gmaiya

Jaane kaha gaye woh din...

2006-02-02T23:25:50Z

If only time stood still....

gmaiya @ 2005-11-10T19:45:00

2005-11-11T03:52:31Z

Most of my friends are back in school. It is time to join the bandwagon

To the brink and back!

2005-09-18T17:42:31Z

joshmachine , cnh and a bunch of his buddies from infosys decided to go sky diving yesterday. We drov down to this place, got ourselves onto a plane, went up 14000 ft and jumped off the plane!

The free fall lasted around 60 seconds with we reaching speeds of 120 mph. Exhilarating!

gmaiya @ 2005-09-16T10:02:00

2005-09-16T17:08:20Z

I was in Portland, Oregon recently. Just outside Portland is a place called Coulmbia River Gorge. This place has numerous hiking trails.With little creeks bursting out of the hills,and pristine forests everywhere, this place was a treat for the eyes.

At the races

2005-09-04T05:23:07Z

With the the traditional career options not taking me anywhere, time for a change in direction?

Yosemite

2005-08-19T05:48:08Z

Namma Girisha was here last weekend and we went to Yosemite.This place is amazing!

At the ball game

2005-07-26T13:59:55Z

I was at a baseball game recently with a few colleagues. To somebody watching it for the first time it looked a crude form of cricket, but people tell me there are a lot of elements involved.

The league games go on and on and culminate in the world series. A world series involving only US and a couple of canadian teams. Probably sums us the US view of the world!

gmaiya @ 2005-05-27T22:03:00

2005-05-28T05:03:36Z

This was in Jaisalmer, late last year. This place is one the most beautiful I have ever been to.

The sand dunes are around 40 miles from Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer itself is a nice little town with the magnificent golden fort providing a backdrop.A must see place.

Sideways & Meet the Fockers

2005-05-08T23:27:36Z

I watched these two movies over the weekend and each one could not be more different from the other. Both movies belong to the genre of comedy / drama , but the manner in which each movie approaches it is vastly different.

Sideways is set in California's wine country ( not dissimilar to the wine country up north in Napa), and is the story of two middle aged people who undertake a journey before one of them is to be married. The movie is very well made and stands out with it subtle humor. Worth a watch.

Meet the Fockers , a sequel to much more entertaining Meet the Parents, on the other hand is as crass as it can get. A comic movie is good when the comedy is subtle or over the top only occasionally. This movie takes it to the extreme. It is silly at most times and the sense of humor is crude. A bad movie.

The Motorcycle Diaries

2005-05-05T23:54:45Z

Thanks to the subscription I took at Blockbuster, I got to see The Motocycle Diaries yesterday.

It was one of the few movies I have been wanting to watch for a while and was the first movie I ordered.

The Motorcycle Diaries cronicles the journey taken by the revoluationary cuban / argentenian leader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara in 1952. A journey taken by the 23 year old Guevara, across South America, a journey which begins as a trip he wants to take before he graduates out of med school to see the countries he has just read about. A journey that ends up changing his perspective of life and shapes his political ideology.

Che Guevara has been variosuly described as being a heroic revolutionary leader responsible for the liberation of cuba and a model for third world socialist revolutions to being a communist leader who ruthlessly exterminated this opponents often without trial and whose ideology and methods were deeply flawed. The perspective depends on who you speak to.

Frankly, I have not read enough to be judgemental about Che Guevara's ideology and that is exactly what I liked about the movie. It brings out the story of a person journeying in the early part of his life and how it changes his perspective about life. It potray's Che Guevara's life but it could easily be anyone's one. Often when potraying the life of such a polarizing personality, the opinions get clouded. This movie avoids it. it does not potray Che - The Hero or the Che - The Villian. It brings out Che - The Person.

Superbly crafted.

gmaiya @ 2005-04-17T14:50:00

2005-04-17T22:09:36Z

It was a little over an year ago, in the first one day match in Karachi, that Naved-ul-Hasan, the Pakistani fast bowler was pulverized by the Indian onslaught. I clearly remember that game for the Indian onslaught led by Virender Sehwag was spectacular, and Naved-ul-Hasan's performance was right at the other end of the spectrum.

In one of his early games, he looked unsure of himself and sent down an over which was either full of no balls or hits to the boundary.He did extract his revenge by having Sehwag out with a beautifully bolwed slower delivery, but the damage was already done and he was out for the remainder of the series.

Move forward by one year, things had changed and how! It was now his turn to pulverize India. Rahul Dravid went to the extent of saying we need to watch out for him. He ended up being the man of the series. A man who appeard unsure of himself, seemed a man reborn; reborn cocky and rearing to go.

An year is a long time in one's life...

gmaiya @ 2005-04-10T23:00:00

2005-04-11T06:08:39Z

One can associate Nehru with a lot unplesant charecteristics, but unarguablly, one thing he had working for him was a way with words.

Given the gravity of the situation in the aftermath of Gandhi's assanitation, one would imagine it is hard to come up with something like this.

I took this picture at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad when I was there last year. The original picture is by the legendary french photographer Henry Cartier Bresson.

Google Maps

2005-04-06T02:27:01Z

I thought google maps was cool as is. With the new satellite feature it is someting else.

These guys are amazing. What is next, a real time map?

This where I work and this is where I live ( The picture is accurate with even the swimming pool at the center showing up!)

Houston, we have a problem

2005-04-03T23:42:34Z

I finally got a chance to watch Apollo13. I had heard a lot of good things about the movie and after watching the movie I would say, it deserves the applause it got.

Although set in the back drop of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, it belongs more to the genre of drama. Drama, which at times, is hard to beleive would have transpired similarly in real life - some of the events seem too 'filmi'.

But dispite going overboard with dramatizing some events, it is overall a very good movie. Tom Hanks is good as usual and Ron Howard has done a good job directing the movie - something which cannot be said of some of his other movies, Ed TV for instance sucks.

PS: I watched the movie late night on saturday and the movie ended exactly at 2 in the morning. With day night saving coming into force, the clocks were moved ahead by one hour exactly at 2, and the time was already 3. Damn, there went an hour of sleep.

Anybody tried GoogleWhacking?

2005-04-02T04:04:36Z

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0316googlegame16.html

gmaiya @ 2005-03-31T23:18:00

2005-04-01T07:32:38Z

As I write this, Pope John Paul is reportedly in a very grave state. Images of the frail old man struggling to carry on his duties as the head of the catholic church is what comes to mind when one talks about the pope.

I came across this earlier today - images of the pope from his earlier days. A gradual transformation of the pope from a young boy, to when he was forty to his descent into old age.

I shudder at the thought that this could well be my pictures- anyone's pictures.

As I grow older with each passing day, I wonder what am I doing with my life. As events transpire around me and I watch on, I wonder is this what I seek? Is this what I set out to acheive ? or did I set out to acheive anything particular in the first place? Is there a direction to my life or am I just meandering along?

Difficult questions , with no clear answers.

I only hope, when I have to look back at what I have done, there are more things that turned out okay than those that did not.

gmaiya @ 2005-03-18T14:24:00

2005-03-18T22:39:08Z

In this article on rediff Arvind Lavakare ( who in by personal opinion, is one of the better columnists on rediff), writes about what Mohhammed Ali Jinnah had to say to the Pakistan Constituent assembly:

'You may belong to any religious caste or creed -- that has nothing to do with the business of the State. We are starting the State with no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, between caste and creed… We should keep that in front of us as our ideal, and you will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense -- as citizens of the nation…My guiding principle will be justice and impartiality.'

Interesting thoughts ( and if I may add , it largely matches my own views on the role religion should play in public life).

Isn't it ironic that these words come from the very man who played a key role in dividing India on the basis of religion?

I guess big dreams of personal glory and bigger egos makes you do strange things...

gmaiya @ 2005-03-15T20:49:00

2005-03-16T04:50:25Z

Brought to you by pratibha75, quizling and teemus.

Which states in India have you been to?

Not bad! Just the extreme north and the north east to visit

gmaiya @ 2005-02-25T14:56:00

2005-02-25T23:02:21Z

I came across this in the company social mailing list. It makes interesting reading.

May food for thought for people franatically trying to invest in bangalore real estate.Given the way prices have risen in the last one year, it appears to be a bubble ready to burst.

Speaking of bubbles, interesting what the economist says about bubbles ( as quoted in the article ):

The first rule of bubbles is that they always go on longer than anyone would think humanly and financially possible in the markets. The second rule is that they always eventually burst.

Interesting...Watch out before you put in your money to buy a house.

gmaiya @ 2005-02-19T19:15:00

2005-02-20T03:57:38Z

It has been a month since I last posted and a little more than that since I came over here.

It has been an interesting month to say the least.

I led a sheltered life in India - things seemed to happen 'automagically' - I lived with parents who took care of all the needs in the house, had a great job and had great friends.

Weekends were yearned for. It was time to meet friends and catch up with family.They were over in a flash. There was never a moment I felt alone and never a moment where life seemed to just drag along.

My life today? Could things be more different?

As I was buying some furniture for my apartment in the morning today, I could not help but wonder how much I have changed over the last month. I guess you develop a different perspective to life when live all alone. No ready breakfasts and lunches for you, no one to do your laundry and no car to drive around in and most of all nobody to talk to.

I dread weekends these days , for it means spending two days all alone and look forward to getting back to work on monday mornings.

I'm hoping these are initial blues and things will change for the better once I know more people and have more mobility. But for now , I can't help wondering - was my american dream really worth pursuing?

All right, got to rush - there is some grocery shopping to do. Isn't that exciting?

I got 'insourced'

2005-01-18T00:13:23Z

As I begin a new chapter , there are big challenges ahead - both professionally and personally.

On the other hand, the oppurtunities also look exciting.

Hope things turn out fine...

Delhi and Agra

2005-01-11T13:00:56Z

I was in Delhi and Agra recently. Some pictures I took when I was there.

The Polar Express

2005-01-06T16:55:32Z

Watched the movie 'The Polar Express' with some colleagues yesterday.

The movie is the tale of a boy who doubts the existence of Santa Claus and finds himself on ride to the North Pole on christmas eve on board the the polar express.

The animation used in the movie is amazing. It apparently needed the actors to perform the roles before being animated. It has a surreal feel to it and looks excellent. The first part of the movie is excellent and some of the sequences in the train's journey to the north pole is really good. I found the second part a bit of a drag, may be because it had less action and the novelty of the animation starts to wear off. Tom Hanks excels as usual.

In sum, a good movie. My only grouse - it left me poorer by close to a 1000 bucks. If only some one else had sponsered the movie...

Are you a technosexual?

2005-01-01T12:22:36Z

First there was the metrosexual, now there is the technosexual. The 'geeks' and the 'nerds' are moving up the social scale.

So, any technosexuals among us?

gmaiya @ 2004-12-14T16:49:00

2004-12-14T11:21:09Z

I was in northern parts of karnataka recently. These places are unfortunately among the most backward regions of the state.

I did some experiemenation with black and white photography, trying to get a glimpse of life there. This is the result.