Remembering Rajeev Motwani

Silicon Valley mourns the death of Stanford Professor Rajeev Motwani.

"..his legacy and personality lives on in the students, projects, and companies he has touched. Today, whenever you use a piece of technology, there is a good chance a little bit of Rajeev Motwani is behind it" - says Google's Sergey Brin.

I have admired him ever since I first read about him in David Vise' "The Google Story". The paper "What can you do with a Web in your Pocket" co-authored by Motwani has one of the early mentions of PageRank technique. His other works can be found at http://theory.stanford.edu/~rajeev/.

Elections and the Eelam

These days, I get put off when I watch the election campaign speeches by the leaders of political parties in Tamil Nadu. Every leader has a statement to make about Sri Lanka and The Eelam. Someone says "Velupillai Prabhakaran is my good friend", someone else claims If she is voted to power she "will not rest until Tamil Eelam is formed". Someone makes a statement that "Tamil Nadu would witness a bloodbath even if slightest harm befell Prabakaran". He was the same person who once said "If the need arises, I will be the first man to take up arms in support of Sri Lankan Tamils. I will gather youths all over the country for this purpose." and was put behind bars under the POTA act for "waging a seditious war against the state." But this time Elections are around. The government cannot afford to do that. Rather everybody is commenting on the issue.

Every election rally if full of promises and solutions to the Eelam issue. Are there not much bigger issues at home which need urgent attention?

I recently read a post by Sanjiva, a Sri lankan himself, where he says the blame for present situation needs to be shared by India, US, UK, Australia, Canada and others.
An editorial in Sri Lankan Sunday Times says ; "Take the typical case of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This week, giving testimony at a Congressional hearing, she asked that Pakistan take more action against (Islamic) extremists and asked Sri Lanka to 'pause' action against (Tamil) extremists. To cap it, she asked Pakistan to adopt a 'paradigm shift' and called for a 'change in mind-set'. Look who's talking."

I am not saying that you ignore the sufferings of the people in North Sri Lanka. Yes, big problems exist there.
But these should not be used as poll gimmicks. The parties should not take undue advantage of such a situation to divert attention of voters from much more important issues which affect them directly on a day-to-day basis.

Lightning Talks

This post is a sequel to one of my old posts "The anatomy of a Cool Dude"
It's been more than a couple of years since my first visit to Subway, described in that entry. And this is what happened today.
I am in Amsterdam for a week. Today I ran into a Subway at Dam Square. I got in and said "Hello" to the person at the counter. Then I asked him "Sir, Do you have any vegetarian options?"
He replied back "Bhai-Saab Hindi mein poocho na".
I was stunned for a minute.
He then says "Aapko ekdum acha Veg sandwich banake deta hoon mein. Isme aapko tamatar, shimla mirchi, pyaz, aur yeh lettuce milega. :-)
I say "Hahahaha. Isko apne vahan Veggie Delight bolte hain."

Then he asked "Saath mein cold drink chahiye?"
I said "Apne wahan Make-it-a-meal? poochte hain"

Towards the end of the Sub process, he asked "Bhaiyan, Mirchi Daloon?"
I said "Haan haan. By the way isko apne wahan jalapeno bolte hain".
:-D

Two years and I again remembered "Which bread", "Make it a meal" and "Which sauce" at the local Subway. :-D

Lake, Forest, Hills and Serenity

Mulshi- A 2 hour drive from Pune into the Sahyadri Hills.















The complete album is here:

Mulshi

Overall a fulfilling weekend as I got to click some photographs as well.

Tiger of Mysore

He still stands tall.. Captured while at Cochin Harbour.

Green Pune

The Commonwealth Youth Games-2008 are nearing and Green is the theme. And the venue - Pune - is indeed green.
My experiments with the lens -

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Untitled

I recently moved to Pune and now I am living with my family. The last 3-4 years were one of most memorable times - in Hyderabad. I made quite a few good friends, learnt a lot at work and had a good time.

But with this relocation I have also realized you miss out a lot when you move away from your friends. No matter what the advancement in communication technologies - mobile phones and internet - you still miss out on something basic. There is nothing like sitting besides your friend sipping coffee- engrossed in one of those endless conversations.
When you are with friends, all through the day at work and at home you tend be more happy, the lighter moments, the good and bad times shared, and the fun! I somehow feel the same cannot be compensated by talking to a friend who is in a different city on a mobile phone. All of a sudden you miss those good times, the late night conversations at the veranda, the weekend mega plans, the midnight dinner at Ohri's, and of course the Biriyani. Distances do matter!

I realize you miss out on a lot of things when you leave a city, friends and work. More so when when you come back to live with your parents, where there is always a generation gap and the resulting conflicting opinions. Only now I realize there were so many changes in my lifestyle in the past few years, which might not have happened had I been staying with my parents. But in my view, they were good, and I enjoyed it! At the end happiness matters. And now I find it difficult to live the other way!

Back in four years

It has been four years since I started using mobile phones and this week marked the arrival of my sixth instrument. I started off with Nokia 1100 and later used phones like LG smartphone and Nokia 6275 - with CDMA internet, bluetooth, and camera. Apart from these they even had excellent value added features like talking to a person on the other end and things like SMS. One reason to move from LG to Nokia was the hope for a better battery backup, which was obviuosly taken care of, but not to the extent I had thought - The previous Nokia phone I used was Nokia 1100.

Now that I relocated to Pune, I thought I would move back to GSM after using CDMA for some 3 years now. I had chosen CDMA initially for wireless internet and better roaming. Since I am back home and no longer need these features I opted for a GSM and my dad gave me an unused Motorola MotoRazr v3i flip phone, which he got an year back but never used it.

An aspiring dude and a flip phone - that's what I wanted. Soon I developed my own style of opening and closing the phone, attending calls etc. While driving if you get a call, take the phone (Flip Phone) from the jeans left pocket, slightly open it, (not fully, though its is completely possible) take it up towards the face and then open it fully with the chin - while the right hand still on the steering with an expression I cant explain on pen, And then after all this say "Hey, I'll call you back".

But it took no time for me to realize that the battery talk time of my new Flip phone was 32 minutes to be precise. This without using any of the value added services. I got a new battery last week and the talk time in that was 20 minutes. I had to recharge the battery every few hours.

Quite frustated I decided to buy a phone with the most battery backup. Went to the shop and asked for a phone which did not have a camera, GPRS, Mp3 player, FM and color display. Soon the person on the counter showed me a Nokia 1200 phone, the entry model in Nokia, which had a very close resemblance to my first phone. The cover said 7 hours talk-time and 2 weeks standby time. And priced same as the model number. I can talk and send sms with this phone, manufactured at the Nokia plant in India - Sriperumbadhur, near Madras.

Back to typing sms's without even seeing the phone and a comfort level I wanted. I have spoken for 3 hours and the battery still shows full. Feels good:-)

The anatomy of a "Cool Dude"

Cool Dude - The most used word in a day.
One who can do things which we cannot do - is termed a "cool dude". Be it growing hair, or not growing hair, tattooing, speaking four letter words, smoking ultra milds or menthol, going all the way to Bangalore for a rock band maiden concert, or laughing amidst a group of dozen girls. The word has become the most used word in the group of people (folks - to sound cool) I move with, to such an extent that every other conversation ultimately comes to the same thing "Dude, you are becoming cool".

Be it when my office moved to a cool, vibrant IT park (And I became a Parkite), when I applied a temporary tattoo on my forearms, when I got a wireless internet connection, when I browse internet on my mobile, when I insist on wearing socks before putting on the Sandals - All I could hear is "Dude, you are becoming cool!"
So I assume, by now the reader has got an idea of what a Cool Dude is, rather what an Item he is!

Some random notes:
Q. What do Dudes do in Office?
A: The do stuff. Not work. Remember "I need to get this stuff done" ?

Q: What do dudes have for lunch?
A: They grab a Sub. And remember A dude would always "customize his sub".

The sub topic reminds me of a very crude (the most closest antonym of cool) incident at the Sub. During one of those initial visits to Sub, I had taken a friend along with me, thinking he would be a moral support to me at the cool shop (cool joint to sound cool).
The friend whom I had taken along, had once tasted garlic bread that someone in office had ordered from Pizza Hut. After finishing the bread, seeing the label Pizza Hut written on the sauce packets, he commented - "The Pizza was good". This after being in the IT industry for 7 years!
So it was just uncool of me to take him with me for moral support. Since we were two, we had the courage to face the questions shot at us. Yes, too many questions for having a sandwich. Oh not sandwich - It's a Sub. With great difficulty, we were able to get something made though we still do not know what we had answered for questions like 6 inch or foot long? , Type of bread, should i toast it?, with cheese /without cheese? , All vegetables? etc. All we could see is something had been made for both of us. And soon we are going to eat the cool sub. And then a question. "Do you want to make it a meal?" I asked my friend "Acha yahan meals bhi milta hai kya"? I did not see the "Meals Ready" board outside. All eyes on me. My friend did not have an answer.
Then came the final question. With the gesture and tone, we could make out that this is the final question and soon we can start eating. But what he asked was too fast and unheard of. He repeated it. Still no change in his reaction. Again the question with a demeaning look at us. Finally we answer - "Yes". And he gives a much demeaning look, in fact something like - These people can never grow up. Then he gave us the bill and the Sub - both the subs in the same plate (Tray to be cool).
And then My friend says aloud "Donon sandwich parcel kar do yaar". All faces in the restaurants were on us. All the Sub makers at the counter saw him. My friend was stunned. He was trying to think what he spoke. He was saying to himself "Did I use any abusive language?". Soon the person on the other side of the counter, said in a slightly louder tone, "That's what i asked you. You could have said you wanted Take-Away". So that is what he was asking towards the end of the Sub making process.
All this when the person who made the sub also knows the local language or atleast common english - The kind of English that we have been listening to, since our childhood. But if he does that then whats cool about Sub? Or rather what so cool if even in the mid of his sleep a dude can say whats the Sub of the day.

Q: Where do Dudes go for snacks?
A: CCD, MacDee

Q: What do dudes do on weekends?
A: They groove and dance around in the disc by just shaking their head or grooving their hip. Whereas all we go to the Pub is to drink. And talk about Deva's latest gana song inside the pub.

Few days back, I had a conversation with a cool dude during one of those bus journeys to Pune. After talking for a while, I could make out that he is a Tamilian. So to confirm my speculation, I asked him "Where are you from?". With a bit of restaint, he said - "I am from Madras (pronouncing it the non-native way), but I currently stay in Pune." This was followed by the information that next month he would be going to... (some place in USA, later on he said it was in the Valley). The valley part of the answer was the most stressed one. My further questions in Tamil were answered back in English and not so fluent Hindi. And I could notice, he was so uncomfortable talking about Madras, or even Pune. They find it demeaning to answer questions like Which part of India they belong to. They do not like to be geographically identified (unless of course, it's the valley)
Yes cool dudes are Global Indians - or may be Global citizens.

One good thing about dudes is that they do not care much for what others think. Their actions are not dependent on their surroundings. Rather, "They give a damn.." Yes, thats how they say it.
Another interesting aspect that me and my fellow dude observers noticed, is on the dude's blogging pattern. Most of the times, the title of the post will have twice as many words as the content, combined together can be less than 10 words. Probably Cool dudes can express in few words.

Recently on one of those try-to-be-cool acts from me, a friend of mine asked me If I would give him a treat if I am ever successful in turning cool. And when I said I would rather give a party to all, he says - "No dude, Dudes do not give or host a party. They throw a party."

To be continued..

Postscript: There has been a radical change in my thoughts and actions ever since I came in terms with Sub making process. As I write this post, the coolness factor has increased so much in me and a crude friend of mine [His first Sub was here] , that we can now make world class Sub at home. Yes, we will customize it for you. Honey Mustard or Southwest, Italian bread or honey oat, Jalapeño or Lettuce.. Not just a Sub, a salad too. And if you are not much bothered about the calorie intake (as against dudes), we can make it a meal.

My friends made me realize my capacity and stability

This is a follow up of a post written by my friend here.
My first take on karma (as Dude puts it) when I woke up today was "What do I do for the keys now? Let me go to the temple and I will get the keys back." Saying this to myself I get ready and put on the jeans and hear something chime in the pockets.
"Eureka! God, you appeared even before I came to you! My keys are here in the pockets!"
Saying this (again to myself), I jumped to announce to my friend that I have found the keys. And that they were in my jeans pockets. This again made my friend to have an edge over me by saying "You get really bad after you are drunk. You searched for the keys so many times in your pocket and still did not find it. You were not in your senses". So the friend, who was part of the privileged three, and who generally cannot control her laughter and never during these kinds of plots was still able to manage the situation very well by again putting the blame on me.
Thinking on, even I was a bit shattered as I am that kind of person who often boasts about his capacity and stability, more so after a couple of pegs.

Today morning when I come to office a friend who was not part of the privileged three - but who knows me so well, that the moment he read this post on the web, he pinged me and asked - "Dude, Is this you?". He has accompanied me several times on those key finding expeditions.
Reading the post, I was happy. They found the keys at exactly the same place where I remember seeing it last (I mentioned the place last night only.. not now). So after a brief period of being down, once again I am proud of my capacity and stability. Cheers!