Alone vs. lonely

Wait, before I write more....
Is, by any chance, the comments function on my blog not user friendly?
Apparently several of you are just reading and sneaking out :-) How will I ever know if my blog did any good to you?!

So carrying on...
a) Saturday noon, bored at home. I realise there is a huge multiplex behind my house. So I drive by, and since din't have anyone for company I go and watch 'Superman Returns', all by myself. Anyway, you watch a movie yourself through your own eyes don't you?

b) Sunday late evening, have not gone out all day and pretty much been ornamental on the couch. I get a wild thought to find out what are the beaches within 15miles of my house. I find this 'free-parking' beach in Milford. Tried calling Xiaoru (colleague), she wasn't home. Rajat would anyway be in NYK busy showing his wife around. So, I take my car, take the map and head to the beach. It was enchanting, it was peaceful. Just sat there on the sand looking at water, far till my eyes could gaze. It was almost like my whole life came up in front of me.
Conversation with Bhumika a couple of hours ago had, probably, been the catalyst.
I liked the trip.

So what's that strange about it, for people to say 'man! alone? you are something'? I think I'm comfortable with myself, with being myself. (Hmmmm yeh alag baat hai ki thoda sa 'bahut ho gaya' feeling aa raha hai)
I think many people fear being alone because it's actually the fear of feeling lonely. Heck, i've been lonely from years now without fearing it...even when I was not alone. (Bangalore-hyderabad-gurgaon-USA-BLR-USA)
I had chosen it.....'I' had chosen it.
I think it's now .........finally ..........getting to me.
Time to (waving fingers in the air) 'settle down'.......
signing off
Madhu

Caleb and BOOM

Scene so far: Caleb lives again (well he is active now!)
He has come through the haunted hotel looking for the way enough, warding off all the unwanted villains on the way. Now he has to go out of this building. He comes to this room where there are 3 doors (remember?).....he has to open the right one. If not - BOOM.
He gets only one chance. Ask anything you want but open once.

Oh well in this case, he finds out one of them is not right ...yippie....so 2 to go. will it be a) redemption or b) boom! :-)

But wait Caleb has a mindwave...why is he looking at it like its a boom or redemption? he should look at it as opportunity or better opportunity?????

Caleb might be losing his mind....only slightly...

Caleb will decide today

:D

==========================================

This is two days back.
The whole thing is that ke bhayya sab se bada rupayyaaaa....
Er..I mean, I don't mean what you thought I mean.

GE MONEY - HERE I COME!

Mumbai help blog - touching

MUMBAI HELP - A blog which dedicates itself to 'Serving Mumbai' shows an example of people reaching out, in a way that really touches you.

May those souls that departed rest in peace....

Some clarity......? I think so

The other side of Outsourcing

Thomas Friedman, 3 times pulitzer prize winning journalist produces a remarkable documentary on 'The other side of Outsourcing' which in reality is a highly effective commentary on Current India.
It takes an outsider to do what can be called an eye-opening of sorts to me. As I was seeing the documentary I started getting present to the fact that I grew up in India for 26 years but maybe I was blissfully ignoring (at times) what should be my responsibility to the society around me. It's tough, I know, but I feel it's my duty to make a difference.
Will taking a job outside of India help? It will dilute the focus.....a brief moment of feeling closer to the answer, I guess this moment.

Think about this (what the last speaker in the video says): The High-tech outsourcing to India is impacting 3 Million people in India and making their lives better. But are the lives of the 1 Billion+ people being impacted by this boom?
That is what we have to think about ...

Bach and other CDs

It amazes me how I have not written even a single blog about what can be almost described, at times, as a life-cosuming passion - Music.

Yesterday I was at the Palisades Shopping Center in New Jersey on my way back to home from Jersey. Stepped into Best buy for a customary 'quick look'. I thought ill check on the Classical section for some symphonies of Bach and Ludwig Van Beethoven. These have aroused my interest in recent days - well I'd always been the kind who is much into popular music but say classical music is too much for them, because they can't 'grasp' the intricacies well.

I think the singular piece of music that changed it and made me want for more was - Toccatta and Fugue by Bach. To describe the feeling I had when I listened to it the first time, it was 'I think this will haunt me for the rest of my lifetime'. Sheer musical un-controlled brilliance.
Went on to search and read about Bach, beethoven, about what is a Fugue, whats a Minuet ...still eager to hear more, know more ...Like Beethoven's 9th (listening currently).

So the question really - why is classical (vocal/instrumental) music so hard on people to taste, to feel and enjoy? I think it's just a lazy excuse!
Probably one reason is that the popular music around you comes with titles, with fixed identifiers, with names of the artists with which your BRAIN can identify and relate with. Compared to that, if I put you through a listening session of Beethoven's 9th symphony, you might feel un-connected in minutes.

At the risk of sounding ethereal, here is my thought about that (and an attempt to dissect the experience I had when I first listened to the Fugue mentioned above)
When you listen to a classical music symphony, you really let your mind forget where you are (ideally close your eyes) and start noticing the emotions that it's generating in you. In other words, if your brain can't relate or identify with the classicality, you let your heart think. With some interest thrown in, you can make an attempt to find out more about what instrument is it, and in which 'movement' that's creating those goosebumps in you. After a couple of listenings, you'll be able to predict the next following progressions and able to enjoy the whole symphony. You'll want to come back to it more and more...

Ah, come to think of it, would you not be better off if you listened to ANY music like this? ..........Hardly holds good with 'Headbanging-with-heavy-metal' ehh? :-)
(Murali, do you headbang with that loud music in your room? tee hee)

So, back to Best buy. I expected I might need to pay a bomb because the classical music CDs might be over-rated. To my dismay, they were badly under-rated!
I bought 4 CDs (2 of Bach and 2 of assorted artists - Ludwig Van Beethoven, Mozzart, Schubert, Haydn, Schumann, Bartholdy; i'll be honest, Iven't heard the last 4 artists myself). These 4 CDs cost me 10 bucks! I mean is this the way Americans respect the pioneers of Classical music!? In my state of disapproval, I hurried to the counter before they changed their mind on the pricing.

Recommendation: Listen to the Fugue I've mentioned above and let me know how you 'felt'!

unbelievable...

RONE DE TU AAJ HAMAKO TU AANKHE SUJANE DE
BAHO ME LELE AUR KHUD KO BHEEG JANE DE
HAI JO SEENE ME QUAID DARIYA WO CHUT JAYEGA
HAI ITANA DARD KI TERA DAMAN BHEEG JAYEGA..

hmmm....
will need to bookmark this ...

subhaanallaa..

adhoori saans thi dhadkan adhoori thi adhooren the ham
magar ab chaand poora hain falak pe aur ab pooren hain ham

intezaar....


sigh

About Cars..

In a mood to read ...and subsequently to write today...at office :)
Was reading this article ..the author should really come to India! he seems desp for a small car...
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,1776877,00.html

Yea! Huge cars here all around..for example my Chevy Impala...(will post a snap soon)..he is right ...I almost scratched my right mirror while driving around in the downtown. I guess in India though, we are suckers for biggies...

Reminds me ...read this! :-)

Top 10 movie car chases

I'vent seen Bullitt, but seen French Connection, Ronin and the other new ones mentioned there...(pity not on the big screen). Ronin was the movie I was mentioning the other day..Italian Job was fun too..
Wonder how they shoot these chases!

GE's Ecomagination Report

Very inspiring!!!! What do you think?

GE's ecomagination report is now available online Click Here.
To encourage readers to save paper and read the report online, GE will plant a tree at its Peebles, Ohio jet engine testing facility for each of the first 2,500 downloads. These trees will help offset the generation of carbon dioxide associated with growth at the facility.

Quick updates on my post 'Jauggernaut'

Well I'd written some nonsense about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's daughter and how they named it 'Suri'

Here are some more quick nonsense:

- Apparently Jason Lee's son is known to his friends as 'Pilot inspektor'
- Demi Moore has a daughter named 'Rumor'
- Another leading hollywood lady prefers just the name 'Apple' for her daughter, while once voted sexy star Johny Depp calls his daughter Lucy Alice Melody

Aww Forgeddaboudid..

That and this on a sunday evening

Sunday night ...sitting on my couch watching 'Ronin' on AMC starring de niro...fantastic action/suspense movie (so far). Relax this is not a movie review, that will follow on another blog..I know some ppl are movie agnostic (sigh)

Here goes another weekend, tomorrow is the beginning of another week. Eh, its almost 2 months indeed since I've been here. In another 2 months, it will be the time to think about the 'whens' of returning back to india in the course of the sub-sequent 2 months....as Anna put it. Another major decision is, whether I will be returning to BLR for a full time job or whether I will be returning for a 3 week vacation before I come back and take charge on a full time job here....
(Did you ask 'so does that mean you are on a temp basis now?' Yes and no... :-) I am on an IT leadership training program. It's a fast track program to train managers in IT within GE. Consists of 4 assignments lasting 6 months each giving you valuable learning and useful experience before you are 'unleashed' to the real world. So I'm a full time employee but on 4 back2back short term assignments)

Hmm...so that gives me a topic to write (which I dint have when I started writing today, just wanted to write for the heck of it) About my confusion: To stay here or not to stay here....that, oddly, seems to be the question and strangely is becoming hard to decide.

What I'm gonna write might appear weird and funny to you (If so, then all the more reason to leave me a comment heh!) Why is it so hard for you to decide Madhu? You might ask. Well let's consider the problem statement: It is the ambiguity in deciding whether a job in Bangalore(/India) will be a more sensible option for me in terms of a) Better Visibility at work b) Fitment to career objectives c) Better quality of life d) Money and such other considerations, than a job here in the US. The parameters are not definitely in that order. Oh! while I write I start thinking is that the rootcause, I not being clear about whats more important than what (Well maite, isnt that the life's bane of every human that lived, did ya say? :-) )
Let's try to wind up here - so whats the answer for that anomaly?

As I write, again, it comes to my mind I should do a 4 blocker with a better problem and defect statement, some defect metric tracking and a subsequent pugh matrix (fully six sigma) to arrive at an answer :-) might help.
But yes, in simpler terms, the opportunities are good in the US and now pretty good in India too, as the US wakes up to the fact that infrastructure problems, sudden bandh's and other such socio/political issues with the environment in India cannot force them to ignore the clear advantage that India's IT force offers them (Lemme think... maybe that could have been stated better with more descriptive elaboration...oh hell, you got the point right?) Also, not sure whether you've read somewhere, but I sure have, that no matter how the constitution of the IT industry changes with changing directions and horizons, there will always be an acute shortage for good Project Managers. What better place to be an IT Project manager than in GE? :-) Alright intention is not to boast, just writing on...

So....I'm saying that if I get a good role in BLR, then why not. Also should be taken into account is what's called Purchasing power parity (did the MBA's and finance whiz's spring up in attention?) of India vis-a-vis the US. Clearly it's no-way equal, but that can be always levelled by the comparison of your incomes in each of these currencies. Again cutting to the chase, what I mean to say is, if I get more money in India than an average job then hell why not....No not braggin even now, I dont like to discuss my salary with others...I just don't know I'm plain stating the dependencies.

You know there is another angle to all this. Quality of life...till now I don't like my life here. I'm not the most outgoing person you can find if you randomly choose 10 ppl arond me, I would think. Maybe thats the problem. I don't mix with firangs as easily as some of these ABCD's and other desi visitors do.. (btw took a break from writing and got hooked to the TV...oh-my-god after seeing Ronin why dint they bloody announce a new Award category - 'Car chases'!! hooof sitting here dazed!) Sorry for the sudden digression..so where was I..ya so if you are alone here, things might get a bit boring. Well let's consider if I come back for a job, I might not be alone. But that raises a whole new question, relocation for her, her job - is it going to be flexible - etc etc.

By the way I havent yet come to the funny part yet :-) oh yea im in a mood to write, hope you are in the mood to read. There is a big 'What if' to it. The question in my mind is 'What if, after working here for lets say 2 more years, I dont feel like going back?' Hmm..so I'm apprehensive about something I have no control over. Then you'll ask, 'so what? If so, then stay there, make more money, work better,have kids, get settled, get a GC.....' NO ...I dont want that to happen. 'Then bloody why do you want to take up a job there man!? Come back now itself' Well I don't know the right answer yet..What's that need in me that says 'Explore the US option too'...is it the search for a better job, money (dont think so), lifestyle, a picnic for 2 years?? Well thanks for participating in a conversation called 'Thinking out aloud' that was staged inside my mind. :)

We shall find out soon.

Good night and Good luck.

Joey!! :-))

Have been seeing quite a bit of F.R.I.E.N.D.S lately and was thinking recently I should chronicle all those funniest dialogues of Joey Tribbiani ('how u doin?!') that come to my mind in the most unexpected locations (in my office while I'm on a call - thank god im on mute, in the pantry when I'm sipping coffee with a teammate, standing in the queue for lunch brr!)

So, if you are a FRIENDS fan then sit back and recollect these dialogues and laugh!

===================
Chandler: Yea so the doc gave something that Joey should wear in his mouth and his snoring has disappeared!
Everyone: Wow!

Just then Joey comes in wearing this blue band that's covering his teeth so Rachel says 'you are not supposed to wear it even now' so Joey says 'I know!! It tastes good!!!'

Then that night when Chandler's girlfriend is scaring the shit out of him (Cant recollect who!), Joey appears (with his blue band and all that..) and goes 'Juje I am wrying wo weep here!!!!' howlarious..
========================
Then the scene I was mentioning to Murli,
Joey gets his sis to meet Rachel so that the sis can discuss some Fashion tips with her. He says 'Okay!I will let you two ...uh 'Fascists' have fun now!'
========================
Ross is being butchered by Emily's friends in the rugby match and Ross let's out some expletives to demonstrate he is TOUGH to which Joey points out as if he is indeed 'Red Ross!!!'
Fundoo face expressions..

Face expressions reminds me ..do you remember his face expressions when he wakes up at the beach and sees a mermaids breasts on his chest, made of sand? :))

=========================
Ross is confronting Monica (In london) about the postponement of his wedding. Chandler and Joey are around too, so chandler runs to the restroom making a pretext that he has 'to go!' Joey runs behind him saying 'wait up'

After the brother-sister leave, these 2 guys come out. Joey says 'Man! I hope Ross dint think we ran in because we were too embarassed to stand here'. Look at the incredulous look on chandler's face when he says 'I HOPE HE D-I-D!!!!' :-D What was Joey upto when he ran like that?! ha ha ..so childish.

Have to write a seperate post on my favorite chandlerisms! :)

(Have you seen the blooper for this scene when these 2 guys come out of the restroom with their pants down?)
=========================
How about Joey's dialogue 'Problem solved!!!' when Rachel says about her issue of having a crush on a lecturer 'I dint get over him, I got under him'
=========================
Ross is trying to make useless conversation with Joey when Rachel is leaving for Paris 'You see the thing I told about the thing, is not actually about the thing but .....'
After wards Joey has to NOT get it 'I dint know you thought so much about the thing!' with a smile :)

I guess thats for now ...guys put in what you can recollect..

Juggernaut

Have you heard of the word 'Juggernaut'? How do you think that word came by?

Read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut

Cambridge defines the word as 'a large heavy truck' or 'a powerful unstoppable force'. So it's really 'Jagannath' they are using :-)

I thought 'nah'...that must be an exception! There cannot be too many words like that in English with an indian origin.
(A myth that I busted to myself!)

What I'm about to write is kinda similar thing, but in quite zany a way, a tad different.
Here I am going along the Merrit Parkway and the name of a Gas station says 'Ravi'. Eh - say what? I thought...Must be some freaky co-incidence. Or might be some indian who has his own gas station in Meriden!

That reminded me of the Car brand - Subaru. Is that somebody there called Subba Rao who started a car manufacturing plant in the US? and these guys twitched the poor buddy's name? ahh..never mind. Im going nuts, I thought.

Then I am going around shopping for mayonnaise. There is this rack of products of what appears to be Sauces and pastes. And all of them have one brand label - Ragu. :o) laugh at me all you want, but this is so funny. lol. Now you are saying what kinda stupid fool gets kicks out of such things. I do :-D

Then I think, 'oh shucks. its just serendipity' (Heh? why would it be serendipity bugger? just a co-incidence. Not an indian name!) While I'm thinking this, CBS is running a campaign on a Senator, who happens to be the Governor of New york. Guess what his name is? George Pataki. I told you, dont blame me. I'm like how I am...
(Imagine an ad - 'Vote for Pataki. Today!')

When finally I was ready to banish all these stupid silly jokes from my head, here comes the latest announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have their new baby girl...*applause* and what do you think they want to call it?
Suri Holmes.
(How would they say? 'Suri' bandaLu. ugghhh)

Ahh...never mind, you guys. Forged aboudid...
and if you thought, what is the link between all that this cuckoo wrote? I guess nothing heh...

:-D

Xbox and my tryst with gaming...

X-BOX!!!! Where have I been all this time???? :)

Yea am I like a dumbo?! Waking up to this phenomenon nowww??

Okay - calming down in 3 - 2 - 1 seconds.

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There has been quite a buzz around the release of Microsoft's X-box 360 all over. It's predecessor X-Box itself has been really really popular and for that matter Sony's Playstations have ruled the roost of popularity. (Remember what Rajat said to me? 'Do you want whats popular? PS2. Do you want the one which rocks? Xbox!')

So here we are roaming around in the Trumbull Mall and we go into a gaming store filled with those geeky kids throttling the joysticks and making a buzz with their racing car games. Then I stop by this flat panel screen with some dude trying the boxing game...(and I think to myself "What 'ave we 'ere? Eh?' in Alfie/Michael Caine's british accent) I possibly cant describe to you in a blog, how much I was blown away by the most realistic looking Gaming graphics I've seen so far. Really rocks....Might turn out me boss 'ere'll be bleeding lookin' out for me while I'm playing off me xbox games there at me 'ouse (Alright me gonna stop that accent. Expect a review on Alfie soon lol)

Then I checked out the prices and I find I might get a second hand Xbox for as low as USD 120!!! (X-box 360 is a good 400 bucks...beg ur pardon!?) I'm thinking ill take this second hand as a trial version...

My bro Murli (murally!) says 'Aren't you far away from your gaming days?'

Woh din yaad karooo.... :-)

Engineering semesters...study holidays...well come on now, we've got a month there! No harm trying to get Caleb ahead in his trysts to defeat the blood thirsty monsters and reach the ultimate enemy Tchernobog ("Show yourself!!!") :-) What fun..
I LIVE AGAINNNNNN!!!! proclaimed Caleb everytime I dragged him out of his grave!
Well lookie its just a week now...fikar not! Caleb ko aage baDhaoo..blast the head off these zombies. Poke that monster spider there...


Screenshot showing map E4M6, The Ganglion Depths from Blood.
Image Coutesy: Wikipedia.org




Sigh..gone are those days indeed,and gone are the Computer-games days too I guess! My friends would tick me off by saying 'If madhu doesnt get placed, he can teach blood cheat codes in the PESIT lab' ;-)

Well..... maybe X-box calls for a rejuvenation!

Now's the time you hit the comment button and leave me your 2 (make that 20) cents about gaming and X-box! Hurry eh?! ;-)

Dr.Raj - article on German wikipedia

Dr.Raj passed away during the week that went by. He was 77. May his soul rest in peace.

(I would not have known, probably for a day or two, if not for Gireesha from JFWTC pinging me on sametime and letting me know! If my daily allowance here gets bumped up, maybe I'll subscribe for NDTV)

What followed was news of damage to public property, loss of life and widespread agitations in Bangalore. Needless to say that they were mindless and un-necessary incidents. The icon did not deserve such an exit from the world, as echoed by youngsters on today's public debate on NDTV with Srinivasan Jain (happened to watch it at Raaji's home). I think the Rajkumar fans' association leader Sa.Ra Govindu was behaving quite unbelievably by throwing the blame around, while we would think it was the fans who were responsible.

Anyway, I hope, being away though, that better sense prevails over 'my' city Bangalore and its dwellers.
Folks in blr, share with me your experiences that day...

Here, for you all to take a look: Dr.Raj's mention on the German Wikipedia.
Dr.Raj on German wikipedia
Well I would think you can make out, not the exact textual meaning, but the context in the least. (Unless you've been taking german classes w/o telling me! heehe >:) )

Orkut Ilayaraja group post

Here is what I posted on the orkut IR group.
IR is nothing less than a god to me in music....there can almost be no 'bad' song which was created by IR. I've grown up listening to his songs (among many other pieces of indian music)

This orkut group keeps talking only of his tamil and sometimes telugu songs. So I'm taking the task of educating these folks about IR's kannada songs.
If you want to add more, please do so and let's build a database of IR kannada songs.
By the time you read I might have added 'Janma janmada anubandha' too to the list. Idea is to profile all the songs he has composed in kannada..

http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=34613&tid=2439901142675407237

ps: Lemme know if the new blue template is getting in your way of easy reading ~_~

My movie review blog

CADILLAC MAN

Somewhere in my life I want to reach a spot when people read my movie reviews and say '.......

========> Well folks ....please click on to my other blog for on-going movie reviews

Madhu - Movie Reviews

I'll retain this blog for normal junk.. :) <===========

Movie Review: Cadillac Man (English)

Somewhere in my life I want to reach a spot when people read my movie reviews and say 'Alright! I want to see this movie because madhu says so'

Well...far chance that will be soon. But I would think one way to start is to have a movie review section on my blog. and im gonna do just that. (For some hi-fi stuff on this, check out 'Movie review' by James Berardinelli. Well alright, he is cynical most times, but good reviews!)

Yesterday I saw this movie called Cadillac Man..will begin with that. I'll prop the imdb link (for you to see some details) and then write my review...sometimes if im too bored, ill just leave a few lines to start the thread.

Movie: Cadillac Man
Starring: Robin Williams, Tim Robbins and others.
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099204/


Cadillac Man would be one of the movies I would recommend highly, out of the movies I've seen of Williams, to show the actor's comic talents. The others would be 'Good morning Vietnam' and 'Mrs. Doubtfire'. (Of course to get a more rounded idea of this man's talents, also watch Good Will Hunting, Awakenings and Insomnia!!! Maybe also watch his very very crude and vulgar live broadway stand-up comedy show :-D )

Anyway in the 1989 comedy flick Cadillac man, Robin Williams stands out in his role as the Car salesman for Turgeon car sales. He is impeccable in his comic sense of talent at umpteen places.

The movie starts off with him trying to selling a car at a funeral parade (LOL) and getting called the 'Scum of the earth'. Later we get to know his job is in danger if he doesn't sell a dozen cars in a DAY (!) and that he is divorced with a kid out of that wedlock (who is missing now!) and that the other girls in his life are his week-spots and are ripping him apart.

With all these problems on a Sunday, when he is sure things could not get worse, see what happens! :-)

Result is a mediocre fare I agree. Many times the plot is so bizarre that it makes you snicker and laugh at the same time. But watch it for Williams, his one-liners can happen when he is asleep.

By the end of the movie you feel this was a 97 min gab-gab show by the actor, but hey wait Tim Robbins too steals the show as the pathetic 'terrorist' he he ...what an insult to that word in those quotes.

So go watch it...good to pass time on a weekend.. This movie confirms to me that Williams is one of the most terrific comedians around, comparable to Steve Martin, Bill Cosby and others...and makes me go and grab more of his movies!

Come on - Stick it to her!

Read this ... :-)

http://bristol.craigslist.org/about/best/chi/28204977.html

Pharyngula anybody?

How do you NOT laugh out aloud crazy (and muffled) when you are sitting in the corporate head office of the world's most admired company and your boss is a big shot in the organization sitting in an office right next to you? :-))

I dont know ...god help me, Im red in the face reading this...
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/04/sex_in_the_mri.php#more

Kya time pass log hai yar...

Some more funny stuff here:
http://drunknewsblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/bartenders-most-hated-drinks.html

And also read the articles on the right hand side panel...there seem to be some zany article titles..ivent read them yet, but look absurdly funny 'Drunk Driver Gets 27 Traffic Tickets In One Day' brr...

lemme know how u liked this junk B-)