fru and the Gu as were introduced to me by my cousins. Now this is going to be a life long addiction.
9. Practice on Ironing your clothes and using the washing machine. Using the washing machine is usually fine but then each one in each of the places I have been in has different controls and programs and hence sometimes it becomes quite a pain !
10. Carpets in Bathrooms - The only place where you have carpets in bathrooms . Makes you wonder if people bathe with water or the latest perfume out of Gucci. More on this here.
Pin codes, movie names etc.
What is with Indian film makers these days. They seem to be advertising more for the postal service with their film titles rather than anything else. If you had a tamil movie called Chennai 600028 which I absolutely doted upon because yours truly grew up there playing similar gully cricket but on roads and the famous ground at MRC Nagar - Chennai -28 which has now turned into a multi-storeyed apartment block flagrantly violating all tenets of the Coastal Regulatory Zone ! In any case we now have a new hindi movie called Delhi - 6 which is located in Chandni Chowk. Having stayed in Delhi for about 6 months in my life and visiting Chandni Chowk pretty regularly in that period it would be interesting to see how the movie pans out . Having an ensemble cast helps with the hype, in comparison to Chennai 600028 where even our Vaadiyar's son appeared in the 11 playing for the RA Puram Sharks which was kind of cool . The music with AR Rehman in Delhi 6 vs. Yuvan Shankar there also promises to be good .
For some time last night I was watching the movie Once upon a time in America and saw that the idea of smuggling things by attaching salt bags to them and dumping them over board and then dragging them along the boats as is shown in Nayakan probably was inspired from here. It's really really violent but then builds up rather well .
The other movies which I probably will see soonish are Australia, 7 pounds , 3.10 to Yuma and whatever else I can see. Reviews might follow depending on the movie !
For some time last night I was watching the movie Once upon a time in America and saw that the idea of smuggling things by attaching salt bags to them and dumping them over board and then dragging them along the boats as is shown in Nayakan probably was inspired from here. It's really really violent but then builds up rather well .
The other movies which I probably will see soonish are Australia, 7 pounds , 3.10 to Yuma and whatever else I can see. Reviews might follow depending on the movie !
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Of Trains ,stations and Railways..
In the last month or so , it's been awesome traveling by the railways across India and the UK in the course of trips .
1. The best station in India - in terms of scale and size Howrah ! It has close to 25 platforms and trains departing for particular regions of India will only leave from a cluster of platforms in this station. Cars can go right along the platform and literally drop you off in front of the coaches. There is enough space for parking on the sides and everything is on a gargantuan scale. I'd suspect that Chennai Central and NDLS will fit into Howrah , though CST might give a run to Howrah for its money because of the Victorian architecture.
2. The smallest station in India : Darjeeling. Everything is tiny about it. The platforms are like small steps on which you can climb. The rail track runs parallel to the roads and at many places traffic has to wait for the trains when they chug along. Probably also the most picturesque with the glorious Kanchenjunga as the backdrop . I would particularly recommend travelling on the toy train. For all ye growing up hearing about steam engines this is one of the few places where you can actually see it working . Look at the pic where you can see it filling up with water after a 6 km drive !
3. Cambridge Station - UK . It is probably true of stations in some of the smaller towns in the UK. When you enter the station you are told there are 4-5 platforms but there is no overbridge or a subway. There is one really long platform and this is further split into 4-5 platforms . There is a parallel track along side the track for the platform that has various entry points for the different regions in the platform. So it was very funny to be on the same physical platform but a different virtual platform ... If you get my drift.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Life in the freezer and the rain.
So, its been about 2 weeks where I've started experiencing relocating and understanding the true value of the sun - For e.g. the weather report today suggested that the sun would be out and available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Imagining darkness at 4p.m. is slightly difficult especially for one who's grown up playing cricket between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on a daily basis not so many moons ago. Winter is exactly what Wodehouse describes in far better words when he talks about Mike (of Mike and Psmith fame) in the book Psmith in the City . The office where I am could very well be the bank that's described in these lines below.
But then here comes the sun - After having typed this yet again in London Heathrow and yet again waiting for the flight to be announced , I'm looking forward to summer in Bombay with the temperatures roaring in the 30s and there being bright light for a long long time .This might well be my last post as a bachelor and as one more bites the dust here's to all good times with marriage and all that !
When all the world outside is dark and damp and cold, the light and warmth of the place
are comforting. There is a pleasant air of solidity about the interior
of a bank. The green shaded lamps look cosy. And, the outside world
offering so few attractions, the worker, perched on his stool, feels
that he is not so badly off after all. It is when the days are long and
the sun beats hot on the pavement, and everything shouts to him how splendid it is out in the country, that he begins to grow restless.
But then here comes the sun - After having typed this yet again in London Heathrow and yet again waiting for the flight to be announced , I'm looking forward to summer in Bombay with the temperatures roaring in the 30s and there being bright light for a long long time .This might well be my last post as a bachelor and as one more bites the dust here's to all good times with marriage and all that !
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Coming back to life ?
It's been a week since terrorists / maniacs or mad men (whatever you say is an understatement) took over and hit India in a way that we've never been hit before. It made one all the more angry especially when freezing in the distant UK with no phone to check how one's near and dear were in the city of Bombay, it was one of the coldest and longest nights ever spent. The media here were ofcourse focussing on the Taj , Nariman Point and Oberoi because of the search for American and British Nationals but everyone's forgotten 2 other stories . The attack on Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus where 56 folks died is forgotten. The brave staff of the Taj and the Oberoi who risked lives to save guests , the brave firemen battling fires and bullets and grenades at the same time should not be forgotten either. The media in its live coverage of the areas around the Taj has forgotten about the bomb that went off in a taxi near the airport. So, if you look at it , they got to the railway station, airport and the 2 biggest symbols of India's economy with absolute brazenness. Scary ain't it. The media will do its bit, the politicians will point fingers across the border
Read Sidins blog here , if you want a description of how the Taj looks and feels, any words further would sound hollow and cliched. I read today the talks and the candle-light vigils and the street meetings protesting but with a difference, how can people make a difference to the country. The writing's on the wall - something had better be done and soon . It doesn't mean war with another state - but it means convincing the elected government to allow action or to take action on those responsible.
Even if nothing else comes out of it, the one good thing that's happened is the emergence finally of a country - India and not a bunch of people united for cricket or the stock market ! Finally spending the last 10 days in distant England, watching my country men vent out their anger and spleen and blood , brave firefighters dying for no-one's business I truly understand what it means to be an Indian abroad. People I meet at work , the taxi driver from a mall to home, a taxi driver in Leicester, the man sitting next to me on the train everyone asked only one thing - do you have family in Mumbai and are they safe ?
Forget boundaries and partitions and walls, shouldn't we just remember that after all Baby Moshe who lost his parents in the Nariman House attack is also human.
After all this go watch the India-England test series - Infuse some oxygen into test cricket and show them that life must and will go on!
Read Sidins blog here , if you want a description of how the Taj looks and feels, any words further would sound hollow and cliched. I read today the talks and the candle-light vigils and the street meetings protesting but with a difference, how can people make a difference to the country. The writing's on the wall - something had better be done and soon . It doesn't mean war with another state - but it means convincing the elected government to allow action or to take action on those responsible.
Even if nothing else comes out of it, the one good thing that's happened is the emergence finally of a country - India and not a bunch of people united for cricket or the stock market ! Finally spending the last 10 days in distant England, watching my country men vent out their anger and spleen and blood , brave firefighters dying for no-one's business I truly understand what it means to be an Indian abroad. People I meet at work , the taxi driver from a mall to home, a taxi driver in Leicester, the man sitting next to me on the train everyone asked only one thing - do you have family in Mumbai and are they safe ?
Forget boundaries and partitions and walls, shouldn't we just remember that after all Baby Moshe who lost his parents in the Nariman House attack is also human.
After all this go watch the India-England test series - Infuse some oxygen into test cricket and show them that life must and will go on!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
In honoriam
Waking up after a late-afternoon siesta on Saturday , one saw 2 different news stories playing out in the media - one about 6 blasts in New Delhi and the other about hurricane Ike tearing its away across Houston , Texas and the mid-west of the United States. With near and dear around both places, specifically with an aunt in Delhi who in someways is a creature of habit and visits a temple on Saturday evenings in one of the areas around where the bombs went off. Phone calls made quickly thankfully ascertained the safety of all concerned.
Seeing the pictures of the attacks on Saturday on the junk box, anyone who'd been a resident of Delhi would have recalled happier times . Indeed, many moons ago with nothing much to achieve on a Saturday evening, yours truly would have been found loitering about Connaught Place, walking around , looking out for some bookshop to get hold of some books or having an aloo tikki from the variety of hand-cart sellers ending up with a hot chocolate fudge sundae at Nirulas in the Inner Circle. I am sure of such memories for others about the market in GK - I and Ghaffar Market in Karol Bagh. Trying to think of one's reaction to the whole thing this morning, other than the sadness caused by the deaths of 30 people and injuries to 70 people it's a feeling of angst against attacks on what are held dear by a lot of people . The Delhi-waala is particularly fond of shopping and the amount of honest bargain that can happen on the streets or in the stores. In tribute to this spirit of Delhi, the only response as is the cliched one is that of getting back up and running immediately the next day and show that we can't be bowed as a people by such acts of terror. It's time the powers be did something tough and visible against the perpetrators of this heinous crime rather than making sanctimonius statements about the lack of need for tough anti-terror laws and appealing for peace. Remember it took Bush one 9/11 to toughen his country up . How many more innocent lives and how much more attack will we take on our psyche before the so-called statesmen of this country wake up? It is said that a child found an unexploded bomb on Barakhamba Road. Now , do children in this country have to go through such times where unexploded bombs are found in what can be said is pretty much the core of India's capital. It's not the border with a hostile country, it's not a war zone or the DMZ in Korea where you have a number of land mines but the core of Delhi.
Seeing the pictures of the attacks on Saturday on the junk box, anyone who'd been a resident of Delhi would have recalled happier times . Indeed, many moons ago with nothing much to achieve on a Saturday evening, yours truly would have been found loitering about Connaught Place, walking around , looking out for some bookshop to get hold of some books or having an aloo tikki from the variety of hand-cart sellers ending up with a hot chocolate fudge sundae at Nirulas in the Inner Circle. I am sure of such memories for others about the market in GK - I and Ghaffar Market in Karol Bagh. Trying to think of one's reaction to the whole thing this morning, other than the sadness caused by the deaths of 30 people and injuries to 70 people it's a feeling of angst against attacks on what are held dear by a lot of people . The Delhi-waala is particularly fond of shopping and the amount of honest bargain that can happen on the streets or in the stores. In tribute to this spirit of Delhi, the only response as is the cliched one is that of getting back up and running immediately the next day and show that we can't be bowed as a people by such acts of terror. It's time the powers be did something tough and visible against the perpetrators of this heinous crime rather than making sanctimonius statements about the lack of need for tough anti-terror laws and appealing for peace. Remember it took Bush one 9/11 to toughen his country up . How many more innocent lives and how much more attack will we take on our psyche before the so-called statesmen of this country wake up? It is said that a child found an unexploded bomb on Barakhamba Road. Now , do children in this country have to go through such times where unexploded bombs are found in what can be said is pretty much the core of India's capital. It's not the border with a hostile country, it's not a war zone or the DMZ in Korea where you have a number of land mines but the core of Delhi.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Education or the lack of it in the Indian Colleges
So, I've been sitting and talking to a young 'un in the family who's studying in one of the better women's colleges in Nungambakkam ,Chennai that contains the word Vaishnava in its name. A recent assignment that had this young 'un worried was about inserting into and deleting from linked lists. After nearly an hour or so we'd nailed down the insert, delete routines into singly and doubly linked lists and I was rather proud of my student.
Now is when things got interesting, the assignment involved 4 applications of linked lists to different situations in life. So, the smart 'un came up with innovative ideas like managing employees data in a firm, students marks in a college, room checkins in a hotel and one more that I now forget. When I heard this I burst out laughing wondering if Philips or any of the Audio CD player manufacturers made different CD players for Audio CDs for Pop, Jazz, Indian Classical and Western Classical . However since it was an assignment and worth 20 marks, she had to sit for nearly 4 hours writing the same thing with different conditions based on the data being stored.
The best part was that she took it to college today and the program got rejected by the teacher who wanted 3 * 4 = 12 programs that took care of inserting into a linked list in the start , middle and end of a linked list. However since her program took care of all the cases with a single routine it was not correct and she had written too much to solve the problem. However can someone explain to me on what basis you reject such a routine - efficiency , readability , modularity or what and ask for 3 separate routines to do this. And all this for what, a linked list insertion. For those readers of my blog who are computer illiterate this is akin to being forced to buy 3 different machines for playing English Audio CDs, Tamil Audio CDs and Hindi CDs when there is no difference in the file formats of the CDs under consideration and all 3 machines would be able to play the same ! No, don't bring in region protection for DVDs.
I didn't believe that education was this bad in India until today but having heard this horror story today I can't believe that no one else faces such issues. If this is the state of education in one of the so-called "good" colleges in Chennai, then what would happen in a small village in a remote part of the country.
This particular student cannot appeal to the management regarding such arbitrary decisions because the college is autonomous and the same teacher will decide whether she passes this course or not and will affect her marks in every single test hence. When there is no method for recourse or appeal what do intelligent students do in such "autonomous colleges" ? The question is , is anybody listening ?
Now is when things got interesting, the assignment involved 4 applications of linked lists to different situations in life. So, the smart 'un came up with innovative ideas like managing employees data in a firm, students marks in a college, room checkins in a hotel and one more that I now forget. When I heard this I burst out laughing wondering if Philips or any of the Audio CD player manufacturers made different CD players for Audio CDs for Pop, Jazz, Indian Classical and Western Classical . However since it was an assignment and worth 20 marks, she had to sit for nearly 4 hours writing the same thing with different conditions based on the data being stored.
The best part was that she took it to college today and the program got rejected by the teacher who wanted 3 * 4 = 12 programs that took care of inserting into a linked list in the start , middle and end of a linked list. However since her program took care of all the cases with a single routine it was not correct and she had written too much to solve the problem. However can someone explain to me on what basis you reject such a routine - efficiency , readability , modularity or what and ask for 3 separate routines to do this. And all this for what, a linked list insertion. For those readers of my blog who are computer illiterate this is akin to being forced to buy 3 different machines for playing English Audio CDs, Tamil Audio CDs and Hindi CDs when there is no difference in the file formats of the CDs under consideration and all 3 machines would be able to play the same ! No, don't bring in region protection for DVDs.
I didn't believe that education was this bad in India until today but having heard this horror story today I can't believe that no one else faces such issues. If this is the state of education in one of the so-called "good" colleges in Chennai, then what would happen in a small village in a remote part of the country.
This particular student cannot appeal to the management regarding such arbitrary decisions because the college is autonomous and the same teacher will decide whether she passes this course or not and will affect her marks in every single test hence. When there is no method for recourse or appeal what do intelligent students do in such "autonomous colleges" ? The question is , is anybody listening ?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Noise makers.
Alert readers (numbering in the double digits after discovery of a colony of readers in Australia) of my blog would remember an earlier post about our esteemed neighbour back in good ol' Madras. 6 a.m. is a time that one spots in Madras thanks to piping hot filter coffee made by the pater with freshly boiled milk and the so-called first decoction of the day. However it is also a time when the city slowly wakes up and there is peace in the world with absolute silence, the flowers blooming outside, birds chirping . At this point you remember Shri Nehru's statement about paradise et al and you wonder if something magical has happened to good old Madras. You feel benign reading the latest edition of the Hindu with that magical cuppa of steaming coffee and and your senses beginning to get into a state where they'd be raring to go .
However the trauma starts just about the time that you are finishing the last pages of the Hindu, the last drops of coffee are left in the tumbler and the trigger for this affliction of the senses is the sound of a car being unlocked using a remote. For those of the readers that are not savvy with respect to automobiles, these are devices that can perform central locking / unlocking and the automobile under question utters a squawk or two depending on the operation being performed . A survey conducted by yours truly (ratified by the mater's survey over the past 2 months) over the past 4 days has indicated a daily average of 20 squawks within 10 minutes which peters down to atleast 3 squawks an hour till 9 a.m at which point of time the misery alluded to in my previous post begins. The pater has a plausible theory about this device being used as a bell to summon the watchman at regular intervals from the gate to the house, a distance of a few feet ( order of 10 feet) . Ofcourse if this were a castle and the watchman sat at a distance of a few km you'd use this device to summon the watchman to do your bidding but 10 feet is probably the height of laziness.
Is the laziness quotient of TamBrahms increasing ?
However the trauma starts just about the time that you are finishing the last pages of the Hindu, the last drops of coffee are left in the tumbler and the trigger for this affliction of the senses is the sound of a car being unlocked using a remote. For those of the readers that are not savvy with respect to automobiles, these are devices that can perform central locking / unlocking and the automobile under question utters a squawk or two depending on the operation being performed . A survey conducted by yours truly (ratified by the mater's survey over the past 2 months) over the past 4 days has indicated a daily average of 20 squawks within 10 minutes which peters down to atleast 3 squawks an hour till 9 a.m at which point of time the misery alluded to in my previous post begins. The pater has a plausible theory about this device being used as a bell to summon the watchman at regular intervals from the gate to the house, a distance of a few feet ( order of 10 feet) . Ofcourse if this were a castle and the watchman sat at a distance of a few km you'd use this device to summon the watchman to do your bidding but 10 feet is probably the height of laziness.
Is the laziness quotient of TamBrahms increasing ?
Monday, August 04, 2008
Ode for a car.
Selling off my car today after haggling a bit with the buyer made me a bit melancholic about the ways in which life is changing in its own accord. When it was time to move on from my old car to the spanking new WagonR. The readers of this blog can well be reminded about the time I took posession of it here . As I said in that post, despite Maruti the car was awesome and will remain in my memories for being the first new car I owned. There will probably be many other cars but this will remain etched in my life for .....
The countless drives to Bombay, the many drives to work, the thrill of driving your parents around Mahableshwar in the clouds and seeing the pride in their faces. The joys of getting the new job, the bliss of long drives with someone special and the midnight snacks where friends and family enjoyed robbing yours truly of his hard earned salary.
The disappointment of rejections, the pain of running around for paperwork associated with moving, the pain with friends making you drive 35 km to leave you there stranded and so on.
Anyways good car thanks for lighting up my life (from the entire family) and may you serve your new master as well as you did serve me. Here's to all the good times and wish you many more ..........
The countless drives to Bombay, the many drives to work, the thrill of driving your parents around Mahableshwar in the clouds and seeing the pride in their faces. The joys of getting the new job, the bliss of long drives with someone special and the midnight snacks where friends and family enjoyed robbing yours truly of his hard earned salary.
The disappointment of rejections, the pain of running around for paperwork associated with moving, the pain with friends making you drive 35 km to leave you there stranded and so on.
Anyways good car thanks for lighting up my life (from the entire family) and may you serve your new master as well as you did serve me. Here's to all the good times and wish you many more ..........
Saturday, July 05, 2008
India's true weapons
Spending the weekend at my uncle's place led to the usual questions on the breakfast table - what does one have as a side dish with the hot Dosas that my cousin was making. We'd run out of the staple accompaniment to the ubiquitous dosa - the omnipresent molaga podi (or gun powder for the more North Indian of my readers) , the stodgy mixer grinder taking a forced break thanks to the immense work load or the low voltage supply . Hence yours truly re-discovered the good old avakkai on the table . Having avakkai with your food wakes you , your alimentary canal and your intestines up as one re-discovered today. It has an effect on you which can be best described by Wooster describing Jeeves' concoctions. "The intestine discovers a life of its own, the eyeballs roll about in their sockets and everything seems dull and grey for a while that you think its time to ring for the solicitor to draw up your last w. and t. " and rather better words to that effect.
The average tambrahm enjoys his pickles as much as he enjoys the various forms of sambar , rasam , parotta (not the north Indian variety). It is to him the equivalent of sugar and milk in filter coffee, the "taalichu kottu" to the dish and the prasaadam from the various temples. Take it away and you'll see resentment slowly appearing and storm clouds gathering.
Many moons ago (when Chennai was still Madras and I was a kid in shorts roaming on bicycles), a friend of mine with the moniker Papa used to bring curd rice and avakkai for lunch, one can still remember seeing that the curd rice had a bit of avakkai in it with the result that it wasn't clear whether he'd have avakkai as a condiment to the curd-rice or curd as a condiment to avakkai-rice. He was significantly less chirpy the days he didn't have the avakkai rice and we concluded that there was a direct variation between the amount of avakkai in his curd rice (or curd in his avakkai rice) to his state of mind. Last heard he was happily married in the U.S. of A but I believe Saravana Bhavan would have a contract to feed him well.
P.S. The Prime Minister should invite the left leaders for a meal which serves curd rice, avakkai and gongura (this is a cousin that our telugu brethren up north have invented which is a spicier pickle than the avakkai) . Given that the left leaders are all in their 70s hopefully with their weakened digestive tracts, they'd spend the whole of the 7th else where and the nuke deal will be agreed upon !
The average tambrahm enjoys his pickles as much as he enjoys the various forms of sambar , rasam , parotta (not the north Indian variety). It is to him the equivalent of sugar and milk in filter coffee, the "taalichu kottu" to the dish and the prasaadam from the various temples. Take it away and you'll see resentment slowly appearing and storm clouds gathering.
Many moons ago (when Chennai was still Madras and I was a kid in shorts roaming on bicycles), a friend of mine with the moniker Papa used to bring curd rice and avakkai for lunch, one can still remember seeing that the curd rice had a bit of avakkai in it with the result that it wasn't clear whether he'd have avakkai as a condiment to the curd-rice or curd as a condiment to avakkai-rice. He was significantly less chirpy the days he didn't have the avakkai rice and we concluded that there was a direct variation between the amount of avakkai in his curd rice (or curd in his avakkai rice) to his state of mind. Last heard he was happily married in the U.S. of A but I believe Saravana Bhavan would have a contract to feed him well.
P.S. The Prime Minister should invite the left leaders for a meal which serves curd rice, avakkai and gongura (this is a cousin that our telugu brethren up north have invented which is a spicier pickle than the avakkai) . Given that the left leaders are all in their 70s hopefully with their weakened digestive tracts, they'd spend the whole of the 7th else where and the nuke deal will be agreed upon !
Friday, July 04, 2008
Reverse horns and the conundrum of the Tambrahm
(Paam Pa Pa Paam Paam Pa Pa Pa Paaam Paaam Paam)*2 Pa Pa Pa Pa Paaam Paaam
No no this isn't gibberish, I haven't retarded in my mental stature but an attempt at reproducing my agony at various sounds that come out in the neighbourhood in the mornings.
One of the most amazing utilizations of sound is in reverse horns. For the uninformed about cars among my readers I refer to devices in cars that make an infernal racket while reversing - these can range from the latest (B/K)ollywood top single to a weird beeping noise that damages your ear drums and jangles your nerves.
Our neighbour has a beautiful small car that makes the most awful noise whilst reversing. Its now a rule that no cars should make this infernal racket whilst reversing but its a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The upshot is that your friendly neighbourhood tambrahm (of whom my neighbour and yours truly are esteemed representatives), will sit on the arm chair and comment on the fact that the country is going to dogs. The same uncle would thunder over a cup of steaming hot coffee made by the mami of the house "There is no civic sense in Madras and everything is so much better in Delhi, Amsterdam, New York, London or where the offspring or some distant onnu vitta chittappas grandson is present." . The location could also be a small village 24 miles out of Boston getting to which will be more familiar to them rather than getting to Vandalur (where's that ? ) from Mylapore . However the act of jangling the nerves of every sensible chap in the neighbourhood doesn't seem to count in the act of improper behaviour. Cribbing is fine but then be sporting about it and don't spout contradictions ..
Ofcourse there is the old mama who says - Daaai Adhigaprasangi - edu da komba .
No no this isn't gibberish, I haven't retarded in my mental stature but an attempt at reproducing my agony at various sounds that come out in the neighbourhood in the mornings.
One of the most amazing utilizations of sound is in reverse horns. For the uninformed about cars among my readers I refer to devices in cars that make an infernal racket while reversing - these can range from the latest (B/K)ollywood top single to a weird beeping noise that damages your ear drums and jangles your nerves.
Our neighbour has a beautiful small car that makes the most awful noise whilst reversing. Its now a rule that no cars should make this infernal racket whilst reversing but its a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The upshot is that your friendly neighbourhood tambrahm (of whom my neighbour and yours truly are esteemed representatives), will sit on the arm chair and comment on the fact that the country is going to dogs. The same uncle would thunder over a cup of steaming hot coffee made by the mami of the house "There is no civic sense in Madras and everything is so much better in Delhi, Amsterdam, New York, London or where the offspring or some distant onnu vitta chittappas grandson is present." . The location could also be a small village 24 miles out of Boston getting to which will be more familiar to them rather than getting to Vandalur (where's that ? ) from Mylapore . However the act of jangling the nerves of every sensible chap in the neighbourhood doesn't seem to count in the act of improper behaviour. Cribbing is fine but then be sporting about it and don't spout contradictions ..
Ofcourse there is the old mama who says - Daaai Adhigaprasangi - edu da komba .
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Getting even with the chennai autos !
This post is for those readers of my blog who've endured my rants about the Autorickshaws over time and was a result of a conversation with the to-be missus about getting even with the rascalaaa rickshaws..
So on a boring balmy evening after sitting at home for 3 days doing nothing much other than getting bugzilla working on the laptop and trying to fix some bugs in the compiler I maintain , I was positively in the need of some fresh air. I'd decided to go pick up a book on C++ ( now that GCC is to be written in C++, I need to start brushing up my C++ skills over time) .Watching the market yo-yo senselessly over the past few days I'd decided that it was time I got a lesson on Intelligent Investing my Benjamin Graham. Making a few phone calls to Landmark helped me ascertain that they had precisely one copy of the book and I was welcome to come and grab it at their City Centre outlet.
Now once you decide to travel somewhere in Madras (or Chennai! ) you need to understand whether
a. you are in the mood to haggle with the ricks .
b. you want to haggle with the ricks.
c. you want a ride that would leave your nerves gangling and your blood pressure levels reaching sky high.
Deciding that I was becoming a more responsible chap with the impending act of marriage and all that , I decided to take the easier option of giving it back to the ricks. I took the train from the MRTS station that is 500m from home and got off at Light House about 5 km away in about 5-6 minutes and having paid the full return fare of 10 Rs upto beach. (There's another reason why I donated about 4 rupees to the MRTS, it was because I only had a 50 rupee note and didn't want to hear , kasmaalam change kudu ya) . It was for sure an infinitely more relaxed experience of taking the train because I didn't have to wince at sharp turns to avoid big buses, lots more air (less sweat) , hardly any people in the train ( I could choose to stand, sit , lie down in the seats as was convenient to me!) .
Watching the autos as they were standing in front of the station I couldn't resist but think in my head .
Themadrasi 1 vs . Autos - 2000
P.S. An auto rickshaw trip to the above mentioned place and back home would have been a haggle for about 100 bucks both ways and with its associated mental tensions.
So on a boring balmy evening after sitting at home for 3 days doing nothing much other than getting bugzilla working on the laptop and trying to fix some bugs in the compiler I maintain , I was positively in the need of some fresh air. I'd decided to go pick up a book on C++ ( now that GCC is to be written in C++, I need to start brushing up my C++ skills over time) .Watching the market yo-yo senselessly over the past few days I'd decided that it was time I got a lesson on Intelligent Investing my Benjamin Graham. Making a few phone calls to Landmark helped me ascertain that they had precisely one copy of the book and I was welcome to come and grab it at their City Centre outlet.
Now once you decide to travel somewhere in Madras (or Chennai! ) you need to understand whether
a. you are in the mood to haggle with the ricks .
b. you want to haggle with the ricks.
c. you want a ride that would leave your nerves gangling and your blood pressure levels reaching sky high.
Deciding that I was becoming a more responsible chap with the impending act of marriage and all that , I decided to take the easier option of giving it back to the ricks. I took the train from the MRTS station that is 500m from home and got off at Light House about 5 km away in about 5-6 minutes and having paid the full return fare of 10 Rs upto beach. (There's another reason why I donated about 4 rupees to the MRTS, it was because I only had a 50 rupee note and didn't want to hear , kasmaalam change kudu ya) . It was for sure an infinitely more relaxed experience of taking the train because I didn't have to wince at sharp turns to avoid big buses, lots more air (less sweat) , hardly any people in the train ( I could choose to stand, sit , lie down in the seats as was convenient to me!) .
Watching the autos as they were standing in front of the station I couldn't resist but think in my head .
Themadrasi 1 vs . Autos - 2000
P.S. An auto rickshaw trip to the above mentioned place and back home would have been a haggle for about 100 bucks both ways and with its associated mental tensions.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The mile high grid lock and painting parabolas ...
So, we were chugging along merrily upto Surat on the London Mumbai flight of Jet Airways assisted by favourable tail winds that let us reach our milestone about 10 minutes in advance. I was impressed by the considerable skills shown by the pilot to paint conic sections up in the sky ably assisted in this activity by the air traffic controllers. Burning ATF over the Arabian Sea is a punishment meted out to aircrafts and passengers sitting in them by the enlightened few or na
It was impressive to note the ingenuity in the flight path which contained in the parabola from London Heathrow to Bombay a couple of ellipses, a triangle where a straight line would have done and curves along the z axis that resembled a spike equivalent to the most volatile day in the Bombay stock market. All the variations added to the parabolic curve were done in what would have been a distance of about 200 km from Bombay .
Well one would have heard and read about grid locks on roads, but if you want to see grid locks in the air you could start by flying into Mumbai or Chennai on an international flight. Now Pakoda Kadar suggests might be a bigger tourism business because people would fly helicopters to it. Now now , Pakoda don't forget the case of the golden egg laying goose being cooked !
It was impressive to note the ingenuity in the flight path which contained in the parabola from London Heathrow to Bombay a couple of ellipses, a triangle where a straight line would have done and curves along the z axis that resembled a spike equivalent to the most volatile day in the Bombay stock market. All the variations added to the parabolic curve were done in what would have been a distance of about 200 km from Bombay .
Well one would have heard and read about grid locks on roads, but if you want to see grid locks in the air you could start by flying into Mumbai or Chennai on an international flight. Now Pakoda Kadar suggests might be a bigger tourism business because people would fly helicopters to it. Now now , Pakoda don't forget the case of the golden egg laying goose being cooked !
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