Outer Banks

Couple of weeks back a friend from college who lives in Chicago was here in North Carolina. I hadn't seen him in almost 2 years. He was here for the weekend and wanted to see some places around. As the joke goes here in this part for NC, this place is 3 hours from the beach and 4 hours from the Smokey mountains and nothing happening in between. So we went on a sight-seeing trip to Outer Banks which is on the Atlantic coast.

Outer Banks is cool place to drive through and its almost unique. Its a chain of barrier Islands. Its home to few attractions such as Hatteras light house and Kitty Hawk (where Wright Bother's first flight took place). If you have a 4-Wheel drive vehicle you can actually drive on beach which are many many miles long.

Driving through rural Eastern NC, driving on the beach, ferry rides, Hatteras lighthouse, Sea food and Sand-dunes are usually highlights of such a trip. I have done this before and its not bad. But then when you have 2 years of catching up to do with a friend, driving snywhere wouldn't matter. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Hatteras Light house. Almost a Postcard. A State icon of North Carolina.












Woo Hoo! rural area. Screw you Bangalore!












Irrigation. The real thing, not the golf course thing. Again, screw you Bangalore.












Mannina Maga Deve Gowda's irrigation plan in action...just kidding!












A rural intersection.












while driving on the beach.













You see our SUV's tire tracks? I am telling you one last time. You can actually drive on the beach for miles on end.

Uppitt Day

Its all happening here this weekend! (just like Bill Lawry would say!). Final round of Formula One race in Brazil, the lone 20Twenty Cricket match between India and Australia and one of my favarite radio show Prairie Home Companion in Charlotte, NC. With Cricket Match being scheduled nicely for 9:30 Saturday morning I decided its perfect time for Uppitt. Yesterday evening I made sure I had Rave (Soji), Curry leaves, green chilies and other ingredients.

I woke up at 10:30 A.M. halfway though the Cricket match and made Tea (Chai, actually). As per the plan I proceeded to make Uppitt after sometime. Half way through the "mission", it was time for adding salt (which is Uppu in Uppittu). I opened the cupboard and found myself out of Salt. Then I searched another cupboard frantically, only to find an old empty salt container. I cut open the containers and I could only muster 1 spoon of salt. I was Mad-as-hell!

I didn't want to go to grocery store at that time. And then as I was looking around the kitchen cabinet I found a small salt dispenser I filled in months ago to host a party in my apartment. It had as much as I wanted. I was so glad and relieved to have found "Uppu"(salt) to make Uppitt. Its such an Irony. I couldn't help taking pictures of it. Here is the picture of the open salt containers and the small salt dispenser which had some slat left in it -


The Uppitt itself came out very nice. A bright sunny Fall day outside, a live Cricket Match on TV, bisi bisi Uppitt first thing in the morning...What else can a man ask for? ...SwaRrGakke KiCchu AcchuEnda SarWagNa!...(Translation : whit things like that,Who cares if the heavens catch fire!). Here is the picture of Uppitt I made this morning -

My Driving History Sucks!

My Car insurance is up for renewal again and this time its hurting my pocket, very deep!. They have increased my premium by 50%. I am talking about the basic liability insurance I need to drive in this state. Some of my friends (read Ravi) have more speeding and traffic tickets than all of my movie tickets for last 5 years put together and they seem to pay much much less for the insurance than a safe and sound driver like me!

I am not kidding. The first speeding ticket I got was speeding at 65 in a 45 miles zone. I had gotten my Driver's license that Monday morning and Thursday afternoon, I was pulled over by the Cop. So, he gives me the ticket and I tell him I had had my license for only 3 days and pleaded him to be generous. He reduced the ticket to 50 on a 45 miles zone. The worst thing is I shouldn't have been on the road at the time. One of my co-worker had called me over as he had run out of gas after his lunch. I got the ticket while "speeding" back to work!

Almost 7 months to the day, I was pulled over right in front of my office. Again for speeding. This time I was genuinely speeding to make it to a 9:00 AM meeting. I could have started with apologizing to the Cop, instead like a brain-dead idiot I am before 9:00 AM, I said I wasn't speeding! This time I had to go to the court as I was doing 70 on a 45 mile zone. On the court day, the court clerk asked me if agree for the reduced charge of 50 on 45 mile zone. I said yes as I didn't have many other options.

In next 5 months I never went 5 miles more than the speed limit. Meantime I was lucky enough to have been pulled over for making a Right turn on Red in a traffic light in a God-Forsaken small rural town here in North Carolina. This time I was wise enough to apologize to the Lady Cop and she let me go with a warning.

Then came the long road trip to Chicago in Sep. of 2006. I made it safely all way across 2300 miles in 3 days through Hurricane Ernesto and a severe hangover. I was in Virginia only 100 miles away from getting back to the place I live when I skidded off an entry ramp to the Highway and ended up in a ditch with air-bags blown on my face. I barely survived the accident intact as there was a truck skidding off the road right behind me when I was getting out of the car. I had to call 911 and after investigating the scene the state trooper gave me a "reckless driving" ticket. Take a look at the tyre tracks in this picture I took while waiting for the towing company to show up.



I had option of either pleading guilty or hiring lawyer to argue my case as I had a good chance of getting the ticket dismissed as I could make the case that Hurricane Ernesto was receding from the area and blame the difficult weather conditions. So I hired a local lawyer and drove to the town of County court which is about 100 miles. Guess what, the Lwyer doesn't show up!

The court clerk called my name out loud and I had to go in front of the judge.

Judge : Mr. De-var-juu. Do I say your name Right?
Me : Yes, Sir (Although I could barely make it out myself)
Judge : How do you say your first name?
Me : Ranganath
Judge : Oh, OK (laughs), I wouldn't try that! (laughs). The officer here tells me you were driving in adverse wheather conditions and I am ready to reduce the charge to a much lesser charge of moving violation. Do you agree for that?

I would have agreed to sell the Taz Mahal to get out of more trouble. So I ended up paying a fine for much lesser charge. Then I had go in search of the lawyer whom I already had paid the fees before the court appearance. I found him and he gave my money back. All this time I thought the accident wouldn't go on my record as I was told that minor charges in Virginia don't count. Some how my insurance company found that out through State DMV records and increased my Premium.

Home! Blue Home!

Years ago when I was in Middle school there was a chapter on Moon Landing in our English (my second language) text book. The chapter had two pictures. First one was of Armstrong standing on the moon surface and the second one the famous "Earth rising" over moon's horizon. I have been fascinated by that picture since then and you can see why.


I found this video from one of the Appolo missions. I think this is taken from Lunar orbiter coming from the "other" side of the moon.

Recently I also found this awesome video taken by Mercury Messenger mission. This is so neat that I thought this must be animation of some sort. But I confirmed this with the movies section of the mission website that is indeed a mission video.


I found this Picture in a post from one of the blogs I always enjoy reading. This is supposed to be the farthest picture taken of earth. This picture of "pale blue dot" is taken by Voyager 1 spacecraft from 4 billion miles away.

Cutest story ever told

Its that time of the year here in US when the Indians around you start talking about their up-coming trip to India. One of the things that made my trip to India last year memorable was the time I spent with my two little cousins Pooja and Anu. They are 10 and 7 respectively. When I came to US, I missed them more than anyone. I didn't miss my parents or my own siblings much as I grew up outside the family and got back home the year Pooja was born and stayed home till coming here.

When I was there, on one of those days, just before they were going to sleep, they asked me to tell them a story. So I started on a story for which Pooja said she already knew that and she continued the story. Once she has finished the story, her little sister Anu, wanting not to be left alone said she also knows many such stories. I asked her to tell me one. What followed is the cutest story I have ever heard. I don't know if anyone not knowing Kannada would get this. But, I have tried to translate this to English and hope not much is lost in the translation.

Anu : Ondu uuralli obba Raja idda. Avanige thumba vaysagitthu. [Pause]...Aag ondu ajji bandlu noodu...

[Translation - Once upon a time there was a King. He was very old. [Pause, and in a highly dramatic tone]... Then,all of a sudden,there comes a old witchy woman and...]

As she was finishing her third sentence I was laughing out loud and literally rolling on the floor. She is so cute and unpretentious. I still remember her innocent face as she was watching me hysterically laughing. Don't moments like these make you cringe when you think she is going to be a year older when you see her next time?

Style Matters

I have started noticing how naturally stylish and graceful some people are in real life. I think it started when I was home earlier this year and my brother was driving me around in our brand new car. I just started comparing the way I drive and how he drives. He drives that manual transmission car so smooth in those Indian roads and he looks so natural as if they built the car just for him. The way I drive,well, there is nothing smooth about it to say the least. He is also very stylish in how he dresses, how he carries himself in general and oh! yeah, the girls he likes. How come I don't do anything with any style?

I think some people are born that way, like Mark Waugh of Australia, for example. He looked graceful even when (very very rarely) he dropped a easy catch standing in slips.

I have one such friend too whom I know for a long time. I have known him since I was 8 or 9 years old. We were classmates at some point and buddies in college later on. Over the years we have played lots of Cricket, Soccer, Snooker and spent lot of time in and around college campus. He is very stylish and graceful in whatever he does. He was and still is one of the most elegant Cricket players I ever seen. He is very stylish wherever I have seen or played together. From playing inside someone's house compound to playing on a decent Cricket pitch, he looks very stylish. Same applies to his bowling and he is an excellent fielder.

Its not just Cricket or Snooker or other things he plays, pretty much everything else he does, does it with a panache. Like the way he talks or does a wise-crack about someone. That also includes that one time when he chickened out of our trip to Bangalore to watch India Vs Pakistan Cricket match in Chinnaswamy Stadium. He was so elegant and graceful in convincing us that he will be there on the morning of the Match (even though he had already made up of his mind not to come) we came out of the packed stadium right before the match to call him up and ask what time he was showing up!. Even today he maintains he had the most severe fever one could have, although the reasons for the fever keep changing.

We spent a lot of time together at crossroads of our respective lives right after graduating out of Engineering college trying to figure out what we should do. Waiting for something (Job or Higher education or Running a Business, etc) to happen in our lives. So many people thought my life was going nowhere and future was looking bleak. You would think that those times were very uncertain and insecure. They were! But, I remember myself being most relaxed than any time I had ever been. That was partly due to his influence and how gracefully he was weighing his options in life. He was one of very few friends who stood by me without putting any peer-pressure on what I was wanting to do.

I was always curious and wanted to know about the girls he was linked with from time to time. Whenever I ask him who that is, he says as elegantly, "Which one, Ranga?, there are so MANY of them, I can't even get out of my house without being swarmed!!!".

I have met him in US couple of times in last couple of years. Life in US hasn't made him look one bit mechanical. Me on the other hand, as someone generously put it, growing up to be a prefect Homer Simpson.

Uppittu, Upma, Kharabath

Recently, I started getting severe craving for Uppitt (Uppittu, Upma and Kharabath they all mean the same thing just like India, Bharat and Hindustan!). I hadn't had that one before and was never a big fan of Uppitt. Its something I had never learnt cooking it myself and never tried ordering it in many of the Indian restaurants here in US. I had tried cooking it some 2 years back and it did not end up anywhere close to being called Uppitt. When mentioned this to a friend who works with me he said he would make it someday and invite me. That someday never came and its been a running joke between us since then. So I decided to buy 'Rave' (Soji) and other ingredients from the Indian store and try cooking it myself.

First time it came off OK. 2 days later it came off wonderfully well, this time I made it on an early Saturday morning and it went very well with watching Test Match Cricket between India and England. Couple of days later, as there was still some Soji left, I made Uppitt again. So in a single week I made Uppitt 3 times. When I went to the grocery store right after that day and I saw Shavige (vermicelli) which I hadn't eaten in a long time and I remembered,what else, Shavige Uppitt. But the mission Shavige Uppitt was abandoned very early due to my colossal stupidity of putting Shavige in cold water and boiling it instead of adding it to boiling water. I waited one whole day before I went back to the store to get more Shavige and successfully complete the mission thereafter.

The earliest memories of Uppitt I have is when I was in 2nd Standard (Grade). I used to ride in a 'jatka gaadi' (tanga, a horse carriage) to school in India. After dropping us off at the school the jatka gaadi was used to carry government sponsored lunch meals to government schools. Guess what,Mass-produced Uppitt was that lunch meal. On our way back from school the 'jatka mama' (the man who drove the carriage, his name was 'gaadi munna') used to collect all the leftover Uppitt to feed his horses. I still remember the smell of the uppitt which is actually very similar to one you get when you open one of the ready to eat Kharabath packets you get here in US.

When I was in boarding school we were fed a very heavy breakfast. Breakfast was realy good and always 2 courses with a beverage. There were 3 kinds Uppitt that repeated every 2-3 weeks. The standard, a little bit greasy, Upma. Uppitt with tomatoes, carrots, green beans and green peas and then simple avalakki Uppitt made of Pova. The last one was my favorite.

Back home Mom makes 3 different kinds of Uppitt. There is the standard Rave uppitt. The seasonal akki-rave (Rice-Soji) Uppitt which she always makes with avarekalu (Field Beans) which is seasonal. And then the puri Uppitt which she always mixes with fried eggs. My aunt made avalakki Uppitt from time to time. I never liked the standard Uppitt as I thought it was taking up the slot of more delectable breakfast options like Dosa and Rotti. My mom still uses Uppitt as a quick-fix breakfast. When I tell her how I like Uppitt now she reminds of the days when I used to say "Someone should please write a letter to the Chief minister of the state requesting for a ban on Uppitt for 3 years!". Those were the days when food was something that magically appeared every single time I walk into kitchen and food was something I ate and not something I cooked.

Shavige Uppitt is also one of the kind I like very much which is served in breakfast places (hotlu, hotels) in India. Before I came to US there was something else I knew about Uppitt. I remember reading a interview with one of my childhood heroes Dr. H. Narasimhaiah in which he said he survived nearly a year in US eating Uppitt for breakfast as he didn't know to make any other Indian breakfast and how easy it was to make it. I didn't have the full picture then.

Now I do. I ate Uppitt for dinner, breakfast and again for dinner the next day.

Nostalgia Time

The work week that ended today has been a real tedious one. More than the work, the reason is the last weekend when I was on vacation with my College buddies (from Chicago) in Miami,FL. It was a wonderful trip - the snorkeling in the ocean, eating break-fast in the middle of the day with cock-tails made in Paradise, the Beach, And how can I not mention the second most beautiful thing about that beach. Those tanned "beauties" with only one piece of clothing on, is second only to the Beach as Beach itself was so beautiful. Add to that the feeling among us that probably this was last such get-together as bachelors.

Its no wonder that after a vacation like that I was sitting in my cube and thinking "what is the meaning of life?", "Where do we all come from?", "What is the use of life with out vacations like that?". Gradually, that feeling gave way to a feeling of nostalgia about days in Graduate school in Chicago and Engineering college back in India before that. Few key-strokes and right-clicks later, I was transported back in time to my beloved home town thanks to two posts in blogs from people went to same college as I did.

Having grown up in Hostels from a very early age, I have a load of my own Nostalgia about times and places other than my hometown and family. I came back to my hometown Hassan only for college. Its a strange and delightful feeling that I got from reading those two well written posts as their college town is my hometown and look at my hometown as I would look at the places I went to study. I haven't probably met these people and I think they are roughly talking about same time frame as my college days. But, I understand and remember what exactly they are talking about.

Those two posts put together, they get more fascinating for more reasons than I mentioned above. In Lakshmi's post she fondly remembers her days in Ladies hostel and her friends and all the girly (I don't mean to sound sexist which I am not) things. I also got the feeling that she is looking at those times through the present and how she endured it all.

Where as, Manoj's post is more about re-living the past and definitely on this side of the Ladies hostel compound. (he says..."oops !!! we dint have time to visit the LH … which was Mother of all temples of Worship…"...Good one!). He is very brief and remembers all the places (outdoors) that were his haunts and how little Hassan has changed since his time.

Isn't it amazing how we all look at past and think fondly of them even though at the time we thought of them as life's travails?

Big Bang and Expanding Universe!

Couple of months back I was watching a 70's romantic comedy by Woody Allen called "Annie Hall". The movie is really good and stands up to his reputation. It is also full of hilarious dialogues between various characters. One that stood out for me is

Doctor in Brooklyn: Why are you depressed, Alvy?
Alvy's Mom: Tell Dr. Flicker.
[Young Alvy sits, his head down - his mother answers for him]
Alvy's Mom: It's something he read.
Doctor in Brooklyn: Something he read, huh?
Alvy at 9: [his head still down] The universe is expanding.
Doctor in Brooklyn: The universe is expanding?
Alvy at 9: Well, the universe is everything, and if it's expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything!
Alvy's Mom: What is that your business?
[she turns back to the doctor]
Alvy's Mom: He stopped doing his homework!
Alvy at 9: What's the point?
Alvy's Mom: What has the universe got to do with it? You're here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!
Doctor in Brooklyn: It won't be expanding for billions of years yet, Alvy. And we've gotta try to enjoy ourselves while we're here!

(Alvy at 9 means, when Alvy (the main character) was 9 years old)

Google Sky

We all had so much fun when Google Earth came out. Now its gotten even better with Google Sky. There are so many Layers and as many things as you can do. There are real cool things to do like making the sky rotate around any given point, tracking the motion of the planet through out the year which is like fast forwarding the sky for the span of the whole year. There are amazing pictures from Hubble and other telescopes.

At the same time it is a very helpful and informative tool too. Over the weekend I was going for the monthly sky watching session organized by the local astronomy group and I wanted to brush up on positions of planets and stars. Instead of good old planisphere I used earlier I gave Google Sky a try. Oh it helps and its super cool.

This past spring I took lessons on sky watching in a planetarium here. To sit in the Sky theater in complete darkness, to fast forward or rewind the Sky from any year to any year and any month to any month and to see how the Skies would look from the poles, equator and different parts of the world was an awesome experience. Although there is nothing like the Shy Theater in a Planetarium to learn about stars and constellations Google Sky is a good tool once you are able to recognize some well known constellations.

Well done Google! Just don't put any Ad's in there.

Sunday Evening Blues

For more than one and half years now there is one thing I am almost certain to do any given week. Play a game of pick-up soccer at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. This is as if no matter what-else is happening rest of the week I will be there in the park waiting for all other people to turn-up. It is wonderful group of people I play with. As it is a pick-up game and nothing close to being competitive, people are laid-back and sometimes just 4-5 people show up. We end up kicking around for sometime and very rarely the worst comes true - only couple of people showing up! Playing soccer on Sunday evenings sets me up perfectly for the work week starting Monday morning.

Its kind of deja vu for me. When I was in college back in Hassan, India, we played Cricket with tennis-ball at 4:00 p.m. every Sunday. I have wonderful memories those times. It was really fun to play with my buddies some of whom I had known since kindergarten. I did this for almost 5 years. No matter what else I did rest of the week, I was there on the Cricket grounds at 4:00 p.m. Sunday. Even then sometimes it so happened that very few people showed up. It forced us to just knock around for sometime. Although I didn't have to worry about a work week starting Monday, Sunday Cricket was still one of the things I enjoyed most.

There is one more similarity and Irony to those times. Back then, we played in a ground which was common for Cricket and Soccer. On most Sundays there was no one playing soccer And we could play without being bothered. But now and then people showed up for soccer practice. We hated those guys as we had to move from the big ground to a smaller ground next to it. Now, here in Durham, North Carolina, we play soccer in a public park where there are separate fields for Soccer and Baseball and Softball. Soccer field has been closed for renovation for some time now and we end up playing Soccer on baseball field. Now and then people show up for baseball practice and we have to move to a field which is vacant.

I was playing Cricket then and wished no would show up for Soccer practice and Now, I am playing Soccer and wish no would show up for Baseball practice (Base ball being relatively similar to Cricket). As they say, What goes around, comes around!

Primal Music

My friend Ravi's recent post has a video of a very talented group rapping in Tamil. Its simply brilliant. They are so natural and make rapping look native to Tamil, though I don't understand much of Tamil.

That reminded me of another video I saw on youtube (where else!). The music in the video below is kind of primal music you can find all over rural South India. Putting two completely different things together can sometimes work wonderfully well. In this case it's highlights of a high-voltage Cricket Match and the kind of music that goes really well when you are HIGH yourself. (Speaking from personal experience of course!).

Also note the clever editing. I wish I could understand the lyrics of the song. Enjoy...

My nonsensical Mastercard Ad

This is my Mastercard Ad on recent Test series between India and England. Read this with a grain of pepper (alternative to salt in most places).

Waiting till the day before the start of Test series to buy online Live vedio streaming - like anything else in life, doing it in the last minute!

India tour of England on Willow.tv - $99.95!

Getting to know that streaming won't work on my Macbook - Mad as hell!

Windows XP for my Macbook - $179.99!

Trying to connect Windows from bootcamp to TV through DVI-Vedio adapter and learning it doesn't work - 3 hours and Super Mad as HELL!

Parallels Desktop for watching cricket on TV through Windows on Mac - $69.99!

Time off of work to watch Test Matches on weekdays - 18 hours!

E-mailing my Boss that I will be Out of Office in the mornings on either side of weekends for 3 weeks - Easy!!!

Watching almost every ball of the Test series wallowing on my couch - Heaven on Earth!!!

Watching India win their first Test Series in England in 21 years - Priceless My Brown Ass!!!
Give my $349.93 back, you Good-for-nothing-cricket-playing-stupid-India.

Santa Claus and Gandhi were in a car...

NO, I don't have a joke which begins with 'Santa Claus and Gandhi were in a car...'. I wish I knew one.

We all know Mahatma Gandhi is one person from India who is genuinely famous around the world unlike so many others who are "world famous-in-India". I always thought he became such a well known person "after" India was successful in gaining independence mainly through his principle of non-violence. I am not suggesting that he should only be judged by the legacy he left behind or the role he played in historic events. But, I couldn't have guessed him to be known whosoever in popular culture in America before India's independence.

Over this weekend I was watching a classic Hollywood romantic comedy called "it Happened One Night". The following are the lines between the two main characters of the movie.

Ellie : It's become a sort of game to try and outwit Father's detectives. I did once. I actually went shopping without a bodyguard. But it didn't last long. They caught up with me in a department store. I was so mad, I ran out the back way and jumped into the first car I saw. Guess who was in it?

Peter Warne : Santa Claus?

Ellie : (she gives a blank stare suggesting no)

Peter Warne : Gandhi?

Ellie : (again suggesting no says that it was actually her would be fiancee in the car)

I almost missed it when he said Gandhi (The pronunciation of the word was so different and moreover I didn't expect it). I had to rewind and watch it again to confirm it. The movie was made in 1934. Yes, 1934. As far as I know, at that time, few people knew of Gandhi's radical new principles and even less who believed they would ever work. It's a movie from a different time and a different world. It was hard for me to even think of the movie as a comedy. I thought of it more as a typical romance of that age. So I can only guess in what context Gandhi was mentioned. But here he was in a Hollywood romantic comedy being mentioned and bracketed with Santa Claus as a benevolent Saint.

I can only wonder if there are any mention of Hitler in Hollywood movies of that time (He came to power around the same time) and if there are, in what context?

Time of the Season

Has it ever happened to you that you remember a tune and couple of words of the song or the video or pictures you saw the song with, but you can't remember the name, the artist, lyrics and nothing more at all? And it bugs in your head so much that you want to find out which song it is at all cost, but no luck? It happens to me from time to time And some of them really bug me.

On a lazy Sunday afternoon last year, when I was wallowing on my couch watching TV. I started humming a tune of a song but all I can remember is couple of words - "who is" and "what is" and part of the tune, I didn't know if that was the beginning or the middle of a song. I remembered I had heard it very recently, couple of days before that on TV and also from some other source earlier. I starting thinking of all the places I could listen the the song from. Then I remembered I actually had asked someone what song and the artist it was. Which led me to the conclusion that I must have heard it first time on the TV and then asked someone about it. I started thinking of the possible TV shows' title songs. But nothing fit the tune or words I remembered. So the TV lead went nowhere but I firmly believed TV was the original source of that song for me.

I was into my this annoying search for a couple of hours and by then I had forgotten part of the tune. I started remembering few more words of the song. It went something like "whatis your" and "its the *something* of". I started proceeding on my other lead that I had learn't the name and artist of the song from someone. When I was ruling out all the people I knew, one by one, It just flashed (yeah, just like a light bulb) that it was with the guy I worked with. I was able to remember that I had asked him about the song when we went on a road trip couple of months ago.

I called him. He lives in Austin,TX. It was evening by then and he was in an airport waiting to catch his next flight. So I told him what remembered and I couldn't reproduce the tune that was in my head. He said I should be f***ing drunk and he doesn't know I am talking about. Pulling my hair out of my head for rest of the evening I remembered seeing some sort of visual /video with the song. Here was what I had -
1. a song I had originally heard on TV,
2. I had heard and asked my friend about the song on the road trip,
3. there was a visual associated with the song

Then, just like that, I remembered it was a TV commercial! Putting this together with number 2 (when he had played all the classic songs on the trip) led me conclude that it was an old song. I called him back again asking him to bring his song collection next time he comes to town. That whole week this thing kept on bugging me.

By this time I had forgotten the tune completely but I was sure it was a TV commercial and the commercial had green bubbles moving all over the TV screen, it had 401K written on bubbles. With that much information you would expect I would be able pull it off the internet. But no luck! Soon after that my friend gets me his collection. There were about 2000 classic songs and none of them organized. I copied all of his songs and listening to them on and off hoping that someday I could stumble upon the song. I did not have much luck with that lead either And I did what I always do best, Give it up!

Few months rolled by. I kept an eye on the commercials to watch out for the song when watching TV. One day I was out for lunch with my colleagues to our usual Pizza place. It was quite popular place among Techies in area and they played music at lunch time there. These lunches were usually good for networking with people in my field. So there were couple of new (older) guys for the lunch with us. As we were talking something serious about work then "the song" hits me "...its the time of the season..."!

I was about to jump out of the chair and scream "what's the name of the this song? what's the name of the this song?". But I controlled myself. Barely. The guys asked me if I was alright. I said I will tell them later and asked if anyone knew what that song was. The older guy said the name of the song and the artist. And then asked what was I so excited about (that pizza place is also well known among good looking women, that was the usual thing to get excited there). I just said I was searching for the damn song for sometime. They were surprised that I had even heard the song and not being old enough. First thing I did coming back to my place, was to search the collection I had gotten from my friend And there it was.

It was "Time of the Season" form Zombies. I later learned that it is one of the greatest chill-out songs of 60's. Later I saw the commercials too. It was a commercial for "Fidelity Investments". And I was right in that it had green bubbles moving all over the screen with 401K written on them. Apparently, the song has more history with TV shows.

Parva and The Great Indian Novel

I finally finished reading S L Byrappa's novel 'Parva'. I started the novel when I was in college many years back. I remember renting this one with another one of Byrappa's more contemporary novel called 'Thanthu'. Somehow, I ended up finishing 'Thanthu' first and was never able get back to 'Parva'. I knew a bit about the novel before I started reading it that it was set on the great Indian epic 'Mahabharatha'. May be that was part of the reason I did not go further than 50-60 pages.

This is one book that nobody can ever spoil it for you if you haven't read it. That's one of the things I found unique about the novel. Almost everyone from my part of the world knows the story. Its the same story with same characters but re-told in a completely different way than you ever thought possible. It is said that for 7 'Akshoyinies' (just a unit to measure number and kind of troops) of Pandavas' side there were 11 of them on Kavvravas' side. Have you ever wondered why there were many more people on the Kavuravas' side than Pandavas' side even though the battle was supposed to be 'Dharma yudda'? (battle of the righteous)

This is just one example that is mentioned in the Preface of the book by the author himslef. There are so many other things that we were told and we never bothered to think what they mean't or How those ideas came about. Byrappa makes you think about those things and in his own way, he answers most of them convincingly. If you have read any other of Byrappa's novels you will be familiar with the narrative style although this story is set in much much north of Byrappa's usual settings in Hassan District. (Woo Hoo Hassan!, my hometown). The narration seems very fast and lot of things get interlaced with each other. You get the feeling that he is just touching the events that you expect,very briefly but most of them give you the full picture needed.

It's just a great co-incidence that I was planning to read Shashi Tharoor's 'The Great Indian Novel', right after 'Parva'. When I bought the book years ago I had no idea that Tharoor's book was in anyway related to 'Mahabharatha'. I had reapeatedly heard that it was a great book and I had bought it. I think that the rough idea behind Byrappa's novel is to narrate Mahabharath's story like it actually happened, in a sociological and anthropological angle. And it seems to me that, before reading the book anyway, in Tharoor's novel he uses theme of the 'Mahabharatha' to weave a satirical story of Indian life with the characters drawn from the Indian Independence Movement.

'Parva' is an sttempt to look at 'Mahabharatha' like how it could have happened in ancient India and 'The Great Indian Novel' is an attempt to look at the historical events of Modern India (1900's) like the great Epic itself. How ironic and strange that I had planned them to read back-to-back. One in Kannada the other in English. One theme two different times. One trying to see mythological stories as history the other trying to see history as the recurrence of the great Epic. So, when I start Tharoor's book this weekend, its going to be a strange world of mythology-to-fiction-to-non fiction-to-history-to-ancient history-to-mythology-to-...

I am gona enjoy that thoroughly and screw you Harry Potter fans.

Things I really miss about India

Who doesn't miss their family, friends, food and favorite hang-outs?. Everyone does and they always will. Living in United States for few years now, have made me not miss them too much. I have found and accepted a different way of living. As such this a great place to live for most Indians. But there are things, however trivial, that cannot be substituted. The following are those things I still wish could still have even when I am quite aware that they may not mean the same thing anymore.

The morning news papers - I was made to read out loud the local newspapers everyday by my uncle as soon as I was old enough to read. His idea was that its a good way to learn the grammar. By doing that he made me a compulsive reader. Later when I was in college breakfast didn't taste the same without that morning newspaper. I remember holidays (there are lots of them in India) when newspaper was not printed and I felt like I was missing something. I became habitual reader of international column. But, first to be read was the sports page which was most part about Cricket and then internationals and then front page and then editorials. I miss the news about people I knew and news about the places I knew and grew up. News papers here in US seems to be about people I don't know and places I don't know. Online news sites or even ePapers doesn't come even close to having a big sheet of newspaper in front of me.

Festivals - Time of the year from Thanks-giving to Christmas is festive here alright, but not close to any festivals in India. It depends on where in India you come from to say how many festivals there are, But surely there are lots of them and they occur different times of the year at regular intervals. The best thing about the festivals was people are happy, even the grumpy ones. The atmosphere gets almost heavenly and they all forgot day=to-day life's trials and trivials, even though for a day. In small towns like mine just to going to the market place and see how festive the atmosphere was to be an experience in itself. Those big city (Bangalore) people will probably never get this one.

Veda/Bhagwatha/Gimini Bharatha Patayana - I know, this sounds too Brahamnistic which I am not. This one may also be a bit nostalgic but this is something I really miss. We had an old Iyengar couple stay right in front of our house. The old lady did the recital of the one of the Vedas/Bhagwathas/Gimini Bharatha (close to what "mantra" means for most Americans but not exactly) every day between breakfast and lunch. We called her 'HeDuru Mane Ajji' and she exactly looked like M. S. Subbalaksmi (another Iyengar of course). She read the recitals out loud which we could hear even at the back of our house. As I was educated in a school where all those things were thought I knew what she read. I can still remember what days she read them. She did read them on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Here in US, once in a while when I take a weekday off of work and stay in my apartment till noon, I listen to similar things on the net. That's how much I miss it.

People on the streets - Did you Americans know its O.K. to have people walking on the street in a non-city setting? In sub-urban America you rarely see people walking on the street, In India you have to search for a place where there are no people. Why do I miss seeing people on the street? Because I think the place is alive when people are walking about. It makes me feel I am not the only piece of sh** on that stretch of the road who is having a hard day. Seeing other people in public, walking or doing whatever they do, puts things in perspective. I don't have to go to local mall to see if rest of the town is alive, just taking a walk for 5 minutes from my house I will see more people than I can ever see at Wall-mart the whole of a Saturday afternoon.

Hanging out with friends on street side - Going to a mall to hang out with friends is good. But, just to hang out with friends on a street corner or near the entrance to the stadium where we played Cricket or on the street where street vendors sold evening snacks (chaat) or near entrance to our college campus. To while away time on the street-side stores drinking tea with your buddies was as much a part of the day as anything else we did for fun.

Riding my motorcycle - There is a whole new way of transportation in most of India. Instead of driving from point A to point B at 50 miles per hour here, Its complete different experience riding my motorcycle at 30 miles per hour to get around anywhere. Of course I am not talking about big city traffic-jams. But just to ride motorcycle at that laid-back speed instead of flying at great speeds is more relaxing. (I know it sucks when it comes to going to work everyday that way)

Test Match Cricket

After many days I am watching Test Match Cricket. How much better can it be when the Test matches are in England? The grounds are green, the buildings are white, people are quite (you hear few Desis shouting "jindabad...jindabad...", the commentary is good (and "English"). All in all, its conditions where cricket is pure, to play and watch. Its such a pity that India tours England only twice every decade and its even worse if you live in US as you don't get to watch English Cricket season on TV.

By the time I sorted out the issues with my laptop to watch the 1st test between India and England at Lord's it was the 3rd day of the Test match. It was such a beautiful summer day here in US and what better way to start the day and spend most of it watching Cricket? It is such a good feeling, early in the morning, snuggled up under a blanket and dosing off every few minutes to be woken up by occasional cheer for a boundary or a wicket. It was the same wonderful experience I had then, when India toured Australia in 2000 and I was watching it in India and now, living on this side of the Atlantic, India touring England.

There has to be very good reason why the quality of TV pictures are so good of cricket matches played in England, Australia, New Zealand and even in South Africa. But the pictures from the Indian subcontinent looks dusty and humid. May be this has something to do with the countries being in tropical climates. But whatever the reasons the pictures look colorful, crisp and pristine in England.

As far the noisy crowd goes I think its just showing their enthusiasm in different ways. Spectators in England just clap at the end of the over or when a boundary is hit or when a wicket falls. Where as in Australia they are more involved and in south Africa there are more bikinis in the crowd than anywhere else. And spectators in India, I was one for a few matches in Bangalore, just shout and make noise. I watched an ice-hockey game when Carolina Hurricanes played knock-offs in RBC Center here Raleigh during their Stanley Cup wining season in 2006. And the Arena has this big Flashy Marquee and whenever there was a break or time-out in play, there was a message/request on it encouraging people to make some 'Noise'. I was thinking, may be these people should watch a cricket match in Bangalore when 50 thousand people are shouting at the top of their voice.

Then there is Cricket commentary. It doesn't get better than David Gower, Ion Botham, David Lloyd, Michael Holding and whole lot of others. Its not just about describing what is going in the field, you see that yourself. Its more to do with adding something to the pictures we are already seeing. I like to think of it as narrating. Like the exchange between David Gower and Ion Botham on 4th Day of Lords Test. There were talking about the highest successful run chases in Tests at Lords and they show the list of run chases and when they happened. West Indies chasing England's 344 in 1984 was the highest.

David Gower : For some reason West Indies chasing 344 in 1984 is at the top of the list.
Ion Botham : Because you played in that game.
David Gower : And you bowled in that game.

These are the simple little things that make Test Match Cricket worth watching. The other thing about Test Match Cricket is the timeless-ness of it. I felt like nothing has changed since I started watching Test cricket 13-14 years back.

Laptop, cellphone and a Cricket Match

I was looking forward for India's tour of England for sometime. And I was mad-as-hell to find the day before the 1st Test Match that the live video streaming is not supported on my new MacBook. This is has been the only time I needed Windows since I bought a MacBook 6 months ago. By the end of the second day's play, I couldn't take it any more and installed Boot Camp and Windows XP on my MacBook and bought the online package for live video streaming for rest of the series. I spent rest of that Friday evening/night trying to connect the Windows XP display on MacBook to the TV through the mini-DVI-to-Video adapter. After couple hours trying various things I found out that this is one of the unsupported features of Boot Camp. So much for "intel-Mac-Windows"!

By the time I went to bed it was 1:30AM and I had to wake up at 6:00AM to watch 3rd day's play. I setup the alarm clock in my cell phone and Motorola being Motorola, not only I had to setup the alarm but also I had to *enable* it! What kind of an Idiot wants to setup the alarm if he had no intention of enabling it? Shouldn't editing the alarm clock mean, set the time and enable the damn thing? Anyways, I setup the alarm but forgot to enable it.

Guess what?! when I opened my eyes next day the clock next to my bed read "5:56". I exactly knew what it meant and what I have to do next. This was right out of sleep! It is like someone inside you waking you up. It's the same thing that happens to me when I wake up just before the alarm goes off if I have to catch a flight or start a trip early in the morning. How come that never happens when I have to go to Work? Everyday I have to drag myself out of the bed at 8:00 AM and then curse rest of the world for me having to wake up that early. It is such a *shitty* feeling.

Once I was up at 5:56AM, I switched on my MacBook. As I start watching the Cricket, I got curious why my cellphone alarm didn't go off at 6:00 and found out that I forgot to *enable* the alarm. I was gald that I made it without the alarm.

You shitt-heads at Motorola are not stopping me from getting up early in the morning to watch Ganguly completely clueless against Anderson.

I got my Sixth Sense right!

Spoiler WARNING : If you have not seen M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, please don't read further. Its a wonderful movie and you must see it.

Way back when the movie came out on the (Video) CD, I rented to watch it on my Desktop. I was using that crappy Windows Media Player to watch movies as I didn't know any better. The Media Player used to hang in the middle of the movie. That was a usual problem for which I had a standard solution. The problem was scratches on the CD. My solution was to eject the CD out and clean it and put it back in and continue watching the movie from the point it was broken. If it didn't work, repeat the same thing each time advancing the time a little bit so that I didn't miss much. There were times when nothing could work and I ended up watching parts of a movie.

As I was watching the movie The Sixth Sense (Nope, I didn't see any dead people!) it got hung couple of times at different points in the movie. So I did what I always did, making sure (I hoped) that I didn't miss much. Towards the end of the movie it happened again. This is the scene in the movie where Bruce Willies comes home to see his wife watching their wedding video. The whole twist in the movie is in that 2-3 minutes, when he realizes what he is. I tried cleaning the CD and the best I could do was start it from 2-3 minutes later when it looked like something dawned on him and he seems to have accepted it and looked like he was saying good-bye to his wife. The movie ended very soon after that. I thought of it as a movie with interpretive endings, which intentionally doesn't have a clear ending. My interpretation (on the basis of what I seen) was that he finally realizes that he can't save his marriage and the kid convinces his mom that he could really see the dead people. I know it doesn't make any sense, I thought the same thing then - it doesn't make any sense, completely unaware of what I have missed.

The reason clearly I remember the details is that,soon after, whenever some of my friends in college got together to watch a movie, this movie's name came up inevitably. Only myself and just this other friend had seen it by then. My friend said this movie has a great ending and (I clearly remember him saying) we should not discuss further so that we don't spoil it for others. He assumed that I knew the ending. Being the brat I was, I used to always tease others who had not seen the movie by repeatedly saying that I would spoil the movie for them. Eventually they got around to watch the movie and said it was really an awesome ending. For some reason I didn't show interest in discussing it or caring what they really thought of the movie.

After seven years, I finally got to watch the movie in my quest to watch all the movies ranked in imdb's top 250. I sat through the movie remembering my friends and long gone college days. Then, I was shocked to see what I always thought the ending was not. I couldn't wait to email my friends and tell them. Only one of them seemed to understand and said that it would have been hilarious if I had went ahead spoiled the movie to others back then with what I understood, only to have looked like an idiot. Others thought I was stupid to see the movie any other way.

I am not surprised by how stupid I can think or how ignorant I can be. The things that hit me hard are - How, through out seven years since then of watching, talking and discussing about movies, this one was never touched? How come The Sixth Sense was never part of those long hours of drinking when everything that ever was and ever will be was theorized and argued over?

At least, I got my Sixth Sense right!

Home is where Television is?

Look what new things I learnt just this past week watching TV.

The scientists now believe that the true purpose of sleep may be to rerun the maze of the problems that one faced that day and try to find a solution to the problem. So there may be some truth to the saying 'sleeping on a problem'.

The ground was broken for The Pentagon on September 11, 1941.

The DNA of a criminal was extracted from a wall 7 years after the wall has been re-painted. And he was caught

I am not saying I couldn't have learnt these things in any other way. It's not like I started the evening wanting to learn what sleep is or when building The Pentagon started. I could have easily logged on to wikipedia and probably would have ended up knowing more than I ever wanted on each topic. But I did it in between eating dinner and wallowing on my couch. The thing with TV is you are just watching your favorite show and then comes that ever annoying commercial break. You just meddle the remote control to see what else is going on and then these things hit you. Some of them stick some don't. Watching a whole season of UEFA Champion's league or South Park or Formula One or Daily Show is one thing. But watching Science or History Channel or PBS or NGC or 'nothing News' for few minutes here and there and to see what new things you learn about the World...its the Magic of TV!

You know, I have a little bit of history with TV like most others of my age from India. TV became a affordable commodity just as I was growing up. I vaguely remember the time where Radio and Cassette player were the main sources of entertainment. My family bought our first TV when I was 8 years old. After 2 years of watching TV in our national language that I didn't understand then, I was sent off to a residential school where 2-3 hour 'TV Shows' were the high-points of the weekends. It was like sanctioning our fundamental rights as a citizen of socialist India to watch the state-run crappy TV.

By time I finished first year of school and come home for Summer/Winter vacations, people on TV could actually speak my regional language. 'Spiderman' was right after a wild animals show (documentaries mostly set in African plains). 'He-man and Masters of the Universe' was right before the Indian epic 'Ramayana'. Saturday evening - a movie in my regional language, Sunday evening - a movie in the national language and on Sunday afternoon a movie in God-Knows-What-Language (apparently, a award winning movie which no child could ever understand). People eagerly waited to watch the movie songs once week in 'Chitrahaar'. Major news broadcast was once-a-day in three different Languages, English news was after Hindi news and everyone seemed to know the names of all the news readers. When one of the news readers was off air for 3 months everyone knew she was on Maternity leave and they even knew what baby she had when she came back.

Malgudi Days and its unforgettable title song got etched into every child's mind. The synopsis of Sunday's Mahabharata was published in Friday's newspapers. There were TV programs all day long. Soon after, a VHS player makes its own place right next to the TV. We could rent the movies we wanted instead of waiting for it to be on TV. 20 feet long antenna on the terrace gets reduced the height of an umbrella. News of more than one channel of TV spreads around. Couple of years later the antenna is no longer needed. All you ever needed was a Cable through the window of the living room. The remote control which was not used till now finds itself choosing any of 10-15 channels. Everyone could watch TV in my regional language all day.

I finished my High school and came back home to figure out what I should in life. We boys used peep at 'Bay watch' or 'Bold and Beautiful' when nobody is around in the living room. There are English movies and more importantly ESPN, Discovery and BBC. All of a sudden watching TV becomes best way to know the world. Thus, TV becomes default activity when I was home. Couple of years in pre-university college away from home put me through to the Engineering college back in my hometown.

Once you have so many channels to choose from and with few other members of the family having the power to overrule you any given moment, you sure need a personal TV. A personal TV for a someone in 2nd year of College in India does not come easily. You needed to wait for a event so big, the power that be in the family agrees that the only way to have the event go peacefully is to buy you a small personal TV. Cricket World Cup 99 was such an event. Watching your own small little TV needs little separate room which was also a long time demand. And after the World Cup the TV,just decides to stay put in my room. Thus began my life with TV. And of course what good is a TV without Cable, right? There comes the Cable and with it all the HBO, ESPN,Discovery, NGC and BBC I ever wanted.

A computer and the internet on the back of it, still doesn't change watching TV being the default activity. In between I find enough time to graduate out of college. Some days there were 3-4 movies to be watched back to back from 7:30pm to 3:00 am. Other days 'Discovery Profiles' from 11:00 pm put me to sleep. BBC had unmissable documentaries on weekends. Budding India news channels provided all the political debate ever needed. Indianized MTV and Channel V had all the Generation X stuff. Indian pop music with its cool mix of traditional and western music was played all day and night. Regional languages put out 'Mid Night Masala' right after 1:00 am.

Another Cricket World Cup comes and goes And I come to US for studies. For few months TV was forgotten. The TV in US without the cable did not interest me. Then, me having nothing to do with it :), My roommates decide to get a Cable connection. And I reluctantly start watching few channels still missing the Magic of TV back home. I went as far as to assert programming in American TV channels are much better in India, than they actually are in the US. So TV was not same thing anymore mainly due to broadband internet on a personal laptop.

It took 2 years to graduate and find a job and move into a new place. Once in a new place, starting life alone could be difficult. A flat screen TV with a Cable connection can move in with anytime. Slowly, The Simpsons seemed fun to watch, Jay Leno was funny, South Park became one of things to watch, Science Channel was worth watching daily, C-SPAN keept me interested from time to time, watching FOX news and Bill Oreilly made watching Jon Stewart really funny and gratifying. History Channel showed all - everything that happened and that did not happen in World War II. Discovery channel dedicated a whole weekend to JFK's 'magic bullet theory'.

But there came another problem. With so many shows and programs to watch and a day job in hand, life could be chaotic. A call to the Cable provider brought a DVR to the apartment with few dollars extra per month. Now life became worth living as there are recorded TV shows to suit any mood anytime of the Day. Formula One races can be watched skipping all the commercials, 'Meet The Press' on Sunday morning gives me all the political caffeine to last a week and Science Channel programs on Space, Universe and Cosmos put me into sleep very gently at night.

"Home is where the heart is". I agree. But is it also true for me that "Home is where Television is?" - May be!

Less Ordinary

I started blogging in earnest couple of years back. But every single time I start, the blogs went on to take on confrontational tone. When it got too hot to handle and I just deleted the blog only to start on something else few weeks later. It took me a while realize that may be I am biting too much than I can chew. Not for nothing the things I blogged about are here for centuries and not one single argument ever won. Of course, I was blogging about God,Religion and Politics.

It took me sometime to realize that may be I don't have enough academic or other-wise training and knowledge to tackle these issues. So I told myself I am gona let these things go now and start a blog completely on something which does not automatically lead into an argument. I feel that life is simple if you take it not seriously. I appear casual person in life but I think seriously. I hope to keep myself casual in this blogging attempt. I have seen many blogs which do that and make a real good reading. Talking about simple little things which makes life that more enjoyable.

For most parts I consider myself just an ordinary guy. But I have the tendency to see and describe simple mundane things as more than extra-ordinary. That is the idea behind this title anyway.

Does life necessarily become boring for someone who is too ordinary? or Does all other things become more enjoyable because his/her life is so ordinary? Debatable???. Nope, I am not even tempted to get into that one. I just feel that May be both are right and both are wrong. (May be they teach these kind of things in Diplomacy Class, if there is one)

Long time ago, When I was in high school I had a desire to start a Diary. I remember the main motivation behind that being that I put in words I what I wanted to remember later. But it never realized mainly due to telling myself If it is so important I will remember it anyway. How wrong and naive was I? Whenever I think about it I feel real guilty for having that great idea and then failing to discipline myself to do it. I was lazy then, I am lazy now. Whats more, I love beer now. So Its gotten much worse :(